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Albert Camus, from a letter to María Casares featured in Correspondance, 1944-1959

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I had a neat thought so I'm gonna do a tumblr post about it

No nuance!! Just answer!!! I am soso curious :)

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“I love you so much.” OMGGG STOP IT 🥹🫶🏾

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As a longtime W fan, who has been watching on and off since literally its inception and is now a huge fan of Caitlin Clark… I need to rant.

Buckle up.

Imagine being Caitlin Clark, and after a sorta Cinderella story college career and then a crazy W rookie season where you come in to the worst team in the league and take them all the way to the playoffs for the first time in years despite a terrible roster and an incompetent coach and half the league targeting you and against you, and bullshit media and hater narratives galore…

… you get a new front office and a new coach for year two and they say “hey we’re gonna get you some help” and you think “Awesome! I’m finally not going to have to carry a team entirely on my back for once… I’m gonna have some rim runners. I’m gonna have some quick and smart players who can catch my passes and people are gonna run screens and get me some open looks!”

And then they bring in a few older veterans and while you deal with injuries that you’ve never had to deal with before because of the incompetent officiating and people targeting you even worse — it turns out one of those veterans you went to bat for and looked up too was full of it and dipped, and another one plays better without you which is bizarre as hell because normally people play better with / because of you, and nobody on your team can pass the ball or run a screen (except AB and DD), and you are forced to play some off ball bullshit where you never actually get the ball.

And in your absence during injury, they bring in a really fantastic bench player with great energy who they then try to make point guard *over* you when you come back. And your coach proceeds to basically struggle to find a spot for you on your own team as if you are nothing more than a role player in an offense that was designed not for you, but for players who are not as good as you and who for the most part couldn’t even hold down the fort when you were gone. (By the way, I’m not just saying this because of this one game I’m saying this because of how she’s being coached and the team is being handled this entire first half of the season even as Caitlin has come and gone.)

Imagine you have to be humiliated in a concerted effort by everybody around you to attempt to dim your shine… telling you to go stand in the corner and wait for a pass that is never gonna come, or run around like a chicken with your head cut off trying to get open because it’ll “help you get rest” lmao. I mean, be fuckin’ for real.

I feel like Caitlin Clark and all of us true fans have been bamboozled. We are currently being gaslit by a bunch of people who feel like it’s more important to make sure that some other player’s feelings and egos are not hurt while simultaneously destroying the best thing that’s ever happened to the team and the league and attempting to single-handedly fuck up a player who just needed some people who could catch her fucking passes and run a fucking screen and coach who could ramp up the defense. That’s all she needed.

Instead, she got a coach who was allergic to heliocentric play style.. who would’ve been somebody who probably believed Michael Jordan should be plugged into the Bulls instead of the Bulls being built around Michael Jordan. 😂

What a fucking joke.

And if you don’t think that’s going on, all you have to do is listen to Steph yap about this offensive strategy and then listen to Caitlin’s contradictory public comments that she continuously makes lately about how the offense runs best through her and they play best when they are fast and in transition (aka she has the ball in her hand, facilitating and setting up her teammates and creating shots for herself since nobody else will).

It’s very obvious that she is desperately trying to respect Stephanie because they are closed on a personal level, but she’s also sending out blatant smoke signals that this is not what she believes in and this is not how they should be playing, and she’s pretty fucking miserable… and you know what? She’s goddamn right. Because say what you will about Caitlin Clark whether you believe in her talent or not or you like her or not — she has more basketball IQ than most people combined and it’s really sad that the front office fucked up the roster and then Stephanie White is so damn stubborn that she won’t get the fuck out of the way and let Caitlin Clark be Caitlin Clark so they can fucking win. Temi was probably the smartest player CC has played with so far in the W and the Fever FO didn’t even have enough brain cells to keep her around.

There’s the age old sentiment that if you’re the smartest person in the room — you’re in the wrong fucking room. So if they don’t fix this shit ASAP, then I hope Caitlin leaves the room as soon as possible. She has already dropped a small clue that might happen at that event recently where she said she hopes to be playing in Indy for at least a few more years. Which is a much different vibe from her previously indicating a desire to be there until she retires. So it seems the Indiana Fever are on the clock with Clark. And they are certainly on the clock with the fans.

I’m already hearing international fans say that they are not gonna get up in the middle of the night to watch the Fever games anymore. There are fans who travel long distances to see her play who have decided to stop doing that until something changes. There are local season ticket holders that have been giving their tickets away and are considering not getting them next year. Gainbridge is no longer selling out every game. And at today’s shit show of a game people were leaving in the fourth quarter, which is insane and something we have not seen since CC showed up. Hell, I even canceled my plans to go to the August 1 game in Dallas because I have no desire to watch CC be misused and poorly coached and watch them lose to the shitty Wings. 😂

And now I’m hearing that people who are CC fans as far back as her Iowa days who are saying they’re gonna tune out because they can’t stand watching what’s being done to her and how she’s being treated. Watching her being targeted by other players on the court with no repercussions from the officiating crew was hard enough for them, especially new fans. But watching her be sabotaged and destroyed by her own coach and FO — that’s just something that people can’t stomach. And I don’t blame them one bit.

I’m going to keep watching because I refuse to give up on the idea that she might finally just go rogue like what she kinda had to do last season, and just take it over.

But Stephanie White is a major fucking problem. I saw a clip tonight where she said during one of her jobs as a commentator for an NBA game that the Mavericks played better and moved the ball better without Luka Dončić… 💀 this is the person that is trying to currently coach Caitlin Clark and this is why they’re not winning more than they were last season and this is why Caitlin Clark fans are increasingly fed up and unable to watch the team fumble the bag. It’s one thing for the league to be fumbling the bag that is Caitlin Clark because of egos and issues and all the other bullshit but it’s another thing to watch her own coach, front office, and team fumble it.

Caitlin Clark is a generational talent and a fucking mini GOAT. And they’re trying to humble her when she doesn’t need it and turn what could be the best point guard women’s basketball has ever seen into some sort of passive role playing shooting guard / small forward.

The documentary on Caitlin Clark’s career is gonna end up being six hours long and this season alone is probably gonna take up a good hour. 😂

Fuckin’ clown show.

P.S. What they’re doing to Caitlin is by extension, destroying Aliyah Boston’s game as well. I have noticed several times the past few games that Boston has been tearing up and almost crying during frustrating times and apparently from somebody there tonight they said she went ahead and did start crying and then sniffed it away and kept playing. Nobody likes to be humiliated and nobody likes to have their role reduced to a fucking joke because of the incompetence of others. Free CC (and AB).

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ELLA PURNELL as LUCY MACLEAN FALLOUT (2024-)

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Lucy Maclean and Maximus in Season 1 of FALLOUT

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I’m from a place where the worst someone can do to you is forget to say thank you. bonus (#wilderness progress):

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“LESBIANISM IS NOT A CHOICE, IT IS A BLESSING!” at the new york city dyke march, june 1993

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Send me my t-shirts lesbir*n for the love of god it’s been months and today you announce “we’ve got hoodies too!” My pms can’t handle this. I just want my lesbian t-shirts

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In that post about Joe Wright avoiding bonnets in p&p 2005 for being “too clichéd” (wtf), you said “and the disdain he clearly has for said author which manifests in various ways”. Could you elaborate on that? (asking only out of interest, not disagreement)

Absolutely (the post anon refers to) it's always a pleasure! Though I will say before starting, I'm not bashing 2005 for the sake of it and no one is "wrong" for enjoying it. For me, it's not about fan wars/arguing about which adaptation is best... I just really care about Pride and Prejudice as a novel and I get frustrated when the beautiful, timeless story is distorted!

My main problem with the 2005 adaptation is how much it misrepresents the characters and changes the speech from the snappy, witty dialogue that Jane Austen wrote into something entirely different. Not only do I believe that it does not need updating for C21st audiences (though it might sound a little strange to the modern ear at first,you quickly get used to it) but that dialogue is what really stood out to me and charmed me when I first read it and I don't care for it being rewritten into either something that is either worse than what is found in the novel, or entirely changes the characterisation.

The one that particularly irks me is Darcy's 'bewitched me body and soul' dialogue as, to me, book!Darcy's confession to Elizabeth of when he fell in love with her:

'I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look, or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew that I had begun.'

is so beautiful and romantic. Why change that? Additionally, this man is not awkward, he can make romantic speeches, he doesn't need to trip over telling her he loves her. And I've previously discussed here why I think Darcy saying he is bewitched by Elizabeth is out of character.

There are many such cases in the film, but that is amongst the worst to me, perhaps only alongside Darcy's first proposal and how much Lady Catherine's visit and confrontation was watered down (and why did it take place in the middle of the night???).

I suppose he didn't write the script so perhaps I cannot blame him entirely for that... but it goes beyond dialogue, to how the actors were directed and the contempt shown for the period it was set in, which is bizarre when making a period drama.

I think it's quite apparent that JW desperately wanted to make Pride and Prejudice into a Brontësque romance with sweeping landscapes and dramatic weather. I suppose you can argue he did that successfully, but it came entirely at the expense of it being the story that Jane Austen wrote. There are lighthearted, humorous moments too but very few of them feature dialogue actually written by Austen ('what excellent boiled potatoes' springs to mind).

He misunderstood and consequently misrepresented Elizabeth and Darcy's dynamic to the point that they are hardly recognisable to the characters Jane Austen created. 2005!Darcy is so painfully shy and pathetic, that when contrasted with such an impertinent and sarcastic Elizabeth, it just seems like she's bullying a smol bean who struggles in social situations. You cannot emphasise Elizabeth's sassiness while making Darcy such a pathetic specimen, it just doesn't work. She isn't the witty, charming character from the novel anymore.

The period inaccuracy is absolutely baffling in ways beyond costumes, beyond the lack of bonnets and that one scene where one of the sisters is having her corset tied so tightly. For me, the worst offences are:

The bleachers at the Meryton assembly. Not only wildly historically inaccurate but makes Elizabeth look like a gossip and an eavesdropper, rather than an innocent party insulted by a rich snob.

The pig running through Longbourn and generally everything about Longbourn itself. The Bennets are not on the same level of wealth as Darcy and Bingley but they are not some poor farmers, with a scruffy house. Elizabeth is very much of the same class as Darcy.

Chatsworth is absolutely, definitively NOT Pemberley. It is explicitly mentioned in the text as featuring in their tour of the Peaks so consequently it CANNOT be Pemberley. It's far too grand an estate for an untitled gentleman. Darcy is rich but Chatsworth is another level.

I care about this because the landscaping is not at all correct as it's very artificial, whereas Pemberley is renowned for its natural beauty. It might not seem like much but it really is a huge part of why Elizabeth fell for him!

Another reason Chatsworth shouldn't have been used is because Elizabeth seeing a portrait of Darcy and looking into his eyes rather than a bust with holes is crucial, as I explained here.

This is all disappointing but I do feel like I could get over it if the characterisation was adequate. Unfortunately, I barely recognise any of them.

Mr Bennet is not a cute fatherly figure. Him not accompanying them to the Meryton assembly is a plot point to underscore his bone idleness. Yes, his relationship with Elizabeth is very sweet and he loves her a lot... but that does not a good father make!

The total character assassination of Mr Bingley... who is not a clueless himbo. As if Jane Bennet would ever fall for a man like that, or Jane Austen would ever write a character like that (except to be the object of ridiculue).

I do not know in what universe Charlotte Lucas, the pragmatic voice of reason would say 'we are all fools in love.' And the 'I'm 27 years old' monologue is just not something I can ever picture her saying... she wasn't a frightened, timid little creature whatsoever.

Wickham isn't bad enough. What he did to Georgiana is blink and you'll miss it, and when he returns with Lydia, Elizabeth glares at him a bit and that's it? The elopement is also resolved very quickly, there is no real tension with it.

The key story beats are butchered too. Especially the letter, not just in how short it is but in the way Darcy hands it to Elizabeth. I think I remember reading something about how JW couldn't imagine how Darcy would be in the room with her, so he just made it like a dream sequence... aka he put his own creative desires over what's in the novel, when Darcy seeking Elizabeth out to hand it to her is very important. Not least, because it shows the length he's prepared to go to in order to set the record straight as it was breaking social convention for a man to write a letter like that to a woman he wasn't related to or engaged to.

That quote, among others, just shows he had a desire to do things differently and it seems to be because he thinks he can do it 'better.' It's bizarre because why bother adapting a classic which is anchored to its time when you blatantly have disdain for it? It's like doing a war film without army uniforms and guns.

Everything I've read from him, he just seems like a smug film bro that believes that he got it 'right' and people had been Missing The Point the entire until he came along. No, you weren't onto anything new. There are certain things, like bonnets, that tend to be in period dramas. And Jane Austen is very literal with her meanings, for the most part. There isn't a new way to interpret her works.

For a film entitled Pride and Prejudice there isn't a great deal of pride or prejudice... it's really just a poor shy boi, who stands there and fidgets with his gloves while not saying anything, and his girlboss, who uses towels that have been getting wet on the line outside to dry herself after coming in from a rainstorm.

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SEVERANCE / Emily Dickinson

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I wish I could have a shower again in a shower chair. It felt so luxurious. I wish I could enjoy delicious almost too hot sips of hot chocolate without paying a price for about two days afterwards. I wish I could have a two way conversation for more than a minute. I wish I could read a book with my eyes. I wish I could walk around a tiny bit. I wish I could look out the window. I wish one of my medications would make a significant difference. I wish I thought change was going to come quick enough, for this illness, for me.

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