#non-compete commentary

[socialjusticefail]

The European Space Agency workers have non-compete clauses that prevent them from moving to another position at ESA with a different contract agency.

[liketwoswansinbalance]

What would you do if you knew you couldn't fall??

Did you mean "fail?" Unless you meant literally falling, I will answer as if you wrote "fail." You can correct me if that is the wrong interpretation, and I could answer the question again.

Assign first-class experts to solve the world's problems... so I wouldn't have to do it all—assuming the technicality is that I start the projects, then they probably would not fail. Would that loophole work? (Realistically, if it didn't work, I don't think I'd actually be altruistic enough to do all that...) Would I have to see the projects through to completion? That's quite a lot of work. But doing this would likely mean I will probably have a clean conscience for the rest of my life, ideally, because, I know I should if I had the power to do so.

In relation to #1, even if this is non-necessary, also assign people to figure out if there's life on other planets. I just want to know. Don't need to contact whatever is out there—I don't want anything to go wrong. I'd just want to possibly spy on them for a little while. The problem is: spying is unethical, so I'd have to convince myself that I'm either doing it for cautionary reasons or as a longitudinal, naturalistic "study." This could be a pandora's jar, so I might take it off the list.

Cure stupidity and herd mentality. (Curing all physical ailments is built into no. 1 already.) Or better yet, get someone else to do it. (At the same time, we could argue that these qualities are part of being human or flawed, and that we shouldn't tamper with our human-ness. In which case, just no. Also, we would lose part of our former connection to literature, pre-cure. For instance, we would no longer comprehend the meaning of the trope: "love causes poor judgment." So, would it be worth it? Even if the world were terraformed and otherwise reshaped in more metaphorical ways to be "perfect," I think we would still manage to invent new problems because it's what we've always done as a species. Thus, there needs to be a reasonable stopping point. And, I'm not sure what that point is, meaning several other items on this list might have to be struck out.)

Have the world's politicians be... better somehow? Ensure they are sane and moral, that they trust science, are scientifically-literate... I feel, perhaps, like we might get better results if we chose science-fiction writers, particularly those who've managed to predict our present and know how to do social commentary. They seem to be aware of and actually care about the state of humanity. (I'm not really well-informed enough to make any decisions, but I know well enough that the world needs people of varied knowledge and skillsets to continue on. So, I'm not completely, intentionally trying to valorize only what I'm interested in. I'm just biased like any other human being is.)

Delegate everything I don't like doing to competent people (like cooking), and reap the benefits of the exact outcomes I'd want every time. If they were successful, I'd never have a problem with dust and no one would ever move my stacks of books and paper, which often collect dust.

Turn myself immortal and gain eternal youth. (This should probably be item no. 1 on the list, actually, to account for how long the first few tasks could potentially take.) Then use those means on others who would want it done. If it's someone I don't like, I could still let them become immortal, and would just tell them after this favor not to cross paths with me again. I would also try to convince anyone I want to keep around to stay.

No. 6 would attract too much publicity. I'd need a way to continue being relatively anonymous, except for what I would selectively want to be recognized for. (If I couldn't fail at it, I'd love to become the next "Shakespeare" or some kind of literary giant... and maybe then have the world forget about me... and be rediscovered and reinterpreted by future generations who use my original and/or revolutionary works as required reading in their syllabi. That'd be striking and cool. I'm not sure how I would stop suffering from belatedness though.)

Find a way to never sleep, never eat, never exercise, and not experience cognitive decline. I would only do the ones I like doing.

Find a way to resurrect people from the dead. (I already know this has too much margin for catastrophe, so there would have to be restrictions on what can and cannot be done. At the same time, I am also aware this would violate nature, so it might have to be removed from the list. Who am I to decree the rules?)

I haven't addressed religion yet. I'd have to find some way to alleviate my guilt, but that's more of a temporary fix and not a real solution. I'd have to find some way to remain a mostly good or at least harmless person, assuming I'm mostly one now. If there's no reason for anyone, any force, or anything to object to my existence, I would hope I would be allowed to continue on with my plans.

If there were some way to affirm what I think my personal beliefs are, that would be great. At the same time, that defeats the point of faith, and so, I'm not sure what to do about this dilemma.

Learn everything I want to learn now that I have infinite time to learn it (and infinite time to procrastinate).

Consume all the media I want to consume and also never miss new installments or works of art because I wouldn't be outlived by creators.

Become some kind of successful writer. I mentioned this before, but to specify: maybe a novelist or maybe an academic critic—why not both?! Sky's the limit!

Eventually, if I could never fail, I might wonder about whether anything could ever be a challenge or worth doing anymore. (Doubt that will happen since I have a fear of failure anyway—and being cured of it would be a wonderful reality to live in!)

And so, I could want to die eventually. (Again, highly doubt that will happen.)

In case: It's not my top priority, but: study philosophy, so I don't become corrupt, apathetic, or suicidal since I know things can happen to the human psyche after too long.

If no. 1 didn't happen, and humans were faced with climate change as well as other problems, then I would want to die before the planet were barren and ruined, so I wouldn't have to live under dystopian conditions.

Some of the above might not happen because I may procrastinate too much. That would suggest that the revised item no. 1 should be: conquer procrastination once and for all, and only then proceed in a rough order.

[mlembug]

how should I go about looking for fonts? what fonts are your go-to for scanlation? you clearly know a lot about this topic :>

I had a bit of deja vu about this "what fonts are your go-to for scanlation", and turns out I got this question before... from you, not to mention. Though I can add a bit of commentary anyway, as there's a bunch of resources I either forgot to mention or I wasn't aware of at the time.

mangafonts.carrd.co - lists a bunch of fonts and an example of how they're used in official manga translations, of which the letterers are more likely to be competent than an average scanlator.

Vorbis' Typesetting Guide - this one is pretty old (2004), so keep it in mind, but it includes a font review section from someone who is way more opinionated on this topic than me, and reading through these reviews can give you some idea about what problems can a font have in the first place.

Sara's Fonts on Ko-Fi - free fonts for commercial and non-commercial use

Comicraft, Blambot - paid fonts, dedicated to comics

Kimberly Geswein - paid fonts, various decorative ones

DaFont - font catalog, fonts grouped by category, general purpose

For scanlation I've been using a collection of fonts findable on MangaDex forums on a thread titled "Scanlation Font Resource", but this one is ‍🏴‍☠️

For purposes of comics you likely want to pick a "main font" for text (and reuse that one for thought bubbles, hence the requirement for the font to provide an italic version rather than relying on Faux Italic), a "shout font", a "side font" if there are going to be side remarks done outside of the bubble, and a bunch of side fonts for sound effects, signs, and other decorative texts (like chapter titles or similar)

[boyfridged]

leslie does not appear in the post-crisis crime alley intro. in her stead, there's another older woman whose work is thought to be altruistic, one with potential to transform the lives of the desperate and condemned (from such a young age, too) -- ma gunn. of course, soon we learn that her charity is but a ruse, and she uses her reputation and position to exploit those most vulnerable. here it is -- the cynical 'subversion' that will become the staple of the post-crisis batman for years to come.

but arguably, despite the appearances, it is not ma gunn who truly takes leslie's place in the narrative. that place being, of course, both the symbol of the hope of the crime alley and a counterpoint to batman's philosophy. it is, instead, the main character of second chances -- jason. jason, whom bruce meets in the same alley his parents died, but who makes bruce laugh upon their first encounter. jason, who has a strong sense of justice, despite it not quite aligning with bruce's -- jason who does not care about what bruce thinks of him being a thief, jason who insists it does not make him a crook; jason who has no care for the label of 'criminality' in itself (just as leslie, who insists that talking of 'criminals' in the alley is non-productive and that in targeting them, bruce would just prey on those unfortunate). jason who is to become gotham's light as robin, but who also is tied to its darkest place.

there is, of course, a problem here -- jason is a child. and so, what was seen as a genuine challenge to batman before -- the lack of care for the 'criminal' label, is now seen as a corruption of the youth that can be "treated" like all disease that crime is (and can be also used as an excuse for the child endangerment - by collins and so, by bruce whom he writes too). and surely, soon enough, without much commentary from the narrative itself, after a timeskip, we are introduced to jason whose background is of very little relevance. as a child, and as robin, he is (for a time) malleable. he believes in batman just as dick grayson did. until starlin takes the run over, and jason is to become a 'challenge' again -- but this time there is no authentic consideration for the politics and societal reality behind it. the conflict that leads to aditf is first and foremost one around bruce's role as a parent, and less so about his strategy. and even in the garzonas' case, there's this confusion -- jason's complaints are not about the system, but about their efficiency. it's all back to batman's theoretical framework. and when jason comes back from the dead, year after -- that is what happens with the red hood modus operandi too. all of this a direct reference to competence of batman, jason's background becoming a stereotype it was supposed to go against.

thankfully, before all that happens, and quite hurriedly post-crisis, someone (barr) realises leslie needs a comeback -- and it is the best she was ever written, her voice clear and strong. my beginning... and my probable end is, to me, a batman thesis. here we have bruce wayne, loving -- and here we have all of bruce's flaws exposed. leslie's first ever complaint post-crisis is about jason's role as robin, and so she becomes a cassandra, but it's so important to pay attention to their relationships. "you're doing it for yourself" is what leslie says, and she is right in believing it is not jason who needs robin. and jason, there, on a hospital bed, between them -- this is what his role in the narrative becomes. a consequence of a grand idea of batman that leslie was always against; but also someone who's life stretches in between these two beliefs, someone who came all the way from being so like leslie, only for him to become so entangled in vigilantism that there's hardly any reference to any of it left. and leslie was there, to see.

how both of their stances get stereotyped; how their initial roles get delegated into villainy or (in case of leslie) pettiness, is in a way a litmus paper for the condition of batman's comics. and it's just absurd how we never get to see them together after jason's resurrection; how the two most important characters of the crime alley cannot be afforded to share narrative space. that is, of course, because it would mean a confrontation of what jason was, and what he became.

[my-adhd-gremlin-blog]

I am as disappointed as everyone else is with the final season of The Umbrella Academy, but I also have some of my own Thoughts™️. Allow me to weigh in.

We can all agree that the finale was absolute dogshit, right? I've seen a lot of commentary about the character assassination of Number Five, and the cursed as fuck crack ship that should've stayed in the deep recesses of ao3, where no one could find it. But there was also absolutely no character development for any of them in the end? Not really?

Luther still has unresolved daddy issues (why else would he be squatting in the condemned building of the Academy?). And he just, what, gave up looking for his wife? Luther "loverboy" Hargreeves. The man who chased and pined for Allison almost his entire life gave up on HIS WIFE after/within six years? No way.

Diego's character basically went nowhere. Four seasons, and he still didn't come to any kind of realisation that, hey, maybe he is enough. No. If he isn't in Luther's shadow, he's insecure about his marriage, or his powers, and being "strong enough." Everything was a competition to him, even though he was the only one competing. He deserved a little bit of self-love, but apparently, "self-destruct" is all he gets.

Allison had her ups and downs, and they let her end on a fucking down? Her arch was the most disappointing. We literally see her trying to be a better, more honest person in s1, and then a human rights activist in s2. Her powers are morally grey, sure, but she had so much potential. Then she just straight up becomes a villain and has barely any redemption for it? Her character started on a high. It was natural progression for her to hit a low. But not that low. And she never really came back up from it. In six years, it seemed like she made no real effort to make up for what she did. A couple of good decisions do not make up for a multitude of bad ones.

Which brings me to Klaus. I wasn't sold on sober, germaphobe Klaus to begin with. I thought it was just a little bit too out of character. But I'll take that any day than what happened to him this season. And to his credit, his hypochondria after losing his powers at least made sense. But he'd made so much progress, not just on his sobriety but on embracing his powers rather than being afraid. (Also, he and Allison being codependent on each other like that was not healthy).

This season made Ben, as a character, pretty much pointless. From the beginning, it seemed like his death was supposed to bring the Academy together, narratively speaking. It was his "purpose" to die and become a sort of martyr to his siblings (I mean, it didn't work, so even then, Ben kinda died unnecessarily). But in reality, his death wasn't a teachable moment, it was just murder. And without Ben, the story still would have ended the same way. Any of the children born from the marigold could have brought about the cleanse, it didn't necessarily HAVE to be Ben. And with the number of timelines there were, it was probably inevitable that it would happen in at least one of them. They all died pointlessly, but Ben's deaths were especially pointless.

Viktor was about the only character that DID have some development. He finally stood up to his father and received at least some validation for his mistreatment as a kid. Not that it ended up mattering because his relationship with his siblings was practically non-existent at this point. All he'd ever wanted was to be a part of the team, and yet apparently made no effort in six years to see his siblings and actually be a part of the family. It makes no sense for his character.

I hate that Lila was a damsel in distress for most of this season. She's a grown woman who we know is fully capable of standing up for herself, but it felt like she was reduced to just her role in the family. I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being a mother or a wife, but that seemed to be ALL her character was this season, when we know she's more than that. The one thing she got to herself was taken away from her coz it hurt "poor Diego's feelings 🥺". Grow up 🙄. And I am not touching the other thing with a ten foot barge pole.

Now, obviously, there's Five. People have already talked about how his character was completely butchered this season. No, Five of the past would not have given up so easily. Despite the jabs and the squabbling, Five loved his family. He fought hard to get back to them when he was stranded. After a struggle like that, why the fuck WOULD he stop fighting to keep his family together?

I'm not saying all of these characters had to be good, outstanding citizens by the end of the show. But they should have at least had a journey from season one. Instead, they either went backwards or in circles. And in the end, none of it mattered anyway.

This season was so fucking stupid. It completely undermined the rest of the story. What was the point in literally anything that happened in the previous seasons if it was just leading up to all of it being erased? This is some, "and it was all a dream" bullshit, and I'm not here for it.

[chewydolls]

Feliz Carnaval for all QSMP watchers 🎉✨️

I'm not good with explanations but I separated some curious facts and traditions of the brazilian Carnaval for all the non-brazilians who want to know more about our festivities

Though its origin has some Catholic roots, modern Carnaval is a secular party where people go to street festivals dressed up in shiny costumes or beach wear, drink out in the open, watch parades on TV and send their kids to school looking like Miraculous Ladybug.

People who go out to celebrate Carnaval in the street/beach are called "foliões" and the groups where those people aglomerate, usually following a moving performer (ie a singer performing in a vehicle), are called "blocos"

One of our most beautiful traditions is the "desfile das escolas de samba", parades where different groups, called Escolas de Samba (Schools of Samba, not actual schools), compete in an event that includes very intricate cars, costumes and samba (a musical genre). Each school has a theme, usually related to social commentary and elements of our culture

Some states have a costume called "mela-mela" where the foliões throw sticky food at each other, most commonly flour, tho eggs are not unheard of. This is still not the worse thing someone can throw at you when you're out on the streets

Children use the Carnaval to dress up at school, like some kids do on Halloween minus the scary costumes. Superheros costumes are specially popular

Child-friendly Carnaval is famous for the use of confetti and foam spray. Kids go to school all dressed up and paint each other's hair with shitty pink spray

Other brazilians are welcome to add more traditions if I left anything out!

There's a genre of music you hear on Carnaval called "marchinhas". They're short, simple and often full of innuendos. One of the most popular marchinhas is called, in lit translation, "Mommy I want to suck". Yeah.

In general, Carnaval is a moment to break social rules and go wild. Kiss that stranger you just met. Play soccer with your bros wearing a dress. Engage in some petty food fight with a 7 yo. Go to work in cat ears. People will not judge you (that much)

[jesncin]

I appreciate most of your takes but don't understand how you look at a character like livewire, a character created in the middle of a 90's feminist movement and come to the conclusion she's supposed to a be a caricature of classical racist conservatism

?? huh is this an elaborate joke I'm missing out on?? Like you're roleplaying as a Shockateer? There's no tone indicators so I'm left to my own perception that you're being serious so I'll have to respond in seriousness. I'm gonna be so embarrassed if this is a joke :(((

So...just because a character is made "in the middle of the 90's" or "feminist movement" doesn't...mean they're a feminist character? Like with that logic, Tana Moon is a feminist icon I guess. Also "caricature of classical racist conservatism"? man, I kinda envy how people think the way I write her is Cartoony Evil Racism and not a toned down depiction of how personalities like Posie Parker, Matt Walsh, and Blaire White talk. I suppose I'm glad you haven't encountered anyone that awful. Good for you! 👍

Livewire meta under the cut fellas

I feel like you don't have a very holistic view of Livewire's character. Because while yes, she has been used for feminist critique in the show and comics, that's not all there is to her character. My take on Livewire is a commentary on how white womanhood intersects with parasocial internet grifts and the larger way identity gets filtered online. It's a take influenced by how she literally started out as a controversial provocative shock jock in STAS.

There's so much potential to re-imagine her hatred of Superman as a commentary on how white women feel justified in harassing marginalized men because it looks like a punch-up to misogyny. The way she uses the accident Superman caused as a way to white-woman-victimize herself and prime her audience to hate him more. You can take the spinoff comic where she only lets women speak on the air as her presenting a black and white, non-intersectional view of social progress. Kind of like how TERFs keep fantasizing about a world without men as a utopia? In CW Supergirl, Livewire plays into internalized misogyny and homophobia to jab at Supergirl. Not showing up for her fellow women if you ask me.

Because while yes, Leslie has been shown to be a character who had to deal with sexism, she's also a really compelling narrative for an imperfect victim. Just because a character deals with sexist hardship, doesn't mean it makes her a feminist ideal y'know? Leslie lashes out and weaponizes her victimhood, she uses her audience to bully others.

I think one of the flaws to the longevity of her character as a villain is because her narrow hatred of Supes makes her themes short lived. So I really want to expand it through Satoshi Kon-style deconstruction of how people juggle having multiple identities in the modern era. In the (bleh) Batgirl Burnside comic Livewire shows up in, she returns as a being of energy who doesn't remember who she was before. In STAS, it's left ambiguous whether she actually believes what she says about Superman or if it's all part of an act that "pays the bills!".

Imagine the opportunity to make it so she pieced together a sense of self from the fractured way her audience viewed her! What a great way to talk about how parasocial relationships make us think we know a person from the bombastic way they present themselves (Casually Comics thought of this brilliant take). DCSHG has been the most competent reimagining of Livewire. A perfect update of her shock jock origins into the internet era that revitalizes her attention-seeking traits into the clout-chasing grind of social media personality.

All this to say, Livewire's way more that just "sassy woman on the radio fighting against The Man!" I think making her a punk appropriating, rebellious, internet personality who uses her privilege to marginalize others for clout and money is a natural, more political progression of what DCSHG built with her character.

I don't really understand how you can look at a character whose most prominent iterations involve her bullying and targeting people (including other women) and tell me she's "feminist" unless you actually believe in Leslie's version of White Woman Girl Power. Any kind of "feminism" that touts Hating Men as a major point should be something to be critical of.

[ignitingthesky]

"We're talking about it, aren't we?" — Across the Spider Verse, and its opening statement on canonicity

Canonicity. The accepted norm, the standards of legitimization. There is of course so much to talk about with regards to the comics canon that I am totally unfamiliar with... so I will focus instead on the fun little sequence at the beginning re: the art canon, and ATSV's evocation of art canonicity as an opening statement for its subsequent explorations of canonicity.

Right at the beginning, before Miles's story begins, ATSV destroys the Guggenheim museum.

The Guggenheim museum is not just any gallery, but specifically an art institution strongly associated with the contemporary art (it's also hole shaped but that's not relevant rn). It has the power to legitimize the artworks in it because of its association with the contemporary art canon, which is... ongoing, yet. In general, museums that are respected as art institutions could potentially legitimize non-canon artworks, but only because its adherence to the existing standards of canon has given it that power.

So. The story begins by destroying a legitimizing institution perpetuating an art historical canon of 'high art', through the mediums of 'low art' — animation and comic. The story begins with a Renaissance artist Vulture, from, in Gwen's words, "some Leonardo da Vinci dimension" — his association with an art canon is no coincidence as he also attempts to define what is canon ("You call this art?"), rejects the contemporary art canon by literally destroying it, emphasizing the competing ideas of canon even within those that make it to canon. The story begins, with pop cultural figures of a multiplying canon, spider people of different comics working together to fight the Renaissance artist Vulture that insists on one version of the art canon.

You know what Gwen says in response to Vulture right after he questions the canonicity of contemporary art, and right before they break the Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons?* "We're talking about it, aren't we?" And after they break the Balloon Dog: "Sure it's a meta commentary on what we call art, but it's ... it's also art?". Loops back on itself neatly, really, but what does this mean? That the artwork is canon because it comments on its place in canon? It is canon, because of its relationship to canon? If this sounds like the museum's power inside canon being derived from its relationship with canon, that's because that's how a canon works. The accepted norm is both legitimized by its components and doing the legitimizing of its components, existing to feed itself endlessly — that is what makes them static and resistant to change — the same way Spider Society defines through their commonalities what is canon, become trapped by their own canon, and also perpetuate and enforce that canon.

*Detouring to talk about Balloon Dog by Jeff Koons more, @moonsun2010 for noticing this detail: big balloon dog (spiderverse canon) consisting of small balloon dogs (spider people and the iterations of their individual stories). So! His Balloon Dog(s) are famously identical, reproduced, and mocked to death for that very expensive repetition, and if you've heard, recently one of the smaller ones broke it's like $42k? I don't know if everyone was wondering what's inside one of the bigger ones, but because of the museums preserving its staticity (you are obviously not allowed to touch or destroy artworks inside of a museum), the speculation was meaningless. The act of destruction (in this movie) revealing MORE Balloon Dogs in this artwork both disrupted staticity AND is much more interesting than the pristine, untouched original. Clearly, visitors stuck in ATSV museum think so too: "Oh, that's cool." That's one more point under destroying something that exists for its own self replicating sake to reveal and free an exciting multiplicity!

This art canon parallel refracts beautifully in the SHEER diversity of art styles in this movie, in the commitment to portraying not just different spider-designs, but the mediums their universes are in. To me, that is an extension of the relationship they've established between artistic and narrative canons - there seems to be no limits as to what spiderpeople can look like and how they can be drawn, in clear juxtaposition with the rigidity of their narrative canons. The institution symbolic of an art canon is destroyed at the beginning of this movie. what will be destroyed by the end, from resisting the narrative canon?

To end on a bit of speculation: imo for Gwen "a police captain close to spider person dies to save a child" still works and it didn't really defy canon so much as reinterpret it. A police captain close to spider person dies (quits, death of cop ego, whatever) to save a child (his child, Gwen). so I'm SO interested to see if Miles will find a way to defy canon fr — maybe in the process kicking up another count on the destroying of self perpetuating, static structures?

[queerwolf79]

Dean Winchester and the Spellbinding (Literally) Senior Year

Title: Dean Winchester and the Spellbinding (Literally) Senior Year

Author: @queerwolfsstuff

Artist: @rezal-art

Link to Story: https://archiveofourown.org/works/55897192/chapters/141938545

Link to Art Masterpost: https://www.tumblr.com/rezal-art/750715243331715072/art-masterpost-for-dean-winchester-and-the

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags: Supernatural/Harry Potter Crossover, Set During Year Four, Re-write of Goblet of Fire, Canon Divergent, Wizard Dean Winchester from Ilvermorny, Wizard Castiel from Durmstrang, First Kiss, Action/Adventure, Romantic Comedy, Krum Who?, Dean Winchester and Cedric Diggory Bromance, The Triwizard Tournament from a Spectator’s Perspective, Hermione Gets the Respect She Deserves, Satirical Commentary, Queer and Trans Friendly Hogwarts 

Summary:

Dean Winchester, a senior from Ilvermorny, a wizarding school in Massachusetts, will be the first American student to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry as part of a newly implemented Foreign Exchange program. And what a year to do so! With the return of the ill-fated and once banned Triwizard Tournament, and an extended invitation to two other European wizarding schools, Dean is going to learn more than just Potions and Defense Against the Dark Arts in his final year. There is something dastardly afoot! Someone has tampered with the Goblet of Fire, naming Harry Potter, an underaged, famous wizard as one of the Champions magically bound to compete in the dangerous tournament. What was supposed to be Dean’s coast year before college is soon going to test him more than a final exam ever could. With the help of some new friends, and a dark-haired, blue-eyed wizard with a Russian accent, Dean plans to find out what is really happening within the halls of Hogwarts.

Notes: Many thanks to the mods of the @cdrcrossoverbang and my amazing artist @rezal-art! This literally wouldn't have happened without you!

If you decide to give this fic a shot, I hope you enjoy it!

*As a gender non-conforming person, I want to say any and all research done was without use of official sources that would benefit the source creator.

[harukamitsuki]

In my version, I'm thinking about discarding Aizawa and creating a different character, I'm taking inspiration from Doctor Strange. He's Aizawa, but he doesn't seem like a homeless person, he's actually a good teacher, he really cares about his students and he's a good friend of All Might. But I think about keeping Aizawa, I have these ideas for him, I think about making him the one who became a nomu and Oboro is the one who's alive, or that he just isn't a teacher in my version and he'll appear in another arc, I'm also thinking about making him a teacher specialized in subjects aimed at those who want to be underground heroes. Which of these ideas might be better?

Creating your own original character sounds fun, and it would be nice to see 1-A with an actually competent teacher who doesn't play favourites. Plus, being friends with All Might means there's every chance he could be in on the One for All secret without the toxicity Aizawa displays, and would display if he knew about it.

Swapping him and Oboro actually sounds really good. We already know how joyful Oboro is from the Vigilantes manga, and he displayed a passion for heroism that Aizawa just couldn't match. Plus, I think he'd adore izuku, while also treating everyone equally, and would intervene with Bakugou and Minoru's behaviour.

The Oboro-Aizawa swap is an interesting idea I've heard a few times before, but I've never seen anyone actually do it, so it'd be really cool to see you do it.

I don't have enough information about the non-teacher thing to give any actual commentary outside of theories, such as: him appearing in an arc where underground heroes are introduced would be a better introduction for him. Because Aizawa is a competent hero, but he's a shit teacher, so there would be an automatically better opinion of him.

As a hero specialising in undergroup heroics: you'd have to set it up right. He can't just teach everyone about underground heroics, as it's an inherently hidden subject. It would have to be introduced by those actually interested in underground heroics, or people who have already displayed an inclination towards them.

For example, exploring it through the eyes of, say, Mezou, Tooru, Kyouka, Fumikage, or Shinsou would be a good way to introduce it, and it would come without Aizawa's bias. He's already shown a distaste towards limelights, and so would probably be grateful that he only has to teach people who don't try to stand out and instead do the oppposite.

-

As for which sounds the best, as disappointing as it may sound, it really does just depend.

The Oboro-Aizawa swap would allow you to keep a healthy environment within 1-A, and it would serve to let you explore how grief affects people, and how Oboro can turn that grief into motivation or fuel, rather than let it drag him and everyone else around down.

(Plus, he would treat Mic a lot better.)

Again, I don't have enough information to speak about the non-teacher idea.

The underground heroics specialist would be the best if you wanted to delve deep into the academia and world building of the hero society in MHA, with the differing persepctive. It would also allow you to explore other characters, and how they feel about the difference between limelights and undergound heroes.

Whichever suits your overall theme or message the most is the one I would go for

[midnightanxietytm]

A little nightmares rant

The canceled comics are largely considered non-canon, but they do carry some relevant implications about the Nowhere. The largest of them is that the Nowhere has a set hierarchy.

This is supported by the games themselves; of the three regions we explore in-game (The Nest, The Maw and The Pale City) all have a major, more powerful entity that rules over it, and all of them, despite being vastly different, have one common factor.

The implication of Wealth.

The Pretender rules over the Nest; a giant mansion, her butler and her crafter working to attend to her every whim, powerful in their own right, but still bound by hierarchy.

The Thin Man rules over the Pale City, it’s citizens kept pliable by the Signal Tower whilst the Doctor and Teacher work to keep things moving in the dream-like logic of the nowhere.

The Lady runs what seems like a cannibalistic vacation destination, her cooks and the Janitor working to put food on her clients mouths (and clients on her clients mouths).

And the comics give us even more characters, namely the North Wind and the Ferryman.

Those “rulers” each seem to have a role, watching over the cogs that make this nightmarish world spin, lubricated by the blood of countless children, but they want more. In the canceled comics, it’s implied those overlords are competing in some way, their goals long blurred, but their ambitions ever burning.

Hierarchy is an essential part of capitalist mentality; those who hold the means to make money are the ones who call the shots. Those who don’t, obey orders.

And the thing about those hierarchies is that the ones who hold the power will do anything to hold on to it.

Through the eyes of children, this is all pointless.

Children have a unique non-role in capitalistic society. For the smooth functioning, they are best silent and unseen; quietly getting ready to fulfill their future jobs; educated enough to be efficient, but not enough to rebel.

This is what Six and Mono did during their games. You can almost call it a horror coming-of-age story. 

It's more clear with Six, because her journey in the Maw is the one that is most clearly an ascension to power. She literally climbs up on it, passing through every area until she takes what once belonged to The Lady. But Mono is also climbing up a hierarchy, and his setting is more urban and explores the role that media holds in conformity. In the real world, most TV and media companies are owned by the 1% when it comes down to it. Anyways, by the end of Mono's journey he has, quite literally, grown up. There is also themes of conformity in TSON, where Otto constantly expects and forces conformity onto Noone. Otto represents the mentality that children don't know any better, which eventually Noone herself starts to believe it as she relents and enters the Nowhere definitely when someone she trusts more beckons her to, probably to enter a cycle of her own. Also. Dolls! There are dolls or doll-like objects in all the games, and I think its's a commentary on how our society endorses the idea of children and needs them to survive, but can't actually make the world good enough for those children to grow. The Lady collects dolls sings them lullabies, caresses them, but when seeing actual children she attacks (or, yk, uses their meat to feed her clients.) Unfortunately I don't think that the next game will carry those themes with as much care due to the changes in company, but alas, hope is the last thing to die.

[socialjusticefail]

This article is praising NLRB for filing a complaint against a non-compete as an unfair labor practice.

[forgetmenotsassenach17]

10 Books for 2025

Tagged by the lovely @flyinghome-againstthewind and the delightful @frasers-of-my-heart to share 10 books I am looking forward to reading in 2025.

Imani Perry is one of my most favorite writers. She writes so eloquently and precisely about whatever the topic at hand is, and this book - on how the color blue plays a unique and fascinating role in black culture - sounds like it will again leave me breathless with its prose and insights.

Starting with two non-fiction books because in these trying and exhausting political times, I am always looking for sharp, incisive commentary to help me articulate my own thoughts, feelings, and frustrations about the current moment. I've heard nothing but raves about this book and how it helps us those who want better for the West to make sense of it all.

Too Soon recently just came on my radar and I am excited to get my hands on it. It is billed as a bitingly funny book following an intergenerational Palestinian family in America.

There is a real possibility I might end up hating Hot Air but it also sounds like unhinged fun? The main summary is that a billionaire crash lands his hot air balloon into a pool in someone's backyard, interrupting a first date and it just so happens he knows one of the people. It is also a "post-pandemic" book (though are we really post pandemic?) and I am generally curious to see how writers grapple with the pandemic in future novels.

Ashley Herring Blake and Jasmine Guillory are very dependable romance writers for me and I'm glad both of them have new books coming out this year! I read a lot of heavy and intense books, but every so often I need to balance it out with some romance by authors I know I can count on.

I have had Original Sins on my radar for months and months now. I work in education and am always grateful for more writing that helps me be a better advocate for the students and communities my organization supports.

Vuong's first novel - On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous - had me underlining basically every other sentence because they were so thoughtful and beautifully constructed. I also have loved a lot of his poetry so I am excited for this - which is billed as about "chosen family, unexpected friendships, and the stories we tell ourselves in order to survive."

A book about female rage, art, and power that is also apparently hilarious and kicks off at the Edinburgh Fringe? Yes please.

Another novel that deals with the pandemic, this one set in London and spanning ten years. It grapples with how our home lives compete for attention with the shared public dramas of our time and is billed as a literary love story.

Okay, this was very hard to narrow to 10. Please share yours!

[goddesspharo]

AU ask game: top gun maverick, chef 👨‍🍳

[ask me AU fun facts]

Bradley and Jake as rival chefs who had a falling out years ago after their mentor Pete Mitchell appointed Bradshaw the CDC of his three-star Michelin restaurant (nepotism!) even though it was Jake's pivot to molecular gastronomy that got them that third star. Everyone knows the poached oysters with horseradish foam on a bed of beetroot puree sealed the deal!

In the years since, Jake's cooking has become even more abstract whereas Bradley, after having a minor nervous breakdown trying to keep the star, decided that what he was really passionate about was making cooking accessible to everyone and became a celebrity chef instead.

Executive Chef Tom Kazansky signs up Jake to compete against Bradley on Iron Chef America even though it goes against everything Jake stands for -- he's a world-renowned chef, not an entertainer -- because it's good for business. "Since Michelin isn't expanding to four stars any time soon, you could use a new challenge."

Javy is Jake's sous chef; Natasha is Bradley's. Back during the halcyon days of MoviePass, I remember going to see Burnt because you can't keep me away from movies about cooking but also mostly because Alicia Vikander was in the trailer for five seconds (which I think ended up being the whole of her involvement in the movie) and while I no longer remember anything else about said movie, I imagine the backstage reunion between Jake and Natasha would basically go like this. He's shaking, crying, throwing up, and then he has to deal with Alton Brown's non-stop commentary for two hours afterwards!

It is the highest rated episode of Iron Chef America in Food Network history because of the accidental very on-purpose stabbing that happens during the event.

[chaoticly-shy-dragon]

so I am working - dragging my feet - through natla (1 episode left) and I thought I would share some of my thoughts and commentary:

Iroh: You must use your tact, your empathy-

Season 1 Zuko: [looks back at him]

*

Canon s1 ep3 Zuko: You... are working with Zhao. Willingly.

Show s1 ep3 Zuko: Yes? What's the problem? He is annoying but that's mostly it.

Canon!Zuko: UNCLE! DID YOU PUT SPIRIT MUSHROOMS IN MY TEA AGAIN?! I'M HAVING LUCID NIGHTMARES!!

Other random thoughts:

[Suki proceeds to defy gravity with her fan to impress Sokka]

Me, exasperation incarnate: Suki, I didn't know you were an airbender!

and

[Previous incarnation avatar bashing sesh]

Me: [...] But I love Zuko-Iroh interactions

[The one scene. Zuko is shouting how they can't just ask around. Iroh is offering advice until he gets distracted by street food.]

Me: The fact Zuko stood there for a few seconds trying to figure what this proverb means before he realizes its very much not a proverb - cackling

Second-hand long-suffering friend, who is at the end of her wits after hearing me talk about the butchering of Kyoshi's character for 20 minutes: XDDDD He legit thought rice had sth to do with it XD

there is more but it's more of

Oh no, he is hot.

And oh no he is also hot

Why is every extremist hot?!

Bumi is very bitter. Very.... Jaded.

Aang has no situational awareness: He did not just ask Zhao (Zuko too) to let him go so he can go save other enemies of the Fire Nation. He didn't.

Also. Why the firebender this, firebender that. Are the Fire Nation non-benders saints or something??

Mai casually says Ozai sucks for not thinking Azula is perfect <- Me: I mean she is absolutely right but she would not say that.

Azula's whole. Thing. I felt the narrative was trying very desperately to make her seem competent and clever but the fact that Iroh's thoughts insinuated the frontal attack on the Northern Water Tribe was her idea left me in stitches

But yeah. They nerfed Azula

Zuko - feral, bloodthirsty, a loser. <- Me: Oh my god they captured his essence! Minus the honor thing!

ZUKO NOT SAYING HONOR

THE TRAVESTY OF SOKKA NOT WEARING A DRESS

I WANT SOKKA IN KYOSHI WARRIOR UNIFORM

Katara not having any emotions ::: Aang walks all over her saying he can't support her in her fight against the patriarchy that is actually just Pakku and Yugoda or whatever was happening in the 7th episode: Katara doesn't blow up at him. Sokka calling her a little girl and never actually apologizing about the whole Jet accusation especially when he did the same with the Mechanist. : Katara doesn't blow up at him

Me: sounds fake but okay

At this point when Toph comes along Katara will let her not be a part of the Team (no Gaang just Team Avatar) and not contribute and not bond and NO FOUND FAMILY TROPE

Aang teaching Katara waterbending, Aang not goofing off, No Kataraang (not even a smidge) - something in me shriveled up and died.

Why is Azula soft??????

And why is Ty Lee assertive and forthcoming??? Just?? Why????

And finally, my second favorite:

Azula, trying very hard not to mention Zuko's ludicrous tenacity: Commander Zhao is a great asset... Maybe he needs better resources to showcase his true potential.

Zhao who barely passed his exams according to Jee the gossip queen: Yes, I do need the best resources. Give me all the 'sources.

[waitmyturtles]

Alright, omg -- really excited to write this, really excited to build off of some excellent thoughts from the family, particularly @bengiyo and @lurkingshan -- @bengiyo, you verbalized some questions I had about the timeline we were watching in 2/2, so I'll ask them again here. Be My Favorite, the dreaded episode 11, let's do this:

First off, I LOVED THIS EPISODE, despite the many open threads we have going on. What else would I expect from a GMMTV penultimate episode otherwise?

The poem scene -- Pear reading UCHANEE's "Khop Fa Khlip Thong" (we are SO lucky that the show creators cited the poem at the end of the episode), overlaid with Pisaeng and Kawi in their intimacy -- gorgeous. @placetneplacet's post here depicts this overlay beautifully.

I also think we got a lot of hints about the structure (cc @lurkingshan, structure-ish, ha) of this episode from the conversation between Pear's dad and Pisaeng's mom at the start of the episode. Through that conversation, and from the conversation revealed between Loong Crystal Ball and Kawi, we see and hear: that much of life is about leaving life alone to let it process and simmer as time goes on. Loong Crystal Ball gave Kawi the ability to right his wrongs, as he said in his own words -- but also, he chides Kawi to say, listen, a lot of life is about luck. There are things you can't change. Let it go, let it simmer.

Between the conversation with the parents, the conversation with Loong Crystal Ball, and then, then -- Pisaeng being refused medical information at the hospital, and Pisaeng's anger at Kawi's condition -- I take this episode to be partly about acceptance of a present the way it is, the way the present presents itself. That moral, that reality, about accepting things as the way they are, is a huge theme to this story. Pear's dad and Pisaeng's mom have got to accept that the loves that their children have found are the loves that these parents will need to accept. That, mom and dad, is a part of the life of a parent. In the end, you can't control EVERYTHING about the lives of your children.

And of course, the competing theme to an acceptance theme is: how do you change the present? How can you change HOW the present presents? How can you make the present for yourself -- and even for others -- a BETTER present?

It's not just Kawi's condition that serves as a metaphor here. We know Pisaeng will go to the past to begin addressing this in episode 12. We'll find out if Pisaeng can impact Kawi's health.

BUT, ALSO, VERY IMPORTANTLY: we also see commentary about LGBTQ+ rights here -- and how LGBTQ+ rights have MUCH improvement to do, despite Thailand's progressiveness (remember that same-sex marriage is still illegal in Thailand!).

Based on the timeline presented in 2/4, we can assume that we are in 2024 when Kawi is in the hospital. And Pisaeng is being refused by the doctor to receive sensitive health information about Kawi. Pisaeng is not considered to be Kawi's family -- in 2024 Thailand. Clearly, that's something that needs to be changed -- along with Pisaeng's micro-level desire to keep Kawi from getting sick, which we know may be an impossible task, as we learned from Kawi's dad.

As this episode started, I couldn't help but think back to the lessons we learned early in the series about truth and the philosophy of truth, from Nietzsche, from Einstein, from Orwell. I was thinking, we gotta harken back to some of those lessons -- and certainly, I think this episode touched upon this, specifically from the dystopian viewpoint that despite the excellent work in moving LGBTQ+ rights forward by people like Max, that Thailand is still held back by generations of cultural convention against equality. "On Truth and Lies in a Non-Moral Sense," indeed.

But to me, this episode also touched upon something far more simplistic, and I think I'm convinced about it by what we saw with all the parents in this episode -- Pear's dad, Pisaeng's mom, Pear's mom, and the glimpse of Kawi's dad. And as well, I'm thinking about the following vis à vis the seven-year timeline we saw with Pisaeng's and Kawi's relationship:

The work of being in a relationship, as Pear's dad said in episode 10, involves compromise and forgiveness. A relationship is like waves to a shore. The water moves forward, goes back, gets high in the tide, gets low in the tide. A relationship is akin to a living, breathing thing. It takes energy to tend to it. Two people need to go back and forth, forward and backwards, to tend to it, to help it grow. We see Pisaeng and Kawi very simply compromising on their sleeping habits by using two comforters in bed, for instance.

They're happy, certainly, but.... as @bengiyo mentioned, in this particular seven-year timeline, there's something going on. Kawi keeps eating, and is sitting at home, seemingly not working, or working as a freelancer -- and we don't know what's up with that, as the most recent alternate timeline had him working as a singer.

I'm gonna posit a clown theory that builds off of @lurkingshan's questions about what exactly is happening here.

I don't trust the trailer of episode 12, but I will go ahead and (probably inaccurately) predict that BOTH Pisaeng and Kawi will be living in back-in-time timelines. And in the confusing process of all of that, what lesson they might learn is -- this may very well be an INEFFICIENT way of managing their relationship. Because -- they could be doing that work of improving their relationship in the damn present, without the damn crystal ball, like the rest of us schmucks in real life who are dealing with hubbies and wifeys and all our partners in-between (it's been a long week with my temperamental toddler, LOL, tired mom here).

In other words: whether you have a crystal ball or not, whether you have the ability to go back and fix your past, your responsibility, when you are partnered with your love in a relationship, is to tend to the relationship. Present, past, future, whatever: you need to care for the relationship as lovingly as you love your partner, because that union will be what takes you through your life, when you find that loving partner.

I believe this was the message that Max was giving Kawi in episode 10 regarding sex, which is why I don't follow the theory of Kawi being ace. I believe what Max was saying was, a relationship needs equal engagement and balance, and compromise, and a curiosity about exploring oneself for the sake of your partner, and vice versa. I believe the end of the intimacy scene in episode 11 indicates that Kawi is not ace, but was hesitant about the unknown regarding sex (cc @grapejuicegay on the unknown, as ever!).

I know the narrative structure was a touch bouncy, and I will give all big ups to my dear friend @lurkingshan, because I agree with you that the structure of what the show is carrying at the moment is delicate at best. It needs some scaffolding. But, for my tastes, the EMPATHY of this show, and particularly of this episode -- the empathy that this show is about to hand to Pisaeng, to start doing the damn work for the relationship that Kawi's been doing for the past few episodes -- is carrying me. I think this show continues to be fabulous. And I'm really moved by the messages of the equity of love, and the importance it's placing on how love is work, love is the truth here, and how all of this is being treated lovingly, equally, and with compassion. I'm all for it.

P.S. I think Krist and Gawin are better than ever in this episode. Gawin is SLAYING. I appreciate Krist's acting work in the intimacy arena. Both of them are killing it.

(CCing the BMF fam for y'alls thoughts, in addition to Ben and Shan: @grapejuicegay, @crowie, @dribs-and-drabbles, @chickenstrangers, @rocketturtle4, @shortpplfedup and apologies to anyone I missed!)