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mermaidsirennikita · 3 months ago

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wait what's this nora roberts drama?

Soooo

YA author Tomi Adeyemi (disclaimer: I only read the first book in her series, I don't remember much aside from it not being for me, and to be fair I was finally accepting that I'd aged out of YA at the time) who has written the bestselling, soon-to-be-adapted Legacy of Orisha series, went on social media. She made the mistake of posting about Nora Robert's upcoming title, "Of Blood and Bone" with a comment about how it would be nice if an artist could make art without another artist shamelessly trying to profit off of this.

Presumably, she did this because Tomi's book was "Children of Blood and Bone".

A few issues that Tomi, someone who at that point was a successful published author, could've easily figured out with... A Google? A discussion with her agent? Basic knowledge about publishing that many other people who'd never been published would have?

A) Based on the publishing schedules of the book, it would be unlikely that Roberts saw Tomi's book and cranked out a manuscript and came up with a title to capitalize on Tomi's book. Indeed, it turned out that Nora had turned in her MS, with the title conceived presumably soon after, about a year before Tomi's book came out.

B) Even if the title was made to capitalize off Tomi's book, it's extremely unlikely that Nora had the final call on the title. Publishers often nix authors' title ideas. They brainstorm together. The publisher makes the final decision.

C) Neither title was especially original, particularly at that time (2018ish). Tomi's title was similar to many YA titles on the market. I mean, how may times have we seen "X of X and X"? There are meme generators about it, and it was already being snarked about in 2018. I mean, y'all, A Song of Ice and Fire came out DECADES ago.

D) Mimicking a title to capitalize on success, though I don't think that happened here, is not plagiarism. It's a title. There are many titles that are similar to each other. Is When the Duke Was Wicked by Lorraine Heath trying to rip off When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn? The books compete in the same subgenre market. They definitely can benefit from people googling them and finding both. They're not similar in terms of plot at all. Titles are limited.

E) Nora and Tomi did not and not have similar audiences. Nora is a romance novelist who's branched into romantic suspense and dystopian/fantasy genres. She writes exclusively for adults. Tomi is a YA fantasy author.

Regardless of who these people are, all of this is true. Tomi's fans are all "WHO'S THAT BITCH STEALING YOUR TITLE" because yeah, they don't know who Nora Roberts is because they're teens or adults who read largely YA. They start going after Nora, who isn't even on social media lmao. (Which means Nora's assistant who runs her social media, of whom Nora has been vocally protective, is dealing with the vitriol.) Tomi doesn't call anyone off.

... Add to the mix two Nora-specific elements. Which then made a responding wave of people who are familiar with Nora's game, yours truly included, QUITE annoyed and also QUITE amused.

F) Nora Roberts... does not need to rip off a new YA author. Not only does she have her own audience... She has what I suspect is a much broader audience than Tomi. Nora is one of the bestselling authors of all time. She's outsold James Patterson. She's written hundreds of books, and has sold over 500 million copies of her books. She is WORTH hundreds of millions of dollars (some estimates have her at around half a billion). Since 1999, every single one of her books has been a New York Times bestseller.

And before anyone comes for her with ghostwriting accusations.... I mean, listen. She could be the greatest bullshitter on the planet. But based on what she, and other people around her have said, and based on the way she talks when she goes off on a podcast.... I believe that's all her, dude. She treats it like a 9 to 5 job, and she works on vacation. She's VERY seriousa bout this.

She did not need to capitalize on anyone.

G) Nora is one of the most vocal anti-plagiarism advocates, possibly ever. She was famously plagiarized by Janet Dailey and talks about it as if it happened yesterday. She worked with other, newer authors (including Sarah MacLean) who were plagiarized by the same woman to seek out justice. She's very loud and proud about it.

And so... Tomi did end up apologizing, prefacing it with the fact that Nora apparently reached out like "I couldn't have plagiarized you because I've never heard of your book". Nora also made this post.

I'll be honest: I think Tomi was being thoughtless and self-centered when she posted that shit. And reckless, as Nora said, because when you have a large fanbase you NEED to remember that you're sending the dogs after people when you post shit like that. And you need to call those dogs off if they go too far. It was exceedingly immature and unprofessional.

At the same time, I also know that Tomi has done important work as a very visible Black author of YA fantasy about Black characters, with a fantasy world and magic system based on Nigerian (primarily, from what I understand) history and culture. I think that her work being adapted is, on a grand scale, a potential net positive on that level.

.... Do I ever want to read one of her books again or watch the show? Not really. I might give the show a shot if it has good buzz, though, because the show isn't just Tomi; it's also other Black creatives and performers. I want to support that, and if it's good I sure won't act like it isn't.

But I don't have any interest in any more of her books. It's hardly the worst thing an author has done, TO BE CLEAR. This is shitty, but it's not the kind of shitty, abusive behavior many white authors have indulged in and bounced back on. And I think it's only fair that Tomi has the ability to bounce back from something lesser, and she clearly has.

It's just that for me, I'll never be able to pick up a book of hers without being like "that was a shitty thing to do" and also "Wow, HOW EMBARRASSING". It's like, so LOUDLY embarrassing that I'm not even sitting here acting like my moral condemnation is the main thing keeping me from reading her work. It's just really REALLY cringe.

Anyway, I super don't recommend fucking with Nora Roberts. She will be more scathing than you ever could be, and if you ever do something legal-action-worthy, it's fairly likely that her lawyers will be bigger than your lawyers.

#romance novel blogging #and #books #in general #and needless to say i'm sure that tomi got backlash from some readers that was undeserved and over the line #i didn't see it but i know the internet well enough to assume #but i don't think nora is responsible for that and i don't think anything nora posted send people after tomi #people came after tomi before nora responded because it was that LOUDLY wrong

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andmaybegayer · 5 months ago

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Last Monday of the Week 2024-07-22

There are many upsides to the city in the summer. But there's also the horrors.

Listening: I am (I think) almost but not quite done with Paradise Killer, a first-person detective game set on the extradimensional luxury island headquarters of an eldritch cult with a truly incredible soundtrack. A mix of city pop and vaporwave that really goes hard if you love the sound of the perfect imagined city. Here's "Knife and Crystal"

The entire Paradise Killer soundtrack is great, and in game each song has a little snippet of text to go with it, this one's is

The heat helps cook mysteries. People get weird in the heat. They get dangerous. Dangerous people create mysteries.

I'll write this up probably separately and it'll go in next week's monday, since I haven't called the trial yet and still have some snooping to do, but it really is a fantastic game. Try it, if you have the time, I got most of the way through it in about 8 hours.

This music sounds like a perfect summer day in the city we all wish we could be in, where there are exactly as many people around as you want, and you always stumble into what you need.

As a note, I think it is an interesting comparison to the Marielda soundtrack, which feels to me like a very different kind of summer city, a languorous city on the edge, an, overwhelmingly hot city, with only a few afternoon thunderstorms and passing clouds to break an almost oppressive heat. So you know, where I am now. I'll link the title song here too:

I mean the podcast helps sell it, but this would also fit into uh. The spanish civil war? Clarinet is like that sometimes.

God damn I have opinions on city-esque music huh.

Reading: Had a bit of a slump coming off of The Traitor Baru Cormorant but I finally picked up Monster and was immediately blindsided by the perspective change. Very interesting. The letter Baru receives from one of the other cryptarchs is making me go insane.

Watching: Movie night this week was RRR, which I have seen a couple times already but did get the joy of watching with some friends who had not seen it at all. There is so much going on, it turns out if you run out of making one movie you can just pivot to making another movie with the same guys and if you do that for long enough you have a three hour feature film.

RRR has lots of subtlety that can be debated but it is also so much fun to watch. It is up front and largely unironic in a way that is very refreshing because it is also done well. There are a lot of bad movies that are unironic and unfortunately that mostly hurts them because they can't deliver on their earnestness.

The thing that really stands out is that it knows how to hold a shot well. So many scenes in the movie just go on forever, whether that's the extended BFF montage or the torture scenes or the slow motion action, it just holds a shot in a way that feels obnoxious at times.

It helps that they're both impossibly hot.

Playing: I picked up a couple VR games in the steam sale to try and expands my horizons. One of those is The Utility Room, a fairly old VR experience based on a VR museum that's even older. Its age shows, it lacks a lot of the creature comforts of more modern games, but it is clever. It uses VR to put you in huge spaces in proximity to enormous objects that move way faster than anything like that does regularly for most people. It's a fun little experiment.

Also got Half Life: Alyx which I am really enjoying, I just got to the part where you get the flashlight which I assume means I'm about to get sosososo scared. VR so dramatically changes the way you think about interaction especially in games. Most obviously, this is a shooter, but in a normal shooter you shoot things by putting them in the middle of the screen and pressing "shoot" and then some HP is deducted. Here I am reminded that even when I handle real pistols I have a bad habit of raising the barrel a few degrees too high and I have to compensate for that. You have to fumble with magazines and rack the slide in the heat of panicked combat where you feel very much like a headcrab is about to tear your face off. It's great.

You also get the sheer physicality of the environment. Valve did not skimp on this game, it's not a little demo or a toy, it's a whole-ass game, and they made sure that almost anything reasonable you can think to do works. You just reach out, you can move barrels by grabbing the rim and rolling them, you can open boxes, you can smash crates. You have a really smart gravity grabber system that makes interacting with the environment less arduous, and some very intelligent use of the fact that you have to switch what's in your hand to make you feel endangered any time you have to put your pistol away to hack a circuit or move an object.

Making: Disastrous burfee making misadventure when a friend said she had been wanting to make burfee and I invited her over. Got mixed up while trying to host and cook simultaneously and didn't boil the syrup long enough, resulting in liquid burfee that did not ever set up into something usable. Salvaged haphazardly with some dessicated coconut to form a structural mesh, but it was not good. Syrup is the most important and least fixable part of a burfee recipe, you really just have to learn to eyeball it to make sure it's right before you continue. Learn from my mistake. Make sure your bubbles are stacking to know you've driven off enough water.

Tools and Equipment: Thin, fine cotton sheets are a great way to avoid messing up pillows if you aren't able to wash your hair as regularly as you'd like, or if you just don't like generic grease build-up. You can keep so many of them on hand and toss them in for washing every couple days.

I didn't have hot water this week because of the annual maintenance cycle, so. You know.

#last monday of the week #Bandcamp

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willowremix · 4 months ago

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The Eras Tour & girlhood

After spectating two summer’s worth of The Eras Tour, I have amassed so much, probably too much, information. So many feelings. I have shifted from pocket to pocket on the internet, reading too many articles, tweets, listening to too many video essays, podcast episodes, picking at thread after thread of subtext present in all of these forms of ideas and conversations. I think one of the main ideas was, or that was omnipresent during it all, was femalehood. But I didn’t need to be told that.

Last summer felt like a dream, and in a way this second summer of The Eras Tour has kind of been returning to reality. There seems to be a three way split between time now: before the tour, the start of the tour, and every moment after it. As time has stretched on, and the tour has reached unimaginable heights and numbers and broken records, there has been the result. The result of a woman being the face of and leading, millions and millions of people, primarily women and girls. The noise of something like this will always have a resonance, and I will be picking apart the layers of voice that have grown thicker and thicker in my mind.

One of the biggest phenomena to come out of this tour is the relationships formed between shows, like ribbons that pull them together. It will be one of the most fortifying experiences anyone who has gone to it will ever have not only because of Taylor Swift herself, but because not one person in that audience will ever be truly alone again. I, at least believe, that one of the parts of this tour that has embodied ‘girlhood’, has been being able to make something of the experience in a way that men could never understand. A little bit like when we were kids, and sat around pretending there really could be a safe place for women, anywhere, and likewise, it would be our own Barbie doll house.

People have compared the tour to the “closest thing we will ever get to Barbieland.” Women saying that it’s the only large crowd they have ever felt comfortable or safe in. So I guess the question everyone has been asking is: can a concert really do that? Can a concert really be that? That kind of sanctuary? And my counter question is: why can’t we just believe women when they say that? We should ask: why can’t anyone let their experiences be?

That’s not to say the tour is just a feminine experience either; men, especially in the music, are entwined and included too. But this is just to say: A man in an audience full of women feels safe. A woman in an audience full of men feels mortified.

Over the course of the last year, I’ve observed, for every person enjoying themselves at this tour, there is one there to poke fun at them. Once I even commented on one of those videos: “Why do men get mad when women have emotions?”, or something of that manner (I deleted Instagram, I can’t check), and got dozens of angry responses. ‘He said “swifties” not women.’ People calling me dense, and complaining that it wasn’t an issue of sexism–to generalize it all. There was one response that was different though, and hung a little bit lower, but still had enough likes to be visible: “If we’re being honest, most swifties are women.” I remember getting a reply claiming that was sexist, to “generalize” all swifties like that. Clearly, it was a mistake to comment on a man’s instagram reel that was clearly misogynistic, had thousands of likes, probably all by equally as misogynistic men. Maybe I shouldn’t have tried. I don’t have Instagram anymore.

The terrorist attack plot in Vienna has eroded the ground of conversation about concert safety, “safe places”, and not surprisingly, misogyny. Hidden within the broad armor of that topic, misogyny as fuel for radical uprisings or threats as such above is held up by an infinite amount of legs: veiling threats as jokes, the normalization of oversharing on the internet, and being overshadowed. There is no time to think about how social media has become such an accommodating place for hatred and misogyny when women are being attacked every day, subtly sometimes, in a new way. The New York Times detailed that “Both suspects had become radicalized on the internet.” Everything that is said in any hollow chamber on the internet always echoes to some real degree offline, too; terror and sexist violence against women has always translated from online, to concerts, to street corners. It's unintelligible that anyone would think otherwise. On Twitter, someone asked a question that has been sticking to me ever since I saw it yesterday: The Eras Tour has been the one place where so many women have felt safe. Why does something like this have to happen? Why does something always have to prove that there is someone willing to hurt women wherever they go?

This kind of thing has hit me so hard too, because I think we will never be able to answer that question with the certitude that we, women, have been craving for centuries; the kind many were able to have, at least for a while, during the stretch of this tour. Maybe certainty is one of the best things it’s given fans, and women alike.

TAYLOR AS A SPECTACLE

Taylor being one of the most observable people of the 21st century, it’s easy to simply watch her tour unfold for two summers in a row and huddle all of your observations, especially if you’ve moved from the outside in. It’s an experience for everyone, even if you didn’t physically go to a show like I did. A question someone asked while I was researching for this essay stuck with me: “What has she become?” It protruded from my notes and my thoughts and the rest of my research. From that fire, another question burned: Is that more important than what she was?

Taylor’s fame has come to a point where every single thing she does is polarizing, no matter how “bland” or how “simple”--no matter what it is, because every single step she takes causes a discussion about society, about culture, about what we all should be doing, what not to do. Just the way that her fandom and her influence over people operates is interesting in itself. With her, she kind of has one foot stepping in the old, and the other in the new. And she’s trying to balance on both in a way that has lasted her a long time. Spending this much time in the past isn’t something that’s been necessarily done before. You could argue that the Super Bowl Halftime and The Eras Tour are of the same essence–artists performing their hits–but the Superbowl’s audience isn’t 80-90% women.

In part to that, I think how society sees Taylor is a reflection of exactly how society sees girls and women. Her and her fandom are intrinsically linked. No one who dislikes her just dislikes her. None of them take her seriously because she simply isn’t ‘growing’ out of what we believe makes women undesirable or unhappy. These are her crimes: dating men, having fun with friends, being cringe, not being married, going to football games, making teenage girls happy, etc. There are a lot of valid reasons to criticize her, but the average American isn’t really concerned about them– for some reason, they’re concerned about whether the NFL is giving her too much screen time. This is where our culture is still at, where it’s been dock parked since 2010.

She’s amassed so much fame to the point where our culture doesn’t know what to do with it. –I’ll be the one to say it, because she’s a woman. Because she’s slipped out of our reaches; she’s lighting up other continents now. The misogyny has inflated to a delirious degree. We’ve had things like this happen before, we’ve had it with the Beatles, with Elvis, with Michael Jackson, which were all firsts in their own right. The beginning of Rock n’ roll, the beginning of pop superstardom all over the world. And even with Madonna, she was different in the way she was the first domino. There was her, there was Britney Spears, then Lady Gaga, the pop Beginnings, but for women. It’s an interesting conversation to have because it’s the same conversation we've been having for years, but this time it's been centered around one person who people believe isn’t “changing anything” for so long, that it all just goes in circles, each point returning back to itself. People who believe she isn’t changing anything, essentially believe that if she doesn’t flood over their feet with what they believe makes artistry impossibly impressive, they mark her as useless. Mark all of this as nothing, almost nihilistically. Mark this period of time as already over, waiting for that one artist to come and save us all from the spinelessness that keeps her famous. (They are a part of that spine– they are the people who help keep her relevant.) Of course, they only wait– there’s no derivative involved other than criticism to change the “problem” they believe exists. Because she hasn’t monumented or changed a whole genre, time will pass and she will be forgotten. It’s impossible to meet everyone's standards for what is “new” or “genre-changing” or defying when the monuments have already been met before. Anyone can say “This has been done before!” if they know the genre well enough. If the standard is inventing a new way to be, to exist, then I’m pretty sure she’s met it.

Of course, one could argue that she globalized and sensationalized young, female country music, that she brought back 80’s synth-pop music in the mid 2000’s, that she has been some kind of glue between the world that it’s needed after something like the pandemic happened, literally ushering in world leaders and their children to her shows, that cities and people have bending to her will and changing their names when she comes to town… But I will offer a perspective that is more important: Women, for centuries, have been deemed crazy for feeling any emotion that drove them from doing what men wanted them to do. Maybe staying exactly where you are, despite, and not changing to prove yourself to them that you are not crazy, but to the people who have always been there, is where the legacy blooms and stays. Maybe even her embracing the crazy, has something to do with it too. She changes on her own rotation, on her fans rotation. There doesn’t constantly have to be a retort, a ravaged reinvention for our misogynistic culture; there isn’t an inherent impact in abjection (without explanation.) Becoming a product of what people say you are not is not the key to ‘real’ artistry. And none of it means she doesn’t have a legacy. Having lyrics that people are screaming and feeling 17 years later, has something more to do with it, don’t you think? Ones that are tattooed onto skin, plastered on monuments, passed on to children, plots for short films, inspiration for more stories, more life.

What is so different about her, though? Well, when you are a girl, a woman, from the moment you're a teenager you are pressured to be better, better, better. To think that what you are right now is nothing compared to what you can be. When you’re a man, you either applaud yourself for what you are, or the world does it for you. What’s different about Taylor Swift is that she owns up to everything she’s ever been. That she even prioritizes what she was, sometimes. She represents that an “era” is never really over in life, that for women, especially, it splinters up your spine until you fit again, right back into that moment. Right now, she’s allowing women to be what they were, right with her. And be proud of that.

Can’t that just be it? Can’t that be enough?

THE FANDOM

Every other video of people attending The Eras Tour has the caption “Girlhood” over it, generally displaying women and girls trading bracelets, singing, dancing, or crying underneath it. All very normal, human, activity. Of course it’s an alien-like occurrence that there’s a space for that to happen, for it to be posted online without shame or embarrassment, when people see that. Then the whole thing, the whole ‘fandom’ gets almost lobotomized online– and the circle returns right back, then, on a certain level. Is there a reason people want women and girls to lessen their feelings to appease people that can’t be traced back hundreds of years? The dehumanization of women does not ease its steps, ever.

There are obvious differences between female-centric fandoms and male-centric fandoms. Fandom demographics are an inseparable part of artists themselves. They usually are a parameter for if the artist can be taken seriously or not—this is a social and cultural parameter, which innately means that misogyny is always going to be involved. Sports fans can kill and riot but Taylor Swift fans can’t cry. So maybe think: it’s not entirely insane to be crying at a concert. Art is meant to make people feel things—meant to be an outlet, an output, somewhere to set anger or sadness or happiness down for a while and go for a walk. Maybe women displaying emotion isn’t entirely insane.

It’s also a given that Taylor’s music has a cadence to women, has the tones for the commonalities of female psyche and experience, like any female singer-songwriter would. One of Swift’s most mentioned songs, metaphorically, mirrorball, is spread out across platforms in jokes, or diaristic paragraphs as a device for identity. This is due to its reference to duality, and for its overall relatability.

“I should not be left to my own devices, they come

with prices, and vices,” - ‘Anti-hero.’

Maybe, what she’s really saying, that her different “identities” are just as much ours as they are hers. Whether in the way to internalize and really connect with her fans, or simply to build an image, it’s a device all the same. People joke that they’re the mirrorball, or that Taylor herself is too. “I’ve never been a natural, all I do is try, try try/I’m still on that trapeze.” There are songs like these that fans just get. It’s not an inherently female experience, but sometimes it sure feels like it; like girlhood is that trapeze. Like you are doing everything just so others can see. The gaze never unpressurized. Staring right at Taylor Swift herself and Taylor Swift the Brand™, staring right back.

People understand each other with bracelets and colors, “I’m a mirrorball”, “I’m August”–the “eras” in general. The pendulum swings, or rather tumbles, through the ages 13 to 32. Taylor Swift ‘lore’ is a translator in itself. Of course girls and women are going to idolize and try to live vicariously through a woman whose life is seemingly raw and real enough through music to mirror their experiences but perfect enough to hold intrigued eyes in real life. Because that’s not what life is actually like– people usually don’t usually have two split selves. That’s why normal people aren’t as interesting. They want her life and have it at the same time. We know a lot and not enough. This obviously causes problems; just because there’s an explanation behind parasocialism doesn’t mean it’s good. She can know and capitalize off her lore while keeping the line drawn between what she does and doesn’t want people to know about her. It’s better than men capitalizing off female emotions—it’s incredible that a woman can turn the world into a stratosphere of her own, where other women can celebrate all the ways, all the times in which she’s improved their life, but it’s still capitalism. And I think keeping that in mind won’t kill anyone.

Though, misogyny is the interruption of this ‘girlhood,’ I think. When that river of innoce nce that’s supposed to flow, stops. It’s one thing being parasocial enough to think that someone attacking an artist is attacking you, but another when women get angry at male petulance on the internet because of the fact that the tour is like this one big web. You’re not a single person, but a disruption of a hair-braiding moment. Of the star-blazing innocence that the world is safe or willing enough for those spaces to exist, uninterrupted. Of something that otherwise isn’t understood. I think that's another part of it too: men have a history of hating what they can’t understand. Instead of this kind of happiness simply existing alongside their own lives, they always feel the need to interfere, to have something to say about it, to reimburse that energy into power, into a comment that makes themselves feel more equated with the world. Maybe the problem is demonizing femininity and making it the most embarrassing thing to even slightly enjoy in the world. The reality is that people feed on female pain; it scares. And maybe the problem is so deep buried inside of us, that we can’t see it until we’re coughing up our own blood, angry that we let it traverse so deep down that it ran through our tissues.

“Maybe this is the real Taylor Swift effect: That she gives people, many of them women, particularly girls, who have been conditioned to accept dismissal, gaslighting, and mistreatment from a society that treats their emotions as inconsequential, permission to believe that their interior lives matter. That for your heart to break, whether it’s from being kicked off a tour or by the memory of a scarf still sitting in a drawer somewhere or because somebody else controls your life’s work, is a valid wound, and no, you’re not crazy for being upset about it, or for wanting your story to be told.” - Person of the Year 2023: Taylor Swift, Sam Lansky

GIRLHOOD

There can be much to argue about when it comes to the micro-personalities and aesthetics that have been produced like factory work by social media. Is the wave of “girlhood” just another reductive, overgeneralization of the experience of being a girl? Probably. There are problems with the trend, just as there are with any online trend catered towards young girls and gen-z in general. There is always a lens, always a point where the inclusivity stops. There is a problem in generalizing and deducting girlhood into something that can only cater or apply to white, middle class women. Maybe what people are saying has fallen through the filter that everything these days social media has gone through; the urge to generalize and categorize absolutely everything.

What can also be true, is that maybe this is just to put it in a language that people can understand. Start a language in which love between women can start or ignite over again. To make it more palatable in order for young women to recognize it and internalize it. Rather than seeing it as only being one place, focus on the actions. This is the aspect of ‘girlhood’ that is being woven together: the sharing, the trading, the singing, and yes, the crying. The meaning, not changing who can ‘participate’ and actively embody the definition, but what there is to participate in. Because on the other pane of the kaleidoscope, there has been so much joy, and safe spiritual residence in these stadiums. It’s debauching that the world outside of them is so complicated. It really is embedded into everything we know, everything we feel, that complication. There’s this perspective and there’s another, and there’s a tour bigger than life as the subject. Does it scrape across every female being's bones and come up for its last performance? Do we have to let it? Is it performance?

In a way, it's girlhood because we all kind of start a career at 14. We all bloom from those years, all perform for thousands who have their own little light, wanting to be noticed. We also are the little light, wanting to be noticed. We all look for it— “she lives in me.” Except, outside of a metaphorical sense, it's different when one is on a stage performing it over and over again, and the other is being performed for. The tour, in its reality, has set many stages–not just the ones being performed on. For Taylor’s career, status, power, money, fame, she became a billionaire, she’s changing the face of the US economy, and economies all over the world, and everything else that has come crashing through the wall with that. Being as palatable as she is, though, is what breaks through the barrier of geographical stunts that would usually hinge a western artist. But, The Eras Tour being a marginally safe space for women, has transcended those barriers, too. It’s that first means that allows for that, though.

It should be noted that there is only one time ‘girlhood’ is referenced directly in Swift’s discography, that is: "Give me back my girlhood, it was mine first.”

Maybe this is where we should have started: what she herself has had to say about it. Maybe her own underlying definition is the one that has really fueled the whole tour, its power weaving its way through light-up bracelets, teeth bared in excitement and exploding through fireworks. She insinuates that girlhood is something that can be taken away, and in the context of the song, it’s taken by an older man who drains her of the naive essence of her youth in a way nothing had before. One that still haunted her until the song was written– that’s 11 years later. If girlhood is something that can be taken away, what’s not to say that it can’t be taken back? This way of looking at it validates the communal consensus elicited by the tour and Taylor Swift and music and art in general: absolutely anything, no matter how small, can elicit nostalgia. Youth can be found in anything, but something like The Eras Tour is the catalyst for something like that because it is accessible to so many people: anyone can turn on a song from 2006 and one from 2008 and one from 2010– to 2024, reinforce that maybe stolen youth can be felt again in wisps. And that’s not to say that girlhood is just something anyone can simply “feel,” or conquest and strive to get back, but rather, that the feeling of owning one’s girlhood can be reclaimed at any age. Maybe the tour is the environment to do that.

Maybe the song was kind of a counter spell: the way to own her girlhood was to write the song. The mirror has to be reflected in the opposite way too, then. Maybe someone has felt that the song helped them own their girlhood. And in that respective light, that can be applied to everything Taylor has found catharsis in and put out into the world. Owning your own girlhood doesn’t come with a contract or a tag, just an input and an output. It goes the same way it comes, and like everything in life The Eras Tour is just one thing in the midst of many that will never come again.

“It was mine first.” And with this comes the question, where does it usually go? To answer: I think it’s just always up in the air until something is strong enough to grab it again. Something like this tour. And every night, she says that the concert “spans 15 years of music,” and asks, “Are you ready to go back to highschool with me?” She confirms that “these songs are now yours.” This is what it is. The eras tour is her girlhood. Memories to her, but tales to us, about her being five and not knowing why the trees change in the fall, walking through the doors on the morning of her very first day of highschool, and on and on. One thing can be said about The Eras Tour: time will only make the stories ripple, until on and on is far away enough, and the stories can be relieved and retold again. The “Era” is just looking back at itself. Because the reality is that no one really “is” one era; the tour commemorates all of them, and everything between them. Isn’t being a human having an endless capacity for nostalgia? This tour is just making something out of it. And it has happened to be something so big.

Of course it’s something larger than this life that Taylor Swift gives to women and girls something, in promising hands, now: the chance to be what they were again. What they were at 14 or 20 or 27 or 34. Because, is turning into a woman forgetting those things? Is loss of girlhood forgetting? What happens when there’s something like The Eras Tour to make people remember?

Well, we’ve seen it. Some are overjoyed, believing it sees them for what they are, and others, upset because it reminds them of what they were not. And that is perfectly valid. Girlhood is as much about being a part of a community as anything else, but that community can also be divided in different ways. There is definitely an ideal form of girlhood that makes the actual reality suffer under its shadow. When you’re insisting that girlhood is any one way, or implying that, it’s harmful. There’s no way to capture the 168 million lives of women in America with just one. And that’s why I think the ‘real’ meaning of girlhood is always lost in translation. But there can be different meanings, and I think something that has knotted up during the stretch of this holds a mirror to that meaning, has a meaning in one language, or simply is what it is in a moment of time.The point has also been, I think, to indulge in something as joyful and immeasurable as The Eras Tour, to be afforded that kind of love and innocence if you haven’t ever before. That also changes a person. That is something the tour can give anyone. The Eras Tour is both an in person and online celebration of something, certainly. It’s not for no reason. How she brings people together–which is what people usually mean– the universality of it; what’s emphasized is that whirlwind or sliver of a feeling, is what is celebrated. That even that, even a sliver, is valid.

“Where do their stories go? Do we ignore them for the sake

of misrepresenting a group they belong to? Or do we acknowledge the specificity of experience on this earth?”

- Greta Gerwig, Representation, and the Universal Girl

It's not a crime to admit that there is a cult-like celebrity culture that we live in. That you can still be a fan whilst holding your own foot on the ground of ideas and values. Not every one of your morals has to bend to appease or excuse her or the world we live in that eases its way for rich white women such as her. That is a liable idea of its own.

So now, with that in mind, the question is: where does this summer go? Where do these summers go? Where does this lead? I suppose it leads to the next world grappling, female vision. And when it comes, it will not come like this one; maybe it will be America having its first female president. Maybe another iconic female artist will have an Eras tour, farewell tour, even. Now that we have seen the effects of The Eras Tour in real time, and the European leg has been concluded, we can break down what it’s exactly meant across distances. How did the Vienna news happen to affect so many people–many, an ocean away? This tour has built a bridge so beautiful, across the world. One of the most defining moments of the whole tour has had to be thousands of swifties gathering in Vienna to sing ‘The Smallest Man Who Ever Lived,’ which honestly brought me so close to tears.

And I think the realization that has affected most: we will never have a sparkling summer again. That there’s nothing more this tour could turn into and it can’t be relived. That blockade of existence is exactly why this tour is what it has been; the opportunity to go back, simply, is what we will never get back in this way again. Although, one vestige, one shred torn off of the tour has to be ‘Cruel Summer.’ As I once said before: Summer is just temporary. Cruel Summer is forever.

But 5 continents later, the tour will end. I don’t want to think about that.

Hopefully, 2006 to 2024 has just been one big era. One that’s forever ongoing– I can’t let this feeling go just yet.

“We did it.” – Taylor Swift after completing the final show of the European leg of the tour in London.

further reading and resources i used to write this– among many more :)

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2024/01/31/1197954664/taylor-swift-and-the-era-of-girl

https://www.glamourmagazine.co.uk/article/my-taylor-swift-opinion-changed-after-eras

Greta Gerwig, Representation, and the Universal Girl

Folk Feminism: From Joan Baez to Taylor Swift

Girlhood, Purity and Religious Trauma: A Taylor Swift Study 💜 Would’ve Could’ve Should’ve analysis

find this essay on my substack: https://open.substack.com/pub/willowremix/p/the-eras-tour-and-girlhood?r=49kxvt&utm_medium=ios

#taylorswift #the eras tour #eras tour #swifties #taylornation #essay #opinion piece #web weaving #substack #tstheerastour #the tortured poets department #ttpd

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aikrus · 3 years ago

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And She Cried When The Sun Came

Fandom: Bnha / Mha

Pairing: Bakugo x Reader

Rating: 16+

Words: 951

Warnings: Major Character Death, Angst, Coping, OOC Uraraka, several references to sex, swears, sl*t shaming

A/n: A self indulgence angst, cringe in a way but it’s what I wanted

Remastered: Aug.9 2022

“Hey Y/n-- It’s me again. Izuku. Just uh, well, just wanted to say we’re still thinking about you. I know it’s really hard but we’re here for you. That’s all-- see you soon.”

“Hi Y/l/n, this is Yaoyarozu. I just wanted to let you know we’re all here for you. Call if you need anything.”

“Y/n!” Ashido cheered, “Let’s go out tomorrow! I hate thinking about you all alone in that huge condo of yours. Let me know!”

“Hey Y/n...This is Shoto. I know it’s hard but It’ll get better. I swear.”

“Y/n, get your cute little ass out of that apartment! Katsu wouldn’t want this. If I know my son, he’d throw a bitch fit if he saw you sulking. Come to dinner with me, my treat. I love you, sweetheart.”

Y/n stayed on her couch, covered in about three blankets wrapped carefully as a cocoon to shield her. She didn’t exactly know what she was shielding herself from, but she knew she needed protection.

Her answering machine read out these messages multiple times a day, all from people who knew her fiance.

“Don’t listen to those extras,” Bakugo scoffed, leaning against the wall across from her, “take your time princess.”

"Shut up." She rolled onto her side, facing the cushions, "what do you know? You're dead."

He faded away, like he always did. The first time Katsuki appeared in their home he was looking out the window and Y/n started to cry-- when he vanished she broke down into messy sobs. Now, her cold eyes were hardened. And she was numb, so very numb.

Three knocks resonated through her apartment, stirring her from the comatose state which rolled over her in waves after a sleepless night.

“Y/n, sweetie? It’s Uraraka and Izuku!”

“Y/n, we brought some food over.”

She didn’t move. She couldn’t move.

“Y/n?”

“It’s okay! We’ll just leave it at the door for you.”

Time moved on, and eventually, his name vanished from the tabloids. Memorial candles burnt out, food spoiled, and the memory of Ground Zero slowly faded away into a hazy fever dream.

To her credit, Y/n did put in an honest effort to move on. Truly, she did what every therapist, self-help book, pretentious podcast told her to. She cleaned herself up, took regular showers, ate health, redecorated some, contacted her old friends, did everything she could.

But no book could tell her how to handle the nights she laid alone, shivering in the bed that used to be so full. No motivational speaker could tell her what to do when she turned to look at her husband and find nothing there. What to do when she's walking down the street and her hand keeps flexing because it's so use to being held that the air feels forighn in her palm. Everything felt so empty now. Her apatite was large yet unsatisfactory, her joy felt superficial, even the pain inside felt lacking.

So she did what anyone would do.

“Your place or mine?” Y/n whispered against the lips of a new stranger, eyes locked up with theirs while tugging her lip between her teeth.

And don't you dare blame her for it.

She loved when they said “Mine,” getting to go somewhere else, be someone new. She loved being a person who wasn’t destroyed over Bakugo Katsuki.

But when they said “Yours,” she still took them home. She peeled off the layers of clothes piece by piece until they were both naked and yet completely covered from one another.

There was her line.

Her body was free for her to give, to use in any way that brought her comfort. Her soul however, belonged only to Katsuki. She’d lay bare for no one but him.

When it got around the group that Y/n had been leaving behind a string of one night stands, it was a mixed reaction. Some nodded in understanding, others closed their eyes in a disappointing acceptance. A few, though, were disgusted.

“How could you do this to him?”

When Ochaco came to her door Y/n was surprised. They hadn’t spoken directly ever, and she only visited with Midoriya by her side, never alone like this.

“What did I do?”

Her face contorted, eyes narrowing into a hateful glare-- “Bakugo loved you and this is how you repay him?”

Y/n’s face returned to a hazy state of numb nonchalantes.

“You sleep around with the entire region? Talk about loyalty.”

A moment of silence passed between them.

"I mean come on! At least give him the courtesy of a year with your legs closed do we can pretend you gave a shit about him! He was my friend!"

“I’ll give you five seconds to leave before I call security to drag you out.”

“What’s the matter with you?”

Her straight lips broke into a snarl-- “Fuck you,” she took a step back. “Fuck you and your ‘I brought you food!’ Fuck you and your ‘Sweetie!’ Fuck you and the fake ass sympathy, fuck you, fuck you, fuck you!”

Blood fell from her palm, where nails had pierced through the skin. “You don’t have the right to tell me how to cope! You don’t get to have a fucking opinion, Uraraka! You don’t get to! You’re fucking husband is alive and well, a hero loved by everyone who’s gonna go down in history as the most overpowered saint to fucking live, so fuck off! You have no clue what it’s like!”

She scoffed, “Obviously it’s not affected you as much as you like to pretend it did.”

Her hand flew of its own accord, striking the hero in front of her.

“I don’t owe you an explanation.” She shook her head, letting her anger die in her throat and suffocate the words that came with it. Y/n’s face returned to a passive state, “I don’t owe you anything.”

The door closed between them, and she never saw the floating hero again.

Bodies still moved against her own, when the nights were too cold. She still grasped on to as much heat as possible, still let people she didn’t know into their her home. And still, tears watered her pillow when the sun came up on another day without him in it.

So yes, time still moved on without the past number two hero; but Y/n didn’t.

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mattydemise · 2 years ago

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I’ve been listening to this podcast on Youtube. Don't know if he’d refer to it as a podcast but each video is around 45 minutes to an hour long so to me it’s a podcast. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so Billy Shakespeare said. This bloke is talking about sobriety and it’s utterly engaging, he doesn’t have a particularly large following or anything, but I’ve been following his videos since I was in high school. I’ve never truly struggled with addiction or substance abuse problems but like I’ve said before I was beginning to have a problem with sex as a coping mechanism following my first serious break up. In addition to that I’ve had serious relationships with people that’ve struggled with addiction, have overdosed, etc. So, I’m no rookie when it comes to this shit. Anyway, the way he so nonchalantly talks about his alcoholism and how it all started by taking bong hits back in his younger surfing days made me think of all the people I knew growing up that started the exact same way. It’s unfortunate because people are so quick to minimise and trivialise their own problems with substances. It’s almost like they act in ignorance to reality and treat it as though just because they themselves aren’t suffering, means there can’t be others who are. It takes a mature head to look at this shit objectively, to be able to say “Even though others are responsible, it’s still a problem.” I was reading this very candid post the other day by some bloke in California who acknowledged he had a problem with smoking grass and he stumbled upon this realisation after forgetting to pick up his daughter from school. It’s easy to gloss over the harm any substance can cause when it’s legal or readily accessible. I’ve known many beautiful people in my time and I don’t have enough appendages on my body to count the amount of them caught well within the throes of their addiction to marijuana. Such a touchy topic with people too, unfortunately, and people struggle to be objective about this shit. I get it. It benefits you. Helps with your anxiety. Gives you the tools to socialise with people and be functional in society. Good. I’m glad you’ve found something that works for you. However, you’ve really gotta be objective enough to acknowledge the potential for harm, too. I’ve read far too many horror stories about teenagers that’ve permanently fucked their brain chemistry because they refused to stand up to peer pressure. I’ve known far too many fucking teenagers that say they “drive better while high” and then wrap their dad’s car around a tree, killing themselves and their little sibling, a girlfriend, a partner, etc. If you’ve got any problem with what I’ve just said then I implore you to message or get in touch with me, off anon, and share your perspective. This is an open forum and I welcome alternative points of view and will not judge you for it. The potential here for meaningful discussion should outweigh anyone’s need to be negative.

#mattobsidian #writing #words #thoughts #text

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mostlymovieswithmax · 4 years ago

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Movies I watched in May

Sadly, I kind of skipped writing a post for April. It was a mad month with so much going on: lots of emails sent and lots of stress. I started a new job so I’m getting to grips with that... and even then, I still watched a bunch of movies. But this is about what I watched in May and, yeah… still a bunch. So if you’re looking to get into some other movies - possibly some you’ve thought about watching but didn’t know what they were like, or maybe like the look of something you’ve never heard of - then this may help! So here’s every film I watched from the 1st to the 31st of May 2021 Tenet (2020) - 8/10 This was my third time watching Christopher Nolan’s most Christopher Nolan movie ever and it makes no sense but I still love it. The spectacle of it all is truly like nothing I’ve ever seen. I had also watched it four days prior to this watch also, only this time I had enabled audio description for the visually impaired, thinking it would make it funny… It didn’t.

Nomadland (2020) - 6/10 Chloé Zhao’s new movie got a lot of awards attention. Everyone was hyped for this and when it got put out on Disney+ I was eager to see what all the fuss was about. Seeing these real nomads certainly gave the film an authenticity, along with McDormand’s ever-praisable acting. But generally I found it quite underwhelming and lacking a lot in its pacing. Nomadland surely has its moments of captivating cinematography and enticing commentary on the culture of these people, but it felt like it went on forever without any kind of forward direction or goal. The Prince of Egypt (1998) - 6/10 I reviewed this on my podcast, The Sunday Movie Marathon. For what it is, it’s pretty fun but nowhere near as good as some of the best DreamWorks movies.

Chinatown (1974) - 8/10 What a fantastic and wonderfully unpredictable mystery crime film! I regret to say I’ve not seen many Jack Nicholson performances but he steals the show. Despite Polanski’s infamy, it’d be a lie to claim this wasn’t truly masterful. Howl’s Moving Castle (2004) - 8/10 Admittedly I was half asleep as I curled up on the sofa to watch this again on a whim. I watched this with someone who demanded the dubbed version over the subtitled version and while I objected heavily, I knew I’d seen the movie before so it didn’t matter too much. That person also fell asleep about 20 minutes in, so how pointless an argument it was. Howl’s Moving Castle boasts superb animation, the likes of which I’ve only come to expect of Miyazaki. The story is so unique and the colours are absolutely gorgeous. This may not be my favourite from the legendary director but there’s no denying its splendour.

Bāhubali: The Beginning (2015) - 3/10 The next morning I watched some absolute trash. This crazy, over the top Indian movie is hilarious and I could perhaps recommend it if it weren’t so long. That being said, Bāhubali was not a dumpster fire; it has a lot of good-looking visual effects and it’s easy to see the ambition for this epic story, it just doesn’t come together. There’s fun to be had with how the main character is basically the strongest man in the world and yet still comes across as just a lucky dumbass, along with all the dancing that makes no sense but is still entertaining to watch. Seven Samurai (1954) - 10/10 If it wasn’t obvious already, Seven Samurai is a masterpiece. I reviewed this on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, so more thoughts can be found there. Red Road (2006) - 6/10 Another recommendation on episode 30 of the podcast. Red Road really captures the authentic British working class experience. Before Sunrise (1995) - 10/10 One of the best romances put to film. The first in Richard Linklater’s Before Trilogy is undoubtedly my favourite, despite its counterparts being almost equally as good. It tells the story of a young couple travelling through Europe, who happen to meet on a train and spend the day together. It is gloriously shot on location in Vienna and features some of the most interesting dialogue I’ve ever seen put to film. Heartbreakingly beautiful.

Tokyo Story (1953) - 9/10 This Japanese classic - along with being visually and sonically masterful - is a lot about appreciating the people in your life and taking the time to show them that you love them. It’s about knowing it’s never too late to rekindle old relationships if you truly want to, which is something I’ve been able to relate to in recent years. It broke my heart in two. Tokyo Story will make you want to call your mother. Before Sunset (2004) - 10/10 Almost a decade after Sunrise, Sunset carries a sombre yet relieving feeling. Again, the performances from Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke take me away, evoking nostalgic feelings as they stroll through the contemporary Parisian streets. There is no regret in me for buying the Criterion blu-ray boxset for this trilogy. Before Midnight (2013) - 10/10 Here, Linklater cements this trilogy as one of the best in film history. It’s certainly not the ending I expected, yet it’s an ending I appreciate endlessly. Because it doesn’t really end. Midnight shows the troubling times of a strained relationship; one that has endured so long and despite initially feeling almost dreamlike in how idealistically that first encounter was portrayed, the cracks appear as the film forces you to come to terms with the fact that fairy-tale romances just don’t exist. Relationships require effort and sacrifice and sometimes the ones that truly work are those that endure through all the rough patches to emerge stronger. The Holy Mountain (1973) - 10/10 Jodorowsky’s masterpiece is absolute insanity. I talked more about it on The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) - 10/10 Another watch for Grand Budapest because I bought the Criterion blu-ray. As unalterably perfect as ever. Blue Jay (2016) - 6/10 Rather good up to a point. My co-hosts and I did not agree on how good this movie was, which is a discussion you can listen to on my podcast. Shadow and Bone: The Afterparty (2021) - 3/10 For what it’s worth, I really enjoyed the first season of Shadow and Bone, which is why I wanted to see what ‘The Afterparty’ was about. This could have been a lot better and much less annoying if all those terrible comedians weren’t hosting and telling bad jokes. I don’t want to see Fortune Feimster attempt to tell a joke about oiling her body as the cast of the show sit awkwardly in their homes over Zoom. If it had simply been a half hour, 45 minute chat with the cast and crew about how they made the show and their thoughts on it, a lot of embarrassment and time-wasting could have been spared. Wadjda (2012) - 6/10 Another recommendation discussed at length on The Sunday Movie Marathon. Wadjda was pretty interesting from a cultural perspective but largely familiar in terms of story structure.

Freddy Got Fingered (2001) - 2/10 A truly terrible movie with maybe one or two scenes that stop it from being a complete catastrophe. Tom Green tried to create something that almost holds a middle finger to everyone who watches it and to some that could be a fun experience, but to me it just came across as utterly irritating. It’s simply a bunch of scenes threaded together with an incredibly loose plot. He wears the skin of a dead deer, smacks a disabled woman over and over again on the legs to turn her on, and he swings a newborn baby around a hospital room by its umbilical cord (that part was actually pretty funny). I cannot believe I watched this again, although I think I repressed a lot of it since having seen it for the first time around five years ago. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 - (2011) I have to say, these movies seem to get better with each instalment. They’re still not very good though. That being said, I’m amazed at how many times I’ve watched each of the Twilight movies at this point. This time around, I watched Breaking Dawn - Part 1 with a YMS commentary track on YouTube and that made the experience a lot more entertaining. Otherwise, this film is super dumb but pretty entertaining. I would recommend watching these movies with friends. Solaris (1972) - 8/10 Andrei Tarkovsky’s grand sci-fi epic about the emotional crises of a crew on the space station orbiting the fictional planet Solaris is much as strange and creepy as you might expect from the master Russian auter. I had wanted to watch this for a while so I bought the Criterion blu-ray and it’s just stunning. It’s clear to see the 2001: A Space Odyssey inspiration but Solaris is quite a different beast entirely. Jaws (1975) - 4/10 I really tried to get into this classic movie, but Jaws exhibits basically everything I don’t like about Steven Spielberg’s directing. For sure, the effects are crazily good but the story itself is poorly handled and largely uninteresting. It was just a massive slog to get through.

Darkman (1990) - 6/10 Sam Raimi’s superhero movie is so much fun, albeit massively stupid. Further discussion on Darkman can be found on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Darkman II: The Return of Durant (1995) - 1/10 Abysmal. I forgot the movie as I watched it. This was part of a marathon my friends and I did for episode 32 of our podcast. Darkman III: Die Darkman Die (1996) - 1/10 Perhaps this trilogy is not so great after all. Only marginally better than Darkman II but still pretty terrible. More thoughts on episode 32 of my podcast. F For Fake (1973) - 8/10 Rewatching this proved to be a worthwhile decision. Albeit slightly boring, there’s no denying how crazy the story of this documentary about art forgers is. The standout however, is the director himself. Orson Welles makes a lot of this film about himself and how hot his girlfriend is and it is hilarious.

The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021) - 4/10 More style over substance, Sony’s new animated adventure wants so much to be in trend with the current internet culture but it simply doesn’t understand what it’s emulating. There’s a nyan cat reference, for crying out loud. For every joke that works, there are about ten more that do not and were it not for the wonderful animation, it simply wouldn’t be getting so much praise. Taxi Driver (1976) - 10/10 The first movie I’ve seen in a cinema since 2020 and damn it was good to be back! I’ve already reviewed Taxi Driver in my March wrap-up but seeing it in the cinema was a real treat. Irreversible (2002) - 8/10 One of the most viscerally horrendous experiences I’ve ever had while watching a movie. I cannot believe a friend of mine gave me the DVD to watch. More thoughts on episode 32 of The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast. Don’t watch it with the family. The Golden Compass (2007) - 1/10 I had no recollection of this being as bad as it is. The Golden Compass is the definition of a factory mandated movie. Nothing it does on its own is worth any kind of merit. I would say, if you wanted an experience like what this tries to communicate, a better option by far is the BBC series, His Dark Materials. More of my thoughts can be found in the review I wrote on Letterboxd.

Antichrist (2009) - 8/10 Lars von Trier is nothing if not provocative and I can understand why someone would not like Antichrist, but I enjoyed it quite a lot. After watching it, I wrote a slightly disjointed summary of my interpretations of this highly metaphorical movie in the group chat, so fair warning for a bit of spoilers and graphic descriptions: It's like, the patriarchy, man! Oppression! Men are the rational thinkers with big brains and the women just cry and be emotional. So she's seen as crazy when she's smashing his cock and driving a drill through his leg to keep him weighted down. Like, how does he like it, ya know? So then she mutilates herself like she did with him and now they're both wounded, but the animals crowd around her (and the crow that he couldn't kill because it's Mother nature, not Father nature, duh). Then he kills her, even though she could've killed him loads of times but didn't. So it's like "haha big win for the man who was subjected to such horrific torture. Victory!" And then all the women with no faces come out of the woods because it's like a constant cycle. Manchester By The Sea (2016) - 6/10 Great performances in this super sad movie. I can’t say I got too much out of it though. Roar (1981) - 9/10 Watching Roar again was still as terrifying an experience as the first time. If you want to watch something that’s loose on plot with poor acting but with real big cats getting in the way of production and physically attacking people, look no further. This is the scariest movie I’ve ever seen because it’s all basically real. Cannot recommend it enough. Eyes Without A Face (1960) - 8/10 I’m glad I checked this old French movie out again. There’s a lot to marvel at in so many aspects, what with the premise itself - a mad surgeon taking the faces from unsuspecting women and transplanting them onto another - being incredibly unique for the time. Short, sweet and entertaining!

Se7en (1995) - 10/10 The first in a David Fincher marathon we did for The Sunday Movie Marathon, episode 33. Zodiac (2007) - 10/10 Second in the marathon, as it was getting late, we decided to watch half that evening and the last half on the following evening. Zodiac is a brilliant movie and you can hear more of my thoughts on the podcast (though I apologise; my audio is not the best in this episode). Gone Girl (2014) - 10/10 My favourite Fincher movie. More insights into this masterpiece in episode 33 of the podcast. Friends: The Reunion (2021) - 6/10 It was heartwarming to see the old actors for this great show together again. I talked about the Friends reunion film at length in episode 33 of my podcast.

Wolfwalkers (2020) - 10/10 I reviewed this in an earlier post but would like to reiterate just how wonderful Wolfwalkers is. If you get the chance, please see it in the cinema. I couldn’t stop crying from how beautiful it was. Raya and The Last Dragon (2021) - 6/10 After watching Wolfwalkers, I decided I didn’t want to go home. So I had lunch in town and booked a ticket for Disney’s Raya and The Last Dragon. A child was coughing directly behind me the entire time. Again, I reviewed this in an earlier post but generally it was decent but I have so many problems with the execution. The Princess Bride (1987) - 9/10 Clearly I underrated this the last time I watched it. The Princess Bride is warm and hilarious with some delightfully memorable characters. A real classic!

The Invisible Kid (1988) - 1/10 About as good as you’d expect a movie with that name to be, The Invisible Kid was a pick for The Sunday Movie Marathon podcast, the discussion for which you can listen to in episode 34. Babel (2006) - 9/10 The same night that I watched The Invisible Kid, I watched a masterful and dour drama from the director of Birdman and The Revenant. Babel calls back to an earlier movie of Iñárritu’s, called Amores Perros and as I was informed while we watched this for the podcast, it turns out Babel is part of a trilogy alongside the aforementioned film. More thoughts in episode 34 of the podcast. Snake Eyes (1998) - 1/10 After feeling thoroughly emotionally wiped out after Babel, we immediately watched another recommendation for the podcast: Snake Eyes, starring Nicolas Cage. This was a truly underwhelming experience and for more of a breakdown into what makes this movie so bad, you can listen to us talk about it on the podcast.

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shyvioletcat · 3 years ago

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I have no idea if you’ve seen NCIS: LA, but they have an episode just like your fic Treacherous of two agents posing as a married couple in the suburbs!! It’s season 3 episode 22 for reference!

Prompt based on that: A comes home and sees blood, panics and follows the trail thinking B has been hurt/killed. Carefully pushes the door open and finds A has simply cut their foot and didn’t hear B

I have watched some and I did go looking for this episode but came up bust in my search. It could have provided some good inspiration I’m sure. We all love a good fake relationship.

*EDIT: TAGLIST DONE. Sorry if you’ve already seen it and are getting the notification.*

Treacherous Masterlist

~~~~~

Grabbing the shopping bags out of the boot of the car Rowan swept his foot under it to activate the automatic close, all the while suppressing a yawn. He was dead tired. Aelin had gotten her revenge after the pen incident, setting an alarm clock in his room to wake him up at exactly 3:47. The damned thing hadn’t been within reach so he had to get out of bed to turn it off. And from copious missions together Aelin knew once he was up, he was up so he’d hadn’t bothered to try and get back to sleep. Knowing her she might have set others up in the room anyway, even if he had tried to sleep again paranoia would have kept him awake. All the while she slept blissfully across the hall.

Being just the two of them in the house they hadn’t bothered to keep up the bed sharing part of the charade. They slept in separate rooms and thank the gods for that. If he didn’t have that space to himself he might have never been able to get away from her and have some quiet. Aelin seemed to fill every room she was in and it was suffocating for him… most of the time. She had a way with people he had admired at times, it was what made her such a good agent, especially when undercover. Not that he would ever tell her any of that. No need to inflate her already insufferable ego.

When he had grumpily asked her over his third cup of coffee why she’d chosen 3:47 exactly she’d smiled at him, bright and cheery as ever after sleeping in until 8 o’clock, and alluded to some lockeroom talk she’d heard about certain measurements—in millimetres. When he had rolled his eyes she had gone on to clarify she was talking about 30 and not just 3 he’d promptly left the room, well and truly done with her immaturity. Her laughter had chased him out.

Shifting the shopping bags so he could open the back door, Rowan entered the kitchen expecting to find Aelin in there preparing the food for the ridiculous party tomorrow while listening to some obnoxious music very loudly just to piss him off. But she wasn’t, in fact the house was silent.

“Aelin,” he called, stepping around the length of the counter.

That was when he saw the blood.

Rowan dropped the bags, things crushing on impact. The blood pooled in one spot, then splatters made a path across the tiles. He didn’t have a gun on him, but there were enough stashed around the house and he found one in a low kitchen drawer. It was pointed and ready in moments and Rowan made sure he didn’t disturb the blood on the linoleum floor.

“Aelin,” he called again. “Agent Galathynius.”

Still silence. He followed the trail of blood towards the small bathroom that was on the bottom level, his heart pounding in his ears. There wasn’t enough that the situation looked dire, but the assailant may have dragged her off to another location, hidden away from windows. Why hadn’t the team been alerted to anything? Where was the back-up? Panic started to fill him, but his training kept it under control. If something had happened to Aelin…

He shook his head to shake out the thought. She was a perfectly capable agent, one of the best. Rowan was overreacting and he needed to calm down. A deep breath in and he nudged the door, when there was no reaction he kicked it open, gun ready. Eyes darting around the room, his gun dropped to the side when he took in the scene before him.

Aelin was seated on the floor, holding wads of toilet paper on a wound on her foot, wincing from what he gathered to be pain. She hadn’t noticed his entrance and was still focused on her foot.

“Aelin,” Rowan said, but got no response, so he tried a little louder. “Aelin.”

She jumped looking up at him. “Why do you have a gun?”

“Did you not hear me calling out?” Rowan asked, putting the safety back on the gun.

Aelin took small earbuds out of her ears. “What?”

Rowan rubbed a hand over his face, panic turned to exasperation. “I called out to you and you didn’t answer.”

“Podcast,” she held up her earbuds in explanation. “But the gun?” Aelin then asked him, her attention going back to her foot.

“The blood trail…” he said but didn’t elaborate.

Aelin straightened where she sat and looked up at him, then laughed. “Did you think I’d been murdered in the bathtub?”

Rowan didn’t answer her question. “Would you mind telling me what happened exactly?”

Aelin sighed. “I was trying to cook and I knocked a knife off the counter and my hands were full so I couldn’t catch it. It nicked my foot and now here we are.”

“Okay,” Rowan said, the adrenaline finally settling and he knelt down to assess the injury.

“What are you doing?” Aelin brows were furrowed in confusion.

“Inspecting the cut, you can’t get at it from the right angle,” Rowan said, turning her foot and earning a hiss.

“I can do it myself,” Aelin said and tried to pull her foot away but Rowan held firm. She relented with an over dramatic sigh and leaned her back on the bathtub.

Aelin had already got down what he needed, so he cleaned the cut up and foot, putting a large bandaid on it to stop the bleeding. “There,” Rowan said succinctly, brushing a thumb unconsciously along Aelin’s arch before letting go, making her suppress a laugh. She was ticklish.

“Hmm,” Aelin said, looking at him curiously.

“What?” Rowan asked, standing and washing his hands. When he turned around to dry his hands on a towel she was still looking at him.

“Careful Whitethorn, someone might think you were concerned for my well-being if they found out about this.”

“Not likely,” Rowan scoffed. “It was the paperwork I was concerned about.”

Aelin snorted and walked past him, Rowan taking a moment before he followed. There had been a moment when… He shook his head. Concern for a partner was only natural, no matter the feelings of enmity between them. The two of them couldn’t stand each other, but that didn’t mean he wanted her hurt or dead. Rowan left the bathroom, headed for the kitchen to put away the groceries when he heard a frustrated exclamation.

“Are you serious, Rowan?”

Any concern he had felt evaporated at Aelin’s tone. Entering the kitchen he found her holding a carton of eggs, leaking yellow and clear goop. They must have cracked when he dropped the bags in his panic at the blood.

“You need to go get more,” she told him, dropping the ruined eggs in the trash.

“No, I am not,” Rowan groaned. He was tired, he didn’t want to take another trip to the grocery store across town.

“Oh, you are. I needed those eggs for the barbecue tomorrow, so because of your overreaction over a little bit of blood I am now eggless,” Aelin explained. There was no answer from him as Aelin unrolled some paper towel to clean up both egg and blood. “Off you go.”

Too tired to fight anymore Rowan just grabbed his keys and left to get more precious eggs.

~~~~~

Tags: @fucking-winchester-trash // @literary-licorice // @galyxsy // @tangledraysofsunshine // @highqueenofelfhame // @3am-reading // @soup-that-is-too-hawt // @aelinfire-bringer // @nalgenewhore // @highladyofthesith // @http-itsrebecca // @sleep-and-books // @alifletcher2012 // @westofmoon // @sleeping-and-books // @ttakeitbacknoww // @armixers-unite // @mariamuses // @chocolate-eating-bitch-queen // @velarian-trash // @queenofxhearts // @heroesofterrasen // @highladyofstoriesandmusic // @empire-of-wildfire // @camerooonchiu // @crackedship // @lowhangingtreebranches // @over300books // @yourwhisperingshadows // @thesirenwashere // @tswaney17 // @impossiblescissorspeachpaper // @cat5313 // @judelovescardan // @flowerspringsea // @chaoticskyy // @the-regal-warrior // @fanfictrash3000 // @blueeyes425 // @starseternalnighttriumphant // @bamchickawowow // @thehuntressofmoon // @giorgia-the-trashpanda // @flora-and-fae // @thereaderandfangirl // @illyrian-bookworm // @chemicha // @meltalgel // @gay-book-nerd // @that-odd-puzzle-piece // @i-love-all-books // @in-love-with-caramel-macchiato // @girl-who-reads-the-books // @hizqueen4life // @the-third-me // @1islessthan3books // @bestmelle // @cursebreaker29 // @b00kworm // @superspiritfestival // @aesthetics-11 // @maastrash // @mynewdreamwasyou // @the-last-apprentice // @charincharge // @firestarsandseneschals // @scarznstars // @absolute-dissapointment // @thesurielships // @df3ndyr // @trinitybailey2003 // @hellasblessed // @booknerdproblems // @larisssss // @sevenfreckles-for-sevenloves // @rolltide7 // @scandinavianromantic // @tillyrubes10 // @starwarsslytherin // @minaidss // @paytin77 // @jesstargaryenqueen // @anntheintrovert // @starbornvalkyrie // @loudphantomdragon // @woollycat22 // @claralady // @perseusannabeth // @fangirlprincess09 // @maddymelv // @sierrareads // @more-espresso-less-depresso-xx // @jlinez // @lysandra-ghost-leopard // @rowaelinismyotp // @pullnpeeltwizzlers // @anne-reads // @jadeaffliction // @gracie-rose // @elriel4life // @miserablesmusings // @tothestarswholistentodreamers // @littleboxofthunder // @empress-ofbloodshed // @booksbqueen // @rowanwhitethornisbae // @aelin-queen-of-terrasen // @alyx801 // @amandaswallowtail // @louiseleblancdiggory // @abookishfreak // @danibutterr // @nicetomeetyoufabi // @icantpeopletoday // @post-it-notes33 // @crystalfireandblazingice // @mariejulie2000 // @thegreyj // @thenerdandfandoms // @castielspelvis // @swankii-art-teacher // @grandma-noob-lord // @vanzetanze // @lizzyfirebringer // @aflickeringsoul // @highlady-brittney // @story-scribbler // @linguine-panini // @pastasiren // @surielandiareendgame // @charlizeed // @endlessdaydream // @magnifique1807 // @wordsafterhours //

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funkymbtifiction · 3 years ago

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Fi / Attachment Types

I just want to talk a little bit about being an ENFP and an attachment type (6). I was listening to the Big Hormone Podcast last night talk about attachment types and their struggle to decide anything, because there’s a “yes/no/maybe” internal reaction going on, and I have to say that’s true. It’s like simultaneously wanting to say yes, and be attached, and say no, and remain free of attachment. I’m not really sure how I feel most of the time, which makes my Fi kind of hazy.

Since I get asked this over and over (what is Fi? Am I an ENTP or an ENFP?), let’s talk about Fi. It’s a self-referencing system, where you go away from everyone else to decide how you feel about something and measure it against your inner self. It’s the need to live in accordance to your conscience, and it’s a thing inside you that tells you if this is okay, not okay, or “I don’t care.” With me, some things are automatic. I knew when I saw the trailer that I hated the Robert Downey Jr. version of Sherlock Holmes. I didn’t need to see the film, I just hated it. When I did see the film, Ne didn’t change my mind. I still hated it. I even got offended when my friends likened me to Irene Adler. I’m not sure if they meant temperament or vibes, but that annoyed me, to be “likened” to something I hate.

This reaction was instinctive and irreversible. It’s not rational; it’s a value judgment with me as the standing judge and jury: I. Hate. This. I have the same visceral reaction whenever I see a historical figure being maligned, because they can’t defend their reputation. I hate it. This is what Fi is like. It’s an unconscious NOPE that you cannot explain, that makes sense to nobody else, and that is immediate and abstract and you don’t know how to put it into words except NO. I won’t stand for this!!

(Including a gif, because I have a sense of humor about it now.)

This happens to me on and off, here and there. It’s not all the time, and I don’t let my inner responses override my intuition. In other words, I can give someone a fair trial in my mind (seeing their point of view) instead of dismissing them, even if I disapprove of their behavior. Superficial Fi judgments are immediate and fixed, if I can just see or hear something and respond to it… but when it comes to REAL emotions, everything is up in the air. They’re not a Yes/No. This whole argument about Dean being ISFJ or ISFP has sparked some stuff in my past, because I identify with Rory at times in terms of the “I don’t know what I want” aspect of her behavior. I’d never cheat on a boyfriend with someone else, but I’ve been in that place where I don’t know what I want, really, or if I want this friend in my life, and if not, how do I get out of it? I can’t even decide if I want to ask a friend to go somewhere this weekend with me, because I don’t know if I want to go to that place in the first place, or if I’m just being nostalgic. It has become this whole debate in my mind, because I don’t know how I feel, or if it matters, or if the drive would be worth it. And that is how I live my entire life. Of not being sure what I want most of the time or how I feel.

I know this can be incredibly annoying to other people, and that’s one reason I haven’t sought any close friendships in person for a long time, because I know I do the “yes/no/maybe” with them. They’re never quite sure how I feel about them or where I stand or if I’m in this friendship for the long haul or not. Because I’m a reliable person, I stick around, but there’s often giant question marks over my head about how I feel about them. Being a 6, I keep them at a slight distance while also needing them around. I wish I were a gut type, because then I’d just know by how people make me react to them if I like them or not, but instead, it all goes through my head. It sparks endless questions. I don’t listen to my heart because it doesn’t scream at me very loud. My brain is much louder.

Most of the time, I don’t know how I feel about something. I’m going through a slump right now and I’m not sure why, but nothing is holding my interest. I don’t want to do anything. And figuring out what the cause of this is hard, because Fi can’t tell me through the haze of being an attachment type. All I can do as a 6 is ask questions about it – over-think it, like usual. Does my loss of interest in this mean I am tired of it, doesn’t want to do it, or is this just a temporary slump and will I feel differently next week? Would I be happier if I dumped this? Is that what I want? I’m trying to figure out, from a logical place what my emotions are doing, which is impossible, because Fi isn’t rational, it’s subjective and based in the moment. Things happen, and it reacts. All I know today is, “I don’t care about this.” Being a responsible person, an attachment type, I will do it if it needs done anyway, because I am not a quitter. But a very large part of me wishes I could just be “irresponsible” (to my own mind) and slack off on everything. Just dump people and walk away. Just delete things when I’m bored with them. But I can’t, because Fi says “that isn’t who you are. That would make you feel miserable and unhappy, to be someone who just abandons things/people like that.”

So it’s a catch 22 most of the time. How do I feel? Does it matter? Should it factor into this? Am I just being sentimental here? Do I want this person in my life? Do I care about this hobby? Can I understand that point of view? What would I do in their shoes? Can I relate? It’s a life of never-ending questions, combined with a very real need to always be growing and moving forward and when I’m not feeling like that is happening, I get restless and frustrated. Determining Fi isn’t a case of “am I emotional or rational?” It’s very much a sense of, “Am I being the best possible person I can be, in order to live with and LIKE myself? Can I live with myself if I make this decision? Is this who I am?”

Sometimes you can’t, and that’s more difficult than you can imagine. Every place I have let myself down is like this huge, glaring sign of regret hanging up in my mind. You didn’t live up to yourself, you caused pain, you knew you couldn’t live with it and you did it anyway… Fi is about looking at the past, identifying what you did wrong in that situation (whatever makes you feel the worst or like you failed yourself), and then trying to use it as a guideline going forward. AKA, this made me feel like crap, so I never want to do it again. I’ll never just stand there and listen to someone insult my friend… I’ll never not defend what I think; next time I know I have to do something about this…

So I guess, just cut the attachment types in your life a break. They don’t always know what they want, and it’s as confusing and annoying for them as it is for you if you’re not one. And don’t vilify Fi as being selfish or idolize it as being more moral than Fe, because it isn’t. It’s subjective, abstract, hard to understand even for the Fi user (hence the needing to go away and think deeply about how this is making you feel in order to figure it out), and doesn’t make any sense half the time, because it’s just based on “yeah, nope, and I don’t care.”

One time a friend found out I’m not close to my sisters and said she was sorry, because she loves her sisters. I honestly said, “I don’t care.” I didn’t. I don’t. I don’t know them, so why would I care about not being close to them? But that surprised her, and in turn, it made me ask Ne/Fi-related questions: is a lack of caring an implication that I should care? Am I missing out on something? I can’t force myself to care, can I? Should I try to care? Why??

Fi isn’t “do I make emotional choices,” it’s “Do I care and is this me?” and it’s continuous, a sort of “self-focused” determination in all things, through all questions, to find out Who I Truly Am. And it’s much easier for IFPs to do this than EFPs, because IFPs ask this all the time, instantly. EFPs think, well, I need to either find out who I am through direct action and experiences (do things and react to them - Se) or through intellectual debate (ask myself philosophical questions and react to them - Ne). ENFPs have an extremely difficult time self-typing because they are so “heady” in terms of Ne that they often don’t realize how many of their choices are determined subjectively according to their internal reactions. It’s not a logical Ti process in terms of “how does this work,” it’s more about “how do I work?” Who am I??

I should also add that being a 6, I don’t take on too many hobbies or interests that I take seriously, because the double-thinking that Ne and 6-9 do together is emotionally exhausting. I don’t have the mental energy to double-think 900 things, so it’s easier for me just to say no to things that I know automatically will be an energy suck. This is problematic in the long run, however, because without a variety of interests and new information, Ne gets bored. So I need to keep my Ne fed with enough new information and hobbies that it’s satisfied in thinking about things, without introducing the need to make “decisions” with that information, which would cause me to over-think and stall out.

#mod post #introverted feeling #attachment types #enneagram

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emisonme · 4 years ago

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I truly didn’t feel Lauren was trying to “blame” anyone. It felt to me she was more so explaining how everything felt contextually to her. Lauren was terrified of herself and her feelings. She was in a lot of intense denial which many of us can relate to. And all of this was magnified by being watched 24/7. I don’t think she “flirted” with C in public. No more than she “flirted” with Normani. She’s an affectionate person. If she had a crush, she wasn’t ready for the world to know.

Look, I love Lauren, but she literally went out of her way, to put DIRECT BLAME on her fans and especially Camren shippers. It became “our” fault she couldn’t be herself. “We” made her feel uncomfortable. “We”, and ‘our art”, made her feel like a “predator”. “We” became the reason for everything going wrong in her life. “We”, her “invasive fans” were the ultimate reason for her being “outed”. If her “invasive fans” hadn’t found the picture, then Hilton wouldn’t have seen it and “outed” her. She said Hilton “outed” her, but “we” got the ultimate blame for it. (even though she was planning on coming out anyway)

I’m just going to say it, and I’m not going to sugar coat it...Lauren hates fame, and she blames us for it. She always has. She NEEDS US, but has a problem with US, at the same time. She wants her cake, and eat it too...but she don’t want to deal with the consequences of getting what she wants.

Lauren just wants to make music. She just wants her fans to listen to her music, stream her music, and buy her music, and that’s it. She don’t want her fans to think about anything else, other than her music. She don’t want to play the game, but she wants to be successful. She can’t be successful, if she doesn’t play the damn game. Instead of blaming the Industry tactics for gaining their artists success, she blames us, more. Why? Because WE are the ones who have to make a CONNECTION with her, to make her a success...or not. It’s a CONTROL thing. She can’t CONTROL her fans, and she hates it.

Lauren finds herself in one hell of a conundrum. She wanted to come out, but now that she has, she wishes she’d stayed in the fucking glass closet. She told us why, in that podcast. She wanted to be her authentic self, but now, she finds herself pigeonholed. She said her sexuality is the only thing people want to talk about, and book her for. That’s why she was booked for that particular podcast, to discuss her sexuality and Latinx Pride. It had a definite purpose and goal, but she was still there because she’s an out “queer”.

Lauren’s music hasn’t been garnering media attention, so she has to do shit, she don’t want to do, to garner that attention She hates it...and she blames US for it. WE are to blame for her coming out, because now she wishes she hadn’t. WE are the reason she’s pigeonholed, and instead of blaming herself for wanting to come out, she blames us for only caring about her sexuality. It’s not true. WE care about her music, her mind, and her art, but we CONNECT with her, because she’s one of US.

That is why, artists who are in a glass closet, stay in the glass closet. Especially female artists. Because they find themselves tied to their sexuality, and pigeonholed to the LGBTQ+ Community as their target audience. WE are a large audience, but we can’t create successful hits, alone. If we could, we wouldn’t be getting BLAMED for a damn thing. We would be appreciated, by artists and Industry alike. They need us to consume their music. They need us to produce and add to numbers. But, we aren’t a big enough target audience to produce the numbers needed for Industry success....And we can’t be blamed for that!!!

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theonceandfutureking6481 · 3 years ago

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BBC's Merlin Season 1 Episode 3: The Mark of Nimue Analysis

*SPOILERS FOR THE WHOLE SHOW*

First off I always look fondly on this episode, mainly for Morgana being hilarious and epic, I mean she has the best line in the whole episode:

Arthur: You could get hurt

Morgana: So could you.... if you don't get out of my way

This episode is also fun and interesting from the perspectives of plot, characters and themes. Sorry, this is extremely long, I have a lot of opinions about Merlin.

Gwen and Merlin

This episode is in many ways about Gwen and Merlin's friendship, it is the driving force behind all of Merlin's actions within this episode and is the stepping stone for this show considering how to find a balance between acting for the greater good without suggesting that the ends justify the means.

Merlin and Gwen are first off just very sweet, their friendship is really characteristic of this show's representation of friendship overall, just genuine love and consideration for others. It is also self-sacrificing, that's one thing about the relationships in this show they are so self-sacrificing.

When Merlin says to Gwen "I didn't like to see you upset." It reveals a wonderful fact of Merlin's characterisation that I would argue stays consistent for the whole show. His motivation is always grounded in how much he cares for the people around him. He cares deeply about his friends and they are largely his reason for doing the things he does. This line is a wonderful parallel to in season 3 when Merlin decides to let Morgana die (after he accidentally trips her down the stairs), but then in the end he heals her because he couldn't watch everyone's grief. Merlin cannot separate his actions from the people he's doing them for, and he can't stand to see people hurt when he has the power to fix it because the people he loves are his motivation, they are the reason he wants a better world. This show does establish (as I'll discuss further down) that what seems immediately right (healing Gwen's father etc) isn't necessarily the right decision to make for the greater good. This is some ways always questions the validity of Merlin's motivations and his actions, but I'd argue it more seeks to find a balance. Besides a Merlin who didn't act motivated by his love for others is not a Merlin that could have helped Arthur build Camelot.

Medievalism: duty and social obligation

Quick disclaimer cause I'm touching on a more scholarly issue here that I have limited knowledge of, so I will undoubtedly make mistakes and this is my opinion. Everything I write is my opinion, but that's more obvious when I'm commenting on the themes of a fictional world rather than making a comment on actual fields of study which is what I'm doing here.

BBC's Merlin is an example of medievalism, it is an engagement with the medieval era (or ideas/images associated with it) for modern times. I honestly don't know that much about medievalism, or the medieval era, certainly not enough to make an extensive commentary on its representation in Merlin. One thing I would argue is that Merlin's representation of friendship has its roots in idealised views of the virtues of the medieval era. For many people the Middle Ages represents a time of duty and social obligation, this on one hand does lead to a stringent class divide but it also finds its idealisation in the sort of friendship represented by Merlin. The premise in most societies that place great value on social obligation is that the needs of the community outweigh the needs of the individual, that people should sacrifice themselves for the community as a whole. Every society places emphasis on this in different ways and to greater or lesser extents and our view of it as being prevalent in the medieval era is largely an idealisation based in some historical reality but also our own desires about what this era represents. There is a kind of social responsibility in the relationships in Merlin, there is a great emphasis on loyalty which is part of this idealisation. However, Merlin makes it more personal than is often depicted. We idealise social responsibility and obligation, it is often tied into the social roles of people such as loyalty to a king, or paying back debts of honour which is a form of social obligation. Merlin is more about friendship, it takes our idealisation of medieval social obligation and makes it the obligation and loyalty we owe to people who love us and who we love. I will always say that fundamentally Merlin as a show is about love, and it emphasises what we owe to people in our lives in a way I believe echoes idealisation of medieval loyalty.

This idea can also be seen in Arthur's fundamental trust of others, his fundamental assumption that everyone around him is not seeking to harm him, and that people are generally good. This ties a bit into the idea of social obligation. Arthur's idealised world is one in which people have bonds of social obligation towards each other, that people are seeking to act in the interests of the community. It's an idealisation, both of the medieval era but also an idealisation in Arthur's own head of the world he lives in.

Morgana and Gwen

Their relationship is somewhat expanded on in this episode, and they are just so sweet. Gwen gives Morgana flowers to cheer her up and its just lovely. They have a very genuine and close relationship. Morgana also has great respect for Gwen, for the work she does, and she treats her with respect.

Morgana: "If she was a sorceress, why would she kneel on the cold stone floor every morning if she could make these things happen with a snap of her fingers, like an idle king."

Aside from being one of Morgana's many quality burns towards Uther, this also illustrates one of her greatest characteristics, her empathy and genuine respect and admiration for what Gwen does everyday. She doesn't see the class divide in the same way Uther sees it or Arthur pretends to see it.

Also interesting note I heard in a Merlin podcast (I can't remember which episode), it could have been the episode about this episode. It's called Destiny and Chicken (you can listen to it on Spotify and anywhere else you find podcasts- they even did an interview of Bradley James who plays Arthur at one point), and its very good. But, they said something interesting about the paralleling between the relationship between Merlin and Arthur and the relationship between Morgana and Gwen. Both are fundamentally important and genuinely caring relationships for the character. However, for Morgana and Gwen (unlike Merlin and Arthur) the class divide remains much more in place, Gwen treats Morgana like her friend but she also treats her like her mistress in a way Merlin just doesn't with Arthur (especially not so early in the show when he's not so admiring of Arthur). This isn't to say their relationship is bad or has problems, its just different whilst still acting as a parallel. I'm not sure exactly the extent to which I agree or what this says overall in themes but its definitely interesting to think about.

Uther: "A Good and Terrible King."

This episode shows Uther at both his best and his worst which is always fun because Uther is a genuinely interesting character. I got the line from my favourite Merlin fanfiction Coronation by rageprufrock, which you should definitely read, I'll link it down the bottom, it's not too long so you can read it in half an hour. It's a character study of Arthur more than anything else and its amazing, wonderful and deeply poetic. Uther is not a huge part of this fanfic, its about Arthur's character and his relationship with Merlin and his kingdom, I'm not even sure he actually appears. This line though perfectly tapped into how I always felt about Uther so it connected:

"He's been a good and terrible father, a good and terrible king."

I often think in characterising Uther we do tend to villainise him to an extent which I personally don't find accurate. This is obviously just my opinion, and I have a tendency to think the best of people so more intensely negative views of Uther are very jarring for me. He did terrible things and I truly believe he is the ultimate villain of the show but he is very human and he could be a good king and he loved his children more than anything else. We cheapen Merlin's point if we cast Uther as pure evil, everyone is capable of evil just as much as goodness. Uther is the tragedy (like Morgana) of a person who could have been good or at least halfway decent corrupted and destroyed by his own hate and ignorance. That's the point of the parallels between Uther and Morgana, we love Morgana and she was capable of so much good, but she corrupted herself with hate.

Onto this episode, Uther shows both his capability and goodness as a king in this episode as well as his hatred and ignorance. Uther's initial reaction to the fact that the plague is caused by magic is a concern about his own authority, which isn't entirely unfounded, but does reveal a huge priority of his which is control. He fears not being able to control, that's were his cruelty as a father comes from and to some extent his opposition to magic. This does not show Uther in the best light, but his actions later in regards to dealing with the plague show a decent king who cares about his people. This scene in which he tells Arthur to shut off the lower town perfectly illustrates this:

Arthur: But what about the people who live there

Uther: Don't you think I haven't considered it? What else can I do? I have to protect the rest of the city

In this situation Uther is right, there is very little other choice, he's making a hard call but it's one he has to make, and he seems genuinely distressed at having to make it. He does care about his people's well being, and he feels the burden of their protection, he can be a good King. Much of Arthur's story is in breaking away from the legacy of Uther, and rightly so, but Uther also taught him many things and one of those things is the duty Arthur has towards his people, it's a duty he takes even more seriously than Uther, but nonetheless he learnt it from him.

This however, as I've hinted, is not the whole story of this episode, Uther is also shown at his worst, and his worst is his ignorance and prejudice towards magic. He is willing to sacrifice justice and even sacrifices logical thought to his blind persistence that magic is evil.

Arthur: She's right Father. You hear the word magic you no longer listen.

Uther: You saw it for yourself, she used enchantments.

Arthur: Yes, maybe. To save her dying father, that doesn't make her guilty of creating a plague. One's the act of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart

Aside from what this says about Arthur. Arthur's comment about Uther hits right to the point of things "you hear the word magic you no longer listen". You no longer listen implies its a choice, and it is. Uther has made the choice for the last 20 years to choose to go on a dogmatic campaign of hate against magic because its easier than considering the alternative, that he was complicit in his wife's death. What Uther says immediately after "there are dark forces threatening this kingdom." is the argument used by so many people throughout history, used to justify so much hate. That there is an evil out there threatening the stability of life, that the world must be controlled and people have to live a certain way or risk destroying their own lives. It's an argument that justifies campaigns of hate and makes them personal to ordinary people who usually wouldn't care, and it is always a lie, that's not how the world works.

This episode thus shows Uther at his best and his worst, both a dutiful king and a stubborn tyrant. It's a tragedy of what he could of been, and shows how twisted up people can become when they justify their decisions with hate and fear.

Arthur

This is the first episode where Arthur really opposes Uther, he directly questions Uther's indiscriminate hatred of magic, and an episode where he realises to an extent he perhaps hadn't before some of the ways in which Uther has failed as a king. He also consciously acts in deception of Uther, because he can see Uther can't see sense. Arthur shows far more nuance of view than Uther does, understanding (even whilst still accepting as he will for a long time that magic is dangerous and it corrupts) that using magic doesn't make you automatically evil. To see the world the way Uther does is a conscious choice, you have to choose to be blind to the virtues of every apparent magic user you come across, you have to believe harmless spells are the signs of greater evil. Arthur is not someone who lets his own cowardice blind himself to reality, and so his worldview can see far more nuance than Uther can.

"One's the act of kindness, of love, the other of evil. I don't believe evil's in this girl's heart."

He further has a very positive view of others, Arthur will always see the good in people and that is a great strength in my view. In a lot of versions of the story Arthur's not just inspiring because he's good but because he assumes others are good too, he trusts people to do the right thing and I do believe that, that can inspire people to do the right thing. It's funny in Merlin Arthur's trust gets betrayed so many times but it never really hardens his heart, he continues to trust people no matter how many times he gets betrayed. This can be seen in his perception of Guinevere here, he will not assume she is evil because she has made a mistake, he can see the virtue in her actions, and he will assume goodness until proven otherwise. Innocent until proven guilty, in other words. It's its own form of justice, a justice Uther is forgetting, its a tenant of many legal systems and its a tenant Arthur clearly supports.

Arthur is also seeing his role as the king of Camelot in creating a Camelot that he would like to live in.

"Yes I am yet to be king, and I don't know what type of king I will be. But I do have a sense of the type of Camelot I would wish to live in. It would be where the punishment fits the crime."

It's not the Camelot he would wish to rule, its the Camelot he would wish to live in. Arthur wants to live in a just world, he wants his people to be treated with justice just as he would like to be treated with justice. This further illustrates that unlike Uther he is not letting anger or ignorance blind him to reality, he wants the world he lives in to be fair without exception.

Finding the Balance between The Greater Good and The Immediate Good

The Greater Good is a tricky concept, you can justify any amount of cruelty if it will lead to good later on, but do the ends justify the means? It's not really a question its ever possible to provide a definitive answer for. It's easy to say that they don't, that you should just do the right thing, the nice thing, the good thing in the moment but actions have consequences and doing the good thing all the time (especially in a position where thousands of lives depend on you) is not usually possible. Merlin tackles this theme, I believe, quite well, trying to find a balance between acting for the greater good and acting with what is immediately good, and this episode is a good example.

In a just and fair world you would be able to do good all the time, but this is not the case for everything, though you should never use the worlds not fair as an argument for not doing good things but I digress. Merlin's decision to save Gwen's father ultimately backfires on Gwen because the world is not fair, the world Uther has created mean even these acts of love are punishable with death. Because, for Uther, magic is magic, and magic is evil. Gaius was, in this situation, ultimately right, Merlin can't always do what is easy and what feels right because the consequences may not be good. In other matters like closing off the lower town, Arthur's initial response is concern for the people who live their, but Uther's right he has to make this one tough decision because otherwise he risks the whole city.

However, Uther's attitude to Gwen (aside from revealing his own stubbornness and prejudice) is an example of the greater good taken too far. He has absolutely no evidence that killing Gwen will stop this plague, but he's making that sacrifice anyway because it might, that is not justice or fair or anything resembling goodness. And he justifies his decisions with what I've already said is an age old argument- "These decisions must be made. There are dark forces threatening this kingdom." This is just another version of any easy choice, acting without regard to the greater good is an easy choice but so is ignoring what is immediately right in pursuit of some ambiguous goodness. He's confusing his own weakness and ignorance for strength.

The point Merlin is, I believe trying to make is that there must be a balance. Sometimes you have to pursue the greater good, but the ends don't really justify the means.

There is a reason Arthur and Merlin will create the Camelot of legend and Uther and Gaius don't, Merlin and Arthur aren't going to sacrifice their own goodness for the sake of the greater good. Merlin for one ensures Arthur never has to, its sad but Merlin in many ways makes the harsh and cruel decisions that Arthur never has to make. However, he also often doesn't make those decisions. He reaches a point where he wants to let people die, but he never actively attempts to kill Morgana or Mordred by himself unless it is an absolute in the moment choice between them and Arthur, and even though there is plenty of moral ambiguity about that and plenty of debates you can have about that. Fundamentally the point remains, Uther would have killed them and that's why he could never be the king Arthur would be or the influence for decency Merlin would be, the ends don't ever entirely justify the means. Besides if Merlin had thought that and killed Mordred and Morgana for their possible futures he would not have been the decent person he was and he could not have helped Arthur build a good Camelot, Camelot would not have existed if Merlin had acted entirely with the greater good in mind to ensure Camelot's future.

Other Stuff

Gwen's scene in the cell is so terribly sad, she's trying to be brave and her final request to Merlin is just so sad, "Remember me." She's so young and its the injustice and cruelty of Uther's kingdom that's condemning her, his own blindness to anything involving magic. We all want to be remembered don't we, especially when you die so young that you've barely had the chance to live. -----Also Guinevere will be remembered, she is a legend so there's something very bittersweet in this. She is not forgotten, then or ever

It's funny watching back to season 1, Merlin spends a lot of the time complaining about how Arthur will never recognise him for who he is. He wants recognition. But by the end of the show, yes of course he'd like recognition but he's learnt to just put up with never getting it. His priorities have changed so much.

There's this thing that happens a lot in season 1 and 2 (and I think a bit in season 3 but its less funny then) where Morgana persuades Arthur to do things by insulting him and its the funniest thing ever, and the first instance of it is here. I like to call these her 'epic sibling powers' cause they are just such siblings and its hilarious every time

"You are one side of the coin, Arthur is the other."- Kilgaharrah--> Just, yes.

Also when Arthur gets Merlin out of when Merlin confesses to being a sorcerer—> he's obviously making stuff up on the spot—> like he might sort of believe it (the stuff about Gwen) but fundamentally he's just trying to protect him without really knowing for sure why Merlin's lying

"One day people won't believe what an idiot you were."- Gaius--> Fun little nod to the audience who know Merlin of legend (as nothing like the BBC Merlin)

Also at this point we don't know why Uther really banned magic so there is an element of moral greyness to it all. We know magic's not evil, we know Uther went too far but at this point there is still a question about 'how too far' did he go?

Coronation by Rageprufrock (seriously read it. It's amazing): https://archiveofourown.org/works/5749

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krakenbait · 3 years ago

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kraken bait 3: the moment of truth

the moment is finally upon us! no, not the actual expansion draft, that’s in 10 days. i mean my last (but best) installment of the kraken bait expansion draft theories!

this has been a long, long work in progress, basically since i posted the last one. i’ve asked nearly every hockey fan i know, as well as randomly messaging several friends and cool people on hockeyblr, for their ideas and opinions on their favorite team’s expansion draft situation. and as with my previous lists, i had my friend and capfriendly consultant corwin (@chaos-hockey) collaborating with me to make this semi-reasonable (largely against their wishes). i’ll be including commentary from myself and my variety of sources with each pick.

for reference, this is a somewhat plausible look at who seattle might take in the expansion draft. it’s not a prediction, because even i don’t honestly think the kraken will take some of these players, but it’s a fun simulation. it does follow expansion draft rules, and even comes under the cap (which took some last-minute finagling by me and corwin).

without further ado, let’s get into it! this list got long, so it’s all under the cut.

Anaheim Ducks: Haydn Fleury

this one comes straight from resident danton heinen fan, ergo ducks fan @dantonheinens, so thanks for your help casey! they sent me a very detailed explanation of anaheim’s expansion draft situation basically explaining that there’s a whole lot of “ands, ifs, or buts” with the ducks, but if fleury is exposed, he’s a slam dunk (slam duck? i’m sorry)

Arizona Coyotes: Christian Fischer

the one thing i know about this dude is he got wrecked in a fight with nathan mackinnon in the 2020 playoffs. this is the first of several picks on this list i borrowed from The Athletic’s mock expansion drafts, which happens if i don’t know the team and i don’t know anyone else who does. corwin and i also considered taking adin hill from the yotes, but we decided on some other goalies instead (stay tuned).

Boston Bruins: Jeremy Lauzon

i have a lot of friends who are bruins fans, so credits are owed to: corwin, casey again, alex (@patron-saint-of-boston-hockey) & luna (@kureally) & any other bruins fans in the nwhl discord, and my irl bruins friends. i got a lot of opinions on the bruins pick, including jake debrusk, jakub zboril, connor clifton, and trent frederic. but the one name almost everyone could agree on was lauzon. therefore, i’ve decided he’s headed to seattle.

(it feels worth it to mention that at the prospect of having to take someone from the bruins, corwin said “curses be upon your name!” in an aggressively thick boston accent)

Buffalo Sabres: Rasmus Asplund

i could not tell you who this is, other than the fact that he’s one of buffalo’s three rasmuses (rasmi?). corwin and i had also talked about maybe putting anders bjork here, like i did in the last go-around, but i defaulted to The Athletic this time, and they thought asplund was a good pick, so here we are.

Calgary Flames: Mark Giordano

another pick borrowed from The Athletic, but i’ve seen predictions of giordano to the kraken a fair amount. it just seems right (and a whole lot better than corwin’s proposition of matthew tkachuk from last round).

Carolina Hurricanes: Brady Skjei

this one comes from the lovely @summerteukka, so thank you kinga! she gave me a very good rundown on the canes and the expansion draft, with the conclusion being the canes have so much defensive depth that it’s definitely going to be a defenseman, and especially if they resign dougie hamilton, skjei seems to be a likely choice. i’m all for it- we’ll have “an S and a K and a J all next to each other” on a kraken jersey.

Chicago: Adam Gaudette

similarly to the arizona pick, corwin and i considered a goalie here- in this case, it would have been malcolm subban. but he is not one of the goalies we ended up going for. instead, we opted on bringing micaela gaudette and her husband back to the pacific northwest.

Colorado Avalanche: Ryan Graves

this is really a no-brainer. gravy is a good defenseman, but the avs have such a strong defense between cale makar, devon toews, and sam girard (and you could add erik johnson when he’s healthy), plus up-and-comers like bo byram. gravy will almost definitely be exposed, and i think he’s a great pick for seattle. plus it’s relatively painless for avs fans who also will like seattle (like yours truly).

(corwin also wanted me to mention that they want gravy traded to the bruins so he can play with curtis hall, who is basically “color-swapped ryan graves”)

Columbus Blue Jackets: Dean Kukan

another pick taken right from The Athletic. i do not know who this is, but he’s a defenseman and the writers liked this pick so i went with it. for the record, corwin really wanted this pick to be boone jenner because he has a funky name, but i wanted another defenseman, so the fun name was sacrificed for function.

Dallas Stars: Jason Dickinson

i don’t really have an explanation for this one. corwin and i were talking about the stars options and picking dickinson just felt right.

Detroit Red Wings: Vladislav Namestnikov

thanks are owed here to joce (@doubleminor) for her red wings expertise! she gave me a few players who were likely kraken bait and i picked from there. it came down to evgeny svechnikov and vladislav namestnikov, but i went with namestnikov in the end. he was with the avs for a brief period and i liked him then, plus the vibes just seem right, so here we are.

Edmonton Oilers: Tyson Barrie

really, tyson barrie was the player who started the whole kraken bait thing. corwin made the drawing, i made the first list, and the rest is history. do i actually think tyson will be going to the kraken in a week? not really. do i still really like the idea of it? 100%. therefore, i will continue to engage in my “tyson barrie to seattle” nonsense.

Florida Panthers: Chris Driedger

oh look, our first goalie! florida had some interesting skater options, but when it came down to it, corwin and i thought the cats were a good place to take a goalie from. driedger did pretty well this season, plus the panthers’ goalie situation is locked up between $10 million man bobrovsky and future star spencer knight.

Los Angeles Kings: Viktor Arvidsson

corwin was feeling pretty strong about this one, so i’m trusting their judgement. according to them, seattle expressed interest in arvidsson, so nashville traded him to the kings instead of giving him up for nothing. now the kings get to give him up for nothing, which works out pretty well, considering i had absolutely no clue who to pick from the kings.

Minnesota Wild: Matt Dumba

like some other picks, this just seems right. i like matt dumba a lot. he seems like a fun and wholesome guy, and his activism, both on his own and with the hockey diversity alliance, is admirable. i hope he gets to display his personality and keep working to better the sport of hockey with the kraken.

Montreal Canadiens: Jake Allen

goalie number two! picking a player from the habs was weird because i got attached to them during the playoffs, but i really don’t know many of their players? so corwin and i deliberated on this a little, and after looking at our goalie situation, decided that allen was the right pick from montreal.

Nashville Predators: Calle Jarnkrok

after doing art for and getting a featured article from the preds, corwin thinks they’re some kind of nashville expert. i originally had matt duchene here, but corwin said not him. their logic? they did art of duchene for their preds project, so they probably want to keep him around. fair point. so we went with calle jarnkrok. the logic behind that choice was simple: “calle jarn-kraken”

New Jersey Devils: Andreas Johnsson

i wish i kept a counter of how many times corwin told me “ron francis doesn’t care about your feelings!” when we were discussing the devils pick. they kept advocating for either nate bastian or mikey mcleod, but i would not stand for the superbuddies being separated. this is my kraken bait list, so my decisions. i asked a few of my devils friends for their input (props to sabs @jakejuentzel and h @bigmouthnatebastian), and in between the mild panic, andreas johnsson got tossed out. therefore, it’s mango getting shipped to seattle. does it further lower the average age of the devils? yeah, but it’ll be fine! the nhl could use some youthful chaos.

New York Islanders: Jordan Eberle

all of my kraken bait ideas for the isles came from the bardown breakdown podcast (a great listen if you like hockey and pop-punk/punk music!), since both hosts are isles fans. they had a few names tossed out, including josh bailey and casey cizikas, but corwin and i decided on eberle. like with a lot of these, right vibes.

New York Rangers: Kevin Rooney

i’ve seen two names pretty consistently for rangers kraken bait: colin blackwell and kevin rooney. is blackwell is better and therefore the more likely pick? yes. but kevin rooney is a former devil and also mocked tom wilson, so i voted he gets to go seattle.

Ottawa Senators: Chris Tierney

i don’t think i could name more than three, maybe four players on the sens, so i defaulted to The Athletic on this one. i have no idea who chris tierney is, but it works, so there we go.

Philadelphia Flyers: James Van Riemsdyk

@phillyjoel left some fantastic notes on the flyers kraken bait in the tags of my last list, giving me good evidence to tell corwin that for the last time, nolan patrick is not kraken bait. the argument i saw was that the flyers are probably going to trade patrick instead of giving him up for nothing and make cap space by giving away van riemsdyk or voracek. The Athletic liked the van riemsdyk pick, and corwin could live with it, so that’s where we settled.

Pittsburgh Penguins: Zach Aston-Reese

i honestly don’t have a whole lot of explanation for this one. another pick borrowed from The Athletic, corwin and i liked it, there we go. we considered going with kris letang, but the vibes weren’t right.

San Jose Sharks: Ryan Donato

shoutout to my sharks friend and amazing artist K (@18minutemajor) for their help! i originally had brent burns in this slot, on K’s suggestion (we had a fantastic exchange about brent burns befriending bigfoot). however, i ran into last-minute cap trouble and had to switch the pick. ryan donato came from The Athletic, but i think it’s kind of a fun pick. he’s been passed between a few teams recently, but most of what i know of ryan donato comes from the 2018 olympics (aka the first time i really watched hockey!), when he was apparently doing pretty well for team usa.

St. Louis Blues: Vince Dunn

thank you @powerblais (and the blues fans group chat) for your input on this one! vince dunn was one of the names on the list erin sent me, and The Athletic also had him listed, so we went with it.

Tampa Bay Lightning: Blake Coleman

thanks @heddy for responding to my out-of-the-blue message with some good input on the bolts! ana gave me some good suggestions like tyler johnson plus something else so they take on the contract, alex killorn, and ondrej palat. in the end, this devils fan defaulted to pickles. this pick is in the same category as tyson barrie- do i actually think coleman is going to the kraken? not really. do i still like the idea? absolutely.

Toronto Maple Leafs: Travis Dermott

borrowed from The Athletic and some other kraken bait predictions, because everyone has something to say about the leafs. corwin and i waffled between dermott and alexander kerfoot for this pick, but we eventually settled on dermott to seattle.

Vancouver Canucks: Madison Bowey

this pick changed so much in just one day. we originally had braden holtby here because original kraken bait, but then i ran into cap trouble. so i switched it to zack macewen, following a pick by The Athletic. but then i wanted one or two more defensemen, so i switched to madison bowey, who was the other pick from The Athletic. after all that, it seems like the right pick.

Washington Capitals: Vitek Vanecek

our third and final goalie! corwin and i had our eyes on vanecek as kraken bait for a while- a young goalie with promise and room to improve seemed like the right pick for seattle. we briefly considered tj oshie--he’s from washington state, and corwin wanted to upset caps fans (we were talking during the first round of the playoffs)--but ended up back with vanecek as our pick.

Winnipeg Jets: Mason Appleton

last pick of the list! not much to say here, though. it’s a pick borrowed from The Athletic, but we went with him over the other option from the jets because he has a fun name. to quote corwin, mason appleton sounds like “an apple pie in a mason jar on skates.”

and there you have it folks, the final kraken bait list! if you want to know the specifics, we’ve got 3 goalies, 16 forwards, and 11 defensemen, and the total cap hit is 76.4M. i’m pretty doubtful that this will be the actual expansion draft lineup, but we’ll have to see how many, if any, picks corwin and i got right.

thanks again to everyone who helped me out, and i hope you enjoyed the chaos and commentary of the kraken bait lists!

#seattle kraken #kraken bait #expansion draft

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i-dreamed-i-had-a-son · 4 years ago

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Although I'm sad the podcast is over, I really did not like the finale of the Magnus Archives. In short, this is because thematically, there was an abrupt shift away from everything we had previously been moving towards (along with a few other aspects).

Up until about the final act of the episode, things made sense. It was very much in character for Jon to try, once again, to "go it alone," and Martin calls him out on this. He's always been a headstrong character, and especially when it comes to his personal responsibility, he's unable to allow others to influence his decisions to any real degree. (Season 2 is a great example of this.)

And what I was expecting was very much what they seemed to be leading up to--Jon would essentially become the Extinction, destroying the entire world and resolving that Chekhov's gun which we've been waiting on for the better part of three seasons now. I was slightly surprised that they didn't make this connection more obvious, but I was willing to accept that it was something clear enough that they didn't have to outright state it; I had previously theorized that Jon would end up ushering in the Extinction, not becoming it, but this made sense too.

But they didn't do this. Instead, abruptly, Jon changes his mind and backs out of his plan. For the power of love, to make matters worse, which is such a tired and amatonormative trope that I hadn't expected it, solely because I thought it was beneath the quality of writing I'd been accustomed to from this show.

Now, looking at this decision with the episode behind me, I can understand what they were trying to go for. They were trying to show that Jon has grown, that unlike before, he is able to listen to people, he does change his plan because he cares about more than just his own feelings--and this would have been a great arc, if they had effectively established it. But the pacing was all wrong.

This entire season, to my great disappointment, has largely been a drag. The episodes, after a point, began to feel like thinly veiled filler. As opposed to Seasons 1-3, and even Season 4, the episodes here were rather disjointed; some were straight-up skippable, because they essentially were self-contained statements from fears we'd already seen. They lost the mystery that pulsated under every statement from earlier seasons, since the apocalypse had already happened. And, instead of replacing that mystery with consistent, poignant character beats, they wrote those beats in sporadically, leaving the rest of the episodes honestly lacking some of that special quality the earlier ones had had.

In other words, the core problem with Season 5, which manifested in the finale in its clearest form, is that neither the characters nor the story changed throughout the season. In the other seasons, each character had a distinct arc (Jon becoming untrusting and spying on others, Martin succumbing to the Lonely, etc.), and that was the core of the show, supported by a distinct and mysterious plot which developed as it went on. And because this did not happen in Season 5, it felt like nothing happened (even though, objectively, many things did).

This is what made that final shift so jarring. Instead of having developed this character growth over the course of the season, establishing that Jon is willing to change his behavior for Martin, the dynamic between them stayed essentially unchanged from the beginning of the season to the end. So to have Jon suddenly change his mind at such a climactic moment, with no more lead-up than Martin...yelling at him desperately once?...felt rushed. The whole episode, in fact, felt rushed, as though they were trying to fit a whole season's worth of character growth into a single episode.

And I can see the point being made of "well, they did establish this throughout the season! Martin and Jon fought several times and they always made up!" And while that is technically correct, two facts make this less impactful:

These moments were surrounded by so much unnecessary content that it essentially drowned them in filler. They didn't feel as memorable as they could have, because they were just moments, not a steady emotional through-line as we've had before, and

Jon, throughout the entire season, remained rather godlike. We saw him struggle a bit with his power, we saw some conversations about it, but he was missing that raw humanity he had had in earlier seasons. And while this makes sense, as he is growing less and less human, it also makes genuine, human, emotional connection more difficult for his character to have. Because of this, those emotional, character-driving beats didn't feel as notable in the context of the larger season. By necessity, we had to focus on other things, but this means that the ending we got should not have been where things ended up.

Ultimately, Jon's character hadn't been shown to change enough that his final change of heart at the last moment made sense. It felt unearned--even though the legwork was *technically* put in, it didn't land with me (and perhaps the larger audience? Is this why we've seen less TMA content for Season 5 than any season before?), leading to the conclusion feeling rushed and forced. Especially since it was all for love...but don't get me started on that.

In my opinion, what should have happened was this: we knew all along we were going to get an unhappy ending. So we should have gotten a definitively unhappy one. Don't leave things ambiguous (which feels like an unwillingness to commit to any real stakes, making the whole season, and ultimately, the whole show, feel inconsequential, since we've been told the stakes are deathly high the entire time), and give us a distinct, thematically consistent ending that resolves those unfired Chekhov's guns.

What I would have liked to see is Martin confronting Jon, Jon not listening to him and going ahead anyway (with some appropriately emotional arguments between them beforehand!) and then becoming the Extinction. Watching Martin fall apart as we see Jon become everything he never wanted to be: a monster, inhuman, someone who Martin couldn't love--watching Martin try to stop him, but fail, watching Jon cry as he sees how utterly he's destroying not just the world, but the only person in it who truly understood him, watching Jon go through with it despite the pain, because most of all he has to do what is right. He's done being manipulated, he's done being controlled, he's done letting his selfishness and his desire to pretend that everything can be alright hurt others (bringing back themes from earlier seasons), and he is willing to sacrifice everything to serve the greater good--despite knowing that the people who make up that "everything" don't want to be sacrificed. It is a fascinating, morally complex issue that has no happy resolution--but the in-character resolution, with the characters we were given this season, is a clear and definitive one.

Ultimately, because of the lack of attention paid to effectively developing these characters this season, no ending was going to feel satisfying. Our payoff to all of the growth really happened at Season 4, where Jon decided to do what he wanted, namely kill Lukas and inadvertently usher in the apocalypse. And since Jon hasn't changed, his decisions shouldn't either--he should still choose to do what he thinks is best, no matter the cost.

But at the very least, even though it wouldn't really have been a choice, even though it would have meant he failed to grow through all of these experiences, I still would have liked to see Jon decide to not just fall victim to the Web's manipulation. I would have liked to see him try, and fail, and prove ultimately that he is still a man, however godlike he might be, but to try at least to choose something other than what was already set out for him. That's what the whole show has been leading up to--the tragedy of something being so avoidable, yet so out of your control, that what happens in the end feels like both your choice, and the only option left. That's why the Web was the overarching fear, because fundamentally, at our cores, that is what we all fear: life. Life is making choices--in all its complexity of fate and free will, we are terrified of life and the way our choices, or lack thereof, will affect ourselves and everyone else. We don't get to take an easy out, which is what it feels like Jon did here, by allowing the Web's plan to move forward and continuing to be manipulated by it just like he has been his whole life. We have to struggle to break free. We have to make those hard decisions, even if there's no right one; we have to try to grow, even if we ultimately do not.

We don't get to choose death.

We have to live.

#tma #tma season 5 #the magnus archives #tma spoilers #meta #tma finale #jonathan sims #martin blackwood #my meta posts #the web #quality meta seal of approval #not to hype my own post up i just put that on all meta posts so that i can find them #kay can i just catch my breath for a second #my ultimate favorite posts

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nad-zeta · 4 years ago

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Match up ｡◕‿◕｡

Hello, may I get a ikemen vampire match please! :D PHYSICAL FEATURES: 5'5", long straight black hair (past the shoulders, but not past the chest), light brown skin, beauty mark on my left cheek almost adjacent to nostril, "fiery" brown almond shaped eyes and a little bit of a thicker eyebrows, body figure: close to a pear shape or an hourglass (I really can't distinguish the difference between the two when it comes to my body).

PERSONALITY: I tend to be down to earth when I need to be, but to be honest my head is always in the clouds and I have a habit to look forward to the future rather than to focus on the present. People would tend to think I am strong and could be a good leader, but I think they hold this perception because I am confident in myself and strong willed. In actuality I hate to lead others, rather I like to help everyone else with their vision or goals. I am also someone who finds positivity in many situations, but sometimes pessimistic (or just pure procrastination) gets the better of me, but I have no worries when this happens because I becone my own motivator. Big dreamer and occasionally a romantic (when the mood is right). Also, I have had my shares of being shut out during conversationsor have noticed people wanting to be a part of a group or to be inclusive in some manner, due to these experiencesand observations I found myselfalways wanting to make sure everyonehas had their voice spoken and listened to. As a direct influence to my personality on how I want everyone to have a voice and to be listened to I became someonewho enjoyed being the listener and the observer in the group. I have recently taken the Bridge Myer Test and it said I am and INFP (which I believe describes me fairly well).

HOW WOULD I ACT IN A RELATIONSHIP: I love to listen to others and observe their reactions, understanding who they are on a deeper level, this only further my understanding of my love language: which is quality time. Just spending time with the person I love and listening to them while they interchangeably listen to me is my ultimate high. Even enjoying each others company and not saying a word sits well in my heart, as long as we are enjoying ourselves. I am not a level 10 PDA person, but to be honest I wouldn't mind having someone who is expressive in that area (as long as I am given space afterwards), to be honset I may even enjoy it. At the start of a relationship I tend to have rose colored glasses on max as I pursue someone I like, but as they admit their emotions they hold for me and the lovely valentine styled scene shatters and I begin to see everything more clearly. Instantly I tend to only want a relationship of friendship to grow between us, which becomes a better outcome as I can grow to love the confesser as the person they really are and actually develop genuine love and not just a crush or lust.

MORE INFO ABOUT ME: I am currently studying architecture and I love the arts. Hobbies of mine is to expand my herb garden, go jogging, go white water rafting, learn to roller skate (still a beginner), learn to paddle board (still a dream of mine to even start this hobbie), help my dad pick vegtables from the garden, and feed our sheep. I tend to take the beaten path when traveling, shopping, or finding a place to eat. Also for a little fun for this match-up, I'm minoring in Medevial Renaissance in hopes to use my degree to go to Europe or Japan and restore old castles or buildings. Speaking about traveling, I love areas that heavy on history, culture, and connected towards nature (some areas that come to mind is Scotland, New Orleans Louisiana, Savannah Georgia, Montana, Italy, Greece, ect.). Some of my other invests would be: enjoying horror, mystery, psychologically teasing movies and books, murder podcasts, history documentaries (especially history documentaries that involves the involvement of phantoms, occult, witchcraft, voodoo,.ect) paranormal YouTubevideos, I love to go antiquing, and enjoy exploringthe food world (while I also improvemy skill in cooking), and I enjoy indie pop music and recently found myself loving songs with a twist of blues.

Hi hi love! 🌻❤Thank you so much for the request and sorry for taking so long with it! I hope you have a super good day, sending lots of hugs! ❤☺Hope ya enjoy it! ❤☺ @100christy

So I match you with.................. Comte

The first time you met the legend, Saint Germain de Comte was during one of your classes minoring in the Medieval Renaissance. They had gotten in a very handsome man with gold, dusty coloured hair and timeless golden eyes, to guest speak during one of the lectures. He spoke with a sense of a knowing grace about alchemy, the traditions, cultures and history of that time. He had encaptivated all the students; all eyes were on him as everyone hung onto his every word. He elegantly walked about the lecture hall speaking as if he had, had a first account of the event being described and that is when his eyes locked with yours. His golden eyes were gleaming in the rays of the afternoon sun, piercing down into the depths of your soul, and that is when this mysterious man stole your heart. And little known to you, the second this man saw your fiery brown almond eyes, his breath caught in his throat and he found that for the first time in his immortal life, his heart had been stolen right from under his nose.

For the rest of his lecture, you were off in the clouds, far away from reality, in fact by the time you had come back down to earth the lesson was over and all the students were on their feet to leave. You caught a glance of the golden man’s coat that he had forgotten laying on the front desk. Suddenly you felt the urge to chase after him. You trailed behind the blond man, hoping to catch up to him to deliver him his coat back. You followed him all the way to some fancy museum when you lost sight of him as he disappeared through a large wooden door. There was a mystical air about the door and sounding area, and as a travel and mystery lover, you couldn’t help but follow after the man. The room around you changed from crips white museum walls, to an old victorian style room filled to the brim with the most fascinating antiques. You wished nothing more than to explore the house filled with the most curious nicknacks, but you pushed on to find the man to return him the coat.

You were suddenly startled when the very man that you were trying to track down, appeared behind you and tapped you on the shoulder, “Are you looking for me, Ma Cherie.” You got a freight but relaxed the second you caught sight of his gentle smile.

“Found you! You forgot your coat in class, so I thought I might return it to you.” He smiled down tenderly at you as he gently took the coat from your hands, “I hope you didn’t go through to much trouble to get this back to me my dear,” He then carefully took your hand and laid a chaste kiss on it, “would you like to join me in the garden from some tea, Ma Cherie. I would like to do at least something to thank you for going through all that trouble.” A sad smile crossed his face as he gently took your hand in his and led you to the garden signalling for the butler to bring the two of you some tea and snacks to the gazebo out in the lush, vibrant garden.

Comte couldn’t help but smile a fond smile down at you as you excitingly examined his herb garden. He crouched down beside you and gushed all about his little plants he had nursed from seedling, and you couldn’t help but smile up at the man. His timeless old face had tuned youthful as he raved all about the herbs and how his butler uses them in their meals. He even offered you a little patch to start your own, and before you could decline, he dropped the “you will be here for one-month” bomb. And that is how your relationship with the pureblood started.

In the weeks to follow you and Comte spent a significant amount of time together from travelling around the province to visit every antique shop insight to doing a bit of gardening together.

As it was, the two of you shared a common love language, and that would be quality time, and as such, every free moment the two of you got, was spent together. Comte is very much a busybody and has many different friends in different places, so its no surprise when he invites you along to travel with him. Once he is done with his business the two of your travel around the area going sightseeing, from looking at different castles to discovering all that is to be known about French architecture of the late 19th century. In fact, sometimes your travels expand even out of Paris to neighbouring provinces and areas.

When the two of you aren’t off travelling the world together, you are back at the mansion just enjoying each others company. Sometimes the two of you would simply be in the same room together each busy with their own task while enjoying the company of the other presence.

As time passes the two of you become relatively close friends, Comte knows you have to go back in a month, and he wouldn’t dare ask you to give up your life in the future for him. So he cherishes every moment spent in the past with you. He knows his heart will be broken in two when the day comes, but he is determined to do what it takes to make you happy. After all, you are the love of his life, whether you know it or not. This man fell in love with you the moment he first met you, and after spending countless days with you, that love has only grown.

He loves how strong-willed and confident you are, giving all the men and woman at the fancy banquets a run for their money. He loves how much you have helped the fellow residents subtly realize their visions and goals and have helped them to grow. He especially loves the way you include everyone in your conversations. You're a truly kind and caring soul, and he can't help but deeply cherish you. So he does the only thing he can do while you are still with him….. he spoils you. This man loves to buy gifts for you, and he WILL buy you anything and everything your heart desires.

And through your time spent the golden pureblood, you have come to realize that somewhere along the line you stopped seeing him as a friend and instead saw him as a potential partner. Your rose coloured glasses were shattered, as you had come upon that realization one night during one of the balls. You were dancing with Comte and couldn’t help but beam at the carefree smile he wore, and at that moment you realized you wanted to spend the rest of your life seeing that carefree smile. You realized that your feeling had gone beyond some measly crush or just lust, but that you truly loved him as a best friend, dare I say, soul mate. You were now determined to make your feelings know.

You confessed your feeling to Comte one sunny afternoon while the two of you went white water rafting. After making your way down the river, the two of you landed up in a still lake in the middle of the forest. The two of you had found this river a while back while you were hiking after you had insisted on taking the beaten path. On the waters of the crystal clear still water you looked up into Comte's golden eyes and confessed your love. To say this man was delighted would be an understatement. Gentlemanly as always he gently took hold of your hand and kissed it, while stating that he felt the exact same way.

The two fo you cuties were inseparable, always off together doing some or other fun activity. Comte loved that you had so many varies hobbies, and he truly enjoyed participating in each and every one of these hobbies. Be it jogging, or rollerskating he was always keen to try new things.

His favourite of your hobbies would have to be shopping and discovering new places to eat. If the two of you aren’t doing something active, you are out in the town buying everything in sight and trying variouse new restaurants. It has actually become a lunchtime tradition for Comte to seek you out and escort you into town where the two of you would have lunch together at a new café.

The two of you have a very open and honest relationship that has been built on the best foundation….. Friendship. Comte absolutely loves those quieter moments with you nestled against his chest as the two of you talk about anything and everything. He loves that you actually listen to and try and, understand who he is on a deeper level.

He is at his happiest when he is just spending time with you and listening to you as you interchangeably listen to him as well. Speaking of, you absolutely love picking this man’s brain about cultures and history, and he loves nothing more than to tell you story upon story of historical events that he has lived through and witnessed first hand. This man lives for that excited expression on your face whenever the two of you talk history, culture and how it is connected to nature. And oooh when comte found out you liked mysteries and stories about the paranormal (phantoms, occult, witchcraft, voodoo,etc), he was all too pleased to spill the tea and even do some research on the topics together with you.

All and all the two of you have a lot of fun together, whether its out exploring the world or spending a quiet night in simply nestled in each other's arms exchanging words of love. Comte will spend every day of your mortal life cherishing you. And every day of your immortal life together showering you with an endless amount of love and affection. After all, he is at his happiest when you are happy, his dearest soul mate

Other Potential matches………………… Dazai

I hope you enjoyed this love and have the best day!❤☺🥰

#match ups #ikesen matchup #ikevamp #ikevamp comte #ikevamp matchup #ikevamp match up #comte de saint germain #ikemen vampire comte #comte #submission

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years ago

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01/10/2021 DAB Transcript

Genesis 23:1-24:51, Matthew 8:1-17, Psalms 9:13-20, Proverbs 3:1-6

Today is the 10th day of January, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it is great to be here with you as we greet a brand-new week, a shiny sparkly new week that we are entering into as we continue to move into this brand-new year that we have together. So, it is wonderful. We are falling into a rhythm and it is a meaningful one. Every day we come around the Global Campfire together as a community and hear the word of God spoken over us, and then it becomes a part of who we are, it becomes a part of the soil, the fabric of our lives and it yields a crop. We’re planting seeds right now that are going to come up and it will be the fruit of the spirit, like it will be good in our lives. It will be perspective and context in our lives. And, so, we got a good thing going here and let’s dive into our next week together. We’ll read from the New Living Translation this week and pick up where we left off yesterday. Genesis chapter 23 verse 1 through 24 verse 51.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word. We thank You for bringing us into this brand-new week. We thank You for what wisdom has told us today, that we should trust You with our whole hearts. That's all of us, that we should trust You with who we are and not depend on what we think we know, not depend on our own understanding. We should seek Your will in all that we’re doing, and You will show us which path to take because we will be walking with You at this point, and You will be pointing out the beauty of life together with You. You know all of the hidden vistas, You know all of the secret lookouts, You know all of the cool places of life, and You have invited us to walk through life with You, the most-high God. And, so, often we’re just so busy trying to appease our fellow human beings and get some sort of identity from them when You have invited us into an adventure. So, come Holy Spirit, help us. This begins by trusting You with everything and not thinking that we’re gonna figure it all out but knowing that You know it all. Come Holy Spirit we pray. In Jesus’ name, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, its home base, its where you find out what’s going on around here. Of course, if you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app you can access pretty much all of this as well using the app. But this is where we get connected. This is where we stay connected. This is home base. It's the home of the Global Campfire. It's…well…I mean we’re a virtual community. We are far-flung. We are all over the earth. And, so, this is the place that we can come back together and be together. So, be aware of that and check it out.

Check out the community section, either via the app or the…the website and that…that's where the Prayer Wall is. There’s always someone to pray for, always, and there are always people praying. So, you can always reach out for prayer. So, be aware of that and…yeah…pray for each other. That's what we do here. It’s one of the distinctives. It’s one of the beautiful things that we do here, is just accept people where they are on their journey and no matter…no matter where they’ve been or how this is all gonna play out, we’re…we’re willing to accept each other where we are on the journey right now knowing that everybody's in process, none of…none of us have…have reached perfection and just to accept…accept each other where we are and be willing to walk the path and pray for one another and encourage one another. We’re very very good at that here maybe better than anywhere I have ever seen. In fact, not maybe, better than anywhere I’ve ever seen. And, so, we love one another well and there are places like the Prayer Wall to always have a place to reach. So, be aware of that.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. I thank you. I thank you profoundly. If what's happening here, God's word spoken read fresh every day and given into the world and community built around that rhythm, encouragement and prayer for one another, if this brings life to you than thank you for being life-giving. There is a link on the homepage. If you’re using the app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning Daily Audio Bible friends this is Kimberly calling from __ first of all I just wanted to welcome any new listeners and just want to know…just wanted you to know that I’ve been praying for you for this new year that you would be truly blessed by this podcast as we…we all are that listen. Along the way you will find that people share wonderful manifestations of the way that this podcast has changed their lives. And, so, I pray that that is…is your case. I…I pray truly that you are blessed and that your relationship with God it grows so much deeper this year than you could ever imagine. Second thing is I just heard Hope calling from the Heartland and I just love your prayer and hope I…I heard about your mom and I wanted to offer my condolences, that I just so appreciate the blessing that you gave of your perspective on her passing. And I often think about what heaven will be like because none of us have seen each other for the most part. I guess at the More gathering and things like that we’ve seen each other’s faces but to a large extent most of us haven’t met or seen each other’s faces but guess what? In heaven we’re gonna know each other and we’re gonna know Hope’s mom. And as I’m driving to work on this beautiful beautiful January morning, I’m just in of the beauty that God has given us on this side of heaven. We had a nor’easter last night and dropped quite a bit of snow and it was a powerful storm and the clouds are low over the town as I drive in the sage brush is covered with snow and it’s just…

Hi DABber family this is Tonja with a J in South Florida and I am so excited. It is January 5th of 2021 and I did it. I did it, I did it, I did it thank you Brian thank you Jill and China. God bless you and your baby girl. I actually did the Bible in a year. And to anyone who thinks you can’t do it just listen and if you…if you forget a week or day…I actually forgot…almost forgot a month because I just was busy with life but I caught up and today I finished the Bible in a year. And I can’t wait I’m already started January with everybody. I am just so happy to be around the campfire and we really our family here. And I did the Bible for the first time in my whole life in the year. I…I’m so excited and even my hubby is getting excited and…and you know…let’s pray to get him listening to this every day as well and…and I’m just…I love the way Brian that you explain what you’re going to say and then you read the Scriptures and then you talk afterwards. It’s very educational. I can’t wait. This is my second year and I’m going nowhere. Stick to everyone. Stick to it. If you fall behind just…no…listen to two or three. I mean lately I’ve been listening to ten a day because I was behind in November and December. And oh I’m just so happy. It is an accomplishment. It was my goal I wanted last year, and I reached it. Thank you very much. I…I love everyone and I love listening to you all and I pray with you all when you pray. I’m just so happy that I’m…I’m crying. How stupid. Anyway…so, have a lovely day and you can do it. If I can do it, you can do it. This is Tonja with a J and have a good day. Bye-bye.

Good morning this is Daniel in Arizona. Good morning family. It is the 6th of January I’m trying into work and I just felt overly compelled by the Holy Spirit to reach out and I’m sorry if I butcher your name. I have some…I do have some hearing problems. So, Zinab in London. I just I heard you call, your first call in to the Daily Audio Bible and I just want to let you know welcome, welcome welcome to this great and wonderful community where we can come together and learn more about Jesus, about the Bible and what…how great it is to be in community with each other with our great Savior. Welcome and I’m just praying for you. My heart goes out to you. And I know that you were saying that you come from a Muslim background and from a lot of stories and that I’ve read and people that I met there could be some…there can be some great rejection. And I just wanted to welcome you with open arms and that we will be continuing, that I encourage everyone in this community to be praying for our…our…our friend here and just encouragement and love. And I just felt so compelled by the Holy Spirit to reach out to you and to know that this is just a wonderful place to be and that we can walk in the freedom of Jesus. And thank you for…for reaching out and may the Lord bless you that may He keep you and as we journey together in 2021.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible family. Hallelujah to God and grace and peace be to all of you. I am calling in this morning for our sister Zinab from London to welcome you sister to this community and just tell you that it’s going to be fantastic journey, to encourage you to lift you up and tilt you know that you will be well loved here. Zinab I encourage you to continue in this journey to be faithful to it to God’s word and faithful to the prayer and the prayers of the community. Love you, we encourage you, we look forward to hearing from you, Zinab. So, blessings to you all.

Good morning DAB family its January 6th and this is Amazed by Grace Sally in Massachusetts. Just wanting to wish you all a wonderful blessed new year as we walk in the Lord together. And I was just so blessed by our Christmas party. So good to hear all of your encouragements and just thankful that I can be out of this body, part of this ministry. And today as Brian was introducing the reading, he mentioned how important it is for us to grow in awareness of God’s presence and our dependence on Him. And that just really struck me because that is so true how much we need to be aware. God is always with us He will never forsake us. And I and we are so dependent on His love and grace and His spirit to guide us. So, thank you for that reminder Brian. And I am thankful that we have this ministry of the Daily Audio Bible to encourage and to support each other. Isn’t it wonderful that God made us a body, a body that can support and encourage each other? So, I pray for each of us as we go into the new year that we will grow in our awareness of God’s wonderful loving presence and our total dependence upon Him. And I’m thankful for the call from our sister in London who is a recent Muslim convert. We do support you and we do love you and we’re so thankful that you joined us. We pray for you to grow in your walk with God along with us as we each need to grow. And again, thank you for all those, Brian, Jill who make this ministry possible and each one who puts a log on the fire. Thank you and thank you God.

Hey guys I actually just found the Daily Audio Bible app. This year I want…one of my things for the new year was that I wanted to read my whole Bible this year and so I found this, and it has just been such a blessing in my life and I am…I’m just so overwhelmed and amazed at how fast God has worked in my life and the amount of love that I feel from this whole community. So, I’d just like to say thank you and I’d like to thank God for kind of showing me and giving me all of you. It’s actually…I’m coming up on my last ever semester of college in a couple of days and I’m already feeling pretty overwhelmed and stressed out about it. So, if anyone wants to take a couple seconds out of their day and just shoot a prayer for me that’d be very appreciated. Just thank you all.

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