#otherwise she can paint me as a bad guy in her narrative of events

[thetimelordbatgirl]

Only in my flat is it considered a war crime to ask my mom to let me finish my show when she wants the music channel.

[foreverisntenough]

So I usually hate angst for two reasons: 1. I don’t like the suffering, lol, and 2. I often feel like it’s an ”easy way” to stir up som extra interest in an otherwise boring story. In the case of this story, however, I love how you have incorporated the characters into the angst. Most of all i hate how in most stories the blame behind the angst is always put on one person, and one person only, but you have wonderfully succeeded in ”distributing” the blame (idk if that makes sense). What I mean is that while it’s obvious that y/n is not okay and clearly is suffering from some serious mental health issues rooted in her past and is in need of professional help, but also love, patience and understanding, you also manage to make it nuanced by acknowledging that her actions were suboptimal (to put it kindly) and that her loved ones have a right to feel hurt and upset by those actions. The same thing also goes the other way around - you make it clear that while it is okay for her loved ones to feel hurt and upset they, too, handled ”their part” of the issue suboptimally. Like, there’s some sympathy and some blame on both sides.

This nuance in the argument is so refreshing and makes it so much easier to fully sympathise with each character - since it makes it clear that they’re all flawed and therefore human, just like we are, lol. I feel like usually, in most stories, one charcter (the maincharacter - in this case y/n) is made up to be completely free of blame and responsibility and painted as a ”good guy” through and through that never does anything wrong and is only ever exposed to bad behaviour from others but never parttake in bad behaviour themselves, which honestly just makes me completely loose interest and care for that character (and low highkey start finding them unbearable).

Cudos to you for doing dometving that I think that many professional authors struggle with.

Oh my god! This message Wow! 🥹🥹🥹🥹

Thank you so much for sending this. This was so amazing to read. I really appreciate it. I think something that is important in the series is the awareness of characters. Something I try to emphasize is that even though it's written from mostly from Y/N's perspective, I wanted to include that she's not just living the experience alone and other characters are involved emotionally in the events. No one is exempt from flaws so hopefully it reads that way.

I definitely think while I'm able to connect more with each person when I factor in the emotions of everyone going through this. Like you said, a lot of the actions are suboptimal which in life might be unavoidable but the responses are what's important and what's keeping the relationships in tack.

It'd be very easy for Lauren to have ignored what was happening early on in their friendship, it'd be easy for Marcel to not care when he didn't hear from her, it'd be very easy for Trent to loose his temper with her more often and give up but, to me, that's what makes it a story. That's what makes them connected.

I think one thing I like about Y/N's character is that she tries so hard to 'not mess up.' She often talks about not judging or trying to not offend but ironically she'll stumbled regardless. I try to humanize her experience as much as I can in a fictional narrative.

Thank you again for this message. It was amazing to have the feedback. I loved reading your thoughts. Apologies for the long response but it felt warranted. I hope you keep reading and enjoy the upcoming chapters!!! 🫶🤍🧸✨

[stovmborn-arc]

𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐄𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄  ––  𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄.  

**  this blog will not be following any of the events post episode five, unless plotted otherwise. for the general arch of daenerys in my portrayal however, her  ‘ end ’  was incredibly different. this does not mean to say that i am opposed to exploring narratives where jon attempts to murder her, or where she does turn mad but i will not be explicitly portraying that theme throughout my writing in general plots and threads. this is my canon divergence, the original post which is mostly a rant written after watching the final season can be found HERE but for the sake of my new blog, i thought i would type it properly !!!  this is likely to be an incredibly long post as i have it in my head that daenerys deserved far better so thank you for sticking through and reading this. its hugely important to me. **  i should also add as a disclaimer that i do not have anything against cersei as a character and in fact, adore her. she is painted out to be the bad guy of the show and is daenerys’ common enemy. she is absolutely human, hence the details of this divergence and that has been her character arch from season one. nobody would have been able to portray her as beautifully or brilliantly as lena heady and her death was so upsetting, but poetic too. 

give that like button a  ♡  if you do read this  ––  just so i know for future plotting !!!

◈     in order to break down the qyburn’s plan in using the scorpions to injure drogon from the sky, men would have had to die. these are not innocent men per se. these are lannister soldiers who are willing to harm and kill daenerys, if not kill drogon and take her as a prisoner for whatever cersei may desire. they are a threat and in order to take the city, daenerys and drogon will have had to burn the scorpions  –––   resulting in the death of lannister men.  ◈     other than that, as she sat atop the city walls awaiting the signal that tyrion had urged her to wait for, she accepts the lannister peace surrender. his plan worked, the bells were rung and rather than going on to burn the entire city and thousands of innocents, daenerys orders that drogon let her down and marched to the red keep with her army  –––   jon snow and greyworm ahead of her as they watch cersei step aside.  ◈     in this portrayal, i feel as though clegane bowl very much would still have been a thing due to the nature of sandor’s feelings which are a heavy running them throughout. there is no need for any harm to come to qyburn or cersei and whilst daenerys would not take lightly to the fact that the man before her is responsible for creating a device that has murdered one of her children and was used in an attempt to kill her last living dragon, he is spared. daenerys is very much fair and just. explanation for this would be allowing  barristan, jorah, tyrion and varys a second chance following serving another ruler, i would like to think that she would give qyburn the opportunity to do so too.  ◈     whilst daenerys does not want anybody to live their life in chains, cersei is imprisoned. she is not placed in a small, dingy cell. she is given a facility that has her sworn unsullied and dothraki guards outside of, that is made to feel somewhat homely. it is a place that has a bed, a privy, washing space. she is able to make her own food, as well as having food brought to her. she is allowed visitors also. it is more a communal living space, than a prison cell and that is because she does not want an inhumane life for cersei  –––   but where she cannot interfere, scheme, meddle or dethrone her. whilst in my headcanons, missandei is very much alive, her captue is another reaosn in which cersei is imprisoned. depending on plots with certain characters, missandei will have been kept a prisoner and is freed once daenerys reaches the red keep. 

◈     “ and i ask you not to judge a daughter by the sins of her father. ”  a quote that daenerys speaks to jon snow when she first meets him in dragonstone. this is something that i centre as very close to daenerys’ heart and it is one of the reasons why she has given forgiveness to characters like tyrion and jaime. when cersei’s child is born ( providing this is a plot device that my writing partner too follows ), they are taken from cersei and raised by somebody else  –––   preferably jaime or a septa. daenerys knew what it was like to be forced into imprisonment as a child and on the run, fearing for her life and that is not something she wishes to instil upon another child. we have seen how she is with children; removing their neck constraints and holding their hands, hailed as mhysa by those in yunkai. above, i state that cersei is allowed visitors and her child is somebody who daenerys allows a close relationship with.

[rutilation]

This chapter was largely exposition, so I don’t have quite as much to pick apart.  As such, this ended up being less of a wall-of-text and more of a bullet list.  That being said, let’s dive right in.

Aechmea’s explanation of how the Admirabilis came to the moon doesn’t add up with the information we got in volume 2.  According to Aechmea, the Admirabilis had been living on the moon for fifty years when the story began, and the multiple references we have to generations of Admirabilis indicate that their species doesn’t live very long at all—maybe around 25-30 years.  So there’s no way Ventricosus was alive before the Admirabilis supposedly took refuge on the moon.  And yet, she mentioned several times that she grew up in the waters off the coast of the gems’ island, even saying that it “still smells as it did before the Lunarians arrived.”  Now, it’s possible that she was lying about this, and it was all part of her ploy to lure Phos out to sea.  However, she didn’t really have a strong reason to do so—telling Phos that she grew up in miserable captivity and wants to see her ancestral homeland is just as likely to tug on Phos’s heartstrings.  Furthermore, when Aculeatus wakes up, he mentions being “close to home” and he was obviously in no state to get his story straight with Ventricosus beforehand. 

As some other people have pointed out, Ichikawa foreshadowed this chapter’s reveal that the Admirabilis have become cannibals all the way back in chapter 10, so I don’t think it’s a matter of Ichikawa making up a new backstory for the Admirabilis several years after the fact.  No matter how I look at it, Aechmea’s explanation seems phonier than a three dollar bill.  (Well, there’s probably some truth to his account of events; but my gut says that he’s—at the very least—leaving out crucial information.)

Even if we were to entertain the idea that his story is true, his explanation glosses over how and why the Admirabilis went from being refugees to being livestock.  If we generously assume Aechmea isn’t lying, the most charitable interpretation of this debacle still involves the Lunarians taking advantage of the Admirabilis’ plight in order to turn them into science experiments.  His spin on the situation really seems like it’s tailored to paint them as responsible for their own misfortune so as to discourage Phos from sympathizing with them.  I’ve never had the chance to mention this, but the moment in chapter 66 when Cicada mentions that foul-smelling gunk was sprayed on Phos’s avant-garde pillar bed to repel the Admirabilis raised alarm bells in my head.  Someone clearly didn’t want Phos getting too chummy with the snails.

To take a step back, the moments in which Phos interacts with Admirabilis are some of the warmest parts of the story.  The arc with Ventricosus was pretty much the only time when compassion won the day and Phos’s good intentions had good results.  In addition, the chapter we had with Variegatus was, in my opinion, the moment when the narrative affirmed that Phos hadn’t completely lost their capacity for kindness under Lapis’s influence. 

(Seriously, chapter 51 fills my heart with love, and also anxiety.)

Compare all that to the bad vibes that Aechmea brings to every panel he occupies.  Essentially, I think the way the story is framed strongly encourages the reader to put more stock in the Admirabilis’ version of events than Aechmea’s.

In this chapter, both Phos and Aechmea briefly say something ambiguous when the other walks out of the room before the narrative abruptly jumps to another scene.  Not sure what to make of that, but it seems deliberate.

I sure do love how Cairn can only be proactive and set goals for themselves when they’re literally trying to die.  Wonderful.

Their rather naïve attitude towards death in this scene makes me think that they too need to have a heart-to-heart conversation with a snail in order to fully grasp the concept.

This chapter suggested that Barbata and Aechmea have some shared history, which possibly sheds some light on Barbata’s attitude.  Chapter 73 implied that he feels pretty guilty about his culpability in the suffering that the gems and Admirabilis are enduring, which raises the question of why he’s involved in all this in the first place.  Everything we’ve heard about the Lunarians’ science experiments makes it seem as if that’s where most of the senseless cruelty is taking place.  So, why would an otherwise decent-seeming guy like Barbata have involved himself in it instead of opening an Italian restaurant or something?  That’s clearly what he actually wants to be doing.

Well, If he were ignoring his own conscience and going along with Aechmea’s plots out of sentiment for a friend, that might explain why he seems so ambivalent.  We don’t know much about him though, so this is all speculation on my part.

I also appreciate how lowkey alarmed he is by Cairn and Aechmea’s relationship.  It’s a very low bar to clear, but compared to the blithe cluelessness we get from the gems, and sycophantic fawning we get from the other Lunarians, it’s a breath of fresh air that one (1) character understands how fucked up this is.

I can’t wait to find out whether I’m right or wrong about Euclase because it will be terrible either way.  If I’m wrong about them I’ll be super embarrassed.  But if I’m right about them, then Phos is in for even more suffering.

On a more thoughtful note, I don’t think the future conflict with the earth gems is likely to arise from them accosting Phos with pitch forks the second they step off the vessel—I mean that might actually happen, but it’d get resolved pretty quickly. 

Chapter 71 made it clear that Phos heading back to earth with their tail between their legs is pretty much what Euclase wants to happen.  So, if things are going to get truly dicey, it’ll be if and when Phos continues to press the issue of Kongou praying for the Lunarians after the first couple refusals; and now that they actually have time to explain themselves, there’s a possibility that Phos being completely honest about what they’ve learned and what they’re trying to achieve might create rifts among the earth gems.  The truth can throw everything into chaos and all that.  If I’m right that what Euclase values most is the status-quo, then Phos may wind up becoming a liability in their eyes even if they’re no longer harassing Kongou with guns blazing.  And the possibilities which arise from that fill me with fear.

What I’m getting at is that I’m in desperate need of a story arc in which Phos goes to live with their snail friends for a while, allowing me to detox from both moon and earth related nonsense.  Make my year, Ichikawa.

[fathertaurus]

Revenge 🍃

this is way too long cause i couldn’t stop writing about how pretty corinna is lmao. anyway, here’s an extension of a little blurb idea i had a while ago about revenge sex with corinna on david’s bed:

“Shut the fuck up Dobrik,” you slurred through half-shut lips. The liquor had gotten the best of you and your head was absolutely swimming. That wasn’t going to stop you from defending your girlfriend though, who was currently next to you in the middle row of her friend’s Tesla. She rolled her eyes at you, eyelash extensions batting against her lids.

You hadn’t been dating very long, only around two months, and this was your first time out with her friends. You liked them, for the most part, but the amount that they slut shamed your girlfriend was getting old.

At that very moment, her friend David was shining a camera down upon her, asking if she could remember the names of all the people she’d hooked up with. He asked if she still had a list on her phone to keep track and what number you were on the list. You were sick of it. You probably shouldn’t pick a fight with this guy you’d just met, but he was arrogant and irritating and so full of himself you just snapped. Your words didn’t bother him though. He just laughed it off. He was forgiving, and you were tipsy.

“Finally, Corinna has someone on her side,” her friend Carly joked from the back row of the car.

You smiled at your girlfriend and squeezed her thigh. She returned your warm gaze.

Thank you, she mouthed to you.

Carly was right. Corinna rarely had an ally, always letting the boys poke fun at her. She was too nice about it. They could be merciless sometimes.

David, content with the bit, flicked off his camera and drove on in relative silence. He was bringing you guys to his home, after you’d spent the late afternoon at some ritzy club’s promotional event. These social media influencers really got invited to some boujee places, and you were glad to tag along anywhere that offered free alcohol and hor d'oeuvres. Zane was in the front seat, tipsy and rambling on the phone to someone. Carly and her boyfriend Bruce were in the very back cracking jokes about how he was always on a call with someone important. The car wound through the hills, David taking each turn too fast. The Tesla’s smooth handling couldn’t match his wild driving.

You were excited to see what his place looked like, since he drove such an expensive car. It was a little disappointing when you arrived and the house turned out to be an average-sized bachelor pad. David gave you a tour of each room nonetheless, and you had to admit his excitement over every detail was endearing.

The grand finale for him was the sunset, which arrived in the backyard just as you guys did. While the golden hour coated the mountain on which the house was perched, you watched the light sink over Corinna’s face instead. This was the view you cared about. You watched it dip under her blue-green eyes, fade along the bridge of her nose, and drop off her lips. She was stunning in each cascading hue.

David was playing some song from his phone and filming the sunset for his Instagram. Bruce and Zane were in the living room. Carly was using the adjacent bathroom.

Your buzz was pretty much gone now, as it’d been a while since your last drink. You decided to use whatever booze-adrenaline remained to your advantage. David wasn’t such a bad guy after all, but a thought itched in the back of your mind. You wanted to seek a little revenge on Corinna’s behalf, and his home was the perfect backdrop for it.

“David, do you mind if I use that bathroom I saw in your bedroom? Carly’s in the one in the living room.” You told him.

“Yeah go ahead,” he waved his hand at you, without even looking up from his phone.

“Corinna, can you show me where it is again?”

“It’s just around the corner,” she muttered, but you widened your eyes insistently.

“Fineeeee,” she groaned and grabbed your hand, towing you to his room. You both entered, shut the door behind you, and she pointed to the en-suite at the far wall.

“It’s through there,” she gestured.

“Baby I don’t actually have to go to the bathroom,” you laughed. She stood before you, confusion painting her face. It wavered as you brought your hand up to her cheek, rubbing a thumb against her skin. The anxious tension in her forehead melted and her eyes closed involuntarily. She looked peaceful. You took her in one last time before leaning forward to kiss her gently, placing a series of soft pecks against her lips.

You brought your other hand to her silky blonde hair, brushing it behind her ear. Enjoying the scent of her shampoo and perfume as it exhaled around you. A quiet beauty reverberated off her like a storm. The nearer you got the more powerful it was. Your soft kisses soon turned into more as you opened your lips against hers, pulling her closer and deepening your movements. Corinna had a way of making you desperate for her, even when you thought you were in control.

You tried to regain your dominance, guiding her backward toward David’s bed by her hips. You pushed her onto the mattress and finally broke the kiss as she plunked down. She stared up at you, pouty lips puckered in a mix of confusion and desire.

“What are you doing?” she asked. Her voice was unblushing in the otherwise silent room.

“I want you,” you whispered back, cupping a hand under her chin. “Right here. Right now.”

She contemplated it. She was no stranger to sex in this kind of environment. David had pointed out to you earlier where she’d given head to her ex in the back of his car. You’d also seen countless vlogs where David snapped his fingers and she made out with whatever guy he’d chosen. She might as well have a little control on her narrative this time. Let him deal with the consequences instead of her. She made up her mind, content to let you take her right there.

“Okay,” she smiled and bite her lip. Her shyness always surprised you, evoking butterflies in your stomach. You wondered how you got so lucky as you squatted down in front of her. Her thighs were on either side of your head now. You pushed her stomach gently, forcing her to fall back onto the sheets. Her legs dangled off the side of the bed while her arms were spread lazily above her head. You pulled her shirt up slightly and dipped to kiss a path down her stomach to the button on her jeans.

You undid the button with your fingers, but used your teeth to guide down her zipper. Your warm breath tingled against her skin and you could feel her eyes trained on your face. You placed both hands on the hem of her pants.

“Up,” you commanded. She arched her back off the bed and allowed you to tug her jeans down to her ankles. You bent down and kissed her pussy through the fabric of her underwear, before slipping that barrier down as well.

You gently pushed her thighs apart, spreading her before you, and kissed her again. Just above her clit this time. Then you dragged your tongue slowly down her cunt, to the entrance and back up to her clit. She exhaled softly and her legs tensed slightly.

“Relax baby,” you cooed, kissing her inner thigh. She put her head back against the sheets, staring at the ceiling while you returned to her clit. You sucked it into your mouth, moaning and letting the vibration work against her skin. Your tongue traced back and forth on her. She brought a thumb to her mouth, biting down to keep from moaning too loudly. Her breathing sped up as you inserted a finger into her. Then two. Steadily moving in and out, curling your fingers as you kept your lips on her clit.

She was wet enough in your hand that it dripped down between her legs and onto the sheets. You laughed against her at the thought, causing another vibration that made her gasp as her back arched. Her thighs tried to close and her pussy tightened on your fingers. You used your free hand to push against her lower stomach, guiding her toward her orgasm.

She was grinding back and forth against your tongue now. Moaning as quietly as she could manage.

“Fuckfuck, oh that feels so good,” erupted from her lips in a high pitched whisper. “You’re gonna make me cum. You’re gonna—“

She was cut off by her own whimpers, as you hummed against her. Her back left the mattress, driving her hips into you while her thighs squeezed together around you. Her breathing heaved and you could feel her reach the height of her orgasm, pussy tight and dripping wet. She rode it out on your lips until she was finally done cumming. Exhausted and sheepish, she caught her breath with her eyes still on the ceiling. You kissed her pussy once more, then stood up, and leaned over her recovering body. You kissed her lips, dragging your tongue over hers, letting her taste herself. You pulled away, imagining the cum and sweat that was probably pooling beneath her body on the bed.

“We should probably tell David to wash these sheets before he goes to sleep tonight, huh?” you asked. She beamed up at you and nodded. You two shared a laugh.

[doodlingadventures]

About the C.Golden Novel

I’ve got 4 anons in the inbox asking me the same thing, “Do you think that something will happen in Before the Storm that will make Sylvanas’s actions more justified?” And... well, here are my thoughts

(if they’re al the same person, yeah, I got your message, but I need time to answer my friend xD)

#BFAspoilers

Ok, so first of all, something must have happened; In the recent scenarios, night elves are supposed to be sending a good chunk of their troops towards Silithus, to the point where Darnassus and Ashenvale’s only defense is Malfurion. Although the only big events that Blizzard is giving us are the Burning of Teldrassil and the Siege of Lordaeron, some big events that happen in the novels are never referenced in game (Garrosh’s trial, for one). 

Anyway, my point, whatever happens, can’t be caused by the Horde. Not to justify Sylvanas’s actions, because, let’s be honest, she doesn’t need it. Whatever happens must justify the other Leaders of the Horde supporting her.

For one, Blizzard needs to convince us that Baine, an outspoken pacifist, someone that considers himself a friend to Anduin, someone that spoke up against Garrosh while he was doing this exact same shit, leader of a culture centered around the worship of a nature Goddes and pretty pacifists in general, and advised by a fucking Archdruid of the Cenarion Circle (Hamuul Runetotem, if you’re wondering) is not only going to be ok with these attacks, but is also going to actively collaborate. (And be ok with blightspreading, but that’s for another post, because thats a lot to adress, and include all the races)

Then, they have to give us a justified reason as to why would the Blood elves be willing to leave the Eastern Kingdoms for an All Horde Kalimdor, as Sylvanas wants. Because... What about the Sunwell? Do you really think that the Sin'dorei are going to leave their city, their fountain of Light that literally keeps them alive and sane, behind, so the Alliance has it? After all they fought to purify it, and Lor’themar had to kick out Alleria and the Void elves for the fear they had of it being corrupted? And we don’t even know if the Sunwell can be transported. We are talking about the purified heart of a Naaru mixed with Arcane energy and water resting/contained in a platform... I don’t know for sure if it can be moved or transported, but if the Elves could have done so during Arthas’s attack, they probably would have…. so I doubt the Sunwell is going anywhere.

Then, they have to convince us about the Darkspears. That one may seem simple, since Vol’jin was the one that wouldn’t have favoured war, and he is no longer amongst us, but, the current leader seems to be Rokhan, and he is of the same line of thinking as Vol’jin (in fact, on the recently datamined text about the Shalayn, “Sylvanas wants ta give 'em a chance. Dey got no home left. If dey can work with us, den dey got a home with da Horde. If not, dey be gone.” His attitude is very in character, considering he is from the “warcraft III to WoTLK Horde” way of thinking. He is also always described as a sweetheart, I’m kinda quoting Thrall). If you want to argue that Rokhan is not the leader of the Darkspear and that another member is, the only options left are Master Gadrin (whom, in all honestly, is more like one of the elders of the tribe and guides the youngsters, I have yet to see help in decission making or war planning or... away from Sen’jin village), or Zen’tabra, another Druid of the Cenarion Circle, and Vanira, a Shaman and member of the Guardians of Hyjal.

If you’re thinking about that Troll that appeared in the Horde end-of-Legion cinematic, her name is Bwemba and she is an emissary.

(all of these characters I’ve ust mentioned have models for 8.0.1, so one way or another, they’ll be making an appearence. Maybe even clear a bit of the confussion with the Darkspear leadership?)

And despite everything, if there is one thing that the Darkspears are never, ever, EVER going to be ok with, is raising someone into undeath. First, because of their beliefs and hinted relationship with the Loa of death, making undead triple the heresy for them, and second, because of what motherfucking Zalazane did to them ( and no one dare say he has no relevance anymore, he is making another appearence at BFA, and the shit he pulled cannot be forgotten so easily).

Maybe in a microcosmos where this is just another tribe of trolls, they wouldn’t have problem in attacking the Night elves, but they’re not just “another tribe of trolls” and this characters are not warmongers.

The huojin... I doubt that they would be willing participants. Pandaren are not known for their streaks of cruelty or interest in war. Yeah, the Huojin are kind of the “aggressive side”, but nowhere near the level of this. They’re a wild card, so let’s leave them at a “?”.

Then, we have the Orcs. Some must be already thinking that of fucking course the Orcs would be in favor of a war, but again, context. Saurfang and Eitrigg are on the hardcore side of Honor, and the Orcs that survived the Siege of Orgrimmar were against Garrosh’s methods, tactics and phylosophy. There are still those who don’t like the Alliance, obviously, and will fight if it means survival for their people (technically that’s the whole issue with Ashenvale since classic) but that is one thing, and what the novellas and scenarios are showing us is very different. And to go backwards on this characterization for no reason is... bad writting. Also, Saurfang starts the book with a “warning” for Sylvanas, and in Ashenvale he is supporting her so... SOMETHING must have happened that changes his mind, even if in the end he can’t take it anymore. And it is in character. Rembember that this guy has been in here since the begining, and he saw what the Horde had to do to survive once the Draenei were all “dead” and the resources started to scarce in Draenor. He more than likely doesn’t want to go through that again, even if hopefully it’s not what we’re going to do.

Then we have the Forsaken. I’m not going to get into how each person writes their forsaken characters, but let’s have a soft agreement that most of them would do anything Sylvanas says, because the ones that disagreed already left her comand (there are a few, examples, but I’m pretty sure we are all thinking about that NPC in the plaguelands, so let’s leave it at that). Although I would think none of them are too happy to be leaving Lordaeron (which, yes, I’m aware of the question, why is Sylvanas so fiercely defending the Undercity if she plans on moving the whole of the Horde to Kalimdor? No idea. I’d say she plans on killing the maximum number Alliance possible, and leaving the city unhabitable? But then we are fighting to get hold on some Eastern Kingdoms areas so... I have not enough data to answer that properly)

The Goblins.... to which, yes, there are exceptions, but if they’re under Gallywix’s orders and there’s profit, they’ll collaborate.

About the Allied races... I don’t want to go much into it, but if something happens that convinces the Tauren and Blood elves respectively, then the Nightborne and the Highmountain would be convinced too. Let’s leave it at that for now.

What kind of event must happen to fulfill this? Well, I’m not so sure. It isn’t about making the Alliance out of character either. It could  be that the Alliance tests the Azerite and it’s much more powerfull than what they expected, so they destroy a Horde settlement

(I highly doubt it, because the synopsis of the book keeps painting sylvanas as the aggressor, but still, for the sake of speculating

) because there were too many Horde troops there, or by accident because they only wanted to scare them off, or, something. Or it doesn’t have to involve explossions; maybe specific characters make threats about recovering Lordaeron, or Quel’thalas, or to purge the Horde from the Eastern Kingdoms with the power of the Azerite, which makes Sylvanas go “

fine, then we all stay in Kalimdor, so fuck you

”, and the others leaders agree...?

I can’t tell you what happens because I don’t work at blizzard, but the point is that something is happening, and whatever it is, it should serve to “”justifie”” (as in, make the characters react accordingly) the actions taken by the Horde. Otherwise it is not only out of character, but also bad writting, especially if Blizzard wants to push that narrative of “After the big baddie is defeated, a war starts because we are our worst enemies” that they’re apparently so happy with, and then put one of the two factions as the clear bad guy, just to forgive everything when a bigger baddie appears, AGAIN. Like they fucking did with Grommash.

This is what I think. Hope the answer satisfies you anons!

[junker-town]

Naomi Osaka’s protests are a lesson in power and bravery

Naomi Osaka is protesting without the support of a team behind her.

Naomi Osaka has been taking her own stand for social justice and racial awareness, but unlike movements inside the NBA and WNBA, Osaka is making her stand alone. The world No. 10 has been sitting out events and taking the court wearing masks with the names of citizens who have died to police violence.

It isn’t simply Osaka’s actions that make her protests unique, but the bravery in which she’s doing them. While players in basketball have been doing similar things, they benefit from having teammates beside them to diffuse the focus. Osaka is taking the court, with all eyes on her, knowing the attention will after her matches will be on the issue — and that’s exactly what she wants.

One week ago Osaka announced she would sit out a semifinals match at the Cincinnati Open to protest police violence.

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Now her protest has morphed in the U.S. Open, choosing wearing masks as she takes the court with the names of Breonna Taylor and most recently Elijah McClaim, both of whom were killed by police. With these actions came recognition — and questions, as she used her stature as an athlete to elevate important issues. On Wednesday she explained about wanting the world to know more about McClain, who was killed by police in Aurora, Colorado in March, after going to a convenience store wearing a ski mask — which he was wearing to prevent getting cold.

“I think when I heard about his story it was very hurtful,” said Osaka. “I mean, they’re all very hurtful, but just the fact of the character and the way that he was, just to hear stories about him, for me it was very sad. I think this was a bit different because no one can really paint the narrative that he was a bad guy because they had so many stories and so many, like, warmhearted things to say about him.”

Osaka’s stand is critically important, especially in tennis. While the NBA and WNBA are dominating the majority of sports headlines at home, much of the world is being first introduced to these issues through tennis. Its position as a primarily a global sport, and a traditionally white-dominated one at that, means that not only is Osaka making an impression, but with people who otherwise might be unaware of these issues.

Much of the tennis world has been silent. The U.S. Open is allowing Osaka’s protests, but there aren’t any individuals taking a stand remotely close to what Osaka is doing. The closest is Milos Raoncic, who voiced his support for disruptive actions, but hasn’t taken part in any himself.

“I think real disruption, I think that’s what makes change,” he said. “I think a lot of real disruption is caused by affecting people in a monetary way, and that can force some kind of change. So I’m hoping with what the NBA does, and I’m hoping that we, at least on the men’s tour as well as the women’s, we band together and we show our support, because there is many people that are not being treated fairly are being disrespected, having to live in fear, a lot of things that I have never had to experience.”

Until wider action is organized Osaka will continue taking her brave and unprecentented action alone. While she may not garner the attention of the NBA and WNBA, it’s important to recognize the bravery of her actions. Every time she walks out of the tunnel people are talking, not just about her protests, but the people whose names are on her face masks. Lives cut short by violence, and the greater need for reform. That’s what being an influential athlete is all about.

[myvoicenottheoneyougiveme]

In reality, in which "this” is most definitely detached but isn’t so purely scientific to have left the elements of the sponsor(s) off the table, that “personal” element suggests what is even being measured.

There are things that happen that I am meant to believe are legitimate interest or investment from others. They come decoupled from any kind of genuine indication that this is so, but you add in reactions to my “rejections” and the way the non-speak “messaging” goes on around here I’m supposed to believe that it’s the case. It’s all framed to me to be the case. I’m even guilted to believe that it is the case. The problem is, that aside from the roundabout quite empty and lifeless “hinting” that goes on, there is absolutely zero indication without all of that that there is any real genuine interest in such a thing. No sparks. No emotion. I mean I’ve seen emotion to the “disappointment” or whatever on rare occasion, but I’ve never once read “interest” in any kind of anything.

Why point all of this out? Because I believe that you my sponsors want more than anything to believe sorry, to prove that I never once read anything in regards to Michelle accurately--never, never once in all the years before “this” and especially after it started. So you puppet and prop up god knows who, anyone and everyone that’s willing to go along and give absolutely every indication “directly out of sight” and under the radar and completely contrary to reality, in an effort to prove that I when given any indication at all will absolutely run with that “invitation”.

I mean it’s all but proven right? You just have to prove it. ...All but. As in you can say whatever you want, but you can’t actually rewrite history.

You want me to latch onto something and decouple it from reality myself and create a fantasy and get all up in my head just so you can show that it’s all me and always was just me.

It’s the supposed “love notes” from total fucking strangers that would get left in the cafeteria. Or it’s the coworker reaching in or rather being the face of the reaching in and touching topics she ought not to touch. Let’s write things on cups. Let’s position the fake cockroaches in every sexual position imaginable. It’s the pointed remarks in conversation to this effect, but oddly all of the sexual stuff both breaking that ice and attempting to disgust at the same time. It’s the people around said person at one time attempting to hint hint wink wink like we’re all playing matchmaker. It’s the pointed “deep disclosure” of this week without the depth or emotion behind it. It’s the librarian taking pages out of your book, out of what happens here in the home too, and being a running commentary on “current events” framing them in such a way. It’s the other in-person attempts at dissonance and the “at my expense”ness that follow anything. It’s the other guy who never wears a cap EVER but suddenly this week because of “baseball” and “brother” and the emotional content of the media I did dare to watch this weekend and make use of my personal space rather than be paralyzed in anticipation of god only knows what will reverberate back at me. It’s the one lady who after I found something profound or in the very least interesting to point out to “you” while cleaning her office--you know the stuff people put on their walls and shelves to show others that says something about them--who has now gone so far out of her way to do exactly the same thing with the knickknacks like I’m supposed to read intent rather than simple harassment and more to the organized stalking. The list is endless. The bullshit “meetings” at the start. The one coworker who would lead the charge for the other. The “friend” officer who would do the same thing. The other officer who lied about having had contact with said “homeless” student after I saw him through the window talking with her, who when I pointed that out to “this” he magically disappeared and was replaced by the even more overt and raring-to-go bully-beat-down type who you had to reassign again to save face...There is a shit storm that’s been raging week after week for months, and your angle of attack may change slightly but your every aim is to paint and to prove and to smear me in any way possible and to, most of all, validate your own victimhood.

...at my expense. Live out a fantasy about yourself at my expense. You have to be one thing in the mirror, that means I have to be the other. I have to be whatever completes that for you. A crusade, not enough that you simply know or feel something in yourself or anyone in your life, no you need to control me and impose it on me and rewrite my lived experience. I am in possession of the one reflection you need more than any other it seems. You can’t have it. What you did to me was more than torturous. You should have let go when I was pulled out and given the resources necessary to no longer be at your mercy. But that reflection on you just couldn’t stand. You wouldn’t stand for it. You would not rest until you became 100% good and he 100% in the wrong (or evil more like).

And I forgot one more, it’s every new semester like every new jury after you throw out the previous verdict. Trading bad science for worse science. The veneer of truth seeking has dissolved and given way to what it is now. The fact is, when your “scientific method” was at its purest and I had little to no idea at all what was going on and I was hook line and sinker in your ploys, you still didn’t get the results you were looking for. No you got more of the codependent behaviors, long before you showed me yourself, Dorothy, what narcissism even meant before I even knew these concepts were a thing. You got every false result and failures to produce what you were just so damned sure of between the two of you, and your own jury, your own writers, your YOUR, YOUR handpicked personally, JURY, YOUR OWN JURY said “we’ve got the wrong guy”. You’ve been trading them out left and right ever since.

The thing about science, even false results are supposed to tell the scientist something. Repeated, repeated, repeated, repeated, is supposed to tell you something. There has to be the possibility for a false result or it’s not science anymore. But you bend and twist and frame and change the game eliminating that possibility anyway, but then you still don’t get it, or you get something that you with the greatest feats of mental gymnastics attempt to shoehorn into a narrative.

You need “this” like oxygen to breath. You need the mirroring. You need it revolving around you. You need the validation. You need to control the narrative. You need to be one thing, and that means you’re going to make me the other thing even if it kills me... and rightfully so, since in your reality, he is, he is, he is, HE IS, HE IS, HE IS AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, and NO ONE IS GOING TO TELL ME OTHERWISE. HE IS THE EVIL. I AM THE GOOD. HE IS THE EVIL, IM A VICTIM. IM A VICTIM. temper temper temper temper ragefest.

Most everything in this shit storm that happens around me is a (desperate) attempt to show me to be the kind of person that will read something that isn’t there, get it up in his head, and make life hell for someone who never had anything to do with his psychotic reality in the first place. All the signs will then be pointed to one thing being true, except for all of the signs that actually matter. And I’m supposed to run with the mere possibility because it’s so compelling. That gets you the result you want.

This week I suspend better judgement and say, OK, fine let’s just assume for a moment, and within that framework here is where I, myself, stand. ...”Not interested.” ...And then I get more again from her to the effect of “devastation” at my “rejection” of her. ...And then I say, ok, whatever, it doesn’t make any sense, but even if there were chemistry, here’s some qualitative reasons why I would not be interested in a relationship with this person. ...And then next it’s all actions and words on her part to the effect of being creeped out like I’m actually the one coming on and this person wants desperately to be left alone.

Well, I wouldn’t have called even her bit “coming on” but you’ve wanted me to believe that is the case. And I’ve known that you’ve wanted me to believe that. And so, now we’re right back to, “who is ‘this’ for?” Who is it helping? Whose life is it making easier or less complicated? I don’t want drama with people, and I certainly don’t want to be supposedly picking someone up for the let down (which is really actually all your doing in “this” if ever true in the first place).

I know I haven’t given those signals, and I know this person hasn’t truly given these signals. And I know theoretically and from personal experience that such chemistry is a mutual phenomenon regardless of the potential indecisiveness of one party. It’s even possible to crush one-sidedly; conscious preferences are like prerequisite gate-keepers that can inhibit one but not the other on account of them not being shared preferences (and commonalities). But chemistry, when it happens, is a product of two.

...You’re creating these scenarios without said chemistry, but supposedly “saying” all the right things (directly out of sight mind you) (cause I’m supposed to run with the mere possibility and not the overt expression), is a vain attempt to prove that what happened on Tumblr or what happened on Facebook was an entirely one-sided affair and that I’m a danger to myself and others because I just happen to people. If you can prove that, then you can prove that your overreaches and criminal activity and the abuses committed at your hands and the immeasurable harm and destruction in your wake is somehow justified... because he deserves it. The padded room in the mock asylum--a justified ordeal--a justified and right destiny for one so troubled. The end justifying the means.

And your game gets to keep going. You need “this”. You need any result that affords you the supposed right to do as you please. Everything you ever do, is an attempt to secure that and to gaslight me into believing any of it. Erase my own grip on reality and on my own lived experience, so you can rewrite history and I’ll corroborate it for you.

[sticky-institute]

Travel Diary: Zinefest Christchurch, by Bryce Galloway

I used to go to all of New Zealand’s annual zinefests, but now that there’s six of them (!?!?) I only go to my hometown zinefests - Hamilton/Wellington, and one other, in strict rotation. I’m weird like that, just ask my friends.

Last time I was here (2013) I was in a lonely hotel on the edge of Cathedral Square, telling the assembled locals to go zine, cos it was one of the best cultural vehicles for a city lacking infrastructure. Christchurch (Ōtautahi) was post-quake. Christchurch is still post-quake, just a little less so.

This time round I’m staying with friend, artist, musician and Content Manager at inde radio station RDU - Gemma Syme. I slept on Gemma’s coach, until drunken friends and flatmates woke me with their banter and late-night fry-up. I listened to the drunken Pakeha boys try and argue their iwi (tribal) status with the Māori girls. What, with the sleeping bag over my head, I totally missed that one of the boys in question was friend and zinester Spencer Hall. Once they’d left I got up and checked they’d turned the oven off. Those, “don’t drink and fry” ads, ya know?

I see nobody from Christchurch Zinefest 2013 at the 2017 event. This must be a completely new local zine spasm. However, Christchurch’s ongoing love of the risograph and the influence of designer/art school lecturer Luke Wood are still present, extended by Jane Maloney’s riso press (M/K Press Ltd) and her pre-Zinefest riso-zine workshops.

Christchurch Art Centre are providing this space by virtue of the fact that they have a zinester in their ranks - Louise Sutherland. Otherwise, Alice Bush is the primary organizer of this year’s event.

Louise’s zines precede her. She be the author of the wonderful Coaster Frenzy, here today for just “$1 or swaps”. Alice and I gush our respective roller coaster stories at the Coaster Frenzy author. Alice has the world’s highest rollercoaster under her belt. I have the world’s highest vertical-drop rollercoaster under mine, which is surprising, I HATE heights. I launch into the Dead Kennedy’s rollercoaster disaster anthem Funland at the Beach, and later kick myself for the inappropriateness of that song in the context of post-quake Christchurch!!!

Louise says she feels privileged to have been part of the Christchurch rebuild, “It’s a moment in history. How many of those do we get to share.” Louise contends that Christchurch art and music have benefitted from the quakes; that a formerly closed scene, full of hierarchies, is now open to all players. That’s very ziney. It’s a sentiment echoed in issue two of the riso music journal Cheap Thrills (at Zinefest with editor - Erin Kimber). In the opening article - On the Value of Music - Matt Scobie writes, “I believe these events allowed or encouraged us to break free of the shackles of competitive individualism driven by exchange values and start acknowledging the importance of seeing the Ōtautahi music community as a synergetic whole…”

Hey, there’s Cameron from riso design journal Strips Club. His Strips Club collaborator’s moved to Berlin. Maybe there won’t be another volume of Strips Club. “Awe, do a White Fungus.” I encourage. “Berlin/Chch to their Taiwan/Wellington. Interview White Fungus’s Hanson brothers.” We talk politics, voting patterns, Winston Peters, the “king-maker” in post-election New Zealand. Cameron tells me about the massive Justice Building, that cynically opened for election season photo ops with members of the incumbent National party, closing again for ongoing construction as soon as the polling booths were shut.

I do the stall-holder circuit, it probably takes about an hour to get a reasonable handle on the qualities of the various zines on offer. All the zinesters are doing the same thing; doing the whole circuit before deciding how to spend their budget of $5, $10, or $20. I spend every cent that I make in sales of my own zine - Incredibly Hot Sex with Hideous People. I get all zinesters to sign their work.

There are approximately 20 stall-holders here according to Alice: Asian exchange students have written about racism against their own, David Merritt has his foldout poetry housed in upcycled books and banana box linings, there’s a zine from the Christchurch Women’s Centre, Spencer’s pop-up comics and satirical propaganda commands (Spencer also passes round a folded piece of paper for a comics jam on fictitious FX pedals), there are other inde comics, second hand books, witch zines, potion zines, stickers, handmade jewelry, cassettes, CD-zines, creative writing, sci fi stories, photo zines, travel zines, cat zines, music zines, even a zine about zines.

I sell more zines when I’m not on my stall than when I am there!?!? I’m not surprised, zine shopping is a potentially self-consciousness experience in the extreme. Where else do you examine someone’s art while they examine your face for signs of enjoyment, waiting for you to decide whether their art’s good enough to purchase. Imagine being installed next to your own gallery painting, with your hand out!? But that’s also the best thing about zinefest, you meet ALL the artists.

Bleeeurh! A bit tired and hungover now. Need coffee. The worst busker in the world sits in her wheelchair outside Bunsen Café warbling some churchy dirges over karaoke backing. Too good to be full-o-character, too bad to forgive her genre of choice.

My zinefest neighbor is a scrapbooker from the US, so I’m compelled to ask her if she thinks the scrapbooker kits one finds in art/stationary shops are a rip. Thankfully, she does. She appears to be afloat in NZ, not knowing if her art school back in the US will be restructured out of existence or not. Is looking to find an arts program in New Zealand.  

Cameron of Strip Club packs up early. Bastard! Makes a huge hole in the wee zinefest presence/footprint.

I’m just not acclimatized to this Christchurch cold. They’ve put the Wellington guy in exactly the wrong place, by the draughty doorway. Locals chit chat in tee shirts while I hug myself, jacket zipped, hat pulled tight!?!?

I’m encouraging Louie of Dunedin Zinefest and Alice of Christchurch to get committees of helpers. They’re both currently running their zinefests solo!?!?

Spencer tells me to check out his story about NZ alt rock legend Bruce Russel being the alter-ego of NZ alt rock legend Martin Phillips, as printed in his Lyttelton Rotten Radio zine.

It’s nearly 5 PM. I pack up and make short work of my farewells so that I can catch a bus to the airport and relax knowing I’m in the right place for my flight back to Wellington.

Back home and checking the best of my haul:

Cheap Thrills Issue 2 - an elegant risographed volume of NZ music past and present

Wandering Wolves is a gorgeous riso, the very first zine of Prabha Mallya, made at one of the workshops leading up to zinefest. Poetic mix of tagged animal narrative, poetry, illustration, photo and collage.

Field Notes from The Crescent City – July 2017 “It’s a very efficient and sensible method of burial that ensures you can never ever escape your family, even in death.”

Louise Sutherland’s holiday snaps and memories of New Orleans (including its cemeteries), well enough written and photographed to transcend any photo album limitations

A Most Elusive Species – by Louise Sutherland’s brother Robert. Photo essay of seemingly empty zoo enclosures. A subtle variety to the picture-by-picture approach creating a rewarding sense of narrative.

Burn Out is a pun. Yes, there are cars, but the scars are not the result of spinning tyres but of the sun’s rays peeling the paint off that once proud finish - by Robert Sutherland.

The cutest wee Untitled zine that pitches it’s teensiness against clipped horror narratives from Greek myth.

Cuss Weird cussing birds. Inexplicable.

OX OX OX... a CDR economically clothed in a folded A3. Rockabilly are the first chords, with hints of Ramones and Stooges. Next song is quite different, same vocal stylings but over “Dunedin Sound” meets Fall repetition. In the zine, we’re regaled with some pretty compelling “um and ah” misadventures from the band’s singer. Now they play a kiwified Joy Division cover. Sweeet!

Strawberry Stories runs some loopy narrative logic, or lack thereof. And some nice red spot-colour on the strawberry coloured one, though s/he’s not actually a strawberry eh, s/he’s like a person with a tree growing outta their head!?!?

A Zine Fanzine Beautifully designed and laid out riso about zines. Tightened up my own understanding about the provenance of zines, though changes to conjecture when talking about post internet zines.

Misc - Excellent poems by Arwen Miriama Sommer. “Snow is built of feathers and birds are built of trees”

All About the Sex* The Christchurch Women’s Centre decide to distribute their newsletter at zinefest, so it’s a zine now. An intro to the Woman’s Centre and their weekly discussion forum, plus an intro to the Red Tent movement and editorial about aging women’s identity.

Rotten Radio Zine - Spencer Hall’s good at writing original meandering comedy nonsense about music and culture.

[aion-rsa]

What Makes The Expanse a Truly International Show

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We talked to the cast and creators behind The Expanse about bringing such a global story to the Amazon platform.

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When The Expanse Season 4 launches on Amazon in December, the science fiction drama based on the bestselling series of books by James S.A. Corey will be available in the "same" place around the world for the first time ever as an Amazon Global Original. 

Previously, The Expanse aired on Syfy in the United States, streamed on Amazon Prime domestically, and was available internationally via Netflix, with all of those release dates coming at different times. When Amazon swooped in to save The Expanse after Syfy cancelled it after three seasons, that not only meant we would get more of one of the best and most vital shows on TV, it also meant that, moving forward, this story would be made available to multiple countries closer to the same time.

Prime Video, as it is sometimes known, launched globally in 2016, becoming available in more than 200 countries and territories. This is in addition to the more than 100 million people in the U.S. who have access to Amazon Prime Video, according to a Consumer Intelligence Research Partners survey.

While The Expanse has always been a show that works to include diverse perspectives and tell a story about what outward expansion would look like not just for the United States or the western world, but for the entirety of the human race, this is particularly true heading into Season 4, based off the events of Corey's Cibola Burn. When we catch back up with the crew of the Roci, they will be setting off on a U.N. mission to explore the new worlds beyond the Ring Gates, the first step of a new world for humanity, which is now faced with the opportunity to explore thousands of Earth-like planets.

read more: The Expanse Season 4 — What's Next For Naomi & Amos?

Den of Geek was part of a group of reporters who had the chance to chat with the cast and creative team behind The Expanse about the move to Amazon and what makes The Expanse such an international show.

"Whether we succeeded or not, it was always the intention to not have the American experience of space, you know, the mandate was always the show cannot be white guys in space," says Ty Franck, one half of the writing team known as James S.A. Corey who writes the books and serves as an executive producer on the show.

"Because of that [mandate]," says Franck, "we always sort of tried to write to as many different audiences as we could. Hopefully we succeed more than we fail, that's always the intention. And I think, you get people in other countries, they see themselves on screen, and we're talking about issues that are true worldwide and not just true here."

Franck's writing partner and fellow executive producer Daniel Abraham noted that, in writing The Expanse book series, the authors drew from historical precedent and not just American or western examples. Because "history rhymes," Abraham said, this has led to the books and TV show feeling not only internationally-relevant, but also extremely topical, with The Expanse showrunner Naren Shankar adding that modern parallels to the experiences the characters go through in the series are often discussed in the writers room, using the Syrian refugee crisis and Prax's experience as a refugee as one example.

read more: Why We Need The Expanse More Than Ever

"It was always a part of the project," says Abraham, speaking about the books' diverse cast of characters that is also maintained in the show. "When we were talking about it, the mandate of the books was to be as rich, as diverse and the full as our lived experience of world and doing less than that seems weird. So as long as the show was as complex as like a teaching hospital, we win."

"And everybody is, you know, first and foremost human," adds Shankar, "which means, they're good and they're bad. There are violent people and kind people on every side of the factions in terms of Earth, Mars, and the Belt, of every color and every gender. It's like... they're people. And that's what people are."

While it's important to note that The Expanse is an American TV series filmed in Canada and based on a series of novels written by two Americans, it also includes an incredibly diverse cast who hail from around the world themselves. We spoke to some of them about what makes The Expanse an international show and what the move to Amazon could mean for the show's ability to start conversations and encourage change.

read more: The Expanse Season 5 Confirmed

"I am very excited about the fact that they are on Amazon because this is a global show," says Dominique Tipper, who plays Belter and Roci crew member Naomi. "It's very allegorical and I think not many of the people see themselves in the characters, but they see themselves in the situations that the characters find themselves in."

Tipper, who is half-Domincan, half British and grew up East London, hopes that The Expanse finds a broader audience now that it is on Amazon. "I'm really excited that we are now with somebody who has the kind of weight that Amazon does. Because I think the show is worthy of that in what it represents across the board."

"I just want it to go further," Tipper says. "I wonder if the little kids that grew up how a lot of us on the show grew up have seen it yet. I don't know if they have and I didn't know what it would do for them. I hope it would empower them, and I'm really interested in that and I'm interested in using the show as a vehicle for that—not only for it to be seen as art, but maybe we can use it as some kind of vehicle for outreach in the communities that we represent because I don't really see the point of it otherwise. So I think we're going to start working on that."

I am half Dominican & half British & like so many of the BAME faces you see on your UK AND US TV screens, WE are descendants of the Windrush generation. The Windrush generation have as much right to be here in the UK as any one else. Please support this cause! @AllWindrush %u2764%uFE0F pic.twitter.com/fXVa2aj8N1

— Dominique Tipper (@Mi55Tipper) May 23, 2018

Frankie Adams, a New Zealand-Samoan actress who plays Martian Bobbie Draper, is proud to be an example of a Pacific Islander on TV, but notes that she is one of only few examples across film and television.

"There's not really many of us that are going active on the world stage, " says Adams, who was born in Samoa and grew up in New Zealand, "and the only person I can think of that I saw when I was younger was Lilo from Lilo & Stitch and her big sister, and that was great, but there was never anybody that I saw that I was like, 'Oh my god, that's me,' you know?"

read more: The Expanse Book 8 Review — Tiamat's Wrath

Adams spoke about the privilege of having the opportunity to be that for other women, saying: "I definitely experience that with women in New Zealand, Australia, and in the Pacific Islands where they've gone, 'Oh, like Frankie's doing it, that's so awesome.' It just gives them so much hope and I think it's such a wonderful thing to do for young women."

The only photo I got at the wrap party. You%u2019re welcome. pic.twitter.com/Wt5d1htlLd

— Frankie Adams (@ffrankieadams) January 28, 2019

"The show is about the people of the world," says Iranian-American actress Shohreh Aghdashloo, who plays U.N. Secretary-General Chrisjen Avasarala on The Expanse. "It should have been on Amazon from Day One. If it's about the people of the world it should be shown to the people of the world."

Aghdashloo says that, prior to the Amazon switch, she would have to tape the show and send it to her brothers and mother, who live in the U.K., to watch.

"Now, they get to watch it simultaneously," says Aghdashloo. "These game-changers can change everything, it's just incredible, unbelievable that the whole world gets to watch this show and see what is happening in this future world. Which they keep calling it science fiction and I keep saying there's nothing fiction about it anymore, this is what is happening in today's world."

Cas Anvar, who plays Martian and Roci crew member Alex, was born in Canada to Iranian parents. He spoke to Den of Geek about the importance of the organic diversity of the Expanse world, and how important it is not only for viewers of color, but white audience members as well, to see.

read more: The Expanse Season 4 Reveals Release Date, Footage at SDCC

"It's not just as important for the kids of color and the women of color and the paint color to see themselves," Anvar says. "It's also equally important for the people who are not of color to see these people in those positions so that they can go, 'That's normal.'"

"I think it's only fitting because it is such a global narrative," says Steven Strait, who plays Holden, of the move to Amazon. "We were in Europe recently and we went through Germany and we met people from France and all over that part of the world. And it's remarkable how universal the story is."

Strait said he was struck by the fact that, even though the source material was written beginning almost 10 years ago, the story feels so relevant to what's happening now.

"I think we do have a globalized world," Strait says, "and a lot of the issues we deal with in the show sociopolitically and what not are mirrored all over the place: the things we're dealing with in the States are similar things they are dealing with, Europe which are similar things they're dealing with, Asia. It's a universal human narrative."

The Expanse Season 3 Reviews | The Expanse Season 2 Reviews

For Strait and the other cast members, The Expanse represents not only a chance to tell an important story, but starts important discussions.

"The show really reflects the current state of affairs and how intimately it shows what the repercussions of those things are across borders," says Strait. "[Science fiction] is a genre that really lends itself to allegory and using allegory in very powerful way. One of the things I'm most proud of on this show is that, in a time where things are really divided and it's very difficult to communicate across partisan lines or social lines or whatever... art can manage to bridge a divide and you can spark conversations out there that maybe wouldn't be had otherwise. If you mask the names and times, and things like that, that allow it to be more digestible. I think it's one of the things I'm most proud of about this show. The work feels important."

The Expanse Season 4 will return on December 13th on Amazon. The show has already been greenlit for a fifth season.

Kayti Burt is a staff editor covering books, TV, movies, and fan culture at Den of Geek. Read more of her work here or follow her on Twitter @kaytiburt.

Read and download the Den of Geek SDCC 2019 Special Edition Magazine right here!

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Kayti Burt

Aug 7, 2019

the expanse

The Expanse Season 4

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SDCC 2019

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[calajane]

About those racist lines in Shadowhunters

I’ve been seeing a lot of fans in the shadowhunters tag complain over the increase of sexist and racist remarks in season two (the most recent line of dialogue had Izzy use „stay, good doggy” when addressing a werewolf – a clearly racism remark due to the “downworlders are the minorities” metaphor the show employs). Like other people in the fandom, I find that increase disturbing and frustrating, because very little in season one prepared us for this casual racism and sexism that we are seeing.

But I also find it all incredibly realistic.

Now, I need to ask you to bear with me here, and at the same time, I need to put up a disclaimer that there’s a huge chance I’m overanalyzing and the writers probably didn’t see it the way I’m about to present it. Very few creators pay such attention to details, and shadowhunters writers and producers are definitely not among them (look no further than the flashbacks castings case if you need evidence).

Here’s a thing: season 1 events took 19 days (according to interviews). That’s three weeks, most of which was spent outside the institute and/or away from a lot of shadowhunters. Three weeks is not enough to learn about someone else’s culture in anything but broad strokes. We didn’t learn much about Idris and the shadowhunters culture outside of “must.kill.demons.” and “clave is the governing body the institutes fall under”. But in that time, we did learn that shadowhunters view themselves as superior to downworlders because of their angelic blood (as opposed to demon blood that downworlders have). Shadowhunters see downworlders as “less” because of that and employ a number of discriminatory tactics to make sure downworlders know who’s in charge.

Calling a person “warlock” or “vampire” is stripping that person of their individuality, equating their whole existence to that of the downworld race they belong to. It’s like calling a black guy a “thug”. It’s dehumanizing, which is the first thing one does to justify violence against somebody: you make them less than you, so you can tell yourself they deserve it, and that you’re not a bad person for violating them. That’s racism. If you don’t see it, you’re probably white. Congrats on your privilege.

Now, you might recall that in the Malec episode from season 1, the writers changed the homophobic shadowhunter society, took the homophobia out and replaced it with racism. Alec’s parents didn’t care he kissed a guy in front of everyone, it’s the warlock part they had a problem with. Luke has been thrown out and lost all support from his friends and family not because he had a misfortune to associate with a guy who decided to kill a lot of people, but because he got turned into a werewolf – Hodge and the Lightwood parents also associated with Valentine, but notice how they weren’t banished (de-runed). Werewolf Luke lost everything.

Now, you can’t tell me that this kind of deeply ingrained prejudice against downworlders wouldn’t come with a set of micro-aggressions, negative stereotypes and a variety of phrases and vocabulary that were (consciously or not) passed down to the younger generation. And if you’re taught from the early years that shadowhunters are superior to everyone (from the poor little mundane who can’t wipe their noses let alone protect themselves from demons to downworlders who are tainted with demon blood and victims to their own base instincts) and the only time you interact with mundane and downworlders is when you are fighting with demons, or imposing the law on downworlders or during any other interaction that is far from a friendly one, you have nowhere and no one to teach you otherwise.

People are hurt and offended that the writers had Izzy use racist language because she’s a woman and a Latina and had a relationship with Meliorn and is friends with Magnus and Simon.

Me? Frankly, I’m surprised we didn’t get more of that sooner!

We had Alec be dismissive, rude and offensive towards mundane in season one. We had Alec make a suggestive comment about Izzy’s relationship with Meliorn as if having sex with a Seelie was somehow kinky in on itself.

Saying that Izzy wouldn’t use racist language and other micro-aggressions towards a downworlder because of hers and her brother’s relationships with specific individual downworlders is like saying “I can’t be racist! Some of my best friends are black!”

We’re talking about growing up in a very racist, conservative environment where the knowledge that would expose the younger generation to outside perspectives is highly regulated if not outright banned. Hodge is not allowed to talk about the Circle and everything they did (and all the crimes and wrongness committed by the Circle on downworlders) unless he wants to endure incredible amount of pain. I’m betting a lot that both Lightwood siblings start with the “my best friend is black!” mentality in season one. Meliorn is cool and Magnus is awesome, but they are outliers. They are the exceptions and Luke used to be a shadowhunters. They are allowed their humanity, but we can’t be sure about all those other downworlders…

Those other downworlders like Camille, who turned Simon without consent. Like Raphael who is mean and threatens Simon all the time. Like Gretel, and Alaric and Gretel’s godfather.

It hasn’t been a year for these characters. It has been THREE WEEKS since they started being exposed to the notion that downworlders should not be painted with the same brush and that the shadowhunters are not superior angel warriors who can do no wrong. You cannot get rid of all the things you’ve been taught in three weeks. I’ve been exposed to different perspectives and what racism, sexist and LGBTQ discrimination looks like and how to recognize it in my own behavior for over a decade now and I still make mistakes and bite my tongue when I realize my first reaction could come off as offensive.

Do I wish the show wouldn’t have this problematic dialogue and set up? Yes. But at the same time, given the narrative we were presented with since season one, I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of that.

[geekpellets]

Twitches

Twin Witches The Witch After being kicked out of town, a family struggles to survive against forces both natural and supernatural. One of the earliest films I reviewed on this blog is Borgman, and it and The Witch are the same sort of film. The horror isn’t visceral. It’s a creeping horror, one that drips and drip and drips until the stone breaks. The horror in watching genuinely good people break. The question is when, how, why, to what extent, and who really suffers in the end. The witch is scary, people are always scarier, and it all comes back around in one nice neat circle. I like this movie a lot. The characters are well written, well acted, and human. That humanity is the key factor here, as we sit and wonder how much of that humanity, that goodness, has to be shelved for the sake of survival. How much of what’s shelved is necessary, how much of it is fear, depression, hopelessness. It’s a very real question, one that effects our every day lives, one explored in a number of genres. The characters live this question out very well. The child actors are good. Even the twins, who annoyed me from the start, aren’t bad actors. There’s one seen where a child is doing what he knows he shouldn’t be doing, and his face shows you all the fear going through his mind, but he keeps doing this thing against himself, and it’s portrayed perfectly. I thought the movie was very well paced. It never felt like there was filler. One thing always seemed to lead directly to the other. There’s a lot of gray in the movie, as if it was under heavy fog. The movie is stingy with its darkness, and I mean that visually and narratively. A lot of what happens in the movie is more of a drama, but you know the darkness is right around the corner, one the outset, circling the gray like a pack of wolves. When they use darkness, they use it well. Because they know how to use it, and because it isn’t used everywhere all the time, it feels particularly effective. Of course, it could just be that they simply know how to use it effectively. They know just what to leave to the imagination. Just what. There is imagery in this movie that is gorgeous, unique, and often unexpected. You have this gray world, but at times it will cut to a scene that looks like it could be from a fairy tale or a macabre painting. While I caught on to what type of movie this was going to be early on, I couldn’t have predicted how it would all play out. Lots of what happened in the last thirty minutes took me by surprise. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to get as bloody and creative as it did. A lot of this kind of “arthouse horror” films don’t pay off that way. The ending of this movie is quick, vicious, disturbing, and melancholy, and it flows like butter, to a point. I do feel like the film could have ended about ten minutes earlier and be just as good, but I also feel like the last 10 minutes hammers in the thematic point, as well as providing a question that makes you reconsider the events in the film a little, and pays homage to the fairytale/folk tale roots, that it does wear on its sleeve, it tells it to you from the beginning, but it plays itself so seriously that you can be forgiven for forgetting during long periods where this aspect of the movie is not in play. Like the Blair Witch, the Witch here is very threatening to me because they use her so little, but her machinations are all over the movie, they weigh so heavily on the unknowing characters, and she makes tearing people down seem so simple. Frighteningly so. You can have Jason running around killing people, that’s very nice and I love it, but manipulating a family to collapse in on itself and become the source of its own demise in such a terrible fashion, that’s horror. That people, irl, are willing to do horrible things for the sake of fear, suspicion, sadness, anger, loss, etc, that’s horror. I truly enjoyed this movie, which should not surprise me, because I also liked Borgman. In my opinion, the Witch is way better. The Witch pays off in really interesting ways. I haven’t said anything negative about this film other than two of the kids are annoying, as characters, intentionally so. Like Borgman, like any kind of arthouse horror film, it’s not for everyone, yet to me this is definitely among the best of them. 7 Witches ...Goddammit! So, here’s what I’m thinking the moment I start this. “....wow, these are some embarrassing opening credits. Alright, so this film is a bit amateurish. Wow, even in monochrome that blood looks awful.” Moments later, “Ok, this acting is...not good. Barely mediocre. Just on the cusp of being good enough to be mediocre. Except this guy, this guy (the dad) is truly awful. This script is ass. Already. Already this script is ass. Alcoholism, the pinnacle of comedy. Fuck this mediocre Disney channel script. Fuck me. What the fuck.” That’s before the meat of the plot, which I assumed was going to be like the Covenant. Preacher that looks like he slays vampires, and not in a cool way like the priest from Dead Alive. It has filler, in the form of cooking montages. The movie fails to build any suspense or atmosphere because the effects are bad, the “spooky” “unsettling” things are unintentionally silly, and it relies on the music to do all of the work for it. The cooking montages are the perfect example. Oh no, she’s making cinnamon rolls. Scary! Seriously? SERIOUSLY!? And do we need a three minute long sex scene with a guy who lacks any and all charisma when he acts AND when he fucks? Then he leaves and we watch two of the women make out in slow motion for a full minute that leads to...another spooky cooking montage! It’s like...did...did they even have a story here? DID they!? You know, shorts are a very popular thing. Maybe this should have been a short. I like shorts, and there are plenty of shorts that last 20-30+ minutes. Maybe that’s where this should have gone. It takes 30 minutes for the thing to really get started, remember, hour long film, and it just means more cheesy dialogue and bad effects. For what it’s worth, they never use CG, so there’s that. I could go on and on about what they did wrong, but let’s not. Let’s talk about what they did right, because in addition to the gracefully short run time and attempt at practical effects, the movie actually has some really lovely picturesque shots. It’s not a saving grace, but it does make the movie a whole lot more watchable than it otherwise would be. For every 10-15 minutes of bullshit, you get a really nice shot. Camera guy has a real career ahead of him. I will also say this, for what it’s worth, I do feel like the director had good attentions. There are times were I could feel that somewhere in this movie was genuine passion, but you know, that just doesn’t always result in what you want it to.

[flauntpage]

THINKS: Max Guy

For this week’s THINKS to Think I present to you an artist who shares an interest with myself, one which is becoming more and more popular in a time of alternative facts and disturbing realities, it seems. Here is Max Guy, on tarot:

  Dear Keeley,

I’ve been having difficulty thinking of what I might contribute in regards to tarot and tarot reading, which is a relatively new practice for me.

Does tarot itself need an introduction? Tarot are playing cards, typically in a deck of 78 with five suits that include the twenty-two major arcana and 56 minor arcana divided into suits (originally the suits were: cups, coins, wands and swords). Each card is ascribed an archetype or quality that serves as the basis for cartomancy; a typical read involves a questioner shuffling a deck with a question in mind, pulling one or more cards from it and interpreting them. An individual can read the cards for themselves or for another person. The most common spreads (a combination of cards laid out to interpret) are probably the ‘Celtic-Cross,’ which uses 10 cards to devise a narrative, or a three-card draw, in which cards correspond to past, present, and future events respectively.

  For this Celtic Cross spread, some time in 2017, I asked no question.

  My introduction to tarot was pretty unremarkable. Perhaps like many other good things one finds affinity towards, I did not expect that reading the cards would become such an important daily ritual. I started reading tarot a little under a year ago in October of 2016, after returning to Chicago from a three-month stay in New York City. One night at my friend Laura’s house, rather than going out for a drink, we decided to stay in and read the cards for one another. She had recently moved into her own apartment and also accepted a full-time position; I was looking forward to a fresh start in Chicago with a part-time job. I tend to keep a photographic record of all of my readings but these first readings – hers and mine – have disappeared. My question though, regarded finding secondary work and was, in hindsight, a trivial one; the answer was rightfully confusing.

Since that first reading I have purchased three decks: the classic Rider-Waite deck designed by Pamela Coleman Smith, Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe Tarot, and Susanne Treister’s Hexen 2.0 deck. Some of the books I’ve picked up along the way to learn more about the tarot are Tarot for One by Courtney Weber, The Way of the Tarot by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Marianne Costa, Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism translated by Robert Powell and the Shining Tribe Tarot by Rachel Pollack. Lastly, Italo Calvino’s book The Castle of Crossed Destinies has been incredibly influential in my understanding of the types of narratives that can be constructed and the freedom and malleability of interpretation of the cards.

  Comparing the Wheel of Fortune, Four of Pentacles, and Two of Wands in Suzanne Treister’s Hexen 2.0 Deck (left) and Rachel Pollack’s Shining Tribe Tarot (right).

  Tarot has also proved cathartic within the present political climate in which the truth is obscured by alternative facts and fake news. Tarot turns such things into a game; by shuffling the cards and meditating on past, present and future events we are prepare ourselves for the unknown. We celebrate the presence of chance.

I don’t have a real investment in the mystical, psychoanalytic or occult studies that typically enlist the tarot as a supplement. For example, some people use the cards in order to elaborate on astrological readings. Because of this I often have difficulty describing my own interest in tarot. It probably appeals to my interests in symbolism, sequential art, collecting, but more than anything, tarot is social. I frequently post readings and spreads on Instagram (@m_xg_y).

Following, is a list of notes on the cards that will likely appear as vague to many readers, but have certainly helped me flesh out my own approach and investment:

  1.  Tarot is a game.

2.  That tarot is a game should not discount its graveness. That we come to tarot with questions already says quite a bit.

3.  Tarot is a system of divination like palm reading, geomancy, astrology, necromancy etc. it is a way of speaking and listening to chance.

4.  Tarot circumscribes the unknowable, the unspeakable?

5.  To read for another person implies some mutual agreement between questioner and reader. This agreement is not necessarily on the meaning of the cards, but on how the cards are to be used. A reader and questioner may have just met, and the encounter demands mutual respect.

6.  Tarot cards present narrative archetypes and memes. They are problematic in the way they inspire hyperbole and superstition.

    7.  Tarot will never grant ethical superiority to a reader or questioner.

8.  Consider the nature of the question when you ask it. More often than not, we ask ourselves questions that we already know the answer to. Other times, a question can reveal a present mindset or concern at the root of a problem. Why are you asking in the first place?

9.  Sometimes, a question can be distracting us from the topic at hand; anxiety forestalls action.

10.  Some say that tarot works best when a question is “open,” more general. Hypothetical questions work well.

11.  A good exercise is to read without questions, shuffling and drawing a card on which to meditate. Even this has its trappings, such as when an interpretation becomes prescriptive.

12.  It is important to contextualize the read, considering the present moment, the limits of retrospection and foresight. How far into the future or past are you looking, are you reflecting on a present state of mind?

13.  The Rider-Waite deck, in contrast to the images on earlier decks such as the Marseilles or the Visconti pack, presents almost entirely figurative imagery. In some ways, decks that use figuration challenge the reader to be less hyperbolic, and reflect on our implicit biases. Decks such as the Marseilles or the Visconti make use of numerology.

  A card I pulled after the second date with my girlfriend, in June of 2017.

  14. Even cards like the Devil and Death can be interpreted with optimism.

15. Of the 78 cards in a typical deck, none of the cards are really opposite of another, although in combination they can present ironies and contradictions.

16. When a card is drawn upside-down, it is in reverse, but this reversal is not the opposite of the card in upright position. For example: the reversal of the Death card does not imply life or resurrection, but instead symbolizes stagnancy. There is a card for love, but the reversal does not imply hate. A reversal can even be affirmative.

17. Bad omens are scary, good omens are encouraging! Do not be afraid to express yourself when reading. Be mindful of your reactions. Tenderness is a virtue.

18. To read tarot well is to read or interpret aspects of oneself rather than attribute foresight to the image before us. In thinking through the nature of a question we are thinking through how to proceed in life and otherwise.

19. If there is such a thing as mastery of the tarot, the master will have found a powerful vehicle for skepticism. People talk about a “gift” in tarot, and I believe it is a combination of skepticism, self-awareness and tenderness.

20. Maybe mastery of tarot will allow the cards to be replaced by sticks and stones, or investing.

  Peace!

Max

  Max Guy is an artist. You can find information about him here.

Delight #4: Le Fabuleux Destin d’Amélie Poulain

Episode 214: Constellations: Paintings from the MCA Collection

Episode 32: Lane Relyea

Are immigrants better at putting deconstruction to work?

Episode 492: Tucker Nichols

THINKS: Max Guy published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv