#the language used ! all the english companies !! the products!

[tsnbrainrot]

i have this 1914 ‘housewife’ manual that belonged to my grandmother and there is very little i love more than flipping through the ads in there… i mean yes the recipes and household tips are interesting and all, as well as all the childrearing and behavioural stuff, but the ads are so captivating to me in terms of being a look/insight into pre wwi quebec.

[stxrvel]

absence (1)

series summary. the holy grail of the seven men who ruled the country's entertainment used to be your friends at school. now, ten years later and between successes and failures, what reason would they have to want to come back into your life? pairing. eventually ot7 x f!reader... or not? content. first of all, english is not my first language so sorry for any mistakes! curse words, fangirling a lot and some self-deprecation. no proofread. this is just silly writing, we're on the safe zone for now. a/n. hi guys! i was gonna wait a little bit but i'm really excited about this one so you're gonna have earlier! thank u all for the support and i really hope you enjoy this 🫶🏻

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You met them all at school. Each with their own ambitions, their different dreams, but so similar in the nature of their core. It was almost funny how everyone with their dissimilar personalities fit so strangely well into one school group. There were times when you could still remember how you used to tell them that all together they could rule the world.

Maybe that's why you didn't see them years ago.

Jeon Jungkook was an idol. There wasn't an hour in the day or a screen in the city where you weren't watching him. He was so popular around the world that you suspected that not even one person didn't know him. His voice was on every radio station, on every cell phone of the people you passed on the street and on the buses, his face on the TV sets with the last interview he had done, as if it were a national achievement. You even saw him in restaurants, chefs naming dishes after him, production companies releasing collaborations with his company. There wasn't an object in that city that didn't have Jungkook's face on its forehead. It was impossible to escape him.

He was closely followed by Kim Taehyung and Park Jimin, two of the most promising models of the last decade, a national pride hand in hand with Jungkook. You didn't see them as often as Jungkook, but they still swept the international public and there was hardly anyone who didn't talk about them. Invited to catwalks in Paris, choosing their contracts and collaborations, wearing the most expensive clothes that you wouldn't even think of buying, wearing beautiful matching jewelry, expensive enough that a single outfit from each of them could buy you five houses in the small town they all came from. Taehyung and Jimin were known as the Siamese twins of modeling. Wherever one went, the other always had to be. Their exclusivity was incomparable.

In levels of recognition, Min Yoongi followed them in line. A great rapper who was well received by the general populace. Yoongi had managed to captivate a large audience thanks to his incredible command of the production of his music and his ease and gift for writing his own lyrics. His growth was gradual, but when he touched the sky he never went down again. His popularity was not low even though his presentation to the public was not that high compared to the other three. Still, Yoongi had enough charisma and talent to stand out, especially when his fans were obsessed with highlighting the duality he had when he was on stage and when he did those seventy question interviews with Vogue or whatever… that had made him one of the best rappers of his generation and probably of the last century.

Kim Namjoon was the owner of the company that made Jungkook's debut and welcomed Yoongi with total creative freedom. If he were not solely focused on music, he would surely also be Taehyung and Jimin's agent. Namjoon had inherited a company from his parents, but the success he had turned it into over the past few years, into one of the most profitable businesses in the country, was entirely to his credit and effort. His popularity was also high, because everyone said he was too handsome to be a mere businessman; not knowing, of course, that everything involved in maintaining such a business required much more than a pretty face. Of Namjoon the public didn't know too much, not probably like the other guys and you, if he was still half the person he was before.

Hand in hand with Namjoon were Jung Hoseok and Kim Seokjin. Hoseok was and still is to this day a national pride as he passionately played tennis since school and turned professional, reaching to participate in major international tournaments representing his country and winning one of them. However, two years after that great feat, an accident involving one of his hands prevented him from continuing to play. No one knows exactly what happened during the more than a year and a half that he almost completely disappeared from the public eye, but when he returned with his huge smile he announced that he would dedicate himself to dance, opening his own academy throughout the center of the city. Although he was not a recurrent teacher, his academy was one of the best in the country, and of course, it was financed by Namjoon's company. At one time Hoseok became Namjoon's associate.

Seokjin, on the other hand, was the one who kept the lowest profile. He was a great doctor, cardiovascular if you were not mistaken. In addition to being an amazing surgeon, his research projects were the ones everyone looked forward to the most at the end of each year. You didn't know much about the subject, but he was almost like the guru of medicine in his field specifically. The only reason he was so much in the public eye being a doctor was because he was regularly seen in the company of Namjoon, Hoseok and Yoongi. The four of them made up the holy grail of dilfs.

They had all had incredibly successful careers and you were glad that they had been able to accomplish everything they once talked about on the rooftop of Namjoon's house, with sneaky steps so their parents wouldn't scold them when they sneaked out in the wee hours of the morning.

You didn't know exactly what it was - or you didn't want to acknowledge it - that succumbed inside you every time you saw or heard about any of them on the news or on social media. Because yeah, no matter how low media exposure any of them had, always the faces of all seven appeared on your TikTok every week.

It was amazing how they had all moved on and you… well, you-

“Weren't you supossed to leave?”

You lifted your head from your phone, trying to hide it with trembling hands as you let Taehyung's face next to Jungkook's plunge into the darkness of your apron pocket.

“Huh?”

You tried to look distracted, returning your gaze between your boss and the notes next to the cash register. She had a soft gaze, between amused and sisterly. Her brown eyes shifted from your eyes and hot cheeks to the notes you held upside down in your hands, pretending to work as if she herself hadn't seen you completely frozen and gawking at the pair of the country's great casanovas.

“I thought you were leaving earlier today,” your boss shifted, settling her trench coat and long brown strap bag over her shoulder. At that moment she was leaving to walk around to each of the locations she had in town, just to do follow-ups. “Don't tell me you forgot.”

You followed her index finger until it landed on the red circle you had drawn on the calendar placed in your little cubicle a couple of weeks ago, with hearts surrounding it and exclamation points. Yes you remembered, of course you remembered, but at the point where you were at the time no one was going to miss you if you didn't attend.

“I didn't forget…” your voice trailed off as you looked down, your fingers finding the tips of the pages more entertaining than your boss's worried expression.

“y/n, you asked me to leave earlier this day from four months ago,” her high-pitched voice echoed in your head, reminding you how excited you had been a while ago for this day to come. “You can't just give up like that. Come on. You still have time.”

You began to shake your head, releasing your grip on the woman who was looking at you with the same worried eyes of a mother. Your boss had been one of the most encouraging people you'd ever had in your life, besides the handful of friends you had stored in your phone's contacts.

“It was a bust last time. I don't plan on going through that again.”

“But hadn't you told me afterwards that you weren't going to let that stop you? You said… what was it? I can't drown in this glass of water.”

You grudgingly resisted the urge to roll your eyes. Really you of four months ago was a deluded fool.

“I had no idea about life at the time.”

Your boss clicked her tongue, dropping her hands on your shoulders, giving little squeezes whose familiarity stole your breath.

“I'll leave Patrick waiting for you in case you change your mind.”

You shook your head, evading the memories. The man outside the store shook his head in greeting as the two of you turned to look at him, as if he knew you were talking about him.

“Don't miss this opportunity because you're afraid. It may change your life.”

You watched her leave, the clacking of her low heels drawing the attention of everyone in the store, earning every possible stare as she did every time she entered any room. Her chauffeur, Patrick, greeted her with a similar nod of his head as before and stood leaning against the black car parked right where he could get a perfect view of your nervous face.

You, unlike the great and successful lives of your high school friends whose company you still used to miss like a fool, had not had such a great and successful life.

You were a writer. Well, an attempted writer and, worse, part-time. The other part-time was this job behind the cash register at the largest pastry chain in the country. Or sometimes as a waitress, it depended on the day. There was good pay, mind you, at least it allowed you to make up for the losses you took every time you tried to sell a book and then had to market it on your own, only to have five purchases once every seven months and three of them were from your parents and brother. The other two were from your friends.

Four months ago you had been invited to a sort of convention for readers, how they had found you and why? You had no idea, but the idea of being considered in that way drove you crazy at the time. You were so excited that you had more copies of your failed books printed and prepared your booth several days in advance to present them to the horde of people who, you were sure at the time, would come to meet you.

Only one person came by to ask you about the bathroom.

You never recovered from that.

Even with all that failure, that same day you were invited to another convention and, for a while, you were excited to attend. Everyone goes through those kinds of bumps at some point in their life, right? You have to work hard to earn that kind of fame, you kept telling yourself. But as time went on and your networks didn't grow and your videos didn't get more than ten views, or fifty views at most in a week, you began to lose that spark of excitement you held for your dream. Your parents had never turned your back on what you wanted to do, but it was too demotivating and discouraging to have spent so many years at it, so many headaches and tears invested for you to just keep losing and losing money.

That was why you were sure you wouldn't go to that convention if you had to go through that mockery again. You hadn't even bothered to go and fix your booth so surely they already knew you weren't going.

“Have you seen them yet??????”

The female voice coming from the wine cellar made you jump up on your chair.

“Jesus, Yuna, you almost killed me here.”

“I don't care! We could die right now for all we care!”

“Wow, speak for yourself.”

“Haven't you seen theeeem?”

Yuna held up her phone, the screen at full brightness blinding you for a moment. The blurry dots you saw from the proximity of the device told you nothing, as your friend jumped excitedly beside you.

“God, hold still.”

Grabbing her wrist, you leveled the phone to see her TikTok and a picture of three men.

Namjoon, Yoongi and Jungkook coming out of a building. From Namjoon's building.

“They look amazing, don't they? They just came out! That means their car will pass in front of us any minute!”

Yes, Namjoon's building was just a few blocks away from your boss's place. In fact, your boss knew him and many times they would prepare large orders for parties at his company. You had never seen him set foot in this place or any other in the country, but every time he went to celebrate something he had to dial your boss's personal number and you would work until your backs burned because everything had to be perfect for the big businessman.

“Are you going out to greet them or what?” you frowned, letting go of her wrist and returning your gaze to the notebook next to the cash register.

Yuna let out an excited exclamation.

“Ohhhh~, should I? Should I?”

You grabbed her by the collar of her uniform as she tried to pass behind you.

“We're still on business hours.”

“I'm sure Sol wouldn't mind,” her almost heart pupil eyes stared down the street, her hands moving in front of her like she was a zombie. She almost seemed possessed by her fanaticism. Though of course you didn't blame her, if you didn't know any of the seven knights of the underworld you would surely be as excited as she was.

“Don't put words in her mouth. You'd better tell me if the lady's batch of cakes is out yet-”

Commotion erupted throughout the room. You almost saw in slow motion how all the people in the premises got up and running in the direction of the glass doors when you heard the screams coming from far away.

“They're comiiiiiiiiiiiing!!!”

Sometimes you wondered how they dealt with this level of fanaticism.

The ground almost shook with the amount of people running after a black car, where the three men who were causing such a furor so early that day were most likely to be, and the commotion was not tiny inside the venue where the screams erupted.

Having to deal with that on a daily basis would easily turn someone into a hater. Not that you were one... strictly...

“God, for a moment we breathed the same air,” Yuna plopped down on the table, her body doubled over with her eyes lost. You resisted the urge to smack her forehead.

“Their car windows were up.”

“So you saw them, right?????”

“Argh.”

You had to drag her back to work as the excitement in the store dissipated. You attended to another batch of consumers while Yuna fixed the display case and, in a moment of lapse you could almost tell, her back suddenly straightened and she turned to look at you with her eyes a little too wide. You passed the change to the man in front of you, who barely sent you a confused glance before continuing to claim his order at the other corner of the store.

“What's wrong with you?”

“You shouldn't be here.”

“Don't say that with that face. You look creepy,” you pulled out the bill to tuck it under the cash register as Yuna approached, leaving the frightened face behind.

“Wasn't that convention today?”

You sighed. “Yes.”

“Then why aren't you there?”

“Do I look like I want to be there?”

“Y/n! It's a great opportunity. You should-”

“A great opportunity for what, to be a laughingstock again?”

Yuna pursed her lips, looking almost pained that you would remember in that way the experience that was supposed to change your life. She had been one of the ones who had accompanied you to set up the booth and she was sure she had never seen you smile so much during all the time the two of you had known each other. Yuna was aware of how over time you seemed to have lost interest in this new convention, but she didn't think you would finally decide not to go.

On the sly, she had prepared your booth with the help of your mother and Sol, your boss.

“You were never a laughingstock! Don't say that,” Yuna patted your forearm harder than necessary. “Besides, I recently logged some purchases on the site! How do you-?”

“I know it was you and mom,” you raised your voice to interrupt her, stepping archly away from her body.

“What the… Of course not, ha, ha!”

“You're the only fools who would write down celebrity names to register purchases. Besides, the addresses don't even exist.”

“Fuck, I told her that wouldn't work.”

Under your heavy gaze, Yuna had the decency to look embarrassed.

“Okay, I'm sorry! We wanted to motivate you to go to the convention.”

“Can't you just let me do my own thing? If I don't want to go, I won't go.”

“Even if you leave Patrick waiting there?”

You followed his gaze, watching the man pull an umbrella out of the trunk of the car as the slightest breeze brushed against his body and the water droplets were smaller than a dew that the two of you had to squint to see them on the glass of the entrance.

“Whatever it is, I'm not going.”

“y/n…” Yuna pleaded, coming closer with her puppy dog eyes.

“No.”

“y/n, please…”

“No and stop doing that. You look weird.”

“I don't,” Yuna pulled away to frown at you. “I once heard you agreed with Seoyeon about my puppy face being cute.”

“I never agreed with that!”

“Seojun told me so!”

“Your first mistake is believing Seojun.”

“Do you blame me if the reason is your demonstration of love for me?”

“That was your second mistake.”

“Y/n!”

_____________________

That day you arrived home a little later than usual. Since Patrick had been waiting for you all day in the sun and mini rain and refused to let you take a cab on direct instructions from Sol, you asked him to take a ride downtown so you could buy the teokkboki your mom loved and incidentally bought some for him, even though he didn't want to accept it at first.

“y/n, dear, how did it go?”

Your parents were in the living room when you arrived playing Go. Your father left the table when he saw you carrying the bag of food and came over to take it from you.

“What does our little writer bring here, a contract by any chance?”

You watched out of the corner of your eye as your mother tried to get your father's attention by wildly waving her fan, while the man rummaged through the bag to find something warm and delicious smelling.

“Oh, it's teokkboki.”

Your mother stopped waving her arm to stare at the bag with sparkling eyes.

“The ones from the center? From Mrs. Wang?”

You nodded in her direction, taking a seat in their midst on the floor. Your parents started a pitched battle to see who would break the bag first to try the first batch of teokkboki and you could only watch them with a smile on your face. The day may have been difficult, but being home at the end of the day always made you feel so much better.

Amidst laughter and anecdotes, trying to avoid the elephant in the room because you knew your mother's furtive glances weren't for nothing, the three of you ate teokkboki until you were bursting at the seams. You organized the kitchen with your father while your mother grumbled from the living room whatever he said about her. You watched the three of you favorite soap opera on the fixed schedule and finally got ready for bed.

With your body more relaxed and lighter, you let yourself sink into the softness of the sheets, completely ignoring the messages Yuna had sent earlier and the stupid questions your brother asked at the most inopportune moments.

How do I unclog a bath?

Do I add salt to the rice???

Where do I get the kimchi mom makes?????

His independence was probably one of the worst things that could happen. You being the older sister thought you would leave home first. Even according to your twelve year old diary, you should have been married by then or at least planning your amazing, mega giant wedding, complete with helicopters and puppy dogs carrying drinks through the reception. You didn't know what kind of crazy dreams you had when you were younger, but up to that point you hadn't been able to fulfill any of your inner child's desires except to study for a career you were passionate about.

Still, what good had that done in the end? Maybe you should've listened to your grandparents to study medicine. Maybe your parents should've been a little more conservative instead of libertarian, which your grandparents always complained about when they had the chance. If you were a disgrace to anyone in the family, it was to them.

Ah, what a long day.

You didn't know at what point you fell asleep, but the incessant sound of your phone vibrating next to your pillow woke you up. With a grunt, you moved your hands to put the device in front of one of your half-open eyes to find Yuna on caller ID. Your eyes moved upward.

It was one in the morning!

“What the fuck are you doing calling at this hour? It better be an emergency because-”

“WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU DOING THAT YOU DON'T CHECK YOUR MESSAGES?”

“WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT? IT'S ONE IN THE MORNING! WHY WOULD I BE DOING ANYTHING ELSE BUT SLEEPING?”

“I'VE BEEN TEXTING YOU FOR A WHILE NOW, Y/N!”

“YUNA HOW CAN I NOT FUCKING SLEEP-?”

“Well, whatever!”

You let out an exasperated snort, giving her time to say what she had to say.

“You're going to fall on your ass.”

“I'm lying down.”

“Your books have sold a thousand copies in the last hour!”

Silence. Absorbing silence…

“Yuna, if you really woke me up to play a fucking prank on me I'm going all the way to your house to pull out every single one of your hairs with a fucking tweezer.”

“First of all, gross. Second of all, I'm not kidding! Get on your fucking Instagram! What's worse is that's not the most shocking news. Well… depends on how you look at it.”

“Yuna, I don't think I'm following you.”

“Fucking Kim Taehyung was at the reader convention and he took a picture of your books and UPLOADED IT TO HIS INSTAGRAM STORIES!!!!! AN HOUR AGO! The damn shopping notifications woke me up and I think I took too much time trying to process what was going on because they already tripled!”

“What the fuck are you talking about, did you start smoking weed?”

“Ugh, why are you so insufferable? Just look at fucking Instagram!”

You didn't want to believe Yuna, but a part of you was vibrating in anticipation. You'd already seen her text messages, her exclamations and voice notes, you'd barely processed the images she'd sent you. You logged on to Instagram. The first thing you noticed was the exorbitant amount of notifications and direct messages.

You had to search for Taehyung's account because you weren't following him.

There was the colorful arc around his profile picture. The story.

You clicked on his picture on the screen.

Your books were all over his story, with his hand holding one of them.

It jumped out at you that there was a stand of your books that you had no idea where it had come from.

A description loomed between the image.

One of the best fantasy books I've read in recent years. And by one of the best writers I've ever met in my life.

Your user was next to the description. You had no idea how fucking Kim Taehyung had gotten your user when it wasn't even something related to your name. You hadn't even uploaded pictures of yourself once in all the time that account had been open.

“Did you see it?? Can you see I wasn't lying?”

With Yuna's malevolent laughter in the background, you felt your mind escape into an unknown mental space.

“You're going to be rich!!! And I'm going to meet Kim Taehyung!”

Your mind was racing a thousand miles an hour trying to make sense of what your eyes couldn't credit. His story was replaying on your screen. So many things you could say and just…

“What the fuck?”

--

tag: @rinkud @futuristicenemychaos @pastelpeachess @parapiop7

[rotzaprachim]

some smaller bookstores, presses, and museum shops to browse and know about! Most support smaller presses, diverse authors and authors in translation, or fund museums and arts research)

(disclaimer: the only three I’ve personally used are the Yiddish book center, native books, and izzun books! Reccomend all three. Also roughly *U.S. centric & anglophone if people have others from around the world please feel free to add on

birchbark books - Louise Erdrich’s book shop, many indigenous and First Nations books of a wide variety of genres including children’s books, literature, nonfiction, sustainability and foodways, language revitalization, Great Lakes area focus (https://birchbarkbooks.com/)

American Swedish institute museum store - range of Scandinavian and Scandinavian-American/midwestern literature, including modern literature in translation, historical documents, knitters guides, cookbooks, children’s books https://shop.asimn.org/collections/books-1

Native books - Hawai’i based bookstore with a focus on native Hawaiian literature, scholarly works about Hawai’i, the pacific, and decolonial theory, ‘ōlelo Hawai’i, and children’s books Collections | Native Books (nativebookshawaii.org)

the Yiddish book center - sales arm of the national Yiddish book center, books on Yiddish learning, books translated from Yiddish, as well as broader selection of books on Jewish history, literature, culture, and coooking https://shop.yiddishbookcenter.org/

ayin press - independent press with a small but growing selection of modern judaica https://shop.ayinpress.org/collections/all?_gl=1kkj2oo_gaMTk4NDI3Mzc1Mi4xNzE1Mzk5ODk3_ga_VSERRBBT6X*MTcxNTM5OTg5Ny4xLjEuMTcxNTM5OTk0NC4wLjAuMA..

Izzun books - printers of modern progressive AND masorti/trad-egal leaning siddurim including a gorgeous egalitarian Sephardic siddur with full Hebrew, English translation, and transliteration

tenement center museum -https://shop.tenement.org/product-category/books/page/11/ range of books on a dizzying range of subjects mostly united by New York City, including the history literature cookbooks and cultures of Black, Jewish, Italian, Puerto Rican, First Nations, and Irish communities

restless books - nonprofit, independent small press focused on books on translation, inter and multicultural exchange, and books by immigrant writers from around the world. Particularly excellent range of translated Latin American literature https://restlessbooks.org/

olniansky press - modern Yiddish language press based in Sweden, translators and publishers esp of modern Yiddish children’s literature https://www.etsy.com/shop/OlnianskyBooks

https://yiddishchildrensbooks.com/ - kinder lokshen, Yiddish children’s books (not so many at the moment but a very cute one about a puffin from faroese!)

inhabit books - Inuit-owned publishing company in Nunavut with an “aim to preserve and promote the stories, knowledge, and talent of Inuit and Northern Canada.” Particularly gorgeous range of children’s books, many available in Inuktitut, English, French, or bilingual editions https://inhabitbooks.com/collections/inhabit-media-books-1

rust belt books - for your Midwest and rust belt bookish needs! Leaning towards academic and progressive political tomes but there are some cookbooks devoted to the art of the Midwest cookie table as well https://beltpublishing.com/

[licorice-and-rum]

SOC and Neoliberlism

So, as promised, here it is my analysis of Six of Crows and how neoliberalism is amazingly portrayed in Ketterdam, and how the city is an example of what happens in a community that is not provided for.

Before we begin, I wanted to say that English is not my first language, and, considering I read SOC in Brazilian Portuguese, I might translate some names literally or differently from the English version but I think it's manageable to read and understand my point. If not, I'll edit the text.

The first thing we have to understand is how neoliberalism works and the theory behind it, and then we'll talk about how it's portrayed in Ketterdam.

So neoliberalism is a theory born more or less at the end of the 20th century (70s-80s), and it finds its roots in laissez-faire capitalism, meaning that it's a political current that tries to suppress and/or eliminate the State's influence from the market. The neoliberalist view understands that the market can supply by itself the population's needs without help or limitations imposed by the State.

The thing here is that most people listen to this and think neoliberalism is about electronics, cars, and other stuff. The truth is, that neoliberalism aims to suppress the presence of State-run facilities in ALL corners of society, such as health care, housing, water access, electricity, etcetera.

So, we can use the American and Brazillian health systems to understand it better, for example:

In the US, the ones providing health care for the population are great corporations - they decide the price of care, they work together with pharmaceutical companies to define medicine prices, and the laws that bind them are pretty much only offer and demand. There is almost none State intervention to provide the population with accessible health care.

However, this brings problems, of course: not everyone (actually, most people) has real access to health care simply because they can't afford it, or they can't afford it without taking a big financial hit, which threatens their other basic needs, such as food, housing, water, electricity, etcetera. Not everyone can provide for their medical needs, such as diabetic and disabled people.

That leads to:

(a) an increase in poverty;

(b) a decrease in educational levels - if you don't have the means to pay for higher educational levels because of health care debt, or if you're sick and need to go to class and tough through it but you're not really learning anything, and so on, which leads to a major workforce in base level production and a minor class who has access to this education;

(c) an increase in overworking people - meaning that we have a lot of people taking on several jobs to be able to pay for things like health care, which increases the competitiveness between people, making individualism levels go up and breaking up human beings' natural sense of community.

I could also talk here about how this breeds isolation and increases the potential for mental health problems but I think you got what I was saying.

On the other hand, we have the Brazilian health care system (SUS), which is a universal gratuitous medical care service through the whole country. Its purpose is not profit, it's providing health care for the community, so therefore, any SUS unit is bound by State law and run by the State. By law, every SUS unit must provide for anyone who enters its premises in need of medical care. Everyone, Brazillian and foreigners, poor or rich, must be treated if they need to. It's the law.

Of course, that doesn't mean it's all rainbows and flowers, there are definitely many problems in SUS. However, what I'm trying to showcase here is that, when the needs of a population are met, the population itself is more resilient, their life quality goes up and so does their participation in their community.

On the other hand, in neoliberalism, when the State is absent from these areas of community service, the market is, in theory, the one providing for the community. In practice, however, what we observe from neoliberal policies in cities with a great poor population in Latam for example, is that when the State doesn't provide for the community, the market is unable to step up for them because of their obscene prices.

The poor population that doesn't have their needs met by the State or the market sees a great boom in criminal activities within their spaces. That's mainly why criminal organizations are so present in slums and favelas throughout Latin America: criminal organizations are a way for the community to provide for themselves and, as a means to become more powerful, they provide for the community in exchange for their services (not to say they do that for the good of their hearts, of course not).

It's why it's so common, for example, that criminal organizations such as PCC in Brazil pay for kids from favelas to undergo Law school, for example.

And that's is where I wanted to go to start the conversation in SOC: one of the main traits of Ketterdam is the Barrel and, in the Barrel, we have the presence of many criminal organizations, such as the Dregs, the Dime Lions, the Menagerie staff (not the girls, ofc), etcetera.

This, as observed by Kaz himself, is one of the only ways to survive on the Barrel - you filiate yourself to a gang because you need to be able to provide for yourself and, more times than others, for your family as well.

Kaz's story is actually a perfect example of how Ketterdam is the representation of America in the early 20th century in full policies of laissez-faire (neoliberalism): as we can see in Titanic and many other historical fictions, the said American Dream had people believing the US to be this economical paradise where they could all enter the market and become millionaires.

The result of it is the Great Depression, of course, but I'm getting ahead of myself here.

When Kaz and Jodi leave Lij for Ketterdam, Jodi believes he'll become a merchant - which is a pretty common belief of those who arrive at Ketterdam, as Pekka Rollins and Kaz himself state in Crooked Kingdom.

The reality of it, though, is much harsher, because the truth is that when you have a market that controls everything, as we see in Ketterdam with the Merchant's Guild (I think that's how it's translated?) and the Stadwatch as a police force, you see perfectly how neoliberal policies really work in real life:

You have a higher class who controls the market and the riches (question: who do you think got the money Shu Han sent to Ketterdam at the beginning of the first book: the people of the city/country or the merchants in the "government"?), and a lower class that, without support from the State or the market to have their needs met will turn to their own means to do so.

So you have the trafficking that brought Inej to the island, the unlimited gambling that Jesper was trapped in, the cons Jodi and Kaz fell for - it's all product of liberal policies.

And so, you have Ketterdam and its neoliberal policies (:

(I really love to make this kind of analysis, please, if you have something you want me to talk about, don't hesitate to ask)

[buckyalpine]

Here is a list of things that make me mad in no particular order. Angry ranting. Pls ignore this, I'm just screaming into the void. These example apply to very specific situations I've encountered with people who are perfectly capable of doing better.

People who lack common sense. Social awareness. Common courtesy. Saying "Oh my God, I'd never do that" when they've never been even close to said situation but they're now experts on how they'd act while sitting on their pristine Thoroughbred horse, sipping on English tea with their pink so high it may as well be in their nose.

People who say "Well I wouldn't care if it happened to me" or "I'm just being honest" when you point out something they did/said.

When autocorrect/spellcheck decides it cannot for the life of it figure out what you're trying to spell OR it gives you suggestions for every word under the sun except the one you want. All you did was leave out a single letter with the rest of it spelled perfectly and spellcheck decides to go into a coma. So you fix the mistake and the little squiggly red line goes away. Fuck you.

Gnats. WTF is you're problem. I've Googled this shit cause I want to know why tf you can't just fly straight, why do you have to buzz all over the damn place near my head of all places.

Flies. Same thing as above. Why tf can't you just fly straight. WHY NEAR MY EAR. You have the entire world and you decided my room is the place to be? And now we're both miserable because you keep hitting yourself against the window after noticing your grave mistake. I leave the door wide open but you want to keep body slamming the glass.

Giving me life advice on something you know nothing about.

People who don't love their pets. Yeah, you take care of them but you do it as a chore and then complain about it. Those little fur babies deserve it all, give them the best or don't have pets at all.

Holier than thou attitude.

People who laugh at those who are visibly upset and tell them they're being too sensitive.

Allergies. IDK Why tf my body acts surprised as hell every single spring. It's just fucking pollen. Why are you trying to fight it. Do you understand that in your brilliant plan to try and fight the little evaders you actually make me want to end it all because my nose is itching and my eyes are watering and I can't breathe. Food allergies are another level of bullshit. I'll never forget the day this one girl tells me she wished she had allergies? Like it makes you special, mf what??? She was being serious too.

Thin, straight, fine black hair. Can't do anything with it. It doesn't hold hairstyles, doesn't curly, gets heavy as soon as you use any product and 90% of the time it just looks like Snape cosplay. Ask me how I know

Parents who buy their very young children shoes with laces. This is inconvenient for all of us. why tf would you do this when Velcro exists. Your 4 year old doesn't need laces when they have no clue how to even eat cheese with their crackers, mf why did you buy this shoe for them?!

Bananas. Hate them with a burning passion. The smell. The texture. I hate the peel is left out and about like it isn't making the entire room smell. Don't even get me started on banana breath. (Keep in mind this is not me saying I think they're gross. I wish I liked them because they're a super convenient snack and very healthy)

People who lie and say you can't taste the banana in a smoothie. Yes, I can. You always can. You can have 1000lbs of any fruits and that single banana will still stand out.

People who don't understand mental illness/ act ignorantly to those suffering.

Big companies who ask you to donate to stuff. You're going to use this as a tax write off, stfu.

Inflation.

People who laugh at others for not knowing something. Maybe that thing had 0 relevance to their life. Maybe they learned about that because they were taught something else. Either way, how is it funny.

People who laugh at those learning a new language. You're the fucking worst. They are LEARNING. Let them get used to the pronunciation, let them get accustomed to sentence structures, let them make mistakes without being embarrassed. You're the embarrassing one cackling you're damn ass off while they're trying to do something new. You're discouraging them from wanting to continue because you feel the need to be an asshole.

People who make everything a serious debate/conversation.

People who steal. Not out of necessity but just because they can. I'll never forget overhearing this group of kids in my high school bragging and laughing their asses off over how much candy they stole from other kids. They also stole phones. These were not troubled kids mind you, they were doing this for shits and giggles.

Eczema. So fucking itchy, why can't skin just act right. It feels awful, looks awful and just comes and goes as it pleases.

People who clown you for who you find attractive. Why. If I find this person attractive, what in the ever loving flying fuck does it have to do with you. It's just so unnecessarily rude. I don't even get how its funny or why you find it okay to call someone ugly as if this is something they personally have control over.

I'm going to add more to this list.

[i07jeuu]

wanted to say this because there's a lot of ppl supporting some really weird accounts here

first of all, (gonna defend latinoamerica in general) if you are going to talk about a country other than your own, do not close the answers and have the balls to be educated by citizens of that country, it's very comfortable to write nonsense living in your country with a government you hate, but having a fridge with some food, surprise !! that's not the reality for 70% of venezuelans for 15 years.

it doesn't matter if you're white, black, lgbt, rich, poor, or whatever, if you're a stupid gringo, you're a stupid gringo. also for the love of god, spain is not latin america !!

they also never take cuba out of their mouths, as if the majority of cubans did not feel threatened by their own government every day, cubans are not interested in their country being seen as a vintage paradise for foreigners !! (and gringos should not compare them internationally with venezuela, it's not the same.)

"the US is to blame for the sanctions it imposes on venezuela"

in 2005/2013 were there sanctions?

are the sanctions to blame for the dictatorship imprisoning children aged 10/15 into the helecoide? (u can search what the helecoide is on google btw)

why do people related to the government have elon musk's cars inside the country? why they have iphones? if it were difficult to access those products, why do they have them? also 3 million $ public concerts? accounts in the vatican? how?

"USA only wants oil !!" oh, and then what do russia, china and cuba want? friends?

why do national companies collaborate financially with israel? why does israel have so much money invested in the national bank? why is israel one of the country's most important military partners? oh yes but maduro says free palestine on public tv..

why the country's national armed forces are arresting, killing and torturing people because of the "free speech"? the government is not supposed to be using that military entity against its own civilians..

why, for the first time in the history of venezuela, did they not present voting bulletins? why did they not give any official results?

do you think that 8 million venezuelans went to other countries as tourists?

"why do you write in english?" oh sorry, i didn't know that in latin america there was no language education and we can't learn other languages.

"only the rich don't like maduro" ask the people of petare what they think about that, don't you know what or how petare is? google it.

get out of your bubble of wanting to defend something that not even 80% of venezuelans want.

the chavez government did not invent public services in the country, it made them worse, stealing the money intended for them and spending it on propaganda. i studied in a public school and sometimes we only had 2 classes per week.

that's all i wanted to say, some people don't understand that other countries use the USA for their own convenience, even if you don't agree with them (as the same for russia, for example.)

los quiero mucho amiguitos latinos !! 🌷

[shakespearenews]

The son of Bangladeshi immigrants, Zaman was first seduced by the theatre’s siren song as a teenager. “I know exactly when it happened. I was 15 or 16, and my school took a group of us to a show in Newcastle, which was an international telling of A Midsummer Night's Dream. It was an RSC production, with an entire company of actors from the Asian continent, across East and South Asia, all speaking different languages. The whole play was done in every language they spoke but English, and it was so beautiful and physical. I was blown away by it, and seeing people who looked like me on stage.”

[linkemon]

Spring rolls (Senshi x Reader)

Friendly reminder that English is not my first language. You can check my Masterlists both in English and Polish here. Consider supporting me on Ko-fi. You can also check out my commissions if you’re interested.

Other oneshots can be found here.

ᴀɴ ᴜɴᴜꜱᴜᴀʟ ʀᴇᴄɪᴘᴇ ꜰᴏʀ ꜱᴘʀɪɴɢ ʀᴏʟʟꜱ, ᴄʀᴇᴀᴛᴇᴅ ʙʏ ꜱᴇɴꜱʜɪ, ᴏꜰ ᴄᴏᴜʀꜱᴇ. ɪᴛ ᴄᴀɴ'ᴛ ʙᴇ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇᴅ ᴡɪᴛʜᴏᴜᴛ ᴀ ᴍᴏɴꜱᴛᴇʀ ᴀɴᴅ ᴀ ʟɪᴛᴛʟᴇ ᴅᴏꜱᴇ ᴏꜰ ʜᴇʟᴘ ᴡʜɪʟᴇ ᴄᴏᴏᴋɪɴɢ…

Senshi stroked his chin thoughtfully. He was separated from the team some time ago. He was so eager to pick the wild cucumbers crawling on the ground that he fell into a dark tunnel and slid down in the darkness. He landed near some unknown lake. Luckily it didn't seem too big. Senshi tried to keep his cool. He had spent a lot of time underground alone during his life but now he was filled with anxiety. He had gotten used to the company. Unfortunately, the mysterious hatch closed right behind him, so he had to find a new way back to his friends. He consoled himself that at least he had a supply of cucumbers.  

He crossed the marshy terrain, treading on a relatively dry path. Various branches floated on the surface of the water. Blue and dark green melted into the dirty brown scenery. The strange, twisted trees looked like hands, ready to pull him into deeper waters at any moment. However, he looked at their bark with satisfaction. A few swipes of the handy knife later, he managed to collect a large supply. He figured that since he was here, he could take advantage of the opportunity. Chewing slowly on the soft wood, he took one step at a time.  

In the silence broken only by the buzzing of insects and the splashing of water, a familiar melody reached his ears. The surface of the water carried the gentle sounds of a mandoline. The dwarf stopped for a moment. The water was too shallow for the pernicious mermaids to inhabit. So he was lucky. He followed the sound of the strings. A familiar bard appeared before his eyes. [Reader] looked like she wanted to rub her eyes in disbelief. But instead, she played a cheerful chord as she rose from the rotten tree trunk she was sitting on. Dressed as always in an avant-garde, colourful, velvet outfit.  

— The last person I expected to see here today! The most pleasant of surprises. What brings you here?  

Senshi raised the corners of his mouth. He hadn't seen the woman since he joined Laios and his group. They knew each other from the area around the cemetery, where trade flourished. For him it was quite close to the surface, so he preferred to avoid this place but certain products could not be found underground. Ever since something close to a tavern was built there, bards have been killing themselves to perform there. [Reader] used to sing not only there but also nearby. She rarely went down to the lower floors.  

He had already forgotten how flowery and effusive she was. He couldn't imagine her in any other profession. It fit her perfectly.  

— I lost the friends I'm traveling with — he explained laconically.  

— I'm so glad to see you! — Bard put her arm around the dwarf. — We have company at twelve — she added extremely quietly into his ear.  

Senshi's first instinct was to get flustered, surprised by the sudden closeness. But all that passed when he turned around as gently as he could. Water flowed into the lake directly from a tiny river. They actually had company. What he thought was just a branch turned out to be a turtle shell. Every few moments a piece of wrinkled monkey skin stuck out from under it. There was a kappa living in the water. It swam towards them extremely slowly. From time to time, a flat bowl adorning its head emerged from the surface. The dwarf didn't need Laios to determine what exactly threatened them. In the worst case scenario, they could be disembowelled and have all their organs removed.  

He gave the woman a knowing look. She just nodded slightly.  

Kappa swam to the shore. It tilted its head and blinked its watery eyes. Then it put her teeth into a ghastly smile. White sprouts flashed in the red mouth. Senshi silently hoped that they wouldn't soon become her meal. Especially considering where in the human body such monsters reached first...  

— We welcome you, o mighty kappa! — [Reader] nervously strummed her mandoline.  

— Ahem... yes, welcome! — Senshi joined in, a little less confident.  

— Arghulghul! — replied the creature.  

The dwarf didn't know if it was an invitation to talk but he decided there was no better option. They had little chance against the kappa.  

— We have heard of your well-known virtue and that you host a fest! And also about how wonderfully you welcome... guests! — concluded the woman uncertainly.  

Senshi had no doubt that the hybrid would have a great fest. But he suspected he wouldn't like the main meal at all.  

— Your are immensely swift…— the bard began.  

— As such we brought you a gift! — Senshi reached behind him.  

Kappa turned its head to the other side. Its eyes widened and it pulled out what could only be a flat nose from a distance. The powerful whistling inhalation was probably intended to check what the dwarf was holding in his hands. When kappa realized they were cucumbers, her mouth formed a voracious duck lip. Up until now, it had been walking at a snail's pace and now it accelerated significantly. The water splashed as it swept the water on the shore with its tail.  

— Doesn't have manners now, anyone who doesn't bow! — [Reader] struck the strings once again.  

Senshi obediently bent in half, as did his companion. This required unwavering faith in the plan. However, he knew that this was the kappa's only weakness, next to cucumbers. Only politeness could kill this monster. When he looked up, he saw the turtle-like creature just finishing its bow, emptying the contents of the bowl on its head. Water flowed down the monkey's skin. The monster gurgled angrily and fell dead in the river with a loud splash.  

— I guess that's the end of these rhymes for today, my dear — [Reader] breathed a sigh of relief.  

— Hmm...  

— You want to eat it, right? — She looked resignedly towards the river.  

— I ate kappa once. It has wonderful and tender meat rich in nutrients. It would be a shame to waste it — Senshi replied.  

Bard helped him pull the body out of the water. Immediately afterwards, he told her to start cutting cucumbers and dividing the bark. In the meantime, he skinned the monster. Then he took out his trusty pot and lit a fire. He had a hard time doing it because the wood around him was unbearably wet. Eventually, however, he managed to cook pieces of kappa.  

[Reader] played the mandoline, claiming that her role in cooking ended here. Somehow, her repertoire included songs about chefs.  

Senshi placed slice-thin pieces of soft bark and on them meat and cucumber slices. He rolled everything up carefully. Proud of himself, he decorated the work with grasses growing near the river. He placed rolls on large burdock leaves. The first and only one of its kind: Kappa Spring Rolls.  

— Dinner is served! — he announced eagerly, whittling makeshift chopsticks from pieces of wood.  

— I don't think I'll ever taste it — [Reader] said, eyeing the kappa dish with suspicion.  

This wasn't the first time she had seen Senshi cooking a monster dish. However, she usually refused to taste it, preferring something else. Moreover, they saw each other more often near the tavern in the former cemetery. There she was always able to buy something normal.  

— You'll be hungry. Regular meals are very important — he said, catching a roll between his chopsticks. — One, two, three. Open wide, there's a fairy coming — he announced, stuffing the roll into her mouth.  

— I'm not a child — the woman said, grimacing like a child but she chewed obediently.  

After a short while, she hesitantly reached for another portion. The tender meat melted in your mouth and the bitterness of the soft wood brought out the taste of cucumbers. Everything created harmony. It was as if the swamps around them had turned into a charming spring meadow full of fresh scents and new sensations.  

— You really are a fantastic cook — [Reader] said.  

— It's nothing. — Senshi stroked his beard and looked away.  

She could have sworn she saw him blush slightly but it was hard to see anything under the armor. He was always a modest person.  

— You have a crumb right here. — She looked at him critically. — I'll take it off — she added.  

She moved her hand towards his chin. Dark eyes stared at her expectantly. However, before she could do anything, an explosion occurred. Dirty clods of mud flew around the two of them. In a few seconds, everything around was covered with in them. The landscape was now a brownish-gray mess. The sound of the explosion was pierced by a loud, collective cry:  

— Senshi!  

Four dark, dirty and, judging by their voices, very happy figures were running towards them.  

— These are my friends — he told his mud-covered companion with a smile.  

[octuscle]

Sustainable changes

Nicolas had just been promoted to Senior Product Manager. But the condition was that he had to take a foreign assignment for two years. He had reckoned with Germany, the USA or maybe Japan. India would also have been okay. But he was supposed to go to Turkmenistan. His employer had just bought a large agricultural cooperative there, which was now to be converted in the direction of ecological and sustainable agriculture. On the one hand, this sounded like a completely unknown field of work. Nicolas had previously worked more in the consumer goods sector. On the other hand, anything that bore the label "sustainable" was naturally a career driver at the moment. So he took a cautiously optimistic approach.

Once Nicolas arrived at his new workplace, the optimism quickly evaporated. He had arrived somewhere in the middle of nowhere. There was no office building, there were only barracks. Mostly not air-conditioned. He had expected to be put up in some hotel. But he had been given a room with a farmer. Toilet in the yard. Bathroom was an outdoor shower served from the cistern. He felt infinitely silly in his outfit.

In the first service meeting, a colleague asked him if they could tweak Nicolas's resume a bit for the presentation to the workers. It might be good for his credibility if they could give him some local roots. Nicolas was tired. The trip had been exhausting. He remembered his parents' Russian gardener. A picture of a man. Former combat swimmer. And of the Turkish cook. So he answered, one may mix in there with pleasure something Russian and Turkish. The main thing was that he was allowed to retire now.

The night had been hell. It smelled like a pigsty in his room. And he could hear the pigs too, as if they were sleeping in bed with him. There was no hot water to shave with. And company policy forbids the use of shower gels containing microplastics without functioning wastewater treatment for environmental reasons. So all he can use is a bar of curd soap. When introduced to the staff, he looks appropriately a bit bedraggled. One of his colleagues asks Nicolas to say something in Russian. He has to think a bit. His grandmother sometimes spoke to him in Russian. But it's enough for a "I'm happy to be here and look forward to working with you. The employees cheer for their new boss.

Before Nicolas takes a shower the next morning, he drives the pigs out of the barn. If he's going to share the roof with them, he might as well make himself useful. His hosts invite him to breakfast. The conversation in Russian is still a bit bumpy. Nikolai hasn't spoken his father's language for years. And his host family, of course, actually speaks Turkmen. But with hands and feet it works. And so it goes on in the office. The team meeting was supposed to take place in English. But the interpreter dropped out. With every hour it gets better. The memory of his father's language comes back.

At breakfast, Nikolai realizes that he understands Turkmen better than he thought. It definitely works out that his hosts ask him in their native language. But he prefers to answer in Russian. Nikolai speaks it again as fluently as he did when he lived with his father in the Sevastopol army barracks. At work, they discuss the tasks for the next few days. Nikolai considers the projects for preventing soil erosion and unused surface water runoff to be urgent. Everyone passionately discusses the possibilities of transforming agriculture to get by without artificial irrigation. But Nikolai realizes that it will be difficult to irrigate only naturally in the desert.

The next morning, Nikolai surprises your host family with a few words of Turkmen. With his fluency in Russian and Turkish as his mother's language, it's not that hard for him to learn the language. On the job, they speak almost only Turkmen anyway. Today, his job is to drive the fields and inspect and document the environmental damage. Nikolai doesn't even need to shower for that. It will be hot anyway. And air conditioning is only for wimps. The point is to save energy wherever possible. In the afternoon, he gets a call from headquarters. They are very pleased with his work on site. It is clear that the project would not make an economic contribution. But the advertising impact is enormous. Whether he is interested in accepting a junior director position at the headquarters in Paris.

Nikolai turns his camera, bares his left breast and says in broken French that his heart beats for his new home. He won't leave until the desert blooms again.

[transingthebourgeoisie]

If you yourself admit that people born in America have no choice in regards to that, why are you going ahead and shaming them for it? Also "you buy food from all over the world when you go shopping"? No, I fucking do not! I'm sure it's different in other parts of the country but where I'm from basically everything is local! Moreover, I am literally in DEBT! I have NEGATIVE MONEY. I do not benefit from American imperialism in ANY meaningful way! Pull your head out of your ass!

Okay so I'm going to respond to this even though I probably shouldn't

I'm not shaming anyone for shit; stating the fact that american citizens materially benefit from American imperialism is literally just stating a fact. That's not an insult, it's not a moral judgement, it's part and parcel of living in this shithole. I live here too, believe it or not, but my tribe having been literally genocided by the US government does not exempt me from the present structure of US society.

I'm going to be charitable and not call this a lie, but it's simply not true. Do you see bananas when you go to the store? Canned oranges? Rice? Cheap plastic shoved around the checkout lines? Look at the labels on them. Made in China, Product of Thailand, Packaged in Argentina but, for some reason, on sale here in the USofA, at an appallingly low price considering the complexity of the supply chain that brought it to you. Virtually everything you buy is neither produced nor processed in this country.

These things do not logically connect; I am also in debt, and I suppose if you consider debt to be the direct inverse of wealth, - which you should not, if you have even the most basic understandings of the economics underlying the present system, - then I suppose I too have negative money. And yet, I live in the United States. I can go down to the 7/11 and buy bananas from the shitty little refrigerator for like, a few bucks. Bananas grown in the third world, already owned by an american company, sold to another american company, and then sold to american retailers, to be sold to americans, at the special price that only americans get, at any time of year, anywhere in the country. I dislike the banana example as it feels patronizing, but, evidently, we need to start from beneath the concrete floor with a lot of americans.

You are literally on The Internet. A system designed by the US Military and later popularized by US Corporations who, to this day, control such a large portion of it that there is literally no reason, - barring a desire to dissuade onself of the echo-chamber of US media, - for an American to ever visit a foreign-owned website. 9 times out of 10, if you go to a website not owned by an american - or western european, - company, there is an english version of that website. It exists *for you*. For americans specifically. Because *we*, uniquely, are never expected to ever learn any language other than english. Why do you think that is?

you first lol Also get off anon if you want to argue with me; it isn't like it isn't obvious who you are. Have some fucking spine if you're going to lead a harassment campaign.

[mkpersephone]

Part 2! 🎉🎉🎉

This is soooo great. Magneto calls squirrel girl radio show and all he talks about is Charles🤣

Hi, I'm the unbeatable squirrel girl and I'm in your corner

Charles?

You can totally hear that squirrel saying "oh no" not this guy again.

I need a cup of sugar, Charles.

Sir, we're not–

These are clearly students of yours Charles so I know your listening...

The fact that he is never willing to listen to someone else's words or consider the possibility of making a mistake and only speaks his own words is sooooo magneto.🤣🤣🤣

It's Erik

Oh like you need to say🤣🤣🤣. Everyone in New York already knows who you are.

you see, brownies are in baking for Victor's birthday, they're more sugar than they are flour; should've called himself sweettooth Charles, hahaha. Anyway my "pentriguns" low

I don't know which part of this sentence I should focus more? The fact that Magneto is baking brownies for Sabertooth's birthday, the fact that Sabertooth likes sugar, or that Charles knows about it? Does that mean Logan is also invited? Oh God that would be great.

Also... Magneto makes dad jokes! And he laughs at them himslef? He's not even funny🤣 who told this man that he is funny? Charles I assume.

He is also very fond of saying Charles's name. For no reason at all.

That word "pentrigun" I can't quite understand what he is saying. English is not my first language, so I don't get that word properly. But whatever it is he doesn't have it and expects Charles to give it to him.

He is supposed to be your nemesis Erik, why would you ask him about "pentrigun"?

We are not Charles's students Erik. And even if he was listening I don't think Charles can–

ofcourse he can't you fool! But Jean can. Charles, listen to me, have Jean float a cup of sugar across tawn and let me know if you like to come over and watching that Dazzler rockumentry. I have better internet now Charles, I made them give me more gigs.

The citizens of New York look above their heads and see that a cup of sugar is coming from Westchester. 🤣🤣

Charles goes to Erik's house so they can watch documentary together. 🥹🥹

Does that mean Magneto went to the telecommunications company and threatened them to give him more internet? 🤣🤣🤣 Can you imagine it? "Give more gigs to this internet line, otherwise I will fry all these telecommunication cables or I will drop this atomic bomb on your heads" *Magneto said menacingly*

It's all because he didn't have a good internet last time so Charles left him early. 🤣 He's now mad!

And now is threating time:

refuse me and there shall be war between us, Charles. I will not be denied again!

Okay call me back.

He.Will.Not.Be.Denied.Again! What are you doing Charles? Don't you see/hear he is waiting for you? Go to him! Call him back!

Poor Doreen. 🤣🤣🤣 she and her friends were forcibly caught between the dramas of these two old men.

Honestly, I'm kinda into this Erik/Charles dinamic.

Everybody is my child. Everybody is.

Are thay friends, are thay enemies, mabye it's a ferenemy's thing maby it's more that a ferenemy's thing...

Did she just....? Did Marvel just...? In a cannon product...? Even the Squirrel Girl understood this from behind the radio! That they are more than that!!!!

Why are you doing this to us MARVEL?!!!!!!

Okay this was all😊 tell me what you think.

Part 1 here!

Podcast: Marvel's Squirrel Girl: The Unbeatable Radio Show. (The Sinister Six Are No More) 13:38

[emillyverse]

Production stages of the Fan Comic of "The Wish Kingdom" !!!

(written by @annymation)

And as promised, here is the "schedule" I said I was putting together for the Comic fic production process.

In the end, this isn't really a "timeline", it's more like a list of what I'll do to build the comic. I want to make all the processes very clear and described to give you an idea of how it will be done and a small idea of how long it will take.

Remembering that I am a human being, not an AI to do things quickly, I have another life beyond networks and this project.

Besides the fact that none of us are being paid to do this comic (although I really wanted to, I'm not going to lie), all of this is being done on the basis of love, affection, positivity and adoration for the initial concepts dispensed by Disney, their classic films that really made that company grow and the main messages conveyed by Walt Disney while he was still alive: "If you can dream something, you can make it happen!" and "It's fun to do the impossible!"

So please be patient and kind to me and the entire team! I already love, adore and thank everyone willing to follow our project.

<3

Well… Let's get started!

1- Rereading and Separating the text:

Starting today (02/26/2024) I will be re-reading Anny's fanfic, separating all of her text into scenes, highlighting the following points:

Atmosphere

Characters (designs made by @uva124)

Speeches and facial expressions - the message

Thus defining "who says what, how and in which place?"

Since I will be doing the setting art myself, as the story progresses, I would really appreciate a little help. I'm guessing if you're reading this you've probably already read The Kingdom of Wishes and consequently imagined the scenarios! If you find any images online that remind you of the locations of the scenes in your mind, you can send them to me as a reference! I'm always open to references for drawings!

2- Make the "Thumbnails"

I don't know what term foreigners use to define the thumbnails that make up the first drafts of comics, but here in Brazil, we call them "Doll", in reference to the fact that the sketches are a "test doll" for the comic strip .

Anyway, I digress! It is at this stage that I define the composition of the scenes through sketches. This is where I define what appears or not in the scene, what the scene will be focused on, how I will guide the reader's eye by the meaning of reading the scene, where the lines, the characters, their movements and others will be located… It's a planning phase on how to portray the scenes; the most complex I would say.

3- Review

Here I take a break for two days or three days at most, to relax and forget about the project for a bit. I come back with new energy and review everything that was done, ask for opinions and suggestions from the team, in short, I give a great evaluation and improvement in everything!

4 - Finalization and Publication

In this last step, I transform the sketches into final artwork using graphite pencils, colored pencils and pens that I have available.

When they are all finished, I will publish the comics here and on all my social networks!

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Finally....

I would like to say that yes, I will be posting spoilers for all these stages, watch them at your own risk!

Remembering that English is not my native language, so I really hope everything was understandable! But if you have any questions, you can send questions to me or any member of the team!

And if you want to know a little more about my arts, you can check out my Instagram!

Kisses full of light and stars!

Let's work!!

[necnnights]

MERRY-GO-ROUND: NEON NIGHTS THE BEST is the fifth anniversary compilation album by fictional girl band NEON NIGHTS. It was released on July 12, 2024, a week after their fifth anniversary, and is the final Japanese album with guitarist QIUYUN. It contains twelve tracks: three new songs and nine re-releases of older music spanning their Korean discography as well. The album peaked at number seven on the Oricon weekly album chart.

Described by the band and critics alike as their “cutest album yet,” the three new tracks feature a brighter sound reminiscent of their first studio album. Like the vast majority of their music so far, the production was led by HWAJUNG. It is their second album to feature songwriting contributions from all five members, following their English-language debut from earlier in the year.

TRACK LIST

MERRY-GO-ROUND — Title track

Gachapon

Sneaker Cinderella

Cross - 2024 Version — The opening track of their debut album, INTENTION. Re-recorded.

We Are - 2024 Version — The lead single from the same album. Re-recorded.

Dice - 2024 Version — The lead single from their first EP, FIRST SIGHT. Re-recorded.

KICKASS - 2024 Version — A popular b-side from the same album. Re-recorded.

Deja Vu - Japanese Version — A b-side from their Korean magnum opus, NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA. Translated into Japanese.

Jealousy - Acoustic — The second lead single from INTENTION. Acoustic arrangement.

That Won’t Save Us - Acoustic — A b-side from INTENTION. Acoustic arrangement.

I Know I Love You - Neon Nights Version — The title track of their first Korean EP, MIDNIGHT. Originally featuring FABLE’s Andrew and Mingeun.

(No More) Utopia - Symphony Version — The title track of NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA. Re-arranged.

ERA NOTES

The elephant in the room is, of course, Qiuyun’s impending departure. They gave her a slightly different send-off with every show, and they had a lot of shows. Highlights included: part switches where Qiuyun sang a few songs (usually “Merry-Go-Round”), chose the encore songs (usually “仮面ミーハー女子”), and picked some of their stage outfits (she had Eden wearing dresses). 

No one seemed to be upset about this. In fact, it was the opposite. There were very few tears shed. Hwajung looked happy, despite being almost completely hidden behind her drum set for every show.

In their company’s usual cash-grab style, the album released with a lot of extra content. Besides the songs, each member wrote a letter expressing their thoughts on their anniversary. In the only attempt at marketing them to their widest audience, their words were translated into Japanese, Korean, and English.

The album also included a DVD of behind-the-scenes content for the re-recording of their songs, and another DVD of highlights from their careers so far.

Hwajung is still banned from her personal Instagram, but both she and Eunbyul alluded to disliking these business practices multiple times during live shows. At the same time, they both re-signed their contracts. So there’s that.

During a few shows, they took requests for songs for the first time instead of playing whatever they want. There were some deep cuts in there, especially when fans requested “Asphalt,” their second single ever. Yumi forgot half the chords, since it’s been eight years since they last performed it.

STYLING

[niteshade925]

Can these production studios/companies hire me to be their translator or proofreader. Please. Going through these shitty subtitles is just torture at this point. The original lines were so well written, but none of that could get across to an audience that doesn't understand Chinese because of these absolutely horrendous translations. I'm getting the impression that the translator they hired might not have a good grasp of either language...there were many mistakes just in the grammar alone, some because they failed to understand the sentence structure in the original line in Chinese, and some because they couldn't use the proper English grammar in their translation for some reason...and it's very possible that the company didn't hire a proofreader at all, because you don't even need expertise in this area to notice these errors, they are just that obvious.

[hedgehog-moss]

[1] `there are often translations available in other languages long before English ones` This is really interesting! I'm familiar with translation in games, where english is often a very early target (a small game might get 0-5 translations, depending on amount of text) because the size of the market is larger.

[2] Do you happen to know why this is different for books? Is it faster to come to a deal about publication rights for some other languages to get started on the translation? Is translation to english harder (at least from French) than to say, Spanish?

The literary translation situation has long been very dismal in the English-speaking world! I don’t know a lot about video games, but are localisations provided by the company that makes the game? Because if that's the case it makes sense that games would get translated into English as a priority. For literary translations which are imported rather than exported, other countries have to decide to translate a foreign author and anglo countries (US, UK and Canada at least) are not very interested in foreign literature. There's something known as the "3% rule" in translation—i.e. about 3% of all published books in the US in any given year are translations. Some recent sources say this figure is outdated and it’s now something like 5% (... god) but note that it encompasses all translations, and most of it is technical translation (instruction manuals, etc). The percentage of novels in translation published in the UK is 5-6% from what I’ve read and it’s lower in the US. In France it's 33%, and that’s not unusually high compared to other European countries.

I don't think it's only because of the global influence of English* and the higher proportion of English speakers in other countries than [insert language] speakers in the US, or poor language education in schools etc, because just consider how many people in the US speak Spanish—I just looked it up and native Spanish speakers in the US represent nearly 2/3rds of the population of France, and yet in 2014 (most recent solid stat I could find) the US published only 67 books translated from Spanish. France with a much smaller % of native Spanish speakers (and literary market) published ~370 translations from Spanish that same year. All languages combined, the total number of new translations published in France in 2014 was 11,859; in Spain it was 19,865; the same year the US published 618 new translations. France translated more books from German alone (754) than the US did from all languages combined, and German is only our 3rd most translated language (and a distant third at that!). The number of new translations I found in the US in 2018 was 632 so the 3% figure is probably still accurate enough.

* When I say it’s not just about the global influence of English—obviously that plays a huge role but I mean there’s also a factor of cultural isolationism at play. If you take English out of the equation there’s still a lot more cultural exchange (in terms of literature) between other countries. Take Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; it was published in 2009, and (to give a few examples) translated in Swedish 1 year later, in Russian & German 2 years later, in French, Danish & Italian 3 years later, in English 10 years later—only after she won the Nobel. I’m reminded of the former secretary for the Nobel Prize who said Americans “don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature” because they don’t translate enough. I think it's a similar phenomenon as the one described in the "How US culture ate the world" article; the US is more interested in exporting its culture than in importing cultural products from the rest of the world. And sure, anglo culture is spread over most continents so there’s still a diversity of voices that write in English (from India, South Africa, etc etc) but that creates pressure for authors to adopt English as their literary language. The dearth of English translation doesn’t just mean that monolingual anglophones are cut off from a lot of great literature, but also that authors who write in minority languages are cut off from the global visibility an English translation could give them, as it could serve as a bridge to be translated in a lot more languages, and as a way to become eligible for major literary prizes including the Nobel.

Considering that women are less translated than men and represent a minority (about 1/3) of that already abysmally low 3% figure, I find the recent successes of English translations of women writers encouraging—Olga Tokarczuk, Banana Yoshimoto, Han Kang, Valeria Luiselli, Samanta Schweblin, Sayaka Murata, Leila Slimani, of course Elena Ferrante... Hopefully this is a trend that continues & increases! I remember this New Yorker article from years ago, “Do You Have to Win the Nobel Prize to Be Translated?”, in which a US small press owner said “there’s just no demand in this country” (for translated works); but the article acknowledged that it’s also a chicken-and-egg problem. Traditional publishers who have the budget to market them properly don’t release many translations as (among other things) they think US readers are reluctant to read translated foreign literature, and the indie presses who release the lion’s share of translated works (I read it was about 80%) don’t have the budget to promote them so people don’t buy them so the assumption that readers aren’t interested lives on. So maybe social media can slowly change the situation by showing that anglo readers are interested in translated books if they just get to find out about them...

[wistfulcynic]

i teach english as a foreign language to corporate clients. What that means is that companies hire the school i contract for to enrol their employees in courses that include a run of online grammar, vocabulary, listening, and reading exercises; accompanying speaking classes with a teacher (that's where i come in); and supplementary "skills" exercises including writing.

the *only* one of these that matters to their ultimate success or failure in their course is the online exercises. That's bad for a number of reasons i won't bore you with but tl;dr the students "pass" the class if they complete the online course.

which means that the supplementary writing exercises have ZERO impact on their success or failure. They aren't even required. The ONLY reason to complete them is to practice writing as a skill and get feedback from a teacher (me et al). Mistakes are corrected but never criticised. This isn't a scenario where anyone loses face by using the wrong preposition or verb tense. It's an opportunity to practice and improve, that's all.

and yet. Increasingly i am getting writing assignments that are clearly, obviously written by genAI. They are grammatically flawless in a way that is impossible for students at the levels i teach to produce. Which means there's nothing to correct. No feedback to give. No learning opportunity whatsoever.

my school's policy is just to ignore this. Our students aren't students in the traditional sense, they are clients. More precisely, they're employees of clients but the effect is the same. Their employers are paying us for the expertise, guidance, etc that we can provide and if they choose not to make full use of what we offer then that's their call.

still it pisses me off. Because why. Why use genAI to complete an optional exercise that has no impact on your ultimate course success? There is zero reason to do that. No benefit to anyone. The students learn nothing and i get paid to make up some bullshit "feedback" to a paragraph i know the student didn't write. Why? Why waste all our time with an obvious farce?

(i mean, i know why. Because it's easy. Because they believe that the product and not the process is what's important. Because they don't want to learn, they want to have learned. They are the ones who are always trying to get me to reveal some secret magic trick that will make them able to speak perfectly without them putting any effort into it whatsoever. They are, if i tell the stark honest truth, on the whole not people i can help.)

this is, ultimately, why i am against any and all use of genAI in education. Full stop. There's simply no pedagogical benefit to it. The learning process involves trying, failing, receiving correction, and then trying again. Over and over and over if necessary. We have already seriously damaged this process by caring only about results--test scores, essay marks, etc, achieved by any means necessary--and forgetting both as students and teachers that failure (or at least not perfect success the very first time) is an essential element of learning. Use of genAI skips over the learning process entirely. It basically finishes what years of over-testing and grade inflation started. It's bad and it's wrong and it accomplishes nothing other than giving people more of an excuse not to think for themselves, not to try, not to learn.

it needs to be stopped.