pearwaldorf

[pearwaldorf]

IT ALL FITS is a one page RPG that's flown together. It's played on a pinboard and inspired a very nice system for investigations I found in the Fallen London RPG. Enjoy! I've duplicated the text after the break below :)

It All Fits.

A One-Page GM-free game about connecting the dots, for 3-6 players and about 1 hour, by Luuma-makes-games.tumblr.com

You are conspiracy theorists using a pinboard which unfortunately possesses the demonic power to make your nonsensical ramblings come true.

To win, Get as many connections as possible without exceeding 19 tally marks.

Begin by writing a name (d20) at the center of the pinboard in huge lettering. Do a Mugshot of them. You can Add Notes to this mugshot, but it starts with none.

1 Aliens 2 Illuminati 3 MENSA 4 Round Earthers 5 The CIA

6 Chemtrails 7 Lizard People 8 Messages hidden in Taylor Swift's Lyrics 9 Freemasons 10 5G horse

11 Harry and Louis from One Direction 12 Hit Single "Pump Up The Jam" 13 Big Pharma 14 Birds 15 Pyramids

16 the Online Safety Act 17 Reylo Proshippers 18 Bigfoot 19 Theatre Kids 20 Ronald Reagan

Players take it in turns going clockwise. Begin with the person who, to the group's knowledge, is most likely to join a cult.

On your turn you may Write a Mugshot, Add a Note, or Connect the dots. Once you do, play passes to the next person clockwise.

WRITE A MUGSHOT. Write the name of a Real person, draw an inaccurate caricature of them, and put it on the pinboard. The person can be as important or irrelevant as you like. Think: major CEO! Politician! Celebrity! the Self! Alternately add a faction from the table on the left. Then, Add A Note to it and don’t add a tally.

ADD A NOTE. You add a semi-factual note to a Mugshot or Faction. For example, if one Mugshot is of Jeff Bezos, you might add the note that "amazon can deliver 10 gallons of mayo to ANY address”.

When you Add A Note, add two marks to the tally. If people think your note is pretty funny, add only one mark instead.

CONNECT THE DOTS. You choose two Mugshots and draw a connection you identify between them. The Connection shouldn’t be true and can be as complex as you like. Draw a line representing it with pen or string, then roll a D6 for each Note on the Mugshots that is directly relevant to your Connection. Jot the details briefly. If all results are 4 or lower, add IIII (5 marks) to the tally. If at least one is a 5-6, “IT ALL FITS!”

Once the tally is at 19 or higher, roll a number of d20s equal to the number of Connections If any of the results is a 19 or higher, the pinboard rattles, the earth shakes, and, to the group's glee & dawning horror, everything you wrote on the pinboard is revealed to be the TRUTH. Explore the implications of this new world order together for a bit.

[pearwaldorf]

I, too, was also a big fan of Warren Ellis. I sent him a note decades ago on Tumblr telling him Transmetropolitan got me through my terrible retail job in undergrad and he sent me a nice reply back. I kept it in my inbox for years, and it still hurt a little when I deleted it.

But I also knew of and followed Katie West, Meredith Yayanos, Zoetica Ebb (cf So Many of Us). Some of them I do not know, because they wish to not be known, but I still wish them peace and healing.

One of the ways I and other people have attempted to triangulate safety and moral... whatever is by looking at who feels safe to be friends with particular people. It is not exclusively (white) men, but these are the sorts of intricate webs women (of all races/ethnicities) and people of color look at closely, hoping to divine something because the consequences are dire if we fuck it up.

And obviously it doesn't always work. As Meryl Streep said of Harvey Weinstein, it was his job to make sure she didn't know shit about what he was doing. And there are also plenty of women and POC who are happy to be pick-me's for powerful (white) people and give them cover. (There's a special place in hell for those people.)

--

Re: parasociality. No, we should not put creators or celebrities on pedestals. There are famous people in the world who I would be very very sad to know are actually pieces of shit. But they are just people trying to do their best with the larger platforms they have been given.

There is a specific thing one of NG's victims/survivors mentioned in one of the Tortoise podcast episodes that made me want to throw up. It is something I recognized as a longtime fan, a population from which he absolutely drew victims from. That's not parasocial, that's predatory, and I hope you learn the fucking difference.

When They Go Low, They Can Fuck Off While They're There

Disclaimer: I'm going to talk about Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis here. I will be discussing the accusations, but broadly, not in graphic terms. There is no original research in this post. The things that NG is accused of are still alleged; however I believe that the victims are telling the truth. Warren Ellis has publicly admitted to his past behavior but has, to my knowledge, not been indicted. And honestly the only thing I apologize for is not cutting this post, because it is real the hell long.

I.

The stuff in this post isn't new, but all of this was brought back up for me by Elhoffer Design's statement about Sandman (see previous post). I appreciate the stand they're taking in regards to their business model, but what really got me where I lived was the end of the statement (emphasis mine):

[W]e will not make any further pieces for this universe that helped define so much of our lives. Before Potter we had Sandman, and now we have neither.

II.

It wasn't NG for me. 1602 is my favorite of his work, but his novels just don't do it for me; I like Good Omens and S1 of the TV show, but I think that's largely because of my love for Sir Terry (GNU). I was too young for NG to be in the zeitgeist. It broke my heart to watch my friends be so incredibly devastated, obviously, but I only felt frustration and anger on their behalf, not grief.

I'm not over Warren Ellis and I don't think I ever fucking will be. There are words from his fucking Livejournal that are so indelibly stitched onto my heart that even trying to pull them out ripped me in half. Just thinking There's that goddamn sun again literally brings me to tears even now. I thought that he got it; I looked at his writing and saw myself straight across.

What bothers me is not at all the idea that his writing was a lie and he and I are different people, because ultimately, that shit's not true. What devastates me is the understanding that he and I are still the same, so I can follow the lines, see the thoughts that would lead someone to think like me and violate someone who was beholden to them. A few bad decisions, and I would absolutely pull that type of shit on someone. Thank fuck that I realized in my 20's that that behavior was not okay, and I was not okay. I purposefully turned away from that path and got loads of medication and therapy, because it turns out that other humans have inherent value?? Big AND true.

People are fallible and not respecting, esteeming, falling in whatever kind of love is relevant- with the people around you, definitely, but even with strangers, even with celebrities, even with people you only know as words- is a hideous mistake that you will regret one day to the core of your being, because you will shrivel, weaken, and die. You will be betrayed your entire life, no matter what you do, and the vast majority of that betrayal will come from the people you know in real life. Whatever you do, you have to remember: it is not your job to regret it when someone betrays you.

Regret would suggest I did something wrong. I didn't. I held up my end of the bargain: I behaved as a good person who had the beliefs expressed in his writing would. He broke the contract and betrayed his own words. He left me holding the bag, and he's the one who should have to leave. These should be my words now, because he's the one unworthy of them. Fuck you. I did the work. Give me them damn royalties, I earned them and you didn't.

Intermission

Allow me to break in right quick and address a common issue: the idea that a given predator is only a writer, not a role model and the fans are the ones who are wrong for expecting more. I'm not gonna make my usual speech that role model is absolutely not something you choose but a curse you find placed upon yourself one day, so let's take a lil look at some best-selling authors or authors from a similar cultural milieu to NG.

My sampling method was that I went to a bestsellers list from the 2000s and picked people whose stuff I've read who are largely hands off. Look, I'm doing what I can. I read almost exclusively fanfiction and nonfiction. Several of the people I tried to look up have been dead for over a decade.

Nicholas Sparks has a new book coming out. There's a musical of The Notebook that's touring, apparently it's going to be nearby but I'll be busy doing literally anything else on earth. Broadway fandom is fighting over whether he's a homophobe due to potentially illegally dismissing a headmaster from the Christian school he founded. I cannot the fuck figure out what's going on with that shit, but crucially, as far as I could find, Sparks hasn't involved himself in the drama. I think that this case was settled in 2021.

What's John Grisham up to? Mostly doing political activism for the Democratic party tbh, but he is, like, a real-ass lawyer, and he did according to legend write his first book on the floor of the Mississippi Legislature. I do happen to know you can still get him for stuff like signings and book festivals if you know a guy who knows a guy, but that's Mississippi for you.

Let's try Nevada Barr, hasn't published in a couple of years, but someone who's known for being super involved with her community and in wildlife and parks activism in addition to writing. Super cool lady tbh, let me say in the least doxing way possible that I've met her a couple times because one of my family members was part of her financial management. Has moved around a lot because she was an LE for the NPS before she retired. Now withholds her email address, appears to have closed her facebook page, moved to Oregon. Cool, good for her.

What about Jean M. Auel? Undersung progenitor of weird, horny, horny, very weird romance (??) novels that at the time reflected modern archaeological theory and absolutely had an impact on the same audience who read Sandman. You can't unread Clan of the Cave Bear. It made a lot of us real weird. What's she up to? Uhhhh. In 2024 she sold her residence in Oregon. You gotta look up this fuckin place. Some of it's a little too 90s dark granite for my taste? But it's so extra and the building is Too Much. Love it. No other news.

If any of these people committed a sex crime, I'd be pretty bummed about it. I'd hate that John Grisham and Nevada Barr filled the stereotypes of a shitty good ol' boy lawyer and an LE going unchecked, respectively, I'd hate that Jean M. Auel could write these visceral, disgusting passages about assault and the meeting of nascent presence of mind with the nonexistence of sexual agency and then do it to another human being, and like, I can't fucking stand Nicholas Sparks but I hope I'd have the grace to say "How dare that fucker write so many basic-ass catnip romance novels and promise tragic perfect hetero love to a generation of women who wanted to be beautiful and frail when society told them they were clumsy and fat and then do some shit like this" instead of something that betrayed that actually I just like being mean to Nicholas Sparks because his books are bad.

But none of these people ever replied to me unprompted on twitter or left me an LJ comment. Nevada Barr gave me a lovely signed book when I left to join the NPS, but that's because she was herself an NPS ranger, and she'd known my family for like... ten years by then? Very normal stuff. She's the only one on here I've had interactions with beyond reading their work (Yes, I have seen The Notebook and read a portion of a Nicholas Sparks novel, but I have a policy to read stuff I hate if I'm going to mock it, which is how I made a dent in a wall with a copy of The DaVinci Code, impressive given it was a paperback). None of them have asked anything of me. None of them have set themselves up as an Old Man of Fandom to be accessible and authoritative but also fun! in a space that should belong to fans.

The promises made by Neil Gaiman and Warren Ellis are absolutely not the same ones made by Jean M. Auel (who didn't even make any). Suggesting otherwise is asinine. Neil Gaiman wants to be pottering around your garden. John Grisham wonders if there's supposed to be visitors today and it's just that nobody told him. Should he offer lemonade? Should he call the cops? Last time it was the cops, but-

Unless you go to his weird school I guess, Nicholas Sparks doesn't owe you jack shit. Your transaction was completed when you bought Aspirational Tragic Het Romance #15. Warren Ellis offered more. He offered what was framed as a look into his brain, and he offered far more than that to his victims. We all know the difference. Sure, some people expect way too much of authors in terms of moral purity- just as they do from teachers, random women who dare to not be at the house, and, as Nevada Barr and I can tell you, park rangers, apparently. But an author who writes a book, does a tour and a few interviews, and retires to sip cocktails on a big pile of money is not the same as a guy who sticks around to bask in the praise of his subjects. 

"Parasociality" is going on the shelf next to "gaslighting" until some of y'all learn the difference between a fan's obsession and a malicious creator's lust for power. Jesus wept.

III.

So it's time to get ugly with these fucking people.

Keep doing what's noble. Uplift victims, report on developments, write about your frustrations, find solace in each other. But also, add on some rude, petty bullshit. When they go low, go high? Incorrect. When they go low, point at them and start hollering to everybody about how gross they are for going so fuckin low. Look at this fuckin person! You hear what this motherfucker did?? I don't have to be polite to a sexual predator! They got stuff like the right to representation and a fair trial, but they sure the fuck don't have rights to my silence, civility, defense, or loyalty.

The way I've started thinking about it is like when somebody shows up to a party and does something completely out of pocket. You can either clean up the mess and quietly warn people, or you can call their ass out. I'm done cleaning up messes. I'm tired of "I'm sorry, I didn't know they were like that, everybody said they were so chill, it's my fault for associating with them, I promise I'll never invite anybody over ever again, obviously it's not even enough to do background checks."

(Also, authors, TPTB, and talent aren't even supposed to be at fandom parties! They're supposed to be at their own parties! Sometimes they might facetime to say hi or send a cake just to be sweet, and we all cheer and are touched by how nice they are. We got real comfortable with mixing over time, but like, worry about people who only want to party with people who already adore them, in this context and in real life.)

No more apologies or regrets. No more metaphorical next morning messages like "I know how we all love Neil, but he is the one who broke the television, stole the dog, busted out three windows, and keyed everyone's car. Unfortunately that means that the Sandman party, which we have been holding for a number of decades, is over forever, because we obviously cannot hold the party now that we know about Neil. I am so sorry that we made the mistake of holding this party for so long, and I can't believe this is the eighth party we've had to cancel."

Now we're only making posts- on every platform, Facebook, Instagram, the 4thewords forum to finish a quest, put it on your fuckin LinkedIn and confuse your boss- saying things like "Good morning, everyone except Neil! The Sandman party is over forever, because NEIL who invited HIMSELF, broke the fuckin FLATSCREEN TELEVISION valued at $1600, stole our ARTHRITIC SENIOR DOG, committed a literal biblical sin by destroying THREE ORIGINAL DOUBLE HUNG WOODEN SASH WINDOWS which have to be MADE BY HAND and INSTALLED by a CARPENTER from ANOTHER STATE you ABSOLUTE BALLSACK I'll have trash bags for windows for MONTHS and you WILL pay his travel costs too, and took it out on ALL OF YOUR CARS so send NEIL the bill!!!!!

FUCK YOU NEIL. Everybody was having a great fucking time with this amazing party you started. We were just trying to relax and enjoy something we cared about maybe even more than you did, then you pissed all over it. I hope you fuckin get a nail in every set of tires you ever buy for the rest of your life and somebody rips all the copper out of your house. PARTY AT MY PLACE FOR ALL THE NORMAL PEOPLE TO POUR ONE OUT FOR SANDMAN, JUST LIKE WE HAD TO DO THOSE SEVEN OTHER TIMES, MOST OF WHICH NEIL FUCKING CAME TO, GODDAMN HYPOCRITE! 

PS Security camera footage to be distributed this PM my loves <3 <3 <3

PPS NEIL BRING BACK THE DOG OR COME GET HIS MEDICINE, THEN FUCK OFF AND DIE"

So like that, only I didn't want to make a fake example about sexual assault, though trust me, I am angry and unhinged enough to make a real one.

Sexual predators are inherently unreasonable. They are banking on you being sad and mourning the loss. You cannot logic, lament, lachrymose your way out of this one, because that's what you're supposed to be doing. People neither expect nor want the gentle ladies (look I'm not a lady either and one of the big issues is sexual predators are absolutely not just men, though I am probably using too many he pronouns because I am talking about two specific men in this post. you understand) to just lose their religion and act so uncivil and ungraceful. You're not supposed to be angry and you're certainly not supposed to be so rude. You're proving their point.

But here's something you already know: Every time you do anything, no matter who "they" is this time, they move their fucking point so you'll land on it. People will find a way to say you lose, so the fuck does it matter what you do? Unleash Hell onto the people who robbed you. Vent your fury and frustration, because these people stole something from you. Shame them, because they should be fucking ashamed, and that shame should generate not only from the crime itself, but also the fact that they deliberately set themselves up as a figure to be worshiped by people who just wanted to have a good time in a harsh world.

You invested years of your life into something not out of love for the creator; the creator is supposed to be a name on a book, and when you know them this well, things have gone wrong. You did it because you found meaning inside it, or community, or whatever you were looking for. They fucking broke their end of the deal and left you holding the bag, and now the world wants you to do your apology mourning dance to prove that you are wrong.

Fuck the creator, fuck people who say it's your fault, and fuck having to insist that trusting people to do what they said they would do makes you the criminal. You were in the right, and you do not have to pretend you're wrong.

And if the idea of being that angry turns your stomach? Point me the fuck to it. I love being angry and rude and petty. I know who he is and I like some of his stuff, but I don't need Neil Gaiman's approval. I already have a bad reputation among people who worship decorum and think normalness is next to godliness. If I had a shiny piece of pot metal for every goddamn time that someone accused me of not taking things seriously or derailing the conversation because I refuse to perform decorous lady (again, nonbinary, but that's what they really want from me) when I'm angry, I could build the world's shittiest, clankiest armor and do a big ol' "I'm just so goddamn sorry for my whole personality" dance for everybody who thinks that being "too flippant" means you can't possibly be powered by the force of genuine emotion.

IV.

But the irony is that one of the only people in the entirety of pop culture to get and stay canceled... is Warren Ellis. He's tried to come back like three times, and every time, he is descended on by a pack of people who are still so furious about what he's done and determined that he will never hurt anybody else that the comeback has failed. Fell Vol. 2 was canceled (which I also cried about; I waited so long for that announcement but frankly Templesmith was a dick for making it), his newsletter relaunch stopped, he lost a deal for either a new book or a TV show- dude can't use a public restroom without someone on him.

This is not "cancel culture". This is righteous anger. He abused young women who looked up to him as a professional and a mentor. He ruined people's lives who should have been the new greats. The fact that there has been no outcry to stop the people stopping Warren Ellis is the market speaking, and they- we- agree that his time is over.

Fuck him. He metaphorically pissed in the jungle juice and broke the pool table, and now we have to have bouncers. There is no way in which that's those women's fault. They belong at the party. He doesn't.

--

(Ironically, I have met NG, because a friend brought me a book reading/signing. His special guest was Béla Fleck. Béla Fleck! He wasn't even touring that year because his wife just had a baby! Blorbo from my bucket list! Béla Fleck!!!

There was also an unplanned special guest in the form of a huge thunderstorm over the historic building we were in, which boomed through the massive, mostly stone theater. Thunderstorm was on point with the sound effects. A+++ to the special guests.

Neil seemed tbh very unimpressed with me even though I was second in line at the signing behind an adorable kid, so like. I guess it was gloves off on sight anyway? It was 2013, I thought he was a chill guy who liked to write books)

[pearwaldorf]

MANNY JACINTO InStyle (August 2025)

[pearwaldorf]

Work in Progress Wednesday Thursday

I don't remember the last time I was quite this excited about a skin that I'm making. I have no idea if all of this will end up in the final version, but I'm just having so much fun with seeing what I can actually do that I wanted to share some work in progress shots.

(honestly? the hardest part has been finding the images. any tips on where to get medieval illuminated artwork would be much appreciated!)

In the first image, the AO3 title and the lady/dragon are separate images so on a desktop monitor the AO3 part is on the left and the dragon piece is on the right.

[pearwaldorf]

Hey man, ahead of this heatwave I'm gonna go ahead and rip the veil off of something for you:

The reason American Southerners have the luxury of saying that 90 ain't that bad and it's not unbearable until it's 100 is 1) prolonged exposure to high temperatures over multiple decades 2) our mindset for these living conditions.

You don't have number 1, and you can't just acquire it, so I need you to adopt number 2 immediately. How do you live like a Southerner in the heat?

Don't be a hero.

Stay inside. Buy a box fan, put it next to a bucket of ice, and wrap your arms around it like a lover. Do not leave the shade under any circumstances. If a dude makes fun of you for getting out of the sun, don't get mad, just think of a funnier insult to call him while you flip him off and go stand under a tree.

Southerners love nothing more than to exaggerate and lie to each other. Like I think we got off on the wrong foot when you walked in on us saying things like "It was only 110, I didn't even take my damn jacket off" when really, last week it was 95 at 10 PM and we were on the bed buck nekkid in front of the fan moaning incoherently and praying to die. So yeah, we can take extreme heat. We also want you to think we can take ludicrous heat. You must learn to talk shit and then be a hypocrite and a coward in your actions, because this will serve you best.

It sounds like I am joking but I cannot express to you how much I am not. Do not fuck with Mother Nature, because that bitch will kill you. Take every opportunity to lower your body temperature and drink water, because that is what all of us in hot climates are doing all the time, and that is why we are not dead, even when it seems like we should be.

(And yeah, we do go through like two and a half ugly weeks in April every year where everyone wants to absolutely just goddamn drop dead because none of us have our heat tolerance back, but we must go to work anyway, which must be a crime. And yes, when it gets below 70 we really all do short circuit and cover ourselves in seven jackets, except for Shorts Guy.)

[pearwaldorf]

So for members of bdsm Dungeons, it's a rule that you don't approach other members if you see them on public for privacy reasons. They might not want people knowing they're a freak.

That said, it's normal to make friends in that space who you hang out with, outside of kink stuff. When that happens and people asked where I met my friend, my go-to line was "Spin-class," which is a very funny joke if you know me even a little. Very not my scene.

Well, funnily enough, while I was working at a homeless shelter, we had a very similar rule because of the homeless stigma. If a guest from the Shelter sees you outside of work, you don't acknowledge or approach them. They can approach you, but you don't tell whoever you're with where you know them. The guest gets to decide if they want to share that info.

Smash cut to me being out with a friend I met at the dungeon a very long time ago. I bump into a guest from the shelter who approaches me to chat. My friend asks how I know the guest, and without thinking, I blurt out "spin class" before remembering that's my go to lie for how I ment dungeon friends. These two proceed to have a conversation, neither fully understood.

Friend: ooohhhh okay i get it. Spin class! Me too. Stopped taking that class a while ago tho.

Guest. Oh for real? That's sick man, good for you! You got a good set up now?

Friend: The best!! I've taken up wood working so my furniture is all custom. Got plenty of space to do "spin" at home. It's coming together.

Guest: Hell yeah brother!!!

Friend: was really good to have my own space during the rona, but man it's lonely! I kinda miss the group dynamics.

Guest: Yeah, i heard that from my homie when he got out of "Spin class!" But it's for the best.

Friend: it can be, but its not for everybody. Can be safer to Spin in a group.

Guest: i know that. Lost a few homie to "spinning" alone. At least at the "class" you got other eyes on you.

Friend: I'm sorry to hear that! You know some elements of "Spinning" are risky but you never think anyone would get hurt. So, my buddy here still a real hard ass for safety?

Guest: oh man you dont even know. They revamped our whole fire escape plan.

Friend: Oh shit! They did that back when i was in Spin class too!

Guest: still improving the system i guess.

Friend: they still keep a bunch of robes outside in a shed so people who get out can cover up?

Guest: Yes!!!

Friend: Did you know it's their fault we have a 30 second rule!

Guest: Damn really!?! Makes sense tho, if there's a fire you gotta get out fast!

Friend: Yeah, I Never gave it much thought before they brought it up, but yeah the last thing you want is a fire when you're all tired up!

Guest: Yeah, that's true. I didn't know they came up with the rule, tho. I do like having the space between the beds clear...

Friend: Yeah it's so annoying when people block the path with their shit.

Guest: Yeah there's not enough space between beds for people to be hording shit.

Friend: Yeah! I loved that they always got people to keep their area clear.

Guest: not gonna lie i hate being told to clean up but it is better that way.

Friend: Yeah... haha.

Guest: well it was nice chatting with you brother.

Friend: you too, man! See ya around!

Guest: see ya!

Me:

[pearwaldorf]

if i told you what's happening at my retiree mom's local beekeeper association meetings you would call me a big ol liar

it's escalated to the point that one of the board members is bringing a gun today?? there is a president and a false president. everyone's lawyered up. bee lawyers

apiarttorneys

[pearwaldorf]

An article on the cinematographer for the movie and how she did that amazing shot. All of Coogler's DPs are women, which is extremely notable in Hollywood.

Sinners is amazing. It is a movie that should be seen in theaters, although idk if the IMAX format is strictly necessary (Coogler recommends it). That premium technology experience is expensive!

I appreciate movies made by people who know exactly what kind of story they want to tell and how they want to do it. It's accessible to a non-Black audience if they want it to be, but it is very clear it is not for the dominant culture.

It was very smart to make Remmick, somebody of Irish descent, the villain. The movie makes clear the Irish had their own version of griots, the fili. And the loss of that connection is what motivates the central conflict of the story. (How it relates to things outside of the movie? Well.)

As somebody of Chinese ancestry, I'd heard the movie includes Chinese immigrants who did settle in Mississippi*, but I thought they'd have a bit part, not integrated into the story itself.

I was already all in on that beautiful scene in the juke, with Sammie piercing the borders between time and space and making those connections between music and heritage and resistance that are important for Black people but others too. And then I saw the opera dancer floating in amongst everybody else and cried even harder.

Like. This is first and foremost a Black story. But it doesn't mean other people weren't there. It means a great deal to me that Grace and Bo were included and had the same motivation and stakes as the Black characters, because they were part of the community too.

Historically, the fight for civil rights in the US has been explicitly intersectional. The Black civil rights movement is what helped galvanize so many others, and there was a great deal of intellectual exchange between members of all the movements.

It is good to have explicit reminders of that solidarity, especially in times where there are attempts to set some minorities above others like we don't all end up in the same boat eventually. I'm grateful to Coogler for including that, even though he didn't have to.

--

* C.O. Chinn was a Black man of Chinese ancestry. He and his family lived in Canton** and provided material support to the SNCC in may ways. He was a fucking badass and you should read about him.

** According to the locals, Canton's name has a foreign origin even if there's no actual documentation for it. (Canton is an older Anglicized name for Guangzhou Province.)

[pearwaldorf]

Sinners is amazing. It is a movie that should be seen in theaters, although idk if the IMAX format is strictly necessary (Coogler recommends it). That premium technology experience is expensive!

I appreciate movies made by people who know exactly what kind of story they want to tell and how they want to do it. It's accessible to a non-Black audience if they want it to be, but it is very clear it is not for the dominant culture.

It was very smart to make Remmick, somebody of Irish descent, the villain. The movie makes clear the Irish had their own version of griots, the fili. And the loss of that connection is what motivates the central conflict of the story. (How it relates to things outside of the movie? Well.)

As somebody of Chinese ancestry, I'd heard the movie includes Chinese immigrants who did settle in Mississippi*, but I thought they'd have a bit part, not integrated into the story itself.

I was already all in on that beautiful scene in the juke, with Sammie piercing the borders between time and space and making those connections between music and heritage and resistance that are important for Black people but others too. And then I saw the opera dancer floating in amongst everybody else and cried even harder.

Like. This is first and foremost a Black story. But it doesn't mean other people weren't there. It means a great deal to me that Grace and Bo were included and had the same motivation and stakes as the Black characters, because they were part of the community too.

Historically, the fight for civil rights in the US has been explicitly intersectional. The Black civil rights movement is what helped galvanize so many others, and there was a great deal of intellectual exchange between members of all the movements.

It is good to have explicit reminders of that solidarity, especially in times where there are attempts to set some minorities above others like we don't all end up in the same boat eventually. I'm grateful to Coogler for including that, even though he didn't have to.

--

* C.O. Chinn was a Black man of Chinese ancestry. He and his family lived in Canton** and provided material support to the SNCC in may ways. He was a fucking badass and you should read about him.

** According to the locals, Canton's name has a foreign origin even if there's no actual documentation for it. (Canton is an older Anglicized name for Guangzhou Province.)

[pearwaldorf]

Visitors get to live out their guzhuang drama fantasies interacting with in-character NPCs as the heroine get pinned to the wall

[pearwaldorf]

(source)

[pearwaldorf]

My husband and I decided to have a chili crisp taste test. The candidates:

Amina's chili garlic sauce Fly by Jing original Momofuku chili crunch Mama Teav's hot garlic OG heat Lao Gan Ma original Okazu chili miso

Tasting notes:

Do not even bother with Amina's. I wanted to like it but it was weirdly sweet and had no garlic flavor.

Okazu's chili miso is a good condiment with lots of umami but it's not a chili crisp. They have a spicy version so maybe I will pick that up if I see it.

Momofuku has a good blend of heat and a little bit of umami but that's all it has. It's fine if it's all you can get but honestly you can do better.

Fly by Jing has a really clean chili flavor but no real umami. If you want a really prototypical chili crisp get this one.

I've never had Lao Gan Ma before! It's super chunky! It has peanuts and onions in it. I think it would be great in noodles/ramen/stuff you want textural variety in.

Mama Teav's is so fucking good. We love garlic so this was the clear winner for us. I would eat a brick covered in this stuff. It also comes in mild if you're concerned about heat but I am a spice weenie and the OG heat was fine.

[pearwaldorf]

IT'S OUT.

My god, this is pure uncut 2003 in the best way. People aren't wrong that Evanescence is less melodic Lacuna Coil, but I was not listening to Lacuna Coil in the early oughts and watching "Bring Me to Life" AMVs in 140p, so.

[pearwaldorf]

Welcome to INV-2025-PCCP (Investigation 2025: Plagiarism Clean-up Credit Project)!

Atticus (piratecaptains/piratecaptainscaptainpirates) has been found to plagiarize other people’s work, either rewording things in an attempt to avoid detection, stealing entire lines from other people’s works or copying exact plot beats and ideas with minimal creative transformation. Our aim here is to look at his work, find the original works he stole from and give credit back to the original authors.

To volunteer with us

Send us an email at inv2025pccp@gmail.com with the subject Volunteer. Include your Discord username.

If you have a lead or suspect your work was plagiarized

Send us an email at inv2025pccp@gmail.com with the subject Fic Lead. In the body, include the title/link of Atticus's work on AO3 and the title and link to your own/original work. Please also include your Tumblr or Bluesky username.

For information on orphaned works, please read AO3's FAQ here.

For a brief overview of accusations of plagiarism against Atticus, see this post. For an even briefer overview of other issues, see this post.

There will be further posts about our process and who's involved, but this is a work in progress with a potentially very long lead time. Please bear with us!

[pearwaldorf]

he's processing one single word per minute

[pearwaldorf]