#literary metal

[chronivore]

2015

[double-u-qed]

for me personally, what strengthens my autistic prowl headcanon is that he's rather good on the principles of body language, taking stock of minute movements and understanding what it could mean. he overanalyzes and tries to predict the meaning behind it. but he doesn't have the full grasp on social matters, thus making people unpredictable because he doesn't truly understand or even just 'go with the flow' when it comes to people. he needs a script of sort to interact, and in a way, body language is that.

he can have all the data on someone he wants, preferring to think of people in numbers because numbers are safe and predictable (not as in, oh, Prowl is willing to let people die. when i say numbers here i mean it literally, as in his calculations that he can't help himself from running). the individuality of people, however.... he can't actually put his knowledge into practice when he's thinking too hard on how he should react to said body language.

im not necessarily applying this to idw1 specifically, btw (all prowls are autistic to me). because the thing about idw1 prowl, i do like seeing him in an autistic lens but he is also Just An Asshole. he can in fact be both (though there's something to be said on how certain characters are a touch unreliable in how they talk about him because they believe the worst of him (i.e., Fort Max feeling he was left for dead when Prowl was led to believe that he had died), as well as how the writers just wanted to make Prowl Always in the wrong, even though he very much had a point in saying the Autobots were hypocrites, even if Prowl is still a bad guy despite being a victim). that's a lot of words to say that i hate people looking at Prowl's worst traits and trying to justify them simply with 'he's autistic' lol. there can be a genuinely interesting conversation on how the way his processor works can be an allegory for being neurodivergent/autistic specifically, but alas.. prowl is extremely flawed, and that's okay! he can be flawed and still exist within the realm of your headcanon.

really i just mean it's a bit Interesting when that's all people go with. you can say it's a mix of both, and that's still better than painting a rather harmful picture of autism/autistic traits. they don't make you into an asshole, they make certain areas of life harder to navigate. in Prowl's case, i think you can definitely say that both his good and bad traits can be used for the headcanon, it's just that he also doesn't do himself any favors when it comes to people liking him, and he's well aware of that. he doesn't pretend to be a good person, but he still gets frustrated when people don't see things the way he does.

it's difficult even trying to articulate my thoughts here because i don't want to be misunderstood oughhh i just relate to him because i tend to answer rhetorical questions because i can't pick up on whether or not someone is being genuine in asking, but im really fucking good at reading body languages. it's like a game of life or death to me. i took classes for something that seems to come easier to people, building up the skill. all just to still not get people on a fundamental level. Oh well

[marvelousmagicalaura]

Something I’ve come to appreciate about Ruin’s writing, despite my many issues, is that Ruin is change. However, Ruin doesn’t represent the typical definition of change. If Ruin wasn’t around Preservation, if not the Lord Ruler, would forever keep the world stagnant. Ruin transforms things, this is seen through Hemalurgic constructs. But Ruin doesn’t create, invent, or make things grow for the sole sake of those purposes. He does those things with the ultimate goal of decaying or breaking things down. Ruin is decay and entropy.

Ruin creates/invents a web of information which guides people towards a situation where a useless metal kills an immortal ruler. He helps Spook grow into a competent revolutionary, with the goal of having him cause the destruction of Urteau.

But if Preservation and Ruin are together in one Shard, it becomes a force that understands the necessities of BOTH stagnation/stability AND decay. A force that understands why both are necessary in the cosmere and society. And understands how to implement them. Harmony/Discord cares for the Elendel Basin, but knows its stagnation and coddling must eventually be removed for its society to grow.

[bidonica]

(The ending of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots)

Cesare Pavese, Diaries 1935-1950 // Yoji Shinkawa, Solid Snake //Anonymous, Snake Skeleton, 1856 // Kait Rokowski // The Human Genome // Philip Roth, The Dying Animal

[zumbiegrl]

In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.

- Nietzsche

[knackeredforever]

The objectively funniest part of mgs lore is the fact that the main catalyst for 90% of the events in the series is multiple different characters playing the worlds longest game of Chinese whispers with the boss’s will constantly misinterpreting it until the character who actually best understands what the boss wanted for the world isn’t even an mgs character, it’s pixy from ace combat zero.

[power-chords]

[loakamossi]

Sometimes I spend too much time thinking about how much stock some people put into the fiction they and others consume or even used to consume. Like, you really can't make a moral judgement about someone by looking through their Netflix history.

Remember the Psycho Mantis scene in Metal Gear Solid? How he read your save data and assumed that, if you had save data from a game, you might like games in that genre? Imagine if instead of "Oh, you like to play Castlevania! I bet you like other action games!" he said "Oh, you like to play Castlevania! I bet you also like to kick small puppies and laugh when they wimper!"

[arnold-layne]

Oh no, I would never do that. I ask because I’m a fan of a russian band called NeverLove and was thinking about learning some russian so I can understand them as they almost never speak English. I was just wondering if you as a native speaker have heard if there’s a good way to learn Russian. I know this is a shot in the dark, sorry

WAIT neverlove is the one that sing about a gay sex instructor from nato? That song is HILARIOUS i need to listen to it again. regarding your question, uhh, i never had to learn it so i dont know much but you could start with duolingo i think, maybe watch educational videos on youtube to get down basic grammar and vocabulary. understanding russian is much easier than speaking it and much much easier than writing it. You don’t need to learn to speak it perfectly, just to understand lyrics, right?

[vbsvartalf]

Trans Inclusive Black Metal - A Study Begins

After a wild, unscripted declaration on Twitter last night about the existence of a black metal subgenre, TIBM (or Trans Inclusive Black Metal), I began to actively evaluate whether or not I was spouting nonsense (something I do from time to time with little thought about what I’m actually saying or doing) or if I was onto something, stumbling about like a drunk at three in the morning and finding an abandoned suitcase full of cash.

The more I think about it, the more I think it’s the latter. I think I’m onto something. TIBM is a thing, it is a subgenre. It’s one of those subgenres that have been around for a long time but was never named or categorized or anything archivistic like that. Like trans people, it has always existed, even if that means in different forms than we see today. I don’t want to call it a new subgenre for that reason, TIBM has been around for a long time, we just didn’t see it, and by “we” I mean people that were in the right circles and weren’t looking for it, like myself. If I could go back and kick myself for this, I would. Alas, I’ll just make up for it by being an ally to the scene, something I think any metal fan should be doing anyway.

If you’ve heard and enjoy Feminazgûl (and if not, then why not) then you are aware of the most prominent band on the scene. Fronted by Margaret Killjoy, a trans woman and activist, the band exemplifies what it means to be trans inclusive. They managed to do something most ideologically based bands have never been able to achieve: sounding good. I’ve said this in my private musing about metal and music a lot, but if you place political ideology above creativity, your music is going to be terrible, there’s no way around it. There’s are a million reasons why NSBM is so bad, and that’s one of them.

Being trans today is political. It shouldn’t be, both the right and the left need to keep their mitts off trans bodies and allow them the space they all need to grow into what they believe they should be. Being a trans inclusive black metal band, by default then, means there is a political ideology at the heart of the band. It’s unavoidable so instead of trying anything foolish like that, Feminazgûl leans into it. They know their a politically minded band and with that firmly established, they can move on to create the music, which they do with dramatic, shrieking effectiveness. While they have a similar sound to bands like Panopticon, Wolves in the Throne Room, and Falls of Rauros, they are unique within the subgenre of atmospheric black metal or Cascadian black metal or however you want to categorize them. They sound like they could be on a compilation with all these bands, but they also sound like something very different. They’re creative enough to stand out in a genre that is becoming more and more crowded with formulaic sounds, effects, and atmospheres.

All that being said, I need to do more research into the subgenre, find other bands, other projects, other musicians, that are part of the scene. One band does not a subgenre make, I am well aware of that. There are a few others floating in the Bandcamp aether that I need to listen to and analyze, and I’m looking forward to that. If anyone reading this has a suggestion or tip or what-have-you, then I am all ears. I am still learning to be a good ally to my trans brothers and sisters, and I hope doing this project leads me to being a better, more rounded one.

Cheers!

[m-c-easton]

Book Picks: The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories

I'm still reading through the best books of 2021/2022, and my fav so far is The Haunting of Hajji Hotak. Masterful and riveting, these stories of war and diaspora will break your heart and bind it up again. Jamil Jan Kochai is an author to watch. #reading

I’m continuing to work my way through titles that made waves in 2021 and 2022, and this is my favorite so far. If you are in the market for masterful short stories, Jamil Jan Kochai’s collection will not disappoint. A National Book Award finalist, The Haunting of Hajji Hotak feels like it enfolds the entire world in its embrace, spanning the United States and Afghanistan, teen gamers and aging…

[eek-a-tron]

Ozymandias WHO?

Only this worm poem will do!

never let anyone tell you that trawling through mediocre victorian poetry isn't worth it. we just happened upon an absolute BANGER of a worm poem. go read it or else 🪱🪱🪱

[gildedbearediting]

International Strange Music Day on Paulo Coelho's Birthday

2024 has felt like a wild year, and it feels right to be celebrate strange music and Paulo’s birthday together. Many would recognize Paulo for his writing, but most notably ‘The Alchemist’. However, it wasn’t until I dug around online that I found that he’s also a poet and lyricist. Songs that he’s written can be found on Genius. I took this opportunity to see what else Paulo has done, and get…

[scarecrowgoat]

man i really am putting my life back together ain't i? poggers

[mercymornsimpathizer]

a non-exhaustive list of butch literature

a (very ad-hoc) list of butch reading and writing, (mostly) by butch authors. books I've read myself in bold; take the rest with a grain of salt. additions, addendums, and commentary welcome :)

general/literary fiction:

mrs s by k patrick

stone butch blues by leslie feinberg

boulder by eva baltasar

running fiercely towards a thin high sounds by judith katz

tipping the velvet by sarah waters

a crystal diary by frankie hucklenbroich

godspeed by lynn breedlove

cha-ching! by ali liebegott

the ihop papers by ali liebegott

greasepaint by hannah levene

lucy and mickey by red jordan arobateau

the bull-jean stories by sharon bridgforth

development by bryher

notes of a crocodile by qui miaojin

america is not the heart by elaine castillo

the slow fix by ivan coyote

the swashbuckler by lee lynch

old dyke tales by lee lynch

sci-fi, fantasy, and horror:

gideon the ninth by tamsyn muir

the unspoken name by ak larkwood

vermilion by molly tanzer

metal from heaven by august clarke

scapegracers by ha clarke

the unbroken by cl clarke

fire logic by laurie marks

the seep by chana porter

these burning stars by bethany jacobs

feast while you can by mikaella clements and onjuli datta

non-fiction, memoir, and autobiography:

hijab butch blues by lamya h

gender failure by ivan coyote and rae spoon

fun home by allison bechdel

butch is a noun by h bear bergman

female masculinity by jack halberstam

burning butch by rb murtz

when we were outlaws by jeanne cordova

leaving isn't the hardest thing by lauren hough

odd girls and twilight lovers by lillian faderman

another mother tongue by judy grahn

boots of leather, slippers of gold by elizabeth lapovsky and madeline davis

the persistent desire ed joan nestle

persistence: all way butch and femme ed ivan coyote and zena sharman

dagger: on butch women ed lily burana

[delcat177]

He wants a shoehorn, the kind with teeth

(Ba dup ba da)

People should get locked up for stating their belief

He wants a shoehorn, the kind with teeth

(Ba dup ba da)

'Cause he knows there's no such thing

What’s your favorite memory of Terry?

The last time I saw him. We had been left on our own and Terry (who had Alzheimer’s) had sort of drifted into his head. He stopped talking. So I started to sing They Might Be Giants’ song Shoehorn With Teeth. And after a few lines, Terry started to sing along. He remembered more lines than I did. And then he talked with intelligence and enthusiasm about the tour in 1990 to promote Good Omens we did, when that was our tour song, and for a little while my friend was back.