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ofliterarynature · 6 months ago

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APRIL 2024 WRAP UP

[loved liked ok nope dnf (reread) bookclub*]

Death in the Spires • Heartstopper Vol 4 • Heartstopper Vol 3 • To Marry an English Lord • The True Queen • (Heartstopper Vol 2) • Fun Home* • (Arabella of Mars) • I’m Glad My Mom Died • (Sorcerer to the Crown) • And Then There Were None • Vassa in the Night • Queen of the Night • The Other Significant Others • Most Ardently • The Reformatory • The Book of Love

Read: 14 (10 audio, 4 print, 3 DNF)

The Other Significant Others (5 stars)- I've been anticipating this one ever since I first heard about it and it didn't disappoint! Not only does it tell the stories of people in close, non-traditional relationships, it also talks about marriage, raising kids, and aging, and it was all incredible. I've recommended this in the tags of so many posts and I need y'all to read it.

Queen of the Night (3 stars) - I've heard this glowingly recommended. I liked the author's story in the Sword, Stone, Table anthology. The events in the book are incredible! I should have been fascinated! But I was so bored! Part of it was that the mystery/thriller element in the description - someone has written an opera based on the main character's scandalous secret past, who could it be? - was extremely oversold, most of the book is recounting said past events, and we don't really dive into the present mystery until the very end. I've read similarly slow books so I don't know why I didn't like this, but I wish I'd dnf'd it. I'd recommend you try The God of Endings by Jacqueline Holland instead.

Vassa in the Night (4 stars) - this one surprised me! It's YA, I've heard pretty mixed reviews, and it's been sitting on my shelf for a while - starting it, the VERy in-your-face YAness almost threw me off but I'm very glad I stuck through it. I live for magic and fairy tales being dumped into modern times, and the really smart thing about this book is that it keeps a very tight focus (no space for the larger worldbuilding to fall apart lol). We've got a morally-grey magical doll companion who's a kleptomaniac and will eat you out of house and home, Baba-Yaga and her 24-hour convenience store on chicken feet, her disembodied hand assistants, weird guy on a motorcycle, and oh yeah, if they catch you stealing they'll put your head on display (and they're not above framing you to do it). Yes this is perfectly normal, why do you ask? I'm not saying it's perfect, but I had such a good time!

And Then There Were None (4 stars) - my first real attempt at Christie! I did enjoy listening to this, enough that I think I'll try some other Christie, but it wasn't entirely to my taste. I prefer having a detective figure in the story to follow, and the "reveal" after was disappointing.

Sorcerer to the Crown (3.5 stars) - this was a reread, and I definitely liked it a lot less for some reason this time? Maybe it was changing formats, but I love a historical fantasy romp and this should have been right up my alley! The True Queen (4 stars) was much more enjoyable, so maybe it was the characters, maybe it was the rereading itself. I think this might be my sign to call it quits with Zen Cho.

I'm Glad My Mom Died (4 stars) - this isn't really one I think I'd have ever picked for myself even though it got popular, except that my book-club friend recommended it. I'm finding that I'm not really one for memoirs, but despite the heartbreaking contents this was very easy to read - largely chronological with short chapters, and the author is clearly aware that things were bad even when her younger self did not. I accidentally started this when I was also reading Fun Home, so that was a lot of bad-parent-memoir at the same time, oops.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic (4 stars) - I've been eying this one for a while and am glad to have gotten it on the list for book club! Deeply fascinating, if not always an easy read - the subject on one hand, but the density of the pages, the differences between the comic panels and the narration outside them, and the jumping through time that memoirs do sometimes made events hard to follow. I admit my favorite parts were seeing the different queer books Bechdel slipped into her illustrations (one that I'm reading right now even!).

Arabella of Mars (4.5 stars) - Y'all, we are sleeping on this book, I had so much fun! Here's to girls dressing as boys, sailing ships, steampunk space travel, and vibes straight from early sci-fi adventure novels. I can't believe I forgot about this and am just glad I picked up a copy at the library sale to make myself reread it. I do apologize for thinking this was YA (which it isn't), but further thoughts on that and the rest of the series will have to wait for next month.

Heartstopper Vol 2-4 (5/5/4 stars) - finally! I read part of the comic online ages ago, and read Vol 1 for book club the other month, but I finally got started on the rest of the series. I had definitely read through Vol 2 previously, but everything else was new to me. I had a good time, but Vol 4 was a bit of a(n expected!) downer, and the time jump in the middle ruined the flow a bit for me. I do have Vol 5 in my hands currently, and if I didn't have so many other things to do I'd be tempted to do a big Alice Oseman re/read.

To Marry an English Lord (4 stars) - I encountered this at not one, but TWO unrelated book sales before I caved and bought it. I enjoyed it! It's mostly a sort of overview/reference covering the period around the Gilded Age - the New York upper crust, the European Aristocracy, and the various societal events that lead to a pattern of marital exchange. Did I skim the bits where it just listed name after name after name? Yes, but! Highly recommend to anyone reading romances or general fiction set in the period, I really wish I'd read this before trying The Age of Innocence! (its also very funny how occasionally it makes references that make it very obvious it was written in the 80's lol). Pairs incredibly well with another book I bought at the same sale, The Divorce Colony by April White.

Death in the Spires (3.5 stars) - I love KJ Charles, but I've often felt that her plots and romances can sometimes be at odds - so I was very excited when she said she'd written a mystery! But I'm lukewarm about it at best. The campus novel portions were fascinating, and I'd have loved more of them. But Jem as our narrator just wasn't engaging for most of the book. I wouldn't say it's his fault necessarily, but he's not really a good detective, there are either no clues or they're just going in circles, and the promised attempts on his life just aren't happening. Once we hit the 2/3 mark, where we're on campus, have more characters together, and they're talking - that's when things got good! Maybe this will be be better on a reread, but for now my hopes are for some good fanfic. Would recommend more to the dark academia people rather than mystery fans.

DNF

Most Ardently (20%) - the vibes were very much, "here's my blorbos, I'm putting them in a Pride and Prejudice AU." Which is great, if that's what you want! It was not what I wanted alas. Biggest cons, the de-ageing of the characters and the generally modern YA/queerness. Pros, they did keep all of the other Bennet sisters! I was so tempted to keep reading just to see how Oliver and Darcy got together, but I knew I wasn't going to enjoy myself. Would have loved to see this presented as an original work rather than an adaptation, or as something hewing closer to the original tone and period of the novel.

The Reformatory (43%) - this was good, really! It's just that I'm only so-so on horror on my best days, and both story lines were sad and dark and depressing. I could have probably handled one or the other, but I wasn't really having a good time (that's not the right phrasing exactly, but you know what I mean). I had other things I wanted to read and it was a long book.

The Book of Love (6%) - I've heard multiple people sing the praises of Kelly Link, so while I wasn't really drawn by the description, I thought I'd give it a shot! I did, and it still didn't draw me in. Maybe I'll give it a try again someday, but I think I'll try her short fiction first.

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oraclemoontarot · 3 months ago

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ahh ur cool to chat with.

im sure kpop has set ways but lately im uncertain as to what they are aiming for... loved enhypens recent comeback it was so cool, did u see it yet? but again theyre an other group I can only really like and its so strange to me when theres teens who r obviously much younger than myself overly obsessing and being possesive over the idols bc i had exactly the same stance about western bgs during the 00s. now im kind of just enjoying them for the music and dont feel the need to deeply obsess over every detail but tarot blogs r so fun to ask qs and find out stuff we couldnt find out about one direction etc etc. it honestly seems so long ago the 00s and its weird bc when u find a new group and theyre so young i have to check difference in age gaps nowadays (lowkey wish there wasnt an age concept at all in society bc then it wouldnt matter). but ngl it is so awkward, like even seeing how ppl nowadays still flock to harry styles home town (yes also did that myself). yet kpop in general has so many cool themes and vast difference in terms of performance styles as well.

ik its only awkward if u make it awkward but ppl kinda take obsessing abt idols way too far. yet we have all been thru that phase so i get it but kpop stans seem next level crazy sometimes in a good way sometimes in a bad way, i also dont get how such delusional obsessions can lead to building closer relationship with said idol like u aint just going to make friends if ur crying over them in front of them yaknow? and other stuff like going to their hotels or following them whilst theyre out in their downtime. i dont think theres ever just been a non crazy time for idols at all. i cant imagine what their dorm rooms must be like cause I bet they all been doing other adult / human things lmfao. yet the way their fans overreact to mere dating rumors is ridiculous atp. or say for instance idols future spouses as well is the topic that seem to get ppl most riled up when it comes to thee sorts of readings. lowkey sometimes i ask why do i need to know but i ask anyway bc why the fuck not then i think its childish of me lol

aw tyy so are you!! I haven't watched their mv or listened to their album yet (if it wasn't a single), but I heard parts of it online and it does sound real good, I used to be an engene so maybe it's a sign to listen to this comeback.

no I get you so much here especially. Being a fan(girl) is so so much fun, you get to watch content, listen to music, learn about the members, go to concerts, collect merch, and meet other fans. There's a whole culture and community around it that, when you first get into kpop, it's so exciting. It's unsurprising people would get obsessed at first.

But yeah, I personally get really excited watching their content or over an idol (ahem haechan) when on my own, but whenever I meet them in person it's like all that excitement disappears and I'm like, 'oh, they're just a guy/person...', and it's really chill. I don't at all know how people think following them around, partaking in every single fancall, and getting overly excited and emotional would lead to them getting close with them.

You know, I think this obsessiveness dies down as we mature/get older. It's like we have other things to focus on, we become more grounded with less free time, and distance ourselves a little more.

Please, just imagining they're probably lying in bed scrolling through videos etc. while at home is kinda funny. They likely do what we do anyway as they're people at the end of the day, it kind of makes you see them more... normally?

We're alike haha. Yeah it's fun, especially with ideal type readings etc. but then you take a step back and think, am I doing too much? 😭

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gatheringbones · 2 months ago

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[“Before I was a year old, I became aware of my body, my thoughts, my emotions, and my surroundings- during the first of many child- battering episodes. I don't know if this has anything to do with my being into S/M, though I could easily devise a theory that would make sense. I won't, because I've never cared why, any more than I've ever cared why I'm gay. I simply am: an S/M dyke of color and enjoying it, whenever and wherever and with whomever I can- and I don't want to be" cured."

I've purposely arranged my identifying tags (“S/M dyke of color") in the order of their significance for me. Sadomasochism has been the lifelong theme running through my erotic fantasies; even my wet dreams are mostly spanking dreams. When puberty hit me at nine (yes, honey, that's when my periods started), my hormones began to rage, usually but not always pointing clearly in the direction of certain other females. Somewhere along the line Mom explained to me that we were" colored" (that was fifties lingo, I'm forty now), and she gently disclosed the historical reasons why that made a difference in our lives. Then she taught me to read books— and television filled me in on the rest.

What I have to say here will be about my sadomasochistic soul. Whatever other things I happen to be, I intend to mention only where they become pertinent, because ul- timately they do mesh, to make me who I am. My focus will be on how S/M is necessary for my soul. The expression of my true sexuality is a deeply spiritual experience for me.

Leathersexuality comes of age

Having grown up in an increasingly violent world and survived it, I am dismayed at how in the 1990s our society is regressing to its earlier repressive ways. I am also angered, and anger, carefully channeled, can be a great motivator. Instead of using violence to expel energy the way I did in my younger days, I choose S/M as the vehicle for expressing the emotions that threaten to overwhelm me.

When engaging in S/M play I am free to feel all my feelings, and thereby be a whole and integrated person. For that moment, the world makes sense to me. To me, S/M is a point of sanity that serves as a formidable buffer against the insanity I see all around me on a daily basis. I don't even have to play often, to have lasting effects, because a little goes a very long way. And the best part is that S/M has all the passion, drama, and emotion that is lacking for me in vanilla sex. In the evolution of sexuality as I see it, leatherpeople are the next generation.

the importance of being out

Being black plays a significant part in my sexuality. Up to now, almost all of my lovers have been white. This is because I am strongly attracted to contrasts: black, white; butch. femme; tall, short; top, bottom. To me this is all very erotic. As for S/ M being politically incorrect, especially for me as a black woman who plays with white tops (occasionally a white male top), people say that because of history I shouldn't being enjoying this, let alone wanting it.

Frankly, it surprised me to find that some white leather- dykes didn't want to play with me unless they were bottoming for me. For some reason (my naiveté, I suppose), I had reasoned that S/ M people were above all kinds of prejudices. and certainly all sexual hang-ups and taboos. I know that by becoming a part of the leather community I have been able to get over major issues such as my biphobia (fear of bisexuality) and my heterophobia. The S/ M scene is the perfect arena in which to confront one's fears of crossing the color line or breaking the most rigid of taboos. One thing's for sure: You will find support, and with diligence and luck, partners to play out your scenario, if you need them. At least you'll find people who won't ridicule you for being weird, even if you are instead, they'll applaud you, because you are a kindred soul. I become ab- solutely ecstatic at the sight of fellow black leatherwomen and leathermen out in the S/M community. So whenever a white butch is “worried" about topping me and isn't sure if she can hit me because she doesn't want to “hurt" me, I hasten to calm her fears and convince her just how badly I would like her to hurt me and she immediately gets over it.

If someone desires a scenario such as plantation slave and master, or cowboy and Indian, as long as it is mutual and done in a loving spirit, that's all that matters and all I care about. When healing happens in an S/M relationship, that's great. I know that it does, because of the emotional, spiritual, and physiological benefits I get from it. Now that I get to do real S/M, I no longer use historical fantasies- although they were a handy tool to get me off when I was still trying to “convert" my vanilla lovers. I like being in the new gay nineties, and with the right partner there is no need for me to fantasize at all- that's how good it is sometimes.

I need to have people in my life who understand me. It is not enough that they merely tolerate me. They must love me for who I am, not in spite of who I am. We are only here in this life for so long, and I intend to make the trip worth it. My life is an adventure, to be enjoyed and shared. When people start telling me they can't share my joy because they have" issues" with what I do, I have to get away from them— fast. (Such people have no sense of humor and are no fun anyway.)

I equate this kind of intolerance with homophobia and racism: If I'm around it long enough, it can become internal ized within my psyche. I grew up being exposed to the attitude that black people were inferior to everybody else on the planet— except for gay people, who were the lowest of the low, and who are still ostracized in the black community. I do not need to listen to that nonsense today.

Ties that bind

In many ways, sadomasochism has contributed to my mental and emotional health. Even though S/ M relationships I can have their share of problems, there are sane, creative, and even fun ways for the partners to resolve them. I remem- ber when a lover broke off our sexual relationship and she I came by to drop off the heavy wooden paddle I had been keeping at her place. As I was too angry for words, my tall, good- looking ex invited herself in. “You know, Tina, I've been thinking," she said as I reached to take back the paddle." I realize that I've been much too easy on you." With that said, she ordered me to strip and bend over on the bed, ass up. Hesitating just long enough to shake off the shock, I quickly obeyed. Then she proceeded to whale all the rebelliousness out of me, relentlessly.

By the time my punishment was over, I was crying tears of gratitude and forgiveness. She held me, tenderly, and told me what a good girl I was. When she left I was on an orgasmic high that lasted for weeks. The bond we share today is a special one that keeps our friendship intact.

S/ M enables me to confront the world and people I have to interact with in extraordinary ways. By releasing a great deal of the tension and stress I've carried within me my entire life I gain energy, and I feel empowered to say no to unacceptable behavior. I don't let anyone get away with abusing me any more. S/ M has provided me with the ultimate assertiveness training, not to be found anyplace else. I have gotten better at distinguishing who I can and cannot trust, so I make saner choices in all my relationships.

The power of role-playing

Role-playing is essential for me; but it doesn't work unless it comes naturally. I am a bottom. I have tried topping, but it simply is not me. Still, I can be butch, as long as I'm not doing S/ M. Actually, in my everyday life I do dress and act in an aggressive manner for a couple of reasons: I enjoy it when I'm in that mood, and as a woman it's a safer way for me to be out on the streets, especially late at night.

I'd also like to be able to say that I am exclusively into S/ M sex, but there is a shortage of suitable tops. So, from time to time I take what I call “vanilla vacations." (Incidentally, very often during vanilla sex the boy in me ironically comes out and I like to get on top.) I can and sometimes do enjoy sex just for the sake of sex. It has its merits, which are and is my favorite form of adult play with people I am attracted to. Some of the best sex I've had in my life has been the casual one-night stand with a sexy stranger I just met. But with S/ M sex, it's not that easy for me to be casual, because the experience is so deeply emotional.

For instance, after a couple of recent traumatic breakups with vanilla girls, then no sex at all for eight months (I define sex as with a partner or partners, otherwise to me it doesn't count), boredom was starting to set in. I was ready to check out the leather scene again. I had been hearing talk of some women-only dungeon parties in town and, never having seen a real dungeon before, I was curious. To be truthful, I didn't expect that much new action, Boston being such a small city, with a tiny women's leather community. Without even dressing for the affair, I halfheartedly went.

I wasn't there long at all before I made eye contact and exchanged smiles with a sexy-looking butch all leathered up and exactly my type. Because I wasn't wearing the usual femme garb I reserve for S/M play, I felt out of character. And it didn't help that my one object of desire was rubbernecking at every obvious femme in the place.

Finally after following her around for half the night making small talk, I decided to try the direct approach. First, I asked if she were a top, just to make sure something I learned from past mistakes. (Before I was introduced to the S/M scene, I thought all tops were butches and all bottoms were femmes.) After I got the answer I wanted, I said: “I'm a bottom, if you wanna play." Well, that did it.

Several of my major fantasies were fulfilled for the first time that night by my hot leather lover. I had always wanted to be taken by a total stranger in some dimly lit spot. My first surprise was the black rubber dildo that my head was being forced down on. Never before had I so enjoyed sucking anyone's cock. Later I was getting fucked by this stud in the black leather jacket who fucked just like a man. As a matter of fact. it felt like I was being fucked by a man, except that this was the first time my cunt had ever responded, which amazed me. It was the most pleasurable orgasm I have ever had, before or since. I was impressed- and hooked.

The transformation that comes over me in femme bottom space is so gratifying, and so emotionally freeing. And with the vulnerable the way I want to- in other words, I get hot. It is right top, as on that night, I feel safe enough to be sexually usually the butch dyke top who brings out the submissive femme in me; that's the type I respond to most strongly. I love my sexual alter ego. She has a lot of fun.

getting there, getting real

My S/ M needs, though vitally important, are not that complicated especially since, as a submissive, my greatest need is to please my top. A great scene can bring my hottest fantasy to life. The very shape of my consciousness changes, and all negative thoughts are driven away. Afterwards, I always feel awesomely peaceful and relaxed, loved and lovable. No other high can match or surpass it. It makes me feel so totally alive, and all there- as opposed to numb. Life can be such a pain at times, that I cannot afford to stay in this particular reality for too long. In an S/M scene, I know that I am safe from harm while being carried off to a different dimension- and when I get there, I get real.

In these days when society's progress is seeming to go backward, threatening to drive people back into their closets, it is more vital than ever that we come out all the way, and be real. In S/M you cannot get away from yourself, you have to be totally you. I see the extreme of S/M self- expression as the ultimate act of defiance in a world where we are told that our natural sexual desires are sick and evil.

S/M is a gift that has allowed me to deal with a lot of my hurt and pain of the past, accompanied by guilt and shame that was not mine. Today I hold my head up and join my leathersisters and leatherbrothers in the streets, as we come out and claim ourselves completely, and with pride.”]

[“Tina Portillo is a forty-year-old black writer whose S/M short stories have appeared in Bad Attitude magazine and the journal Outrageous Women. Portillo has also written the in- troduction to Testimonies: A Collection of Lesbian Coming Out Stories, and most recently edited Dykescapes: Short Fiction by Lesbians (Alyson). One of her favorite traditions is to kick off the gay pride parade in Boston every year with the women's motorcycle club she belongs to.”]

tina portillo, I get real: celebrating my sadomasochistic soul, from leatherfolk: radical sex, people, politics and practice, edited by mark thompson, 1991

#cw racism #cw assault #cw abuse #cw slavery #transcribed

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gisellelx · 2 years ago

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do you want to talk about: 🎶⛔🤗and/or 🎉? have fun working on your wip!

Thanks, @palmofafreezinghand!

From the Fanfic Writer Emoji Ask @jessicanjpa beat you to 🎶 but hell, let's talk more about the WIP playlist, maybe with some spoilers?

Guns N'Roses, "Sweet Child of Mine" which is in the fic "Rhythm of Love" by Plain White T's which was in a scene that got scrapped (Carlisle was teaching Bella to actually dance) "River" by Leon Bridges which I dunno, just has the right vibe of this story "Take Me to Church" by Hozier which seems to be a fan fave for linking with Twilight, but it works.

🤗 What advice would you give to new fanfic writers that are just getting started?

Just write. Literally, really, just write. You don't know anything about the other people who are writing. Try not to judge yourself by what else you see out there. This I write in particular because by the time I started writing fanfic, I had been writing for fun for twenty years and had been writing for pay for ten. Sometimes I'd get notes from readers who would say something like, "Wow you're super talented!" and I always wanted to say, "No, I'm just probably twice your age and I've been writing seriously since I was younger than your age! When you're my age, you'll have years of experience, too!"

Writing is one of many skills that gets better by the act of doing it, and it doesn't get a lot better by hoping you'll do better at it. It's perfectly fine if your first fics are full of clichés or old tropes, plots that everybody and their sister have already written, or things that people love to make fun of or hate on. It doesn't matter if your fic gets 4 reviews. Keep writing until you get the one that breaks through. Have fun doing it, and if it stops being fun, stop doing it. (I did that in 2012. Lo and behold in 2019, it suddenly became fun again, and I picked it right back up. Fandom is very forgiving that way; it's wonderful.)

Fanfic is one of the few spheres where you can write just for the hell of it, and make friends with people just because they like the same weird goofy things you do. Speaking as someone whose career literally lives and dies on whether or not people are happy with my writing, that's a phenomenal gift. Take full advantage of it.

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

It's the review where the reader got exactly what I was trying to do. Review counts are nice, but I realize I stab myself in my own back with review counts because I don't publish 50-chapter fics (that being said, when I finish my WIP, I am going to publish it in small chunks just because, even though I think of it as 23 5,000-word chapters. That's mainly to give people time to find it and let momentum build, but not gonna lie--it will also bump the review count and that's not not a reason, in a world where people decide what to read based on what its numbers are.)

But the sign for me that I did what I meant to? When a reader tells me back either exactly what I wanted them to see, or when they tell me something I didn't even see that I was writing but that is what I think about deeply. A recent (hah 8 months ago?) review on "Cien Años" reflected on some lines in which I was making it clear that a dynamic I think exists in Carlisle and Esme's marriage is him always trying to be strong and treating her like she's some fragile, broken thing, and the reviewer was like, "Oh my god that is IMPOSSIBLE and what must it be like to realize your partner is always viewing you as somehow damaged and broken" and it was like yes. That was exactly what I was writing.

That's success to me. One review that shows I wrote what I meant to. More is nice, but the one is enough.

⛔ Do you have a fic you started, but scrapped?

I do! There are bits and pieces of lots of things scattered places, but there's only one I actually thought all the way through, called "Phantom Regiment." It was my only attempt at AH, and is loosely based on my own life and how there was a point in my twenties when literally everybody but me in my friend group dated this same guy we all knew. I got literally about 900 words into it (I checked, it was 732) and realized that it was going to take a lot of work to write a fic that far outside canon, and that if I was going to do that, I might as well just sink my time into an actual novel and not have to make it tie in to somebody else's canon. The beginning and end of me writing AH!

He jerked his head toward the wall of the gym, where a set of drums attached to a huge harness sat next to a crimson duffel. The duffel had a large silver “O” on the side, and “Edward” was embroidered on the top.

“OSU?” Interesting. Usually the Ohio State band joined the Glassmen out of Cleveland, or the Cadets in Pennsylvania.

“Best Damn Band in the Land,” he said coolly. “We have the best tenors in the country. Shame I’m playing this damn thing today.” He jabbed his toe at a round, silver snare drum I hadn’t noticed.

I raised my eyebrows.

“The perc line all audition on snare,” he answered my expression, and the drumstick whirled quickly over his knuckles once more. “Even the cymbals. We play our real instruments once they make the first cut. You can’t play snare decently, you’re not getting into the Regiment.” He nodded to the pole in my right hand. “Not like you silent types.”

“Hey, spinning is hard,” Alice butted in. “Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.”

There was a clatter as the drumstick fell to the floor, and the next thing I knew, my pole was being tugged out of my hands. Edward’s hands flashed in front of him as he started a series of drop-spins. Just about the time we were regaining our voices, he tossed the pole into the air, caught it—with bad form, but he caught it—and handed it back to me.

I was still staring at him when he spoke again.

“My ex was a flag,” he said simply, and bent down to retrieve the drumstick.

#emoji ask #palmofafreezinghand #fanfiction #writing #thank you!#asks

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randomsnakesimp · 3 years ago

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Okay. I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna take the leap and say: Phobos is the victim (sorta).

Quick disclaimer: I am going to abuse plot holes and cartoon logic for my cause in a very nitpicky way. If you dislike that, I can completely understand, and I hope this warning will save you a lot of reading.

Also, this won't go into just headcanon territory, I'll put those in a separate post. Everything here I'll try to keep based on actual information from the comics and what I made of them.

That said...

Let's take a look at this scene:

(for a quick translation of the important part, the mother says: "No, Phobos, Meridian is meant for your sister. That's the law. The crown is hers.)

What we can see here are a few very important things:

1. Phobos is at most 5 years older than Elyon.

2. The name "Phobos" is not an edgy nickname he gave himself. Five-year-olds don't go around calling themselves Phobos. So his parents, for some reason, gave him that name.

3. His mother is very adamant about him not even touching the crown and reminding him of his sisters' birthright.

So, after establishing what I would call more or less facts, what else can, relatively savely, be deduced here?

- Since Elyon never noticed anything weird about herself, she can't have aged slower than earth children. So neither can Phobos. This would mean that, as she was kidnapped after her mothers death as a baby, he would have been five. So, he either tried his best to rule at age five, or the council we see as Elyon rules stepped in for him for a while

- this would then mean two things: we need an explanation as to why Miriadel, Alborn and Galgheita fled explicitly from Phobos (I'll give my explanation a bit further down) and second, Phobos' reign of terror wasn't even thirteen years, and a lot of that time he was a child/teen and could not even have been mature enough to rule.

- This also means that Kandrakar pulled up the veil when Phobos was at most five, likely younger, and that the so called "Seal of Phobos" also existed at that time, as both the veil and the seal are seen in the flashback depicting Elyons abduction. For Kandrakar, this, too, I will try to explain soon, but as for the seal, I find it most plausible that the theory @ror-witch used in their fanfiction, of the seal being a royal heirloom and named after each ruler, is true.

- His and his mother's relationship was neither as bad as some assumptions go, but neither was it that good, probably, or at least it wasn't in his perception. See how his memory is of her cradling the baby the entire time and talking more about his sisters birthright than about what he has/can do? Yes, it's only a short memory, but I think it's clear that it's a summary of what he remembers of his mother.

- Phobos desire to rule Meridian does not stem from something deeply sinister, but rather from a childish spite. Five year old Phobos probably just wanted the crown cause it looked nice and shiny, and he was fabulous even back then, but after his mothers words, he sulked and decided to show her. That's his motivation.

So, now let's go a bit further and look at some other things we can deduce from the rest of the comics:

- Phobos has a huge dungeon, a wall of roses that turn people into more roses if they touch it and his plan for the annihilation of Meridian is "Well, Cedric and I hide in the castle and...we'll see". He hates the people of Meridian, but he doesn't seem to have it in him to directly attack anyone until Elyon is there and even here, when he has her knocked out in their duel or locked up as Endarno, he isn't unnecessarily cruel. He's not evil in nature, he's more of a very dangerous child throwing tantrums. ( Cedric is kinda similar, and they both start losing it toward the coronation, but I sincerely believe that before that, there would have been a chance for them to come around )

- The only person he ever tortures or even hurts directly is Cedric. Because one, he likes Cedric and so gets more extreme emotions around him, and two, Cedric never says anything, and just plays it of afterwards, so I don't know if he even fully realizes what he's doing, like a child hitting someone. If Cedric ever just said "Stop it, you're hurting me", Phobos would probably need an entire week to process that input.

- Phobos is VERY reclusive, and he doesn't want anyone to have even pictures of him, and while that could be a God complex, I get some highly insecure vibes out of it, in a vulnerable narcissist kinda way, in that he is massively overcompensating. I gotta admit, though, that I cannot put my finger on why, so maybe take this with a grain of salt and decide for yourself if you agree.

- Kandrakar never orders the guardians to help Meridian in any way, just to make sure nothing oozes out. They likely pulled up the veil for their own protection, so Phobos wouldn't be able to spread far enough to become a real danger, rather than to protect innocent people, as clearly the Meridian people mean shit to them

- while the guards are widely feared in Meridian, Cedric seems to be viewed as... not very frightening or important, as some random merchant feels comfortable clinging to his cape (and rightfully so, apparently, as Cedric just tells him to piss off and doesn't care any further). This further leads me to believe that Cedric is rather unhealthy devoted to Phobos and his tantrums while their shitty ass reign leaves a lot of free space for unsuited people to become guards and tyranize the people.

- the King and Queen seem to have died in rapid succession, and shortly after the scene shown above, yet she looks perfectly healthy in that scene.

Now, what do I make of all this?

I believe the line of events to be as follows:

I don't think Phobos traveling back in time is a viable theory for mainly two reasons: I think his mother would be less chill around him if she saw/heard about his reign herself, and I believe that it would have been mentioned somewhere along the way if that were the case. Instead, what I believe happened is that the oracle had a vague vision of Phobos nearly taking over Kandrakar. Deciding in their random mood swings that today was a day of action, they had the people of Meridian informed that the next male born to a queen would become a dangerous tyrant, pulled up a veil and set their guardians to make sure nothing oozed out.

The veil, of course, made the people of Meridian feel trapped and a horror of the unborn prince who would ruin their lives spread.

So, when Weira gave birth to that prince, a full blown panic spread, so much so that she, in a fit of hysterical emotion, named him after that boust of panic. Of course, people tried to kill the prince basically from the moment he was born, and he was met with barely concealed resentment.

Soon after, Weira and her husband died - whether they were killed, or fell ill, or died in an accident, I have no idea, but I wouldn't completely rule out an assassination either aimed at Phobos and accidentally hitting them or the strain making at least one of them fall terminally ill.

Either the people rioted and Phobos' magic panic reaction or the leftover loyal guard was enough to fight them back, or the people succumbed to their fate at this point, slumping into the state of despair seen throughout the comics. But in the end, five year old Phobos had to be handed the throne. I assume the council still had some say at this point, but he did manage to get all pictures of him destroyed - this order was likely due to the fact that they were mostly caricatures.

So he grew up with the very volatile combination of a shitton of power and no one able to tell him if he was being stupid on one hand, and feeling unloved and unwanted on the other. He withdrew, likely also due to countless assassination attempts or things he perceived as such, and went into a negative feedback loop of being unable to mature and take responsibility, therefore being a shit ruler, therefore being hated, therefore having no one to help him, therefore being unable to face and grow from his mistakes, rinse and repeat.

So, Meridian was plunged into chaos, yet he seemed fine more or less just sitting in the new playroom he made for himself in the gardens, sporadically giving out an order or two and having generally no idea about anything that didn't directly concern him.

Enter Elyon. Now, she send him of the rails, as she was a danger to his lifestyle AND a reminder of all the sentiments he'd be drowning in alcohol if he wasn't too much of a recluse and education denier to know of that option. He doesn't even try. He just lets Cedric, the one person he trusts, handle her, like everything else, and somewhat plays along sometimes, when he feels like it. This is where he passes the point of no return and starts actually trying to kill people, culminating in him creating an army to wipe out Meridian. I still believe that even at this point, in his head, what he's doing is just throwing a nice toy out the window just so his sister won't have it.

#w.i.t.c.h. comics #w.i.t.c.h.#w.i.t.c.h. theory #prince phobos #Kandrakar is a shitshow

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drshojo · 5 years ago

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The World, My Childhood And My Hero Academia: Vigilantes

Hello friends!

Its Dr. Shojo coming at you with a post that will be divided into three parts!

Part One: The world as we know it!

The world has changed a lot since we last connected. For starters, TOILET BOUND HANAKO KUN HAS NOT ONLY A PHYSICAL RELEASE BUT A GORGEOUS ANIME! And not only that, but MY NEXT LIFE AS A VILLAINESS: ALL ROUTES LEAD TO DOOM! IS GETTING AN ANIME AS WELL! The last time I wrote about Katerina there wasn’t even an official English translation of that long-ass light-novel-title. And now?

A WHOLE ANIME. A BISEXUAL HAREM AWAITS! I am JAZZED!

Do you think it’s my fault? No matter, I’ll take all the credit. All the manga I talk about are getting anime adaptations. I’LL DO MY DUTY AND TALK ABOUT SOME MORE!

But first. Let us address the Covid-19 shaped elephant in the room

I deeply regret that it took a whole-ass pandemic to get me back to writing. In my defense, I bought an iPad and started drawing like 900 kokichi oumas. I was really busy with that. And then I started reading fanfiction. Then that got me thinking about how fanfiction such an interesting look into how people interpret fandom, use it for wish fulfillment and escapism, and good god is everyone OK cause that bulimia fan fic was super detailed....and I am officially on a tangent. Off track. Ahem.

We are all staying inside a whole lot more which means y’all probably need some reading material and Dr. Shojo has your back! Go read “Horimiya”! It’s amazing! Ahhhh, my work here is done! I'm serious, if you’re here for a Shojo rec, that’s it! There's also like 8 million more Otome Isekais to check out now. It’s like they’re multiplying like rabbits..............

As a Doctor, I must advise you to stay inside and read some manga and practice social distancing. Embrace your inner hikikomori.

Allright? All good? Okay now one final disclaimer:

This post is going to be talking about something a little different than usual and I want to start by giving you some context about who Dr. Shojo is in real life.

Part Two: Dr. Shojo Exposed

You see, when I was little I was obsessed with Japanese media. This doesn't surprise you at all I can tell. Probably because I walk around calling myself Dr. Shojo and shout about manga that you should read.

Anyways, the reason why I was obsessed wasn’t because of the big eyes or the spikey hair or the interesting new culture. It was because it tended to have more character development and overarching plotlines than the media I was used to in Canada. Dexter’s Lab, Magic School Bus, pretty much everything I saw on TV was episodic in nature, so imagine how much my mind was blown when I saw Naruto and Card Captor Sakura, heck, even Pokémon had the Indigo Plateau! Here were kids that were learning more and more each day and got to see enemies become friends and vice versa. They lived and grew older just like me. Except they were cooler than me. And had more interesting lives than me. I gotta tell you, I was so sad when I was 12 and Kero didn’t tell me I had latent magical powers. But there was magic in my life and it was the magic of a complex narrative story. And not only that, it had a sense of movement and had cool costumes. I was hooked immediately.

Also, fun fact, at that age I happened to be a complete and utter tomboy! I loved pretending to fight my friends in the playground and was really worried that puberty would ruin my life because being a girl sounded so CUMBERSOME.

Which leads me up to my confession. Before I became Dr. Shojo, I was in fact......Dr. Shonen.

Bleach? Naruto? One Piece? I've read every single chapter there is.

Hundreds of hours of watching fight sequences. Another fun fact, I only got into shojo because my aunt bought me volume 7 and 8 of Fruits Basket thinking “all mangas like the same right? Kids love comics?” It’s a tribute to how episodic western media was back then that she thought buying volume SEVEN and EIGHT was a REASONABLE PLACE TO START READING.

Now you might also say, Hey! Dr Shojo! Cardcaptors was a shojo! And you are right! but back then the anime was marketed to boys over here in the west and they actualy like, edited out episodes that they thought wouldn't interest boys?! Second fun fact, Once when I was in Grade 3 I was told I was not allowed to join a club under the stairs cause I was a girl and it was BOYS ONLY. The point of the club? To talk about how great Cardcaptors was! I Kid you not!

So anyways, your pall Dr. Shojo loves Shonen manga to this day!

The only reason I made this Dr. Shojo blog specifically about shojo is because, being a tomboy with no female friends, reading shojo manga was the first time I really thought about what it meant to be a girl and fall in love. And y i k e s. Shojo manga, like most media, fails miserably most of the time in displaying real world relationships. Or at least, it doesn't prepare you for how disappointing everything can be. When I had my first kiss, I was thinking about how it didn’t feel at all like how I felt reading Zen and Shirayukis kiss in Akagame No Shirayuki Hime. Those were formative years, and shojo was one of the only places I saw romance being talked about for younger audiences. I liked reading romances where no one had any sexual experiences and were figuring out what love meant to them. But let’s shelve this topic for now.

The point is that gender roles are dumb and if you have an open mind there's a world of stories out there for you. Take this time inside to read something you wouldn’t normally. Critically think about the ways that the worlds you see in stories and how you experience the world differ. What are the messages a story is trying to tell you? And why do you like the stories you do? Reflect on how the stories you tell yourself color your view of the world. Even mindless entertainment leaves an impression on us. Anyways.

Whilst you're doing that, I'm going to absolutely lose my hecking mind over the Shonen Jump series MY HERO ACADEMIA: Vigilantes!

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

Part Three: I downloaded the one month free trial of the Shonen Jump app and made you read all that, so I can tell you that today Dr. Shojo is going to rant about a spin-off of a shonen manga

THAT’S RIGHT, OF COURSE I READ HERO ACA AND YES I DID PICK UP THE SPIN OFF SERIES. SHONEN JUMP LETS YOU READ ALL THE NEW CHAPTERS FOR FREE ON THEIR APP. KIDS, IF YOU LIKE SHONEN AND YOU’RE PIRATING ON A SCANLATION SITE STILL GET OUT BECAUSE YOU DON’T NEED TO SEE THOSE WEIRD PLASTIC SURGERY AND DENTISTRY ADDS ANY MORE.

SHONEN IS HERE AND ITS LEGAL AND ITS FREE FOR YOU. GET OFF MANGA FOX OR MANGA ROCK OR WHATEVER THE KIDS ARE USING THESE DAYS.

OK, so by this point in the article you have learned two very important things about me: 1) I love Shonen manga and 2) I read a lot of fanfiction.

Specifically, I read an absolutely biblical amount of My Hero Academia fan fiction and let me tell you, A solid chunk of it is vigilante/ Deadpool / criminal with a heart of gold themed.

So when I saw Hero Aca had a spin off, and it was about vigilantes, I was NOT SURPRISED IN THE SLIGHTEST. Ao3 sure is powerful.

Now, if you will permit me a tangent in a post full of tangents—HOLY CRAP, THERE ARE TOO MANY VIGILANTE AUS. I CAN'T KEEP TRACK OF EM. IT’S THE ISEKAI PROBLEM ALL OVER AGAIN. I GET AN EMAIL A FIC HAS UPDATED AND I’M LIKE IS THIS THE FIC WHERE DEKU HAS AN ABUSIVE MOM OR THE ONE WHERE HE HAS SPLIT PERSONALITY DISORDER OR THE ONE WHERE HE’S VIGILANTES WITH HITOSHI. OH WAIT, nvm, it’s the one where deku has a healing quirk.

OH WAIT WHICH OF THE 6 DEKU WITH HEALING QUIRK VIGILATE AU FICS IS THIS ONE?! ARGH WHY DIDN’T I WRITE A DESCRIPTION IN THE BOOKMARK FOR THIS!

My gripes aside, there's a reason why there's such an abundance of vigilante story telling—

Deadpool made like an absolute buttload of money and people love sass and memes.

People have a desire for a story in which they see themselves. Or, how they think of themselves.They like a story about someone who maybe came from nothing. Someone who has less money, maybe someone who is unlucky and had some bad breaks. Someone who never learned they had magic, never got their Hogwarts letter, never saw Kero, someone who never got that God-level quirk from All Might. And if your on Ao3 They want someone who also has seen a lot of memes and kind of wants taco bell and is also questioning their sexuality a bit?

Enter our new hero VIGILANTE DEKU.

But the cannon can't do this, cause hey, Deku is the chosen one. Albeit, chosen by All Might, He’s got his own thing to do. But how can we still cash in on a vigilante story?

And thus enter our New-New hero KOICHI HAIMAWARI—code name Nice Guy and then later The Crawler. True to his relatable roots. He’s just a dude in an hoodie who can go about as fast as a bike.

First off, I love Koichi. He wants to be a hero and fight crime, but most of the time he has to run away because at the end of the day he's just a dude.

He’s cute but not wildly good-looking, A bit of a nerd but not like an extreme okaku. He’s got a part time job and hates violence.

And this is where Koichi really shines—in every day stuff. He helps out wherever he can. Often, that just means listening to people complain and maybe helping his friends out with whatever they’re going through. He’s the kind of guy who smiles, not because he's especially brave, but because he just takes things one at a time and doesn't sweat the past. I think it’s really telling that he missed getting into hero high-school because he skipped the entrance exam to help someone. He’s the kind of person who lets us experience the superpower of human decency and empathy. And you know what? That’s something the world need desperately.

This theme of human decency is really the driving force of Vigilantes—it’s a manga about how the laws are there for a reason but sometimes they unfairly impact the poor and vulnerable. It's about how a lot of criminals are just people who fell into bad social circles or on bad times. People have the capacity for cruelty and violence but that’s never all they are.

Now, speaking of crime, the entirety of Hero Aca falls into some murky water when it comes to its evil doers. Much of the fandom has a huuuuuge problem with how much the franchise is willing to sweep under the rug in the name of redeeming their baddies. RE: people getting mad about forgiving Endeavor’s child abuse, or Bakugo’s suicide baiting. Or Mineta’s blatant sexual harassment.

But this theme is in Vigilantes even more than it ever was in the main series. To start off with, there’s this guy who tries to rape Pop Step early on, and the later he later winds up befriending everybody. It becomes a running gag that each new villain winds up befriending the other villain guys and then they all open a cat café together.

Using jobs as a way to lift people out of lives of crime is great and all but in the story there is no nuance or consequences for past wrong and well.....it feels very weird. It's like Vigilantes plays at having an opinion about moral ambiguity and the complexity of human existence and then just.......lets everyone get along because who has time to get into all that. Make of that what you will but it sits weird for me personally.

Anyway, let's move on and talk about POP STEP our main girl!

I love pop stars and I love vigilantes and a guerrilla performer is defiantly a character I could get behind. And I think they do a good job with Pop. She is actually kind of shy, but has this secret edgy persona she puts on when she performs. She is every girl on tumbler in the early 2000s. I also looooove that they make her not that great a singer. SHE’S GOT PASSION AND CHARISMA and maybe not born talent but like why should that stop you! Talent can be earned through practice and this is a great lesson to show people.

Unfortunately, Pop is also a great example of everything wrong with romance in Shonen.

It’s established early on that Pop loves Koichi because she is the girl he rescued all those years ago and yada yada yikes we’ve heard this one before. Many times before.

Sure, it's fine that they’ve met before, but gosh am I sick of damsels in distress. It's like she can't love him just because she respects what a great guy he is in her life and in the community at large, no no, she just needs to be rescued on top of that. And LOLOLOL isn't it funny he never noticed she was a girl because she was a child with short hair?! Once he realizes she has boobs now they will for sure fall in love! That’s how love works!

She's just with him all the time—nothing romantic ever happens she just gets a little tsundere.

I am never ever going to believe Koichi likes Pop because he spends like sooooo much time with her and they never have like, a moment. The first time he considers her is when Makoto is like, ‘hey I would love to get together with you, but have you thought about if you are crushing on Pop’. (Also this entire plot point is suspect—she's arbitrarily falling for Koichi cause he.......is the protagonist?)

Say what you will about shojo, they give you the emotional conversations, the moments where you think.....ahhh I can see why she is falling for him. They give you context! Shonen likes to just say HERE’S A GIRL YOUR AGE. YOU CAN DATE LATER WHEN THE ADVENTURE IS DONE.

Just when they might get together, Pop suddenly turns evilllllll. The evilllll beeeees made her eeeevilllll (and more sexy).

*Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh*

Because why on earth would they get together if Koichi didn’t get to rescue Pop one more time?

I’m tired. These troupes are tired. I’m sure you are too. HOWEVER! If your still with me, Let’s move into why I'm really writing this post. Let’s get to the part that got me screaming to my friends, who by the way, don’t even care bout Hero Aca….but listened anyways. May you all find nakama like these my friends.

Anyways,

HOLY FUCK ERASERHEAD’S ENTIRE BACK STORY IS IN THIS AROUND CHAPTER 60 AND IT IS WONDERFUL AND ABSOLUTLY HEARTBREAKING AND IS ONE OF THE BEST CHARACTER BACKSTORIES I HAVE EVER SEEN AND IS THE REASON WHY THIS SERIES IS A MUST-READ FOR MAIN SERIES FANS.

AND BY ALMIGHT.

WHY. IS. IT HERE.

I present to you my late night text messages to my friends

ALSO, AIZAWAS TEACHER IS PRINCE?!?!?!

AHEM, so as you can see, I kinda lost my shit.

And now, I would like to formally defend my claim that DESPITE HOW AMAZING IT WAS, ERASERHEAD’S BACKSTORY HAD NO BUISSNESS BEING IN THE VIGILANTES SPIN-OFF MANGA.

Eraserhead, aka Aizawa Shouta, is a side character who is working with the police on some crime stuff. He is not a main cast member in this spin off. He’s a guest character that fans of the main series will be like OH COOL. GRUMPY CAT MAN LIKES CATS ON HIS OFF HOURS TOO. LOVE THAT FOR HIM.

So, my imagine my absolute surprise when Aizawa runs into Koichi and the following happens:

It starts to rain, so, like in any good manga, this means some great FORCED BONDING TIME

Except no. It doesn't because rather than start talking, Aizawa JUST STARTS REMEMBERING—ABSOLUTLY SILENTLY TO HIS OWN PRIVETE SELF—HIS ENTIRE TRAGIC BACKSTORY.

AND THIS GOES ON FOR CHAPTERS.

THIS GOES ON LONGER THEN ARC ONE IT FEELS LIKE.

I LOVE IT, BUT KOICHI IS ABOUT TO JOIN ATSUSHI NAKAJIMA IN THE DUBIOUS CATEGORY OF “PROTAGONISTS THE SERIES FORGOT ABOUT IN LIEU OF COOLER SIDE CHARACTERS”.

AND LO IT HAS NO BEARING ON THE REST OF THE PLOT, CHARACTERS, OR STORY

What the ever-loving-just WHY?

WHY?

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY?

SURE, IT’S A COOL TIE-IN.

YES, OF COURSE I LOVED IT. I SHIP ERASER MIC, I DREW THIS FOR HECK’S SAKE:

AND YET I AM ANGRY.

I AM ANGRY BECAUSE MY FRIDAY WAS RUINED BECAUSE VIGILATES SUCKER PUNCHED ME WITH AN AMAZING STORY THAT REALLY WASN’T PLOT RELEVANT AND PROBABLY SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THERE.

IS THIS WHY THEY TOOK LIKE NEXT-TO-NO CARE WITH POPS ARC?!?

I mean its ongoing, so it’s too early to say but—

In conclusion—

Excuse me one more,

AIZAWA WAS TAUGHT BY PRINCE!?!??!?!?!?!? PURPLE RAIN PRINCE!?!??!?!?!? WHAT!??!?!?!

It’s so ABSURD that I HAD TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT IT. I HAD TO WRITE PARAGRAPHS TO JUSTIFY YELLING ABOUT THIS ONE THING. WHAT THE ABSOLUTE—

Ahem,

Anyways, I hope you liked this weird rant/personal-story/random-diatribe in three parts.

If you’re reading this, thank you, stay safe, and I’ll be back with more shojo manga next time.

Ciao!

Dr. Shojo

(aka Dr. Shonen)

#my hero academia vigilantes #koichi haimawari #pop step #my hero academia #erasermic #Cardcaptors #Shojo manga #Shonen Manga #Dr Shojo #read Horimiya

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mytearsricoshay · 7 years ago

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Hi! I've been following you for a while and didn't realize you were such a passionate Taylor Swift fan until the release of the new song. Sorry if this is weird, but could I ask why you like her so much? I loved her when I was younger and enjoy a lot of her more recent songs, but I'm probably not what you'd call a swifty. I'm just curious, sorry if it's a weird question! Really love your blog by the way!

Hey there! That’s not a weird question at all, I know my overload of Taylor Swift feels probably came out of nowhere so it might come as a shock to some of my followers just how big of a fan I actually am but….what can I say. That shit’s been building up for three years, fam.

Anyways I’m not really sure how to answer this??? Like I love her with all my heart but I’ve never really had to think about why I do so I’m gonna try and break it down, I guess??

Musically, she’s one of the most talented songwriters in the business. I don’t agree with people who say she can’t sing - obviously - but there are a lot more powerful voices out there that can easily outshine her. In terms of her lyrics though, she’s unparalleled. And I know it’s easy to pull up lyrics from Shake it Off or Bad Blood or the chorus of Look What You Made Me Do to try and discredit her, but those are singles. They’re made to be earworms whose entire purpose is to garner attention and stick in peoples heads - and they do their job well. But they don’t even come close to the type of lyrics she’s capable of producing.

But if you’ve ever listened to her music beyond singles made for radio play you’ll find a lyrical genius who - cliche as it sounds - has a talent for making listeners feel what she feels. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood up and screamed the lyrics to All too Well or Last Kiss or The Last Time with real tears in my eyes despite never having gone through any sort of breakup myself. I can barely listen to Dear John without feeling blinding anger that she was emotionally abused and taken advantage of like that at such a young age. Maybe I’m just an overly empathetic person but I can feel her pain through her lyrics and it just…speaks to me. And it’s not just her ballads either. Even a song like Look What You Made Me Do has lyrics that make me feel for her (I don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me no bby I trust u w/my life pls don’t say that).

Beyond that, her songs that aren’t lyrical masterpieces are still good and catchy and fun and there’s not a song by her that I don’t thoroughly enjoy listening to. Her music makes me happy and that’s all there really is to it. Even back when I hated her I still loved her music haha.

Taylor as a person….there’s just so many reasons to love her. Yes, she’s a Queen who dominates the industry and destroys the charts and the sales and all that good shit. But that’s not why I love her. For starters, I’ve never been a fan of a celebrity who cares about their fans as much as she does. She invites fans to her house to get an exclusive listening of her new album. She unfollows everyone including her own brother and erases all of her social media right down to her MySpace but doesn’t unfollow her fans on tumblr.

She’s extremely generous, and critics can say it’s just an act and she’s fake or whatever all they like. I don’t believe that, but even if I did, she’s donating to charities and giving money to a fellow woman struggling with legal fees and writing a heartfelt song to a little boy who died of cancer and at that point who honestly cares why it’s being done? She’s doing good things and all anyone ever focuses on is the why.

She’s kind and genuine (as told by…pretty much everyone who actually knows her) but for all her softness she’s also learned to stand up for herself (or “play the victim” as assholes like to put it). As she’s put it she got harder over the years and now she’s done letting people step all over her and I just think that’s a really important message to send to the young girls in her audience who are generally taught that anger is unladylike??? That you can still be good and kind but not put up with people who try to bring you down. You can get angry. Asshole sues her after sexually assaulting her? Get rekt fucker. Haters twist her image and take everything she says and does as fodder to demonize her? Prepare to get dragged asshats. She’s the walking embodiment of “Do no harm but take no shit.”

She’s also extremely smart and clever. She’s a force to be reckoned with based on her brilliant mind alone.And that’s something that I don’t think even her haters would try denying. Whether you think she’s a Cersei or a Sansa you just know that she’s incredibly shrewd and quick-witted.

Do I wish she were a better feminist? Of course I do. That’s something I wish for pretty much every celebrity I stan, but she’s learning. She’s specifically stated that she doesn’t like talking politics and that’s her right. I wish that weren’t the case as a queer latina fan but I’m not going to drag her through the mud for something she might believe, especially not when her tweets about the women’s march in January and Charleston point to that definitely not being the case. That doesn’t mean I don’t hope that someday soon she becomes more outspoken about issues outside of “just” sexism y’know? As someone who deeply and wholeheartedly believes in intersectional feminism I don’t think that hope will ever truly go away.

I’m getting off topic though. I’m hoping this massive essay answered your question as to why I love my lord and savior Taylor Alison Swift. If you made it through the whole thing then God bless you, if you didn’t here’s a TL;DR for you: Her music makes me feel things and she’s a genuinely good person. The End

#taylor swift #reputation #look what you made me do #ask #anon #i'm sorry anon u didn't ask for this shit #i just have a lot of taylor swift feels okay #im sorry #but thank u!!!#Anonymous

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folatefangirl · 7 years ago

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So now that I've finished reading the YA book (Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova) I have some thoughts beyond the stream of consciousness that incidentally reflects how I write reviews on AO3. There will probably be subtle spoilers though I'll try to be as careful as possible.

Pros: - All of the good surprises. Cordova really played me with the YA relationships in this novel and boy I am so glad she did. I was cackling for hours last night about it. Brilliant. - It's an urban fantasy, but not the usual. First of all, none of the characters are bland Wonderbread people, which I appreciate after reading way too many books with that. In fact, the main character is biracial (ancestral Caribbean/African heritage) and Latinx. Secondly, the main character is very aware of the magical world, just wary of it due to personal baggage. She's 15 and very traumatized by childhood experiences; I did think she was a bit whiny at first, but I get it. Plus, other characters call her out on her bullshit. Repeatedly. - I loved that a lot of the book had Spanish. It makes me want to reread it again in the Spanish edition to get more practice. - I liked that all Magic had consequences for the brujos/brujas with pretty set rules. Even Alex couldn't go on forever, which is good for making sure most plot holes close up on their own. - The El Papa symbol as the moon and La Mama symbol as the sun made me smile since one of my very favorite series, Lord of the Rings, does something similar in its worldbuilding. - All the complex, deeply-developed family relationships. Yes good. - Multiple characters did the whole "Cool motive, still murder/other shitty behavior" call out to each other and I am so very relieved.

Cons: - The villain seemed rather creepy at first before they entered Los Lagos, and then became rather... underwhelming. Even with a few close calls and the final climax, the villain seemed too easily defeated by Alex. Either that or Alex just becomes too Messianic. But I was just saying to myself, "They were worried and unable to defeat THAT? Just how weak did the Deos make them?" - All the arbitrary "this is just how it is" worldbuilding with Los Lagos confused me at times. Maybe it could have been done a little more smoothly with more showing and less telling on the part of Nova, the duende, and the avianas. - I didn't like the super-detailed physical descriptions of Nova so much. This probably makes me a hypocrite since I just finished a Sarah Waters book with lots of the same thing, and yet... The latter I'm more comfortable with because it was listed as an adult novel, not YA. Anyway, by the end of the book I was just pinching the bridge of my nose and repeating "Okay, he's hot; I get it, I get it." - The Lula slut-shaming thing at the beginning? Yuck. Even if it was in-character, it made it so much harder to relate to Alex. Plus the stereotypical bullying with Jocks and Preps vs Weird People just made me roll my eyes and think of cheesy 80s movies. - The weird plot twists that kinda seemed like they were tossed in to make everything work out just had me saying a flat "What." whenever they happened. Some smoothing with the plot as well as more foreshadowing, and it probably wouldn't have been as jarring. - The jokes were a bit cheesy and juvenile most of the time, but that may just be because I'm not close to the characters' ages. A younger reader would probably like them more. - A petty thing and probably the fault of the publishers, but I don't think the title reflects the book that well. It refers to something in the book at least, but not the overall plot or point of the book. Idk, it just bothers me.

All in all, this book solidly deserves its 4/5 rating and was a quick, fun read. Check it out if you're curious.

I just started reading a YA novel after wrapping up a book by Sarah Waters. (Tipping the Velvet to be exact.) And now in the YA book the extra-detailed physical descriptions of a dude relatively close to the female protag’s age has begun. *sigh* The lack of overwhelming heteronormativity was nice while it lasted.

#booklr #book rec #labyrinth lost #zoraida cordova

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metroidspeedrun · 7 years ago

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I'm just - so proud

1: Let’s start with a tricky one; what is the real reason you are confused right now? I don’t know why the person I like wants to hang out with me2: Do you ever get “good morning” texts from anyone? Nope, but middle of the day yeah3: If your significant other smoked pot, would you care? No, but I stopped and I always feel like I gotta when people ask so I’d probs prefer they didn’t around me a lot4: Do you find it easy to trust others? No not at all5: What were you doing at 11PM last night? Sleeping I think or on twitter6: You’re drunk and lost walking down the road; who is with you? That dog that followed me home once7: What would you do if you found out you had been cheated on? Cry but get over it and joke about it for the next 500 years8: Are you close with your dad? Not at all lol9: I bet you kissed someone last night, right? I wish10: What are you listening to? Santeria by Sublime11: You can only drink ONE liquid for the rest of your life - what is it? Grapefruit juice12: Do you like hickeys? I think it’s a gross appropriation of vampire culture13: What time do you go to bed? Between 8 and1114: Is there someone who continuously lets you down? My dad15: Can you text as quickly with one hand as you do both? Nope lol16: Do you always answer your texts? No17: Do you hate the person you fell the hardest for? No because I guess I appreciate the experience18: When was the last time you talked to one of your best friends? Just now 7:32 p.m.19: Is there someone that makes you happy every time you see them? You know who20: What was your last thought before you went to bed last night? I like sharing a bed21: Is anyone else in the room with you? Yup22: Do you believe what goes around comes around? Not all the time 23: Were you happier four months ago than you are now? Yes, I think so24: Is there someone you wish you could fix things with? No25: In the past week, have you cried? Yes26: What colour is the shirt you are wearing? White27: Do people ever call you by your last name? No but it’d be cool28: Is anyone ignoring you right now? No29: Do you have a best friend? Yes30: Would it be hard seeing someone else kiss the last person you kissed? It’s been happening for the past year now so I’m really kind of over it31: Who was your last call/text message from? My boss32: Are you mad at anyone? Not atm no33: Have you ever kissed someone older than you? Yes34: How old will the last person you kissed be on his/her next birthday? 2135: How many more days until your birthday? 78 I think idk I suck at math36: Do you have any summer plans yet? Work and school and maybe a date??? Who knows37: Do you have any good friends of the opposite sex? Yes38: Are you keeping anything from your best friend(s) now? Nope not at all 39: Do you have a secret that you’ve never told anyone? No I am the queen of dramatic oversharing40: Have you ever regretted kissing someone? No41: Do you think age matters in relationships? Kind of, but like I really can’t speak bc my first 3 serious significant others could have possibly gotten into a ton of trouble for being with me42: Are you available? Yes 43: How many people have you had real, strong feelings for since high school ended? 344: If you had to get a piercing (not ears), what would you get? My lip probably45: Do you believe exes can be friends? Yes46: Do you regret anything? Everything47: Honestly, what’s on your mind right now? How gay I am48: Did you ever lose a best friend? So many49: Was your last kiss a mistake? No50: Why aren’t you pursuing the person you like? Because I am scared51: Has the last person you kissed ever seen you cry? Yes52: Do you still talk with the person you LAST kissed? Yup all the time53: What was the last thing you ate? Lasagna54: Did you get any compliments today? That I was cute and that I was silly55: Where are you going on your next vacation? I don’t go on vacation 56: Do you own anything from other countries? Um yes 57: Are most of your friend guys or girls? Girls58: Where have you lived most of your life? Elk Grove59: When was the last time you took a long drive? Today, my mom got lost and I got to take a nap ^-^60: Have you ever played Spin the Bottle? No61: Have you ever TPd someone’s house? No (that is a shitty thing to do)62: Who do you text the most? My boss63: What was the last movie you saw? IWTV64: What’s preventing your current boyfriend/girlfriend from going back to their ex? I don’t have one65: How many boyfriends/girlfriends did you have in 2011? I was thirteen so I was dating 1 guy but not seriously. We just held hands, he was nice and his name was Jeremy66: Is the last person you kissed younger than you? No67: Do you curse around your parents? I don’t want to die young that bad68: Are you happy with where you live? No69: Picture of yourself? 70: Are you a monogamous person or do you believe in open-ended relationships? I have been monogamous in most of my past relationships but when I was dating Jason (this is actually my best experience w him) he introduced me to this girl named Sam who we called Kitty from our RP group and we ended up all being a thing and I think it was much easier on me because she was willing to do things that I wasn’t and she was definitely our mediator, so I have to say I prefer open &/or poly relationships because when there are problems there is usually one person there to act as a conflict mediator 71: Have you ever been dumped? Yup in all of my relationships technically (I would hate to dump someone)72: What do you most like about making out? The fact that I haven’t had an opportunity to fuck it up because I’ve never made out73: Have you ever casually made out with someone who you weren’t seriously involved with? No74: When you kiss someone for the first time, is it usually you who initiates it or the other? The other75: What part of a person’s body do you find most attractive? Belly buttons tbh I had no idea how to answer this76: Who was the last person you talked to last night before you went to bed? Probs you77: Had sex with someone you knew less than an hour? No78: Had sex with someone you didn’t know their name? No79: What makes your heart flutter and brings a big cheesy smile to your face? When anyone is nice to me or teases me out of love80: Would you get involved with someone if they had a child already? FUCK YES I definitely have a weird thing for single moms81: Has someone who had a crush on you ever confessed to you? Yes and it was terrible because he pursued me for 3 years even after I said no82: Do you tell a lot of people when you have a crush? No just you83: Do you miss your last sweetie? Lol my what and no84: Last time you slow danced with someone? I was slow dancing with my friend but we were both really awkward because I wanted to lead and he wanted to lead and it was really strange85: Have you ever ‘dated’ someone you’ve never met? 98% of the people I’ve dated so yup86: How can I win your heart? Just be nice to me and also have a really weird sense of humor87: What is your astrological sign? Leo sun88: What were you doing last night at 12 AM? Sleeping for sure89: Do you cook? Yes90: Have you ever gotten back in touch with an old flame after a time of more than 3 months of no communication? Yes91: If you’re single right now, do you wish you were in a relationship? Yes92: Do you prefer to date various people or do you pretty much fall into monogamous relationships quickly? I don’t really like how this question is phrased. I will answer though, I prefer to be friends and then if we both like each other I’d like to skip all of the ‘talking’ and just be in an actual relationship that we both agree on93: What physical traits do you look for in a potential interest? Eyes, smile (like if they smile with their whole face)94: Name four things that you wish you had! 1) A relationship 2) A second job 3) At least 2 grand in my savings 4) A passport95: Are you a player? No96: Have you ever kissed 2 people in one day? No97: Are you a tease? Not so much anymore but when I was younger yeah. I prided myself on kind of leading guys to think I was promiscuous j to get attention and affection from them and then once I got them to like me I would change all of that and j be myself until I grew bored of their expectations98: Ever meet anyone you met on Tumblr? Not yet99: Have you ever been deeply in love with someone? Deeply, probs not, but I have been in love100: Anybody on Tumblr that you’d go on a date with? Not atm no101: Hugs or Kisses? Kisses102: Are you too shy to ask someone out? Yes103: The first thing you notice about the opposite sex? How shitty their conversation topics are104: Is it cute when a boy/girl calls you babe? No I prefer anything that sounds like it could be either an insult or an inside joke between people who have known each other a very long time105: If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew he/she was in relationship, would you go for it? No, because that is fucked up106: Do you flirt a lot? No107: Your last kiss? Almost two years ago108: Have you kissed more than 5 people since the start of 2012? No109: Have you kissed anyone in the past month? No110: If you could kiss anyone who would it be? The person that is coming over 111: Do you know who you’ll kiss next? No112: Does someone like you currently? Yes113: Do you currently have feelings for anyone? Yes114: Do you like to be in serious relationships or just flings? Serious ftw115: Ever made out with just a friend? Kissed, we didn’t make out and we only kissed twice116: Are you happier single or in a relationship? Relationship117: Your own question that you want me to answer. Just write it. Um you had one job Lestat

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