#do this horrible thing BECAUSE we're good people.

[beaniebaneenie]

If y'all think there will still be free and fair midterms, you're kidding yourselves.

If you think for one second that he is going to EVER willingly walk away from the oval office, when just a couple weeks ago, a judge explicitly stated that it was ONLY the power and office of the presidency that was keeping his orange ass out of jail?

I have a bridge in New York that I'd like to sell you.

For those of you playing the Home Game, we are HERE.

GOP has all three branches, and I'd say we're going to get some form of Enabling Act within the next 12 months.

The American people are pretty comfy in their knowledge that presidents can only be president for 8 years tops. That wasn't a law until after FDR though.

Before then, it was literally just "respect for George Washington" and "tradition" that kept people ending their terms then. Now, this country needed a solid base of leadership through WW2, which is why FDR broke the tradition and ran again. And again. He was also a very good president and won by huge margins.

But if you think that Trump is going to peaceably and happily just waltz out at the end of 4 years because "the law says I can't be president anymore", then you haven't been paying attention or are willfully deluded.

This man has already attempted a coup once. And received zero punishment or consequences for it. He WILL try again. And he will not wait another four years to do it.

Things are going to be bad, and get ugly fast.

Cultural and political "norms" and expectations are going to be discarded with extreme prejudice. The propaganda is going to be INTENSE.

Hell, just scroll up on this post. Cheeto spent years saying he was going to get rid of tiktok and how horrible it was- and now even the fucking app is thanking him for being the one who "saved" it, less than 24 hours later.

And if you know anything about government, and how long it takes to get anything done, you will realize that this was fucking planned.

And it was absolutely an attempt to get young folks thinking he's cool and hip and that he's "saved" their free speech, and "saved" their rent by continuing their access to the app that pays their rent. It's propaganda to make him the hero in their eyes.

And with places like Facebook banning fact-checking, it's going to be even worse.

Find independent news sources. Triple check information. If you see something hinky, ask yourself, "who benefits if I believe this?" and "who does this version of events serve, who does it demonize?"

Now is the time to fight back with absolutely everything.

Trump is probably going to remove the TikTok ban shortly after his inauguration and secure a chunk of the youth vote.

[the-clock-of-the-time-dragon]

[Wicked Act II spoilers]

[edited for tone and clarity of purpose, apologies for initial crudeness and frustration]

Okay, obviously I'm biased, but I'm gonna need the Fiyeraba shippers to please set a lot of your people straight about some things. I've seen way too many people trying to say that Glinda is just a selfish bimbo and that Fiyero is a virtuous and selfless figure more worthy of Elphaba's love. I'll set aside for now the idea of "worthiness" in this context. But let's start off with Fiyero joining the Wizard. Hoo boy...

Yes, he was initially somewhat less tolerant of the propaganda against Elphaba than Glinda was; yes, he was secretly trying to find her so he could run away with her or whatever. But honey: those facts DO NOT fully absolve his actions as the Wizard's top officer, or selfish recklessness throughout Act II. I see so many popular threads and posts romanticizing and whitewashing with "oh but he didn't REALLY join the Wizard, he just pretended so he could try to get to Elphie! It's all for love, and he sacrificed everything for her!" As if the literal captain of the literally fascist forces responsible for the oppression of Animals wasn't equally responsible for said oppression?? Hello? Fiyero really didn't think of seeking out Elphaba in ANY other way that DIDN'T involve becoming *checks notes*... the trusted leader of the troops committing all the abuses she's fighting against in the first place???? Like it's cool and all that he helped with Brrr, and it's all well and good that he planned on betraying the Wizard as soon as he found Elphaba (which took literal years, so I guess we're left to assume he was prepared to just keep doing fascism indefinitely if she didn't show up????), but uh... it's kind of concerning to how eager some of you are to make excuses for this dude volunteering as the head of the Ozian Gestapo??? smdh

He didn't accomplish anything from it either, by the way — like yeah, we get it, he did everything he did whilst silently fantasizing about running away with the Witch he was being paid to hunt. Fine. But I can't be the only one who doesn't buy that as an actual excuse???? Like, guys: nobody forced him to join the fascist army — even with crazy ulterior motives. He wasn't coerced into it; it wasn't his only choice or anything. Searching for Elphaba did not somehow compel him to go and volunteer to follow (or to give!) orders in the name of the dictator who was trying to have her assassinated the entire time. He could have just not done all that. (Genuinely so curious how the second film plans on covering that material tbh)

Glinda made several questionable decisions that can be (and have been) debated, but she is still very unambiguously a victim. Her position in the Wizard's regime was foisted upon her. There are things we can discuss, but I find that many folks need reminding that Glinda would undoubtedly have been disposed of (or worse) if she failed to make herself useful. I mean hell: she wasn't even supposed to meet the Wizard in the first place — she was only there because of Elphie. If she'd tried to resist, it would have immediately gotten her labeled the Witch's accomplice. As soon as she'd chosen not to get on the broom, her fate was out of her hands, and all available options were varying degrees of horrible.

That's not the case with Fiyero. He went to the Wizard all on his own; no one ever cornered or forced him into it. Thinking Animals are people, and having a crush on Elphaba, simply did not stop him from carrying out the regime's orders — for years. It's not clear exactly how long he's been captain at the start of Act II, but the clear implication is that he's been a soldier for most of the time skip. I've seen Fiyeraba accounts with headcanons about him acting as a double agent, secretly doing stuff to help Animals — and that's a great idea, it would indeed serve to make a lot of his actions way more palatable — but until we actually get to SEE some of that (maybe they'll add it for the movie version of Act II; we'll have to see), there is nothing in the story to suggest that. He certainly didn't do a damn thing for all those Animals who were enslaved and caged in the Wizard's palace — and we don't see a single other Animal outside of there in Act II, so as far as we know Fiyero has participated over those years in the near-total removal of Animals from Ozian society. In the name of "finding Elphaba". Not fighting for her cause. Just finding HER. For HIMSELF.

It's fine to have a ship you like, obviously — and there is genuinely a lot to like about Fiyeraba, I don't dislike the idea of them as a couple or as friends — but come on guys: please stop those out there idealizing Fiyero as somehow a clear "morally-superior" alternative to Glinda, lol. The dude had power, access, and opportunities, for years, that he could have wielded in any number of really selfless, revolutionary ways. He didn't. And I propose (apparently controversially): he simply didn't want to. And that — at the end of the day — is (much as some would like to deny it) true to his character. He always WANTED to be self-absorbed and shallow, and all his actions are consistent with that. Elphaba saw depth and discontentment in him, yes: but (and I cannot stress this enough) when given the chance, he channeled that in the wrong direction. He didn't confront that and become a better person — for the most part he just displaced and projected it onto Elphaba as an object of obsession, and put on an even thicker pretense than before.

All his actions — regardless of the complexity he has deep down — are those of a man who never gives one fuck about anything or anyone, except (kinda sorta) Elphaba. But even then: at no time does the care he has for her seem to extend to caring about any of her wants or needs outside of sexual validation from him, or how she might feel about his actions, or indeed the impacts of those actions upon her, her cause, or anyone or anything else. I don't think it should be all that controversial to say: he doesn't think through the wider repercussions of anything he does — thoughtlessness is just one of his core character traits. He doesn't think ahead or see meaning in anything outside of what can temporarily excite him, in the moment. I think people place a little too much weight on Elphaba clocking him with regard to his internal pain, and seem to expect (understandably of course) that she is not only right, but moreover that he will grow from that in a positive direction, based on her influence.

But he doesn't. If anything, we get a surprising inverse: he pretty much proves her wrong. Not to say he didn't have hidden depth and all that, like she said: but his hypothetical heart of gold proves not to really amount to much in practice. He doesn't grow out of his shallowness and his self-centeredness: he grows into it in a way that he hadn't quite yet in school. Where once he was only masking an internal listlessness, after he's been cracked open by Elphaba he decides to be genuinely self-absorbed and deeply shallow, not just coasting by. He performs in new ways — as a soldier, eventually as a "fiancé", etc. — but by Act II we meet a Fiyero who has staked the last remaining shred of humanity in him on the vain pursuit of the only object of his desire that has ever been unavailable to him, and firmly chosen to say to hell with everyone and everything else.

When put to the test, Fiyero sacrifices Glinda, the Animals, and all else that Elphaba actually cared about, to pursue his own unresolved crush from college. Mostly to get in her pants, really — as harsh as I'm sure that sounds. But let me be frank: that is literally all he ever accomplishes in the show. He gives her dick one time, and one of his castles, and that's it. That's the culmination of his years trying to find her — years in which he actively worked as one of the stormtroopers (or even the one commanding them) committing untold crimes against Animalkind (who, again, it seems have been all but erased from Oz by Act II): y'know, the very crimes Elphaba sacrificed her life to try and stop????? He spent the most important time of his life — of his own free will — being a fascist soldier, but he "did it for her" somehow, so according to some, it's perfectly fine. Heroic, even. Yikes??

But let's make something very clear (since my original version of this post caught a lot of flak, including slurs and other rudeness):

I like Fiyero. I find his role extremely interesting (I could do a whole dissertation on him, but I'm especially a fan of the way his proving Elphaba's assessment of him wrong presents a fascinating parallel and contrast with Glinda, which I think is lost on a lot of people). But PLEASE stop with all the misguided Glinda slander and idealization of Fiyero. By all means, thirst! But don't give me all this bullshit about him deserving Elphaba more, or being super deep, or being really principled or noble or whatever else. He does have layers, and quite intriguing ones, but his insides are straw — he isn't meant to have some deep, overwrought emotional core or motivations; he has passions that he acts upon when given the chance. That's it. And that's fine. Actually kind of refreshing in a story rooted in simple children's fantasy but rife with intensely complicated personalities. Fiyero makes it his mission to represent denial of depth and embrace of raw, spontaneous desire — and I for one love that, and wish others appreciated it.

And in all seriousness, shipping wars aside: by the end of the story, it's Glinda who is ultimately vindicated, and has — for all her faults — made the necessary choices to fulfill Elphaba's wishes, bring down the regime, etc. And all that despite herself. She's miserable: not just because of the mistakes she made, but because of her correct moves as well. Fiyero is simply not — and could never be — that person. And that's okay! Like I said: I am not anti-Fiyero. Fiyero's willingness to throw it all away for the sake of sheer, overriding passion is a huge part of what people like about him, of course — and it's an obvious factor in the attraction between him and Elphaba, because she has her own flavor of that impulse as well — but I'd actually argue that it's not romantic, it's his fatal flaw. And thematically that's fantastic! But I just don't believe that it somehow means he "deserves Elphaba more" because he "gave up his life for her" or whatever. In part because NOBODY truly "deserves" Elphie tbh, not 100% (and I question anybody who claims otherwise), but ultimately because I don't accept the idea that his fleeting acts of passion make up for all the shit leading up to them (or even proceeding after them tbh). At least Glinda managed to do what Elphaba always wanted in the end — but I would die on this hill even if Gelphie didn't exist.

You don't have to agree with my analysis of Fiyero and his choices, relationships, etc. — that's fine. What isn't fine is trying to portray Glinda as some kind of spineless traitor whore for the Wizard and Fiyero as a conscientious hero who earned Elphie through self-sacrifice. That's just not the story that was written. It's WAY messier and more interesting than that.

[allfearstofallto]

I haven't gotten to Caleb's story yet, but, I've seen a few clips. And the part of me that loves dark romance and twisted love, is absolutely over the moon at the way he's acting, but color me surprised when I saw how everyone else was responding to it 😭

I just saw someone make a post saying they hated the story and it was horrible. Like ,my stomach dropped because I'd spend so much time prepping for him and I was worried I wasted it.

So obviously, I read the whole review and from what I gathered, the person just hated the fact that Caleb was doing his yandere thing. They said he felt evil and controlling, that he was morally grey and that his relationship with mc was going to paint what he'd done in a better light. Mind you I read the post twice to be sure, but the whole time I was thinking, "That's the whole point??"

A yandere character is always going to be inherently morally grey. Whether they act on their actions or not, typically the thoughts that they have about their darling are depraved. The ownership they feel over the person they love is almost inhumane. And of course, sometimes it's not even love, it's limerence or obsession. That's what makes them a yandere.

I think a lot of people expected him to be more possessive, like Xavier, which is more of a cute jealousy at times, typically of a romantic drama, and not a full blown, "I will kidnap you and hide you away from everyone because you and I belong together," type. But i also feel like they weren't paying enough attention. In his trailer he says something along the lines of "I bought that cat a bell with a collar, so that it'd make noise if it tried to run away," The cat obviously being an allegory for us and what he intended to do to us.

They didn't put that there for no reason??

So yeah, long-winded post to say that a lot of people didn't understand the initial archetype for Caleb. Because if we're going by typical otome game archetypes, there's always one yandere. I'm personally very happy with him so far, once again, as a yandere enthusiast and writer myself (not a good one) I think he was written beautifully.

He's not a yandere for no reason, his personality hasn't changed a crazy amount to account for his yandere actions (he mentions that he's always been like this), he had a moderate amount of power that makes him a valuable ally, but a tragic foe, and he has a real connection to mc, meaning that cutting him off and never seeing him again because of these tendencies isn't entirely possible for her.

[ghouljams]

Hi. I slept around when i was 18-24 years old. I slept with 27 people (mostly one night stands) in total. I deeply regret this. My behavour started due to a sexual assault, which sent me into a spiral of alcoholism, self-hate and depression. I had almost most of my partners in a drunken state, some I don't even remember. Thankfully I have been sober for two and a half years and abstained from sex for three years. I have also reflected upon my actions and turned my life around. My past experiences and behaviour have really damaged how I percieve sex and my body. Since being abstained from sex I have realized how much it means. I want to start dating, to hopefully have a long-term commitment. I am however, terrified that my "encounters" will be a dealbreaker. This idea that men just "have to deal with it" is nice, but I think it is bs in reality. I think for most men it is a deal-breaker, and I have to live with that. But I do not wish to lie about my past to my future partner either, should the topic come up. Any thoughts or tips? Would love some perspective.

Wow. Heavy.

I sat with how, and if, to answer this for a while because I want to approach this with compassion and understanding.

First: I think talking this out with a therapist, if you aren't already, would help you out a lot. There are plenty of therapists who specialize in sexual trauma and I think that's what you should look for if you decide to seek help.

Second I want to say that I think this hard pendulum swing from hyper-sexuality to sexual guilt is too common, but no less harmful to the person experiencing it. I wish I could hold your hand when I say that I think you've moved from one form of self harm to another. Beating yourself up over decisions you made in the wake of a horrible trauma that came from a need to cope is not going to help you in the long run.

The way we perceive ourselves is constantly changing, but that doesn't mean we're always right. I also would caution you against putting "meaning" on sex. Sex is just sex. It's a thing people do for a million different reasons, some mean something and others don't. The idea that sex has some huge weight to it or is a special gift that you only give people you truly care about is incredibly dangerous and will only damage your perception of yourself further. It's also incredibly motivated by the idea that you can shame people into obedience.

Do not fall victim to indoctrination tactics that put you in a position of shame.

Here's the truth of the matter. For some men it will be a deal-breaker, and for others it won't be, but why would you want to chase after the men who dislike you for something you did out of self-preservation? Also in all honesty most men don't give a shit about how many people you've slept with. This idea that all men want a perfect virginal vessel is just absolute horseshit that's been perpetuated by misogynistic media and disseminated to the general population. The only thing a good partner will care about is if you're comfortable and interested in having sex with them.

Men don't care how many people you've had sex with. Men are dogs. Men are lucky to even get sex with everything they've done to you.

I also want to leave you with this: the way you talk about yourself and sex raises many alarm bells. I don't know if you have a deeply christian background or if you've recently gotten involved with a church, but they are not helping you. I would caution you against placing too much weight behind the decisions you made in the past impacting the way your future will go. You are not a sinner who's been permanently marred by your deeds. You are a person who made choices you now regret and that's ok. Your future is dependent on the people you surround yourself with and the way you present yourself. Sex doesn't mean anything unless you want it to, but the people that tell you sex means everything are hurting you.

[aplacefordreaming24]

Wawawa! This will be very long, I apologize!

What does your f/o's hugs feel like?

Like home. They're warm and they're safe. I can feel him next to me and I know that he's real and I'm real and that it's safe; it's okay. And I can just sit there as long as I need until I'm ready. To me, that's home.

What are your favorite dates to have with them?

Hmm. I like silly dinner dates! It doesn't have to be anywhere fancy, I'd be happy just going to an IHOP at 3 in the morning for a date. Or park dates!! A picnic or just taking walks around the place while we hold hands. Very simple things like that :3

What are their favorite dates to have with you?

I think he likes dates where we get to go to aquariums, museums, planetariums, etc. Places where he gets to watch me be in awe of everything and he has the chance to impress me with all his knowledge on whatever subject we're discussing. That, or more fancy dinner dates! Because I don't get to do a lot of anything fancy in general!

Do you have any songs that remind you of them? Do they have any songs that make them think of you?

We both have a lot of songs that make us think of each other, so I will go off of what's on our shared playlist! The song that reminds me of him is "Furever" by PhemieC! The song that reminds him of me is "Sick of Losing Soulmates" by Dodie Clark!

What's the height difference between you and your f/o?

Hmm, well! I'm only 4'10", and he's 5'9"! So while he's not like, giant, he's still pretty tall compared to me! I only reach his shoulder! Idk the actual math though!

On a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most, how much do they like PDA with you?

I'd say about 3 at the start of the relationship, and with enough time, we got it to an 8! He can still be a little jittery around PDA, not necessarily for the public aspect of it, but for the actual physical affection. But he can get pouty if I'm not at least holding his hand <3

What's your favorite feature about your f/o?

Is it cliche to say his eyes? They're such a pretty shade of blue <3 I'd happily sit and stare into them for hours if I could. Or maybe his voice? I love the sound of it, especially when he sings.

What do you think they smell like?

Hmm. Mint. Clean linens. Pine trees, surprisingly. Forests. He smells like winter. It's soothing.

What is your f/os biggest love languages? They don't have to be one of the "five", it can be anything specific they use to show you love.

I think it would be gift giving in terms of showing affection, and words of affirmation/physical touch for receiving affection! He lives off of praise and kind touch. I never pass up a chance to call him a sweet name or give a compliment, or press a kiss to his cheek/touch his hair. Anything to remind him I love him.

As for gift giving, I think it's a default, almost? Being surrounded by wealth for so long, around a lot of frivolous and materialistic people, he might believe that's just how people generally are. Except, I am horrible at receiving gifts. Worse than horrible. But it's okay, he will learn I want kisses and nice touches back! (And work on helping me accept gifts, oops).

Do you guys sleep in the same bed? If so, what's it like sleeping with them?

Yes! It's very comfortable. He likes to be big spoon (is that too much to say?) and generally speaking, it's a bunch of comfortable blankets and being wrapped up in each other's arms. I like to lay on his chest and hear his heart beat while he has his nose in my hair. It's the only way I know how to sleep nowadays...

What's your favorite headcanon about your f/o?

I think my favorite is how selfless he is, hehe! He used to do ballet, only because his little sister was too nervous to do it alone, which was soooo sweet of him! He's very flexible and still good at dancing, and it's fun to tease him about it hehe!!

What is the dynamic that you and your f/o have?

Oh god, here we go again /silly. I have always described it as the same dynamic as Orpheus and Eurydice from Hadestown. A man who fell in love with a woman. Just two people who simply fell in love. One who can help the other see how the world could be, and one who can help the other see how the world is. And we'll fall in love, over and over again <3

What does your f/o do for you when you're having a rough day?

He holds me...... He doesn't do much, though he feels a need to, I'm sure. But I really don't ask for much. I just wanna be held until I feel better. And maybe talk about it for hours until I'm over it, but he's there to listen and get whatever happened off my mind when I'm done.

Do you like to hold hands? If so, what's that like?

It's the best feeling in the world <3

Do they like to give you little kisses? If so, where is their favorite place to kiss? (Face, hands, etc)

He does!! His favorite place to kiss me is my forehead/the top of my head. Or if he really wants to fluster me, he'll kiss my hands and fingers!

Vice versa, do YOU like to give them little kisses? If so, where is YOUR favorite place to give them?

Yes, all the time!!! Specifically his cheek/neck/jaw!

What's your favorite silly leisure activity to do with your f/o?

Nap. Napping. Sleeping. Laying in bed together with no responsibilities for the day, just wrapped up in each other and being warm and happy? Sign me up, please. Napping together because we fell asleep watching a movie? Hell yes. I love naps. We deserve it.

What is your favorite compliment that your f/o gives you? What is your favorite nickname that they for you, if they have one?

Hmm, I can't think of a specific compliment, but he loves to call me sunshine/sweetheart! I am also considering the idea he likes to call me honey <3

What's your favorite compliment to give THEM? What is your favorite nickname to call them?

My favorite compliment to give him is how selfless, kind, sweet, thoughtful he is! I don't think he realizes it or hears it enough. That he's much nicer that he realizes. I call him teddy/teddy bear a lot, but also my love, love, my prince, my knight, etc etc.

I want everyone to have the chance to ramble about their romantic f/os, so I'm gonna make a reblog game where yall can answer the plethora of questions I'm gonna toss down. Any of the questions you want to answer, as little or as much as you'd like!! I'll read them all. PR.O.SHIP DNI!!! AT ALL! GET OUT-

SO!! SELFSHIPPERS! RIDDLE ME THIS:

What do your f/o's hugs feel like?

What are your favorite dates to have with them?

What are their favorite dates to have with you?

Do you have any songs that remind you of them? Do they have any songs that make them think of you?

What's the height difference between you and your f/o?

On a 1-10 scale, with 1 being the least and 10 being the most, how much do they like PDA with you?

What's your favorite feature about your f/o?

What do you think they smell like?

What is your f/os biggest love languages? They don't have to be one of the "five", it can be anything specific they use to show you love.

Do you guys sleep in the same bed? If so, what's it like sleeping with them?

What's your favorite headcanon about your f/o?

What is the dynamic that you and your f/o have?

What does your f/o do for you when you're having a rough day?

Do you like to hold hands? If so, what's that like?

Do they like to give you little kisses? If so, where is their favorite place to kiss? (Face, hands, etc)

Vice versa, do YOU like to give them little kisses? If so, where is YOUR favorite place to give them?

What's your favorite silly leisure activity to do with your f/o?

What is your favorite compliment that your f/o gives you? What is your favorite nickname that they for you, if they have one?

What's your favorite compliment to give THEM? What is your favorite nickname to call them?

Okay I can't wait to see some answers!! Feel free to reblog as many times with as many f/os as you want. ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE! SEEING THIS POST IS AN INVITATION FOR YOU!!

People I'd like to see answer this off the top of my head (but don't have to!!): @moxanji-real @one-winged-dreams @lovesickvalentines @graveluvr @clawingatmy-enclosure @starshakez @jpeg-indulgence @everynya @tropgothships @selfshipping-tboy @amelielovesamaris @pixel-comfort @fl0ralsxgar

[cleolinda]

JANUARY 3: This is the Silent Hill 2 remake, I don't usually play video games, and I can't get out of the parking lot.

JANUARY 5, TWO WEEKS AGO: I have since made a lot of progress in my limited game time, but this is from my second attempt at playing. I was still learning to walk. As such, already knowing the game really well from watching streamers play it, I wanted to settle into the first couple of areas and work on basic skills like a baby deer. I... certainly practiced something.

Yes, this was my genuine reaction. It's just humorous yelling rather than scary yelling.

--

[Comments directed at my player character are in parentheses.]

Okay, I have walked James to the town. Very impressed with myself. I'll explain that story later. I have a very short amount of time in which I am alone in the house and can scream if necessary. Okay, we're gonna—we're gonna do a leisurely jog. 

(No, that's the wall. That's my fault. That's on me.) 

Camera? Nobody told me that the camera is the most impart—the most important part of moving forward. That was my trouble yesterday. Camera...? [I pilot James badly.] (Okay, that's on me. I don't want to run you into the railing. That's on me.) Okay, we can't go that way, can we? That's the whole thing. Okay, we gotta turn around, this what I thought. Mooove the camera. 

I'm trying to get us to the combat. I'm trying to get us to the combat tutorial because—before people come home—(that's the rail, that's the rail. That's on me. That's not you, that's on me). I'm trying to get us to the combat so I can find out exactly how steep the learning curve is gonna be—listen, this monster is very hard for a lot of people. If I get my ass beat, there's no shame in that. (That's the wall. Don't—don’t go into the wall.) There's no shame in that, but I want to know how hard it is actually going to be for me to learn this. I'm just trying to feel this out before I… (Keep—you’re doing good. You're doing great) ...before I subject all of y'all to 11 hours of me dying horribly. Okay—okay, he's really huffing and puffing, it's very realistic, here we go. 

(You're good, you're good with gates. We got you good at that. Come on, here we go. Go through the gate. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're doing great. You're doing—you’re doing so good. Here we go. Oh—jog. Pinky finger [on the shift key for sprint], here we go. Camera, moving the camera for you. All right. Jog—that's trash, that’s—that's a dumpster. I didn't mean for that. Okay.) 

Flower shop? I’m not—I have watched the cut scene with Angela [in the cemetery]. I actually really wanna talk about the flower shop a lot, but we're not gonna do that today. This is not an official gameplay recording [video]. We are just going to haul ass and get to—that's a door. Okay, that's not the flower shop. Here we go. 

(Power walk! Come on, we got this. That—that's barbed wire, we don't wanna go into that, okay. Here we go.) 

This is just a—you’re probably going, why are you rushing through this? Because it’s a really long jog down a really long road, and it's very liminal and purposeful, but… nothing is happening, nothing is going to happen, until you get that first weapon. 

[I didn't express this idea very well: I was trying to learn the controls and basic skills, and I wouldn't be able to really practice exploring the town until I could break windows with the melee weapon. I knew the game well from watching playthroughs, and I didn't rush my "real" play time when I started over.] 

Please tell me I didn't turn him around and we’re not going back towards the ranch. This is such a long jog, Jesus Christ. I mean, I've watched it so I know it's long, but good god. Okay, follow the puddle trail. (That's a van. We're not getting in the van. Here we go, keep going.) We gotta find the blood puddle. Come on, we gotta find the blood puddle in… the… okay, that's a farm? That's another farm. Cornfield. Have I passed a cornfield before? I think I have. [A spooky sound.] So we're—the fuck was that? Okay. [It was in the] background—

(I'm sorry, I know you're getting your steps in. I know you're getting your cardio in. I'm very sorry. But if you're gonna find your wife, we gotta do this.)

[I see a familiar gate ahead.]

NOOOO. NO, HAVE I GONE BACK TO THE CEMETERY? Noooooo! nOoOoOo, how did I do this? Noooo! I thought it didn't look like town! Oh no! NO! (Oh, that was—I am so sorry. That was the wall and that was your elbow. I am so sorry. Honey, how did we end up doing this?!) nOoOoO! How am I back at the cemeterrryyy? No!! I'm running out of time. I do not want my family—(that’s barbed wire)—I do not want my family to hear me screaming because I'm sure I will be—I can't fucking believe this.
 I ran him back past the ranch to the cemeTERY!! 

I'm gonna have to pull out the map. Everyone pulls out the map and I didn't and I need to make sure I'm going in the right direction. I got into an auto shop; I got a key; I opened a gate. I did all kinds of shit—I did so good, and the walk into town is so long that I didn't even realize I—how did I go the wRoNg wAy?!

Okay, at least the gate's already open. It's a straight shot once we get to the auto shop. It better be a straight fucking shot. I'm so mad. [Aggressively optimistic:] Okay. No, no, we got this. We got this. We're gonna interact with it. We're gonna interact with it. I'm learning to interact. The camera is a big part of interacting. Come on. Come on.

[Optimistically:] I got extra practice walking!

[a-little-bit-insecure]

I love Epic, it's one of my absolute favorite musicals- which really doesn't mean a whole lot cause I don't like musicals and I've only seen/heard Hamilton and Epic- but I really love the music.

But the fandom is one of the most difficultly black-and-white ones I've ever had the unfortunate experience of being a part of.

There's this longstanding ideology within the fandom- probably due to the young age of the audience- that sympathy is the same thing as advocacy.

I'm talking about Calypso.

I feel really really bad for Calypso. I do. She was dealt a really shitty hand in life. Locked away on an island that nobody could enter and that she couldn't leave, she was completely shut off from the outside world.

When Odysseus gets trapped on her island, she falls head over heels for him and eventually has to deal with the fact that the man she loves does not and will not love her back.

This is a horrible situation to be in. Unrequited love stings like a bitch, there's no cure for it, nothing that can make it better. Love is the strongest emotion, and loving someone who doesn't love you hurts.

So yeah, I sympathize with Calypso. I've never loved someone and I hope I never do, because the pain and jealousy and suffering that come from one-sided love would be more than I could bear.

That being said, I also acknowledge that Calypso is a shitty person. She kept Odysseus locked on her island for years, it's explicitly stated in her first song that she planned on raping Ody, "consummating their love" as she called it- though she probably didn't even realize it would be rape, but that's beside the point- and it's pretty heavily hinted at that she did rape him later on.

And I think this is where I lose a lot of people. People see feeling bad for a character as the same as endorsing their actions, and it's not. A character can have a painful backstory and go through really crappy things and still be an awful person. These two things are not mutually exclusive and it is possible to acknowledge them both.

I feel bad for Calypso, her unrequited love for Ody paired with the fact that she's completely shut off from the world make my heart hurt for her. I also know she's a terrible person who put Odysseus through hell for her own selfish desires, what she did was horrible and I don't support her in the slightest.

But for some odd reason, when someone mentions feeling the slightest twinge of pity for her, they get dog-piled on and called an abuser, an enabler, a rapist- pretty much every criminal title in the book.

You can feel bad for someone and still recognize that they're not a good person. And it's a little bit scary thinking about how difficult it is for this fandom to understand that.

People are not black and white, we're meant to think in shades of gray, we dont just swing back and forth between two absolutes like a pendulum. Sympathy isn't acceptance.

[alloverthegaf]

In happy news, about a year late and the day itself was pretty traumatic for him and myself, BUT Ned has been desexed and recovered!

Every dog and cat I've ever lived with has been desexed but this was the first time it was MY baby first and foremost, and the first time I was one of the 'responsible' 'adults' of the situation. So I was stressed as fuck leading up to the operation, of course during it, and for the first couple of days after it. The day of the operation was pretty horrible, I might go into that more at some point, but right now this is about good news, so!

Ned is doing great! The first day of course he was drugged out of his mind and it was a challenge just getting him home. I spent the evening sitting with his head on my lap and Ron suggested that night I take his side of the bed (closer to where Ned sleeps) which I did, and spent half the night checking on him. Am I a helicopter parent? Maybe.

BUT on the third day Ned was entirely back to his old self, and had already figured out how to stretch around two different cones and an inflatable donut to lick at his wound, which is how the introduction of sriracha sauce came to be. My mum used to be a vet nurse and suggested 'unpalatable' stuff around the wound. Vinegar, it turns out, doesn't phase Ned AT ALL, but spicy shit does. And again, got advice from my once vet nurse mum, she assured me spicy stuff wouldn't hurt his wound, which it clearly didn't.

Meanwhile he has gone entirely stir crazy not getting walked every day for TWO WEEKS and attempted to (play) fight Ron for (joke) punching my boobs. We tested this and he still tried to fight Ron about it the following six times.

Hopefully from tomorrow I can walk Ned again. He does have the dissolvable stitches (because the vet didn't want to deal with him again) that haven't fully gone yet so that may slow things down a little. But overall we're doing well and Ned is thriving and hopefully soon we can socialise him with people outside the family he met as a puppy.

[mariacallous]

After the presidential election, many fashion and lifestyle influencers began to come out of the closet as conservatives. Some, like tradwife TikTok darling Nara Smith, were predictable, while others were less so. But what was clear was that MAGA culture, and the fashion and aesthetics associated with it, were becoming increasingly mainstream.

Inauguration weekend, with its mix of parties and formal events, brought together the who’s who of right-wing players. Observing the proceedings was Derek Guy, known online as @dieworkwear—a longtime menswear enthusiast and writer who has came to prominence as an influencer on X for his hot and unnervingly well-informed takes on the sartorial choices of everyone from Donald Trump to Andrew Tate, and what they might be telling us about this political moment.

WIRED spoke with Guy after the inauguration ceremony to get his takes on MAGA fashion, what it says about who the party is for, and what the richest men alive are wearing these days.

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

WIRED: First, give us the reviews of the inauguration suits and ties. What are we looking at here? These are some of the richest men in the world, but I’m not sure they really look like it.

Derek Guy: You can break up the inauguration almost by age. The older someone is, the more likely they are at least avoiding the worst of what we're seeing. And the younger someone is, the more likely they are wearing something that looks cheap, because tailoring as a craft has mostly died in this country. Many people shop ready-to-wear. And when you're very wealthy, you are probably just buying a luxury-level off-the-rack suit. And just because something is made with fine materials doesn't necessarily mean it fits. So you have a market system that makes it difficult to find a good suit.

If you're younger, like Mark Zuckerberg's age, you're more likely to kind of fall into this short-jacket silhouette that you think looks modern and hip but frankly looks really dated and makes you actually look more middle-aged, like someone who learned how to dress in the early 2000s.

Vivek [Ramaswamy], for example, wears really shrunken suits. Jeff Bezos often wears pretty good tailoring, but today wore a very short jacket which did not look very good on him. He looked surprisingly bad today, given how he looks in tailored clothing other times.

Elon Musk, I'm pretty sure he wears a Tom Ford suit because that's five buttons on the cuffs. I thought it looked pretty good on him, but he looked bad at the rally last night. He was wearing a short overcoat with grey jeans and it didn’t flatter him very well. The outfit didn’t make much sense.

Zuckerberg, his suits are neither fantastic nor horrible. Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai, they are still clearly nerds who don’t care about clothes.

But, you know, for example, JD Vance has a custom tailor. He has a 90-year-old Italian tailor in Ohio. That guy is not following fashion trends.

Why do the rank and file MAGA enthusiasts favor such slim-fit suits when Trump himself often wears things that are quite baggy?

What you're seeing is young conservatives will often wear very shrunken suits because they care more about the tailored aesthetic. Ironically, you actually look better if you're the kind of young Democrat who doesn't care about aesthetics at all. So then you wear a sloppy suit. You still look bad, but you essentially avoid the shrunken look. The MAGA aesthetic will change over time as conservatives change their tastes naturally. But I mean, just to be frank about it, many conservatives are often behind on fashion trends.

We are at this moment where the large part of the market has shifted away from the shrunken look of the early 2000s. But if you're kind of behind on fashion trends, you still think that looks good.

Are you seeing changes to the hallmarks of the MAGA aesthetic, particularly as we're seeing it merge a bit with the quiet luxury vibe that became very popular online?

MAGA is a very populist aesthetic, so it's intentionally vulgar and thumbing its nose at WASP morality and aesthetics, even though within the Republican Party there is still that kind of celebration of bourgeois 1950s aesthetics.

I often like to contrast it. When Ronald Reagan and George Bush were first inaugurated in 1980, the Republican Party commissioned custom blazer buttons commemorating their inauguration, and they gave them out for free to attendees at the various events surrounding the inauguration. So if you attended Reagan's inauguration in 1980, you would have gotten a brass button commemorating the inauguration, made by Ben Silver in Charleston, South Carolina. It was presumed that people who attended Reagan's inauguration would have a navy tailored jacket. And if you put brass buttons on a navy jacket then that jacket becomes a blazer. It was presumed that not only would young Republicans have a navy jacket, but that they would want to wear a blazer with a button commemorating Reagan's victory.

The merchandise surrounding Trump's movement is gold sneakers and Never Surrender T-shirts and, of course, the red MAGA hat.

To me, this demonstrates the schism between the classic Republican—which is the Brooks Brothers, free trade, globalist, Reaganite Republican—and the new Republican, which is populist. They pay reverence to Reagan, but they don't share his politics.

The aesthetic is very much not the classic WASP aesthetic, which used to be the Republican aesthetic. Trump's own aesthetic comes from the 1980s—the “greed is good” of Wall Street boom times. He wears very padded shoulders and a power tie. He used to wear a banker collar, but no longer. And that's very different from the demure look of Brooks Brothers WASP. MAGA is a very aggressive, populist “fuck you” to the establishment aesthetic.

When you think about the MAGA aesthetic are there particular brands or influencers who come to mind for you?

It's all very campaign merch and the most mainstream item is just the MAGA hat. It still seems very much like campaign merch. I don't think there's anyone else that sets the tone except for Trump. There are certain people that embody that look very well. Forgiato Blow, he has that kind of very loud aesthetic. There was a moment where Viper sunglasses were very popular, which was, I think, driven by Baked Alaska. So there are microtrends in that universe. But it’s really Trump—whatever he releases next, people will wear.

Do you think that sort of classic American look—the Ralph Lauren, the Oxford shirt—is that going to be sort of the purview of MAGA forever or do you see that changing?

I don't think the classic American aesthetic is strictly MAGA, though. I think a Brooks Brothers look is like the ABC of menswear; that's like a very classic American tailored look. In the postwar period, right after the end of the Second World War, there was a culture clash between establishment lifestyle–the man in a grey flannel suit, who works in a corporate job and has a conventional kind of nuclear family and white picket fence house—and the counterculture. That was this kind of liberal side of the political spectrum. They wore workwear and chambray shirts, hippie gear, motorcycle jackets. That all became counterculture.

But if you go back further than that, everyone wore tailored clothing, from criminals to CEOs to liberals and Republicans. Ralph Lauren could not have built his empire if button-down shirts and penny loafers were exclusively conservative attire.

I think it's interesting that the current status of Republican politics is trying to unite the Brooks Brothers aesthetic with the gold sneakers. Do you see them coming together?

I think that's the weird dichotomy at the moment, because the MAGA movement and Republicans in general have always been kind of looking back towards some idea of America. Even though not every man wore a suit in the 1950s, the suit has historically been associated with the kind of bourgeois lifestyle. And a lot of conservatism in general is about upholding bourgeois lifestyles, morality, identity, politics and so forth.

There is now a populist section of the Republican Party that's not about Reaganism or Bush. It's very about Trump. And its aesthetic is very different from what William Buckley would have worn. William Buckley would not have worn gold sneakers.

I think they are distinct and contradictory, but people can hold contradictory ideas in their head. We are in an age where politics is very tribal. And so long as it fits the narrative of our tribe, then I think it's coherent for that group. For Republicans, I think those two very contradictory aesthetics are just now within the party.

The men of tech are new to the MAGA crowd, but many people have noted a significant change in their looks, particularly Mark Zuckerberg’s. Can you talk about what they’re trying to signal and to whom?

I heard from through the grapevine within my industry that [Elon Musk] used to have a stylist. I don’t think he has a stylist anymore. Mark Zuckerberg denies having a stylist, but I don’t believe him. He is certainly going through a style transformation in the last year and three months, I would say. Jeff Bezos most obviously has a stylist. I don't think what they're doing has anything to do with politics. I think Jeff Bezos went through a style makeover after his divorce. And I suspect Mark Zuckerberg just got tired of dressing like a college student. Elon has clearly given up on his stylist and doesn’t dress very well.

[Zuckerberg] dresses more like an MMA guy. He is wearing the boxy tees and the gold chain. But he looks like someone who updated his look to be trendier. There are a lot of guys wearing that kind of silhouette and gold chain and I don’t know that that says anything about their politics.

We saw a lot of the sort of “spaghetti Western” vibe happening. What’s your take on that?

As a fashion trend, the Western look really leans more liberal, right now, because it’s popular in big cities. Conservatives now dress like metrosexuals in the early 2000s and liberals dress like Bush-era conservatives. Conservatives are in slim-tight suits or slim-fit suits and then liberals are like Carhartt double-knees, Western shirts, cowboy boots. There is some of this inherently on the right because it's a Midwestern look.

But Elon Musk does wear cowboy boots pretty frequently, as does Jeff Bezos.

[cleverthylacine]

The TikTok Migration to RedNote

On TikTok, I lurk, and now I'm lurking on RedNote. (I'm not searchable yet. Will let those interested know when that changes. Still figuring out the settings.)

A bunch of people got mad about the TikTok ban and decided that they would take their cookies and leave and go to an ACTUALLY Chinese app. I'm not sure why they picked RedNote rather than DouYin, but I think it was a good choice. I'm following other lolitas there mostly, because I don't need any Mandarin to like people's outfits. I did have a semester of Mandarin and am wondering how hard it would be to pick up some more, though, especially since I'm seeing all kinds of Americans from every imaginable background type doing so.

All over YouTube there are videos now of TikTokers on RedNote crying because we have been welcomed onto the app and treated kindly.

There is a lot of very expected anger about people discovering that no, in other countries it's not normal to pay more than half your paycheck for rent and half of what's left for food. Chinese people are saying that they thought it was government propaganda when they were told that Americans are expected to pay for ambulances, and healthcare, and that a $200 grocery bill for the week is not unusual.

I'm glad to see people getting radicalised about the class system in this country, but that's not actually the main thing I'm talking about in this post, though.

There are people who are deadass shocked that they haven't been insulted, trolled in a mean way, or been exposed to explicit unsolicited come-ons (there's one guy who posted shirtless selfies who is a little @@;; that he has 16000 gay male Chinese followers, but he's not getting spammed with raunchy photos).

So I value freedom of speech on political matters very highly, but there are two things I think are going on.

The first one is that yeah, a lot of Chinese people probably are better socialised than Americans, BUT

The second one is that Americans put up with a lot of shit in the name of freedom of speech that we shouldn't and after the changes on Meta last week I will only be using IG to communicate with Japanese brands and Facebook not at all, because they're going the other direction.

I think that if some chode did send me a nasty DM on RedNote and I reported it, something would be done about it. It's not that I don't think people will be nice and kind if they're not forced to be.

It's that chodes and Nazis and frankly racist and misogynist people will run everyone else off a platform if they are allowed to, and this app has somehow stopped that from happening, probably by not letting people be completely predatory bullies and assholes to one another.

English-language social media probably needs to stop letting people do that. It is not a violation of your free speech rights to tell someone they can't use a platform to be abusive.

I saw a video of a person of mixed race and unclockable gender who was wearing loose, oversized clothes sobbing because nobody was insulting them horribly, everyone who had commented on their post had been genuinely nice. Their experience of every other social media platform has been unchecked bullying everywhere. I don't know whether they'd ever been here, but we all know bullying does happen here, too, even if we're loads better than any of Meta's products.

People should not EXPECT to be viciously harassed every time they join a new site. That's horrible. It's also something I never really questioned before.

And I still think (always will) that you should be able to post any content that you want on AO3 in the works, but it's not okay to bully people in the comments.

[faaun]

Jack Marsh (2005), Friendship Otherwise - Toward a Levinasian Description of Personal Friendship

[rmorde]

Controversial opinion

Personally, I don't think it's bad writing that Gojo is being used as a tool by even his own students that it's disrespectful to his character because... I think that's the point?

This is horrific, awful, and terrible overall. It is dehumanizing. Even the characters in-universe say it so. We ARE supposed to be sickened by this. That's the whole idea!

The story is, again, telling us just how bad and shitty jujutsu society is. Yes! We should be angry and upset about this. Gojo didn't deserve to be a tool for all his life and even after death. His students didn't deserve to resort to such depraved methods just to have a hope of winning against Sukuna. Yuji didn't deserve to lose another brother. Yuta didn't deserve to be forced to use his savior's body. EVERY ONE OF THEM DESERVED BETTER.

But the world they live in is cruel. Change is happening but they still have a long way to go to a brighter future.

Omfg. This chapter is heavy in an entirely different way than 259. I'm still grieving for Choso. But, 261 made me so sick. It's just horrific and awful for everyone - especially for Yuta AND Yuji!

Holy shit. Yuji may have been kept in the dark about this plan because of his link to Sukuna! How sickening and heart wrenching must this be for him? Believing that Gojo is back - he's okay because he's the Strongest and now they'll fight together! But no... it's Yuta. Just... Yuji doesn't need anymore pain. Damn it.

On a very thin silver lining tho, Gojo showing vulnerability to his students. Wishing for them to leave him as he kills the Elders. He doesn't want to tarnish his goofy ass cringe fail cool mentor figure image to them. He doesn't want them to see him as a bloodthirsty monster.

However, they stood by him. Never leaving him alone. Not that it reached him tho because he's so deep in his depression and fucking separates himself from them like gdi Gojo you fuck!!! They're reaching out to you, you idiot! Fucking listen to them BUT NOOO IT HAS TO BE SUKUNA OR GETO THAT CAN ONLY GO THROUGH YOU HUH?!

[adore-gregor]

Lol I keep on doing this, saying I'd come back to tumblr to only disappear again 😂😭

[theoreticalli]

I put 30 tags on that dear evan hansen post. for the love of god don't click to expand the tags I'm so fucking sorry I just hate that awful fucking show so fucking much. oh fuck I've done it again in the tags here oh god

[pulchrasilva]

Having people you care about who are suicidal while you're not suicidal is truly a special torture I think I want to go back to wanting to kill myself im gonna throw up

[stillfruit]

the most difficult part about group projects is not doing everything yourself