#horta reacted

[useless-catalanfacts]

Now it's been a week since the floods, but we must remember that the damage is not nearly over. It will take months and years for the affected families to recover. And that's not counting that 215 people have died and 78 are still missing. Many homes, streets, fields, schools, etc are destroyed. I'm glad for all the solidarity we've seen this first week, but they are going to be needing help for a long time to recover.

All the local organizations are thankful but for some days have been asking for people to stop sending them objects (tools, clothes, food, etc) because the collection points have so many that they can't manage them and they don't even need so many of some things being sent, for this reason there are storehouses full of materials that they don't need but people keep sending and some volunteers are having to stay there to coordinate the stuff that arrives instead of being where they're needed. So, please, don't send any more things unless you are coordinated directly with a local association there that asked for a specific thing. They say that the most useful donations now are money and not any more food nor second-hand objects. (Again, thank you very much because this overwhelming response speaks of the goodness and solidarity of everyone who immediately reacted by sending things! but let's do it in a coordinated way with the affected people to make sure it's useful).

Also, recently some well-meaning people have been sharing fundraisers to help the victims, but some of these posts seem to be made by outsiders compiling what they found on Twitter, which ended up spreading fundraisers that belong to far right-wing groups, the Catholic Church, and to associations that aren't well known in the area.

If you can make an economical donation to help these people who have lost everything in a day, these are some trustworthy associations:

Fundraiser by Fundació Horta Sud. This is a foundation created by many local associations of the Horta Sud area, one of the areas that has been the most impacted by the catastrophe. It's a well-known foundation that brings together many local associations. This and the next one are the fundraising that is most recommended by people on the ground working on immediate needs.

Casals i Ateneus dels Països Catalans (federation of social centres of the Catalan Countries) has many social centres in the affected areas and is coordinated with trade unions to provide immediate needs. The bank number for donations is ES74 3025 0002 4614 3344 7057.

Fundraiser to help small family-owned farmers (farmers are one of the poorest segments of population in our country, families own a small plot of land and they're very threatened by big corporations, they're at the forefront of fighting for climate and the rural communities' traditional way of living with nature). The fundraiser is created by the International Centre of Rural and Agriculture Studies (Centro de Estudios Rurales y de Agricultura Internacional). This is the fundraiser shared by trustworthy Valencian associations that work in favour of rural communities and traditional cuisine, such as Tasta'l d'ací.

Fundraiser for the grass-roots cultural associations and cultural heritage guardians, organized by the Federation of Local Studies Institutes of the Valencian Country, the Coordinator of Local Studies Centres of the Catalan-Speaking Countries, the Federation of "Ateneus" of Catalonia, and the Ramon Muntaner Institute. Many local archives, centres of local studies, "ateneus" (social and cultural centres with an important task as a library for the community and as historians of the area, among other cultural activities) and other cultural associations headquarters have been destroyed. They are very important for the memory, history and culture of small areas. To write articles about the history and legends for this blog, I very often use work published by these local study groups, because most of the time they are the only ones working in detail on the historical and cultural heritage of their hometown. Here is the information on how to donate, as shared by the organizers:

Translation: Let's help the Valencian cultural and heritage associations affected by the 2024 floods. You can send your donations to [the bank number] ES98 3159 0066 91 3048828523 Or the BIZUM code 10586 (starting on 7th November 2024). You can send the receipt of your donation to: solidaritatcultura@fedinespv.org.

You can find more associations that are collecting donations in this document by Suport Mutu DANA València.

Thank you very much for caring.

[tigereyes45]

34 + the Horta 😆 (Or! As a less jokey but not jokey suggestion, whats her face Kodos' daughter, her)

Thank you for leaving a prompt. I had a lot of fun writing this! You can also find this fic on AO3 here.

#34 for the writing ask game was "Are you going to kill me?", if you enjoy the story feel free to send in an ask with a prompt and characters from this list.

Summary:

Spock's second mind meld with the horta.

Story:

Fear wracks against Spock's brain as emotions, deep, overwhelming, frenzied emotions batter themselves. The force of it causes Spock to begin pulling away. Instinctually he recoils from the onslaught. Years of vulcan training kicks in. Warning alarms ring out in his mind. He shakes his head rejecting the thoughts for they were not his own. A violent cry escapes him.

This is their second encounter of minds. The first he had tried to push in and learn quickly. He will not make the same mistake twice.

Spock retreats back into his mind, allowing the creature to follow after. For a moment he grounds himself amid the torrent of emotions. With partially raised shields he lets the creature explore as deep as he had wanted access to within its mind. Spock closes his eyes again, pressing his hands a little firmer against the silicon lifeform. He shows it the languages he knows. Words accompanied by images and to a lesser extent emotions. In a matter of seconds, the creature begins to pick out words and pictures within Spock's mind's eye. This being, the horta, as it described itself, was quite intelligent. Even for those gifted in phonetics and languages as Uhura is, may have struggled to gather so much foreign knowledge in the middle of an emotional episode.

Murderers, monsters, villains. These words are thrown about in an accusatory tone. Children playing on vulcans before laying on the ground. Their bodies broken beyond any normal means.

When Spock doesn't react with anger, the horta's onslaught starts to slow.

In a quiet, weary tone it pieces together human and vulcan words. "Are you going to kill me?"

Spock shakes his head, and cautiously lowers his mental shields. Peace. He urges the word in both languages and as many images as he can. Work was being done.

At this the horta's emotions flare up again. Not work. Murder.

"Are you going to kill me too?" The horta fully presses it's mind fully against Spock's own. "Will you doom us?"

"No," Spock insists as he starts to relay the horta's thoughts, and words to the captain. The emotions linger within him. They slip out with his words, coloring them, but these deep, complex, unfathomable maze of thoughts and feelings proved the creature of deserving the title of intelligent life. Perhaps even far more so than his own people's claim to the title.

Spock swears across their bond, "No". They will not kill. Not it or the children. "I'm sorry."

The physical pain it bears will not ease anytime soon. Death awaits at its door. Even if they can heal the horta all the anxiety, and horrors born from human mistakes will never disappear. Those nightmares will remain until they finally succumb to sleep.

[deepspacedukat]

Happy Salamander Sex Day to you!!!!

I have a very important, extremely scientific question… what kind of reaction would the Vulcans/Romulans have if they couldn’t read someone’s thoughts using the touch telepathy we’re so fond of? It’s not that the person is blocking them out, it’s that the telepathy doesn’t register.

-Horta-in-Charge

By no means am I asking for all of them because we have too many blorbos with pointy ears. Just in general… with maybe your personal favorites and your lovely Jorik 💜💜💜💜💜💜💜💜

Happy Salamander Sex Day to you too, friend!!! ILYSM! 💙💜

Ooooooh, that is a VERY important question!! *cracks knuckles* For the sake of these, I imagined that they were reacting to their s/o or prospective s/o in this situation.

Jorik: Assumes that it’s a failing on his part, because they’re perfect so it must be him. “I am sorry, ashayam. I will make amends.” Proceeds to double his efforts in every other department to prove that he is still a worthy prospective mate.

Spock: Raises a single eyebrow. “Fascinating.” Proceeds to study the phenomenon. As an afterthought: “However, this will not change our relationship status.”

Vorik: Tilts his head like a puppy. “Hm... No matter. I shall simply convey my thoughts verbally. You do enjoy my voice after all.” Tilts their chin up teasingly. “Do you not?”

Solok: “Another Human failing... It is fortunate for you that your other credentials blind me to this new flaw.” Smirks in a definitely-not-smug way and proceeds to posture as normal in an attempt to impress them. Deflates when they walk away, and hurries to follow them with an apology on the tip of his tongue.

Letant: Is disappointed, but cuddles them closer. Not even bothered, just deeply in love. Possibly even more intrigued with them because of the added mystery of being unable to read them. “Don’t think that just because we can’t communicate telepathically that I’m going to give you up. You’re mine, e’lev.”

Vreenak: Is disappointed in an angsty way. Pouts and acts slightly grumpy/prickly. He knows it’s nobody’s fault, but he had really hoped to share that particular intimacy with them. Eventually when his Human kisses his forehead and tries to console him, he relents and holds them close. “You’re enough just the way you are. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to act so childish.”

Bochra: Shrugs and goes back to nibbling their neck as if nothing happened.

[lenievi]

“Captain, I'm going to fix that woman's arm. They can only kill me once for touching her.”

OK, but I LOVE that in this scene McCoy is using “Captain” because he needs Kirk to really listen to what he’s saying – i.e. offering them a strategy to escape. By using “Captain”, Kirk’s mind should go !!! because it’s not common for McCoy to call him that.

[spockfan]

When Mother Horta expressed wanting to name one of her babies after Bones for saving her life, Spock suggests the name, "Hortatio" based on the doctor's middle name.

You know what I need?

More of Spock and Mother Horta friendship.

I need Spock visiting her and him getting glomped and covered until only his face is visible in what's equivalent to a hug. Spock allowing and even welcoming it because it's how their species make contact and it's only logical. And then they catch up regarding life and living with humans, trading stories, introducing her children to Spock, the Horta mothering Spock as well, him bringing her shiny rocks from his travels...

Please...

[stateofsport211]

All-In Regulars: Morocco Became Africa's First Semifinalist, Set A Clash with Defending Champion France

Cristiano Ronaldo's World Cup dreams were crushed upon the loss against Morocco (📸 Associated Press via The Hindustan Times)

The quarterfinal days continue with two possibly history-making matches, for some reason. Morocco tried to become the first African and Arab semifinalist by taking a strong team in Portugal, while England took on France for another classic encounter.

Here was how everything unfolded, before the winners of the aforementioned matches took each other on the semifinal.

Morocco v. Portugal

The first match had a history-making possibility as Morocco took Portugal for a spot in the semifinal. For note, Morocco became the fourth African country to advance to the FIFA World Cup quarterfinals. However, a tough contest in Portugal, whose one of the key players, Cristiano Ronaldo, could have his last international dance in this year's World Cup. Furthermore, Ronaldo once again started the match on the bench for tactical reasons, taking into account Goncalo Ramos' contribution in the last round.

Youssef En-Nesyri's goal in the 42nd minute of the match secured Morocco the lead and the victory at the end (📸 Getty Images via Northern Public Radio)

The first half was already fast-paced from the way both teams approached the match: Morocco was thought to be the more aggressive side compared to Portugal's tactical. This materialized in one of the first notable Portuguese chances, where Joao Felix fired the ball right to the Moroccan penalty box, only to be saved by Yassine Bounou at 4'. However, Morocco picked up their pace by producing a shot that flew over the bar; unfortunately, it was offside.

Another notable Moroccan chance in the first half was a header from Youssef En-Nesyri, where he shot a header after receiving a preceding ball, just still above the goal post. The Moroccan defense was tested even further when Joao Felix struck the Moroccan penalty box numerous times, only for it to be either: (a) executed too far and wide, or; (b) saved by Bounou himself. Toward the end of the first half, En-Nesyri scored the (maiden) goal for Morocco, where he scored a perfect header to Diogo Costa's surprise. As a result, Morocco led 1-0.

However, the pace slowed a little in the second half, despite the Portuguese counter-attack attempt. Ronaldo's entrance to the game at 50' with Joao Cancelo increased the intensity of the Portuguese game, with his one chance being saved by Bounou. Not only Ronaldo, several other players, such as Goncalo Ramos, Bruno Fernandes, and even Felix again, have had their chances, to no avail. The Moroccan side parked the bus in an extraordinary way thanks to their defense in this half (and the non-existent middle efforts from Portugal), which ended right after Pepe's wide header.

Left: Morocco's Badr Nenoun celebrated after Morocco's victory against Portugal (📸 Getty Images via The Times of India); right: scenes as Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, and Ricardo Horta were dejected as Yassine Bounou, Badr Benoun, and Jawad El Yamiq celebrated their semifinal qualification (📸Reuters via The Gulf News)

With this victory, Morocco became the first African (and Arab, even) country to reach the World Cup semifinal. Furthermore, due to Portugal's loss, Cristiano Ronaldo was seen leaving the pitch first in tears, sparking divisive reactions around the internet.

England v. France

Jude Bellingham reacted right in front of Wilson Sampaio, the referee of the match (📸 Sky Sports)

The second match of the day featured another big match between England, who became the runner-up of the Euro 2020 (held in 2021), and France, the defending champion of the FIFA World Cup. One would say this was a heavy clash of "the two football giants [imperials, specifically]," considering the possible dynamicity of the match.

The first half started rapidly with a "tug-of-war" style, where both teams tried to drive each other to their rhythm according to the early ball possession rates, where each team held 44% and the ball was contested in 12%. However, France seemed to take more initiative with their possible chances, one of them was close at 16', where Jordan Henderson tried to pass to Bukayo Saka, only for the ball to get to Adrien Rabiot in an attempt to assist Ousmane Dembele, which went too wide. The proactivity bore fruit when Aurelien Tchouameni scored a goal at 17' after a series of smooth passes, slowly breaching the English defense, thus catching Jordan Pickford off-guard. It took England several moments until they tried to counter-attack, for example from an on-target chance by Harry Kane, where it got saved by Hugo Lloris at 28', showing an intense French defending. This score stood until the whistle blew to mark the first half ending.

Harry Kane scored a goal from his first penalty in the second half (📸 Reuters via The Guardian)

Olivier Giroud celebrated after he scored the French second goal of the match (📸 AS)

The intensity raised in the second half when Jude Bellingham already had another on-target chance for England, where he fired right from the edge of the area, only for Lloris to save it. Several minutes later, Tchouameni fouled Saka in the penalty area, followed by a successful penalty execution by Kane (all of these happened within 51-52'). The equalizer heated everything up in this match, proven by how the teams tried to outbalance each other with their counter-attack and defense capabilities. There were several remarkable chances from England, especially coming from Saka until France took over the situation and produced additional rounds of scoring opportunities, for example from Giroud, where his second chance was saved by Pickford or defended by Kyle Walker. Giroud then finally scored at 78', assisted by Antoine Griezmann right after the corner.

To prevail, England had to give them all in the last 14 minutes. Somehow, Theo Hernandez fouled Mason Mount when he barged Mount from behind, hence England was awarded another penalty after a check with the Virtual Assistant Referee (VAR). In contrast with the first penalty, Kane did not manage to score a goal, sending the ball up in the sky instead. Since England had to score by the end of the match, they tried to pressure France further and produced several occasions to score, and they could not materialize any (even after the 8 minutes of injury time), lacking precision. To top it off, there was a free kick before the final whistle blew, where Marcus Rashford executed it closely, but still above the bar.

The French victory secured their second consecutive World Cup semifinal, just like Croatia, where they will face an inspired Morocco. On the other hand, Wilton Sampaio's decisions became another different point of attention. For Gary Neville, for example, the French first goal should have been ruled out due to Saka being fouled midway through the goal construction. Furthermore, Stuart Parker also thought there was a moment where England deserved a penalty when it did not happen, while both Bellingham and Henry Maguire thought "it was a poor refereeing, although it was not all his fault."

Refereeing aside, the English head coach, Gareth Southgate, saw this match as a positive improvement for the team while needing time to reflect and make correct decisions. For the French side, Giroud admitted parts of this match were rather mental, especially after conceding, but they worked their way out.

The General State of Draws

The current situation of the knock-out stage (📸 Eurosport)

Time flies: it looked like not a while ago the World Cup started, and we are now down to the final four. This means we only have four matches in six days to spare: the two semifinals, held separately between December 13-14, and the last two rounds: the third place play-off (on December 17) and the finals (on December 18). Looks really quick, right?

Two interesting semifinals are on the look in the next four days. There is a likelihood of repeating the 2018 finals, which was France v. Croatia; however, the chance of this happening would not be as easy as one would flip their hands. Although during both years Croatia survived numerous extra times and penalty shootouts, the Argentinean counter-offensive capability should not be underlooked, especially knowing the peak 2022 Argentina.

On the other hand, the next match in discussion (Morocco v. France) looks even tougher: not only Morocco did not concede any goals coming to this round (except the own goal against Canada) but also the French balancing capabilities, as demonstrated in the last few matches. Or, there could be more on the floor as things progress.

Morocco v. France: Will Morocco Defy the Odds Again?

The two key players for France & Morocco: Kylian Mbappe for France (left) and Achraf Hakimi (right) (📸 Associated Press via News 9 Sports)

France and Morocco have yet to face each other in a FIFA World Cup match before, which means this would be their first meeting. The last time they met, it was an international friendly match from 2007, where France drew Morocco 2-2. Bear in mind that it was an entirely different era, where from the French side, Sidney Govou and Samir Nasri scored; while Tarik Sektioui and Youssef Moukhtari scored for the Moroccan side.

Going back to 2022 and the World Cup, this is another entirely different stage, composition, approach, and form for both countries. While the French rapidness can still be relied on, as effectively as it was against England, today's Morocco is something else: when they are at their peak and go more offensively, they could drive the rhythm until the other succumbed to the pressure, something that was effective against Portugal (minus the lacking central from the Portuguese side). As a confirmation, in the past few matches, regardless if they involve both teams or not, had effective counter-attack and counter-pressing capability as the main importance compared to ball possession, where organization becomes crucial to determine their level.

This match would be an intriguing test of both teams' ability to balance both, which might boil down to the teams' executions: their ability to proactively create chances and effectively capitalize on them. For Morocco, it was tested in the previous matches coming to this round: defeating Belgium and Canada and drawing Croatia in the group stage, as well as defeating Spain (albeit in the penalty shootout) and Portugal to top it off. Apart from the slight 1-0 defeat against Tunisia, France had been solid: scoring 11 goals and conceding 5. This is where, speaking of being conceded, the offense-defense balance should be checked out: it would not take a single goalkeeper carriage to keep a clean sheet (in the case of Yassine Bounou for the last 3 rounds, especially), but it needs strong defenders to assist holding the fort (in the general Moroccan case).

Expect a heated dramatic match flow for this one. While it is possible for a penalty shootout to be served as a last resort, the team that could outbalance the other would prevail in this match. The French ceiling is high, knowing their experience, but the Moroccans should not be ruled out. Pulling a classic line: it is worth seeing what is going to happen here; who knows, this will be the way Morocco writes another history in this World Cup.

[tardispowered]

The Doctor Who Story Review looks at:

Summary Non-Spoilery Review: Not great. This feels like it was written in the early run when the characters weren’t well known. The adventure, while engaging enough, doesn’t quite go far enough in the world building and relies on surface characterization. It wasn’t bad though. Just… not great.

The Good: Well, I mean, it wasn’t a terrible read and the overall concept was interesting enough though I don’t think the worldbuilding went as far as it could have. Like what do these rock people even look like? What is there overall shape? Am I thinking of Horta or the Thing here? That’s for another section though. There were one or two places that made me laugh and I do enjoy Yaz lusting after the Doctor/Tardis—but there was nothing that stood out to me.

The Could be Better:

Man I get that there’s only maybe 300 pages, but the world needs to be built up just a little more—I feel like there’s not enough to really get a sense of place. This story would work really well in a comic format, but as a novel, it needs more meat. Like the rock creatures. What do they look like? What do they even call themselves? And speaking of calling themselves, names like Emerald, Quartz etc are really uninspired and only work for Steven Universe because it’s a classification system made meaningful on an individual level rather than you know people named after what they resemble.

But everyone was kind of sketched out like this, short handed. It read like, you know who these characters are and the basics of the situation so there’s not much need to go into detail. This would be fine if the adventure itself was more interesting but… it really wasn’t. Plus the fam wasn’t really written with… any personality to speak of. Yaz got the most of it but mostly they were just kind of…there….reacting to things and occasionally helping to receive a gold star Good Job sticker from the Doctor.

Also the mining corps and nanobots thing was kinda thrown in there in the end. I mean it wasn’t right at the end but it didn’t really make things more interesting mostly because of how everything ended. Everything was a bit Saturday Morning Cartoon moral in a sense where everyone became friends and stopped doing bad things and lived happily ever after. It wasn’t quite that pat, but it made me roll my eyes. Not that this couldn’t have been done well but it needed a lot more time.

The really freaking annoying:

There is some egregious cult of the Doctor stuff going on here. We don’t need to hear how amazing and perfect and wonderful the Doctor is. Really. It’s fine. She can, in fact, be annoying, or even /gasp/ wrong! Bring back the companions/fam/whomever rolling their eyes at the Doctor or just not wanting to put up with their shit. It’ll be okay I promise.

Also I feel like this story didn’t give the others enough to do except wonder around and be the vehicles for plot exposition. Unless directed by the Doctor there was nothing really that they did to make any sort of change on their own. I know there are a lot of people to balance, but there can be a little more done than what they do here.

To Sum Up: Not horrible other than cult of the Doctor stuff, but not something I’d read again in a hurry. In my Doctor Who Canon Voltron? Sure. But it’s more: ‘eh, fine’ rather than: ‘yasssss’.

Two point Five out of Five stars

[hortascountrysidenotes]

Swifts and Swallows

It was inevitable following such a dry spring that the weather patterns would shift and deliver welcome yet unwelcome rain at rose and young bird time!  Last week gave almost four days of uninterrupted rain, together with miserable temperatures and glorious floribunda heads of Buff Beauty rose to name but one, hung their heads in misery, their petals rotting before even allowing the buds to open.  Fortunately there are still some roses that haven’t yet  begun their peak performance for example the Great Maidens Blush but if the last 3o years of building the Beck Farm Garden tell me anything, it is that it rains off and on for the entire three weeks she is trying to look her best!

Indeed storms are forecast again for today and tomorrow, I feel I have only just repaired the damage from last week’s weather - propping up plants with hazel twigs and trying to get some order into the veg patch.  The swallows have fledged and thankfully have had five pretty good days to get fully conversant with getting in and out through the garage door hatches.  There are three and we love to watch them learning the ropes from their graceful parents.  It would seem we have three pairs of swifts nesting under the tiles and after the low cloud of last week they are back screaming and wheeling over and around our roof and chimney pots.

Two families of wrens are causing amusement and there are several young great and bluetits visiting the bird table, together with young robins and blackbirds.  It is always amusing to see how slow they are to react to movement that might be threatening - the baby blackbird in particular will sit on the table long after everyone has dived for cover, looking around in an innocent way as if to say “where has everybody gone” and one just hopes that the sparrowhawk doesn’t swoop in with a final answer!

Having thought the broad beans were not going to be much good, we have in fact got lots and they are delicious. There is nothing quite like broad beans and new potatoes - the Charlottes are cropping well.  Globe artichokes are a treat but we still need to replace the three plants we have lost to get back to the numbers we like to have.  Salads continue to be strong, but it has been a struggle on some of the other veg and I am becoming suspicious of the numbers of ants in the raised beds.  Lovely rows of newly sprouted spinach seedlings suddenly seem to dwindle despite being covered by netting, so a ground attack must be the reason!

Mr Horta always says how pointless gardening is for we grow things and fuss about, only to then cut everything down again!  As I deadheaded the Maigold rose yesterday I did slightly see his point - and cutting the box hedging - the annual cutting etc seems to come awfully quickly and really from now through to the end of autumn there will be a shrub, a hedge, a rose or a perennial that will have done its bit and then need cutting back.  Apart from box cutting which is my all time least favourite job it is now time to cut the flower heads from Brunnera and Geranium phaeum - two plants that give and give from early April until mid June, but then need shearing off in the case of the Geranium to provide good foliage for the rest of the summer.  They are usually under shrubs or at the back of borders and therefore awkward to get to, and more than anything harbouring horseflies, nettles or both.

We are in the June gap for the bees - there is a big shortage of forage for them now the rape and broad beans are over.  In our high density arable countryside there is very little for pollinators to go at - the gardens therefore are vital and even more vital the verges - it was encouraging to hear a woman from the British Beekeepers Association on the Today programme this morning talking about the verges - we must badger councils and farmers to be much more selective about how much and when they cut - and as with so many aspects of climate change - plastics etc., I do believe it is UP TO US and not just the government which is US, to actually stop people and ask why and why not etc. At the risk of being thrown out of supermarkets, a friendly enquiry as to why it is necessary to buy bananas in a plastic bag could just convert one more person.

Back to the bees, they are therefore being fed sugar syrup at the moment as they are noticeably grumpy and need a boost.  Soon the blackberry flower will be strong and they will be happy.

Two nights of dog training coming up - Mavis is in good form and a good session last week was most encouraging.  She needs revving up before a session so she is excited and keen and then we start to get success!  Scout and Inca are content, they join in some of the training - Inca certainly has not lost her mojo at all and wants to outstrip Mavis all the time.  Scout just enjoys lying in the grass and being given one task to make her feel important.

HORTA

[bynkii]

As was common in the run-up to the Dominion war, Discovery has an extended layover at DS9, not only for routine maintenance and supplies exchange, but also so that O’Brian and crew can do some of their magic with the ship’s weapons and defenses. Starfleet and the Federation dislike fighting, but they understand the importance of being ready to do so.

The science staff is not as involved with the upgrades as engineering and security, so both T’Pen and Laraht find themselves with a great deal of free time. They make plans to go planetside, but first, they want to spend some time on the station. Laraht plans on making sure she knows about any cultural issues with regard to nomming on local minerals. One of her siblings accidentally ate a very tasty vein of silver on a planet where that metal had no small religious significance, and while nothing bad happened, it was quite embarrassing for all. She likes to talk to the locals because Starfleet and Federation data is a bit skint when it comes to things like “are those tasty rocks just rocks or not just rocks. It also gives her a chance to gauge how the local bipeds react to a Horta in a more varied environment.

As Laraht is currently fostering a somewhat aggressive serval, she and T’Pen (and Marmalade) decide to take advantage of the layover to help said Serval (Isis by name) get more socialized. Isis is not happy about the claw covers, but Laraht has gotten her used to them. So she, T’Pen and the cats on their harnesses are having a lovely day walking around the Promenade when they hear a somewhat gravelly voice behind them.

“Excuse me…Lieutenant and…rock? Might I have a moment of your time?” Odo’s words are friendly, but his tone is one both of them have heard from superiors, the “I am making this sound voluntary, but rest assured it is not” tone one learns to recognize in Starfleet. They turn to face the station’s constable, and introduce themselves. “What did you wish to speak to us about Constable?” T’Pen asks.

“I just wanted to make sure you were aware of station regulations regarding pets in the public areas, in particular ones that are potentially dangerous”, Odo answers, with a pointed look at Isis. “Understandable,” Laraht says, “but we made sure to read up on the rules before going on our walk. Isis has regulation claw covers on, and while I have no hands as such, I am fully capable of proper use of Isis’s harness in the event she gets a bit overwhelmed.”

With that, Laraht turns so Odo can more clearly see the reel apparatus Isis’s harness is attached to. Odo raises an eyebrow as he examines the rig. “Is that…glued on to you Lieutenant?” he asks. Laraht ripples her fringe in amusement, people who have not spent a lot of time with Hortae are usually surprised at the accommodations they use to function in a biped world.

“It is constable, I take it you’ve not encountered many Hortae before?” Odo shakes his head as he finishes his inspection of the reel. “You’re the first we’ve had on the station” he answers. “Unsurprising” Laraht says, “To answer your question, yes, it is glued on. A Horta’s upper body “skin” is rather analogous to a form of concrete. As our natural environment is deep underground, heat and pressure are not things that really bother us, so at most, attaching and removing the reel is what you would describe as “itchy.” Given my volunteer work in socializing various forms of feline so they can be adopted out to a good home, being unable to be harmed by anything much smaller than a Terran Tiger is convenient.”

Odo nods and chuckles a bit, saying, “I imagine it would be at that.” He looks over at Isis to see that she’s starting to get a bit nervous, it’s close to lunchtime, and the slowly increasing foot traffic on the Promenade is making her anxious. “Your latest charge seems to be getting a bit antsy, you may want to find a quieter spot for her. Might I recommend a holosuite, she might be more comfortable in a calmer environment.” “That is a good suggestion Constable,” T’Pen says, “although we may take her back to Discovery, I have little desire for the amount of haggling every transaction with a Ferengi requires.

Odo nods again, “I see you’ve had to deal with Quark already. If you’d like, I can assist with the negotiations, I find him oddly reluctant to subject me to his usual tedious attempts at chicanery.” T’Pen and Laraht gladly accept his help, with no small amusement at the things Odo’s tone was saying under his words.

With Odo’s assistance, renting a couple of hours in one of the larger holosuites takes no time, and soon all three are sitting on a bench in a perfectly pastoral setting with the perfect amount of butterflies to chase (Marmalade is trying to chase all of them at once, it’s very cute) and low tree branches perfect for cats to climb on. To their surprise, Isis ignores both butterflies and trees for Odo.

“I’m impressed constable” Laraht says, “Servals are usually standoffish around new people, and Isis’s initial reaction is normally either distance or hissing, but she seems fascinated by you.” Odo nods and says “I imagine my scent is very different than any other species she’s encountered, that may be a part of it. At least she’s not asking me to change into something.” T’Pen’s eyes go slightly wide at that, and she says “People just ask you to change form?”

Odo shakes his head a bit and says “It’s almost an unconscious reaction at this point. “I’ve heard about you Odo, can you change into a chair?” or whatever object they have in mind.” “That seems a…severe invasion of your privacy” T’Pen says, showing, for a Vulcan, extreme disapproval. Were she human, “appalled” would be the best description of her current state. (Even as a Vulcan, T’Pen is highly appalled at the idea of casually expecting a sentient being to perform on command.)

Laraht laughs a bit at her friend’s tone. “I understand what you mean Odo, I’ve lost count at the number of rocks, pipes, or other bits of hard objects thrust at me with a request to “see if I can eat it.” After a while, I find myself wishing I could change shape as you do.” Odo raises an eyebrow at that. “You eat…rocks?” he asks. Laraht giggles hard at the surprise in his tone. “Technically, Hortas eat minerals directly. We’re silicon-based, so that’s how we metabolize nutrients. As those tend to be found most commonly in rocks and various ores, that’s what we’ve evolved to eat.”

“I imagine that’s a useful talent for a geophysicist.” Odo says, then pauses and continues with “I do keep some information on visitors to the station, if nothing else, we never know when we’ll need some outside expertise here.” “Logical” T’Pen says.

Whatever her follow up comment was going to be is cut off at the sight of Isis delicately climbing into Odo’s lap, and nuzzling him while purring very loudly. “Is…this her normal behavior?” Odo asks from under the Serval. Both Laraht and T’Pen are astonished at the sight. “Constable”, Laraht manages, “I can safely say I have never seen her do that. I’ve been working with her for months to get her to not treat people like combat targets, I figured it would be months before she trusted anyone enough to actually cuddle with them.

Odo is as confused as anyone. “Well she seems to be relaxed, I believe she’s purring, if that’s the right word” he says as Isis continues to rub her face on his. “She is indeed purring,” Laraht says, “most enthusiastically.” This goes on for a while before Isis settles down in his lap and quickly goes to sleep. “Oh I hope you didn’t have a full schedule Constable,” Laraht says, “she is a deep sleeper.” Odo looks down at the sleeping feline that has taken over his lap, (Servals are not small) and as he starts to gently pet her says “I always have a full schedule, but sometimes being in charge has its advantages, in particular with regard to schedule changes.”

They all sit in the holosuite for the better part of an hour before Isis awakens from her nap and starts making “I am hungry” sounds. “Well, that’s her lunchtime meow” Laraht says, “so we should be going. I would like to thank you again Odo, and apologize for taking up so much of your time, I can’t imagine how busy you are.” “It’s quite alright” Odo replies, “my schedule is more a series of interruptions than actual planning, and as interruptions go, this one was more relaxing than most. I feel as though I should be thanking you.” “Well, if we were able to be of help” Laraht says, “then you are quite welcome. It’s a pity you’ve no time to foster pets, you’re very good at it, and with your abilities, you would really be of use for some of the more outré animals people mistakenly think would be good pets.”

With that, T’Pen, Laraht, Marmalade, and Isis all head back to Discovery, leaving Odo to ponder Laraht’s suggestion. He doesn’t know about actually keeping animals in his quarters, given their unsuitability for most life forms with any form of skeleton or common biological processes, but perhaps he could visit the station veterinarian and see if he could be of some assistance. He didn’t say anything out loud, but Isis’s purring was deeply comforting to him in a most unexpected way, almost Tribble-like, and of late, he could use more of that.

when odo turns into a rat on the show I lose my marbles every time. because it's clearly a domestic fancy rat. who on DS9 has a pet rat that odo learned to mimic off of. because if he just, like, space googled "rat" then he would have surely found a wild rat. someone on that station had a regular earth fancy rat. WHO on deep space nine had a rat!

[secondyearvalerie]

End Speciesism!...?

What is speciesism? 

Before discussing the importance of raising awareness of species, one must understand what it is. Speciesism is the “unjustified disadvantageous consideration or treatment of those who are not classified as belonging to a certain species” (p243, Horta, 2010). 

It is the neglect of other beings’ interests and encouragement of suffering due to the fact that they are not part of a certain group.

It is also important to establish what a ‘species’ is as individual morality, biology comes into play when rationalising said inconsideration of other species.

A species can be defined as a “group of animals or plants that are biologically similar and can produce young offspring”, (Merriam-Webster, 2022), meaning that if you are not part of a species group, you cannot reproduce with them and have vast biological differences.

To avoid controversy throughout this essay, this is the definition that will be used. 

Humans have treated members of their own species questionably since the dawn of mankind, let alone other animals. Through mechanisms such as the industrial revolution in 18th century and the birth of the internet in 1983, there is a growing distance between what humans are capable of compared to other animals. 

This is not to say that before the industrial revolution, humans and other animals were in ‘kumbaya’ cohesion; Descartes, a 16th century academic pioneer in philosophy, mathematics and sciences himself believed that all non-human animals were “automata” reacting to stimuli, possessing no innate interests, unlike humans do. 

In The Rights Of Animals (2003) Cass R. Sunstein argues against Descartes’ take on animals as mere machines stating that “to most people, including sharp critics of… animal rights, this position seems unacceptable” (p389). Any pet owner can recall the look in their non-human companions face through phases of excitement, lethargy, hunger and exhaustion, all emotions humans feel but express differently.

The Wire Mother experiment (Harry Harlow, 1958) is one of countless pieces of research that show animals are just as receptive to care as humans and flourish from loving environments. 

The irony is not lost that this essay is using research that involved animal cruelty as evidence to argue against animal cruelty, however it demonstrates deeper the complexity of the issue in an anthropocentric world.

Anthropocentrism is the “disadvantageous treatment or consideration of those who are not members of the human species” (Horta, p.243, 2010), and it is the main reason for the rocky relationship between humans and non-humans today. Through agriculture, entertainment and scientific research, a’ humans first’ mentality has washed over modern society - if it improves human quality of life, it is justified. 

So… Why should anyone care?

The Earth is a vessel of finite resources, what goes up, must come down - and if animals are in jeopardy, then that includes ALL animals. If all monkeys and rodents are killed off and live in captivity for the sake of anthropocentric advancements, then who will replace the rats? these comparisons are not only made to amuse, but to shake the tree and watch the dead leaves fall of it - animals need to thrive in order for humans to thrive. 

So�� How?

There is not a huge disparity in laws against ‘cruelty to humans’ and ‘cruelty to animals’, it is the punishment enforcement that lacks in effort.

Overworked cattle cannot unionise against their milkers and take damning evidence to court, so the system has failed them and the initial law amounts to nothing, it has failed the animals.

Sunstein claims that the only way to eradicate animal cruelty is to enforce “extensive regulation” of the use of animals in entertainment, agriculture and scientific progress (pg 391, The Rights of Animals, 2003). What this looks like in reality is animals having representatives in lawsuits that can be brought to the court, against the perpetrators. 

Talking about these issues is of paramount importance as that way people can make the decisions themselves, rather than following a road of cruelty they (1) don’t know they are part of (2) don’t know how to stop.

Ending speciesism is not something achieved over night with a couple of posters but it is worthy of even one person making a more informed decision in their consideration towards humans and non-humans.

References: 

Sunstein, C. R. (2003). The Rights of Animals. The University of Chicago Law Review, 70(1), 387–401. https://doi.org/10.2307/1600565 Accessed on 12.12.21

Horta, O. (2010) What is Speciesism? J Agric Environ Ethics 23, 243–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-009-9205-2, available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10806-009-9205-2 Accessed on 12.12.21

“Species” Merriam-Webster Dictionary (2022) Available at: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/species, Accessed on 12.12.21

“Internet” (2022) A Brief History of the Internet. Available at: https://www.usg.edu/galileo/skills/unit07/internet07_02.phtml

McLeod, S (2020) Harry Harlow, Monkey Love Experiments https://www.simplypsychology.org/harlow-monkey.html

[seeksstaronmewni]

It’s the little details that they really appreciate: An In-Depth Study of Spongebob’s Current Sound Design

"Sponge Bob is firing on all cylinders right now. Tony award nominations for the musical. Post sound has a great home with Atlas Oceanic Picture & Sound. The shows are exciting and are funny. SB continues to reach new heights.” - Jeffrey Hutchins

Spongebob Squarepants sound effects designer & editor Jeff Hutchins is exactly right. This guy is as important to Spongebob as Ben Burtt is to Star Wars, which’re some of Hollywood’s biggest franchises.

This is the team that makes up the sound of current Spongebob episodes. Just 4 creatives are listed: sound effects designer & editor Jeff Hutchins, foley artist Vincent Guisetti, foley mixer Aran Tanchum, and re-recording mixer D.J. Lynch. The sound service has been Atlas Oceanic, Inc. since 2012; originally it began at Horta Editorial & Sound, Inc., which folded into Hacienda Post.

All episodes of Spongebob since 2015 have been very rich in exaggerated, humorous, unpredictable character design, animation and, of course, respectively, sound design. Starting in the late Hacienda Post years, Jeff began to create a very predictable style of sound design for his work, among the many unique sounds he formerly created for Spongebob. The style was very predictable during the Oracle Post years, continuing through early Atlas Oceanic episodes, until 2015, when Jeff’s array of sounds would include sounds not often used (if at all) from later 2007-2015, plus a few new sounds. Additionally, Jeff was only the sound fx editor on the pilot, Help Wanted; according to Roy Braverman, Tom Syslo served as the sound fx designer. The sound design isn’t too different, though, from Jeff’s style--in point of fact, most cartoon sound design by Hacienda Post creatives share similar styles to Jeff’s; you could say the same for most creatives of Advantage Audio and Skywalker Sound--many of the creatives of each studio share similar styles.

A number of sound effects in Spongebob have been used to accent character footsteps. Some H-B squeaks accent Spongebob’s shoes, Squidward’s feet are accented by oil splurts (used in Rocky & Bullwinkle), and Mr. Krabs’ feet are accented by “Hollywoodedge, Wooden Blck Hits Raz CRT019402″. For the pilot, though, Tom Syslo approached their footsteps differently.

One of my favorite episode’s sound design in Spongebob includes Krusty Towers, a Hacienda Post episode. It was during Season 4, of course, that the sound design became far more cartoony, like the character design and animation. Another is the scene between Mr. Krabs, Squidward and the exchange chef in Le Big Switch, an Oracle Post episode, as is Walking the Plankton (with some very funny moments of sound design). Also, one of the funniest moments in pre-2015 episodes, Skill Crane, is appropriately accented with the right sound effects as Spongebob does a wild take with his eyes... and then RUNS on ‘em!

One of the most common and funniest parts of Jeff’s sound design is accenting not-so-wild takes with funny sounds, like one of Disney’s “CLANK!”, a Warner Bros. “EHH!” (horn squawk), or my personal favorite: “QUACK!” This quack, “Hollywoodedge, Bird Duck Quacks Clos PE020501″, can be used for many things like impacts or duck-related stuff, but the use of a duck quack for a take was first employed in Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy II as the episodic title characters react in shock to Spongebob attacking the Atomic Flounder.

I’ll describe of a few episodes: Bunny Hunt, Old Man Patrick, Grandmum’s the Word, Ink Lemonade, My Leg!, and Bottle Burglars. (listing in progress).

BUNNY HUNT

In the beginning, Squidward finds that a sea bunny is eating up his garden and attempts to stop him.

This scenario could remind one of Bugs Bunny, of course, and that Warner Bros. ricochet that sounds like “CHOW!” (called “Sound Ideas, CARTOON, WHIZZ - FAST WHIZZ BY”) is used often in the episode, like in the above as the sea bunny falls back into his hole...

and also in this shot, to accent Patrick streaking out of the shot. Not common in past episodes of Spongebob, but very typical for cartoon sound design.

Here, the sea bunny shoved a burnt roast into Squidward’s mouth, and proceeds to swallow it... until soon he has to puke it. Unlike many cartoon sound designers these days, Jeff Hutchins is one of the few to use Disney’s trademark gulps from The Hollywood Edge library’s Cartoon Trax Volume 1. The 4th gulp in “Hollywoodedge, Big Single Gulps For CRT026802″ is the most common, as is heard in the shot above. I wouldn’t object to working with the voice actor on gulps, but I’d like to not avoid the use of the goofy vocal sounds Disney created, too.

Knowing Jeff’s style, one would probably expect “FISHFACE” (created by Roy Braverman), but these more recent Spongebob episodes make good use of the infamous Warner Bros. sound called “TROMBONE GOBBLE”.

I don’t know what horn toot is used here (not “Hollywoodedge, Old Car Horns Single CRT021302″, which Jeff tends to use), but it sure stands out. I never heard this particular “ahooga” before, though it kind of sounds like the Hanna-Barbera one. Also, while Jeff tends not to use heartbeats to accent love like other cartoon sound designers (such as Glenn Oyabe, Robert Hargreaves, Michael Warner, Randy Thom), “Hollywoodedge, Sub Woofer Heartbea SDT021301″ (a synthiszed-sounding, heartbeat-like pulse thump), also common to Jeff’s style, is (I think) subtly audible.

The only use of “QUACK!” in Bunny Hunt seems to accent the oven mitt sock puppet opening its mouth. It’s a bit subtle, but perhaps the gag is that the mitt is making the quack. Regardless, not an episode of Spongebob goes by these days without at least one “QUACK!”

In this moment, I picked up on a subtle, funny sound of foley--some sort of stretch sound, admist the typical red-tailed hawk screech--as Spongebob ceases speaking and slumps to a different position. Foley is the art of performing specific sounds, like walking, touching, that help give life in the aural medium and make the scene sound believable. The mixer of Vincent Guisetti’s foley, Aran Tanchum, did the same with J. Lampinen’s on Star vs. the Forces of Evil, which’s probably driven more by foley (among dialogue and Brian H, Kim’s sound effects) than sound effects.

With crazy visuals such as this, the question often comes to mind: What choices might the sound designer make to accent such exaggerated animation? What’s the right sound--or, often, what are the right sounds to accent and/or help tell the story? Bird chirps and saw warbles are some that help accent the insane stage of Squidward at the end of the episode, whacking himself with a mallet, thus causing his brain to fly away.

Most recent Spongebob episodes tend to close out with the classic “iris out”, but Jeff finds different approaches to accenting the transistion without Robert Clampett’s classic guitar string sounds (like one would expect with Looney Tunes and the works of sound master Michael M. Geisler and Glen Oyabe). In Bunny Hunt, “Sound Ideas, RICOCHET - TUBE ARRIVE 01″ (”ShhhOWP!”) is the accent; in Old Man Patrick “Sound Ideas, ZIP, CARTOON - FAST ZIP IN 01″ helps accent.

OLD MAN PATRICK

The detail of sound design can include even the small pieces of animation by accenting the slightest touch, movement, etc. When Patrick tells Spongebob that he’s “all wrinkle-y now”, small raspberries/farts spice up the movements of his skin when he touches it, and his old organs are clearly at work as his stomach growls loudly, perfectly in sound timing as he says “old stuff”.

INK LEMONADE

Essentially the Ren & Stimpy of Spongebob episodes, including character design by Bob Camp; Ink Lemonade has Patrick scare the ink out of Squidward... literally, to sell it in place of lemonade.

Another use of “QUACK!” is used for comedic effect here in addition to a “BIG HEAVY FACE SLAP” to accent Squidward’s face snapping back into place after Patrick blows Squidward’s face out of place with a megaphone.

Patrick goes to extremes for scare tactics... like talking with his intestines. Along with a “gooey splat” for the intestines’ “tongue”, most of the sound here is Vincent Guisetti’s foley to convey the sound of his intestines talking.

As with most of the 2015- Spongebob episodes, the H-B “TEMPLE BLOCK GALLOP” is used for many run accents (in the pic above it accents Squidward rapidly swishing his arms and legs); Jeff also used this for shaking/trembling movements in The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack shorts. Also, in Ink Lemonade, Jeff played this sound twice in reverse.

Worthy of note is that accenting Squidward’s fall is a whistle of air that’s different from the usual “Sky Rocket Loud High”, that high-pitched whistle you’d in hear in Cartoon Network’s “Powerhouse” bumpers and most cartoons these days, except for most of Advantage Audio’s projects. Jeff uses “Sky Rocket Loud High” for most falls; in earlier episodes he’d play it in reverse if a character/prop ascends a great distance, and in some Hacienda Post episodes this whistle would accent flying objects (e.g. Squidward’s windows and other parts launched toward his house in Squidville). However, Jeff uses some other whistles on a few occasions too, including “SHELL SCREAMING WHINE DOWN” (the classic H-B/MGM whistle) in The Secret Box and The Good Krabby Name; Jeff also uses sounds of artillery “roaring”.

As I said before, one of the most common uses of “Hollywoodedge, Bird Duck Quacks Clos PE020501″ is for a simple “take” of a character. The pic above highlights the extremes of that take where Jeff tends to put a funny sound to help spice up this little jump of his emotion.

A more poignant take, here, is accented by the H-B “KAZOO PARTY HORN”. Advantage Audio tends to use that sound a lot, particularly Heather Olsen (she even used it in Star vs The Forces of Evil episode “Booth Buddies” for accent when confetti is thrown), but it seems to be an occasional accent in current Spongebob episodes.

Quickly following it, as Squidward streaks under a rug, is a very high-pitched version of the classic WB siren whistle, “FAST ZING WHISTLE, ZIP”, which is rarely heard in non-Hacienda Post episodes.

Like most cartoon sound designers these days, even a simple movement of a small body part can be accented with a funny sound. Squidward’s eye looking up here is accented by a Warner Bros. double violin string sloop, similar to Joel Valentine’s use of such sounds in The Powerpuff Girls and Samurai Jack.

Relative and notable is that many classic cartoon sound effects come from musical instruments, like violins, slide whistles, xylophones, and even harps [a Jew’s harp, in particular].

[more to be discussed; post in progress]

To solidify knowledge of sound design, I’ll introduce a little about myself in this area: I’ve always been very conscious of sound effects, and my realization of sound design in cartoons has always been a part of my life. In 2010, I began to become the huge fan of Skywalker Sound I am, and I’d read up online about their 500+ staff over the years. In 2013 I joined IMDb to update credits regarding knowledge of credits and articles about the roles of certain creatives involved; soon I looked up the credits of non-Skywalker projects, like Spongebob (Hacienda Post, Atlas Ocenaic/Oracle Post), The Fairly OddParents (Advantage Audio), Tom and Jerry: The Magic Ring (DigiPost.TV), etc.

Eventually, I began to know of an unsung sound designer, Joel Valentine, a mentor to Jeff Hutchins and “a pillar of sound design”, but often uncredited--except as the name of his “sound editing” company “Twenty First-Century Entertianment, Inc.” Though I knew not Joel’s name (or pretty much anyone in post-production sound), yet certainly I was conscious of Joel’s work from an early age, watching The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. His sound design for Cartoon Network projects has always been familiar to me, namely that castanet sound he uses to accent trembling, shaking in anger, etc. Joel Valentine & Jeff Hutchins met in 1986 and were roommates at Saban Productions, where Jeff often worked for Saban sound designer Johnny Valentino. Jeff edited sound effects with Supervising Sound Editor Joel on Dead in the Water, and Jeff worked for Joel also on Pirates of Darkwater Season 3. After Sym-Bionic Titan, Joel didn’t work on anything until Season 2 of Wander Over Yonder at Craig McCracken’s request, eventually returning for Season 5 of Samurai Jack, with which Joel and his very small team opened up an amazingly realistic sonic world of sound, but not without some of his signature sounds and some really cool new sounds.

I’m always conscious of sound effects. On January 31st, 2010, I did this camcorder recording shaking and stuff in sync with SFX from “Sandy, Spongebob and the Worm” (tweet here).

Jeff Hutchins also did sound on Bill Kopp’s Tom and Jerry movies, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, and many Hacienda Post projects. Jeff works usually at Hacienda Post/Sabre Media Studios and Warner Bros. Sound (particularly division Audio Circus); he also worked at West Productions, Inc. and even his own place, Jeff Hutchins Sound Design in Oxford, California.

I feel that some of my favorite shows deserve contribution from certain sound services/creatives, like Disney’s franchise of Star vs. the Forces of Evil (at least for the future) due to its cartoony animation & design but imbalanced sound design.

@rwinger24 and I are people who appreciate the art of sound design and the work/style of Jeff Hutchins, who will always be one of my favorite influences in creative media. Thanks for all of the laughs your aural art creates for us!

[clementine-kesh]

@milf-horta you get it!! their relationship is endlessly fascinating to me and i could talk about it for ages (tho i might be biased because they’re also two of my favourite trek characters of all time). but yeah, in a lot of ways harry and janeway are very similar people and i think janeway recognizes that and it makes her feel like she needs to do right by him on a deeply personal level. at the same time harry admires her and wants to impress her more than anything. and they’re both on these twin paths of struggling with their duty to starfleet and finding their place outside that system and experiencing a moral shift as their priorities change from the federation to their family on voyager.

and we see that relationship act to their detriment as well, particularly in the later seasons when janeway admits that she has higher expectations of harry and feels more protective of him than the rest of the crew. which i think is a very natural way for someone like janeway to react to having someone she sees as part-adopted son part-younger version of herself on her crew. she has certain expectations of herself that she can’t help but apply to harry, she wants to protect herself so she does so by protecting harry. like augh, it’s just such a fantastic and complex mentor/mentee relationship with so many layers to it

the thing about voyager is that all the non-starfleet people have arcs where they get better and all the starfleet people (with the exception of tuvok) have arcs where they get worse. harry and janeway start out as extremely well-adjusted exemplary officers and by the end are like starfleet ethics whomst. i love causing problems and then solving them by blowing shit up. i love fucking with the borg. i have severe depression and a death wish. meanwhile everyone else is like well i used to be a terrorist/ex-con/borg but i’m normal now. explosions mean nothing to me and i think the prime directive makes some good points actually

[deepspacedukat]

Dude I’m so sorry I almost forgot about Jorik! Tell me about your Vulcan mans 🥺 please!🤗 I swear I’ve been good this week 😂 Any head canons, what’s he look like, oooh how does he react to human shenanigans? Is he like Solok acting like it’s emotional and illogical or is he more go with the flow open minded like mestral or even ambassador Soval with his acceptance behind a poker face? Or something else entirely? Does he have a secret human guilty pleasure like T’pol and mint tea? 🍵

You totally can ask for updates on the bb 💖 I don’t remember what I’ve posted about him before, but I’ll mention a few miscellaneous things before I answer your questions.

1.) I know I’ve mentioned this to @horta-in-charge but there was an incident involving chocolate, a bat’leth, and nudity in Bajoran temple with his partner...

2.) (I think I mentioned this before in response to an ask) He has a special affinity for Earth roses, and he has a hybrid in his quarters from his Academy days.

3.) Jorik has a set of robes that he received as a graduation gift from a friend. They’d found out that he liked roses, and custom ordered him some robes that are embroidered with gold and silver roses across the shoulders and sleeves. he treasures that robe set. Garak is the only tailor he’s ever trusted to repair them, and he did such a good job that Jorik tracked down a first edition of a Cardassian novel that Garak favored and gave it to him as a ‘thank you’.

Right, onto your questions!

His appearance: I created him based off the idea that he looks like Jeff Combs if he’d played a Vulcan.

His reaction to human shenanigans: He raises an eyebrow stoically as all Vulcans do, but he’s secretly amused and entertained. He won’t participate in the chaos (usually) but he enjoys watching it unfold. *sips his Vulcan tea*

Scale of Solok to Mestral: Somewhere between. He acts all logical and unemotional, but he is more open-minded than some other Vulcans. He hides his curiosity behind the excuse of “learning about human culture”.

Public Guilty Pleasure & Secret Guilty Pleasure: He enjoys the fuck out of human coffee. After a while at the Academy, he wouldn’t start his day without a cup of coffee. As for the secret guilty pleasure, Jorik would never admit it, but sometimes at the end of an extremely difficult mission, he’ll allow himself a chocolate chip cookie - just one, mind you. He’s a security officer. He can’t allow himself too large of a breach of discipline if he is to remain worthy of his position.

[sarahsatticoftreasures]

Ugly Betty Cast Members React to Series Creator’s ‘Devastating’ Death — TVLine Ugly Betty star America Ferrera was the first among that show’s cast to issue a public response to the “devastating” news that series creator Silvio Horta died Tuesday.

[uomo-accattivante]

[jacquiebethelina44]

I reblog this every time I see it - because OMG YES!!!

Betty and Matt round 2 was a total waste of episodes. Silvio Horta (RIP) said once the show suffered when the storylines veered from Daniel/Betty storylines! And for the LAST SEASON ... they were missing a lot! I think I can count on one hand the number of episodes that actually had a plot involving that dynamic.

While I don’t know if they would have slept together in the Bahamas - I still think it would have been an amazing opportunity to start planting seeds of ‘Daniel has feelings for Betty’ or ‘Daniel and Betty have feelings for each other’ storyline. (However if we’re being honest that’s the whole damn show - do yourselves a favor and pay closer attention on a rewatch) Daniel was suffering from impotence due to not being the playboy anymore who wanted to sleep with just anyone - what better way to fix that issue and introduce (what should have been 🙄) the main romance of the show than to have Betty be the one to unknowingly help him with his issue.They have some drinks. Maybe they dance a little. And while their inhibitions are lowered, maybe Daniels body would react in a way his mind and his heart couldn’t yet.

The whole last season was about metamorphosis - for all the characters and their dynamics; not just Betty physically. And they started the season with Betty and Daniel talking about this need for change, but it’s not until “Chica and the Man” that we really get any storylines focusing on it again ... that’s a 12 EPISODE GAP!

But I digress ...

In the end, Detty shippers got a pretty good send off.

And if you don’t believe me ... check out Daniels last Letter From The Editor 😉😏😉😏😉

I still seriously think that the writers of Ugly Betty missed out on a huge opportunity with the Bahamas episode, and I’ll explain why in a second. 

 Throughout my years of watching this show, I’ve always loved the relationship between Betty and Daniel, I’ve shipped then since I was a kid and it was originally on air. However, I even found that their feelings for one another weren’t shown to the full potential that they should have been, that Daniel’s feelings for Betty were sort of sloppily thrown in (although the build up was subtle as hell throughout the seasons), and Betty’s weren’t as obvious bc she spent most of the last season pining over Matt. 

Now onto my missed opportunity ‘theory’: 

Why I think the writers missed out on an opportunity is that with the Matt and Amanda thing. They could have kept with the story of Matt and Amanda going, but instead of Matt using her as a distraction device, actually had him have actual feelings for her. Betty could have been frustrated, but instead of taking it out on Amanda, she could have gone to hang out with Daniel. 

This is a trope, but I think the two could have gotten drunk together and eventually ended up sleeping together, rather than Daniel having slept with Amanda. I think that this in turn would have actually provided the show some good angst, and actually allow the two characters to begin to develop feelings, because not only would they have to navigate their relationship after that awkward kiss thing that happened when she saved him from the order of the phoenix, but they would have had to deal with the fact that they had slept together after being friends for so long. 

It would have made more sense to me in the end for Daniel to be so distraught about Betty leaving had they have ‘gotten together’ in the Bahamas episode rather than just sorta randomly at the end. 

I’m not complaining, just pointing out where things could have been done better as I re-watch the show. I still love Detty, and Ugly Betty though.