#paula deserves better

[astragatwo]

"Listen, I'm not your sidekick—"

[immagrosscandy]

y6ch18 feat. hora de aventura reference

[ishkabibblethings]

I'm forcing myself through s7-9 for research and the physical cringe from how bad some of these beats are. I get whiplash because there are some gems lost in there.

Harvey wants one last hurrah with Mike before he's fully the boss again? Excellent, love it, give more now please. Donna suddenly whining about not being handed a job she shouldn't have? Please tear out my eyes. Gretchen calling Donna out for whining about supporting everyone else because her job is literally a support role? Gimme my eyes back I love Gretchen.

Donna used to have tipsy child free aunt vibes, and now she's unappreciated housewife. And it's such a downer.

[majestativa]

You only have to look at the Medusa straight on to see her. And she’s not deadly. She’s beautiful and she’s laughing.

— Hélène Cixous, The Medusa Reader, transl by Keith Cohen & Paula Cohen, (2013)

[paula-in-dreamland]

Anyways im abt halfway through ‘The Empty Throne’ and Stiorra is my bb girl who must be protected at all costs. Like not just cemented into my brain as blorbo #1, but ingrained - stitched - branded.

Also when i find Bernard on the cape this summer, we’re going to have a long chat about him KILLING HER OFF SO SIGTRYGGR COULD BE WITH HIS HISTORICAL WIFE BULLSHIT. Like… you already gave Sigtryggr different kids then irl and an actual wife and had none of those kids live to succeed him irl. Did you REALLY need him to marry Eadgyth? Esp when there are theories that she remained a virgin? And never had any of his kids? And they were LITERALLY MARRIED FOR A YEAR AT MOST THEN HE DIED. And im pretty sure their marriage had nothing to do with Edward/Aethelstan being able to take York? Like you could have written around it?!

Thank you for coming to my TedTalk

[twilightpackfanatfics]

Letters To Santa

Tis The Season entry #2 is live.

Summary: Leah goes to drop off a letter for Santa at her local post office, not realizing it's going to change her life for the better. Prompt: TPFHolidayChallenge1223. Song of choice: Kirje joulupukille by Paula Vesala. Story Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TPFHolidayChallenge1223/works/51745360 For more information on TPF's final writing challenge of 2023, Tis The Season, please check out the Collection Profile Page here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TPFHolidayChallenge1223/profile Twilight Pack Fanatfics Admin Note: I'm attempting to make banners to post with all submissions - If authors wish to make their own, please contact me through FB messenger or via the TPF's Short Story Challenge email listed on the Collection Profile page. xo.

Summary: Leah goes to drop off a letter for Santa at her local post office, not realizing it's going to change her life for the better. Rating: Teen and Up. F/F. Prompt: TPFHolidayChallenge1223. Song of choice: Kirje joulupukille by Paula Vesala. Story Link: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TPFHolidayChallenge1223/works/51745360 For more information on TPF's final writing challenge of 2023, Tis The Season, please check out the Collection Profile Page here: https://archiveofourown.org/collections/TPFHolidayChallenge1223/profile Twilight Pack Fanatfics Admin Note: I'm attempting to make banners to post with all submissions - If authors wish to make their own, please contact me through FB messenger or via the TPF's Short Story Challenge email listed on the Collection Profile page. xo.

[f-yeah-no-evil]

No Evil and "Women's Work": a mini feminist analysis

We talk about this conversation between Xochiquetzal and Murder a lot on this blog, but this isn't about yuri today. Rather, we're focusing on how these two characters mutually respect the work the other does: Xochiquetzal is your traditional girly-girl, nurturing, artistic, and surrounded by an entourage of butterflies. Murder is certainly not un-feminine, but she is a fighter - she has no ties to the domain of the home, considered strictly the woman's domain in both aztec and western culture. And yet, despite their immensely different paths in life (and subtly, their subsequent relationships to womanhood), they recognize the other's work as vital to the wellness of the world, traditional gender roles or no.

The same conversation is echoed on a smaller scale only a few pages later, between Kitty and Paula. Here, Kitty is so obviously in the right that Paula's insistence she'll never be taken seriously for her work is overtly comical, but the joke is not that Kitty's way is clearly better - it's the idea either form of labor is less worthy of respect. It's a difficult needle to thread without getting preachy, and that Lee does it so well here continues to impress me.

Speaking of Kitty, an adjacent idea shows up in Wrip an' Vinkle. Overtly, Kitty's quilt is a necessary component of the ritual, as much as Corn's shamanism. But! There's something she says to Ichabod that always struck me:

Icky: Wrip deserves a... cleverer partner. Kitty: Wrip deserves to choose what she likes.

It's a fantastic deconstruction of the idea "women always choose stupid men/jerks because they don't know what's good for them." While not about the work Wrip does, it's a lovely twist on the classic folklore adages about women - it's not that Wrip chose the right or wrong man, it's that she chose her man was what was right. To top it all off, Wrip's particular skillset does come in clutch in this same episode, convincing Corn to come by and do the ritual.

From warriors to seamstresses, all work women do is valuable, and the choices they make are to be respected. Lots of 'feminist' media doesn't engage this concept with half as much grace, feeling the need to shunt the traditional girly-girl under the bus (rick riordan COUGH) - but No Evil steadfastly refuses to dirt-talk any woman, from any walk of life. Pretty cool!

[100gayicons]

Rock Hudson was the subject of my first post on this Tumblr five years ago. Since that time, more information has surfaced about his love life, so I thought he deserved an update.

Hudson might be the most famous Old Hollywood movie star who was secretly homosexual. For a gay man of his generation (born in 1925), you didn’t come out of the closet, regardless of your social standing or occupation. But by becoming a major movie star in the 1950s, it put pressure on him to maintain his secret.

Born Roy Scherer, Hudson grew up in Illinois. After his father abandoned the family, his mother got a divorce and remarried, with Roy taking his stepfather’s last name as his own— becoming Roy Fitzgerald.

Roy joined the Navy in 1944 after graduating from high school. His discharge was in 1946, and he made his way to Hollywood. A Navy buddy introduced him to a radio producer, who tried to help him get connections in film. (They lived together and became lovers.)

He eventually came under the wing of talent agent Henry Willson. Willson was famous for helping to make many handsome men become movie stars. But first, he changed their names to something more masculine and rugged. Roy became Rock Hudson.

There were rumors in Hollywood that Henry Willson required his male clients to repay him with something beyond the usual 10% to agents.

After being signed by Universal Studios, Hudson went through its talent development program (acting classes, etc.). By 1952, he became a leading man. I imagine that as his fame grew, the stress of keeping his secret grew geometrically.

In 1955, a scandal magazine threatened to expose Hudson. Henry Willson wasn’t about to lose the biggest star in his stable. So, he negotiated a deal with the magazine — he gave them dirt on two other actors in exchange for tossing out the Hudson story.

After that close call, Willson insisted that the bachelor Hudson get married. What woman would agree to a sham marriage? Willson’s secretary, Phyllis Gates. Two years later, the couple divorced, and Hudson had an ex-wife in his past to help quell more rumors. (In 1987, after Hudson died of AIDS, she wrote a book where she claimed she never knew Hudson was gay. Yet other sources say she threatened to expose his secret to get a better divorce settlement.)

Some of Hudson’s most popular films were “Magnificent Obsession” (1954) costarring Jan Wyman; “Giant” (1956) co starring Elizabeth Taylor; “Pillow Talk” (1959) costarring Doris Day; and “Man's Favorite Sport” costarring Paula Prentiss.

In “Pillow Talk,” Hudson played a straight man who is pretending to be gay to lure Doris into his bed. Rock’s head must have been spinning.

As Hudson’s movie career faded in the 1960s, he found new success in TV. But those rumors had a way of persisting... As the story goes, a group of Gay men in Huntington Beach had an annual party. Their 1971 invitation joked “witness the marriage of Rock Hudson and Jim Nabors". Nabors had starred for a 5-year run on the popular comedy “Gomer Pyle – USMC”.

The punchline to the “joke” was that Hudson would take Nabors’ TV character name and become “Rock Pyle”. Somehow this joke became an urban legend and was spread as a rumor across the country. The joke was on Hudson and Nabors. In fact, the two barely knew each other. They met in 1966 when both visited Angela Lansbury at a performance of “Mame”. And in 1970 when Hudson made a guest appearance on Nabors’s short-lived variety series “The Jim Nabors Hour”. (Perhaps that was the inspiration for the marriage joke?)

(Jim Nabors, the most famous Marine in the USA as “Gomer Pyle”, was also gay. He met a fireman in Hawaii and they were together for 42 years.

Despite the Rock Pyle rumor, Hudson had success with the hit TV series “McMillan & Wife” (1971-1977). In 1984, he appeared in a recurring role on the nighttime soap opera “Dynasty”. But Hudson had been diagnosed with AIDS the same year. His gaunt appearance on the show triggered new rumors. His character was quickly written out of the show (killed off-screen).

Shortly after, Hudson appeared at a press conference with his former screen partner Doris Day to announce her new daytime TV show. It alarmed his fans. Hudson looked ill and at times was incoherent.

Within days, Hudson flew to Paris to treat his “liver cancer”. His publicist denied he had AIDS, but a week later, he confirmed it. Hudson never officially admitted he was gay, but the AIDS diagnosis said it for him. By October 1985, Hollywood movie star Rock Hudson died at home at the age of 59.

AIDS until then was just a “GAY” disease, actress Morgan Fairchild said. “Rock Hudson's death gave AIDS a face."

I’ve included more about Rock’s Lovers at this post:

[graphx]

tpn artbook things I noticed!

MATCHING YUUGO AND RAY VEST IM GOING TO EXPLODEEEEEE

Norman with a gun is so funny to me. He is trying so hard to look cool but he is a bird with hollow bones, the recoil from that lil thing would send him to the floor faster than Ray slapping him

stop pretending ur helping Norman, Don is literally doing all the work behind u

he is so scared to be next to ashye even in the poster (rip zack's nose scar)

the fact that norman looks so much like Nat in the concept art XD is that a cowlick or a halo???!?!!

(CHARLIE BROWN????) I regret pointing this out to my sister because now it's my pfp in her phone

vincent's sense of style will never be anything less than amazing. Look at Cislo he is SO READY for game night :D (JEMIMA AND ZAZIE WITH STUFFED ANIMALS AUGHHHHH)

HES IN HIS COMA EVEN IN THE ART IM- jail. jail for a thousand years. right next to his dead dads too IM DONE

have a Dominic it will make you feel better

Paula not knowing how party poppers work is adorable.

what they deserve (im embarrassed to have andrew's face in my camera roll)

look at Ray and Gilda pretending not to care about their little brothers (they love them more than life itself)

HE IS CARRYING THEIR THINGS JUST LIKE A DAD SHOULDDDDDD (upgraded from old man to walking coat rack :D)

why does phil get a father figure that hasn't died D:/ (jk love that for him more stronk phil plz)

YELLOW EYED VIOLET AND BROWN EYED PHIL JUMPSCARE

(my sister: gillian is dying in the bg

me: this ani't about her)

Barbra 🤝 Gillian stealing demon masks and keeping them as souvenirs

EMMAS LOST SHOE!!!!!!!

.......i'm not gonna say anything here........

there was no Don glow up he was always beautiful to me

little bunny revenge arc

he slept in the dining room???? because he didn't wanna go in the old rooms of his siblings where he wrote poachers DDDD:::::::

the ominous messages behind them!!!!!!

[wizards-and-tea]

earthbound classpecting go!!

disclaimer: I do not have the best grasp/understanding of classpecting and these characters are fairly vague at the best of times, YMMV in regards to accurate this seems, yadda yadda

ness: page of hope. I wanted ness to have a very bright optimistic aspect, as he's the one kinda carrying the storys heart and soul, the idea that things will work out and that people will be there for you. Which kind of describes the hope aspect to a t. That's also a big part of how I chose his aspect, as ness has a long journey throughout the game, needing to contend with the darkest parts of the world (giygas) and himself (the sea of eden). It's a long journey but one he comes out much stronger for and that I feel is characteristic of the page class.

paula: maid of blood. Paula's a powerhouse but I wanted to make sure her classpect focused on more than that, since there's more to her character. Blood is the aspect of connections and relationships, while a maid is class that fully creates their aspect. Using this, maid of blood works perfectly for paula, as she's the first one to pull the party together and to see the connections drawn between them, before she's even met any of them. This carries over into the ending too, where it's paula's prayers and the connections of people throughout the land that give the party the chance to win. Quite literally creating power out of relationships. Another part of the justification is that paula deserves to have the classpect that sounds the most metal.

jeff: I will be so honest in saying jeff has given me the most trouble out of all the chosen four in nailing down a solid classpect but I think i've finally found my answer in mage of mind. part of it is that I think it's funny to give the one non psychic character the mind aspect but also because he is very based in the mind aspect, being logical and rational and avoiding matters of the heart. Where his class comes in is in regard to his struggle. A mage knows everything about their aspect, is intimately familiar with it, so their journey comes in figuring out how far they lean into it. I see this fitting particularly in jeff's fraught relationship with his father, trying to make sense of how far he goes to reconnect and emulate with him. He's so familiar with his own aspect that his biggest struggles lie with the one directly opposite it.

poo: seer of void. This one is fairly straightforward, I wanted void as poos aspect because he is both the one to survive and complete mu/nothingness training and to bring the party back home through nothingness at the end of the game. For a guy that lives what seems to be a very structured, ordered life I like the contrast of him having an aspect that thrives on the unknown and wishy washy. Because that's what mu training in earthbound is all about too isn't it? Learning to hold onto what's solid in the nothingness. That's part of the reason I chose his class too. I was torn between seer and rogue for poo but in the end he's not stealing from the void so much as...weathering the storm. And to that end I feel like an understanding of void that he shares with others fits much better than any of the other classes do.

[hypersomniagame]

HYPERSOMNIA JULY DEV LOG : “LIKE MOTHER LIKE SON”

Yeah baby, none of that "If you're new here" stuff anymore! This is dev log #6! If you're new here read anyways, because if you're reading this you probably know what HYPERSOMNIA is. If not though, then welcome! Let me show you what I've been working on this month!

BUT BEFORE THAT!

If you didn't know, the MOTHER DIRECT is TOMORROW! (Which is why I'm writing this on Friday instead of Saturday)

HYPERSOMNIA will be there! We released a trailer teaser that you can watch right now, and the full trailer will be a part of the direct premiering at 6PM ET!

If you are a content creator, I ask as an indie developer to please talk about the indies and don't just skip over them. I'm not asking this because I want you to talk about my game, but just please talk about the indies because they deserve your attention. Just because you're not familiar with these games doesn't mean they're not worth looking into. If theres an indie game in this direct or in general that catches your attention please talk about it, because it's incredibly valuable to people trying to find an audience.

TALK ABOUT INDIES!

Now, back to your regularly scheduled indie games:

So, what have you been up to Ferris? I'll show ya!

First off, I've been working on designing enemies for the demo! Now I've realized over the last month that I am really really weak at designing common enemies. Trying to avoid RPG tropes and weak/overused ideas and jokes is tough because it means I can't really bullshit like 50 enemies and call it a day, each enemy takes a long time and needs a strong idea, sometimes it'll take me multiple days to come up with good ideas!

I came up with these two recently, and I think they're good examples of my thought process for designing enemies.

HYPERSOMNIA's enemies revolve around a paranormal theme. It's an aspect of the first MOTHER that I missed in MOTHER 2 and 3, which inspired HYPERSOMNIA to lean into it so much.

I try to also keep some sense of comedy in my designs, HYPERSOMNIA has paranormal aspects and it has serious moments, but I try not to mix the two with common enemies because I just don't think it'd make a very interesting enemy roster. Could you imagine an EarthBound inspired game with enemies like actual demons from hell or serial killers? It's something I would've written in 7th grade, like the most basic bait-and-switch you could ever see from any media.

I also put together a flowchart while talking with my partner about enemy designs, they weren't exactly on the same page as me while thinking of ideas so I made this to illustrate my thought process for an idea.

It really helps me narrow ideas that I think would work for the game. It isn't exact, so don't look at it like some sort of design bible, but it's more a general guideline.

I also got around to spriting that cow enemy. My friend suggested the name Moo-F-O which I liked better than the names I was thinking of.

I'll probably get around to spriting that TV enemy after I finish writing.

As the next "Thing I Did This Month", you may have noticed that Katz's coat is a different color!

I made this change while redoing her sprites. I was dissatisfied with how her black coat blends into the game's brown outlines so I decided on giving her a brown coat instead. It also helps her stand out a bit against Iggy, who also has a black coat.

I've also recently been working on some concept art, I've talked before about how I don't like Ross' special attack sprite, so I've been trying to come up with a better pose

I tried hard to make that pose he has in the original work because I think it looks cool but I just found that the pose on the right was easier for me to draw.

I've also been thinking of giving Debra a new starter weapon, initially she had a pan but I figured I should find something else for her, I don't like how similar it is to Ana and Paula from MOTHER. I'm still on the fence about it, so if I don't write about her having a new weapon next month then I'm still thinking about it.

And other then that, that's all I've really done this month! It's not much but I feel its more interesting then the last few months. I've had a lot going on in my life, and early in august I'll be moving out. Hopefully I'll be able to settle quick, because for August I'll probably mostly be taking a break.

I usually do take a break after a trailer comes out, so you'll definitely hear from me next month but we'll see if I have things to talk about. Until next time! And don't forget to watch the MOTHER DIRECT, live at 6pm ET!

If this is your first log you’re reading, or even your first time seeing ANYTHING relating to HYPERSOMNIA, I got a whole bunch of links for you to check out if you wanna know more about me and my stupid little game.

TWITTER

YOUTUBE

STEAM

UNIQUE INDIE RPG’S [SHOW US YOUR GAME!]

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[mariacallous]

I can predict with safety that the prosecution of 700 innocent postmasters and mistresses will be remembered for decades.

It was not just that when the Post Office jailed employees and drove them to suicide it presided over one of the gravest miscarriages of justice in modern British history.

It is that the injustice will be remembered far beyond the UK. The technology said the postal workers were guilty of stealing from their tills, and everyone – judges, juries, police officers and government ministers – believed the faulty software rather than innocent men and women.

As facial recognition technologies take over police work and AI determines job prospects, the story of how the Post Office computers got it wrong will be a part of 21st century folklore.

But this terrible scandal deserves to be remembered for one other reason: the attitude of managers, who did not for a moment think there was something wrong in believing that hundreds of their colleagues were criminals.   

The notion that the accusations must be flawed because the scale of the alleged fraud and the numbers of suspects beggared belief never occurred to them. They justified their salaries and bonuses as a legitimate reward for presiding over underlings who were no better than common criminals.

Chris Dillow, the author of the Stumbling and Mumbling economics blog, is one of the best critics of the managerialist ideology that drove the Post Office scandal. You can listen to my Lowdown interview with him via the links above.

I thought it would be worth going through the evidence we discuss on the show as we look at the dictatorial attitude of so many managers.

We are not making an argument for anarchism. Successful organisations have successful managers.

They tend to be modest managers who understand that it is impossible for the people at the top of complex organisations to know all they need to know.  They have genuine consultations with their staff to fill the gaps in the knowledge. They do not behave like dictators by insisting on subservience and by refusing to allow criticism.

However many managers, perhaps most managers, are not like that. And here is the main reason.

They have been imbued with the ideology of managerialism, which holds that organizations in the public and private sector can be run from the top down by an elite of experts.

Instead of valuing specific knowledge about a company or organisation they believe in a generalist skill of “management”; and that a managerial elite can move from company to company, public body to public body, without losing effectiveness.

In place of specific, practical knowledge about the institutions they are meant to control, they offer “visions” and demand obedience.

Paula Vennells, was the chief executive of the Post Office as the number of false imprisonments rocketed.  She had not spent a working lifetime getting to know her colleagues. She had flitted between  Unilever, L'Oréal, Dixons Retail, Argos, Whitbread, the Cabinet Office and the Anglican Church.

If the people at the top of organisations cannot know all they need to know, and if their subordinates know they must suck up to the boss and tell him what he wants to hear rather than what he needs to hear, then you have miniature versions of Vladimir Putin’s Russia where no one dares contradict the big boss.

The type of people who thrive in these conditions are, frankly, psychopaths. By which I do not mean mass murderers but egomaniacs with no capacity for empathy or remorse.

According to a study dating back to 2010, there were at least three times as many psychopaths in executive or CEO roles than in the overall population. More recent data estimated that psychopaths filled 20 percent of executive posts

The Dutch management scholar and psychoanalyst Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries described managers who were

“Outwardly normal, apparently successful and charming, [but] their inner lack of empathy, shame, guilt, or remorse, has serious interpersonal repercussions, and can destroy organizations. Their great adaptive qualities mean they often reach top executive positions, especially in organizations that appreciate impression management, corporate gamesmanship, risk taking, coolness under pressure, domination, competitiveness, and assertiveness. The ease with which [they] rise to the top raises the question whether the design of some organizations makes them a natural home for psychopathic individuals.”

Shareholders may think that psychopath bosses will benefit them by keeping the profits flowing. As one business theorist put it in 2022

“Being a CEO or in a position of true power requires certain skills and abilities that psychopaths exhibit with ease. Making objective, clinical decisions entirely void of emotion, planning meticulously and in great detail, being patient, restless and confident, having a need to be in control… are all characteristics that psychopaths and prominent leaders share.”

And it is true that I have never heard of a CEO or head of HR refusing to fire subordinates because they could not bring themselves to ruin the lives of people less fortunate than themselves.

For all the talk about woke corporations and management diversity and inclusion initiatives, when it comes to mass sackings the new boss is much the same as the old boss. And you can see why that might please the shareholders.

Chris Dillow explains it thus

“People who are unusually concerned with status and power are precisely those who aim for the top of hierarchies (whereas many others of us just want to get on with our jobs), and psychopaths' superficial charm and fluency appeals to hirers. As David Allen Green says, "the likes of Paula Vennells are always with us and will always somehow obtain senior positions." This is consistent with a finding by Luigi Zingales and colleagues, that a lot more corporate fraud occurs than is actually detected. What's more, companies also select for over-confidence as they mistake ‘competence cues’ - the right body language or the illusion of knowledge - for actual ability. (All this might also apply to politics).”

You might think shareholders have nothing to complain about because vicious management protects dividends. But, as I have seen happen many times in the media, brutal managers can destroy businesses.

Chris explained the tension

“Often a company needs to cut costs and a psychopath who doesn't care about making people redundant, might be better at cutting costs than someone who's more empathetic. On other hand, we know that, psychopathic tendencies, can be very corrosive to an organization because it leads to managers who don't listen, managers who are so determined to make cuts to their organization that they end up cutting not just the fat, as they like to think, but, but cutting the meat and the muscle as well.”

If you listen to the podcast, you will hear a long discussion on why checks and balances don’t work. In theory shareholders are in control. In practice, as economists have recognised since the 19th century, they do not have day to day power. Managers can enrich themselves and follow disastrous policies without being stopped.

In the case of the Post Office, all checks and balances failed including, and most ominously, the checks of the legal system.

Dismal though that picture is, I will not end with it. One point that is not made often enough is that today’s full employment in the UK and the US is freeing workers. People who are stuck in terrible organisations with psycho bosses can just walk out and w​alk into other jobs.

Full employment is not high up on progressive wish lists. But for millions it is a liberation.

[maldonadonco]

Top and bottom 5 NCIS

Send "Top 5" + a fandom and the mun will list their top five favorite characters from that fandom! Alternatively, send "Bottom 5" for the mun to list their five least favorite characters! Status: Accepting! @ifyoucatchacriminal

Top 5

Dr. Jimmy Palmer: I immediately connected with him! He's sweet and smart and brave, and he deserves the entire world. I would fight anyone on his behalf even though I know he's more capable than I am.

Ned Dorneget: Very sweet and charming yet bumbling probie who finds his own footing. Probably the second worst death for me on the show. I'm pretty sure I started screaming when I realized what was gonna happen.

Paula Cassidy: I loved her actress in this show and in Flashpoint, where she plays very similar spunky, badass women who take no shit. And unfortunately, she dies in both shows, too. Heartbreaking both times. Third worst death.

Caitlin "Kate" Todd: It's been years since I watched "Yankee White," but I know I liked her immediately. I miss her presence on the team. WORST death on the show to me. I'll miss her forever ;.;

Kasie Hines: I love her duo with Jimmy. She's such a fun character, and she feels like a breath of fresh air to the team. I love Abby, but Kasie's very special to me.

Honorable mention: Ernie Malik, who technically is in NCIS: Hawai'i but was in crossover episodes with the original show. He's also my top favorite in the Hawai'i version. Special mention: Tony DiNozzo, but specifically the way YOU write him. He's the canon Tony to me, not what NCIS says.

Bottom 5

Leroy Jethro Gibbs: Good dad(?), terrible leader

Eli David: Bad dad, not a great person in general.

DiNozzo Sr.: Even worse dad, even worse person in general. (I realize that I put him in #3 bc of flow, but please know he's my #1 most hated character)

Trent Kort: My stomach churned when I saw his name. Enough said.

Jake Malloy: I was looking through NCIS characters to jog my memory, and when I saw his name, I shouted out loud "FUCK YOU, JAKE MALLOY!" and that's all you need to know.

Honorable mention: Eleanor Raye "Ellie" Bishop. I actually LOVE her character, but I'm putting her here because I'm SOOOOO pissed at what the writers did to her! Ellie was such a great character, and while I don't mind her getting negative character development because of everything that's happened to her, the way the writers did it was bullshit and I hate it. She deserved better!

[brokendarkfire]

Long Bright River — could’ve been worse, could’ve also been better. The storyline I was most invested in, the storyline that got me to briefly look past the meh writing, lowkey ended up going nowhere: I wanted to see Simon pay for having groomed Mickey as a teenager and having (I’m pretty sure) raped Kacey. Even if he was never arrested for it — and lbr in a show with this many corrupt cops, he wasn’t getting arrested — it would’ve been satisfying to at least see him face some judgement for what he did. He deserves to be spat on by his peers for what he did to 3 young women and being a serial predator. Meanwhile that guys still working with kids, probably still victimizing them. The only character who seemed to really grasp the horror of what Simon did was Gee Pop, and frankly he should’ve beat up Simon some more.

And as much as I was rooting for Mickey and Truman to get together, I’m glad Truman didn’t take her back. She pulled a gun on him. She didn’t follow up Emily’s accusation with any kind of investigation; she instead followed him, jumped to conclusions, then pulled a gun on her black boyfriend. He’s right; any trust that they had between them was destroyed. He called it right the first time… Mickey’s sense of who and what to trust is broken, and she desperately needs to work on that because she’s going to get someone killed. She lucked out that she didn’t actually get Truman or Paula killed.

I did love the concept of the final confrontation though — gang of victimized girls killing the very serial killer who targeted them, shooting him down in cold blood. It felt like justice, especially in a world where straight up half the cops are corrupt. And I loved Dajarat vouching for Mickey even though he’s got to suspect that that shooting wasn’t entirely aboveboard, because he also saw the justice and the practicality in that kind of execution by the very women he victimized.

I hope Mickey becomes a music teacher someday.

Anyway. That was certainly a way to fill the past week.

[aggold15hi01]

⚠️ Disclaimers: I don't own the picture and it isn't mine.

Plus all thoughts I had mentioned it below are entirely based on my own thoughts alone thus please be equally and sincerely be respectful and equally kind whenever you are interacting with any of the platforms where I am usually active at there plus don't be a cyberb*lly in general or otherwise you'll be removed for cyberb*llying as I don't tolerate hate, abuse; b*llying and all three of the words I had mentioned it earlier won't be both tolerated on all of the internet platforms where I do have an account at there so please be genuinely and equally respectful and kind in general whenever you are interacting with either my blogs or my social media accounts on there; mahalo nui loa.

📷 Credits to Rainbow Productions; Nickelodeon plus Winx Club via YT and YT for the picture of Roy and Aisha dancing together.

I do really think the both of them deserved better; both Roy and Aisha could have been a great couple as honestly: I could sincerely think Roy can be an actual replacement for Nabu if the creators does have a different plans on their storylines based on waht exactly I am thinking.

Plus although I hadn't watched Winx Club in a long while but I do truthfully think I really missed it but only like around the first 6 seasons and both anime and visually art wise; I do think the first 7 seasons of Winx Club are doing well in the animated art depart section in my own opinion.

Anyway: I am going to sincerely post it on my actual Blogspot and also on my back-up T*mblr however I might reblog the post from my back-up blog to here at some point . . .

Also let's just imagine I am playing 'The very best of Christian R & B- Volume 1' on an original physical copy of the CD in the background on 'Take me as I am' by Jeremiah Palton and also 'hands' by Aaron Cole plus 'Salvation' by Isaiah thus it does reminds me of Roy so much from Winx Club though in my own opinion.

I truthfully think Roy can be a very good candidate for a full-on Nabu replacement if they [the creators] does have a different plans on not bringing him [Nabu] back sadly.

Will be publishing it on both my personal blog and also on my back-up T*mblr blog as well: @backupmelwrites

Plus on my back-up T*mblr blog; a series of photo board series will be uploaded on there onwards but reblogged on this particular blog on here onwards.

[hellerfanboy91]

Edvard's Supernatural Guide: 3x16 No Rest for the Wicked, Part 2

This is part 2. Part 1 can be found here.

Moving on, Ruby was far too obvious and completely unbelievable as a supposed ‘ally’ to the brothers, as if 3x12 Jus in Bello were not proof enough for those without the benefit of hindsight. Patronising, hostile, smug, manipulating Sam by helping him ‘save his brother’ (which she has admitted is impossible) and then arguing with Dean. To be fair, Dean got in the first insult (‘slutty little Yoda’) and the first hit, but she started the whole thing in 3x09 Malleus Maleficarum so whatevs, I suppose.

She claims to be sick of ‘proving herself’, but her actions and her words have proven for themselves that she is not to be trusted. She even clearly says ‘I’ll kill you, you son of a bitch’ after Dean takes the demon blade from her. Why Dean did not used it to kill her right then and there is beyond me, but there really is no good reason why he let her live after her whole ‘you’re too stupid to live’ and ‘I wish I could be there to smell the flesh sizzle off your bones’ tirade. No good reason other than plot armour, I suppose.

Remember that Sam was there, too, and he heard her say all of that. His betrayal of Dean and his affair with Ruby in series four makes him look all the worse after that. The punch he got from Dean when Dean found out Sam was boning Ruby was well-deserved.

One thing I will say for Ruby, though, and that is that she can take a hit and she can hit back. If Jo’s introduction in 2x02 Everybody Loves a Clown, I would have found her less annoying. She is not, however, all that clever, as she let her temper and ego get the better of her, ending with her stuck in a devil’s trap. By this point in the show, demons have truly run their course as believable antagonists, as their snark and arrogance is not enough to cover up the fact that they are mostly utterly stupid.

Of course, nobody listens to a single one of the truths Dean says in this episode, even though he has been right about most things in the past. He is the Cassandra of this show. One important thing to note was the fact he saw immediately that Ruby was trying to turn Sam into her little ‘Anti-Christ Superstar’.

As for Dean using gendered slurs against Ruby, the worst misogyny came from her mouth in 3x09 when she insisted on calling witches ‘whores’. Consequently, I cannot make myself care too much for Dean calling her a slutty Yoda, not least when she called him a retard in 3x09 and herself used a gendered insult (‘dick’) against him right before he punched her. If Dean’s slur is misogynistic, then Ruby’s is misandrist.

Before I get further into the episode, the cold open shows Dean having a nightmare of trying and failing to run away from a Hellhound. This is something which should have been happening throughout series three, so that seeing demonic faces or hallucinating while talking to Sam and Bobby comes as a development of an existing problem, rather than having all of this thrust on the viewer in the last episode.

That scene also showed that scrying in the Superverse is rather extravagant. In Charmed, they just attached a crystal to a string and held it over a map, but in Supernatural they have to have a huge steampunk-looking contraption and a Latin incantation. The scene also had Dean and Sam arguing again, an argument which sort of made sense for them to have, but was still a little tiring after all the unnecessary spatting in the early episodes of series three.

Anyway, although Dean ‘won’ the argument with Sam and Bobby about not summoning Ruby for help, Dean apparently caved in and agreed to trick her in order to steal the knife. Paula pointed out in her analysis that Deans actions in this episode were mostly about Dean getting the knife and going after Lilith just because it was what Sam wanted, though Dean did not believe for a second any of it would work. It was essentially: ‘You want that knife? Fine, I’ll get it.’ And he got it for him. ‘You want to go after Lilith? Fine, we’ll go after Lilith.’ And he went after her.

Upon acquiring the knife, our protagonists waste little time in going after Lilith, but on the way a policeman stops them. It is here that Dean reveals he can see demon’s true faces as he sees the policeman is possessed and kills him. Bobby hand-waves Dean’s new-found ability away as a result of Dean being so close to death. This is not something which any of the people in 2x08 Crossroad Blues were shown able to do, but then again none of them were shown in the presence of a demon. Whatever the case, it is never brought up again, even when there is an opportunity for somebody about to be killed by Hellhounds to see a demon’s true face, e.g. 8x14 Trial & Error when nobody could see that Crowley was really a demon. As a result, this is yet another of Dean’s storylines which goes nowhere.

It is worth noting how easily Dean kills the possessed policeman when he agonised so much over killing The Loquacious Terminator in 1x22 Devil’s Trap. His lack of qualms also makes his hesitance to ‘give a little girl a Colombian neck tie’ seem inconsistent, i.e. he was fine with killing an innocent policeman possessed by a demon, but is not fine killing an innocent girl possessed by a demon. The show has told us multiple times that demonic possession often kills the host anyway.

This is not the only stupidity in the following sequence: once inside the house, the characters split up for some reason, and then Sam lets Ruby disappear into a random room by herself for some reason, and then Sam once again shows he has still not learnt to shoot (or stab) quickly by hesitating to stab the little girl he thought Lilith was possessing. To be fair, Lilith was no longer possessing her, but that is an exception: every other time, hesitating has either got people killed (2x09 Croatoan, 2x21 All Hell Breaks Loose, Part 1) or seriously endangered people (2x10 Hunted).

Whatever the case, Dean and Sam get the family bundled up safe in the basement (where they can start preparing for years of therapy) and then Sam tries one last time to work with Ruby to save Dean (something she has explicitly said cannot be done). Whilst the audience is wondering how Ruby escaped the devil’s trap and waiting for an answer which will never come, Dean forbids Sam from trying to get him out of his deal, something Dean had planned to do all along. There follows a goodbye where Dean claims everything is his fault (because of course he does) and fluffs Sam up to keep fighting after he is gone.

Then, in my favourite moment of the episode, the grandfather clock strikes twelve, invoking an almost gothic atmosphere. This does make me lament the fact that Supernatural ditched its horror aesthetics, though. The clock having struck twelve, the Hellhound growls and Dean spots it in the doorway. There follows a final desperate attempt to escape the Hellhound in the dining room, but while Ruby is trying to convince Sam to give her the knife to fight the Hellhound off, Dean sees her true face and realises it is Lilith. After immobilising the both of them, Lilith forcibly kisses Sam and rejects his offer at making a deal. She claims Sam has nothing she wants and therefore no leverage. This is completely untrue, however, as she must know at this point: the events of 4x22 Lucifer Rising were entirely her plan and were contingent upon Sam. As a result, she gleefully sets her Hellhound on Dean and Sam is forced to watch his brother dying in front of him.

Something which struck me while writing the last sentence of the previous paragraph is Sam watched his brother die in front of him knowing it happened for his own sake. This is something which the show never properly explores in any way (unless my memory fails me: please tell me if it does). That alone is enough for serious psychological damage (witnessing a violent assault or being forced to witness a rape can cause trauma, even PTSD), but as if that were not bad enough, Dean’s death is also essentially a suicide. That is several layers of horror which the show never delved into, to its detriment.

However, the experience and its effect on Sam do not seem especially long-lived, and there even comes a point in 9x13 The Purge where Sam says straight to Dean’s face that he would not die for him. I am aware Sam cutting himself off completely from Dean and doing the emotional equivalent off running away is self-preservation as a result of his upbringing, but in this case it is somewhat less than human. Sam’s relationship to Dean is mostly all take and no give (Winc*sties, stop it!). I will expand on this later in the show, but suffice it to say that Sam is a complete piece of work and the more I write about him, the less relatable I find him.

Returning to Dean, during the minute he is pinned to the table, his fear and helplessness could not be clearer, in spite of his attempts to put his game face on. The fact that his voice has been different for the whole episode adds to the impression that something is very wrong and that he is not quite Dean. In truth, it feels like Alec X5-494 has taken control of the Dean-vessel for most of the episode: perhaps Dean had finally dissociated.

One of the last things he sees before his death (as Paula points out) is what he must have believed was Lilith killing Sam, which would render his sacrifice meaningless. Given this, when Dean is shown chained up in Hell calling Sam’s name, I am forced to wonder whether Dean believed Sam was also in Hell and could have heard him. Remember also that at that point Dean had been in Hell for over a month and was still calling for his brother to save him.

Lilith’s attempts to kill Sam fail, and after what must have been hours blasting him with white light, she realises he is still alive and looks terrified. Sam, of course, hesitates once again with the stabbing and allows Lilith to escape, leaving the dead vessel behind her to fall to the floor beside Dean’s body. I do not remember where I read it, but somebody pointed that somebody – perhaps Jensen – decided that Dean’s eyes should be open in death, thereby forcing the viewer to look into his dead eyes as Sam cradles his body rather than looking at closed eyelids.

From a storytelling perspective, the final scene was impactful, but the effect is slightly dampened when, viewed objectively, Dean looks like he has only just died, in spite of it clearly being at least sunrise based on the light outside. When I say it looks like he has only just died, his lips are too red for somebody who died hours ago: they should be much paler. The blood on his face and neck should also be dry and brown.

I learnt this about 16 years ago when trying to find out the meaning behind Nightwish’s ’While Your Lips Are Still Red’.

And in case anybody in under the misapprehsnsion that I am a theologian, Nightwish’s song ’Gethsemane’ is also the reason I can talk about the Gardens of Gethsemane.

And with that, my analysis of series three comes to an end. Generally speaking, it was a good series, but plagued by poor planning and last-minute changes. Still, I have never watched the show for the plot, as anybody who has read a few of my analyses must know. Next up in series four where the love of Dean’s life appears and Kripke takes the show further into Neil Gaiman territory.

I have so much writing left to do.

I am having a short break from uploading these, but I will be back after the Christmas holiday with my analysis of 4x01 Lazarus Rising at the beginning of January.

I will also update my review of 3x08 A Very Supernatural Christmas. Until then, you can read more of my analyses here:

Series 1

Series 2

Series 3

Sundry

In case you missed it, part one of this analysis is available here. And you can read Paula’s here.

P.S I think I commented in my analysis of 2x08 Crossroad Blues that goofer dust never came up again. I was wrong.