#Intelligent selling

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

My Cabinet of Tiger Ministers is in shambles.

[vaguely-concerned]

solas really did take about .3 seconds to come up with the idea of using his hollowed-out dead friend (his dead friend who he murdered (mostly accidentally I am willing to entertain (but STILL!!!!))) as a sockpuppet account specifically to scam his dead friend's bereaved protégé, huh. it does take a special kind of poor little meow meow to not only think of that but think of it with such record speed and go for it with such gusto, and that's why I love him. he really was like 'I am in blood step'd in so deep, I might as well pick up spiritual friend taxidermy while I'm at it, it isn't often you get to invent a whole new kind of sin to stain your hands with. I'll try anything once or even twice'. do I think he feels genuinely bad about it? yeah. does he just keep doing it anyway? you bet your ass he does! I know I have said this many times before but it just appears to me as a wonder anew every single time I contemplate it. there's something so deeply wrong with him (derogatory, affectionate, affectionately derogatory and derogatorily affectionate)

[locksnrocks]

I didn't have 'jumpscare' on my My Stubborn watch bingo list, but I done did got got thanks to Monsieur Pubès

Boat is beauty, Boat is grace, Boat has -something- on his face

[yakityyaku]

remember when ww2 ended and Japanese generals were on trial for committing atrocities against Koreans like sewing their limbs onto the opposite sides to "see what would happen" and the US government decided they wouldn't punish them for their crimes if they'd share all data collected from the torture with them?

yeah

[nando161mando]

eBay will use your personal data for AI training etc unless you OPT OUT.

[I only discovered this because I bothered to read the privacy notice update today]

[bitchesgetriches]

Read more:

The Bitches Get Riches Brand Promise: Social Media, Plagiarism, and AI in an Age of Exploitation

[herigo]

"Olmuş olanla ve olacak olanla çok fazla ilgilisin. Dün artık tarih oldu, yarın ise bir bilmece ama bugün sana hediyedir bunun kıymetini bilmek gerekir..."

[ihaveaskeleton]

Before and After: Edna's Ghoulification

Before: Edna Murdoc, four times widow and divorceé.

After: Edna Murder-McCoy—still married to the same man after a century and a half, against all odds.

[temmyoba-blog]

Even though I'm Pressed,i will always be in PRESSE for the PREZZIES.

[bedlamsbard]

the problem with trying to write ~historically accurate WWII fic is that everything that really happened in WWII was wilder and more batshit than anything I could come up with, even with superheroes and time travel included. especially in intelligence but also just in general.

[sellearthaccesstosellbrowntown]

SELL ACCESS TO EARTH TO SELL ACCESS TO BROWN TOWN

[artyone10]

make money with chatgpt

[mademoiselle-cookie]

I read volume 6 of Moriarty the Patriot.

The rest of that. I'll start with the simplest.

The French Revolution

I am French. I'm not going to talk about it.

This is going to piss me off.

(Here to understand)

The legend of the Lord of Crime

Is the Lord of Crime already known? Oh? Since when ? How ?

This is what I wanted to see when reading this manga. To know all the facets, strategies and consequences of Moriarty's plan. There is no slow evolution of the public becoming aware of its existence, it just appears all of a sudden.

How was this legend “born”? Has anyone noticed that awful nobles often get attacked? Are people just getting excited over what could be simple coincidences? Was it Moriarty and co. who propagated this idea in the press?

There are already bets on who will win between Sherlock (a person who exists and who has novels about him) and the "Lord of Crime" (a mere rumor). It's one thing to ask the question as a joke, it's another to gamble with money.

This is the point that makes me say Sherlock is here too soon. The time given to him should have been given to the creation of the 'Lord of Crime'.

Especially since the author does nothing except humiliate him to highlight Moriarty. This character is better than that.

Moriarty's death

The bad guy loses. In almost every story, this is how it works.

This is why it is very difficult to call them Mary-Sue even though they are very powerful and competent. First, because the threat must be credible, and second, because they are destined to fall from their pedestal. Mary-Sues don't fall.

Am I dreaming or the author made Moriarty's death a victory on his part?

Moriarty loses to Sherlock. In his arrogance, he does not suspect for a second that Sherlock could do something he had not planned, which is to say kill himself.

And Sherlock survives! Not Moriarty.

Except that here, it will no longer be a defeat. It will be a choice, a victory and a sacrifice (generally, when Mary-Sues die early, it is through sacrifice, very rarely anything else).

The manga basically buried any chance of Sherlock beating Moriarty. All he can get are meager victories.

(It's technically possible to add stakes by turning the tables, but the author has shown that he's not ready to tarnish Moriarty, especially for Sherlock.)

It's stupid that the manga sells us a duel while already revealing the winner.

Irene

So Irene Adler was just all full of bluster...

Ok. Great for our major female character I guess.

She ultimately got beaten by Sherlock Holmes - as I predicted (and as in the majority of adaptations where she appears) - BUT only after it was revealed that she was an amateur. Not even by William, but his brother.

The worst of the three options I proposed rolled into one. The only ones who emerge with their image intact are Moriarty and his gang. Again.

And really, for her to then be manipulated by Sherlock, who has been far from brilliant up to this point, just after being completely led around by the nose by Albert Moriarty and letting herself be completely dominated by him, makes her look like a huge idiot.

From the beginning, Irene had no idea what she was doing and accidentally screwed up all by herself, and the resolution is given to men who don't have a paternalistic attitude towards her at all. Very similar to the original story where 1) Irene does not create the problem 2) solves the problem on her own.

And then finally, she puts herself at the service of Moriarty. Second cliché associated with Irene which makes no sense. The only one she escapes is the romance with Sherlock, but I see that more as the author didn't want Sherlock's attention to shift away from Moriarty and the Lord of Crime.

This Irene really is not “The Woman.”

"The Woman"

Let's talk about it. This Irene does not deserve this title. It almost seems like a mockery, but given the rest of the author's work, he probably has no idea what he's talking about.

The original Irene obtains it by beating Sherlock intellectually and morally, masterfully without him realizing it.

Here, Sherlock understood that she was trying to manipulate him - he just wasn't competent/clever enough not to get trapped (even though his brother had warned him. How can such a genius not make the connection between his brother's strange warning and his next investigation? He doesn't know how to add 2+2?). He’s even the one who “saves” her*.

In the original, Irene doesn't need Sherlock to be there to make sure she's okay. She manages on her own. She creates her happy ending all by herself. Yes, she has her husband. But she doesn't need him, she loves him. If he wasn't there, she wouldn't die.

Whereas here, Irene needs Moriarty and Sherlock.

Speaking of which, from where does William Moriarty talk about “The Woman”? What does he know about them? He's a seer? He's stalking Sherlock? It's just ridiculous that he knows the impact Irene has on Sherlock. Especially since it's not deserved since she's only an amateur and not the exceptional genius like in the original.

*Sherlock is technically useless, we know that the Moriartys are nice and that Irene is safe. And seeing as Moriarty and co. knows everything Sherlock is going to do (even the fake cops) and it's not even a revelation (it's said before that they expect it), Sherlock looks stupid. Especially since he himself admits that Moriarty is stronger.

Alternately

What if Irene Adler was a neutral party after beating Sherlock AND Moriarty at their game? Both would underestimate her because she is a seemingly naive and frivolous woman. Whether they wanted to use her or get something from her, she was actually the one who used and manipulated them, and they don't find out until it's too late.

Even better if both used her to compete with each other. And in the end, both lose. It would also have had the advantage of reminding them that they are not unbeatable (ESPECIALLY Moriarty).

We could have taken the opportunity to address the problem of the place of women in the society of that time (and perhaps a little aside on theater actors because that wasn't crazy either).

We could have addressed the image of women, violence against women, sexual violence against women (the only mention in the manga is to show that the nobleman responsible for this is horrible, but it says nothing about women or the crime itself). It may be horrible, but it's a manga where a child goes out his eye with a spoon and then gets decapitated with his little sister.

We could have talked about the feminist movements that the government sought to fight and destroy.

We could have had Sherlock and Moriarty, although defenders of equality, underestimate Irene BECAUSE she is a woman, and learn the lesson at a high price.

We could have had Irene be the most intelligent character in the series, even if in the background because it's none of her business. (In Miyazaki's Sherlock, he himself says that Mrs. Hudson is the most intelligent character in the series. So it would not be a first for a side AND female character to be more intelligent than the main characters.)

Irene could be a tasty in-between Moriarty and Sherlock. She doesn't kill but has no problem being extremely manipulative and can enter into very dark areas of society. Publicly, she could give her money to artists and causes she wants to support, and in the shadows extract and exploit the powerful for her goals of equality.

Narratively, she could appear to help or give clues to the heroes without involving herself.

We could even use it for the Lord of Crime mystery:

Irene doesn't know who he is, because Moriarty uses the fact that he failed with her to hide his identity. So his embarrassing defeat isn't entirely an embarrassing defeat and there is potentially a second person who can discover his secret without him choosing to reveal it.

She knows (even if it is never explicit) because Moriarty was stupid enough to underestimate her and even if she is not interested in revealing the truth, she is a potential danger and cannot be manipulated/used like Sherlock, so Moriarty hesitates to kill an innocent woman. It would make a good moral dilemma.

It's really frustrating to see the potential of this manga being squandered at every turn because the author hasn't thought beyond “my favorite characters must be cool”. Even if it means butchering other characters

[somedaytakethetime]

My beautiful, sweaty, giant, perfect, blonde, blue eyed king 🥰🥰🥰🥰

[samglyph]

i REALLY love your lineup of all the monsters in malevolent but for the life of me i can’t place the tall figure behind Scratch/Hattie with the fur and upturned bat nose, which one is that?

That is the pit monster! In the episode it is referred to as a ghoul, but there has been some wog/fan discussion calling it a gug, so I combined some traits from both creatures and then added some things that I thought would suit its environment, like large bat ears.

[bitchesgetriches]

You’ve heard us say the most common theft in America isn’t shoplifting, muggings, carjackings, or home invasions. It’s wage theft, by a fuckin’ country mile. Our culture evolved to protect business enterprises and their capital, not labor. Wage theft is so poorly understood, under-reported, and rarely resolved that most can’t even tell when it’s happening to them, let alone redress it. Think of the infrastructure that exists to prevent burglaries: security guards, steel doors, armored trucks, doorbell cameras, locks, fences… Now think of how little infrastructure there is to deter wage theft. That imbalance lays bare our society’s priorities, doesn’t it? It isn’t a leap to connect one kind of labor devaluation to another. Copying ideas without attribution discourages creativity, devalues the labor of artists we employ, and thins the soup of our culture with the tasteless water of unoriginality. It’s also very boring to make! I’m willing to testify to this before Congress, having traced a lot of shit in grade school.

The Bitches Get Riches Brand Promise: Social Media, Plagiarism, and AI in an Age of Exploitation - Bitches Get Riches