#this might be one huge dumpster fire

[laura1633]

Let me get this straight:

George claims Max threatened and bullied him, but only a few hours later (before the drivers parade) he's acting touchy feely with Max as if nothing had happened? Why would you act like if someone threatened you?

Re: bullying. Did George simply forget Imola 21? He crashed into Bottas, got out of his car, didn't check on Valtteri who was still in his car if he was okay or not, just hit him on the helmet because he thought Valtteri was the one who caused the crash?

Or when he crashed this year in Australia, blamed Fernando when in fact Fernando was basically innocent and got a huge time penalty???

This guy is two faced as hell.

I am getting too worked up to read all his comments! What an absolute dumpster fire of a response 😂

If someone threatened me and I thought it was genuine then I would not be all friendly with them the next day. They weren't forced to be together in that moment. I think George knew he had fucked up (because of the outcry at how ridiculous Max's penalty was) and was trying to make amends. I'm surprised he hasn't said that he was bullied into having an appalling start!

George likes the image of being Mr Nice guy but he isn't Mr Nice guy - which is fine, I have no problem with bitchy drivers but at least wear that with pride. It's the pretending to be one thing whilst acting a completely different way that gets me. (and just for the avoidance of doubt I am not saying George hasn't also done nice things, I am not saying he is evil incarnate)

The Bottas thing was and still is awful and I am surprised that did not garner more attention than it did.

I think there might be a little bit of jealousy there. George must have been relieved when Lewis decided to leave because he would be the number one driver only to have Toto desperately try to bring Max in. It's not exactly the greatest show of confidence in George.

It's actually pretty annoying. I have quite liked George in the past as I have found him rather entertaining (in a pantomime villain way - no insult intended) but to try and bring up every little thing he can think to say about Max and throw it out there hoping something sticks actually makes me really angry. There was no need to bring other drivers into this.

Perhaps he was embarrassed because imagine putting in your most Oscar worthy performance and putting your reputation on the line to gain pole only to lose the position immediately in the race. When he said he is willing to fight Max I assume he means in the stewards room rather than on track.

[lillotte17]

I just woke up, so good morning, let me see if I can string any words together in a coherent pattern. This has actually been on my mind for weeks. Slowly driving me insane.

200 years. Two. Hundred. Years. 2 HUNDRED years.

That amount of time is literally incomprehensible to us in terms of personal memories and trauma. We can barely remember anything collectively as a species for that amount of time without losing bits and pieces of it. It is more than 2/3 of the time that Astarion has been alive. Well, "alive."

I am currently in my mid thirties, it would be like if I had died when I was 7 or 8 years old and then had to try and remember everything about my personality and my family and my morality from that time period. I do remember it, of course, but a lot of it is pretty vague. A lot of things that I know happened, or that I know I did, I remember because there are other people in my life who knew me then. Astarion wasn't a child, of course, but time still has it's way with things, and there is no one in his life he knew from before he became a vampire, with the possible exception of Cazador, and he's hardly a reliable source of information. Trauma also damages memories, and he has spent more that 2/3 of his life being constantly starved and beaten, and abused in pretty much every possible way a person can be.

The main point being that it is simply not possible to make any firm assumptions about the kind of person Astarion was before he was turned. Maybe he was a horrible, power-hungry, back room dealing, lying, racist, POS trash-man who deserved what he got when that group of thugs jumped him. Maybe he was kind underneath all his bluster, and had a strong sense of justice, and he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most likely, he was something in between. But we can't know. And Astarion probably doesn't really know anymore either.

(I firmly believe that Cazador chose him specifically to be a spawn, and possibly even orchestrated the attack on Astarion. They might not even have really been Gur. Astarion would only have Cazador to rely on for confirmation about what really happened to him that night, and having a culture of people who hunt monsters and were likely already targeting Cazador himself be the same group that murdered Astarion seems pretty mmmm convenient.)

And for all that he is a chaos gremlin, prickly rat-bastard, dumpster fire of a man, it is honestly pretty astounding (and rewarding imo) just how much growth he can have over the course of the game, which is only a few months, tops. (assuming, of course, that you are playing a good aligned Tav/Durge) But even before that, after the first night he tries to bite you, he is the one who immediately promises that he's not going to feed from innocents, with no prompting at all from the player. He doesn't ask to keep feeding from your PC, and he only drinks from you if you offer it. (unless you direct him to in a fight, I guess, lol) That feels huge to me. He has been STARVING for 200 years. Part of being a vampire is that he's always kind of starving, but he doesn't want to be a slave to that hunger any more than he wants to be a slave to anything or anyone else.

I'm not saying that he's secretly a good man deep down, but even from the start, the potential for him to be better was already there. Which is AMAZING because, as I said earlier: TWO HUNDRED YEARS.

Like, imagine that you know absolutely nothing about yourself except misery and torture and losing things, and it fucks you up, and you KNOW it's fucked you up, and you are terrified that one wrong move could send you back to the place that you just escaped from, and you still say, "I'm still not going to attack the innocent people around me for no reason, though. Sure, I might laugh if they manage to get themselves killed in an amusing way, but it's not going to be my fault."

[fuck-customers]

Why have customers decided that their shopping experience is no longer their own responsibility and they can just have us do literally everything for them?? Like whyyyyy is there not a single molecule of thought or effort put in from their end!!?? Examples:

- Googling the phone number of our store to call and ask what time we open/close (the opening hours are right under the phone number, including clearly labelled public holiday hours)

- Phoning our store or asking in person for information about another store in the chain (their hours, address, stock availability etc.) When they could easily google it or call THAT store

- walking into the store and asking the first person they see for help without even looking around first. Especially when they walk past the thing they're looking for on their way to an employee.

- not being able to find their way with pointing and verbal directions, needing to be walked over to and handed everything even when it's right in front of them and I'm pointing to it. Also the people that ask where the exit is when our store is laid out in a big square with a huge middle walkway and if you keep walking around in either direction you will reach the exit.

- asking questions that have nothing to do with me, information on other stores in the complex, asking for directions, asking touristy questions... Where's a good place to eat around here? How about the dumpster behind the store? fuck off

- wanting to start a new project or hobby and coming in without doing ANY research on it and what they might need to purchase and expecting us to give them a free class like we have the time/training for that sort of thing. YOUTUBE IS FREE. GOOGLE IS FREE. FACEBOOK HOBBY GROUPS ARE FREE. This goes triple for the Cricut ladies, if you are going to drop 300 dollars on a craft machine please learn how to use it. One lady asked me if her cricut could cut a certain cardstock and got mad when I said I'd never used one and she should check the manual

- wanting personal opinions on what to buy. There's a difference between "what are the benefits of buying x over y?" and "which one do you like better?" like for one we sell thousands of different things, I haven't personally used them all and secondly my tastes, opinions and needs for a product could be totally different from yours. So pick the one YOU like plzzz, you're the one paying for it.

- wanting to purchase fabric and not doing their measurements or calculations beforehand. Like babe, only YOU know how much fabric you need. Next time someone asks how much they need to make a dress I'm saying 10 metres because I'm going to assume they're making a ball gown

Anyway, fuck these dumb, lazy sacks of shit, I have no idea how they managed to get this far in life without firing a single neuron.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[astorythatwritesitself]

Notebook November (Notevember) 📓

Looking for a new challenge, in light of the dumpster fire that was once the NaNo organization? Not a huge fan of the 50k goal because of time, motivation, lack of a solid enough concept, or generally don't vibe with it? Do you desire or hoard new stationery the way a dragon desires and hoards sparkly rocks? Notevember just might be up your alley!

What is Notevember?

Some bullshit I made up like a month ago & I absolutely doubt I'm the only one with such a concept, either 😂 A variant of the NaNoWriMo challenge; for those who find specific word goals daunting, who prefer to work longhand, and/or who get more satisfaction seeing... tangible results, as it were? Like, you can absolutely do this digitally if you really want, but this is very much aimed towards folks who find writing longhand just hits a little differently.

Rather than aim for a given number of words, you're aiming to fill up a notebook!

Supplies?

You will need:

- An empty notebook. My personal preference is a 70-100 page spiral or classic composition notebook, but use one that's however large or small you want! This is also an excuse to finally crack open any empty notebooks you might have lying around, yeah?

- Writing implements of choice

And... that's it! Throw in stickers or whatever else you might want, but all you'll really need is a bundle of paper & something to mark it up with.

How to play?

Start filling the pages.

It can be a single story! It could be character or general writing exercises. It could be research notes, timelines, observations of people around you, overheard conversations, a collection of passages, quotes, poetry, or lyrics that speak to you. It could be a little of everything!

The only goal is that, by the end of November, you've filled up each page - and it's your call, if that only means the front of a page, or front and back.

Notevember is meant to be flexible & relatively forgiving, especially if you tend to have a lot going on. The notebook could be one small enough to keep with you throughout the day so you can jot down lines on a lunch break, in a waiting room, on the bus - or it could be something you do at home, after waking up or just before bed or whenever you've got the time.

Other Thoughts?

I have found that I get more satisfaction and more motivation to continue when I can like... see a result. Number Going Up just doesn't quite work for me like it does for other folks, but seeing empty pages fill up, seeing the distortion and wear of the notebook as it gets used? That gets me to feel, 'Ah! Something Is Happening!' There's also (a little) less tendency to try and edit as I go; working longhand with a pen does better for me to get that zero draft/concept on the page, rather than agonizing over creating a polished product from the start.

I've also found I get more into that... 'no one will ever have to see this, it can be as messy & misspelled & senseless as it needs to be' mindset easier, than writing on a tablet or laptop? -shrug- idk It Just Hits Different and that's all there is to it.

Share snippets, characters, whatever you're doing, if you want! But this is a little more aimed at those who just need to get things down, who want to have An End Product, but maybe don't have fully coherent plots or polished pieces, and don't usually have much to share - it's just between you and your notebook. You don't have to share or invite anyone else in, if you don't want to.

So! That's about the long and short of it. If you think you like this idea, feel free to join in; and whatever you are or aren't doing for November Writing Time - good luck, and take care!

[solarbird]

Trump’s loser stench is getting stronger and stronger, and it’s not just Republicans distancing themselves anymore, like you’ve been seeing in the federal Senate – Harris just picked up a popular Georgia Republican’s endorsement.

Try not to hold it against her.

It’s for the obvious reasons, of course; they’re starting to think he’s going to go down hard, and he’s going to drag a lot of them down with him. If they’re hedging this hard with three months left in the campaign, they either have some incredibly strong sinking feelings in their stomachs, or some really remarkable numbers from polls they trust.

So this isn’t really about the Presidential race, this time. Everything I’ve said before is still critical; get to your Trumpy family and friends. Use Vance as a lever to open their eyes; he’s just as venial and bizarre as Trump is, but with no charisma and more importantly no celebrity, so lacks the shielding it brings. Talk about climate change (real), talk about the threat to the Republic (very fucking real), talk about just how goddamn weird it is that they want to demand genetic tests to make sure women who were assigned female at birth and grew up as girls and then women are actually women by some racist misogynist standard they just made up. Talk about all of it, chip away at them one day after another, tick tick tick tick.

Do all of that, but also, this is about voting downballot, which is to say, all the way down to not just Senate and not just House, but state and local races.

Lower level Republicans are starting to taste their own fear, and that’s good. This can’t be just about the fascist on top, but all the chibi cheeto mussolinis who bought into this nightmare.

The Republican Party has to fucking hurt for putting us all, and this country, and the entire world, through this hell. And it has to hurt for a while.

Tuesday is the last day of voting here in Washington State. It’s a primary election; we’re picking the final two candidates on the November ballot. Because of our history and reasons, we don’t have guaranteed partisan elections in November; some of our ballots then will be between two Democrats, or two Republicans, or one of each, or one of a major party and a minor party or an independent. It’s not the ranked choice voting system I think we need, but it’s better than the usual way.

Have you voted yet? If not, get it done.

Many of you may have primary elections soon as well. Get that done, because this is where you do vote your absolute conscience, should you so choose.

But then in November, remember – the Republican Party must pay for this, and not just Trump. It has to hurt all the way down. So get familiar with your Federal representatives, get familiar with your state and local elections, figure out what popular initiatives you might have on your ballot, because all of it matters, and all of it will keep mattering for years to come.

Not that it didn’t matter before, of course. But local elections are how you get cops browsing for books to ban, how you get libraries declared “18 and over only”, how you get women charged with murder for taking an abortion pill. The Federal is where this evil shit has been unleashed, but it’s at the state and local where it gets enforced.

(E.g., this year, the rightists are trying to undo our efforts to fight climate change in order to boost and gas companies, via Initiative 2117; they’re trying to wipe out the capital gains tax and give the wealthy a huge tax break, via Initiative 2109; they want to throttle long-term health care, via Initiative 2124; a very predictable “parent’s bill of rights” which is substantially about raising the same sorts of racist and anti-LGBT hell they’ve been raising elsewhere, via Initiative 2081. All these will be on our ballot in November.)

So keep your eye on the big prize, of course. The number one job is driving “day one dictator” Trump into the dumpster fire of history. But the number two job, and only slightly less important, is the repudiation all the way down to school board and – if you have such an elected position – dogcatcher.

Every elected Republican has to take the hit. Every single one of them. Even if it’s just by winning by meaningfully less than they’re used to winning. Whatever you can do, this is the year to do it.

92 days remain.

[sevensoulmates]

A bit bummed buddie is going canon on such a short season but the writers are doing an awesome job (and you guys have waited long enough I just got here lol) so I’m stoked!!! There’s some much potential for fun storylines here I’m so excited!! What are some storylines you’d like to see once they are together? Could be comical or more series

Well, I mean I guess it depends on what your definition of "canon" is. To me, based on the last episode alone, they're already canon (meaning it's basically irrefutable to me that they're going to eventually be in a relationship or be endgame). If by canon you mean "starting a relationship" I actually don't think that's going to happen this season. I think it'll be next season at the earliest. I do have faith that now that the writers/creators are getting a bit more freedom, they're first going to put Buck and Eddie through the personal arcs they need to go through first. For Buck, realizing he's bi and feeling more secure in who he is as a person. For Eddie, realizing he's lived with comphet his entire life and finally accepting who he is and finally living his life in a way that will actually make him happy.

Once they've done that then they'll be able to get them together.

Some things I'd like to see:

-(This might be unpopular but) I want the sperm donor stuff/ Connor/Kameron to come back up. I want Buck to reckon with that choice he made, and truly recognize that he's been a father figure to Chris this whole time. I don't need the baby to be in his life, but just a reference or even a run-in with Connor/Kameron. Something to put a bookend on that storyline now that Buck is settled with Eddie/Chris.

-Chris wants to learn to drive/get a license, and Eddie + Buck have to navigate that worry together

-My heart's biggest desire is for them to just work side by side like normal but just have more small moments that very obviously are indicators that they're together (something along the lines of the scene where Eddie suddenly knew a bunch of fun facts about Goat Yoga, or the scene where they're just chatting while they patched up the dude who broke his leg in the fire at dispatch). Scenes where they work in sync together, but maybe before something dangerous, they share looks or have a private code that means be safe.

-in the same vein MY KINGDOM for Buck and Eddie to have a scene like Bathena had in 2x01 where they meet up between the firetrucks and one of them pushes the other up against the side of the truck and kisses him. My entire life would be made.

-I would like a storyline where Buck gets to meet Eddie's family from Texas a little better. I don't believe that there wouldn't be conflict with them (maybe not straight-up homophobic but I just can't imagine Helena accepting it all so easily. I just know she'd be a queen of microaggressions). I DESPERATELY need Eddie to stand up for himself to his mom in particular.

-(this would be very far in the future) but I want Buck to eventually go out for fire captain. I think he would be a great fit and I think it'd be very interesting for them to have to adjust to such a big change in their work dynamic after X amount of years.

-a motherfucking WEDDING. And I don't want it to be a small thing like a backyard wedding, or a courtroom wedding, or an elopement in the hospital or something. It doesn't necessarily need to be HUGE but I would like a semi-traditional wedding. Idk why but I have a MIGHTY NEED to hear Buck and Eddie's personalized vows to each other and I NEED to see them have their first dance. Honestly, I take back the traditional wedding thing. As long as I get to hear every word of their vows and see them slow dance, they could do it at the firehouse or a dumpster for all I care.

-I'd be interested if Shannon's relatives show up and want to be a part of Christopher's life or something. Or even like, just want to visit him but Eddie's unsure because it brings up bad memories and stuff. I'd be interested to see Shannon's relative's reaction to Eddie with a man.

-OOHOOHOOH EDDIE CHILDHOOD SCENES a la Buck Begins. I want to see what he was like when he was younger to see how much of him has changed since he had Chris, since he went to the military, etc. Dear God I want an Eddie Begins Again.

That's all for now! I gotta make my drive home!

[itsclydebitches]

You know, surprisingly Sweet Home 2 has given me a better appreciation for what some fans might see in late seasons of RWBY. The last 8 episodes were a hot dumpster fire of a story—and I'm arguing that from an objective "You fucked with basic writing conventions in a non-productive way and also a huge chunk of audience expectations, also in a non-enjoyable way" perspective, not just "That wasn't to my taste." Season 2 is a mess, friends.

HOWEVER I was also able to recognize where specific, highly personal preferences were carrying the show for me:

Uh oh, a Main Character died! Oh well. I wasn't super invested in them so it's fine

Now a million minor characters have suddenly been introduced instead? Isn't it lucky for me that I find them intriguing. Better yet, this one guy literally no one else cares about has inexplicably become a fave. His mere existence on screen increases my enjoyment by 70%!

Wow the last twenty minutes of this episode was boring af but look! My ship! That's the only thing that will stick with me an hour from now

Huh, I have no idea what's going on. Like, straight up huge chunks of this make no sense to me. Eh, whatever. I'm binging this on a Saturday night with the express purpose of turning my brain off. Comprehension can come back tomorrow. The hot, morally dubious soldier just made a crazy shot with his rifle to blow up a ton of monsters. Cool!

It really was an interesting experience to watch a show (notably one I already liked from Season One) and spend it going, "That was so bad... and also I need to watch the next episode immediately." Sweet Home 2 was so much fun to binge and I'll be thinking about it for the next couple of weeks at the very least. I also absolutely would not recommend it to others due to [checks notes] way too many reasons to list here. I can't say it's "So bad it's good" because it doesn't have that vibe, rather, it really was just a few pinpoint, personal interests and the willingness to prioritize them over literally everything else in the story that made it "good" for me.

Which put into sharp relief how others might watch another show with absolutely no cohesion, the death/disappearance of Very Important characters, boring as hell stretches, and a fundamental misunderstanding of what fans liked about the original and come away going, "It was great!" Because there was that one (1) cool scene. Because your ship has A Moment. Because while some people might care about answering the myriad of questions introduced, or understanding what's happening in any given scene, you just care that your fave existed for twenty seconds doing a GIF-able action.

Only difference is I'm going, "Yeah it sucked and I enjoyed it" rather trying to uplift those small, super subjective preferences as proof of the story's secret genius.

[shiraishi--kanade]

would you mind sharing ur process of how you come up with so many npcs for your units 👉👈 like what you prioritize first about them or some ways you know what traits might fit best to contrast/compliment the main cast w/o overshadowing them too much?

Silly answer: they posses my family and then hold me on the gunpoint until I write them into the story

Serious answer: I mainly go out of the what role I want someone to fill in the story (so no role - no side character necessary), and if that role can be filled by any other main character or already existing npc, I don't bother coming up with anything new.

I'm an adherent to "every word should move the plot" motto in a non-pretentious way, so while creating more ocs is always very fun (regardless of pc/npc character categories in pjsk ocs, they're still all ocs at the end of the day), there are a lot of them I know will never be important or make the cut to appear at all.

More under the cut because I go on a tirade;

In general even just explaining how I do it is kind of difficult because my mind is a dumpster fire of ideas, but I try to follow at least some rules that I think can be handy, so here:

1. Less is more. This is re: how to not make npcs overshadow your main characters. I will say that... it'll likely happen anyway because readers have favourite tropes and clichés that your main characters will not necessarily always click with. It's not a bad thing. But in general in order for readers to like both of the characters the amount you're aiming to, don't reveal too many details or too much backstory for the NPC. Make their story noticeable and important enough, but don't lean into it too much. Readers feel closer to the character because of the detail and nuance they know about them, their history; this level of attachment will probably not happen to npcs that don't reveal much about themselves. Instead it creates some level of freedom to hc and projection lol.

I'm going to say you yourself should probably not get too into writing an npc, but that's a difficult task.

Also sometimes you want readers to get attached and the npcs to outshine the pc (or at least be at the same level) for story purposes. E.g: Nagi Kosaki. Just evaluate what is it you want.

2. Don't oversaturate your cast. In the spirit of previous advice, if a role in the story can be filled with already existing character, don't go ahead and make a new one, especially if they're just gonna leave after two scenes. Forging closer bonds with the characters we're already familiar with > new cool toy. It's also hard to keep up with huge casts of characters (as much as I love them).

3. Don't be afraid to make them too similar. By all means give even your narrative foils mannerisms and things that set them apart, but if your reader can at a glance say "ooh they're narrative foils" and be correct, that's a good thing. Pat the character on the head. Narrative context that's immediately apparent to some category of readers that purposely put effort into looking for that sort of thing is as good a sign as any. You're not being a high-fiction writer here (unless you are and I'm the absolute wrong person to give advice for that), embrace the inherent simplicity of visual novel-like storytelling and relish in it. I've seen people backtrack in making characters because "it's too obvious" and it's kinda sad.

I think this is all I can say in terms ot general advice. I think the need to create NPCs, and their amount, varies too much on the stories for me to go and say "do this when you need to achieve this, but don't do y unless you need to do x". See: WxS story will not be as effective without their huge supporting cast, but we barely even have any npcs for N25 story, usually only 2 per character or so, and they're fine. They don't need a huge supporting cast because of what their story and character development is. Hell, Suzuka's parents literally don't even have personalities because they're not important to her story.

But overall I think the distinction between pc/npc in like, our specific genre, is kind of scary. You should still enjoy the process of making and writing those characters, even if they're a one-off appearance. Treat them as people of their own who just happened to brush shoulders with the Important character on their both ways to growth, I think is the gist of it.

[moltengoldveins]

me: hey brain? Could I have a normal fanfic idea, please?

Brain, who has every disease and is high on every drug, rubbing their awful little goblin hands together: so it’s a pre-canon BNHA x DSMP crossover AU-

me, loading a shotgun: alright that’s it-

Brain: HEAR ME OUT. It opens in the aftermath of All Might and All for One’s big battle, the one where All Might got his injury. Every DSMP character that has ended up in the BNHA universe this far has been yoinked by AFO and put in stasis to eventually become a Nomu.

me, racking the shotgun: better talk quick, im about to tag the Fic of my own personal life with a severe gore warning of you don’t-

Brain: *proceeds to outline the weirdest freaking Mafia Crossover OC-centric Canon ‘Compliant’ Character Focused Found Family Crackship AU I have ever seen. And when I say crack ship I mean there are fewer than 50 fics for this ship in the Bnha ao3 tab. The oc is actually kinda interesting but largely for the way they facilitate moving characters around and building this huge found family/vigilante group around All Might, freshly healed from his AFO injury via Totem and ready to kick ass, the Todoroki family sans dumpster fire, Inko and her friends, a baby Aizawa fresh outta college, and eventually the future LoV gang. The actual conflict is finding who, if any of the missing DSMP cast is alive and where they might be being kept and what might be happening to them, figuring out how to fix the hero commission, raising the LoV kids and eventually Izuku + Katsuki, juggling like eight billion secret identities, eventually getting Hawks some therapy, and trying to find a way to send the DSMP gang back home once they ARE saved and de-Nomued. If I wrote it itd probably be over 800,000 words long. I’m considering it.*

Me:……………… *puts the shotgun down* run that by me again, from the top. Let me grab my headphones.

[steelbluehome]

The New Daily

Furore as The Apprentice gets US release

Sep 20, 2024

The Apprentice director Ali Abbasi insists his new film about Donald Trump is “not a hatchet job”.

Sebastian Stan takes on the role of the former US president in the drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May, but it struggled to find a distributor after Trump’s team sent a cease-and-desist letter in a bid to block its release.

Its director Abbasi now declares he was stunned by the backlash.

“I am quite shocked, to be honest,” he told Variety.

“This is not a political piece. It’s not a hit piece; it’s not a hatchet job; it’s not propaganda. The fact that it’s been so challenging is shocking.”

The director, who was born in Iran, was condemned by the country’s government over his last film Holy Spider but he was still more shocked by the reaction to his Trump project.

“OK, that’s Iran – that is unfortunately expected. But I wasn’t expecting this (over The Apprentice),” he said.

The new movie covers Trump’s rise from real estate developer to a household name in the 1980s and is set before he became the star of his own reality TV show The Apprentice, from which the film derives its name.

The film did eventually sell to a small distribution company – which launched a crowdfunding campaign to get the movie into cinemas in October – but it’s still not won over Trump’s team who declared the movie belongs in a “dumpster fire”.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told Variety: “This ‘film’ is pure malicious defamation, should never see the light of day and doesn’t even deserve a place in the straight-to-DVD section of a bargain bin at a soon-to-be-closed discount movie store, it belongs in a dumpster fire.”

The Apprentice lands in US cinemas on October 11, weeks before the country goes to the polls for the November 4 election as Republican candidate Trump takes on Democrat Vice-President Kamala Harris in a bid to land a second term in the White House.

************

I can't believe that ANYONE could possibly think that a film about Trump, that is not endorsed by Trump, wouldn't be a huge goddamned deal in America. Is the fact that our country is dangerously divided along Pro-Trump Anti-Trump lines not obvious to the rest of the world?

And if he is saying this regarding the difficulties getting distribution, I should think it wouldn't be too difficult to see that mainstream movie production companies are a billion dollar business, and billionaires love Trump.

But also, Trumps supporters, the MAGA crowd, are absolutely rabid for him and will do anything that they think will please him. Boycotts and pickets are not out of the question, and what movie company, no matter what size, wants to deal with that? Also, movie theaters are mostly chain operations owned by large companies, they are very unlikely to want negative MAGA attention turned toward them, as well. So who is going to show it?

If Abbasi didn't know these things because he is Iranian, I'm very surprised that no one informed him.

But, someone has apparently grown the balls to distribute it, now we have to see who will show it. Art houses and independent theaters who show independent films? Will any of them be afraid of the negative publicity? If they show it, will they advertise it to anyone but those who have signed up to get their email with the movies scheduled for the month? I guess we will have to see in October what happens. Will it be considered campaign propaganda? For or against? Wil MAGAs make it dangerous to show it? Or will they make it dangerous to see it. By dangerous I mean will hateful crowds gather in front of the theaters where it is showing, not necessarily poisoned popcorn, or snipers somewhere. But, who knows?

I wish Sebastian hadn't done it, because having played Trump might affect his career, or his safety. But I undestand with his attitude about taking the roles that make you scared, why he did.

However, sometimes fear is there to warn you that you are about to do something dangerous, so sometimes, I hope he realizes it is there to tell him "if you have any spread of self-preservation, walk away".

[mystic-myrtille]

Watched the movie and honestly it was fine. No groundbreaking cinematic masterpiece. No disasturous dumpster fire. Just an ok movie that felt like a fanfiction from s1

Here's some more thoughts I have. There's no structure it's a little chaotic. Also spoilers (duh)

The stuff I liked:

The music was good

THE ANIMATION IS GORGEOUS. The lighting in every scene is perfect, the city actually feels populated and the colors overall are so much prettier than in the show

I loved the akuma designs

They do a good job of establishing how Marinette, in the beginning, is very anxious, affected by Chloe's bullying and how she doesn't have friends. That works better than what the show tried to establish, about how Marinette had no friends but still being popular for some reason

Alya being a good friend

The way Adrien deals with the loss of his mother and how playing the piano brings him comfort and makes him feel close to her. Imo the show went overboard with how literally everything Adrien does is dictated by his dad and never something he might genuinely enjoy doing. The fact that he had this hobby made him feel like he was more than just a sad boi

Adrien also seems to struggle with not having many friends outside Nino. Works pretty well with the characterization that he's socially awkward after being homeschooled for most of his life

Generally this Adrien has more PV vibes? I‘m digging it ngl

Marinette's dad is the best

Fu's introduction to Marinette sure was something xD

Gabriel was a good villain character. The show version is just some weird ass goof who is a huge ass to his son and everyone, yet the show wants you to feel for him without giving us a reason to care. This version actually has complexity. He’s still an ass, but now the pain over loosing Emilie feels real. You also have him hesitating to use the butterfly but ultimately spiraling completely into an actually threatening villain.

the fight scenes looked great

Marinette is still clumsy and awkward towards Adrien but without being too cringe about it and doing stupid shit. It‘s just heart eyes and day dreams and some stuttering. She‘s still nervous but I never felt like Adrien brought oit her worst side like in the show. She was simply a girl in love. This was wholesome to watch and so much better than... whatever the fuck the show did with the fucking dating trauma to use for """comedy""" bc the show runners have zero respect for her seriously I'll never get over how fucking stupid that was Marinette honey you deserve so much better

I honestly think this is a better version of the square. Still heavily flawed, but their dynamic feels so much more natural. Ladynoir stuff was sweet

The end where Marinette looses the earrings and then saves Chat without the costume was a good scene

Most of their moments were just quiet moments between just the two without any outside forces and characters constantly pushing them together. This bothers me in the show so much and is another major reason I cant get behind the ship, but for the most part the movie has some gentle pushing here and there but no convoluted and stupid cringy plans. In that regard movie love square is superior

Nino had a thing for Alya from the start pretty much, unlike in the show where he was crushing on Mari five minutes before getting with Alya. I like them in both the show and the movie, but the way they got together in the show was a little meh

Nino getting screentime in general

The stuff I don't know how to feel about:

Careless whisper. It was silly goofy but especially the second time when Paris is on fire and we skip to Adrien's room where he sulks... yeah that tome switch really threw me off

Two different voice actors for singing an talking. The difference was very jarring and while good for Bryce, Cristina has the voice of an angel like cmon I need her to do at least a cover from one song

Gabriel's redemption. Ok so I'm a little torn because the way they did it ties in very well with the the "power of love" theme that his love for Adrien makes him realize his mistakes bla bla, but he still terrorized a city and yet faces zero consequences, and Adrien forgives him, which are all thing that really rub me the wrong way. Idk the franchise is so obsessed with painting this man in a sympathetic light and in order for this to feel truly satisfying Gabriel shouldn't have tried to destroy Paris like 5 minutes earlier. I see what they went for and thematically it worked but I just need Gabriel to be put in prison

Speaking of Gabriel, the Adrien Gabe relationship isn't as abusive as in the show. This isn't good or bad, but I still think (very unpopular opinion) the show doesn't handle abuse well at all bc the only point of the abuse is pity points in oder to get the fans to care about the characters. So taking that out of the movie where you have limited time to wrap this whole thing up might've been a smart decision

With the ending they sort of hinted at a sequel

The cut off kiss at the end. They still act like a love square kiss is something sacred that they can‘t just give their fans. Commit to it already

The stuff I didn't like:

The dialogue was… something. Marinette just asking her mom over breakfast how to make her dreams come true. Babe just just woke up, that deep convos are for late nights

Generally the dialogue in both the movie and the show is a little weird

Lika Alya‘s „people try really hard to fail as hard as you“ Marinette spilled some coffee it‘s not that hard

Even though I liked the portrayel of Marinette‘s anxiety, at times the went overboard with it

Going back to the Gabriel redemption, just let Adrien have negative feeling about Gabriel already. The s5 finale have him idolize him and here he just instantly forgives and forget

So the butterfly is a villainous tool by default? They could've fixed their messy lore but noooo

The scene where Marinette gets her miraculous feels rushed.

The way Adrien receives his miraculous. He was chilling in his room and suddenly a black cat shows up. He doesn't even have to proove himself like Mari when she almost got hit by a truck. The moment in the show was already weak but this is just fucking stupid

the first akuma was just some random dude. They should've used someone the main duo has a connection to

Chat being a lil bitch about Ladybug rejecting him. Hated it in the show, hate it here. They could've used the movie to fix Adrien and they didn't. Other than that being a dick move as so many people have explained millions of times now, I find this such a boring source of conflict for the climax of the movie? They worked well before and they both know they care for each other as partners and even if being rejected hurts, Chat acts like LB just threw their friendship away or something with how strongly he reacts to it. In the show it felt blown out of proportion and it does here as well. I think they should've had a different kind of conflict which actively hurt their partnership or Chat stops treating LB unfairly just because to her he‘s not a romantic partner.

The fart jokes. Though tbf this is a kids movie

The way Marinette falls for Adrien was extremely underwhelming. Adrien smiles at her and helps her get up and then just walks out of the library all like „she‘s so weird“. Could‘ve been fixed if he and Mari stayed in the library and had a little conversation

Also Adrien‘s introduction in general? He just chills in the library and… yeah that‘s it. I blame this on the writers of the movie cutting character introductions short because they assume the audience already knows the characters and therefore doesn‘t have to introduce them. I don‘t think that was a good choice

The Adrienette stuff was just a montage. Would've been nice to actually see them connect (though that was probably a time issue)

Also they didn't give any spotlight to Marinette's good qualities like selflessness and intelligence. Would've been nice to see her be more willing to be there for people and help them out with things as a result of her gaining more confidence

Seriously the montage was a big mistake and takes away a lot from what could've made the movie stand out

The reveal felt a lot like Adrien only loving Marinette because she's LB, which was a big reason for me to not ship Adrienette prior to the flip (not that I did after). Something like this would‘ve been believable in a setting where they didn‘t know each other as civilians I guess, but that doesn‘t work for the square. Had they actually shown Adrienette develop outside of a montage this would'be been way more believable and touching.

I think a reverse love square from the beginning would've worked better here, or they should've made the Ladynoir side canon

Adrien tells Marinette about his dead mom. Chat noir tells Ladybug about his dead mom. How does she not make the connection?

The "power of love" theme fell flat with Marinette. she doesn't have her moment of "oh I have to protect the people I love" like Tikki's dialogue suggests. There were multiple people at the theme park she could've spotted being in danger and that should've made her want to save them. Tom being there was literally the perfect set-up. The show does this with Alya being trapped under a car or something and Marinette seeing her

I also think the jump from anxious Mari to brave Mari didn't work. In both the show and the movie it just feels like she just decides to be confident now without really getting there through hard work. The motivation was there in the show (see previous point) but in both instances it just happened too fast. Let Marinette have time to really adjust to her new role

This would've worked if the movie didn't try to keep the show's formula of "villain of the week". Why are we getting a montage about that when there's already a whole ass show with five seasons where we already see that? This montage took up time that could've been used more effectively. The movie should've tried to be more of it's own thing, really shoud've tried to flesh out the characters more in a way the show doesn't. They didn't need LB and CN immediately competent and loved by the public after the theme park fiasco. Just use the run time of the movie to get adjusted to fighting crime on a weekly basis, have them fail to then fix their mistakes and learn from them. Why not do a training montage with the point of becoming better instead of flirting? The movie tries too hard to keep up the show formula and it takes away the quality the story could've had

Also in Marinette's case it felt like the only "power of love" that mattered was her partnership with Chat. Her family and friends weren't completely unimportant but definetely underutilized in that regard. Romantic love is not the only important love you know

Their powers of cataclysm and miraculous ladybug only came in at the very end. The built up could've worked if they spent more time showing how they become good and experienced heroes over time

Generally the climax was underwhelming. Gabriel learns Chat‘s identity and the damage is made undone like 10 seconds later

Adrien being like "yeah I didn't really get close to people after my mom died" what's with the Nino erasure smh

Luka wasn't important

Kagami wasn't even there

I think the end scene hinted at the sentimonster stuff and I wished they would've just not include that

Final thoughts

There are things the movie did better than the show and some things it didn't. They don't waste much time on establishing who the characters are because they expect viewers to already know that from watching the show. But like the show, they fail to use the concepts they've set up in an effective way. The movie not only tries to stay true to the show but is almost dependent on the audience knowing the series.

But yeah, the movie atmosphere was nice. Nothing extraordinary but also not super bad. It had s1 vibes and despite the problems I listed, I had a good time for the most part. Not a must watch but still fine

4/10

[parri-1238]

oh cool I have Tumblr now

ANYWAYS just a lil overview of what ill post here (if I don't completely forget about it)

Linked Universe, and any other fandoms I feel like drawing for! Just kinda depends on my mood, but I'll most likely post the dumpster fire that is my brain

Character art for my stories! One is just kinda a thought while another is a huge passion project for me and my friend, so there will DEFINITELY be art for them. This won't be limited to just storied tho, cuz I have plenty of OCs to draw :]

but yea! I might mess around and post stuff different from that but this is really just if I even decide to do much.

See ya!

-Vio (or Parri, I go by both)

[infiniteglitterfall]

i don't post about autistic parenting enough

I kind of figured, when our kid was born almost seven years ago, that I would post MASSIVE amounts here. Because that's what I did with my first kid, only on Livejournal. I didn't want to bore my (universally childless, we were 20) friends with constantly going on and on about the smol child I was coparenting, so I infodumped on LJ whenever I felt the need to.

But it was RIGHT in the peak of the ace discourse. (Happy uhhhh seventh anniversary of the shitstorm, everybody!!!)

And I was very terrified that if I even mentioned that we were about to have a baby, someone would doxx me and make false reports to CPS. Or threaten to, or claim they had.

Or even that they'd just screenshot and make a huge deal about it; that there would be hundreds of people on here gleefully faux-raging and faux-bemoaning me having a child because I was one of the people they'd targeted with the Fake Ace/Aro/Inclusionist Blocklist In Which Everyone's Accused Of Being Pedophiles.

Ok you know what, this is not a fun post to share a fun kid story on. I'm just gonna let this one be about the garbage dumpster fire that was 2017, and make an autistic parenting post separately.

In which case, I can go ahead and put back the story about why I remember that it's the seventh anniversary of the shitstorm! (Or was, three days ago.)

It started on Feb 18, 2017, for me.

I mainly remember this because it was my abusive dad's birthday. And his godawful stepdaughter-in-law chose that day to tell him that I was telling people, aka his stepchildren who had kids, not to let their kids sleep over because he was an abuser.

God almighty, she's a piece of work. This was AFTER she insisted on interrogating me, over the phone, about why I was saying he had sexually abused me, whether I really remembered it, what I remembered, et cetera. Because she had been "falsely accused" of sexually abusing a kid she babysat for, as a teenager.

Her story about it does not hang together very well - as you might imagine. It didn't make a lot of sense to me at the time, and I wasn't about to try to have a real conversation with her about it. I barely knew her.

Essentially, as I recall it, the kid had made some claims to his parents about her doing something to him, one night, that she swore never happened, and -- according to her -- the police talked to him and could immediately see that nothing had happened, yet somehow also, this made the news and was a big deal and ruined her life and her family had to move.

Given that my dad swears he never abused me, yet also does not understand sexual boundaries with others even as an adult and doesn't have the concept that he can harm people by violating those boundaries, I am skeptical of her tale. I think that it is absolutely and entirely possible for someone in that specific state to harm a child without thinking that what they're doing is wrong.

For anyone who's reading this in a cold sweat, terrified that they could abuse a child without meaning to: see, the thing is that you care. My dad, ultimately, does not care.

He doesn't WANT to hurt a child. But you know what's even more important to him than not behaving in a way that might harm the kiddies? Not having to accept that anything he does could ever be harmful.

You do not have that problem. The fact that you are even worrying about this proves that. My dad, in contrast, puts all his energies not into worrying about it, but into pretending it's not there.

But I made all the supportive noises, tried to reassure her that I was not trying to ruin my dad's life or something, and that I was describing things in good faith. And tried desperately to get out of the conversation I did not want to have, with the half-stepsister-in-law I barely knew, who had just had her second kid. While also giving her many ways she could protect her kids without, like, having to even believe me, and certainly without having to talk to him about it.

hahahaha yeah that didn't work.

Where my dad is motivated by denial, Amy is motivated by spite. So she told him, on his birthday. And my dad, the pure fool, texted me and accused me of having ruined his birthday.

Like bro. I'm just chilling at home. AMY ruined your birthday.

And iirc, it was that same day that someone jumped in my face claiming i was a """"pedophile"""" """"apologist.""""" the 2017 version of "groomer" i guess. honestly it's kinda impressive or something -- at the time I was like, "why are they reviving the 1980s arguments of the religious right??" but IN FACT THEY WERE JUST A COUPLE YEARS AHEAD OF THE CURVE!

makes me wonder if we could predict other far-right moves by watching these dynamics, or whether it was just a flash in the pan.

[ideaamachine]

Hi!

Ok so I’ve technically used tumblr as an outsider (on my browser) for 5 years because I was too lazy/unable to make an account but now I’m and “adult” in “college” who can “make my own decisions” and so I bit the bullet and made a tumblr but honest to god have no idea how to carry myself on this platform 💀 it’s like being an outsider and then finally getting into the club but then you don’t know what to do with yourself now that you’re in.

I’m not a total idiot; I know how tags and such work, but as for actually posting and making a “blog” I am clueless. All I ask is you bear with me as I try to figure this out.

Additionally this is my “first post” so I plan to get some generic info about me out of the way so nobody is confused:

I am a passionate writer for both my own original work (you will probably not see) and fanfiction (you might see once in a blue moon). I have a terrible writing schedule on account I am busy with college and various other life things as well as my indecisiveness when it comes to picking a story and sticking with it. I have been desperately trying to finish a Clive x reader (FFXVI) for two months but I’ve also started reading Bleach (worst mistake of my life) and have been fighting the urge to write something for that.

All that is just a fancy way of me lowering your expectations if I happened to post a story that’s more than 1 part. I try to stick to one shots for obvious reasons.

In the future I MAY take suggestions for certain things/fandoms but that’s a HUGE maybe.

Also, I don’t know if I’ll ever post anything 18+ or spicy on here since tumblr is a little more picky with rules and ratings than say ao3 (I swear you can get away with murder on there) and I’m nervous and don’t want to get smited (banned) by the hand of god (tumblr staff). So incase I happened to post something on ao3…my name is ideaMachine (fittingly I have no posts yet 🫠).

That all being said, thanks for reading this far and I’m sure to either update or remove this post when I get more comfortable with this space. If anyone who stubbles across this totally dumpster fire post is kind enough to offer advice feel free to do so.

OR

TLDR: I’m a tumblr noob, please be patient because I’m new to posting here. Don’t expect consistent updates or posting, my ao3 is ideaMachine incase I post something spicy.

Thank you :)

[literaticat]

Is there any point in starting to use Twitter for networking/promo? I've had an account forever, but haven't really used it for years. I've focused my efforts on Instagram, but I feel like I need to start being active on other sites. Threads is kind of... quiet, and BlueSky is invite-only. And Twitter is a bit of a dumpster fire... but do you still think it's worthwhile to start using Twitter knowing that industry professionals haven't all jumped ship yet? Appreciate your thoughts!

Many of the folks I know have either left twitter or dialed back considerably, though of course there are still lots of people there. That said -- if E**n M**k goes through with the proposed change to MAKE users pay for the service, it's doomed entirely, and it's already pretty much doomed given that the algorithm places priority on "blue check mark" (aka PAID) users. I'm personally not giving that company one thin dime, and I wouldn't suggest you do, either.

That said -- whatever? I guess? It seems like an odd time to START tweeting, but hey, if you have the energy for that, go for it. I post the occasional thing there because I actually have a ton of people following me on there so at least somebody MIGHT see it (but I also spend pretty much zero time there, personally, I just update and go).

If I were starting from scratch, I'd probably stick with Instagram, and add Bluesky and Threads, and try actually using those services and see what sticks -- because I suspect that one if them is probably going to be the place where many publishing folk end up. Like neither is particularly hopping right now -- but also, it's early days! And if cool people actually spend some time utilizing the services, it will become better and better.

I saw some thing today that was like "threads is dead" -- but it also said that threads had this huge number of users -- SO WHICH IS IT? LOL. I think that both BlueSky and Threads have issues they will iron out, but twitter did too when it was new, and at least neither of them have turned into hotbeds of right wing extremism (yet???).

[gerogerigaogaigar]

Lil Wayne - Tha Carter II

I slept on Wayne for too long. I suppose he was hitting his stride when I was barely a high schooler, but I have no excuse for not checking out his backlog sooner. Tha Carter II is a solid contender for his best work and represents a huge jump in quality from his previous work. That's not to say Tha Carter I is bad, far from it, but Weezy completely and utterly destroys the competition on this one. Behind the laid back lazy vibes there's a lot of highly technical shit happening in the verses here. Weezy can maintain a rhyme scheme well past when a normal person would have run dry and the multisyllabic patter is layered into the rhymes until he's practically juggling rhyme and rhythmic ideas. The ability to glide from laid back to intense staccato flow and from lazy to frenetic pace is an amazing achievement. When Lil Wayne declared himself the best rapper alive he was not kidding. He sincerely was one of the best rappers alive.

Mobb Deep - The Infamous

For people that are not already big hip hop heads this album is a bit of a hidden gem. It came out among a scene that was reinventing hardcore hip hop on the east coast, but didn't quite achieve the long term success of Enter the Wu Tang or Illmatic. Possibly the starkness is slightly to blame. There is no time for goofy skits and even the bravado isn't in the name of fun, this shit is serious. There's less individualist bravado here and more 'none of are gonna make it unless we all work together' vibes. East coast hip hop has a few notable hallmarks and my favorite is the oh so predictable inclusion of what I like to call "haunted piano". This tends to lend a more serious, stark sound to east coast hip hop as opposed to the funkier west coast. In the case of The Infamous these stark beats and dead serious subject matter make for an intense experience. Plus the features by Nas, Q-Tip (who also produces), and half the Wu-Tang crew make this album a who's who of east coast rappers.

George Harrison - All Things Must Pass

When the Beatles broke up John and Paul started their solo careers and Ringo went back into the Ringo box or whatever. George Harrison however had an ace up his sleeve. While John and Paul had been stealing the limelight he had just been writing a billion fucking songs and so his solo debut is a triple album. Surprisingly there is very little of the psychedelic raga influenced ramblings that you'd expect, instead Harrison seems to have gotten interested in country and blues. And it really works! There is of course a fair bit of psychedelia, My Sweet Lord was the big hit after all and the title track is pretty psych too. But imo the album's strongest moments are after a reprise of Isn't It A Pity where he just spends the rest of the album doing extended bluesy hard rock guitar jams.

Drake - If You're Reading This It's Too Late

Listen I'm such a fucking hater for Drake. So it pains me to say that this album isn't a complete dumpster fire. It is still impossible for me to take Drake seriously as a rapper but hey at least he's trying to actually rap right? I think this might actually be enjoyable if it was pared down a bit and if the beats were punched up a bit and if someone other than Drake rapped over them.

Aerosmith - Rocks

I'm gonna start being known as that girl who will go to bat for mediocre dad rock bands aren't I? I like Aerosmith, they genuinely nail the stupid guitar god machismo of the 70s. The guitars can scream, the drums go wild, and Steven Tyler's camp ass voice feels completely unrestrained. All they have to do is keep up that energy and they do. When Last Child started playing I legitimately air guitared to that sick ass riff.

Madvillain - Madvillainy

MF Doom and Madlib were a match made in hip hop heaven. Madlib could flip a sample better than anyone in the industry at the time and the esoteric nostalgic beats were the perfect accompaniment for Doom's supervillain persona. Doom's rapping is at its peak here, pretty much take every good thing I said about Wayne's technique and turn it up to eleven. Faster, effortless, deliberately sloppy, mumbly yet perfectly enunciated. Rhymes in rhymes in rhymes are stuffed rapid fire in a minute and a half what would take other rappers four. Doom's GOAT status is unassailable. The thing is that Madlibs beats are so incredible that if you just removed Doom from this record it would still be an amazing listen. These two are just so incredibly individually talented musicians that also happen to be the perfect fit for each other.