#reagan doing art things I guess

[reagan-the-saunders]

The Befeathered Boi

[reagan-the-saunders]

I'm sorry but I must reblog this again with an addition of my tav in the corner just going;

xD

Punch first and punch hard Gale ��

More angry Gale au

[rivetgoth]

I feel like part of what’s kinda wild to me about the weird “born in the wrong generation but in an alternative 80s punk goth queer way” crowd that idolizes this nonexistent 80s that was like a goth alt GNC queer safehaven is that without fail every time I actually talk to older goths or other older alt people or even just older queer or nonwhite people who were actually there in the 80s they’re IMMEDIATELY like “oh you were NOT missing out hahaha.” Like at best the coolest things they’ll talk about is getting to see some OG alt bands live in their prime or getting to see a cool movie in theatres, that IS genuinely cool, like major jealousy to anyone who got to actually witness Skinny Puppy or Ministry live in the 80s ykwim, but literally ALL of these people will then immediately start talking about how much people sucked, how much mainstream culture sucked, etc. It was literally Reagan-era AIDS crisis. Dystopian literature took off for a reason. Racism was a massive society-wide issue. War on drugs was in full swing. Even just the insanely racialized pushback against disco during that time is of note tbh. Massive brand commercialization was getting worse and worse. Whenever I talk to gay people from that era they express so much relief about how much the world has improved since then. I was talking to an older woman in her 50s who’s been in the goth scene since the 80s who was saying that back in the day if she went out dressed in her goth clothes she was called a faggot on the street. I remember her jokingly being like “well at least they were saying it to me and not actual gay people I guess haha…” There are aspects of 80s culture, especially 80s subculture and counterculture, that I really really enjoy, obviously, and certain sentiments surrounding big art trends of the time that I love, but it’s just kind of ridiculous to me that YEARS after collectively mercilessly mocking the trend of white girls saying they miss the 50s while ignoring the fact that Stonewall and the civil rights movement hadn’t happened yet, no-fault divorce didn’t exist, and lobotomies were still acceptable, I’m seeing posts nearly daily on this site that are like “well if I had been born in the 80s art would be good and music would be good and there’d be a queer alt community for me, but instead I was born in the tiktok poser generation 💔” like girl I’m sorry but you ARE the tiktok poser. Get offline and go FIND your community. Your issue is not that you were born in the wrong generation, you literally just do not know how to find modern underground subculture. Because it is underground.

[batboyblog]

I feel like some people can't be/refuse to be educated, or they're deliberately being obtuse because they're trolls, psyops, or they just fell for the trolls and psyops. But its still good to point out where they're wrong and to give actual, you know, facts, for the benefit of other people reading who might actually be reachable.

yeah, I mean I usually ignore them because usually its bad faith and when a post is getting hundreds even thousands of notes in a day you just can't keep up with the 10-20-ish people who say something, particularly if its in the tags because thats just hard or fighting in the replies which always feels weird

But I was in a bad mood and in general seeing the same either bad faith or straight up don't know comment over and over and over again is very annoying

the "lol Joe Biden didn't do anything about Student loans!" one is pretty annoying since Biden has forgiven well over 100 BILLION dollars worth of student loan debt, so like he has done a lot on student loan debt. I'm not a big deal but I remember I did one of my "what Biden did this week" posts and it had the student loan debt forgiveness for people who got defrauded by the Art Institutes, and a few people added their stories of being defrauded and being in debt to AI for years and the one that'll stay with me was an older guy who went to try to get a new degree to get a job in a different field kinda late in the game, his 50s or 60s and of course didn't get the jobs he hoped for because scam college and saying how he thought he'd die in debt and it was all gone, all forgiven. So just like people flippantly dismissing a very real life changing thing is very annoying

there are a few other very common annoying ones "why didn't he do this when he controlled congress before!" well he was busy passing the biggest climate change bill any government on earth has ever done, investing in our Infrastructure for the first time since before Reagan was President (Reagan 😒) listen Biden passed 4 of the biggest most transformationally progressive bills the US has seen since LBJ

American Rescue Plan

Bipartisan Infrastructure Law

CHIPS and Science Act

Inflation Reduction Act

on top of which he passed the first gun control law out of congress in 30 years, and other things, like the Respect for Marriage Act to protect gay marriage, or making Juneteenth a federal holiday (the first new federal holiday since MLK day in 1983)

SO! thats why he didn't do the things he wants to do in his next term he was busy doing equally (and in the case of climate change more important) things and thats why we should all be hopeful if Joe Biden is President with a Democratic Congress he'll get most if not ALL the things on his agenda done, because he's fucking good at this, we haven't had a President this good at pushing bills through Congress and using every switch and lever of the federal government to make major progressive change since LBJ or FDR, I guess his big mistake was naming it something boring like "Inflation Reduction Act" and not something sexy like "New Deal" or "Great Society"

sorry to go off on a tare there, but its just frustrating to see 40 (out of tens of thousands really) posts saying the same dumb shit and having no real way to respond

[thesewildreams]

tagged by @tausendsorgen - thanks for trying again, friend! 🙂

Last song: The Kintsugi Kid (Ten Years), Fall Out Boy

Currently watching: I guess the thing I like the most right now is Strange Planet... It's such a *nice* show!

Currently reading: I'm almost finished with It Was Vulgar and It Was Beautiful: How AIDS Activists Used Art To Fight A Pandemic,, by Jack Lowery. I've been reading this off and on for like, a year? It's excellent. It's also infuriating and horrifying and so so sad. Fuck Ronald Reagan. It didn't have to be this way.

In lighter reads:

I recently finished Lessons in Chemistry, by Bonnie Garmus (I loved it), and now I'm listening to The Surgeon's daughter, by Audrey Blake. Plus the two dozen series I'm also in the middle of... I love reading! Books have always been my greatest escape. :)

When I was little my mom read to me a lot and taught me to read on my own pretty early, and even though I think she mostly did it in self-defence (she could basically plop me down anywhere after that with a snack and a couple of books and I would read for hours and hours), I will always be grateful.

Current obsession: I've been completely obsessed with making these little stuffed kitties for a couple of weeks, and then one day I realized I'd made seventeen of them and like, I think they've maybe started multiplying on their own? I'm not sure, but I think the safest thing to do at this point is to stop. I just can't quite seem to do it.

tag nine people you want to catch up with/get to know better: @doitninetimes @stephaknee @thedustatdawn @thedustatdawn @fleur-aesthetic @followthebluebell @brendaonao3 @viewparadise @sperrywink -- if you feel like it!

[boricuacherry-blog]

I'm very much a California girl. I grew up in Long Beach, then moved to San Pedro, which was very multicultural. And my stepfather was Thai and Hawaiian. I do have a musical family, my [biological] dad was in a barbershop quartet and my mom had a lovely voice, which I of course didn't inherit. I was really athletic - I played handball in school and beat all the boys twice before the bell rang - and I had a lot of anger I needed to get out, so I figured I would play the drums. I wound up playing in bands within three weeks of starting to play. Thankfully my family was encouraging. I always wanted to be an artist. There was this gallery near our house and they use to offer oil painting lessons. And I was really into that. That was really my jam.

When I heard punk rock, it had a really big impact on me. I was like, Woah, you can do that? In high school, these girls invited me to go see The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Pink Flamingos. Then you start meeting other people, you know, the guys from Red Cross, and The Stingers [a Longbeach band], because they were also seeing the movies. There was a definite crossover with, you know, punk rock and John Waters movies.

Some of the bands I really liked going to see in Hollywood were like, The Weirdos, and X. I really loved X so much. I copied Exene's hair, with just the bangs and kind of like the egg running down your head of different colors, as if you just cracked an egg of colors down your hair. I also liked The Alleycats - God there were so many bands at that time - Nervous Gender - The Bags. I also listened to a lot of Neil Young and Nick Cave and the bad seeds.

I played in a punk band that was like an art punk band. One of my first bands was called Sexually Frustrated. The two girls that were in it were little people [midgets] and you know, I'm like six foot tall. So it was like a visual thing on top of what we were doing. I was also in a band called IUD with the same two women. We were playing with The Omelettes at Camarillo State Hospital. You know, it was very arty, and there were like saxophones.

I met Courtney [Love] through a friend and she wanted me to be the drummer in a band she was starting. Courtney really wanted to make good songs. I don't think I'd ever played in bands where the words were really revealing anything of yourself - the emotional part of being a woman. I really responded to her lyrics. It's like Courtney was speaking for me in a way I couldn't for myself. The words really tapped into something. Pretty On the Inside really spoke to me - all the horrible stuff in my childhood, the dynamics in my family and with other people - that song just really, really spoke to me. I think I wrote a lot of my drum parts to accent what she was saying in the songs. I would, like, ride the cymbal, but make it sizzle - like Rat Scabies from The Damned, he would do that alot. I'm a very emotional drummer. I'm not the timekeeper metronome type of drummer.

When Jill [Emery] joined, that was when Lisa Roberts had left. Courtney let her go because she was threatening the owner of a club with a screwdriver when they didn't pay us. It turned out the owner was the wife of Eddie Nash, the infamous gangster, so Courtney was like, "No she has to go." And Courtney had already been in acting, so she knew all the Hollywood rigmarole.

I wasn't as into Pearl Jam - I was more into Mudhoney. I really liked the garage rock and Iggy Pop - kind of that Detroit thing.

Babydoll [from Pretty on the Inside] was about Madonna. Courtney saw her driving a Mercedes and didn't like it. Courtney worshipped Madonna though. I think that was her playbook. She wanted to be the rock version of Madonna.

I guess it could be said that grunge owes a lot of its existence to Reagan. We were deep in Reagan's America at the time, with the hypocritical values at the time.

Around the time Courtney got pregnant, I was also pregnant, but didn't realize it at the time. I'd had the flu for weeks, and Eric [Erlandson] goes, "Maybe you're pregnant." And it turns out I was. And unfortunately, my relationship at the time was breaking apart because I was always gone [on tour with Hole]. I got a voice-mail on my answering machine that I was being let go from the band, and this was after Eric had already given me money for an abortion. Courtney was telling me we were gonna be playing with Sonic Youth in November in Japan, so she didn't think me being pregnant was going to be good with me playing drums. So I thought, OK, as part of my career move, I'm going to have the abortion. And then she just kicked me out anyway.

I was actually kicked out three times, which a lot of people don't know. Courtney chastised me in the middle of a show because she thought I wasn't playing fast enough. I felt she was publicly humiliating me, so I threw a drumstick at her head. She was mad and kicked me out. Then it was like, OK you can come back if you just do Slimfast and cigarettes and then play drums everyday and do drum lessons. She really liked how I played, but she wanted me to play perfectly, like a Dave Grohl. So I would just comply - I lost weight, etc.

There were a lot worse experiences I had with Courtney, like her telling me, 'I made you,' and stuff like that, like saying I needed to do whatever she wanted at any given moment because 'I didn't even belong here.' So it feeds on your insecurities. That's what manipulative people do. It just got more and more tense that way.

And I mean at first she would, like, spend the night and we would pig out on Entenmann's and watch like weird videos, and have fun like that, but you know, now I realize what she was doing - she was trying to learn all my Achilles heels. And then she would just press on those things when she wanted me to do something.

Courtney was really smart. She was a speed reader - I mean she went to Montessori school - so she's a fascinating person.

Kurt's funeral was intense. There were about 50 people, not a lot of people there. It was Kurt's family, the Sub Pop family, and just all the people he knew. I was around Kurt, but I didn't really know him. We had very few private moments and unfortunately we did not get to be friends. I went to his apartment one time and he was in his pajamas and I sat on their bed. And he was excited to tell me he had a dream about me. He goes, 'We were in Aberdeen and we were riding bikes in my neighborhood,' and I was asking questions and he was telling me about it. And Courtney was standing in the hallway, very Bette Davis, smoking a cigarette, and she goes, 'Well he needs some female friends, but not you, your tits are too big.' And I was engaged to be married, so I don't think she thought I was flirting with him. And then he just looked at his feet, really ashamed. And I left shortly after that. But I'm proud of what we created.

-Caroline Rue, original drummer for Hole

[everygame]

Trinity (PC)

Developed/Published by: Infocom Released: 9/5/1986 Completed: 18/08/2023 Completion: Finished it. 100/100. Trophies / Achievements: n/a

Oppenheimer fever has long subsided by the time you’re reading this, and to be fair, had subsided by the time I finally booted up Trinity, but it was seeing Christopher Nolan’s surprisingly human film in 70mm IMAX that led to me skipping forward a few months in 1986 to play this, Infocom and Brian Moriarty’s attempt to grapple with the history of the atomic bomb from the context of the ongoing cold war (although by 1986 it was beginning to thaw, with Mikhail Gorbachev in power and Reagan already three years out from having his mind significantly changed by a screening of The Day After.)

Trinity in many ways is a companion to Steve Meretzky’s A Mind Forever Voyaging, in that it accepts that all art is political and is trying to be something deeper than even Infocom have attempted. But it also stands in contrast to it: A Mind Forever Voyaging is essentially puzzle-less and “realistic” whereas Trinity is absolutely an adventure game, packed with puzzles and fantasy locations.

Both games have their proponents and detractors (The Digital Antiquarian, interestingly, is a Trinity man) but I’ll be honest: for me, there’s probably a middle-ground that I’d like a bit more. Because Trinity falls into the major problem that I always seem to have with Infocom games: you don’t know what to do, or why you would do it.

It is, absolutely, the fact that I’m playing these in my spare time in 2023 rather than, you know, having put down the equivalent of $100 or whatever in 1986 to get a box with a lot of fun stuff in it, but I often wonder: did Infocom’s “Imps” simply believe players can and should work out what they’re supposed to be doing by repeated playthroughs, trial and error, failure, or was it the kind of thing that simply never occurred to them?

I supposed I’m being slightly unfair to Trinity. The game, after all, does begin with a simple vignette (you’re on holiday in London, trying to enjoy a day in Kensington Gardens before a nuke gets dropped on you/it–though you don’t know that yet) where you will quickly be driven to chase a roadrunner because… well, I guess because he’s there. It’s really only once you’re transported to a magical fantasy land full of mushrooms that you are faced with a complete lack of understanding.

Would it really have been so hard to express to the player what they’re trying to do? When I look at it… maybe. You see, in Trinity, you’re actually trying to travel to the famous Trinity experiment in order to… fiddle with the test so it… goes… right? It’s not exactly clear what the intention is, actually, but there’s a fair chance that it relates to something you might know about if you saw Oppenheimer–the theory that the bomb might have began a chain reaction that could not be stopped, igniting the earth’s atmosphere completely. The thesis of Oppenheimer, of course, is that it did, we just don’t know it yet. Trinity does not manage something as thematically clear–in fact, I’m not really sure what it’s saying in the end at all.

Anyway. To get to the experiment, you have to explore the fantasy land and use a sundial to open doors in mushrooms, each of which represents a nuclear explosion (a bit on the nose, but let’s allow it) that has occurred in the past or future (I do rather appreciate the imagery of the fantasy land where the mushrooms starts sparse, but grow into a tremendous forest; it’s rather chilling). This set-up is a bit of a mish-mash of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy with Moriarty’s earlier Wishbringer, and in some ways is the worst of both worlds: you’ve got a big ol’ map with puzzles to solve, but also each vignette needs to be solved, usually requiring things from puzzles you solved in the map. And, of course, you don’t know what any of those things are.

It’s actually rather easy to get to the “end” of the game (as in, the Trinity test site) but it’s unbelievably hard to work out what you’re supposed to do there. There are some really fun and logical puzzles in this (love a puzzle where you just tell someone or something to do something for you and they do it) and also some absolute stinkers, including pulling the old trick where if you look “at” something you’re practically told to ignore it, but if you search it you find something you desperately need. It’s not even logical at times–how was a screwdriver hidden like that???

Yes, this was one where I took a trip to the invisiclues more than I really wanted to, at least once because something I thought should work didn’t (of course, my solution would have ended up with me in a no-win situation because it ruined another item I needed…) and I think after A Mind Forever Voyaging, which is straight-forward both in design and theme, that I didn’t really get Trinity on either level frustrated me somewhat.

Which is not, really, to say that Trinity is bad. If–as I should have–I expected a Brian Moriarty adventure in the style of his previous, Wishbringer (of which I said, “Moriarty is more about giving the player a sense of place and feeling rather than a particularly deep narrative”) I think I’d have been largely fine with this, although still begging for more instruction. I think it’s simply that the whimsy in a context so serious doesn’t work for me here. A noble effort, none the less.

Will I ever play it again? I can’t imagine I would. There’s a time limit and tension to the climax of this that had me having to play it over about four times to get it right and that really wore thin enough I wouldn’t like to do it again.

Final Thought: I reference him fairly frequently but I have to note that The Digital Antiquarian went hog wild for this one writing like seven articles that discuss the atomic age in incredible detail and they’re wonderful context if, really, they only make Trinity’s themes feel ever more tenuous.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on��ko-fi! You can pick up a digital copy of exp. 2600, a zine featuring all-exclusive writing at my shop, or join as a supporter at just $1 a month and get articles like this a week early.

[musicrunsthroughmysoul]

Might want to do a bit of reading about the Ramones. Several sources point to their anti-blackness and siding with white supremacy groups at their shows, as well as supporting presidents Reagan and Bush. Dee Dee was also a pedophile, grooming a sixteen year old when he was in his forties

Unsolicited but I am assuming well-meaning anon, thank you for the heads-up about the Ramones, but in case you could not tell from a very basic search of my blog, I do not give a shit about the Ramones - which is to say that I've never liked them or cared for their music and find them vastly overrated and mediocre, anyway - and the only time I ever intend to post about them is in relation to someone I certainly like better (who I, most likely, find quite a bit less overrated and mediocre). Nonetheless, it's good to know about their anti-blackness, although to be fair (not to them - just in general), that could very, VERY easily be said about almost any white artist (at the least; they would otherwise, of course, have to be rather vocally anti-racist!), which is not at all meant to be in their defense but is just to suggest, why single out the Ramones when this issue is rampant in all art forms? Honestly, it should be acknowledged in regards to everyone's white faves, and my white faves are no exception (though I am not, of course, at all saying that the Ramones are my faves. LOL I could not care less about them, except for the way their music was given far more credentials than women and non-white, and especially non-white women, in punk were ever given; THAT! I CARE A WHOLE FUCKING LOT ABOUT!! And I've posted about this before, although I will say, it does suck that my primary example is Patti Smith given her history of anti-blackness. I can certainly rethink who and how I laud those who spearheaded punk, but I also think there are lines to be drawn). Nonetheless, aligning themselves with white supremacy groups at their shows is FUCKED!!!! And that does make me consider the way my faves have associated themselves with the Ramones. Oh...*is now deeply unsettled* yeah, that's really fucked up. I will be thinking about that quite a lot more now, so thank you for that bit of information in particular. But also, *coughs* I have a song to share that speaks to that history of white supremacy in punk - from a very beloved folk singer, no less. :') (Brief, historical context for that, btw: she was in punk before she became a folk singer!! So she was there witnessing this stuff around that time - the late '70s and early '80s, which is exactly why it's relevant.)

Still! Despite my defensiveness, I do appreciate the heads-up about them, and I will gladly (I guess; just to be informed, because when did that ever hurt anyone...rhetorical question!) read about them as you suggested. So thank you for bringing that information to my attention, and if you have any recs about where to read more about them concerning their anti-blackness and association with white supremacy in particular, that'd be super helpful, but I'm never afraid of a little research, anyway.

Note: sorry to gloss over the "Dee Dee was a pedophile" bit, but...not that I am defending pedophiles in any area of anything whatsoever, but there have been far more pedophiles in areas of 'popular' music than just one of the Ramones and punk; there are people that we do not talk about (for this reason, or do so very carefully), or people who we still laud to this day, and probably always will, despite the fact that they were absolutely, 100% taking advantage of young people and children, and I'm sorry that I cannot sugarcoat that. My acknowledgment of this is not to say that we should not talk about them, nor do I think it's right to continue to give so much credit to people with so much fame, and thus power, let alone to give them more fame and power, when they've done such reprehensible things. Rather, I would like to suggest that we think about and discuss ways in which we can PREVENT things like fame, and proximity to fame (and thus power), from empowering these people (men, women, and people of any gender) to take advantage of children, young people, and young fans. Because that's a significant part of what has been happening for all these years, and it will continue if we do not consider ways to check famous people - and fame, in general - and those in power. (And if you happen to think of the whole J*ffr*y *pst*in situation, that's a great starting point! Let's consider the ways in which they're all connected, but in particular, WHY!!!)

[downtroddendeity]

None of you asked, but here it is anyway.

And for the record, yes, I did eventually eat lunch.

Starting assumptions:

I'm putting the start of the game contemporaneous with its release date, so 2018.

The single definite point of timeline divergence I have decided on between the US in our universe and what I have taken to calling "The United Union of Eagleland" is that Reagan didn't exist. Therefore, the Republican Party is still evil but it doesn't have rabies yet, and all major political events in the last 40 years are up in the air.

I overshot my guesses about Roland's age in my first few posts because it was funnier; with full-game and DLC context, he's probably meant to be in the Obama age bracket and is just going gray early. He is absolutely still significantly older than Batu, though.

Even before the DLC validated me I had Roland pegged as a "my role model is FDR"-style infrastructure Democrat, because canon-wise his skillset is in the nuts and bolts of making a government that functions and he doesn't get heated enough about Broadleaf's corporatocracy to be a social justice or labor guy- he can keep his mouth shut when the other rulers are evil, but slips up when the way they run things is just dumb.

Since our guy is the Jungian Archetype of The President of the United States, when in doubt, assume the most Generically Presidential option.

I said in one of my jokes that he's from Illinois solely because a midwestern swing state is the most Generically Presidential and Illinois is the one with the funniest-sounding name. This reasoning is clearly foolproof.

Roland is born in 1966 (making him 52 at the start of the game), and growing up has zero intention of going into politics. The incident with the bullies is when he's 10. He gets into gun sports as a hobby as a teen because he's good at it and into 14th-century German longsword combat because he's a fucking nerd, unwittingly creating both an extensive paper trail of pictures of him at firing ranges that will become very convenient for countering NRA PR and an equally extensive paper trail of pictures of him at Renaissance Fairs that will become the greatest gift Eagleland political memes have ever received. He graduates law school somewhere respectable but not elite and goes into civil litigation. He marries his theoretical mystery wife at 31, but they keep putting off having kids because This Just Isn't A Good Time For Us. Then in like 1999, he's representing the plaintiffs in a lawsuit where some Regional Business Asshole who basically owns a couple of small towns has been doing a bunch of blatantly illegal stuff to harass people in a specific area because Business Asshole has a huge deal pending with some giant petrochemical company for fracking but can't move forward with it because a handful of people smack in the middle refuse to sign over the mineral rights for their property. Being a lawyer is frequently depressing, so now that Roland has one of the relatively rare chances in the job to be categorically The Good Guy he is getting into it. Giant petrochemical companies are evil but impersonal, but Regional Business Assholes are just some shitty guy and thus prone to getting mad and doing things that are evil but also very stupid, and that is why one day when Roland Crane, Esq. is walking out of his office on his way to a deposition some guy he's never seen before in his life walks up to him and fucking shoots him.

Except, unfortunately for the guy who got handed twenty grand in unmarked bills by the brother of the buddy of this guy the associate director of operations to the Business Asshole knows, being something you only study if you're a fucking nerd does not change the fact that historical European martial arts is, in fact, a form of close combat training, and Roland kicks the shit out of him. The security camera footage is pretty grainy, but the photos are incredible. It makes the news. It makes so much news, and of course it gets picked up nationally because they've got time to fill and this is fucking wild, and since it's 1999 and even though fracking is starting to really take off almost nobody has heard of it yet, this also kicks off a bunch of people going "oh my god I can't believe we didn't know about this sinister corporate scheme in MAYBE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD that they sent CORPORATE NINJA ASSASSINS over!!!" (Roland always corrects people that it wasn't a corporate ninja assassin, it was some guy who wanted beer money, and also the giant corporate conglomerate didn't actually do anything, it was some dumb asshole, but he knows that just makes him sound modest and while he’d be forced to admit that isn’t exactly a downside he would occasionally like it if people believed him.)

(Roland Crane, Master of Repression, subsequently started doing very normal things like, oh, say, wearing a loaded gun in a concealed carry holster on a thirty-minute drive from the airport to his hotel, which are certainly not indicative of any sort of trauma at all, and he finds it quite strange when anyone suggests that this is anything but a completely reasonable and sensible precaution to begin taking. Worked out for Evan, at least.)

Roland realizes his five minutes of fame are a golden opportunity, because he never really thought about going into government before but right now everyone knows his name and face and thinks of him as a badass crusader for justice standing up to The Man. He announces a run for House of Reps in like March and crushes the incumbent in the primary and that’s why I keep getting my difficulty gauge hiked up in the bonus dungeon. He wins in the general election and stays there for four terms while racking up a record of bills and amendments and cosponsorships on the kind of legislation that nobody gets really excited about, but if you list a few of them pretty much everyone will react to at least one of them as something that they just kinda noticed made their life get easier and more pleasant one day and didn’t realize was something their personal Congress Guy had a hand in. "Your income tax paperwork is slightly easier now," "you don't get 12 scam robocalls a day anymore," "you can buy diapers with food stamps," that kind of stuff.

Will is born in 2005. This was not planned, but Roland and his unnamed mystery wife kinda went, “Well, it’s still not a great time, but the time’s not going to be getting better any time soon, so…”

In 2008, Roland runs for Senate and wins.

Roland’s wife dies of terminal Being A Mom In The Ni No Kuni Franchise in 2013. The fact that he literally never alludes to her in any way in the entire game even on the single occasion she is directly mentioned is proof of how totally healthily he has processed his grief and certainly not indicative of any emotional baggage at all. Will is eight at the time, and totally definitely having healthy grief processing modeled for him and receiving the emotional support he needs.

He keeps his Senate seat in 2014. I have no idea what the overall 2016 Presidential election lineup looked like in Eagleland because the one in our universe was such a nightmare clownshow, but somebody notices that hey, they’ve got this guy who a) is charismatic and good-looking, b) has a reasonable amount of government experience without being a Washington Insider™, c) has a legislative record so deeply boring that it’s surprisingly hard to attack despite being extensive, but, d) simultaneously has a handful of details of his personal life and history so absolutely buck-fucking-wild that they instantly make him the most interesting person in basically any room.

And that’s how the United Union of Eagleland got universal health care, thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

I accidentally headcanoned 1200 words of Roland Crane backstory instead of eating lunch. Happy Presidents' Day, everyone.

[reagan-the-saunders]

Hiiii! Here's my Secret Santa piece of Tilavyne and Aurelion for @tiredela!

I really hope it fits their pairing xD

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!! <33

[technicolor-dreamss]

Here’s my Phone Guy design that I forgot to post on tumble

His name is Scott Cawthon and the real Scott is his faceclaim because I thought it would be funny, I had a lot of fun cracking out the gouache and doing traditional art for the first time in ages, more info abt him under the cut

There isn’t much to Scott, he’s a very simple guy, grew up in a small town, raised Mormon, extremely repressed, working a dead end job because he’s a scab and loves Fazbear Entertainment, and harbors feelings for one of the owners. He’s very outgoing and friendly despite his stuttering problem. Yet he lives alone with a crusty white dog named Matthew, or Matt for short, (despite being a cat person) he adopted out of pity because he thought it was old and gonna die. (It didn’t.) I guess he has a soft spot for crusty white things that don’t die.

Fun facts:

- his mission was in London, which is why he has such an infatuation with British culture and why he likes Mr Afton so much

- he has stopped Fazbear Entertainment from unionizing multiple times

- He’s conservative lol he voted for Reagan and if he was alive today he’d be a Gays 4 Trump

- He has like 8 siblings because Mormon

- his favorite musician is Donny Osmond, he also listens to other country and easy listening music and white gospel, nothing with swear words though

- he dies a Virgin LOL

- he is 6’1

[setitallaflame]

“Thank you,” Reagan simply said. After all, there was a reason why she hadn’t set foot back in Seattle since she and Ryder had been forced to run; she didn’t want anyone to be brought in for interrogation - or worse - by the government just for interacting or being associated with her. However, as for his comment about memorizing and burning the list, too, it had her grinning in return, “That won’t be necessary, Jason Bourne. And I must’ve hit that milestone early - which is a first, someone call my parents - because aside from a select few bands, I cut off exploration at like thirteen or fourteen years old. I’d found my music, I found what fit me best, and I didn’t feel the need to do anymore searching. Still don’t.” Or, at least, she wouldn’t if given the opportunity. “And I guess we’re wired differently in that particular case. But there are plenty of other things I would’ve been willing to try back in the day - you know foods, and traveling, and movies, and TV shows, and basically anything that isn’t music. Oh, or painting. I can appreciate looking at other art, but I’m shit at anything outside of painting.” She then nodded, “Yeah, a lot of mine are labeled trip-hop or electronica but they bounce around, test other things out. It’s fun, I enjoy it, but at their heart? They never really change, and I like that. They play to their strengths, to what makes them who they are.”

“Thank you,” Reagan quietly replied with a small, appreciative nod. “I really do hope that you get the chance to go. And I’ll be sure to make you that list of underground clubs before I take off and where they’re at. Just, uh, don’t tell anyone where you got it from.” Not just because they were underground, but because having ties to her in any way was dangerous, old or new. She then nodded, “I can appreciate that with other things - sort of being open to wherever the wind takes me. Or, that’s how I used to be. But when it comes to music? No. No, I’m pretty dead set in my ways. And punk isn’t bad, some of the bands I like - they’re considered electronica or trip hop or acid jazz, and then they’ll suddenly stray into rock. They’re kind of all over the place, which suits me. And as long as whoever is spinning is good - as long as they know their shit and can pick the best of the best, then the energy of the crowd will be just as good.”

[offices-regionalbranch]

Hate when motherfuckers say the most reductive stupid braindead shit and I'm so fucking tired of the word "leftist"

Like first if all I'm starting to think people ONLY means like not racist now. Like it's a term to make neoliberals seem radicalized that's supposed to declare they aren't an absolute fucking Nazi or something. Second of all I should clarify I LOVE country, but calling an entire genre full of multitudes a "leftist genre" and then having your defense be that you took a shitty arts major class on it is dumb asl.

For example, look at this excerpt from "The Hardest Hate: A Sociological Analysis of Country Hate Music

So the "leftist genre" also contained a subgenre that was vehemently against anti segregation.

While not a country song in itself, Ahab the Arab was one of the first songs released by country singer and Cash contemporary Ray Stevens.

You can pluck many examples showing that country wasn't the weird progressive hivemind that teenagers who listen to Citations Needed (no hate to citations needed) and think they're now expert media analysts think it is. "Country was leftist and now it's not" is such a broad take, it ignores regressive themes in early country and how many fuckin solidly progressive country songs have come out over the past 29 years

Tyler Childers made an entire album with the point being "if the cops shot us for no reason y'all'd be shooting back with fifteen thousand different types of gun so if you complain about BLM protests you're a little bitchass" Sturgill Simpson has made a ton of songs that are clearly vehemently anti war. Not to mention that there's black and gay and latin country stars.

To close off I guess the final thing that bothers me is that people don't really do this shit to other genres in my eyes. Jazz was a "leftist genre" and now it's ridiculously expensive to see jazz live because the premise that it's a deviant community is gone. Or rock, in general, which was much more political en masse 50-60 years ago and now has lost a lot of that. Half of early hip-hop is "fuck Reagan" and now the U.S government will get someone to rap to kids about the dangers of tax evasion. It's almost as if in general music has been constantly separated from its more political basis over time, especially when that basis is against the status quo

Tl;dr if you say dumbshit ab country I'm pissing on your nan

[synthient]

So today I went “oh yeah, my university library/online database access is gonna be cut off soon. I’d better hurry up and research any last important topics I wanna know about”

.....and then I spent an hour doing very important 4Kids History Research

a summary:

It’s the 80s. Reagan-era deregulation has hit TV broadcasting, and most of the laws that used to limit the amount of kid-targeted advertising stations could air have been whooshed away.

Enter My Little Pony, Transformers, Care Bears, etc. And enter the company that will be 4Kids: Leisure Concepts Inc. 

Leisure Concepts is a “licensing company,” which evidently means “glorified toy marketer.” Their big claims to fame include: pitching Thundercats to Rankin Bass (and getting Thundercats toys into Burger King), and helping a mall outlet store set up its Budweiser Dog Mascot merch displays

Now it’s 1995, and the CEO of Leisure Concepts is openly, proudly talking about getting the company “vertically integrated” ajghalkhsg

Vertical integration was a form of Old Hollywood monopoly where companies like Warner Bros/MGM/Paramount owned the production (movie studios), exhibition (movie theaters), and distribution (advertising) of their movies. It was outlawed in the 50s for being Very Blatantly A Monopoly

But with all the Reaganism going on, I guess LC is confident they can get away with it lmao. They already have distribution/advertising, obviously, so they start working to assemble a production division. They’re thinking about calling it 4Kids Productions

At this point, Leisure Concepts has no intention of getting into the anime business. The first show they produce through their 4Kids arm is......a live-action Wrestlemania-style martial arts show???

Meanwhile, in 1997, a 4Kids employee takes a business trip to Japan for a toy convention, stumbles across the first few episodes of the Pokemon anime while he’s there, and goes “Dude. We could sell so many toys of this shit”

Leisure Concepts has apparently worked with Nintendo before (selling “Super Mario Bros. Christmas lights and ornaments” and “Game Boy shampoo” zkjgksgk), so they’re able to make a deal for the US licensing rights to Pokemon.

They still have zero intention of getting into anime dubbing. The deal they’re offering to the Pokemon Company is “We’ll find an American TV network for you to air your 20 minute toy ad (ahem) show on, set you up with some nice US toy companies, and take a percentage of the profits.”

But none of the networks they try selling Pokemon to want the Weird Japanese Animal Collecting Show. LC can’t accept that answer--they’re convinced, no matter what they naysayers think, that this is the toy-selling opportunity of the century

Finally, LC throws up their hands and goes “Fine! We have our own [brand-new, tiny] production company [that we’ve never used for anything besides making a bizarre campy martial arts show] now! If you idiots won’t take the show, we’ll dub it ourselves!”

And somehow, they manage it? They pull together enough translators/actors/etc to Dub This Damn Toy Ad practically overnight?? And apparently they get around the issue of not having a TV network by offering the first few episodes to stations for free???

Anyway, the next thing anyone knows, MSNBC is running segments on Pokemania, Pokemon is on the cover of Time Magazine, and every children’s anime producer in Japan is suddenly flinging their shows at the feet of 4Kids (which has literally never breathed in the anime business’s direction before this). 

And that’s how 4Kids faceplanted into becoming the world’s most (in)famous dubbing company when they Just Wanted To Sell Toys

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

You know how we have pet costumes? Give Jacob one, make him a cute space cowboy😈😈😈

WE'RE BACK BABY

Please enjoy this little ficlet (that was actually my 3rd attempt to write a fluffy ficlet for this universe because all the other ones kept becoming future chapters lmao)

--

“This is humiliating. I look like sheriff Woody or something.”

“Aw, I was thinking more like John Wayne Gacy, you know?”

“The...the clown serial killer…?”

Angie pursed her lips. “Wait, who was the cowboy guy in all the old movies? Like, before Clint Eastwood and whatever.”

“That’s John Wayne. Not John Wayne Gacy,” Jacob tugged at the sleeves of his costume and readjusted his cowhide vest. “And I don’t feel anywhere near as cool as him right now.”

She rolled her eyes and crinkled her nose. “That’s because you’re not cool. You’re a grown man playing dress up with a kindergartener.”

“So are you.”

Angie straightened her Native American headpiece and threw one of her braided pigtails behind her. “Yeah, but I know it’s stupid, so therefore I’m doing it ironically which makes me cool.”

Jacob sighed heavily but didn’t argue further, instead tugging his cowboy hat down further to shield his face that burned with embarrassment. Being forced into having playdates with his captor’s coworker was nothing new. He had spent plenty of time being Mibao’s sole playmate aboard the ship, doing the best he could to keep the six year girl entertained and not too psychologically damaged. Being the youngest in a sibling group of only boys, he was a bit rusty when it came to knowing anything about kids. Thankfully, Mibao was more than happy to take him by the hand and show up all the “fun” things she used to either do back home or what she would now do with her “kitty”.

Today’s game of choice was dress up. Every day felt like dress up when it came to the girl’s ever expanding wardrobe; she was always dressed in an obnoxiously puffy and sparkling princess dress fashioned with ribbons and bows galore and always with a matching crown. Fine, no big deal, he could slap a tiara on his head and call it a day, he’d worn worse at the few fraternity parties he attended during college. Nope, not good enough. Mibao had a very specific game she wanted to play which involved him wearing a cowboy costume of all things. A very realistic and detailed cowboy costume, assless chaps and spurs and all. Again, he could...handle it for the most part. The only thing that really bothered him about it was all the coos and giggles he received from both his and Mibao’s captors when he finally came out in his new outfit.

And he knew for a fact they took many, many pictures of him.

It didn’t end there, Mibao still had more requests. Angie needed to join in as well and she was required to be an “indian princess” to partake. Naturally, she was more than happy to agree if it meant getting a break from the absolute nightmare of a captor she had been saddled with. So, now Jacob had to deal with the fact that she would have to watch him play pretend in this ridiculous getup. He could never catch a break with her, it seemed, she always had to catch him when he was in the middle of doing something cringe worthy. She didn’t even look half as uncomfortable as him and she was literally wearing half as much clothing.

Or maybe that was exactly why she was so comfortable as she sauntered up to him, making a finger pistol to tip his hat away from his face. “Cheer up, partner,” she teased. “I think it makes you look cute.”

“I think it makes me look like Owen Wilson from the museum movie,” Jacob replied, hoping the shadow of the brim hid his reddening cheeks.

“Oh my God, you are a tiny little twink cowboy, huh?”

“I’d rather be the gladiator guy.”

“You wish you could pull off being the gladiator guy.”

A rebuttal was on the tip of his tongue when Mibao made her appearance from behind the monitor where she had been changing. This time instead of her usual princess attire, she was dressed...pretty much the same, only this time she had a tiny pair or iridescent fairy wings attached to the back. What a fairy had to do with cowboys and indians, he hadn’t the faintest idea. She stopped when she saw the two of them and stuck out her tongue in childish disgust.

“Eww, stop kissing!” She scolded. “You can kiss the princess later, Jake, it’s time to play!”

Jacob had never been more grateful in his life that the creatures idly watching them couldn’t understand English because he just might have died if they heard. He could feel the heat radiating from his nape to his cheeks, putting his hands up in defense like it could keep Angie away from him.

“Wh-no! We weren’t, we weren’t kissing, Reagan, w-we-!”

Angie only cackled, her amusement stemming more from Jacob’s panicked response than the actual accusation of giving him a kiss. “Yeah, cowboy, you can kiss me later.” She winked and nudged him with her elbow as she walked past to where Mibao was waiting.

He groaned, tugging the hat down as far as it would go even if that meant obscuring his vision somewhat. That was totally fine, he didn’t want to look at anyone right now and he did not want to be perceived either. The child was leading them back over to her designated play area scattered with art supplies and stuffed toys for where they’ll play their game of make believe. Angie was already sitting on her knees by the time he shuffled over and beckoned him with a sly smile to come take a seat on the ground next to her. Jacob obliged, but refused to give her the satisfaction of seeing his beet red face.

As soon as they were settled, Mibao immediately launched into the exposition of the scene they would be putting on, including their roles and superpowers (that only she had because she was a magical fairy queen). Jacob was only half listening; the kid usually forgot half of her own rules in the middle of playing anyways because she wanted to change the story and it wasn’t that hard to follow her game of make believe. Instead, he kept side-eying Angie, who was side-eying him back, and every time they made eye contact she would smile and bump his shoulder with hers.

This was going to be a long playdate.

--

The lab door slid open as Talan walked in, peeling off his bloodied gloves to dispose of them in Ylva’s waste bin. “I need my human back.”

“Aw, why? They’re all having a ball together!” Ylva frowned, gesturing to the miniature trio on her desk. Well, the smallest one and Talan’s pet seemed like they were having a good time, namely at the expense of the other human in a hat. They all seemed to stop at the interruption, his human fixing him with a sneer that he was tempted to match.

“What the fuck is it wearing?” He asked, ignoring all the little protests he got when he grabbed it and plucked the stupid looking feather thing of its head. “I thought you said it’s not nice to torment the humans.”

Edix scoffed at him, though his annoyance was more from Talan being in his general vicinity than anything. “It’s not torment. They were having fun.”

Talan did not look convinced in the slightest, his eyes sweeping over the pup who was pouting at him for taking away its playmate and the other who froze any time he breathed in its direction. Like owner, like pet, he assumed as it seemed to unconsciously inch closer to where Edix’s hand was resting for a better sense of security. Pathetic. At least his pet had a bit more self respect and wasn’t afraid to try and stab him in the hand with his own tools. Of course, it got a sharp flick to the stomach to knock it off, but he could appreciate the gumption.

Talan rolled his eyes. “Yeah, looks like a real party. So sad to have missed it.”

“Like you’ve ever been to a party to know what it looks like.”

“Says the one that only hangs out with plants.”

“Okay,” Ylva interjected, rising from her chair and scooping up her adorable little human. “You’re right, we should probably wrap this up, Mibao’s going to need a nap soon and she likes to fight her naps when she’s excited.”

That was all the excuse Talan needed to dip out without a formal goodbye, though it didn’t escape the corner of his eye how Edix’s human took a half step forward when he left, almost like it wanted to say something. Even if it did, he wouldn’t have cared. As quickly as he had intruded, Talan disappeared back down the main hall of the fauna department to return to his lab.

Edix stood up as well and tucked the data pad he had been keeping busy with under his arm to keep his hands free. He couldn’t help but smile at seeing how much closer his little pet was standing to him, even if it wasn’t by much, even though it was caused by Talan of all bastards. A win was a win in his book. The hand the human had been partly hiding behind curled easily around it to lift it up, immediately cradling it to his chest as usual. It squirmed for a moment but settled quick enough, a clear sign it was also ready to go back to the lab it was accustomed to. For a social species, the little one always seemed so drained after any playdate Ylva arranged for their pets. Fine by him, it usually meant his human was much more quiet and well behaved once it was back in the solitude of Edix’s company, making for an easier work day.

He used his finger to tilt back the wide brimmed hat it had been using to hide its sweet little face a majority of the playdate, earning him a surprised squeak. With the way its baby cheeks were turning an adorable shade of pink, Edix had a fairly good guess as to why it was trying to avoid everyone’s line of sight. Damn, he should have had Ylva take more pictures, this was way too cute for him. It reached up to quickly pull its shield back down and Edix let it with a laugh, cooing as he tugged at its little vest instead which only made it wriggle in distress. Overdramatic little thing.

“Can I keep this costume?” He asked as he followed behind Ylva who was preparing to put her own pup down for a nap. In reality, it meant she was going to have to play with it for at least another half an hour because, much like him, she was a sucker when it came to her human wanting to play. The difference being that Mibao wanted to do anything from coloring to singing to continuing its game of make believe while Edix’s pet always wanted to play chase.

Ylva smiled and shrugged. “Sure, I mean, it’s not like it’s going to fit the baby. It was printed for its measurements specifically, anyways.” Mibao was proving to be difficult in its refusal to relinquish the shiny wings Ylva had designed at its request, something that Ylva quickly made a game out of by setting her pup on the desk and letting it squeal and run while her hands chased after it. That would tire the kid out in no time. She looked back at his human and giggled. “I don’t think it likes it very much, though.”

Oh yeah, that was obvious from the get go, but it didn’t change the fact that it was way too precious for its own good in this type of outfit. Edix actually quite liked the contrast of the dark brown against its pale skin, even more given the fact that it matched the color of its doe eyes perfectly. It was much more appealing than that splotchy green jacket it was inexplicably attached to. He had a feeling it was going to try and strip out of this outfit as soon as it was back in Edix’s lab, provided he gave it its normal suit and jacket to change into. But...maybe he didn’t have to offer it its spare set of clothes right away. Maybe it would just have to hang around in its little boots and hat for a couple hours longer while he finished up his latest report that was just so important to get done. And maybe he would get constantly distracted by how cute it looked while it was definitely pouting at him for not taking off its costume that it took a little longer than usual to finish his work, which meant it spent even longer pouting under its hat.

Decisions, decisions.

Edix waved his hand dismissively. “It’ll learn to love it.”

“Oh, Eddie, don’t be mean to it,” Ylva laughed, not that seemed bothered by the idea of his pet keeping the outfit on for an extended period of time beyond the playdate. “But send pictures if you do.”

[a-weird-cryptid]

Thanks for tagging me :)

1. Are you named after anyone?

Dead name? As far as I'm aware, no. Name I prefer (aka Reagan)? Yes, definitely. Long story short: watched Inside Job, related to Reagan Ridley more than I prob should have, realized it was a gender neutral name (I was looking for one at the time) and decided: Welp, guess I'm gonna steal that name now.

2. When was the last time you cried?

Dude, I don't even know what I did 10min ago. Do you really think I would remember the last time I cried?

3. Do you have kids?

No, and I don't want any either (at least no biological ones), cause I'm a pretty sex repulsed AroAce.

4. Do you use sarcasm often?

NoOoO, what are you talking about? I would NeVeR!

5. What sports do you play/have you played?

Played? Nothing. Did? Competitive gymnastics. Do? Gymnastics and archery.

6. What's the first thing you notice about other people?

Appereance in general, I guess. Maybe style? Idk.

7. Scary movie or happy endings?

Depends on my mood and how good/predicable the movie is.

8. Any special talents?

Does having a large skill set count? And knowing a bit about basically anything? If not, then I prob don't have any.

9. Where were you born?

Germany.

10. What are your hobbies?

Drawing, writing, reading, sewing, crafting, archery, gymnastics, skateboarding, trying out and learning new things... I think that about covers it. I prob forgot to list some of my hobbies, but who cares.

11. Do you have any pets?

Yes, cats. And I love them more than anything else in this world.

12. How tall are you?

Small enough to make me extremely insecure about my height to the point at which it gives me heavy body dysphoria. I hope this is enough of an answer.

13. Favorite subject in school?

None, because school sucks. If I had to choose the least bad subjects though, I'd go with art and biology.

14. Dream job?

Something in the direction of psychology, neurology and/or biology.

15. Eye color?

Blue.

Since they're the only mutual I have who isn't already tagged:

@smolboiremy

15 questions for 15 mutuals

One of my close friends (as well as mutuals) @cadaver-moss tagged me in this! Gracias mi amigo! Now it's my turn! ^^

(There are some questions that reveal a bit too much for me, so I will try my best to alter them.)

Are you named after anyone. I'd say there are 3 answers. Legal name I will change: Yes Real name I use today: Depends. It's a noun that I would describe myself, but in a different language. Also turns out, I learned about a year after I got the name, that the word comes from the name of a spirit! Persona's name: A grandmother's dog (she's a sweetheart)

When was the last time you cried. The last time I actually cried was during a meltdown. The last time I almost cried was when another close friend said he would block me if I sent him a clip of Toad's voice, and because he said that I had a shutdown (he knew what he did was wrong though, and luckily, we made up).

Do you have kids? My sona does (in reality they're my Gengar plushies), but irl, no. I don't plan to have coitus with anyone else in any way, shape or form. (Adopting or fostering kids though, I would say otherwise).

Do you use sarcasm a lot? Depends on my mood, really.

What sports do you play/have you played? Have I played? Kick ball! I made a homerun (after I slid) and ended up getting filled with energy and pride! ^^

What's the first thing you notice about other people? I honestly don't know. I have social anxiety, especially with most other teens (a reason why high school is very stressful for me) and I often prefer to be alone.

Scary movies or happy endings? Happy endings. Easy answer. The King's Game, SCP-5254, Squid Game and SCP-001(WTDB) are perfect examples of why I prefer happy endings, as they have caused me depression and sometimes paranoia. It wasn't pretty. (There is also more media like them that have caused me depression and/or paranoia.)

Any special talents? If drawing counts, yes. Other than that, if it counts, algebra, and most other academic activities.

Where were you born? My sona: Alola Me irl, an southeastern state in the US (Currently living somewhere else, and I will not say the name of either place)

What are your hobbies? Drawing, surfing the net, watching YouTube, napping, shaking the lamb sauce (don't ask. It's a secret), listening to music, car rides (at times), word searches, and other things that are out of my mind right now.

Do you have any pets? The namesake of my sona, Kitty, and Highly [Maybe Confused]. There are some pictures I took of them recently at the bottom of the post. Check out other videos on Tumblr to check them out.

How tall are you? What's 3^4-36+9x2+0? That's your answer. (And no, it's not a _'_ deal)

Favorite subject in school? Art. Other than art, math.

Dream job? Character designer, like James Turner and Ken Sugimori, or an illustrator, like Anne Fitzgerald. Or a storyboard artist.

Eye color? Go outside, and stare at a tree trunk. If not, stare at my dog.

Highly is the tired one(left), and Kitty is the desperate one(right).

I'll tag @liamthemarowak @ghos-tea @tiny-brain @destinylightsup-2006 @leothewtf @andythepurplebird2k5 @alter-ego-cole @boongusbongus and @artsymii

(As it's most likely required. Lmao)