#but idk not by a huge margin

[lonesomedreamer]

SNW Liveblog: “Among the Lotus Eaters”

In which they’re mean to Spock for no reason, but Spock helps save the day anyway.

In its own way, this is scene just as staged/cheesy as anything in TOS…it’s also giving NBC Hannibal (not a compliment from me).

Look: I just don’t care about the supposedly corrupt bureaucracy and chain of command in Starfleet. When I watch Trek, I want to escape into a post-scarcity utopian society, and nuTrek can pry that out of my cold, dead hands!!!

Other things I don’t care about: Pike’s on-again, off-again relationship with Batel. Sorry. This show already has too many characters vying for screentime with too few episodes to develop them to be wasting time on this.

Love that Pike makes sure to put out the candles before he leaves…meanwhile his quarters has a huge, open fireplace that burns 24/7.

Not that everything they do on the Enterprise isn’t science-related, but… “science specialist”? Do you guys even WATCH the show??? Gold is for the command division, red is for operations/engineering, and BLUE IS FOR SCIENCE! At least pretend to give a shit about your show’s own universe. (Oh…wait…)

“Most of the time I fly the ship, which is cool, but can get boring.” Speaking for all the kids (and adults!) who have fantasized about flying the Enterprise for the last 55 years: kindly fuck off.

“Can’t you just say ‘two moons’?” / “We get it, Spock.” Spock is the science officer (and ALSO Vulcan). Get off his back!!! His SNW crewmates nitpick him worse than Bones ever did.

I don’t like Ortegas much—she’s still written like garbage, no fault of the actor—and her perpetual bitchiness towards Spock is NOT helping.

“Doctors love being tasked for a mission because of their combat skills.” Maybe you should’ve thought of that three episodes ago when you were LARPing Wolverine in slo-mo against the Klingons for like ten minutes, M’Benga…

This line might have been okay by itself—McCoy-esque, if you will—except they’ve been giving Spock shit for Doing His Damn Job for the entire episode so far.

I love Christine, and SNW!Christine has grown on me, but…she’s not even the Head Nurse on this show. Why is she running Sickbay solo? Am I supposed to believe that the Enterprise doesn’t staff more than a single doctor??

“As long as it stays isolated to Uhura” Since they don’t know the cause and therefore whether the condition is infectious, shouldn’t they at least isolate Uhura? (They experienced a similar outbreak just a few episodes ago!!!)

Speaking of Uhura, seems pretty shitty of the writers to have Uhura be the first one to lose her memory: TOS already did that. (If it’s an homage, it’s not a good one.)

I adore Ethan, but sometimes his line delivery is weirdly stilted.

:')

There’s literally no one else left on the Bridge apart from Spock and Ortegas? Okay…

“It’s not the Spock show!” but it should be.

Whatever’s affecting the rest of the crew should affect Spock differently and/or belatedly due to his different genetic code. Then again, the only thing these writers seem to know about Vulcans is that they talk about logic a lot.

Not the computer having a ghost-of-Mufasa moment with Ortegas… (“Remember who you are.”)

“I feel like I know how to do this. And I’m the only one who can.” * Put a pin in this.

“Abso-friggin’-lutely.” Awful.

I didn’t think you can block a phaser blast with like...a physical shield?? Especially one (presumably) set to kill???

Kirk was involved in a lot of fights, but watching the captain of the Enterprise repeatedly kick/pistol-whip a guy who’s already laying prone on the ground is…surreal and horrible.

Trek’s always been two parts morality play, one part scifi, but can I get the scientific part of the reveal again? Something about radiation from an asteroid?? It sounds kind of interesting—but they’re just gonna gloss over it, aren’t they??

Also, the Enterprise is designed to protect its crew against all kinds of radiation—we know that because it was built to fly in SPACE, which is radioactive as fuck. So what’s special about these asteroids (and if the planet’s atmosphere is too thick to be penetrated by the Enterprise’s scanners, why can’t it protect the planet from the radiation coming off the asteroids that surround it)??

Please stop showing Pike punching this guy over and over again. It’s actually upsetting, I can’t see the point, if there is one.

Pike: “[Rigel VII] shows us who we really are…” Pike 30 seconds earlier: kicking and punching an unarmed man who’s sprawled out, bleeding, on the floor Pike: “The lives of my crew mean everything to me.”

sure-jan.gif

Look…TOS could be really unsubtle and on-the-nose about its messaging. It still did it with so much more grace and flair than THIS. “He was right. Not having a past…it can be nice for a while.” “I know what you mean. But maybe some memories are worth the pain of others.” / “The story of your life, the details…they matter!” Wow, what do you guys think is this episode trying to say?!?

*“No one but you could pull this off.” In “Mirror Mirror,” a visibly nervous Uhura hesitates after Kirk issues his orders; he then reassures her by earnestly saying “You’re the only one who can do it.” It’s meaningful because it’s true—Uhura is the only one both with the necessary skills and whom Kirk can trust in the mirror universe. Here, it’s just Pike stroking the ego of an officer who’s already an arrogant smartass…plus, while Ortegas might be the best pilot on board, the episode repeatedly makes it clear that she is NOT the only one qualified to “fly the ship.”

“I don’t blame Spock. He’s still got a lot to learn.” Why the fuck would anyone blame Spock for anything that went down here?!! The man was trying to analyze the asteroids—the very same ones that robbed everyone of their memories—at the beginning of the episode when everyone was rolling their eyes and saying “not now, Spock,” and look where it fucking got them!

And in the very next line, we learn that Spock came up with the solution that SAVED THE SHIP/CREW.

“It feels logical to me.” This is the kind of shit y’all should be angry about re: Spock, not him smooching Christine. It FEELS logical. Retch.

I know I sound really critical here, but I actually found this one a lot easier to watch (almost) straight-through than some of the previous episodes, i.e., without having to stop and scream in frustration. It was less mundane and plodding than the previous one (and left SNW!Kirk behind, thank God). That said, I did find myself tempted to fast-forward through some of the scenes on Rigel VII, and I did skip around during the Pike/Batel scenes. I also saw a lot of comments that this episode is very TOS...I guess so? Imo the resemblance is surface-level only, though.

The Good: Hey, they're on a STRANGE NEW-(to-the-viewer) WORLD! Imagine that! — La'an's costume and the way she's styled for the away mission. — Boring subplot aside, Batel also looks really nice. — The vibe, planetside, is trying to be like TOS. Gold star for effort? — A few funny lines. — Ethan gets a lot of flattering shots in this episode. :3

The Bad: A lot of time wasted between Ortegas' repeated “I fly the ship” mantra (both early and later on) and the Pike/Batel scenes that bookend the episode. — Almost everyone being critical of what Spock says and how he says it; it borders on unprofessional and mean and is ESPECIALLY bad since Spock then uses science to restore their memories (off-screen, of course). — Making Uhura the first one to get amnesia. — Failing to develop Ortegas at all in what I assume is supposed to be an “Ortegas episode.” — Christine's hair. My poor girl! — Spock forgets how to READ?!?? (I missed this while I was watching because it's just Too Stupid for me to believe they actually went there.) — Gratuitous violence from Pike that seemed to serve no thematic or symbolic purpose.

There better be Spockstine in the next one, because without it, Ethan’s face is still worth it…barely, though.

[tiredtriedfailures]

On "Kendrick" Defending R. Kelly Music From Spotify bit from 2018 lies:

its important to note that it was TDE CEO Tiffith protesting against Spotify's policy on Kendricks behalf (not even him personally but anyway), basically saying Spotify's blurry ass wording of their policy and immediate picking of R. Kelly was unjust because step by step

censoring artists is bad

censoring artists on incarceration is bad

censoring artists on incarceration with vague wording and criteria is even worse

why does this start with hiphop. like all discrimination does. cuz R. Kelly may have been found guilty but a bunch of old songs where white men sang about and DID mess kids werent taken to court. so they get to stay on the platform?

like id expect Certified Tumblrinas to immediately make the connection that, YEAH, even if you pick something seemingly unanimously agreed upon like "pdf convicted people" to discriminate youre still gonna be erasing more black people than white people cuz theyre arrested and punished more. like. yall didnt graduate basic american racism understanding university im sorry. putting too much trust in what the courts say combined with putting too little mind to why this move was done by Kendrick's label equals:

Yall calling Kendrick an R Kelly defender.

its not even hard to find out, heres the link, i heard that R. Kelly defender shit and read like 8 paragraphs to figure it out. come on

edit: YALL ARE NOT GONNA BELIEVE THIS. THIS POST DIDNT SHOW UP IN THE MAIN TAG UNTIL I CENSORED EVERY PDF FILE MENTION.

[moodr1ng]

i keep having these kinda hilarious nightmares where someone leaves me a 1 star review on etsy and says my stickers are the worst quality theyve ever seen and theyre so disappointed etc. like thats objectively a really funny thing to have as a recurring nightmare esp considering i have a 5 star rating and hundreds of reviews praising the quality dhskejdke

[mvvocaloidgifs]

As of the end of December Miku has finally taken over as the most posted Vocaloid, however according to the current queue Len will reclaim that title by the end of January

[spellmage]

i don’t know why i haven’t posted the next kressa chapter yet it’s literally done it’s just sitting there

[httpiastri]

i wonder what zak is thinking in the midst of all of this

oh that's a very good question 😭 like i was thinking a lot about him and luke in relation to all of this because like... people are saying "franco is ruining his career, he wont get an f1 seat in another couple of years anyway!!" but i think all three of the juniors have to think that "okay a seat might be open in 2026/7/8 etc.. i need to be the one they wanna put in there." so it's kinda just a race to showing off yourself the best for that moment? because i don't think anyone expects to get an f1 seat – it's a dream but everyone knows the chances are soooo slim, even if you do well in f2 – and anything is better than nothing, probably. so i think zak is kinda just hoping franco doesn't do too well and just hoping he himself can show off some crazy skills the rest of the season and next year ?? 😭

[clowndensation]

EXAM DONE. no promises gang but umm... i might be kinda smart??? i might not get laughed out of my job?????

[hopecel]

Uuuh guys? Hadestown really blew up.

[xelqua-empire]

Since everyone else is putting out their opinions on the Skizz situation, I might as well join in.

So my general opinion is that if it wasn't for the mods, what he said on stream wouldn't be that huge of a deal. Disappointing, sure, but probably just a split-second decision where he chose the wrong option, probably drawing on a lack of understanding of marginalized communities and what it means to have your existence and rights politicized. He's a middle aged, cis, straight, white man in a country where trans rights have, indeed, become a hot political topic. I could see where he could be coming from there, although I still wouldn't be too impressed with his reaction. He could have genuinely seen it as just another political statement, and not wanted to get into that on stream.

However, that explanation falls apart when you consider the mods. He has at least two people in his community that are outspoken in their bigotry, and that he likes and trusts enough to give control over his community to them. These are people who he knows are transphobic, and he's protecting their feelings over the safety of the trans people in his community. That wasn't someone avoiding being political, that was someone intentionally prioritizing and placating transphobes.

So yeah, I'm pretty disappointed. Idk if I'll stop watching him completely but I probably won't watch his videos for a while, if only because I probably can't enjoy them now the same way I could before. I don't think he's an awful person. I just think he honestly doesn't understand how transphobia affects people, and doesn't realize how much a big deal this is. Honestly, when I think about the situation, I see a sheltered, privileged person prioritizing the comfort of himself and those close to him without realizing the consequences because that's what he's used to. And yeah, that's still pretty disappointing.

I hope he listens to his fans. I hope the other hermits, both those in the queer community and allies, talk to him and explain to him the message he's just sent, both to the trans people and transphobes that watch him. I hope he listens, learns, and understands, and I hope he makes some significant changes, including a better apology and a change in his mod team. I know that's a lot, but honestly, I don't think it's too much to expect. If you want your community to be a safe space, start by taking the danger out from the top.

That was a bit of a stream of consciousness ramble and idk if it made any sense but that's how I'm feeling right now: disappointed and conflicted. I want to believe he'll put in the work to do better but idk if that'll happen. Uhhh idk how to conclude this so

The end.

[saturngalore]

sunset in kinshasa 🧡

hiiii usually i put my ramblings in the hashtags but i just felt like writing a bit because i haven’t been posting edits like i usually do and i have been feeling terrible that i haven’t 💔 i wanted to post this before or soon after i posted my kipetaka braids but just felt too lazy and uncreative to make any edits with the photos from this photoshoot. i also really wanted to share the inspiration behind this because as a black simmer, i have always wanted a west african world and when it came to making the set for this i really had to think and research how i could emulate a west african market despite the fact that i sadly have never been to one before. plus there’s literally no build buy mode or world that was made with west african culture and history in mind by ea! so, zhong feifei’s vogue china historic and iconic photoshoot in the dr congo was a huge inspiration for this photoshoot especially since my sim (dominique) is also heavily inspired by another congolese celebrity, lous and the yakuza! so this became my own homage to the democratic republic of congo, which has been struggling with the immense effects of belgian colonialism, imperialism, technological exploitation by the west, and environmental racism for decades. nowadays, im hesitant and conflicted to say that i want an west african world in ts4 because i no longer wanna support (especially financially) ea’s shady and ultra capitalist practices when it comes to technology (cough ai cough) and the potentially harmful effects it will have on the environment and marginalized people especially in countries like the drc. idk what goes on when ts4 makes a new pack and i could be wrong but it doesn’t hurt to be wary of a notoriously racist and evil capitalist company these days 🤷🏾‍♀️ im just thinking out loud but i would love to hear what other black simmers think especially those who live in west africa! anyways, i hope that the drc will be free from all of this very soon and i love my congolese cousins and (possible) ancestors 🫶🏾 please check out the list i made if you want to help ppl in the drc!

[sha-brytols]

🔥 anders

🔥 unpopular opinion

man this is hard because what's unpopular to the fandom and what's unpopular to the specific circle of DA blogs i've curated are completely different where anders is concerned LOL

as a general fan: condemning what he did at the chantry should be universally understood as a cringe and politically illiterate opinion idk what to say man.

as an anders fan: i feel like it's a reeeaaally significant fact that anders sought out hawke to help him specifically because he needed the champion of kirkwall as an accomplice. i don't see this pointed out a lot and it kind of bugs me because it's one of my favorite things about him. he used you. we know based on certain choices we can make that anders was fully capable of finding the ingredients and planting the bomb himself; he didn't need hawke's help. but making someone as important as hawke an accomplice to the explosion is a statement on its own, a power move. it says that the champion of kirkwall stands with the mages. he was using you to make that statement to the chantry. it was manipulation and it worked exactly the way he wanted it to; cassandra and the seekers are convinced hawke was a willing participant and everything they did at kirkwall was done so they can smuggle their way into power and start a war with the chantry.

it's why i never really fully agreed with "anders didn't betray you" despite being one of my all-time favorite characters. the 'betrayal' wasn't that he lied, or that he blew up the chantry, or even necessarily that he made hawke help. it's that he made hawke into a political weapon and symbol of revolution whether hawke liked it or not. which. idk. given everything that happened to hawke in da2 and how affected they are by having their autonomy constantly stripped from them for other people's agendas, that's. HUGE.

i'm not even saying he was wrong to do it. like. man you know me. wheeee blow up more chantries. but like. the sheer ruthlessness and manipulation he was willing to employ to make his statement is a huge fucking character moment for him. it's something he told you constantly from the start if you romanced him. if the choice was between hawke or freedom for the mages, he would choose freedom every time. i love it and it's probably one of the most down to earth and believable character arcs in the series. love and friendship mean nothing in the face of an entire population being systemically subjugated and brutalized. you can love your friends but you can't put their wellbeing over the literal lives and autonomy of a whole class of marginalized people, especially when your friend is part of the ruling class.

[honetii]

"so you have a physical copy of the podcast but not the original story?" who do you think I am. of course I also binded the original story.

furthering my reputation as The Physical Media Guy by buying a new disc reader purely for the sake of making borrasca podcast CDs. Worth my $30 I think.

[flipboxing]

ranking each member of yj98 based on how likely they are to appear in gunnverse (with reasoning)

kon (superboy): he’s been revealed as part of the s3 MAWS lineup (and in his 90's version! we rejoice). whether he’ll be in the movies is another question. maybe… ? we could always hope. do we count MAWS as gunnverse? idk but his inclusion in MAWS does make him a lot more likely if we’re being optimistic about it.

tim (robin): hopefully he appears in at least one of the bat movies. it would make no sense to skip past him straight to damian who is in TBATB. then again, i don’t really have much faith. i hope they’ll have good tim characterization, but again. not much faith.

cassie (wonder girl): gunn says he’s campaigning for more animated WW. animations are more likely to be tv series, and if we get a WW tv series her chances of appearing increase exponentially. unfortunately i don’t think she’s likely to appear in a movie. BUT. we are getting teen titans with donna troy. so maybe?

bart (impulse): i haven’t heard any specific media about the flash being planned yet… so unless im missing something huge then i don’t think he’s all that likely to appear. but if we get flashfam then he’s pretty likely to be a part of it! (PLEASE.)

cissie (arrowette): i actually don’t think she’s likely to be in gunnverse at all 😭 but she’s marginally more likely to mayyyybe have a cameo compared to the next 3 because of her connection to green arrow, unlike…

greta (secret), anita (empress) and slobo: unless they actually do a yj98 show or movie there’s no way they’re going to be there. we know lobo has been confirmed in gunnverse already but i’m not counting slobo as lobo so. yeah. sad. can a someone pitch a yj98 series to the dcu please?

[transfemme-shelterdog]

Not to keep bothering you lol, but I saw this post from a trans woman I follow.

I don't want to complain / trivialize what all these transwomen are saying, bc I do understand what they're saying/ agree with them on some of this stuff.

But some of the stuff they're saying makes me go 🤨 Especially the use of 'TME' in a previous reblog gives me pause.

The post was about things that have been taken from the transfemme community by transmascs/ gay men.

Specifically the concept of the dysphoria hoodie & t4t. Everybody has articles of clothing they were when they're having bad days; I had my own "dysphoria hoodie" when I was 14-15, WAY before I realized I was trans (my family still jokes about it, bc they don't understand why I wore it so much). T4t too, the concept isn't new. Every marginalized community wants to date within themselves due to shared experiences. Maybe the term started as transfemme4transfemme, but it hasn't lost that meaning? Transbians still use that term. It just expanded the meaning & depends on what community.

I agree with her about computer science, anime, "femboy" culture. I know within the queer community tgirls get shit for it, but outside the community I think its just considered weird no matter who does it. I know 'egg' was started by tgirls, idk what transmascs would call ourselves but I'm happy to come up with a new name for us. Blahaj I saw on tiktok used by other transmascs, I didn't know were coined by tgirls. I will give credit to tgirls for blahaj.

You're not bothering me, don't worry.

Implying that femboys are just trans women is a problematic take. Lots of cis femboys out there, OnlyAfro, the Dark Souls streamer who invented the biggest meme in the community is a cis femboy, as is Sneaky, a League of Legends pro player for C9

Blahaj was always a trans thing, not just transfemme

Saying that only transfems use dysphoria hoodies is a wild ass take considering it's a huge thing for a lot of transmascs, as baggy hoodies cover up the chest, giving a more square look. I'd argue it's more a transmasc thing than transfem

Egg is again, neutral

Anime sure, the amount of trans women with anime pfps is sizable, I'll give them that. But trying to claim ownership over anime is a wild take considering how many trans guys have "goals" that are men

T4T was always neutral, it was never exclusively transfem, I'm tired of this myth

Also, even if all of this was stolen by trans guys and never was neutral, who gives a shit? We need to be allies, not at each others throat over which tropes belong to who. It's stupid, and needs to stop.

Also, no trans guy is calling you a groomer for using the term egg, what the fuck girl? The closest you get is people shouting "EGG! EGG! YOU'RE ACTUALLY A TRANS WOMAN" when a man is even remotely gender non confirming, and I agree. It's weird to claim that someone is actually trans because they don't fit the idea of a man 100%. You're just redoing gender rigidity all over again worstie.

[ladyloveandjustice]

so idk something that kind of bothers the "we must save men from the alt right pipeline" because "we're hating for their immutable traits"

why

why specifically are men the ones who we need to always do this for.

I think it would sound ridic to say this about terfs. Terfs are turning to terfism because they don't feel welcome, we need to be gentler and more loving and more of a community and they'll see the light. Terfs as a class are so oppressed by an unloving society :(

Or hey imagine saying this about white women. You don't have to imagine it it's been done and its bad. I think we've all agreed that posting a manifesto on how white women should be treated nicer by POC and its leftism's job to save white women from going conservative always sucks.

So why is it up to women now. Why is it up to us.

I agree leftism needs to be a more welcoming place that doesn't crucify people for mistakes, or react with hostility to questions. I personally want that. But it's weird to frame this as something we need to do for (mostly white) men specifically, but like, not like conservative white women, conservative woc, conservative trans women??? There's a lot out there.

I dunno. it rubs me to frame the message of this. I don't want to actively go around saving white men and boys from themselves/other white men, I've been asked to do that all my life.

I don't think we should be hostile, I'm not a person that would ever say kill all men (tbh even ignoring the fact there are marginalized men...language like that in general...kill all (enemy) has always been uncomfortable for me. Some people can change) I don't react to them with hostility, you know, men are just fine as long as they're fine with me. I'm happy to have them as allies, happy to get behind trans men, gay men, men of color when they need help.

But I do know some women just give a dni because they're traumatized. And idk, maybe they deserve to be treated gently. Maybe everyone does.

I think leftists need to be kinder and more welcoming sure. I think we need to focus on change and banding together But framing the convo around saving men. That men are special and alienated and we're specifically failing them somehow. It doesn't sit well.

I do thing putting stuff into a binary of good or evil and just kind of reinventing conservatism in that way is a huge probem,...I don't know...Can't we just be nicer and in-fight less for the sake of being welcoming in general? For everyone? Can't we come together and be more accepting of people because a community is stronger together? Can't we have unity and nuance because of that?

I don't want to do it to save men from their own decisions, I don't feel inclined to engage with hostile guys, I just want to be nice and open and we all have less of a feeling people might turn against you over any little thing.

[biancasaidstfu]

Literally the day Jake and Nicola made their red carpet debut Nicola's interview about how she likes to look glamorous and different on the red carpet so that she can separate her professional and personal persona came out.

Now Luke who says his Instagram is his work account has his "girlfriend" on his grid?? hmmmmm...the two leads that talk the most about keeping their private life private have their private lives on display the most (and by a huge margin! the last time we saw Rege's GF was 2024. Don't know who JB is dating, don't know Simone's current status. None of them have been papped except Phoebe when she was with Pete Davidson because...well.)

anyway I guess we're all waiting on the result. Fell in love with Nicola and Luke in love on the WT, realised their "relationships" with other people were not what it seemed, so used them as a form of escapism because I thought at least here I know there's a real happy ending but 😤😭 🤧

Yeah “we like privacy” but continue to shove their private lives in peoples faces.

Those who get it, get it. But those who don’t are probably like ???

I just don’t care either way anymore. The shit is old. It’s boring. They’re doing this for a reason and whatever reason that is…Idk is it really a big deal?

Is indifference truly what they want? Because that’s where it’s headed lol