#sometimes there are multiple readings within the same media

[iwonderwh0]

Fun fact: Philip K. Dick in the original "Do androids dream of electric sheep" used androids as a metaphor for nazis. This vision, however didn't get to the film adaptation (1982) where the narrative got changed (which is not a bad or good thing. Just curious how androids are used to refer to different things in fiction)

Some Philip's quotes from this interview:

For me the word ‘android’ is a metaphor for people who are physiologically human but psychologically behaving in a non-human way.

---

I got interested in this when I was doing research for "the man in a high castle" and I was studying Nazi mentality, and I discovered although these people were highly intelligent they were definitely deficient in some manner <...> and as I studied the Nazi mentality <...> I became conscious of a very highly intelligent human being who is emotionally so defective that the word "human" could not properly be applied to him, and I used this in my writing in such terms as "Android" and "Robot" but I'm really referring to an actually psychologically defective or malfunctioning or pathological human being

---

By the time I got to sheep I was revolutionary enough and existential enough to believe that these defective personalities were so lethal, so dangerous to human beings that it might be necessary ultimately to fight them. In other words that they could not be cured they cannot be changed and that it might literally wind up as a contest to see whether the humans won or "Androids" won. Now, the problem then would be that would we become like the androids in our really effort to wipe them out?

---

If you kill a person because he is inhuman do you not become inhuman in the act of killing him?

[idontknowreallywhy]

The Last of Them

Not quite sure what this is… it started as a little tribute to David Graham who, while maybe most famous for voicing Parker twice, also brought original Gordon to life.

Then it developed a life of its own and I’m not entirely sure what it became - by its very nature it refers to multiple major character deaths but they are all very old. So I hope it is ok. Maybe don’t read if you’re feeling fragile!

I put them in order of the VAs passing because that seemed right in the circumstances. Apologies if that means it is The Wrong Order for how you imagine it.

💛💛💛💛💛💛💙💚🧡❤️💛💛💛💛💛💛

He never expected to be The Last.

They’d all lived to a good age. They’d all achieved what they wanted to achieve.

But even Tracys didn’t live forever. And Gordon had not expected to be The Last.

Virgil had been first. He was never first at anything and this had been absolutely the last race Scott ever wanted to be beaten in. He took it as a personal affront that the universe seemed to want to run the curtain calls out of order.

Secretly, Gordon believed it had been a stroke of luck. In retrospect, he had been relieved. He knew his tender-hearted brother would have struggled the most at having to say goodbye to one of them and carry on. Gordon knew more than any of them, more than Scott, perhaps even than the man himself, how heavily Virgil carried the burden of attending Scott’s first (thankfully premature) funeral and that his darkest fears had always been centred on doing that again. Perhaps that had been why he’d refused the more experimental, increasingly desperate treatments Scott was lining up. He’d said he was happy, he was content and wanted to face the next adventure at home with his family, ALL of his family, not in a bubble in San Francisco.

Even now, when he closed his eyes, Gordon could still feel that last hand squeeze. Could still hear that rumbling voice telling him he’d done good today. He’d had his brother’s last little throwaway gift - a sketch of a grizzly bear with a squid clinging to its face - engraved at 5x scale on to a steel plate.

As time passed, the voice in his memory became younger, the eyebrows darker.

Scott himself had faltered, hard. But eventually, with the assistance of a horde of grandchildren and great grandchildren, had refocused and thrown himself into the role of patriarch that he’d been reluctant to embrace since Dad had passed. He’d lavished all his vast stores of energy on the subsequent generations as if determined they would know how much he cared before it was too late.

Scott hadn’t expected to outlive TinTin, John or Penny either. But the universe kept shuffling the deck of cards until Grandpa Scott finally gave his last cheeky salute and went to find them.

And then there were two. And Gordon was the oldest. Which had been weird, although expected.

Alan had always hated being the last.

When Gordon had poked his head around the door as the doctor left, his baby brother had been serious, staring out of the window. He’d swallowed and walked quietly over to his bedside but as soon as Gordon had been within reach Alan had turned and punched him in the shoulder and smirked that same irritating little brother smirk he’d smirked for over eight decades:

“Tag!”

Gordon had blamed the tears on tiny, weedy child-knuckles faintly bruising his broad, masculine shoulders.

Alan had just cackled.

Gordon had never expected to be The Last.

But so it had been.

Sometimes the media people dared him to reveal his secret. As if somehow he’d achieved something his brothers had not… As if they had missed a trick… he would look them dead in the eye and swear he’d spliced his DNA with a bowhead whale. At which point they’d usually smile awkwardly, check their notes for references to dementia then back away from the stupid, stupid questions.

He had never expected to be The Last, but as The Last, he had become all of them.

When four generations sat round and told stories of the Tracy family, he was the guardian of the old ones. The original ones. The ones they all knew but pretended not to notice him embellishing. How Scott was faster, Virgil stronger, John more all-knowing, Alan more daring every time the tales were retold.

To the world at large he was a kind of talisman. Whenever IR was mentioned in the media, it became Gordon’s image that was used. Despite having never been in command of either IR or TI, it was his comment people wanted. So he would give one, often irreverent or purely nonsensical and with the same wink his eldest brother had been famous for. It was genetic, after all.

He played unpredictable and eccentric old billionaire nearly as well as he played crazy sentimental Grandpa.

As long as they didn’t ask the stupid questions. He had spent a little while in the pool, gently washing off the lingering taint of today’s holo-interview appearance on some news show. He always did them when asked, the Tracys positive reputation enabled the family to do a lot of good on a global scale and cute old guy Gordon apparently helped. It wasn’t a lot to ask. Scott would have done it, so, therefore, did Gordon. And he would carry on, as long as he had all his marbles. And then maybe just a little longer… to wind them all up.

He sighed. However he might suggest that stricter pre-screening was going to be needed in future.

“So, Mr Tracy, how does it feel to be the last of the old guard?”

He’d swallowed the bitter “How do you think?” The questioner had looked about twelve, they had no idea. No idea how it stung. So he’d called it an honour. Then shifted quickly to the agreed script about their campaign to make Safety and First Aid a compulsory part of the school curriculum in many countries.

Yes, a little more consideration for the ancient squid-man’s lonely heart wouldn’t go amiss. EOS would sort it. He liked EOS. She still got his pop culture references and she hadn’t locked him out of anywhere for years.

His minder for the pool excursion - one of Scott’s great grandkids… or possibly John’s… he was beginning to lose track - patted him on the hand and left him tucked up warmly in a fluffy robe on a lounger to watch the sunset.

Goodness he was tired.

He yawned and wriggled a little, then smiled to himself at the sound of the kids coming out on to the deck arguing about something or other. Alan’s traditional shriek as Virgil yeeted him into the pool was followed swiftly by the combined laughter of the elder trio who claimed the loungers beside and behind Gordon. A count of five, then the littlest bro had his revenge by leaping atop Virgil and soaking him before stealing half of Gordon’s robe and the majority of his elbow room.

Too contented to really complain, Gordon slung an arm over the soggy teen and let his brothers’ voices surround him as he drifted off to sleep.

[eretzyisrael]

by Peter Baum

Since the third but most  recent creation of the Jewish State of Israel in 1948 and the various conflicts she has faced since, the total number of deaths including those since October 7, has been no more than 200,000 inclusive of both sides and of various nationalities – Lebanese, Egyptian, Syrian , Jordanian , Israelis and Arab Palestinians. Averaging circa 2500 deaths per annum with a heavily swayed death total to the Arab Palestinian population.

Statistics only being identified by the Hamas Authorities state over 40,000 Arab Palestinians killed but this must include Hamas operatives, estimated to be nearly 20,000 perhaps more. If one compares this to the deaths of civilians during a similar period in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Mali, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mexico and Columbia then by equivalent statistical data these conflicts were also genocides – but not according to mainstream media, political commentators or the United Nations. Only the Palestinians apparently are victims of genocide. The only contemporary wearers of the Crown of Genocide.

So, let’s revert to the DRC and attempt to make sense of global conflicts, their victims and the role of our media and political leaders. By any intelligent research it is a truth that in less than thirty years over six million indigenous, black, African Congolese have been killed in internal conflict sometimes extending to the countries directly bordering the DRC. It is also an undeniable fact that a multiple of three to four times that number killed have been displaced from their homelands. Given the lack of knowledge about the country itself I would wager there is even less knowledge relating to the armed militias, groups or interested parties participating in this human tragedy. In all truth who of you have heard or read about the FARDC (Congolese Army) or the M23 rebel militia?

How can it possibly be in this day and age that six million black Africans can be slaughtered, and mainstream media totally ignores these tragedies. It is not only in the DRC a true genocide occurred. In Rwanda in 1994 nearly one million black Africans were butchered. And if I asked who butchered who, I would wager the majority don’t know the answer. Apart from a lack of knowledge of the two tribal protagonists, Hutus and Tutsis, I would wager that very few know who the perpetrators were and who were the victims. I’m not telling – dyor as we scribe lazily use such terminology.

So, two true genocides in Africa go unreported by our mainstream media. The six hundred thousand killed in Syria or the 250,000 deaths in Yemen have also gone similarly unnoticed. In Sudan, Eritrea and Libya the total death toll in the last five years is one million plus. But again, no media coverage.

And with lack of reporting there will be no protests, no outrage, no boycotts, no attacks on ordinary folk by activists, no UN sanctions, no political management.

So, four genocides occur but no outrage and a non-genocide receives global attention and political activism often bordering on criminality leading to the deaths of innocents. How can this be? I will tell you.

The global order which includes the Theatre of the Absurd – the United Nations, together with global mainstream media and an ever-increasing Muslim population with numerous countries subservient to that religion have adopted a truly successful agenda. Within that agenda money paid to corrupt African politicians has played a crucial role and has garnered support from the political left who are rabid anti-Semites and thus the saturation negative reporting on Israel as the aggressor and the Palestinian as victims. The fact that the Palestinians adhere to Charters demanding Jew extermination has been for decades conveniently ignored.

Atrocities in Africa are purposely overlooked and total concentration is beamed on Israel a state no bigger than New Jersey in the USA. Disproportionate, saturation negative reporting on Israel by mainstream media take total precedence above all other global conflicts.

[kfaem]

Love and Deepspace; when their S/O is a kpop idol

notes: brrr new fandom lets go. also yes i went MIA but hey im not like dead

the boys when MC is an idol :) this is self indulgent. im a zayne girlie but i got carried away with raf lol. im tired so this is unedited, poorly written, no structure, and kinda just rambling

Rafayel:

here me out

he was a fan for the longest time, creating multiple pieces based off of you and your likeness

you and your members go to one of his exhibitions and when you make eye contact he's immediately in love more than he was before

kinda in a weird way

but when you approach him first he's in shock and doesnt know what to do

after the initial talking period and when the relationship starts he acts like his normal self

attends every concert and fan meeting

spends hundreds of dollars on your albums, collecting your photocards and solo posters

brags about being your boyfriend on sns and your manager tries to get him to stop

thomas is so embarrassed everytime your manager reaches out and begs him to calm down cause its a bad image

doesnt care about the reporters, is willing to fight with elites over you and your reputation

he's a simp but is also kinda mean sometimes lol

is jealous when you go live and refuse to respond to him to at least an hour and makes his presence known in your chat

i find the image of the matching outfits, couples goals posts on sns, and articles where he names you his muse to just be so <3333

Xavier

You guys bumped into each other at a convenience store, both reaching for the same bag of chips

both flustered with red cheeks, you let him have it and apologized

awkward

so, so very awkward

both of you are stuck in a awkward, silent encounter and neither of you want to say anything

one of your members comes over to see whats taking you so long and realizes that you're in a standoff with a cute blond and decides to play cupid

it worked

you two end up becoming good friends, and then eventually some sort of situationship

he doesnt want to damage your career and acknowledges that you both dont have time to spend with each other

but still acts as a loving boyfriend, buying your albums, concert tickets, merch, birthday specials etc.

then when you guys go on a snack run, a reporter recognizes you and within the week you're caught up in dating rumours

deciding that you guys couldnt avoid the truth, the situationship turned into a real relationship

doesnt really make a big deal out of your relationship or your popularity. would rather spend your guys' spare time reading together, watching movies, eating good food and relaxing

the media eventually forgets but the fans dont

they love every piece of media that ever gets showed, glimpses of xavier in mirrors, reflections on water, glasses, windows. mentions of a lover in interviews when asked what inspired you

just a loving boyfriend who tries to give you a sense of normalcy outside of the flashing lights

Zayne

Childhood friends

he hates your career and how much soul it has taken from you, but also acknowledges that you love what you do and are willing to risk your health and privacy

zayne is the king of situationship lmao

dates all the time, dinners at small restaurants hiding in booths in the far corners since you both like to be alone, together

your members genuinely dont understand how hes "not your boyfriend"

has lingered on music video shoots, using his title as your personal doctor to not raise any eyebrows

doesnt go out of his way to buy your albums but... if hes at a corner store and sees it, he'll buy it. or two. or three.

keeps one of your photocards and a normal picture of you in his wallet, grayson found it on the floor in his office once after it fell out of his wallet and he could never live it down

the entire hospital staff knows but wouldnt say anything for fear of their life

always sending messages no matter what side of the world youre on. Please remember to eat, drink water, and rest as much as you can. Too much strain on your body can cause long-term side effects.

buys tickets to your concerts, trying to hold back his smile as you glow on the stage while performing in front of your many fans

yeah he gets jealous

wont say it

and you can barely tell

but the chill that fills the room when another idol hugs you and is being overly touchy is so very much obvious and has people rushing to do something else

a reporter approaches him and tries to ask about your dating life. he shuts them up with a glare. the reporter doesnt even dare publishing that article.

your fans have a basic idea of what zayne is to you, but they respect you enough to not make a scene of it.

then one of your members gets drunk on a live and asks about your boyfriend and it comes unravelled

you post a picture with him, captioned with a heart, and its never brought up again

has brought your fans food and drinks whenever they set up cafe events for support

he appreciates everything that your fans do for you and has asked them to take care of you when hes not around

your relationship is never actually made official but yall live together when you arent required to be at the dorms and own like two cats so idk

still the caregiver that we love

[slugtranslation-hypmic]

Hello slug! Do you have any piece of advice you wish you knew when you first started out as a translator? (Or just something you want beginner translators to know)

I could go on about this all day if you let me, so I sat on this ask for a few weeks and tried to condense it down to five of the most helpful-- if a little abstract-- points. Hope this helps!

Usual reminder that I'm referring specifically to J->E media translation, although I would imagine most of this applies to media translation of other language pairs.

Edit: Ohhh Tumblr's being a nasty little man and not letting me post everything. Try to curtail my verbose ass, eh? We'll see about THAT! More in the reblogs it is.

A translation is a piece of creative writing informed by the unique needs and limitations of its author, audience, and medium. Before I write a single word, I always consider what approach is most appropriate for translating the work. This is informed by many things, including but not limited to: - Author(s). A work with a single author (most books, indie games) usually demands stricter fidelity, as the words you write become representative of this person's views within the English audience. A work with multiple authors (most bigger games, virtually all anime) may allow greater creativity in the pursuit of other goals. The author's purpose is also paramount. If the author's primary goal is to make people laugh, you will often want to make your work do just that. Serious works should read seriously. Romantic works should tug at heart strings. Occasionally, authors will provide specific guidelines to follow. You do not always have the ability to push back, even if you think they are horribly misguided--in many cases, the company you're working with can lose business if translation teams cause too much of a fuss. If the end result looks silly, you may be blamed for it in reviews and public perception. Responding publicly is not a good look and may hurt your chances at finding employment elsewhere. Conduct yourself professionally! (End of tangent.) - Audience. While rewriting a text to cater to an audience is almost never appropriate, it will often make you and the audience happier if you consider their expectations for translations. Fan translation readers often want to receive a black-and-white, "correct" interpretation of the text--an understandable desire; I'm not knocking this--and therefore may be more receptive to inappropriately detailed translation notes while less receptive to looser interpretations of the text. Readers of professional translations, especially paid works, often demand a higher level of polish and are less tolerant of juvenile goofery that can sometimes be gotten away with in fan translation. Similarly, genres affect the work. BL audiences are more likely to be LGBT+ than isekai action audiences and will expect translators to use more politically correct language. Some niche genres expect (at least, the appearance of) stricter fidelity at the word level than genres that attract a wider mix of casual and serious fans. - Medium. Even if one translator works on multiple iterations of the same series, the nature of the medium will force them to produce two very different translations. Anime and manga are often more understated compared to works of straight text (visual novels, actual novels, some RPGs) to avoid overwhelming the visuals. Anything that is voiced (anime, some video games) must follow the tone and sentence structure (Ie, "short clause, pause, long clause" is often translated as "short clause, comma, long clause" even if there are many, many other ways to express this idea) of the voiced line. Anything with character limits (anime subs, video games, manga) must be concise and punchy. In manga, the script's visual presentation--line length, what words should be placed together to create a nice shape, word length in skinny bubbles--must also be taken into consideration.

[theharrowing]

Rose-Tinted Obsessions

Taehyung is ruthless when it comes to his desires; nobody knows this better than Yoongi.

This is a lesson you learn the hard way.

🍒 Taehyung x Female Reader x Yoongi

🍒 fics in this series: Boy Blue, White Lies

🍒 warnings: 🕊 dead dove 🕊, yandere, college au, cop au, strangers to lovers & established relationship, partial text message & social media aus with a lot of written story, obsessive & possessive behavior, hurt/comfort, major character injury & death, non-con, graphic violence, slow burn, slash, poly, smut, angst, some fluff, nsfw, 21+ | see individual fics for more warnings.

🍒 note: the mc in Boy Blue and the mc in White Lies are not the same person; these are two different stories told within the same universe. the hands in the banner are meant to represent Yoongi.

Boy Blue

While going through a painful but necessary breakup, you meet someone who is patient, kind, and understanding; everything your last ex was not.

Or is he?

💙 Taehyung x Female Reader + Yoongi x Reader, Jungkook x Reader, Original Female Character x Taehyung x Reader, Taehyung x Yoongi, Namjoon x Reader (kind of), Hoseok x Reader, MxM ships

💙 word count: 89k + a lot of images of text conversations

💙 college au, partial text message au with a lot of written story, strangers to lovers, yandere, hurt/comfort, smut, fluff, angst, slow burn, slash, poly, major character injury & death, graphic violence, nsfw, 21+

💙 warnings: 🕊 dead dove 🕊, angst (hurt/comfort, breaking up and moving on, infidelity) yandere (possessiveness, gaslighting, lying, stalking, physical abuse, major & minor character injury and death, gore, blood, torture, dubcon, consent turned non-consenting with date rape drugs being used, trauma response, PTSD, mc is very young and naïve), explicit sexual content (vanilla to rough, daddy kink, breath play/choking, threesomes, oral sex, sex toy, forced orgasm, multiple orgasms, first time with same sex person, sex while drunk, dubious consent, sex with gun to head, degrading language - use of slut), fluff, unresolved/cliffhanger ending.

💙 note: heed every warning, read individual chapter warnings, and only interact with this content if you are absolutely certain you feel safe to. obviously, i do not condone the behaviors in this story; it is a work of fiction. this fic is extremely contrived and dramatic. we are not here for award winning story telling; think of it like a trashy daytime soap opera and a gore porn horror film had a baby. the hand in the banner is meant to represent Yoongi. i want to stress that the mc in this fic does not have a lot of relationship experience, nor does she have close family or many friends to depend on. she is an easy target. also! although time stamps are part of the story, sometimes there are going to be time discrepancies on the text messages bc this is very tedious and mistakes happen. pretend you do not notice lol. 

💙 posted oct. 2021 - dec. 2021 & aug. 2022

💙 read on tumblr or read on ao3

White Lies

Yoongi is everything you could ask for. He is attractive, confident, and smart. And his partner Taehyung is as possessive as he is beautiful. Too bad a relationship would be a major conflict of interest.

You need to have them, at all costs.

🤍 Yoongi x Female Reader x Taehyung

🤍 word count: work in progress + images of social media posts & text conversations

🤍college au, cop au, partial social media au with a lot of written story, strangers to lovers & established relationship, yandere, hurt/comfort, smut, fluff, angst, slash, poly, minor character injury & death, graphic violence, nsfw, 21+.

🤍 warnings: 🕊 dead dove 🕊. toxic relationships (dishonesty, jealousy, yandere behavior); ACAB includes our MC, sorry you found out this way; corrupt policing. more specific warnings coming soon, pending the release of each chapter.

🤍 note: for the sake of simplicity & also my sanity, all dialogue that is written and spoken is going to be in English. characters are from Korea and living/working in the US, and we can fill in the gaps between what language they are speaking in which context. this fic is going to be extremely contrived and dramatic, just like its predecessor was. we are not here for award winning story telling; think of it like a trashy daytime soap opera and a gore porn horror film had a baby. obviously, i do not condone the behaviors in this story; it is a work of fiction.

🤍 coming soon!

🤍 read on tumblr! ao3 links coming soon!

Rose-Tinted Obsessions, Boy Blue, & White Lies copyright 2021-2023 theharrowing, all rights reserved. No translations are allowed!

[darcytaylor]

I don't understand why they keep ragging on Luke in spaces where he can see it. What's the end goal here? For him to snap and quit the show? People aren't thinking.

The whole situation has been very weird and emotionally charged. I tried to stay away from any of what was happening yesterday. (although I was sent things and have an idea of what is going on)

I think people had an image of who they thought Luke was and since it is not aligning with who he actually is, people are angry. When people are angry people do and say things that maybe shouldn't be said and done.

People's inability to realize that who they created in their mind is not entirely who Luke is (which doesn't have to be a bad thing), is causing outrage. People don't like to be duped, I think people think they were duped.

I have stated multiple times on this blog that people are flawed, people make mistakes, people are nuanced, people can be a bunch of things at once, people can be contradictory in personality, people are complex. All of which Luke is, all of which humans are.

Do I think that Luke hooking up with young adults is a charming trait? No, definitely not. Can I clearly see some questionable actions? Yes, I do have eyes. Do I think that Luke should have kept that shit on his private social media account? Yes, he definitely should have and could have.

But does this actually effect me in any way? No, I don't know the man, and all of us only see a very small part of who he actually is. It shouldn't come to a shock to know that Luke isn't perfect, he's not that version of who they created in their mind.

I know that Nicola has described Luke as being a certain way (people have clung to this), but then people also need to realize that he also has some bad qualities (obviously Nicola wouldn't state those publicly, why would she do that?). I always try to keep in mind that people are good and at the same time people are bad, everybody has both qualities in them.

There is also the belief that if someone who you are a fan of gets any hate, people need to come to their rescue (and vice versa), and while I do think that it is okay to show support or even lack thereof (within reason), this is what riles up every part of any fandom. If people didn't have people to engage with, or people who rile them up, they would get bored and move on.

You have two different groups with opposite opinions, fighting to make their voices the loudest, wanting people to hear them and not the other way around. But this ultimately makes the whole situation loud and for anybody to hear and read. Sometimes coming to someones defence is only going to cause more issues. It's going to create that dialogue and create a space for people to spiral.

So for people who like Luke and for people who don't like Luke, lets all just take a step back and breathe. If you see something you don't like, maybe try not to engage.

I also think that Luke has been trained and told about this aspect of his career. He has been told and has probably seen things like this happen. I don't think that this is what would make Luke quit the show, but I do believe that this will make him less inclined to post or engage with fans on social media.

I actually think that is a good thing (yay for having a positive) in Luke's situation, because it may also filter down into his friend group and relationship and have them stop with the social media games.

[letters-to-rosie]

I'm still reading Afropessimism so it's time for me to make my media studies degree do some exercise with my favorite boy

and someday I will write that proper Silco essay on why his politics make me sad lol but for now I will just say I stopped trusting that man when the word nation came out of his mouth

the whole idea of a nation state (as opposed to other governmental/social arrangements that precede it) is that the political entity of the state is something individuals who are citizens of the state are supposed to identify with. the nation state is supposed to represent them and protect them in some manner. typically, this is established by means of trampling on someone else who lives within state borders but doesn't (at the time of the state's formation) fit into the community of the state. (for more, there's this really good interview with Mahmood Mamdani where he articulates this and connects it to the current situation in Palestine)

for Mamdani, the idea of the nation state crystalizes with Spain's reconquista, which created an Iberian state that trampled over Jewish and Muslim people. from there, the idea that people's homelands might not take the form of states becomes foreclosed as the model of the nation state expands and subsumes every other political formation out there

and this (told y'all I was gonna put that degree to work) is what happens in the show. Silco, working on his nationalist project, envisions a future in which the people of his homeland have a political entity to represent them. but in the course of establishing it, he tramples over resistance to his very sketchy means of accomplishing this goal

what I want to think about more is how not to close out potential alternatives. I think the character who presents the best place to start with that from is Ekko (my boy). Ekko and the Firelights' political motives beyond 1) stop the expansion of shimmer 2) care for addicts and 3) beat up cops is left pretty unclear. I think the reason he sometimes get looked over is this lack of clarity, a lack of coherence, and that gives the feeling of not being able to judge him. while Silco's methods are bad, his narrative arc makes sense. his solution also makes sense. but is making sense the end-all-be-all of liberatory possibility? especially when one is up against violence that is senseless itself and in its gratuity?

here's where Afropessimism is so interesting to me. the theory is about anti-blackness and argues that humanity is able to define itself against blackness as a metaphorical ruler (I have some historical examples that are interesting, but then we'd be here all day; if you're really interested go dive into Matthew Perry and Japan). because this antagonism is pre-logical, it doesn't make sense. it challenges the very idea that suffering and redress for that suffering can be made sense of. the solution to it isn't in sight. but the challenge is to sit with that. it is to know that the answer doesn't have to be right in front of you for the fight to still be worth it.

a big part of why I don't vibe with the whole concept of nation states is that I've always been like "why am I supposed to identify with the country that enslaved a bunch of my ancestors? like what good does that do me?" and I frankly have decided that it does me no good to do that. as a descendant of enslaved people, I also have no nation to go back to and join. what do I wanna do instead? don't know. the longer and longer I live, the idea that I have to feels like an unfair imposition. I've read multiple commentaries that read the Firelights as anarchists. anarchists get asked that same question a lot.

what do we do with a form of redress that doesn't make narrative sense? what kind of restoration could be meaningfully taken out of the situation in the show? in a way, it's interesting, because the show has source material that's very public. we know, ultimately, no matter what questions characters like Ekko pose the idea of Zaun as a nation, that's what happens anyway. it's like a psychic wall of impossibility prevents anything else. it has to become a nation because in a world of nations there is no other choice. so I don't fault Silco for thinking it would be a good idea. I wish he had more of an imagination, though.

[byoldervine]

How To Write An Original Story

I’ve seen so many people worrying that their story isn’t original enough or that it’s too similar to other stories or things like that, and I’ve shared multiple times how that’s just not possible; everything’s been done before, people like reading the same things, blah blah blah

But it never really hits, does it? So instead of that, what we’re going to do is take our concept, pick out anything we can find that took inspiration from another media and why, then we’ll say how we did it differently or made it our own for this story. I’ll join in with my own WIP (TL;DR at the bottom)

Glyph magic system -> taken from The Owl House because I thought it was a cool way for humans to use magic -> base elements switched and designs and activation requirements changed to work within my general magic system

Looking at my glyph magic system now, you wouldn’t even be able to recognise it as coming from The Owl House; the only similarity is that they’re both glyph magic systems. You don’t have to go quite that far to make your things original, you’re more than allowed to have similarities to other media, but I won’t deny that it’s pretty affirming when you see that you’ve gotten to that point

The Fallow and Fallow Rose -> taken from Minecraft’s Wither and Wither Rose because I used them in my own Minecraft world when building a desert city -> for the most part I only changed the names from Wither to Fallow and then added lore to it, but the Fallow Roses still drain the life force of those who touch them just like Wither Roses do

Granted this one is a bit more obscure, but the point still stands that sometimes you don’t even have to change much at all. Expanding on the lore will always benefit the distance between the inspiration and the new idea, though

Mythical entities entering the human world and needing to be sent back home humanely -> taken from Pokémon: Ultra Adventures and the Ultra Guardians -> Instead of alien Pokémon I used fantasy creatures, but I did keep the idea of them coming and going through portals of generally unexplained origins and having to fight or calm them before another portal could be opened to send them home

Honestly? I’ve known for ages that I took this from somewhere but I couldn’t pinpoint where exactly I took it from. It was fkn POKÉMON this whole time. Anyway, it’s a good example of something that’s largely generic once you remove the parts of the concept that are entirely unique to its original story, i.e. removing the Pokémon from this no longer makes it sound specific to Pokémon. But that doesn’t mean I’m blatantly copying Pokémon, or just means that I’m using a concept/trope that they also happened to use. If we weren’t allowed to use tropes that other stories have also used, they wouldn’t be tropes because they wouldn’t be popular or widespread enough to be considered as such

So yeah, the TL;DR here is that creativity doesn’t mean you have to have entirely original ideas the whole time you’re writing. Creativity can simply be saying “I like that - what different direction can I take with it?”

[asteria-argo]

fuck it I'm elaborating on that last post actually. My preface is that I don't work in or study marketing, but I had to do extensive unit on it for my actual course which means while I'm not an expert I do know enough that the arc annoys the shit out of me! This is a disorganized rant on my part, no one read too much into it.

POINT A.1

a lot of the work we see Keeley do in season one and two isn't actually PR, it's brand coordination. That's a separate department to Public Relations. They both fall under the marketing department umbrella, and there is an overlap in responsibilities depending on the size of the corporate entity but they aren't the same thing!

This doesn't actually matter that much, and sometimes it varies from company to company how marketing teams are structured anyway but it bothers me that it's called PR when she's doing Brand Coordination! They aren't the same thing!

POINT A.2

jumping off from point A.1 into the actual rant, the show likes to treat Keeley as an all-rounder, which I'm sure is just for convenience sake so they don't have to write in or hire actors to actually be Richmond's marketing department, but I think that's stupid! Most corporate marketing and communications roles in real life require at least a bachelors degree, she wouldn't have the necessary knowledge or experience to fulfill multiple of these roles at once.

Which leads me to my actual point, which is that Keeley is supposed to be a self made character but they consistently just hand her things.

Rebecca just hands her a job she isn't qualified for, very similarly to what she does to Ted, only with Keeley her motivations are to provide Keeley with a new avenue* in life rather than Keeley actively seeking these opportunities for herself! It's not self made if Keeley isn't trying to make it happen for herself.

I will admit it's been a while since I properly watched season one, so I might be wrong about that above statement, but it doesn't change the fact Keeley, much like Ted and probably even moreso than Ted who is at least qualified to coach to some degree, is not qualified for the job that Rebecca just hands her in any formal capacity.

(*side note; I can't remember if Rebecca was being genuine or trying to sabotage the club some more when she offered Keeley the job, but if she was doing the latter that is an entirely separate rant)

Then, they just hand her her own company she is equally underqualified for! She has maybe a year of formal marketing experience at the time, she has no formal training and she is a free lancer with one known client. They never show us Keeley working for anyone but Richmond! in fact, she works within Richmond, so it's safe to say they are literally her only client!

look, I'm not saying it's impossible for her to have gotten a free lance PR job at Richmond, that isn't actually my main concern with Keeley's arc, it's a good starting point, but it's important that it's acknowledged that Keeley isn't as prepared for the role as she could be. It's a conflict and conflict is what makes stories interesting.

My main problem is that they ignore the fact she isn't qualified, make her seem perfect and on top of everything, give her multiple legs up via friendship nepotism and dumb luck, and then when she is finally shown to be struggling, the rug is swept out from under her due to external, bullshit factors that have nothing to do with her actual professional struggles. And then she gets bailed out, via more friendship nepotism. It's BORING! You had a perfect plot sitting right there and you stepped over it!

POINT B

But Asteria, I hear you asking, why do you keep calling Keeley a free lancer? Because, dear reader, if she actually worked for Richmonds Marketing department, she would be in their marketing department!

There are mutliple interconnecting roles in a marketing department, data analysts, social media teams, media coordinators! They typically work together in an office building, similar to Keeley's PR company! There are a lot of different roles and a lot of different employees involved! think cubicles and break rooms, not a private office in the dungeon of a stadium.

So, Keeley from what the show tells and shows, is a free lance PR consultant not for the stadium itself, but for members of the team and later the greyhounds as an entity. This is where I would veer off course!

Instead of ending season two with a bullshit out of the blue here's your own company girl boss arc, I'd have Rebecca offer Keeley some kind of formal training avenue to get some more experience, build up her portfolio, and make progress in her career via some kind of internship or traineeship with Nelson Roads marketing team.

Why does this cause conflict? Because Keeley sucks at it! Keeley, for as friendly and sociable as she is, is not a corporate team player. She canonically doesn't understand corporate etiquette, she doesn't respect a lot of corporate practices, and to the people who have actually spent years of their lives studying and working for their positions, she doesn't deserve to be there!

She's there because she's a rich model whose friends with their millionaire boss. She's not self made to them, she hasn't come from nothing, she owns a mansion and wears designer almost exclusively. She has weekly lunch with the owner of their company, she was dating their star player and now she's dating the assistant coach, she got hired with no experience or education because she has friends in high places, if I was some poor marketing employee with student debt who worked my ass off to be there? I'd be pissed off, I wouldn't like her!

and Keeley is a very make her own way person, she isn't prepared for the rules and parameters that working in a corporate environment has! She also isn't used to not being liked! The team all love her, she makes friends really easy! It isn't an environment that she is comfortable in or used too, and she struggles with it!

Her arc would be about deciding if it's worth it! Where to compromise and where to hold to fast! Proving that she does deserve to be there to herself and to others! Realizing that she has had a lot of things handed to her, and that she is not as self made and independent as she previously claimed to be! Deciding how to proceed with that realization! Working on herself to understand the perspective of others!

You can give her a crisis of confidence and self doubt with that! You can make her actively trying to learn more and better herself! Give her the Elle Woods Arc She Deserved! She doesn't have to be The Boss, she just has to be an active character in her own story!

POINT C

Splitting Keeley from the main cast was dumb! It was just a bad choice! It's an ensemble show, ensemble shows never work when you split up the ensemble. That's part of why season three felt so weird to watch!

I love Keeley, I really do, but her story was not substantial enough to stand on its own! She needs to be connected to Nelson Road and Richmond one way or another, or she might of well have been written off because the KJPR story line doesn't serve the over all plot or Keeley's character development. She starts and ends the season in the exact same spot, and she contributes almost nothing to the main story line.

This point of mine is more of technical perspective on writing but if something doesn't serve a purpose in a story, especially a story that is actively trying to be concise like the third season of ted lasso allegedly was, you need to either change it so that it does serve a purpose or cut it. Characters aren't people, they are tools used within a narrative to tell a story. Keeley wasn't used effectively as a tool to the narrative in any capacity.

Also I just think it would've been a lot more interesting to explore Roy and Keeley's relationship breaking down in real time. Them breaking up off screen and then ignoring each other for most of the season was, once again, boring!

In Conclusion

I hate the KJPR story line because it was so easy to fix and it could've elevated the narrative in so many ways but nooooooo we had to have THAT shit show. You could even keep Barbara in my version. Like,, she can still be there and it would work better. They fumbled so bad, Keeley deserved better.

[understandableparadox]

I think a fundamental problem with a lot of vampire media is that a vampire is not supposed to be a zombie. it is supposed to be a human who surrendered to their own vices and flaws. the flaws of cowardice in the face of death and the vices of pleasure and gluttony.

which is why vampires can be made very versatile. As much as I don't really like Twilight, it is still a story of dealing with vices with creatures that fundamentally have allowed themselves to be dominated by them.

which is why i really like the movie Renfield.

THATS RIGHT YOU BITCH ASS MOTHERFUCKER YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO READ A SCATCHING BITCH AND MOAN SESSION ABOUT THE SATURATION OF SHITTY VAMPIRE MOVIES BUT NOW YOUR TRAPPED HERE READING MY THOUGHTS AND OPINIONS ON A NICK CAGE MOVIE, SIT DOWN SWEETHEART IM NOT GONNA BE DONE YAPPING FOR A FUCKING COUNTRY MINUTE

Renfield 2023 is a movie starring Nicholas Hoult, Nicolas Cage and Awkwafina.

Renfield if you do not know is the fanatical familiar from the original bram stokers dracula movie. the human who in exchange for aiding dracula in their dark dealings would perhaps gift him with the same dark curse, making renfield a fellow child of the night.

This movie takes place Years afterwards after a very serious battle with the last vampire hunters of the modern day and age. Dracula has suffered Severe damage from the fight and has Renfield aid him in taking refuge within the depths of an asylum while he recovers.

Here we get into the meat and potatoes of the movie, as much of a sin as it sounds, it does focus on nick cage as dracula but instead on nicholas holt as the aforementioned Stooge prime renfield. Renfield, between his random killings in order to sate the blood lust of his master, becomes more and more acquainted with the new modern world, undergoing the most harrowing journey of them all...

Therapy. 

Renfield over the years has lost his spark of mad fanaticism and is worried not only with his relationship with Dracula but his relationship with himself. Aiding at least one by attending an abusive partners support group to find victims. Mostly abusive partners and criminals.  

This is very notable because it's already setting up the original themes of vampires. Your cowardice and your vices. It sets up Renfield as a true coward whose vice is his love of dracula, or more exactly his desire to  Be Like dracula. Enough so that even though he wants to feel better about himself- to feel less like a monster- he still follows dracula's demands in killing people who he has decided to pass judgment on. 

Oh sorry i forgot a detail, renfield is a power ranger and his morpher is eating bugs. He gains some vampire powers everytime he eats a bug and does some john wick shit but thats not my deal, i dont care if renfield can do a sick back flip and punch a guy (complete fucking lie, the action scenes in this movie are so god damn rad sometimes, please watch this movie, please please please!!!)

The movie splits into a couple of different story lines. One being Renfield attempting to balance his burgeoning need to have a functioning moral compass and his romance with awkwafina character, rebecca the detective. Rebecca the detective attempting to balance both the rash of murder cases and a rash of mob related crimes in order to avenge her father, and the mob themselves attempting to figure out who is wiping out their foot soldiers. 

I'm not going to harp on the story for long so let's start talking about renfield. 

Renfield is a hypocrite, and it's made apparent throughout the film that he is a hypocrite. Despite wanting to be a good person he is still a murder. He has doomed multiple people to die across the world. He left his wife and child to be with dracula. He has done so much to cut himself off from his own humanity that it's almost insane that he wants to run back to it because Dracula has not yet answered renfields desire to be a true vampire. 

This all is blended into the idea of having dracula be a parallel to an abusive narcissistic partner in a relationship. Which in all accounts throughout the movie is true and we're going to bounce back and forth from that for a bit so buckle up bud. 

The main ire of the movie is that Renfield wants to push his problems that he has gained away onto Dracula without acknowledging his roles in them. Again we see that cowardice. Renfield cannot stand to see his own faults. He listens to Dracula both out of fear and admiration. At the start of the movie I mentioned that Dracula sustained heavy hits from the last vampire hunters. Well I forgot to mention how he survived. Lets go ahead and listen in Real Close to what he says 

The hunters had dracula dead to rights if you can dare to pardon my puns. Trapped in a binding circle, burning in holy flames and about to get skewered through his heart. The dialogue is specific, Dracula makes no specific promises but notes that Renfield is complicit and that regardless of whatever Dracula has done, he is still his greatest ally. We play on that cowardice and that vice. That desire to be near dracula or be like dracula contrasted with his fear of the repercussions of his actions. 

Snap back to reality and we see that Renfield is still struggling with this. He does not want to face the repercussions of his actions so he continues doing as instructed by Dracula while also indulging in his vices, his desire for escapism by delving into all of these new things. Vigilantism, pushing his problems onto dracula, pretending that he is at the moment capable of having a new life while still using dracula's powers to attain it. 

Ah but now we need to introduce the main concept of this film. That being the portrayal of Dracula as an abusive partner with narcissism. Dracula plays on renfields, and says it with me in class, Vices and Cowardice. He knows what to say to make Renfield back down. He knows all his fuck ups and exactly what renfield wants, that being to have a simple life with dracula, but not in a gay way of course, we still have to have a straight romance sub plot, i mean its insane to think that renfield wants to bone dracula its not like dracula promises to be his salvation while he is suspended in air in a soft whispery voice while renfield stares at him with all the gale of a oculerly enlarged puppy but hey what do i know? I unironiclly read isekais, my media literacy must be that of a brain dead lemur. 

We can see this played out in this scene here

Dracula knows how to keep the hook in renfield's mouth both taught and loose enough to keep him at the perfect level of knuckle dragging dejection to ensure that he runs back begging. In that while yes he is right that renfield at so many points gave in to his own desires and *coy eye to the audience as I listen to them scream “vices” at me.*. He has begun to make an earnest attempt to become a better person. Better late than never. 

Thus renfields true growth is him rejecting that which made him so close with dracula, the rejection of what makes a vampire and vampire. He embraces his cowardice by both admitting to what he is and now allowing himself to push his own crimes onto dracula, and then standing up to dracula, and then rejecting his vices when once again dracula makes him the same offer. To be that same shield towards himself and his own shortcomings rather than deal with a life without a master. Despite it being possible in the future coming with the promise of being a full vampire like himself. 

Look guys, let's not juggle bowling pins and call it arm wrestling, Watch Renfield. Its a good movie and nick cage is fucking awasome, thanks.

[scifigeneration]

ChatGPT and the movie ‘Her’ are just the latest example of the ‘sci-fi feedback loop’

by Rizwan Virk, Faculty Associate and PhD Candidate in Human and Social Dimensions of Science and Technology at Arizona State University

In May 2024, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sparked a firestorm by referencing the 2013 movie “Her” to highlight the novelty of the latest iteration of ChatGPT.

Within days, actor Scarlett Johansson, who played the voice of Samantha, the AI girlfriend of the protagonist in the movie “Her,” accused the company of improperly using her voice after she had spurned their offer to make her the voice of ChatGPT’s new virtual assistant. Johansson ended up suing OpenAI and has been invited to testify before Congress.

This tiff highlights a broader interchange between Hollywood and Silicon Valley that’s called the “sci-fi feedback loop.” The subject of my doctoral research, the sci-fi feedback loop explores how science fiction and technological innovation feed off each other. This dynamic is bidirectional and can sometimes play out over many decades, resulting in an ongoing loop.

Fiction sparks dreams of Moon travel

One of the most famous examples of this loop is Moon travel.

Jules Verne’s 1865 novel “From the Earth to the Moon” and the fiction of H.G. Wells inspired one of the first films to visualize such a journey, 1902’s “A Trip to the Moon.”

The fiction of Verne and Wells also influenced future rocket scientists such as Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth and Oberth’s better-known protégé, Wernher von Braun. The innovations of these men – including the V-2 rocket built by von Braun during World War II – inspired works of science fiction, such as the 1950 film “Destination Moon,” which included a rocket that looked just like the V-2.

Films like “Destination Moon” would then go on to bolster public support for lavish government spending on the space program.

Creative symbiosis

The sci-fi feedback loop generally follows the same cycle.

First, the technological climate of a given era will shape that period’s science fiction. For example, the personal computing revolution of the 1970s and 1980s directly inspired the works of cyberpunk writers Neal Stephenson and William Gibson.

Then the sci-fi that emerges will go on to inspire real-world technological innovation. In his 1992 classic “Snow Crash,” Stephenson coined the term “metaverse” to describe a 3-D, video game-like world accessed through virtual reality goggles.

Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and innovators have been trying to build a version of this metaverse ever since. The virtual world of the video game Second Life, released in 2003, took a stab at this: Players lived in virtual homes, went to virtual dance clubs and virtual concerts with virtual girlfriends and boyfriends, and were even paid virtual dollars for showing up at virtual jobs.

This technology seeded yet more fiction; in my research, I discovered that sci-fi novelist Ernest Cline had spent a lot of time playing Second Life, and it inspired the metaverse of his bestselling novel “Ready Player One.”

The cycle continued: Employees of Oculus VR – now known as Meta Reality Labs – were given copies of “Ready Player One” to read as they developed the company’s virtual reality headsets. When Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021, it did so in the hopes of being at the forefront of building the metaverse, though the company’s grand ambitions have tempered somewhat.

Another sci-fi franchise that has its fingerprints all over this loop is “Star Trek,” which first aired in 1966, right in the middle of the space race.

Steve Perlman, the inventor of Apple’s QuickTime media format and player, said he was inspired by an episode of “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” in which Lt. Commander Data, an android, sifts through multiple streams of audio and video files. And Rob Haitani, the designer of the Palm Pilot’s operating system, has said that the bridge on the Enterprise influenced its interface.

In my research, I also discovered that the show’s Holodeck – a room that could simulate any environment – influenced both the name and the development of Microsoft’s HoloLens augmented reality glasses.

From ALICE to ‘Her’

Which brings us back to OpenAI and “Her.”

In the movie, the protagonist, Theodore, played by Joaquin Phoenix, acquires an AI assistant, “Samantha,” voiced by Johansson. He begins to develop feelings for Samantha – so much so that he starts to consider her his girlfriend.

ChatGPT-4o, the latest version of the generative AI software, seems to be able to cultivate a similar relationship between user and machine. Not only can ChatGPT-4o speak to you and “understand” you, but it can also do so sympathetically, as a romantic partner would.

There’s little doubt that the depiction of AI in “Her” influenced OpenAI’s developers. In addition to Altman’s tweet, the company’s promotional videos for ChatGPT-4o feature a chatbot speaking with a job candidate before his interview, propping him up and encouraging him – as, well, an AI girlfriend would. The AI featured in the clips, Ars Technica observed, was “disarmingly lifelike,” and willing “to laugh at your jokes and your dumb hat.”

But you might be surprised to learn that a previous generation of chatbots inspired Spike Jonze, the director and screenwriter of “Her,” to write the screenplay in the first place. Nearly a decade before the film’s release, Jonze had interacted with a version of the ALICE chatbot, which was one of the first chatbots to have a defined personality – in ALICE’s case, that of a young woman.

The ALICE chatbot won the Loebner Prize three times, which was awarded annually until 2019 to the AI software that came closest to passing the Turing Test, long seen as a threshold for determining whether artificial intelligence has become indistinguishable from human intelligence.

The sci-fi feedback loop has no expiration date. AI’s ability to form relationships with humans is a theme that continues to be explored in fiction and real life.

A few years after “Her,” “Blade Runner 2049” featured a virtual girlfriend, Joi, with a holographic body. Well before the latest drama with OpenAI, companies had started developing and pitching virtual girlfriends, a process that will no doubt continue. As science fiction writer and social media critic Cory Doctorow wrote in 2017, “Science fiction does something better than predict the future: It influences it.”

[moonleet]

oooh ooh! For the agere ask game if it’s ok to do multiple numbers I just love your astarion stuff and i want to hear everything about your take on him, so astarion with 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15 and/or 18?

thank you for the ask! this was a lot of fun - everythings under the cut!

do they have a specific age or range they regress to, or do they just go off vibes?

i see astarion as a baby to a toddler regressor! however i don't think he's solidly within a particular age range - like, he'll value his independence and understand (and participate in!) snarky remarks, but he also likes being coddled and is super super clingy ehe 🪄

is their regression more voluntary or involuntary? do they ever regress without realizing it?

very involuntary i think. he's a bit too prideful to ask someone to take care of him - and, he tends to push himself until he doesn't have a choice in regressing, poor guy :( i think he sometimes regresses without realizing, usually when he realizes he's safe with tav and gang

are they a stuffie or a blankie kid? both? neither?

neither! this is super specific, but i think he is just enamored with a beautiful carved wooden horse and carriage that he can pull behind him with a string! my tav, miya, got it for him bc miya liked the design, and astarion takes that thing with him eeeeeverywhere xP

in what ways are they different when they're regressed? do aspects of their personality or interests change at all? are they similar to how they were when they were an actual kid, or completely different?

i think astarion, regressed, isn't too similar to how he was when he was actually a kid. he feels fundamentally changed by what happened to him, and it's reflected in his regression: he's a lot more sensitive, which he expresses by being rather bratty for a while before he warms up and allows himself to be clingy and take all the warmth everyone offers him!

do they have any regression gear (teethers, pacifiers, diapers, specific toys or outfits, etc.)? do they try to hide it from friends/family?

i think he's a padded regressor! he also has a tendency to chew on things like a teething kitten. miya has hand-constructed a wrap out of softish leather and cloth that can withstand his teeth, after finding too many puncture marks in his sleeves ssjdjdjskdk. otherwise, astarion usually just dresses in his camp clothes. even baby, he cares about looking good 🪄

do they fall into any 'regressor stereotypes' (baby talk, loving disney movies, liking pastels, etc.), or do they diverge from the 'norm' (liking horror media, regressing to an older age, etc.)?

his biggest stereotype is being clingy: he demands attention at all times!!! i think he diverges pretty strongly in that he speaks mostly the same as he does not regressed, albeit with a small lisp, and can be a real smartass about things that displease him shdjfjdjsjd

do they have any specific nicknames for when they regress? how about nicknames they've given to their caregiver(s) or friends?

miya calls him "darling," karlach calls him "baby bat" and "mr. teeth," and i think halsin calls him "little cub"! and astarion calls miya "mama" (miya is a man btw!!! astarion just calls him that), karlach "mama k", and halsin "papa"

what do they like to do when they're regressed? do they like to play pretend, watch tv/movies, color, etc.?

he likes pulling around his toy carriage and generally just hovering around people and watching them! with people he's closer to, like miya and karlach, astarion enjoys a good snuggle (with permission from him) and a nice book! none of those stories for babies, though, he has discerning tastes (miya once read aloud to him directly from his grimoire and astarion never fell asleep quicker)

what do they wear when they're regressed? do they have specific clothes, or do they just wear whatever is most comfortable? do they have a comfort article of clothing?

just his regular degular camp clothes! although he'll steal clothes from his carers to make a nest, sometimes :3

do they prefer to play indoors or outdoors? do they get upset when it rains?

indoors for sure!! astarion actually quite likes the rain (from the coziness of a dry inn or tent). it's soothing to him :3

do they take naps? if so, do they take them at a specific time, or just nap whenever they feel like it? do they get fussy over having to take one?

elves don't really nap! but miya definitely schedules in "mandatory" meditation time - astarion is annoyed at first, but as it turns out meditating is so cozy when you're being cradled against someone's chest and you can feel their warmth and heartbeat... :3

[thestormfrontsystem]

What Is Plurality?

I want to preface this post by stating that none of us are in any way, shape, or form certified medical or therapuetic professionals capable of diagnosing anyone or anything.

With that being said, plurality in and of itself does not warrant or need a diagnosis. Plurality in its simplest form is identifying as containing more than one concious, sentient being within the same mind/body. Plurality, otherwise referred to as Multiplicity is believed by many, most of the headmates in our own system included, to be a natural facet of the human mind that exists on a spectrum. There are others who would disagree, and to that we'd say feel free to head over to their online spaces to see why. That is not our concern.

From our experience, which is varied from person to person, the human mind is capable of a great many things that modern science is just infinitesimally beginning to scratch the surface of. But it has been around for eons, surfacing via many different religious beliefs, cultural origins, etc. People have been believed to be possessed by "spirits", people have heard the "voice of god" in them, we'd even go as far as to say that "the holy trinity" in and of itself is a pretty big metaphor for plurality.

We read an article that interestingly questioned where the idea that each body was only assigned or inhabited by one "spirit/soul/identity" in the first place.... society and cultural norms.

It is our firm belief that, while we did in fact surface due to trauma and are working toward healthy multiplicity, thats not always the default for people who identify as plural. Sometimes parts of an identity get stunted due to outside sources, and sometimes maybe they were simply meant to seperate and become their own beings. We may never know.

Long story short, there are some amazing resources online for people, both singular and plural, to educate themselves on the basics of what plurality is and what plurality isn’t, since even disordered cases of plurality have been especially demonized by the media and society as a whole.

Links to explore:

Written by Olliver of The Storm Front System

[jewish-sideblog]

Hi, Australian Jew here.

Sending this anonymously because I'm not openly Jewish on Tumblr, however I am considering doing so in the short-term.

I'm sorry to bother you but I wanted to ask you a few questions, if you're open to it (feel free to ignore this if so). Just so you know, I'm asking the same questions of the Jewish bloggers I follow who post regularly - both those who blog about the current Israel/Palestine situation, and those who identify as Jewish but post mainly fandom/other content.

Do you or have you receive/d abuse for being Jewish, or for your stance on the war? If so, how often? How do you respond to any hateful messages? Do you post them publicly or answer them privately? How much would you say your mental health is/has been affected by any messages, or by the content you see on your feed? Have you developed any strategies for handling social media during this time?

Thank you for reading. :-)

Shalom, Aussie chaver!

This is a question I've answered privately a couple of times, and I'm kinda surprised I haven't talked about it more publicly before. Thank you for the opportunity!

Before October 7, I mostly received microaggressions for being Jewish-- especially within goyishe queer communities. That sucked, but nothing I couldn't shake off. Since then, as I'm sure you can assume, it's been a completely different beast. This blog alone receives weekly hate mail, and that can increase to multiple daily death threats if a post I make starts to circulate. Some of that abuse is under the guise of anti-Zionism, but a lot of it is pure bare-bones mask-off antisemitism. 95% of the time, I just delete them and move on with my day. It's difficult to read them sometimes, of course. But there has never once been a hateful ask in my inbox that amounted to even a remotely reasonable critique of my character, of my posts, or of my identity. So they get trashed.

My coping skills for mental health on the internet right now boil down to two things. The first is that, for every death threat I get in my inbox, I get more thank-you notes. I hardly have a big following here, but it's clear that the people who follow me appreciate what I do here. Knowing that I bring more hope, strength, and truth to my Jewish community is what gives me the strength to brush off the hate mail.

My one real strategy for handling social media is the Queue. Oh, G-d, I love the Queue. I'm honestly only on tumblr for like an hour twice a week. It keeps me from the despair and the doomscrolling while still letting me post several times daily. I think my Queue is 50 posts long right now so I could stay offline for two weeks and not have to worry. The side effect is that I often reblog posts which are a week or so old, but as long as I remember not to cue breaking news, it's not that big a deal.

[kaurwreck]

I find your takes very interesting. And it’s clear to see you’re very smart, educated and well read! Honestly good for you and I’m completely serious (intelligence is something to be proud of! And literary intelligence is impressive to me) But some of us, while educated are still not very smart and just enjoying manga. Like me personally, I’m not ashamed to admit it. I didn’t like reading in high school but whatever. I enjoy the bsd story and then search for different theories and analyses. It’s very cool to see especially in this fandom. Yes some people refuse to acknowledge, blatantly neglect what are real references and don’t think about it in depth. some people don’t care and some people do. I’m in the middle. I look to others bc I know I’m not smart of enough to make some of the more deeper connections. But it’s also not that serious. Idk what my point was but for it was not to be rude and I’m sorry if it may seem that way! Anyway happy analyzing 🫡

I appreciate your effort to be polite, and I hear you. I generally try to reserve my frustration for matters of cultural- or subject matter-based sensitivity and respect.

Otherwise, I offer what I have to say because I understand that my approach to media analysis is within its own niche, which means I have a perspective to contribute to the conversation. I think literary analysis not only benefits from but necessitates engaging with a multiplicity of lenses. In other words, I'm also just enjoying manga, and I don't expect others to enjoy manga the same way I do; I'd rather there be lots of different approaches than only a few.

That also means I decide how serious it is to me. I don't care how much anyone else values it, I value contextualizing literature a lot, and I'm going to be vocal about what I value. In turn, others can decide the weight of that for themselves. My strong opinions on the matter do not impose any obligations on anyone else to agree with me, nor do they have any bearing on anyone else's behavior.

But, this is the social blogging platform where I informally blog to decompress between work tasks and to occasionally sort through my thoughts on media. I'm going to occasionally botch my wording or say something that won't reflect the expansiveness of my intent. Or, like earlier today, I'll express frustration with matters that, to borrow your language, aren't that serious. Nevertheless, the same as the above still stands: you can take what you want from it, including nothing.

Thank you for the kind words about my intelligence, but I don't think there's any value judgment in being intelligent or enjoying reading. I also have dyscalculia and enjoy black sesame ice cream. These are all value neutral facets of my preferences and how I experience the world, not sources of pride. I'm proud of where I've made choices that nurture my values and where I've sought to engage, even if to grapple, with what I find interesting or challenging.

tl;dr: sometimes I'm going to be moody in public, and y'all are going to have to decide for yourselves how to cope.