#I'm hoping at least that the service is palatable

[goodnightmoonvale]

The pastor from the nearest neighborhood congregation (I think they're Methodist maybe) posted on the neighborhood Facebook group that their musician/accompanist had to go to the hospital and did anyone know anybody who was willing to play for the service on Sunday?

And nobody had said anything so I messaged the pastor that if he hadn't found anybody, I could probably do it as long as they weren't expecting anything amazing. I played the piano in church a lot growing up but since Mormon congregations are all volunteer, I consider myself a "competent amateur" since I didn't even study music in college or anything

Anyhow, I met with him and he showed me the music and I think I picked it up enough to play tomorrow. And then he was like "oh by the way, we pay the church musicians $125 a week" and I was very much just like ? ??? ????

I mean. Like I said, I'm used to Mormon congratulations where literally everyone is a volunteer, including the pastor, so the concept of getting paid to play church music is so foreign to me. It makes total sense! But I can tell that my brain is like. You're going to pay me???? For church music???

Anyway we'll see how it goes tomorrow. He said he's also looking for a backup musician for another church he preaches at and might want me next week too. Which, I'm not opposed. It would get me actually practicing piano and organ again.

[dopscratch]

possibly controversial medic post incoming

remember i am within the belief that people can interpret characters the way they want to and i respect any other interpretations even if i find them very far from canon! and i totally accept that some people will find MY interpretation as super far from canon and thats ok too!

that said i will cherish anyone who agrees with me because i find it so rare that people characterize medic the way i do in fan material

there are a couple different breeds of medic fans and i'm of the (unpopular?) opinion that hes a sadistic egotistical maniac whos managed to manipulate everyone into thinking hes charismatic- but he truly cares for no one (except his birds). and i absolutley love him for it. because this makes him incredibly interesting to play around with and examine like a little bug on my windowsill

i dont seriously mind other interpretations but man is this the real medic to me (also why i dislike ships with medic! i headcanon him as not romantically interested in anyone ever plus the characteristics he has making things incredibly toxic (the comment about his wife by demoman is either demos drunk ramblings or some poor one sided relationship or a convenience marriage)). i always strive to make things as close to canon as possible and this is just the interpetation i've gathered after examining the canon materials. i will gladly provide proof of my beliefs whenever

yes he brought sniper back to life but that's for the science! he mentioned smiling because he was happy to see sniper while sniper was already shot and bleeding out because he could smell some human experimentation coming! meaning he was happy to see sniper DYING! (or he's just flat out lying!! which he totally would do!)

hes pretty much out ONLY for himself and only works with others for the services he wouldn't have access to otherwise. he acts charismatic because people are more likely to let him do what he wants if hes pleasant. and also hes just sort of silly by nature which a lot of people find endearing

the second opinion shows both the evil zombie face and NORMAL HIM have a united desire to murder all of his friends. he doesn't because it would be inconvenient. the fact he AGREES with the second opinion but shushes it anyway shows he wants to APPEAR like he doesnt want to kill everyone which is certainly a manipulative behavior

anyway theres more but thats where i shall cap it for now. i will certainly answer any questions anyone has about my interpretation of medic though :)

i just love how medic has been characterized through all of the materials valve has so graciously given us and it makes him such a horrific specimen. it's so rare to see a genuinely terrible person who is also a protagonist and i feel like watering that down to make him more palatable or likeable is a tragedy. because terrible people as characters are underrated. and a character doesn't need to be "actually a good person, guys" to be a compelling and interesting character. i love absolutely screwed up self-centered uncaring wild and silly medic and i hope at least one other person out there does too.

[hms-tardimpala]

For the AU game (if I remember correctly you also reblogged that post): modern AU FPA? What would Fetch be doing? What would the other characters be doing? How would this big underlying conflict translate into a modern world?

Yes I did, thank you for the ask!

(Now is the time to remind you I'm not concise)

Oh my, a Modern AU. If it has supernatural elements, then the difference is simply the time period and technologies available (since the FPA is set loosely in a fantasy 20s-40s). If it doesn't, then it's a completely different story and the magic disappearing has to be replaced with another world-altering event, and other communities must be chosen to stand in for the Magum and humans.

I'll assume you mean the first case, because I don't have the brain power to figure out all the implications of the second right now.

I don't think it would be all that different, to be honest. The cars would be faster and the guns would be a given, but what would change...?

I think a post-Coda Archetellos with social media would be even more of a horrible place. I don't trust our current political climate to handle something as complex as the Coda well, I think the hatred on all sides would make things incredibly vicious and ugly. Although that situation - the Coda - and the precarity (of health and of work, for example) it implies for the Magum could be used interestingly to mirror our western societies' inequalities and the deepening wealth chasm between social classes. It could also be used to comment on our treatment of minorities and on health-based discrimination (disability is already a prominent theme in the FPA).

Man-for-hire doesn't sound like an occupation in a modern world. I think Fetch would be a struggling vet-turned-PI living half on the street and who doesn't have access to modern investigative tools, sticking to old methods, which is why his only clients are old ladies who lost their dog. I think Hendricks would be an old-money european diplomat who took him all over the world. With an international press system like ours, Fetch's history with the Opus and Human Army would be more publicly-known, and that would prove difficult for him.

Maybe Amari would be in a coma in a hospital bed and what little money Fetch has would go into keeping her on life-support.

I believe that Simms would hang on as long as possible being a cop in a corrupt system, but that she would leave like Richie eventually. Maybe the uprising in DMIAD would be the final straw.

Niles would be much less likeable as a capitalist in this world. He would have to work really hard to improve Sunder and give his employees the best benefits ever in order to be palatable to us.

In this world, I think Eileen would thrive or at least have a more important role. She's queer, works two jobs including one that's a disregarded public service she gets no funds for, she's book-smart, she cares about moving on and the future. She would be at the forefront of social justice fights, a militant who gets shit organized.

I'm not into Modern AUs generally speaking, but I think something could be made with the FPA and modern activism.

I hope this long and vague answer is satisfactory, thank you again for getting my brain going! <333

[mantra4ia]

Debris: speculation and what we know so far about...

Bryan

The character is from Texas, has no siblings, and his parents are both alive.

He served in MARSOC (Marine Special Forces) in Afghanistan, where he was in a military prison in some capacity (officer or detainee unclear, but an alternate reality he's called a war criminal, so he's likely detained).

FWIW, I'm a little surprised that in an alternative reality Bryan wasn't a part of Influx. He shares a similar kind of backstory with Anson Ash.

He carries a baseball on the plane like a momento stress ball (1x03).

He eats...a lot, literally thinks with his stomach, seemingly indiscriminately (#you could just pull up a chair to the buffet). Stale Peeps, weeks old sandwiches, rewarmed burritos, anything from the minibar, etc. Maybe he was a smoker in the time before and it killed his sense of taste. Or he just has an iron stomach from his time on active duty. In any case, food seems to be his unconditional OTP. I request a GIF supercut.

He seems to know a bunch of field operatives (Lester, Sharon, John the ME, Muntz, Beck from containment) from various Orbital teams, perhaps even worked cases with a few, along with everyone in Maddox's office. He's very cordial so presumably he likes them, but in stark contrast at least half seem to decidedly dislike him with baiting antagonism, some openly hostile. Sharon: "why are you smirking at me Bryan?" Muntz, the Laghari lab tech: "I've come across plenty like you...men who play by their own rules." Beck: "They only send in the A-team when they want the agents to survive...easy for you to say, I'm the one who had to tell his wife". No wonder he feels a bit ostracized. Perhaps his reputation (impulsive?) proceeds him or perhaps he's been labeled an "unlucky" partner that misfortune follows so he gets kept at a distance?

The exception to the above seems to be Gary Garcia, the former scientist that helps hide George. May be former partners if the audio during credit rolls is any indication, and knows about Bryan's health / injections. They appear close. Perhaps because they share a mentality: both presumably injured in their line of work at Orbital, and they know what it means to have to rely on yourself.

When we meet Finola and Bryan, it seems like they've been working together for a few weeks, stateside at least (Finola's quote 1x02: Been here 3 weeks, feels like 3 years) and that he's had at least two Orbital partners prior, one (Julian / Jules) that died on duty, and the other creepy Dutch guy still living, Niels. How many more partners has he been through? Is it protocol that they get reassigned/shuffled so often to follow the debris, or so as not to form attachments "This job is about being alone, it's supposed to be...we're a blip in other people's lives", or does his personality not play well with others, like from the pilot when he tells Finola "it's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being."

Also in 1x01 when Bryan says, "So are we now saying the debris pulled [Kieran] from the ground and added meat to his bones" and Finola says no, he was cremated, Bryan looks almost disappointed like he was momentarily more hopeful than pragmatic. At first I thought this was just a lead up to introducing the fact that George Jones was alive, but maybe another plot point is that Bryan has lost someone in duty he wants back.

He carries a picture in his front pocket of a woman with some Persian/ Farsi(?) or Urdu(?) written on the back. It's hard to tell by the script, it could be neither. When confronted by that, his clone says "I can't let it go." Old flame that was lost? Or a partner of a fallen service member killed in action —I've lost brothers— that he couldn't save (is that part of Bryan's dark guilt / grief)? Civilian casualty of a Marine mission? In the pilot when he tells Isla "you have to tell her how much you need her, I know from experience...You will not be able to forgive yourself if you don't" is Bryan thinking of this woman?

EDIT: considering the next episode is called "Asalah," which could be a woman's name, maybe that's part of the text on the back of the photo. Pure speculation.

He counts on himself to be level and composed when it comes to his emotions and apologizes when he isn't. He loses that composure in the pilot when Isla talks about family therapy and fighting with her mother after Kieran's death: "I knew someone like her once." Was Bryan referring to himself, has he been through post-service therapy? Perhaps he developed a rift with his family or left home at an early age like she did?

Bryan would be great at pub trivia night. He always seems to have an odd fact ready about NASA tech, native legends, an article about a historical building that he read, Fleetwood PA, etc. He doesn't seem the type to keep facts on standby to impress, so perhaps he's a secret bibliophile even though Finola hassles him for not reading case files.

"Fin: Maybe we should run some more tests before we continue/ Bryan: I will cut bait if you want to / Fin; let's just look out for each other" 1x02 Bryan seems more cautious than impulsive, he does a good job of listening to Finola's concerns. Is that from experience? Did he get overconfident, mishandle debris, and get permanently injured, hence the frequent blood work and injections?

"This man saved my life." Why does Bryan trust Maddox implicitly? And when Maddox says in 1x07 "Investigate quietly. I want to keep the lights off. I don't want to lose anymore lives, Bryan, okay?" is that a word of warning specially for him? Does he have a body count? (see afforementioned question of frequent work partners turnover and having an unlucky reputation)

Bryan in protective of Finola when the CIA taps her apartment. It's the straw that turns his allegiance from his agency to his partner.

I still can't place why Bryan carries a baseball — it seems like it could be a red herring, but I can't get over the visual of Maddox playing catch with Dario and reading into it as some sort of surrogate bond — or why he has a chain around his neck (1x05). It's not service tags and probably not a ring, it's some kind of pendant: a large loop encircling a dull, perhaps tarnished, gray metallic disc. A patron saint? A piece of shrapnel? A piece of debris? Unclear, but it definitely has texture or an etching.

Top Bryan Quotes

"That's the job. Impossible." 1x01 Pilot

"We are supposed to be blips in these people's lives, not memories." 1x04 In Universe

"It's been a long time since I've worked with somebody who's looked at me like another human being." 1x01

"Zippo lighters, Pyrex glassware, Crayola crayons, and of course Peeps. Insane for peeps, cracklike...we owe the people of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania a great deal of gratitude and I am not afraid to say it." 1x02 You Are Not Alone

"I've been thinking, [about] Finola.. if MI6 knew her father was still alive they would take her out of here. We need to get home before this becomes an issue...this is going to affect her." 1x03 Solar Winds, when he's not sure how her father will affect her empathetic-based decision-making

Craig: "You hated the creepy Dutch guy." / Bryan: "He was adorable."

"Well, one of my tips for survival, Muntz, is always let the other guy touch the debris first." 1x03 So is that what happened to Garcia?

To Finola "I realize I tend to forget that there's still magic to discover in the world. But not you." 1x03

"There are things that you understand about life that I don't, and I respect that. But there are things that I know that you will not find very palatable...I am going to focus on the people that we're saving and not the ones that we can't." 1x04

"If we don't act, we might not be able to stop the terraforming. There's no way we're going to be able to win all these, and I know that every cell in your body right now is screaming for you to do what you think is right. I need you to go against that. I need you to trust me." 1x04

"Finola's capable. I trust her instincts." 1x08 Spaceman

"I'm running on sugar and coffee for the rest of the day" 1x07 You Can Call Her Caroline, but really isn't that Bryan everyday?

"When I tell you that I understand, it's not empty...I lost brothers. It destroys families. There are people who can help you with what you're going through right now...There is a way to get back from this pain. I was where you were, and the darkness almost ended me. And somebody put out his hand... I want to be there for you." 1x07

"I'm trying to get back to someone. It's very important to me." 1x09 Do You Know Icarus?

[dent-de-leon]

You can give an opinion without being an arsehole, mate. Also, I just read that 'broganes' was headcanoned by an Asian, so are they racist too? I'm not 'trying to win an argument', I'm genuinely confused. I've searched for it on here, but I can only find people arguing against it being racist. Most people I've seen who think of them as siblings isn't because they 'look similar' (which they don't), but because of how they act.

Okay, let’s break this down. First off, I know who the first person that came up with the bro/ganes headcanon was. I’ve been in this fandom a long time, practically since the show aired, and I honestly have a better understanding of fandom trends than a lot of other people since I saw it all firsthand right from the beginning. So, again–I know who the first person that came up with the term was. Yes, they were Asian. And I also know that it was 1) intended to be a “fun AU” for them based off their own personal experiences with their sibling, that they based it off that, and 2) it was meant to be an AU, not canon–which is how many antis took it–and it was also never meant to bash other ships or trivialize Shiro and Keith’s relationship. 

It was a fun personal project for them, and it wasn’t meant to be used as a tool to harass others. Guess what happened anyway. Just guess. Bro/ganes might have started out as something innocuous and innocent, but antis clung to it and things very quickly went off the rails. And just because some Asian fans liked the idea, you literally cannot change the fact that I’ve heard multiple others express their concerns on just why the subject was so upsetting for them. You cannot separate this term from the inherently racist connotations built up and emphasized by antis over the years. You cannot. The person who invented bro/ganes didn’t mean for it to get out of hand and be used by antis to hurt others like that, so please don’t try to play them like some kind of trump card or drag their name through the mud. 

And if you want to see firsthand just how detrimental bro/ganes is, Barlee very innocently posted an artwork of Shiro and Keith calling them “bros.” Antis went wild over it, and she then deleted the comments. People were like, “hey, why’d she delete the comments?” And antis started making up bullshit like, “oh, she probably did it because evil shaladins were bothering her, because they were upset about bro/gans!!” And then Barlee literally made a post saying that, actually, she deleted it because she didn’t want antis harassing shaladins and running away with the whole bro/ganes bullshit like they literally always do. When you have fans literally harassing the staff over this nonsense, it’s gone too fucking far:

Copying and pasting a brief history of bro/ganes here from my other post in case you didn’t see it:

I’m not sure how many of you were around for this, but I was here well before season 2. And the bro/ganes crap absolutely predates that (BOM) line. By a lot. I’m talking like practically the beginning. They’ve literally always been like this. Hunk saying the other paladins are his brothers convieniently never gets mentioned, but antis zeroed in on that one out of context line, because that’s how they are. They were ready for any scrap that they could wave in our faces and scream about like children somehow “proving” their nonexistent point.

And if you’re saying there’s weight to the line with Keith and Shiro, then you must also acknowledge there was considerable weight to Allura’s words when she called Keith and the other paladins her family. That was a heavy scene, there’s no way around it. It’s even followed by this embrace and words of affirmation. And yet, how interesting antis fixated on one scene with Keith and found family but not the other.

The facts are these–antis have always been uncomfortable with Shiro and Keith being so close. Because the easy intimacy there felt very tangible and real. Because it wasn’t k/l. I was there when the first trailer for season 2 came out, the one with Shiro calling out for Keith at the end. The one where Shiro tells Keith to lead Voltron. Do you know what antis were saying at the time? They were pissed that Keith and Shiro were so close and it would be a “sheith season.” We’re talking before this thing even aired. How dare Keith care so much about Shiro. Where was Lance? The nerve. 

People literally said they hoped Shiro would die because then sheith could never happen. I can’t even begin describe the very visceral hatred that people had for his character at this time–because Keith had the audacity to careabout Shiro, and it drove them fucking wild. As part of some mass delusion, people arbitrarily claimed it would be a “choice” between Lance or Shiro dying–because Lan/gst and everything must be about Lance. And there were posts and posts of people saying that they would throw Shiro off a cliff for Lance’s sake in a heartbeat and how if it’s between them they hope Shiro gets killed. 

People kept trying to rationalize it by insisting the only canonically mentally ill character needed to die because he was too traumatized to lead, because he wasn’t good enough for the team. He had to step down and give Lance his time. It wasn’t until antis had that one out of context BOM line to latch onto that they finally breathed a sigh of relief and went, “look, look bro/ganes is canon!!! We’re safe!!!” And suddenly no one said he had to die right away. In their mind, sheith was “dead,” and that was just as good as killing Shiro. It’s pretty sick. 

The bottom line is this–people have always hated sheith’s relationship and have been frantically looking for ways to undermine it. Bro/ganes–even right at the start–very quickly turned into fans going all conspiracy theory, making very racist assumptions without any evidence to back it up. “They look similar, they must be related!” “Keith’s last name in GoLion was Kogane, which sounds like Shirogane!! So they’re related!!” Is that how last names work? No, not in the fucking least. Did they neglect to mention Lance’s was Kurogane? Absolutely. 

Anyway, moving on–“They’re both Asian, so obviously, they’re brothers!! That’s why they’re so close, it all makes sense!!” You know what else is pretty upsetting to me? That you have tons of teenage girls fetishizing the k/l rivalry–because someone harassing another guy is apparently hot–but then immediately showing disgust when you have two guys actually expressing mutual love and support. 

The fact is, they used bro/ganes as an excuse to make Shiro and Keith’s relationship more “palatable” because they were personally uncomfortable seeing two guys so close, so obviously open and affectionate. And not in a way that was ever staged as fan service, not in a way with juvenile love/hate “sexual tension” played up to titillate an outside audience. Instead, Shiro and Keith’s interactions are very much heartfelt and organic. Interesting how apparently more guys like she/ith than k/l. 

Anyway, the most striking thing of all here is you keep saying I’m giving shallow reasons and that “it’s just racist because I say so,” like…you’re literally missing the entire point here, which is that, it doesn’t fucking matter what I think. This isn’t about you winning an argument with me. I cannot and I can never decide what’s racist to actual Asian fans, this is about their feelings on the matter, not mine. And if you don’t acknowledge that this is a term that’s been steeped in racist connotations and used to harass others for months and months now, then I literally don’t know what to tell you. Also, “You can give your opinions without being an asshole.” You already called me a dick, mate. You don’t have to pretend to be polite now, it’s okay. 

This isn’t an issue I’ll ever budge on, so I really don’t know what you’re expecting here. But it’s not about me, it’s never been about me and my feelings. You can open up and listen to others who are personally affected by the matter. Please understand these are my final thoughts on the subject, and nothing you can say will change it for me. 

[filefolderx]

This op-ed went out to a couple of Alberta papers. In the interests of timeliness, I'm sharing a revised version here.

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Pipeline Lessons

We all need to step back from the finger-pointing and political posturing in the wake of the Federal Court’s decision to quash approval of the Trans-Mountain Pipeline and reflect on the lessons government, and we who elect them, should now have learned.

The former Harper government wanted pipelines so badly that it eliminated or weakened environmental protections Canadians had previously relied on. The federal Conservatives used budget omnibus bills to strip down the Fisheries Act, Canadian Environmental Protection Act and other laws meant to ensure due environmental diligence for resource projects.

The predictable result was that public interest groups became more determined to stop pipeline projects because they lost faith that they’d be fairly evaluated in the face of such obvious bias. Lesson number one: if citizens don’t trust regulatory processes, expect more aggressive protest action.

The public distrust was exacerbated by the National Energy Board, which has long been stacked with pro-industry staffers. It chose to ignore potential impacts on oceans and endangered species and bulldozed through what should have been a full and respectful consultation process with First Nations. Lesson number two: if regulatory boards aren’t objective, diligent and clearly focused on protecting the public interest, expect the courts to rule against the resulting decisions.

We got here in large part because the Harper Conservatives opted to de-regulate and to stack the approval process in the interest of multinationals, instead of putting the public interest — in environmental protection, fair process and respectful engagement — first. Fortunately Canada has a system of law that protects the public interest when governments fail to do so.

The fault doesn’t all lie with the Conservatives though. The Liberals, have lessons to learn from this fiasco too. Trudeau tried to ingratiate himself with Albertans by merely tweaking the previous government’s flawed process in the race to approve the project. Ironically, he insisted that the decision was based on science and fair process. It was not. The NEB’s shortcuts had ensured that. See lessons one and two.

Then he doubled down and offered to put Canada another $4.5 billion dollars in debt by buying the pipeline! Shareholders are now laughing all the way to the bank. Lesson number three: governments should stick to governing, not gamble our money in the business marketplace.

The only government looking even remotely credible now is the province of BC whose opposition has been partly vindicated - but meantime they are building the Site C dam they approved by an almost identically flawed process.

Meantime, Alberta’s NDP are left wearing unearned blame for federal errors. Fortunately their pipeline cheerleading was accompanied by a Climate Action Strategy that at least offers some hope that Alberta won't be left flailing with nowhere to go. Lesson number four: it’s past time to stop putting all Alberta’s economic eggs into the bitumen basket.

The question now is this: will governments learn their lessons and take the necessary steps to ensure that regulatory boards are no longer captive to industry, that citizens can trust environmental laws and the agencies meant to enforce them, that Aboriginal rights are honoured, and that our economic plan will be based on something more than nostalgia for the 1970s?

We’re reaping the consequences of political cynicism and ineptitude at the federal level. We'd be wise to take a good hard look at the political philosophies of those who want our votes, either federally or provincially, and ask who is most likely to repeat Harper’s and Trudeau’s fatal errors — and who is most likely to ensure Canada profits from these lessons rather than having to learn them all over again.

---

It is so frustrating to be in Alberta, and see how much blame is being heaped squarely on the Alberta NDP, like they aren't trying to work within a system they didn't make. This will cost them any slim chance they had to win the next election, and I'm terrified for the future of LGBTQ youth, reproductive health services, harm reduction strategies, because the conservative population here now has something more palatable to grasp on to than "let the junkies die" or "make it so difficult to get an abortion that they just can't" or "make teachers out queer kids to the parents they are afraid of". I feel so helpless.