#what i have a problem with is the bs reasoning given for why its a bad ship and why shippers are bad for shipping it

[miraculouslbcnreactions]

@grimharuspex in the comments of that @zoe-oneesama post said it the best; Butterfly should’ve been Emotion and Peacock should’ve been Desire. I know that Zoe has a limit on what canon she changes for her comic which I respect/appreciate given the thought she puts into it (even when canon’s various nonsensical magic rules are especially grating like this) but how do you think things would’ve gone in-show if this was the setup from the get-go? On that note, do you think it’s a good setup for canon in the first place? Why or why not?

This is going to be a rather long lecture on lore and world building and how the peacock fails on every level, so before we get into that, let's start with the positives. I saw a few people pointed out the Desire idea - that being that the peacock's associated Force should have been Desire while the butterfly got Emotions - and I think that they're absolutely right. That one tiny change does fix the surface level issues and make the peacock make sense for its larger role in the narrative.

It would complicate the whole magical slave thing and also mean that you probably have to rework a few of the minor sentimonsters, but generally speaking, it makes way more sense for Desire to birth a fully realized human being. The sentipeople being people while also coming from a single emotion will always be total BS in my eyes.

At the same time, I blame no one for just sticking to canon's lore. Reworking the lore is a serious thing and even I only do it when I'm telling a lore-heavy story. There are plenty of stories where I just stick to canon's nonsense because the lore isn't important.

Now that we've done our positives, let's getting into the negatives! The issue of the day is this: changing the Force from Emotions to Desire doesn't solve the larger problems with the peacock. Problems that we'll now get into. Buckle up, this is gonna be a long one.

Issue 1: Power Diversity

While I would not call myself a superhero expert, I have seen a good deal of superhero and magical girl team shows in my time. Most of you probably have. If you think about the power sets that we see in those shows, then you'll notice that one thing is pretty much always true: every power is unique OR the powers are all closely related in some way. You never do both because the two concepts don't mix. It makes no sense for half of the characters to have totally unique powers while the other half have copies unless there's some sort of special thematic reason for this like siblings sharing a power.

Without that sort of explanation, it just feels weird and it also makes the characters feel redundant. You don't need two speedsters or two supermen! One is enough. Heck, Avatar the Last Airbender takes place in a world where whole civilizations have the same power and they STILL didn't duplicate powers for the core team because they understood that it's important to keep the characters unique.

Miraculous is pretty obviously supposed to be the type of show where the powers don't overlap. Every character gets a unique power that's uniquely suited to them. We even have this confirmed in universe during that confusing scene in the episode Destruction where Orikko - the rooster - tries to explain how his powers work:

Orikko: No, you're mistaken! Time travel is Fluff's power and I can't grant the power that already belongs to another Kwami!

This brings us to the problem with the peacock: it is not a unique power. It's derivative on multiple levels.

Derivation Level One: Akumas

The first and most obvious level is how similar sentimonsters are to akumas. In terms of how they're normally used in the narrative, they're pretty much the exact same power to the point that you literally can't tell which one you're dealing with until someone tells you. The narrative uses them interchangeably with some episodes using an akuma, some using a sentimonster, and some using both.

In fact, I thought that it was really weird that Gabriel didn't switch to maining sentimonsters back in season four. You had akumas breaking their bonds left and right, which is a thing that sentimonsters literally cannot do, making them the obvious fix to this new problem.

To really highlight the whole "indistinguishable power" issue, allow me to highlight some dialogue from Kuro Neko to show that this is very much an in-universe problem:

Cat Walker: You think that's Cat Noir? Ladybug: Of course it's Cat Noir! He must've been akumatized because he regrets having given up his Miraculous!

Ladybug: You'll see once we deakumatize him. (She runs towards Kuro Neko.) Cataclysm his bell, I'm sure that's where the akuma is! Cat Walker: Hang on! (follows her) Ladybug, what if that's a sentimonster? If I use my power on him, he'll lose control and become more dangerous!

Cat Walker: (cringes) What I mean is you're right to doubt, and I agree with you. Until we know for sure whether we're dealing with a sentimonster or someone who's been akumatized, we shouldn't make any brash decisions. (Kuro Neko leaps away.) Let's find out more.

This sort of confusion should be impossible unless it's the result of clever planning by the villain, but that's not what we're dealing with here. Kuro Neko was not about Gabriel tricking the heroes. He sent out a normal sentimonster having no idea that Chat Noir had just quit. And yet Ladybug had no idea that this was a sentimonster. She looked at it and saw an akuma.

Cat Walker also didn't know that it was a sentimonster. He just knew that it wasn't Chat Noir, which was probably the only reason that he thought to question Ladybug and warn her to be cautious. They only realize that it's a sentimonster once they learn that there's a child inside it.

This is canon accidentally telling us that akumas and sentimonster are just straight up indistinguishable unless you see then made or do some experiments to figure out what you're dealing with. That's not a good look if your claiming that each miraculous grants a unique power. It is, however, a great lead in to the second power that the peacock copies: the power of illusions.

Derivation Level Two: Illusions

I said above that it should take careful planning for a sentimonster to be confused with an akuma. While we never see that type of carefully planned setup, we do see sentimonsters used to successfully impersonate humans on several occasions. One example is the episode Optigami which gave us SentiNino and SentiAlec. Seemingly perfect clones of Nino and Alec who did whatever Shadow Moth told them to. We even see a scene where Shadow Moth is telling SentiAlec exactly what to say.

You know who else gives us this type of scene? Rena Furtive in Rocketear:

Ladybug: You said that if Nino could have heard what you were saying, there'd be no misunderstanding? Rena Furtive: Absolutely! Ladybug: How well do you remember what you guys said on the balcony? Rena Furtive: Every. Word. Ladybug: Do you think you could make... a sound illusion? Rena Furtive: Totally.

Is there any doubt in your mind that the peacock can do anything that the fox can do? What's even worse is that the peacock does illusions better than the fox! Fox illusion vanish in a puff of smoke if you touch them. SentiNino was real enough to wield a miraculous because he was a fully corporeal illusion that would have kept on going if he hadn't been snapped away. This brings us to derivation level three: the power of creation.

Derivation Level Three: Creation

The peacock doesn't just outshine the fox, it outshines the ladybug! Lucky charms vanish as soon as Ladybug detransforms. Sentimonsters last forever. The ladybug is only useful in battle as it requires a super villain to cast its cure (which is asinine, but let's not get into that here). The peacock can be used at any time. The ladybug doesn't give you what you want, it just gives you a puzzle to solve. The peacock can fulfill your deepest desires and even create life.

Outside of the extremely specific circumstances that the show gives us - aka an ongoing battle with a super villain - the ladybug is kind of useless. If you want the power of Creation, you're going to use the peacock. This brings us to our second main issue: power balancing.

Issue Two: Power Balancing

The ladybug and the black cat are supposed to be the two most powerful miraculous in existence, but it really doesn't feel like that's true. Sure, if you put them together they rewrite the universe, but that's not part of their individual base power sets. At an individual level, they don't actually feel all that powerful when compared to the butterfly and the peacock. It's more like Marinette and Adrien are smart enough to make their very limited powers work while Gabriel and Nathalie are dancing along easy street and making fools of themselves with every step.

I've mentioned before that I can forgive the butterfly's overpowered nature because this is an episodic show. They want each episode's fight to be unique and interesting and so we have to give them room to have one power set that should be an insta-win card, but isn't because plot.

I can give them that grace once. I cannot give it to them twice.

There is no reason why both the butterfly and the peacock need to feel more powerful than the supposed most powerful miraculous in existence. I've even talked to one person who is rewriting canon with the assumption that the peacock and the butterfly ARE the most powerful ones because they are! Nothing proves this better than the fact that they've both made creations that can copy the powers of the ladybug and the black cat (see: Copycat, Strikeback, Ladybug, Sandboy, Miraculer, and probably a few others that I'm forgetting).

They're also the only miraculous that don't require an active user. You can create a sentimonster or an akuma, then detransform and have a snack while your creation does whatever you need it to do. That's so incredibly broken and such a terrible move in terms of power balancing. Either have all of the powers require active users or, at the very least, have more of a mix of active and passive powers. Why do Mirage, Shelter, and Lucky Charm vanish when their caster's detransform while akumas and amoks stick around? There is no in-universe logic to explain this. It works this way because that's what the writers needed these miraculous to do. A fact that makes it impossible to get invested in the lore of this show.

When designing a complex magic system, you generally don't want "because plot" to be the only answer to why things work they way they do. You want your magic system to feel real and organic to the world. That's how fictional worlds come to life! If Miraculous' magic system was well designed, then you could take it and use it to tell a wildly different story set in the same universe, but you can't. Everything about it is designed around making canon's story work and not around making an immersive world that you can almost believe exists.

There are stories that I wouldn't hold to that standard, but they're mostly short form stories. Anything as big and complex as Miraculous needs to have a solid lore system backing it or else you lose all sense of stakes. A great example of this is the Bunnyx problem where you know that she can show up at any time and reset the timeline even if things are happening in her own past, so why do we need to worry about bad things happening? And how are the ladybug and the black cat the most powerful ones when you have nonsense like time travel and the power to create human-like creatures? Early canon lore was decently solid, but the longer the show goes, the more nonsense the lore gets and that makes me sad because I love good lore.

Some Final Thoughts

You may have noticed that I didn't really talk about the sentikid issue in this post. That's because my dislike of the peacock came long before that fun little twist. While sentiAdrien is yet another great reason to dislike the peacock, it didn't need to be a thing for the peacock to be a terrible idea. Take away the sentikids and you still have an incredibly derivative and lore-breaking power set that never should have made it into the show.

I actually completely redesigned the peacock for my own rewrite which I start plotting back when I was first watching season three, long before sentiAdrein was even on my radar. That's not something that I usually do in my fix it stuff. I usually try to stick close to canon and make more minor tweaks, but the peacock is so fundamentally world breaking that I had no choice but to do a total overhaul. This is already an incredibly long post, so I won't go into that here. I'll save it for another ask that's sitting in my inbox. I'll schedule them to post back to back.

For this post, I'll just end by pointing out that switching the peacock to Desire makes it derivative of and arguably better than the pig, too, since the pig can only tease you with what you want. The peacock actually gives it to you. In fact, I'd say that the peacock may be a better pig even without the switch!

You can also argue that the peacock is better than or at least equal to the rooster and the goat because they're also just variations of the butterfly and the ladybug's power. Like there is legitimatly potential in taking those miraculous and doing an AU where each Kwami's power is an aspect of creation because the powers are so awkwardly intertwined. Probably make the peacock the master and all others spawn from that one or something like that.

Anyway, this is why you can't design powers around characters if you want good lore and a large team! You have to start with the powers and go from there! It's why I edit Nino's character to be more of a protector since that's his supposed True Force! Also because I want him to be more narratively important but that is a rant for another day.

[hopepaigeturner]

Will, Alice and the Question of Class

I’ve already explained a couple of my thoughts here about S3 subplots. And done a prior review of the Mondriches here.

Essentially:

I was disappointed that the only working class family in Bridgerton got sucked up into the upper-class and is now like every other character in the entire show.

Will and Alice’s storyline could have been used to show the rigid structures of class system in Bridgerton (more here). Will and Alice's ostracization from the ton, rather than acceptance, could have been explored therefore not only expanding the world but also letting the audience understand the stakes that Benedict and his working-class love interest will face in the next season. And give these two actors some meat to get their teeth into.

But also, and I think a bit more sinister, is how the writers positioned the conflict for the Mondriches.

The main conflict with Will and Alice becoming upper-class was initiailly portrayed as Will needing to give up his club as people of the ton would look down on him being a businessmen. (And truthfully there probs would have been stuff like that). In the first conversation/mention it was made clear that it was the rigid, prejudiced societal expectations that were causing this conflict.

Here’s the exchange from S3E2

“Mr Mondrich if you wish to be a part of society you must know, you cannot continue to run this place. Memebers of society do not work” “Does being a part of this world not man freedom to do what I like?” “Everything has limits.”

(Another little detail I think is worth pointing out. I find it interesting that the person who spouted all about the freedom of the ton to Will was a white moneyed man from a generationally titled family-Benedict Bridgerton. While the person to show Will the reality was a black Lord who was given his title by QC. I def don't think that is a coincidence. See! The writers do have some awareness yet why does it not extend to class?)

However, after that first mention, the narrative around this conflict shifted. The conflict shifted and became about Will’s struggles with letting go of the past.

See Alice and Lady Danbury Scene in E4

Alice M: “I did not wish to miss another ball, but I also was not looking forward to coming here alone.” Lady D: “Your husband should be here with you.” AM: “Mr Mondrich seems to be having a hard time relinquishing our old life no matter how hard I tug at him, he’s quite attached to his bar.” LD: “The Queen will not smile favourably on a man of ran working in a club. You must show Mr Mondrich that this new life is worth his sacrifice.”

If you look at Lady Danbury’s delivery of the line “your husband should be here…” it is slightly accusatory. Alice’s words signify that it’s Will’s personal choice that is leading to the tension between them.

Suddenly its not the prejudiced class system, its Will who is the problem.

And then the writers go further. Will’s indecision is the one affecting the family.

As Alice says in S3E5:

“Your ledgers will not miss you but your family will.”

At the engagement evening when talking about their daughter riding a horse  “All I could think was…I wish her father were her to see this.”

And this is how the conflict continues to be presented. Will’s conflict around past vs. present becomes club vs. family. Will’s decision to cling onto his past and working class roots is making him a bad father.

It’s framed that its It Will’s choice that is hurting the family.

So ofcourse he should give up the club! Why is he dawdling??? Family is more important than business!

And ofcourse they’re right but…do you see it?

The real problem here is the BS societal structures of the ton where class divides are as defined as a knife edge, meaning the only way to traverse them is to sever yourself from one to another.

Class structure is the real reason for Will and Alice struggle this season. The class structure, that prioritises lineage over labour, you could even say family over labour, is the problem here.

Yet this problem and this conflict is all framed as being Will’s fault.

And yes this is a fantastical romance show where five different styles of fashion are somehow all present at the same time—I don’t expect razor sharp class critique.

Like so much other media, both entertainment and otherwise, it’s a Bridgerton plays into the overarching narrative that the problems faced by underprivileged individuals are their fault rather than the societal/cultural structures that actually cause these problems. (Hit me up if you need examples).

And even worse? I bet the Bridgerton writer had no idea what they were saying with this storyline. I bet it was much easier to write this storyline in this way because it is easier to blame people than the structures intermingling with them. And therefore, it is easier for the privileged who sit on the throne of these societal structures to solve problems—just have the victims pay the price themselves.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Now, I probs need to go and grab some jasmine tea.

[daz4i]

yknow what i have nothing to do and need to distract myself from *gestures vaguely* and i mentioned it a few times in the last few days so i may as well talk abt that one theory i like

first of all let me say. it's not my own original theory lol i can't remember where i saw it first but it's p common so it'd be a bit hard to trace who was the first to bring it up

second. i know it contradicts some themes or at least some messages bsd is going for. which is why i don't think it's too likely (on the other hand some elements in the story can def allow a plot point of that sort to happen without being contradictory asdfhg matter of perspective ig)

ANYWAY the actual theory:

dazai knows he's in a story and aware that he is a character

backup for that theory:

honestly not much. a minor fourth wall break for laughs (the "wow~" scene. you know the one) isn't really proof, but if it was true it'd add some depth to that scene i think!

the main thing i think is cool abt this theory is how it recontextualizes a lot of things about him;

the thing that made me think abt making this post is that collection of dazai saying "you can't kill me" at various points of the story. most of them have context for each scene (atsushi can't kill him bc nlh will nullify the tiger, fyodor can't kill him bc he has the power of friendship, etc), but the fact the same line repeats multiple times makes it stand out to me

so consider this: dazai is confident that he won't die because he knows he can't die before the story is over, bc that's what the narrative decided. that's why none of his suicide attempts ever work (tho you already know my opinion on why that is, in the context of the story itself). he keeps trying tho bc man. it's tiring to be aware

that being said! well. we know he's been suicidal from a very young age. he sees no meaning in the act of living. and, being a character in a story, knowing that your life is all fake, can certainly make one's life feel meaningless, huh.

and ofc, alienation from those around him, since he seems to be the only one aware of the story. he is quite literally separate from the human experience bc of this

also some more angst :) i do firmly believe dazai feels a lot of guilt, more for meta reasons than him really showing it. guilt is a very big repeating element in no longer human and its protag yozo, whom i think dazai is obviously very inspired by. soooooo now consider this :) guilt over odasaku's death. in the context of the story, there is no reason for him to feel that, more or less. maybe nothing beyond "if only i called ango out earlier" "if only i got there in time and got him help", he didn't actually cause oda's death, not more than mori did for example, and he did the best he could too.

buuuuuuut what if he's a character in a story. he doesn't know if the story is about him yet, but given how other people around him don't seem to notice they're characters, it must be, right? the narrative depends on him. and, in that narrative, odasaku ends up dying. if he didn't exist, odasaku could live (really interesting to think abt that in the context of beast, too)

actually since i brought it up. beastzai definitely seems to know he's a character. he knows his existence doesn't mean much, i mean his whole universe is just an offshoot of the main one, literally an au of canon. that's even more meaninglessness on top of canonzai's meaninglessness, and he experienced both of them at once. no wonder he ended up killing himself damn 😩 (sorry this is a joke. ik he killed himself for some noble reason. but also i bet this made it easier)

an awareness of this level can explain some things like how dazai knows things are gonna play out in certain ways - he knows he's in a story, so he knows the narrative has to end in some satisfying way. the main characters have to win, so the doa have to lose. fyodor can't kill him. and we're back to the start

problem with this theory:

that thing i mentioned abt themes and messages in bsd. a lot of the story seems to tell us dazai is HUMAN. having him aware of everything on a meta level, imo, may cheapen that message, bc that quite literally makes him More than others in the universe.

then again the story (and asagiri in interviews lol) also seems to show again and again that he is exceptional and knows best so eh. like i said, matter of perspective

how i think it might work:

no longer human lmao

yknow how it was said The Book was created by an ability (and that's probably why it caused a singularity when beastzai touched it). well. what if the whole narrative we're following, in a way, in the universe of bsd, can count as an ability too. like a combination of The Book and poe's ability, kinda. (i've seen some theories in the past abt how asagiri is gonna be the final boss of bsd lol and that he would indeed have an ability that's just. *gestures at everything* this)

sooooo while nlh can't take him out of the story physically, it nullifies his ignorance to the situation. in a way, he's out of the story because he sort of watches it from an angle others can't

ok i officially ran out of brain power. i might add more in a reblog at some other point but for now these are the only thoughts i have. if you subscribe to that theory as well, or even just thing it's cool, i would love to hear some of your ideas - what other parts of dazai and his story do you think this changes? what does it mean about his relationships with other characters? please share if you have any thoughts on the matter!!! :)

[amethystoceandespiser]

disapointment with izuku and katsuki's arc

taking in count how, even though we are told we are seeing or reading izuku's story, Bakugou ends up hijacking the narrative to make himself look good in comparison to Izuku. which is infuriating since both of them have concepts on their backstory that could make the story better. their dynamic since coming to U.A. didn't change from when they were in middle school and the narrative still tries to gaslight us that their interactions are signs of "friendship" when in reality is, has, and will be stocholm syndrome, since bakugou even when we are TOLD he changed, still demeans, insults, and has a lack of respect for Izuku as a human being that i worry for what kind of fuckery horikoshi went through in terms of relationships. the only way that the arc could have a vestige of quality would be if Izuku at the very least expresed that he resents Bakuhoe for his abuse, but hori turned his own MC into an enabler for his behaviour by trying to tell us supposedly why Izuku thinks Bakugou would be a good hero.

i mean, "bakugou's determination, "charisma", and quirk control make him hero material", no Izuku, you're listing the things you envy of him, not his "heroics qualities"

bakugou's apology? it didn't move me even a little bit, the timing for it was when Izuku was at his weakest and couldn't think straight to comprehend what the hell bakugou wanted to say, and it seems to only be there so that Izuku is shocked enough to let the last remains of adrenaline he has, fade away to pass out. the apology in and on itself was straight out excuses, excuses and more excuses that we are TOLD are what Bakugou tought about izuku, even when after hundreds of chapters of the manga we got jack shit of evidence to prove these claims.

the second fight they had? pure fan service for bakugou stans telling us that "he changed". yeah, he did, but not the ACTUAL issue that he has as a character. him calling himself weak after defeating Izuku actually defeats this claim of being weak making it worth less than shit. this could have been more gut wrenching and understandable (as awfully unnecesary as it is) if he lost to Izuku, that wasn't into the fight at all, it could have shown us izuku's strength, it could've been humiliating for katsuki, but at least this claim admitence of vulnerability could have been EARNED.

his kidnapping by the league of villains? it was only used as a plot device to tell us that bakugou wants to be the best like All might, instead of making him reflect that the villains not only choosed him for his power, he was chosen for his demeanor, behaviour, and personality being more benefitial as a villain than as a hero. he never reflects that they chose him because he's an straight out horrible person.

and one of the worst travesties of the narrative. ¿the final exams? ¿that pair up Bakugou and Izuku together because of their "rivalry"? i don't know what the hell aizawa smoked, but i need some of it to relax after having to deal with his BS reasoning.

i have two mayor problems with this particular issue:

by the context we are given by the teacher (what we are told), they are tested together because their rivalry could be dangerous if its left unatended like it was currently seen (something that should be aizawa's responsability to deal with). the problem rises when we take in count their behaviours (what we are shown) in which someone could see that the agression is completely one-sided from bakugou's side. meaning that if they're tested together, the over-all weight of the failure or success of the team is solely on Bakugou, since Izuku has no problem working with anyone since he can sinergize quite well with his skill set in analisys. this test is unfair for izuku since they are putting part of the blame of bakugou's shittiness on izuku, and these exams should show what they learned or how they react in situations outside their confort zones. my point is that it doesn't showcase anything that we haven't seen izuku acomplishing before, this test only favors bakugou.

another pair that was mismatched on this exam was shoto and momo against aizawa, since shoto's problem, while technically is an overeliance on his quirk, he's been using only half the incomplete version of it for a long time, meaning that pairing him up with aizawa is logically speaking, more counterproducent than needed

the way it should have been is: izuku and momo vs aizawa; shoto and katsuki vs All might.

for the former, izuku and momo share a similar trait at this time in canon that is self doubt of their own worth and capabilities, and with aizawa as an opponent, Izuku is reminded of his past as a quirkless individual, and can try to work around with momo about their issues regarding their positons in the hero course and how they use their quirks. izuku could acomplish passing the exam without using and start to heal from the malicious programing that make him believe his past as a quirkless has no value and can work on raising momo's self-steem and make them grow closer as friends. (also i think this is the perfect place for some Izumomo interactions)

for the latter, katsuki and shoto had the same problem that is pride on their quirks, and it has the upside of getting Katsuki the hell away from izuku's story, shoto wouldn't have the same patience izuku have towards bakugou's bullshit, and the possibility of them failing the exam despite being considered the strongest of class 1-a could be one of the biggest humble pies bakugou could recieve.

izuku and bakugou's arcs could work... as long as Izuku and him are separated. if the fics of Demonic Quirks for Dummies taughth me anything is, that with people that izuku could be open about his past as a bullyng and discrimination victim, and with a large distance away from katsuki, he can start to heal and start to see that his life has value and matters for the people that love him, not for having power, but because he is someone that affects those around him, making them wanting to be better versions of themselves, and that are willing to give the favour back. and actually having Katsuki reflect that he is a horrible person, while been humiliated for his shitty behaviour, makes their growth more palatable to enjoy.

[sneezemonster15]

Are you for real? No, seriously are you?

Do you know that Hinduism is a religion, not a race? Do you know that every religion has had a bloody and bigoted history? Do you know that religions can be, and have been, used as a way to discriminate far more than they were used to bring people together? Do you know anything about the Hindu religion? Did you know that in Manusmriti, which is basically a guidebook for 'moral code of conduct' for the Hindus, it says that women are men's property and men can choose to use them however they want? That women should be seen and not heard? Did you know that it categorically discriminates people on the basis of caste and gender? Do you know that in its conception itself, it is a discriminatory religion? I know those who practice it themselves will chafe at it and not agree. But it's true nevertheless.

The only reason I am even responding to this is because I have gotten queries about it and I don't want to see those because, like I have already said, I value my privacy.

I am here to talk about storytelling and characters and that's what I wanna stick to. If you like it, go ahead. If not, then it's beyond the ambit of my consideration.

People here feel way too comfortable to judge others' personal and political feelings heh, without having any damn idea about that person's history or background. Well, you could have given me the benefit of doubt, given up until now, you didn't have a problem with my views. But you chose to simply say this bs? You know the world is bigger than you imagine. There are a lot of things you don't know. Why didn't you at least Google it first? What I am talking about is an extremely well documented subject.

Yes, I have very, very justified reasons to feel the way I feel. And oh by the way, that person who is harassing me, who has made several different accounts to bother me, only because they didn't like that I blocked them, you really think that person gives a shit about my views on religion? That person obsessively went over a year back on my blog just to find something to frame me, so they could use it as a reason to get me in trouble with Tumblr. They have been reported and already been partially banned by Tumblr, yes Tumblr can do that. The person's whose screenshots you saw abused me calling vile names in the name of this religion. That person has been reported by several people, and not just SNS. If you knew the meaning of those swear words that they used for me, your ears would turn pink. Do you have any sense of proportion? Do you think everyone in the world will think like you and everyone has had the same circumstances as you? What is this fucking homogeneity? I don't care about your shallow and obviously ignorant understanding of the world.

You think this person's feelings got hurt because of what I said? You think a person who acts like that person has any consideration for being politically correct? How naive you are. Heh. The person who told me that, I underestimated their pettiness and that they would take a break but they would be back for me?

For real? They are clearly doing whatever they are doing out of SPITE. If nothing else, you should have been able to clock that. There's a reason I judge SS and NH people the way I do. Because they aren't capable of rational thought. You think anything that comes out of their mouths would be rational? I haven't seen one time when they did that. One can't be intelligent or logical or rational and say and believe things that they say and believe.

No one is ever Right? Is that so? How easily you generalise lol. Except I am right in my beliefs. I don't believe in or condone discrimination based on gender, religion, caste, sexual orientation or class.

I grew up navigating certain social realities that not many people of my generation have had to experience in their lifetimes. Do I have Hindu friends? Yes, I do. Many. Do they celebrate their religion? No. Do they agree with me? Also, yes. But is it a simple matter of leaving all ties behind to agree with me? No. These things are complex, very much rooted in their own identity, and I understand it.

I appreciate honesty, common sense and generosity of spirit in people. I don't care for ignorance. I try in my own ways to address it. The major reason why I made this blog is one of them.

I have had enough of this. I will NOT entertain any further enquires on my views regarding this subject. That's not why I am here. And anyone who feels like they are not satisfied is welcome to unfollow me. Right now. You have no idea about the depth and strength of my convictions. Heh.

Anyone who continues to enquire about my reasons to feel what I feel about this religion will be immediately blocked with haste.

[golbrocklovely]

how are they always looking for an editor? and its always for sams half of work?? maybe dont write a novel on how people should do your work and then someone might actually want to work with you🤷🏼‍♀️ just a thought.

well last year it was just them editing. i think they had one person help them for some videos (or maybe just a handfull idk) but they never found someone permenant.

my guess is that sam micromanaged too hard and either the person quit or sam was like "you're not doing it the way i want you to, so goodbye."

and giving directions or notes on what you want the thing to look like… i get it. i'm a perfectionist too. but if you have to give literally 20 pages of directions, that means either you think the person is an idiot, you hired someone that isn't qualified at all, or YOU MICROMANAGE TOO MUCH.

snc (sam mostly, let's be honest here) have made it abundently clear that they want to have creative control over how the videos look, and that's fine. but if that is the case, and somehow you can't teach someone to replicate what you do, then you yourself HAVE to do it, especially if you're not gonna compromise at all.

which is why, again, i think they should take colby's part and train someone to do that instead of the creative aspect, that way they still have control over it and can do what they want without having to train someone in excessive detail.

i mean this with no disrespect towards sam but two things i have noticed about all of this: a), he truly thinks he does the most difficult part of the editing and b) he's really leaving colby in the dust with all of this nonsense. i mean, he makes it seem as if he's doing so. much. work. when in reality he is given a somewhat finished product by colby, who actually has to sit thru HOURS of footage and piece together a storyline that makes sense. and all sam does is add on stock footage, music, sound effects, and some basic text - which god knows are all in a folder that he's been reusing for years now - and making it seem as if he's going above and beyond that to finish the video. my issue with that is both of their parts are crucial, i will not argue about that (even if i downplayed what sam does as a joke). but sam has alluded that sometimes he goes back thru the footage colby edited down and adds more stuff in. so it's no fucking wonder he feels like he does more when he can barely trust colby to make a storyline and edit down 6-8 hours of footage.

and not only is colby doing that, he's pulling out parts and making videos of that extra content and putting it on xplrclub. sam doesn't touch the footage nine times out of ten after it was filmed. tbh, i think they both do about the same amount of editing, it's just one of them likes to act like they do more.

and sam is leaving colby in the dust with all of this bs. first off, he's gonna be burning a lot of bridges if he keeps searching for an editor that can replicate his style but is also someone he has to micromanage the whole time, or has to give 600 notes too bc god forbid it isn't up to his standard. like, i get you want the product to look good in the end, but clearly you either have too high of standards and are expecting too much or you're just a shit teacher and don't know how to train someone and thus are ending up with an editor you don't trust and product you don't like - which are all YOU problems. and the part that doesn't make sense at all to me is…. why is colby the only one, in the end, doing the editing? is he supposed to find an editor on his own? or is he expected to do his part of the video so sam can go off with his gf and do whatever? bc highkey it feels like the only reason colby is stuck editing and doing his own share is bc he doesn't have a gf that he has to look after bc she gets scared of her own shadow or can't be alone in their gated community mansion.

let me just rewind a bit bc i think i got slightly off topic lol

personally, i get sam on some aspects. i get wanting something to look exactly the way you want it too. i get being a perfectionist, having an idea of what you want something to look like, and not taking other ppl's advice or critiques when they give it. however, you also have to know when to just accep things as they are. and if you can't, then do them yourself. but don't get upset when you end up doing everything on your own.

if you want an editor, train someone to be your editor. don't hire an already experienced editor just to be pissed when they do things differently than you. and if you really have to give 100s of notes or 20 pages of directions………. you gotta tone it down a bit. you're not making movies, you're making youtube videos for christ's sake lol

[greggermeister]

AI is BS spelled AI

I don't believe I've ever seen such a fantastic pile of nonsense as AI is going to solve every conceivable problem. I think anyone with a brain in their head should understand AI is just the latest over-hyped tech, that will fail to deliver just like everything else.

It's not artificial when Microsoft buys GitHub with the intent of injecting an all your code belong to us clause in legal language buried deeply in a EULA nobody is going to read. It's not artificial to use GitHub to power Copilot. It's not artificial to power text prompting image generators with all manner of existing content, some of which is copyrighted, or the same thing for music or written works.

It's not artificial when MS takes Cortana down for spewing racism within 24 hours, and retraining it with a subset of the internet that isn't racist. It's not artificial when Just Walk Out is powered by humans watching videos of customers to determine what they put in their bag and automatically bill them for it.

AI is way overhyped, Elon is just a typical full of himself CEO of a high-flying company. AI is not going to reshape the world. All it is going to do is augment existing technology and software and processes. It is only ever going to be capable of being an assistant. Anyone who thinks otherwise, is only fooling themselves.

There's a reason why AI code assistants generate insecure code from other insecure code - it simply does not have the ability to reason. I can reason with another developer about why I take a particular approach to a particular programming problem given a particular set of circumstances. My reasoning changes with changing circumstances.

Intelligence is largely a matter of U+1F595, Reversed Hand with Middle Finger Extended. An example would be Huckleberry Finn, travelling down the river with Jim. Huck grew up in an incredibly racist society, where the first sentence out of someone else's mouth of a different race than yours is either filled with hate or not filled with hate. Everyone wore their racism on their sleeve. The white kid Huck decided the grown up black man Jim is a good man, despite all the crap he had heard his whole life from white people about blacks. It was his U+1F595 moment towards the society he grew up in.

This is how we evolve our thinking, how we shape our attitude over time towards this world, and the people and processes we are surrounded by - we reverse our hands and extend our middle fingers towards everything we see as stupid, hateful, hurtful, useless, pointless, or any other sort of false premise. AI will never be capable of doing this in its present form. AI could only do this if it was self-aware.

Do you want an AI that explains to you why it is so smart and you are so stupid? Why everything you do to get ahead in life is hopelessly pointless? How your children would be better served if only you cared to be a better parent? Looks down on you as another waste of its cpu cycles? Sees you as the human child in its care?

We don't actually want AI because we don't want a self-aware consciousness we can't control running everything. We want an assistant to help us to perform boring, lengthy, and repetitive tasks better. We expect the assistant to be far better than current AI results offer. AI in its present form is useful for search tasks, such as:

Search for better ways to play games like chess or go

Find better ways to arrange thousands of traces on many layers of a motherboard

Optimize search results for considerations like heat, pressure, time, density, weight, colour

Find the best route for a salesman to travel and other graphing problems

A reasonable translation of text or spoken words from one language to another

None of the above is life-altering, it is simply more convenient. It was definitely more convenient for me and my other half in our recent trip to Mexico to be able to use Google Translate with cab drivers, and people on the street asking for directions, and other conversations. We could have gotten by without it, but it was definitely better.

We need to stop calling it AI and call it what it is - virtual assistance. That's all it is, and all it will ever be, and all we will ever want it to be. We will always want to know how things work, we will never want technology or processes that only the computer can understand. We will never have, and never will, want AI.

[gracebeyondmeasuree]

Paradise in crisis

The sneer, the lie, the tree, the call

Sneer - Satan trying to get Adam and Eve to sneer. The fall of the human race starts with an attitude of heart. 2 things. First, more often than not, we lose God not through argument but through atmosphere. Afraid of ridicule and breach of the spirit of the age. When someone says do you really believe that? A proper measured response: that is an assertion trying to create an argument. So can you tell me why that is untenable?

Second, humour - the fall of the human race happened through an attitude of heart expressed through a kind of humour. Humour that is humble and says we are all alike. Vs a kind of human is serpentine - putting someone down to put yourself up. Shakespearean comedy always ends with everybody laughing. Vs Greek classical comedy look at all those fools out there, to laugh at the people there because the lack sophistication of viewers. As opposed to all men are sinners, no one can claim immunity from common exposure. Excellence turned on its head - to see your own pretentious and pride exposed. The characters are exposed and forgiven.

Snark is a kind of humour that puts everybody down. When you have a society filled with bs you have to get up to say it is bs. But there is a kind of humility that says we human beings need to be laughed at. As opposed to corrosive humour that laughs at everything - putting yourself up that - this cynical humour that says everyone is out for themselves but me leaves you without life, friends. The fall of the human race starts with a sneer

Lie - after an attitude the heart comes a lie. For God knows when you eat of it your eyes will be opened. Here’s what he is saying: God if you obey him will keep you down. If you obey God you will miss out. Notice Satan does not go after the existence of God. He also does not go after the law or will or holiness of God.

Instead he denies the goodness of God - behind all those decrees. You can’t trust him, you have to take things into your own hands. That lies in your heart. There is temptation because you believe you can’t trust God - if you believe God you don’t be happy. The moralist says I will earn my salvation because he does not trust the grace of God. The younger brother in the prodigal son thinks the same. The human stain: not trusting God. We have been ruined by the lie. So we work ourselves to death / try to people people down - bcuz we don’t trust in God. Lie of the mind.

Tree - the act of the will. She took some and gave it to her husband who was with her. The great sin. What is wrong with the tree? Logic behind the prohibition? Here’s what so bad: what if God had given Adam and Eve and explanation. The reason why God didn’t give the explanation is crucial to why the decree was important. If he had given the decree it would be cost benefit analysis, you are in the driving seat. That’s not really obedience. God is saying my children I am God. And this life and world is a gift to you. I want you to live as if I am God and your life and world is a gift to you / that you are living by my power / this world is a gift and not your position to do anything you want / your lives are not yours and you cannot do as u please. So you can choose to treat God as God or put yourself in the place of God. And the servant knows that. You have to look beyond the rules. Don’t put yourself in the place of God. Obey the rules because you are not God. Not because of cost benefit analysis not because you see why but because I am God.

Everything wrong with human race is when we put ourselves in the place of God. I get anxious because of how my life has to go and God is not going to get it right. I have anxiety because I am in the place of God. Because of the mistrust we put ourselves in the way of God. All of our problems are coming bcuz of this. We can’t forgive because you think you know what they deserve but how do you know?

Bcuz he is God and I am not. Period. Disbelieving the lie that we cannot trust God. Doing what God calls him to do just because God says so.

The call - you see the rest of the human race in a nutshell. They hid. God called to the man “where are you”. We are now hiders. We cannot bear to know who we really are. In the presence of God we see what we don’t want. We are running from the truth, from ourselves. But while we hide, God seeks. He is engaging. In love he is coming after then he is counselling, trying to get them to answer.

If I love thee, thou must have come after me first.

God going out in love finds it’s ultimate expression in Jesus Christ. Jesus crushes the serpents head. He deals with the lie the tree and the sneer. Jesus was in the dark garden. He climbed the tree of death and turned it into a tree of life for you and me. That is the reversal of the tree sun - human being putting ourselves in the place of God. But the tree salvation - God coming down and putting himself where we should be. That deals with the lie - all the poison in our life - you have to see Jesus climbing the tree of death and turning it into the tree of life. That will take the toxins out of your soul and wedge out of your heart the belief that basically I’m on my own.

Jesus even deals with the joke. If you ask anyone who knows the gospel if they’re christian, they laugh and say yes. What a great joke it is that we belong to you because of your grace. Help us to smile, laugh at that. Rejoice for the rest of your life that your son did what he did.

[violaplayer]

ChatGPT is bad at music theory, but not terrible

I've been experimenting with the free research preview of ChatGPT, especially as it relates to music theory and composition, and here's what I've learned. To begin, I asked it this question and received a decent, but not entirely correct answer:

This answer is quite good, and the chord progressions each sound beautiful. I have to assume that GPT has seen these in some of the training data and is regurgitating that information, because its analysis of the first chord progression (which is in arguably either F major or C mixolydian scale) lists it as C minor, a scale in which only one out of four chords in the progression belongs, and even that chord (Gm) only belongs in the natural minor variety (or descending melodic, which isn't relevant because the voice leading of the 7th scale degree is ascending).

My faith in ChatGPT's understanding of music theory fell even further when I asked it to transpose one of the progressions into a different key:

ChatGPT has the correct steps (although the third step is redundant) for transposing a chord progression, although apparently it thinks the interval between C and D-flat is a minor third (It's a minor second). It probably believes that the interval is a minor third because an interval OF a minor third is contained within the C minor chord and the D-flat minor chord, but that's true of the bottom interval in ANY minor chord in root position. Enough hypothesizing, why not ask ChatGPT?

ChatGPT's answer is baffling to say the least. It's first sentence is circular, and the second is a textbook definition, but the elaboration on that definition can only be described as utter bullshit. The AI assumes that itself and the reader to have knowledge of the quality (major, minor, diminished, or augmented) of an interval with no explanation or reasoning, completely neglecting to acknowledge the existence of half-steps (the things that actually determine the quality of an interval). It indicates that the interval of a third has "two letter names", and in the following paragraph indicates that the interval of a third has "one letter name". None of this is even remotely close to accurate. Perhaps the AI was confused because the question was framed in terms of chords, rather than individual notes?

Nope! Still wrong! Although it's now giving a different (and closer) answer, it's explanation for that answer is complete BS. I'm not sure why ChatGPT is so fixated on the letter name aspect of intervals, but there is definitely something it isn't understanding. The "one letter name" idea appears again, although this time ChatGPT does bring up half-steps, although it is trying to determine the amount of half-steps from the interval name, which is a really backwards way of going about the question, and it does not work out well for ChatGPT because it gets both the interval name and number of half-steps wrong. Let's see if we can coax it into getting a correct answer.

Nope! ChatGPT got painfully close when it said "the distance between C and C# is a half step", which is an enharmonic spelling (the same as, but with different names) of the question I was asking, and the correct answer to boot. D-flat being one half-step below D is correct, but I'm not sure what it's talking about when it says that it's one half-step below E as well. Wouldn't that make D and E be the same thing? Both of which are an undisclosed number of "half steps above C", of course.

ChatGPT knows that D-flat and C# are indeed the same note, but isn't able to use that knowledge in practice to answer my question, even given the knowledge that the distance between C and C# is a half-step.

I suppose the conclusion of this adventure really lies in recognizing that AIs, especially ones which aren't purpose-built for a specific thing, have a very difficult time using disconnected but relevant existing knowledge to solve problems. More on this in an upcoming post.

There's a much more overarching problem that seems to be represented in these answers though: difficulty with abstraction.

Humans are capable of abstracting chord progressions in two main ways: using named intervals like "minor second", and numeric intervals like "1 half-step away". Either of these would have been perfectly fine answers for ChatGPT to provide to my question, but instead it conflated the two methods of abstraction, and was counting note names instead of counting half-steps.

I'm sure this sort of thing would have been fixed in an AI whose main purpose was to help with music theory, but it would have been fixed in a more case-by-case basis in the training data. This kind of abstraction is, and will continue to be an issue for generalized AI until someone comes up with a solution for this.

Until then, we can rely on humans for niche tasks like chord progression transposition.

[raveneira]

KawaSara

Completely off topic of Todays episode but are people really that salty about the KawaSara ship? it’s literally SasuSaku all over again in terms of the arguments used against them

Which btw I still wanna know where are all the SasuSaku fans that apparently support KawaSara because its like SasuSaku [which it isnt in any way shape or form its completely unique in comparison imo] because I have yet to see anyone but anti’s making this claim

And yes Im a SasuSaku shipper and I ship KawaSara but not because I think its anything like SasuSaku because I dont

What I dont get isnt why people dont like the ship because to each their own, what I dont get is the bullshit reasoning on why KawaSara shippers are ‘bad’ or ‘delusional’ or the most common ‘he did nothing but insult her the entire chapter!’

No he did not, here’s what actually happened

For Kawaki’s first time trying Taiyaki Sarada suggests he try the custard one to which Kawaki defiantly chooses chocolate instead, Sarada asks if she could have a bite since she’s never tried the chocolate flavored one and Kawaki refuses because its his and why should he share it with an asshole like her

Kawaki desires freedom and to make his own decisions, Sarada suggested custard but Kawaki wanted to make his own decision and decided on chocolate which Kawaki surprisingly enjoyed, Sarada asks for a bite of HIS snack that HE chose for himself and belongs to him and takes offense to it which shows he probably doesnt get the concept of sharing the same way he wasnt familiar with what a snack was and took it as a sign of her wanting to take from him which makes her an asshole

You could take the Taiyaki as his free will so sharing it with Sarada would be like sharing or giving his free will to her which he doesnt wanna do

Then a kid ran into Kawaki and he reflexively attacked him but was stopped by Naruto, afterwards Sarada went over to the two boys to check on them and apologized for Kawaki’s actions, Sarada is a kind and caring person so naturally, she is angry at Kawaki for his outburst

He calls Sarada an asshole again which he calls everyone, ‘he didnt call Hinata, Himawari or Ino an asshole though!’  yeah and know why? because neither Hinata, Himawari nor Ino gave him a REASON to

Kawaki only addresses people as assholes that he feels is trying to control him, is hostile towards him, or just ticks him off

Hinata barely said two words to him, Himawari also hardly had any interaction with him and Ino was just being extra polite because of the ‘mission’ and had no reason to be hostile towards Kawaki nor him to her

Sarada on the other hand? she’s getting on his case for nearly killing an innocent kid for no reason, Kawaki tells her to shut up and brushes it off as just giving them a taste of the real world, Sarada PERSISTS yelling at him more for using his upbringing [which atm she doesnt know the full story] as an excuse for his behavior, this of course anger’s Kawaki but he doesnt yell at her or lash out and instead asks why she’s even coming along when it has nothing to do with her

Kawaki could have easily yelled at her the way she was at him especially when she played down his upbringing but instead, he just calls her an asshole and asks why she even bothered coming along

My point is Sarada is being hostile towards Kawaki, she’s yelling at him, telling him his actions were wrong when he believes they are justified, saying his upbringing is no excuse for his behavior, Kawaki doesnt like being talked down to and he definitely doesnt like being told what he should and shouldnt do which Sarada was doing and was thus an asshole

Sarada ONCE AGAIN gets on his case, this time for picking a random vase instead of choosing seriously which this time Kawaki does yell at her because again Kawaki does not like being told what to do

He doesnt like being controlled for obvious reasons, Kawaki wants freedom from Jigen and Kara etc and to have free will which is something he wasnt allowed to have so Sarada or anyone else getting on his case about anything triggers a negative reaction from him because he doesn't want to be controlled which he feels Sarada is trying to do by butting in when it has nothing to do with her

The only reason Naruto even gets some respect is because he’s powerful and goes out of his way to be nice to him but he doesnt really like being told what to do by Naruto either but he knows that he has no choice in the matter since he stands no chance of escaping

Kawaki himself is not inherently bad nor does he hate people just for the hell of it, as Naruto said ‘dont you have any sense of sociability?’ to which Kawaki sarcastically replies ‘Hmph...unfortunately it was caused by my bad upbringing’ in reference to what Sarada said earlier

But we see Kawaki does have empathy since he did and does feel bad about breaking the vase and he is going out of his way to make it up to Boruto even though they dont exactly get along Kawaki IS capable of feeling remorse and compassion, he’s just traumatized and doesnt exactly have much experience socially

Bottom line is Kawaki is still very socially inexperienced and is always on edge and on the defensive never knowing when someone’s going to try and hurt him, he has serious trust issues and rightfully so so his treatment of Sarada shouldnt really have been a surprise and even Sarada herself doesnt feed into Kawaki’s insult [the way Boruto does] and just ignores it

If Sarada doesnt care and isnt fazed by the insult why’s the fandom? Sarada’s clearly capable of handling Kawaki, she isnt afraid of him nor does she back down from him and stands her ground

But I love how all the anti’s main argument is about the insult and zero potential when literally this happened after all that

When Sarada see’s Kawaki’s frightened reaction in dropping the vase from his PTSD she realizes Kawaki’s past might be more traumatic then she thought, seeing Naruto hug him and tell him he’s safe here also probably tipped her off to how much Kawaki was really struggling which is when this happened

Sarada tells Kawaki he can rely on her and come to her whenever since she too wants to be Hokage like Naruto is and as Hokage, it is their duty to be there for those in need which in this case is Kawaki

This shows Sarada’s change in attitude towards him from thinking hes just a rude jerk to seeing how frightened he really is, even after Kawaki was rude to her, in the end, she STILL offers to be there for him and to come to her if anything troubles him

Naruto even says that their friends now which Kawaki doesn't deny and just tells Naruto its none of his business ‘shithead’

Funny how he says this to Naruto even after he hugged and comforted him moments ago but its no big deal then right? Im done

I could go on with more panels and go more in-depth with my points but that honestly isnt necessary because the chapter spoke for itself, Kawaki is a very damaged kid with a terrible upbringing and because of it has terrible social skills but isnt a bad person and just wants freedom from those who wish to control and use him

His hostility towards Sarada was reconciled at the end and so was Sarada’s hostility towards him so really the whole ‘he was rude/insulted her!’ or ‘they hate each other!’ or my favorite ‘they have zero potential!’ arguments are all debunked within the chapter

Oh and about the zero potential thing, Sarada mentioning how she’s aiming to be the Hokage too shortly after Naruto hugged and comforted him after his panic attack seems like pretty clear potential to me

She’s basically saying she’s willing to be there for him the way Naruto’s there for him right now which is a pretty good set up for their relationship since Kawaki REALLY needs that support and comfort and most importantly security, if Sarada can offer him that then thats a pretty good start that could build up to something more

But we’re a long ways off from that so I dont even see the big deal yet but apparently anti’s just had to start BS accusing SS shippers of shipping KS because we think its like SasuSaku which I cannot stress enough it ISNT and the only ones who think they ARE is the anti’s themselves so I donno man

All Im sayin is I ship it because I see the potential bond there and I think most of the KS shippers do too, if your anti-KS thats fine but please stop the BS because we all know what its really about

[spnshameblog]

Ok its been a few hours, ive unfollowed a LOT of people and if i unfollowed you please dont take this as me thinking youre a shitty person, if i havent blocked you, youre fine.

I havent changed my mind on leaving simply because unfollowing so many spn Blogs felt like such a relief, which means i should have done it much sooner.

The reason why this fandom has been so inhospitable and why so many people are leaving is bc so many of you are amplifying and supporting blatant shitstirrers and you refuse to acknowledge it. A little drama and a little spice is fun, but some of you LIVE for callouts, takedowns, vagues, etc. Ive said this before, ive never seen this many suicide baits and hurtful commments thrown around by people who supposedly care about the mental health of others.

All your sanctimonious 'take care of yourselves uwuwu be kind to each other' bs literally means nothing when you expose hundreds of people to harmful and triggering callouts for the sake of what? Fandom safety? Justice? Transparency? Be honest, you know its fucking not, bc i know FOR A FACT you know how harmful these callout campaigns are when you or someone you like is being targeted.

"Uwuwu that wasnt our intention, we were just trying to keep people safe, oh noes why is this gaining so much attention waaah" who the fuck is buying this. If, at this point, you say you havent realised that public callouts do more harm than good (to the person being called out AND to completely innocent victims who are getting retraumatised), then youve either been here for less than a month or youre a liar.

STOP letting shitstirrers shape everyones fandom experience jesus christ

Ive had multiple instances where i was baffled by how disproportionately 'outraged' and vicious some of yall get for no fucking reason (the con fallout? That one time yall bullied someone for saying a perfectly innocent destiel fic helped them cope with the death of their dad? The performative hatred of actors, which is bordering on being a parasocial relationship in its own right? Jesus christ, the fucking blogs where you could submit mean shit about other spn bloggers????), and ive blocked and blacklisted many people bc of that, which is why i wasnt surprised at all when some of the same ppl jumped at a new opportunity to sling some mud. For the record i dont keep track of bloggers after ive blocked them, that would be creepy. But some ppl burn themselves into my memory for being especially abrasive and over the top. Which is why i wasnt surprised, i was just annoyed and exhausted bc you keep letting ppl trick you into carrying out their bullying campaign.

"Why are people leaving??" Bc yall are exhausting.

Again: if the punishment or the public shaming of the culprit is more important to you than the feelings or the safety of the victims, you shouldnt act like youre trying to help anyone or improve things for the victims. Youre doing it out of a warped sense of self righteousness and egotism.

Ive said what i wanted to say about this particular incident and how truly bizzare i thought the process of Events was, but this is a general problem and some of the most toxic people are sadly the loudest and very hard to escape when they continue to be given a platform to do this shit, so its really not a hard decision to leave. I dont want to experience the incoming prequel discourse anyways.

[nabrizoya]

RoW Theories and Things I Want to See

with RoW literally a few weeks away, here’s some theories your way. 

this is Really long. like, really very long; mind you. 

Nikolai might become a disabled character.

It’s just the vibes. If we can take reference from the Too Clever Fox story, there’s a line that says “...and his [Koja’s] fur never quite sat right the same...”, which might hint at it (mostly bc i don’t want him to die). Also if this is indeed possible, it can be used to address ableism if it exists in this universe, especially since Nikolai is someone in the highest position of power. 

Zoya will experiment the shit out of powers. 

Idk why the synopsis says that using her powers might be a great deal, which tbf will be because she is truly the most most powerful atm; but Zoya wouldn’t mind taking the step outside of the old norms and bend the orders until they serve their purpose. That’s the entire goal rly.

But all along, she will consciously keep herself mindful to not hunger or discharge her power in a way that may cause harm. She knows the tyranny of the Darkling and the ways he employed. She knows better. 

More character depth to Zoya. 

Given the excerpts, the book does seem to explore Zoya’s infinite grief. And of course her Suli heritage, which a great part of the fandom consistently wants to shadow what with the talk “white features/ part Ravkan” bs. 

But there’s more. I hope RoW will show Zoya’s dilemma (that was alr hinted in KoS) she has with the power she holds, the responsibility she has with having that power + using it in the way that will not be detrimental to her and the country. It will be a great way to portray her self-awareness and doubt and insecurity. She is a good leader, that much is told in text but not shown. There’s character development from the end of R&R until KoS that makes her evolve from a what she was then to the capable and mature 22 year old she is in KoS. 

Of course all of their capabilities will come to light in RoW but I think Zoya and the agency to her as a character will play an integral part. More so because Zoya is to be the conduit to reversing the current Grisha orders, which runs in parallel with the fact that she needs to go back, go back to the roots of her Grisha knowledge and roots of her i.e. her unending grief and trauma. 

She will need to forgive herself while also dealing with the guilt and anger she may have caused due to her position and power. All of this while dealing with her own complex and contrasting emotions due to her own trauma.

Nikolai is held for treason. 

The word of allying with The Darkling may be out and that is enough reason for the entire country to turn against him. The secret about the monster causes issues more than enough already, and this will plunge the country into deep political turmoil and threats to security. So RoW will be more politically driven. That said...

There’s no overt war. 

By this I mean that there will not be war on the battlefield, both armies or more charging at each others’ enemies and such. Ravka cannot afford one either. The excerpts have already proved that. There will be skirmishes akin to a war scenario, but a complete battle like the last battle in R&R? Like a final battle? That’s not going to be there, I think… What I’m assuming might happen is that the Fjerda and Ravka will take a possible Cold War route, if it isn’t already the case they’re already dealing with atm. 

Ravka’s monarchy will collapse. 

It may become a democracy or any other form of public or majority vote. But the monarchy (as well a possible dictatorship, esp with the Darkling returned) will be eliminated. ...Or so I hope, since it has been alluded to in KoS. 

But that poses many problems. With no one line for the throne, let alone with a crime so dark like a blot on Nikolai’s skill (of taking the Darkling’s help), it is possible that Ravka will shun it, right alongside being torn about it because Nikolai has been, for the best of his ability, a good King. All of this in line with the Resistance rising in West Ravka. 

This ties in with the court matters, especially if I want to hold the further points I make true. The resolution to acquit Nikolai of his charges requires a testification forth a jury which will then make a decision about his motives and future. 

Zoya as the Interim Head. 

After all of this, Zoya’s point about Ravka not accepting a Grisha Queen will be true after all, because there will be no monarchy to welcome such an arrangement. 

But Ravka will need a good and trustworthy leader despite Grisha powers and Zoya is the best person to take care of that. The comment “...becoming a steady leader...” and the “Welcome home, Commander,” were there in KoS for a reason (and this is what I think it will link to). 

That being said, there’s more nuance to this than my summary. Zoya is a character of colour. That—in addition to the already existing threats, objections and possible question of capability in the position—ill play into how she will be able to discharge her responsibility. It’s not going to be convenient.

EDIT: taken from a reblog/addition to the og post:

A smoother/more structured transition

Once after the monarchy collapses and a leader must be chosen, it will not be Nikolai. Nor will it be Zoya, though she might serve as an interim head. What I assume might be possible is that someone older is chosen, someone older and loyal and with the proof of knowledge and service to the country. Possibly by majority vote or elected by a council.

Instead of the sudden change, this can be a smoother (if that can even be said about such a major political scenario change) or more structured. I also say this because a. if Nikolai is indeed charged (and later acquitted), firstly his political career will already hold a blot if the word about using the Darkling as a resource is out and secondly, he’s way too young to serve as the leader (by modern standards, sure, but like, the required age will be set while drafting the constitution? currently its 35+).

Instead, the current cast can become representatives (which Zoya would already be, (mostly the head of the) international committee that safeguards the Grisha all over the world) and the Triumvirate will be dissolved. (it should be, tbh)

And hey, b. after all of this, they can and kind of need to take a step back. Nikolai and Zoya will be able to truly explore their relationship, given how Nikolai mentions how he wouldn’t marry unless he’d have had the chance to court someone and marry someone he barely knows nor knows him. For Zoya’s part, she does know Nikolai but surely probably not the extent of openness that a healthy relationship has, and on Nikolai’s part, he admits he barely knows her beyond as a General except for just little things about her.

They could be able to realize and work on their feelings while alongside being involved with the workings of the country and the constitution.

“One day you will overstep and I will not be so forgiving.” 

Need I say more? Something that Zoya does will cost her Nikolai’s goodwill and we know Zoya knows her practicality and the extent to which she will unapologetically move if there is threat to the country and its King. She will do what was right and required. 

A major part of that line ties in with Magnus Opjer and I think with the confidence in the versatility of her powers, Zoya might as well move w/o any word to the Triumvirate to eliminate the most direct threat to the throne. This will bring splits in Nikolai and Zoya’s relationship. 

How this tension between them will be resolved without compromising either of their values, without playing into fandom stereotypes and others must be carefully handled. All of this while showing the best of their dynamicity, practicality and priority as they carefully pull out just those weak sticks of the jenga without putting the whole country into trouble. And with a war in plain sight, they’d know better than pointlessly argue and would rather see how the two of them are wrong. This ordeal will bring out just how condensed power is in the current scenario, imo. 

Importance on the way women have shaped history. 

Something that KoS has already set precedence for. Zoya being a PoC, Nina taking into account of the sufferings of women she comes across and the consistent ‘Who will remember them?’ will be elaborated on further. As for how it is done and how well it is done, that remains to be seen. 

Baghra is alive but maybe not thriving bc she’s stuck in the Ice Court. 

They entered a chamber where an old woman sat with her hands chained, flanked by guards. Her eyes were vacant. As each prisoner approached, the woman gripped his or her wrist.

A human amplifier. [...] But the Fjerdans used them for a different purpose – to make sure no Grisha breached their walls without being identified.

Kaz watched Nina approach. He could see her trembling as she held out her arm. The woman clamped her fingers around Nina’s wrist. Her eyelids stuttered briefly. Then she dropped Nina’s hand and waved her along.

Had she known and not cared? Or had the paraffin they’d used to encase Nina’s forearms worked?

- Chapter 22. Kaz; Part 4: Trick to Falling, Six of Crows.

Nina will be the one to free her and together they might wage a war from Djerholm together.

This gets even more interesting because we know the anguish and scorn that Baghra feels for her son at the same time; she understands the wrongness that he used to seek and will continue to. Zoya does take Baghra’s name at the Fold when she mourns and rages over how people forget the destruction and most importantly, forget the women. Baghra could be the symbol of the stag as the art piece depicts, or will be shown with relation to the Darkling’s powers.

As for how she will play into the story, perhaps she will be the one to help reverse and find the roots of the orders, in the sense that changes the perception of the Grisha powers for the Grisha as well as the common folk of Ravka. She is the only other person other than Juris and the Darkling to have the age of eras together, knowing Ilya Morozova, and she will be instrumental in giving Ravka an advantage over Fjerda. Either that or she will help in scrubbing the prejudices of Fjerda slowly away with whatever powers she has left. Or both. 

Alina will reappear, but will not contribute to the plot significantly.

Zoya understands that the truth she knows about the Darkling is very minimal not enough to end him for once and for all. It makes sense that she will probably consult Alina for it. So, Malina appearance, possibly at the orphanage. Alina will not directly contribute to this war, but she will play a critical role in defeating the Darkling.

Besides, Alina —and Baghra— are the only ones who know that there has only ever been two Darklings. Zoya did sense, multiple times during KoS, that the Darkling is damn old. Yuri mentions it. And while it is not outright specified, the fact that Zoya thinks that she realizes just how ancient Lizabetha is in context of meeting the Darkling is enough proof for her to seek more information about the age and the older skill of the Darkling. 

And I think it goes without saying that I want to hope that the Darkling and Alina will not meet. Pls, she’s had enough. 

Lada is the lost, other friend that Zoya refuses to bury. 

“She saw her mentor die and her worst enemy resurrected, and she refuses to bury another friend.”

Liliyana is dead, we know. But there’s no other mention of Lada except for the “wondering what happened to the pug faced girl.” Lada is possibly a part of the group of women and a Grisha returning to Ravka from Fjerda, exploited by the parem. She might die being unable to withhold the sheer torment of the parem induction, which will devastate Zoya because Lada was also the closest she’s had to a family with Liliyana. 

Either that or Lada is already dead or dies some other way, and Zoya cannot bring herself bear the grief of losing her. 

Cameos: Inej and Jesper. 

The most likely of the crows to appear in RoW are Inej and Jesper and they’ll play equally important roles in the plotline. Here’s a breakdown of why:

Inej

Inej has taken the responsibility of becoming a slave hunter, and it makes sense for Inej to make an appearance in the book, given that there’s going to be a ship taking the Grisha from Fjerda to Ravka. 

The women aboard are vulnerable and require immediate attention, which Inej will immediately zero in on. She will have enough reason to suspect both Leoni and Adrik on the ship, especially when the jurda parem is still a secret. Leoni and Adrik cannot give that information away because they don’t trust Inej (and have no reason to either). Inej won’t trust them either, not until she understands that the reason why the women are being taken to Ravka and for what reasons. 

Which gives her excellent reason to step in, try to analyze the situation and help the women accordingly.

Here’s an exciting thought though. Once after the entire misunderstanding is overcome and Inej understands (esp. if Nina is brought into the conversation and security and secrecy of the conversation is ensured), there may be discussion about how the Grisha might find a safer space in Ravka.

Inej’s appearance might also extend to playing a pivotal role in giving Zoya the confidence to seek her heritage and where she hails from, to embrace the part of her past and forgive herself and others for her mistakes. 

ALSO, 

Grisha finding a safer space in Ravka will mean that Inej can pitch Jesper’s case for him to Zoya. Being the highest authority who takes cares of the responsibilities of the Grisha, Zoya will be the best person to talk about this with. 

And so, here comes Jesper. 

Jesper

For one, I wish Jesper and Leoni interact, talk and just bond like the iconic siblings they would be. <3 But more than that, Jesper plays very integral to the plot for more reasons.

Jesper’s arc will parallel Zoya’s. Both of them are new to their powers in their own individual sense; Zoya is trying to use her new powers in a way that hasn’t been done before, thereby breaking the Grisha orders of powers and Jesper (assuming he has decided that he might want to learn and embrace his Grisha powers) is learning them afresh. 

This journey of them trying to embrace, learn and relearn and reject older norms and experiment really work in tandem.

That will lead us to a further (plot) theories. 

Ties with Novyi Zem 

As of the KoS end, Ravka has no support from anyone atm. Sure the Kerch will provide funds but Ravka has no real allies. Here’s where Novyi Zem and Jesper come in. 

We know Novyi Zem is a new country and also that it is the second safest country for the Grisha in the universe. As of KoS, their agreements are not renewed and they would be since between Kerch and Novyi Zem, Ravka was forced to pick Kerch. Yet Ravka needs their help in acquiring jurda for the antidote. 

So here’s the deal: Ravka will get their jurda but at many conditions that the Novyi Zem will impose on Ravka to not let exploitation get in the way. 

The conditions imposed could be (these are just some at the top of my head but I hope there are more to ensure the safety and security of the Zemeni, in Novyi Zem and in Ravka too) : 

Naval support from Ravka

We know of the Zemeni ships and ofc Nikolai has been hard at work trying to develop plans to use the sea to its fullest advantage. While the news of the izmars’ya isn’t public, Zemeni can place a condition for technical aid from Ravka since Ravka does have the technical knowledge it can dispatch as a condition.

A Grisha School in Novyi Zem

Think about it. Ravka, despite being the safest place for the Grisha, still isn’t entirely safe. Not all Grisha become soldiers in Ravka, they have a choice to abstain but those who are training are still recruited a honed for purpose alike preparing for war, especially the teens and preteens from the time of the Civil War. The training does take a lot of time. Ravka intends to make a home first and then service, but at the moment, while the Grisha are provided safety, it’s not assured in the best sense. Both the facts about a home and service are in precarious positions atm.

TL;DR: Ravka isn’t entirely safe for Grisha therefore the Grisha themselves too are not + Ravka is war torn. 

So what happens? 

One of the conditions as the next best country that serves as home to the Grisha, Novyi Zem may put forth the prospect of building a Little Palace like institution for the Grisha in Novyi Zem. It sounds morally wrong in the sense that the Grisha there will also be trained for war, but the war will end and soon, the Grisha will not be subject to serve for something but engage in economic activities as anybody else with the progression of time.

All of this won’t happen immediately either; learning their powers, honing it in the way that is unocnventional from what it had been pre-RoW and that transition + the building of the establishment in Novyi Zem and laying foundation for the  transnational panel or committee for Grisha that Zoya talks about will all take so much time. 

A few Grisha representatives from Novyi Zem can learn at the Little Palace and by the time the construction of the institution is done in Novyi Zem, these Grisha, along with other willing Grisha who either want to return to the country they were born in (like Leoni) or are offered to teach in a different country can do so too. 

There will be stricter terms so as to not ensure exploitation and possible colonization in these nations. 

Zoya mentions in one of her chapters that eventually there will be a need for the a  transnational panel or committee for Grisha. Jesper can Zoya can make it possible, adding in other countries to the panel slowly as the war recedes. 

Kaz and Wylan? 

Least likely to make an appearance, in my opinion. I think they’ll be mentioned plenty of times or brought up once and given great importance for how they can help in the side plot. 

Shu Support: 

This is more a hope than an actually theory dfbkdhjadfh but Makhi might have to step down from the throne because Ehri will take the place; either as a Queen (no...) or she might oversee the process of strengthening Shu Han and finding a leader (if she doesn’t want to become one herself). 

Ehri is capable, more than capable despite the little we know of her from the last chapter in KoS. All I hope is for an understanding and friendship between Nikolai and Ehri (and the subsequent cancelling of the marriage duH) for this to happen. She has little interest in statecraft but with the time she might spend with Nikolai, she might change her views. Even if not then she still gets the happy ending she deserves with Mayu (which is canon at this point rly).

Emotional Development or Breakdowns

Okay but I really, really, really hope we get to see all the three protagonists lose their shit and deal with their trauma, seek help or trying to stop isolating themselves or anything else they do to cope? Nina, Zoya and Nikolai, all of them cry, all of them get to completely lose it, let themselves be human and healthily cope and learn to rely on the people they trust the most. Like the sheer power and potential to show the myriad of ways to deal with grief, sadness, stress and more and make use of the trio’s backgrounds to show healthy and diverse ways of helping themselves, by letting themselves and others help them is just *combusts* Incredible! 

That being said, can I also ask for moments of fear and desolation from the side characters too? Impending war isn’t small business, it will take its toll on people, and all these reactions just cement their fears and what they value the most so. pls. Humanizing them rly. 

The Saving Each Other 

As much as I mostly kinda hate this trope, there are traces in the KoS that Zoya might be the one to end Nikolai’s affliction. On the other hand, there is talk of Nikolai helping Zoya control her powers which seems counterintuitive when you consider that Zoya knows that there is a line that she must never cross and that she is very, very careful about it and will continue to be. 

They can instead be the ones who motivate each other in times of distress as they always do (as shown with how Nikolai tries to gain control over his monster during the burning thorn ritual in KoS, allowing himself the vulnerability but also knowing that giving up will be unforgivable to both himself and Zoya as well) but I seriously do not wish for each other to be the ones directly ending one another's misery. Or perhaps this is just a fear imo that Leigh wouldn’t even take the route of (in which case, thank fuck).

Stab Stab Stab 

Zoya gets the chance to kill the Darkling with the rest of her friends. After all, Darkling does call them all his old friends. Just Julius Caeser him all the way and put a bow tie on the book. *chef’s kiss* Everybody deserves a second chance... at ending a tyrant when it fails the first time. 

+

So far, this is it. Rule of Wolves is in less than a few weeks and im- asdfghjkl. not Ready. i’m more Worried than Ready.

[minkmousesworld]

so um... if u know abt america u might know abt this whole abortion bs... idk if im abble 2 ask u or if its appropriate to be asking, but, like whats ur opion about all of it? Sory if im stepping out of place with this question...

It's okay, sunshine, I'm always ready to chat about my opinion on any things <3 /hj

cw politics, abortion, S*muel Al*to

in my opinion, Roe v. Wade was an important decision ��� even if Roe's actions are questionable afterwards — because it became an impetus for pregnant people to get the right to terminate their pregnancy in any case, which is an ordinary human right, like the right to life, or to social security (such as the right to an adequate standard of living and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health).

And I don't like to make categorical statements, because we are all different and this is normal, but this is the point of view that any sane person who understands the value of any life and understands what "life" is in general should support.

The right to an abortion without an "important reason" is the basis of human rights, because it directly comes from the ability to independently dispose of one's own body without state control and, in the case of people who are able to get pregnant, their uterus and womb. No one can take away these rights — just as no one can take away life, name or childhood. And even if I say "everyone has the right to their opinion," the pro-lifers can express their opinion only at home in the kitchen at night when no one hears.

... The last two or three years have been difficult for everyone. Pandemic, quarantine, social isolation and constant tension — the whole world began to get tired and lose their minds as soon as the restrictions began to be lifted. I will not comment on the very long-standing presidential elections of America — at least because there were no "elections", the same people in the parties that were when Obama was still president, it's time to introduce age restrictions after which you can't run — but even then it became clear that only interesting events were ahead.

I don't want to hurt the residents of the USA, at least one of my favorite buns lives there, but the regularity of various problems and tension in society is natural for them. The main problem is not even that — although they can compete with passion even with the Italians — but that huge power the United States has, too huge for someone so unstable. A strange electoral system, regular battles, social tension, problems with racism — not a judge, cannot give any assessments of what is happening, because the United States is still going through a stage of tension and creating its own culture, and this is good, even if it is bloody and dirty.

Therefore, when the news about the incomprehensible situation with abortions in the USA surfaced, I did not even react — this is the USA, ok, something is constantly happening there; moreover, given what is happening now and the strange reactions and actions of the president, I had other reasons for concern and nervousness. What was my surprise when it turned out that something was really happening there, and not the usual democratic "we fought, defeated and won".

Restricted abortions, in a country that calls itself democratic and highly values people's lives — doesn't that sound like a bad joke on some dubious website? Maybe that's why I can't take seriously what Alito writes — with all due respect, I wrote the same way when I was a caustic teenager in the eighth grade, and Alito, well, I think, definitely not in the eighth, and not even in the ninth.

All things start small, and restrictions on independently managing whether they want to give birth to a child or not will not end there. This is just the beginning. The prohibition of abortions leads to criminalization, the growth of homeless children and orphans, an increase in crime, loss of confidence in the government, an increase in maternal and child mortality, moving to other countries to perform abortions — for what? So that the stereotype of a "white cishetero man" feels that he is saving someone? I don't understand.

And I hope I never will. Because nothing is worth taking away from an adult the right to personal inviolability, and from a child the right to a good and loving family and a secure and happy childhood. None of the children whose parents were unable to have an abortion against their wishes will say "thank you" to them.

And I really hope that there will be sane people who understand why abortions are needed, and that this is not just "infanticide for those who want to fuck but do not want to have children."

... but of course this is the opinion of just an amateur who lived their childhood among unloved children and stories about reproductive violence.

in addition, my... religion?... is against any kind of attempts to impose its opinion, even if it says that abortions are always valid, since no one can use a person's body except for the person themselves <3

[themilophant]

Last week's episode of the BS-Free Witchcraft podcast (follow @traegorn if you don’t yet!) came to the unavoidable conclusion that Tiktok is hostile to human life, which, unavoidable, yeah.  But it got me thinking about social media and witchcraft slightly more carefully than my usual thought about social media and witchcraft, which is “don't.”  And – I still pretty much think, “don't” – but we can dig a little deeper, I feel!

The obvious problem with social media, which I am not breaking any new ground by saying, is that it thrives on Engagement, which means that the reach of something that engages the limbic system is disproportionate to the reach of something that might be insightful or truthful or even useful, but feels dry.  The more all-powerful the algorithm, the more this takes on a life of its own (literally, for all I know...), but the rules of Engagement are in effect all over the internet, with generally unpositive outcomes for Discourse in every field.  (To clarify: I think the internet itself has a number of positive qualities and benefits for human flourishing, but all of that has to be weighed against the fact that the internet also operates as basically a 24/7/365 Propaganda Engine that pushes people to be ever more inflammatory and/or pandering in order to break through the background noise.)

In that sense, then, witchcraft isn't anything unusual – it's just another area of human activity that's undergoing the same stresses online as all the other areas of human activity.  But I actually think there's a sense where witchcraft does suffer particularly acutely from this dynamic.  To explain how I get to this conclusion, I kind of have to slam my hand down on the third rail, so here we go: What Is Witchcraft, Actually?

Look, long story short: I'm not going to come to your house and slap the mortar and pestle out of your hand, so if you think I'm full of shit on this, so be it, just keep on keeping on.  I'm not the sheriff of the Craft and I wouldn't want the power to enforce this definition even if that were possible, but I am a guy who prefers to have some kind of sense of what a word means before I run around using it, so I've given the question a lot of thought for myself, and I have (quite cleverly! I'm clever!) distilled three elements that I feel like are sort of load-bearing pillars of the Craft that show up more or less throughout the various versions and generally distinguish them from other paths either of occultism or spirituality.  I like to think of them as Eros, Gnosis, and Heresy (well, Hairesis if we wanted to keep the Greek conceit going, but I just say Heresy in my mind).  There's no reason to go into all three at length here; I'm saying this just to lay the groundwork that I believe witchcraft isn't just incidentally heretical as defined by certain outside institutional forces, but that in fact practicing Heresy is foundational and required.

By “practicing heresy,” I don't mean that you have to do the opposite of whatever your parents do, or that I think Christians get to set the standard by which everything else is judged deviant.  I think those are both mental traps that people fall into, but I mean something much simpler than that.  I'm using etymology to root the English word “heresy” in the Greek word hairesis, meaning “a thing that's chosen” or “one's (essentially) free choice.”  To be a heretic, merging the modern and root definition, is to be someone who has insisted on making a choice for themselves.  I think the reason witches are notoriously so fractious and disorganized and so disinclined to cob together and do the same thing in either the short or the long term is that our very nature is to treat every single piece of received wisdom or authoritative pronouncement as a big maybe.  If we choose it. If we agree.  If it works for us.

I mock that phrase a lot, honestly, maybe more than I should.  Ask any witch why they do things the way they do, and you have like an 80% chance of hearing “well, it works for me.”  Which I love, in theory!  I love the idea of us as a group of mad experimenters, putting everything to the test and accepting it only once it's proven to work for us.  In practice, though, there's one major problem, which is: it works to do what for you?  What kind of results are you getting?  Hell, what kind of result do you want or expect from practicing witchcraft?  The concrete markers of mundane flourishing: financial security, rewarding relationships, good health, good reputation?  Creative inspiration?  The power to know and to enact your True Will? Self-development – moral, psychological, spiritual?  Psychic powers, insight into the nature of reality, mystic secrets?  A sense of belonging to a cosmos that's enchanted, wondrous, meaningful? Surprisingly few of us can answer that question, and if we don't know what we're aiming at, of course we can't know if the things we do are getting us closer or further away – if those things are working for us at all.

I think that makes witches particularly susceptible to all the flaws of the social media attention economy. We want all the options, we are choosers of things, so we're hungry for input, information, ideas.  But most of us are unable to practice the core skill of being good at heresy, which is discernment.  We don't know which of our myriad of options are better or worse than the others, because we're mostly not consciously navigating toward anything in particular, except an unarticulated feeling of desire to be somehow more than we are, other than we are.  And that's a deeply human desire!  It's also one that most schools of philosophy or religions or spiritual practices will at least attempt to provide some form for.  You feel an inarticulate longing for Not This?  Great, here's what you really want, what will satisfy the deep restlessness of your soul, and here's how a person gets from here to there.  Some of those roadmaps are more structured than others, but they tend to have some language around what the Not This is all about, where this road is taking you.  And then you have some combination of texts and live mentorship and co-learning community and Tradition and your own discernment that all collaborate to help you figure out what's going to Work for you as you do the Work.

Those things aren't exactly absent from witchcraft – you can still read books and find teachers and join communities and learn from history and practice discernment. You can do all those things, and hopefully you hit on the particular combination of factors that, well, works for you to help you learn and advance.  But witches, being a whole community full of people who are deeply, fundamentally inclined toward Heresy, do tend to not do that first part, the part where they tell you where you're going. You can go wherever you want!  It's your path!  Hell, I did it a few paragraphs ago: I reassured you that I wasn't trying to tell you what witchcraft means, because it's not my place to do that for you, only for me.

I don't think you can make witchcraft non-heretical in that sense, or make witches not a bunch of heretics ready to throw hands in defense of their right to choose their own path.  I wouldn't want to!  It's not a flaw, it's part of (in my humble opinion) our identity and our magic.  But you take that and throw it in a vat of the internet's constant content, constant Hot Takes, constant ever-increasing competition for the limited resource of Attention and Engagement, and it's just fucking overwhelming. It's being lost in the wilderness with no map and no compass and told it's your privilege to build your own map and compass.  Grateful as you may theoretically be for your freedom, the reality is you're going to walk in a lot of circles.  And you're probably going to fall in with the first other person you run into who really seems to know where they're going.

My unpopular solution to this is – silence.  It's time.  It's spaciousness.  It's asking a lot of questions.  It's taking in a lot of ideas without attaching yourself too tightly to the first ones that feel good – it's giving yourself room to wonder why an idea feels good to you, if it's nourishing a real hunger for you, or if it's stroking your ego by echoing your biases back to you.  It's spending a significant amount of time in a space of humility.  It's loving questions at least as much as you love answers, or at the very least defeating your fear of doubt and uncertainty to some degree.  None of these are things that social media will ever give you, and honestly the internet is going to get in the way of most of that for you.  And when you are ready to make a Choice about your path, or at least the next leg of your path, the solution is to find guides who seem to be going somewhere that you would actually want to end up – in a real way, not just the ones who are good at curating an image that appeals to you. Which is a talent, yes, but once you learn everything there is to know about curating an image, my guess is you're going to feel like there should be more.  And you'll be right.

[h-worksrambles]

The two versions of Sonic Unleashed are so interesting to me because I honestly can’t decide which one I like more.

The HD Unleashed on Xbox 360 and PS3 always struck me as having some of the highest highs in the Sonic series but also some of the lowest lows. It looks gorgeous, especially for the time it came out and the art direction does a splendid job selling the vibe of an adventure round the world. It has some of the most spectacle heavy, fast paced levels of all the Boost games. It’s also probably the hardest Boost game which is probably why it tends to score better with die hard Sonic fans who are more patient and looking for a challenge, than it does with newbies or general audience who come to it with no idea what to expect, get their butts kicked three levels in and bounce off. When everything clicks, it looks and feels amazing. And when you couple that with the gorgeous cutscenes, possible one of the best OSTs in the entire franchise and a simple but surprisingly wholesome story, it makes for a really fun and sprawling adventure.

On the other hand, while it’s exhilarating at its best, at its worst this game makes me want to put my head through a wall. The biggest offender is obviously medal collection. Making the player grind to a halt to pick up mandatory collectibles is just aggravating. It’s not so bad in the night stages where taking your time is encouraged, but in the day stages it’s insufferable. I find it always spikes around Adabat/Jungle Joyride where you get the 6th Chaos Emerald. No matter how diligent I am on any given replay, I always find myself having to stop and backtrack for medals here. Which adds insult to injury because I don’t even like Jungle Joyride. It encapsulates a lot of the worst traits of Unleashed’s levels. Specifically, they’re are often too long, especially the later night levels. I’m less encouraged to practice them to work up to a S Rank because one slip up means restating and doing several minutes of progress again. The day stages are shorter of course but levels like Jungle Joyride Act 1 are still longer than anything in Colours or Generations, which makes replaying for S Ranks a real chore. And I personally don’t think the level design is on par with Generations. There’s a lot more cheap deaths you don’t see coming and the controls (especially the drift) are much looser. I put a lot down to this being the first Boost game (unless you count Rush). So Unleashed is very experimental in figuring out what works. And not all of it does.

And your reward for all of this is the worst final level and final boss of the mainline series (at least in my opinion). HD Unleashed is pretty great for a lot of its runtime but you have to put up with some real BS to get there and it really falls off near the end. A lot of the minute issues worsen near the endgame and all the worst levels are packed together there too. Whenever I replay HD Unleashed, I’m always super into it at the start but by the time I reach the final levels, I just kind of want it to be over.

And then there’s the Wii/PS2 version. Getting it out of the way, the worst part of this is how cut down it feels compared to the HD version. It naturally looks worse. Empire City and Savannah Citadel are cut for no real reason. And the charming huh words are replaced with these ugly point and click maps that look like something out of a smartphone game. It’s naturally very stripped down and lacks a lot of the flavour…

And yet, some of those cuts are actually good? Medals being optional rewards that get you extra lives and other bonuses is so much more palatable than making them progression gates. Plus, they’re now rewards for good ranks rather than forcing you to stop and look for them so they encourage you to actually get better at the game. I also think the daytime levels actually fix some of the problems in the HD counterpart. Assuming you play with a GameCube/Classic Controller to circumvent the annoying motion controls, then the drift feels much tighter, the homing attack and boost aren’t mapped to same button anymore, and, hot take here, but the level design is actually better in some ways than the HD version. Less cheap deaths and bottomless pits you can’t see coming because the camera’s zoomed in too close.The length is also closer to Generations. Not so short that you’re done in a minute but also not so long that replaying for S ranks is a chore.

The Werehog levels are definitely worse of due to a downgraded combat system that robs them of any depth the HD version might have had, but between having less annoying QTEs, and being split into shorter, but more numerous acts, (which again, makes S rank replays more manageable), there’s still some pros even here. Plus, the EXP system is much less grindy here. Maxing out the Werehog is so much less tedious.

I still admittedly don’t care for the Secret Rings esque missions, but I’ll take them over the Hot Dog Challenges or the unfair optional acts and DLC levels in the HD version. Couple that with a final level and boss fight that isn’t awful this time, and the fact that the fun story and cutscenes are still intact, and Unwiished is..actually pretty great. It’s definitely missing a lot of the HD version’s charm and that game is still certainly more complete. But when you remove a lot of the bloat from that version it’s a lot easier to enjoy the best parts of Unleashed.

I guess I just wanted to ruminate on my feelings on the two versions of Unleashed because I have a complicated relationship with the game. Like I said, to me, of all the Boost games it’s always been the one with the highest highs and the lowest lows. I don’t go back to it as much as Colours or Generations even though there are parts I think eclipse either of those two games. I always liked it, but it was never one of my absolute favourites, so while I was really happy to see it gain more of a following in recent years, I wasn’t exactly stanning the game myself, especially when the praise tends to revolve almost entirely around the HD version, where as I think both versions have their pros and cons. The Wii version fixes a lot of the problems I have with the HD one, but it also lacks a lot of the flavour and many of the cuts feel like a step too far. They definitely complement each other and I’d recommend both to series’ fans, but it all serves to make them very interesting titles to reflect on.

[xuyaa]

Looong rant

I might get the stink eye for this but I need to let this out. If you're willing to waste some of your time with an open mind, read on. If you're a soap bubble that pops easily, stop reading because it's wasted on you.

I might get a bit confusing and jumping even mixed from one point to another, but this is from my jumbled mind so bear with me.

So, I have a some things I need to address namely on shipping and choosing side on AOT. Mainly ships though.

So first, shipping. I don't care what people ship if they have the basis. It's fun actually to discover the possibilities, the 'what if' 'if only'. Even when you ship a crack ship, that's fine! I have crack ships too. What makes me ship them is usually good writings from talented writers which then I would see if there's any good art and any hints from the author. But I don't follow a series from shipping standpoint, that would make me a biased reader and I tend to miss a whole lot of thing that way. Or worse, hating other chara for no reason for simply they're 'in the way' of my ship, goodness no.

So here's my problem. When people blindly claim and enforce their ship beliefs on something nonexistent and making it their 'reality' then make little of anyone who don't follow those 'reality', I find that disturbing.

If it's not canon and no confirmation was written or given then just say so, don't make your own interpretation of ambiguous things and enforce other by saying "yes it is canon because character A and B is canon because they say something similar to character C and D who happens to be couple so if you don't agree with me then you're an idiot." Or because "Their color scheme match so they must be if you can't see it then you're an idiot!" No, the idiot is you. I can say "I'm glad to meet you" to someone I love, but that doesn't mean when I say the same words to my friend it carry the same message. Back in highschool I like my girl friend romantically and told her "I like you". What did she respond? She said she likes me too but she means it differently. Does it hurt? Why, in my angsty teenager mind, yes it hurts. But should I enforce my feelings on her? You tell me. And we often wear color coded dress, are we dating then? NO. Not in that sense.

Anyway, it could be any words. If you see chara X and Y who's just a good friend say "See you later" in solemn atmosphere. But then Chara C and D who's a potential lover say the same words, are you going to jump to the same conclusion?? You're diminishing the extent of chara X and Y's friendship. Are characters no longer allowed to be just platonic good friends now? And what next? If a sibling say the same thing, you'll conclude they have potential for relationship too? Just as with my girl friend, because she does not return the feelings that I have, does that diminish our friendships' worth? I would say it would if I did force her to accept. I don't need to be involved romantically with her to have a meaningful bond with her and now I'm glad that she gave me a different meaning to my words as now I find that our bonds are a lot more meaningful without any romantical BS. I'm happier to be her soul sister.

Another irritating example is when chara A have a deep sense of admiration and respect on chara B (who makes no big deal throughout the whole series or the spinoff), people immediately makes it a big deal and again enforce their belief and belittling other ship that don't agree with their view. As far as a nonshipper see, its just one character admiring another okay? Even if chara A have a feeling to B, if they did not have any established relationship, then you can see only what you see through your shipping glasses. Heck me and my work colleague admire our boss, he's young, talented, nice and handsome as hell. I myself wouldn't mind having a relationship with him if he's willing to give it a try and I'll be stupid if I don't. But that DOES NOT mean that any of us are in a relationship with him nor will I pretend that we are! My boss cares for his subordinates gasp does that mean he's in love with us all? With my colleague maybe since she's so near perfect? No. He's very professional and I'm not delusional or that far gone to take that conclusion.

Still with me?

As I say, ship what you want, but if you enforce your belief just from that kind of interaction, that's a pity. For the fandom, not for you. You're diminishing a character's worth into whether they're shippable or not, ignoring their depth, personal struggle and growth, even their basic character traits and what their story can teach you in favor for seeing through the lens of shipping glass. "But they were meant to be and would be happy with each other!" You mean you would be happy if they are.

You may say "Oh it's just a fictional character, just chill." But as easy as you dismiss my points just because they're fictional in this fictional relationship, will you also be okay if a fictional character suddenly decide that yes, one fictional race in this fictional story is superior than the others and should rule above them all in that fictional world? It's different you say? Why so? They're both fictional after all. What would be interesting is if your life was made parallel with those characters. Will you be okay if your whole existence, accomplishments and personal struggles summed into a single reason such as 'your relationship with your ___ (fill your own blank)', or when you respect someone genuinely you were told by someone it's actually you have 'romantic feelings' on that person despite it not being the case? Will you be okay if someone decide that your race is inferior and should be purged, starting from you and then your whole family? Try to place yourself and your loved ones on the character's perspective if you want to grow, and not just one or two characters and try to do it WITHOUT shipping lens.

On ships, I have more respect and interest on a ship when the community is humble about their ship. Where they acknowledge that 'yes, while this ship is interesting and have lots of potentials and parallels made by the author, it's not canon nor will we enforce it on other people to be considered canon.' Go ship whatever but be mature about it. When you ship characters don't say it's about them. It's always about you. You ship them because it makes you feel good and when others don't agree, the immature ones turns sour.

So, are you sour now? I honestly hope AOT fandom is mature enough to understand my point. This series is more than just shipping stuff. It has lessons in it only if you're willing to read and open your mind and eyes.