#it just helped me understand them better than any history book ever has

[local-redhead-bookworm]

“Why do you care about the strikes so much?”

Newsies was a very formative musical for me

[princessshikky]

Okay, this post has been a long time coming.

Basically, there is a huge amount of misconceptions about liujiu and their history, and it's very frustrating to see in arguments about canon, so. I'm here to clear Liu-shidi's reputation and browbeat SJ with a newspaper (affectionate).

There is a whooping total of 4 liujiu interaction scenes in SVSSS. In chronological order:

The first meeting occurs at an inter-peak competition, where SJ hates LQG at first glance. LQG wins a sparring and has an air of "matter-of-fact arrogance" about him, which only strengthens SJ's dislike. What's interesting is that next SJ ambushes LQG after the sparring and "uses every means" to attack him, as recounted by Yue Qingyuan. Which does nothing to endear SJ to LQG and makes LQG very understandaby wary of SJ.

The second meeting occurs in a brothel. Backstory: SJ stumbles upon a Baizhan disciple named Ji Jue on the street, they have a quarrel, SJ beats and seriously injures Ji Jue, then goes to a brothel. LQG hears about it and rushes to "teach SJ a lesson". Interestingly, nowhere in the text is it mentioned that SJ is injured in any way after his scuffle with LQG, even though the fight has apparently taken quite a while and LQG is a way better fighter than SJ.

The well mission. SJ, LQG and SQH are assigned to deal with some evil spirits in a remote village. Spirits fly out of an old well, one of them attempts to attack LQG from behind, SJ sees it and attacks the spirit, but accidentally brushes over LQG's shoulder, which LQG mistakes for an attempt to kill him. SQH tries to clear the misunderstanding, but SJ threatens him into silence. Again, LQG and SJ come to blows, but no injuries are mentioned.

The disciple acceptance ceremony. SJ and YQY are watching the potential recruits, LQG arrives, has a brief but civil conversation with YQY, SJ intervenes, LQG insults him and leaves.

That's it, folks! That's literally every liujiu interaction in canon! Now with this out of the way, let me disprove some of those fanons I see in liujiu fics every damn time I dare to open one.

LQG did not mistakenly believe SJ to be a son of a wealthy family. Nowhere in the book does LQG ever comment on SJ's origin. This is a fanon from "The Grand Unified Theory of Shen Qingqiu", which is a great fic, don't get me wrong, but god did it mess with people's perception!

In the same vein, LQG never accused SJ of being lazy. Ever. That was QQQ.

LQG wasn't unreasonable to immediately assume SJ was trying to kill him during the well assignment. Think of what LQG knows about SJ at this point: SJ is willing to ambush someone because of entirely stupid and petty reasons like a lost sparring; SJ is perfectly willing to seriously injure his fellow disciple (see: Ji Jue); SJ is constantly threatening to kill LQG (mentioned in the brothel scene); SJ is not above using dirty tricks to achieve his ends. Yes, the suspicion made SJ feel bad, which is perfectly understandable (poor SJ was just trying to help!), but it wasn't entirely baseless. LQG's conclusion was based on SJ's prior behavior.

Speaking of SJ's dirty tricks: no, when people mentioned SJ's penchant for dishonest means, they weren't talking about harmless tricks like qiankun buttons. SQH insinuates in canon that SJ wouldn't be above shanking LQG with a poisoned knife in the middle of a sparring (Airplane extra, when he watches LQG spar with SY!SQQ), and Ji Jue, someone who's fought SJ personally, seems to agree.

LQG did not condemn SJ's womanizing and/or his visits to the brothel. The only times when LQG comments on SQQ's private life in canon have to do with LBH and bingqiu. To put it simply: LQG did not give a damn about SJ allegedly spending time with sex workers. Nor did LQG constantly stalk SJ to try and catch him in a brothel. Nor did LQG ever lecture SJ about sex being bad for his cultivation (that was YQY, but no one ever remembers this bit).

Actually, it can be inferred that most of the time liujiu tried to ignore each other when forced to be in each other's presence. They only interact when they cannot avoid it/when SJ does (or seems to do) something so shitty LQG cannot ignore it. Or when SJ deliberately attracts LQG's attention.

Conversely, LQG did not constantly pursue SJ demanding a sparring with him. Not ever. I have no idea where this particular fanon stems from.

LQG did not gossip about SJ's private life. It is never mentioned in the book; however, it is said that several Baizhan disciples knew of SJ visiting a pleasure house. Any of them could've spread the rumour; or hell, it could've been someone else who saw SJ entering the place at a later date. Or the brothel workers may have shared the story with their other clients. It's never clearly stated, but there's no reason to believe LQG specifically was the one responsible for spreading this rumour. For one, YQY promises SJ that LQG would keep quiet about their skirmish. Also, it just isn't in character for LQG to gossip.

Just... every time people write liujiu, they go out of their way to completely erase SJ's shitty behavior, blaming all of the bad blood between them on LQG "misunderstanding" the poor innocent SJ. Oh, if only LQG knew the truth, he'd immediately recognise the error of his ways!.. Except no, actually, it's not how it is at all. And I'm so tired of the people constantly mistaking fanons for canon.

[petricorah]

i wanna start making comics but like. i dont really know how??? are there any tips that you could give me perhaps?

hi!

i've been working on trying to compile a list of resources for people (@aangsfrogs--i didn't forget!) who want to make comics for a long time. It would consist of some of my personal tips and a lot of links to other people's PDFs and youtubes. But that's...a hefty project, so if you had any specific questions for the meantime, my askbox is open!

But, for just beginning, here would be my tips:

Read comics. Read manga and webcomics and cartoons and medical comics. There is so much out there, and reading is such a big way to learn. If you see something you like, take a moment to think about why you like it. Are the expressions or colors appealing? Did it make you feel a certain emotion? Analyze what the artist may have done to get across what they did. (Is it the camera angle? the style they chose to draw in? the paneling? the pacing? the color? etc.) Doing this over time will help you recognize the tools available for telling stories through this medium, and you'll be able to put them in your own work.

Try to think about what you want to make comics about. What moves you? What topics interest you? What ideas or tropes do you love in media or think about often? What do you hate and wish was done better? What characters are you drawn to, or what characters do you want to create? (What about them compels you?) I find it's hard to create an idea out of thin air, but if you start writing down random ideas you have, you'll start thinking about them, and over time, you'll have a bank of things to pull from when you want to create.

Lastly, anatomical skill or knowledge of color does not a comic make! You don't have to know much to begin, and there aren't rules. Just start drawing what is meaningful to you!

This is just cursory and doesn't get into super specifics like paneling or scripts or plotting or colors or thumbnailing or....etc, but I'll try to expand my list of resources and get that out! And, hmu if you have any specific questions on topics!

happy drawing~

Book list under readmore:

Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and his Making Comics. These books are taught in like, every comic class ever. While not my complete favorite, they do a good job of showing some history and fundamentals, and how easy it is to make comics even if you don't have a lot of drawing experience.

99 Ways to Tell a Story: Exercises in Style by Matt Madden: Really good if you don't know how to start analyzing comics. (Also it's just a fun visual exercise.) It shows the same short story done in 99 different styles with different emphasis on different moods and points of view.

The PreHistory of The Far Side: A 10th Anniversary Exhibit by Gary Larson and The Calvin and Hobbes: Tenth Anniversary Book by Bill Watterson: Two great books with work from my two favorite cartoonists. They both have writings from the author about getting ideas, developing stories, and being a comic artist.

Uncanny Bodies: Superhero Comics and Disability, edited by Scott T. Smith and José Alaniz and Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation, edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II: These two aren't really about making comics, but they are great collections of analysis about old and new comics alike.

By no means a complete list, but some good ones that I can think of off the top of my head.

There's also the book Webtoon School: Everything you need to know about webtoon creation and story writing. To be honest, I didn't read this completely through because it was a bit more fundamental than I was expecting, but it gives a good cursory look of how to write comics if you're just starting out! It covers some history, how to write stories and arcs, etc.

Also, look to your favorite writers! A lot of webtoon/webcomic artists do tutorials or youtube videos. for instance, velnxi has this great tutorial up I really suggest looking at here.

[sadie-bug345]

gangs favorite classes🫶🥰🫡☝️🤓

i keep taking breaks from tumblr but i’m really tryna get back in the swing of things🙏

ponyboy:

ahhhh i haven’t reread the book in a while but he probably mentions classes he likes or he doesn’t like

ik he has like a D in his creative writing class or smth but that’s cause he don’t like the restrictions that come with writing for an assignment

in reality i feel like he is an english guy overall

also gives history ngl

more social studies classes

8/10 hes real for that

johnny:

elective guy thru and thru

like photography, art, ceramics, graphic design, etc

he might be amazing at these artsy classes

and that’s why he likes them OR

he just loves the chill classroom vibe yk

also he likes the kids in there too

i feel like johnny gets so annoyed with louder socs who mess around in the classes he likes

cause my guy is actually respectful🫶🙏

10/10 so valid honestly, like photo is fr my favorite class and i feel like johnny would totally fw that

sodapop:

language classes

like spanish, french, german, whatever floats your boat

i think he likes the funny atmosphere of everyone kinda messing up whenever they’re put on the spot to speak in class

just cause no one really cares

ALSO DESTROYS during presentations btw

like either he’s genuinely good

or he just keeps messing up and giggles abt it so much that the teacher starts yelling at him abt it

genuinely has a dgaf mindset to school in general which is very admirable

6/10 i hate my spanish 2 class but its ok😭🙏

darry:

sports med / sports weights

OR anatomy

like he just enjoys sports so anything that relates to that he finds really interesting

he likes the helping people aspect of sports med

and i’m in sports med as well which is actually so fun ngl

he eats with that

always crushes tests

i think he really studies for tests and actually tries

which allows him to get good grades🤓☝️

but he couldn’t care less abt classes he doesn’t like

7/10 valid

dally:

pretends to not give a shit but we know he does when it comes to the gang

bc of this, his fave classes are whatever he has the most friends in

other than that he thinks all classes are terrible and they all feel like years

math guy when he actually understands the concept

but the second things get hard he just gives up

“who needs these hyperbolas anyways man🙄”

lives for lunch and after school cause he just walks around and talks

or fights with other kids but we don’t talk abt that

6/10 im the same way abt math

two-bit:

any class where he can mess with the teacher

like either the teacher is chill and jokes around with him

OR the teacher actually sucks and two just makes them even more mad

lives for class laughter

like soda he enjoys more participation based classes, less the actual content

somehow he always gets sat in the desk right next to the teachers desk so they can keep an eye on him

barely ever gets to sit next to his friends for obvious reasons LMAO

7/10 also valid

steve:

obviously auto mechanic if the school offers it

otherwise he gives a science kid

like biology, physics, anatomy, stuff like that

his brain is just the type to get it

so those classes are barely hard for him

which is SO LUCKY

he the type to just go off about some technical concept the class is going over and explain it perfectly to his friend who needs help and then make a your mom joke the next minute

5/10 i hate physics and i hate how he’d be better at it than me

ANYWAYS REQUEST STUFF PLS🫶😋‼️

(btw i’m going thru requests rn so dw!!)

[666writingcafe]

The Home Theater

Satan

"I don't remember the House of Lamentation having one of these," MC notes as they take in their surroundings. "Whose idea was it to put one here?"

"It was mine," I answer. "Barbatos helped me set everything up. All the equipment, the acoustics...it's all top-notch."

"By human world standards, or Devildom ones?" I've forgotten how observant they are. MC seems to enjoy taking in all sorts of information, even if it seems insignificant to other people. That's one of the things I like about them.

"According to the employee at DevTech--I mean, Best Buy--we have the top-of-the-line equipment, and the quality is comparable to some of ours." I hate that I keep swapping human world names with Devildom ones. I personally feel like I'm better than that.

"Have you guys used it yet?"

"Funny that you mention that, because we just started a zombie movie marathon last weekend."

"Was that your idea as well?" I nod my head.

"The idea of zombies has interested me for a while now. While there are diseases and curses that can induce a zombie-like state in demons, it's usually a temporary problem that can be solved with medicine. That doesn't seem to be the case with humans."

"Are you solely basing that on our movies?"

"Of course not. I've also read books."

"Fiction or non-fiction?" Oh, I'm about to blow their mind.

"Both, actually."

While the human world seems to focus on the fantastical elements of zombies, the Devildom has meticulously recorded all zombie outbreaks that have occurred throughout the centuries. You see, sometimes a human zombie accidentally stumbles in the Devildom, and we have to deal with that situation properly in order to prevent chaos.

While we've certainly dealt with the stereotypical zombies--the ones that are slow-moving, crave brains, and are more or less dead--those aren't the only ones that we've come across. Some are capable of sprinting, others aren't too keen on brains, and there's even those that appear perfectly fine on the outside but have some kind of parasite in their brain that's making them carry out orders with no thought whatsoever.

Although, sometimes the parasite doesn't have a physical form and is instead created as a result of rather intense brainwashing.

"I see," MC states once I've completed my mini lecture. "Somehow, that's never come up in any of my classes."

"That's because you've only taken general knowledge ones. RAD offers majors, and with those comes specific classes for particular areas of study. Although, in order to declare a major, you have to prove that you have a solid understanding of the fundamentals first, since you might get pulled to teach a class or two."

"Has that ever happened to you guys?"

"Lucifer and I are the only ones out of our bunch that have declared a major. Belphie's been offered, but he doesn't want to deal with the responsibility of teaching, so he just takes whatever interests him. The others simply haven't proven themselves yet. Levi struggles with attendance, and Beel has difficulty concentrating. As for Mammon and Asmo, I think they're content with where they're at right now, so they're not going to push themselves too hard."

"What do you and Lucifer major in?"

"He does potions and curses. I focus on history and literature. Somehow, despite my sin, I tend to be a more patient teacher than him. At least, that's what I've heard from other students."

"That's really interesting." MC appears deep in thought. "Do you think I could major in something?"

Honestly, I don't know how to answer that question, mainly because we've never had beings outside the Devildom attend RAD before Diavolo implemented the exchange program. It wouldn't surprise me if he did allow MC and the others to declare a major eventually, but I don't know how long that would take. Would MC be alive by then? Or be in a good physical and mental state to take in additional knowledge, let alone teach an entire classroom? Personally, I think they have the best chance out of the initial exchange students of eventually declaring a major, but that isn't for me to determine.

"That would be something to ask Diavolo. I don't think I'm qualified to answer that question." MC nods their head.

"So, changing the subject...wanna watch a movie together?"

"Like, right now?"

"Yeah!" I sigh.

"As much as I would like to, I doubt the others would be happy if I kept you all to myself before they've even had the chance to say hi to you. I will have to take your offer some other time."

"Sounds good. I'll try to find a good movie for us to watch together in the meantime."

"You bring the movie, and I'll whip up something nice for us to eat." MC snorts in amusement. "Do you not think I'm capable of cooking, MC?"

"It's not that at all. Just reacting to an idea I had, that's all."

"What kind of thought?" Interesting. My question has made them tense up all of a sudden. Usually they only get that way if someone catches them doing something that they think they're not supposed to do. Like fiddling with strange objects.

Or having dirty thoughts.

I keep coming across the phrase "Netflix and chill" in the media I've been consuming, and it appears to be referring to hooking up with someone as a movie's playing in the background. Is MC wanting to do that with me?

Are they afraid I'd find the idea silly? Because I don't. I mean, if it was something that I was invested in, then I'd want to pay attention to whatever was playing, but I'm more than capable of choosing something that I can tune out as I focus on something else.

Especially if that something else happens to be MC.

I lean in closer to them to whisper,

"You know, I went ahead and assembled a collection of movies I thought you'd like." I plant a kiss right below MC's ear, making them shiver slightly. "I really enjoyed picking them out, actually." I begin moving down their neck. "It was fun thinking about what might appeal to you. There are so many genres that are worth exploring."

[2024-grimoire-challenge]

May Week 4: Changing it Up

This week we will change it up from the depth of divination we've dived into the rest of this month and do some fun practical activities as summer gets on in full. Along with that we will still be doing the gem/ herb/ other study we normally do, but this week will be a lot of hands on stuff! So let's get our hands dirty witches!

Monday - What's in the cauldron?

Practical - Pick one of those Witchy recipes you see floating around, or just any recipe you'd like really! One you haven't made before or have been wanting to make for a while, and make it! I'm making honey lavender bread this week, along with a maple butter pork butt, cut into thick slices and kebab'd with some onion, pineapple and jalapeno! Write out the recipe, the directions, and if it has any ritual connotations/ magical associations or purpose, add those to the recipe!

Research/ New Page - Herb Study - Pick another herb from your list and go nuts! Study everything about it from its history and myths around it, to how to grow it and what its associations are!

Tuesday - Artsy Fartsy Witchy Stuff

Practical - Is there any craft you've seen on the internet or in a movie or show or even in a book that you've wanted to make that pertains to your craft and your practice? What is a better way to celebrate your craft than to get out and do it! Get the materials, make the craft and write up a little snippet about it and its purpose/ uses in your grimoire!

Practical/ Mental Health - Yeah, that's right, we care about mental health. Get up, get out, and enjoy the outdoors! Take a walk, drink some water, take your meds, take a nap and relax! Life can get so busy and it is just as important to take care of ourselves, mentally, emotionally and physically as it is to take care of the myriad tasks we have going on.

Wednesday - Dirty Hands? The doing is the thing!

Practical- Ya know all those herbs we've been studying. Well, at least where I live it is summertime. So if you're able, even if it is in a small planter in the house, get some herbs and plant them! Basil, lavender, lemon balm, thyme, sage, anything! Plant em and care for them. It can help give you a better understanding of the herb to watch it grow and care for it!

Thursday - Candles and incense and crystals, OH MY!

Practical - Okay, so its not all writing and research for this challenge. Getting your hands dirty is sometimes the best way to learn! So get a ritual, or spell (make one if you need to and want to!) and perform it! DO the thing. Whatever it is and whatever it is for, add it to your grimoire if you'd like! My grimoire is a few different books that collectively make up the things that pertains to my practice. I keep my spells and rituals in one book. My information in another. Recipes in yet another. Divination/ dreams in yet another. It's a nice little collection. But however you do it, make a page for your spell or ritual. Do it in your lab book if need be so you can look back at it and change it, expand d on it if need be.

Friday - Music, is it magic?

Practical/ Rest - Is there any music that you use to feel Witchy? Is there any music that helps you get in the zone? Make a playlist, or several if you're extra organized, and just put it on and listen to it. Feel it. Really get into the music.

Research/ New Page - Gem study/ Other - Whether it is the gem you're doing or another form of study, take time to really discover all you can about the topic you've chosen. Myths, legends, practical and magical uses! History, physical properties, all of it!

Gosh that's a lot even this week! I'm proud of all of you keeping up with this challenge and can't wait to keep going for the second half of the year! We're nearing that halfway point! Keep up the great work everyone and if you ever have any suggestions or ideas of just want to chat about the challenge, reach out to me on this blog or my main @thehazeldruid

Good luck and happy crafting witches!

-Mod Hazel

[darklordazalin]

Hi, love the darklord reviews!! I was wondering, in your time researching darklords are there any 5e versions you prefer to their 2e/3e versions, or vice versa?

Well, after letting this question sit with me for a few days, I will do my best to answer it as honestly as possible.

First, to understand where I am coming from, I have been a fan of Ravenloft ever since I purchased the first Ravenloft adventure ever written, which was released in 1983. The adventure featured an invitation to dinner at Castle Ravenloft. If you’ve played any version of Strahd’s story, you’ll find it hasn’t changed much since its first release – the vampire’s story has always revolved around a Tarokka reading, a beautiful redhead, and a curse. Not the same can be said about many of the other Darklords that have been featured in Ravenloft and most recently within Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

Some definitely needed to be changed to appeal to a modern audience. For example, the sheer amount of female Darklords in the old material that were obsessed with being attractive has always been a bit eye rolling. That said, let’s move on to your question.

I mostly prefer the older material as there is far more information provided about almost every Darklord and their history. The older material allows for shades of grey and provides indepth personas and histories for these characters. The new material does a decent job given the limit to a single source book, but misses one of the key features in the Ravenloft setting – that there is beauty in the lands in the Mists and countless innocents worth saving. Instead, it treats everything as a constant source of doom and gloom and the majority of the citizens within as ‘soulless’. To me, that does not give the player characters much in the way of incentive to help these unfortunates.

The most obvious one I prefer in the older material is Azalin. In 5e, Azalin was chucked out of his Domain and gets a 3 sentence write up that is inaccurate at best. This surprised me given his cameo in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything.  There are some intriguing possibilities with Firan Zal’honan as a Mist Walker, but we are still given nothing about his history. I remember in 2e they chucked Azalin out of Darkon and the fans were more than a little upset about it, which resulted in his return in 3e. Strange that they did that again.

I also prefer the Three Hags from Tepest from the older material. 5e didn’t change their story at all but for some reason only made one of the three hags the Darklord. In my opinion, they are far more interesting as a group.

Then there’s Harkon Lukas. Harkon’s story in 5e is actually a little better – a failed musician always changing in attempts to win fame is a more suitable curse for him than a guy that really wants to rule but his Domain is more about Democracy (well, if you can call musical talent shows in place of elections as a Democracy). However, I dislike that they made him into a loup garou instead of a wolfwere and they took away his monocle. Loup garous are just another type of werewolf in 5e. In past editions they were men who magically imbued the skin of a wolf with dark magic and transformed into wolves or hybrid wolves by donning the skin. They could also transform others into werewolves with their bite. Wolfweres despise both werewolves and loup garous. They are wolves that can turn into men. Harkon’s whole theme was a monster pretending to be a person and thoroughly misunderstanding what makes one human. In past editions Harkon was gender fluid – they could take the form of any gender and did so quite regularly. I just think he's far more interesting as a gender fluid wolfwere that loves wearing monocles.

As for those I prefer more? Mostly this amounts to those Darklords they did complete overalls on and I actually wish they had just created entirely new Darklords and Domains for them instead of replaceing the old versions entirely. This include Hazlan (who is a lot more like 3e Azalin, actually), Saidra d’Honaire, Tsien Chiang, and Ramya Vasavadan.

Saidra d’Honaire took the place of Dominic d’Honaire, but her story is completely different. In 5e we have an evil Cinderella story and with Dominic you had a city of mind-controlled puppets. I would have preferred if they had just given Saidra an entirely new Domain.

Tsien Chiang is a bit more interesting in 5e, but I do miss her keep made entirely of bones of the men that had wronged her because honestly that was pretty badass.

Ramya Vasavadan is a new Darklord as is her Domain (though it appears to be a mash up of the Verdurous Lands). Ramya is interesting as her past isn’t overly horrendous, but she clearly has the potential for great evil. The land of Kalakeri is a great addition to Ravenloft and offers something entirely different from past editions for players to explore.

I also enjoy Viktra Mordenheim in Lamordia. I think she’s one of the new Darklords that you read and think “why yes, this individual is completely evil’. However, I do not think she’s ‘better’ than Lamordia’s previous Darklord – Adam. Adam was the creation of Victor Mordenheim. Essentially, Lamordia was Ravenloft’s take on Frankenstein, except in Ravenloft both the Doctor and his creation are the monster. So, running Lamordia depends on if you want to lean into the classic Frankenstein of the older material or the steam punk horror of the newer material. I think both work well.

Lastly and though she is not a Darklord, Lyssa von Zarovich was horribly done in 5e. As were any of the previous characters that had their own backstory and were reduced to ‘potential Tatyana reincarnation’. But Lyssa in particular. Lyssa is a relative of Strahd’s, so the whole her being a reincarnation of his lustful obsession is more than a little disturbing. Besides that, she is also known for her work with the Illithids of Bluetspur, the creation of vampiric mind flayers, her work on the Apparatus, and her constant plans to destroy her grand uncle. She would have made a great Mist Walker. She made a pact with the Dark Powers to become a vampire, then tricked the ghost of her dead fiancé into using his ‘frightening vintage’ on her so she would age and become more powerful as a vampire.

[stardewsnail]

hello! do you have any hc for shane x farmer x harvey poly relationship? sfw or nsfw hc are fine thank you so much :) loved your last request post hehe

I’m so glad you liked it! Since you said HC this is more of a list, but if anyone wants to request a specific moment written out in prose let me know!

I admit, I am just starting to appreciate Harvey in my game so forgive me if there’s a little more of my brain than game canon :) NSFW is alllllll the way at the end

MINORS DNI

I HC Shane was 28/29 having a crisis about turning 30 and then Harvey being about 32-35 (barely recovering from the imposter syndrome of taking over the clinic pretty young)

So I think, first of all, Marnie and Maru were key to getting the three of them to figure it out. Like the two of them were in cahoots arranging for those three to be in the same place at the same time

Harvey had a crush on the farmer pretty quickly, having plenty of interactions due to how often they ended up needing medical care

He always had a soft spot for Shane because even when he was struggling and on his worst most hung over days he still went to every shift at Joja so he could provide for Jas

Shane has had a crush on the farmer for a while—but it didn’t cement until after the cliffs when they didn’t just drop him entirely. Up until he was actually working on improving himself he had ZERO plans in ever engaging in a romantic relationship with anyone (he wasn’t going to doom anyone to dealing with him—sad self deprecating boy)

After Harvey treated him so gently and was such a surprising pillar of support in Shane’s journey to recovery he developed a crush on the good Dr as well

 Harvey was a little freaked out because he considered Shane a patient first at some point the farmer brought him coffee and they ended up sitting together for an hour chatting (gushing) about Shane. That was the farmer and Harvey looked at each other like “Oh…you like him?” And both decided to let their crush go like idiots. Farmer was like “ah Shane and Harvey have known each other for longer it’s not fair for me to get in the way” and Harvey was like “Oh I won’t get in the way of two people I care about”

 Maru started leaving books about polyamory laying around the clinic and Marnie tried to (awkwardly and not fully understanding the concept but trying to stay hip with the youth) bring it up to Shane which both backfired and succeeded bc Shane went to the farmer/Harvey to complain about it (he went to the Farmer first and the farmer didn’t react as expected. They pretty much were like “Yeah that's a thing seems like it might be nice as a concept”

And so when Shane went to Harvey after because at this point they're friends (even if Shane thinks it's more about Harvey being his doctor) Not only was Harvey sweating talking about relationships with Shane he about choked on his coffee when our fav chicken man brought up the farmer being into polyamory.

Harvey figures out what all of this had been leading to--why Marnie of all people had brought it up to Shane, why Maru kept teasing (and I feel like in this scenario Maru and the farmer are friends). Harvey has his Jimmy Neutron style brain blast and is like wait...i have TWO hands...I can HOLD TWO HANDs.

When I tell you this man studies the theory, history, and modern practice of polyamory like there's going to be a test--he's on it. He didn't graduate medical school by doing things half assed

While this is happening (Harvey preparing to make a move) Shane (post cliffs) just assumes he has a crush on Harvey and the farmer because the two of them helped him get better—he’s not going to be the one getting this whole thing started. So he just keeps going doing his best for Jas but also because he really likes the way Harvey lights up at every check up.

I feel like Harvey (likely assured by Maru who is tired of listening to both farmer and Harvey pine for each other AND Shane) asks the farmer out first, and the two have a big long discussion about their dynamics and how they want to approach Shane. Harvey is a little clinical about it but the farmer does their best to reassure him

Unfortunately, while Harvey and the farmer are both independently smart they lose all but one (1) brain cell that they have to share between them like a ping pong ball

It works out still, and they both present a bouquet to Shane at the same time. Shane just does NOT get it, poor thing he is red as a tomato and his whole brain just blue screens. Like face hiding in his hood/hands low key trying not to cry not believing that there are TWO people who like him and they’re the people he’s been pining over for AGES and that he gets to be with BOTH of them????

Shane stops having to work at Joja mart between his spouse’s income. Instead he works full time on the farm with the chickens, engineering a variety of colored chickens (Shane studied Bio/ag in college along with his gridball scholarship, then the accident that wiped out Jas’s parents also wiped out his potential gridball career AND forced him to drop out in his last semester—I think I’ve seen this bit before but idk if it’s cannon or somebody’s head cannon)

Shane does better mentally getting to work outside with animals and even when he has bad days he’s got much healthier coping strategies

So I think he would start getting back into fitness and bond with Harvey over eating healthy and staying fit—that plus the farmer being THE source of fresh produce in town

And also they are constantly trying to make sure the farmer doesn’t starve and drop dead in the mines

Other:

They constantly cycle through whose sleeping where mostly because they don’t often go to bed at the same time so the last person there just kinda worms their way in wherever

Shane really likes being babied but he would never say it

Unrelated but when Harvey moves to the farm he rents his apartment to Maru who is ecstatic to have her own place away from her overbearing dad (who’s not super jazzed about the situation) but her being out of the house improves her relationship with Sebastian and they get much closer as siblings

NSFW

Shane never thought of himself as being more dominant to anyone BUT after being with Harvey (who takes care of people constantly and wants the opposite in the bedroom) I see him approaching the territory of service dom

Harvey for his part wants to be in the middle, both penetrating and being penetrated at the same time. He was waiting for a “good time” to bring this up but the farmer suggested it first and he was ecstatic.

Both the farmer and Shane think Harvey's thing is going to be sexy nurse but no, it's definitely a pilot/flight attendant thing--something they make the most of

[xjustonemoremiraclex]

rwrb thoughts from someone who hasn't read the book (yet)

The good/general thoughts:

pleasantly surprised by the acting! which I know sounds mean, but listen, I saw these guys in other things and I wasn't suuuper into them, so it was a nice surprise lol

THE CHEMISTRY BETWEEN THE TWO again, pleasantly surprised by that lol they played off each other SO well

10/10 soundtrack, it definitely took inspiration from older rom-coms and I loved it <3

PS I really liked all the side characters! I wish we'd gotten to spend a little more time with some of them, but everyone was pretty great <3 also, all the women were awesome, and I am very gay and very in love <3

Ok, I really, REALLY liked how they showed the two of them texting each other, and the whole editing around it. It was pretty cute

I was living for all the latine songs at the new year's party, that was a nice touch

ok, when everyone was getting down at the party and alex and henry stayed up and stared at each other and time slowed down, I know it was supposed to be romantic, but I have to say it: it was also the funniest shit I've ever seen lol

henry at the party is giving both 'i have social anxiety and my only friend here is a social butterfly and keeps leaving to be with other people send help' and 'i thought you invited me here as a first date kind of thing but you're dancing and making out with other people and i'm feeling so betrayed rn :('

'christ you're as thick as it gets *kiss*' LMAO

Listen, I'm not usually into rom-coms (I say, like a liar), but I was pretty happy with the writing, in general. I laughed at all the funny parts, got emotional over all the dramatic ones and swooned at the romance bits. Great job, everyone

'I just can't afford for you to fall in love with me' LMAO babe, we're WAY past that. On both sides

ok, full disclosure: I don't really like sex scenes all that much (there's nothing wrong with them, I'm just very ace lol), so I usually just use my phone while they're happening, and while I did that a little bit here too, I was still paying attention, and honestly, they were pretty sweet. They did a good job. And, like, I have no idea why the film was R-rated lol you literally don't see anything

again, love the little montages that show the passing of time, while also showing they're keeping in touch and getting to know each other better and stuff. It makes the relationship between the two and the way it's developing feel a bit less rushed, which is nice

ZAHRA MY MOST BELOVED

YES PLEASE I WANT TO SEE THAT POWERPOINT PRESENTATION THANK YOU

KARAOKEEEE

alex giving an impassioned romantic speech to henry, about to confess his love: // henry:

'I didn't want to break his heart' - oh, honey, you already did :(

'to tell you that I love you, knowing that you wouldn't say it back' brb sobbing

NOT CAN'T HELP FALLING IN LOVE 😭😭😭

'because when they write the history of my life, I want it to include you and my love for you' help i'm dying 😭😭😭😭😭😭

MIGUEL DON'T THINK I DON'T KNOW IT WAS YOU please die in a fire <3

alex's speech was really good by the way 🥺

LOVESICK HOMOSEXUALS LMAO ZAHRA MY BELOVED

'baby' screaming crying throwing up jgdkfk

I FORGOT THE KING WAS STEPHEN FRY why is this so funny to me

SEQUEL WHEN

The... less good?/general questions:

Kinda wish there'd been a bit more enemies in my enemies-to-lovers film

'he just grabbed my hair in a way that made me understand the difference between rugby and footbal'' - please, I beg you, someone smarter than me - what the fuck does this mean 😭 ppl are LIVING for this quote and I'm like ??????

this is probably me being stupid and ignorant lol but why would alex's relationship cost his mum the election? like, from what I've seen, her government has been very pro-queer, that's not really a secret, so her son being queer and in a relationship with a man shouldn't lose her any voters..? the people who are against 'the queers' were not going to vote for her in the first place, soooo..? me is confused

honestly, this is probably an unpopular opinion, but... the king was not that bad? like, i'm not saying he's not kind of homphobic and kind of a dick lol but i get the impression that everything stems from the whole thing about sticking to tradition and public image and bla bla. Like, again, obviously, part of that involves homophobia, but I think that on a personal level, he... doesn't really care? Even at the end, he's like 'ok, are you absolutely sure about this, cause there's no going back. Yes? Really? Well, go off I guess *long-suffering sigh*'. Like, I got way more homophobic vibes from phillip than the king idk 🤷‍♀️ (I really hope I don't have to clarify that this only applies to the film, and not like, the real life crown lol)

Sooo, as I said, I haven't read the book yet, but I've seen some posts about it, and I think after watching the film I've realized that it's biggest flaw is that it's that - a film. It's a great film, don't get me wrong! And it's pretty obvious I really liked it. But damn, I'm a firm believer that book adaptations only work as series. They don't have to be super long or anything, but there is just no way to fit everything in a book in a two hour film. And yeah, when you're adapting something you have to make some changes, but Idk, it's kind of a shame that you lose so much (and even without reading the book, I can tell there's a lot of stuff missing). In any case, I can't talk too much about it until I read the book, but yeah 🤷‍♀️ It does seem like they did a good job, though - like, it genuinely can stand on its own really well, but I guess I'll have to find out for myself

Also, tagging @silassstingy bc I promised her my thoughts on the film and she might give me some interesting insights on some of the stuff I mentioned, cause she's a queen like that <3

[yurisorcerer]

pbptptpbptptptpbpbpbptptptptptpppppbpbpbhph.

Okay.

So! Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection, huh? Took me five years to get to it. I do not know what I expected. This was not nearly as bad as I feared but also not as good as I hoped. I guess I'd say it's good as a movie for huge Code Geass fans, but it also kind of walks back some of the core ideas of Code Geass as a series, so Hm.

Like, ok, let's just start with the premise. The very idea of Lelouch coming back to life after the end of the series (or rather the alternate continuity to the series as presented by the Lelouch of the Rebellion compilation movies), is already a bit wonky. If Code Geass works on any level *thematically,* it's because Lelouch, as the 99th Emperor Britannia, dies. He dies not because it's necessarily the right thing to happen to him *morally,* but because he knows he has so much blood on his hands that he can't live with himself. It's suicide-by-Suzaku. That's how the original series ends.

Here, of course, he is just back. In of itself, that would be fine, but everyone is SO accepting of it SO quickly. There's a couple quick scenes of Kallen crying over him and Suzaku beating the ever-loving shit out of him (he deserves worse honestly), but for the most part everyone is completely happy to start taking orders from History's Greatest Monster again. With some of these people, like Cornelia and even his own sister Nunally, this kind of strains credulity. Especially with how the latter goes out of her way to exonerate Lelouch of any wrongdoing and blames herself for not truly understanding her brother's motives. I'm sorry, like, I've seen the show. That's just kind of bullshit. Lelouch's motives were *extremely* selfish and the fact that he never told Nunnally what he was up to was kind of the whole point, he didn't respect her as an equal, and just thought of her as someone he needed to protect. Due to, you know, pick one; misogyny, a generally privileged upbringing that may have rubbed some concept of noblesse oblige into him, ableism, the fact that he's a smug bastard who assumes he knows better than everyone, etc.

The unfortunate thing about the movie, though, is that Lelouch Lamperouge is cool as shit and it's really fun to watch him do anything.

Where it gets brought back, at least for me, in spite of all these flaws, is that I do just pop when Lelouch is on-screen Doing His Thing. C.C. has a fantastic little exchange with him when he gets discouraged late in the film where she talks about how she wants to see the arrogant, unwavering Lelouch. That's a good moment and it's pretty in keeping with their relationship, but it's also a sly nod toward the fourth wall I'm pretty sure. Unfortunately, to some extent, I will just watch this fucking bastard with his fucking hair and his fucking cloak and mask and his fucking violet shoujo manga-ass eyes and his fucking fruity little hand gestures whenever he talks, play everyone like a fiddle yet again while making grand pronouncements and saying "checkmate" unironically when he's got someone cornered even though no one has ever played a game of chess on-screen in Code Geass that made a lick of sense.

There are certain characters that just have such unreal amounts of charisma that watching them do basically anything is fun. (The voice acting in this thing is magnificent, of course, and helps sell that. I'd listen to Fukuyama Jun read a phone book.) Lelouch is one of those. If I'm any Code Geass character in spirit, it's Tamaki. Any time Lelouch puts on the Zero mask I scream and point at the screen and go "that's my man right there!!" like we're close personal friends or something. It's a disease, and I have to live with it. God forbid I ever get super into UC Gundam, I don't know WHAT I'd do if I ended up being like this about Char.

Everyone else returning from Code Geass proper has at least one really good moment, too. Kallen, Suzaku, and C.C. predictably get the best of them and the new characters that are introduced as their antagonists are, at least, very strong. The way the middle east is portrayed in this movie is WILD problematic, but a side effect of how Code Geass tends to write its antagonists is that at the very least the antagonist characters here have actual, like, human motives, and Lelouch's opposite number Shamna is a worthy foe; he does of course beat her but it's really down to the wire. Lot of good mecha fights in here, too, with Kallen and Suzaku both getting a lot of good screentime doing what they do best. There's more CGI than I'd like (CGI can work very well in a mecha anime IF the mecha are designed for it, but Code Geass' largely were not and you can tell), but not enough that it saps the movie of its dynamism, so, full marks there.

And then there's the ending of the movie which, hmmm. Basically, indirectly, the film makes C.C. x Lelouch canon, and in the postscript they seem to have formed a Geass Master power couple (complete with a very sharp gothic lolita look for C.C. that is absolutely fabulous. Lelouch's new outfit in that sequence is pretty snazzy too). I know Suzululu was always the more popular pairing (at least I've always gotten that impression), but I think this actually mostly makes sense, and I think they look good together. OTOH, Lelouch---sorry, he's going by L.L. now---seems like the sort of person who has a lot of different people in his life without necessarily being *totally* bound to any one of them. Maybe that's my own polyamory coloring the text, but it didn't feel exclusionary to me.

Anyway, yeah. Kind of betrays the spirit of the original a little bit but as far as being essentially a fun fanservice movie it was pretty good. They're making more, I'll probably watch those, too, especially if Lelouch continues to be cunty in them.

[noahsbookhoard]

📚April 2024 Book Review (Part 3/3)📚

April final part! I am still slightly overwhelmed by the work ahead but we are getting somewhere!

Nona the Ninth (The Locked Tomb #3) by Tamsyn Muir

In a world shattering, Nona is trying her best to help: she works at the school, she helps her family, but that's not easy when you woke six months ago in a strange body without any memories and when each night you have strange dreams of a man named John and a woman with skull face paint.

In which once again, Tamsyn Muir plays her favorite game: messing with poor Harrowark's memory!

I have to admit this one was really wierd and I think I missed some stuff along the way because I am still not sure I understand what happened to Harrow. Nona being confused about everything including herself makes her point of view just as unsettling.

Nonetheless I loved watching Nona make friends and try to grasp from Pyrrha, Camilla and everyone around her what is happening to her city. The kids are really fun and makes a good balance to the adults who try not to say too much because that's how you get into trouble, which is reasonable in this setting. They really sound like elementary schoolers or early middle school kids, even when they try to act more grown up than they are (looking at you, Hot Sauce)

The dreams with John were what really ties the series wolrdbuilding together; and it is as chaotic as could be expected. I had read memes on tumblr about a wall of cow and had refused to believe it until is stared at me black on white (the print not the cows). The immense gap between where we started and where we are now is dizzying.

Once again a pointed lack of Gideon (I'm still mad about Kiriona) but Camilla and Palamedes made me really emotional. The Lyctorhood ritual always manages to screw up in the most dramatic manners because Pyrrha's story is just so sad too. Paul had better be there in Alecto the Ninth. Also what is it with SciFi characters being named Paul? This is a genuine question.

I was a bit disappointed by the pacing, but I want to put it on account of the novel being cut into two (the final installment being the long awaited Alecto the Ninth). It had what I find generally as the flaw of the second books of trilogies: it doesn't introduce much because it has been done before and it doesn't resolves much either because that's the third book job. I am really looking forward to Alecto (or at least a release date, do you hear me? I am dying out here!)

Fullmetal Alchemist by Hiromu Arakawa

The Elric brothers, Edward and Alphonse, are State Alchemists. They are among the most talented of their generation but they have a secret: years ago they tried a forbidden ritual to bring back their mother from the dead; it cost Edward an arm and a leg and Alphonse, his entire body. Now their goal is to find the Philosopher Stone so they can restore their bodies but in their quest they will uncover much deeper and secrets.

I had a manga phase in middle school and high school but lost interest (and the free time to binge animes) in the years after. It took me some times but I'm trying to catch back on series I found cool but never had the time to read or watch: I am almost caught up in One Piece and can finally say I read FullMetal Alchemist!

The setting and magic system is really nice, I love the steampunk elements. The lore is deep and full of details, the politics, religion and the history of this country with its neighbours are more contemporary than ever.

Character-wise it's really good too! Edward and Alphonse are top notch: siblings in the most siblings of way, bickering but caring about each other so much. They struggle with their loyalty and morality, they struggle with their bodies, they are so mad at their father (rightfully so). I loved the facial expressions, the funny oversimplified one especially.

Winry, Roy Mustang and the two Armstrong are also a favorite of mine, the all have really good backstories that tie in with the lore and makes them feel really alive and pop out in the universe. The two last volume, which comes back further in time really set the notion that the Elric brothers and Winry are kids who haven't seen the worst of it, yet they are dragged in whether they like it or not, or even and totally aware of that.

I'm sorry to have put it away for so long, I really enjoyed it! There's so many more classics ai haven't crossed out yet so don't hesitate to send recs!

The House in the Cerulean Sea by T J Klune

Linus Baker is a social worker with DICOMY, specifically he controls the foster homes for magical children. He is devoted to his job, certain that what he is doing is right; after all he is protecting the children! But when he is sent on a two week mission to the seaside, in one foster home more peculiar than the others, his certainty will be shaken.

TJ Klune is one of those author I wish I had discovered sooner. I have read two of his books (mostly because I am rationing myself but In the Lives of Puppets is calling me...) and they are both comfort books and went straight into the reread pile!

This novel deals with childhood, fostercare, accepting that everyone is different and that different doesn't mean dangerous, these theme could make it grave or grim but it never is: this novel is bright, joyful most of the time and hopeful when it isn't.

The characters, especially the children, are adorable. They are magical beings and very creative: a blob of slime which dreams of being a hotel groom, a were-pomeranian, a female gnome with an attitude... They have their struggles but they are full of hopes and dreams and just like Linus I wanted nothing more than preserving it. Arthur to loves them and cares for them so much, and that shows in his kindness, hi playfulness, the comfort he brings.

The love story is really cute, I love the mutual pining, love the way Arthur put the children first, always, love how Linus' veneer of professional righteousness cracks and fall of day by day. The pacing is not slow but let's you appreciate the moments, the adventures as well as the characters moment of growth especially Linus'.

This was an instant favorite and a new comfort book. It is soft, fluffy, tender and sad but never tragic and with the biggest brightest Happy Ending because, dammit, it deserved no less.

As of drafting this post (september 14th) the sequel Somewhere Beyond the Sea has been released for 4 days and I can't wait to read it!

The Duke and I (Bridgerton #1) by Julia Quinn

Daphne Bridgerton is the oldest daughter of the numerous Bridgerton family. She is nice, everyone likes her, but that's the problem; in 3 years out in society she hasn't has any marriage proposal. When the Duke of Hasting - a former schoolfriend of his brother - comes to London for the season pointedly not looking for a wife, they strike a deal: they will pretend to be courting, making Daphne look desirable and the Duke already taken. But how long will the pretends hold?

Since the first season of the Netflix show Bridgerton my mother wanted to read the books, and I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch with her by reading along. Hence me, reading romance novel, which is absolutely not my comfort zone. I read a few, I enjoy romance in novels where romance happens but I am rarely looking out for the genre. But I liked the show, I like period books, so let's give it a try!

This is something that will come a lot in my opinion of the Bridgerton novel: I vastly prefers the show to the books. I hate possessiveness in romance and this seems to be a recurring trope in this series, which isn't as strong in the TV adaptation. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The plot is catching for the first part (before the wedding, is it spoiler to say that the protagonists of a romance novel get married at the end? I think that's sort of expected) it's fun, the Bridgerton family is endearing even though we don't see them much. Simon and Daphne are sweet and the contrast between their life and especially their childhood and relationship to their family makes their dynamic interesting. The drama is over the top but I liked it that way, I love a good old pistol duel, I am not difficult to please.

However I was kinda incomfortable with the plot past their wedding: Simon refusing to conceive and letting Daphne believe "I can't have children" means "unable to" instead of "won't". Daphne forcing her way. Their extremely mature response to the whole mess... I know there wouldn't be a plot if the characters were not repressed victorians unable to talk about their feelings but at some point you have to communicate with your spouse!

Overall fun but not a crush, even though I read the whole series because I love my mom. I am thinking of doing a long review of the 8 books in one post instead of month by months but I an still not set about that. I'll have to finish the final book anyway before that.

[britcision]

this is not in regards to any laws being introduced and i say this as a queer person who was a victim of csa - do you earnestly believe websites putting their foot down when it comes to child pornography and content fetishizing horrifying abuse like rape and incest will lead to "censorship" of innocent queer content? do you believe that with your entire chest? do you not see how you are inherently correlating fetishization of abuse with content of gay people existing? and mind you, i am not talking about content that merely explores these themes, but if you jump to try and include exploration of the effects of abuse in graphic detail with content pedophiles make to get off at the thought of a child being molested and then share so other pedophiles can do the same, what does that say about you? why do you feel the need to mock victims and make straw man arguments no adult actually makes about fiction, and then thusly you are targeting the poorly formed opinions of children who are clearly hurt and terrified to mock them for not fully understanding how to properly articulate what they wish to express? do you not see how none of this helps anyone. you are probably a victim yourself, i know, don't get me wrong. i am just trying to make a point. even if you don't understand, or look within yourself, it doesn't really matter to me. i'm gonna block you and move on because i have better things to do than try to genuinely convince a person with their ao3 username in bio about how they have malformed opinions over the internet lmao.

Because the people who are pushing this law to “protect children” are literally the same ones who are getting gay books banned from schools and getting teachers fired for talking about their home lives should they dare to be queer

Because back when FOSTA/SESTA was passed with almost identical hype about “protecting children”, the only thing that happened was porn bans and queer content being deleted or buried. Including images of two men/women holding hands

Because studies have been done for decades, and these kinds of laws have never, ever, made anyone even remotely more safe; all they do is make tagging a legal liability for companies, meaning you cannot meaningfully filter out fan content that might trigger you

Because putting the onus on internet providers or hosts does not catch, slow, or even hinder the people actually abusing children - it just means that anyone who wants a queer content creator removed can just spam report all their work as csa

Because I actually care about children, and have done the research rather than just believing every single cry I hear of “for the children” - the tagline of every racist and queerphobic piece of legislation since before anyone alive today was born

Because pointing out that “queer content is all pedophilia” is an argument these people will immediately use to destroy queer content is not corroborating that opinion; it’s basic pattern recognition, and pretending that it is anything else is a suppression tactic to stop people from calling out that bullshit

If you actually care about children and want them to be safe, stop knee jerk reacting and start actually thinking. The data’s all a Google away, the studies have been done, and anyone who was even remotely engaged when SESTA/FOSTA passed should have noticed just what that legislation actually did

We have seen these kinds of bills before. We saw what happened immediately after. Criminologists around the world have studied the results: children are not safer. And I care more about that than buzzwords and temper tantrums online

But go off about “poorly formed opinions” defending the exact same game plan that happened literally a decade ago like no one has ever heard of history. Makes you look real noble, totally disguises your judgemental hissy fit as Brave Justice Warrior

[gideonthefirst]

3, 17, and i'll re-ask 16 to get whatever other one you meant!

3. What were your top five books of the year?

WAHOO! I like this one it's made me realize that I actually loved way more books this year than I was giving credit to. Let's say:

5. We Have Always Live in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Loved loved loved this one it's turned me into a big #ShirleyHead and also (along with Hill House) is responsible for some other takes I've had about books this year which I'll expound on later.

4. Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on a Tribe Called Quest by Hanif Abdurraqib. Nobody's doing it like him. Only music writer I've ever read who is actually capable of communicating the music itself just over text, loves the things he writes about so strongly that it makes you as the reader love them too, beautiful beautiful collection and piece of work. A Little Devil in America would be on here too but I'm limiting myself to one book per author to resolve both this and the Nabokov problem.

3. When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb. First book I finished in 2023 and one of my all-time favorites :] It's so smart and so lovingly written and so complex and doing such fun things with religion and history and gender and also it's a fun and excellently-paced read. Recommend without qualification

2. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. Well. It's Lolita innit

1. Stephen Florida by Gabe Habash. Would I argue that Stephen Florida is "better" than Lolita? Who knows. Depends on the day. But I did love it more than any other book I've read in recent memory. The most directly invested I've been in a story in a long time, spent huge stretches of it being so stressed out about multiple things at once that I had to pause every five pages to catch my breath. Stunning depiction of a deeply unlikable character who you still want to win an unwinnable situation. Hostile to any attempt of a reader to figure out what it "means" or is "saying". Fantastic commitment to character voice. Perfect ending that had me totally motionless and speechless for maybe ten minutes. Have never in my life been more disappointed to find out that an author hasn’t written anything else. Man. Nobody is doing it like that.

16. What was the most overhyped book of this year?

Sob really funny of Sarah to get Annihilation and you to get The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones. This wasn’t my first answer because it certainly is less broadly overhyped than Annihilation but I haven’t heard a single other person have negative feelings about it and I’m baffled by this. It fell into such a constant and repetitive trap of overexplaining things to me, both exposition and description of things that were supposed to be scary, and it drove me nuts. It being the year of Ms. Shirley Jackson certainly did not help, since she really has the perfect balance of how much to describe something to keep it scary, which isn’t super fair to Mr. Jones but it’s true regardless. Plus I thought how it treated women was really strange (derogatory), which I would have cared about much less in a better book but in this one really stuck out and weakened it further. And overall I just did not at all really understand what it was trying to do, which could be on me but I’m certainly too annoying to admit it, the pacing did not work for me at All and it just. Ugh. Didn’t like it!!

17. Did any books surprise you with how good they were?

I was kind of shocked by how much I liked Where Are Your Boys Tonight? but I have already talked about that one. So let’s go with The Assassin’s Apprentice by Robin Hobb. It wasn’t like life changing or anything but it was a much more fun read than I was expecting since last attempt I made I bounced off the narration style immediately. But despite its many many concessions to the great weaknesses of epic fantasy I still intend to read the sequel and I especially love how Hobb engages with, uh, pain and sickness and disability and how she refuses to let them fade away and seems to really understand the extent to which pain and extended sickness alter people. I’m so so so excited to get to the torture because of this

[rae-arachne]

I really think a lot of you guys don't see the larger systems at play behind events. On here its always "this thing is going to ruin everything, we have to get up and fight right now to stop this specific thing or it's all going to fall apart." Every new issue is the worst thing that has ever happened and not the result of complicated political forces that have been going on for a long time and will continue long after this specific issue stops being newsworthy. Systems thinking is often relegated to saying it's capitalism's or billionaire's fault and leaving it at that, which at this point feels like blaming the Darkness in Men's Souls, especially in coming up with effective solutions. If you kill an oil executive, there's a line of succession which places someone else in that oil executive's role of promoting climate change. And that person is probably going to be more paranoid and less willing to give up their sources of wealth and power.

However, I do think this is because a lot of you actually don't have the context for our current political systems (a lot of you are literally teenagers), so this is going to be a post where I offer suggestions rather than just bitch.

All of these books are one's that I've read and personally recommend. None of them are a complete picture but combined I think they make a good baseline for thinking about our current (usamerican) situation:

A People's History of the United States

An oldie but a goodie. Please don't go around being knowingly ignorant about history. If you think/know your usamerican history from school is lacking/biased, fix it. Please don't really on tumblr to fill in those gaps.

An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States

Along with that, there's no usamerican history without indigenous history. The process of colonization is not what it appears to be and learning about it gives us a better idea of what's standing in the way of decolonization.

The System

The Color of Law

A very legal book, but not bad. He really goes into almost every aspect of 20th century u.s. that had a hand in creating/maintaining segregation (and a handful of people who resisted it).

White Trash

A lot of you see poor white men as enemies and it shows and your leftism is worse for it. You really need some class solidarity if we're going to actually solve anything, and part of that is understanding that poor white usamericans are tired of the government intervening in their lives

Doughnut Economics

I just finished this and it's now one of my favorite books (that happens a lot). It's just a really good re-framing of economics into something that's a tool to help meet societal goals, and not just a way to make the most money.

Please add more, this certainly isn't any kind of comprehensive list, just books that I know helped me put things in perspective

[turtlemagnum]

i think my first exposure to AI art might've been this video where somebody was testing out this new, weird thing where they automatically generate a song using AI, and i couldnt help but feel that it was an indictment of the modern music scene that a goddamn computer could effortlessly and accurately replicate the generic swill that passes for popular music nowadays. didnt have a vocalist synthesized yet but those have been becoming a thing too, or so i hear.

i saw a little article about how the newer generations of gamers are turning more and more to retro games. as somebody technically belonging to the "newer generations" this felt self evident, as frankly most of the gaming i do nowadays is almost invariably in an emulator. i think that to a certain extent, most of the best mainstream games that are going to be made already have been, at least for the forseeable future of major developers with games made scientifically perfect for milking you for the most money possible rather than as an art form. im sure it's all gonna collapse in on itself eventually, from what i hear some of the older folks who lived through more than i have we've been here before. hell, pretty much anybody who cares even a bit about gaming history knows first and foremost about the gaming crash of the early 80s, mostly spurred on by the temporal equivalent of modern cheap asset flip garbage that floods most stores these days. it's hard not to feel like we're about to see a massive crash yet again, with the ones inheriting the earth being the little fellas, and of course nintendo. which, makes sense, their earliest history is of weathering shit just like this, of course they'd know when to spot enshittification and stay clear of it. i'm in no way saying that nintendo is exempt of being a shitty corporation, but i will say that from a business standpoint they're one of the only ones i know of that actually seem to understand the idea of sustainability on a broad scale. hell of a lot better than the likes of activision, thats for damn sure. but back to what i was actually trying to get at before i adhd tangent'd, i think it makes a lot of sense that when the majority of the shit being put on the market is corporatist, design by comittee, prefab trash with aggressive monetization and a consistent attitude of fixing any problems in patches, it makes a hell of a lot of sense that we'd go back to our roots. NES mario is the same as its ever been, has been for over 30 years, and will be in another 30. you dont gotta worry about them patching it to make it actually function as advertised, or patching it from being something you enjoyed into something you hate, or having fomo marketing based microtransaction bullshit. the most that's gonna change is that every now and again, nintendo will make the only version they give not have flashing lights for epileptic folks, or patch out mike tyson because he sucks and replace him with a white guy, and the white guy's less hard but thats ok because it's still pretty hard, and either way it's a good game, fun, and you can still find the original on rom sites and also probably ebay if you dont have a vpn but do have a disposable income, so dont worry about it. getting sidetracked again, ANYWAYS-

what i wanted to get at is that i wonder if we're gonna see a similar resurgence in other old kinds of media just like, in general, for the mainstream. like why watch the 22nd reboot of ghost busters when the originals are right there. king crimson's still good, why dont you listen to them instead of bemoaning how your new favs are problematic, even though i dont think fripp can reclaim the fag slur (im gay, i can it's fine). i've recently been watching fist of the north star and original dragon ball, ilike the m. there are books. lots of those, actually,. you can read em! if you have the attention span. i honestly think we might be seeing more and more of this, now that im looking out for it. like i see just like, random people mention how much they like prog rock or 1930s dracula. relatively normals talk about how they like lemon demon these days. those stupid aestheticized classic anime accounts on twitter get sososo many likes. can you tell im sleep deprived writing this? i can, and im writing thjis. im writing this SO HARD. send poast.

[rustandruin]

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

Wednesday, 29 March, 2023

Where to begin?

What a thrill it was to return to this world again. I’d been a bit hesitant because given the state of the world at large, I really didn’t feel like exploring the ways in which a figure like Snow justified himself into the version of him Hunger Games fans are most familiar with. To her credit, Collins — an tremendously skilled and deft writer — was able to make Snow a sympathetic enough character that you’re willing to ride out a whole novel with. Not that it absolved him of his sins. Far from it, in fact.

Snow is a complicated character who finds himself in the kind of circumstances the most people will empathise with or relate to. As a result you find yourself rooting for him somewhat, along with a few other more noble characters. This is an excellent choice because it really highlights several aspects about Snow, specifically, his inability to imagine a world unlike the one he lives in. And it becomes a recurring theme throughout the book, because, I think, Collins has very cleverly observed that a lot of the people who are in power and display the kind of casual cruelty also have a lack of imagination. Or what’s worse, they fear anything too different and seek to snuff it out. As Snow observes within the novel: it’s all about control.

But let’s back it up a bit. The story, which picks up during the now-10th annual Hunger Games, sees the monstrosity in its nascent stages, long before it becomes the mega behemoth that Katniss and Peeta go on to compete in. As a result we see how Snow had a hand in helping shape the games into what they become and just how much more depressing and barbaric the games ever were — which is really saying something. This is one of the smarter choices of Collins. Most readers will already be familiar with the games. This means she not only now has the space to introduce them again in this new form, without having to rehash either Katniss’ story or any of the other victors’ tales from Catching Fire, while also still putting us through a whole terrible competition, opening this world and it’s history up wider. (As someone who wants an anthology set within this world, this truly thrilled me.)

As with the Hunger Games series, Collins writing is relentless and addictive. What started as a quick skim through the first chapters ended with me having finished this book a few days later. Honestly, what is in these words??? They have to be laced with something… or maybe it’s that almost every chapter ends on a cliffhanger or reveal that propels you to the next as she plays with your expectations. It was just a joy to be able to experience that again. Again, I must stress that she is a master.

This, of course, makes her themes really resonate too. For me, it was the power that art and music and storytelling can have in our lives. They give us a chance to imagine a different, better world and to communicate that vision to others in the hopes of helping achieve it. There are several instances where we see Snow struggle with this, mentally rejecting any possibility of a world free from the Capitol or the Games. It’s more sad than anything else, and it’s a choice made deliberately because it sets him up for the man he is to become. He understands power and exerting control, but never what it might be to simply live and thrive without having to make these tough choices.

Snow may land on top within the novel and wishing his future, but as Collins keeps asking within the book: at what cost? What good is living without love? What good is an existence without our humanity.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️