#she would be a mega capitalist

[andtheirmoonlight]

‘I'm so sorry for what happened to you!’ says a part of what happened to me.

‘I'm so sorry for what those people did to you!’ — you’re not ‘those people’, you are you, and you're doing the ‘what’ right now.

‘Omg people can be so horrible!’ — yes, you can be, and so lacking in self-awareness.

When you were trained to think of everything in black and white, you start seeing yourself as a ‘good person’ and start believing that everything you as a ‘good person’ do or have the potential to do is always good, and that you are never the villain. But humans do not work that way.

[cursedwithcaution]

I’ve been watching Severance with my family and last night after episode 8 (Sweet Vitriol), my sister seemed confused as to why what Cobel has gone through would make her want to take down Lumon or sabotage the severance chips. Why would she want to destroy the thing she created? my sister wonders.

This is the strange reality of watching a show that is largely about a religious cult that is also deeply capitalist with my family members who are in a deeply capitalist religious cult mega church.

l don’t know how to explain to my sister why someone would turn against an organization that forced them into child labor, exploited their work, and stole the credit. Harmony “Mrs. Selvig” Cobel ran the severed floor, and she do so with the cold cruelty that was shown to her by Lumon when she was a child. She treated severed workers as less than human. She gave everything she had to an organization and religion that promised her greatness only to cast her aside when she became a liability.

But beyond what Lumon did to Cobel, beyond what Cobel did for Lumon, there are the innies. Throughout season 1, we see Cobel go from treating the innies the way Lumon intends to finding herself once again at the receiving end of that treatment. She starts, in her strange and misguided way, to care about Mark. Mark S and Mark Scout. She sees him as human, and if Mark S is human, so are his coworkers. So was Petey. So were all the severed employees she managed over the years.

The illusion broke. She can no longer believe that Lumon is working for anyone’s ultimate good aside from the few people they deem worthy. And those people, even Helena Eagan herself, could find themselves used and discarded by whoever is truly at the top.

Lumon stole Harmony’s childhood. They kept her from her mother’s death bed. They drained the resources and life of a town and then left the hollowed out husk to rot away. They stole her work, took her mind, and made her believe this was all for the greater good. That it was all worth it to serve Kier. They convinced her she was chosen and then told her she was a waste of potential.

A cult will take its most devoted members, the ones who do everything right, who obey without question and offer all of themselves in service of their God, and then cast them out once they are no longer useful, once they ask questions, once they become a liability.

Harmony had the option to lie down and take it. To leave or accept the half-assed fake position offered by the Eagans. But that’s Harmony Fucking Cobel and that woman is out to bite people.

She made severance for Lumon. Lumon treated her like literal trash. Lumon tortured human beings and forced her to be a part of it. Lumon lied. Over and over and over.

When you realize that the people you’ve trusted and believed in your whole life have been lying to you about everything, anger seems like a pretty reasonable response. If anyone is going to destroy the work Harmony Cobel did, it’s Harmony Cobel.

[y-avann-a]

So skeleton crew, eh?

the "funny-kids-adventure" is going to be the star wars story that finally handles the whole disability/inclusion/ableism theme in a realistic and touching and realistic way? "She doesn't have the patience for it" is such a gut punch! To feel like you are lesser even for your best (only) friend, always having to be useful and do as they say... Or even just.. not be a burden. Because "sometimes her augs just get bad but she's fine" seems attentive, but actually she is not fine! She needs maintenance! But because the able-bodied don't need as much time to recover or as much rest or a more intense maintenance, they wouldn't even think about it - because she has always been finde shortly after it... Because if I am not ok and fun and capable and joyful and the very best I can be then I might not be the first choice to hang around anymore.. or even any choice at all

But also "I don't have spider legs like you" just right after that - and the realization that maybe I am not as good a friend as I thought I was and maybe all the talk about how "you're not different, you're better" might just be a toxic pile of positivity that is just not helpful - because we are different from each other and it is important to see all the differences to see as assets, but also to see and address the challenges that brings.. because "you can't just tell me I am amazing and can do it and then I magically can!" That's not how this works.. and why do I have to do all the work anyways? I am amazing at adaptation because I have to be, not because I want to! It's exhausting and I wish I wish so hard that for once the responsibility would not be on my tiny little shoulders!

I came for the cute elephant and the day-dreaming jedi-wannabe and I fell in love with the self-sufficient rebel biker and her tech-savy girlfriend, but I stayed for the heart wrenching realization that the world is a dark place and your sheltered upbringing cannot shield you forever because ignorance is not in fact bliss and why do some kids have to fight every day when their home is supposed to be the same as ours and why are we not helping them and instead isolating ourselves and sitting on a dragon hoards worth of credits while the galaxy is once again falling into ruin, just like we have witnessed in the past and just like then we just do nothing about it and let the droids and the supervisors control our lives.. and I know our parents love us and only want what's best for us, but how can we live under in this "perfect" bubble this wonderfully boring and ordered world with stable lives and jobs and nothing to worry about, when there is adventure outside? And how could we just seek out adventure when there is all this suffering and these worlds and people who could live so much better if not for the pirates and Mega-Corps and the looming dark forces of totalitarian terror and their darwinistic capitalistic selfishness and exploitation

Ugh I am not feeling normal about this

[impossiblekittydelusion]

not the same anon but I’ll be off it to say this;

the logo is a reference to cm punk’s favourite BAND who had what I believe was a Coca Cola logo, and he “liked the beverage too”. It is also thought because he has a straight edge, his whole thing is that he is drug free and alcohol free, that wrestling is addiction. Oh by the way? The band? Yeah, it’s a punk band called Bad Religion, the band that plays his damn entrance music

next he DID play more into the punk style, not the whole crust jackets crust pants patches and stuff, but he still played into it a when he was younger, now he’s gotten older, he’s a bit less, but he still listens to the music and more importantly; he actually follows the ideology

he’s been on stage multiple times in transgender supporting, shirts that say “abortions rights are human rights” and is a feminist for christs sake, if ANYTHING he’s been fired before for his boldness and protection of his fellow workers, getting into a “altercation” because so many workers were being ignored for their medical needs and he’s been fighting against that, he’s acknowledged the firefighters in wild fires, he’s literally against the MAGA influence that WWE is infected with

tell me you know NOTHING about cm punk without telling me. it’s fine to not like the character he plays, he’s literally called “chick magnet punk” but ffs the dude IS punk, and if you don’t know what punk fully is because you ARENT punk, then you can’t be shocked when people make accusations, the green day comment was a bit strange, but it doesn’t change nothing. - algae

first of all - I respect that you're not gonna shout at me on anon. Thank you.

Also, i dont really care about the reference. It's still a massive logo for a mega corp on his shoulder. Like theres no way around that, especially in a way that vibes with the anti capitalist anti establishment ideals of punks.

Second of all - I don't know if you don't know or don't care, but he said he and Colt Cabana would train this woman to wrestle and instead exploited her, regularly and purposefully injured he badly enough to bench her for months, bragged about it, and then couldn't even be bothered to remember her goddamn name.

Interview

Transcript

THAT is what I have issue with, and that is why I'm calling him abusive. I loved his feud with MJF, and although I wasn't really partial to his persona, I was a kind of lukewarm fan. I liked how he sold, and I liked him with mjf. But watching that interview made me sick to my stomach. The way he spoke about her ("I couldn't even tell you her real fucking name. She is the "Bikini Girl". That is strictly what we called her." ""I HATED her" and Cabana too: "maybe we got her in the ring once and, you know, made sure to hurt her so she'd be out another 2 months") was horrifying. It doesn’t matter what you have to say after that, all the feminist words in the world don't mean shit after years of abusing someone like that, especially whe hes shown no remorse. Also, all the cheating? And that reporter that punk went off on for saying the women's locker room didn't feel safe around him? Yeah, he sure sounds like a feminist.

Genuinely if you watch them talk about it (starting at 55.50 hopefully the time stamp takes u there automatically) and you're fine with that I don't think this is in any way a conversation worth having because we are never going to see eye to eye.

But listen, I don't think I can stress this enough: I WAS a cm punk fan, I liked the guy and posted about him on here until I heard this interview that everyone else seems determined to bury. Its not like i hated him and his gimmick on sight, I was a fucking fan before I saw the interview.

[communist-hatsunemiku]

what happens to your url if miku falls to the capitalist agenda

Well, first of all, it's impossible for Miku to 'fall'. Like She's already out of the box, she's released on the internet. You're talking about scrubbing the internet of Her voice and image entirely so it can be locked away in some corporate vault only let out to paying customers, or something.

Like the complete fall of Hatsune Miku to a capitalist agenda is functionally impossible in a practical sense.

And let's say it was somehow possible for a mega corporation to scrub the entire internet of Miku and lock Her down with DRM or something, it would be so exceedingly difficult because people would actively try and save as much as we can, and there's already SO MUCH and the amount grows every day. Her inherent nature is to be shared, and that isn't something you can lock down or take away from Her and Her fans.

Beside's as long as I'm alive and breathing, She and I will always be fighting the good fight. If this blog goes down, I'll make another and flood the internet with my 1 terabye and growing Miku folder on my harddrive all over again. They'll have to kill me I'm not joking

[evermoredeluxe]

i know lots of fans don’t think taylor is a good person and im no economist so correct me but it’s kinda funny that people think of her as a capitalist. ofc she is signed with republic and they do her merch so that they can make a profit from having her as a client. but like even on a very personal level, she owns her work and no one is benefitting off of her. she very much believes in giving credit where it is due, artist’s rights is literally a passion of hers that she is actively fighting for and making a statement about by re-recording her music, and none of that goes hand in hand with capitalism. she took her music off of streaming platforms and went on a personal strike so that those platforms would start paying artists everywhere better. she personally got apple music to change their rule about not paying artists during the free trial. now ofc she is part of a capitalist society at large so she obviously must partake in it in some capacity when she does contract-hiring. but we know for a fact that people she personally hires are compensated fairly and compensated well. her band is paid for the whole year. all her management is in-house, and the way she controls her mega Taylor Swift business is soso indie.

now ofc she is extremely rich but she didn’t have to manipulate someone else into doing the work or manipulate people into spending money. she made the art and then used her extremely talented marketing brain to advertise said art and fans willingly bought it. regardless, can’t talk about all of this but not talk about ticketmaster. just based on the few things i talked about here (im sure there’s so much more we don’t know), in good faith, i just don’t believe she wanted to screw fans over to make some extra bucks. her hands were tied in a way and she had to work with TM to be able to even do a tour this big and book those stadiums because those stadiums literally have contracts with TM and all that legal stuff. anyway, im not saying she’s some liberal leftist worker god, and i understand the jokes and im not saying stop making them, but i genuinely think some fans don’t know this stuff and think the jokes are true. so here’s this.

[englishmagic]

After @sillyshrimpfella suggested Disco Elysium tarot designs I haven’t been able to stop pondering it.

(Am I desperate to distract myself from terrible things in the world about which I can do nothing except “raise awareness” and donate money I don’t really have? …maybe)

It’s probably something that’s been done before, but here are my thoughts on the major arcana so far:

The Fool - Harry Du Bois. I was initially thinking the Magician for Harry, because of his effortless genius and creative mindset, but then I remembered the Fool, and… yeah. Naïveté, a fresh approach to the world, being ridiculous for better or worse - it’s all him, baby!

The Magician - Mega Rich Light Bending Guy. This one I am less certain of - I haven’t encountered him myself and I refuse to watch videos of it until I can make the check myself. I put him here because he does seem rather magical, but is he creative, talented, and an effortless genius? Unpredictable and unreliable? I really don’t know. Another person I was thinking of was Neha, she’s creative and industrious, but didn’t quite feel singular enough for the card, so I place her more as the Queen of Coins/Pentacles at the moment.

The High Priestess - Plaisance. She is a figure who (kind of) worships a higher power, and though she’s not really an oracle in the way that the card often represents, she’s a symbol of belief in the supra-natural in the forms of curses, entities, et cetera. Albeit in quite cheesy, culturally dicey ways.

The Empress - Joyce Messier. She presents feminine traditions and mannerisms, but also has a lot of institutional and traditional power as a representative of the capitalist world order.

The Emperor - Everart Claire. He’s a masculine-ish figure who uses his institutional power in the union to exert his influence on the world. Not physically imposing, but I don’t think that’s a requirement - he has a racist, a street gang, and an uncomfortable chair at his disposal where others would have fists to fight with.

The Hierophant - Dolores Dei. Yes, she’s the hierophant and not the priestess - Dolores is a figure of worship, not a worshipper, she represents organised faith rather than personal faith. You don’t have to stick 100% within the traditional genders for these cards.

The Lovers - Next World Mural. Self explanatory - I think that image would look good on a card too!

The Chariot - the Coupris Kineema. I like this because not only does it make sense sense to put a vehicle from the game on the chariot card, the sound of the Kineema is the journey from intro to gameplay, and this card is all about journeys!

Strength - Measurehead. Because… He’s strong. There’s not much more to this one; I’m happy to accept other ideas, especially since the card is usually a woman. Also, who or what would be the lion? Just… a picture of Jean-Luc Race Warrior wrestling a lion? …….actually what if this card depicted Samaran bear wrestling, that’s a fun alternative

The Hermit - Tiago the Crab Man. He is isolated by choice and strongly associated with philosophy. I was thinking the Deserter for this one originally, buttttt then I had a different idea for him.

Wheel of Fortune - the pleasure wheel. Visually fun. Also symbolically appropriate - the never-built attraction represents the investment gamble that didn’t pay off.

Justice - The Deserter. The card usually has a judge on it, dispensing retribution. The Deserter sees himself this way; he’s also a singular male figure with a “gavel” in the form of his rifle. Visually appropriate.

The Hanged Man - Lely Kortaneer. Because he is a hanged man. I wonder if he can be tied to the deeper meaning of the card through the “conversations” Harry has with him in his head, or simply through the fact that being dead he naturally has no agency?

Death - Working Class Corpse. This one is just sad. In some ways this death is more “death-y” than any other in the game, underlining how things, and people, can end abruptly and without warning. And his discovery is the end of an investigation, too.

Temperance - Washerwoman. Mainly a visual connection - she’s a woman with a container of water. The card could be her pouring washing water from one cup to another, and I think it would be a nice image.

The Devil - Cuno De Ruyter. He has given into vices already despite his young age, and he influences you to do the same. This is honestly one of the few places I consider a Fury could be a good choice for a card - Electrochemistry is basically the Devil personified.

The Tower - FELD R&D. A crumbling building where everything can quite easily go to shit - the tower is about things falling apart and potentially being rebuilt. The FALN employees fell apart - aka were executed - and Ruby is building something new in the ruins.

The Star - Klaasje Amandou. Kind of ironic to have her, a manipulator who’s always in control, on a card that represents leaving things to fate- but the visual of her hiding documents in the buoy really fits the traditional design of the card and could be adapted well, and while she’s not very up in the air herself, the skills all get up in the air while talking to her because of how you’re compromised by her beauty and charm. It’s not so much about where she finds herself, but where you find yourself in relation to her - unable to trust your own knowledge and defaulting to chance more often than you’d want.

The Moon - Insulindian Phasmid. It’s a mystery! Maybe it could be the crustacean in the design? Or it could be haloed by the moon the way Kim is haloed by the sun. I love the specification for the moon design in tarot so it does have to have two dogs and a crustacean for me to be happy.

The Sun - Kim Kitsuragi. Haloed by the sun. A new dawn. A new lease on life. This is what he represents to Harry.

Judgement - the Tribunal/Krenel. A tribunal is a court event, a judgement of sorts, and the event is a moment of dire consequence in the game. The mercenaries lining up like the angels on judgement day would also make a cool visual.

The World - Elysium. Self explanatory, I think? The image would be the world broken apart, with the isolas emerging from the pale.

For the minor arcana I’ve not got a lot of opinions - Lillienne the Netpicker as Queen of Swords for no deeper reason than the fact that she has a sword, Annette as Page of Coins/Pentacles because she’s a bright and precocious child… The cups would have a lung design on them, maybe? I really hope someone else has Thoughts about this because I would like to visualise the entire thing in my mind until I inevitably try to draw it and ruin my enthusiasm when I remember that my art skills do not match my ambition in this area 😂

[flower-of-knighthood]

"Rise and fall by their own merits"... and governmental aid and support that intentionally caters to the specific needs of those in important positions who have been determined to be the best fit for roles society needs to flourish:

Linhardt: Are you suggesting land-holding lords would have no means of applying?

Edelgard: Quite the opposite. I'm looking for applicants with enough passion for the job that they're willing to relinquish any land-holding rights they possess. They will be provided with necessities like food, clothing, and housing but will receive no further compensation. That said, they will be free to take as much time off as they desire.

Linhardt: Do you expect anyone to be interested in such an odd position?

Edelgard: That's my hope.

Linhardt: Have you gone mad? Demanding someone rescind their land rights and then provide no compensation? Even the unlimited time off is a rather discourteous perk to offer. No one would accept room, board, and endless time to research... No one but me. Why must you...

Edelgard: Why must I what?

Linhardt: Why must you understand me so well? I asked you to consider the feelings of those below you... I never expected you to consider mine to this extent.

She specifically caters to Lindhardt's needs. His merits are his Crest research and so she provides a specialised opportunity for him to be able to persue that, with the consideration that it would be the only thing he does and knowing he wouldn't be capable to taking care of his land holdings. (Much like the position of president this also removes the opportunity for excessive power and bias.)

People seem to focus a lot on what Emperor Edelgard says and completely ignore that she's extremely considerate of other people's needs, with Bernadetta being the prime example, as she only leaves her room in Crimson Flower. (And is mocked by Dimitri in AM.)

Her society isn't so easily comparable to what we experience, and even in comparing it to other societies it shows a bias towards a very democratic capitalist systems, which consistently fail minority groups (see Australia's recent referendum) and create extreme class divides that with no upward mobility that instills a "noble" class in billionaires outside of all consequences who serve as political decision-makers without the public's consent and steals the wages of the middle-class and poor alike for their mega yachts.

Fodlan is a xenophobic country. Democracy isn't going to work there.

Edelgard's society of catering to the specific individual needs of her subjects through public schooling, equal rights (not a "we need to respect that some people are born noble and better" ideology), religious freedom, and an understanding of equity is far more advanced than the societies created by her peers.

Also. How did you expect her to kill the Agarthans before Remire? They don't know where they are. No one does.

Obviously you understand that Edelgard isn't actually in control of Adrestia, right? Like she has her own bid and Hubert's. But she has to perform a military coup in order to even have a majority vote of confidence in her council. She can't get rid of Thales for the same reason the Insurrection happened in the first place. The Emperor consolidating power scares the nobility and they would revolt again.

Beyond that, the war is stated as "inevitable" by the game repeatedly. If not Edelgard it would have been someone else. (The Tragedy of Duscur was already an act of war from Agartha.)

So in order to have any spin on the war she needed to convince the head of Adrestia's military that it was a good choice backing her. How do you do that? You promise conquest! How does Edelgard know it's a good time for her to promise conquest? Because that's what the Slithers were already planning to do, she's cashing their cheques to steal back governmental control, and Thales can't do shit because despite him still owning his own giant militia, this "to war" attitude was what they wanted anyway. And he's not worried because Edelgard for the most part needs their support and she cannot trust anyone in any government ever while they still exist.

Her situation is more nebulous than you give it credit for and it relates specifically to the order in which Fodlan needs to be deconstructed to remove the rot. It's why Rhea never stays in power in any route. She was a super conservative.

Hi there, thanks for the ask.

I've stated several times in the past that the system Edelgard seeks to create is a meritocracy, which you were kind enough to spare me provide a definition. It seems that you are unknowingly or not projecting onto Edelgard's society, as there is no evidence of religious freedom or a freedom of equity being in Edelgard's ideal society, with equal rights being nebulous as it is possible that the talented rising in society could be considered equal rights and education being a possibility that Edelgard will consider. The main issues I have with Edelgard is her complicity in several of Agartha's crimes and her war of conquest.

You do realise that Fodlan's caution towards foreign nations is because most of them such as Almyra and Sreng continue to launch offensives against Leicester and Faerghus, with Dagda recently launching an invasion of Adrestia, additionally the claim of xenophobia comes from Claude, the guy who consistently dodges the fact that Almyra continues to assault Leicester, only being halted by Holst.

Actually no, Edelgard explicitly says that she has set out to conquer Fodlan, https://hopes.fedatamine.com/en-us/supports/edelgard/balthus/b/#event-68. Edelgard has already secured the loyalty of all seven noble houses by the end of pre-timeskip one may or another, with all evidence pointing to be the result of Edelgard and Hubert's efforts with no assistance of Agartha, and no evidence of people making her do anything.

You know she could simply not work with the genocidal maniacs that have already exhibited the willingness to mass murder people? It's really not that hard of a concept to grasp.

What is it with people and trying to shroud morally atrocious actions in a veil of "grey morality". Sure, a lot of the time, things tend to be gray, not entirely good and not entirely bad, but sometimes there are just situations where that rule doesn't apply such as willingly working with a cult of mass murderers until their use is depleted.

[garbagequeer]

can you explain the japanese breakfast lyrics and what it is that's "there?" i feel so stupid right now but it is not clear at all to me and i want to understand

it's not really an "it" as in one thing that's there, by "it" i mean more a certain aspect of the themes of her works. also dont feel stupid or anything i do like to talk in riddles + point to things instead of write down what im pointing out

basically what i meant is that diving woman and savage good boy explore very similar themes (ambition, drive, desire, partnership...) and are kind of mirror songs to each other. to me in diving woman michelle uses what seem to be more autobiographical experiences to go into these themes (song about a touring musician) and then on savage good boy when she wants to make up the perspective of a millionaire man facing ecological collapse singing a love song she just shifts the perspective of the same desires she has explored from her own perspective (or at least one from a character not so far removed) and ascribes them to someone with a different outlook and access to different means in order for the character to not be just. mechanically evil but humanly evil.

in that post i use different colors to point to sections of the songs that mirror each other. for example i remember the opening verses are in red and in diving woman michelle sings about all these types of people she wants to be through conflicting female archetypes, then savage good boy does something similar but uses different figures because the characters in each song explore the same fundamental themes but from different positions (michelle's exploration of marriage and different caretaker and gendered roles is very frequent in her discography. in this way savage good boy is also similar to lindsey which is from when she was in little big league or mega circuit which is from her newest album, but diving woman and savage good boy seem to not only share general themes but to parallel each other more directly)

let me pull up the pictures so i know wtf im on about

okay. so. the red sections of course share the presentation of the character's ambitions regarding their roles in a relationship as they relate to their means of survival and the repetition of lines starting the same way ("i want").

in diving woman, we have most notably the diving woman of jeju do. diving women are working class women who have an active and traditionally very central role in the island's economy and in their familial income, a sort of opposition to the more american image of the bride in her home state, more related to a stay at home wife. this one is also about the pull from different places on her of course identity and migration and so on

then the central image on savage good boy is this savage good boy which to me alludes in part to the racist archetype of the "noble savage" and in the context of this character facing ecological collapse also as a primitivist fantasy. this to me in part mocks the ideologies of right wing men who of course often looove these ideas and have bad taste in philosophy in a way that feels very much like something michelle would (the same way that mega circuit talks about the rural incel). then to contrast this the "savage good boy" also wants to "make the money till there's no more to be made" which seems completely at odds with the initial proposal of wildness but reveals its inner logic the same way the allusion to different types of "women of regimen" illuminates some shared quality to the desire to be a diving woman and the bride. in the same way a good savage and an aggressive capitalist are both images of what it means to be "your man" to this type of narrator and relate to his idea of success and manhood. in both songs these ideas are all oriented towards marriage or family. diving woman wants to embody the bride and the breadwinner to "make you a home" while savage good boy wants to make all the money and be a wild creature to "take care of you"

the pink section basically highlights the gender roles and accepted divisions of labor and one character's forced resignation to these and the other's naturalization of them through some idea similar to survival of the fittest (again the union of capitalist mentality and reactionary primitivism)

the yellow sections compare the means through which the different narrators make their desires true (or think they can). in diving woman it is through this constant moving and tiring work all oriented towards this idea of some future home to be made. in savage good boy it's all effortless and the home is already established and remarkably it is one where they will be isolated from the outside world while the figure in diving woman is so in reality she cant even ignore dead animals on a road (also a common image for her what with posing in bondage or in hell or till death)

then in the green section both songs reveal something about the true orientation of these character's desires which is self referential as much as they insist it's about someone else. in diving woman this points both to the partial selfishness of wanting anything and the way women often don't conceive themselves as subjects of their own desire and are "service oriented". here she does the repetition of you'll have it all which turns into we which turns into i on the final line signaling the character reestablishing herself but not necessarily in a liberated way as she is able to do this through enmeshing herself in a shared life project in marriage but definitely recognizing her self motivation. in savage good boy he reveals all this he wants (to be your man, to take care of you, to wine and dine you) he wants for himself to live without resistance (his self concept is also enmeshed in a shared life he's just in the position to directly dominate and it is through this control that he fulfills himself). here too the repeated you from the first verse turns into we and reveals itself to be i

i think it is interesting how she deals in these apparently conflicting images that point towards the same things both within the songs and between the songs. i think savage good boy is not an opposite of diving woman in the sense of being completely other but just a different side of the same coin and they play the same game at different levels and in part what michelle does when she explores certain archetypes is not to point at some completely foreign figure but to relate them to common compulsions and give all of them certain layers of complexity in not necessarily very many words

of course there are more threads that can be picked up or better put or further explored between these two songs but id be here all day going over things when this might be clear enough

[justforbooks]

Revisiting 50 Shades of Grey in the Age of Mega-Rich Creepers

“It’s my body.” That’s what virginal Anastasia Steele tells billionaire Christian Grey when he asks her to see the OB/GYN he has picked to check her out before he will consider having intercourse with her.

“It’s mine, too,” replies Christian.

That line from the beginning of Fifty Shades of Grey hits differently now, doesn’t it? Now that “your body, my choice” is a rallying cry for young men on the right in our post-Roe v. Wade world?

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about E.L. James’s dark romance series that has sold more than 165 million copies worldwide since 2011. Since then the gap between the 1% and the rest of the country has continued to grow, with the wealth of the 1% reaching a record $44.6 trillion at the end of 2023. Since then our bodily autonomy has been taken away. Since then our data and privacy have been severely compromised by Big Tech and its less than charismatic leaders. Since then we’ve re-elected one of the worst billionaires to the office of President.

As Americans we should be furious. But rather than questioning the methods that billionaires have used to make their money on the backs of the poor, we (not “we” as in you and I, but the royal “we”) instead revere them as heroes and titans of industry. If Christian wasn’t a fictional character Walter Isaacson would have already written a big flashy biography of him.

In some ways I understand the fantasy of the virile billionaire. Who hasn’t dreamed, in late stage capitalist misery, of meeting someone filthy rich and falling in love—or lust—and thereby being freed from the confines of the rest of the world?

But the 50 Shades of Grey phenomenon and the billionaire romance subgenre it inspired reflect a culture that was ready to debase itself with its delusions about the fabulously wealthy and all of the stuff their money and power could buy. Using the Trojan horse (ironic because Christian notoriously hates to use condoms) of female sexuality to hook readers, 50 Shades provided a primer on what we could come to expect from our current crop of billionaires who buy political influence and mass communications platforms along with their private jets and mega-yachts.

Let me be clear: This is not about kink-shaming. BDSM is not the problem, sexual preferences are not the problem. It’s not about genre-shaming, either. Romance novels are not the problem and they have never been the problem! Even the notoriously less-than-sparkling prose of Fifty Shades isn’t a problem. It’s the adulation of billionaires, specifically. It’s the fantasy of the billionaire as a romantic hero, as someone who is as good at love and sex as he is at making money (or spending the money his ancestors made).

“I’m incapable of leaving you alone,” Christian tells Ana in that very first book, and he proves it, using technology to track her location and swoop down to rescue her from a boring college party in a way that feels both stalkerish and exactly like Mark Zuckerberg’s business model for Facebook. Ana, of course, is grateful for Christian’s constant surveillance, his “overwhelming good looks” a nice distraction for how very creepy that is. As the series continues Christian Grey begins to control every facet of Anastasia’s life, from her diet and exercise to her birth control. Her submission in this very heterosexual, gender essentialistm feels like a precursor to the tradwife, that current TikTok sensation in which stay-at-home wives defer to their husbands, harkening back to a time when, apparently, America was Great.

Even before Ana can enter into a relationship with Christian she must sign a robust non-disclosure agreement. So much has been made about the love contract Ana signs, the ways in which it’s good that she puts her sexual boundaries in writing, but this contract is more about protecting the billionaire than it is about protecting the (frustratingly) innocent young woman whom he dominates. NDAs, of course, have been primary tools for billionaires (or hundred-millionaires, if we’re counting decimal places) to control their subordinates and keep their dirtiest secrets, from Jeffrey Epstein to Jeffrey Bezos.

I would never say that 50 Shades of Grey is a dangerous book; very few books actually are. I’m not asking for censorship here, or censure. I’ll leave that to the fundamentalist Right. I’m just asking for a more mindful reading of what we, as a culture, consider to be attractive and aspirational. We live in a world in which billionaires are spanking us in so many metaphorical ways, if not literal. Let’s be a little less deferential when they show us their villainous sides.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[winterbirb]

My daydreaming can't be put on hold until late 2025 so here's some of my PL:ZA!AU

Characters

Juliette [Sycamore] - the head doctor of the Blue Cross (an × shape instead of +). Doesn't like pokemon because she's dealt with so many pokemon-related injuries. Not a fan of the city's renovation for how it's causing more pokemon-human injuries. Juliette (July) like Augustine (August). Xerneas. Prof Sycamore's curly hair pulled back into a bun; streaks of grey at her temples. Has her descendant's typical flair when talking about medical innovation.

Liliane [Fleur-de-lis] - Kalosian royalty, a descendant of the ancient king. The main financial backer of Lumiose City's huge renovation—and thus, also the protagonist. Liliane because... lilies, and I couldn't find a great lion name that wasn't trying too hard. Yveltal doesn't tie in as neatly. Maybe death of the old ways, in with the new? Long red hair like the female version of that lion pokemon I forgot the name of. Not wearing Lys's Yveltal gijinka suit.

Governor Désiré. Diantha's ancestor. The political force behind the renovation... and yes, this does follow the PL:A template, thabks for noticing. He's the "twist" villain, seeking to build a version of the Ultimate Weapon in Lumiose Plaza that's powered by none other than... *drumroll* Diancie! He wants to build a beautiful city and then turn it all, people and pokemon included, into Diancie's pink diamond so it's "beautiful forever." The Governor's Mansion has pink diamond statues which he refers to as his "beloved pokemon." Masc version of Diantha's face structure with the same base hair color, but styled in a perfect Politician's Cut with perfect streaks of grey at his temples... almost like he dyes his hair. Maybe he doesn't even leave grey streaks. Dresses in white suits with pink accents, a white ruffle collar with a pink diamond gem.

Emmet <3. He's in The Tunnels, for some reason. What tunnels? Well. IDK if catacombs would fit Pokemon (but it would certainly fit the life/death theme). If not actual catacombs, then some sort of ancient Diancie-created tunnel structure. He remembers more about the past/future than Ingo—same with my Serena vs Lucas. Why? Because it's my story, and I want them both to suffer in new ways. Emmet is seen as a strange ghost-like figure who haunts the tunnels, looking for his brother (how to find a way home).

Serena - originally from Unova, from the same town as Rosa (B2W2 protag), but a year younger than her. Moved after the Kyurem thing. Loves fashion, looks up to Elesa.

Mechanics

Serena (as the MC) needs to change clothes to fit in different parts of the city (like Looker doing disguise stuff; my Lucas has Looker's detective skills)

Zygarde is the "sponsor" this time, much like Arceus in PL:A. Some sort of Zygarde-tablet-thingy. But also Serena needs to do the Find Zygarde's Cells quest, because of course she does.

I don't really have any other mechanics. This section was just made to include the fashion thing.

Oops, I forgot about Mega Evolution. It's there, I guess.

I just remembered Hoopa. It helps Serena travel around the city and get into places she shouldn't be in. Why, when its chaos is the opposite of Zygarde's order? IDK, Governor Désiré probably pissed it off.

Other

It's Paris in the late 19th century. It's gross. It's overpopulated. Greedy capitalists abound, and so do the horrors of poverty. There's also an overconsuming Royal Class. She has to hold onto her ideals despite all the signs pointing to the "easy out" of Lysandre's hardcore-Malthusian philosophy. She succeeds with flying colors, because "kill all the poors and unworthy so humanity has enough to survive" is a terrible philosophy.

Might be redundant because Zygarde, but a major theme is ecology and ecosystems.

Emmet and Ingo both disappeared and came back in 2011; BW happens in 2010, B2W2 happens in 2012, XY happens in 2013, and Serena disappears a few years after 2013. Emmet remembers being in the past, and is very alarmed when a younger Serena becomes the Kalosian champion. Elesa, who is troubled by how much the twins have changed and how little she knows, eventually gets in contact with Serena. When? IDK. I just want them to meet up eventually.

Lysandre isn't dead in the present time. Even in Y, in-game dialogue implies he's still alive. There was plenty of time to drag him out of the Ultimate Weapon.

Perhaps Zygarde traveled through an Ultra Wormhole to bring Serena back and prevent Désiré's dumbassery... but got scattered into Z Cells. Or maybe Hoopa brought it to the present, but on the way back to the past it had to use an UW and got scattered. IDK, I'm just trying to figure out a way for post-games Lucas and Serena to meet in Alola (to harass Looker and give Nanu a headache ofc).

[liketaylorswift]

Idk why people expecting Taylor to speak up about palestine (or saying she wants to but can't for x reason)

In the last year shes dated a mega racist and now a republican (neither of whom wash. Which isnt relevant but you know)

Like if she gave a fuck about other people.... a lot of her behaviour would be very different

I think people need to accept that shes either fooled everyone up to now on being a decent-ish person or she's changed

besides calling a travis a repub - he most certainly is not - I accept this opinion. personally I can’t trust her to use her influence for anything that doesn’t affect her. nobody really should trust her or any other rich-as-fuck-out-of-touch capitalist to do so. doesn’t mean i can or will excuse the silence.

think we have a duty to use our collective platform to invite real change via her massive platform. if she chooses to ignore it, that’s what will be remembered. swifties are generally not quiet or meek!

[raylazuko]

Nm, I’m gonna make a new intro but make it more blunt instead of over explaining everything.

Basic info: My name is Riah and it’s pronounced like Maya not Mia. I’m 22, non-binary (they/them), asexual, have autism, adhd, generalized anxiety, and likely SAD. Based in the northeastern USA. I’m in a lot of fandoms mainly Genshin, Zelda, animation and Disney, GOTG/Marvel, Mega Man, Sonic, and whatever I like at the time. I also like music, dancing, K-pop, and all that. I like alt rock and pop music like Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Radiohead, Bjork, Billie, Florence, etc etc and I like pop and K-pop, Dua, Olivia, Chappell, and K-pop girlies Blackpink, Gidle, Itzy, Mamamoo, Aespa, IVE, etc etc. Dreamcatcher is my fav group they are dark concept queens. I’m also slightly obsessed with Lee Taemin, he is the god of pop and K-pop. I have a lot of trauma from bad friends and my ex so a long DNI, sorry.

DNI:

Basic DNI, bigotry, ableism, PDF files, etc.

Toxic stans/petty drama/those who make themselves the victims always

People who hate on harmless interests

If you tell me who/what to boycott. I don’t have an issue with the cause but it is the tone used. Basically the “I am morally superior to you because I don’t support xyz” bs. Like informing is fine. Saying “here’s what this company donates to” but saying “you’re a terrible person and don’t care about xyz because you bought x” is not helpful and is triggering for me.

By this same logic, crazy vegans/environmentalists or any people who guilt trip and cannot understand nuance of our capitalist hellscape. (Basically if you say someone is horrible person for trying to live their life and not being aware of every cause or able to be vegan/boycott certain brands etc etc. obviously calling out rich aholes and like overconsumption is fine and good.)

If you support Trump or say he’s better than Kamala or that you didn’t vote for Kamala because of stupid reason xyz even tho she’s by far the better option.

Any form of bigotry and queerphobia that includes apathy towards queer struggle or downplaying it in anyway.

Transmedicalists/truscum or whatever tf you call yourselves these days.

Cis men who hate Korra/other strong female characters are on thin ice. You’d better give me a good reason.

If you make bad faith arguments about fiction in general/taking it way too serious or not serious at all when it does pertain to real issues.

If you think bad things can’t be talked about in fiction. As long as it’s handled well and shown bad thing is bad, I like to explore darkness as I’m a writer.

If you agree/defend Lily Orchard’s bad takes and then say she’s only hated cuz she’s trans (this is highly specific to my ex but basically don’t engage in bad faith media criticism).

If you saying liking Steven Universe or some shit means you wanna forgive not sees or other brain dead cartoon takes (again specific to my ex but don’t be an idiot)

“All (insert ship here) are toxic”

“There’s no need for fanfic, canon is fine” or just disrespecting harmless headcanons and creativity in general. If you don’t like fanfic, don’t read it. Especially if people have LGBTQ/neurodivergent headcanons, let them have it.

If you ship: Azula and Zuko (ewwww), Anna/Elsa (it’s an actual thing on AO3), any other bio siblings close bio relatives, immediate yeet, dark themes should be explored but shipping is condoning imo. Okay, let’s see: Catradora, Kaeluc, Thorki, Alluthor, any other adopted/pseudo adopted incest. Idc if it’s canon. You can ship what you want privately but please don’t discuss it with me and if you comment about it it’ll block you and I’ll also block if I see it on my feed. Also shit like Reylo would only be abusive if it happened before Ben turned good (I don’t ship it anymore) but ACTUAL abuse (Dottoscara or don’t even get me started on Collei), please DNI.

Also like this goes without saying but PDF file ships.

Lolisha content or discourse about whether it should be allowed (no, it shouldn’t)

I’m on thin ice with certain age gaps because of my ex, just be mindful about that. Idc as much with fiction like mortal/immortal cuz that can’t exist irl.

Have whatever religion you want but do not force it down my throat , I probably don’t share your religion so it doesn’t apply to me.

Making judgments about my life/telling me to go to therapy (I’m in therapy). Any sort of unsolicited advice is a big no/no. If I offend you please just block me or give it to me straight but don’t assume shit you don’t know.

Just don’t be an ass in general.

TW/CW:

Please warn me if you’re going to talk to me about these topics:

Medical stuff, hospitals, cancer, etc.

Sewer slide and SH

Politics. Especially anti queer legislation and stuff. If I block you it doesn’t mean I disagree, it’s just causing me stress.

Religion/religious trauma

Mommy issues

SA and grooming

Death

I’m probably forgetting some but idk.

Anyway thanks. If this offends you literally just DNI or block me. I’m allowed to set my own boundaries on my page. Thanks.

Also all of my stuff https://linktr.ee/Riahlexuko

[taradiddled]

You can watch some of the LPs on YouTube. It's a beautiful game, artistically done, but the execution of the plot and the messages is...not exactly superb. While the emphasis on how American exceptionalism can encourage white supremacy and capitalist worship, its execution of how the minority group, once empowered, rises up, was poorly done.

But I can imagine the Heaven that Ada helped construct for the Seraphim and the Higher Choirs, once she got to Heaven, was truly a beautiful, idealistic paradise. Ada was also encouraged to help make Heaven into the paradise she envisioned for her descendants, so that's where her architectural skills developed. While most of the humanity side of Heaven is more modernized, the Seraphim side is more like the scene above, meant to evoke spiritualism and worship, relying upon very Christian depictions, as the Higher Choirs figured that Christianity would garner the most swayed emotion from humanity (they were right).

Most areas of worship (such as the mega churches in which the humans go to pray) are in the Seraphim side of Heaven, and even though most of humanity has adopted a more casual interaction with the Seraphim (much to the elders of the Higher Choirs' distaste), there is still a deep reverence towards the Seraphim. Unless you are a member of the Higher Choirs -- you get bowed to and prayed to when you walk by in public.

I can imagine a choir singing this song as Ada passes by to enter the building, but the music doesn't cheer her or soothe her as it once did in the past. She knows that this is all manufactured for the purpose of controlling Heaven's human populace, as well as flattering the vanities of the Higher Choirs.

And she helped build it.

Once again Bioshock inspires me. I can just picture how grandiose the decor in Heaven is on the Seraphim’s ruling side of Heaven. How it was constructed specifically to evoke a feeling of worship in visiting humans, and how Ada definitely helped in the construction work. Can picture her walking down this path, months before the story starts, rolling her eyes at the symbolism she helped to design and create.

and who would at the end of the path? Gabriel, performing his usual morning prayer in his solitude, as a cover for his secret meeting with Ada.

[mousecolor]

Anime I’ve Been Watching Recently (April 2023)

Giant Gorg

I’m a few episodes into this kids adventure show from the 80s and I’m obsessed with it. It’s got the typical genre crew: boy protag, girl, nerd, heavy, giant robot and dog mascot. The villain is an evil nepo baby trying to earn his billionaire inheritance by taking over a fictional island in the South Pacific for his family’s mega corporation. He is basically what the characters of Succession think they are. 

This show also contains some pretty heinous racial caricature of Black people, to the extent I would be remiss not to bring it up. It’s mostly background characters, so far main characters with dark skin are depicted sensitively. 

Here’s what I like about the show: the protagonists are constantly killing people. After the last few years of working in kids media and building a laundry list of pretty benign stuff I’m not allowed to depict in kids comics, (can’t show a kid prick their finger on a cactus, can’t show a kid use scissors that are too big, can’t show a mom greet a kid with a neutral expression, she has to be ecstatic) I have to admit I’m pretty jealous of a show where the protagonists get a tank and fire it at evil capitalists. I know this is kind of like being nostalgic for when gasoline had lead in it. 

Gorg has also had a couple scenes that were genuinely creepy and scary. Those scenes usually are completely silent, something really rare in kids cartoons. I’m excited to see where Giant Gorg goes.

Kanon

I came across this while browsing and, based solely on the image above, I correctly deduced that it was based on an erotic visual novel from the 90s. I felt like a genius when I looked it up and saw I was right, then I felt ashamed I had amassed enough experience rubbing elbows with such media that i could identify it immediately. Is there a term for this? The skills we acquire by accident in pursuit of our hobbies?

Anyway this show is complete schlock based on an eroge and it still made me laugh out loud and cry actual tears. 

I also got the feeling I got when I first read “Night on the Galactic Railroad” and other stories by Kenji Miyazawa in that I was realizing how many manga and anime had been influenced by his work. I had been encountering work inspired by, responding to, and reaching for his work for years, but I had never read the original text. Suddenly he was everywhere. Similarly, I realize now I’ve been encountering works responding to Kanon for ages now. 

I was curious about how adapting a romance visual novel for a TV show would work out. Each girl gets her own pollen, slightly interwoven with all the others, and the show spends a few episodes introducing them all at once, then goes through each girl’s story line one by one. In a VN the storyline would culminate in a love confession and the couple getting together, but for a show that still has a few more girls for the protagonist to get close to, each storyline culminates in something akin to a love confession, then the girl gets conveniently removed from the story. Mostly they get put in the hospital. 

I really like how the supernatural elements are introduced in the show, which is bit by bit, and then all at once. The girl with the most implausible, magical storyline is explored first, so the rest seem completely believable in comparison. 

The show did become a little one-note in that all of the plot lines culminate with the girl (or someone close to her) being sick or injured. There are a million scenes of girls languishing in hospital beds or tending to someone doing the same. I don’t know what any of the sex scenes in the VN were like, but this almost felt more perverse. By the end of the show, almost the entire cast is in the hospital. 

Anyway, I loved it!

Record of Lodoss War (OVA)

I first saw this years and years ago as a little kid. I got the DVDs from my local game rental place, which had a tiny rack of anime tapes and DVDs for rent. It was really fun to compare what the show actually is against my memories.

Anyway, this show looks great. At no point did the story or characters surprise me in any way. I loved looking at it but I was also enduring it.

[leiogerio]

This is gonna be a hot take, but I actually don’t like the show that much. I can recognize that it’s still pretty good, but I felt that we weren’t able to spend enough characters to make many of their deaths feel truly meaningful. Pilar’s death really just came out of nowhere, mostly serving as a way to move the plot forward. Also, Maine’s fall into cyber psychosis only occurred during the span of a single episode. If we had gotten to see an entire arc where Maine kept trying to get new implants despite his growing insanity, just like what happened to David in the end, it would make both of their deaths so much more significant. Like I said, I don’t think that show is bad. In fact, the last arc is one of the best pieces of fiction I’ve ever seen, but I’m just sad that the series could have been so much more.

As with nearly all cyberpunk works, the show presents a speculative world that results from late capitalism. When businesses and profit reign supreme, it leads to massive social stratification, as shown by the different lives that David has to live compared to his high-class students. David is forced to pirate, his mother is forced to engage in illegal activities to make a living, and when David’s mother is horribly injured during a crossfire, he isn’t able to pay for her healthcare.

It's also important to note Lucy's desire for exteriority. Her dream is to go to the moon, far away from the capitalist dystopia of Night City, but the moon has simply become a tourist destination for more people to exercise capitalism. When she finally makes it to the moon in the final scene, she isn't happy because it seems as if all her efforts had been for nothing, having lost everyone that was close to her.

The show effectively portrays the harsh realities of a dystopian future where access to basic necessities such as healthcare is determined by wealth and privilege. This portrayal aligns with the cyberpunk genre's overarching theme of societal inequality resulting from uncontrolled capitalism and corporate control. It highlights the vast disparity between the rich and the poor, where the mega-corporations hold immense power, and the lower class struggles to survive, often resorting to illegal activities to make ends meet.