#in practice i think it was absolute bullshit that one of the nominations

[emangel2718]

Before I go any further let me say that I am not speaking on behalf of anyone other than myself from here on out. It generally hasn't been my intent to already but it seems like I need to make it clear.

It is not vote or do other things. You can do other things and also vote. You should do other things. I'm only saying that you should also vote because that has a potential impact in a relatively short timeframe that other things don't have, just as other actions have potential effects that voting doesn't have. Even if the electoral college exists and is bullshit as it is voting can only help. Of course you should also vote on your congress people but once again that is not mutually exclusive to the presidential vote.

"Either you're with us or you're-" Can you not? We have all seen this so many times and it NEVER goes anywhere good. This is not about in-group and out-group this is about how our actions affect our world.

Now in the presidential vote specifically your choices lie in the primaries, which you should also vote in, and then, practically, in the nominated candidates, the democrat one and the republican one. There is zero evidence of any third party having enough popularity to win at this time unless you seriously think that you can convince and organize enough of the country to vote for a single one.

Either a democrat or a republican will be elected president in the next election whether you vote or not. The most good you can do is to do your part to pick the one that isn't making its campaign on criminalizing lgbt people and doesn't have a major backer that wants to push them to destroy what actually democratic (the general meaning not the party) elements exist in our system of government and hasn't had a recent president that tried to remove over 200 safety and environmental regulations.

In terms of the vote if Biden gets re-nominated then there will be nothing that can be done in terms of genocide. There are, of course, other things that you can do. You should do them. Unless, however, we end up with a democratic nominee that is not going to support israel there is no way we are going to end up with a president that won't in that election. Any republican nominee absolutely will.

If, despite anyone's best efforts, we end up in that situation we must look at the net differences between the possibilities.

Now in regards to Biden himself, I think you'll note that anything I have actually said about what I think of him is, in fact, very critical. Frankly, I don't believe he can be pushed. Not only has he already made it clear that he has no intention of changing course despite his team allegedly saying that it's becoming untenable, I've recently learned of a very likely motivation. I saw recently, from several sources, that Palestine has several oil wells within it, some of which have already been promised to extraction companies.

If my understanding of him is correct, he's a greedy, heartless, abominable person, and as such we should all do what we can so that he's not our republican alternative, like voting in the primaries. Maybe the party won't listen to our primary votes. Maybe they will. We can't know unless we try.

If my understanding of the republicans is correct, they're also greedy, heartless, abominable people. They're also overtly genocidal toward a much wider variety of people and overtly aim to remove what little obstacles there are to big corporations abusing/hurting/killing the rest of us.

There is a very real chance that these two will be our realistic choices for the president of the united states of america.

It's an absolutely fucked choice. I genuinely hope we can make that not the choice. It still might be it.

"I'm not going to choose either." The choice will be made for you then.

I absolutely encourage anyone and everyone to do what they can not just to improve what that choice ends up being but also to take other actions that improve the whole government situation in the US and if posts saying to do those things were what I was seeing several of we would not be having this conversation.

To my memory though, this conversation and one other post are the ones I've seen saying that you should do those things. The message has largely not been "Don't *just* vote" but rather "Don't vote", and even the ones that do tell you to do other things have been exceedingly antagonistic.

That is what I take issue with.

[thequeencity]

Nhl didnt nominate chris and mika for best bromance last year and the rangers social media team (and mika!) took that personally

rangers social media definitely knows what it takes to get the Clicks™. i'm glad they keep delivering on that good good content !!!! ( and there's going to be so many fun videos coming up --- they know what they got & they're taking full advantage of that )

[whitehotharlots]

CRT and the sad state of educational politics

If our culture is studied 100 years from now, the predominant theme of the research will be a sense of perplexed revulsion toward how we did nothing to address the climate crisis in spite of having decades of forewarning. If there is a second theme, it will be a profound confusion regarding our immense and unearned sense of self-certainty. A retrospective of the early twenty first century would be titled something like Who the Fuck Did These People Think They Were? 

The latter theme is illustrated in the debacle surrounding a recent slew of municipal and statewide bills that seek to ban the teaching of Critical Race Theory (CRT) in public schools. For the record, I am strongly against these bans. But I’m also self-aware enough to know my opinion matters very little, and therefore realize that an analysis of the discussion surrounding the bills will yield much more worthwhile observations than a simple delimitation of their pros and cons. Regardless of your personal opinion, I hope you’ll humor me.

I am, in some regards, a moral absolutist. But I also realize that abstract morality has very little bearing on material and political realities. In my ideal world, classrooms are free from political meddling. Teachers teach to the best of their ability, presenting students with truths that are confidently unvarnished due to the thorough amount of work that was required to reach them. I don’t cotton any of that socratic bullshit. Students are there to learn, not to engage in weird Gotchas with some perverted elder. The teacher’s job is to teach. The material they teach needs to be subjected to some graspable and standardized mechanism of truth adjudication before it is worthy of being taught. Teaching is not therapy. Teaching is not poetry. Teaching is not love, nor is it religion, nor is it a means of social or political indoctrination. There are plenty of other avenues available to accomplish all of those other things. Teaching is teaching. 

That’s the ideal. But ideals are just ideals. They never come true. The art of teaching, regardless of setting--from overpacked classrooms to face-to-face instruction to curricular design to nationwide pedagogical initiatives--boils down to a teacher’s ability to reconcile the need to convey truths with social and political pressures that are heavily invested in the suppression of truth. 

I have formally studied and practiced education for nearly two decades. In that time, the prevailing political thrust toward education has been a desire to casualize the practice of teaching, to render educators as cheap and fungible as iphones. The thrust takes different shapes depending on the political affiliation of whomever happens to be in charge of the state and federal governments that fund education, but the ultimate desire is always the same. The goal is always to attempt to make teaching rote and algorithmic, something akin to running a google search for How to do math? or What is morality?. The framing is always just windowdressing, empty culture war bullshit. 

Maybe it’s the inescapability of this thrust that’s rendered so many educators so blind to it? We only have nominal political choice, after all. The discourse gets more blinkered and vicious as the stakes decrease. At any rate, this is the undeniable reality, and anyone who doesn’t see that isn’t worth listening to. 

Non-administrative per-pupil spending as been on a steady decline since George W. Bush was president. Administrative bloat and meddling are becoming as common in k-12 as they are in higher education. The will of parasitic NGOs are implemented as common sense pedagogy without anyone even bothering to ask for any proof that they work. The so-called Education Reform movement is sputtering out due both to its manifest failures and rare, bipartisan backlash. But it will be replaced with something just as idiotic and pernicious. The thrust of causalization will not abate. 

And so what do we decide to do? What’s the next big thing on the education policy horizon? Critical Race Theory. 

Okay, this makes sense. In 2021, a local paper can’t run a news story about a lost cat without explicitly mentioning the race of every human involved and possibly also nodding toward the implied cisnormativity of pet ownership. So it makes sense that this broad rhetorical mandate would come to dominate the transitional period between Bush-Obama Education Reform and whatever bleak future awaits us. The controversy is so perfectly inefficacious that its adoption was inevitable. Because, seriously, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of the outcome of this kerfuffle, no problems will be solved. The real shortcomings of public education will not be addressed. Larger social problems that are typically blamed on public education in spite of having little to do with public education will especially not be addressed. Maybe white kids will have to do struggle sessions in lieu of the Pledge of Allegiance. Maybe black kids will get full credit for drawing the Slayer logo in the part of the test where their geometric proof is supposed to go. Or maybe it won’t happen. Maybe instead these practices will be banned, and in turn liberals will begin to embrace homeschooling, the charter movement will be given new life as a refuge against the terrors of white supremacist behaviors such as, uhh, teaching kids to show their work. Whatever.

Within the context of public education, the outcome will not matter. It cannot matter. There will be broader social impacts, sure. It will continue to drive Democrats more rightward, providing their party’s newly woke corporate wing with progressive-sounding rationales for austerity. But so far as teachers and students are concerned, it won’t matter.

Why do I give a shit about this, then? To put it bluntly, I’m struck by the utter fucking inartfulness of CRT’s proponents. At no point has any advocate of CRT presented a case for their approach to education that was at all concerned with persuading people who aren’t already 100% in their camp. There’s been no demonstration of positive impacts, or even an explanation of how the impacts could hypothetically be positive. In fact, so much as asking for such a rationale is considered proof of racism. Advocates posit an image of existing educational policies that is absolutely fantastical, suggesting that kids never learn about slavery or racism or civil rights. But then... then they don’t even stick with the kayfabe. They’ll say “kids never learn about racism.” In response, people--mostly well-meaning--say “wait, umm, I’m pretty sure they do learn about racism.” The response is “we never said they don’t learn about racism.” You’ll see this shift from one paragraph to the next. It’s insane. Absolutely insane. 

Or take this talk from a pro-CRT workshop in Oregon. The speaker freely admits that proto-CRT leanings like anti-bias education, multiculturalism, and centering race in historical discussions have been the norm since the late 1980s. The speaker admits that these practices have been commonplace for 30+ years, as anyone my age or younger will attest. Then, seconds later, the speaker discusses the results of this shift: it failed. Unequivocally:

We had this huge, huge, huge focus on culturally relevant teaching and research. [ ... ] So you would think that with 40+ years of research and really focusing and a lot of lip service and a lot of policies and, you know, a lot of rhetoric about cultural relevancy and about equity and about anti-bias that we would see trends that are significantly different, [but] that’s not what we’re finding. What we’re finding that you see [is] that some cases, particularly black and brown [students] the results, the academic achievement has either stayed the same and gotten worse.

Translation: here’s this approach to teaching. It’s new and vital but also we’ve been doing it for 40 years. It doesn’t work. But we need to keep doing it. Anyone who is in any way confused by this is a dangerous racist. 

Even in the darkest days of the Bush-era culture war, I never saw such a complete and open disregard for honesty. This isn’t to say that Bush-era conservatives weren’t shit-eating liars. They were. But they had enough savvy to realize that self-righteousness alone is not an effective way of doing politics. You need to at least pretend to be engaging with issues in good faith. 

This is what happens when a movement has its head so far up its own ass that it cannot comprehend the notion of good-faith criticism. These people do not believe that there can exist anyone who shares their basic goals but has concerns that their methods might not work. Their self-certainty is so absolute and unshakeable that they can proffer data demonstrating the complete ineffectiveness of their methods as proof of the necessity of their methods.

For decades, the most effective inoculation against pernicious meddling in education has been to lean upon the ideal form of teaching I described earlier in this post. We claimed that teaching is apolitical and that no one is trying to indoctrinate anybody. Regardless of the abstract impossibility of this claim, it has immense and lasting appeal, and it was upheld by a system of pedagogical standards that allowed teachers to evoke a sense of neutrality. The prevailing thrust in liberal education is to explicitly reject any such notions, and no one--not a single goddamn person--has proffered a convincing replacement for it. We still say, laughably, that we’re eschewing indoctrination. But people aren’t that stupid. If you find it beneath yourself to make your lies digestible, people will be able to tell when you’re lying to them. 

This, my friends, bodes very poorly for the future of education, regardless of whatever happens in the coming months. A movement that cannot articulate its own worth is not one that is long for this world. Teachers themselves are the only force that can resit the slow press toward the eventual elimination of public education, and they have embraced a worldview and comportment style that renders them absolutely unable to mount any worthwhile resistance. 

[davidmann95]

How'd you like the new Death Metal special (and, more broadly, this week's comics)?

pretenderoftheeast said: Comics this week (12/9/2020)?

Batman: Black and White #1: The first of a platter of anthologies today:

* The Tynion/Moore story is predictably fire.

* JHIII is JHIII. Also he does a really nice surprising story about how Batman’s relating to this moment of the time, but let’s be real, you’re here because JHIII, and be assured he is JHIII as helllll here and it’s great.

* Dini/Kubert plays as the former building a story around accommodating requests by the latter, but that’s not a bad thing, and glad to see Kubert’s kept up the pace since his DK3/Up In The Sky creative rejuvenation.

* Ok I’m a philistine who has no idea what that Emma Rios thing was about but it was certainly pretty.

* Wilson doing Batman is surprisingly disappointing, but Smallwood doing Batman definitely isn’t.

DC’s Very Merry Multiverse: Not a very merry time! I hate to say it given this should be so geared to my interests, but this is the weakest overall effort we’ve gotten from one of DC’s quarterly anthologies in a good long while, at least among those I’ve picked up. Not to say it’s a dud, there are several nifty little stories in here including the much-hyped first appearance of Kid Quick (destined to become the Flash of Future State) and really almost everything here reaches ‘pretty okay’. But for $10, and a creative space that should reach so much more than ‘pretty okay’, I don’t know that this is a justifiable recommendation unless you’re understandably desperate for all the President Superman content you can get your hands on.

Tales of the Dark Multiverse: Flashpoint: I’m surprised I got it too, but the preview grabbed me and in practice it was a fun, mean little high-concept adventure of Reverse Flash being a total cock.

Wonder Woman #768: Credit where it is due, this has been getting a bit better in its closing stretch.

Dark Nights: Death Metal: The Last Stories of the DC Universe: This ruled. Obviously there was the one story folks are most interested in, but almost all of the tales in here lived up to being a ‘final’ story of sorts for their leads.

* The Titans bookenders were pretty nice even if it’s hilarious that their big rallying cry basically amounts to “by god, our book may be shit, but we’re valuable IP so we’ll never be cancelled!”

* Green Lantern is basically an epilogue to Johns’ run sans the baggage of bringing back Johns (that we get in two weeks with Secret Origin and god forgive me I’m so looking forward to that), and definitely one of my favorite efforts from Lemire.

* Wonder Woman’s the stinker in what’s nominally her own event. I can parse the roots of most bad Superman stories one way or another, but I just can’t understand what’s behind most bad Wonder Woman stories beyond that the people handling it simply don’t give a shit.

* Astonishingly, the Green Arrow and Black Canary chapter in here might be my favorite of the bunch? Simone at her best, a really sweet slice of playful, sincere romance about two characters I’m not by default invested in but ended up quite caring for here.

* This Aquaman story is everything I generally hate in Aquaman stuff, a big long maudlin speech about the weight of the world as he swims through a black featureless ocean, except here between the real heart Sebela brings to the script and the mood artist Christopher Mooneyham manages to evoke, it all clicks together.

* The Batman Family story feels like it can’t quite make its pacing work, but it’s still a heartfelt little ode to the theoretical power of the concept.

* Hey, that Mark Waid guy? Turns out he can write him some Superman. It’s not perhaps the total barnburner you might have expected - I imagine he’s saving his biggest hits for later - but it’s a very solid execution of a gangbusters concept, and Manapul steals the show with absolutely sensational, gorgeous scenic Superman imagery. I’mma say 60/40 in favor of them doing a Superman project together on either a main book or Black Label (I know Manapul was supposed to be locked into a creator-owned thing with Scott Snyder but that was ages ago), because this is a paring that’s yielded some immediate results and I imagine everyone knows it. And given my upbringing, nice to see a big, iconic, beautiful Superman story with him rocking the mullet.

Anonymous said: Haha holy shit Crossover is literally Cates taking that page where Spawn meets all the corporate heroes locked up and spinning it out into a series

Anonymous said: Does Crossover #2 hold the crown for the funniest, dumbest, most baffling opening page ever?

Crossover #2: Readers I’m not too big to admit I laughed my ass off at the first page, and at least a little bit for the actual reasons intended. The sense of homaging that Spawn scene in the context of a book about “Gosh, isn’t IP the best folks?”, or Cates’ dialogue...(shall we say) proving why he likes the concept of ellipses enough to name a character after them aside though? That it’s already crossed the line with its central metaphor from “indefensibly insensitive in its ridiculous self-centeredness” to “out-and-out cartoonishly offensive” somehow actually makes it more rather than less palatable; there’s no longer the secondhand embarrassment of waiting to see how bad Cates is going to handle this, it simply is the worst it could possibly be and readers have to accept and perhaps revel in the sight of him stepping on rake after rake. I cannot wait for him to finally give an interview on this book where he explains what the hell he thinks this looks like, and I hope my dad keeps somehow enjoying it forever because I totally wanna see what pit this descends to next.

Penultiman #3: This is absolutely agonizing and probably the most relatable take on a ‘superman’ ever.

Home Sick Pilots #1: A new creator-owned book from Dan Watters (whose big two credits include the stupendous “Afraid of America” with John Paul Leon in the last Batman Secret Files, and the upcoming Future State: Superman/Wonder Woman) and Peter Cannon’s Caspar Wijngaard, this new book set against the backdrop of a Californian high school’s punk scene in 1994 describes itself as “Power Rangers meets The Shining (yes, really)”. The former influence isn’t much in play yet, but thus far this is a book that merges building tension and freewheeling dopey teen bullshit to an extent that’s subtly impressive as hell, and seems likely to proudly take a place among the current horror comic renaissance.

Warhammer 40,000: Marneus Calgar #3: Ok again I don’t have any experience with this franchise but you’d better believe that cultural osmosis was enough that I popped for BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!

King in Black: Namor #1: Kurt Busiek’s return to Marvel...sucks? Such is the power of Knull I guess even if he doesn’t manifest within the actual story here, this is a complete nothing of a comic and I’m not tuning in for issue #2.

Avengers #39: Eh, I’m not liking Aaron Avengers when it gets remotely serious nearly as much as when he’s doing stuff like having them finally help Blade with all those vampires or Captain America assisting with the delivery of an exploding space-baby in the back of a muscle car.

Anonymous said: That new Guardians of the Galaxy was something else. What do you think the odds are that Comic Books, with a decade or two of hindsight, recognizes Ewing as one of the best to ever do it?

Guardians of the Galaxy #9: I lack much context here beyond recalling from an interview that this is Ewing’s way of grappling with the ideas from Steve Englehart’s original unrealized vision of Star-Lord’s character arc, but wherever it stems from this is a hell of a comic.

S.W.O.R.D. #1: This is everything I’ve wanted from the non-Hickman X-books since the moment HoXPoX ended, and so much more, and also it is basically hilarious that Ewing is all but explicitly using his clout to force Marvel to let him to Ultimates3 under a currently cancellation-proof banner. Most importantly of all, Ewing has already mastered the subtle art of writing not merely Magneto, but the infinitely superior Jonathan Hickman Magneto. And good lord Schiti and Gracia, I already knew they were top-tier but these pages’d make a grown man cry.

[gunnerpalace]

(These asks were reordered from bottom-to-top to top-to-bottom for clarity.)

Alright, so the first thing I want to say in response to this is actually best summarized in the form of a song:

You are somebody that I don't know But you're takin' shots at me like it's Patrón And I'm just like, damn, it's 7 AM Say it in the street, that's a knock-out But you say it in a Tweet, that's a cop-out And I'm just like, "Hey, are you okay?"

And I ain't tryna mess with your self-expression But I've learned a lesson that stressin' and obsessin' 'bout somebody else is no fun And snakes and stones never broke my bones

So oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh You need to calm down, you're being too loud And I'm just like oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh, oh-oh (oh) You need to just stop Like can you just not step on my gown? You need to calm down

I would like you to seriously reread what you’ve written here (and copy-and-pasted to others) and tell me that it doesn’t come across as more than a little obsessive and psychotic. "This may seem like hate, but it's not," you said anonymously, before going on a rant to strangers on the internet whom you had nominated as the representatives of "you guys." Sure, okay, Heather.

Well, regardless, let’s go through this. First, you don't understand 685/686. I've been over this before several times, but I will go over this one final time, as simply as I can. That said, I can't guarantee that you will understand it when I do. I was unable to successfully tutor 1st graders how to do addition because my perspective was, "Either you understand it or you don't," and I don't have the background in math to make such a simple concept exciting. The same might be true of this, because there is no way to critically analyze these chapters more succinctly than this, and so you still might not get it.

The point of 685/686, thematically, is that absolutely no one got what they wanted.

Renji wanted to surpass Byakuya. He remains Byakuya's Lieutenant and has to settle for being under his sister (figuratively and probably literally too) who now also outranks him as a Captain.

Rukia wanted to reform Soul Society into a more humane institution that protects all souls. It is the same as it ever was, and if anything has doubled down on its practices by rebuilding the Soukyoku (on which it tried to kill her) a hundred times larger, and she is one of its main wardens.

Uryuu wanted anything but to be a doctor, ever since he watched his mom being autopsied by his dad. He is now a doctor, and all alone at that.

Chad promised his grandfather to never hurt people with his fists. He is now a boxer, doing exactly that for money.

Orihime wanted to go out and have several different exciting careers. She is instead a stay-at-home mom.

Ichigo wanted to save a "mountain full" of people, be Superman, leave Karakura, and be a Shinigami. He instead appears to run Isshin's clinic now.

So, yes, you are correct: Kubo chose that Ichigo wind up with Orihime. It is exceedingly clear, from the context, that this is absolutely not a good thing.

That point is further reemphasized by Yhwach’s threat to come kill Ichigo and everyone else when they are at their happiest. And when does he reappear?

When Ichigo saw Rukia again.

Not when Ichigo asked Orihime out. Not when they started dating, officially or unofficially. Not when they were married. Not when she gave birth to his son. Not when his son said his first words.

Not when anything happened with Orihime or Kazui, but when he saw Rukia again.

That is your “Kubo-sensei” telling you directly that the happiest moment in Ichigo’s life was just simply seeing Rukia again, and not anything involving Orihime in any capacity whatsoever.

All of that should tell you that Ichigo and Orihime’s relationship is not exactly the stuff legends are made out of, because them winding up together is explicitly portrayed as a downer ending. A bad ending. 

If you cared at all about the characters—if you cared at all about their desires, or their happiness—or if you cared at all that IchiHime was presented as even merely good, let alone destined or fated or whatever else, then you would be offended by this ending too. 

Because the ending is “Kubo-sensei” straight-up unequivocally telling you that IchiHime is bad and tragic. It is something that one must demonstrate “courage” in the face of. It requires stoicism. It is a bad ending, but that’s life. That’s what the ending means.

He did you dirty too. You just don’t want to see it, because you are so obsessed with the concept of “winning.” Well, this was mutually-assured destruction: everyone lost. Especially you.

Moving on: no, Kubo doesn’t really get attention or money from us. I’m not really sure where this idea comes from.

I’m not an expert on Japanese intellectual property rights and licensing, but I know enough about them in general to know that very little if any money goes to Kubo personally from ongoing Bleach merchandise sales. For example, KLab more than likely has a contract with Shueisha (representing Kubo, hence why they’re put together on BBS’s title card), TV Tokyo, Dentsu, and Pierrot, wherein they pay those entities a fixed amount to license Bleach per year or per contractual term. It’s not like Kubo is making money off of every orb purchase or every figurine sold or something. These things don’t work like that.

As for attention, he’s still hiding from social media (for reasons of his own, unrelated to the fandom), and the people who give him attention are... you. People like you. “True Bleach fans” who can’t stop treating all his shit like it’s solid gold. We have made it fairly clear we don’t need him or care what he thinks.

Regarding BBS, maybe you haven’t noticed, but the majority of the imagery they use is IchiRuki-focused. The last title screen was IchiRuki. The Guild button is IchiRuki. The Events button is IchiRuki. The Chronicle Quest button is IchiRuki. Here, I’ve helpfully highlighted this for you:

While they do occasionally toss IH a bone, the last January event also ended on an IR note despite the ridiculous crowing about it being IH. While I’m at it, even the current supposedly “IH” title screen is anything but.

It doesn’t take Michelangelo or Da Vinci to figure out the composition here is not terribly suggestive. While Rukia is indeed off to one side, the fact Uryuu, Zangetsu, and the title card are between Ichigo and Orihime (and they’re looking in different directions) makes it pretty evident that they’re not being visually associated together. It is at best a “general” title screen. Uryuu is showing more visual interest in Ichigo than Orihime is.

I’ll come back to “the anime” in a minute. Let’s talk about their “tag-team move.” Do you mean the one that ended like this?

This one that didn’t work whatsoever?

This one where Ichigo wasn’t concerned at all that Orihime might be dead or dying as she lay there on the ground?

This one where he absolutely gave into despair?

How romantic. Truly, what an excellent battle-couple they make. Their combat effectiveness and synergy is just astounding. I for one would love to see it animated.

(Let’s not forget that later, Orihime can’t repair Zangetsu without some nonsense shenanigans from Tsukishima either. Just like how her healing abilities are useless against any sufficiently strong residual reiatsu. Ah, but that would require reading the manga closely...)

Finally, on to the idea of the anime returning. Here’s the thing: news about a trailer also doesn’t really mean anything. Sure, it could be TYBW. Or it could be The Honey Dish Rhapsody. Or it could be a thousand other things. I neither know, nor particularly care, what it actually is, on top of my explanations as to why animating TYBW would be a dumb business decision.

Here’s why: even if it is a TYBW anime, it will have to be an adaptation of TYBW. They will still have to follow the plot of TYBW. And TYBW was a pile of shit. It wasn’t just a pile of shit for IR, it was a pile of shit in general, and a pile of shit for IH in particular.

Perhaps you don’t recall that Orihime spends most of the arc off-panel, having been ditched in Hueco Mundo for most of it (chapters 500–586)?

Oh, but just think, you wouldn’t just get to see the Ichigo-Orihime “tag team” attack totally and utterly failing! You’d also get delights like:

Orihime and Chad utterly failing to believe in Ichigo! (Just like in the Xcution arc where it was demonstrated that Byakuya was a truer friend to Ichigo than either of them!)

Orihime being reduced to a pair of tits, each bigger than her own head!

Ichigo totally ignoring Orihime!

And who can forget the delight of Orihime selling out her dignity to dress slutty at Kisuke’s suggestion to try and get Ichigo’s attention, only for it to not work at all?

Yes, truly, TYBW would be a fantastic arc for IH that would surely win over the populace and convince everyone of the chemistry between these two characters!

Except it wouldn’t. Because they have no chemistry. And they didn’t. See, what’s really funny is that not only did TYBW not give you anything, but it was just following up on the Xcution arc not giving you anything.

Because ORIHIME VISION was played for laughs, just like say, Shuhei constantly is.

Because despite Chad and Orihime being about as important to Ichigo, he couldn’t even bother to say bye. 

Because he just didn’t have time to deal with her bullshit.

I could go on, but this post is already long enough.

You see, you’re real keen to dismiss "all the scene or poem shit or parallel or the hell else thing," but the truth is, that’s all there is to a manga. It is panels of art and text on a page. The rest is just in your head. And it is from those panels of art and text that animated scenes and spoken dialogue would be created. And the funny thing is... there are no IH moments in these arcs. They simply don’t exist.

So really, what you’re hoping and praying for is not just for TYBW to be adapted. Given your evident thirst, I doubt that the perhaps 5–10 minute epilogue of 685/686 at the end of 4–5 seasons would be enough for you. You’d need the animation team to decide to sprinkle in a whole lot of IH filler along the way too.

That didn’t work out so hot for the Xcution arc. How did that one end again? Oh, that’s right: they made up their own (better) ending for it. Are you really willing to bet your money on a TYBW anime going out of its way for IH, if you even get it? Or would you really be satisfied with those 5–10 minutes? Are you really so sure you’d even still get them?

Ultimately, I don’t care. You’re blocked. But, I will say this: in a way I almost kind of pity you. It seems really sad being a militant anonymous IH, desperately and eternally craving outside validation. You have so very little to cling to. It must be hard.

Good luck with that, Heather.

[lookwhatilost]

breadtube types love to think that every proud boy kind of dude was, at some point, 1 good conversation away from leaning left at some angle, fully ignoring the elephant in the room – their dad's failing small business they feel entitled to inherit bc they're NOT working class.

to me, the big question is why are the breadtubers so afraid of drawing a line in the sand? why are they afraid of the possibility (inevitability) of irreconcilable material interests? have they never worked fast food or retail? this shit is so obvious. nazis are pretty much all rich. and if they're not "cash rich" they're property rich, which actually is not a lesser kind of rich. they stand to inherit something, a business or some rentals etc. if they're not part of haute bourgeoisie they're part of petit bourgeoisie which, it turns out, is still the bourgeoisie.

idk why i expose myself to this garbage. i hate anything even marginally sympathetic to these pieces of shit. if a white person whose only difference from them is sexual orientation & gender can turn out like me, it's pretty clear what the problem is so fuck any angle on how they're actually innocent uwu. ultimately i find it so offensive & fash-sympathetic (thus fascist) to say only thing separating me from them is ideology. yeah okay w/e we're all cis people etc, but they dnt work for a living, and if you ignore that shit you legitimize their framing of themselves as normal. if you rly want to pull people in that minuscule population of fence-riders leftwards in a meaningful sense you'd make them confront the fact that their class is condemned to die by history & their only hope is to betray it. if they can't agree to that, what use are they to us?

the lack of instrumental thinking is epidemic in rhetoric-obsessed communities. what utility comes from delivering another slur-vomiting cracker parroting chan memes to The Left? we have to constantly police the mf? we hold his hand until he predictably becomes an "ex-sjw"? sometimes (usually) the people who are engaged and on the border enough that they "might" have "potentially" become reluctant communists are best used as fertilizer for the gardens that provide employment to the people we serve who never ever considered being goddamn nazis.

if you insist on climbing all the way down into hell to rescue a few of the demons, you simply cannot come back to earth pretending you brought us angels, much less that you have not experienced, yourself, why they wanted to be in hell. it's silly vestigial christian cultural bullshit to see any kind of value in rescuing a fascist from themself. in practical reality, you are simply forcing naturally decent people to put up with indefinite burden of a whiny shit whose life helps working ppl less than their death. happy to agree that "privilege" analysis provides a decent framework for priority. all else being equal a more marginalized person makes for a "more revolutionary" leader, etc. this is not reconcilable with the opinion that we should recruit reluctant defectors from enemy classes as active members, much less leaders, of our orgs. idk where the pathological desire to win the enemy over comes from but it is absolutely suicidal. regardless of the organization in question, any people who joined it reluctantly should be paying their dues, not defining the agenda

you could prob convince Logic/Reason Leftists of practical immutability of material interest if you had data on nazis being wealthy but of course they trust nazis' self-reporting & nazis always do stonetoss shit linking their own lawyer-son asses to off-color construction workers. and i’m using using "nazi" ~liberally~ in this offhand opinion, bc to me, any settler-colonial fascist is a nazi, and anything that would make them "more like", idk, an italian neo-fascist, is mostly a reminder of how bad the italians failed at their settler-colonial aims, so who gives a fuck.

thanks for reading or at least tolerating the existence of this rambling stream of consciousness. i would have written a real essay with sources and arguments for everyone's edification, but i have neither the capacity for focus to write one nor the desire to publish it.

(for reference, here is a commonly-recommended video that exemplifies the empathetic zoological economically-agnostic oh-shucks-he's-just-a-sad-normal-white-boy-he-is narrative of how a young man in north america becomes a literal brownshirt nazi)

note specifically where the narrator talks abt how "far right thought leaders" may not "see themselves as" or "intend to become" such "far right thought leaders" but are ~merely~ shills for consumer products "incidentally" popular among "alt-righters". also key to this video's reconstruction of online fascist indoctrination is "politics as a set of affects, not a set of beliefs", as thought "affects" of online nazis like stefan molyneux, blaire white, etc are universally disarming, that they wouldn't seem "off" to "normal" ppl. this necessarily defines "normal" people as people in a position to ~discover blatantly white nationalist arguments w unblemished curiosity, people w no awareness of the existence of white nationalism per se - i.e. it accepts as ~normal those "white people w only white friends". the creator also describes a feedback loop wherein grifters become "radicalized" by audiences, chasing engagement etc. this is bullshit, obviously. they're not children. they're grown-ass fascists full of superficial hatred w economic bases, who should be in re-education camps at best.

at several points in nominally(?) anti-fascist narrative of "gabe" narrator describes communities where "minorities" are welcomed insofar as they avoid "identity politics". i get maybe some people can't relate to psychology of fascists but such description can only normalize it. this description necessarily frames addressing of issues of e.g. representation that affect such minorities within such interest communities as something that genuinely, in some sense, diverges from the status quo. as though at some point their marginalization was uncontroversial.

like clockwork, this angle on "alt-right" takes as axiom that communities from which "alt-right" recruits were 1st non-ideological, that fascists represent incursion of ideology &, by implication, so do ppl they oppose. political battle encroaches on something magically apolitical.

later, the creator says 

nazis act "apolitical", dropping hints to divide "our community" from "the left" 

"the left" says "you have a nazi problem, y'all" 

nazis say "jfc have you seen this? they're calling us all nazis for liking thing" 

 how stupid do you think ppl are, dude

from this perspective, communities of consumer interest have some kind of linear basis, origin, development, etc. problem here is that they absolutely dnt. they're continuous & amorphous. also this is obv abt gamers/gg & plenty of us who "played games" had no hate for zoë quinn

[dearyallfrommatt]

Just something to think about.

We’re at a Boiling Frog Moment. Y’all understand that, right? You remember the old saw that if you put a frog in boiling water, he’ll hope right out. However, if you put him in cold water and gradually increase the heat, he’ll sit there and get boiled as sure as the day’s long.

 Now, there’s been some question if this is so and, frankly, people need to leave the poor frogs alone. Nevertheless, there is power and wisdom in the metaphor. We’re at a Boiling Frog Moment, or “BFM” if you will, because what we let Trump get away with and what he’s gotten away with already we’ll be considered just standard practice for presidents from now on, regardless of party or, indeed, political ideology. This - everything he’s done, everything he’s going to do and what he’s allowed to get away with - will become the new normal.

 Jimmy Carter closed the Pearly Gates on himself due to continued if unnecessary meddling in the Middle East. Reagan and Bush Senior got mostly a slap on the wrist for Iran-Contra, and Bill Clinton carried on the bombing that had been hitting Iraq since the early ‘90s. From there, it was just a hop, skip and an illegal war for Bush Junior to erode rights, continue never-ending war and basically remind everyone that we, as a nation, are like an 800-pound gorilla with diarrhea that shits all over the place and savages you if you try to give it health care. That’s not mine, but I don’t remember where I got it. Anyway.

 When my fellow left-wing lunatics want to get snooty about the awful shit that went on under Obama’s foreign policy - the drones, the beginnings of horrors at the border, etc. - or even letting the banks skate, they all forget how badly we fumbled the ball in 2004. And sure, Kerry was... well, Kerry and no great shakes at that, but the idea that there isn’t a thin dime’s worth of difference between the Democrats and a party that campaigned on making gay marriage unconstitutional during an illegal war obviously don’t have to worry about their right to choose.

 Don’t get it twisted. I’m not trying to judge, I’m just laying out reality. I voted for Nader in 2000, thinking that even though I wasn’t sold on the guy - since I never am - we at least needed another party in national elections that deserved attention, even if I wasn’t sold on the Greens. And, no, I’m never sold on parties. Anyhow, I lived in Georgia so it didn’t matter and Bush Junior won through some obvious shenanigans that we knew were a mess, just like we knew the voting machines for 2004 were hinky. And now we wonder why the Iowa Caucus went tits up or why an outright thief is the governor of that very state.

 That’s where we find ourselves now. We’ve got a president who was caught balls deep in the cookie jar, and not only did the GOP-run Senate let him skate, they told the world they were fixing the trial to benefit him. He’s gone on a purging rampage when those senators assured us he wouldn’t, but they’re all either lying party hacks or goddamn idiots. He’s making the horrors at the border worse and our bullying in the Middle East more insane and senseless. Plus, he’s letting absolute kooks set policy that foul the water and spoil the land so some already rich bastards can get richer.

 “But Matt,” I hear you say, “you claim to be sympathetic to anarchism. Isn’t this the destruction of state that’s desired? I mean it might be messy, but the long-term goal might happen, right?” No, dumbass, and if that’s your view of anarchism, we ain’t got nothing to discuss. Reducing or eliminating the power and control of unearned hierarchical authority is one thing. Letting a goddamn moron play king while poor people starve, frightened people hide and sick people die is quite another. It is absolutely not worth the “sacrifice” and I will brook no argument.

 See, what people don’t get, I think, about anarchism is that isn’t an abandonment of politics so much as a different way to approach those political problems. You read your Goodman and Kropotkin, and they’ll tell you that voting is indeed an part of making the world a better place. Furthermore, it’s the one thing we still can do to nudge things, even if nudging is all we can do. We’ve already seen that any sort disruption of the Status Quo will be met with violence. And if voting really didn’t do no good, conservatives wouldn’t be trying so hard to keep you from doing it.

 One has to understand that despite who gets nominated and manages to toss Trump out on his ass, things won’t be fixed overnight. And one has to realize that even our furthermost Left choice would be, in a reasonable world, a solid centrist, maybe even a bit conservative. Billionaires and their lickspittles wail and cry, but if Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren were an actual danger to the Powers That Be, they’d be dead in a ditch somewhere.

 Regardless of all that, what Trump has done since his election has become the New Normal. That’s a fact and as constant as the North Star. That’s how American politics works, and if you can survive ignoring that little bit of wisdom, well good for you. A lot of folks can’t. However, if anyone - anyone - thinks he’ll be restrained after Congress basically told him, next time, try a bit more subtlety, is far too naive for me to do anything with. The next four years will turn your shit white if you think this is bad. And we will let it happen because we couldn’t see past our own noses and let go of our own bullshit.

 Let’s eject this clown before he’s allowed to do more damage. We’ll deal with what we have to deal with after the Oval Office has been fumigated. This is a Boiling Frog Moment. Y’all understand that, right?

 Right?

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Shock: “Ashamed to be Korean” gives a report on the Moon scam

September 30, 2012

This has been incredibly hard to do, but I have decided to sacrifice my national pride, personal interest and loyalties to start telling the truth about the complicated religious scams of the Moons and the so-called “Unification Movement”. [Now re-branded as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification.]

Why? Because I guess I discovered that I still had some conscience left alive somewhere inside of me, so I decide to come out and tell the truth and before it shrivels up totally. Another reason for me to come out is the tragic and shameful truth that the Moon scam is paid for in blood, poverty, misery, sickness and death by a slave class of Japanese who have been, and continue to be, what must be the most hapless class of religious scam victims in history. This is worsened by the fact that the victims have been deliberately and cynically scammed by a group from another country.

I have no love or respect for the Japanese, and like most Koreans, I have rarely missed an opportunity to gloat at any Japanese misfortune with other Koreans but I guess I have to draw the line somewhere.

It is my intention to tell the truth about the Moons and the Korean feudal ‘aristocracy’ from the position of an insider in the hope that those members who still have enough of a vestigial conscience left functioning in themselves can know the unvarnished truth and fully understand the crimes that have been, and are still being, committed and either help stop the crimes from being committed, or at least walk away and not contribute even silently to these crimes.

I intend to submit a series of posts that share the secrets and insider knowledge that is not supposed to be shared outside of the inner circle, and provide enough information for decent people to make their own minds up.

It has been said that one of the problems with the Moon Church is that every country projects their own image of what they want the “Messiah” to be; The Japanese see an emperor to grovel to and worship, westerners saw Moon as the the second coming of Jesus, while for the Koreans a conquering King that will elevate Koreans above all other nations (you might as well know we think we are superior to the rest of the world physically, spiritually, intellectually, and culturally). Therein the problem starts, Moon’s genius was to able to manipulate facts and myths and lies to divide and conquer and get exactly what he wanted for him and his family and for Korea which has created the core culture and operating practice of the movement: Deception.

Some people may think that the Divine Principle is the religious doctrine of the ‘church’, but it is nothing more than a recruiting tool. The real ‘religion’ is like an onion, with separate layers of rules, requirements and benefits. The easiest way to understand the game is to realize that Moon wanted to set him and his family as a royal family governing as a theocracy from day one. His goal was to control all power, money, laws and rules, at least as much as he could get hold of.

The theocracy works by strict hierarchy with the Moons as the top royals, the Korean blood relatives as the minor royals, the rest of the Koreans as the aristocracy and top officials. The rest of the nations are all in the position of servants. The only absolute in the Moon church is the position of the Moons and the loyalty demanded from the members

Have you wondered why all top posts involving power and money are controlled by Koreans?

Do not be fooled by the fact that we trust the Japanese more than our own and use then nominally to hold assets and the like – that is only because they are totally obedient.

What Moon and his family fear the most is meritocracy, God forbid if there was a level playing field, the whole game would be blown sky high. It is fantastic for us though, to have rules applied not only in a selective way but completely differently to always ensure the Moons and ourselves are on top.

My greatest personal amazement is how supposedly educated people in advanced countries have bought the enslaving myths of Moon that have in fact been precisely tailored for them without them realizing the utter insanity and nonsense of coexistence of completely contradicting realities and myths and rules, without even acknowledging the irony of it all! Maybe we are much cleverer than you.

The Japanese have bought the fantasy of Eve Nation, when in reality there never was and still is absolutely no intention to use them for any purpose other than for donations and slave labor. If and when they are no longer needed they will be dropped like a dirty habit in favor of another country (if one was available), this threat has been constantly drummed in to their heads to keep them desperate and obedient.

What they do not realize is that in private Sun Myung Moon, when he was alive, HJH and all the Moon children and we 2nd gens in the inner circle not only have no respect for Japan and instead gloat at the way in which Korea has been taking over Japanese business, laugh at the Japanese members and refer to them in really raw, rude ways. We see it as a rightful revenge for what we think they did to us. On the other hand, we never fail to remind them of the indemnity they need to pay to us.

I have heard Japanese old members emotionally talk about how they will accept anything because they had felt loved by “Aboji” at some time. When they say this, they remind me of rabbits caught in the headlights, totally bamboozled by the Korean charismatic gift for delivering shameless emotional appeals at 1000 horsepower. The reason they were taken in is because they had only ever experienced emotion in Japan at 100 horsepower before meeting Moon, so they are convinced that 1000 horsepower emoting must be the real thing.

Given the Japanese unfortunate penchant for masochism, perhaps it is not surprising that they have been fooled, but I am truly amazed that more Westerners have not been able to see through this scam.

My jaw drops as members still refer to the Moons as “True”, as an unending string of evidence of their unbridled wickedness and hypocrisy appears on this and other sites, it makes me giggle involuntarily, as I watch Westerners falling over themselves to justify or deny their crimes contorting themselves to deny the truth.

My only explanation for it is commitment bias, nobody wants to admit they have been fooled. Please read the facts honestly and use your conscience to decide what to do. Remember the laws of physics and math, the laws of countries and most importantly of all the laws of morals and values either apply equally and universally or not at all.

Members have been trained like Pavlov’s dogs to do our (more accurately the Moons’) dirty work for us. Foreign members justify our crimes with that precise get-out-of-jail-free card that the whole Moon scam relies on.

Ontological difference. The rules apply differently to the “True Family”. The nightmare myth of the “True” Father and even worse the “True” Family implies that every lie they tell, and whatever crime or wrongdoing they commit in fact is not wrong.

Why?

Firstly, any negative fact about them is a lie, if it is proved beyond doubt that it is inconveniently true, then? “Anyway you cannot judge!” “You have no right to judge!” You did not know there is a providential reason for it? Even better it is “YOUR FAULT!”, your lack of faith caused the True children to do the act.

I have do admit with a sideways grin that only Koreans would have the guts to come up with this kind of bullshit.

Do you know why even Western members have bought this kind of nightmare parallel universe type logic? Because we have trained you to believe that the Moons and the Koreans are ontologically different to you, and therefore different rules and interpretations apply to us.

Once you buy and propagate this scam you have lost your soul and are enslaved to the extent you aid and abet any action that helps the Moons and their businesses.

Japanese translation: 韓国人であることが恥ずかしい

Barbara Underwood, left, 25, and Leslie Brown, right, 24, shown March 31, 1977 in San Francisco, former members of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon's 'faithful five' said all they needed to break away from Moon's Unification Church was a few days free of 'mind control.' (Photo: AP)

Laser on the Moon family scam by Ashamed Korean

The Divine Principle Deception

Indemnity is a Moon Trap

The Frightening Power of Obedience to Authority

The Moons’ Jets and Helicopters

“The entire movement was built on a lie” Annie Choi

Japan gave Korea $800 million in 1965 as reparations for the occupation

Faced with the acutely disturbing reality of the Unification Movement…

[roseonhissleeve]

The Divide Series: Shape Of You

A/N: A few of you have been asking for some body positivity - here it is, my friends. Dedicated to all of our lovely bodies. xx

You had spent all day getting pampered.

Harry spared no effort—it was your first award show that you were ever going to, the first one after Harry and you started dating. It had been about four months and the media had just clued into the fact that the two of you were an item—meanwhile, Dunkirk had been nominated for an Oscar, which meant that Harry had a red carpet event to be at.

At first, you were hesitant to even show your face. You were an absolute stranger to all the fame that came along with being Harry Styles’s girlfriend, and you weren’t sure if you wanted to draw that much attention to yourself— but you knew how important this night was for him, and you needed to be there for support.

You spent hours that day getting your nails done, hair styled, and make-up applied. Harry had brought in all the best people to his home— Lou basically turned the entire living room of his house into a studio, alternating between you and Harry every couple of hours. The majority of her focus was on you, though, and you got the idea that she was excited to finally be able to have a lady to play around with and doll up.

You had picked out your dress about a month before— it was custom made for you, so you had to pick it out ahead of time so that it could be made and hemmed and fitted to your body type. Whereas Harry had settled on wearing a simple all-black suit, you picked out a brightly-colored dress that went well with your skin tone. It was what you were most excited for about the entire endeavour— the little girl inside of you felt like an absolute princess.

About two hours before you were due to be on the red carpet, you were finally all dolled up and ready to slip into your dress. Lou sent you upstairs to your bedroom to get dressed while she put the finishing touches on Harry’s short curls.

You practically skipped up the stairs, grinning ear to ear. You usually weren’t a fan of Harry pampering you this much, but it was a special event, and today had been a lot of fun— you usually were not the center of attention, and it was a nice experience to have. You hummed lightly as you walked into your closet and grabbed the custom-tailored dress from Harry’s closet that Lou had picked up on her way over that morning.

You set it down across Harry’s king-sized bed and undid the zipper of the cover that it came in— your heart skipped a beat with giddiness. You ran your fingers across the soft fabric and grinned, impatient to try it on.

You unbuttoned the shirt that you had been wearing that day and slipped off your shorts, along with your bra— the dress was tight enough on you that you didn’t need to wear a bra with it, which was a major bonus. You were almost dancing as you carefully slipped the dress off of the hanger and held it up in front of you, doing a little spin on the tips of your toes.

You unzipped the back of the dress and stepped into it— you pulled it up carefully and slowly. It was a little tight around your rear but you tugged it a bit harder and it slid over your bum, hugging your curves closely. You slipped your arms into the straps and reached behind you to grab onto the zipper at the bottom of your back, pulling upwards.

You stopped breathing, a nervous pang shooting through your chest.

The zipper wouldn’t go up.

You tugged again, this time harder, and the zipper travelled about three inches up your back before refusing to budge any further.

This can’t be, you thought to yourself as you gave another tug. This is a custom fitted dress…

You tried again. Once. Twice. On the sixth time trying to pull up your zipper, you felt the tears forming in your eyes, a lump forming in your throat.

“Y/N, do you need any help in there?”

Lou’s voice rang from the other side of the door and you felt a ray of hope shine through— maybe you just couldn’t do it alone. Maybe if someone else tried to zip it up, it would fit.

“Yeah, Lou, can you come in and help me get this dress on?” You croaked, willing your voice to stay steady even though you had been on the brink of tears.

With soft steps Lou opened the door and smiled, closing it behind her. You turned around so that your back was facing her, along with your open zipper.

“Harry looks dapper as all heck,” she said softly, her lips forming a smile as she stepped up behind you. “The man’s a shit, but I clean him up nicely when he lets me. Can’t wait for you to see him— though you’re definitely the looker in the relationship.”

You smiled softly at her words and murmured a quiet ‘thank you’, but you were too nervous to say anything else. 

Lou’s hands found the bottom of your dress— she grabbed onto the zipper and pulled upwards, and the zipper travelled about five inches up before stopping.

“Oops,” she said lightheartedly, not feeling too deterred just yet. “Looks like we’re a little tight. Suck in your tummy, love.”

You took a deep breath in and attempted to make yourself smaller— you did everything in your power to will yourself to be smaller, to take up less space, to be one of those girls that could wear quite literally anything they wanted and not have to worry about what the world would say of them.

You closed your eyes as Lou continued to attempt to close your dress, but there was no success— your tears began to legitimately fill your eyes this time as you felt Lou tense behind you.

“I...I don’t think it fits,” she whispered almost inaudibly, her hands shaking at that point.

Your eyes opened and released a tear that rolled down your cheek, and you lifted your hands up to your face to cover it. You didn’t care that you were ruining your makeup, and honestly, Lou didn’t either.

She understood.

“Hey...Hey, you’re okay, it’s okay,” she continued, setting her hands on your shoulders and rubbing softly. You whimpered softly at her words, shaking your head as you suddenly became overwhelmed with the reality that you must have gained weight during this past month. That was the only explanation— you had quite literally had the dress fitted a month ago. You didn’t know what you felt worse about: the fact that Harry had paid thousands for this dress, or the fact that you were that much further away from looking like the models on the magazines.

You wanted it off.

You struggled to slip out of the dress, wiggling and squirming as you began breathing unevenly. Lou instantly understood and grabbed onto the zipper, tugging it down and pulling your straps off of your shoulders. As soon as you felt it loosen you shoved it down your body and stepped out of it— you were left standing in nothing but your underwear, bra excluded, but you didn’t care.

You turned around and wrapped your arms around Lou, sniffling as you hid your face in her shoulder, effectively smearing your makeup all over her light blue shirt.

“Oh, doll, it’s okay, it’ll be okay, we’ll fix this,” she reassured you, wrapping her arms around you closely. She rubbed your bare back with gentle hands and let you sniffle against her, letting you feel whatever you were feeling, because she understood.

She was a woman. She understood. She understood how difficult it was to live in a world that capitalizes on our insecurities— how hard it is to be in love with yourself one hundred percent of the time, even if you were confident in your own skin usually. Because let’s be real, self-love has it’s ups and downs, and anyone who says otherwise is just bullshitting you.

So she let you feel it— she held you as you sniffled softly, wishing that you could be so much smaller and so much lovelier.

“Hey,” she eventually spoke, her voice soft and understanding. “Hey, listen to me.”

She settled her hands on your shoulders and gently tugged you away so that she could look at your features, completely okay with the makeup smudges that now decorated your cheeks— she had other priorities at the moment, and that was to remind you of how beautiful you were.

Because as women, our job is to pick each other up.

“You, my dear, are no less valuable now than you were a month ago,” she whispered, her eyes genuine and sincere. “That dress is a piece of fabric. That’s all it is— it’s fabric that’s been cut and sewed together to sit on your body. And let me tell you a secret that not enough people are aware of...clothes are meant to fit us. Not the other way around.”

You nodded your head softly— you listened to the words that she was saying, and you knew that she was right.

There was a gentle knock at the door before Harry stepped into your bedroom— you were momentarily distracted by how handsome he looked in his black suit, but when you saw the confusion on his face you realized how weird this must have looked. Lou holding you while you were half-naked, mascara and make-up smudged on your tear-streaked features as you stood in the room in your underwear, dress scattered on the ground.

“What’s wrong?” He asked, concern flashing across his features.

“We’re having a bit of a dress issue,” she explained, her eyes still looking at your features. She offered you a small smile, leaning in to press a kiss to your cheek as she patted your shoulders. “I’m going to leave the two of you alone...come downstairs when you’re ready, okay?”

You nodded softly and she left the room with quiet feet, gently patting Harry’s bum on the way out. His eyes filled with worry as he walked towards you, reaching to hold your hands in his.

“What’s wrong, love? Didn’t like the dress?” He asked, his thumbs grazing against the skin of your hands.

Your eyes welled up with tears again at the kindness in his voice.

“It doesn’t fit,” you whispered, your throat hurting. “It doesn’t fit...I’m sorry, I know you paid a lot of money for the dress and I should’ve eaten better this month and gone to the gym so I could fit into it, I just didn’t think...I don’t know...I didn’t know...I tried…”

You had fallen into hysterics as you hiccuped soft sobs in your attempts to start a sentence.

“Oh, baby…” he tutted, wrapping his arms around your bare torso and pulling you close to his chest. “Baby, baby, baby.”

You closed your eyes and rested your head on his shoulder, sideways so that you wouldn’t get any makeup on his suit. His chin rested atop of your head as he held you tightly, his words soft and sweet.

“You know I don’t care about the money, baby...and gosh, love, you...you don’t have to not eat for me. You don’t have to go to the gym and watch what you eat so that you can fit into a measly dress...hey...I’m in love with the shape of you,” he murmured, pressing his lips to your hair.

You sniffled.

“C’mere,” he grabbed your hands and pulled away from you so that you could walk towards the mirror. You almost cringed when you realized that’s where you were going, but he didn’t let you stop— not until you were firmly planted in front of the mirror, with him standing behind you.

“I’m in love your body,” he exhaled softly, his hands resting on the soft pudge of your hips. “I love the way your arms wrap around me when it’s my turn to be little spoon...I love the silly snapchats you send me of your double chin when I’m in the studio wondering what you’re up to.”

You couldn’t hold back the soft giggle at that comment— it was true, you’d made a habit of sending him the most embarrassing pictures lately.

“I love the way you wiggle your bum when you’re dancing around the kitchen,” he grinned, delivering a soft pinch to your rear and making you squeak softly. “I love the way your thighs shake around me when we’re making love.”

His words sent shivers down your spine, and you exhaled slowly.

“But most importantly, baby, I love how much you love your body,” he continued, nose nuzzling against your cheek. “I love when you walk out of our bedroom wearing short shorts and a bra because you can’t be bothered to cover up. I love how you can’t be bothered to shave your legs half the time because you know that your worth isn’t tied to how many conventions of beauty you stick to.”

You snort softly, remembering the night before when he kept running his hands up and down your prickly legs and giggling.

“I love how you own about twenty pairs of sundresses and wear them all throughout the summer and fall, until it’s way too cold. I love that you only ever buy two-piece bathing suits and always make your little tummy chub speak when you’re bored on the couch,” he giggled at the end of this sentence, and despite yourself, you laughed.

“Your body grew a little bit. You were hungry this last month and you ate and your body took in the nutrients that it needed to feed you. Maybe you were a little busier than usual or more stressed, there are so many things that could’ve made you go up a size,” he said, pressing a soft peck to your shoulder. “But love, as much as I love you more than I ever possibly could love another...your body loves you even more. You’ve got to remember to be nice to it...it’s quite literally given everything it has to help you survive. Don’t you think it deserves a break?”

Tears welled up in your eyes again at this realization, and you nodded your head, his words finally getting through to you.

“Thank you,” you whispered, flashing a small smile as he pressed a kiss against your cheek, his hands hugging you to him.

“We don’t have to go tonight if you don’t want to,” he said, hugging you tight. “We can have a night in, instead.”

You immediately shook your head, your smile widening. Even though you appreciated that Harry would give something up like that for you, you could never let him do it.

“Let’s go,” you said, suddenly determined.

*

You didn’t think that you’d ever get used to all the flashes.

You walked down the red carpet hand in hand with Harry, your dress hugging your body comfortably. It was one of your favorites— you had worn it to several special occasions last summer and you always felt incredibly confident in it. Luckily it was a bit looser-fit, so it still fit even with your tad weight gain this past month.

You drowned out the multiple voices that were calling out to you and Harry as the two of you walked past the cameras flashing, joining the rest of the cast of the movie. Harry proudly introduced you to all of his co-stars, and they all were as friendly as he had told you. 

Fionn gave you a kiss on the cheek and told you how stunning you were— Tom Hardy gave you a kiss on the hand and made sure Harry knew how much of a lucky man he was. Harry beamed, admitting that he didn’t know how he managed to get you.

A little while later Harry was pulled away from you to take pictures with the rest of the cast, leaving you to roam about on your own. It was only a matter of minutes until a reporter found you on your own, walking up to your with a microphone.

“Y/N, do you mind if we ask a few questions?” She didn’t wait for you to speak before continuing. “Is it true that you and Harry Styles are together?”

“Yes, it is,” you smiled, happy that the two of you had finally gone public.

“Is it serious?” She followed-up, eyes wide and thirsty for information.

“We’re enjoying each other’s company and we’re making each other very happy,” you answered honestly. “As for the details, I’d rather keep that between us.”

“Of course,” she smiled, nodding her head. She seemed to be pleased with the fact that she’d confirmed your relationship. “And I must say that you look stunning tonight— who are you wearing?”

Your heart skipped a beat. This was it— you had two choices in front of you. Bullshit the crap out of your answer and fit in the best that you could, or admit the truth.

But you thought about Lou standing in your bedroom, holding your half-naked body and telling you how beautiful you were. You remembered that our job as women is to build each other up, and you suddenly refused to be a part of a system of smoke and mirrors that made money off of pitting women against each other.

“I got it from the spring collection of H&M last year,” you said proudly, not bothering to wait for the reporter’s reaction. “It’s my favorite dress— I’ve worn it to a few weddings and on several other days just because.”

“That’s quite the bold choice,” she replied, surprise registering on her face. “It’s not often that someone opts out of wearing a designer on the carpet. Any reason as to why?”

“Honestly, I was going to wear a designer dress. Gucci. I had it custom fitted and everything,” you said, your voice unwavering. “But I tried it on today, and it didn’t it. I’d gone up a dress size. And I was mad at first. I was mad at myself, I was sad because for some reason I thought that I was less valuable now that I didn’t fit into it. I was upset, and I cried. I’ll admit it. Ruined the better part of my makeup, too. Full-blown meltdown.”

“My first instinct was to shut down and knock myself down,” you continued. “Because for some reason that’s what we’ve been conditioned to do. The first thing I thought was, oh, I shouldn’t have eaten that burger last week. But the thing is, I did. And I enjoyed it. And me not fitting into that dress didn’t make me any less kind, or less intelligent, or any less of a good person. And isn’t that what really matters?”

“Someone very wise told me that my body is the one thing that loves me more than anything else possibly could,” you continued, beaming as you glanced over at your boyfriend who was signing someone’s poster and taking pictures with fans across the red carpet. “And they were right. My body loves me, supports me, does everything it can to make sure that I’m healthy. And I was ready to tear it apart, all over what— one night looking fancy in front of the flashing lights on the red carpet? No, thank you.”

“So I put on my favorite dress, even though it’s not designer. And now I’m going to go watch my boyfriend win an Oscar. And afterwards, I’m going to go home with the love of my life and eat a burger in my underwear,” you finished, feeling completely exhilarated. You didn’t know if you were imagining it or not, but you thought you saw a tear in the reporter’s eyes.

“Is that enough?” You asked, eager to get back to Harry.

“Yes,” she nodded her head, and much to your surprise, she reached her hand out in your direction. You smiled proudly, giving her hand a firm shake as she spoke again. “Thank you.”

You nodded your head and turned around to find Harry— as soon as you found him you ran to his side, throwing your arms around him from behind. He grinned as he turned around to look at you, unfazed by the sudden PDA.

“I’ve been looking for you,” he chuckled, taking your hands in his. “Everything good?”

“Yes,” you nodded, twirling around in your thirty-dollar dress and knowing that you looked absolutely stunning whilst doing it. 

*

The rest of the award show went off without a hitch. 

Harry and the cast and crew of Dunkirk had won an Oscar, and when the camera panned to their friends and families you were one of the first people that it looked for. Harry planted a kiss right on your lips for the entire world to see before he ran to join his costars onstage, and he and Fionn wouldn’t stop swatting and screwing with each other during Nolan’s speech, causing you to giggle in the audience.

Your interview went viral within hours. The next few days you got countless phone calls, tweets, and messages— there were of course some that were filled with hate and tried to bring you down, but you knew better than to let them get to you. The majority of them were filled with praise and admiration, and it was the most overwhelming sense of pride that you’d felt for yourself in your entire life.

The next time Harry was invited to a red carpet event, they specifically sent you your own personal invite.

You still had your bad days, because self-love isn’t a linear process— there are ups and downs, and it wasn’t realistic to expect you to have it together all the time. 

But you knew that on those bad days you were still worth being loved, and you were no less valuable on those days than on your good ones.

Because as women, our job is to build each other up.

And in order to do that, we must start with ourselves.

if you enjoyed this chapter, please consider leaving me a dollar or two! x https://ko-fi.com/C0C0VKJI

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[ajw720]

Ok Ryan Murphy produce this show but it's a great opportunity for Darren for his career... Maybe a nomination for an award who know. Ryan shows win many awards so...

Part 2 I want to add something to my last ask it's gonna be An other straight bullshit promo (paps pic, Gf mention...)

I think this is a great role for Darren. I am really happy for him and am choosing, for now, to view this in a positive light.

As for the straightness and bearding, only time will tell, but it is utterly and completely unnecessary for the role and the audience of this show. And while I don’t agree that he should not be allowed to play an LGBT+ character while in the closet, I do agree that it is offensive when his straightness is pushed 24/7. 

IF he does this while still hiding, I really hope his team, Murphy and FX walk a fine line and just remain silent. No one can take or wants article after article remaining us that while he has played 3 iconic gay roles, Darren himself is straight.  It makes him look bad.  And it is offensive to the very community practically everyone at this point knows he is a member of.  And that woman needs to go immediately. She absolutely tears his character apart.

For now I will remain cautiously optimist and really hope that they market this properly.

[kimjauhiainen]

“Men at Work”(1990) – the best garbagemen film ever made

(originally published on Talkbacker.com on March 28, 2014)

James: This is the last year we throw trash. Carl: You said that last year. James: Yeah, but this year I mean it. Carl: You meant it last year.

Stewart Copeland’s propulsive, and very recognizable music opens Men at Work. We start from the bottom of the ocean, with the camera gliding through murky waters and revealing barrels of questionable material being dumped by some shady operators. This operation is overseen by dirty City Councilman Jack Berger (Darrell Larson) and the main villain, Maxwell Potterdam III (played as a total cartoon villain by John Getz, probably best remembered as Geena Davis’ boss/ex-boyfriend from David Cronenberg’s The Fly. Very soon, it’s revealed that the Councilman has grown a conscience and is recording evidence against Potterdam. The tape that has the recording soon becomes the McGuffin of the film. Men at Work has some shade of an environmentalist plot, but the plot very quickly takes a step back as we meet our main characters:

James: What an absolutely gorgeous day. Warm Sun, beautiful women… Carl(and James, together): And the air is just right for drinking!

James St. James (Emilio Estevez) and Carl Taylor (Charlie Sheen) are slackers and best friends (There are some sources over the web that claim them to be brothers, but this is not referred to in the film, and the different last names also speak against it. Yes – I know Sheen and Estevez ALSO have different last names, but let’s refer to James and Carl as “friends” for now, shall we?), who are just passing time as a pair of garbage men, while keeping up a hopeless pipe dream of opening a surf shop at the beach. The poster of the film might give an impression that they are the BEST garbage men in the world. They are NOT. They are just passing the time, throwing the trash-bins (and trash, including melons and a bowling ball) everywhere, making one hell of a noise, investigating – and criticizing – peoples trash (underwear, porn, whatever…), and are constantly harassed by a pair of hapless bicycle cops, just itching to arrest the pair.

They are also constantly pulling pranks (most of which include a delicately placed airbag, filled with shit) on an annoying pair of B-TEAM garbage men, who mostly fail to retaliate to these gags.

In their outside-of-work lives, James is a serial womanizer (actually picking women even from the garbage route), Carl’s relationship has just ended and he passes the time by stalking the next-door building in full Rear Window-mode, and target practicing with his pellet gun (shooting councilman Berger’s election ad, for example). The object of Carl’s stalking is Susan Wilkins (Leslie Hope, best known as Jack Bauers ill-fated wife Teri in season 1 of 24), who actually happens to be Berger’s campaign manager. Like an old-fashioned screwball-comedy, EVERYTHING is connected. After Carl and James get reprimanded by their boss about their behavior, they spend the evening drinking and playing Trivial Pursuit. At that time, a bewildered Berger shows up at Susan’s apartment, looking for the McGuffin which has accidentally ended up with her. Carl gets annoyed by Bergers aggressive behavior and shoots him in the ass with his pellet gun when Susan’s in the other room. As Carl and James hide from sight, Potterdam’s thugs enter the apartment, strangle Berger, take the body away, and put it in a barrel, which get’s misplaced.

Well, there’s the opening act in a nutshell. But all is about to change. See – because of their behavior, their boss Walt has given them a ride-along supervisor, his brother-in-law, and then the boss bursts into hysterical laughter. He clearly knows something we don’t. And the next hungover morning we get this exchange:

Carl: James, do us both a favor. Whatever you do,  don’t give this observer guy a hard time today. I figure if we behave ourselves, show him that we’re a couple of good guys, we’ll get him out of our hair a lot quicker. James: OK… Carl: For all we know…he could be some crazed combat veteran.

Boom. Cue marching music, cut to the guys on their route, and sitting next to them is the Ultimate Secret Weapon of this film, Louis Fedders (Keith David), dressed in an army shirt. Louis in fact IS a crazed combat veteran, and during the next stretch of the film, we see just HOW crazy he is. Keith David just downright steals his film from the moment he appears. He seems to be wearing his wardrobe from “Platoon”, and maybe this film in a kind of bizarro sequel to that film, as Charlie Sheen starred in it, too. David’s Louis is a jittery cluster of anger and resentment towards all others. He clearly has a post-traumatic syndrome of some kind. And is most likely a psychotic. As James bitches about his overseeing them, he first laughs, and then lunges at James, accidentally slugging Carl in the process. As they are sitting at a luncheon, he’s drawing a sketch oh a lovely pier with people on it, the we are revealed that he’s drawn an attack helicopter shooting missiles at the pier. He shows some signs of kindness, only to grab James’ arm when James tries to snag a french fry off his plate. Then he proceeds to give this menacing dialogue:

Louis: There are several sacred things in this world that you don’t *ever* mess with. One of them happens to be another man’s fries. Now, you remember that, and you will live a long and healthy life.

Yup. Good old Louis is crazier than a bag of crazy glue.

While collecting trash, the guys find the Councilman’s body, misplaced by the killers, and more craziness ensues:

Carl thinks he killed Berger with his pellet gun, Louis sees the strangle marks and now they believe that Susan killed Berger. The bicycle cops appear, and since no-one wants trouble from them, cue some Weekend at Bernies-type comedy as they are now all trying to cover their own asses. Berger’s body finally ends up sitting in the toilet of the guys’ apartment, wearing a Richard Nixon(!)-mask… Carl decides to go investigating Susan’s apartment for evidence, while James and Louis observe from across the street. A poor pizza-delivery man ends up kidnapped by Louis, because “he’s seen too much”. Meanwhile, Carl ends up pretending to be a Frenologist (a scientist interpreting the size of Walt’s asshole – I mean: skull features) as he ends up in Susan’s place. Pretty soon ALL the different parties with different agendas (Potterdam’s hitmen, The B-TEAM, the bicycle cops) gather in the same location, and all kinds of slapstick and chase-comedy follows, culminating at the City Dump, where Potterdam and his goons are finally dealt with, and a happy ending (TM) follows.

There’s the overall story of the film. The reasons it works are:

– Estevez’ direction. This was his second feature as a director, his first being the film “Wisdom (1986)”. I saw that one on TV in the early 90’s, and remember it being a really solid debut. A story of the rise and fall of a young delinquent (with some shades of the story in “Badlands”, starring father Martin Sheen. Fun fact: he played a garbageman in that…), but kinda screwed by a blatant “Dallas”-quality twist ending. Estevez directs with a steady hand, great timing and creative camerawork (the trash-picking scenes are edited almost like an action film, with fast cuts and cool slow-motion).

– The chemistry between Carl and James. Well, duh – as real-life brothers, the chemistry comes naturally for Estevez and Sheen. Too bad they have not worked together on more projects aside from Young Guns and Rated X, and with Sheen’s recent public meltdowns, it seems very unlikely they will. SOME dialogue might played a bit too smart-assy, but let’s give ‘em that.

– The different comedy pairings. From Carl & James to Potterdam’s hitmen Biff & Mario (who as a pair of bickering, bullshitting hitmen seem like a weird prototype for Jules & Vincent in “Pulp Fiction”), The bicycle cops Mike & Jeff (who are clearly all tough talk behind a badge and end up tied in a sexual position to a playground ferris-wheel in their undies by Louis – one more bizarre act by him) and the B-TEAM Luzinski & Frost, this film is filled these weird, caricatured teams, who just work.

– KEITH EFFING DAVID. He deliver’s the best – and funniest – performance in this film. His crazy character in kinda acting as a catalyst to all the chaotic moments that happen. David plays this character completely straight too, not winking at the audience at any time. I would say, that this is almost worthy of a nomination for “best supporting actor”. David has further shown his comedy chops in later films, most memorably as Mary’s Father in There’s Something about Mary (remember the zipper scene?).

I first discovered Men at Work as a used rental VHS tape. It was actually in good condition, so I guess not many rentals, then. That tape got pretty worn out after that, and it’s good that a DVD now exists. I have friends who don’t understand some of my bizarre favourite movies – The Adventures of Ford Fairlane is another one I get picked on occasionally – but why should I care? Once again, the phrase “it’s not high art, but it’s funny” stands. It’s entertaining, HIGHLY quotable and features some extremely funny performances.

Like Jim Carrey’s Colonel Stars & Stripes said in Kick-ass 2: “Try to have fun. Otherwise, what’s the point?”

[johnnysjabs-blog]

Hillary and Her Cult of Personality

Hillary’s been making the rounds on the talk show circuit promoting her newest book, “What Happened,” and while I’ve been in South Florida isolated from 24-hour cable news (thanks Irma!), I am feeling a bit of FOMO reading the cited sound bites on my social media feeds.  To be clear, I am a politics junkie, not a die-hard Hillary fan.  But for anyone who has a passion for American politics, the fact that Mrs. Clinton published a book about her failed 2016 campaign is exciting news indeed.  Her breadth of experience in the White House, Senate, State Department, and on the campaign trail makes her a public figure very much worth this sort of attention.

I voted for her.  I’ll be up front about it rather than have you try to read through the lines here…  And I’m usually way more interested in discussing policy nuances and debating the merits of someone’s proposed agenda, but I think it’s important that I be up front about this.  Because while I admire her as a shrewd politician and a noble stateswoman, I was not a big fan of Hillary Clinton, the 2016 candidate for the Democratic Party.

She poses the title of her book as a rather candid question to us that I’m sure was painstaking for her to address.  What happened?  While she seems rather sincere in taking responsibility for her campaign’s shortcomings, she needs to address a few elephants in the room – her e-mails, James Comey, and Bernie Sanders.  What I am waiting to see is if she addresses the cult of personality that on one hand, emboldened some of her most fervent supporters, and on the other, left many would-be supporters like myself feeling, “meh…”

What do I mean by her cult of personality?  Well, there’s been absolutely no one like her in American politics.  She is sharp, aggressive, unapologetic about her values, and unabashed in her steam-roller style that has no mercy for her political opponents.  <Queue the militant feminists among us> “Well, would you be saying that if she were a man?” No, I wouldn’t.  And that’s the exact point.  She is a woman.  And the aura that was built around #ImWithHer was a misrepresentation of the implied female empowerment movement latent in her campaign.

Let’s be honest.  Some Democrats supported Clinton because they thought she finally deserved the coronation… Sorry, I meant nomination.  With Bernie’s campaign surprisingly attacking from the Left, ardent Hillary fans weren’t having it though.  Does anyone remember the profanity-laden “All-Caps Explosion of Feelings Regarding the Liberal Backlash Against Hillary Clinton” that circulated on social media in early 2016?  Or how about signs at anti-Trump rallies reading, “If Hillary won, I’d be having brunch right now.”  These are cringeworthy and, at-best, superficial understandings of what a Clinton presidency would have looked like.

I really didn’t care about her e-mails.  I think that right-wing pundits made a big deal out of it because they had nothing better to attack her with.  If they were so concerned with national security, they should have been just as fixated with Donald Trump’s ties to white nationalism and the possibility of Russian influence on our governance.  What I did care about though was the fact that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was accepting money from corporate donors and that the Clinton Foundation was accepting money from foreign governments.  And what a shame for her being that Bernie Sanders swore off the practice and still ran a solid campaign.

Speaking of Bernie, I’m kind of tired of being labeled by Hillary and her supporters as a “Bernie-bro.” On one hand I like the moniker, but on the other, coming from her, there is such a snide undertone that implies some sort of false sexism that motivated his supporters.  Wasn’t Susan Sarandon one of his most prominent endorsers?  I’ll get into why your argument is bullshit later on.  Just keep reading…

Anyways, for all the shit that Trump’s gotten for his ties to Russia, let’s talk about the Clinton sympathies for racist and apartheid politics in Israel that she has espoused for YEARS.  Does no one else see this as a problem?  Benjamin Netanyahu is basically the David Duke of Israel, and yet in an op-ed she authored in 2015 entitled, “How I Would Reaffirm Unbreakable Bond with Israel – and Benjamin Netanyahu,” she claims that violence on all sides must stop.  All sides… sound a bit Trumpian, huh?  So for my so-called feminist friends, when did it become okay to blame the victim?  I guess feminism, gay rights, and child advocacy are worthy causes until they protect Palestinians.  Is it okay for me to use the term “feminazi” just yet?

Let me not mince words – this is a BIG FUCKING DEAL and informs me, as an American voter, about a candidate’s inherit views on race relations, criminal justice, foreign policy, and the boldness of his or her leadership.  Jimmy Carter worked hard for justice in Palestine, albeit as a former president, but even Obama didn’t pretend like he was chummy with Bibi Netanyahu.  Hell, Israel is not a monolithic electorate!  There are swaths of Israelis and American Jews that think Netanyahu is not good for the security of the US or the Middle East.  The fact that Mrs. Clinton thought it was necessary to write that op-ed angered the hell out of me.  And the fact that my Hillary-supporting friends thought that my hesitation to vote for her was unwarranted drives me just as mad.

About 2 weeks before the election, I had a conversation with my Republican mother about who we were planning to vote for.  Trump was out of the question for me, but I was leaning towards Jill Stein.  And for the first time ever in my life, my mom encouraged me to vote for a specific candidate.  She was fully supporting Hillary Clinton – not as a liberal, not as a conservative, not as Hillary’s cult of personality... Just as a voter who was looking objectively at two candidates and deciding which deal was better for our country.  And it’s not just because my mom was (is) disgusted by Trump.  My mom was convinced that Hillary was well-qualified to lead the world.  In that conversation, I figured that maybe she was seeing something that I wasn’t. Mama’s words were enough, and so I went to the ballot voting for Hillary, but keeping in mind that the fight for social justice was absolutely not over.

Well here we are.  The fight for social justice is NOT over. But instead, we are trying to fight Trump’s tendencies towards white-washing this great country of ours. Look – Trump SUCKS ASS.  Literally.  You could probably find some tape in Moscow of him doing so with a Russian prostitute.  He is a detriment to our government, gets in the way of legislative processes, and is a very poor statesman with little negotiating capital.  He has a Republican majority and can’t get shit done.  As my old man would say, it’s like a eunuch in a whorehouse. Hillary would have gotten shit done. So by her addressing “what happened,” she is allowing an appropriate moment for America to have a national conversation about who we are and where we would like to go.

My heart broke for her when she lost, and despite having many disagreements with her, I think she is an asset for any political party and has a right to share her voice on American politics for as long as she desires.  She is STILL more seasoned than Donald Trump and can still bring about effective change in Washington and on Main Street.  Unfortunately, it’s just not in the White House.  Love her or hate her, she sure is fascinating.  Plus she’s about to make a shitload of money with that book.  Go get it Mrs. Clinton!

[gravetells]

Rebecca Zanetti’s Heath Jones from Lethal Lies on baiting a serial killer & getting serious in the sack #excerpt #giveaway

Read on for a sneak peek at Rebecca Zanetti’s newest Blood Brothers romantic thriller, LETHAL LIES, releasing May 16, 2017!

A deadly secret can’t stay buried forever . . .

Revenge. It’s the only thing that will help Anya Best sleep at night. The serial killer who murdered her sister is on the loose, and Anya will stop at nothing to put him behind bars—even use herself as bait to lure him out of hiding. But she can’t do this alone.

Private investigator Heath Jones’s job is to bring bastards to justice. This time it’s personal. He knew the Copper Killer’s latest victim so when her sister asks for his help, he’s all in. But when Anya uses the media to taunt the killer, she exposes Heath’s identity, putting them both in jeopardy. Now, secrets buried long ago are coming to light and the forces determined to destroy him are watching Heath’s every move, waiting to exact their own revenge. And they’ll use anything and anyone to get to Heath.

PREORDER it online at Amazon* (Kindle | Paperback) | B&N | Books-A-Million | Google Play | iBooks | Indiebound | Kobo | GoodReads LETHAL LIES releases on May 16, 2017!

Praise for Rebecca Zanetti’s Blood Brothers series

“4 1/2 stars! Top pick! This is a true thriller that will keep readers frantically flipping the pages as death and danger come at the protagonists from several directions. Zanetti’s brilliance at storytelling is on full display…When it comes to high-octane thrillers, they don’t get better than Zanetti!” —RT Book Reviews on LETHAL LIES

“Zanetti balances the adventure and menace of Zara and Ryker’s lives with a relatable romance. The result is a story that’s sexy and emotional, and filled with a rich look at love in all its forms.” —The Washington Post on DEADLY SILENCE

“Budget your time, readers, because this is one that’s hard to put down.” —HeroesandHeartbreakers.com on DEADLY SILENCE

Read an excerpt

“All the more reason to get you out of town,” Heath said quietly. She shook her head. “No. I’m staying.” Her words were brave, but her chest hurt. No way could she deal with a serial killer all on her own. She could train every day for the rest of her life and not end up as practiced or as deadly as Heath already was, and she knew it. “I understand you have other cases and people after you. So leave, and I’ll handle this myself.” “Those are big words, baby,” he said softly. Her lip quivered, and she bit down on it. “I know. I promised her, Heath. It’s all I have left to give to her.” He paused, understanding crossing his expression. “Ah, sweetheart. Your sister wouldn’t want that for you.” His voice turned velvety and soft. Soothing. Anya nodded. “I know. But she was my sister. We shared blood and part of a childhood. She took me trick-or-treating when I was five, and it’s one of my best memories. Then when I needed help as an adult, she didn’t hesitate. She came to me right away, like family. She was the first person I really cared about in far too long, and it hurts like hell that I got her killed.” He breathed out, the emotion in his eyes deepening. She swallowed. “I have to do this for her. Either you understand that or you don’t.” “Why don’t you just let us handle it?” She pressed her point. “I could, but you need me. I’m the bait.” Inwardly, she winced at the description. That wouldn’t help her to convince him. “Also, here’s the deal. This could be a long op. At some point, you have to leave and deal with whatever is haunting you from your past. When you do, I’ll just challenge him again, and next time you won’t be around to assist.” “That’s extortion,” Heath said, amusement curving his lip. She grinned. “Apparently I’m getting quite good at it.” Heath shook his head. “You’re putting me in an untenable position, baby.” “No, I’m not.” She shrugged out of his hold. Finally. “I’m not yours to protect, Heath. We’re not together, and we’re not responsible for each other.” The words sliced through her even as she said them. “You’ve been more than clear on that score.” “There’s something here, Anya. Maybe something real and lasting, if I get everything done I need to do.” She blinked. “What’s that?” “The less you know the better. Believe me.” “What a bunch of bullshit. Go back to your ‘This is fake’ proclamation,” she all but yelled. “Your position is one of work . . . and this is just work.” His chin lifted. “You think this is just work?” The tone—low and filled with tension—zinged through her body. Her legs trembled with the urge to take a step back. “Yes.” “Want me to prove otherwise?” His eyes darkened to the color of the sky right before midnight hit. As a threat, as a warning, it was damn good. But she’d gone too far to give in now. “You can���t.” Yeah, she’d just waved a red flag in front of a bull. He didn’t move a muscle. His focus on her was so absolute, she wanted to squirm. “You’re into challenging dangerous men these days, aren’t you?” She kept her stance. “You’re not all that dangerous, Heath.” His smile stole her breath. Then he moved. Faster than she could track, he had her by the armpits and up in the air as he carried her toward the bedroom with such speed that her legs automatically wound around to clasp his rib cage. By the time she sucked in air to protest, her butt was on the bed, and he was flattening himself over her. She struggled, her body on fire, fighting the urge to laugh out loud. His mouth crushed hers, and she stilled. Heat. Fire. True danger. He held nothing back, kissing her hard, pressing her head into the comforter. His tongue worked hers, his powerful body plastered against hers, and his hands dug into her hair to hold her in place. Desire spun so quickly into need she couldn’t breathe, even when he wasn’t controlling her mouth. She shifted against him, closing her eyes to kiss him back. This was what she’d wanted. All of this. He nipped her lip, soothing the slight pain with another kiss. Then he traced along her jawline, kissing and nipping, finally reaching her earlobe, where he bit. She arched against him, letting out a soft sigh. “Anya.” His fingers tangled in her hair, and erotic pain tingled down her scalp. One of his strong arms slid around her waist and then down. His palm spread across her butt, and he ground her against his hard cock. Pleasure swamped her, and mini explosions flew through her sex. The idea passed, somewhat fleetingly, that he wasn’t playing. Not at all. Yet she couldn’t stop herself. Her knees widened, and she rubbed against him. “This feels real,” she whispered.

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  About the author

Rebecca Zanetti is the author of over twenty-five romantic suspense, dark paranormal, and contemporary romances, and her books have appeared multiple times on the New York Times, USA Today, and Amazon bestseller lists. She has received a Publisher’s Weekly Starred Review for Wicked Edge, Romantic Times Reviewer Choice Nominations for Forgotten Sins and Sweet Revenge, and RT Top Picks for several of her novels. She lives in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest with her own alpha hero, two kids, a couple of dogs, a crazy cat…and a huge extended family. She believes strongly in luck, karma, and working her butt off…and she thinks one of the best things about being an author, unlike the lawyer she used to be, is that she can let the crazy out.

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from Rebecca Zanetti’s Heath Jones from Lethal Lies on baiting a serial killer & getting serious in the sack #excerpt #giveaway

[sficacalmoddity-blog]

Parts from “The Heart Is A Home”  My memoir is dedicated to Jed Flaherty. A good man. A friend of mine who passed away too young

The half scissors went twirling...This will be the last paragraph.  It was how this book was supposed to start.  It will lead into my second book

(Screaming) I won’t do what I (I will be in italics) want to do. (this was yesterday.  trying to figure out how to get AA members like Ajaib to stop manipulating me)  I was on the Berkeley campus. 

“You know the psych building is over there” said some guy across the walkway.

“Well, my dick is right here (pointing down at my crotch) why don’t you suck it”, says I.  The student stops walking.  Looks like he can’t believe I said that.  This happens quite a bit in my life, as you will see.

“And you know what?  The medical building is that way- (I point half-heartedly.  Its only a half-hearted point because I’m not sure in fact if the medical building IS that way).  What I do know is that if this guy keeps running his mouth, he is going to go to SOME medical complex.  So I tell him so.)  “You want to go there”?  He is still staring, so I take my jacket, drop it at my feet and pose.  “What”, I say, loudly and aggressively.  He knows what so he proceeds to continue walking.  What had sparked my yelling?  ALOT of things.  Not enough nicotine for the day surely played a part.  The fact that I had another crush that didn’t look like it was going to work out.-  It has been 14 years since I dated anyone seriously.  Robin told me she was the most romantic man she had ever met.  And was in love with Rain who lived down the street from us, and was married, worked with her, and had kids.  I would not sleep with her because she would not go to the clinic and get tested.  It was a deal breaker for both of us.  She told me she did love me.  I had won her over in the end.  But I clearly remember, one night when we were in bed next to her saying...Robin...she was silent...”I love you”.  She said it back to me, but I could tell it wasn’t sincere.  She kind of whined it.  I haven’t had sex with the last two girls I dated seriously.  Went ten years at one point without having sex.  For me, unless its SUPER sexy and lustful, fucking a girl I’m not in love with- well, lets just say I’d rather go on a nice motorcycle ride. 

     Yesterday I was absolutely FURIOUS with Ajaib, my occasional employer.  He was fucking around with me.  I told him not to.  Words out of my mouth.  Now, don’t get me wrong, employers are known to fuck around with their employees.  THIS situation however was a special, oh so special case.  He was making it clear to me that he did not want me to have a bed to sleep in.  Has this motherfucker ever been bedless? (The Heart Is A Home, I am not “homeless”) Would he be doing it if he had?  I don’t think he has.  I know a bit of his story.  We are both in recovery, (and don’t give me any anonmymity SHIT.  If folks in AA in San Francisco do NOT PRACTICE AA, and it’s principals, then anonymity does not exist.  YOU aren’t going to do AA?  Great.  That really helps.  Very nice.  Don’t expect me too.  Do not expect your anonymity to be protected if you are manipulating me and lying and fucking me over.  That SURELY is not AA) so thats how I know him, thats how I know a bit of his story.  Ajaib is in AA, and I WAS.  I left yesterday for good.  You know last year, I told an ex-sponsor and a gentleman I’ve known for 9 years that I was going to leave, and they both thought it was a good idea?  One of the gentleman said to me once “Colin decides who is cool”

“In your world” I replied instantly.  I don’t know about you, but I decide who is cool.  Colin had ZERO sponsees at that point by the way.  And he decides for people in the cult who is cool?  Is that AA?  What IS THAT?  Where is that in The Big Book of AA? San Francisco AA is not AA.  I will come back to this point again.  And again.  And again.  If it was, I would not leave.  All I can say, I am glad I decide for myself who is cool.  It’s one of the qualities that make me a man.  Ajaib is not a man.  He is not his own man.  He is someones bitch.  I refuse to be that, which makes me QUITE unpopular in San Francisco AA.  Good thing I left, eh?  Cool, but not cool because I’m a man. 

     I made a few decisions yesterday.  What I have been doing has not been working.  I’m not happy at the moment.  I am lonely (read, NOT A BITCH), acquired a new sponsor fairly recently.  I was at a meeting at 8 in the morning, I shared, and I was on my way to go ask another gentleman, when purple spandex (he rocks these at this meeting sometimes) man intervenes.  steps in front and offers to sponsor me.  THIS motherfucker obviously wants to sponsor me.  Its sort of poor ettiquete to go step in front of someone when they are approaching someone else for sponsorship.  Soon after, the guy I was going to ask got voted secretary of the meeting.  Purple spandex was nominated.  Didn’t win.  I dumped purple spandex and told him I was leaving AA.  I am doing so because he is not being honest with me about who his new employer is.  26 years sober this guy has.  I pretty much feel like he used me TO GET this new job.  Also, he seems quite content that I am bedless as well.  Almost right away this guy, apropos of nothing that I can remember, spandex tells me that he “is very well known in his field”.  This is suppose to impress me I suppose.  AA HAS changed me.  I no longer have to say everything I think, because what I was thinking was “yeah, I have two ex sponsors who are very well known in their field”(art and rock and roll).  I did not say anything.  What was said to impress me I guess, had quite the opposite effect.  NOW, howver, purple spandex is lying about who his employer is.  How do I know?  So- he’s talking about his new job for weeks he is.  I notice something.  I’m not going to share WHAT I notice, but I notice something.  So I wait.  And wait.  And wait.  Casually one day I ask “what does your company do”?  He stammers a response, but doesn’t tell me what the company does, tells me the NAME of the company, not what they do.  This would work on alot of people, even with the stammer.  I follow up- “What is your percent market share”?

The company he supposedly works for has one competitor.  He plays it fairly cooly, but there is a hint of frustration here.  Exasperation.  “oh, I don’t know”.  That is BULLSHIT.  A bold face lie.  Thats the kind of thing, when you are a large company, bringing in alot of revenue, and are leading a team, as he says he is- well, suffice it to say, they tell you that on the first day of work, if not in the initial phone interview.  It is the kind of thing you research yourself in fact, if you want the job.  I remember my first phone interview with Richard at SPG group, I was actually able to tell him how much the growth the company had experienced in the last year.  Unprompted.  I wanted the job.  And I got it