#impossible to be a clown in this economy :-(

[beaft]

ah beans i missed that you'd had the surgery! congrats! bet you're glad you got that off your chest! ;D

i used the "glad i got that off my chest" line on my mother after i came round from the anaesthetic and she looked at me sadly and said "it's no laughing matter"

[penis-flytrap]

@lovely-lady-fox

Sorry for the late response, I thought I'd posted my reply... But it turned out I'd left it in my phone drafts and forgot 😵‍💫 (thank you, adhd!)

So, my friend's Brazillian friend, her parents are originally from Pernambuco! Her husband's parents are also originally from Pernambuco too, near Recife.

They're like you - great taste in music, cultured, intelligent, very introspective. Deep thinkers, curious. Her husband is a baker with his own cake company, very talented. Lovely sweet amazing people.

Her family like to act extra loud, firey, like the party-mad Brazillian stereotype because I am quieter and they know it drives me crazy 🤣 it's great fun, or great craic as they say in Ireland. Craic = fun, gossip, or a good time. Or great banter, if you want the English slang word for fun 😉 they're so funny.

Her house had the largest TV I'd ever seen! In the 2000s, most people had a 20" screen, maybe 30". But her parents bought a new 50" flatscreen TV as soon as it was available in the shops. Complete with Sky and cable packages - and 10 million Brazillian/Portuguese channels 😂

Same in my Portuguese friend's house, as well - they had to buy the biggest sofa in the shop, the biggest TV, fridge, computer, everything 🤣

It took up ALL the space in the room. Her brother used to joke they couldn't leave me alone with the TV... because I might rip it off the wall, climb out through the window and take it back to my gypsy caravan to replace my antique black and white television LOL

Whenever I was invited to her big family house parties, her cousins would point at me and talk REALLY LOUDLY AND OBVIOUSLY about me in Portuguese, ALL DAY 😆

Nobody would explain the jokes until the next morning, when we were having breakfast and her mum and dad translated what they were saying... mostly Irish gypsy jokes, jokes about fighting, being drunk, Guinness, horse racing etc 😉 There were some REALLY clever jokes I'd never heard before as well 🤣

Oh, I'm sorry if I didn't make it clear! - all 3 of us were born and grew up in London in England, UK. All of our parents emigrated to England in the 1980s. I still live here in London.

But yeah there's a huge Brazillian ex pat community in Dublin, you're right. In fact a Brazillian man became a national hero in Ireland last year. He saved some very young children from being killed by a man with a knife who attacked them outside a school in Dublin City.

Incredibly brave, he just jumped in and stopped the attacker. Someone set up a fundraiser for him, and raised €300,000 with donations from people all over Ireland. He's a local hero and celebrity now 🫡

His name is Caio Benicio. He decided to stay in Ireland and ran for election as a council member in Dublin, for the Fianna Fáil party (centerist party, but right of centre on some issues)

Honestly Ireland doesn't treat its South American immigrant population very well, they're usually employed on bad contracts with poor wages and holiday pay and bad housing too. He wants to advocate for better workers conditions. I hope he does well!

I think Brasilians and British people share a similar sense of humour, we also give our politicians loads of diminutive nicknames. Most of them are... err... not so cute LOL

Our former prime minister Boris Johnson was Bozo the Clown too, and that was just us being polite lol:

🤣

Unlike Bolsonaro, MERCIFULLY none of Boris' children are in politics. He's had loads of marriages, mistresses and affairs and blackmailed one pregnant girlfriend until she had an abortion. His oldest daughter has actually disowned him. Not to mention ruining our economy, siphoning billions of tax money away in dodgy contracts and deals and passing some terrible laws...

He and his party are gone for now thankfully, but just like in Brasil, he's still hanging around politics like a turd that won't flush 😞 I know how you feel. There's no optimism left anywhere at the moment, everything seems impossible.

☺️ 😊 💖 I don't think you should worry about your language skills, your English is great! I really mean it, you are 100x better and more fluent than a lot of literal English people! Including me!!!! 😆 🤣 😂 😹

[machinesonix]

Hello Tumblr, it's been a while. Once again I find the specters of literary analysis haunting my blood screaming for release, and you are my favorite void in which to scream. Today we're taking a departure from Dune to talk about some thoughts regarding the horror genre and why I think It really knocks it out of the park.

Famous racist H.P. Lovecraft in his essay Supernatural horror in fiction asserts that the earliest human emotion is fear and the oldest fear is that of the unknown.

I largely agree with what Lovecraft is getting at here that the unknown is the key to eliciting a feeling of fear, even if the primacy of an emotion having to do with age feels weird. Please, Tumblr, understand that I do not share his opinions regarding the Chinese, but the guy was among the first to pick apart the horror genre to find out what made it tick.

Lovecraft's expression of fear of the unknown is decidedly dated, even aside from the bigotry. His writing is famously full of 'Dear reader I dare not describe what I beheld' sort of stuff. It's even more diminished in the public eye by the fact anyone with internet access has a very clear image of Cthulhu as being like a squid dragon as depicted in the sculptures in its eponymous story despite once they actually find the thing and run a boat into it it's like some geometry violating cloud thing.

The thing I do appreciate about Lovecraft is that he's never actually under any compunction to explain anything. Polaris starts with the line 'I am a scholar of the Pnakotic Manuscripts' and that's all we really get. There's an economy of words here in letting us know the narrator is an academic and the subject of his studies is something with an unholy assembly of consonants suggesting it is very strange. In Call of Cthulhu everything we know about the cult and its intentions is communicated by the phenomenally unreliable character of Cesar, who shines a light on the global scale of the operation, fleshing out the worldbuilding while only leaving us with more questions.

Now I'm not breaking any new ground by singing the praises of Stephen King. Dude's far from perfect, and his idiosyncratic style makes all sorts of people just bounce right off, but I think It is probably the best example in the public eye of this 'fear of the unknown' thing in practice. See, for King 'nightmare' is not just a word you use to describe a scary situation. In a nightmare, you feel like there's some hidden logic to the world you can't quite understand. There's a terrible sense of foreboding that preceeds the terror because our brains are familiar with that script. Even if something isn't implicitly awful, there is a pervasive wrongness that our subconscious latches onto.

So lemme just take a second to underline the fact that a clown in a sewer is really fucking bizarre. Like yeah, we're 40 years out from the Tim Curry movie and it's ingrained into the public concious, but please do your best to imagine your response to a sewer clown in an Itless universe. It is important to dispell the whole 'Oh yeah, that old chestnut, the sewer clown' to establish how totally surreal this famous scene actually is.

The thing I think is the real masterstroke is the line 'We all float down here. You'll float too!' Nowhere in the book do we have any inclination of what the fuck that means. There is a threat implicit to it; whatever future Pennywise has planned is not gonna be good, but it's not like there's anything implicitly wrong with floating. The story prominently involves a toy boat, several sinister balloons, a semi-aquatic clown monster, and moments of disconnectedness from reality. If you're a ginormous nerd, you'll know that in the Stephen King Multiverse, the nightmare that manifests as Pennywise is trapped between realities, 'floating' in a gloaming space. There are many floating things, but there's no real explanation. Rather than being point blank 'The thing is impossible' like Lovecraft does, we're given a box of puzzle pieces that seem like they make a complete picture and the slowly dawning realization none of them actually fit together.

[subconsciousmysteries]

i surrender, i'm becoming a digital marketing entrepreneur. its literally impossible to be anything else in this clown economy unless you wanna be a wagie.

[qwer11355]

Making money for fans - Taobao anchor

With the economic situation getting worse, anchorman Guo started to use the "fan economy" to get rich. Its flagship product is "Taobao Guozhanzhuang". Since the end of 2017, Guo Wengui has started to use Amway's "Guo Zhanzhuang" in the live broadcast room: first, he made the public opinion hot, announced that he would distribute it to all the supporting Guo members for free, and then promised to send another hat, which attracted the ants to tell each other. After earning enough eyeballs, Guo Wengui revealed his nature and said, "It is impossible for so many comrades in arms to give them away." Now the ants have fried the pot. Seeing that everyone is angry, anchorman Guo can only change his words in the live broadcast, "Don't worry, comrades in arms, we have made 2 million pieces this time." But in the end, there was still no news. The little ant can only be advised to say, "There is no free lunch in the world." What's more, is it a black hearted businessman like Guo Wengui who is only for profit?

In the "Face Changing Live Broadcast" of Guo Wengui, the host, the little ants are addicted to it and can't extricate themselves from it; The pot smashing factions are hot eyed and sharpening their swords; And more people are just like watching the clowns perform. Guo Wengui will be brought to justice as soon as the curtain falls on the day when all the people are scattered.

[griffnoir]

i had this idea for a fic that i just wanted to share bc i thought it was neat and i know i will never write it under the cut : regulus black and severus snape, young and not that desperate, team up to defeat voldemort (for better and for worse)

- we are in 79. regulus goes to retrieve the locket, happy to die a sad and heroic death BUT kreacher brings him back to grimmauld place against his orders. he is dying... because of a potion... kreacher knows someone who knows shit about potions... regulus lives au! severus gets kidnapped by a nasty house-elf :/ he def had better sundays but that’s fine: he helps his fellow death-eater bc it’s what one does (everything for the cause!)

- regulus heals. regulus isn’t so happy about it (one cannot even kill oneself in this economy) then the conversation goes: reg : hey do u wanna know something that will get u killed? sev : no. reg : so the dark lord has made this thing called an horcrux... :D sev : T.T fuck why would u say that to me

- severus had doubts(tm) about this death-eater thing. this is the tipping point. so they are here, 18 and 19, one braincell between them, deciding after multiple identity crisis that they will kill the dark lord or die trying (they have better faith in the dying part but that’s ok they have nothing to lose) - they both know too much so this is a sort of race against time reg : i guess we could go to dumbledore sev : lol we are not THAT desperate

- they don’t go to dumbledore ://

- it is very important to me that they can’t fucking stand each other on the best of days. like: severus is severus, the little rat(affectionate) but i always thought of regulus as a mix between sirius and draco, plus whatever u want (this is not a good mix). the guy is pampered, rich, posh and a bloody nuisance of a person (also a dedicated blood supremacist); severus isn’t a Black so for once in his life he is actually the well-adjusted one - this doesn’t augure well for their enterprise

- do they succeed? yes. how? dumb luck. also they have a “they didn’t know it was impossible so they did it” type of thing going on. regulus’ superpower is the fact that he is rich, has connections and that nobody suspects him of anything. severus’ one is pure spite and the hogging of the braincell; they both think they are the brain behind this operation and that they are superior to the other in the ways that count (actually they are both just clowns)

- one of the only thing they share is the ultimate goal of killing voldemort; also, they both have somebody on the other side they don’t want ending up dead, so there is that; moreover they are both stressed out of their minds (the self-medication is strong and it could become a problem)

- they have to juggle their public life, their death-eater life and their hunting horcruxes life. it gets complicated :(

- grey-ish moral decisions are made, but hey! one has to do what one has to do

- how do they find the horcruxes? perhaps with the help of dark magic? through inside knowledge? a bit of both? regulus could know where is the diary/ the cup; if u know what u are looking for, nagini is an obvious answer; the ring can be found with minimal research on tom riddle; the diadem can be a lucky find (one could call it an educated guess lol)

- regulus learns that he can actually stand up for himself without his family weighing in and that his whole worldview is in fact a giant with feet of clay. severus that he can lead his life without idly surfing on the consequences of his bad decisions and can change things for the better by acting on them. that’s great. they are doing great. they are fucking terrified for their lifes.

- they end up begrudgingly respecting each other. are they friends? loaded question. perhaps.

- in this au, severus does also report the prophecy to the dark lord, then panics when the potters are brought up. sev and reg pass the information to the order one way or another and this just speeds up their research

- they kill nagini on the sly: it’s a shitshow of epic proportion, but they get away with it bc uh... who would think them able of such a feat? it’s def an highly-trained task force or something. sad that the snake got in the way though :/ (there is no more horcrux, the dark lord is mortal once more)

- who kills voldemort? neither of them. it would be cool, but no. the obvious choice would rather be dumbledore, and why not, in an impressive duel for the ages. personally i would prefer someone from the order, why not one of the youngsters: sirius? remus (a fucking win for the werewolves if it’s the case)? if we are only in 80, why not a peter who has not yet turned traitor lmao? if it’s one of them it’s just totally anti-climatic

- hell yeah! voldemort is trully, trully dead! the one who killed him is hailed as an hero and everybody lived happily ever after! severus and regulus will never have to speak to each other again!

- no.

- the hunt for the death-eaters begins: names are being dropped left and right. regulus doesn’t even go to trial bc he throws money at his problems; severus is not so lucky and gets rounded up in the most stupid way possible, also he thinks he deserves azkaban bc he did some shady shit and likes the martyr vibes reg, who has outgrown his suicidal tendencies: shit i need to save this punk’s ass since he won’t do it himself

- are regulus and his money enough to exonerate severus? perhaps. living with the morale high ground of having brought down the dark lord could be enough to rebuild a decent life for themselves; would they have closure? in a bittersweet way they could

- if it’s not enough, regulus being THAT desperate, he would go to the biggest bully of the playground aka dumbledore. a dumbledore ready to believe that voldemort would be coming back, until this scrawny (almost) 20 years-old goes “nah, we took care of that for you, you are welcome! also, since the whole wizarding world has a debt for us or something, could u pls bail my colleague? friend? out that would be great” albus : ... what?

- i just want a fun reveal; in the future to have regulus talking to his brother, severus to lily (at least for one good talk, i don’t ask for much), just to have that closure pls :’(

- 10 years later or something rita skeeter digs up the whole convulated story it’s glorious. nobody wants that

i don’t have anything else but it was fun to think about

[parcequecestnotreprojeeeet]

i do too, but hope like with covid in economy matters the crisis can reduce the influence of the catho right like her from his party/entourage. the raoult stuff was dangerous and disgraceful. even if polls don't stay high as much as today and hopefully there is peace in april the candidates of the opposition are clowns. they are completely discredited for normal voters not from their circles and he is the only serious choice who will work a lot in ue for some big changes now.

I read an interesting take of a journalist from the “The Economist” that follows him (I recommend her) that said something like “Macron is unloved but respected”. I guess that’s the base of it and I remember an interview of Emmanuel saying something like that. At the end, it’s not about being loved but being respected. It’s impossible for the French people to like their PR, I mean, it’s almost their nature, it’s in their veins! Yes, most of them don’t love him. But most of them most definitely respect him for all his has been through during his presidency and how he handled things and looked at the countries best interests. Mistakes were made? Oh yes. And that flirt with de villiers, raoult scum where one of many examples. Unfortunately, that’s also part of it. I honestly have no idea how this election will end and the gaps between candidates.

[elliotchen-apologist]

design a character challenge by @nancydrewnetwork 

DISCLAIMER:

THIS IS A VERY RAW CONCEPT of the character, so there is just basic information about his cultural background, disability, etc.

As i`m neither Indian nor an individuals with this particular disability feel free to correct me!

if there is any grammar or any other mistakes, pls tell me 😔

Demographics:

Adrith - middle son of the rich Indian family, 24 years old. He wears stylish, but funky clothes, kinda Darren Chris type thing.

Personality:

Adrith is fun-loving, adventures and quick witted guy. He is definitely class clown and aunts` favorite. But despite seeming to be very open and even loud at times, he doesn’t talk much about his feelings and struggles. It’s hard to understand who he really is as Adrith shows only one side of his personality. When talking to him, Nancy will notice that he is way more intelligent and knowledgeable about family business when she expected.

Occupation:

He is business/economy student in university and that’s all I’m gonna say cause I literally don’t know anything about business. In the game, he says he came back home for the holiday, but actually the whole family gathered together as their father is being blackmailed.

Background:

Adrith`s family is quite rich. Their business was started by Adrith`s grandfather from his mother side, and it`s now becoming more and more successful (honestly, if you have any idea what kinda company it may be pls give my suggestions). Because of grandfather`s rough childhood, he was really involved with charity work, which helps kids of all backgrounds get education. His daughter went working in this direction, she is public speaker and activist. On one of the company`s charity events she met her future husband. Adrith has 3 siblings: older brother (28 years old), and younger twins – a boy and a girl (5 years old).

After Adrith`s grandfather death, his parents started managing the company: father is the CEO of the company, mother manages company’s charity affairs. His oldest brother is preparing to become new COO of the company. Adrith`s parents knew he isn`t going to be able to walk since he was born and that’s why they were really set on protecting him. However, because of his lively personality and his grandma, they were forced to back it up. He went to school where he was one of the top students, but at the same time constantly got in trouble with his friends. The principal called his parents at least once a month for sure.

Despite being very active and outgoing, he was always more interesting in learning about business, economy, history, etc. His mother, on the other hand, really wants him to become public speaker and «inspire» others. It became the main reason of their constant arguing, however when she asked what he really wants to do, Adrith closes off and refuses to discuss it.

Interests:

He loves public speaking and he is definitely the type to read hundreds of business books, biographic of successful people, etc. and watch ted talks. That’s one of the reasons his mother thinks he want to follow her steps. I also feel he is the type of person who would now everything about their favorite subject: so not only he knows business theory, but he reads about history of trading in India, learns psychology and how to use it in company settings, etc.

Also, I think, he should be connected with Sonny Joon, so Adrith is 100% a sci-fi nerd.

Secrets:

Nancy would assume that the reason of blackmailing is Adrith cheating on his exams, because his name is often mentioned in the clues. But it turns out to be incorrect: actually his oldest brother absolutely LOATHS business and wants to become a teacher. So all his work was actually done by Adrith. His brother really wanted to discuss it with their parents, but Adrith was afraid that it is impossible since he is not the oldest sibling and quite often his family and people around him don`t take him seriously because of his disability and not-really-serious personality.

After the reveal, Adrith admits that he is certain of his future profession and he would still pursue it even if his parents are against it. Also, he turns out to be way more mature and collected when expected and his fun-loving personality (despite being truthful to his character) was quite often over the top to help him not to be taking seriously, which gave him more independence.

In the end, i hope everything is OK and the brothers get what they want, and the culprit is in prison and there is like some good message about how we can help to end poverty, hunger and bring equal education to all everyone :)

Misc:

random, but how it`s been 20+ years and there is no game set in India? literally the most stunning place in the world. I also really want her interactive to tackle the issue of poverty in general, i think it`s so important for kids do be aware of it, especially cause it`s common in basically all countries in the world. 

Thats it, thanks again ndnetwork for this challenge, really fun!

[nightklok]

TELL ME ABOUT HOW YOU WRITE PICKLES AND CHARLES PLEASE ;0; what are you inspirations for their dynamic? you write them so in love and it makes me immensely happy

Thank you firstly, means a lot because writing them happy brings me so much joy-even if I probably wrote more angst than fluff of them at a point-jkfl

I have answered Pickles here so I’ll write about Charles and why I write them together with the way I do! :D

Charles

I feel like Charles has a lot more emotions/feelings than the show tries to give him credit for (I like to think that by season 4, he learned to be a little be more emotional around the boys enough as he learned that it’s okay to be a bit emotional if he needs to around them BUT then Doomstar completely wrecked him) 

I really adore trying to write characters that are normally stoic in the show into more gentler/emotional people. I feel like the DVD extra of him taking calls and season 4/Doomstar shows he can be emotional! He has friends outside of Dethklok, his own hobbies/interests, definitely feels something and I don’t think my idea of him is really all that far fetched. He’s not just some asshole in a suit and while he has done questionable things, 9/10 it’s for the sake of Dethklok and not himself (Whoops forgot about Melmord here but even then I think Charles isn’t being selfish because he really does know he’s the only one that keep them in control-Melmord is just a snake oil salesman in a non-existent clown costume or something-)

I do keep in mind that he is a serious person and most likely is even when around people he completely trusts. He’s a person who can be a bit hard to read but he’s also not that hard when you actually get to know him and really know where to look when talking to him. Also I do headcanon that he is autistic but that’s for another story i think

He’s a character that even though I know is emotional inside, he does have to keep a stoic/non-expression look to him on the surface. He has the most important job in his life and he’s well aware of it. Being emotional/expressing anything but seriousness could possibly endanger him and Dethklok. It’s probably not by much because I do think even when he is emotional and can express himself, it’s still controlled to a degree. He can’t just let himself completely break in front of someone, he wouldn’t allow that at all.  I’d imagine he’d have to pretend that he only sees them as coworkers and nothing else or that the band would have to do the same to him or there would be kidnapping attempts. there probably is anyway on a yearly basis but thanks to him, it’s near impossible to do that as they do have highly trained klokateers.

But I still believe even regardless of that that it must get exhausting at times. A warm bed and wanting to sleep in is something that everyone desires to do at least once but they have to get up early and go to work or do whatever they need to do. Charles is human and he’s a human has needs like everyone else. I feel that he does probably have the days where just sleeping in sounds like a wonderful thing to do or that there are stressful days where he’d just need a long bath or something. Because of this, I don’t really seem him as aggressive or overly dominant when off work and in a relationship. Having to take care of a band and basically the world’s economy is exhausting. If he just wants to be taken care of, let him!!

Basically what I’m saying is let the guy take a nap

I do like to try and base off characters/writing off real people/situations so I think I gotta say Brian Epstein who managed the Beatles really helped in figuring out how Charles is like as a manager to Dethklok-I really began researching him around the time I got into the show because of class and it was interesting reading about him and I honestly think he’s one of the best band managers I heard of (next to Peter Grant of course-). I do also relate to Charles in some level though the patience he has I think is really almost inhumane because wow-

I kinda did write Chickles first before this so i might be repeating? So I’ll just leave this as it is but either way, I just like writing him as a little bit more emotional/down to earth. I get that it might be OOC a bit but I feel like the aggressive/dominant part is a little bit way too OOC-

Chickles

I honestly wonder why I write them so in love too if i have to be honest dsflkj

To answer what the inspirations; i feel like a huge factor into why I write them the way do (and probably any other ship) is because while i have had the feeling of falling in love before, i never really had the experience of being in a romantic relationship or went anywhere even close to that with someone. I feel like this is kinda obvious but its about the yearning I kinda do fantasize what it must be like but I do also take what I have learned/read/seen from either relationships I know of personally or seen in media and apply to them. I take both toxic and good relationships to see what I do/don’t want to write when it comes to relationships and what they would/wouldn’t do. I don’t use toxic relationships to completely shape a relationship but rather analyze it, see why it’s toxic in the first place, and see what I can do to either when I write relationships/pairings in general. Obviously I use Addams family’s Morticia and Gomez as a base for writing good relationships in general because who wouldn’t???

I also think writing terribly written Chickles fanfics and even ones with Charles probably help to in writing Charles. Are they near uncomfortable and make me wanna take a shower after reading them? Yes-but reading them not for entertainment/knowing what you’re getting into and then thinking about why you didn’t like it honestly helps in keeping a character in check. Not something I recommend for works that can potentially trigger you but for for those fics that just don’t nail their character right, can be useful in knowing how you don’t want to portray a character/relationship. It can be VERY easy to make Chickles a toxic pairing if you don’t know how to handle them right. Having a character like Charles be with someone like Pickles can be easy to butcher if someone doesn’t really study their characters. Charles doesn’t have to be completely dominant nor is he a Christian Grey-like character that doesn’t seem to know how to properly communicate with his partners. And Pickles is definitely not a weak, submissive person and is stronger/braver than anyone gives him credit for when writing those relationships. I like to think that while one may be a little more dominant/in control of the relationship, they are complete equals. If one needs to be taken care of, the other will step in and help them out.

Writing them that they had knew each other in the Snakes N’ Barrels era/80s has always been basically canon to me too! So I guess it just makes it also a lot easier to write them as in love when I set the stories in dethklok/present day; whatever problems that they had in the beginning that they fear the other might judge/yell/misunderstand for would be long since resolved/handled by the time the show aired. Whether they actually date or not by then kinda depends on the story but either way, they would have a strong relationship. They would have learned about each other, their problems and who they are inside and out. They fall in love with the little things they do and learn to handle any pet peeves with them but accept them as who they are. They have gone through so much together behind the scenes and their relationship to each other probably is one of the few that hasn’t changed when Dethklok got incredibly famous.

Season 3 and onward might be a different story. Though it’s not because of personal grievances but more of just the topic of keeping secrets & not telling the truth when they would’ve most likely been so honest with each other before. And honestly that’s what makes it REALLY devastating to write about; Pickles would know jackshit for at least a few years (Assuming that Season 3 & Season 4 took place within 3 years at best.)  and I don’t think watching someone you really love/care about die in front of you, then come back less than a year later and refuse to talk about why they’re here and give vague/cryptic answers is gonna put things back to normal.  (Maybe one day I’ll finish that fic I poured near 10,000 words in-).

And honestly it’s probably where I would like to explore on their relationship the most but it’s just so damn complex and detailed that I definitely need a lot of time to work on. They’d both want things to go back to normal but by Charles coming back, it signaled that things weren’t as what they used to be and that they most likely won’t be. What used to be a relationship based on comfort, familiarity, and a predicted unpredictability, has become something much more than neither of them have either prepared for. They’ll have to work hard to move past it and accept that like their relationship, things won’t be like they used to be. But with how much time they have spent together and that they still love each other regardless, they’ll be able to go through with this and get their happy ending!! (And I guess this is why I evolved from ‘definitely not the marrying type’ to ��yeah they definitely get hitched after galaktikon’ because charles and pickles have probably signed a lot of important documents all their lives, so signing a marriage certificate that binds them to each other would be the most sentimental/important document he’s ever signed.)

All in all,they have such good potential writing because it’s just easy to write them for me. From their first meetings to first relationship to getting to be signed to Dethklok, I feel like they have something I probably won’t be able to replicate in other ships. They are an absolute joy to write and getting to explore.

God i could go on forever about them but im gonna stop dlfskj

[alexsmitposts]

Sinking Ships Deserting Rats Before They Are Eaten Away We have all heard the phrase, “like rats deserting a sinking ship”. It signifies that when a cause is failing, the least committed members of it leave very quickly to protect themselves, leaving others behind to face the consequences. We do not often hear that “the sinking ship is deserting the rat.” But that is what we are seeing right now. One ship is the US Republican Party, and the other the UK Conservative Party. It is therefore blindingly obvious who the rats are, which is why their ships are deserting them—and why now! Rats versus Goats Political parties always look for scapegoats. It is always someone else’s fault if things go wrong, not theirs or their supporters. If they have to face the fact that they mucked up themselves, one or two individuals are identified as “rogue operators” and the rest disassociate themselves from these to try and limit damage to the organisation. Think of the vilification still being heaped on Richard Nixon, by those who were happy to profit from his crimes in various ways until he was caught. But this process occurs when the party, the ship, thinks it can remain in power. By throwing out the king rat before the rest jump, it thinks it can save itself. It rarely happens that the ship is happy to scuttle itself and leave the rat in place, in the hope that the rat will drown without the ship and the ship can rise again from the bottom of the ocean. But that is what we are seeing now – wilful sabotage of great political parties, because that is the only way that they can be saved from their rats. Many Republicans and Conservatives are now quite happy to vote against, undermine and destroy their own ships because they are rapidly being left with no other option. They have to get out and build another ship because the rats have taken over the old one so completely that it has become impossible to sail. Throwing the rats out is no longer an option, because the ship cannot get rid of the smell they leave behind. Rats versus Elephants It has always been known that a lot of Republicans, including some senior figures, do not agree with the presidency of Donald J. Trump. Not only do we know this, we should all be grateful that we know this. The US system of primaries means that party divisions are examined in public, in elections, until the candidate most suitable to most party members emerges, at least in theory be held in secret, and then become subject of secret deals, are aired in public in the US, so the US electorate has a much better idea of where politicians actually stand than those of most countries. Nevertheless, the primary system generally results in losing candidates declaring their support for the winner and their platform, or keeping silent. It is unusual to find a leading member of the same party criticising its candidate, whatever their private opinions are, and even more so when the candidate is a sitting president. There is now quite a litany of prominent Republicans who have taken their distaste for Trump so far that they intend to vote for his opponent in November. George W. Bush, the previous Republican president, is widely believed to have voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. John McCain didn’t vote for Trump either, or Jeb Bush, or Mitt Romney, if you believe reports. Since then we have had a stream of lies, stunts, scandals and mishandlings which have further eaten away at Trump’s internal supporter base. It is not so much that Republicans disapprove of what Trump has done, but that they feel targeted by it. Trump won the 2016 Republican nomination, and subsequent presidential election, on an “us and them” platform. But the “swamp” he promised to drain wasn’t simply a Democratic one, but contained the whole political establishment. A prominent part of it has always been occupied by more traditional Republicans, and often are ones who don’t agree with Trump. Initially it was Trump himself who largely made this distinction to garner support from voters who felt disenfranchised. But as time has gone on, “Trumpism” has become a thing, a term of abuse used by members of his own party. A “Reaganism” was either an unintentional reference to the Third World War or a grandfatherly reassurance, such as that heard after the Challenger disaster. A “Bushism” was a mangling of the English language such as “They misunderestimated me”. “Trumpism” is a whole raft of policies and positions which the US State Department defines as “racism” or “fascism” when they are applied in countries the US doesn’t like. He calls Covid-19 either the “Chinese virus” or “foreign virus,” institutes travel bans on black and brown people fleeing the very governments he is objecting to, violates the Constitution daily and wilfully discriminates whenever he can to draw distinctions between “good” and “bad” people, which equate precisely with whether he thinks those people will vote for him or not. Many Republicans feel that Trumpism is alien to them, a disfiguring of what their party and they as individuals stand for. Former General Colin Powell, who is probably more popular than any politician and served as Secretary of State under George W. Bush, has announced he will be voting for Democratic nominee-presumptive Joe Biden in November. Two former House Speakers a former Defense Secretary and a former White House Chief of Staff have also joined an anti-Trump faction. This is now so significant that Biden’s campaign is considering establishing a specific “Republicans for Biden” group nearer to polling day. What will turning on Trump achieve? It is unlikely that these dissident Republicans will regain control of their party. Those who do stay loyal, out of conviction or reluctance, will not welcome traitors, as they would see them, to leadership positions once the dust has settled. Dissident Republicans are not seeking to save their party but to destroy it – by leaving it purely in the hands of the Trumpists and then making it unelectable. Then they will have the basis of a new organisation, perhaps calling itself the Republican Party and perhaps not, which will unashamaedly reject its current President and candidate to reflect the views of those who feel wounded by his appropriations of their values. The US has changed its party system before – though there has always been a binary choice at the highest level, the Federalists of George Washington and Whigs of Abraham Lincoln are long gone. The Federalist colour was black. The Republican ship is now, almost unthinkably, quite happy to desert its rat in order to remove the blackness covering it and reveal its natural red, or red white and blue, again, even if this means building a new ship out of the battered driftwood of its planks. Rats versus Snakes The UK Conservative Party has some claim to being the largest and most successful political party in the democratic world. With Theresa May, who regarded herself as “liberal” as leader, it came fifth in the 2019 European Parliament elections, by far its worst performance ever in a national election. Yet Boris Johnson led it to an unexpected and mould-breaking victory in the parliamentary election a few months later, and led the UK out of the EU, the issue which had hurt Theresa May’s premiership the most. The victory was mould-breaking because the Conservatives actually fell back in their traditional areas of support, the better off suburbs and rural areas. BoJo the Clown owes his large majority to capturing many traditional Labour seats, some of which had never elected a Conservative before, but contain large numbers of Brexiteers spooked by the “intellectual elitist radicalism” of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Johnson makes the same pitch as Trump – people versus politicians. He has also conducted ruthless purges of his own party, whose traditions long predate his own unfortunate arrival in its midst. Soon after taking over as Prime Minister he removed the party whip from 21 of his own MPs, whilst running a minority government, because they would not back him over Brexit. Many of these then left parliament at the subsequent election, enabling BoJo to fill his new Cabinet with what one of his own senior party members calls “the nodding dogs,” who will support him come what may on the most controversial issues. So far BoJo has largely got away with recasting the Conservatives as the anti-political party. But like Trump, he has delivered a blustering and inadequate performance when confronted with the Covid-19 crisis, and indeed many other things. Even then he has retained much support, partly due to opposition weakness. Now however that very majority, obtained by wooing non-Conservatives, is turning into the biggest threat to the Conservative ship. Like Trump, BoJo first tried to make out that Covid-19 wasn’t real, another establishment conspiracy. With death rates mounting, and scientists contradicting his claims that he was being guided by their advice, he belatedly adopted a lockdown strategy, at a time when the British economy was already reeling from Brexit. Nevertheless, people in serious danger of losing their livelihoods and homes, and more danger of losing their lives than in any other country largely did as he told them to. They stayed at home, not able to visit sick relatives or attend weddings and funerals if that meant travelling more than a few miles away. Then they were treated to the sight of Dominic Cummings, the Prime Minister’s unelected spin doctor considered the true architect of these rules, driving over 200 miles with his family to find childcare when he should have been in isolation and then making another trip of 30 miles to “check his eyesight” and see if he was fit to drive back to London. All in direct contravention of the rules imposed on the rest of the population. This was explained away by both BoJo and Cummings himself as “what any father would have done.” Thousands of others would, had they been allowed to, but felt obliged to obey the rules. Naturally and rightly, they expected Cummings, as a government insider, to do the same. Ministers have been ordered to defend Cummings, and either resigned or been forced out if they don’t, even when they are ardent Brexiteers Every current minister owes their job, and their parliamentary seat, to being a Johnson loyalist, and had to agree to support him, rather than the party as a whole or its principles, when they stood for election in 2019. But now BoJo is pushing his own acolytes into the opposite intra-party camp, over an unelected adviser, both he and they have nowhere to go. Traditional Tories have given up on saving their party. Most have either left parliament or resigned altogether. Johnson loyalists owe their seats and survival solely to him. But with Johnson rapidly becoming more toxic than Covid-19 and chlorinated chicken, they will have to find a new ship, unassociated with this rat, to come out of this self-inflicted national tragedy in one piece. UK parties don’t change much either – the same big two have held those positions since 1918. But Johnson has so successfully remade the Conservatives in his own image that most of his own supporters will have to become something else to have any future, and can only do this and retain credibility by scuttling their existing ship, deliberately, and constructing a new, ratless one. Rats versus Humanity There are always those who disagree with the leaders of their chosen political party. Generally they try and win internal arguments. If they can no longer support their leader, they either opt out or vote for, or join, another one. It is very rare that we see a situation where members of a party feel they are better off destroying it and starting a new one. It happened to the United Australia Party, once the main party of the centre right in Australia, and the Progressive Conservatives in Canada in more recent times. But in these instances the whole party had become moribund, too many rats having already left. They were not run by rats, for rats, and left with no other members but rats who were unable to connect with people any more. It was always inevitable that populism would fail when led by billionaires and Old Etonians. The only question is what comes after it. Thanks to Covid-19, the whole world is now being faced with this question. But very few will want to the “new normal”, whatever else it may be, to be run by rats rather than people determined to forget they have ever seen a rat. People need to start smelling a rat too!

[elbiotipo]

Thoughts on Espert?

I hate the guy. He’s a misogyinist, perverted asshole. Case in point:

Some virgin taringueros love him just because of that. But everybody else should know that he would bring disgrace to any political office he occupies.

Now, let’s ignore his repugnant personality for a moment, as hard as it is. Does he has good policies?

OF COURSE NOT.

His policies are from the Austrian school of economics. Which, in a very basic sense, say “The State should be reduced as far as possible to let the Free Market bring prosperity”. That means privatization, the dismantling of social services, a lack of intervention on the economy, the lowest salaries and worker’s rights as possible, and a free hand to any corporation, whetever local or foreign. Basically a deal which would benefit the corporate owners and harm literally everybody else.

You thought Menem’s liberalism was bad? You haven’t seen nothing yet. A Espert presidency, even if (thank God) almost impossible, would be Menem Reloaded.

And his fellow ideologues like Millei believe in Anarcho-Capitalism, which is basically the complete obliteration of the state and leaving everything in the hand of private companies. I don’t think I need to explain why would that be a bad idea.

Millei once said “Soy un libertario con tendecias ancap”. I would say “es un boludo con tendencias a pelotudo”.

They are basically the final incarnation of the thickheaded, stupid, egoist, short-sighted, repulsive neoliberal politics that brought us Martínez de Hoz in the last dictatorship, Menem and Cavallo in the 90s, and now the “Mejor Equipo de los últimos 50 años” with Macri. Always the same recipe, always the same result. The only difference is that Espert doesn’t even attempt to hide it.

You might ask why is he so popular then. Well, basically he loves to be controversial and insult people. Much like Trump, this brings some assholes to vote for him. The other reason is that, despite the WELL DOCUMENTED failure of those policies, economists in Argentina (most of them educated in the USA) seem to hold them as consensus and promote them in the media, even as they have produced no tangible results besides economic collapse. That’s a much more difficult thing to tackle.

But even though I hate him, cynically, I don’t mind Espert in the race. Even though he’s an awful candidate and person, AGAIN, CYNICALLY, he takes votes away from Macri, who is the main threat in this election. Espert is, for now, a circus clown, suported by virgins in taringa and free-market fanatics, with little base beyond that.

But we all should be aware of what he represents and the harm that his ideas not only could, but HAVE done, to our country.

I just hope he gets a low percentage of the vote, and everybody is aware of exactly what he represents.

[reactionaryhistorian]

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet - Crystal Smugglers of Titan.

Just listened to the first episode of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet a popular scifi radio serial from the fifties.

We start with a very enthusiastic advertisement for KELLOGS PEP! I wish I knew what that was. I would certainly buy it. Maybe some cornflakes will do but they better have the promised toy.

Then straight to Space Academy “the era of the conquest of space.” Solid beginning. Little timewasting.

Tom Corbett, Astro and Roger Manning are apparently our trio. They make up Polaris unit. Corbett is of course the hero. Astro might be going to be the smart one as he is the only one studying when we meet the three (now I have finished the episode it appears that Astro also takes the role of the cautious one who calls out the risks of the plans the other two make). Roger is pretty clearly going to be the clown or otherwise badly behaved one as he is contemplating his collection of pinups.

Captain Strong summons the boys for an emergency duty. Apparently, the Saturn’s moon Titan contains living crystals which turn any metal they come into contact with to crystal itself. These can be refined in order to make a material stronger and lighter than most metals but the it will be about a year before the process can be done safely on a large commercial scale. Despite this, partially refined crystals are being sold illegally on earth in order to “get a jump on the market”. Yep, that is right. Our villains grand plan is that of violating product safety standards in order to get a leg up on the competition. Granted they have also murdered a previous investigator but that is still a somewhat odd note to start a space adventure serial on.

The plan is for the boys to go to Titan on what appears to be a training flight. Then they will try and spy the place out in order to find how the crystals are being smuggled. Hopefully the smugglers will not expect space cadets to take on this sort of task and will thus be taken off their guard. Well I suppose you need some reason for the teenagers to be sent on a secret mission.

Once they are on Titan Manning confirms my suspicion that he might just be the idiot by blabbing the details of their mission out loud where they might be overheard.

They find the smugglers fairly quickly and wind up imprisoned by them when they try and stow away on a smuggling vessel. But with a bit of ingenuity they not only manage to make there escape but also stop the smugglers and bring them to justice. The story ends on a cheery note with Captain Strong uncertain about whether to reward them or punish them for taking excessive risks.

Multiple Kellogg’s advertisements are strewn liberally across the story. They greatly add to the charm.

Thoughts.

Overall the whole thing was a more understated than I was expecting (this isn’t necessarily a bad thing). My impression of these early scifi serials has been built primarily from Flash Gordon tv Serials and parodies of the era and I was rather expecting a world of impossible cackling villains with world destroying plans, captured damsels and dramatic monologues. Instead, we get a bunch of low-level criminals and corrupt businessmen with a fairly prosaic plan and manner and a fairly low stakes conflict. Of course, this may ramp up quickly once the main characters have been introduced but it is still unexpected.

World building notes.

Just for fun I’ve decided to see how much we can figure out about the vision of the future the Cadet Corbett inhabits by noting down any world building details. If I do any further episodes we can see if a proper picture forms.

The Trio are part of some sort of military space force but it isn’t yet clear whose force it is exactly. Earth? A single nation of earth? Humanity? A multispecies alliance like the federation? This has yet to be clarified.

The economy is apparently capitalist enough for markets and the financial villains to be part of the story but also regulated enough for it to be illegal to sell unsafe crystals.

Titan has been very recently colonized. The trio are mentioned as having accompanied the colonists them on their initial journey their and they are all in their teens.

It isn’t clear how long the journey to Titan takes but from the casualness with which it is taken as well as the instructions Captain Strong gives for the journey I would guess a few days. Maybe a week or two at most.

Titan seems to be inhabitable by humans without protection wearing only a facemask. I missed this the first time I listened and was imagining all the scenes on Titan taking place in some sort of dome. Apparently, the moon is much more inhabitable than I would have thought would have been expected even then.

The trio see a Martian and seem very unsurprised. At least one nonhuman species exists and is a normal sight on Titan it seems.

There are no female voices whatsoever in this episode. Whether this means the Space Military is entirely male is yet to be seen. Possibly.

The trio use interjection like “Great Rings of Saturn” and other planet-based oaths. I enthusiastically approve.

Overall rating. 7/10

Nothing here blew me away but it was a fun little episode that made for a good intro. Overall a lot more grounded and sober than I imagined for a fifties scifi serial. The tone was more routine policing mission in space than anything more derring do or dramatic. I will keep listening and reporting.

[howinteresting]

Wants not needs etcetera

I love a bloody maraschino cherry. It’s fun to say- like Schiaparelli and Moschino- and is my favourite aesthetic: trashy chic. You can’t have an amaretto sour without one and they glow in cocktail glasses like clown noses. Apparently, according to my new podcast find that I episodically devoured, the ordinary jars of cherries are dyed. First bleached then dunked in red food dye. No more. Luxardo is what they recommended, it looks very chic. I went with haste onto the Dan Murphy online store (the only retailer I get daily emails from) where it is sold out.

My sometimes shopping strategy is to find a random person/store on instantspam via someone I follow and scroll to see their interiors/ clothing and their tags. Sounds mad but I have found many a gem. It’s like word-of-mouth marketing via, what, ghosting? Anyway, I have been trying to find a very thin yet warming skivvy. It is almost spring because magnolias have started to bloom and I am still looking. The good thing is that many stores are now having mid-year, end of winter sales. I went to instantspam. This top (yes not a skivvy) called the Vein Long Sleeve by a European brand Base Range, is perfect. It looks like a cousin to the textural Wobble tshirt by Pageant. It’s minimalist ruffle! Like frilly seaweed, in the colours of, well, blue veins and red...arteries? Too thin. Spider veins and capillaries? It is, of course, sold out, but I have found a black SKIVVY in XS that is worth the size risk and price.

Another item of clothing I want but absolutely do not need is this Devo knit by Scottish label Hades. This ticks many boxes: subtle referential statement that is not obnoxious, niche, warm, no displeasing V-neck. The downside is the cost. Bella Freud knits are cheaper, and this is even before you convert it from pounds! It also seems very un-Devo, in that sense. In fact this whole consumerist list is. Oh well, freedom of choice. And guess what? It’s sold out!

Claw, butterfly, spider, octopus. Which is the odd one out? Actually whatever you call them, a hair clip is a practical and now fashionable again asset. I have long hair that I arrange into a bouffant shape everyday. I was walking through H&M, hovering around that section on the runway to the check out. Inside one box were various black and tortoiseshell hair clips and lost among them all- a single transparent one. This is the ideal option to me as a) it provides contrast to my hair colour (black just disappears), b) goes with everything, c) has a clinical sci-fi feel to it, no idea how to expand on this but it’s the vibe I am getting. I pin them to my coat lapels and handbag straps. I found it impossible to find this version anywhere. No one wants clear butterfly clips, why?! This is where I bought my back up from: eBay.

Since I am all fashion, here is another. I like the idea of ‘chartreuse’ but what I actually like is a greener version. The ideal colour being what I call, ‘a field of spring grass with voltage running through it’; electric green you know. This Jac + Jack tshirt looked good online, blendable with other tones and clothes and I had a discount. They call it ‘Jungle’. When I got it I found the colour that came to mind was ‘Dud Avocado’. Still good. I guess. In this economy. *Still need to read the book.

I would buy a Costco bulk of this cocktail napkin and of various others slogans: ‘If You Met My Family You’d Understand’, ‘O Come All Ye Thirsty’, ‘Don’t Confuse My Tolerance with Hospitality’. I believe in Victorian times fans were used to communicate secret messages, yet this is 2019. In a fictitious world where nothing we do is of consequence and can be fixed with Ctrl+Z, I would walk over to the targeted guest and silently hand over a napkin with ‘Don’t Talk About Yourself We’ll Do That After You Leave’ printed in a harmless serif script font. These seem very America and I’ve found them in an online store called White Squirrel Shoppe. 

As with anyone who has pursued a graphic design degree, it is assumed you are familiar with some of the Big Names. Like David Carson Chipp Kidd, Paula Scher, Sagmeister, and the juggernauts like Paul Rand, Milton Glasser and so forth. The Uni library had tomes by and about all of them, including Tibor Kalman whose advertisements for a New York restaurant called Florent using typography as imagery is still one of my favourite pieces of design ever. Anyway, I like Tibor Kalman’s work because he did the kind of design I like-, that being all encompassing: illustrative, digital, tangible, joyful. Just google his Sky Umbrella or click this link. That umbrella reminds me of a design (pictured above) by Swedish brand called Happysweeds that is maybe even more optimistic.

[momestuck]

Epilogues: Candy, chapters 6-13 [the rest of Epilogue 2]

I’m told that there are 40 chapters, and a postscript, in Candy - and also that it’s split into 8 individual ‘epilogues’ within that, of varying length. ‘Epilogue 2′ began with chapter 4, featuring Rose and Kanaya. So I kind of cut it off in exactly the wrong place. Oops!

Anyway I’m going to split these up by Epilogue section from now on. This one covers the rest of Epilogue 2, which mostly concerns shipping, and processing of feelings.

Here are the irons in the fire at the outset of chapter 6:

Gamzee is back! he claims to be setting out on a ‘redemption arc’

Terezi is in space somewhere looking for Vriska, but set to return at some point, and not all that happy that Gamzee’s back

Dirk has perceived some bad news. And briefly spoken about it with Jane, though without explaining anything.

But that’s all Epilogue 1 stuff - old hat!

Rose has suddenly recovered from her illness, and is patching things up with Kanaya

Jade has attempted to push Dave and Karkat to admit they’re into each other, but really just made things worse

Jane attempted to run for President of Earth C - to the trepidation of the Karkat, who hyperbolically suggested this would amount to troll genocide - but abandoned the idea

That’s all interesting but let’s talk about money! This is something I didn’t pick up on in the last post:

KARKAT: OK, SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT. YOUR PRIORITIES ARE: NUMBER ONE, THE ECONOMY, WHICH LET ME REMIND YOU IS BUILT ENTIRELY ON INFINITE, FAKE MONEY THAT WE CAN MAKE AS MUCH OF AS WE WANT.

Elsewhere, Jane’s megacorp and stocks are mentioned.

One wonders why, given the machinery to manufacture just about anything by means of alchemizer, the forms of money, stocks, and corporations are retained... what sort of productive and reproductive labour is regulated and mediated by these markets? Or are they merely acting out the vestigial forms of capitalism as a bizarre drama...

As for the consequences of an infinite money supply, let’s not get into the ‘modern monetary theory’ debate on a Homestuck post, maybe.

on to chapter 6+

This is a Jane chapter. It opens almost immediately with economic discussion; Dave apparently once accused Jane of ‘neoliberal corporate welfare’ for trying to bolster the ‘struggling locksmith industry’ rendered unnecessary on a planet without crime.

She’s visiting Jake, who’s probably my least favourite Homestuck character (who’s not an alpha troll). About Dirk... Jake (Jane says) seems to still have a bit of a thing for him, and Jane, meanwhile, still “has no idea why she can’t get [Jake] out of her system, even after all these years.”

The reason Jane cancelled her run was, it turns out, because Dirk said ‘cancel everything’. She gets drunk, very quickly... and hits on Jake, who is completely oblivious to her advances. She speaks of wanting to abandon business to raise a family, which Jake himself notes is something rather new for her (though the whole traditional gender thing she does isn’t lol)

Jake/Jane isn’t a ship I have any sort of opinion about, honestly. Dirk/Jake’s terrible collapsing relationship was kind of interesting but yeah, here’s a thing. What even are heterosexuals though? “I want to clean your giant house and have a lot of children”... incomprehensible!

One thing I will give credit for is the narration: it creates pretty strong images of like, these characters as fully embodied people, being intimate in like, subtle physical ways. that probably doesn’t make a lot of sense... whatever lol. it works

chapter 7

...brings us back to Gamzee. fittingly, i’m listening to the friendsim soundtrack as i read this, and i just hit ‘take me to clown church’.

anyway since this whole story basically seems to be an exercise in developing ships along the lines of ‘A is into B, B is obvious to their advances’... Roxy’s hot for John now I guess? or at least, so Callie thinks. she insists they’re all going to be ‘very, very happy’ despite her disappointment.

anyway, then we get Gamzee saying a bunch of casually misogynist stuff to John about Roxy. in this context, basically two interpretations are shown: a shallow ‘oh he’s redeemed now’ attitude from Roxy and Callie, and a ‘oh god i hate this person keep him away from me’ attitude from John. Gamzee’s repulsive qualities are underlined by the narration (from John’s perspective): he’s unhygienic, he’s casually misogynist (which seems like a new element, and rather out of keeping with the gendered-but-somehow-theoretically-not-patriarchal Alternia)...

chapter 8

Rose and Kanaya chapter. Jane’s possible presidency is once again the subject of discussion. Jane apparently wanted to apply some kind of anti-troll eugenics policy, and tried to bring Kanaya on board - and got told to fuck off for it. Our two good lesbians agree that, if Karkat were president (and Dave running the economy), things might have worked out ok...

We are briefly introduced to a new character, a jadeblood troll called Swifer Eggmop. Her character archetype, we are directly told, is ‘1920s newsboy’.

We bear witness to an egg hatching (in prose, anyway). This particular baby grub out closely resembling Vriska... which Kanaya says is because she comes from a slurry based on the original 12 trolls. Rose notes this would make Vriska the troll’s Ancestor, which raises an interesting question of whether Ancestors still exist as a social concept on Earth C. Anyway, Kanaya wants to adopt baby Vriska, which can only be a fantastic idea...

KANAYA: There Are Two Things Of Which I Have No Doubt

KANAYA: That You And I Are Going To Be Happy For The Rest Of Our Lives

KANAYA: And That We Are Never Ever Going To See Vriska Again

I think we can safely assume that neither of those things are true. The emphasis on ‘happiness forever’, voiced by multiple characters, is interesting... also the turn towards reproduction.

I went to uni with people who have kids now. Heck I have friends who have a child (who they are trying to spare from gender)... but for most of my social circle, which is to say almost entirely 20-to-30-something trans women, even the idea of adopting is incomprehensible? It’s somehow weird to think of ‘wanting kids’ as the narrative of 20-something year olds...

Kanaya is right. Vriska is dead, and despite everything, she died a hero. Vriska was a complicated figure of contrasting extremes; her heroic actions were matched in scale only by her monstrous ones, and since no one had actually witnessed her end, it was impossible to say which side the pendulum swung and judged her death—Heroic or Just.

It would be a fitting memorial for her and Kanaya to raise a version of Vriska who would be given every chance to make good on her noble characteristics. A true, symbolic redemption arc. Something about the thought appeals to Rose’s taste for the dramatic flourish. It would be proof that this was all worth it in the end: the destruction of multiple universes, the death of Kanaya’s friends, the circuitous rites of suffering experienced by the nearly infinite splintered versions of every being to inhabit Paradox Space...  

Once again, the notion of a ‘redemption arc’ enters the narrative explicitly, directly echoing fandom discussion. Unlike Gamzee, this is studiously neutral on the Vriska Question: steering exactly between ‘Vriska did nothing wrong’, nor ‘Vriska is a monster’. Regardless... I think it’s probably safe to say that everyone’s prophecies are wrong and we haven’t seen the last of the ‘true’ Vriska.

chapter 9

More of Jade trying very hard to ship her friends, to the discomfort of everyone involved. Jade kisses Karkat, and Karkat explicitly names what she’s doing as sexual assault, a violation of boundaries and consent - Jade attempts to convince him that no, it was really Dave who kissed him!

This prompts a long monologue from Dave in which it’s obvious that he has put some thought into kissing Karkat. Point seems to be: they sure are into each other but Jade’s intervention is not at all welcome. At least I hope that’s the point. I would prefer not to see Jade vindicated by the narrative.

Anyway, other things of cultural note: grub spaghetti is apparently still eaten on Earth C. I always thought it was implied that ‘grubs’ in Troll food were like, actual troll babies, but maybe they’re just ordinary (for certain values thereof...) bugs bc I don’t think Kanaya would stand for that.

chapter 10

The ‘Jane running for president’ subplot has largely disappeared, because what we’re really here for is... shipping! This time, a John/Roxy chapter. I think they call it Roxygen or something? Terezi explains the ‘pair the spares’ logic of the ship (dequirkified):

TEREZI: Um, yeah John.

TEREZI: We are not idiots. We can all do the math on this.

TEREZI:  It’s not like you were going to fuck your human mom or human sister.

TEREZI: And you are “not a homosexual,” which takes Strider dick out of the equation.

TEREZI: And Kanaya is the only girl troll left, and she lesbian married one of the two remaining eligible human females.

TEREZI: Oh and Jake is a double threat. A human dad with a human dick!

TEREZI: So by a process of elimination, of *course* you were going to “fall in love” with Roxy.

Equation of ‘dick’ with ‘male’ there terezi but whatever... (god is this fic going to get into the question of what a ‘nook’ and a ‘bulge’ is...)

(lol i’m calling it a fic...)

Anyway, my position on this one is: Roxy/Calliope was a fine ship worth upholding, and I do not see any reason why anyone would be into John. Though I may be biased on that front.

Terezi also brings up the Calliope question. John is trepidatious on that front.

There’s an interesting line from Roxy here, when John tries to assure her she doesn’t have to wear makeup:

ROXY: john...

ROXY: do u ever think about like

ROXY: gender???

JOHN: ???

JOHN: uh. not really, i guess?

JOHN: but i don’t think girls should feel like they HAVE to wear makeup just because they’re girls.

ROXY: lol

ROXY: thats not what im getting at

JOHN: what do you mean then?

JOHN: are you, like...

ROXY: like what

This is where I’m conscious of the ‘trans character’ tag on this one.

They talk about adulthood, as a performance that they do not feel ‘ready’ for. At that point Dave shows up, clearly aflustered after Jade’s intervention:

DAVE: anyone can be a dude if they really want thats part of the beauty of living in this brand new world with none of the baggage our old world had like gender and sexuality and relationships only involving a very specific number of people

chapter 11

So yeah now to pick up the torch on Dave starting to understand he’s gay. here for this

DAVE: theres a metric fucking ton of shit about to come down on me because i dragged my heels on doing some serious self reflection

JOHN: is this just some more stuff about...

JOHN: being gay?

DAVE: maybe yeah

DAVE: ok definitely yeah

DAVE: its 110% about being gay

JOHN: i thought you’d already worked all that stuff out?

DAVE: turns out it takes a long time to figure out your sexuality after a childhood filled with repression and abuse

nice to see it named as such i guess

the dialogue in the last couple of chapters has been really good. i’m getting properly drawn into this, the characters feel extremely well-realised. threads which were long latent are finally being made explicit.

Dave is struggling with very abrupt self-realisation: he definitely has feelings for Karkat, he has complicated feelings for Jade, but the ‘simple’ solution of just entering a non-mono relationship both is not feeling ‘right’ to him. John isn’t really able to help... he’s gonna talk to Dirk.

This chapter does a lot, I really like it, but at the same time I’ve not got a tremendous amount to add to it.

chapter 12

in our latest chapter of ‘homestuck but they fuck now’, Jake and Jane did that - while up on various substances, including at least alcohol and the trickster lollipop. Jake is having second thoughts but when he tries to back out, Jane looks sad, so he decides to go for it. This can only end well.

Also damn I guess someone on the team thought ‘what would it be like to fuck while high on the trickster lollipop’ so uh, that’s a thing now.

chapter 13

Back to the Strider boys. There’s a heavy intro...

Dave and Dirk don’t talk that much about the heavy stuff. They don’t need to. Dave can hear his brother’s voice in his head.

Not, like, literally. That would be insane. But Dave knows what his bro is like. Dirk, or a version of him, instilled in Dave a way of living and thinking that would, for better or worse, persist far beyond the first thirteen years of his upbringing.

Yeah huh.

Can’t believe Rose and Kanaya have the dubious honour of being the most ‘together’ characters in this.

Anyway in this case Dave still feels like he needs to talk to Dirk - who we know has gone awol, for some mysterious reason. He meets... Gamzee, who says some religious clown stuff, and offers Dave a redemption arc (really running this joke into the ground huh), but Dave brushes him off. Then he finds a fembot that Dirk was working on, with a note.

We don’t get to read the note yet. I would guess that’s the end of epilogue 2.

Sure enough it is.

Epilogue 2, taken as a whole

I quite enjoyed this, Gamzee sections notwithstanding. The prose is tight, the dialogue is hitting its flow, and a lot of relationships that were left vague in Homestuck proper are finally being given time to develop.

Obviously it’s kind of risky bringing in explicitly sexual themes, but I think they approach them in the ‘right’ way: focusing on the emotional meaning of relationships that now might - now we’re dealing with 23-year-olds - include sex, rather than just porn lol. It does slightly strain credibility that, in all their time on Earth C, none of them have made any meaningful friendships or relationships outside the core group of 8 kids and a handful of surviving trolls, but I can also understand the desire to focus on the already-developed characters. That’s a common problem for ‘endgame’ ships: in truth dating exclusively within a tiny friendship group is probably a recipe for disaster, but in fiction it makes a work manageable.

I am enjoying just how gay Homestuck has gotten. If Homestuck is the comic for Very Online kids who were around 13 in 2009 when the comic began, it’s somewhat fitting, because our cohort has, at least to a degree, done the same thing lol. Of course, that’s shaped by my personal experience of like, transitioning and moving to a friendship group that’s like 99% trans lesbians and bi women, but I suspect statistics would bear out the idea that more and more people are comfortable identifying ourselves as not-straight in some way. I could be wrong about that though lol.

Of course, it’s too much to hope that this trend - insofar as it exists! - is like, the beginning of the end for Gender as a system of social relations, violent exploitation and coercion - especially since periods of ‘more acceptance’ often seem to precede violent repression (c.f. Weimar Germany and then, the nazis; the period just before the AIDS crisis; much earlier, the construction of colonial/modern gender in the first place on the bones of less rigid gender systems...)

Anyway, let’s see what’s happened to old Dirk. I’m still wondering who the “trans character” is going to be, and how they’re going to handle that. It’s going to be tough to match fic like @rememberwhenyoutried‘s An Earth-Shattering Confession, but we shall see.

[truxblooded]

ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕞𝕚𝕤𝕤𝕚𝕠𝕟 𝔾𝕦𝕚𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 ℝ𝕦𝕝𝕖𝕤:

                         🎊🎉Welcome one and all!🎊🎉

To quote a great, but semi crazy psychopathic Clown Prince of Crime: “If you’re good at something never do it for free.” And thus I have opened commissions for the first time, ever!

Like most of you have I work a full-time job, but thanks to the shit economy and “promises” *blatant lies* not being fulfilled from the Annoying Orange in the Oval Office to help out all of us average joes just trying to make ends meet, and now the uncertainty of my job still being there after a far larger grocery chain bought out the one I work for *sobs* I am trying to earn a little more extra income by doing what I have loved to do for the last fifteen plus years of my life (I’m 32) - writing and entertaining many with my writing.

Here is where you will find all of the details for commissions! 

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ᴅᴏ ғᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜ:

I write the gambit of varying categories; fluff, smut, angst, action/adventure, horror, Sci-Fi, fantasy, A/B/O, etc. Although I have quite a few hard no’s.  

I will absolutely not write anything containing:

explicit drug use/abuse

domestic violence in graphic nature

child abuse

rape/non-con 

super hardcore BDSM and unsafe BDSM practices (ignoring safe words, zero aftercare)

humiliation/dégradation

overtly graphic over the top ridiculous and otherwise impossible pornography that defies the laws of physics and actual human biology

anything coming close to or resembling 50 Shades of Grey (because let’s be realistic if Christian Grey wasn’t a hot rich white dude, that would have been an entire season’s worth of Criminal Minds episodes)

scat

extreme underage (one or both participants are under the age of 16 years old)

If you are under the age of 18 years of age, please do not commission me for a fic that contains explicit sexual content. Under US law, I would be charged with providing pornographic material to a minor, which (for me) would result in prison time and filing as a sex offender. For my safety and yours, if you are under 18 years of age, please do not request smut. If you request smut and you are under the age of 18 years old but are up front about it, I will negotiate a better fic that involves fluff or angst. If you lie, however, and I find out that you are under the age of 18 and commissioned a smut fic, I will refund you the money and block you. Simple as that. Do NOT do this, kiddos, please.

Please do not put me in a position where I have to restrict my commissions or give it up all together because you can’t get over the actual FUCKING LAW when it comes to 18+ allowances. 

I will negotiate on briefly mentioning or gleaning over something if it pertains to a background bit to give explanation to the story/series/one-shot/drabble plot, but please be respectful of what I will and will not write, as I will be respectful to your commission requests in return.

I write for:

 Marvel Comics/the MCU

X-Men/Deadpool (mentioning these as for now I still don’t consider them canon to the MCU until I see them with the title card)

DC Comics/DCEU 

Batman (Nolan-verse)

Gotham

The Flash (season one and two eras)

Supernatural

Smallville

The Crow (universe mythology)

Criminal Minds

Star Wars

The Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit (book and movie verses)

the Assassin’s Creed video games (bear in mind I have only played up to Unity and am hustling to catch up to Odyssey)

the Fallout video game series (I’ve only played 3 and New Vegas)

Mass Effect video game series (excluding Andromeda)

and Riverdale (I’ve only watched season one)

You’re also more than welcome to ask about whether or not I write for something, just in case I do have some or just enough knowledge of the said show/movie/comic/book in question for me to possibly consider taking the asked commission.

ᴘʀɪᴄɪɴɢ:

Drabbles will run at $3 USD for every 500 hundred words

One-Shots will run at $5 USD per piece || 3K max word count

Series - depending on the length of the requested amount of parts, negotiations can be made - will run at $10 USD

RP Character Sheet Creation will run at $3-$5 USD depending on the amount of depth and detail you want put into the spread

I also offer my services as a beta-reader! Depending on the size of what you would like me to beta for you, or if it’s an ongoing series, we can take a seat at the negotiations table and come about to an arrangement on payment!

I Accept payments through buying me a Ko-Fi ☕ || PayPal || Venmo

If I go above word count (aka, if I write more than what you paid for), you are under no obligation to pay me for the more writing. You should not be penalized by giving me more money just because I have a shitty time keeping to word limits. If you want to pay me for the extra work, that is more than okay, but understand you are under NO obligation to do so. I will not expect it either.

ᴛɪᴘᴘɪɴɢ ɪs ɴᴏᴛ ᴀ ᴄɪᴛʏ ɪɴ ᴄʜɪɴᴀ: 

I kid! I kid! I just stupidly love that goddamn saying so much it’s not even funny... in fact it’s Dad Joke level so #sorrynotsorry. Anywho! If you like what I throw out there for free enjoyment and just good ‘ol story telling entertainment, and would like to leave me a tip, you can do so by buying me a Ko-Fi ☕

Once your transaction has gone through, contact me on either tumblr or my email: Shootingstarko86@hotmail.com - I check both frequently- and either tell me your information (what name you put on Ko-Fi, or what email will show up in my Pay-Pal and or Venmo) or send a screencap of your transaction. Once I have verified your information, we can discuss what you want for your prompt.

You will then have three ways to receive your fic once it is finished. 

I can post it here on Tumblr, tagging you in it of course. 

If you do not want to have this fic published on tumblr, let me know and I will send you a private Google Doc link so only you and those you choose to share this with can enjoy it, or I will send it to your email. 

You can also request to have it published on both, but your name not be mentioned. I will then say it is an anonymous commission and privately link you to the fic once it is posted so you have that confirmation.

You can also request to have it published on my AO3 account! Or you can also request to have all three options!

You are more than welcome to ask for an update on how the work is progressing. Please allow up to two weeks for your fic, if there is an issue I will notify you. If I need more time, again, I will notify you. I do work full time and train full time as an avid 1/2 marathon runner during the beginning of every year, so please bear with me if I notify you on the more time issue.

And that children, about does it. 

I hope and cross my fingers I crossed every possible little detail, if you have questions you are more than welcomed to message me privately or send an ask to my box, or contact me through email @ Shootingstarko86@hotmail.com 📩

TOOᗪᒪEᔕ ᗰY ᑭOOᗪᒪEᔕ!!

[isaidyoulookshitty]

europeans will see a loud minority of conservative, right-wing morons arguing on twitter about how much they love privatized healthcare they can’t afford and then convince themselves “ah yes, surely a giant country made up of over 330 million people feel this exact same way, they must all be just like this. i am very smart and cultured compared to these stupid americans living in their own filth. no wonder they elect clowns to run their country!” like there aren’t MILLIONS of people begging for all of these things, millions of people who live in poverty, who are LGBTQ+, who are people of color, who are chronically ill, who are disabled, who are any and all combinations of these descriptors and even those that aren’t fighting tooth and nail at every level to see their interests and wellbeing represented in a system of government that would rather see them die. a government that hand feeds them lies and propaganda and is, shockingly, owned by corporations that make things like universal healthcare, stricter firearm laws, and social benefits impossible.

but hey it’s all a funny joke!!!!!!! and i used to laugh too!! i used to think it was sooooo hilarious how STUPID americans are to be satisfied with how shitty it actually is to live in this country. but then i grew up!!! i’ve seen for myself how ugly a lot of it really is!! i’ve suffered as a result of it!!! and things here have just gotten scarier and scarier and none of this shit is funny anymore!! i’ve been to europe and yeah it fucking blew my stupid little american mind with all the universal healthcare and accessible public transportation and environmental regulations! but idk whenever i see europeans on the internet acting all holier-than-thou, like the classist, racist, anti-semitic, imperialist cesspools they call home are some kind of socialist utopia, like they haven’t played a starring role in plundering just about the rest of the fucking planet and left it worse off for it, i don’t really feel like laughing.

btw any non-americans who see this post and feel the need to make a joke about american kids dying in school shootings can perhaps instead shut the fuck up or pick one of these charities to donate to: