#I'm also utterly in love with Rebecca

[chimchiri]

Excuse me why did no one tell me about Dorio in Cyberpunk??? I would have watched the series a lot earlier had I known about her???? Hello??

(I'm only on ep 4 - please no spoilers...)

[ofmdrecaps]

10/29-30/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; David jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Con O'Neill; Nathan Foad; David Fane/Rachel House; MCM Comic Con Coverage w/AdoptOurCrew; In Person Events: Calypso's Birthday in Pittsburgh; Fan Spotlight: Gay Pirate News Hour; NeverLeftPodcast; AMuseOfFyre: Badmintons!; Love Notes;

Hey lovelies, my dad is once again trying to come home from the hospital tomorrow, and I am learning how to help with wound care, and tube feeds, so I have been completely and utterly wiped after coming home from that while also working full time (and no sleep because my kiddo had too much candy)-- so to be honest I have been taking some time to rest and doodle because I need it for my mental health! I'm slowly catching up, things are gonna be a bit bare bones while I get back into the groove of things. Hope you're all staying healthy and safe out there!

= David Jenkins =

Just a lovely picture of David and Kinga from earlier this year that Kinga shared a couple days ago.

Source: Kinga's Instagram

Also-- David's been sharing the adorable twerking gif by @smolbus over on twitter!

Source: David Jenkins Instagram

= Rhys Darby =

Rhys is keeping up with his Daily Doodles on his Substack! The last one there is.. uhm, well very specific (I love these goofy doodles btw I hope he never stops, reminds me of the Buttons McGinty illustrations). Check out the Darby Daily Doodles on his Substack!

Source: Rhys Free Substack

There are still tickets available for Rhys's Indianapolis show on Nov 7 at Helium Comedy Club! You can still get tickets here. The St Louis - Nov 8 - Helium Comedy Club is sold out!

If you're going to the IN show-- one of Rhys Buddies is really catering to the Rhys Darby fans and trying to giveaway his red solo cups that have been touched or looked at by Rhys! I'm so glad they know just how feral everyone is for Rhys Lightning.

And a quick clip of one of Rhys's Routines from the 25th anniversary!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Helium Comedy Club Indy (@heliumcomedyind)

Source: Helium Comedy Instagram

= Gizmo & Bumbles Darby =

As you know, I can't resist cat content, especially of Gizmo and Bumbles, so here you are-- Thanks Rosie for keeping us fed!

Source: Rosie's Instagram stories.

= Taika Waititi =

Taika was out at the world series, and the Dodgers won!

Source: Taika's Instagram

= Samba Schutte (and Con) =

Reminder! Samba's Death by Cheese class is one week away! Sat Nov 9th, at 10am PST online with Be Momentus!

Also check out this very goofy video of Samba and con Re: The dish you'll be making!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samba Schutte (@sambaschutte)

Source: Samba's Instagram

= Nathan Foad =

When Nathan's not interviewing Kristian at cons, he's out with friends!

Source: Michelle Collins Instagram

= David Fane / Rachel House =

Moana2 just broke the 2024 record for most day 1 ticketing presales for an animated feature! Congrats Rachel, David, and Taika! So excited for you!

Source: Fandango's Instagram

= Con O'Neill =

After the recent showing of 'The Men' starring Con at the Alnwick Playhouse in the UK, Con did a Q & A with Rebecca of The Northern Film Blog! Check out the article below!

== MCM Comic Con Coverage ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew and their correspondents were kind enough film and transcribe some of the questions Nathan asked kristian at his panel at MCM Comic Con a couple weekends back! I'm sharing a screencap + the link to their tumblr posts with the videos (tumblr only lets me share one at a time on any given post) so please head over there and check them out! Question 1: "Nathan asks Kristian about his personal style and how the way he presents himself has changed over the years."

Question 2: Regarding Kristian's first time working with Revlon

Conversation About Kristan's Life Part 1

Conversation about Kristian's life PART 2:

== In Person Events: PA ==

It's that time again! Harold's Haunt in Pittsburgh PA will be hosting another Calypso's birthday, this time on Nov 9 at 6 pm!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Ringa Sunn (@ringasunn)

Source: Harold's Haunt Instagram

== Fan Spotlight ==

= Gay Pirate News Hour =

It's time for another Gay Pirate News hour! Catch it on Our Flag Means Fanfiction's Youtube at 1PM PT/ 4PM ET!

Source: Our Flag Means Fanfiction Instagram

= Never Left Podcast =

New episode of Never Left! This time talking about Flags! (Part 1!) Check it out on your favorite listening platform on their linktr.ee!

Source: Never Left Podcast Instagram

= A Muse Of Fyre =

Our crewmate @amuseoffyre is back -- this time with the Badminton's! The Nigel flicking off the camera one is legit the funniest thing I've seen all week. Love it!

Source: Amuseoffyre's Instagram

== Love Notes ==

Hey lovelies, just a quick one tonight. I feel like TheLatestKate is basically just following me around because she always has new and appropriate love notes each week. Please please please go easy on yourself right now, you're doing so much, I know we all are. Please be kind to yourself, drink some water, and take a few extra moments of rest. You deserve it (whether you did a million things today, or just survived). Take care lovelies. See you soon.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by @thelatestkate

Source: The LatestKate Instagram

[irisfixation]

how can I start to learn hypno?

how we experienced it: using a mere paragraph-and-a-half of guidance from an acquaintance, attempt and succeed in trancing your partner. react with shock and utterly unconstrained lust. do everything you can to improve from there.

what is probably the better stratagem: read actual guides. obviously mark wiseguy's Mind Play is a classic Beginner's 101 To Hypnosis Kink - though even though it's a longer read, Mastering Erotic Hypnosis by james gordon and rebecca doll is a more comprehensive starting point for the kink. @h-sleepingirl has written some excellent works on various sides of the kink - in general, our #hypnotic theory tag has a lot of well-spoken thoughts on the topic by others.

ultimately, though, hypnosis is communication. it's trusting yourself to guide your partner, and trusting them enough to put in the effort to help weave what they love and want. as such it's ultimately something where experience will help you more than anything. try various different inductions and see what works nicely for you. familiarize yourself with different methods of suggestion, find imagery that feels evocative on a bodily and aesthetic level to you and try weaving it into your storytelling, pay attention to your partners' bodily reactions and make them feel inevitable. learning is a slow process, and there's a lot of different ways to present hypnosis to a partner.

let us touch on the question of 'how am i supposed to reassure my partner and make them feel calm and willing to relinquish control when i'm anxious about not knowing what i'm doing myself?' - the answer is that you do not have to be perfect the first time, or the second, et cetera, but you also don't need to present yourself as a perfect dominant figure. have fun with things! frame it as a game, or an experiment, or anything else. do it to have fun with your partner - ask them how certain things feel for you, do classic experiments like the arm-raising test and see how they respond, see what words cause them to twitch or breathe a little heavier or otherwise coax out bodily responses.

ultimately, let's close it out with the basic advice we were given all those years ago: pay attention to your partner. reassure them. keep their mind occupied, whether through your own patter or by asking them to do specific actions. (consider the classic 7(+/-2) induction here). give them a space where they feel safe enough to relinquish control.

best of luck, nonnie.

[the-writer-is-always-write]

Thoughts on Dune: Part Two

General Impression: I adored this movie from start to finish. Having just rewatched Part One a week ago, it felt like a seamless transition hopping back into the story. The score, the set design, the costumes, all of it was impeccable.

Chani: her character arc was obviously the biggest deviation from the book, and although I felt a lot of surprise watching it unfold, I think some reflection has left me alright with it. I've admittedly only read Dune and Dune: Messiah, but both books are clearly meant to illustrate the dangers of religious fanaticism and the ways that religion and prophecy can be manipulated and utilized as a tool for oppression. While these ideas can (hopefully) be discerned fairly clearly by the reader, I think it makes sense to have an audible voice of dissent in a film adaptation, particularly from someone among the Fremen. The only concern I have is wondering how Denis will handle Dune: Messiah, since the plot sort of hinges on Paul and Chani being together. But I guess that's a worry for later.

MY BOY MUAD'DIB: Timothee is just so utterly perfect for this role, I genuinely could not imagine anyone else doing it with such grace and gravitas. Seeing the gradual spiral of innocent teenager to reluctant leader to religious icon was heart-wrenching. Paul has honestly become one of my favorite fictional characters because his story is so complex and layered with tragedy. He's simultaneously a product of manipulation and coercion, and an angry young man seeking revenge against those who have hurt him. He lacks agency in many ways, yet he still makes decisions that lead to so much destruction. He tries so so hard to avoid the holy war, but it becomes an inevitability he can't escape. Reading Dune: Messiah for the first time a few weeks ago really helped me to understand how the prophecy controlled him as much as he used it to control others. I could literally give a ted talk on this, and how it's such a fascinating take on the messiah figure trope.

Jessica: I saw an article recently where I think Denis called Jessica "the puppetmaster," and I think that's very fitting for her depiction in this movie. I like how it openly shows the manipulation tactics of the Bene Gesserit, particularly how they prey upon the "vulnerable" Fremen first. Rebecca did a fantastic job giving the creep factor.

Feyd-Rautha: I still don't know why Denis had a vendetta against Harkonnen eyebrows, but I guess it was cool? I LOVED the black and white lighting on Giedi Prime, and the arena scene was SO. GOOD. Denis really went for it. Feyd's accent caught me off guard a few times, but overall I think the ruthless and brutal nature of the character really shined through. He's the antithesis to Paul, and I think Denis captured that theme well enough.

I thought all the other characters were well done too. Stilgar was maybe a touch too comic relief-y at times, but nothing catastrophic. Gurney was great, but I would have liked at least one more baliset scene :(

Things we missed: I'm a little bummed we didn't get Harah. I know the movie was already pretty stuffed, but I honestly thought they could have used the actress that played Chani's friend (I can't remember if they ever mention her name). Even if the idea of Paul "acquiring" her was a little icky, they could have done something else with her character at least. I was also sad they didn't do the full funeral scene with Jamis, but oh well. I think the greater omission was Thufir Hawat, but again I can see why they chose to cut him. I just think the dynamic between the Baron and Feyd-Rautha had a lot more friction in the book, mostly because of Thufir conspiring them both against each other.

I'm honestly not upset we didn't get to see freaky-toddler Alia. I was excited for Anya though!

Overall, I really loved this film. No adaptation can get every detail perfect, but I can see the ways that Denis and the actors adored this story and wanted to tell it in a powerful way. I thought the themes stayed true to the book, and I'm really hopeful we get Part Three!

AND THE WORMS. THE WORMS WERE GREAT. LONG LIVE THE WORMS.

[strinak]

2025 Books, Part One

Doing this a little differently, because in 2022 - the previous record holder - tumblr flipped out when I tried to paste all 461 books. It's the fucking middle of May and I just logged #432 so I fear an all-in-one is not feasible this hellish year! Y'know, one of the things about struggling to connect to your own emotions is that you start looking to external indicators for how you're doing and this is one that has shot past "oh, cool, I wanted a good year for the 10th year I'm doing this" into "oh, I'm subsuming myself into a hobby because things are Bad, oh no."

Anyway! Going to try doing 200 per post!

Highlights: Becca Vale - I'm not into incest but reddit was correct, this bitch can write! Cambria Hebert, also a reddit rec - found the highly hyped book pretty mid but had actually started with Whisper and that one, I'm super into. Bea Bellamore - crossdressing as kink and it's amazing, can't wait for more. Misha Horne - OBSESSED. Robin Blackwell - deeply hilarious to me personally to read this straight-from-aresjoxercupidstrife not-fic in 2025. Pat Lewis - PWP that still sometimes manage to be romantic, genuinely impressive in a standalone origfic context. MA Innes - thank fuck for a deep backlist but the cozy natural disaster duology is peerless so far. Katherine McIntyre - best patreon I've found so far. Luna David - I want to love you so much more than I do! You've got that good angst but not that good aftermath!!! Brianna Flores - Pretty Boy is so good I've read it twice so far. Kim Dare - I had no idea I could enjoy high protocol this much. Nordika Night - the NC17 fear street vibe has bewitched me utterly.

Birchwood & Dyson & Roach - After the Storm

Birchwood & Dyson & Roach - The Taste of New York

KL Noone - Port in the Stom

KL Noone - Fire and Ink

KL Noone - The Arch-Mage’s Firebird

Becca Vale - Always Watching Over Him

Becca Vale - Keeping Him Stuffed

Becca Vale - Come On, Let Me See It

Becca Vale - Dirty Wet Bastard

Bea Bellamore - His House Husband

Bea Bellamore - Sweet Cheeks

Anna Wineheart - Forced by the Alpha Prisoner

Becca Vale - Anger Management Issues

Drew Hunt - Tyler’s Alphas

D Dove - Kinktober 2024 Collection

Adri Armstrong - Shared at the Office

Adri Armstrong - Office Threesome

Isabel Dare - Party Favor

Holly Day - The Snaccident

Holly Day - The Wolf Cure

Helen Juliet - Goldie

KL Noone - A Demon for Midwinter

KL Noone - Lightning in a Bottle

Claire Cullen - The Dotted Line

Bea Bellamore - Three’s a Crowd

Bea Bellamore - Virtual Vixen

KL Noone - Love Songs for Every Day

KL Noone - Sunlight and Gold

KL Noone - A Demon’s Very Good Morning

Bea Bellamore - Under Covers

Bea Bellamore - Male Maid

Bea Bellamore - Spooked in Silk

Bea Bellamore - His Lacy Dream

Bea Bellamore - His Lacy Secret

Bea Bellamore - His Lacy Lust

Bea Bellamore - His Lacy Desire

Bea Bellamore - The Right Incentive

Jamie Kassel - A Little Christmas: Noah

Misha Horne - When He Was Bad

Luna David - Unscathed

Mary Calmes - George’s Big Day

Grae Bryan - An Unwitting Bargain

Becca Vale - Reward for Time Served

Charity Parkerson - In Daddy’s Hands

Charity Parkerson - Short-Term Daddy

AJ Sherwood - A Mage’s Guide to Human Familiars

AM Rose - Hellfire & Bowties

Eliot Grayson - Lucky or Knot

AM Rose - Hellfire & Tinsel

Megan Derr - Frostbite, Lovebite

Brea Alepou & Skyler Snow - Mafia Break-In

Rebecca James - Out of Harm’s Way

Kaje Harper - Avocado Protection

Megan Derr - Locke and Key

Ivan Axelson - The Devil’s in the Deadlines

Mell Eight - The Oracle’s Hatchling

TJ Land - Tennessee Ham & Strawberry Jam

Megan Derr - Two Parts Mistletoe

Kaje Harper - Transparent Is a Color

Shannon West - Mongrel

Robin Blackwell - Devotee of War

Roe Horvat - Freefall

AJ Sherwood - A Mage’s Guide to Aussie Terrors

KA Merikan - Daddy’s Forbidden Room

Holly Day - Dear John

Lorelei M Hart - Such a Good Omega

Megan Derr - The Shopping List

Megan Derr - The High King & the Queen

Amy Rae Durreson - The Lodestar of Ys

Becca Vale - Embracing the Dark Side

Marie Sexton - No Good Deed

Morticia Knight - Justice Prevails

Megan Derr - Rabbit Season

Megan Derr - Looking for More

Megan Derr - Sweet Nothings

Shannon West - A Daddy for Summer: Cruz

‘Nathan Burgoine - Rear Admiral

Samantha Cayto - In the Heat of the Dungeon

Kim Dare - Sealing the Deal

Anne Tenino - Good Boy

Mell Eight - The Jack O’Lantern’s Grin

Roe Horvat - Fearless Bond

Katherine McIntyre - Joint Penetration

Pat Lewis - Bet You to Ride the Bull

Tanya Chris - Deep Under

Tanya Chris - Back Under

Charlotte Brice - Loaned to the Billionaire

Charity Parkerson - Deadly Daddy

Chara Croft - Take It, Boy

Kelex - Bound to Two Bears

Vasha Crow - Perfect Prey

Katherine McIntyre - Heat Transfer

Marina Vivancos - Oh, Sacred Dark

Marina Vivancos - Honeythorn

MA Innes - Owners & Dolls

Chara Croft - All Dolled Up

Lark Taylor - Luck of the Devil

Aria Grace - Would You Hold It Against Me

Helen Juliet - Rise and Shine

Skyler Snow - Watch Me, Daddy

Samantha Cayto - Safeword

MA Innes - An Umbrella Drink Kind of Night

Charity Parkerson - Average

Charity Parkerson - Ensnared

Alice Winters - A Simple Mistake

MA Innes - Kyle and Nick

MA Innes - Randall and Hudson

MA Innes - When the Storm Comes

MA Innes - When the Clouds Part

Pat Lewis - Tied Up for Santa

Luna David - Saving Sebastian

Robin Lynn - Enchanted Ink

Emmy Sanders - Teddy

AJ Sherwood - Marriage Contract

Honey London - Himbro

Jamie Kassel - Boss Daddy

Misha Horne - Hot Mess

Katherine McIntyre - Stronger Than Longing

Willow Dixon - Never Have I Ever: Submitted to My Rival

Chara Croft - Anything Goes

Mary Calmes - Newly Tied

RJ Moray - Finding Elliott

KM Neuhold - Bro Split

Brianna Flores - Pretty Boy

Aria Grace - Daddy’s Picky Eater

Kim Dare - Facing Fitz

Kim Dare - In the Blink of an Eye

AJ Sherwood - My Inherited House Might Be Haunted

Luna David - Trusting Cade

Luna David - Protecting Braden

Emmy Sanders - Tink

Kim Dare - Sudden Surrender

Kim Dare - Celebrate

Becca Vale - Touching the Wrong Twin

Becca Vale - Honeymoon Suite Revenge

Becca Vale - Fake It Until You Make It

Becca Vale - Beast Mode

Becca Vale - Murder Twins

Becca Vale - Practice Makes Perfect

Becca Vale - Crash and Burn Baby

Kim Dare - Melting Mr Mowburrey

Kim Dare - Duck!

Amy Crook - The House with the Haunted Heart

Kim Dare - Gay Like You

Kim Dare - Gayday! Gayday!

Kim Dare - Gay Until Graduation

TS McKinney - Sub Mission

Lilo Quie - The Buck Stops Hare

Paulina Ian-Kane - One

KL Noone - One Night in London: Robert and Anthony

Nordika Night - Sick Bargain

MA Innes - The Gift of Strength

MA Innes - A Whipped Cream Kind of Day

Honey London & Luna David - Tourist Attraction

MM Farmer - His Master

Megan Derr - The Seventh Swan

Jenny Palmetto - Sugar Baby’s Dangerous New Daddy

Colette Davison - Sugar Bunny

Becca Vale - Crying for Uncle

Colette Davison - Collar Me

Becca Vale - Merry Fistmas

Becca Vale - No Pain No Gain

Becca Vale - Hijacking His Baby’s Cock

MA Innes - Silent Strength

GL Carriger - Marine Biology

GL Carriger - The Dratsie Dilemma

Howl Avery - Sweet

Miriam Benisse - The Compact

Cambria Hebert - Whisper

Colette Davison -Keep Me on Edge

Cambria Hebert - Wingspan

Cambria Hebert - Text

Cambria Hebert - Torch

Cambria Hebert - Whoa

Alessandra Hazard - Straight Boy

Katherine McIntyre - Alternating Current

Ki Brightly & MD Gregory - His Princess

Key Dyson & Raymond Roach - Binding a Page

Marina Vivancos - Broken Ice

Cambria Hebert - Wish

Cambria Hebert - WTF

Cambria Hebert - Wedlocked

MA Innes - Finley & Jared

Emmy Sanders - Felix

Kim Dare - Temporary Mark

Cora Rose - Sem

Misha Horne - Hurt Me Daddy

Misha Horne - Comfort Me Daddy

Misha Horne - Away Games

Nordika Night - Little Demon in the Details

Kim Dare - While Under the Influence

Felicity Snow - The Roommate Situation

Jamie Kassel - Knot Needed

Jamie Kassel - His Sex Therapist

Jamie Kassel - His Sex Therapist 2

Jamie Kassel - Designation: Submissive

Jamie Kassel - Designation: Null

L Rose - Infinite Bond

Kari Gregg - The Accidental Druid’s Guide to Binding Demons

KA Merikan - The Shadow Prince’s Ruin

[bloomingdarkgarden]

I don’t even know where to begin because your story “What Bloomed in the Dark Garden” is just exceptional!

The way you portray Elain and Azriel is b e a u t i f u l. You’ve captured their quiet intensity so perfectly. Every interaction between them is so layered and it’s handled with such care. And Lucien— I love how naturally you’ve woven him into the story and deepened his connection to Elain, and how you’ve explored their dynamic while still allowing Elain’s story with Azriel to unfold. Also, the way you’ve connected different threads of the series—like Azriel and Mor being mates—has been done so well!

And then, there’s your writing itself—intelligent, sharp and utterly immersive. You have a way with words that is truly brilliant. And beyond that—the recurring poetic elements, like the flowers and certain phrases— is nothing short of masterful.

I know I’ll keep coming back to this again and again because it’s everything I could have ever wanted for a Elriel story and more. You’ve given us something truly special, and I can’t thank you enough for it. I’m even glad it’s unfinished—because now I get to savor each new piece, knowing I have more to look forward to rather than rushing through it all at once.

Thank you once again for choosing to share your story about Azriel and Elain!

P.S. I was wondering — do you have a Goodreads account or something similar? I'd be so curious to see what someone who writes as beautifully as you reads. And if not, I’d still love to hear if you have any romantasy book recommendations?

All my love to you, beautiful.

it has taken oodles off my life to weave this story tbh 🦋 It takes mere minutes for people to read a chapter that took me weeks to write, haha. I toil over word choice, walk away halfway thru a session, contemplate throwing my laptop out of a window, all because I feel like I'm failing to capture a passage the way my inner ethereal wraith needs me to etc. I've been both shocked and touched that people connect with wbitd on the level they do. My voice is odd and everyone who reads my work knows this. I sort of write in another language in many ways and can't really share the challenges or demons of crafting that voice with other writers I know. The readers know. WBITD is a strange, crooked road that haunts people. And in my experience hiking thru mountains for a living... unfamiliar paths often lead to the most worthy of places. I'm grateful to you for walking it with me 🖤

I don't have a Goodreads at this moment. I prefer highly atmospheric fantasy over heavy romance generally so my favs reflect that. My favorite author is Ava Reid- her prose is also lyrically strange. She writes what might be considered romantasy (like A Study in Drowning) but mostly romantic fantasy-adjacent folk horror (Juniper and Thorne changed my life.) Another favorite read is the Elements of Cadence duology by Rebecca Ross. Magical and immersive and stop-the-heart beautiful passages (Sidra's love story is achingly lovely). Reads I'm looking forward to this year: the Knight and the Moth, Paladin's Grace, and A Theory in Dreaming.

[erinkoco]

Book Review 📚

📖 Ruthless Vows, Rebecca Ross ⭐ 3.75/5 stars

Divine Rivals was beautifully tender and steeped in emotional enchantment, largely thanks to the letters exchanged between Iris and Roman as they unknowingly fell in love amidst a devastating war. I was completely captivated by their story, the friendships, and Rebecca Ross’ lyrical writing.

While I still really enjoyed Ruthless Vows, it didn’t quite recapture those same feelings for me. The deeply intimate and emotionally rich elements of the first book gave way to more world-building and the need to move the plot forward. That shift isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I found it took me longer to finish Ruthless Vows, as I was subconsciously disappointed in how things were unfolding. I also felt some of the secondary characters deserved more time to shine, and the ending could have been a little longer to avoid that rushed feeling and tie up a few loose ends more fully.

With all that said, I still found a lot to love in this second installment—and I highlighted quite a few lines that I thought were utterly beautiful. I'm definitely sad to be at the end of Iris and Roman’s story.

“Their souls weren’t mirrors but complements, constellations that burned side by side.”

[tipsheda]

Favorite Music I Listened to in 2023

Through Census Designated this year and her various Dariacore albums, I discovered Jane Remover in 2023 and I'm really glad I did (thanks for the recommendation, Imogen!). Census Designated has an utterly fantastic vibe that resonates with feelings of nostalgia and melancholy like nothing else for me. It puts me in such a unique headspace and I will treasure it for that.

The album is supposed to embody dead grass, and it nails it. It makes me recall timeless moments with friends doing nothing together. Of countless nights driving back and forth between Rochester and Minneapolis back when I didn't live in Minneapolis yet but had friends there. It brought me back to some of the feelings I had right after college when I had to leave so many friends behind to join the Real World, and how I was able to hold on to some of those relationships despite distance and change. I didn't even like this album that much on first listen. It's been through repeated listens in different contexts that it's won its way into my heart. In my basement, listening with a friend. Outside, listening with some friends around a bonfire. On lonely drives to and from my various old stomping grounds.

TLDR: I have imprinted on this album and it's now a core memory and feeling that I can reference back to in the future when I want to revel in the emotions of a certain time period in my life. Good shit. Also, good companion piece to the game, Fallow.

I listened to some of the songs from Caroline Polachek's new album, Desire, I Want to Turn Into You, for the first time in the car with some friends driving through a small town in Wisconsin. It was on full blast. What a sound! The album has so much energy. It's just absolute banger city.

Say what you want. But I've waited so long for a new Skrillex album and we got 2 in one year. Been a fan ever since listening over and over again to every single track he put out back in middle and high school on my school bus rides from 2011-2014. His work had a huge impact on my musical taste and my own music. Not every track on these albums hit for me. They never have on any of the past albums. But the ones that hit, fucking hit.

I had listened to some underscores songs a couple years ago and liked them, but never looked much further into the artist's music until a friend brought them up again. Then they released a new album this year and all hell broke loose. Great music. Energy, passion, emotion, all the good stuff.

Frost Children is great. Saw them live this year. They sound even better live. Listen to Frost Children. Favorite song is COUP.

Also saw Arooj Aftab play live with Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily and it was just chill and beautiful sounds with haunting vocals the whole time. Good stuff.

Dodgr had only really put out the occasional single for so long and each one was an absolute banger with a great and unique vocal style over some good beats. I missed that she put out a whole album last year. It slaps.

Also, I want to give one final shoutout to a band I forgot to mention, Geese and their album this year 3D Country. It's like neo-Dad Rock or punk country. A blend of country/rock music with punk cowboy vocals. It was the music that was the most out of my wheelhouse out of everything I've listened to this year and I love it now. Saw them live and they were great.

Honorable mentions:

Elise Trouw - Losing Sleep

KNOWER - KNOWER FOREVER

Alexander Panos - Nascent (2022)

Rebecca Black - Let Her Burn

[flingmetothemoon]

The sun is getting hotter again, which is unfortunate for the countess. She still wants to enjoy the fresh air though, so she finds a cool lake away from the city while shading herself with her parasol umbrella and chills there for an hour or so. That lake and rain is now when Marya calls them "Holy water", not the fonts of stagnant so called "Holy water" contaminated by germs from a bunch of hands creating bacteria. As she twirls and sinks down in a body of water, she ponders about what to do next. She remembers hearing about how in America, it's traditionally the men giving gifts to women during Valentines Day. But in Japan, it's traditionally the women giving gifts to men. Now White Day is coming up this month, and the dynamic is more like the western dynamic of Valentines. But Tedward already gave her a bunch of gifts and treats this Valentines, so it's Marya's turn to return the favor. But what could she give him?

She dries off and puts on her pretty pink flower kimono and goes to a local store to find something. Thankfully, it does have pink heart boxes that contains white chocolate, strawberry chocolate and white chocolate with caramel swirl. It also has a melon soda bottle, vanilla ice cream, cherries and a cherry blossom bouquet. While still no expert on modern money matters or modern courtship traditions, Marya had learned how to use modern money to buy enough of the treats for both her and Teddy to enjoy. She calls Teddy to put on his blue yukata rode and don't come out of his room until she says he can because she is preparing a special surprise for tonight's "dinner". When she is finished preparing the white day "dinner" (Which is more like dessert for dinner lol) and calls him out, he is utterly surprised by what he sees: White chocolate heart boxes, Melon cream soda with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a cherry on top, and a cherry blossom bouquet in the center. It was an absolutely unexpected surprise, but it was so heartfelt of the countess. The Lobo son might've felt his heart touched whether he'll like to admit it or not.

Also yes, Marya can go underwater as an undead vampy that doesn't need to breath to "live" so to speak

I also hc that Pink is one of Marya's favorite colors bc when you think about it, pink is a pale shade of red, and vampires are pale af and drink red blood to keep living, therefor vampire blush would be pink if they had recently consumed blood

Pink is also a lighter and softer shade of red when associated with Marya Zaleska because unlike Dracula, she is more sympathetic, sensitive, tender, sweet, the girly girl to Rebecca Quincy's tomboy, strives to revive her childhood nostalgia after having them robbed from her for the majority of her life, and because of her long loneliness, I'm positive she'll love to have someone who loves her (Like genuinely loves her, not interested in her only to use her for selfish purposes), thus romance

A combining that with Teddy's black would indeed be hot~ 😏

Funny story while I was developing the storyline: I remember that one time where @popironrye asked me this ↓

NEW MARWARD LORE RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC 👁️👁️

Interesting I thought about this as I was writing a backstory about the Countess buying gifts for her Lobo :3

Now if you're wondering why I'm making another Japanese themed Marward fanart and if has something to do with the Japanese dub, well my answer to that is... YES! Yes it's true this month is White Day and the time where cherry blossoms begin blooming, but it's also because I'll like to announce that I have watched the Japanese dub of Renfield this month + posted clips of my boi! :D

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

[zomnommbie]

You should wrong thing to say don't do it again first warning you've been issued your face don't do that again I'm a dragon you will refer to me as a title timers to fuck up completely utterly so I'm going to courage you that I'll drag in and switch on initially irritably irritably getting combinations and dragging it virtually initially irritably at different times though chooses events blood hypocrisy and reasonable your face has emitted you this version of a muffin again and then I'd get to the third place I could buy you you must write to us that'd be a very nice place pleasant do it again don't do it again

Rather a riddle of a container and continues to go back and involve it a riddle of her container and take it right here completely edalius so what equations is that teeter you're smart and intelligent I'll continue to suspect you you're smart and hold it sometimes though she uses the essence but it's a progressive progressive regression this usual brain so smugging you instead of elephant keep on selling all of our gun and take it right teacher and pretty Italy is somewhat if origin's that heater

Didn't intervene together about the case be sending somewhere around behind me in the background it's almost like therapy therapy therapy you're holding the clothes keep your helicopters at all times mind if you're a original penny and medical original opinion we're getting understand now and loved your gun that supposed to be a double turns in a vote or a minus that I'm going to hear yours is the resources on here so I can't be able to keep doing it you can't be lucky to post it can't be a block in a house you can't be postponed posts you cannot very postpone posts and you definitely cannot be on an internet situation if you don't have left you also surely so can I be following me or spending a third British therapy to hotter or left me on indecontent to do your mind she's doing what did you mean

You're doing what you're doing then you're going to have to stop but hear yourself to some subterms I guess I'll set up For You that's what's great but if I Don't think you Don't have to use this Yes yes By The Way in following it Sometimes oak's uses if Sims butts are procrastinating regional you are All In our Law all the Black & white there isn't a situation Here no worthiness no being bothered to like it one may or may not be involved in a lack of next month Choose a science paper that lasts evolved in a series of Alzheimer's policy with Teenagers looking at you guys on the internet the car Money and back I Mean Rebecca Mint Rebecca ma what comes your goose around I'm going to Go front comes Here therefore

ive reached peak

[trentcrimminallybeautiful]

(...) Something something even in journalism being specifically a sports/football journalist and dealing with players, owners, and coaches like Ted’s predecessor. (...) // god I have so many thoughts about this entire post and especially this part! george cartrick uses a homophobic term in one of his first lines. that first scene with george and rebecca is probably what the press room environment was like while trent was deeply closeted, unhappy in his relationship with a woman. to think of him being in that chair week after week for years... no wonder he was so cold when we first met him. and no wonder ted's warm presence changed him so profoundly

RIGHT!!!!!!!!! i think about this so so so much . like. trent pre-canon just. being so deeply unhappy. bored with his job, scared of himself, lonely and bitter and with so little affection in his life. his work environment is outright hostile and his home life feels like a lie and he has nowhere he feels safe. and yeah just. specifically with him going to work every day to talk to people like cartrick, to be immersed in a very toxic and homophobic culture, one he grew up with with his father, and like. him being sharp and unforgiving and snappish and aloof because he has to be, because the world he deals with daily is cold and sharp to him, and then--

then ted comes along and he is completely unprepared. thrown off guard, searching for what angle ted has, what trick this is, what he's playing at, because he is completely unprepared to deal with someone who is warm and genuine and open. and when it becomes increasingly clear that ted's sincere, that he really is warm and caring and kind, that he not only isn't going to but never would say the kind of shit cartrick did, that trent--trent can let his guard down around him--it's... kind of irresistible. how can he be anything but helpless to that when he's been starved of it for so long? i remember in that same quote that james lance said that he wanted to be loved but truly felt he was unlovable he said something like. even from the beginning there was more inside wanting desperately to come out, that he couldn't express himself because of his oppressive childhood (and, we can assume, his prior work environment) so he couldn't show the sweetheart he really was and i'm just crying. like. yeah. him just utterly melting. like.

this is barely coherent but just. something about how ted's whole thing is getting through to people and crumbling tough cookies, and trent is presented--an early challenge--as a very tough cookie indeed, the coldest of the bunch, the worst and most cutting journalist of all the shitty journalists, literally handpicked by rebecca to destroy ted as the most respected but also the biggest cunt. and like. it takes a while for ted to get through to roy, and jamie, and rebecca, right? but trent??? like. there's the two brief press conference meetings (in which trent is borderline hostile, although he seems bemusedly impressed by ted's clever answers once he's prepared) and then like, what, half a day? a brief conversation or two, watching him interact with kids, and then half a dinner that he basically flees halfway through directly after realizing ted's genuine and looking like he's been fucking cracked open about it. like. it doesn't even take that much for him to change his mind and listen to what ted's saying. yeah, it takes him a little while longer to fully soften up--and in fact, we only see him really, truly his most authentic sweetheart self once he's fully immersed in the community ted's helped cultivate--but like. wow. literally just. ted being sincere, ted being kind to him, and that's enough. like. a wild beast that wants to be tamed so it can lay its head in a warm lap, a knight that wants to be disarmed so he can finally stop fighting. it took so little to get through to him. like it's kind of tragic. maybe no one else could have done it--could have been as boldly, incredibly, almost stupidly sincere and open as ted is--or maybe anyone could have and it's simply that no one did. like just!!!!!! trent growing to be cold and aloof and sharp as armor, defense against the world that's hurt him, that he's already hiding from, and just. ted disarming him. trent letting his guard down and for once not being punished for it. i just. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGH!!!!!!! no wonder he was so cold with how unhappy and scared and alone he was!!!!!!! no wonder ted's kindness and warmth affected him so badly!!!!!!!!!!!! FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hobartsaglet]

Getting rid of the beat or she pulled back and bothered and ridded over in teacher and continued to be the best teacher and teacher and teacher and teacher right here I'm pretty utterly as someone who's in the teacher you're a smart and intelligent I will continue to expect abusive progressive progressive progressively and you don't care they're going to commit to you so it's going his guny viewing slut at Oliver Gan keep on studying Oliver gone into your right metre and Liddy utterly is somebody quired him is that hinder

Together the best case for sending somewhere around behind me in the background so I'll sit there with a dairy cotton bust me your hole my clothes keep your hole a little times management opinion stands I'm going to show a original opinion we'll continue to stand now in long ago and it's a procedure that returns an avoid war's mind is the dominant air yours is the resource of the resource of the hall second of all the cabin you know you can't be like about it you can't be a bug in about it but you can't be posted about it they cannot really Post my posts and you definitely cannot be in it internet said degeneral there you also surely yourself not you calling me or studying I told her to hide her about something on any contented in mind she's doing what you

Nobody if you of course noticed this on and hear yourself do some software inside yourselves whatever you can talk to me but by info bank or sometime though she uses absence buds to procrastinate Arizona you're all in her love all and I think black & white there isn't a shed to go here no officialist no being bothered to flack at 1 and not be bothered flag at the next moment choose are slightly instinctive I'll see if I'll see if there's a response policy which teenagers are fucking in Hawai I'm going to the car mountain in the car rent and back come on Rebecca monaries becomes there and goes around go during helms therefore I eagerly wish

if i say that your art is really cool and swag will this curse be broken

[redheadgleek]

January 2024 books!

I had some vacation this month. I also had an entire week when I was stuck at home without internet due to the ice storm. So I read a lot, mostly very light, fluffy comfort read books.

What I read:

Nine Goblins by T. Kingfisher. A novella about war as experienced by goblins. As usual from a TK book, a little gory, a lot witty, with some fun characters.

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I've read so little of Neil Gaiman's books and I really enjoyed this one. I thought it was quite inventive and I liked how the passing of time was framed.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing by Matthew Perry. It's an odd experience reading a book written by a person who has died. He had a lot of mental health problems, and I'm so sad that the medical world failed him so much.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells (audiobook). I read the novella last year and have been wanting to read the whole series, but I had already forgotten details, hence the audiobook. It was a great way of seeing things through Murderbot's eyes. I just got the next book from the library, so that will be my next listen, I think.

Miss Buncle's Book by D.E. Stevenson. A very charming book about a woman who scandalized her hometown by writing a book about them. Reminded me a lot of L.M. Montgomery's short stories.

Lord of the Butterflies by Andrea Gibson. A book of poetry exploring love and family and gender. So much emotion packed into every poem. Truly lovely.

The Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett. I've also not read much of Sir Terry's and everybody has recommended the Tiffany Aching series. It was a lot of fun and had some very unique characters.

Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros. This is not high fantasy, but when the frozen world was coming down around me, this was exactly the kind of escape fiction I needed.

Weyward by Emilia Hart. Three stories woven into one about generations of women who are witches. There wasn't anything that really unique about the book, but it had great atmosphere.

An Unexpected Twist by Andy Borowitz. Not sure I should really count an 18 page essay as a book, but I enjoyed this perspective of the medical system from somebody experiencing complications.

Thank You for Listening by Julia Whelan. Okay, it mostly stretched credibility, but I enjoyed the banter between the love interests. And I especially liked the way the MC was dealing with her grandmother's dementia.

Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn. I enjoyed this one. I appreciated that while it was a "going home to the small town" trope, it also didn't paint that as solving all of the problems.

Upstream: Selected Essays by Mary Oliver. I started reading this last year and it took me to finish. Some of the essays were gorgeous, some felt unfinished, and others felt like book reports.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Huang. I nearly DNF at 90% because I was so mad at the "chivalrous" macho possessive behavior of the male character. There was a lot of gender roles and conformity and casual (and not so casual) sexism throughout. Oh the other hand, the sex was plenty and pretty well described.

What I'm currently reading:

Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. My sister recommended this. I'm about half way through and it's a tale interweaving people from the past and the future. It's at a point where it feels like bad things are going to start happening, so I'm a touch anxious, but it's been excellent so far.

Poverty. by America by Matthew Desmond (audiobook). I'm an hour in and it's utterly horrifying and gutting.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. It's a 20 year old book at this time and needs an update, but it certainly makes science understandable.

The Six: The Untold Story of America's First Women Astronauts by Loren Grush.

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Key. I remember reading this in high school and really liking it (while also feeling dirty because there was some swearing and a sex scene in it). This time though? It's obvious he's channeling Tolkien, the writing is painfully stilted and the premise is weak and I've found out that it's a sort of King Arthur retelling, so I'm just not sure about it.

What I plan on reading next:

Emily Wilde's Map of the Underworld, Tom Lake (audiobook), and The Starless Sea are next on my list, I think.

[rebeccalouisaferguson]

During a recent interview with Collider's Steve Weintraub while promoting the season finale of Silo, Rebecca Ferguson spoke about what audiences can expect from Dune: Part Two:

"I’m smiling so much right now. It's so fucking good. I get emotional talking about it because I love Denny [Villeneuve] and I love Greig [Fraser] and I love the team. But dude, number one is phenomenal and big and grandiose, and then you go close-ups and the imagery and the acting. Yeah, it's all great. It's fucking nothing compared to number two. Number two, it's like a fucking gut punch. It's unreal."

She went on to say, "I haven't seen the film. I've read the script. I've seen the footage. I've come onto set when I'm not filming, which by the way I don't do because I'm too busy, tired, and I don't really care. I'm done. I wanted to see the setups. I wanted to see Austin Butler do what he was doing. It's unbelievable. There are no words. The costumes, [Jacqueline West’s] costumes, what Austin's bringing to that character, what Christopher Walken does. I mean, it's unreal."

...

Ferguson also spoke about her experience while getting to work with the new talent joining the franchise:

"Their characters are huge and important, and they are emperors, and they are princesses, and they are brutal killers, and they are gory. They are fully and utterly needed to make the spectacle that it is, and it's the crème de la fucking crème of actors. That's what it brings."

Dune: Part Two will continue the journey of Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet), a young warrior who is considered to be the protagonist of a prophecy by the Fremen. After losing his home during the last installment, Paul is determined to improve his abilities in order to defeat the Emperor and bring freedom to the worlds that need it the most. In the meantime, he has to figure out why he's closely connected to Chani (Zendaya), given how he constantly saw her in his dreams before they even met. Mysteries will be revealed and the fate of Arrakis will be decided when the sequel lands on the big screen this fall.

[starfieldcanvas]

As someone who was raised American Protestant in a house where everybody in my family has been cool with gay people dating back to at least the seventies, it's always kind of hilarious when one specific American Protestant (in this case @artist-issues) acts like they're the arbiter of the whole of American Protestantism.

American Protestantism is at least forty different denominations in a trench coat, and even within denominations it's a riot of dissenting opinions. American Protestantism is a HOT MESS. Some of them believe being rich is evidence that God loves you. Some of them believe the world is five thousand years old and that a global flood was a literal historical event in the geological record. And then on the other hand, some of them put rainbow flags on their windows and perform gay weddings. Practically any vaguely Christianity-flavored statement fits into American Protestantism somewhere.

In order to accurately represent American Protestantism, you have to have enough psychological distance from it to stop making excuses for all the parts of it that don't fit together and don't make sense. This doesn't necessarily require growing up in & then leaving the religion, but it sure helps.

What continues to astonish me is the way Christians so often react to other people rejecting Christianity as if we are somehow rejecting it from within an inescapable Christian framework. It's utterly bizarre.

Look at the way @artist-issues writes their response as though Rebecca Sugar is knowingly criticizing a real god that exists, rather than the far more obvious possibility: that Sugar is criticizing a human religious practice Sugar themself was raised around.

(This is assuming White Diamond is even a critique of the Christian tradition at all, rather than being a more straightforward narrative about a toxic parent.)

@artist-issues is far from the first time I've encountered this wacky approach to non-Christians. When I was leaving Christianity and trying to talk to my family, friends, and teachers about it, I ran afoul of this attitude all the time: there was this pervasive conviction that when I said "I don't think God exists, and also the story you tell about him existing is honestly pretty fucked up" that meant I was knowingly "attacking God." And they would try to tell me I was making God sad with my attacks, or whatever, and I'd be like "look I don't know what you want me to say, I don't think that dude is real, I'm not concerned for his hypothetical feelings one way or the other. I can't be in a relationship with someone who does noT EXIST."

“At least it's not ferociously attacking God quite as directly as Steven Universe did…”

Not that I’m surprised by this statement, but can you elaborate on this? Kinda intrigued by your thoughts on Steven Universe.

Okie dokie, you’re not the only one who has asked me about this, so I suppose I’ll poke the hornet’s nest. 😅 I haven’t talked about this before because I assumed that everyone who wanted to hear my kinds of opinions on stories wasn’t watching or interested in Steven Universe.

It’s like asking vegetarian if they enjoyed a turkey dinner. The turkey dinner was so obviously not made for vegetarians to enjoy, so why would the vegetarian even bother analyzing the turkey?

But I think if some people are asking me why I think Steven Universe is anti-God (of the Bible) its because maybe they don’t know what the turkey is. Not completely. (Maybe not you, because like you said, you’re not surprised by my comment.) So I’ll explain my thoughts on Steven Universe.

If you’re just following me because you liked some stuff I posted, but didn’t realize that I’m a Bible-believing Christian and don’t want to hear about it, unfollow me now. Because I’m going to talk about some hot button issues here and the trolls will come out.

Steven Universe is really well-done. The jokes are funny, the writing is believable, the characters have great chemistry, great design, the concept is fascinating, the slow build-up and reveal of the plot elements is great. But when you watch the throne room scene in the last episode of Season 5 “Change Your Mind,” it’s alarmingly clear how much the whole show is not just settling for defending and championing the LGBTQ+ worldview—it goes all the way to attacking what Christians believe, on the other side.

Anything that’s pro-LGBTQ+ is doing that by default, but this show goes out of its way to do that.

You have to understand: God created and designed us. Deeper than that; He created and designed romantic relationships, and invented marriage. He didn’t just create love—He is love. So when humans come along and do what we’ve always done since the fall, and say, “I’d rather define what Your thing is and how it works for myself, God,” it’s not only an incredible slap in the face, it’s an attack on God’s actual identity—and it’s destructive for us and the people around us. Like a fish insisting it can breathe oxygen.

But Steven Universe goes beyond that. It knows that the Christian worldview is it’s biggest opposition. It digs right down to the heart of the worldview-battle. LGBTQ+ worldview says, “I should get to love what I want and be who I am, because I’m me. Love is love. (By which I mean, any action or relationship I choose to call love is love, because I’m the one calling it that.)”

Biblical worldview says “No, wait, you shouldn’t base your decisions on you alone; what you want changes day to day, and you’re broken, so you can’t ever be satisfied based on what you want—the Bible says God made you for something, and you rejected that, and it broke you. You’re not how you’re meant to be: even what you want and what you think love is is twisted up and can hurt you and others. But if you submit to God He’ll help you, He’ll fix what’s broken and give you new life by making you how you were supposed to be: He’ll live in you and through you.”

Are we beginning to get the picture?

See, the whole thing with the opposing views between LGBTQ+ and Christian people is as old as time. It’s not a new debate. It’s Satan and Eve in the garden. She says, “This is not how God said things should be,” and Satan says, “Are you sure that’s what He said? He knows if you do this thing, you’ll be like Him. You’ll be god: you’ll get to decide ‘how things should be’ for yourself.”

He lied and said that disobedience would satisfy her. That she knew what her own heart needed better than the God that made it did. That the very act of being imperfect would make her godlike.

And then Steven Universe comes along and says “if every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hotdogs.”

And has a cast of created being characters who’s imperfections (Garnet’s forbidden “love,” Pearl’s obsession, Amethyst’s insecurity) are supposedly “the best thing about them; what makes them who they are.”

And has a main character who used to be a part of the god-like creator relationship, but used her power to come down to earth and completely change who she is into a fully different person.

And has a godlike Creator character who claims she “doesn’t need” her created beings (just like the God of the Bible) but they all have a little part of their creator in them so she has to repress their imperfections; she holds them all to a standard that’s impossible to reach called “perfection” and punishes them when they don’t meet it even though it hurts them to try; she expects them all to do what they were created by her for; she fixes them when they can’t meet her standard by shining her light through them and making them extensions of their Creator.

And has a main character who argues, fights back, tries to stop her, and is answered with lines that sound surprisingly like what LGBTQ+ people hear when Christians argue with them: “you’re only making things worse; you’re just deceiving yourself; even while you resist it your actual light can’t help shining through,” etc.

White Diamond just wants everything to be perfect. Like her. She just wants her created beings to “be themselves.” But what she means is, be how she created them to be.

And she’s the bad guy. She’s playing God in this show, and Rebecca Sugar is saying, “If God is telling us that can only be happy by being perfect, as He is perfect, and doing what He created us to do, then He’s wrong. Our imperfections are what make us special—unique—individuals—free—and there is nobody who has the right to take that freedom away from us, not even out creator!”

And you know what?

If God were like White Diamond, like Rebecca Sugar believes Him to be, Steven Universe would be right.

But He is NOT.

God is not a dictator who forces us to conform to a standard of perfection and then smashes us when we don’t meet it. He is a King who made us perfect to begin with, and we rejected him, because He allowed us to do that. He knew that true love was love that had to be chosen, and He wanted us to love Him by choice, so he gave us the option. But Rebecca Sugar doesn’t understand—there was never “Choose God or Choose Yourself.” There was only, “Choose God or Choose Nothing.” There was nothing except God. Then He created everything. There is no version of reality where you have something better than God, or even slightly less good but different, to pick. You’re not jumping from one ship into a smaller one, but at least it’s yours—you’re jumping from one ship into a void, and then complaining that there’s no other ship. That’s humans. That’s not God. / White Diamond didn’t make her creations perfect (Amethyst) and she didn’t make them for love. She made them for power. That’s not the God of the Bible.

Even when we did choose to try and love ourselves instead of God, and therefore warped our ability to perfectly love at all, He didn’t smash us. True, everything fell and was cursed, which is exactly what He warned us would happen if we chose it, but it was a natural consequence of breaking ourselves. And then He didn’t leave us that way. He didn’t give up on us. And He certainly didn’t just zap us, snap His fingers, quick-fix it and turn us all into robots who are extensions of Him, who say they love Him but only because it’s His voice puppeting us to say it.

No. He came to us, chose to give up His life at the exact point on the timeline when Romans, masters in the art of slow, humiliating, torturous death, would be the ones to carry out His crucifixion, and saved us Himself. Through the sacrifice of His own life. And even then, we still have a choice. We get to choose to accept that incredible self-sacrifice when we don’t deserve it, and be given new life and a relationship with the Creator who knows us and loves us better than we can love ourselves or receive love from others—OR we can just keep stubbornly insisting that our slavery to the opposite of what God wants is somehow freedom, and our twisted versions of love are genuine, and we’re not broken, and die like that. Die broken creatures who lived their whole lives stomping their feet and screaming “I’m not a creature, I’m a god!”

White Diamond sacrifices nothing, because Rebecca Sugar doesn’t know the God of the Bible. She just knows her idea of Him. She’s never actually gotten to know Him. If she had, she’d learn how silly and twisted her idea is.

Because you know what, yeah, if every pork chop were perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs. But people aren’t pork chops. And hot dogs have flavor (not better than pork chops) but they are awful for you.

Christians aren’t perfect cuts of meat with no individuality or flavor. Just because we all know and love the same God doesn’t mean we have no personalities. It just means we don’t think so freaking much about what we are, or who we get to be, or what we like and want. Jeez, what a self-centered, narcissistic, self-obsessed way to live. She plays Steven like he’s this wonder-child, innocent and full of heart, who encourages his friends to love and keep trying. But honestly?

This is very pretty animation but it’s not real. Steven looks happy hugging Steven but self-love doesn’t ultimately get you that.

That’s all based on the premise that what he’s encouraging them to do is actually good, and will make them happy, and will help them love better. And it just won’t. Not in real life. That’s not how any of this works. Self-love is just self-obsession. And that is a sure-fire way to hurt you, and everyone around you.

You’ll never be free by choosing to run to a worse master. You’ll never be satisfied with your crappy attempts at loving yourself, because you were made to be loved flawlessly and forever by someone who is Love Himself.

And choosing to identify with your imperfections doesn’t make you uniquely you. It just makes you exactly like every other human being marching in the same line since the Fall.

White Diamond’s not relational. She’s up high and distant. That’s not God. He made you to be in relationship with Him. He loves you, totally and perfectly, and He proved it by sacrificing for You.

So yeah. That’s the problem with Steven Universe. Come get me, SU fans.

[marigoldbaker]

coming back with some more thoughts on ted lasso --

i did not like how they handled sam. i think it's a mark of progress and how far things have come but at the same time a spotlight on the new problems created by underlying racism/racial anxiety, even within the most loving narrative.

sam's storyline was all over the place! there is definitely a through-line, but none of the things he faces are about him Growing and Learning, really, because he is Already Perfect And Good. his narrative purpose is to serve as an example of how a good dad can positively impact you going forward, which is great, but they will just throw random shit at him like the stuff w/ edwin akufo and then just never fully resolve it! i think it's so so clear that they were making an effort to research and represent nigerian culture, which is wonderful in and of itself, but there is this really sticky issue with race within ted lasso that keeps showing up and i do not like it.

edwin akufo is a one-note character who shows up, torments sam, and then disappears from the narrative after he is bested by rebecca, without ANY explanation as to how this besting impacts his stuff with sam. are we to assume that, because his plans for a football league fell through, he's backed off re: sam? his frankly obscene amount of wealth which the narrative CONSTANTLY alludes to is very clearly more than enough for him to torment sam until the end of time, and he very clearly expresses a desire to do this -- yet the finale shows sam ostensibly a part of the nigerian team, with no bumps or hiccups! edwin akufo is never brought up again!

and also like, shandy? why was she necessary? we have only had two women of color in semi-regular roles and one of them is presented as an impulsive, unkind, selfish nightmare. it really fucking sucked to see that, and it feels weird that ted lasso's line of defense against negative portrayals of women of color is having one Really Really Good One and one Really Incredibly Bad One. there was no need for shandy to be a woman of color if her entire point was to Be Terrible and Then Leave. she was a wholly unnecessary character to begin with & to make her a woc is just icing on top of the cake.

BUT I DIGRESS. i'm bugged the most by sam because, outside of nate, he is the nonwhite character who gets the most screen time! (and the fandom racism towards nate TURNS MY STOMACH, but that is not actually an issue that exists within the text of the show itself, so i'll leave that alone!) i think there was definitely an understanding within the writers' room that portraying a dark-skinned black man as sensitive, soft, and emotionally intelligent was a deeply important move for representation, but they just did not go that extra mile and actually create a consistent storyline for sam. he could have absolutely been that gentle, perfect guy without throwing in That Cartoon Villain Ghanaian Billionaire who shows up to yell at him and be terrible and ruin his life (and then, after one angsty episode in s3, disappear without explanation, clearing the way for sam to do whatever he wants).

it kinda reminds me of colin -- that finale bugged me re: him too a little! certainly it was utterly wonderful to see him kiss his fella at the end of the game, but the way we left things with him was very clearly "the team knows, and that's enough for me." this guy has been closeted for the entire time he's been a football player. telling the team was already so much more than he ever planned to do. kissing his boyfriend in public in the middle of the pitch, where any number of cameras would likely have picked up on them both??? PEOPLE ARE GOING TO SEE THAT. i found that one really hard to swallow as well.

it just bugs me because there is absolutely this understanding of systemic oppression that hovers around the edges of ted lasso, but then they will do things like everything that they did with sam! an awareness that There Is A Problem, but no time spent on the solution. and i totally understand that, tonally speaking, systemic oppression is not ted lasso's focus -- but this season they went out of their way to Make It Their Focus! & yet we get this absolutely bizarre storyline for sam where they just don't tell us what happened or why akufo backed down or ANYTHING. despite multiple hour-long episodes this season. don't like it.