#i know there has got to be a better way to teach it so that it doesn't quash someone's creativity

[zenoxonslibrary]

Entire Transcript of "This Anime is Offensive by Scamboli Reviews":

The internet is quite pissed by this. This anime was shot, scripted in AI, generated by Corridor Digital. You know those guys? They did real-life Minecraft, Dark Souls, Halo, Mario—they even showed a real live woman at some point. Corridor got their hands on Stable Diffusion, it's this AI that… I don't know, does AI? But it was sloppy, so they clashed heads, did research, and two months later, we got an eight-minute-long short film produced by people who never had to pick up a pen. Imagine RDC getting their hands on this—the kids that will run around doing crazy sketches. Never before has animation been more accessible to the average person. And never before has that extremely specific demographic of white dudes that are extremely active on Twitter, with thick-ribbed glasses and beards, been more angry. And that… that made me so mad on so many levels.

Here's the thing: on one hand, I think AI is terrifying, and I want it to go away. On the other, I know that it won't go away and that screaming at excited nerds will do absolutely nothing. I'm not an AI technician, nor am I extremely smart, but God put me on this Earth to talk about things I know nothing about. I would like to discuss why people are angry, who's angry, and share my perspective on this whole ordeal. And to do that, we're gonna have to watch a video made by Mother's Basement.

Mother's Basement hates this. "I am insulted, and so should you." Jeff is an anime YouTuber that has been on the platform long before I have. He's part of a small group of creators who pioneered this niche to where it is today. In his video, Jeff makes some very valid points about the grim future that could lie ahead of AI… and zero good points about what Corridor has to do with that. Like, this dude for real said: "This video? It's not art. Not." Jeff will not call this video art. In fact, he doesn't consider anything AI-generated to be art. And I actually agree with that last part. Art is an expression of human creativity. As soon as a machine does the walking, you're already lost. Millions of photos—regardless of copyright or if the author likes it—are used to train these AI. They teach it to guess which colors and shapes go where on a grainy image. Not only is this overpowered as hell, but it, by itself, is devoid of creativity, which is derived from our personal experiences and biases. Jeff, I'm with you 100% when you say this… but you have to stop yourself from… from… ugh, talking.

If you're gonna be out—I know some dipstick will jump down to the comments to say—"The only difference between an AI reproducing an art style and a human artist doing it is the time it takes." Now, wait a minute, hold on. I just don't think this is a very well-coded comment. What you said is not funny enough to be that rude. If you're gonna be a dick, hide it with as much humor as possible, like what I'm doing.

There's a part of this video where he's like, "If they were interested in making something with even a shred of artistic legitimacy, they could have hired an artist or two to draw up the model sheets their AI would use. But instead, they just went and stole a bunch of frames from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust and trained their computer." Someone better call the cops! This is where anime YouTubers do our job—we steal frames. We just take clips of anime and talk over them. But Jeff, you and I are artists. We transform the work we talk about; we reshape it with the aid of our personal experiences. I don't think you can be on the side of anime abridged and critique AMVs but flip as soon as someone uses software that digitally collages that same content.

To say that Corridor made something without a shred of artistic legitimacy is disingenuous. This team had a vision they wanted to achieve, so Corridor problem-solved. They combined the discoveries of multiple users to get this AI looking the way they wanted. They had to tune the hell out of it, write a short film, voice act, normal act, buy costumes, teach the AI what they look like, turn those photos into anime images, pop open Unreal Engine to set up a bajillion cameras with different angles so they could superimpose their animated bodies onto a new environment. And even then, they had to add so many things in post. Storytelling, acting, editing, videography—if you don't think the convergence of all these skills is art, then I don't value your opinion on this topic.

And then there's those sassy fingers. I don't like those sassy fingers. And B, how come every time you call this video an anime, you got to use air quotes? "Anime" looks like ass. You made a video called Avatar is an Anime. "Avatar is an anime?" Fight me. You of all people should not be doing the sassy fingers.

In that video, he made the point that anime is a movement—an artistic movement within the medium of animation, not unlike post-modernism or the French New Wave in film. Everything that makes anime anime—the big-eyed aesthetic, the over-the-top action, the mature themes, the overt sexuality—is a part of that movement. The line between anime and not anime is gray. It doesn't even have to be hand-drawn or made in Japan anymore. So if it looks like anime, sounds like anime, and is written like an anime, what's stopping it from being anime?

There's this video of Aaron Blaise, a dude who animates for Disney, reacting to Corridor's behind-the-scenes. Numerous times, he stops the video and points out, "Yo, that's just like how we made Snow White." "No, it's not too different than what we did on Beauty and the Beast." "We shot reference a lot." AI doesn't write the script, make a story, or rotoscope itself. This is an art form—an art form that is very distinct from all other animation we've seen. If you want to call it animation, it's constantly rotoscoped. It has some jank messed-up hands, and yeah, it's got the hands garbled, monster faces, and not to mention their six-fingered thumbnail. Okay, I don't think this will replace animators in the same way that CGI didn't replace animators. But who knows?

Tech is evil. Recently, I visited ChatGPT for the first time, and within 15 minutes, it had quoted Biggie Smalls saying, "I'm slamming like a dungeon dragon, coming around the corner with the gangster lean." Biggie Smalls has never said that. So then I asked it to write the description of a pickle but as a Dark Souls 3 item: "Era, this pickle has withstood the test of time. Once used as a means of preserving food, it now serves as a reminder of the fleeting nature of life. Consume it to restore a small amount of health, but beware the potential side effects of consuming a food item of unknown age and origin." Yeah, in about five years, these things are replacing me.

When I talk about AI, I don't want anyone to be under the impression that I don't sympathize with everyone whose jobs are in jeopardy. I'm scared as hell. But this situation constantly reminds me of the people that freaked out over the Industrial Revolution in 19th-century Britain. Weavers and textile workers were way more important. It could take years to cultivate the skills necessary to weave with the best of them, and it could take several hours to produce very little cloth using a loom. Then some guy is like, "Hey, why pay people when machine work free?" The world agreed. Automated loom factories started popping up around the 1800s. They continued to get more and more badass, and instead of using a single skilled worker on one machine, suddenly one guy could oversee a bunch at once. Now, every once in a while, the machines would eat a woman or small child, but that didn't stop anyone from using them. This is also how our politicians work.

But think back to those weavers—the people who worked for years doing this stuff by hand. They were sort of phased into obsolescence. Would they just take that? No. A group that would be known as the Luddites began burning down factories and destroying knitting frames in protest. This movement was quickly adopted all across England until, finally, the government heard the voices of the people, saw the pain they were in, and… chopped their heads off. (It just says "executed" here, so that's an artistic change by me. I was really proud to find this in the newspaper clipping.) By 1813, the Luddites had faded into history. That's pretty messed up, right?

On the flip side, look at how painters first responded to photography. Paul Delaroche was this hugely influential artist in the 19th century. He has this hard-ass quote after he was allegedly shown a photograph: "From today, painting is dead." We know that photography didn't kill art. There were even artists at the time who were excited by the idea: "We can use the strengths of both mediums to improve painting rather than replace it." But the feeling that technology will one day automate your job and push your skills into obsolescence existed nonetheless. We've seen it happen. It's very hard to tell who's going to be the weavers and who's going to be the painters in this situation. Only the future knows for sure.

I agree with Mother's Basement on a lot of fronts. A really good point he makes is that currently, this AI stuff can't be copyrighted. You can even take a frame from the Corridor video and sell merch with it. As long as the AI is trained on material you don't own, it's not yours. But what if a big studio hires technicians and artists to train AI with material they own? That gives studios a massive advantage over the little guys who can't afford that. And if it gets good enough, workers could even be phased out if they go on strike because, guess what? "We can make up your workload until you accept a lower wage." There are so many ways AI can benefit humanity—conversely, an equal amount of ways it can tear us apart.

Jeff, what the hell does this have to do with Corridor Digital? It seems like the internet has some misplaced aggression. This is a very emotive topic, so I can understand why people might get angry with Corridor at first glance. "Did we just change animation forever? Uh, I sure hope not." But Jeff is tripping when hearing anything Corridor says. He takes the most sinister, non-charitable interpretation every time.

Exhibit A: When I first watched the video, Jeff had me thinking, "Oh, Corridor maybe paid a subscription service for an AI and is charging people for tutorials on how to use it. That's kind of messed up if they're using copyrighted material, which is what will happen if the technology and processes Corridor are advertising—and apparently tutorializing behind the paywall on their website—do take off." This is false. First off, Corridor is using three open-source software to achieve this effect. They don't get money if you use it. Jeff never mentions that. So the "technology and processes Corridor are advertising"—stating it had me confused—but what Corridor did was push a new technique using the software. They got the animations to flicker less and got the AI to stop changing styles constantly. Then they recorded an hour-long tutorial that teaches you how to replicate that same effect.

"One thing I want to talk about is the democratization of this process. This is a situation here where we're looking at a piece of software that's free, that anyone has access to—a process here that we're sharing openly with everyone because everyone's openly shared knowledge with us." But how is it democratizing animation if the tutorial is behind a paywall? Well, I went and made an account. Oh my god, it's free! This long-ass tutorial is free. If you're only after their technique, you can plug in your card number, get 15 days of free usage on their website, and bail. Once we have the hour-long tutorial, it's not really an ad for that—more so the exclusive content on their site if you decide to stay. But Mother's Basement said—wasn't lying per se, but that's pretty scummy and dishonest in my opinion.

Dishonest is the perfect word. Exhibit B: Mother's Basement is being dishonest when he says, "They're clearly pitching this as a disruption to animation, not VFX." Not VFX? So you also say they're advertising how to cut animators out of animation? Let me just say, dog, that is your pitch. Their pitch is literally at the start of your video: "Wouldn't it be cool if you could film yourself and easily turn into anything you want, like a cartoon character?" Over and over and over, Corridor drives home the idea of giving the little guys—the creatives, groups like Corridor—the ability to make animated stuff. Regardless of what you speculate will happen in the future, this is what they're advertising. This is the pitch.

"And people can experiment and improve upon the process, helping all of us get better. That's great. I love that idea—sharing the knowledge. That's what it's all about." How can you, on one hand, claim they're trying to cut animators out of animation and, on the other, clown them for trying to make it more accessible—for them wanting to democratize animation? See, he's doing the fingers again. You can't have both.

Also, Jeff hates black babies. Maybe even Chinese ones too. That's what I took away from the video. That was a joke. Jeff loves all babies. But do you see how I can infer something, construct a straw man, and make that the thing people attack? Sure, you feel they're advertising how to replace animators and disrupt the world of animation, but what about their words and actions leads you to think that's their intent? Otherwise, you're just kind of… Exhibit C-minus.

From the one and a half million views in three days and tens of thousands of likes on that video, we can also see that the tech is already good enough to satisfy a sizable group of people with little to no taste. Weird statement, right? If you clicked like on this video, you have little to no taste. It's not like I don't know AI is cool and people just want to see it. I got a lot going on, okay? I don't need an anime YouTuber—the pinnacle of human performance—telling me I have no taste because I think a video is interesting.

Continuing on that track, Jeff goes on to say, "And knowing what… in terms of visual… Tokyo Revengers… it's entirely possible that studios will get away with it." And correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this guy bought and paid for by Record of Ragnarok? No offense, but who gives a damn what you think about people's tastes? You endorsed an anime that isn't animated. In case you're not aware, Record of Ragnarok is an anime that was received terribly by fans for how poorly animated it was. One of the fights is a straight-up slideshow. Jeff was paid to do a reaction video to promote the anime.

"Freaking orbital laser-level attacks! I love it! Wow! Mid! I love mid! Mid! Yes! Whoa!" Jeff, in retrospect, realized the taste thing was a very stupid thing to say and had to issue a retraction in the comments.

My point is, if you're going to get so emotional over a topic that you're lashing out at people who don't deserve it, maybe it's time to take a step back. Jeff is mad—so mad—like a lot of people out there. And emotional investment is a great way to construct bad arguments to support your feelings. And they throw very valid speculations about what a future with this technology could look like, but when it comes to what the hell Corridor Digital has to do with it all, you see dishonest arguments, straw men, and this clip that he, for some reason, thought was a gotcha.

Because when it comes to these AI tools: "Hey, sure, it makes it easier to copy people's style. So somebody just rips out somebody's style—call them out and be like, 'You rip that person off! Screw you!'" So then we went and we took a bunch of frames from Vampire Hunter D. Of course. Am I the only one who had to rewatch that to see what point he was making? Nico says, "Let people know whose style you're using," and the next clip is Nico saying which style he's using for the AI. Doesn't this seem perfectly consistent with what he just said? Would shift your perception of things? And it's like, "Aha! Caught red-handed!" Somehow.

I don't think people are wrong to be scared or upset at someone, but I think the internet has a fat case of misplaced aggression. Some dudes tweaking software to make AI mildly more presentable aren't what we should be directing our attention at. I think exploring how we can work alongside and legislate this stuff is… I want a future where art coexists with AI in the same way photography did with painting. And I am positive that right here, right now, there is some way we can take that first step.

"We need an active, aggressive counterculture that pushes back against this nonsense wherever it rears its ugly head. AI anime needs to become as dirty a word as NFT." Your solution is to make it cringe? "We will stop AI from stealing our jobs by bitching about it." The sales volume of NFTs has gone up. How is this your solution?

There's a misconception on the internet that bitching about things somehow either changes people's minds or makes the problem disappear. Let me give you an example. When Nike put out an ad endorsing Colin Kaepernick's activism, people felt the type of way. All across the U.S., men and women thought to themselves, "I'm gonna burn every damn Kaepernick jersey I got!" These were our intellectuals, our leaders. Many joined the cause to be just like them and burned their Nike products to send a message. Nike sales changed dramatically, and the company's value went… up by six billion dollars. The movement, which aimed to be as flashy as possible, actually ended up being a phenomenal advertisement. And a lot of people were just like, "Yep… I wish I had my Nike stuff back."

More recently, there's the Hogwarts Legacy boycott. Hogwarts Legacy is this game set in the Harry Potter universe. Now, the author of Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling, had nothing to do with the production, but she does receive royalties. And J.K. Rowling is guilty of transphobia, so she's dead in the eyes of the public. People repulsed by her words decide to boycott the video game as to not support her even a little bit. Fair enough. But boycotting the game wasn't enough. It was these people's responsibility to boycott for you. Tweets rained down upon any streamer caught showing interest in the game. A VTuber was bullied to tears for playing. Hell, people were harassed and picked on by rabid activists. It didn't matter if you were famous; it didn't matter if you weren't. The internet decided that buying this game was an act of hate, and it was their job to stop it. The game just outsold Elden Ring. Turns out, bitching online is a great advertisement for the thing you hate.

I can't be the only one who didn't know or care about this game until the activism. Relax and take notes: "Get the aggressive counterculture to curb the sales of Hogwarts Legacy." No. It did, however, make people feel like they're part of a movement. It was a quick, free placebo for change. It's easy to get behind a movement without thinking of how you're perceived by outside groups because I promise, in both of these cases, people who didn't immediately agree looked at the stuff being posted and thought to themselves, "Okay…" and kept it pushing.

This is exactly what I think when I see someone post a picture of themselves having fun with AI and see those tweets that are like, "This is just you stealing from artists. It's lazy. Stolen from artists that deserve to get paid. Disappointed in you." Do you think anyone has ever read one of these types of tweets and thought, "You know what? You guys are right"? No. "I just want to see how I would look as an anime character. I'm not making merch. It's cool." AI is cool to play with, so people are going to play with it—just as being a wizard is kind of cool. I'll just do it in private if you're gonna yell at me.

Statements like these are great for people who already agree with you, but outsiders are the ones you want. And picking odd fights like these is a terrible way to recruit outsiders. Attacking Corridor is not the way. The march of technology lies not in the hands of YouTubers but in the audience that consumes that media and the laws that govern it. If there's a market for it, it will exist. Simple as that. There's nothing we can do to stop people from refining AI. Right now, thousands of people are tinkering away, trying to find the next foothold towards making the stuff look good. Corridor's video was only possible because of the thousands before them.

So the aim isn't to stigmatize innovating with AI. The cat's out of the bag. The aim isn't to pray people have high enough standards to not like the stuff. I'm sorry, Jeff. The aim is to create a world that coexists with AI. What laws can we enact that will protect animators? What are some general practices that the average person can agree on? I don't have all the answers. I don't even have a good amount of answers, but here's a start:

Corridor should have credited Vampire Hunter D on the main video. I don't think they made an attempt to obfuscate where they got the style. In fact, the behind-the-scenes video credits Vampire Hunter D for the style multiple times. It has damn near the same amount of views as the original. But a good practice to always have is saying, "This AI was trained on images from X." It gives the average person a better idea of what they're looking at, and a quick disclaimer like that on the start would help promote the original works even more.

Here's another one: Jeff was very, very doomer about that copyright stuff. If big studios hire people to train AI on content they own, and indie studios can't afford to do so, that's unfair. True. But since we're in the land of make-believe, let me put something out there: What if someone trains an AI on all the public domain stuff out there? I use public domain stuff for my videos all the time. This way, artists could even opt in instead of having their works taken. I have a friend who knows artists who would like to do something like that. Indie studios can then use this AI and feed it images that they created to replicate that style. And boom—ethical and legal. I don't know if the law would allow you to retain copyright, and I'm not going to learn, but that's kind of how sampling public domain music works, so I figured it'd be fine.

That brings us to the end. I'm not an animator nor a lawyer, so I don't have anything groundbreaking to bring to the table. But if you want to know my opinion, I think a lot of people are freaking themselves out for no reason. The whole "I oppose this thing, so I must attack anything related to it" mentality is silly. If that's how things worked, the vegans running around throwing period blood at butcher trucks and getting run over would have the meat industry on the ropes. That's how I see Jeff saying, "We need an active and aggressive counterculture that opposes AI anime wherever it rears its head." He thinks he's Rosa, but like… Jeff, I love animation, and I respect artists. They should be getting paid more and don't deserve to have their jobs threatened. I just don't see Corridor getting in the way of either of those two things, and there are actual animators that share that feeling.

Jeff deserves respect. He's an OG. If you're interested, check out his original video. I could chop and skew the stuff he's saying—you wouldn't know. But more importantly, subscribe to me. I don't make stuff like this often. I'm gonna be honest—I probably never will again. But anime, manga—hey, uh, where are you going? Don't leave me yet. Please subscribe. Subscribe.

ai generated images make me increasingly sad and tired the more i see them in more and more casual contexts. i dont know how to explain, but it just fills the world with a bunch of nothing. no matter how visually stunning the pictures might be, there's nothing behind it for me. no dedication, no emotions, no feelings, no hard work or creativity, nothing i can truly think about, admire or enjoy. i dont think thats how art is supposed to be

[sparklystarrrr]

Hi! Can I ask the platonic Crewel and the reader (the reader is his daughter) where she tells him about the guy she likes? "Well... You know him well." "Is it Vil?" "Not really... You know him well, but in a bad way." "......" "It's Floyd." "WHAT?! Please tell me this is a joke.""

Stop this made me giggle SO hard

Father’s Standards

Synopsis: Crewel has a clear standard for his daughter’s love life….

Contains: Divius C. x Fem! Reader, platonic, Reader is crushing on Floyd, so fluffy oml I cried writing the end

When school was over, Crewel would swipe his daughter away and being her right home. He had a set schedule and that involved having a healthy snack after school. He knew school food was usually terrible and as much as he wanted to trust the kitchen ghosts, he was a firm believer that nothing else would be better than his own cooking for his child. “You will have the charcuterie board i prepared earlier as long as you can take the dogs out for a walk right after. Are we clear?” He spoke whilst he unlocked his home’s front door. Once no words left his daughter’s mouth he turned around, slightly annoyed.

“(y/n). Are you listening to me, young lady?”He spoke firmly. (y/n)’s eyes seemed to be very fixed on the image of her and a certain dopey eel boy on her lock screen. At the sound of her name her head snapped up and shut off her phone. A clearly flushed expression was on her face as she looked right up at her dad.”Huh? Y-yeah I heard you dad! Food then dog walking, got it.” (y/n) jumbled. Crewel sighed heavily.” You’re incredibly jumpy today, I cannot begin to fathom a reason why…”

His daughter laughed nervously,”Yeahhh uhm, I-I don’t really either! It’s nothing!” The man clearly knew something it wasn’t nothing. He did not teach his daughter to speak in such a jittery manner! He rolled his eyes and brushed it off. He knew she would tell him. 

(Y/n) sat stiffly in a plush chair at the kitchen counter. Her posture crunched as she pulled out her phone to text her friends, ignoring the snack in front of her. “Young lady, elbows off the table. Fix your posture. And what do you need to be texting your friends about right this moment?” He spoke. His eyes squinted to try and see what she could possibly be typing.

Upon seeing her father peeping at her phone, (y/n) slammed her phone down on the counter,”N-nothing dad!” Crewel sighed heavily,”(Y/n) it is obviously something, you can’t fool me.” He grumbled. The (h/c) haired girl glanced from her twiddling fingers to the food in front of her, then at her father, the wall and back at her fingers.

“I may… like someone. You know him… very well.” At that, Crewel’s ears perked. “Who is this boy? Vil Schoenheit?”

(Y/n)’s face lowered slightly. “You know him really well but… not in a good way.” She said in a whisper. Crewel furrowed his brow. “There are many young pups who cause a ruckus in my class, you’ll need to be specific.” 

(Y/n) shuddered. “It’s uhm… Floyd… Leech.” She said under her breath hoping it would be inaudible. When she looked up from her twiddling fingers her father audibly and dramatically gasped. A hand was on his chest as if in the most dramatic shock.”Excuse me? Say that again pup. My age may be getting to my ears already.”

The girl sighed “It’s Floyd Leech, dad. I like him.” She said with an embarrassed frown and flushed cheeks. “You have an… interesting type Pup.” He said while clearly in deep thought. The girl sat squirming in her chair while her father huffed,”I will accept this, just this once. Only because you’re my daughter.” The man reasoned while clearly holding back from saying things. (Y/n)’s (e/c) eyes glittered with hope,”Really?!-“ “Do not let this happen again. If he dares hurt you, you come straight to me pup. I do not trust that boy one bit-“ “Yes, dad yes, okay! I get it!” The girl huffed.

Crewel walked to the other side where (y/n) sat, still embarrassed. He brushed some of her hair aside and kissed her forehead leaving a small lipstick stain, “You’re growing up puppy. As much as I’d like to still have you as my little baby pup, I’m content to see you grow into a young woman,” He placed a hand on the back of her chair gently. “Even if your type is concerning.” He let a small chuckle leave his lips and watched (y/n)’s lips curl into a dazzling smile as she giggled. The girl wrapped her arms around around him tight as a silent thank you. Before the man could say something like “You’ll wrinkle my clothes”, he wrapped his arms loosely around her as well, pressing a small kiss on the top of her head.

[gothamite-rambler]

Ra's Al Ghul began to wonder why Damian always acted "odd" compared to when he was a child. He had difficulty making eye contact, struggled to follow instructions at times, found it hard to share his interests, and had trouble expressing emotions—not in the way Ra's was accustomed to.

Silent concern gnawed at him. He feared Bruce might be doing something wrong, and the thought that he was ruining his grandson's development troubled him deeply. He couldn't admit that he actually cared for the boy; showing any semblance of weakness in front of his minions or even to himself was unacceptable.

So, he confronted Bruce:

Ra's: I've stayed silent about this for far too long, you better start talking, Bruce!

Bruce (dryly): Hi, it's good to see you again. What do you need?

Ra's: I need to know how are you raising him? Better yet, what have you passed down to him? He's struggling to look me in the eye, it didn't come from my bloodline. Tell me what you did cause I don't want him to end up as dim as you!

Bruce: Rude. There’s nothing wrong with Damian apart from the trauma you put him through.

Ra's: Trauma, you weak willed people. Well, there’s definitely something off about him and you're going to tell me!

Bruce: Ra's, you were around him for eight years. You didn’t notice anything about his learning difficulties?

Ra's: Hm, he did struggle to speak for some time. He has a hard time making eye contact, and teaching him certain things was a challenge. Plus, he’s not the best with emotions. But most of that is normal in my culture.

Bruce (smirking): You don’t know, do you?

Ra's: Know what? What did you do to him?

Bruce: I got him tested a few months after he got here. Ra's, he’s autistic.

Ra's locked up, horrified. His ideas about neurodiversity were outdated. At one point, autism was believed to stem from mothers not loving their children enough, I'm not kidding. It was considered a disease back in the 1900s and earlier (and to some idiots, it still is).

Ra's glanced over at his grandson, who was listening to music and twirling a pen.

Ra's: Oh Allah, how did this happen? Can we… What did you do? What did you give him? My poor grandson!

Bruce (trying not to laugh): I saw this coming, and I admit it’s still kind of funny. Ra's, he doesn’t have a disease; he’s not sick. He has a neurodevelopmental disorder, which is not a bad thing. I just have to raise him a little differently, no skin off my bones, honestly.

Ra's: Are you lying to protect your own ass?

Bruce: Nope. I’ve raised three kids before him, and each one is different. Damian is fine, he’s a great kid and my son. If you treat this like a problem that needs fixing, you’ll end up waking up in the Pit.

Ra's: Alright, I’ll believe you for the time being. But if I come back after researching this autism and I’m right, you’re going to be dealing with me!

Bruce: Cool, you can go now.

Ra's left, uncertain how to process this new information. He did the one thing many parents today fail to do: he researched the disorder and learned that it isn’t a deadly disease or a sign of parental failure, but rather something that one in every thirty-six kids is born with, and that they can lead normal, fulfilling lives.

Ra's defends his grandson

[textpostscymraeg]

Are the different dialects why duolingo will sometimes tell me it’s brecwast and sometimes frecwast? There’s other examples too where the first letter is just changed. I’ve been thinking it’s a grammar thing the owl hasn’t bothered to teach me yet.

(Going to finish the course and then move onto some real materials that haven’t been abandoned by creators. Thanks for the resource tag, I’ve already got a few in mind.)

Ooh! While it's true that Welsh has a lot of differences depending on which dialect you speak, brecwast/frecwast is in fact an example of 'treiglo', otherwise known as mutation!

I don't think I can even begin to break down treiglo in just one post - I'm definitely not qualified enough to do so, and hitting the word limit with a lengthy, rambling post might be the final straw to break this collapsing website's back.

To put it very succinctly, certain letters at the start of a word mutate depending on the sentence structure, along with a lot of other variables including whether a word is masculine or feminine. There are three ways a word can mutate:

Treiglad meddal (soft mutation)

Treiglad trwynol (nasal mutation)

Treiglad llaes (aspirate mutation)

This is how each variation applies to the letters that mutate (which are all consonants):

(source)

It might seem random and hard to get your head around, but once you learn the rules, it starts to make sense and in fact becomes totally natural to mutate! (Is that an oxymoron?)

As always, I'm not the best person to ask for learning resources because I never had to learn Welsh as a second language, but whilst looking for the above table I found this pretty comprehensive breakdown of Welsh mutations by Jack Pulman-Slater, which could be a good starting point. But if someone has a better resource, do let me know!

[luciaintheskyainthi]

Hey I was re-reading ECM and I noticed how awesome your the writing style was and wanted to know if you'd be willing to share how you write like that?

(I've got exams and have to really work on my english lmao)

Thank-you very much! I'm glad you've enjoyed my writing so much!

(I want to preface any notes here by saying I started seriously writing when I was 12 and I am now... not that. So I have almost 20 years of writing under my belt)

I've actually done a post about writing that gives a few pointers so I won't re-hash those points, but will add a few extras about crafting 💖💖

I know I said I wouldn't re-hash things, but this point always bears merit in saying: the first thing you write is the worst thing you write. It's called a first draft for a reason and you shouldn't be precious about it. That means don't go stressing about getting your phrasing perfect. Rewriting your draft can do wonders (and that doesn't mean you have to completely change things on the rewrite!), especially if you're not a confident writer.

Vary the start of your sentences. It's a very easy habit to fall into (I still do it all the dang time); you write sentence after sentence starting the the subject ('It was...'; 'Peter did...'; 'She saw...' etc). It makes your writing feel repetitive. We fall into patterns in our writing and forcing yourself to think about how you can change up the way your sentences begin within a paragraph is an invaluable challenge. Consider your paragraphs too: when I'm on my first edit, I pay close attention to how they start to ensure they don't all begin the same way. That doesn't mean every sentence has to start differently, but keeping things mixed up adds variety.

Avoid info-dumping. Exposition (where you give relevant background information) is a useful feature but it slows the pace of your story significantly. What I see a lot of fanfic writers do is freeze time (quite often at the very start of the story) to give us 500+ words of information that could have been drip fed over the chapter (or several chapters). I'm absolutely not saying I'm innocent of this - I do it all the time, including the opening to ECM! - but something that I find can help is to a) make it interesting by setting up a mystery that the exposition doesn't answer, b) intersperse exposition with description to keep up the pace or c) try to make your exposition feel as authentic as possible to your narrator.

Be decisive: avoid phrases like 'seemed to' and 'felt like' etc. Instead of, "She seemed to glow with happiness' make it 'She glowed with happiness'. Simple changes like this just make you seem more sure of yourself as a writer because you're committing to the image. Again, this kind of indefinite phrasing is an easy habit to fall into but it's a very easy fix! Very often, the sentence will still make perfect sense if you simply delete these phrases (although sometimes it will need a few minor tweaks).

Metaphors, not similes. Honestly this is just a continuation of the previous rule! Rather than, 'It looked like an ocean of silver', 'An ocean of silver swelled before them' is much more interesting and committed to the bit! Again, that's not to say you can't use similes at all! They're great, but you should ask yourself if a metaphor would be better.

Don't be afraid to extend your metaphors. Extended metaphors are such fun. Consider my earlier example : 'An ocean of silver swelled before them'. If I was to extend this, I'd think about other images associated with the ocean. Waves, tides, sea creatures, the scent and sound of the water. And since I've compared it to silver, I'd also consider things that are semantically connected: gold, copper, jewels like emeralds, sapphires, pearls etc. Then I'd start crafting additional clauses/sentences to build upon that original metaphor.

Brush up on a wider range of writer methods. Honestly, teaching English helped me out a bunch here, but here are a few of my faves: polysyndeton: this is where you list with the same coordinating conjunctions (and, but, so, for etc) rather than commas. If you look at my writing you'd see I do this all the damn time. Anaphora: in the typical form I use it, it's where the start of successive clauses begin with the same opening word/phrase (think like MLK's 'I have a dream speech). Best used in a group of three in my experience. Again I use this all the time. The opposite of this (where successive clauses end in the same word/phrase) is called epistrophe. Oxymoron: a fun one. It's a paradoxical phrase (e.g. burning cold, loving hate etc) Hyperbole: an over-exaggeration (e.g. It's boiling hot. I walked a million miles to get here!). Very fun to use with an unreliable narrator or you want to get across just how unbearable/significant something is (but the key here is that it's got to be obvious you're over-exaggerating!) Synaesthesia: where you mix different senses together (e.g. The lights sang in harmony; the room smelled cold).

Planning does wonders for your story structure. For the longest time I was a 'pantster' and would just throw myself in writing on vibes only, but now I find that knowing where I want to take my story makes it much easier to place critical themes and the much loved foreshadowing.

I hope at least some of these can be helpful to you! These are methods that have helped me over the years, but the beauty of writing is of course that all of us over time develop our own 'voice'! Just because I say these are things I do doesn't mean that's what everyone has to do!

Good luck on your exams too!! 💖

[windvexer]

I have a question about spirits if you feel inclined to answer! I saw your most recent post about introducing yourself to spirits. But what makes one think that spirits want to help or work with us? Any spirits I've worked with came to me for whatever reason, so they were obviously interested in me. But how can we just meet spirits and expect that they'll want to be part of our lives? I feel like that's like someone knocking on my door to introduce themselves and I'm like "whhyy??" If that makes any sense lol

We're in reference to this.

The following are just my beliefs:

Of course, not all spirits want to have relationships with people! Many spirits are not interested, or friendly, or care in the slightest!

So why should it be true that there is some collection of spirits that are perfectly fine with strangers hanging out with them?

Witchcraft is what people do. The spirits of Witchcraft - helpers, allies, teachers, guides, and initiators - are involved with Witchcraft because they want to be involved with people.

The spirits of ""beginner witchcraft"" are not random spirits whom by some mysterious and suspicious force are nice to people.

They are suitable for working with beginners because they are friendly, chill, and usually open to meeting new people!

They are suitable for working with Witchcraft because they readily arrive and assist in matters of Witchcraft!

They are called beginner-friendly because over time, practitioners have come to recognize that these spirits just so happen to be friendly to beginners! You know? Like people have been out there searching for spirits who are fine being approached by anyone, and now we have a list.

Some spirits are overtly friendly with individuals even if that person has no direct spirit-working experience with them (maybe you've done grassland conservation work and some endemic species of that biome now view you with favor)

Some spirits are neutral towards you personally but generally benevolent and helpful (most domesticated culinary and medicinal herbs... UPG, but I believe plant spirits are helpful to humans because they want to be; they chose co-evolution with humans to produce powerful culinary and medicinal cultivars; they do not view humans with innate disdain or avoidance. Compare the spice cabinet to experiences witches have with deadly poisonous plants... extremely different spirit working experience)

Some spirits are just true neutral; they don't really care about you but therefore you also can't really piss them off, and interacting with you doesn't bother them one way or another. I place the elements into this category. They don't mind being accessed and called on because they are the primordial building blocks of reality, and humans are creators. Building blocks do not mind being used to create. Compared to other spirits they have no motivation except to be as they are.

Some spirits may not particularly care for you very much, nor are they even that nice, but they are involved in Witchcraft and are willing to give you a helping hand. Some spirits simply have a personal investment in seeing to it that magical practitioners are given help to take root. Perhaps they have empathy for your struggle, maybe they've got nothing better to do that day, or maybe they are able to foresee that with time you may be a good ally of theirs. These spirits may arrive and assist you temporarily or in the long-term just because they feel like it, or think it's a good idea.

But I'd like to say that in my opinion, most spirits that arrive and help us do so because spirits are not all inherently isolationists. Just like us, they are seeking community and family. They care about the world and about people. They help us because we all exist in the same reality, and they have chosen to engage, teach, help, heal, and protect - the same actions, in fact, that I think most witches strive to do on their own. Why wouldn't we team up?

[wlwsoccerfics]

Snow Accident(LotteWubbenMoyXWubbenMoyReaderXMillieBright)

A/N: slight changes to what the Request Said. But very small.

Warnings: injury, Google translate used

Summary: you Work at a Ski resort and your sister shows Up with her Team. During a rescue you get hurt and your sister has to let your girlfriend know.

Lotte was your twin sister. She was just 3 minutes older then you. You were an EMT and firefighter for many years but for two years now you have been working as a first responder in a Ski resort. Your sister and her Team happened to have a Team bonding there right now.

"Lotte!" You said and smiled when you saw your sister. Hugging her gently. You also went to hug Alessia. And the other Girls.

"it's so great to be here!" Lotte stated.

"you guys gonna like it. Nora is a great Ski instructor!" You let them know. Referring to your good friend.

"it's nice to see you again, it has been a while." Lessi answered.

"it sure has been. i missed you guys! Especially Lotte!" You said and chuckled softly.

"Ik hou van je, zus." Lotte told you. ( love you, sis. )

"Ik hou ook van jou." You replied. ( love you too. )

"the dutchies are at it again!" Katie said with a soft chuckle.

"Ik kan het niet helpen. Ik mis het om met iemand Nederlands te praten." You answered. ( can't help myself. I miss talking dutch to someone. )

"i think i understood that. You said you miss talking to someone in dutch!" Beth replied. You smiled softly.

"that's right! It's exactly what i said. Viv did teach you well!" You stated. Offering her a soft smile.

You parted ways with Lotte and the Team cause there was a Girl that fell without a helmet and now needed a Bandage and an ice pack for her head before getting checked for head injuries at the hospital.

"it's okay, don't worry about it. The doctors at the local hospital are very nice and they will take good care of you!" You Tell the 7 year old Girl. You have always been great with Kids.

"promise?" She asked.

"promise!" You said and linked pinkies with her. Her parents thanked you for taking such good care of her. After that you had some other minor injuries you had to get to. Helping around 7 other people before you went and took a break.

Sitting on a bench, eating lunch. A Sandwich with Avocado, cream cheese and tomato. You decided to call Millie. Your Sisters England teammate and your girlfriend of almost four years.

"hello snow queen!" Your girlfriend said jokingly.

"hello Queen of Chelsea!" You replied and chuckled softly.

"how are you doing, Love?" She wanted to know.

"i am doing well. Can't wait to see you in a week. Excited to see you play in the Champions League semi finals." You let her know. "How are you, Babe?" You added. Wanting to know how Millie was holding up.

"doing well, nervous about the Champions League semi finals though." She explained.

"i just know you gonna do well. Cause when you do your best that's good enough!" You let her know.

"i love you. Seriously you always knew what to say to make me feel better!" Millie told you.

"i Love you too, darling, so very much." You answered. Talking to her a little longer before ending the call. Meeting up with a work mate of yours. Having to help a group of Teens. You had to use the snow mobile to get to them, but when you got there some people became reckless and a guy on a Snowboard drove right into you. You ended up falling over. Head first but also landing on your shoulder. You heard it crack. You screamed in pain. Then you don't know much of what had happened. Everything was blurry and felt so far away.

The next thing you knew was that you were in the hospital bed. Lotte now by your side cause she had been informed that you have gotten hurt. Then everything went black again. You needed surgery cause your shoulder blade was fractured and it was bad enough to need surgery. You also had a concussion.

While you were in surgery Lotte called Millie.

"Hey Millie." Lotte said, it was obvious in her voice that she had been crying.

"Lotte what's wrong?" Millie asked. Trying not to panic.

"it's y/n. She got into an accident. She has a fractured shoulder and a concussion. She is in surgery right now." Lotte stated.

"oh my god...i am on my way!" Millie said and Lotte could hear her grabbing her things to get to her car.

"please drive safe. I will sent you the adress right now!" Your sister told your girlfriend.

Your surgery took almost 3 hours before you were back in your room. Millie was gonna be there soon as well. Lotte wasn't waiting alone anymore either. No Alessia & Beth were there as well.

"i can't believe this. She was planning on leaving this Job to go back to working as an EMT. And now she got hurt during the last two months? That's cruel of the universe!" Your twin sister said.

"Lotte, she will be okay." Beth told your twin. Lessi nodded her head in agreement and gently squeezed Lottes Hand.

"your sister is tough." Alessia stated. Looking at her before looking at you.

"luister naar Alessia." You mumbled out. The three of them looking at you, all of them releaved. ( listen to Alessia. )

"Godzijdank, je bent wakker." Lotte said and stood up. Kissing your forehead carefully. ( thank God, you are awake. )

"y/n...you are awake!" Millie stated. Standing in the doorway. Still crying but now she was releaved instead of freaked out.

"Love, what are you doing here?" You asked, opening your eyes when you hear her voice. You offered her a tired smile.

"Babe your sister called me to tell me you have gotten hurt, did you really think i was gonna stay away and not be there for you?" Millie asked and walked over. Gently kissing your cheek.

"that's fair. No you would never do that. Neither would i." You admitted.

It was the day of the Champions League semi finals and you sat in the Stadium in Barcelona, shoulder in a sling. But wearing a Chelsea Jersey with your girlfriends Name and number on it. You moved in with her officially and you already had made Secret Plans for when the sling was gone and your shoulder was better. You would try for a baby.

The Game unfortunately didn't go like you wanted it to go and Chelsea lost. You were praying that the second Leg of the semi Finals would be better. You were there to cheer up Millie and the rest of the team. Which made things a little better.

[vera-vera-vera-lynn]

Need to rant because this post ignited something beastly inside me :P

|| ๋࣭⭑

As a philosophy major, seeing that ad actually drove me fucking nuts, because I know a lot of people in my school's humanities department (as well as some in the Philosophy course itself) would actually use it.

In my city Philosophy is already considered something of a dying humanities major as it doesn't hold as much attractive options as, say, Communications, Psychology, or Political Science—so barely anyone even takes it seriously anymore. In fact, my university came so goddamn close to shutting down the Philo course entirely.

Our department's barely holding it together, and seeing other humanities majors actively thriving despite taking advantage of something like this is such a huge slap to the face.

We have maybe 15–20 students left in the entire programme, and most of them didn't even choose Philo out of genuine interest—they either just got redirected here, or decided on it as a last-minute resort. It's become such a fucking joke what with how people began seeing it as a dumping ground for has-beens and do-no-betters. It's treated as the goddamn lobby for rejects and undecideds; or worse yet, some will stay for a month to a year, only to dip out at the end when they realise how unaligned they actually are with the course. Bitch; if you wanted an easy way out, why are you here?

There's only one constant professor teaching every subject across every year level. And I say the word constant loosely—because while he technically holds the position, he's also our adviser, a.k.a. our last line of defense anytime the department's on the chopping block. The catch? He's part-time. That man is barely hanging on himself, with multiple teaching gigs at other universities; which means we only get scraps of his time, and even then, he's already usually burnt out. He's not just underpaid. The man's old, overextended, and chronically tired. The worst part? He's good. He's actually a damn good philosopher and an even better teacher. If we lose him, it's fucking over. An algorithm isn't going to help you or your professor. You're silencing the very people who've helped you develop your critical thinking skills.

The people here tend to have this preconceived notion that Philosophy is something of a 'high-brow art'—hence the lack of engagement. This is utter bullshit, by the way, because that's just double-edged classism. The whole point of it is critical access to thought—not intellectual gatekeeping. Call me petty and salty for this but this is one of the reasons why I hate it when bitches say shit like 'I'm too small-brained for this'—like, no. You're not. The fact that you're even recognising your own limitations is already a huge move in itself. You just need to put in the goddamn effort.

There's zero funding for conferences or outreach unless we tie ourselves to other, more 'useful' disciplines (our dean does what she can, but God, it's nowhere near enough; and I know damn well what our department is capable of given how much favouritism Psych and PolSci gets).

As the VP of our org, it's humiliating to have to cosplay as other departments just to get a foot in the door. And the worst part is: admin eats this shit up. They love to say things like relevance and fucking real-world application while simultaneously gutting any space we might’ve had to show how philosophy is deeply relevant, precisely because it questions the frameworks everyone else takes for granted.

Don't even get me started on AI. Half the 'cutting-edge' discourse around machine ethics, bias, decision-making, sentience, consciousness, language—all of it—is stolen straight out of philosophy. Hell, some of these LLMs are trained on archives of our papers and books. But none of y'all are hiring philosophers. No one's inviting us to panels unless we're there to play the silly widdle ethics people and make everything sound profound for five minutes before the principal takes back the mic. We're useful enough to train the machine. We're relevant enough to pad your datasets. But God motherfucking forbid you actually pay a specialist to teach or contextualise those ideas.

I felt worse rereading all the points I made considering my dad just piped in and essentially confirmed what I already knew. The bastard saw me typing and fucking laughed, saying it's just not profitable anymore. At one point in history Philosophy was regarded as the greatest of all sciences. Then religion commodified it, and soon after that technology virtually killed it. Who needs it when the people most rewarded for thinking are the ones who do it loudest, fastest, and with just enough fake nuance to sound profound in under sixty seconds?

Genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, fuck AI.

I've been begging my professor to change our output formats for these very reasons. I told him to give all of these fucking essays a break because theoretical knowledge isn't going to solve everything. Nobody gives a shit about deep dive papers on Kant when they can't even pay their rent, much less have the energy for critical theory after working a shift at some minimum-wage job.

I suppose the biggest issue about Philosophy is that it isn't as 'practical' as other subjects are. The main problem with its presence in the modern world is that it's mostly just those writing about things that won't pay the bills, won't solve the climate crisis, and sure as hell won't put food on the table. We're not necessarily equipping ourselves to survive in the world as it is right now.

But neither are we reaching anyone like this, nor are we making any true progress no matter how wonderfully the concept of AI services is presented. We are actually losing relevance in real time. We're sitting on centuries of intellectual legacy and presenting it like goddamn expired toast. Philosophy was revered for its ability to interrogate meaning and question the frameworks that govern society. And now philosophers are being asked to hand its intellectual power over to algorithms and systems that don't even feel.

People forget that that's the real kicker: companies want philosophy specialists to 'work with' AI, but what in the giggling goddamn fuck does that even mean?

Some of y'all say we're supposed to fix AI with the same academia we've spent years honing. But instead of doing the deep, reflective work philosophy was built on, we're now just handing over centuries of intellectual labour, programming our thoughts into a machine, and hoping this utter parasite of a system works. Yes, artificial intelligence may have its benefits—but that doesn't take away the fact that you're letting automatons belittle all the history and all the hard work that built the foundations of human understanding.

Stop pretending like AI can actually solve problems. They don't. They can't. They can get as humanlike as they can, they can mimic our speech and our processes to sharper degrees, but at the end of the day they're soulless machines. They don't have the same capabilities you or I do. Stop it. Just stop.

this ad wants to hire philosophy specialists to train their AI.

in philosophy.

they want to train the machine that can't think on the subject that's literally thinking about thinking.

someone smarter than me write in the comments how the classical philosophers are freaking out in the afterlife

(diogenes brandishing a texting autocomplete feature: Behold, a man!)

[entamewitchlulu]

once i was in a creative writing class in college, and in a bit of humor i wrote the line:

"Um," I said, eloquently.

And my teacher was so adamant that I had to remove it because "um is not an eloquent word, so it makes no sense" and i was like my brother in christ it's called Irony

[gaymingbinosaur]

I did this with evie and my quizzy since evie original was made for dai. So I’m going to do origins in honor of losing my brosca in updating my game consoles 😔 it’s okay I’ll replay you again soon so you can have life lol. Maybe one day I’ll replay 2 and have her opinion on those guys.

Evie would like Faren Brosca. He’s a good combination of being compassionate which seems to be a pattern in Evie’s friend group and being a little shit. Also I think strained relationship with parents and both have an understanding sometimes the cards life gives you can sometimes suck and it’s not your fault. I think in a way they would probably understand each other more than evie would understand even her sister. Hell they both have a sister they are over protective of. Only issue is Faren hates alcohol because of his mom. And evie does drink rather than deal with her emotions. It gets better in veilguard but it can still be an issue.

Morrigan I think she’d be annoyed at the lack of sympathy for circle mages but I do think that at the end they would get along due to their opinions about circles and Templars. And evie would one hundred percent annoy Morrigan to teach her some magic. If Morrigan was bi. Faren would have completion tbh.

Alistair it would take time since former Templar but he also seems to not 100% approve of the circles and Templars. And I think that would make Evie more willing to give him a chance. He dodnt want to be a Templar he left and he’s trying so I won’t do everything on my power to piss him off. I got other people who I can do that to.

Ogrhen. Drinking buddy. I wish I can go more complicated and deep but Evie doesn’t handle her emotions well. Sees a kindred soul and they drink and don’t talk about if the amount of booze they drank is healthy.

Wynne. Oof. I don’t hate wynne but Jesus I think she’d annoy the shit out of evie. I don’t think it would be as extreme as with vivienne because mage x Templar war isn’t happening. So evie would view her happiness with circles as denial because there is no hope and not a betrayal to mages because this is the one chance we have to be safe. (Again I’m paranoid about character hate. Don’t hate vivienne just evie and her would not get along) so in that way Wynne doesn’t get to deal with Evie at her meanest. Like she could Morrigan to shame. But Evie hasn’t had a parent since she was nine and wynne is motherly. I do think a woman trying to make her see the good in circles as she tries to mother her would rub Evie the wrong way.

Barkspawn. It’s a cute doggy. Evie can’t deny that.

Leliana. Wouldn’t trust her at first because chantry sister like sure maker talks to her doesn’t even reach her top concern. But I think over time evie would relax around her and they would be friends.

Zevran. I think they would be a thing. Like both are flirtatious. Both have a similar sense of humor. Similiar morality. And both want to escape a situation they are trapped in. And Zevran won’t mind exploring the world with her. So I think those two would be cute.

Sten. I don’t know. Sten seems to like people who are blunt and confident which evie can be. But also he murdered a family. Doesn’t show his emotions that much and has a very strict honor code. I don’t think evie would like him. And struggle to understand him.

Shale. She’d feel sorry for. With the being trapped and the bird poop. I think they would be friends and evie would understand thinking people suck. A lot do.

Hey! It’s Friday! That means it’s Rook Intro Hour <3

How it works: I ask you a question about your Rook(s) and you answer it with as much brevity or verbosity as you desire. You can do this whenever you want, and I’ll reblog it + add some comments! There’s no time limit— if you want to do the older ones, they are collected here! (The post is updated on Fridays!)

Today’s Question(s): Let’s do something special, today, to celebrate DA. What would your Rook think of your other DA protagonists? How about the other companions? Is there anyone they would particularly like or dislike? Why? What would the other protagonists/companions think of Rook?

Answer as much or as little as you like. Hope you’re well <3

[sunlight-shunlight]

i think in my particular interpretation, my lavellan is an evasive, self-reliant type of person who doesn't trust others very easily, and does not believe in love as a concept really existing or being applicable to her. so she's kind of ???!?!! about solas, and despite caring for him deeply, is not really able to verbalize her feelings to solas at any point during dai, and so she never actually tells him that she loves him. and after crestwood is just like "wow. i was right to be very solitary for years. this heartfelt stuff SUCKS. love is fake, and you should never get emotionally compromised and too attached to any one person :/" and tries to speedrun her way through rebuilding the impenetrable layer of Ironic Detachment™️ that she had before.

[dandelionflowery]

I don't really do my homework lol, so when I get home I have some time; and sleep is overrated anyways /hj (i mean if I got 5 hours of sleep last night i'm impressed lol)

When I do do homework, usually i do some time management where I pop on tumblr as a little break

Actually rn I'm technically attempting to do homework, I have to "find a question for the 'big oral' (yes it's called that) at the end of the year" actually 2 questions but 1 would already be nice and i either need one on biology (or geology but no way lol) and one on art, or 2 that mix both biology and art

And the thing is, you prepare two of these things just so they can make sure you worked, but you'll only present one, and honestly for most normal students, yeah, this is worth 10% of the final grade, but for me it's something like 10/160 instead of 10/100

If you want me to rant way more about this stupid fucking thing, I am more than capable lol

Anyways

i lived an hour away by bus and i was not about to stay when i had no lessons and i also had no friends to do ts with --> oh yeah that's not at all encouraging to do extracurriculars

Honestly I wouldn't actually mind doing stuff, but I don't really have the time to lol

Philosophy is absolutely up to personal opinion, but they also grade your ability to talk fancy, and the thing is I'm (most likely) autistic so I just write plain and simple things without really bullshitting my way through SEVEN FUCKING PAGES (I tend to do like 3 max) and they aren't happy

My teacher is absolutely terrible cause throughout the year my best grade was 14/20 (don't ask why our grades [in france, not just in philosophy] are out of 20, I have no idea lol), usually I got more 5/20 lol. And if I got 5/20 but with a bunch of comments saying, "oh, maybe do this", or "you could mention this", I'd be like 'ok so i have an idea of how to improve now ty'

but no, we got a test back today and I got 5/20 and he wrote: "Insufficient" at the top of my test, he quoted the methodology at me, he circled a reference I put without adding any comments, and he signed the paper like he did all the others. Useful dude.

[I mentioned harry potter because LITERALLY ALL THE PEOPLE with better teachers I TALKED TO said that drawing on personal knowledge and/or pop culture is a good way to go (one of my friends who has a different teacher literally got recommended a book on philosophy through a harry potter lens BY HER TEACHER), however my incompetent teacher apparently hates that]

in a modicum of fairness to him, I haven't listened to most of the classes since like september, but that's because in September I listened, took notes, and understood nothing; and I chose to write smut in class instead, or do homework, or sew stuff because at least that's more useful.

(we often have strike days where our absences are justified, so you can get away with not going to class [they do tell your parents though]; and one strike day, I was planning on going home anyways cause my back hurt, and a friend and I went to a café down the street instead of going to philosophy, and we got a lot more work done than if we'd gone to the philosophy class.)

(he teaches as if we were students in higher education who all chose to do philosophy and already know a bunch of things, and all he has to do is encourage us to think of some things and to offer some more authors; I believe at the beginning of the year he was like "oh yeah so you should do about an hour or two of reading [philosophical books] per week" and there is no way I'm reading in french [despite having lived here my whole life, I generally abhor reading in french lol] about topics I don't understand in the slightest, written in overcomplicated language by dudes who died centuries ago every week)

(he forgets most of us encountered philosophy with him)

very quick drawing lol

okay very important question did you take history or geography in school?

nope😓😓 French, art, and food tech

[candyriku]

finally getting a chance to work on chapter 15 today :-)

[crescentmp3]

LOOK!! ^^

[ image desc: a taken picture of a physical copy of the book Herkes İçin Yapısal Yolla İtalyanca (Structured Italian for Everyone) by Asım Tanış. // end id ]

[pandaofsecrets]

I already went over why I like Lukagami here, so I'm gonna go with ChloNath.

First of all, I can see why they'd like each other. Nathanaël has been characterized as having a bit of an anger problem ever since his first appearance, so it's not that much of a stretch to think that he's had to deal with people who told him to stop being angry, like it's that simple. He would therefore relate to how people tell Chloé to "be nice", but never elaborate on what that actually means or give her a solid incentive to do so. Chloé would similarly relate to Nathanaël's insecurities, even if she doesn't openly admit it at first. Chloé also strikes me as someone who likes the angry, combative type. She seems to quickly get bored of people who yield to her—Kim did everything she asked and was rejected with extreme prejudice, and the less said about Sabrina the better. And it makes perfect sense, because Chloé is used to being given things on a silver platter. Everything she gets without having worked for it is going to have no value for her.

Now, this does sound like a relationship that would quickly spin out of control, but honestly I think it'd actually serve as a great vehicle for self-improvement for both of them. For one, of them are the way they are because they're constantly acting like they have something to prove. Chloé is trying to be the "exceptional" person worth her mother's time, and Nathanaël lashes out at people because he's trying to project the image of someone that shouldn't be messed with. So, both of them are likely to double down when they feel judged or rejected. If they're with someone who meets them on their own terms and who they can safely take their issues out on, they're eventually going to get to the point where they go "Wait, this is dumb. Why am I doing this?" For another thing, both of them have this thing where they project their idea of the "perfect" partner on their crushes and get super huffy when said crushes don't stick to the script. Only, they're about as far away from each other's ideal as possible, so being together is going to teach them to stop living in their own heads and take the other person as they are. It's the same reason the Love Square works so well—or at least it would in a better show. Adrien having a completely hidden side to him that Marinette has to reconcile would teach her that love is less about planning cute dates and making gifts for someone's next 35 birthdays, and more about actually understanding the person next to her with their flaws and sins. And vice-versa for Adrien, of course.

Second of all, staying on that "perfect partner" idea for a bit, most of Chloé's ideal of the perfect guy comes from her parents in one way or another. Nathanaël being the furthest thing away from that would mark a definitive break between the values instilled in her and who she chooses to be going forward. It would force her to choose between what she's been taught and what she actually wants in life, and to actually commit to that choice.

Third, Nathanaël would be one of the first to correct people when they call Chloé irredeemable, even if it's just in a "It's not that she can't get better, it's that she doesn't want to" kind of way. Nath's Jewish, and in Judaism there's not really such thing as a point of no return. Evil is a choice one makes, and not making that choice is seen as always a possibility. You know that bit in Steven Universe where White Diamond randomly stops being a tyrant because of a single conversation (nay, a single comeback)? It's that idea, taken to the extreme. Nathanaël is going to be one of the few people who, even if he doesn't personally forgive Chloé, is never going to deny that she's got the capacity for change.

Judaism also sees good and evil as less about being and more about doing, and emphasizes taking real, tangible measures to fix what you've done. Nathanaël would force Chloé to seek atonement in a real way, where she has to think about the impact of her actions and actually put in effort to make up for her wrongdoings.

[Sidenote, typing this out makes me realize just how completely at odds Nathanaël would be with the show's system of morality where intent is everything. He'd be the least likely to judge Chloé for doing the right thing for the "wrong" reasons, but also the least likely to let, say, Marinette or Félix off the hook because they had "good intentions". No wonder he doesn't get a lot of screen time.]

Lastly, they have had the most interesting interactions with Hawk Moth. Nathanaël is the first character we see to be punished for trying to defy him (Evillustrator), and Chloé is the first character to actually succeed in defying him (Miraculer). If there was a scene where Chloé helped Nathanaël break free of an akumatization, it'd bring everything full circle.

I'm asking in genuine curiosity; is Twitter just behind the curve or is there a real rise in anti-crackship sentiment? I mean I've talked to people who just prefer to ship whatever's canon so long as it's not an actual crime, but... it just feels so boring.

Actually, please repost this with your favorite ship regardless of canonical merit and explain why you enjoy it---I'm curious and crave dopamine.

Only fair to trade, mine at the moment is Artistic Musing.

[phantomrose96]

The alt-right's foothold into Gen-Z is frustrating and I can see from over here how they're doing it.

You've got a generation of young-adults who are learning to be adults for the first time and for so many of them it sucks. It sucks to be in your first shitty apartment where things break, and to have your first shitty car that needs maintenance, and to be working a low-paying service or retail job where you get berated all day and barely scrape by. And you go home and you have taxes to figure out and electric bills to figure out and a screen on your phone to rot into to destress.

And this is men and women, equally, in this spot. But the alt-right messaging gets to tailor their approach to gender.

And hey women, yes you working a shitty job for shitty pay, overwhelmed by financial responsibilities and car repairs, what if you actually didn't need to do ANY of that? You don't need to. And you don't need to feel guilty about it. (You're not quitting, you're not being lazy), you actually are just embracing the chance to be exactly who an ideal woman should be. You should actually be beautiful, and demure, and barefoot in a sunny kitchen, glowing, pregnant, hearing the joyful sounds of your children while you bake a roast for your wonderful husband (strong, protective, loves you, handles the finances, handles the jobs, handles all the things you hate). OUR ancestors (don't mind the dogwhistle) did this for GENERATIONS, and modern society has failed you instead!

It's offering to break women out of all the parts of their real life that suck, and do it in a way that promises they're actually being better, being more admirable, more moral, more respectable, more correct, can feel good about, can feel proud about, as a Woman as Feminine as Mother as Goddess.

And the thing being promised does not need to actually reflect reality. It's a fantasy. It is not real. For every "beautiful demure barefoot" day, you'd be having another one covered in shit changing diapers of screaming infants with screaming children while your husband ignores you because it's Women's Work (take pride!) But that doesn't matter. It just needs to sound better than the reality they're living.

Then the men are targeted too. And it's the same in that it's getting to them by appealing to pride in their gender, but the messaging is different. It's "those finances are hard but ACTUALLY you're leveling up, you're grinding, you're finance maxing." It's hard but it's the kind of hard that is a challenge you can WIN at, boast about, post about, prove your manliness. Knowing cars, knowing home repairs, knowing taxes, that's your MAN pride, and you are so elite, you are so sigma, you are the envy of everyone, you are a masculine man. Women love you. Women will defer to you. Strong, respected, moral, loyal, unshakeable. Unlike those pansy men (mind the homophobic dogwhistling) who will whimper and cry like girls. You are better.

The shitty retail job is actually humble beginnings because you're minmaxing your way to financial success (bitcoin, crypto, investments). You can sleep with any woman you want as long as you're confident, and then you'll find one who understands how smart and confident and strong and protective you are and she will defer to you as her man. She will birth your children and teach them good morals and you will make it. Our ancestors lived this way for generations (dogwhistle) and modern society took it from you.

And with that messaging it makes it clear who the enemy in all this is - modern society that has convinced women to torture themselves with high education and terrible jobs, turned them Ugly with Ugly opinions and bad hair and nasty attitudes, yelping about "rights" and "equality" (pitting them against men! TAKING things from men!) All the while, society has been trying to emasculate men--replace them with women, make them soft and emotional, make them gay, make them WEAK. We've been made WEAK.

The naive women hearing this go "I'm not ugly! I don't hate men! I DO hate my job and my finances. I've been tricked. I'm actually rebelling by declaring my goal is to get a Perfect (White) (Christian) moral husband who will make all our decisions and protect me and our children." (And when she's financially trapped in an abusive marriage...? When she's suicidal with PPD but her husband won't touch that because it's Woman Hysteria...? And when her husband leaves her for someone who was as hot as she was 20 years ago and now she's figuring out finances, health care, taxes, bank accounts for the first time in her life...?)

And the men go "They've been TAKING things from us for too long! It's time to be men again! It's time to take pride! I am strong and confident. I am in charge! I never show weakness!" (And when he's got a gun to his head due to the depression he's never been allowed to talk about as Women Feelings...? And when he's financially ruined from a crypto scheme that stroked his ego and robbed him blind...? And when he's dead from alcohol poisoning and none of his adult children notice because no one's spoken to 'Dad' in 15 years...?)

And it's so hard to fight because you're arguing against a fantasy. How do you disprove their fantasy? It's so hard to explain to them, hey you're working a shitty job where you have no future because the rich bastards took it all from you. And now you're doing their work for them. You hate society because of what they've done to it and now you're doing their work. Now you're targeting groups who've never done anything to harm you and the guys responsible are laughing to the bank. How do you explain? How do you disprove fantasy?