#(paraphrased obvs but STILL)

[airbenderedacted]

Be thankful I’d probably never get onto the S3 writing team, because I would probably end up giving Harvax and Stok even more screentime than the Main 5 combined.

YOU WOULD...

[caruliaa]

zukka is kinda wild to me a little bit just bc like. atla has been ever for so *so* much longer than cs and yet a ship for it w minimal amnts of actual canon subtext outside one episode regularly takes up an insane amnt of my dashboard meanwhile carulia has like. the level of overt romantic subtext as a if a hypothetical different show had a relationship intended to be made officially romantic in the last season of a show only for that season to get botched somewhat due to quarantine and yet im the only one making content for it even semi regularly

[pandora-whowalksbetween]

WHY DOES THIS GAME INSIST ON TRYING TO TEACH PANDORA TO PLAY CHESS!!!!!

[laora-ryn]

Anyway so we watched Promare for the first time Sunday, I went into it with zero knowledge beyond "blue haired titty man and small green haired person of indeterminate gender" and turns out I loved it

And the world they built is so interesting to me and tbh that was the thing that caught me the most at first? I think Lio's still my fave BUT I had some emotions about Galo just now and @ninthfeather told me to post them here, so

Like I feel like the defining Thing about galo in the movie, like obv he's a dumbass and embraces the dumbassery, and wraps it all in So Much Compassion and pours that into his work as a rescue firefighter

But the thing that hit me most in the movie is that in the cave. When lio's ko'ed him and ties him up and he's surrounded by people who are by all accounts his enemies. He sees a lady dying on the ground, a lady who according to the OVAs I haven't seen yet, who badly burnt him on his very first day on the job, and he begs lio to set him free so that he can help her

And the whole "I didn't think burnish ate food" (paraphrasing) "what the fuck, we're still human, don't be a shit head" followed by an immediate "oh fuck you're right, that was a shitty thing to say and think, I'm sorry"

Like that's not a thing that most people are willing to do?? Admit they fucked up and apologize for it??

And then afterward, lio, who he met like yesterday, who has been an ass to him the whole time, who is undeniably hostile to him and basically his enemy, tells him that the most important person in his life has been lying to him for twenty years, and that he's a horrible person and has done all sorts of horrible things

And I kind of expected galo to go full denial and/or existential crisis over it? But instead he listens to what lio says, and then goes to kray and asks him if what he said was true. And then when kray says that it is, he doesn't take up screen time with his breakdown or denials or anything. He immediately just goes "okay so turns out you're a shithead, we're no longer okay, I'm going to try and punch you and help the people you're hurting"

And like, X amount of time passes while he's in jail/lio's in the volcano and he almost definitely had a breakdown/crisis during that time since we see him crying in his cell. But it doesn't take screen time?

Like it happens but the next time we see him he's 100% on board with helping the burnish, and has no qualms about going up against kray, and just. Idk galo's just willingness to trust what people say and accept that his own worldview is wrong, and no matter how hard it is for him, to put aside his own feelings when other people's lives are at stake, idk I feel like that says a lot about him as a person

[meltingpenguins]

Hi!

Genuine question: what makes you think that gomens s3 will have crowley revealed as jesus?

Because while I def agree that jesus crowley would be a nightmare, I don't really see that many things that would suggest this particular scenario? Like, obvs the show, and s2 specifically, has this very disturbing crowley-favouritism and is definitely mary-sue-ifying him, and unfortunately I see way too clearly how he can be openly declared God's Specialest Boy in s3, but I don't really get why you're so sure he's gonna be jesus, and not, like, The Chosen One To Bring Peace To Heaven And Hell, or God's Special Agent On Earth Who Taught Humanity Everything, or just The Best And Purest And Possibly Most Powerful Entity, or some other similar nonsense.

Is there any particular reasoning behind the jesus-crowley theory, aside from the overall suspicion that Crowley's gonna be Special, and the fact that s3 is going to center around the second coming and it's possible that the new jesus could turn out to be one of the characters we already know?

It is all this 'build up' in s2 that -if- there's a plan seems to be working towards 'crowley is like superspecialhyperimportantandawesome'. and this is exactly the kind of oh-so-amazing plottwist we can expect from someone like NG, unfortunately. Someone else put it neatly (paraphrased)

'Sir Terry wrote about average 'loser-type' people overcoming a situational threat/evil by people fundamentally people, Neil writes loser-type people getting flung into a different world where they are super-powerful and important and overcome threats by being super-powerful and important.

NG writes Isekai, one way or they other. We had traced of this in the changes to the book stuff in s1 already (things like crowley not being a nobody in Hell anymore, no one ever holding a candle to him etc)

Now with s2 so much seems like a frantic 'look at this amazing foreshadowing to crowley being not just not what he seems but super important'. because it's simply NG's modus operandi in whatever he writes.

So, yeah, while, sure, it doesn't have to be jesus or raphael, it'll prolly be someone equally important or something. and no matter how you turn it, it's still badly written, even IF it's building up to the 'big payoff' in s3.

/shrug

As for myself, I think i'm leaving the fandom being. GO doesn't spark joy anymore for me, not just because of what's going on ON the show itself. Maybe i'll finish my fanfic some day, maybe i'll take the basic premise and make it an original fiction or a TTRPG campaign.

We'll see.

Hope that answered the question :) Have a nice one.

[theslowhipster]

I think I'm a Pretty Good:tm: Liar?(Inspired by The People's Joker, kinda (not really)) // Queer Trans Ramblings

I want to write something long and beautiful about my thoughts, but I don't know how it's going to come across. (its definitely long though)

Ever since I started living as myself (and for myself), I've been thinking a lot about art that I've created in the past. How I was a happy kid, but underneath all of that I was angry and upset. Content to be the person everyone expected me to be, but never myself. For example, in 5th grade I wrote a short fantasy story using deadname as my self insert. I never felt any closeness to that name, no one ever really called me by it so I thought that was why it felt wrong. But even for the end of the story I couldn't find any happiness for him.

It wasn't a violent end, and it wasn't even his fault. The carelessness of the dragon he trusted with his life flew too high and he could no longer breathe. I remember my teacher at the time showed concern that something was wrong. Most 9 year olds don't write a story where they are the main character, horrible things happen to them, everything is described as awkward and nonsensical, and then they die. But my parents saw their "son" trying really hard to be happy for them and the consensus was "Garnet's just like that."

There feels like there were so many of those moments, too. "Oh no, Garnet's struggling in school, and she thinks it's because she might have ADHD. Let's get her tested," (slightly paraphrased and with different pronouns, obv.) But, once the only people asked were my parents and teachers who I was told later all said some variant on "yeah she could have it, but she's happy and well adjusted." And obviously I don't blame any of them, I was lying about who I was to make the people I cared about most love me.

I was so desperate to be the person they thought I was when I started to come out about my sexual preferences I did it out of anger to hurt my parents. We never really talked about it after the fact, but I know from talking to one of my sisters that they never really believed it. (Jokes on them, I'm a happily married pansexual in a lesbian relationship now). And this anger stayed with me, this frustration that I couldn't put my finger on. I think its what really soured our whole relationship in my teenage years.

When I left for college I was so happy and excited, I could redefine who I was, for myself this time. But after about 6 months, I started feeling trapped all over again and stopped going to classes. I was still trying to be "Garnet" the son that my parents loved and it was destroying me. Eventually, my behavior got me kicked out of school because I had failed literally every single class I was in for two quarters in a row. Because I missed the freedom that being myself gave me, I was determined to earn that back. So I moved back home, and started going to community college with the goal of being myself. That was the first time since probably Elementary school that I had gotten perfect grades.

Eventually I was able to transfer back to university, and reconnected with my at-the-time girlfriend (now wife <3) and started taking classes for an entirely different degree than the one I had originally intended, thinking this would be what fixed me. The following academic year I got an apartment off campus and got serious about my education. I had done it, I'd become the right version of me. Or at least I thought I had.

I ended up making (what I thought was) a friend during my studies; we were in the same major, liked all the same things, and they felt punk and queer as could be. Exactly the kind of community I had tried to build in high school. We'd talk for hours about nerd culture, the darker sides of the internet, and they introduced me to a deeper queer community and furry shit in a way that made all of it way more approachable than in the past. Like the dragon in the story I'd written almost a decade earlier, because of them I was able to see everything from a new perspective that felt more authentic.

But like any dragon, being around them is harmful to your health. While they were (knowingly or not) pushing me to be my most authentic self, they were also trying to separate me from my girlfriend. Verbally abusing them in what I now assume was a desperate attempt to have me all to themselves (something I saw them do to others and thought nothing of it because we were friends and I thought there was no way they'd do that to me). Eventually, they brought me "high" enough that I started to see some of the cracks in myself. How I was still not happy, even though I had everything I thought I'd ever want. Eventually I came out to them as questioning my gender, and they were very supportive; but before I could figure out exactly what it was we stopped being friends and I found out everything that they had been doing behind my back.

We had finally reached the end of [REDACTED]'s story, he was blacking out due to lack of oxygen. The same end I had predicted 14 years prior, lifted up by someone he trusted to the point where he was so changed he was dead. And you would think that it is would be a sad ending, but he was never a happy person and honestly? I think this was the best ending he could've gotten.

Thankfully I still had other friends around me who could act as a pseudo parachute in this metaphor. [REDACTED] had died, and Jemma came back in his place. But also, she was there the whole time. When I was writing the story, I always knew that this wasn't the end of that character. I had always lied to myself and said that he survived it, that he only blacked out and eventually came to. But I think that deep down, I knew that this was a metaphor for becoming who I was always meant to be. That sometimes we have to destroy the parts of us that aren't really ourselves in order to be happy.

My story still isn't over, but at least now I feel like myself, and I know why everything felt wrong. I still have some things I need to work out, but at least I know why social settings are so hard and I know why I hated looking at myself in the mirror (before a few days ago, the last time I remember seeing someone I recognized as myself in the mirror was when I was six years old). I also now know why I fall so hard and so fast with so many people all at once, and have a loving wife who supports me in exploring that. I don't think I would have any of this though, unless [REDACTED] had died and I took his place.

[cornerverse]

In you opinion, how would you have done Deirison differently?

A good number of things.

1.) Put this episode in Season 1. Season 2 at the latest. Yes that would shift the Adrienette dynamic to 'just friends' instead of 'dating', but Marinette doesn't have to confess her love to Adrien. She could brush it off as just trauma from the pool and confide in the characters who wouldn't know about it, aka Alya and Adrien.

2.) Don't drag Kim down into this. Like he was a bit of a dick in Season 1, but he wasn't an asshole? Not to this level at least. Just yoink one of the background character models and give him a name.

3.) Don't have Adrien go for straight up murder over something petty.

4.) The Adrien and Chloé friend breakup shouldn't have happened here. Like yeah Chloé was a dick and Adrien needs to address that and maybe hearing about this incident could help him realize that. But have him break off the friendship over something she does on screen to the group as a whole, not 'you hurt my love interest a year ago so bye bitch'.

5.) Marinette shouldn't be blaming her actions on Chloé. While her trauma does in some ways explain why she did the sketch shit she did, she can't just say 'oh it's Chloé's fault' and brush off her actions.

6.) Similarly, delete the line from Mylene about the 'i have similar trauma and I reacted fine so she's just a bitch' thing(paraphrasing obvs). Because while you have to take responsibility for shitty actions, having a trauma reaction where you lash out and do shitty things is still understandable and valid of a reaction because hey that's trauma baby! (Also Mylene can't compare her situation to Chloé's because it's VASTLY different).

7.) Make the energy match the rest of the series. Either change the series so that the class is legit scared of Chloé and she has genuine power over everyone to make their lives hell and Marinette in particular is terrified of her and cowering and following orders until getting confidence from being Ladybug. Or you tone down the stuff in this particular episode to where everyone is just exasperated and annoyed with Chloé and not afraid to mock her back.

That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

[blairwaldcrf]

Caroline, Lexi, Rebekah

Caroline:

1: sexuality headcanon

somewhere on the queer spectrum, but less so than some of the other characters imo. also very demiromantic.

2: otp

stefan. i mean day one pilot episode it was him, and she got her june wedding just like she wanted which is Queen shit. (i do also have a soft spot for other ships with her though as i think she's one of the most shippable characters created. ie forwood, baroline, katholine, carenzo, klefaroline)

3: brotp

I think Bonnie, but like. as with every other character in the show she could have treated Bonnie so much better and the wedding invite was some bs. That being said, they were still both so much better to each other than the other half of the barolena friendship

4: notp

Other than the extremely obvious daroline? this used to be klaroline back when the show was airing, but since i don't hate them anymore, I'd say matt/caroline. he was just always pointing out her flaws in a "I'm so great for accepting you despite you" nice-guy way, while not bothering to hide that he was still in love with her best friend??, that was gross.

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

she doesn't let stefan sacrifice himself and after whatever finale fix alternative they run the school with klaus lol (idk if i like klaus as a school board figure or as a history teacher ala the hilarious bodyswapped!alaric scene but that's a different post)

6: favorite line from this character

not a line so much as an exclamation, but I adore her "Seriously?" every time. favorite quirk.

other badly paraphrased highlights off the top of my head while high: "lesbian friend necklace because we're freakly like that?" "if someone says I can't, I prove them wrong" "no one's more dangerous than who you're inviting into your bed" "come to me. whenever you need. i won't let you lose control" "I'm a good vampire. i don't go around killing people!"

7: one way in which I relate to this character

lol only one??? I'm the type A control freak, her favorite blood is B+ and that's indeed my blood type (caroline suck on me please), i was the insecure highschooler who got with an abuser, my mom died of cancer after i got close to her in adulthood...

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

this quote specifically makes me cringe every single time: "girl likes boy, boy likes girl. sex."

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

I'm probably the problematic one for thinking this considering her body count if nothing else, but cinnamon roll

Lexi

1: sexuality headcanon

bi/pan

2: otp

I don't really have one? I think she and Sheila would be adorable after reading the comic but Sheila knows better than to mess with vampires lol

3: brotp

Stefan!! ❤

4: notp

her & damon obvs

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

when stefan goes to the other side in the finale she berates him for at least a year non stop for sacrificing himself on his wedding day for damon.

6: favorite line from this character

"She was, and she will always be an epic love. Contrary to popular belief, there are actually multiple ones, especially for a vampire."

7: one way in which I relate to this character

i too ship steroline and think Stefan needs to stay off his bullshit

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

she liked damon for a second :/

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

cinnamon roll

Rebekah

1: sexuality headcanon

probably bi but I doubt she cares about labels after millenia

2: otp

her and Marcel. granted I didn't watch more than maybe a season of the originals, but still

3: brotp

Hayley

4: notp

Damon, per usual

5: first headcanon that pops into my head

at some point she finds the letters klaus sent elijah while pretending to be her while she was staked and she teases klaus relentlessly for his flowery descriptions of stefan (once the anger subsided)

6: favorite line from this character

I'm not sure I have an exact line but I did enjoy the breakfast club esque episode where she said plenty of on point, petty, hilarious things

7: one way in which I relate to this character

like she does for nohumanity!elena, i too support women's wrongs

8: thing that gives me second hand embarrassment about this character

weirdly, her thing for stefan? i'm not sure I could even pinpoint why tbh

9: cinnamon roll or problematic fave?

sinnamon roll

[throwawayforanaskcauseanxiety]

Some long thoughts on Angel Dust, "Poison" controversy and "Loser baby"

It's kind of incredible how divided people are on Hazbin. Two creators I follow for various animated media reviews have such different takes it's a bit surreal, but their arguments on SA and Angel Dust are wildly different, even though technically coming from the same place.

First things first, disliking a character, a ship, a song in the show or Hazbin hotel as a whole is fine. Yet, some arguments are better structured than others. There's a lot of discussion and some bizarre misinterpretations.

People who have been victims themselves have quite the different opinions on both "Poison" and Angel dust, and it's fine, as long as the topic is handled seriously and with respect. A lot of people loudly praise it and point out that "Poison" doesn't shy away from showing reality (coping via disassociating), while graphic, the abuse is shown in a 100% negative light, not pulling any punches (regardless of who was one of the storyboard artists). Others say it's gratuitous and uncomfortable. Regardless, Valentino IS an absolute bastard, the abuse is horrifying and its impact is immediately clear.

We can't have any kind of representation if we're too scared to be uncomfortable. Not everything has to be scrubbed clean and palatable, it can be nuanced. Hazbin hotel discusses some very adult topics in an adult way.

It's not "a weird choice for "Poison" to be a catchy pop song" or a mock music video, knowing most of what we were first shown as Angel's persona. Listen to the lyrics, he's literally having a breakdown. It's sugary catchy pop because Angel is trying very hard to disassociate. Just look at how "Angel Dust" acts throughout the series and how "Anthony" does, in most scenes he's scared, panicking or crying.

Secondly, "Loser baby" is very important to both Angel and Husk - it's Husk being both in your face honest, talking about himself, and playful (and self-deprecating). All bark and no bite, a taunt to drop the act cause Husk sees through it, worries about Angel and can relate. Angel doesn't have to pretend like everything's fine and he's this untouchable famous pornstar. I love how Husk is reaching out to Angel and then waiting for a response to take his hand, it's really all in the subtle details.

They're "both losers", however, Angel is not a loser for being assaulted and abused (Husk isn't a loser for being an alcoholic or a gambler), it's about identity. How others identify him, the mask he puts on, and how he should accept who he is on HIS OWN terms. Just as importantly, know that HE'S NOT ALONE.

The song is not comparing "their traumas, SA to a gambling addiction" (obv paraphrasing, still, what...?). Angel and Husk are in the same boat because they sold their souls to people who have disturbing amounts of power over them. They both have to dance to their whims, albeit in different ways, and come to terms with who they are in spite of it. Does Husk's silly song break away their chains? No. Does it help Angel find courage to stand up to Valentino and create some well-needed boundaries? I'd say yes.

Thirdly, twitter is a disease and media literacy is dead. In more ways than one, keeping in mind the countless debunked "accusations" and people getting harassed over valid criticisms (f.e., the pace, progress shown on screen and not or just not liking the show). Things are easily misinterpreted in worst possible ways, the mob mentality around it. Where people take the line "[Alastor] fled with his tail between his legs" and interpret it as "Alastor has a tail CONFIRMED". Goodnight sweet prince, rest in peace.

[iamheretemporarly]

"I feel sorry for the forcefully displaced Jews from other Arab countries, but that is no excuse to go to another country and invade it, leaving the natives for dead" ok well what about those of us who feel sorry for displaced palestinians but dont think thats an excuse to murder israeli civilians? "Your great grandparents went to a land that didn’t belong to them and settled there at the expense of the natives because daddy Britain gave you the green card to do so" do you think those great grandparents had anywhere else to go? A great deal of Israeli history (and presnt day obvs) is full of atrocities but in the conversation about who gets to live, I don't think you can condemn desperate Jews fleeing the holocaust and wanting to secure a space for themselves by any means necessary, and then defend any-and-all violence that palestinians use because they ALSO want a secure place for themselves by any means necessary. They are obviously not equivalent situations, but you HAVE to engage with the fact that Jews didn't settle in places that didn't want us just because we felt like doing some killing. We had NO option to secure a space with any willing hosts (see: everyone was killing us, expelling us, or banning us from emigrating in large numbers and turning away boats to leave those refugees stranded at sea), and at that point you just try to find wherever you can find to put yourself. This excuses none of the atrocities, but it also means that I can NOT see a solution that involves expelling people forcibly when the only reason they were there in the first place is that NO ONE would accept them. The only way for Israel not to have existed in the first place is if the Jews just conveniently didn't exist, and so many people are out here low key wishing Hitler had finished the job so we wouldn't have to deal with the aftermath. (to be clear, I am not saying YOu specifically think this, but just that theres a sickening amount of rhetoric around the "where will the Jews go in a displacement based solution" that paraphrases to that)

That’s the problem tho! Palestine pre 1948 was already rich in religion (and still is btw), they had no problem with the holocaust survivors getting refuge with them, they already had Jews living with them at the time already, it was literally no big deal

But the first thing Israel did when they barged in was kill kill kill and displace

How do you think they’re gonna react to that???

They’re not gonna hate you cause y’all are Jewish, they hate y’all cause you kill them on a daily basis

Also I’m sorry, but that is still not an excuse to displace thousands of people at a mass, nothing excuses that shit, what you’re saying rn in “what about me me me”

So by your logic, the Palestinian refugees can just go around and waltz into any European country and just kill and take it for themselves? I mean, they’re at the same situation ain’t they? Kicked out of their houses, nowhere to go, no one wants them or accepts them

Ah, but then they’d be called terrorists, see how fucking twisted that is?

Like I’m sorry for the mistreatment of Jews, and I’m not a believer in the “all Jews should’ve died” sentiment, and hitler was a fat piece of shit and the fact that people are saying shit like that is insane

But putting people in the same shit you guys went through is not excusable, it has no justification, and it never will have one

[calandrinon]

Spotify: hey Cal! Eurovision is over and we heard you like Irina Rimes you should check this out

Me: let's do it

Me: how do you do that song embedding thing?

Me: oh no somebody has turned on the 'repeat this track 1000 times' option how terrible couldn't have been me

Me, reading the lyrics: who has loved foreigners... will eat a dog's heart?

Mihai Eminescu, for it is he [translated]:

Me: well that's a bit rude what did i do to you :'<

the parties to the Treaty of Berlin, 1878 [paraphrased]: oh Russia, of course you may have the lovely and fertile southern Bessarabia! shut up România the real countries are talking, why don't you and Bulgaria go and play with this unproductive river delta

Eminescu [probably not in English obvs]: All Romanians have complained to me.

Me: ah

Me: once again i must apologise for the crimes of my ancestral country

Eminescu [still not in English]: I probably still dislike you for probably so many reasons. *vanishes*

Me:

Me: oh man i need to get more sleep

[thebestestbat]

after sleeping on mr robot s3. in the paraphrased and half-remembered words of austin walker, we just do not have the time for art that pretends terrorism is bad. come on. my fear for the show was that it actually had no politics and....i think that's true alskjflasjdf. well i still want elliot trauma time and im excited

NOT excited for an endgame dom/darlene thing because dom is literally fbi and loves being fbi like come on. you cnt just make her a lesbian and i'll forget. it comes back to the show having no politics. which obvs isn't true, it does have politics, and it ends up a fully reactionary politics

also i was going to say how sam raimi doesnt really know how to write dialogue for kids, and that is true, but i think its also true that he doesn't really know how to write realistic dialogue for adults either. the difference is that the adults have the years of acting experience to pull it off more often

[infinitelytheheartexpands]

Un ballo in maschera (Met, 1980): Reactions, Part I

society has progressed past the need for Ballo productions set in Boston, including ones set in Revolutionary-era Boston, but in all fairness a) this was forty-three years ago and b) Pavarotti and Ricciarelli, that is all

also: “savannah what happened to you watching all 26 verdi operas in chronological order this one is like number 21” a) i changed my mind and b) let’s do it a little different this time around!

verdi just captures the mood so perfectly in the music

also: my mood is whoever gave one very short, high cheer at the end of the prelude cause that thing fuckin SLAPS

trouble brewing like tea in a harbor… (also love how this setting makes it inherently like “hey! americans! y’all are the bad guys!” especially just four years after the bicentennial lmaoooooo)

THE MAESTRO THE PAV HIMSELF

it’s oscar!!! my favorite little ball of sunshine!!!

man oh man this man can SING (of course. always such a delight to listen to him.)

“oh heaven! her husband!” WAY TO BURY THE LEDE, VERDI AND SOMMA (i mean, obvs i know lmao)

this exchange is always so funny to me. like “idc that you have intel on an assassination attempt, just as long as you don’t find out i’m in love with your wife” lol

“hate strikes its victims more quickly than love” TOTALLY not foreshadowing

casual racism from the judge!

(unrelated but it’s always nice to see charles anthony around)

oscar i love you but saying that ulrica is in league with satan is not exactly helping her or your case

still: ULTRA precious child

“bestie with all the chaotic energy in the world and bestie who is a hapless accessory to said chaos” is a great pairing and the EXACT energy of these two

(at this point i realized i had accidentally zoomed in on the youtube video, so sorry if some of the images look weird. also the app keeps doing this for some reason so maybe it’ll keep happening. sorry.)

THE WAY HE RUFFLES OSCAR’S HAIR IT’S SO CUTE

i want whatever verdi was on whenever he wrote this BOPTASTIC SCENE ENDING

even the onstage folk can’t help but applaud

these chords and this prelude right here: SO. DAMN. ICONIC.

“i saw goody ulrica consorting with the devil” (also. thank fuck that from the looks of it there’s no blackface.)

even the pav doesn’t get to cut in line

okay but fr. ulrica has gotta be one of the funnest mezzo/contralto roles to play. she’s definitely one of the funnest to WATCH

not silvano spitting in his hand to wipe it off lol

to paraphrase that one humorous ballo summary: “and the theme of self-fulfilling prophecies is waved around like a flaming cliff notes”

“i must consult with satan privately” surely one of the best opera lines ever

tfw you’re in love with your husband’s bestie, also i want that dress

verdi lavishes such wonderful melodies even on such simple moments as this, and that’s one of the reasons i love him

maaaaaaaaaaaaaybe following amelia around is not the best way to solve this, riccardo. just a thought.

what a MARVELOUS trio, just the first of a serious of MARVELOUS small ensembles in this opera

just an afternoon out with the boys!

we have come across yet another bop

“this is the right hand of a great man…” a great TENOR alright!

AND THERE IT IS

i’m sorry but this gives me the EXACT energy of the photo jonas kaufmann put out with his statement about the invasion of ukraine 😭

(sorry it’s so big. but anyway. carry on.)

riccardo: uh yeah surely it’s a joke!

oscar: riccardo, with all due respect, what the fuck

again: the small ensemble writing in this opera is just *chef’s kiss*

Handshake Of Doom TM

ah yes, boston massachusetts in the period leading up to the american revolution, a time and place where the people were just DRIPPING with pro-british sentiment *facepalm*

then again this director was from australia so.

still, this scene slaps! thank you verdi and thank you somma for capturing just-a-little-actually-probably-a-lot-overblown patriotism perfectly and making a great first act finale <3

[literaticat]

Do you have any tips for authors on how to deal with jealousy (both theirs and other people's)?

There might be something on the pinned post in the FAQs that would be a "pep talk" of sorts about Keeping Your Eyes on Your Own Paper, but I haven't checked. There IS a great post from Gwenda Bond that addresses this, though, and it's a lengthy but excellent read -- needless to say, I agree with Gwenda that comparing yourself to other people and their careers is both maddening and fruitless.

A highlight:

"No one ever really feels comfortable or assured of their place and always always confident in their work and whether it will succeed in the market. The more failure, the more pressure. The more success, the more pressure.

The only answer [...] is to keep writing and see. Keep trying to get better. Keep your eyes on your own paper. All writing careers are icebergs–there's more happening than what you see above the surface–but I can guarantee you that any news that would make you envious or sad or disappointed is probably the result of the person doing one key thing: Writing. It's much easier to focus on what you're putting on the page when you're not letting yourself be distracted by things that do not matter to your career and have no direct relation to it. And you will also have to learn to focus when you're being distracted by things that do matter to your career and directly relate to it. Learning to focus and work no matter what our circumstances (unless you're trapped in a cage with a tiger or similar, obvs) stands us all well."

Do read it. MEANWHILE -- I was listening to the Book Friends Forever podcast this morning and the topic was, "what makes you remarkable" -- something that they said struck me as quite profound. Basically, Alvina said that one of the things that she admires Grace for is Grace's generosity. And Grace said (paraphrasing) -- really? I mean, I don't FEEL generous. A lot of times I feel envious or have FOMO or wish I had what another person has. Which, Alvina replied, perhaps makes it all the more remarkable - that you can feel these ways and react with generosity despite them.

And it led me to something I'm still thinking about now: Perhaps the opposite of Jealousy is GENEROSITY. And maybe, if we are feeling a green-eyed monster kind of way (which is normal and natural and we all feel it sometimes!) -- instead of letting ourselves get eaten up by it -- see if you can react with generosity. REAL generosity. Like, bigger than just gritting your teeth and saying "oh, congrats" when you really want to set the person's house on fire. :-)

I wonder if that would work? Like, you are feeling the envy, you grit your teeth and say congrats -- but then instead of sitting with that mean-ness, you also purposely do something tangible that is GENEROUS. Make a donation to a cause you believe in. Create something to share with people you love (or strangers on the internet). Bring some unexpected joy to somebody by telling them how much their book meant to you.

(Randomly: I got a text yesterday from a friend praising one of my clients books and I have to tell you -- it completely turned my day around! They might have thought nothing of it, but it was in fact deeply meaningful to hear and TRULY changed my entire outlook for the day. I hope that them getting to SAY that was half as good-inspiring as my hearing it was!)

My point is: I'm no scientist, but I KINDA feel like a dose of generosity will do a lot to counteract a bout of envy. I'm going to try it next time I'm feeling green. Will you?

[teslathelame]

oh yeah the time loop thing is still just a theory, personally i like the dream world theory because it makes more sense that twisted wonderland is just a dream. or maybe both of the theory’s combined like the dream keeps looping? oh and about the battle. malleus is about to use his unique magic, and then ortho senses a large amount of blot accumulating and this little alarm on him goes of and he tells everyone to evacuate. crowley gives everyone permission to use magic against him to try to stop him but. he’s like super OP. I think 300k or however much it was is is base HP??? excuse me?? and the thing is i doubt this is the final stage of his overblot because there’s not even a phantom. OH about his overblot it’s really freaking me out because he’s so calm and like. happy. also when he overblotted he seemed very much conscious and it wasn’t caused by overwhelming emotions like all the other overblots? and his voice wasn’t distorted either it was completely normal which some how makes it more chilling. but maybe malleus HAS been pulling the strings the whole time? not as like a literal bad guy but like the fact his overblot seemed so normal it was weird. and the thorns when you groovify something. and the overblot markings on the dark mirror?? idk my mind is racing i do not know what to think

ohhhh......yeah, i guess the looping dream makes sense, what with the whole "1000 years will pass uh. really quick" thing (paraphrased, obvs) and WHAT? no phantom?? 👀 hmmm...... yeah see, that makes me think that mal hasn't really "over"-blotted yet, per se. if "overblot" is what happens when you use too much magic at once combined with intense emotions - and like you said, malleus is being suspiciously calm and collected, and we already know that he has just INSANELY MASSIVE magic reserves so it would be really hard for him to go past whatever threshold causes overblot. so maybe he just "semi-blotted" or something? i don't even know how that would work, but i feel like he ob'd too soon and with too little fanfare for this to be It(tm) ya know? it's giving ulquiorra's first resurreción from bleach to me. maybe mal's real berserker-mode overblot is gonna be when he goes full dragon on us :3 that'd be sweet lol

also!! holy shit, i recognized the thorns everywhere but the overblot markings on the dark mirror had never clicked for me! damn, this boi's everywhere innit

[fairycosmos]

to paraphrase a tweet i saw yesterday "people don't understand that one of the main survival methods in warmer climates is to not do anything". this isn't a knock against you obvs, just any answer to your question of how people continually survive the heat

trying to relax, stay hydrated, and move as little as possible is the best you can do rn

! thank you darlinggg <3 see i said something similar to this to my mam and she was like "no we need to go for a walk later to get some fresh air and cool off" and it's like dude there IS no fresh air. breathing outside fees like eating heat HELLO. why would we go out there. there is no escape but to remain very still indoors next to a fan and drown in water or so it seems to me. mwah ily x