#representation of my own characteristics that are good and bad

[daydream-reblog]

Yeah, it's a PERMANENT THING on your body (if you really want, get a shirt, a temporary tattoo, or body paint of it). Have it be influential and impactful, and be something that you loved for many years now. And recommended to better make sure that the creator isn't in many controversies (as Harry Potter with J.K. Rowling) and is a good person.

in general i dont think fandom tattoos are a bad idea but i think u need to at least give yourself like a two year buffer from the end of that piece of media before you commit. like if someone told me "yeah im obsessed with hazbin hotel rn so im gonna get a hazbin hotel tattoo" id be like woah okay maybe put a pin in that idea for later. but if someone told me "yeah i read homestuck in its prime and i still love it so im gonna get a homestuck tattoo" id be like well fair enough its been like eight years. if you still like it now you'll probably still have fond memories of it in 20 years. you do you.

[cripplecharacters]

how do you avoid tokenism if your cast is already really small? (ex. 5-10 characters). it’s a short comic/story/thing i’m working on and i want representation but i’m a bit worried about it coming off as tokenism

Hello,

Tokenism is about only making the bare minimum to appear interested in diversity or inclusion, but not actually delving any deeper.

This does often happen in a way where, for example, there is only 1 person with a certain marginalized characteristic in the cast. Like one black person amongst white people, or one woman in a cast of all men, or one disabled person among nondisabled people. But it's a little bit more than that. That one 'token' person is generally portrayed in a very stereotypical and superficial way.

When it comes to disabled characters that are tokenized in this way, often it's something like... the blind character is totally blind plays the piano and relies entirely on their hearing and requires everyone to describe colors to them and is the only person who befriends an 'ugly' creature because They Don't See The Difference, and no one shares basically any of their traits, and they never mention knowing anyone else who is blind. Basically, a list of tropes rather than a character with their own personality that meshes with the personality of the rest of the cast.

You can avoid tokenism by creating the character and actually keeping in mind how their disability (or any other marginalized characteristic, but we are a disability writing advice blog after all!) affects them and their life, and also giving them a life aside from that. You can make sure that they have relationships with the rest of the cast (good or bad!), that they have things in common with some of them, and that they have a fully formed personality that isn't just [insert disability here].

Something that can also help is the character mentioning someone else they've met that has a disability similar to them – like mentioning their cousin is also deaf, or that they met someone their age in physical therapy, or that they inherited their condition from their parent, and if you can mention a way that they are also different from your character too. Like, "Yeah, my best friend from elementary school had cerebral palsy too. She didn't need to use a wheelchair like me, but I did help her out whenever we had to use scissors."

Basically: Your character should be more than just a collection of Disability Tropes. They should be a person that fits within the cast, and as developed as anyone else.

Hope this helps,

– mod sparrow

[musiclovingmoth]

after barely a day of my poll being up it seems like so many people know about and really love natural history collections which makes my heart sing!! i would love for my fellow natural history nerds to rise up and sign this petition to protect one!!

duke university is CLOSING its herbarium which holds over 800,000 plant/fungus/algae specimens including 2,000 types spanning 180 years of collection effort all across the planet. it is the second largest private university herbarium in the entire united states. this is really bad!! i will explain in short terms:

every natural history collection's purpose is to collect and maintain specimens, which are collectively supposed to be a thorough representation of biodiversity across time and space. when sampled at regular intervals at the same places, specimens can tell endless stories about changes in shape, abundance, range, genetics, and SO much more. basically, they are a big sample size to use in all manner of studies, including those that concern climate change and biodiversity loss! new species and evolutionary relationships are constantly discovered at collections even when specimens are like 100 years old. duke has recently championed itself as a global leader in biodiversity research which is honestly in jawdropping conflict with its move to close its herbarium. this herbarium not only supplies duke researchers with material but researchers all over the world. specimens have been cited in over 46,000 publications and over 13,000 since 2019 alone. we have old shit in our cabinets but the science is anything but history!

faculty and staff have 2-3 years to move the specimens elsewhere which is NOT enough time for 800,000 old dried plant/fungus specimens. this is an issue in even the BEST natural history collections at the biggest institutions but collections are pretty much always understaffed and underpaid. a university collection usually relies a lot on student labor and you know they do not have the time to be contributing to this move. to find collections that would take these specimens AND allocate the manpower and time needed to send them off is not feasible. types, especially holotypes should really NEVER be transported because they serve as the exemplar for the characteristics of the species it represents. i do not feel good about hurrying 800,000 old, fragile specimens including 2,000 types getting moved in a short amount of time by a few people. i do not want to know what will happen to the remaining specimens that don't make it out in time.

this sets a really dangerous precedent for other university collections across the world. this is not a random state school, this is duke university, which is practically an ivy league. if they close such a prominent and respected collection just because they're not 260% maximizing their profits, it may let other greedy university admins know they can get away with the same. i've only been in the professional collections world for a short time but shutting down a collection let alone one as big as duke's is almost UNHEARD of. i haven't seen scientists band together so strongly and quickly over an issue (i'm in an ENTOMOLOGY collections listserv and someone advocated for emailing duke admin against this decision), probably because they can all agree on how strongly this could impact climate and biodiversity research and policymaking down the road.

tl;dr if duke herbarium really closes, we would be losing a vital hub for ongoing and future research that helps us understand how our world is changing through the dynamics of our plants and their allies. other institutions might see this and follow suit with their own collections.

[popart-vvv]

This is a PSA...

FUCK THAT STUPID "PARODY" OF GOODBYE VOLCANO HIGH!

Why? Why?!

It was made by members of 4chan, the worst site on the internet BY FAR! The complete opposite of KO_OP--filled with right-wing rhetoric and intolerant of any piece of media that dares to be different! If you like the "parody game" and its related products, then you're saying that you support 4chan, warranting a block from me.

2. Lazy and unambitious design. GVH is all-around unique; high schoolers having to deal with the lead up to a cataclysmic event, deciding how to spend their time up to that event, and every character is an anthropomorphic dino. Plus, the game is a blend of rhythm and cinematic adventure, a novel choice in game design. Plus, the characters are all written like believable teens with understandable issues (the effects of the impending meteor, for instance), with plenty of non-forced conflict.

The OTHER game, meanwhile... stole the designs of the main characters and appropriated them into high school drama cliches, plus, the design for the main teacher blatantly rips off an Adult Swim character, for some reason. The worst part is the main character, though! It's just some muscly guy with a blank face! No eyes, mouth, hair, NOTHING ON THE HEAD! Goddammit, seriously, that is the WORST character design I have ever seen in my life!

Plus, THAT game is just another throwaway dating sim VN that can NEVER reach GVH's level.

3. LGBT ERASURE! THIS. IS. WHY. YOU SHOULD NOT LIKE THE GAME!

GVH's main characters are queer one way or another: Fang is non-binary, Rosa is a transgender woman, Sage is a transgender man, and it's possible for Fang to enter a relationship with Naomi. Reed is also hinted to be in a relationship with a male classmate, Alvin. Plus, there is some subtext regarding the pairings of Trish/Rosa and Sage/Stella, as well as in Naser's arc.

Meanwhile... THAT game is basically a vehicle by its creators to espouse 4chan bullshit. Fang is an enby when you first meet them, but their "happy ending" has the player character convince them to detransition. RED FLAG! RED FLAG! And the only endings where they stay an enby are the ones that don't give them any respect! This is bad messaging! Apparently, they're saying that the only way to find happiness in life is to throw away your queer identity! FUCK THAT SHIT!

Again, that is huge disrespect towards a likeable representation of an enby.

Note: Rosa, Sage, and Naomi's queer characteristics were envisioned DURING the rewrite, so it was after THAT game was revealed. Make of that what you will.

4. It blatantly disrespects KO_OP, and frankly, the company does not deserve it.

Goodbye Volcano High was released in August of last year, but it was actually revealed as far back as summer 2020. It was VASTLY different back then--it was more like a traditional visual novel, except with the same anthropomorphic dinos and unique designs. By the time GVH was released, it had gone through a huge story rewrite, resulting in the final product.

Unfortunately, there's a whole backstory in the development of GVH.

2020 was when COVID-19 was ravaging the world, and KO_OP's workers were struggling with the disease, putting a major dent in the game's production and delaying it for a while.

Also, the rewrite started not long after the game was revealed. Admittedly, this was due to a mistake on KO_OP's part in their choice of a writing crew, but the writing team was replaced, so good on them.

Also during development, they were harassed by 4chan and other unsavory people, culminating in THAT game. Basically, there's an undercurrent of PTSD--on the KO_OP Discord, if you bring up THAT game or any other hugely offensive content, you'll get a warning or a ban. Is it any wonder they hate THAT game?

Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, KO_OP should be admired for withstanding all that crap and releasing GVH three years after its initial announcement, the payoff being that it has its own dedicated fanbase and was nominated in three major awards ceremonies. Like GLAAD!

5. Real-World Events

Probably the worst part is that THAT game has a fanbase, even after a terribly heartbreaking event in February.

Two words: Nex Benedict.

Seriously, to still support that game, even in light of similar tragedies... That's inhumane.

*sigh*

I know this kind of post may not be your cup of tea, but I needed to get this off my chest. I love this game so much... It pains me to see that a supportive game, alongside its fans and creators, is being unfairly targeted by terrible people.

I stand by what I said in this post. I did my research before making this essay. That said, if there are any inaccuracies in here, I apologize.

However, I will not tolerate anyone who tries to argue in support of THAT game. If they do that, they get reported/blocked.

Sincerely, popart-vvv.

[tessarionbestgirl]

Do you think Daemyra had an open marriage? I can't see Rhaenyra being ok with him sleeping with Myseria if she wasn't also straying from the marriage bed.

Going back to Nettles, I think Rhaenyra's anger was linked more to the fact he chose a black girl over his white wife rather than him cheating on her. Myseria's white in the books and she had no problem with him sleeping with her.

That is a interesting question.

I believe in In the book, while they didn't have a open relationship, like show!Laenor and her where you have a very modern set of rules and boundaries. I think they are aware of each other behaviour or at least Rhaenyra was and didn't mind, because, to her what matters was that his heart was loyal to her, and that what she probably told herself. I think, also, she didn't mind Daemon fucking Mysaria because she also was fucking her too. Is the whole Laena thing going on but inverse, with Rhaenyra being his wife. She probably liked even more because, she was the one holding the power, or at least is what she believed.

My interpretation is that Rhaenyra always believe Daemon love her because of the years of grooming, so when Daemon fell in love with someone else, and treated her in away that remembered the way he used to treat her (but more genuine) is really made her jealous and come to the conclusion, that he doesn't love her or even loved her and that truly hurt her and pushed her to the edge. And then of course, as you said, there is the layer of the racial/social issue, because now her pride also is hurt, and that is even worse for Book!Rhaenyra, because of who he fall for, a bastard girl with no Valyrian characteristic that could not be more opposite to her.

It was pure humiliation for her. So the jealous becomes anger, and she tried to get revenge on the weakest part, and that was Nettles. And that is the thing that pissed of Daemon the most.

Because see, when we analyse Daemyra for the political aspect of their relationship you have a better understanding why they also fall apart. Rhaenyra and Daemon marriage was always a representation of how monarchy and royalty are closed in their own bubble. And while Rhaenyra never cared about small folk and their relationship was always fed on the Valyrian traditional. Rhaenyra was always delusional of her own greatness and she died that way.

Daemon was always more complicated, is like Martin says he has equal good and bad inside of him. And he is someone that is more aware of the problems of small folk and in Daemon way he tried to make better. And we saw that in the show multiple times.

First when he make Kingslanding more safe.

There is even cut scenes of the tournament that some people show love to him. And there is really good scene of young Rhaenyra talking to her problems and the problems of being a lady and he clap back saying there is worse fates than that. You can watch here:

And season 2 is also a very big exemple of that. Daemon wants to be king, but also, he only starts to go against Rhaenyra when he sees weakness on her in the same way he saw in his brother.

So of course in the book for him is even worse because Rhaenyra is punishing the very personification of small folk for what they do to each other.

The show, they don't have a open relationship, is not even nearly implied that in any point. Actually there is almost romantic aspect of their relationship.What makes even worse Rhaenyra fucking with Mysaria. Because Daemon comes out as more loyal to her. Heck Daemon in the show was a faithful husband to Laena and Rhaenyra.

[wistfulcynic]

gonna go off a bit on the subject of the "he's me fr" school of character analysis. Because while it's absolutely fine and good even to relate to fictional characters and see aspects of yourself in them, it's also important to recognise the difference between your interpretation based on your experiences and what is actually shown on the page or screen.

humans are primed to recognise patterns. We are strongly inclined to contextualise things to suit our existing worldviews. We don't like contradiction and we don't like things we don't understand. It's so natural for us then to reframe anything we find confusing or contradictory that we often don't even notice we are doing it.

this is bad! This is dangerous! This is how you get bigotry and hatred!

a lot of people reframe things they don't understand (other races, cultures, religions, genders) into Other and Other is frequently Bad or even Evil. It's relatively easy to spot when other people do this and to understand that it is wrong. But surely, you may then say to yourself, if i am reframing things into what is familiar to me that's good, right? i'm Relating and that's a positive thing!

and i guess, yes and no. Yes because finding connection can be validating and because there's a reason that representation in media is so important--that reason being largely because it gives a wider range of people the opportunity to see others like them on screens and in pages. But also that act of relating to something you know is in fact an act of bias. You are biased in favour of recognising that thing because it is You. It's important to you as part of your identity but you should be aware that this can lead you to overcompensate and to misinterpret things because you are seeking that connection so intensely. And honestly i think this is also fine so long as you are able to recognise the difference.

there's a difference between saying "i identify in X way and demonstrate Y characteristic. This fictional character demonstrates Y characteristic therefore i am going to interpret them as identifying in X way" and saying "this character MUST OBVIOUSLY identify in X way because I DO and I SAID SO and this is now a VALID TEXTUAL INTERPRETATION."

maybe it is. Maybe it also isn't. Maybe Y characteristic is something that supports many different interpretations and "because they're totally me and i said so" is neither a strong argument nor a healthy way to process the world.

let me give a real world example. i am acespec, something i didn't understand until relatively recently and definitely couldn't have defined when i was in college because that was like 1997 and the language i needed really didn't exist then. Or at least it didn't exist in my corner of the american midwest. Anyway. i had a friend in college who was gay. He had come out at 18, which in the late 90s rural midwest was a big fucking deal. He was very proud of his identity, to the point of being aggressive about it and one of his big things was trying to encourage other people to explore their own sexual identities.

which is fine, right? Good, even. People should be able to do that and his intention was to be a safe space for his friends. His intentions were good! What wasn't good was the way he absolutely targeted me as someone who didn't date and didn't "chase men" <-this was literally the way he phrased it to me. He said "you don't chase men and you don't want to date them therefore you are a lesbian just admit it."

he absolutely would not accept that i wasn't gay too. He used to get mad at me for arguing with him about it. The way his world was framed you were either gay or straight (reminding folks this was the 90s) and so if you weren't demonstrating Accepted Straight Behaviour, ie dating and lots of sex, that must mean you were closeted gay and should just come out already, otherwise what are you some sort of homophobe?

he wasn't able to recognise that his interpretation of the characteristics i showed were not the only possible interpretation. Even if i weren't acespec i could just not have met anyone i was interested in! (this was also true). There were at least half a dozen other explanations for it but he insisted his was the only way because it was His identity and His experience and he was i think genuinely trying to relate to me on that level. Instead he ended up alienating me because i knew the choice wasn't as simple as "gay or closeted and probably homophobic" but there was absolutely no convincing him of that.

obviously there is a difference between what he did and fictional character analysis. Obviously fictional characters are not going to be hurt by people interpreting them as whatever the way i was hurt by my friend's behaviour. But i put it to you that the same inability to differentiate between what is real and what is your own interpretation based on your personal biases is a negative thing and something people need to be aware of. If you are capable of imposing traits on fictional people based on your own identity and recognising that doesn't necessarily mean they have those traits then great, more power to you, go forth and fanfic. But if you interpret a character in X way and genuinely, deeply believe that your interpretation is the only right and valid one based on nothing more than your own experiences then i strongly urge you to examine your biases and learn to do textual character analysis. For yourself, for your own metacognition skills, but also for the people around you. Believing you are right and there is no other way to think is the quickest path to intolerance and hatred that there is.

[mariodreemurr]

How is the self shipping different from the fictional other thing?

Good question. Unfortunately, I don’t really have a good answer to that. There’s no exact definition for both selfshipping and fictolove; some people say they’re interchangeable, others say they’re different.

Here’s my take on it, now that I really think about it. All fictolovers are selfshippers, but not all selfshippers are fictolovers.

Selfshipping involves shipping yourself with a fictional character, simple as, whether you are shipping them with an OC that represents you, or with your true, IRL self. Everyone does selfshipping a little differently; some are casual about it, but a lot of them treat it as a serious, committed relationship. Everyone’s experience with it is different, and that’s perfectly acceptable.

On the other hand, most fictolovers treat their selfshipping as a serious commitment. In addition, they often forgo using S/Is or representations in favor of their IRL selves. Lastly (and this is a big one), because they’re often more serious, they have a small number of F/Os. The average number a fictolover has is, I’d say 2 or 3 romantic ones, versus some of the very long romantic F/O lists I’ve sometimes encountered here. (Not a bad thing at all though, more power to y’all!)

So in my eyes, fictolove and selfshipping aren’t technically the same thing, as they have their own different characteristics, but they fall under the same umbrella.

Here’s where I come in. I have treated my fictolove as a serious commitment, and I presented my true IRL self to my F/Os. Now that I’m just a selfshipper, I still present a version of myself to my F/Os, just not my true self.

As an INFP, I like the idea of being in a relationship, but I probably wouldn’t enjoy being in one. That is not to say that I have romantic feelings for these characters, I still very much love Petal that way, and Arly too. But to be brutally honest, I don’t even think any fictional character would date the IRL me. I’ve got a ton of problems, but Curt has his life under control. Plus, I’m too busy to be in a committed relationship these days. Selfshipping gives me a lot more flexibility when it comes to that.

I hope this answers your question in some way. I apologize if I said anything off-color or anything, feel free to correct me if I get anything wrong. I’m still trying to figure this out myself; I didn’t start my journey with Tumblr selfshipping, and I’m still getting used to it.

Please read my full DNI in pinned before interacting, thank you.

[feral-lore-creature]

oh boy oh boy oh boy am i here to tell you how much that was not rhetorical.

i guess the best place to start wpuld be simply with HR Giger and his rise to fame with his biomechanical artwork. Biomech, as it sounds, is the combination of organics and mechanics, most often represented with human/animal anatomy where joints are replaces with gears and pistons, but infused with muscles and tendons. Gigers art was particularly inspired by Salvador Dali, HP Lovecraft, and Alfred Kubin

(some examples of their work in order of who was listed)

(The Temptation of St. Anthony ,The Shaggoth,Homage to Rimbaud)

Giger was enlisted to the design set by Ridley after he viewed Giger "Necronimicon IV", for which the Xenomorph was designed after.

"Giger's design for the Alien evoked many contradictory sexual images. As critic Ximena Gallardo notes, the creature's combination of sexually evocative physical and behavioral characteristics creates 'a nightmare vision of sex and death. It subdues and opens the male body to make it pregnant, and then explodes it in birth. In its adult form, the alien strikes its victims with a rigid phallic tongue that breaks through skin and bone. More than a phallus, however, the retractable tongue has its own set of snapping, metallic teeth that connects it to the castrating vagina dentata.'"

The Alien is meant to incite sexual horror in men specifically, between ita phallic shaped head/inner tongue and vaginal secondatry mouth, whule still maintining no sexual dimorphism (except feom the queen) so you cant tell if its a male or female.

"however, he could not conceive of an interesting way for it to get onto the ship. Inspired after waking from a dream, Shusett said, "I have an idea: the monster screws one of them", planting its egg in his body, and then bursting out of his chest. Both realized the idea had never been done before, and it subsequently became the core of the film. "This is a movie about alien interspecies rape", O'Bannon said in the documentary Alien Evolution. "That's scary because it hits all of our buttons." O'Bannon felt that the symbolism of "homosexual oral rape" was an effective means of discomforting male viewers."

after this point all of my thoughts devolve into a garble of pointing and hand flapping so enjoy what i was able to provide and i hope we become moots bc i wanna talk abt alien w ppl so so bad

BY THE VOID, THANK YOU! This is so well done. I fucking LOVE IT. I'd LOVE being moots! 😭 I need somebody to info dump on, too!

Putting my own thoughts below the cut so nothing gets too long.

I always thought the idea of making (usually cis) men uncomfortable via graphic, fictional representations of rape was SUCH a good change of pace. It's refreshing, not just in terms of "flipping the script", but the way it's presented is often beautiful, and grotesque.

I remember watched the "horror" (read: fetish) movie "Don't Breathe" with my FATHER not knowing the plot twist (because that's the point of watching the damn movie...) It made me so fucking uncomfortable. It's just a fetish film, honestly. It handles extreme, very real events with no grace or creative liberty. It's horrible.

ANYWAY! Back to Aliens, I think that's also why I fucking LOVE the hive system the Xenomorphs work in. I know some people don't enjoy these terrifying, eldritch organisms being "reduced" to something so earthly as a hive system, but let's be honest, it's effective way to reproduce/gain numbers, and it's still just as scary.

That's the reason I adore the QUEEN herself. Her design is powerful, and elaborate. She sure as hell plays and looks the roll of queen. She's the epicenter of the species who commands all those under her as she "births" more of the monstrosities to destroy worlds in her children's wake. She's the only feminine being binding the hive together into an organized destructive force, and she doesn't even need a male to fertilize the eggs. (<- also a detail I really like.) She's quite literally an evil girl boss LMAO I love her.

These are the main reasons (and I'm sure there's more,) as to why I love HR Giger's original art work, and how it was shown in the first two movies, then later beautifully presented again in Prometheus 2012. (<- somebody please be obsessed with the Engineers with me, I love them, and need to bang one asap LMAO)

It's an amazing example of art that's meant to "comfort the disturbed, and disturb the comfortable."

[majorbaby]

i've talked about this before but it really is some flavour of indulgent to be able to automatically relate to a main character because they all have 'everyman' characteristics and they also happen to be the heroes of the story. so if you got to go through life a white person then you're way more likely to have a range of experiences available for you to relate to than anyone else.

i've seen some recent rejections of processing media this way - finding the one that 'you are' as being a limiting, and while i would generally agree with that, not only is it limiting, it's a privilege.

'not every character is meant for you to relate to' well this is something racialized children learn very early on, and it is why refrains like 'representation is important' originally sprang up.

when it comes to myself, it was actually never about having a brown character that i could 'see myself in'. i see myself all the time in characters who are annoying and scrappy and compassionate thank you very much.

the issue is that representation is a double-edged sword. not only do you see a white man and think "that's a good guy" it also reinforces that people who don't look like that cannot be good guys.

for a long time the only role available to brown men in media was 'terrorist' - i obviously don't relate to that, but it reinforced the idea in other people that that's who i look like, which has affected my real life. and similarly, that people who don't look like that, are less likely to be terrorists. which is a huge problem if you're trying to combat legitimate acts of terrorism.

brown women simply did not exist at all. or they existed in negligible quantities. can't decide if that's better or worse.

the FoC (fans of colour) edition of character-coded for MASH is like, are you olivercoded, klingercoded or kellyecoded.

oliver's name is a slur and he's written off after like 10 episodes for "historical reasons". klinger's highs are real fucking high, but the lows are real fucking low.

kellye let me get a little wibbly about because... something about being a minority within a minority and the eternal struggle of women of colour in The Movement being forced to choose between their race and their gender forget sexuality altogther. the production of s11e01 Hey Look Me Over being an example of a powerful white man (Alan Alda) using his power and platform to elevate an experience other than his own in 1982.

Before that, s08e11 Goodbye Cruel World fumbling the bag trying to make a point about how an asian character in the war sees himself as the enemy when he returns to society, and totally missing how the show itself exacerbates that condition in the very same episode by doing what it does to Klinger. Doubling down on the idea that brown people are a punchline. the kind of cognitive dissonance that can only happen when you're a white person trying to write a hard-hitting episode about racism.

and finally the irony that Kellye being an asian and being one of the most consistent members of the minor cast actually made her hypervisible amongst the rotation of white nurses who even shared the same names, baker, able, etc - and that also being a problem.

the point of this post is that it's a luxury to relate to certain characters on the basis of personality only. i ask as much as i want to be a hawkeye or a BJ or a margaret, but i'm most likely to be cast as klinger. and it's not that that's bad, because klinger is the best character on MASH, it's the fact that some people have a choice, and others do not.

[justshitandanime]

Kamigami no Asobi/ Ludere Deorum (Anime) Critic, opinion, whatever (no major spoiler)

So, I just end to watch this short anime (12 episodes) and I’m like MEH. I don’t care about the game, truly, I give 3 fucks. Is only about the anime.  

The basic plot is “A bunch of gods from different religions have to take classes in a school with a human for a REASON”. And at first, when you see which gods are (Japanese, Greeks, Nordic and Egyptian) you can think: Ok, this will be great! Like, knowing that Greeks, Nordic and Egyptians in some point fight historically between them, the god’s relationships must give a lot of drama and conflict, right???

WELL NO, ZERO. The story now is “Everyone love the human, plot less deep than a paper” ISTG.

Let’s start with the only woman in the series, a girl that’s so annoying that make me want to rip off her hair. Zero personality, she only adds something because the rest of the gods are pretty much teenagers with the mindset of a 10 years old child who seems to never see humans in their lives for more than 5 minutes (which in some point it contradicts it because one of the gods almost marry a human??). Typical lady who can’t stop to cry for legit anything but, somehow save the world and somehow know how help everyone…

The gods are just plain stupid, which, coming from beings hundreds of hundred years old, HOW THE FUCK? The only ones are the two who are like on top the school, Zeus and Thoth (this last one was my main reason to see this anime), who act a little more as millennial old god. One of them literally have the attitude and personality of a toddler…

The only big GOOD APPLAUSE to this anime was make the Egyptian gods (Anubis and Thoth) NOT WHITE and neither with “people of color offensive stereotypes”. Are the same, act the same, as SHOULD, but brown skin color.

But the rest is a little meh. Both are the only different ones, the Japanese gods look just as the Nordic and Greek. Their “god form” is a mix of Sailor Moon style with some vague representation of their characteristics.

Their personality are based on one quote of wikipedia, ignoring the 99% of their original lore, their relationships are also very basic. Half of the screen time are just simping over the girl, trying to see who will keep her as if she was just a prize and not a being with own brain (hello misogyny my old friend) and she is pretty much a toy with no self-love or even the ovaries to speak (she shutters and say “but” all the time).

They also end shirtless or semi naked way too often to be barely 12 episodes long and make me think, whoever made it, was thinking in “I will make a bunch of hot dudes, showing tasty meat, to make the girls see this anime”.

Another issue with the design is that they look pretty similar. Except the change of the hair color and style, they are the damn same, to the point of be hard to identify them at first, even the girl has THAT FACE. Again, only is easy for the Egyptians gods and Zeus. They are all so absurdly THIN like, damn, they have muscles but, you know, to have these muscles, do you have bones below or something? They are eels…

Their conflicts seem so damn deep in some point that make you think “ok, now the drama start!” but no, all is fixed in one chapter as if they put the issue under a rug.

The names are a big “wtf”. The character Melissa is showed as if is going to be important but I still try to figure out why the fuck they made him/her.

Being an old shitty person a side, I can say, even so, they somehow manage to be charming enough to make you get a little sad when the bad shit happens. After all, they are just a bunch of bimbos: no brain, pretty, nice guys.

There are a few plots twist that can make you say “cool”.

Background and scenery are great, night skies were my favorite.

Score: 2.5/5 and 5/10. Is fine if you are bored one day and want to binge a fast show without need to think, but don’t expect too much. And kinda avoid it if you are fan of any of these gods (much less a nerd of their mythology) or you will end spitting foam and cursing in old latin.

[lgbtpolitics]

@woozapooza

So basically my overall opinion is just that I dont think it actually matters; basically every argument in favour of needing gay actors falls flat to me. I dont believe it adds authenticity or whatever, I dont believe it increases whatever good is being done by the representation itself etc. I have some sympathy for this in the sense that a lot of famous actors ARE actually a bit rubbish and can only play characters similar to themselves. But this is its own problem imo, an actually good actor should be able to play a character of any sexuality. In fact I think its starts to border on offensive when people suggest being gay is just too foreign to straight people. Whats more is that the actors arent really the driving force; lots of terribly written gay characters have been played by gay actors, if you're concerned about authenticity and how that potentially bleeds into being actively bad representation the place to start is the writers room not the cast.

Only one thing has ever been pointed out to me that I did agree with which is that if certain media is deliberately written to boost LGBT representation then it should be employing LGBT actors. And yeah that's true enough, I dont think it has to be a 1 to 1 conversion like LGBT actors can play cishet characters if its a good fit but they should be making some effort to include a high number.

Having said all that, the two most common arguments against needing gay actors to play gay characters also fall entirely flat.

"It should only be about who's the best actor": no it shouldn't lmao. Obviously you want the best actor possible but almost every character is constrained by some other characteristics - age, gender, race, height, and so on. You dont cast David Tennant as Matilda no matter how good of an actor he is. Sexuality isnt any worse or better as something to take into consideration.

"Saying gay actors should play gay characters forces people out of the closet" this one just winds me up especially when it moves from media into a general idea that NOTHING ever should be specifically for LGBT people. Nobody is being forced to do anything because people don't think you should play a certain character. Playing a gay character is not some human right being taken away from actors unless they come out of the closet. Its not even actually being taken away, just disapproved of. There are actually loads of gay characters being played by straight actors who just ignore any disapproval. People dont have to like your work and if they dislike it on the basis that you arent (openly) gay, that doesnt make it some kind of hate crime. It is not akin to outing someone or whatever. This goes double for media that is actively hailed as some big progressive representation. Again I feel like it starts getting offensive at a certain point like all these twitter gays who want to see themselves represented by actors who are also gay are some massive force controlling the poor millionaire actors who have no choice but to bend. I have sympathy for actors who are just starting out but I still think its on you to decide to either not portray a certain character if you dont wanna discuss or just ignore any comments.

It comes around to celebrity culture as well because when actors are just... good at their jobs and not really in the limelight on a personal I rarely see any comments like this. Its actors who's personal lives are consistently a major focus of the news. And like whose fault that is is a whole other question but it does make me think like this wouldn't be a problem if we just treated actors like normal people and wouldnt even know their sexuality.

(Fyi all of this goes for actors playing bisexual characters too I have just simplified it, it gets more complicated when talking of trans characters).

[bookswithpurride]

Another one of my all time favorite books. According to storygraph, I've read this one four times + partially annotated my physical copy (and annotating a physical copy is like my peak love language for a book). This book happens during the 2020 lockdown, which sometimes makes people I tell about it a little dubious about how romcomy and non-stressful it can be. I promise it's all good! Every single friend who has read this book has devoured it in less than three days and loved it soooooo 🤷

blurb

Social distance makes the heart grow fonder…

Ezra Beaumont never felt like New York was truly his home, which is why he’s spent the last seven years studying abroad at university and backpacking across Europe. Some may say he’s running from his problems, but he just hates feeling stuck.Then COVID-19 starts ripping its way through Europe. Within weeks, Ezra is back in New York and on lockdown for the foreseeable future. And to make matters worse, the person training him at his new job seems to hate him.

Oliver Wheeler used to love his job at Coleman Press. But starting to train a new hire at the onset of a worldwide health crisis when he’s already overworked is enough to make him snap—especially since that new hire has no prior publishing knowledge.

Yet, somehow, even without experience, Ezra proves not to be as bad as Oliver initially thought. Through a constant stream of bad literature quotes, text exchanges about Oscar Wilde, and Zoom dates to watch television, Oliver and Ezra find themselves falling for each other.

But can a relationship work when CDC guidelines require you to keep your distance?

For fans of Casey McQuiston and Always Only You, Queried Sick is a slow-burn romance about two bisexual disasters finding love while working at a publishing company during the pandemic—complete with grumpy/sunshine vibes, found family, and an attention-seeking cat. 

review

I  loved  this book! I read it, and then immediately reread it – that's how much I loved it. It's got great characters, a sweet romance, and wonderful representation. Also, the characters work in publishing, so there are lots of bookish jokes, including horrible lines from manuscripts that will make you comedically remind you of some of the worst books you've read (or not read). I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys romance, but especially to my fellow bookish folks! 

Here are some of my specific likes:

This book has really unique pacing of the relationship and it works well, I think partially because time felt so different in quarantine and the pacing reflects that.

Speaking of, the pandemic setting really works! I was a bit nervous about how it would feel reading a book — especially a romance — set during the pandemic, but the author did such a great job. Covid is clearly present and affects all the characters' interactions, but mercifully no one actually gets covid. Setting this book in 2020 allowed the romance to have a different pace than most romances, and explored the interpersonal difficulties of quarantine, like working from home, having to be careful (and extra careful, in Oliver’s case since he is high-risk), and being lonely while quarantining alone.

Ezra totally obliterates the typical trust-fund-kid stereotype. He’s not entitled, he’s thoughtful and considerate, he’s a hard worker, and he clearly cares deeply for the people in his life

I really liked the disability rep. Oliver has rheumatoid arthritis, and it’s a prominent part of the book, without being his defining characteristic. We hear Oliver’s thoughts on living with this autoimmune disease, especially during the height of the pandemic, we see him experience flares, and we see him take care of his body and meet his own needs.

The author does SUCH a good job of slowly unraveling the character's backstories, in both big and small ways. (Like, in ways that are core to their characters, and just fun details)

Oliver’s cat, Fiona, is a whole-ass character. I love when books have cats with proper personalities. And I adore that, while she’s apathetic to antagonistic with most of Oliver’s friends, she loves Ezra.

Great supporting cast! I love that both Ezra and Oliver have several people they’re close to in their lives, with some overlap of shared friends. The background characters are well developed and present throughout the entire book — they don’t only appear when relevant for plot reasons, which I always appreciate because it makes friendships feel more authentic.

They’re SO CUTE. Ezra speaks FRENCH. Oliver COOKS. They power through tv and romcoms together. They work in publishing and share gripes over bad writing (like breasts that are capable of independent movement). The author describes Oliver as "a cinnamon roll and a librarian who had a baby but swears like a sailor" at one point, and honestly, that's so on point and he's such a wonderful character.

Rep: MLM; bi MCs, MC with rheumatoid arthritis, anxiety disorder

Tags: pandemic, workplace romance, willingly quarantining together (sort of forced proximity???), slow burn, strangers to friends to lovers, mutual pining, bisexual disasters, epistolary

bonus review from my first reread: A reread! I loved this book just as much, maybe even more, this time around ❤️.  Such funny characters, Oliver is so sarcastic I love him. Ezra radiated gender envy, and is such a sweet, caring guy. The disability rep is SO GOOD. Hits all the right beats, I’ll always recommend this book to anyone who will listen.

((Cross posting some older posts from my insta (same username) because I’m not sure about the future of meta platforms/my use of meta platforms & I don’t want my content to be lost.))

[lostiethoughts]

i think the idea of fate and determinism lies not in our "future" (our "destiny") but actually much more in our relationship with our present. the idea of us being creatures of habit is reflected in how we view and put meaning into our past into determine our actions and choices today, and what the consequences of that will be tomorrow. but we do not live in a vacuum so all the choices we make still, as a result, affect others and therefore the choices they make because of that.

but either way the more i think about it the more "our future resembles our past" makes total sense to me, because we as creatures of habit, in our nature, despite our desire to find meaning, are defined by the choices we have made before, which in some way or another dictate a choice we make in the future. it's why the idea of personality exists, a way to categorize the pattern behind the history of our decision making, as a representation of our uniqueness, our soul, who we are in the world. and in the same way humanity has an identity - a personality - of its own, of values we've given name to, a range of good and bad and in between. of greed and companionship and envy and curiosity and love and hate and competition and vengeance and nostalgia and hope and pride and humility. we are diametrically contradictory creatures, hypocrites, prone to extremes in both our need for ourselves (survival) and our need for others. all of these are natural characteristics we have as humans and have put beliefs on, beliefs which are the fundamental idea of behavioral patterns.

but the things we believe result in the choices we make in the world; and in turn the nature of time puts those choices in the axes of cause and effect. the beliefs we hold as humans all of which stem from the past are directly linked to the choices we make in the future; therefore there is no breaking free from the fabric of space time being something that exists with stability rather than instability. i made the choices i have because of who i am; if i would've made any choice from my past differently then i would not be the person i am and have always been. not because i didn't decide to make that choice, but that there is something unique in the person that i am right now and that i have always known myself to be to make the decisions i have, and despite the thought experiment, no idea of parallel universes stemming from different decision making will change who i am fundamentally as a person: and therefore, the decisions i know i have indeed made

it's mostly to say that our inevitability does not lie in the expanse of time, but rather in who we are and the choices we decide to make, every day. sometimes there's luck (in coincidences of the universe), and oftentimes other people's decisions affect our beliefs, and therefore our own. and yet there is still the core truth of free will, of us being able to make whatever decisions we want: and yet those are formed by our experiences and knowledge (which we can only acquire by being curious enough), and do not exist in a vacuum outside of our patterns of behavior, our habits, formulated by our beliefs.

and so, the past resembles the future because for that all we progress in terms of other aspects of our modern lives, one thing remains constant: we are human. we are as human as the ones before us, and we are as human as the ones after us. therefore, of course we will fight. we will kill. we will seek dominance. we will torment and torture. but we will also love and help and be curious and create communities and try to learn the meaning of the world, and why we're here. so through all the suffering of the world, we will still see and love each other through our shared humanity; for all the people who create the pain, there will always be people who wish to heal that pain.

that speaks to the nature of humanity; of past and present; of how we cannot escape our inevitable ends. but our fate is not those ends, but rather the journey we have along the way - a journey that is guided by our decisions, which then in turn is affected by the patterns established from our past, whether as an individual or a community or culture. the future resembles the past because we are as human as we have always been; and just like the chaos in nature and the chaos in ourselves, there is something beautiful about that

[starburstfloat]

Let's talk about TXT's MAMA Performance: Lyrics and Stage Analysis

That was amazing! Better than their mma. Idk if the camera work is largely to blame for mma but also narrative wise this one felt like it followed much more of a concrete storyline, and just WOW that entrance with all the crosses and cathedral background...!

Is is a stretch to say it reminded me of yeonjun's "in this endless darkness, like oh my god so holy"?

I found it clever how they utilized religious motifs like the crosses and the coffin in the background to emphasize how their love progressively shifts from something sacred and sanctified to painful and buried. Accepting their loss is much like accepting a death. It makes sense then that they started their performance with opening sequence, which has lyrics that align to this loss:

And also that they then did good boy gone bad, a song that reflects them taking that pain and vulnerability from before, and nurturing it for the worse:

Notice how they start their performance in a cathedral setting, wearing black and white. It feels rather symbolic since black and white are the characteristic opposites used to portray good versus evil, light versus dark, innocence versus impurity - very much in line with the song.

Then when Yeonjun gets dragged away, the cathedral background starts to tilt a bit and it looks like he's being taken outside.

The VCR effect of him falling seems to indicate he's falling into his own grave or maybe even hell. Would make sense with the GBGB lyrics.

When they return, notice how they are now outside the cathedral:

The lighting is red and ominous, a great color to convey their anger. There are crosses around, indicating they may be in a graveyard. Again, all of this lines up so well with the lyrics, of burying their past selves, coming back "like a zombie, dead and alive".

But then the dance break UMMM IT WAS INCREDIBLE?!!!_!$(##(

I can't be the only one who finds it super emblematic how Yeonjun is blindfolded while Soobin is biting on the lace - unable to speak. Basically, Yeonjun's lost his sight and Soobin has lost his voice.

Like this, they'd be unable to find one another. But the thing is, they do. They dance around one another like they're seeking each other out in an almost cat and mouse game of hide and seek, reaching, grabbing then tearing away. But what really caught my attention was Yeonjun cusping Soobin's chin and slowly bringing him closer before Soobin cast him aside.

I wish my screenshots could do it more justice but with the lighting and camera work changing so quickly, it's hard to capture. The dance practice will surely be clearer.

Listen, if you follow me you'll know I'm super gay and I see gay subtext in like everything I consume lmao but I don't think it's much of a stretch to say this moment felt intentionally queer? Religious motifs have been a medium for homosexual representation for ages, mainly because of religion's staunch anti lgbt attitude. And just...the way Yeonjun is blindfolded and Soobin unable to speak...it just screams to me as being representative of a love that cannot be seen or dare to speak its name. And yet they still found each other, among the crosses.

(There is room to assume Soobin wasn't able to tie the blindfold in time and simply put it in his mouth instead, but either way it's an interesting detail and I'm curious to see what the dance practice reveals)

In any case, I found their paired dance shared a similar sentiment to their 0x1=lovesong dance, so if anything they are probably paying homage to their past title tracks

Overall:

TALENTED BRILLIANT INCREDIBLE AMAZING SHOWSTOPPING

I want to give a big kiss to the performance directors and staff that makes this all possible!!! And of course TXT for bringing it all together so beautifully. They can be proud of this one.

[itaitaita-ita]

MY OPINION ON NETFLIX’S “MAYA AND THE THREE”

OKEY! so for starters (i know that nobody asked for this) Hi everyone, my name is Mari and i’m a mexican girl with native roots so english is not my first language and i apologize in advance for any mistakes.

Lets start off with the overall: Its beautifully animated, it’s refreshing to see this type of stories and characters back on TV. The plot of the story is very interesting and hooking for the viewers, the characters designs overall are good (but i have somethings I want to point out, especially in the female designs). I really enjoyed the ‘Lucha Libre’ vibes that they gave out by presenting the opponents with a banner of their name.

Now, to the more specifics: the good and the bad.

THE GOOD:

Good interesting plot, gives me the vibes that it would make a good video game xd.

The representation of different features and skin tones is amazing!

The designs of the gods were my favorite.

The character development of Maya and how they portrayed the essence of each character despite having limited amount of episodes.

The accurate historical aspects and small details about their view on natural situations ( albinism, eclipses, etc ).

Lady MICTLEEE (mommy.. sorry- mommy? sorry-)

The spanish dub and the local phrases and jokes they use were incredible to see! specially the alburs here and there!

I liked the different Latin American accents each region had and the different cultures that were shown.

I think it was fun the correlation they created with the sun and the moon.

The backstories of the characters were amazing (and SUPER SAD WTF).

Despite not being a huge Zatz fan, i’m a sucker for enemies to lovers romance, so I really liked the trope.

The attention to details was GODLY i was so in love with it throughout the whole series.

THE BAD:

The female character designs ( focusing more on their physique) were a bit weird to me? the main female characters were either SUPER THICC: mini mini waist, gigantic hips, or like tall and skinny. (Except for the queen of the mages sorry if i’m not translating the names exactly, i know them in spanish only , which is also a bit backhanded since she’s supposed to be this annoying and immature ruler). Here’s what i mean:

The design of the clothes, makeup, hair and accessories is AMAZING. but.. the body types were a bit unsettling to watch, especially because the men have a wider range of physical designs and are overall more creative with their physique. also why were only male characters allowed to have big noses while all the female ones had itty bitty ones? Some examples:

ACAT ‼️ A C A T !!! I cannot expres enough how badly she was treated. She was only there for Zatz’s character (the female supporting role that enlarges the male one). She literally appeared, tried to kill Maya because Zatz “liked” her, gor dumped and 2 mins after she got killed. like. wtf. The crazy ex girlfriend trope (ew).

I was not a super big fan of how the concepts of ‘Good and Evil’ were pushed into the deities. There weren’t truly any ‘Evil’ gods, even if they represented war, or ruled the Mictlan. Its very characteristic of the Mesoamerican deities to not be good or evil (they weren’t even gods, but that’s for another post)— but i understand that view was needed to have a story and a plot and the whole Lucha Libre boss fights they had. So i’m willing to put it aside but it still should be mentioned.

The different regions were based in different mesoamerican groups and yet they were all ruled by aztec gods? just like the last point, i understand it simplifies things but i understand why people who aren’t mexican are a bit upset by this, since they are their own culture with their rich mythology.

I probably have more things to say buuut i have a terrible memory. Overall it’s really worth it and fun! and it’s refreshing to see this type of characters and cultures being portrayed like that. If you don’t agree with any of my points just be respectful about it, and remember this is my point of view and it’s not the only valid one :) !

[inamindfarfaraway]

I just watched the first episode of Dead End: Paranormal Park! Really loving the horror and eerie, supernatural tone, similar to Gravity Falls and The Owl House but with this classic horror movie/ghost story/haunted amusement park aesthetic.

I relate to Norma so freaking much. Where has this autistic representation been all my life? “I’m bad with names! [is informed that she sees Barney basically every day] I’m bad with - faces!” was hysterical. I like that she’s consistently clever, with big moments like figuring out the solution and small moments like taking the shorter staff path to get ahead (in practical disregard of artificial social custom), but is tripped up by getting fixated and not processing or acknowledging deviation from her framework of how things work or should work, like not noticing that they’re being used as prospective hosts of demon possession in an arcane ritual by actual demons. I’ll admit I’m worried about the combination of how clearly shady this Pauline Phoenix is - she looked like some kinda ghost at the end of that welcome video and Barney saw a glimpse of that same sickly green glow in the haunted mansion, and there were all those missing posters of her lookalikes - and her being Norma’s special interest that she’s apparently had for fifteen years (basically her whole remembered life) and that with is a huge source of joy, confidence, wonder and contentment in an anxiety-inducing world. Like, special interests are inherently Big Deals but with how stressful, confusing and downright traumatic neurotypical society can be for autistic people, they can become Massive Deals. Pauline and her career alone have kept Norma going for a decade and a half, as she doesn’t appear to have much if any experience with friendship. I don’t want a horrible experience with the supernatural stuff at the park to ruin that for her. To shatter the escapism of that special interest. And hurt way more than it never being real in the first place.

Anyway! Courtney is a chaos gremlin and I love her. I am very intrigued about her backstory; she says she wants to go “back” home so she was originally in Hell, but has somehow been banished presumably forever unless she can get a powerful demon to revoke it. How does a creature literally born of evil get banished from Hell? Maybe by… exposing that she has goodness or at least the capacity for it deep down? Or was it just an act of spiteful cruelty on the banishing authority’s part, as would be characteristic of demons, with her herself doing little to nothing to ‘earn’ it? Her horns stick out to me. They are not naturally in that shape, they were cut. Who cut her horns and why? Is it a symbol of her banishment? Aren’t the cuffs enough for that? Is it purely superficial damage to mark her as an outcast or hurt her emotionally or does removing some of her horns inhibit her demon power?

Barney is just a sweetheart. He’s great. His patience, kindness, levelheadedness, sincerity, openness and caution balance the intense, awkward Norma and mysterious, irreverent Courtney’s quirks out well and he’s a solid everyman ‘as new to the world as the audience’ protagonist. The others are gonna need his good social skills, I can tell. The casual trans rep is cool too… though the undercurrent of tension around his family, especially regarding his grandmother, that hints at more serious explorations of it to come. I mean, he just doesn’t go home at the end. He’d rather sleep in a prop coffin in a theme park replica of a movie set replica of a dungeon than in his own house. There are definitely issues there. He’s going to have to face the music about that later.

In conclusion, can’t wait to continue this show.