#favourite finn indeed...

[glee-furever]

1x09 Wheels

Quote of the ep: But I still have the full use of my penis.

Rating: 6/6 on the Kinsey Scale, cause woah!

Best song: Dancing With Myself

Worst song: Proud Mary, which isn't a bad song, but this is another episode with great music.

Cat:

(x) Because hey, this episode is about what it's like to be a wheelchair user in an ableist world.

Now for the Review: If we ignore the fact that this episode has three people faking a disability, there is nothing wrong with this episode. Folks, buckle up, since this is by far one of my favourite episodes of all time. This is going to be a long one.

The New Directions have to go to Sectionals, which is where they compete against other glee clubs in the area, but Mr. Schue has sad news. The school won’t cover the cost for a wheelchair-accessible school bus. Mr. Schue is furious about this, but the school is broke and principal Figgins’s hands are tied. The Cheerios get private jets and what not, but that’s because they are sponsored, so if Mr. Schue wants the bus, the glee club has to cough up the money.

(Is this legal? Isn’t McKinley, by law, obligated to accommodate disabled students?)

Mr. Schue has a plan: a bake sale! The proceeds will go to an accessible bus, but to his dismay, no one cares. In fact, the glee kids dismiss the need for an accessible bus, since Artie’s dad can just drive him separately, right? Artie is clearly uncomfortable, but acts like it is fine. Mr. Schue is very disappointed, since they’re supposed to be a team and they should go to the competition as a team. The bell rings and Mr. Schue talks to Artie, who is indeed saddened by his friends’ reactions, but he’s used to it. He asks if he can use the auditorium to rehearse and he sings about his loneliness. Mr. Schue sees this and decides to take action.

He hires some wheelchairs for a week and tells the others that they have to spend at least some hours a day in a wheelchair to learn what it is like for Artie. They will also do the bake sale after all AND they will do a number in wheelchairs, so that Artie can teach them how to dance in wheelchairs. Everyone, except for Artie, is unhappy about it. Days pass and the kids indeed learn how inaccessible the school is and they struggle a lot. Not only that, but hey, ableism. Glee club was already uncool, and now they’re uncool losers in wheelchairs. Even more uncool! They don’t sell a single cupcake! Well, except for one. Brittany comes in with her friend Becky, who has down syndrome, to buy a cupcake, and Becky is jealous of Santana, since she’s a cheerleader.

Yes, cheerleaders! Principal Figgins has summoned Sue and Mr. Schue to his office. He applauds Mr. Schue for the wheelchair thing and tells Sue to do a similar thing. The Cheerios are too exclusive, so he wants her to have open auditions and Mr. Schue needs to monitor her. Many students show up, including Kurt and Mercedes, but Sue berates all of them. There’s only one candidate left, but Sue doesn’t care, since they probably won’t make the team after all.

It’s Becky.

The atmosphere is tense, and Mr. Schue also warns Sue to be nice. Becky attempts to do some jump roping, but fails. Still, Sue tells her she’s on the team. Mr. Schue is wary of it and tells her she’s up to something, but Sue says she’s done what was asked of her.

Later, Mr. Schue walks in on cheerleader practise and sees Sue berating Becky. Becky doesn’t seem to mind, she’s just happy to be there. Mr. Schue calls her out and tells Sue Becky needs special treatment, which Sue refuses. She treats Becky like everyone else, since no one deserves special treatment. Mr. Schue tries to explain that Becky is a different situation, which only pisses Sue off. She disagrees and dislikes the implication that Becky needs to be treated with kids gloves. Mr. Schue tells Sue he’s onto her, but Sue claims he doesn’t know her at all.

Meanwhile, Quinn needs more money. The doctor appointments are expensive, and she tells Finn to get a job. Finn confides with Puck, and Puck agrees, which angers Finn. He doesn’t understand why Puck acts like it is his business. They fight over it. Puck decides to take matters into his own hands. He is going to provide for Quinn and the baby. So he, uh, fakes that he has had a traumatic accident and wheels to Mr. Ryerson. Remember him? The former-pedo-glee-club-teacher-turned-weed-dealer? Puck fakes that he’s in a wheelchair and cries that he’s in pain so that he can get discount weed for medical purposes, while in reality, he puts the drugs in the cupcake batter and gets the entire school addicted.

Yup.

The glee club is cashing in! Puck then steals the money to hand it to Quinn. Quinn refuses it, since it’s supposed to be for Artie. Not only that, but Finn interrupts. He’s also faked being a wheelchair user, after Rachel’s advice, in order to get a job. If his employer refuses, Rachel and her gay dads will sue for workplace discrimination. Finn has to pretend to be a wheelchair user during his entire job, but hey, it pays.

So instead, Puck hands the money to Mr. Schue, who in turn hands it to Artie. It’s all for him, after all, so Artie deserves to be the one to bring it to principal Figgins. Artie thanks his friends for it and also thanks them for taking the time to learn more about his experiences. And now they’ve also all realised that the school building is inaccessible. Artie says he isn’t the first disabled student and he won’t be the last, so he’s asked his dad to drive him separately to Sectionals, so that he can use the money to build ramps in the auditorium, making that wheelchair accessible.

Everyone agrees, so Artie gives the money back to Mr. Schue. But when Mr. Schue gives it to principal Figgins, Figgins has good news. Earlier, Sue came in and wrote some big checks and told Figgins the money is to be used to make the school more accessible. Mr. Schue is confused. Sue, of all people? But Figgins doesn’t question it. It’s a win-win: the school becomes more accessible AND they can pay for the bus.

While all of this was happening during the episode, there was an important queer B-plot. Both Kurt and Rachel want a solo: Wicked’s Defying Gravity. Mr. Schue immediately hands it to Rachel, since it’s sung by a woman and men usually cannot reach the high F needed for the riff. Kurt is upset that he isn’t even allowed to try. His dad notices, and realises it’s really upsetting Kurt, so he goes to the school and says this is discrimination with a slight edge of homophobia, and he demands a better option. Mr. Schue agrees and apologises, so they decide to do a sing-off. Both Kurt and Rachel can sing the song and then the others vote on it. Mr. Schue says that he cannot, in good conscious, teaches the kids to respect Artie’s difference while also ignoring Kurt’s, which pisses Rachel off. Rachel is afraid it’ll be a popularity contest, but Kurt has everyone plead and swear that they will sole choose on the song.

And then one of the best scenes of the show happen. Slur warning, folks!

Kurt is in the choir room, hitting high notes, slowly working towards the F. Meanwhile, his dad is at work at the garage. He gets a call. The scene alternates between shots of Kurt getting higher and higher, and Burt walking to the office. Burt picks up. An anonymous caller says “Your son is a fag” and hangs up. Meanwhile, Kurt’s hit the high F and is beaming with happiness. Burt is distressed and puts down the phone.

Damn.

Kurt goes to the garage, super duper happy, but of course, his dad doesn’t match the excitement. Kurt asks what’s up and Burt tells him what’s happened. Kurt is upset, but tells his dad this is normal for him, which makes his dad even more sad and angry. Burt says that he knows that this is part of the gay stuff, but that it doesn’t make it better, and Kurt singing girls songs only contributes to that. Kurt asks if he should withdraw, and Burt says no, since no one pushes the Hummels around. He tells Kurt to fight for himself, no matter what, but Kurt sees that his dad is really shaken by this.

So the sing-off commences, and both Kurt and Rachel do a great job. But when it’s time for the riff, Kurt purposefully tanks it and sings terribly. Everyone votes for Rachel.

That night, Kurt tells Burt he’s lost. Burt is angry and threatens to go to the school again, but Kurt admits that he did it on purpose. Burt is annoyed, since he does all of this for Kurt, only for Kurt to throw it away. But Kurt says he did it to protect his dad. If he were to sing a girl’s song, the homophobia would only rise. Burt is upset, since he’s the parent and he should protect his kid, not the other way around, but Kurt says that seeing how upset his dad was, broke his heart, and his dad is more important to him than a solo.

Damn, again.

God. Why does this episode have so much going for it? This review is so long.

The episode ends with Sue visiting a hospital or something. She’s a loyal visitor. The staff recognises her. Sue is visiting her sister Jane, who has down syndrome, and she happily tells her about Becky. Jane loves to hear it.

Meanwhile, Artie and Tina are after school racing each other in their wheelchairs. Artie wins, since he has more experience. Tina says she’s grateful for the whole wheelchair experiment, but she wants to get out now, so she can kiss Artie. Artie is happy and tells her that from all people, Tina is his best friend, since she understands him. Tina has a stutter, so she knows what it is like when people judge her for something she cannot help.

Then, Tina admits that her stutter is fake. She is shy and realised years ago that if people believe she stutters, they will not talk to her and she doesn’t have to talk. She tells Artie she’s sorry for keeping this, but she tells him since they are indeed alike.

But Artie’s expression has gone sour. He’s upset to hear this. Yes, Artie is alike, since they are both isolated by their disabilities, but Artie didn’t choose that. It’s the ableism that made the world turn against him and to hear that Tina takes this real pain that disabled people feel for her own benefit, pisses him off. He leaves and the episode ends with them singing Proud Mary in wheelchairs, which is the number they’ve been practising.

Woah.

That is ONE HELL OF AN EPISODE. And it delivered.

And yet, I have more to say, but this review is already around 2.000 words long (oops?), so you can consider it finished. If you want to read my rambles about more behind the scenes stuff, feel free to stick around.

I do think it is important to address the elephant in the room: Glee’s representation on disability, especially since Glee didn’t initially set out to do so. Kevin McHale, who plays Artie, isn’t a wheelchair user. He can walk and is actually the best dancer of the original cast of the pilot (since Heather didn’t join in the beginning), and during dance rehearsal, they thought it’d be totally funny if the dancer would be playing a kid in a wheelchair. There seemed to be no intention to care, but they did. Kevin said that he got a lot of letters from kids in wheelchairs who felt seen by him and overall opinion is that Kevin did a great job. (At least here, because Glee’s representation of wheelchair users will get a bit sour later on.)

You have to understand that it was 2009, and the discussions on representation weren’t happening as much. By now it is seen as important that an actual person of the represented group plays that character. (Wait till season 6, where we got a cis woman playing a trans man!)

Not to say that they weren’t happening, but they weren’t seen as important. They were happening from the beginning and Kevin, not knowing what he had done wrong, apparently asked for advice from higher ups, only to be told to ignore those complaints from disabled people. Yikes.

Kevin’s own opinion is very much of “I shouldn’t have done it, but I didn’t know better, so I did and I am glad it meant a lot to people”, so it’s a humbled and slightly embarrassed view. He’s actually wondered that if they were do a Glee reboot (please no), would he be able to return as Artie? He is Artie, but he also is inclined to decline.

The trend didn’t stop here. Jenna Ushkowitz, who played Tina, was genuinely shocked to hear Tina faked her stutter. In fact, when Jenna got cast, Tina had Tourette’s and Jenna took that incredibly seriously. She read books about it, did research, looked up stories of people with Tourette’s and vowed to be respectful. But then before shooting it got changed to “just a stutter” and then this happened. Unlike the Artie stuff, people aren’t happy with the Tina stuff.

Kevin and Jenna talked about it in their podcast and they mentioned (not necessarily for this episode) that at moments like this, it becomes clear that the writers were mostly straight white men. Mostly. Ryan Murphy is gay and it shows with Kurt’s storyline. It comes from a clear place of recognition. If I remember correctly, he gave Kurt the stuff he wished he had growing up. But he has no experience with being in a wheelchair, or having Tourette’s or a stutter.

Again, it was a different time. Straight people played queer characters, non-disabled people played disabled characters, cis people played trans people… We had already gotten past the idea of white people playing characters of colour, although we were still in the period where all non-white people were a monolith (Glee never acknowledged that Jenna is Korean, not Chinese). The discussion on “who should play who” is more complex and the examples I mentioned above aren’t equal.

All of this to say that Kevin’s portrayal of Artie is a mixed bag, but mostly positive, since people did seem to like it and it was big to have a wheelchair user amongst the main characters in prime time television. This episode even got screened in cinema’s since people knew how important it would be. Artie is important, the same way that Kurt is important for representation. Both didn’t age well. And part of the wacky history of representation is that it’s a messy road. One of my favourite Asian characters who means a lot to me is Cho Chang from all people, who is the epitome of white ignorance in my view. And I think that it is also rough to discount how somewhat problematic representation is, at times, better than no representation.

[thehollowwriter]

Summary: Fin loves red. He loves his partners, too.

(Pls reblog and leave a comment ❤️)

Red

Finn adored red. Such a beautiful fascinating colour. The colour of rage. The colour of blood. The colour of love.

Green remained his favourite colour, but red triggered so many emotions in him, so many... feelings. There was much he could do with red, especially today.

A deep crimson stained Finn's hands. Some of it had gotten in his hair somehow, tangling with and matting the dark green locks. Streaks of red marred his face too, but there wasn't much of it.

Truly, he would look ghastly to an outsider. Coated in red, grin stretched wide over his face. But there were no outsiders. Be was perfectly alone in his greenhouse, free to do as he pleased.

The movement of his paintbrush against the canvas was practised and delicate, slow and careful. Red stained the white of the canvas.

Apart from the wet sounds of the paintbrush, it was dead silent. Finn didn't dare say a word, opting to bite his lip in poorly restrained excitement instead.

A splash of purple and a dash of teal were the only break from the raw, unyielding red dominating Finn's piece. Red ran down the large canvas in thick rivulets, forging a number of haunting rivers that travelled to the bottom of the canvas.

Perfect. Oh, it was perfect.

The sound of a doorknob turning and a door creaking open shattered the silence, pulling Finn's attention from his work.

"Finn?" Came Azul's voice. "You called us rather urgently. If this is about a painting, I have a lot of work to do. It will have to wait."

"Oh, but it can't." Finn said, his voice nearly cracking in delight. "I made something for you. Something special."

He stood up and set his paints down. Then he slowly and carefully turned his easel around to face the other three, gripping the side tightly and cocking his head to the side.

"I do hope you like it."

Three pairs of eyes widened in varying degrees of surprise, fixed on Finn's little homage to red.

An anatomically correct heart was centred on the once pristine white canvas, brought to life in dozens of intricate painted shades of red. It felt so real, so life-like, one would wonder if Finn somehow got hold of a real heart to use as a reference.

Red dripped down from the heart in half-dried streaks that glistened in the light.They trailed all the way down to the edge of the canvas, running over Finn's slanted and looping signature at the bottom right.

But that wasn't all.

Octopus arms burst from every opening, from the aorta to the vena cavas to the pulmonary veins, encircling the heart in a protective embrace. Two moray eels squeezed out of the vena cavas and tangled with the arms in a beautiful flurry of purple and teal.

"Happy Valentine's Day, my loves."

His partners were stunned into silence for a while. Then, a low chuckle sounded.

"It's beautiful." Jade spoke first. "Thank you, darling."

His voice stirred Floyd from his stupor. "Ha! Ya always find something interesting to do. S'pretty."

Azul took a moment or so longer to form words, seemingly entranced by Finn's piece.

"It's... it's incredible, Finn. Do y-"

Finn reached forward and pressed a finger against his lips. "No. This is for the three of you. Nobody else."

"Ah, right, of course." Azul smiled. "It's amazing. Thank you, Finn."

Finn preened at the praise, delighted. "I'm glad you like it. I wanted to- well-." His face flushed a little. "I wanted to show how I felt in a more effective way than words. You... you've captured my heart."

His voice steadily grew quieter, and he cringed at how ridiculously cheesy he sounded, even if it was true.

"Aww, our stone cold cookie is being all lovey dovey today." Floyd cooed. "Lucky day."

"Indeed it is." Azul purred, an utterly diabolical smirk plastered to his face. "So honest. How unlike you, Finn."

"I believe he's simply getting into the holiday spirit." Jade chimed in. "In fact, I'm surprised you didn't get us real hearts this year."

"I wanted to," Finn said almost immediately. "Papa had no leftovers to spare, and I couldn't get human hearts. But I spoke with him, and he was able to send up your favourite cuts for me."

"Really?"

The excited expressions on his partner's faces made him laugh.

"Of course. Anything for my dearly beloveds."

-End

...........................................

A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I had a lot of fun with this one. I didn't know how to end it, though, sorry rjtntn

Tagging: @distant-velleity @krenenbaker @kitwasnothere @theleechyskrunkly @whspermy-name @jaylleoo14 @officialdaydreamer00 @cynthinesia @skrimpyskimpy @boopshoops @jovieinramshackle @casp1an-sea

@poisoned-pearls

[mitamicah]

My experience having my birthday at a Blind Channel concert (Pumpehuset, Copenhagen April 22 2024)

Better late than never here's my few cent about my (birthday) concert with Blind Channel last month :3

Me and a friend arrived at 3 pm where a cute little queue consisting of 3 Finns and 3 german people had gathered. This was where I got my first birthday song of the evening (it wouldn't be the last).

The queueing reminded me a lot of Malmö yet this time I was less surprised since I have more experience with Danish queues. (we are not very good at queueing for long periods of time especially on a monday xD) I did meet a handful of lovely people tho including a fan France, one from the Netherlands and a fellow danish fan who'd seen the band four times. One of the german fans were so kind of gifting me their VIP bag (since they'd gotten quite a few on this tour alone having early entrance/meet and greet to more or less all the shows). Despite having nothing personally to gift the fans this time this wouldn't be the last bit of merch I'd get since a fan later gifted me a homemade silk bracelet :'3

At 5.30 (aka my time of birth) the queue was starting to form. Me however decided to play Käärijä from my phone so the first song I'd hear in my 29th year would be Cha Cha Cha. The three Finns from earlier were right next to me when I sang my way through the song and they were surprised I wasn't from Finland xD. Me explaining why in the world I chose to play CCC in the middle of queuing got people to sing a second row of Happy Birthday xD

We ended up getting a pretty good spot on third row at the concert. The venue was tiny (I believe it was the small one with the capacity of 300 people) yet I was hopeful since last intimate concert I'd been to (Malmö) became one of my favourites real fast.

First band of the evening was Cold Culture from Denmark. I couldn't unsee the resemblance between Mads the frontman and Bojan (you may have seen my other post about this x'D). So I was sorta stalking him with my camera the whole set and the one time I didn't, he reached out to hold my hand (just like Bojan x'D). I didn't get the same stomach churning awe as with Bojan however but it was still a magical moment :'D. The band were really good and I have been pretty hooked on their sound since pretty much one half of a song played that evening.

Next band was Rock Band From Hell that - unfortunately given their name - is not really from Hell but are from Finland xD. Another pleasant surprise and once again a band where I felt drawn to the frontman but this time because his fit was the perfect mixture of nostalgia (think 2004/American Idiot Green Day) and gender envy (fishnets and coloured hair included) for me. The songs too were heavily influenced by 2000s pop punk which is just up my alley so I had a blast. My friend caught a guitar pick from Frontman Jani and then gave it to me as a birthday gift which I am more than grateful for :'D <3

Blind Channel got on stage around 10 pm and their set too was a lot of fun. I had made a sign basically stating it was indeed my birthday (as it turned out I was the only one there with a sign OVO) which I put up after the third song. Joel noticed and then lead the audience through a round of happy birthday (I had honestly no idea what I'd expected to happen with the sign so this was a pleasant surprise). At one point the band started requesting for moshpits which was a bit of a disaster given half of us were not into it (think closer to the Joker Out crowd in terms of overwhelmingly being girls and gays present) and the other half trying way too hard to make up for it. When the band realised that this wouldn't work they instead started a circle pit and that felt more right (I was in it and Mads from CC was too). It took me almost the entire circle pit to realise Joel had place himself in the middle of our pit and stood there unbothered singning x'D.

When the circle pit stopped I found myself having lost my good spot at the front and where now closer to the back. It didn't matter too much given the tiny size of the venue so I could still see just fine. The danish flag got on stage during the Dark Side encore which felt really good experiencing actually seeing my own flag being tossed around at one of these concerts (I am so used to it being Swedish, German or Finnish flags now x'D).

After half-heartedly attempting to get a pick, drumstick or setlist after the concert (spoilers: I didn't get either) I went to the merch stand where I got to talk to Jani and Jere from RBFH (frontman and guitarist) and knowing me of course I ended up venting about Finland and Käärijä for half a minute xD they were really nice tho and I bought their album ^V^

Then I went to chat with Cold Culture and got pictures with almost the whole band (keyboardist Andy had to get home since he lived 4-5 hours away). the guys were more than a little excited learning that it was my birthday. They sung Happy Birthday to me at least twice and drummer Andy (there are two with the same name but pronounced differently to make the confusion even bigger x'D) were especially excited about my flag cape (I had a flag with arms on the entire evening x'D) so he got to wear it and I almost just gifted it to him then and there :'D.

Having spoken to CC for a while (I can confidently say Mads also has a personality that resembles Bojan) a merch person got out with a shirt that had a minor defect that they couldn't sell. Turned out that would be my last accidental birthday gift x'D.

After a while we got hushed out by security yet gathered around the venue to talk/digest about the concert. Standing close to the bus we got to say hi to quite a few of the members from Blind Channel including guitarist Joonas (the fan from France got a photo with him) and Joel (he remembered me as the person with the birthday so he said happy birthday again :D <3).

Around 2-3 am (so 12 hours after arriving x'D) we said our goodbyes and me and my friend went home to my mother's house were we were staying. I got like 3 hours of sleep that night and a sore throat but it was definitely worth it given the amount of experiences we got this one night. Definitely in my top 5 if not top 3 of recent concerts although personally I'd say Käärijä in Berlin and Joker Out in Malmö is still a bit higher for me personally even considering the amount of little blessings from this evening :'D

[justlemoney]

From your character ask game for the Cars movies! Zero obligations to answer, but I myself love doing these.

Im not going to send you a character. Ill ask you instead to pick two for yourself under certain criteria.

1) A character that you were inatantly drawn to on your first watch. The character that ultimately and initially became your favourite.

2) A character grew on you over time and over several reruns of the movie(s). Also please tell me why this occured. It fascinates me.

Brace yourself, theres a few!

1

2

3

10

12

13

16

18

20

21

22

24

25

26

Im so sorry I cannot remember what they were! I just wrote down the numbers. Love your blog!

Alrighty! This is gonna be fun, also I love this request- thank you so much honestly (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦���)⁠つ

Characters I have chosen (it's 3, I couldn't decide on the first criteria, so this is gonna be quite a long post):

For the first criteria we have Strip 'The King' Weathers and Finn McMissile

And for the second criteria we have Francesco Bernoulli.

-> When I first watched the second movie of the Cars-Trilogy I mainly focused on the whole espionage thing that was going on, and less on the World Grand Prix racing. Therefore I didn't pay much attention to the other racers individually. And at first I did not like Francesco at all. He reminded me too much of Lightning, when Lightning was a rookie and I didn't like that. Bernoulli gave me, as mentioned, similar vibes as rookie Lightning, the vibes of the whole 'being a one-man-kind of show' thing. Francesco came across as a cocky, flirtatious, over confident character with a high ego. (At least for me ಥ⁠‿⁠ಥ)

But after I rewatched the movie several times, I started to like him more. (Well and maybe some fanfictions had their influence as well-) I began to think more about him, about his way on and off the track, his relations and so on. I saw that, despite his seemingly high ego, he is indeed a kind soul. For example how he seems to like the fact that his mother is his 'biggest/greatest' fan, and he is open about that too. I have a feeling some other racers would be embarrassed to see their family members, especially their mother, cheering for them. But he doesn't mind it. (Alright- this turned out longer than expected-) ⊂⁠(⁠(⁠・⁠▽⁠・⁠)⁠)⁠⊃

NOW- let's get going with the rest of your 'Character Asks' request (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

I am gonna go in the following order for each number: Strip Weathers, Finn McMissile, Francesco Bernoulli

1) My first impression of them

-> A racer with great potential, that is also blue and works for an agency with a Dino as a logo. (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

-> Uiii cool looking, normal, spy guy. Actually, scratch that- a wild traumatized appeared (Pokemon reference intended)

-> Rookie Lightning McQueen but make him Italian and take away his fenders

2) When I think I truly started to like them

-> When he told off Lightning at the beginning of Cars 1. No elaboration.

-> Right at the start of Cars 2, due to the whole entire chasing scene.

-> After rerunning the movie several times, and fanfiction-

3) A Song that reminds me of them

-> 'Gossip' by Måneskin

-> 'Set it off' by Skillet

-> 'Iconic' by Simple Plan

10) Describe the character in one sentence

-> Silly country boi that loves racing and his wife (and sponsor.) ⊂⁠(⁠・⁠▽⁠・⁠⊂⁠)

-> Bisexual- I am sorry- British secret spy agent with trauma.

-> Italian racer that is shamelessly flirting (and in love) with McQueen

12) Sexuality hc!

-> Bisexual or Unlabeled (already mentioned in another ask)

-> Gay- Bisexual ʘ⁠‿⁠ʘ

-> *clap clap, finger guns* Pan. (⁠��⁠ ͡⁠°⁠ ͜⁠ʖ⁠ ͡⁠°⁠)⁠☞

13) Your favorite friendship they have

-> Him and Tex/Him and Junior

-> Him and Tomber

-> Him and McQueen

16) A childhood headcanon

-> Never liked playing/interacting with other kids

-> Grew up somewhere in Germany

-> Used to steal- eh I mean borrow, Mama Bernoulli's cosmetics

18) How do you think they were as a kid?

-> Shy and reserved, didn't know how to connect with others around him

-> Bubbly and happy, always in action, until some trauma happens (Explanation in 22)

-> Outgoing and enthusiastic, loved to brag about Mama Bernoulli's delicious food (he still does that)

20) A weird headcanon

-> Had a goth/punk phase as a teen. (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠)

-> Once needed to plan a wedding for a Spy-Mission, as part of a cover

-> He knows how to knit and sew. (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠) Mama taught him (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

21) When do you think they were at their happiest?

-> Whenever he is/was on the track or with Lynda/Tex, and later on whenever Cal or Junior are around, oh and when he met Doc Hudson (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

-> Training Academy with Leland and when he was/is with Mater/Holley and or Tomber

-> Also while racing, around his fellow racers (The other WGP racers), and of course when he is with his Mama

22) When do you think they were at their lowest?

-> When he crashed at the Tiebreaker race, and during middle school

-> After his mother's death, and later when Leland passed

-> After a harsh break up, and unlucky for him, his Mama was very ill at the same time too (she got better of course)

24) What do you think is a secret they have that they never told anyone

-> He once wanted to commit. (I'm sorry, I'm dumping so much trauma on the poor guy) Never told anyone. Not even his parents found out. Not even Lynda or Tex know, he keeps that secret to himself and he will take it with him into his grave.

-> He will never tell anyone, how exactly his mother passed, only he knows the real reason and he is gonna keep it that way

-> He used to eat flowers when he was bored, and occasionally he still does that. Of course he isn't gonna tell anyone, his Mama doesn't know either

25) When do you think they acted the most ooc?

-> When he met Doc for the first time and was alone with him. I don't know what kind of hyperfixation suddenly hit him, but he suddenly became all excited and bubbly. I mean his Idol was in front of him. (I am sorry I couldn't think of any movie scene that seemed ooc for him)

-> That one scene in Cars 2 in Japan, where he fought with some of the lemons. There is this one scene, one split second, where he was shocked to suddenly be rammed

-> Also in Japan, during the race on the dirt part of the track. We all know he lost his momentum there due to not knowing how to properly drive in dirt. That was the one moment his self-confidence/his ego took damage.

26) When do you think they were being 'themselves' the most?

-> Honestly, on the track, with Lynda and Tex, with other friends, with his nephew and so on

-> Around Leland/Tomber, and with Mater/(Holley)

-> With his fellow WGP racers, especially with Lightning

AND DONE (⁠ ⁠ꈍ⁠ᴗ⁠ꈍ⁠)

This was fun to write, took me about an hour plus and I loved it! (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ

Thank you so much for this, it really got me into my thoughts and just- thank you! (⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2007: The Scoreboards

After years of basic graphic design for the scoreboard, wowie. True fantasy indeed, and many of my fantasies do involve spreadsheets. It's clean, it's clear, it's crisp, it's colourful, fun and in HD.

There is a touch of mixed font meltdown, but I'll forgive it because the main font chosen for the year is clearly one that should never be used for information-heavy purposes. The contrast between the pastel background and the black bars for the country name is beautiful. Chef's kiss.

The spokespeople from their speech-bubble prisons in the top right were once again restricted to relating their nation's eight, ten and twelve point scores only and are obviously under instruction to cut down on the flap and banter. The EBU wants things to be sharp and to speed along. With so many countries singing, there's less time for scoring.

Not only do the semi-final envelopes remain in place, but this time they're snatched from the hand of Svante and express delivered by Finns on roller-skates to the presenters. The ridiculously telegenic presenters Mikko and Jaana look like they're having way too much fun with those envelopes. This new envelope based drama is something that may have been developed by chance, but is now so dramatic the EBU are truly wanting to play it up a little, and YLE are more than happy to co-operate.

It's 2007 spoiler time.

Through from the largest semi-final ever progressed:

Serbia - 298 points and beating last year's semi-final record

Hungary - 224 points

Türkiye - 197 points

Belarus - 176 points

Latvia - 168 points

Bulgaria - 146 points

Slovenia - 140 points

Georgia - 123 points

FYROM - 97 points

Moldova - 91 points

Just missing out were Portugal on 88 points and Andorra (Where Are Andorra?) on 80 points. It wasn't lost on many people that every single country through from the semi-final were 'Eastern European' (cue Slovenia, Serbia and Hungary complaining) or that they're non-traditional Eurovision countries (again Slovenia, Serbia and this time Türkiye protest). However that 'clean-sweep' at the expense of the lovely indie boys from Andorra, brought back the resentments that had been laid to rest for 2006. Block voting was apparent to many people, and to lots of delegations.

It didn't really matter that for the most part these ten songs were actually better than the other eighteen, and that with such a huge semi-final lots of countries were going to be disappointed. The semi-final results were going to resound for a year and bring consequences, up to and including questions being asked in national parliaments.

But first we've got a final to get through. Here the results were broadly similar and not at all tense. Although there was only a thirty point gap between the winner and second place, that gap remained consistent throughout the scoring. The order was set early on with little in the way of drama.

There were more countries from the prequalified nations who managed to learn from Romania and up their game, meaning the scoreboard wasn't so dramatically split between the semi-finalists and the prequalified as the previous two-years. But the winners were the winners of the semi, and the highest finishers of the 'Big Four' were Germany in nineteenth. Perhaps the biggest marker for the disgruntled was that highest 'Western European' countries were Greece in 7th and hosts Finland in 17th, and they're not even that far West.

It may be lost on us now, especially as there are so many classics and fan favourites near the top of the scoreboard, but this result was really controversial in 2007. The talk of fixes, diasporic voting and collusion between neighbours went through the roof. It all goes to show that not only is Eurovision political neutrality only skin deep, but that despite years of singing about European harmony and one-ness, there were still divisions, resentments, and scars from the past that were only healing slowly.

Here then are results of the Eurovision Song Contest of 2007 in full.

Serbia - Marija Šerifović - "Molitva" - 268 points

Ukraine - Verka Serduchka - "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" - 235 points

Russia - Serebo - "Song #1" - 207 points

Türkiye - Kenan Doğulu "Shake It Up Şekerim" - 163 points

Bulgaria - Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov - "Water" - 157 points

Belarus - Koldun - "Work Your Magic" - 145 points

Greece - Sarbel - "Yassou Maria" - 139 points

Armenia - Hayko - "Anytime You Need" - 138 points

Hungary - Magdi Rúzsa - "Unsubstantial Blues" - 128 points

Moldova - Natalia Barbu - "Fight" - 109 points

Bosnia and Herzegovina - Marija Šestić - "Rijeka bez imena" - 106 points

Georgia - Sopho - "Visionary Dream" - 97 points

Romania - Todomondo - "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" - 84 points

FYROM - Karolina - "Mojot svet" - 73 points

Slovenia - Alenka Gotar - "Cvet z juga" - 66 points

Latvia - Bonaparti.lv - "Questa notte" - 54 points

Finland - Hanna Pakarinen - "Leave Me Alone" - 53 points

Sweden - The Ark - "The Worrying Kind" - 51 points

Germany - Roger Cicero - "Frauen regier'n die Welt" - 49 points

Spain - D'Nash - "I Love You Mi Vida" - 43 points

Lithuania - 4Fun - "Love or Leave" - 28 points

France - Les Fatals Picards - "L'Amour à la française" - 19 points

United Kingdom - Scooch - "Flying the Flag" - 19 points (joint 22nd)

Ireland - Dervish - "They Can't Stop the Spring" - 5 points

[redrascal1]

I recently posted a quote from a JCF poster which includes a line that summons up exactly how I feel about Rey.

She has already stolen the Skywalker name undeservingly, her character has already been responsible for a couple of character assassinations, and at the end of the day I don’t care much for her character because the sequels made me not care (predominantly TLJ and TROS, she was fine in TFA)

This.

Rey was fine in TFA. I did NOT like how she managed to pull off a Jedi Mind Trick with zero training; if she had been Obi Wan's granddaughter it might have worked as it was a favourite trick of his and could have been put down to genes. But, her defeating Kylo could be explained as due to his reluctance to kill her and blood loss from his wound.

I liked her in TLJ right up until she tried to take the lightsabre from Kylo. But, Rian Johnson admitted he had to change some of his story to allow for Trevorrow's version, and Rey could still have been salvaged by TROS.

But as the JCF poster rightly pointed out, TROS Rey was indeed responsible for character assassinations. Kylo, who was reduced to her life force donor - for crying out loud, they could at least have allowed him a role in killing off Palpatine, the man had destroyed his family.

Finn. Much as I have lost my respect for Boyega post the pipe business, Rian set up Finn's character arc beautifully for TROS, only for him to be reduced to a groupie following Rey around screaming her name. Even his Force sensitivity amounted to nothing.

And...as I have said countless times before, Leia. She was destroyed as a wife and mother by TROS, and I will never forgive them for this, just as I'll never forgive them for killing off the last Skywalker.

They did all this just to promote Rey. As a 'goddess' so perfect Leia preferred her to her own son, Finn had no function except to adore her, and Kylo was only good enough to die saving her.

Does anyone really want to see more of this inhuman creature? Wake up and smell the coffee, Kathleen.

[spicybylerpolls]

Can anyone give an idea of why sexual thoughts about these two are objectively bad? 

Ok, first think of the kind of creepy perv who it would scare you to know they are thinking sexually about you. Is it because they look or seem dirty and gross? What does that actually mean? 

Secondly, are they a predator because of it? Are they acting like a predator? Or are they simply thinking private thoughts and you have no idea they’re even doing it other than a hunch? 

And lastly, is the idea of deviant sexuality something that grosses you out, period? 

These three are sounding suspiciously like the subtext of stranger things’ plot. Monsters and prejudice vs an apparently deviant predator. 

The main issue against this blog and the practises it endorses seems to be that people don’t want to KNOW. You can keep your deviancy to yourself. Which is an entirely different branch of the issue than whether it is actually ok to be ‘deviant’ or not. 

If you’re not hurting anyone, what makes sexual fantasy objectively bad? Ok, so maybe it’s the very idea of byler fans being a bit lewd about these two teens. Perhaps it seems like these fans are bad people at heart because they give in to those desires of enjoying byler in a sexual context. Although again that screams to me of the id and the shadow self and the dark psyche - what Vecna represents in s4. Considering that healthy sex/fantasy is enjoyable, pleasurable, fun, why is this considered more perverted than other taboo topics like violence? 

Is it because taking pleasure from someone (without their knowledge, as when fantasising about someone) is considered worse than doing something unenjoyable / painful / bad / violent? Of course sex can be used as violence, but no one here is doing that. Yet still, some bylers think that fantasy is a violation of something akin to committing physical violence. 

I don’t know the answers, I’m just spitballing. It’s just interesting to me, perhaps because I have a background in visual art and in theatre. I’ve got experience discussing and considering works that examine pretty much any taboo you can imagine. For example, there’s a play from the POV of a convicted paedophile in prison. There’s also a play called Sylvia and Sheep or something (can’t remember) but it’s about bestiality. It basically asks why our society considers bestiality to be morally wrong, when only fifty years ago, homosexuality was considered to be just as heinous. The answer seems obvious: animals can't speak and so can't give consent. But the play makes interesting and surprising counter-arguments.

These plays are both controversial works. Not to say I agree with the ideas in practise, but as an artist, I cannot disagree with the examination of those ideas. 

So perhaps people here think that byler can't give consent, because they're too young to know better, or because you're thinking about them without their consent. But you can see how both of these arguments don't hold up considering they are fictional characters, and we are imagining them together, not self-inserting into the narrative. Also, you don't consent to think something lol.

Also to bring this around to the performers in case anyone was still claiming that Finn or noah themselves might be uncomfortable with sexual content for byler, Finn has said his favourite genre of literature is transgressive fiction, which includes authors like Charles Bukowski, who are rather dark and twisted. He said to the audience at the con (who were mainly minors) that these books are not suitable for them lol. 

Also, I COULD use this last as more vague evidence that Finn may indeed be queer but I’m not going to go there 

very interesting points! much to think about.

[valentinos-corner]

Hiii Valentino! How are you doing today :D?

ooooo mac n cheese a really good choice, I like that one :D I love that so much, cheese and pasta are fantastic foods; that's so unfortunate that pasta makes your nose run though D: I can't imagine what might be the cause of that, that's so weird?? I salute thee O pasta-allergic, truly you sacrifice much to enjoy pasta o7 (/silly but also /gen)

Loll wonderful, I consider that more than enough foundations to say you've experienced crepes ^^ they do indeed taste very good 👍

Oooo that's a tough one, I've never been able to decide on a favourite animal, despite how many times I get asked about it.... maybe red pandas? :D they're so adorable, and just silly little things; I also love dogs and cats very much, so there's them XD so yeah! red trash pandas and the sillies of the pet world

How about you, what's you favourite :0?

Also I went for a nice long walk today and my path took me across the one of a lady walking her floofy saint bernard and when I say he was floofy he was the Floofster to End All Floofsters

And I got pet him so that was a win for sure XD dogs are so adorable

Speaking of floofy dogs, one of the dogs that my family had in the past was our amazing newfoundland called Finn :> I love him so much, he was such a sweet soul and just the most derpy dog you'd ever meet; Thankfully we got many good photos of him before he passed in the end of 2023, so we have a ton of things to remember him by :)

actually if you'd like, I could totally show you some pictures of him so you can experience the fluffy derpiness yourself! ^^ /nf

Alrighty, it does come that time again - Thanks for chatting as always, it was positively lovely; and I'll verily be back tomorrow o7 I hope you're doing well and that you enjoy dnd tomorrow!! you're awesome, bye for now!!!

hello hello!!

crashes through the wall

RED PANDAS? ::D

cool thing about them! they have tiny thumbs! funky little evolved wristbones (<not like our thumbs) that help them eat bamboo ::>

more fun facts:

-red pandas were named before giant pandas, not the other way around. the red ones came first

-not actually closely related to bears, raccoons, or cats! they're their own thing

-they put their hands in the air when they're scared and it's just so cute

I don't really have a favorite animal overall, but I really like olms and moray eels

olms because they're obscure little guys and they're so very cute, and moray eels because 1. they're cool as hell and 2. I dedicated two weeks of my life to making a whole conspiracy board trying to prove a pair of fictional characters were not morays

if You ever have any animals that You're curious about please tell me I love animals I love zoology I know so much I have so much knowledge

about dnd, my mom texted me, we aren't doing it tomorrow :( that's okay though because I'm gonna watch anime with my qpp- ::D

[sunnyinlogan]

Soundbites Mega List

Baldur's Gate 3

!darkurge - "I must resist the dark urge lest it consume my mind."

!dirtythoughts - Astarion. "The norm is to keep dirty thoughts like that to ourselves, but do carry on."

!more - Wyll. "More of those wretched things."

!nofear - Wyll. "Battle favours the fearless!"

!senses - Lae'zel. "Has the tadpole ravaged your senses?"

!strangehole - Shadowheart. "You cant just stick your hand in every strange hole you come across."

!taste - Gale "Mm, I applaud your taste." requested by samadkhan777

!touchnothing - Lae'zel. "Istik! Back! Touch nothing without knowing its purpose!"

!yahoohello - Wyll. "Yahooo~ Hello?" He says this if you blow the horn for Lump the Enlightened and they don't come :(

!wtf - Karlach. "Oh gods, what the fuck have I stumbled into?"

Hollow Knight

!bapanada - "Sigh~ Bapanada" Iselda's best quote.

!bruva - Adding to my collection of ways to say "brother!"

!sha - Hornet is best bug.

Horizon Zero Dawn

!aloyvsflatearthers - "Why would I think that? During eclipses the shadow cast on the moon is curved. So our world is a globe."

!door - "Get me through this door!"

!easy - "See? Easy."

!shewentthatway - "Eh, she went that a-way."

!staydown - Perish yer bloody scrappers.

God of War

!bebetter - Daddy Kratos imparting life advice.

!bloodyhellbrother - Mimir is aghast.

!brother - Mimir says this minimum 140 times in God of War: Ragnarök .

!brutha - now say it with more urgency!

!dontforget - your evil, legendary sword hilt, brother". My favourite quote GOW:R. If you think I'm forgetting something, please use it!

!mimirsleep - "You do intend to get some sleep tonight, yeah?"

!strikebrother - 10/10 delivery. Mimir really did not like Heimdall.

!youreonfire - You can thank Lumin_AU for ensuring I will never forget Mimir. There's a separate !itwillpass command to go with it.

Portal

!burningpeople - He says what we're all thinking!"

!gladosdead - "You may as well get acclimated to the being dead position."

!sailingthroughtheair - "Look at you, sailing through the air. Like an eagle piloting a blimp."

Sonic the Memehog

!dosin - "I'm here to convince you to do sin!" from the Snapscube Shadow fandub.

!imhere - announce yourself with a banger from Sonic Frontiers.

!psychicattack - from Snapscube Shadow fan-dub

!strangeisntit - from the Sonic OVA.

Random Internet Things

!emotionaldamage - Steven He dropping new terms into my vocab.

!horse - TFS Goku giving encouragement

!itsfuckingraw - Gordon Ramsey is not happy

!mmgirl - let me get some of those fkn oats." FilmCow, OMG Cracklin Oat Bran.

!spacemexico - "If this [bleep] goes any further south we're going to hit space Mexico" TFS Freeza.

!shiasurprise - He isn't dead!?

!herecomestheboy - he is here~ from user shar on YT, from june-banoon's original ticky-tock.

!whyareyourunning - Pretty Little Liars.

Animation

!buygold - Corn chip life advice from Gravity Falls.

!compliment - "Every time you compliment me, I get another highlight in my eyes!" Gravity Falls.

!firenation - "Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked." A:TLA

!homieshelphomies - Adventure Time. Finn being best boi.

!howdoyoudo - Steven Universe. Pearl greeting their Um Greg Universe.

!ifithinkaboutit - too much, I get all soul searchy, and weird". Adventure Time.

!imtough - my whole body is a callus!" Adventure Time

!monster - "You're an irredeemable monster!" from Puss in Boots Last Wish

!secrettunnel - "SECRET TUNNEL~" A:TLA

!takethatdepression - Lucifer from Hazbin Hotel scoring a win.

!youboob - Skeletor knows who the fool is. He-Man!

Community Requests

!tothebar - RDR2. samadkhan777

!daohello - Sandal from DA:O greeting. Lumin_AU

!cottoneyejoe - "Where did you come from, where did you go?" RedNex request by Lumin_AU

Movies and TV

!clevergirl - Jurassic Park. Preferred use is when you notice smart enemies or AI.

!icanfixthat - Sam from Holes can fix that.

!idontlikesand - it's course and rough and irritating…" Star Wars Prequels.

!noteventheyounglings - indeed, they did not survive. Star Wars Prequels.

!notthebees - Nic Cage does not like the bees. Wickerman.

!youcandoit - Rob Schneider offering encouragement.

!sparednoexpense - Jurassic Park.

!spiderman - We need pictures! Weirdly had to grab this off a Simpsons episode.

Song Snippets

!bloodblood - "Gallons of the stuff!" My Chemical Romance.

!donttouchthat - Robbie Rotten says so.

!hycybh - "Have you checked your butthole!" by Tom Cardy

!lootthatbody - from Perception Check by Tom Cardy

!sleeping - "Sleeping makes me ~feel good~." Neil Cicierega remix of Ghostbusters theme by Ray Parker Jr.

!tnt - it's dynamite. ACDC.

!yousuck - from Not Allowed by TV Girl.

Sunny Only

!echo - Michelangelo being an annoying lil bro in Rise of the TMNT.

!lemons - the entire Lemons rant from Portal 2.

!naturesslowestbird - a gif command. Brennan Lee Mulligan mulling over owls being used for letters.

!previously - on Dragon Ball Z~" Makes my spine tingle!

!whereismyson - from A Day in the Park by Brandon Rogers. I made it specifically for my love of BOY in GOW:R.

[intothecocoverse]

So last night, before 1am, I finished my Star Wars Marathon and LET ME TELL YOU I FEEL EMPTY AND PURPOSELESS. Loving the life

I only watched Rise of Skywalker only once; when the movie was released I was living in South Korea. So while a lot of people were able to watch it in December, we had to wait until January 10, 2020 to do so. And because life is not easy, that was the day before my return to my home country so what I did was I booked a 8am screening, watched the movie, went home, finished packing, slept and woke up super early the next day to get on my plane.

To sum up, not a very good situation to digest what is supposed to be the end of the Skywalker saga (hate that name but yolo I guess). Watching it a second time, after watching every that was made before it chronologically in the story helped me liking it a little bit more. It's not my favourite for sure but there is some stuff I will always love about it:

When Rey gives her lightsaber to Ben during the last fighting scene, Finn looking FINE AS HELL, the first queer kiss in the movie (crumbs), the fact that Snoke wasn't a dude coming from out of nowhere (despite I would have liked to see Darth Plagueis and not Darth Sidious), BABU FRIK, the horrible CGI moment when we can see that Leia indeed did train to be a Jedi, finally some action with the Knights of Ren and the relationship Leia-Ren getting stronger even if we couldn't see more because of Carrie's passing. May she rest in peace forever.

The only thing that is really the same for me between this viewing and the one from 2020 is that the movie should have been longer. Or they should have taken more time making it; both actually.

The only thing that I need now is more books between episode 8 and 9. If you don't give me more character development in the movies, at least do it in the books 🥹

I don't know how to finish this post so thank you to the authors writing books in the Star Wars universe and the artists sharing their art with us.

May the Force be with you, always.

[fundiesimsfamily]

Finn Steele: My two favourite daughters in law

Bethany Steele: Your only two daughters in law, haha

Luna Steele: haha, yes, indeed. And I guess Christian is your favourite son in law?

Bethany: haha

Finn: Yes, indeed, he is, haha

Bethany: And I guess Luna is carrying your favourite grandchild?

Luna: haha, what a disappointment it will be when Amelia get's pregnant

Bethany: haha, yes

Finn: haha, it's nice you two joined the family. My sons are happier with both of you around

Luna: That's great to hear

Bethany: Yes, indeed

Luna: Thanks for this good laugh, I needed it

Bethany: Just keep calm, Luna

Luna: Yeah, thanks, I need it

Back I Beginning I Spreadsheet I Next

[glee-furever]

1x07 Throwdown

Quote of the ep: Bye, white people!

Rating: 1/6 on the Kinsey Scale, since I am also pretty sure this is the "You're all minorities, you're in glee club" episode. I don't know if that quote contributed to the low score, or is the reason it cannot go higher.

Best song: You Keep Me Hangin' On

Worst song: No Air

Cat:

(x) This is the first episode where I had troubles with picking out a cat, but I eventually decided on this, since it reminds me of the weird-ass dramatic wind blowing effects during No Air.

Now for the Review: Note, the "Bye, white people!" quote is said by Artie, who is very white.

Hey, remember Sue Sylvester? You know, one of the most well-known characters of the show, of primetime television in the end 2000s/early 2010s? The one who, to this day, still gets meme’d hell and back? The main antagonist of the show who’s been in every episode so far?

I sure as fuck didn’t in the past few reviews.

Like I said, it is funny. I just… have nothing to say. She’s been sabotaging the glee club in the past few episodes. But also, that’s it. That’s all there is to Sue. All the big character development moments are yet to happen (soon, though!) and as a result, all her actions do not stand out to me in my memory. Why am I bringing this up now? Since the episode starts with a huge slow-motion fight between Mr. Schue and Sue in the auditorium.

The rest of the episode is a flashback.

For a reason I cannot remember, principal Figgins tells Mr. Schue and Sue to work together. Maybe to air their differences? Work stuff out? Teach them a lesson? I don’t know. So Mr. Schue and Sue tell the kids this, and they decide to split up the glee club in two groups: Sue’s kids and Will’s kids. Sue will coach her group and Mr. Schue his, and in the end it’s up to decide who is the better teacher. But Sue has a plan! She’s noticed that some of the glee kids aren’t treated with respect and she decides to pit them against the popular kids. After all, Mr. Schue assumes that Sue wants the cheerleaders and football players, but instead she wants “Santana, Wheels, gay kid, Asian, other Asian, Aretha and Shaft”, better known as Santana, Artie, Kurt, Tina or Mike, Tina or Mike, Mercedes and Matt. The minorities! (Santana is black and Latina, Artie is disabled, Kurt is gay, Mike and Tina are Asian and Mercedes and Matt are black.)

This leaves Finn, Rachel, Puck, Quinn and Brittany with Mr. Schue, and Quinn is instructed to create a divide. Mr. Schue highly prioritises Finn and Rachel as leads, and Quinn decides to make some noise about that. Not only because Sue instructed it, but also because she’s not blind and she can see that her boyfriend is into Rachel. Quinn even sings her first big solo about it! Meanwhile, Sue is indeed pandering the others, giving them time to shine and let them sing songs they want to sing. Mike finally can express his passion for dance, Mercedes sings R&B, Kurt does a weird dance move… it’s a lot of fun.

The kids still care for each other, so they all sing Ride Wit Me together, which would’ve been my favourite song, given that it is one of the best Glee moments ever, but it’s unreleased, since it was unplanned. The cast was just chilling on set, got mic’ed up, and did the song. But they cannot be seen together, since ya know, the whole Will’s kids vs. Sue’s kids thing.

Quinn is successful and others ask to be moved to Sue’s kids, since they feel underappreciated by Mr. Schue. At one point, only Quinn, Finn and Rachel are left.

But things start cracking in Sue’s group as well. The kids realise they’re being tokenised. Yes, Mercedes is proud to be black, but she’s more than “the black kid”, and she walks out. Others follow. All of these problems lead to the big fight in the auditorium between Mr. Schue and Sue, since they blame each other for their groups falling apart. (And sure, Quinn was instructed by Sue, but Mr. Schue does genuinely prioritise Finn and Rachel over everyone else and will continue to do this for the next few seasons). The kids call the adults out and collectively leave, and there’s a really cool shot of the guys carrying Artie in his wheelchair, since so far the show hadn’t acknowledged the fact that the auditorium is filled with stairs and no one could explain how Artie can be in the tribune.

Mr. Schue realises his wrongdoings and apologises. Sue also has a small change of heart and the club is finally whole again. Mr. Schue points out that he’s been unfair and lists people’s special talents and attributes, but when he’s about to talk about Quinn, Sue interjects and tells everyone that she’s pregnant. Quinn has been hiding it, since there’s no bump yet. Quinn is devastated and they all sing Keep Holdin’ On for her in support.

[bluntblade]

When you get this, share your favourite five fics that you've written, then tag at least five other writers. Toot your own trumpet proudly!

Thanks for the tag, @mehoymalloy! I was tempted to put a couple of WIPs in here, but decided against jinxing myself (though I do think Ryloth Besieged's climax is going to be something very special).

So here are my five favourite completed fics of my own:

1. Episode IX: Resurgence and Reckoning (Star Wars Sequel Trilogy; Rey/Kaydel Ko Connix, Finn/Rose Tico)

My first longfic. There's quite a bit that I'd do differently today, and indeed there are some things that I intend to go back and tweak in the nearish future, but this was a big undertaking for me and I'm still very proud of it.

2. Strife Among the Sentinels (Horizon: Forbidden West; Kotallo POV with background Ikottah/Chekattah)

In terms of pure action, this is perhaps my favourite that I've published so far. Plus it felt like a fitting way to explore Kotallo and his fellow loyal Tenakth, and really plunge the reader into their sharp-edged world.

3. The Sunhawk, the New Thrush and the Other Seeker (Horizon: Zero Dawn; Talanah Khane Padish/Nakoa)

You know that thing when you spin up a ship on the basis that the parties would be cute together, and then get hit by a truckload of parallels? That was the experience of writing this fic. On top of that, it was the first long-form Horizon writing I've done where I really dug into a perspective that's different to Aloy's. Talanah and Nakoa have each got a rich history of their own and a complicated relationship with the world. Also, Milu is a treasure and there's a Gigantopithecus Machine.

4. In the Footsteps of a Death Seeker (Horizon Zero Dawn/Frozen Wilds; Aloy/Ikrie)

Aloy's relationship to her late foster father was one thing I was hoping we'd see get more complicated in Forbidden West, with the notion that we were knowingly following in his footsteps. Aloy knew that he'd become a Death Seeker, but she hadn't had to confront just what it meant, and what he had done during his grim sojourn. Alas, the game exploring that... didn't happen, but I chased the itch myself and was very happy with how the story came out.

5. A Fine Officer, a Good Soldier (Star Wars: The Clone Wars/Prequel Trilogy)

Featuring what I think is my biggest ever gut-punch of a final line, and spotlighting one clone trooper who always seemed oddly neglected in the new canon. So, I, erm, subjected him to the most awful thing I could think of.

Now for no-pressure tags! @tjerra14, @dreaminghour and @system-threat-detected, @meg-noel-art and @finrays. Apologies if I missed someone tagging you earlier.

[lateiii]

A Finn here. Here's some Finnish books I recommend:

- Pretty much anything by Minna Canth, but especially "Hanna", "Anna Liisa" and "Työmiehen vaimo". (If you are new to Finnish, these might be difficult because they include older language and some dialects.)

- "Sudenmorsian" by Aino Kallas

- "Varjojen lumo - Suomalaisia goottinovelleja", a collection of Finnish gothic short stories (this was interesting, and because it had a lot of different authors, you got to read very different kind of stories).

- "Täytetyt" by Jyrki Vainonen

- Tiitu Takalo's comics, e.g. "Memento Mori" and "Minä, Mikko ja Annikki"

- "Voro" 1-3 by Janne Kukkonen (these are comics, and also include some dialects)

Hope this helps. ✌️

(Btw, Finnish translations are usually quite good, so it might prove fun for you to re-read some of your favourite books in Finnish, if there indeed has been a translation of the book. Not everything gets translated and published in Finland.)

hey I'd really love to get into the actual literature of the languages I'm learning so if your native language is one of those:

Spanish (preferably castellano)

Portuguese

Dutch

German

Finnish

Can you recommend novels originally written in your language which you've read and enjoyed? They don't have to be super famous nor particularly easy, I like a challenge.

[homunculus-argument]

I just encountered a fun word in finnish, and in order to explain it in full context, you're going to get a lecture about it.

In finnish, it used to be common to teach very small children to refer to adults they don't know as "aunt" and "uncle". I don't know if it's done anymore since I don't interact with children, but as far as I know it's considered somewhat old-fashioned now. But it still lingers in language, referring to a middle-aged/older-than-oneself person one doesn't know as "setä" or "täti" implies they are indeed middle-aged people who have stagnated into their own, outdated ways. There's more nuance to this, of course, but I'm not stopping for details.

Here we get the term setämies, uncle-man, where bizarrely enough, the word "uncle" works almost as an adjective rather than a noun, "a man who is the uncle(degoratory) type", mainly meaning the kind of an older man who hits on women half his age.

And since verbing nouns is one of finns favourite linguistic sins, uncle in this context has also been turned into a verb, setäillä, "to behave like This Specific Kind of creep". Which leads to the term I wanted to introduce you today.

The finnish word for radiation hazard is säteilyvaara. If you flip two letters around, you get the word setäilyvaara, which, in my very loose translation, translates to "you are getting real close to coming off like a creepy middle-aged man who thinks hitting on 19-year-old cashiers at work is charming and/or funny".

[j4gm]

Finn

Favourite thing about them

Finn’s growth in real time was one of the things which made Adventure Time so revolutionary and different from other cartoons at the time. By covering a range of points in his teen life he is made infinitely more relatable.

Least favourite thing about them

That one shot in Too Old where he high fives Princess Bubblegum and rubs her hand.

Favourite canon relationship

Talking romantically, I love the casualness of his relationship with HW, and the fact that the show did not feel the need to make it explicitly canon in the end just to appease the notion that the good guy should always get the girl in the end. As for other kinds of relationships, Jake is the obvious answer. Name a more supportive brotherly bond.

Favourite non-canon relationship

Finn x Nico the Catboy. It says a lot that you have to turn to a Tumblr OC to find an appropriate MLM ship for Finn. He was always missing some friends his own age! It’s annoying that Together Again made Finn and Tiffany into post-death adoptive siblings, because that’s such a minor and overlookable barrier to their ship but nonetheless makes it understandably uncomfortable to some people.

Sexuality headcanon

Bi bi bi!

What I’d do if I could spend a day with them

Dungeon crawl, it’s the greatest crawl of all, no crawl’s too small for a dungeon crawl.

Random fact I like

My brain has way too many useless Finn facts to name one, but I shall do so anyway. I like the (non-canon) assertion from the AT Encyclopaedia that Joshua and Margaret coincidentally named him Finn because they mistook him for a mudfish… which would have been super funny given thanks to Islands we now know that Finn was indeed his birth name.