#Hard Justice 2008

[robertreich]

Should Billionaires Exist? 

Do billionaires have a right to exist?

America has driven more than 650 species to extinction. And it should do the same to billionaires.

Why? Because there are only five ways to become one, and they’re all bad for free-market capitalism:

1. Exploit a Monopoly.

Jamie Dimon is worth $2 billion today… but not because he succeeded in the “free market.” In 2008, the government bailed out his bank JPMorgan and other giant Wall Street banks, keeping them off the endangered species list.

This government “insurance policy” scored these struggling Mom-and-Pop megabanks an estimated $34 billion a year.

But doesn’t entrepreneur Jeff Bezos deserve his billions for building Amazon?

No, because he also built a monopoly that’s been charged by the federal government and 17 states for inflating prices, overcharging sellers, and stifling competition like a predator in the wild.

With better anti-monopoly enforcement, Bezos would be worth closer to his fair-market value.

2. Exploit Inside Information

Steven A. Cohen, worth roughly $20 billion headed a hedge fund charged by the Justice Department with insider trading “on a scale without known precedent.” Another innovator!

Taming insider trading would level the investing field between the C Suite and Main Street.

3.  Buy Off Politicians

That’s a great way to become a billionaire! The Koch family and Koch Industries saved roughly $1 billion a year from the Trump tax cut they and allies spent $20 million lobbying for. What a return on investment!

If we had tougher lobbying laws, political corruption would go extinct.

4. Defraud Investors

Adam Neumann conned investors out of hundreds of millions for WeWork, an office-sharing startup. WeWork didn’t make a nickel of profit, but Neumann still funded his extravagant lifestyle, including a $60 million private jet. Not exactly “sharing.”

Elizabeth Holmes was convicted of fraud for her blood-testing company, Theranos. So was Sam Bankman-Fried of crypto-exchange FTX. Remember a supposed billionaire named Donald Trump? He was also found to have committed fraud.

Presumably, if we had tougher anti-fraud laws, more would be caught and there’d be fewer billionaires to preserve.

5. Get Money From Rich Relatives

About 60 percent of all wealth in America today is inherited.

That’s because loopholes in U.S. tax law —lobbied for by the wealthy — allow rich families to avoid taxes on assets they inherit. And the estate tax has been so defanged that fewer than 0.2 percent of estates have paid it in recent years.

Tax reform would disrupt the circle of life for the rich, stopping them from automatically becoming billionaires at their birth, or someone else’s death.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not arguing against big rewards for entrepreneurs and inventors. But do today’s entrepreneurs really need billions of dollars? Couldn’t they survive on a measly hundred million?

Because they’re now using those billions to erode American institutions. They spent fortunes bringing Supreme Court justices with them into the wild.They treated news organizations and social media platforms like prey, and they turned their relationships with politicians into patronage troughs.

This has created an America where fewer than ever can become millionaires (or even thousandaires) through hard work and actual innovation.

If capitalism were working properly, billionaires would have gone the way of the dodo.

[casscainmainly]

I think the recent Cass and Jason discussion is very interesting bc like, Jason or even steph in her first appearance take these actions of righteous, murderous (or near murderous) justice bc of the fact that not only have they've been abused, but they're also able to recognise that fact, and feel that despite everything, they didn't deserve to suffer like that (Jason with his murder, Steph with her childhood abuse)

Whereas Cass struggles for most of her series to recognise that she was abused and struggles to properly resent her abuser on the grounds that she didn't deserve it. She resents David for being a killer and making her love him, for making her a killer, but rarely for the actual abuse that came with her training. She eventually recognises it right before the end of pre-52 in batgirl 2008, but not after a long time, and she still tries to save David at the very end after contemplating letting him die.

she does grows to resent Bruce after some time, and confronts him, showing that she's slowly gaining higher expectations for how she should be treated after developing relationships outside the batfamily (coincidentally with Steph, someone who can relate over having a shitty dad, along with her love interests like Kon and Tai)- though Bruce, despite his multitudes of bad parenting moments never truly abuses cass like david did, so there's nuance, and after her fight with bruce, she still has trouble fully reckoning with her abuse (still calls david shooting her 'a game' in front of tim- she knows its wrong but still doesn't act upset about the fact it happened to her).

She kind of sees all the training she went through as a necessary evil in order to have the skills to be a hero- which is somewhat true, but I think it also contributes to her being unable to see herself, even partially, as a victim for large portions of her narrative.

She can understand abuse as something that molds you into a killer, she can't understand being abused and then choosing to be a killer bc of the righteous fury you have at what happened. In Cass' mind her abuse is synonymous with killing. That's the worst thing Cain ever did to her and the reason she ran away. She can't understand someone like Jason choosing it as a way to cope/deal with abuse.

I don't think this is necessarily a ground breaking thought but I think abuse is an interesting lense to look at both Jason and Cass' stories- pre52, Jason's story is about continuing a cycle of abuse. Criminals hurt him, he hurts criminals, and anyone who gets in his way of hurting the criminals, bc even tho he pursues justice, he also pursues retribution, which is hard to do justly. Between that and the whole zombie/living ghost thing, it's downright gothic. Whereas Cass' story is about breaking out of a cycle of abuse- nobody dies bc she let one person die and will never let it happen again. It's just an interesting way to view their differences I think. Good Cass and Jason posts recently!

I LOVE THIS!! I absolutely think abuse informs the way Jay and Cass see the world (and Steph - Steph, in many ways, is the median point between Jason and Cass).

It's the fundamental question that drives Jason and Cass apart. For Cass, her question is: how can I be the victim if I'm the villain? And for Jason, the question is more: how can I be the villain if I'm the victim?

I love this line: "Cass struggles for most of her series to recognise that she was abused and struggles to properly resent her abuser on the grounds that she didn't deserve it." This is doubly complicated by the genuine love David Cain had for her - that panel of them watching the stars kills me every time. This is another key difference between Jason and Cass' abuse (taking Jason's abuse to be his death) - Jason had no love for the Joker, but Cass did love David Cain.

It's why it's so easy for Jason to want to kill the Joker, and so hard for Cass to even be angry at her father. And your point here - "In Cass' mind her abuse is synonymous with killing" - is absolutely on point, because Jason's conception of abuse is the helplessness of being murdered. They are both acting in ways to prevent what abuse means in their minds: as Batgirl, Cass will never have to kill again, and as Red Hood, Jason will never have to be helpless in the face of murderers again.

Any rebuke of their moral codes feels like a denial of the abuse they suffered. It's why Cass can't allow others to kill, and why Jason can't accept Bruce's reasoning for not killing the Joker. It's why these versions of them could never get along. Argh there's been such good Cass and Jason commentary recently, they drive me insane!!!

[tomorrowusa]

While perhaps it's too early to call it a "masterstroke", Joe Biden stepping aside for Kamala Harris will probably turn out much better than any Democrat would have predicted a month ago.

Kamala Harris will likely be the next president of the United States – and that’s overall good news if you care about democracy, justice and equality. Joe Biden’s decision on Sunday to bow out of the presidential race clears the path for the country to elect its first woman and first woman of color as president.

For people who need a historical reminder...

[M]ost people in this country typically choose the Democratic nominee for president over the Republican nominee time and time again. With the sole exception of 2004, in every presidential election since 1992, the Democratic nominee has won the popular vote (Biden bested Donald Trump by 7m votes in 2020).

Now for more recent events.

If, in fact, support for Democrats among people of color is the principal problem, then putting Harris at the top of the ticket is a master stroke. The enthusiasm for electing the first woman of color as president will likely be a thunderclap across the country that consolidates the support of voters of color, and, equally important, motivates them to turn out in large numbers at the polls, much as they did for Barack Obama in 2008. The challenge the party will face in November is holding the support of Democratic-leaning and other “gettable” whites, especially given the electorate’s tortured history in embracing supremely qualified female candidates such as Hillary Clinton and Stacey Abrams. (The primary difference between Abrams, who lost in Georgia, and Senator Raphael Warnock, who won, is gender.) Sexism, misogyny and sexist attitudes about who should be the leader of the free world are real and Democrats will have to work hard to address that challenge. One critical step to solidifying the Democratic base is for all political leaders to quickly and forcefully endorse and embrace Harris’s candidacy. Mathematically, it is likely – and certainly possible, if massive investments are made in getting out the vote of people of color and young people as soon as possible – that the gains for Democrats will offset any losses among whites worried about a woman (and one of color, no less) occupying the Oval Office and becoming our nation’s commander in chief.

We shouldn't forget that the VP's mom was born in India. A number of people in the growing South Asian community in the US who may not be especially interested in politics will be tempted to pause their disinterest and vote for Kamala. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh have all had female prime ministers – so there's not exactly a taboo about women in power.

One way to measure enthusiasm for Kamala is to look at how much money is being raised by ActBlue. Not all the money ActBlue raises goes to the national ticket. I donated to a US Senate campaign in June via ActBlue. BUT the timing of recent donations leaves little doubt what the cause of the recent spike is.

For context, first some recent weekly totals (source)...

Week of June 30 through July 6 — $65,220,920

Week of July 7 through July 13 — $48,669,913

Week of July 14 through July 20 — $61,349,601

As of Noon today (CDT): Week of July 21 through July 27th — $150,042,360 and the third day of the week is just a little over half over. In the previous hour alone, roughly $2.44 million was raised.

These are small donations, not like the $45 million per month promised by multi-billionaire Elon Putz to Trump. So grassroots Dems are stoked and are out for a win.

ActBlue is fairly no-nonsense, it's not exactly Amazon in layout. So people are not drawn there by flashy graphics.

Kamala Harris — Donate via ActBlue

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Vote Blue

* * * *

FIRED UP - READY TO GO!!

TCinLA

Aug 07, 2024

Wow. If you didn’t see that amazing rally in Philadelphia, get yourself to a re-run. That was the most high-energy Democratic political rally I have ever seen. I thought last week in Atlanta blew the roof off - this one blew the roof off and sent it into orbit!

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are the Dream Team. They both have a real ability to connect with an audience. Most important, you can tell they’re having fun doing it.

I loved the fact they and the audience took back things Trump and the MAGAts thought were theirs. When the audience spontaneously started chanting USA! USA! I loved it. I even liked it when they took up “Lock him up!”

Kamala Harris has reclaimed the word”patriotism,” and both she and Walz embody what is really meant by that word - spelled with a lower-case “p.” Republicans are going to have a very hard time getting anyone to take seriously their claim that Democrats are unpatriotic and don’t love this country. That’s something that has pissed me off going back to my days in the antiwar movement. If I didn’t love my country, I wouldn’t have spent seven years trying to get it back on track, I wouldn’t have spent my political life dedicated to making our ideals reality.

Lucian Truscott just wrote about this rally, “Energy in politics can’t be bought, and it can’t be manufactured.  It has to just be there.  Tonight, in an arena filled to its 12,000 capacity in Philadelphia, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz reminded Democrats who they are.  Empathy is energy.  Humor is energy.  Dedication to freedom and justice is energy.  Being willing to fight for what you believe is energy.”

I really haven’t see this level of truly heartfelt enthusiasm before. Not even in the Obama campaign, though that was the closest. I can compare to Robert Kennedy’s last campaign appearance in San Francisco in 1968, the rally in Union Square where he said “Some see things the way they are and say why? I see things that never were and say why not?” That hopeful enthusiasm that ran through the crowd has stayed with me for the past 56 years.

I made the mistake in 2008 of thinking we had finally won the election of 1968. But I really believe that if we win this time, that spirit will be what wins, and what becomes our future.

I’m glad I have lived long enough to see this.

TCinLA

[darkrooklobby]

🦜Apollo Justice trilogy (the rant/analysis)🎵✨

Welcome! Allow me to specify what this rant is about:

The game, Apollo Justice (2007 - 2008)

The characters (Apollo, Phoenix, and the Gavin brothers)

The wasted potential (i.e. the other games) (I'm most familiar with AA1-4 the others i've briefly looked at)

Just angry thoughts at 3am

[⚠️SPOILERS FOR APOLLO JUSTICE + TRILOGY!⚠️]

[also the ⚪bulleted points⚪ are facts, the rest is my subjective yapping]

Before I begin my rant, here's some basic information about the game's development:

It's the last game directed by Shu Takumi. The rest of the trilogy is directed by his assistant (Takeshi Yamazaki) meanwhile Shu was busy with the Professor Layton crossover + The great ace attorney.

Capcom literally demanded to insert Phoenix into the game. Shu was against putting Phoenix in, feeling that his story has already come to a natural conclusion, stating, "I felt that Phoenix's story had been told, and that the series should not continue. Knowing when to end a story is very important and I wanted to avoid dragging it out and having it become a shadow of its former self." (Takumi)

In the end, Shu was forced to put Phoenix in, and we got hobo Phoenix, or as I like to call him, Beanix.

Okay so, a brief pause. From what we already know, there is a conflict of interests during development. We have a small group of artists that did a small project called ✨Ace Attorney✨ and then the corporate realized they're sitting on a goldmine. Capcom did not want their mascot, their cash cow, Phoenix Wright, to go just yet. Shu (who wanted a fresh start, and creative freedom) was torn, his team was torn between letting Phoenix go and bringing him in, and you notice that in the game as it goes back and forth. It goes between Phoenix being a main character, interfering, or disappearing for long periods of time. It was on and off, just like their arguments - corporate vs. creative freedom, old vs. the new.

It creates an... odd atmosphere throughout the game. This indecision and forcefulness. Opinions vary 🙃

The corporate unfortunately won. We had Phenix back, not in his former glory, but as a character. (Result? Apollo feels less like a protagonist, suffering, feeling irrelevant in his own game. Not always, of course! But most of the time...)

Facts continue! Apollo Justice (AA4) is the last game with 2D sprites, with some rare 3D elements. (Like Cheeto Klavier🧡)

btw, here's some name puns and meanings:

Apollo is literally named after the god of truth.

"Klavier" means "Piano" in German 🎹 - his Japanese name, Kyoya, means, "to echo/resound".

Kristoph's Japanese name, Kirihito (霧人), when reversed (人斬り - hitokiri) literally translates to "the killer".

Trucy's name pun, Trucy Wright, is supposed to sound like "see-through" (tru-through cy-see)

Lamiror = mirror, Wocky Kitaki = Walkie-Talkie, Drew Misham = Draw-me-a-sham, etc.

Okay, so. About the 1️⃣first case1️⃣: It's a widely accepted opinion that the first trial is the best one, and it's hard to disagree. It's a completely new thing (almost as if Shu was planning on starting an entirely new trilogy without Phenix Wright! Can you imagine?!--) and because the first trial is so good, with a great twist and a fun conclusion, other trials pale in comparison. Let's see, we have a new quirky protagonist (he's fine) a gentleman for a mentor (a character with depth, as we will come to know) a fallen attorney with shady history (Mr. Phenix Wright) along a complex, yet understandable, mystery. What is lovely about the first case is that it makes you think just enough, the trial flows nicely for the sub-plot to come out, and the twist is perfect.

Of course, I imagine that Japanese players might have seen the twist coming a bit earlier, looking at Kristoph's name-pun, but all-in-all it's a great start! The question is - is it a great start for the new franchise that Shu wanted to make? Is it a great start for Apollo as an attorney and as a character? ...Or, is it a great start, for the old greedy company to push good old Phoenix back into spotlight and collect more money? 🤔🤔🤔

Here's some facts about the direction the game hoped to take:

The game delved into darker themes on purpose, like a "grown up" version of Ace attorney for the next generation. It was hoping to shift the tone from the previous three games more towards realism. (AA1 was a bit comedic, we cross-examined a parrot, the crimes were less complex compared to AA3. With AA4, the idea was to make AA3 but better.) It tried to set Apollo as a more independent lawyer, trusting no one, without any mentor (like Mia in previous games) coming back every other case.

With the first case, Apollo becomes independent in a sense, but... well.

Apollo basically third-wheeled in Phoenix/Kristoph divorce. That's basically what happened in that trial. Somehow, we managed to shift all the attention from Apollo's character growth into these two men. Apollo's independent now because he got left alone in the trash while the AA team tries to figure out what the fuck to do with Phoenix and how to shove the whole thing together.

The entire game was made with the idea of change, a fresh start & fresh blood in mind! We don't get much character growth from the main characters AT ALL because, at some point in development, there was a decision made: They thought they will make a sequel. AA games so far relied on story continuity, chronological events, time passing, characters evolving, events making an impact on the characters, etc.

Apollo Justice, a beginning game of a trilogy, was written specifically in a way to have a sequel. There were things left unanswered for a reason. They took things slow, and the idea of the sequel was planned to go more into the Gramarye troupe, Gavin brothers, and Apollo's family. (Shu even had an entire backstory written for the Gavin brothers, but it was scrapped by the new team) (I'll get into it later.) This was also the reason why the game had potential, but never went all the way. The plot was more complex, and was made specifically with a direct continuation in mind, which never came to pass. We instead got... an entire rework. (again, i'll get into it later 😂)

Some art facts, since i'm an artist: They were thinking over a few variants of the character designs before they settled on the current ones. They wanted to have a protagonist more energetic than Phoenix, more blunt, an idealist, less bluffing, like a new generation kid kinda-thing. Apollo has distinct spiky hair, is different, is less tall, has a wide forehead... did you know, the design team had a few designs with different forehead wide-nesses? Wild. Apollo's color scheme is Godot's inverted, and as far away from Phoenix's dark blue design as possible (gee I wonder why...)

(Also, the Gavin brothers originally had two mirrored pointy hair-swirls, resembling pharaoh head covers, and I think that's dope as hell)

Either way, you must admit that the designs for this game are more detailed, colorful, animated, and beautiful. Honestly!!! 💖 The art direction did splendidly, and I'm glad at least that aspect wasn't affected by the disagreements of the company vs. writers :)

Fun fact: The game sold well, actually. Back in the day, people were into original ideas, instead of everything getting a live-action remake nobody asked for, an animated reimagining, and an unnecessary second part. (...Can you tell I'm dissing Disney? You can.)

Now that I'm at a point where I can speak of continuations, let's see what happened: The game released as is. It had a story, sometimes a bit awkward because of the team vs. company disagreements being physically felt through the script. People bought it and the fandom was immediately split down the middle into various factions. (Again, I was young, but this point of contention is strong even today.)

People who liked the new ideas, characters, and plot, and liked Phoenix Wright being there.

People who liked the new ideas, characters, and plot, but disliked Phoenix Wright's presence. (my stance right now)

People who disliked the new things because they wanted the same old Phoenix Wright games. They wanted everything that has already concluded, to continue. (my stance 6 years ago - Since it wasn't believable that a guy like Phoenix Wright, with so many friends, would end up like this. It was so unrealistic to me, so odd, that I refused to see this game as canonical. Literal denial 🥲🥲🥲)

People who disliked the game despite being ready for new content, just because.

Next up, 7 YEARS PASS.

Yup. The disagreement, the dissatisfaction from the creators vs. company, split fan reactions, despite a fine profit, caused a change of direction, and a rift. Characters and story-lines forgotten. Literally.

The next entries after Apollo Justice don't mention the events of it -because of a company-enforced "no spoiler/connection" restrictions. Capcom created the restriction to appeal to new fans, while not spoiling previous games so they might be compelled to play them. (Again, corporate wins over… continuity, this time.) - Which means the bare minimum of character growth and history we could have seen IS NOW GONE and will never be brought into relevancy again. (unless I missed something from the 3D games, in which case let me know.)

And we get a complete overhaul, while going back to the classic AA, but this time we get a new cast to focus on and begin again and we pretend Apollo Justice doesn't exist! (Rant number 4, here we go 🥴)

My main rant so far would be about wasted potential and creative differences. Yes, they weren't strong enough to do a clean break from the past (Capcom forcing Phoenix back, not letting him "die" even though his story concluded) Yes, there's wasted potential because character growth of the protagonist is stunted by greed and confusion (Capcom demands? Fine. Phoenix must be here to appeal to all fans, for all the money. Ok. Cool. We can't be creative anymore and original ideas are shunned! 2008? Bah, nothing has changed in 2024!) and yes, the game's story suffers because of this, despite being very pleasing to look at (the sprites & animations don't hit quite the same anymore.)

I'm not even gonna go into how Apollo was forgotten and suddenly he has four backstories because he failed to establish himself solid in his introductory game without a planned sequel, and Capcom was like "Oh shit this guy exists, um, what do we do" - while also refusing to address and build upon plot points existing in the main game: Apollo had history in court. He had a character building event of incarcerating his mentor. Apollo already had family, which hasn't told him anything yet. He had Trucy. He had a courtroom rival, which he promised to rid of darkness. He gained a new mentor, a shady one, who he punched to the face! He saw the dark side of the law. He saw the "dark age of the law". He saw a better way to do things and fix the system with a jury, which was used once and forgotten about. He had a goal. He had potential... - but then he has been rebuilt and redesigned four times, given things he already had and replaced them and Capcom pulled a nonexistent best friend out of their ass out of nowhere just to give Apollo fake-depth and use (i had to look him up) CLAY TERRAN as A ONE-OFF PLOT POINT and I HATE BAD WRITING LIKE THAT, MAKING A CHARACTER that's just there for that one purpose and---🤬

I'm also not gonna go into the fact that a case-specific NPC gets more character growth than the main cast.

And I also won't rant about the 3D continuations of AA. All I'm gonna say is that, they shouldn't be under a name "Apollo Justice Trilogy" because, what the fuck happened to that guy. Who is he even? What? What game are you basing this on? Who?

The game was like a failed start to do something new... and not achieving it, stopping short of crossing the final line bravely.

This was 3 am. yapping, I hope to inspire discussion, roast my opinions I love to argue over nerdy shit 💖🥰💖

(sources: Ace Attorney Wiki, VGfacts, NezumiVA, AA_Facts on Twitter)

[lexi7654]

Reading list #1: Lian Harper (aka: Shoes/Cheshire Cat)

A list of every appearance of Lian Harper. The daughter of Roy Harper and Jade Nguyen. She first appeared in the 80s and has recently made a come back as Cheshire Cat in Gotham!!

Pre-Flashpoint

New Teen Titans (1984): #21

Action Comics (1938): #615, 618, 627-631, 634, 636-637, 639 (Stories: tracks of a killer, the Cheshire Contract, Rocks and Hard Places, Exiles)

Secret Origins (1986): #38

Green Arrow (1988): #75

Batman Plus: Arsenal (1997)

Teen Titans (1996): #20

Arsenal (1998): #1-4

The Titans (1999): #1

The Titans: Secret Files and Origins (1999): #1

The Titans (1999): #5-7, 9-10, 13, 17-19, 21-27, 30-32, 34-35, 37, 39

Teen Titans/Outsiders Secret Files & Origins (2003) (story: Who Was Donna Troy?)

Outsiders (2003): 11, 17-19

DC Special: The Return of Donna Troy (2005): #2

Justice League of America (2006) #1, 12, 17

Green Arrow and Black Canary (2009): #25 (story: Bedtime Stories)

Titans (2008): #19

Justice League: Cry for Justice

Rise and Fall (Crossover storyline)

Convergence: Titans (2015): 1-2

Infinite Frontier

Catwoman (2018): 25-28, 30-32

DC Festival of Heroes: The Asian Superhero Celebration (2021): (Story: Masks)

Catwoman (2018): 35-38, 50

Detective Comics (2016): 1069-1070, 1077-1079

Green Arrow (2023)

[stealingyourbones]

Ok! You've convinced me! If I want to be part of this community, I should explore the source material. I don't know if I'll like the artform, but if nothing else it's a cultural juggernaut I can research. My mom grew up watching Batman the Animated series, so I know that's an entry point I can try out, but I do like webcomics and manga, so I know that I might like comics better. It's an odd criteria, but is there a batman comic I can start with that's aesthetically pleasing?

Ooo aesthetically pleasing? That’s one I haven’t heard before. I’ll throw you a handful of choices of my favorite pretty comics!

Also I do 100% reccomend Batman The Animated Series which is my favorite interpretation of Batman to this day as it is for many, that and Justice League and Justice League United are WONDERFUL gateways too! (My favorite animated DC series of the time is Superman The Animated Series tied with BtAS)

I always recommend in order: Batman Year One, Batman Long Halloween, and Batman Dark Victory as it’s how I got into Batman in the first place and it’s a pretty good jumping off point. They also have movies of all 3.

mAN ok this is hard because aesthetic comics are SUCH a personal preference. Comic artists will constantly change around all the time. The current Batman/Superman Worlds Finest comic run is INCREDIBLY aesthetically pleasing and pretty as it’s drawn by Dan Mora so that could be a good go to.

- The Dark Knight Returns. It’s has a very fun gritty artstyle that I adore and it’s a comic that changed comics as we know it.

- Batman Universe is a wonderfully fun comic and his artstyle is fun so definitely check that one out.

- All Star Superman (2005-2008) has… ok artwork. But you get used to it and it’s story is one of the best written for Superman modern day.

- JLA Tower of Babel. Art is nice and the story is about Batman’s contingencies falling into the wrong hands. Good shit

Onto some Elseworld stories that aren’t canon but I LOVE the artstyles:

- Batman White Knight’s artstyle is BEAUTIFUL but isn’t a very good interpretation for your first time reading comics as it isn’t normal characterization of everyone.

- Batman Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth drawn by Dave McKean. It isn’t my favorite comic with it’s very edgy “hey what if batman is insane” (which yeah no shit he is insane) but the artstyle is uncanny and disturbing and beautiful.

- Kingdom Come. You have to know a bit about comics beforehand, I’d just recommend reading an article or blogpost critiquing 90s comic books, and behold the genuine beauty and glory that is this story. Painted by Alex Ross it’s one of the most beautiful comics out there.

They’re available online, your local library, or at your local comic shop! I hope you have a blast checking out the cool things comics have to offer!

[zahri-melitor]

The Many Post-Crisis Christmases of Tim Drake

Yes, everyone gets a few Holiday issues over the years, but Tim’s got his own special levels of trauma associated with the holiday.

A round up of every time Tim appears in comics about Christmas, sorted by year:

1990: Identity Crisis - Batman #455-457 aka Janet Drake’s funeral. Janet is buried on Christmas Eve. Jack’s still in a coma. Tim is living with Bruce at this point. Tim spends a lot of this storyline having nightmares and worrying by Jason’s memorial case. At the very end, Bruce and Alfred give Tim his personal Robin costume and Tim goes out officially as Robin for the first time.

1996: Holiday Bash I – “Just Another Night” it’s just a small mention here, but given future events it’s worth noting. Tim leaves a Christmas card for Alfred, and Jack takes Tim to the Caribbean for the holidays. Very in line with Tim’s behaviour during this period, where he’s noted for giving Babs thank you notes.

1998: Holiday Bash III – “Alone for the Holidays” aka the single point in canon that supports Neglected Sad Boi Tim Drake. Tim is, as the title implies, alone for the holidays and moping about it. Jack and Dana are trapped in Chicago because the airport is closed due to snow (Why Jack and Dana are in Chicago is left to the reader). Babs and Dick call Tim over to the Clock Tower for a Loners Christmas Party. It will never not be funny to me that Alfred and Harold are at this Loners Party, but Bruce isn’t. Only a TRUE committed loner misses the family loners Christmas party.

1999: Endgame, No Man’s Land (LotDK #126, Batman #574, ‘Tec #741). If you are unfamiliar with this classic story, Joker kidnaps 36 babies on Christmas Eve in No Man’s Land and threatens to blow them all up. Tim gets called away from Christmas dinner with Jack (as a note, Tim’s outside NML at the dinner, then immediately dives inside for this. Never bother trying to make sense of how often Tim got in and out of Gotham during NML) and is helping track down the babies. It’s…traumatic for everyone involved.

2001: Young Justice #40. The Night Before Doomsday. This is the story where Santa dies and Young Justice find themselves having to deliver all the presents on his behalf.

2006: Slayride, ‘Tec #826. Tim is running away from a group of drug dealers and is offered a ride by a passing car. The car is driven by Joker. Tim gets tied up with Christmas lights and eventually distracts him via an argument with Joker about the Marx Brothers.

2008: “It’s a Wonderful Night” and “The Night Before Christmas”, DCU Holiday Special #1 2008. Two reminders that Tim has a hard time at Christmas in one!

“It’s a Wonderful Night” is a tear jerker where Dick goes looking for Tim to deliver a Christmas present. He finds him at a cinema watching a showing of It’s a Wonderful Life. Captain Boomerang Jnr is also there. Tim and Owen bond over their dead dads both liking the movie (which…given their dads killed each other, is a thing) and Dick gives Tim his old Robin costume. You WILL cry.

“The Night Before Christmas” is a Titans story, particularly notable as far as Tim goes in that Tim and Cassie talk about how the holidays remind Tim of the people he’s lost (and look, for perfectly good reasons, given the above).

[dr-tyme]

Some Cool Things I'd Like to Share

Ok so I'm kind of obsessive about continuity and reading characters with long histories "in order." This has recently manifested in me attempting to read the entire Post-Crisis history of Batman and all his little Gotham people. I specifically wanted to read it all in order of publication, not in the "timeline" order that you can find in all the reading orders online where "Year One" style comics like Matt Wagner's Mad Monk retelling or The Long Halloween will be among the first comics on the list because of how early they are in Bruce's career. Not that there's anything wrong with those lists, I'm just weird and particular. So after searching for ages to try to find this magic list that would meet all of my weird needs (and finding nothing), I decided I would make my own. So, finally, after like 10 lines of reading, here's the point of this post: a 3,000+ cell Google Spreadsheet of every single Batfamily title and notable storyline from mid-1986 to September, 2011. This took me a full week to make and I tried really hard to include everything. Every main title, mini-series, and one-shot; in order of publication. And it's color-coded. Here are the guidelines I used while making it, if anyone is still reading:

I tried to keep it fairly "arc" based, so as not to break up storylines. I didn't want a reader to have to switch to a different title every single issue.

No "major" team-ups. Basically this means, no Justice League, Young Justice, Teen Titans, etc. (with the exception of Outsiders from 2008, as it ties in to Bruce's death and all of the aftermath). World's Finest/Trinity stuff is fair game and was included though.

I am totally open to criticism/suggestions. If anyone ever sees this and then if they click the link on top of that and see something they don't like or they think should change, get in touch! I'm open to changing anything, and the majority of the list consists of comics that I haven't even read so I can't check the validity of their placement. Please tell me if you see something I screwed up.

Ok that's it I can't think of anything else important so enjoy if you choose to look at my fun little list. I have ADHD and suffer intense hyperfixations so hopefully that provides the real explanation for why I did this. I really gotta work on making shorter posts.

[deelaundry]

Self-Rec - Lesser Knowns

A thing is going around: Of your own fics, list your five favorites. It's hard for me to limit myself, so here are five favorites among my House MD fics with the lowest hit count on AO3.

Second Sunday in May (House MD, General, 1.6k, May 2009) - Wilson wants to commemorate Mother’s Day. - A quick dive into the Wilson & House & Cuddy friendship-polycule on Cuddy's first Mother's Day. With a cameo by Taub.

One Is Silver (House MD, Teen, <1k, June 2011) - Another beginning in Wilson's life. - Wilson makes a new friend after House has run away post-crashing his car into Cuddy's home. This was written before we knew House was going to prison for that.

59 and 58 (House MD, General, <1k, August 2008) - It's been 59 days. Post-ep for episode 4-16, "Wilson's Heart." - Grief and mourning, impressionistic and sensory.

Justice (House MD, Mature, 2.3k, June 2020 based on 2008 fic) - Brielle is even fucking worse than House said it was. - A House & Wilson sci-fi AU set in space with vampires; it's explained in the fic itself. Wilson and some friends take down a predator. Not gory but read the tags.

OK, I'm going to cheat for the fifth self-rec, and bundle fics together. These are all warm fun ficlets about how House and Wilson love each other. The first three include thoughts about Wilson's quirks; the last shows a quirk in House. All Teen or General, all <2k, Nov 2006-May 2012.

Earthworms and Buttercream Roses

B Anonymous 

The Act or Art of Criticizing 

Gramercy

Dance With Who Brung You 

In the Men's Room on the Third Floor 

The Pier at Caesars 

Account Balance Zero 

I would love to talk about any of these - if you see the characters differently, please let me know in AO3 comments.

[cyber-corp]

By the time I'm posting this, it will be January 26th, commonly known as Australia Day where I'm from. A country known for its sweeping plains, unique fauna and the PM fucking off during a nationwide crisis.

I think, despite all Australia's long-standing issues, there are some things about it worth celebrating the culture. Specifically, the music!

Here are some of (what I think) to be some of the most quintessential Australian albums to listen to:

Midnight Oil - Diesel and Dust (1987): Quite possibly the most Aussie album from quite possibly the most Aussie band. The biggest song off of this album, Beds are Burning, is about Aboriginal Australians being forcibly removed from their land, and the lead singer Peter Garrett is really outspoken about justice towards Australia's native peoples, even being in Parliament at one point. Listen if you want to hear what Rage Against the Machine would be like if they were a new wave band and regularly consumed Oak chocolate milk.

INXS - Kick (1987): If the UK had new wave, Australia had pub rock. Artists defined by their songs being so infectious you can remember while you're smashed on seven bottles of Tooheys Extra Dry (kidding. it's called pub rock because that's where they'd play their sets. in pubs). INXS is quite possibly the pub rock band, the genuine article, and this album is a nice gateway into their music; Punchy, upbeat, and memorable riffs for days. (Songs like Need You Tonight and New Sensation for a good idea). Listen if you like Duran Duran or The Cars.

Kylie Minogue - Fever (2001): GOD, how do I introduce Kylie. This country's shining grace. The superstar in our backyard. Our very own Princess of Pop. This album just extrudes that gleam and optimism that'd you find in a lot of Y2K dance-pop music, and I absolutely love it. Listen if you like Discovery-era Daft Punk or Grace Jones.

The Avalanches - Since I Left You (2000): My personal favourite off this list. It might not be the most "Aussie", but I think it makes up for it in its ethereal tone and sampling techniques. One song might just be made up of just one sample, while another might be made up of 50, (Frontier Psychiatrist was originally made up of 28 samples), but it's all tied together by this collective lofi sound. Listen if you like DJ Shadow, Portishead, or The Chemical Brothers.

Regurgitator - Unit (1997): There was this period in the 90's where Australian alt-rock went fucking berzerk, and Regurgitator was one of those bands. Everyday Formula opens with "Everyday I shit into the sea" and ! (Song Formerly Known As) is about not going out to parties and staying at home. Listen if you'd like Gary Numan mixed with the subject matter of early Weezer.

Spiderbait - Grand Slam (1999): Spiderbait was another one of the alt-rock outlets that got really popular despite being really vocal about the hypocrisy of the industry at large. This album contains a wide variety of influences, like 60's bubblegum on Glockenpop (song about the needless commodification of music. their most popular song and highest-earning single of that year. lol), pop punk on Dinner Time and hard rock on Shazam! A pretty good all-rounder made brilliant by vocalist Kram. Listen if you like Green Day or No Doubt.

Empire of the Sun - Walking on a Dream (2008): I put this one on because the cover is really funny, but then I listened to the album and I got a sense of bittersweet nostalgia listening to it. A mix of disco, dance-rock and funk (We Are The People is a good example) make for something that made me wish I was 7 again. Listen if you like Prince or Let's Dance-era Bowie.

TISM - Machiavelli and the Four Seasons (1995): TISM (short for This Is Serious Mum) are a fucking disgrace to this country. They are such a bunch of yobbo cunts that I can't believe they managed to get anywhere past 90 on the charts. Wankers like them deserve to be dragged out on stage and beat to a pulp viciously, to the ravenous delight of the crowd. Don't listen to this album and don't listen to Greg! The Stop Sign!! Listen if you're a masochist, maybe.

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock (1977): Ah yes, good ol Acca. The ultimate dad band. You could put any of their albums on this list because they all sound the exact same, but I put this one on because I prefer Bon Scott's vocals. The title track feels like it goes forever, but in a way where you wish it didn't end. Some nice fashioned high voltage rock'n'roll. Listen if you like Black Sabbath.

There are way more that I could have put on here (Gurrumul, Frenzal Rhomb, Powderfinger, Silverchair, The Presets, The Chats, Men At Work, Tame Impala etc.) but I think you could probably discover them in your own time. In the meantime, here is the very culmination of Australian music. Nearly 50 years has led up to this being made.

Fuckin skitz cunt.

[dangermousie]

Do you like triumph of evil in your kdramas? A small rec list for the pessimist in you

If, like me, you got into kdramas way back when or like older kdramas, tragic endings are not a particular surprise - endings where one or both members of the OTP die were pretty common and even unsettling endings that remind you of the world being rather unjust (Bad Guys) also happen.

But I am talking about something more than that - an ending that really socks it to you, by making you feel the villains won, it was all in vain. I confess when well-done, I love the bleakness of that type of ending. So here are my five favorites for this sort of thing:

Hong Gil Dong (2008)

This story of a rebel fighting to overthrow the mad tyrant and bring justice to the people has the most thoroughly bad ending on the list. Who dies? EVERYONE EXCEPT THE BAD GUYS! I don't mean the OTP, I don't mean your fave secondaries, I mean everyone. The sheer realistic bleakness of the ending is breath-taking. Gil Dong, his OTP Yi Nok and the rest of the rebels are murdered by the forces of the king they put on the throne. The last shot of the story proper is them standing watching a shower of arrows coming towards them, staring at their death. The only survivors are the King and the secondary girl and both are monsters. The king is the man they put on the throne with so much effort but who cannot allow them to live because what they want is not to replace a bad absolute ruler with a different one (that he may have coped with) but to replace the system itself - to hold the king accountable, and he cannot have that. In the end, a mad tyrant has been replaced with a sane tyrant and the class system and the injustices of that society that wrecked Hil Dong, Yi Nok and the rest continue unabated. And secondary girl betrays Gil Dong because - for all her sort of crush - she never truly saw him as human, just a fancy peasant toy that should be thrown away and punished for not behaving as he ought. In the end, the good guys, the heroes, who fought so hard are killed and it's not easy acceptance for them either (there is a scene where Gil Dong, knowing they are all dead once spring comes, admits to Yi Nok how terrified of death he is that has haunted me for a decade plus) and the monsters continue on happily. Sure, the people recite stories and new fighters will rise in their place but it's very much of a "no happy ending in our lifetime" message.

At the time this drama came out, the Hong Sisters were known for their romcoms and this started out pretty goofy - watching it live as it got darker and darker was a hell of a trip and the ending made the fandom insane. But the more I thought about it, the more I loved it, the more fitting it seemed. I love all the other takes on rebels against the crown a la various other HGD and Iljimae adaptations but this one has, to me, by far the most fitting ending.

IRIS (2009)

Talk about bleak. This drama starts as your standard if high quality actioner about competent glam agents of a secret CIA type agency. And then it all goes to hell in a handbasket for our mains as it turns out a secret evil organization is the one that's pulling the strings, and our protagonist Kim Hyun Jun (played by Lee Byung Hun in my favorite of all of his performances) is sacrificed for complicated reasons that are only gradually revealed and begins his descent into hell. He starts the story as a competent, cocky sweetheart and transforms into a PTSDing shaking hands wreck. And you watch him fight so hard - fight through all the torments inflicted, fight to protect his loved ones and to keep his sanity, and fight to take the evil org down. You watch him slowly rebuild himself, and to slowly find happiness again with the woman he's loved all this time, Choi Seung Hee (played by Kim Tae Hee in my fave of her performances, who has unknowing ties to the org) and to fight over the org and inflict damage on it.

And then we get that ending, as he's finally found some peace and safety, and he's driving to propose to Seung Hee and as he sees her, he's shot in the head, point blank and he lies there, dying, seeing her but not able to reach her, tears falling out of his eyes as she waits oblivious for a man who will never come and it's made so clear that the org goes on, that nothing has been defeated and that it has all been for nothing - he's been killed as a punishment to him but also as a message to Seung Hee that nobody ever escapes - for her to find his body and realize it was all for naught. And it is also made clear that there was NOTHING he could have ever done to avoid this fate except if his parents made different choices before he was born (!!!) Talk about bleak. I sobbed for hours.

Ja Myung Go (2009)

I've just posted about this one so I am not gonna re-do the comments but yeah, it ends with the OTP death, the kingdom destroyed and the one winner is King Daemushin, the bad guy. The God of Battles wins again. Sure he lost a son but he's got other sons. Worth it, would think the old monster.

My Country: the New Age (2019)

The rest of the dramas on this list are older. This one is not. Our two main protagonists die in the end but that is not what makes it so bleak - what makes it so bleak is that nothing of what they wanted came to pass. In a way, it's a bit of a Hong Gil Dong redux situation - there is a new ruler on the throne but he's not any better than the old ones and he's cleaning up the people who put him on the throne. Hwi especially fought so hard for a place and then just to have some peace and he gets neither, the man he fought so hard to put on the throne being his murderer.

What Happened in Bali (2004)

Ooof, this drama! We have four main characters and at the end, two of them are dead, shot by the third one who turns the gun on himself. The only survivor is the ice cold secondary girl who would probably not pause sipping her morning coffee when hearing the news.

This is a story of people damaged and ruined by a bunch of monsters who suppress any hope and anything good and cause more and more damage - we watch the three mains claw at others and at themselves hoping for happiness and connection and love and it all gets dismantled and set on fire repeatedly and in the worst way. It's perhaps the starkest with Jo In Sung's Jung Jae Min - who you watch taken apart and driven to extremity slowly and gradually over the course of the drama. And his monstrous family ends up triumphant at the end - even in death and murder he was not monstrous enough for them to fit in - and now they will continue their lives.

PS The scene where he shoots Ha Ji Won's character right as she's just finishes telling So Ji Sub she loves JIS and wants to go back to him and she tells him "I love you" for the first time ever as she lies dying - that lives in my head rent free forever.

[c-nan]

Wait, wait, wait, I am 100% on board with the Supercorp Bolt thing, would you care to elaborate?

ngl i wrote that post half asleep and it is 4 am rn , so i fear i may disappoint you anon, BUT !! i would love to share my thoughts regardless

so basically what prompted my post about bolt and supercorp was the whole dog vs cat theme that i remember bolt (2008) having due to bolt acting in a movie (or tv series? i cant remember it’s been so long , my apologies) where the main villain has a cat, and how that conflict translates into distrust for the cat (mittens?) he befriends. and idk it kinda reminds me of supercorp and how kara is dog-coded and lena is cat-coded, and how lena is a luthor making her tied to a family who is highly villainized and mistrusted. now of course, kara trusts lena basically off the bat (if i remember correctly, i really need to do a supergirl rewatch) , but bolt makes me think of the dynamic they could of had if kara had not have been so trusting .. IDK !! sorry, this is so lowkey bad but i have more

anyway, then there’s just bolt as a character who gives such strong kara vibes. like, he has such a fixed moral compass !! right is right and wrong is wrong (and must be defeated!) and he’ll do anything to see justice served, so much so that it boarders on recklessness (a trait we’ve seen in kara so many times..) they’ve also got this innocence about them.. like, both believe the best in the world, and that they themselves have the power to create world peace and love and happiness or whatever. and of course they both got that superhero thing going on (even if bolt is just an actor).

and then lena as mittens !!! mittens, who is distrusted literally right of the bat (story of lena’s life), and who has had to work so hard her whole life for everything she has!!! mitten’s whole backstory about having a loving owner, just to one day be placed on the streets parallel’s lena’s backstory of having a great life in ireland, just to be thrust into the cold, unloving luthor household so hard !! like !!! she is mittens !! they’re both also very clever and know how to get what they want. they both also have dry humor and abandonment issues.. it’s like they’re the same person istg. and of course they both crave true connection, yet feel very very lonely .

anyway.. that’s it. if you have any ideas anon, i’d love to hear them!

[please-help-this-little-lesbian]

So, I recently started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender. The politics of the show are very interesting to me, especially considering I just finished reading The Animorphs series. Now, I know they aren’t directly comparable, what with being two different mediums (books vs a cartoon), being created at different times (Animorphs the 1990s, ATLA 2005-2008), and (slightly) different age ranges (ATLA 7+, Animorphs middle grade (specifically 9-12, though I’d argue it generally skews older.)) But both are very anti-war and anti-imperialism. Animorphs was the first series in that age range I encountered that truly goes “hard” with its themes. It asked a LOT of tough questions, and its protagonists were truly morally gray in the end. One of my favorite scenes in the series is where the villain is on trial for war crimes, and his lawyers bring up that the protagonist is ALSO a war criminal. The protagonist is acquitted by The Hague because it was self-defense. Incredible. But, back to ATLA.

An episode that really stood out to me was “The Puppet Master,” particularly Hana’s fate. Now, if I’m being completely honest, I was never afraid of Hama, and honestly, I didn’t blame her. I’m not saying she was RIGHT, she was torturing innocent people who had nothing to do with her original imprisonment, but I could understand how she’d operate on all Fire Nation citizens being a monolith. Honestly, I was a little disappointed that her arc ended with her being locked up again, the very same thing that drove her to blood-bending in the first place.

It really made me think about “justice,” particularly the western view of it. I feel like the west, particularly America (ATLA, though inspired by Asian culture, is an American made-TV show), justice is viewed as a punitive and retributive thing, where the ultimate goal is to punish the fact that a crime was committed, rather than address why, how, and the humanity at the heart of the situation. Wim Laven says, in an article for LAProgressive, “No criminal trial is motivated by healing or truth. Trials are about fact finding and fact exclusion,” (2021). Healing is a part of my problem with Hama’s story. She is someone who has suffered from immense trauma in being kidnapped, imprisoned, (probably) tortured, and lost not only her home but everyone she knew. Yes, continuing the cycle of violence doesn’t help you heal from it, but sometimes it feels like it’s the only option. Again, I’m not saying what Hama did was RIGHT, but to her it was something, something to deal with the pain and anger. And putting her back in the very same conditions that fueled this pain and anger doesn’t feel like justice to me.

Let’s take it back to Animorphs since I brought it up for a reason. There is actually a similar situation portrayed in the series. In book 20, The Discovery, we’re introduced to a character named David. He recently began attending the same school as the protagonists, and came across a piece of technology he shouldn’t have. This leads to him being targeted by the villains of the series and triggers a fight between the protagonists and antagonists. In this fight, David’s parents are captured by the villains, and his home is destroyed, leaving him at the mercy of the protagonists. They debate whether to leave David to be captured by the antagonists or induct him into their group. (The villains are parasitic slugs who can crawl into people's brains and take them over, and the protagonists can morph into any animal whose DNA they acquire. Because they take over brains, you have no way of knowing who is and isn’t actually a parasitic slug, so the protagonists must keep their powers a secret from everyone they know. Yes, IK Animorphs is weird. The point is, the slugs know everything about you, so either way David is a risk.) They ultimately decide to give him the power to morph and induct him into the group, but this ultimately ends up being a mistake. David repeatedly endangers the group, breaks their rules, almost betrays them to the villains, and tries to kill multiple of the protagonists. The group has no choice but to do something with David, but what? They don’t want to kill him, so they do something that’s honestly far worse. They trap him in rat morph (you can only stay in morph for two hours before it becomes permanent) and drop him off on a secluded island in the middle of nowhere. This haunts the protagonists for the rest of their lives. Later, through fever dream plot reasons, David comes back and begs to be killed. We never find out if he is or not. A key part of David’s story is that at the end of the day, he was just a traumatized, troubled kid whose life was turned upside down, and EVERYONE ended up suffering for it. Animorphs does a really good job of exploring the tragedy of war, and it's because of the focus on how war creates conditions where violence is the only option because it is easier to commit to a cycle of revenge than work to improve conditions so that war doesn't have to be inevitable.

I'm not saying Avatar: The Last Airbender doesn't talk about this, or that it has to! It's for a younger audience, I don't expect or need the protagonists to commit atrocities! But it's interesting that they introduced a character that is villainized for this, and disappointing to me. The situation isn't black or white, Hama is sympathetic, and we understand why she's doing this, but the writing presents the only solution as punishing Hama for the harm she caused instead of allowing her to redeem herself.

I'm not saying that's an easy answer, either. The gaang are kids, in Fire Nation territory where they're subjected to Fire Nation laws, and just freed her victims. With the upcoming invasion, they couldn't just take Hama back to the Southern Water Tribe. But why is locking her away the only solution? Why didn't they at least consider the route where they prevented her from committing further harm by taking her out of the situation? Maybe they ask her to join the invasion with the promise she'll stop blood-bending. Maybe they promise to break her out later. I'm not saying everything would be perfect, but letting Hama return to her home, surrounded by people who would help her heal, takes away the desire to do harm, does it not? This is a situation where punitive justice is NOT the only answer, yet it's presented as if it is. I wouldn't even be as upset at her fate if the narrative addressed this wasn't the only way, and the tragedy of this being their only option at the moment. But it doesn't because it sees it as right.

This also frustrating because Zuko IS given the benefit of tragedy and restorative justice. Now, I haven't finished the show yet (I just finished 3x11), but from what I've seen so far, I'm assuming Zuko redeems himself by not only working to heal HIS trauma but the trauma he caused OTHERS. And that's GREAT! I LOVE Zuko, he's my favorite character. I'm not saying he doesn't deserve a redemption arc. He DOES. But it's frustrating that he, a member of the royal family of an imperialist nation, who's directly harmed the gaang amongst other crimes, is given this opportunity while Hama, a victim of said imperialist nation, isn't. Yes, you can chalk it up to Hama admittedly committing far worse a crime than Zuko has, and Zuko being a child while Hama is an old woman, my main concern is still the optics here.

ATLA has a philosophy of actions defining character, and while this is fine, and I agree with it, I don't think it's given quite the amount of nuance it needs. Motivations for actions are just as important. Hama's arc is messy and nuanced, but that isn't explored nearly enough.

If we can all agree that Zuko is a victim who deserves a second chance, then why isn't Hama?

[gatheringbones]

[“Beyond the glamorous magazine covers of celebrity activists, beyond the surface-level empowerment rhetoric deployed by influencers and millionaire actors, survivor justice movements haven’t actually progressed that far in the mainstream, contrary to narratives that it’s progressed “too far.” It’s been well over a decade now since a Nebraska judge in 2008 prohibited a rape victim from even using the word “rape” during her testimony—she was one of several women told during their 2000s trials to use the more palatable term “sexual assault” instead, ostensibly to help their case.

Not much has changed nearly two decades later. On the 2021 HBO miniseries Catch and Kill, an exploration of the rigorous journalism that led to Weinstein’s undoing, New Yorker deputy editor Deirdre Foley-Mendelssohn recalled at one point, “Weinstein’s team was pushing very, very hard for us to not use the term rape, to use assault—and it seemed that was the direction things were going.” Tammy Kim, a New Yorker fact checker, added, “There were a couple colleagues who were skeptical or thought readers would be skeptical if we characterized certain acts as rape.” “Would using the term be sensationalist?” journalist Ronan Farrow then asked Kim and New Yorker head of research Fergus McIntosh, who were responsible for fact-checking the Weinstein report. McIntosh responded, “Being cautious about something isn’t an excuse for not telling the truth about it. Being cautious means being really sure about what happened.”

As Catch and Kill and the US Department of Justice explain, sexual assault is legally defined as “an attempt or apparent attempt to inflict bodily injury upon another by using unlawful force, accompanied by the apparent ability to injure that person if not prevented.” Rape is legally defined as an “act of unlawful sexual intercourse accompanied through force or threat of force by one party and implying lack of consent and resistance by the other party.” The extensive conversations that guided the New Yorker’s editorial choice to specify that several women alleged Weinstein had raped them are a focal point of that particular Catch and Kill episode. But even beyond the docuseries, the policing of victims and survivors’ language and characterizations of their lived experiences persists all around us.

In the introduction of Chanel Miller’s memoir Know My Name, in which Miller recounts her story of surviving sexual assault perpetrated by Stanford rapist Brock Turner, she writes: “The FBI defines rape as any kind of penetration. But in California, rape is narrowly defined as the act of sexual intercourse. For a long time I refrained from calling [Turner] a rapist, afraid of being corrected. Legal definitions are important. So is mine. He filled a cavity in my body with his hands. I believe he is not absolved of the title simply because he ran out of time.”

When we hyperfixate on correcting the language survivors use that feels most honest and true to their lived experience with trauma, what we may be striving for is accuracy and a patriarchal conception of objectivity—but really, we’re just reinforcing the ways that patriarchy protects abusers by casting doubt on victims and their credibility.

Whenever survivors speak up, they’re frequently forced to hear some condescending argument about how false accusations happen—and they do—but without the crucial context that all credible research shows this is highly rare, and there is nothing to gain and everything to lose from coming forward about experiencing sexual assault. When we focus on a very narrow set of experiences over a far more common one—that one in five women is a victim of completed or attempted rape—this is a direct manifestation of violent, sexist power dynamics. The maintenance of these power dynamics relies on the implicit and explicit characterization of women and victims as untrustworthy. They are either purposeful liars or, at best, irrational, overly emotional, and likely to exaggerate—for example, by erroneously calling their experience a rape.”]

kylie cheung, from survivor injustice: state-sanctioned abuse, domestic violence, and the fight for bodily autonomy, 2023

[friedrice15]

Dear BVB,

Dear BVB fans,

Now the time has come.

Over 13 years of black and yellow are coming to an end for me.

Dortmund was my home for 13 years.

It is Thursday, June 13th, and I am sitting on the couch in the evening as I try to write these lines.

EVOr

It is really hard for me.

The way it was said makes me very sad, because this impersonal farewell does not do justice to the time we spent together.

But that is unfortunately how it is sometimes in this business, and the day will come when we can make up for it together in front of the yellow wall. I chose this farewell to some extent myself, because I deliberately did not want to make an early decision about my future.

That is why the last few months have been emotionally challenging for me, because it was always clear that they could be my last in black and yellow.

Many of you have probably noticed how much I enjoyed everything about the last home games and the Champions League final. After the game, sitting alone at the post in the most beautiful temple in the world, soaking up the atmosphere, and standing in front of the South when everyone was singing my name.

Pure goosebumps, even if I think about it again. It was and is a great honor and I will never forget it. Please do me a favor and don't believe everything I've read over the last few days. There were a lot of untruths and half-truths.

Just this much: in all these years.

BVB has always been above all else for me, and I always wanted the best for the club on and off the pitch

The influence of a 35-year-old player who doesn't know how his career will continue from the summer onwards has certainly not been as great in the last few months as the media sometimes makes it out to be. What have we experienced together in these years, with the gray league times at the beginning, with the first personal DFB Cup final in 2008.

About the upswing under Jürgen Klopp and the years that were almost like a rush. With so many highlights that I can't even list them. The finals won and lost. The last place at the beginning of 2015, which actually couldn't have happened, and the run back to 7th place at the end of the season.

Two Champions League finals and, most recently, two big missed title dreams.

But I was particularly pleased when I was accepted back to

BVB in 2019 after my transfer, and I hope you noticed: I tried everything and tore myself apart for the black and yellow jersey and success. There is no other place like the south stand.

I was called the "bricklayer of the yellow wall" a few weeks ago.

I'm going to hang that above my BVB trophy cabinet!

I'm incredibly proud of it.

I'll miss everything about this awesome club.

See you.

HEJA BVB!

BVB

Your Mats