#that man is MIDDLE EASTERN. WE CLAIM HIM

[ghostb0o]

Lowkey,, seeing so many people love the tnmn milkman (and yell at people who get rid of his nose bump) has been making me feel less ugly with my own nose bump and dead sunken soulless eyes

thanks guys, keep simping! *thumbs up emoji*

[karimarabize]

Diversity Candidate

Just a story I had in mind but never really got to flesh out properly so i decided to post what I could piece together.

Liam Wilson was low on funds after getting fired from his last job.He has now decided to participate as a research subject for Masculinity Corp, an innovative new corporation focused on athletic enhancement that seemingly appeared overnight and has taken the world by storm.

" Mr. Wilson ?" the receptionist called out clipboard in hand

"Yes that's me" Liam replied

Mr Khalid is ready for you now" the receptionist instructed guiding him to the door just down the hall.

Liam took a deep breath and followed the receptionist, upon entering the office he was immediately struck by Mr. Khalid's imposing presence, this was the man Liam had spoken to on the phone but nothing could have prepared him for the man standing before him at 6'3" and dressed in a tailored suit that seemed to be molded to his muscular frame, his tan skin and thick beard exuded authority while his dark eyes seemed to be scrutinizing Liam's every move.

"Um, I-I'm Liam Wilson, Nice to m-meet you Sir" Liam stuttered "Thank you for coming Mr. Wilson, I am pleased you accepted the position here I can't tell you how much we value diversity when searching for new talent here at Masculinity Corp." Mr.Khalid rumbled his baritone voice filling the room as he spoke

"Diveristy ?" Liam wondered internally cocking his head a little in confusion he was a man standing at 5'9 with pale skin and messy brown hair to say that his town was full of men like him was an understatement.

"Shall we get started ?" Mr Khalid suggested his deep voice cutting through Liam's confusion

Liam followed Mr. Khalid out of the office and down the hallway struggling to keep up with the tall man's large strides as they came to a large gymnasium filled with men exercising and lifting weights. It dawned on Liam why he was considered a diversity candidate, everyone in the room was a tall muscular Middle Eastern man.

"Hey, you must be the new diversity candidate here for the experiment right ?!" One of the men asks me grinning before returning to his workout.

"First let's get you a Masculinity Corp. gene rewriting protein shake to maximize your masculine genetic potential and then we will try our masculinity brainwave therapy” Mr Khalid says handing me both a protein shake and headset.

Liam downed the protein shake doubtful of its claims and takes a seat before he slips the VR headset given to him by Mr Khalid over his head, as the lights begin to pulse inside the headset Liam felt words beginning to become engraved inside his mind.

YOUR NAME IS KARIM

YOU SERVE MASCULINITY CORP

YOU OBEY MASTER KHALID

Liam wakes up and removes the headset after what seems like hours and he looks in the mirror and is surprised by his appearance his usually slim frame had grown larger and more muscular, his pale skin had darkened into a bronze tan, he stared at himself in disbelief but the longer he stared the more a sense of familiarity began to set in.

“I am Karim, I serve masculinity corp, I obey master Khalid”

As Karim takes off the headset he walks over to Master Khalid who is with a young man pale and skinny.

"Hey, you must be the new diversity candidate here for the experiment right ?!"

[lesbiansforboromir]

Categorically the most galling part of this universal perception that Boromir is a 'poor out-of-his-depth himbo whose completely ignorant of politics' is how it is blindingly canonically apparent that he put massive effort into being a political entity, to the point that his political opinions follow him even into the Council of Elrond.

Without the Council of Elrond, one could interpret his narrative positioning as a more 'Middle Man' and less 'high' as something forced upon him, a (narratively framed) negative aspect of his character that Faramir is critisising and lamenting as just 'part of his nature'. He is being associated with the Rohirrim and other 'lesser' men because he is also a 'lesser' man inspite of his heritage, due to his 'flawed' and 'weak-willed' personality.

Although that is still a bit of a stilted and awkward interpretation in my opinion, Eomer explicitely differentiates Boromir's treatment and manner around the Rohirrim from other men of Gondor he has known. He is 'less grim' etc etc, Eomer felt more at ease in his company, which implies to me more that Boromir interacted with the Rohirrim as equals, unlike most of this kin. Which seems more likely to be an active effort on his part.

But interpretations based off of that are entirely unnecessary, because the Council of Elrond exists! Where Boromir, when confronted with Aragorn's mistrust of the Rohirrim and Gwaihir's accusation that they pay a tribute of horses to Sauron, immediately and comfortably comes to their staunch defense. 'It is a lie that comes from the Enemy' he declares, literally pointing out propeganda that all these elves and dunadain are primed to believe given their own investment in the racial divide between them and these 'middle men'. A primer that also belongs to Boromir, whose place amongst the 'high men' is a right bestowed on him from birth, yet one he is actively discarding here in favour of defending the Rohir perspective.

And not only that! He even goes so far as to place the rohirrim's ethnic and cultural heritage as a reason for their trustworthiness, inspite of the fact that they cannot claim any relation to any so called 'blessed' lineage. They come from 'the free days of old', a statement that is similar to one of Faramir's but that, tellingly, Faramir uses as a method of infantilising the rohirrim 'they remind us of the youth of Men'.

These are all inherently and radically political statements for the heir of the Stewardship, the man next in line to be chieftain of the southern dunadain, to declare, especially when acting as emissary as he is now.

So now, all those moments when Boromir is linked directly with middle men, when his right to his 'high' heritage is questioned, when he is critisised with the same racially charged language as the rohirrim are (too warlike, "we are become Middle Men, of the Twilight, but with memory of other things" [-] "So even was my brother, Boromir") - all of that is now on purpose, on Boromir's part. He is the one distancing himself from the title of 'high' and questioning it's validity in the process, something Faramir clearly disapproved of and was a part of the breakdown in his respect for him. (Understandable, considering Faramir's equal and opposite effort to reclaim the title of 'high' for himself and his people.) Boromir is, essentially, engaging in some kind of racial-hierarchy criticism/abolishionism and activism.

That is not to say that his political opinions all entirely pass muster, he does still engage in racist rhetoric at least once, calling Gondor's eastern enemies 'the wild folk of the east'. But within the context of his own country and it's ethnic diversity, his position is maverick in comparison to pretty much everyone else.

And before anyone says it, let me head off comments like 'Boromir was just being himself, he didn't even know it was political he was just that stupid but I love him for it' No. Boromir's reputation in Gondor was complex and multifacetted but a great many people loved and supported him, clearly we see that there was a divide in political opinion between the two brother's stances on war and society. What you are essentially saying here is that Faramir is such a dull-witted statesman that he was incapable of swaying opinion his way against someone who didn't even know he was a part of the discussion, who wasnt even involved in the debates, against a high society that based their cultural identity on being descended from racially superior Numenoreans. The historical perspective is heavily weighted in Faramir's favour.

The much more likely state of affairs is that Boromir and Faramir have both been working towards their own social change and against each other, causing an opinion divide within the country. And apparently Boromir has not been losing that fight, even if he hasn't been definitively winning it either. Some people call him reckless where Faramir is measured, others say Faramir is not bold enough, Denethor himself claims Faramir is placing his desire for nobility and 'high-ness' over the safety of himself and his people. Culturally Gondor is going in for more pursuits of war-sports (wrestling perhaps) and the adulation of the soldiers that defend them, above the men of lore if Faramir is to be believed.

Society is changing around this debate and Boromir is actively, purposefully and directly involved in that debate! Hells bells, he even describes a part of how he works in the political sphere to Frodo! 'Where there are so many, all speech becomes a debate without end. But two together may perhaps find wisdom.' Boromir is!!! A politician!! On purpose!!

The neutral political position of 'Heir to the Stewardship' given to him by his birth is so ludicrously weighted towards faithful that the effort it must have taken to push the needle and associate with the middle men as such a divisive yet loved figure is MASSIVE. Boromir believed the Rohirrim and middle men of Gondor were his social equals and counted them amongst his people and that was a stance he upheld in PARLIMENT! Stop!! Acting like he's just a blockheaded soldier who cares about nothing else- he cares!! He cares a lot!! Professionally in fact!!

[matan4il]

It's very interesting that anti-Zionists claim to be "anti-colonial" given the arguments I routinely see them use against Jews. For years, I've seen them use full scale blood quantum arguments, for one. Most recently, now that we're fully in "Jesus was a Palestinian" season again, I saw a famous economist claim that "Jesus is genetically closer to Palestinians, (particularly Christians) than to Israelis (0 connection to most groups)," which is false to begin with.

Personally, I'm very sensitive to this kind of argument because I'm a ger. These people go after Jews like us very hard because to them we have the wrong DNA and thus undermine Jewish indigeneity, peoplehood, and history. Even if they concede the genetic evidence of born Jews' ancestral origins, they still point at gerim and any of our descendants as the "fake Jews" who don't belong… anywhere, actually. We don't belong in Israel because we're "foreign interlopers," and we don't belong outside of Israel because we had the gall to become Jews.

It's one type of antisemitism I can't seem to numb myself toward.

Hi Nonnie! Thank you for the ask, and my apologies about how long it's taking me to reply these days. Real life is not currently kind... :(

Okay, I had to roll my eyes so hard at that propaganda lie about Jesus. (found the economist in question, love it when someone who is living as a colonizer on stolen Native American land, has the audacity to goysplain a Jewish man to Jews, who support Jewish native rights. There really is no end to how much Jews just don't count to such people, is there?)

And it really is remarkable how many things he could get wrong in just that one part of his tweet...

Jesus was not a Palestinian, he was a Jew.

If you traveled back in time, and wanted to ask him about being Palestinian, you wouldn't be able to speak to Jesus in Arabic, which is the language of the Palestinians as Arabs, you would have to speak to him in either Hebrew or Aramaic (which is so close to ancient Hebrew, that I can speak some Aramaic simply by virtue of being a native Hebrew speaker) for him to understand you. Because he was a Jew.

If you did speak to Jesus in Hebrew or Aramaic, and asked him about being Palestinian, he wouldn't know what you're talking about, because the Romans would only rename the land Provincia Syria Palaestina in 136 AD, over 100 years after his death. Calling Jesus Palestinian is like saying that Chief Powhatan (probably best known as Pocahontas' father) was a Virginian, just because he was born and lived on territory that would later become Virginia. It's anachronistic, blatantly untrue, and totally imposing colonialist inventions on native people.

To the best of my knowledge NO ONE has dug up Jesus' DNA to compare it to ANY group. This is how you can tell that when he gets to that part, this guy is just blatantly making propaganda up.

Israelis are not one group, but Israeli Jews do test close to other Middle Eastern groups, and closest to other Jewish groups from around the world.

I guess, why settle for one bit of bullshit, when you can go for five?

I find it so interesting that you used the term "blood quantum." For non-Americans, who may not know it, here's a short introduction:

A person's Blood Quantum is the fraction of their ancestors, out of their total ancestors, who are documented as full-blood Native Americans. The blood quantum policy was first implemented by the federal government within tribes to limit native citizenship. However, since 1934, tribes were granted the authority/ability to create their own enrollment qualifications.

I find it interesting, because I keep thinking Jews and First Nations have so much in common, as native peoples. I remember coming across at least two different stories of people being adopted into Native American tribes. Obviously, each first nation has its own rules about it, before and after the colonization of America, but the point is... there is room for someone to become a member of the tribe, not based on blood. Most of the time, membership of the tribe IS based on ancestry, but it isn't limited to that. Some people come and live with the tribe, adopt its customs and way of life, emerge themselves in the values and heritage, embrace its spiritual beliefs, become a member of this community, and then they are adopted in. It's the same with Jews. Most of us are born Jewish, some of us choose to live this lifestyle, embrace the customs, beliefs and culture, go to synagogue, get to know the community, and eventually adopt and are adopted by it. That's the thing. Converting to Judaism isn't just changing your belief system. It's joining a tribe, and changing one's identity through this process of mutual adoption. Converts to Judaism don't take away ANYTHING from the native rights of Jews. On the contrary, this process of conversion is so different to when someone moves from one religion to another (think of how much simpler baptism is, to the long journey of converting to Judaism), precisely because Judaism isn't just a religion, unlike Christianity and Islam. It is an entire, intricate identity that combines multiple aspects, as all ancient, native identities do.

And in this context, think of Americans who are mostly of European descent, and have nothing to do with Native American culture, or way of life, but they can point to having an "exotic" great great great grandfather, who was a Native American chief. From what I've gathered, they would not be considered members of the tribe by most Native American nations. But the person who lives with the tribe, and shares its ways and its fate? That person is recognized as such by the tribe members.

Jews are the same. We are not native just because our ancestors are from Israel. We are also native, because we are the people who have preserved that Israelite identity. We have carried its torch, and passed it on along the generations, and we have shared our light with those, who chose to stand with us, to share our ways, our fate, and the consequences of the horrible hatred aimed at us.

I love you, my fellow tribe member. Thank you for sharing the light, and the burden, together! *sending so much love* xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[rollofleaf]

Owlcatober Day 5: Forgiveness

Finally some Sakura stuff! I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, but I have a schedule.

Get it together, Sakura. It’s nothing. Just baring your truest self and revealing your most carefully-hidden secret to a man with no filter and very judgmental views on the fey. Nothing at all! The kitsune sighed and steeled herself. Camellia had figured it out, she had to tell Ulbrig. Juggling two relationships at once, even if both were purely sexual, required some finesse and balance, and part of that was making sure the two were on equal footing with regards to her. What she told one, she told the other, and what she did for one she did for the other. At least, in theory. If Ulbrig ever started committing unjustified murders, she’d cover for him!

Outwardly, Sakura was a devout, if unusual, cleric of Arshea, one of the empyreal lords and a goddess of sex, beauty, and freedom. In reality, she served the Green Mother, the fey goddess of lust, intrigue, and carnivorous plants. It was a helpful cover, allowing her to pass as someone devoted to good gods without forcing her to change her behavior much. She was almost certain Anevia had figured out the truth (she would need to have a talk with her about that), and Camellia had also managed to piece it together. It was time Ulbrig knew as well. Backwards as he often was, she was fond of the barbarian. Hopefully, this wouldn’t chase him off.

Sakura made her way to her garden in the middle of Drezen. She lamented that she couldn’t keep the massive carnivorous plants she loved, but that would be too obvious. Ulbrig spent most of his time here, it was one of the few places he could still see the kinds of plants that used to cover Sarkoris. She approached from behind, swallowing and steeling her resolve before she spoke up. “Ulbrig. Can we talk?” Honestly was… Unusual, for Sakura. It was almost heresy, but for once she thought it was necessary.

He was squatting before a pot, carefully tending the plant within. He turned towards Sakura with a slight smile. “Evenin’. Of course we can talk.” He turned around at sat down, looking at her expectantly.

Sakura flinched and waved back and forth on her feet. This was already harder than she thought. “Ah, yes. Well… You know that I’m a priestess of Arshea…” He nodded, staring at her with those big, dumb brown eyes. “Ah, except, I’m… Not.”

“Eh? Oh, sorry. I get all these southern and eastern gods turned up around, can never remember which is which.”

“W-what? No, I mean, I lie about being one of Arshea’s faithful.” She had to make sure to keep her voice low and kept glancing around in case someone was watching. Her claws sunk into the unholy symbol around her neck, disguised to resemble Arshea’s. 

At least that part of the revelation didn’t seem to bother him much as he continued to question her, “Uh, huh. Um, why?”

“Well, ah…” Sakura mentally reprimanded herself for being so flustered about this. “It’s… Convenient. Most people know Arshea is good, but don’t know that much about her. And I do agree with most of her edicts!”

Ulbrig’s eyes narrowed slightly. “What, you one of those sorcerers that pretends to be holy? Lies and says her power’s from the spirits when it’s actually just foul arcane?”

That genuinely caught Sakura off-guard. Did people do that? Perhaps she could have been doing the reverse, claiming her powers were arcane rather than divine… No, thoughts for another time. “No, not at all! They are divine, just… Most people don’t approve of the actual source…” She was ever so thankful that Ulbrig trusted her, else that would have derailed the whole conversation.

“Oh.” That seemed to relax him. “Hmph, well, who cares who it’s from. Long as it’s not one of them oglins. It’s… Not from oglins, is it?” 

Sakura withered, uncharacteristically embarrassed at his piercing gaze. Perhaps she should just strip and offer her body, move past this and keep up the lie… No. No! She was going to do the right thing for once in her life. “Well, it’s… Not from demons, that much is true.” He seemed to relax. “B-because it’s from the fey. My true goddess is the Green Mother.” She decided to omit the Green Mother’s portfolio in case that made it worse.

“So it is from oglins.” She winced as she could see the rage in his eyes. He was trying his hardest to hold it back. She had lied to him. This whole time, the woman he had been sleeping with, the woman he loved, was working for the same monsters that tore apart his home! But, some reason cut through the cloud of fury upon his mind. Ulbrig didn’t care much about the difference between demons and fey, they were all the same to him, but… Sakura would always get defensive when he indicated he thought as much. She hated the demons, as much as he did. Ulbrig never cared about the difference between different types of oglins, but maybe he should. If this fey goddess opposed the demons, maybe… Perhaps he could tolerate it. At least for now. He sat there in thought for minutes, Sakura dreading the moment when he opened his mouth again. At last, he spoke up. “Sakura. Need you to answer something honestly.”

“Y-yes?”

“Y’said a while ago that you wanted to restore Sarkoris. See it green again. Was that also a lie?” There was a frightening calm in his voice.

Sakura answered plainly and honestly. “It wasn’t a lie. I want this place to bloom again. All the life that was stolen from Sarkoris… I think the Green Mother guided me here to restore the land.”

Ulbrig nodded and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “Alright. Then… I’m still sort of mad. Mostly about you lying, but… I guess you lie about it to everyone, so it’s not as bad. I don’t… I don’t get it? This whole oglin… Guess I should say fey. This whole fey worshippin’ thing. But… I forgive you for it.”

Sakura tilted her head. That sparked rage in her, she didn’t even quite know why. “You… W-what do you mean you ‘forgive’ me?”

He shrugged. “I forgive you for following an oglin. Fey. Sorry.”

“I don’t need forgiveness! I’ve done nothing wrong! I’m just… I’m trying to be honest. This is who I am. I worship the Green Mother. She’s given me life, and purpose. I just… You deserve to see behind the mask.” She winced and took a step back. That was always what it was about. The curse of the kitsune, to forever wear a mask. Even when they tried to be honest, they could only ever show half of themselves. And because of that, Sakura had been cast out, taken in by outcasts, and forced to wear yet another mask because of it. She needed no forgiveness. If anything, the world should be asking for her forgiveness.

Ulbrig didn’t understand. He was just like the so-called civilized, fearing the truth of the wilds and seeing deceit in the mask forced upon Sakura. “I understand, Sakura. You were bewitched by them. Lured in by those puck’s false promises and whatnot. But it’s alright. You’re not with the oglins that destroyed Sarkoris.”

Sakura’s fists clenched and she let out a mocking laugh. “You don’t get it. Of course you don’t, no one ever does… I choose to be like this! I wasn’t tricked, I wasn’t bewitched, I was thrown out for being a shapeshifter and taken in! You don’t get to ‘forgive’ me! I don’t need forgiveness!” She was shouting now, though she hadn’t realized it.

Ulbrig pushed down his anger, trying his hardest to be understanding and compassionate. “Sakura, listen.”

“No. I’m done listening to you. I… I thought you were different… You’re just like everyone else that cast me out and spit on me because they think I choose to wear my masks.” She had had enough of close-minded fools. She stood up and walked away with a hiss.

[stumpyjoepete]

Currently on an apartment hunting trip and took Saturday to go into the city proper. Some good people watching.

Late-middle-aged asian woman talking with a ~60 yo bearded (eastern european? israeli?) man. I pick up the conversation at: - "So, if you need anyone taken out, just let me know" - *shows pictures of four rifles* - "I'm serious, I'm very good!" - <proceeds to explain his long-range target shooting prowess and puts forward some claims about a guinness record of some sort>

They also talked about his friend Martin who gave him some "real san francisco sourdough [starter?]". Also, he shows a bunch of pictures on his phones of various models. They're like ex-ballerinas and gymnasts. Or something. Unclear what the deal with the pictures is and whether this is related to guns or not.

"And then they said, 'you should do this shoot for free, this will blow up your career', and I said 'no! you will pay her!'" So like, I guess beardsy mcgunzo gets points for his position on labor rights. Says modeling is usually a terrible deal for models and it's very exploitative. Says "IT is much better". Not sure how actionable this is for ex-world-class-gymnasts-posing-covered-in-butterflies-or-whatever.

Shows a picture (note: I can't see any of the pictures, other than the first one with the guns). Says his son made it when he was 5. Unclear if his son is currently like 7 or like 30. "Very artistically inclined." And then he says, "and look at the description!" I take it that the description is very detailed and lucid for a five year old. "You see the picture and think he is retarded, but then you see the description and you say wow he is very smart." Some parents put their kids' art up on the fridge, and some parents collect material to roast them I guess.

This whole time, I still cannot figure out what the heck the relationship is between the lady and the dude. She's totally interested in all the crazy stuff he's talking about. Yes-and-ing. "Oh you have 4 guns? I know a guy with 43 guns. I mean, of course they're not as nice as yours." Talking the whole 30 minutes. We get to Grand Central and she says she'll look up Martin if she ever goes to SF, and also nice to meet you.

This lady might actually be the crazier one. I dunno.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Refuge (2023)

The best thing I can say about Refuge is that it has its heart in the right place. Though the evil in this horror film comes from Afghanistan, writer Ben Sztajnkrycer and director Renny Harlin really want to make it clear that not all Middle Easterners are terrorists and that the Afghan immigrants living in the United States are our friends. That’s admirable but it doesn’t make up for a lack of scares or a story you’ve seen so many times it’s more likely to put you to sleep than give you nightmares.

After a tour in Afghanistan, Sergeant Rick Pedroni (Aston McAuley) returns home after a strange incident. His wife, Kate (Sophie Simnett) hardly recognizes the quiet, cheerless man before her now. After sudden fits of violence, nightmares and events that can only be described as "supernatural", Kate reaches out to Ibrahim (Raza Jaffrey), an Imam at a nearby temple, for help.

Some trivia I read claims producer Gary Lucchesi was inspired by the 2017 National Geographic Article “Behind the Mask: Revealing the Trauma of War”, detailing a type of art therapy that has veterans use masks to express the way they feel on the inside. I was stunned to learn this because while watching, you’ll swear the mask therapy stuff is all made up. Every person we see at the clinic wears something that would be at home in one of the “Purge” movies, except for Rick, whose mask looks like a paper bag soaked in dirty water. The evil spirit possessing him eventually spreads to the clinic's other patients, making the guys already wearing creepy masks act creepy. I was going to criticize the film for doing the obvious thing… but the masks in the article are creepier than they aren’t, so it’s merely taking advantage of a real-life unsettling visual. If anything, that's a strength.

Continuing down this line, we can see why this film was made. We know soldiers come back from armed conflict with PTSD. Rick’s father, Sebastian (Jason Flemyng), still has nightmares and it’s been decades since he saw combat. The idea of your loved one returning as a different person is scary enough. What if what everyone assumes is PTSD is something even more serious? Something… satanic? That’s a good idea but unfortunately, the creativity stopped there. Everything in this film you’ve seen before and better. The demonic possession scenes aren’t shocking or frightening, they don’t showcase any new visuals, say anything interesting about the human psyche or reveal anything about what war does to people. The “exorcism” performed is pretty standard, with the key to defeating the wicked spirit being the kind of thing that makes you go “I guess that’s clever… but it also seems way too easy”.

I mentioned the film’s good intentions earlier. These are showcased primarily in the scenes with Ibrahim, his wife Rasha (Mila Lyutskanova) and their teenage son, Farid (Shervin Alenabi). There’s tension between the men because Farid has been getting into trouble. The police officer who keeps bringing him back home hasn’t been too subtle about his racist views. Farid is fed up with the hate he encounters. When Kate comes to them for help, Farid sees her as just another white woman who didn’t care about them until she needed their help. He thinks the evil spirit isn't their problem. Ibrahim wants to help and his wife is like “Well, is helping these people you don’t know really worth it?” For the wife of an Imam, she’s not very sympathetic, particularly this isn't some charity handout she's asking for, it's an exorcism. The best thing I can say about those scenes is that their heart is in the right place. It doesn’t make them any less clichéd.

The performances in Refuge are not strong but in the actors’ defense, the material they’ve working with is forgettable. Writer Ben Sztajnkrycer doesn’t have a lot of credits to his name but he's been working on feature-length films since 2006. As for directory Renny Harlin, it's time to accept he’s not the same director who made Die Hard 2 anymore. Among its many flaws, Refuge isn’t scary and even when it’s genuine, it feels phony. (October 2, 2024)

[shoujoboy-restart]

Didn't Israel attack a celebrity for speaking out against the atrocities? Response to that post I just saw about them claiming the crisis actor thing.

Also about Israel, is everybody that still supports Israel are bad people like the people in that protest from days ago in Washington showing support towards them? Cuz I kind of do feel a little conflicted because one of those reasons involved the October 7th massacre, which is kind of rarely brought up and the focus is more on the Palestinians, which I'm not saying shouldn't be focused on but it looks like most people are making it seem like what Israel is doing is proof that every Jewish people are bad and that the Nazis had a point, which is something I feel like is alluded to somehow with the rise of anti-Semitic hate crimes around the world.

Like I mean come on a fucking man just killed a young boy to death because of this fucking conflict and this idea that Jewish people are the bad guys and the conflict shows that which I don't feel is fair at all to condone everybody because their government is following Hitler's steps with their own touch.

Yeah they tried to drag Bella Hadid(a model with Palestinian heritage) on their fucking Instagram stories, it was so patethic lmao.

I wouldn't say everyone who supports Israel is a bad person, that's a very pointless generalization, many of them are people that since babies believed this was some sort of birthright of them to have this land and all Palestinians were evil people who seeked to kill them, before the current conflict there was some random girl on TikTok who made storytime/vent about how she had these neighbors that were nice and lovely and sweet, but after she discoverwd they were Palestinian she immediately started to believe they would hate her, kill her hark and therefore want then harmed as well, again, completely unprovoked without any aggression from the neighbors, Zionist Jew are under some crazy powerful propaganda and cult like beliefs.

And it is absolutely disgusting to think every single Jew is somehow at fault for israel's actions, Netanyahu had a absolutely abysmall approval ratings before the conflict, and he will absolutely not be elected democratically again or still be in power if there any actual democracy in that place and the support for him is extremely isolated, Jews in and out of Israel have always protested and fought against the occupation.

Both Islamophobic and Antisemitic hate crimes are on the rise, and if you are talking talking about 6 year old Wadea Al-Fayoume that killed by his landlord it is absolutely a case of how the media was at first reporting completely favourably of the Israel government:

“The father said [the landlord] had built a tree house for the boy and allowed him to swim in a makeshift pool and brought him toys. But it wasn’t until he started watching the news and hearing the statements [about the war] that something changed,”

Obviously there was probably some sort on mental illness at fault too(still not enough for a insanity please as of now it seems), but divise politics got a whole generation of people saying and protesting wanting a little black girl hanged and lynched for just wanting to go school as well.

Although I don't agree with the Hitler comparison(even thought the Israel got caught saying the whole "children of children's, children of darkness" shit that was found to be a mindset within the SS army) yeah Jews shouldn't be penalized for what Israel is doing, not Israel citizens should, we can complain about collective punishemwnt for Gazans and Palestinian and then make excuse for the same thing with Jews and Israelis

[sins-of-the-sea]

((The Sins would turn to sea foam at permadeath? Is that a nod to Hans Christian Anderson's Little Mermaid?))

//WHOOPS, I had to change my answer when I was corrected about the nature of sea foam: Sea foam is organic, and thus, is not eligible for what the Master's thralls can become! This means sea snow, crumbling bleach coral, pearls, and other elements of the ocean with organic origins. As much as I'd argue to keep in sea foam because of how melancholy the scenario would be, there is a big reason why we're not keeping it--and, actually, just sticking to salt in general.

For one, keeping the change to something inorganic removes all and any traces of who or what the Thralls are in the eyes of God or the Universe, be it the Abrahamic God, or the Eastern faiths, etc. There is no reincarnation. There is no 'one of the universe'. There is no Heaven, no Sheol, no Seven or Nine Hells, no Diyu, no Niraka, no Brahman. The soul is bound to the Master, no ifs, ands, or buts. The fate of the thralls is an affront even when it comes to animism--the spirits of the sea are bound to a devil who shouldn't have them to begin with. But because of the deal made, and with no body to return to, the Master will flaunt the full severance of human souls from the human world like a middle finger and a flex.

Secondly--and this is a further elaboration of the previous point--salt has its origins from the earth. Be it volcanic activity or good ol' weathering from the coastlines, the ocean and the earth share dominion of salt in a cycle that is natural to the world. The Master turning his thralls into salt is a way of saying "I take what is mine, fuck you". The Master turning thralls into salt is the biggest demonstration of the adage "The sea takes what it claims". It is the ultimate finality of man, born of earth, from the uncaring and ever crushing oceans who dare to grace the waves.

Of course, we have the religious element regarding Lot's Wife looking back to the destruction of Sodom. We don't know if there are salt-related folklore around the world other than how pure it is and that it can thwart off evil. Given how the Master is a salty bastard, we can safely say using salt to drive him off (or holy water, for that mater) is pointless.

Worth noting: if a thrall's hair turns white, they are in danger of permadeath, as the Master would begin not caring to maintain his hold of that thrall's immortality. Guy's hair having a white streak is a warning to the Seven that the Master will not forget, nor forgive, any further transgressions against him. He can take away the Seven at any time. It's only through his "grace" and "mercy" they are allowed to walk on Earth still.

[write-like-you-mean-it]

I've been trying to actually write a book! I thought I'd drop the prologue for anyone that actually would want to read it! If you have any critiques or comments, please help! Love you all for staying this long.

Untitled Work

The eastern wind traveled from the recesses of the darkest part of the world to hit the warm face of the old man as he trudged up the seemingly never-ending slope. He carried only a sack on his back as he slouched forward. His feet drugged ever so slightly up the cascading mountain. The forward march ached on his withering bones; yet, he refused to turn back. Every movement he made, the earth quake under his steps. 

“Nice to see you again brother,” said a sprightly young man as he followed the same abandoned path. He mirrored his brother with the little amount of items he carried; yet, the younger brother matched each of his elder’s steps with two or three of his own. Aging hadn’t marked his face in the slightests. To the normal onlooker, the two would never look like siblings besides from the facial structure and eyes. Their eyes held the same glint of trepidation and grief. “It’s been awhile,” murmured the dusty voice of the eldest brother. The two stayed in silence until they reached their destination. 

It wasn’t until the elderly man hit the top of the hill that he finally saw the last, middle brother. He greeted him with the same pleasantries as the youngest: a nod and warm welcomes. Unlike the reaction with the youngest, the middle’s greeting was spiteful. 

“I hoped to see you two with happier circumstances,” said the middle brother. He looked middle aged, if that. A few creases shown across his continuously furrowed brow. His arms crossed and he was leaning on one of the pillars protruding from the ground. The same eyes as his two kin flickered down the path as if he was trying to decide to stay or go. “It is a shame that we have to repeat what has been done.”

Lucian, the eldest, looked at his brother with a melancholy smile. Galen, the middle brother, always had this look of mournful adoration that would not abandon him; one that would hopefully age out of him as he grew.. “Gale, I’m surprised you ended up here first. Being how hesitant you were to join in the practice for joining in the first time.” 

The hissing wind kept shaking the ground where the three men stood. Their voices caught and whisked away down into the gulch as quickly as they were spoken. Lucian faced the youngest as if to ask the very same question. Eilian, however, was lost in thought. His consciousness was betwixted by the stone structure in front of him. He didn't actively ignore the tension between the eldest two; Eilian had a fear that struck his heart and refused to be gripped away. 

“I had to come,” said Galen as he shrugged off his backpack. “You couldn’t finish the ritual without me.” Lucian nodded his head in agreement. It was a miracle that either of his  brothers arrived here today. Plans carried out in secret rarely stake claim in reality. This thought was a lesson instilled in the three many years ago. Time has such a fickle meaning when looking back into the past.�� 

“Let’s just get this over with,” mumbled the runner, Eilian. His eyes yet to move off the slab in front of him. Courage was waning off of the outward shell. Memories he tried to shake from his head years ago came cascading back. “We all know that if we get caught up here, it is a death sentence.”

“You’re always too impatient, Eli,” mumbled the elderly man. “You know this takes time to-”

“You’re one to tell me about time,” interrupted the youngest. Eilian’s voice rocked the ground as it fought against the very presence of Lucian’s words. Galen, the middle,  stepped in between the two before more words would be spoken in spite. His hands held high as if to become a peace offering. 

“Now, now,” said the middle child. “We’re not children anymore. Bickering will only delay us. I want to leave as much as Eilian but you know we have to do this.” Galen holds up his sack of items. “Let’s get started.”

All three placed their various sacks on their respective sides of a sacrificial slab. Old carves of ritualistic etching curved the pedestal. The men took their sides before laying out each item they decided to bring. Out came herbs, jars filled with iridescent liquid, and a sack of human remains.  Each man set the item on their respective side which soon began to feel like a divider for each of them. Those were placed in the center as an offering. Galen ground herbs in the mortar and pestle. First was ginger; second was the echinacea; the last was ginseng. The combination filled the mortar to the brim. 

Eilian was tasked with drawing the visage. His smooth hand traced the outline like a painter outlining its work. No one but he would know if he messed up the pattern. His moments lasted much longer than the others. His hand would slip, and it wouldn’t matter. Changes happen so quickly. 

Lucian waited on the brothers as he admired their work. His work would happen towards the end of the ritual. The admiration took on a whole new meaning as a swelling of pride for their craftsmanship. He led these men to the brink of discovery. Replication was the greatest artform. The first could have been a fluke. The second was intentional. 

The three men laid the remains of what once was a child onto the table. Galen muttered a soft prayer for the deceased. Together, they silently piece the puzzle of a small child. The broken bones from travel were held together by the various herbs that were left over from the concoction  until it resembled a human. 

Galen sprinkled the child with the mixture in the mortar and placed his hand upon the little body. The bone cracked and squirmed as they were moved into place. Bones seeped together until there was a fully formed skeleton without any cracks or scars from age. Eilian unscrewed a few of the jars and dumped the liquid onto the table. It hit the slab with a stiff scream. The oozing red fluid ran down the sides and pooled on the ground. “Are we sure we have to do this brother?” asked Eilian as he placed his hand on top of the sopping wet bones. “We still have time to go back.” Wind picked up its pace as it brushed hair and dirt into the faces of the men; causing each of them to squint in order to make out the shapes of their jobs. 

Lucian shook his head knowing that this fate is set in stone. Eilian looked at his brother, and gave a full deep sigh. He twisted his hand over the child. The liquid climbed back up the pedestal and soaked throughout the bones. It formed flesh and body before the three’s eyes. 

The child lay still and silent as it had yet to take its first breath of air. It was a corpse with little features that made it look distinctly and humanly inhuman. It was finally Lucian’s time to work. He placed his hand over the child. Clouds formed in a red ring above the three of them. Wind picked up pace where the brother’s shut their eyes to keep from crying. The darkness fell until there was no way to see the other. A spirt of lighting ran down from the cascading clouds and fell upon the child. 

Thunder was replaced by a soft cry. The high pitched noise sprung the three away from the stone. Lucian moved his hand to reveal a screaming child. “Holy shit,” gasped Eli . “We did it-”

“-Again. You know that this isn’t the first time,” muttered Gale as he placed the backpack but onto his back. The pack looked small against the middle man’s back. His dissatisfied face held to the eldest as if looking for guidance. Eli did the same.

“It is still impressive as ever,” said Lucian as he held his finger out for the child to hold. Its eyes have yet to open even though its lungs screamed at the world. “I couldn’t have done this without you brothers.” His sharp green eyes never strayed from the child. The little girl grasped at air until it hit the pinky finger of the old man. Her cries stopped almost instantaneously. “I shall name you Narissa.”

[happymeishappylife]

Books I’ve Read in 2022 - Part 1

I’m going to do this a literally differently this year. I didn’t do long reviews of each of the books I’ve read and so instead I’m going to be doing just short blurbs and thoughts from everything I read as a way to still document them. Enjoy!

1. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Dickens has always been one of my favorite authors but this is definitely one of my favorite novels from him because it was so rich with such great characters and it really chrono called the life of a man who ultimately did good or always approached situations with good intentions. I thought all the side characters were equally as rich even if some of them were hard to like and unlike some of Dickens other characters like in Great Expectations, the bad influences didn’t feel so desperate or petty, it was just the difference between social classes.

2. Golem in the Gears by Piers Anthony (Book #9 of Xanth Novels)

Grundy isn’t my favorite character in this series and having a novel that made him the main focus was a little hard, but also helped in fleshing out his character so by the end of it I didn’t disklike him as much. Just in general I think Piers is pretty misogynistic and sexist and that only gets tames by writing either kids or female characters, but Grundy always with his snark and jokes made that more of a present feeling. Hooking him up with Rapunzel is a little weird and annoying but at least this usually writes off characters as we move forward in the Xanth timelines.

3. Luka and the Fire of Life by Salman Rushdie

Such a fun and meaningful story bringing to life the world of imagination through family tall tales and a mix of video game atmosphere. I had a lot of fun reading this novel and experiencing not only the imagination of this boy, but the rich influences of middle eastern culture because you don’t get a whole lot of that anymore. Plus it had its truly tender moments since the whole story revolves around Luka’s journey to try and save his dad. I think that’s beautiful and well done.

4. A Hard Day’s Knight by Simon R. Green (Book #11 of The Nightside Novels)

This was a reread for me. In fact this book was the first Nightside novel I ever read and got me hooked in the series. Going back and reading all the stories that led up to this one though, made the sort of wild claims and fantasies more grounded and make more sense. Plus as the second to last book in the series, I could understand the build up to the final novel better so it was nice to reread it.

5. Prodigal Son by Dean Koontz (Book #1 in the Frankenstein Novels)

What if Victor Frankenstein never died and for over 200 years was actively working on making more “creatures” who were meant to replace human beings and become the supreme beings of the world? Honestly its a fascinating exploration and I had absolute trust that Dean Koontz could kill it and he did. He creates the perfect gothic supernatural horror setting that many of his books are based in but also perfectly balances the perspectives of these people both helping and trying to stop Frankenstein. Set in New Orleans too, we get a create backdrop as a race to understand and stop Victor becomes the priorities of two cops and Frankenstein’s original creature.

6. A Time of Omens by Katherine Kerr (Book # 6 of the Deverry Cycle Novels)

Now that we’ve moved past a lot of the problematic issues in the first couple novels, I’ve really grown to like the current stories and premises of the Deverry Novels. Plus now that Nevvyn has died, we get to see how well prepared Jill is and also now have a different focus as Jill and Rhodry know much more than everyone else. Though the mystery and struggles of Evandar’s world and Dallandra’s exploration of it is a little chilling and is going to be a prominent place of conflict in the novels to come and I can’t wait to see where it goes. My only complaint is that Rhodry really needs to stop sleeping with everyone. I’ll never understand allosexuals....

7. The Wild Places by Robert MacFarlane

So when my last company fell apart and I was the only one left, I took these book my former boss left in the office and thought I would check them out. And while this was nonfiction, I actually found that I really appreciate reading about peoples exploration of natural world, introducing me to wonders in places I didn’t know existed and expressing the reasons why we must cherish and hold onto them. While I may never climb a snowy mountain and sleep overnight, I do appreciate people who feel the calling and the need to connect to nature in these ways to write so expressively about it and its why I enjoyed this book.

8. Turn Coat by Jim Butcher (Book #11 of the Dresden Files)

This was a fascinating spin in the series and the first time we’ve had a long break between the events of the novels. Set nearly a year after the previous story, Dresden is confronted with a challenge as the Wizard Morgan shows up wounded and on the run from the White Council seeking Harry’s help which is ironic given that Morgan wanted to execute Harry and has always had a bad relationship with him. To me that made the novel interesting and showed how much Harry has grown in order to be willing to help. Plus it actively showed that his suspicions of a Black Council is probably correct, leading for suspense in the upcoming novels.

9. Give and Take by Adam Grant

This was one of the other books I took from my previous job and in all honesty not my usual go to genre. I wasn’t a big fan of it too because essentially its message was maybe you don’t play the part of “I always get may” in order to succeed.... Duh? A lot of the skills he was introducing were not new to me and I have a hard time understanding who needs to hear these things as they seem like simple empathetic and and compassionate things to do.

10. Odd Apocalypse by Dean Koontz (Book #6 of the Odd Thomas Series)

I was very hesitant about jumping back into the adventures of Odd after his decision to actually kill people in the novel because I wasn’t sure where that would take him. And while his character has changed a lot because of that, I honestly felt he got pushed aside in this novel for the more interesting and bizarre events happening in this estate where there were too many other ‘odd’ characters running around and dealing with past and future timelines all converging together with various threats to end the world.

[btower3689]

You Are Sheol . 8

As she walks back towards the front of the station, Detective Lewis comes to find that the two men who accompanied Abraham are now parked outside, back from their trip to Mcdonalds, and waiting for Abraham to emerge.

She watches them make light conversation. The man in the passenger seat appears to be middle eastern, bearded, with shoulder length black hair. He scrolls mindlessly on his phone while he eats fries. The man in the driver’s seat is an older white man with black and silver hair that is short and close to his head. He is speaking, peering at the station and saying something to his comrade. He looks anxious, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel and shifting his eyes about; biting at the skin on his fingers and sipping shallowly from his drink. 

“There’s no real reason why they’d detain him, right?” Mark asks as he takes another sip of his water. The man sitting beside him, a 26 year old Arab named Ali, lifts his eyes from his phone screen and gives him a slightly annoyed expression. 

“Not if the kid doesn’t say shit. Abraham is just the concerned father looking for his kidnapped son,” he replies flatly. 

“Yeah…” Mark says as he shuffles in his seat, “ yeah… it’s a good thing I made him call in… or else it would have looked even more suspicious… right…?”

Ali leans against the car window and looks back at his phone. “Sure, bro. I just want them to hurry up so I can go home. I don’t know why he’s making all this fuss over one kid anyways.”

Mark nods and looks back towards the station distantly. 

“Alright, I’m gonna see what’s going on,” he says as he grabs Abraham’s iced tea. He takes a deep, self soothing breath, before exiting the car and heading towards the station. 

Detective Lewis watches Mark enter the station and approach the admin desk. She hears him ask when Abraham King will be released. 

“Excuse me,” Lewis says as she steps to Mark. She gives him a fake smile. “Hi, I’m Detective Lewis, I’m overseeing the investigation around Sheol and Abraham today. I was just hoping you’d be willing to answer a few questions for me, we’re just trying to work through some details, and we’d appreciate-,”

“Investigation?” Mark interrupts, “criminal investigation? On Abraham? Why? Is everything okay?” 

Detective Lewis takes a breath before taking a sip of her coffee. Why would Mark assume that Abraham is a suspect in the kidnapping of his own child? She thinks carefully about how to respond. 

“Mm- no, not against Abraham!” she chuckles lightheartedly, “we just want to get the best idea of when Sheol went missing and when you and Abraham started looking for him. Sheol is not documented in the vital statistics records of British Collumbia, so we need as many witnesses as possible to help us verify Sheol’s identity, piece together the timeline of events, as well as to… support any claims made by Abraham.”

Mark scratches his head and looks back towards his car, uncertainty murmuring “um..” as he debates what to do. “Do you live with Abraham and Sheol, sir?” Lewis asks, probing him deeper into conversation. 

“Live?” Mark echoes, “no, no, I just come by every now and then. I’m, uh… not related.”

“Would you be able to provide me with a home address for Abraham?” Lewis edges on.

“I actually can’t-,” Mark starts in a flustered hurry.

“We’re just really dry on details, sir-, what is it-?” she extends her hand for Mark to shake, prompting him to give his name. 

“Mark,” he answers. 

“Mark. Nice to meet you, Mark,” Lewis smiles. “Sheol is very tired and everyone is very confused and frustrated. If you can offer me a little bit of your time, you, Abraham, and Sheol can be out of here by nightfall. But the longer we have to scrape for information, the longer-”

“Alright,” Mark says, finally agreeing. “I just-, I got work in the morning so I don’t want to be here all night.”

“That’s perfectly understandable, Mark, we’ll make this quick. I’ll just get you to come with me,” Lewis answers as she leads him down a hall to the left. The loud clacking of Detective Lewis’ heels echo off the walls. Together, they venture down another hall into a small, quiet office. 

Mark sits in the brown office chair adjacent to the desk that Detective Lewis sits at. Before her is a large desktop computer and a black lamp. She flicks on the lamp and sets her coffee and binder down on the desk. 

“So, how do you know Abraham?” she asks. 

Mark scratches his chin. “We’re friends,” he answers simply, “we… y’know… drink and watch games together.”

Detective Lewis raises her eyebrows. “Oh. I was under the impression that Abraham was sober based on the whole… religious thing.”

“Oh no,” Mark smiles, “he drinks.”

“And when did Abraham make you aware that… Sheol was missing?” Lewis asks as she looks down at her notes. “Says here that Abraham called the police at… 3:00pm. Seems a little late, huh?”

Mark shuffles in his seat, “yeah,” he mutters, “he called me at around uh… I think 10… 10:20ish… am… he said he needed help searching the area for Sheol. He’s real… squirmish about police so he didn’t wanna get you guys involved… but then uh…” Mark goes quiet for a moment, “we searched for a few hours and… I convinced him to call the police.”

“You did?” Lewis questions.

“Yes, I… I had to talk to him. He doesn’t think straight when he’s high- high uh-, stress,” Mark fumbles.

“Mhm, understandable,” Lewis says as she writes in her notes. “How did he seem when you were with him, freaked out?”

“Freaked, yeah. Freaked for Sheol, yeah,” Mark nods. 

“And do you know the name of his mother?” Lewis continues on. 

Mark hesitates. “No.”

Detective Lewis eyes him carefully, “Then can you tell me the address of-”

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

The door to the room swings open without waiting for a response. A male officer enters the room and informs Detective Lewis that an officer in Lumby is requesting she speak on the phone. Lewis glances over at Mark before taking a breath and excusing herself from the room. 

She heads back towards the front of the station and receives the phone from reception. 

“Lewis speaking.”

“Hello, this is Officer Terry from Lumby. We’re just uncovering a bit of information here we think you should be aware of in regards to this situation with Abraham and Sheol.”

“Yes, please go ahead,” Lewis responds eagerly.

“Well, I’m sure by now you’ve seen Abraham’s record, he has a history down here in Lumby with his little religious group. We actually got a complaint against him for harassment from a guy, a David Melsborne, about 3 weeks ago, but that’s all still trying to be dealt with. I’m sure you’ve also heard about the mess we’ve been dealing with- with these indigenous uh- kidnappings-,”

Lewis wrinkles her eyebrow, “I’m sorry I’m not sure I know what you’re referring to.”

“These young indigenous girls from all around Lumby have been going missing, they’re all around 13 years old… one a month, since October. So far there’s been 13 girls taken. There’s been a big fucking stink over it on Instagram, have you seen #SEARCHTHELANDFILLS ?”

Detective Lewis closes her eyes with a disturbed sigh as she recalls the news articles and social media posts she’s seen in passing. “Yes, I’ve seen the hashtag,” she answers.

“So, whoever it is that’s taking these girls, for the last girl, Chenoa, they were really sloppy. There’s doorbell cam footage of a man in a face mask, crossing the front lawn and moving to the side of the house. After a while you can see Chenoa running down the street, you can see she’s limping… and bleeding… and then the man is seen chasing her and dragging her back towards what looks to be the headlights of a truck. But in all the tussle, she was able to actually rip the face covering off of the man, and we can see that he’s definitely an older black male… slim figure..-”

“Are you sending us the footage?” Lewis asks eagerly. 

“Yes, so you should have received an email, and… right off the bat… you can see… It looks like him. Right, the facial structure… is the same…”

Lewis frantically searches through her phone to find the email containing screenshots of the footage. In one particular frame, the attacker's full face is exposed to the camera, and while it is extremely blurry and poorly lit, the resemblance to Abraham is unmistakable. 

“What’s even more suspicious about this guy is… on paper, he’s homeless. He doesn’t own any assets, he doesn’t pay insurance. He’s not employed. His last recorded residential address is with his mother at… 14 301 Kingston Drive Toronto. Those were the details he gave police when he was most recently arrested in 2016 for driving without insurance and plates out here in Lumby… so obviously he’s not staying there, that was the only address he ever provided. When he called us about Sheol today, he said his place was “somewhere’ in the woods in the south east, but he refused to give a real address multiple times… we’re hoping that if we can figure out where he’s staying, we can get more info as to what the fuck is going on here.”

“You’re a diamond, Terry.” Detective Lewis says as she continues to inspect the evidence. 

“You guys have him detained right now, right?” Terry asks. 

“He’s not in cuffs but he’s in the interrogation room right now,” Lewis answers. “I’m talking to his buddy Mike right now, he seems very squeamish. I’ll keep you updated.” 

Terry and Lewis bid each other farewell and hang up the phone. 

Lewis stands outside the office where she left Mark for a moment as she ponders how best to proceed. 

...

[katie-the-bug]

God is my least favorite fictional character

Finally we reach Armageddon, the second-to-last book in the main Left Behind series. This one's actually kind of upsetting, though not for any reason the authors intended.

The cast:

The Tribulation Force: Rayford Steele, pilot; Buck Williams, journalist; Chloe Williams, organizer; Kenny Williams, infant; Tsion Ben-Judah, the greatest evangelist evah; Chaim Rosenzweig, Israeli convert; Mac McCullum, backup pilot; Abdullah Smith, backup to the backup pilot; Albie, former black-marketer, espionage expert; Chang Wong, IT guy; Naomi Tiberias, IT girl.

The Global Community: Nicolae Carpathia, Antichrist, risen lord and deity of the GC; Leon Fortunato, Satan's little helper; Viv Ivins, role unclear.

We open with Rayford, Abdullah, and Naomi going to New Babylon to retrieve Chang during a plague of darkness that only affects nonbelievers in the city. At the airport, Rayford meets a woman with the Mark of the Beast who's praying for God's help. Rayford is confused and tells her that her case is hopeless, even telling her that "God loved you," emphasis mine on the fucking PAST TENSE. It's good thing these books have never claimed that God's love is unconditional, because clearly God only cares for people who devote themselves to him before a deadline he will never make clear.

Rayford is even aware that God's rejection of this poor woman doesn't work out with the idea that God is loving and merciful, but it never occurs to him that maybe somebody's lying.

We learn that the family of Nicolae's secretary Krystall, who has taken the Mark, is harboring an "Uncle Gregory" who has refused to take the Mark. She hears Rayford in her office, but agrees to keep his presence a secret in exchange for information that will help her uncle avoid damnation. Here she is, helping believers at risk of death at the hands of an overzealous regime, but does God have any mercy for her? No!

Rayford and Abdullah take advantage of the darkness to straight-up walk into a meeting with Nicolae's highest officials. Leon calls the roll, and Abdullah expresses a temptation to call out his own name, just to confuse people. In the absence of any better options, I think Abdullah is my favorite character.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Chloe wanders out of her secure and well-hidden bunker to investigate some GC who have parked nearby. To nobody's surprise, she gets captured.

Albie, who used to be a pre-eminent black marketer, returns to the black market to hire a mercenary businessman and known killer of believers to bug Nicolae's new office. When he meets with the man, he's getting a tattoo that Albie knows commemorates a murder, and he even explains that sometimes he gets those tattoos in advance. To nobody's surprise, Albie gets killed.

Chang complains about his Mark of the Beast, which was applied to him while he was drugged a few books ago, and Tsion reassures him that it was "forced on you," thus Chang can still go to heaven. In a sane world, being threatened to do something under penalty of death if you refuse, which are the exact terms under which many others have received the Mark, would also constitute being forced, but the world of Left Behind is hardly sane.

Naomi tells her conversion story, and Chang remarks that he's heard many and "each one is unique." They're really not though. Every conversion story in this series goes something like this: "I was living a nice life and I didn't think much about Jesus. Then someone close to me told me I had to say some magic words or I would be Left Behind (TM). I ignored them, and then a few days later the Rapture happened. Then I realized I had been Left Behind (TM) and converted."

The Middle Eastern Abdullah is described at one point as "ethnic." Just once, I would like to see a white guy described as "ethnic."

The characters periodically get information from Krystall, who, to reiterate, has the Mark of the Beast and is thus damned. They don't mourn her eternal fate, they don't wonder why God couldn't save her - she's going to Hell and they're fine with that. God and his people will use this woman for all she's worth and then throw her away when they're done.

Chloe spends several chapters in prison, undergoing interrogation and awaiting her execution. This is the first time we've actually sat and thought about a character death - every other time, it's happened suddenly and often pointlessly, without reflection from the authors or characters. We hear Chloe's thought about her impending death and we see Buck trying every possible resource for way to save her, and it's actually somewhat moving. The emotions are dampened by the contrived circumstances, but still.

While Chloe and a number of others are being executed, an angel shows up to tell people to convert, and later blinds cameras and spectators with a bright light so nobody actually sees believers dying. That's nice and all, but if there's an angel right there, why not save the people who are about to die? Chloe's right there, about to die for believing in God, and God's just going to sit there and watch it happen.

We periodically hear about how Jewish people are being tortured in concentration camps, but, despite how much hype Nicolae's antisemitism is getting, the plight of Jewish people in this book is an afterthought.

Tsion addresses the question of how God can be loving and merciful and also kill billions with cataclysms. "What else could he have done...to shake men and women from their false sense of security and get them to look to him for mercy and forgiveness?" I dunno, talked to them maybe? Make a public service announcement? Put up posters? Literally anything that doesn't involve killing people?

Nicolae calls a meeting of his world leaders, who each wear a "themed outfit from his or her respective region." Namely, the South American leader has a sombrero, the Asian leader wears a kimono, and the North American leader has a cowboy hat. I would love for this book to be made into a movie so that everyone can see just how ridiculous this would look.

Lucifer, through Nicolae, gives his own account of creation - he, God, Jesus, and the angels, all the same type of entity, naturally emerged from primordial chaos, only for God and Jesus to claim leadership and banish Lucifer for asking too many questions. I know the authors want us to see this as obvious lies, but none of the characters were there at the beginning of time to see what really happened - it's the word of one evil cosmic entity against another, and there's no way to verify the truth. This gets at a question I have for people who claim to have knowledge given to them by gods - even if you can prove those gods are real, how do you know they're telling the truth?

Lucifer takes credit for attempts to wipe out the Jewish people throughout history and says he was foiled when God and Jesus "gave them back their own land." Nothing like a little Christian Zionism in the evening to put you off your dinner.

Discussing the powerful armaments possessed by the Global Community, Nicolae remarks "We do not want or need to destroy the planet." Yeah, God will take care of that.

It's mentioned that a third of the remaining Jewish population will convert to Christianity. Specifically, a third will convert and the rest will "be cut off and die." I assume the authors think that being God's chosen people doesn't save Jewish people from going to Hell when they die.

Tsion claims that they will soon be fighting "The War of the Great Day of God the Almighty." No. You'll be fighting the Battle of Armageddon and like it.

The GC army sent to take Petra and Jerusalem includes two hundred thousand horsemen. I understand that the Bible says that there will be horses, but this makes no real-world sense. Ignoring the fact that, barring extenuating circumstances, any sensible military person will choose a car over a horse...where are they getting that many horses? Between earthquakes, asteroid strikes, droughts, disease, and things spontaneously combusting, there shouldn't be anything left alive on the planet, let alone two hundred thousand battle-ready horses. Are they pulling these horses from the Horse Dimension? Is that what they're doing?

Rayford refers to the coming army of God as "the Calvary cavalry," and another character rightly replies "Too much time on your hands."

Tsion's insistence on being on the front lines in Jerusalem gets him killed. Good.

The book ends with both Buck and Rayford mortally injured, and we get a description of one of them - it never gives a name - bleeding out and dying. That's actually an okay cliffhanger - at least we know somebody's actually dead for once.

I can only assume the next one will be worse.

[rainbowuniversepageantsys]

Announcement!

I just wanted to take a moment to let my rainbowupvillage know that I am no longer on Facebook and will not be supporting this social media account in any way. There was a mistake made by Keanu Reeves where he made a racist statement (see image) and claims that Native Americans are the true Americans and if we don’t have native americans as our ancestors then we are all immigrants. So I commented on it and told him he needed to do his research on Middle Easterns and Africans and instead of him responding like an intelligent respectful man, he didn’t like my comment and sent a message to Facebook to flag me and remove my comment which was not racist, his was. So because he is a celebrity white male (and yes, his race and gender have a lot to do with it) they listened to him and if he can make comments like that then why can’t I make a comment about him being wrong? That’s not fair.

Also, as you already know Chris Hemsworth has been working hard to destroy my family and taint my reputation and good name so he used both of my sisters, pimped them out and then partnered with Facebook employess (who also said yes to him because he is a white male celebrity with a lot of money) and decided to play games with my followers, friends and family. I get a lot of views on my other social media and engagement (Pinterest, Twitter, Tumblr, YouTube and Instagram), but Facebook has no engagement and very few responses except from 2 or 3 of the same people who also made a deal with Facebook to pretend to be my friend like Estelle, who is not my friend, she is related to Chris Hemsworth.

Anyway, my own family and friends were contacted on Facebook where I post the most and were told they would receive compensation from Chris Hemsworth and his friend Michael Stanislaus if they ignored my posts and did not respond to anything I posted on Facebook including my personal posts. They all agreed and none of them communicate with me anymore, including Dana Kaiser who I thought was my friend. I went to high school with these people and I have people on here I went to church with and my own immediate family members, cousins and uncles and aunts. All wanted to hurt me because they found out Chris Hemsworth fell in love with me and told all of them but he was having sexual relations with my two sisters instead and tried to proposition my nephews and my niece as well.

My sisters hated me so much they listened to everything he told them as long as he didn’t talk to me or give me any money and they made a deal. So I am angry and saddened by what has transpired with a group of evil, jealous celebrities and my family and friends who should be very ashamed of themselves. These people have been working hard to bring me down and steal my youth empire from me all because I don’t listen to their mind control which is how all of this started. I have trained myself and stay very close to God to block mind control and it works and Chris Hemsworth is a mastermind at mind control and he can’t seem to get me to listen to him so he doesn’t like me because of that but he has feelings for me that he won’t express outwardly to me, he tells everyone else and no Elsa Pataky is not his wife, ask him. He engages in sexual deviant affairs with lots of whorish women and men and his fans don’t know about it. So I had to remove all of my pages (Brand Ambassador Buddies – which has been copied but it’s just social media posts, you can’t run a business with a social media post, Angelic Rainbow Enterprises, Rainbow Universe Pageants & Youth Services, Jesus Net – my own design and creation).

[tess-eh]

Blog Post #3

African American Studies 112A

Professor Due 

02/01/2024

Blog Post #3

This week we discussed the films, Candyman (1992), Candyman (2020), and Ouanga, as well as two short stories from the book “Out There Screaming” called “Pressure” and “The Most Strongest Obeah Woman in the World”. What I appreciated about this week’s work is that it wasn’t all technically considered to be black horror, so I was able to compare films the films that are and aren’t and see what interpretative elements as well as themes overlap and are unique. Ouanga is a horror film, but it is not a black horror film, even though it includes aspects of race, racism, and even slavery. This is important to note because black horror is not just about race, as we know, and there are different versions of black horror. The horror in Ouanga was centered around the fear of blackness, especially black voodoo, which we see is a very prominent element in the film. It’s a spiritual piece and contains themes that we rarely ever see even today in Hollywood, such as a black woman standing up to a white man. While this film was still uncomfortable to watch, I really appreciated the parts in the film, similar to this, that are unconventional on screen and in reality because it allows the viewer to transcend into this world. 

The short stories, “Pressure” and “The Most Strongest Obeah Woman in the World”, similar to Ouanga, also contained spiritual or supernatural elements, which were initially confusing to see. In “Pressure”, he’s fighting against racism within his own family. So it is also a cautionary tale, in which we don’t really see the horror aspects until the end of the story when it all comes together. At times, I was able to relate to the protagonist, because it felt like for him, seeing his family felt like a death sentence, and while my family is certainly not as extreme as this one in which there are actual threats or safety concerns, I absolutely feel underlying racism within my family, because they essentially only associate with people of their own kind. I am Middle Eastern and Jewish, and my family doesn’t want to even hear what I have to say about my friends or boyfriend if it doesn’t include them being Middle Eastern and Jewish too– spoiler alert, they aren’t. It makes me feel uncomfortable to even talk about my life with my family because of their deliberate racism, which in turn has made me distance myself from them. 

In both versions of Candyman, he is a black man, which makes this film have an instinctive racial aspect to it. The original is more problematic than the latter because in the original, Candyman is the villain, who is black, and is attacking the victim who is a white woman, and framing her for these murders. He also ‘claims’ her as his, which adds in a very weird and disturbing sexual aspect to Candyman, which not only made it uncomfortable to watch but once again made Hollywood seem obsessed with this trope that a black man is the sexually violent villain against the innocent white woman. In the newer Candyman from 2020 by Jordan Peele, I enjoyed it much more because it was more entertaining for me to watch, and it also felt scarier. It’s almost like a mystery that is being pieced together as we discover who Anthony really is, and that becoming Candyman is his destiny. I also appreciated the more expansive cast in the 2020 Candyman, where it felt like there were even more black actors than white, making this a true black horror film.

[chongoblog]

I'm gonna share the story here. So last night, Red watched the beginning of some video that I'm sure they can link if they want discussing a series of Lifetime movies by a director named David Decoteau called "The Wrong..." series, with movies like "The Wrong Roommate", "The Wrong Child", etc. Before Red watched the video in full, they wanted to experience these movies themself with Emily and I, mostly inspired by the fact that Decoteau was also the director of this:

Now, "The Wrong..." series is its own can of worms. We only ended up seeing 2 of the 26 of them made in the last 8 years, but it seems like they all have the same cast and use the exact same model home. However, before we watched those movies, we looked through the filmography and found "Bigfoot vs. DB Cooper". Upon hearing that name, I knew we had to see that one first.

And it's the movie of all time.

-First of all, you'll notice in most pictures you see of this movie, the men are half-naked. Yep. It's never graphically explicit, but if you want an idea, it's still fully available on Youtube, but I'd still recommend against watching it if you're under 18.

-The first almost 11 minutes follow a shirtless guy running through the woods while being stalked by Bigfoot. Then we finally get a title card after nothing happens.

-They use the same house from "The Wrong..." series, which we noticed during the two movies we saw after.

-A sizeable chunk of the movie is dedicated to men stripping down in their underwear and posing sexily, usually with guns.

-The story has Bigfoot systematically killing each of these men one by one, usually unceremoniously killing them in the bathroom.

-There is one exception to the above where Bigfoot lovingly and sensually strokes a man's abs for over a minute, and THEN kills him.

-DB Cooper is played by the guy who voices Frank West in Dead Rising

-DB Cooper doesn't even meet Bigfoot until the last 5 or so minutes of the movie

-I'm not gonna say how THAT ends, but it's a trip after the hour of Nothing that happens before it.

-We tried to watch another movie directly after and needed time to adjust since the pacing in BFvDBC made glaciers look like they needed to calm down, so the next movie having a conversation a minute in was a lot for us.

-Upon doing some research, I found a small AMA on reddit from someone who claimed to be working as crew on this film. And while it's not verified, I'm still going to share some of my favorite tidbits.

-Multiple crew members asked if it was a porn. The director insisted it was a real movie because they got Linnea Quigley on board, an actress who none of those crew members knew.

-The director refused to get stock footage for some reason. So he told two of his crew members to just sneak around the airport and get as close as they could to the planes to get footage of them taking off and landing. The big problem with that is that the two people he sent for this job were the only two Middle Eastern crew members. They were detained and they quit the project the day after the director helped get them out.

-The actor who played Bigfoot was drinking on set, since he had a pretty solid history as a stuntman in films, and now he was in Bigfoot vs DB Cooper.

-Apparently, the catering was incredible

Anyway, movie of all time

We watched a movie called "Bigfoot vs DB Cooper" and it is not at all what would you expect it to be. It warped my perception of time. It made me feel something.