#yeah you are our token American after all

[suswous]

It’s funny bcs there’s some part of me that feels like I should be feeling anxious rn, just for a different reason!

[intheholler]

On Appalachian and Southern Stereotypes

After seeing some people leap at the opportunity to insult and further harm us under my posts, even by obviously leftist accounts, I wanted to address some of the most popular stereotypes of our region.

Not as an excuse. There are many negative, violent and otherwise harmful features of the American South. We have a horrific history especially in terms of the violence we inflicted and continue to inflict upon the Black community that cannot be forgotten, and, as a culture, we do need to pay our dues.

But maybe this will help y’all apply some nuance to the situation and understand that we aren’t all your enemy.

Stereotype 1: Everyone is a Republican Racist

Absolute horse shit, my friends. There are people like me all over the south and in the hollers. We just get drowned out by the fascists, and it is all by design. 

In my home state of North Carolina alone, they are working tirelessly to make it impossible for young, often liberal (if not outright leftist) voices to be heard. They specifically target regions with heavy POC populations.

As recently as May of this year, the North Carolina Supreme Court overturned their own previous ruling which once made gerrymandering illegal. This allows Republicans free range to draw their congressional lines wherever benefits them most. 

Meanwhile, Roy Cooper, our Democratic governor, has been in office since 2017.

Gerrymandering is a real problem, and it reflects the worst of us. But it does not reflect all of us.

We are a working class, pro-union people.

We are coal miners and mill workers and farmers.

We took up arms against the government and fought for our labor rights during the Coal Wars as recently as the 1920s.

We bled for labor rights at the Battle of Blair Mountain.

It’s a myth that you keep perpetuating that we are all closed minded, bigoted regressionists. It diminishes the efforts of everyone from the coal miners to people like me while we try to make the region a better place.

It actually only worsens what you say that you wish you could “saw off into the ocean.” 

That's my home you're talking about.

Stereotype 2: Everyone is Obese

36.3% of the overall population of the Southeast is obese. This is true.

Have you considered why that may be? For starters, Southerners are more likely to be uninsured compared to individuals living in the rest of the country.

"Among the total nonelderly population, 15% of individuals in the South are uninsured compared to 10% of individuals in the rest of the country."

Partially because they didn't even expand the same Medicaid benefits to us. and partially because we are just so fucking poor. 

17% of the American South is below the poverty line, compared to 13% in the Midwest, 13% in the West, and 13% in the Northeast.

Percentages under 5% may not seem like much, but when you consider 1% of the total United States population is around 3,140,000 people, yeah, that adds up real quick.

How does this relate? Well...

Mississippi has 19.58% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 39.1% obesity rate.

West Virginia has 17.10% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.6 % obesity rate.

Kentucky has 16.61% of its residents below the poverty line, and a 40.4% obesity rate.

Are you seeing the trend?

We, generally speaking, are more likely to be unable to afford to feed ourselves wholesome foods, and we are less likely to be able to afford medical insurance--two things that are obviously important to maintaing good health and a "healthy" weight.

By the same token... 

Stereotype #3: We're All Uneducated 

The South and Appalachia are some of the lowest ranked in terms of educational funding and spending per pupil in the entire country. We don't even break the top 30 on the list, y'all.

49. Tennessee at $8,324 per pupil 47. Mississippi at $8,919 per pupil 45. Alabama at $9,636 per pupil 42. Kentucky at $10,010 per pupil 36. North Carolina at $10,613 per pupil 35. South Carolina at  $10,719 per pupil 33. Georgia at $10,893 per pupil 32. West Virginia at $10,984 per pupil

The top three best-funded states, by comparison, receive between $18k and $20k per pupil.

In terms of higher education, student loans are a death sentence for everyone but especially impoverished kids just looking for a way out. It just isn't feasible for most of us. And that's if we even tested well after going to shitty schools our whole lives. If we had better education, we'd have better literacy in all things, including critical thinking, allowing us to better see through the bullshit we are taught. But we don't. And you aren't helping the ones who are trying in spite of that.

Stereotype 4: Bad Teeth

Quickly going to touch on this one--when we consider a lack of access to affordable, healthy food, shitty medical insurance in general and our poverty rate, this one is kind of obvious. Even so:

“Dental coverage was significantly lower than the national average in the South Atlantic (45.6%), East South Central (45.6%), West South Central (45.9%), and Pacific (48.0%) regions.”

Every time you make a toothless hillbilly joke, ask if poverty is really the butt of the joke you want to be making.

These are just the most pervasive of them, imo. And they can all be underlined by extreme poverty which is absolutely by design.

It also contributes to why it isn’t so easy to “just leave” as we are so often dismissively told to do. Moving is expensive.

And why should we have to, anyway? Why should we have to flee our homes?

Why, for those who feel safe enough and/or have no other choice, should we not stay and fight to better the region?

And why can’t you other leftists get behind us and help us in our fight instead of perpetuating harmful stereotypes? We're your people, too.

Just some food for thought. And I hope some of y’all take a big ol bite.

[wheredidhiseyebrowsgo]

Hii! Do you know any sterek kinda dark Fics where they’re kinda horrible to everyone but each other?

Yeah!

Blood For Blood by NotMyBestIdea 

(1/1 I 342 I Mature)

Nothing is going to come between Derek and his revenge.

He'll bleed you 'til you're just bone and skin by ElisAttack

(1/1 I 2,236 I Explicit)

It's moments when Stiles feels the dull pull of the bruises on his hips, moments when he can't sleep on his stomach because the throbbing ache does nothing for a good night's sleep, it's those moments that make him feel worthless.

Makes him hate Derek with a passion that burns brighter than anything else he feels.

Or the one where Derek doesn't know his strength, but Stiles knows he deserves it.

32 Hours by cheshirecat101

(1/? I 2,725 I Teen)

Stiles has to make the 32 hour trip from California to Chicago, Illinois, in order to get to his new home for the next four years. But it seems that the (super)natural world is doing everything in its power to stop him.

Alpha by Nival_Vixen

(1/1 I 2,357 I Explicit)

Stiles has been kidnapped by a serial killer known only as Alpha. Stiles finds himself far too attracted to the man that's probably going to kill him.

No one called, until someone did. by queen_of_OTPs

(1/1 I 4,419 I Mature)

Stiles found that he hadn’t spoken more than necessary since August. Gone were the rambling rants, extravagant gestures, and range of vocal tones. Monotone sentences that were cut with sharp edges, words like knives and tone like venom.

No one had called.

Mindset of a Killer by buftie

(1/3 I 7,363 I Explicit)

Troubled youths Stiles Stilinski and Derek Hale meet in the counselor's office and form a haphazard relationship. They realize they share urges and desires they dare not speak to others - guns, knives, blood, and even murder. Soon the two are overwhelmed by their attempts to satiate their bloodlust and find themselves wanted criminals.

A Second Chance at Life by DaoOfGay

(4/? I 8,871 I Explicit)

Stiles held onto his bleeding chest as he watched the man who had taken everything from him walk away, as he laid there, on his last breath, he could swear there was a small tear running down Derek Hale's face.

But once he opened his eyes, he was back at the moment his life was destroyed- The moment he woke up on Derek Hale's bed, naked, and not remembering what happened the night prior.

This time he woke up before him. He packed his things and ran, ran as far away as he possibly could not looking back.

Unknowingly, that decision changed the future in a way he could never thought.

Full and Void by Hedwig221b

(2/2 I 23,286 I Explicit)

Stiles could be meek, sure. In Derek’s arms, softened under the touch, pinned under his weight. He allowed himself to relax only in Derek’s sole presence.

Stiles could also look meek. Small, scared. Let the enemies think he was hiding in his mate’s shadow. After all, no one would stop to think that the shadow could ever be dangerous.

Devil in the Details by Accidental_Ducky

(8/8 I 26,473 I Mature)

“So we’ll split up.”

“Baby,” Boyd says, taking her arm in a gentle hold,” that is the single whitest sentence to ever leave your mouth. Splitting up to search for a crazed murderer with no moral compass is a job better left to the police. I say we go upstairs, barricade the basement door closed and hangout in the lobby until help shows up.”

“Derek found a way to break out of a sealed chamber and you think shoving a desk in front of a wooden door will keep him from using our skin as lampshades?”

“I never should have let you watch American Horror Story. Our lives have just gone downhill since then.” Boyd runs a hand over his mouth, scratching absently at the stubble along his jaw before heaving out a sigh. “Fine, we’ll go look for Hale, but we’re sticking together. I’m not about to be the token black guy that gets butchered in some kind of cheesy nineties horror flick.

[r7-b7]

White Man fantasy authors that just really aren't all that worth the hype

In my personal opinion

Now that we can say (without extreme fear of death threats) Neil Gaiman's work has always had an undertone of misogyny, racism and creep--

Let's talk Lev Grossman!

The Magicians (spoilers ahead) was the first fiction book I had picked up in a couple years and I regret it everyday. Quieten is insufferable and what the fuck was the entirety of Alice's character and story? Why the fuck did I waste 17 hours of my life listening to an audiobook about a white boy complaining and fucking his girl and hearing his girl get fucked then she just dies for plot. Her entire character revolved around her brother or her boyfriend. She was so much more than that.

Back to Neil Gaiman: The next book I read after The Magicians was American Gods. Just...yikes to that book. Also, the way Anathema was described in the Good Omens book.. And just Stardust in its entirety... Growing up I watched that movie dozens of times and read it once--it wasn't lost on me that there weren't many non-scorned, non-sexualized, non-abusive or abused, or unfucked ALIVE femme characters in his work. Bilqius, Laura Moon, Yvaine, Anathema, Nina, Madam Tracy, War as seen in this annotation below.

Image Description: a screen shot of the Good Omens Kindle E-Book page 111 with the highlighted passage: "Is bloddy important strategically, Ferando Chianti! I drew big map of the island and is right in the middle, which makes it pretty bloddy strategically important, I can tell you." "Ha!" said Fernando. "You might as well say that just because Little Diego's house has a view of the decedant capitalist topless private beach that it's strategically important!" The pianist blushed a deep red. "Our lot got that this morning," he admitted. There was a silence. In the silence was a faint, silken rasping. Red had uncrossed her legs.

The passage is followed by the annotation saying "wtf is this even"

End of image description.

Alright hold on, this one isn't going to be taken well....

George Lucas, Dave Filoni, John Favreau, Stan Lee.

It's just their own fanfiction with no growth. It's the same parallel for the 150th time with a white male protagonist, a petite love interest, a best friend who is either a droid, an animal, or a token poc. The femme characters---good lord. Same with Grossman and Gaiman, nearly impossible to find one non-scorned, non-sexualized, non-abusive or abused, or unfucked ALIVE femme character. Shmi, Padme, Satine, Barris, Ventress, Yadle, Steela Gerrera, Mary Jane, Pepper, Rogue, Mystique, the list can go on.

Their man characters usually always harm loads of people and especially the femme characters closest to them before they can stop and think about their actions. Why reinforce that harmful trope?

The male violence apologist godfathers. Child slaughterer? He's the chosen one, he's misguided and most of the franchise is dedicated to him. War profiteer and creator and seller of weapons as well as responsible for so much innocent death and egregious property damage? Hot playboy with the best lines who most of the franchise was dedicated to.

Their stories are just So White™. It's just White Knight™ over and over again. The Western bs always gave me such an ick.

I remember being 10 and being like "wow Iron Man is actually really racist..." They really pushed that Islamophobic narrative hard.

Also, George Lucas telling Carrie Fischer "there's no underwear in space" so she doesn't wear a bra in A New Hope? Gross. That's not just "something from another time.. it's was the 70s!" -- no it was gross then when she was 19 and it's gross now.

So yeah I put them all together in one because they are in the same vein of misogynistic white men who get away with their racist microgressions because they built and extended an ultra popular fantasy world with a theme park.

These dudes just thought up a fantasy world, we can all still take what we want and leave the rest. We don't have to be grateful to them or like their work to run with our own creativity with their characters/places/things. We are also very much allowed and should to think critically and critique work, especially when it reinforces harmful tropes or is just plain shit but somehow gets turned into a multimedia affair. But again, we can still enjoy fantasy and take what we want and leave the rest.

There's so much more for each of them and more authors but who has the time of the patience anymore. I don't. Not for this post.

I like to think fan fic writers and artists liberate our beloved characters from them so they can live the lives they deserve. So thank you fic writers and fan artists. You create the world we wish to see.

[anarchic-miscellany]

"Armageddon" has, rightfully, been remembered as a very, very silly film, but I will defend the characterisation in the script: Each of the oil crew gets one or two lines to define them, and thus we actually kind of like them super early on, and have a ragtag bunch of guys whom you want to see live. It helps that they are played by some of the best, most reliable actors working today: 1. You have Colonel Sharpe, douchebag uptight military man. Who better to play him than William Fichtner? In the most William Fichtner part! I like that he has that little moment of "you guys aren't bad" where he backs down and doesn't shoot them on the moon. What a line to write... 2. "Chick", the loyal, reliable, supportive right hand man, just an all round good dude they give a wife and son to, you're like "Oh man, this motherfucker is DEAD" especially because he's played by Will Patton. But oddly? No! 3. Rockhound: "because I'm a genius, that's why!" acts like he's going to die on the mission, loses a bunch of money to a stripper named Molly Mounds (amazing name) and ends up going insane on the rock. Again survives. Love him, no notes, joint best character. Thank you, Steve Buscemi, as usual. 4. Speaking of the best character, Peter God-Damned Stormare plays "Lev Andropov", the late addition Russian cosmonaut, who is grouchy and Russian and kind of lovable. Will he betray them? No! He is accepted into this group of weirdo rednecks, no questions asked, after his ship explodes, and just sort of sticks around. He gets all of the best non-Rockhound lines ("Russian components? American components? ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!") and did I mention he's Peter Stormare? Love him. 5. Bruce Willis plays a grouchy old dad/leader/roughneck guy, you know, a Bruce Willis character. You know what you're getting with him, and the casting carries it all the way, he could do this part in his sleep. 6. Ben Affleck, oft unfairly maligned, here a solid pick, and has that funny story about being told to "shut the fuck up" by Michale Bay by questioning the stupidity of the plot. 7. Michael Clarke Duncan, always great, plays token black guy "Bear", and once again you're like: "Hmm, a 90s movie? With the big lovable guy who's an absolute sweetheart? Guess he'd better write a will!" But again: nope! Then we get to our "expendable" guys, and even there, they get one or two characteristics so that we know, when they die, a bit about them: There's the fat guy who loves his mother, the cowboy guy played by Owen Wilson, and the rough and tumble roughneck guy. I mean, a few rewrites and you could have these guys having a bit more banter and silliness in space (even if we get the alread incredible, 10/10, no notes line "Why does he have a gun in space?" from a despairing Chick) but yeah - as basic, quick, rapid fire introductions and archetypical characters go? Not bad.

[beardedmrbean]

Oh btw it was zoomer Huey that pointed out the BP hypocrisy. Also yeah about the entitlement black Americans have towards black Panther

>That was created by 2 Jewish men as well, which if the current system is running that means they're white too, (handy when it's not flip flopping every other day, someone puts a horn in a game they're an oppressed minority. )

I shit you not I saw a black socialist YouTuber saying he was surprised that white guys could write stories about a black man protecting his home from invaders

Are you saying you surprised that T’Challa fought to protect his home by invaders even though he was created, written, and overview by

SONS

OF

DAVID?!

It not like half of the holidays Kirby and Lee grew up and celebrated their entires lives were based off how many times invaders tried to wipeout their people but failed

But here the thing about that racist person

It hurts writers like ME

I want more black mecha pilots, I want more black stories tbh told.

But I DONT want them to be solely defined by their races and act racist as fuck

Fuck I hate modern black writers, they are the childhood bullies that now call their victims coons when they get pointed out

It not like half of the holidays Kirby and Lee grew up and celebrated their entires lives were based off how many times invaders tried to wipeout their people but failed

That bit about Louis Armstrong and his Lithuanian Jewish neighbors who he was surprised to see were still treated badly by other "white™ people" I don't blame him for not getting the whole Jewish thing, people still don't as you've seen lately.

I want more black mecha pilots, I want more black stories tbh told. But I DONT want them to be solely defined by their races and act racist as fuck Fuck I hate modern black writers, they are the childhood bullies that now call their victims coons when they get pointed out

That's one of the nice thing about scifi just make everyone not human, but that doesn't work for what you want I know.

Could go and watch "Our Gang" see how Buckwheat does his thing.

Jefferson's were great hell Cosby show was good, bill kinda killed that being wholesome the same way we lost 7th heaven except stephen collins didn't fight it.

I loved Sanford and Son as a kid, we wouldn't get something like that now, not because of white racists but because everyone seems to be dead set on making everyone a stereotypical representation of their race/skin colour.

You, just write your stories though don't bother with the haters.

One of the good things about making Dumbledore gay after the fact is nobody could try and dissect his behaviour to say X is gay culture.

I also don't think the Rowling thought about him being gay till after the fact anyhow, but in the end for the one character it doesn't really matter.

Only thing that changed when the announcement was made other than the jokes was that ok he was gay, had no baring on his character at all.

So write your stories and whomever is black they can be black just write them however you feel.

I think South Park is great for all that since we get Token Black, and he's treated exactly the same as all the other kids by all the other kids.

They rip on him.

[dw-flagler]

this post is literally just me complaining about an obscure spider man spinoff comic from 2006 for like a thousand words. Don't read it. I'm serious.

So i read the series amazing spider-girl because i was on a spider kick. I didn't want to go to theaters to watch across the spiderverse so i'm waiting on a dvd release or something that would allow me to watch it for no money and still get that nice and crisp 1080p.

So i read amazing spider-girl. It was a lot better than I was expecting. Not, you know, legendarily good. But better than you'd think for a comic spinoff starring a girl in 2006. and here's the kicker. It wasn't ultra hypersexualized. Amazing W for american comic books compared to japanese manga.

(Also a couple issues were about mutants as a classic comic paper-thin metaphor for being gay (one issue was quite literally titled The Closet) that was, again, surprisingly good. Again, not great, but like way better than you'd expect from a product of its time and culture)

And then I got to the spider-girl equivalent of the clone saga. It was actually pretty neat. There's just one clone, and it never actually comes out and says who the clone is. So there's two May Parkers now. One is a clone and one isn't, big identity crisis dealie (and actually there's this abandoned idea where they both end up with both sets of memories at the same time and now they don't know whos the clone or who was the one raised by the parkers and who was left in a french tube for 16 years). Neat. then peter becomes the green goblin for a minute and they fight A Battle In The Mind Palace, which is weird but fine. (Oddly, the green goblin is way more accepting of the concept of having two daughters than peter. He even calls peter out on it?)

But then we get to the fun part. Both of the Mays survive, and one of them, who we're gonna call April (even though she doesn't name herself that for a few issues after this) for simplicity's sake, has cool symbiote powers, was basically born yesterday, and doesn't quite understand the concept of empathy. In other words, a home run character. She's even fucking Blue! Fucking bang up job, lads, we got an all time classic!

And then we get to that classic angst. Like i said earlier, peter is not on board with the concept of having two daughters. But may is like "can we keep her?" and the other options are letting an emotionally unstable Blue girl out into the world unsupervised (unacceptable) or just... i dunno, killing her? So clearly he has to keep april in his house. He fuckin hates her for it though. Like shit dude, the unearned hostility. And may is trying (not quite as hard as she could be but trying nonetheless) to give april a normal-adjacent home life and a loving family (something that I believe all humans freshly spawned from french tubes deserve). MJ's sorta in the middle, doing that token mom thing of being like "yeah!" and then not actually doing anything to help. So april is stuck in this loop of a family that at best tolerates her and at worst actively despises her (and since she has memories from may she's watching the family she remembers loving her for her whole life doing this to her). In fact, she chooses her name out of spite because she feels like everyone sees her as an inferior copy of the girl they actually care about (april comes before may).

I mean, this is great. You've really what looks to be a great character. So I was utterly devastated to learn that she Goes Insane From The Stress and becomes a villain. However, she Learns The Value Of Love later on and sacrifices herself to save may in a typical comic redemption arc.

:(

So, normally, if you don't like how a thing went in a popular story (especially something modern), you could reasonably expect to see some people agree with you. Some of them might even be good writers. That's when the magic happens. So I look on Archive Of Our Own, and what do I find, dear reader--what do I find? Nothing.

Worse than nothing, actually, I find several father-daughter incest smut fics.

(To be fair, actually, I found one fic that covered some of this, but that was like 1k words long.)

In conclusion, shit is wack.

[hadoriel]

Hey, as somebody who's been playing WoW for about a decade now and is deep into lore and all that... Some of these points seem a bit outdated. I totally agree with you that the game's narrative needs to be constantly doing better, especially since there's a lot of old stuff over the course of the franchise that has either aged badly or was never looked at critically enough (I mean, it was born from a bunch of white American dudes, so there was a lot of bias they'd just never confronted when they created it)

But I do think that, overall, we're making strides in the right direction. I mean, some of it is awkward, like every side couple being gay in Dragonflight as over-correction, but at least we're no longer at the stage of 'everyone headcanons a main character as queer to the point one of the writers goes on Twitter to yell at them and frantically claim the character isn't gay' from the Pandaria years. Heck, they finally caved and confirmed Chromie as trans, after they made her character joke about in in HOTS a decade ago. And although her story isn't spotlight, she's still there, talking about taking her humanoid form, in several quests. Flynn and Shaw got a whole book together, traveling part of the world

Orcs, Trolls, Tauren etc have been heroes for a while. I think a better solution is rather, when an Orc is a hero (a la Thrall), he shouldn't be made more humanized (like giving him eyebrows??) and/or they should be given better spotlight (instead of, say, us saving Baine in Shadowlands for him to just sit in a corner... literally). We do have a lot of characters from 'monstrous' races that could be in the spotlight, lots of really cool ones, too! In fact, that's one thing that I love about Warcraft's worldbuilding, is that there's so many characters that aren't human. But Golden really loved Anduin, so we keep getting him, there's a lot of elves, and Thrall is pretty much the default Horde character to choose from when they don't want to build up someone else. I'd love to see Ji and Aysa again tbh. Talanji would be nice. Point is - we DO have heroes of those races. It's just that they either don't get enough spotlight or, in Thrall's case, they humanize them too much

This will probably be up in the air for a while. I remember my hackles being raised at Drustvar's storyline, because that was so recent, and yet the overarching plot of the zone was 'the native people here are evil legit witches and our colonizer ancestors killed them - we need to kill them again' with a token couple of 'good' people of the native culture who hole themselves up in a cave and lament how evil their brethren are. So, yeah, we do need to keep talking about this, though I think it's a bigger issue than just WoW, of course

I think they've been successful at this. The Tuskarr in Dragonflight tell actual Inuit tales, have actual Inuit names, and were approved by actual Inuit people, for example. Goblins seem to be working towards a new future with Gazlowe in charge. I was pleased that the centaur were matriarchal without being evil (as is stereotype - even as recently in WoW as the blood trolls in Nazmir) and the archeologists were espousing modern archeology ethics, like returning their finds to the people they belonged to

Have you seen the new character coming in War Within? The black half elf lady with the prosthetic shield arm? I do think they're trying. But unfortunately the toxic gamer bros have been calling her a 'diverse checkbox' character and getting mad, even though we know very little of her so far besides being a major character. Yes, it took WAY too long to add darker skin tone options for player races. But they are moving forward

"... mansplaining to a PoC coded monster that his government system is inherently wrong" - I think you're talking about Anduin here, yeah? Who was he saying this to? For some reason my brain keeps going to his dumb conversations with Sylvanas instead orz. Nonetheless, the Light is... unfortunately Christian-based and it makes me uncomfortable, as a non-Christian, but I do think they've also been trying to diversify the Light so that the Christian elements are uniquely a human culture thing. There was a big ruckus over it regarding the Paladin hero talents a bit ago on Twitter, actually. I don't think we've even touched human Light beliefs since, what, Cata? I just generally think Anduin could've been a good character, had he not been treated like he was always right, and then dragged through the mud as a forced attempt at being a foil for Sylvanas' insanity through SL

Anyways - I don't think, just because Warcraft has some issues, it should be outright banned in random polls, especially when we DO have canon queer characters now valid for the blog in question. I don't think anyone should really bother poll blogs about 'ugh I hate this media it's so bad!!' unless it's like... actually overtly offensive outright. Which WoW isn't

To OP poll blog themselves, sorry for the reply ramble. Please don't ban Warcraft because of a random anon lol ;; It's a big and old franchise, has problems, but it's nothing like... bad bad awful ban worthy

I'm not asking you to pull Mathias Shaw, I just want more people to be aware that white queer characters doesn't equal wokeness and the general exclusion of non whites from LGBTIQA discussions.

I also criticize media like World of Warcraft so the writers will eventually get the message that stuff like this is offensive and they should do some damage control like:

Stop depicting orcs, trolls, tauren and countless other "monsters" as purely evil villains, let them be heroes too.

Admit the countless white colonizing characters did wrong and that people like Zul'jin were wronged.

Tone down the racial coding a little bit and don't do it for new races they create.

Stop having all prominent human characters be white and for god's sakes, tone down the white savior vibes!

No having characters like a blonde blue eyed white guy from ersatz europe that worships ersatz christianity mansplaining to a PoC coded monster that his government system is inherently wrong unlike Ersatz Europe's absolute monarchy does NOT equal talking down toxic masculinity, it (unintentionally?) endorse a white supremacist vibe. PS: Did you get my other Warcraft Ask?

I know! I was just putting that in the tags because I've had problems with people making assumptions about what I stand for as a person before based on "allowing" a certain media to go through. Not targeted at you specifically! Although my knowledge of WOW is severely limited personally, I agree with everything you're saying here! Also yes, I did, I'll post it after this one. I've been holding off on answering certain asks because I just don't have the time to do thorough research right now, so I'm glad you elaborated on what you meant!

[sepublic]

Darius and the Golden Guard

At worst, Darius seems to be a villain with principles; Which compared to the genocidal Belos and his constant gaslighting and manipulations, is too much even for him! And again that’s at worst. So it stands to reason that the previous Golden Guard (whom we’ll refer to as such, while Hunter is simply Hunter) was along those lines, given how Darius fondly remembers him, and judges Hunter by the standards of his predecessor. And what alleviates Darius’ disapproval is Hunter learning to think for himself, even at the apparent cost of the coven; Something Darius believes would make the Golden Guard proud.

And as others have pointed out, Darius doesn’t necessarily know of Hunter’s abuse, or at least doesn’t know he goes through more than that of the typical covenscout. And Hunter being the Emperor’s nephew might be a VERY recent reveal in-universe, or not; Lilith didn’t know, but with what we know of Philip, it makes even more sense for Belos to keep her in the dark about a lot of things as just a figurehead who has a ‘destiny’ to fulfill. Regardless, it makes sense for the Coven Heads to know more than your typical covenscout, but after Hunting Palismen, Hunter seems to have revealed his face to prevent another situation like that.

So from Darius’ perspective, he grows up in a coven system that believes in order but is still reasonable and has SOME principles, because Belos hasn’t tightened his control yet. It helps that his Golden Guard is actually a principled dude by comparison, and seems to have actual magic to an extent. But after Darius becomes Coven Head and the Golden Guard is put out of commission for unknown circumstances, Belos starts to tighten his grip on the isles. More and more witches are forcibly bound, and nobody’s speaking out against him.

Darius isn’t actively spreading the coven at this point, but he will do his job of at least defending it against direct traitors and the like. Then this freaking teenager shows up, the barest minimum age to even join a coven; And he’s higher-ranked than everyone else?! He doesn’t even have magic, and seems to be a pitiful yes-man to the Emperor, who is his uncle... Ah. That explains why he keeps being given the time of day. If Darius doesn’t know of Hunter’s abuse, then he has more reason to be critical of the kid as an unthinking brat who has literally nothing to deserve this title except his uncle’s nepotism.

That makes Darius’ instinctive dislike of Hunter more understandable; To him, the Golden Guard was a hardworking and principled witch, an actual mentor to others who earned his place. Compare that to Hunter, who seems like an utter joke who has everything handed to him on a silver platter despite being objectively worse in skills and principle. To Darius, it really does feel like the title of Golden Guard has been tokenized and appropriated by some needy child that doesn’t understand nor appreciate its actual meaning (not unlike Belos appropriating things as he pleases after all). It doesn’t help that the Golden Guard is someone who actually interacted with people, while this kid seems to be a closeted shut-in.

So by Any Sport in a Storm, Darius is tired because he’s already been doing a lot of work as a coven head, given how Belos overworks and doesn’t value his employees’ health. And he’s already had one day off that’s been interrupted for coven business, as we see in Darius’ official debut; So yeah, why not just reschedule? Then Hunter shows up carrying an incompetent mockery of the Golden Guard’s sigil, because this kid never earned anything, never put in the work as always (because he can’t without magic).

And with how the coven heads and even covenscouts have to suffer academically and even backstab just to get an entry-love position, that just feels insulting, especially to the memory of the Golden Guard who was no doubt the embodiment of the ‘coven dream’, like the American Dream in our world; Work hard enough and you can make it big! The Golden Guard was likely someone relatable and maybe even started as working-class or was perceived as such; Hunter is out of touch and privileged to Darius.

So Darius protects the integrity of his mentor’s symbol by taking the cloak. And when Hunter asks how to get it back, Darius is mostly being sarcastic and unthinking in his reply, not expecting nor intending for Hunter to actually follow through with it... But then again he’s been disappointed enough to not put the idea entirely out of the question. Darius tries to have a day off, then finds out that Hunter, who somehow has his number, has started latching onto Darius specifically for validation, which is already tiring as-is.

Of course, Hunter actually took Darius’ ‘assignment’ seriously. So now he has to cut his work short and begrudgingly help out, because at least Hunter DID put in the work... Darius sends some covenscouts ahead to gather the recruits, then arrives shortly after to transport them. But what’s this? These aren’t recruits, these are kids that Hunter captured, and we know at least three out of four of them aren’t old enough to join a coven anyhow. The covenscouts didn’t question this because they’re grunts, but a kid trying to be the Golden Guard should know better; He has no right to wear that sigil!

Darius doesn’t know what he expected; Besides for Hunter to actually recruit people, not kidnap them. And Hunter is too happy to follow orders and get his precious cloak to actually reflect on what he did, and it just... Sickens Darius, so all he can do at this point is sarcastically, with genuine disappointment, ask if Hunter actually earned that cloak or not? By doing something the Golden Guard wouldn’t, by betraying principles of compassion and independence he had. But sure, this kid caused so much trouble, so Darius may as well give him the stupid cloak.

(“I’m not mad, just disappointed.”)

Darius had his day off ended early, and for nothing, because these aren’t even actual recruits but prisoners. Shouldn’t Hunter wait to recruit until after the meeting over recruitment has happened? So Darius has gotta clean up Hunter’s mess and return these kids back to school, make sure they don’t sneak off to get into anymore trouble. But then Hunter shows up and distracts him, allowing the kids to crash Darius’ airship and at this point he’s just tired; He already has to deal with Hunter, but now these kids are attacking him for just doing his job and sending them home, basically rescuing them from Hunter?!

Then Darius sees that Hunter has changed his mind. Hunter thinks Darius is sending the kids to the coven, not back to school... Which means he’s actually trying to free these kids, not knowing Darius is already doing so. The kid is undoing his own mess and basically forfeiting the validation from Darius he worked so hard for, simply because it’s the right thing to do? And because he actually befriended them, no less???

Well. This episode’s theme is about people being misjudged and misunderstood; And in Darius’ case, he misjudges Hunter as a much more obnoxious, unsympathetic, and pathetic person than he actually is... The messy sigil is not from lack of trying nor caring, as it turns out. Likewise, the audience is primed to misjudge Darius as much more cruel and petty than he really is... Which he IS to an extent, but still. To us, Hunter is the Golden Guard and the person to introduce us to that identity, he is the precedent; And we knew him as the only one for half a year, having just learned he wasn’t the first.

But to Darius, it was always another person, and just recently Hunter took that name, so from his position, his skepticism of Hunter feels more earned. Here we learn and put in the effort to understand Darius too, so we can have a new perspective with a rewatch. Darius is actually pleasantly surprised; This is the first time Hunter has actually acted like the Golden Guard, and not like another covenscout blindly following orders.

In which case... Yeah, Darius may as well encourage this type of behavior, and swallow his pride to admit he misjudged the kid. Admit he assumed a bit more than he should’ve (actually a LOT more). So he gives Hunter the pat on the head, and even a scroll as celebration, because clearly these outside connections are good for him. If this kid really CAN be like the Golden Guard and not what Belos wants out of that position, then Darius may as well cultivate that; In honor of the previous Golden Guard, his mentor. What the Golden Guard would want out of his successor, not Belos. So now Darius has been shown that Hunter has actual potential in being a better, independent person; And he’s interested in this kid’s case, in helping and giving him an actual chance this time.

It’s just a first step as far as Darius knows, but it’s better than nothing; So this time he gives his actual approval by not just letting Hunter have the cloak, but fixing the sigil he made. Because as someone who knew the real Golden Guard and what that title should mean, as defined by the actual Golden Guard (not Belos’ bastardized, rewritten version in history), Darius should also contribute to that symbol’s upkeep. He should help this kid learn how to be a proper Golden Guard, and that of course means throwing in his guidance on something like the symbol. Darius has actually been through the history and wants to be true to its memory, unlike Belos and his propaganda; So symbolically, he adds to the sigil in order to truly recreate it, via magic trained by the previous Golden Guard. What goes around comes around.

[smhalltheurlsaretaken]

Sorry but what exactly is up with the bad batch arc? I've heard people talk about the issues with echo's white skin but I haven't heard that many bad things about the arc itself? (ik you said you don't want to be negative on your blog so I would absolutely understand if you didn't answer this ask)

Oooooooooooh boy. Well I just had a long, long, LONG rant about it with someone, but I guess I’ve got an excuse to put all of my points onto a post and talk about it publicly now that I got an ask x) I’ll keep it under the cut so I don’t throw my salt in people’s face. I really don’t want to upset people who love that arc - it has redeeming qualities, but overall it pisses me off so much for so many reasons. So here:

The first issue is obviously two members of the Bad Batch (minus Echo) being being just about the furthest thing from maori no matter how much you're willing to stretch it. 

Like... yeah, nah. I wouldn’t even accept Crosshair and Tech (grey haired guy and goggles guy) as Jango’s natural biological sons, nevermind as his clones. 

The problem is that their different appearances are justified by them being described simply as clones with desirable mutations (i.e superpowers). But why the hell did the creators have to change their appearances for that to be a thing? How does that correlate? Sure, the concept of clones with different faces is interesting, except... no, no it’s not, and I’m gonna rant about it in a few secs. But basically it's like they thought giving them different faces would be a good substitute for having different personalities (another thing I’ll come back to). If they really wanted to have buff clones with super eyesight or whatnot they could have just done that, without making them lose what little melanin the lighting of the show had allowed the other Clones to keep. 

But the gigantic problem is... showing that the "regular" clones have VERY distinct identities despite their identical faces has been one of the themes of the show from episode 1. Literally, the first episode of TCW has Yoda taking time out of a mission with galactic stakes to tell the three clones he’s with (who tell him they’re all the same because they have the same faces) that they’re wrong, and that they’re very different in the Force, that their appearance doesn’t matter, that they’re all equally unique and important, and he lists all of their individual skills, strengths and weaknesses. 

And it’s not just me being bothered by that, here’s a post by @cacodaemonia​ saying the same thing. 

Introducing the Bad Batch as "unique" clones who are "different" and "not like their brothers" because they have different faces and skills completely breaks that theme of the show!! Because the entire point of the Clones in TCW is that their faces don't matter, they ARE unique! 

(Plus the Bad Batch’s character designs are so cliche and uninspired it’s just laughable to try and justify bleaching their freaking skin for the sake of visual diversity. 

This took like 10 seconds. I found the first guy by literally googling “soldier movies,” and the other two are Team Fortress characters that look a LOT like Wrecker and Crosshair. One is “Heavy” and one is “Sniper” lmao.

And behold:

The above picture is a Team Fortress reference that I found just by looking up “bad batch clone wars,” so I’m not the only person who sees it.) 

And the batchers don't even have personalities to justify calling them unique! They have no character traits beyond the most cliché american soldier tropes ever. We have a token loner sniper, a token "smart tech guy" who knows everything from xenoanthropology to biology to Separatist computers to sound waves to encryption, a token Badass Brooding Leader and a token “dumb muscle guy.”

I dare anyone to find more about their personalities than this: - Crosshair is the perpetually grumpy sniper who looks down on "regs,” - Wrecker likes to blow up stuff and doesn't like heights, - Hunter is the leader and is friends with Cody, - Tech is smart doesn't trust Echo. 

That’s it, that’s literally it. Four episodes about them and that's all we get. These character tropes are literally the least inventive ever. FFS, Hunter even has a freaking KNIFE! Not a vibroblade, mind you, like in kriffing Star Wars. A knife. Against metal droids. Why. They couldn’t make this more of an american-war-movies cliché fest if they tried. (And sure, he can feel electromagnetic waves so maybe it does make sense for him not to carry a vibroblade and maybe this is nitpicking, but he looks like a ripoff of a Predator character and it pisses me off).

Another thing is that when you introduce characters you have to make them likable - and them despising the normal Clones is a terrible way to do that! And they don't even grow from that because at the end of the 4 episodes arc they just see Rex as not bad "for a reg" and they see Echo as no longer a reg, and both of these things are infuriating! 

The worst thing imo is that Echo then becomes part of them (and irreparably loses his melanin in the process, uuuuuuuuugh) when there is nothing to justify this. 

The dialogue goes like this: 

ECHO: You coming? TECH: Not really our thing. CROSSHAIR: Accolades. WRECKER: Yeah, we're just in it for the thrill. Yo! HUNTER: You sure it's your thing? ECHO: What do you mean? HUNTER: Your path is different. Like ours. If you ever feel like you don't fit in with them, well, find us. (they leave) REX: Those are some of the finest troopers I've ever fought alongside. Echo. You and I go way back. If that's where you feel your place is, then that's where you belong.

Echo doesn't feel like he belongs anymore, okay, but why would he feel like he belongs with the assholes who up to the last five minutes of the mission thought he was probably a traitor, and also verbally expressed that he was not worth saving?? In all of the arc, Echo himself never voices that he feels he’s not ‘like the other Clones’ anymore and that he feels it’s a problem. His relationship with Rex immediately picks up where they left things off - the first thing he does upon being lucid again for the first in over a year is cracking a joke for Rex’s benefit. 

Why would Echo feel like he doesn’t belong in the 501st anymore, when we don't even see him interacting with anyone from his past life except for Rex and Anakin (who are both extremely very supportive of him)?? If there had been one scene of a “regular” Clone (ugh) looking at him with horror and disgust or something, or just Kix and Jesse cracking jokes with Echo awkwardly standing by the side not getting it, I could forgive the show trying to make it feel like he has an identity crisis, but this was so shallow!

The only thing that makes Echo and the Bad Batch’s experiences similar is that they *look* different. It’s so against the themes of the Clones I’m seething just from thinking about it. And what the hell? Echo ALREADY didn’t fit in. That was the WHOLE POINT of Domino Squad. They didn’t fit in because they thought they were better than anyone else because they had trouble getting along with their brothers, so obviously it had to be their brothers’ fault (ahem, Bad Batch?). And you know what happened? Domino Squad OVERCAME that. And Echo and Fives still didn’t “fit in” because their personalities were unique and creative, and they became ARC Troopers because Cody, Rex and the Jedi VALUED THEM FOR PRECISELY THAT. Echo having new and unique skills and a modified appearance is the most bs justification for him feeling like he doesn’t belong!! 

And that brings me to my biggest issue: Rex telling Echo the bad batch are some of the best troopers he's ever met. I'm sorry, based on WHAT? What Rex values above everything is loyalty and brotherhood, and the Bad Batch DOESN'T DISPLAY ANY OF THAT. We never see them even expressing concern for each other! Wrecker treats saving Cody’s life like a trivial issue, because it’s just ‘sO eAsY’ for him, and beyond that we never see them supporting each other or genuinely expressing affection for each other beyond boasting about each other’s skills... 

Sure they can destroy a lot of droids, but they're dismissive of Rex's brothers, and the entire Umbara arc and this arc showed what he thought of that. They keep saying things like "not bad for a reg,” don't show any trust in Rex's skills or experience (even though they can't have been fighting in the war for more than a year and a half when he’s been there from the beginning, and he outranks all of them), they are essentially guerilla fighters which has only minimal value in a galactic war, and they never grow beyond their views of what regs are, and can and can’t do. 

None of that should make them good troopers in Rex's book. Going back to Echo not fitting in, remember who taught the Domino Squad the importance of seeing all of your brothers as important and equally valuable? Shaak Ti, true, but more importantly? 99! The guy the Bad Batch are named after. He did have value and was important and was no less of a trooper than his brothers, even though his mutations made him LESS powerful, not more. (And btw, just from a writing standpoint, the batchers don’t have any weaknesses, which is shit.) Cody and Rex mourned 99 as a true soldier even though it wasn’t his sacrifice that brought them victory (which would have implied that he had value as a soldier and a brother because he saved them, as opposed to him having that value intrinsically), because that’s what a fine trooper is to them. A BROTHER first a foremost, someone altruistic, brave and loyal. The Bad Batch distort the meaning of 99's character with their behavior. They’re not altruistic, their bravery is mitigated by the fact that they’re freaking invincible, so of course they take risks (again, see Wrecker saving Cody without a care because it’s easy to him, as opposed to Rex being ready to run into a burning ship about to explode because his brother is in there, and having to be physically dragged away). The Bad Batch denigrate their brothers for being less skilled, thinking their own abilities make them unique somehow, when 99 could barely fight and was still the one who taught Hevy about being a good soldier. 

And again the batchers don't grow from that. Which is all the more frustrating because the original ending didn’t have Echo joining them, from what I remember of the unfinished episodes, and the arc actually ended with them receiving their medals in front of regular troopers who cheer for them, as opposed to them smugly ostracizing themselves and dismissing the ceremony as trivial and meaningless. (original ending vs s7 ending: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab1eCfzKamw) 

It’s so annoying. Do you know what characters never had an entire arc dedicated to them and still have far more personality and more interesting designs and more symbolic weight?? 

Jesse, for starters. Kix. Dogma. Cut. Slick. Keeli. Ponds. Rys, Jek and Thire. Commander Doom. Commander Fox. Wolffe. Hevy. Hardcase. 

Cody was a more interesting character just in his RotS appearances. 

Waxer and Boil had one episode about them and then only two cameos plus Waxer’s death, and they’re still some of the most memorable, beloved Clones of the whole show. And Boil was grouchy and prejudiced like Crosshair, but he has so much growth that we could make a whole thread about it. 

I'd say the last problem with the Bad Batch is that it has cash grabbing money hungry vibes. Different faces are more marketable, cliché personalities are more toy-friendly, and it's basically a big ad for the Bad Batch series. And they throw Echo in the Batch at the end for bs reasons (again, it wasn’t in the original ep from what I remember) and they tease Cody in the show to make sure fans will still watch even if they notice the lack of soul. And less melanin sells more at Disney apparently. 

So that’s my whole pissed rant. 

[1ddiscourseoftheday]

Mon 14 June ‘21

Louis Tomlinson Cooks is here!! Yeah it’s 100% for sure as delightful to watch Louis make himself a sandwich as you might have hoped, but how was his cooking? Well I’ll let Louis rate himself-- “I’m not gonna lie not that appetizing is it, I mean look at it,” he says when it comes time to taste his creation, plus, “chopping peeling slicing not great to be fair- everything else I’m all right” (he’s… not wrong, even aside from the peeler issues has this man ever held a knife??) but- “it probably tastes nice though as I said it’s not about presentation for me… [munches cutely]... it’s actually pretty banging, that’s actually quite nice!” Success! Maybe it’s cause he knows the secret to faking good cooking- “as you can see I don’t have a lot of cooking ability so the more butter the better,” I mean the experts can tell you, that’s advanced stuff right there! #Louis-aChild! Substituting mustard and ketchup for coleslaw is a bit of a bold move, but in a belated attempt to convince the kiddos to eat some healthy veg even though he won’t he does bravely try the cucumber strips despite being “not really a man for cucumber” and makes a pained attempt to be positive- “bit of crunch.” Oh and speaking of crunch I’m relieved to have learned that the waffle is NOT a waffle, it’s a crispy waffle shaped bit of potato; a much more reasonable fish sandwich addition than the American version of a potato waffle! Full Time Meals polled to see what people think of Louis cooking; the two choices are “it was amazing” and “the best,” THEY GET IT. My kind of Louis poll! Helen Seamons rated him a “10/10 for effort and entertainment”, Masterchef acknowledged Louis as one of their own, and Marcus Rashford keeps it simple- “my guy” with a lil heart. YEAH, SAME.

Harry showed up in Italy, where he was papped in Venice being driven around (with PA Luis) on a boat (as you do, in Venice). He’s in a cool embroidered Bode shirt and shades and fancy hair, looking good. He’s seen carrying his suitcase, taking photos, and resting his head on his arms looking like a model. One might think, since we just saw the My Policeman cast and crew on set celebrating the wrap of the shoot, that they were done filming and Harry was off to do something different, but nope, he’s there to film! The book has key scenes in Venice that folks had been wondering about the filming of, and David Dawson is also being boated around Venice for the paps, so, it seems that was just for the wrap of the *UK* filming, which makes sense I guess since it would mostly be different crew I imagine, and perhaps some of the main cast are done as well.

Liam’s NFT sale is happening tomorrow! If you’re confused and want more info, I’M NOT GONNA HELP THAT MUCH… uh but I mean you can check out Liam’s youtube video explaining though I would guess that won’t help much (even Liam thinks so; “there’s probably websites that explain a lot better than me” he admits). There is a roundup now posted of what’s on offer for the buyers of the NFTs but I’m gonna be really honest with you, I’m more confused now than I was before. It’s clear that there are only SIX LONELY BUG NFTs right? They for sure said that I believe. But the packages for each different piece (token bundles) seem to me like they’re available to multiple buyers? Like maybe you don’t get the NFT but multiple top bidders on each get the extras? Like they can’t be selling multiple copies of the NFT... can they?! Isn’t the WHOLE POINT that only one person gets to own it? I DON’T FUCKING KNOW I AM SORRY. What I think I understand to be true: the six NFT buyers get to go to “a once-in-a-lifetime immersive dining experience at Resorts World Las Vegas” (this is the dinner with Liam and “a selection of crypto leaders from around the world” which takes place on display inside a giant glass box) and also “a bespoke commemorative presentation box containing the world’s leading holographic display... with audio... and a custom made Lonely Bug commemorative coin,” and “a unique QR code directing the owner to a special ‘Director’s Cut’ edit of the short digital film ‘Making Of Lonely Bug Collection’ which features unreleased footage from the day of the drop showing the creators' reactions when the winning bids came in” (I mean YEAH I would think it’s unreleased it literally hasn’t happened?) But then there are really a lot of other extras including tickets with Meet & Greet access to any Liam Payne headline show around the world, admission to pool and cinema parties in Vegas with Liam, signed art, non-Liam extras (I will literally bid to NOT have 20 minute phone calls with those crypto entrepreneurs PLEASE… but that’s just me), and access to an online party hosted by Liam; I really get the impression many of these, especially the last one, are just crypto tokens that are for sale that aren’t linked to the main Lonely Bug NFTs and many more than 6 people can buy them but a lot of the extras I’m not clear on which it is. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll understand better WE WILL SEE.

Liam also dropped by the discord last night to say some hellos (after a “long long day”) and that he “bought a piece of NFT art of myself tonight I’m going to give it as a prize Monday night so someone can own a piece of art that was owned by me” (an even less tangible bragging point than simply owning an NFT wow that’s an achievement) and the most important update- “I want a French Bulldog”! Oh and he said “that’s like one I did myself” in his fanart channel to a pic of a tiny crocheted illustration of Louis and Harry holding up a rainbow flag. Didya Liam?? (...Liam is crocheting??) Anyway I recognize who it’s supposed to be because it’s based on a familiar piece of fanart, but Liam definitely might NOT realize it’s meant to be someone specific, and tbh I’m more <eyeballs> at him saying that at the rainbow flag crocheted thing than at it being shippy.

Our Song acoustic version is out this Friday!! And Niall talked about NH3 some in an interview today; “I’m in the studio most days, it feels really good. I’m kinda in the latter stages of it and then I’ll go get a band together and go in and record the whole thing. I’ve just kind of been writing for the past 9 or 10 months and really enjoying it” and “It sounds like a complete album. God knows when it’s coming out because I’d like to be able to get around the world to see all the fans as well” and “It’s different. It sounds a lot more grown up. I’m 27 so it’s about time. I really wanted to kinda cement a sound. The singles I’ve released previously have all been kinda different sounds. I would like to have my ballad sound & like a cemented uptempo sound.” He and Anne Marie also talked about one of the other songs they wrote together saying, “It’s kind of like a, how do you describe it- guitar driven meets Tom Petty meets Katy Perry meets…” but say “We haven’t really decided if we are putting it out yet, the conversations are kinda happening... but it’s completely different (from Our Song).”

[introvertbard]

More thoughts about Raya and the Last Dragon

I'm starting to see posts about #RayaAndTheLastDragon make the rounds with some Southeast Asians, and here's my thoughts as a Filipino-American:

1) THE DRAGON LOOKS LIKE ELSA. As far as I know, none of the Southeast Asian dragons have that much fur. As I mentioned in my other complaining post: If they have those snow-leopard/puma-looking mounts that are perfectly regal and intimidating, why not use BIG-CATS for your dragon design, instead of... like, the art designer's little housecat??? 2) DISNEY SHOULD NOT BE USING A CRAPTON OF EAST ASIAN ACTORS FOR A SOUTHEAST ASIAN MOVIE. Even without Awkwafina's issues, I saw Daniel Dae Kim, Sandra Oh, and Gemma Chan in the main cast and I went "ohhhhhh no. Kelly Marie Tran is the token Southeast Asian lead in a movie ABOUT fantasy-Southeast-Asia. NOT GOOD, DISNEY." If they have all that money and they reveled in that whole squad of researchers for Moana, why the fuck did they backslide fifty years and go "well, they're all Asian, nobody's gonna notice! WE NEED BIG NAMES FOR OUR BIG MOVIE, LOLOLOL." And yeah, I know there's lots of SEA folks with ambiguous names (Kelly Marie among them), but the main cast is FULL of those and I am not giving Disney the benefit of the doubt that they all just HAPPEN to be SEA folks with nice, compact one- or two-syllable names. Guess which actors suddenly start sounding like TROPICAL BROWN ASIANS??? The ones who play the bit parts, that's who. “But you got Kelly Marie Tran, who else do you want???” Maybe like... the five other lead roles that you gave to East Asian actors??? While I'm on "East Asian versus Southeast Asian," the dragon's name is Sisu and people remarked that it sounds extremely East Asian. Here's some Philippine names for our dragons: -LAHO. A sea-dragon/serpent who causes eclipses ("laho" does in fact mean "eclipse" in Tagalog). He was so entranced by the moon that he jumped from the ocean's depths and tried to eat it. While he is said to be a "god," he acts more like a wild animal--his motive is "MOON SHINY, I EAT!" and human issues such as "we like to see at night" and "the moon controls the tides," and sometimes "THE MOON IS A GODDESS, BRO!!!" don't concern him. The myth doesn't tell you to appease him with offerings or even fight him like a god, either, you just scare him off like a huge version of the neighbor's dog who got loose: Scream and bang on things until he goes home. He has several other not-names--two are "Nono" or "Buwaya," which just mean "ancestor" and "crocodile" respectively. Another Tagalog account calls him Sawa, which means "giant python/boa," compared to the common word for snake as "ahas." -THE BAKUNAWA is Laho's Visayan counterpart, who ate SIX OTHER MOONS before mortals scared him off. Like Laho, the Bakunawa doesn't actually have a name, more like a descriptor/title; "bakunawa" means "bent serpent” and is most often used as “THE Bakunawa.” In some versions, the Bakunawa eats the moon(s) in revenge, after mortal hunters killed his sea-turtle sister. -BUWAYA/BUAYA. Yes, it's "crocodile" in Tagalog. Dragons and crocodiles were seen as close cousins by many precolonial tribes, and Tagalogs apparently used the word interchangeably for both creatures. There was a Tagalog psychopomp called "THE Buwaya," distinct from Laho, who seemed fairly positive since he ferried our dead souls to the afterlife on his back. Also, we needed that help because the way to the afterlife was a dangerous sea-journey in varying directions, like "east where there's no known land," or "up to the sky-world," or "down to the bottom of the ocean." -ULILANG KALULUWA. This dragon has an actual name, and he introduced himself and everything! His name means "Orphaned Spirit." He's a sky-dragon who found the Tagalog creator-god Bathala Maykapal wandering in the barren islands before the world had people, but he was angered at the potential rival to rule the world. They both made claims and fought for possession of it, but Ulilang lost and got killed. Many years later, Bathala's friend Galang Kaluluwa took ill and asked to be buried with Ulilang Kaluluwa, since they were both of the sky-tribe and therefore kinsmen; their bodies created the first coconut tree. Galang Kaluluwa was humanoid, but able to fly and sometimes said to be winged; the spirit tribes seem to align more to "elements" than "species." (Note, I use "friend” loosely because that’s the Christianized version of his relationship with Bathala, but that’s not the point of this post.) -TANDAYAG. Currently means "whale" in Tagalog, but I found some unexpected new information on Wikipedia! Some Palawan people have a myth of their own Tandayag: A great fish, dragon, OR whale, who closes the navel of the world under the sea. If angered by something and not appeased in time, Tandayag may open the world's navel and drown us all in the flood. Noticing a theme? A theme with little fur, who’s prone to anger of the world-ending kind, and has exactly one out of five “names that you’d call people?” Now there are certainly dragons who aren't as powerful as the ones I mentioned; the vast majority of "dragons" in the pre-Catholic Philippines were the ancestors of a ruling clan and their village(s), or regional nature-spirits that people would meet up with on adventures. I actually would have liked the concept of Sisu's self-esteem issues as a minor dragon who’s now expected to rescue/find her lost big-name brethren.

Like, she probably just chilled out at Lake Nowhere, somehow it turned into a city (because she’s immortal and doesn’t realize five hundred years is a LONG TIME for humans, after all), and now everyone thinks she’s a level 10 dragon who causes floods and hurricanes when her actual jobs are still boring, regular LOGISTICS stuff like helping the fishermen for a cut of the haul, scooping folks up when their boat tips over, and checking on the rice paddies.

But uhhhhhh... stories like this in Western society tend to go "WOW, YOU DID SOMETHING HUGE AND WORLD-SAVING! Turns out you ARE ridiculously powerful!" instead of "WOW, YOU USED YOUR MODERATE SKILLS IN CREATIVE WAYS!"

[toyboy-molloy]

the real fix it is that chapter two never happened. we all know the theory that chapter two was just what bev saw in the deadlights, right? so I really want to see her going out of her way to make sure (most of) what she saw never happens

knowing she’ll forget as soon as she leaves, bev starts making notes about the future on little cards, agnus nutter style. save many a problem that way

as soon as she can, she writes on the postcard ben gave her with the poem - your hair is winter fire, january embers, my heart burns there too - in big letters BEN HANSCOM WROTE THIS

she never gets married, knowing she ends up with someone just like her father

some years later, mike learns that IT has returned and he sets about calling his old friends only the day before he receives an anonymous letter. DO NOT CALL STANLEY URIS. LET HIM BE. YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT HIM, LET HIM REST. IF YOU SO MUCH AS THINK ABOUT CALLING STANLEY URIS I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND CHOP YOUR DICK OFF. mike doesn’t call stan

the day they meet up at the jade comes and before ben can even say his quip about passwords, bev’s in his arms hugging him. he’s like ??? but okay

richie: *watching eddie* / bev, leans over: I know about r+e on the kissing bridge you useless gay bitch / richie: what the fuck?

mike being like ‘okay so we all need to collect tokens from our childhood so we can sacrifice it in a native american ritual’ whilst bev just rolls her eyes ‘the ritual’s bullshit mike. we just have to bully the fucker to death’. at this point everyone is legit scared of bev and just go with it

bev quickly tells ben she knows he was the one who wrote the poem and his little heart soars

eddie’s about to go into his room one night when bev stops him like ‘yeah don’t go in there’ and he’s like ‘?? why not??’ and she just kicks the door open and punches bowers’ in the fucking throat

bev: do you want to save that kid’s life? / bill: w-w-what are you t-t-talking- / bev: little kid, curly hair, really chill. you’re worried he’ll be the next georgie. do you want to save him? / bill: y-y-yeah? / bev, puts her hand on his shoulder: then you have to kidnap him

everyone getting ready to fight IT and eddie being all ‘okay neibolt is not my favourite place but I’ll do anything for you guys’ and bev just spins the fuck around like ‘you’re not going’. eddie is like really hurt because he wants to help and the more of them, the better. she makes him promise not to leave the hotel to come after them

even then she locks every door behind her, making sure eddie is safe and sound in the hotel room. during the drive to neibolt bev turns to richie and said ‘I watched you lose him once, I’m not doing that again’

they beat the shit out of spider-wise pretty easily and start chanting ‘clown’ from the off, and rip IT’s fucking heart out. piece of cake

finally they’d done it and bev could have a well earned rest

when they get back to the hotel and free eddie, he and richie disappear for a bit and the others don’t need to be told where they’ve gone. they return half an hour later holding hands

this is when mike calls stan and says ‘hey buddy it’s mike hanlon from derry. I just want you to know, it’s over. IT’s dead. the others are all here and we would love it if you joined us’

stan arrives, takes one look at richie and eddie holding hands and sighs deeply. he’s missed this. he’s missed them

everything is fine, only the villain died and everyone is happy

[sleeplessandstubborn]

Emily in Paris or why I stopped caring about the protagonist and I started rooting for the French. Episode 1.

Let’s be clear. I was planning to root for the French anyway. They are in the neighbouring country, I quite like them and I was prepared to confront and make fun about all the stereotypes in this series. Because this was exactly what I expected. Funny, lighthearted and totally braindead (wink wink) escapism in an instagrammed to the top Paris which has the same resemblance with the real one than Vincent Minelli’s... But without Gene Kelly. So what did I think of the first episode?

Meet Emily Cooper from Chicago. She’s young, she is dynamic, she struggles to be liked by everyone and at the beginning of the series. She is a marketing executive about to be promoted or so she thinks.

... Because her boss Madeline (played by Kate Walsh) is going to Paris in order to take work with Savoir, a luxury firm the company (sorry I forgot its name) has just adquired. Madeline is overjoyed because working for a year in Paris is one of her dreams and because French men like mature women, as probed by the fact that their young and hot (sic, but this blog agrees) president married his high school teacher. We’ll never know which plans Madeline had for Frenchmen, whether they are young or hot or not. The case is after two minutes in the series she vomits, which means she’s pregnant and she can’t go anywhere because it’s an truth universally aknowledged that pregnant women can’t go on with their plans.

It’s in the next scene when we meet Emily’s boyfriend, Doug, and when we learn she’s going to Paris in Madeline’s place, in spite of being unprepared and not knowing the language. At this point one wonders how it’s possible that no one else in the company can replace Madeline. All of them are monolingual? Our plucky heroine is not discouraged by the litle fact of knowing virtually nothing about the country in which she’s going to live during the next twelve months. She and Doug - the moment you see the scene you know it wont’ go well - agree on a long distance relationship.

And after a very well done transition, we have crossed the ocean. Yes, this is well done, and I say it unironically. Episodes are short, your show is called Emily in Paris, so, what’s better than having your main lady already in the French capital in less than five minutes. The series goes to the point in this aspect and it’s a good thing to spare us of unnecesary scenes.

So Emily arrives to her apartment with pretty views, confused about in which floor she’s supposed to live (running gag ahead) and already hit on by a French guy on a suit that looks like the love child of Gabriel Attal and Albert Rivera (check it, seriously). I couldn’t take him seriously not only because of that but also because he said that Emily’s appartment was a chambre de bonne. Not by any means. Look, I’ve never lived in Paris but I know that apartment is huge when compared with a real chambre de bonne.

Off to know her working place, Emily has this HUGE smile pasted on her face. I don’t know if this supposed to make her charming and likeable. For me - it’s true than I have this European perspective - she looks a mix between an anxious puppy and a psychopath. I would be scared and would avoid her at all costs. The cultural clash is about to happen.

Yeah, I would look at her too, Julien a.k.a. token black character. You have probably heard about the lack of diversity in this series, I won’t abound in that, others have worded it better. It also an established fact that French people smokes at their workplace, even if in the European Union we have these things called smoking bans that won’t allow it.

And enter Sylvie, Emily’s Parisian boss and supposed main antagonist, à la Devil wears Prada. What to say about Sylvie other than I adore her? Her clothes, her style, her sarcasm. As any rational being would do, Sylvie is pretty dismayed to learn that Emily does not have the slightest idea of French and its already wanting to impose her American perspective and her alleged knowledge of social media. The problem is I don’t know if her posts on Instagram really deserve that much attention. Clash ensues with the rest of her new coworkers. C’est la cata! they comment. I quite agree.

Our fish-out-of-water takes an evening afterwork stroll (this Paris is like one square kilometer and public transport is something you mention but never appears) and calls her boyfriend to state the entire city looks like Ratatouille, which legitimately made me laugh. I am not sure if this reference means that Emily’s filmic culture is that limited or if it’s her boyfriend the one who only knows a movie which takes place in Paris and that’s one is Ratatouille. We know that Emily at least has seen Moulin Rouge and that makes two so probably is Doug’s fault.

Back at home, and since she has forgotten how to count, Emily attempts to open the wrong door. Immediately a wild Frenchman appears; it’s Gabriel, played by Lucas Bravo probably one of these young hot men Madeline would target. He takes the intrusion reasonably well. Especially when it’s discovered that Emily only knows his region, Normandy, from Saving Private Ryan. That makes three films, so definitely I think Doug is the problem here as far as filmic culture goes.

Next day Emily picks a yellow outfit and goes to work, purchasing a pain au chocolat in her way to work. I confess I was underwhelmed when discovered that there wouldn’t be any joke about the Great Civil War that has been going on in France since its earliest days: the partidaries of pain au chocolat vs. the ones of chocolatine. A ferocious, merciless conflict unknown by most nations. A lost opportunity not making this woman someone from the South who bravely defies Parisian conventions calling it chocolatine. I’m team pain au chocolat btw. Naturally when she discovers the wonderful world of flavours she makes another Instagram post. She’s earning more and more followers, Heavens know why.

However, she has a Big Problem with Doing Research. Example given, she doesn’t know her schedule - a problem which could have been solved with reading numbers - and arrives two hours early to her workplace.

Once there she discovers she can’t sit with the cool kids. No one wants to lunch with her, so she decides to miserably sit by herself at the park, where we met her best new friend. Her name’s Mindy, she’s from Shangai and she’s working as au pair, while teaching Mandarin to the two blond children she’s looking after. We’ll later discover more about her. She instantly detects the American in Emily and offers her help to this awkward but at the same time arrogant newcomer.

Meanwhile at Savoir, Emily has earned a sobriquet. La Plouc, which is adopted by Sylvie and most of her coworkers even if Luc seems more or less reluctant to say it. La Plouc means the hick, as she instantly discovers thanks to an online translator. It’s really not a good day for our heroine, and she cames back home - remember that thing about this Paris being one square kilometer? - walking. Co-worker and someone who  for some resason reminds me to the posh-y version of Philippe Poutou - check it - Luc passes by as she sits lonely by herself and apologizes for calling her la Plouc earlier. He also claims she’s arrogant for coming to Paris without speaking or even understanding French - which is true - and tells her people is probably scared as her new, modern ideas. Which makes no sense at all and it’s probably a white lie.

Meanwhile and for some reason her totally inocuous posts in Instagram makes her earn more and more followers. During the night, her oblivious to timezones boyfriend call her and they have - or attempt to have - a totally awkward and unsexy session of cybersex. At the end Emily is so frustrated that she tries to use her electric vibrator which leads to the short-circuit of the entire building. Fortunately before she has the oportunity of getting closer to the device in question. And that’s how Episode 1 ends.

What did I think? It’s fun and pretty to look at. Even prettier to rant about. As long as your brain remains carefully shut off in the meantime and you don’t take it that seriously you are going to enjoy it I guess. At least it’s my case.

Still frustrated for not covering the Great Civil War tho.

[pxppet]

“dinner” with Chase x Bim? >:3

Tight red dress shirts and stiff grey coats don’t suit Chase Brody. Henrik practically had to wrestle with him to get him to not wear a hat to his date. “No baseball caps at fancy restaurants, dumme!” Scrabbling to push hair down over the round white scar on his head, and fumbling out the door with his brothers yelling encouragements behind him, Chase makes for the taxi. 

His phone doesn’t vibrate the entire time he rides in the taxi. No texts come in, and he sends none in return. The widow rushes with wind, the world crisply passing him by. “Uh, stop here please-” he interjects to the driver, who slams his breaks and grumbles about “American asshats” in a thick Northern accent. Chase steps out of the car, hastily apologizing as the driver pulls away. He takes a shaky breath, smoothing his hair over the scar, over and over again. 

He checks his phone again... No word from his date yet. Ah well, maybe she made a reservation. That’s probably it, yeah. He walks up to the doors, and a man in a tailed suit opens the heavy black wood. Chase notices the raise of his nose and scowl of his mouth, and blushes, tugging at his suit and trying to look like he belongs here. He does belong here. He’s just as good as the fancy suited and dressed men and women waiting in the coat room. 

“I-i don’t need a coat chip, actually,” he tells the persistent man shoving the red token in his face. The man’s eyes are squinted, taking in every flaw he can find, from the sagging suit to his shirt being too tight to his green hair still being mussy after trying to gel it back. Chase clears his throat, and the man stops staring, turning away with a “hmph”. He leads Chase through darkwood oak doorways into the open area of the restaurant. 

“Reservation?” a sniffly woman in a tight fitting green suit peers down at him over her nose. Chase rubs the back of his neck softly, feeling prickles of sweat beading under his shirt. 

“U-uh... Either Brody or Evanes?” 

“Evanes?” the woman raises an eyebrow, as though she’s better than him, as though her suit and voice and scoffing lips are the god and denizen of this restaurant. Chase glowers as she turns around and checks her list. She huffs. “No Evanes listed. You’re clearly not in the right place, hun.” She stresses the last word, like speaking to a child. And Chase feels like ones, a silly little kid dressed in his father’s suit. 

He shuts his eyes, stuttering over his words. “I-i uh... well I have... I h-have a date with-”

“Me,” a familiar voice cuts in, a hand resting on Chase’s shoulder suddenly. Chase starts and gasps, whipping around to see... Bim? 

“Bim? Wh-... What are you doing in Brighton, my man?”

“Well I’m here for our date, silly!” He grins, teeth sharp and beyond anything a human should look like. Bim gives the lady in the green suit a “look”, a mixture of strained apology and softened hatred. “Take us to our table, Maggie. You’d hate for me to let Mr. McDouwl know about you disrespecting my date, surely. I mean we all know he’s two steps away from letting you go after the chocolate fountain fiasco! Be a dear and take me to my usual table.” The woman puffs up and turns pink, snatching up menus and stalking off towards their table. Bim chuckles and grabs Chase’s hand, dragging him along behind him. 

“Bim, what are you doing? Why are you even here, bro?” Chase is blushing bright red all the way to his ear tips, being dragged along behind the much more smartly dressed American friend. 

“Well, I saw you walking in, and what are the odds! I also reserved a spot for tonight, shock and awe. Ha ha ha. Plus, buddy, slugger, champ, it seems like you got stood up, no?” Chase blushes impossibly more, his shoulders sinking at the truth of it. Bim’s smile twists with sympathy as they’re guided by the flustered Maggie into a three-seater table, dark green velvet chairs and a pure cream white table cloth, silverware already set out and waiting for meals to come. Chase sinks down on his elbows against the table, head in his hands. He doesn’t really feel like eating anything right now. Hell, he doesn’t feel like ever eating again. He stares at a fish knife, contemplating if it’s sharp enough to cause any damage. 

Bim clears his throat. “Well? I saved your ass Chaser, do I get a ‘thanks daddy’ or something?” Chase barks out a loud laugh then slaps his hand against his lips, going wide-eyed. Bim grins as other patrons stares them down. “C’mon hun, surely I get at least a kiss after that!”

“Oh my god, man you’re killing me, stop!” Chase is shaking with restrained laughter, his hand muffling his plea for mercy. Bim laughs, his strangely monotone separation of the syllables of ‘ha ha ha’ amusing Chase immensely more. “Dude I don’t remember you being such a dork.”

Bim twiddles with his fork, staring at Chase with intensity. Chase could swear that his golden eyes flashed red for a moment. He swallows dryly and tugs at his tie awkwardly. 

“Oh, don’t you remember? I was joking just the same when Jack first introduced us!” 

“W-well, um... I was kind of too busy like... you know.” Chase gestures vaguely at the air, trying to dismiss it. 

“Oh, no no, you’re going to tell me what was going through that pretty head, Brody. What was distracting you when we first met, hmmm?” He tilts his head, teeth glinting like a predator. 

“Well, you’re famous and...” Chase sighs shakily, straightening out his suit, pushing his hair down over his scar. “You were really intimidating, Bim. You were like... everything I wanted to be, y’know?” Bim raises a brow at him. “You were this bigshot celebrity, even though you were made by a Creator, and you didn’t even try hiding from the world like me and my friends do. You’re... brave, and loud, and brash, even when it annoys people. You give zero fucks!” 

Bim hums, scratching his chin, the grin never leaving his lips. However, his eyes have softened, and his cheeks are dusted in red. “Well then, Chase, no need to suck my dick so hard, ha ha ha,” he deflects, rolling his eyes as his blush fades away. 

But Chase is not oblivious to his rosy cheeked grin. Chase smiles back, small and nervous, trying to interject confidence to match his dinner date’s. Bim averts his gaze, lifting a napkin to his mouth and coughing quietly. 

“If you don’t stop being such an adorable motherfucker I’ll gut you like a fish, Chaser~” Bim say flirtily. Before Chase can even respond Bim calls over a waiter and orders the sweetest wine they offer. How did he know how Chase likes his wine? Bim must pay a lot more attention to things than he lets on, Chase thinks softly, looking at Bim glowing under the subtle red lighting. Maybe I should pay more attention too. 

The two spend the rest of the night sipping wine between quips and blushing, wolfing down rare steak (just as delicious as Bim said it would be), and leave the restaurant arm in arm, pink-faced and laughing. They share a long glance, a soft touch of the hands, equally embarrassed though so differently built. Chase, nervous and unsure in the world, scarred and blue-eyed. Bim, confident, gilded hunter’s eyes, and far, far away from anything Chase could dream of being. Yet both of them were built to entertain. 

Both of them were made to make others happy. And that habit far from excludes each other on this lovely night. An evening wasted to fruitless romance hangs heavy on their wine drunk tongues as they go their separate ways, different lives, different worlds, awaiting them on the other side.  

[foreverdavidbyrne]

David Byrne’s interview in NME magazine

In 1979, David Byrne predicted Netflix. “It’ll be as easy to hook your computer up to a central television bank as it is to get the week’s groceries,” he told NME’s Max Bell, sitting in a Paris hotel considering the implications of Talking Heads’ dystopian single ‘Life During Wartime’.

He predicted the Apple Watch in that interview too: “[People will] be surrounded by computers the size of wrist watches.” And he foresaw surveillance culture and data harvesting: “Government surveillance becomes inevitable because there’s this dilemma when you have an increase in information storage. A lot of it is for your convenience, but as more information gets on file, it’s bound to be misused.”

In fact, over 40 years ago, he predicted the entire modern-day experience, as if he instinctively knew what was coming. “We’ll be cushioned by amazing technological development,” he said, “but sitting on Salvation Army furniture.”

The 68-year-old Byrne says today, “You can’t say that you know,” chuckling down a Zoom link from his home in New York and belying his reputation for awkwardness by seeming giddily relieved to be talking to someone. “It’s crazy to set yourself up as some sort of prophet. But there’s plenty of people who have done well with books where they claim to predict what’s going on. I suppose sometimes it’s possible to let yourself imagine, ‘Okay – what if?’ This can evolve into something that exists, can evolve into something more substantial, cheaper – these kinds of things.”

It’s been a lifelong gift. Byrne turned up at CBGBs in 1975 with his art school band Talking Heads touting ‘Psycho Killer’, as if predicting the punk scene’s angular melodic evolution, new wave, before punk was even called punk. In 1980, Talking Heads assimilated African beats and textures into their seminal ‘Remain In Light’ album, foreshadowing ‘world music’ and modern music’s globalist melting pot, then used it to warn America of the dangers of consumerism, selfishness and the collapse of civilisation. Pioneering or propheteering, Byrne has been on the front-line of musical evolution for 45 years, collaborating with fellow visionaries from Brian Eno to St Vincent’s Annie Clark, constantly imagining, ‘What if?’

The live music lockdown has been a frustrating freeze frame, but Byrne was already leading the way into music’s new normal. Launched in 2018, the tour to support his 10th solo album, ‘American Utopia’, has now turned into a cinematic marvel courtesy of Spike Lee – the concert film was released in the UK this week. The original tour was acclaimed as a live music revolution. Using remote technology, Byrne was able to remove all of the traditional equipment clutter from the stage and allow his musicians and dancers, in uniform grey suits and barefoot, to roam around a stage lined with curtains of metal chains with their instruments strapped to them. A Marshally distanced gig, if you will.

“As the show was conceptually coming together, I realised that once we had a completely empty stage the rulebook has now been thrown out,” Byrne says. “Now we can go anywhere and do anything. This is completely liberating. It means that people like drummers, for example, who are usually relegated to the back shadows, can now come to the front – all those kinds of things – which changes the whole dynamic.”

With six performers making up an entire drum kit and Byrne meandering through the choreography trying to navigate a nonsensical world, the show was his most striking and original since he jerked and jived around a constructed-mid-gig band set-up in Jonathan Demme’s legendary 1984 Talking Heads live film Stop Making Sense.

The American Utopia show embarked on a Broadway run last year, where Byrne super-fan Spike Lee saw it twice and leapt at the chance of turning the spectacle into Byrne’s second revolutionary live film, dotted with his musings on the human condition to illuminate the crux of the songs: institutional racism, our lack of modern connection, the erosion of democracy and, on opener ‘Here’, a lecture-like tour of the human brain, Byrne holding aloft a scale model, trying to fathom, ‘How do I work this?’

“I didn’t know how much of a fan Spike was!” Byrne laughs today. “He’d even go, ‘Why don’t you do this song? Why don’t you add this song in’. We knew one another casually so I could text him and say, ‘I want you to come and see our show; I think that you might be interested in making a film of it’.”

Are the days of the traditional stage set-up numbered? “Yes, I think so,” he replies. “At least in theatres and concert halls the size that I would normally play, yes. The fact that we can get the music digitally [means] a performance has to be really of value. It has to be really something special, because that’s where the performers are getting their money and that’s what the audience is paying for. They’re not paying very much for streaming music, but they are paying quite a bit to go and see a performance, so the performance has to give them value for money… It has to be really something to see.”

How does David Byrne envisage the future possibilities of live performance?

“I’ve seen a lot of things that hip-hop artists have done – like the Kanye West show where he emerges on a platform that floats above the stage,” he says. “I’d seen one with Kendrick Lamar where it was pretty much just him on stage, an empty stage with just him on stage and a DJ, somebody with a laptop – that was it. I thought, ‘Wow’. Then he started doing things with huge projections behind. There are lots of ways to do this. I love the idea of working with a band, with live musicians. ‘How can I innovate in this kind of way?’ It’s maybe easier for a hip-hop musician who doesn’t have a band to figure out. The pressure is on to come up with new ways of doing this.”

In liberating his musicians from fixed, immovable positions, American Utopia also acts as a metaphor for freeing our minds from our own ingrained ways of thinking. As Byrne intersperses Talking Heads classics such as ‘Once In A Lifetime’, ‘I Zimbra’ and ‘Road To Nowhere’ with choice solo cuts and tracks from ‘American Utopia’, he also dots the show with musings on an array of post-millennial questions: the health of democracy; the rise of xenophobia and fascism; our increasing reliance on materialism and online communication; the climate change threat; the existential nightmare of the dating app; and, crucially, the distances all of these things put between us.

“The ‘likes’ and friends and connections and everything that the internet enables,” he argues, “even Zoom calls like this, they’re no substitute for really being with other people. Calling social networks ‘social’ is a bit of an exaggeration.”

Byrne closes the show with the suggestion that, rather than isolate behind our LCD barriers, we should try to reconnect with each other. In an age when social media has descended into all-out thought war and anyone can find concocted ‘facts’ to support anything they want to believe, is that realistic?

“I have a little bit of hope,” he says. “Not every day, but some days. I have hope that people will abandon a lot of social media, that they’ll realise how intentionally addictive it is, and they’re actually being used, and that they might enjoy actually being with other people rather than just constantly scrolling through their phone. So, I’m a little bit optimistic that people will, in some ways, use this technology a little bit less than they have.”

A key moment in American Utopia comes with Byrne’s cover of Janelle Monae’s ‘Hell You Talmbout’, a confrontational track shouting the names of African-Americans who have been killed by police or in racially motivated attacks – Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin, George Floyd and far, far too many more. Does Byrne think the civil unrest in the wake of Floyd’s death and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement make a serious impact?

“We’ll see how long this continues,” he says, “but in projects that I’m working on – there’s a theatre project I’m working on in Denver, there’s the idea of bringing this show back to Broadway, there’s other projects – those issues came to the fore. Issues of diversity and inclusion and things like that, which were always there. Now they’re being taken more seriously. The producers and theatre owners realise that they can’t push those things aside, that they have to be included in the whole structure of how a show gets put together.”

“At least for now, that seems to be a big change. I see it in TV shows and other areas too. There’s a lot of tokenism, but there’s a lot of real opportunity and changed thinking as well.”

Elsewhere, he encourages his audience to register to vote, and had registration booths at the shows. He must have been pleased about the record turnout in the recent US election? “Yeah, the turnout was great. Now you just got to keep doing that. Gotta keep doing it at all the local elections, too. It was important for me not to endorse a political party or anything in the show but to say, ‘Listen, we can’t have a democracy if you don’t vote. You have to get out there and let your voice be heard and there’s lots of people trying to block it.’ We have to at least try.”

Will Trump’s loss help bring people together after four years with such a divisive influence in charge?

“Yes. I think for me Trump was not so much a shock; we knew who he is. He was around New York before that, in the reality show [The Apprentice], we knew what kind of character he was. What shocked me was how quickly the Republican party all fell into line behind him, behind this guy who’s obviously a racist, misogynist liar and everything else. But it’s kind of encouraging – although it’s taken four years and with some it’s only with the prospect of him being gone – that quite a few have been breaking ranks. There are some possibilities of bridge building being held out.”

But, he says, “It’s too early to celebrate,” concerned that Senate Majority Leader and fairweather Trump loyalist Mitch McConnell will use any Republican control of the Senate to block many of Biden’s policies from coming into effect. “[This] is what happened with Obama… I want to see real change happen. [Climate change] absolutely needs to be a priority. The clock had turned back over the last four years, so there’s a lot to be done. Whether there’s the willpower to do everything that needs to be done, it remains to be seen, but at least now it’s pointing in the right direction.”

How will he look back on the last four years? Byrne ponders. “I’m hoping that I look back at it as a near-miss.”

American Utopia is as much a personal journey as a dissection of modern ills. Ahead of ‘Everybody’s Coming To My House’, Byrne admits to being a rather socially awkward type. He claims that a choir of Detroit teenagers, when singing the song for the accompanying video, had imbued the song with a far more welcoming message than his own rendition, which found him wracked with the fear that his visitors might never leave. How does someone like that deal with celebrity?

“In a certain way it’s a blessing,” Byrne grins, “because I don’t have to go up to people to talk to them – they sometimes come up to me. In other ways it’s a little bit awkward. Celebrity itself seems very superficial and I have to constantly remind myself that your character, your behaviour and the work that you do is what’s important – not how well known you are, not this thing of celebrity. I learned early on it’s pretty easy to get carried away. But it does have its advantages. I had Spike Lee’s phone number, so I could text him.”

Talking Heads drummer Chris Frantz’s recent book Remain In Love suggests that the more successful Byrne got early on, the more distant he became.

Byrne nods. “I haven’t read the book, but I know that as we became more successful I definitely used some of that to be able to work on other projects. I worked on a dance score with [American choreographer] Twyla Tharp and I worked on a theatre piece with [director] Robert Wilson – other kinds of things – [and] I started working on directing some of the band’s music videos. So I guess I spent less time just hanging out. As often happens with bands, you start off being all best friends and doing everything together and after a while that gets to be a bit much. Everybody develops their own friends and it’s like, ‘I have my own friends too’. Everybody starts to have their own lives.”

The future is far too enticing for David Byrne to consider revisiting the past. “I do live alone so sometimes it would get lonely”, he says of lockdown, but he’s been using his Covid downtime to cycle around undiscovered areas of New York and remain philosophical about the aftermath.

“We’ll see how long before the vaccine is in, before we return to being able to socialise,” he says, “but I’m also wondering, ‘How am I going to look at this year? Am I going to look at it as, “Oh yes, that’s the year that was to some extent taken away from our lives; our lives were put on pause?”’ We kept growing; we kept ageing; we keep eating, but it was almost like this barrier had been put up. It has been a period where, in a good way, it’s led us to question a lot of what we do. You get up in the morning and go, ‘Why am I doing this? What am I doing this for? What’s this about?’ Everything is questioned.”

Post-vaccine, he hopes to “travel a little bit” before looking into plans to bring the ‘American Utopia’ show back to Broadway, and possibly even to London if the financial aspects can be worked out. “Often when a show like that travels, the lead actors might travel,” Byrne explains, “but in this case it’s the entire cast that has to travel. So you’ve got a lot of hotel bills and all that kind of stuff. We wanted to do it. There might be a way, if we can figure that out.”

Once we all get our jab, will everyone come to recognise that, as Byrne sings on ‘American Utopia’s most inspiring track, ‘Every Day Is A Miracle’? “Optimistically, maybe,” he says. “There will be a lot of people who will just go, ‘Let’s get back to normal – get out to the bars, the clubs and discos’. That’s already been happening in New York; there’s been these underground parties where people just can’t help themselves. But after all this it’d be nice to think that people might reassess things a little bit.”

And with the algorithm as the new gatekeeper and technology beginning to subsume the sounds and consumption of music, what does the new wave Nostradamus foresee for rock in the coming decades? Will AIs soon be writing songs for other AIs to consume to inflate the numbers, cutting humanity out of the equation altogether?

“It seems like there’ll be a kind of factory,” Byrne predicts, “an AI factory of things like that, and of newspaper articles and all of this kind of stuff, and it will just exaggerate and duplicate human biases and weaknesses and stupidity. On the other hand, I was part of a panel a while back, and a guy told a story about how his listening habits were Afrofuturism and ambient music – those were his two favourite ways to go. The algorithm tried to find commonalities between the two so it could recommend things to him and he said it was hopeless. Everything it recommended was just horrible because it tried to find commonalities between these two very separate things. This just shows that we’re a little more eclectic than these machines would like to think.”

And in the distant future? Best prepare to welcome your new gloop overlords. Byrne isn’t concerned about The Singularity – the point at which machine intelligence supersedes ours and AI becomes God – but instead believes that future technologies will emulate microbial forms.

“I watched a documentary on slime moulds [a simple slimy organism] the other day,” he says, warming to his sticky theme. “Slime moulds are actually extremely intelligent for being a single-celled organism. They can build networks and bunches of them can communicate. They can learn, they have memories, they can do all these kinds of things that you wouldn’t expect a single-celled organism to be able to do.”

“I started thinking, ‘Well, is there a lesson there for AI and machine learning, of how all these emerging properties could be done with something as simple as a single cell?’ It’s all in there… when things interact, they become greater than the sum of their parts. I thought, okay, maybe the future of AI is not in imitating human brains, but imitating these other kinds of networks, these other kinds of intelligences. Forget about imitating human intelligence – there’s other kinds of intelligence out there, and that might be more fruitful. But I don’t know where that leads.”

His grin says he does know, that he has a vision of our icky soup-world future, but maybe the rest of the species isn’t yet advanced enough to handle it. But if we’re evolving towards disaster rather than utopia, we can trust David Byrne to give us plenty of warning.

December 18, 2020