before you know about women, you hear that you do not need to love the man, just that you need to love him through his manhood. which is to say you have seen the future painted in lamb's blood over your eyes - how your mother shoots you a look about your father's inability to cook right. how your aunt holds her wineglass and says i'm gonna kill em. men, right! how your best friend bickers with her boyfriend, how she says i can't help it. i come back to him.
you learn: men are gonna cheat. men aren't going to listen when you're talking, because you're nagging. men think emotions are stupid. they think your life is vapid and your hobbies are embarrassing. men will slam things, but that's because men are allowed to be angry. if you get loud, you're hysterical. if a man gets loud - well, men are animals, men are dogs, men can't control their hands or their eyes or their bodies. they're going to make a snide comment about you in the locker room, about your body, about how you're so fucking annoying. you're going to give him kids, and he will give you the money for the kids, and you're going to be running the house 24/7 - but he gets to relax after a long day, because his job is stressful. the man is on stage, and is a comedian, and says "women!"
and you are supposed to love that. you are supposed to love men through how horrible they are to you - because that's what women do. that's what good women do. wife material. your father even told you once - it'll make sense when you're older. it was like staring down a very lonely tunnel.
it feels like something's caught in your throat, but it's all you know, so. it's okay that you see sex as a necessary tool, a sort of okay-enough ritual to keep him happy, even though he doesn't seem to care about happiness as-applied-to you. it is relationship upkeep. it is kissing him and smiling even though he didn't brush his teeth. it is getting on your knees and looking up and holding back a sigh because he barely holds you as you panic through the night. it's not like the sex is bad and you do like feeling wanted. and besides! he's a man! like... they're another species. you'll never be able to actually communicate, right. he isn't listening.
you just don't get it. you don't feel that sense of i'm gonna climb him like a tree. mostly it just feels fucking exhausting. you play the part perfectly. you smile and nod and are "effortlessly" charming. and it's fine! it's alright! you even love him, if you're looking. you could have good life, and a good family, and perfectly happy.
in the late night you google: am i broken. you google i'm not attracted to my husband. you google i get turned on by books but not by him. you google how to get better in bed.
the first time he yells at you, it almost feels like blankness. like - of course this is happening. this is always how it was going to end up. men get angry, and they yell, and you sit there in silence.
you mention it to your friend - just the once - while you're drunk. she shrugs and says it's like that with me too, i just try to forget and move on. men are always gonna hear what they want to. pick your battles and say sorry even though he's in the wrong. you play solitaire online for a month. you go to your therapist appointment and preach about how you're both so in love.
after all, you have a future to want. nobody lied about it - how many instagram posts say marriage is hard. say real love takes work. say we fight like cats and dogs but the best part is that we always make up. how many of your friends say happy anniversary to the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. if you really loved him - loved yourself too - you'd accept that men are just different from you.
the first time she kisses you, it's on a dare at a party. something large and terrifying whips through your body. you wake up sweating from dreams where her mouth is encrusted with pearls and you pick them off one by one with your teeth. fuck. you sit at the computer and your almost-finished game of sim city. you think about your potential perfect life and your potential future family. you google am i gay quiz with your little hands shaking.
you delete each letter slowly. you don't need to love him. you just need to keep going.
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Acts 16:5-10 (NIV). “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.”
“Confronting a Closed Door” By In Touch Ministries:
“When God closes a door, He will always open a better one.”
“Have you ever faced a closed door? It’s extremely frustrating, right? The apostle Paul knew exactly how that felt. On his second missionary journey, he repeatedly found the way blocked by the Holy Spirit. Eventually the apostle arrived in Troas with nothing but the sea in front of him and closed doors behind.
It must have seemed strange to Paul that God would prevent him from spreading the gospel. But instead of getting angry or trying to force his way into new territory, Paul waited for the Lord’s direction. The Bible doesn’t tell us how long he and Timothy lingered in Troas, but the apostle didn’t move until the Lord revealed the entrance to a new mission field.
If you’re in a period of waiting, try doing what Paul did. Look at your situation as a chance to seek God’s purpose and guidance. Ask the Lord why He has barred the way forward—perhaps the timing is wrong or there’s some unconfessed sin to deal with. Whatever the reason, it’s important to be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading—and to be ready for the door that will open.
When an opportunity is blocked, God has a reason. He is providing love and protection, even when we don’t see it. And He’s keeping His promise to work everything for our good (Romans 8:28).”
(Photo by Daniel Gregoire at Unsplash)
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On one hand? Ear infection became bronchitis.
On the other hand? Spent a sleepless night + morning in urgent care distracting myself with a brainstorm of baby Phoenix Wright actually managing to get face-to-face with baby Demon Prosecutor Edgeworth and interacting long enough for a) Von Karma to vibe check those two and b) Wrightworth to have mutual angst over Miles bonding with, then pushing Phoenix away to protect the both of them.
Queue a dramatic sequence of dominoes as Phoenix rebounds hard for Dahlia, then Von Karma gets Miles purposely put on the Doug Swallow case so Miles has to prosecute and convict Phoenix for murder (and thus get him killed) while listening to Phoenix’s hurt betrayal and desperate faith in him and his cooing over Dahlia Hawthorne, all against the backdrop of Mia spitting resentment at Miles and Dahlia both, yet inspiring Phoenix to fight back, and of course Miles would pull a Turnabout Samurai and suddenly start helping the defense and protecting Phoenix and the shock from Mia and relief from Phoenix even as he’s heartbroken again by Dahlia’s coldness (poor guy kicked by BOTH his loves in the same year!) and Phoenix is found Not Guilty but OH the fallout with Von Karma for purposely losing alongside Iris getting revealed early? Oh, the joy.
Long story short, Edgeworth leaves or gets kicked out of the prosecutor’s office, all while assuming the love of his life (the one he rejected and endangered yet ultimately saved) is going to get his happy ending with his actually sweet girlfriend after all…
…And then Mia Fey approaches him. Questions his actions. Commends him. Offers him a job.
And on Miles’ first day at Fey & Co’s office, the first person to walk in is not a client, but Phoenix Wright, his face mask gone, an art portfolio bag slung over his shoulder, and that silly pink sweater of his swapped for a blue hoodie. Miles takes one look at the man and freezes up, and can only watch as Phoenix bows to Mia, thanking her before stuttering out a request to speak to Miles privately, all while shooting the new defense lawyer a wide, hopeful smile.
And Miles Edgeworth finds himself for once truly and utterly speechless.
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Tag Dump because I'm tired of not having my tags handy.
Also NSFW headcanons because i forget my headcanons.
I have headcanons but I only write smut when the stars align and two blood sacrifices have been made in my honor so no one needs to know these.
HIM's eyes go black when they c*m.
They are a nonbinary-shapeshifter but they prefer to have a pen*s.
Head game is insane.
They are EXTREMELY vain so when it comes to talking during its usually stuff like "you like my *blank*" "i know it feels good when i *blank*"
Believe it or not, HIM is a switch. They have no preference for either though. It's really just whatever they feel like at the moment.
They love to leave marks in visible spots.
Finally, the tags:
ooc. 「 monster fucker simulator. 」
ic. 「 lace a lie with truth none is sweeter. 」
him. 「 creature most vile. 」
mojo. 「 prove yourself worthy to a worthless cause. 」
musings. 「 delights of pain and pleasure. 」
headcanons. 「 to kill a god. 」
aesthetic. 「 luxuries of devil to make angels weep. 」
style. 「 dipped with gold and blood. 」
self promo. 「 fall in decay. 」
promo. 「 succumb to your weakness. 」
desires. 「 the taste of the forbidden 」
body. 「 all the better to eat you with. 」
fc. 「 evil always seeks to tempt. 」
answers. 「 look to the heavens and pray to devils. 」
jojoisnomo. 「 beautiful disaster i’ll eat you. 」
mojo and him. 「 own me i'll let you play the role. 」
rebelpuff. 「 what's the most you ever lost 」
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why Dune is crap
Tolkein and this English lit scholar explain my pov quite well
"
Martin Turner · BA in English Literature and Language, University of Oxford (Graduated 1988)
Tolkien stated “I dislike DUNE with some intensity,” but he did not give a reason why.
However, you don’t need to look far—only as far as Tree and Leaf—to understand Tolkien’s views on story and artistry.
Tolkien was interested in stories that were good for their own sake. Even in dark moments, the story should be a delight to the reader. By Tolkien standards, Dune is quite gratuitous in its bloodthirstiness, violence and corruption. Herbert takes a positive delight (it would seem) in describing the debauchery of the Harkonnens.
On a similar level, Tolkien always wrote in a way which was suitable for children. He discusses this in Tree and Leaf. He did not see any benefit in filling out his stories with sex and gore.
Tolkien’s world is ultimately a world of grace and kindness. These, to Tolkien, were the marks of the true hero, of whom Gandalf and Aragorn were the contrasting pinnacles. These are qualities almost entirely absent from Dune, which is much more focussed on power and revenge. This is somewhat like the difference between Shakespeare and Webster. The Duchess of Malfi has a very similar milieu to Dune. Tolkien’s own heroes were Gawain and Beowulf, rather than Machiavelli.
Tolkien describes world-building as an imaginative journey. He discusses the difference between simply writing ‘the green sun’ and thoroughly imagining it. To him, the imagination was the main thing. Dune, by contrast, is ‘Lawrence of Arabia in space’. Herbert was reportedly[1][2] very taken by the film,[3]and transplants the milieu wholesale into a science-fiction setting.[4][5] To Tolkien, this was an unacceptable shortcut. Remember that he criticised his friend CS Lewis for borrowing and mixing in Narnia. Herbert’s method is far more heinous, from a Tolkien point of view.
Tolkien loved language. He plays with it endlessly, and there is an extraordinary sound to his prose if you read it aloud. Herbert has a superficial reference to multiple languages, such as Chakobsa, but it is quite evidently that of the non-linguist.
Tolkien didn’t like preachy writing. It wasn’t just allegory he was opposed to. Dune is full of little asides telling us about ideal societies, and what it means to be human. It would have grated Tolkien on most pages.
Tolkien did not like modernism. Dune is a child of modernism in a much clearer way than, say, Foundation or Islands in the Sky. Its philosophy is a blend of existentialism, proto-New-Ageism, nihilism and rationalist scepticism. All of these would have seemed barren to Tolkien, and Herbert lets them go unchallenged.
Tolkien is concerned with heroes. Dune is concerned with anti-heroes. Herbert is quite explicit about this: “Here lies a toppled god / his fall was not a small one / we did but build his pedestal / a narrow and a tall one” (Tleilaxu epitaph, Dune Messiah).
Above everything, Dune had been very publicly compared to and described as the science-fiction equivalent of The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien would have been aghast to see what people thought was an equivalent to his writing, which was opposite in almost every respect.
Ultimately, Dune is full of the things that Tolkien detested, and having the book described as the equivalent of his own book must have irked him deeply.
Footnotes
[1]
“Going Native” with Dune’s Paul Atreides
[2]
Dune, 50 years on: how a science fiction novel changed the world
[3]
Dune (1984) - IMDb
[4]
Interview with Frank Herbert and Beverly Herbert by Willis E. McNelly
[5]
Frank Herbert’s Dune and the Dune Series
"
Watching Dune is like watching a documentary of gratuitous violence rather than an actual story, even the director of Dune (2021) states this, Denis Villeneuve: "I tried to do a sci-fi movie like a documentary." [Nerds of Color]
Calling Dune punk-anything is like calling Godzilla a rom-com...
Dune's white savior complex is stinging and constant, and there is no defense, even as we see director Villeneuve attempt to defend on this point as:
"There is a storytelling trope called the White Savior where a Caucasian will go into a foreign land and act as a rescuer or messianic figure to the indigenous people there. And Herbert’s work has been criticized for falling into that trope. So how do you contemporize the story to avoid falling into the problematic areas that trope may potentially present?
That’s a very important question. And it’s why I thought Dune was, the way I was reading it, a critique of that [trope]. It’s not a celebration of a savior. It’s a condemnation and criticism of that idea of a savior. Of someone that will come and tell another operation how to be and what to believe… it’s a criticism. That’s the way I feel it’s relevant and can be seen contemporary. And that’s what I’ll say about that. Frankly it’s the opposite [of that trope]." -[Nerds of Color]
Is it though? It seemed to me like Paul Atreites frees the fremen and re-establishes his dynasty, this time as ruler of the universe. How is that anything except a huge shining perfect example of the white savior complex? Villeneuve and Herbert just kind of wave their hands and say "ehh it's the opposite" and walk off from the topic, and I'm just over here with an actual soul, left wondering, what in the goddamn fuck was that gaslighting?
Villeneuve and Herbert are like "Well it didn't end well for Paul, we fucked him up pretty bad in the end so therefore it's a critique of the white savior model"
and I'm just over here like,
you can't just kill the white savior and assume he's gone and you're rid of it, the Romans tried that and it didn't work out for them...LMAO fuck dune... sorry not sorry!! Long live liberty, democracy, education, justice, and Tolkien, not that glorification of fascist racist bullshit called Dune. /rant
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