#v: 1984 - The year it happened

[karlgrove]

Karl felt Julian’s arm slip through his, and despite everything—the sickness, the weight of the night ahead—he smiled. It wasn’t just the feel of Julian’s touch but the simple fact that, in moments like this, they could still find each other. Still hold on. He looked down at Julian, catching the little grin that made him look more like the person Karl had fallen for, and a warm chuckle escaped him.

"Yes, we are two… badasses," Karl repeated with a playful smirk, his tone lighter than before. For a brief moment, the tension eased, and he let himself believe it. "And tonight’s just another night for us to prove it."

They reached the bottom of the stairs, and Karl paused for a second, letting Julian cling to him a little tighter. It was reassuring in a way, knowing they could still offer each other comfort even with all the chaos. With a soft squeeze of Julian’s arm, he led them toward the car and while Julian was right; with the money Karl had, he could avoid a lot of the mess, keep the stash full, and stay out of the darker parts of this world.. he knew it wasn’t that simple. He couldn't just walk away from Rip. There was more to it than Julian knew, more than he could ever tell him.

“Look,” Karl started, voice careful “ I do appreciate the tip, but it’s not just about the money. Rip… as much of a wanker as he is, he’s.. familiar now and discreet. I don’t want to risk dealing with someone new. That’s exactly how things go sideways fast, you know?”

He avoided Julian’s gaze, focusing on his hands as he gripped the steering wheel, knowing full well that wasn’t the whole truth. But it was enough of a lie to cover his real reasons. If he admitted how deep his crush on Rip went, or that he'd already been to his place once, that’d be the end of it. He couldn’t let Julian know that.

Karl started the car, turning up the volume on the radio to fill the silence. The familiar hum of the engine and the sound of music gave him something to focus on other than the nagging ache inside. “Besides, you know how much this community is filled with catty gossips, if word got back to Simone what her aids riddled husband who sleeps with men is up to now, I’d never be allowed out of the house again.” He half-smiled, the joke only halfway kidding. Simone would lose her mind if she knew the full extent of what was going on, and Karl couldn’t deal with that on top of everything else.-- Especially not Rip. She knew HE knew better.

As they drove through the city, Karl tapped his fingers on the steering wheel, a habit he had unknowingly picked up from Julian, something to do when you couldn't appease that addiction. The rhythm matched the anxious thoughts racing through his mind. He tried to push the thought of it out of his head, but the need gnawed at him all the same. The fix was close now, and though he was doing everything to stay calm, the drive felt longer than it should.

Parking in the bank parking lot . He planned to take out a bit .. extra. So that he could get them something to eat for lunch too. Even though he was pretty sure neither of them were actually hungry or thinking about food.

See what’s become of me

@karlgrove <3

He couldn’t tell if Muriel was really his friend or if she used him for a roof over her head while escaping her family but through the blur of substances and loud music and mindnumbing TV it sure as hell felt like it. She shared too, which he could very much appreciate and she only got angry when they ran out. Which was something he understood as well but he’d rather die than go to Rip about… this. He didn’t plan for this go on anyway, a week at most… how long had it been… Regardless, they managed just fine for the most part and whenever the phone rang, he just turned the music up louder.

-

Somewhere in an ridiculously overpriced apartment in New Hampshire, Blair was trying to concentrate on a book but no matter how hard she tried, one thing just would not leave her mind alone. Julian. He hadn’t called to be a sappy idiot or to rant about minor inconveniences or to beg her to come back in a while and not once did he pick up the phone or call her back either.

And it wasn’t like she didn’t trust him, even after all that happened she did but she had also known him far too long to ignore it completely. Blair was getting worried and even though Clay insisted he’d be just fine, her gut feeling told a different story.

It wouldn’t have been difficult to get a hold of the Grove family either way but Julian, not being an idiot for once, had told her the phone number in case something happened. And when the time seemed rather reasonable to her and the nervous feeling became too much, she made her call.

“Hello! It’s me, Blair, there’s something I want to talk about…” the young woman would begin once she reached somebody, twirling her locks with a finger to calm herself down as she voiced her concerns about Julian. How she couldn’t reach him, how she had a really bad feeling and how she was most likely overreacting and there was nothing to worry about and how she found herself worrying regardless.

[nocophobia]

I named my twin in time AU: I’m calling it my Quantum Twins AU. Here’s some doodles, silly pretend files, and a timeline! Oh and a little drawing of a scene I thought up

Also if it’s not obvious these aren’t real forms I designed them :v

Timeline:

1982: Dipper and Mabel land in the past, Dipper in Gravity Falls and Mabel in Glass Shard Beach. They both suffer severe amnesia. They don’t remember a lot of information so they’re given new birthdays and last names based on where they were found. Stanford is Dipper’s immediate foster parent because he’s the one the found Dipper, and was only interested in Dipper’s odd, more completed replica of his third journal.

1983: Mabel bounces around a few foster homes. Stanford finally breaks free from Bill and publishes his research. Fiddleford and Stanford establish a romantic relationship, and Fiddleford officially moves in. Fiddleford also makes amends with Emma-May, and they establish a shared custody with Tate. Dipper starts seeing Ford and Fiddleford as Parental figures.

1984: Mabel moves into her worst foster home yet. Fiddleford and Emma-May’s divorce finalizes. Stanford officially adopts 15 year old Dipper, making him Dipper Pines. Emma-May gets a job opportunity and Tate moves to Gravity falls at 5 years old.

1985: Mabel runs away from her foster home, determined to find her long lost brother. Dipper however, has nearly forgotten everything and fully accepted his new life and family.

1986: Mabel’s been homeless for a year, She stays the night at a rest stop and meets Stan, who trades dollars with her when she struggles with a vending machine. Stan and Mabel start traveling together (because she reminds him of himself lol when he was kicked out) Dipper starts applying to colleges and planning his future.

- Mabel and Stan find their way to Gravity Falls

-Stan and Ford Reunion + Mabel and Dipper Reunion but surprise! Neither reunion is happy.

Idk what happens after 1985.

Anyways extra drawing!!! Oh how I want a found family like that

[captaincorgi128]

On Christmas Day of 2018, I received a paperback copy of George Orwell's 1984. I was 12 years old.

I remember the adults - aunts and uncles, parents, grandparents, looking at me cautiously, as if they had handed me a live bomb rather than a book. "That's a very intense book, okay?" my father told me. "If you want, we can talk about it after you read it." 12-year-old me, with only a dim idea of what fascism actually was and an insatiable appetite for books, only nodded.

While my younger cousins and sister played with their new toys, I sat on the couch and read the book in one sitting. When I finished, I looked up to see the adults staring at me with a strange sort of fascination. "Do you want to talk about it?" my father asked.

"No." I shrugged and turned away.

The truth was, I had been expecting a happy ending. Winston Smith was the good guy, wasn't he? Why didn't he win? Evil governments always lost in the end, didn't they? How could Winston have been brainwashed into believing such an evil, awful dictatorship was truly great? After all, when my middle school history teachers talked about dictatorships, those of Hitler and Stalin, it was obvious that they were the worst of the worst. No one actually agreed with them, did they?

Then I remembered my fourth grade class talking about the upcoming election, laughing about how obviously stupid Trump's wall idea was, and how strange it felt to hear someone say Clinton was worse. I don't remember his reasoning, but I distinctly remember thinking it was dumb because what could be dumber than a giant wall around Mexico? I remembered my grandmother arguing against vaccinating children, and I remembered flat Earthers I had seen online. That day was the first time it clicked for me: people believe what they want to believe.

The years passed. I read 1984 again, and again, and again. I watched as Trump shut down the government for sake of a temper tantrum, as he was impeached, as he told Americans to inject bleach, as he politicized a pandemic and let thousands die. I didn't know about his SA scandals. I didn't know he had called Mexicans "thieves and rapists." I just knew he could not be allowed to be president again.

Yet, when 2020 rolled around, I was only 14 years old and could not vote. I settled for watching anxiously as the votes came in - I didn't know much about Joe Biden, but he was clearly a better alternative. He actually believed the COVID-19 pandemic was real, for one. So I sighed in relief as the results came through four days later: Joe Biden had been elected president of the United States.

I kept watching. I watched as Trump incited insurrection, as terrorists stormed the Capitol. I stared in horror at the TV. How could this have happened? How were so many people so delusional?

In December 2021, for my sophomore year English class, I read 1984 again. I thought of January 6th.

My classmates thought it boring, confusing, stupid. It didn't make sense. What did it matter? Who cared whether or not we knew the significance of the character of O'Brien?

I kept watching. The summer before my junior year of high school, just before I entered a relationship with my now-partner, Roe v. Wade was overturned, and I felt a sinking pit in my stomach. Six months later, a friend of mine read 1984 for that same English class, and he loved it - we had a few intense study hall discussions about the nature of doublespeak, of totalitarianism, of a surveillance state. My partner agreed, reading it with a terrified fascination.

I kept watching. I realized I was nonbinary, and I watched in horror as the Republican Party made their creeping advances to eradicate trans rights. Idly, I reread 1984. What the right wanted did seem a lot like Oceania's government, didn't it? I wondered if I'd ever be able to marry my partner, who, despite also being trans, was still the same sex as me. If Trump ran again, he'd probably win, and then what would we do?

Then, 2024. Trump won the primaries in a landslide. I turned 18 and registered to vote. In the meantime, I skimmed Project 2025's bits about banning pornography and thought of 1984 and its carefully curated sexless society, created to achieve perfect complacency. I went off to college and voted absentee, carefully bubbling in the circle next to Vice President Kamala Harris's name. I woke up on Wednesday, November 6th to see Trump had won the presidency.

It has been one week. Again, I watch as Trump proposes a Department of Government Efficiency, which sounds euphemistically horrific. I watch as he suggests Musk to head it, a man known for being as inefficient as possible. I think of the Ministry of Truth and how its entire purpose was to disseminate lies. I watch as people celebrate, mocking me and many others who had desperately voted against a fascist, a rapist, a convicted criminal, a man who would kill us and spit on our graves if he was elected to office. I think of Parsons and duckspeak, the practice of simply spitting out the "correct" propaganda the same way a duck quacked. People really did believe what they wanted to believe, didn't they? I realize Trump won because, deep down, people hated minorities more than they loved democracy.

I hope my loved ones and I will survive another Trump presidency. I hope those in Gaza and Ukraine will survive it too, along with so many others - Jews, POC, immigrants, students, disabled, Muslims. At the very least, I hope to live long enough to watch as the bigots are forced to eat their own words and come to terms with the fact they gleefully voted in their own downfall.

At the end of the day, 1984 taught me something I could not have comprehended at age 12, 14, 15, or 16, but can understand now: democracy dies not with a bang, but with a whimper.

[bloomeng]

dick wasn't really flirty when he was white

I agree that Devin Grayson’s time writing him amped him up several notches but it didn’t come from nowhere either.

One thing I want to acknowledge is that Dick didn’t just suddenly become a non-white character after Grayson introduced that, for many writers at the time this was another piece of canon that went ignored. For instance in the 2008 Titans run (not written by Grayson but is post 1996 run that she did write for) I don’t remember them ever mentioning his heritage but he’s treated as a white character as far as I can tell and yet he’s still flirty… not that I personally like this version of him.

But to not split hairs I’m going to look at the 80’s version of him.

So starting off Nightwing has always been drawn as a sexy character who women want. Most super suits tend to be skin tight but the “discowing” look from 1984 that he was first introduced in also has that iconic V-neckline. Even when it’s changed later I always got the impression they were trying to aim for someone who felt trendy. I mean his girlfriend is literally a model and a princess. He’s supposed to be this cool attractive dude.

Then there’s the fact that DC has been fighting the Dick Grayson gay allegations for years because while he was Robin parents were concerned that his relationship to Batman was too…. well. Anyway if I’m not mistaken that’s why they ended up making Robin younger and Batman’s ward so as to combat that. But they still to this day try to constantly pair him off with women and it’s a huge focus of his character. See while Jason and Tim have also had multiple female love interests the writers often have a hard time selling that they really care about the romantic relationships in their lives. With the exception of Tim and Steph their stories don’t revolve around their romantic interests as much. Versus Dick who is constantly shown to be interacting with women. His relationships— romantic or platonic— just tend to be richer. He appears to be a very tactile person which isn’t necessarily flirtation but it definitely lends itself to that. (Dw I’m not implying that he’s flirting with Donna here)

It’s intentional that they make him have these conversations with Kory while naked in bed. They really need you to know that Dick fucks. Nothing they’re saying here is inherently flirty but the way things are staged lends an impression. And even when he doesn’t have agency the writers are still inventing ways for him to kiss women.

The point is he’s a bit of a sex symbol. But that’s just the context.

Flirting doesn’t have to be over the top or hypersexual. Dick isn’t out here using pick up lines or anything, but we got to see a lot of his relationship with Kory and they are sickeningly sweet. They profess their love to each other frequently. They use pet names. They’re shown generally being in love. And just because that flirting is happening in the context of a committed relationship doesn’t make it not flirting.

Anyway 🤷‍♀️ hope this made some sense. I don’t thinks he’s a casanova type character but the flirting is present.

[mariacallous]

This summer, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn a cornerstone of administrative law known as "Chevron deference." Established in the 1984 case Chevron v. NRDC, this doctrine instructs courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of laws where the underlying statute is ambiguous (or even silent). Absent Chevron, Congress could be forced to be much more specific in how it crafts legislation, delegates authority, and conducts regulatory oversight. If it refuses to adapt, agencies could be incapacitated and service delivery could stall.

Ironically, the effort to dismantle Chevron and return responsibility to the legislative branch may happen amid a historically unproductive and divided Congress. Briefing and oral arguments for Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the case challenging the 1984 decision, raised questions about Congress' preparedness. And outside the Court, commentators fear Congress may be too broken to fix.

As close watchers of efforts to modernize Congress over the past decade, we don't share that pessimism. But a lot will have to change. In the 40 years since Chevron was decided, Congress has seen worsening dysfunction and atrophy. Staffing on House committees has shrunk by 41 percent. Critical support offices like the Congressional Research Service and the Government Accountability Office have downsized by more than 25 percent. Meanwhile, the complexity of the federal bureaucracy has increased immensely.

While Chevron is often described as diminishing congressional authority, that's not entirely accurate. Rather than stealing authority from Congress, the ruling created the political conditions for Congress to be deliberately ambiguous, and punt contentious policy details to the executive branch. This change was then followed by a hollowing out of committee expertise, increased dependence on lobbyists, centralization of power in leadership, and more gridlock. As attorney Paul Clement argued in Loper Bright v. Raimondo:

Chevron is a big factor in contributing to gridlock. And let me give you a concrete example. I would think that the uniquely 21st-century phenomenon of cryptocurrency would have been addressed by Congress, and I certainly would have thought that would have been true in the wake of the FTX debacle. But it hasn't happened. Why hasn't it happened? Because there's an agency head out there that thinks that he already has the authority to address this uniquely 21st-century problem with a couple of statutes passed in the 1930s.

A post-Chevron world could force Congress to increase its internal capacity, invest in expertise, overhaul its processes, better monitor implementation, and respond more quickly. If not, depending where SCOTUS comes down, things could start to break.

Massive institutional reforms in Congress are rare and usually come in response to a crisis or scandal, whether post-Nixon budget changes, post-Jack Abramoff lobbying reform, or post-9/11 security changes (including the embrace of email after Anthrax attacks).

More recently, we saw continuity upgrades accelerated during the pandemic, and Congress is now responding with remarkable haste to responsibly adopt AI tools. Since 2019, a bipartisan modernization effort in the House has produced and implemented over 100 reforms, creating a virtuous cycle in which members, staff, and outside experts work together to improve the institution.

Post-Chevron, these efforts need to be dramatically expanded. This will require not just incremental adjustments but a comprehensive upgrade in resources, staffing, and operations. It will require a major increase to the legislative branch's budget even as the U.S. faces a difficult fiscal outlook. Indeed, while Congress is a mere 0.1 percent of federal expenditures, it has long been a salient and politically expedient place for politicians to make cuts.

One key area where Congress will need to improve is its regulatory monitoring and oversight. AEI scholars Kevin Kosar and Philip Wallach proposed a vehicle for this change: a new "Congressional Regulation Office" (CRO). The CRO would undertake critical tasks such as conducting benefit-cost analyses of significant agency rules, performing retrospective reviews to assess the effectiveness and impact of existing regulations, and identifying redundancies or conflicts across the regulatory landscape. Another approach would be to build this function inside of an existing agency, such as the Government Accountability Office or the Congressional Budget Office.

In addition to building a new regulatory support function, Congress will need to bolster its staff capacity and technology resources, with a particular focus on committees with substantial regulatory jurisdiction, as well as support agencies.

Unfortunately, to date, we are unaware of any major hearings or other efforts in Congress to address this challenge. Meanwhile, court watchers see that an upheaval to Chevron is coming. Regardless of where you come down on the merits of the case, it's crucial to get ready. While most will be focused on the November election throughout 2024, some of the biggest changes coming to Congress may soon be decided by nine votes.

[salvadorbonaparte]

2024 in Films - Part I

I watched too many films again this year so here's some reviews from the first quarter of 2024

January

Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) - Pretty much the opposite college experience as depicted in 3 Idiots and also there's a scene where a child spontaneously converts to Islam to keep a wedding from happening and that works

Rocky (1976) - I got a little too into that series this year

The Karate Kid (1984) - Turns out the original is actually pretty good and I just watched the bad reboot as a kid! Oops!

Face/Off (1997) - This feels like it should be a fake film within a different film. Why is the face transplant plan A? There are some great scenes though, like the wife not recognising her husband, that made me question if this is actually a really deep exploration of identity. And then it got silly again.

Theater Camp (2023) - Almost makes me wish summer camps were real

Gone are the Days! (1963) - I watched this for Alan Alda's terrible high pitched southern accent but stayed for Ossie Davis infectious energy

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) - Manic Pixie Dream Girl Amnesia. Joke aside, why is it that I can't stand Jim Carrey in comedies but love him in dramas

Moonstruck (1987) - This won an Oscar????

February

That Touch of Mink (1962) - homophobia stops insider trading apparently

Carol (2015) - This probably would have given me a sexuality crisis in 2015

Ay Carmela (1990) - no scene in any film will portray the horror of the civil war and fascism as well as the half eaten dinner table in the abandoned house

Rope (1948) - people only focus on the gay subtext (which is real) but can we pleeaaase talk about the politics of the film

Catch-22 (1970) - did a pretty good job in adapting a book that is really difficult to adapt

Platoon (1986) - This was another entry in my grad school watch list

Pan's Labyrinth (2006) - I wanted to watch this since forever but wanted to wait until I could understand it in Spanish. Well worth the hype.

Rocky II (1979) - a sequel that initially made me go "was this really necessary" but then brought me a lot of joy

Rocky III (1982) - Intricate Rituals

Rocky IV (1985) - A metaphor for the Cold War but also. Bad.

Rocky V (1990) - Bad

Rocky Balboa (2006) - Better but like what the fuck was that editing during the fight

March

Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (2018) - I love when stand up comedy is recommended to me with "this will make you cry and change your life" and then it's true

The Holdovers (2023) - Liked it so much I watched it twice but the guy playing Kountze looked too modern like he definitely knows what an iPhone is

The Zone of Interest (2023) - the banality of evil is kind of a cliché phrase by now but it's real

American Fiction (2023) - clever satire, if I say more it probably turns into an essay

Capote (2005) - Rip Truman Capote you would have loved true crime podcasts. Also this was a continuation of my Philip Seymour Hoffman haunting

An American Werewolf in London (1981) - I love when a werewolf film doubles as survivors guilt

Poor Things (2023) - Horrible

Creed (2015) - Pretty much just Rocky but with a 2015 soundtrack and I'm not mad about it

A Fantastic Woman (2017) - a wrote a long ass review on letterboxd about this film is about loss

Creed II (2018) - As haunted as a sports movie is allowed to get before having to add real ghosts (please tell me there's sports films with ghosts). It's about "like father like son". It's about legacy. It's about being defined by your family names. It's about fatherhood. It's about breaking the cycle.

Creed III (2023) - Finally a film that asks the brave question "what if Rocky V was good?"

Dune (1984) - I liked the worms

The Joel Files (2001) - the story of two families in the third reich and one of them happened to be Billy Joel's

Oppenheimer (2023) - Would have made me insufferable during my teenage physics phase

Shiva Baby (2020) - a film that's also an anxiety attack

Searching for Sugar Man (2012) - insane!!!

Menashe (2017) - first Yiddish film I ever watched

Fruitvale Station (2013) - haunted

I, Tonya (2017) - a film keenly aware of the unreliability and subjectivity of both interviews and biopics, this is a sports biopic but also a moving story about the human need for love and the cycle of abuse and it's also damn funny.

Nosferatu (1922) - both scarier and more boring than the novel and also uniquely blood libel flavoured

Mädchen in Uniform (1931) - people were right this is gay

Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) - Lovecraftian horror for cottagecore lesbians

I do not care if we go down in history as barbarians (2018) - history repeats itself, first as a tragedy then as a farce

La Haine (1995) - I watched this because of my professor :)

A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Philip Seymour Hoffman Haunting Continuation

Ödipussi (1988) - "Mommy calls me Pussi" is an actual quote

13 Little Donkeys and the Sun Court (1958) - Yeehaw???

[mswyrr]

"The Terminator" (1984)

Now that it's 2024, this film is 40 years old (!!!). I thought I'd finally sit down and give it a proper viewing (instead of the bits and pieces I've caught of it over the years) and it holds up very well.

Assorted thoughts:

-It's way more of a Horror movie than I'd expected. I knew Sarah Connor as a kid in her T2 Badass form (and from "Sarah Connor Chronicles"). It's neat to see her begin her journey as a Final Girl

-The deliberate pacing was also unexpected - but rewarding. Cameron does a great job building tension and weaving the deepening understanding of what's going on into that. Starting off a police detective plot only to have the detectives die like punks within minutes of coming up against the Terminator? Great subversion of genre tropes that were popular at the time and very effective in raising the stakes.

-THE ROMANCE. oh. delightful. it unfolds in such a way that you see an entirely new side of Reese - first, learning his first name is Kyle and then his deeper truth, who he is as a person that feels rather than a soldier who exists to kill machines.

-huge kudos to the actor playing kyle as he exposes his vulnerability - "i love you. i always have." and you can see the shifts between the hardened soldier he's had to be and what he's kept of his softness and how much she means to that side of him. the chemistry works v well.

-him being a virgin sort of -- consecrated by fate to love her? carrying her photograph with him. (the photograph where he noticed and felt connected to her 'sadness' - not realizing that, in the moment it will be taken, she is sad over his loss). choosing to go back. makes her side of the 'fated to have a kid together' thing less uneven?? kyle is fate's bitch even more than she is. i thought i'd be bothered by how she's destined to be the mom of an important man. but the way kyle is handled makes it work for me. he carries the tragedy deep in his heart and dies gladly for her and their child, not even knowing the truth about john. gorgeous!

i can see why people point to the sex scene here as an example of one that is beautifully in character and specific and INCREDIBLY PLOT RELEVANT lol like, it's absurd that people say sex shouldn't be in movies because it's "not relevant to the plot" but this is the single most plot relevant sex scene ever loll

i really liked:

-repeated shots of their hands gripping tightly -the way kyle is just drinking her in, in awe of her and this moment -linda hamilton's earthy/sincere performance of female desire and sarah working toward orgasm -the final time their hands grip each other tightly - and then the slow release of their fingers and the way the editor chose to have their hands letting go be a fade to black…. poignant, given what's going to happen 😭

"in the few hours that we had together, we loved a lifetime's worth" - love that quote and everything coming together in the end, as you see how the photograph was taken. lovely tragic romance!

[odinsblog]

And this really is a case about the power of government agencies

The Chevron doctrine, it arises from a case, Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council, from 1984. And the idea behind the Chevron doctrine is that courts should defer to a federal agency's interpretation of a federal law that it administers as long as that interpretation is reasonable. So even if a court might look at the statute and come to a different conclusion, as long as the agency's interpretation is reasonable, courts should defer to it.

So there are two steps. First, the courts determine whether or not the statute is ambiguous. And if it is ambiguous, then the courts defer to the agency's interpretation.

And the idea is that when Congress writes a law, it may not think of all of the details. It may not have the expertise that a federal agency has. And so that the federal agency can fill in the gaps when it is interpreting the law.

And the Chevron Doctrine has had sort of a target on its back for some time now with conservative lawyers, conservative law professors, who believe that there shouldn't be a deference to any agency's interpretation of the law. That Congress's job is to write the laws, and then it's the job of courts to say what they mean. And so the Supreme Court has had several requests over the last few years to reconsider the Chevron Doctrine, and it turned those down until last year, when it agreed to take up a pair of cases challenging a regulation issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service that requires a fishing boat to pay for the costs of having an observer come on board and stay on board to monitor the boat's compliance with fishery regulations to make sure that they are not overfishing.

So basically, this would shift power, right from agencies to basically to Congress and judges.

With the caveat that because Congress is having a hard time doing much of everything, what it really does is shift power directly to courts. And as I said, I think it is of a piece with this broader theme that the court, this present court has come up with. We have things like the Major Questions Doctrine, which is a doctrine that sort of doesn't have roots in the Constitution, doesn't even have a long history as an interpretive issue, but the court has been invoking it in recent years, again, to do the same thing, which is to say Congress has to be incredibly, incredibly, incredibly, incredibly specific in laying out how a statute is gonna do what it does.

And if it fails to be specific, then it's not a good statute. And we've seen a whole bunch of things. In the very recent past, we've seen the court hobble the EPA's ability to do what it wants to do, invoking the Major Questions Doctrine.

It's another version of the Chevron deference, which is a claim by the court that if Congress wants to do something, it has to do something so, so specifically that there's no ambiguity. And as Chevron does, Chevron suggests that if there is ambiguity in a statute, then you go ahead and you defer to the agency itself, presumably with all its expertise and its scientists and its understanding of how we go about regulating. This is an effort to say, nope, that's not good enough either.

And so what it really effectively does, whether under the guise of Chevron deference or the major questions doctrine, is it spikes authority either back to Congress to fix regulations, or as we're seeing happen in real time, it simply spikes authority right back to the courts. And it arrogates to the courts the power to decide all sorts of public health questions. Last year, the court started to decide what Swampland was under the Clean Water Act, what emissions are under the EPA regulations, what health protections are under COVID.

And so it's really a massive arrogation to the court to do a whole bunch of things that at least some critics say the court doesn't have the kind of technical expertise to do.

And I think that you do have a feeling coming again from some of the justices, that school boards don't know what they're doing, that entities that give out gun licenses don't know what they're doing, that the justice department is all in the tank for Joe Biden and against Donald Trump. So at every single level of government, you're hearing the court raising questions. Last two weeks ago, it was ATF and bump stocks, right?

And I think one of the things that's been so destabilizing to this particular court, in addition to the ethics claims and the claims that it's off the rails in terms of personal conduct of some jurists, is that when you are overturning precedent willy-nilly, as they did in Dobbs, as they did in Brew in the Gun case, as they've been doing in case after case, the American public, separate and apart from the idea that the justices, some of them are unethical, start to have real doubts about whether this court is just a political branch that changes its mind based on political composition. And that's the worst possible outcome for the court. And yet I think that separate and apart from judicial conduct, we are in a deep, deep moment of doubt about the court as anything other than what looks like now to be a political branch that's just kind of changing the law as it goes along.

—The Dangerous Impact of This Supreme Court’s Decisions

[danthepest]

So with the Metal Gear Collection out now (of debatable quality), I figured I'd make a short, handy list of the chronological order of these games, and a short summary of what they're about. I'll try to be as vague and spoiler free as possible.

1 - Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater - Takes place in 1964 during the Cold War. CIA operative and FOX unit member Naked Snake is sent to Russia and has to survive the jungle (don't ask, just roll with it) to stop the development and deployment of a new kind of ultimate weapon, the Shagohod. Things are not what they seem and the political machinations of both the United States of America and Russia will have severe repercussions for the rest of the series. Most of all, it will affect Naked Snake and his legacy.

2 - Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops - Takes place in 1970. FOX has seemingly gone rogue and started a revolt in San Hieronymo. Naked Snake begins to build his own resistance with the help of Roy Campbell. (The game is only available for PSP and while it was touted as a "missing link" between Snake Eater and Metal Gear 1, it hasn't been mentioned or referenced since. Easily skippable.)

3 - Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker - Takes place in 1974 in Costa Rica. Naked Snake and Kazuhira Miller begin building their private military company Militaires Sans Frontières. As they uncover the truth behind the strife in Costa Rica, Snake's past during the Snake Eater incident comes back to haunt him. (Originally a PSP game, it was included in the PS3 HD collection. This was also billed as a "missing link". Up to you if agree. Definitely need to play this to understand the next game.)

4 - Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes - Takes place in 1975. After the Peace Walker Incident, one of MSF's own people goes to Cuba on a failed rescue mission and Naked Snake goes in alone to retrieve his man and the person he came to rescue. Serves as an epilogue to Peace Walker and a prologue to the next game.

5 - Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain - Takes place in 1984, primarily in Afghanistan. Ten years after what happens in Ground Zeroes, Naked Snake is rechristened Venom Snake and is rebuilding his forces with Miller, naming themselves Diamond Dogs. They prepare to strike back at the organization that has been targeting them for the last 10 years. A startling truth is revealed and strong alliances shatter.

6 - Metal Gear - Takes place in 1995. FOXHOUND unit rookie, Solid Snake is sent into the fortified state, Outer Heaven, to rescue FOXHOUND veteran Gray Fox and discover the secret behind Outer Heaven's nuclear weapon, the Metal Gear, and the identity of its leader.

7 - Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake - Takes place in 1999. Dr. Kio Marv has bio-engineered a new fuel and energy source that would reduce the consumption of oil. Military forces belonging to Zanzibar Land kidnap the doctor, intending to control the world's oil supply and hold the world hostage as well as stockpiling nuclear weapons. New FOXHOUND commander Roy Campbell forces Solid Snake out of retirement to infiltrate Zanzibar Land and rescue Dr. Kio Marv. Solid Snake is forced to face those he once considered friends and mentors.

8 - Metal Gear Solid - Takes place in 2005. FOXHOUND rebels against the US government and takes over the Alaskan island Shadow Moses, which contains a nuclear weapons disposal facility. Among their demands is the body of Big Boss who is considered the greatest soldier that ever lived. They wish to use his genes to create an army of super soldiers. At the behest of the Secretary of Defense, Roy Campbell once again has to ask Solid Snake out of retirement for one last solo mission. Solid Snake is forced to confront who he is, where he came from and what it is he's fighting for.

9 - Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty - Takes place in 2007 and 2009. In 2007, the anti-terrorist organization Philanthropy learns that a new Metal Gear is being transported through the Hudson river and attempt to stop it. They are thwarted by Russian mercenaries and the tanker is blown up as they get away with said Metal Gear.

In 2009, FOXHOUND operative Raiden is sent to infiltrate the Big Shell, a large decontamination facility that has been taken over by a terrorist faction calling themselves the Sons of Liberty. Raiden must neutralize the threat and save the hostages. However, Raiden will soon learn of a conspiracy that dates back to even before the Cold War and begin to question his own existence.

10 - Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots - Takes place in 2014. War has changed. War has become a commodity and has created what is known as the War Economy. Old Snake is tasked with putting a stop to the madness as well as put an end to a personal war that started as far back as 1964. (So far, this is exclusively a PS3 title, but there is hope that it will be released for PC in a further Metal Gear Collection)

11 - Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance - Takes place in 2018. Raiden has made peace with his lot in life and is trying to support his family by working as a military trainer and VIP bodyguard among other things. While protecting a VIP, Raiden is ambushed and utterly defeated by a cyborg that is part of a larger organization. Raiden begins his quest of vengeance and will finally see if he can put his past behind him.

And there you have it! Dunno really what prompted me to do this, but hey, maybe someone out there will find this helpful or interesting or intriguing or whatever.

[fascinationstreetmp3]

in the mgsv script, there’s a note before each of ocelot’s tapes to the real big boss (except one of them, “The War Economy”, but the JP title of the tape in the script says it relates to events in 1984) that you get after unlocking the truth ending, and some of them help you infer the timeframe that they were recorded in

★ Report to Big Boss: Cipher's Information Control — Report from Ocelot to the real Snake. Considered to be around the time of Skull Face's death.

this (to me) would mean that by the time (or in the period just after) skull face is killed in 1984, ocelot is fully aware that venom is a body double, and is actively contact with/reporting things back to the real big boss.

(putting the rest under a read more because it got a little long)

★ Report to Big Boss: Zero Has Been Attacked [1] — Zero was angered by Skull Face's attempt to kill Snake in GZ, and demoted him to working in Africa. There, Skull Face was "reunited" with the parasites (which are the reason he's still alive). He uses the parasites to critically injure Zero. This happens while Snake and the avatar Snake are in their comas; Ocelot had been keeping track of events for Snake so he could be updated whenever he did wake up. […] Immediately after Skull Face sent the parasite to Zero.

another note says zero was attacked in 1976. in this recording, ocelot mentions zero had a blackout in new york triggered in order to hide his movements as he was transferred to a different location. this blackout is based on a real-life occurrence that happened on july 13th 1977, so the tape would’ve been recorded after that date.

★ Report to Big Boss: Zero Has Been Attacked [2] — Sigint takes charge of the Patriots. There is no one left to protect Big Boss. Decision-making is then handed to the AI.

zero’s final visit to snake is also in 1977, so i’d assume this message was recorded in the same year too. since zero had fully succumbed to his illness and disappeared completely, and sigint wasn’t actively involved in the project, this is when ocelot would’ve also fully and completely taken over his role in looking after snake and the phantom.

★ "Les Enfants Terribles" — Ocelot was in contact with the real Snake while he was involved with Diamond Dogs.

this one isn’t listed as a report, but i find the note interesting, because i assumed it was another of their hospital conversations (which it technically could be?). but the wording of “involved with diamond dogs” makes it sound like it’s after they first parted ways, when ocelot is actively working with venom.

based on the dialogue, it’s either before pinpointing eli’s location, or just after they figured out exactly where he is and he’s withholding that particular detail from snake. the latter feels less likely, just because snake seems exempt from ocelot’s various deceptions, but in the end who knows.

if the conversation did happen while he was working with v, ocelot would have to be aware of the real big boss’ existence at that time too (so even before killing skull face). BUT another thing is that these notes also might not be 100% canon or accurate to the finished version of the game in the first place

[smashbrosodyssey64]

FIGHTING GAME TIMELINE 2024

Fighting game timeline

(Note: This runs concurrently with the Assassin's Creed timeline)

https://assassinscreed.fandom.com/wiki/Timeline

November 30 1524, Ezio Auditore passes away

1583- Events of Soul Blade, Sophitia and Taki def Cervantes

1586- Events of Soul Calibur 1 Kilik/Xiangua def Seigfried 

1590: Soul Calibur II,  Raphael destroys Soul Edge’s Core, Siegfried finishes the job

1590-1591: Events of Soul Calibur III/IV: Mitsurugi’s endings are canon

1608- Soul Calibur V. Ezio Auditore escapes Brawlhalla to participate, is apprehended by Valkieries

Here is the official timeline taken from the official Samurai Shodown V website. All the series' chronology takes place during the Edo period and considering the seasons of Northern Hemisphere:

Year/Period

Japanese Era

Game

1786 (January through late summer)

Tenmei Era (6th Year)

Samurai Shodown V

1787

Tenmei Era (7th Year)

Samurai Shodown (2019)

1788 (early spring through early summer)

Tenmei Era (8th Year)

Samurai Shodown I

1788 (summer through early autumn)

Tenmei Era (8th Year)

Samurai Shodown III

1788 (autumn through early winter)

Tenmei Era (8th Year)

Samurai Shodown IV

1789 (spring through summer)

Tenmei Era (9th Year)

Samurai Shodown II

1789 (autumn) through 1790 (summer)

Tenmei Era (9th Year) and Kansei Era (1st Year)

Samurai Shodown 64

1789 (mid-autumn)

Tenmei Era (9th Year)

Samurai Shodown V Special & Samurai Shodown V Perfect (non-canon entries)

1790 (late autumn through winter)

Kansei Era (1st Year)

Samurai Shodown 64: Warriors Rage

1791

Kansei Era (2nd Year)

Samurai Shodown Sen

1799 (new century start)

Kansei Era (10th Year)

Samurai Shodown VI (non-canon entry)

1811

Bunka Era (7th Year)

Samurai Shodown: Warriors Rage

1863- Events of The Last Blade

1864: Events of The Last Blade II

1957-Kazuya Mishima is born

1957-1961- Kazumi asks Akuma to kill Kazuya and Heihachi

1962- Hehachi kills Kazumi, imprison Jinpachi, throws Kazuya off cliff

1983: First King of Iron Fist Tournament happens: Kazuya def Heihachi

December 1984: King of Iron Fist Tournament II happens: Heihachi def Kazuya

August 5, 1985- Jin Kazama is born

1987- Ryu and Ken witness murder of Gouken by Akuma

1987: First Street Fighter Tournament happens, Ryu def Sagat

1987: Doctor Brown Sugar uses his time machine to host the World Heroes series over the course of the year. Shadaloo uses the machine as a basis for the Psycho Drive. Unknowingly, this cracks the space time continum

1988- Street Fighter Alpha tournaments occur, death of Charlie Nash, Destruction of Psycho Drive fractures space time continuum . Marvel universe bleeds into universe, Marvel fracture is repaired, the events of Taisen Net Gimmick occur. Ken Masters becomes champion of Darkstalkers rights, is unsuccessful

1991: Street Fighter II tournaments occur. The following video games are created

Pocket Fighter

Capcom vs SNK pocket fighter

Puzzle Fighter

1991-  Ryu is sent to the following  universes

Family Guy vs. American Dad

Fortnite

Capcom Fighting Evolution

IDARB

Varth

Battle Cats

Summoners War

Rockman x Dive

1992: Street Fighter EX tournaments occur

Summer 1992: The events of Ninja Gaiden Black/Sigma/Sigma Plus take Place

Winter 1992: The events of Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword take place

1993: Terry Bogard successfully defeats Geese, knocking him off his tower and presumably killing him

Summer 1993: The events of the Ninja Gaiden Dragon War Manga take place

1993: Ryo Sakazaki is successful in stopping Mr. Big, rescuing Yuri, and Takumi 

1993: SIN tournament occurs  Marvel and Capcom universes are merged once again due to portals, angering Galactus. An unknown trio defeat galactus

January 1993:

Q3 1993- Virtua Fighter/DOA 1 tournaments begin concurrently. Lau and Kasumi win respectively (Tina is the official winner of DOA won)

 1994: Ryu is sent to the following worlds

Asura’s Wrath: Yokozuna vs Street Fighter

Street Fighter Duel

Teppen:

Granblue Fantasy

Street Fighter the mouse generation 

3D Dot Game Heroes

Tatsunoko vs Capcom

Winter 1993: The events of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite take place

1994: Ryu is drafted into Super Smash Brothers, interconnecting Capcom, SNK,Virtua Fighter, Ninja Gaiden/DOA,  Namco, and Akira characters with the Nintendo verse

August 1994: First KoF tournament takes place,  Team Japan defeats Rugal

1994: Ken Chun-Li, and Terry are plucked from the dimension to Join super Smash Brothers

Q3 1994: Virtua Fighter and DOA tournaments happen concurrently, Ryu Hayabusa/Akira Yuki win respectively

1995:

July 1995- KoF 1995 occurs Team Japan defeats Rugal

Q3 1995: Virtua Fighter 3  and Dead or Alive 3 happen concurrently, Kage and Ayane win respectively

Q4: 1995- Xtreme Beach Volleyball takes place on Zack Island

December 1995- Black Moons incident occurs, death of M.Bison, Shadaloo dissolves

Ryu is sent to the following universes

Shadowverse

Blood Brothers II

Fist of the Northstar

KoF Ultra

MTG

Minecraft

Power Rangers Battle for the Grid

7 Nights

1996:

“World Warrior Tournament: A New Generation” begins

July-August 1996: King of Fighters 1996 begins: Team Japan defeats Chizuru and Goenitz. Chizuru attempts to form Team Sacred Treasures, is unsuccessful

Q3 1996: Virtua Fighter 4 and Dead or Alive 4 tournaments happen concurrently, Kage and Zack win, although Zack’s title was given to him by Helena

Q4 1996: DOATech absorbs J6 Corp bringing an end to the Virtua Fighter tournament. The second Xtreme Beach Volleyball Tournament takes place on the second Zack Isand

1997: “World Warrior Tournament: Second Impact” begins

July 1997 King of Fighters 1997 begins: Team Sacred Treasures seals Orochi, Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami are  presumed dead

1998: “World Warrior Tournament: 3rd Strike begins, Gil is defeated, Secret Society is dissolved

King of Fighters 1998 is cancelled

1998: Wolf Hawkfield and Jeffery McWild join All Japan Pro Wrestling for the year as guests, participating in that year’s championship Carnival as singles competitors and Real World Tag League as a team

1998: The events of Ninja Gaiden III Razor’s Edge take place

1999: King of Fighters 1999 tournament begins Team K’ wins tournament

July 2000: King of Fighters 2000 tournament begins  Team Hero wins SouthTown is destroyed by Zero Laser

Q3 2000- Dead or Alive 5 tournament takes place: Jahn Lee wins but disappears before being crowned

Q4 2000: The third Xtreme Beach Volleyball Tournament takes place

2001: King of Fighters 2001 begins, Team Hero wins

Capcom vs SNK 2: Mark of the Millennium 2001 begins: Ryu wins, defeating Terry

Q3 2001: Dead of Alive 6 Tournament takes place, Jahn Lee wins

Q4 2001: The fourth Xtreme Beach Volleyball Tournament begins

2002: King of Fighters 2002 Ultimate Match begins Team Japan wins, defeating team K’

2003: King of Fighters 2003 tournament: Team Ash wins

2003: SvC Chaos occurs: Ryu wins

2004: King of Iron Fist Tournament 3 begins: Jin Kazama wins

2005: King of Fighters 11 takes place: Team Ash wins

January 2006: King of Iron Fist Tournament 4 completes: Jin wins

April 2006: King of Iron Fist Tournament 5 begins: Jin wins

December 2006:Pandora releases Pandora’s Box onto the world, reviving M.Bison and setting into motion the events of Street Fighter x Tekken. Asuka and Lili find the box first, falling into the deepest recesses of th  North Pole as result

December 2006  World War 3 breaks out, interrupting King of Fighters 12. January 2007: Jin Kazama is deposed by Lars Alexanderson and Eliza Boschonovich ending the world war

June 2007: Jin Kazama is located the events of Tekken 7 story mode play out. Jin is pulled into Super Smash Brothers dimension from here

December 2007: King of Fighters 13 begins Team Ash wins Ash defeats Saiki

December 2007: Events of Tekken 8 take place

2009: Doctor Light spearheads rebuilding efforts, causing Barack Obama to put him on the currency. The events of Marvel vs. Capcom Infinite take place, the infinity gems are used to finally right the timeline 

December 2008: The events of KOF 14 take place, Samurai Showdown characters are transported to this time via Doctor Brown Sugar

December 2009: The events of KOF 15 take place. Samurai Showdown characters are transported to this time via Doctor Brown Sugar

2024: the events of Street Fighter 6 take place

20XX: The events of Mega Man take place. At some point, Ryu teaches Doctor Light Hadoken and Shoryuken techniques

2048: The events of Strider take place

2099: The events of Cyberbots Full Metal Madness take place

2XXX: The events of the  Megaman X series takes place

2348: The events of Star Gladiator takes place

56XX: The events of the Megaman Legends series take place

XXXX: The events of Megaman X Zero take place

[killed-by-choice]

Sara Lint, 22 (USA 1970)

The year was 1970. Roe v. Wade hadn’t happened yet, but California had already legalized abortion. People were already dying from fully legal abortion in America and Sara Lint was one of them.

22-year-old Sara Lint was a Californian. She underwent a legal abortion on August 11, 1970 at San Vicente Hospital in Los Angeles. Back then, abortions in California were typically done in hospitals, but abortion facilities seeking profit sometimes licensed themselves as if they were legitimate hospitals even though they only existed for abortion and not medical care.

The type of abortion conducted was a hysterotomy, which was somewhat similar to a C-section except that it was designed to result in death. It was a type of abortion with an especially high known maternal mortality rate. Despite this, American abortionists frequently used this method for legal abortions in the 1970s.

Sara was there for an hour before she was finally transferred to an actual hospital designed to provide health care called Midway Hospital down the street, where she died at 4:57 AM on August 12.

Sara’s autopsy found yellow fluid in her heart and frothy tan fluid in her lungs. The dead body of her unborn son was still in her uterus.

San Vicente was where at least four other pregnant people underwent their fatal abortions: 16-year-old Natalie Meyers (1972), Mary Pena (1984), 17-year-old Laniece Dorsey (1986) and Joyce Ortenzio (1988). At some point San Vicente was bought by Family Planning Associates, a massive chain of abortion facilities with a long history of dead clients.

Abortion may have been fully legal in California, but it would never be truly safe.

LA County Coroner Report Case No. 70-8468

LA County Superior Court Case No. C857

[isfjmel-phleg]

Timeline of The Ray (1992 and 1994)

Because there actually is a mostly coherent timeline there! In a story that covers multiple generations and some time-travel shenanigans, keeping track of the chronology of events was an evident concern for the writers. There were maybe a few discrepancies, but I have chosen to ignore/adjust them.

The 1992 series is set that year, but the 1994 series moves the action down a couple of years to keep it in the immediate present, and since that retconned timeline is the longer-standing and more developed one, my conjectured timeline will adhere to that one.

1921 - One of the Terrill brothers is born (This is the birthdate on Thomas’s grave, but he died impersonating Happy and is buried as “H. Terrill,” so it’s unclear whose birthdate this really is. Happy was definitely born sometime between 1915 and 1924, because shortly after meeting him in 1994, Ray speculates that his father would be in his seventies if still alive. And his birthday is March 28, according to a DC calendar from the 1970s.)

December 7, 1941 - Happy goes up in a balloon for a news story and comes back down with light-based powers, Ray time-travels and gets involved

1941-1945 - Happy as The Ray uses his powers for the war effort

circa 1945 - Happy marries Gayle

February 1946 - Joshua Terrill is born (about nine months after V-E Day)

1950 - Happy learns that his powers were not the result of a freak accident but part of an experiment

1950-1954 - Happy works with the Freedom Fighters

circa 1952 - Nadine is born

February 1954 - Joshua’s eighth birthday, death of Gayle (assuming it actually happened), Joshua is put in cryogenic stasis, Happy goes into retirement

circa 1974 - Happy meets and marries Nadine

July 14, 1976 - Raymond C. Terrill is born and given into the custody of Thomas Terrill

July 14, 1982 - Ray is given a bat and baseball for his sixth birthday and risks going outdoors at dawn to play with them after they get given away

July 14, 1984 - eight-year-old Ray has a flare-up of his powers after being accidentally exposed to a camera flash at his birthday party

1989 - thirteen-year-old Ray attempts to run away and is sent back home by a disguised Happy

circa spring 1993 - Ray gets a rare opportunity to leave the house to attend junior prom as Jennifer Jurden’s date

circa May or June 1994 - Thomas Terrill dies, eighteen-year-old Ray learns that he has light-based powers and his real father was The Ray

summer/early autumn 1994 - Ray joins the JLA

October 1994 - Ray moves into an apartment, creates Death Masque, communicates with the Light Entity, and learns that his mother is still alive

circa autumn 1994 - Zero Hour event

October 1994-May 1995 - Ray works primarily with the Justice League Task Force

early May 1995 - Ray does some accidental time traveling, has a short-lived romantic relationship with Dinah Lance, and Death Masque takes Happy captive and assumes his identity

May 13, 1995 - Ray saves an airplane from crashing but can’t save every passenger, Jennifer Jurden turns down his proposal

mid- to late May 1995 - Death Masque rises to power, Ray quits the Task Force and begins working for Vandal Savage

autumn 1995 - Joshua escapes from the cryogenic chamber, Ray starts visiting his mother while claiming to be her nephew 

October-December 1995 - Ray goes to space to help the Task Force with a mission

December 25, 1995 - Joshua is found by a couple who help him trace Ray in Philadelphia

December 1995-January 1996 - Ray meets Joshua, defeats Death Masque, and is reunited with his mother after she learns who he really is

autumn 2016 - in a dark possible future, forty-year-old Ray has gone evil and is killed by one of his many enemies, and his girlfriend Gaelon time-travels back to 1995/6 to avert this

[sir-yeehaw-paws]

Kaz and Ocelot: Truth Ending Convo

We have no distinct timeline for this BUT there’s a few clues. Enough clues that can maybe contribute to theories.

Background noise: I had to cut it out, but after Kaz says ‘coexisting’ he gets up, his chair scrapes on a floor and he walks away. This is a similar sound backdrop used in other tapes, so I assume they’re on the Mother Base we’re familiar with.

Next, we have dialogue like this:

Ocelot says ‘create’ here not ‘made’ meaning that Outer Heaven is still in progress. Thus, pre-90′s.

“Until it’s complete” Again, Ocelot is using implication and wording that suggests they’re currently on Mother Base, with Venom; and that Outer Heaven isn’t ready yet. So right now, he and Kaz are to sit tight and behave, essentially.

Venom is still alive here.

In this series, this game, ‘nine years ago’ is very distinctly used to refer to the death of the MSF in Cipher’s attack. Kaz saying nine years ago heavily implies if not confirms that this is 1984.

Generally speaking, people don’t talk like that about adults already in their ‘age’ to me this implies again, that David and Eli are still children. Aka 84-the games present day (where they’re 12)

Again, Ocelot is using present-tense to describe V and Big Boss. Both must therefore be alive, and he is describing ‘things yet to come’.

This part is where I would get thrown off. The wording here implies this could be anytime between 1984-1995. However, given previous lines-I’m still going to assume it’s 1984.

By the 90′s. Cipher was no longer in Zero’s control, and was mostly being known as the Patriots. There was also little chance of Kaz ‘going back to them’ but I can’t see a later Ocelot 1. Having that concern and 2. Calling Cipher ‘Cipher’ anymore. Unless of course, this is again, 84.

Of course, what does end up happening is Kaz ends up in Foxhound, and Ocelot later does aid Liquid-but not b/c Kaz is working with the Patriots *as far as I know someone can correct me on this one*.

This is an odd thing to say unless you are currently working with or in close proximity with another person. And we know again, in the 90′s this largely isn’t the case. Kaz and Ocelot aren’t on the same base anymore.  I know we’ll never have an answer for when exactly IN 1984 this takes place, but we can probably say with somewhat decent certainty that this conversation happens at some point in the same year the game takes place. 84. And most likely on Mother Base itself, given the background noise.

[milkissblog]

hey everybody!!

thats a weird ass way to start a diary entry. i can't have a diary because my mom is a little invasive and will for sure read it. theres also this weird little clown pop up on my screen? anyway.

id love love loveee love lvoe more than anything to have a diary. i could paste my little doodles in it like flower petals. and put all of my stickers and pretty slices of papers inside. theres a dog squeaking outside. i don't think dogs should be making that noise. i hope the little guy is ok.

anyway, that was so very off topic. what i was trying to say is that this little blag of mine is sposed to be my surrogate diary. i have this issue online (and even in writing) where i over-perceive myself ("perceive" is a pretty-sounding word. so is sieve.) and my online presence bc its so customizable and because im so disconnected from my sense of self. im a people pleaser even when im writing in a private little diary cause im always thinking, my mom is going to read it, how will this sound to my mom when she reads it, oh god my mom, my mom, my mom (and, to a lesser extent, other people). i hate it. i feel prickled and trapped and smothered sometimes, but dear god i love my mom more than anything. but still, sometimes i feel like im in 1984 and shes reading my thoughts as well as my texts before i can delete them. but also, she pays for me to exist -its a mixed bag with high highs and low lows.

im really hoping that the self-perception thing doesn't happen this time. i hope i can have a better self-concept and be a better person. ive wasted maybe 2 years (i don't want to say that ☹︎) on being rock bottom unhappy, on being filled with hatred for myself, on dreading my own body and face, on corroding and ruminating for too long, until i found myself incapable of loving and v isolated feeling. its an awful way to exist because you deny yourself and other people so much beauty, and because it hampers your ability to really love and be there for other people. i wanna talk about that more (and i spose i can here)

-partially my sadness was/is cause im lesbian and m being raised catholic. ive got a lot of issues to work thorugh hahahaha. or, should i say, teeheeheehee. (LEGALIZE SAYING TEEHEEHEE!!! PEOPLE R SO MEAN AND THEY SPIT ON ME WHEN I WRITE "TEEHEEHEE" INSTEAD OF HAHAHA)

dear god this is very stream of consciousness. well, anyway. i'm not writing it to be read (or at least trying NOT to write it to be read). im writing it to communicate with myself. thats not working very well, i just read through the whole thing again.

i hope this gives me a sense of purity (not like weird sex/virginity stuff, but mental purity, like pure love or pure salt or pure vinegar, with no issues, just clear and soft and good) and of self, like prayer. id probably believe in god without the church and them being mean to lesbians and girls and non catholics and so many other ppl and whatnot bc i love to think that love inhabits everything and i sincerely deeply in my little heart of hearts think it does. i think i might believe in god??? i don't know. i am trying my best pookies.

im a girlblogger cause im a girl!! also im sincerely really trying to be okay and happy. and maybe be buddhist? i got this lovely slim little book by a buddhist monk thich nhat hanh called "true love" and i want that. i want to be a good kind person to myself and everybody else. as karissa love (she is my comfort youtuber and i adore her v much) puts it, i want to radiate love. that sounds a little crazy but perchance i am a little crazy.

perchance.

also, darn it, i cursed. ive decided im sposed to not curse, so that when i do people are very shocked like "wow omg she said f*ck??? she never says f*ck!!!" and think its a big deal and everything. i could also swear tons so ppl think im tough, but i don't want to scare anynody and i curse like a toddler bc im so out of practice. oh well.

anyway thats the first entry! hello world!! i hope im ok and that this helps me.

mwah

[pacinosgf]

     the   night   it   happened ?   i wasn’t even supposed to be there . . .

  i. born on november 1st 1957, ahreum and her parents moved to hawkins, indiana - usa when she was a baby. though she lived in hawkins for all of her life, ahreum didn’t have any friends for most of her time there. maybe she simply was an outcast, maybe the fact she was from one of the few asian families who lived in town and her parents barely spoke english had something to do it, but she was overall a loner, and she recalls planning to leave the town ever since childhood.

i. i. ahreum is a scorpio sun, leo rising, gemini moon (scorpio mercury and venus). a vegetarian since she was 13, but she still eats fish. oldest sister to a boy and a girl, with an age gap of 9 and 11 years between them. decent relationship with her family, it becomes more loving and warm as she ages, though their communication after she leaves hawkins mainly happens through letters and calls.

 ii. on the day of october 31st 1983, ahreum spends her night enjoying the special horror features at the local movie theater. watching horror movies on her birthday’s eve, which also happens to be halloween, is a tradition, and she has even celebrated and thrown her birthday parties on the 31st in some years. as her sweet sixteen peeks around the corner and the teenage angst seems to have no end, she makes her way back home when she finds a bloody nancy wheeler in the middle of the street, claiming a maniac had just killed her best friend, barbara holland.

ii. i. the rest of the night goes by as a blur she doesn’t dare to tell anyone besides nancy after that, a blur that comes back to her by flashes. born on the seventh minute of the day, ahreum oficially turned sixteen while fighting for her and nancy’s life. as a gift she'd never be able to forget, michael myers leaves her with a huge scar on her back which hinders her locomotion. for the rest of her life, she’ll need a cane to be able to move, though she will only start using it as she grow older. the huge mental toll goes without saying.

ii. ii. her parents try to celebrate her birthday on the day supposed to be her hospital discharge: she instantly suffers from a hysterical fit and is put on observation for a few more days.

 iii. she spends 1984 and 1985 between maniac phases, indulging and priving herself. ahreum barely remembers anything about those years, and the only thing that kept her grounded was having someone around who could understand what she was going through: nancy. that’s the year she starts smoking and drinking.

 iv. going to college had never been an option, and after what she had been through, her parents couldn’t bring themselves to say no to her. as soon as she graduated, ahreum bought an one-way ticket to new mexico, the cheapest avaliable. she moved to oregon after two years working as a cleaner (the same job her mother had), and finally moved to new york a year after moving to oregon. she arrived there with her girlfriend at the time, not going back to hawkins even once and trying to write to nancy and her family as much as she could. she visited nancy in boston sometimes at the time.

 v. none of her relationships worked out: ahreum wasn’t the type to open up. telling about the 1983 halloween seemed pointless, and she watched women come and go by in her life. after a especially tough break-up, she decides to go back home for a while, where she knew she’d be cared for and could mentally drift away for some time. she is surprised by the disappearance of will byers, and as the byers and the yang families were close (outcast recognizes outcast), she was quickly absorbed by her surroundings. when she went back to new york, will byers was still presumed dead. that was a point in her life when ahreum barely spoke to nancy, too overwhelmed to even care for herself. she wrote a long letter to her old friend as soon as she established herself back at home; a long and incoherent letter, but her way to say i’m still here.

 vi. by 1991, she has been working on the same blockbuster for quite a time now, no interest to change her life. she could have had been reckless before, but the only thing ahreum wants to do now is settling down in her own way: isolating herself in the big city. some people recognize her, but she manages to live quietly.

 vii. she moves to nevada with her wife, a former blockbuster regular, mary. though their relationship starts out well, ahreum quickly and involuntarily grows cold and distant. after two years of marriage and four of relationship, she returns to new york alone on 1999, and set on staying that way.

                                                   [ . . .]

@gllianowens