#just dont be an imperialist dick about it :))

[hirkyy]

i get why the ukrainian government is dickriding the west so hard right now (by god there are no other allies and no choice if we dont want our country wiped off the map) but holy shit this is still so embarassing to see. eastern europe needs to develop and get on an independent progressive developmental track SO bad, why are we sandwiched between western and russian imperialist colonial powers and forced to pick which dick we want in our mouth, this is hell.

some of my fellow ukrainians need to develop some dignity and a backbone also, there was a ukrainian cultural rebirth (even setting aside an actual literal revolution) in the past 10 years or so after being violently oppressed for centuries and you'd rather just get assimilated into the west instead? the west does not give a shit about us beyond whatever aligns with their personal political agenda and we just have to keep praying they might incidentally help stop an invasion and a genocide while they're at their bullshit, since when does the US care about eastern europeans being slaughtered?

[purple-worm]

Why are there so many celebs in the west that are huge Israel supporters? I’m talking people that aren’t even Israeli or Jewish. And wasn’t there this thing where Mark Ruffalo supported Palestine but then was forced to delete his tweet and tweet in support of Israel? Why is Hollywood dick riding Israel so hard

ahhh mostly just proof that US propaganda works well. US propaganda relies hard on keeping their public ill-informed about the atrocities they commit, historically painting the wars in middle east as necessities to fight the 'evils' of socialism or 'terrorism'. Generating islamophobia works very in the favor of that. A lot of celebrities speaking up are trying to either: 1. play both sides by condemning hamas and israel 2. openly support israel because it takes one infographic that says "i stand w israel". really, the simplest thing to do if you've never read anything about it but have to say something bc.. why not i guess. or theyre zionists. I dont really know anything about the mark ruffalo thing. but most celebrities that fall in the first category are afraid of being labelled as anti-semites. people in my inbox have done the same, and im a nobody on tumblr. anyone with basic critical thinking knows anti-semitism is different from anti-zionism, and it's worse because confusing both means not taking either of them seriously. anti-semitism deserves to be talked about as an issue of its own, not in the context of zionism. but US propaganda means that if people see anti-semitism being thrown around, people are afraid to talk about what the actual issue at hand is. if people support palestinians first, it is immediately accused as support of Hamas, an islamist militant organization (again, a violent image, easy to breed because of islamophobia). people dont want to associate themselves with either. nobody wants to fucking support hamas. but having hamas as an opponent is GREAT for PR because the actual problem gets thrown under the rug. which is that: the only people who can DO anything about this for it to REALLY end once and for all is : Israel, and the USA. which responsibility the USA is hellbent on absolving itself of. because the occupation of palestine is very much in the imperialist interest of the west. if hamas ends this today, israeli occupation of palestine will still continue. the conflict has no resolution. but in the eyes of western propaganda, the issue has never been the killing of the people of falastine. it's just that this time, israelis die too. so now suddenly people want to Say Something. no one batted an eye for the past 16 years tho. no celebrity wants to admit publicly that their country is the shittiest, and is actually responsible for the killings of the civilians that they're telling us theyre weeping for. either because they cant think it because of their own brainwashing, or PR. americans hate it when america gets shit talked. even when it absolutely fucking deserves it. i mean, that's true about all imperialist countries.

it sucks that it works very well for the west in terms of public perception. because people being vocal about it miss out on calling out the USA, instead going "owow we hate hamas yeahh israel bad toooo.. boohoo BOTH SIDES." what both sides if only one side can actually resolve this... just now i saw AOC distance herself from the protests at times sqaure. im not sure what actually went down there, but i saw some govt folks condemning it for being extremist. but welp. anything that talks about liberation of palestine is painted as being anti-semetic and pro-hamas. not saying these folks dont exist. just that US propaganda doesnt let people make a clear distinction.

[eurydices-ghost]

dont ever let anyone give you shit for sexualizing that old man. i get it. i had to research a bunch about 1960s american politics and JFK specifically (for context, im not american) for a project im working on and for the past few months i havent been able to share anything from my discord groupchat because my two nicknames have been john f "manslut" kennedy and "jfk's long ass coochie bones" . i hate that man just as i hate every other imperialist piece of shit that has been a US president but its funny to slutshame him . im too chicken to reveal who i am but we are kindred spirits

jfk did have long ass coochie bones tbh. sometimes the war criminals are hot. nixon is decidedly not hot however im just saying the image of masculine bravado he projected seems like it could indicate that he was repressing his submissiveness. why do u think they called him “tricky dick”

anyway thank u anonymous much love <3

[nezoriy]

life in kyiv is pretty much back to normal, at least on the surface. kinda feels like lockdown times. no luxuries like cinemas or mcdonalds (i really miss junk food at this point), but also nothing which screams hey we're at war. you know, except for alcohol being sold only from 11am to 4 pm. and an obligatory couple of air raid sirens a day but who cares about them anymore amirite

last week i got to see my best friend and even went to her place (and to her parents who fed me borshtsh and salo) to boryspil, the satellite city which actual fighting haven't touched thankfully. the city administration building is all barricaded. they have this red signs with sculls and bones near it "warning, mines" - they're ours.

i landed two jobs, as a freelance writer (in english, for a blog of an architectural CGI company, pays really well for the amount of work i'm actually doing, still procrastinate as hell) and kinda as an art teacher. it's an art studio i first went to in 2015 when i only started learning academic drawing. and then i got my aforementioned best friend a job as an administrator there. and now she just kinda shoved me into teaching classes couple of days a week bc not one of the actual qualified art teachers who work there are back in kyiv now. (and i'm really really unqualified in academic drawing and even less so in oil painting, but my friend haven't had any income all these two months bc the studio obviously wasn't working so now we're just trying to keep things afloat with the couple of students which are willing to attend. some of them are preparing to enrol art schools this year. in kyiv. like yeah good luck with that. i'm so glad im both an adult and dropped out of my art school before the war)

that day i went to boryspil with my best friend i had too much to drink and broke out crying for like the third time since the war started bc part of me (a large part) doesn't want to be an Ukrainian Artist or rebuild the country or any other patriotic bullshit, i just want to live normal life, get a proper salary, transition, get a wife, you know. the proper old europe stuff yall arent valuing near fucking enough. but if i stay here it'll never be just normal, and if i emigrate it'll also never be normal, just in other ways. yeah, it's not fun being a melancholic with a looong history of depression in the times of war. while some people just Do stuff, i still tend to overthink. although to be honest less than i normally did in depressive episodes. 

you know, depression actually prepares you quite well for the war: you're way too familiar with this feeling that everything is wrong and nothing will be okay ever again and still you have to live somehow, and you do live somehow, it's just that this time this feeling Nothing Will Be Okay Ever Again is not subjective, it's a thing your whole generation in this country is subjected to. yeah.

ughh i wish i had a happier note to end this rant with?

well i'm drawing and painting quite a lot and it still brings me joy and i have this les mis project im doing and i actually plan to do more traditional paintings and start trying to build up my portfolio and maybe hit some open calls and shit to become A Proper Artist and that's a happier note for me.

[neotrances]

it's so funny because grime alienated literally her entire fanbase by dating musk because she was supposed to be anti capitalist and imperialist or something and she immediately pulled a u turn for some mediocre dick and started defending him for years 😂 now she's trying to make people forget that??!! how can she be so transparent in not actually caring about really any sort of political anything like how are you gonna so loudly proclaim that your beliefs are only to make you seem edgy and you'll betray them in a heartbeat... like GIRL YOU HAD A WHOLE ASS BABY WITH HIM... you're gonna need a little more than some marx to make people forget that. how humiliating literally. i dont even listen to her music i just love drama

i mean even before that she’s been a rich white girl she’s always. even irritating to me and no amount of faux activism from someone born into wealth means anything to me

[tigerdrop]

hey i just wanna say the long posts genuinely make my day. also can you talk more about gordon freeman character because the way you write him makes me quake in my gay little boots

i would love to talk about gordon freeman. thank u for the opportunity

the first thing i need to communicate about gordon is that this dude sucks. and i say this in the fondest way possible. he is a bitch from the moment he drops into the world until the moment he goes out. if you dont believe me, give it another watch! gordons mouthy and rude for no real reason, at least so far as “being a regular dude on his way into work” goes, and this dude goes around calling his coworkers names with zero provocation. (of course, we all know that the reason is because its a funny guy improv stream that borrows a bit from freemans mind, but im talkin from a character sense.)

but my argument isnt just that gordon freeman sucks. its that he sucks in a very specific way that i find insanely endearing. i love this dude. i love to hate him. hes awful in a very mundane sense - weve all known a guy like this, at least if youve spent too much time online - and its cathartic to watch him suffer because of it.

gordons a smart guy. as written, hes gotta be - hes a recent MIT grad, on his way to work at a top-secret research facility to do weird shit with crystals and theoretical physics. but the thing about smart guys is that theyre often......selectively intelligent. we can see this in the way that he has a hard time navigating his surroundings, and needs the science crew to guide him through it and keep him alive.

this is one of those things that is a natural consequence of somebody going through the game for the first time, but that i am interpreting as “gordon is kind of stupid sometimes”. its uncharitable but its not like he doesnt deserve it. he likes to boss around the crew as if he knows what hes doing, when he often very much does not, and is fond of demeaning their intelligence. hes real bad about this with tommy in particular, treating him like hes a kid whos playing at being a scientist when tommy is actually a decade older than him. all i am saying is that gordon ought to stay humble. hes awful cocky when he perceives himself as better than others.

which, i think, tracks with how cocky he gets when he gives up on the whole “well-meaning citizen” thing and just unloads bullets into people. he puts up a front of being a Nice Guy, you know, just some dude caught in a bad situation who doesnt like seeing his companions obliterate every NPC they come across, but that doesnt stop him from cackling like a fucking madman and mowing down aliens (and soldiers) every once in awhile. when he stops seeing himself as helpless and starts seeing himself as the one in control, the gloves come off. he gets mean. and i think thats very sexy of him

this, among other things, is why i am insistent that gordon freeman is a control freak. he desperately wants to be in control of the situation at all times, shepherding around the science crew primarily by bitching at them, but its of limited success. its futile. sisyphean. tommy, coomer, bubby, and benrey exist almost to torment him with exactly the thing that would make him suffer the most: a gaggle of people running around causing problems for him, but he cant go anywhere without them b/c hes reliant on them to make it out alive.

its perpetual suffering, and its cathartic to watch. and funny, too. and if youre a little weirdo like me, its very, very enjoyable. how twisted up he gets when nobodys listening to him! how sweaty and frazzled he must look. its cute, and it also makes me want to reach through the screen and shake him and tell him to just be a little nicer. he wants control but he doesnt know how to attain it, he doesnt know how to play nice like a real leader. i think its a neat contrast to gordon freeman as we know him in HL2, where he literally is the leader of the resistance and has to live up to it. this is gordon freeman but if he was moe through helplessness.

“helpless” is, i think, a great way to describe him. a core bit of imagery in half life is this sense of railroadedness and helplessness, with gordon freeman being put into play like a chess piece and having no choice but to move forward. and this iteration of gordon leans into that by being totally dependent on the science crew in order to make progress and Not Die. and hes also subject to the whims of benrey, local eldritch weirdo who has basically made it his life mission to fuck with gordon.

gordons anxieties dont help with that. if he wasnt so fun to stress out and fuck with, the science crew probably wouldnt do it so much! too bad for him that they like fucking with him so much that he was driven into a panic attack (multiple times, even, depending on your interpretation). hes got that real neurotic mindset. always worrying about shit that could go wrong, and attempting to exert control over his surroundings in an effort to control the anxiety.

IMO the real way to nail the Neurotic Gordon Freeman Experience is to combine the ever-present anxiety with his pervasive sense of self-loathing. he openly states that he has no friends and nobody seems to like him, and to that, i really gotta say, i wonder why. he doesnt really seem to factor in that hes kind of a bitch, and has way too high an estimation of his own intelligence relative to everybody elses. its really one of the worst ways to be: aware that people dont like you, but unaware of exactly why. if he was like, 10% nicer, he probably wouldnt have had half as many issues getting through black mesa, but also, its funny to see him squawking his way through the game. so, you know.

its stuff like that that makes me headcanon him as a dude with low self-esteem in general. convinced that hes not likable, not attractive, out of his element......impostor syndrome, except that theres some truth to it. this is a guy who truly does not realize how good he has it: he really is just an average shitty dude, and yet, somehow, benrey took a shine to him. some poor motherfucker out there actually likes him and wants to suck his dick. thats dedication

also, i keep bringing up “repression” when i talk about gordon. and hopefully, what ive been talking about helps explain why. he has a strong desire to be a regular dude, not just murdering his way through black mesa, but if hes pushed hard enough he leans into it. gets bossy. picks up a cigar off a dead soldier and takes a long drag, before smacking forzen around with a pistol and ordering him around. gordon freeman is a regular, kind of anxious guy who likes competitive swimming and streaming on justin.tv and making anime references, and he is also a guy who takes a filthy pleasure in making a trained soldier his bitch. and i didnt make up any of this shit - this is purestrain canon, baby. this is a guy with problems

to me, this screams the kind of guy who represses a lot of shit b/c he doesnt feel like its morally decent. you run into this guy a lot online: the wokeboy, the online leftist, the guy who spends too much time on social media websites. (like reddit. i think he would actively use reddit and he would never get any appreciable amount of karma but he never stops posting. its sisyphean! cathartic.) from the way he talks about “bootboys”, i think it tracks. he knows about imperialism, he knows about feminism, but at the end of the day hes your average american white dude who struggles with internalizing it.

a lot of those dudes struggle with sex and gender issues. (dont we all.) when youre trying to be a Good Person(tm), you spend a lot of time thinking about your own relationship to sex and kink and all that shit. and i maintain that a too-online dude who buries a lot of his control freak tendencies would also try to bury a lot of weird sexual shit in an attempt to seem Normal and Well-Adjusted and not like a little freak. i justify this by the sheer number of times gordon blurts out weird sex shit as a joke. there are only two outcomes to making that many piss jokes: either youre secretly a piss guy, or you lathe-of-heaven yourself into becoming one. i will stand by this

ive talked a lot about why this dude sucks. now, let me talk to you about what makes gordon so much fun to write. first things first: hes funny! a subjective evaluation, yeah, but both in- and out-of-character, hes aiming to be funny. and being the straight man to everybody else plays into that whole “helplessness” thing.

secondly: underneath it all, there is a good dude under there. gordon worries when his companions get hurt, he tries to clean them off and patch them up, and hes got his lil leftist heart in the right place. you could even read a lot of his bossy, bitchy demeanor as him wanting to make sure everyone gets out okay and doesnt hurt themselves. when it comes to animals and anti-imperialist sentiment, gordons a pretty good guy.

hes the kind of guy who would probably see a dog on the street and get excited and play with it, but would get really prickly about the correct way to put dishes in the dishwasher. control freak tendencies.

finally, subjecting such a miserable, tormented guy to even more psychological anguish is really, really fun. you feel a little bad for him, but he kind of deserves it. so many problems he goes through are purely of his own making, and if gordon would just relax and quit trying to hard to maintain control - of himself, of the people around him - and own up to having Problems and Issues, he would be a happier guy. but thats why its fun to bend him until he breaks. being a little control freak myself, putting gordon freeman thru psychosexual torment is cathartic.

when it comes to writing his thought processes, the fact that he is canonically some kind of psychotic (yes, i am boldly claiming this. suck me) and i am also canonically some kind of psychotic makes it easier to write what i think his thought processes are. i just give him my brain issues of “getting lost in thought” and “overthinking fucking everything”. a touch of paranoia helps. even if i dont explicitly label him as schizophrenic please know that i am writing him as a paranoid little nutcase at all times because, uh, you write what you know.

paranoid. anxious. of the mindset that everyones out to get him (which isnt helpful when everyone is out to get him). repressed and deeply Not Normal but trying so very fucking hard to be normal and well-adjusted. a control freak with sadistic tendencies who also really, really likes getting bullied by his best frenemy. a hapless little nerd who sounds really cute when his voice starts to break from nerves. and, most importantly, a dumb jock. do not ever forget this.

thats gordon freeman, babey. hope that helps

[nightcoremoon]

weird opinion but christians aren't religious.

ok so like, jews generally follow god's rules, muslims follow allah's rules, hindus probably follow their gods rules, so on and so forth. and overall they do it out of faith; they do it because they want to honor the deity who loves them rather than because society forces them to.

granted the zionists and the radical extremists and the zealots do exist but as loud minorities and thus are statistical outliers & don't matter.

christians are... a different breed.

"if you aren't x branch and dont obey y rules you'll go to hell so we'll fucking murder you" is pretty much the main driving force behind a significant portion of christianity in history. the catholics, the protestants, the orthodoxy, all are built on a foundation of fear, anger, and hatred. it's shaped the way society developed; in the 4 nations that did the most genocidal imperialist colonialism- England, France, Spain, and Italy- a combination of convenient coastal locations, naval prowess, military tendency, christianity, and ultranationalism lead them down a path of missionaries, holding bibles in one hand and bloodstained knives in the other. the religion is inseparable from the culture and inseparable from the horrible things done in the name of their god, and the resulting cancers of society we feel today from the campaigns of slaughter. xenophobia. capitalism. savage barbarism via sensationalized capitol punishment. misogyny. queerphobia. gender fascism. classism. racism. all of these issues in the "civilized world" stem predominantly from those four nations and the disease ridden pestilent filth some call pilgrims.

here's something interesting:

there are less than 1 million rastafari in the world.

there are less than 5 million shinto in the world.

there are less than 25 million jews in the world.

there are less than 30 million sikhs in the world.

there are roughly 100 million african cultural religious adherents in the world.

there are less than 400 million chinese cultural religious adherents in the world.

there are about 500 million buddhists in the world.

there are about 1.1 billion hindus in the world.

there are about 1.2 billion nonreligious people in the world.

there are 1.6 billion muslims in the world.

and one final statistic

there are over 2.1 billion christians in the world.

the jewish count is a highball, rounded up, and includes several different definitions of jewish including people who are only one quarter. so for every single person who is even remotely jewish, there are more than 8 christians. for every hindu, there are 4 christians. for every atheist, agnostic, or "other", 2 christians. this frightening statistic should set off warning bells for everyone who is involved in a discussion about religion. and anyone who knows BASIC world history and can correlate data at all can probably piece together what I'm putting down.

now, I may be slightly biased here considering my eclectic religious beliefs. now, I personally believe that there is some primary force of energy that may or may not manifest itself as a humanoid being, that engineered the most basic laws of physics in the universe: atomic magnetism. as can be inferred by planck's constant and its implications, our universe is digital, written in binary. an electron either moves or doesn't move. there are no other options. so I genuinely believe in some form of intelligent design; whether it's a bearded guy on a cloud, some dude with six arms and an elephant for a face, just a big swirling pool of ectoplasm, or a big ol' plate of spaghetti and meatballs, something is out there that we are physically incapable of contacting from our plane of existence, just as a drawing on a piece of paper cannot reach out to interact with the world: a gif will move on its own but it will never acknowledge our existence, even if it could think by itself. and all the different mythologies of the world- egyptian, greek, norse, shinto, whatever- very well could be the agents of that unknown "god". perhaps anubis, ra, and bastet are just angels with animal heads that all of the peoples of ancient egypt saw and were like oh I guess this must be a god. maybe zeus and loki were the same person with a magic dick who fucked a bunch of animals in both greece and the scandinavian countries and spawned all of the horrible half-animal monstrosities that, idk, made vishnu think "well I have to kill that" and caused the biblical flood or something. maybe the jewish god gifted wisdom to siddhartha for sitting under a fig tree for 6 years through the angel pomona [roman goddess of fruit, had to google that one], so buddha gets his wisdom from demeter and is in nirvana right now right a step up from hades on yggdrasil the world tree keeping an eye on his charge persephone. any theory could theoretically be true but we ants of humans will never fucking know because we can't just point a telescope at the magellanic clouds and say "look, there's amaterasu with russell's teapot, and she's having tea with... *rubs eyes* lemmy kilmister??? wow I guess gods are real after all!" it's impossible to know the secrets of our universe because of the very restrictive nature of the universe itself. is it a circle? is it a donut? WE DONT FUCKIN KNOW.

we cannot know what religion is truthful.

""anyone who says that any one religion is more or less true than any other is a fucking moron, and if they're suggesting that White Western European Colonial Imperialist Protestantism is the one true faith, they're probably a fucking racist colonizer who beats his wife/sister and burns gays at the stake. and considering how that exact demographic is typically the one that murdered people for not converting to their religion, I don't think they have the intellectual non-deranged ability to make those logical connections.

again, I'm not saying that there AREN'T a lot of people of every religion who are evil assholes who contributed to mass genocide. israelites killed palestinians. shiites killed sunnis. hutus killed tutsis. danes killed geats. turks killed armenians. the ottoman empire has as much blood on its hands as the holy roman empire. germans who called themselves aryans but weren't actually aryan killed jews. but all of these tragedies were isolated incidents rather than repeated patterns over the course of two thousand years. not like christianity was and is.

just look at the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, South Africa, Australia, & India's British Raj. Britain, France, Spain, and Italy, by extension Protestantism and Catholicism, are the shared factor between the long and bloody history fraught with massacring indigenous populations who wouldn't convert religions. native americans, indigenous canadians, latin americans but predominantly mexicans, the eastern chinese, coastal africans, aborigine aussies, indians- coastal coastal coastal. true the western chinese and the mongols/hunnu and xinjiang muslims haven't exactly been on civil terms and the silk road has always been a battleground and the middle east was already tenuous before murrica bombed them for oil but those happened in such a spread out area among asia which is FUCKING HUGE, MIND YOU! but also that's three high traffic places with massive diversity, it's human nature to have conflict, but not nearly to the same level as all of the shit christianity has done to the world. it's impossible to separate the religion from the cultures; victorian england without protestantism is just dirty people who die at 15 from having their 3rd child. italy without the catholicism is just grass and cheese. france and spain without religion are just kingdoms that fought wars with england for forever and now just make food that's one part delicious and three parts horrifying. religion is directly responsible for a significant portion of the evils those countries committed. one religion in particular.

they don't practice religion the same way as the rest do. they aren't faithful to their god. they don't follow his rules out of love but out of fear. they execute dissenters without a second thought, heresy they cry. they execute women and little girls for being free thinking or having sickness associated with mercury poisoning in the water, witch they cry. they slaughter men women and kids alike in the name of cramming their beliefs down the natives throats, we're chasing out the snakes they cry, we're bringing god to your godless people they cry, we're just civilizing you they cry. they shit in the streets and proudly display rotting corpses and leave the impoverished disabled and starving to die alone and whip their slaves and rape teenage girls and scrap in the streets while sopping wet with spilled ale over insignificant insults and stab people to death in the night and never even fucking BATHE, and they have the nerve to say the natives were uncivilized. the nerve. because hey. they read a magic book they stole from a culture who stole from another culture who stole from another culture, mistranslating each time from hebrew to greek to italian to english, and they think they're better because their skin is white.

christians never evolved. their mentalities have stayed the same. all thatms advanced has been technology. that's it. they're still the same evil disgusting degenerate bastards they always were. they just have the money they stole to buy stained glass windows, rosary beads, giant tacky metal statues, bigass robes, leather, and printing presses. and as time passed they used the money they continued to steal to buy cars and websites and radio stations and commit felony tax evasion and secretly molest children and line the pockets of the politicians.

all of their holidays are stolen from pagans anyway.

so fuck christmas. fuck easter. fuck lent. fuck the golden calf christian holidays that the tiny minded fragile snowflake conservatives lose their collective shit over because the pandemic response common sense stipulations won't let them buy the shit they can't afford with money they shouldn't have for people they don't even LIKE, all in the name of tradition, tradition! the rituals that worship something so much worse than satan or baphomet or pan or whatever: the dollar. they buy all the new shiny shit they can, at the expense of the chinese kids that the corporate pigs outsource to, buy the pine trees and the coca cola vunderbar and the fake mint corn syrup Js and watch the same shitty cookie cutter white supremacist hallmark fash movies and stuff their kids full of enough sugar to go into a goddamn coma when the african slaves who pick the cocoa beans will never get to know what actually being a kid will ever feel like because they're gonna die from falling into a combine harvester and be eternally forgotten to history and no christian will ever give a shit because they don't fucking care about what they don't see on their safe space news or hear on their safe space radio or read on their safe space social media. they think their worst sin is eating cheeseburgers so instead they'll go eat a mcchicken or chick fil a or an arby's chicken sandwich instead but not at popeyes because "that place is sketchy" and by that they mean they don't wanna eat where black people eat, that's why cracker barrel was so popular for so many white christians for so long because it had racially segregated seating until barely 20 years ago.

they don't love jesus. they love a paper doll they shove into their back pockets until every other sunday where they go to a fucking mall with a baptism waterslide and raise their hands like a bunch of dumbass weirdos and away to adult contemporary indie schlock with the word jesus pasted into a boring-ass hetero romance song, pat themselves on the back, then go to starbucks to scream slurs and misgenderings at 14 year old starbucks baristas who give them a cappamochalattechino instead of a fucking carmamochalattechino because you mumbled under the mask you didn't even fucking cover your nose with because you don't give a shit about the virus beyond how it inconveniences you.

they are horrible people who pretend to be good. until you suggest the slightest infinitely small inconvenience to them that would alter their holiday plans even the littlest smidge. then they would kill you if not for the police. don't get me started on them because you know by now what I'd say about those fuckers. but they'll gladly wear shirts about how they'll kill you. how they'll go back 200 years. how they'll murder you and watch you slowly suffer because their primate brains shoot a million endorphins when they watch things die by their hands because they never evolved a sense of empathy, compassion, or morality beyond how wearing a cross necklace will remove any of the consequences they will face in their afterlife.

they are horrible people who pretend to be good. unless you're gay or black or trans or Not Christian™ or mexican or disagree with them about politics economics sociology science technology music or movies. assimilate or die. assimilate or die. assimilate or die.

they don't deserve special treatment for their false idols.

they aren't better than jews or muslims.

they're worse.

so much worse.

and they should be stopped.""

-Nightingale Quietioca

save as draft arch draft bookmark draft where did I put my keys contra code kontra kode I need to remember this and copy it buzzwords keywords find it later please god tumblr don't bork on me this is good stream of consciousness repackage repackage change the words this is a great character study if I do say so myself thanks 3am me you're welcome 3am me

[calangkoh]

Your beautiful salt post with "but they don't have Ling" reminded me of how shocked I was on my Brotherhood rewatch about Olivia, I remembered her being hidden goldheart and badass, but nope! She was just a dick to Alex (just ripping his letter without reading and sounding serious in calling him a coward) to Al (telling her to shut up basically because he's not military) and that's just her introduction! Such a dick.

There are parts to her i really like and appreciate, but i cant stand the whole “‘my brother is a coward for refusing to participate in genocide” lmao. I like how she’s a good leader who looks after her men and i like that she’s tough. I even like that she’s mean. I like when female characters can be “mean” and still likable. But like you said, i have problems with it going too far. A character can be a jerk with a heart of gold, and i see it in how she protects her men, but i dont see it in how she regards her brother and her loyalty to a genocidal war mongering military (if she didnt find out it was all the work of monsters running the government, and it was just a normal, non supernatural imperialistic country, she wouldnt do anything to stop it. she seems to support the country being “strong” and acquiring land and keeping power and control). Because of that, i dont get why people adore her so much, other than her being drop dead gorgeous.

[gizkasparadise]

kdrama rec/review: bridal mask

KDRAMA AND CDRAMA MASTER LIST OF REVIEWS

Series: bridal mask / gaksital Episodes: 28 Genres: historical, action, drama, romance, tragedy, people screaming each others’ names in all capital letters 2006 anime style Spoilers in the Rec: im going to try to avoid them. im really, really going to try. but no guarantees If You Like, You’ll Like: zorro, robin hood, v for vendetta, chicago typewriter, vigilante shit, kate beaton comics on My Nemesis, mr sunshine, watching people become progressively unhinged, bad guys that become good guys, good guys that become bad guys, Parallel Narratives, cat and mouse games but they’re both cats, 2010 hair in a 1930s world, people in a room together internally thinking does he know that i know that he knows?

Rank: 9.5/10

GAKSITALLLLLLLLLLLLLL PREMISE

set during the japanese occupation of korea in the 1930s, bridal mask centers on lee kangto, an absolute shit weasel. like. good god, what an asshole. anyways.

kangto is a korean police officer who is employed by the japanese--meaning he’s essentially a rat/turncoat to his own people and supporting their colonization and abuse of power. it’s especially fucked up because kangto’s older brother was tortured so much by japanese police officers that he’s essentially lost his mind. people hate kangto. straight up hate him. 

as a lieutenant in the imperial police, kangto’s been working to catch members of the korean resistance movement, but left and right he’s been thwarted by...

THE BRIDAL MASK (gaksital in korean)

a mysterious figure who wears a mask resembling a korean bride’s traditional makeup. bridal mask is essentially zorro, fucking up shit left and right and generally making kangto lose his shit. he makes it his goal to be the one to apprehend and arrest this mysterious figure. seems straightforward, but as kangto’s search for the bridal mask continues, and the people around him are drawn into the hunt, it’s clear that shit’s not what it seems.

MAIN CHARACTERS

lee kangto/sato hiroshi/lee young

a korean man who works for the japanese as a police officer. 0% approval rating from the koreans and maybe a 5% approval rating from the japanese. kangto’s initial goals for joining the police force were to help his family get out of poverty, but his morality’s been cha-cha sliding progressively darker the longer he works for the police force. he becomes obsessed with catching the bridal mask and everyone would like him to really quit being an asshole but he will not.

catch phrase is bingo! takes over the nightclub stage when he’s feeling swaggy. would shoot the love interest. shoots pretty much anyone wearing a mask, really, then yells about it

oh mok dan / mild spoiler: esther / spoiler: boon yi

a patriotic korean woman associated with the independence army, mok dan commits acts of subterfuge and gathers intel against the japanese forces. her day job is a performer at a circus, where she lives and hides out from japanese officials whenever shit goes awry. when lee kangto sees her getting saved by bridal mask, he assumes she’s the bridal mask’s lover and therefore intends to use mok dan as The Bait. mild spoilers it turns out she was once childhood friends with lee kangto’s best friend, kimura shunji 

wears many amazing suits. has no problem with spitting or shooting. fears no boxes. can take a punch or 5. basically my dream girl it’s fine

kimura shunji

a japanese man and kangto’s best friend. coming from a family of influential, imperialist asshole samurai cops, shunji is the black sheep as he works as a music teacher for korean children, and is generally against the corruption and abuse of power when he sees it. basically the only one kangto’s never a straight up asshole to, including his family. the two practice what appears to be kendo together (i know jack shit about martial arts), and shunji’s a capable fighter. my default is to assume shunji is everyone’s favorite character, because he is my favorite character :’D, but if not i think he’s definitely the most compelling in the series.

wears bowties when he wants to dress to impress. rides bicycles both happily and tragically. has a thing for a childhood friend who saved his nanny. will give you a ride home after you’ve been tortured. save this man from his family. 

ueno rie/ra ra/ spoiler: chae hong joo

a korean woman from a rich family that was murdered by the independence army who later became a gisaeng. as a gisaeng, she crosses paths with a very important japanese man who later adopts her into his family. because the japanese police keep fucking up the apprehension of bridal mask, her adoptive father calls her to korea from japan in order to kill the vigilante

stealth fave?! will step all over you and makes grown men cry. hyper competent and hardcore. bridal mask’s best dressed (try again with the bow ties next year, shunji). men are weak

the bridal mask GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the mysterious figure either ruining or making everyone’s day. dramatic horse escapes. dramatic rescues. generally just drama. symbolically destroys japanese flags/insignia a lot. GAKSITAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOME SUPPORT CHARACTERS SELECTED BY HOW MUCH THEY ARE MY FAVORITES 

mok damsari

mok dan’s father and a general in the independence army. v good at being rescued dramatically. knows how to make an exit and also bombs. dispenses life wisdom when he’s got free time in between rounds of being torture

lee kang san

kang to’s older brother, who joined the independence army and was tortured by the japanese police to the extent that he’s now lost his mind/severely mentally ill. dude just needs a hug or 20 and to never chase after a car ever, ever again because it makes me sad.

katsuyama jun

ueno rie’s bodyguard, which is amusing to me because she can clearly kill anyone she needs to, so it’s kind of like he’s a butler as well. stoic af, says maybe 20 lines in the entire series, but look, he’s cool

i dont like any of the japanese police officers because they’re dicks so they don’t get a feature :| 

Drawbacks

the production value is something you gotta settle into LOL. there’s the cheesy martial arts sound effects, sometimes it skews a little narmy, but once you get used to it and once the show gets progressively darker (and how) you adjust and then don’t notice it

my main #1 beef: mok dan starts to disappear in the last fourth of the series. like she’s still there, but she’s doing bullshit like making soup and just sitting at a table with nothing to say. as a character that’s so important in the first half, it’s severely disappointing the route that her narrative takes toward the end/she does become something of a satellite character even though i still love her

there are main character deaths--more than one. some people would say the ending is bittersweet but to me i think it’s straight-up sad (which is fine with me/appropriate for the story, i just know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea)

there’s torture and for the most part it’s shown / it’s not off-camera

shit gets dark. the first handful of eps might lull one into thinking is something like zorro or robin hood, but there’s a lot of fuckery and death by the time you get to the end

Reasons to Watch

i mean, it’s fun! which is a messed up thing to say about a dark show, but there’s a lot of twists and the show’s an extended game of cat-and-mouse that’s a good time because the audience knows certain things but the main characters don’t. the drama of it all!

Now That’s What I Call Character Arcs. kang to + shunji’s respective character arcs are amazing and are referred to as the best part of the show for a reason. you’ll hate and love them both throughout the series and it’s great. shunji was my favorite

i love both the female leads a lot. they’re totally different in personality and the sides that they’re on, but they’re both compelling and they have their own troubles and goals to work through 

one of the main characters looks around the chaos happening and decides to just fucking leave all these people behind forever lmao i love it

acting is great! some people knock on mok dan’s actress but i thought she was perfectly fine for the character 

i’ll admit, i’m into characters who become progressively unhinged and the actor who plays the character who does is so so A+

there’s romance but gd does it get dark sometimes. this is a plus or a minus depending on who you are lol

Final Thoughts.

[minblush]

I hope you dont mind me asking but what is right wing? Is it like the conservative side

japanese right wing ideology is kinda specific and has been on the rise, it’s tied with radical nationalism and japan’s imperialistic history, which is a topic very sensitive to koreans because they suffered greatly because of japan (the issue of comfort women) etc, current japanese right wing ideology is re-writing history and trying to suppress the knowledge of atrocities japan has committed in favor of blind patriotism (monuments for imperial war criminals, propagation of the rising sun flag which is to east asian countries equivalent to the swastika, removing mentions of war crimes from history books), that’s why korean fans are mad and hurt, and others are also worried about it impacting the image of bangtan in korea

Anonymous said:apparently japanese fans are also really mad so this was undoubtedly the dumbest decision ever bang pd can fucking choke

i haven’t seen as many reactions from them so i can’t comment on that fully, but stupid decision it really was.. can’t get out of my head that bang pd literally said he admires the world view of that man.. what the fuck

Anonymous said:If bts has the amount of artistic freedom and get to make the choices like they say they do there are seven members surely they can stand up and say hey I won’t work with this producer…. I know we don’t know 100% how it all works and what is going on but if they can’t do that then a. They don’t have the freedom they say they do or b. They don’t have the integrity or awareness/right stance on social issues like they make out they do…

you are exactly right

Anonymous said:But not going to lie yoongis work is nice

yes i agree

Anonymous said:Do u think bts need to gives some sort of feedback or something on how toxic the fandom has become?? Do u think its necessary for an artist to respond? Just want to hear your opinion about it. (And i know its not ideal for artist to do that, they basically saying to some of the fans that theyre wrong etc etc, and it will definitely hurt their ego) sooo despite that do u think they actually need to?

do they need to? obviously not because they can keep going just fine without it, should they? would it help? yes, i believe so. i don’t think artists are responsible for what their fans do, but if something you could say would make a difference for the better, then why not? majority of fans adore bts like gods and blindly believe everything they say, were they to speak up it might influence a very good portion of them

Anonymous said:I agree with your post so much I literally love bts to bits but also like,,, I don’t know how to say it you said it better than me but specially with the ‘saying things about any real substance’ not to get too deep but I’ve suffered with bipolar and ADHD my life was absolute shit when I was 18 years old and songs like sea are really genius impactful, I love them and they help me but they’re never the FACE of their album which is disappointing since we hold them up to THAT standard

yes exactly, i’ve had songs that were very meaningful to me as well, but they are getting further and further away from these songs being the focus and instead we keep getting issues like this and i’m just so tired

Anonymous said:I’m so sorry but being an old crusty ass man and defending obvious sexual abuse and harassment because it gets his sick dick hard is the most vile thing I’ve ever seen. I love bts but If they keep this dude on the album I am not touching that shit it can flop hopefully for all I care lmao

same… like really it’s more important to bang pd to get the media buzz than having any integrity.. ugh

w0n-rabbit said:Hi there!! I hope yoi dont mind me bothering but I have been following youre bolg for quite some time now and I have always valued your opinion on all the issues happening because well I like the way you voice them out and your honesty is 😶 quite charming. On a different note, I find it extremely hard to support BTS right now. I mean was a huge fan at first but became less and less of one solely because of the fandom and now this. Sorry to bombard you like this 😶

hi you’re not bothering me at all! thank you for sharing your thoughts as well and for thinking nice things about me (dakjsd i disagree but i appreciate it ofc

Anonymous said:Hey so I’ve been reading your replies and it kinda opened my eyes a bit but I was just wondering on where you stand? Like are you still a fan of bts or you just don’t agree with bighit?

i don’t know anymore honestly, i’ve been continuously disappointed and hurt by things surrounding them for a long time now and the negatives have been outweighing the positives.. i still am fond of the boys and the their group dynamic and the song that meant to me a lot before still do now.. it’s just hard? how can i call myself a fan when this all is what they stand for now? when the company’s priorities are so skewed and painful? so i don’t know, i am still fond of them as people though

[taurgo]

Thoughts on Love, Death and Robots

Just as a preface I’d like to say that I’m glad Netflix actually invested in this type of storytelling, and I honestly enjoy anthology series and their ability to provide a wide range of perspectives and give creators the freedom to show what they want to show, even if the result is less than full length; i mean, all of these are short and sweet and while i wish there was more content for some of them, what’s given is enough to understand the premise and the story line. The medium of animation tells so much with so little! I additionally hope they give a second season! 

 also, if you haven’t watched the show yet be aware that its reasonable to say a majority of them had, well, death and a moderate amount of nudity or difficult subjects which is understandably hard for some people (myself included in some situations- very uncomfortable-making)

That being said here’s my thoughts on the episodes in the first one (being as spoiler free as possible) keep in mind this is just my thoughts post-viewing: 

1. Sonnie’s Edge: I fuckin LOVED this, from the animation and design, to the action premise and the little details they give the characters- its understandable why they wanted this episode to go first and its a great introduction. Also I’d say the violence is super purposeful and not out of place. This could be given an entire series and I’d watch it: 10/10.

2. Three Robots: This was on the more family-friendly side of things and also has a great concept! not to mention the facial expressions of the red robot are adorable and its just all around pretty fucking funny. Works well as a short story.On one hand i’d argue THIS should be the first episode but then it may give the audience a misrepresentation of the entire thing so i get why its second. This is probably the closest thing to a pixar short on the list, if pixar short characters could use the fuck word: 10/10

3. The Witness: so concept wise I feel like it was a little lacking, like by the end of the story its obvious but it leaves the viewer wanting more explanation. Like I’m not necessarily one for a writer to hand-hold the audience through concepts, i feel like inference and observations make up a huge aspect of viewer experience but i wanted just a liiitle bit more.Also the uuh nudity was kind of uncomfortable. Regardless it just has to be said THE FUCKING ART STYLE! THE FUCKING ANIMATION! GORGEOUS! UNIQUE! the entire time I was just stunned by the background, the motion, the expressions it was a visual feast. Hands down the most vibrant animation style: 8/10 overall and 12/10 for the art.

4. Suits: This one was... interesting. Kind of hard to find the right words. Good interesting! good premise! the art style was not my favorite, like we were nearing the uncanny valley with the character designs (with the exception one (1) bad ass, mech operating, cigar wielding stone-cold bitch) but the action was very well done. You were invested in what was gonna happen. Well rounded in terms of story telling and a good length!: 8/10

5. Sucker of Souls: Compared to the previous shorts this was certainly different! The animation was simple but very well done, not super flashy but the action was fluid and fast-paced, and the ending was great! reminded me of Castlevania for a few reasons. Entertaining!: 8/10

6. When the Yogurt took over: Animation Style: Noodly. Noodles everywhere which is adorable. This one is also family-friendly, pretty damn funny and a good length. Reminds me of Douglas Adams: 9/10

7. Beyond The Aquila Rift: This one uuuh was not my favorite. Probably my least favorite if we’re being entirely honest. The animation style was kind of motion-capturey like a video game, the content itself was like 50% nudity which was awkward as fuck and the actual good part of the story was there for a brief time and when its not happening its all you can think about. 5/10

8.Good Hunting *Minor Spoilers*: alrighty this one is complicated for me. On one hand, the animation is gorgeous, very traditional 2-d and the beginning premise is quite interesting but there are some things that personally rub me the wrong way, namely the extent to which they show the traumatizing events of the main female character (first of all i dont want to see the assault of someone, let alone her being brutalized and to top it off some guys dick. ) I understand that one of the main themes is the empowerment against those who have wronged her and the very good commentary on imperialist fuckasses but its hard for me to watch this one. On the upside the 'love' part of this 'love death and robots short' is respectfully platonic and caring. Overall, I’m giving it a 6/10.

9.The Dump: Why is this here. It's entirely unspectacular, and is arguably the weakest out of all of these in that it doesn't make you love it or hate it, your just kinda indifferent: 4/10.

10.Shape Shifters: this one was also a little weird. The animation is, once again motion capturey. The premace is actually quite interesting and I think the story itself would work well for a CW show but it's a little weird here. It's less sci-fi and more realistic fantasy but I understand what they were going for. Arguably much better than the last one: 7/10

11. Helping Hand: oof this one was hard to watch in that this specific man vs. circumstance type of story is personally a sub-genre of horror for me. Like any kind of man in the Arctic, nature, ocean or space situation has always been super unsettling for me but that's personal taste. I can honestly see this story alongside very retro space short stories that would be in an anthology next to assimov. Reminds me thematically of the cold equasion, and also pretty fucking graphic. 8/10 for unsettling aspects.

12. Fish Night: first of all, art style is gorgeous, concept is unique and very fantastical. Worth watching, especially if you live in the desert like me! 8.5/10

13. Lucky 13: on one hand: Samira-mother fucken-Wiley. On the other hand, military based sci-fi stories which don't really do it for me, and again we got motion capture: 7/10

14. Zima Blue: THE 👏ART👏IS👏GORGEOUS AND SO IS THE ANIMATION! The premise is super existential and watching was a very enjoyable and kind of thought provoking experience. 9/10

15. Blind Spot: again, the art and design is really amazing and stand out! The premise very contained but well excecuted and I think I recognize the voice actors? I can see this as a series believe it or not. Did I mention the animation? Holy shit hats off to the creators! 8/10

16. Ice Age: Topher Grace is that you? Boy this is akward, seeing as how the last thing I saw you in was Blackkklansman but anyways... Unique premise, unique style of animation and live action, Kind of insightful as to the nature of life. Enjoyable! 8/10

17. Alternate Histories: Animation Style: Noodly Noodly Noodles. Seeing Adolf Hitler get the shit kicked out of him multiple times? Entertaining! 8.5/10

18. Secret War: once again we have a motion captured Military-Sci-Fi short. However out of all three that appear throughout this show, this one's probably the best. Worth Watching! 7.5/10

Overall: This series had it's ups and downs, but as a whole was definitely worth watching and was a wonderful display of the collaborative efforts and skills of animators, artists, directors, designers and so on. Bring On Season 2! Call it hate, life and nature!

[jonphaedrus]

Statistically, 1 in 5 people who go up Everest die. Who the fuck has luck so good they don't? Anyway I read the wiki article on People Who've Died on Everest and it is a nightmare and a tragedy and the sherpas don't get paid enough to deal with your dick-waving bullshit. Leave them and their mountain alone, thanks.

okay but see this is the danger of the everest statistics because like

a) yes the sherpa community has been incredibly badly served by western imperialist climbers but a majority of industry professionals are going out of their way to give back not just time but money including some really cool shit like simone moro becoming the first helicopter pilot to train and hire sherpa pilots, the opening of the international guiding system to sherpa climbers, and all-sherpa teams getting gvtal funding are all great. we have a long way to go and these are all things that should have been basic fucking starting points but hey at least sherpa arent just being murdered any more so, thats a step in the right drection

and b) so the thing about everest is that it’s a remarkably safe climb, all things considered. no difficult pitches, the ice fall will eat you but walking up a glacier is ALWAYS unsafe, and the support network on the mountain is the best in the world. that number is only so high because everyone, their mother, their brother, their uncle who hasnt gone on a hike in 25 years, their nephew age 13, and the guy next door who always wanted to climb a mountain, as long as they have the money, have access to the summit.

like, im not exaggerating. its fucking surreal how people are gotten to everest’s summit.

theres been pushback in nepal in recent years, leading to minimum climbing ages and skills, but china has been loathe to follow suit in their release of permits for the tibet-side, since then they can get money from idiots because, you know, government. 

so what ends up happening is there’s 500 people all trying to summit this mountain in less than 24hrs and there are bottlenecks and no way down and i mean, 500 people in line for disneyworld someone will faint but do that at 29,000ft and you die. so the statistics are artificially inflated because mr. bob smith from dallas decided he could climb it and his team is legally bound to get him up and down in one piece and how many people does he take with him? this is what happened w/1996 (into thin air) and again in 2014 when an early push on the icefall led to 15 or so sherpa dying because hey, gotta get western clients up!

everest herself isnt really into the whole “kill and murder” thing; its mostly human hubris doing that. theres no really unpredictable weather, no incredibly dangerous routes. hell, even the hardest part of the sw slope (hillary step) was destroyed in the 2015 earthquake so even that one technical bit is gone.

now.

on the other hand.

k2 and annapurna.

annapurna is just a stupid difficult climb with no clear routes and is prone to avalanches and very little support network.

k2.

the middle of nowhere. no easy access. prior to the survey of india nobody had ever even named her because shes so hard to get to. theres literally no known indigenous name for k2. every route is incredibly difficult, highly technical climbing. her weather isnt just unpredictable, its murderous. every route has major hazards like seracs likely to fall or exposed slopes. theres no easy way back down. no good place on her shoulders to camp like the south col. 

everest is okay with people on her slopes. be kind to her, and dont be stupid. be aware of the fact that youre at disney of mountains.

k2?

there have been full decades where nobody has climbed. the best professionals in the world, not idiots with an ill-fitting pair of shoes, regularly are swallowed up and eaten by her. there’s almost no way to get a helicopter out there. there’s no nearby metropolis to call. pakistan doesnt have the same mountaineering-centric support networks that nepal has.

like, the thing about k2 is that everest is a bucket list item for millions of people worldwide. k2 is a crown laurel; it’s the professional mountaineer equivalent of winning the boston marathon. only the best people in the world get up there, and not only do they have to contend with a dangerous, fruitless, difficult climb, the mountain herself also hates them. you cant win with k2. she will always win.

and this is why when the polish team got pulled this feb bc of the disaster on nanga parbat i  just breathed the biggest sigh. dont winter climb k2. dont fuck with k2. stop trying.