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Natalie Clifford Barney, A Perilous Advantage: The Best of Natalie Clifford Barney (trans. by Anna Livia)

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Beetroot Hummus with Tofu and Crudités

12/8/24

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Arlie Panting (American, 1914-1994), Still Life with Leeks. Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 41 cm. Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea

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Marsha Hunt singing at The Isle of Wight Music Festival on Saturday 30th August 1969

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Watched in 2024 → HUESERA // HUESERA: THE BONE WOMAN (2022) dir. Michelle Garza Cervera

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The Chilsong Pavilion. In: Mt. Myohyang, tourist brochure, Foreign Languages Publishing House, Pyongyang, DPRK, 1982.

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Was considering potential love interests for post-canon Rio and:

There's Hela, the Norse Goddess of Death and the ruler of Hel. (Thanks, @ dust, I read her page.) Her interest in Rio could stem from a desire to consolidate power.

Not sure if she exists in the Marvel comics, but I was thinking of Morrigan, the Celtic Goddess that is associated with war, fate and death.

There's Nephthys, the Egyptian Goddess of mourning, protection and the afterlife. She is associated with funerary rites and guiding souls, aligning with Rio's role.

There's Kali, the Hindu Goddess of time, destruction and death. She embodies power and transformation. Two unstoppable forces of nature.

The pros:

A Goddess would not be afraid of Rio. Some of them (like Hela) could even have a rivalry turned attraction to her.

The cons:

Rio is so single minded that I don't think she'd give many fucks whilst mourning either way.

Still, it'd be interesting to see someone that chases her and actually matches her freak since Agatha couldn't in the end--or rather didn't want to.

In my heart of hearts, Rio gets her own spin off series; a prequel where we see Death's origins and journey into human history.

A format where Rio meets some reaps some interesting souls each weekly episode. It doesn't even have to include Agatha.

But I know this premise isn't Marvel-like.

Speaking of Agatha, Jac's "We didn't give you any Agatha/Rio scenes in the past, because the story will continue and we could see more of them" was so disingenuous, because this was Agatha's show.

In the future, Agatha will be Billy's ghost mentor; she'll be the sidekick, not the focus.

As for Rio, well. If a bunch of guys are in charge of her arc (instead of Jac and Mary Livanos), they'll give her a male love interest--not even Thanos or Deadpool--faster than light to make her more palatable to general audiences and the fanboys.

But I was thinking: we don't know much about her, but if you exclude her adventures with Agatha, Rio can be read as a virginal goddess, impartial and harmonious within the universe.

Surely though, there must have been other divine beings that saw her appeal, right?

So what if another powerful lady--another immortal goddess--had been pursuing her for centuries and now that Agatha and Rio's canonical story is over said lady gives it another try?

And what if Agatha changed her mind in the future only to be met with Rio's perceived indifference?

In reality, of course, Rio would be in mourning and simply respecting Agatha's wishes (to retire her human form and stay away from her).

Wouldn't be interesting to briefly flip the dynamic there?

We know Agatha is resurrected in the comics eventually.

And we've seen Rio's possessiveness, so maybe it's Agatha turn for once to deal with a little jealousy, a little competition there.

Agatha was so arrogant that she'd thought that Death was her equal. So how does she react when she finds out that Rio has other romantic options--options that are way more powerful than Agatha?

How long would Agatha's "I don't care what she does, I don't want her toxic embrace" act last?

And how much time would it take for Rio to fold? (<- Because this is a given.)

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Have you ever seen a swedish tv show called Lea? I think it's called the fighter in English but I am not sure. I think Jennie Silfverhjelm character's arc is something you would enjoy a lot.

I have not, anon, but according to IMDB, it's a mini series, so why not?

Adding it to my "to watch" list. Thanks!

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Except a mortal's rejection of her love, I guess.

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Bukharan Jews on Shabbat, Uzbekistan, 1980s

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Interview with the Vampire Season 2 | Episode 7 "I Could Not Prevent It"

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Frederick Judd Waugh (American, 1861–1940), "The Great Deep", 1909

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Kurdish tribesmen pay their respects at the palace grounds, 1967. Today, Kurds are a large minority who make up about 11 percent of Iran’s population.

Winfield Parks

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Waving paper streamers, a thousand schoolgirls circle Amjadieh Stadium in Tehran after the Shah's coronation. The event included marching bands, roaring motorcycle teams, precision gymnastics, and a torchlight tattoo by imperial guards. ​

October 1967

James L. Stanfield

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Listen, I don't hate him either. In fact, during some of my male Shepard playthroughs, I saved him, because I enjoyed their flirting in ME3. But boy, is he a generic noodle.

I don't care which one of the two players save. That's their prerogative.

But. But.

Unfortunately, this "Ashley sucks" trend isn't TikTok specific.

Male fanboys on Reddit and people of all genders on here have been viciously hating on her since the games came out.

She's far from my favorite character in the trilogy, but the fandom's sexist treatment of her has made me turn the chair and defend her more than once over the years.

Unsurprisingly enough, there's an overlap between individuals who still call Ashley "the space racist" and those who hate Miranda (due to her being a "Cerberus bitch," never mind that she flips TIM off, never mind that she tries to bring the organization down herself) and slutshame her.

As if it's the character's fault she was designed for the male fans thus that stupid catsuit (also see: Seven of Nine on "Voyager," Jeri Ryan couldn't breathe in that shit) and those equally stupid shots of her ass. Remember when the fanboys threw a fit when those shots were removed from the "Legendary Edition"?

By the way, the creators quite literally told Yvonne Strahovski (a natural blonde that dyes her hair) that Miranda was gonna have black hair, because she was "supposed to be a femme fatale."

(Never mind that the character is more than a caricature; that she's amongst the most sensitive and insecure ME characters when you let Shepard know her.)

And they, of course, ignored that as gorgeous as the actress is, she doesn't have balloon breasts and ass.

But back to Ashley.

"She's xenophobic."

She does make some rather unfortunate comments, it has to be said, but people throw things out of proportion, because Ashley dares to be outspoken; a female character that doesn't suck Shepard's dick/vagina and challenges them. (She's one of the few squadmates that does this in all of the games, which I personally find refreshing. The blind hero worship makes me roll my eyes at times.)

When renegade Shepard says to an Hanar, "Because you're a big stupid jellyfish!" then everyone laughs. That's not xenophobic, that's badass and true.

When Wrex and Mordin (the fandom faves, my faves) say very, very xenophobic shit, then that's fine and dandy.

When Garrus, the ex cop, does it? The same.

Oh, the double standards of it all.

People love taking Ashley's lines out of context and/or before she gets her own character development.

"That bitch shot Wrex on Virmire."

Meanwhile, that's 100% on the player. Is it the character's fault that you didn't do Wrex's side mission and don't have enough paragon/renegade points to make him stand down?

In that case, Ashley does her job, i.e., protecting her Commander from an enraged Krogan with a gun, when Shepard doesn't pull the trigger themselves.

Also, notice how ME1 Ashley is one of the few characters--if not the only one other than Shepard, I'll have to refresh my memory--that doesn't dehumanize Wrex; she calls him by his name instead of "the Krogan."

"That bitch trash talks Shepard on Horizon."

Oh, you mean when she expresses her doubts about the human terrorist organization (that she righteously hates) bringing back a dead Shepard back to life? When Miranda herself tells Shepard that she wanted to use a chip to control them?

Wow, how evil of Ash to question why her cyborg of a Commander all of a sudden aligns with the cartoonishly evil organization that uses refugees to create Reaper abominations (third game).

Kaidan does the exact same thing on Horizon btw. His call out comes off as milder because he has a different personality.

The way I have to make sure I don’t get on Mass Effect tiktok because they ALWAYS end up hating on Ashley is so annoying. I swear people played the og Mass Effect once, killed Ashley during that play through and just never thought about her again besides miss remembering her comments.

How many times do I have to say it people. ‘I can’t tell the Aliens from the animals’ is triggered by being around Keepers. In universe there is a on going conversation about what the hell the keepers even are so while her comment is in poor taste she isn’t talking about any sentient being.

The ‘Bear Vs Dog’ monologue is a metaphor where humans are the dogs and the person is the Council. Her point is that the council would throw humans under the bus in a heartbeat and Oh, come ME3 she is completely right.

If you bring her along to the conversation with the  terra firma guy she makes it extremely clear that she doesn’t like them in anyway, even before she gets character development. She the hates her grandfather being used by them and strongly opposes them uses his history to promote their racist messages.

ALL the teammates in the og Mass Effect said dumb shit. Garrus in particular makes some shity comments. Because a group of random wildly different characters that start off distrusting each other but grow to love one another like family is a huge part of all the games.

But oh, Ashley is a woman so she gets to die while the boring soft boy gets to live.

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we used to have shiv roy