#messed up and brilliant

[owl-deer]

I saw post about Shchedrik and was hit by a terrible nostalgia. I remembered 1961 "Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka"/"The Night before Christmas" (Вечера на хуторе близ Диканьки) and their koliadka songs, and "Laughter and Grief by the White Sea" series (Смех и горе у Бела моря) which was based on the collection of Russian Pomor folklore: it has so many songs too, and very gentle on the local dialect and pronunciation. I remember how I adored these as a kid, as well as "The Malachite Box" (Малахитовая шкатулка) and series about Kutkh, a trickster deity native to Far East of Russia.

And then in this bout of nostalgia I found this clip with english subs. It is the last part of Pomor tales series, which was apparently inspired by the actual epitaph found on the island in Arctic Ocean

As a kid, I always started crying the moment the song started, without even understanding what was it about.

[crocswithoutsocks]

I found out there was an anteater LPS so obviously the only logical thing to do was go and buy one immediately and make it into Flint. My phone hates me so pictures are bad but look!!!!! That's a little guy!!!!!

[aloe-plant-yippee]

this is how i feel when i talk about sherlock and co (i know the whole intro off by heart)

inspo/ref under cut

[whogirl42]

Not to jinx it but I can see Ruby Sunday joining the ranks of the Greatest™ companions right alongside Rose and Donna and Amy

[paragonrobits]

I take 'Aligned Grimlock doesn't seem to actually less intelligent despite nearly 99 percent of his processor's energy being forcibly rewired into muscle power' and raise you 'that IS what is happening, but Grimlock is just so dang smart that he mostly suffers some mild speech issues despite functionally suffering a nearly complete lobotomy'

[cringengl]

I'm ngl one of the things I'm most excited for with Stranger Things s5 is the fics. S4 brought there was only one bed motel fics, painting reveals and staying at the Wheelers during the apocalypse, so what will s5 bring?? Whatever it is, it's going to be good!!!!!

[giantkillerjack]

Watching Crazy Ex-Girlfriend from the start so I can finally finish the show, and I forgot just how badly Paula enables Rebecca's bad behavior immediately right out the gate in the biggest ways possible.

Also the actress playing Paula is fucking fantastic. Simultaneously a great best friend, an overbearing mother, an unfulfilled woman looking for better things, and an evil mastermind with an incredible voice! I'm excited to see where her character goes in the 4th season!

[falderaletcetera]

"Welcome to SecureTech, the most powerful security system in the known univ—" "We're in."

[narwhalandchill]

ok not to randomly go off on a somewhat negative ramble But. (general genshin story direction worries basically)

while there are a bunch of stunts i fear the genshin story slash lore could end up pulling that would serve as not only disappointments but to varying degrees also just retroactively ruin a lot of games writing for me. i dont think theres anything that im as genuinely concerned about as the possibility of like. completely losing their narrative marbles to an overdone time travel/temporal manipulation in one way or another like just the thought of that shit haunts me

bc like. while i dont find them particularly compelling as an argument for that to be the case regarding Everything in the narrative in current lore/theory circles (like. makoto n ei teaming up w istaroth once doesnt automatically establish universal time travel). it is unfortunately true that in canon lore there are many of the kind of lore pieces present that you could use to set that kind of reveal and complete restructuring of the story up. istaroth and the sacred sakura and some shady things said by various characters and how you could argue Any time loop or travel adjacent is just hidden by the irminsul 5head (another piece of writing whose potential misuse seriously alarms me, mind you). and so on.

and i am just. Not about any of that shit. like. for me absolutely any plot device or element that has the risk of fundamentally fucking up a storys continuity and coherence sideways to the degree BOTH the

"genshins gonna turn out to be ALL time travel/time loop/simulation to make [sudden endgame twist X heavily at odds with what was established in the central lore prior] appear sensible"

and

"celestia just irminsuls away all evidence for [that twist X again] so achsually it was always genius and compatible with lore"

tier of nightmare scenarios will have. is just. Not fucking worth it. this shit has ruined countless stories with vastly better writing and way more competent authors because its just. not the kind of stuff you can just insert in a massive fucking story willy nilly to explain away the mystery box you didnt bother to set up together so it ultimately comes together in a cohesive way that Doesnt need to be broken on multiple levels to scrape together some conclusion. and its just hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

and like ive never expected some massive masterpiece out of genshin like at best its gonna be one of those stories that once finished gets some really fucking banger fanwork as its community expands upon and explores a solid but flawed canon groundwork. theres fundamental flaws and limitations to its storytelling and format and that cant be helped. so im expecting no miracles on that front.

but the one fucking thing i dont want them to fall for is that misguided at best and outright pretentious and disrespectful at worst allure of. SEE! we outsmarted the audience! the theories! we broke our own story continuity to force a twist because our established worldbuilding technically makes it an option! isnt this smart!

like just please. no. no clue how unpopular this is but im already quite conflicted on the established use of irminsul in sumeru and how it arguably voided a lot of important characterization (nahidas inferiority complex) and narrative potential (scara literally becoming a non factor in the grander story more or less) for good but like. for now. fine. it hasnt become overused yet. i dont think its inherently bad as a factor of worldbuilding. i like how it recontextualizes fact and fiction and the significance of stories that appear mere fables in the world of teyvat. but as it stands the irminsul is still a deus ex machina. and thats a dangerous tool for any writer to have in careless use. and when combined with the sprinkles of lore involving the possibility of time manipulation and such to be further explored. its like powder and keg. two tools that can absolutely gut a story of its narrative cohesion and the weight of its stakes in an instant. its really fucking worrisome.

genshins writing is flawed but the one thing this game has going for it that i REALLY hope the writers will understand to respect is its world. how much the marriage between this massive and beautifully crafted immersive open world and the intricacies of lore and history afforded to all corners of it truly do in tandem to establish the world of genshin as more Real. as weightier. as a place you grow and remain attached to even when the main storys writing stumbles. the world is so important and to let it remain feeling real is just. i hope they understand how fragile of a gem that is.

featuring an artificial world order established by fraudulent divinity and that involving some degree of cosmic fuck-uppery of the natural order and all-encompassing illusion to maintain it is fine. this is a story heavily referencing gnosticism that theme is literally a given. but it needs to be an artificial world order imposed on a real world that remains feeling real the entire time through. and for that to be preserved it needs to remain grounded.

but the problem is that once a story truly commits to the "anything could be altered and fundamentally reversed with the right mcguffin at play with seeming impunity" there is no going back. it becomes very fucking difficult to keep the figurative feet of a narrative even touching the ground for even the most skilled of writers afforded absolute creative freedom to work with (which genshin does not have). and just that much more easier for the stakes to be lost completely. and i dont want to see that scenario become reality

[chimeric-art]

NOPE NOT DONE TALKING ABOUT IT

So generations pass, the Kindred are all but extinct, humans have spread to every habitable corner of the world, and now the human nations are struggling with the issues that come from overpopulation and the presence of a substance that can do Anything in high enough quantities.

In most places aether is a controlled substance, doled out by their respective governments according to the rules of that society. In some places it's considered a basic need, in others a luxury, in others a dangerous drug. In almost all cases, it's been diluted and is in such small quantities that magic of the past is assumed to be the stuff of fairy tales.

This timeline mostly centers around the city of Augustine, where aether is under the strict control of an agency which accepts applications for its distribution. If a person's application is appealing enough, they can be granted massive amounts of aether, more than most people could acquire in other places in the world. Accepted applications tend to be things in the realm of "ways to better society," such as medicine, agriculture, and so on.

Although the city is prosperous, there is a dark underbelly to the agency overseeing its aether, as well as the man in charge of it...

[anidealistatbestburntoutatworst]

another installment of my “dazai doesn’t pay his taxes and somehow bamboozled ango into filing for him every year bc it’s the “least he could do” for him”

ango: “137 million dollars… dazai?!”

dazai *scrambling through random bills and papers: “yes! and if i don’t pay up i’ll go to jail! for tax evasion!! i’m crazy enough to rage-quit the port mafia… but taking on the yokohama tax agency nooo thank you!”

ango *unamused with the enormous undertaking he has once again found himself responsible for- adjusting his glasses*: “fine fine, i’ll do it- move so i can get to work.”

dazai *with the stars in his eyes he gets when he’s being truly,,,, insufferable*: “i knew you would!” *skipping away before ango can ask any questions* “byeee!”

[blueberry-beanie]

"Herr Uthoff, unser Brainstorming hat eindeutig ergeben, wie wir das machen, dass wir diese Sendung auf ein sicheres Fundament stellen. Und zwar stellen wir uns hin und sagen: 'Die Sicherheit Israels ist deutsche Staatsräson'".

Der Nahostkonflikt und die deutsche Staatsräson pt. 1/2 Die Anstalt vom 12. Dezember 2023

English translation below the cut:

Mr. Uthoff, our brainstorming has clearly shown how we are going to put this show on a safe foundation. In fact we are going to stand here and say: 'Israel's security is German reason of state'."

The Middle East conflict and the German reason of state pt. 1/2 Die Anstalt on the 12th December 2023

GIF1 | MU: "What exactly does 'reason of state' mean?" GIF2 | CvW: "Yes, this is very easy! Reason of state, it's already contained in the word. State- GIF 3 | State, then reason. Many don't know - French for rationality. GIF 4 | Or reason. So state reason. Rationality, therefore... reason-rationality... GIF 5 | ...state." GIF 6 | MU: "You have studied communication science, haven't you?" GIF 7 | CvW: "Yes, why?" MU: "I'm asking myself the same question."

[pigeon-sponge]

they literally gave her a crown of thorns and i still cant even about it

[the-kipsabian]

i will legitimately be thinking about this game for years to come

[magnoliamyrrh]

.

[aemiron-main]

me 🤝 mike

trying to make ourselves like girls