#so I'd rather in one way or another reform things so it works

[medicinemane]

Final thought, the cut off for any welfare program at minimum needs to be 150% of the poverty line (ie, the poverty like is $10 the cut off should be no lower than $15)

Cause the poverty line, one assumes, is the bare minimum we're saying everyone should be at, and surely welfare programs are supposed to be meant to help people below that

If you cut it off right at the line, then people aren't going to be able to get out of poverty, because any time they get close they're suddenly going to be on the hook for like $1000 or more between the various welfare they might be on, and honestly only a fool would push past that if pushing past it means falling back down again

150% at least means that they've got a chance that maybe now they're picking up the slack of all the stuff they're losing

[roundearthsociety]

This is going to be a tad personal but how do you manage to be trans and catholic? Some of the biggest anti trans voices like Matt Walsh, Michael Knowles and Desantis base their views off that religion. Many trans people on here, Reddit and IRL have nothing but disdain for Catholicism because of the Vatican’s statements and how they’ve been treated. Likewise, a lot of Catholics I’ve seen on tumblr, Reddit and various forums view it as a sin, mental illness or pedophilia and oppose affirming care as well as IVF.

I’m an American exvangelical, who does have some conservative Catholic family members, and I’m trying to broaden my perspective a bit rather than writing Catholicism off as an irredeemable, hateful colonizer ideology and viewing paganism and Reform Judaism as the only valid religions like most Tumblr users do. How do you put up with it when many refuse to affirm it, including the pope who’s still very conservative? I’m not asking to attack your beliefs but are simply curious whether there’s more nuance than people will claim.

This is something that's a bit hard to answer, as someone who's not that good a theologian nor that good at theory. Plus, I'm not side A, so I wouldn't be all that good at discussing Catholicism While Queer with you I suspect. Anyway I will be assuming you, the reader, have got some level of legitimate Christian faith. Because otherwise I'm not sure how to like. Give you that.

So let me preface all of this by recommending you look into queer Catholic organizations such as New Ways Ministry, or especially DignityUSA which I've heard good things about. There are also some Tumblr bloggers on the more affirming side of things, most of them aren't really doing all that much advocacy work either but you might find it interesting to scroll through, idk, and-her-saints or shoutsofmybones's blogs for example, and take a look.

Also: you don't have to give up on Christianity entirely if you can't / would rather not be Catholic! Even if the specific ritual and community aspect is especially important to you, the Episcopal Church is probably decently well implanted where you live and is worth looking into, especially since it doesn't have the embedded political elements that the US Catholic Church tends to have.

As for my own personal answer below - please don't bother to get mad at me for this, it's like 4AM and I'm not too interested in writing a thesis here.

Gender-wise it's honestly pretty straightforward. I know I function better being generally recognized as another sex than I was assigned at birth, with characteristics to match; everything else in terms of gender roles names etc is really just getting a lil silly with it ngl. This is neither especially uncommon nor especially new, and the generally recognized way to deal with this has long been to just let people do their thing. While there are issues with the way that's being done (hey! you should freeze your gametes if that's available to you! don't count on never wanting kids, especially if you're a teenager! trust me on this one.), a lot of the modern discourse around it boils down to "this is disgusting to me so it must be morally wrong". And like, I'm a biologist, I can't really find it in myself to be grossed out by this stuff anymore.

Anyway the Church is far from a monolith. Even at the institutional level there's plenty of tolerance; my home diocese is based in a large and ancient Mediterranean city so God knows it's had ages to get used to the weird shit, not counting the handful of trad strongholds. My understanding of the situation in the US is that it's Kind Of Really Not That though, so I'd strongly recommend heavily looking into your local Catholic diocese and parishes before making any moves, because Catholic faith and practice are a very community-bound thing and it's not really something you can do at a distance. Thankfully though, once you start avoiding the political activists trying to use faith as a means to an end (as is the case for most of the people you cite in your ask), you'll find that it's relatively more chill than you'd think. Let me elaborate.

My own case is complicated enough that I can't reasonably apply any of the details to this, but ultimately what's important to note here is that Christianity is functionally about how everyone is flawed, and everyone fucks up, and sure you'll be forgiven but you've got to own up to it first. The members of the Church, even the Pope, even (most of) the Saints in their earthly lives, are no exception. They can be misguided, fearful, or just plain hateful; in such circumstances, it's on them to do better, not on you to adapt to their flaws, and they know this if they're honest to themselves. This, in turn, must apply just as much to you and me; as a Christian, you (generic) have everything you need to do better, and to know anything that prevents you from loving other people is probably not the way to go.

But anyway yeah. I'm trans and Catholic because both of those are just kinda who I am, and I don't intend to stop being either because I'm not interested in replacing myself with the cop in my head. So the Church can have fun with that.

[my-my-my]

Do you have some meta hcs on Aizen?

Ugh yes, I love me some meta HCs!

The way Aizen ruled Las Noches would be similar to how he would rule once he became the Soul King. Beings would be given rankings based on their strengths, but it was still equitable (i.e. The Espada were ranked, but they had their own "kingdom" that were fairly equal in size/capacity between each of them).

I think he did this because he hates the concept of the Great Noble Families that reside in Soul Society. I think he's someone who despises nepotism, and the Great Noble Families are living proof that nepotism rules.

Aizen misses teaching. I saw some people remark that maybe "he likes the sound of his own voice", but I disagree. I'm of the opinion he liked imparting knowledge, and he wanted to get more students to critically think about Soul Society. I don't think he met many students in this regard though, because a lot of them fawned over him for superficial reasons.

I'm putting the rest behind a cut because it'll get too long otherwise!

In a way, the way Aizen wanted to speak to Ichigo, and just Aizen's rebelling/criticisms of Soul Society, remind me a lot of Socrates. There was even this whole thing with Socrates and "corrupting the youth" that he was charged with. Shunsui and Urahara didn't want Aizen to speak to Ichigo at the end, and I like to believe it's because they knew Aizen would tell Ichigo about the corruption Soul Society was built upon. Can't have the hero learn that he was working for a morally corrupt institution, can we? 🙃

Going back to the Trial of Socrates and Aizen's own trajectory, there are some similarities:

They both committed "blasphemy" (Socrates didn't believe in the Greek gods, Aizen disregards the Soul King).

They led their "followers"/"students" to question the basis of their society (corruption of the youth). It's good to note that Aizen wasn't totally successful with this, only Tosen and the Espada were followers, Gin was following Aizen for his own revenge.

Both of their trials were held with majority, if not all, male-led jurors (Aizen and Central 46) who decided their sentencing.

Both condemned to death (in Aizen's case, because he's immortal, 20,000 years but that might as well be death...)

Both could have escaped and dodge their punishments, but opted not to. Socrates was given an out, but took his death penalty. Aizen was temporarily exonerated for wartime service, and willingly went back to serve the remainder of his time.

In one of the novels (I think Spirits are Forever with You), Shinji and Momo talk about how Aizen probably wasn't lying to them as much as he wanted them to believe, and I would agree with them. Yeah, Aizen is a master manipulator, but he probably said a lot of "half truths" rather than full-blown lies. It's easier to manipulate someone when there's some semblance of proof to work from.

I'd like to think that at the end of Bleach, Aizen doesn't have the goal to become the Soul King anymore, but he does want change to happen in Soul Society. It's whole existence is based on a lie, and Aizen wants to see its reform. My own headcanon is that once that happens, I think Aizen would want to die - and since the hogyoku is tied to him, it would take away his immortality.

Again, a lot of people see Aizen as a narcissist, but I don't see it. Aizen wanted to be Soul King because he saw everyone else being unable to take a stand. He literally followed the quote "be the change you want to see in the world". He fully acknowledges that Yamamoto is stronger than him, Urahara is smarter than him, but those two refuse to do anything to fix the system. It's why he can acknowledge them, but can't respect them. Why have all that power and not try to change?

Last one lol: I'm of the opinion Aizen likes bullying Hitsugaya lmao. The way Aizen just reads him so easily and doesn't care to fuck around with him. A part of me thinks it stems from jealousy towards Hitsugaya for having people care for him. Another reason is that Aizen doesn't think Hitsugaya is the prodigy everyone else claims he is. Aizen just cuts him down in true "is this your MAN?!" fashion lol

Thanks for this ask!! I hope this is what you wanted in terms of "meta" lol

[marukrawler]

One thing I wish happened with the spectra redemption, was for the rest of the brawlers to at least react accordingly. Like, I'm even willing to look past Spectra's completely illogical, shallow and out of character decision to switch sides cuz that only fucks his character over - whereas them all being buddy-buddy with one another fucks ALL of their characters over and throws any agency and personality they have, out if the window. Like, I'd maaaaaybe understand if it was another Vexos joining them, for example if Lync got redemption after spending time with Alice, but fucking Spectra?? He was easily the worst of the worst, how are they just....accepting him?? Like bro was downright sociopathic in some instances, but their reaction to him was as if he hadn't done anything morally wrong and was simply having a disagreement with Dan and the others, rather than him actively victimizing Dan & the others & the bakugan for the sake of his own selfish agenda and goals. Don't get me wrong, I love him as a character and this is why I wish that more effort was put into his redemption. Make him work for it! Make the others distrust him at best and hold outright disdain for him at worst! Also the fact that Mira was so easy to forgive him after he literally abandoned her, which is even more personal. It would have been way more impactful if she was one of the characters least willing to give him a second chance. Like, I wish he outright rejected him and he was hit with the realization that perhaps he has lost his sister for good. I get that the overall writing of Bakugan is not the best but I'm a sucker for well done redemption arcs so I'm very.opinionated.

rather than giving this man a redemption arc, it'd be so much easier to just let him remain a villain lmao. or even a reformed antagonist. still driven by self-interest to some extent but he realizes that he'll never achieve ultimate power, plus the others still don't like him. the best of both worlds!

if spectra is getting a redemption arc, he should absolutely work for it. his motivations for wanting power need to be explored, too. why is he so obsessed? what makes him see the error of his ways? redemption arcs can be so good when they're written well (ren) but they also need to make sense. and does it make sense for spectra's character to feel remorse for what he's done? i personally think it doesn't and that he'd be better suited to remain a villain but if he was going to be redeemed properly, his character would need a serious overhaul.

i view mira's clinginess to spectra as being the result of growing up with him as her only caretaker. in all her flashbacks, she only has happy memories with keith, not clay. that's also why i think it was easy for her to leave home and why she never bothered to try to talk some sense into clay the way she constantly does with spectra. although, as soon as spectra turns good, she starts clinging to her dad, too, but i like to ignore that. in my ideal world, mira gives up on spectra at a certain point and cuts all ties with him (and her father.) i just think it makes more sense for her to choose to be with her found family (the resistance) instead of trying to sweep the crimes of her actual family members under the rug, especially when those crimes include live experimentation, enslavement, and attempted genocide.

[erabundus]

@curiouskinetic &&. said... Idly bats at the ribbons dangling off his hat, looking thoughtful. Probably a little annoying, but at least she isn't tugging on them. "Do these ever get in the way when you're fighting?"

the  tassels  sway gently  in response to  the  prodding.  ren  turns  to  stare  —  yet  (  surprisingly  )  offers  very  little  in  the  way  of  PROTEST  otherwise.  few  could  ever  claim  to  do  the  same  without  facing  repercussions  —  a  harsh  glare,  harsher  words.  perhaps  even  a  slap  to  the  hand, if he's feeling especially sour.  maybe  sora  is  simply  special  in  that  way.  (  a  friend;  the  word  lurks  at  the  forefront  of  his  mind  like  a  THREAT.  )  maybe  the  wanderer  is  simply  in  an  unusually  good  mood.  even  he's  capable  of  levity  from  time  to  time.  ❝  no.  ❞  he  shrugs  at  the  inquiry.  ❝  my  hat  is  another  catalyst  i  use  to  help  myself  fly.  ❞   ren  deigns  not  to  go  into  the  intricacies  of  how  it  works  —  if  only  because  he  has  a  sneaking  suspicion  they'll  be  there  all  afternoon  while  he  goes  on  yet  another  LECTURE  fueled  by  an  eternal  fascination  with  all  things  weaponry.  ❝  i'd  rather  do  most  of  my  fighting  from  the  air,  ❞   the  wanderer  explains instead,  ❝  and  the  form  it  takes  under  those  circumstances  guarantees  it  isn't  often  an  issue.  ❞

he  demonstrates  only  briefly,  raising  a  finger  to  point.  the  kasa  dissolves  into  a  flood  of  anemo-hued  light  —  only  to  reform  behind  ren's  head.  a  halo.  a  lotus.  (  both.  )  his  namesake,  in  a  sense;  the  resemblance  to  the  FLOWER  was  the  first  thing  he  thought  about  when  prompted  to  select  something  new.  the  longer  he  dwelled  on  it,  the  more  the  idea  took  root  —  much  like  a  plant  in  its  own  right.  after  all,  lotus  flowers  were  known  for  rising  from  murky  waters  to  bloom.  something  beautiful,  born  from  the  world's  filth.  was  that  not  precisely  the  thing  he  ASPIRED  to  become?

the  hat  reforms  atop  his  head  —  almost  as  if  it  never  moved.  ren  still  takes  a  moment  to  adjust  it,  regardless.  call  it  force  of  habit.

❝  it's  unlikely,  but  on  the  off  chance  i  encounter  a  situation  where  i  can't  fly ...  i  could  probably  use  the  shakujo  to  just  hit  someone.  ❞  fingers  then  curl  around  one  of  the  tassels  —  as  if  to  test  its  weight.  the  metal  on  the  end  is  fairly  hefty;  he's  confident  in  his  ability  to  do  some  serious  damage  if  he  feels  so  INCLINED.  it's  simply  a  matter  of  not  wanting  to  dirty  his  beloved  hat  with  the  filthy  blood  of  whatever  vermin  manages  to  invoke  his  ire.

[theharpermovieblog]

#HARPERSMOVIECOLLECTION

2023

I watched Sundown: The Vampire In Retreat (1989)

There sure are a lot of movies. For instance, I like a lot of the actors in this, I love vampires and I love horror/comedy, but I've never heard of this before today. But fuck it, Bruce Campbell is in this movie so I'm watching it.

A family moves to a small desert town full of vampires trying to reform their bloodsucking ways.

Director Anthony Hickox directed another horror/comedy I really like, Waxwork. He also directed Hellraiser 3 which is a pretty funny horror movie itself, even if it's not trying to be. He's a director who likes mildly heightened characters, silly comedy and flipping horror on its head to make it ridiculous. He's not that bad at it, if you like that sort of thing of course. It's an acquired taste.

Sadly, rather than go on to make more ridiculous and weird horror/comedy, Hickox started making shitty action movies in the late nineties. I'm sure some of which are hilariously bad.

Sundown is a rather enjoyable movie. First off it's technically well made. It looks good, it's acted well, it's got a decent enough script with some fun characters. Secondly it's just very casual and easy to get along with. It's a good ol'fashioned 1980's family horror movie. Sure there are heads getting lopped off, but get the wife and kids and some popcorn, vampires are fun.

The many characters and storylines are dealt with well and it works to keep us from getting bored. With one straightforward story, I could see this movie getting bogged down too much, but the pace is kept up by the variety. Now, that's not to say I wouldn't have enjoyed a story completely focused on Bruce Campbell's character. He's a descendant of Van-Helsing and he's come chasing vampires. It's Campbell in a role that makes use of his ability to be silly and fun and I'd happily have taken more of it.

The special effects are pretty fun too. There are several conversations between stop motion bats that made the kid in me very happy.

Of course, this movie isn't perfect by any means. If a vampire movie ends with a cheap western shootout it's not gonna win any Oscars. It also falls into feeling like a cheap 1990's tv show pilot at times, but it doesn't deserve to fall into obscurity. It really is a fun little lighthearted movie that doesn't take itself seriously and I'd say I liked it just as much as Waxwork. Which some people might not find to be the compliment I think it is, but if you're a horror nerd who occasionally delves into horror/comedy, this is a pretty good one. It's not super funny, but it's generally fun.

Am I overly enthusiastic about this movie because I thought it'd be much worse? Maybe. Probably.

[agent-flyingfox]

I- Uh- Yeah! How did you know? I worked as a technician- I made some of Zoraxis' stuff and even helped Solaris on the Death Engine. (In my defense, nobody told me what it was for.)

I spotted the agency once while I was working on a gi- uh- secret project for Zoraxis. They spotted me back and started talking to me. Eventually, they convinced me to join them rather than stick with Zoraxis' team.

I've been a reformed villain since! Now I'm stuck as an agent-in-training (with nobody really teaching me anything because they're all scared).

I'm going to stress the question of how did you know I worked for Zoraxis heavily because I'm either bad at remembering faces or you were not one of the agency members who talked to me that one day.

',:/

-Agent Felix

P.S. I did not know anyone knew my full first name.. that's.. interesting, yet funky. I always use funky in a positive way. Thank you for using it!! I've actually been waiting for someone to call me Felixian :D

I probably shouldn't push my luck....I've been too reckless about this, blabbering all over the place. Let's see...

*Covers watch as a safe measure, knowing that it doesn't muffle as much as she would like*

"I knew you looked familliar! Lets just say I er. If you may pick up what I'm saying... I knew someone who worked with you in my universe. A thief, helping behind the scenes gathering research and stealing gravity crystals from highly guarded science facilities for the Death Engine.

I have to say. Leaving Zoraxis isn't easy. Especially as you're so young. I'm so sorry that no one is here to train you. It's been difficult enough for me as a fellow new agent - I don't even have a TK implant! I do hope the EOD in your universe is kind to you.

Here's the thing. I have my boyfriend, Agent Nightjar helping me with training. He's an incredible agent, arguably the best in the EOD when it comes to bomb diffusion (I'd say better at it than the Phoenix themselves - But I'm clearly biased)

I know I don't have much of a say in how another universe's agents are trained..but if you need any advice, Nightjar and I are happy to help you where we can.

Please...know that you aren't the only one. I'll be here if you need me"

Best regards,

Emara Aziz

Agent Flying Fox

Emara Aziz

P.S

I...must have gotten your name from that thief. I hope that's alright. I'm happy to keep calling you Felixian if it works well for you.

[thescrapbookingscientist]

Bimonthly Media Roundup

- Kaiju No 8 (Anime) - Binged this on a whim and honestly it was a lot more wholesome and engaging than I thought it would be? I like that the majority of the characters are adults and act like it, people were pretty reasonable in how they approached issues and the team building aspect was very cute. I like the protags Kaiju form though given the weird body transformations we saw he was capable of I wish he would do something more interesting in fights than just punching really hard. Then again the fights clearly aren't the focus of the series and just serve the purpose of cooperation/character building which I guess is fine. The way the characters quip at eachother was pretty fun, I'd say the whole cast was likable though not super well developed at this point given how many we were given in just the first season. Shinomiya and Hoshina were the standouts given they had interesting designs, personalities, and fighting styles. The pacing was a little quick but it did mean that interesting things were always happening so I can't complain too much, though personally I think it's a missed opportunity that they moved away from the "Kaiju clean up job" as that some pretty interesting worldbuilding, even if they did keep Kafka's experience relevant. Honestly I'd recommend it, this was a good time - Will be watching Season 2 for sure.

- Pluto (Anime) - Pluto was an interesting little mini series about a murder mystery surrounding the deaths of the worlds most advanced AI. It was overall pretty good, it had a really solid middle chunk where tension was kept high, it never underestimated it's audience and trusted them to put pieces together, and characters felt very grounded and human. The ending was a little messy though, as certain plot beats felt pretty out of place for what was otherwise a very tightly written anti-war story. I don't really feel like talking about it beyond that as I don't have any interesting input, sometimes you just watch something and go. Yup that was good, I agree with it's themes. And that's the whole of it. Gesicht was cool, I feel bad for the little baby robot, I have no idea why sensing emotions is considered a robot ability, and the piano saga in episode One was probably my favorite single arc of the show.

- Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Dukes Mansion (Anime) - Didn't really have another entry for this week so I guess I'll mention this anime that my sister and I dropped pretty early on. I like the Villain/Villainess genre as a whole given it frequently uses one of my favorite tropes of "Using knowledge of the future to change the present for the better" as well as the "having to work your way up from the bottom" trope, but I've read enough to be a bit picky about the ones I keep up with and unfortunately Raelina didn't end up grabbing me, at least not in the first 5 episodes. I like the art style and the protagonists design overall as well as the idea of her being the first death to kick off a mystery novel rather than the standard dating sim plotline, but my main issue was just how un-interesting the plot, characters, and interactions have been thus far. The love interest especially seems very 'cookie cutter snarky pretty boy shoujo male' and I can't remember a single notable interaction or anything that stood out as being a memorable visual or interesting lore or anything, it was just kind of boring.

- Jujutsu Kaisen (Anime) - I know I said previously that this show is truly a mixed bag with a lot of glaring flaws, and I stand by that, but I'd be lying if I said that I haven't been obsessed with it for the past month. Yes the worldbuilding and combat system are wack, and the show too frequently takes a tell-don't show approach with relationships and plot beats, but there is some genuinely engaging stuff in here - The entire hidden inventory arc, the sisyphisian cycle of curses constantly reforming as long as human hatred exists, the idea of being a god being a deeply in humanizing experience, the good humored moments of levity when the characters actually get to hang out, it's not nothing. What I'm saying is I could fix it okay? Give Jujutsu Kaisen to me. Also I'm pretty sure I'm experiencing what the kids call gender envy whenever I see Suguru, I adore his design, I need to look like that. Also also, both of Season Two's OPs are straight bangers.

- To Your Eternity (Anime) - I'll talk more about this next time as we've barely scraped the surface, but for now I'll say this is a truly unique and emotional story that unfortunately has the worst auto generated subtitles ever. Like it's so bad it takes you out of the show. The OP gets translated as Pig Blood, Pig Blood, the phrases are usually incorrect, and the names get changed each time to things like Google or Pierre. Please crunchyroll why do you hate us.

- House (TV) - Ah yes my favorite anime, House MD. Decided to watch this in between anime binges, and as expected revisiting it is a mixed bag. The medical mysteries and overall format are still very well done, a lot of the clinic scenes are still pretty funny, the characters all play off eachother well, and in general it stays engaging throughout its run-time which I can't say for a lot of 45 minute TV episodes. That being said House as a character can be....a lot. It's fine to have asshole protagonists and I don't really prescribe to the idea that media has to contain only morally upright material or otherwise punish moral wrongdoing in the narrative, but as a viewer I'm uninterested in media where it feels like the writers are actively disdainful towards (usually liberal) ideas or groups of people and trying to scold them into accepting 'the correct' viewpoint and House as a show can occasionally toe that line. To be fair it's usually not too bad, the show depicts positive wlw relationships pretty early on, characters will rightfully call House out when he's being a dick, Cuddy is a fun character that gets to one up House occasionally, and while the writing can be pretentious it's not usually mean spirited. It's a good enough show in every other respect that I still find myself enjoying it, but I can see how the tired narrative of "obnoxious white guy is a rude jerk that can do whatever he wants without being fired because he's just that much smarter and better than everyone else" is a hard sell to new viewers in 2024.

- The S Classes That I Raised (Webcomic) - Been seeing some discourse around Riette and while I do get it, Must a woman always be "a good person" and "redeemed by the narrative"? Is it not enough to be a butch hottie who is also a Dragon? I support women's wrongs.

- One Piece (Manga) - 27 years of One Piece apparently. Maybe it will end on the 30th anniversary? We shall see.

- Genshin Impact (Video Game) - The origami Event world is cute, I love collecting the figures and the little dragon design. Also excited to get Kirara.

Listening To: Good Luck Babe by Chappell Roan, Two Birds by Regina Spektor, Espresso by Sabrina Carpenter, All In by 6FU, Crazy cover by Walk of the Earth, SPECIALZ by King Gnu, Ao No Sumika by Tatsuya Kitani, Princess of China by Coldplay, Lay All Your Love On Me by ABBA, Boys by Lizzo, Walking in Memphis by Marc Cohn, Jesus He Knows Me cover by Ghost, Tongues and Teeth by The Crane Wives

[frogeyedape]

Ah! Got it!

"Therefore nothing mocking [nazi beliefs/slogans] in leftist circles can actually be mocking" -- NO. Some people are "mocking" or "joking" but actually believe what they say. The reason this WORKS is because other people A) believe the "joker" is not serious and maybe B) also joke about dark shit and maybe C) are accustomed to a culture where joking about such things is acceptable, but again, A) is the main and most integral point. It's not called a red flag or dogwhistle for nothing--it is meant to slide under the radar--to evade detection by blending in with safe speech. *It needs a background to camouflage itself in.*

THE FACT IT IS A DOGWHISTLE MEANS MANY PEOPLE WILL NOT KNOW IT'S A DOGWHISTLE. People who STUDIED dog whistles might've missed that one, or forgotten it, or had a brain fart! We have got to stop saying "if you say X forbidden thing you are sacrosanct and evil forever"--there are people who are ignorant! Brainwashed! Are they evil because they grew up in a cult/fell into a major depression and found solace in QAnon? No! It's when they learn the cult does evil shit, when they realize QAnon is completely off its rockers, and they look and say...yeah I'd rather keep doing evil shit than learn a better way to act, that's a pretty evil decision! *Even nefarious actors who wholeheartedly believe the vilest shit can be reformed* - CAN be if they choose to change, not necessarily *will.* And all these people, the ignorant who knows no better, the beguiled/misguided, and the deliberate evildoer--all of them are just people. *The capacity for great evil and great good exists within all of us. Yes, in me too.*

Back to the main thread, it's a DOGWHISTLE. Therefore there must by definition be a background radiation of people saying similar things in ignorance or meaning well and maybe even actually joking. You have got to separate out 1) Who is speaking, 2) What they Said, 3) Who is listening, and 4) What they Heard. Every conversation is an act of interpretation--a speaker's words can mean something different to them than what the listener understands from hearing those same words.

Take a leftist circle with jokes and some nefarious "jokes" blending in. There are people there who are aware of the existence of the "jokes," and people unaware. Of each type, there are some people who believe the "joke," and people who don't. That's 4 sets of people, but really it oughta be 6--because some people will be sorta aware (they know some of the "jokes"but not all of them), and some will be undecided. Aware/believe, aware/don't believe, semi-aware/believe, semi-aware/don't believe, not aware/believe (ie would agree if they were made aware of the true meaning), not aware/don't believe. The unaware folks don't know there's something to be wary of--so they might take jokes and "jokes" alike at face value and treat them both as actual jokes. If they are (or are made to be) aware/semi-aware, they know to look for signals of allyship vs opposition: "jokers" will be wink at "jokers", jokers will grimace understanding of how awful the joke is to other jokers, "jokers" will seek to convince jokers & the unaware of, "But it's kinda true, really, if you just think about it..." while jokers emphasize that it's really not funny, like you have to laugh because without black humor how do you survive, but really this is serious. "Jokers" will roll their eyes at jokers (thinking: they actually believe this is funny? It's deadly serious), jokers will be wary and watchful for "jokers" (thinking: they're actually serious and not joking? Damn, they're bad news). AND BECAUSE IT'S A DOGWHISTLE some jokers & "jokers" will misidentify each other. EG One person can be joking (aware/don't believe) while a "joker" (aware/believes) thinks they've found an ally, even though their beliefs are actually opposed, and another joker thinks they'vre spotted an enemy, even though their beliefs coincide. EG a "joker" can be "joking" and misidentified as a joker and make friends with an actual joker, despite their differing beliefs, while another "joker" might take the first "joker" as an enemy despite sharing the same beliefs. And the unaware? Some will think or say, "You know, there's actually some truth to that..." or "Oh shit that's actually not a cool thing to joke about," and *they too* can be misidentified as jokers or "jokers." EG a joker or a "joker" could be misidentified by other jokers and "jokers" as being unaware!

So to sum up: anyone listening who doesn't know it's a dogwhistle *may genuinely interpret a joke or "joke" in whichever direction, sincere or not.* Some bad actors saying it in a way that mimics normal people actually joking does not mean normal people actually joking aren't actually joking!! What someone *hears* in what someone else *says* is not necessarily what was actually said or meant!!

And most importantly, as this is thrle overlooked point: someone who is aware/doesn't believe can be so hypervigilant about red flags and dog whistles that they suspect ordinary, unaware people of being knowing, nefarious actors--potentially leading to conflict which would alienate the unaware from the aware/don't believe--and thus potentially making them easier prey for aware/believes people. THAT IS THE SECOND HALF OF A DOG WHISTLE.

Dog whistle: Goes unheard by the unaware

Also dog whistle: keenly heard by the aware, even when it's an innocent/ignorant/unaware person rather than a bad actor saying it

BOTH those things give dog whistles power. We need to combat dog whistles by BOTH spreading awareness AND refusing to allow hypervigilance to damage our efforts.

[mariyekos]

Oh yeah! I cleared TOP about a week ago. I'm really proud of us, it took a lot of work and it was so nice to see it paid off. Thoughts and clear video below!

My original group ended up disbanding after 5 months of 3 days, 3hr/day schedule which was a big disappointment but for the best. We lost one person and had to get a new one, but after that I think people's hearts weren't really in it. The way things were going I think it would've taken another 3 months to clear if we could even get it, because our prog point was technically P5 Sigma, but we were only getting there a handful of times a night so we were hardly making any progress at all. So we decided to disband to save our sanity, time, and friendship.

Fast forward to two months ago when I decided I wanted to give it another shot. I ended up inviting 4 of the original crew members, 1 member of my savage static who'd cleared but wanted reclears, and put out recruitment messages for 2 more- one tank and one melee. I only got 2 responses- one from a tank, one from a melee. They were at Delta prog rather than Sigma prog, but I talked with the group and they were cool with giving them a shot. As you can probably guess...it worked out! They did great and those of us who hadn't been in the fight in 5 months deducted pretty quickly.

I originally did the fight on AST. In the oicture uo above, I'm on SCH (4th from the left, between the DRG and BRD). That's because with the reformed group we would've had 2 casters (OG caster and my savage static member), so I asked the savage member if he could heal and he said he would if he could WHM. I love AST and I spent 5 months of my life doing the fight on AST so that's where all my muscle memory was, but I thought it would be worth it to switch.

The hardest parts of this fight are the mechanics after all. The healing isn't easy per se, but adjusting to a different healer wasn't too bad overall. ...Other than getting used to how delayed all of SCH's heals are, and how much more setup it requires. With AST, my heals were pretty instant. I'd press neutral one GCD, then my heal would come out the next. Quick and easy and practical to do last second. For P2 Flares, that was it for me. On SCH, oh boy did I learn the hard way from many not-spread-in-time Spreadlo's! On SCH it's Broil into Recitation, Broil into Protraction, Biolysis into Summon Seraph (+ Lucid sometimes), Adlo with no oGCD because no time, Broil into Deployment Tactics, Broil into Fey Illumination, Broil into Consolation, Broil into Sacred Soil, a Broil or two as filler (+ Whispering Dawn if I felt like it), Broil into Consolation, done. Where AST was just Malefic into Neutral Sect, Aspected Helios, done. It was a big change! I had to watch my recordings over and over to figure out the GCD to start things on so I could 1) get everything out in time, and 2) not have anything fall off before I wanted it to.

I love the quick thinking of cards with AST, and the adjustment needed for every pull depending on how long the initial CD is, as well as the ability for single target heals and shields given by the 2 charges of Essential Dignity and Celestial Intersection. Every pull is a little different! And I have the ability to do some quick thinking heals on the spot without losing anything. On SCH I still have to be able to perform complex actions/thinking in order to set up heals to maximum effect and that's a lot of fun, but it's more consistent than AST. It also takes longer to set up, as shown above. Unfortunately I lost a lot of the quick thinking heals, since the only thing SCH really has is lustrate, which I either can't use because I don't have charges, or don't want to use either because I want to DPS, or because I need it for a Soil later on. It made me pretty nervous at first! I'm so used to having Essential Dignity as an instant heal, so when someone got low and I had to adlo I was internally screaming as I prayed the heal would get out in time given the long cast.

Having Ruin 2 in P6 was a godsend. Thankfully our comp was just about the best comp possible for P6, so as long as everyone was hitting their buttons we weren't worried about the DPS check at all. As in, our DPS was so good that one run we made it to 0.1% enrage when our RDM forgot to pot! Which hurt my soul because that was the first time we made it past meteors and we were so close...and our RDM didn't pot...Well anyway we've got 7 clears now so it's okay!

Other than that...this new group took 5 weeks to clear, also 3 days a week. I'm not counting our trial day since that was derust/trial and we immediately took 2 weeks off. The 0.1% enrage was on Week 5 Day 1, and our first clear was on Week 5 Day 3. We raid Fri/Sat/Sun, and this past week (yesterday, today is Monday) we got 2 clears per day. This week is going to be our last week together before we go our separate ways. ...for now, at least.

When I formed the group I had a hard cutoff date for the end of this year. The only exception was if we were on enrage- and I mean having seen enrage on enrage, not "basically at the end of the phase." We ended up almost beating it by the end of November! And got it the first week of December instead. After our first clear I proposed we do 2 weeks of reclears, mostly because I was worried I'd have another TEA situation where we couldn't get reclears for a few days. When I remade the group my hope was for an absolute minimum 3 clears, with 5 being what would satisfy me. After we got our first clear I told the group I wanted to do 2 weeks and that we could re-evaluate after 1 if we got enough reclears, but when I asked yesterday if anyone felt strongly about wanting to be done no one felt like disbanding yet, so we're doing 1 more week which is great. I don't know what weapons I'll even get with my totems tbh. I got SCH first, then AST after our 3rd clear. I'll probably get MCH and maybe WAR or DRK, but after that? Actually scratch that- I'll get WHM and SGE. So 1) SCH, 2) AST, 3) SGE, 4) WHM, 5) MCH, 6/7) DRK WAR? And then after that who knows. ...Though the BRD bow does look really cool. I don't play BRD ever but maybe this is my sign to use it more! Hopefully we'll get at least 2 clears per day this next week, to leave us with 13 total. If we get 4 a day- which is definitely possible since we raid for 3hrs and the fight is only 20min, which would mean 2 clears per hour with some time for failure- we'd get the 12 total clears needed for weapons for every job. I'm not super pressed about it though. Like I said, my original hope was 3-5. Everything beyond that is a fun bonus.

...okay that's long and rambling, so I'll cut it off here! I have more I could probably share, but I also have a lot to do so I need to get going. Last thing though- our BRD ran off around the arena after the clear and I totally missed him in our GPOSE and didn't notice until after we left for the day which frustrated me. He'd gotten his clear in PF after we disbanded the first time so it wasn't his first clear but it made me sad :( OK ramble over for real!

If you've read this far, cool! If not, hey this is 90% for me because I like keeping records of things so cool anyway. Clear video below!

[mood2you]

Okay the machinations of Spiderverse make more sense to me the second go around... But now I don't really understand the have your cake and eat it too. As long as you're not late. Everyone does, kids should be encouraged too! Peter B Parker has a family and his "work" of being in the Spider time-cops. Miles dad may be a bit of a workaholic but due to Spider-Man's uniqueness they get moments like looking over the balchony, and after all he's a good dad. You could majoe in physics and minor in spanish.

Or they don't. Universes dissolving because Spider-Man did something selfish is very stupid imagine the ego existentialism Tony Stark, main character of Earth in Tom Holland's universe the same way Thor is main character of Asgaard, which is also stupid but if you have a whole universe to populate hey! If this Spider-Man disaolved hia verse Tony would be like wa but I'm the main character! So that's arupid

then if The Spot is doing it why did he mess with Miguel he's not Miles! Like how dis this dissolving atuff start?

I'd rather the stupid main character thing. Then if they can make Spot reformed and good he can just put the whole dimension into a spot and then put them in another dimension. It's easy: put all of Mumbattan in a dimension where gravity is a little different ao rhe buildings can even taller, and stuff. And in the dimension is the police chief and the child because all life is precious...

Pavitr wven says "I can do both" ans that hopefulness gives him more atretgth to pull the bus higher. I onow the message isn't to give up on one thing for the old thing, simce Miles is gonna do borh and we jaut have to wait and see how hendoes it! You know Gwen really sid save her dad just by talking to him! Half way theough your big speech!

It's not about having a super cuchy priveleged life to not have lost anyone, and I don't think it's ever eaay to clearcut how to save Uncle Ben beaides actually going to the library and not lying... But if he could save him it might be just as inspirational, that he can save people in general

[knightmareaceblue]

Wonder what Polythreat would look like as a gem from Steven Universe?

Oh boy. OH BOY. I put WAY too much thought into this.

So, it's pretty easy to go the classic Diamond-Ruby-Emerald combo because Jewel Baron, but that didn't really gel with me because-

A) Adding another Diamond would BREAK SU canon. (If I had to choose one to be a diamond though, it would totally be Henry.)

B) Ruby's in SU canon are footsoldiers, which I have no problem with, but their unique abilities are fire-based, which doesn't fit with any of the triple threat. Actually, I can't remember a lot of instances outside of maybe Revenged where we see fire in Henry Stickmin. If I had to choose one, I guess it'd be Ellie, but because she'd be the only one left because...

C) Emerald might fit Charles, since the only Emerald we see in the show appears to be a pilot. Or maybe some sort of admiral. However, since the other two don't fit, it doesn't really make sense to have only one, especially since you only get the Norwegian Emerald in one route of the game.

So, with that in mind, I've chosen some different gems for the Triple Threat. Also, all Steven Universe gems are female, so I'll be referring to all three of the Triple Threat with female pronouns. Drawings below the cut.

Henry: Given the functionality of the fails and how we know future vision works, I feel like a Sapphire is an appropriate choice. My runner up choice was a pearl, because a pearl would be underestimated like Henry is.

Charles: Nephrite's in the show are shown to be ship crew and pilots, so I choose Nephrite for Charles. My runner up choice was a Peridot, because Charles deals with a lot of tech stuff.

Ellie: I looked quite a bit for a gem that would fit Ellie's abilities. None of them really fit Ellie's skillset well, so I ended up settling on Pyrope. My logic, admittedly, was rather poor; since she has levitation powers, it was the closest thing to Ellie's force abilities I could find. That, and they seem to be skilled in every area, which Ellie definitely is. My runner up choice was a Rose Quartz, because.... Rose.

I've come up with some story threads, but nothing concrete yet. I'll share the loose ideas I had.

S!Henry spent her entire existence predicting bad things that would happen. The emotional toll became so much on her that she would speak only through her Pearl Assistant. Since Pearl Assistant was rather smart, S!Henry gave her card blanche to give advice under the pretense that it was coming from her. When Era 3 came about, her Pearl offered to stay by her side to help her communicate.

Feeling lost in Era 3, S!Henry went to earth to observe the gems in Little Homeworld. She came to the revelation that fate could be changed but, rather than feel elated or excited, she felt horrified, as she could have acted to prevent a lot of the bad stuff that happened herself intstead of being a passive observer. After that, she ditched Pearl Assistant and was unheard from for a while. She reappeared in a new form sometime after Steven left Beach City, causing trouble for Gems and Humans alike for seemingly no reason.

N!Charles came to Earth the first instance she could. Having spent her entire life running supplies for the empire, N!Charles was more than happy to spend some time in one place for once. She spent a long few weeks oohing and awwing over everything in Beach City, running around without a care in the world... before being hit by a car and poofed. She reformed a few weeks later looking like how she looks in the picture. She takes to Earth culture quickly and with enthusiasm. I'd like to say she'd become more careful... but she wouldn't.

N!Charles still loves flying, and pilots some experimental vehicles for some scientists in Little Homeworld. When one of them is stolen by S!Henry, N!Charles gets involved in trying to capture her. However, she quickly realizes there's more to this sapphire than meets the eye when S!Henry stops one of her escapes to save her life. This causes N!Charles to begin trying to change her perspective and find out what S!Henry's actually up to, and learn more about her.

What I'm thinking for P!Ellie is the same kind of difficulty adapting as the other higher ranked gems shown in the series - Light Prism Pyrope, Holly Blue Agate, you know. Prior to Era 3 she was in charge of paving the path for one of Yellow Diamond's armies, and then one day she's just told to... stop. She complies, reluctantly, but isn't quite sure what else there is for her. After getting into multiple fights, she's... well, not quite banished, but is politely told by Yellow Diamond herself to go to Earth and learn some damned self-control.

P!Ellie hates Earth. She hates Earth SO much.

After failing yet another one of Little Homeschool's classes, P!Ellie is lying on the ground bemoaning her lack of purpose when she notices S!Henry running from N!Charles with something. She doesn't help, but once S!Henry escapes she asks what's going on and gets excited. Finally! Something she can DO! She was made for leading and fighting, she can surely catch one unruly Sapphire!

So for a little while the three are enemies, sort of. N!Charles wants to figure out why S!Henry is up to this, while P!Ellie only really cares about catching her. N!Charles and P!Ellie are at odds all the time, but N!Charles slowly begins to show P!Ellie why she loves Earth so much. They begin to form a deeper connection.

THEN S!HENRY RISKS HER LIFE TO SAVE P!ELLIE AND N!CHARLES. Her gem gets cracked.

P!Ellie and N!Charles take her on a pilgramige to Rose's fountain for healing. While learning about S!Henry, P!Ellie starts to cool down a little.

Turns out S!Henry is stealing stuff in order to prevent some sort of calamity (haven't worked out what yet.) The three decide to work together to solve it.

At some point they fuse, accidentally. The fusion looks like this. It's a little bit of a mishmash, but I was going more for the chaotic appearance of Garnet before Ruby and Sapphire really knew each other.

She's a Labradorite. This chaotic mishmash is because they're not in harmony yet. Once they are, her appeance becomes less jigsaw puzzley.

She also has three eyes under her bangs. She sees perfectly fine, though.

Slowburn Polythreat all the way through.

I'm uncertain what role the Crystal Gems, if any, would play in this story. Maybe as supporting roles? IDK yet.

Geez, this one question turned into a whole story outline. Don't know if I'd write it, but there's potential here. Uh, I had fun, at least. Hope you did too!

[angelsaxis]

i dont believe in 100% original work. I read a piece by Jonathan Lethem that mentioned something called a "commons". I'd read the piece years ago as a freshman for a mandatory essay course, and I'm beginning to thing it was an exerpted version of this article in Harper's.

As I was saying, I don't fully believe in originality. That article opened my eyes as a writer to the concept of commons and usemonopoly and the fact that you are being influenced, even in unknown ways, by everything you take in. When I read a story, or watch a movie, or listen to a song, I can tell when I'm consciously enjoying it. I do not know, however, what it's doing on the unconscious level, what it's interacting with, how these various things that I love and hate but have invariably absorbed are reforming to influence my writing and ideas and creativity down the line.

This isn't to say that everything is a derivative of something. But I don't think that creativity should mean totally new, never-before-seen ideas and concepts. Let things influence you. Your work will undoubtedly influence other people. You cannot create in a vacuum, so rather than lamenting a perceived lack of individuality, and rather than turning down all influence, just let everything seep in and mingle and come back out. It's how I write my stuff and create all my worlds.

I think this is one of the most important quotes in the article: "Lastly, does our appetite for creative vitality require the violence and exasperation of another avant-garde, with its wearisome killing-the-father imperatives, or might we be better off ratifying the ecstasy of influence — and deepening our willingness to understand the commonality and timelessness of the methods and motifs available to artists?"

[vic-chaos]

Hey! As a Jew I just wanted to offer a different perspective to the "Rabbi Cartman" thing I saw the other day. I've been thinking about your post alot and just thought I'd share my experience.

As a kid, I was shit on a LOT for being Jewish. I've met a couple of young Cartmans in my elementary school years, and I've been the target of many rumors and slurs. And yet.. one of the guys who bullied me? Married to a Jew. The kids have Jewish names. Another one took a trip to Israel because somewhere along the line they just decided it was cool.

Whether it was intentional or not, Matt and Trey touched on an important issue that isn't just a Jewish issue, but a larger issue that affects all marginalized communities. The targeted members of those communities grow up with these experiences that leave scars, and yet often years later, aspects of your culture are magically "cool" to the people who gave you shit for it, and you're given no real closure or way to appropriately process the scars that you're left with. Its almost more hurtful to me to see that guy talk about Judaism now than it was for him to tell people I ate babies and drank blood.

Even if it is at a base level funny or ironic to see Cartman standing there as a Rabbi with a stereotypical wife, this is still something that I've seen no other mainstream piece of media ever even attempt to brush on, and that's at least a win in my book.

This is a really interesting point!! Also something I hadn't even thought of before.

It does make me wonder......... because on the one hand like, I don't really trust Matt & Trey to handle a topic like this with the kind of nuance it would require?? Not because I think they're incapable, but just that the track record so far has left the bar really low for me. So I hesitate to give them credit for doing something so well thought out when there's still the possibility it was just a "haha wouldn't it shock people if..." instead.

But on the other hand, if they were trying to critique the kind of people who do this (are bigoted towards a minority group and pick on members of it as kids, but then grow up to turn around and adopt/appropriate that same thing) it would be impressive, and interesting to say the least... and like you said, not something I've ever seen any other mainstream media touch on either.

Although I hadn't looked at it from this POV before, it does feel like it links in well with the other reasons I'm so suspicious of him suddenly having reformed off screen and we're just expected to believe he's a harmless, wholesome family man now, when this is a character who for decades his favourite manipulation tactic has been to paint himself as the innocent and victimised one lmao.

Again like... I love him.... but he is a fucking evil little demon from hell sjdhsdfjsdfs. For him to completely reform is going to take hard work. Right now it's not only difficult for me to believe it happened without evidence, but the fact that he's hiding his past behaviour from his wife makes it seem a lot less likely that he ever did work on himself (which would necessitate actually dealing with his traumas and insecurities rather than just ignoring them) and more likely that he just jumped from one identity to another to give himself a clean slate, and is still manipulating the way that he wants people to see him.

This also would figure in the sense of it being the outcome of him losing his friend group too. Because they ARE making him better (in the current time period as kids, not future) and his most genuine honest and selfless acts have all been to protect them, since he does love them. But with that progress being stopped in its tracks I wouldn't be surprised if he is still up to some manipulative shit, in the same way that Stan is still alcoholic... and actually all of them stayed sort of trapped in their childhoods to some degree.

Of course I could be 100% wrong about all of this, but its fun to consider different possibilities and theories.

The whole issue around Cartman and antisemitism is a complicated one that I intentionally don't ever go into much detail about since I'm not Jewish myself I don't really feel like its my place. It's tricky with him because it's always JUST kind of been about Kyle? I think he doesn't understand the infatuation that he has with Kyle (which I personally think is a mix between him having a crush and being jealous of him) not understanding his feelings pisses him off and he wants to blame Kyle for it somehow. So as soon as he was exposed to the idea that Jewish people are evil and always secretly plotting or whatever he latched onto it super hard. Then because of his tendency to delusion/paranoia convinced himself that Kyle is out to get him, which then just escalated the situation for years. That said it obviously doesn't excuse the behaviour, like AT ALL, But I do think if he was ever going to stop it would need to be confronted with this in mind? If that makes sense lmao.

Anyway............ to get back on your main point, it is interesting to think about 🤔 Thanks for bringing it up too bc I always enjoy considering other perspectives. I'm curious to find out how the rest of this storyline is gonna go, then see what I think about it after because my opinions might end up being totally different, depending what they do with it haha.

[kutputli]

Episode 3 -

Oh my heart. I was going to just watch this for Armand you guys. Like, ironic watching. But Louis going to just going to piece me to the bone there. ( For people smugly gloating about how they have been raving about the show for eons yes sure ok, but also - this is more gore than I'm confortable with. I've been using the subtitles to keep my eyes from fully watching things, so if people are on the fence about it, might be helpful to provide gore trigger warnings.)

It's a bit hard to liveblog such lovely meaty episodes because I feel like going back to review everything that happened so I can go scene by scene. And its already 1 am. I'm vastly enjoying every Dubai interaction, but I wish I knew how I would feel about it if I wasn't spoiled to the gills with knowledge of where these people will end. Louis chides 'ruh-sheed' (so weird, like, living in Dubai with an almost entirely South Asian serving staff, to not pronounce it Raa-shid?) and Rashid does a pert little moue. He definitely comes across with a weird little vibe that is very different from the human staff. And canny old Daniel picked up on it in the very first episode with his ' so is he just a secretary or are you also fucking him' needling.

I do not think that those voice recordings are erased, especially because Daniel digitised them at home before he flew to Dubai.

But moving back to New Orleans.

I'm copying what I said in another reblog of this to quark -

I think I find Lestat's reaction weird because by now I too find Louis very attractive, but its his kindness and gentleness that engages me. Him with Lily moved me to so much affection. Whereas Lestat got turned on when he saw Louis snapping under stress and getting mad at his brother. That moment is not how Louis would want to be defined as, and it is not a characteristic enough moment to be representative of him. One could say that Louis was decieved, but I would rather say that he saw something desirable without bothering to find out if it was real. Oh, the angry Black man being physically violent to another Black man was what attracted you Lestat? Really? And you expect us to praise your discerning eye and sophisticated loins?

(The perceptive reader here will observe that I enter this viewing with a lot of preexisting animus towards Lestat. This is not a feature that will be changing in any way.)

And this episode cements this. Underlines it brutally. Lestat fell in lust with an entirely constructed image of Black masculinity, and at every fucking turn, Louis chooses gentleness. (aaaaaaa my heaaaaart)

I see you shoutout to Moonlight, but also - what a fundamental misunderstanding of even Louis' sexual desires, for Lestat to think he is attracted to loud, rough white soldiers, when what Louis was desiring was Black, familiar tenderness. That encounter was so gentle, so consensual, Louis even letting his friend know that he had a partner, that this was a negotiated infidelity. And then in some ways the even larger betreyal of not seeing what the Azalea and the business meant to Louis, how he is constantly thinking in terms of a community, how he keeps again and again aligning himself with using power for reform. (One could argue that one of the many betreyals that Armand did to Louis was to keep him numb in rarified Dubai when he could have channeled his grief in organising. Unless Louis is out there funding Hamas and Greta Thunberg... but even then, he clearly thrives in hands-on community work.)

Truly Lestat is the perfect modern white liberal, who never sees race, and only individualises every love, and therefore is incapable of achieving any soul-deep connection with a person of colour.

(You guys, this is why I didn't want to invest in this show. I have no desire for season 3 redemption of the brat prince.)

Does the show have Black writers? I'd love to read meta about how Black USAmericans feel about its portrayal of the time and place. It feels well done to me, and authentic without being trauma porn, but obviously I'm not the best judge.

Louis even places the gift boxes down so gently. Oh babe. It hurts my heart.

I have been bullied, outright bullied, I say, into finally watching Interview with the Vampire. Apparently Delhi boy Arun is the way to persuade me over my gore squick.

So three years late and several hours after the train has passed - my episode by episode live-blog. (These will probably be shallow reactions because I know all the meaty meta and analysis has already been written. I remember reading it back when I was an innocent parasocial of your gifsets.) Also, I am coming into this with a series of biases; I've been completely spoiled by way of seeing gifs, reading meta and going through the book summaries. This is also not my genre; I don't enjoy gothic or horror, I was never into the vampire mystique, and I learned vampire lore via Buffy and Angel fandoms back when. So I am predisposed to watch this for the specific angle of how to intersect with my friends' interest in the characters. Disclaimers out of the way...

Season 1 Episode 1 - Mmmm, I see what people say about the art direction. This is a very very beautiful show. Very deliberately staged historicity, very artfully selected colour palattes and design. I imagine watching it on a big TV would be rewarding (I'm on a laptop.) But actually, more than the quality of the design, I think what I am enjoying is the quality of the actors. Because I have been forewarned, I realise all the cast is serious scenery chewing theatre rats. But the energy they bring to their scene work is palpable even through the screen.

Louis for instance, is oddly not beautiful. I can think of several other actors who would look far more physically arresting. To be frank, I don't see what Lestat saw in him, that moment did not have an impact on me. But what Louis is, because of Jacob, is intensely watchable. He brings such commitment to the character that my admiration for the actor translates into sympathy for the character. And of course, the Theatre Voice. Absolutely A+ choice to choose Shakespeare trained actors to deliver what I imagine must be quotes from Anne Rice's original florid prose?

It's a dangerous risk to use that sort of of heightened textual narration, which can work on a page, to sit against the visuals we are already seeing. I remember how Good Omens season 1 did so much quoting from the book to disasterously flat effect. But it works here, and that is, I think, because Jacob delivers the lines with so much integrity to bringing us back to the Dubai penthouse as we watch the New Orleans scenes.

I really enjoyed Daniel Molloy, who I remember finding rather delightful in the gifs even before we all knew his importance and where he was headed. I love grumpy irascible characters and he's lovely at being surly and sardonic. And physically deteriorating and mundane and ordinary, which makes him such a good foil to -

my precious little murderboy Armand! I really do want to watch things unspoiled, so I carry some regret about going into this so very equipped with hindsight. But I did giggle as the very first vampiric contact we see is a cup of tea being placed by Unnamed Brown Guy hand in front of Daniel. That's the love of your life, dude! Give or take a few divorces and deaths. I was watching Assad very closely to see what choices he was making - if there were any clues to pick up on. He was pretty stoic during the hand burning.

But that silent service thing going on - that's definitely something that packs more of a punch if you imagine him learning that from childhood as a human. I've got all kinds of headcanons going on for him, which I've been discussing with @quark4561 and I think his backstory can be a heartbreaking foil to Louis's, in terms of service, and sex work, and segregation.

Speaking of race, I know much of the fandom adores Lestat, but I thought the great thing about casting Sam Reid, is that he isn't the kind of drop dead gorgeous version that Tom Cruise might have been (never seen the film) and so he comes across right from the very beginning as ordinary except for the priviledge of his power. We know already that his power is vampirism, but because of the casting choices, it also becomes the power of whiteness. Lestat isn't some idealised homosexual awakening for Louis, or at least, that wasn't the way I read it. Lestat uses money, whiteness, physical force and vampirical power to get to Louis, and that sets their relationship on a dark, abusive path from the get-go.

In contrast to this was Louis's relationship to Lily. I loved her and the gentleness of their bond. The needless cruelty of Lestat killing her (thankfully offstage, I do not need to see Black women murdered any more), hammers in that this is a person who is selfish and cruel (beyond the ordinary carnivorous murders that one expects of the vampiric genre).

I'm not sure I understood why Louis's brother killed himself. Were we supposed to believe Lestat fucked with his mind? Were the voices he heard a sign of suicidal delusions?

But seeing both of them hoofing together - and I am so glad we didn't see Lestat lurking about then, it was a Black wedding and needed to be closed to the community - was so moving. It made me feel Louis' love for Paul more than his monologue narration. I'm not Black or USAmerican, but I did feel that the Black experience of these characters was respected and integrated into the storytelling choices, from writing to casting to design to cinematography, in a way that really worked for me.

I'm looking forward to spending time with Louis and his assistant, and the grumpy old fart interviewing them.

[ignitification]

Two Sides of the Same Coin.

So, I actually hinted at this in my Yoichi Shigaraki's post - but as I found myself thinking about it, it becomes even more clear that the parallels between Deku/Bakugou and Yoichi/2nd User are way too many to be ignored (and that at the same time, they can be applied to Deku and Shigaraki).

Now, I'd have to consider in this post that the 1st and 2nd movie are, if not canon, an alternative universe which directly links back to the main story (as we saw with the Compression Gauntlet made by Melissa in the 1st movie, and which Izuku sports in Ch. 309).

But at the same time, I am not going to mention of some implication which might be related to this post entailed the possibility of Heroes Rising and Bakugou or one of his ancestors being an OfA user because of two reasons: I. because I am not a fan of the theory and II. because as things stand now, it has little to no relevance for the post.

Now, onto the main part: if we think about it, it makes absolutely sense that a foreshadowing of the relationship between Izuku and one or both of his counterparts is shown through the Vestiges of OfA. As I already wrote in the past (and I am particularly referring to this post), the Vestiges are somehow an enclosed space where Izuku is free to explore the Consciousness of his own Quirk. At the same time, it allows him to have insight in himself and occasionally others from within the same environment. Point in case, this happens with Shigaraki - when after touching him through AfO's Quirks's wires, Shigaraki (possessed by AfO, that is) enters the Vestiges.

This narrates of the fact that, mostly - appearances are not everything. I guess, this is also why the Vestiges look like a piece of crumbled building; not only because they managed to fully shape after the power evolved - which means through Toshinori towards Izuku - but also that the Vestiges are a kind metaphor for the people inhabiting the Vestiges. If the Vestiges are a shared consciousness formed due to the embers of an identity left in it and embed with a personality before being passed, it means that there is a sort of personalisation of OfA. Well, that should have been clear when Horikoshi made Izuku develop Shoot Style, and manifest OfA in different ways from All Might - freeing Izuku form the shackles that is his admiration for the hero. But most importantly it also means that this personalisation comes from within, while the power and that is, the core and the shared value of these people, stays fundamentally the same. Which is then represented by the Vestiges. But, the fact that this Quirk Personalization makes its way through the cracks on a shared identity, is evident in the fact that every user if free to decide whether to acknowledge the other (and foremost Izuku) and what to think of the situation. As the 2nd User speaks, he is still not entirely convinced that Izuku's is the way to go (I wonder, whether the fact that Izuku cannot properly speak also depends on the fact that User 2 and 3 haven't fully accepted Izuku yet).

This brings us forward to the notion of Hero, of Saving and the 'Room'. As it is clear by the panels above, 2nd User and Izuku play the role of Saviours, offering a help which is thought maybe not needed, but it is offered all the same. It is also at the beginning of a life-long journey, even if Izuku and Bakugou's comes way much after. Yoichi considers 2nd his hero, and the initiator of the story. Bakugou considers Izuku not his hero, but at the same time - Izuku, time after time, 'saves' Bakugou and offers him a hand to get out of the room full of himself in which society closed him in. But, these consideration, in my opinion, fit more the Shigaraki and Izuku storyline.

First of all, notwithstanding everything, Shigaraki is the main 'antagonist' of the story. He's the leader of the LOV, and while not the brain of the operation, he is still the one who puts in practice. He is the one actually influenced by AfO. He is the one, again, to be closed off from the world by AfO. Same as for Yoichi - as a form of absolute control. AfO encloses in a definite space, both mentally and physically Yoichi and Tomura both. He wants from them to be dependent of him. Wants them to be grateful to him for what he has done. Because he is the one who saved them, who gave them the necessary power and helped them survive in this world. It is not a case, that looking-wise Yoichi and Tomura are so similar, especially after the 'Hibernation' Tomura went through. And this scenario also brings to mind the way Shigaraki's body gets hijacked by AfO's consciousness, and Shigaraki tries to fight it - but instead, he is put to 'sleep' and rest, as to recover - because of the amount of energy used during the battle against the heroes.

As for the Hero part played by the 2nd User in the original scenario, Izuku is the one most likely to represent it in the upcoming occasions. Lately, there has been a lot of speculations about Izuku saving or not Shigaraki (the whole Vestige talk is after all, about Shigaraki and Izuku), but in the end, as said countless times: the set up talks clearly. Izuku is dead set on offering the tentative hand to Tomura, because in the Vestiges he saw that Shigaraki Tomura is nothing else than an identity created by AfO out of spite, hatred and manipulation. It's a mask, which Tomura executes as its best capabilities.

And if Izuku, who is the one who actually puts the seed of ‘But after all, maybe, there IS something to save, if you can understand what made villains the way the are’ is, despite the double expressed by Ni-sama, the hero of this scenario - on a very evident side that Shigaraki, or rather, Shimura Tenko, is the one who embodies the concept of Salvation and Destruction (Restoration), that is at the core of the entire manga series (and of course, of the ideology brought forward by the OfA users). Izuku Midoriya is, after all, walking the same steps of the 2nd user: going to save someone tossed aside and in AfO’s control, giving birth to a new stage of society and consequently reality. It’s a change in tide. The beginning of something new, and the end of something long overdue. It’s the beginning of a new, reformed society which does not see murder as a way of salvation, but rather understands that Heroes can show and bring forward another way, while working on themselves and working to save the villains. And it’s, at the same time, the End of an era holding Heroes in the highest regard, and glorifying power and strength (All Might’s Quirk. Endeavour, even the criteria of the UA entrance tests). An Era which held All Might accountable for everyone else, too - and made him bear the burden. An Era which made society lazy and uninvolved with the villains and the ugly side of themselves (which I already explored in this take). As Yoichi puts it, it’s thanks to him that the OfA’s story begins - and it may be because of Izuku that it ends, as it will fulfil its greatest mission: to free the world from AfO and to save Shigaraki Tomura.

This is why, the parallels between becoming a hero, and offering a hand to someone who probably never even consider the possibility of needing it, is a foreshadowing for what is likely to go down between Izuku and Tomura.

But as always, parallels, even when everything, still might be just a perception of the real situation. A perception of a situation which is where different, also similar because, as we all know - history is a fickle thing and it has a terrible habit of always repeating itself.