#or what her contemporaries are also doing...weird as hell

[shallanspren]

“The female rock-‘n’-roll-country-pop songwriter is back, and her name is Taylor Swift. And it’s women like her who are going to save the music business.” - stevie nicks back in 2010! i swear if i see one of those old “taylor whines about her exes and stevie makes her sing to his own curse” memes again i’m gonna lose three years off my life

right it's so silly lmao. like, stevie has loved taylor for years now, even gifted her one of the crescent moon necklaces she bestows upon a select few. she also (more notably i think) wrote taylor a poem that is featured in the album artwork of ttpd. the parallels between the two women--who are absolutely friends--is undeniable to anyone with eyes.

[honeyedboneset]

one x one rp search

hello! i'm boneset (or bone). thanks for stopping by my super-specific search thread! if interested, please leave a reply or dm me! 

a bit about myself: 

she/her. 

Late twenties

EST.

Currently: full time employee & grad student

i have a dog and a cat named after science fiction horror icons. 

I’ve been writing/roleplaying in some shape or form for 12+ years. 

A bit about how i write: 

The shorter the post, the faster i can write (esp with my schedule). Usually 500-1k now a days, give or take a little. 

I prioritize gelling with my partner than any kind of like…idk, anything about the writing itself. 

I’m super flexible with post rate but i will yap at you. 

This is a hobby. This is meant to be fun. I would like to have fun. 

I am terminally unserious (by choice). Canon plotlines and timelines are suggestions. Idc. the world is our playground. 

I only ever double. So i play a cc and oc and you play a cc and oc. Or two ocs. Whatever it works out to be, you know? 

Love ooc chatting, sharing memes, head canons, all that stupid stuff. I love making friends. My two best friends i made through roleplaying and now they’ve been stuck with me for around a decade each. 

m/f is preferred for my pairing. I’ve been around long enough a lot of m// and f// dynamics gives me hives. I’m flexible though. 

hard limits: be 18+ (21+ preferred) | will not write with people who identify as male (he/him) | incest | fetish stuff | abo | pwp | pedophilia | furries/beastiality | explicitly written sexual assault | abusive relationship dynamics between main characters | heavy substance abuse | main settings being medical | most highschool settings/underage characters | genuine love triangles or infidelity between main characters 

Fandoms (canon x oc): 

Marvel cinematic universe: 

Looking for: matt murdock, sam wilson

Can play: nearly anyone? Most experience with peter (parker), tony, bucky, loki, namor.

My hero academia: 

Looking for: takami keigo

Can play: anyone. Most experience with: katsuki, hitoshi, denki

Jujutsu kaisen: 

Looking for: nanami kento

Can play: anyone (are you picking up a trend). Most experience with megumi, satoru, toji

The last of us: 

Looking for: Tommy, m!oc

Can play: joel, ellie, ocs, anything else just ask? 

some vibes: FIX IT JESUS, protecting family, human enemies, natural threats, antagonistic towns, lost in the wild, weird periods of domestic easiness followed by hurt/comfort hell​

The walking dead: 

Looking for: glenn rhee, daryl dixon.

Can play: daryl, rick, shane, negan, beta, and many more??

​some vibes: people who knew each other prior to the zombies meeting each other again after, dead rising vibes, traveling through the wilderness, overgrown and rundown towns and cities, towns that have gone mad, human enemies, natural threats, fluff, megamalls, amusement parks, adventure, horror, fluff, uneasiness in the calm, found family, hesitant allies

Red Dead Redemption: 

Looking for: charles

Can play: john, arthur

​some vibes: railroad turmoil, dutch has lots of plans (very little outcomes), high society meets the old west, running from the law, causing problems, adventures in the big city, trying to leave old lives behind, forbidden love, enemies to lovers

Fandoms (and fandom inspired): 

Cowboys:

Inspired by: red dead redemption, yellowstone (i guess? I’ve only seen tiktok thirst reels), man from snowy river, outerrange. 

Thoughts: i love cowboys in whatever era honestly. I think the dying days of the old west is super cool and i think the whole setting is fun even if it’s more contemporary. I would love to mix some cowboys with some southwest gothic vibes, even. I also loved that outerrange was cowboys + space. Idk, i think there’s a lot to be done there. I have a few ocs for this world depending on time range. 

Zombies: 

Inspired by: the last of us, deadrising, twd, resident evil, days gone, etc

Thoughts: i just like the end of the world. Don’t know what that says about me, but i do. I’ve got a couple ocs here also that are pretty flexible plot wise. I really liked the ridiculousness of dead rising, the scale of things like tlou, and how green and wild stuff is. 

[icarus-suraki]

Please forgive me a moment but oh my gaw... For just $1,600,000 this narco-chic house in beautiful Raleigh, NC, could be yours.

Excuse me while I get my @mcmansionhell on but oh. my gaw. There's a lot of repainting and staging in this one, but they can't hide all the beautiful, beautiful sins in this house. Personally I think the new owner should embrace this house as a lost set from Miami Vice or Scarface. Lean into the pastels, get 1980s furniture, add so many houseplants, and get your "greed is good" on.

tl;dr: this would be a great house to do cocaine in.

Also: mirrored toilet.

Knock knock! Mr. Montana? Are you in?

Built in 1988; 4 beds, 5 baths, 5360 square feet

Of course it has a lawyer foyer--kind of.

It's like a disbarred lawyer foyer. Crooked lawyer foyer.

That chandelier looks like a shower head leaking goo and I hate it.

Now we're getting into it:

The first of many, many mirrors.

The current owners have clearly repainted the whole place in "modern" colors but you can't fool us. We see that carpeted open-riser staircase that's just perfect for Michelle Pfeiffer as Elvira Hancock to saunter down before taking another bump of cocaine.

Oh here we go:

Is that... Is that...

YEAH IT IS, BITCH. THAT'S AN ETCHED MIRROR TWO-STORY FIREPLACE DEPICTING ATHENA SENDING FORTH HER OWL HOLY SHIT. And that's not the end of the mirrors and etchings in here either:

The etched glass. The columns. The weird ceiling.

It's a shame this is the only glimpse we get into the dining room because I fucking love the rando traditional chandelier in there. There are also double doors on the dining room and I believe they're etched too. I can just make out what looks like a peacock on one of them in the last fireplace photo.

Yes, they've done their best to stage this place with (slightly ironic) contemporary furniture, but it's not really proving that this house is anything besides a great place to do cocaine.

AHOY MATEY! Love the giant gold vase + bonus faded an art.

Yes, welcome to my home. Please stand under the tube of slime. (Seriously: paint that thing and make the glass green and it's 100% Nickelodeon.)

Love how the wall of the Disbarred Lawyer Foyer interrupts the weirdly traditional wrought iron bannisters. Seriously, wut?

Bedroom photos:

MORE MIRRORS FUCK YES. Honestly I do love the 1980s-does-art-deco fireplace. I could make it PoMo. Why did they un-80s this place? I weep.

What's that? You want EVEN MORE MIRRORS???

You could snort cocaine off almost ever surface in this house. Also I love the door for your bathroom elf there by the tub. He brings you more toilet paper when you run out.

Blah blah blah, there's also a sauna, don't care. MOVING ON: the mystery of the portholes is solved!

Awww, Tony Montana has a sewing room. He mends his own Hawaiian shirts.

Blah blah blah, STILL MORE MIRRORS in another one of the bedrooms...

I didn't mention the pool, did I? Well, there's a pool:

The back: another view of the pool in its concrete hellscape and the yard where you can keep your pet tiger.

But I've saved the best for last: the downstairs bathroom. Based on the reflection in the mirrors (plural, yes), I think this room is just behind the kitchen/bar, behind the wooden door. It's basically under the portholes.

Are you ready? Are you sure? Get your spoons and your straws ready because...

You can snort cocaine off any surface in this room.

The walls, the ceilings, the countertop, the toilet lid, anywhere. Imagine being drunk as hell and trying to use this bathroom. Imagine tripping balls and trying to use this bathroom.

I am speechless.

So thanks for stopping by on this tour of an Escobar-approved narco chic classic in beautiful Raleigh. Bye!!

[demonfox38]

Completed - Wild ARMs

Man, it really gives the whole plot away to know that Zepet is supposed to be translated as Geppetto. 😅

I was having another indecisive spat on what to play this June, as I wasn't in the mood to play anything in particular. (Decision fatigue gets real bad when you have literally 281 games left to beat between Steam and physical copies. Shit, that's not even getting into mini consoles…) After tossing up another poll online, the series winner for this month turned out to be "Wild ARMs." Now, I've got one mutual that is pretty sweet on "Wild ARMs 3" in particular, but I didn't want to jump right to that, as I know how it can go when you start a series further down the line, then go back in time. Features get rolled back; content gets rougher. (Well, in a world where things are always improving, that's how it goes, anyway.) So, to get a fresh taste of this series, I started with its primary release.

"Wild ARMs" (not to be confused with "Wild Guns") follows the adventures of three travelers seeking to restore life to their dying world via the help of ancient guardians, magic, and technology—at least, when it isn't trying to actively kill them. Standard RPG plot, right? The major twist here revolves around the use of iconography from the American Old West to create a whole new world and set of combat and exploration systems. Does it work? Well…it's weird to see castles and princesses in a story taking aesthetics from the distinctly anti-monarchical United States, but honestly, we're also responsible for the Disney Princess subculture. So, maybe it's not as weird of a mix as it initially seems.

This game is like every RPG and no RPG at all. Like, if you're long in the tooth with RPGs, you'll get it. Aesthetically, it's on par with contemporary titles like "Tales of Phantasia" and "Xenogears," particularly with the latter's mix of anime cutscenes, 2D sprites, and 3D battle models. ("Golden Sun" also shares a similar pseudo 3D model sprite appearance to this game, if you want some more distant connections.) Dungeon navigation and puzzle manipulation feel very "Sweet Home"/"Tales" RPG/"Paper Mario" adjacent, with each party member acquiring a set of tools to use in their environment to make their way forward. Most surprisingly to me, I kept getting this feeling of nostalgia that I have when I play "Tales of Symphonia." Like, yes, tropes get passed around like hot potatoes in this particular genre of games, but holy shit. When you have:

A boy getting kicked out of the starting village due to violence in which he was involved,

A girl struggling with the veneer and duties of her role,

A man hiding his past struggles with letting an important woman in his life down,

A woman obsessed with the magical technology from ancient ruins,

A collection of supernatural entities fighting alongside humans via summon gauges,

A set of four powerful individuals dictating the fate of the planet,

A subquest involving rebuilding a city through your donations,

A unicorn hidden in a lake that turns out to be a component for healing a serious ailment, and

A goddamn giant ass tower serving as the connective tissue between the planet and the heavens…

Like, I didn't do deep research, but I did give a 10 minute flip through MobyGames to see if there was any staff overlap between "Wild ARMs" and "Tales of Symphonia." Finding nobody crossing the lines there was surprising. Some kind of convergent evolution was going on there, I guess! Hell, maybe the only reason I'm fixating on this is because of how integral "Tales of Symphonia" was to my life, and how this felt more "Symphonia"-esque to me than its literal sequel/predecessor "Tales of Phantasia"…

The big unique feature of this game is its focus on ARMs management. No, that is not a typo! In this universe, ARMs stands for Ancient Relic Machines, which are a variety of firearms both realistic and futuristic in nature. Proper management of your ARM inventory can make or break the toughest of battles, so it's worth investing some serious cash (or Gella; weird name, I know) into your main character's weaponry. Upgradable statistics include the firearm's power, accuracy, and ammo capacity. While a handful stand out as particularly useful (given your progress in the story), it doesn’t hurt to upgrade everything.

Oh. By the way. You can make that very easy to do.

The same mutual that first brought this series to my attention also let me know about a super critical game-breaking bug. (Thanks again, @unwontedfemme!) Ya see, games from this era were mostly written up in a combination of pointer languages (C++, most likely) and assembly code. If you are not used to working with pointers, you can make a significant mistake. When fetching the value of a variable, you can accidentally pass the address of where the variable is instead of the value itself. Given that this is usually a large hex value, you can accidentally max out or overflow a variable. I suspect the following bug is a result of that behavior.

In "Wild ARMs"', you can cause an item count max-out to happen by doing the following:

Secure Nx2 Heal Berries (where N is greater than 1), an item you want to duplicate with a stock of 1, and three active teammates.

Get in a battle.

Have Teammate 1 (Rudy) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 2 (Jack) heal themselves.

Have Teammate 3 (Cecilia) swap the inventory position of the Heal Berry and the item you want to duplicate, then back out of the inventory window and attack an enemy.

If you finish the round without exiting the battle, then the second item will duplicate itself to a maximum inventory value of 255, well exceeding the intended stock limit of 99. Chaining this bug can result not only in a shitton of items (and money, if you sell 254 of them off), but this can also aid the player in maxing out character stats and spell slots, as well as helping one character reduce his skills' MP costs all to 1 a piece. Like, damn, right? It's not as easy to do as, let's say, the card swap trick from "Castlevania: Circle of the Moon." But, damned if that doesn't save time grinding! (Although, honestly, I wouldn't recommend stat boosting too much. Don't want to lock yourself out of this method, do you?)

Like, okay. "Final Fantasy VII" had a similar item duplication bug. However, being able to do this from, like, two hours in gives this cheese some extra flavor.

You might be able to make yourself a walking tank in battle, but handling your characters' toolsets may be the metric that culls the wheat from the chaff. I could see a lot of people giving up before the credits hit due to a surprise stealth section with wonky speed boosts. Additional punishing tasks can include finicky positioning with grappling hooks, false item pickups, environmental damage, hidden insta-ejects from the dungeon, and time countdowns to escape certain doom, sometimes even paired with optional (and possibly missable) content. The most excruciating challenges are definitely in optional dungeons, but it's still irksome enough to mention. I probably would have had far less patience with the game had I not been playing it through a locally burned ISO and SwanStation.

Sometimes, I just don't want to drag my PS1/2 out of the basement.

For me, the most troublesome part of handling "Wild ARMs" was getting a grip on Filgaia itself. It definitely doesn't help that the game is bouncing you around from place to place, throwing in random teleporters before you even get a ship. Good luck navigating after that!

Like, look at this in-game map:

Tell me how this is helping you locate anything.

It should probably be noted that several proper nouns and names aren't translated the best here, either. Like, the game's text didn't fall into major grammatical traps until the end of the game. However, some poor translator was having a hell of a time working katakana into English. Several character and demon names were mangled in translation, including a significant chunk of the main cast. Particular offenses were translating Siegfried into Zeikfried, Vambrace (as in, a character's last name and knight title) into Van Burace, demon Belial into Berial, and critical minor character Geppetto into Zepet. Although, to be honest, I kind of like the last one getting name mashed. It makes a particular plot twist regarding his closest main character acquaintance a little more shadowed…

Also, it's kind of fucked up to name Jewish constructs after demons, isn't it? Oops. At least the people and elements based on generalized Native American culture aren't egregiously executed. There are probably a few more war bonnets than is kosher, but that's about the worst that I (an average white girl) can pick up on. Considering they could have easily all been magical space elves or robot demons with this plot's cast, the citizens of Baskar Village are very tame. They're just practicing their own religion, keeping peace on their own island. Alright! Understandable. Definitely better than whatever the hell's going on in "Wild ARMs 2", from what I've heard…

Look. I'm not the person to come to regarding this subject. I want to come by that honestly. I'm just glad when I get something Western flavored out of Japan and don't have to side-eye J. M. Barrie or Walt Disney. Because, ya know…any misunderstanding there are the fault of people like me. The least I can do is try to keep an open eye/mind/heart and let other people know if/when something comes up.

I'm not responsible for this game ripping off Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold", though!

Jabs aside, this game genuinely does have good music. If you want a place to pick and choose some items, this YouTube playlist should get you on your way. Particular tracks of interest include:

Into the Wilderness (the main theme)

Alone in the World

Town

After the Chaos and Destruction

Kishum Flame (teleporter theme)

Courage (Dungeon)

Critical Hit! (the main battle theme)

Wh-What (Zed's Theme, which sounds a bit like something from a "Ganbare Goemon" game)

Lamenting and a Promes;The Demon Tower that Pierces the Heavens; Return to Ashes (vocal arrangements!)

To the Sea of Stars

Holy Mother of Darkness

Morning of the Journey (orchestra arrangement of the main theme)

Honestly, I'm surprised at how thorough this soundtrack is, plagiarism incident aside. It does a better job than the visuals do at meshing the east-meets-west dynamic "Wild ARMs" has going for it. I can't be as glowing about some of the special effects sounds (especially on some of Jack's skills), but the music is solid.

Also? I found myself stopping to take screenshots of several enemies throughout the game. A lot of the enemies are striking. Like, okay. Sometimes, they're just caterpillars and mushrooms. Other times, they're disembodied heads with jagged fangs, bloated demons, delightful clowns, congealed corpses, decapitated soldiers riding chariots, or even spider-legged centaurs. Weird and gruesome? Sure. But, I always appreciate something weird coming after me, even if it's a unicorn with a dog's jaw and a crow's tail. And hell! They found some way to work in a kitsune into a Yeehaw RPG. That has to be worth something!

"Wild ARMs" is a special kind of game. I knew I was in for something good when the game managed to pull a credit drop in the middle of a goddamn funeral march. It is everything I am familiar with, sure, but the emotional beats worked well for me. Of critical note, I didn't feel the need to rush through the game. I was willing to give this game its time, even if I had 280 other games squirming around in the backlog. I can't say every plot point was executed perfectly, but I was sated by the experience. For 30 hours? That's downright economical, as far as an RPG goes.

I'm a little bit baffled as to why this game doesn't seem to have a lot of online groundswell for it. Like, I'm not completely confused. This poor bastard was a sprite-based RPG released in 1997 on the PlayStation. Guess what other game may have been getting more attention. I wonder if the genre flavor may have been off-putting as well. For a long time, Westerns were very out of style for people my generation. Even now, people are going to gravitate more towards a fast-paced shooter rather than an RPG to treat a cowboy itch. I guess those answers are simple enough. Still, it feels shallow.

Oh, well. At least it got to have five games. And a remake, even! That's at least par to the "Breath of Fire" series. Maybe it’s not the best comparison in the world to make, but I'm assuming people at least remember "Breath of Fire" games. And it ended up on the PlayStation Classic, of all things! I mean, that's about as prestigious as being on a doorstop, but it's some kind of accolade. Not even "Castlevania: Symphony of the Night" is on that, and that's one of the most wonderful, beautiful games to ever exist on any console.

If you are a junky for retro RPGs, this game is certainly worth your time! It's efficient and effective with its runtime, managing to meld new ideas and old tropes into its own stew. I'm honestly surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It could be some "Tales of Symphonia" wires crossing over in my head, but hell. It's nice to know there are still gems buried out there. 

[zenosanalytic]

Life in Plastic: A Modern Galatea

Just watched BARBIE(2023) and: I Liked It!

Spoilers, Obvsl, Beyond this Point, I don't want to readmore cuz I've heard things about those being Weird on mobile? idk

BARBIE(2023) isn't trying to say anything we don't already know, or position itself as a "politically challenging" film. Honestly, having now seen it, the Republican freakout about the movie is even more Pathetic than it looked getting mocked on twitter. God in Heaven, Ben Shapiro, have some dignity!

The first two acts of the film are just a massive sendup of the capitalist mythologizing around BARBIE(2023); it only repeats those advertiser lies to call them the bullshit they are, and even that is done lightly and comedically. The mythologizing of Barbie's creator in the second and third acts somewhat undercuts this, but using her as a By-The-Numbers Deus ex Machina character ala The Oracle(or every god-role Morgan Freeman ever played), AND casting Rhea Perlman(!!!) to play Ruth Handler, AND-And the overall lightness of the film, renders that pretty irrelevant. Like: I noticed it, and |:T at it internally, but it didn't nag at me or detract from my enjoyment at all. It also presents the (all male)executive-suite of the Mattel corporation as a bunch of ridiculous bozos, but I'd hardly say any of this amounts to a "critique of capitalism" in any meaningful sense. Is it pointing out the failings and flaws in capitalism? Sure. But it's all rather milquetoast stuff we already know(I mean: who thinks ANY capitalist knows what the hell they're doing anymore?) presented with a "fondly-poking" tone, and only ever deployed while also serving the film's primary objective(to be funny). There's nothing ideological about it and it doesn't really spend time on it, only developing it while doing other comedic things. If anything, the harshest critique of the movie is saved for anticapitalists; there's a scene where Sasha calls Barbie a "Fascist" which lands so inauthentic and unfairly it basically embodies that "leftists call EVERYTHING fascist" argument centrists(and cryptofascists) have mainstreamed for the last 20-goddamn-years. And I mean: putting it in the mouth of a tween girl is not NOT saying something, right?

BARBIE(2023) Does Not Hate Men; oh my god, please leave your cootie-free zones for three minutes, I beg of you. Again: accusing it of this is SO Ridiculous that it really makes obvious how insipid and GENUINELY CHILDISH, I mean like LITERALLY SCHOOL-YARD BOYS VS GIRLS JUVENILE, contemporary conservative misogyny, and its reading of this film, is. Probably the most entertaining sequence in the WHOLE MOVIE is ABOUT Ken and the Kens! They end up fighting each other in a HILARIOUS Sendup of modern action-movies, equating them DIRECTLY to how kids act out fight scenes in play(with their toys and each other. They even have the Mattel Executives walking right through the middle of it as the confused Adults, unaffected by the make-believe rules), which is ALSO a great musical number, that Then Turns into a Wonderful DANCE NUMBER about self-acceptance and choosing Solidarity over the toxicity of competition. And all this happens, consciously and overtly(like: the film literally says this), as a super-low-stakes, super-ridiculous mirrorverse-version of how our OWN misogynistic society pits women against each other to prop up male entitlement(like: while the Kens are first fighting, then finding, themselves, the Barbies are reinstating their old Matriarchal constitution, with a few Ken-held circuit court seats added as a sop to reform XD Also Alan is there). Gloria's husband(literally credited as this in Spanish) is Cute and Loveably Dense in all two of his scenes. Green!Ken(Simu Liu) has my Heart forever. Alan is also there. The only opinion this movie has on men is that they are at their best when being soft and lovable, and only The Most Excellent Bros to each other, and that maybe treating the people you love LIKE you love them is better than trying to control everything all the time(which is hard, dehumanizing, and doomed to failure anyway??)? Probably the most "political" thing going on with gender here -even WITH a big speech about the contradictions of femininity in a misogynistic society being the crux of the movie- is filming the Kens the way women usually are.

And that really sums the movie up. Low-stakes and Light. Fun and Funny. Barbie's grand reward for the whole ordeal is HILARIOUS and I won't say anything more to spoil it. Alan is also there. The most hyperbolic(though entirely justified, imv) thing I will say about this film is that it understands what a Barbie movie is and nails it, thereby making itself probably the Best Live-Action adaptation since The Lord of the Rings(or possibly the live-action Kenshin movies, if you've seen those[the 2nd and 3rd one are really good; the first one's ok]).

I'd definitely recommend it, it's a fun low-effort(for the viewer; not knocking the crew at all) movie with a tasteful smattering of genuine Cinematic Spectacle, that doesn't let its gags get old. I predict it will be one of those middling movies that lasts; that it will be a staple of mid-day HBO summer lineups in 5 years, and stay such for the next 30. Go see it in theaters if you can.

[fideidefenswhore]

There's a tendency in modern fandom to rob Henry of his agency, like saying Anne "lured" or "stole" him as if he isn't responsible for his actions. What I find weird is that seems to have, to an extent, been the idea at the time. A hell of a lot of the Catholic/Imperial faction seemed to get the thought that well, all we do is get rid of Anne and everything goes back to normal. Like Mary and Chapuys act like they expect her to be princess and heir again as if nothing happened and the English Reformation will just stop there and turn back. I just can't get my head round how much people then revered Henry as king but then think he's some weak puppet Anne manipulated and who they can manipulate when she's gone.

Yeah, the thing is that...A) We haven't changed as much as we like to believe that we have, B) Obviously modern analysis of contemporary reports of this period is reliant on these reports, but has the benefit of hindsight (and yet when hobbyists without any background in history simply read these reports absent of any contextualization or expert analysis, they tend to take them pretty...literally? which dovetails into these fandom interpretations), C) That very double negative is the cornerstone of misogyny. Women are ultimately, even supernaturally, powerful but also ultimately powerless/weak, and/or exploit men's weakness, world's tiniest violin.

Misogyny alone is not enough to explain, there's also the political and religious at play with the psychological:

"Anne became [...] 'the evil counsellor.' In spite of Chapuys, the Emperor needed to maintain a civil relationship with Henry for his own purposes. He therefore chose to believe that Anne was bullying Mary (and Catherine) behind her husband's back. In a similar way Mary deceived herself into believing that it was not really her father who was subjecting her to such remorseless pressure, but the wicked woman who had acquired such an ascendancy over him." +

"Her actual contribution to the 'scourge' of Lutheranism [...] was inflated to unbelievable proportions. Chapuys [went as] far as to blame 'the heretical doctrines and practices of the concubine' as 'the principal cause of the spread of Lutheranism in this country.' [This] created [...] a political/religious 'wing' of sentiment [against Anne Boleyn] that was [later] exploited by Cromwell [...] and it was a powerful obstacle in the way of Anne's acceptance by the (still largely Catholic) English people."

For me, what separates is that this subject (although more specifically on the mistreatment of Princess Mary, riffed on that here) is discussed as if it was an untapped timeline, and it's ...not? The events immediately preceding May 1536 do not vindicate or absolve any cruelty on Anne's part; by any means, but what they do prove is that Chapuys was wrong about her being the 'X factor' here, as it were. Once she's subtracted is when Mary's disbarred from succession in much firmer legal language by Parliament. Moreover, the Boleyn downfall was a watershed in court division and factionalism, its aftermath was not a period of 'relative' (or otherwise) tranquility but rather continuance, even amplification, of religious suppression for those that did not adhere to the tenets of the new Henrician 'supremacy'.

Also, let's not underrate the ambition of the 'Marian faction'. They wanted a return to the status quo, yes, we shouldn't discredit religious motivations either, but they also wanted to regain the status and favour they felt they had lost. They were bargaining on the future favour of Mary once she was heiress again, bargaining on the future of Henry having no other children by marriage (so, even Mary as Queen), that's generally forgotten because most of them did not survive to reap (and, arguably, Mary becoming Queen later had very little to do with her faction of the 1530s that had failed upwards, considering especially that Mary was not reinstated into the succession--conditionally, but still--until several years after the Exeter Conspiracy).

[brw]

tigraant 6 and 8 🌚

6. Who would they ask if they ever had a threesome?

Okay, WCA definitely Simon. It's a series of miscommunications and somehow it ends up with Simon getting it good from Hank while Tigra is happily watching and occasionally leaning forward to bite someone on the ear. That's when Tigra first realises this man is queer but she has a good time regardless. Hank is weirded out by the whole thing but he's sad as hell this era so he doesn't care.

More contemporary Tigra, honestly Quicksilver I think or hell maybe Hellcat... possibly Clint 👀👀

8. What do they like in bed?

Hank likes to be called Sir in bed as discussed 😳 but I think they would enjoy shibari a lot too–Hank enjoys the mathematical process in doing the tying and Tigra really enjoys the whole helpless, almost tamed aspect to it even though she can very easily rip through them at any time. I think Greer likes to be spanked also which Hank really has to be spurned to do but he eventually gets there. It's not intentional but Tigra also probably keeps cutting into Hank with her claws during sex and he honestly thinks it's super hot.

[arcplaysgames]

warning this post has a LOT of cartomancy talk

Every other time I start P4G it drops this extremely important configuration. I cannot fucking deal with the right button being cancel, it's WRONG. Bottom is cancel, right is confirm, and I will kick the ass of anyone and everyone who says different.

Anyway.

sigh. if Akihiko were here, he would go into Sauve Mode and remind me he's here to protect me with his awesome crit skills. Hell, so would Aigis and Junpei. /DREAMY LOOK INTO THE HORIZON OF ANOTHER LIFE

anyway, soccer it is!

Which..... doesn't seem to matter because I hang out with both of the options anyway? wh-what's the point in choosing? OH WELL.

STRENGTH SOCIAL LINK: GET. I have zero opinion on these guys yet, I've known them for like 10 minutes. I have a scene with them later that's basically them asking if I like urban areas or rural more, so like. We're not dealing with a lot of depth yet.

Koromaru was Strength in P3P and was actually a very good one. Strength is infamously not about physical strength but emotional, particularly controlling the danger around you with personal fortitude. The de rigueur Strength symbolism is a woman and a lion with her calmly holding the lion in place, sometimes her hands on its mouth to prevent its attack.

Koromaru's S-Link was all about helping Koromaru act as the guardian of Iwatodai and particularly the area about the Naganaki Shrine, often assisting people who needed help. He's also very good at de-escalating situations. A very good boy and a very good Strength card.

So what we're looking for with the jocks here is an arc of emotional control and standing near something dangerous without flinching.

[/hot cartomancy talk]

ALSO ONE OF THE SHOP OWNERS RUNS A COOL LITTLE BAR AT NIGHT? I'm not allowed to go yet. GOD I want to. She seems so cool.

what th

okay.

wait, that's a real book and fairly modern literature. They're talking about fucking Murakami in this game??? That is fucking wild.

So I'm kicking off the Marie social link, and Yosuke rolls up. Other characters show up in SLinks way more often in this game. In P3P it was Shinjiro and Fuuka who did a lot of overlapping, but not really anyone else. Yosuke just ROLLS UP HERE and.

/squints at Yosuke

yeah what do you mean, Yosuke. /squints more

i'm sorry what did you just say

i feel like an ancient memory was just unlocked from my fucking skull. I knew Peachi way way way way way back when on Livejournal, we were contemporaries in the Metal Gear fandom. Holy shit that's so weird to see them referenced in Golden.

AEON SOCIAL LINK: GET. Marie feels "nostalgic" about Inaba and starts idly composing poetry while we walk around.

If you are expecting insight on the Aeon, I cannot help you. It's definitely not a standard card in RWS, and I think is an artefact of the Thoth deck.

Lemme google the card and just look at it.

Whoa wait. So Persona is playing fast and loose with the Arcana. Thoth is supposed to replace Strength with Lust and Justice to Adjustment. Aeon is supposed to replace Judgement, but P3P had Judgement. I WOULD LOVE TO KNOW IF P4 DOES THE SAME, but I'm not googling that, it sounds like Hella Spoilers.

Anyway. Aeon. Has a lot of the same heralds as the penultimate step of the Fool's Journey, but while Judgement is often about An Event, the biblical shit of the trumpets and angels descending, all that shit, Aeon is a much more person climax, the cracking of the egg and the burst of new consciousness. The dark archway over the Aeon is Nuit, Nyx, the night. There's spiritual symbols in it, so it's sort of like a synthesis of the trials of Star-Moon-Sun. It's a bit reductive, maybe, but as someone who isn't a huge fan of Judgement because it's just really tied to Revelations christianity shit, Aeon is interesting.

Since I'm aware that Aigis basically takes over as MC if you play The Answer in P3P, the Aeon suits her astonishingly well, as her journey is a culmination that mimicks the MC's.

So, Marie is the Aeon, currently stuck in the blue velvet darkness of the liminal limo and due to come out into the light to synthesize the spiritual madness of the Moon with the hope of the Star and the clear vision of the Sun.

Maybe. I say this having not really known wtf Aeon was ten minutes ago.

Where the fuck was I?

RIGHT, saving Yukiko. I headed back into the TV on 4/21 and powered through some floors. Compared to Tartarus, this is easy-peasy.

Shadow Yukiko strikes me as very.... lazy. She was born into a destiny she doesn't want, but is also completely unwilling to push back against it. She's submissive to the desires of her family and the needs of the Amagi Inn, but under the surface is festering with frustration she won't voice.

I truly genuinely wonder if her family even has an inkling she's so unwilling to take on ownership of the inn, or if she's never told them. Like, I have no idea. Not that I think saying so would get her out of it, but it's sure Something to just... grow this dense ball of resentment in yourself without even cluing people in.

ANYWAY Chie is her prince. Yukiko wouldn't make a terrible Rose Bride, lmao.

Well. Given how Chie introduced Yukiko to Reverie and talks about her, I'm not sure Chie knows that Yukiko hates her destiny either. lmao girl you gotta fucking communicate like any of this at all to anyone.

Yukiko has severe doormat issues.

SHE SAID THE THING!!!!!

Well, this one is less exciting. A powerful bird in an opulent cage with an open door and the lock clearly visible and undone. Yukiko, I would hazard, really enjoys being special, being essentially a noble of the town.

And she may have the power and opportunity to fly away from her cage, but beyond its light is a big unknown. It might not be as comfy. So, she wants the perks of being someone important but lashes out against the expectations that come with it.

That's my read anyway. /jazzhands

Chie full on crying is very sweet. Not much resistance to the label of Prince, huh Chie?

Yukiko's persona is Konohana Sakuya. I went "oh shit like from Okami" and then wanted to smack myself.

Yukiko needs to go home, she is Le Tired. We outie!

(SIDENOTE I AM VERY CONFUSED. I started to die in this fight and purposefully ate shit to get it over with faster so I could try again, but the game was like "want to retry?" and I was like "oh man what a nice QOL feature, yeah retry!" and it REVIVED EVERYONE TO MAX HP/SP BUT SHADOW YUKIKO WAS STILL AT LIKE 15% HP. which is.... not what I wanted. that's super weird, I just wanted a do-over.)

last thing to wrap up

WHAT THE FUCK IS THE JESTER ARCANA

oh now we just MAKING SHIT UP i see. Aeon i was AWARE OF as a Thoth thing. I have scored my cartomancy app and Jester ain't a real arcana to my knowledge. It sounds like it could be from the Tarot de Marseille, but I've never seen it before. (TdM was more game-y than other styles, similar to Lenormand, so you can more easily "play" it.)

I... am thrown. Is that an Arcana with an S-Link? What the hell.

[alwynthetiredreader]

2032 RELEASES I'M MOST EXCITED FOR!

Ander and Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

Fifteen Hundred Miles is just one of my favorite books ever so I cannot wait for this, especially considering there's a nonbinary LI!! Bless Jonny.

ALSO HAVE YOU SEEN THAT COVER????

Travelers Along The Way by Aminah Mae Safi

Tell Me How You Really Fell is also one of my favorites and so far, it looked like Aminah Mae Safi had only written contemporaries?? so this looks like a fun change, it's a fantasy robin hood remix, very fun!

Heavenly Tyrant by Xiran Jay Zhao

again,,, another writer who wrote one of my favorites, and actually I'm obsessed with Iron Widow, there's a movie in the works that I'm just so hyped for and Xiran is coming to ComicCon in Portugal in December and i got tickets for it, I'm just AAAAAAAAA

but either way, the sequel looks fantastic, that cover? *chefs kiss* AND XIRAN SAID IN AN INTERVIEW THE SEQUEL HAS MATH LESBIANS!!

Breakup From Hell by Ann Dávila Cardinal

that cover was very quick to catch my eye tbh and then i found out the author and MC are latine so i was sold, but also that's one hell of a premise! HS girl tired of everything meets guy who seems to have this strange influence on her and then she finds out he's sorta like the devil?! so now she needs to break up with him sjfbsadkhbdg it sounds amazing

Love Letters From Joy by Melissa See

from a disabled author, with ace rep like come on... look at the female MC with her little ace flag tote bag, again was sold very quickly

AND IT'S ACADEMIC RIVALS TO LOVERS?!?!

The Wicked Bargain by Gabe Cole Novoa

Queer latine pirates was all I needed tbh. And again, gorgeous cover!

The Fraud Squad by Kyla Zhao

I had the pleasure of helping this author do a cover reveal with a book trailer and everything, I'm patiently waiting for this one. It's like a Singaporean The Devil Wears Prada and I'm all for it

The Haunting of Alejandra by V. Castro

Of course there's another latine book on the list, this one a gothic horror based on the folklore of La Llorona!

Sorry, Bro by Taleen Voskuni

Armenian sapphics... set in Armenia!! With an MC learning to embrace all of her identities, it sounds amazing and beautiful cover as well.

Always The Almost by Edward Underhill

TRANS REP!!! TRANS REP ALERT!!!

It's faking dating, one of them is a pianist and the other a cartoonist, omfg i already know I'll love this one so much

The Wrong King of Weird by James Ramos

Again, cover caught my eye instantly and it's by a nonbinary author!!!

Set in high school, it also looks like it's gonna be dealing with racism one way or the other. The art style on the cover is gorgeous and the characters look very interesting, I'm excited to meet them

The Dark Place by Britney S. Lewis

I absolutely adored The Undead Truth of Us and I was waiting for this announcement for a couple of months, and obviously, that cover doesn't disappoint. I don't even need to know what this one is about, i'll buy anything Britney writes

[spookfished]

media roundup march-jul

this is my review backlog from when i was like getting ground into the ground working at a summercamp lol. ..if my thoughts are really short i probably just wrote it

NOTE FROM WHEN I STARTED THIS IN LIKE JULY: hey guys whats up! i was like "during spring break im going to read so much!" then i had to 'apply' for 'jobs' :( also i was playing so many games (not umineko though. sorry rokkenjima-ers). then like 5 months passed! woops. now i am a college graduate and unemployed 👍so now i have plenty of time to do things like this lol. making a post for these and then for everything in august. skipping the music section also bc i dont feel like it. some things really worth spotlighting were small victories, wrath goddess sing, and honk for jesus.

books:

what feasts at night by t kingfisher: horror novella (?) about a scary house and an ex-soldier. i liked reading ursula vernons reading as always, but this was a bit too short for me to really get a feeling for anything… it also didnt have the same visceral horror as their previous book (what moves the dead) so i was a bit disappointed :(

cathay by ezra pound: a book of tang dynasty poetry translated by notable contemporary poet (and infamous fascist) ezra pound. ts eliot once said that cathay "invented" chinese poetry in the mind of the western reader, which is weird bc he didnt speak a lick of chinese at the time. umm tldr i didnt like this book but i did write 750 words of review including a translation of my own (NOTE FROM TODAY IN OCTOBER: I WROTE THIS LONG ENOUGH AGO FOR CLASS THAT ITS ACTUALLY KINDA EMARRASSING NOW SO PLS BE NICE) if youre interested in that kind of thing lol

wrath goddess sing by maya deane: retelling of achilles where she is a trans woman. dathomira's review of this book can speak more for it than i ever could (and also its been a couple months..) but i really really enjoyed this book. go check it out!

a clear and muddy loss of love by please don't laugh: f/f webnovel. qiyan agula, female prince of the grass plains, has sworn her revenge on the nangong emperor after his reign killed her family and annexed her country. she ends up engaged to the emperor's daughter, nangong jingnu--but their bond makes it harder and harder for qiyan to enact her promised vengance. vibes wise, its kinda like baru cormorant but tilted way farther towards romance than political intrigue. i really loved this!! the way their relationship grows together…. qiyans gender fuckery…. the length of a webnovel really lets you sink into jingnus character development--its such a turnaround that i think it would be hard to do somewhere else. yay i love baihe

year of rice and salt by kim stanley robinson: what if instead of 30% of europe dying from the black plague, 99% of europe died? how would that shape the centuries to come? also, buddhism is here. this book is really well done and really well researched. the audiobook is reaaally good to listen to while travelling--the narrator, uh, doesnt pronounce everything the best but has this really velvety voice that i loved. i had a good time listening to this while driving cross-country (i only did a little of the driving lol) but fell off a little bit after that. also, if anyone knows any books that are more just like the first part let me know!

videogames:

ultrakill: YEAHHH ULTRAKILL HELL IS FULL BLOOD IS FUEL ETC. ok if youre involved in like the trans indie gaming community at all, youve probably? at least heard a teeny bit about ultrakill, which is a fast-paced mega-violent retro FPS about being a robot descending throug hell and KILLING!! i was really unsure about if id like this personally (jumpy, didnt like ovewatch or most fps ive played) but like. dude. ive sunk so many hours into ultrakill this month. im literally on the last layer rn (the game is currently in early access, but theres plenty to do). people call this game overwhelming, but i guess ive felt that since its a single player game its way Less overwhelming than something like um, ovewatch again lol. ultrakill's blood-to-heal mechanic encourages the player to get close and dirty, and there are tons of mechanics that sound as cool as they feel--punching bullets back at the enemy, ricocheting coins into weak points, etc. also gabriel is here!!! i like him a lot :3 theres a free demo here if it seems like its up your alley

yakuza 0: a brawler game set in glitzy 80's japan, following kazuma kiryus rise to power within the yakuza--at least i think thats whats going on? after all, hes the protagonist of like 5 other games also called "yakuza." this game glories in violence and materialism (you use money instead of xp to upgrade your abilities) and it has a gritty story full of sad-eyed men smoking, backstabbing, and losing everything. yakuzas one of those series that kinda hangs around in the background with a couple people Absolutely Obsessed with it, so its nice to see it live up to the hype. im only on chapter 3 (out of 16?) so far, but im really enjoying it :3 of course, yakuza is famous for having lots of minigames but ive only sampled a couple of them so i dont feel like i can really comment on that yet. some of the cutscenes are kinda long but the voice acting is really good…. i usually do stuff like make my bed or fold laundry while im watching lol. id recommend it so far :3

neon white: scratches the ultrakill speedrunning itch but if the only part of ultrakill was speedrunning and the gritty visual element was replaced by like, smooth apple-style celestial gloss (theres no ground pound even!). in ultrakill you get a beautiful array of tools (guns) to solve the same problem (killing a guy) in multiple ways but with neon white theres essentially one perfectly bite sized (most missions are 30 seconds or less) solution and you just have to get as close to it as you can. brought down of course by the extremely corny writing and voice acting, which at least has the decency to be sincere--it grew on me, but not by much. having cutscenes interrupt the mission sets was also deeply frustrating. IT FUCKS THE FLOW, MAN. anyways still a really really good game with an amazing soundtrack that i would recommend for any first person platform likers or speedrunners

rabbit and steel: just a really fun mmo-type (GCD-based) game! for like, wow/ffxiv raiders who wish those games had fewer cutscenes to sit through haha or potential raiders who dont want to put together a static…

ghost trick: afaik, shu takumi's only standalone mystery game. a ghost detective investigates the mystery behind his death by possessing objects and tricking on them, ghost style. um the ghost trick fandom is very strident about playing spoilerless, and i do think that was definitely good! some of the twists here are pretty crazy. but, like, i think that insistence made me think that ghost trick was going to be "lifechangingly good" instead of just "very good" -- which it is! the puzzles are very clever and fun and the writing is, of course, really funny, charming, and heartfelt. but i couldnt help but be just a little bit disappointed? still a good game though.

balatro: poker game where all the rules are malleable--for the right price. dude balatro made it so much harder for me to pass my finals. really good game if u are a numbers type of person (or maybe really bad) i think i would have sunk a LOT more time into this if pikmin hadnt come around

tv/movies:

dear ex (rewatch): i already talked about this on one of my [other posts] but rewatching it was good :3 i cried again

brave bang bravern: bravern is like… a pastiche of the mecha genre? that mixes like, gritty war mecha shows with fluffy sentai-like shows that ultimately ends up having a lot of heart and sincerity. and also gay people?? idk i really liked it but i think u kinda have to be mecha-pilled at least a little bit already for sure

shogun: woops i forgot to finish watching this. well its a drama about this british sailor who shipwrecks on japan in the middle of a power grab (by tokugawa) really fun! unfortunately i frequently do not have the attention span for hour long episodes unless someone makes me do it

honk for jesus: drama? about the wife of a megachurch pastor who is trying to stage his big return. about what she gets from staying with him, what she endures and what she inflicts on others as a result. (also, image!) really interesting to watch as someone who knows very little about megachurches, with some fantastic acting

life is short girl walk on: sort of an anti-romcom? about one girls wild night out. soo so so pretty it really captures when youre like out really late with your more adventurous friends and youre like wow literally anything could happen rn. definitely worth a watch 👍

challengers: bro all the filmheads saw challengers its the tennis threesome movie. its really good enough said

i saw the tv glow: i watched this movie on a shitty tv interrupted by gambling ads like three times and it still ripped my dick off. man. not a lot to say about this one bc i already talked about it a bunch with other people but i think everyone should watch it

marcel the shell with shoes on: slice of life movie about, well, a living shell. with shoes on. actually really really good?? i was so surprised (the trailer is like accurate but at the same time makes it seem kinda hallmark twee) and like it is a little bit cutesy but not in a way that diminishes the movie itself or its messaging.. i think it being pretty offbeat and also the internet elements (?) also helped balance this. has the pikmin element of "wow being small really helps you to marvel at the world's beauty in a new way" while also being about connection and grief.

the bad guys: animal heist movie. its pretty good even if i don't like akwafina very much at all. fun and soothingly predictable with nice art

podcasts:

small victories: small victories is a slice of life/drama podcast about marisol, a recovering drug addict trying to put her life back together--and it's really going to happen this time, for sure! marisol has such a clear and engaging voice (and her voice actor is so great!) that you can't help but root for her no matter what, even when she messes up horrendously. it made me go like this o_o 🫢 alone in my room like i was eavesdropping on a breaking up couple at a party

thanks for reading if you did! or even if you didnt? anyways this has been stewing in my notes for multiple months. be free

[readnburied]

Book Review: Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Date of Publishing: May 30th, 2017

Author: Francesca Zappia

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Genre: Contemporary, Young Adult

After finding out the release date of this book I realize I’m kind of late to the party. But, don’t fret, that’s the norm for me. I’ve properly got back into reading since a couple of years ago, so I’m like the backlist queen because I’m reading books that have been published ages ago and gushing about them as if they’re new releases. 

However, despite being late to the party, I’m still going to gush about this book because it was one of the cutest books I’ve ever read in quite a while. Not to mention this made me wish I was an artist so I could draw my own comic strip. And fan fiction is not a genre I write, but after reading this story, it made me want to give it a try, though I doubt I ever would, but it’s nice to think about it. 

The story follows Eliza Mirk who is your typical definition of an outcast. She doesn’t have any friends and most of the people would consider her unpopular and weird, but she has a secret. A secret she likes to keep to herself as it protects her from the rest of the world. But she’s incredibly popular online because of her comic strip, Monstrous Sea and goes by the name Lady Constellation. Everybody loves her comic, but no one knows who she really is and that’s how she likes it. Then comes in Wallace Warland who happens to be a fan of Eliza’s comic just like everybody else and writes fan fiction based on the comic. 

When Eliza comes in contact with Wallace, which signals the inception of their friendship, things start looking up for Eliza’s social life, even though deep down she’s afraid of Wallace finding out her true identity despite the fact that she wants to tell him herself. But things kind of fall of the rails for Eliza when her secret comes out in a way she never expected—in a way I never expected either—her world falls of its axis and the next she knows, she has to face the world and especially the boy who she’s started falling for. 

I found this book to be adorable… and sweet. You can’t help but smile when you read this book which was what I did the entire time I was reading. Francesca Zappia not only nailed the family dynamics in this story but the way Eliza feels the need to hide her true identity from the world as she continues to do the thing that she loves the most is something I can relate to on a personal level. I felt seen by this book. Not to mention the fact that Wallace is one adorable character, who has his own secrets, but is a genuine person nonetheless and that’s all we’re looking for in this world—a bit of honesty.

Moreover, the writing style is easy and the pace is steady. You keep turning page after page and it doesn’t feel as if you’re experiencing bumps across this journey of the two characters who’re trying to show and hide at the same time. This was my first book by this author, but since I enjoyed her writing style, I definitely want to read other stories by her and hopefully I’ll enjoy those as well. 

The plot wasn’t something unique, but it did bring with it its own unique flavor. I’ve never read a book involving a comic artist, so I found that pretty interesting. And I could relate to Eliza in a lot of ways, maybe that’s why I enjoyed this book as much as I did. Even when I was telling my friend about this book she also said that I’m like the real/human version of Eliza and maybe she’s right. Not only are the characters fleshed out really well, there’s something about each of them that make you feel something on a personal level and for me that character was Eliza, so thank you Francesca for writing this story and creating this character. 

And the way Eliza’s secret comes out, I must say that was creative and something I did not see coming. I love it when authors catch me by surprise and this was one hell of a climax. I really need to learn a thing or two by Francesca Zappia about writing the climax as I always screw that part up. I’m a terrible writer. Pity party aside, the climax was amazingly executed and the ending was perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better ending and if you wish to know how this book ends, then go pick yourself a copy. I highly recommend this book and the next time somebody asks me for a recommendation, I’m definitely naming this book as my first pick.  

So there we go, my thoughts on Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia. If you read this book, then do let me know in the comments what you thought of it and whether or not you agree with my opinions. If not, then do let me know if you intend to read it, because I know you won’t regret it. 

[gerogerigaogaigar]

The Pixies - Doolittle

Way back when I said that Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was the best rock album of the 90s I did a little google search to remind me whether this album came out in 89 or 90 to see if I had to amend that to second best. Doolittle is one of my top ten albums of all time. The atmosphere maintains a sense of apocalyptic intensity even at its calmest moments. From the manic screaming on Tame right to the surf punk of Wave Of Mutilation. There are deceptively intellectual themes running through Doolittle too. Death, and torment run through the whole album with a strong focus on biblical violence. Dead recalls the story of David and Bathsheba in brief which leads to the the most amazing lyric of all time "Uriah hit the crapper". Gouge Away is about Samson and Delilah, and Monkey Gone To Heaven alludes to biblical numerology. A lot of lyrics are also deliberately vague leaving the meaning of the songs obscured surrealist imagery. Wave Of Mutilation according to Frank Black is about businessmen driving their cars into the ocean to commit suicide and Here Comes Your Man is about homeless people dying in an earthquake. All of this says nothing about how catchy these cryptic songs are. The melding of punk, alternative, surf rock, and generous use of triads and Hendrix chords leads to a discordant but focused album that manages to be infinitely catchy despite being extremely noisy. More than anything Doolittle, despite being fairly eclectic with it's sound, evokes a very cohesive mood. It's a weird simmering anxiety that sometimes bubbles to the surface but is never relieved. All of punk and alternative music has come home to roost in Doolittle and honestly if music had stopped right after it released that would have been fine.

The Wailers - Catch A Fire

There were a number of reggae acts in the early 70s that managed significant international success, but none quite as universally as Bob Marley and his band The Wailers. Catch A Fire was their fifth album, but it was the first to make it big in the states. The production is slightly nicer and that definitely allows Bob Marley's soulful voice to shine through. Marley definitely had a richer texture to his voice than most of his contemporaries and that likely helped him become a household name.

Black Sabbath - Paranoid

I'm gonna go ahead and say it. This album is overrated. After War Pigs we get two completely throw away tracks before hitting a sort of stride and then ending on the fantastic Faeries Wear Boots. Honestly most of this album is good but not great. I like it, but I don't think it quite stacks up to their debut, Master Of Reality, or Heaven And Hell.

Madonna - The Immaculate Collection

Hey Rolling Stone, can i ask a question? What the fuck do you think you are doing? You already put two Madonna albums on this list and now you're saying a hits collection tops them both? Every album she released in the 80e was good actually. You could have put one of those on here. Her self titled debut, Like A Virgin, and True Blue are all worthy of being on this list. If you scrubbed some of the outright garbage from this list you'd have room for all three of them and more!

Adele - 21

An album that is bad all the way through is just bad, and an album that is bad with one or two good tracks is frustrating, but opening with two very strong songs and then delivering nothing but banal piano ballads for the rest of the album? Thats torture. It makes me so mad that Rolling In The Deep and Rumor Has It are really good songs that show off a blues rock side of Adele that she never ever visits again. If orgasm denial was an album it would be 21 by Adele.

[skeletalsepulchre]

WHY YOU NEED TO VOTE KON

davai lets go

Kon is the world's most autistic female lead in contemporary animanga I'm dying on this hill allow me to present my evidence as follows

from the start, her character is marked by her strange social skills and overall inability to "get" it, often taking things literally or struggling with a black and white mindset, a trait she's exhibited since childhood. Even when characters explain something to her, she frequently shows that a lot of the time, her core values are built on knowing what she has to do but not why, and she becomes stressed and upset when pressed on the matter

Kon, in the early manga, is under the care of Lady Inari, another kitsune who acts as the main antagonist of the series. Kon sees Lady Inari as fulfilling a mother role for her, and so is desperate to be a "good girl", but doesn't understand what that means outside of following rules like "be strong", "tanuki are bad" and "accomplish the mission".

she lacks emotional intelligence both for others and herself, and presents things in a very matter of fact way

you'll also notice that for a large part of the series kon speaks in the third person, and also expresses "inappropriate emotional responses", swinging from relatively flat to throwing herself at an opponent or trying to bite aya's head off. She also can't shapeshift away her ears and tail despite being a fairly talented kitsune, because being able to blend in in that way is a mark of "mental maturity" for kitsune.

After recovering her memories lost from Inari's brainwashing, Kon does become somewhat sharper and gains the ability to shapeshift away her ears, but her fundamental traits don't change. She still speaks in a simplified manner and approaches her issues the same way, but she has a support system that allows her to feel more confident and better understand when her feelings hit a roadblock that she didn't have before

She enjoys combat and digging holes, and gets frustrated with technology. She loves ice cream (as its associated with good memories for her) but hates bell peppers, a taste considered "childish". She has no issues living in trees or hunting animals for food, even when other people express surprise or disgust.

And none of these traits exist solely in the context of being used to contrast her to humans or human society. Even to other kitsune, kon's behavior is seen as odd, and many of the other kitsune-- including those raised rurally, like she was-- adapt to human society much "better" than she does.

Her arc is about "becoming the good girl she believes in"-- ie, being good for herself and doing what makes her feel good instead of relying on others to dictate what her worth is. she was "the runt of the litter and a whirlwind of mistakes" and at a young age felt like she was inherently bad, no matter what she did, and couldn't ever figure out what she was "supposed" to do. her attainment of self worth comes with the acceptance of her own unusual traits rather than being changed by the protagonist. Her maturation never gets rid of those things-- just allows her the support to conquer her roadblocks

CONCLUSION: THIS DOG IS AUTISTIC AS HELL DUDE

also ending this w some anti marcille propaganda her role in the group is to serve as the "straightman" or "normal person" and while she isnt necessarily allistic being an academic is nothing compared to the awe-inspiring autistic might that is kon of the ishimori clan lets go weird girl nation

Autistic Anime Girls Group 2 Match 31

Marcille -

"Marcille spent years studying magic nonstop and explains things in big detail sometimes."

Kon -

"It's been a while since I watched the show, but I just remember thinking the whole time 'wow, this girl is autistic as fuck.' The main male MC definitely is too. Solidarity. En knee way from what I do remember she's a sweet, but not-so-trusting kitsune girl just looking for people who will accept her, a place to belong, if you will. She didn't get a lot of support in her upbringing and thus her social skills aren't great, but the found family she acquires over the course of the show help her in opening up and seeing she's more than just a tool for others."

[munsster]

omg i didn't know you also did poly writing??? i made the request for secretly dating robin + reader but could we also sprinkle in some (platonic) stobin + reader if possible? no one writes poly stuff and it makes my heart so happy to see someone willing to do that 🥺

bright shiny object

A/N: if i’m not mistaken, these are both requested by the same anon? and of course i can do that!!! i wasn’t sure if you meant only steve and robin platonic and then both x reader, so i just did that but if i screwed it up, please feel free to lmk and i’ll write you something new :)

Pairing: Robin Buckley x Fem!Reader, Steve Harrington x Fem!Reader

Summary: When the pressure of a secret girlfriend and a fake boyfriend becomes too much, what can you do? 2.0k words

Warnings: angst, homophobia/biphobia, secret dating, fake dating (?), technically cheating, being closeted, beard steve 💔, cursing, mention of reader’s parents🫣,

It's like nails on a chalk board, the thorn in her side, ache in her stomach. A vortex of pointy things down the drain of her lungs and back up again. Flu-like symptoms ripping her away from rewinding tapes when you arch onto your tip toes and press a kiss—sweet and quick and sticky—to his forehead, but she knows he'd never appreciate the way you pull away with a smile and hold his hand in front of his varsity friends.

Even if she agreed it was for the best, it doesn't mean it was an easy decision. It was hard. It was tumultuous and gagging like knowing there's a storm out there but choosing to sail anyway. Because, God—at the end of the day, you just can't resist sailing.

"Hutton? You think so?"

"I mean, duh!" you huff, "Total betty, you gotta admit it. Plus, she's got that contemporary charm, yunno?"

"I get what you're saying, but Kelly LeBrock has..."

"Tits?"

"Class, sunshine. Get your mind outta the gutter," Steve teases, hands on your hips, letting you be closer, letting him eye you and bicker quietly against the counter. "Besides, Weird Science is always gonna be a hit. American Gigolo is nothing but a... a bunch'a prostitutes and pricks—"

"Hey, we're not talking about quality of film, here, alright? We're rating strictly based on babe-ness. And I say Lauren's the epitome: a ten, deadly with the perfect amount of substance. And those doe eyes are killer. You just don't get that from LeBrock."

"Okay, okay... but does she have killer boobs—"

"Hey, Robin?" you shout, one hand firm on Steve's pounding sternum, and she can't look over for fear of shredding herself down to stumps and misshapen parts. "Settle the score: Kelly LeBrock—great hair, great rack—or Lauren Hutton—a classic cover girl who, I must say, was simply born for the silver screen, I mean, let's not forget Gator—"

"'Nuff pandering," he whines, glancing over at Robin with a lazy look in his eye, "c'mon, lady-expert, spare a little wisdom."

She groans, armful of tapes and moseying out from behind the desk with a, "you know I don't trust Harrington's taste."

You laugh.

"Looks like I win!"

“On a technicality," he whines, "ask anybody else—"

"Nope, it was a fair vote!"

"You know that's not true. Biased polls are like... so not allowed."

"What about the electoral college?"

He sputters and tosses a hand in the air, accepting defeat with a laughing kiss to your chin, and Robin's about to push a double feature into her skull. You're not his to treat like that. To act fleeting and carefree. That's what's not fair. He's all public, and she's between the sheets. Hushed. Even if it's an agreement, a signed contract doesn't make any of this easier.

"Alright, letterman, I better get going before my folks go postal," you say, glancing over at Robin when Steve dips down to kiss your cheek. With a palm curled into the slope of his shoulder, you grimace. Because Robin's chewing her cheek, and it gives her a frown. One he wouldn't notice, but you sure as hell would. You sure as hell do. And it's like a twisting dagger when she forces a smile at you.

"Am I still taking you home?"

She nods and throws off her vest, tucking it under her arm and beelining it for the door.

"Woah, no 'bye, Steve! Thanks for covering my ass... again!'?"

But she's not listening. She stopped listening the day she met you. It was the first time she realized there's more to life than white noise. She's tossing herself into your passenger's seat, watching your fingers slip from his hand. It's too genuine for her to stomach, and she wants to know if you're doing it on purpose.

"She means well," you sigh, and he crosses his arms when you slip around the counter.

"Or you're just a bad influence," he teases.

"Oh, I'm the bad influence?"

"Yep."

"Uh-huh"—you roll your eyes with a smile. Not because you're lovesick or strung out. Because you're friends. You've been friends, and it's still hard to see him hopeful for a lie. Even if it's your will. Even if you could make it go away because you're in love with your girlfriend while he thinks it's about him—"Buh-bye, Steve."

"Bye, sunshine." He winks. And with the sound of the ignition, Robin clears her throat.

"So, uh... your parents are home."

You nod. "Shouldn't be too much trouble. Lord knows their god-fearing asses don't suspect a thing. I'm still an innocent little dove in their eyes."

She snorts.

But after that, the short drive home is excruciating. A kind of prolonged and sustained torture that’s never rattled your ribs like this. Never threatened to break you down into confession before now. She cranks the volume on your car stereo, synth blasting against your calf, puckering your skin like a burn. You can sense her stillness without actually looking at her. She’s staring straight ahead, and you don’t think she’s ever been so damn focused.

The jingle of your keys and the rumble of the engine fade out to the sound of her footsteps trailing you to your door. And you think you’ve avoided the den—they’ll be inside glued to analog cable—you shuffle right past the front door with your hand reaching for Robin’s. But you don’t make it. You stiffen when one of them greets you with a hug.

“Why didn’t you tell us Robin was dropping by? We would’ve saved her some casserole!”

“Oh, it’s no problem—”

“We were gonna eat later anyway, so,” you huff, “not a huge deal. But we should get started on this movie if we wanna… have time to do… that. ‘Kay, night—!"

“Why don’t you invite Steve over? Oh, we just love that boy, such a gentleman.” It’s like an eternal staring contest, trying to gauge which parent knows what about who. A battle between yourself and the self they pictured for you. Internal turmoil and bubbling guts and all that. You could throw up when they glance at each other across the living room.

“Yunno, I'm so glad you finally found yourself a nice boyfriend."

Splitting hairs. And staring through you to Robin. Because they both know. Or they think they know what Robin is. You’re all but digging your nails into your palm at the oil spill of mania inky ‘round your neck.

“Yeah. Me too,” you say through your teeth, grabbing Robin’s wrist and crowding towards your room.

And despite the clobbering of digs, she calls, “Was nice seeing you again!”

“We’re glad to have you, dear.” But it’s empty. Water off a duck’s back when you close your door just a little too hard. Feeling like it rattles the house. Definitely rings in your ears. You’re grumbling over yourself when she flops back onto your bed. Eyes shut, fingertips rubbing nothing together, and blowing hair off her forehead.

“I’m sorry,” you sigh, crouched and two fingers pushing the edge of the tape into the hard plastic flap of the VCR. “Thought they’d be wine drunk and passed out by now. Turns out they’re just fucking vicious—”

“D’you think…” she sighs, crossing her arms over her face, “do you think maybe this isn’t such a good idea... anymore?" So it’s muffled and you don’t know what to say. You stand and stare at the dust collected atop the lip of the television, how it’ll stay there because no one dusts it. After all, who would.

“What makes you say that?” But you already know the answer, and you’re pretty sure you won’t rest until somebody grabs your face and shouts it.

“Just… everything. Don’t you think it’s a little—I dunno—exhausting?”

“I don’t know, Robin, is that what you think? Is that what you want me to think?”

“No—no, of course not. ‘M just saying…”

And when you turn to look at her, she’s sitting up. And she really cannot stand your expression and the way it’s already accusing her of the truth. That she’s fucking terrified, and she doesn’t know if the love of her life is worth it. She doesn’t know if she’s worth it to the love of her life. Anymore.

“I know exactly what you’re saying,” you say. It’s too exacting and deadly. Cuts too deep like some kind of monster. She had no use in believing in them until she did. And now she does.

“Well…?”

“Well, I think that no matter how exhausted being what we are makes me… I’d let it run me dry ten times over before even considering giving it up. I think you’re worth my demise, Buckley… and if”—you think what you’re choking on is distress, but it’s much easier to blame bile—“if you don’t see that, then yeah, maybe this isn’t such a good idea anymore.”

She can’t keep it together. Not with the tears in your eyes and her cotton mouth. She stands and finally faces you. Finally looks you in the eye. And she feels like Steve for just a second: earnest, brutal, like heartbreak is the breeziest thing since labor.

“So that’s it, then?”

You haven’t moved. You don’t think you could if you tried.

“No. No, that’s not it, Robin”—you scoff—“God, I can’t believe you’re not even gonna try and fight for us. One sign of tension, and you fold? That’s so fucking selfish—”

“If it was just one sign of tension, I’d sit quietly and bear it like always, but it’s not. It’s fucking sirens and roadblocks and spike strips, and at this point, I’m running out of fight. All I’ve wanted for the past six months was to hold your hand and not get weird looks and off-handed comments. Don’t you get that? I just want a normal fucking relationship like everyone else, but instead I’m stuck on the outskirts of some weird love-triangle bullshit—it’s so fucking draining—!"

“Well… well, I’m sorry I put you in that situation, but I’m just trying to keep us safe! I know what people say about people like us, and it’s fucked up, Robin. We’re outcasted as it is, and this—”

“This is so frustrating,” she groans, pushing a hand through her hair and shaking her head as she turns away. And all you can do is watch her pace. And pace. And your anger melts down, crackles and burns at the wick, and digs itself a cavern.

“You know, that’s all I’ve wanted, too,” you sigh, “when I’m out with him, and when he kisses me, I… it’s like… I feel like such an asshole for thinking about you. The entire time. But you can’t blame me. You’re all-consuming. I mean, he’s great. He is—Steve is wonderful, but… he’s not the one I want. I would bid my life on a single moment with you.”

Her shoulders slump. And her head leans into her fingers, dousing knuckles in hot tears, back heaving between broken sobs.

“Hey,” you coo, cupping her elbows until she softens with a wet blink of her droopy lashes, “I think it’s exhausting and selfish and messy most of the time, and I think… I think it’s still a good idea.”

She blubbers noiselessly and needlessly, already drooping into your arms and the way your fingers press into her shoulder blades. And the way you tell her she’s good and fine despite all the one-way habits and slips of the tongue. Despite all the words she never figured out how to articulate in time.

But all she really needed was a second to catch her breath. Which was something she found proved a lot more difficult once you came along. With that goddamn smile and sense of direction. You kiss a teensy patch of freckles on her jaw. And she finally feels steady enough.

“We’re a good idea.”

masterlist

[kali-writes-meta]

The Ancient Magus' Bride 101

I promised I would review this anime. It wasn't easy.

The story begins with a young, ostracized homeless woman selling herself into slavery for a place to stay. The human trafficking scenes were hard for me to get past. I couldn't do it the first few times I tried to watch it. I was sold to abusers as an infant, I know human trafficking survivors, I'm married to someone who witnessed human trafficking as a child. Fans say, "You don't understand how desperate she was." Girl, I understand EXACTLY how desperate she was. That's WHY I had problems getting through those scenes. That's why I strenuously object to the story giving the impression that maybe this was a good idea on her part, which it seems to do in the second half of the first episode.

Our protagonist is bought for a high sum by a weird guy with a deer skull for a head and taken to his home. Once we get the human trafficking setup out of the way, the story falls into a 200 year old pattern. An enigmatic stranger brings a poor girl to a remote country estate for mysterious and questionable purposes. That's Early Gothic straight out of the Bronte sisters, which Jane Austen satirized mercilessly, Arthur Conan Doyle warned against in his darkest Sherlock Holmes stories, and in real life provided some of the most stomach-churning true crime reports. None of those efforts did anything to stop Gothic romance from becoming a sales juggernaut. Over the centuries their forms have mutated as their popularity has ebbed and flowed. The 19th and early 20th Century Gothic romance had magic and no sex before it died off around WWII. The mid-century Gothic romance of my childhood had neither magic nor sex and ran out of steam in the 1970s before coming roaring back in the 21st Century with plenty of both magic and sex. The atmosphere, remote setting, secrecy, and the power imbalance have stayed the same.

We find out that the girl Chise has the ability to see magical creatures, which has lead directly to her ostracization and homelessness. It also means she can be trained as an apprentice magician which the deer skull head guy Elias says he plans to do. And there's the Chosen One/Cursed One theme. Chise is also removed from her slave collar and given a magic stone to wear in it's place.

(Okay, now I want to see Elias and Moon Knight's Khonshu go out for coffee together, grouse about having animal skull heads and the trouble finding decent minions, and compare staves.)

As is standard with any Gothic romance, we next find out that the neighborhood is dangerous and the neighbors are either untrustworthy or nonexistent. In this case there's fairies in the nearby forest who try to hustle Chise through a secret portal. Chise, in a heretofore unseen display of either caution or Sunk Cost Fallacy, is like, "What the Hell? I just SOLD MYSELF INTO SLAVERY to get a roof over my head, you think I'm going to turn around and throw it away now?" (Coming from a badly traumatized child, that's understandable.) Elias shows up to fetch her back (it's too early to call it a rescue) and we find out that the magic stone has a magical GPS. He then reveals that he wants her unscarred because he's thinking about making her his bride as we check off the last ticky-box on the Gothic Romance plotline checklist, the impoverished female protagonist attracts the intimate gaze of the Master of the House.

So far so standard.

Aside from the plot details, there's two more ticky-boxes. One of them regards art. Gothic art is supposed to be "magical", slightly eerie and very beautiful. The animation easily fits the bill. It's lovely, the forest scenes especially so.

The last ticky-box concerns the atmosphere of the story. Gothic romance has always derived power from transgression. What contemporary readers often fail to realize is that the original readers would have felt a very real sense of danger in what the heroine was walking into. Contemporary writers have a bad habit of falling back on sex and gore, and if that doesn't work, slathering on more sex and gore. (Looking at you, Laurell K. Hamilton.). This story has a real sense that Chise's idyllic sanctuary might be ultimately less safe than the streets she was living on. In that regard, it's the finest recreation of the feel the original Gothic Romance stories would have given their audiences that I've seen in ages. But that feeling isn't very comfortable.

[the-hype-dragon]

@bitstitchbitch

I have kind of given up on newer fantasy releases, many of them tend to be copy-pastes of LOTR, ASOIAF, or ACOTAR at this point. I have to warn you many of my recs are old as hell:

regular old fantasy, take place in other/alternate worlds:

The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle, I also recommend giving the movie a watch if you haven't seen it

Winter Rose by Patricia McKillip, retelling of Tam Lin

The Tombs of Atuan by Ursula K. Le Guin, as well as her other Earthsea books. I often see these labeled as YA but besides the first one I'm not sure I would agree with that

The Compass Rose by Ursula K. Le Guin, a short story collection that is mostly sci-fi but has some fantasy and science-fantasy stories

Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne-Jones. I know a lot of people love the Ghibli movie but I think the book is better

Deerskin by Robin McKinley, retelling of Donkeyskin, tw for r*pe

The King's Damosel by Vera Chapman, sorta-kinda sequel to the tale of Gareth from Le Morte d'Arthur, tw for r*pe

Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake, liked it but wasn't impressed enough to continue the series. the ending has a twist that I thought was sort of clever but really stupid in the broader context of the book, up until then it was pretty good

Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay, first half of a duology that is imo way better than the sequel, Lord of Emperors; Lord of Emperors has some reeeeeally bad erotica

"contemporary" fantasy and magical realism:

Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne-Jones, retelling of Tam Lin. YA coming of age story, takes place in 1980s England

Turtle Moon by Alice Hoffman, not sure how to describe this one exactly... part murder mystery, part coming of age story, part tale of forgiveness, part "middle aged people find second love" kind of deal. this is the weirdest book I'm comfortable with recommending

The Deepest Roots by Miranda Asebedo, YA story about girls/women looking out for each other in rural Kansas

there are a couple of epic fantasy series I enjoy but they are embarrassingly edgelord-y and weird, and I'm not sure I would recommend them lmao. sorry if this was not helpful, as I said I tend to avoid newer releases unless they sound really interesting. really feels like everyone is trying to be GRRM or SJM at the moment and I'm not interested in what Bardugo, Clare, or Sanderson are doing. tried Uprooted, Six of Crows, and The Bear and the Nightingale because everyone raves about them but was unimpressed, felt like they were okay ideas that were poorly executed

(also I feel like I have to add, the two books with SA tws I included do not go into super graphic detail like some other "notable" works in the genre do, and are stories of women reclaiming agency after being assaulted - still disturbing however, read at your own risk, or don't, if you're uncomfortable with that sort of content)

"oh don't read THIS mediocre fantasy series, try THIS one instead, it's the best the genre has to offer!" *recommends something even worse*