ashfae - Tumblr blog

[ashfae]

The Iranian Regime is going to execute rapper Toomaj Salehi for supporting protests of Jina Amini’s murder by the regime in his songs.

Iranian activist Elica Le Bon says, “Iranians in the diaspora picked up on the fact that the regime tends not to execute people who become known to the international community. We have seen many examples of prisoners that were either released on bail or had their sentences commuted through our “say their names to save their lives” campaign on social media, using hashtags to garner attention for their causes, and even before social media existed, through getting the stories of political prisoners to international media outlets. Once reported on, and once the eyes shift to the regime and the reality of its pending brutality, realizing that the action is not worth the repercussions, we have seen them back down and not execute. For that reason, this is part of an urgent campaign for readers to talk about Toomaj as much as you can, using the hashtag #FreeToomaj or #ToomajSalehi. Every comment makes a difference, and if we were wrong, what did we lose by trying?”

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some recent sketches before i inevitably disappear again for another month!

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At least he never tells us that we have to make a whale before we're allowed to ask questions!

when y'all send neil asks this is how I picture you

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Michael Sheen being absolutely dreamy in this scene, as Harry Jones, in Dead Long Enough (2006).

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So there's this bit in the last chapter of my post-S2 series, Nice And Ominous, where for Reasons™️, Crowley cannot be on the ground. So this ^ happens, and Aziraphale is Just Enough of A Bastard for a second.

And... look... this is a Big, Important Chapter, there's a judgement day and everything, and there are several Very Important Scenes that I'd decided earlier on I'd have a go at making cover art from. But

Grumpy Piggyback Demon

just spoke to me. It is TOO TEMPTING and so here I am after many, many hours, about sixteen false starts on the angel's blessed face, and having made a frightful mess of colouring/shading with physical pens (thank Someone I'd snapped the line art before I screwed it up) - having finished my first ink drawing in years. And it isn't bad.

The full series is at https://archiveofourown.org/series/3929932

(Az's little smirk heavily inspired by this drawing by @muffinpines because I love his Fond But Bastard expression in that picture)

[ashfae]

💖 You don't have to justify the types of romantic relationships that you write or enjoy in fiction.

💖 To restate the above-- you do not have to justify your 'ships'.

💖 The types of romantic relationships you write or enjoy in fiction do not indicate your real life preferences.

💖 It's typical and valid to write or enjoy romances in fiction that contain more turmoil, darkness, drama and taboo than you would actually want in your real life.

💖 Fictional relationships do not erode your sense of morality or what's desirable in a real relationship.

💖 It's normal to imagine dark and unpleasant ideas in fiction that you would never want to happen in real life.

💖 Romanticizing the darkness, turmoil and taboo in relationships in fiction has been done for eons and it hasn't destroyed civilization or humanity's moral fiber yet.

💖 If you tell people that dark romantic fiction will erode their morals or is indicative or personal moral weakness it makes you sound like a Victorian era misogynist worrying over girls reading novels.

💖 You don't have to justify the types of romantic relationships that you write or enjoy in fiction.

[ashfae]

First post! I made a tumblr account because of S2 of Good Omens. Literally no other reason. What a time to join the fandom!

Well, truthfully, I’ve been lurking around for a while, trying to get a feel for things. Now after processing some of the things i’ve seen, commenting, asking, etc, I thought why not make a post. It’s what you do, right? I won’t be offended if you take my outsider’s perspective with a grain of interloper salt.

So, I wrote this. A brief introduction: I’m a grown person with too many responsibilities and I’m spending my precious, infinitesimally small amount of free time typing my intrusive thoughts about a fictional angel and demon on my phone. Am I doing it right?

I think so. I’ve read some amazingly complex metas, character analyses, and wondrously intricate posts analyzing the significance of pretty much any and every detail you could want to read about on this site. Truly awesome investigations, intriguing connections and insightful inquisitions.

I’ve also read some character analyses that left me very, very concerned.

I know this is a t e n s e topic right now, but stick with me.

There is a fact walking around out there that I want to set the spotlight on:

Good Omens is a comedy.

Now, this isn’t important in a ‘y’all need to lighten up’ sort of way. This is important because of how comedies develop their sympathetic characters versus how tragedies develop their sympathetic characters.

Now, in my opinion, some of the best comedic fiction rides the tragedy line just right up to the edge without pushing it over. (See the movie Stranger Than Fiction for a fun example of this). But ultimately, while a tragedy primarily pulls your sympathy with the realism of the suffering of the characters, a comedy elicits your sympathy with the absurdism of their suffering. Now these two things are, importantly, not mutually exclusive - the dial between real and absurd has to be spun round and around to bring life to most stories, but eventually it will land on one or the other.

Very important note: suffering in absurdism is not a lower form of suffering than suffering in realism. Suffering is suffering, it’s just that sometimes the combinations of forces that inflict suffering have no business trying to act like they make any sense, and sometimes they are exactly what you’d expect them to be.

Also important fact! Crowley and Aziraphale are both, equally, the sympathetic characters in Good Omens. One is not subjected to tragic suffering whilst the other is dealt comedic suffering. They are both intended to be read as characters equally deserving of our sympathy.

Which in turn means, in GO, if you feel more sympathetic towards one of the Ineffables than the other, then that is the story showing you exactly where you have room to grow in your understanding of and capacity for sympathy.

Which brings us back to character analytics in fandoms.

While we are, without a doubt, discussing fiction, any publicly expressed opinions made while analyzing that fiction can have real world consequences.

When fans post biased, cruel, vengeful, hateful takes about a character in a story whose narrative is intended to shine a spotlight the absurd complexities of suffering and to challenge our ability to embrace and cultivate sympathy for someone we don’t understand, that has the potential to bring harm to the real world. If people aren’t willing to challenge themselves to recognize the value of sympathizing with the fictional characters whose actions are outside their understanding, then what do they take out into the real world? And if those fans find an echo chamber in a fandom because harmful language is treated the same as opinion language, then that can have additional damaging real world ramifications.

The last of the important notes, and a very important one: it sounds like there have been reports of harassment by users related to this topic. Harassment is never ever okay.

But it is crucial to speak up to say, no, some takes are not just opinion. It’s not just a simple scroll past or block. There are folks out there that have written posts detailing the harm and suffering that they want for a character because of how they perceive his actions - a character that is, without question, by the very nature of the story, one that is intended to be a recipient of their sympathy. These harmful takes need to be challenged.

It’s not about whether you agree or disagree with actions, it’s about whether or not you are capable of having compassion for a suffering character that is not contingent on your understanding of their motivations or perspective.

If you don’t have sympathy for one of the two sympathetic characters, then I think you’re missing a very important lesson that NG is trying to tell you.

To end on a light note, there are about 10,000 other things I’ve seen in this fandom that make me forget all of this. The ART, the fanfics, the absolutely bonkers metas, l love it. I have a couple crazy meta ideas myself but I think i’ve written enough for now. Be well everyone!

[ashfae]

More stories from hell (retail) today I was ringing up this lady and she goes oh I want to do part of this on a gift card and the rest on normal card and I go ok and then she hands me a folded piece of paper. I think oh OK it must be folded around the gift card, right? Wrong. It is a folded sheet of 8×11 printer paper with "$40" written on the inside in ballpoint pen. I go what is this. She says a gift card. I say this is not a gift card. She says yes it is. I say this is a piece of paper with "$40" written on it. She says "well it's a gift card." I say it absolutely is not. I am grinding my teeth. She says well I want to use it. I say you physically cannot do that bc it is a piece of paper. I cannot scan or swipe it. I apologize, as if this is my fault, and not because she is completely insane. I hate it here

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american gun culture literally has so many people convinced that the plot of Funny Games might happen to them at any time and the only way to prevent it is to vigorously defend their right to murder anybody who steps foot in their home

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Aziraphale so desperately wants to be the protagonist of one of his novels. A newspaper man, a detective, a secret agent, a gunwielding Shopkeep. an actor on the West End stage. That angel picks up hobbies like Crowley changes his appearance. It’s delightful

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Aziraphale plays dirty.

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A little animatic I made after brainrotting “It Only Takes a Moment” after rewatching WallE. It took two months but I DID IT

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(this isn't about characters who weren't included in the films in the first place)

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my dream as a fanfic writer is to write a story which people want to talk to me about and send asks about afterwards and discuss things the characters did and the symbolism and meanings behind certain lines and I'll be all "hehe thanks" but irl I'll be in literal tears because I wrote something that means something to someone

[ashfae]

The amazing Christmas Special fic The Grinch Who Sold Christmas, by @darcylindbergh. Gorgeously typeset by @celestial-sphere-press

(T, 60,854)