#that’s my two cents on things

[stagefoureddiediaz]

I am having thoughts though - as people seem to have ave decided to theorise about the will being brought up to Tommy 🙄 and that being the hurdle they need to deal with.

I’m actually thinking its more likely to be the sperm donor baby, although I feel like there’s plenty of other stuff more 118 connected that could and would work just as well!

The thing with the sperm donor and tommy being weirded out by it, is the way that it would juxtapose so perfectly if the will was brought up as part of the Buck/Eddie stuff that’s going to happen in 806 - the sitting in silence - because it works on so many levels.

It creates a clear and obvious contrast between Eddie and Tommy while not making Eddie part of the bt plot in any way (which is very good and what the show has been doing so far - nothing buddie has happened with Tommy present - it’s always been separate and they’ve always taken tommy out of the equation at the start leading into buddie stuff - even the birthday stuff in 801 - 2 lines and then step out of camera so we can focus on buck and Eddie’s faces in tandem!)

It creates a potential hurdle in that it brings in a wanting kids/ not wanting kids conversation and that can then spiral out into the way Buck sacrifices his body constantly for others (which plays back into the will of it all without it being about the will of it all) Tommy being weirded out by the donor thing but then saying that other forms of self sacrifice are ok could be interesting - the idea that Tommy thinks it’s a good thing to be ‘expendable’ on the job as saving others is more important than one’s own life.

It would even let Tim play on the death of it all - have the arc that Natalia would’ve had if she’d stuck around. We already saw her weirded out by the sperm donor thing, then come back only to be told she constantly wanted to talk about bucks death. They’ve also already planted the lightning strike into the bt plot - at the hanger in 704 - so it all would make sense if Tommy is down for dying or Buck dying on the job (like not literally dying but stating that he doesn’t see dying on the job - sacrificing himself for others as a bad thing)

That would get Buck thinking about who he is and what he wants and allow for his death and rebirth to be explored a bit more than it was in 6b, and it would also play into the saving Gerrard/ meaning to hurt him thing as well - and Bucks struggles with that.

It would be very interesting as a way to deal with all Bucks baggage (as Oliver mentioned!) and get him to deal with it - whilst setting him up to realise his feelings for Eddie in an organic way that separate from Tommy!

I can see them taking that route and I’d actually love it if they did, and not only because it plays very heavily into my tommy is alt buck theory, but also because it really and truly would get buck off all of the various hamster wheels he’s been on and actually moving forward rather than flirting with moving forward!

[royalarchivist]

Bad: I don’t think people understand the effect QSMP had on some of the streamers in terms of like… The real raw mental impact, so I’m gonna set the stage for you. [...] Imagine that you were given a friend to play Minecraft with — like your best friend — BUT if this person dies, if they die in the game, you never get to talk to them again. Can you imagine what that’s like?

Bad: If you did not live through the QSMP, if you did not live through that, it almost sounds like, crazy. But I don’t think people realize how much of a joyous experience the Eggs were. They were SO awesome! They were literally so awesome to just hang out with and spend time with.

Bad: I’m not saying I regret it. To this day, I loved the experience. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Even knowing how everything went, I would still do it all over again. [...] I would still do it all over again, because — even knowing like, all the trauma and suffering and stuff like that — because it was just… It was just that fun, it was just that fun.

Earlier today during his stream, Bad shared his experience and thoughts about the Eggs and the significant emotional (and traumatic) impact they had on him and his fellow QSMP members.

This clip a very edited-down version since his commentary was ~13 minutes long, so I highly recommend checking out Bad's VOD if you have the time. (Timestamp: 47:36 - 1:00:14)

[ Full Transcript ↓ ]

———

Bad: To be fair Chat, I really think the QSMP... I don't think anyone really can relate to it, Chat. It's something that's so... I've told people this before, like– but it's hard to understand. Right? Like...

Where was I? Sorry Chat, I'm losing my train of thought. Look, let me explain Chat– here's the dealio, ok? Here's the dealio, and this is what I mean when I say like, it's important to keep this in mind, Chat. Ok? It's important to keep this in mind:

I don’t think people understand the effect that the QSMP had on like, some of the streamers, in terms of like… The real raw mental impact, so I’m gonna set the stage for you. This is the analogy I’ve given to every person who I’ve like, shared this with. Imagine you meet somebody– [He hears a strange noise] What the fudge was that? Did you hear that?

Anyway– Chip! The story I was just relaying to Chat, Chip, was this: I was sharing this story with them, I said–  I was giving them an analogy. 

Imagine Chat, for example, imagine that you were… playing Minecraft, with like– you were given a friend to play Minecraft with, Chat, like your best friend, and [unintelligible] were like, “Hey, you get to play Minecraft with this person, right? BUT if this person dies – they’re currently your best friend, Chip – but if they die in the game, you never get to talk to them again. Ever again.” Can you imagine what that’s like, Chip?

I don’t think a lot of people understand like, what that does, right? I’m not gonna say that like, it creates this situation, Chip, that like, messes with your head, but it– Chip – but it totally, totally does, Chip. It messes with your head! It literally puts you in a position where you’re second-guessing and thinking about everything, Chip! You’re thinking about EVERYTHING Chip! Ok? And that’s the problem, Chip– is you turn into a paranoid monster because of it, Chip! Like, you don’t understand Chip– I was- I was so afraid of every dirt block, I used to carry a shovel with me Chip, and I would specifically right-click dirt blocks that looked suspicious because mines, Chip– mines could not be shoveled! Like, I was crazy, Chip! But here’s the problem, Chip: that craziness is still there. I’m genuinely like–

I remember thinking Chip, that I would one day– I was like, “I’m going to move past–” here, let’s go up here, Chip. I remember thinking one day Chip, I was like, “I’m gonna move past the underground base, one of these days. You know, one of these days, I feel like I’ll be able to grow and achieve the desire to build a base that doesn’t have to be underground.” But I don’t think it’s possible now Chip, because I think… I just don’t know. I feel like the paranoia– there’s still like, residual leftover trauma from that situation, Chip.

But here’s the problem Chip: I don’t think I don’t think– I don’t think people understand it. Like, I just really don’t. But I also don’t blame them Chip, ‘cuz I don’t think it’s possible to fully understand it if you haven’t lived through it. Like, if you did not live through the QSMP… I’m talking about the QSMP, I don’t- I don’t know if that was obvious– if you did not live through that, it almost sounds like, crazy. But I don’t think people realize how much of a joyous experience like, the Eggs were. Right? I don’t think people realize it. Like, they were SO awesome! They were literally so awesome to just hang out with and spend time with, Chip. So, it’s just one of those things that–

[He’s interrupted by a loud rumble of thunder above them]

Did lightning just strike here? Is it thunderstorming out…? But anyway, Chip. That’s the food for thought.

But that’s the problem– Like, every time it rains in Minecraft, I have to like, look at the sky, and I get this weird, like, second--hand vibe because of the trauma. The trauma, Chip! The trauma is real! But that’s the point– I’m not saying I regret it. I, to this day Chip, I loved the experience. I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat. Even knowing how everything went, I would still do it all over again. 

[He falls down] Dangit, don’t come over here Chip, ‘cuz I’m coming back up! Ok.

I would still do it all over again, because — even knowing like, all the trauma and suffering  and stuff like that — because it was just… It was just that fun, Chip, it was just that fun. I really wi– I don’t think it’s ever gonna be possible, Chip, to give people that same energy, like that same experience. You know what I mean, Chip? I don’t think it’s ever gonna be possible again. Like, EVER.

Because… because like, one: I will say on one level Chip, I will say on one level, like– it’s sort of emotionally like… It’s emotionally devastating, and I think to actually go through that– and this is where like, if I ever do end up going to a– see a therapist, if I ever do end up going to see a therapist at any point, I’ll talk it over with them and be like, “Hey, what do you think about this?” Because I genuinely think on one level, like– it’s created this fear of forming attachments because of like, how things can go. You know what I mean? Like, the fear of getting attached to something and then potentially losing it. Like, it’s- it’s a genuine thing. I think people forget about that.

Like, at the end of the day, everything was RP, right? On the server. You know what I mean? Like, everything was RP, Chip. BUT at the same point, even though it was RP Chip, it was still like– there the reality of you were still playing like, with another person, and you were still getting that experience, and it felt like you were genuinely attached to someone and you didn’t want anything bad to happen to them. It was GENUINELY stressful, Chip.

But at the same point, I don’t regret it, and I don’t think it was a bad experience. I’m– 

Sometimes in life Chip, you go through stuff, and maybe you have a certain amount of like, things that like, can happen, that you’re like, “You know what, maybe this wasn’t a good thing that this happened,” but at the same point, you still aren’t necessarily upset about it, because… it’s like growing as a person, right? Here’s the thing Chip; even bad situations, Chip, can lead to an overall good outcome. Like–

Even if you’re going through something bad Chip, just because a bad thing happens doesn’t mean that only bad things have to come from that. That’s one of the things I tell people all the time, Chip, is that if you go through a bad situation, you can learn from it, and you can use your experience to help others. And you can be that– you can be, at the worst-case scenario, you can be someone for other people who are going through that same experience to lean on when they go through that.I think there’s a certain amount of comfort that comes from that; from knowing no matter how bad your situation is, you’re not the only person who’s experienced it. You know what I mean?

[symphonyofsilence]

What drives me even more insane about this scene is how you'd expect Gojo to imagine High school era! Geto in the crowd. Or at least not the cult leader, worst of all the curse users Geto Suguru. But no, it's the cult leader Geto. It's Geto as Gojo last remembered him. As Geto last was. Whatever choices Geto made, wherever his choices led him and them, however he was, whoever he was, traumas and messed up ideas and bad choices and ill reputations and scorns and all. Gojo wanted Geto Suguru there. Not any ideal version. Not any "what if" version. Not any "at some point in time before things went downhill" version. Not any "when your hands weren't stained with innocent blood" version. He knew very well what he wanted. And he wanted it all the same. He wanted Geto Suguru. However he was. He just wanted him to be there. He just wanted him to be.

And he didn't want him to help him, he didn't want him to fight with him even if they were strongest together and always fought together for a while. He just wanted him to be there in the crowd and cheer him on. He just wanted him to stand there and give him one of his sweet, heartwarming smiles that shaped his eyes into crescent moons. He just wanted him to be. Then even if Gojo had died in the end anyway, he would have been satisfied. It would have been worth it. Only if Geto was there.

[royal-misfit]

The main reason I think Goncharov worked better as a piece of mass produced fiction over Zepotha really does come down to the basic concepts of each piece. Goncharov had a concrete idea from the start, it was a lost 1973 mafia film directed by Martin Scorsese. Meaning that people new to the joke could more easily understand how to add to the story. Martin Scorsese has an unique style to his films, he has directed multiple mafia/crime dramas that people could pull from to create a cohesive story that sounds plausible for him to have made. People were able to come up with characters (and the actors who played them) and an actual plot by just studying the genre and finding what would work. Zepotha is just marketing a single artist's work under the idea of "an 80's horror film", no director, no actual genre other than "horror" (what kind of horror? Slasher seems to be the most popular, but Zepotha sounds more like a giallo style supernatural horror to me). There's no director listed, so no one knows how this film would play out or look. Because horror is such a vague descriptor here, people are throwing just about everything to the wall to see what sticks, which slows down the actual storytelling potential. People are making up characters first, before a plot leading to there being like 50 named characters, but any actual story is lost. Tldr; Goncharov found it's footing much easier and faster by starting out with a concrete idea, while Zepotha is stumbling because it's vagueness makes it hard for anyone to agree on basic things like story or characters.

[bees-pees]

this is all snufmin related i am so sorry

[inbabylontheywept]

seeing republicans attack legal structures that make it easier to register for voting always seems like a weird gamble to me. whose side has the laziest voters? whose side is willing to jump through the most hoops to vote? and how likely is that trend to continue into the future?

these aren't rhetorical questions. i don't know. and i don't think the republican party knows either. i can tell you, as a college student, i once got confused and registered to vote three times in one day. there are a lot of redundant programs to help young people vote. i don't know if there's as much of an effort to involve the old.

there's also something to be said about noticing when people take coin flip odds of success. the implied message is that they had less than coinflip odds of winning before. and i can believe that. the republican party has no idea what it's going to do in four years, least of all ten. if they seem busy and organized and scary right now, it's because they are cornered and fighting for their lives. who are they gonna run next? everyone that ran against trump the first time got humiliated. there's no one that he's currently training and grooming into a future leader. all the competency got driven out because trump viewed competency, correctly, as a threat.

like, they might pull a rabbit out of a hat, but i'm strangely optimistic. i can't even imagine what the republican primary will look like in 2029, least of all 2033.

we are looking at the republican party's last stand. and if it's messy and chaotic and insane, it's because they have nothing left to lose.

[i-know-the-endss]

i think the most frustrating part about tbosas is the fact that you want to root for coryo. you want him to be a better man for lucy gray. you want him and sejanus to become closer, to become the best friends sejanus believes them to be. you want him to run away and find a way to relearn all the oppressive and tyrannical ideals the capitol instilled in him.

but that’s not what happens.

coriolanus isn’t necessarily a good person. he’s not a bad person either, not yet, but he’s no where near good. and rather than try to be good, he gives up, he lets himself “go bad”, he rats out sejanus, he lets his anger get the best of him and loses lucy gray.

the idea that coryo could be a good person but chooses not to be is exactly the reason this book and this character are brilliant.

[3-aem]

universal healthcare is not broken and anyone trying to convince you it is is delusional and a dckrider for big health insurance. yes there are wait times but waiting for care is Not the same as being denied care.

in america your physician prescribes care and an insurer can still cuck you out of it because someone across the continent who has never met you can say: doesn’t seem medically necessary. Leaving you to handle a bill that is wildly inflated by the same insurers that just denied you.

let me drill it through your head you can pay thousands a year in premiums and still end up sick and financially burdened for years by One incident. no insurance company is Avoiding going broke by denying claims. theyre doing it to profit off your misfortune and your illness. Because healthcare fundamentally does not cost the amount that they claim it to be.

[valyrfia]

while i sympathise that james vowles had a tricky decision to make, i can’t pretend to understand it. he’s effectively hammered the final nail in the coffin of logan’s f1 career with his decision to run alex over logan, even though alex is responsible for crashing the car. if williams doesn’t believe in logan and his experience, why would they re-sign him? and why would any other team want to take a chance on him over a rookie?

it doesn’t bode well for alex either, this decision only makes sense if alex is able to put williams in the points this weekend, if he doesn’t, it’ll open him up to scrutiny about why he was chosen to drive over his teammate. all round, unless alex and the team is literally able to perform a miracle, i don’t see how anyone wins as a result of this decision.

[likea-black-widow-baby]

None of the Agathario fic writers can seem to agree on which one of them is the serial killer and which one is the detective chasing them when the answer is clearly that neither of them is the detective and they’re rival serial killers trying to one up each other

[daincrediblegg]

No you know what. I thought Joker 2 was good. And I’m tired of pretending that it wasn’t. Reasons under the cut bc of spoilers.

Because the thing is… Arthur was never the incel power fantasy that a lot of people made him out to be the first time around. He was never a true figure of “white male rage” because fundamentally he was a figure of an extraordinary level of social/classist and interpersonal abuse that led him to violence that liberated him from that (as is the case with MANY mentally ill and socially disenfranchised people in the world), but the violence was absolutely never the thing that defined him as a character, but that’s always the first thing that people miss when a character is reduced to black and white elements in the zeitgeist. But this movie definitively proved that all of the incel dude filmbros, as well as average detractors who reduced him to that “white male rage” narrative the first time around were not reflective of him as a character because in the end, even ARTHUR HIMSELF held himself accountable for his crimes, even fessing up to killing his mother in the eleventh hour. And his subsequent death after this revelation even further drives home the point that how he exists as a figure of nuance could never survive in the world that created him OR the world that allegedly “embraced” him. And I think that’s kind of beautiful from a meta-narrative standpoint and VERY faithful to how the first film operated.

[gojosbf]

what is also interesting about yuuji's domain expansion is that sukuna looks more like when he was in yuuji's body, it is not his real form neither how he looked when he was in megumi's body, it's almost like he's a part of yuuji and we are seeing sukuna through his eyes, that yuuji will always associate sukuna with himself. it almost tells you the amount of guilt, blame and responsibility he's been carrying, also maybe through this dissection he means to set megumi's soul and body free.

[creativesparkz]

theres a light in your eyes that never goes out

[once-in-a-half-life]

recreating memes in gmod part 3 (finally)

part 1

part 2

bonus: i also started teaching myself s2fm because I figured out how to use it on my steam deck haha

[ryin-silverfish]

Me, staring at the "Nezha is eternally 12/Nezha is often depicted as a kid so he's just a kid and nothing else" crowd: man, have you heard of Child Manjushri a.k.a. Wenshu Tongzi

(This is totally not an excuse for me to find cool statue pictures and talk iconography)

So, here is Bodhisattva Manjushri in his standard "graceful aristocratic prince" form, riding his azure lion. The statue in the picture doesn't have it, but oftentimes, he'll also be holding a flaming sword that symbolizes wisdom's ability to cut through ignorance and delusions.

This is "Holy Old Monk Manjushri", a variant that I came across a few times while temple-touring, but couldn't find many good online pictures of. It seemed like a thing that was popular around Mt. Wutai, based on the "Buddha-palita met Old Man Manjushri" tale. Sometimes his BFF Samantabhadra is depicted as an old man too, for matching purposes.

And this is Child Manjushri, with his five hair buns, often worshipped in an esoteric context. On Mt. Wutai, there are five major temples atop five peaks, each worshipping a different form of Manjushri, and the "middle peak" temple has a Child Manjushri in their main hall. Like, it's far from the most common variant, but neither is it this super obscure form that no longer enjoys active worship.

Lastly, just for fun: this is Yamantaka, a guardian deity/Wisdom King, who, in Tibetan Buddhism, is believed to be Manjushri's wrathful form.

If you wouldn't call Manjushri "the eternal child Bodhisattva" just because he has a child form, why would you say Nezha is an eternal child when he, too, has both child and adult forms?

Even though Nezha's child form is vastly more popular and well-known than Child Manjushri, I think my point still stands: A deity is capable of having multiple manifestations, of varying ages and appearances, each fulfilling a particular function and niche——none of which is the "One True Form TM", just different clothes they wear based on occasions and audiences.

To stretch the analogy a little, Manjushri's child form is the formal dress he puts on before attending a religious event, while Nezha's child form is the lotus T-shirt he wears a lot while appearing on TV, to the point it becomes his most iconic attire.

This doesn't mean he only has a single shirt, for goodness sake, and using his child form as evidence for the "eternal child" claim is like saying Nezha's only allowed to wear that one shirt and nothing else.

[toxiclizardwrites]

I don't want to get too much into the weeds with this because I don't want to give it a lot of publicity. I just have some thoughts on the alleged Telegram group that is apparently cyber stalking the Sleep Token band members, sharing personal information about them, pictures, etc.

I remember seeing a video of Justin Bieber (don't care for his music, am indifferent overall to him as an artist) very nicely talking to a group of young girls camped out outside his home but at the same time almost exasperatedly begging them to leave him alone. They pretty much ignored him and tried to get hugs and autographs. I felt so bad for him. He looked tired.

I saw another video of Tobias Forge from Ghost where some fans figured out where he would be existing from a venue after a show and were waiting for him. His, I assume security team, were there and calmly explained to the fans that Tobias was tired, not feeling well, and while he would talk to them it would have to be kept short. A bit more amicable of an interaction but still made me feel bad for him.

I know I get thirsty on this blog and joke about how I want to eat/bite/or do things to the members of Sleep Token but it's very important to remember that these are real people and they deserve that separation between fans. It keeps them safe. They put their art out for us to enjoy and that's honestly it. If they want to interact with fans, they should be in control of that for safety reasons. We are not entitled to interactions of any kind. Write fanfic. Draw art. Talk with friends. That's how we can gush about how much we love Sleep Token.

I think that the majority of people on Tumblr's section of the fandom, from what I've seen, would not cross this boundary, but I just had some thoughts on my mind that I wanted to get out.

I hope everyone involved in Sleep Token is safe. Unfortunately this kind of behaviour won't stop but I hope it's more bluffing and lip service rather than any tangible threat.

Anyway hope you all have a great day.