#tou and her liveblogged life

[toushindai]

I’m gonna come right out and say it. Soul Eater’s soundtrack still slaps.

[toushindai]

My husband and I got to see a Takarazuka show when we visited Japan (2017) and it was amazing and a deeply weird experience for me as a bisexual woman--and specifically one who finds gender fuckery very attractive--especially the gift shop, because there were dozens of autographed photos of the otokoyaku for sale, and the smoldering! I've never seen anything before or since that can be described so specifically as smoldering as those photos!

And I just looked at them and felt that they were not aiming for me.

They were not trying to sell to me, a happily bisexual woman; it felt much more like they were trying to reach an audience of women who needed the "no homo" built into the experience of being attracted to a woman. No no no don't worry! This isn't gay, you're not gay! You can buy this stuff and feel those feelings and it's NOT gay! You're not attracted to this woman who is a guy because she's a woman; you're attracted to her because we've done a really great job of training her to portray masculinity. A man's masculinity! It's not gay.

It's interesting to read in this post how meaningful Takarazuka is to queer Japanese people, because as a queer white American who went in expecting to experience that spark of recognition at least a little, it absolutely was not there for me. I was able to pick up on the "no homo" vibes much more easily.

Takarazuka Revue is so funny because it’s like we are a fine upstanding institution of good family values, like homophobia. Please ignore the lesbians making up the majority of people both on stage and in the audience.

Takarazuka Revue is like: we enforce only the strictest gender roles in our troupe as is right and proper, sorting them into the two genders: women who are women, and women who are men. How dare you suggest there’s anything queer about that.

Takarazuka Revue is simultaneously the queerest thing and the least queer thing to ever exist. Takarazuka bucks tradition and is tradition incarnate. Takarazuka is like

and then is like, “no homo”

and maintains itself as one of the most hierarchical artistic organizations in the world with intense control over its performers. This alternate reality where the talented (and lucky, and connected) few can gain the right to openly perform queerness in the one setting comphet capitalism has carved out for them as long as they follow a different even stricter set of rules for dress and behavior. It dissembles traditional gender by its very existence and so must reinforce it at every turn.

And yet despite being the product of a conservative capitalist railroad owner who only really sought to exploit women for entertainment aimed at men (and their hetero families) that remains loyal to those deeply normative puritanical roots, it was and is also one of the most liberating theater and media experiences of queer Japanese people for decades. You can tell from all the queer art about it, by queer people. By the fact that the audience who flocked to it were not (cis) men.

Trying to untangle the mutual influence of shoujo manga to takarazuka is even more difficult that trying to untangle something like the history of modern Broadway and Disney movies. We wouldn’t have The Little Mermaid without Little Shop of Horrors, but we wouldn’t have Wicked without the Disney renaissance, but we wouldn’t have Frozen without Wicked, and going back further to things like Cinderella and Rogers and Hammerstein and they are intertwined but listen to me. Takarazuka and shoujo manga, especially yuri, are more intertwined. And then so much western media has been inspired by shoujo anime. Rose of Versailles the manga was inspired by Takarazuka and then in turn was adapted into their most famous play which then in turn influenced so many more artworks. Uranus and Neptune are an otokoyaku and musumeyaku. Utena and Anthy (and honestly that whole ass show. The stairs?? C’mon). And all the works and creators THOSE works inspired.

We owe so much to Takarazuka but also if we tried to thank them for their role in queer history they’d be like “we’ve never been queer in our lives!!!!!!!!” and then say a slur to your face while taking your money. Incredible. Wish more people knew what the fuck it was and I could get fansubs.

[forflightlessbirds]

liveblogging tmagp 22 except it's really incoherent

INTRO BABY I MISSED TOU

grrrrr alex j newall ily

mixed signals ooohhh

29 minute episode oouhh

IT STATETRD

GWEN BACK. GWEB BWEGGN BACK.

"watching figure you mentioned" NO. STOP STOP SHRJEIF SYOP NDOKS

"i know what you're doing." 2hat

LENA THREATENING. OH LORD. i don't liek womrn but for her

that thing was an EXTERNAL???

DEMOTION?????????? WHATSTT.

don't quit bbg

she didn't!!!!

yeaaah gwen stop being unstable GWEN

stop theyre so. ugh i hate them all

CASEMENT STARETD

it's a lteer???

AUGUSTUS I MISSED YOUUUUUUU

experimentation??

oh no. experiments on thibgs

alarmign results???

EXPERIEMNYS ON PEOPLE??????? STOP THIS.

i must say i don't like this

charts??! brain charts????

using silver for conductivity... ooooyh

you did what with the wires

erratic results??

okay the double coil makes sensw

PHOTO

the work of whom.

REPUTATION???

no no not intensive

he had a RIGHT to be hesitant.

CONSTANTINE

I'M WHAY NOW HE DID WHAT

oh no i don't like this

2 seperate animals in one bofy.. where gave i heard that before.

i can see where this is going oh no oh lord

QUESTIONS OF THE SELF.

as you sjoild

data reviewing.. yaaay

me too bae

OCEAN. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO

RADIO SIGNALS AND OCWANS OG FUCKS SAKES

these two things would never meet

okay fun science

deconstructed them all and did what with then.

WHAT WAS THE DEISGB

oh no no no plumbing

questions of the self part 2: electric boogaloo

TICKING.

"imagine yourself." i don't inow

i kind of love tmagp's more intimate feeling to it. it feels less detached than tma an d i love it

UNCHARACTERISTIC WHIMSY

oh no he's sending

imagine yourself

dead. oh no

yaaaayy activity

TIDAL WAVE IF SIGNAL

i loeeeveee

oh no wait actually this seems Dangerous

FUCK. NO. THERE WILL BE A REPLY????

SMOKE

what on EARTH happened

ursula are you oajy

ursula. what is happening

is he okay?? is she okay???? what's happening

hear WHAT.

be patient with your wife fuckass

OH NO THE PATIENT

oh my lord????

good lord. arteries.

SCREAMING

tetanus comparison

rictus.

his tongue.

crescendo.

cracking.

background music i love it

WHAT.

they severed the sense of self.

shiiiiiit.

IT'S ON THE FLOOR

oh he's dead

"you could not hear it?" what.

"just another case of unfortunate frontier science" die

what did you find. this better have been worth it

a pattern you say

OH SHIT WHAT DID HE REALISW

there's no misfile.

FINGERPRINTS PROVE IT

what did you understand??

"she was always a better communicator than i" yeah makes sense babe

what had she HEARD.

oh my god

oh holy shit

holy shit

we are.

i am here.

here alone

we are i alone

all alone

so alone together

together alone

i think we get the message

he's alone

help

help we us

alone

help out

OUT????

WAIT.

i'm connecting threads.

i don't know what they are but i'm connecting them

violence is discovery of life or something idk man

yeah you delay those findings babygirl

robot voice again

WAIT. I KNOW THAT NAME

casement ends.

ALICE AND SAM

OH SHIT HE KNOWS

i hate her and him and UGH

he knowszs

alice you're really in it now

okay sam you're being a bit mean

but alice is also being a little obsessive

alice is losing all her friends around her.

she's just like me fr

"i just thought that you'd be different. that you might actually listen to me" sobbing

why is she still here. good point.

it's easy money??

oh lord she's me

"we could-" alice honey we all know you're not over him

ohhhh theyr3 so complex ily

OOH WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW

sam and celia oooh

i can't hear a word they're saying actually

SHE CAN EITHER GET OVER IT OR GET LOST??? OUCH.

celia stop encouraging ot. this isn't healthy celia

names??

JON AND MARIOGIB

JMART.

J. MART. MENTION. WHAT. THE.

OH MY GOD

OH MY GOF OGG MY GOFK THEYRU BACK TEHEY RYHD WHAT TTAHT WEHAT DOES YHDI MEAN

EPISOODE ENFS

FUCK

[pitbullwithaship]

DOCTOR WHO LIVEBLOG S3 EP6

Amazing, time for a whole new episode.

He meant it when he said one trip Martya, sorry girlie

Tish looks a bit miserable

That's a nice goodbye (won't last tho)

Lol immediently comes back at the slightest sign of bad

Ugh don't be a creepy old man

NIBBLES I love him

Omg dude way to put your foot in your mouth

Oh jeez fountain of youth never good

Okay somethings definitely wrong

Oh dude don't be rude to your wife

Changing DNA oof

Oh dear that's bad

Okay he's still a creepy old man even as a young man cuz he's an old man

Okay Tish be careful

Ooh that's very bad and ugly and everything

I WAS GONNA SNOG HIM Tish please

That doesn't look like an olive now does it

That face is really creepy

Creepy as hell

Ooh she's good, running in heels

Okay her mum needs to calm down a little

Martha you should now by now he never has a plan

Nice shoes by the way lol

Oh he's naked

THIS IS THE WAY THE WORLD ENDS, NOT WITH A BANG BUT WITH A WHIMPER

Second time being slapped by a mother!!

Oh shit hes still alive

Those chairs look really uncomfortable

THERES NO SUCH THING AS AN ORDINARY HUMAN

OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THAT A LONGER LIFE ISNT ALWAYS A BETTER LIFE TOU GET TIRED

There's lotsa gems of quotes in this episode

Oh I used to do something like that with my piano

Okay definitely dead this time

HUG

One more trip (dude stop)

HUG

Cool she gets to go on more

[sunrisetune]

“Thank you for being devoted to me”

Did my last post on the screaming / liveblog... blog, but not here, SURPRISE

THAT LINE! IS SO GOOD, AND SO POINTED, THANK YOU SAM RIEGEL

Because it’s TRUE. Caleb is incredibly devoted to Nott! He always has been! She’s his partner in crime, his greatest friend, his life partner! He’s said so multiple different times!

He dropped everything he cared about researching short of literally the end of the world to help her the moment he knew what she wanted!

He supports her! And he loves her!! HE LOVES HER SO MUCH. Caleb IS DEVOTED to Nott

AND SHE LOVES HIM BACK

Merci bonne nuit a tous

[toushindai]

I saw another kid in Sunday school reading, got pissed they knew more than me, and opened up the newspaper when I got home. Reportedly I was managing it but my parents then did go fetch Hop On Pop to make things a little more systematic.

my dad and I just finished listening to a fascinating (and really pretty alarming) podcast about American literacy education recently—Sold a Story by Emily Hanford—and it got me wondering what my peers’ experience was, so here's my first poll! This pertains to people who learned to read in the U.S. specifically, so even if one of the other options matches your experience, I'd politely ask you to refrain from picking one (presumably you guys have better school districts than we do anyway). 

(the most horrifying part out of the entire thing was the fact that dubbya was the one to realize something was wrong. even a broken clock, I guess...?)

[toushindai]

the brand(?) of my walking boot (I fractured my ankle climbing) is "Breg" and every time I see it I'm just like ah yes that is one of my favorite scifi charagters

[toushindai]

I heard the “needs done” construction for the first time ever in an intro to linguistics course in Pittsburgh, during which conversation the native Pittsburghers were just as startled to learn that the construction they’d heard and used all their life was not standard English. It was a great moment. I’ve since adapted it into my speech as well, I like it.

I'd appreciate it if people tagged/replied with what they voted and where they're from.

[toushindai]

used adnauseum to block the link to my tumblr fyp, I'm freeee

[toushindai]

I wish there were a fic equivalent of sketch dumping. but no. not only do you have to post everything in the same way but you have to TITLE and SUMMARIZE it.

[toushindai]

💖

yall ever have straight up crushes on certain fic writers because of how damn wonderful their pieces are?

[toushindai]

Warning: by the end of the week I'm going to start talking about H/ades II on here. In addition to blocking the obvious tags (#h/ades II, #h/ades II spoilers, minus the slashes naturally), please block "#tou and the murder kitten" to keep them off your dash as I will be using that tag for personal nonsense that doesn't need to go in the main tag.

This message will repeat.

[toushindai]

(fingerguns) hit that like button if it's ok that I haven't posted any fic in a hot minute because writing it is taking so long

[toushindai]

being a writer means going absolutely rabid over a little guy who exists only inside your own fucking HEAD