#i'm not even voting because my vote is 'all of it'

[immafuneral]

I genuinely hope you don't mind me adding onto this post, but- On one hand, I really want to agree with this- I think it's so important to give people grace and the room and space to learn and grow, sometimes people aren't hateful, they're just uneducated and underexposed. Sometimes we ARE responsible for holding their hand through it and teaching them with kindness, patience and empathy. Do we owe it to them? No. But that's the only way that we're going to see positive change in people. No, it's not always going to work, it's not a guarantee, sometimes you ARE just wasting your energy on someone who will always choose hate and ignorance... But shame and rejection only pushes people further into stronger belief in the extremes they're being taught... Meaning to say, it goes both ways. On the other... I don't know man, I'm so tired. It's so hard to hold onto that belief when living in the US right now. It's so hard to tell myself that people need grace, they need help to improve, they need compassion- Proof that we aren't everything the truly hateful bigots say we are. I'm so angry, at the people who chose that fucking fascist as our president not out of hatred but out of ignorance, because that DOES make them just as bad. Their decisions have still lead to me living with the fear that I am going to be killed, alongside everyone I love... I think about how many of them might NOT have voted for him if they had someone in their life who was willing to empathize with and explain to them what they were actually choosing. When we treat it like- "Well they should have known!!- It should have been common sense!!!" Or "That's what we've been screaming about throughout the campaign!" Spreading that information is not the same as being with someone and walking through it on an individual, compassionate way. The same way your parents ask you things and you get frustrated at them because, why can't they just google it? They could google it, sure, and that might be a lot more convenient for you, because YOU'RE just going to google it.. But they're asking you because you're someone they trust and google is overwhelming to someone who isn't used to having this much information in their face, at their fingertips, all at once. They don't have the ability to discern reality from unreality on the internet. Why would the things they're reading, the news articles (propaganda) and posts they're seeing be untrue? But, unlike the Christian Missionaries, I live in a world where letting people outside of my bubble into my life is genuinely putting me at risk for being who I am- And I know that a lot of people feel the same right now. So where to we find the balance? How do we decide when it's safe, and when it's not safe? When do we have to decide that we do it anyway? Even if we know we're taking a risk?

So, you know how certain Christian missionaries are trained to act in a very obnoxious way, so that most people they preach to will reject them outright, so they feel like the world hates them for being Christian and they can only be friends with fellow Christians? You know that thing?

I think as activists, we sometimes need to stop and ask ourselves whether we're acting like those missionaries. I think this type of behavior is a little more ingrained into our society than some of us realize, and some of us have internalized it without realizing what it's actually meant to do.

[hotvintagepoll]

LAST POLL OF ROUND 4

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant (Holiday, Bringing Up Baby, The Philadelphia Story)—They're both unspeakably hot and putting them together only makes them that much hotter. Because physically attractive people are WAY hotter when they're also incredibly funny, and both of them are. They play off each other to perfection, and I could eat them both ❤️

Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing (The Curse of Frankenstein, The Horror of Dracula)—Obviously never canon romantic but the definition of toxic old man yaoi. Whether it's the look on Lee's face as Dracula about to bite Van Helsing in "Horror Of Dracula" (1958) or Cushing destroying his life and engagement to create Lee's monster in "Curse Of Frankenstein" (1957). Such a popular team that the "Dracula" sequel lifted their final fight from the original and used it as a prologue even though Cushing isn't in the rest of the film.

This is round 4 of a mini tournament. Each poll lasts for a week. Please reblog with propaganda for your favorite hot couple. To vote in all the polls, click here.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Hepburn and Grant:

Truly two of the hottest people ever to grace our screens and when you put them together, it's volcanic. They are totally magnetic on screen together, with the perfect love/hate chemistry. The ultimate 'you drive me crazy' couple, no one is doing it like them.

They are delight and joy and ALSO insanely hot together. Friendships have ended over the ship war of The Philadelphia Story, and you know what? Valid.

They are the hottest couple because they are clever, witty and beautiful. They spark off each other magnificently.

I feel like they’re almost too obvious to bother submitting but I’ve made that mistake before so Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. I present Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story as evidence, your honor

Perfect onscreen match in some of the greatest romcoms ever. My, they were yar!

Cary Grant & Katherine Hepburn! They're my favorites! Dapper & ridiculous both!

I'm sorry, that's not a very romantic pic, but I had to include the serenading the leopard

and the fluffy bathrobe!

Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee:

Not exactly propaganda but I received this ask after Cushing and Lee's submission:

oh, I completely missed the qualifiers for the couples poll! Nevemind. Unless we count characters attempting to murder one another in multiple movies as peak couple behavior, Cushing and Lee tragically don’t qualify.

Editor's note: in this case I'll absolutely count that as romantic.

[whoopsyeahokay]

Boyfriend Wally Clark (NSFW)

Wally Clark x fem!reader

___________________________💦

Wally is exactly the type of romantic who sweeps you off your feet. He's goofy, charming, affectionate. Always finding ways to touch you when you and he are with your friends. Holds you close and keeps you in his arms, on his lap, against his body on the couch that you and he usurp for yourselves at Movie Night. He's all about forehead kisses and laced fingers and cradling your cheek as he tells you how much he loves you. Brushes your hair out of your eyes and smiles at you like you're the only person in the world he can see.

Wally is exactly the type who soaks up compliments like a sponge, has both an ego and an insecurity that needs attention. He revels in your praise and devotion. He's attentive and loyal, there when you need him at the drop of a hat. Pulling up in his Mustang, ready to dote on his passenger princess, hand on your thigh as he drives one-handed, fingers digging into your flesh while he watches the road. He's into sweet gestures and reassurances. Respect. Thoughtful gifts just because and more thoughtful actions when you're not feeling well.

But Wally is also the type to whisper dark promises in your ear when you and he are surrounded by people in the hall, pressing against your back as you rummage through your locker, his hand roaming under your shirt to smooth up your stomach, fingertips teasing the edge of your bra. He wields his self-control like a weapon off the field as much as on it, grinding his hard cock into your palm through his jeans, his hand tight around your wrist—"Do you like what you do to me, baby?"—after he drags you into an empty classroom because he spent lunch watching Jackass Jake Tremblay flirt with you for your vote. "You like how hard I get just for you?"

Wally is also the type to get possessive, hard bites on your neck, sucking a necklace of bruises into your collar that you can't hide under your shirt. He wants everyone to know you're his. He makes you remember with his fingers in your pussy, dragging them in and out as he nips your ear, "No one else gets to touch you like this. No one else can see you like this." And you whimper and beg, writhing beneath him, legs spread wide to accommodate him. He eats you out, lips and tongue and light grazes of teeth, staring at you through his lashes, memorizing every sound you make as he edges you for longer than you can handle, fucks you with his tongue, tastes you like a feast made just for him.

Wally is exactly the type to fuck you until you scream. He starts slow when you're already on the brink, cock thick and heavy, teasing himself against you as he kisses your breasts, sucks your nipples, one hand on your throat—a reminder, a promise—while he strokes himself with the other, flushed tip against your entrance. "You need me right here, don't you baby?" And then he rocks into you in one deep, grinding motion, stuffing you so full you might burst. "I'm gonna fuck you 'til you scream my name, baby girl." It's rough, hard, he grips your thigh tight enough to bruise as he bites your bottom lip, licks into your mouth, makes you squeeze around him. "So tight, baby, so good for me. You want me to make you come? You think you earned it?"

Wally is definitely the type who fucks like an animal after he sees another guy talk to you, but he's also the type who gets off on making you wait for that sweet release when it suits him. But even he has his limits, begins to pant and groan, hips moving faster, hands around your wrists where they're pinned above your head, his other hand between his body and yours, spit-wet thumb rubbing your clit as he watches your face, wants to see the moment you fall apart for him and when you do, "Good girl, baby, fuck, that's it, let me feel it, baby, make me come" and you convulse around him, your pussy gripping him so tight as you come that it milks his climax from him. He moans, lips crashing against yours.

Wally is exactly the type to cuddle after sex. Gentle touches and soft kisses and loving words, fingertips grazing your cheek as he stares into your eyes in the afterglow. "I love you, baby," in a low, husky voice, forehead pressed to yours, his hand gliding down your body to your side, waist, hip, ass. He pulls you tight against him, already half-hard again, because, Jesus Christ, he's insatiable when it comes to you.

💦___________________________

[svetamillss]

Hiii I'm really sorry.. I’ve never really requested much on tumblr,so I apologize if I’m doing anything wrong. I wanted to ask if is it possible to write some platonic headcanons for some characters like(Hyun-jo,Semi,no-eul,Saebyeok)with a younger sister reader?like how would they act if they had a younger sister?it doesn't matter if it's in the games or outside.(also if you can't do it its completely okay,and I'm sorry for my bad English<33)

Headcanons: you are their younger sister🤍

Featuring: Cho Hyun Ju x Reader(f), Se Mi x Reader(f), Gang No Eul x Reader(f), Kang Sae Byeok x Reader(f)

Warnings: agnst, there is no love line here, it's not pairings!

A/N: Your order is very wonderful, thank you!! I hope I met your expectations!

🤍🤍🤍

Cho Hyun Ju

You and the girl were very close. You were the only one from her entourage who supported her when she admitted that she wanted to become a girl. You both left the family and started living together.

Unfortunately, you have collected a lot of debts because of Ju's operations and you didn't have enough money to live on at all. That's why you decided to agree to the offer to play games.

But the girl didn't know you were here and when she saw it, she was very angry with you. After all, you could have been in trouble (she just took care of you).

When you told her that you came here for her, she was so ashamed that she even cried and asked for forgiveness for you having such a worthless sister, you immediately began to calm her down and kiss her face (it was your way to calm each other down).

In the first game, you held on to your sister's back, also holding hands with her (so she understood that you were next to her).

You both voted for the cross, but it didn't help, and you continued to play. Hyun Ju didn't let you go for a minute, you slept together, you even went to the toilet together. When the guys wanted to meet you, she immediately started a serious conversation with them, making it clear that she would not allow it.

You both prayed to get out of here together and live happily again.

- It's because of me you're here, I'm a bad older sister that the younger one has to pull me out of the bottom. - Ju said when she stroked your hair before going to bed.

- You are the best and most beloved sister, I love you very much and we will get out of here and go to live in Thailand.

Se Mi

You and your sister have always been together. Consider that she raised you. You are very close, so you decided to go to the games to win more money.

Even though you realized that games are for survival, you continued to play, because you two were scared outside, and games are a chance for a normal existence.

Se Mi always protected you, helped you pass the games, because she was more courageous and strong.

The girl didn't let Thanos and Nam Gyu approach you, who wanted to get to know you better, but your sister made it clear that she was ready to kill for your safety.

After all, after the third game, you wanted to get home, so you voted for the cross, thinking that it would all be over soon.

- Don't worry, honey, tomorrow there will be a second vote and we will return home together. And now you have to hide well under the bed so that they don't find you. - she said when she led you away from everyone, to a safe place.

- And you? I don't want to hide without you! Don't leave!

- There is a place for one person, I found another safe place and will go there, but I will be next to you. Time will fly by and I'll be back soon. And now lie down and don't get out of hiding. - Finally, Se Mi kissed you on the forehead and helped you get under the bed, after which she left.

You prayed all nighttime that your sister would be fine. But, unfortunately, your prayers were in vain. When you finally managed to get out of the hiding, you immediately ran to look for your sister, but instead of your sweet and cheeky Se Mi, you saw only a body lying between the beds. Your sister had a cut throat.

All you could do was close her eyes, your face was wet with tears. Se Mi saved you, but she couldn't.

Gang No Eul

You and your older sister were able to get out of Hell. From The DPRK. But, unfortunately, she lose her husband and daughter.

You spent a lot of effort and money to find a little girl, but it was all in vain. Everyone said she was dead.

But the two of you didn't want to believe it and continued to fight. That's why you wanted to join the games to raise more money for the search. No Eul you didn't say that you decided on such a thing, because you knew that she would be against it, since the girl was strict with you, but so she showed her love and care for you.

You were scared at the games, so after the first game, you clicked on the cross, hoping to return home to your beloved sister with at least a small amount. But you didn't succeed. There were more people who wanted to continue and you had to continue.

You've always thought about No Eul. You cried at night, because you missed her very much and wanted her to hug you. You were afraid that you would die and never return to her again, and she would not even know where you disappeared.

But you didn't even suspect that your sister was very close to you. But on the other side of the game. She was one of the guards who shot the losing players. And when she saw you at the first game, she wanted to drop everything out of horror and run out to you, shout, and then save you from this horror.

But she couldn't. She was powerless. Therefore, she only had to hope that you were fine and alive. And she had a fear of being the one who would have to shoot you for losing the game.

Kang Sae Byeok

You, your older sister and younger brother were able to get out of the DPRK, but, unfortunately, since your brother was a minor, he was taken to an orphanage.

So you and Sae Byeok had to survive and earn money to take the boy from there.

You had enemies, a lot of debts, so the two of you decided to join the games to earn enough money and finally live a real life and family.

There were a lot of victims, but you stayed together. Your sister took great care of you, because you were much weaker than her. She didn't allow anyone to approach you, you were safe with her.

You both thought you'd get out of here soon. Together. But this game was too terrible and easily played on human trust.

When you were told to divide into teams of two people, you united with your sister without hesitation, thinking that you would manage.

But you didn't know that you had to play against each other.

Sae Byeok sat slooped almost the whole game, she blamed herself for everything, and you were thinking at that time, what to do. And you made a decision. You will save Sae Byeok, because she deserves to live more than you.

You decided to make the Marbles game for yourself. You offered to play in the following way: whoever throws the stone further, he will win. The girl agreed and threw quite far. And you didn't even try.

How many screams were there from your sister, you rarely saw her crying, but you understood that she was about to lose a loved one.

When you explained why you did it, she burst into tears even harder, and you just smiled, hugging her for the last time, and then gently pushed her to leave and not see you dying.

- Thank you for played with me! - those were your last words for her. The next moment there was a shot, and then the sound of a body falling to the ground. But Sae Byeok didn't turn around, knowing that you wouldn't want it. She left the room in tears.

But who knew that your victim would be in vain. After all, your sister was killed before the very last round, not keeping her promise to get out of here alive.

🤍🤍🤍

[ally1uvsu]

Heavy heart, Warm hands. / Choi Su-bong (Thanos) x Nam-gyu

⨉⠀⠀─⠀⠀Series .⠀›⠀Trans Namgyu Week 2025⠀‎ꪆৎ day 5; Angst/fluff, period comfort — Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4

·⠀warnings info⠀· NSFW — . wc; 3.4k

summary; Nam-gyu had to be the luckiest person ever, getting his period while playing mingle, getting into a misunderstanding with Thanos, and now having to put up with earth shattering cramps. Could it even get any worse?

info; Emotional Hurt/Comfort, periods, cramps, trans namgyu, namgyu gets his period mid mingle, misunderstandings, namgyu suffers like.. half of the fic, cuddling and snuggling, understanding a misunderstanding, Thanos is a bit mean in the middle, Sober Nam-gyu, Happy Ending, Theyre so gay I hate them: (, Choi Subong I Thanos Lives, no bathroom brawl, no extra game, Soft Namgyu (Squid Game), Soft Choi Subong I Thanos, massages!

notes; Do you guys think I’d be cooked in a room w my namgyu if he knew that I write his stories like this?

It all started in that stupid round of fucking mingle.

Nam-gyu began cramping after the number called out six, not thinking much of it at first. Stepping back into the platform, he felt the drugs wearing off, but before he could even ask Thanos for another one, he nearly doubled over as he felt a sharp pain, and then another pang.

The platform began spinning, nobody seemed to notice. But Nam-gyu was a little bit more quiet now, not even dancing around with Thanos.

Round and round

Let's go around in circles and dance

We will clap our hands and sing

La-la-la-la, let's have fun dancing

Nam-gyu cursed mentally, shit, it couldn't possibly be, right? It was the kind of pain he was familiar with, the same pain he'd curl up and sometimes even cry over because of how much it fucking hurt.

His brain had been reeling due to the drug, and now due to how hyperaware he felt. He feels a hand on his shoulder, Gyeong-su. He can hear him asking something over the sickly cheerful song playing in the room. "Nam-gyu, are you okay?"

Shit, was it obvious? Before answering, he took a look around. Thanos was being himself, Se-mi was reassuring Min-su, and Gyeong-su.. well, he was here. Nam-gyu nodded, taking in a sharp breath as he felt another jab of pain. "Yeah... yeah, I'm okay." He nodded, and then the platform halted into a stop.

'Four'

Nam-gyu watched as Thanos looked between all four of the members, Min-su was standing there with his stupid puppy dog eyes, Se-mi was analyzing the situation, and Gyeong-su was standing by his side with a nervous and awkward smile. Thanos of course immediately looked at him, pointing his finger at him before speaking up in English;

"Gyeong-su, you're out!" He shouted as he placed his foot on Gyeong-su's chest and kicked him back, causing him to land on his ass. Nam-gyu merely spares the other man a glance, he looks shocked, too shocked to stand up and find another group. But then Thanos is already shouting; "LET'S GO, WOOOO!!" And despite the pain, Nam-gyu rushes after him while Se-mi pulls Min-su along.

Once inside the red door, Nam-gyu lets out a shuddering sigh as he looked through the eyepiece, Gyeong-su was still there. His head snaps back to Thanos who was asking about Gyeong-su as if he hadn't just kicked him down to his death, was he really that high off his ass?

He felt Thanos shove him off the door, it was enough to make him quietly wince as he heard the other man shout Gyeong-su's name over the ringing gunshots. "GYEONG-SU!!!!" And Nam-gyu thought for once he might vote fucking X.

He looked at the other two inside the room, Se-mi and Min-su. Se-mi was staring at him a little weirdly, Min-su looked like the same pathetic bitch as always, great.

Thanos turned around eventually, already impatient as the guards began cleaning up. Nam-gyu swore he might have to claw his insides out, he could feel the fucking blood. Why did it have to come now? Was the universe against him?

It took a little, but eventually the doors clicked open. "Anddd we win again!" And Nam-gyu forces out some noise as he walked close to Thanos. Once again, the group was in the platform. It began spinning, shit, Nam-gyu was bound to get fucking dizzy.

The song was cheerful and even loud, enough to make his head throb. He wanted to curl in on himself and maybe die, that looked like the best option here. He was sure Thanos noticed by now, the way he wasn't jumping around or joining his antics. Nobody here knew, and nobody here could fucking know.

That was just how people in Korea were, after all. They were all against these kind of shit like it was their problem, so what if Nam-gyu wanted to be a boy? Maybe they should mind their own damn business.

Round and round

Let's go around in circles and dance

We will clap our hands and sing

La-la-la-la, let's have fun dancing

And that stupid 'Ring-a ring-a ring' began playing, he needed to get the fuck out of here. He just wondered how many rounds were there left, maybe it was close enough. He had to fucking survive, even if his body wasn't in the best condition.

And then the speaker called out 'three', of course, Thanos looked at him first before he turned to Se-mi and Min-su, of course they'd go first. "Who should we take?" Of course Thanos would go with Nam-gyu, there was that, at least. "Rock, paper, scissors!" Thanos called out loudly and Nam-gyu stood a bit closer to Min-su, one of them had to play. "Come with me." Se-mi said as she stretched her hand towards Min-su, big mistake.

The boy seemed frozen as he looked at Thanos and then at Nam-gyu, right afterwards, he threw in Scissors. The look on Se-mi's face was amusing, Nam-gyu would have laughed if he wasn't in so much fucking pain. "Min-su threw in scissors!" He forced out a surprised tone with a chuckle, and Thanos grabbed Min-su's arm and began running towards a door, Nam-gyu just rushed closely by like always.

Again, they shut the door behind themselves once they were all in. Both of them holding the door shut in case a player decided to come in. Min-su looked lost, more like panicked.. as if after the panic had settled, he realized out what he just did, tsk. What a coward.

The doors clicked shut again, and Nam-gyu didn't think he would be able to hold up that much anymore, he always had bad period pains, but he always knew how to deal with them. Now?? He couldn't. He didn't have the resources, he didn't have somewhere to just lie down and swallow his own pain, not even the drugs would help, likely.

This round went by so slowly— and then, after what felt like an eternity, the doors opened. Thanos stepped out as he said to the people around him "Yo, welcome back, my friends!" 

Maybe it was because he was sober now, but his hands really were shaking. He clutched his belly for a few seconds before he began acting normally, nobody could find out— who knew how they might react?

Once back into the platform, however, Thanos turned to him and clicked open the locket, holding a single pill towards him. "You sober?" And Nam-gyu nodded, taking the pill anyways even if he knew it wouldn't help the pain and popped it in his mouth.

Again, the platform began spinning.

Round and round

Let's go around in circles and dance

We will clap our hands and sing

La-la-la-la, let's have fun dancing

It doesn't make the pain any better, however, Nam-gyu dumbly hoped that it would. Either way, he played along with Thanos' antics just to hope he could forget the pain, even if every movement made him wince.

'Six' the robotic voice called out, Nam-gyu swore he would hear that shit in his dreams.

This time, they joined teams with Se-mi and two people she found for the previous round. The awkward atmosphere was only making it worse, Thanos was complaining as he tapped his feet, and Min-su was looking at Se-mi with longing or whatever the fuck was it.

The other people looked frightened, and seriously, Nam-gyu couldn't care less. He gritted his teeth as another wave of pain hit him, he felt fucking disgusting. The blood pooling in his underwear felt disgusting, the fact he was sweating and full of grime disgusted him, the blood on his shoes, everything.

The doors opened once again, and everyone stepped out. He hoped this was the last round, he seriously wanted to scream because of this stupid pain that refused to go away.

He was already getting nauseous from so much spinning, he couldn't take this cheery song anymore. He just wanted to get out and get some fucking sleep, maybe then his pain would fucking go away.

"Do you not want to stick around me anymore?" He heard Thanos call out, and Nam-gyu furrowed his brows, clearly confused as he looked at Thanos. "What?"

"I mean— shit, I just gave you two damn pills and you're still not cheering up! Are they not enough for you anymore?" Thanos looked.. upset, maybe a tad nervous. But before Nam-gyu could even answer, the platform halted once again.

'Two'

Maybe he'd pick Min-su this time, just out of spite. He and Thanos looked at Min-su, and then back at each other. And it turns out he was wrong, because as quickly as they looked at the man and at each other, Thanos grabbed his wrist and rushed towards a door other players were trying to get into.

Everything burnt and hurt as he ran, his brain felt like it was about to explode, his cramps were making him want to just double over on the floor and curl in on himself until it all stopped— but we all know that meant death.

He attempted to stop for a single second, leaning his hands on his thighs as he bit his lip hard enough to feel the metalic taste of blood coating his mouth, and then he ran his tongue over that wound. "What the hell do you think you are doing?!" He heard Thanos bark, right.. they're still playing mingle.

Despite the crippling pain and discomfort, Nam-gyu grabbed the woman by the hair and pulled her to the ground, Thanos had already been holding the door open for him, so Nam-gyu merely stumbled in. As the timer ran down, Nam-gyu held a hand on his chest while Thanos held the door shut, hearing the other two players bang at the door.

Once it was secured and locked, Nam-gyu didn't have time to speak. Thanos was already on him and demanding an answer. "Were you trying to fucking get yourself killed out there?!" Talk about dramatic, but Thanos looked kind of.. afraid, in a way. "And you still have to answer my damn question, am I not enough for you anymore, Nam-gyu?" 

Nam-gyu blinked in surprise, oh. So Thanos does know his name. Maybe he had been pretending not to all along.

Nam-gyu didn't answer for a second, nearly clutching his stomach as he felt a fresh wave of pain hit him, and now it was getting constant, not here and there. Nam-gyu thought he might as well fucking die.

Thanos looked like he was getting more frustrated by the damn second, gritting his teeth together as he ran a hand through his hair. "Damn it, Nam-gyu, answer me!"

And Nam-gyu snapped back to it, how would he possibly explain he was on his period and was feeling like a million knives were being stuffed on his womb?

He wished he could speak, damn it, why was it so fucking hard to just say he's trans? Maybe it was the fear of being rejected and tossed out and seen as different—

"If I'm not enough for you, then I might as well leave." Why did those words affect him so much? They shouldn't, right? He grasped Thanos' necklace, hearing the other man snort before feeling it grow lighter in his hands, seeing the chain that held it up around Thanos' neck fall between his fingers.

"Keep that." Thanos said at the exact same time the doors opened, shit. Nam-gyu stared at the locket, calling out after the older man. He never had been trying to grasp at the locket, he was trying to find something— anything that would help him hold onto Thanos.

Why? He didn't know. But he did know that now shit felt ten times worse.

He didn't have the courage to keep the cross around his neck, shit, he didn't even dare to take a single pill out of that fucking cross. He just mingled himself with the crowd of players as they were led back to the lobby room. If Nam-gyu thought the pain from before was bad, this was ten times worse.

The first thing he did the second they were back was go to the bathroom, shit, he felt fucking disgusting.

Moreover, without Thanos he felt empty. Popping pills didn't feel as fun, nothing felt as fun. Maybe because all along his euphoria was Thanos.

He was quick to get into a stall, pushing his tracksuit pants and underwear down to see the blood- disgusting. He grimaced as he rolled a shit ton of toilet paper and stuffing them into his underwear, these would have to do, right? He could just change them from time to time as disgusting as it was.

He avoided Thanos' gaze upon walking towards his bunk, funny thing is that he knew Thanos was staring at him. He could feel the other's burning gaze glaring into his skull strongly enough to burn a hole.

Some relief came towards him when he finally managed to lie down— sure, the bunks were hard as fuck and uncomfortable, but he could try to get some sleep through the pain that seared through him.

He laid the cross under his pillow, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging himself under the blanket as he tried to get something that resembled comfort, he couldn't get why everything decided to go so wrong today.

He felt his eyes water, why did this have to hurt so fucking much? Real men aren't supposed to cry, are they? Especially over something so little such as period cramps. But damn it, the pain was flooding his system and consuming him whole.

He didn't know how long it took him to sleep, he just knew that after somehow managing to keep himself quiet, the pain lulled him into sleep. He would have wished it lasted forever, but nothing did.

He was jolted awake by the sound of a loud beeping noise, sitting up as he looked around. Shit, how long had it been since he fell asleep?

As if on cue, he heard his number being called. Observing the X's, he could see Min-su and Se-mi over there, tsk, pussies.

He walked forward looking disheveled, slamming the O button and dragging himself towards the O side, especially away from Thanos. Mealtime probably already passed, but it was fine, it wasn't like he could eat anyway.

Voting felt like a blur, and they ended in that stupid tie. Whatever, at this point, nothing really mattered to Nam-gyu anymore. He just did the same thing as before; dragged himself to the stairs and climbed them as he tried not to wince in front of everyone and knock the fuck out.

He tried to sleep again; but it wasn't like he had any luck, anyways. Nothing really happened, except for some fight that broke out in the bathroom. Even then, Nam-gyu found himself looking around for Thanos, only to find him walking inside the room all bloodied but looking unharmed— it wasn't his blood, anyways.

'Player 333, eliminated.' 

It finally made sense why he was basically drenched in blood. But it didn't matter— at least they just had more money piled up in that piggy bank.

Nam-gyu's cramps came and went, they were better after taking a nap but right before lights out— they were fucking back again. And Nam-gyu was back to zero. He was fidgeting with his cross, tossing and turning as he tried to stop the stupid pain, but it just didn't. And the cross wasn't doing him any better, it only reminded him of Thanos.

Fed up of it already, he looked at Thanos who was seemingly asleep beneath his bunk, and dropped the cross necklace right on his head, at least it was light. It didn't do much to relieving how he felt but he did somehow, feel a lot lighter.

Screwing his eyes shut again, he bit his lip as another wave of fresh pain hit him. He just wanted this shit to stop— why in the middle of this stupid game? Why now? He turned again a couple of times, trying to find a position comfortable enough for him to fall asleep in and one that would cease his cramps, but a voice coming very close to him.. no, scratch that. A very familiar voice close to him caught his attention.

"Do you ever stop tossing and turning? I can't sleep like that." With the dim lighting of the X and O that gleamed on the floor, Nam-gyu managed to see Thanos standing on the feet of his mattress, nearly enough to give him a heart attack. "Shit, you scared me." Nam-gyu rasped out.

"Oh, so now you talk to me?" Thanos scoffed, shaking his head. "Unbelievable." He said as he tossed the cross back towards Nam-gyu. "Whatever, keep making noise and I'll knock you out to sleep."

Nam-gyu knew Thanos would leave again, maybe this was the last time they'd see each other, maybe— before he could even think twice, he was calling after him. "Wait." He managed to grip Thanos' arm, looking at him through the shitty lighting.

"What do you want, Nam-gyu." It was more of a statement than a question, and Nam-gyu swore that he could hear the slightest bit of longing in his voice, it was as if none of them could stay apart for too long.

"I didn't mean to make it seem that way— I.. I was in pain.. back at mingle, I mean. And popping pills weren't doing the best job to help, running hurt and even moving made me feel like I was going to fall and die on the flo—" he was cut off mid speech by Thanos beginning to check his body over for anything, all while asking him what the hell was wrong. "Shit, you are hurt? Why didn't you say anything?! What hurts? Is the wound too deep? Shit, Nam-su, talk to me!"

Back to the Nam-su thing.. Nam-gyu guessed. He would have laughed if he wasn't in pain right now, frustrated, and if anything emotional because of those damn hormones. "Thanos, I'm on my damn period." Nam-gyu said that as he felt his throat lock, everything felt too overwhelming. Maybe it was because be was scared to come out, maybe because he was in pain, or maybe because he just wanted  a damn rest, but he really felt like crying.

"Oh." Thanos let out after seconds that felt suffocating and like an eternity, Nam-gyu felt like the air was fucking suffocating him alive. "Is there anything I can do to help?" 

And as quickly as it had arrived, the pressure lifted. Thanos wasn't mad? Wasn't calling him a million slurs or just.. being an asshole overall? Nam-gyu felt shocked, because the same Nam-gyu from 10 years ago would be in an argument with his parents over his gender and sexuality. That Nam-gyu would have just been kicked out of his house, so.. how could someone that wasn't his family be more accepting than the people he grew to know for half of his life?

It took him a while to process it, Thanos was offering him help, some sort of solace, he wasn't being pushed away. "I can just leave if you want me to—" Nam-gyu quickly interfered, no way. "No!- I mean, no. Just.. lay down with me." 

This felt nice, Nam-gyu assumed. Thanos was under the thin ass blanket with him, pressed with his chest against his back just so none of them would fall out of these beds. Nam-gyu brought his knees to his chest once again, or at least attempted to. 

He felt warm hands sneak around his waist, slide inside his shirt and press into his belly in a comforting way, shit, Thanos knew his way with his hands. He was definitely getting comfortable, pressing his face against the back of Nam-gyu's neck and massaging exactly where it hurt for him.. Nam-gyu would admit it, this was definitely helping.

"Go back to sleep, you need your energy for tomorrow's voting since we ended in a tie. And even then, we need energy in case we do play another game." And that's exactly what Nam-gyu did, it didn't take long for him to fall asleep. The pain slowly felt like it was ceasing, fate had a weird way of bringing two people back together, huh?

[moleshow]

Dear Sub-Human Filth, I'm appealing to all of you stupid idiots to vote Democrat in 2018. That is if you have the basic education enough to read a ballot, anyway. I understand the majority of you racist rednecks can't even read this post, though. But those who can, please pass my message on to the rest of your inbred family. We Democrats are morally, culturally and intellectually superior to you in every way. I will qualify myself by noting that I have a Liberal Arts degree from a college, which you obviously have never been to, if you even know what one is. I also have a black friend. I have been told by several professors that everything you hold dear is terrible. Therefore you, personally, are also terrible. I don't know you, but I know that you're racist. I also know that you hate gay people and still get scared during lightning storms. The religion which you hold closely, greatly believe in, and which brings you comfort--you are wrong because I'm smarter than you and I'm telling you so. It is one of the many reasons why you are stupid and I'm better than you. You see, us Democrats want a system which helps everyone in the world. Our system is designed around love and kindness to everyone. If you don't agree, I hate you. It's not too late to change. If you knew your history, which of course you don't, you'll remember a time in America when Indians were dragged away from their homes and forced to assimilate into white society. Well, we want to change that kind of behaviour (sorry for my spelling, as I'm not from your country) by making sure you go to college and have a small apartment in a big, busy coastal city, where you belong. That will help you rid yourselves of your backward, incorrect culture and way of thinking. We'll do everything we can to make sure you agree with us and say all the right things and not be brainwashed against thinking the same way we do. All of you stupid, backward, redneck, racist, homophobic, uneducated yokels need to realize we're trying to build a classless society where we all get to live in harmony with each other, where we're all equal. If you only understood that you wouldn't be so much worse of a person than I am. So please vote Democrat. Help me help you, you worthless motherfuckers

[tragic-ships-tournament]

Well folks.

It's finally time.

It's finally fucking time.

For the finals.

A little more than 2 months ago on November 23rd, 2024, I decided to answer one singular question: What is the best Tragic Ship? I was inspired by the other tournament blogs around me, and also, there are a lot of tragic ships. And so I started this blog and embarked on a long, 2 month journey.

We started out with 64 ships. And now, we've gone down to 2.

And let's be honest, none of us knew it was gonna be these ones.

But hey, before that, let's do some honorable mentions to those who lost this round.

Don't worry Lawrence and Adam- you two are winners in my heart. Maybe not Jigsaw's though. But our favorite horror yaoi finally falls in the Semi Finals, coming SO close to making it.

But you know what was even more surprising? Destiel lost in a clean sweep this round- in the Destiel website no less! I guess the Supernatural writers were in charge of this round's results.

Wait a second... both of these ships.. they were... holy shit, there's no yaoi in the finals. We actually did it. Oh my god.

So let's finally get down to who bested them.

In the red corner, the winner of Bracket A, is an absolute classic in tragic ships. They were the og's, even. And years and years after their stories were told they were brought back, this time on the Broadway stage by Anäis Mitchell and winning 8 Tony awards, and now with a proshot on the way! Keep on walking and don't look back because our first pair of finalists are ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE!!!

And in the blue corner, the winner of Bracket B, is our favorite anime timeloop yuri! With the critically acclaimed first season airing all the way back in 2011 and a movie in 2014, these two have still somehow managed to capture the hearts of fans all around more than a decade later. I wouldn't mind being stuck in an eternal maze for them, it's MADOKA KAMANE AND HOMURA AKEMI!!!

Two absolute TITANS of ships going head to head against each other, and the question on all of our minds is who will come out victorious? And to give you all ample time to vote and blow up my notifs, for the first time ever- the final round will be 1 week long, starting from tomorrow, 8:00 AM Eastern.

But before we get to that, let's just take a quick second here.

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for everything you have all ever done in this blog. Whether you've just followed me or you've been here since the beginning, your support means the world to me. I started this blog just as a fun little project and a way to escape the shit going on in the world that November, and I'm sorry for being corny, but it's turned into so much more than that. I love reading all your little analyses and thoughts and memes and I love seeing how invested all of you have gotten into this silly little tournament. It really is just a testament on how people will come together for even the nichest arguments just for a metaphorical crown.

It's gonna be weird not having to check this blog's notifs everyday. But readers at home, I invite you to raise a (hypothetical or real, it doesn't matter) glass and enjoy this next week while it lasts.

[whatadeer]

Actually, I've hated democrats for as long as I've been alive because you people have done nothing besides deport my people in unprecedented numbers while lying about it.

You guys are the same. Your tactics are the exact same. You both ruin the lives of the lower classes while actively promoting infighting on lines of race, immigration status, gender, sexuality, and other worthless shit as a way to keep poor people poor by believing that some nebulous establishment will finally save them even though all they care about is votes instead of rising up and shooting your politicians in the head. Dems think because they're nice about things, we're obligated to give our votes to them. I'm not obligated to give shit to no one. I don't care who is running if they're willing to uphold the current establishment because you are an enemy to the poor.

So yeah, fuck your blue men and your blue women. And fuck you.

You literally posted that chart blaming ppl who abstained from voting and then replied snidely to someone who pointed out that it's victim blaming. You don't want to talk about genocide because you know that you're in the wrong for shaming non-voters

That post has literally nothing to do with Gaza. I didn't even talk about Gaza in response to that comment, I just said that if they truly did not believe Harris was preferable to Trump they had nothing to complain about. If Harris wouldn't be better, then Trump being president is not a metaphorical crime, and therefore there are no victims to blame.

I am shaming non-voters, I'm right to do it and I'll do it again and again and again and again. Choosing not to vote is shameful. I think that even about elections without Donald Trump on the ballot because I have a strong sense of civic duty but it's extra shameful in elections like 2016 and 2024. If non-voters genuinely believe Trump being president is not meaningfully worse than Harris being president, they won't feel shame and they won't care what I think. The problem is that non-voters know they're in the wrong because they can see what's happening as clearly as anyone else. When people ask them "can you honestly say Kamala Harris would [pick anything Trump has done in the last 16 days]?" they never say "yes." Because they can't.

No one wants to actually make the argument that refusing to vote for Harris over Gaza was worth the suffering Trump's election is causing, because it didn't do anything to help Gaza and it didn't pressure Democrats into agreeing with them. The only thing it did was make non-voters avoid feeling bad about voting for Harris. But now they feel bad anyway because they have a sinking feeling that Trump winning is worse. Most of the non-voters now whining wanted Harris to win so they would get the benefits of Harris being president and Trump not being president, but they wanted her to win without their votes so they didn't have to feel bad.

I don't want to talk about Gaza because it's a serious and sensitive topic and I don't feel informed enough to speak about it on my blog, especially when my political posts have been getting thousands of notes. I posted that ask to dissect the insidious pro-Trump rhetoric, not to address the content, and I did not want the piss on the poor website to have a slapfest using people's extreme suffering to score cheap shots at each other in the notes.

The term victim-blaming is for, like, victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. It's not a magic word to avoid taking responsibility ever. Grow the fuck up.

[thewadapan]

School Days review

Yeah, School Days is actually pretty good after all.

When you google "School Days", on the first page of results there's a reddit thread asking "hey, why do people hate this show?" OP gives a succinct summary of the show's themes and praises it for its tight focus and psychological depth.

The comments in that thread are fucking crazy. The top-voted comment includes this absolute gem: "Sekai is an emotionally manipulative bitch". Some users gesture towards a faint understanding that School Days is a deconstruction of harem anime, but almost to a one they claim the character writing is unrealistic. Nobody seems able to look past the show's metatextual meaning to just look at it on a straightup subtextual level—that is to say, it's not just being different to other anime for the sake of contrarianism, it's making a serious point about misogyny and toxic masculinity. Describing Makoto as a "character" at all is almost missing the point; he's practically a force of nature, and the vast majority of the show is concerned with the psychological manoeuvring of the girls in his class trying to manage and shape his behaviour.

I only know about School Days because @weaselandfriends is constantly banging a drum about it being a secret masterpiece. Gee, I wonder who the OP of that thread was! Cannot imagine being on a "School Days slaps" grindset for eight fucking years now.

(CW: discussion of underage sex, full spoilers follow)

I'm going to take a cowardly centrist route and say that School Days does in fact slap on a conceptual level, but that the execution in many places leaves a bit to be desired. It often feels repetitive. I watched the thing on 1.5x speed because, as someone who reads fast, watching subbed anime is like watching paint dry. The dialogue often feels awkward (unintentionally so, as in), which I'm willing to partially chalk up to the translation; maybe some of the clunkier lines feel more natural in the original Japanese. The imagery is often kind of laughably blunt: in some cases it works, like Kotonoha's red yarn like she's pulling her own fucking arteries out of her body, and in other cases it feels derivative and hackneyed, like the whistling kettle in the final episode. Maybe that was more original in 2007, I don't know—I would've seen the same thing in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire two years prior.

School Days does set out to pull the wool over the eyes of its presumably-mostly-young-men audience, by putting them in Makoto's POV. The show is adapted from an eroge, where the player literally would have inhabited Makoto and made his choices for him, and the "objective" of the game would have been to unlock sex scenes with all the schoolgirls. The trick with the anime is that it removes the possibility of choice, creating an impactful dissonance as Makoto's actions become increasingly alien and harmful. Inversely, as Makoto's sexual exploits escalate, we see less and less of them; by the end, the whole thing is routine, not eroticised in the slightest, we see people putting clothes on afterwards, sneaking around darkened rooms.

At the start, though, it's all panty shots and boobs. And like, how do you depict the objectification of women, from an internal perspective, without just... objectifying women? This has basically always been the classic problem with satire. If there is a way of doing it, School Days hasn't figured it out, so it just rolls up its sleeves and gets on with it. Where School Days stumbles, in my opinion, is that the fanservice shots leak out of Makoto's POV and into the scenes where it's just the girls on their own. Nevertheless, I think that even pretty early on School Days is unmistakably saying, "this is a bad thing". There's a discordant note to everything, a threat of another shoe waiting to drop. At the start, it takes the form of these innocuous remarks as the characters try to interact in good faith: Sekai is constantly like, "There's nothing wrong with feeling attracted to a girl! But maybe she doesn't feel comfortable with it! Have you thought about how she might feel?"

That's the great tension of Sekai, and indeed of much of the show's conflict: there is a world where Makoto and Sekai are just friends, and where Makoto is faithful to Kotonoha, and everyone lives happily ever after. Maybe Sekai really is earnestly trying to cross this gulf between genders, and wants to just make Makoto understand, so everyone can be happy. But from the start, there's a question of Sekai's motives; embodied by Sekai's friend Setsuna, who trails after her constantly asking, "But do you like him really?"

Setsuna is an interesting character with her own motives. There's a reading where she has a crush on Sekai, but can't pursue it because of her family's impending emigration; she ends up hanging around Makoto and desperately attempting to protect him from the consequences of his actions to preserve his relationship with Sekai, expressly stating that she wants Makoto to be a proxy for her after she's gone (though leaving any romantic feelings unspoken, that's just my interpretation). This escalates to the point of her having sex with Makoto on the condition that he breaks off another engagement with Otome, which is such a self-defeatingly doomed gambit that it becomes tragically clear Setsuna has lost all control over the situation. I got the impression that Setsuna somewhat envied the other girls' entanglements with Makoto: the bit where she kisses him while he's asleep, in an attempt to create a personal memory before she leaves forever, is haunting. Like Sekai, Setsuna ends up manufacturing a romance between herself and Makoto as a way to be with him "by proxy", without earnestly confronting her own feelings.

Anyway, my point is that early on, everyone is treating Makoto like a person, which is sort of their mistake. They're like, oh, a boy with a crush, how cute! What's the worst that could come of this? He's a bit clumsy, but I'm sure he means well! And progressively, mercilessly, the show is like: no, he does not mean well. This dude has absolutely nothing in his life except sex. Girls only exist to him as people to have sex with. Guys practically don't exist, as he can't have sex with them. And for these teenagers who are discovering their sexuality, the very fact that Makoto soon starts having these rumours circulating around him is what gives him some allure: he's a sexual entity, he can be thought of in that way, there must be some reason all these girls are acting so crazy over him. Even a character like Hikari, who early on was crushing heavily on the anime's one (1) other male character, Taisuke, ends up taking her turn with Makoto; whatever feelings she had for Taisuke are forgotten, the anime doesn't even bother establishing how that romance works, because it doesn't need to, we've already seen Makoto use his exact same wiles on like three girls already.

School Days has aged well not just because the years since have yielded a better cultural understanding of its subject matter, but for its "production design": what would have been a timely present-day setting at the point of its release ends up turning the whole thing into an early-2000s period-piece. The fashion and environments are distinctly noughties. Perhaps the most consistent bit of visual symbolism in the whole thing is the flip-phone: whenever a character is holding their phone, you can think of them holding their heart in their hands. They're like the fucking soul gems from Madoka Magica. Sometimes, people leave their hearts in the other room, or block each others' hearts, or search their hearts for good memories. The "cell phone charm" from the first episode is brought up towards the very end, seeming bitterly quaint in retrospect. Right before she kills him, Sekai sends Makoto a text which just reads "sorry" copied and pasted hundreds of times. And of course, the ED shows a propped-open cellphone with a slideshow of photos of the girls.

I think in terms of its place in history, School Days speaks to this information age where young girls are being bombarded with cultural messaging that the best way to get ahead is to sexualise oneself while simultaneously slamming everyone else for their sexuality. Girls aren't just competing with one another for the attention of boys; now, they're competing with online pornography. Sekai works as a waitress at a maid cafe (?), and sometimes wears the outfit for Makoto when they have sex. During the School Festival, the girls theme their class as a maid cafe (drawing on Sekai's experience, I think?), and are shown using "absolute territory" as a last-ditch resort to steal people from the other classes. As part of the festival, they have a secluded area curtained off with a bed, encouraging couples to go there for sex acts—but later, it turns out some of the girls have set up a camcorder, and they use the footage to reveal how everyone is cheating on everyone else. While the exact events are obviously taken to an extreme, subtextually everything in School Days tracks 100% with my own experience growing up in a Bri'ish high school, and it feels like things have only gotten worse since social media really tightened its grip on our society.

The most common talking point I see regarding this show is that the characters are "stupid". And it's like, no, they're not stupid, what planet are you on, they're fucking children! (They're children, fucking!) Most of them have probably never been in a relationship before! Everyone in the show is pursuing their own interests; it's just that often, they're in denial about the reality of the situation, because to acknowledge the reality would run against those interests. It's funny, Makoto hardly changes his behaviour throughout the whole show—it just becomes more extreme—but the only thing that affects whether or not his behaviour with Sekai is good or not is whether or not Kotonoha is his girlfriend. The use of "girlfriend" as a role is weaponised by both Kotonoha and Sekai against the other constantly; like declaring "you're It!" At once point while cooking for the school festival, Makoto starts groping Sekai's ass, and she goes, "Geez, stop it! Stop it I said! What'll you do if someone sees us?", only for Makoto to reply, "Then it's okay if no-one sees us?"; this motif of a private sin recurs with Setsuna's character, particularly in the masked play that crops up a couple of times. In what context is an act of desire okay, or not okay?

Halfway through the show, I remembered Emily is Away, a short Western indie visual novel. Released in 2015, Emily is Away is very consciously an early-2000s period piece, wearing the whole time period as an affectation. The whole game is a series of text conversations on an IM client with a girl; after key choices, you are told "emily will remember that".

I fucking hated Emily is Away when I played it. It made me so, so cross. Because after I finished my first playthrough, and got a miserable, unsatisfying end, I naturally started the whole thing over and tried again. I picked different favourite bands. I acted completely differently. And yet, no matter what I picked, during the timeskips between sections, my viewpoint character would do the exact same shit and the relationship fell apart in exactly the same way. The second playthrough was a complete waste of time. It seemed like I, the player, was being railroaded, that the writer simply hadn't the imagination to conceive of a truly interactive narrative with a wildly diverging chain of events.

But of course, that's the whole point, obviously. Emily is Away plays a mean trick on the player, where it outright lies that "you" are making meaningful choices, when in fact "you" are merely spectating the actions of the viewpoint character, a specific guy who is, by nature, a certain way. It posits that all this shit on the computer just doesn't fucking matter, it has nothing to do with how we feel about each other, that it's only our actions in the real world that matter. The thesis of Emily is Away is that sometimes, for some immutable reason, shit just doesn't work out between two people, and there's nothing you could have done differently that would have changed that.

In the timeline where you go the party, you regret going to the party. In the timeline where you don't go, you regret not going. So, the game says, what's the point in regretting at all?

I totally understood this, after finishing the game. But, fuck, I was still pissed about it. The game lied to my face. It put me in the position of being a shitty person, and I didn't like that. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm still not sure if Emily is Away is actually any good; I think I like it conceptually, but maybe the writing sucks, I played it eight years ago. My point is that I think School Days is trying to pull the same trick as this one game, but in a much more mean-spirited way, to much more devastating effect, and I suppose I can't be too surprised that it pissed off a lot of people. If I hadn't known upfront what to expect- well, I wouldn't be watching ecchi anime in the first place, but you get the point, maybe I would've been pissed too.

If you break out of the "anime" mindset for even a second, and allow yourself to think that what you're watching is a frank portrayal of events, rather than some hyperreal cartoon, then Makoto is obviously just a little sexual predator. He's constantly pushing the girls past their limits, groping tits, going in for kisses, often against their express wishes. He initiates all the sex we see, and while in a certain sense it's all consensual, everyone involved is under the age of consent, and the show is making a very strong case for why underaged sex is a problem. When Sekai gets pregnant, Makoto wants nothing to do with her—"It's not my fault!"—but it's made clear he wasn't using any contraception, so, c'mon.

School Days is very deliberate in omitting adult characters entirely. Teachers mostly exist in the form of textbooks being read offscreen. I think we get a line of dialogue from Sekai's mom, if I remember right? It presents this world where Makoto basically has free reign to do whatever he wants to the girls, and everybody knows about it, but nobody is doing anything about it. When Sekai murders Makoto, there isn't a scene where anyone notices his absence, finds out. Kotonoha carries his severed head across town without anyone noticing, kills Sekai, and makes it onto the boat without getting caught. The show ends on a montage of idyllic school scenes, as if to say, "nobody noticed, everything just carried on". And again, to a certain kind of guy, I think this would stretch plausibility to the point of causing offence. For me, I think it's speaking to something very real.

Makoto's bedroom is barren except for his computer and magazines: porn, and porn. In the back half of the show, the void left by the absence of adults is filled by Makoto, Sekai, and Kotonoha, who are thrust into this horrible domestic drama, as everyone else in their class blocks Makoto. Makoto relays Kotonoha's recommendation for an abortion clinic to Sekai. He and Sekai sit diagonally across a table in a living room, and suddenly Makoto's school uniform looks like a salaryman's suit, a size too big for him, like he's walking around in his dad's clothes. Sekai tries to prepare a big meal for him, in a fucked-up parody of domesticity, but ends up destroying the whole thing after Makoto spits in her face yet again; later, she sees the remnants in the trash, an uneaten chicken leg poking out, and sees a little of herself in there, and that's basically when she decides to take the knife and kill Makoto. She stabs him in the belly, which is what Kotonoha will later do to her; both are imitating the original sin of the pregnancy.

Kotonoha explicitly chooses to kill Sekai this way because she believes Sekai is lying about the pregnancy—which we can pretty safely say isn't true, based on the scenes where Sekai is on her own. There's this horrible, horrible shot where the camera is looking out at Kotonoha from inside the gut wound, and she observes, "Just as I thought. There's no-one in there." And it's like, is she talking about this baby, still so early in the gestation that it's scarcely even an idea? Is she talking about Sekai, or Makoto, these two people who turned out not to care about her at all? Or is she peering straight through the screen at the viewer, complicit in this atrocity? The shot mirrors the bag containing Makoto's head earlier in the same scene; when Sekai unzips it, the inside is just a black void, and we aren't shown the contents. It's honestly more unsettling to infer it—that bag's not big enough for all of Makoto—and have it "made real" by that final shot of Kotonoha pressing the severed head into her chest on the boat. The memes were more right than they knew: "Nice boat."

Overall, I think School Days extends a lot of empathy towards its female characters. Or, if nothing else, it takes care to give them complex and distinctive internality, which is more than I can say for a lot of anime. Kotonoha initially represses her feelings for Makoto, and then when she feels pressured into reciprocating his intimacy, she soon gets turned into a social pariah for it. Early on, there's this eye-roll-inducing scene where Kotonoha is like "the other girls used to make fun of me because of my huge boobs", and from Makoto's perspective it's like "great, you've got huge boobs!", but then from Kotonoha's perspective, she spends the whole show getting slut-shamed, doesn't she? As a coping mechanism, she builds up elaborate delusions around Makoto—Makoto wouldn't let this happen to her, would he!?—which make it impossible for her to see how he's harming Sekai at the same time, culminating in the "I think you've made up your pregnancy for attention" beat. Their own internalised misogyny prevents the girls from identifying their common enemy.

If I'm being totally blunt, I feel like I can pretty safely put most of the comments regarding School Days I've seen online into a big bucket labelled "HAS NEVER HAD MORE THAN ONE GIRL INTERESTED IN HIM AT ONCE". Like, "I can't believe this Makoto guy! Why doesn't he just dump Kotonoha and date Sekai, who he's obviously more compatible with?" Bucket. "Makoto is so spineless and needs to stop letting these girls manipulate him!" Bucket. "There's no way the teachers would let him get away with this!" Bucket. "What do these girls see in Makoto anyway?" Bucket. "Sekai is such a bitch!" A new, bigger bucket labelled "NO BITCHES".

What I'm interested in is takes from School Days haters who aren't brainpoisoned anime fans, who might even nod along to all my analysis of the show's themes here, but who nevertheless think it's a bad show that deserves to be reviled. What part didn't you like? Is it the part in the OP where you see every female character naked one after the other? Yeah that part's pretty bad. Is it that windowpane-shattering digital transition that gets used once or twice? Is it the utter self-seriousness with which it tackles its ludicrous melodrama? I can see how, if you don't let yourself start to think "oh, those poor girls!", if you don't have that emotional buy-in, the whole thing might just feel comically edgy, sophomoric. I don't think there's any level on which School Days is fun to watch, and I'm not saying it's a secret masterpiece either, but I guess it more-or-less landed for me.

[hotvintagepoll]

Paul Newman and Robert Redford (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting)—My god, their chemistry. It's iconic. And very very sexy. They're kind of canonically in a throuple in the first one, so that's kind of like playing an actual romance. But also, they're the central relationships of both films and their inexplicable devotion to each other is a key driving force in them. Those blue eyed bastards. I love them.

Jimmy Stewart and Hedy Lamarr (Come Live With Me, Ziegfield Girl)—i will be honest they do not have such good chemistry. however i DO think its very funny to have jimothy "always sounds like hes swallowing some vanilla ice cream" stewmeister across from hedy "literally most gorgeous woman ever maybe?" lamarr. like thats some casting decision for sure.

This is round 4 of a mini tournament. Each poll lasts for a week. Please reblog with propaganda for your favorite hot couple. To vote in all the polls, click here.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Redford and Newman:

The following propanda was submitted by the anon who lives in my vents:

[drags self out of the vents reeking of stale gasoline] SO ABOUT THAT NEW MINI POLL.......may i suggest: ROBERT REDFORD and PAUL NEWMAN in BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID. MY REASONING:

thagt was some of tha gayest shit i've ever seen in my entire life and i'm only 23

but for realsies, that movie was literally a love story between butch n sundance. every single thing they did, they did together

THEY'RE EVEN PERFECT OPPOSITES IN PERSONALITY—butch is the optimistic guy who never shuts up and is less intimidating than he looks; sundance is the pessimistic brooder who looks harmless because he's pretty, but is the most dangerous guy you'll ever meet

AND THEN,,,,,, EVEN WHEN THEY (SPOILERS) HAD THAT THROUPLEY THING GOING ON WITH ETTA IN BOLIVIA, AND ETTA EVENTUALLY WANTED TO LEAVE, SUNDANCE STILL CHOSE TO STAY WITH BUTCH AND DIE RATHER THAN LIVE A SEMI-SAFE LIFE WITH HIS GIRLFRIEND!!!!!!!! LIKE!!!!!! GIRL WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!

AND THE FINAL SCENE I—i need to stare at a WALL—

plus the fact that paul newman and robert redford were actually besties irl meant that their chemistry was OFF THE CHARTS. even when i was A VERY STUPID LITTLE KID and i watched that movie for the first time, i was like ".......so um... are they, like, in love with each other and that lady?"

PLUS THE FACT THAT THE MOVIE WAS DIRECTED BY THE SAME GUY WHO WOULD LATER DIRECT THE STING AND THAT MOVIE WAS JUST AS, IF NOT MORE GAY, I—

O-|-< (← me lying dead on the ground)

THE TRUST, THE INTIMACY, THE BANTER, THE LOYALTY, THE INHERENT HOMOEROTICISM OF DYING SIDE BY SIDE—

they're gay, your honour.

ergo, dear mod, i humbly ask that you consider two of my blorbos for the mini poll bracket <3 if you need more information, literally just dm me or tag me, i'll be hangin' out in the vents 😎🤙🏼 as usual (unless my house explodes into bats)

No additional propaganda was submitted for Stewart and Lamarr.

[lottsoflanguages]

Not my usual post but I felt I needed to put this out there + it does relate to how Irish institutions refuse to promote our culture.

I don't know if anyone reading this was watching Eurosong tonight. It's the selection of Ireland's Eurovision entry. During it, after a folk and traditional inspired song, the panel basically lambasted it. The consensus was that because Ireland did poorly at Eurovision 2007 (18 years ago btw) with a culturally Irish song that Europe does not like Ireland or its culture and that we shouldn't send a culturally Irish song to Eurovision because we need to modernise (what they actually mean is pander) to their idea of modern European standards. These comments made me quite furious and devastated (clearly evident by the fact I'm posting this). RTE has always come across to me not actually caring about our language or culture when it comes to promoting it to a younger audience. They don't seem to realise that branding Gaeilge and its culture as "an old persons thing" is going to cause detrimental damage to our already endangered heritage, since young people should be the ones you focus on, they're the ones who would be able to bring it down to future generations. Now, back to Eurosong, the way those comments were delivered gave me a sense that we shouldn't even bother sending something remotely Irish to Eurovision. Our culture is clearly embarrassing and something we should be ashamed of because of one bad result 18 years ago and as a result we should hide our heritage and erase it, there can and will not be anything identifyably Irish. It goes without saying that this is a disgusting approach to a dying culture. We hate to admit it, but Gaeilge is dying and we can't even blame the Brits anymore for this. It is the Irish institutions, our government, our broadcaster, everything around us is doing nothing to preserve our heritage. Oh but don't worry guys because that road sign's in Irish so its fine. And don't worry RTE love trad just look at Samantha Mumba doing a lil jig (all that was /sarc btw). It really struck home especially when; 1. the identifiably Irish song finished last in the televote and 2. The Norwegian song that has nothing to do with Ireland (the artist only came to Ireland for the first time last week) won the whole thing and will represent us in Basel. Now, I'll clarify some things. I have all but respect for Emmy herself. She seems absolutely lovely and I will fully support her as our nation's representative. I also generally don't have an issue with artists from other countries representing their non-native lands (see: Celine Dion). My issue stems from the fact that this song was so clearly (at least in my opinion) originally written with the Norwegian national selection in mind. Norway must've rejected it and Emmy's team just went "hey ireland has their selection still open for applicants let's fob it onto them" (that happens much more than you think it does at Eurovision) That's just my theory. So, what RTE have decided to do is mock and put down anything that remotely feels too-Irish in favour of one of Norway's scraps. They would rather pretend to be Norway than appear too-Irish. Cultural folk inspired entries do well at Eurovision, Kalush Orchestra won the whole thing nearly 3 years ago with a folk-hip hop fusion, it got the highest televote ever seen in eurovision (and no, that was not all war pity votes, people do actually like this stuff).

RTE and other Irish institutions are curating this idea that Irish culture and language is something to be ashamed of, something thats cringe or something thats a novelty. It is particular BS in the context of Eurosong and the whole "we can't do good with something cultural" as Ireland's biggest music acts at the moment are those who embrace their heritage within their music (e.g. Hozier, Kneecap, Fontaines DC) and if Irish culture does end up making a comeback, it'll be because of these guys, not our institutions. We've been a (mostly) independent nation for over 100 years, yet Irish still declines. We can't blame the Brits anymore for this lads. In however many years time when Irish culture is nothing more than a distant memory, we'll look back and know exactly who to blame

Apologies if this is all completely incoherent, it's 1am, i'm on a sleeping tablet but autism brain is going. anyways, oíche mhaith a chairde <3

[originalleftist]

Since this is in response to my post, and I assume is intended as a rebuke of it, let me try to clarify a few things:

No shit the Constitution prohibits him from becoming dictator for life. He doesn't give a shit. Neither do the people around him. He is doing a myriad of unconstitutional things every day. I'm not at all convinced that SCOTUS cares either. The Constitution also prohibited someone who broke their oath of office by committing insurrection from holding office. Until, according to SCOTUS, it didn't.

I am not advocating "defeatism". Did you see me advocating giving up? No, my post closed with advocating a general strike, and noncompliance by state governments (with a coup being the last resort).

There is a difference between not giving up, and being complacent, no, deluded, about what we are facing. It's like it's still 2016, and people still feel the need to condescendingly chide us for being "alarmist," as though the last 8 fucking years never happened, and at this point it's hard to call it anything other than gaslighting. All such complacency should have ended, at the VERY latest, on January 6th 2021.

I know the obvious response: "Well, the January 6th insurrection failed, so it's unlikely he'll succeed in becoming a dictator next time." To which I say 1) It could have been so much worse, they came about 30 seconds IIRC from capturing the Vice President and the nuclear football. Just because you survived Russian roulette once doesn't mean it's safe to play again. And 2) That was before the Republican Party fully endorsed what happened that day. That was before SCOTUS gave him Presidential immunity. That was before the cases against him were dropped and everyone convicted of those crimes got let off scot free, practically a giant blazing neon sign reading: "If you help Dear Leader overthrow the next election there will be no consequences."

Yeah, he's old. So what? They've already got JD Vance lined up to replace him- all the fascism, with another 40 years in him! Which you just hand waved aside with the assurance that Republicans will fall apart without 45 to lead them, which, maybe- but the billionaire and foreign dictator backers will still need a front man, and their dominance of media and undermining of the electoral system is only getting stronger right now.

The constant downplaying of the threat they pose is not helpful. The most dangerous thing now is paralysis, inaction. Defeatism can cause that, sure- which is why, as I said, I do not advocate it. But you know what else can? What has been causing paralysis since he first rolled down that golden escalator and started calling Mexican immigrants r*pists and murderers? Complacency. Denial. Overconfidence. Assurance that it can't be that bad, those things could never actually happen here. Oh, he's just a joke, he'll never actually win the nomination. Okay he got the nomination but that's actually good for us, 'cause there's no way he'll actually win! Look how great the polls are, Hillary's definitely got this in the bag, hey maybe I don't need to bother voting for her. Oh shit, he won- well, better give him a chance, maybe being President will sober him, and if it doesn't, there will be "adults in the room" to check him. Huh, looks like he's still doing a lot of damage, well its okay, we can just vote him out. Let's not listen to his former fixer testifying to Congress that there won't be a peaceful transfer of power. Holy fuck, he tried a coup? Well it failed, thank goodness, and this'll definitely finish him, no way Republicans will still support him after this! Oh, they refused to convict him in his impeachment trial? And the RNC just called the insurrection "legitimate political discourse"? Well, shit. At least there's no way the people would ever reelect him, especially now that he's indicted and a convicted felon and an adjudicated fraud and r*pist. And hey, even if he does somehow win, it can't possibly be that bad, we made it through once, people are just being alarmist, I'm sure its alright if I stay home on election day or "protest vote" again...

Jesus Christ.

(Also, the idea that Republicans would be the check on him becoming dictator for life is one of the funniest things I've ever heard, in a really sad way. Maybe Lisa Muskowski would cast a futile protest vote, and Susan Collins would say she's concerned. We really have learned absolutely nothing from the last decade if we are expecting anything to be the time that Republicans finally break from him.)

1,450 Days Until Convicted Felon Donald Trump Leaves Office

[historia-vitae-magistras]

I know you mentioned you have ties to both sides of the border. Idk if you live in the states or canada, but I just wanted to say I hope you’ve been doing well, even with the mad house that has been America recently 😭

I'm fine. Extremely, extremely ironically, I swore an oath of service to defend the constitution the same day my country surrendered its soul. And I did so with my badge of office pinned to my lapel with a maple leaf. The same way I walked around with my 'i voted' sticker on my coat just next to my red poppy in utter shock for a week after the election. I'm fine and I'm doing better than most people around me.

And I will survive the next four years of service to the archives of this country, my fucking country, as my grandfather survived the Grande Noirceur, the great darkness, in the nation that bore me. Americans around me are panicking and and wringing their hands and wondering how they'll survive the next four years. Some more realistically and rationally than others. I'm fine. I believe in tomorrow even from this present, coming from a worse past. I was raised by a man who taught me how to survive this and I have never been so steady.

A man who after fighting for Canada and against fascism for five long years was slapped into an insane asylum for communist sympathies and union organizing. He was only released after an outbreak of tuberculosis emptied and shuttered that institution. They further withheld treatment until he signed a confession that barred him from teaching ever again. His livelihood was destroyed three, four, five, six times over even after that because he did not bend and turn the other cheek to fascism. He lost track of how many times he was jailed. Once because he did not betray his mother, a practicing midwife, and turn her in for inducing abortions. For distributing literature. For agitating against injustice and defending the vulnerable and pushing, pushing, pushing for a better world.

And eventually, that great darkness ended and dawn arrived. The Révolution tranquille began. My mother, his youngest child, was born into the liberalizing, secularizing world her father had fought for. I will have to fight. We will all have to fight. Organize, communicate, keep each other safe. Love thy neighbor and screw your courage to the sticking place and we too will have children who will not know this darkness. Fight, fight like hell with everything you have and every thing you are. And some day, some bright and beautiful day, we will kiss the foreheads of our sons and daughters the way my grandfather did my mother and we will know that we have won.

[navree]

genuinely would love for some of the "both parties are the same" people to name me a single election in the entirety of the twenty first century where the outcome for the country wouldn't have been better if a democrat had won

[onesnoopyaday]

I AM AT MY LIMIT

Snoopy #90

30/12/2024

description under the cut

[description: a cartoon-style drawing of Snoopy's head. Snoopy is a white dog with black ears. His eyes are shut and his mouth is a horizontal line. There are two large blue teardrops, one under each eye. The text "I am at my limit" is handwritten across the top of the image.]

[lordnot]

So your response, specifically that you did not take the bait, does surprise me. And I suppose, in the wake of even Wil Wheaton no longer being willing to tow the Democratic Party line, I need to reevaluate my assumptions about how many people proudly call themselves Liberals but reject the Vote Blue cause.

But I do think you are too quick to dismiss the Phil Ochs song Love Me I'm a Liberal in your other reblog as referring to a specific time and place. The "Love Me" part of the lyrics, after all, refers to the Liberals' desire to get credit for believing in free speech, civil rights, and bodily autonomy, even as they reject and undermine actions and movements that can help achieve these ideals because they threaten the status quo.

And so I think the song calls on us living in the present to ask ourselves: was I more comfortable with the Black Lives Matter movement when it was setting fire to a police station or when it was a t-shirt you could buy? When people criticize US policy in Ukraine, how quick am I to respond "But Putin"? And how much time did I spend amplifying Palestinian voices during the genocide in Gaza versus policing language I considered too antisemitic?

And if you did not find yourself rationalizing propping up the status quo in any of these matters, the question you should be asking yourself next is this: What is it about my understanding of the label "Leftist" that prevents me from embracing it?

since the internet doesn't get it and apparently never took a political science class or an economics class:

American political liberalism is not the same thing as economic liberalism or neoliberalism

burn that sentence into your brain PLEASE. I learned this in literal Intro to Political Science.

Neoliberalism is a system of unfettered free-trade global capitalism that favors markets controlling prices and basically everything

American political liberalism is defined by a dedication to principles like free speech, civil rights, bodily autonomy. John F. Kennedy put it rather succinctly:

"If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people — their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties — someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal."" -John F. Kennedy

like i know words have lost ALL meaning and people have no desire to learn but this has been frustrating me for literal years.

Also, I spent all of my formative years hearing conservatives use "liberal" as a pejorative. JFK's quote was responding to that, decades before I was born. The fact that the left uses "liberal (derogatory)" just shows how well Conservative Propaganda has seeped into the culture. I refuse to drop the identifier because the definition has not actually changed. I believe in all those things in the JFK quote. I believe in a state that uses institutions to do what markets cannot. I fully support every socialist program this country has put in place. Because I am a liberal.

If you want to use "liberal" as an insult from the left -- congrats, you are falling for propaganda. If you want to call me a "neoliberal," well, you just sound fucking stupid? I don't believe in unfettered free market global capitalism.