#yeah this is just a rant

[venomouschocolate]

Why Do They Talk Like That: a stream of consciousness

Fantasy linguistics are so hard like where do you draw the line... I mean none of my characters are referencing major theistic religions or using real life loanwords or expletives but then there's quote-unquote fun stuff like "sadism" or "lunatic" or "sinister". i.e the Marquis de Sade does not exist in this world, but the concept of pleasure from cruelty does... Latin is not a language there, but I, personally, am writing in English, which has much of its etymology rooted in Latin (as well as pretty much every other language ever), even if there is no hate for left-handed people or indeed the left in this world, so "sinister" is inexplicable in itself now (odd how the left has historically been demonised and that it's also the socialist side of the political spectrum. not that odd really. thank you robert walpole?). The same with "lunatic": the moon is literally worshipped in some areas of my world, but it's still a term characters use, despite the moon having positive connotations.

Where Do You Draw The Line... I can't write in a conlang because a) I am not masochistic but b) I want my work to actually be read. You can imply different languages with accents and word choice and compound words, but ultimately I am writing in the same language for all (despite being bilingual, go me!) and ultimately that language is one that exists only in our world and not in the one that I've created.

While we're here, let's talk about swearing (cursing if you're american?) in fantasy settings. I don't mean "oh my god/s", that's arguably blasphemy and certainly not explicit; I don't mean "bloody" (not really explicit either) because frankly that does tend to fit a fantasy vibe with the type of characters likely to use it (considering the real world stereotypes and thus the archetypes an author will write using it). I mean expletives like "fuck", "bitch", "shit": STOP USING THEM. you absolute buffoons.

Recently I read a fantasy novel which included a whole magic system and several countries with absolute monarchies, etc, and they kept using expletives and it just did not work, and it never does. A step back: I believe that using expletives when writing in a real world setting (provided it's period-believable, of course) can work, and often (not always, not even mostly) works - I do it myself. However, believable expletives and exclamations and intensifiers can and sometimes do make or break worldbuilding, at least for me. The worldbuilding in the novel was fine, good even! But every time the (twenty-eight-year-old) mc used "fucking" or "bitch", I was immediately yanked out of the story and into reality. It was like reading a period piece (say, in the 19th-early 20th century) and seeing "bitch" in the expletive (slur) sense. I don't care whether it would be used: I don't BELIEVE that it would be.

Suspension of disbelief is everything, which (as a theatre kid...) is, I suspect, why musical films don't work: we're primed for a more true-to-life piece, whereas in a theatre, we're prepared to cast a lot more aside. We KNOW they're actors, we know bursting into song is unrealistic, but it's the stage! We believe it anyway. Seeing a fantasy character, particularly one that was meant to be a minor royal, consistently THINK in expletives (and not just exclaim them!) felt to me like watching Mean Girls The Musical The Movie. I did not believe the magic (which was a major plot point so it kind of sucked). I did not believe that the characters saying "bitch" and "fuck" would say those words, especially since those characters were almost exclusively limited to the middle-aged queen, an almost thirty-year-old established to be groomed into mild-mannered obedience, the former queen's guard and a (bastard) prince. I did not believe that the characters whose thoughts I was reading would think them, and thus I did not believe in the story.

If you're going to create a prose-based world intended to be separate from our own in terms of religion/history/sociopolitical structure/magic/etc, you NEED to think about the linguistics. I'm not saying think HARD or be super mega creative: in my sky-worship country, a common exclamation is "stars-be", short for "stars-be-dimmed", ditto "skies-be" and "skies-be-felled". My sun-based little sillies go "be-set" as in "sun-be-set"; the only country in a technological revolution (also the only country with guns): "I'm not wired that way"; "he's gearing for a fight"; "I was shooting for you". Furthermore, when explaining their culture in other languages, they struggle for words, because, for example, a train is a monolingual concept (one falters when about to describe someone as a "train wreck" and just goes "sorry"). It's not clever, it's not particularly original, but, in my opinion, it makes the language, and by extension the world, more believable.

While I'm mid-rant: there's a marked difference between characters of different class and upbringing. My more religious, self-righteous queen of skycountry says "my stars": she rules the country, she is a little crazy insane, she feels that she owns the sky, too. A less-educated character uses slang like "lunar", "feared", "heartfulness" where his posh boy counterpart says "insane", "afraid" and "empathy". And yes, I am totally neurodivergent, and I think about details, and I also study the development of the English language and want to continue to do so at university, so of course I am more drawn to it, but at the end of the day if you're writing prose then the words are really bloody important.

TLDR: worldbuilding is hard; do your high fantasy (or even low fantasy) characters NEED to say "fuck"?

[bixels]

As gen-AI becomes more normalized (Chappell Roan encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use gen-AI because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by tech companies. I draw not because I want a drawing but because I love the process of drawing. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

[soulsforsales]

Two things I’ll never understand:

Jason Todd being a “womaniser”

Idk wtf dc is on with this one but Jason Todd is not and never will be a womaniser. Like that man might be a 6 foot wall of muscles, trauma, and repressed emotions but he has zero to no experience when it comes to sex. He died as a virgin and was resurrected as one, he was groomed by Talia (acc to some canon representations, I think) so he already didn’t think of sex as this amazing or perfect thing and even if he does have sex where he feels comfortable and safe — he will cry, like who are you kidding??? Jason has mentioned that he can’t distinguish between romantic and platonic love, he’s always been too focused on his missions/job/goal to care about romance— where in the fucking hell is this guy getting time to fuck around with women??? Dc??? wtf????

Jason Todd being a cheater.

I get why people think this bcs other males in the Bat Family have not always been very… faithful, let’s say. But Jason Todd cheating on his woman??? NO FUCKING WAY. This man has had no glimpse of what a healthy and safe relationship is supposed to look like and if he finds someone who gives him that??? If he finds someone who loves him unconditionally, someone who sees behind the mask and loves the broken boy, someone who doesn’t flinch even when all of him is bare— I bet you my biscuits Jason would never even look at someone else let alone think about cheating. Jason Todd is not just any men — he’s the man. He’ll worship someone who gives him the love he’s always been deprived of. When he loves someone, he’s all in. He loves fiercely and loudly; that’s just who Jason Todd is. He’s never cheating. Period.

[gods-favorite-autistic]

To me there’s like a line between the Bad Kids who were always themselves extremely authentically and that fucked them up socially (Riz, Adaine, Gorgug) and the Bad Kids who spent a good portion of their lives playing a part and that fucked them up mentally (Fabian, Kristen, Fig)

[arcanegifs]

Here are some Season 2 Arcane GIF comparisons before and after I color and sharpen them! | Season 1 Comparison GIFs

[ednygmasbowlerhat]

the leverage ot3 is so amazing because each pair within it has its own unique and fascinating dynamic and then all 3 together have a third fascinating dynamic so the character depth is so good.

like parker and hardison have their adorable dynamic that gets tons of attention in the show so i don't think i have to explain but if i do, they are super playful with each other and so loving and romantic and hardison is always calling parker pet names and it's fucking adorable.

then you have parker and elliot, who are the two most emotionally stunted on the team, but something about being the two people who aren't "good" like the rest of the team (like basically the whole conversation they have while stuck in that like ice cave in the mountain climbing episode) is super deep. also, especially in redemption, i love how even though they pardison are not canonically dating eliot, parker is always including him in their future plans, like elliot will also get robot bodies with parker and hardison, etc. etc. like this is particularly sticking out to me in the most recent leverage redemption episode (the swipe right job) when parker is going on a rant about dating apps and elliot goes "we're in trouble" (about their covers getting blown on a job) and parker's like "no me you and hardison are fine" like hello did she just acknowledge that they're dating? more to the point though, i love how we see parker and elliot just hanging out and having like real, honest conversations, especially in redemption. i also love how they clearly spend time together outside of work - like the sheer number of parker and elliot noodle incidents is insane.

next up: elliot and hardison. holy shit they are so iconic. they are the big guy smart guy duo and it plays out in such a sweet way in their relationship. like even though he acts all exasperated, hardison really softens elliot up, for example, elliot complaining about the lucille song but then joining in in the first contact job. and then, at the same time, elliot helps hardison be tougher, think his really great speech in the rundown job where he convinces hardison that he is capable of stopping the terrorist attack and he like grabs the back of his neck and stares him right in the eye like he's donating his aura or something. but at the same time as encouraging him to be tough, elliot is still super overprotective of hardison, like when he instinctively grabs hardison and steadies him when he steps on the mine in that same episode, and i think that's so cute. speaking of the rundown job, the way that elliot and hardison are supportive of each other both in like a serious way and like a funny flirty way. as far as serious, in that episode, we have elliot literally jumping for joy when hardison figures out the sos car thing in time, and then of course as far as flirty and funny, you have the handshake when they're both staring at how hot parker is dodging lasers. btw the fact that they have a handshake too is just like the definition of their dynamic. i love it.

finally, all three together is super interesting because of how all of these dynamics come together. elliot is the scary looking dog who could fuck you up but is actually quite sweet and would rather nap with you on the couch. parker is the cat who takes a while to warm up to you but once she does she is super loving and sweet. and hardison is their genius golden retriever who is like the heart of the group and is always bothering the other two to play with him but secretly they love it. and they work together so well because they play off of each other's strengths and compensate for each other's weaknesses. it's just so fucking amazing ot3 5ever.

[rainfeather13]

I see your eldritch Elrond head cannons, and I raise you: Elrond stealing the features of people he likes (his first victim; Maglor’s moles)

[yayee-pspsps]

You know what hell yeah

[starscream-is-my-wife]

Sometimes a day makes you want a Starscream to bite and squeeze

[pinkcheesecake7]

I can’t take criticism on Mel seriously because most of it is done by jayviks who say she’s pretty and call it a day then act like they love her😭. Like sorry, I’m not taking you seriously when your account is filled with only jayvik and you only talk about Mel to objectify her and seem like you don’t hate “the female character that gets in the way” that’s simply not enough. A lot of these hardcore “Mel is a manipulator” people are very obviously biased lmfao. “Jayce dumped her” except that never happened? They talked and then he left and fucking died lol, one important thing to remember is that these are CHARACTERS and there is writing behind them. What I’m saying is that they were handled poorly by the writers and they never actually “broke up” or should I say he never “dumped her🤓” they just.. had a thoughtful conversation and it was never brought up again. I feel like yall only say he “dumped her” so it fits the shitty narrative that Jayce dumped Mel for Viktor which is NOT true and literally never will be. You guys literally call her an “independent black woman who doesn’t need a man” except in different wording to make her seem unlovable. Yes, she doesn’t need a man but she WANTS a man. Stop acting like you actually want her to be independent, you just want to get her out of the way but also still seem like you’re an “”ally””.

[numbersq-blog]

Mom’s dinner

Part one I am noneofyoubeewax I changed accounts and forgot my password, tired multiple times to log back into my original account before giving up.

Captain Marvel (Billy): “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?!?!” * hands pressed up against the glass*

Rosa: *sharpens her gaze*

Cap: “……….”

Billy takes a step back, straighten up his back and places his hands behind him.

Cap: “would you like to come inside and discuss the reason for your arrival”

JL: “…………….”

————————————————————————

Inside JL space headquarters

Both Rosa and Billy sit on the floor since Rosa is too big fit in a chair and Billy thought it would be rude if she was the only one sitting on ground.

Billy & Rosa: *communicating in wails and humming*

Batman: “ Does anyone know what they’re saying” *the tone of his voice sounds agitated*

Flash: “how are we supposed to know what they’re saying, when she only communicating through humming and Cap is only answering one word response to her……I think”

——-

Rosa: “I understand your work is importance, but unlike Captain Marvel, you Billy need a break and to spend time with your family”

Billy: “sorry”

Rosa: “You’re 16, I get it, I should know that you’re going to out of the house more, but I never thought it would be like this…………..You’re over working yourself Billy”

Billy: “sorry”

Rosa’s gives a look that only a mother can give to her son who is burning out but can’t stop and she herself doesn’t know what to do.

Rosa cups Billy’s face bringing it close to hers and squishes his face before kissing him on the forehead.

Rosa: “ you’re siblings are waiting, let’s go home and eat” * stands up and holds out her hand*

Billy smiles and takes her hand

Billy: “ok”

Rosa even though she doesn’t know the layout of the area leads Billy to loading deck where she entered.

Billy: “um sorry guys, I’ll be back in two days”

Sharp, short wail comes out

Billy: “See you in a week”

A much softer and longer humming is heard.

Flash: “Bye” looking at Batman

Batman: *glaring but not moving to do anything@

Superman: *gives a awkward wave*

Martian Manhunter: “ farewell”

Wonder Woman: *happy smile and waving goodbye”

Departure of Captain Marvel and guest

Green lantern (Hal): “Damn she was hot”

WW: * slaps him upside the head”

[beidoukomskaicrux]

"give us more complex well written flawed female characters and queer relationships"

Nah, you guys ain't even ready to maturely understand CaitVi yet.

[jo-ke10n]

Real krusie hours

Not platonic or romantic but a secret third thing

[mugwot]

funnyjokespunperson

[bagginshieldfamily]

Something I need the fix it AU writers who use Frodo as Bagginsgields child to focus more on:

Gimli meeting a hobbit that looks strangely like Thorin Oakenshield but has the last name Baggins before connecting the dots:

[hyper-alice]

Random thought but I actually love If I Loved You

I used to not like it that much, for no reason in particular but it just never really stood out to me. Especially since if you listen to the soundtrack without all the talking scenes it comes right after Just For Once and. You can’t do that to me.

Anyways I think I like the acting better than the actual song. Just the way they’re moving and stuff idk.

The way they walk away from each other after each chorus, just the way they walk.

The way Steph keeps bending a bit like she’s trying to patronize Pete.

The audience cheering when Pete throws the hot chocolate cup kills me too

I think this clip is my favourite part though. The joke of Pete miming a baseball bat when he mentions football. The way Steph looks over her shoulder before she does that walk, checking to see Pete’s reaction because obviously the whole time they’re essentially just trying to get a reaction out of the other. Nothing groundbreaking, of course, I just enjoy watching it.