#so a saying that was on purpose and i don't really understand why

[scentedluminarysoul]

SOMETIMES IT'S ON PURPOSE OKAY I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT'S CALLED BUT SOMETIMES YOU REPEAT THE SAME WORD OR PHRASE ON PURPOSE IT'S A STYLISTIC CHOICE

Ahem. Also. You don't need to thesaurus every word. It's fine if you call a table a table multiple times

Honestly, writing has become so complicated and everyone's a critic and don't you DARE use the same word twice or start a sentence with "he" twice in a row!

Can we go back to actually caring about SUBSTANCE? About what it's trying to tell you?

I'm currently reading Agatha Christie's "And Then There Were None" from 1939. It's written so SIMPLY and yet it's so good and just effective in what it does.

Do you know how often it says "(character name) said:" and then just the dialogue? That's the vast majority of how her dialogues work. Simple, easy to understand, no confusion as to who's talking.

It's not fancy, and yet she's one of the best writers to have ever existed

I mean, look at this:

It's just a simple dialogue that keeps going like that.

One of the most repeated writing advices you read is "make your dialogue interesting", like give characters something to in between tags, etc.

But lads—this dialogue is interesting in and of itself. It's intriguing. Why would they also need to juggle chainsaws or low the lawn or whatever?

And the dialogue tag Christie uses most often is "said". Simply "said". Because it doesn't need more.

Here and there are a few hints as to how the characters are feeling ("angrily", "dryly", "after a minute or two"), but it's your job as a reader to UNDERSTAND and INTERPRET them, to THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE READING.

And I think that's the big problem nowadays: people don't want to think about it anymore. TikTok girlies brag about reading 3 books a day, but they don't UNDERSTAND them. That much is clear when you listen to them talk about books

And this is also what people mean that you should read when you want to become a writer. Because you can read all the writing tips ever online, but that will only make you go insane and insecure.

READ and you will see how they're applied. Or not. And even then the book is still good

And no book is perfect or even good from start to finish. There will be dull moments, or misses in even the best books

And you need to see those flaws in order to become a writer

I forgot about that myself.

The key to writing well isn't to use the best and most interesting words perfectly

It's to use the words you have effectively.

Sorry OP, didn't need to rant

But sometimes all these clever "writing tips to become a better writer" are really missing what's truly makes a good writer:

The heart

Of you only count how many times someone used the same word in a paragraph, instead of trying to understand what that paragraph is telling you, you don't care about the art of writing

Actually you CAN use the same word twice in the same paragraph. The same sentence even. If it's funny, if it's for emphasis, if it's harping on a theme, if you're sexy and you do whatever you want forever. Write on

[chimerafeathers]

the concept of intentional boredom/tedium in video games is very much a "your mileage may vary" kind of thing and i go back and forth about it in different situations. where does it work? where does it feel earned/worth the mental toll? why am i gonna play a game that is trying to make me miserable?

i can understand this not being the case for everyone (ymmv, after all) but for ISaT i was so fucking fully on board with the repetitive tedium of it all. rubbing my grubby little hands together and going yesssss, yesssssss, make my immersive gameplay experience directly emulate the exact frustrations and anxieties and mind-numbing breakdowns of the player character. remind me, at every turn, the toll this would take on the person living it. make me live their inner monologue before it's ever verbalized on screen.

how strong you feel, compared to the party you're inevitably leaving behind, how weak they seem now. how annoying it is to cut down these same enemies again and again, always pointlessly getting in your way (oh, how convenient that Siffrin feels the same way so intensely that you can get an item that lets him scare them off by sheer force of will before they attack you!). since when was the King's battle--so terrifying, so impossible before--so easy? can't this go faster? you've heard this all before.

let me skip ahead, loop around, treat my character my body Siffrin as disposable, take the fast and easy way to reach the next goal when you're on the verge of an exciting breakthrough, this loop doesn't matter anyway. but ohh, this next loop might be The One, better do this one right and follow the script to perfection. make all the jokes and say all the right things to get the lovely bonding dialogue so you can carry the Best Version of Everyone through to the end. that'll give you the Good Ending, right? can't hurt to try, right? you don't really believe it but this time will fix everything, right?

how generous and wonderful to have so many shortcuts at hand! dissociating zoning out to skip repetitive dialogue, splitting your head open on a rock slipping on a banana peel in the town to loop right to the floor you need, suuuuurely all of this stuff is purely for the Player's Convenience and won't have any psychological impact on our dear protagonist such that it gets slammed back into the player's face as a stomach-dropping reminder that someone's moment-to-moment experience in this time loop still matters, still carries over, still gets riddled with scars even if they can't be seen!

i've played & watched enough games that trivialize/hand-wave game mechanics that it's pretty easy to detach myself from the minutiae of video game decision-making. "this input gets the Good Response" -> "i will continue doing this input." "this option will be more efficient" -> "might as well save some time then." but this game would not let me stop thinking about consequence.

picking Siffrin's favorite food makes them happy! :) it's also the option that makes Bonnie the happiest! yay! -> i keep picking their favorite food -> Siffrin gradually grows sick of something that once brought him joy -> oh. right. that...makes sense, huh.

okay i asked the King what i needed, mann there won't be any tears after the fight is over so i'll have to do the whole ending scene again and that takes a while and i reeeeally wanna talk to Loop, maybe i'll just lose on purpose this time -> OH. RIGHT. THIS IS MAYBE THE MOST PAINFUL WAY FOR SIFFRIN TO DIE BOTH PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY HUH. -> never gonna do that again actually!!!!! the ending isn't that long!!!!

banana peel time! we've got places to be and mysteries to solve! -> (you're a living comedy sketch.) (you wonder if you'll ever be able to smell bananas again without wanting to vomit.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry

it's always cute to see Isabeau's reactions! pick the options that make him blush :3 -> (disgusting. manipulative. it's no wonder he thinks he likes you, you made him feel that way.) -> i'm sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry siffrin NO he liked you before any of this happened please don't think of yourself that way--

maybe it won't hit the same for every player (what game can expect to do that?) but holy fuck it hit for me. the way the mechanics let you fall into familiar gamey rhythms but constantly, constantly remind you that this is Siffrin's life you're playing with. the way you end up perfectly in step in the worst ways. muscle memory and habit built up so well that you both stumble when something changes. devastating and delicious

[creatingblackcharacters]

i really admire your patience with and just straight up kindness to white people that come to this blog seeking advice. i’m so appreciative that you put so much into this for a group of us that as a whole do not deserve even an ounce of your energy. i understand why from your perspective it’s important to educate those of us that have good intentions but i still think it’s really admirable.

you inspire me to be a better person, to be mindful of my intent as well as the impact of my actions, and remind me to always stand in solidarity with those i have privilege over. also you’re just a really good educator and it means a lot that you put so much effort and love into each lesson you do.

i hope things in your life are easier soon. please take care of yourself

Can I be honest?

What helps is that, while I do think these conversations are important, I don't hold my standard of success to how many minds I change. It is great when I see people getting it and applying! Makes me very happy! But if I held it to that, I'd never post 🤣 To me, what matters is that if nothing else, there is no excuse for anyone to say that the resources weren't available, that "no one was willing" to answer their questions if they were ACTUALLY willing to put in the work! The onus to be antiracist is (as it always was) on them!

So, that's where the patience comes from- an attainable goal and purpose 👍🏾

I am very happy to hear that you take time to be mindful of your intent and actions. If everyone did, we might live in a better world. 🙏🏾

[pharma-tard]

So nobody knows if those text messages are actually legit and even if they are it's literally just thought crime at this point?

Also really brings in a question why you or anyone sat on these for what two or three years as everybody keeps saying so was it really about outing a dangerous person or more likely a vendetta considering other people you claim have allegations against that you didn't expose or what your play in all this is.

There are actual dangerous and creepy men running rampant but you choose this and to do so on the day you did for a reason but tumblr ppl like yourself are retarded and dont need much to bark up a tree.

Do better.

I'll break this down bit by bit

>So nobody knows if those text messages are actually legit

I confirmed they were real when I got them, there's no reason for me to post what I saw for that bc it drags multiple other parties in purely to convince like three people. I've been extremely diplomatic with this drop because it's real, and I think the fact he deleted immediately speaks for itself.

>even if they are it's literally just thought crime at this point?

This is literally the same logic as "no you don't understand, she only looks 10, she's 9000 in the lore". Yeah, it's a "thought crime" -- it's not acceptable to think children or dogs are sexually attractive, and it's even less acceptable to indulge those fantasies. This is not revolutionary thinking.

>Also really brings in a question why you or anyone sat on these for what two or three years

I got the screenshots at like 5 AM Saturday (Serbian time) and gave myself until Sunday to have the post ready. That's about 36 hours.

>so was it really about outing a dangerous person or more likely a vendetta considering other people you claim have allegations against that you didn't expose or what your play in all this is.

This is so stupid and I have to break this down into chunks

Yes, it's about outing a dangerous person. I don't see why "Pharma doesn't like people who want to fuck kids and dogs" is such a hard thing to believe.

I never had anything against him before I found this shit out, in fact I don't think I ever even talked to him the entire leadup to this. I'm extremely loud and annoying about people I hate, and the worst I do is start fights and talk shit. Like come on, you're writing fanfiction at this point.

All I've posted is that I have allegations in my inbox about other people, I didn't say which people, and the purpose of doing that is to encourage people who've actually got evidence to come forward. Would you rather I just post a bunch of "he said this", "he did that", anons with nothing backing them up? Use your head here.

>There are actual dangerous and creepy men running rampant

Yeah and we just got rid of one of them. Again, send me evidence and I'll do the same shit to whoever tf it is you're thinking of.

>tumblr ppl like yourself are retarded and dont need much to bark up a tree.

Very unfortunate choice to use a dog metaphor here is all I'll say to that.

[lemotmo]

Celebrate people it's happening. And if you don't want to be here for it then leave 🎉🎉

Q. I'm very confused by the reaction to the goodbye footage that was leaked. Did people honestly believe they weren't going to get a goodbye scene? They were always going to get one and just like every other scene in television it will be open to the audience's interpretation of the scene to decide what it does or doesn't mean.

A. I'm very confused by this ask, anon. No one is freaking out because they're getting a goodbye scene, of course they were always going to get a scene for just the two of them. People are freaking out because of how the scene is being framed. We have no actual context for the scene. We don't know what's coming before this scene or after this scene. We don't really have any dialogue, with the exception of a couple of lines, but the scene just doesn't look like a scene between two friends. It looks like a scene you would give a couple. They're touching. They both go to their tiptoes during the hug which makes them even closer than they already were. Buck initially goes to give the standard bro back tap but instantly stops and actually pulls Eddie in tighter. Right before the hug he appears to be smiling at Eddie but the minute the hug prevents Eddie from seeing his face it becomes crestfallen and sad. Look at the image before the hug where Buck gives him the cookies. Look how Oliver chose to play that. Hands crammed in his pockets, head down with a bashful smile. That is not a friendly posture. That is a flirty, nervous cutesy posture. Nothing about anything we saw in that footage said friends. That is why people were freaking out. And the fact that the network did nothing to prevent the footage from being 'leaked' is also kind of a big deal. It feels like they were testing the reaction. They are well aware of how that footage looks. And it feels like they allowed it to be leaked to see what the overall reaction to the appearance of an intimate scene, and yes a scene can be intimate without being outright romantic, would be. It felt like a sort of dry run to see how an intimate scene between the two of them might be received. And the reception was overwhelmingly positive. So it accomplished everything they wanted. It was free press, and it's been free press for the better part of 3 days now. And it was well received press. There was zero downside to allowing it to happen. So people were understandably excited.

I have received a ton of 'all media is open to interpretation' takes and that is just not at all accurate. Yes some scenes are intentionally vague or open to the viewers interpretation, but not most of them, and certainly not all of them. Take the final scene of The Sopranos. The scene fades to black with the family sitting in the restaurant eating. So the viewer gets to decide what happened next. Were they killed or did they live? Depends on who you ask. But most of the time there is a specific direction or point to a scene. The dialogue, the wardrobe, the set, it all contributes to what the creators want the audience to see, hear and take away from what they are watching. That's how you get a storyline. If everything was just open to whatever anyone's interpretation of everything was then they would just film random shit at random locations. That's not what happens. There is usually an intended purpose for most scenes The creators and writers are expecting their audience to have basic media literacy skills. And quite frankly 911 isn't being sneaky with what they're doing. Just because a particular viewer or group of viewers doesn't like a storyline doesn't mean the storyline isn't happening. They don't just get to say I refuse to acknowledge it so that means it's not happening. That's not how any of this works.

Thank you Nonny! Much appreciated, as always! 😋

Okay, listen... the time for 'the scene is open for interpretation' is OVER when it comes to Buddie.

The show has practically spelled it out to us that this is happening. Buddie is on its way! There's no stopping it!

We've been 'interpreting' scenes for a long time, up until season 6 really. But then everything changed when season 7 aired. We needed less and less interpretation and more conviction, because it's ALL right there!

We just have to start believing what we see and what the show is telling us. I think that's the most difficult thing of all for some people, actually believing that YES... what you think is happening? IT IS HAPPENING!

And this is happening. That goodbye scene in the rain? The fact that they get it in the first place? And separately from the rest of the 118?

What more could you possibly want to see? It's all right there!

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Heads up! For anyone who is giving me the shifty eyes for reposting Ali's updates instead of reblogging. Read this.

Remember, no hate in comments, reblogs or inboxes. Let's keep it civil and respectful. Thank you.

If you are interested in more of Ali’s posts, you can find all of her posts so far under the tag: anonymous blog I love.

[inseparabiles]

I think Geta's thought process, or lack thereof, is two-fold here. When he gives the initial command for Lucius to kill Acacius, and Lucius doesn't, he doesn't know what to do with that. Which honestly, wow Geta, yeah, the guy who never once did what you told him to refused once again, shocker. You weren't prepared for this because you're my favourite moron I guess. But it's a really important shot when he's shown to hesitate after - what's he going to do about this? Nothing him and his brother are saying is having an effect. And the people aren't exactly roaring for this either, are they? There's a lot of spare him going on out there. Not all of it is just that, but he's hearing it and it's confusing him.

So he looks to Macrinus: Macrinus, in turn, tells him what the fuck are you waiting for? He's a slave and you're the Emperor. This is spared even in the final version, though it's a blink and you'll miss it nonverbal moment: Geta literally just throws his head back to look at Macrinus, and Macrinus makes the most impatient face known to mankind at him, which has to be incredibly humiliating to Geta who wants to come across competent and in control.

In the script:

None of this is said out loud in the final cut (a LOT of this scene got thrown around), but it's plain as day in the shot anyway. Fuck Macrinus, by the way.

But Geta trusts him, because Macrinus has shown them care, he's shown them not the kind of cowering deference all the other people around them do, but the kind of guidance that you'd get from a father, which Geta never got to have - so of course Macrinus will know best again. Macrinus is an immensely succesful manager of multiple fields: he does business, he deals with the military, he manages a ludus, he dabbles in politics, and he's failing at none of it. This is a man who really seems to know what he's all about, and he's telling Geta to give the order, so he does, because this was Macrinus's idea from the beginning and of course he wants it to go smoothly and he knows what he's doing. And he cares about them. He's shown it: he saved their lives, and asked for nothing in return.

And Caracalla, Geta's other measure for how things are going, obviously loves this. Goes from foaming at the mouth mad to... whatever that is. So at this point, Geta has to think he's resolved the situation: the audience is getting really loud but the one person whom he trusts to know how to handle this kind of thing told him it was the right thing to do and Caracalla's already basking in it, so everything's fine, take it in.

I don't think he has time to really analyse that moment. He's just caught up between the pressure to make the right call quickly before things escalate, his trust that Macrinus wants the best for them, and the expected reaction to the action: noise, commotion.

And I think the shock on his face is much less for the audience's reaction as it is for how they ended up in that situation. He can't fathom Macrinus making the wrong call. It doesn't make sense. And it doesn't because he didn't but Geta's too fucking naïve to understand why this exact reaction is the one that Macrinus was always aiming for. He's too vulnerable to realise it was on purpose. The rest of his life is spent in that refusal to consider that maybe what Macrinus did and said wasn't an honest miscalculation from a man whom he's known to have everything under control until that point, because if he'd allow himself to consider that, he'd break. The one time he should have been paranoid and wasn't, because accepting that the man he'd come to view as something like a father to him hated him just as much as his real father had just... wasn't an option.

Okay I am possibly getting annoying with how much I'm posting gladiator posts one after the other rn thanks to rewatching it but

Maybe I haven't been paying enough attention but I feel like i haven't seen ppl talk about that look on Geta's face like *right* after the Lucius vs Acacius battle.

Like, how he goes from standing there arms out and still, idk 'basking' (???) And then as soon as macrinus says smth (I think) he like slowly starts lowering his arm and when you see his face it's like he's snapped out of whatever feelings he was experiencing when Acacius finally died and is now registering that "oh, people are upset. People are very VERY upset- *fuck*"

Like, maybe I'm misreading it, but for a second, he looks borderline shocked before everything seemingly registers - which just makes me wonder - what was his thought process? Was he genuinley just so caught up in the moment? Was it something else completely that I probably didn't think of?

Have other ppl written about this that I haven't seen or didn't understand properly? Guess I'll find out

[itsmistyeyedbi]

And the kiss! (in addition to this)

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I'm not tagging this because the tags are just me rambling about my thoughts on what a says here. I guess it could be t/w/c critical? But barely I think lol.

[oceanwithouthermoon]

yk when i think about it, especially when im watching the anime with people who havent read the manga, the reason a lot of people who only watch the anime and didnt read the manga misinterpreted saikis character so badly is definitely in part because of how damn fast paced the anime is 😭

like that little smile and eye shine frame is there for not even half a second in the anime, so its easier to miss it and assume that he really did only finish those workbooks to get coffee jelly ☠️ its much more clear if you get a good look at how he reacts here that hes just a silly little tsundere and a fucking liar

[thepoisonroom]

'I flirted with the idea that instead of being trans that I was just a cross-dresser (a quirk, I thought, that could be quietly folded into an otherwise average life) and that my dysphoria was sexual in nature, and sexual only. And if my feelings were only sexual, then, I wondered, perhaps I wasn’t actually trans.

I had read about a book called The Man Who Would Be Queen, by a Northwestern University professor who believed that transwomen who were attracted to women were really confused fetishists, they wanted to be women to satisfy an autogynephilia. And though I first read about this book in the context of its debunkment and disparagement, I thought about the electricity of slipping on those tights, zipping up those boots, and a stream of guilt followed. Maybe this professor was right, and maybe I was only a fetishist. Not trans, just a misguided boy.

About a year later, on the Internet, I come across a transwoman who added a unique message to the crowd refuting this professor. Oh, I wish I remember who this woman was, and I wish even more that I could do better than paraphrase her, but I remember her saying something like this: “Well, of course I feel sexy putting on women’s clothing and having a woman’s body. If you feel comfortable in your body for the first time, won’t that probably mean it’ll be the first time you feel comfortable, too, with delighting in your body as a sexual thing?”'

-Casey Plett, Consciousness

[sukibenders]

Intersectionality is something that, sadly, is often pushed to the side in Arcane discussions, specifically from a certain side of that fandom. They will go on and on about Viktor, as they usually do, talking about how he suffers from classicism and ableism within the show and fandom respectively (as they should as these are issues, but there is a catch when it comes to these fans as well), but when others in the fandom, especially Mel or even Sky fans, point out the racism and misogyny (misogynoir) that is often rampant in this fandom, particularly from said fans mentioned prior, all of a sudden its not possible or being overdramatized. Like they suddenly can't understand how some of their rhetoric includes or invites the same thing black fans have been calling out since the beginning, because how can you discuss the ableism and such that Viktor faces, but laugh or joke around with people who call Mel slurs or just denounce her to a trope? I thought you were for calling out forms of hate within fandom, or does your "activism" only stretch so far? And back to a previous statement, about the catch regarding those particularly fans----some of them regurgitate the same harmful rhetoric towards Viktor that they say they supposedly hate, just in mode subtle ways. How are you going to say you hate when Viktor is infantilized, but will be quick to forget he's a grown man who can defend himself (often when trying to pair him against Mel, framing her as the aggressor, and sometimes even Jayce too but to a lesser degree)? Not saying Jayce doesn't get equal amounts of hate, but his more so gets pushed aside along with his character to ultimately frame Viktor in higher regard, often making him ooc. It's like they pick and choose when the issues are prevalent, and when they aren't, and it's so frustrating.

[pplatonic]

Unfortunately I have to turn off asks because random strangers keep sending me charity/donation solicitations which spiral my moral OCD and paranoia/delusional thinking. So if you want to talk to me just DM me instead (discord is an option too, send me your usernames in DMs if you prefer that.)

[angered-box]

yknow realizing my family was super fucking mean to me for no reason before i turned 18

[fragglerockopinions]

The worst thing about suffering is that it still hurts when the danger is over but no one cares about it anymore because it shouldn't hurt. No one will ever say "I'm sorry that happened to you" especially when they barely say "I'm sorry that's happening."

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

openly weeping at the idea of someone genuinely hating soul punk.

[luvevee]

It's pretty annoying having to scan basically every artist for i/cest shit in any media that has siblings because most of them hide it on alt accounts/platforms/sly tags and that's a big reason why I'm too burnt out on reblogging art

[pearapeachfuzz]

I feel like I should add some things:

I understand that children have sexual feelings too, but that doesn't mean they need to be able to access every porn site. They will survive just fine without porn. They don't need it.

Helicopter parents are bad and overprotection is bad, but not all protection is overprotection. Children, generally, will seek out things that they know are bad, such as porn. If you don't stop them they are going to continue to seek out more bad things that could harm them mentally.

Yes, parents can be abusers too and use internet restriction against their child, I understand that. Obviously, it's bad, but people misusing a good thing in a bad way shouldn't mean people stop using the good thing. (Does that make sense?)

I had unrestricted internet access starting at age 3. I found cartoon gore (Happy Tree Friends!) at age 3, porn at age 7, then found real life gore and hardcore porn starting at age 8, some of which traumatized me. I spoke sexually with adults at age 8-12 too. These experiences caused me to develop my paraphilias (pedophilia and more) and hypersexuality. As much as I support paraphilias and people who have them, I don't want children to develop them! Not when everyone hates us and it's something that we're made to be ashamed of.

If my parents had monitored or restricted my internet, I wouldn't be a pedophile (which I'm sure many people would prefer ;3), I wouldn't be hypersexual, I wouldn't have been traumatized by gore and murder, etc.

Yes, children deserve freedom and they should be able to learn about "mature" things, like being taught about rape and sexual education so they can keep themselves safe and healthy, but do they need unrestricted internet access? No. They don't need it. They can have Wattpad, they don't need PornHub.

Basically, I support children having some internet freedom at certain ages, but children cannot be expected to protect themselves from danger on the internet. Danger doesn't just include predators, it also includes images and videos that will mentally harm them, whether they know it or not.

Maybe none of this makes sense because it's me rambling my thoughts but I hope someone understands my point here

I'm not responsible for children on the internet. I'm not responsible for children coming into adult spaces, children finding proship content, children with unsupervised internet access, misinformed children, children who don't yet know what sex is, or any other children.

It is YOUR job as a parent to make sure your kids are safe, NOT MINE. I do what I can, but ultimately it's you who needs to protect your kids.