#watch movie Unearthed online

[lizardperson]

well, just you wait

[on ao3]

fandom: original work rating: g wc: 611 prompt: #fff280 seek for insight for @flashfictionfridayofficial

---

"For fuck's sake," Quinn murmured, stepping over some boxes in the hallway. What the hell was going on now…

She climbed the extended attic ladder and poked her head up, looking around. "El? You here?"

A grumbling came from between some boxes, and now that Quinn's eyes had adjusted a bit, she could see a faint light in that corner. Carefully trying not to trip over anything while at the same time avoiding the cobwebs hanging from the ceiling, she made her way over.

"The fuck are you doing?"

"Looking for something," El answered, sitting between dusty boxes, most of them opened, some partly unpacked.

"What's with the spelunking getup?" Quinn laughed when she noticed the headlamp. Where did they even find that thing?

"Unearthing the mysteries of the past," El chuckled without stopping to dig. "Sorry about the mess, I'll clean up later."

"Want a hand?"

"Yes, hold this please." El got up and pushed a pile of books into Quinn's arms. "And this, too." A few more landed on top.

She gave up trying to make out any details on the covers in the faint light, there was too much dust on them anyway. "What are we even looking for?"

El continued digging, and Quinn knew there was no point in repeating the question. She sighed and waited patiently, hoping this little excavation would deliver results soon.

"Ha! Getting closer!" El held up some old film reels and checked the labels, then put them on top of Quinn's stack. This stuff was getting heavy, so she just placed it on the floor. El wordlessly handed her a few more reels.

"Nu, pogodi!" El suddenly exclaimed, holding up yet another reel - apparently they finally found the right one.

Quinn raised an eyebrow. "Gesundheit."

"'Nu, pogodi! - Well, just you wait'. That's the name of the cartoon," they explained. "Couldn't for the life of me remember it. Dad used to watch those with me, and I randomly thought of them. Figured they should still be up here somewhere. Bugged the hell out of me that I couldn't think of the name."

Quinn squinted at the old movie. "Oh God, is it that stupid Russian Tom & Jerry ripoff? My dad made me watch those, too."

"Yeah, that's probably where mine got it from, now that I think about it." Their dads had been friends since before they were born.

"Hated them as a kid," Quinn grimaced. "Anyway, if you just wanted to know the title… wouldn't it have been easier to, I don't know, check the internet? Instead of breathing in a decade's worth of dust up here?"

"Probably," El shrugged. "But this is more fun."

"Uh-huh. 'Fun'."

El started going through the boxes again. "There should be a projector here somewhere, too… Wanna watch some retro soviet cartoons with me?"

"Did I mention I hated them? And they probably aged terribly."

"Probably."

"Besides, I bet someone put them online, so we could just stream them, instead of fiddling with this and possibly burning down the house in the process."

"But this has more style," El objected and wiggled their eyebrows.

"True."

"Found it!"

Quinn sighed, somewhat amused by El's antics. "Okay, fine. I propose the following: We'll get this thing downstairs, clean up at least a little bit, and cram the boxes in the hallway back up here. And then, if this old thing still works, we get reasonably drunk and I'll watch some of it with you."

"Deal."

"But this shit better not be your new favorite obsession," Quinn added dryly, half-joking - El definitely had fixated on worse things over the years.

"Well, just you wait…" they chuckled, ignoring Quinn's groan.

[cipheramnesia]

Hi! How’re you? I love your blog and never know how to write asks.

Any chance you’d be willing to dish out a quick (or long) list of your favorite techno horror/techno punk movies? Don’t know if those are the right terms.

If not thank you anyway for reading and I hope you are having a good night.

Full disclosure, I wasn't familiar with these terms, beyond what I could figure out intuitively, which turned out to be correct, as far as I can tell! Which is not very far so you know, bear with me. Nervously looking over my shoulders for a bear. OK.

After a crash course, I think it's safe to call Tetsuo The Iron Man and Tetsuo The Bullet Man the quintessential technohorror technopunk type movies. They are lean and mean structured around shocking violence and jaw dropping effects on a budget. In the same vein, but which you might not have heard of, is Tokyo Gore Police. It's, y'know, not for everyone, look it up and you'll have a pretty clear idea what you're in for. If you're on the bubble, let me just say "sexy crocodile vagina legs," and leave it there.

It looks like David Cronenberg is big in the subgenre and what can I say except good call. Kind of a horror pioneer across quite a few subgenres including splatterpunk and body horror, his fascination with permutations of the flesh and technology makes him a no-brainer. Obviously you should know about Crimes of the Future and The Fly, and potentially the lesser know but exception Videodrome and Existenz. However, also consider checking out his adaptation of Crash (an essential movie for anyone intrigued by trans humanism) and his adaptation of Naked Lunch. For all purposes, virtually everything in his oeuvre prior to Naked Lunch in some way invokes body horror and some degree of technohorror, so you may as well sit down and take your time with his filmography. Then follow up with with everything Brandon Cronenberg, his son, has released because that specific apple is not far from the tree.

Also mentioned is Terminator, which I guess is sort of horror and punk(ish) and techno, which sort of throws Alien and Aliens in but honestly those feel more like science fiction horror personally, whatever you know them already. And you're not here for stuff you can pull in any online search so lets get down to the weird shit.

I've mentioned it before, but Death Machine (1994) is an absolute joy to watch. Magnificent use of practical effects, tongue in cheek but never boring, if you want to see an absolutely gorgeous murder robot, this is a must-watch. Kind of the western answer to Tetsuo Iron Man with a less manic pace and heavy handed satire. Think RoboCop on a worse budget using the plot of Aliens but inside an office building. This one and a similarly impressive work of practical effects called Hardware (1990) are both difficult to unearth. If you see them anywhere, grab a copy, drop everything and watch.

There's this whole collection of AI movies that range between hard scifi and gloppy horror, but I'd like to direct attention to somewhat over looked Automata (2014). For me it has just the right blend of real world trash and futuristic dystopia, with a plot that's part mystery and part big ideas. It rides this lovely line that drew me in by featuring robots that do not feel human at all, disappointingly blocky and clunky, and led me into feeling the necessary empathy for the story to succeed. It is by turns abstract and violent, and feels almost as if it could be a precursor to Blade Runner in its visuals and story design.

Now let's rewind back to 1977's Demon Seed. It's been quite a while since I saw the original, and it's by no means the best movie out of the 70s but it is a buckwild, extremely fucked up AI gone haywire film. Content warning for an extremely disturbing sexual assault by a robotic shape shifting dodecahedron. It belongs on a technohorror list because it's the kind of movie where you'll say "wow, it sure went there." I can't tell you if it's good, only that you'll probably wish you could forget some scenes. And if you want to keep the ball rolling with slow paced science fiction movies about killer robots obsessed with sexual assault, you can check out Saturn 3 (1980).

But enough about robots, let's talk about zombies with Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (2014) and Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (2021). Both of these have punk vibes, very in line with most Ozsploitation movies, and the gimmick is that, as a zombie apocalypse begins, a group of survivors discover the zombies belch up methane - and they can rig up their engines to run on the stuff. The pair of movies escalate continuously in their excess and weirdness. If the first leaves you wanting more, the second will leave you absolutely demanding it. Frankly anything low budget and vaguely weird from Australia tends to be over the top of over the top. See also SheBorg (2016) about an evil alien cyborg who comes to Earth to eat puppies (very unrealistic stuffed animals) and turn people into more evil cyborgs. The only hope is punk loser teenage girls. Is it badly made? Yes. Offensive? Pretty much. But it's evil alien puppy eating cyborg versus punk rock teenagers so like you gotta see it.

Not gonna sugar coat this - quite a lot of the "best technohorror" recommendations lists I'm turning up in searches to job my memory aren't great. Seems like mostly it's more "hey here are some movies that use an technology" versus anything that gives me a real sensation of the movie being either intrinsically about the interaction of the human, the horrific, and the technological, or where the tech aspect is a kind of break-out rogue element, getting away with something daring or weird or simply grotesque through having the sort of budget and distribution (or lack thereof) that keeps sticky fingered producers from leaving notes all over the script. Anyway this is kind of a prelude to suggesting Frankenstein might be the original technohorror, and to check out Depraved (2019), a take on Frankenstein with a fascinating direction, where the titular scientist is an ex-army field medic with PTSD and his monster is made from soldier parts which, themselves, are not entirely free from the memories of their own traumatic pasts. It may only loosely follow the original story but it's a hell of a gut punch and I think exactly the sort of filmmaking that you want from any genre appended with "punk."

Lastly of course we all know the recently released M3gan, but I'm going to suggest a second Frankenstein movie, which I have not seen as yet so this is a blind recommendation, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, directed by Bomani J. Story. If the title alone doesn't give you a frisson of anticipation about what might be in the movie, the trailer should have you hooked. I'm dying to watch it, personally, but saving it to watch with one of my partners.

[multifandom-worlds]

Talking About a Mouse

Genre: Fluff

Word count: 981

Pairing: Tom Hiddleston x female reader

Warnings: N/A

Authors Note: I have no idea what prompted this, I just woke up with this idea.

Tagging: @holdmytesseract

You take your seat, eagerly waiting for the interview to start. Your production manager, Ethan, has scored you a ticket to a talk show where the interviewee was your childhood best friend, Tom. You hadn’t seen each other in years; he was filming for the new Marvel movie while you were filming your tv show UnEarthing the Past. Ethan got you a ticket as a surprise, and congratulations on a successful first season. You were giddy with anticipation.

“Please help me welcome the one, the only Tom Hiddleston!” 

The crowd cheered as Tom walked on stage, waving at everyone in the audience before sitting on the couch across from the interviewer as the clapping slowly died. Logically, you knew he couldn’t see you with all those lights shining in his face - you've been on talk shows before, you know what it’s like - but it doesn’t stop the disappointment from stirring in your chest. Would he even want to see you? Sure, he called you while you were filming, and it made it into the season finale, but that was something different - you've changed since you last saw each other. Would he even want to remain friends?

The first 30 minutes of the interview go well; questions about his role as Loki, if he has any celebrity crushes and all the other typical invasive talk show questions. You were zoning out until one specific question caught your attention.

“There has been some buzz online about you being in the Discovery Channel show UnEarthing the Past. Do you know anything about that?”

Tom chuckles, and your hearts swell, hearing his laugh again in person. “Ah, Mouse, she said it wouldn’t stay in the final cut! Mouse hosts that show; she and I go back to when we were children. She’s my best friend, and I called her to see if she could go to the screening with me, but she mentioned she was busy filming and couldn’t talk. That’s all it is.”

You laughed along with the audience, a faint blush on your cheeks. You tried to keep it out of the final cut, but Ethan thought it would boost viewers to name-drop one of Hollywood's hottest celebrities. You wanted more than anything to attend the screening, but you were in Guatemala researching the Mayan Empire.

The interviewer waits until most of the laughter quieted before asking the next question, one you just knew would be either about you, your show or your friendship with Tom. “Have you watched an episode of her show?” 

Tom nods without missing a beat. “I have seen every single one; I even got the cast hooked on it; Sebastian and I watch recordings whenever we aren’t needed on set. I have RDJ dying to meet her. My fiance loves it, too, Zawe hasn’t met Mouse yet, but she wants to so badly. I just haven’t had a chance to get Mouse back to LA; she’s always off on some adventure.” 

The audience erupts in “oohs” and “awes.” while your face turns bright red. You wanted to make your presence known, but you weren’t sure how. To your knowledge, this show had a section where audience members could ask questions to the interviewee; you chose to wait until that time to let him know you were there.

“How do you two stay in contact after all these years and having such a busy schedule?” 

Tom laughs again, leaning back on the couch. “It’s a shame Mouse isn’t here to answer these. We text each each each other as often as we can, and it’s usually updates on her show or sneak peeks into mine. She loves my Loki costume, so I’ll send her pictures when I get the chance, but she is also obsessed with Sebastian Stan, so just to torment her, I’ll send her a picture of Seb and me together.”

You laugh, but as soon as the next question leaves the interviewer's lips, you start worrying about how appropriate your friendship with Tom really was. “What does Zawe think about your friendship?”

“Zawe doesn’t care. She knows the deep love and respect I have for Mouse. Mouse encouraged me to get into acting in the first place; she encouraged me to pursue Zawe. I do not appreciate you implying I’m cheating on my fiance simply because I am friends with another woman.”

After a brief moment of awkward silence, the interviewer changes the subject, asking Tom questions about Marvel or Zawe, anything other than you and your friendship. It gave you plenty of time to think up your question for Tom. 

After another 30 minutes of questions, the moment you have been waiting for finally arrives. The crew member in the audience hands you a microphone so you can ask your question. “How did your friend get the nickname Mouse?”

Tom’s eyebrows furrow slightly, and his nose wrinkle, indicating he is contemplating something. Did he recognize your voice?

“She was always so quiet and reserved, just like a mouse,” Tom responded, shielding his eyes from the light to see if he could get a better look at whoever asked the question. You laugh into the mic before the lights dim, and Tom sees your face. “You call me Mouse because when we were kids, we would always play cat and mouse; however, because you’re older, you always got to be the cat.”

Tom’s lips pull back into his signature smile before he jumps off the stage and runs up the aisle to you, pulling you into the tightest hug you’ve ever had to date. It felt good to hug him again, given that the last hug you ever got from him was when you graduated from archaeology school several years ago. He finally releases you, adjusting his suit jacket before pulling you into his side. 

“I would like you all to meet my childhood best friend, Mouse!”

[takemetotheastralagain]

🐭🐻‍❄️for ask meme?

1. A dragon that doesn’t know how to cook

2. Dragons that hate-watch movies together

(Typed that for reference and then looked in my lair lmao)

1.

I gotta go with Sanare here she knows how to boil water and use a toaster but don’t tell her to do something like “basting” or “marinating” or anything like that. Her ass does NOT contribute at the clan’s kitchen unless it’s like charcuterie boards made of cheese and crackers and other premade food or raw fruit and stuff, or whatever the equivalent is based on the recipient’s diet and tastes. She should learn from Pizza, who loves to collect cookbooks and would be happy to teach her but Sanare doesn’t care too much to learn.

I wanna reference the Kurtis Conner bit of “I was trying to make a quesadilla, what the fuck IS this 😭 (accidentally made beef Wellington)” but I feel like she’d do like a mild reverse version of that more

“This is a quesadilla?”

“no today it’s Sanare’s Special Beef Wellington I put in bacon bits”

“That’s,,, not even beef???”

“Even better! Beef Wellington wishes it could be this good”

2.

I think Calavera and Dartfrog would, they’re buddies to me :) if it’s like modern day theyd find terrible reviews online but idk, if old films get unearthed from Luminax’s reign and they suck? They GOTTA see it and if they’re in a theater they’ll be whispering to each other the whole time and giggling

[battleangel]

AI & Palestine

Only mass movements and violence -- throughout all of human history -- have ever resulted in change.

People in power who have power giving up some or all of that power -- CEOs, politicians, the 1%, millionaires & billionaires, world leaders, generals, owners, commissioners, founders, investors, dictators -- to the people they are oppressing -- workers, proletariat, minorities, people of color, black & brown people, LGBTQ people, poor people.

Revolutions, rebellions, insurrections, civil unrest, Montgomery boycott, sit-ins, marches, rallies, protests, hunger fasts, strikes, kidnappings, hostages, threats, demands, terrorism, bombings, bioterrorism, EMP attacks, hacking, picket lines.

On campus, at work, on the White House lawn, state capital, factory floor, Trump Plaza, at the polls, during Presidential and papal visits, during elections.

The only thing that does and has work throughout all of recorded human history is mass movements in the hundreds of thousands and millions and violence.

What doesnt actually work, what doesnt cause change, what has never resulted in people with power giving up some or all of that power in any way, shape or form in any situation is petitions, online signatures, phone calls, emails, tweets, hashtags, "raising awareness", debates, talks, "negotiations", "agreements", "bilateral" talks, treaties.

The above so-called "peaceful measures" only lead to more oppression, exploitation, violence, civilian slaughter, dehumanization, propaganda, hate campaigns, colonizing, empire building, endless wars, genocides, ethnic cleansings, mass graves, rape squads, tortures, atrocities, war crimes, crimes against humanity, mass arrests, cutting off humanitarian aid, massacres, concentration camps, apartheid, mass unemployment, unlawful curfews, overextracting earths resources, forced relocations, mass starvation, engineered famines, childhood suicides, loss of sewage and filtration systems, loss of medicine and medical supplies, schools hospitals and residential areas being carpet bombed, grandmothers being raped on Facebook Live, children being killed on TikTok, genocides streaming live to your phone in real time on Twitter alongside the Met Gala, tens of thousands murdered and buried under rubble that will take decades to unearth, banned biological warfare including phosphorous burning literal holes through civilians skin, 24/7 traumatization as the US funds genocide that is being recorded and streamed in social media in real time against the will of nearly 70% of the tax-paying populace, children eating animal feed because they are being starved on a mass scale, boys and men being stripped naked beaten tortured and exposed to the elements then murdered, pamphlets warning millions of civilians to evacuate before the attack begins when their only escape route into Egypt has already been blocked, an entire generation of children lost traumatized orphaned starved injured hurt oppressed radicalized hated murdered tortured suicide'd . . .

What gets promoted?

The stuff that doesnt work.

Whats legal?

The stuff that doesnt work.

What doesnt get promoted?

Yes there have been marches in Washington for Palestine but true watershed moments are made difficult by the fact that in a capitalist society during the week everyone is at work.

If its on the weekend, Western capitalist societies especially AmeriKKKa are obsessed with competition, organized sports, being busy for the sake of being busy, mindlessness, socializing and errands so if the march is on the weekend, most people will be grocery shopping, clothes shopping, at the mall, at the movies, at a restaurant, at a hair or nail salon, getting a massage, attending kids sports games or dance recitals or plays or martial arts competitions, at the library, at a museum, at an amusement park, at a park, at the beach, at a bar, at a nightclub, at a friends house, at a party, watching a sports game, streaming a show or movie, gaming, scrolling social media, messaging on discord or Whatsapp, going to a play, mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, planning meals for the week, raking leaves, going to church -- endless mindless distractions and busying of the self so who is really traveling to Washington DC for a march for Palestine?

Yes, thousands show up but it isnt enough to disrupt the matrix.

It has to be a mass movement of the people -- hundreds of thousands, not tens, or millions -- for a protest, boycott, strike, march, rally to actually work.

A few thousand people boycotting McDonalds, Starbucks and Disney for Palestine isnt even a rounding error.

Neither is a few people of conscience quitting Google over the cloud AI technology being used to track and surveil Palestinian civilans for Israel.

A few million, however, would impact the bottom line.

Biden was asked if the student protests had made him reconsider his position on Palestine and his immediate, emphatic answer was an unqualified and unmitigated no.

Why do you think that is? Students have been and will continue to be arrested.

Protest encampments will be ripped up and taken down.

Graduations will happen.

Classes will resume.

Netanyahu said "hostilities" (its a genocide, you Hitlerian fuck) will continue for at least six months, suspiciously close to the US election in October.

Why do you think that is?

Does that sound like someone who is sincerely considering a "permanent ceasefire" to you?

Its almost like Biden and Netanyahu have already planned this genocide out regardless of student protests, nearly 70% of Americans wanting a permanent ceasefire and over 3 million calls to Congressmembers by American citizens demanding a permanent ceasefire.

42k dead Palestinian civilians, 4k dead Israeli civilians.

That is a genocide by any definition yet Netanyahu isnt budging and despite Biden using supposedly "tougher language", he hasnt stopped shipping weapons to Israel or sending funding to Israel.

So, ofcourse Rafah got invaded and ofcourse Israel continues to commit genocide against the Palestinians with total and complete impunity.

Israel is already displacing and forcibly relocating Palestinians, forcibly establishing Israeli settlements and building oil wells on the Gaza Strip.

The Gaza Strip has more oil per square kilometer than any place on earth.

Do you think its possible that all this death and destruction is about what its always been about -- money?

Specifically in this instance, oil.

This is a very, very old story that we have seen time and time again with US military involvement in the Middle East.

The Gulf War was not about liberating anyone from Saddam Hussein.

The Iraq War had nothing to do with 9/11, which was an inside job.

Israel is committing a US-funded genocide against Palestine for the same reasons the Gulf War and Iraq Wars were fought -- money (oil), colonial ideology, Western supremacy, military might and expansionism.

As Biden said in the 80s, if Israel didnt exist, "we would have had to invent her."

Ask yourself who "we" is.

So, whats the answer?

The answer is there is no easy answer because a patriarchal, misogynistic, hegemonic, militaristic, colonialist, white supremacist, capitalist state is going to be inherently set up by design to oppress, annihilate, expolit, dehumanize, suppress, repress, colonize, enslave, conquer, slaughter, murder and self propagate its own myth.

Its set up that only a few people hold and can gain access to the levers of power.

Why wont you see Cornel West or Claudia and Karina on the debate stage this fall?

Why are the choices Biden, Trump and Bernie again?

Why have all U.S. Presidents -- hundreds of them -- all descended from the same UK royal bloodline?

Do you know who the Reptilians are?

It doesnt mean give up.

It means realizing resistance and struggle are lifelong endeavors. Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X were in Palestine protesting in solidarity with their brown oppressed brothers in the 1970s -- whats changed?

Layoffs are cyclical, on purpose and follow a predictable pattern meant to disrupt, unnerve and keep workers in control, desperate, afraid, off-kilter and on the corporate hamster wheel.

Wars are cyclical and on purpose just like mass layoffs are.

Layoffs have nothing to do with the economy and wars have nothing to do with freedom.

Its about exploitation, wealth hoarding, empire building, fear, control, manipulating, amassing and mainting power, hegemony, patriarchy, militarism, white supremacy, police state, fascism, unregulated free markets and exploitative capitalism, monopolies, monoliths, kingdoms, Western Civilization, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, The Age of AI, robotics . . .

They are really gearing up with AI and robotics.

Studies have demonstrated that 80% of current jobs will be replaced within the next five years with advances in AI & robotics.

So, what happens to people that were doing those jobs?

I believe the relentless endless obnoxious and fucking nauseating push for all things AI & robotics is leading to the following scenario in the next five years:

Once 80% of current jobs have been replaced with AI and robotics, people will be offered jobs to do what they are already doing -- use social media, online gaming and Metaverse (which will be rolled out already) -- and they will be paid as "User Researchers", to fill out surveys and give feedback on their daily experiences using social media, online gaming and the Metaverse and to test out functionality and usability of new features.

What UBI (Universal Basic Income) should have been for all adult US citizens will instead go to these User Researchers. I predict they will borrow from proposed UBI models and pay these User Researches a $1k a month and provide them with healthcare.

The real purpose of these jobs will be to make people even more obsessed and dependent upon social media, online gaming and the coming Metaverse than they already are. Instead of breaking to go to work, now this is their work so there is no break from it Monday through Friday -- they will be addicted.

They will be so addicted that even on the weekends, they will choose to stay inside online -- social media, gaming and Metaverse -- instead of going out and about, socializing, exercising, going for a walk, shopping, movies, going to eat, sports, plays, etc.

VR will be huge at this point and all of the above can be experienced virtually so why leave your house or apartment.

Naturally, there will be people who occupied the 80% of jobs that were eliminated by AI and robotics that wont have an interest in being User Researchers for social media, online gaming or the Metaverse.

I predict they will get the equivalent of retirement packages since their actual functional roles no longer exist and have been replaced with AI and robotics and then I envision they will allow these people to access their 401k and social security early.

I believe User Researcher will be offered as a major in colleges and online academies. I also believe influencers will tout it as the thing to do post high school and post college. I also predict that degrees will be optional for the position and not required.

Naturally, given that these User Researchers will literally be paid for their addictions to social media, gaming and the Metaverse, as one might suspect, they will not be getting up very much from their respective couches, gaming chairs, bean bags, beds and Lay-Z boy reclining chairs and thus, by design, obesity, Type II diabetes, hypertension, atherosclerosis, heart disease and all manners of diseases caused by sedentary lifestyles will skyrocket.

A less healthy, more sedentary, more addicted to tech society than we even have know that are dependent on big tech to fund their existence.

What could possibly go wrong?

Covid was the soft reset for the Age of AI & robotics.

They got rid of countless jobs and small businesses and financially ruined many entrepreneurs and 9 to 5'ers.

Paradoxically, at the same time we were being told that we couldnt go into the office because Covid, yet somehow fast food and big box retail were deemed "emergency services" (like hospitals and pharmacies???) so that mostly black and brown impoverished people who statistically are more immunocompromised and less healthy were constantly exposed to the dangers of Covid as many customers refused to mask up.

Soft reset. Control, fear campaigns, paradoxes, paradigms, millions dead, percentage wise mostly black brown impoverished, elderly and immunocompromised.

Exactly who costs the government the most with Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP & EBT and exactly who they wanted to get rid of.

TikTok was a catalyst for this.

Peoples attention span on average is 3 seconds now -- 3!

That is unprecedented in all of human history.

We were not designed to constantly process 1 to 5 second videos.

They overloaded us by design to shortcircuit our attention spans and shorten our minds.

The average song now is 2 to 3 minutes long.

Ten years ago, the average song was 4 minutes long.

Do you see whats happening?

Do you see what they've done on purpose?

Does anyone remember the Super Bowl shooting at the Chiefs parade earlier this year?

If you noticed, there was an extremely short news cycle regarding the Super Bowl parade shooting. Much shorter than other shootings. And it was the Chiefs, the NFL's reigning Super Bowl champions.

Even five years ago, that would have been news for a week.

It was literally reported on for a day or two and then dropped and never reported on again.

Why do you think that is?

This years Super Bowl had 150 ads. Think about that. In about 3.5 hours.

Five years ago, the Super Bowl had 100 ads.

Why do you think that is?

Who are the Reptilians?

[red-carter]

HEHE you opened up the ask box so here we GO-

Compliment: I admire the boldness and bravery you had to reach out to me to say hi!! That’s a scary thing, my dude!

A story (a real one because I suck at doing quick fiction ones on the fly): A friend and I realized at college that if I tucked myself up pretty tightly, I could sit on a storage-shelf-thing that she had on the back of her bike. So for a good several months she would ride around on her bike with me hitchhiking a ride on the back and grinning at people as we zipped past. It was very fun 😆

Why I follow you: Primarily, because I’m so thankful that you follow me, but also because it’s clear that we share so many of the same interests! I want to see what you unearth on this crazy platform 🤩

A cute message: You have no idea how PROUD of you I felt when I saw that you posted art on the discord, since you told me you were nervous about talking on there. Good for you!!

One thing I want to tell you: I’m so happy that we’re chatting ❤️ I am a huge chatter and I get happier the more I chat with people 😆 so it meant a lot to me when you reached out. I don’t have a huge social network irl aside from a few college friends and my siblings, so it makes me SO happy when people choose to talk to ME, ME of all people, online 🤩

Finally, a thing I want to know about you: what’s your favorite color, favorite music genre, and do you prefer movies or tv shows? (And depending on which one, what shows/movies do you like?)

Oh my goodness- Thank you so much! Reaching out really was scary, but I'm so glad I did! Thank you! <3

I love that, that actually sounds like so much fun!

Hahaha, the same goes to you, granted, mostly just to see what all we share sounds awesome to me. I'm sure I'll be bound to come across many crazy things- can't wait to share!

Stoooppp Imma cry. But yeah! I got a bit comfy when we was talking, gave me enough courage to send it. Was scary, but I'm proud of myself as well, thank you so much.

Aaaahhhh! Absolutely same! I love chatting, and my IRL friends are well- I constantly forget are my friends sometimes. I have a lot of people I can talk to, and fewer that I can hang out with. I've always been more of an online person (been mostly online since late middle school). So it always makes me happy to find others who share interests with me and also wanna talk with myself as well. It's- It's really nice!

My favorite color would have to be any shade of blue! Close seconds would have to be green and purple though. More of like a mint ish green, more of that muted color? Not too bright, or neon green is great. Purple, either lilac, or dark vibrant purple. Music genre is a bit tricky. Since I listen to quite a variety and they're all so amazing. If this counts as a genre, I'd say music that people make for content creators. Otherwise, I guess pop? They're all great tho. Goodness- I love movies, a lot easier to binge and just watch and finish. Horror films are great, and I can't watch psychological learned that the hard way-, though I love romance and action just as much. I actually just watched Damsel last night, and oh my god- I loved it. Sad, but really good! TV shows, I love as well, mostly anime though. One Piece is one of my favs, along with ERASED, Fruits Basket, and some more. I can't pick between the two. They're all so amazing.

What about you on favorite movies/shows?

[careless-with-your-heart]

Lay You in the Ground (WIP CHAPTER) - An iZombie AU - Blaine x OFC Fic

Kiss me.

Those two little words reverberate in his brain for the next several hours, so aggressively intrusive despite their softness that Blaine can’t focus on the task at hand—the new online ordering option that will run through the Point-of-Sale system of Romero’s, allowing brain purchases to print cheerily out into the kitchen as custom menu items. The potential to make even more money, even more under the radar. Normally, he would be all ears. But Blaine barely even hears as Darcy explains the intricacies of the new network.

He registers words, vaguely.

“…and it’s critical that the actual products that go into those menu items be added to the kitchen order to cover the true nature of our “special deliveries.”

The meaning is clouded by the memory of big, dark eyes looking up at him. Soft, warm lips millimeters from his own. A heartbeat so loud in his ears, beating so fast that he wonders how she didn't faint. Then, the words that are both a heady arousal and an albatross, making him ache and scaring the shit out of him at the same time.

She'd been so close, so tempting. He has no idea how he’d mustered the willpower to leave that room.

Kiss me. Don’t you want to?

He wants to. So badly. In fact, thinking about kissing Catherine Cohen takes up way too much of his average day—even eking into the late hours, when he lays in bed awake, thinking about all the delightful little ways she would react to his kiss. And then, to his hands on her. His mouth on her. His body over hers. Hers, trapped beneath his, with none of the flirty back-and-forth, no means of escape.  

His little runaway—there’s also that. The woman fled Vegas with twenty large of the mob’s money. And despite how he’d reassured her, Blaine isn’t a hundred-percent confident that whoever this Foreman guy is, he’s the type to take twenty Gs as a write-off. But if Kitty’s father has already paid the fatal price, there’s the shakiest of chances that the debt’s considered paid.

But also the chance that the tab’s still open, running, and gaining interest.

A problem, perhaps, but not for right now. 

Now, Blaine blinks and looks at the pair of Darcy and Don E, who are both smiling broadly. He returns the gesture, expert at pantomime. He gestures to the office surrounding them, the extra monitor that will soon display the new orders.

“It all looks great. Let’s start slow, though, yeah? Offer this to our higher-paying customers. VIP. We’ll roll it out on a small scale. Darcy, can you hang here tomorrow night just in case I need to work out any kinks?”

Darcy blanches. Blaine, realizing his choice of words, winces. “With the system. I promise, no more dramatic movie kisses.”

Blaine cracks a real grin when Don E. scoots a little closer to his wife.

Unearthing his cell phone from his jacket pocket, Blaine wakes the screen to check the time. An hour until The Post opens. Romero’s is already in full swing, and the sound of dinner service sifts back to them, clinking and shouting and the crackle and hiss of flame and steam sounding almost intentionally arranged.

An alert makes Blaine swipe again, to bring up the security feed that surveils the area surrounding The Post. In the short clip that pops up, a man lurks in the alley just a block over, smoking. The time stamp is ten minutes past. Then, another alert—this time, the same man, across the street and visible in the camera feed that is mounted above the front door.

Something about the man—short, stocky, thinning hair and heavy eyebrows, a nervous shift back and forth from foot to foot that’s apparent even at a distance—makes Blaine uneasy. Right now, The Post would be occupied only by back-room girls, Chief if he’d decided to be early, and…Kitty.

Blaine watches on the front camera as the man shuffles to the edge of the far sidewalk, watching traffic, seeming to prepare for a jaywalk to The Post.

“Trouble, boss?” Don asks.

Blaine isn’t sure. But he puts his phone to sleep and tucks it away.

“No, no. Bums setting off the cameras. You know what? Don, take the night off. I’ll go work The Post tonight. As a thank you for all you’ve done”—he bows slightly—“and an apology for getting so intimately acquainted with your wife’s tonsils, stay and have dinner. On the house.”

Darcy squeals and jumps, clapping. “Really? Oh, we haven’t had a date night in forever. Baby, can we? Can we? Please?”

She punctuates her plea with a few well-placed kisses on Don’s smooth cheeks, landing last on his lips, pulling him in for a kiss that almost rivals the one that Blaine had laid on her. The kiss that had been impulsively intended for the woman Blaine was now—suddenly—very anxious about.

A problem for later's become a problem for right now.

Blaine leaves Don and Darcy still in flagrante as he hurries past diners and dodges staff on his way out into the darkening Seattle evening. The man lurking outside of The Post—he'd had a very Vegas look about him.

[bravevolunteer]

GET  TO  KNOW  THE  MUN.

WHAT  MADE  YOU  PICK  UP  THE  MUSE  YOU  HAVE  ?   well you see i liked fnaf and its lore a normal amount until one night after security breach boosted the fandom i thought a little bit Too Hard while staring at the ceiling and decided to add michael afton the next day-

IS  THERE  ANYTHING  YOU  DON'T  LIKE  TO  WRITE  ?  aside from the obvious? in spite of writing a marvel character for years straight i also suck at constant action with nothing else going on (aside from figuring out how to phrase it i really struggle knowing how far to go in those kinds of replies without overstepping what the other muse would do if that makes sense), which is great because for as much as michael gets into fights he is Just A Guy. and uh... for michael specifically, given the ambiguity of fnaf, there are some ideas that i'm not on board with because they don't align with how i see the story you know?

IS  THERE  ANYTHING  YOU  REALLY  ENJOY  WRITING  ?   angst and hurt/comfort sorry i am a predictable bitch i'll eat it up every single time. the softness hits harder when it comes with or after excruciating pain

HOW  DO  YOU  COME  UP  WITH  YOUR  HEADCANONS  ?  possession yeah. i can't force them they just occur to me in sudden visions. who said that.

DO  YOU  WRITE  IN  SILENCE  OR  LISTEN  TO  MUSIC  ?   music always i CANNOT write in silence, i barely Exist in silence. usually i'll use a character playlist (stupid amount of michael ones), however if it's overstimulating and makes writing more difficult i'll loop specific songs that set the mood but i can tune out for the most part

DO  YOU  PLAN  YOUR  REPLIES  OR  WING  THEM  ?   somewhere in between? i definitely like to plot things out, ESPECIALLY with michael, however i prefer plotting that leans closer towards discussing overall dynamics or the general vibe/direction of a thread. i will not hesitate to go super in depth there. while i rotate them in my head constantly before i write the reply, i tend not to go too far discussing a Hyper Specific prompt though because then i'll avoid writing it (both because i've already discussed it so much and i end up hyping it up to the point where i've set impossible standards)

DO  YOU  ENJOY  SHIPPING  ?   yes :) all kinds :)

WHAT'S  YOUR  ALIAS/NAME  ?   ash which is just. my name. real nickname. it's not that interesting of a story DKFHFJDS however if i were to start going by an alias online my favorite option has always been atlas

AGE  ?   21

BIRTHDAY  ?  october 17

FAVORITE  COLOR  ?   always changes because something's wrong with me. been a sage green enjoyer lately like the gay person i am ( but most of my clothes are black )

FAVORITE  SONG  ?   soooo many so you're getting my 2023 winners: song was not strong enough boygenius but my favorite Album was unreal unearth

LAST  MOVIE  YOU  WATCHED  ?   humiliatingly enough i. Think it was the fnaf movie ( at 3am on call while going insane ) i don't think i've watched one since then

LAST  SHOW  YOU  WATCHED  ?   oh god my brain hasn't been letting me watch anything new lately but i THINK it was trying to watch infinity train and then giving up because of that lmao. if podcasts count i'm relistening to tma-

LAST  SONG  YOU  LISTENED  TO  ?  ... once more to see you mitski

FAVORITE  SEASON  ?   autumn

DO  YOU  HAVE  A  TUMBLR  BEST  FRIEND  ?   i have so many beloved close friends i've met on tumblr i can't just list ONE

tagged by: @mischiiefs tagging: yea mak you stole a good chunk of the crew just steal it from me idk DHJFSJDF

[bigshoeswamp]

4 and 2!

2. Album of the year?

Very chronically online on tumblr of me but Hozier's Unreal Unearth for sure! What a beautiful album, wow. The amount of times I've heard eat your young, butchered tongue and first time this year leaves me no other choice

4. Movie of the year?

Marte Um, for sure <3

I never expected to see such a sweet and beautifully done depiction of the day to day around here where i live, and yet they made it. I cry every time i watch it <3

[starseedfxofficial]

APAC Markets Stall, But Big Opportunities Brew Beneath the Surface APAC Stocks Subdued, But the Real Game Lies Under the Surface Imagine buying the wrong size shoes online. You squint at the screen, second-guess your choices, click 'Order,' and then—the heartbreak. Well, APAC stocks had that kind of day: mostly subdued, with traders feeling the same frustration as buying shoes that don’t quite fit. Following a lackluster lead from Wall Street, markets across the region struggled to find their stride. The U.S. Dollar Index (DXY) stretched above the 106.50 mark, showing off like that one runner who refuses to slow down in a Sunday jog, but 10-year U.S. Treasury futures lagged, as if they were still waiting for coffee to kick in. Hidden Market Moves You Might Be Missing But here's where the real magic happens—or at least, the stuff not everyone is noticing. Fed's Musalem (2025 voter) shared some spicy comments, noting that the risk of inflation moving higher has increased. It’s the kind of inflationary vibe that you’d expect when the gas station attendant tells you the price per gallon has jumped overnight. Fed’s Schmid (also a 2025 voter) wasn't ready to call a forecast yet, cryptically saying, "it remains to be seen" how much the Fed will cut rates and where they might settle. Sounds like Schmid is that friend who refuses to say whether or not they’re coming to your party, but doesn’t want to miss out either. The Geopolitical Chessboard: China and Israel Now, let’s talk about a different kind of showdown—one that doesn’t involve rate cuts but, rather, geopolitics. China’s reportedly been preparing itself for a trade war with Trump. Beijing’s got its toolkit ready, with sweeping laws that’d let it hit back if things get heated. It’s like that moment in a kung-fu movie when the protagonist gives their opponent a chance to back off. Trump, take note—China’s not pulling punches. Meanwhile, Israel seems to have a "gift" for Trump—a ceasefire plan with Lebanon. Consider it a nicely wrapped olive branch, though one wonders if it’s wrapped tight enough to withstand the turbulence of Middle Eastern politics. Hey, if gifts could make diplomacy that easy, we'd all be sending chocolates instead of negotiators. Advanced Strategies Hidden in Today's Agenda For those traders still watching the market like hawks, there’s plenty more on today’s agenda. We’ve got EU Jobs & GDP, U.S. Initial Jobless Claims, Japanese GDP, and so much more. It's like one of those all-you-can-eat buffets—except every dish has its own complexity that could mean profits or losses depending on how you play your cards. With ECB minutes and Fed’s Powell talking, it’s bound to be an interesting ride. Oh, and did I mention Disney is reporting earnings today? Mickey Mouse might have something to say about the market too. Unearthing Opportunities and Dodging Pitfalls But here’s what’s really happening beneath all this noise—a classic case of traders getting lost in the fluff and missing out on the gold. The opportunity isn’t in chasing every economic event or headline. It’s about recognizing those shifts that truly matter. Remember, the Fed's hint about rate cuts? That’s not just a headline—that’s a puzzle piece. The trick is to know how to fit it into the bigger picture. Traders often react like headless chickens when GDP figures drop or Fed voters drop vague statements. But the real winners are those who see beyond today’s headlines, who recognize that Musalem’s hints on inflation and Schmid’s noncommittal answers are telling a story—a story about uncertainty, cautious optimism, and the tension between growth and stability. The Forgotten Tactics of Market Predictability Let’s be honest: playing Forex is about more than just catching the headlines. It’s about digging deeper, recognizing the ebb and flow, and understanding when the market's posture is signaling something significant. Have you ever wondered why some traders seem to predict these moves while others get left holding a bag of stale trades? It’s not luck—it’s skill, discipline, and having access to the kind of nuanced insights that dig a little deeper. Actionable Takeaway: What Can You Do? For today’s reader, the key takeaway should be to pay attention not just to the data, but to the tone. The Fed’s vague musings are your opportunity to anticipate the hesitancy, recognize what’s not being said, and position yourself accordingly. With markets quiet in APAC and rate cuts still an enigma, it’s the perfect time to revisit your strategy. Take advantage of the consolidation, study the charts, and remember—the true winners are those who remain prepared while everyone else is napping. In Closing The markets might have been sleepy today, but as any seasoned trader knows, the lulls are when the groundwork for tomorrow’s biggest trades is often laid. So, sip that extra cup of coffee, keep an eye on those emerging trends, and know that sometimes the best strategy is a waiting game—provided you’re ready to move when the time is right. After all, trading is less about keeping up with every headline and more about knowing when to make your move. —————– Image Credits: Cover image at the top is AI-generated   Read the full article

[leverageclips]

Was tagged on by @leverage-ot3 so here we go!

Star Sign(s): all I know is that I'm a Capricorn

Favorite Holidays: new years eve

Last Meal: rice balls!

Current Favorite Musician: it's always Hozier, the unreal unearth album is consuming me

Last music listened to: Murder at the bingo hall by amigo the devil

Last movie watched: life of brian

Last tv show I watched: Yellowjackets (season 1)

Last book/fic finished: it was a fic and you can't get that type of information out of me without torture first

Last book/fic abandoned: you will never know my fanfic history

Currently reading: The Revenge of the Sith novelization!!!!! It's unbelievably good

Last Thing Researched for Art/Writing/Hyperfixation: cave art, I'm ALWAYS researching about cave art and now I'm seriously thinking of making a tattoo based on one so I'm DEEP diving into papers and art archives

Favorite Fandom online memory: honestly the leverage fandom has so many little moments, I love small communities

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: Totsukuni no shoujo (the girl from the other side), it's my favorite manga in the entire world and I desperately wish it had a bigger fandom so that I could discuss more theories about the ending

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: Hades, the Supergiant game, I was OBSESSED with it, I hope the new game gets me the same way

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For: I like making PowerPoints on random topics to present to my friends and I'm working on a long ass one analysing my favorite caves and if I would or not tattoo something based on each one, unfortunately I love too many caves so it's 100+ slides

I'm too lazy to tag mutuals Sorry y'all

[usagirotten]

Prototype of cyberpunk anime Akira Sega Genesis video game surfaces

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTLEDmifqvk That game, long rumored but only recently unearthed, was to be a Sega Genesis release in 1995. Prototyped by Black Pearl Software before cancellation, the game quietly disappeared for decades, until, as the Daily Dot reports, the prototype showed up online. This digital version, released by Hidden Palace, who specializes in this sort of thing, is a lengthy video showing off the play of this unfinished version of the game, which is fairly expansive—enough to clock in at an hour’s length, even in its unfinished state. And what a thing it is. The play is changeable in what we see, with platforming, first-person sections, some good old fashioned psychic fisticuffs as Tetsuo. But what’s really compelling here is the style, the way even in this prototype Black Pearl Software manages to capture the visual and aesthetic style of the source material. It really looks like Akira in 16-bit. The sewers are right. The city streets. That motorcycle. Developed by Black Pearl Software sometime in late 1993 for a planned released in 1995, this game attempted to do a faithful adaptation of the original film by presenting various key scenes from the film in unique ways. The game features first person shooting, racing, platforming, and beat-em up segments to help illustrate the various points in the movie's story. Thought to have been lost since its initial debut in various media as well as the Summer Consumer Electronic Show (SCES 94) in 1994, an early prototype has been discovered and is presented for the first time in full! Read the full article

[31stday]

6 - We're All Going to the World's Fair

Synopsis: Casey, a bored and lonely teen, enters the world of the World Fair's Challenge, an online horror based game where reality and fantasy begin to blur.

Year/Country: 2021 / USA

Subgenres: found footage, creepypasta, the internet is scary

Reason for watching: Randomly discovered - the premise sounded interesting

Highlights: Anna Cobb (who plays Casey) put on a good performance - I would definitely watch something else with her in it. The music and sound were incredible.

Lowlights: More sad than scary. Too much ambiguity in the story/ending.

Rewatchabilty: maybe - honestly it felt rather long but might be worth an additional watch to try to uncover more about what actually happened (though I don't think there's much more to unearth)

Overall review: This story unfolds through a series a videos uploaded online (with a few additional shots that feel voyeuristic of the two primary characters) in what felt very much like a found footage film. Ultimately I found this movie more sad than scary. It's an honest look at how terribly lonely, overwhelming, and sad adolescence can be and though I think it's a little more directed to depict the Gen Z experience, as a Millennial I found it relatable to my own teen years some 20 years ago. As mentioned above, the score and soundtrack in rather lovely and is a large contributor to the haunting, empty feeling throughout. Though I suspect it is written to allow for multiple interpretations and to keep the audience unsure about what is real or make believe, I did not feel as though Casey was experiencing anything supernatural and was a little frustrated to not ultimately follow her story through to the end.

Who should watch it?: I can't decide if it's for Gen Z-ers or their parents

[boneswriteswords]

Just A Little Longer - Michelangelo

A/N: Here is my self indulgent Mikey goodtime lime. Let me live. (It isn’t a lime. Its a lemon. But lime rhymes with time.)

Unbeta’d because no one has the time for editing.

Also I have no idea if any of it makes sense so.....

~~~~~~

The bright neon LED lights of the alarm clock on your nightstand stood guard over you as you blinked awake. 2:04am. Awareness came slowly, your eyes dripping sleep even as the rest of you came online. You shifted, extending your body into a stretch, grinning when a muffled groan erupted from behind you.

A thick leg forced its way between yours. A heavy arm landed across your abdomen. A hard chest molded into your back.

Beyond your apartment walls, sounds of the city rage on. Waves of muted color trickle through the crack in your black-out curtains. Lines of yellow light bleed over the room. There are police sirens passing by as the house party three doors down blasts the newest Ariana Grande album. Someone honks their car horn in vicious repetition. If you strain, you can hear an muffled fighting and the shuffling of clothes as it turns physical.

All the noises harmonize and fade into nothing as you flip over, encouraging the limbs of your bed partner to stay entangled with yours. You’ve lived in the city long enough that the noises and the people and the lights don’t register much to you unless you focus on them. You know the sounds of danger from the sounds of the loud and that’s all you really need to know. Rainbow noise guided you, filtering through all the memories that you have access to you, and anything less has no space in your life.

Quiet nights are eerie after years of noise and you are more than happy having Mikey hold you in bed while the world keeps going around you.

REM does not return after closing your eyes again and you concede to being awake. It isn’t awful, not with the way Mikey clutches onto you as he shuffles - head nuzzling into whatever crevice he can reach. You can tell he is waking.

He can never remain asleep if he feels you are awake. He struggles to remain in a plan of existence where you aren’t. He fights himself awake and you never know if you need to be concerned or flattered by it.

You watch the lights as they bounce off objects in your room before looking back at him. Blurry lines. Soft shapes. Calming motions as they dance back and forth. They are beautiful but you’d much rather look at Mikey.

He has an arm curled loosely over your side while the other is resting under the pillow you both were using. You both liked long thick pillows that went from one side of the bed to the other. A small commonality made sweeter by your domesticity. His hand is curled limply and you remember that he had been stroking your head when you had fallen asleep earlier.

The muted light makes his green skin lighter. Shadows dip into the crevices of his skin and scars, revealing texture you usually only can feel. There is a darkness under his jaw and around his eyebrow ridge. You find yourself tracing the lines of shadow and light with your eyes, hurling the idea that anything could be more captivating out of the window. His breath is steady but his eyes are twitching behind his eyelids.

You see his eyes open. Three blinks and he is awake. You are jealous of how easy it is for him to go from one state of being to the next. He falls asleep quickly and he awakens even quicker. Deep blue eyes find yours and he smiles, moving his arm to drag you the tiniest bit closer. His lips twitch as he draws slow circles in the space between your shoulder blades.

There is an ache in your body, a reminder of the way he had rushed into your apartment as soon as the sun was down. The impact into the wall. Manic energy. Breathless laughter as pent-up passion bubbled over.

Your fingers trace down the side of his face, dipping down from the line of his throat to the pools of his collarbones below his plastron. He churrs the tiniest bit in response and it sounds a lot like the noise he makes when you tease the skin of his neck between your teeth.

You can’t leave marks on him. His skin just doesn’t color the ways a human’s might. Its thicker. Denser. Darker. Scalier. You can’t leave scratches either. It was a bit disappointing to find this out but knowing that he’d enjoy your marks if he was able to have them seizes you in ways you have never experienced. You imagine lining little rouge starbursts down his next and across the broadness of his shoulders and the way he would walk around with them proudly. Red lines connecting red flowers like vines.

His eyes scan over you. He is visual.

Its not always like this. You and him alone. Some nights its you and Mikey and the ghosts that follow you both. There are eyes in the shadows and they have many names and you never know who you are speaking to. They lurk while he cleans his weapons in the living room. They boldly take a seat next to you while you watch a movie tucked under his arm. Some nights, you pull up a seat at the table and serve them as Mikey makes a joke about something that happened during your day.

They exist and they try to make their home in your spaces and they take a toll on the nights when you are too weary to kick them out. A mix-match of traumas that spiral and float and smother and linger.

Mikey doesn’t just wear his heart on his sleeve. He rips open his chest and holds the organ up into the light directly. Makes you watch as it beats and pulses and moves his lifeblood through his body. There are no questions about what he does, how he feels. He is on display by choice, flitting about vulnerable as if there are no monsters in the world he lives in.

But there are days where he wraps himself up behind a glass wall to separate himself from the rest of the world. Deep-rooted hopelessness drains his light, his strength a house of cards edging towards collapse. His voice cracks and wavers. Its never his fault. No one asks for trauma. No one asks to be too late. No one asks for the life he’s lived.

Only recently has a door appeared in the glass. He always tells you where the key is so you can open it. You make sure to crack open the door and wait for him to invite you in further. If he does, you sit inside with him. If he doesn’t, you sit outside and wait for the wall to come down.

And then there are the days where you are translucent. You look down at your body and see through it, faintly incorporeal. A ghost. Light bleeds through you as you walk under the sun. Intangible and lost. You don’t feel real even as your ribs ache and the steady stream of your heartbeat remains. All that exists is quiet breathing.

All your worst nightmares are of you reaching out to hold Mikey’s hand but it goes through him. You can’t grip onto him and he walks away because he can’t see you.

Mikey tells you that he sees you. He grips your hand and squeezes and pulls you in close on the off chance that you feel like your floating away. He won’t let you but he doesn’t begrudge your fear. No one asks for the life you’ve lived.

Jeers erupt from outside but neither of you flinch. You just lean closer into each other. Mikey runs his hand up and down your spine, eyes wet, and you are astounded once more how stubbornly he loves you. How intensely he feels for you. How he believes so much that you both are it. The endgame.

You wish you could take the shadows that live behind his eyes and demand they leave. “You can’t have him,” you imagine you’d say, “He is mine. And I’m not scared of you. I love him too much.” If that meant pulling a seat up for them in the living room and offering them a whiskey laced with intention, you’d do it.

Mikey’s hand slips under your night shirt, his palm flat against the skin of your back and you melt against him. You have studied those hands and all the ways they make you feel things and you exhale harshly and slowly so as to not disturb the rays of muted light.

“You doing okay?” Mikey asks, voice dripping with drowsiness despite the awareness present in his baby blues. “Its late. Or early. Whatever. Was it a nightmare?”

“No baby,” you respond, pressing your mouth against his beak, “No nightmares tonight.”

“Good.”

You press another kiss to his beak before ducking down a little and pressing another one to the side of his mouth. The arm under the blanket shifts. His fingers stroke your head.

There is a lull.

“I love you.”

Its comes out unexpectedly but you aren’t ashamed of it. He already knows. That relationship milestone has long since passed. Even so, the words are splintered, cracked around the edges and easy to be drowned out by the sounds of screeching tires on the road and idiots on the street.

But the impact is till the same. The look he gives you is blue fire and he guides you closer for a kiss. It starts off light, gentle, a nudge against your mouth but his fingers cradled the back of your head as he deepens it. “Love you too. So much” is mumbled as he presses further into you.

Arousal simmers on the back-burner as an afterthought. You had fucked hard earlier - a frenzy, a reconnection after a week of only facetime calls and voice memos that left you worked up and over. You know you will fuck again when the sun is up because Mikey loves starting the days off right when you are both in the same place.

Right now is the time to relearn the shape of his mouth as he kisses you lazily. You pull back slowly. You stare at him and he stares at you, movements slow.  

A beat.

Two.

Three.

“You remember the talks we had?” you whisper before you could stop, brushing your nose over his, “when we had just met? The ones that lasted days at time?”

“Yeah,” he responds, his voice low, “That was a long time ago but I do. I don’t think I could ever forget.” There are flashes of light behind his eyes and you know he remembers each call. Each text thread that was either memes or philosophical questions that had you trying to unearth the truth of the universe. Each conversation that spanned days because real life creates lulls between responses.

“I fell in love with you there,” you whisper back, “Somewhere in those calls, I turned over to look into the phone and realized that you were mine and there would never be anyone else for me.”

“Yeah?” its a soft question that, from the look on his face, doesn’t require an answer, “You too?” You nod anyway. He deserves to see it.

He grins.

“I’m glad that we took our time,” you continue, wiggling as his hand scratches at your back the tiniest bit, “I like that we are friends. I like that I can say “Mikey is my best friend” when they ask me about my boyfriend. I’m glad that I got the chance to like you.”

“I like you too angel,” he whispers, his voice getting softer, warmth bleeding in the spaces between words. Heat singes around his eyes, “I like you so much.”

You hold him tighter, “no one knows my soul like you do.”

Mikey surges forward to kiss you again, his hand running down from your back to the side of your thigh. He rolls you both so he is half on top of you, maneuvering a thigh between your legs and pressing your chests touch as he slips his tongue between your waiting lips. You arms reach up to rest along the broadness of his shoulders, fingers dancing along the lip of his shell.

When he pulls back, his breathing is harsh, “you know mine angel.”

There is a sense of peace with knowing that all your exposed parts are being kept safe. The storms pass. Smoke is cleared. Petrichor sweetens the air. The dead are laid to rest so flowers can grow on their remains. The sun is bright.

Between you, pleasure kindles slowly. Hands roam and tug and cup. Kisses are scattered like constellations. There are murmurs of praise and whispers of awe. Time blurs as you sink down into it.

Mikey brushes his lips along the side of your face as he glances as the clock, the sun peeking its head above the skyline from the window, “Do you want me now?”

“Now.” You punctuate the word with a roll of your hips against his thigh. “I want to feel you.”

He sighs under his breath, hands shifting you until you are where he wants you. Your night clothes are removed and dropped by the side of your bed. His shorts follow, landing right on top of yours. He nestles firmly between your open thighs. “Okay angel. You can have me. You can have everything.”

The vulnerability in his voice shakes you. The slide of his cock into you has you gripping onto him. He draws it out, indulgent in the way you stutter and writhe against him. Its a seamless fit, despite his size. You are still prepped from earlier, wet and accommodating, and he drips like a faucet.

Mikey had never known sex could be like this. He always expected that sex would be purely physically, a thing that couples did to feel good and sate any hormonal urges. No one ever told him about how it feels when hands grip onto him, leaving trails of sparks and comets and tingles across his body that linger for days. No one ever told him that his lovers moans could vibrate along his vertebrate and resonate in the parts of his unknown. The void in his chest fills with liquid gold when he hears his named sobbed against his skin.

You hadn’t known either.

And even though you both do now, even though you crave each other more fiercely than you crave air, it always feels new when you collide. Every sensation has been redefined. Vulnerability has never felt so powerful.

You cry as you feel his cock pulse inside of you as he bottoms out and grinds forward. He grunts, his arms keeping your hips flush against his.

“How do you always feel so good?” Words emphasized with deep thrusts. Hard, slow, tapering into a grind before pulling back out. ”Always so good for me. Meant for me. Made for me to love. Made to take me.”

“Yes,” you hiss back, breath hot against his neck. Mikey adjusts, one of his hands remaining on your hip while the other slides to grip your arms behind your back. He presses you flush against his plastron, back arched off the bed and supported by the strength in his arms as he holds you. “Meant for you. And you found me.”

The casual, effortless show of strength spreads a warm haziness across your mind. You lean into it.

“Fuck - Mi...I-” There are tears in your eyes as you gasp and shudder as Mikey picks up the pace. Without warning, your mouth is covered by his and you can feel his smile against yours. A laugh bubbles up from somewhere and tapers off as the kiss turns hungry.

“Shh I have you,” he gasps between his own pleasured noises, “I have you. You are safe here. What do you need?” His hand strokes along your face as he rocks into you. His voice is breathless but full of intent. “Tell me what you want.”

“Everything,” you babble as he grind right up against your good spot, “I want everything with you.”

He groans, breathing deep as the colors blur into shapes. He tucks his arm back under you, grinding harder, your clit catching along the hardness of his plastron. Your legs tremble around his hips. Mikey kisses you again before he ducks down to your neck and shoulder, his mouth hungry and burning. Ravenous.

Something about romance ignites a wildfire inside of Mikey. You exploit it as often as you can and he lets you because you both know that nothing is said without intent, without meaning. Honesty burns under your skin and shines through your eyes every time you press words of love into his skin like galaxies in a telescope. He basks in the attention. He worships under it.

In return, Mikey spills filth into your ears. The kind that shouldn’t be as sexy as it is but god does he know what you need to hear.

(”You feel perfect, hot and tight.”/ “I’m yours.”/ “I can feel you. You are real.”/ “I know, angel, I know. You’ve been wanting me so much. You need me. I need you too.”/ “I’m going to show you I love you. You’ll never doubt it. You’ll never doubt that I love you.”/ “Angel I’m not scared of your ghosts. They are scared of me.”/)

Mikey’s voice is serrated in ways no one but you have heard. Raw and carnal and deeper than most would expect, flashing dark around the edges the more passionate he gets, the more he reaches down inside of you to pull out the parts of you only he sees. 

You fall apart from the inside and can do nothing as the bottom drops out. You aren’t scared, not with the way Mikey holds you and chases away anything that could ruin this. His “I loves yous” bleed into your skin and you take hold of his pain and strangle it. There is no room for the grief and emptiness as violent tremors rack your bodies and hands cradle exposed hearts. The lights flash and dance as the decrescendo halts everything around you.

Heavy breathing fill the room. Whispered praise is soft and there is shuffling. You wipe each other down as best you can with the wet wipes you keep by the bed before pulling each other closer. The morning light is higher, peeking between the blinds and under the edges of the curtains. 

Eventually you’ll get out of bed. Clean up properly. Make food and spend time together with your clothes on. Relax in the knowledge that the day is a good one with no dark figures hanging in the corners, waiting to come in. But, thats for later.

For now, you lay close, breathing each other in. Hands are still roaming. No one has faded and there is no cold glass protecting warm skin. Mikey murmurs something and you smile. Your smile meets his smile and laughter joins in, glimmering in the light. You peck at his mouth and his fingers dig into the skin of your flesh before he grabs the comforter and hides you both underneath it.

Everything can wait. Just for a little longer. 

~~~~~

[yesthatssadirichardslove]

Long-lost slave ship and fake riot towns spotlight race at Sundance

LOS ANGELES

From its last known slave ship to heavy police militarization in the Civil Rights era, the United States' deeply troubled history with racism is highlighted by several Sundance festival films this week.

"Descendant" and "Riotsville, USA" are among multiple documentaries and dramas on racial justice at the indie movie showcase, which is taking place online for a second year running due to the pandemic.

In "Descendant", premiering Saturday, Margaret Brown revisits her Alabama hometown where the "Clotilda" landed with 110 slaves in 1860, decades after the trans-Atlantic trade has been outlawed.

Many descended from those slaves still live in the same community, and have passed down tales of their ancestors across the generations. The ship owner's family remains prominent landowners in the area, too.

But the remains of the ship -- deliberately sunk by its owner to evade justice -- were only found in 2018. Located wrecks of slave ships are extremely rare.

"I knew if the ship was found, it's proof. It's a way for people to physically trace their ancestry in a way that's never been done in this country," Brown, who began the film six years ago, told AFP.

The descendants, whose forebears escaped slavery after five years with the end of the Civil War, still live on marginalized land, hemmed in by heavy industry zones whose pollutants are linked to cancer.

According to the film, some of these factories are even constructed on land leased by the Meaher family, who owned the Clotilda.

Despite cooperating with Brown on a previous documentary, none of the Meaher family would speak with her for "Descendant".

"People were afraid," said Brown. "This story is a way to frame a conversation about reparations. Reparations can be seen as a tricky word. But there's nothing tricky about justice. I just hope the film can start conversations about justice."

Debuting a day earlier at Sundance was "Riotsville, USA", in which Sierra Pettengill unearthed footage of fake model towns used by police and military in the 1960s to practice suppressing civil rights protests.

Eerie clips show a grandstand packed with army chiefs laughing and applauding as a Black man is bundled into a new, state-of-the-art anti-riot vehicle in front of a row of fake shopfronts nicknamed "Riotsville".

"The CIA is there, secret service agents are there, police chiefs, high ranking military members, politicians, senators," Pettengill told AFP.

"And to see that group of people laughing at something that's dark as it is -- that this is even being recreated, much less a display of pain and anger -- I think is very telling about the attitudes of that time."

The Riotsville streets, seen in archive military training and media footage, were created in response to protests and rioting in dozens of major US cities in the late 1960s.

Without explicitly targeting racial minorities, the exercises distinguished between "white protesters, and what they call 'hardcore professional agitators,' which are of course all Black," said Pettengill.

Sundance head Tabitha Jackson earlier told AFP that racial injustice was one of several themes of "complex reckoning" and "accountability" being taken up by filmmakers at this year's festival.

"These are the questions of the day, especially in this country," said Brown, pointing to the ongoing US voting rights battle, framed by Democrats as an all-out assault by conservative states targeting racial minorities.

"There's obviously been a necessary -- and we like to say 'overdue' -- conversation," added Pettengill.

Watching the origins of systems like the militarization of the police "is empowering in order to realize that we can take them apart," she added.

"We don't live in an inevitability. But in general, it says something about the way we're living now, and there's not a number to call to fix it. It's really up to us."

Sundance runs until January 30.

[parreidolia]

i finally learned how to make gifs so that i could gif this movie. a couple years ago i unearthed the VHS tape of LIGHTS that i watched as a kid. it’s always been one of those Things, a nostalgia/generational/time travel portal, hovering at the edge of my memory like a dense fuzzy shadow object until i found it again online and it snapped into solidity. and then watching each scene is like a record skipping, tenuous memory that feels more like deja vu, read/write access.

i was floored to discover as an adult that LEONARD FUCKIN NIMOY was in it. he voiced one of the greeks forcing the jews to assimilate and trade their ethereal letters made of light and flame for solid, static, metallic greek letters.

PLUS judd hirsch is the narrator. here he is as isadore weisfelt in warehouse 13 s2e13 secret santa:

image descriptions after the cut

image descriptions:

gif 1: Titlecard. The word “LIGHTS” in orange text over a hilly landscape with a tree in the foreground.

gif 2: Mountainous landscape changes color from gradients of blue to purple/orange as the sun rises or sets.

gif 3: A flickering red/orange Hebrew letter aleph (א) on the right. It enters a wide, shimmering beam of light to the left. The aleph dances and echoes as if passing through a prism, and then expands into the sentence “ויהי אור,” or “and there was light” in English (I think).

gif 4: A flickering golden Hebrew letter aleph (א) dances in front of a colorful abstract background. The letter grows and splits off four additional (different) letters, each of which then further split off even more letters.

still image 1: A TOS-era photo of Leonard Nimoy surrounded by relatives at a Bar Mitzvah, wearing a yarmulke with his Spock haircut. Source: https://medium.com/@jeffnimoy/the-other-nimoy-these-are-the-voyages-of-a-second-cousin-once-removed-1cfe62290ad6

still image 2: Still of Judd Hirsch as Isadore Weisfelt in Warehouse 13, grimacing as Artie plays piano. White text reads, “you threw it all away to work for what, those fascists?!“ The word “fascist” is stylized to mimic his vocal inflection.