#tbls

[original-punks]

"The tree is so high-ooven, so so hooven" (x)

[dylanakamura]

“Wadiyatalkinabeet” - A Meta Analysis of The Big Lez Show

Spoilers if you haven’t seen this amazing show. It’s fairly short and all on youtube so please do yourself a favor and watch it!!!

The Big Lez Show handles the 4th wall in really interesting ways. Even as early as Season 1 characters will reference the episode or show they are in as a passing joke and nobody will bat an eye. This all ties into the fact that the entire show can be seen as a show within a show, with Clarence Claymore as the director and creator and all the characters as actors. This gives Clarence’s role in the story as this immortal tortured soul such an interesting touch. The fact that Clarence created the Choomahs, these Homer Simpson like killing machines also plays into Lez’s own self determinism. The fact that Choomahs look like Homer Simpson and always attack Lez and his friends is symbolic of the formulaic nature of adult animation and how it totally kills any depth characters have. Lez’s own hatred for Norton can be viewed as manufactured by his father and the show as a whole, and Lez needs to break through that hatred to find his own happiness. After Lez’s sacrifice in the end of the story, the Choomahs show that they’ve grown intelligence and want to end the conflict, showing our cast has been freed from the cycle of stagnation and continued senseless combat.

Before I get into the next section I want to get into the cosmology of Big Lez, so I’ll need to talk about Sassy the Sasquatch. Sassy is essentially the universe itself, he houses infinite universes with himself. The Sassy we see in the show is only an observer sent to experience the many worlds and return to the larger universal Sassy. These infinite worlds mean that the multiple sorts of meta ideas at play, seemingly messy, can all coexist in the same way a multiverse does.

In the finale to Season 3, Choomah Island, Lez smokes a joint Sassy gave him and enters a sort of world beyond earth and meets the universal Sassy. Sassy opens Lez’s eyes to the fact that he lives within the box of a digital art software. His whole life has been drawn and created by someone else, every second of it. But with this realization Lez can take his life into his own hands. With the help of Sassy he breaks down his wants in life to, at its core, a desire to be happy. Lez doesn;t know how to achieve this but Sassy simply tells him “What’s the first thing everyone does before they start their day? They wake up.” That really is the heart of why I love these instances of meta cosmological mumbo jumbo.

All of these lenses you can view The Big Lez Show through are forms of escapism. Even in Sassy the Sasquatch spinoff we see how Sassy got lost in Lez’s world choosing to stay there instead of exploring the multiverse, but through exploring a reality where all of the show was the dream of Big Jez, Sassy is able to escape a self made time loop and return to his purpose . We can find millions of billions of external excuses for our bad habits and choose to ignore the root of our problems, and even the root of our desires. “Aren’t we all chasin’ the light mate? Lookin’ everywhere to find it. Everywhere but within.” These external forces far higher than ourselves can redefine our lives and make us get lost in our own heads when deep down the answers we need are within ourselves. Ironically once we wake up, our dreams are within reach.

[huachengeye]

ooh, this definitely helped me a lot!!

I'm not from the States, but from South America and here in my country with the younger generation, we are taking certain european-born religions as a joke, due to how much it harmed our native people and continues to harm people who are from religions from the African diaspora. So I think that's mostly why I found it so interesting to see how Buddhism is portrayed mostly in a good sense.

(Just to tell you a bit about appropriate dinner conversation in Brazil, since you find it interesting to know) It is somewhat similar to the States, as South America is a very religious continent. You will definitely hurt some tias (unties) if you talk badly about their faith, so that is a sensitive topic to have during dinner (unless you want to stir up some fights, then it is the perfect subject). But I think the younger generation is more open to have tough conversations, and as I said before, they started to even mock some of the more conservative believers, especially (as I've observed) queer folks, due to religious trauma.

Back to my initial question about Buddhism in Thailand, I got interested after watching I Will Knock You, since a big part of Noey's character is how comfortable and welcomed he feels in the temple – not only him, but all his gang and Thi too. To have these queer characters find comfort in religion, it is truly interesting, since so far my experience was with religions the white colonizers shoved down our throats, which, as you most definitely know, are filled with homofobia.

Hi P'ABL, how are you?

I love to see your analysis and thoughts on different BLs, and you always come off very well educated when it comes to cultural aspects, especially Thailand's culture.

Having this in mind, I think maybe you'll have some answer for my questions. Well, I want to know why Buddism is so heavily portrayed in BLs (like, for example, I Will Knock You). I know Buddism is the biggest religion in Thailand (please correct me if I'm wrong), but it still surprises me how prevalent it is in BLs. Also, I've seen a couple of BLs where the main character gets ordained, and from what I read on the subject, it is a pretty common thing to do, and is a sign of respect both to the religion but also to the family's believes.

Buddism in Thailand

December 2021:

Department of Religious Affairs reported that the population of Thailand identifies as:

92.5% Buddhist

5.% Muslim

1.2% Christian

In other words, a higher percentage of the population of Thailand identifies as Buddhist than the USA identifies as Christian (65% in 2019) or Catholic in Italy (79.2% in 2021).

So Buddism is in Thai BLs because it's in Thailand. It's just very prevalent. One might as well ask why there is so much Christianity in Hollywood's romantic product (oh it's there, language, swearing, modes of address, courting rituals, gendered attire, weddings, etc...).

It's probably unusual and interesting to you, so you noticed it. Also Americans (in particular) - I don't know how you identify but...) tend to be hyperaware of religious/spiritual representation in pop culture because it's so taboo, hyper-politicized, and divisive in the States.

(Appropriate dinner table conversation in different countries is one of the things that fascinates me the most. Like, what's taboo in different countries when you're visiting someone's home for a meal. In larges parts of the US, religion is generally a pretty taboo topic.)

I think it's also prevalent in BL because there's a lot of dead parents, and the death rituals of a culture come into play under those circumstances.

Anything dealing with the spiritual or paranormal, and now weddings and children and blessings and so forth we gonna see religious/spiritual belief rep. As we get more BL delving into different aspects of culture in search of story we will simply see more and more of those aspects of religion that intersect with that aspect of culture, for purely statistical reasons.

Monkhood

I would hazard a guess that the proportion of those in Thailand who chose to be ordained as a Monk is probably the same percent as any other Buddist nation.

Tharn Type 2 takes you through the entire process, if you wanna dive into that franchise.

Also I would highly recommend He's Coming to Me it's got some nifty death stuff going on. Also it's a great BL.

I have kinda talked about this before - old post:

[mossycakes]

"youre a vampire michael! you wait till mum finds out!!"

funniest possible reaction to your older brother being turned into a vampire

[allmyandroids]

Need that tbh 🥹💕

[mawchops]

Night Shift Part 02

[narzissenkreuz-ordo]

MARCH???? WHY DO YOU HAVE THE RENHENG "BEATS UP A CHILD" DIVORCE PHOTO ON YOUR WALL???

[pigglepiephi]

They both live in houses with death stairs, so no wonder they have no regard for their emotional or mental wellbeing when it comes to relationships

This first episode was confusing but at least you can rely on the stability of seeing this old friend!

[jimmyspades]

"Desire... drives him. His desires are so assimilated in every aspect of his life—he's constantly reminded of his desires at every turn, wherever he looks, wherever his eyes are at rest, whatever he touches, whatever he smells, is all about that. And because of that, I think he's horrified as well. I don't know whether it's horror so much as... he's extremely conflicted." JAMES SPADER on the set of SECRETARY (2002)

[prentissrollins]

Megan Boone as Elizabeth Keen

The Blacklist (2013 - 2023) - 7x08 (5/∞)

[sunflowerphotodoesentpost]

Another blacklist text post but all red addition!!!

[windvexer]

Ritual Gestation and Birth: A relatively low-spoons method (at least I think so) of creating powerful* servitors, enchantments, etc

*Powerful as compared to other techniques that work worse.

A common spellcasting method is to immediately deploy the spell once the casting is complete. In fact, deployment is often a part of the casting ritual in and of itself.

A different option is to keep the spell vessel in a state of magical gestation over a period of days or weeks, so that it slowly matures, gains strength, and solidifies, until it's born into this world, ushered by your hands.

This method is opposed to one where huge amounts of energy need to be raised at once. It's not a technique I'm able to manage in a sustainable way, and I find the results to be a little too... jittery.

If you are a witch who must not, or may not, raise lots of energy at once, this technique may be more manageable. It involves supervising a pot of spell, a bit like a simmering pot of stew, but overall I find it to be less of a draining process. Perhaps other people will find the same.

I believe that creating a magical seed (or embryo, if you like), and tying it to a physical object - such as a candle, crystal, piece of jewelry, charm bag, poppet, and so on - is in and of itself a powerful act of magic. This is why a candle can be enchanted, immediately burned, and still result in miraculous effects.

However, I also believe that giving the seed time to magically gestate can produce deeply powerful, effective, and long-lasting (or perhaps better to say, permanent) results. This isn't the same as completing a casting and letting the enchantment sit until you're ready to use it - it's an active process of nurturing.

Instead of immediately sending a spell to go out and work, sending it to a gestation phase is an easy change. If our spellcasting methodologies are anything alike, all you've got to do (in crude terms) is to swap out your targeting/release portion of the spell with an introduction to the magical womb, or egg, or embryonic sack, (&etc), within which the spell will grow and gain strength.

Examples:

If you direct energy as you raise it, instead of chanting, focusing, writing, or affirming that the spell goes to the target as you raise the energy, instead C/F/W/A that the spell goes into the gestational vessel.

If you gather energy and imprint/program it before you deploy it, send it to the gestational vessel instead of the target.

If you fully enchant a spell vessel (such as enchanting a candle, or creating a poppet), after the spellcasting is complete, instruct the new spell to rest and grow strong within the gestational vessel, until it's time to be fully born.

After the spell is cast, and you have magically moved the spell into its gestation phase, the spell components should be placed securely within the gestational vessel and tended to until they're ready to be born.

The "gestational vessel" is a physical object - in Traditional Witchcraft, this is most suitably the cauldron. But the gestational vessel only needs to meet a few qualifications, regardless of its ability to make campfire stews:

The gestational vessel must have a secure lid, even a makeshift lid, which blocks out the light.

It must be large enough to completely hold the physical components of the spell which it gestates.

It must be able to be stored without disruption, where no unqualified persons may accidentally remove the lid or disturb it.

Additionally:

Moving the vessel doesn't seem to typically disrupt what's growing inside. It can be taken down from a shelf, etc.; as long as the lid isn't opened without due cause.

I do not personally consecrate gestational vessels to that special purpose. I tend to use multi-use vessel which I'll use for other things later.

When the spell is inside of the magical egg (tired of saying gestation), it becomes your job to tend to it by providing energy. This can take many forms, and is an intuitive process.

Feeding the spell can be done in any manner which you usually recharge objects, or provide offerings to spirits. The line is blurred here, I think.

Feed the spell more of what you fed it in order to create it; that is, more of the same energy you raised, more of the same emotion you spent, and so on.

If preferred, feed the spell food, candle, and incense offerings. A general offering of "white light," or another creative energy, also does well here.

Intuition may advise that different foods are wanted by the spell at different times. Do with that as you please.

Those able to "tune in" to the energies of their spells and environment may find it to be very easy to keep track of the embryonic spell's hunger. Otherwise, follow a simple schedule.

I usually do not find that spells need to be fed every day, and when they require feeding, I do not find that they respond to huge amounts of energy or offerings.

Feeding about every three days is a safer bet for me.

I notice that an excess of provided energy just seems to pool up and go to waste.

A feeding may be as simple as placing a bit of your dinner next to the gestation vessel along with an offering charm, or if you're able to, lighting a single tea light.

Persons interested in psychism may have an excellent time noting the energetic change in the spell as the gestation develops.

The lid may be carefully opened to peek inside, especially if normally helpful intuition fails without peeking in; but treat the vessel gently, as if a tiny embryonic baby chicken is inside. Be quiet and gentle, and avoid disrupting the lid unless you really need to.

Ahead of time, before you even cast the spell, you should have decided how long you're going to gestate it for. Three days, or a full moon cycle, or dark to full moon, are a good bet; so is one week if you're doing a planetary thing. I find that even a shorter gestation period provides delightful results compared to doing none at all.

Intuition may advise that the spell is ready to be born early, or would like to stay a little longer.

If intuition is not your ally in these matters, follow the schedule you've set. All will be well.

The appointed time has arrived - the spell is to be born! (Celestial enthusiasts may be wise the the idea of birthing their spell at a special hour, day, or election).

Frankly, popping off the vessel lid, saying, "your time of rest is done, you are now at full power, go now and begin your duties" will perfectly suffice.

But better can be achieved.

If possible, consider employing a birthing ritual. Here are ideas, in no particular order:

Symbols of a gateway or passageway are very good, even something as simple as two stones or two candles to mark a 'gate'.

Using an actual doorway, especially moving from indoors to outdoors (or vice-versa, depending on the nature of your spell).

Using a hag stone to represent pulling the spell from the faerie world into our physical one; the reverse process of how such a stone is often employed.

Using a family tradition, or religious or cultural tradition, to celebrate the birth of a new baby; even if this tradition is only symbolically simulated through key points ("I am the grandpa of this family, and as the grandpa, I announce the new baby's name!")

Doing something celebratory and evocative, like that Lion King scene where Rafiki holds up baby Simba, etc.

In general, the spell should be removed from the gestation pot in a ritualistic way, glistening with the gravity of ushering new life into this world.

The spell may be carefully taken from the vessel and passed through a doorway or liminal space; symbolically drawn through a hag stone or other physically impassable space; held up to greet the first light of the day, or the light of a certain moon phase; be passed over a fire; or any number of ritualistic acts to denote movement into a new phase of life.

At this time, you should magically assert that the spell is born, and ready to do its task.

Of course, you do more. And in these matters, I find that more is better.

A christening ceremony, or a baptism, is most excellently employed to further empower this new life to be a living being in our world, capable of great influence and change - as we all imagine our children will be.

A bit of anointing oil, a touch of holy water, a formal naming ceremony ("I name you, My Paycheck is Cleared. Your name is My Paycheck is Cleared."), whatever you like - especially include a small gift to the spell (perhaps a few coins to set it on the right path in life), or - I suppose this post has gotten long enough. You can perhaps imagine what more could be done.

When all is said and done, employ the spell; light it if it's a candle, whisper things to it if it's a poppet, hang it up if it's supposed to be hung up, and so on.

Do mind that such things, having being born into this world and given real life, do not tend to quit it so quickly as only bornless energies that are diffused just as they were raised; like waves, forming and dissipating.

Things with birthdays and names and birthday presents and baptisms and godparents tend to feel as if this world is theirs, too.

I am generally not very much of a "be careful" sort of poster, but for this sort of technique, I'd recommend being careful. It really does work fantastically, and that's the problem.

Feed the spell with your blood at the moment of conception, and at the moment of birth, for something extra delightful.

[unfortunatetheorist]

Is Lemony's Kind Editor in the Netflix series?

Throughout the Netflix series, Lemony has used one of his infamous literary devices which I did not notice until rewatching it for the billionth time, when I was working on The Complete Works of Contradictory Logic in ASOUE. More on that to come.

Lemony uses a rather basic device which, I believe, can actually have an ENTIRELY radical new view on the show: Lemony speaks to the camera in the second person.

This just means he uses the pronouns 'you' and 'your', etc, when talking directly to camera.

e.g. TMM: "You could pretend the Duchess of Winnipeg had arrived, and had come to throw the Baudelaires a pony party at her chateau."

However, the 'you' could refer to Lemony's Unnamed Kind Editor. There are some points which back this up:

The Kind Editor is someone who does not know the story of the Baudelaires, they only know Lemony. This is why Lemony is the one to tell them the story of ASOUE.

The Kind Editor is NOT a member of V.F.D. This is why Lemony has to explain [either himself or via other characters] different V.F.D-related things that a member would've already known.

This logic can lead to the following:

Lemony is talking to his Kind Editor, who is filming VIDEO evidence to be used in court when Lemony clears his name and the names of the Baudelaires.

This means that the characters do not physically appear in ASOUE, but rather Lemony just imagines them saying the same words before actually saying them himself. This carries on from the idea (@snicketstrange) that Lemony used the Baudelaires' notes from An Incomplete History (series) or A Series of Unfortunate Events (book canon).

In TCC, the Baudelaires discover the SAME THING filmed by the SAME PERSON - but for ATWQ. Hence the reference to 'Stain'd-by-the-Sea'...

So what's the point?

THEORY: Lemony is using typewritten and video evidence, as filmed by his Kind Editor, in order to clear the names of all 4 people; the Baudelaires and himself.

But who is this mysterious Kind Editor? Many have suggested it to be Moxie Mallahan, as she was only friends with Lemony and no-one else from V.F.D.

However, given the circumstances described, I now present an alternative solution: Beatrice Baudelaire II.

In TBL, Beatrice II is 10 years old, capable of handling a camera. It provides an uncle-niece bonding opportunity for Lemony, and Beatrice gets to know the story of her adoptive parents (from her biological uncle).

Lemony is Beatrice's only hope of finding the Baudelaires, and Beatrice is Lemony's only hope of clearing the Baudelaires' names, as Lemony knows 100% that Beatrice is not an enemy or a spy of any kind.

¬ Th3r3534rch1ngr4ph, Unfortunate Theorist/Snicketologist

[pavelzacha]

Me gossiping to my bestie

[allmyandroids]

"I was wrong. You're not at all scared of the future."

[mawchops]

Night Shift Pt 01