#i watched the like two hour long analysis and what a joy it was 2 be vinidicated

[glitterhoof]

and turbo? ugh, he loved the attention.

closeup :

[cooloddball]

This is going to be a super long analysis of jib3 starting with the opening ceremony to the closing ceremony so brace yourselves. 

Please note I believe in the breakup theory so maybe my opinion in this one might be biased so please don’t come for me, lol.

I will put it under the cut to avoid overcrowding your dashes with cockles shenanigans. 

Also, watch out for profanities and mature language.

And so it begins...

Opening ceremony

The camera used to record the opening ceremony is shaky. 

Misha, Jason Manns, and Jarpad seem to be having a lot of fun together and Jensen is just looking at his besties talking to the man he loves and he knows he can’t have that so he just stands there looking at them. Poor guy.

Jarpad asks who took Misha’s riffle? Things are awkward, I honestly don’t know what’s going on.

Misha kisses a plushie while making eye contact with Jensen and Jensen is like “oh, oh, wow” while making eye contact with Misha. LOL. Jack help me. This is a lot!!!

Jensen takes a plushie from Sebastian and Jared takes the one Misha had.

Are you guys flirting about trying to see whether you can keep plushies alive?

Misha throws something at the fans, I think he was throwing treats from earlier or whatever it was and Jensen says “Misha is still throwing” I mean why?

Cockles Panel

Jensen is so extra in this panel.

First of all, when he and Misha come out (no pun intended) a song starts playing and he starts dancing. Jensen is usually so poised while dancing but he is over the top throwing his back and shaking his tush for the mish.  I think he was trying a little too hard. Misha spares his ex-boyfriend’s tush a glance smiles and looks away. LOL. The whole thing was cringey, tbh. It was so unlike Jensen.

When Sebastian touches Jensen’s shoulder and says something to Jensen, he [Jensen]  laughs way too hard. I would say he laughs abnormally-it’s loud and he throws his whole body into it like he’s trying to prove what Sebastian was funny and it probably wasn’t. He laughs so hard he ends up right on Misha’s side. and Misha laughs at that though.

Rich says something about something in the sac that hurts(It’s incoherent) and Jensen says it hurts right here pointing at his heart (I can’t hear what they are saying exactly so if anyone knows please let me know)

I don’t know if Mark P. was going to hug Jensen or not or he was pointing at something behind Jensen, but at that moment, Jensen sees Sebastian going to hug Misha and whips his head away from Mark P’s direction so fast he almost broke his neck.

Sebastian humps Misha (these two are so playful I love them) and Jensen is just there acting awkward 

There’s a comment by Rich about “It’s over, the convention’s over I’m no longer your bitch” I don’t know who this is about.

Now, now, now. This whole time Rich is doing a kissy mouth with his fingers on the monitor behind Jensen and Misha. His hand is right where Misha is standing (you’ll understand once you watch it) so Jensen makes a kissy face back and Misha is blushing? Ummm wtf is going on here?

Jensen also does something strange that he never does during cockles panels he pulls his seat away from Misha.

Misha makes a very weird comment about Sebastian’s libido drying up and they have a weird conversation about libido and Viagra ads. It’s weird.

It gets even more awkward Jensen talks about bringing a total stranger, and a blind date. And it goes downhill from there with them. The it wasn’t you it was me speech. It was special. So heartbreaking. It was clearly not about the show but about their relationship. I always have a difficult time getting through that part. It’s so awkward that the fans are just there wondering what the hell is going on.

They decide to take questions and the fan is all over the place so Misha interjects but Jensen won’t let Misha say what he wants to say so he says, “This is why you make it awkward. You never let people finish what they are saying.” Ouch. Domestic dispute vibes anyone?

The way Jensen is looking up at Misha when he’s answering that question. It’s like he wants to sear his face into his memory before they leave Rome.

Jensen is explaining to a fan how one of the four sound stages they had on set was full of furniture and Misha adds “and soiled mattresses”  I mean what was the reason? Did they soil the mattresses with their [redacted]

A fan mentions something about Dean and Cas so these two adorable dorks smile and share a look. Things are starting to look up. Thank Jack.

The fan says something again (I can’t make out what he’s saying) but it must be something nice because they look at each other with smiles on their faces again.

Jensen playing with the head of his microphone. Is it just me or did the temperature rise a notch higher?

The way they look at each other when the fan says to help him choose the hottest female cast member on the show 

Then something freaky happens they say the exact same thing as twins or bffs do sometimes. LOL.

When they start talking about the hot women with the fans Misha moves his entire body and now instead of looking at the fans, he is seated facing Jensen.  The tension is simmering down.

A point to note is that in all their panels they always sit angled facing each other as opposed to facing the crowd save for this panel and DCCON 2019. But for DCCON I can understand that they weren’t comfortable being meant to be a J/2 panel and a creation event. So you know some people in that crowd are super mean to Mish and others to Jensen, so they had to tread carefully. But I digress back to the chaos.

They ask who wants to have a cockles panel the next year and they both raise their hands. I thought that was sweet

 It’s adorable how Jensen keeps repeating everything Misha is saying.

Misha forgets himself and moves too close to Jensen to listen to the song on the phone. Jensen turns to look at Misha, I don’t know what that look is but Misha backs away laughing.

Jensen’s face journey while listening to that song is gold.

Misha moves closer to listen to the song.  I have to say the way they are standing is not usually how two bros listening to music usually stand. If you know what I mean

 Misha agrees that’s definitely Jensen singing. Of course, he knows because Mr. “Jensen sings to me all the time”

He looks so proud of him.  I’d venture to say he’s happy to hear Jensen sing because he has always been so shy about that fact about himself. He even gives him a standing ovation. That’s so adorable. He loves him. My heart.

Jensen is so cute trying to deny it’s not him singing that song.  Yeah, it’s you, Jensen. Even your ex agrees it’s you and we bet he knows how your voice sounds in all kinds of situations ;)

we get a tingly feeling so we know it’s you. Jensen’s adorable smile when Misha says that. Aww.

The way they are not even looking at each other but they are seated the exact same way.

Allow me to explain to my friend here. Explains how his parents didn’t know whether he was a boy or a girl. Misha with the steel chair, “when did they figure out that you were a boy?”

How many years did they call you holly?

For six to seven years

Is it just me or is this conversation a flashback of teenage twink-lesbian Jensen years?

Fan asks whether Dean will ever forgive Cas. Watch Misha’s body language, he is trying to pacify himself by rubbing the back of his neck and fumbling with his shirt.

When Jensen says “ No!” without a moment’s hesitation, Misha looks distraught? I don’t know maybe I’m reading too much into this but I feel like this hit too close to home being that they were most likely broken up.

Misha however has a different opinion, “I think he has” 

Jensen says, “Wishful thinking” and that elicits a smile from Misha.

A fan asks about Dean giving Cas the trenchcoat back and things get interesting.  Weirdly, that Jensen can’t say the word gay out loud. He literally uses the word “unmanly” in its stead in the guise of censorship? It’s not a bad word Jensen you can say it. However, Misha and the fans say the word so I’m wondering who is censoring Jensen’s use of that word. He eventually says it but super fast.

Jensen says that saying “I always knew you would come back” is not something he would say to another human being, especially a man. Jesus, there’s nothing wrong with saying that to another human being you care about. He’s the one making it gay. He was extra when answering that one.

They spent one and half hours making that scene just to end up not saying anything and it ended up looking gay anyway. Anyway, that’s interesting.

 Jensen angles his body towards Mish and says in a very low soft and sexy voice “I guess I really hoped that you would come back some day” I would venture to say that Jensen at the moment in the panel was actually saying them to Misha. Who knows though?

They talk about it a whole lot for something that bothered him that much. 

Misha being so excited about recreating a scene when a fan told Jarpad he’s amazing and Jarpad said "you are welcome. 

 “I think I understand what she wants. I’m not sure what she’s gonna get.” This is a very good line Misha. I will be using it often.

The way they awkwardly stand too close and whisper to each other. Umm…what is going on here?

Jensen folds over laughing because of something Misha says. They are back. The tension is almost 90% gone now and they are in their element.

The chaos of recording the alarm ringtone for the fan was just great to watch. They kept getting closer and closer and I think they might have shared spit at that point. Gross….LOL

The way Misha is sitting is he you know.

Jensen asking Misha whether he was saying anything or just screaming while they were recording. I think he just wanted to see Misha smile.

Jensen’s joy when a fan mentions that they have Misha’s résumé.

Jensen saying the word shit made my day. I curse a  lot and it made me feel validated somehow.

Misha calls him dickhead in return and Jensen stops functioning and laughs instead . He also gets all hot and bothered trying to fumble with the lapel of his shirt.  He does this a lot when he is turned on. He has a humiliation kink I think.

They start talking over each other about Misha’s special skills. Looks like Jensen might have known beforehand because he went straight for that. Or maybe he didn’t know but he knew since Misha is a mad genius there must be some amazing things in there. Either way, it was a good moment.

OMG Jensen is so excited and the way he motions to Misha to bring that résumé to him, LOL. This man was thirsty AF.

He even goes down from the stage to meet Misha and invades his personal space trying to reach the résumé. I think this is the moment the tension between them dissipated completely and they were back to some form of normalcy.

Misha holding Jensen’s shoulder trying to get his résumé back. Unsucessfully, I should add.

They read something funny and they fold over laughing and spin around like overjoyed seals. It is far removed from the mollusk family but at least it’s still a sea creature (I don’t know what I’m saying please don’t mind me)

Jensen is still on his knees laughing and can’t get up. As I said, he is being too extra in this panel.

 Misha is trying to talk but they both can’t stop laughing. I think Jensen laughed so hard he got an extra set of abs that day.

Jensen is still laughing and you know what he is laughing at? Misha’s special skills being acting on camera. I mean it’s funny but man, prayforjensen.

 They are still laughing. Jack, help them.

The way Jensen looks at Misha with pure adoration here makes me so happy and reminds me of the fictional characters they played being all heart eyes for each other.

 Misha laughed so hard he cried.

Jensen trying to read the next ‘special skill’ Misha has but he can’t even talk because of how funny he thinks it is. He’s trying so hard not to laugh but he can’t help himself.

Jensen agreeing and also asking the audience to agree that Misha has a knack for certain accents. Accent kink anyone?

 Jensen is so excited when Misha starts Tibetan throating singing and does the unicorn laugh facing away from the crowd. Bet he has experienced Misha’s Tibetan throat singing skills on a personal when they are (loud overhead helicopter noises followed by thunder rumbling)

Jensen falling to the ground after feigning a heart attack once he saw that Misha is a certified EMT. I mentioned before that I honestly, 100% think he wanted mouth to mouth. There’s no other explanation. He could’ve feigned a nose bleed or just about any other illness but he chose to fall on a dirty floor and lay down so Misha could either give him the breath of life or straddle him. Luckily for him his dream came true 7 years later at Jib9 when straddle gate happened. But I digress

Too bad Misha was still mad at him and heartbroken so he kicked him instead.

Jensen knowing that Misha kayaks seems to be part of his personal knowledge. Maybe they did it together sometimes.

Horseback riding. Hmm is it just me or do they seem awkward here?

 Misha is so close to Jensen’s armpits. Must be missing his man’s musk and being held in those muscular arms again. Poor baby.

Misha can’t talk because of how funny he finds bicycle touring. I mean…I don’t see what’s funny but I guess he knows why it’s funny.

Misha laughing and raises his legs because Jensen is elaborating on the bicycle touring. Maybe it’s an inside joke or maybe it’s no longer funny to me because I’ve watched this panel like 5 times.

 I think Jensen’s goal was to see Misha laugh and be happy because he turned to look at Misha who was still laughing hard and the joy on Jensen’s face. Aww.

Misha gravitating towards his man again. He must smell really nice Misha. And those arms. Bet he used to lift you against the wall and (this fucking thunder won’t stop rambling. Are chuck and Amara fighting again?)

Jensen marketing his man’s carpentry skills but then makes sure to make it ‘no homo’ by saying he would never sit on anything Misha has built. Sure Jan. Then he circles back and says that he knows that he can build things.

Misha walks away from him and he looks up to make sure where he is going. Maybe he was afraid Misha was walking out on him. (PTSD from their breakup?)

They mention acting on camera again.

And laugh 

Jensen keeps talking about the acting on camera and watches to see if Misha is still laughing  He still is and Jensen is happy that his baby is happy. He looks at him again and he is still happy that Misha is still happy. Then once the laughter dies down he starts talking about bicycle touring  and checks again to see if Misha is laughing which he is so Jensen throws his head back  unicorn laughing and then looks at Misha again to see that he’s still laughing. Then they look at each other and say something maybe it’s about that was a good laugh. Jensen is wiping tears from his eyes because of how hard he laughed  Misha does the same. That entire thing was insane and they seemed to love it.

 Jensen starts saying that being this happy or goofing around is how they are on set sometimes and have to take a 5-10 minute break and Misha doesn’t seem too happy at the mention of the set. 

Jensen knowing that you can buy résumés on eBay. Did he buy Misha’s and then plant someone in the audience to bring it up or? Okay, yeah I know I’m reaching here but it’s probable.

 I guess my theory wasn’t farfetched because Jensen says that he’s pretty sure that Jarpad put it on eBay the previous night so maybe he is the one who did all that to win Misha back?

Jensen knows the appellation clogging is a stretch. Seems like Misha has told him about it before.

Jensen looking at his watch to see if they have time for  Misha to be telling a story about his high school sweetheart and now wife. I bet he wishes Misha could tell their love story so openly. He can’t stop looking at Misha.

The way Jensen is looking at Misha here. WTF man? He’s literally confused about what the question is.

The personal space question. This whole thing was just so many things. It was awkward, cringey, thirsty, funny.

when the fan asks whether there’s a funny fact between Jensen and Misha. I almost fainted. What? And Jensen repeats it. The two men are so stoic. They are not even looking at each other. They are looking at the fan like the way a statue stares at you, unmoving. Cringe.

The room is so quiet. Poor girl, I hope she didn’t feel awkward afterwards because if it were me, I would’ve cried from how stoic they looked and how quiet everyone was.

How they both scratch themselves, Misha on the head and Jensen on the nose. Maybe the question hit too close to home

Jensen turns to look at Misha as if to say ’help me out here man. We don’t wanna disappoint our fans.”

Misha gets it because he gets up. This whole thing is gold.

The way Jensen breathes out in anticipation. I know it was like they were playing a skit about personal space but why was he breathing like that? Shouldn’t he have been playing it as ‘uncomfortable’ not ‘turned on.’ Boudoir mannerisms.

Moving on Misha is unsure on where to touch Jensen 40.31. This is weird in and of itself because usually, they don’t have a problem touching each other’s faces, tush, eggplants, (jib4 anyone), backs et cetera. But now it’s weird? *cough* breakup *cough*

Misha touches Jensen’s ear and Jensen literally moans. He frigging moans people. In case it is not clear in the video, here is an isolated audio version of it. Jensen is also fumbling with his shirt like he’s all hot and bothered. Just like Misha did earlier. Was Jib3 their couple’s therapy that reminded them how happy and horny they made each other?

Jensen is really not answering the question, to be honest. He’s fumbling for words and trying so very hard to make sense but his word are  incoherent.

Misha going in for the nose dip. I know friends do this all the time but you have to be very close and familiar with someone such as a friend friend or a sibling for you to poke a finger in their nose. I mean noses are slimy and eww…anyway. That happened. They seem so comfortable with it. Jensen I love you but please stop talking.

The way Jensen looks at Misha. He has the cutest smile on his face as if saying thank you for making that fun and making me horny, I still want you.

Misha wiping his pinky that touched Jensen’s nose on his pants. (I wanted to add something disgusting about what heshould’ve done with that pinky but I won’t so let’s move on)

Jensen wiggling his nose.

When Misha suggests that Spn moves to Nickolodeon. Jensen laughs a bit too hard.

Misha talking about spn being a puppet show reminds me of how he mentioned them having a puppet show in Jensen’s backyard after the show is over.

Jensen also saying that in a way spn is a puppet show. I mean is someone making snide comments about how their strings get pulled and sometimes they are not happy about it. Like how they fired his boyfriend. It seems like it’s an inside joke.

They named the plushie Zippy aww :))

For jack’s sake guys, the way they look at each other when they mention that the  résumé was the highlight of the panel.

Jensen saying the more dirt you dig up on Misha, the more rewarded you are. Aww, someone’s trying to win his man back by any means necessary. You go girl…I mean Jensen.

He talks more about how he’s looking forward to next year when fans have more dirt on his friend Misha. Jensen didn’t want to leave the stage, he was lingering so he could spend more time with Misha.

It’s over guys.

Closing Ceremony

I know you didn’t ask for the closing ceremony but here you go. It’s a free gift.

Can I just mention how Jarpad is an overactive puppy? He has to play with anything and everything he finds.

The mc announces Misha twice for some reason. The second time Jensen looks in Misha’s direction with a small smile on his face. He [Jensen] is also chewing vigorously.

Jensen and Jarpad being typical dude bros and karate chop Rich. This is why the difference between his relationship with Jarpad and Misha stands out. He would be too busy making heart eyes to Misha to kick another guy. LoL.

Jensen hulking out when Jarpad is taking a video of everyone. Lol. This video keeps reiterating my point that his relationship with the two men is just different.

Jensen keeps looking in Misha’s direction, Misha who is busy talking to Steve and having fun. Let me also mention Steve is Jensen’s bestie and so are Jarpad and Misha, but I’m sure that Jensen felt some type of way, jealous when they were having so much fun with his man and he couldn’t. Jarpad also takes a while filming Misha for Jensen of course. They remind me of me having a crush back when I was in school. Wait, did Misha look at Jensen? It’s hard to see because the angle of the video is not expansive but I guess he was.

As soon as Jarpad gets back, Jensen takes the camera from him and starts filming fans. I’m sure he just wanted Misha to look at him

Rich mention’s Misha and something about acting on camera and Jensen licks his lips looking at Misha (I think).

Jensen then vigorously grabs the microphone from someone immediately and mention’s Misha. Jarpad’s reaction at that moment tells you everything you need to know about what’s going on between Jensen and Misha. It looks like he is pleading with Jensen in his head saying, “Don’t embarrass yourself bro. Please don’t” but it’s too late.

Jensen again talks about Misha’s résumé and specifically about acting on camera, the thing that made Misha laugh out loud during their panel. Someone’s smitten. Defending his ex-man.

Jarpad goes to whisper something to Misha. And they laugh while Jensen is thanking the jib staff for doing an amazing job. But when he sees the duo laughing, he loses track of thought and says “and they are all getting married”  dude what ??? How do you go from thanking people who worked on the convention and in .1 seconds you are talking about they are all getting married? Who is? Are you okay? Do you need to sit down? No one gets it, he says he’s kidding and gives Jarpad the microphone, spares a glance at Misha and he seems distraught from that moment on. I wish I could see Misha’s face through all this.

He’s glancing in Misha’s direction again. Man’s got it bad. What?! Oh to be loved by Jensen Ackles. Misha must be a prize, I know he is a mad genius and gorgeous and sexy as hell with that golden skin that looks like it was dipped in gold and honey, big blue eyes that are bluer than the bluest blue, but Jensen wtf man? You are in public.

 I think Jarpad is telling Jensen something maybe it has to do with what he and Misha were talking about earlier?

And it’s over people.

Overall, I agree with the breakup theory. I mean the way these two were acting around each other was very strange. If you watch Misha and Jarpad, they seem okay from the opening ceremony up till the end but Jensen and Misha are just being weird.

The panel was mostly fun but their body language told a story that something was definitely going on between them. 

@littlewolf2703

[lightns881]

DTeam Tumblr Demographics Survey Results (Part 1):

The Gifted Child Syndrome is Real with this One...

*Rubs hands together in preparation for some juicy data and in-depth analysis of the typical member of the DTeam Tumblr community*

Ooooooooh boy! Here we go!

I want to start of by thanking you guys for over 400 responses to the demographics survey! Y’all have no idea how much I appreciate it! We have so much to cover, so I’m going to divide up different sections of the survey into several posts to make it more digestable and do justice to each topic explored in the form! We’re going to start of with, you guessed it, personality types!

Strap yourself in because we’re about to thoroughly dissect your sub-conscious innerworkings and find out how the typical DTeam Tumblr Fan thinks! (And judging by the majority personality types, you guys will probably enjoy it)

The Delicious Data

From the 449 responses we received, this is a pie chart displaying the personality types of all respondents.

Image Description: INFP (40.5%), INTP (15.1%), INFJ (8.9%), INTJ (8.9%), ISFP (6.9%), ENFP (4.2%), ISTP (4.0%), ENTP (3.8%), ESFP (1.6%), ISFJ (1.6%), ENTJ (1.3%), ENFJ (1.3%), ISTJ (1.1%), ESTP (0.4%), ESFJ (0.2%), ESTJ (0%)

In comparison, this is a pie chart displaying the personality type percentages of the population as a whole according to the MBTI website.

Image Description: ISTP (14%), ESFJ (12%), ISTJ (12%), ISFP (9%), ESTJ (9%), ESFP (8%) ENFP (8%), ISTP (5%), INFP (4%), ESTP (4%), INTP (3%), ENTP (3%), ENFJ (2%), INTJ (2%), ENTJ (2%), INFJ (1%)

I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sensing a tiny difference here... Oh, right!

INxx’s on the Loose!

It’s funny. When I first found one of the 18+ DTeam fan servers through Tumblr, I asked everyone what their personality type was. I was pleasantly surprised when a lot of them told me they were INFPs like me!

It actually reminded me of MatPat’s (Game Theory) survey for one of his Life Is Strange theories that found the majority personality there was also INFP...

Funny enough, can you guess what the second leading personality on that survey was? The third? The fourth?

You probably guessed it right. MatPat found that out of the fans who responded, the leading majority was INFP while INTPs came in second, INFJs came in third, and INTJs came in fourth. The exact order for the personality types in DTeam Tumblr.

But why is it that some of the rarer personalities of the world are dominating DTeam Tumblr or Game Theory’s fanbase? What is it about these communities that attract the rare introverted Intuitive Perceivers (INxP) and Intuitive Judgers (INxJ) of the world like magnets?

The Gifted Kid Syndrome

To answer this question, first we have to examine our leading personalities. As we can see from the data, INFPs and INTPs make up 55.6% and INFJs and INTJs make up 17.8% of the total respondents. That’s nearly 3/4′s of the DTeam Tumblr population made up of INxx types!

Now, here’s me calling y’all out.

A lot of you probably relate to the quiet kid sitting at the back of the classroom who’s put into some type of TAG, gifted program, or some authority figure has probably called you smart and/or “gifted” at some point in your life. Academics probably came easy to you at one point, maybe they still do.

You’ve probably felt your chest swell up at the shower of compliments about your intelligence and at another... you’ve probably felt like people put you in a pedestal and overrate you so you’re stuck with this inherent fear of failure, and it causes you to completely shut down when the things that came easy to you at one point no longer do so. 

It’s gifted kid syndrome hitting you like a brick to the face. And if it hasn’t yet, oh you’re in for a surprise, honey.

And I’m sure many of you have come across funny, relatable posts like this:

And you want to know why most of you relate?

Image Description: INTP, INTJ, INFP, anf INFJ’s rate the highest in a giftedness per MBTI Type chart

No. You’re not hallucinating. It’s not even a joke at this point. It feels true because it probably is true.

(Granted, the study that captured similar results to this graph is long lost to the internet, but the best source I found with it was a reddit post I will be citing in the reblog.)

Now, my next point is where we find a split.

INFPs and INTPs and their Need to Question Everything (even if it’s about one sentence [insert creator here] said that one time during a 4-hour long stream)

The strongest connection I found between the two leading personalities of DTeam Tumblr is they share Extraverted Intuiting (Ne) as their auxiliary cognitive function.

I’ll use a quote that explains Ne better than I could ever explain it in my own words:

“Extraverted intuition or Ne is very much focused on patterns and making connections from information they gather... Ne dominant users enjoy being able to explore things in a much more open manner, not wanting to feel closed off to the possibilities around them... They are also highly imaginative people, who enjoy being able to come up with unique hobbies and experiences... They are not afraid of imagining things which seem almost impossible to others... [For INFPs,] Ne is what creates this detailed and incredible thoughts process which keeps them busy for long periods of time.”

And another:

“Auxiliary Ne manifests in people constantly questioning the world around them, but unlike ENxPs, they can be more pick and choose about this. But generally, they don’t take people, things and events at face value.“

Now, think about the community you’re in right now. Think about the post you’re reading at the moment.

DTeam Tumblr is full of over-analysis posts, whether about Dream and George’s secret love for each other or about the inherent problems with Dream’s shipbait and gay jokes or theories about what’s going to happen next in the dream SMP lore and the dramatic betrayals and creator’s descend into madness and more theories about sexuality and charts depicting creator’s personalities and what they’d be likely to do in different scenarios and... ooof, I’m out of breath here. You get my point.

DTeam Tumblr is literally a group of ex-gifted or gifted introverted people who love to read or write analysis, theory, and discussion posts about sweaty Minecraft Youtubers because they’re probably too overwhelmed by real life and find joy in obsessing over “dumb” things.

That’s it. That’s literally the post. I might as well end there.

But I won’t. 

Because obsessions is exactly what I want to focus on next.

The Inherent Nature of the INFP and their “Micro-Obsessions”

This is me having a one-to-one conversation with all my INFPs reading this.

Do you sometimes just set your mind on a goal--like, let’s say, writing a book--and you spend so much time obsessing over it to the point where you burn out and suddenly it never sees the light of day because you move onto your next goal or obsession because now you’re getting ready to launch your freelance website so you can start a business on [insert new hobby here]?

Or do you just suddenly find a fandom or a show or a channel you really enjoy and you spend the next few months doing nothing but engaging with it and reading fanfiction and drawing fan art or making dumb analysis posts on your main Tumblr account where suddenly you get an influx of followers from that community and now people are expecting you to just post about MCYT!?

Oh, sorry, I got a little carried away at the end there...

Anyhow, my point is, do you ever develop an obsession over something all the sudden only for it to just disappear when you find something new or just fall into the deep crevices of your mind only for it to maybe reemerge a few years later after you get a deep sense of nostalgia remembering it?

I call them micro-obsessions. And I recently found out, I’m not the only one who does this!

Here’s another quote for you: 

“According to Carl Jung’s theory of cognitive functions, when an INFP makes a decision, Ne comes in second to another process known as Introverted Feeling (Fi). Fi does not use logic to make a decision. It uses how we feel about the decision according to our values. In other words, it asks, “Which choice feels right for me?”

Ne, on the other hand, craves new ideas and experiences to explore, which causes INFPs to always be on the lookout for something novel.

Unfortunately, INFPs can get stuck in a loop, going back and forth between their Ne and Fi. They search to understand their values by constantly trying new things. They ask themselves, “Does this feel right?” then throw it over their shoulder as they move on to something else.”

So, you’re probably asking right about now, Light, how the heck does any of this have anything to do with the Dream Team and MCYT!?

Well, my friend, it has EVERYTHING to do with the Dream Team and MCYT and DTeam Tumblr as a whole.

Because INxx’s are predisposed to end up in places like this--fandoms on Tumblr, channels that speculate whether Mario is evil, watching dramatic Minecraft smp wars and elections as opposed to looking at the news that depicts Murphy’s Law as 2020′s new favorite epigram. 

The introvert in them causes them to prefer socializing in small communities online where they’re not forced to engage in conversations if they don’t want to or put into uncomfortable situations where they have to talk to that one friend of their friend who wants to make meaningless small chat.

Their Intuition causes them to wonder into places like Tumblr where they can engage in deep discussions about their newest obsessions, and they won’t be judged for writing a 500+ word post about why Dream’s shipbait tactics are a genius algorithm strat or simping over sweaty Minecraft boys.

DTeam Tumblr is a safe haven for INFPs and INTPs who might be placed in the “other” category or marked as weird for being interested in “childish” entertainment or being different from the general population overall, whether that’d be sexuality, point of view, age, gender, etc. A place where you can fully be yourself and not have to worry about disappointing people.

INFPs are predisposed for drowning themselves in their micro-obsessions to avoid all of the madness in the world--even if that means giggling like a little girl while reading memes about your favorite Minecraft YouTube creators.

That is a deep-dive into the mind of a typical DTeam Tumblr user. What do you think? Is it accurate at all? Is it completely off? Let me know in the comments!

And with that, I digress. I’m not sure whether I’ll be covering general demographics next week or diving into the topic of ships (could be a mix of both), but I will be posting about it eventually, so make sure to hit the follow if you got to the end of this post and enjoyed it or learned something new from it!

Friendly reminder that this survey and post is in no way supposed to be taken 100% seriously. These are just the ramblings of a math major INFP with too much time on her hands and way too big of an obsession for MCYT. My asks are always open for literally anything, whether if you want to ask me about this or any DNF related subject, my own opinions, or just criticize the whole of this post and tell me it’s complete trash! I’ll answer as long as it’s appropriate!

And, again, thank you everyone who filled out the survey. Without y’all, this post wouldn’t be possible. I really enjoyed writing it! Adios!

[missbiddle]

1-50 for lesb asks 😎

Oh boy, unexpected but valid. Soz for the long post lads.

1. Butch or femme: Probs femme leaning androgynous rather than butch.

2. Type: I like femme or androgynous girls mainly but the older i get the less i care hoenstly.

3. Plaid button up or leather jackets: Leather Jackets

4. My style: Literally comfort. I really don't have a style. I just like being comfortable.

5. My aesthetic: uh... no clue.

6. Favourite article of clothing: probably..... my print t-shirts (i have many)

7. Fave shoes: Connies or thongs (or flip-flops for you non-australians)

8. Current hair: mid shoulder length plain

9. Future haircut goals: odd question, but no, just longer.

10. Best date: uh.. i honestly don't know? My most recent one was pretty amazing. Got coffee, walked and talked in the park for hours, then went back to mine and watched some weird ass tv while chatting and laughing.

11. worst date: uh just super awkward, little conversation, nothing in common.

12. Single :')

13. N/A

14. What am I looking for in potential gf/wife: Umm understanding, good vibes, love, humour, and freedom of expectations. An interest in tv media is a bonus ;)

15. Dream wedding: No thanks. Marriage very much not me.

16. Kids: Nope

17. Live anywhere in the world: Um.... here? I can't say any other countries or anything coz i don't actually know what it's like to be there. But in some fantasy idea of a place, England.

18. Favourite Lesbian movie: Toss up between Imagine Me and You and But, I'm a Cheerleader.

19. Fave lesbian novel: Can't say i've specifically read one tbh.

20. Fave lesbian song: All the Things She Said by T.a.T.u lmao.

21. Fave lesbian musician: Don't really follow any in particular but uh maybe LP? or i dunno, Hayley Kiyoko. or Tash Sultana? I like like a song of theirs each but wouldn't say they are my fave. Maybe the Versonicas, but only one is gay lol.

22. Lesbian stereotype i fit into: Uhhh the "tomboy" stereotype i guess.

23. Ever assumed to be nothing more than a gal pal: don't really understand the question but dont think so

24. How to woo me: Uh, talk queer media to me, or media analysis, or game shit, or dnd nonsense.

25. What do you like most being a lesbian: Women and no men lmao

26. Cat or dog: dog 100%

27: Turn ons: Kissing and gentle touch (like body stroking etc)

28: Turn offs: depends on the person, but dirty talk during sex kinda ruins it for me

29. Do i ask women out or they ask me out: On dating apps, I ask out, in person, I wait you for them.

30. Dream Career: To write for/create tv animation

31. Interests and Hobbies: Media analysis, media watching, dnd, gaming, drawing, animating.

32. Most attractive quality in a woman: Uh i guess understanding and patience?

33. Love easily or warm up to them: Complicated. I fall in love very quickly, however, it's often not a long love. Fleeting love.

34. Ever fallen for best friend: Oh yeah.

35. Ever fallen for a straight girl: Countless times. Fave thing to do honestly.

36. The L-Word yes or no: Big yes for nostalgia and for meaning. Means a lot to me. Also acknowledge how trash and problematic it was/is. But it was a staple in growing up as a lesbian in a time when that wasn't being shown on tv.

37. Fave comfort food: Honey Joys (look em up non-australians)

38. Coffee or Tea: Tea

39. Vegetarian or Vegan or nah: Big nah. Omnivore all the way.

40. Any pets: Two greyhounds, three frogs, and a cockatiel.

41. Early-rise or night owl: both lmao it's not ideal.

42. Sign: Virgo

43. Can I drive: Yes.

44. First lesbian crush: Either Eliza Dushku in Buffy or my best friend in grade 5/6.

45. What age did i know i was a lesbian: I didn't know what a lesbian was until i was about 13, and realised i was one like a month after that.

46. Coming out age: 14.

47. Crushing on anyone: Yes, very much so. Like huge, butterflies, can't stop thinking about her level crush.

48. How my day went: atrocious day at work.

49. Dreams/aspirations for the future: Finish uni, start writing scripts for my proposed animated show, and get a job in academia. Maybe find a gf, who knows.

50. Least fave gay celebrity: don't really pay enough attention to celebs in the sense of actually caring about them as people so no idea.

[pinkispoggers]

Earth | Lance Bishop x Fem!Reader

A/N: Heyyyy... it's me again, so this is my second Bishop fic... I'm not that good with writing for Artificial people, so idk how accurate this is. Anyway, I'm also sorry if he smiles too much. Anyways, I feel free to share this with others! Oh, and I didn't use Grammarly so this probably doesn't have the best Grammar lol... and alsoooo this is my first fic with no smut... yeah...

Words: 4.7k

Warnings... none that I can think of!

Enjoy!

August 7th, 2120, aboard the USS Sulaco

You wake up in your chambers, stretching and sighing. You sit on the edge of your bed, pondering… well nothing really, you hop up, knowing this would be your last day on the Sulaco, and you would surely miss it. You had to go into Cryosleep at 3:00 pm and it was 11:34 in the morning now.

You get a few jumping Jacks in before finally getting your flight suit on and heading to the cafeteria to sit with the people you've only known for a year, and one you… you had feelings for, but you couldn't exactly call him a human. Artificial Human is what he preferred to go by and you respected that.

You sit down next to that Artificial Human. His name was Bishop, and you started a quick conversation. Before you end the conversation to eat, "would you like some cornbread?" He says with a warm tone, "sure" you smile and he gives you one back.

He hands you the cornbread, shaking a little. "Everything ok, Bishop?" You ask and a frown paints his face and you give him one back and tilt your head "Bishop?" You wave your hand over his face when he doesn't respond.

"Please, come to meet me in my office after Breakfast, I have something to ask you." He says and gets up, but not before he gives you the cornbread. You blush, hard. He walks out of the room to voices asking where he's going. He seemed… sad.

After Breakfast__________

You get back to your room, for this was a free day. Yesterday you had just got back from checking in on the Colonists on LV-492. You were only a science officer, so you only stayed in the drop ship while the others were down there.

You were snapped out of your thoughts when you realized what Bishop had asked you to do. You jump up from your bed that you were comfortably laying on. You quietly open your doors and step out with no shoes on, making your steps quieter.

You begin heading down to his office, but you hear something. Steps. "Shit" you whisper and stop in your place. You begin to run. You run all the way to his office, which is not far. You always go there to hang out with him… a lot actually. He loves showing you things that he's discovered because he knew nobody else would really care like you did.

You get to his office and step in and he smiles, ear to ear. You love his smile, it's so sweet and so… well… unsettling. The room is black-gray painted, and parts of it were white, but barel. You look around a bit and then down at him, sitting at a desk. "So, what did you need to "ask" me?" You ask and

"Well, I know this is straightforward but, Y/n, do you love me?" He asks and your jaw drops, but you hold your place. "What? Um…" you blush. "I'm sorry, please disregard what I just said, I was just wondering." He exclaims. "No, no, I- I do actually." You stutter and his eyes open widely. "Oh, ok, well I guess I can say that I love you back, you have always been special to me and I guess I formed an… attraction." He says and your mind is filled with questions.

"How can you love, you are only an artificial person?" You ask and he smiles once again. "Well, the thing is, I don't actually have the answer for that, you just… to put it in simple terms, amaze me, you are so… beautiful." He says and you blush "well thank you, Bishop" you blurt, not knowing this feeling that was pouring down on you. He gets up from his chair and walks over to you.

"Bishop?" You ask and he puts his large hand on your cheek. You smile widely as you knew what he was going to do and you let it happen. His lips met yours and as soon as it began, it ended. A quick kiss before he went to sit back down.

"Well anyways, there was also something I needed to tell you. When we get back to earth, they are granting us a free vacation, and it's going to be fully funded by the Weyland-Yutani corps! For some reason, they invited me! Maybe just for a friendly face, but i'm… excited!" He says, running on. "Well that's great, more time to hang out with you!" You blush happily.

"Come, I want to show you something!" He smiles and you come over. He pulls out a chair and you sit down.

An hour later

"Yeah! Well it's…" He said as he looked at his watch "2:57 now, we better get going." "Oh! Ok, yeah I almost forgot!" You say as you both stand up and race to the Cryosleep room, side by side.

When you reach there, everyone is already ready to go into Cryosleep except for you and Bishop. "Get ready you two, and, I saw you go into his office" Apone glared at you and you sigh and you do what he says.

You lie in your chamber, pondering endlessly about… nothing again. You lie flat on your back, watching as Hudson shoots you a middle finger with a shit eating grin on his face and then closes the door to the chamber. You float off to sleep with a smile on your face.

3 weeks later, asleep

You wake up from Cryosleep, but in an unfamiliar room. It looks like a bedroom, a nice one too. You're only wearing underwear, and a wristband that says in all caps "WEYLAND-YUTANI CORPS" "this must be a Wey-yu hotel?" You whisper to yourself. Why were you half naked, You thought.

You hear a knock at your door and you panic. "One second!" You shout and you scramble to find clothes. You make your way over to the drawer in the far corner of the room and you slip on an oversized top and head to the door.

You open it and see a familiar face, then you smile widely. "Hello Bishop! What are you doing here-" you mumble, figuring out what happened. Bishop was wearing a striped shirt and gray sweatpants. He looked so cute like that. "Wait, I remember, but what are you doing at my hotel room?" You go on and he smiles back. "Just checking in. How are you?" He asks. "Oh, I'm fine! Still groggy, but fine." You say and his eyes seem to scan you from head to toe. "You look healthy from the outside, so I'm guessing you are feeling ok."

"Yeah" you say as you look at the clock in front of the door. "Can I come in?" He asks and you nod as you head back over to the drawer to finish getting dressed for the day. "Hey Bishop" you call as you are still facing the drawer "How does this look on me?" You turn around and he smiles again. "Perfect, Y/n" he exclaims and you blush as he sits down on the bed. "Thank you"

"So, how long is our "vacation" before we have to get back to work?" You ask and he looks around the room, something he would save in his "brain" for analysis later. "Two weeks." He says with a warm tone in his voice. "Oh! Nice!" You say excitedly. "Well, what do you want to do first? And… you never told me where we were going."

"Oh, I'm sorry, we are in Orlando, Florida, and I don't know what I would want to do first, it's really up to you and Hicks." He says and you half-gasp "Hicks is here? That's great!" You accidentally shout, knowing Hicks could probably hear you, but you weren’t sure which hotel room he was in so you had hope that he couldn’t hear you.

"Oops. Well, we can go get breakfast at…" you stop for a moment as you hear another knock at your door. You go to open it, and It's Hicks. "I heard someone say my name?" He said and leaned against the door, arms crossed and a smirk on his face. "Uh… yeah, but I didn't mean to be that loud" you laugh.

"It's ok" He chuckles and looks around your room and sees the man sitting on your bed. "What's he doing here?" Hicks raises an eyebrow and Bishop smiles at him. "Oh, he just came in to talk I guess" you sigh. "Sounds like Bishop to me." He laughs and you smile. "So, what were you talking about?" Hicks asks. "Oh! Yeah, we were talking about where we wanted to go this morning." You exclaim with joy.

"Well anyways…" you say as you look on top of the drawer and see something. A map of… what? Florida? You grab the map and to no surprise, it is a map of Florida, but it's fun things to do! "Well I see that The Glass Knife is open! It says here it has sandwiches, pastries, cakes, and doughnuts! We could go there?" You say as you look down at the map.

"We could go there for breakfast!" Hicks says with a smile. "Let me get ready and I'll call a Taxi." Hicks says. He's in an oversized shirt and probably boxers, you guessed. Bishop was wearing a long sleeve striped shirt and trousers.

20 minutes later

You were having a really good conversation with Bishop about some really interesting things, mostly about him and his programming, but in-between things, he's talking about how he loves you, and how beautiful you are. He just can't keep it in. You are blushing hard, but that stops when you hear another knock at your door.

"I'll be right there!" You shout and give Bishop one last hug before you get up and go to the door to be met by Hicks. "Ready to go?" He asks while smiling at Bishop, to which Bishop looks around the room, like a dog who just did something bad. "Yep! Let's go!" You say as you tuck in the oversized shirt you have on, into your shorts.

Bishop gets up and you take his hand. Hicks peeks around his shoulder, peering at your hands tangled with his, and he sighs and turns around, right before you could leave. "Are you two together or something?" He asks before you could understand what was going on. You were smiling like an idiot, but not for long after he said that.

"Uhhh… I mean, he's a… are we?" You look back around at Bishop. "Yes… I think." He smiles and you turn back to Hicks. "Ok… that's pretty cool… I guess." Hicks says, not sure if he should be happy about you and Bishop, or to be concerned that he's a… well, synthetic, and you are a human.

You motion your way over to a closet, where you find all of your things that you brought with you on the Sulaco. "Yes!" You whisper so no one can hear you, except for Bishop. "What did you find?" He asks. "My stuff!" You whisper back and he smiles "Glad you found it." He whispers back. You grab your wallet, and you get going.

The drive was really nice, you got to see all the beautiful palm trees, and the most stunning houses, a little farther from the Wey-Yu Hotel, but that was alright. You joked around with Bishop the whole way there, mostly about how harsh Apone was most of the time, and how you guys never caught a break. Hicks talked, but not much, and the Driver was dead silent, until you finally got there and he gave you a weird stare and hoped you had a nice day.

You hopped out of the car to see a modern looking building, and Bishop just stares at it for a while, processing what he's seeing. "Bishop? C'mon" you call to him as you and Hicks start walking into the Café. "Sorry, just taking in new information." He says and follows you in.

"Do we want to eat in, or out?" You ask. "Out." Hicks says. You know he didn't like eating around people because it made him nervous. Bishop nods his head in agreement with Hicks. You walk up to the counter to order and people are giving Bishop and you smiles. Weirdly enough, not Hicks because he looks grumpy.

Before you could ask what's wrong with him, he speaks and is the first to order. "Yeah, uhm, can I have the cheddar biscuit sandwich?" He takes his time to speak, as he looks at the menu above. "Sure, and what about the Lady in the back, with what looks to be a synthetic." The woman on the other side of the counter says with a smile, and Bishop frowns. "I prefer the term artificial person myself." He smiles.

"Ok, then. Well what would you like, miss?" She asks and you are still confused how she knew Bishop was an artificial person. "Uh.. uh.. I'll have any donut…" you smile nervously. "Ok, and I'm going to assume he doesn't eat." The lady says with a grin. "Actually, I can. Just not human food." He says and you nudge him. "Just say you dont" you whisper and he nods.

The woman goes to get your pastries and Hicks looks a little brighter than before. You nudge him. "Hey Hicks, what's wrong?" You ask and he looks down/up at you. "Nothing really, that driver we had gave me the creeps" He laughs. "Oh, well I hope you are doing better now!" You say happily.

The woman hands you your food and you all head out of the Café. "Where do you guys wanna eat?" Bishop smiles, probably happy to be out of there. "Well," you say, taking out the map that was in the apartment. "There's a park, about a 5 minute walking distance" you say and Bishop and Hicks nods in agreement. You start your walk, food in hand.

At the park

You find some soft grass under a large tree, that has the perfect amount of shade for you all to feel comfortable. You are the first to sit, motioning the others to follow and they did. You formed a triangle-like shape as you opened your bag with the food in it, giving Hicks his food, and Bishop, not having ordered anything, getting nothing.

You bite down into the delicious Donut, smiling as you lick frosting off of your lips and Bishop laughs a little. "What?" You laugh as you nudge him playfully. Hicks looks down at his food and takes a bite, not knowing if he will like it or not. He does, you think as he smiles widely with crumbs hanging onto his lips. "How's your food, Hicks?" You ask. "Really good actually, I'll be right back, he says as he gazes at the recreation center next to the park. He stands up, and rushes over to it.

You take a gaze at Bishop, and scoot closer to him, trying not to drop your donut. He looks at you, not knowing your intentions, but guessing they were nothing bad. He smiles at you and you look at him, then back down to finish your donut. Right after you finished, you leaned on his shoulder, putting an arm around his shoulders and his smile widened. He leans in to kiss your head and you let him. He then takes your arm off of him, reaching his hand for your face, cupping your cheeks.

You smiled, closing your eyes and letting him kiss you deeply. His lips were so soft, not chapped at all. Everything about him was perfect. Before he could continue kissing you, you pulled off, taking in deep breaths. You climb on his lap, wrapping your legs around his torso, but nothing more, and your lips clash with his.

"I love you, Y/n, and always will." He smiles on your lips and you laugh as you push him down onto the soft grass, getting off of him and lying next to him. "I love you too" you sigh as you rest your head on his shoulder. You wished you had all the time in the world together with him, but as soon as it began, it ended. You and Bishop turn your head to see Hicks running down from the recreation center, and you two sit up.

"What are you two doing?" He says playfully, and crosses his arms. Right before Bishop could speak, you looked at him, and then Hicks, embarrassed. "Just looking at the clouds" you smile and Bishop does the same. "Mhm" Hicks says.

You were both done with your food, so you decided it was time to head back. Bishop insists he should throw away the trash and you let him. He's also the one to call the taxi with a bright smile across his face.

Back at the Hotel.

You step out of the car, breathing in the fresh Florida air. You wait, as the other two get out of the car and say thanks, and goodbye to the driver. Suddenly, you feel an arm snaking around your waist, not squeezing, just resting there. You squeak and turn around to see that it's just Bishop.

You let him eventually hug, and kiss you on the cheek. The car drives off, and you and Bishop hold hands while walking into the hotel, Hicks walking behind you.

On the 17th floor of the Hotel

Hicks, Bishop, and you split up into your rooms, but not before he gives you a kiss, and everything goes quiet, and you walk away into your room. The first thing you do is go over to change into a long gown. It makes you feel stronger. After you do a spin in it, you walk over to your bed and lie on it, sun barely shining through the window onto you. You stared at the TV, wishing you could stream your favorite movie on it, but you knew it was not available. It was a really old movie from the 1980s… damn, that was a long time ago, you thought.

You had another favorite movie from the 2020s, also a long time ago. You grab the remote and look for the movie. "Ha! I knew they would still have it!" You whispered to yourself. You get under the covers, and snuggle up with yourself right before you get to watching it.

In the middle if the movie, you turn your head to the side, not knowing why, you are missing something, you think. … Him, Bishop. It's like you can't be without him today. "Shit" you whisper, not knowing why you want him so badly. Your body is already getting up, without your mind's consent. You sigh, knowing what you really wanted. Him. You sneak out of your room. You wondered if this was a good idea, since it was getting late. You checked the clock at the end of the hall, right next to his room. 8:47. You had all the time in the world to turn back, but you decide not to.

You let out your final sigh before knocking on his door. "Coming!" He shouts from the other side of the door, eventually opening it to see you and he smiles. Your eyes widen. He's completely shirtless, and wearing sweat pants. "I- hello" you smile uncontrollably, unable to take your eyes off of him. He smiles and cups your face, bringing you in for a quick kiss. You are completely flustered, with all that's happening in front of you. "Am I making you uncomfortable?" He asks, and you shake your head no. "Alright good, just checking!" He smiles. "Y/n, you look beautiful in that gown." He says and you blush. "Thank you"

"I was gonna ask if you wanted to come over to my room to hang out!" You say, shyly. "Sure" He smiles softly. Before you can start walking, he scoops you up, bridal style into his arms and you gasp, but you let him carry out what he's doing. He carries you down the hall, and over to your room, and you stretch over to enter the chip that came with your room.

As the door opens, he lets you down slowly, and holds the door open for you. You say thank you again and you both head in. He goes to sit on your bed like he did this morning, and you went to sit with him. "So, why did you want me here?" He asks and you smile nervously. "I got lonely" you say and he frowns. "How can I help, Y/n" he asks and you laugh and put your head on his shoulder. "Being here of course." You smile and he does the same. "Then I'll stay," He says.

"So, what have you been doing, and what would you like to do now?" He asks. "Well, I was watching a movie, and then I felt… like something was missing. You know. So I went over to get you." You say and he gently squeezes your arm. "Y/n, I missed you too, I love you so much." He says, playing with what he could of your hair. "I know, you've told me at least a million times today. But I love you too." You smile. Tears begin to brim your eyes and you suddenly hug him tightly, your head, plunging into his soft chest. He hugs you back, squeezing a little too hard, but you don't mind.

He had nothing to say. He just wanted to comfort you, to make you feel loved, which he was successful at. You were crying, hard, remembering the times where you felt like you weren't loved at all, but he was here now, and you felt completely loved, like he could protect you from anything dark to come. He plants kisses on your head, making you feel so much better.

You slowly push off of him, tears, all gone now. He smiles, happy to make you feel better. You stand up from the bed, reaching out your hand for him to take, and he does, standing there, waiting for you to do something. You let go of his hand to grab the remote.

Thankfully, there was an app called Spotify on your TV, that allows you to play old, and new music, but you fell in love with the old music a long time ago. "Hey Bishop," you call to him and he perks up. "Do you like old music? From the 1970s through 2020s?" You ask and he looks confused, a kind of blanked out stare. "I haven't heard much music in my life" He frowns.

"Well, it's really good, I'm gonna put it on!" You giggle. "Ok!" He calls back, seeming excited to hear it. With one push of a button, Shut Up and Dance turned on. Right when it started, you ran over to him and grabbed his hand. He looks down at his hand, and then up at you. "C'mon, let's dance!" You nod your head to the beat. He looks around the room, not knowing what you really want him to do.

"Bishop… you know how to dance right?" You ask, with a sudden frown on your face. "Not much, no," He says. "oh… well, I'll teach you, c'mon!" You paint a small smile on your face. This is gonna be hard, you think. "Ok," you sigh. "Let's start by tapping our feet on the ground." You say and he complies. "You got it! Now, start by moving your arms and swaying side to side with the beat!" You laugh. "Ok…" He wobbles on his feet. He starts to sway side to side, catching up with the beat, but still a little off. "Yeah! You got it… now move freely. Just let your body move to the beat!

You begin to dance around the room, encouraging him to do the same. He follows you, and mimics your movements perfectly. You laugh, waving your arms around to see if he would mimic you, and he did. You were on the verge of crying-laughing now, and he didn't have a clue to what was going on. "Bishop… don't just copy me. Try to come up with your own moves and stuff, like just jam to the music." You laugh. "Ok, how about this!" He says and he does something like the robot dance, and you snort.

"Bishop no… but get it I guess" you say and he stops suddenly and walks up to you slowly. You close your eyes, not expecting him to grab your waste, and dip you. Your eyes widen, and you let out a shriek, trying not to lose your balance. That is virtually impossible, as he could never let you fall. His grip on you was tight, but not even close to hurting you. He could never.

He lifts you back up, lifting you off of the ground by your hips, spinning you once while trying to look into your eyes, which were gazing around the room to try to center on something, anything. He notices you are getting a bit dizzy, so he slowly lets you down on the bed and you fall back with a soft thump. You finally center on a spot on the ceiling, and come down from the slight shock you had just been in. "Are you ok? Did I hurt you?" He asks and you shake your head no. "Nope, just wasn't expecting that" you laugh.

The song comes to an end, and you're still breathing hard. He's still trying his best to dance, even though the song has ended, but soon he's by your side again, rubbing your back the way you love. He kisses the side of your head and lays you down onto the bed, covering you with the sheets with swift, efficient motions. Next, he moves on top of the bed, getting under the covers and wrapping one arm around your shoulders.

Thankfully the remote is just above your hip, so you don't have to have him move away from the position he's in. You move your knees up to your stomach, leaning into him. You put one hand on his chest, and the other is gripping the remote, searching for the Netflix button. "Here!" You whisper and he looks over at you, and back to the TV.

"So, what do you plan on watching?" He asks and smiles widely. He had never really seen a lot of shows, so he didn't really know what watching one was like. He did read a lot of books though, just not TV. "Hmmm… maybe this really, really old movie called Revenge of The Sith, it's from Star Wars!" You exclaim happily, excited to get to watch this with him.

He looks back up at the TV and smiles as the big yellow letters pop up on the screen. He's taking in all this new information, reading the opening crawl, not missing any words. His eyes are glazed over from getting deep into the movie, which haven't even been 15 minutes in yet. You could tell he was really interested. You rest your head on his shoulders and he snaps out of his trance-like state, reaching one hand up from your shoulders, to play with what he could of your hair. He smiles and looks down over at you, just making sure you are ok with what he's doing.

About 2 hours later, at the end of the movie

"That was great! It really touched my synthetic heart" Bishop laughed. You smile, happy that he liked the movie, but it was getting late, and you were already drifting off to sleep. "Are you tired, Y/n?" He nudges you and you nod slowly. "Can you sleep? Or… well…" you ask and he nods.

"something like that. I can set a quick timer for sleep mode, and wake up at that time." He smiles. "Yeah, do that. How about 10:00 AM?" You ask. "Yeah, I can do that." He pauses for a moment, then lays a kiss on your head, and you finally drift off to sleep, thinking about all the things you could do tomorrow. He lies next to you, in a hugging position. You felt completely safe.

A/N: ok so I just discovered the "Under the cut" feature... yeah I'm dumb... anyways, ty for reading! (There will be more chapters)

[chaoticpanenergy]

things i loved about the new sanders aside

-thomas: oh yeah the sanders asides will be really short lil mini-episodes sanders aside #1: *is fully 20 minutes long* fanders: *are blessed*

-all the fanfic writers are now canonically correct about logan being really good at helping virgil calm down when he’s panicking and i adore it

-vIRGILS REACTION TO DECEIT WAS GREAT AND ALSO HEARTBREAKING LEAVE VIRGIL ALONE PLEASE 

-remus no 

-tHOMAS WRITING FROZEN FANFIC

-rOMAN EGGING THOMAS INTO WRITING FROZEN FANFIC

-rOMAN’S ONESIE

-VIRGIL’S ONESIE

-LOGAN’S LOVE FOR HIS SECRET ONESIE

-the weird viking bit at the start?????? incredible.“rEEXAMINE YOUR CULTURAL BIASES!!!!”

-roman BLATANTLY rigging the vote and everyone letting him get away with it anyway bc they love him <3

-baby Anna: I lOVE YOU, Olaf!!!!!! Patton, tearing up: i aLSO LOVE YOU, OLAF!!!!!!!!!!!

-the genuine UTTER JOY in each Side’s voice when they all chorus “JOAN!!!!!!” ????? they love thomas’s friends so much????????? i cannot Handle this???????????

-Logan having iced coffee and then making a face every time he sips it (and also it still being almost entirely full at the end of the whole movie) which like Definitely implies that he hates coffee but thinks he should drink it for the Aesthetic (also Logan why are you intaking caffeine in the evening you should know better stop that ur doing the “self care for everyone else and not me” thing u deserve love)

-“Nope nope I’m an adult that’s not funny” -remus no

-“The ONLY explanation for it is that that’s just his Evil Plotting Face™️” side note dOES THIS MEAN ROMAN HASNT SEEN THAT ONE TUMBLR POST SAYING THE TROLLS ARE EVIL???????

-“AW MAN YEEEAAAAAHHHH IM SO F*CKED UP ON CHOCOLATE FONDUE I DONT EVEN KNOW WHAT IM SAYING ANYMORE” -also Roman cursed so much in this episode omg

-i love that roman is now canonically That Person who makes snarky comments throughout the entire film while everyone else is trying to enjoy it but will also wax poetic about its virtues at you for 8 hours if you make the slightest critique, it’s so annoying and extra and relatable and very him

-Roman pointing out the footprints behind Elsa as she sings that there’s “not a footprint to be seen” and Logan’s shock and horror and agreement as he realizes roman’s point (also SAME HA IM SO GLAD THEY POINTED THAT OUT IT’S ALWAYS BUGGED ME)

-vague Angsty Patton Hints as he sings along to “don’t let them in, don’t let them see”??????

-“she really shouldn’t let go of any more of her clothing, that’s for sure..... she’ll,, freeze to death” Logan your Gay is showing that was a hastily constructed excuse of a reason, you of all people would definitely have immediately recognized that her ice powers in all likelihood make her completely immune to cold 

-the WAY TOO EXTENDED metaphor about the bridge that at the end of a solid like 2 minutes or however long we learn Logan has been taking literally this whole time 😂😂😂

-Roman: “We need to make like Elsa and—“ Patton: “Let it go!” Roman: “—Lie low in our kingdom of isolation, come ON Patton, don’t go for the low-hanging fruit!!” what a drama queen i love him

-Remus NO

-Logan being SO IRRITATED with Roman’s admittedly annoying movie-watching style 😂

-“Oh, sweet frank iero—“

-virgil: “Just think about it—“ thomas: “Like I have a choice!”

-the small detail of Logan not letting Virgil’s worried comments count for the “5 things you can see” etc and only counting the serious ones that he says <3 <3 <3

-roman: “Yeah, just take it from frozen’s most inspirational song: Fixer Upper!!! [weird metaphor]” thomas: “Thank you Roman, that’s.......barely applicable”

-Logan at the end revealing he was keeping a list of elsa’s powers -“creating fabric from....... ice, I guess??????” -patton’s “yeah, all checks out!!” -logan’s further, incredibly detailed, analysis of what she could theoretically do with those powers

-Virgil’s “what if your soulmate was at the party” comment sending Roman into instant flustered gay panic

-Roman: WE’RE GONNA REWRITE FROZEN ONE!!!!!! Logan: Oh!!!!! Are we gonna [fix it but in loganese]???? Roman: “no! .......yes. ........I don’t know what you’re asking?? WE’RE GONNA MAKE IT BETTER!!!”

-Roman, scoffing at the idea that anyone but him could create perfection: ‘Instant classic’ doesn’t mean ‘flawless flick!’ Logan, SO EAGER to be helpful and back roman up, what an adorable lil underappreciated nerd, i adore him: oH!!! It’s true!!!! Those two phrases are not synonymous!!!!!!1!

-“hans gets a PROPER Disney villain song” Roman r u sure u don’t have just a tiny crush on hans lol

-everything????? this was incredible i loved it send tweet

[himbeaux-on-ice]

Who are your top five NHL teams and why?

Ooooo this is fun! Thanks anon!

Short list:

Habs ❤️🤍💙

Pens 🐧

Canucks 🌈🌊

Caps 🦅

Leafs 🟦🍁🟦 (no really! I know I don’t talk about them much but its true!)

Over-wordy explanations/backstory for my relationship to each of these teams below the cut for those interested!

Montreal Canadiens. My dearly beloved Nana, who half-raised me, is a lifelong diehard Habs fan who grew up listening to their games on the radio and then later as an adult watching them duel with the Leafs on Saturday nights on a black-and-white tv (also a BIG Carey Price stan). Needless to say she rubbed off on me immensely, and I remember saying to myself at some point “well, if that’s Nana’s team, that’s gonna be my team too” and it stuck for life. I also had a friend in middle school who was a RELIGIOUS Habs fan who also worshipped at the altar of Jesus Price in those early 2010’s, so I heard a LOT about all of that every lunch break as he argued with friends who were Pens and Bruins fans lol. We went on the Bell Centre tour during the annual 9th grade French class trip to Quebec, and while I was mostly focused on getting to the gift shop to buy Nana a souvenir, I swear my friend’s eyes were the size of quarters the whole time lmao. (Would LOVE to go back now that I care a lot). Basically the Habs are the closest thing to a local NHL team our region has bc we get their broadcasts (though people choose their own team allegiances for various random personal reasons), and I grew up absorbing through osmosis both the legends of yore and the latest updates on whatever Carey and PK and the lads were up to. (Also I’ve been quietly in love with Price myself since at least the 2014 Olympics lol. My first best fav ❤️) Bottom line the Habs are My Team, the “I’m gonna be here even when it sucks, even when players move on, this is attached to me in a way I can’t quite explain” team that every hockey fan has in their heart. GO HABS GO!

Pittsburgh Penguins. If you were an elementary school kid in Nova Scotia when Sidney Crosby was first released and up through the 2010’s, you had two options: love him, or hate him, but you better accept you’re gonna be hearing about him a LOT. I settled on “vague fondness” and followed Sid from a newspaper-scanning distance and vaguely rooted for him because when he brought the Cup home it felt like we all won. And like I said, lots of passionate Pens fans in my grade school classes to hear from (he’s also the only non-Habs player my Nana likes lol). Then I got into hockey properly last year and learned about Geno beyond just knowing his name, and my chronic affection for large loveable Russians got combined with my longstanding vague “I hope the Penguins win” feelings and my “time to get the full story on the Sidney Crosby’s Penguins narrative I only ever watched from a distance” research, in a manner not unlike the creation of the PowerPuff Girls ([chemical X] etc etc lol) to create a potent adoration for this team that rocketed them to second place in my heart. Also the fandom is just so damn fun and makes such great content, and that definitely feeds my level of engagement with the Pens!! Sometimes, when I want an emotional pick-me-up I watch one of their last 3 championship films just to remember what joy and optimism is — I would love to be present as a real-time fan for another adventure like that. With how much I know about them and how much I care, they’re my #2 for sure. I love those flightless fucks!!

Vancouver Canucks. So I started watching live NHL hockey games last summer around I think game 2 of the Habs’ first round series against the Flyers (I saw Price’s “Miracle Save” on twitter while following along bc I was intrigued by the fact that they made it through the play-ins, and was like “OKAY NOW I GOTTA SEE THIS SHIT LIVE”). That was really fun! Riiiight up until the Habs got eliminated. :/ And I was like “well, shit. I’m enjoying this hockey thing too much to stop now. who else is still around I can root for?” And the Canucks were the last Canadian team still in it, and there was buzz about their miraculous first-round win but also uncertainty I believe Markstrom had *just* got injured. So I started watching, ended up witnessing the Bubble Demko Miracle unfold live, had my heart charmed off me by “whatever the hell those two lil blonde bitches have going on” and a delightful underdog story, and here I am. Hitched to the Canuck wagon whether I enjoy it or not. Here for whatever happens! (Doesn’t hurt that I love me some Elton John too 😉)

Washington Capitals. I’m a person who is more likely to be really engaged with a team that has super interesting personalities, characters, and narratives around it — and my GOD are the Capitals good for that. I absolutely definitely started down this road with that mic’d up video from the 2018 final of Ovi telling Nicke “after me, I give it to you baby!” re: the Cup. Like I can pinpoint that there was a day I saw that for the first time in a gifset, squinted at the screen, said “you’re fucking with me...”, went to youtube, watched it be for reals, and was like “well. now I need to know more about ALL this.” After watching games and learning more about the team, I really enjoy the Caps’ “big dumb found family of stone-cold total weirdos” energy, their fun collective chemistry, their Cup story, etc. And oh BOY the fandom is fun during game lb’s! I love all the in-jokes and player nicknames, our delight with the quirks of our colourful wonderful broadcast crew (shoutout Wine Uncles & Co), the way we cheer for record-breaking milestones like they’re a first NHL goal! Being a fan of the Caps AND the Pens can be a bit awkward sometimes, and the team certainly has its blemishes, but my heart is big enough for two Metro teams for sure, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Toronto Maple Leafs. So like, as you can imagine from my previously described upbringing in Hab Land, “haha Leafs suck” is a punchline I have long been familiar with and trained to recite. I got a solid 3 days of laughter and entertainment out of the whole Zamboni Driver Saga last February, oh boy did I ever. But the thing is.... I have the Leafs to thank for the fact that I watch hockey now. See, the entire reason I started paying proper attention to the playoff bubble last summer was because one day, I happened to see the phrase “WHAT IS HAPPENING” trending at 16k tweets on twitter, and clicked on it like “huh?”. Turns out the Leafs were in the middle of their miraculous 3-minute comeback against Columbus and the country was losing its mind. And when they won, I was like “huh... the Zamboni Team is doing THIS??? I may have to start paying attention to this playoffs thing, because if they go All The Way I think that might be the only thing funnier than the Zamboni Incident”. Aaaaand when they immediately lost the next game and were eliminated I was like “lol, sounds about right” and was then immediately distracted by news of the Habs winning the play-in round. So then I spent several months watching playoffs and forgetting about the Leafs. And then one day in early October, looking on YouTube for more hockey to watch after the playoffs ended, I stumbled across something called a Hat Pick, and boy I actually enjoyed this shouty man’s sense of humour and takes on the game... and then when I ran out of Hat Picks and Dangits I watched some Trade Trees, which pulled back the curtain on the business side of the game... and then I discovered LFR’s, which were good background noise for doing tasks... and then I was recommended the episode of the Steve Dangle Podcast about Mitch Marner and The List... and next thing I knew I was listening to more of this podcast, because I found Steve and the guys to be insightful and funny and there was no hockey to watch, and I was trepidatious about accidentally stumbling into the more toxic corners of hockey fandom if I branched out for other content... and, well. If you spend enough hours listening to people passionately analyze every facet of a team, shout and cheer over a team, make fun of that team, nearly cry over that team... it’s really REALLY hard to not start to care about it. Leafs analysis was basically how I learned most of what I’ve learned about hockey this past year! And kudos to Steve and Adam and Jesse, their passionate investment in the Leafs and great content has got ME invested in the Leafs mainly because I want to see things go well for them. I want Charlie Brown to kick the football! I love a triumph over adversity story! Also, I think if the Leafs did Do The Thing it would basically be the combination of “Cubs win the World Series” and “Raptors are the champs” and I wanna watch the city of Toronto go fully apeshit from a safe distance. I don’t adore many their individual players as much as I do some other teams higher on this list, and I still laugh far too much when things go super comically impossibly badly for them, but I am actually pulling for the Leafs!! I want to see it all pay off for them. I want them to go all the way. Gimme that “LEAFS WIN!!!” (Unless it’s against someone above them on this list lol)

[fulisha-of-light]

Misha Kiyomi Voice Lines

And then I did Misha. I tried to make her tone come off as mature and (eerily) calm given she has similar mannerisms, thoughts, and personality to Kyubey, save for some of her lines since she’s not devoid of all emotion per say.

I think I did pretty alright:

Intro Self Introduction 1: Greetings. I’m Misha Kiyomi. I’ve been a magical girl for 4 years now, so I’m what some might call a veteran. With my experiences and knowledge, I travel around with Kyubey in search of magical girls to mentor. It’s hard to learn the ropes on your own, so that’s why I help them. And once I finish my teachings... I proceed to turn them all into Witches. For the sake of the universe, of course. Self Introduction 2: There’s no need to be so formal towards me. Just call me Misha, I don’t mind. I am a traveling mentor who helps train magical girls. Whether they be old or new, I will provide my services until the time comes for them to fully mature into Witches. It is the fate of every magical girl, and I am no exception.

Personal Story Story Chapter End 1 I better watch my step. One wrong move and I could have them all against me. Story Chapter End 2 How interesting... I must investigate this further. Story Chapter End 3 I think I know what to do now. The real question is, who goes first?

Story Select 1 Allow me to teach you. I have 4 years of experience after all. Story Select 2 Interested in having your wish granted? My friend can help you with that. Story Select 3 It’s “Misha” Kiki, not “Misa-Misa”. Please stop calling me that. Story Select 4 Kyubey and I have come here in search of this Sibyl. What do you know of her? Story Select 5 Alright, let’s begin the next lesson. Are you ready? Story Select 6 The Reaper is exactly that: a magical girl killer. And we’re her current targets.

Stats Strengthening Complete: Well, well, it’s seems I’ve improved. Let’s perform an analysis and see what’s changed. Strengthening Max: *Laughs* I’ve become even stronger. At this rate, it’d take a miracle to stop me now.

Episode Level Up: Another day, another step closer to fulfilling Kyubey’s quota. Magia Level Up: And thus, my power continues to grow. Let’s keep it up.

Magical Release 1: My teachings serve to not only help other magical girls, but myself as well. Just as they grow and learn about their abilities, I get the chance to analyze the magic and find new uses for them. Tomoyoko’s seems to hold a lot of promise. Magical Release 2: It’s been 4 years since I’ve become a magical girl. My magic and knowledge have never failed me. But this whole Sibyl situation is quite puzzling. What secrets does this boy hold? I must keep him under my watch. Magical Release 3: These “Distortions” are also rather curious. Malformed Witches born from Soma’s soul gem, preventing the transformation... just how is this even possible? I need this power, and Soma’s my only chance at finding its creator. I have no choice but to keep investigating and studying him until then.

Awaken 1: Before my contract, I thought that I had the world. When you have obtained perfection through your skills and knowledge, what more could you ask for? Never did I think that there was something beyond that. For Kyubey to have chosen me... I am truly blessed. Awaken 2: My newfound knowledge is what drives me to act and fulfill Kyubey’s quota. I know well enough that I must become a Witch, but I want to see if I can survive a little longer, maybe even avoid it altogether. Awaken 3: Not all magical girls are equal. Some have wishes, power, and destinies far greater than the rest. Not having that potential myself is unacceptable. That’s why I will find the Sibyl and learn the secrets behind her success.

Home Screen Login (First login): I guess I shouldn’t be surprised to see you’re still here. But you’re not really getting in my way, so I guess it’ll be alright to keep you around for awhile. Consider yourself lucky. Login (Morning): Good morning. I’ve prepared us some coffee. Take a moment to relax before we head out today. We have all the time in the world to fulfill the quota, so there’s no need to rush or anything. Login (Noon): If you’re skilled enough with magic, you can actually avoid hunger altogether. But I don’t mind stopping to have lunch every now and again. It’s never boring either since I have someone other than Kyubey accompanying me today. Login (Evening): Now’s the time to really strike. Witches are plentiful during this hour, and many magical girls will either be out hunting or returning home. Care to join the hunt with me? Login (Night): As much as I’d like to pull an all-nighter, even I need to rest. Those girls aren’t going anywhere, so it’s good to take a break and plan tomorrow’s next move. Don’t worry about the hotel fees, I’ve got everything covered. Login (Other): Kyubey and I are not evil. We do not create Witches out of any malice or sick joy. We do what is right, and to save the universe, sacrifices are an inevitability. And ultimately, it’s a part of human nature too. You can not deny that. Login (AP full): It’s time. I’ll be taking the lead today, so stay close behind me. Witches? *Laughs* No, no. Today, we’re going to pick out who’s going to become a Witch. Login (BP full): A Witch who makes copies... how simply fascinating. Perhaps if I can get a sample, I could use this to my advantage. Imagine the possibilities with that kind of power!

Tap 1: Oh? You think I’m mad? Please, only the unenlightened would foolishly label perfect intellectuals like me “mad”. Tap 2: This Sibyl is a curiosity. Rumor has it she’s very powerful and wise, having lived for a very long time. If it’s true, then she is one hell of a rarity. But rarities like her are still just magical girls. It's only a matter of time before she too will become my prey. Tap 3: Kyubey’s race is amazing. The technology... the culture... the knowledge... All of it, it’s really incredible. Hm? You want to know? *Laughs* Sorry. You are just not worthy of this precious information. Tap 4: Kiki is certainly brimming with personality. So eager to learn and fight... and so easy to manipulate. It’s always the most innocent ones that fall first. I’m glad there’s so many of them in the world. Tap 5: Magical boy, magical girl... I don’t care who they are. At the end of the day, they all become Witches. When I'm done with Tomoyoko, Soma and the others will just become another resource for me to use. Tap 6: Chiaki is a rather cautious individual. There’s always a magical girl or two like that in any city. But I’m not worried. As long as I closely monitor her and remain in control, I can easily take her out before she tries to stop me. Tap 7: So it seems the Reaper has followed me here too. Oh Shiori, when will you learn? You’re only hurting yourself in the end. You will never have the “old Misha” back, just accept it already and stop getting in my way. Tap 8: I have no regrets. I’m happy to have this knowledge and power that Kyubey has so graciously given me. In return, I will not fail him. The quota will be fulfilled no matter what. Even if I must become a Witch myself. Tap 9: I’m thankful for your companionship, but surely you know by now what awaits you in the future. If I start to get peckish and there’s no grief seeds around... Well, I hope you’ll understand what needs to be done.

Battle Start: Are you prepared to face me? Battle Victory 1: Perfect. Let’s move on. Battle Victory 2: Another one down. Who’s next? Battle Victory 3: Don’t stand in my way.

Doppel: *Laughter* Kyubey...! Dying: *Gasps* Impossible...

[wanna-b-poet31]

Abandoned Places, Abusive Spaces

So I was thinking about how space is a big theme in the miniseries. Hell (in Good Omens) is crowded while Heaven’s HQ is uncomfortably abandoned. 

Heaven is empty. But like. It’s not a “noone is here, we own nothing” empty. It’s not a “we sold everything we had to provide for the needy” empty. It’s the clinical emptiness of an abandoned hospital. It’s sterile. It’s empty. It’s purposeful. 

Heaven with their elitist bureaucracy and misguided approach to “earthly” things (these guys can’t remember what the hell a book is) would pick the incorrigible rich person aesthetic of minimalist interior design with open spaces.

Hell, on the other hand, is constantly packed with bodies and in a similar way is empty of objects but full and crowded with bodies:

This contrast in and of itself isn’t too unusual.  You can see the masses of people (entities?) traveling out the door. You can see the piled chairs serving no use except to be a pile. The clothes are disheveled and torn, compared to the “immaculate” suits of the Angels. Even their skin is decomposing (well mostly, Crowley and Ligur are notable exceptions)

There is clearly a commentary on class dynamics going on. 

Where Heaven CHOOSES to be empty, with large spaces between the individuals, Hell doesn’t have such a luxury, so people don’t have things because their currency (SPACE) is being commodified.

Making a Bookshop a Home

And I could talk for hours about the class dynamics going on, but that’s not my expertise. Abuse, Trauma, and Queer Studies is. So, let’s turn our attention to Aziraphale’s home:

It is packeddddd with books and collections that he’s proud of. Just look at the GIF above. It’s packed wall to wall with bookcases. 

And, on top of it, we know he’s got the best selection of wines (at least a good selection), he hoards books (usually first additions) and spends his miraculous wealth on things that make him happy, specifically underpinning the Heavenly choices for minimalism. It’s cramped, yes, but not cluttered. 

AND specifically not “Full” in the same way Hell is. 

Perhaps the best way to see this difference is by focusing on the lighting. Where Heaven is blindingly bright, like an “it-hurts-my-eyes-to-look-at-too-long” kind of bright, Hell is so poorly lit I have to crank the brightness up on my computer to adequately see the beginning of Ep. 6 well.  

Aziraphale’s bookshop has no such problem. Look at the below GIF:

The whole room is full of light sources. It is sprinkled with lamps, and the windows (that we see in Ep. 5) are big and wide, allowing alot of supplementary natural lighting eluminating the building.  Even at night (See the below GIF), details are clear, you can make out the time on the clock, and that the bookcases are full. Yes, it’s darker than the above GIF, but we are reliably informed it’s late at night here. 

Instead, what’s going on is that his Bookshop is being filled with Warm light. Heaven’s brightness is cold and blinding while Hell’s crowded darkness is hard and suffocating. Both have an absence of warmth and tbh “warm” is great description of the Angel himself. He exudes the soft, kind aura of someone who is willing to give you a hug (only if you wanted on though). 

Crowley’s Hall of Sparked Joy

Crowley, in contrast, IS a minimalist. 

So surely he must be a Heavenly mirror? (I mean he is but not because of this) Instead, his minimalism is much more in-line with Marie Kondo’s school of thought. He keeps only things that spark joy. 

While his flat isn’t really lived in, and that’s on purpose, the “emptiness does not really exist for emptiness’ sake. He keeps the things that bring him joy. He pours his soul into things he cares about – his plants, his art, his car, his “antique” answering machine – because he needs more breathing space after enduring hell, but he’s not inattentive. 

Even within these spaces, like in the Bentley, he has even more pockets of joy beyond the item itself. For example, it’s confirmed that he has a tin of cookies in his car for Aziraphale to munch on, and he keeps an unkempt pile of CD’s of his favorite bands (and Queen).  

If we extend our review of lighting, we can also see that while not nearly as “warm” as Aziraphale’s home -- it is steeped in deep blues and greens where Aziraphale is steeped in gold -- but it’s not “dark” in the same way Hell is. It’s bright enough to see even his most sour expression (despite no obvious light source), and despite being a creature with a black-based wardrobe, he balances it well with his “off-white” walls. 

Not Holy, Not Damned, But a Hybrid: Human

Further, you can see how the two are doing MORE than rebelling. They’re not only pushing against the prescriptive styles they are expected to have. Instead, they’re creating hybrid spaces that don’t just reflect themselves, but where they can BE themselves in their environment. 

There’s a whole lot of trauma and recovery motivating the shift. Neither Heaven nor Hell could do anything at this point that would make either space an appealing option to model themselves after.  What has been done -- 6000+ year abuse remember -- leaves both trying to cope with how their respective sides treat them as “misfits”. 

It’s easier (and healthier) for them to piece together their own interpretation of existence, together. No strings attached. 

A Nightengale Sang in Berkley Square

Which brings me to my actual analysis. If (and by if I mean 100% when) Aziraphel stayed over at Crowley’s after the Armageddon’t, then he would witness the vastly different stylistic choices in Crowley’s home and perhaps be uncomfortable with the similarities to the emptiness of Heaven. 

However, I wager, he would recognize that Crowley’s home is not, like heaven, actually empty. For one thing, Crowley has walls, but for another, he puts his heart into spaces that he can feel vulnerable in (again see his car, his home, AND the bookshop for evidence). If Aziraphel wasn’t feeling the palpitations of love in Crowley’s apartment, I think he might need a system’s check. BUT in this point of the narrative, Crowley would not know what heaven looks like (at least not the contemporary headquarters that they keep post-fall). He would not know that the collector tendencies that AZ. displays is likely a response to not having an individual personality in heaven. Similarly, Aziraphale wouldn’t know exactly how unkempt and crowded Hell is, and that it’s a big deal that Crowley feels comfortable if not SAFE in HIS cluttered bookstore.

Then, the swap happens, and layers of understanding are added to the ways the two react to their landscape. We can talk at length about how Aziraphel (disguised as Crowley) is in shock at the physical abuse going on. And we could talk about how Crowley (disguised) almost breaks character a series of times as he’s being emotionally or verbally abused by Gabriel on behalf of his angel. But both are unprepared for the kinds of spaces they’re entering when they’re kidnapped by their “side”. The fundamental problem with how Heaven AND Hell function is that both are cold, abusive, and really, aren’t functional spaces. Like I mean that literally. Scroll back up and evaluate Heaven’s emptiness. Nothing can get done reasonably in Heaven, it’s simply devoid of any personality and character. It’s not bland, it’s much more insidious than that. Rather, it’s false transparency, a “nothing to see here” while they are enabled to continuously belittle and attack Angels who question their motives. They are more than willing to use that space for hellfire torture for Aziraphale, but being left alone in that space is intimidating by itself. Under the guise of “good” or “righteous” is cold-blooded indifference to the health and wellbeing of the angels under their watch.  

Hell is also insidious, but for more obvious and in your face kind of reasons. Granted, of the 2 Hell does actually offer a trial, but the depths of abuse and uncomfortably close quarters probably shocked Aziraphale, as Hell’s landscape shocked Crowley. The takeaway being that neither place represented either of them nor their needs. But, that they can come together and create new spaces – spaces that are inclusive to different experiences – that will help them cope with their own abuse and make it so a deep-down good demon, and just enough of a bastard angel, can have space together.

TLDR: Their “chosen spaces” are much more important and healthy than their “assigned” spaces. 

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

[coppicefics]

Masked Omens: Week Five

[Image Description: Image 1 - A simple rendition of the Masked Singer UK logo, a golden mask with colourful fragments flying off of it. The mask has a golden halo and a golden devil tail protruding from either side. Below, gold text reads ‘Masked Omens’. 

Image 2 - A page from the Entertainment section of the Capital Herald, dated Saturday, 23rd January 2021. Full image description and transcript below cut. End ID.]

Read the fic here!

The Capital Herald - Saturday, 23rd January 2021 Entertainment, page 15

Top section: Stream of Consciousness: Shows To Make You Think A whole host of great documentaries, old and new, have just been added to streaming services Who doesn't love a good documentary? You can learn all sorts of things, and you don't have to do any of the research for yourself. Over the last couple of weeks, loads of people seem to have been tuning into the wealth of documentaries available on various streaming services; here are a few I particularly enjoyed. Green Planet (2020) is not your standard nature documentary; while there are some extremely cute shots of animals (including gorillas, whales, and giant squid) the main focus is on sustainable practices people are experimenting with in all sorts of industries and contexts, and the way they allow local wildlife to flourish. It's thought-provoking stuff. We're As Folk (2019) takes a look at the contemporary folk movement, interviewing figures from the second British revival right through to the present day; contributors include Seth Lakeman, Frank Turner, Anathema and Bellowhead. With folk-festival anecdotes aplenty, the documentary explores the intricacies of the genre and culminates in all the contributors performing a once-in-a-lifetime rendition of 'She Moved Through The Fair'. Gadget If You Can (2015) might be a little outdated now, but that's what makes it such a compelling watch. From watches that tell the time in 21 capital cities concurrently to hoverboards that actually, well, hover, this is a fascinating look at the new devices that seemed to be just on the horizon when it was released more than five years ago. Some have since appeared; some remain pipedreams. All are interesting! Making Fast Friends (2012) is the oldest documentary on this list, and the narrowest in scope. It was released alongside the SEGA charity single 'Fast Friends' and gives us a behind the scenes look at what happened when Sonic the Hedgehog teamed up with a whole bunch of children's TV presenters to make the record. Although largely factual in nature, it does also feature animated 'interviews' with Sonic and Knuckles, so it's entirely suitable for watching with your family. And P-White fans, in particular, will not want to miss this a second time around. A War Without War (2021), by contrast, is both up-to-the-minute and extremely disturbing to watch. It is composed of a mixture of expert analysis of the situation developing on the ground in Celestan and grim footage allegedly smuggled out of the country by fleeing residents. Moreover, with more episodes promised, it forces the viewer to acknowledge what is happening as the country breaks apart, and asks us the difficult question: can you have a war without war? Dinosaurs: The Punchline (2013) is frequently mistaken for a mockumentary thanks to its tongue-in-cheek title. It is, in fact, a thoughtful exploration of how religious groups respond to apparent conflicts between scientific facts and the tenets of their faith. Without shying away from the realities of science as we know it, this film takes a surprisingly sensitive approach to investigating how science and religion intersect in the modern world. By The Numbers (2018) looks back at the history of the televised National Lottery, along with its competitors on other channels and the entertainment chosen to appear directly after it. Featuring clips and interviews with stars from Marjorie Potts aka Telepathic Tracy, whose show aired after the draw for over a decade, to Marvin O. Bagman, whose sports-based quiz show had, at the time of the documentary’s release, the corresponding Channel 4 slot. It’s not groundbreaking, but it is very entertaining. CITRON DEUX-CHEVAL Have I missed any amazing documentaries you think I should be talking about? Drop me an email at entertainment@capitalherald.co.uk or leave a comment on our website and I might feature your recommendations in a future issue.

Centre left: Memory Lane: Kilcridhe Now there’s a vicar I’d have loved to meet at the altar Ask any male-attracted person of a certain age – well, my age and up, really – if they remember Kilcridhe, and you'll be met with flushed cheeks and a glassy expression. We remember Kilcridhe, all right – or perhaps it would be fairer to say that we remember Father Jacob MacCleod. It's hard to believe that heartthrob Jacob was Anthony Crowley's first major role on television, and harder still to believe that he was also one of his last. The show ran for only two six-episode series, between 2005 and 2006, but in those twelve hours I think it's fair to say a fair few of us fell irrevocably in love. Kilcridhe was named for the fictitious Scottish village where it was set, and largely revolved around the goings-on of the local church and its new minister. Much of the series' drama centred around Father MacCleod's ongoing attempts to fill the pews, which saw him trying everything from hosting a bake sale – for which he ended up baking everything himself – to arranging a community talent show, with predictably bizarre results. But during the course of these adventures, each episode also introduced us to one or more of Kilcridhe's residents. We got a glimpse into the little struggles and joys of their lives – most of which quickly became Jacob's struggles and joys, too. My main memory of this show is that it was pretty. Not just Jacob, but everything about it, from the location they chose for the exterior shots, to the tone added in post-production; everything was just slightly more saturated and colourful than real life, not enough to be jarring but enough to give the whole thing a strangely dreamlike feel. In fact, as Jacob remarked as he prepared to leave for Edinburgh at the end of series one (not knowing if he would return or if the show would be cancelled), “leaving [Kilcridhe] feels like waking from a dream, like going back to reality somehow”. It was, perhaps, for the best that Kilcridhe was cancelled after only two series. Shows originally envisioned as limited series rarely keep their charm past a second extension, and the central actor was to encounter personal problems not long after the end of the show. That's not to say that a revival couldn't work, perhaps with a completely new protagonist. But Father Jacob MacCleod lives on in the hearts of his many fans, smiling that enigmatic smile of his, and when that's not enough, there's always online fanfiction. So much fanfiction. SARAH JEUNE Memory Lane is our regular feature, looking back at the books, shows and films of yesteryear through a nostalgic lens. Do you miss something you’d like to see featured? Just send the show name (plus channel and airdates if you know them) in an email to: memorylane@capitalherald.co.uk - your prayers might just be answered!

Centre right: Correspondent’s Corner Stop talking about it Anathema is making waves again as she does the talk-show circuit to promote her new album, Narrative Devices. It's a very pretty album from a very lovely girl, but she does keep getting hung up on one point. Every time somebody describes her music as country, she interrupts to tell them it's folk. Well, I'm no music expert, but even I know that folk is a very European genre, and the United States' equivalent is country, or country and western music, to give it its full name, and to continue to argue to the contrary is simply courting controversy for controversy's sake. It is unbecoming of a young lady – even, or perhaps especially, a young lady with Anathema's obvious talent – to continue to argue with her elders on the subject, and even to correct the likes of Graham Norton and Giles Brandreth. These sage bastions of broadcasting deserve more respect, and they couldn't be more gracious in accepting their 'mistake'. But surely a young musician in the first flush of success should take the time to learn about what she's actually doing? It doesn't seem very much to ask. It’s not entirely her fault, of course; the youth of today are given far too much freedom by their parents and, on top of that, are often propelled to disproportionate success with no chance to prepare for it. Is it any wonder that it all goes to their heads? But there is no excuse for not making an effort to keep their egos in check and defer to their betters on matters of terminology and best practice. Naturally, we all hope that Anathema will enjoy a long and successful career making the music she enjoys the most and , more importantly, music we can all enjoy too. And I also hope that she will, eventually, acquire the humility so rarely found in young people these days and accept that she does not always know best. If she listens to the counsel of older and wiser heads than hers, she might even learn something. ANDY SANDALPHON What can’t they do? If there's one thing that's becoming apparent with every passing week of The Masked Singer UK, it's that celebrities are no longer to content to stay in their lane. No, these multi-talented marvels seem determined to push themselves to the limit in every possible field. So far, we’ve seen sergeants become singers, rugby players become rockers, doctors become divas and authors become, er, audible. And with weeks still to go in this competition, we still have eight masked celebrities to guess. Eight people whose day jobs probably don’t include getting on stage and belting out pop standards are still waiting to impress us with talents that aren’t even their thing. I mean, if I could sing and dance like the contestants on the show, you can bet your life I’d be making a living from it. It would be my number one talent, and I’d be rubbish at anything else, because most of us only get one main skill. Not these jammy gits, though. For them, this is a sideline. It's not just The Masked Singer, of course – from proving their talent for trivia on Pointless Celebrities and their wordplay wisdom on Celebrity Catchphrase to demonstrating their culinary qualities on Celebrity Masterchef and The Great Celebrity Bake Off, it seems that wherever you look someone is adding a new string to their bow. Being a phenomenally talented actor, singer, or footballer is all well and good, but more and more stars are now keen to show us that they really can do anything and everything. And why shouldn't they? It's phenomenally entertaining television to watch. And for those of us who sometimes feel inadequate compared to our famous idols, it can be very reassuring to watch, for example, a comedian weeping into his cupcake mix on Bake Off or an Oscar nominee fall on her face on Dancing On Ice. When they do well, it's amazing; when they do badly, it's life-affirming. That said, I've been blown away by the talent of the contestants on The Masked Singer this series. It's so inspirational, in fact, that I might take up watercolours. EDWARD BIGGS Bottom right (in blue box): Citron’s Quick Picks Fast favourites from Citron Deux-Cheval Look: Sea Change by Hastur LaVista There's never been a journey to to the top quite like P-White's. This authorised biography charts a course from children's presenter to global superstar through interviews, pictures and anecdotes. While the research sometimes seems a little slapdash, the story at the heart of the book is more than interesting enough to hold it together. And since it's authorised, Maputi themself has contributed plenty of private insights and observations. [Image description: A book, its cover featuring a blue-green gradient with black, dripping lines spilling across it. The title reads ‘Sea Change’. End ID.] Listen: Narrative Devices by Anathema Anathema's first album was well-received both within the folk community and beyond it. Now her second album, backed up by an obvious increase in resources, looks set to enjoy similar mainstream success, and deservedly so. The theme this time seems to be the act of telling stories, but it's also a story in itself. You'll have heard the singles, but it takes on new meaning when you play it in order! [Image description: An album cover featuring hands holding a book. The words “Anathema” and “Narrative Devices” are printed on it. End ID.] Laugh: Newtral Stance by AutoTuna on YouTube It's not the first time beleaguered commentator Newton Pulsifer has had his words edited into a supercut. It's not even the first time his frequent disagreements with the VAR have been autotuned – including by YouTube user AutoTuna. But this new edition adds an extra dimension in the form of a flat, robotic voice duetting – and duelling – with the frustrated human, taking the hilarity to a whole new level! [Image description: A screenshot of a young woman wearing a call centre headset (specifically, the woman who cold-calls Crowley in Good Omens and gets Hastur instead). She looks extremely bored. End ID.]

Advertisement, bottom right: IS THIS YOUR CARD? [Image Description: Two business cards with a white-to-yellow gradient, overlapping so that they are slightly fanned out. Printed on the left-hand side of each is ‘This is to certify The Amazing [blank] as a [blank] training under Mr A.Z. Fell.‘ The one behind is filled in with ‘Your Name-’ and ‘Sorcer-’. The front card is filled in in a more child-friendly font, with ‘Your Name Here’ and ‘Junior Magician’. Below this is space for a start and expiry date, filled in with ‘08/20′ and ‘08/21′ respectively. On the right-hand side of the card, a logo shows a rabbit emerging from an upturned top hat, and below it are the words ‘Harry’s Junior Magic Academy’. The word ‘Junior’ is in the same child-friendly font as before. End ID.] IT COULD BE. Membership is open to under 12s and 13-18 year-olds at www.harrys-magic.com

End of transcript.

[penguiduck]

The Relationship Between Online Readers & Writers: Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Perspectives

Introduction | Part 1: What is this Relationship? | Part 2: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Readers | Part 3: A Day in the Life of… | Part 4: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Perspectives | Part 5: Creating Motivation and Appreciation for Writers: Implementation | Part 6: How to Write the Best Feedback |  Part 7: Where Does This Leave Us?

We’ve gone into some detail about the relationship between online readers and writers.  I’ve also discussed what writers can do for readers to thank them for the support and attention.  Let’s continue the conversation on how to motivate and show appreciation for your favorite writers.

I thought long and hard about how to begin addressing this complex topic and decided to divide this up into two parts:

Part 1: Perspectives (Why is leaving feedback so important and how does the online experience differ from a more traditional in-person one?  Why should you leave feedback?  What’s in it for the readers?)

Part 2: Implementation (What are ways in which you can contribute feedback?  What is appropriate feedback?)

This chapter will discuss the writer’s perspective.  I mentioned previously that writers write because they have a story to share, a craft they wish to polish and smooth.  Writers who do not want to share their works do not post them publicly.  Thus, if they choose to make their work available to a broad audience, unless explicitly stated otherwise, it makes sense that they would appreciate feedback on their craft.

In the introduction, I brought up the dynamic between readers and writers, and how I do not see this relationship optimized.  It seems quite simple:  “From a writer’s perspective, receiving feedback is crucial. From a reader’s perspective, giving feedback means pleasing the author who produces the work I so want her to update.”

This had me thinking: Why is this relationship not optimized?  And what obstacles stand in the way of that ideal optimization?

It makes sense.  It’s mutually beneficial.  This online relationship dictates that writers cannot flourish without an audience and readers cannot enjoy work that is clearly not written.

I brought up the notion of currency in Chapter 2.  By virtue of posting their work online and making it available free of charge, writers have already paid a huge portion, if not all, of their currency in this relationship.  (Of course, this doesn’t mean there is no room for improvement — this is addressed in Chapter 3.)

The remainder of that responsibility falls on readers to ensure that their favorite writers are properly motivated and appreciated so that they may continue to create and craft.

I’d like to highlight the previous chapter I posted: A Day in the Life…

The reason why I chose to include this is because I want to provide perspective on just how real writers are — we have lives of our own, some of which I’m sure are quite busy.  My schedule is rather uneventful, but there are still plenty of obligations and responsibilities.  In my free time, I choose to write and provide content for my readers because not only do I enjoy the writing process, but I also wish to make others happy with quality writing.

 I am sure other writers feel the same.  Motivations for writing are varied and many, but we all share a joy for both the craft and enriching the lives of our readers.

My goal for the remainder of this chapter is to develop empathy for writers.  To be perfectly candid, I think it is lacking in the online community — I am of the potentially unpopular opinion that if readers understood and truly empathized with writers, there would not be a lack of feedback or feelings of shouting into a void.  Writers would not feel frustrated with the lack of reviews or comments on their works, and their motivations would not be so subject to the ebb and flow of support they may or may not receive from the online community.

That being said, again, this piece is not meant to criticize or guilt.  I am not calling out individuals but noting trends that I see as a whole — there are many readers out there who do, in fact, provide incredible support and feedback for writers, and should be acknowledged and appreciated.  I only seek to make an objective assessment through analysis that can kindle an honest discussion about how this relationship between online readers and writers may be improved.

I’d like to start by stating the obvious: Writers online provide their content free of charge.

This is their currency, their gift to you, a labor of their love and care.  For me, this is time that could be spent binging my favorite shows on Netflix or on other leisure activities; this is time that could be spent working overtime for extra cash; this is time that could be spent going to the gym to improve my health; this is time that could be spent on food prep; this is time that could be spent catching up on much-needed sleep.

But no.  Writers choose to spend that time and effort to create a gift for the community.

I urge you to think of writing as a gift because this will change your perspective and nurture a better sense of appreciation.

So what is a gift?

According to dictionary.com, a gift is “something given voluntarily without payment in return, as to show favor toward someone, honor an occasion, or make a gesture of assistance; present.”

And that’s just it.  Writers who post their work online are giving gifts to their readers, expecting no payment in return.  They pay the price of their gift in time, effort, and care — all of which are opportunity costs in their personal lives.

Now, assuming that online fiction or other such content is a gift, what does that mean for readers?

Let’s take some real life examples and extrapolate this out.

Imagine you’re an avid baker.  You bake a batch of cookies and bring them into work to share.  Clearly, you’re expecting no payment for your culinary confections, even though you spent money from your own pocket and the time and effort to make them.  Sure, you enjoy the baking process, but you also just want to brighten the day of those in the office.

At work, you arrange your cookies for your coworkers to enjoy.  People come and start to take cookies.  They devour them and enjoy them — you know this because you see them do it — but they say nothing, do nothing, acknowledge nothing.

You receive no thanks, no compliments on your cooking, no gestures of appreciation.

Perhaps you feel underappreciated for your efforts?  How likely is it that you are going to bake cookies to share with your coworkers in the future?  

And on the opposite side of that coin, as a taker and muncher of cookies, do you not think that basic courtesy dictates that you at least express your gratitude, if not offer your compliments to the chef? 

Writers are bakers, and they’re providing you with the most scrumptious, delectable cookies for the soul.  They expect no compensation, and they’re not professionals, but shouldn’t they at least receive the most basic of acknowledgement for their time and effort? 

Baking not your thing?  Let’s take a look at another example:

This time, imagine you’re a soccer player. You and your team are called away to the state championship because you’re just that good.  Your school, friends, and family come along to watch you play.  You play well and hard, shooting goals and making saves, and your team wins. 

However, not once do your friends and family cheer you on.  Whenever you make a skilled play, there is only silence in the stadium.  Even when the game is over, your teammates say nothing to you about your performance or sharing in the celebration.  Your friends and family offer no congratulations, no words of encouragement, no acknowledgement of your hard work and countless hours of practice.

You have your victory, and your efforts have clearly paid off — what more could you possibly want?

Isn’t it only socially acceptable that you receive some sort of congratulatory message for your success?  Perhaps you feel ignored or hurt that these people who came to watch your game don’t give you the kudos you feel you earned?

As a friend or family member, would you not feel awkward or impolite leaving the game without saying anything at all?  Does your soccer star not deserve some words of encouragement, a handshake, a clap on the shoulder?  Should you not offer to buy them ice cream or simply tell them how wonderful their performance was today?

Writers are all star soccer players.  They work hard, spending countless hours honing their craft.  When others come along and enjoy their performance, the fruits of their labors, do they not deserve congratulations for their literary successes, however minor?

Let’s took at one more example:

You are a painter.  You offer to paint a mural for your community free of charge so there can be a little color added to the walls, so you can bring some joy to those who come by.  You sketch out a design for approval, doing research on important figures and symbols in the community to customize this art.  Your sketch is approved by the board, and you get to work.

More than anything, you’re doing this as a service to your community because you want others to be happy.  You spend hours upon hours painting this mural, even using your own high quality art supplies for the best effects and colors.  This process takes all week, and by the time you’re done, your arms are sore, your back hurts a little, but you stand back and admire your work.  You are proud of it.

Members of the community come by as you’re cleaning up.  You recognize many of them, and they are well-aware that you have volunteered your artistic talents to create the mural.  They look at it, perhaps, enjoying the beautiful colors and ideas, and they then walk away.

They say nothing, even after seeing you hard at work for hours, day after day.  No one says thank you for adding life to the community, for the money and time you’d spent.  No one compliments your hard work, your artistic gifts, the method by which you choose to express yourself.

Perhaps you’re feeling a little sad?  Unloved?  Hurt? Underwhelmed with the lack of support after you just gifted the community hours of your time and artistry?

As a member of the community, someone who found some joy looking at the mural, would you not agree our artist deserves a few words of encouragement and praise for their talents?  Would a few moments of your time, your kindness, be worth the delight and glee you see on their face?

Writers are artists.  They boldly make their work public so that others may enjoy it.  After spending all that time and energy, sometimes even funds from their own pockets to improve their craft, should they not receive praise for their wonderful contributions to the community?

I think I’ve made the point quite clear, but if you’re a baker, athlete, or artist, I’m sure you can come up with your own metaphors.

Now, some people may argue that internet culture is different — there is a screen of anonymity behind which you can hide.  It’s not like you have to awkwardly sneak a homemade cookie from your coworker’s desk and earn a stink eye if you don’t say thank you.

I would challenge readers and writers, anyone who partakes in such an online community, to think differently because, regardless of medium of communication, there is a person behind the screen, a human being with talents, aspirations, and a very real need to feel appreciated for their efforts.  This is human psychology.

In the cookie example above, I would ask: Why do you think you should snag a delicious cookie to enjoy without thanking your coworker?

It’s basic manners, a common decency to your fellow human.  Most people wouldn’t dream of behaving so inconsiderately — universally, a thank you is warranted in this situation.  Sneaking away a cookie without expressing some form of gratitude (thanks, a compliment, acknowledgement, etc.) is objectively ungracious.  As such, social etiquette dictates that partaking in the hard-wrought, creative expressions of a writer, even online, deserves similar consideration.

Readers can easily provide feedback and/or gratitude as their form of currency in this relationship.  It’s worth noting that writing a creative piece is not like your typical Facebook status post or Twitter tweet.  I would argue that a “like” or “love” or “favorite” isn’t necessarily or always adequate if readers wish to motivate and show their sincere appreciation for writers. (I will address this point in more detail in the next part.)

Writing is a creative pursuit, and as such, motivation must be intrinsic.  If writers are not in the mood to write or do not feel there is purpose for their writing, then the content will either suffer or not be composed at all — obviously, readers do not want this.

While this correlation may seem obvious, I would challenge those who are not actively supporting their favorite writers through feedback and kind words to sit down and actually write twenty chapters of a story.  The writing process is involved and sometimes requires great mental fortitude.  As I mentioned in the previous chapter, it is not as easy snapping your fingers or swallowing a spoonful of sugar.

The writing process is wonderful and fulfilling, but it is also occasionally intimidating and frustrating, especially amidst a life with a busy schedule. For me, whenever I post a chapter that was difficult for me to get through and I see how pleased my readers are, that overwhelmedness simply melts away.  It’s like how you feel after acing a semester of your least favorite school subject — the months prior are terrible and stressful, but after you see that A on your transcript, you are so relieved and proud of yourself.

Having experienced the highs and lows of writing, I think one of the most rewarding parts of the writing process is hearing from my readers how much they enjoy and appreciate my work.  Truly, it makes me feel that all of my efforts are well-placed and worth the while, and I am refreshed and motivated to begin writing again.

To come full circle, the relationship between readers and writers is a mutually beneficial one.  When both parties support one another, we optimize the potential for creativity and quality content.  Most importantly, this is an opportunity available to everyone — both readers and writers are invited and encouraged to partake in order for the community to flourish.

Writers should not feel underappreciated or hurt or neglected when posting their works; they should not feel the sensation of shouting into the void.  Readers have the power to change that dynamic — while they may not be in charge of the story, they may have a surprising amount of influence in ensuring that writers are in the best position to continue updating their works.

So, dear readers, if you enjoy the gift of writing bestowed upon you by your favorite writers, please take a moment of your time to reciprocate a small fraction of the consideration and time they have and will continue to dedicate to you.  This piece of the relationship is in your hands — it is your opportunity and responsibility.

In the next part, I will provide ideas and methods by which readers can motivate and show writers appreciation.

This is also posted on AO3.

[asiryn]

this post is going to be very rambly, so i apologize in advance. if you’re potentially interested in my liveblogs, and/or interested in hearing a bit about my current life and disability issues, tune in. if you aren’t, then....keep scrolling i guess XD

(if you just want the current liveblog schedule, scroll to the bottom)

[and this got predictably very long, so i’m gonna put it behind a cut for convenience] 

up to recently, my main liveblogs have been about the pokemon anime, with a few other shows, books, and especially video games sprinkled in here and there. essentially, waaaay back in yonder year of 2014, netflix added the first season of pokemon, the indigo league, to their site, and i, in a fit of nostalgia, made the veeery questionable decision to watch all of the pokemon anime---rewatching the stuff i hadn’t touched since i was kid, and then continuing on into the unknown, and watching all the seasons from gen 3 onward that i had missed due to dropping out of pokemon. i only really started actually making liveblog posts once i hit gen 3, then i stayed consistent-ish from then onward. (for the curious, i’m up to sun & moon, and i have 44 episodes left until i finish it (i’m not ready ;;;; ), and then netflix actually just dropped the first 12 episodes of the newest series, pokemon journeys, so....56 until i’ve caught up with the dub XD)

so, all of y’all who climbed aboard with those liveblogs are probably already aware of Who I Am, at least a little. (....this is making it sound like i’m Some Big Name in liveblogging, but i’m not really anything of the sort, just so we’re all on the same page XD) at least, in terms of the fact that i’m physically disabled, suffer from chronic pain, etc. but recently, i’ve joined two new fandoms, and i’ve begun liveblogging spop and my next life as a villainess. and my spop posts in particular are already becoming some of the most popular posts i’ve ever done (like wow, you guys). and i think part of that popularity is due to the fact that these are two pretty recent, pretty popular fandoms (tho i do also like to think that i do make good content XP). but the point is that quite a lot of new ppl are coming across me, and idk how much, if any, of you have taken the time to look at my bio or anything. so i guess....part of this post is just some ruminations, but also my way of letting you know more of what you’re getting into. 

so, for those who don’t know: hi, you can call me kiryn, i liveblog stuff sometimes, and i’m physically disabled. i suffer from intense, constant, chronic pain. it stems from a bone disease called HME, or hereditary multiple exostosis, if you’re curious (i have a severe case of it, joy of joys). the short version of what that means is that i have a lot of bone spurs everywhere on my body, and they....cause me a lot of pain. basically, i cannot do any kind of sustained activity without the already significant, never-ceasing pain that i feel cranking up to unbearable levels, and basically i’ll be rendered immobile. i do have pain meds that i take, and that very much help to take the edge off, and make it so that i can function at all (bc, believe fucking me, w/o them, i wouldn’t be able to achieve even the little i can do), but even with them, it only makes a dent in my pain levels, and again, sustained activity makes up that difference very quickly. 

now, the gist of this stuff i’ll mention from time to time, but....i don’t usually go into much detail about it (and this post is probably the most detailed i’ve been about my condition in years). bc, quite frankly, it’s depressing. (and seeing as i also already have clinical depression, that’s definitely not something that i need more of XD) i participate in fandoms for escapism, and bc i don’t really want to think about that crushing mountain of reality. i’ve had this condition since birth, and i’ve literally lived my entire life in constant pain, and i honestly have no fucking idea what it even feels like to be painless. and what’s even worse is that it’s a degenerative disease---essentially, the bone spurs are wearing down my joints, so....my entire condition will just keep worsening as i get older. (and no, surgery to remove the spurs isn’t really an option.) i’ll be 29 next month, and i can already tell you, i’ve been feeling that decline sharply. when i was a kid, i could still run. by the time i was a teenager, i couldn’t even do that anymore; the best i could manage was a jog. now....i don’t think i could even do that. 

i guess the main point in why i’m saying all this, is that for the last year especially, i’ve been dealing with the worst downward swing that i’ve had in years. in my late teens and early-mid 20s, i got into a pretty good rhythm, of knowing my body’s limits, how to budget spoons to accomplish things, etc. but now even that fragile equilibrium has been thrown out the window, and i’m currently struggling to learn the new limits and rhythm of this downward swing that is unfortunately now my reality. even before, i was pretty limited on what i could accomplish, but even that narrow window has shrunk even further. so basically, i’m in the testing zone still. and it’s a very slow process, bc once i exceed the limit, my body breaks down, and now it takes me even longer to recover. as an example, i used to know that i could wake up in the morning and get ready to leave the house in 20-30 mins. now? i need at least an hour, which involves me pushing through a wave of agony to be able to take my pain meds in the first place, and then wait for those meds to kick in and the pain to die down enough to move without feeling like i’m moving through a wall of spikes. (and that’s just the start of every day for me, and before even throwing in all of the other variables)

so, coming back to the liveblogs......obviously, that’s affected by all this too. if you’ve wondered why there’s been a gap between me finishing up spop s1 and starting s2....that’s why. partly, i didn’t expect how analysis-heavy i was going to get on spop; pokeani just doesn’t tend to be as consistently thematically deep, so those liveblogs took far less out of me than spop has, and pushing myself to finish 5 episodes in one day....well, it was too much. and the thing is, it’s obviously unhealthy for me to continually push myself to the point of total breakdown, so...that’s where learning my new limits comes in. so, these past few days, i’ve been thinking, and essentially trying to better figure out how to do liveblogs like this without pretty much killing myself in the process (bc i honestly do love making them....i mean, if i didn’t, then it really wouldn’t be worth the literal pain it takes to make them XD). and also there’s a component of managing my anxiety-brain, bc leaving things Unfinished stresses me out, and so when coming to terms with the fact that it’s going to take me awhile to finish one show....knowing that i’d be leaving others hanging....Doesn’t Help XD

so, here’s what i’ve got so far (and obvs, this is subject to much tweaking in the future XP)

currently, i’m watching 4 shows: pokeani, good omens, villainess, and spop. villainess rn is the least of my worries, bc 1 ep is coming out a week, so it’s not demanding a lot of my time. 

for the other 3, here’s the preliminary schedule i’ve sort of hashed out:

- pokeani sm103-106

- spop s2

- pokeani sm107-110

- spop s3 

- pokeani sm111-114

- spop s4

- pokeani sm115-118

- spop s5 

- pokeani sm119-122

- good omens

- pokeani sm123-126

- [catch up block] (i don’t have a good track record in keeping up with ongoing shows, so if i fall behind on villainess, this is where i can catch up)

- finish pokeani sun & moon [sm127-146] (the league starts on ep 128, so i’d rather not experience any big interruptions in the battles XD)

basically, i’ve given myself a limit of 4 pokeani eps in a single session (bc as stated, they don’t take as much out of me), and with spop, the most i’ll let myself watch in a row will be 3 eps (s2 will probably be broken up into a 3/2/2 block, s3 a 3/3 block, and s4&5 will be a 3/3/3/2/2 block).

now, keep in mind that i’m very deliberately making no guarantees about specific days, bc who even knows, but at the very least, scheduling and talking it all out like this will help me to better manage my spoons, and if you’ve actually read this far, then you’ll know the method in the madness and why i’m doing things this way. XD the vague goal is to get in a least 1 liveblog session a week (plus a bonus of the new villainess ep on saturdays)---at least for the shows. i’m still having to working out what i’m going to do about video games....maybe i should just go on a ‘once a week’ model for all my hobbies across the board XDD

in the next couple of days, i’ll be posting that in-depth look into all the ships of villainess (it started as me just pecking down a few thoughts while i was taking a social media break due to the Current Events, but now i’m at the point where i’m like, i’ve put too much effort into this to not post it, damn it XP), and then depending on spoons, i’ll try to start in on that schedule this week, so stay tuned for some pokeani! (again....i’ll try to hit at least 1 liveblog a week before i start trying to get more ambitious XDD)

in any case, if you have stuck through to the end, thank you very much. your support means a lot to me 💖

[girlobsessed21]

The 100 6x07 analysis - putting the mind at ease

I absolutely loved this episode, the attention to detail, the explanations, the tone, and pacing. It was definitely my favorite of the season so far. And, climbing the charts to the best of the series but you’d have to work really hard to top a The 100 finale. This season is shaping up to be the best, the stories they’re exploring, the sci-fi content, the unpredictability, everything is top notch. Well done Jason and the writers, are you good friends with Elon Musk?

Ready to take a trip down memory lane, buckle up, it’s a long ride, ready, let’s go! I’m breaking this up into Clarke’s encounters with her ghosts since it takes place solely in her mind. It’s fitting for Clarke to wake up in her prison cell given that she’s literally trapped in her subconscious. Also, if I had to picture the inside of it, I’d see drawings everywhere too.

The safe space - daddy’s arms

To me, it seems like the images and voices she encounters first are those she’s lost except for her child. Finn, Wells, Lexa, and of course her father. When Clarke realizes she’s dead, she’s glad her fight is finally over but regrets not being able to say goodbye. To Madi and mom. I’ve seen some people upset that she didn’t include Bellamy, that’s because she did greet him in a certain way when she apologized and told him he was her family.

Now, the weather is a direct product of her mood. When she encounters Jake, the sun is bright in a place she was once happy. Then, the thunder starts when she gets upset. I would have liked it to be Jake himself letting her in on the heartbeat and the fact that she’s alive but he’s only a figment of her imagination. Meaning it’s the way she would have wanted it too. 

I imagine this scene as the life Clarke pictured living. Content, with her father alive and Madi going to school while she draws and farms.

A.L.I.E to the rescue

Those words make no sense. Funny how she instantly transforms into Wanheda in the presence of the AI. I had some other theories on why Clarke survived and then I watched a Youtube video by the Theorizer before the episode aired which explained this fact and it made complete sense. A.L.I.E saved Clarke.

How does this work? I found an article in Techworld that explains it as follows: “At its most basic form, neural lace is an ultra-thin mesh that can be implanted in the skull, forming a collection of electrodes capable of monitoring brain function. It creates an interface between the brain and the machine.

To insert neural lace, a tiny needle containing the rolled up mesh is placed inside the skull and the mesh is injected. As the mesh leaves the needle it unravels, spanning the brain.”

To remove the neuro mesh from Clarke’s brain, they would have to EMP her. In other words, remove Josephine from the brain, drain the last of the neuro mesh and re-insert the body-snatcher.

Furthermore, I’d like to touch on the subject of there is no joy without pain. Believing this is tragical. Sure, life does include unpleasant bumps and hurdles but joy can certainly exist without pain. A glimpse into her trampled heart.

Then, A.L.I.E tells her the painful memories aren’t present. This boggles me somewhat because like I’ve said her most prominent drawings are those she’s lost. Isn’t that painful enough? Is that why she moved on to Mount Weather and the fighting pit or is there something even more agonizing than those? Something Josephine encounters by herself later?

Encountering the parasite

So, Josephine describes why both minds cannot survive simultaneously. I’m not a neurosurgeon but I gathered that the brain does not have the capacity to maintain both, which will lead to cerebral hemorrhaging and a stroke.  

A power struggle between two badass female characters is always a delight to watch. Clarke Griffin is not someone you wanna mess with, told ya! The hypocrisy in Josie calling Clarke selfish and dumb is amusing. Check the mirror, sweetie.

She’s not stupid in the literal sense, obviously, she only overestimates her own causes and abilities. But the “when I tell you not to think of an elephant, what do you think about” move is smart. Unfortunately for her, our blonde hero is one step ahead.

Unlike the prime princess, who lives in a peaceful castle on a moon, Clarke has fought her fair share of battles and easily kicks ass in a physical fight. Just as she thinks she’s won, the parasite shows up again with the news that she can’t die in the mind space. Dramatic sigh.

On being haunted by Bloodreina

“Even your projections hate you, Clarke.” In episode two we already see that she is her own worst enemy. She hates herself more than anyone for the things she’s had to do. 

1) Letting the bomb drop on TonDC

2) Stealing the bunker while Octavia fought for it

3) Leaving Bellamy to die in the fighting pits

Oh and now we learn why we don’t see Bellamy. He’s the one person she cannot face. In 6x04 she acknowledged leaving him to die is her deepest regret. In 6x01 she tells him he kept her sane during the six years alone. Clearly, she’d rather go up against Bloodreina, a controversial monster, than him. Why is that?

Bellamy has forgiven you, Clarke. Go ahead and forgive yourself.

Mount Weather

The place responsible for creating Wanheda. Now, it’s common knowledge that Clarke blames herself for what happened to Mia and Jasper. But seeing her question the godly decisions to save those she loves is heartbreaking. Yes, she’s made some bad choices in the past but this shows just how remorseful and compassionate Clarke truly is. War made her a monster, though that’s not who she is, at all. At least it led to the realization that she’s still in control of her own mind.

Finn’s death and Jasper’s cage

Sneaky, Clarke. Hiding the memory in one of the places you’ll never wish to revisit. But sadly, Josephine doesn’t mind exploring the place where you had to mercy kill Finn or dig into Jasper.

As if it’s not bad enough that the devil lures her to the last place she’ll want to see, she uses the one self-loathing thing about Clarke to manipulate her into giving up. Amusing how the final turning point is learning that Bellamy’s willing to sacrifice her for saving everyone else. Is it the comprehension that Bellamy no longer cares that causes her surrender or the fact that it’s the only way to save her people? A bit of both I assume.

The lock sequence was awesome - 0100. “You forgot about Bellamy and Raven - 0102. There’s only 6 of the 102 left now if I’m right. Seeing her cry in Lexa’s throne though, was so, so sad. 

They definitely saved the best for last with Monty

I cannot express my gratitude for this unexpected return enough. I’ve had some terrible Monty, Harper and Jasper depression hours over the last week and this made my day. So, Mr. Cockroach Murphy, this is not what Monty would have wanted. Letting them get away with killing innocent people for immortality does not fall within the definition of doing better. 

If only Clarke knew how much Madi needs her right now. She’s trudging on dangerous ground and could use some serious motherly guidance.

Who better to light the way to victory than the man who saved humanity? Six seasons and his death down the line and he’s still picking locks. Hate to be the one to say this, but Raven, Monty is purer than you are. 

Applause for using Josephine’s own tactics against her by controlling her through the no-go-zone.

Crossing the sociopath's threshold

That door looks so much like a blissful suburban family home over Christmas, which I’m sure Josephine had back on earth before her tragedy. Oh, and the library is amazing, I must say. I imagine my own mind looking much the same, I love books.

But in that perfect little head, the most horrific things are hidden. Why are the primes so afraid of dying? Is it only power and narcissism that causes Josephine to resort to oblation?

Clarke learns that she offered the nulls to the trees, hence banning them from their society because they hinder the nightbloodline. But Isaac, Kaylee’s lover, gave them to Gabriel to build an army, instead. I’m certain Clarke will use this info in the future.

Gabriel loved Josephine once, I’m sure we’ll still get to this story but I can’t wait to see the face-off between the two. His last host was already 95 at the time of the memory, meaning now, six years later, he’s 101. Which is why I assume he can only exist within the anomaly where time is altered. And like I’ve said many times before the trio in the woods will turn out to be Sanctum’s saviors.

But we also see the good side of Josephine, the person she once was. PTSD probably morphed her into becoming a sociopath and the mind-drives enhanced the trauma. I feel bad for what happened to her but it does not by any means justify the person she’s become.

Why is she looking to Bellamy when she says, “I know how to kill her once and for all.” Did she see the memory of Clarke telling Roan, “I’ll do anything, I’ll stop fighting. Just, please, don’t kill him?”

Bellamy Blake, you genius

I knew it, I called it. Bellamy was the first to figure out that Josie’s not Clarke and of course the first to deduce that she’s still alive. That was some big soulmate energy right there!!! Thank you for being a big ol’ nerd and paying attention in Earth Skills.

That smile, a stark contrast to the tears that rolled last week. His princess is not gone and he’ll swim the Atlantic to bring her back. He’s gonna reel in everyone’s help on this project but be careful Bell, Josephine does not go down easy.

Just a side note. I appreciate Miller and his standoffishness in this scene since no-one seemed to mourn her last week.

One last thing, I may have been wrong about Abby, she might know something and it’s possible that’s she’s planning on taking Russel’s body for Kane. An eye-for-an-eye?

That’s all folks. As usual, you’re welcome to disagree with me. I love hearing I’m wrong and why.

[theradioghost]

hi! you mentioned you love AI characters, what recs would you have for podcasts with AI/robot/etc characters? thank you~

Oh boy do I have recs for you!!!

SAYER. Hands down. First of all, if you like Portal, you will like SAYER. Second, this show took AI stories and tropes and questions that I had thought of as played out and made them fascinating and visceral again. It’s told in the format of messages and instructions delivered to employees of Aerolith Dynamics by their artificial overseer, SAYER, as they make their way through the trials and tribulations and screaming sci-fi horror of everyday life on Earth’s second moon, Typhon. And it is one of the best stories about AI I know of in any medium. (Also I will note: the show might seem to lose steam a bit right after the first season, but trust me, sticking around for seasons three and four is worth it, especially if you want a story that is about AI and not just featuring them.)

I figure you’ve probably heard of/listened to Wolf 359, but if not: a spectacular, hilarious, heartwrenching series about the extremely mismatched four-person crew of a research space station orbiting a star eight lightyears from Earth. Hera, the AI member of that crew, is just an absolutely fantastic character, and her journey through the series is so poignant and powerful and gosh I just love her

StarTripper!! A joyful, optimistic travelogue detailing the adventures of former office worker Feston Pyxis as he explores the galaxy with his erstwhile companion/spaceship Proxy. First of all, nothing cheers me up as reliably as this show does; second, it is a genuine joy to watch Feston and Proxy become friends, and Proxy begin to come into her own (she is, after all, technically the title character).

We Fix Space Junk – a comedy about two intergalactic repairwomen, Kilner (the experienced one) and Samantha (a fugitive), as they make their way across the cosmos, fixing broken things and trying not to die at the hands of their terrifying employer Automnicon. There’s only one main AI character in the first season, but in the between-seasons miniseries and season two a whole bunch more are introduced and their character development and relationships become a much bigger and very good part of the story. (Especially the Marilyn’s Diary miniseries, as well as episode 6 of season 2, which features Beth Eyre as the lovable and very frustrated AI of a giant ark spaceship.)

Girl in Space, a podcast about a girl in space, living alone on a ship orbiting a bizarre distant sun – alone, except for a goat and her AI companion Charlotte, who is getting more and more passive-aggressive by the day despite having an extremely limited vocabulary. Alone, that is, until one day a dot appears in the distance, and it starts getting closer.

Directive is the show I just finished, about a man who takes a job spending 20 years alone as the caretaker of the sleeping passengers of a long-distance spaceship. It’s basically a 1 ½ hour miniseries (although I think there will be a season 2?) and it is much more emotionally wrecking than it initially appears and features an AI named CASPR

Standard Docking Procedure is a new show with just a pilot out (though their first season is coming soon!) & is a “scifi hopepunk workplace comedy” about the employees of the space station Pseudopolis including their AI April who is probably not paid at all and definitely not paid enough to deal with this shit

Solutions to Problems, your favorite syndicated comedy intergalatic relationship advice show, where hosts Janet (human) and Loaf (very very not human) answer questions about the many difficulties that arise when you live in a sci-fi universe, featuring many AIs (including Janet’s on-again-off-again girlfriend)

Inkwyrm begins when Mella Sonder arrives at the space station that houses the offices of fashion magazine Inkwyrm, expecting to start her new job as caretaker for MORIS, the station’s ethically challenged AI (who would like to take over and kill them all, but is not nearly competent enough to do it). Instead, she ends up assistant to the magazine’s infamously insufferable editor Annie Inkwyrm, and enemies to lovers and pining tropes e n s u e, anyway it’s real good

Season 3 of The Blood Crow Stories also features a couple of AIs, so if you feel like a good dose of some real gay and absolutely terrifying horror in a cyberpunk setting with a killer soundtrack and also just a whole bunch of demons, give it a try!!

(Also, if you have a taste for RPG podcasts, CIDRA from The Chimera isn’t exactly a conventional AI, but she is a financial analysis program that grew so complex that she achieved sentience and is now housed in an artificial body, now running around space with a ragtag crew of misfits, and I love her)

[icedanceupstarts]

2018 GPF Recap

Wrapping up the Grand Prix Series before we head into Nationals Season! We were very excited to see this field and get some questions answered, and answered they were. Click through for more analysis of performances, momentum, trajectories, all as your mods try very hard not to say “I told you so”(But like, we told you so). As always, read fast before the links die!

Rhythm Dance

Sinitsina/Katsalapov opened the senior rhythm dance with their powerful, intricate tango that was our favorite of the event. They skate really close together, and very smoothly and cohesively, a towering testament to how far their partnering has come in four years.

This was not the first time they've struggled with levels on that rotational lift, cool as it is. They also received a level 2 at Skate Canada. It's a difficult, eye catching lift, but Nikita fell short of six rotations here, dropping the level to a 2. He's always been a somewhat shaky rotator, being especially notorious for messing up on his twizzles, though he's improved leaps and bounds there.  Sometimes a little shakiness creeps in, as it did here, but the rotation was smooth and confident a couple weeks ago at IdF. It's a really good lift, and well choreographed for the tango, so we really hope they can get their rotations consistent because we'd hate to see them take it out. Had they received a level 4, they would have been second in the rhythm dance, a point out of first.

Hawayek/Baker had a tough act to follow, but they performed admirably at their first GPF. This was a tough tech panel, so Hawayek/Baker managing to avoid getting basic calls on either section of the pattern for the first time this season is better than it appears. They've developed a really nice maturity in their fifth senior season that only emphasizes their natural musicality.

One thing we like about this tango is how it's choreographed so that the music for the step sequence increases in tempo as they go through the element. It's very difficult to portray the shift in expression and movement mid element, and it's an admirable challenge they've set for themselves. It might be a more climactic ending to their program than their lift, as nicely timed to the music as it is.

While they weren't as on fire as they were at NHK, Zagorski/Guerreiro still delivered a solid performance here at their first GPF. Considering the drama of his skates arriving late, they should feel proud of their decent skate here. With how long and complicated the tango romantica is, it's hard to get the keypoints in the second half if you miss your timing in the first section, so kudos there. They opened with great twizzles, fast and with lots of ice coverage. There's a nice warm tension between them throughout, and they make good use of their long lines to accent the music.

Bringing their usual drama but not their best tech were Stepanova/Bukin, who were a little disappointed by their fourth place finish in this segment. They opened with a strong set of twizzles that thankfully weren't the popular yet small sit twizzle variation they've been struggling to execute at a high level for several years. The ones they used here have much stronger ice coverage and got them off to a great start that carried through their midline step sequence, if unfortunately not their pattern. There have been complaints all season that levels don't matter-- well they did here. Getting just one key point is so crucial when the teams are this close, as the point loss between a level 1 and a base level is nearly three times as much as between a level 2 and a level 1. We really love this program, and their performance was still on point. They use her ridiculously long legs to great effect, and the intensity of their expression and their musicality is just perfect. We really hope they can bring the technical proficiency they showed at Helsinki at Nationals next week.

We were very interested to see what Hubbell/Donohue have been up to, as they've had the longest to prepare, and even more so after we heard of the changes they were making. The original version of their tango was going for something more subtle and tense, but the revamped version allows them to let loose and better utilize their power and amplitude. The tension of the first half could be a little better utilized for greater impact when it breaks and they go into their dynamic midline steps, but the changes definitely are a more natural fit for their powerful, dramatic skating style. There are still a few tweaks they could make to the transitions and overall feel, but they skated very well.

We'd say we weren't feeling a little smug about Guignard/Fabbri coming second in the rhythm dance, but we cannot tell a lie. They've been very technically strong and consistent all season, which as we pointed out would come more into play at GPF where the differences between PCS and GOE were smaller. With no music mishap to distract them or saddle them with a bogus music deduction they came in a strong second, ahead of the Russians(which, again, we previously noted was possible, and would have happened at Helsinki had it not been for the music issues). There's a real level of maturity and polish to them, and a confidence that many of their fellow competitors did not share. The tango suits them really well, and all their movements are precise, placed, and finished. They don't have quite the same level of speed and ice coverage as the other medal contenders and so had to be better in the other aspects of their skating to fight for a medal, and they did just that.

Free Dance

Hawayek/Baker may be a little disappointed with their placement here, but someone had to come #actuallylast, and they still performed extremely well, the best they have thus far this season. There's been some debate over whether this free dance is Hawayek/Baker's style, or Montreal style, and your mods would like to humbly put forward that it is both. The general style is the sort of light, emotional, lyrical genre that they've explored various aspects of over the past few years (Amelie, Romeo and Juliet, The Theory of Everything, Liebestraum, Liebestraum: Once More With Feeling), but in terms of choreography it's like Gadbois threw up on them. It feels a little like what would happen if you forced a bot to watch hours and hours of Montreal programs and then had it create one itself. Which is not to say it's a bad program-- the structuring is very nice, the elements are well integrated into the choreography, it builds well, and there are some really nice choreographic touches like his slide or their spread eagles. What we still struggle with is the interpretation. While this was their most engaged, expressive performance yet, it made the program more emotionally confusing and incoherent. They clearly love this program and their joy is infectious, but also a very odd choice with how mournful the lyrics are. We can't tell what the storyline is supposed to be or what they're trying to convey to us. It may be that they're interpreting the music rather than the lyrics, which is a valid choice, but then they need to take out the lyrics so we're not jarred out of the performance when the singer is going on about how their love is gone and he's lost and Kaitlin and Jean-Luc look downright ecstatic. But if you can get past that it's a gripping performance of a program suited to their style of skating.

Stepanova/Bukin gave a fiery performance but were unable to make up the gap. This was good but not the best they've performed it. We love this program and they definitely had the crowd going, but the entire time we couldn't help but feel like they'd skated this better in the past. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what was off. There was Ivan's twizzlol which cost them around two points, if not more, which would have at least gotten them a medal. Combined with their pattern issues from the rhythm dance and the tough break of skating in the first group for the free, several points were left on the table in a competition where absolutely every point and fraction of a point mattered. But Stepanova/Bukin have never been a team to wallow in disappointment, and just last season came back at Worlds (where we promise they didn’t flop!) after not getting the invite they needed for the Olympics with performances at the level of their personal bests set at a home Europeans. We fully expect to see them looking better than ever at Nationals, ready to fight like hell for their National title.

There are a lot of weird coincidences in skating, such as at least three different skaters using In This Shirt or Tokio Myer's Bloodstream, but two tall, leggy Russian teams in all black skating blues free dances back to back is further proof that the skating hivemind is real. With a smaller lead over Hawayek/Baker than they had at NHK, Zagorski/Guerreiro needed to substantially improve their execution of their free dance in order to place #notlast, and they rose to the occasion. It's still very much a work in progress, but this was their smoothest outing yet. Still some slight shakiness going into the opening combination lift, but the position is striking and perfect for the mood once they get into it, and the transition to the stationary portion was a lot smoother. They're such a tall, striking team, and this free dance does a lot to show off their lines and strong body shaping. We don't love this music but we love the way they interpret it. For the most part we just think this program needs further cleaning up, but we do take issue with the ending pose. It's certainly unique, but it's also a little wobbly and way more than a little weird. Surely there is a final pose they can find where it doesn't look like she's drunk and can't stand up.

Sinitsina/Katsalapov reminded everyone who assumed they'd slot neatly into Russia #2 without a fight that they beat Hubbell/Donohue in the free dance at Skate Canada and their Season's Best score going into this event was near identical to both Hubbell/Donohue and Stepanova/Bukin, and not to count them out. They've always been a couple with potential but it's really astonishing to see how far they've come, both in terms of actual skating and competitive mettle. Even hanging on through a slight loss of balance in their opening straight line lift. There is some great choreo through the first section (except okay why does Nikita stick his head in Vika's back while she flourishes her arms beautifully? the world may never know) if not the most exciting music choice. The last minute really picks up with some wild chaos in a way that makes us kind of wish the whole program was like that. Last season’s free dance was probably the best one of their partnership, but you know what, they fully commit to this program and it’s great to see them skating so well and looking happy with their performances.

Much like in the rhythm dance, we were eager to see the changes Hubbell/Donohue made to the free dance, and there certainly were changes. We're not quite sure how to feel about them yet simply because the program feels unfinished, in an inbetween stage. It's like the skating equivalent of a molting chicken. We think the more dramatic O, Verona piece is much better suited to their powerful skating, but you can definitely feel that the program has been hastily reworked. With the new more dramatic opening, we'd think a more climactic finish would tie things together and give the piece a stronger, defined storyline and emotional progression. As it is currently, it feels somewhat unfocused and meandering. Their basic skating quality is undeniably top notch, however, and they sold the program from the start.

As we may have mentioned the result here didn't surprise us, but what did was just how genuinely thrilled we were for Guignard/Fabbri. They've been dismissed and overlooked and underestimated for so long and have worked so hard for this result, and we couldn't be happier for them. We genuinely like this free dance too. It feels like a throwback in the best possible way, and the upbeat dancey section in the middle is so charming and refreshing. In an era where some argue that there's not enough acrobatic, obvious difficulty in lifts, Guignard/Fabbri give you no cause to complain, and just assume that we're always raving about their twizzle entry.

So this weekend generated some controversy as you have probably noticed! Honestly we're not sure we feel like bothering getting into it that much again. The new system has done Things to scoring! Some of them good, several bad, and some of them five point knee slides, which is to say ???!?!?!?? Time will tell as to how many of these actually last more than a season. We're just really not sure what more there is to say about it at this point. We are as always interested to see where ice dance goes from here, and what changes are made after this season, but also what happens at worlds where we suspect those levels will make or break it for several teams.

For the record, we don't actually think that Gadbois has some sort of strategy where they're purposefully ignoring levels. No coaching group has exactly been crushing it and Gadbois has always been a little stronger at picking up GOE than BV. With the upping of requirements for levels combined with smaller differences in levels and the new GOE system, it's led to this result. And the teams this weekend generally didn't bring their best tech, regardless of coaching group. One reason it would be foolish to ignore levels is that it's very easy for a level 1 on the pattern to turn into a Basic call, which is killer as Stepanova/Bukin learned. It's something a top team can get away with in weaker fields, sure, but if Hubbell/Donohue had gotten a B instead of a level 1 on the second half of their pattern, they could have been in big trouble. Stepanova/Bukin and Hubbell/Donohue both hit three key points and missed five, but missing all four on one side hurt Stepanova/Bukin more. Final standings could have looked different just changing a level or two rendering them Still Important, particularly in close fields, no matter the scoring.

We have expressed numerous objections to the scoring system this season, but we feel obligated to point out that while the champions winning with the lowest BV is less than ideal, the difference was three points. If you don't think a world medalist team would have been able to overcome a three point BV difference on the strength of their GOE and PCS in previous seasons, we have a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. Additionally, while we can't say that Hubbell/Donohue's free dance is one of our favorites of this season, or even this field, it's a position we're so often in that it doesn't even register at this point. Our tastes in programs and teams often run against the more popular opinions, if we declared a result illegitimate because we didn't personally care for a program, we'd have to throw out a lot of competitions. We're extremely used to analyzing and praising the strengths of teams and programs we'd cheerfully never watch again for the rest of our lives.

We're big fans of Stepanova/Bukin, and while we're disappointed for them, we thought the results were fair. And we’re not planning their funeral just yet, though we promise we do about the future of their career. This wouldn't be the first time fandom has declared a team over and prepared to dissect them and declare the exact cause of death only for the team in question to bolt upright on the table in the morgue, confused, full of life, and demanding to know why there are so many people hovering over them with scalpels. Sinitsina/Katsalapov's own career has been “over”, conservatively, at least six times over the past quad. We remember hearing very definitively that after they were put behind Zagorski/Guerreiro in the Nationals SD last season following more twizzle troubles that it was clear the Fed had dumped them for good and there was no point in them continuing. Now we're being told just as definitively that they're the Fed darlings because Nikita is an Olympic medalist(something which has been true for the past four years), so clearly someone here is confused. Additionally, we always thought it very possible that the top Russian team at GPF and the National Champion might not be same team, so the grieving strikes us as a little premature. It’s way too early to call, but we are very interested in how these storylines continue to play out through the rest of the season, and particularly how the new scoring system will continue to play out.

[anythingstephenking]

The Morally Grey Mile

Strap in for another grim tale. At least men are the ones getting fucked in The Green Mile, amirite ladies? No, still not cool? Ok then.

I suppose it is a disservice to call The Green Mile solely a “grim” tale, but because the core story focuses on an innocent man headed to the electric chair, it is pretty damn grim. If you haven’t read the book you’ve seen the movie but spoilers anyway - the innocent man dies and it sucks for the reader. It’s certainly more complicated than “bad wins” but a real bummer all the same.

Backing up a bit. The Green Mile was King’s first attempt at a serialized story release. In the book’s forward, King tells us it’s story of inception. Through a series of fortuitous events and a conversation with business associates about Charles Dickens, King concocted the idea to release a story in a series of “chapbooks”. Apparently Dickens released some of his stories that way, and they were so fervently popular that a band of dingdongs pushed each other off a dock and drowned while awaiting a shipment of Dickens into Baltimore Harbor. I imagine if the Harry Potter books were released that way I would have ended up in the harbor too. No judgement, zealous Dickens readers, I get it.

Logically, if it worked for 19th century Dickens, it would surely work for 20th century Stephen King, right? 

(cue Mr. Burns fingers). 

A single book released in installments monthly, garnering 3-4x the cost of a single paperback. Good for you SK, good for you. Cause turns out, the constant reader ate it up and bought ‘em like hotcakes.

Cause that’s the thing - this is a really really good story. Not because it’s beautifully written like Cujo or Firestarter or mind-bending like The Dark Tower books, but because it is a real page turner. I credit the format for that - you can tell it was written in a plot-driven, cliffhanger kinda way. In the same way serialized TV (before binging took this joy away) would leave you wanting more week to week, The Green Mile leaves each installment in a way where you can’t imagine not picking up the next one.

Per my contractual agreement with myself, I am required to reach each and every page of this story, but I’m a strange bird and the rest of the world isn’t a weirdo like me. At the end of the day, the narrative structure here really works and I plowed through all 6 installments in a day or so. Those reading in real-time (and not binging like me) waited a month between each publishing, from March through August 1996. There was no dock delivery in Baltimore in 1996 but I imagine if there was, the crowd waiting for each would be large.

So the narrative approach works, but what about the story itself? My analysis comes back slightly muddy but mostly positive despite some hard to swallow flaws.

I can’t claim to know what death row would have been like in 1932, but I’ve watched enough PBS documentaries to know what it’s like now. The group held at Cold Mountain are described as killers, yes. As rapists and wife beaters and arsonists. But they also come across like a rag-tag group of buds that should have their own reality TV show. One of the prisoners, Del, raped and murdered a young girl then accidentally killed a bunch of other people trying to cover his tracks by setting the building on fire. But he’s got this cute, somewhat supernatural mouse named Mr. Jingles that does tricks. Ain’t it cute? Then he fries and literally catches on fire in the electric chair.

I understand the intention of the tale - humanity lives in all of us. Empathy shouldn’t be reserved just for some. Death is final and it comes for all of us. What I struggled with was trying to understand if this was blatant reference to King’s personal stance on the Death Penalty (against it, obvs) or something more subtle. Should we take away that killing is wrong no matter what? Or that there is more nuance at play here?

Because there’s more happening on the green mile than just murderers dying (no matter how dramatically) in the chair comically nicknamed “ol’ sparky”. We’ve got John Coffey in chains, convicted of raping and murdering two 9 year old girls. JFC. I just can’t.

But he did, and he will die for his crimes. Here’s where the controversy around this novel begins. John Coffey is a large black man with magical powers. Spike Lee specifically calls out King publicly for this “magical negro” trope, which honestly I can’t disagree with. Dick Halloran from The Shining and Mother Abigail from The Stand fall neatly in this bucket as well. But even as I type this I know I am cherry-picking; I’ve read plenty of King stories with mystical beings and they’re mostly white (or more often other worldly). But King’s repeated use of the n-word and other racial slurs in his writing is real cringeworthy. As I move further towards his 21st century writing I keep hoping this will stop. It hasn’t yet, as of 1996. But King and writing about race is an entirely separate post for another day.

Back to The Green Mile; we learn that John Coffey has special healing powers when he cures the head guard, Paul Edgecomb of a UTI by grabbing his crotch. Normally this type of behavior will get ya thrown in the hole, but Paul’s so grateful he lets it slide.

Once we learn of the healing powers of Coffey, it doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to solve the mystery. While getting arrested he cries “I tried to stop it but it was too late.” Everyone involved in the investigation assumes he means he tried to stop himself from murder but couldn’t; anyone with half a brain can deduce that someone else killed the girls; he tried to heal them. He was too late.

We’re set off to learn who really murdered the girls, but this revelation takes a backseat, at least in my mind. For me, the big mystery is; will John Coffey get executed? I’ll be honest, I hadn’t seen this movie, so I didn’t know. The phone the governor used to phone in stays-of-execution was mentioned early, so my Chekhov’s Gun senses lead me to believe it was possible. Why bother if not? Well the phone is mentioned at execution time, only to say it won’t ring. And of course it never really was a question - Coffey is a black man in the south, convicted of murdering two girls in 1932. Of course no one’s coming to save him. It’s sad. Real sad.

We’re given solace in the fact that Coffey claims he’s ready to go - his powers are too much and he’s tired. This is a nonsense cop out that provides relief to all those that understand the truth, allowing them to go on living, loving their wives and kids and casseroles. John Coffey should not have died. The end. 

Things are wrapped up in a bow with the end stories of everyone involved and their timely and untimely deaths. I guess that’s it; life sucks, then you die; death can come for you in any way, without discrimination.

I earmarked what is one of my favorite lines I’ve encountered so far in King’s work.

“We had once again succeeded in destroying what we could not create.”

Executing anyone (murderer or not) takes a toll on most of the prison staff. I just loved this so much on so many levels; they are men without the ability to create life; they are not god; they are mortals stealing mortality. So beautiful.

So, it’s no stretch to call this the brother of Shawshank, but at least we get a female character in Paul Edgecomb’s wife. I don’t remember her name so that’s not great. But she was a woman and she at least was there, so it gets knocked up a few rungs from Shawshank IMHO.

I’d have to say this is one King novel that really perplexed me. I suppose I got into the routine of enjoying typical good-vs-evil tales where the good guys eventually overcome. For me, The Green Mile wasn’t green at all but a wavering shade of grey I still can’t see properly.

(Side note: As I sat down to write this, I thought to myself “I’m not sure what I’ll say about The Green Mile.” Turns out, quite a bit, this is probably one of my longest entries. Who knew?)

8/10

First Line: This happened in 1932, when the state penitentiary was still at Cold Mountain.

Last Line: I know that, but sometimes, oh God, the Green Mile is so long.

Adaptations:

Like it’s brother Shawshank Redemption, I had never seen this movie before. It made it’s run through awards season in 1999, mostly for Michael Clarke Duncan’s portrayal of John Coffey. Who later tragically died of a heart attack with his girlfriend Omarosa (of Trump WH fame) which I didn’t know, but good golly, that is another sad story for another day.

Listen, this is a highly regarded movie that’s on many top lists, so I won’t stab into it too hard. But it is SO LONG.

Frank Darabont got his panties all in a bunch when folks told him a 3 hour running time was too long, claiming that if 2 hours was the correct length of a film that cinema classics like Lawrence of Arabia were invalidated. Well guess what? I’ve seen Lawrence of Arabia, and yes that shit is too. damn. long. As is The Green Mile.

One would think that with 3+ hours of material, the character development would be on point. It’s not really; the prisoners are mostly glossed over (even more so than in the book) as lovable murders. Wild Bill is the exception (overacted by Sam Rockwell), and he serves as the sole real “bad guy”. 

Edgecomb and his other prison guards are painted as saints (again, minus one guard who takes on the “bad guy of the good guys” role). If the book was grey the movie is much more black and white. Tom Hanks for president for sure, the guy is a national treasure. But they were one step away from giving him an actual halo. As someone complicit in the murder of an innocent man, I just can’t declare his character for sainthood. The real Tom Hanks, a million times yes. Paul Edgecomb? Nah.

The movie is fine. I approve of Darabont’s relationship with King and have thoroughly enjoyed their previous collaborations. I was sad to see that he let his film rights to The Long Walk expire last year, picked up by New Line and James Vanderbilt (of Vanderbilt fortune... old money... sigh) who penned Zodiac, which leaves me slightly hopeful but assume it’ll trickle back into development limbo for the remainder of eternity.

I’ve already finished my next read, Desperation and after I slog through the 2.5 hour ABC miniseries (UGH) I will keep trucking. New Year, more pressure placed on myself to plow through the back half of King’s bibliography.