#that monkey knows too much imho

[fluffypotatey]

"Ignoring his own impact on wukong" owww. That got me. Fell into the same trap while reading the fic

yee that’s what hay we get with a Macky only pov :3 he is so biased and full of self loathing and projection please get therapy my guy

[ultfreakme]

I’ve honestly just learned to ignore and block all of Jay’s haters atp because all they’re doing is just trying to get a reaction out of people, mostly DC editorial. They literally message, tag, make essays and do all kinds of shit nonstop just so they can “persuade” the writers at DC to give them what they want, it’s like watching toddlers pulling a tantrum tbh.

If DC editorial cared even a little bit about what these people want or think they would’ve done something about it by now imho. But they probably see how disgusting, evil, and malicious the hate is that they refuse to give them what they want especially for a character who isn’t even a bad person. No one’s hurting them or stopping them from liking the things they like either so their hate really is unfounded.

It’s pretty sad especially for LGBT+ Asians to see so many people have such a vicious and scathing reaction to him simply existing but when people are that mindlessly hateful there’s really not much else you can do but ignore them, and I firmly believe is what DC editorial has chosen to do. I’m just glad Jay is still even present and being mentioned by name in the stories and I really hope they keep him.

Also people don’t realize Jon’s content is very scarce since he’s usually overshadowed by Clark just like how Bruce’s content overshadows his kids, so I hope DC will try to pump out a little more content for him.

I;m usually pretty good about blocking people, like my block list is super duper long and like in my head, I know half of this is just to get a rise out of Jay fans, but sometimes monkey-brain react. But yeah I totally get you.

DC is terrible at handling POC characters and if they didn't want Jay around, he'd be gone. But he's only becoming more prominent as the years pass and he's even part of an event now (a thing I thought won't happen for another 10 years). Like you have no idea, how much I was shaking, when I saw Jon asking for Jay right after coughing up blood and being brainwashed, and also saying "The Truth" is what's important to BQ. It feels especially significant to Jay because we got spoilers from the Nicole & Sina stream that Jay is very present in Absolute Power: Super Son, when Jon was fighting against the mind control. At least with Jon, it's a bit of a reference to Jay too, thematically.

On an objective level, I know Jay is here to stay. A lot of characters who were introduced around the same time as him, or even later than him have just kinda disappeared. But I am glad DC themselves have clearly chosen to ignore the haters regardless of the spam and the hate.

I think these days, there's people turning against the de-age Jon stans(especially on twitter and a lot on tiktok) primarily because they are.......the way they are......General comic fans who aren't particularly into Superfam are recognizing it. I think this is the best the atmosphere has ever been in terms of support and love for Jay and Jon.

And you're so right on Jon's content being scarcer. Other than Batman and Superman, no other character gets consistent books or a guaranteed, continuous run. The others who do have been around for decades, like Poison Ivy, Harley, Nightwing, etc. Even Wonder Woman doesn't have her Sensation Comics. In terms of a bigger picture, for how recent Jon is, he's doing pretty fantastic. He's always in events, he's got two independent runs, he's getting a new solo issue with AP: Super Son. I think we've been getting at least one solo Jon project a year since SOKE.

Relatively speaking, he's fine. And I think people also tend to assume he's being too overshadowed by Clark because the de-agers just dismiss any run where Jon shows up these days, unless it fits their perception of what he is now.

Like I had this argument with someone twitter, where they said you can't count Beast World, Lazarus Planet, Nightwing, Action Comics, and DC Pride appearances as Jon content because they aren't solo books. Which is frankly absurd. This also involves a lot of Jay mentions and appearances.

Jay, Nika and Nia are the only characters who were introduced around that 2021-2022 time that are still relevant, and they continue to grow. I think outside of Tom King, everyone else have also started to realize the Damian-Jon friendship just can't be taken back to the way it was so they're each getting stories very separate from one another. Even Jon's stories and themes are getting more divorced from Clark.

Thanks for the message!! Sorry about vent posting like that. I hope we get to see and enjoy more of Jay in the future! I think we might be getting a new run with Jon, or more of just Jon, Jay and Nia based on Nicole's projects and hwo she talks about their future (she called Jay 'Gossamer' so I'm hoping we get to see him function more a superhero in the future!)

[ihopesocomic]

So, this is a response to this one anon who said they saw Zira as a devout follower rather than a lover of Scar and had their own theories about the father of her cubs (I think you said you believe it to be one of Rani's relatives?) because Tumblr is fun and ate their ask ugh.

-

What we know is the following:

Scar did not have a canon mate on screen and expressed absolutely no interest in having one. And no, I'm not counting him having a crush on Sarabi in the remake because the remake is garbage.

It is stated numerous times that Scar did not father Kovu. Yes, this is so it's not problematic for him and Kiara to be a thing but it further confirms that Zira's infatuation with Scar was probably one-sided.

Kovu was the last cub born in Scar's kingdom before Simba took it back and exiled his loyalists.

The whole script is a colossal mess because it's clear to me that Nuka, Vitani and Kovu were meant to be Scar's children by their designs and the frantic 'doth protest too much' additions to the script that Kovu isn't so he can hook up with Kiara, even though it's weird how Scar would pick this random cub that doesn't belong to him to be his heir. Though we only have Zira's word on this and she's obviously... Not all there. :c

And we have to accept that because yeah, nobody wants a canon incestuous Disney relationship on their hands and the writers wanted to do a Romeo and Juliet storyline so bad lol

So, yeah, I guess I've always seen Zira as just being a devout follower as well, even though the reasons for her loyalty are never fully established. If it's not because she was his mate, then something else needed to brought to the table. Unfortunately, it was not and the ages of her cubs complicate matters further. They're too young for her to have had a mate that Mufasa killed in some sort of dispute and they're too old for them to have been fathered by another male after they were exiled, as evidenced by point number 3.

Yes, people have theorised that Nuka and Vitani were fathered by Scar and they were overlooked for Kovu due to being too weak and a female respectively but it's still highly unlikely that Scar would pick a unrelated cub as his heir and Vitani is perfect and awesome and he was never established as a sexist either? That's the whole reason he recruited the hyenas: he knew that the lionesses would rally together and kick his ass ten times over without breaking a sweat. So, if Vitani was his daughter, I have no doubt she would've been picked as his heir over a Random McRandomlion's kid.

It's truly a set of affairs that has befuddled TLK fans and will continue to do so, because - no matter how much you swing it - there's always some major point of various fan theories that try and 'solve' this issue that still don't make a lick of sense. Unless our Romeo and Juliet couple (whether it be Kovu/Kiara, Kopa/Vitani, Vitani/Kiara or w/e) does not play into it, of course. Which seems a small sacrifice to make imho. Because that's truly the monkey wrench in this whole operation. oof

Which is a shame because Scar having a mate and followers and kids was a neat thing to explore and makes Zira a very compelling villain and it just makes me question if the Romeo and Juliet storyline was worth it in the end. You still could've had your Shakespearian link by making Zira a Lady Macbeth figure, which she very much is. It just doesn't seem worth it for all the mess it's created and the fandom frantically trying to fix it for 30 years lol

And that's just honestly how I feel about any theory that crops up about this. I can feel people are really trying to make it work... but it just doesn't because of what we know for a fact: that those kids were 100% meant to be Scar's. No question. - RJ

[tyrionsnose]

I read this post about revolutionary villains and it got me thinking about what is so weird and unsatisfying (besides generally awful writing) about Tyrion’s ending in GOT, even though he ostensibly “won the game.” And yeah, yeah, I’m not really interested in hearing about how him surviving is an example of the writers letting privileged men off the hook because...it isn’t. Despite ending as hand of the king, Tyrion is also punished by the narrative in some weird ways and ones that are specifically designed to de-emphasize those aspects of his character that do make him a revolutionary figure in the books.

They couldn’t kill Tyrion because he’s a popular character, he drinks and he knows things, he’s played by Emmy winning Peter Dinklage, and he provides a lot of the show’s comic relief (although it stopped being a relief a while ago because again, poor writing). But they did something worse to the character, imho, they neutered him.

If Daenerys is a revolutionary and a kind of well-intentioned extremist, Tyrion’s character has always been a deconstruction of another villain trope that sort of goes hand in hand (no pun intended) with that archetype: that of the evil advisor.

I’m thinking about this in part because I just went to see the new live action Aladdin, in which the villain, Jafar, frequently rants about how being second isn’t enough for him, he has to rule everything. He even compares himself to the title hero, implying that he too started from nothing and worked his way up. It’s another story about using magic to upset the social order, and it’s interesting to look at since, at least for me, the original movie provides one of the most recognizable pop culture examples of the evil chancellor who is motivated by naked ambition. It’s also a trope rife with ableist and racist implications.

What’s sort of interesting about Tyrion is that he plays the role of the evil chancellor in different ways at various points in the narrative. In the asoiaf books he is a clear deconstruction of the role, and this is actually made explicit in A Clash of Kings, when he is labelled a “demon monkey” and blamed for Joffrey and Cersei’s crimes. His later motivation for joining Daenerys’ revolution in the books is initially a desire for personal revenge, but it’s also something that comes about because he himself has been booted by the system and blamed for other people’s crimes because of his vulnerability as a disabled person, and his own family helps to let him take the fall for this because he’s a convenient scapegoat. A revolution is what Tyrion needs to help him get back his birthright, and by the end of ADWD he is already starting to believe in Daenerys’ cause despite himself.

In the show, Tyrion is motivated to aid Daenerys because he believes in her cause, because he believes that she can change the world for the better. He is explicitly told in season five that he himself cannot hope to rule because of who he is, but he can aid another in creating a world where people like him are not abused and used as scapegoats. He comes to believe in Daenerys not only for what it means to him personally but also because he genuinely believes that she can make things better for everyone. In the scene where Tyrion is made Daenerys’ hand, he gives a speech about how she restored his belief in justice. It’s interesting to note that the way this scene is filmed, Tyrion is standing a step above Daenerys so that the height difference between them is minimized. They are on equal footing, and Daenerys treats Tyrion as an equal where previously other characters saw him as lesser because of his disability. As Joffrey’s hand, he is constantly belittled and undermined, and then disposed of when he is no longer useful to the Lannister regime. Here, Dany has purposefully made him her equal, and also defends his right to sit in her council when others attempt to belittle him.

A big problem on the show is that the writers did not really know what to do with Tyrion once he joined Daenerys, though, so he spent a long time treading water. As I said above, the show could not kill him, but they couldn’t let the Tyrion from the books be portrayed onscreen, either. He had to be stripped of all of his ambition and made largely a passive actor, lest he be accused of the same thing the characters in A Clash of Kings accused him of. And indeed, he becomes the scapegoat for Daenerys when she needs someone to lash out at. When the narrative calls for it, he gives bad advice - because revolutions are not supposed to work out - and when the narrative calls for someone to give lip service about Dany’s “madness,” he becomes Exposition Guy, because he drinks and he knows things and he’s there to give information but doesn’t really have any personal interests anymore, he’s just an advisor to everyone else. This was contradictory because the show ALSO seemed to be promoting the narrative that he wasn’t as smart as he thought he was - which is a common narrative aimed at marginalized people that dare to be competent. The show also seemed to be characterizing him as someone who is “easily offended,” who “can dish it but can’t take it,” also stereotypes about marginalized groups. Meanwhile the show has characters remark and point out how stagnant he is. In season 8 he spends a lot of time waffling between Varys, Jon Snow, Sansa, and Dany, but then when the show needs someone to do the dirty work and explain to Jon Snow the hero why he has to kill Daenerys, it’s Tyrion who does that, because he can do all the manipulative and less savory stuff that our heroes can’t do. As he tells Jaime, he can do this because is a “bad person,” and specifically invokes his dwarfism when he explains this. “Tens of thousands of innocent lives, one not-particularly-innocent dwarf. Seems like a fair trade.”

And yeah, he’s made hand to king Bran at the end, but he’s also right back where he started. Tyrion’s learned his lesson about trusting in revolutionaries, he’s back in a role of servitude, and the social order has been maintained. He doesn’t even get a mention in the “Song of Ice and Fire” because he doesn’t get his own story, he’s literally there to give advice to and serve others. The fact that he’s technically lord of Casterly Rock and the Westerlands now doesn’t even get a mention, just like he doesn’t get a mention in the “book of the book.” I guess he really does just drink and know things, after all, but what he should have known is that this story was never about him. I saw a lot of criticism of the finale along the lines of Tyrion talking too much, and he does, but hardly any of what he actually says is about himself, it’s all about others and “the realm,” and explaining the story to the audience so that the writers can make sure we draw the right conclusions. Book Tyrion is a character of deep longings and rage against the way things are, a perfect pair for Dany’s revolutionary spirit. Show Tyrion doesn’t even really seem to want things anymore, his appetites dulled. Dying for his own ideals would have been a better ending than having his edges gradually sanded off and whittled away until he’s literally just a hand and a voice for whoever is in charge.

[braskide]

[ @baajisms ] : big mood on the whole x-2 thing in the tags. sure it's a tonal shift from x, but it still has some very dark moments in it (den of woe, shuyin & lenne, vegnagun, the whole guado vs ronso thing). I think part of it is it's very bright & colourful & people are /happy/ & costume changes & that one minigame. it's cheesy in places and it's not perfect, but that's also what makes it really refreshing after X (and admittedly, some of the older games as well).

i forgot to mention the guado/ronso situation too like!!!! in my post it was mostly yuna centric --- and that speaks volume for itself, imagine if we were to actually come up in a summary about the whole darker plot of x-2 for all parties involved lmfao. the gameplay itself is also the most fun the franchise has ever had the pleasure to have imho, and in itself it should already be worthy that way. but the worst thing is that people who pretentiously hate it just stop that and that’s the bigest mistake one can make about it all. x-2 really deepens what was started in x --- all the tension between the people of spira, that was only an additional burden to the sin plague --- but people really think it’s only about the dress changes. 

also, on that monkey matchmaking minigame. i swear i don’t want it to make it that deep, but it really is that deep. the whole issue to start with is that zanarkand is a sacred place that is being used as a money maker. and the fact that isaaru has in it just shines the light we need to know what is going on in spira with ex-summoners after the eternal calm ( and also makes you think of the other ex-summoner figure we see, in this case dona being politically invested in the life of spira and that also makes you realize her depth as a character!! it really makes me think of how she actually was never in for the fame of being a high summoner, but she deeply cares about spira and its people. it also brings back memories from her in x on the airship, when she just.. straight up wants to give up her journey but that’s just me going aboard with the subplots fjs;djka ) the fact the minigame exists cause people need to go away from sacred ground / a place that meant so much to the high summoner and that she realizes it means so much to summoners before her ( it also doesn’t help, i think, that her father was there right before her too imho. ) so really. if you stop for a second and think about the nature of the minigames, it all comes into perspective. of course not all minigames have that kind of depth to it ( like, i don’t know, the publicity stunt or the matchmaking for the marriage of the guy from the calm lands ) but if you think of actually how dark x-2 is, you also realize how those minigames are needed in order to make it.. lighter. in the end, if you put it all in the perspective of how the plot plays out, it really is the other way around in regards of minigames and co. 

also. via infinito in itself is just an insane mindfuck. 

[dragonpiango]

My review of 2019

January:

So I recently graduated from community college in the previous December, and I started university at HT with a scholarship for piano performance. Honestly I thought going to a HBCU was going to be weird, but turns out I’m not much of an outcast. It was a nice transition to a new setting and new people and a breath of fresh air! It was amazing having a practice room to myself and the mental thought of “getting to know my music” became a reality although my first piano lesson with my new professor was strange. His impression of me was way different than what I thought. Although he is a outstanding teacher, he might have overthought what I was capable of.... him assigning me my pieces and they consisted of Bach French suite No. 5 in G Major, Mozart sonata K.332 in F Major, Chopin Nocturne in D-flat Major, Chopin Scherzo No.2 in b-flat minor, and the most memorable piece IMHO Ravel’s Une Barque Sur L’Ocean from Miroirs.

February:

So still settling into a new university and meeting new people (although I just stayed in the music building bc that’s where all my classes were) it was Black History Month. Being apart of the choir at school and the only ensemble they offered, we were pretty busy with a lot of performances BUT it was enlightening too. Everyone has been so welcoming and coming from a background in classical music I’ve been introduced to Gospel music not only for voice, but piano. From accompanying spirituals to gospel it really has opened my eyes that music doesn’t have to be so strict. It is a way of expressing emotions and from then on I took my repertoire more seriously in the sense each piece had its own “character.”

March:

This month is a crucial one, not only did I find my “clique” at school, but they only consisted of two people. Ant and KayP. Not going to use their names but these two were the only two that understood who I was and I understood who they were. We might have drifted a little bit since one has graduated but in the mean time, during these few months, have been my shoulder to cry on. They were very talented vocalist who taught me a lot in the sense of accompanying and vice versa. Since our school is small, our “accompanist” was my piano teacher, so every rehearsal was around his schedule, until I came into the picture. They really pushed me to get out of my comfort zone and really get me to where I need to be. During this time, I was still working retail and I have a true appreciation for those who commit full time to retail because lemme tell y’all. That shit is a lot of work. Especially around holidays. Balancing out school and work was a struggle, but I managed through especially when I don’t have a piano at home. I have to go to school to practice and with retail, all my extra time would be working.

April:

By this time, everyone is stressing because of finals, but luckily since I grabbed an associates degree from COmmunity college, I didn’t have to take my core classes and cry. Music classes were all my focuses were on especially performance. I had a few performances in between for our seminar where we perform in front of all the music students, and for me, being a pianist, I didn’t have to rely on my teacher for rehearsals and accompanying. I just focused on me and this got me ready for our benefit concert that I was honored to be a part of. KayP being the current Miss HBCU and queen of the school, decided to raise money for students of troubled pasts who have really turned their lives around in college and made a great GPA would be rewarded with scholarship money that we raised. I was the one who got to close the whole show out and it truly was an amazing experience. Being able to perform for a great cause is always heart warming and I will cherish that moment forever.

May:

So the semester comes to an end and I have juries (where we perform our pieces in front of the faculty and get graded ) what I did not know is that since our school is so small, they invite and pay other professors from the biggest university next to us UT Austin and have them come sit and grade us as well. That to me was a shock moment, because coming from a university in a small town before we had enough people and knew everyone. Community college DIDNT have juries for piano which was odd, but this was a perfect opportunity to really put my hard work into good use. After juries, I did splendid with a few mistakes that I was able to recover from, and lemme tell y’all. No performance is perfect. And I have accepted that. My piano teacher hooked me up with one of his good friends who owns and directs her own music school and I became a piano teacher there. Oddly, I’m the youngest teacher there with no doctoral degree and am working on a BA still..... but none the less, this transition really opened my eyes.

June:

School is finally out, and I reduced my retail job to just Saturday. I finally got my reputation as a teacher at my new job and gained students rather quickly to where I was almost booked up Monday through Friday. With little to no teaching experience it was a trial and error process. I was taking over a studio of a former teacher who had visa issues. So all his students were a tad skeptical with me more so their parents. But after observing lessons and learning their names it was only a matter of time that I was teaching them and really became someone they look up to. It started off rocky because I wasn’t used to a build your own schedule, from what I’ve experienced with teaching at a music school is that someone does the schedule for you. Not in this case, so having to communicate and try to accommodate every students schedule was a tough start, but once I got used to it, the ride was easy from there. Unfortunately, most students were gone on vacation so I had to work with only a few who stayed in town and accommodate those who were in town for that week. That aside, my communication improved after constantly talking with parents 24/7.

July:

This is where life gets exciting. My boyfriend had surprised me with tickets to go to Chicago. I would go back because the city is amazing and food is delicious and it’s easy to get around in Chicago. It was a nice break from work and really helped me bond with my partner. During this time we had two cats. One names Roger and the other Gladys. So a little back story, when I moved in with my partner, his cats basically adopted me. Gladys was a daddy’s girl and kept to Todd mostly but she was very seeet with me and made adorable monkey noises when you picked her up and cuddled with her. She was diagnosed with cancer and the year before that we made the decision to remove her tumor and hope that she would live a healthy life. Well this is where the tumor came back full force and in Chicago, I was a wreck because I felt bad enjoying my time away and leaving her at home. My partner (who is the mature one in our relationship) had a sit down with me about what to do with her and I lost it. He didn’t want to put her down either, but it was for the best. We agreed to keep her comfortable until we knew it was time. Before the month ends tho, we are back home and my sisters boyfriend sends me a text saying he is serious about her and wants to marry her. The retail I work for is a jewelry store and he had asked me to help pick out a diamond for my sister since he knew what she wanted. So this was the good news. We find the diamond, and have it set in her favorite setting and my boyfriend who is full of surprises gets me a ticket to visit her in LA.

August:

So my birthday month is here, and I fly out to LA to deliver the ring to my now sisters fiancé and they fly out to Italy and he does the deed and she says yes. Happy note. But as school starts back up for the new semester, my partner had a issue to where he would be in a state to where he couldn’t move much due to a unusual circumstance. And before that we decided to put Gladys down. It was a tough decision but we gave her the best life we could ever had hoped for her and I was emotionally drained from everything. Having to keep a positive attitude for my students and going to school and being an adult in general. The only way I got thru this period is from my best friend and coworker who knows what it’s like to go through life and it’s always better to have an open mind and ear to talk to. I call her my mamma because she’s like a mother figure to me but also a amazing friend. Without her, I probably wouldn’t have been mentally there at all for anyone. In the time of summer until now I haven’t had a chance to practice because I forgot to mention that i had a Jr recital coming up which is why my repertoire was so big.

September:

After everything passed and I’m in a better mental state, I proceed to my schedule of school and work and find a time to practice in between. What’s great about this month is that since the semester just started, I had plenty of time to catch up on my practice and really get my lessons to become productive in shaping and understanding different musical styles. My partner is all better and life is great because I was in the best part of my life. Doing well in school, amazing texting job, and a best friend who is there for me and most importantly my partner. He’s been my rock since we first met and I can always rely on him and vice versa. He understood that with my free day off that I needed to spend it practicing and told me to go for it and be as productive as I can. I honestly wasn’t used to that kind of support but I am grateful.

October:

This is where reality hits and my recital is next month. I get very crazy about everything. I had all my music learned but because of my indecisiveness, I kept changing how I shaped everything and my mind goes blank. Probably a dark time for me because I didn’t know how to handle this kind of stress. I’ve put on hour long recitals before and the only thing different this time is that I’m getting graded and want to make such a great impression to further my education to a dictator degree. The dress was eating me alive and on top of that, one of my students decided he wants to enter in a competition and I say why not. Let’s do it. Getting him ready for that and keeping my sanity was hard to do but I managed. He did well, but not well enough to get a medal but his parents were very impressed with how quickly he progressed with me. That’s always a plus, right?

November:

The month has come for me to have my big recital and I invited all my friends and coworkers and they all made it. I was truly nervous but if you don’t get nervous, are you even human? It turned out wonderful although the first piece (Bach French suite) was shaky, I had to tell my self that I was having fun and everyone here is here to support me and want me to do well. That little talk was a confidence booster and ended the recital flawlessly. After my recital, my job has their student recitals so my focus was all on my students doing the best they can and having fun. This month was fun because I was selected to do masterclasses for piano students through out my job and it was very enlightening to see how talented the new generation of musicians are! Only positive comments because I couldn’t honestly find anything wrong with any of the students performances and their teachers are amazing.

December:

So getting all my students ready for their recital was a big time investment but totally worth it because they all performed so well and I honestly cried bc I felt like a proud parent LOL. But after that was time for the semester to end up and one class was making me go crazy. Everything ended well and I had ALL A’s and one B but I know what to expect for next semester and everything will be great. Honestly this year has me all sorts of fucked up with emotions and I proved to myself that when I stay committed, I can really achieve what I want. This year was a great year for me and a way to end a decade because when 2020 starts, I know what I need to do and where I need to be.

[wanderingthroughwickford]

So some thots on RAN! 

It’s one of the few games in my replay that I didn’t come out of thinking “this is better than I remember” ... but at the same time, I stand by my personal opinion that it’s not the worst Nancy Drew game. For me, it’s maintained its position as third-worst, above CRE and TOT. (Though I haven’t fully played MED yet, so time will tell). 

Things I liked:

The basic plot: one of Nancy’s friends being kidnapped by someone who has it out for her. I’ve said it before, that as much as I love the typical “solve mysterious hauntings/accidents and find a treasure” plot, it has been done ad nauseam in these games and it is always nice to have something different. 

And yes, I know that there’s still a “find a treasure” plot here, but the main incident is a kidnapping/disappearance and that’s pretty rare in the series (I think 4 out of 32 games?)

The historical backstory with El Toro’s treasure. Not really anything groundbreaking, but interesting enough that it elevates it above CRE and TOT at least. I like the idea of these sailors being stranded on a desert island and coming up with a way to hide their treasure from pirates, but gradually having their numbers and their hope whittled down as years go by without rescue. Idk, it’s the right combination of tragic, mysterious, and overly-complex to make a good Nancy Drew backstory. 

It DOES fall into that trap of “how in the world did people from [x] time period manage to construct all these elaborate puzzles” and ... yeah, it’s especially bad in that regard seeing as these were stranded sailors with virtually no resources, but on the other hand, this cliche doesn’t really distract me all *that* much, and seeing as Curse of Blackmoor Manor is one of my favorite games (and that probably takes the PRIZE for anachronistic complexity) I don’t feel like I can judge much. 

The amount of things we can do. Sailing, diving, climbing, driving, metal-detecting, playing with monkeys, etc. I didn’t necessarily like the execution of all these things, but the sheer variety of tasks we were able to do? Lots of fun. They fully took advantage of the ‘tropical island vacation’ theme. 

A lot of the puzzles, while needlessly complex, are fun once you actually figure out how to do them. I really enjoyed the codebreaking, the GPS wayfinding thing, and ... don’t @ me, but even the hourglasses.

And now for the elephant in the room ... I actually really, really like the final twist. Not *specifically* that it was Dwayne Powers (I’ve never played STFD), but the fact that the culprit was a villain from another game out for revenge on Nancy. I think that’s an amazing idea; I’d LOVE to see more past villains come back (yay for continuity!) and imho it kind of serves as a bit of a love-letter to long-term fans. I also thought it was a neat idea to not have the villain be captured at the end for once, so their fate is a little more ambiguous. 

This is small but thanks to UHS hints I realized there’s actually an optional treasure you can find at the end if you look hard enough in the room? And I think that’s neat; I don’t know if I ever noticed that before and I like when there are little surprises that may be overlooked during a first playthrough.

Coucou veers between ‘like’ and ‘dislike’ for me but ... gdi I love birds and I sometimes found her endearing so she’s going on the ‘like’ pile.

Things I didn’t like:

Basically everything everyone else has been saying for the past 10 years

I’m ... not really *that* keen on outdoorsy, not-very-historical settings for Nancy Drew games, but that’s a personal bias and shouldn’t actually affect the quality of the game. (I love DOG, DDI, and SHA, for instance). Still, I have to admit, RAN’s setting didn’t do all that much for me, and this was more due to execution. A tropical island isn’t really that ~mysterious~ a setting, so you have to work hard to give it that sort of atmosphere and this game just ... didn’t. 

A big factor in that is that the game is just so non-immersive. SO many of the areas and events are in third-person; it really takes you out of the experience and makes it less memorable.

The lack of tension or urgency in what should be a hugely stressful case for Nancy. This is Bess, her best friend, kidnapped and threatened by an unknown enemy, and she’s incredibly blase about it all. Remember how terse and on-edge she was throughout FIN? I’d liked to have seen a lot more of that throughout the game. 

How overly-complex a lot of the puzzles are, ESPECIALLY the timed ones. I had to go on UHS or ask for other people’s help a lot, and I’m 25. That underwater sudoku puzzle is brutal. 

The fact that there’s only one suspect. I admit that in a roundabout way this is sort of clever, as you’d think “it’s too obvious for them to be the culprit, so they must NOT be the culprit,” and then it turns out they are, but they’re not the person you thought they were. Still, I don’t know if that outweighs the boredom that comes from having only one person (other than George) to talk to throughout the game. 

The goddamn unskippable cutscene of monkeys laughing at you every time you lose a game

Dwayne was in blackface????? I know he’s the villain but...

I think that’s all. These are just my opinions; you can take them or leave them. I’m still happy to have played this game again for the first time in years. Now on to Warnings at Waverly Academy! 

[ssjkallion]

🔥

Dragon Ball Minus is fine, always has been fine, and the fandom (mostly men what do ya know) grossly exaggerates the changes a ten page bonus chapter to a gag manga makes to the story and characters.

Let’s break this down:

>”Goku’s 3, so he remembers his parents and it makes his relationship with his grandpa less important!!”

The movie pretty nicely fixed this one by leaving his age ambiguous so ?

You people really overestimate the attention span and memory capacity of three year olds. Just. As someone who has worked with young children in the past.

He still lands on Earth as a feral little monkey baby, something which was already an inconsistent thing in the original so?

Again, you people REALLY overestimate a three year olds ability to NOT bump his head on shit.

>”They made him too much like superman!!!”

That’s....not new?

Superman’s origin story isn’t original to begin with. Both Superman and Goku are archetypes of and take their origins from....Moses. Yes, Moses. 

>”They made Bardock SOOOOOOOFT”

Not really? Again, combining this with the movie, he was still a mercenary who pretty blatantly slaughtered populations of aliens. The movie didn’t NEED to show this explicitly because you, the fans, have been consuming this media for decades and know it by now. He admits to it. I would go so far as to say this not only makes him a more well rounded character by giving him more emotional depth, but also gives him more of a motivation to care about the fate of his son beyond revenge.

Oh, and him caring about his kids isn’t new. It’s been in supplementary material for like. Over 20 years. And it’s not like he’s super lovey dovey open about it-- Gine fucking comments on how odd it seems for him to be openly (OPENLY) caring, but we just gonna ignore that I guess.

Again, it expands on his motive to both external (revenge on Frieza) and internal (after a lifetime of slaughter and destruction, he wants to save at least one person and that person is his son. Which is explicitly said. For those who need the movie to hold their hand for them, lest they throw a fit over it.)

Him figuring out Frieza’s plan through his own deduction skills and intuition is way better from a characterization pov than random psychic powers imho

If you think him showing the tiniest bit more emotional sincerity somehow makes him less of a badass or cool character, then I don’t know what to tell you other then I’m sorry your macho man power fantasy was ruined by feelings.

>”IT MEANS THERE’S NO FINAL STAND AGAINST FRIEZA!!!”

Okay this criticism of the original bonus chapter always made me laugh because it was shown that there was still a solid month before Frieza destroyed the planet, but people still flipped out because the fact that Bardock wasn’t explicitly shown flying off toward Frieza meant it totally didn’t happen. Because the 10 pages bonus chapter of a gag manga didn’t show it happening means it totally retconned it, guys. 

I hope I don’t need to tell you guys that DBS Broly cleaned that up nicely anyway, leaving a lot up to the imagination (which I know a lot of fans hate. Show us things explicitly or it’s ruined bwuhh). Notice how Bardock’s armor was in tatters, by the way? Almost like it was...implying to the audience there was a lot of shit that went down before hand or something. Funny that.

>”BUT BUT BUT SOLID STATE SCOUTER!!!”

Y’all got youtube. Go use it.

[chloesliva630-blog]

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[anxresi]

Well, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a bad case of someone looking for meaning where nothing exists. It’s good you attach all this symbolism to certain events & if indeed, the narrative was going to flow the way you described up there, it might indeed be a satisfactory odyssey for Chloe.

But there’s one key element to this you’re forgetting… Thomas genuinely hates Chloe, and never stops insulting her on Twitter and blocking her defenders. Even those who ask simple questions about her role tend to get the silent treatment now. The way he talks, her storyline is over and those who haven’t accepted it need to ‘get with the program’. Sad to say, but I think the situation really is as clear-cut as that.

And if the show was as complex and as nuanced as you and I clearly wish it was, it would’ve been a lot better at keeping good continuity and characters consistent… as well as making good use of its rich and varied supporting cast. So far, I’ve seen little evidence of this: Miraculous is clearly a perfect example of a show which is a great idea hampered by terrible execution. In other words: think of a masterpiece like Doctor Zhivago. Then think of the task of it being typed out being assigned to a thousand monkeys. Know what I’m saying?

I won’t even go into those stupid pointless movies set around the world. Or the short-lived webisodes. Or the short-lived chibi. Or the somewhat pointless reboot by Jeremy Zag coming soon. Or…

(Not our fault that Miraculous is your only real hit Zag, and no-one cares about the rest of your mediocre output. Constantly pimping out different versions of your sole popular show ain’t the way to solve the problem, though. It only tires people out, and detracts away from the success of the original. Although, your friend Thomas is doing a good enough job of tarnishing the legacy of that, too.)

If the show had been vaguely competently handled by people who cared about creativity instead of printing money by now, I think you might have something here. But in this case, IMHO the simplest explanation is the real one: they are aiming this show at little kids who wouldn’t care so much about bad writing, and the creators aren’t exactly pulling out all the stops to broaden their audience. Chloe’s switch from her S2, half of S3 self is inexplicable in terms of her newfound cruelty and caricatured evilness, and ‘big’ events such as her losing the bee miraculous, having a new half-sister and teaming up with Lila couldn’t have been handled worse if they’d tried. Or had less possible impact on the show in the long run.

I am prepared to put on the record that I am sure her so-called arc IS over, and the best input we’re going to get from her now on is constant failed attempts to disrupt the Love Square, ritual humiliations when she fails and an absolute meltdown when she discovers the identity of Vesperia. Probably near the end of the series. Joy.

Fortunately, thanks to the far superior care taken with her considerable potential in the realm of fan fiction and art, my Chloe fix will remain sated for the foreseeable future. Final thought:There are much more talented people than Thomas floating about here and elsewhere online, who don’t treat their fans like hot garbage and actually know how to develop a good idea into a compelling whole. Why couldn’t one of them came up with the Miraculous Ladybug concept? I guess we’ll never know… 😢

Queen Bee’s Damnation Arc

I’ve never seen the Miraculous Ladybug fandom quite this agitated before, and that’s saying something ‘cause I’ve been active in this fandom for over six years at this point and I’ve seen all sorts of controversies. But the Chloé discourse goes above and beyond: anti-Chloé folks are attacking pro-Chloé folks, pro-Chloé folks are attacking the show’s creators…it’s a mess.

So I’m gonna make a post breaking down Chloé’s character arc! That couldn’t possibly go wrong, right?

A couple notes here before I get started. I’m a screenwriter, and that’s the perspective I’m approaching this from. I’m not going to take a stance on what Chloé’s arc should be—I’m just breaking down what it currently is. And my goal here is to debunk the misconception that Chloé’s character development was erased at the end of season 3.

SPOILERS are present, up through Penalteam.

Here’s what’s happened so far in Chloé’s arc.

In Season 1, we learned Chloé’s status quo. She’s a jerk to basically everyone, she pushes around her father ANDRÉ to get her way, and she treats SABRINA like a servant. But at the same time, she admires LADYBUG and wants to be a hero like her, and she’s also friends with ADRIEN. So from her perspective, she has four potential allies at this point.

In Despair Bear, Chloé is challenged by ADRIEN, who suggests that if she keeps treating people terribly, he’ll have to stop being her friend. Chloé clearly doesn’t want to lose Adrien, so she actually makes an effort, even though she backslides at the end of the episode.

In Style Queen, we meet Chloé’s mother AUDREY, a fifth potential ally for Chloé. AUDREY mistreats both Chloé and ANDRÉ, and here the reason Chloé treats people horribly is because of an attempt to get into AUDREY’s good graces.

In Queen Wasp, Chloé gets a Miraculous, and she unsurprisingly abuses its power for her personal benefit, which HAWKMOTH capitalizes on. She’s taken down by LADYBUG, who takes back the Miraculous, showing Chloé that she can’t be a hero if she only uses her powers for personal gain.

In Malediktator, Queen Bee is given a second chance by LADYBUG, and this time she doesn’t exclusively serve her own interest—her selfish instincts are outweighed by her desire to be a hero.

In Miraculer, we see that Queen Bee is quite competent as a hero, almost winning a one-on-one fight with Mayura. Despite this, LADYBUG says she can’t ever give Chloé’s Miraculous back to her, because HAWKMOTH knows her identity. Chloé doesn’t believe this; she’s confident LADYBUG will give her the Miraculous again.

In Hearthunter, Chloé is manipulated by HAWKMOTH into losing that confidence, and she starts to see LADYBUG as keeping her away from her goal of being a hero. From this point onwards, HAWKMOTH is considered her ally, and LADYBUG isn’t.

In Sole Crusher, Chloé thinks her goal of being a hero is now out of reach, and so her selfish instincts are no longer being overpowered, and she’s once again being horrible to people. With help from Zoé, ANDRÉ stops letting Chloé push him around as much as she used to.

In Queen Banana, Chloé gets in a fight with ADRIEN and cuts him off, bringing her down to one fewer ally—now, her only allies are SABRINA, AUDREY, and SHADOWMOTH. Additionally, because Vesperia now wields the Bee Miraculous, Chloé’s even further from her goal of being a hero. Now, she doesn’t just have to be a better person—she has to be better than Vesperia.

In Optigami, Chloé laughs at a joke made at AUDREY’s expense, and AUDREY cuts her off, once again bringing her down to one fewer ally.

In Penalteam, Chloé cuts off both of her remaining allies—namely, SHADOWMOTH and SABRINA. For a few moments, she has no allies left, until LILA decides to start taking advantage of that, asserting herself as the one person Chloé can still potentially trust.

Let’s break that down.

I’ve capitalized specific names in the synopsis because Chloé’s arc is defined by her allies. In season 1, she has four allies—André, Sabrina, Ladybug, and Adrien. Season 2 adds Audrey, and at the end of season 3 she switches out Ladybug for Hawkmoth. Then in season 4, she loses each of her allies one by one—first André, then Adrien, then Audrey, then Shadowmoth, and finally Sabrina.

So even from this alone, we can see that Chloé hasn’t reverted to her status quo of season 1. In season 1, she was comfortable, and in season 4, she’s spiraling, cutting ties left and right, and digging herself deeper and deeper into a hole. This is a very different status quo, because it’s not stable. Things can change dramatically at any moment, and almost certainly will.

And most importantly…Chloé’s character development as Queen Bee hasn’t been undone. Even when she was a hero, she still had her selfish and hostile instincts—she was just suppressing them in order to achieve her goal of being a hero. Once that goal seemed out of reach, she had no reason to suppress those instincts anymore. But that doesn’t mean those behaviors went away and came back—they were always there; she was just able to temporarily hold them down.

So why was Chloé written this way?

There’s one thing that I never see people recognizing in the Chloé discourse—Chloé’s character arc isn’t over. There are more seasons of the show planned, and those seasons will definitely have Chloé in them. Thomas Astruc’s goal in writing Chloé was never to write the specific section of her arc that we’ve seen so far—it was to write her entire arc. Obviously, I can’t know what that arc is going to end up being, but there are some things we can more clearly understand.

When figuring out a character’s role in a plot, there are three essential elements to consider—a goal is what a character wants, motivations are why they want it, and methods are how they go about trying to achieve it. Let’s break this down for Chloé:

Goal: Chloé wants to be popular, specifically by being a hero.

Motivations: Chloé grew up in an environment where her mother abused both her and her father, and she never learned how to be a good person, so she has very few allies. She sees how much people look up to Ladybug, and she wants that for herself.

Methods: Chloé’s willing to suppress her toxic instincts if it gets her towards her goal, but she never actually tries to unlearn those instincts.

Chloé’s methods of suppressing her toxic instincts weren’t sufficient to achieve her goal of being a hero, and so she abandoned those methods in favor of the new method of siding with Hawkmoth. When that didn’t work out either, she abandoned that approach and currently sees her goal as unachievable.

Of course, it’s clear what she actually does have to do in order to achieve her goal—she has to put in the effort to actually learn how to not be a terrible person. And there’s a clear metric for that: she has to give Ladybug a reason to give the Miraculous to her rather than to Vesperia. Until Chloé unlearns her toxic attitudes, Ladybug will always choose Vesperia over Queen Bee—and that’s where Vesperia fits into Chloé’s arc, and I suspect this is why Vesperia was added to the story in the first place.

There’s no way to know whether Chloé ever actually will manage to get to that point; there are lots of directions her arc can take from here. But this is what her arc’s about—when someone doesn’t know how to care about other people, it’s impossible for them to be a hero. That’s the moral, and that’s why she was written this way.

[meanwhileinstasiville]

What is the whitest white?

What I spent my 4th of July thinking about, because it’s always by contrast (good to not be a minority) and not so much as defined beyond that (and Roe vs Wade being overturned sucks). Cheech Marin says it’s “convenience” as a one-time costarring Mexican American actor with Don Johnson. We Americans don’t know.

Personally, I say for certain “cheese” is in there because it makes everyone else sick. “Whiter than white” music, too, is something I’m certain of. Add four on the floor to a melody in F-major pentatonic, bridge with some kind of keyboard solo arpeggiated over four measures. Shake well and loop indefinitely while the bassist (if you even have one) anchors on one note all day long. THAT is whiter than white. Drown out Manheim Steamroller with Barry Manilow and you’ll understand. Beyond that, I don’t know.

Archie with Betty and Veronica or Dagwood Bumstead with Blondie? Who is whitest?

Clint Eastwood in A Fist Full of Dollars or Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose?

Dynamite whiter than a monkey? Who knows.

A Texan says anything disparaging about someone; “tenderfoot!” “yellow belly!” “lilly livered!”?

(America had made “white” synonymous with citizenship long ago)

Dipping saltine crackers in mayonnaise? Whiter than “mild” sauce that hurts your tummy? I don’t know. (But we expect something we’ve never defined from people America segregated on the basis of a *very elusive definition* and that’s a big problem, IMHO)

[1dhq]

for argument’a sake: let’s say Louis’ new team is planning on a rebrand for him and the reason for them sleeping on promoting his xf attendance and the tca award could be just that. leaving the past behind and introducing a ”new Louis” to the world.. if they are going to present him in a new wrapping what would you want to see them do if you could pick and choose from anything? i wouldn’t even know where to start myself tbh.. his options would be endless imho x

i can try not to make this into a bottomless answer because you could just pile things on and on forever, so i’ll try sticking to what i would like to see most in a perfect world:

highlight his charitable efforts: i’m not saying i want to see articles about his donations every week because he obviously likes to keep certain things private but i would love to see projects similar to harry’s TPWK shirts/bracelets. connecting merch and activism is such a strong tool. i could see him doing special ◟̽◞̽ merch, you name it.

effective cross promo: in the past we’ve seen so much promo for other people on louis’ accounts and it would be super refreshing to get some of mattmark’s roster to namedrop him. this fandom also tends to go hard for people who support louis, so it’s a win-win in that regard. could also potentially expose louis to different audiences, which brings me to the music related stuff.

i think a lot hinges on the kind of music he plans on putting out. there are several genres he’s capable of catering to but they need to pick one coherent image they want to portray. there needs to be a clear lead single, clear talking points, coherent visuals (something i’m already very satisfied with), etc. there’s no use namedropping artic monkeys and oasis when a song leans more pop punk, you know what i mean. i think that’s also where his appearance comes in. he’s very trendy with the athleisure stuff and it suits him but there are some small tweaks that could really make a difference: more short sleeves to show off his tattoos, accessoires like sunglasses or (my dying wish that will never come true) an earring, a mix of loose and tight fits. i’m always a fan of prints/patterns too. the fandom also loves a good statement shirt and we have a nice history with subversive messages. i’m sure i could think of many many more aspects but this is what came to mind first!

[starwarsnonsense]

Things We Learnt From the First Wave of EW Coverage

1. Luke believed Ben Solo was the chosen one

“[Luke] made a huge mistake in thinking that his nephew was the chosen one, so he invested everything he had in Kylo, much like Obi-Wan did with my character,” Hamill says. “And he is betrayed, with tragic consequences. Luke feels responsible for that. That’s the primary obstacle he has to rejoining the world and his place in the Jedi hierarchy, you know? It’s that guilt, that feeling that it’s his fault, that he didn’t detect the darkness in him until it was too late.”

LOL, what a mess.

2. Luke gives Rey a chilly reception - and forces her to confront her sense of abandonment afresh

Luke definitely does not give Rey the warm welcome he received when he went in search of Alec Guinness’ Ben Kenobi in 1977’s original Star Wars. She is warned. She is given an explanation. Nevertheless …“She’s so hopeful to everything,” Ridley says. “And obviously there’s a hint of, ‘What the hell?’”

This rejection hits Rey’s abandonment issues. Hard.

Luke’s brush-off makes Rey miss the gruff warmth of Han Solo, Ridley says, giving us a peek inside the head of her character: “’Oh my God, this other man that I lost within a couple days was somewhat of a father figure. Now he’s gone, and instead I’m with this grumpy guy on an island who doesn’t want me here.’” 

But Ridley says Rey is also placing huge expectations on Luke. She arrives on the island of Ahch-To, site of a primitive Jedi temple, not to become a hero herself, but to shove Skywalker back into the fight. “I don’t think one girl, who he doesn’t know, turning up with a lightsaber is gonna make him go, ‘Oh, s—, yeah, of course I’ll get back into the action,’” Ridley says.

Poor bb Rey.

3. Kylo is fascinated by Rey 

As we know, the young scavenger was ditched as a child on the hardscrabble junkyard world of Jakku by unknown parents and left for years to survive on her own. But lately, she has gotten accustomed to making fast friends, like BB-8, Finn, Chewbacca, and General Leia Organa. Even the murderous Kylo Ren became fascinated by her strength and resilience after kidnapping her.

No shit.

4.  Ahch-To is home to a quasi-nunnery populated by vaguely amphibious caretakers - and they merely tolerate Luke Skywalker’s presence 

“They’re kind of these sort of fish-bird type aliens who live on the island,” Johnson says. “They’ve been there for thousands of years, and they essentially keep up the structures on the island. They’re all female, and I wanted them to feel like a remote sort of little nunnery,” Johnson says. “Neal Scanlan’s crew designed them, and costume designer Michael Kaplan made these working clothes that also reflected sort of a nun-like, spartan sort of existence.”They can communicate with Luke through what Johnson describes as “a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk” but they’re not thrilled to have him hanging around. Johnson says they “tolerate” his presence.

Please let this be Black Narcissus with extra aliens.

5. We’ll learn more about Snoke’s nature and goals - but don’t expect his lifestory

Johnson says The Last Jedi will reveal more about Snoke and his goals, but his history will remain somewhat murky. “Similar to Rey’s parentage, Snoke is here to serve a function in the story. And a story is not a Wikipedia page,” the filmmaker says. “For example, in the original trilogy, we didn’t know anything about the Emperor except what Luke knew about him, that he’s the evil guy behind Vader. Then in the prequels, you knew everything about Palpatine because his rise to power was the story.” In The Last Jedi, Johnson says, “we’ll learn exactly as much about Snoke as we need to.”

Hahahaha at all the emptiness of the inane Snoke speculation.

6. Snoke is no puppet on a string 

Will we see Snoke performed as a real-life puppet? “No, it’s entirely a mo-cap performance,” Johnson says. “[Creature designer] Neal Scanlan built a maquette that we had on set for lighting reference and to give the actors a sense of what it was going to feel like. And then we scanned that and [Industrial Light & Magic] used that in their renderings, but Snoke will be an entirely CG creation.”

Don’t take anything for granted - least of all spoiler reports!

7. Finn starts out desperate to leave the fight and find Rey 

“It got really real for him,” Boyega tells EW. “And he just wants to get away and not be involved. His intention in the first place was to go to the Outer Rim. He was always brought back [in The Force Awakens,], but this is his chance to get away and perhaps find Rey and go off together. He’s trying to do that at first.”

I have a funny feeling of deja-vu!

8. Rose is a true nobody

“Poe Dameron is super cool. Finn’s super cool. Even though [Rose] is good at what she does, she’s not known,” Tran says. “She’s not cool. She’s this nobody, this background player, which is what makes her interesting. She’s not the best. She’s not royalty. She’s someone who is just like everyone else.”

Rose is a gearhead, a grease monkey, a behind-the-scenes jack-of-all-trades, while her sister Paige (played by Veronica Ngo) is the dynamic one — a Resistance gunner who fights on the front lines alongside Resistance luminaries like Poe Dameron, Oscar Isaac’s X-wing ace.

Rose - nobody or not - sounds pretty awesome, imho.

9. Rose and Finn drive each other forward - but people can struggle to live up to others’ expectations

Rose is starstruck by Finn: “He appreciates the adoration for a second, but when he meets her, Finn is trying to escape the whole war. He’s trying to leave,” Boyega says. “And she comes in and basically gives him a depiction of himself that wasn’t necessarily true.” But he likes the impression Rose has, the vision she has of him. A good guy. A brave guy. Seeing himself through her eyes gives the ex-Stormtrooper something to live up to. “It’s now an opportunity for him to be the best he can be. He has to make a decision, and Rose is there to help him make that choice.”

It shouldn’t be a spoiler to reveal that, yes, she helps Finn stay in the fight, although the urge to get out is still burning inside him.

Also… living up to Rose’s high expectations is not a task anyone can truly fulfill.

Colour me intrigued...

[hg47]

47 Reasons Why I Fear Islam - (Reason 43)

-43-Since Islamic holy writings refer to Jews as apes who must all be killed before Judgment Day can occur, I think the following analogy is fair.  Fundamentalist Muslims are like barking sheepdogs that herd moderate Muslim sheep in the direction the radicals want.  Also, several Christian refugees from Iraq have mentioned to me in passing that Muslims in the Middle East treat their women like dogs. ++++------- http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/egypt-frets-fumes-over-ethiopias-nile-plan/2013/06/12/d3ab3f4a-d1e1-11e2-9577-df9f1c3348f5_story.html?wprss&google_editors_picks=true Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse in Egypt: Ethiopia is building a dam which will cut off or drastically reduce Egypt’s water supply. ++++------- http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/06/video-of-syrians-with-seized-u-n-vehicle-in-golan-heights/ An article about the kidnapping of twenty United Nations Peacekeepers in the Golan Heights by Syrian rebel fighters who denounce Assad as an agent of America working for the Jews. @hg47 says – The civil war in Syria is seen as a Big Lotto Paradise Party for mentally-ill Muslims or hard-core Muslims who have studied Islam carefully and who take its teachings seriously.  If this battle can be rationalized as a necessary jihad against Infidels, these men may get an opportunity to die for Islam where they pop straight to Paradise, avoiding the fearful uncertainty of Judgment Day before their unpredictable angry God. This is why these rebel fighters are calling Assad “an agent of Zionism and America.”  If they can rationalize the fighting in those terms, and just manage to off themselves during the fighting, “Paradise Here We Come!” This is also why the radical Islamist fighting groups are gaining ground as the most effective rebel fighters: their Muslim fighters are actually hoping for death, they are eager for death. This puppy may have started as a peaceful protest against Assad.  It has evolved into a ladder to Paradise. (Zionism is the Muslim word for Judaism when Jews don’t know their “proper place” as inferiors subject to Muslim dominance.  Muslims also have a term for the United States while we refuse Muslim domination: The Great Satan.) ++++------- A quote from Hasan al-Banna, a founder of the Muslim Brotherhood: “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” ++++------- tweet ~ Muslims recite anti-Semitic & anti-Christian rhetoric at least 17 times a day, and over 5,000 times every year. ~ verify at: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Muslim_Statistics ++++------- http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/568999/201104131804/How-Free-Israel-Prospers-As-Islam-Remains-In-Dark.htm Chuck Devore puts forth the stats on the Success of Israel and Judaism, compared to the Failure of the Muslim world and Islam. Here’s one interesting stat: The Arab and Iranian world produced about one patent per year for every 3 million people, compared with Israel’s output of one annual patent for every 5,295 people; 568 times that of Israel’s neighbors and sometime enemies. ++++------- http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/radical-political-religion-will-soon-shape-the-mideast-1.340271 An article analyzing how radical Islam has won in Egypt, and is winning everywhere else in the Middle East also. @hg47 says – Demographically, Israel is doomed in this Century unless it evicts its own citizens who are Muslims, which it can’t do.  Or can it?  My hope is that the Jewish people in Israel will do what is necessary for Israel to survive, and if evicting enemies in their midst is part of the equation, so be it.  I approve.  And I understand. There is actually a precedent, should Israel choose to evict its Muslim citizens, and change the essential nature of its government. Saudi Arabia forcibly removed or killed all non-Muslims within their land, following what their leaders perceived as a command from their Prophet.  Naturally, the Saudis kept all the Infidels’ property and most of their women as slaves.  Now, Saudi Arabia is pristine.  Pure.  Jews and Christians may visit some parts of Saudi Arabia, but are restricted in what they may bring into the country, and how they may behave, and where they may go. The Israelis would probably be much more civilized about evicting the “civilian” enemy Muslims in their midst, those who would love to cut the throats of these powerful Jews. ++++------- tweet ~ Christian Solidarity International has liberated 80,000+ Sudanese slaves taken captive by Arab Muslims. ~ verify at: http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Muslim_Statistics ++++------- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/terry-kelhawk/wikileaks-expose-cracks-i_b_789615.html Terry Kelhawk on how Americans are mislead by Islam; we think the differences in Muslim sects are trivial, but these differences are central and worth killing over. ++++------- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/7897125/White-Christian-Britons-being-unfairly-targeted-for-hate-crimes-by-CPS-Civitas-claims.html Christopher Hope argues that U.K. prosecutors and police are unfairly singling out alleged crimes by white Christians, while discounting other similar offences by minority groups. ++++------- http://www.hudson-ny.org/1610/sharia-advancing-in-west Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury suggests that due to the nature of Zakat (Muslim Charity which is really “A Solidarity,” or an “I support you,” type of thing), that Sharia banks must inevitably divert funds into organizations promoting jihad and supporting suicide bombing, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and worse (from the Western POV).  If these Sharia banking institutions do not secretly fund terrorism, they will not be following Sharia law. ++++------- A quote from J. ROSENBLUM: “On a Freedom House scale of freedom (on which seven is the least free) the median for Arab nations is 5.5. For the rest of the world it is 2.5. Whether it is child brides in Gaza, institutionalized selection of dancing pre-pubescent boys as mistresses by older males in Afghanistan or widespread clitoridectomy in much of the Muslim world, the media take a pass.” ++++------- A quote from Ahmad Ibrahim, a founder of Hamas, talking about Jews: “Six million descendants of monkeys now rule in all the nations of the world, but their day, too, will come. Allah! Kill them all, do not leave even one!” ++++------- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7392235.stm Inside a Palestinian refugee camp @hg47 says - These interviews explain why there will never be peace in the Middle East—Palestinians are almost exclusively focused upon the destruction of Israel, and recovering lost Islamic territory, at the expense of their own lives and the lives of their families. There is a famous saying: If the Jewish people in Israel put down their weapons, within one week there would be no more Israel.  If the Palestinian Muslims put down their weapons, there would be a prosperous State for them and their families within one year. (I used to believe this, but no longer: I now think the Palestinians have too much hate within them to ever be prosperous, no matter what; IMHO their hate has become their reason for being.  They would be lost without their hate, and would have to find someone or something else to hate.) The Arabs are fighting a holy war: the quality of their own lives is irrelevant compared to defeating Israel. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +Go-To-44+ +Go-To-Beginning-Of-47-REASONS-WHY-I-FEAR-ISLAM+

[him-e]

Did you read the article from the director? Tyrion' look at Jon and Dany is him seeing that politically it's a bad idea and being worried He won't be able to sway Dany the most, that Jon will. So nothing sinister and not romantic love either.

“Well I think there’s jealousy, but it’s maybe not romantic jealousy, in the way that it is for Jorah, for example. I think that for Tyrion, it’s more complicated. I think he has a very special relationship with Dany and he really believes in her as a true leader and has invested a lot in her. I think for him, with Jon and Dany getting together, this represents a possible undermining of his position with her and also a monkey wrench thrown into what the master plan really is meant to be around this entire alliance. The way I see it is Tyrion is a bit of a strategist—not just a bit of a strategist, he is a major strategist—and I think now, he can’t see where this is gonna go and that’s very difficult for someone who is always thinking three steps ahead. The consequences of Dany and Jon getting together are completely unknown. Is she gonna make decisions now based on this new relationship? Is she gonna be able to separate her personal [interests] from the interests of the greater group? What is this going to foretell for the alliance and what they’re all meant to do as a united front? So I think the worry for him is that now, everything is up for grabs. We don’t really know who’s going to side with who, what’s gonna happen at the end of the day, and which alliances are going to be the strongest.” (x)

ah yes he has invested a lot in her�� politically. He’s jealous but like, strategically, platonically jealous. Of course it has to be more complicated, he’s Tyrion, he only fucks whores, drinks wine and knows things. 

PFFTTTT. Sad but unsurprising, considering their recent inability to deviate from the most boring, predictable storytelling path. I guess Jon/Dany must remain the focus and they don’t want to complicate it beyond R+L=J, plus Tyrion being in love with Dany wouldn’t be an easy, conventionally appealing romantic narrative anyway.

this is in line with how they’ve consistently robbed Tyrion of his sexuality and any semblance of inner conflict since season 5. Tyrion isn’t just a wonderful brain. He’s more than someone who doles out wisdom and clever advice and just exists to serve someone else’s arc, as either the clever court jester or the one-man greek chorus. As much as he values his wits and rationality and thinks it’s all he has to offer, Tyrion is a ball of emotions. He’s desperate for love, he wants to love and wants that love to be returned even though he believes it’s impossible because it has been drilled in him that he’s unlovable because of what he is. And wow is it SO hard to believe that this incredibly vulnerable man would have more than platonic feelings for the most beautiful woman in the world, the one that gave him a new purpose in the darkest moment of his life and the validation he’s always sought but never received from his family and made him believe in fairytales again (yet Jon is allowed to be attracted to Dany the minute he sees her for the first time, because “she’s beautiful”, simple as that).

try this little game, picture someone who looks like Jon or Jaime looking Dany with puppy eyes and saying stuff like “it’s yours, now and always”, “I believe in you”, “if you die, everything ends”, “he wasn’t the first to love you, and he won’t be the last” and tell me it doesn’t sound romantic. Like if the writers thought they could have Tyrion say those lines to a woman without it being interpreted as romantic because Tyrion is a dwarf, then honestly fuck them.

personally, I cannot unsee the romantic subtext and I’m certainly not changing my mind because a male writer tells me so, lol. I also think that Tyrion having romantic attraction for Dany doesn’t undermine or negate his concerns about being politically marginalized by this union. The two things feed into each other imho.

(also to be clear, I don’t necessarily *ship* it, and I don’t want a Jon/Dany/Tyrion triangle any more than I want a Jon/Dany/Sansa triangle, but what I want is to see more complex narratives and emotions, between less conventional people. It took them 4 seasons to have a full fledged Grey Worm/Missandei romance, and they’ve been treading water with Jaime/Brienne since FOREVER. They hinted at a Dany/Yara hook up only to drop it completely, they fiddled with the concept of Jon/Sansa then dropped it too. It’s like they’re tempted to challenge the audience’s perception of romance with “difficult” pairings enough to tease them, but at the end of the day they don’t have the balls to do it. This frustrates me.)

Anonymous said: While I do agree, lot’s of people fall for Dany not everyone does. Grey Worm didn’t fall in love with Dany, he fell in love with Missandei, Hidzar also didn’t fall in love with Dany neither did Xaro from quarth he betrayed her instead. The director also said Tyrion yes does love Dany but not in a romantic sense but in a I believe in you and respect you sense. So we have 4 romantic loves for Dany in total.

She’s considered an exceptional beauty, she has power and wealth, she traveled a lot, she’s from a noble dynasty, she’s a woman in a masculine position which allows her to meet many men as an equal. Of course people tend to see her as desirable.

It’s funny how the one who has to carry the burden of “but why can’t they just respect each other platonically!” is always the non-conventionally attractive character.

[lenievi]

I’m continuing my rambling, questions and theories/headcanons.

Saiyuki Reload Blast - shot 5; part 1 (published May 2019)

- so I’m going to assume that Journey to the West is a book in Shangri-la (maybe it isn’t known everywhere, maybe it’s only popular in the western regions, but it exists. And unless proven otherwise I’m going to assume that Sanzo read it while going through Sharak’s library). I’m also going to assume it’s based on real happenings many many years ago. So the youkai/monkey in the opening pages is the original Seiten Taisei, whose body was later destroyed and he was reborn again with a new “meat suit” [and the original Sanzo, Hakkai and Gojyo were reborn as well - as Konzen, Tenpou and Kenren]

When Konzen was supposed to name Goku, he didn’t really think about it, the name just appeared in his head and he unconsciously named him “Goku” 

when Sanbutsushin were explaining Goku to Sanzo, they used his full name “Seiten Taisei Son Goku”, but we don’t know where the Son came from, because little Goku didn’t know it in Gaiden. Sanbutsushin and everyone else (like Kougaiji) were just using a name of the legends that predates Gaiden, “Son” included [and while Konzen gave the boy name “Goku”, Sanzo “gave” him (i.e. told him about) “Son” to make a whole person called “Son Goku” and that’s what Saiyuki Goku identifies as. He is Son Goku. 

and that’s why they still live in a loop that will repeat itself again and again and the latest loop started 500 years ago and maybe it will be the last one… or they will get reborn one more time and live happily ever after and finally die without reincarnation

(but the thing is, I also used to have a theory that Saitaisai was the original Seiten Taisei - someone with golden eyes, with incredible power, who was feared, so there’s still on the table too, but I like the reincarnation thingy too much)

- seeing the moon through Goku’s eyes and then immediately getting his first meeting with Konzen really makes it clear that Konzen = moon (and sometimes I keep wondering if Sanzo isn’t like the moon to Goku as well... at the end of Gaiden Goku is reaching toward the moon (because he is missing something, i.e. Konzen) and then later Sanzo comes, in Burial it’s dark during the night because the moon isn’t out = Sanzo isn’t there... I headcanon Konzen as full moon, but with Sanzo it’s sometimes moon and sometimes sun, even to Goku, imho. 

The thing I like about this moon image for Sanzo is the difference Sanzo and Goku would feel toward the moonlight - one being burdened and shackled by it, the other being saved. Sanzo has his moon (Koumyou) and sun (Goku), but for Goku, moon and sun are both Sanzo - or in a way Konzen (moon) and Sanzo (sun). Well, I don’t think this is something Minekura thought about in details, but it works for me personally story wise, so... but considering she drew the moon and then Konzen in this chapter, who knows...

- from Goku’s eyes it seems like the seal on his memories is weakening because of his meeting with Nataku, but... isn’t it because Kanzeon Bosatsu is heavily injured therefore her powers are weakening and with that the seal on Goku’s memories as well? who knows.

- Sanzo reading about what happened in heaven 500 years ago was something I wished for and it really did happen~ Now I just need him to connect Goku to the crisis and Nataku (I wonder if he noticed that something is going on with Goku (i.e. the dreams) and he just waits until Goku starts about it himself... or if he was too busy with his readings... but it wouldn’t be Sanzo if he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings, so he probably knows something is bothering Goku... he probably even remembers that Goku wanted to tell him something before Nataku attacked, unless he was too shocked by that attack and feared losing Goku again and needed few seconds to compose himself - hence why we didn’t see his face after the attack stopped)

- “Your stupid monkey” Sanzo doesn’t even protest anymore

- Sanzo saying “we” all the time is ♥♥♥ People really need to accept Sanzo’s growth as well (and that it isn’t a recent thing, he’s just more up front about it in Blast) 

- so Saitaisai has a similar aura to Nataku, therefore he really is a god... unless Nataku is different from other gods, therefore Saitaisai isn’t the same as let’s say Kanzeon either. But it’s clear that Nataku nor Saitaisai have the same aura as Goku/Seiten Taisei, so Seiten Taisei is different from Saitaisai, despite both of them having golden eyes (Sanzo knows Seiten Taisei’s aura and if he didn’t comment on any similarities now I’m not gonna accept him doing it later, because that would be really wtf)

- I love Sanzo and Goku working together. I need more of that

- poor Hassan. They just repaired the fortress!!!

- “the jailer of Shangri-la” this sounds really interesting, but I’m too lazy to think about what it might mean

It was a really great chapter. Now I guess I’m going to finally reread Gaiden and pay attention to stuff.