#no questions no complaints

[wandaluvstacos]

after having used both these little machines on projects, i just have to say that all beginners should learn on a vibrating shuttle machine. Rotary machines will constantly give you tension issues, but vibrating shuttle machines do not give a flying fuck what your tension is, 80% of the time they figure it out. i will it be loud? yes. will it be slow? probably. will it create the most amazing straight stitch you've ever seen? always. honestly don't even want to bother with any other kind of straight stitch machine, tbh. i feel like we evolved backwards on this.

[angelofdumpsterfires]

how i feel about all the changes in s3

[nedlittle]

apropos of nothing, here are some gay historical fiction novels that engage with historical queerness in thoughtful, complex, and interesting ways (organized chronologically)

hild by nicola griffith ↪ early 7th century england

a tip for the hangman by alison epstein ↪ 1585-1593 england

confessions of the fox by jordy rosenberg ↪ 1702-1724* england

the confessions of frannie langton by sara collins ↪ 1812-1826 jamaica to england

patience and sarah by isabel miller ↪ 1816 america

devotion by hannah kent ↪ 1830s prussia to australia

the sweetness of water by nathan harris ↪ 1865 america

whiskey when we're dry by john larison ↪ 1885 america

the city of palaces by michael nava ↪ 1897-1913 mexico

tipping the velvet by sarah waters ↪ 1890s england

at swim, two boys by jamie o'neill ↪ 1915-1916 ireland

the gods of tango by caro de robertis ↪ 1913-1920s argentina

uncommon charm by emily bergslien and kat weaver ↪ 1920s america

the book of salt by monique truong ↪ 1930s vietnam to paris

the amazing adventures of kavalier and clay by michael chabon ↪ 1939-1954 america and beyond

the flight portfolio by julie orringer ↪ 1940 france

the savage kind by john copenhaver ↪ 1940s america

a thin bright line by lucy jane bledsoe ↪ 1950s america

*this one has a framing device and footnotes from the present day but the bulk of the story is set in the early 1700s

[muffinlance]

Wait, what’s going on with Embers???? That fic has been on my read later list since 2021, what’s happened with it???

Brief overview, then I'm likely never touching this topic again, because this is not a Drama Blog:

Context: Embers is a super old AtLA fic that was written during the early fandom days, read widely at the time, and was the origin of the widely-used fanon name of "Wani" for Zuko's ship (kind of by default that it was one of the first popular fics to give his ship a name, I think?), even though most fic writers don't seem to realize it's from there anymore.

"What's Going On": I used to include a link in all my stories to it, because I believe in crediting other writers for borrowed elements, and I was using "Wani" in all my fics. But BOY did I not want to be sending readers that way anymore, so I've adopted a new name for Zuko's ship, and removed all Embers links.

None of the criticisms about Embers itself are new; I'm assuming they date back to when the fic was being written, because this isn't an "it aged badly" thing, this is an "actually yeah this gets worse the longer you think about it and I shouldn't have ignored my bad feelings just because some of the worldbuilding was interesting" thing.

An Incomplete List of Why I Made the Change:

I don't actually like the story that much anymore, and don't want to rec it

I tried to re-read it recently to see if some things were as bad as I remembered and it turns out they were So Much Worse Oh Yikes. More specifically, the treatment of Katara and Aang and their respective cultures has... rather a lot going on. One example: The Fire Nation and Air Nomads are both given multiple backstory elements in an attempt to make the average Fire Nation soldier's participation in the genocide/war in large part the fault of the Avatar and the Air Nomads themselves, and also fully justified from the Fire Nation perspective. And I do mean fully. One of its core tenants is "People from the Fire Nation (and only people from the Fire Nation) who don't follow orders Literally Die, therefore murdering pacifists and babies and continuing the war (and their regularly scheduled war crimes) is the only thing it is physically possible for them to do". I cannot emphasize enough how literal that is.

Also the name "Wani" means "Alligator" and is... objectively a pretty lame name for Zuko's ship? Where's the personality, where's the deeper meaning, where's the resonance with Zuko's themes? @tuktukpodfics initially thought I was calling the ship "Wanyi", and that's what I've switched to, because it is Objectively So Much Better. In their words: “Wànyī (萬一): Literally ‘one in ten thousand,’ ‘perchance.’ Used grammatically in Chinese to mean ‘what if’ or ‘just in case.’ I think a ship called ‘The Perchance’ is perfect for a boy clinging to false hope.”

TL:DR; I don't rec Embers anymore, because I don't actually like the story anymore, and there are things about it that get worse the more I think on them. I've removed links to it and renamed Zuko's ship to "Wanyi" ("The Perchance") because our boy deserves a ship name that reflects his character arc.

[alicentsgf]

list of complaints abt yellowjackets this season so often go:

1) im annoyed they didnt show an event or time period that wouldnt realistically fit with tone of the show or work with the 10-ep pacing

2) i have not paid enough attention and am therefore asking for answers that have already been given to me

3) i dont understand something thats not been explained yet because we arent meant to know about it yet

4) one valid critique of character arcs, tone, etc

5) i misunderstood the direction this storyline was headed and am now annoyed it did not go the way i'd decided it was going to

6) i assigned too much meaning to a simple logistical/thematic choice and now i want answers to a question that never needed to be asked

and the final boss

7) the main characters in the always-been-about-cannibalism show are cannibalising people so i hate them now

[vaguely-concerned]

just for fun this time during 'sea of blood' I counted out all the venatori corpses I think we can be pretty sure were lucanis' handiwork before we show up (not including the ones he kills in his initial cutscene, and with an assumption that he's been at work mainly up and down in the areas we move through until we find him, not behind the locked door -- I think that's mostly the work of rampaging undead and other venatori-hoisted-by-their-own-petard suchlikes). can thus happily inform you lucanis has killed at least 32 venatori before rook and company get there. at least one of them he's impaled on their own weird crystal spike things the venatori mages cast as an AOE attack and that they're trying to keep him contained with when we find him. so he's clearly been keeping busy lol. that's my boy dispensing poetic justice and claiming some enrichment in his enclosure while he's at it good for him!

[fisheito]

The Yaku🔴sub⚫️dom⚪️neutral ratio check, SSR event units from left to right:

🔴⚫️🔴⚪️ ⚫️⚫️🔴⚫️ ⚪️⚫️🔴⚫️ ⚫️⚫️🔴⚫️

+⚪️⚪️OG SSR +🔴Story H +⚪️OG SR +⚪️SR Incognito Cafe

= 6🔴/9⚫️/6⚪️÷21

=29%🔴/42%⚫️/29%⚪️

Justifications for each room under the cut 🤨

Disclaimer: do i have an actual system for classifying what is subby vs. dommy? nope! i vaguely describe dom as "controls the pace/leads the actions" and that's it ¯\_( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_/¯

Cocoa Liqueur:

🔴 R2: eiden grabs yakumo by the dick/forces him to take a break ⚫️ R5: baby's first kabedon. yaku goes jealous 2000s seme mode

Ocean Breeze:

🔴 R2: woe, eiden's oral skills be upon ye (try not to squeak too loud) ⚪️ R5: yaku going "pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease" and eiden answering "sure"

Crimson Phantom:

⚫️ R2: lost in the bloodsauce, immediate regret ⚫️ R5: better grip on the bloodsauce, Count Domkumo fully awakened

Dark Nova:

🔴 R2: "don't think. just follow my instructions" ⚫️ R5: yaku lacks lucidity and is hopped up on snake senses. less self-control leads eiden to go on the defensive

Shadow Lineage:

⚪️ R2: veers into dom bc yakumo's pinning eiden/eiden has no leverage, but net neutral bc yakumo still acts on orders ⚫️ R5: yakumo puts on a show for his annual outdoor sex evaluation, and eiden submits fully to snake bondage

Fateful Aegis:

🔴 R2: NAKED APRON YAKUMO ON HIS KNEES ⚫️ R5: yaku caught too many emotions again and drills eiden into the floor

Abyssal Pearl:

⚫️ R2: starts with power of Eiden Suggestion, but ultimately ends up in dom territory due to phenomenon of Domkumo Voice. ⚫️ R5: yaku shows eiden how much he wants him (it's a lot)

Sword of Determination:

🔴 R2: behave like a good student and you'll get a salty reward ⚫️ R5: plumbing be damned, you're getting splooged in the shower

OG SSR

⚪️ R2: they compromise on their horny goals because they have to get up early tomorrow for character development ⚪️ R5: eiden provides live feedback so yakumo will continue railing him against the wall, also stop apologising

🔴 Story H: yakumo learns what (human) sex is

⚪️ OG SR R5: respectfully, let's fuck *pushes eiden onto the bed* (mostly eiden indulging a pent up yaku)

⚪️ SR Incognito Cafe: eiden holds the reins in the first half, yakumo gains control in the second. a truly riveting game of push and pull.

[greenhairedlink]

I know many are panicking with the announcement of the indictment, but we knew this was going to happen. Indictments don't mean guilt. They're necessary for a trial to even happen.

What we should really be focusing on is why did it take this long.

The documentaries, the slandering articles, the two week delays from MSM on positive Luigi news, the blatant gaslighting of why anyone would support the adjuster, the continued violation of Luigi's rights, the smearing of his supporters, the death penalty before DISCOVERY

They aren't afraid to play dirty. So please explain how, with all of their underhanded actions, did it still take them months to get an indictment?

[rattsin]

guys....

I've just listened to the alanna: first adventure audiobook and it's a very small thing but...

I've been drawing these kids in blue and gold uniforms for so many years now imagine my surprise when the voice comes on over speaker "The full sleeved shirt and loose hose were bright scarlet against the cloth of gold tunic."

Yes a small thing but man that really shits me ahaaa-well

[faaun]

said goodbye to him feeling weird!

[soracities]

People are wild lol rap does actually take a certain level of skill to both perform and understand, it takes five seconds of research to see that theres decent lyricism going on there. Lots of rappers are actually great at english, they dont all know the official terms for the things they practice but rapping is like a form of poetry really.

ofc there are subgenres that i personally do not like such as mumble rap (a conversation for another time i digress) but if you take for example kendrick's latest diss tracks to drake, its something that has to literally be studied and broken down by a bunch of people lol and once you break it down and understand the refrences you see that its not just a bunch of words and a beat. of course white people will think something they dont understand is ghetto trash what else is new lol they're the kings of ostricizing and devaluing what they dont understand. They did it to jazz they did it to metal and alternative music and they do it to rap.

At the end of the day, culture is a thing that will be understood by those who are meant to understand it. You dont have to like rap to acknowledge that its an art, but calling it trash and refusing to see it from any point of view but your own speaks for itself.

And for the record, im not a rap fan lol its a genre i hardly listen to in fact, but what i am is an artist, and i can acknowledge art when i see it.

i'll be honest, i don't think lack of understanding is solely what comes into it, if at all. the genres that get the most aggressive pushback are also ones that threaten a cultural hegdemony in their respective societies (white, male, christian etc) and that's not a coincidence. rap gets the worst of this and ultimately i don't think it has ever boiled down to not knowing what GOAT means and a lot more to do with overt and tacit hostility towards black people making outspoken art on their own terms in a deeply racist society.

but otherwise i completely agree with you! the lyrical complexity, rhyming schemes and dexterity at play in a good rap song is second to none and you could absolutely teach a literature class on it. it is as much a poetic medium as anything else while also encompassing its own deeply layered, complex and distinct sensibilities--just like, literally, every other art form on earth! to pretend otherwise is just ludicrous at this point.

[freya-ulfsdottir]

For some people, it will never be enough. They will always find fault no matter how hard you try.

[dykefish]

what if she was called freakliam wisp and she

[sophfandoms53]

Not a spoiler but shout out sonic movie 3 for following the pattern of shadow’s backstory being absolutely fucking confusing even after 20+ years we love consistency lmao

[shorthaltsjester]

i contain multitudes and can say that i am a little :( about vex and percy being teammates with benefits because i think there’s something particularly heartbreaking about the dynamic that was neither of them ever said a thing even though they both were aware of it and it took losing percy for vex to finally admit it and Even Then, she couldn’t say it to percy’s face when they got him back, percy was the one who had to make the first move (that they were both alive for at least) and he was only able to do that because he’d heard her confession, because he never would’ve thought otherwise. to be clear, i also very much enjoy the story being told, i think i just wish they’d maybe committed more significantly to This Is A Campaign-Inspired Story Rather Than A Retelling sooner in the show so that maybe there would be a bit more grounding or set-up for the storylines the narrative is focusing on (and i understand why they wouldn’t), because i think they’re doing very well with percy’s arc for example, because they started with focusing on his and keeping his beats mostly the same and that seems to be much the same case as some of his second wave of meaty character stuff has arrived. but with vex they’ve aimed for the same character beats but it doesn’t always feel as earned or really feel like much character at all; i think saundor particularly was a bit of an :/, since in the campaign it was really a catalyst for vex interrogating her role in the party and her morality and something she struggled to get over and that haunted her far beyond the walls of that tree, but in the show it hasn’t really had a clear impact on vex beyond the scope of the episode itself — syldor certainly has, but the challenge that saundor presented didn’t really have much weight beyond its moment. and obviously a large part of that’s also probably just, 7 protagonists and wanting to expand the perspectives to antagonists and give more room for side characters is a lot of things to cover. and, i say with love, perhaps a bit too ambitious for a 12 episode per season, ~22 minute runtime show if they want their characters to have the kind of depth that really makes campaign 1 shine the way it does.

[vaguely-concerned]

spite plays with the whetstones when lucanis cleans his knives oh my god... 🥺🥺🥺

(also the thing they're doing here with 'trauma will create a tantruming toddler in your head that refuses to settle for anything but total truth and authenticity and won't be bought off with bullshit or banished by abuse or neglect, you have to actually listen and care for it even when it's being ugly'......... they are cooking with this metaphor and it's also consistently so hilarious in action I can't fucking believe they laid off mary kirby for so many reasons but this is one of them. I also like the complexity of the relationship here -- even right at the beginning of the arc lucanis has some tenderness for and understanding of spite's fundamental innocence in having been put in this situation too, for all the resentment and fear and frustration that's also there. and if spite didn't actively force him to every step of the way I don't think lucanis would ever have actually faced up to and acknowledged the fact that he has y'know. the actual needs of a human being and can't persist on coffee and workaholism alone. it fucking sucks that all of this happened. but also. there's a crack in everything that's how the light gets in etc. like. god. okay then I guess)