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batsplat · 5 months ago

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"I must say that it is very difficult to have good relations when you fight for the same thing, as I fought with Sete. The trigger was what happened in Qatar in 2004. What happened in Qatar 2004.. I saw it as something dirty that I didn't expect neither from Sete, nor from Juan Martinez, who was his technical manager and who had worked with me for a long time. I felt betrayed because it was as if I was being played. Sete was a great rival and when you fight like that it's a bit like Michael Jordan says, it's something personal. With Sete what happened in Qatar made me very angry and it helped me to give my best until the end of that season and for the next one. If I had to give Sete some advice... it's better if he hadn't done it." here's the bit from route46.. i find it interesting he puts blame on juan martinez too!

(following on from this post, and will liberally include chunks I wrote in the sete post) right there's a lot to unpack here, but first of all. I haven't gotten around to watching the whole documentary yet, but I did quickly jump around to find the sete bit the quote is from and... and there is something I absolutely have to address first. because. uh. they actually interview juan martinez - sete's crew chief himself - about the whole qatar incident... and, well. he says the following (rough translation):

At no time did either Sete or I go ask for a sanction for Valentino: we went to ask for greater security for everyone. Once we go to HRC and passed on the knowledge, that we have found a Valentino technician on the track, thus modifying the state of the track, Honda decides that moment what really needs to be done is a complaint.

hold on. just one second. I did suspect there had to be something incredibly stupid at the heart of the whole thing. something that could reconcile all the contradictory information out there, help explain how everyone could feel so confident in their contradictory views. because the whole thing should have a relatively straightforward answer, right: either sete played tattletale or he didn't. and... I mean. okay, look. I'm not saying I'm with valentino on this one but... they did snitch! objectively martinez is admitting they snitched! it happened! either this was a moment of staggering naivety because what did you think hrc was going to do with this information?? or valentino was spot on and they passed on that information knowing that it was at least a possibility valentino was going to get a penalty as a result of their actions. surely it is possible to appeal to hrc on safety grounds without bringing up you saw valentino's technician on the track, who was at the time quite possibly acting quite suspiciously under the cover of night! why are you even going to hrc about this in the first place!

you do not have to be that paranoid a soul to maybe doubt whether they had the best of intentions here, no? what this would also help clear up is sete's response at sepang when asked to deny his involvement, which. I did find it an odd response! you kind of want to give the benefit of the doubt with these things, given sete's longstanding and genuine preoccupation with safety in the sport. that being said, rather than just firmly deny he was involved, he went on this long spiel about how he would've thought it'd be better for everyone to get their grid spots cleaned - and the crux of his argument amounted to how he'd be a hypocrite if he called for valentino to be sanctioned after that. which, why are you even focused so much on this - just say no, you weren't involved! look, it was better to err on the side of caution and maybe simply assume sete isn't the most skilled operator in denying allegations of gamesmanship. but this extra detail would make sete's response in that sepang presser read a little differently:

yeah, sure, I mean, if we're going to be generous here and say sete and his crew chief just innocently mentioned to hrc that valentino's technician was rubbering up his grid slot for 'safety reasons'... then nothing sete says here is technically a lie. he didn't "complain" and it was hrc who made the protest. but. but! it does feel like if sete and his crew chief really were the ones to alert hrc to what valentino's team had done... if what martinez says is actually correct, this whole incident does still read pretty differently! you know how sete says "they" had blocked him from cleaning the grid? it feels like a pretty reasonable assumption that the "they" in question refers to hrc. if hrc blocked sete from rubbering his own grid and he then went to tell them about what valentino had done, did he really expect honda to go 'oh that's all right then, I suppose we'd better rubber up your grid slot too'? seriously? (incidentally, do we think the mechanic who gave evidence was martinez himself)

juan martinez does also go on to say this:

What he does in the end or what he has always done, that's what he does, is turn his story into his truth, which gives him his motivation and that's it. It doesn't mean that it's the truth, it means it's Valentino's truth. The fact that it is his truth or that it is my truth about some things does not mean that it is the truth. When you are fighting for something in sports, there is a moment that you lose sight of the complete picture.

which, yes, this isn't terrible as insight into valentino's character, and mayhaps we can return to this at a later date. but, also, can I just say, if you go! to hrc! to tell them the man they hate! who you are engaged in a tight championship fight with! which has only FOUR ROUNDS TO GO! has maybe had his team do something a little sketchy! and then hrc ensures he gets a penalty for it! come on. specifically after you've been blocked from doing the same thing? could you really not have expected that hrc would go on to file a complaint with race direction? seriously?

incidentally, valentino did already pin the blame on martinez at the time:

well, you can still give sete the benefit of the doubt here I suppose, if you so choose. still, is valentino really just 'telling a story here and turning it into his truth'? the generous interpretation of what happened here is that sete accidentally helped cause a back of the grid penalty, and that's the generous interpretation! hey, maybe martinez is getting his story wrong, maybe he's lying, you never know. but let's just say for a moment that this is the truth... let's just that martinez and sete really did pass on this information with innocent intentions in the name of safety. would this not still make sete's rhetoric after the event a teensy bit disingenuous? it's one thing to say 'yeah this was a misunderstanding, hrc was out for you and we accidentally helped provide the material they needed to bag you a penalty'... it's quite another to say valentino fabricated this whole thing out of thin air, like you had absolutely zero involvement in the whole thing. was this really a feud valentino just invented out of nowhere?

anyway, enough motogp-flavoured true crime investigation... and listen, I do want to reiterate what I said here:

let's be clear here - even if sete did have some involvement in the penalty, obviously valentino's response to the whole thing is still a bit bonkers. like, it's definitely petty behaviour from honda. given the whole 'using a scooter to rubber up the track' does seem like it was at the very least a bit of a grey area in the rules, hrc getting valentino penalised for it is... well, it's all pretty undignified from everyone involved. that being said, valentino did vow to destroy sete and spent the next one and a half seasons tormenting him. some people would consider that a little bit of an overreaction, even if the whole thing wasn't based wholesale on delusion. at the end of the day, he did still do all that stuff

so, anyway, let's get into it! going to go all in here and tackle this shit line by line:

"I must say that it is very difficult to have good relations when you fight for the same thing, as I fought with Sete."

right, so this is obviously a commentary on his natural understanding of how rivalries work... how he believed his relationship with sete was destined to change as a result of how, starting in 2003, they were directly competing. this gels with the limited mentions we get in his autobiography of sete in 2003, which were coloured by how he believed sete had already been praying on his downfall before their actual friendship break up (here and here):

what valentino is saying here is basically a slightly more concise version of what I put in the sete post:

and, yeah, this is a natural element of competition - it's generally accepted that maintaining friendships at the sharp end of professional sports with your competitors is either extremely difficult or straight up impossible. (like marc put it in august 2015: "it's true that before the relationship was different, but because we were not fighting for the championship. it's not the relationship like a friend".) obviously there's still a fairly significant difference between 'friendship' and 'good relations' (and 'actively feuding'). but valentino is acknowledging it is just kinda part of the game... something he's willing to exploit if need be (see here for speculations on how the sete feud changed valentino's approach to rivalries in general). it was always going to be tough for that relationship not to go downhill, and valentino accepted as much. he was also clearly a lot more ready for it to come to that than sete was

"The trigger was what happened in Qatar in 2004."

there's always something interesting about what incident parties identify as the turning point in these rivalries. with sete/valentino, you could reasonably point to three different episodes:

assen 2004: last lap overtake resulting in contact that left sete 'angry', though publicly he turned the page pretty quickly. the first obvious public sign of tension between the pair

qatar 2004: for obvious reasons. the allegations of gamesmanship that made valentino openly turn on sete and end any cordial relations between the two of them, let alone friendship

jerez 2005: the most contentious on-track incident between the pair of them that continues to be infamous for the final corner contact and the post-race theatrics

valentino, when he talks about this rivalry, does seem to always go for qatar. yes, he's talked about jerez, but he doesn't bring it up when he's asked about the relationship between the pair of them. the sample size here is admittedly pretty small, but he answered in a similar way in 2015:

sete, by contrast, is generally more hung up on jerez. he's mentioned qatar a few times when commenting on how valentino had suddenly switched up towards him, but more often than not it's jerez. part of this is just... well, he's really focused on the moral injury aspect of what happened at jerez, where he feels very strongly he was wronged - and even more than that, that the incident set a bad precedent. he discusses valentino a bit in that three hour podcast episode he went on and it's basically entirely focused on that last lap corner

which, you know, if somebody manages to successfully 'put a curse' on you, I do get why this probably isn't the bit of the story you want to bring up by your own volition. it's also the kindest narrative to sete - because if it's all about his jerez, then his decline in that rivalry is more about a moral stance than it is about valentino successfully crushing his spirit

that's the thing, right... both of these choices of turning points, qatar and jerez, represent something to the two parties, and both narratives flatter the person telling them in some way. in both cases, it's about their rival doing something that's unacceptable, immoral, 'dirty' in some way... they're accusing each other of stepping outside of the bounds of what is 'acceptable' behaviour for competitors. they're accusing each other of not playing fair, of not playing the game like it should be played. this is what makes the dissolution of their friendship acceptable too, right - it's not just that they're rivals, it's not just the heat of competition or whatever, it's that their enemy did something wrong. this isn't just normal competitive tension that caused their relationship to fall apart, it's foul play

now, look, I'm not going to make some ultra contrarian argument about how it's all actually about assen 2004, This Race Clash Is The One Nobody Is Talking About... BUT this was the first public incident in which sete failed to act graciously in defeat and valentino verbally noted as much. clearly the relationship was a bit strained already headed into qatar. see the autobiography quotes, see assen... also. well. check out what valentino said at the time at qatar (from here):

"I've been looking for an excuse not to talk to sete"... this doesn't necessarily contradict how valentino frames qatar as the "trigger" - the word itself acknowledges that there was something already there just waiting to be 'triggered'. in what truly is one of the all time great presser questions, the above quote is actually put to valentino in sepang with sete sitting right next to him

good vibes!

unfortunately he doesn't really clarify what he meant here, just saying something along the lines of 'well it's a new week now'. anyway, you can interpret the initial valentino quote in several different ways. you could say he was just searching for an opportunity to engineer a feud with sete and was willing to seize on any opportunity, however flimsy. or you could say valentino had already grown suspicious of sete - presumably as a result of several past incidents between the pair of them. the stuff vale mentions in his autobiography about how sete had been predicting him to fail at yamaha, what happened at assen... again, it's the idea that sete covets what valentino has, that he's been performing graciousness - perhaps, from assen onwards at the latest, a little less successfully so. perhaps valentino just wanted to create a little more distance between the two of them for his own sake, make it easier to fire up his competitive juices - and that's what he needed an 'excuse' for. or perhaps what valentino meant was something along the lines of 'I suspected he was a snake and now he proved it'. whatever it was, it must have been enough for valentino to be ready to pull the pin on that particular friendship. so yes, qatar is the trigger. even if it triggered something that had already been festering for a much longer time

"What happened in Qatar 2004... I saw it as something dirty that I didn't expect neither from Sete, nor from Juan Martinez, who was his technical manager and who had worked with me for a long time."

okay I already discussed the descriptor of 'dirty' for sete's actions. it's something underhanded, it's something valentino doesn't like - snitching on your rivals as a dishonest way of beating them. athletes can build up incredibly convoluted frameworks of what they consider acceptable and unacceptable behaviour, and a lot of the time it is self-serving bullshit.... but it can be self-serving bullshit with an internal logic of sorts. like, this is the thing right, is going to race direction to play tattletale inherently morally so much worse than various valentino behaviours he openly admits to? eh. but for him, he sees this as a fundamentally 'dirty' and ugly way of trying to win. the stuff he does is fair game, but going around trying to find obscure rules that might not even technically exist to fuck over your rival is not okay. that's not how you should fight to win

the martinez angle has also already been mostly covered above... I was aware they'd worked together before martinez moved to the gresini team (while valentino was still at honda by the way, this wasn't a case of martinez choosing against jumping ship to yamaha when valentino left) - but it's still nice to get the confirmation that they'd worked together for a "long time". obviously, this is a fun element of 2004 in general, the extent to which valentino's sworn enemies are all the people he was working alongside in previous years, how vicious the break up had been. this was also in itself a nice source of motivation, and initially that season was as much about spiting honda as it was spiting his specific rivals who had been so wedded to the narrative that valentino was on the superior bike. though it should be noted valentino wasn't disillusioned with, like, the honda rank and file, mechanics and so on - more with honda management and the engineers. here from his autobiography:

and martinez himself was also a suspension technician in valentino's team. which, yeah, valentino feels hurt on a personal level! this is somebody he had worked with and trusted who has (allegedly) decided to do something so underhanded specifically to spite valentino! from the same autobiography excerpt as above:

rivals are one thing, you've kinda gotta expect the worst, but he does take this type of relationship very seriously. presumably it really twisted in the knife for him, this notion that one of his former team members was willing to do something this 'dirty' to him. valentino didn't expect it! not from sete and not from somebody he'd worked with for years! that's the bit that made it unforgivable, the previous personal relationships that valentino felt weren't being honoured

(incidentally, juan martinez actually ended up being nicky hayden's crew chief... during his time at ducati, where of course hayden would be reunited with valentino for two years as teammates. bit awkward!)

"I felt betrayed because it was as if I was being played."

see above, not much more to add. that's what it often comes back to for valentino, isn't it. a lot of stuff is acceptable, it's just part of the game, rivalries are supposed to be feisty and fierce and a little bit ugly. but this? again, a lot of this is about internal frameworks that athletes have for what is seen as acceptable and not acceptable within competition. valentino deploys a rather liberal definition of what should be allowed both on and off the track, but this is a hard line for him. he'll accept a lot, but not what he considers betrayal. something else that remains consistent throughout his career, including as it pertains to a certain other rivalry

"Sete was a great rival and when you fight like that it's a bit like Michael Jordan says, it's something personal."

michael jordan mention, interesting in its own right! someone who's been compared to valentino in his ruthlessness and, well, cruelty (though some of the stories about jordan make valentino look like an angel lbr). a little bit of commentary to be made there on what greatness in sports generally looks like, and how it does often involve some... hm. pretty unsavoury behaviour. the two of them have actually met a couple times, in valencia 2004 where valentino took him for a ride and laguna 2005 where they partied together after the race

obviously, it's a little funny this meeting happened at valencia 2004 of all occasions, at a time in which valentino was really finding his groove where psychologically torturing his rivals was concerned. there's always something heartwarming about athletes drawing inspiration from each other, no? but anyway, coming back to what valentino actually said here - "it's something personal". just in case anyone's unfamiliar, what this is referring to jordan's habit of drawing competitive inspiration from what he saw as personal slights (there's several compilations out there of jordan using phrasing along the lines of 'it became personal with me', if anyone wants to look it up). sete inspired valentino to up his game because valentino did increasingly take it personally when sete thwarted him - and at a certain point, valentino decided that defeat was no longer acceptable at all. the best way possible to fire himself up... take it personally, and be prepared to do whatever it takes to make his enemy's life hell

"With Sete what happened in Qatar made me very angry and it helped me to give my best until the end of that season and for the next one."

well, yes! I talked a little bit here about the parallels between marc and valentino in how they use anger to motivate themselves, mainly in the context of argentina 2018. and from valentino's autobiography:

anyway, excluding the qatar fiasco itself where he lost his temper, it's fun that he acknowledges explicitly here that the anger provided him with a good source of competitive fuel. note also the time span - the last three races of 2004 as well as the entirety of 2005. sete wasn't really a title rival any more in 2005, not after jerez, but he was still a serious on-track threat... if your goal isn't just to win the title but also to prevent sete from winning a single further race, then sure, he's still very relevant! so that rivalry was still a big part of his competitive make-up a full year after sete could no longer seriously challenge him for a title, and valentino does have enough self-awareness to consciously take advantage of that fury when he can. he probably never did that better than in 2005... his brain controlled his fury - and at every single opportunity he used it to beat sete further into submission

"If I had to give Sete some advice... it's better if he hadn't done it."

iconic banger line. evil laugh afterwards. 10/10 no notes

#this has been sitting in my drafts for a while so i'm kinda over my initial reaction to that bit of the documentary #aka sending several irritable voice notes about how apparently this information has just been out there since 2021 #still kind of staggered by the nerve of the whole thing. why would you just say that #anyway I may end up having more thoughts on this but at a certain point. got to clear those drafts #brr brr #//#batsplat responds #marquezian #irritation aside i do feel a teensy bit vindicated that my read of that qatar incident was basically correct. this was one of my theories #either this or that sete had directly suggested the grid rubbering in the safety commission meeting and unwittingly inspired vale's mistake #would've been easy to assume that valentino was being completely delusional!! he has form with it!! but something about it...#*bursting into the room* yeah we've blown this 20 year old case WIDE open through a documentary that's been publicly available since 2021 #curse tag

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hawkhills · 2 years ago

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talk to me about profound, formative events in adulthood impacting people's settled daemons. are their shapes set in stone? would a strong enough experience manage to cause a crack in their settled shape? is there such a thing as daemon dysphoria? do our daemons define us, or do we define them?

#his dark materials #daemons #like ok i know daemon settlement is related to dust and adulthood or whatever #but they reflect peoples souls and the kind of people they are #AND THAT CAN CHANGE #our souls can be broken or elevated at any time of our lives #we can experience things so profound and of such incredible importance that i truly believe a person can be changed at their core #at any moment of their life #i was thinking about recently when i took an mbti test for fun for the first time since i was 20 #so arguably an adult and would have had a long set daemon by hdm standards #mbti as most other personality tests widely available on the internet are bullshit but still #a few years back it consistently would give me infp and i definitelt related to that #now its enjf and yea. i grew and changed a lot over these years and the defining qualities do seem to fit #so that made think about my own daemon again and while before an african civet seemed the perfect fit now i found im a gray wolf #[using the daemonpage forum for reference btw; their analyses are superb]#anyways yea #this just led me to think about how constricting the concept of settled daemons is #people change over their whole life #sometimes the most defining changes dont happen during adolescence. sometimes we 'grow up' more than once #what happens then #granted i have not read everything pullman ever wrote so i might be wrong #but i dont think this has been ever properly explored #i want to talk about this so bad

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bellaxgiornata · 6 months ago

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Bella! I keep hitting dead-ends with this. Where can I watch Kin in the US? 🥺

This is a tough one because there's no legal ways I'm aware of in the US besides buying an actual DVD copy of season 1 from Amazon. Last I knew season 2 still wasn't available though. Otherwise...if you know how to illegally access it that's sort of the only way I'm aware of 🥲 My hope is that now that BBC bought the rights and it's available and streaming on UK Netflix that hopefully Netflix will eventually make it more widely available for everyone if it performs well enough. Which I feel like it should because it's a good show and I thought it had won a bunch of awards in Ireland.

Though if anyone else has any other insights for access in the US, please feel free to comment!

#bella answers #i really hate how hard it is to access kin #but it's thankfully becoming more widely available #i just want everyone to have access to mikey 😭#kin #kin bbc

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nat-20s · 6 months ago

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My hair is sooo fucking dried outright now that I'm like. Natural hair care save me. Save me natural hair care

#remember the (correct) sentiment of like. adding accessibility and diversity for one section of society helps loads of people and is overall #just a good thing to do?#thats how i feel about natural hair care being more widely available. technically i am not the target audience BUT as someone with curly #and currently very very dry hair. PLEASE give me that jojoba oil

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trashpandacraft · 1 year ago

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so you may recall that we have a number of spinning wheels, because of who we are as people and also because i love them. and we decided after buying those that we were done, unless the perfect castle-style wheel appealed.

you may also recall that my most beloved wheel is the pipy, made by philip poore in 1972:

the pipy was far and away the most common wheel that poore made, but there was...another wheel. a castle wheel. called the wendy.

when i was gift-shopping for upcoming birthdays the other day, i was on ebay, and one of my previous searches popped up. and i opened it, obviously, just to see, and because i like looking at spinning wheels and seeing what people are selling.

well, there were nine items on ebay that matched that search, one of which was a wendy wheel, made in 1975, not terribly expensive, and less than 50k from my house.

so you can probably guess what happened next.

...ok, actually what happened is that i waffled about it and made sad noises for a bit, and my wife spent an hour or so whispering do it, do it, and then the obvious happened.

so now for real we have our (probably) last wheel (for now)! and buddies, lemme tell you, she's absolutely majestic. she's so small that if you take her apart, i'm pretty sure she'd fit into a carry-on-sized suitcase. she's so small that if i, a normal-to-tall-sized human person stand next to her, the top of the drive wheel is under my knee.

she also has a delightfully unusual tension system! frame flyers were apparently (relatively) briefly popular in new zealand, and honestly, i kinda dig it?

the rod is actually in two pieces, and they're connected by the threaded ball. turn the ball in one direction, and the upper part of the rod moves slightly further out of the ball; turn it in the other direction, and the rod moves deeper into the ball. this changes the tilt of the flyer, moving it slightly closer to or further from the drive wheel, and thus adjusting the tension. [update: you can see a video of it in action in this post!]

the flyer's slightly cracked, so right now i'm using the single flyer across both wheels, but i'm talking to more experienced people to figure out how best to repair/replace it. other than that, though, she's in amazing condition—it's clear she was treasured, but equally clear that she wasn't used. (there was a giant clump of spiderweb in the orifice, and don't think that wasn't an unpleasant surprise.) but i think we're more than happy to use her enough to make up for the years of disuse.

oh, and in the picture looking down, see that little hole in the frame, just at the bottom of the image? it's so you can screw a block of wood onto the frame and convert her to scotch tension, if you'd like.

she came with her original paperwork, featuring information about how to prepare wool, spin, and knit it, which is also rather charming.

this concludes the most recent (and probably final) episode of 'slightly odd spinning wheels that are older than i am that i have bought for a song'. i know i've said it before, but if you have the chance to play with vintage wheels, please do give it a go. sometimes they're just so-so, but sometimes you find absolute treasures that were made by masters of the craft, and then—hypothetically—you own four of them that collectively have still cost you less than the price of buying one (1) ashford traditional.

#spinning #hand spinning #handspinning #spinning wheels #fiber arts #fibre arts #fibrecraft #i really cannot overstate how much i love the poore wheels #they're just so incredibly thoughtfully made #and well made #and absolutely beautiful #anyhow heart eyes emoji you know?#also i want to be clear that there's no shade at ashford here!#i've used them and they're nice wheels!#i don't love them but i don't love a lot of things #i don't love louëts either and i've owned one #it's just that ashfords are widely available and i know what they cost #because literally everywhere sells them #and i'm lazy and don't want to go look up what a kromski or whatever costs #smartest raccoon i know #also special shoutout to my wife for 100% enabling this purchase #like they'll also benefit since now we have more wheels #but i don't know that i would've done it without the urging #even though it's exactly what i've been dreaming of #so that was nice of them

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screamingay · 1 year ago

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someone on here will literally say "encouraging plastic surgery for the sole purpose of conforming to eurocentric beauty standards isn't actually feminism" and 200 other people will come out of the woodworks and chant in harmony LET WOMEN BE HAPPY and WHAT ABOUT TRANS PEOPLE AND BURN VICTIMS as if the post wasn't clearly 1. about womens' self image & insecurities being strongly influenced by the richest and whitest of society and 2. not about trans people or burn victims at all

#ive thought about it a lot and i know the main argument is that it's bodily autonomy and also having it more widely available makes it #easier for the people who really do need it to get it #but like. first of all the industry (and it is an industry) spends SO much money convincing women their bodies look wrong #if it wasnt advertised everywhere and if the expectation wasnt there to look 'perfect' according to the most recent trends #the amount of women getting elective plastic surgery would be drastically lower #second of all. yeah having more surgeons out there means more experience and safer treatments for those who really need it..#as long as they have the money #and for trans people as long as they have money and/or good insurance and/or all the required medical documentation and/or therapy #and at the end of the day you can criticize just part of something but not all of it. i feel like a lot of people forget that when they #start saying shit online. just stop and think and dont interact with people assuming the worst of them!!#when i criticize the beauty industry im never calling any woman who's ever worn makeup or gotten a facelift evil it's an INDUSTRY #it's systemic!!!#almost reminds me of how criticizing the patriarchy and systemic misogyny as a lesbian will get u painted as some man hating terf #i love men! i dont blame individual men for the system we're all a part of i just criticize its existence and try to work to dismantle it #and i know complaining on the internet is like a little raindrop in the ocean but still. it needs to be discussed i think

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ruvviks · 6 months ago

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made the realization my vampire story would work best as a video game and now i can't stop thinking about it

#personal #like. vtm meets cyberponk. do you understand #it would be very focused on prioritizing... because you do play as a fully established character #but you get a bunch of jobs to take care of and you have to decide what you do first and most importantly how you solve it #you can combine certain jobs to do at once to save yourself time and effort but everything you do comes with consequences #if you ignore a problem for too long or deal with it poorly it will come back to bite you in the ass later. you can lose friends and such #basically you have it all from the start and then gradually like. work your way towards a single ending #locking yourself out of other paths because of the choices that you make etc etc and so on #friendships can help you out but they can also get in the way of other things so you have to think about like #how far you're willing to let yourself get distracted. but also no distractions is also a bad way to go at it because you'll end up alone #it would have a wide variety of endings but i suppose the 'canon' one would be the one where everything works out #because of the whole already established character thing. and also this is not real this is my story so i can do what i want #if it was an actual video game it wouldn't have a canon ending but it's never gonna happen so i can say it has a canon ending #but yeah you can play as heavenly the vampire hunter or as sun the vampire and then you get cool vampire abilities :]#i do like the idea of romance availability but they're different depending on who you play as #valentine can be romanced by both but he's a little brat so idk if you'd want that #isaac can only be romanced by heavenly because isaac is a gay man. valeska can be romanced by sun only because #valeska and heavenly are exes. so you can have a one night stand with her as heavenly and then she ghosts you LMAO #you can go into clubs... you can play carousel with npcs. it would be a very immersive experience #if you hang out at certain clubs too much then other vampire factions will be warier of you when you visit their club instead #you can forge alliances to be allowed into certain areas in town. you can disguise yourself. you have to hide your weapons #there's actual ways you can research locations or people involved in gigs so you can prepare yourself properly and potentially like #learn new things that open up a new way to deal with a situation #sometimes you have to wait until nighttime to be able to go somewhere because it's quieter around those hours. or vice versa #sometimes you have to wait a few days before someone can meet with you but if you miss the meeting you have to reschedule #and then you have to wait even longer. and some quests don't give you that much time so then you'd have to improvise #being spotted in a location can be dealt with by wiping security footage / killing the person who saw you. or just reloading your save #but if you've been spotted and you don't take care of it then that will ALSO have consequences. etc etc and so on #difficulty level in the game would determine how generous the game is surrounding stealth / time for quests / resilience of the guy you pla #and it wouldn't like. necessarily turn enemies into bullet sponges because that's lazy. it's much more fun to change other things

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mokeonn · 1 year ago

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After doing a little bit of research (comparing the two different dvd boxes and playing with settings), it seems like the reason the better (extended) version of Muppet Christmas Carol isn't widely available compared to the lesser (theatrical cut) version is because it seems that the song cut is only available in full screen. There doesn't seem to be a wide-screen version of the extended cut available. So that's likely why the easiest to watch version is the theatrical cut, because Wide screen has become the default format.

And that's also likely why I didn't know there WAS a theatrical cut until after we lost and replaced the disk. The DVD we had was so old it only had full screen as an option, and the full screen version is the extended version of the movie.

Anyways, this is all just an educated guess. I didn't google the actual reason I just presume this based on what the boxes say, personal experience, and the fact that on the DVD that allows you to choose, full screen is the extended cut and wide screen is the theatrical cut.

#simon says #yeah so on my old ass dvd case it says that the runtime is 89 minutes and it is only a full screen movie #but on my parent's recent blu-ray it is a 86 minute movie and only available in widescreen #and the replacement disk we got after we mysteriously lost the old ass dvd allows you to choose #so wide screen is theatrical and full screen is extended #and most releases of it are the theatrical version because wide-screen is the default now #and I haven't seen a full screen version of the cut scene #so it's very likely that full screen releases got the song and they marketed it as a special treat #and once everything became wide screen they just stopped doing that #once again I did not fact check this I just looked at 3 dvds and used my personal knowledge of this movie #also I still dont know how we lost our first dvd #that was probably the first and only time we ever lost a disk and we tore up the house looking for it #couldn't find it so we just got a replacement and put it in the old case because we like the old case more #i remember being SO upset because that had never happened before and the one time it did was with fucking MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL??#it wasn't like. Bolt or some other movie we don't care much about it was fucking Muppet Christmas Carol #that dvd was probably almost as old as I was #that dvd was probably the first dvd release of the muppet christmas carol #at least we still have the case and the little paper slide in with the scene selection #I wish movies still did those #i miss the little papers with the scene selection or special little art or information about bonus features #like they still have the spot where you would put one but they dont make them anymore :(

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kdsburneraccount · 2 years ago

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What's your hottest NFL take?

Stared at this for a while bc i don't think i have that many hot takes, but i will do my best to have a couple

the jacksonville jaguars could have a top 5 offense (i may be biased)

the nfc east/afc north will be super competitive

the titans are gonna tank (sorry to my friend that's a titans fan)

#i used to have this take that was like 'market value of wrs will go down' but honestly w the prevalence of passing attacks #no #might look like that rn but thats more to do w ppl not wanting to part with their guys and having mid level options available #2023's wr draft is kinda mid from what i can tell so market value will remain pretty high for a star receiver #i think that seeing the chiefs this season was interesting bc their wide receivers weren't like elite #but then again they had travis kelce so #all part of an elite system #also find it interesting how teams now want three good wide receivers instead of just two #increase in the prevalence of the passing attack and certain schemes #still think its important to balance tho #my brain is very much in ncaa womens tourney mode rn so i haven't been thinking abt the nfl that much #but i will return to it and be bothersome eventually #nfl #asks #my asks #anon

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dark-elf-writes · 2 months ago

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By the way I blame you for making me curious. I'm in the middle of installing DA:I and its gonna be a wild experience since I don't know a lot to start with but most of what I DO know comes from random internet memes, the occasional rant about Fade/Circle, and whatever DA stuff you post/reblog.

I enjoy it a lot. You won’t get the whole picture since Inquisition is the third game but it does a pretty good job of keeping you informed on what happened and what is going on for the most part. Most of the little details change between world states and are only found in like random conversations or the occasional letter and is more of a nod than actual required lore to know what’s happening

#the elf talks #dragon age #I could probably make a five hour long ‘dragon age explained’ video from how much I’ve played it but that’s all nerd shit #inquisition is the easiest place to start becuase it’s more widely available and the combat isn’t as clunky as the first two games #which were pretty of their time tbh #basically all you need to know is mages and cops are mad at each other and there are probably less dragons than you think

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sukunasteeth · 7 months ago

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Sukuna has never said no to you.

It didn’t matter what the request was, simple or complicated, easy to fix or a days-long job, Sukuna was always at your side, completing the task as fast as he needed to to keep you satisfied. He would love to deny it, you’re sure, but evidence proves time and time again that he puts your needs and wants at the top of his priority list.

And you were curious how far you could go with it.

The two of you are sitting in your underwear at the breakfast nook, warming yourselves in the bay window while the morning sun starts on the leftover night time chill. It wasn't quite time for breakfast, still too early for the both of you. In the meantime, you sip on your morning brews, preserving the comfortable silence. Sukuna is flipping through the day's newspaper, his eyes are groggy with sleep and he hasn't said more than a handful of words to you yet. He wasn't a morning person.

You were starting to change that.

"Kuna," You call to him, nudging him with your foot from your corner of the window bench.

"Hmm?" He doesn't look up from the paper, but his hand reaches down and grabs your foot, pulling it into his lap. His thumbs start to subconsciously knead at your muscles.

"I want these." You hold up your phone, which you had previously been scrolling through in an attempt to find something ridiculous for this exact moment. You were sure you had found it, something even Sukuna would find unnecessary.

And yet, he merely glances at your screen, takes in the sight for all of two seconds, and then returns his attention to whatever news article he was in the middle of.

"My wallet's on the counter." He clears the sleep from his throat not sparing a second look.

You blink at him in surprise.

"D-Did you even see what it is?" You flip your phone around to make sure you were displaying the correct thing.

Sukuna is frowning before he looks up again, curious at your persistence. He gently cups your hand, bringing it only a minuscule amount closer to examine your screen a second time.

You were on one of the most luxurious brand’s websites, showing him an incredibly regular pair of panties, no straps, no details, all black- with one of the most outrageous price tags you had ever seen for something so ordinary.

Sukuna cocks a brow at you over your phone, "Can't imagine you need more panties when you're constantly stealing my boxers. But whatever, hand it over. I know my card number-"

"Kuna," You interrupt him with a surprised laugh, holding fast to your phone when he tries to pluck it out of your hands, "they're a thousand dollars."

He glances back, his eyes focusing lower on the screen where you know the price tag to be. The newspaper in his hands drops down, momentarily forgotten by what he sees. For a moment, you think you've found his limit.

"Wait, are those red one's assless?" He points just below the price, where the recommended products are depicted. "Get those too."

You drop the phone down so that he meets your eyes, which are wide with shock.

Sukuna always took care of you. Always insisted on being the provider of any single thing that you may need; a warm meal, a soft bed, anything your eyes twinkled at that was available for purchase- even if you would never think of buying or owning it. Granted, you never wanted much in terms of material possessions, so you didn't realize the true extent of Sukuna's leniency until now.

It was slightly intimidating, and part of it felt wrong. Sukuna had money, plenty of it, but that didn’t mean he should feel the need to spend copious amounts of it on you just because you could ask him to. He was giving you too much power, it felt like.

You huff through your nose, frowning at him, which only has him tilting his head further to the side in question.

You ignore it, setting your phone onto the window seat and crawling your way closer to him, until you can gather up his face in your hands and lock his gaze into yours.

He glares at you past smushed cheeks, but doesn't make a move to break free of your hold, humoring you. "The hell are you doing-"

"You know you don't always have to say yes to me?"

Now that has him taken aback. His mouth automatically opens for a witty response, but your question seems to have effectively taken the words from his mouth. You can see the cogs in his head turning, and what you wouldn't give to peer inside his mind and hear his thoughts.

It takes him a moment, but eventually that familiar confident smile stretches across his sleepy face. His hands seem to instinctively slide their way up your bare legs until his fingers grip your hip bones, pressing into you.

He hums, "When have you ever said no to me?"

You scoff, ready to give him a prime example, but end up coming up short. The two of you loved to tease each other with disobedience, but in the end you were eager to give Sukuna anything his heart desired. You loved to please him, it was one of your favorite things to do, in fact.

"You never ask anything ridiculous of me." You remind him, smiling as one of his warm hands slides back down your waist and dips into the pair of his boxers you were sporting that day.

"You know what's ridiculous?” His voice wraps around your throat, and suddenly has you swallowing past the delicious grip. You're folding into him before you even realize it, at the mercy of his calloused hands. "The implication that I wouldn't do just about anything for you."

You can't help but sigh hopelessly, although it comes out as a desperate noise that pleads him for more. You really were all his, just like he loved to tell you.

"Now hand me your phone." It's a whisper, coaxing you. "I wanna see you in red."

You can’t say no.

At least it was mutual.

#jjk #jjk x reader #sukuna x reader #sukuna #ryomen sukuna #kuna is a feral dog in the eyes of anyone that isn't you #you bring out the puppy love in this psycho #careful #he bites #this was a short and sweet #fluff

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lakeeriesaltmine · 9 months ago

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roommates. bad.

so bad.

#wren does college #i can't believe i have like two and a half more months of this shit #stop FUCKING SINGING #stop SLAMMING YOUR DOOR #stop LEAVING LIGHTS ON WHEN NO ONE IS THERE #stop LEAVING THE FRONT DOOR WIDE OPEN?????#stop LEAVING DISHES IN THE SINK FOR DAYS #how the FUCK is my unmedicated ass one of the most polite roommates in this place #istg they're all only children who have never lived in dorms before #and this one bitch keeps singing love on the brain and she's not bad but i don't want to hear it between classes #i am slamming my head against any and all flat surfaces available

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sayruq · 9 months ago

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Officially the Palestinian death toll has passed 30,000. As this article will tell you, the official count is far below the actual death count

Gaza's health ministry said Thursday that the number of Palestinians killed in the war has surpassed 30,000. The official number now stands at 30,035 deaths. The figure is widely viewed as the most reliable one available. The health ministry provided NPR with one of its latest reports on the death toll, 38 pages long, to analyze. A close look at how Gaza's health ministry counts those killed in the war reveals a system that is buckling under the weight of war and unable to keep an accurate toll of the dead. Thousands remain unaccounted for — either missing under the rubble, buried hastily in side streets or decomposing in areas that can't be safely reached.

The Gaza health ministry says its daily tally now relies on a combination of accurate death counts from hospitals that are still partially operating, and on estimates from media reports to assess deaths in the north of Gaza, where Israeli forces control access. Its detailed daily report shows that its electronic system for counting the dead was disrupted on Nov. 12, when communication was lost with three major hospitals in the north, soon followed by more in other parts of Gaza. In the early days of the war, as the wounded and dead streamed into hospitals, Gaza's health ministry kept a detailed daily count of the number of people killed. Public and private hospitals were recording into an electronic database the names, ages, genders and ID numbers of the dead.

#yemen #jerusalem #tel aviv #current events #palestine #free palestine #gaza #free gaza #news on gaza #palestine news #news update #war news #war on gaza #genocide #gaza genocide

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sttoru · 10 months ago

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·.⌇ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏𝐒𝐈𝐒. toji witnesses his son’s first steps and it nearly makes the grown man cry.

wc. 1k

tags. dad!toji x female reader. fluff. reader gets called ��mama.’ life if gege just gave us what we wanted. ending is a bit rushed if you couldn't tell.

“gumi, look here,” you coo at your child who’s sitting in his playpen. you’re laying against some stuffed animals, too tired to move after doing all kinds of chores. the baby looks up at you with curious eyes and you take your chance to make a silly face.

megumi giggles and responds by throwing a small toy your way. it accidentally hits your head, though luckily it isn’t anything too heavy.

toji, who laid lazily on the opposite side of the playpen, watches the scene unfold. he grins once he sees you rub the spot on your forehead, “oi, megumi, careful with y’r mama.”

you chuckle, dropping your dramatic act. you ruffle megumi’s hair a bit before standing up. a yawn escapes your lips and you stretch your arms above your head—clearly in need of a break.

“i’m gonna take a quick nap, honey,” your eyes meet toji’s. your husband nods and sits up with a groan. he’s also sleepy, but he knows that you did most of the work today. he’ll gladly watch over megumi while you rest and regain your energy.

megumi starts to fuss the moment you step out of the playpen. his tiny hands reach out to you—the little boy clearly too attached to his mother. toji shakes his head and effortlessly picks his son up and puts him on his lap, “naw, y’re stuck with me buddy. mama’s gotta rest.”

megumi squirms around and whimpers. he’s clearly not interested in his dad at the moment. toji sighs and tries his best to keep the baby still, but to no avail.

“mama! mama!” the baby’s cries for you breaks your heart. you stop a a couple steps away and turn around with a pout. you notice how megumi is kicking his legs, thrashing around in toji’s arms in attempt to free himself.

you sigh and crouch down, “gumi, mama’s sleepy. . papa’s gonna play with you, okay?”

megumi, of course, does not understand what you mean. he thinks you’re leaving him alone and it causes him to wail loudly. you’re about to console your son, but backtrack when you notice how megumi’s starting to stand up on his own.

his chubby legs are barely holding his body weight up. the balance is hard to find for the baby, yet he still does his utmost best. he nearly trips from just standing.

even toji looks on with wide eyes and a hint of a prideful grin on his lips. he’s silently encouraging his son in his head.

“ma..ma,” megumi babbles. he almost topples over, but toji’s quick reflexes come in handy. a big hand keeps the baby standing straight. the dark-haired man carefully lets go again, however keeps his hand near his son’s body. just in case.

neither toji nor you could believe what was happening. you both watch in awe as megumi’s left foot moves forward—the right one copying that same movement.

your precious boy, taking his first steps right in front of you both to witness. it’s a heartwarming sight. you hold your breath and toji’s lips part slightly. your husband has yet to grasp why this scene in front of him makes him feel so. . . giddy on the inside.

“c’mon! come to mama!” you squeal excitedly and open your arms, encouraging megumi to your best ability. the tiny boy giggles and moves his limbs as fast as they could go. his chubby hands flail around as he quickly walks over to you.

toji stares at his family and that’s when it hits him; how much he loves this peaceful life. his son just achieved another great milestone that he had the honour of witnessing firsthand. it made him happy that he chose this path instead of the more ‘darker’ one.

it also nearly causes your husband to shed some tears from pure joy. but, toji didn’t want to seem too ‘soft’. even if he secretly is for his wife and child.

toji coughs subtly. totally not to get rid of the irritating lump in his throat. a ghost of a smile appears on his face while he got up, immediately moving towards megumi and you.

“good job, kiddo,” toji says as he puts his hands in the pockets of his sweatpants. he stares down at megumi in your arms—the little boy getting drowned in kisses and compliments.

your ears twitch. there’s no denying it; the faint crack in toji’s voice. you give your kid a break from your overwhelming affection and tilt your head back. your eyes meet your husband’s.

you grin when you see how he quickly avoids your gaze. something he never does unless he’s. . . “gonna cry?”

toji rolls his eyes at your question. he ignores your teasing by trying to change the subject. he focuses on megumi who’s still going absolutely wild in your embrace—cutely demanding more praise and kisses.

“daddy can also give ya some kisses, y’know,” toji pokes megumi’s cheek, fascinated by the plush fat. the baby stops babbling the moment his dad talks to him. he looks up at toji and then back at the finger still prodding at his cheek.

megumi opens his mouth and doesn’t waste a single second. he goes for a playful bite, though his little baby teeth do no real damage, “yumm.”

you giggle at the way megumi frowns at toji, his teeth holding tightly onto toji’s fingertip. it’s time for your husband to take over the dramatics now.

“hey, that ain’t so nice now,” toji hisses and leans forward until his face is right in front of megumi—a similar frown on both the dad and son’s faces. they really do look alike now that you see them both from up close again.

megumi only bites down more on the finger in his mouth and toji reacts to that by feigning his anger. it’s amusing to see how neither of them gives up first.

but, it’s also rather cute to see how the father-son dynamic plays out in cozy family moments like these.

your eyes focus back on toji’s face and you can’t help but smile to yourself. he’s a good husband and father; always there for the both of you. his own way of showing support for megumi’s first steps is rather heartwarming. plus, the playful banter between the two never fails to make any moment all the more precious.

#sttoru writes.#jjk x reader #jjk fluff #toji x reader #toji fushiguro x reader #toji x you #jjk x you #toji x y/n #jjk x y/n #toji fluff

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