#Profit is loyalty in this case

[tankgotstuckinthecircusgate]

Sometimes i wonder why Eddie and Lauretta could find Carlo attractive. Like he's not the most handsome man, he's arrogant and self-centered, with some oddities, occasional paranoia (but given the last scene with him in canon - he can be relatively charismatic?). but i've long been of the opinion that it's all about his energy??? assertiveness? ambitions?? i mean judging by the records about him Carlo really tried to make the most of this life??? Connections with journalists and politicians, the planetarium, charity, he had a company in Ohio, he found new ways to earn money ( was the first to go international in fact 😭)

He also seems to have generally used material patronage as a way to gain loyalty?? I'm saying this because of the Mickey the Crab story, it's written that he used to be in the Vinci family, but moved to Falcone's because Carlo paid more and got him out of the army (+he gave Eddie a brothel in gratitude for his loyalty; +in ch10 Carlo emphasizes that he will pay Vito and Joe well if they successfully take out Clemente)

anyway. just an old thought

Upd. And funny how it's the absolute contrast with Clemente, who uses intimidation and cruelty to his men. Now I'm wondering how Carlo came to this way of connecting with people (=materialistic)

[theculturedmarxist]

In 2020, Robert Kuciemba, a woodworker in San Francisco was infected with covid by a co-worker after his Nevada-based Victory Woodworks transferred a number of sick workers to the San Francisco site for a few months. 

Through the proceedings of the case it turns out that the employer knew some employees might be sick but they transferred them anyway and ignored a San Francisco ordinance in place at the time to quarantine suspected covid cases.

Kuciemba was subsequently infected and he then infected his wife, who ended up in ICU on a ventilator.

The California Supreme Court just ruled against Kuciemba on the basis that a victory, while, in the court's words, "morally" the right thing to do, would create "dire financial consequences for employers" and cause a "dramatic expansion of liability" to stop the spread of covid.

There’s a few stunning details to note in this case. First, the court agreed that there is no doubt the company had ignored the San Francisco health ordinance. In other words, they accepted the company had broken the law. And then concluded “yeah, but, capitalism.”

Secondly, the case was so obviously important to the struggle between capitalism and mass infection that the US Chamber of Commerce, the largest business lobbying organisation got involved and helped the company with its defence. Remember, this is a tiny company in a niche industry. The involvement of the biggest business lobbyists in the country tells us a lot about the importance of the principle they knew was at stake.

Thirdly, the defence of the company is very telling. They said “There is simply no limit to how wide the net will be cast: the wife who claims her husband caught COVID-19 from the supermarket checker, the husband who claims his wife caught it while visiting an elder care home." 

Well, exactly. Capitalism couldn’t survive if employers were liable for covid infections contracted in the workplace, and the ripple effect of those infections. And they know it. 

This case is something of a covid smoking gun, revealing what we always suspected but had never seen confirmed in so many words: the public health imperative of controlling a pandemic virus by making employers liable for some of that control is, and always must be, secondary to capitalist profit. 

This ruling is also saying out loud what has been obvious to anyone paying attention for the last two years: employers don’t have a responsibility to keep your family safe from covid. You have that responsibility. And if you give a family member covid that you caught at work and they get sick or die – even if it was a result of law-breaking by your employer – that’s on you buddy.

It is the same old capitalist story: the shunting of responsibility for ills that should be shared across society, including employers in that society, onto individuals.

This ruling essentially helps codify workplace mass infection and justifies it as necessary for the smooth functioning of capitalism.

This is not new. This is where the ‘just a cold’ and the ‘mild' narrative came from. It came from doctors and healthcare experts whose first loyalty was to capitalism. Not to public health. To money, not to lives. Abetted by media who uncritically platformed them.

While this ruling tells us little that we couldn’t already see from the public policy approach of the last two years, it is revealing (and to some extent validating) to see it confirmed by the highest law of the land in the United States. 

[rxzennia]

selfish atonement

– requested. 

✎𓂃 executing your duty perfectly, until it’s not so heavy anymore. less romance, a lot of lore. mandatory shoutout to @st4rrth0ughts and their bodyguard reader & oc. i really searched up oswaldo for this pls enjoy (i tried to cook but i might’ve burnt it y'all)

ever since oswaldo’s expedition on aeragan-epharshel, you’ve become certain of one thing – he is a brilliant businessman; the epitome of a profitable business. regardless of the mostly negative emotions you felt while you undertook missions under his orders, you could at least admit that he brought unparalleled results to the ipc. 

but, well, it does not take a good man to make a good businessman.

this marks the third amber era after your departure from the marketing development department… no, your departure from the ipc as a whole. you’ve changed your name, got yourself a new appearance, and distanced yourself from oswaldo’s name.

you’ve since become a sellsword who answers only to your current client

you’ve chosen to not have your loyalty freely auctioned off to the wealthy precisely because of your history with oswaldo

aka, you’re done with the type of problems that can be solved with money, and you don’t want to be someone that can be easily bought with money, either

not in the sense that money won’t make you more likely to take a job, but in the sense that money won’t bribe you away from any ongoing duties

that’s enough about you and your standards

in any case, your history with the ipc (that you’ve manipulated a little) has been very helpful in landing you jobs

and at this point, you’ve got a nice word of mouth going on for you that you don’t need to bring up that history anymore

who would’ve thought that you’d end up in the ipc again?

this time as a temporary guard for one of the ten stonehearts

you don’t know what possessed someone like diamond to ask for you, because you’re pretty sure he knows about your previous involvement with the ipc

and also, what the fuck does the ten stonehearts need a bodyguard for?

you’d pay a million credits to bet that diamond just wanted someone to be surveillance

but hey, a client is a client, so you agree to meet the one you’re supposedly “protecting”

you walk into the room, and immediately you want to walk out. diamond is doing this on purpose, he’s gotta be, he’s got to have done a background check on you and still decided to choose violence.

you come face to face with aventurine, and you thank all the aeons out there that you’ve made the decision to wear a mask whenever you’re out. you don’t know if diamond had briefed him on you or not, but judging by how warily civil he is, it doesn’t seem so. 

just so we’re clear, you were far too green to be directly involved when oswaldo launched his sigonia-iv project. while you did tag along on these trips and treaty signings, you have no personal involvement there except standing there like a statue and watching your superiors hammer out a treaty or something. unlike in aeragan-epharshel. where you were one of the combat pilots. oh, that’s another can of worms altogether.

at least he can’t see your expression right now as you shake hands

at least he doesn't hear your erratically beating heart

you introduce yourselves, and you bow out of habit

impression points +100 (your starting score is -10000)

that’s basically how you ended up involved with the ipc again

ugh, you just can’t leave them in the past, can you?

although, in your defense, they’re everywhere, and you can’t possibly turn down a job with such luxurious pay

so, now, instead of the marketing development department, you’re in the strategic investment department. diamond is also a good businessman, but… the ten stonehearts have such a weird dynamic. they’re all tangled together with office politics, yet share one authority figure that they ultimately obey – something you haven’t bothered to think about when you were last in the ipc. and something you won’t bother thinking about, because the mere thought of corporate makes you want to dig yourself into a hole.

in any case, your constant meddling in aventurine’s daily affairs begins today. he’s quite a guarded man, and you have no idea what diamond wants you to do by putting you next to him practically 24/7, but oh well, you’re getting paid.

you settle into a routine surprisingly quickly, and he doesn’t seem to mind your presence all that much

alarmed? yes. mildly annoyed that diamond put a walking tracker on him? also yes. 

dislike your presence? kinda (not really). 

at least he knows you won’t betray him for as long as your contract is in effect

even if you answer directly to diamond, you were tasked to watch over him

which means that you will execute your assigned duty to guard him and strictly only that duty

(truly, your reputation precedes you)

but what is worrying is how swiftly you can change sides the moment your contract expires

well, a problem for tomorrow. diamond’s got you leashed for a year.

he does run a background check on you himself

not that he doesn’t trust that diamond hadn’t vetted you, he just wants to know what sort of person he is now stuck with

guess who found out your name is probably fake but can’t find your real name

because he could only trace your name so far, and anything beyond that point is blank

the discoveries will shock you!! top 10 most scary facts you didn’t know 

all he got was a full report from your first job to this one

anything about your past before your current alias is completely untraceable

not that he intends to ask anyway; you haven’t given him any reason to dig further (yet)

he keeps an eye out for you though

even if he’s not suspicious of you at the moment, that could change in the blink of an eye

aventurine is surprised at how loyal you are to him. you’re under diamond’s orders, but you’re surprisingly putting in a lot to protect him. and to look after him.

to you, it’s just your job… and a selfish, twisted sort of repentance. it’s a thought you intend to take with you to the grave.

you’re not obligated to wake him up or bring him breakfast, but you do anyway

which, he realizes that you must’ve woken up like at least two hours before him

you coordinate his schedule with his assistant so that he doesn’t make pointless trips to five different locations just to end up at the same one twice

you, quite literally, hover over him

yes, even at huge conferences, you’re tailing him like his shadow

some kinda scary dog privilege going on

but of course, you give him space whenever he requires it and keep him within your sights instead

so far so good

but you know what spooks him still? 

that you get pissed when someone makes any nasty passing remark at him

no, you are not a feral street cat that scratches anyone who wrongs you (him)

what you do is you give them a scary confrontation

or you pick them out and lodge a complaint with their superiors afterwards, if they aren’t the top dog

one time he got his hands on a report that you’re writing

aeons, you blow it out of proportion without lying 

you like to call it a suitable amount of embellishing 

then you pull a lot of emotional appealing according to the opponents' company policy

which usually results in some sort of disciplinary action that is actually pretty satisfying to see

but also

damn, you’re merciless 

and also very adept at business talk

trust +100, doubt +25

(shady mercenary for hire with far too much experience type doubt)

you’re as good of a bodyguard as aventurine can get, especially for someone he didn’t hire himself… 

he quite likes you, actually! because how many people do you think asked him something like “why do you need a bodyguard” to his face? none! you’re as entertaining as they come. 

and so he finds joy in his boring executive work by pestering you

you know that, but you put up with him

in fact, this guy is so one of a kind that you don’t even feel pestered

you sometimes even drink with him

whenever he offers, of course, because you’re not too interested in drinking

you drink moderately on the job, but c’mon, when are you not on the job

okay, maybe when he’s just chilling in his office or in the hotel and not going anywhere

then there’s competitive drinking where he tries to coax you into talking about yourself by making you down shots

and guess who’s wasted every time? not you

“mr aventurine?” you ask, nudging the unconscious man next to you. “sir? earth to mr aventurine? hello?”

his empty glass of whiskey on the table, his face slightly flushed as he snoozes away on the table… yeah, it does not look comfy at all.

you sigh, he’s giving you more work again, and you carefully hoist him from the table. 

when he comes to again, he finds himself in his own room

his head hurts so much

he notices that he hasn’t changed from his usual attire – only his coat and accessories are taken off

okay, and the top button of his shirt is undone

did you bring him back? 

as always, you don’t even bother to change him

he sighs, you’re really not very good at reading signs

because he’s done this multiple times! and he’s whined about not being changed after!

more like you did notice but you choose not to do what he wants

that’s crossing a line in your books

and your books is something you stick to like you’re obsessed

at least you left him water and hangover medicine on the nightstand

why does he feel like you’re deliberately keeping him at arm’s length?

it’s been a while and you two have spent so much time together, yet you’re still a stranger to him

not even acquaintances 

like… like, you don’t initiate conversation when you’re watching him

both when he’s going somewhere (requires actual protecting) and chilling at home (does not require actual protecting)

and even after so many late night drinking sessions, he still hasn’t seen you without your mask

mainly because you’ve never been drunk enough for him to sneak a peek, but still

aventurine doesn’t know how to express affection. platonically, romantically, in general, pretty much. so he tries to do the one thing he does best, splurging. and he tries to splurge on you, because he’s intrigued and wants to make buy a friend, but…

but you don’t let him splurge on you! you don’t even let him give you gifts! he only knows how to win affection by spending money on others! 

sometimes he feels like you stick too strictly to your duties

just like his other subordinates… you take orders far too well

he’s tried to give you trinkets, designer clothes, even limited snacks

all of which were returned to him within 24 hours

though, with the snacks, you take it if he offers you a piece or two when he’s already opened it

and you let him treat you to coffee occasionally. very occasionally.

he eventually figures out that it’s a matter of principles

but what principles, exactly? you’re a sellsword, for aeon’s sake

he thought those are the people who have absolutely no principles???

anyway, won’t stop him from trying

“mr aventurine…” you pinch the bridge of your nose as you see the bags stacked on your desk. “i remember telling you that souvenirs are unnecessary.”

“what’s wrong with them?” aventurine laments dramatically. “i’ve picked out only the finest for you!”

you don’t deserve it, you think, but you don’t say that, of course

you don’t even know of his lifelong grudge towards oswaldo

you just know that you had a hand in the extinction event

not like hand hand, but you watched it happen… it doesn’t sit well with you

besides, you have the blood of almost an entire civilization on your hands

if you think too hard about it, the image of flames and carnage overlap with what is in front of you

then, you envision the records of sigonia that you’ve read through in the past

and everything blurs together, your actions, your inaction, and your unwavering loyalty that led you to not raise a single question at all

you squeeze your eyes shut tightly and purge the images from your mind

you are currently here, in the present

“i can’t take them.” you reply, finally, shaking your head. “it’s inappropriate for our standing. especially since there’s no reason for you to be gifting me so many things out of nowhere.”

“what, i can’t be nice to my bodyguard?” aventurine pouts as he sorts the bags in height order. “i’ve got a limited edition tie, an antique phonograph, a discontinued mug, some rare natural color ink for your fountain pen, a pure cashmere sweater–”

“that’s… that’s enough, sir.” you raise a hand to cut him off. “i don’t think i can accept any of them, really.”

aventurine makes a face, then pulls out a bag from the end of the queue. “fine, fine. what about this, at least? assorted cookies from an artisan bakery, using only the best ingredients sourced from all over the cosmos?”

you stare at that bag as you feel the expectant stare from your boss

maybe… maybe one out of these dozens of bags is fine

you’ve gotta think about his feelings too, after you’ve rejected so many gifts

you reluctantly, carefully take the bag and say a small “thank you”

you don’t want his fascination with you to develop any more than what he’s already showing…

but you also know that it’s not up to you

so what is up to you is drawing a line that you won’t allow him to cross

for his sake, and for your own… 

if he keeps pushing, you should keep pushing back

keyword should

but can you?

aeons, you truly are selfish

wouldn’t it have been better to keep everything professional from the very beginning?

it’s okay. you only have a little more than half a year to go before you’re no longer obligated to be here. you’ll run away before aventurine catches on, like how you ran away from your past.

it’s okay. it’s just been a few months, there’s still more than half a year’s worth of time. before you part ways, there are still chances to get to know you better. perhaps even time to become friends, in the most literal sense of the word.

and maybe by the end of it, “you” will reach a satisfactory conclusion.

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Why do people still go to Mostro Lounge if Azul enslaved 225 students? Like how is he not out of bussines

I DON’T KNOW 😭 I’ve never understood that part???? And how easily everything is resolved????

The end of book 3 tries to hand-wave it off as, “well, Azul implemented a point card system/promotion that was just so good that it compensated for all the negative rumors about the bad things he actually did” but like 💀 even then, I never bought it…

Consider the prices plus how the point card system and its perks work:

Assuming that you need 50 points to get that consultation with Azul + the items listed here are the only ones that qualify toward the point system, that means you'd be spending at LEAST 250 thaumarks (which I'm going to consider the equivalent to 250 USD for the sake of simplicity), if not 300 thaumarks. That's not including any potential tax or tip they may charge on top of the cost of the actual menu items. If you're going for the three-point card perks, you're easily spending 750 to 900 bucks on the Mostro Lounge. Maybe that seems like chump change to some of the rich, privileged kids that attend NRC but that's still a considerable amount of money to spend at one establishment... I'll concede that the argument can be made that this investment is "worth it" because of Azul's consultation being such a useful thing. It seems like you could ask him for anything, so long as its within his means. So yeah, it’s true, his services can be an extremely powerful boon to have on your side (assuming, of course, that he's capable of granting your wish and you agree to the terms set). The issue then becomes a matter of trust between client and Azul.

I don't know about you, but I cannot believe that after Azul tricked and enslaved 220+ students (over a QUARTER of the total student body) with his promises that everyone would so easily forgive what he did and suddenly trust that he wouldn't try pulling similar shit again. And since I doubt any mob would drop 250-300 thaumarks in one day just to get the consultation ASAP (but a bunch of food he can't eat), the points system would be a long term commitment... meaning mobs go into this establishment regularly, knowing that it's run by a guy that would double cross them if it benefitted him, weirdly trusting that he wouldn't???????? Trusting that he had a sudden change of heart and wouldn’t revert back to his old ways???????? Not holding grudges??????? Nah, I don't buy that one bit. AZUL'S REP WOULD BE IN THE TOILET, AND I DON'T THINK A GOOD DEAL ON EATERY LOYALTY WOULD REVERSE THAT... At that point, the mobs are practically begging to be scammed… Also???? The only thing that Crowley technically told Azul he can't do is to take anyone's powers 💀 so literally nothing is stopping Azul from trying to one-up or cheat his clients out of other things... Agreements like the one where he tried to claim Ramshackle Dorm for himself would still be totally valid under Crowley's new but poorly defined restrictions. Why doesn't the headmaster just forbid Azul from running his shady side business altogether 😭 or at least revoke the manager position from Azul?????? The school gets 10% of the lounge’s profits, so maybe Crowley doesn’t want to lose that income—but if that’s the case, why not just put new management in charge and still reap the monetary benefits??? Even just upping the percentage the school takes from their earnings would be more of a punishment…

I'm about to cancel this man on Magicam for his crimes/j I guess this is easily explained by the mob students all being dumb/arrogant, but that’s such a cop-out 😭 My only hope is that volume 3 of the light novel adaptation will go more in-depth about the post-OB backlash Azul experiences (similar to how it did for volume 1) 💦 because the way the game presents it, it feels like he and the Mostro Lounge made an almost immediate comeback 😭 which isn’t realistic at all…

I guess all I have left to say is…

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

I feel there has been a shift and that either Harry or his team are gunning for Washington DC hosting Invictus 2027 rather than Birmingham.

First Johnny Mercer lost his seat following the elections. He attended IG Dusseldorf but also exchanged informations with H about one of his case (his security case I think?). So the Sussex have lost a big supporter there. Now the Pat Tillman award. Not only is he getting an award named after an american veteran, but ESPN is not backing down. He's clearly trying to appeal to an american audience and he's receiving some help for this.

And last, I feel the britsh public has only apathy left for him, which is probably the worst response for him. The brits dont care anymore he's a prince. They already have William and Kate, who do royaling much better than him. Americans might not agree with the way he's acted, but the BRF still has a lot of appeal worldwide, no matter what SM say, so getting close to a real prince is still attractive. So I think Harry might really pivot and try to earn americans affection through the veterans and IG.

Could be. Harry can want Washington for 2027 Invictus Games all he wants, but Washington doesn’t want him. I live in the region and work downtown, and there’s been no stories or PR or any kind of information about the Invictus Games bids. That tells me there’s not a whole lot of establishment interest here and that Harry doesn’t have a Washington insider to help grease the wheels (he had the Obamas’ support in 2016).

And since the DOD has their own games, the Warrior Games, Washington doesn’t really need Invictus. When they want a feel-good story of their own, they turn in-house to the Warrior Games and our military hospitals. Which is precisely why Harry is cozying up to Warrior Games and the DOD; he wants to fold Invictus and Warrior Games together into a powerhouse to give him the legitimacy here in the US that he desperately craves and is constantly blocked from.

But that’s not likely to happen - Harry’s rent-a-royal status complicates things politically with US/UK relations and he’s deeply unpopular with the American public. (And yes, DOD brass is 100% paying attention to the backlash on the Tillman Award.) not to mention that pesky little lawsuit over his immigration and visa status that the establishment (yes, both parties) wants squashed.

Right now, Harry’s only partner is ESPN and ABC (which is confirmed by some of the tea that’s spilled recently). That’s not enough to get Washington onboard to host. He needs an insider that’s VERY high up the food chain, like White House high or Pentagon high, and neither option seems to be happening.

Washington, by the way, is much more focused on getting the 2027 NFL Draft. They’ve only been talking about it for 3 years.Washington isn’t going to pitch the NFL Draft and Invictus Games in the same year. The city government and the local officials want the NFL Draft. Invictus Games can’t bring in a quarter of the revenue, advertising, and profit of the NFL Draft and DC government isn’t going to risk losing the potential for a NFL Draft for something less assured.

Don’t forget, the Washington bid for Invictus Games only became known when Harry announced the shortlist last month. That doesn’t bode well, and neither does not having made the selection yet. My guess is they’re waiting to see what happens with the US election because if Trump gets in, Harry’s screwed; Trump hates the Sussexes and his loyalty to the BRF has been made very clear. That’s not the welcoming committee Harry and Meghan want.

But we’ll see. Time will tell eventually.

Edit: An anon shared Invictus's announcement about when they'll announce the host for 2027 Invictus Games and that included a link to a press release about the bids. As it turns out, the Washington Invictus Games bid wasn't even made by the city. It was made by the organization that owns and operates many of the entertainment venues within DC in cooperation with the city. That the city isn't leading the bid is also very telling.

AND the local papers - including the Washington Post - didn't pick up the announcement that DC was shortlisted for the 2027 event. If there was really an investment in choosing DC, the Post and the local press would've picked it up to start promoting it to help bolster the bid.

[blacknedsoul-blog]

Annabel Lee Whitlock: The Hypocrite, the Vampire and the Femme Fatale. A review of archetypes

Good news: I'm on vacation. Bad news: I'm on vacation.

And that means rest. A positive externality. But on the other hand, it also means that my brain, which is constantly thirsting for stimulation, has lost eight hours of activity a day that it has to fill with something. You know what happens to orange tabbies who suddenly become quiet and behave as if possessed by all the demons of Ars Goetia? Well, sort of.

So my brain in need of stimulation decided to dust off my college notes and talk about archetypes, because it's a thorough enough job to keep me away from climbing walls or checking random stuff on the Internet for 10 hours a day.

What is an archetype?

Just to make sure we're all on the same page, an archetype (a "type character") is a writing model that describes a role and has certain characteristics.

The term was coined by Honoré de Balzac, a French writer obsessed with what he called "micro-history. His life's work, "La Comédie humaine", is a massive collection of more than 80 novels, which, when read, will give you more information about that historical period than any theoretical book on the subject.

You may not know this sir or the protagonist of "Illusions perdues", but you do know the archetype that Lucien Rumempré represents: a young from the provinces, full of dreams, who moves to the city only to discover that the lights are there to dazzle and distract from the misery.

But at the same time, the characters that come to mind are likely to be very different from the good Lucien. This is because the archetype is a different construct from the cliché.

If I had to explain the difference, I would say that the cliché is a recipe, while the archetype is a mold.

If you follow a recipe, you will always get results that are very similar, even if you make small variations in the recipe. But if you have a star cookie cutter, the contents of the cookies can be quite different: no one would dare say that a chocolate chip cookie tastes the same as an oatmeal cookie or a gingerbread cookie. Even if all three are cut in the shape of a star.

So I'm going to do a little review of the archetypes that Annabel notices. The differences, the similarities, and let's see what comes out.

The Hypocrite

Not "hypocrite" in the sense of a personality, but in the sense of a way of behaving in the world: The Hypocrite is a character whose way of relating to the world is a pantomime, whose role is to build themselves up to fit into a system (which, by the way, they despise). If they don't have what you want, they will at least pretend enough to make you think they do. Usually for personal gain.

The founder of this archetype is Julien Sorel, the protagonist of "Le Rogue et Le Noir", the most famous work of Stendhal, one of the most prominent writers of the literary realism founded by Balzac.

Julien is this poor boy, but smart enough to memorize the Bible, which makes him seem educated enough to get him a job as a tutor in a rich house, and eventually a priest's cassock.

A more modern example is Nick Wilde from Zootopia. This fox has decided that if he alone can be a con man, he will be one, though he desperately wants someone to see him as an individual beyond that. He hates the system that condemns him, but he wants to be a part of it and will play by the rules he is given in order to profit.

Annabel, like Julien and Nick, has built her entire identity around being what is expected of her, in her case a perfect Victorian high society lady. Something that has given her a tremendous amount of knowledge about how people move in such circles. And from her point of view, people are the same everywhere (Miss Marple would be proud of her).

And in this oppressive context that fosters an environment where people kill each other, she knows what currency to give in return for loyalty: people will look for a leader, someone competent, someone who knows what they're doing.

Annabel has no idea what's going on, what awaits them outside the Nevermore gate, or even if there's a way to escape. But she can pretend to know. The quietest person in the room wins, and she's the one who takes the prizes to achieve her goal. The performance is justified as a means to an end.

Another thing that characterizes stories with a Hypocrite as a relevant character is the exploration of the consequences of this lifestyle: identity is consumed by the role, the line between actor and character is lost, and the Hypocrite is often faced with the reality that they have put so much of themselves into the character they are playing that once it is exposed, there is nothing underneath, or at least nothing worth saving.

In Annabel's case, this is expressed in her utter horror at not being trusted by Lenore. She puts her hypocrisy at the disposal of her lover and comforts herself with the reward of her affection, but Lenore's love for her is the only thread that binds her own identity: that Lenore does not trust her means that the role has completely consumed her, the complete confirmation that she, as an individual, is no longer a disturbed poseur.

Related to this point, we have the final transversal line in the conflicts that Hypocrites tend to have: loneliness. When all their relationships are based on a carefully rehearsed performance, the Hypocrite knows that they are alone in the world, that no one really knows them, and they are usually so deep in the role by this point that they don't want to (or can't) leave it. The longing for honest relationships overlaps with their self-destructive tendencies.

As much as Annabel insists that it's her and Lenore against the world, that her life is meaningless without Lenore, and that she is enough, these phrases indicate that Annabel is painfully aware of how she is perceived by others, and though she tells herself that Lenore's love is all she needs, it seems more like a mantra to keep her sane than a reality.

As you may have noticed, the main difference from the usual Hypocrite is that Annabel has Lenore. A bit like Nick has Judy. But Nevermore is a story that takes the psychology of its characters much more seriously, so while Nick just needs someone to reach out to in order to form honest relationships, Annabel passes because she has no fucking idea how to form an honest, healthy bond.

That Annabel is extraordinarily self-destructive, emotionally dependent, and so afraid to step outside the box she knows so well are, in this light, natural consequences of the Hypocrite lifestyle.

The Vampire

Here we must make a leap to another movement: during the Romantic period, the Gothic novel was at its best, and it was Edgar Allan Poe who squeezed out the last drops of what this genre had to offer.

Now, looking at the bibliography, Annabel does not have much in common with the gothic heroine (that is something Lenore takes care of), neither on an aesthetic level nor on a value level. To find her in the works that inspire her, one must look in a slightly different direction: the female vampires of gothic fiction.

Aurelia ("Vampirismus" by E.T.A. Hoffmann), Carmilla ("Carmilla" by Sheridan Le Fanu), Clarimonde ("The death woman in love" by Théophile Gautier), the vampire in the poem "The Metamorphosis of the Vampire" by Baudelaire, the three vampire women, and Lucy ("Dracula" by Bram Stoker).

All these characters have something more in common than their fangs: they are beautiful women capable of making anyone who sees them fall completely into their arms, as opposed to their role of making the one they have chosen as their prey "fall".

The Gothic vampire is practically a succubus, but much less sexualized than one might think. Although many of these works, with the exception of the poem by the good Baudelaire (an author who should be fed separately on these matters), spare no pages in describing how beautiful they are, neither do they overly sexualize them, nor are they particularly flirtatious: even Clarimonde is dedicated to simply being there and letting her presence alone do the work.

This is something Annabel shares with the gothic vampire: though physically gorgeous, the framing in the comic doesn't tend to focus on her as an object of sexual desire, her beauty is highlighted, but in a way that is more akin to an ethereal or unattainable entity.

This is due to a mixture of two things: the Gothic novel is steeped in Catholic puritanism, and even if it is to present a villain who uses her attractiveness as a weapon, the erotic component is subtly exposed, and the vampire's angelic beauty offers a contrast to her status as an antagonist: beautiful on the outside, insidious on the inside.

This is another thing Annabel has in common with the gothic vampire: she is aware that her appearance gives her a haughty, elegant, and dignified air, identifiable enough to earn nicknames like "Queen" or "Queenie," and she knows how to capitalize on it. This contrasts with the darker parts of her personality.

Another thing that terrifies romantics about vampires is that these fangirl succubi possess a quality that makes us 21st-century readers raise an eyebrow because it's supposed to make us uncomfortable: a deep, honest, and sincere willingness to be affectionate.

In context, this makes sense: the vampire is a representation of sin, temptation, and lust. So their affection is something that leads the object of it away from the path of morality (this is the 19th century, this is really important).

I understand that because of the vampire's role in all of this, she is a devoted lover. Incredibly devoted, in fact: Clarimonde is Romuald's sugar mommy (no, I'm not kidding, I'm not exaggerating either), and Carmilla never stops showering Laura with affection and attention, satisfying this girl's craving for companionship after living in isolation.

Annabel does something similar: there is a genuine interest on her part to reach out and connect with Lenore, and in scenes like this, she goes out of her way to show her that she is an amazing person in her own right, rather than being her brother's shadow.

All kidding aside, I think of the archetypes I could find to analyze Annabel, this is the one that fits her best, even though she is not, well, literally a vampire. She seems to have several things in common with Carmilla in particular.

The Femme Fatale

We all have a more or less clear idea of what a femme fatale is: this extremely attractive, sexually active, badass woman who is there to make the male character's life miserable and has a 50% chance of smoking fine cigarettes with a cigarette holder. This is…partially true, but also highly inaccurate.

Although these characters can be traced back much further in mythology, this archetype gets its name and very specific form from Raymond Chandler, the founder of the noir novel. I'm not going to go into too much detail on this topic, as entire books could be written about it, so let's just focus on what's important.

The thing to understand about the context to understand the Femme Fatale is that we are in the 30-40's and although she has many more rights than 19th century women, the decadence shown in these works emphasizes that she is in a macho context where every single rule of the game is stacked against her. This is something that Femme Fatale is acutely aware of: no matter how well she plays the game, she will always lose.

This is something that Annabel shares with this archetype: she is very aware of the rules of the game, she knows backwards and forwards how the world works, so she is also aware that they are too heavily stacked against her to ever win. All she can do is resign herself, play the role as best she can, and find small distractions to cling to like a burning nail so as not to lose her head altogether.

Therefore, the Femme Fatale's approach to life is this: if the rules are stacked against her, that means she has the right to do whatever it takes to survive. These tactics usually include manipulation, deception, exploitation, and, of course, making the most of her sexual attractiveness because, unlike the vampire, she knows how to flirt and use sex as a weapon. What needs to be kept in mind here is that for this character archetype, the use of these wiles comes not because she is factory evil, but as a coping mechanism within a system she cannot win against. If this ultimately makes her a villain, it's more about her role within the story in which it plays out than anything about the archetype itself.

Here's an interesting difference between the Annabel we see in Lenore's memories and the one we see in the present day of the comic: Annabel used to be willing to play by the rules, but the thing she learned from Lenore is that cheating is more than possible. As a result, her attitude has become much closer to that of a Femme Fatale, using her extensive knowledge of the rules to her advantage, going with the flow for personal gain. Her methods are much closer to those of the Hypocrite (especially since we haven't seen Annabel use her body or affection as currency yet), but there are definitely similarities.

Another thing about the Femme Fatale (when she is NOT a villain) is that, like the Vampire, she operates within a duality: an exterior built to be sexy in a somewhat intimidating way (which is why the aesthetics of many of these characters can be interpreted within BDSM culture), but with some goodness in her heart. A really clear example of this is Vivian Sternwood from The Big Sleep (the first novel on the subject published by Raymond Chandler): her own father describes her as "rude, demanding, clever, and quite ruthless," and Marlow, our detective, will have a long series of uncomfortable encounters with her. But by the end of the novel, when he is faced with the same choice Vivian must have made in the past, he cannot help but realize that despite everything, this woman would rather keep painful secrets than harm her family, whom she loves dearly.

So if you're wondering why the framing of scenes like this looks familiar, that's why.

Add to that the three layers of how her aesthetic works: an angelic appearance for when she needs to play dumb, her gaslighting, gatekeeping, girlboss bullshit face for when she needs to demonstrate authority, and framing where it should make you directly uncomfortable.

Looks are one of the strengths of Femmel Fatale's performance. And it's one of the strengths of Annabel's performance.

Conclusions

One interesting thing about looking at Annabel in this light is to realize two things: first, that many of the archetypes her character seems to take notes from are often in the role of antagonists or, for that matter, villains. 

The other is that these archetypes are quite well ordered and connected: the gothic vampire is the inspiration for the Femme Fatale of Noir (her beta version, if you can call it that), and the Hypocrite shares a historical writing period with many female vampires. From her conception, Annabel is constructed in a fairly orderly fashion, and believe me, that's a huge contrast to what's going to happen with Lenore (which I'll get to soon, but I need to brush up on my picaresque novel notes). 

The last thing I want to point out in this review is this: unless you're a Nick Wilde-style Hypocrite, Hypocrites and Vampires in general tend to have utter destruction in store for them. The Noir, for its part, puts us in a situation where the Femme Fatale, even if she wants to change, is generally too deep in this tangle to get out. 

So what I find interesting about Annabel in this regard is:

This is actually THE scene that shows us Annabel timidly stepping out of the scheme of things. She doesn't seem to want to change, in fact I'd bet she's terrified to change, but even though she's repeating her father's toxic pattern here, she's also breaking it without realizing it. 

It's too early to tell if we'll see Annabel have some sort of redemption towards less harmful behavior, or if we'll end up seeing her become a villain altogether. But I'm really curious to see where this story goes with all of these elements.

[horizon-verizon]

There is an enduring sense in the fandom that if you cannot structurally change the entire or major parts of an oppressive status quo, it's somehow better that one does absolutely nothing. Bc you're "messing up the stability of an already stable social order, which proved itself to be the best or most reliable bc it's endured for so long".

And I despise it. Because it essentially means that any effort except a huge, topsy-turvy one where the whole system gets upended or severely so doesn't matter. (At the very least those that don't seem like it.)

It's a perfect partner to racism, sexism, homophobia, etc. & people use it not just against Rhaenyra but Dany, Rhaenys, & Alysanne!!! Any Targ woman, really. Aegon V, if one mentions his laws. Ironic, bc Jaehaerys had progressive laws for peasants ONLY bc of Alysanne, but it's obvious why they prefer the female-heir denying Jaehaerys over Aegon V!!!

Coupled with this sense, some say that these women are totally complicit in those systems bc use they happen to be born into royalty or aristocracy, actively use their privileges at times for their own ends instead of ALWAYS to create or influence others for groundbreaking policies & laws, or manage to just escape certain abuses other women face bc they were reserved for the specific task of having children for their male spouses.

Daenerys was a bridal slave, for example. She doesn't face SA from random men every other night, but that doesn't stop the risk of her facing that fate if she were to ever fall out of her husband-owner, Drogo, favor. That doesn't stop her haters from arguing that she should have done more for Mirri & those Lhazareen women, that she even profits from slave labor when she clearly is allocating and directing funds from taxes to the city of Meereen! From ignoring how all those she freed are not still slaves, that the slave masters time and time again have said, point blank, that she is a danger to their enterprise CONTINENT-WIDE!!! She makes mistakes and the biggest one compromising too much with the slave owners of Meereen, yeah, bc she is in the beginning of her leadership journey, and still she manages to inspire loyalty, faith, and hope in many of her followers and she also still manages to keep most people alive w/o actually giving all the way in and that terrifies the slaveowners! For good reason. Read the last few pages of the last book and tell me that she won't come for their necks, either literally or figuratively idc. She's obviously not fucking up so bad or has totally failed in her role as a protector, and she will make mistakes as other leaders before her and after her will! Why this level of negative & bad faith scrutiny?!

And let's go to Rhaenys the Conqueror. She created the rule of thumb & the rule of six, where no man could legally beat their wives to death when she decreed that the rod could not be thicker than the husband's thumb and he could not whack her more than 7 times. Some argue why didn't she outlaw wife-beating entirely if she and her siblings conquered Westeros. First of all, these are the very same people who bleat abt how the Targaryens destroyed and colonized Andal culture without bothering to offer material evidence of such. If Rhaenys & her siblings actually have "colonized" the Andal-FM lords, & it was Andal custom for men to beat their wives indiscriminately…then the Targs couldn't have actually destroyed any part of Andal "culture" and replaced it entirely with Valyrian ones where seemingly men could not beat their wives at all! If you can even consider this "destroying culture", as I'm sure a few would argue. If anything, this was a cultural compromise, and it obviously functioned and was intended as a form of protection for women when before there was absolutely none! Aside from male relatives, but that's not system-wide, makes such cases seem not serious enough or that people across communities shouldn't care too much about others when you personalize it, AND that just reinforces the idea that only men have a property claim over women, be they biologically family or by marriage. Secondly, if you argue that Viserys should have obeyed the "laws" of male primogeniture bc he is a feudal king--the "Protector" of their customs and interests--that is only supported by the swords & loyalty of lords, that the GC of 101 proves that (as if Jaehaerys also didn't use that to enact his own will passively for a male heir), then why is it that Rhaenys seems to do something along those lines and WORK with the current Andal customs, her efforts--which actually are protective to those who needed protecting!!! Rhaenys & her siblings were new monarchs of a newly unified-ish realm, & as unifying conquerors tend to do, they opted for the strategy that would keep them seated bc it made "the lords" comfortable that they would not force them to change the bulk of their religious and cultural practices. Not only did Visenya & Rhaenys arrange strategic marriages that both benefited them and those married (their families), but Aegon made it a point to go on progresses and hear various lords and peasants' issues to arbitrate. Which made it so that these lords felt they would not be led by a leader who'd enforce his laws willy-nilly without considering his subject's conditions or desires. It is in this context that Rhaenys, we could see and assume, was taking a bit of a risk with not one but 2 new laws against men's "rights" over their wives' bodies!

There's Alysanne, who took it a step further in her women's courts, and the right of first nigh abolishment, her attempts at the Citadel, & the Widow's Law. Again, if not for her, Westeros and KL would be 3 steps behind in infrastructure and women's protection. Alysanne was a Queen Consort who had even less power on her own than Rhaenys & Visenya and we see that she had to convince Jaehaerys to implement his laws; it took Septon Barth's interference/support for Jaehaerys to even go along with the abolishment of the right of first night! Later with Viserra, I believe that she arranged the much older Theomore to Viserra bc it coincided with Jaehaerys' plans for that marriage alliance between the Manderlys and the royal house. And to please or to go along with some of her husband's plans was to also add onto her own power…bc a royal Consort only has power by their monarch spouse gives them license to influence and status! Was it clumsy writing? Of course, it was pretty bizarre and partly due to how F&B is written as a historical document despite how this portion of history is better documented than others. Did Alysanne indirectly cause Viserra's death in her refusal to relent from her suspicion that Viserra was trying to become queen, as she interpreted it? Arguably. and I think that GRRM was telling us that over time and over the disappointments w/Jaehaerys, she slowly got more determined to retain any sense control…and where does her control end up coming from? Yeah, GRRM is showing that tightrope, I think.

Rhaenyra was not actively progressive in policy nor direct action as all the prior 3, but to argue that she should be feminist so that the usurpation and the femicide done against her becomes unjustified is absurd! Oh, she wasn't a feminist at all or progressive, she didn't implement any sort of law at all for women or smallfolk [did Aegon?! or Alicent?! or Aemond? Daeron, Otto?! so why are they better?!!!], so that's why she shouldn't be queen even though by the very "law of the land", she is by right the heir to this throne that never actually was about who would make a good, consummate ruler in the first place. 🙄.

So there is a vague & un-discernable, forever shifting, & impossible goal-post-level of feminist activity or "being" that these nihilistic or conservative naysayers use against women being leaders or even passively having positions of power that may still benefit the women of Westeros through setting a precedent &/or actions of necessary intervals that build on the past ones under conditions that are already limiting how much they can do or say in order to be able to put forth those feminist (really proto feminist), anti-slavery, etc., progressive steps--on a damn psychological and psychosocial level that:

diminishes how much brain power and time a woman can put to policy or things outside of the "house" because their power depends on the husband's regard towards them

makes it much harder for women to really commit themselves or fully expect to implement their goals & dreams for any sort of change (or even dream of any) when there's such subtle and unsubtle obstacles in their way: Rhaenyra, her stepmother an siblings plotting against her and then the usurpation, that we see in the microcosm of how the treasury stolen from her and the crown led to the smallfolk turning against her at KL AND the ongoing war, thus preventing her from really establishing herself as Queen/ruling at all; Alysanne, I described with Jaehaerys; Rhaenys, Andal patriarchy; much less, in Rhaena the Black Bride's case, find just actual happiness and plain old security against male aggression!

provides a setting where women become more compelled to compromise with some patriarchal ideas/practices to maintain a certain level of power or defense (there's a thing line to measure and transgress the "right way" and without other's judgement and impatience or lack of faith adds an additional pressure of, outside of fiction but applicable)

leads up to Daenerys having to have the strength to pursue her goals on with her own instincts and compassion and wit, work harder than most men would face in her position...not that any could since men cannot and have not largely had the bridal slave’s experience!

Anyway, all of it ignores or tries to hide the fact that it is exactly that undisrupted male authority over female (of any class or wealth) & under-classed people that is the true destabilizer and destroyer of lives. That there is still so much meaning and real impact in what people like Alysanne and Rhaenys did/do and huge upheavals or entire sweeps of structural change like Dany does takes measured steps!

That through multiple Targ women dying form childbirth, raped, murdered, or sidelined and critically limited in political authority or agency, this becomes so obvious! you cannot oppress half of your population, reduce them to sex-giving broodmares who you can kill if you think they have a male heir on the way or have cheated on you and call yourself progressive! You're actually 10 steps behind where you're supposed to be because half of you is not involved enough in the development of your society!

We wanna be all "feudalism is bad", "blood purity is bad", "the Targs didn't end feudalism so they are the most evil and responsible for all evil in Westeros" but when they see someone either passively or actively seem to make any progress to mitigate the pressures and power of patriarchal boundaries or concepts or whatever....they go screaming "not feminist enough" or "they're actually just like everyone else"! And some of us will also try to say that Daenerys is either entirely too much like her colonist ancestors or she will end up that way as D&D published because she is Targaryen (a bio-essentialist argument) to argue about why SLAVEOWNERS should stay in power!

And it all is very anti-intellectualism, anti-critical thought or introspection and examination...because on closer look and investigation, you will see how F&B is a text that was always anti-misogyny on GRRM's part (attemptively) even as it is misogynist as an-in world text! And it's on purpose--both the writing and how people wax "it's a dragon show, nothing at all to do with misogyny or wokeness!"

Because then you are not challenging the status quo...because you can't reason through it or against it and when it happens in seemingly harmless manifestations people will think it innocuous.

[sparksinthenight]

I’m thinking about The Hunger Games. It … it somehow manages to represent the world we live in and more specifically the Global North - Global South power dynamics and oppression systems in a truthful and insightful way that no other media does, and yet it completely mischaracterizes the power dynamics within the Global South and the class and race hierarchies that characterize the internal power structures in the Global South. The prequel also horrifically mischaracterizes immigration, the immigrant experience, and what immigrants are like. To the point where that book literally psychologically triggered me and I had to stop reading it because it was such terrible representation, dear gods.

So like, the thing is, there is not and never has been and never will be solidarity between the poor and the comfortable in the Global South. Yes, the North oppresses the South and the North exploits and profits from and metaphorically and often literally enslaves the South. But the well-off in the South do all of these things too. And from what I’ve seen and experienced in my personal life and what I’ve heard from other people who grew up in or live in the South, the well-off Southerners are probably worse than the North when it comes to oppressing and exploiting and profiting off of the poor people of the South. You can say that America is the Big Bad and everything bad happens because of it. But the fact of the matter is that without comfortable Southerners doing all the direct things required to keep the poor in line, the international and intranational hierarchies of the world would fall apart. Global Southern police officers and military members and government and businesspeople and employers and bosses and moneyed people are directly the reason the poor people in the Global South are being exploited, even if the North benefits from this all a whole lot too.

And … what the hell was the mountain scene in District Two? Those guys were peacekeepers. They were COPS. The poor people of the Global South don’t need to and should not feel any sense of solidarity with the COPS that keep them held down. And I’m not only saying this because I’m anti cop but because the people in that mountain benefitted from harming and oppressing the poor people, they benefitted from keeping the poor people from gaining power, and they benefitted from the system that kept the poor people poor. Those peacekeepers and peacekeeper-adjacent were not oppressed in any way, despite being from the Districts (aka Global South). They were the oppressors. You could argue that actually they were oppressed because their kids could be reaped. But two kids get reaped a year and there’s thousands of kids in the district. But even ignoring that fact, the point is that the mountain scene was meant to parallel real-world dynamics. And no real world cops are oppressed. Even ones in the Global South, or perhaps especially them to be honest.

And we need to talk about TBOSAS and the way it paints immigrants. Immigrants are not worse than non-immigrants, but they’re not better either. They are not would-be rebels full of empathy and compassion for the poor people they left behind. They are not brave heroes who will die for the Global South. I’m saying this from experience, I have moved in immigrant circles all my life. Immigrants are no better than anyone else in the Global North, they are only tied to their homelands in the most superficial and shallow ways possible, and they ally and align themselves with the Global North and against the Global South most of the time, just like most Global Northerners do. They’ll wear traditional clothes but those clothes will be made out of fabric the cost of which could feed a whole family back home for a month. Yes, there are immigrants who are the brave hero-martyr with undying loyalty that the book showcases. But those cases are really rare, they are really more of an anomaly than anything else. And I’m not saying this to say that immigrants are bad. I’m saying this to say that immigrants are far more part of and loyal to their adoptive countries, and cannot be expected to act differently from non-immigrants in any way that substantially matters.

I also think that Primrose is an example of all that is wrong with Collins’ understanding of the South. Prim looks like and can be said to symbolize the more affluent parts of the district. She resembles her mother who is from the more wealthy part of town while Katniss represents her father who is from the Seam. Now the moderate wealth of the Town does not hold a candle to the extravagance and excess of rich parts of the South. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it, there are penthouse vacation homes blocks away from shantytowns. Literally. But still, the Town in District Twelve represents what Collins thinks is the wealthy part of the South. (And in my opinion the Town is also very guilty for not sharing what they have and not helping the literal starving people of their district. If you saw someone with no food and you had money and you spent that money on a party dress instead of food for them then guess what? You’re completely fucking evil and going to hell. But anyways, back to the actual point.) Prim has the Town genes and Katniss had the Seam genes. And who is good and pure and innocent and must be protected? Prim. And who is able to withstand inhuman amounts of hardship and do child labour? Katniss. Who has to sacrifice her own innocence and goodness and childhood to protect the other one? Katniss. Whose life and safety is considered not quite as valuable? Katniss.

And Gale and Peeta. I couldn’t care less who Katniss got with. She can pick who she wants. But just like Prim and Katniss, Gale and Peeta represent the rich and poor sides of the South. Despite Peeta not being nearly as rich as the most rich people in the South actually are. He’s still richer. He still fits into the metaphor and symbolism. And who is more kind and reasonable and right? Peeta. Who is more good and pure? Peeta. Who is shown as not being able to see past their emotions and grudges? Gale. Who is seen as stubborn and overly violent? Gale.

There are ways in which The Hunger Games is revolutionary and amazing. But there are ways in which it feels like some kind of disguised psyop.

[side-vermin93]

Well.

Long rant below this line if you're just scrolling by.

I normally don't do this sort of thing, I don't post my unfiltered dogshit opinions on any kind of social media, I don't toll the bells when I don't get my way and cry 'Foul Play' unless I truly believe that something is going wrong.

No doubt, everyone has seen the... colourful reaction to TADC's release date being set in May of 2024 (This May) and the Murder Drones tag on Tumblr is exploding for good reason.

Now, before I say my piece, I would like to immediately debunk a common train of thought often used by detractors to devalue the points that others have made when it comes to this controversy:

"Glitch is saying that they are taking their time to make the episodes and the finale as best as it can be." And that we as a fandom are "Overreacting."

To begin with, I personally hope that yes, Glitch is doing everything in their power to make MD as good as it can physically be, I hope that they are giving the finale to the season the sendoff it deserves.

But would it KILL THEM to tell us something? Post teasers, memes, references to Murder Drones or even something as simple as "Hey! You liked TADC, how about you check out Murder Drones while you wait?"

Instead, Glitch has spent months of complete and total radio silence, completely forgot the existence of the anniversary of Murder Drones' pilot, and as they did this, they continued to post teasers of TADC, including a personally vexing post that basically amounted to engagement farming, literally "If this gets 100k likes, we will open the door"

Stuff like this DOES NOT help assuage the fears of fans who believe that Glitch has begun to ignore MD simply because it isn't as popular or as profitable as TADC has become, it smacks of blatant favouritism and foul play when the fans of Murder Drones get nothing, meanwhile TADC is getting WEEKLY teasers, which is only serving to inflame the controversy between TADC and MD fans.

The thing that infuriates me the most is that Murder Drones is in its final stretch for (HOPEFULLY) its first season finale, and yet we have recieved nothing aside from the initial trailers and the release date of "sometime in early 2024" and we are now coming up on the end of the second month of the year, meanwhile TADC gets a concrete release date in MAY, which does NOT excuse the constant teasers and content for TADC that was produced before this point.

As for the overreaction? I think its personally an acceptable response considering the current controversy, but the biggest problem is what Glitch has said today.

"We're also working hard on Murder Drones & will be releasing final episodes soon!"

This, reader, is a very vague statement made by Glitch in their announcement today, and... well, notice how they said "Final Episodes"

Now, this could be Twitter and its word limit screwing them over, but Glitch (and most corporations) is very deliberate with their wording, and this could be no different, do they mean the finale of season one? Or is Murder Drones as a SHOW coming to an end after episode 8? We don't know because Glitch is being vague about this.

Now, because we don't know, we are (reasonably considering how companies often tend to focus on what is most profitable as opposed to any concept of "loyalty") reacting in a negative way towards this wording and believing that MD might very well come to an end before Liam is able to fully finish his story or for us to enjoy the show he has been working on for a long time now.

If it is the end of Murder Drones, then of course people are going to blame TADC for "Killing Murder Drones." Corporations have no loyalties and no qualms about being underhanded, only an appetite for more funding and appeasing their investors, and the most juicy of cash-cows practically fell into their lap.

Now, perhaps we are WRONG, maybe Glitch really did screw up because Twitter loves its word limits, then in which case, shouldn't Glitch try and clarify that in another post as soon as possible? Say that MD isn't going anywhere and that they meant the season finale?

Ultimately, we are in a very turbulent time and tensions are the highest they have ever been, and the next two months will either cool down into something to laugh about later, or there will a shitstorm. No inbetweens.

If it is a false alarm, then I will be there laughing with y'all about how I was doomposting like an idiot, but if it isn't? then I will continue working on my projects in the fandom until I believe I am satisfied, and I will be there when the shitstorm drops.

God, I hope it's the former.

Also sorry if the tags for this are crap, but I don't have the energy left over to fix them.

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

“A key question, then, is why Hatton chose to extend his patronage to so many Catholics? A conspiratorial view might be that he sought to infiltrate Catholic circles in order to betray their plotting, yet this would have involved one of the most successful ‘deep cover’ operations in history, and is simply not credible. A slightly more subtle version of this view would be that he sought to police the line between unthreatening non-​conformity and active plotting, and there may be some merit to this, inasmuch as he represented a kind of success story among Elizabethan Catholic sympathisers; yet the involvement of his contacts with the Arden-​Somerville affair and the Babington Plot suggests that any efforts he made along these lines were only partially successful.

In fact, the most likely explanation for Hatton’s patronage of Catholics is probably the simplest: he did it because he thought it the right thing to do. In some cases, as we have seen, the choice was made for him: he could not choose his family. He could choose his friends, however, and it is hardly possible that the high concentration of Catholics around him was not a reflection of his own attitudes. This issue will be explored in more detail in Chapter 6. He must consciously have decided that protecting Catholics was worthwhile. He may have done so out of fellow-​feeling or confessional solidarity; it may be that a generous and kindly spirit was an element of this, as is often claimed. He may have been trying to recruit a following to bolster his own position.

Taking a broader view, he may have thought that persecution of ordinary Catholics was simply bad policy, a threat to the stability of the State. Such an attitude reflects the Queen’s own disinclination to make windows into men’s souls. This is not a position that can properly be described as politique, since it entailed supporting people who refused to submit fully to the law, but it can be described as a pragmatic stance in support of national unity. Whereas Francis Bacon advised Elizabeth to keep the Catholics down (albeit not desperate) and stick with the Protestants, purely on pragmatic grounds, Hatton may have thought differently. (..)

Hatton’s stance must also mean that he acted as a channel of communication between the regime and the ‘Catholic community’. Given the paucity of Hatton’s archive, there is not much evidence for how this actually worked (it may have been more symbolic and unspoken), but having, for example, Ralph Sheldon to his house for dinner is striking. Surely it was important for the Queen and perhaps the nation that the large constituency of Catholic nobles and gentry had some access to Queen, Council and patron- age. Burghley and Walsingham may not have thought so, but their careers were dependent on the success of Protestantism. Hatton’s was dependent on the Queen. In this sense Hatton was a point of contact between Catholics and government. Some of his followers were not satisfied with their position, of course, and were tempted into more dangerous courses, and this made it dangerous to do what he did. Whether his patronage was sufficient to dissuade others from taking this more extreme view is unknowable.

In the conventional understanding of patronage relationships, it is normally assumed that in return for their loyalty, a patron was able to channel rewards towards his clients. Clearly, Hatton did so in the case of his closer servants and men-​of-​business: Dodge, Flower, Swale and others gained official positions, profitable jobs and so on. In terms of his wider clientele, it seems likely that the main currency was protection from the law, or from the malicious use of the law by local opponents: either Hatton discreetly intervened to protect his followers from persecution, or the very knowledge that they could call on his support shrouded them in a degree of immunity. (..)

Just as Leicester’s following included many who are sometimes called Puritan, but who were actually very much on the moderate end of puritanism, so Hatton’s following contained many moderate, loyal Catholics. One difference may be that the hard core of Leicester’s patronage network seem to have had a fairly conscious shared objective of defending and advancing the forward Protestant cause, whereas in Hatton’s case, there was a more diffuse set of possibilities for what they actually wanted: a full return to Rome, Catholicism without the Pope, or simply a conservative Church of England.

Hatton’s role (or at any rate the courtly and political role of religious conservatives like Hatton) has a longer-​term significance, therefore. It helps to explain how so many Catholics and crypto-​Catholics remained in prominent positions in public life; at the same time as historians write about the persecution of Catholics, they routinely acknowledge that many fairly open Catholics apparently lived very normal lives. Figures like Hatton help square this circle. Hatton and people like him helped to shape the national religious environment, both in practical and in symbolic terms.”

Neil Younger, Religion and politics in Elizabethan England: The life of Sir Christopher Hatton

[soft-october-night]

I'm rewatching the series, and I think with just a FEW tweaks, everything that feels wrong and bad about this season could have been fixed.

1. Crowley and aziraphale either live together or have a much closer relationship but it isn't romantic yet

2. Couple of scenes where it's clear Crowley WANTS it to be, and maybe Aziraphale does too

3. On a romantic night out, when maybe something is going to happen, maybe they almost kiss, THATS when Gabriel shows up

4. They freak out for a little bit over what to do, it's the first issue they've ever had since Armageddon didn't happen. Crowley hears from his people, aziraphale hears from his, and they're both like well I don't know what to do about this, but it seems VERY strange and we neither side should have him until we figure out what's going on

5. Recurring joke where they almost kiss but keep getting interrupted (this is important for later)

6. For the rest of the season, it can be about them growing apart from their solid foundation. We see it crumbling episode by episode as Aziraphale continues to try and pull away as heaven becomes more and more involved on earth and Aziraphale finds his loyalty to Crowley wavering. He WANTS to love heaven and heaven is consistently kind to him and good throughout the series, (Muriel plays a large role here, and their patient dedication and trust in heaven is alluring to Aziraphale) making his willingness to go back to heaven more of an earned slowburn.

7. Crowley keeps trying to hold them together, but we see in the minisodes and in the modern day segments that Crowley's constant helping has actually HARMED his own case: by rescuing Aziraphale and the humans around them from heaven's consequences all the time, he has prevented Aziraphale from really understanding heaven's awful, cruel inflexability.

8. The center cannot hold. Their issues complie and accumulate (the last episode can almost be the same). They finally, FINALLY get the kiss that's been teased all season, but it's not a beginning to anything, it's the end of everything they BOTH wanted at the beginning of the season.

9. ????????

10. Profit

Anyway that's Ren's "It's still a tragedy but at least it feels more natural and with better pacing" rewrite of the season thanks for coming to my ted talk

[dearweirdme]

I read in your blog I think that dispatch has some kind of agreement for taekook. You think Bang would have made some kinda agreement for himself as well

Hi anon!

Oh, that would not surprise me at all. Though I’d also say that there’s little loyalty amongst companies.

I’m not aware of the way Dispatch has been portraying the whole mess around Ador and Hybe. In cases like this (and many others) I think Dispatch does what they think benefits them most on the long term. There’s a lot to consider here. Would Dispatch look good if they were to out a queer couple like Tae and Jk? How much profit would they make from reporting on them? I think in general they profit more from a long term agreement than they would from reporting on their relationship (assuming they actually know, which is always an if). I think generally speaking it’s safe to say there’s a deal for all BTS.

Now let’s say Dispatch feels they would benefit from more from reporting against BH/Hybe (let’s say the evidence would be strongly against Bang Pd, or real big scandals would come out) I’d not expect them to make a deal. If there’s a long standing deal, that would probably have clauses about exceptions. If it’s continued smaller deals it would constantly depend on the situation probably.

[rockislandadultreads]

Cozy Sci-Fi Picks

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Centuries before, robots of Panga gained self-awareness, laid down their tools, wandered, en masse into the wilderness, never to be seen again. They faded into myth and urban legend.

Now the life of the tea monk who tells this story is upended by the arrival of a robot, there to honor the old promise of checking in. The robot cannot go back until the question of "what do people need?" is answered. But the answer to that question depends on who you ask, and how. They will need to ask it a lot. Chambers' series asks: in a world where people have what they want, does having more matter?

This is the first volume of the "Monk and Robot" series.

The Humans by Matt Haig

When an extraterrestrial visitor arrives on Earth, his first impressions of the human species are less than positive. Taking the form of Professor Andrew Martin, a leading mathematician at Cambridge University, the visitor wants to complete his task and return home to his planet and a utopian society of immortality and infinite knowledge.

He is disgusted by the way humans look, what they eat, and the wars they witness on the news, and is totally baffled by concepts such as love and family. But as time goes on, he starts to realize there may be more to this weird species than he has been led to believe. He drinks wine, reads Emily Dickinson, listens to Talking Heads, and begins to bond with the family he lives with, in disguise. In picking up the pieces of the professor's shattered personal life, the narrator sees hope and redemption in the humans' imperfections and begins to question the very mission that brought him there - a mission that involves not only thwarting human progress... but murder.

Chilling Effect by Valerie Valdes

Captain Eva Innocente and the crew of La Sirena Negra cruise the galaxy delivering small cargo for even smaller profits. When her sister Mari is kidnapped by The Fridge, a shadowy syndicate that holds people hostage in cryostasis, Eva must undergo a series of unpleasant, dangerous missions to pay the ransom.

But Eva may lose her mind before she can raise the money. The ship’s hold is full of psychic cats, an amorous fish-faced emperor wants her dead after she rejects his advances, and her sweet engineer is giving her a pesky case of feelings. The worse things get, the more she lies, raising suspicions and testing her loyalty to her found family.

To free her sister, Eva will risk everything: her crew, her ship, and the life she’s built on the ashes of her past misdeeds. But when the dominoes start to fall and she finds the real threat is greater than she imagined, she must decide whether to play it cool or burn it all down.

This is the first volume of the "Chilling Effect" series.

The Tatami Galaxy by Tomihiko Morimi

Our protagonist, an unnamed junior at a prestigious university in Kyoto, is on the verge of dropping out. After rebelling against the dictatorial jock president of the film club, he and his worst and only friend, the diabolical creep Ozu, are personas non grata on campus. For two years, our protagonist has made all the wrong decisions, and now he's about to make another mistake. He and Ozu are preparing for revenge - a fireworks attack at the film club's welcoming party for new members. Then, a chance encounter with a self-proclaimed god sets the confused and distraught young man on a new course. Destiny will bring him together with Akashi, the blunt but charming sophomore he has a crush on - if he's brave enough to make a move.

Yet our protagonist cannot get beyond his profound disillusionment and the moment is lost. But what if there's a universe where he did join the club of his dreams, ditched Ozu for good, and was confident enough to get the girl? A realm of possibility opens up for our protagonist as time rewinds, and from the four-and-a-half-mat tatami floor of his dorm room, he is plunged into a series of adventures that will take him to four parallel universes. In each universe, he is given the opportunity to start over as a freshman, in search of a rose-colored campus life.

This is the first volume of the "Tatami Galaxy" series.

[monstersdownthepath]

Monster Spotlight: Aurosrath

CR 5

Neutral Evil Large Undead

Druma: Land of Profit and Prophecy, pg. 56

Whether it’s a ruin diver falling into a trap due to the weight of their pilfered treasures, a miser starving to death because they refuse to relinquish even a single copper, or an aristocrat literally crushed beneath the weight of their gold, these horrifying corpses are the result of death through greed, eternally seeking to fill the new hole in their soul (and the many holes in their bodies) with the riches they sought in life. Their corpulent mass jangles and rattles with wealth that’s literally fused to their body by their own undying greed, and their entire motivation is to add more to their internal hoard, no matter who has to die. Bonds of loyalty, bonds of blood; none of it matters anymore. Anything that gets between an Aurosrath and any form of wealth it sees is torn to pieces and tossed aside.

Aurosrath possess a 10ft space and 10ft reach, giving them a wide threat radius in the cramped environments they tend to find themselves in, which would normally spell doom for any party they managed to ambush... but their jangling bodies prevent them from being especially sneaky. They don’t tend to be stealthy in the first place, which has upsides and downsides. Namely: they smash into view, using their +13 to Intimidate to demand tribute from whatever poor souls have earned their attention. If the intimidation doesn’t get victims to turn out their pockets (unlike NPCs, PCs don’t have to comply with such aggressive demands), then it’ll nonetheless likely leave them shaken as the bloated beast reaches forward to throttle them.

The sole means of offense an Aurosrath possesses is its two meaty grabbers. Each fist deals a decent 1d8+4 damage and Grabs any victim it successfully strikes, and grabbed victims are subject to being strangled. Now, normally, the Strangle ability possessed by some monsters isn’t literally throttling someone into unconsciousness; it merely prevents the victim from speaking at all, including voicing verbal components. In the ‘Srath’s case, though, victims quickly find the life choked out of them as its Suffocating Wealth spills from its body and onto their face, covering their nose and falling into their mouths until they can’t breathe. While most creatures aren’t likely to actually die from this suffocation unless they, for whatever reason, dumped Con (HINT: Do Not Do This), it DOES allow the Aurosrath eventually kill any creature that needs to breathe even if it can’t kill them through damage.

At least when you break its grip, you cough up a consolation prize for your troubles!

The greed ghoul’s offense is plain, and so is their defense; they have DR 5/slashing thanks to their moldering flesh, but every adventurer worth their salt tends to have a backup dagger if nothing else. Amusingly, their metallic hoards insulate them from Electricity, granting them 10 Resistance to it... but the real terror happens if they’re exposed to Fire. Though not immune or even resistant to it, Aurosrath are dangerously Smeltable, portions of their gold liquefying when exposed to 5 or more points of Fire damage in a single round... ironically, making them the second monster I’ve written about in the last couple weeks you really don’t want to set on fire. A smelted Aurosrath isn’t quite as dangerous as an infernal Roiling Oil, but their threat raises considerably nonetheless.

For 1d4 rounds after exposure (+1 per 5 Fire damage), they slow down to 20ft a round instead of 30 (not that it makes much difference thanks to their reach), their DR 5 becomes insurmountable to significantly raise their resilience, and they add +1d6 Fire damage to their slams. As molten gold is much worse to have splashing onto your face than regular coins, their Suffocating Wealth also works three times as fast, presumably because whoever is getting strangled is screaming and howling in agony, which turns it from a joke of a power into an actual, credible threat. Even a meager 10 Con means a character would have to be choked for 20 rounds before they died; this is halved if they continue to take standard actions, but molten Suffocating Wealth turns that 20 into 6, and if a character makes standard actions each round, that means they have a pitiful 3 rounds of air once they’re grabbed. The average Scorching Ray at this level deals around 12 damage, usually giving the Aurosrath enough time to choke one party member to death before it cools down. Maybe leave this to the Cold specialists?

At least it’s worth putting one of these horrors down. Coins and gems jangle in its belly, jewelry is worn or jammed into the creature’s open wounds and sores, art is pinned somewhere to its body... Aurosrath are veritable walking troves, and perhaps one of the few monsters in all of Pathfinder whose death directly leads to item drops popping out like an RPG item drop. Their lust for wealth is so complete that they rarely ever wield any valuable magic items they find instead shoveling them into their gullets to assure their precious treasure doesn’t become damaged, so a player slaying one and finding a wand inside can be assured it has full charges.

However, a DM wanting to up the challenge of one of these creatures can certainly use the fact they’re intelligent enough to utilize any magic items they may have on them. It can even be a fun mid-battle discovery! Any enchanted jewelry or clothing items they may be wearing is activated only by accident... though once an item makes its properties clear, there’s nothing stopping the zombies from continuing to use them if it means protecting and growing their hoard. 

You can read more about them here.

[windudemon]

socionics quadras with some good art

this is alpha quadra. alpha quadra is democratic, judicious and merry. from left to right: esfj, entp, intp and isfj.

the idea behind quadras comes from cognitive function “blocks”. when people has Ne and Ti together, then they like:

highly theoretical concepts as a source of intellectual stimulation and fun rather than for their practical merits.

logically consistent beliefs and ideas, and behavior that is consistent with personal values.

follow through on their ideas in the form of group activity.

then, when people also has Fe and Si together they like:

participating in groups where there is free exchange of positive emotional expression in an atmosphere pleasing to the senses.

discuss stories told in detail and according to the sequence in which events happened, rather than “jump to the point” quickly.

show affection for others in the form of small practical services or gifts.

feel energized in the positive atmosphere of special events, such as public holidays, parties and special celebrations.

this is beta quadra. they are decisive, merry and aristocratic. from left to right: infj, estp, enfj and istp.

ti along with se:

Beta quadra types prefer situations where the power structure and hierarchy is clearly defined according to consistent rules where ambiguities are minimized.

Beta quadra types are more confident analyzing realistic characteristics of situations, people, and objects, rather than alternative and could-it-be scenarios.

Beta quadra types are inclined to attribute to a new acquaintance traits that they have previously observed in other individuals belonging to the same group as they see the new acquaintance as belonging to (Aristocracy).

Beta quadra types are inclined to look for general rules explaining people, politics, mechanisms and trends, rules that once defined can be applied generally, rather than go about things in a case-by-case way.

Beta quadra types are energized by competitive situations where analytical tactics are emphasized

fe along with ni:

Beta types tend to enjoy group activities where the whole group participates in generating a common emotional atmosphere, as in laughing at jokes, etc.

Beta types tend to feel energized in the presence of people who share their beliefs and express them with obvious enthusiasm and emotion.

Beta types tend to give more value to feelings when they are demonstrated with clear emotional expression, and tend to increase the level of their own emotional expression in order to get a reaction from other people.

Beta types tend to describe personal views of special meaning with “poetic” or “dramatic” expressions and language.

Beta types are often deeply concerned about social issues and the direction the world is heading. They believe that apathy is a significant cause of societal problems, and work to fight against it.

this is gamma quadra. they are decisive, serious and democratic. from left to right: intj, isfp, esfp and entj.

te along with ni:

Gamma types take a longer-term view regarding efficiency and profitability, giving lower priority to the short term. Likewise, they tend to aim at the broader benefits of decisions, rather than only at those affecting themselves, giving them an inclination for self-sacrifice.

Gamma types like to talk about where present trends are leading in terms of potentially profitable events and undertakings.

Gamma types tend to give more value to ideas and concepts that are firmly connected to factual information.

fi along with se:

Gamma types take a hard-line approach regarding ethical principles and the punishment, even revenge, on those who break them.

Gamma types place high value on personal loyalty, once they feel a close relationship has been established.

Gamma types like to discuss personal relationships in a realistic manner and are skeptical that “jerks” can ever become “nice people”, for instance.

and finally this is delta quadra. they are judicious, serious and aristocratic. from left to right: enfp, infp, istj and estj.

te along with si:

Delta types make a point of talking about the rationale behind their actions and emphasizing the productiveness or unproductiveness of different ways of doing things – even in such emotional areas as personal relationships.

Delta types value peaceful, refreshing activities where they are doing something useful and balancing out their inner world at the same time.

Delta types have the philosophy that they will have to rely on their own industriousness to achieve their goals rather than on luck, speculation, group effort, or strong leadership.

ne along with fi:

Delta types love to share personal experience mixed with their own sentiments regarding their experiences, but all in an insightful and non-dramatic manner.

Delta types like to talk about new beginnings, opportunities for personal growth, and their plans and prospects for the future.

check out my main blog @ demonwindu.wordpress.com

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[tubetrading]

Success Stories:  Brands That Thrived with Private Labeling Services

In the competitive landscape of the UAE's condiments industry, private labeling has emerged as a pivotal strategy for brands aiming to differentiate and thrive.  This article explores how several condiments manufacturers and exporters in the UAE have leveraged private labeling services to achieve remarkable success.

The Rise of Private Labeling in UAE's Condiments Sector

In recent years, the UAE has witnessed a surge in demand for high-quality condiments, both domestically and internationally.  Local manufacturers and exporters have capitalized on this trend by offering private labeling services, allowing retailers and distributors to market products under their own brand names.

Case Studies: Brands Leading the Way

1.   Condiments Manufacturer in UAE: A Story of Innovation

One such manufacturer, based in the heart of UAE's culinary scene, has revolutionized private labeling in the condiments sector.  By partnering with retail giants and boutique stores alike, they offer bespoke labeling solutions that cater to diverse consumer preferences.  This approach not only enhances brand visibility but also fosters customer loyalty through personalized product offerings.

2.   Export Success: Condiments Exporter in UAE

On the export front, a prominent condiments exporter has carved a niche by providing private labeling services tailored to international markets.  Their strategic partnerships with global distributors have enabled them to penetrate new regions effectively.  Through meticulous branding and packaging, they ensure that each product reflects the quality and authenticity synonymous with UAE's culinary excellence.

The Role of Private Labeling Services

Private labeling services in the UAE empower brands to:

Customize Products:  Tailor condiments to meet specific market demands and consumer preferences.

Enhance Brand Identity:  Build brand equity by showcasing unique offerings under exclusive labels.

Expand Market Reach:  Access new markets and demographics through strategic partnerships and distributor networks.

Why Choose Private Labeling?

For retailers and distributors, opting for private labeling services offers several advantages:

Cost Efficiency:  Reduce manufacturing and marketing costs by leveraging existing expertise and infrastructure.

Flexibility:  Quickly adapt to market trends and consumer feedback without extensive product development cycles.

Brand Control:  Maintain control over branding, pricing, and product positioning in competitive markets.

Conclusion

As consumer preferences evolve and market dynamics shift, private labeling emerges as a cornerstone strategy for brands in UAE's condiments industry.  By harnessing the power of private labeling services, manufacturers and exporters not only drive growth but also foster innovation and customer satisfaction.

In essence, the success stories of condiments manufacturers and exporters in the UAE underscore the transformative impact of private labeling services.  By embracing this strategy, brands can navigate challenges, capitalize on opportunities, and emerge as leaders in the global condiments marketplace.

For businesses looking to embark on a similar journey of success through private labeling, partnering with experienced service providers in the UAE is key to unlocking new avenues of growth and profitability.