#respect for both authors

[zorlovinghue]

My dumbass took so long to realize that oh... Oh right. OH RIGHT. THEY'RE SHARING THE SAME NAME. Imagine this is lcf!Choi Han modern au and this happened— Cale would be so betrayed, canon lcf!Choi Han would personally beat him up(-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩___-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩)

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

MDZS Disco Elysium AU part 2 - Psyche Skills

Part 1 - Part 3

[aroaceleovaldez]

Mark Oshiro confuses me a little bit not going to lie. In the press tour for the first book all they ever talked about was how Nico is their son and Will is fine I guess. Then they said like 2 weeks before TSATS came out that they didn't understand Will's character at all and it's one of the main reasons why Will has so little POV.

Possibly unpopular opinion but I don't think it's a good, encouraging sign when the writer admits to not really caring about the deuteragonist or not even having a sense of how to write them...

Yeah, no. If you have no interest in 1/2 of the POV characters of your book, you REALLY shouldn't be writing it (or at least, not have that be a main character). Especially when the main way TSATS could have been improved is if it was primarily Will-centric instead of Nico-centric. Will basically had next to no established character prior to TSATS! He was practically a blank slate! But all the new stuff we got for Will in TSATS was so clearly disinterested and had no regard for his previously established traits (or the established timeline/canon). Which is annoying because fleshing out Will would have been the PERFECT opportunity to actually incorporate a lot of the topics that Mark Oshiro specializes in as a sensitivity reader, which was the ENTIRE REASON THEY WERE BROUGHT ON AS A CO-AUTHOR!!!!

As TSATS stands, there is no reason for Mark Oshiro specifically to have been the co-author instead of someone else. It's so clearly just a PR move from RR following the huge backlash Rick received due to his response to criticism on how he wrote Piper and Samirah (and Reyna and etc etc). This was immediately following Rick saying he wasn't going to write what would become TSATS because "it [wasn't his] place to." Most of the topics that Mark Oshiro specializes in either weren't relevant at all to TSATS or written very poorly (to downright offensively) in TSATS, so either Mark Oshiro wasn't doing their job or was not able to do their job for some reason, but either way it basically makes the theoretical justification for Mark Oshiro being the co-author/sensitivity reader irrelevant.

With Will, it was HUGE fanon back in the day for him to be trans. Trans!Will and photokinesis!Will were basically the two biggest headcanons for him (both largely popularized by Cherryandsisters). We know Rick is aware of this old fanon because he canonized photokinesis!Will. If we had gotten trans!Will, that would have been great! And then made sense why we specifically got a trans co-author! (Instead, if anything, TSATS canonized Will being cis.) If we had gotten Will being latino, that would have been amazing!!!! And also then made sense as to why they chose Mark Oshiro for the job as a latinx author/sensitivity-reader, versus potentially choosing an Italian co-author since Nico being Italian/Venetian was emphasized so much in the book (and done poorly! Yknow what they could have done to fix that? GOTTEN A SENSITIVITY READER FOR IT)! Based on the themes and focuses actually present in the book, it would have been most logical to get a queer, neurodivergent, Italian co-author or sensitivity reader who specializes in those three topics at least. But we didn't! So why was Mark Oshiro chosen instead when they only specialize in one of those topics? PR reasons. It's blatantly entirely PR reasons and no actual thought or care was put into this book (or, likely, TSATS 2 either).

It doesn't help that we're also actively being told that the published version of TSATS was a rough draft. Or that their editor blatantly isn't doing her job. Or that "The Sun And The Star" was the working title that they just kept cause they didn't bother to make an actual title. And that the final version is full of explicitly last-minute scenes that weren't checked over at all (the final Bianca scene, for one). Or the ACTIVELY ADMITTING TO SOURCING IDEAS AND INFORMATION FROM FANS! That last one is kind of important because at this level of publishing that is a HUGE no-no for legal reasons. You can get into a lot of trouble for that and there is a reason why it is Ye Olde Fandom Law to never try to pitch your ideas or headcanons to the source creator(s) and keep fandom separate from the creators. There is a REASON why Rick Riordan is so distant from the community these days and it's for PROTECTION AGAINST LEGAL REPERCUSSION. Mark Oshiro being the exact opposite while also ACTIVELY ACKNOWLEDGING sourcing concepts from fans does not bode well! It has to do with copyright stuff.

It's just. So. Sighhhhhhhh >->o <- me lying on the floor about all of this. It's sad being able to see the glimmer of what could have been at the very least a decent book underneath all this. If anyone involved in the process had actually cared just the tiniest amount.

[shinelikethunder]

[raspberryusagi]

Me, rambling to my wife about this crackpot theory I came up with in the shower about how Les Miserables may have been an answer to The Count of Monte Cristo, or at least could be read as such: ... But then Valjean didn't personally screw Javert over like Dantes' enemies did-

My wife: Are you sure Valjean didn't screw Javert? I thought I read that on AO3 once.

[prismatoxic]

just saw someone call dunmeshi "a show about sapphic women" i think maybe you don't actually know what dungeon meshi is about

[a-vague-yet-menacing-agency]

Once Brennan specified to Riz that Kipperlilly didn't have a scar I knew exactly how all the revivifying would play out. To me it makes perfect sense that Kipperlilly is the only one to stay permanently dead. Not mortalistically, but remember this is a story. Penelope Everpetal and Dayne also stayed permanently dead too. Riz shot off Buzz's fingers. The key thing is Brennan said that Kipperlilly didn't have a scar, she didn't die and then chose Ankarna, she chose to side with Porter first. Similarly to Penelope and Dayne. Where all three of them ultimately still manipulated by other forces using them? Yes. But they fundamentally chose their side because of something they wanted to gain. When Brennan made that distinction between Kipperlilly and the others, it was obvious where that was going.

Brennan wouldn't have crafted a narrative of manipulation just to kill all the Rat Grinders because that wouldn't have been very satisfying, given that we knew so little about them why would we cheer for Ivy to stay dead or Mary Ann? Remember: The cast was only talking about Atonement and revivifying Mary Ann, but Brennan revivified all the others too even though they weren't shown to have a change of heart. This is because, while possibly jerks, the others weren't set-up to be so bad that their perma-deaths would have been all that satisfying.

In contrast, Kipperlily's beef with everyone was front and center and she killed her own party member. If Kipperlilly was going to come back and be redeemed after that it would have felt cheap. Not because of something inherent to Kipperlily but because no one did the work to make that a possibility. NOW, if someone had been in her dreams and putting in the work like Fig did for Rueben, it could have worked. But people didn't put in the works. FANS have extrapolated sympathetic angles for Kipperlilly but the narrative hasn't. Remember Aelwyn's redemption only came after Adaine was exploring it. Thus, since no one explored Kipperlily's redemption, it wasn't "text," it wasn't an angle present in the narrative that would have been satisfying because it didn't develop enough to have a conclusion.

Basically: Narratives have to be set up. Some permanent consequences had to be dealt to the Rat Grinders to feel satisfying given everything they had done to the Bad Kids. Kipperlilly was shown to be the most voluntarily antagonistic, and was the one set-up as having been antagonizing them and so she was the one who had die. If the players had made different choices, thing could have changed, but they didn't and so Brennan merely delivered on what was set up before

[bigcats-birds-and-books]

Books of 2024: Cincy Bookstore Crawl Haul!

I have spent the past thirty (30) hours whirlwinding through ten (10!!!) indie bookstores in the Greater Cincinnati Area, and I had such a great time!! I told myself I was allowed to purchase Up To One (1) book at every store, which I actually mostly stuck to--I did get two used books at the Friends of the Public Library (INVISIBLE MAN and BLACK LEOPARD, RED WOLF), because those were each $3 (so I figured it hardly counted), and two at Downbound (beloved), but one is a gift so it also doesn't really count thanks :)

Please witness: The Haul, plus bookmarks from every store (except the Friends of the Public Library and iNK).

[mildlyinterestedcreature]

NEED to go back in time and explain the entirety of the aspectrum to the authors of this book about Doctor who. They’re trying their best but no, the doctor having developing romantic feelings for Rose did not make him no longer an asexual character.

[anxiouspotatorants]

Not me shipping Sansa with Podrick in year two thousand and twenty four

[wonder-worker]

"Any assessment of the emotional component of the reconciliation of [Empress Matilda and Geoffrey of Anjou] remains speculation: the chroniclers are silent on the issue of whether [they] grew to love, hate, or like each other. We do know, from their movements and actions, that Matilda and Geoffrey eventually arrived at a businesslike arrangement with a united viewpoint toward the dynastic, geopolitical goals that had dictated their marriage in the first place."

"Matilda and Geoffrey effectively transitioned from a Divide and Rule model to a Collaborative Union from 1144 onwards, in which they worked together throughout their marriage to ensure rulership over their territories and gained their rightful lands, as well as ensuring the inheritance for their children. Matilda and Geoffrey’s political partnership can effectively be argued as the most successful through applying different models of rulership. Ultimately the Plantagenets regained Matilda’s inheritance through Henry, conquered Normandy, and produced several male heirs."

Charles Beem, The Lioness Roared: The Problems of Female Rule in English History / Gabrielle Storey, Co-Rulership, Co-operation and Competition: Queenship in the Angevin Domains, 1135-1230

[fredoesque]

the way franklin has silna's father's body disposed of in ep 3 is a really fascinating indication of how the english see the inuit to me.

because yeah, obviously it's incredibly disrespectful in ignoring the man's own burial traditions and even from an entirely english pov as a way to "bury" someone. but on top of that i find it very telling that they felt it was their place to bury him at all--if they truly didn't think he was worth the trouble, why not just give his body to silna?

they must have felt on some level they had a claim to his body and, perhaps in their seeing themselves as a last outpost of civilization, a duty to make sure it was taken care of. even though they clearly didn't care one bit about the man they were actually burying.

this moment is one of a few in the show where the english seem to assume, entirely without question, that they have authority over the arctic and the people in it. that just by virtue of being english they are naturally and immediately the highest (worldly) power present. which obviously betrays a deeply imperialistic worldview.

and in showing that insidious assumption of authority in interaction with more baldly racist disrespect and disregard towards a netsilik person, i feel this moments highlights the twofold superiority the english feel over the inuit: both as having an exclusive claim to power and as having an exclusive claim to personhood

[viral-spirals]

THE MAGNUS PROTOCOL SPOILERS for episode 4!!!!!

can we talk about how similar these feel

[the-woild-is-y-erster]

chat i fear i’m cooked

[softness-and-shattering]

Is riverdale over?

I was reading an otherwise fine fluffy novel (Gwen and Art Are Not In Love) (theres a buff butch llve interest lady knight in it) and on page like 5, the author quotes "then you've never experienced the epic high lows victories and defeats of.....the black and white squares". Theyre playing chess. It was sure a Choice.

But it made me realise I havent heard anything new and unhinged in a while.

Now I could google this but then i wouldnt be able to bestow knowledge of this book + quote on you all. The author is Lex something btw.

[moe-broey]

I don't think this is Moe's first offense (saying something brazen/flippant) but I do think it's the first time it's called the King a bitch. And it won't be the last! The funniest part of Anna being the one to take charge and chew Moe out is that it gives Moe the opportunity to do The Exact Same Thing to Alfonse one-on-one (you know... to test the waters... to see how he feels about it....). Which it is. Also promptly chastised for.

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