#what was that hercules quote again

[saikkunen]

The diver was a beloved character I played in one of my films.

[incurable-cough-of-death]

swear to god if i see one more post about this nonsense discourse of "abstract art enjoyers are pretentious classist people and the art has no emotion in it" I'm gonna splatter paint on the OPs Pollock style and knowing Pollock, it will be a CONSIDERABLE amount

[luxthestrange]

RoR Incorrect quotes#99 Cards Against Humanity

You SOMEHOW roped the gods and some humans to play a card game...they didn't expect what was coming given they thought "Cards against Humanity" sounded like something they make...Poor Deities

Heracles*Has a card and reads it*"Rumor has it Prince wouldn't perform without..."*Sees the card one of the cards gave for the answers to the main card and snickers*"Dwayne the rock johnson in his dressing room!"

Aphrodite: Me too~

Heracles*Sees the next card and jumps covering his face and looks embarrassed and ashamed even*...My love why...*Looks at you with kicked-puppy gaze not wanting to say the possible answer*

Y/n*With an "innocent" grin looks at him*Read the card~

Gods*Look confused...what could have HERCULES so possibly so skittish*

Heracles*Looks up at the ceiling and sniffles with thinned lips trying not to cry, DOESNT wanna say it*

Shiva: Prince won't perform without?...

MORE sniffles and whimpers come from Heracles as he shakes his head...

Hermes:...You need some help?*Raises brow at him*

Heracles*Shakes his head and takes a deep breath with a squeaky voice*I-I got it..."Pedophiles"*Puts the card answer on the table*

-Immediate WHEEZE from some of the gods but...the humans lost it-

Poseidon*Sighs and rubs his temples in shame*...

Heracles*Thinking that was the worst card and sees the other answer and shrieks in a high-pitched voice* OH SHIT-*Slides a bit lower in his chair*

Loki:...IT GOT WORSE FROM ZEUS-I MEAN PEDOPHILES!?*looks in shock at him and then at You who is smiling with an evil glint in eyes*

Heracles*In an EVEN high-pitch voice, he didn't KNEW was possible* SO MUCH WORSE!?-

-Everyone lets out laughs at his voice-

Heracles: I DONT KNOW IF I CAN READ THIS-*Fans his face and takes deep breaths to calm himself down*

Thor*Next to Heracles, seeing his face with a closer look*...There are tears

Heracles: "Pac-man uncontrollably guzzling c-m"*said it thru squeaks and mid whimpers and...maybe laughter at his own pain for saying it*

-Everyone LOSING IT...

Poseidon has left the building-

The gods never looked at the humans the same ever again after that game...

[ofmonticello]

Incorrect Quotes

these are real things that people i know (friends, grandparents, teachers, etc.) have said...i almost want to just share the context too

--

thomas: i guess the closet is made of glass!!! 🤪🤪🤪

james: i need to be baptized again

john: alex is the reason im milking myself

john: *KILLING

hercules: shut up! i’m watching a movie. called life.

thomas: i’m proud to say i’m the only one to make him gag…wait

*john, looking at a dandelion:* this is so big, i’m l

gonna blow it

thomas: i won't be gaslit by my dog

kg3: i don't think that's a war crime, so i won't be doing that

john: if anything, i farted on my own pillow

lafayette: i was born in the grand canyon..yeah.

(a german guy said this to me)

john: alex is my discord kitten

peggy: there's a red glowy dot on the danger thing!!!

thomas: i remember in my day, drugs were safe 😔

john, to alex: i told you i don't mind if you kiss me.

(my grandpa said that to some guy)

alex, to thomas: what if james is actually a government robot?

peggy: how much money would you need to kill someone?

eliza: none. i mean a lot. i mean i wouldn't!

washington as president: i’m not getting rid of condoms, i’m getting rid of single use cups!

[charms-cat]

Nitpicking Kaos

Aka "Is it so hard to have 10 seconds of Googling?"

Dislaimer: I'm not a follower of the Greek pantheon nor am I the most avid "fan" of Greek myth (putting that in quotes bcs there are still worshippers today), but oh my God. Is it so difficult to keep the most basic of information correct? I'm not gonna nitpick on how they twist certain myths (e.g. how Orpheus gets to and gets Eurydice out of the underworld) bcs it's fine, it serves the plot they're telling so it's not like they're doing it for no reason. But the names of gods? Their titles? The fact that Hera is probably the only goddess who has remained faithful to her spouse? Is it too much to ask?

EDIT: just realised just how negative this all sounds, but I did genuinely enjoy the show and its plot. It was interesting enough to captivate me for 8 whole eps, the character dynamics were intriguing, and the portrayal of the gods was cruel and I loved it since it hammers in the disconnect/lack of empathy that they feel for mortals

Anyway, here's a list of nitpicks [SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT] feel free to correct me if I'm wrong

Heracles, not Hercules

Why do people keep getting this wrong? The name of a literal Greek Goddess (Hera) is part of his name. How are you gonna make Zeus praise him, but still get his name wrong

Hestia

Why is Hestia reduced to being a fucking dog????????? Not just any dog either, she's Zeus's dog that already died, absolutely no chance of an appearance of his fifth sibling unless you wanna make it that Zeus was such a dick that he named his dog after his sister. It's not like she has a "useless" domain. She's one of the three most well-known virgin goddesses. She's the goddess of the home and hearth and of the sacrificial fire. She's the one who receives the first offering at a (domestic) sacrifice so why is she just a dog??

Hera

If I had a nickel for every time I read a retelling where she cheats on Zeus with his brother, I'd have two nickels (the first was Lore Olympus, if you're curious). Hera is supposed to represent the ideal wife, the literal goddess of lawful marriage so how the fuck can you make her be unfaithful?????????

Poseidon

Not so much a nitpick than a question, said question being "why are we acting like Poseidon doesn't have a wife, the nereid Amphitrite, queen of the seas" did they get divorced? Is that why he's lusting after Hera

Hades

He's the god of THE DEAD. Thanatos is the god of death ffs; he's the literal personification of death. Thanatos takes mortal souls, and Hades presides over said dead souls. It would've taken only a few seconds to change Hades's title card and for Persephone to call him "god of the dead" instead of the "god of death". Nothing about Hades's position even hints to him presiding over death itself. We only ever see him running the underworld (Y'know, where all the dead are?). They literally had to change nothing but his title card and what Persephone calls him

Persephone

This isn't really a nitpick on her character, but.... if she's in the underworld, shouldn't it be winter? It doesn't matter that she truly loves Hades or that she went willingly, Part of what fueled Demeter's winter is her grief over losing/being away from her daughter so why is it so damn sunny when we cut to the mortal world

Orpheus

Again, not a nitpick but a definite downplay of his musical abilities considering the fact that the song he sung to convince Hades and Persephone had literally stopped the underworld in its tracks

Prometheus

Not an egregious change, but I'll say it anyway: Wasn't he freed by Heracles during his 12 labours? It's not like he needs to be chained up, pretty sure the resentment that comes from centuries or millenia of having your liver pecked out and eaten would sustain his hatred for an equal amount of time

Minos

Their decision to make him a president instead of a king is not only unnecessary, but it makes him look like the Greek ver of Putin. I mean, they really didn't need to add in the part where Ariadne(?) says something along the lines of "you should let the people vote, they'd choose you anyway". Just... the implication that he simply declared himself president is dumb as hell. Despite Athens being the birthplace of democracy, I don't think they even had presidents in Ancient Greece. You could literally just call Minos a king and virtually nothing about the plot would even change so why bother. Is this really just their attempt at "modernising" their world/setting? It's not like we don't have kings in this day and age

Minotaur

It's true that Glaucus is a sibling of Ariadne, but the Minotaur is a whole separate sibling. The Minotaur even has his own name: Asterion/Asterius. Just another case of "why did they have to change this?" Literally just swap out the name "Glaucus" for "Asterion" and not only will (yet again) virtually nothing about the plot change, but it would be more mythologically accurate and less confusing for people who do know the myths. In fact, it could've been a fun hint for people who know the myths to clock what really happened to "Glaucus" early on, but still have them questioning "how did he become the Minotaur in this version?"

Pasiphae/Pas

Ngl I'm kinda sad that Pas seems to be just a normal mortal woman bcs, in Greek myth, she was a sorceress-goddess, the daughter of Helios. Plus, although I think it's kinda fucked up that she was forced to fuck/be fucked by the Cretan bull (bcs being "made to fall in love" is not the same as "falling in love"), I think it would've been interesting to explore not only her grief over losing a child, but the grief that comes from realising that he never was and never could be accepted by either Gods or mortals. Also, it would've made her obsession over him look slightly less selfish (and lowkey creepy) if we found out that part of the reason was that she knew her son could never live among humans as half-man, half-bull so she resorted to making wax figures that would've at least let her imagine what it would've been like if he wasn't the result of divine punishment

Theseus

Was literally just an Easter egg. Downgraded from a prince of Athens to a Cretan bodyguard. Didn't even do his most notable act (killing the Minotaur) or even get sent to the Labyrinth in the first place. Makes him feel very much like a character that the writers added just to say, "Look! Look, we know Greek myth!" Especially since Theseus disappeared into thin air after the Trojan 7 were arrested. I don't think they even showed him in the crowd with Andromache, mourning Astyanax

Non-character Nitpicks (yeah, I got more)

Bees

Not really bothered by this, but I'm pretty sure that bees aren't even one of Hera's sacred animals. They could've made it peacocks, make the birds wander the grounds and when the reveal drops, the symbol of opulence turns into an unabashed display of cruelty

Ichor

Admittedly, the colour of ichor in Ancient Greek texts has always been ambiguous. But I feel like it would've been an interesting visual for their blood to be a non-red colour; maybe the popular gold, for example. Bcs it would've A) drawn a clear line between Gods and mortals and further "validated" the Gods' hubris by serving as visual proof that there's an undeniable difference between them and the mortals; and B) would've really caused Zeus to panic when he saw that his blood was red instead of gold, make him think that he's becoming mortal, vulnerable, weak

Styx

Minor nitpick, but isn't the sentence for not being able to pay the toll only 100 years, not 200? Why the extra 100 years? Why even change this? If they really wanted to make it feel like a long sentence, then they should've gone for 500 or 1000 years. Living even just 100 years of doing the same thing with no variation or even the choice to opt out, or even being able to taste anything, would start feeling hellish sooner than you might think

Couples

This might just be the aromantic in me, but why is there so much romance???? And it's between couples that never existed in the OG myths

1. Hera/Poseidon - why??? I've already talked about how it goes against Hera's character, but if they really wanted them to have a "deep" relationship, they're literally siblings?? They could just bond over having to be the ones that keep Zeus in line or being the only ones responsible for actually ruling their realms (bcs Amphitrite is nowhere to be found). They didn't need to insult Hera's character like that

2. Theseus/Astyanax - I'd have less problem with this if it didn't seem like Theseus wanted Ari to only save Nax instead of all 7 Trojans. It makes it feel like they're fueling the idea that a person would only be desperate to save the person they love romantically. E.g., a husband saving his wife, but not someone saving their best friend

3. Prometheus/Charon - same problem as the Theseus/Nax ship, especially with the added line that Prometheus needs to rely on "someone who will do anything for you" (or sumn like that). Like,,,, you can do that for your friend too, y'know. It's not out of the realm of possibility to miss your friend or love them so deeply that you'd do anything for them. It's literally a well-known joke(?) that there are friends who'd help you hide the body. It'd just be a more intense ver of that between Charon and Prometheus. They didn't need to be romantic to showcase Charon's trust in and dedication to helping Prometheus

4. Caeneus/Eurydice - I'm so tired of people falling in love in less than a week (I don't think this relationship even reached a full three days). Iirc y'all had a grand total of 6 conversations - first at the Frame, second meeting when Riddy introduces herself as a diver, third at the party, fourth when they're sitting on the bench, fifth when they have their short escapade to the Nothing, sixth in Caeneus's bedroom.

I mean,,,,, I get that they shared meaningful conversations, but I swear none of said conversations even lasted more than 5 minutes so where on Earth is this "love" coming from?? Y'all have barely scratched the surface of what you know of each other but you think you're connected??? Get real

Ending on a positive note

I actually love the Furies and the Fates. The Furies more for their looks and their vibe and especially the Fates for their (literal) know-it-all nonchalant attitude. I hope they come back next season.

The set design and colouring is also top tier, from the underworld filtered in black and white and looking industrial and office-like to the vibrant colours and festivity of Earth to the opulence of Olympus

Some actual trans and disability rep! I've been burned before with the trans rep since the Netflix adaptation of "Alice in Borderlands" has a cis woman playing a transfem, but Misia Butler is an actual transmasc! [Nobody argue that AIB couldn't have an actual transfem bcs of Japan's transphobia bcs I can tell you what's not helping trans rights: having cis women play transfem roles, thinking it makes no difference anyway. Good rep can pave the way for acceptance]

The disability rep in actors is so fucking bad that I genuinely thought most people with disabilities just didn't become actors. I only knew that the daughter in "A Quiet Place" was actually deaf bcs I went to look it up. Anyway, hope Mat Fraser (Daedalus aka only decent father figure) comes back bcs no way he actually got eaten, right? Right????

[telvess]

Headcanons for all the characters including Jack since it’s based on Hamlet watching The lion king with the reader. (the original animated movie not the live action remake.)

Record Of Ragnarok Characters x Reader watching together The Lion King (headcanons) 🔞

You know, I haven’t watched The Lion King in… well I watched it once when I was kid and that’s it. Mulan, Hercules and Tarzan were my movies. Anyway I ended up watching The Lion King again to refresh my memory.

Qin

A what? Are you involved? Then Qin would agree to do anything.

He’s like a big kid - chill and carefree, even more than usually. Both of you goof around, Mr. Emperor tries to sing without knowing words, popcorn flies around, you pause a movie in stupid moments to make him laugh etc.

You get a stomachache from laughing too much and Qin obviously has to get infected.

Just two morons have time of their afterlife.

The only moment when there is silence is when Simba loses his father. That scene just hits too close to home and remains Qin about Chun Yan. However he doesn’t let it bother him too much.

HAKUNA MATATA

You both loudly encourage lions to battle.

At the end he asks what other movies you like.

Jack

Because he isn’t familiar with the concept of love and how to express it, spending time with you is probably Jack’s way to show his affection. If you ask him to watch an animated movie together, he’d politely agree, even if it’s not his thing.

Expect tea. And cheddar apple pie.

Jack sees Simba’s journey as a lovely and naive story. Deep inside he does compare himself to that lion cub and wonders what kind of person he would've become if he had only received help from strangers. On top of that Jack actually killed his parents, so it’s odd to him to see how much Simba struggles with remorse over Mufasa’s death which wasn’t his fault.

Truth to be told Jack might mentions some quotes from Shakespeare IF you point out similarities between the movie and Hamlet. These resemblances aren’t very visible. But it may be enough to start an interesting conversation.

The ending of the story may seems a bit bitter to Jack. Whoever was meant to be good, stayed good, and whoever was meant to be bad - stayed bad. Kinda depressing outcome for a man who’s trying to change himself, right? You’d have to talk about it and remind that it’s just a simplification made for children.

Now it’s time for a cuddle session.

Loki

Do you really want to do this to yourself? You’re very naive if you expect to have a fun with this guy while watching this kind of movie.

At first it’s just boring to him, but after awhile he amuses himself by coming up with new ways to destroy the show. He makes a loud comment every time the opportunity arises. For example, there is a scene where Zaku tells young Simba and Nala that they’d be married one day, to which Simba replies: No way! She’s my friend! You can hear a loud snort on the side, followed by She’s your SISTER, dumbass!

Loud chewing.

Hey, y/n, do you know that once Simba becomes the king, he will have kids with every lioness? Even his mom?

Do they have to sing all the time?

DON’T YOU DARE mention that you can see a similarity between him and hyenas or forget about chips, popcorn, whatever you two are eating.

Phew! It’s finally over. Wanna do something funny, y/n?

Adamas

Childish entertainment but once he sees that your eyes get wet with tears, he quickly agrees.

A cheerful start bores him but except tactless way of sitting, he doesn’t do anything to ruin your fun.

Even if Mufasa’s death was expected, it still hits hard Adamas. Basically catches him off guard. It remains him about his last meeting with Poseidon: his brother’s pure contempt towards him, that dead, indifferent expression of his face when he pierced Adamas with his trident, then cold surrounding body and Poseidon’s back as he walked away. But while the movie continues, a new digression haunts Adamas. He plays that scene again in his head and it hits him harder, because he realizes that he almost became Scar to Zeus.

So now he sits stiffly on his ass with a very depressed expression. One look at him is enough for you to know that you have to pause the movie and talk to a guy. At first he rejects your attempts, but very quickly ends up letting you hug him tight. Still plays a tough idiot tho…

Beelzebub

Most of the time he just sits next to you with lifeless expression.

Hakuna matata his ass.

Beelzebub secretly enjoys when you sing, but it’s really hard to catch him with a smile on his face. If you manage to do so, he reluctantly admits it. Good luck with convincing him to join you.

He doesn’t have any deeper thoughts about the movie.

If you mention that Timon and Pumba remain you Samael and Azazel, Beelzebub would just give you a dull look. After awhile he starts to notice that too and has mixed feelings about it.

Hrist

She finds this idea very sweet. It’s relaxing and enjoyable.

When Scar kills Mufasa: RAGE MODE ACTIVATION!

Since then you sit with angry Hrist who really does not like phrase hakuna matata. She starts to hate Simba for being so thoughtless.

Screams SHUT UP every time they start singing.

When Simba lets Scar leave, Hrist in heat of the moment chokes you and loudly screams how dumb he is. You wonder if it can get worse and the answer comes very quickly - Simba fights Scar on the TV screen and you fight for every breath on a couch.

Hermes

Hermes approaches the movie from a different angle: he focuses more on a soundtrack. The movie itself is simple story with moral, standard for humans’ approval.

You both consider an improvement of some songs and probably start doing it in the middle of a movie. Sorry, Simba.

Ares

Ares doesn’t care much about Mufasa’s death - it's necessary plot twist to move on with thread… but the ending kinda touches him. It's very climatic in his opinion.

He is NOT crying, okay?

Well you are. Or you pretend very convincingly so he doesn’t have to play tough boy. He has no idea…

Hades

Because he is a gentleman, your wish would be granted.

It’s animated movie but Hades drinks wine. No cola, no popcorn or other snacks. Please, have some dignity.

Hades has weird uncomfortable feeling in his chest when Scar kills his own brother. Scene just awakes something he doesn’t like to mention: conflict between Poseidon, Adamas and Zeus. Hades never could bring himself to blame any of them for how things turned out, so now he doesn’t try to look too deep into Musafa’s murder.

Afterwards he would share his honest opinion with you, almost like professional critic.

Poseidon

No expression throughout the entire movie.

Scar is pathetic.

Mufasa is pathetic.

Simba is pathetic.

Timon and Pumba aren’t even worth mentioning.

That movie proves that humans are lower forms of life.

At least you have chance to hug Poseidon. If he spends time with you, it means he demands it.

After a movie: Y/n, such entertainment is unworthy of the gods.

Leonidas

Books are better than movies. But fine, if you insist, the King of Sparta would spare some time.

The best comforter: Why are you crying? It’s fiction! It’s not even human! By the way - that lion could kill you with a single paw swing. These mfs are huge! Better him than you, hon!

He smokes so much that you have trouble seeing the TV screen.

Stop couching, hon! I can’t hear what they’re sayin’!

The moment Pumba approach, Leonidas starts talking about his love for venison.

You need truly heroic self-denial to not kick him out. The only option to get him to shut up is to kiss him. He doesn’t get why the kiss is angry but he likes it that way.

You two probably miss the ending. Leonidas thinks Simba isn’t worthy of being king anyway.

Apollo

Ah, y/n, aren’t you adorable for loving such innocent enjoyment? Of course he agrees!

You have to feed him snacks.

He sings along with the characters and makes the movie much better. You end up watching him showing off instead of the movie. Your dirty side may bait off a bit more mature show.

He knows exactly what you're doing and doesn't mind at all.

Later you might catch him humming songs from the movie.

Hello, dear. May I be your king tonight?

Rudra

Simba’s and Nala’s childhood brings nostalgia. Rudra spent his entire youth with Shiva and they were both free spirits. Watching these lion cubs brings back many funny memories.

Rudra’s favourite moment is Simba’s reunion with Nala. He gets mad if he notices you smirking.

Parvati, Kali, Durga and Shiva

You decide it’s time for girls’ night out.

None of you is focus on the movie, it’s just an addition. You mostly talk and laugh. Very loud that it may attracts Shiva.

He just sits down between you with Whatcha doin’? then proceeds to eats all the popcorn and other snacks like vacuum cleaner.

[carefulfears]

knowing you, you have probably talked about it before but i’d really love to know what you think about mulder’s savior/sacrificial lamb complex. i think it was csm that mentioned in amor fati that mulder’s hero complex would be the end of him one way or the other and it always reminds me of this essay “the gods show up” where the “tragic hero” is described as a human who’s by fate already dead, but keeps talking and trying for the sake of something bigger anyway (aka that post where you said mulder belongs to scully but that just ends up being the reason for her hurt because he also belongs to something bigger that doesn’t care for his well being). strangely it also reminds me of that interview where dd said “mulder is a guy who has been given the problems as jesus” lol.

this is such a beautiful question...the first thing that you have to understand is that i genuinely view fox mulder as a benevolent second coming of christ and every written word stems from the point of view of its author, so. the second is that i think duchovny had an understanding of the character that made that story/franchise what it was and his description of a "profoundly human model of christ" in writing the base-work of amor fati (a conflict between larger purpose and desire for normal life) is as unironically insightful as it is extremely funny. the third is that when mr. x shoves mulder against the wall of the hospital garage in one breath and tells him "i used to be you. but you're not me, mulder, i don't think you have the heart" - it's as much endorsement as it is damnation.

if you look at these two quotes from the amor fati dream

CSM to mulder: "You've suffered enough - for the X-Files, for your partner, for the world. You're not Christ. You're not Prince Hamlet. You're not even Ralph Nader. You can walk out of this hospital and the world will forget you."

and later, mulder to diana: "I have commitments-- to the X-Files, to Scully, to my sister."

CSM is meant to be playing the role of the literal last temptation, the snake-like figure that has to lead his prey astray. but those three things that mulder still has his sights on (the x-files, scully, samantha) are three things that nobody else is dedicated to. nobody else is going to keep those cases open and search for answers and care about those victims. nobody else is scully's partner: working with her, looking after her, fighting with and for her. nobody else is inspiring her. nobody else is remembering his sister, missing her, looking for her. the mother that leaves him in a hospital room in this episode, is burning last signs of life a few chapters later.

i've seen people argue that the problem with this episode and its larger arc is that "CSM is right and the episode thinks he's wrong" but i don't think he is right. i don't think he thinks he's right. i think he's doing a job and mulder is doing a job, both playing their roles, and his thesis is that mulder has done "enough" and suffered "enough" for his list of commitments- but what's enough when no one is gonna tag you out? when the speaker is waiting for a clear shot? (i'm reminded here of one of my favorite audries fic lines: "he sits on the bed, the line of his shoulders going curved and uneven. even hercules would have dropped the weight of this world.")

which is all to say (and remember my point#1 at the top), that i wouldn't describe mulder's "savior complex" as even really being a complex, i think it's just the world. i used to talk about sometimes how moving it is to me that mulder was born into this world and was always going to die for this cause and the story is about people who choose to follow. who have every opportunity available to them and want to do this work at any cost. who won't leave him in it alone, at any cost.

it's scully at the end of the road saying that she would do it "all over again."

it's skinner's "if given the choice between advancing my career by being blindly loyal to some faceless puppeteers pulling strings from the shadows, or to throw in with you two, make no mistake about it. i'd make the same decision every single damn time."

and anon i really love that quote you shared, which is from the gods show up by michael kinnucan: "The center of every tragedy is the image of a human being who has already died but keeps talking, someone whose face is a mask."

which, as you alluded, is what i define as the tragedy of mulder's character. that he was always going to die for the cause he was born into ("there is no other version of this story") and perhaps more tragic: that people depend on him, at any cost. that scully dedicates her life to someone who will list her as his tethering responsibility, but who doesn't belong to her. cannot be predominantly responsible to her, of her. harsh punishment for fruitful crimes.

[sforzesco]

Not long after, some cattle were stolen from Euboea by Autolycus, and Eurytus supposed that it was done by Hercules; but Iphitus did not believe it and went to Hercules. And meeting him, as he came from Pherae after saving the dead Alcestis or Admetus, he invited him to seek the kine with him. Hercules promised to do so and entertained him; but going mad again he threw him from the walls of Tiryns.

Pseudo Apollodorus, Bibliotheca, 2.6.2

Iphitos, Herakles, and behind the scene of the murder: Iphitos gifting Odysseus with a bow, and then Odysseus, alone.

okay, so I quoted Apollodorus first, but what actually intrigues me about it is how it goes against a general narrative by making it seem like the act was against his will

Sophokles, Trachiniae

Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica

Herakles and Omphale, Elmer G. Suhr

I'm also fascinated Odysseus' in this moment of the arc, with rituals of friendships cut short and paths diverging where they might have otherwise continued along side each other. there is a tragedy and intimacy of it and the role it plays in the Odyssey that gets to me. Odysseus strings his bow and its a kind of crescendo of several different threads coming together!! and underneath it all, inescapable, Iphitos. everything's interconnected! we're all made up of the people we met along whichever roads we take!!

Greek Notions of the Past in the Archaic and Classical Eras, edited by John Marincola, Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones, Calum Maciver

The Odyssey, trans. Fagles

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[sentience-if]

seeing the ask where the anon keeps forgetting Io isn't Io's forename (tangent: Io Io is the Moon Moon meme of this game lol) and you said "well, i keep thinking Io's first name is $Name", genuinely made me want to share my Io's forename and i hope other people feel compelled to share their Io's names because i LOOOOOVE name-meanings and made-up names and everything in-between

(also, i apologize if i have already shared my Io's name on this tumblr; i have chronic memory loss and do not remember doing that. i searched the blog, it said nothing, but tumblr's search-engine is ass. so. i assume i havent shared mine yet. but i wouldnt be surprised if i already had, period, or even just off-handedly or something. anyway)

my Io is named ✨️Promethea✨️

it is a feminine version of the Ancient Greek legend of Prometheus. a God who had so much sympathy for humanity's plight that he shared sacred fire from Mount Olympus with humanity (what was once as godly-only a thing as ambrosia, until Prometheus shares it with humans) so as to save these hairless/fur-less creatures from the cold and give them an advantage over other creatures. and Zeus, out of anger for this mutinous act of compassion, proceeded to punish Prometheus by chaining him to a rock where eagles (Zeus' symbol was eagles btw) would eat out Prometheus' liver everyday, then due to immortality, Prometheus' liver would regrow the next day to be clawed and pecked out yet again come morning. it is important to note now that, for the Ancient Greeks, where WE see the heart as "our soul" metaphorically, they saw the stomach-liver as the same in terms of poetics, because of the feelings of knots in one's stomachs or butterflies or so on. so, if we were to translocate Prometheus's punishment to our current era and poetic cliches: Prometheus' HEART would be eaten by an eagle everyday for punishment for, well, having a heart. this went on from the dawn of humankind all the way until Heracles (or Hercules, if you prefer) freed him. there's different reasons why Heracles freed Prometheus, but basically, Zeus wanted Heracles to free Prometheus for Zeus' own selfish gains (usually, it was because Prometheus had some kind of secret and used that as a bargaining chip; but what the secret was, depends on the storyteller). i do also always play an Io who turns off the sun for Klaus, so that fire/sun connection feels important, to me, for that event specifically lol

the other big reason i picked Promethea is because of Mary Shelley's book, "Frankenstein", whose full title is actually "Frankestein; or, the Modern Prometheus". the book equates Frankestein's creature to be the equivalent of an abandoned Adam and Frankenstein himself to be Prometheus, as he gifted the "spark of life" and deciding life/death (as the Creature is made up of corpse pieces) when all of that's ✨️God's thing✨️ and thereby commited blasphemy like Prometheus and the fire. personally, i always saw the Creature as more akin to Prometheus than Victor Frankenstein. because Prometheus didn't abandon humanity unlike Frankenstein, and the Creature had to metaphorically steal his own fire so to say. and Victor isn't immortal, but Prometheus and the Creature are. and the Creature uses the artic as its own "chained to a rock with an eagle" punishment. and i could explain more, but I dont want to start bringing out quotes and page-numbers lol

lastly, the name "Prometheus" itself famously means "foresight, forethought". and i like the idea of "thinking ahead" paralleling Io's whole understanding of magic, of "You don't need a formula to count to ten"; or how Io argued with the lecturer about said lecturer not understanding magic well by not "seeing" magic the way Io did. and, rather similarly, if you look up the word "Promethean" in the dictionary, not only does it mean "relating to Prometheus" but it also means "especially creative or daringly original"

i also checked myself just now to see if there were any other "Prometheus"-related meanings and, besides a moth, there is also a type of Lucifer-Match called the "Promethean" which is having a match be lit by breaking a glass tube containing acid. which. idk, i only learned about Lucifer-Matches in general and Promethean Lucifer-Matches 5 minutes ago, but that now reminds me of a certain explosion? sure. Prometheus has connections to fire and explosions anyway, why not ALSO THIS lmao

anyway, i just love researching names, being intertextual, and stuff. i hope more people share their Io names, because i was happily kicking my feet thinking of $Name Io and Io Io, just rotating them both in my head (i do genuinely find them clever. Io being named after a bit of coding?? amazing. i love that for them, unironically. and Io being named the equivalent of 1010, which means "ten"/"10". so, legit, Io Io = 1010 = 10, which i see "Io" as being binary for "10". so. that's so funny and faacinating, "Io Io" means "Io" lol). so id love to hear people's other name ideas for their Ios!!

I am ALWAYS hungry to hear about people's Ios. and this is delicious. little italian chef's kiss. it's even extra triple delicious because of things I know you that you don't 😏

also whenever binary comes up all I can think about is my friend's dad who has a shirt that says "There are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary, and those who don't" and it makes me laugh every time

[femmeleatherface]

i tortured myself by reading the poto (1925) shooting script! there were good things and bad things and if i don't infodump about them i will explode

really long and rambly disclaimer: this isn't the original-original draft (which from my understanding is where the rosy hours of mazandaran sequence came from, but don't quote me on that), nor is it the same as the los angeles premiere cut (which from my understanding included the redemptive love ending for erik, which was apparently never scripted and got shot on the fly while they struggled to figure out how to end the film, But Again Do Not Quote Me). that said, you can see traces of the original script and some of the sequences lost with the los angeles premiere cut, and some of the choices made are... interesting!

long post so thoughts under the cut

complete list of items i am mad or at least disappointed we didn't get in some capacity:

the frame narrative. for some reason they had the story come from the files of m. faure instead of anyone actually involved in the narrative like christine or the daroga, but still. would have been cool

a close, honestly sweet relationship between joseph and simon buquet. if you're going to spend so much time focusing on joseph's death, maybe making us care about him is a good thing??? wild concept

la sorelli's knife <3 also just a role for her in general

erik using a trapdoor to spirit away cesar the horse. i don't know if they ever actually filmed this or what since it seems a little complicated, but the way it's written gives me major looney tunes vibes:

130-D ANOTHER PART OF CELLAR #5 OR #6 IF WE HAVE THE SET. MED. SHOT NEAR THE BIG OPERA HOUSE FORGE A groom currying a great white stallion while a Hercules of a smithy is preparing to put new shoes on the stallion. We plant the stallion fastened to a ring bolt in the stone wall by a strap and is parallel with the wall. The blacksmith is holding up the hoof of the great white stallion to measure a shoe, then he moves over to the forge and with his back to the horse pumps the bellows and sings to himself -- then a strange thing happens, a section of the wall and floor upon which the white stallion stands suddenly turns as if upon an axle and the white stallion vanishes leaving apparently the same wall floor and ring bolt - the smithy lifts the red hot shoe from the forge and prepares to hammer it. He casualy looks around toward the place where the horse was, gasps and drops the hammer. Then thinking perhaps one of the stablemen played a joke, he calls to him - they join him and he asks them about the horse.

so! much! daroga!!!! obviously he is the highlight to me. he gets so many more little scenes and i will say they get pretty repetitive after a while (he shows up, is mysterious for a paragraph, leaves, rinse & repeat), so i get why they changed things. but what i find interesting (and most agonizing to lose) about this particular version is that he's shown to be a pretty compassionate man, aloof but overall very kind and caring about others, even before we know what his deal is. he has a scene with raoul where he shoots him a look of "friendly compassion" while raoul is the exact opposite. it's... a wonderful characterization. what the fuck. also i get the sense that he regularly visits erik's house offscreen and maybe every time he's leaving/entering the cellars we are supposed to infer after the fact that he's paying erik a visit. MANY QUESTIONS. anyway this daroga is amazing and wonderful and i love him. we were robbed.

the "erik visible behind the mirror looking at christine" shot before ALW made it cool:

[181.] SEMI C.V. CHRISTINE ON COUCH Suddenly part of the mirror beind her becomes transparent, revealing the upper portion of the masked face.

mme valerius! she's christine's biological grandmother in this script rather than an adoptive mother, but waves hand. her relationship with christine is very sweet. definitely understand why they cut her, though, she shows up in one scene and isn't even mentioned anywhere else. but what she gets is nice

the cemetery at perros scene. it's SO atmospheric and probably was gorgeous-looking in black and white. unlike some of the scenes in this script we know they actually filmed it because we can see extant photos of it and UGH. UGH!!!!! MAD!!!!!!!

erik has a black mask. i get why they didn't do this one too because it wouldn't have shown up well in a black and white medium, but oh... it would have been nice...

the unmasking scene being partially colorized like the bal de masque. i am a sucker for silent film experimentation, this could have been neat

also the rat catcher (as a rat catcher vs. some random guy) having a colorized red scarf around his neck to make him look decapitated. very morbid. love it

the comic relief played by snitz edwards being the guy who touches red death. from a storytelling and filmmaking standpoint it makes sense (brings new characters into the original story, less actors to pay, etc.) and i'm honestly surprised this didn't make it to the final cut. also, erik's "don't touch me i am red death" warning is on his cloak like in the novel and that is one of my favorite book details so it delights me they were originally going to do it in the film

this erik line:

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG? DON'T YOU KNOW THAT IS THE BAG OF LIFE AND DEATH!"

more understanding of/sympathy for erik from him expressing his desires in general

subjectivity in the torture scene. raoul imagines a forest fire and a lion in his delirium and maybe it wouldn't have worked but i love the stark contrast of that with the daroga's perspective of the frankly banal reality of the torture chamber immediately after (if only because it's a great daroga moment)

also the daroga being more levelheaded during the torture scene in general like in the book. i don't think they necessarily changed this in the final cut, but i do think they shortened the torture scene to a degree and used shots such that the daroga actively searching for a way out based on his preexisting knowledge is a little hard to infer, whereas on the page it is very obvious

this beautiful moment between christine and erik:

[535.] MED CLOSE UP ERICK AND CHRISTINE AMBER Christine gazes up at him earnestly and the picture is held for an instant. Erick realizes that the final moment is at hand and there is sense of terror in his manner. She asks him in a trembling voice: "DO YOU SWEAR TO ME THAT THE SCORPION IS THE ONE TO TURN?" BACK: For the first time Erick shows fear. In a hushed way he answers her: "YES... IF YOU WISH TO BE MY BRIDE." BACK: Quietly she turns from him. [536.] CLOSE UP CHRISTINE AMBER Without an instant's hesitation, but with thorough consciousness of what she is doing she turns the scorpion. [537.] A LONGER SHOT AMBER Erick walks toward her - a man crushed. Christine in this instant has become his master. Christine turns calmly to meet him.

but also i am extremely glad we didn't get these things:

a long, tedious history of the opera house. so much exposition that is mostly not interesting and only barely ties into the story. yawns. we dodged a bullet on this one

just raoul's entire starting characterization. the raoul we got is hardly amazing but wow. this guy is... literally everything raoul is not supposed to be: cool, suave, dashingly romantic, a womanizer. he's basically every 1920s he-man romantic lead and I Do Not Care For It. he gets better the further the script goes along/the closer the script follows the book, but woof. bad. BAD!

reveal of erik's face and the chandelier scene way too early. 35 pages into a 126 page script, or about 30 minutes in if we follow the 1 page = about 1 minute rule. that would have KILLED the suspense of erik's character and undercut the unmasking scene with christine later. and probably also messed with the pacing and sense of stakes. speaking of:

messy pacing. the most egregious offender of this is the beginning. the first fifty pages cover a single night, in which we: meet our characters, introduce the opera ghost concept, get even MORE boring exposition about the opera house, get three "wow the persian is so mysterious who is that guy" moments, set up the plot with erik wanting christine to sing, the murder of joseph buquet (also setting up his relationship with simon so we're sad about joseph biting the dust later), stealing cesare, the chandelier scene, an erik face reveal, raoul finding out about erik, and a whole bunch of other stuff that i can't even remember because it just comes nonstop all at once. the order is... weird, and the story does not benefit because there is just no dang moment to breathe and get to know any of these people. also HOW DOES ERIK HAVE TIME TO DO ALL THIS MAYHEM IN ONE NIGHT. HOW!!!!!!!!

erik's name is erick. for some reason??? it's like they couldn't decide between the eric and erik spellings and just decided to mash them together for... some reason...

subplot with philippe and his wife trying to send raoul to monaco. i do like giving philippe more to do to make his death is more meaningful, but this... is not the way. philippe calls the cops on raoul when he ends up becoming an army deserter, and i get the desire to add stakes, but I Do Not Care About Any Of This

the rising action for the climax is way too complicated. we do not need christine and raoul planning to leave after the bal de masque and then having their plans foiled because raoul gets thrown in prison, only for him to manipulate philippe into letting him out and then give christine a new plan to run away with her after the show, have erik find out about this and be mad because he was the one helped the cops catch raoul at the bal de masque (also he found out about raoul's prison escape and the new runaway plan because erik's apparently a peeping tom who watches christine get dressed in her dressing room, charming), and THEN get to erik kidnapping christine during the performance because apparently he is great at coming up with elaborate kidnapping schemes on the spot. we do not need it. we do not.

the daroga gets less important rather than more important at the end: this is something you can see in the extant versions, but it's especially frustrating in the shooting script because so much of his character was built up, but after the grasshopper and the scorpion sequence he just... exists. becomes one with the mob and that's it. at least in the extant cuts he gets to be the ONE person who ushers in the mob, semi-justifying his presence after he guides raoul to erik's house. in this script he ushers the mob in with simon buquet and raoul (because yes, the mob ending apparently existed in some form dating back to this script if not earlier--UGH!!!!!), which doesn't make the daroga feel really useful or necessary as a character at the end. also he and erik don't even get one scene together in the entire script, which is flabbergasting to me because the trajectory of the story is clearly steering toward some kind of confrontation between them at the end, but nope. my guess this is all a casualty of the constant ending rewrites and the daroga's character being one of the more difficult characters to adapt to 1920s hollywood movie standards, but i'm still mad. this daroga was so good and even during pre-production was getting done so dirty

philippe.... lives????? how did that even happen, what. just what. he went and was drowned but sike! he's alive! what the fuck.

[justamegafan]

Record of Ragnarok Incorrect Quote #24

Hera and Zeus

Y/N is welcoming Hercules to join her, Hermes and her ‘surprise’ guest to have dinner, with Ares tagging along to get ‘dirt’ on Y/N

Y/N: Welcome! I’m your host, Y/N L/N

Hercules: Oh, it’s very nice to meet you!

Zeus (Storms over): Get away Human! Your not taking my children!

Hercules: Zeus?

Zeus: The Gods need Hercules on our side to fight. He’s one of our top fighters, and he’s very popular with the children

Hera (Slams door open): ZEUUUS!!! (Looks at Y/N and smiles) Y/N…

Zeus: Hera?! What are you doing at… the human side?!

Hera (Annoyed): Zeus, as goddess of Marriage and Women, I supervise everyone within my area

Zeus: You’re. . . overseeing other people?

Hera (Sarcastic): I’m sorry if you misunderstand our arrangement

Zeus: What am I supposed to tell our children?!

Hera: They Hercules and Hermes already knew, and they’re happy for me

Ares only came along to find some ‘dirt’ on Y/N to show his mother that she’s not right for her… only to end up liking Y/N and is actually looking forward to seeing her again…

Still based off of @sketchy-owl Hera!

[dreamingdormouse]

Context!

Hey, other parents! PSA: Many works of pop culture derive significant portions of their humor and/or meaning from familiarity with cultural touchstones. Monty Python and the Holy Grail, for instance, assumes you know who King Arthur is! Children are not born familiar with these stories. Educating your kids does not JUST mean teaching them to read and write and do math and why they have to wear a seatbelt. Familiarize them with your culture's lexicon of mythology and references, both modern and ancient, and ideally some of those of other cultures!

I read the first few pages of Howl's Moving Castle to my kids a few days ago, and on the very first page it said "In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, it is quite a misfortune to be born the eldest of three. Everyone knows you are the one who will fail first, and worst, if the three of you set out to seek your fortunes." And I had to stop and give context - I summarized the fairy tale trope "Youngest Child Wins," seen in such stories as "Diamonds and Toads," "Ivan and the Firebird," most of the "Askeladd" stories, "The Princess on the Glass Hill," and non-Disney "Beauty and the Beast." I didn't tell them all of these stories, just explained that there were a lot of old fairy tales where the youngest of three siblings does much better than their older siblings, and that, at the time, that was a subversion of assumptions because the eldest was expected to inherit and to do well.

You don't have to start with the full (adult, graphic, tragic) version. Think about what references people are likely to make in person or in the media your kid consumes, and go from that. I do think my kids should know who Hercule Poirot is, but he can be on my "for later" list - partly because he's a more obscure reference, and partly because he largely figures in murder mysteries, which are less appropriate for 7-12 year olds. If my kids want old mysteries, we can go with Encyclopedia Brown instead. (Side note, recently ran into those again, shocked but not actually surprised to find out they were published in, like, the 1970s.)

And when you encounter problematic things, like period-typical bigotry of various kinds, you can discuss why those things existed and why we don't think like that, but knowing they did exist is also context.

For our family, we're working on the Grimm fairy tales, the Olympians, the Asgardians (not because of Marvel, because of Grandma), and based on their blank looks when I talked about Merlin the other day, I need to add the Arthurian mythos.

Later additions can include Anansi, Osiris and Ra, Coyote and/or Raven, Star Wars, Peter Pan, Sherlock Holmes, Shahrazad, Lang's Blue Fairy Book and some of the sequels, Robin Hood, Shakespeare, Llyr of the Long Hand, Amaterasu, Paul Bunyan (especially because great-great-uncle Paul was a logger), Bilbo Baggins, Narnia, Poirot and Miss Marple... whoo boy.

Yes I'm aware there's an English bias in what I've just listed, and that some of those are problematic in certain ways. I'm not listing everything they should eventually read, or trying to build up role models here. This is just me trying to cover the things that will form a basis for references in other stories and general conversation; "Elementary, my dear Watson" (which Homes never said, but is often quoted) means nothing without context.

[pardonmydelays]

fave lyrics from "yorktown (the world turned upside down)"?

ALL. OF. IT. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-

ok, so i promised you this is going to be a long post & i always keep my promises. let's fucking go:

IMMIGRANTS WE GET THE JOB DONE - this is probably the most iconic line from the entire musical, i actually think i have to give you a little bonus right now because it's important:

i am not throwing away my shot (...) - the use of hamilton's motif here is just chef's kiss if you ask me, i love it so fucking much

i imagine death so much it feels more like a memory, this is where it gets me: on my feet, the enemy ahead of me, if this is the end of me at least i have a friend with me, weapon in my hand, a command & my men with me - once again, we are repeating one verse from my shot but the lyrics are slightly different & the same thing will happen later in the musical but we're not talking about it today (somebody tell me to shut up pls)

then i remember my eliza's expecting me, not only that, my eliza's expecting - BROOOOOO THIS WAS CLEVER

and so the american experiment begins with my friends all scattered to the winds, laurens is in south carolina redefining bravery/we'll never be free until we end slavery! - i am seriously trying not to quote the entire song can you see me struggling & failing

how did we know that this plan would work? we had a spy on the inside, that's right, HERCULES MULLIGAN! A TAILOR SPYING ON THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT I TAKE THEIR MEASUREMENTS INFORMATION & THEN I SMUGGLE IT (...) - not gonna type all of it but damn you know what i mean

black & white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom/not. yet. - gonna throw in a little bonus here:

tens of thousands of people flood the streets, there are screams & church bells ringing, & as our fallen foes retreat i hear the drinking song they're singing... THE WORLD TURNED UPSIDE DOWN - come on this is poetry at its finest, no matter how many times i hear this one i get fucking goosebumps, this is probably one of my favourite moments in the entire musical

FREEDOM FOR AMERICA FREEDOM FOR FRANCE, GOTTA START A NEW NATION GOTTA MEET MY SON! - sooooo emotional!!!

bonus: i think it's also important for all of you to know how absolutely obsessed i am with 2016 tony awards performance... the choreography, the EVERYTHING, i am in love, i am screaming crying throwing up, JUST WATCH IT:

[twistedtummies2]

Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes - Number 11

Welcome to A Gathering of the Greatest Gumshoes! During this month-long event, I’ll be counting my Top 31 Favorite Fictional Detectives, from movies, television, literature, video games, and more!

SLEUTH-OF-THE-DAY’S QUOTE: “It really is very dangerous to believe people. I never have for years.”

Number 11 is…Miss Marple.

Miss Marple is one of the most popular characters created by Agatha Christie: a woman whom many consider to be the single greatest mystery writer in the history of English literature. (Yes, even more than Conan Doyle.) While Christie wrote many marvelous books, and created a number of equally marvelous characters, only two have managed to make this list. On the bright side, however, one will be in my oncoming Top 10 (I won’t say who, nor where they rank exactly), and Miss Marple herself only JUST misses out on making the same, which I’d say is pretty good.

I mentioned with Ellery Queen and Father Brown the idea of the “Accidental Detective” or “Busybody Detective.” I think many would argue that, at least in the world of literature, Miss Marple – while not the first of this kind (the aforementioned Father Brown predates her by about twenty years) – might have been the most popular and influential. Miss Marple is not a detective by profession in any regard; she’s not even a priest or an author. She is, in fact, a rather prim, elderly spinster lady, who lives largely alone in a fine old house, living a life of sublime comfort and seeming tranquility and peace. She is, some would argue, the single least likely of all unlikely detectives there have ever been. She’s old, she’s petite, she’s mild-mannered, has a few eccentricities…in short, she seems more like that kind, well-off grandmother or aunt down the road than a super sleuth.

Of course, a super sleuth is what Miss Marple is. Miss Marple doesn’t go out of her way to find crimes and solve them, but whenever a murder or some other injustice effectively falls into her lap, and she feels the police aren’t doing well enough to figure it out, she takes it upon herself to lend her assistance in solving the crime. Her age, her experience, and – much like with Father Brown – her plain common sense are her greatest assets. While Miss Marple is not typically harsh or unkind, it’s indicated that – even before taking up her "hobby" of solving befuddling crimes – she’s seen a lot of human injustices and cruelties. Under her gentle-hearted surface, she’s privately a bit jaded. She’s not grouchy or overtly cynical, but she's also never remotely shocked or startled when terrible things happen, nor particularly upset by any motive for them, because she’s seen it all. She understands human nature and its capacity for evil, so she trusts no one completely and sees no great surprises.

Once again, the character of Miss Marple is one who has been adapted many, MANY times over the years. The first highly popular interpretation onscreen was Margaret Rutherford: her somewhat comedic film takes on the Miss Marple stories actually reinvented the detective somewhat, accentuating her eccentricities and making her a more zany character than usual. While not really what Christie imagined, this version is still popular today. Other actresses who played the character in movies include Angela Lansbury and Helen Hayes. She’s also starred in a couple of TV shows; the most recent featured first Geraldine McEwan in the role, then later Julia McKenzie, after McEwan decided to retire from the series. Arguably the strangest interpretation was an anime with the very long title of “Agatha Christie’s Great Detectives Poirot & Marple.” This series adapted various tales of Christie’s, including not only the Miss Marple books, but also several tales featuring her other most famous creation, Hercule Poirot. The two detectives were connected by an original character named Maybelle: a relative of Miss Marple who works for Poirot.

Most fans of Miss Marple seem to agree that the definitive screen portrayal of the character was Joan Hickson, who played the part in a TV series that ran from the mid-80s all the way into the early 90s. (She is the fine lady pictured here.) Hickson also narrated several audiobooks of the Marple stories, only adding to her legacy. To say she was right for the role is an understatement: long before being cast in the TV program, Hickson had appeared in a play based on Christie’s story “Appointment With Death.” The author was so taken with her performance, she later told Hickson that she felt, one day, the actress could be a perfect Miss Marple. As evident from critical reception since, this was a case of excellent judgment. No matter who you prefer in the role, considering that as recently as 2022 there were new Marple stories still being printed (obviously by contemporary authors; Christie’s work, in general, has many contemporary treatments to uncover, some better than others), it’s safe to say this grand old lady is still in the prime of her crime-solving life.

Tomorrow, the countdown enters the Top 10!

CLUE: “The enemy of my enemy is my enemy.”

[k-she-rambles]

Some Nuggets (not quotes) from reading Fumio Sasaki's Goodbye Things and Hello Habits:

• don't pretend to have time you don't really have, or you'll find yourself missing out on the things that are truly important to you. 24 hours minus the things that are most important to you is how much time you REALLY have

• failure should not cause too much shame, which prevents you from trying again.

• too much shame can come from assigning emotional meanings, fate, destiny, or the will of God to failures. A lot of the time it's better to simply say to yourself "that didn't work." Or even better to ask what you can try differently next time.

• Aim to fail as many times as possible. Seek a high volume of failures and be merciless in killing perfectionism. If you are failing many times, it means you are trying hard, trying often, and trying many things, and that's nothing but good! Ceramics students asked to make 40 mugs for their final grade made better mugs than the students asked to make one masterful one.

• Maintaining the habits you want to build is less about doing them, and more about coming back to do them again after you wander off. It's like refocusing on your breath after your mind wanders while meditating. What does returning look like for you?

• the things we own are sometimes things we enjoy, but somtimes they're meant to tell a story about ourselves to other people instead.

• The two big questions to ask while downsizing are: "do I like owning this, or do I like what owning this says about me?" And: "do I want to discard this, or do I like what getting rid of it says about me?" (Asking the latter helps guard against pride)

• Quit at 80% effort ‐‐people aren't very good at knowing when to stop, and it's just as easy to overextend as it is to be lazy. "A small daily task will beat the labors of a sporadic Hercules."

• Nature vs Nurture is like asking if the area of a field depends more on the length or the width. You play the hand you're dealt, but life is the kind of card game where you pass the cards, too.

• Some people do have natural advantages! If your family is full of doctors, you have a sense that becoming a doctor is a thing that possible to want or achieve. Some people have to teach themselves that things are possible.

• However, people that do believe or teach themselves to believe in the possibility of change tend to reach for things that people who believe only in nature or only in nurture don't.

• you use endurance when you don't have an immediate reward for the price you paid. You've suffered and endured, and you feel like you deserve a treat, since there wasn't an inherent reward.

• Effort, in contrast, does compensate you. It compensates you slowly, but it compensates you steadily. The true meaning of "do what you love and you'll never work a day" is "prioritize effort over endurance." ("A small daily task will beat the labors of a sporadic Hercules.")

• a knack for something is a natural ability for something. A talent is the skills and capacities you get from continuing to do it.

• Both a knack and a talent are valuable, but the one who pursues talent by continuing to try may overtake someone with a neglected knack (even if the knack is a significant advantage at the start). We all have different capabilities, but we learn to paint the same way we learn to tie our shoes as kids

• Ask yourself "is this object or habit paying me rent, or is it a freeloader?"

[improudofyousammy]

My Beef with the SPN Hell Realm

A never ending novel by Shadow

There is so much lore about Hell in the world. From the Bible to Dante's Inferno to movies to shows to books. And Supernatural chose what? Lightning, a never ending line, a warehouse and a set of spooky stairs. You know who had a scarier Hell realm? Disney's Hercules. The Loony Toons. A realm of fire with a weird devil guy was scarier than anything Supernatural threw at us. You pulled nothing from the Divine Comedy even though it is one of the most quoted works about Hell?

You know who does a good Hell Realm? The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It actually has circles and different parts. (minus the whole school room scene, that was a bit much). It was different ways of torturing different sinners. It's a thought out realm. It's not a warehouse. It's not a hallway. It's not a staircase. It's a realm.

If a four part series about a teenage witch can put the effort into creating a terrifying concept for Hell, why can't a big budget 15 season popular as hell show do it?

They could have given us the seven circles. They could have given Lucifer this opulent yet horrible palace in the middle of a frozen waste of the dead. But again, they gave us a factory. They could have pulled from various art pieces through history. But again, they gave us stairs. They could have given us so much. But they gave us a line in a hallway.