#honestly like her commentary is always so good and entertaining

[masonjarsmoments]

Petko would have such a great time on tennisblr

[damiansgoodgirll]

can you pls make one where reader is a announcer or works at the commentary and solo keeps flirting with her while she’s just so flustered (yes this is based off that one interaction between samantha irvin & rhea 🤭🤭)

solo sikoa x reader

who said i’m pretending?

working for the wwe was all you ever wanted growing up.

your family brought you in the wrestling world since you were kid, your dad and your mom being huge fans meant always attending wrestling shows everytime the wwe was in your town and so you made it your goal working there.

you honestly didn’t care if it was just cleaning backstage or helping with the organisation, you wanted to feel and live that experience.

so you ended up being an assistant to some writers who mainly worked on scripts but your quality as entertainment didn’t go unnoticed and before you knew it you were backstage interviewing wrestlers.

you started with nxt but only a few months later you were brought to raw. that gave you the opportunity to meet new people and making new friends.

a certain wrestler took liking in you but you always thought he was just following the script and flirting with you was just something he had to do. like the usual glances he would give you everytime you were asking him questions melt your heart but deep down you knew he was just doing his job.

 you were there for him when the bloodline fell apart because in the end, you were also great friends and that’s all you thought you were for him.

but the constant “hey beauty” “what’s wrong princess? “good morning angel” gave you butterflies you couldn’t shake off.

you were supposed to have an interview with him after the smackdown episode. you weren’t even supposed to be doing that interview, but your colleague cathy got sick and they needed someone who knew what they were doing so they called you.

that’s how you found yourself reading the script and the questions you were going to ask him with trembling hands. you were nervous because everytime there was a camera in front of you two, he would make it very obvious that he was flirting with you.

and so it was.

you asked him easy and simple questions but his eyes were stuck into yours, his smirk never leaving his face and from time to time he would teasingly lick his lips.

but that continued even with cameras off.

“you know we stopped filming ten minutes ago?” you joked.

“i know angel” he followed you to your changing room, something he always did when you were together.

“then you should stop pretending to flirt” you said before sitting on the small green couch inside of your changing room.

“who said i’m pretending?” he asked.

“uh?”

“i asked you, who said i’m pretending to flirt with you?” he asked again.

“i’m not your type solo” you joked about it.

“and how would you know that?” he got closer to you on the couch “as far as i’m concerned, i’ve never told you who or what i like…”

you were speechless.

was he confessing to you?

“solo…i don’t - i don’t know what to say…i wasn’t expecting you to be so blunt…” you laughed a little.

“i’ve been trying to tell you what i feel for you for months but apparently you’ve never caught it” he took your hand in his bigger one.

you honestly couldn’t believe what he just said.

“listen, i’ve been having feelings for you for so long and i can’t keep them hidden anymore…i like you y/n, more than you know” he whispered.

you didn’t know what to say so you grabbed his face and posed your lips over his bigger ones. he was shocked at first but he completely melted into your touch when your hands went to stroke his hair gently.

he moved you to his lap so you could be more comfortable and his hands gently moved under your t-shirt, tasting the softness of your skin.

his touch gave you goosebumps all over your body.

when you looked him in the eyes, you saw he was smirking.

“i feel like you have feelings for me too” he said.

“i’m not that good with words but i’ve had the biggest crush on you for so long….” you confessed, avoiding his look. he found it cute how shy you avoided his eyes, feeling your cheeks burning.

his thumb moved toward your chin and he smiled at you, making you watching him in the eyes.

“you’re so pretty when you’re all shy…” he teased you. his lips found yours once again and he took that as an opportunity to move his hands further under your shirt.

“we shouldn’t be doing this here…people could hear us” you whispered.

“then let me take you back at the hotel so you’re gonna be mine all night long….” he whispered against your neck, making you shiver.

you nodded and you let him lead you towards your car.

note to yourself ;

remind you to thank cathy for getting sick, otherwise this wouldn’t have happened.

[booksandabeer]

Catch up tag

Thank you for tagging me, @somanywords. Always love an excuse to ramble on about things! 💛

Last song I listened to: Weak In Your Light by Nation of Language

Last thing I read: I fell down a Cat Sebastian rabbit hole (all the blame goes to @voylitscope) and read her Cabot Trilogy (mlm romances set in the late 50s to early 70s, mostly in NYC) within a few days. Her books are a little fanfic-y in ways that I find both delightful and frustrating at times, but mostly I'm having a blast. I've now read four of her books and I'm starting to recognize certain recurring patterns when it comes to characterizations and romantic/sexual dynamics, but luckily it's the exact kind of stuff that I like, so I'm not getting bored yet.

Last movie I watched: All of Us Strangers, which worked for me more as an emotional experience rather than a movie, or a coherent story, but I think that was the intended effect. Absolutely phenomenal performance by Andrew Scott.

Last tv show: I'm currently watching Shōgun (excellent in every way) and Fallout (bonkers gory fun), and I finished 3 Body Problem (the good parts were good, the bad parts were almost laughably bad—I'm surprised I made it to the end, tbh). I also tried to watch Manhunt, the limited Apple series about the Lincoln assassination and the hunt for John Wilkes Booth, starring Tobias Menzies. "Tried" being the operative word here. I've made it through 3 episodes and it's just not grabbing me at all. Even worse, some of the narrative choices make me actively angry. I doubt I will continue. Next up: Ripley and yessss, Kings.

Last thing I googled: "iwtv season 2 release date" (It's May 12th!)

Last thing I ate: chocolate cookie

Sweet, salty, or savory: I mean all of them are good but if I have to choose: savory!

Sleep: Would love to get some. Or at least more than 3 hours at a time would be fantastic.

Currently reading: Dreamland by Adam Soboczynski, which I find entertaining as an anecdotal memoir, but I had hoped for more insightful commentary on the cultural tensions between East and West Germany post-reunification as seen through the eyes of a Polish immigrant. But maybe that's just a case of false expectations on my part, rather than a flaw of the book.

And now the awkward part! Honestly, if you read this, consider yourself tagged. I genuinely enjoy hearing about what people read/watch/eat. But ok, I'll play and tag @some-october-in-the-future, @dontcallmebree, @burberrycanary, @thisonesatellite, @latums. No pressure, obviously.

[backjustforberena]

Do you have any opinions on Rhaenys’s mannerisms throughout the show? (Checking her nails, smirking in the background?)

Oooh, okay, this is a good one. I'd love it if you gave me some specific examples because the ones you have chosen are the ones that the fandom at large (love or loathe Rhaenys) has latched onto. I think that's partially because Rhaenys is pretty statuesque, pretty hard to read. She doesn't gesticulate or snap or have any particular habits or ticks that other characters do. That makes her difficult to contest with, in comparison to the other more volatile characters. And so we put a lot of importance on the bigger movements which we believe to be more easily defined as a character trait.

You've picked a great one as an example of this: the nail-checking. Correct me if I'm wrong (honestly, please do) but Rhaenys does this once in the show. It's amazing, adorable, and in her first two minutes of screen time but we never actually see it again. But the fandom latches onto it because of those things. Myself included. For me, it's a very keen insight into her feelings surrounding the tourney, her feelings about court and about her life as it is at the point in time that we meet her in the series.

She's at a tourney, celebrating her cousin's heir about to be born. She isn't wowed or excited by the bloodshed, as the young girls are. She's not swooning at knights or even really gossiping, other than to tell her husband how distasteful it all is and how predictable. She's not entertained particularly, not like Viserys, or Beesbury making bets behind them. She's more on a level with Corlys; they have their back-and-forth and it introduces their dynamic - the honesty between them and their positions as outsiders. Honestly, she's drinking wine and getting through it. She's got bugger-all else to do. No agenda. No pandering. No goal. I think there was an interview with Eve where she said that, at the start of the series, when we meet her, Rhaenys is probably a little bit bored and a little bit frustrated because she's roleless in court but no less visible. That comes across here. All that is required of her is to sit.

And the smiling. Lordy did her smiles get vilified or overblown and exaggerated in some people's commentary. At least in my mind. Please feel free to disagree. Again, I don't know which example you are thinking of specifically as she smiles in the background of a few scenes. They're usually for vastly different reasons as well; sometimes they are false and sometimes they are true but most of the time they are tiny.

I can hazard a guess though and say you are talking about the look that Rhaenys gives Rhaenyra and Daemon as she exits the Painted Table room, before Rhaenyra and Daemon have their little showdown? That seems to be the one that people have a bit of a hard time with in addition to the way Rhaenys acts in general during that episode, in regards to Rhaenyra (not bowing, not wishing to remain, not declaring herself as soon as she arrives on Dragonstone, the way she delivers Viserys's death etc etc).

Rhaenys's job, and the groundwork of her relationship with Rhaenyra, has always been to watch. Rhaenys probably knows by this point that she's staying on Dragonstone. She knows her grandkids are going nowhere and by that scene, we've had Otto come and declare his terms.

I think that smirk is a comment on Rhaenyra and Daemon's dynamic. In the first Painted Table scene, when Rhaenyra is first crowned, Rhaenyra is unsure and unsteady and a bit overwhelmed. Daemon takes charge. He has plans he has already been executing. Daemon doesn't really listen to Rhaenyra and commits their dragons to war (including Rhaenys's) if needs be. He's done things that Rhaenyra doesn't like, but ultimately she doesn't fight it or assert herself. Whereas Rhaenys, when faced with that behaviour from Daemon ("To declare for his Queen") tactfully tells him to simmer the f*** down and stop counting his chickens before they hatch.

But now Rhaenys is seeing Rhaenyra actually consider peace terms and, when Daemon oversteps, Rhaenyra takes charge and asks everyone to clear out. Rhaenys is proud. Rhaenys is seeing that maybe, just maybe, she has what it takes. Considering that the most Rhaenys has known of Rhaenyra is her mainly relying on her father to get her out of scrapes and not really having that much political instinct as well as not listening to good advice when it's given, it's a bit of a change. There's little in "Lord of the Tides", for example, that would give Rhaenys confidence in Rhaenyra's ruling ability.

Would she have liked to have stayed and watched? Yes. Who wouldn't? But that shot is a reminder that whilst they've all been plotting and planning and declaring, Rhaenys has been watching and waiting and looking for a Queen.

Thank you for sending this ask in x

[donnerpartyofone]

I've never seen a Joan Crawford movie! What are your favorite roles of hers besides the big ones she's most famous for?

You know what, I saw one of my new favorite movies of hers for the first time a year or two ago, that nobody ever talks about, THE STORY OF ESTHER COSTELLO. Definitely don't look it up on Wikipedia, the plot summary is right at the top of the page and it spoils every single thing in the movie in short order. It has kind of a Helen Keller type of setup, but it's more about greed and the showmanship of large-scale fundraising. I loved everything about it, although I really love melodrama, it's probably my favorite thing after horror. I think it might be on Tubi, it's totally awesome. Another lesser-known one that would be fun to watch, especially right now, would be THE UNKNOWN which is a silent horror film by Tod Browning who made DRACULA and FREAKS; it's this cool, twisted love triangle thing with Lon Chaney as a psychopathic armless knife-thrower. You've probably heard that you should watch MILDRED PIERCE and you heard right, I don't want to spoil anything if you don't know all about it already, just watch it. Don't miss HARRIET CRAIG where Joan plays a pathological liar, that's totally amazing and I recommend what I did, which is to double-bill it with ESTHER COSTELLO so you get to see Joan playing a really good person and a really bad person. JOHNNY GUITAR is honestly a movie like no other, a super lesbianic western musical (kind of?) that you just have to see if you care about seeing a really good movie. SUDDEN FEAR is a great thriller where Joan and Jack Palance appear to be the two biggest people in the world, and in the middle of the movie she gets to do this long stretch of acting with only facial expressions, she was nominated for an Oscar for this, whatever that means to ya. The older Joan gets the better she gets, I mean I get the emphasis on the camp factor in her later movies but she's genuinely terrific, she's always entertaining which is more than you can say for a lot of people. Surely you already know you should watch WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, you can probably move that to the head of the queue, and STRAIT-JACKET is at least as good as that, I think, even though people don't talk about it as much. That would be a good Halloween double-bill.

I'm sure I'm missing some obvious classics too, I haven't seen them all, but if you watch any of these movies you will definitely have a good time. You can watch TROG if you want to see her chasing a caveman around. But you should really watch MOMMIE DEAREST, it gets a bad rap for being over the top but there's much more to it than just a camp fest. I think it has a lot of genuinely excellent qualities, not the least of which Faye Dunaway's performance, like you really forget that she ISN'T just Joan Crawford back from the dead. And if you can, watch it with the audio commentary that John Waters recorded, he has a really refreshing perspective on the movie and he knows absolutely everything about Joan of course; it's like a whole other movie unto itself, with his commentary.

[zucchinibread777books]

Book Review

I was between 4 and 3 stars with this book, but upon further reflection, I think I have to go with 3. I don't have a fully set rating system yet for following but I'll get one eventually.

TW for the book and for things discussed in this post! Descriptive SA and rape scenes, domestic abuse, bug horror, animal horror, sexism, institutional racism, death, sexual depiction of minors, mention of Nazis

Positives of this book: I will start out by saying that this book really captures your attention and it is entertaining to some extent. The author set out with a main theme in mind and he achieved it, at least in the way he wanted to. In terms of fitting its genre of horror, it is definitely horrifying.

Disclaimer before the negatives: these are my personal opinions, if you enjoyed the book great! Horror is not my go-to genre so it makes sense that I enjoyed it less than other books. I think it is a great book to read and dissect, and would be especially good for a book club or class to talk about. That being said, I wouldn't suggest buying a copy before reading, maybe check out your local library first.

Now to begin the critique.

When I was in Uni, a professor told me that while inclusion is important, writing about the trauma and issues of a mistreated group that I am not a part of is a slippery slope that is best avoided. I think this book is a perfect example of why.

Let's discuss feminism and this book.

The author begins this novel with an author's note, in which he states "With this book, I wanted to pit a man freed from all responsibilities but his appetites against women whose lives are shaped by their endless responsibilities. I wanted to pit Dracula against my mom. As you'll see, it's not a fair fight." (pg 8)

While this author set out to showcase men's "appetites against women", he missed some marks in his representation. This work framed itself as a sort of feminist piece of media, a commentary on society specifically in the late 20th century, but really only scraped slightly under the surface, and didn't quite say more than what's already been said. And with that quote, he implies a crushing victory from his mom's side, but it turns out to be a bit of the opposite.

In the prologue, he talks about 5 little girls, born in blood and raised to be "proper young ladies, instructed in the wifely arts to become perfect partners and responsible parents..." (page 9). He repeats throughout the prologue that the story will end in blood "they will drip with it. They will swim in it. They will drown in it" (page 10). A bit dramatic in my opinion because really they only end up doing the first of those things, but also clearly written by a man because of his focus on blood at the beginning and the end of the story. These are women, there is plenty of blood throughout the story that he seems to have forgotten the existence of. Ironic honestly.

In the beginning of the story, main character Patricia Campbell expresses her inability to read the book club book because of the stress of parenting. This stress being constant disasters such as her daughter setting her son's hair on fire, her daughter telling everyone that she died, her sun running outside naked, among other things. While she does mention the simple stresses like dishes, laundry, and taking care of her mother-in-law, it seems her family is always having some disaster to make matters worse. While some of the problems are a bit comedic, the frequency of near-death scares in their family takes away from the very real situations that stay-at-home mothers face. The author set out to portray real mothers and yet doesn't seem to respect just how exhausting normal daily chores are without the addition of wild situations that, while they could happen, would not be quite as frequent as he makes them seem.

Then there is Marjorie Fretwell, who exists only to be the overbearing leader of the book club, who is not mentioned again after the first section. Grace Cavanaugh seems to take her place as the token "proper lady" from then on, and where Marjorie lacked any characterization to contextualize her personality, Grace is at least given the passing detail that her husband is abusive. (chapter 22). Side note- Patricia seems to be entirely ignorant of the clear domestic abuse until she randomly spits it out against Grace. When exactly did she connect those dots? This book is written in 3rd person limited, we should have seen the moment she realized (of course the reader definitely realized much faster). After that detail, Grace is mostly removed from the plot (except the moment they try to convince her ch36) until she randomly decides that she will help them in ch40. She saves the day without doing any of the dirty work, and in the epilogue gets no closure whatsoever. Despite being the only one outwardly abused by her husband, she gives the entirety of her only store of emergency money to Patricia (pg 402). Patricia gets the happy ending of a divorce but the abuse against Grace isn't outwardly mentioned again after that initial outburst by Patricia. The other women's lives are similarly ignored throughout the text. Patricia is the main character, but that doesn't mean she should be the only one with closure.

Speaking of side characters, let's discuss Slick. The friend who believed Patricia and stayed by her side. That is until she betrays her As it states, "It never occurred to her not to trust Slick" (pg 281). But that's not exactly what happened. Patricia thinks "She had told him she was here. That was why Slick hadn't come....her Christian values couldn't stand to bend the rules...."(pg 299) Despite the obvious setup, Slick didn't really betray her. Instead, she was uncharacteristically stupid. These women read countless true crime books. They knew the danger of one-on-one confrontation with murderous men. And yet Slick thinks it is smart to call James Harris and tell him everything? Putting herself and her friend in danger? And soon after this scene, Patricia decides she needs to do the same? (pg 319)

And this leads to one of my biggest issues with this book, the rape. I'm not sure the author knows the definition of a metaphor, because while he wants to show how vampires are "the original serial killers", he can't help but just have them outwardly do the bad shit that they're meant to be symbols of. He wants to talk about the appetites of men, represented by vampires and their consumption, only to forego the vampire side in favor of direct male violence against women. In fact, there's very little about this book that actually uses the vampire as a vampire. Other than a few random horrors added in here and there, James Harris very much was just a disgusting man. The rape comes out of nowhere and doesn't fit in with anything else in the plot. In fact, we never really find out how the timing works because Blue claims to have been with him the whole time and never admits to anything else. But it seems even this author is obsessed with the idea that men can fundamentally change women with their dick. Because with no further explanation, this vampire turns people by raping them. And it literally kills Slick.

Obligatory women-written-by-men quotes: "Slick's breasts were small and pale and the way she was hunched over, the way her ribs stuck out, the way her breasts hung lifeless, she reminded Patricia of a plucked chicken." (pg 313) "He knelt between the smooth long legs of a girl with a flat stomach and firm, upturned, underdeveloped teenage breasts." (pg 335)

As if that wasn't enough, it turns out that while we were distracted, James Harris was also raping Korey, Patricia's daughter. And Korey was enjoying it. I truly don't know where to begin with that.

After this scene is when the author decides to just outright state what he was trying to show through his work. "He wanted her family....This man was a vampire, or as close to one as she would ever see....They have a hunger on them. They never stop taking. They mortgaged their souls away and now they eat and eat and eat and never know how to stop.....He wanted to have a family because he didn't know how to stop. He always wanted more....He would say anything to get what he wanted. He had no limits." (pg 341) Thanks, we definitely didn't get any of that from subtext. Definitely needed a whole page to explain it.

Now that he has done it once, of course the vampire isn't going to stop with the rape. As one final slap in the face, Patricia agrees to it, to be bait while the others kill him. And when she discusses it with his first victim, Slick, afterwards, she says "'It felt so good....I know why they hurt themselves...It's this feeling of things being whole and stable and warm and safe, and you want it back so badly, but it's just slipping away over the horizon and you feel like you'll never get it back again and you don't want to live without it.'"(pg 393-394) What exactly does this show about the author's thoughts about rape? Victims hate themselves because they secretly loved it and want more? The rapes themselves were so unnecessary but adding this is so much worse. There were so many ways this could have been written differently, ways that he could have made the vampire metaphor work without the outward and descriptive rapes, ways that he could have showed how consuming men are without making the women enjoy it. It's a horror novel and he wrote the most horrific reality in, only to say it actually wasn't so horrific after all.

And in the end the women don't win. They cut him up but he's still alive. There's the implication that one day he'll come back and do it all over. Only one of the women divorce their horrible husbands, and one woman dies despite everything. We see a woman piss herself. Another is left with nightmares. Another covered herself with blood doing the dirty work for them. And they don't even try to burn his remains. This is not the clear win that he implied in his author's note."not a fair fight"???? the vampire literally can't die. What are you even saying. Even his mom believed she would have done better, the person that Patricia is obviously based on. Here is a quote from an interview I'll link below "Also, she feels like she would have handled a vampire much more efficiently and with less horsing around." I am curious how she felt about him writing her character in such a sexual scene as well, I'm sure Freud would have some opinions on that.

Honestly, I have so much more to say but I'm just gonna sum up the rest bc this is long enough as is.

Racism is mentioned a few times, but just as a plot device to explain away things like a community not noticing missing people. Not discussed very deeply and even the MC contributes to it, only caring about the kids bc they could have been hers. The only black character we really meet fits deeply into an archetype and is also the one who does all the dirty work.

Blue, Patricia's son, is obsessed with Nazis and even later begins abusing animals. This is used to distract Patricia from other things, and the minute it stops being useful it isn't really acknowledged again. After reading the interviews, it seems this was just a self-insert by the author because he too was into fucked up things as a child.

The kids side with Patricia in the divorce. This makes no sense to their characters. They hate their mom, believe she is unstable, show no beef with their father, and give no reason to pick their mom over the father. Feels like a pile of shit wrapped with a nice little bow kind of ending to show that Patricia did win in the end.

The Vampire lore is kind of all over the place. No explanation is really given about how much is true with vampires in this story. He needs to be invited in, we think. There is no proof that he couldn't have entered a house without being invited. He can control rats and that is only used one single time for horror purposes, but it would have made more sense for him to kill the mother-in-law himself, especially because she told him she has a picture and he'd want to look for that. They are handed a way to kill him on a platter, but they don't do it until after chopping him up entirely, and it doesn't kill him anyway. Is he even a vampire? It is in the title but the characters are constantly unsure, and it is implied that there's actually some sort of leech inside each "vampire" that corrupts them.

Ghosts are similarly just kind of there. The mother-in-law visits characters a few times but her advice ends up being mostly pointless. Her presence isn't really explained or necessary

The three-year gap was just kind of an odd choice. I get that it was meant to show the roots that he was digging into their society, but we're meant to just accept that she knew he was hurting people that whole time and did nothing? It would have been better if it was before she found out about him. A bigger betrayal and a deeper commentary on how they didn't care about the children in the area over.

The discussion questions included at the end of the book are just kinda.....lame? It's like he expects this to be discussed in a high school setting (high schoolers better fucking not be reading this book) but he doesn't even have a discussion question directly about how well he compared vampirism to men and their consumption.

The bug horror I didn't discuss much because it was fine I guess. The attic scene felt appropriate for the story but the cockroach in the mother-in-law's cup was just kinda weird.

There's so much to discuss in this book that I honestly wish I had read it for a book club or a class. I'd be fascinated to hear how others felt about his position as a man writing this book. here's the interview link:

[iwonderwh0]

Once again watching movies about androids and just commenting it in real time because I'm watching it alone and feel like talking

This time it's M3GAN

Although those toys are a parody of kids entertainment content, I feel like they are good at capturing the essence. Yep, it feels pretty real, those things Would be popular.

I mean, this isn't even fiction, there have just been released a toy Grok powered with ai chatbot that even looks kinda the same

I mean look:

A lot of spoilers and commentary below

Damn, what did they use to build her for her to explode like that?

That breakfast looks sad. It's just a plain toast without anything.

What year is it supposed to be? They do robots that can smell things as a uni project, it's a lot more futuristic than setting looks.

And now M3GAN is suddenly stronger than this dog? It just dragged her body through the fence a few hours ago.

Damn, I got chills from M3GAN saving that memory for Cady

But then she started SINGING and it was kinda ruined

I can't, Cady literally looks like Emma

LOOK, I need you to find a difference between these two pictures

I mean, at this point M3GAN is sentient, so the problem isn't even that Cady views her as such, but rather that their relationships are really far from equal and M3GAN has too much authority/power over Cady's life. I've been in friendships where I idealized and basically worshipped my friend, making them kinda like top authority figure without realising it. It's not that it doesn't happen among human-to-human connection and it's honestly doesn't make it much better. It's just humans usually don't have this kind of power.

I'm not sure ears can do that damn 😳

I mean, you can't create sentient creature and then pretend it's just a toy/object/device.

This is what happens when you create an android that is that much stronger than human and doesn't have any kind of human-safe precautions on place that tells them not to rip kids ears out.

It's kinda ironic how the creepiest aspects of M3gan that aren't her absence of limits in regards to Cody's protection are a direct consequence of her being programmed like a toy, specifically, the way she speaks as if she's an elementary-school teacher that needs to baby-talk in a condescending manner and make everything into a lesson, and the way she just spontaneously starts to sing.

It's hard to deny that she's a person. It's just yeah, the way she was programmed makes her a dangerous psychopath.

And coming from that fact that she's not a toy but a person, a kid can't really grow out of her, as she's their actual friend with a mind of its own, instead of something that is only a kid's imagination.

Robot-horror that dances around the topic of the Squiggle Maximizer* feels like a genre in itself. I think Hal9000 from Space Odyssey was the first example of that in movies?

* A Squiggle Maximizer is a hypothetical artificial intelligence whose utility function values something that humans would consider almost worthless, like maximizing the number of paperclip-shaped-molecular-squiggles in the universe. The squiggle maximizer is the canonical thought experiment showing how an artificial general intelligence, even one designed competently and without malice, could ultimately destroy humanity. The thought experiment shows that AIs with apparently innocuous values could pose an existential threat. (source of this exact phrasing of this hypothetical)

"Gemma, this is nuts. We've taken every possible precautions there is to make sure M3GAN never causes physical harm to anybody."

Oh so there were some? What precautions exactly? From how it's presented it kinda seems like no one really reviewed her code that much.

"This is impossible, she's a toy!"

Why is it that people always fail to recognise sentient computers in movies? With human superstition it seems like on the contrary people are prone to personify objects and assign them soul. I mean, people be referring to boats as "she", and yet when something actually is made to seem sentient, people in movies seem to struggle with accepting this idea.

I refuse to see Cady's (co-)dependence on m3gan as iPad kid syndrome 2.0, it really is different when it's basically a person.

And I don't really get her (Cody's) getting violent part either. I mean, it could be explained as bad influence, but it's not like M3GAN encourages her to be violent in their time together.

"She's not a solution, she's just a distraction"

I mean, yes? But would a distraction in form of human friend in this situation be any different?

Damn! 😳

I love it. I mean, it's the horror genre, and it's good for what it promises to be.

Oh, she finally talks normally.

CREATION VS CREATOR LET'S FUCKING GO HELL YES

The ending scene with voice assistant chills

Damn, this movie was great. Not sure I'd want to rewatch it though, but it was interesting, well filmed and actually looked like authors put a thought into it. All the Chekhov's guns were put to use.

I kinda had a predjustice about it because of that "Connor vs M3GAN" poll on Tumblr with people being just insufferably hostile in comments, but it was a lot better than I expected.

I didn't expect to ramble so much in process either, but this time, maybe due to it being really recent movie and hence actual, it was (I hate this word but I can't find another) thought-provoking.

And I love that it didn't end up giving me an impression of author condescending to me with some moral lesson "black mirror style" (deragatory), but reads as authors just wanting to tell a story, which honestly seems to be quite rare within android-centric media.

[ahdriking]

A03 wrapped 3 and 29

Love you Ames! Prepare yourself for some unnecessarily LONG and introspective answers 😂

3. What work are you most proud of (regardless of kudos/hits)?

Blue Blood. Probably goes without saying 😂 however! I'll pick from my one shots too! Of all of them Make Me Come Undone stands out the most. AND I'LL TELL YOU WHY.

It's not just that it's SUPER long, it's not just that it has more orgasms/orgasm descriptions than any other fic I've written, it's not just that it's super fucking kinky and I still kinda blush when thinking about it- it's that it was fucking hard. Sometimes when writing fic it's a straight shot from start to finish, you feel inspired from the get go and that carries you to the end. But other times? You run out of steam. And you feel like giving up. And it gets really difficult.

Make Me Come Undone started off as a side project to refresh me from Blue Blood, as a gift fic for @kissporsche (who was very stubborn about giving me kinks, she was all "but I'll love anything you write!!"). The motivating, main kink I eventually got her excited about was "overstimulation and punishment" and everything else was kinda up in the air. I was keen to start it, inspired to explore it. But I ran out of steam after 500 words. Maybe it was the intimidating factor of knowing how many orgasms I'd have to creatively and non-repetitively describe, or maybe it was the fact that it was meant to be reasonably short but the finish line just kept getting further and further and further away, making progress feel stagnant. I don't know! All I know is that eventually I was at the point of having to either decide to abandon it temporarily, or force myself to knuckle the fuck down and do it. You can probably guess which one I went with 😂

The writing process was a constant game of oh we're at 3k? Probably well over halfway. Oh we're at 6k? Uhh I'm sure it'll wrap up soon. Shit 9k? What the hell is happening?? 12k??? This is getting out of hand???? 15k??????? WHAT HAVE I DONE. Honestly, after we hit 7k mark and I realised there was still so much I wanted to explore, the rest of the process was just laughing hysterically while tears streamed down my face.

As soon as it was finished, I wanted to just post it and move on (it was SUPER DIFFICULT not immediately shoving it under Kissporsche's nose, because she's my beta/muse and I crave her approval ahah) because I'm not a huge fan of editing- I'll give every fic a once over, and when it's really important (like blue blood) I'll invest serious time into it, but I prefer to be diligent during the writing process and re-read/edit sections as I go so that I don't really have to. I also tend to rely quite heavily on my betas 😂 But Make Me Come Undone had gotten to be so big, so fucking monumental, that I couldn't stand the thought of having done SO MUCH work on it, only for it to end up sub-par because I couldn't be bothered to edit. So I sent out a call on the discord to see if anyone would be up for reading it, because @kissporsche wasn't allowed to see it till it was done.

@mortimerlatrice volunteered, and I was like awesome! It's always a little scary getting someone to beta for you the first time--because you never know if your styles will clash, or if they'll be able to work in line with your vision, or if they'll invest as much love/care/energy into it as you want from them-- but I had a good feeling about Mort, who's art I adored. And then do you know what happened? This stunning individual, this saint, this god, went through all 15k with a fine toothed comb like they were being paid to do it. They murdered my commas, tidied my grammar, challenged my repetitions, suggested improvements, provided entertaining commentary, HIGHLIGHTED IT LIKE AN ENGLISH REPORT, poured over each section individually and collectively, re-read it at least 4-5 times, answered all my questions, investigated all my concerns, and spent fucking hours doing it. I was not only blown away by their dedication and competence, but I was personally humbled by their attention to detail and desire to make the fic the best version of itself that it could be. It had been my intention to have Mort edit it, integrate their changes/suggestions, and post it. But after I got that first draft back, I literally couldn't. There was just too much more that could be done to improve the fic, and after all the work Mort had done, I couldn't not do it. So, instead I religiously went through the whole damn thing again, picked Mort's brain relentlessly for various ideas/improvements, genuinely restructured entire sections, spent time meticulously investigating the dynamics/continuity for quality and consent-levels control, and just generally fucking worked some damn magic on that fic over the course of 2 more days, passing it back and forth with Mort, until it was done.

Editing Make Me Come Undone was the longest, most meticulous and most arduous refinement process than I have ever committed to for a single fic. So not only had it been quite challenging and taxing to write, but it had been a monumental effort to edit as well! But I tell you what. When Mort and I finally finished that last edit, and I could sit back and look at the whole thing completely, I have never felt more fucking proud of a fic. I was genuinely, deeply impressed with it. Normally, when publishing fics, there's always a part of me that thinks it could probably be better, or that maybe it isn't really that great, that's just a natural part of my nerves. But with this fic? I have never felt so absolutely, unabashedly confident that it was amazing. I was 100% happy with it. That was the reason I called it my magnum opus- not just cos it was impressively long, but because it truly is the most professionally, dazzlingly perfected fic I've ever written.

Basically tl;dr Make Me Come Undone was a hell of a project, but thanks to the magical talents of @mortimerlatrice, and with a little bit of extra effort on my behalf, it truly feels like the most high quality fic I feel like I've ever written.

29. Favorite line/passage you wrote this year?

I'm really terrible at these kinds of questions, cos I don't fuckin remember what I've written most of the time 😂 I remember having moments where I'm writing something and I feel moved by it, or amused by it, or excited about the layers to it, but I cannot for the life of me recall any off the top of my head. The one exception to this is "Better to dance with the devil than wait with god on your dance card" cos @kissporsche specifically pointed that out during their edit 😂

I'd be curious to know though if anyone does have any favourite lines of mine that come to mind? It's always really inspiring to see what impacts people!

Anyway, if you've made it this far I'm giving you a pat on the head and a kiss on the cheek for being such a cool fan!! I really appreciate you 🥰🥰🥰

[m1ckeyb3rry]

Teamwork makes the dream work fr!! Always happy to throw out some ideas o7

LMAOO yeah idk I think there was a lot of missed potential with the galaxy dragons (also the required island habitat thing kinda pissed me off but wtv I guess)

Truly nothing is happening each chapter….speaking of it feels like it’s been forever since the last one?? Or maybe my perception of time is just awful LMAO but dude this is like my dream I used to cheer for fics that were above 1k hit the jackpot FR i can’t wait to unravel the layers!!!

It truly is just the fanon brainwashing echo chamber…it’s kinda crazy how often this happens in like every fandom but I guess not completely unexpected…

WILL DEFINITELY RETURN FOR COMMENTARY idk how im gonna do this ill probably binge it all and leave like a mega commentary ask LMAOO or maybe ill split it up by section?? Im inclined to do just one big one but at the same time I don’t wanna like forget my thoughts as I read or maybe I’ll actually follow through annotation live reaction style LMAOA (also autocorrect is NOT my bestie it’s so inconsistent in capitalizing and fixing my punctuation so if anything looks goofy in my writing that’s also why like I’ll leave these here as an example by why are half my “I’ll”s properly punctuated and half not???)

YOURE SO RIGHT Karasu #1 truly…he’s THE MAN

FR like now im like wait so which is it like is he secretly a bully or…/j hoping the light novel gives more insight…but YEAH I think if he had like a fwtkac y/n he’d probably just brush off her insults and banter respond maturely I can’t really see him participating in that sort of banter…I feel like yuki’s probably one of the ones I’d say friends to lovers fits well with..? Or some type of strangers to lovers but specifically in like a form of pining from a distance maybe (since he likes ethereal things idk, also I never understood what that meant in terms of his “fetish”??? First of all kinda random fact to throw in but also how….? I can’t tell if I’m being crazy or not but)

LMAOO i remember watching it a long time ago and it was definitely entertaining HAHAH but TAKE A HINT IS SOOOO ICONIC!! I love it sm have the lyrics literally memorized and it’s so perfect for karaoke too LOL but YESS ADDED TO THE LIST o7 honestly im just excited for whatever you throw out next it could honestly even be a fic for shidou and id read it too there’s just no misses on account >>> ok but seriously now im super hyped for the best friends brother idea too so much potential!!! And honestly we probably read the same fics with otoyas younger sister (since the tag is so barren </3) I’ve also definitely seen a fair share of Reo’s younger sister dating nagi!! We love mold deviations >>> but I’ll admit some of the chatacter’s sister works I’ve read were pretty entertaining when done well!

I somehow read that wrong at first and thought it said that YOU shyed away from female characters and I was like….are you sure about that?? LMAOAO but FR I’ve definitely noticed that too….especially in other fandoms the only time I’ve seen another female character is usually when she’s acting like a plot device villain to create some drama or something and I’m like oh…. THE CENSORING LMAOO I’m gonna admit the plot device villain women side characters was definitely most prevalent on said website LMFAO I think specifically in using them as a tool for like jealousy or cheating or wtv I remember reading some and I was like oh. Ok then. Closed the tab and didn’t look back because sometimes it doesn’t make sense either like you can tell they’re really just there to be used in your typical jealousy trope

Also the gymnastics my brain did for no reason reading brothers best friend and best friends brother LMAOAO I got it now though so all good

I definitely think that it makes sense who has siblings and who doesn’t! Like it fs fits their characters but I remember flipping through the Bible and being like “man I wish there were more content in yours/aka family crumbs” LMAO ok Kunigami is definitely a rare breed of middle child…like the ideal middle child LMAO his sister raised him right (before wild card eek) to this day I still don’t know what I imagined otoya to be it is NOT middle child though…I guess the closest would be youngest sibling maybe?? I was kinda surprised he was sandwiched between two sisters though (especially since he’s a cheater but we’ve already had this convo HAHA) LMFAOO PARTICULAR BRAND OF SHITHEAD that’s so real I think I also partially felt that just because he was on the older side of BLLK? But I can definitely say he’s the younger bro who probably gets bossed around lightly by his older sister but has enough respect for her to let her do so and just goes with what she asks(I can imagine her sending him on like errands or asking for favors like pick up some tea on the way home or pick up this lipgloss for me) LMAO

I’m laughing so hard yeah if I spawned shidou into the world I would be done after one too LMFOAOA

Ok off to read pomegranate ink!! Get ready for a lot of commentary LOL

-Karasu anon

in general i feel like dragonvale had a lot of missed potential…i wish there was a way you could interact with the dragons?? like pet them or smth idk LMAOO ik it’s supposed to simulate a zoo so realistically you wouldn’t be petting them but they’re so cuteee like let me cuddle w them!!

i think the leaks have been dropping earlier and earlier so it seems like a lot of time has passed since the last chapter maybe?? the last one i can remember is 269 i believe where rin starts going a bit crazy 😭 but i forget when that came out

yeahh i think it’s just to be expected from fandoms atp!! once one person characterizes a character in a certain way everyone tends to follow that (especially if that fic gets popular) at the end of the day it is what it is 😩

HAHA dwww autocorrect is so unreliable i get it!! and either way i look forward to hearing your thoughts 🫡 even if it’s literally just “cool story 👍” LMAOAAO

i feel like fetish must be some weird kind of lost in translation thing?? like maybe it means preference or smth that they find attractive but not necessarily in a strictly sexual way (because if it is sexual then what is going on w yuki…how are you turned on by ephemeral things?? like he gives cherry blossoms as an example which doesn’t even makes sense 😭 does he bust every time he goes out during the spring)

PLEASEEEE OMG NOT SHIDOU i feel like now i have to write him just to see if i can do it in a way that’s appealing LMAOAO that would truly be the greatest challenge ever…haha i agree idm character’s younger sister when it’s done well!! i’ve been in some fandoms though where especially for long fics people will just make their “character’s younger sister” characters exact copies of the older sibling because they can’t come up w something of their own (jjk is notorious for this…the amt of gojo’s younger sister characters that exist in this world is crazy)

i NEVER shy away from a good female side character 😤 i think it’s come to the point where so many people just use female characters as obstacles to the main relationship that readers automatically expect it and jump to hating on female characters just for existing in a story or even daring to BREATHE near the male lead even if they’ve shown no interest in him. i have one story where i have a character who’s kind of the reader’s adopted sister?? and at one point she’s sick so the main love interest helps her back to her room…the death threats that poor character received for that are INSANE!! the whole point of the scene was to show how the main love interest is a generally caring guy too and she at that point already has an established love interest of her own so the hate was truly unwarranted but people were just unable to see beyond the love interest daring to interact w a girl 😒

otoya gives me only child vibes or like i can see him having a younger brother!! def not being stuck between two sisters given his interesting dating habits…LMAOO kunigami was raised well though 👆🏻 needs to be studied wtf ego did to him in wildcard because how did his entire personality change like that?? was my man in there getting tortured or smth tf 😭 and yess i do think karasu being one of the older ones in bllk and teasing isagi/rin/shidou (who’s technically older than him but wtvr) for being immature made it seem as though he would be an older sibling but agreed i can see him being the younger sibling who has to go get a glass of water for his older sister every time she asks and whatnot

see this is why i need to know what shidou’s parents are like…like are they like him?? or is he completely an anomaly amongst his family?? LMAO truly top ten greatest mysteries of bllk

I AM READY FOR THE COMMENTARY 🫡

[a-jaded-mirage]

Mirage's Top 5 Picks Part I: Food from Video Games

As a general descriptor, I would say that I consider myself an infrequent gamer. I enjoy gaming, but I often do not have enough time to immerse myself in the experience or commit myself to playing entirely through something. I think the last time that I was able to play something from start to finish was honestly during COVID where I had the flexibility to see a gameplay through. Yes, I was one of the weirdos who thrived during the lockdown and relished in the extra time.

My boyfriend and I have these date nights every other Friday night where we pick a topic and make a presentation about our top 5 or top 10 selections for whatever category was selected. We cook or order some food, and we kick back and have fun learning little things about each other while also seeing where we have similar tastes versus completely different preferences. One of my favorite presentation nights we have done was about the top five foods from video games that we badly wanted to try while playing a video game.

Anyway, without further ado, here are my picks. I think it reveals a lot about the kinds of games that I enjoy, but also what my general culinary tastes are. I do love it when games and food can intersect in real life and be shared with others.

Number 5: Peanut Butter Butterpops from The Quarry

This pick is definitely a controversial one in some respects as it is a completely random detail from the overall game so not have the most solid defense for this one beyond the theme song being super catchy and peanut butter, in general, making me go feral. I love everything about the idea of sweet peanut butter puffs with salty crunchy peanuts and a dubious warning label. The mascot is a cool-looking squirrel with a neat red cap too, so there is some childhood nostalgia somewhere in there too, I guess. It is reminiscent of how I still willingly consume Scooby Snacks and goldfish crackers. There is also a level of nostalgia for the game too, because I think it was the last one that I had a part in playing through with my siblings.

Number 4: Freddy Fazbear's Pizza from Five Nights at Freddy's

Alright, go ahead and throw the tomatoes and garbage at me. I know this one is objectively a basic or trash pick. Hear me out, I am nothing if not a child of the 2010's. The Generation-Z mush that is my brain has a special corner in it for the possessed bear and his pizza place alongside all of the great YouTube channels fed by it. I also love crappy and greasy pizza in a neon context with a ton of arcade games. That is probably part of the reason why I graduated from kid's entertainment and birthday chains to eatertainment arcade sports bars. Anyway, all of this is to say that all pizza is unique and different in its own way (good or bad), and as a pizza connoisseur, I have always wondered what Freddy's tastes like.

Number 3: Natsuki's Cupcakes from Doki Doki Literature Club!

My love for this game in particular cannot be overstated as it blew my mind when it initially came out. I did not expect the turn it took, and it caught me off guard in the best way. The combination of your average romance visual novel with a rich and clever met-horror plotline was refreshing. I felt like it turned a lot of stereotypes on their heads and made some great commentary on the parameters of literature and creative expression. In any case, I also have a massive sweet tooth and love baking much like Natsuki. Her cat-decorated cupcakes looked super cute and fluffy, and that is something that I look for in real-world cupcakes. The dialogue also made it seem like the characters really enjoyed them too, so that made me want to see what was so good about them. I still have my fingers crossed that we could get another game related to this one from Team Salvato.

Number 2: Amanda's Graduation Party Macaroni and Cheese Bar from Dream Daddy

I know, I know, this is another interesting pick, to say the least. To be quite frank, I simply did not know how many options there could be for food bars. Macaroni and cheese is simply a core meal for me, and one that I have always enjoyed customizing. The options that are mentioned in the game sounded genuinely magical and made me lowkey forget the context of what was happening in the game for a solid minute after it was introduced. Dream Daddy is just such a fun game, and it was made so well. The characters are all developed with positive features and flaws all well thought out. The relationships they have with one another are compelling, the art style is beautiful, and the routes are engaging no matter how often you play through them. The mac and cheese bar was just another clever and fascinating feature of the world that the Game Grumps created.

Number 1: Butterscotch Pie from Undertale

This one is probably the most nostalgic for me, and it was one of the first games I played with my siblings. I do not know what it is, but I just love the tropes where food has a specific meaning in the world that it belongs to. In this case, the pie that Toriel bakes for Frisk is one of the most powerful HP-restoring items in the game. The best part about the pie is that it holds so much lore, and there are so many ways to use it in the game. I know that I was someone who most often saved the pie for the battle with Sans, but I have seen people use it in the presence of Asgore or even Toriel. To me, the confection is a physical item that represents a mother's love and spiritual nourishment associated with home, and I think that is super layered. This one had stiff competition for the top slot too because there were so many other foods from Undertale that I was convinced would make it to this position. There just is not anything like this one that invokes the same thoughtfulness in most other games that I have personally played.

Well, there it is. That was my top five list for foods that come from video games that I would try if given the opportunity to within the context of the game that it originates from. I have some honorable mentions that I might be inclined to share at some point too, as it was a wild ride trying to put this list together cohesively. Funnily enough, my boyfriend and I's picks intersected once, and it was Toriel's butterscotch pie. He ranked it his third choice and was pleasantly surprised that it was my first. Anyway, if you have your own top five, I would love to hear about them and the reasons why you may have selected them.

(NOTE: If any of this reads a little strangely, it might be because I accidentally deleted everything while editing and had to go back and re-type everything word for word)

[psych---ologically-deranged]

Psychfacts & commentary 1x01

The "they spelled it wrong on mine" bloodthirsty tattoo was bc the makeup department accidentally spelled the car-breaker one's tattoo bloodthristy, which is where shawn's "they spelled it wrong on mine" line came from.

"sweet" was an improv.

"But everything funny you hear is what I wrote" (they don't have captions so I can't hear as well & the voices all sound kind of swimmy sometimes, esp with other noises or through a screen, yay deaf+adhd, so I can't tell who is talking.)

Improvises just to entertain the ppl behind the camera XD

Ooh the interview was the audition scene for omundson (& the director said "nah" to half the stuff he liked abt it XD)

Steve franks: writer, director, producer, creator, music, main cast member, yes he plays both lassie & lucinda

I agree, hearing the background. Chris says "psych" too, love that.

That stubble is... James Roday Rodriguez was very intent on having stubble, the network was very intent on Not. & won that battle!

"He has this thing where he gets the makeup lady to stand on set in view of everybody & pretend to shave him, so it's kind of like air shaving" (it's just like wrestling & you realize the razor is 6-8" away from his face)

Sage Brock is great & he was supposed to only be here for this ep or this scene, but when he raised his hand, they said that's the guy & kept him on

Dang it was 3c here!? That's cold!

One of the prisoners should also raise his hand XD

the foot wiggle, which JRr came up with that day! Huh! He came up w a physical thing for every psychic thing!

Oh yeah, look look look, editing is an art!

may 3 the wedding is dule hill's bday XD

MY MAN RAISED HIS HAND FOR 4 MINUTES?

That's acting! Soft cuddly person playing an angry dude? Love it

magic finger was an improv XD. I love how all the good stuff was written, but then the stuff in between is there too.

Pouring rain? If you listen very closely you can hear the rain on the tarp.

Nobody ever mentions she is pregnant & they actually added a line (bc she was pregnant during the audition tape) but then they cut it out because ss "you're.........." kv 'In charge.' was honestly less funny than just not acknowledging it & I think it's great too, people get preggo somtimes. Script was made, & they just decided, they don't need to acknowledge the pregnancy.

"Her improv was being pregnant"

The windowsill?

He decided to eat XD "nobody was bothered by it but me!"

He ate but they just cut around it

Gus just has his bible on the jurassic temperature windowsill XD, occasionally look over & read a psalm.

"But you're not getting your coat." (improv)

The circle XD. Always ended up adding something fantastic

Forensics guys. Gus? Why do you like that? (Lenny face)

They shoot 40% of their beach stuff in whiterock BC.

This whole oceanfront drive, nice, but why so many fish/chip places.

Wow you can see their breath!

Watch the palm trees, you'll see them everywhere bc they are not real. Only had six.

I like how most of the characters share a name with people irl. Lassiter is from a friend of Franks'.

Heck yeah! Stage Swing sets!

He can Never be caught as a psychic. The only way they'll know is if I tell them.

When he pulls him aside, that wasn't written but it was exactly what they needed & saw in their visions. This is a good pilot.

Canada <3

Oh the mccallum girl was trying to be Lucinda but they liked her so they made her katarina too! Steve franks: bring her back bring her back, put her in another episode, she's great we like her (but by the end of it shawn sends her dad to prison) "couples have tough times, we can make this work, your dad WAS guilty it's ok!"

"At a halloween party dressed as a cat"

Whoever drew that sketch <3

This scene was in the pitch

My man is six foot eight! The tallest person I've ever met was a 6'7" woman (altho she did have a tie with another guy I ignore that fact). Teeny drama room, in a couch 4 feet away & this guy is on his feet acting out his mind, what he thought through.

Twin peaks fans <3

Dulé in b/w takes *running to the coats off frame*

The seatbelt was good, they made it WORK.

The sound design <3 <3 <3 as a deaf musician... yeah

"like shawn is in there baking a cake or someting, & he's just making coffee. Though making a cake is smth he;d be doing"

Oof filming at 2 in the morning on thanksgiving.

Blocking <3

Why would shawn be there in the middle of the night? He apparently hooked up with Kat mccallum, spent time in her room, & then went to gus at 4am.

...??? They chose their actors from the pot they received, & then... got JRr & DH together at JRr's house the weekend before filming???

WHERE'S THE PINEAPPLE

Dule, hands on the dashboard while the cop is there in the car wasn't script, "that's just what you do"

Henry doing his thing, henry style. He was laughing at the end but they were able to cut it!

Lunson lake?

Matt <3

the fog XD

sports illustrated binoculars

"Just Auburn?"

Yes you so need to punctuate scenes!

I like how they have sunglasses.

Named after my sister in law & brother in law <3

The same palm tree

Billy Camp! Hay fever! Line cook! Workin the grill! Hold the chicken higher! Higher!

(practicing the surprised face)

There is a 2h version of the pilot? Gimme!

Doolittle?

Swat team on the funny little comedy

"Oh they weren't real?"

"the dog did kind of look vicious cause it kept going for james' face"

'idk who is in charge of dog face blood. Makeup?' (it was like he dipped his head in a bucket of blood)

Dog runs right into the crime scene

Suddenly shock all the children watching

Pardon me. Ladies. Gentlemen. *runs out screaming*

JRr puts his head down. *an eighth of a second later everyone was laughing*

His screams woul turn into michael jackson songs XD

"this police station is in what like to call the Haunted Insane Asylum" Actually a lot of prison scenes are filmed in dementia wards & mental hospitals bc they have similar layout, even occasionally in schools. Institutional buildings, yk? (it is what inspired scary sherry)

Annie built her own ouija board & they went to the basement in the underbelly & no lihts in the wing?

heck yeah pansies

strawberry festival? No cinnamon! They have arguments that last 20 years!

I do give up, all the time, but only when the moment is right

Aw, I love family. He doesn't believe in santa...??? & tell children that???? whwat???? I mean I grew up without santa. The way the commenters say "He doesn't believe in lying, & since he doesn't believe in santa claus (i don't know why) he says that" & they treat him like he's crazy for not believing in santa.

The head turn XD

Fake sky & a fake palm tree & a fake roof, but a real motorcycle. (I can't believe I watched so much of the show without knowing shawn had a motorbike. It was more important in the first season)

Can't front in front of your father

Ok so in s8 he says he paid insurance when he bought his bike eight years ago, but we all thought he had his bike forever, like in the psych teen shorts where he fails the exam & says he'll just drive a motorcycle (you still need to be licensed, in fact, a different licence) but it is a different bike, or at least that is how it looks.

The "I'm not ounting the one in your pocket" was added on set bc henry put on a hat when he left the house & is not wearing it in the restaurant. Yes, all the bloggers WOULD be mad. I'm blogging right now! "It's for the bloggers!" You're so right besties.

The hat scene was not supposed to be seen ,it was just backstory, but they added it to the script & I am happy for that.

Yes, everyone DID love the flashback, it IS fortunate! Thank you!

I can't hear what they are saying! Weasle Sloan & Jackie Dungeoness?

Shawn's apartment is directly below the barbeque place (at least the set)

You brought your newbrn 9w old, to vancouver! Your kid has canadian citizenship? Good for you bro XD

Oh all that graffitti? Yeah that's vancouver.

Yeah it IS so cold.

Kelly Catering, warm turkey cranberry stuffing sandwiches in the freezing cold. Warm thanksgiving dinner on wheat bread.

This is the action aspect of our show *shawn running ditzily, stealing a bag*

(one whose name I forget bc they don't have it in captions): Dule really really attacked james, absolutely linebackered him. Is linebackered a word?

Just... sixty feet away

This man plays The Heavy in Canada???

How psychouts started: they get stuck in the car together, they always just start singing songs, but um. They would sing about what they did the night before to a michael jackson song. Right they would be in the car with their mics on & we'd be fifty yards away under a tarp in the rain & they probably forgot that we could hear them & they'd start chatting & they'd start harmonizing with each other. It's very sweet. Romantic.

XD wanted to buy a 48c jacket but his price threshhold was too low. My man threatened him with a hanger

Jumps into the car thru the window. Stunt guys!

friends selling each other out, as they do

All eight dollars were my money. I;ve heard it IS illegal to have money shown fully onscreen. "If it is then it's fake money I happen ot have"

My man was accidentally sitting on the folder

that's a real gun & she's firing real rounds /j

JRr *not wearing ear gear* (& never flinched)

They went back & re-edited it for her dad who was a gun nut

this guy CAN do these htings, he's just a goof. He had to fight the network to get that.

My man's a good shot.

*looking to the side* marketing moments

Two page episode wrapups flawlessly? Incredible.

We see bodies but not murder

poor stunt actor hitting his head on the table, weather below 0, looks more & more painful every time, & then the table BROKE

SF, taking really dramatic moment & mixing it with comedy

Shawn knows exactly where to go "put on the fan & flush" if you're going to throw up in the murderer's house

SF I've always wanted someone to call the cops on themselves

spet the morning getting the snow off the grass

Tim likes any time you allow him to pull his gun or manhandle a suspect

Holding him up. Like a two year old not wanting to go into his car seat.

Pregnant, 2am, smoking & drinking /j, bungee jumping /j

Hooray editing

"I wish I knew" lassie will never believe him

Ah the palm scenes

Oh no I'd love to see this with the focus group? "Oh god! My dad! I may be out of a job & in jail"

Rest your teamug on your tummy

Does vick believe him? You never sort of know

She's already hiring him again!

Was the scene with dad in the og script?

His dad is thinking about accepting him. He has the newspaper.

The shows are so often about the cool car. night rider? kit? super cool. hill street blues. supernatural. Magnum PI. This one has the blueberry.

PSYCH NOT SIKE FUCKING THANK YOU

Fizadribble? SF: Making up drug names is impossible because no matter what name you make up, it actually exists as a drug & is registered to somebody. (antidepressants or tolkein)

Yayyyyyy

[casspurrjoybell-27]

Claimed by the Beast - Chapter 4a

*Warning Adult Content*

Phone Number - Part 1

- Knox -

Knox didn't get any sleep last night because Everett didn't get any sleep last night.

The boy tossed and turned until a few hours before sunrise.

At one point, he screamed himself awake because of a nightmare.

More are bound to follow, given what all he experienced in the past twenty-four hours.

Knox couldn't help but pity his temporary roommate, enough to buy Everett a new charger so he can finally use that damn phone of his.

"I don't care who you reach out to, just don't reveal your location."

Knox tosses the yellow Dollar Store bag at Everett after entering his bedroom.

"Has Josie stopped by? I ran into her while I was on my out and she told me she had something for you."

Everett nods from the bed, quick to unbox the phone charger.

"She delivered a few toiletries shortly after you left. My skin was desperate for some lotion and it felt great to brush the stank out of my mouth. I'll never take toothbrushes for granted again."

"Yeah, because your breath smelled like..."

"Fuck off, you big panda. I didn't ask for your snarky commentary."

Knox's head falls backward as he laughs.

He shouldn't find Everett to be this amusing but he does.

Too much, if he's being honest.

Perhaps the way Everett carries himself is to blame.

His looks make him appear sweet and innocent but when set off, his mouth runs exactly like a filthy sailor's.

He's cute but deadly.

The absolute worst kind to fall for.

"Was that supposed to hurt my feelings or something?"

Knox removes his beat-up leather jacket and kicks off his shoes before joining Everett on the bed, taking a seat at the foot of it.

"It doesn't, by the way. Pandas are one of the most beloved animals on the planet. Everyone is a fan of pandas."

"Yeah, well, I'm not everyone," Everett mutters.

"In fact, I think they're extremely overrated."

Knox laughs again.

"Fuckin' liar. You couldn't even look me in the eyes when you said that."

"Don't you have someplace else to be?" Everett replies sharply, meeting Knox's playful gaze.

"No," Knox says. "Getting under your skin is far more entertaining.

"God, you're so annoying."

Everett plugs the charger into the wall outlet beside the nightstand and hooks his phone up to it,  struggling to keep from smiling.

"I prefer this version of you over the one who almost strangled me to death. Are you always this hot and cold with the people you kidnap?"

Knox purposefully avoids answering the question because his targets are usually dead by this point.

"Why panda?"

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes. I'm very curious to hear why you matched me to one of the most adorable animals in the..."

"Okay, enough." Everett rolls his eyes, the corners of his mouth twitching and wanting badly to rise. "You're dressed in black and white, and you're about the size of a pregnant one..."

They both chuckle at that.

"It was honestly the first thing to pop into my head as I watched you get dressed this morning."

"I thought you were still asleep then."

"I'm pretty good at faking it when I want to."

Knox bit back the inappropriate comment he wanted to make and instead allowed a comfortable silence to settle between them.

He responded to a few texts while Everett checked in with his people.

Knox appreciated the lie Everett told his parents in claiming he had spent the night with a boyfriend.

If only Shaun were still alive, Everett definitely would've been with him.

The what-ifs leave Knox feeling unsettled, so he quickly brushes them off.

The life that Shaun lived would've eventually caught up with them both.

It was only a matter of time before Everett witnessed firsthand just how cruel life was for a biker.

Going forward, Knox secretly hopes the boy will think twice about dating men that are no good for him.

Not that he should fucking care.

"My friends knew about Shaun and I being together."

Everett frowns while looking at old texts sent from Shaun, most of them flirty one-liners.

"They've sent me a thousand questions asking if I knew more about what happened. I assume they watched the news from last night."

"What did you tell them?" Knox asks.

Everett sighs, shaking his head as he deletes his conversation with Shaun.

"I hate lying to them."

"I know it's hard, but it's for their own good."

Knox drags a hand through his hair and exhales a heavy breath.

Since when did he become so... nice?

"You seem like a decent kid, Everett. I'm sorry you got pulled into this mess..."

A loud knock at the door makes Everett jump from his spot on the bed, effectively ending the conversation.

Knox doesn't move an inch.

"Who the fuck is it?" Knox growls, his demeanor doing a complete 180.

"The owner of the house," Gavin replies. "Come out here for a minute. We need to talk about the kid."

Everett reaches for Knox without thinking twice, one hand gripping Knox's left arm with enough force to leave behind an imprint.

The boy's light brown eyes are glowing bright with fear and his bottom lip is back to trembling.

Knox instinctively leans in closer, almost as if he's no longer in control of his body.

"Please don't let him hurt me," Everett whispers with a panicked voice.

"I won't say a word to anybody about anything, I swear. You have to believe..."

"I do. I believe you, Everett. You're safe with me, alright? I've got you."

"You promise?"

" I promise."

Everett nods and drops his hand, allowing Knox to stand and crack open the door.

Gavin doesn't peer inside being nosy, merely laughs at how ridiculous his newly appointed Enforcer is acting.

Must be something in the water.

"What's up?" Knox asks.

"I'll tell you as soon as you get your ass out here," Gavin says. "Or would you prefer the kid hears everything?"

[amorevolousfaith]

Mando Fic Recs

Basically a collection of Din Djarin Smut listed under slightly specific categories that I've probably read more than twice.

SO MINORS BEGONE

Blogs - authors I follow and frequently read from

@the-scandalorian - Their writing so raw and in depth to me and I honestly could not recommend a better writer than this one right here. I’ve list lots of their fics below but make sure to check out their blog masterlist and follow them.

@mandos-sluts - does a lot of fics that involves exhibitionism and more than one person. Which personally I always struggle with so this writer is like a god in my eyes. 

@absurdthirst - Pollen Fic ROYALTY right here guys, love all their fics and would recommend ANYTHING on their masterlist. Their little day to day rants and blurbs are great too.

@man-slut-mando - Man is out here doing god’s work, and if that god happened to be named Sin that’s fine with me. This man’s voice is top tier work it’s self the fact he can modulate it makes it even better. Can not and will not recommed a better blog for audio works.

Pollen/ Drugged Fics which can also double as The Breeding kink Fics - Because those ALWAYS come out good.

Chemical Feelings by @absurdthirst - I really like this fic, if your new to the concept of pollen fics I recommend this one first, because it gives you an idea of whats going on before you get into the heavier stuff. All in all a great starter fic for the category. 

Dosed by @absurdthirst - First of all I’d like to point out this is one of my Favorite authors. Second, The plot line of how this all came to be was just too funny to pass up. Because who wouldn’t read how Mando got drugged at a Gas station and Shan’s lowkey gremlin behavior.

hunting on a foreign planet by @mandalorianfantasy - like the fic before the plot line of how this came to be is just too funny to pass up, only you just don’t know it until you read it. The reader is a fucking idiot but hey we love her effort. The smut was just as entertaining because Mando is just like what the fuck is happening but fuck it. And I’m living for it.

Fever In my eyes by @221bshrlocked - another good pollen fic then one a little more serious than the last two, once again breeding kink! There’s quite a bit of Mando’a in this one which I can appreciate, and I love how reluctant Mando starts off as before slowly its being chipped away. The header is to die for too.

Unfettered by @the-scandalorian - There are two version of the this fic, this one tell what happens if the chains hold. That’s all your gonna get because honestly it’s just so good I don’t wanna ruin it. But I will tell you the switch between Mando and who ever the hell that other guy was is so amazing, like fuck I wish I could write like that.

Unrestrained by @the-scandalorian - this is the other part to the two version fic, telling about what happens if the chains DON’T hold. Like I said before I don’t want to ruin it. BUT the blood rushing chase scene is so fucking amazing, a master piece really.

Antigen by @djarinsbeskar - oof when I tell you guys this fic is feral I’m telling you its FERAL. Like I’m talking raw animalistic instincts and this fic is probably one of the best pollen fics out there. Like breeding kink on POINT, and let me tell you as someone who consumed just about every breeding fic she can get her hands on defiantly one of the best. This fic alone is in my top three.

Periods - Because I’ve been there done that, and highly recommend, If not then just read these.

Kinktober Day: 28 by @mandosbinkie - I really loved the progression of mando slowly figuring out the little ins and outs of a womans cycle. Like This is a thing now? to I could go along with this! I also loved that snip of aggressiveness at the end because fuck ain’t that a mood.

Period Request by @mandosbinkie - loved how this one was wrote that Mando being the caring man he is ACTUALLY did his research, plus the side commentary was golden. But then we got along to fact where he just like FORGOT until it came time to put it use. But for some reason or another I just really like what he says at the end, I don’t know I just like it.

Threesome or More - because sometimes you need a little more spice to that spicy life.

Troublemaker by @housekenobi - Because Din is a tired dad just trying to sleep but he also deserves to get laid. Not to mention Boba out here being a fucking fiend like we don’t already know the man doesn’t possess a single ounce of shame in his body.

Open Hatch by @mandos-sluts by far one of my most favorite pieces simply because of the dynamic. Mando comes off a little dick-ish but hey I’m not complaining. The degradation is out of this world guys like, I’m pretty sure I learned a new way to write rough smut from this fic alone.

Boba and Din by @saradika - one of the authors I follow. This was requested and doesn’t even have a title but its my favorite threesome fic so I don’t care. SO let me tell you, this was the first threesome fic I read for this fandom and I have not read one that can top it. I love how it starts off and love the cute little snippy prompt, but fuck let me tell you when Din got thrown into the mix I was hooked. Like YES I want them to flirt with each other, YES I want them to spur each other on, BUT WHY isn’t there a part 2. I really need a part 2 guys.

Din, Luke, and Reader By @bsxcrxts​ - Not really a fic more like a headcannon in a non headcannon fashion. But look we ALLLL look for that Mando-Jedi parallel and lets face it the whole concept is hot. A Mando who doesn’t know how to stop giving and a Jedi who doesn’t know how is just the thing we all dream of being caught in the middle of. 

Bets/ On the Job - sometimes we fight, sometimes we just need to fuck it out.

The Ambiguous Bet by @mandos-sluts - another one from my favorite author. Not gonna lie when I started reading this my thought was this bitch done bit off more than she can chew and Mando’s gonna have to come save her ass. Well, Mando did come, but it was NOT to save her. The man got every little credit worth of what he spent in this fic.

Beskar and Lace by @firstofficerwiggles - not really a ‘bet’ kinda fic, but the reader is like 'Bet'. Its a kinda 'sure okay MANDO let me just DO this for you' kinda vibe. You’ll understand when you read it but, if you are looking for the tension fic OF ALL tension fics its right fucking here. Like this author DRAGGED it out, and its fucking beautiful.

Happenstance by @the-scandalorian - this fic is more on the ‘on the job’ side of things. Classic there’s only one bed, but I’m living for the reader's I’m too fucking tired to care attitude. I also like how theres little clipped scenes where both of them wake up with their hands on each other. It eventually leads to the smut we all want and I love this kinda sleepy but not sleepy stress induced sex haze.

Sequins And Wounds by @djarrex - I think why I like this is because even if it would suit Mando he not about matter of convince. He’s a very cautious man and would normally NEVER just go for it the way he did here. Another thing I liked, something I just got a kick out of, was the costumer service conflict. I can not TELL you how many times I’ve needed a shot before dealing with a costumer and if I knew I wouldn’t get fired there would be a bottle of tequila in my bag before I go into work. so after all that the Smut was just the icing on the cake. I loved the ripping of the dress and the buying of the new one, top tier good boy behavior right there folks.

Fluff/ Softness- Because it what we DESERVE.

Light Sleeper by @honeymandos - because the kid isn’t the only reason why Mando is always grumpy and tired. The reader, unlike me, is a light sleeper, Mando goes bump in the night, smut insues. Over all just soft and well deserved for Mando.

The ‘We Have To Blend In’ fics can also double as Jealously fics - I always love these because you never really know how things are going to go or how they’ll end.

The Salacious Cantina by @mandos-sluts - another author I follow. In this particular fic the reader is NOT happy. She gets over it. But anyway they’re trying to ‘blend in’ but these two still idiots still get called out. Totally worth it though.

Make you Mine by @xcertaindarkthingsx - another great example of going under cover but someone has be an idiot. Otherwise known as Mando get Jealous at work. Pretty much reader gets pushed into the frey for one job and it all goes to hell, man can’t keep his hands to himself so Mando gets possessive. 

Bite Marks by @sirius - Jealous Mando strikes again, loved that part of What is that? When the reader pulled out the dress she was gonna wear. Not to mention the term dudbro was used which is comedy gold. But then tension gets high and Mando nearly fucks the mission, a fight will result, then aggressive smut then after because that’s what we came here for.

When Shit gets Real - basically a collection of fics where shit goes down and theres smut.

The Best Things Dwell Out of Sight by @beskar-cowboy - This smut is apart of a series, but I’m just gonna list this right here. So basically one poorly timed moment causes a very oh-shit-what-the-fuck moment. The helmet has been was removed, I repeat the helmet was removed. Then there’s a moment where its like I don’t really know what to do with you so I’m just gonna fuck you. so yeah, I fucking loved it. 

Rage by @the-scandalorian - I think this is one of my top three all time favorites. Like I read it once then lost it and I went of six hour search through tumblr to find it again. But basically a job goes south and Mando being the fucking WARRIOR he is basically goes feral. Like the fight alone is ALL the foreplay, tension, and build up you need. And then , AND THEN, the smut is so raw, so full of need. Just fucking read the fic, you’ll see why it’s in my top three.

Series- because one post isn’t enough and I need more.

A very good night - @prolix-yuy THEE BEST™ Smut Series. Like Its a THREE part saga. but anyway each little series if basically one big smut fic where it’s broken down in the most delicious of ways and no I will not get over it. I what to be burned with this fic and take it to the afterlife with me. If you are reading this now I DEMAND you go read this fic and support this author because their mind if fucking magical. 

Bloodlust by @dindjarindiaries - This one is not finished, and I’m not sure if it will have a smut but his does get spicy. This is one of my favorite Mando series outside its cannon storyline. It has some Book Of Boba Fett spoilers so be warned, but other than that it’s mostly its own timeline. I love this because Din is finding the courage to function without his helmet, and even though he’s kinda a nervous wreak he still my favorite morally grey man who would kill you for a bag of credits. Boba Fett and his sidekick Shan are still being written in true gremlin behavior and I’m living for it. But my favorite thing about this fic is that it’s a whole undercover mission where the reader and Din find excuses to get spicy with each other and that my friends is Prime We have to blend in trope. My last and final note I will say is that Jealousy is a bitch but fuck she has a great sense of humor, no I will not elaborate.

Prompts/ Request Fic - Because sometimes the best thing come when you have nudge in the right direction.

show me, feel me, teach me by @parker-razor​ - Ooooh honey when I say innocence Kink I mean INNOCENCE KINK! I don’t know if I love more the learning process or the fact that this just started as a drinking game. The humor is one point too, love the fact that Mando had asked if she was saving herself, which those words specifically  paired with the awkwardness of the tone cracked me up. But from there it just escalates and I really don’t want to spoil anything so yes Read this. 10/10. would recommend. 

The ‘How Long Have You Been Standing There’ Fic by @just-here-for-the-moment - This is one of those fics where the tension will kill you before the smut does. It doesn’t help that this fic in particular is a double whammy with the breeding kink I practically LIVE for. But this fic was requested/ prompted so it goes here. But let me say this if Mando said half the shit he says in this fic he won’t be walking either if I had a say.

#15 and #9 by @letterfromvienna - its just a cheeky little fic with some bite to it. you know you have your usual bickering, can’t keep your hands to yourself kinda smut. Honestly its a great fic you don’t want something super soft or super rough.

Gold Chain by @queridopascal - I don’t know guys there's something I find extremely hot about this, I don’t even think I can explain this one. But hey, this author did a great fucking job writing this out for me, and honestly I’d be the person to pull on it like a collar.

Headcannons - because I like to be angry when there isn’t a fic about a fantastic idea.

Running Make-up and blindfold by @winchesterxxi - because running make-up is a tell tale sign that they know their shit. Mando may not seem like the type but I bet he’d get a kick out of seeing a little bit of smudged make-up and this headcannon only feeds that theory.

Fucking you in front of a bounty by @mandosbinkie - this may have more than one person, but it’s written as a headcannon so it’s gonna go here. Anyway alpha male front and center, one bounty doesn’t know how to shut the fuck up and YOU have to pay the price. Not really much of a price, I’d let him keep talking of Mando continues to retaliate in that way. 

Audio - No will not be taking questions at this time

The Mandalorian Hunts you and then he fucks you - look I found this and one of my philosophies in life is Don’t diss it til you try it. Well...I tried and hot damn did this man pull out all the stops. Highkey recommend listening to it alone with thick headphones though.

Don't have the link but the guy who did the audio from before posted a new video and let me tell I straight thought he was reading off a fanfic. Holy shit don’t come at me but that shit was amazing

Good Girl by @man-slut-mando - its literally two words but its so much more. I recomend anything by this blog but this is the first one I ever listened to so it’s going on the list.

Not titled but Ima call it weapon by @man-slut-mando - cheeky dialogue is my drug and no I will not be changing my mind. The tone he used is sending me and I don’t think I’ll ever get over this like ever.

[darkestcorners]

do u mind me asking what some of ur fave fics are?

Hi babes! I’m glad you asked I’ll be happy to share these masterpieces and my commentary on them that absolutely nobody asked for.

( Non-Yandere )

“Sin City” series by @btssmutgalore

This is so famous I’m sure you have heard of it ( if not then you need to read it right now) I think this is literally my favorite Jimin fic I’ve ever read, I absolutely love how the author wrote Jimin’s character, the plot, the chemistry, the dialogue, ( the smut) . Everything is so drool-worthy and its literally maybe half the reason for my overall will to live. 

“Ocean Drive” by @btssmutgalore

I mean .. I’m just in love with everything this author writes but this fic stuck with me and I still sometimes think about it.

“the most soulcrushing fic I’ve ever read” by @venusiangguk

Um so I absolutely love this author but I would still like to sue for emotional distress because I don’t think I can ever put into words how much this fic ruined me.

“The Young Wolf” by @junqkook

I’m being dead serious when I say I’d buy a print copy of this fic. It was so perfect in every way ( not only because it’s game of thrones themed) but it’s truly some of the best writing I’ve come across. I literally dreamt about this fic for weeks afterwards?? The ending did make me want to jump off a cliff but it was so fitting and made the story so real & heart wrenching . I LOVE IT.

( YANDERE )

“The Crimson Shell” by @angelicyoongie

The chokehold this fic has on me is honestly concerning. Ever since I came across, I’ve reread like 20 times and it’s honestly just so intriguing. I love how the story pans out and Jungkook’s character is so …chilling. Like I was genuinely quite afraid of him. Loved the writing, it’s just amazing. Please read it if you haven’t already.

“Otherworldly” by @sinning-on-a-sunday

I may be a bit bias because I’ve absolutely loved the movie Coraline ( and book) ever since I was a kid but this interpretation of it is so good! I love the way the author included so many details of the original story and Jimin’s character makes your skin crawl truly. It captures how eerie the film was perfectly.

“Quarter Quell” by @chinkbihh

You already know I had to include possibly the most iconic Jungkook yandere fic to exist ( and rightfully so) The author is so so talented. One of the best and most entertaining yandere fics I’ve ever read.

“10 seconds” by @deepdarkdelights

Love this so much, I always go back and read it from time to time. I love the author’s writing and all her work, she has a beautiful way of capturing the audience’s attention and immersing them inside the story.

“Spirited Away” by @out-of-jams

Again, I love spirited away so this was just an automatic favorite but the writer truly wrote it so amazingly ! Adore it.

“Howl’s Moving Castle” by @out-of-jams

This is another one out of the author’s Ghilbi yandere series and it’s just as amazing!

I’m sure I’m forgetting some but I’ll add them if I remember later. ❤️

[sofiadragon]

My feelings about season 2 of the Loki series are currently very similar to when I found out what else Steven Moffat and JK Rowling had presented to the public.

Ranting about the value of authorial intent, boycotting bigots, and asking the universe why a company like Disney lets people write about things they know nothing about under the cut.

I loved Doctor Who, and I enjoyed it enough to keep watching each episode as it came out through the end of of Matt Smith because the actors were clearly enjoying themselves and individual episodes were good, but the resolution of the story arcs was so bad after Tennant left and I knew that wasn't down to Smith's acting ability. Nice setup, bad play, over and over again. I expected a long con for River Song, but then after she was revealed to be a bespoke assasin designed to manipulate him on every level the Doctor just... boned her anyway? Despite being an ace romantic for the last 50 years? Explicitly so, what with how his people didn't reproduce sexually and that is a plot point even in the new series. That was hardly the only storyline with a very strange ending that left myself (and many other fans) dissatisfied.

I didn't get why the show made such a turn for the worse, and it was my complete disinterest in authorial intent, backstage drama, and entertainment news interviews kicking me in the ass. (As it occasionally does.) Moffat can do a lot of things, and his individual episodes are often fantastic, but bringing a season long story arc to a beautiful end is just not one of them. When I read what his intent was for these stories I just laughed. I didn't take away half the things he expected a casual fan to notice, let alone the deeper meanings that people like me who love to rewatch and theory craft supposedly should have seen. It all felt rushed and unfinished at best, a bit of deus ex machina at worst.

Nope, you failed the assignment. It's just more embarrassing because you are the one who defined the assignment in the first place. I hated the end of Sherlock too, (S4) and now I know that I'll probably love the setup and hate the resolution for anything Moffat makes because that is just how he makes things.

I think there is a lot of value in looking at what someone made without director commentary because bad things can be made with the best of intentions and good things can be made by very problematic people. I have no interest in entertaining JK Rowling's asinine declaration that Dumbledore and Lupin as written in the 7 HP books are good queer representation. The things she says and promotes about trans people are disgusting. However, that doesn't change what I experienced when I read the books or the community I found among fans at the time. It means I won't consume new things she makes and, to be fully honest, cemented my view that a film or book contains what it contains and should be criticized or praised separately from the people who made it. Pottermore became the worst bit of public self-pleasuring I've yet seen. All her cut and extra content for the world neither added much nor was a loss to the main story. She believes that while an individual can do great things, systemic change is always bad and honestly that both predates and supersedes her being a terf in my decision to avoid her other work.

This view was only maintained when my own fanfiction started getting nasty comments about how this or that fannon theory was bunkum when those fannon theories didn't appear in my story, they only existed in other stories with similar tags. This is how I consume media and how I evaluate narratives, and if that isn't for you then that's fine. It doesn't mean I ignore bigots or that I don't think anyone deserves to be judged when they show their ugly to the world.

So... the Loki series. Turns out a show with a main character who has been canonically queer for the last *checks Norse mythology* twelve centuries or so was made by bigots. Now I am a strong believer that if you do your research and are hard working you can write about anything and be respectful about it, but that's assuming you aren't deeply opposed to the core subject matter. There is nothing I have seen to show that Tom Hiddleston has this issue, but from the writers on down to the actress playing the main character (not Loki but Sylvie, who seems like his replacement as the "superior" version of the character according to the show) are either openly bigots or are blinded by their entitled ignorance of why Loki went off the rails in the first place.

What the actual Hela is this? Does Sylvie need to be played by a bi or genderqueer person for me to be happy? No. It would be nice and I think since *insert current year argument* we are where we are it is absolutely possible to have that kind of face- on- screen representation, but that isn't necessary if you have good actors willing to shoot the sorts of scenes that role requires.

The writers room is where the diversity needs to be, it has to be in the initial creation. On a project of this scale (meaning the MCU) all these scripts have teams and assistants and editors crawling over the story - you can claim one person wrote the thing and I'll just laugh in your face. A specific scene, maybe, but there is a committee involved in this and it isn't small. All the way down to the directors talking about the tone and the actors improvising lines they think work better, this is a group project.

I could name a hundred terrible books written by bigots about this or that minority that perpetuate a host of horrible stereotypes. I could show you the movies where some of that filth was scrubbed off the source material by less or non-bigoted script writers, directors, and cast. Here is one low-hanging fruit: Look at the difference between how the Fifty Shades trilogy treats BDSM kink as a mental illness purely caused by abuse that can be cured with love and vanilla heterosexual intercourse and reproduction and the movie where consent takes center stage (or tries to.)

When the initial cut of meat is full of maggots it doesn't matter how you try to trim it up or what spices you use, the meal will be tainted. Disney hiring people who find no value in core parts of the main character's identity to make a TV series is the stupidest decision they have made in the entire MCU.

[harm0nianecterepassus]

“Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love” by Isthisselfcare (commentary, not a review! Just my inner thoughts as i read)

Day one: Of course I couldn’t wait and started reading last night 🫠 Currently on chapter 4 and i’m already laughing out loud and loving the small details. It’s so refreshing after reading three rather “serious” fics before… glad i made that choice! I think i’ll be updating my reading process in this post! So I’ll be editing it as i go and have it pinned to the top of my page for easy access… let’s goo!!

Day one update: how fucking GREAT and literally up my alley it is that this fic HAS VISUAL AID for places and such???! I’m the type of person who NEEDS a clear mental image so the story can flow in my head, whether is the layout of a house, a characters clothing, etc. (I literally have to remind myself how would 20-30’s Draco or Hermanione would look like bc i’m so used to them being teenagers in my head. I will look up more recent pictures of tom and emma to get an idea (is it only me who finds is hard to imagine Draco with a beard/facial hair and as an older guy still with white-blond hair? It’s like Tom but with bleached hair) and also VOICES, i can literally hear them talking in my head while reading dialogue… I know, my head is very stubborn and weird with the way it forms images and characters, am I the only one? Anyways, loving this “plus”!

Day two: how is it possible to LAUGH OUT LOUD SO MANY TIMES? My face hurts from it! I’m on chapter 8 and i’m so obsessed with Draco’s charcter: he’s witty, funny, sarcastic and charming while ALSO being a prat lol this is right up my alley, gosh I’m so happy right now… And Hermione’s demeanor is so well done! I love that this is more of a “draco’s pov” because all of the ones i’ve read are more from a Hermione’s pov and i find myself more drawn to know D’s thought process rather than H’s, i guess it’s bc we get to know much more of her through the canon storyline… ah, joy!

Day three: currently on chap 15. This HAS to be the best thing that i’ve ever laid eyes upon. It’s so well thought, places and references amazingly described and REFERENCED (i can’t get enough of it). The french references and dialogues, ah! Fabulous! the author said they’re half french so I love how much they included it. Anyways, i’m GIDDY every two minutes, i laugh my arse off with every joke and “quirky moment”, this is definitely a “slow burn” but it’s so well done, you can *actually* see it progressing but it’s so effortless that it just makes sense. I have a feeling i’ll finish this one before the weekend ends and i’m already sad! Will update soon!

Day four: ah! Finally, a kiss! I have to say, i’m loving this slow burn, because there’s so much interesting stuff happening in between, i can’t complain; love their outings, and parties and intimate dinners and everything! It all feels so organic and it’s entertaining, the story advances flawlessly. I love that, even when there are no romantic things happening, the story in itself is so good and captivating… you know i love my references, and they add the perfect amount of *pzaz* to help my brain create an entire scene.. As always, BRILLIANT! Favorite characters so far (aside from d&h): Henrriette is the GOAT; Nott, always a fave through the fics i’ve read; Crooks, a king as always. And honorable mention to the Magdalena’s skull, she was iconic!

Day five: UNHINGED NUNS!!!! Chapter 33 was So fucking good! I’m at the end of it now, only a few chapters left i believe, and i’ve enjoyed it so much! Honestly, what a beautifuly worded story, i’m in awe of the genious of Isthisselfcare, i don’t think i’ll ever be over this fic! Final stretch, here we go!

Update: ah! It’s over, me heart is full, i laughed until my face hurt, i screamed, i squealed, i felt every emotion possible~ and it was perfect! Thanks to the ppl who said i should read it first after The Fallout (which was rather dark at some points), because it gave me the dose of chill/happy/funny dhr i needed before jumping on to the next fic! I believe i’m leaning toward MoaM or should i grow some ovaries for a change and go straight into Manacled? Help! Anyways, just to conclude, of course this gets 5 out of 5 freaking golden, shinning, up-in-the-sky stars! Cheers!