#you can't deny the scene of the roots and the girl is funny

[zeer0p]

[raven]

first, fitting moment from persona q2 that i just played

and under the cut

so............. ugh. the first thing i want to say is that it does on the surface seem to be the same as any other persona games. specifically in the way it talks about women. like, p5 also had a lot of misogyny issues and uncomfortable moments, but once kanji gets introduced it frankly becomes heartbreaking. im just going to assume you havent played the game since you're asking this question so i will summarize: kanji's entire arc is about how he doesn't feel masculine because he likes to knit and sew. and because he's attracted to men.

so kanji's story opens up with him speaking to world famous boy detective naoto, and getting embarrassed when the protag and friends run into them. because he's clearly attracted to naoto. so he gets kidnapped into the tv world whatever we've all been there. his dungeon is a bathhouse, and his shadow (in this game you fight the shadows of your friends which represent their repressed selves that they're denying, we've all been there) is a flamboyant gay stereotype. well, but that is kanji, right? at the end, everyone accepts their shadow. well, kanji isnt not attracted to girls, hes just afraid of them because theyre mean to him. whatever, hes bisexual i didnt know that. except (grits my teeth) we'll get to it

after that kanji is officially a member of the investigation team which consists of yosuke. and some other people but yosuke is the only important person there. the school goes on a camping trip. on this camping trip, the girls fuck up cooking (its funny because girls should know how to cook) and there's a character there who literally only exists to make fun of fat people. then its time to go to bed and the main character and yosuke are sharing a tent. suddenly kanji breaks in and whatever can he stay with you in your tent. this leads to yosuke asking if he would be safe in the tent with him, since, yknow, kanji is gay. it's incredibly uncomfortable and not a throwaway line. it goes on for a while. it feels endless. and you can't speak up. your character has no option to tell off yosuke. no option to defend kanji. eventually kanji runs off to the girls tents to prove his heterosexuality or whatever. it's a really fucked up scene.

so basically, that's what happens through the rest of the game. kanji does something, yosuke finds a way to be homophobic. let's take a break here to talk about yosuke. who i don't even hate. he makes me upset and seeing him without warning makes me scared (sorry for the jumpscare at the top of this post) but i dont even dislike him because of what could be done with his character. because he's the protagonist's best friend. and look, im a fujoshi, but i think its easy to interpret him as having feelings for the protagonist. there's even a cut romance route that was voiced in english and yes i have investigated the rumors are true etc. and he could have an interesting story about overcoming internalized homophobia. and i would be rooting for him. but he doesn't. it's not in the game. so you just have him being absolutely vicious to kanji nonstop. (and also being a misogynist, but like, so are ryuji and junpei, and i like them) no growth, no investigation. he's straight up cruel to everyone, because he's a shitty teenager, but with kanji it's a fucking political statement it's just not something that can be brushed away especially with the rest of the game... which i will get to. but i just need to keep saying like yosuke could've had a great and intentional story in which he learns from his mistakes and becomes a better person. but it's not there and it's just hard to know what is intentional and meant to have been remedied, and what is genuinely what the writers believe. but i honestly give this whole part too much credit, because of my own projection on the character. he's just a miserable person written by miserable people. also, persona evolutions aka character growth is tied to social links which arent mandatory, so all story scenes are written for people who haven't played the social links in mind, so none of the characters can get any actual growth in their story scenes, so even if he did get better (which, like, his social link is not that bad, and he comes to terms with a lot of stuff even if it's not his homosexuality) the growth would never be shown with another character.

shortly after kanji's dungeon, teddie becomes a party member, and he is one of the worst characters ever. hes worse than yosuke. so teddie is a bear creature who lives in the tv world but he can become a real boy when he enters the real world, and yosuke takes him in. which is a recipe for disaster. who let yosuke take care of a child. i mean, teddie was bad before, but with yosuke's influence there is no saving him. "mean to a child" THEYRE NOT REAL. THESE ARE CHARACTERS. teddie makes the game such a miserable experience. he is constantly sexualizing women and saying some bullshit. honestly i cant even like describe what he does but him just being in a scene makes me mad. seeing him makes me mad. i want him dead

before we go back to kanji's arc, let's discuss naoto, who is a girl. but i will continue to refer to naoto with he/him. because im my own god. naoto's dungeon in the tv world is a laboratory, and his shadow is a mad scientist who's about to give him the surgery. so he can become a real man. which he can never be because hes a girl. whatever. you can NEVER be my prince, naoto. UGH. through his social link you have him "coming to terms" with being a woman and what made him not want to be a woman. and none of it comes across very well. i dont think cis women say shit like "i wish i was born male". except me. anyways, i will say i think naoto's arc is poorly written, and there is no way you could make me see him as a girl, but i don't think it's actively malicious in the way everything about kanji is. it's just shitty and uncomfortable. there's also the moment when the team goes to the doctor to see if the tv world has had any negative effect on them, and they look at the measurements, and they see naoto's bust size, and do i need to continue? should i kill myself

oh, teddie's arc ends with him discovering he's a shadow, but because he believes in himself, he can be a real boy. he can be a human since he has the power of friendship and self love. that would literally be fine if it wasn't the same fucking game that naoto couldn't be a boy because he's a girl. that just pisses me off. it just pisses me the fuck off.

did you forget this post was about kanji? anyway, this post is about kanji. throughout the game he continues to reiterate that he is not gay. and also he continues to be funny and awesome and cute. and yosuke continues to hate on him. but it's okay because he doesn't need anyone's approval, because sewing and knitting are cool, and he's straight. because, remember? he had a crush on naoto. and naoto is a girl. so he's straight. i really do think that kanji and naoto are cute together. they have a sweet relationship. in naoto's dungeon, kanji tells everyone to stand back because everyone needs to deny their shadow at first. he just needs to get it out and they need to fight and then he can accept himself. this is because kanji has noticed a pattern in the dungeons because he's a genius, and because he genuinely cares about naoto enough to want to make that connection. like kinda tearing up thinking about it. but yeah theyre basically kind of cutes. but naoto is a girl. so kanji is straight. and i dont know. maybe im just not making the best argument with this, because kanji has clearly had bisexual tendencies in the past. and liking girls is known to be a bisexual trait. but the way it comes from this game. after like, 40, 50, however many hours of being homophobic to kanji. and kanji trying to convince everyone he doesn't like men. it feels like something much deeper than "he likes this one girl, and also many girls, and also boys." it's just exhausting.

and kanji's arc of being okay with his feminine hobbies is kind of a rarity in this game. at least he's being true to his heart there. compare that to yukiko's notorious social link in which she begins with wanting to have her own life and not inherit her family's inn, only to shift to actually really wanting to inherit the inn (not even) halfway through. because it's what society wants from her! never be your true self. never move away.

but anyway, this is literally just plot details. every time the investigation team hangs out, there are moments that just feel bad. there are so many lines that just feel. bad. it builds on itself and it compounds. it truly feels like a group of gay teenagers who are hellbent on keeping each other in the closet. which feels like an insane thing to say but like... god. if you know you know. if you have experienced their hangout sessions you have felt their negative vibes. it just feels so bad

theres also a drag show that commits to calling drag artists predators over and over again. and the fat joke character i mentioned earlier shows up several times. it's just kind of miserable. the type of shit kanji (and to a lesser extent, naoto) go through is genuinely the type of shit that keeps real people IN REAL LIFE closeted. like, that's the end point, i guess. this game did bad things to my brain, and being a lesbian is the only thing i can respect about myself, so i cannot IMAGINE what it feels like to be a teenager coming to terms with your own sexuality and being met with such vitriol. the message is to shut up and conform, while the game claims to be about accepting your true self. it just feels absolutely disgusting.

what about p4 strikes you as mean spirited?

[no-no-no-ahhhh]

So since Monster High might have a come back, and those uninspired dolls have officially been released...

Sus Rasict things Monster High has done

1. White washed an Egyptian character

Cleo looks so white when she's based off of Egyptian royalty. Yall can't even tell me she's tan or anything like that she looks plain white

If you don't think they whitewashed her you can't deny monster high participated in colorism. Cleo our main boo who the audience is supposed to cheer for is lighter then her sister which we are supposed to hate. Her sister is occasional the antagonist.

2. Over sexualize their black character

Yall can try all you want to tell me otherwise but clawdeen was dressed more scandalous then the rest of the dolls. In the anime version of Monster High clawdeen says something along the lines of "One of the cute things about me is my short revealing skirt."

Mattel let that slide by. Many black characters get over sexualized.

https://www.blackburncenter.org/post/2019/02/20/the-historical-roots-of-the-sexualization-of-black-women-and-girls

Can we just stop sexualizing little poc girls. I remember as a child putting clawdeen skirt on her and trying to pull it down a bit , so it wouldn't show too much. When I tried to pull it down it just went down all her legs.

3. Not good at representing indigenous people skin tone.

In MH they do have indigenous based designs but they don't necessarily reflect the way indigenous people look. A little girl can't pick up the doll and say "hey this doll looks like me" and I think all little girls would like to see them self in things they like. Also a lot of poc end up hating that they aren't lighter. It would be nice if they could see their skin represented in a doll.

Dont tell me that oh it wouldn't work with these monsters because the monster doesn't have skin blah blah blah blah. MH has designed black coded vampires and white coded werewolfs before.

Also I'm so tired of companies having so many white people than sprinkling some black people and calling it a day cause they met the "diversity quota". I'm honestly thinking now that they just put Clawdeen in to say they have a poc doll."Look at how diverse we are." If they really where diverse they would not have white washed a Egyptian character in the first place.

4. They just have whitewashed many more characters

First is Gigi Grant, Middle Eastern people can be light skinned but they're are also "tanned" middle eastern people. MH already got a whole ton of white characters. It would not hurt to just give Gigi some melanin.

Another whitewashed character is Marisol Coxi

Her doll and doll art fur/skin is light pink

But in the webisodes she looks like a black coded character

Idk why they changed the way she looks in one media from the other. Just let us have more poc dolls!

Third is Honey Swamp its possible she is simply a lightskined person which is perfectly fine. But it seems like monster high just likes to deny us melanin enriched dolls.

5. The Tiki

They never had a tiki Monster High character that looked like the rest of the MH dolls. Which would have been nice to see but alas it was stolen from us. The tiki where just a plot device for a MH movie Escape from Skull Shores. They don't ever tease the tiki or anything like that, thank goodness. At the beginning of the movie they just follow these white man's orders , which is very sus.

Another weird thing, is in a different movie Scaris City of Frights Cleo accidently destroys the whole village. Then Skelita (an indigenous based character) tells her to apologize to the tiki but instead Cloe is all like "Hah I dont apologize." then she manipulates the tiki into building a ship for her. That unnecessary scene just leaves a bad taste.

Honestly its sad how the tiki are always being manipulated. I think the media should stop using poc as mere plot devices.

6. Having a white character based off poc aesthetic

Monster high gave Jane Boolittle a jungle aesthetic. They state that she never knew her origins. Honestly I think they are trying to go for a Tarzan type of story. "Oh no us rich white people who decided to explore a jungle and brought our kid with us too..... for some odd reason ..... have had something tragic happen to us. Now our child is alone only to be raised by animals ahhhhwww." Later she gets adopted by another researcher/explorer. MH if you are gonna base a character on the "jungle aesthetic" maybe base it off ohh idk people who actually live in the jungle and not some rando white girl!!

I'm so tired of these stupid colonial based stories first with that werid white con-man in Skull Shores and now these white explorers!! I can't.

(Also Jane being a whole stalker is not cute. Her being a stalker endorses that behavior. A kid might see that and be like "wow she's stalking but that's okay because she's shy uwu. " pls never stalk anyone ever. )

If we ever cancel a Monster High character it should be Jane Boolittle.

7. "Race" jokes

I thought monster high was supposed to be about accepting people but the amount of times a monster from a different race has made a race joke on another monster is not even funny. The discrimination and horrible jokes Ghoulia had to hear right in front of her face is so sad. I think its honestly teaching kids to make/be tolerant with rasict jokes.

"Uhhhhhnnnhhhhng I'm a mummie"

For example when Duce made a joke on mummies doing" zombie motions". Like you got the wrong race and a inaccurate stereotype dummy. These writers were stupid. 😑

I dont think we should cancel MH just Jane Boolittle or anything like that. But if monster high comes back and they still haven't addressed/fixed these issues we should definitely fight them.💖

[tabloidtoc]

National Enquirer, April 19

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover

Page 2: Michael Douglas' short-term memory loss and frail frame have wife Catherine Zeta-Jones fearing for her older husband's well-being -- Michael once declared he'd beaten oral cancer, but harsh chemotherapy and radiation treatments have left him a shell of his former self and he has even admitted to suffering memory problems -- he was also affected by the 2020 death of his father Kirk Douglas and he hasn't been the same since his dad died -- this is a guy who cheated death with a horrific cancer ordeal, and he's had other medical issues over the years and some serious domestic dramas that have taken their toll -- Catherine always knew that their age difference would mean her taking care of him one day but she didn't expect it to be so soon

Page 3: Reese Witherspoon has ditched her wedding ring during recent outings, sparking rumors her marriage to Jim Toth is on the ropes but she feels their relationship isn't down for the count and refuses to give up the fight to keep their family together but they may not make it -- the desire to make things work is still there on both sides and they've been able to pull it all together all these years, even with personalities as different as theirs mainly for the sake of their family and they got on each other's nerves while cooped up together during the pandemic, but they don't bicker in public and that's one thing they have going for them

Page 4: Ryan Seacrest creeped out his pals when he gushed over Maria Menounos when she sat in for Kelly Ripa on Live recently -- Ryan thinks Maria is the smartest, most talented and beautiful woman to walk the planet and he can't help but swoon over her but Ryan understands Maria is happily married to TV writer and producer Keven Underago and he'd never cross the line and he doesn't want to date Maria, but he makes no secret he'd be dancing on air to have someone like her, which is kind of creepy, but he can't help it -- Ryan would never make moves on someone else's girl, but he does try to imitate her husband Keven's qualities like how funny and creative and sensible he is and Ryan adores Kelly and thinks she's great but he wouldn't mind if she takes more time off just so he can gaze at Maria

* Miley Cyrus' recent boozy night out with party pals, including British punk rocker Yungblud, has loved ones fearing she's slipping back into dangerous territory -- she was spotted at Hollywood's famous Rainbow Bar & Grill, drinking shots and beer chasers, just months after she admitted to her struggles with addiction and after fellow addiction-challenged singer Demi Lovato announced she was California sober, claiming she was safely able to drink in moderation, Miley didn't see any reason why she couldn't do the same -- her family and sober friends are deeply concerned for Miley's well-being and are begging her to stop drinking now

Page 5: Newly robust Celine Dion has her health back on track following a dangerous few years where she looked like a walking skeleton -- she has beefed up her wraith-like frame by making healthier choices during lockdown -- she went through a rough time of transition after husband Rene Angelil's death and lost a lot of weight, but lockdown has given her a chance to rest and focus on taking care of herself and now she looks 15 to 20 pounds heavier and seems in good spirits and is looking forward to rebooting her Courage World Tour when the pandemic ends

Page 6: Fitness fanatic Tim McGraw is a changed man since he kicked the bottle in 2008, but he's now hooked on working out and sculpting the perfect bod and he's publicly admitted exercise is what gets him flying high but his quest to get ripped to the max is now a 24/7 obsession and he spends hours in the gym and he's already flexing a muscular body most men would die for, but he doesn't want to stop until he's an Adonis and he works out twice or three times a day and packs his diet with energy-boosting smoothies and veggie juices and some might say he's going overboard with the workouts, but Tim craves those feel-good endorphins and he considers his workouts to be fun -- he loves the way he looks and thinks he can do better and he does spend a lot of time in front of the mirror admiring himself and tends to wear tight T-shirts that show off his pecs and six-pack abs, and wife Faith Hill loves the results -- a lot of people say he's traded one addiction for another

Page 7: Nearly six years after their bitter divorce, Miranda Lambert has finally extended an olive branch to ex-husband Blake Shelton, but she's still pretty envious over his professional success with fiancee Gwen Stefani -- last year, Blake and Gwen took home the collaborative video prize at the Country Music Television Awards for their duet Nobody but You, and also scored a Top Ten hit with their single Happy Anywhere and it makes Miranda jealous to see Blake making hay on the charts with Gwen but their success also made Miranda recall Over You, her hit collaboration with Blake, which won Song of the Year at the 2012 Country Music Association Awards and during a recent interview, Miranda affectionately blew kisses toward the camera as she recounted how her ballad with Blake was inspired by his grief over the loss of his older brother; still, Miranda also harbors a competitive streak and said she's angling to transform herself and husband Brendan McLoughlin into entertainment movers and shakers just like Blake and Gwen -- Miranda plans to enroll Brendan in acting school and Miranda wants them to act together and they are looking for scripts to make a television movie and even planning to launch a production company in Nashville and Miranda recognizes the musical chemistry Blake and Gwen share, and she believes she and Brendan can match that success on-screen -- meanwhile, as Blake and Gwen prepare to wed, Miranda is finally in a place where she can wish them well and Miranda carried a lot of animosity toward Blake and Gwen, especially since she suspected they started something before she and Blake split up, but she's very happy with Brendan so maybe all that pain she and Blake went through in ending their marriage was for the best

* Reba McEntire is reaching out to save her friend and former daughter-in-law Kelly Clarkson from suffering through a divorce that eerily mirrors Reba's own breakup -- Kelly split from husband and manager Brandon Blackstock in June 2020, and the divorce battle has them fighting over custody of their two kids as well as Brandon suing her for $1.4 million in unpaid commissions, but Reba has seen this before: Brandon's dad, Narvel Blackstock, dumped her in 2015 after 26 years of marriage, and despite initially agreeing to continue as her manager, dumped her as a client weeks later and Reba knows all too well how petty and conniving Narvel and Brandon can be, and her heart goes out to Kelly -- Kelly admits to Reba there are times when she just wants to run away and hide and Reba tells her to run away to me and it means the world to Kelly to have Reba in her corner -- Narvel and son Brandon head Starstruck Entertainment and are adamant that Kelly owes them big bucks for helping her land both her talk show and a coaching spot on The Voice, but with Reba's help, Kelly is fighting back and Reba learned the hard way the pitfalls of mixing business with family life and she's trying to help Kelly because she hates to see another woman suffer at the hands of a Blackstock

Page 8: Sicko Jeffrey Epstein has been accused of a horrific new litany of abuse by a woman who claims he forced her into unwanted genital surgery, raped her in front of her child and threatened to feed her to alligators -- the woman, identified in court papers as Jane Doe, is suing the late pervert's estate, claiming he and his alleged madam Ghislaine Maxwell, groomed her for their sordid pleasure -- in the suit, she claims Epstein drove her to pick up her 8-year-old son and took them to a lake, where he threatened to feed her to alligators, as had happened to other girls in the past, if she dared to squeal on him -- at the time, the woman said she was 26, but she looked much younger and Epstein told her to say she was 17 and he also arranged for a man with a Russian accent to perform an unnecessary vaginal surgery to pass her off as a virgin to a client and this violent and illegal procedure was botched, leaving her mutilated, in pain, disabled, and permanently sexually dysfunctional

Page 9: Ghislaine Maxwell has been slapped with yet another sex trafficking charge and it's got her former pal Prince Andrew sweating bullets -- the new indictment details how Jeffrey Epstein's alleged madam reportedly groomed a 14-year-old for him, but crucially for Andrew, it expands the time frame of Ghislaine's alleged crimes from 1994 to 2004, a span that includes her meeting the British royal in 1999 and then introducing him to Epstein and that time frame also includes the period in which "sex slave" Virginia Roberts Giuffre claims she slept with Andrew three times, charges he's denied -- the new charge also opens the floodgates on other celebrities, politicians and high-profile figures who were in Epstein's orbit at the time and the new indictment widens the pool for Ghislaine and her defense attorneys because who wouldn't want to bring down all of these fat cats and who wouldn't be that desperate?

Page 10: Hot Shots -- Rumer Willis got to the root of her gardening needs in L.A., Michael B. Jordan and Chante Adams got cozy as they shared a snack while shooting Journal for Jordan in NYC's Central Park, Heidi Klum in L.A., Mario Lopez tossed the ceremonial first dice roll at the opening of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Las Vegas, Christopher Meloni shot his onscreen spouse's funeral scene for Law & Order: Organized Crime

Page 11: Tony Bennett has a secret weapon in his fight against Alzheimer's disease: his close pal and collaborator Lady Gaga -- Susan Crow Benedetto, 54, the wife of the 94-year-old singing legend, has enlisted Gaga to help keep Tony's faculties sharp as he struggles with advancing dementia because Gaga's telephone calls have always helped cheer Tony up and keep him focused and they laugh together, reminisce and sometimes sing and it always puts a smile on Tony's face and it's great therapy -- when asked whether Tony still recognizes the pop star, Susan joked that Gaga is hard to forget -- Gaga has also played a critical role in keeping the aging crooner active and creative by working with him and they plan to release their second album of duets this spring as a follow-up to their 2014 smash hit Cheek to Cheek

* Worried friends feared ailing rock god Ozzy Osbourne is coming unstrung while wife Sharon Osbourne's career goes into a death spiral -- Ozzy has been plagued by crippling illnesses over the years, including Parkinson's disease, and has to walk with the aid of a cane and now he's at wit's end and pushing himself into a danger zone as his wife fights tooth and nail after leaving The Talk amid a racism scandal and Ozzy's been under a great deal of distress over Sharon's problems over at The Talk and he worries and fusses over her and can't focus on anything else and it's left many in his circle very concerned for his health which is fragile enough already -- the bashing Sharon received during the scandal has the aging rocker concerned she may never work again and he'll have to be the breadwinner

Page 12: Straight Shuter -- five years after Angelina Jolie filed for divorce, she's still battling Brad Pitt over custody of their five youngest kids, now she's filed new court documents claiming she has proof of domestic violence against Brad and accusations like these would kill anyone else's career, but not in this case: Hollywood is 100 percent behind Brad and the sense in the industry is Angelina has weaponized the kids against Brad but Brad is very well respected in Hollywood, and most people find these new allegations hard to believe and if anything, Angie is only hurting the children and herself

* Real Housewives stars featured in the upcoming spinoff are cashing in and Bravo will pay Luann de Lesseps, Teresa Giudice and the others a sweet $200,000 for one week's work in Turks and Caicos and that's more than double what the ladies usually get for filming, plus they get a free trip to a tropical island

* American Idol could be on the chopping block because in just seven weeks the show has lost 2 million viewers and it's simple math: Idol cannot survive with its current budget and ABC has two options which are cancel the show or cut costs, which would mean hiring cheaper judges and a cheaper host to replace Ryan Seacrest and both options are being explored

* Britney Spears' beau, personal trainer Sam Asghari, shows off his toned abs in L.A. (picture)

Page 13: Palace insiders fear Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's vendetta against the British monarchy will take a shocking new turn: they'll bankroll a lurid movie about Princess Diana's death and the conspiracy theories that suggest the royal family was involved -- the rights to the movie script are owned by Hollywood producer Ben Browning, who was just hired by Harry and Meghan to run their film company Archewell Productions -- the controversial movie centers on Princess Diana's lover Dodi Fayed's father, former Harrods' boss Mohamed Al-Fayed, investigating his son's death and his belief that Dodi and Diana were murdered because she was pregnant and planning to marry, and The Firm did not want a Muslim in the royal family

Page 14: Crime

Page 15: Alabama Shakes drummer Steve Johnson has been busted on charges of willful torture and abuse of a child and was also charged with cruelly beating or otherwise maltreating a child under the age of 18 -- his arrest came just a year after he was slapped with a one-year suspended sentence and two years' probation after pleading guilty to menacing his ex-wife Whitney Lee, who called him mentally unstable -- Johnson helped the Shakes score three Grammys in 2016 for their album Sound & Color but the band has been on hiatus since singer Brittany Howard started a solo career in 2018 and Steve was lost after that; he went from playing in front of 50,000 people to playing in bars again -- even if the Shakes reunite, it's highly unlikely Steve would be invited back -- Steve remains in county jail awaiting his court date and his attorneys said Mr. Johnson maintains his innocence

* Danny Masterson and his lawyers believe they are victims of anti-Scientology bias and cannot get a fair trial in his Los Angeles rape case -- celebrity attorney Tom Mesereau, who successfully defended Michael Jackson against child molestation charges two decades ago, claimed his client has been treated unfairly because of his ties to the church, and that the police or district attorney's office leaked damaging details of the case -- Danny and his lawyers feel persecuted and that everybody in Hollywood who isn't a Scientologist is after them -- LAPD Robbery and Homicide Division Capt. Jonathan Tippet said his organization is keeping a tight lid on all information surrounding the case to ensure Masterson gets a fair trial

Page 16: Mormon church officials are being accused of corporate greed for using members' charitable donations to secretly create a $100 billion tax-free fund -- James Huntsman, the son of a prominent Mormon family, is suing the church for fraud, claiming donations solicited to finance charity work were actually used to fill church coffers -- the church boasts at least 15 million members worldwide, including celebrities like Gladys Knight, Donny and Marie Osmond, Katherine Heigl, Julianne Hough, Christina Aguilera, Ryan Gosling, Amy Adams and Aaron Eckhart and many could have tithed money that ended up in the tax-free fund

Page 17: Jen Shah of The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City was recently fingered by the feds as the bogus businesswoman behind a multi-state fraud scheme dating back to 2012 -- the Bravo blowhard, known for her extravagant parties, designer outfits and extensive entourage, and her first assistant Stuart Smith were arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering -- the U.S. Justice Department alleged the Park City resident and Smith of Lehi generated and sold lead lists of innocent individuals for other members of their scheme to repeatedly scam, and claimed the greedy creeps defrauded hundreds of victims -- the terrible twosome targeted older adults and computer illiterate folks by using both telemarketing and in-person sales teams to peddle nonexistent online services and then fight the refund efforts of wronged consumers -- if convicted, Shah and Smith each face up to 50 years behind bars

Page 18: American Life

Page 20: L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva triggered a cover-up scandal when he revealed his investigators determined why Tiger Woods drove off a California cliff, then refused to explain what happened, citing the golf legend's privacy -- Villanueva said the black box in the Genesis SUV that Tiger was driving when he flew off a suburban L.A. highway in the early morning helped determine the cause

* Hollywood Hookups -- Bethenny Frankel and Paul Bernon engaged, Melissa and Joe Gorga appear to have reached the finale of their marriage, Fernanda Flores and professional boxes Noel Mikaelian dating

Page 21: Britney Spears said she broke into tears after seeing bits of the new documentary about how she has been in the grips of a conservatorship for years, saying she was embarrassed by the light they put her in and she cried for two weeks and still cries sometimes

* Generous Hollywood legend Dick Van Dyke put a happy face on job seekers in Malibu when he handed out fistfuls of cash -- Dick was spotted withdrawing bills from a bank before driving to the Malibu Community Labor Exchange, a nonprofit that helps unemployed locals find day jobs and he stayed in his car as he handed out money to masked folks who were lined up to look for work

Page 22: The late Aretha Franklin left behind a royal mess of paperwork, including a newly discovered fourth will that has thrown her $80 million estate into fresh turmoil -- the eight-page document, titled The Will of Aretha Franklin, was apparently drawn up not long before her death in 2018, and was recently found among the files of the singer's onetime attorney Henry Grix along with the paperwork describing the terms of a trust but both items are stamped draft and neither has Aretha's signature but Michigan law changed seven years ago, and it made the admissibility of a document like this more flexible -- currently there's a bitter beef among Aretha's four adult sons over how their mother's assets should be divided

Page 23: The battle over Prince's $300 million fortune rages on, and the late pop star's siblings, and legal heirs, fear there won't be anything left after lawyers, accountants, administrators and the IRS take their cut -- five years after he died from a fatal fentanyl overdose without leaving a will, an avalanche of deals and court hearings have left his massive cash stash in limbo -- sadly Prince's distrust of lawyers and other professionals now means that millions will be spent paying those same people to try to sort out the mess he left behind and this could go on for a decade

Page 26: Weird Body Language -- stars cope with bizarre deformities -- Denzel Washington, Steven Tyler, Ashton Kutcher, Matthew Perry

Page 27: Lily Allen, Mark Wahlberg, Karolina Kurkova, Scar Service -- Tina Fey, Padma Lakshmi, Joaquin Phoenix

Page 32: Health Watch

* Ask the Vet -- Watch out for xylitol

Page 34: Just months after John Travolta's beloved wife, Kelly Preston, passed, the actor has been shattered by another death in the family -- his nephew Sam Travolta's badly decomposed body was found in his Wisconsin apartment last September, weeks after he died from a suspected heart attack -- John has suffered through so much loss and Sam's death was another huge blow but he's strong and has a deep faith in Scientology and the church brings him solace and comfort

Page 36: Shark Tank star Barbara Corcoran has stepped up to get a tenant in one of her buildings back on his feet -- Barbara and building co-owner Alex Rodriguez came under fire after Ryo Nagaoka's possessions were reportedly tossed while he was hospitalized with COVID-19 and when Ryo got home he found only his piano and pet tortoise in his cleaned-out crib -- emptying Ryo's apartment was necessary because it had become a health hazard and had a biocleaning crew scrub it -- Barbara donated $12,000 to a GoFundMe page for him, while A-Rod has seemingly not yet contributed anything and Barbara also said the building's management company has renovated Ryo's apartment

Page 38: Beloved game show host Peter Marshall made a miraculous recovery from COVID-19 to celebrate with friends at his 95th birthday party -- Peter was in and out of the hospital for ten weeks and he was at death's door and doctors didn't give him much of a chance but Peter beat the odds to enjoy a Zoom party attended online by Leslie Uggams, Loni Anderson, Sandy Duncan, Ruta Lee, Karen Valentine, Rich Little, JoAnne Worley, Jack Jones and more

* Accused sex freak Armie Hammer's career is in the crapper and he's beginning to believe that's where it will stay -- the kink king was fired from the thriller Billion Dollar Spy amid sexual assault allegations and the release of social media messages claiming he has dark fetishes including cannibalism -- Armie has already gotten to boot from the movie Shotgun Wedding and the series The Offer, and more trouble may be on the horizon: Armie was accused of sexual assault by a woman called Effie, who alleged the actor violently raped her and Armie's attorneys issued a statement denying the claims, saying Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations -- Armie has been keeping a low profile at a Caribbean resort, but fears his entire career is in trouble

Page 42: Red Carpet -- Carrie Underwood

[luna--dragon]

@fullmusicbard

Aside from the series being a needless cash grab that ruins the nice little finale the third movie gave us, I've come up with a list

1. The dragon designs had a lot of potential, but just fell flat.

Thunder, the toothless descendant, has an oddly broad chest, and his face looks like someone smashed a sledgehammer into it. I know Toothless's design is fucking incredible, but if they couldn't improve the design then they should've made it look much more different and evolved instead. The lazy thing to do was just make a worse toothless, and that's exactly what they did. Also, no retractable teeth. They couldn't even get that right.

Plowhorn is a brand new dragon species called Gembreakers, and she's owned by a guy called D'Angleo. I will admit that the beetle wings are really cool, but her eyes are too small and don't look very dragon like at all. Also, all of the crystals on her body aren't pronounced enough, and in most shots, the only crystal on her that you can see is the rhino horn, which just feels really out of place if you can't see any of the others.

Feathers is a Featherhide dragon, owned by a Hispanic girl called Alexandra. She looks a lot like a chameleon, and can even go invisible. She can also mimic sounds, which does lead to one of the only actually funny gags. The body design is great! The face is kind of fucked up! The face genuinely just looks like a worse Zippleback or Terrible Terror face. It's cute, but not very dragon-like. The mouth is too low down and the eyes aren't buggy enough. Alex says she looks like Quetzalcoatl, but really only if you squint. If Quetzalcoatl was an inspiration in the design, they did not lean into it enough.

Wu and Wei is the two headed Chinese dragon. They are owned by a Chinese girl called Jun. One head is red, the other is blue, and their body is a disgusting yellow colour. Their body proportions are whack, even by the series' standards, and still looks like the body of a European dragon rather than a Chinese one. It's like they just deformed a Zippleback's body, slapped on the heads of Chinese dragons, and dunked the whole thing into a bunch of shitty paint buckets.

Y'know how I said Feathers didn't look much like Quetzalcoatl? Yeah, Wu and Wei look VERY Chinese. If each human character got a dragon heavily rooted in their backgrounds, that would've been great! However, when you do it with just one character, it feels a little racist. They're also the only dragons that have ethnic names, and Jun's mother is also tiny little woman with a massive hat... I'm not Chinese, so I could be completely out of my depth here, but I really just don't vibe with that.

Also, there's no in universe reason for them to look like dragons from other regions. They're all descendants from the original Viking species', and they were all found in a cave in some American Fissure.

2. The human characters are very one dimensional.

Compared to the original group's 6 humans and 6 dragons (I'm counting the 2 headed dragons as separate ones) There's 5 dragons and 4 humans. They almost halved the amount of human characters, and had 6 episodes to develop them, but none of them are as fleshed out as of the characters from the original movie.

Tom is the main character, and there is nothing that stands out about him. He's the same copy and paste adventure-loving white boy you can find in any other kids show.

Jun is into spiritual stuff like a tarot cards and astrology signs. There's a scene where her mother calls it magic, which she adamantly denies and says she doesn't believe in. In later episodes, she then goes on to say she believes in Dragons, Unicorns, Fairies, and Bigfoot. They definitely didn't mean to make Jun dumb, but she's pretty fucking dumb.

D'Angelo is alright, but he's honestly just a watered down Fishlegs. Really the only thing special about him is that he patches up the dragons when they get too roughed up and need medical care. That's about it.

Alex is the most developed character, and you barely see her. She only becomes an important character in episode 5 of 6, and that is also the episode where we actually get to know anything about her character. I should not have to explain why that's bad writing.

3. This one is just a small issue I have, but the sound design... isn't good.

There's never any ambient sounds, background music is only in important scenes, small sound effects are either quiet as fuck or non existent, and when characters walk there are no footstep sounds. When you notice it, you'll never be able to unnotice it, and if you're anything like me, it's gonna drive you up the fucking wall.

There are definitely more issues but I'm way too fucking tired to write them all up right now.

I watched the news how to train your dragon series to see if it's as bad as everyone says it is

It is as bad as everyone says it is

[scary-white]

I'm so flattered that you thought of me for this idea! Like actually, thank you so much, it really gives me a vote of confidence in my writing. I will say, this AU is very interesting to me, I just haven't been able to really come up with anything. I think that it would best be written through split perspective, focusing on Carrie and Sue. I think that Carrie would still be wary of Sue, but still, she is the only one she lets in after the events of prom. They've both just lost someone precious, and I think that it would be interesting to see how their relationship would develop in those conditions. Carrie is incredibly mistrusting, very jaded at this point, and Sue is probably the same way at this point.

If I wrote this AU, I'd still have Sue going to track down Carrie, even if she didn't destroy everything. I think the main apologies would happen then and they'd be okay, but through the course of their friendship I think it would be a journey of true forgiveness and healing as they both process their grief together. In one night, Carrie White becomes the only girl who really understands what Sue has been through, losing her boyfriend like that. The two become inseparable, but to the outsiders perspective it's really weird because they're always together but they seem a little stilted, at least in the beginning. Like they aren't friends by choice. I mean, they are, but the circumstances of their friendship is very extreme and neither Sue nor Carrie has any real experience in healthy friendships (In this AU I'm going off of musical/2013 canon where Sue and Chris were BFFs. That can't be healthy.)

I think Sue would distance herself from her old friends, they don't possibly understand what's going on, and at this point Sue would be irritated with their immaturity. (Keep in mind, Sue matures incredibly fast as the result of her own actions. The others never realize they need to make a serious change.) Her old friends would play nice with Carrie as they recognize that she's the only person Sue really cares about. They'd see her as a ticket for getting back in with Sue, and que the groveling. Their attempts at apologizing is pathetic, but Sue begrudgingly gives them advice, however, she tells them Carrie owes none of them forgiveness.

As for Carrie? She'd mess with them at every turn, using her powers for her own amusement. Sue doesn't realize this at first, but catches on and thinks it's funny. She'd get very vindictive, and with telekenesis and telepathy at her disposal? Look out Chaimberlain. Carrie suddenly gets really good at pinpointing other people's insecurities. She doesn't go explicitly snooping in their brains, but residual feelings, private thoughts, slip out and are broadcast to someone like Carrie who can pick up on that stuff.

I imagine an altercation with Tina, where Tina tries to be a bully but Carrie just goes "shut up Tina, Chris is never gonna like you back." Instant silence. Tina tries to backpedal, and deny deny deny, but people are already snickering and the idea has already took root. Tina likes Chris.

She would be relentless with Chris. Making her trip over nothing, hitting her with things, spilling food on her nice clothes-- all with TK, mind you.

I imagine one scene on the baseball field. Sue still goes to the baseball field sometimes to remember Tommy, and when Carrie realizes this, she starts joining her. One day Chris comes and confronts them while the team is practicing. While she's bitching, a fly ball is hit, and Carrie notices it. She uses her power and guides it to hit Chris.

Margaret? I know you said Carrie would keep her in the closet, and if we were going for a more creepy/horror feel, it would be GREAT. So much potential. However, I think this premise is more about the path to healing, and I think it would be better suited to have Margaret in a mental hospital after trying to kill Carrie. Carrie still goes to visit her, alone at first, and she's always really upset when leaving bc Margaret is still a bitch. Sue one day comes with her, and comforts Carrie afterwards. In this AU, Carrie needs to come to terms with the fact that she can still love her Mama and also recognize all the horrific abuse she put her through. She can still love her Mama even while distancing herself from that abuse.

I think a lot of her anger at her classmates comes out as misdirected anger towards Margaret, but at this point she doesn't care. They've all hurt her, they can all feel the brunt of her rage. Even if it is Margaret who she's truly angry with. She'd also be incredibly angry with Chris, but I think it'd be most meaningful to explore the conflicted feelings that stem from abusive love rather than the rather straightforward feelings of anger and contempt for Chris.

Carrie, of course, deserves justice for what her classmates has done to her, but unlike her Mama, she doesn't really care what happens to them. So she just resorts to being cold and an all around menace to her classmates. It's easy to remain cold to a group of people who only showed her hate. She struggles more with her Mama, who showed her horrible abuse, but also love (incredibly toxic love, but love, in Margaret's own twisted ways.)

To sum it up? The main themes of my take on this AU would be healing and forgiveness, as explored as Carrie and Sue become closer. Carrie doesn't fully forgive her classmates, but her peers do finally learn some empathy and compassion. They find out what a real apology needs to look like. What needs to happen after. Carrie will never have a normal relationship with her mother, but they both heal a little from their trauma, and their relationship does become healthier. Still, Carrie can't bring herself to get too close. She feels bad for this, but Sue assures hee that it's perfectly valid and completely within her right. Just because you can forgive someone, doesn't mean they deserve access to your life.

Hey, it's been a while! How's everything going?

There's an idea that I've had in my mind for a Carrie AU, and it's one that I'm really dying to share and talk about.

Imagine that the false prom election rigging, the pig's blood assault, Tommy being fatally injured/killed, (maybe) the video humiliation happening, (mostly) everyone laughing, Carrie being verbally abused and tripped as she's running out of the gymnasium, then going home to (almost) be killed by her Mom. . .all happen. But no one (save for maybe Tommy) dies/gets killed. The prom massacre doesn't happen. The destruction of Chamberlain doesn't happen. Margaret doesn't get killed either.

What happens to Carrie when the traumatic humiliation happens? What if she snapped in a different way?

Instead of killing Margaret, Carrie keeps her locked in the closet for days?

Instead of killing her classmates and teachers, what if Carrie "telekinetically" messed with them repeatedly at school to make them pay?

Imagine that Carrie is at a point where even if someone tried to be nice to her, she rebuffs them and tells them to f**k off. She becomes much more bitter, angrier, and resentful (if that was even possible). A genuine apology will just piss her off now. If someone tried to befriend her, she'll start screaming at them.

It's an AU that I really want to see. So many AUs where the humiliation happens but no one dies have Carrie being traumatized, but still being able to give others a chance.

However, I really want to see this AU. An AU where while Carrie doesn't snap (by killing others), she is no longer forgiving or nice. And the others have a lot of amends to make.

That means that Sue (and others) are going to have to work very, very hard to show Carrie, that yes, she and others feel bad, that they do care about her, that they truly and genuinely are sorry, that no, no one supports what Chris, Billy, Tina, and the others did, neither is anyone defending them, no one intended to hurt/kill Tommy, that they're very sorry for what happened, not everyone was involved in the prank, that no, no one's making fun of her home life, that they are all shocked and disgusted and saddened by all that her mother had done to her, we're sorry, Carrie, please, give us a chance, forgive us, forgive us, forgive us...

Wow, I'm actually starting to feel emotional now. Anyways, what do you think?

That sounds super interesting! I'd like to read something like that too. I'd really want to see how Carrie fucks with people, I feel like with her telekenesis she could find pretty creative ideas. People should grovel for Carrie's forgiveness, for too long she let way too much shit pass by.