#feeling incredibly smart.
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i love it when i end up watching series in a language i'm not familiar with*
#it's like playing a game and#unlocking a new level.#*for the very obvious reason of#'getting to know a different culture and#language structure' through that.#that part is always my favourite.#and because you end up asking#the all-knowing ( google yeah )#such smart questions like#'what does phi mean in thai?'#feeling incredibly smart.#... remember the times#fansubs used to have little notes#on the side explaining what#the characters were actually saying.#be it words play or speech patterns.#some fansubbers don't go through the trouble anymore#and you sit there like 'i know all these people#are not on a first name basis. i simply know that.'
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Something I miss from earlier eras of the creative side of the internet was things just being unabashedly low-budget. Just all unashamedly amateur, unprofessional, āI donāt own a good camera but I have a story to tell youā, āI canāt afford a good mic but I have a song to sing for you,ā āI donāt have any kind of background in editing or lighting and I only just picked up this guitar last Tuesday but hereās an entire musical me and my friends wrote about our favourite book, we filmed it on a potato and put it up on YouTube in ten minute segments because we thought it was pretty funny.ā
#everything felt so much less like Content then#and as someone who wants to share creative stuff online#itās now incredibly daunting thinking about doing that bc#especially as a disabled person who canāt work full time#it feels almost impossible to extricate art from being Content#like thereās this immense pressure to produce things that could pass as professionally produced by a team of educated people#and to make smart decisions so that somehow eventually you can profit off your art#and instead of it being a āhey look at my silly little songā it becomes#competing in an over saturated market already dominated by the nepotism afforded by wealth and connections#and it feels like it would very difficult not to measure my personal satisfaction with how a certain piece of art turned out#by how much attention it got online#even though I genuinely have zero desire to be famous and it sounds like a complete nightmare#anyway Iām gonna have ice cream for dinner how about you guys#hmp42
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No, because I've already talked about this to the Discord besties but I'm still vibrating over the fact that Percy didn't just sacrifice himself for Annabeth, he outsmarted her. He tricked her into letting him be the one to stay behind that's such an amazing detail
#the way the show and specifically walker portrays percy's incredible social and emotional intelligence#i love it so so much#he immediately knows what happened between annabeth and echidna#he knows the right thing to say to cheer her up when she feels bad about snapping at grover#he understands and validates her relationship with athena even though he doesn't 100% GET IT get it#he is so so smart and i love how they're showing that in both dialogue and walker's acting choices#you can SEE the gears turning in his head whenever stuff starts happening#10/10 but also that cliffhanger was inhumane#percy jackson and the olympians#percy jackson disney+#percy jackson#annabeth chase#percabeth#walker scobell#percy jackson episode 4#percy jackson spoilers
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"I was gonna say you're like a son to me.. but you're more than that."
"It ain't that complicated!"
How quickly that shoulder pat of comfort turned into a condescending one.
#he makes me feel so emo#this life was never meant for you but your fate was forced#the way dutch (and hosea) talks to arthur like he's stupid will never sit right with me#like they've been by his side over 20 years they KNOW he isn't stupid because if he was he would have been gone a long time ago#not only is arthur incredibly emotionally smart but he's a trained conman vault breaker gunslinger horse rider you name it#the fact that his own adoptive parents break him down like that hurts#it's a manipulation tactic on dutch's end - break your victims self esteem to make them chase your praise and approval#hosea I believe has just gone along with that kind of attitude but in a different way he just likes to jest lightheartedly#arthur doesn't see the difference though and it's understandable but he takes it to heart#the worst part is that hosea sees through his tough guy act and has called arthur out on it#his act is a defence mechanism to protect himself from being too vulnerable - in arthur's mind#and it isn't a sudden thing it's very likely something that has built over the years given the life he has lived#and hosea notices he knows this#but they still jab at arthur#oh it hurts#is he your son dutch? or is he your guard dog? your personal workhorse?#playing through the second time is opening my eyes more and more#rdr2#red dead redemption 2#mick squeaks#mick rants#mick gifs#arthur morgan#dutch van der linde#liveblogging#you guys gotta understand - arthur seeks and longs for dutch's approval he'll never say it but it's the key motive behind his loyalty#and arthur *rejects* dutch's comfort#he doesn't *want* dutch to pat him on the shoulder because he knows dutch is digging them an even deeper hole#he doesn't want that touch he craves#it's so insanely monumental for such a small scene because it shows us how arthur feels without telling us
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You know what? Fuck it, they both have homeschool trauma
#Rapunzel is the homeschooled kid whoās super under-socialized so she overcompensates by being incredibly social#And tries to make as many friends as is humanly possible#And thinks sheās best friends with anyone she has a conversation with#And due to the lack of socialization growing up sheās incredibly extroverted#And while she is definitely very smart she didnāt have the best education so she regularly doubts herself and assumes sheās dumb#Varian is also undersocialized but he turned super introverted and while he desperately wants friends he has no idea how to make them#nor does he feel comfortable around people#So he just becomes a hermit and wishes he could socialize like a normal person#And then he latches onto any person who interacts with him positively#Heās also ridiculously smart and thatās the only thing about himself he has any pride in#Neither of them are good at social cues or feeling comfortable in public spaces#And they both have severe anxiety and depression#tts#tangled the series#rapunzel's tangled adventure#varian#rapunzel
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Been spending my time lately thinking of a House MD au where, through a series of accidents and lies and a bet he didn't rly intend to win, House ends up as a registered foster parent (he's still addicted to Vicodin and his normal dickish workaholic self but for some reason he cleared the requirements and trust me he's as stunned and mildly concerned as everyone else is).
Through further Shenanigansā¢, he ends up accidentally getting handed fostership of not one, not two, but three hellish but brilliant kids:
1. This total smartass 16 year old named Robert Chase who yeah he's a bitchy teenaged boy and a former rich kid and Australian with enough mommy and daddy issues to reawaken Freud after his dad dipped and absconded all parental rights and his mom drank herself to death, but he's also got a nice car left over from his rich kid days and an eye for detail and weirdly enough his best friend/mortal enemy (some other teen named Eric Foreman) and his on again off again girlfriend (Allison Cameron, totally won't last if u ask House) both work at the hospital as a candy striper and after school in the cafeteria respectively so House can get all the inside gossip from Chase. Plus Chase has no problems breaking and entering into patient's homes which helps bc since he's not employed by the hospital Cuddy can't complain as far as House is concerned.
2. A 14 year old girl who only answers to Thirteen (House knows he could look her name up in her file but honestly it drives Chase nuts that she won't tell him her real name and that's good enough for him) and who's dad was declared unfit after the death of his wife to Huntington's devastated him. She's a total nightmare, snarky and quick witted and freakishly smart even tho she puts most of those smarts towards things like shaving Chase's entire head (eyebrows included) bc he's trying to grow a sucky teenage mustache, and trying to take House's wallet bc she keeps calling him Old Man and he informed her he's actually only 25 but the stress of fostering has aged him prematurely and she's like 95% sure that's a lie but she wants to check his license and make sure bc everyone lies. She loves tormenting Chase by telling him his best friend and/or his girlfriend is hot and asking if they're single.
And 3. This 6 year old boy named Lawrence Kutner who's weirdly cheerful considering his parents got killed in front of him. He's way too chatty and excellent at puzzles and the only morning person in the entire house and therefore frequently tries to make breakfast (he likes to be helpful and he hasn't burned the place down yet so House doesn't feel the need to stop him). Once he told House he was gonna build a Death Star in the living room and House said lol sure go ahead whatever, only to return home from work to discover Kutner called himself out from school and has a huge wooden frame made of broken furniture in the living room. House rly can't argue since he did say go ahead. Benefits of fostering a 6 year old are 1. The babes love it, 2. Free excuse to leave work early/come in late/not show up at all, and 3. Justification for buying juice boxes and Ritz crackers. The neighbor kid Taub is his go to babysitter bc his mom volunteered him forcibly and Taub is lowkey praying that babysitting Kutner could lead to an in at Princeton Plainsboro once he graduates high-school and finishes medical school (it won't, House doesn't believe in nepotism unless it benefits him).
The adventures of House and his Foster Ducklings mostly revolve around being a Found Family, but do involve frequent plots such as:
House fired his brand new fellows again (he tosses em every three or so months, he hasn't found The Right Team yet) and will sometimes bring his foster kids in, hand em doctors coats, and tell patients that they're just a bunch of medical savants here to consult yes even the 6 year old he's actually Harvard's youngest graduate ever.
House sends the kids to break into a patient's home. They refuse. House tells them the first one to find black mold or lead paint or a dead animal or whatever gets $20. They agree. Chase drops Thirteen and Kutner off at a bus stop across town and drives over himself so he can get an hour and a half head start (ultimate fuck them kids moment, however Thirteen did steal his wallet so guess who's paying for lunch and their taxi ride to the patient's house? Net loss.)
Cuddy demands House does his clinic hours. House sends his foster kids to do his clinic hours for him. Tfw you go to the free walk in clinic for a sore throat and a cough and your doctor is a 6 year old boy who keeps asking for help with spelling whilst filling out your chart.
Wilson babysits them one (1) time since House doesn't trust Chase not to throw a party or sell his foster siblings on eBay if left as the one in charge. He wakes up with a big strip of hair poorly bleached right down the middle. Chase crushed up stolen sleeping pills and mixed them into a juice box, which Kutner 'innocently' offered to Wilson. Thirteen was going to bleach and dye his whole head blue (for practice, she wants to dye her hair but she's certainly not gonna fuck up her own hair until she has the method down) but Wilson woke up pretty quickly due to years of House drugging him. Wilson has not offered to babysit again.
Anyways this is my House Foster Ducklings au which I'm thinking about actually writing. Thank u š«”
#house md#greg house#robert chase#remy hadley#lawrence kutner#i just think Chase and Thirteen and Kutner are the most House's Actual Kids out of all the fellows#give that man three incredibly smart self reliant kids with issuesā¢#i do imagine a plot where House does overdose of vicodin#and the kids find him#and they're in the hospital#and House has to contend with the fact that he either has to give the kids up to better homes#or make smarter choices bc it's unfair of him to be overdosing and almost dying when he has three traumatized kids relying on him#love when there's some middle aged guy whos like 'no im not a dad' but has a gaggle of kids following him around#feel free to message me about this au
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eheheheh i just think theyāre neat
#rw#rain world#rainworld#rain world downpour#rainworld downpour#rw downpour#rw shipping#rw artificer#rw gourmand#rw barbeque#rw artimand#faeling draws#i just think they're good together#gourmand being a gentle and compassionate wall#and incredibly smart and resourceful#i do not think gourmand has romantic feelings for arti#or anyone really tbf#but would be happy to give her a space to be safe
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Before I go to sleep I leave you all with this piece of advice: sometimes you don't actually have to answer big political questions, sometimes you can just say "I am not smart enough to know that, I just know the small things I do to help." Like you can often times completely avoid making a fool of yourself if you just say you don't know.
#simon says#to explain here and not in a reblog:#sometimes when you try to explain big picture solutions you're gonna sound dumb#you might not have done enough research#you might not have a rebuttal to a counter argument#you might not be articulate enough to explain why you think this#sometimes you gotta take a step back and give the simple solution. the one man solution#you do what you can to fight against the problem#you talk to people to help spread awareness and how to fight the bad problem#and you vote and invite others to vote for bigger steps towards solving the problem#like you can talk about theory and how you believe we need to do a huge drastic thing to solve and issue#but people will disagree and argue til you're blue in the face#they'll poke and prod until you mess up or lose your temper and use it against you#and you'll feel dumb and they'll learn nothing#sometimes the best thing to do is step away from the big picture and just say 'idk what the solution is I just know the things I can doā#sometimes you gotta admit you're not a scientist/expert and you can't answer that#i used this while talking with my Dad tonight#he brought up our climate crisis and space travel as a possible solution#and I said I think that's just addressing the symptom and not the cause and we need to care for our Earth now#and he asked me what solutions I think would fix it#and knowing my incredibly smart Dad who is articulate and ready to throw rebuttles at a moments notice to play devils advocate#and my past experience in struggling in this topic with him before#i just told him I didn't know. all i knew is the little things I can and do do to help#and that hopefully by spreading the word and habits and encouraging others to vote for those bigger solutions I could help make a change#but all I really could do is the little things I have control over#and the topic became much less stressful about the little things we have control over#like planting native plants and recycling and adopting habits that are healthier to our planet#which was 100% more preferable to if I tried to give a big solution. because I would reveal i didn't have all the knowledge needed to argue#and my articulation would make me sound like a stupid kid who only thinks they know what's best#so yeah I basically suggest that if you dont wanna feel like shit after debating someone just step away from the big picture for a moment
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you want to analyze a cartoon that is something children can watch? ok here's the first and most important lesson ever.
have you ever heard of "suspension of disbelief?"
ok. next step. do you know what an unreliable narrator is and can you separate the character's perspective and opinions from the writers? because i promise you that the beliefs of the main character do not always reflect the writers and the point of analyzing media is to dissect that.
#like guys sometimes the silly jokes in the cartoon are JUST silly jokes you gotta let them be silly jokes#sometimes the shenanigans are super outlandish because it's a FICTIONAL CARTOON where sentient AIs and magic exist#i promise you. I PROMISE YOU that rottmnt's mind meld was not some elaborate problematic take on eugenics of all things#<- an actual thing i read with my own eyes#like i promise you that is literally not what the episode was doing#'they kept saying they made his brothers smarter which is incredibly ableist because it implies they weren't smart before'#ahem. it was donnie's idea of smarter#you know donnie. the one who constantly puts his intelligence on a pedestal to boost his ego#it was HIS definition of smarter and that is not the narratives definition#i think the series makes that abundantly clear with how much they make fun of donnie for whatever superiority complex he's got going on#and (in the nicest way possible) if you watch the episode it's not actually that they're getting 'smarter' what is actually happening#is that they are beginning to act more and more like donnie personality wise#and that the conflict starts with donnie feeling like they don't fully understand him.#and since donnie is a flawed character his way of coping with that is by being like 'well clearly they're inferior to my intelligence!'#(which .. if you really dissect his character is not actually what he means he just doesn't know how to constructively word his feelings)
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listen gorgug is NOT a himbo and it is ONLY because he is NOT BEFFY ENOUGH. he is a SKINNY LITTLE GUY with SURPRISE MUSCLES. he is BUILT like a STRING BEAN. that is NOT himbo stature!!!
#that being said he is very smart#but i feel like you can kinda toe the like there because remember this is the guy who asked if he was his own dad#he is more incredibly capable#and there are capable himbos#gorgug thistlespring#d20 time quangle#d20 fantasy high#d20 fhsy#d20 fhjy
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PAUSE
a variation of phone sex w dilf!jake using that intercom he wears around his neck AHHHHHHAHHAH (im writing it as we speak!)
#my brain is being SO INCREDIBLY SMART RN#I FEEL SO GODDAMN INTELLIGENT#BECAUSE I AM!!!!#hearing jake whimper over the intercom ihiihihiih#i. ļ½¢ į“į“sÉŖÉ“É¢s ļ½£#( character ) - jake .
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I saw someone give Haori/Rei glasses and banged this out in like 2 hours i think she should have them like. fr. thank you
#my art#tgaac#tgaa#the great ace attorney#haori murasame#rei membami#this is my first time drawing her but i really like her!!#i feel like she deserves so much attention for being who she is outside of her most popular pairing#she's so very kind she's just pretty impulsive(?) and passionate#she's also a genuine genius like. so so incredibly talented and smart#i have some crack theories about her sexuality and romantic alignment but idk if the world is ready for that /lh#idk if impulsive was the right word#but like. she is certainly a way#i think it does all boil down to passion with her#act first to do what she thinks is right and consider everything else later#if you read all of these tags thank you i love to yap so much
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also it seems very smart plot-wise to have martin stay at the archive 24/7 because that man will be the first witness to the stuff that will happen when things inevitably go south
#and of course jonathan sims won't believe him#maybe it will be relevant#maybe it won't#it's just a thought that i put here now so i can say 'i knew it' later with proof and feel incredibly smart#still on episode 24#tma#the magnus archives#martin blackwood
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unique cognitive abilities dazai has mastered:
reading upside down
speaking (+reading) backwards
is ambidextrous
identifying and creating palindromes (words that are the same read backwards or forwards, and thus doing the same with longer phrases)
can quickly spot how many syllables are in words/sentences
can read/speak quickly with clarity and understanding
mnemonics (using words/phrases/items to quickly recall memories and information for easier identification)
is exceptional at tongue twisters
dual narration of a story (playing two characters' dialogues without interruption and has clear character distinction in tone/presentation)
nonsense word creation (what it says on the tin, making up words and their definitions)
accent mimicry (which goes alongside his ability to quickly learn languages + he learns them for fun)
reverse thinking (solving problems by thinking about them in reverse, examining the outcomes and working backward to figure out the steps needed to get there)
language creation (see: him and fyodor conversing in a language made of random phrases and parts of their previous conversations in meursault)
++ more ... he's literally a genius :p
#he has the curse of a genius' mind and the lack of motivation to use it proactively but he likes to learn skills#and party tricks :p experiences genius burn out more than he would like to admit#and in my mind his brain is just. always buzzing and never quiet#even when trying to sleep in the dead silence of the night hours#it is wide awake and calculating ...#there are Few things that make it quiet :p#part of what makes writing dazai so fun is hes a genius that doesnt act like one#like he DOES and its obvious he is incredibly smart but he's so whimsical and stupid that writing him requires no genius aside when i rly#have to get analytical about his thoughts#no longer human with the brain of a super computer ... man </3 i feel for him so bad
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hi batsplat! i would like to say that you are an absolute pillar of the motogp community on here, like you are truly so so appreciated. both for your knowledge and also for the way you write about things (i think you could write 3000 words on a grocery store trip valentino took in 2003 and still make it super interesting reading)
i was reading your post about your favourite rivalries that didnt include one of the aliens, who would you personally include as part of that list? (versus who is really good but not quite alien status) id also really like to know if (and who) youd count as aliens from the pre-motogp era, and if theres been a difference over time about how often we are seeing aliens or if theyre easier/harder to spot as technical developments have sped up
hope you have a great day!
that's so sweet... thank you that's such an incredible compliment dsdkhfkhfd
about the aliens, the way I use the term is entirely as a historical descriptor, not as a qualitative assessment of any riders. it's a useful shorthand for a specific riders in a specific era, but to me it has limited relevance outside of that era. so to be clear we're talking valentino, casey, dani, jorge and marc - and according to common wisdom this usage originated from colin edwards' 2009 comment:
āBut as Iāve said before, Iāve got to be pleased to be finishing next best behind those four guys, or should I say aliens. āThey are riding out of this world and to be right behind them means Iām doing the best job I can and thatās about as good as I can hope for at the moment.ā
(jorge discusses valentino as an alien in 2007, see here. which might be complete coincidence, but has always made me kind of curious whether the word was floating around in the paddock in some capacity before edwards 'coined' the term)
the thing is, right, it made sense to treat those four (and later -casey +marc) as distinct from the field, because they were winning almost everything. one reason for this was that they were very good, very skilled riders. another was that from 2007-15, only four to six bikes were capable of regularly challenging for wins at any one time. it was a massive field disparity that quite frankly was partly enforced through machinery. that's why it makes sense to include marc in that term: it's not just the fact that he was very good, it's the fact that he was riding a repsol honda that was the best or second best bike by a long way for his first three years in the premier class. in 2016, motogp returned to michelins and introduced new technical regulations - and for all intents and purposes, the alien era ended. it ended when eight different riders won in eight races that season. yes, marc, valentino and jorge were still the top three in the championship... but it's the difference of whether you go into a weekend convinced you know the winner will come from a list of four riders, or if you very much do not know that. between 2008 to 2015, apart from the aliens, a grand total of two riders claimed wins - dovi on a repsol honda in 2009 and ben spies on a factory yamaha in 2011. both of those were wet races (which of course are generally more open than dry ones). so just to reiterate: a greater number of riders won in 2016 alone (9) than in 2008-15 combined (7). (in 2007, a further two different riders won races - capirossi on the championship-winning factory ducati and vermeulen on the suzuki.) yes, obviously the aliens were very good riders, nobody is going to argue with you over that... but those numbers? they're only possible in a specific version of motogp - one that only existed for a few years
honestly, I don't even really use the term 'alien' to describe valentino pre-2006 or marc post-2016. it's just not that useful to me... aliens to me is a 'pack hunter' thing, where even if some of them are injured or are having a bad day or whatever, at least one of them will basically always be there to pick up the pieces. marc and valentino might have dominated the sport as a whole - but not all of their championship seasons were completely dominant, and there's only so much any one athlete can dominate in the sport... you're not going into every single weekend thinking 'oh yeah they're definitely going to win' (yes, yes, there were two times per year where you did very much do that with marc). which is different when you compare it to the aliens as a pack, where you could be confident that ONE of them would end the weekend on the top step of the podium
which is why I just don't apply the alien term to anyone pre-valentino - it's not because I think they were less good or less talented or less anything, it's because for me it's a term that's more about an era than it is about individual riders. you have to treat each era on its own, and I'm not really a big fan of inter-era comparisons. it's just kind of impossible to say whether a rider in the 1970s is more talented than one in the 2020s, whether ago's numbers are more or less impressive than marc's and so on... the sport has just changed in so many ways over the years. of course, in sports you do generally have this upward momentum where each generation is 'better' than the last. sports has gotten more professionalised, there's been massive advances in terms of pedagogy and sports medicine and exercise science and all of those things - all of which already affects how athletes train from childhood onwards. the young aren't more 'talented' in the sense that they were born with an innate superior ability to compete at the sport, but they are more 'talented' in that their ultimate ceiling will be higher as a result of all these gradual changes over time. these things can change quite quickly even (and if other sports is anything to go by, I wouldn't be surprised if the nineties/early noughties brought some big changes in that regard) - so already between, for instance, valentino and marc there'd probably been a real shift in how young talent is being nurtured
(the most blunt illustration of this is that young valentino's lifestyle was completely different from that of young riders today, in terms of how much time he spent training in the gym, sleeping habits, nutrition etc etc. athletes now can't get away with that much deviation any more, and indeed valentino had to massively change his approach in the 2010s to remain competitive - but of course it's different if you haven't been doing this stuff since you were a kid. I think we can safely assume valentino's 2003 supermarket trips looked rather different from marc's 2017 ones)
being good in pro sports may in some ways be harder now than it was in, say, the eighties, and the level of competition you're facing might be higher now - but of course, it would also by extension be unfair to judge those athletes by the standards of today. also, different eras are going to lend themselves to different profiles of rider depending on competitive trends, type of machinery and so on - even very basic stuff like how tall you are might have helped you in a certain era and hindered you in another... so what does that mean for talent? if we're discussing 'talent' at all, how can we possibly treat it as anything other than relative to the era we're discussing? to me, it just makes these comparisons between different generations pretty pointless... or well, I like talking about some of this stuff in a more holistic 'isn't this interesting' kind of way, not a 'this is why xyz is better than xyz' approach... this kind of thing is also why I finds goat debate such a uniquely boring way to spend your time, incidentally
this is a very long way of saying, I don't have a metric by which I judge athletes pre-2000 as 'alien' or 'not alien'! I think you have similarly dominant athletes, though again it is so tough to decide how much of that is down to talent and how much of it is down to bike advantage. if you take doohan's title winning seasons for instance:
yeah, look, sure, you can call him an alien as far as I'm concerned - if I'm watching these races live I will be expecting doohan to win in any given weekend. I'm still kind of missing the pack hunter feel in some of these seasons, so I won't know for certain the winner is going to come from a very short list. like take 1998:
not really one group vs the field, is it? and yeah, even if I consider doohan an 'alien' in some of those seasons, I'm still not going to call him that - because the term was essentially coined in 2009 for a specific group of guys that one other guy was later added onto. the competitive landscape and demands of doohan's era were so different that it feels off to try and go back and label him or any other past riders aliens... they were phenomenally talented, yes, they were great champions, yes, they can be called as good as the aliens, sure - but why wrench the term out of its historical context? is it still an analytically useful concept if you do so, except as a way to generically refer to a rider as 'very talented'?
which is also why I personally don't describe anyone since then as an alien. this doesn't mean I don't think fabio or now pedro aren't as good as those guys were, I just don't think they've been given the opportunity to have that kind of hold over the sport. fabio won five out of eighteen races in 2021 - and he did so on a yamaha that basically only he was able to consistently get a high level of performance out of. which is deeply impressive - but unlike say casey in 2007, he didn't have those other riders to dominate all the other races. eight riders won a race that season! it's just a fundamentally different competitive landscape. personally, I'd be perfectly content if we don't get another alien era. of course 2007-15 isn't all bad, but for good reason most fans' most fondly remembered eras are either 2001-06 or 2017-19... yes, at times one rider was too dominant, but it still felt like more riders had a shot at victory - and most importantly the quality of the racing was generally very high. this kind of domination by a few mega talents on the best machinery can get drab pretty quickly (though of course a lot of the blame for decreased race quality needs to be assigned to the 800cc era 2007-11, not to any of the aliens themselves)
I'd be quite happy to retire the term alien going forwards... except as a useful shorthand for a specific group of guys who have mostly retired. it shouldn't be used as a way to bash the young stars, as if they just can't measure up to the legends of the past. which would be dumb! again, plenty of ways in which motogp is harder now than it ever has been, though the most important thing is that it's just... different. not better, not worse, just different. sure, maybe we'll get another equivalent to the alien era, even though I personally think it's quite unlikely. if it happens, yeah, let's discuss cranking the term out again (and, yes, if you look at the current season and ignore sprints... if this current trend continues then we can have the debate at the end of the season. pecco and jorge despite all their apparent inconsistencies are currently building a pretty solid case for themselves) (now I've said that they're both gonna crash out of assen huh)
that being said! I don't exactly neatly follow this principle myself, because sometimes I do use something like the term 'alien-like talent' to refer to fabio or pedro... obviously, you can argue this is basically the same as calling them aliens in everything but semantics. so what's the criteria there? when do I use this term? I think to me it's just... instant, 'in your face' talent. they arrive to the premier class and they shine basically immediately. valentino got a relatively sedate start to the premier class by alien standards - which is fitting, because he's not really about that blistering raw pace. still, he wasn't far from being a rookie champion, got ten podiums, two wins... not too bad. casey was on a satellite team, but he got pole in his second ever race and came painfully close to winning his third. dani got a podium on debut and fought for the championship for almost the entire season. jorge got pole in his first three races and won his third. marc won the second time out and of course secured the title in his rookie season. compare that to fabio - pole in his fourth ever race on satellite machinery, fighting for wins in his first season. pedro got a podium in his second ever race and is handily outperforming everyone else on that bike
so it's about how quickly these guys pick this stuff up, how quickly they make that step from one level to another - though again, it's important to stress you can't just neatly compare these achievements! valentino's first two seasons were on 500cc bikes, which were notorious for being kind of evil. some of these riders started on satellite bikes (we're not counting valentino here), and there's also plenty of talk about how the bikes have become more complicated to ride now, making pedro's rapid adjustment even more impressive. but in every case, there is just this ability to 'be fast immediately', whatever the circumstances... and it's worth pointing out that even though pecco had a mediocre rookie season, he was incredibly quick in 2019 pre-season testing. jorge martin secured his first pole position and podium at his second race in motogp
speaking of, those two were already a touch older when they joined the premier class. there does generally seem to be something to the idea that in motorcycle racing, if you are not already very fast at a certain age, you will have a quite definitive ceiling... and from valentino onwards, the age by which you need to already have reached that standard of 'very good' seems to have gone down. when we're talking about talent and throwing around the term alien, this feels like another important change to mention - doohan was not winning his titles as a 22 year old! neither was rainey! or schwantz! or lawson! or... actually spencer was very young, yeah. but I think you get the point. I cannot tell you definitively why this changed, but it clearly has changed. in the 21st century, only two riders have won titles when they were older than 26: valentino (29-30) and jorge (28). valentino and marc were both 27 when their dominance over the sport ended (even if valentino secured titles after that point and marc will very probably do so as well). casey was 27 when he retired. (fun fact: pecco bagnaia is currently 27 years old.) so overall it's pretty rare in grand prix motorcycle racing to operate at the top of the premier class for more than a certain number of years - but the precise age window in which you are likely to be at your best does seem to have shifted pretty radically this century. which should demonstrate how hard these things are to compare... like I said, talent is often assessed by how quickly you are good at something - but if we called mick doohan a late bloomer, it would be wildly ahistorical
and yeah, look, this idea of 'you have to be good young or you will have a certain ceiling' is hardly unique to motogp, lots of sports are like that... another measure of this precocity that's perhaps more useful than just 'age' is looking how long it took them to win a title from when they joined the premier class (if they did so at all, of course). it's generally very fast! marc year one, valentino, casey and joan year two, jorge and fabio year three... and, well, pecco and hayden year four. of course, there's exceptions to this 'be fast immediately' rule - athletes who ended up being very good and title contenders who had slightly different paths getting there. the sete's and dovi's of this world - and to a lesser extent hayden too, who unlike those two was only even really a title contender in a single season... but generally speaking, those riders seem more heavily reliant on circumstances playing out just right to have a shot at a title
or perhaps! perhaps it's going to change! especially if you look at repeat champions, pecco does become a bit of an outlier in how he got there this century, doesn't he? compare the numbers he was posting in his rookie season vs valentino, casey, jorge and marc. and in some ways, you can extend this even further and say he's a massive historical outlier in terms of any premier class champions. there was an article about this in late 2022:
and some more about how historically unusual he is:
isn't that great? you don't become premier class champion with that kind of a rookie season, but pecco did! hey, aleix was a serious title threat in that season, which is a far more remarkable story still! and the thing is, right, if you're studying the current era and are labelling some riders aliens but leaving out pecco... then no offence but what's the point? look, who knows, maybe marc and pedro and david alonso are going to dominate the next twenty titles and pecco will have been a weird blip. but isn't there something fun about believing that a bunch of different riders could eventually develop into title threats? wouldn't it be kind of cool if you don't have to just write someone off age 22 any more? I don't know, I think it's a neat development! I hope it sticks around! there'll be plenty of alien-level talents in the future, but personally I wouldn't mind at all if there were no more aliens
#hope you have a great day too anon and again that is an INCREDIBLY sweet comment#'aliens' is just my way of avoiding the term 'fantastic four'. but that's basically how I use it#obviously this is all my personal read bla bla... if you want to call fabio or schwantz or surtees an alien go ahead none of my business#it's not something i feel THAT strongly about. i do feel strongly about talent discourse though!!#i mean relative to other sports pecco's already pushing it for me... that moto2 title is a bit sus#in a different way fabio was FANTASTIC!! what a surprise! what a revelation! people had written that kid off and they were so wrong!#motogp#//#brr brr#batsplat responds#alien tag#i'm very jekyll and hyde about this in motogp because in sports in general i'm not into the wunderkids#but i just HAPPEN to like a few specific guys in motogp a lot who HAPPENED to dominate the championship for like two decades#that's not me!! i'm all about smarts over natural talent about getting gradually better rather than showing up fully formed#shaking my head while watching 2001/2007/2010/2013 to show everyone i don't agree with what's happening
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So I know the internet is obsessed with babygirl Steve but I've been thinking about the opposite lately? About how Eddie would love how manly and strong and boyish Steve is. Especially after that scene in the Upside Down where Eddie is casually fawning over sweaty and dirty shirtless Steve ripping demobats apart with his bare hands. They're both gross teenage boys and Eddie likes it.
Eddie loves Steve's 5 o'clock shadow, dreams of feeling the scratch of it on his skin, the burn of it as Steve kisses his way down his body.
Dustin still keeps telling Steve he needs to tame his chest hair, shear it down a bit. Steve always refuses because the "ladies dig it" and Eddie can't help but agree that the boys dig it too. He definitely doesn't want to run his fingers through it, tangle his fingers in the strands and feel the warmth of Steves skin underneath.
Eddie loves Steve's strong jaw and broad shoulders. Thick thighs and muscled biceps. Every now and then Steve will wake up early for a jog and at the end, jog his way over to the trailer park. And Eddie gets to watch him with his hair pushed out of his face, unstyled and sweaty but still looking good. Shirt sticking to his torso with sweat. It's so gross but so good. They'll sit on the porch together, Steve drinking water; with Eddie next to him wrapped in a blanket, half asleep, drinking coffee, and thinking about how fucking good Steve looks.
He even likes how Steve will eat a bagel and get crumbs all over his kitchen floor, and then snap at Dustin for even /thinking/ about opening a packet of Doritos in his car because he will get crumbs in the seats. And the Beemer is his baby.
Idk I've just always liked the idea that Steve genuinely likes cars? We all saw him with the Toddfather. And his beemer!!! This stereotypical manly interest that he might have gotten into originally when he was little because it was something he thought his dad would like, but it turns out he actually genuinely likes. Steve will happily spend a Saturday morning washing and waxing his car. Vacuuming the carpet and cleaning the seats. And after all that he'll pop the hood and tinker with the engine. Checking the oil and other car things. And Eddie finds himself noticing the grease and oil under his fingernails that he couldn't quite remove.
And then there's the little things. How Steve will throw something into the rubbish bin or his laundry basket like a basketball from across the room. How he will yell at the TV when watching sports and the ref makes a stupid call. His dumb locker room talk with Robin where they talk about hot girls together, which is endearing as hell because he can see how much it means to Robin to be able to talk like a regular teen about hot celebs and pretty classmates.
Idk I'm just having fun thinking of Eddie fawning over how manly and hot he finds Steve. You just know he's talked about it to the Corroded Coffin boys and they just "can't relate but we'll take your word for it" Because they love and support Eddie in his big fat gay crush on Steve.
(Absolutely no pressure to do anything with this btw I'm just having Thoughts)
I was just reading this and nodding aggressively. I love babygirl Steve but I love the facets of Steve that means he can be both
Oh heād absolutely take up an interest in cars because he thinks it would earn him points with his Dad. Heās awful to begin with, obviously, but he sticks with it and and the first time he fixes something or cleans it up and polishes it on his own heās so proud of himself that he just keeps at it. Eventually it becomes an activity he can put all his attention on and just zone out of real life. He gets really competent and this only sends Eddieās heart rate sky high. He sees Steve wiping his hands off on a dirty rag, flipping it onto his shoulder and squinting at eddie in the sun. Eddieās brain shuts down, outright staring at Steve. Only reengages when Steve waves a hand infront of his face and laughs when Eddie reboots. Eddie makes sure to ask Steve for more car tips. Demonstrations really, Eddie is a visual learner.
The whole discussion with the chest hair? Thereās a similar thing before they are together. Steve actually pulls Eddie into it, he was sitting in the back of the beemer while Steve and Dustin bickered up front. Eddie was half paying attention, half thinking about an unexpected cover corroded coffin were planning next week.
That all stopped when Steve directed a question to him āhey! Earth to Eddie! You got to back me up, chest hair is hot, right?ā
Dustin squawks āno fair!! Heās supposed to be unbiased! No leading questions!ā He turns to face eddie in the back of the car āforget he said that. Heās only out for himself. Chest hairs a no, right?ā
Steve is watching him in the mirror and Eddie very, very pointedly does not look at Steveās chest (he does), looks up to catch Steveās eye and immediately feels his face burning. It gets worse when Steve pipes up ācome on munson, whatās your opinion, youāve always got one.ā A smirk evident in his tone of voice, Steve is a big believer in his chest hair, and for good reason. Eddie has lost countless hours thinking about the noises Steve might make from tugging on that hair just right. Countless more hours contemplating if Steve pulls on the hair himself when heļæ½ļæ½s getting off. Before eddie can stumble much further down that path he pulls himself together, letās put a high pitched āmhm! Yep! Sure!ā
Dustin turns back to fave the front in disgust after firing a withering stare at eddie. Steve on the other hand just looks smug as he continues to drive, tapping on his steering wheel along to the music. Thinking to himself āharringtonās still got it babyā and silently thanks his chest hair. He rubs his palm over his face as he thinks about what his next move to get Eddie might be but he catches eddue tracking his handās movement through the mirror. Head perking up at the rough scrape sound of dry skin on stubble. Oh this could be interesting.
Overall, Steve and Eddie are big fans of big boy manly Steve with thick forearms and a torso to match. Thereās a lot of fun stuff Steveās body allows him to do, especially once they are together. Itās mainly picking up Eddie and throwing him around, both of them are very big fans of that. But eddie makes sure to let Steve know just what his wide shoulders, thick muscled legs and identifying jaw line does to him. You know, just incase heās forgotten
#momo hello!!!#as always I LOVE your ideas#I love big guy Steve and I almost made my whole answer to be#āyes you are rightā about every single point uou made.#but stopped myself because that would be a boring reply and I want to entertain#also I feel like this could all also be true for chubby Steve because I LOVE chubby Steve š#anyway!!! you are brilliant and wonderful and smart and intelligent and incredible#and thank you for gracing my inbox#stranger things#eddie munson#steddie#steve harrington#momo#momotonescreaming
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