#pro Stephanie edwards

[there-are-many-ways-to-smile]

Stephanie Edwards, being the best resident!

[danganronpaisbest]

Danganronpa x Criminal Case AU

(Contains university district characters from season 1, season 5, and some ocs)

Main Roles

Mary Lou Hong: Protagonist (Ult.Groupie)

Bart Williams: Support (Ult.Informant)

Tess Goodwin: Antagonist (Ult.Psychiatrist)

Prolouge

Rule Breaker: Olivia Wright (Ult.Donator)

~Chapter 1~

Victim: Riley Davis (Ult.Drummer)

Blackened: Stephanie Griff (Ult.Tennis Pro)

~Chapter 2~

Victim: Sally Hooper (Ult.Actor)

Blackened: Olly Oliver (Ult.Singer)

~Chapter 3~

Victim 1: Lisa Edward's (Ult.Libarian)

Victim 2: Toby Hansen (Ult.Director)

Blackend: Samantha Collins (Ult.Fan Girl)

~Chapter 4~

Victim: Adrian Lynn (Ult.Cosplayer)

Blackened: Penelope Rivera (Ult.Influencer)

~Chapter 5~

Victim: Tess Goodwin (Ult.Psychiatrist)

Blackened: Josh Anderson (Ult.Jock)

~Chapter 6~

Survivors

Mary Lou Hong (Ult.Groupie)

Bart Williams (Ult.Informant)

Cindy McMinn (Ult.???)

Randy Lockheart (Ult.Fashion Designer)

!!Mastermind!!

Tyler Wright (Ult. Affluent Progeny)

[paisholotus]

I don't understand why Stephanie Meyer wrote the characters how they are 😩 like why is Jasper a fuxking confederate!?!?!?

Lmao there's so much of a love/hate relationship in the twilight Fandom

No, because literally, if you read any of the twilight books, which I've read again recently. Y'all, she wasn't even shy about it. This lady was blatant prejudice and racist. From talking about the Quileutes, which is a real tribe btw, who didn't receive any of the proceeds. To how she sees black people, I mean it's not really a surprise, considering she's a Mormon. They don't like POC or black people, for that matter. Hell, they think black people are born evil, LMAO!

To forcing pro life onto Rosalie, and making Bella a insecure bitch that has zero personality whatsoever. Edward is just a 100 year old creep, who tries to force dominance on a 16 year native boy. Emmett is Emmett, he's a cool guy 😉. Carlisle you would think he is morally grounded, but steals Jacob's blood while he's sleeping.

Esme, we don't really know too much about her, she's just a housewife who likes doing interior design.........HOLLON✋🏾✋🏾✋🏾✋🏾 STOP FOR A MIN...Did y'all know that Stephanie McRacist said in the Guide that the house was originally a SLAVE HOUSE......😐

Y'all I can't with this bitch......🤣

Alice is just a weirdo who likes shopping and JASPER! MY GOD, WHY SHE DO THIS!

A CONFEDERATE!? A FUCKING CONFEDERATE! why couldn't he just have been a fine cowboy? Lawd Jesus.

So yeah, it's definitely a love/hate relationship. We toxic fr, but I can change him. 🤣

[booklovershouse]

Oiiii, booklovers!

Primeiramente, peço desculpas aos meus companheiros fãs de AWAE por estar tocando na nossa ferida, porém não consegui pensar em nenhum cancelamento que doeu mais do q esse 🥲

Maaaas, mudando de assunto, quem nunca desistiu de uma saga de livros? Fiquei até meio chocada com a quantidade de desistências que tive kkkkkk

🍁| O Beijo Traiçoeiro - Erin Beaty

Esse livro é o primeiro de uma trilogia, seguido por A Missão Traiçoeira e O Reino Traiçoeiro. Pessoalmente, não curti muito o rumo que o romance tomou e também os eventos do final do livro.

Sage Fowler tem uma língua afiada e um temperamento rebelde, o que faz com que seja julgada como inapta para o casamento. Então, ela se torna aprendiz de casamenteira e agora deve acompanhar a comitiva de jovens damas da nobreza a caminho de um evento onde várias alianças matrimoniais são firmadas.

Sage fica com a tarefa de descobrir tudo o que puder sobre as garotas, para que sejam combinadas da melhor forma possível. Entretanto, a escolta militar percebe uma conspiração e Sage é recrutada por um belo soldado para conseguir informações.

🍁| Era uma Vez um Coração Partido - Stephanie Garber

Sei que esse é o queridinho de muita gente, mas (1) eu realmente não gosto muito de fantasia e (2) eu tentei mesmo me envolver na história, tanto que até li o segundo volume, porém não rolou. Sei lá, esse negócio de "mocinho vilão" não colou muito comigo. E olhe que às vezes eu gosto dos vilões.

Evangeline Fox cresceu acreditando em finais felizes e amores verdadeiros, mas todas as suas crenças são abaladas ao descobrir que o amor de sua vida se casará com outra pessoa. Desesperada, ela aceita fazer um acordo com Jacks, famoso por seu poder mítico. Em troca, ele pede três beijos de Evangeline, que devem ser dados em momentos e locais escolhidos previamente.

Entretanto, negociar com imortais é perigoso e logo Evangeline descobre que o Príncipe de Copas quer algo muito além de seus beijos.

🍁| Enola Holmes - Nancy Springer

Tá aqui um daqueles casos raros onde a adaptação é melhor que o livro. Sou totalmente apaixonada pelos dois filmes de Enola Holmes, mas não consegui passar do primeiro volume. A avaliação no Skoob tbm não tá muito acima de 3,5★ então acho que muita gente concorda comigo nessa questão.

A história é quase a mesma do filme. Enola é a "ovelha negra" da família, a mãe dela some, ela vai atrás da mãe, descobre que estão procurando um marquês que desapareceu e resolve se envolver no caso. Mas não espere romance pq aqui o Tewk só tem uns 12/13 anos, então não acontece nada - e duvido que ele apareça nos próximos volumes também.

🍁| Os Rokesbys - Julia Quinn

A escrita da Julia Quinn é maravilhosa e viciante, porém ela sempre puxa pro lado "+18" do romance, o que eu detesto. Nada contra quem gosta, mas acho desnecessário. Sendo assim, só cheguei a ler Uma Dama Fora dos Padrões.

Todos esperam que Billie Bridgerton se case com um dos irmãos Rokesbys, já que as duas famílias são vizinhas há séculos e Billie costumava brincar com Edward e Andrew. Qualquer um deles seria um marido perfeito.

Mas há um irmão Rokesby que Billie não suporta: George, o mais velho e herdeiro do condado, também arrogante e irritante. Billie tem certeza de que ele não gosta nem um pouco dela, o que sem dúvidas é conveniente.

Até que o destino os junta de uma maneira inusitada e algo novo surge entre eles.

🍁| Cidade da Música - Babi Dewet

Devemos apoiar os escritores nacionais, mas não dá pra passar pano...achei o livro mega sem graça. A narração mudava do nada (foi meu primeiro livro com dois povs, oq também não contribuiu) e o enredo foi super clichê. Deixando claro, é uma duologia e li Sonata em Punk Rock.

Valentina Gontcharov foi aceita no conservatório de música mais famoso do país, a Academia Margareth Vilela. No conservatório, ela terá que superar seus medos e inseguranças pra mostrar do que é capaz, mesmo que isso signifique abraçar seu talento para a música clássica. Só que, o talentoso e arrogante Kim cruza seu caminho, dificultando sua vida.

Se querem minha sincera opinião, aconselho assistir Kally's Mashup. A história é parecida, só que melhor - a segunda temporada e o filme não são lá essas coisas, mas pra quem gosta de um romance leve e bem slow burn, com certeza vai amar essa série. Ela foi o auge dos meus surtos quando eu tinha 11 anos e sou meio obcecada até hoje kkkkkkk

🍁| Um de Nós Está Mentindo - Karen M. McManus

Acho que o hype desse livro caiu um pouco nos últimos tempos - principalmente com a chegada de Manual de Assassinato para Garotas Boas -, mas ele ainda é bem conhecido. Na minha opinião, toda essa história é uma palhaçada. Cheguei no final me perguntando "sério que li tudo isso pra a solução ser essa daqui?"

Cinco alunos vão parar na detenção da escola e apenas quatro saem com vida. Todos são suspeitos e cada um tem algo a esconder. Qual deles matou Simon, o criador do mais famoso app de fofocas da escola? Será que o assassino está realmente entre eles?

🍁| A Seleção - Kiera Cass

Se for pra começar uma treta literária, vai ser hoje, pq já falei "mal" de uns quatro famosinhos só nesse post kkkkkkk

Não é que eu odeie A Seleção. Tive uma fase "fã" da saga entre 2019 e 2021, mas depois comecei a achar a história meio "meh". Tbm temos que considerar o fato de que comecei a ler pelo quarto volume (foi um dos primeiros livros ""grandes"" que eu comprei, não sabia que era uma saga).

Enfim, em resumo, nesse país chamado Illéa, há uma seleção para escolher a próxima rainha, ou seja, várias garotas da província participam de um "sorteio" para irem até o palácio, onde passarão a conviver com o príncipe - e uma delas conquistará seu coração. America Singer não nem se inscrever. Porém, depois de toda a insistência da mãe, ela acabou participando. E sendo selecionada.

O post da semana demorou, mas saiu! Na semana que vem tbm vai ser meio complicado - e no começo de novembro -, mas prometo dar um jeitinho!

P.S: tô lendo Os Davenport.

Bjs e boas leiturassss <3333

[restinslices]

(I swear to y’all, imma go back to Mortal Kombat. But I have to rant. Imma pretend it’s the early 2000s and rant about Twilight. If you’re pro any of the Cullens, don’t even read this)

I’m not saying Jacob should’ve kissed Bella, but my thing is this; Jacob kisses you and you call him a dog and say you hope Edward kills him. Edward has done foul shit the ENTIRE SERIES and you let him slide repeatedly. There’s this part where Bella gets mad and says something like “at least Edward an act like an adult”. Bitch. He IS AN ADULT. What do you mean? Bella is way more harsh when it comes to Jacob and I don’t get why she holds so much anger towards this child and holds him to this high standard but has none of these feelings when it comes to the old ass adult she’s with. Since I’m typing, Stephanie Myers is weird and idc what y’all say. I remember Bella described Leah as beautiful in an EXOTIC way. MA’AM? It feels like she realized how asshole-ish the Cullens are and tried to make the wolves seem worse but all I’m thinking is “they’re definitely in the right when it comes to not liking the Cullens”.

The wolves don’t like vampires because they’re a safety risk. The Cullens being there (keep in mind, they’re rich enough to leave and never come back) is triggering these young ass people to turn into wolves. The Cullens don’t like the wolves because?? They have no valid reason. Edward constantly says the wolves are dangerous and yeah, they’re not the safest to be around but compared to vampires they’re a lot safer. Bella has only been harmed by vampires and only the vampires have tried to end her life. James, Laurent, Jasper, Victoria, the new born army that’s forming, the Volturi. She’s only been in danger because of the wolves once. Like, I don’t get how Stephanie expects us to agree with Edward when there’s proof that the wolves are way safer. Not 100% safe but better than vampires. And while I love Seth, I swear Seth is the “you’re not like the others” character. They only like Seth because he doesn’t hold animosity towards them as if that animosity isn’t valid. It’s giving “you’re not like other blacks, you talk proper” (ik he’s not black, it’s an example). I’m finishing the books because I’m too deep to quit but I wish they let Victoria finish the job.

[mayomalice]

midnight sun • twilight

6/10

I'd like to start this review by saying this: i am not a knuckle cracker. but if i was, i would be cracking them before i begin my review.

lets get into it starting with the pros of this book before i rip into it with the cons.

for the most part i actually thoroughly enjoyed this book, there were several moments that made me giddy having been able to see it through Edward's perspective, such as being able to get brief glances into other peoples heads and know what they were thinking in that moment, because.. that's literally his power. it brought forth several short almost witty moments- some of them i believe to be unintentional, such as a descriptor for jasper in a moment to be 'and jasper was... suffering.'.

while i am aware of Edward and Bella's relationship being not all that healthy, that doesn't prevent me from loving them together. (because to be frank there are far worse pairings out there). For a lack of better words and words that make me cringe just at the thought of typing, once again, the movies really fail to show how much rizz Edward has. like he was seducing me to be honest, and i'm not even remotely attracted to men.

other than those pros that will conclude the positive section of this review, as i've listed in other book reviews for the series a lot of the same positives apply to this one. that being said, i don't wish to retype all of that once again.

lets move on to the negatives this book had for me.

firstly, Edward is extremely broody. to an eye rolling extent. while yes, i have been aware of that from reading the entire original series, and having watched the movies hundreds of times.. it still doesn't make it any less irritating when he's constantly saying things like 'Bella deserves someone better than me' 'Bella shouldn't be with someone who's killed people (COUGH, rapists).. etc.

secondly, from roughly page 568 until the final page, 658, i hated almost everything i was reading.

the entire scene where they're trying to get Bella out of danger is truly a frustrating read. Edward is a moron who refuses to listen to Alice who's trying to diffuse both him and the situation at hand, which in turn worries Bella further.. Emmet is unsure of what to do as he's sat in the backseat with a now even more stressed Bella.. Edward being no help at all like i said previously as he refuses to pull over so Alice can tell him what they should do for way longer than what should've been touched on within that chapter.

furthermore the car chase scene was torturous to read. why is it that with only a single apart am i being told that the car is driving at 150 m/ph? twice? why is it that you continue to tell me the car is going '160' '170' '180.'... that detail is entirely unnecessary when all that truly needed to be said was something like 'the car was continuing to increase in speed rapidly'.

my next massive complaint has to do with Carlisle and licence losing medical malpractice on his part. now, i love Carlisle. it's not so much about HIM, but mores about stephanie's idiocy regarding topics that she clearly did NOT research before including them in her novel. (something which is not new for her and her writing at all).

the complaints are as follows:

1. the 'she's lost some blood' comment. no shit. both you and Edward are actively kneeling in the pool of her blood which she's actively laying in. she's lost more than 'some blood'.

2. WHYYYY are you doing sutures outside of a hospital?? and how?? and where the fuck do you have to supplies- let alone sterile supplies to do so?? i understand that Carlisle is a doctor but that's not just something you have just chilling in your back pocket or in your car. so once again.. WHAT?

3. WHY do you have morphine on your person to treat Bella with.. morphine is an opioid, and there are legal restrictions that come with that.. as far as i'm aware you would not just have morphine on you, let alone a high enough dosage to treat Bella who has; 4 broken ribs, a broken leg, 2 open wounds on her head (which directly goes back to #2 of my complaints), and a body almost coated in bruising from head to toe. there is NO way.

4. Taping Bella's ribs. first of all, this is no longer a practice that is used as it makes it hard to take deep breaths, which bella was doing, because on top of everything she was also actively turning into a vampire.

5. i understand that they 'couldn't go to the hospital' because of the vampire turning on their hands, but they should've. if they truly had to keep Bella human, Edward should've sucked the venom out on the way to the hospital. in my opinion though, Bella should've just turned then and there. it would've saved everyone a world of trouble as well as once again, saving them the trip to the hospital entirely.

that's all for my medical malpractice complaints, now onto some more general complaints, i'll try to keep this short.

1. how did nobody in the small town of Forks notice the ballet studio having been lit on fire and burned to the ground? it's a small town, people are nosy, people would notice and come to see what's going on.

2. Bella was only kept in the hospital for 9 days despite her condition.

3. no obvious timeskip in the writing to show that Bella had recovered enough to be walking around and able to go to her school dance.

4. a lacklustre, disappointing ending. the final sentence literally being; 'as the night finally overcame the end of the day, i leaned forward again and kissed the warm skin of her throat.

with all that being said, up until the climax i did enjoy reading the book. it's not the best in the series at all, but at least it's not new moon.

[ohmym1stake]

infodumping about my grey's anatomy blorbos: edition #2

this time around i am midway thru season 10.... my #1 blorbo is about to leave and im worried and scared because of some spoilers i read. but anyways here is my current analysis!

BLORBOS

- meredith grey. we started off rocky but i love and support her wholeheartedly now. has done the least stupid stuff as a doctor! bonus points for that. has gone through so much more than she deserves.

- derek shepherd. has done a lot of stupid shit and is a very stupid and reckless man. but underneath all of that he is a good man who wants to do good and help people. an amazing father!!!! and husband.

- cristina yang. the closest to perfect. i wish she would stop making awful relationship decisions. in my world she is happily married to a woman. a nurse, maybe.

- george o'malley. my perfect perfect son. ohhhhh my son. i am so sorry you died. i wish you had gotten to be happy with callie and have a great little family together and be an amazing surgeon.

- callie torres. brilliant surgeon brilliant woman. a little stupid at times. but i think her strengths are all way stronger than that.

- mark sloan. also very stupid! but in a very charming way. was amazing to watch him grow and change.

- lexie grey. deserved a better exit from the show wtffff. got used as an extra trauma to throw at meredith or something like damn. she was amazing and excellent in her own right. justice for lexiepedia.

- april kepner. BABYYYYYY. amazing and deserves the world, honestly. i have nothing but admiration for her i think.

- heather brooks. AAAAAAGH?!!!!! she was so cute and fun and brought an energy to the show nobody else has! deserved soooo much better.

HALF BLORBOS.

- alex karev. has done too many messy and problematic things to be a full blorbo but like derek he is ultimately a good man who wants to do good. amazing peds surgeon. can't wait to see him as a dad i bet he'll be a little league coach.

- miranda bailey. now normally she would be full blorbo but she's been bothering me a little lately! amazing surgeon! amazing woman! but she needs to get her life more under control or something.

BLORBO BY ASSOCIATION

- jackson avery. i was gonna put him in "it won't work" but it could eventually idk. he's great for april and a good doctor! i don't like his face tho and mostly he kinda bores me

- reed adamson. i think i would have loved her so much if she got to live longer. i think about her and april a lot.

PARTIAL BLORBOS

- addison montgomery. i think i just don't see her enough to be a full blorbo. excellent character tho.

- teddy altman. i think when she comes back on the show she'll get an upgrade but right now she's away and not on my mind. she was pretty damn good tho.

- stephanie edwards. she's really great but right now her plot is kind of just avery. i hope to love her more soon!

EX BLORBOS.

- izzie stevens. used to be my favorite.... she was so great. honestly i blame cancer for everything. Except the denny lvad thing i think that was precancer. but the romance with george that she dropped so fast? and then doing all that crap to alex? unforgivable. i hope she finds happiness in a new life with new people but i want her far away from my blorbos.

IT WILL NEVER WORK BUT I DON'T HATE YOU

- owen hunt. i DO hate his pro-life stance. treated cristina awfully there. but he is also the best love interest she had. and he's a great trauma surgeon, and the best chief i have seen! we just have too many differences to ever truly blorb together.

- arizona robbins. Honestly? most of the time i Do hate her. but i also respect her too much to Anti her. especially her growth after losing her leg! but it fucking sucked for callie. i think if the show had kept mark alive i could have gotten along with her more but she has been awful to callie way too much.

- leah murphy. Mad respect for her crazy but her emotions are also what ruined her. i hope she has a good career elsewhere.

- ben warren. sometimes he's good for bailey sometimes he makes her worse. but i respect him.

I DON'T KNOW

- jo wilson. uhhhh..... she just kinda exists i don't know. sometimes she's good for alex. but i am not very interested in her. does not spark joy.

- charles percy. i think we would have had a very rocky relationship had he lived but i think the way they killed him was very artful? it was one of the best death scenes i have seen.

ANTI BLORBOS.

- richard webber. he has done too much fuckass shit and acted insufferably FAR too many times. way more tolerable as a general surgeon and not as chief but still incredibly irritating.

- preston burke. took advantage of cristina in so many ways and never once truly considered himself and his own actions. selfish, awful man.

- erica hahn. Too bitter. involved emotions in her work in a way i disliked? i think she was never meant to be a main character.

- shane ross. Bruh what the fuckkkkk. he has done way too much wrong. maybe someday if we actually tackle the fact that he kinda Killed heather we can be at least partial or something but ..... i don't want him on this show.

- ellis grey. Noooooope. don't even care about all her groundbreaking work or her disease or whatever. i want nothing to do with her.

- adele webber. i hated her so much and there was no reason to make her so evil and irritating so much??????? the show would have been way more interesting and webber might have been more redeemable if she had been Good.

- sloan riley. this girl pissed me offffff like she went thru it she was having a bad time but ultimately she just ruined shit for mark and lexie and that sucks.

- catherine avery. whenever shes around and is rude to jackson he becomes a temporary blorbo. he doesn't deserve the shit she puts him through. frustrating character overall. But! mad respect to her work as a urologist she always brings interesting cases to the show!

[runningwiththewerewolves]

this is so real, and also:

rosalie being very strongly against vampirism (especially with lack of choice) but bringing a dying emmett back to carlisle to be changed because he reminded her of her friend's baby

quil (16) imprinting on claire young (2) with the excuse that imprint pairs can also have a sibling-like bond, but having it later stated by quil that he "doesn't notice girls anymore" in any way

the timeline (bella meets edward jan. 2005, get's engaged jun. 2006, married aug. 2006)

least subtle pro-life baby plotline you'll ever read (and bella 'coincidentally' getting her perfect life as a direct result of going through with the pregnancy)

bella and edward getting married not only before sex, but before ever even making out (edward refuses to open mouth kiss bella)

carlisle is a joseph smith figure

roaslie and leah feeling incomplete as women bc they can't have children (they are also both similarly characterized as shrewd and cold towards primarily bella, but others as well)

the denali sisters' story framing them as lustful succubus-like women who only became vampire-vegetarian to have sex with human men

stephanie meyer was definitely not subtle about her faith bleeding into twilight at all

when bella didn't want to get married at 18 because she saw how her parents' marriage crumbled and she was opposed to the patriarchal nature of the whole institution, and is bitter about it until the moment she is walking down the aisle, but as soon as she's married she realizes that being mrs. cullen is actually the best thing to ever happen to her and she's immediately ecstatic to have a baby with her husband. the way jacob says "you don't even belong to yourself anymore" about imprinting and is repulsed by the very idea, but then when he imprints he realizes it's actually what he was born to do & nothing could make him happier & he leaves everything behind to live with his mate's family. man once you become aware of the mormon agenda present within the twilight saga it is ALL you're aware of lol

[cherrylauren]

Has anyone taken one for the team yet and rewritten twilight without all the Mormon propaganda (especially the prolife shit) and make it so they just yeeted renegade and Jacob doesn’t IMPRINT ON A BABY?! Because I really need the link ((pls tell me it’s already been done BC I need it and if I have to write it I’ll cry))

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

How do you think twilight would’ve went if Edward/Bella weren’t a toxic relationship? Like, do you think that would have changed the story stephanie was trying to tell/the general storyline?

Answered in part here.

The trouble is the Twilight plot goes completely off the rails.

Our characters are introduced with the fact that Edward is highly dangerous to Bella. This drives him off, at first, but then it begins to intrigue him. He quickly grows obsessed and in part thanks to Alice's help he decides that what he's feeling must be love. Bella, for her own part, has the most interesting, beautiful, inhuman boy in the world paying attention to her.

Right out of the gate, the pair are a mess who are attracted to each other for all the wrong reasons and none of those reasons having to do anything with who the other person even is.

But backing this up, the point is that Edward is very dangerous to Bella. An Edward who respects not only Bella's wishes but her chances at being alive would have nothing to do with her. Edward would have left Forks.

So, right away we have a problem. For this to not be a toxic relationship, Bella cannot be Edward's singer. Otherwise, he is knowingly putting her at extreme risk for next to no reason. Not a good foundation for your relationship.

The plot of Twilight is now off the rails as Bella and Edward have a very normal Biology lesson where Edward is a complete dick. He can't hear Bella's thoughts, weird and he panics he might be losing his gift, but she's still plain and boring (she doesn't become not plain and boring until he starts grilling her to see if she noticed he wanted to eat her after his return). Bella, in turn, is turned off by Edward's dismissive attitude as she initially was in canon until he started playing hot and cold.

Well then, either Edward's personality has to change completely (which it kind of does for this not-toxic thing you're going for to work) or we need to put Bella in mortal peril much earlier.

Except Edward is a man who acknowledged that he'd normally be pro murder Bella after the van incident as well had she not been Bella Swan. So... he'd let her die.

So, we completely change Edward's personality. He still saves her from the van, gets to know Bella slowly, but now he never intends to reveal he's a vampire because that would damn Bella to having to become one herself whether she wishes it or not.

Luckily, we have James to conveniently go after Bella! So, now Edward has to explain! And Bella has to be turned!

Except Bella is still Bella and probably using Edward as validation for herself because she has such cripplingly low self-esteem that she needs other people to define her self-worth.

Oh no.

Bella has to change completely too.

In short, anon, you can't have Twilight or the plot of Twilight with Edward and Bella being their loveable, defunct, selves.

[alliluyevas]

No worries, also, another completely random question which i hope doesn't sound ignorant and you only need to answer if you find it an interesting topic to discuss. I've seen people saying that the author of the Twilight series being mormon kinda explains why the bella/edward relationship is written the way it is (i think it had to do with the age gap), do you know why is that? It feels like a judgemental statement.

oh, I absolutely am interested in answering this so thank you for asking. I am just going to provide a disclaimer that I have not read Twilight and iirc only saw the first two movies, so I am by no means a Twilight expert. I think the most obvious "Mormon values" influence on Twilight is Bella's refusal to have premarital sex and the pro-life messaging of the vampire fetus stuff. Mormonism tends to be pretty big on traditional gender roles as well and I think there's definitely something to be said for how that plays into Twilight (men are active! women are passive! etc).

I honestly do kind of think the age gap thing is a cheap pot shot. I mean, I'm assuming they're referencing the historical Mormon practice of middle aged men marrying teenage plural wives, which is a) a real and serious historical thing b) very much not practiced in the present by the mainstream Mormon church that Stephanie Meyer is part of c) not really at all the same thing as a teenager marrying a vampire who's been a teenager for the last hundred years.

In terms of non-Edward/Bella-related Mormon influence on Twilight, I think you could probably write a lot on how Jacob and other Native American characters are treated because Mormonism has a really, really, weird and creepy theological fascination with Native Americans to say the least and I definitely think it's worth examining that aspect of the series with that lens. Again, though, I have not actually read Twilight, lol.

[rolanslide]

just realized I never finished my twilight retrospective. huh

okay so final final thoughts??

short version: I had a bad time

long version:

I was never gonna like this series, even if I was watching earnestly rather than hate-watching. I’m not a romance fan in any capacity, nor am I someone who is big on melodrama. It’s entertaining at times but mostly just frustrating and, of course, problematic ✨. The casual racism and general attitude towards native people was already gross and concerning even before I knew the Quileute tribe actually exists and Stephanie just commandeered their history... girl what the hell. Just make some shit up to justify your fictional sexy werewolves, this was completely avoidable.

Do I even need to mention Bella and Edwards toxic infatuation? I don’t really think I have anything to say that someone else hasn’t already said better than I could (if you want a comprehensive twilight retrospective with the books in mind I recommend Amanda The Jedi’s videos, btw). I do have a funny though.

I guess this series is... okay, for what it’s going for.

Stephanie was going for a melodramatic, moody, supernatural romance with some problematic nonsense sprinkled over it all, and she sure as hell succeeded. Honestly if it wasn’t for the racism, pro-life shit, heteronormativity, romanticism of toxic relationships etc... I’d probably have fun with this series. I think that’s why Breaking Dawn pt 2 is ultimately my favorite. When you ignore Jacob being a pedophile the problematic stuff is very minimal and it’s just trashy nonsense.

Also is it even a hot take at this point that Jacob/Reneesmee’s whole situation is pedo shit? Because how the fuck does one rationalize a 20-something imprinting on a newborn in a romantic context?? I don’t care about the superaging, it’s gross and it was gross of Stephanie to write and attempt to rationalize. I’m not gonna make assumptions of her character purely based off these movies but I think she might have some Freudian shit going on; on top of the Mormonism

To summarize I guess... it was bad, but I’ve seen worse. I don’t regret watching these movies, and I did feel somewhat accomplished after finishing them. That last credits montage was *chefs kiss* perfect. I’ve seen Pieles in it’s entirety, I knew this wasn’t gonna break me

also Alice and Bella should’ve kissed

[rainbow-femme]

What “New Moon” should have been, according to me, because nothing bugs me more than cool ideas with bad execution

-Exactly the same from start through break up. Bella fears aging, jasper almost eats Bella, Edward decides this is too dangerous, they break up and cullens leave

-Charlie notices how upset Bella is and that she’s isolating herself so he goes to Billy and asks if Jake can reach out to her and maybe help because she’s not really close to her school friends but she and Jake always got along

-Instead of months alone it’s months of Jake finding every opportunity to stop by and be around Bella, helping her socialize and take her mind off of the break up

-She starts going to la push and hanging out with him, his friends, and his sisters because I hate that all relevant women in jakes life were conveniently removed

-Also the women are aware of the werewolf and vampire thing because not all cultures have a circle of men with all the knowledge that they keep from women for their “own good,” Stephanie

-Bella gets close to the girls and women there and is able to talk to them about the relationship with Edward, how it reinforced her fears about aging that she already had from a mother obsessed with recapturing lost youth

-The women talk to Bella about their teen heart breaks, fears of getting old, then the realization that aging is a gift and not a curse and that once you leave your teens, the idea of being one forever is horrifying

-Bella starts planning for a human future again. Charlie comes home to a kitchen table covered in college pamphlets from every college within an 8 hour radius of forks and they start narrowing down schools

-Harry dies and the community mourns. One day someone has the idea to go cliff diving to get Seth and Leah out of the house and give Sue some time with her friends to focus on her own grief and not taking care of the kids

-Alice has her vision of Bella jumping and comes to check on her and finds Bella hanging at home with Jake

-Bella isn’t happy to see Alice and in fact gives her a piece of her mind about how shitty it was for her and the cullens to act like they were friends and family and then cut all ties when Edward broke up with her and they moved. Just because your brother breaks up with your best friend that doesn’t mean you can’t ever talk, even long distance. Phones and the internet exist, if Alice was a real friend she would have reached out

-But Bella concedes it was a good idea for Edward to break things off because she’s realizing she nearly made a huge decision without any time spent contemplating the repercussions, or even getting to know the guy she was about to commit eternity to after a few months together

-Edward calls and Jacob doesn’t assume it’s Carlisle cause idk why he would just instinctively know carlisles voice on the phone. He just assumes it’s someone from the community who knows Charlie and what’s going on and that’s why he says “the funeral” and not “Harry’s funeral”. Also he answered Bella’s phone cause she was mid rant and he was trying to help

-Alice has her Edward vision and asks for Bella’s help and Jakes like “you’re really gonna go?” And Bella’s like “idk where my feelings about him are but I do care about him and I don’t want him dead”

-So Jake calls Charlie and asks if Bella can stay over for a few days as moral support so the whole trip Charlie just thinks Bella is hanging at jakes house

-The Italy stuff happens mostly the same but without the whole “seeing Edward undoes all my pain and character growth over the last 4 months”

-They get back home and Edward does his “I don’t deserve to ask for a second chance but I’d like to anyway” thing and Bella says no to getting back together, saying she’s done a lot of thinking and growing since he left and she doesn’t want the same things anymore or to give up mortality now and maybe not ever, and if they did get back together it would have to be after a lot of time working on their relationship as friends first

-The Cullens find out about Victoria and decide to come back only as long as it takes to fix that situation cause clearly they’re affecting things in forks and la push in bad ways but that will just get worse with a newborn army so they’ll deal with that then leave for good and be places where they don’t cause teenagers to go through traumatic experiences

-Eclipse is then about the Cullens working to stop the vampires and repair their relationship with a still pissed off bella who is now getting closer and closer to graduation and the vampires being gone and a choice on if she wants humanity or being a vampire so she actually sits and spends time weighing all of the pros and cons instead of immediately going back to her cut and run vampire plan

[phroggy-trades]

I’ve been lurking in the Starlight Express fandom for awhile, and its one of the most fun fandoms I’ve been a part of in awhile. So I’ve decided to gift some of my StEx bootlegs so I can give back to the community!

I created a google doc that contains the date, tour, cast, and the link for each bootleg, along with some additional info about file types and other things.

Here are the boots that are listed: (This isn’t my whole collection of StEx boots, but these are just the ones I think people should see. I intend to add more as my collection grows!)

Videos-

September 13, 2003 | 2nd US Tour |

Franklyn Warfield (Rusty), Clarissa Grace (Pearl), Drue Williams (Greaseball), Dustin Dubreuil (Electra), Jaremy Kocal (Caboose) Katie O’Toole (Dinah), Dennis Legree (Papa), Joanna Loughran-Richert (Buffy), Kait Holbrook (Ashley)

January 28, 2015 | Bochum |

Kevin Köhler, Trina Hill, David Moore, Matthew Goodgame, Emma Prosser, Paul Shipp, Ben Draper, Sian Velazquez, Carla Pullen, Toby Poole, Paul Treacy, Jason Gray, Brett Shields, Brad Corben, Cary Chennell, Dean Coach, Kelly Downing, Dawn Leigh Woods, Melanie Brown, Graham Harvey, Elliot Collins, Adam Bailey, Jeffrey Socia, Craig Tyler, Manuel Reckow, Etienne Vogel                                                    Notes: Excellent shoot, taper clearly knows the show. A couple particularly blocky bits couldn’t be smoothed out.

May 31, 2015 | Bochum |

Kevin Köhler (Rusty), Trina Hill (Pearl), Matthew Goodgame (Greaseball), Paul Shipp (Electra), Amy Di Bartolomeo (u/s Dinah), David Moore (Papa), Carla Pullen (Buffy), Victoria Anderson (Ashley), Mike Eborall (u/s Caboose), Dewayne Adams (Hip Hopper 1), Brett Shiels (Hip Hopper 2), Ciaran Rees (Hip Hopper 3), Duncan Leighton (Dustin), Paul Treacy (Flattop), Dean Coach (Krupp), Toby Poole (Purse), Kelly Downing (Joule), Melanie Brown (Wrench), Cate Gunner (u/s Volta), Graham Harvey (Ruhrgold), Jason Gray (u/s Turnov), Adam Bailey (Espresso), Jeffrey Socia (Bobo), Luke Zammit (u/s Hashimoto)                                    Notes: Goodbye show for the 2014/15 cast. This is also the bootleg where that infamous gif of Greaseball and Electra kissing comes from. 

August 27, 2019 | Bochum |

Markus Fetter (Rusty), Hollie Aires (Pearl), Ben Carruthers (Greaseball), Adam Lake (Elektra), Sian Jones (u/s Dinah), Reva Rice (Momma)              Notes: Filmed in portrait mode. You can't make out any faces but you can follow the action and the choreography quite well. Very good audio. Nice to see the changes for the 30th Anniversary of Starlight Express.

Audios-

1984 | West End |

Ray Shell (Rusty), Stephanie Lawrence (Pearl), Jeff Shankley (Greaseball), Jeffry Daniel (Electra),  Frances Ruffelle (Dinah), Lon Satton (Papa), Michael Stanifourth (CB)                                                                      Notes (not Masters notes): This is the only known capture of the original West End cast on stage. It’s not the full OC, as some characters, like Buffy and Dustin have different voices from the cast album, but I can’t verify which understudies they are. The sound is washed out, and there's a slight static sound, but it’s still understandable. I’d recommend this to any fan of the show!

Proshots-

1988 | West End |

Gary Cordice (Rusty), Kim Leeson (Pearl), Drue Williams (Greaseball), Maynard Williams (Electra), Beverley Braybon (Dinah), Shezwae Powell (Belle), Peter Reeves (Caboose)                                                                        Notes: Proshot, Quality is just alright, but there are separate cameras for the race scenes, which look great.

1988 | Bochum |

Steven M Skeels (Rusty), Maria J Hyde (Pearl), Trevor M Georges (Greaseball), Eric Clausell (Electra), Natalie Howard (Dinah), Trevor M Georges (Papa), Carol Hoffman (Buffy), Roslyn Howell (Ashley), Hans Johansson (Caboose), Garry Noakes (Dustin), Michael Rivera (Flattop), Wilton Anderson (Krupp), Christopher Todd (Purse), Janina Baucke (Joule), Louise Conte (Wrench), Leesa Osborn (Volta), Jens Klarskov (Ruhrgold), Hansgeorg Gantert (Turnov), Frido Ruth (Espresso), Allan Edwards (Bobo), Ric Mount (Hashamoto)                                                Notes: Pro-shot press rehearsal

September 8, 1996 | Las Vegas |

Greg Ellis (Rusty), Dawn Marie Church (Pearl), Ron DeVito (Greaseball)  Notes: Last show of the 1995-1996 cast. Pro-shot, filmed with one camera for the cast and crew. Repaired audio.

Now I don’t want this post to get taken down, so I can’t link it here. If you want the list, DM me and I’ll send it to you as soon as I can! I’ll keep the gifting open until Nov 10, and I don’t intend to open it again, so ask me while you can!

[xxbonkixx]

MIDNIGHT SUN

By Stephanie Myer 🩸

⭐️⭐️⭐️

658 pages

Time to complete: 5 days

Overall I thought this book was okay. At the end of the day, it is just a retelling of Twlight from Ed’s perspective. However, I do feel like I got a new experience from this book.

~Plot (spoiler free)~

Edward Cullen is a ~100 year old vampire living in a 17 year old boys body. He resides with his adoptive ‘family’ coven and attends school like any regular teen would.

After he discovers the new girl in Forks, Bella Swan, he is overcome with the desire to drink her blood. This craving soon manifests into an obsession and love for this young girl as she falls for him too.

~Pros~

- with any retelling of a story from a different character POV, the goal is to create a new experience for your readers. With this book, I feel Meyer did this with enough success to be classified as a positive aspect.

- more insight to the Cullens’ home life and motivations

- clarification on why Edward looked constipated in the biology scene of the movie (spoiler alert, he wanted to murder a classroom of children)

- dialogue of scenes matches pretty well to original

~Cons~

- Edward practically confirms he is a pedo in the first few chapters which bothered me. I knew the whole age gap thing was a funny joke amongst readers but it is really is more than a joke…

E.g (spoiler here!) Edward refers to the biology class (17yr old students) as “children”. To me, this means he views Bella as a literal child (aside from just age, also innocence, naivety, and immaturity). Edward uses this language to refer to her age group multiple times

- some scenes have no new elements added so their inclusion seems lazy

- made me dislike Edward as he shifted from this ‘head over heels in love soulmate’ to ‘intense creepo who is also a bit pedo’

[2ndblogg]

Hey! Just read your hot take on novel!wangxian and I absolutely agree. I'm gonna have to say here that I believe it boils down to the fetishization of homosexual men in a lot of the fandom culture that surrounds mlm shipping, as you said it's a space for a lot of women to experiment with their desires and whatnot, but I think therein lies the breaking points between reading novel!wangxian as a good, healthy relationship vs. reading it as a very flawed and toxic one. As an LGBT person, reading the way the author dealt with their relationship made me extremely uncomfortable, it just really feels like something that is written by someone who is more invested in using her queer characters for satisfying her and her reader's own pleasure than a well-built, strong relationship between two characters. Not to take away from the novel in some other aspects, I believe that novel!wwx is a much better, much more nuanced character than what he is in cql, but when it comes to wangxian, I think the intentions are very different for each of them. To each their own, I guess, but I do find it very troubling that some people in the fandom have a really hard time admitting that novel wangxian is not even remotely healthy.

Absolutely.

And can I just say how glad it makes me to see that not everyone is praising this book for it’s lgbt representation...

But I guess that’s also why I just occasionally feel the need to scream my frustrations into the void or try to make sense of the novel.

And why I try to be understanding and accepting of people’s opinion of the novel and not take it ‘personally’ (in the sense of sitting there thinking “holy shit this is how they view ME, this is what they think of ME” etc).

I was in fandoms back when they were really a place dominated by straight (homophobic) women and realism or lgbt representation wasn’t on anyone’s mind (and the occasional dude butting in to say that’s not how sex works or bottoming is experienced was ignored or told to get out). I experienced this change to fandoms being more of a lgbt space, of people becoming aware that media can shape your views of groups of people, of people becoming aware of their fetishizing of fictional gays vs. their prejudice against real life lgbt people etc.

And tbh MXTX just writes like one of those, she writes wangxian like everyone wrote their gay relationships around 2005 and earlier; clear power imbalance, clear roles and attributes that are divided into ‘manly’ and ‘feminine’, certain physical attributes (like the female self insert character aka the bottom being pretty and slight and weaker and shorter), men/the penetrating partner can’t really be raped so anything the woman/bottom tries isn’t really ‘bad’, the male love interest is forceful and self centered but ONLY because he’s so in love and since he’s emotionally stunted he has to express that through sex, men/tops NEED sex and it’s rude/mean to deny them that, the girl/bottom isn’t THAT horny or in charge of their own sexuality but wants to please their partner and what they really get out of it is the emotional aspect, decisions need to be made for them because the dude/top just knows better, the girl/bottom is childish and flirty and the guy/top suffers through it until he finally snaps and shows the girl/bottom who'sboss etc etc. (honestly homophobia and misogyny is so tightly knit in this kind of fiction, if it wasn’t so frustrating it would be very interesting).

Tbh I disagree with novel!wwx being more nuanced (despite a lot of ppl whose opinions I really respect also feeling this way), because I simply cannot seperate him from the wangxian relationship. All I see are tropes and stereotypes applied to make him ‘work’ in the context of the wangxian relationship instead of an actual personality...

To me, in CQL WWX is clearly the main character and you love his interactions with LWJ and want more of them and value them, wheras in the novel most of the time WWX plays second fiddle even when a scene should technically be about him and LWJ’s presence is incredibly suffocating, because he’s always being controlling or at the very least influencing WWX.

I also don’t feel like WWX has much of a character arc/growth. We’re essentially told he had one but the only thing that really actually changes is him hating himself a bit more and letting LWJ smash..., and I guess: he’s less independent than ever, he’s more isolated that ever...

I’ve called novel!wangxian a relationship between an abuser and his victim, because you can find evidence of that in the text. Not because I think the author wanted to portray an unhealthy gay relationship. Like you said, she was fetishizing and wrote for a similar crowd. But to me that ‘realization’ helped...I still don’t see how people can call it a masterpiece but I can at least understand hyping something you like up...

And like, badly written gay relationship or not; gay/straight,man/women, I see how people can find it hot. Exploring your sexuality through fictional characters isn’t necessarily a strictly straight girl phenomena. I probably have read fic that was exactly like this, I can’t judge anyone for it. But no one prints out the last PWP they read and goes, “this is ideal lgbt representation and nothing will ever be this good, the fact that it includes rape makes it so realistic” like????

(Is that part or an effect of the woke and purety culture? you can’t say ‘i like this book but it has flaws’ or ‘i’ve enjoyed this but it’s not up the feminism or lgbt acceptance that i preach/live’ so you have to pretend it’s flawless?)

And like, I do think novel!wangxian is a nightmare when it comes to lgbt representation and I do believe this is largely due to a cishet woman writing about gay men and fetishizing them (the fact that a lot of peoples arguments why novel!wangxian ‘is better’ boils down to ‘there’s kissing and sex’ is also pretty telling). And I am frightend and worried by some peoples response to it.

But is it really fair to see it as just that? It’s a problem sure, but that same thing happens in straight media (which I am admittedly not well versed in). Stephanie Meyer didn’t set out to write Edward Cullen to be a creep and non of the teenage girls that went crazy over him viewed it as such...Reylo fans (aside from some of them proclaiming Finn to be the real villain and saying it’s racist and misogynistic to not find Kylo Ren hot) found a way to view him threatening her as romantic and sexy, Loki fans that didn’t ship him with Thor usually fell into the camp of “he would be a perfect boyfriend” or “what if this OFC was his slave and he raped her everyday <3″... like ignoring/glorifying/romanticizing behaviours or exploring what kinks you might have through the safety of fictional characters and fictional settings isn’t JUST happening when it comes to ‘the gays’...

And not just specifically in fandom spaces either, a lot of ‘romantic’ movies include inappropriate touching, the boy/guy knowing better than the girl what she wants etc. And I absolutely do believe that that’s something that normalized these things for a lot of young girls and guys (I don’t want to get into this too much, I’ve really seen a change in the past few years, but before that it was pretty common for young boys to believe they need to keep pursuing and pressuring a girl that has said no, girls truly thought boys could die of blue balls, girls thought it was their duty as good girlfriends to let their boyfriends fuck them even when they weren’t in the mood, that they couldn’t talk about what they want in bed or what they don’t find enjoyable because ‘sex is for boys and girls get a relationship in exchange’ etc.).

And in much the same way movies have only relatively recently begun being called out for that, it’s also still pretty recently that they’re being called out for having their one queer coded character be a pedophile and a murder or whatever...Like, society as a whole becoming aware of these issues.

But do authors that publish their work with a specific target audience in mind have a responsibility to think about the effect it might have on them? (And I can already hear loud screams of ‘no way, it’s not your fault if your audience isn’t smart enough to understand that this bad thing is bad’, but I actually do believe in a way they do. That doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t write whatever you want, just maybe take a look at HOW you bring your point across. (We do KNOW people are influenced by what propaganda they’re consistantly fed. I mean, you wouldn’t write a pro-drugs childrens book...) )

What if the author isn’t aware of their bias and prejudices? Or their target audience isn’t their actual audience?

And do we, society and media, judge female and male authors differently when it comes to romance and sex in fiction? (The answer is yes btw) But also, where do we draw the line at calling something ‘badly written’ and calling it toxic? Can it be both? As I’ve said before, a lot of people claim that only the physical intimacy scenes of novel!wangxian are bad, because they’re badly written and OOC, some say the book as amazingly written and only the wangxian relationship is bad because the author doesn’t know how to write gay men. In my ‘hot take’ I essentially said that’s not necessarily bad writing so much as it’s simply an (okay, unintentional) toxic relationship. And would this relationship still come across as toxic (or badly written, whichever you want) if we didn’t know the author to be a cishet woman? Or if a gay man had written it? (my personal, eloquent answer for this is: yes, but differently.)

Which was really all just a rambly way to get to my point of: it’s not just fetishizing of gay men, it’s also the homophobia and self-inserting in a safe situation.

You can literally replace WWX in the novel with a female character and it wouldn’t change a thing. The author takes such an effort into building up this power imbalance in every aspect of their life that if WWX were a heroine nothing would change in this (sexist/ancient society) setting.

(And clearly this is something that appeals to people if you look at the amount of female!WWX fics...)

Not even the sex scenes. There are maybe two allusions in all of them combined that WWX might also have a dick but like, you can’t be sure and it sure as hell doesn’t need stimulation.

(and again, that could be written as a kink...but it’s just not.)

CQL is a gay love story. MDZS at it’s core is none of that.

But I also very much agree with your ‘to each their own’, like here I am criticizing and trying to find explanations and whatever, but at the end of the day it doesn’t matter why someone might like (or write) a book like this, I vastly prefer CQL!wangxian but people have their own reasons for not doing so.

The ‘problem’ really only lies in, as you said, people not being able to accept that it’s not a healthy relationship. Or claiming it to be perfect lgbt rep.

And because my brain can’t shut up today:

I also can’t stop thinking that the way some people ‘glorify’ the book as due to their age and ‘inexperience’.

When I was a pretty young kid and got into fanfiction, there was nothing but completely OOC!whump to be found in the first two fandoms I was in. And I loved it. It was YEARS later that I thought I might like to read something with the characters being...in character. What I’m trying to say, in different stages and phases of your life you might enjoy different things, for different reasons...and obviously, in that moment, you won’t think about ‘what appeals to me here/should this appeal to me/etc’.

I don’t mean inexperience as ‘sexual inexperience’ here, though of course that could be part of it, but also like, inexperience with this genre (is this the first book like this you read, or did you just read 50 in a row that all had the same unhealthy vibes?), with lgbt people and issues (do you know any lgbt people or is your only image of them either the cute boy you can’t have and don’t want to see with another girl or grown men in full kink gear in front of children during CSD? and also: do you think ‘i like this’ and that’s the end of it or do you notice how many people idolize this objectively unhealthy relationship and won’t allow critique on it...)  

I...just wanted to say thanks really.

I just can’t stop rambling apparently and I know I mostly just repeated what you said or what I already said but in longer... I just really do feel very strongly about novel!wangxian and the perception of them and have actually at times felt very personally...worried/affected, by people’s acceptance and love of them and I just... have to try and make sense of it...