#WHO WAS LYNN'S EDITOR | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

rovasdiary · 1 month ago

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Hello! Can I request Annaka x fem reader Headcanons— where they are besties (who are crushing on each other) and the reader is an editor who makes edits of all her friends (because they are all celebs and famous—) but she edits Lynn Loud a lot— which is lowkey kind of a flirt tactic- and a way to express her feelings— without saying anything— idk I just thought this would be a funny and cute idea to ask— especially since they are so many edits of Lynn on TikTok lmao

this is such a cute idea!! enjoy :)

annaka fourneret x fem!reader . ✧.*

warnings: none i think (bad writing)

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐓 𝐊𝐍𝐎𝐖 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐔𝐒

꩜ you were screwed.

like, emotionally and irreversibly screwed.

because somewhere between helping annaka run lines for the really loud house, accidentally cuddling during movie nights, and sneakily memorizing the way she would walk and talk—you fell in love with your best friend.

and instead of telling her like a normal person, you… made tiktok edits.

of lynn loud.

because that was way less terrifying than saying “hey so remember how we said we were just friends? hahahahaah what if i wanted to kiss you sometimes.”

your editing account was already kind of a thing. you made reels and tiktoks of your celeb friends—cute moments, behind-the-scenes bloopers, dramatic transitions with the most unhinged audios possible. people loved it. your fanbase ate it up.

but lynn loud?

you edited her like she was your religion.

slow-mo clips of her kicking a soccer ball? synced to the bridge of “telepatía.”

a clip of her laughing? set to that audio that’s like “and god said let there be hot people.”

the one of her walking in slow motion down the school hallway? 3 million views. comments feral.

and annaka saw every single one.

she’d start with casual replies.

“lol not you using this shot again.”

to which you always had a comeback, “the people need what the people need”

“you’re the people”

“…and i need it”

then she started watching your drafts before you posted.

“this one’s too hot,” she’d say, watching over your shoulder. “they’re gonna think you have a crush.”

“on lynn,” you’d reply, without blinking.

she never said anything to that. just stared at you for a second too long before grabbing a bag of chips and wandering off.

what she didn’t know was that you had an entire folder titled ‘def not about annaka’ full of footage you refused to post.

candids of her fixing your hair. a close-up of her smiling after she made you laugh so hard you snorted. a shot of her sleeping on your shoulder during a press tour flight.

you tried editing them. once.

but every time you added the audio and hit preview, it felt too raw. too obvious. like you’d peeled open your chest and handed her your beating heart with a sparkle overlay and a lofi background track.

so instead, you stuck to lynn.

and it worked.

until it didn’t.

the unraveling started when you posted the edit.

you didn’t mean for it to be a confession. but it kind of was.

the song was that one that goes “i wish i could unread every text you ever sent me”—melodramatic, unhinged, and absolutely dripping in angst.

the clip? lynn looking up with those soft, sad eyes after a soccer loss.

the caption being i’d still pick you.

you posted it at 2am. by the time you woke up, it had 1.4 million views and annaka had left zero comments. not even a sarcastic one.

which was weird.

you dm’d her. no response.

you checked snap. unopened.

uh-oh.

you went full spiral in less than an hour. what if she figured it out? what if she knew it was about her? what if she hated you now?

you were mid spiral on your bedroom floor when your phone buzzed.

fizzy🫶🏻:

come over. now.

you stared at the screen for a full thirty seconds before bolting out the door.

she was waiting in her driveway when you arrived, arms crossed, hair up in a messy bun, wearing your hoodie.

“you good?” you asked, heart doing a full gymnastics routine.

she didn’t answer. just stared.

“okay, creepy silence is new,” you tried to joke, but it fell flat.

she finally spoke.

“that edit.”

your stomach dropped.

“what about it?”

“it wasn’t about lynn.”

you froze.

she stepped closer. “don’t lie. it wasn’t.”

you opened your mouth. closed it. tried again.

“…why does it matter?”

her jaw clenched. “because if you’re gonna flirt with me through my character, the least you can do is admit it.”

oh.

you stared at her. she stared back. the air between you went electric.

“…you watch my edits that closely?” you whispered.

she rolled her eyes. “i have a fucking playlist.”

your breath caught. “what.”

“you think i don’t see how much you zoom in on my face during every fake lynn thirst trap? you think i don’t know how your captions are just—you, trying not to say it?”

you blinked. “so what if i was.”

her voice dropped. “then say it.”

and you did.

“I’m in love with you, annaka.”

the silence that followed felt like a freefall.

and then—

she stepped forward, hands shaking slightly, and kissed you.

soft. certain. and everything you’d tried to say in every edit, every caption, every stolen glance.

when she pulled away, she smiled.

“for the record,” she whispered, “you’re a great editor.”

you laughed. “and you’re a terrible liar.”

she grinned. “yeah?”

“yeah. lynn could never.”

that night you posted a new edit.

it was a clip of you and annaka, giggling during a press event, her hand on your knee. with the audio “this one’s for the girl who had to make tiktoks instead of confessing like a normal person.”

the caption being “she knew. she always knew.”

comments were a disaster.

“Y’ALL WERE DATING THIS WHOLE TIME???”

“THE THIRST TRAPS WERE FLIRTING I’M SCREAMING”

“someone check on lynn loud she lost her number one fan”

“we won. the gay agenda WON.”

you just sent one reply.

“it was always about her.”

divider by strangergraphics!

rova’s notes ౨ৎ

sorry for being gone i’m employed unlike some of yall xxx

#𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐀 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐒! ⋆·˚ ༘ *#annaka fourneret #lesbian #lgbtq #lynn loud jr #annaka fourneret x reader #annaka fourneret fluff #coquette #writing

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yurimother · 2 years ago

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Kadokawa and Bandai Namco Attempt to Walk Back Lesbian Marriage in Edited 'Gundam: The Witch from Mercury' Interview

In statements made regarding discrepancies in a Gundam Ace magazine interview, Kadokawa and Bandai Namco Filmworks appears to deny the widly accepted interpretation of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury's finale that female characters Suletta and Miorine are married, saying, "We would like to leave its interpretation up to the perspective of each individual viewer who has seen and enjoyed the story."

On July 30, Bandai Namco Filmworks (previously known as Sunrise) addressed differences between the print and digital versions of an interview with voice actresses Kana Ichinose and Lynn. Ichinose and Lynn voice Sulleta and Miorine, respectively, in The Witch From Mercury, the latest entry in Bandai Namco's long-running Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.

In the interview's print version, which was published in the September issue of the Gundam Ace magazine, Ichinose refers Sulleta and Miorine's union:

I liked the epilogue scene where Miorine rests her head on Suletta's shoulder. After three years, I could feel that they were much closer, and seeing the two of them get married really touched my heart.

However, fans noticed that as of July 28, the digital version was edited to exclude the line about the characters' marriage.

In a statement released on the Witch From Gundam website and Twitter account, Bandai Namco apologized and explained the situation in their statement, saying, "In the article, there was a statement based on the speculation of the Gundam Ace editor, and despite requesting revisions during proofreading, the corrections to the passage were not reflected in the July 26 release."

Kadokawa, which publishes Gundam Ace, released a similar statement that likewise attributed the discrepancy to an editor's speculation, along with management and proofreading errors. Translated copies of both statements are available below.

The relationship between Miorine and Suletta garnered praise for its LGBTQ+ representation. A scene from the first episode where the two become engaged after Suletta wins Miorine's hand in a duel went viral online in 2022. Their relationship became a central part of the narrative, and they remained engaged for the majority of the anime's two-season run, which concluded on July 2.

The anime also gives copious evidence that the two are now married. After a time skip, the two women are seen sitting together while wearing matching wedding rings on their left hands and say, "Let's go home," implying that they live together. Additionally, Eri, Suletta's sister, refers to herself as Miorine's "sister-in-law."

Given this evidence, most took it for granted that Suletta and Miorine were now married, including their voice actors, who spoke about their relationship in the Asticassia Radio Committee program (Majo Raji). They became outraged by the apparent censorship and accused Bandai Namco and Kadokawa of homophobia.

Bandai Namco Filmwork's full statement (translated):

Thank you for your continued support of Mobile Suite Gundam: The Witch From Mercury. Regarding an interview published in the September 2023 issue of Monthly Gundam Ace, some of the descriptions in the paper magazine and digital versions differed, confusing everyone who supported the work. We are genuinely sorry. In the article, there was a statement based on the speculation of the Gundam Ace editor, and despite requesting revisions during proofreading, the corrections to the passage were not reflected in the July 26 release. Regarding the work, we would like to leave its interpretation up to the perspective of each individual viewer who has seen and enjoyed the story. Once again, we would like to sincerely apologize for causing so much trouble and worry to everyone who supports the work. Thank you for your continued support. July 30, 2023 Bandai Namco Filmworks

Kadokawa's full statement (translated):

Regarding the Mobile Suite Gundam: The Witch From Mercury interview published in the September 2023 issue of Monthly Gundam Ace, some of the descriptions differ between the paper magazine and digital version. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience we caused to everyone. During the proofreading process, there was a statement based on the editor's speculation, and although Bandai Namco Filmworks pointed out the error, the correction was admitted due to a mistake, and it was released on July 26. This incident was caused by management and proofreading errors by the editorial department. After consulting with Bandai Namco Filmworks, which owns the rights, the digital version was edited with the correction it had initially indicated. Once again, we apologize for causing confusion and misunderstanding. We will strive to prevent this from happening again by strengthening the editorial department's confirmation system. July 30, 2023 Kadokawa Corporation Monthly Gundam Ace Editorial Department

Sources:

Gundam Ace September 2023 No. 253 (digital edition)

Gundam Ace September 2023 No. 253 print edition (as captured by Twitter user zeonicscans)

Mobile Suite Gundam: The Witch From Mercury official website

Gundam Ace official Twitter account

#yuri #lgbt #queer #lesbian #Gundam #G_Witch #gay #girls love #news #anime #gl #lgbtq

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justforbooks · 3 months ago

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Joan Didion’s ‘astonishingly intimate’ diary to be published

The author recorded her thoughts on alcoholism, depression and her complex relationship with her daughter Quintana in the book, Notes to John

A journal found in Joan Didion’s home is to be published in April.

Discovered in a filing cabinet next to the American writer’s desk after her death in 2021, Notes to John is addressed to Didion’s husband, John Gregory Dunne, who died in 2003. Its entries begin in December 1999, and recount sessions Didion was having with a psychiatrist at the time.

As we know from a letter she wrote to a friend at that time, her family had been having “a rough few years” when Didion started writing Notes to John. The psychiatrist sessions detailed in the journal include discussions of Didion’s childhood, alcoholism, depression and her adopted daughter, Quintana. Didion spoke in the sessions about her relationship with Quintana, who lived with mental illness and alcoholism, and died in 2005 aged 39.

According to UK publisher 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins, the conversations Didion had with the psychiatrist “were central to Didion’s understanding of the themes she turned to in her brilliant late works, Where I Was From, The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights.”

Kishani Widyaratna, publishing director at 4th Estate said: “It is a great honour to be bringing this extraordinary new book to readers. Notes to John offers us a deeply moving and astonishingly intimate portrait of the person behind the revered literary persona, and rare insight into the genesis of some Didion’s most treasured works.”

The announcement that these post-psychiatry notes, discovered by Didion’s literary executors in an unlabelled folder shortly after she died in 2021, are to be published in April has raised questions around the ethics of posthumous publishing.

Didion left no instructions to her trustees – her literary editor Lynn Nesbit, and two of her longtime editors, Shelley Wanger and Sharon DeLano – about how to handle the deeply private journal after her death from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

In total, 46 entries were found – printed out and placed in chronological order – in a portable filing cabinet next to her desk. They will be published in their entirety, with only minimal editing, such as footnotes and corrections of typos, under the title Notes to John.

The book is already being hyped as “an unmissable publication” from “one of the most iconic writers of our time” by its UK publisher 4th Estate, an imprint of HarperCollins. According to the publisher, the “meticulous” notes of conversations Didion had with her psychiatrist were central to Didion’s understanding of the themes she turned to in her celebrated late works, such as her memoirs The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights, in which she writes about Quintana and John’s deaths.

A close friend of Didion, who wished to remain anonymous, told the Observer: “I have no doubt that this document will further our collective astonishment at Joan’s work, but I also cannot think of anything more private than notes kept about one’s psychiatry sessions. It’s not my place to say what Joan would have wanted, but as someone who loved her very much, the publication of these pages makes me terrifically sad.”

They said that, after discovering that Didion’s literary executors had decided to publish the notes, several of Didion’s closest friends and family members had shared similar feelings of disappointment and anguish: “The collective feeling in her inner circle is that her privacy has been betrayed … While I, of course, understand the public thirst for this document, given Joan’s extraordinary place in American letters, Joan was nothing if not meticulous and intentional with the details she decided to share – and not share – in The Year of Magical Thinking and Blue Nights. Anything beyond that seems to me a tremendous betrayal of her privacy by the people she trusted the most.”

Dr Rod Rosenquist, who lectures at the University of Northampton on the ethics of posthumous publishing, said the journal was bound to generate interest due to the “cult of Joan Didion”, which saw items such as her $12 blank notebooks fetch $9,000 at the auction of her estate by her heirs in 2022. “She is a celebrity writer within literary circles … and what I think is so interesting about public figures is that they are owned – manipulated in some ways – by the public,” he said.

Readers are hungry to better understand the inner life of an author they admire, he added: “That’s the very nature of celebrity.”

It is for this reason that writers such as Henry James and Charles Dickens burned their personal papers while they were still alive. But since Didion did not do this or instruct her literary executors not to publish the notes, leaving them “carefully organised” near her desk, where they were bound to be found, then “legally everyone’s acting within their rights and acting in ways that the market encourages them to act”, he said.

On an ethical and emotional level, however, he personally found the decision to publish Notes to John “disturbing”: “I don’t feel comfortable with anyone’s private journals being published this early.” Although there has been “public interest” in posthumously publishing the journal of a great writer many years after their death, he thinks that, even in these circumstances, therapy should be protected. “That’s my position. But I do think it’s debatable.”

Paul Bogaards, a spokesperson for the Didion Dunne Literary Trust, said the trust “respectfully declined” to comment.

Didion’s biographer, Tracy Daugherty, said he did not think Didion – “a careful curator of her image” – would have assumed that the personal nature of the journal protected it from “those who’d want to make it public”. “She was not naive about either publishing or human nature … Leaving behind something as rich as this journal promises to be could not be accidental.”

Didion was in decline in her later years but she was not incapacitated, he said. “She had to know that this journal would be, in her terms, ‘gold’.”

Joan Didion was born in Sacramento, California, in 1934 and worked as a journalist before publishing her first novel, Run River, in 1963. She went on to write four more novels including A Book of Common Prayer and Democracy. She was also well known for her essays such as Goodbye to All That and The White Album, and her memoir The Year of Magical Thinking won the National Book Award for nonfiction in 2005. In 2013, she was presented with a National Humanities Medal by Barack Obama and, in the same year, she won the PEN Center USA’s Lifetime Achievement award.

“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means,” Didion said of her work.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

#just for books #Joan Didion #Notes to John #book review

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zepskies · 2 years ago

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Why We Love the Boys

As promised, here is my review of Supes Ain’t Always Heroes. I actually used to write book reviews in my high school journalism days, so here we go!

What this book is: A masterful deep dive. A study on character psychology, the source of the comic and show’s inspiration, and the narrative themes illustrated in The Boys that parallel American culture and our real lives.

It includes interviews from one of the comic’s creators, Darick Robertson, The Krip himself (Eric Kripke), and actors Jim Beaver (Robert Singer), Aya Cash (Stormfront), Chace Crawford (The Deep), Jessie T. Usher (A-Train), Nathan Mitchell (Black Noir), and of course, Jensen Ackles (Soldier Boy).

It also includes a small but significant ode to the creativity of fans and fandom (with a mention of fanfic writers)!

I’ll admit, I felt seen. 😊

Who wrote it: Psychologists Lynn S. Zubernis and Matthew Snyder, among several other contributors. Zubernis is a self-proclaimed fangirl of not only this show, but also of Supernatural and Eric Kripke in general. (That aspect definitely comes through in her writing.)

She is also editor of Family Don’t End with Blood: Cast and Fans on How Supernatural Changes Lives and There’ll Be Peace When you Are Done: Actors and Fans Celebrate the Legacy of Supernatural—both of which I now want to read.

As I mentioned, several other authors also contributed to this book, as their expertise and backgrounds lend to the subjects they’re covering, such as racism, sexism, the entertainment industry, the comic’s inception, and more.

Who wants to read this book: Anyone who enjoys learning about what makes characters tick. What drives their choices, their sense of morality and justice, and their trauma and strife that lead them to do heinous things. This book will help you better understand your favorite characters (and how to write about them).

Perhaps most importantly, this book is for anyone who wants to read it put into words, why many of us love The Boys, as well as Supernatural.

In a way, the latter is more escapism entertainment than The Boys. Because in this show, there isn’t much, if any escape.

Despite this being a “superhero show,” as we all know, it’s so much more than that. It’s a mirror held directly into our own faces: about why we enjoy heroes and antiheroes, and excuse the “bad behavior” of the ones we like.

About mental health, grief and loss, nature and nurture, coping mechanisms and the importance of choice in dealing with trauma; of racism, sexism, misogyny, weaponized social media, politics, corporate greed, and the power (and cruelty) of good marketing.

This book explores the true villain of the story...and it ain’t Homelander.

I’m going to get into my favorite aspects of this book—as well as an amazing chapter on Soldier Boy’s character study (and why we love him, perhaps too much).

There was also one small, but key thing I would add to that argument. But first...

The Mirror of The Boys on Screen

This world is a gritty, bloody, and at times all-too realistic take on how superheroes would be if they lived in our world.

They are the worst of celebrities, professional athletes, and politicians all rolled into one. They are the shiny products of a company and are marketed as such—and worst of all, they often buy into their own hype.

Some of my favorite quotes on this topic:

“The Boys often reflects darkness in our real world that is uncomfortable to watch. While we go through the tedium of our daily lives, trying to get by and using television or comics as an escape, it can feel difficult and overwhelming to confront the very real and insidious sources of authoritarianism, nationalism, and corporatism that are not just part of a story. “This show holds up a mirror and forces us to catch a glimpse of things we need to question, and asks us why we so easily believe the talking points of systems with marketing departments and press flacks behind them that carefully massage every word in order to get us to feel enamored with their product or policy.” (p. 227-228)

“The Boys works to reveal the nonaltruistic, sociopathic nature of contemporary US corporate culture. In a sense, The Boys uses the behavior of its characters to diagnose not an individual, but a culture.” (255)

In studying narrative I’ve learned that the best fiction and art serve to reflect the human experience. In this case, it’s something The Boys does expertly, even though it’s packaged in extreme, shocking, and often uncomfortable ways. But also in brutal, hilarious satire that’s fun to watch.

It “exposes real-world abuses, revealing many” of our own frustrations in American culture and in life in general (267).

Major Themes & Questions Explored

Several Boys themes are explored from a psychological, cultural, and narrative point of view, as I mentioned earlier. These are some of my favorite segments:

Toxic Masculinity & Narcissism

A whopper in The Boys, and the main theme of season 3. This book defines clearly what both of these words actually mean from a psychological point of view.

It also takes the bad taste out of your mouth that you might get from just hearing the words “toxic masculinity,” as it’s a phrase that can be carelessly thrown around to describe men and character traits that aren’t truly toxic...

How being emotionally available to your loved ones and not repressive of your feelings doesn’t make you weak, or less of a man. And how “being strong” doesn’t mean being physically violent and domineering. (AKA: the Big Swinging Dick™️ in the room.)

Narcissism is explored in a very interesting way. The book gives a diagram of different aspects of narcissists and how each character (Soldier Boy, Homelander, Butcher, and the Deep) falls into them.

Soldier Boy, for example, is classified as a “Classic Narcissist,” while Homelander a “Malignant Narcissist.” <- This will play into Soldier Boy’s character study, and the main difference between Soldier Boy and Homelander.

Butcher, however, displays narcissistic tendencies but is not, in fact, a narcissist. (More of an antisocial sociopath. Yay for him.)

Misogyny & Sexism

The classic superhero world of comics dates back to the 1930s and ‘40s. It has been, and in many respects still is a (White) male-dominated industry, where in narrative, female superheroes typically work under a male leading the team, as in Justice League, Teen Titans, and the Avengers.

As much as I love DC and Marvel comics, female characters have also been depicted wildly sexual for male readers and the male gaze, and non-supe characters have been written primarily as love interests and damsels for the hero to save. (Think Lois Lane, Lana Lang, and Mary Jane.)

Modern adaptions have given female characters more agency, but their foundations were rooted in underlying sexism and the mythic hero—an Odysseus-type with certain characteristics of male strength and heroism; and that goes all the way back to classic literature, like The Odyssey, Beowulf, and the Epic of Gilgamesh.

In The Boys, the female supes go through the same issues as their comic counterparts. They are treated how women are treated in the real world—marketable as sexual objects. Starlight’s forced costume change is a prime example.

Author Danielle Turchiano argues in the book that the women in power at Vought (Madelyn Stillwell, later Ashley) are given only so much power as men like Stan Edgar and Homelander give to them.

Stillwell, Ashley, and even Stormfront “drink the Kool Aid” of the misogynistic infrastructure of Vought, but they’re not truly “powerful” in and of themselves (112).

I would add that the only female characters that have or find true agency are Grace Mallory, Annie January/Starlight, and Maggie Shaw/Queen Maeve. Even Victoria Neuman is trying to work the political schematic and Vought by operating within the system Vought has created.

Mental Health, Trauma & Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms

This is a huge section, and rightly so. It kind of spans throughout the book, really, because all of these characters have traumas that inform who they are as adults making the (often grotesque) choices they make.

For many of these characters, it stems from their upbringing and fraught relationships with their parents, whether explicitly or implicitly explored in the show.

Butcher: Is an antisocial sociopath with narcissistic tendencies. Arrogant, emotionally manipulative, violent, and obsessive. He was also physically and emotionally abused by his father, led to use drinking and violence as a means to cope and express himself. His rage is so deep under his skin—he loathes himself for it (and his father), but struggles immensely to escape it.

Homelander (John): A malignant narcissist, the height of arrogance, and emotionally manipulative. He lacks empathy for others' pain, and in fact enjoys inflicting it. Yet according to Jonah Vogelbaum, "John" was a sensitive, gentle child who only wanted connection and love. Vogelbaum raised him like a lab rat and fostered him in a cold, detached cell. He was raised to be entitled and to believe he was an all-powerful god, the lord of his own kingdom within his mind, excused from the responsibility of his actions.

Soldier Boy (Ben): Also a narcissist; violent, arrogant, misogynistic, and often indifferent to the damage he causes, emotional or physical. Yet he was also emotionally abused by his father, who set high and exacting standards for what it meant to be a man. It drives Ben to try and prove his worth to his father, though he’s never able to. It fosters the lack of self-worth he probably feels as he seeks validation through fame, and what he believes power to be.

These three characters have many similarities, but also notable differences that set them apart from one another. And both Butcher and Soldier Boy use substances like drugs and alcohol to cope with their traumas—ones that their forced stoicism and sense of manhood won’t allow them to easily express.

“We see Soldier Boy use substances almost continuously in season three to deal with his PTSD from the childhood emotional abuse he received from his father, the betrayal and assault from his team, and the torture he endured from the Russian scientists.

“In the short term, the use of drugs and alcohol to avoid thoughts and feelings about traumatic experiences can be felt as helpful, but in the long term, it hinders one’s ability to process emotions and can cause a deeper depression from the guilt and shame of both avoidance and substance abuse.” (27)

Heroes, Antiheroes & Villains

This book explores two key questions that the show encourages you to think about:

Who the hell is the hero of this story?

And who is the villain?

The surface-level answer is that Homelander and other supes like him are the villains, and Butcher and his band of bros are the heroes (or antiheroes). But they commit just as questionable, sketchy, and downright murderous acts as the supes they’re trying to take down.

“Butcher is not really a good guy. He’s manipulative and self-centered. His reasons for wanting to take down Homelander are utterly personal. That it serves the greater good is almost a coincidence.” (9)

And if Butcher is not a hero, but a vengeful vigilante, then why do we root for him so much?

Well, we see his incredible flaws, of course, but I sympathize with his struggle in losing his wife and the life he could've continued to have with her. I root for the underdog going against the hydra head of Vought and the psychopathic Homelander.

I see in Butcher, as I also do with Homelander and Soldier Boy, their traumas and their internal conflicts, their deep-rooted self-loathing, and a desire, deep, deep down…to be loved.

(And to foster connection with others, even if they’re unable to sustain them.)

On the flipside, we have antagonists in this show who do truly heinous things. What makes them compelling even sympathetic at times, yet again, are their painful upbringings that have shaped them to be who they are. The supes of this show are byproducts of being treated like products.

Like the saying goes: Villains aren’t born, they’re made.

That’s why the real villain of this story is Vought International. It’s an allegory, and an indictment of the ruthless corporate greed that pervades American culture—and much of the world.

It’s why Stan Edgar is sometimes scarier to me than even Homelander (and was the true villain of my story, Break Me Down), if far more insidious.

Speaking of BMD, let’s get to it, shall we?

Here’s a (lot) bit about the Soldier Boy section of the book.

Soldier Boy: Why We Can’t Hate Him

I had to laugh out loud at the title of Soldier Boy’s chapter:

Loving the Villain: The Confusing Case of Soldier Boy

I’m not gonna lie. I felt called out. 😂

It is a confusing dichotomy. Soldier Boy is an absolute asshole. Misogynistic, narcissistic, arrogant, callous, violent…

But also deeply traumatized, a man-out-of-time, emotionally abused, a byproduct of the historically and culturally different time he was raised in, a man who just doesn’t get it…

And also charming, adorably grumpy, and undoubtedly attractive.

It’s hard to indict “Ben” as an unredeemable villain in the same way I do Homelander, the psychologist-labelled Malignant Narcissist.

Therein lies the main difference between Soldier Boy and Homelander: Soldier Boy doesn’t seem to take joy in harming others the way Homelander does...but, Soldier Boy still harms people, whether he means to or not. He is arrogant and callous, deeply traumatized and vengful.

Zubernis confirms many of my own conclusions and ideas about Soldier Boy, and why I still rooted for him to be better, and didn’t want him to die at the end of season 3.

As Zubernis rightly exclaimed during her own watch of the finale: “Noooo, don’t kill the Danger Grandpa Baby Murder Kitten!” (175)

Because Jensen did what he does best in his roles: He made us feel Ben’s pain.

“What’s funny is, in regard to Jensen playing Soldier Boy, you know he’s fucking fantastic, he’s just so good at bringing the audience, and it’s almost like—what I laugh about is, he was probably a little too good at his job!” Kripke said. (180)

And he continues, “In part it’s because of the fandom. So many people took his side in the finale, they’re like, Were’s on his side, fuck everyone! And you’re like, but he’s the bad guy and he’s trying to kill a ten-year-old.”

Were there fans who held this viewpoint? I’m sure. There are some radicals who don’t care about the humanity of characters or story and will side with their favorites, come whatever. But while I can’t speak for others, that’s not how I interpreted that moment in the season 3 finale when I watched it for the first, second, and even third time.

Yes, I think Soldier Boy was wrongfully willing to fight Ryan after cruelly batting him away. Do I think he would’ve killed him? I’m not sure. I think he would’ve continued to do what he had to do to get Ryan out of his way in his fight with Homelander. Maybe he would’ve been more violent than he intended, in the callous collateral damage he’d shown throughout the season. Maybe he would've held back at the last second. Or maybe he would’ve gone that far, if provoked.

It’s a tough call, as I think this character can go one way or the other in terms of his “villain” nature. We just haven’t seen enough of him in the series yet for me to make that conclusion on the canon-version of Soldier Boy. (In fanfic, I’ve explored my own interpretation.)

But overall, I think The Krip underestimated the power of Jensen’s acting.

…And the ardent nature of his mostly female fanbase. 😂

Why We Love Soldier Boy

The author cites multiple reasons for why we love Ben more than we probably should:

It’s Jensen Ackles: Fair enough. His talent speaks for itself.

Soldier Boy’s backstory: He was emotionally abused by his father and as a result, he has a complex regarding his self-worth, “something to prove,” and I would imagine a secret need for attention, validation, and praise.

He has trauma and PTSD: He is displaced from what is familiar to him and confused when the boys find him, and that is the least of it. He’s been tortured for 40 years. Can you even wrap your mind around that? (*cough cough Dean Winchester in Hell cough*)

He’s charming: In a sexy grandpa, adorably grumpy, lovable asshole kind of way.

We’re drawn to danger: Dangerous “edgy” types are fun, especially when you’re physically attracted to the character.

He has his moments of vulnerability: Jensen’s ability to play the nuance in the character is the ultimate draw. I felt his pain, could see his torture, and his resulting PTSD. He even admits that he longs for a family, even if his ability to bring up those children is questionable at best. 😅

But I think the one aspect that can also be considered is the character’s capacity for change.

Soldier Boy’s Potential

Again, I don’t think you can write off Soldier Boy’s potential for positive character development the same way you can Homelander, or even Butcher.

For one thing, we just haven’t spent enough time with the character. In season 3, a lot of his collateral damage after he escapes imprisonment has been accidental, or PTSD-induced. Though we can’t discount how he murdered M.M.’s grandfather via collateral damage (and was callous about it).

I think this is what drew me to write about Soldier Boy. For all his arrogance, his chauvinism, his massive ego and general bastardry, there’s still humanity in Ben.

In the book, Nathan Mitchell says something amazing about his own character (Black Noir) that resonated with me about Soldier Boy as well:

"One of the ingredients of a compelling character is contradiction. How does one aspect of our personality contradict with one another? [...] Who is he underneath? How might his true nature contrast with the demands of his job?"

Or coded for Soldier Boy/Ben: The pressures he puts on himself to be the type of man he thought his father wanted him to be.

Again, his sexist, misogynistic ideals are shaped by the time he was raised in, by being a product of Vought, and of his father’s emotionally abusive upbringing. Does this excuse or justify all of his behavior? Of course not.

But I do think those 40 years in captivity changed him from the careless alpha dog we saw in 1984 Nicaragua…

He admits to Crimson Countess, with tears in his eyes, that he’d loved her. That he waited for her and his team—arguably the only social system he had in his life—to save him. He’s gutted to realize that not only did she and the rest of the team never love him, they hated him. They traded him for nothing. Just to get him out of their lives.

For all he claims to be afraid of nothing, tough as shit, he is afraid when he goes to face Mindstorm. He knows what the supe is capable of, and he visibly takes a shaky breath and tries to steel himself.

For a moment, he drops the “Soldier Boy” persona that he wears like that fine tailored suit, and he tells Butcher that the backstory Vought created for him was a lie; he grew up a rich kid who got sent to boarding school, but flunked out, because "he was a fuck up." And his father couldn’t be bothered to lay a hand on him, implying he didn’t care enough about his own son to "discipline" him.

He is reluctant to kill Homelander when he finds out he’s Ben’s son (sort of). He even claims that he would’ve been willing to share the spotlight “with his own son.” — Something I doubt even Homelander would do.

Ben even seems to be fighting tears when he levies the same vitriol at Homelander that his own father did at him:

Homelander: “Weak? I’m you.” Soldier Boy: “I know. You’re a fucking disappointment.”

Let me be clear. I don’t think it’s up to someone to change him (like a love interest). I don’t subscribe to that thinking, that a woman can “change” a man.

For example: In season 2, Butcher tells Becca, “Who was I before you? Nothing.”

And yet, she tells him that he put her on an unrealistic and unsustainable pedestal, in which she felt like she wasn’t allowed to fully be herself, unable to keep him from flying off the handle in rage. That kind of relationship (where one is dependent on the other to “keep them in check”) doesn’t work as a lasting, satisfying redemption arc, and it often doesn’t work in real life either.

I do think, however, that a person is capable of change if they’re broken down enough (pun intended), and if they themselves have a desire to change. Someone they encounter can inspire them to be better, like Butcher with Hughie. That person can help support the other.

At the end of the day, however, it’s Ben that has to want to change.

If he wants love and connection, he’ll have to somehow want it, and try (and sometimes fail) to get it, thereby giving him agency and a redemptive character arc.

Now, obviously, it’s up to The Krip where Ben goes from here. He seems to have a more indicting vision of the character than I do (at least, so far). But we’ll see! The fan demand to bring back the character has already had Kripke confirming that Soldier Boy will be back.

Maybe it will encourage him to give the character a more satisfying ending than Dean Winchester got in Supernatural. Though granted, that one wasn’t his doing, apparently he was in favor of that ending, which ultimately culminated 15 years of monster slaying and broments under Baby's roof.

Comparing Dean & Ben

In his interview segment, Jensen talks about what, if any, are the comparisons between Dean Winchester and Soldier Boy. AKA: Wanting a father’s approval, and an undercurrent of “John Wayne”-esque masculinity in John Winchester that Dean sought to emulate.

Jensen also talks about where he drew from to not only embody the character of Soldier Boy, but bring nuance to him—and show the peeks of vulnerability under the bravado and stoicism.

“He’s so fragile and his ego is fragile. Just like Homelander. These bigger-than-life powerful heroes really have a glass jaw… “And everyone walks on eggshells around him [Soldier Boy], and they tell him that they love him, and it’s the same with Homelander. Then when all of a sudden he faces his old team and Crimson Countess says we never loved you, we hated you—that’s a gut punch for him. Because even though on some level he may have known that, he never thought he would hear it. “And he probably propped himself up around trying to believe otherwise, because how can you walk around knowing everyone you’ve ever cared about hates you? It’s too painful.” (191)

It really is. I inherently felt this about Soldier Boy (Ben) when I watched season 3 for the first time. That’s exactly what I got from his performance and thought, there’s more to this guy than the toxic masculinity he represents.

This guy just wants to be loved, like everyone else. He wants to feel important, and even after his father’s dead, “show him” that Ben is the man his father wanted him to be. And so, he bought into the illusion Vought painstakingly crafted for him.

Whether he can come back from that remains to be seen, but I choose to be optimistic until evidence points to the contrary. 😅 (Maybe we’ll see in season 4!)

So that’s my personal take on Soldier Boy and this awesome book. 💚 Thank you again @kaleldobrev for recommending it to me! I hope you all enjoyed my long-winded review and want to check this out.

And if you do read it, let me know! I hope to read your thoughts as well!

Tagging people who said they wanted to read my review on this book: @venus-haze @jessjad @kristophalis @sl33pylilbunny

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reynard61 · 18 days ago

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As a non-violent practitioner, two things are fundamental values to me: we are all connected—as Dr. King said, we are tied in a single garment of destiny, we are community and we must learn to live like community. And two: each individual person has worth and dignity that should not be ignored. It is interesting to me that this little legal phrase, “due process,” that I probably never gave much thought to, actually says a lot about both of these values (that we are community and we must acknowledge the dignity of each individual), and it turns out that one of the differences between a democratic republic and a police state is how we do due process. We don’t want a police state, do we?

Most of us don't, but some of us do; and the ones who do currently control the institutions of political and state power and levers of power within those institutions -- and it's only going to get more difficult as time goes by to wrest that power away from those who want that police state. (I find it *highly* ironic that we're using a term that usually designates a body usually meant for enforcing and upholding The Law to describe a condition of lawless authoritarianism/fascism.) I'm not saying that we shouldn't resist and work to wrest back our civil and Human rights, but I *am* saying that it won't be easy and there will probably be a lot of pain, cruelty and injury inflicted in many, many innocents along the way and we need to prepare ourselves for that eventuality. When empathy is a "sin", brutality is a sacrament.

#authoritarianism #due process

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the-forest-library · 6 months ago

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December 2024 Reads

Orbital - Samantha Harvey

I Who Have Never Known Men - Jacqueline Harpman

Ghost Wall - Sarah Moss

Fox 8 - George Saunders

The Muse of Maiden Lane - Mimi Matthews

Finding Mr. Write - Kelley Armstrong

Cole and Laila Are Just Friends - Bethany Turner

P.S. I Hate You - Lauren Connolly

Not in My Book - Katie Holt

The Rules of Royalty - Cale Dietrich

Wrong Answers Only - Tobias Madden

Lily and the Octopus - Steven Rowley

The Mistletoe Mystery - Nita Prose

A Night in the Lonesome October - Roger Zelazny

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - Washington Irving

A Matter of Execution - Nicolas Atwater and Olivia Atwater

The Scholar and the Last Faerie Door - H.G. Parry

Cursed Cocktails - S.L. Rowland

Games Untold - Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats - T.S. Eliot

So Thirsty - Rachel Harrison

Hunting November - Adriana Mather

Two Sides to Every Murder - Danielle Valentine

Demon in the Wood - Leigh Bardugo

Thistlefoot - GennaRose Nethercott

Ghost Squad - Claribel A. Ortega

Heartwood Hotel: A True Home - Kallie George

Understood Betsy - Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Death and Life of Benny Brooks - Ethan Long

Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Catcher - Bruce Coville

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox, and the Horse - Charlie Mackesy

In a Jar - Deborah Marcero

Frog and Toad Are Friends - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad Together - Arnold Lobel

Frog and Toad All Year - Arnold Lobel

Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt - Kate Messner and Christopher Silas Neal

A Little Like Magic - Sarah Kurpiel

Sugar and Spice and Everything Mice - Annie Silvestro and Christee Curran-Bauer

Mr. Santa - Jarvis

I Shall Never Fall in Love - Harri Conner

Bunt! Striking Out on Financial Aid - Ngoni Ukazu

Swamp Thing: Twin Branches - Maggie Stiefvater

Shadow of the Batgirl - Sarah Kuhn

She-Hulk, Vol. 5: All In - Rainbow Rowell

Briony Hatch - Ginny & Penelope Skinner

March: Book One - John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell

Cat People to Judge in Art and Life - Nicole Tersigni

Pen & Ink - Isaac Fitzgerald and Wendy MacNaughton

March Sisters: On Life, Death, and Little Women - Kate Bolick, Jenny Zhang, Carmen Maria Machado, and Jane Smiley

Everybody Needs an Editor - Melissa Harris

We All Shine On: John, Yoko, and Me - Elliot Mintz

Never Play it Safe - Chase Jarvis

Women Living Deliciously - Florence Given

Things to Look Forward To - Sophie Blackall

Real American Girls Tell Their Own Stories - Thomas Hoobler and Dorothy Hoobler

The Wood in Winter - John Lewis-Stempel

50 Ways to Rewire Your Anxious Brain - Catherine M. Pittman and Maha Zayed Hoffman

Democracy or Else - Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, and Tommy Vietor

What I Ate in One Year - Stanley Tucci

Greekish - Georgina Hayden

The Vegetable Eater - Cara Mangini

Bold = Highly Recommend

Italics = Worth It

Crossed Out = Nope

Thoughts: So, uh, I read a lot of books this month. I leaned into beating my total from last year since I was close and read a lot of short reads, graphic novels, and the children's books I was giving for gifts.

There were some good reads this month, including two new canine narrators that I adore: Fox 8 and Snuff from A Night in the Lonesome October (which really should be a big tumblr book as it has Jack the Ripper, Dracula, the Wolf Man, a witch, a clergyman, a druid, Victor Frankenstein, Sherlock Holmes, a Rasputin-coded mad monk, and occultists along with their familiars scheming over the fate of the world).

Goodreads Goal: 476/400

#2024 reads #book reviews #book recommendations #books #booklr #reading #bookish #bibliophile #tflo

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posttexasstressdisorder · 9 days ago

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WhatMatters

Your guide to California policy and politics

By Lynn La

June 17, 2025

Presented by Climate-Smart Agricultural Partnership, California Housing Consortium, Californians for Energy Independence and California Resources Corporation

Good morning, California.

Showdown in court today over Trump’s National Guard deployment

California National Guard troops stand with shields outside the Federal Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Photo by Ted Soqui for CalMatters

It’s been more than a week since President Donald Trump deployed the California National Guard in Los Angeles without the consent of state officials, and the battle over who has control of the troops is still winding its way through the courts, report CalMatters’ Mikhail Zinshteyn and Ben Christopher.

Three judges from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are expected today to hold a hearing on whether to let the troops stay in L.A. under Trump’s command, or uphold a federal judge’s ruling that would have suspended the deployment and returned the troops to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The president deployed 4,000 troops from the National Guard — which has a dual chain of command with one leading the president and the other to the governor — by invoking a statute in federal law that details specific conditions when the National Guard can come under federal authority. But the state argues that the clashes between federal immigration enforcement agents and demonstrators protesting against immigration sweeps do not meet those conditions.

Read more here.

And lastly: Lake Tahoe’s clarity levels

A UC Davis research boat from the Tahoe Environmental Research Center in Lake Tahoe on Sept. 27, 2024. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr., CalMatters

Despite the state and federal government pouring billions of dollars to improve the health of the Tahoe region, Lake Tahoe is still polluted. On Monday UC Davis published a report revealing how murky the iconic alpine lake has become. Find out more from CalMatters’ Rachel Becker.

California Voices

CalMatters columnist Dan Walters: Trump’s anti-immigration policies have been a political gift to Newsom, though a bid for the presidency by the governor would be long, winding and include plenty of opportunities to stumble.

As Trump and other Americans vilify immigrants, many immigrant students are eager to learn, work hard and harbor horrific stories of how they got to the U.S., writes Glenn Sacks, a teacher at the L.A. Unified School District.

Other things worth your time:

Some stories may require a subscription to read.

We caught four more states sharing personal health data with Big Tech // CalMatters

This is how you stop data trackers from sucking up your health data // CalMatters

Sen. Padilla denies clash at news conference was a ploy for attention // Politico

Sacramento lawmaker asks feds about courthouse closure, immigrant detentions // The Sacramento Bee

CA bill taking aim at artificial intelligence in the workplace advances // The Mercury News

We set a big chunk of CA wilderness on fire. You’re welcome // Los Angeles Times

Signs to police ‘negative’ history went up at Manzanar. Historians are nervous // SFGATE

At Home Depot, ICE raids terrorize the workers who helped build LA // The Guardian

Raid in Montebello stirs fears that federal agents are detaining US citizens of Hispanic descent // The New York Times

CA says OC doesn’t qualify for federal fire assistance grant for 2024’s Airport Fire // The Orange County Register

See you next time!

Tips, insight or feedback? Email [email protected]. Subscribe to CalMatters newsletters here. Follow CalMatters on Facebook and Twitter.

About Us· How We're Funded· Subscribe· Donate

CalMatters 1017 L Street #261 Sacramento, CA 95814 United States

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inclusivefuture · 2 years ago

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Queer book recs from IFM's editors

Mantha's Rec(s)

Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner Series and Tamír Triad

Any chance Mantha gets they recommend Lynn Flewelling's Nightrunner Series and Tamír Triad. Both set in the same world but in two different eras, these fantasy series have become so dear to them over the years.

The Nightrunner books are part fantasy, part political intrigue, part murder mystery, all while exploring themes of belonging and identity. And while they don't have genders outside the binary, the two main characters are bi, cis men (with a little gender-nonconformity in there, too.)

The Tamír Triad tells the coming of age story of a trans girl at court in the midst of political upheaval: think Knights of the Round Table but King Arthur is trans.

Flewelling's writing is impeccable. She has a gift for character, detail, and setting that creates immersive worlds. Though not recent publications - the first book came out in 1996 - they were the first books Mantha read that showed them that the sky was truly the limit in fantasy writing.

Lydia's Rec

All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes

Not for the faint of heart, All the White Spaces by Ally Wilkes is a historical thriller in which a trans man stows away on an expedition ship bound for the Antarctic from England.

Set just after WWII, the stakes are quickly raised when the ship - the only way the expedition is getting home - is destroyed just shy of their destination. Missing most of the crew and nearly all their supplies, the few remaining members of the expedition must find a way to survive the winter in Antarctica.

Stumbling across a German expedition's camp seems like a stroke of good luck - but where did the Germans go (and would they even believe the war was over?), and what lurks in the darkness just outside of the lamp light?

Sione's Rec

Life Ceremony by Sayaka Murata

If you're a short story reader who loves weird, slightly dark speculative fiction (think George Saunders, Miranda July, Alexander Weinstein, Carmen Maria Machado), Sione highly recommends Sayaka Murata's book of short stories, Life Ceremony, which came out in paperback in May.

While the stories don't contain genders outside the binary, there is gay rep, asexual and aromantic spectrum rep, and neurodiversity rep.

But what really gets zir excied about this book are the themes! This is basically an entire short story collection about what's normal, who decides, and how changeable our social norms and taboos are, which opens a window into a future with many queer and neurodivergent possibilities. Ze hasn't been this excited about a new book in a very long time.

Originally published in our newsletter on July 31st, 2023.

#inclusivefuture #magazine #nightrunner series #nightrunner #lynn flewelling #tamír triad #tamir triad #all the white spaces #ally wilkes #life ceremony #sayaka murata #book recs #book recommendations #queer books #queer lit #queer book recs

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capricorn-0mnikorn · 9 months ago

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youtube

Summary: a mini documentary about Judy Lynn del Rey, who was the chief editor for the Del Rey imprint of Ballantine Books, from 1977 to 1990, and who also happened to be a disabled woman.

~13 minutes. Intermediate eye contact.

#sci-fi #publishing #disability representation #proper closed captions #Youtube

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sargeantposting · 2 years ago

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Source: TKart

When Williams Racing announced his name as official driver for the 2023 season, many reacted with a spontaneous, “And who is he?”. Not us at TKART, who turned to the person in karting who probably knew him best and is going to tell us us about him today: Ricky Flynn, the founder and owner of the Ricky Flynn Motorsport team. In fact, he won a World Championship with the young American, bringing the title back to the United States after 37 years. Here is his memory of that race.

It is the 27th of September 2015 and, on a hot Sunday reminiscent of the summer that just ended, the La Conca kart track hosts the most anticipated event of the season as far as Direct Drive categories are concerned: the CIK-FIA World Championship. The finals of the KFJ (the 125 cc Junior class, later replaced by the current OKJ) sees a young American from the Ricky Flynn Motorsport team in the pole position. His name is Logan Sargeant and everyone’s eyes are on him: “He was definitely among the five favorites to win, even before we got to the race”, Ricky Flynn, his team manager at the time, tells us. “Two weeks before that event, along with One Engines, our Danish engine specialist, we had carried out a three-day testing session to best prepare ourselves and deliver to him, as well as to all of our other drivers, an excellent package. Logan too, however, was as good as us. He had physically prepared himself and was also in an excellent mental condition, precisely because he knew he had been provided with a excellent package that could enable him to compete at the very top”. Sergeant shows a particular predisposition for the Italian track: “That year – says Lynn – Logan had been very fast everywhere, yet on that track he was able to provide multiple incredible performances, ever since he made his debut there in the MINI category. This, combined with his exceptional condition, allowed him to approach that World Championship with an even greater awareness”.

Hence, in Muro Leccese (the city where the circuit is located),the teenager born in 2000, proves to be decisive and effective right away. The competitiveness shown in the practice sessions is confirmed in Friday’s qualifying, with the pole position in his group and the second best time overall. But this is only the appetizer of a rich menu, because Sargeant’s performance in the following heats is even more convincing. Four wins and a fourth place in the five heats competed allow the young American to take the reins of the standings. “The other drivers just couldn’t keep up with him”, recalls Flynn. “Logan was so fast that once he was in the lead, he just had to focus on managing the race. In fact, as soon as we saw that the margin from the pursuer was sufficiently considerable, we gave him a signal to tell him to stop jumping on the rumble strip at the characteristic La Conca chicane (Editor’s note: which subjects chassis, engine and transmission to a considerable and potentially damaging mechanical stresses)”. Yet, it is precisely in these situations that Logan proves he can handle the role of favorite extremely well, thanks to his particular character traits. “He remained rather calm throughout the weekend and we did not have to take any action in this regard”, Flynn reveals. “This extreme balance was part of his character anyways, so he didn’t have to do anything different for the World Championship and he was simply the normal Logan we always saw”.

Logan Sargeant, aboard his FA Kart chassis powered by Vortex by One Engines, as he talks with his Ricky Flynn Motorsport team mechanic on the starting grid for the KFJ finals of the 2015 CIK-FIA World Championship.

Thanks to these assumptions, Sargeant proves himself as a lightening-speed driver in the Sunday morning prefinals too, winning it and ensuring that he would start from the pole position for the final race, the test that could have given him the most important title of his career up to that point. As much as he may believe in his own abilities and as much as he may feel the confidence of the entire team, however, even Sargeant finds himself dealing with some external pressure. Logan still has a bitter taste in his mouth for a disappointing European Championship, affected by some setbacks in a season that could have seen him as a star even in the contest for that title. Additionally, just before the green flag, the on-track speaker repeats the statistic that accompanied the Florida native throughout the weekend: “The last American driver to graduate as the World Karting Champion was Lake Speed in 1978. Will it be the super-favorite Logan Sargeant who will break the United States “fast”?”. And if that were not enough, alongside Sargeant on the starting grid is his teammate Sebastian Fernandez, who just like him has a kart on his hands that, in those days, demonstrates absolute superiority over the competition. In addition to having to focus on his performance, Logan also has to follow some recommendations from Ricky Flynn. “I told them to use their heads and recommended: ‘Let’s not crash on the first lap. Let’s give each other mutual respect and the proper space to race.

Logan jumps on the rumble strips of the Senna chicane of the Muro Leccese circuit.

Sargeant crosses the finish line of the KFJ finals.

Then the competition will run its course and whoever is faster, will win’”. But Flynn is well aware that at that moment it is Sergeant who has the wind in his sails, so just before the final he takes him aside and tells him: “Don’t change anything, because what you have done so far has allowed you to basically win all the heats. Just take it as any other race and I’m sure that, if everything goes according to plan, you’ll come out as the World Champion”. Prophetic words, as when the race lights go out, the bearer of Ricky Flynn Motorsport team number 127, gets off to an exemplary start and after a couple of laps he already gained a half-second lead over his immediate pursuer. The race continues and Sargeant seems to dance amongst the rumble strips of the La Conca track. The distance gap quickly goes from half a second to seven tenths, then rises to more than a second and finally reaches almost two seconds. Logan is uncatchable and flying around the track. After that performance, Logan is now the World Champion. “Every time you win a World Championship, the excitement is immense”, Flynn confesses. “The entire team was ecstatic and it was special for Logan to hear his national anthem from the top step of the podium, knowing that he was the first American to win a karting World Championship after so many years. His father was also present and it was a great moment for both of them”.

Sargeant on the top step of the podium of Muro Leccese at the end of the KFJ finals. From left to right: Ricky Flynn, Clément Novalak (second place), Logan Sargeant and Caio Collet (third place).

Sargeant speaks at the press conference after the victory of the world title.

The manager of the Ricky Flynn Motorsport Team is overjoyed with the success attained and proud of his protégé, but not as surprised by his performance: “It was his last year in the Junior series, he was one of the most mature drivers in his category and it didn’t surprise me because we obviously knew how good he was. He didn’t do anything wrong over the entire weekend, not a single mistake. It was simply a flawless performance from start to finish”. Ricky knows Sargeant’s potential and there are several elements that convince him to believe so strongly in the young Florida-native: “He was very committed and hard working. Obviously, he had talent and was supported by the necessary budget – there were all the perfect conditions in place to allow him to have a great season and an excellent career in motorsports. Logan was an exceptional driver and I understood that he would have gone very far in motorsports because he had great qualities, so dealing with him was very easy on and off the track”. There is one ingredient in Sargeant’s recipe that seems to especially delight Ricky more than all the others.

youtube

The video of the KFJ finals at the 2015 CIK-FIA World Championship in Muro Leccese.

It is probably one of those pure gifts that differentiate champions from good drivers: “His absolute, incredible speed. I can’t talk about his performance in the car, although you can see that he is very fast there too, but in karting he was really fast. And, if you are fast, you can win important races and titles. He has always had this gift, therefore I am not surprised that he made it to Formula 1. It was his dream, which he fulfilled, just as it was a dream of his to become World Champion in karting and he succeeded. That World Championship in La Conca undoubtedly remains the fondest memory I have with Logan (Editor’s note: he chuckles), although he has won many other races”.

youtube

TKART interview with Sargeant at the end of the finals.

#year:2015 #logan sargeant #Youtube

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sunnydaleherald · 4 months ago

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, February 28th

XANDER: They'll never know how tough it is, Dawnie, to be the one who isn't chosen. To live so near to the spotlight and never step in it. But I know. I see more than anybody realizes because nobody's watching me. I saw you last night. I see you working here today. You're not special. You're extraordinary.

~~Potential~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

The break of Dawn by No_Name_No_Records (Dawn, not rated)

make the fireflies dance by Skyson (Buffy/Giles, E)

No Expense Spared by CitizenMocha (Cordelia & Dennis, G)

Waiting on the Sun to Rise by hpg (Spike/OC, T)

Soteria by SomeKindOfADeviant (Drusilla/Spike, G)

This Year’s Girlfriend by QuillBard (Buffy/Faith, M)

the sweets by thisyearsgrrl (Buffy/Faith, T)

call your own fouls, cheat your own gut by thisyearsgrrl (Buffy/Faith, T)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Welcome to Hellmouthland, Chapter 9 by MalkMcJorma (Faith/Tara, M)

On the back of the turtle, Chapter 11 by dogbertcarroll, Narsil (Xander, DCU crossover, T)

Once Bound, Chapter 4 by spikes_guy (Spike, AtS team, M)

Galactic Slayers, Chapter 5 by storiwr (Buffy/Faith, Stargate crossover, T)

Miss Edith, Chapter 8 by BeppiGirl (Drusilla/Spike, Drusilla/Angelus, E)

Carved initials in a heart, Chapters 1-3 (complete!) by FivexFiveB (Blazinwolve) (Buffy/Faith, M)

To Step into the Same River Twice: Chapter 2 by VladimirHarkonnen (TheLightdancer) (Willow/Oz, Willow/Tara, E)

the Witch, the Scholar, the Spirit, Chapter 19: A Parting Gift of Time (Dawn's Sacrifice) by perfectlyGoodInk (Dawn, Scoobies, T)

Tourniquet, Chapter 3 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Choice To Stay, Chapter 10 by Spikelover4ever (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Phoenix Act, Chapter 3 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Where We Went From There, Chapter 2 by Pyewacket (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

On the back of the turtle, Chapter 11 by dogbertcarroll (Xander, Teen Titans crossover, FR18)

Summoned To Strixhaven: Schooling of Scoobies, Chapter 2 by JoshuAB (Scoobies, Dungeons and Dragons crossover, FR13)

a cat needs a name that's particular, Chapter 4 (complete!) by jewelram (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

[Images, Audio & Video]

Manip: Faith & Sirius, father/daughter by christytrekkie (Harry Potter crossover, worksafe)

Crafts & artwork: Fresh Product shots of my Spike candle by Pauldbraun_

Artwork: Mourning Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers) by elegantpaperoperatormaker (Dawn & Lorne, worksafe)

Artwork: soft Fuffy by incognitoduck11 (Buffy/Faith, worksafe)

Artwork: Buffy/Faith by incognitoduck11 (worksafe)

Artwork: Warren sure does love balls by the-nerdcave (worksafe)

Artwork: The Trio by the-nerdcave

Artwork: Buffy/Spike line art by threalcrabbysamantha (worksafe)

Artwork: angel, a couple of post coma cordys, the gang as furries, a buncha darlas, and my beautiful vision of mall goth connor by artsying-ifer (worksafe)

Gifset: Giles & Dawn by bocadelinfierno

Photo edits: “Am I real? by hellyeahbuffysummers (Dawn)

Fanvid: Dawn Summers | A Michelle Trachtenberg Tribute by Jess

Fanvid: Carbon - Buffy and Dawn by Eva Lynn

Fanvid: Buffy and Dawn - Lights by juliaroxs241

Fanvid: Michelle Trachtenberg Tribute R.I.P Queen, Thank You For Every Memory by Damon's Cinema

Fanvid: BTVS: BUFFY THE ICON by Buffy's Hellmouth Collection (Buffy/Spike)

Fanvid: BTVS: BUFFY IS AN ICON PART 1 by Buffy's Hellmouth Collection

Fanvid: Buffy & Spike - Are You Gonna Be My Slayer? by Buffy & Spike Channel

Fanvid: Hot to go! ( Chappell Roan ) | Buffy summers by Buffeh

Fanvid: Funny spike edit by Literally Just Edits

Fanvid: Fight Like A Girl by MelissaIsLoud

Fanvid: Better Than Revenge -Buffy and Faith- by Btvs edits 13

Fanvid: Enemy-BTVS by GothamPond

Fanvid: Faith Lehane | BTVS | Bubblegum Bitch ( MARINA ) by Buffeh

Fanvid: Buffy The Vampire Slayer as a 60s sitcom by Randy Giles- BTVS

Fanvid: Spike and Dawn - BFFs by William Pratt

Vidlet: Dawn & Spike are besties ❤️ by Buffeh

Comics video: Spuffy/Bangel (part 6.1) COMIC DUBS! - Full version by Love Bites

Artwork video: Buffy says I love you to Spike by Satmolly

Artwork process video: Drawing Buffy The Vampire Slayer by Learn My Craft

Video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (Remake) by Sevy's Brother's Podcast

Video: Buffy The Vampire Slayer (1997) || Season 4 reedited credits (Marc Blucas and James Marsters) by jo3ypx

Video: Dark Willow: The Most Powerful Witch in Buffy by The Cinematic Pulse

[Reviews & Recaps]

Podcast video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 3 Wrap-Up by Sh*t 90s Shows Taught Me

Podcast video: Buffy S03E15 "Consequences" Spoiler Review by LGRN - Entertainment

Podcast video: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) – The Forgotten Origins of a Slayer by Forgotten Cinema

Podcast video: Buffy's Angels: Get It Done by The Franchise: A Film Podcast

Podcast video: Buffy's Angels: Storyteller by The Franchise: A Film Podcast

Video: Angel is a top tier episode of Buffy and helps to expand the vampire lore by Spooky Families

Podcast video: She's not the only one?! What's My Line? Pt.2 | Buffy the Vampire Slayer (2x10) by Up The Buff!

Podcast: Buffy talks (Take 3) Talking ep 3-7 by Beware the Moon Podcast

Podcast: Episode 59 - Chaos and Fungus Attorneys at Law (The Harsh Light of Day) Audio Only by The Sunnydale Diaries - A Buffy Podcast

Podcast: Welcome to the 'Hell Of A Mouth' podcast - plus Buffy Reboot News, and Best & Worst Episodes by Josh Liston

[Fandom Discussions]

Is the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom genuinely dead? by elijah-harley

i feel like every day i get into a new buffy ship, and behold, my latest: cordy and dru by selkiemaidenfae

the thing I love most about buffy is that she is my exact same age and we grew up together by ask-auntie-mac

The look of betrayal on Spike's face when he realises Buffy deinvited him from the house!! by mybloodyvampire

Dawn Summers : La petite sœur de Buffy, un personnage sous-estimé mais essentiel by corinneecrivaine

Friendship group [in the Buffy sequel] by nightshade

Romance? [in the Buffy sequel] by Cohen

Report that Michelle T has died continued by multiple posters

SMG's views continued by multiple posters

The First's S7 return continued by MoonLight SY-3

Angel and spike have the same name by leni19861

Rewatching Same Time, Same Place and Michelle was the best part 😂 by scifi_is_my_escape

Just finished the series for the first time 🥲 by liekweg

Maybe I'm not evil, but I don't think I can be good by Disastrous_Win_3923

Giles and his glasses page from the Slayer Stat Book 😅 by Thingol_Elu

Thanks to the wayback machine, I found a website about Buffy and Charmed that I made when I was 10 years old by Chademr2468

....Sadly I dont think I can ever watch Grave ever again...It'll always hit different now by Automatic-Adeptness4

Buffy's love life by Pristine-Dame

Sarah McLachlan's songs should have been used in every finale like "Becoming" and "Grave" by jdpm1991

Buffy and Xander is my favorite relationship by HomeRevolutionary763

Video: Buffy Did Spike Wrong! by Miss Dae

Video: Buffy & Books | Season 2 Ep. 15-22 | Part 3. by Mishelly

Submit a link to be included in the newsletter!

Join the editor team :)

#buffy the vampire slayer #btvs #angel the series #ats #fan art #fan fiction #meta

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dreadbythedecade · 7 months ago

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Dread by the Decade: Bluebeard

👻 You can support me on Ko-fi! ❤️

★★★

Plot: A seamstress is charmed by a talented artist, unaware that he is a serial killer who has been terrorizing Paris.

Review: An unsettling lead performance and compelling cinematography breathe life into what would otherwise be a rather well-tread tale.

Source Material: "Barbe bleue" (French folktale) Year: 1944 Genre: Psychological Horror, Crime Thriller Country: United States Language: English Runtime: 1 hour 12 minutes

Director: Edgar G. Ulmer Writer: Pierre Gendron Cinematographer: Eugen Schüfftan Editor: Carl Pierson Composers: Leo Erdody, Charles Gounod Cast: John Carradine, Jean Parker, Nils Asther, Ludwig Stössel, Teala Loring, Emmett Lynn

-----

Story: 2.5/5 - Though the tale of a serial killer artist who kills his muses is not particularly unique, it is decently paced and focused.

Performances: 4/5 - Carradine is subtly striking as a serial killer attempting to quell his desires, and Parker is charming.

Cinematography: 3.5/5 - Strong lighting and composition clearly inspired by German expressionism.

Editing: 3.5/5

Music: 2/5 - The near constant soundtrack is often distracting.

Choreography & Stunts: 3/5

Effects & Props: 2.5/5 - A great deal of praise is heaped onto Gaston's work, making their average quality a bit distracting.

Sets: 3.5/5 - The

Costumes, Hair, & Make-Up: 3/5 - They're not necessarily of the highest quality material, but Lucille's dresses are quite pretty.

youtube

Trigger Warnings:

Mild violence

Gendered violence (brief)

Misogyny (largely criticized by film)

Domestic abuse (brief)

#Bluebeard (1944)#Bluebeard #Edgar G. Ulmer #American #psychological horror #Dread by the Decade #review #1940s #★★★

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vital-information · 1 year ago

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"Homophile organization publications had always looked at their more daring physique counterparts with envy. In the wake of the Manual v. Day decision, they had already begun to resemble physique magazines. After 1967, with the threat of prosecution removed, they adopted a similar racy format. Vector, published by San Francisco's Society for Individual Rights, offered its first nude male centerfold in June 1969, and a few months later full-frontal nudity had migrated to its cover. Soon Mattachine Times in New York followed suit, featuring cover images of young men in posing straps...

This tendency to combine gay news, nude images, and raunchy classified advertising continued until magazines sought to attract large, mainstream advertisers. New York's GAY felt pressure early on from advertisers who objected to the use of nudes, particularly on the cover, forcing editor Nichols to moderate their use. Thus began a movement away from a sexual liberation ethos to a more sanitized, corporate look. Like lots of gay periodicals, GAY abandoned its cor gay business in search of mainstream acceptance.

The Advocate resisted this trend at first, keeping its racy classified ads but segregating them to a pullout section. "I like them; their fun," the Advocate's editor-in-chief Richard Rouilard proclaimed. "This is the way gays and lesbians talk to each other worldwide. And if you are going to compromise this community for advertisers or so that your mother can read the magazine, go buy yourself a copy of 'Catch-22.'" But even the Advocate eventually had to succumb to the demands of larger advertising dollars, spinning off its classifieds and naked images into a separate magazine. With the rise of upscale publications such as Genre and Out in the 1990s, the realms of homoerotic imagery and gay news have become increasingly divided. In many ways this represents a return to a politics of respectability practiced by the homophile organizations, a trend reinforced in the twenty-first century as the LGBTQ movement became dominated by the political struggle for gay marriage.

The current bifurcation in LGBT media between the political and the erotic makes it difficult for us to see that the worlds of gay commerce, sex, and politics were once mutually reinforcing. Today gay men go to smart-phone apps like Grindr to hook up but to news websites or an LGBT advocacy organization to catch up on civil rights issues and community affairs. But historically it was the desire to connect and find one another that gave rise to such community publications. It was [gay physique photographer] Bob Mizer's classified ad in Strength & Health that had alerted him to the large reservoir of gay men seeking contact with one another. Gay men had pleaded with physique and homophile organizations to allow them to connect, but the first tentative steps in that direction were met with swift and decisive state suppression. Gay men went to prison and others lost their jobs merely for participating in a gay pen-pal club. But thanks to physique entrepreneurs such as Lynn Womack, the correspondence club was able to thrive and morph into the classified ad, which was soon replaced with phone sex lines, followed by AOL chatrooms, and now hookup mobile applications such as Grinder and Scruff. The technology may have changed, but the business of connecting gay men has a long and rich history.

Today the term "gay power" is remembered as a political slogan shouted at the 1969 Stonewall Riots, but in the beginning it was understood largely in economic terms. Two years before the riots, Vector inaugurated a new column called "Gay Power" featuring information about its advertisers. The idea came from a young but vocal SIR member, Pat Hallinan, who suggested that it was time to invoke "our secret weapon, GAY POWER, upon the economic world." As the column advised, "When you visit our friends and advertisers, tell 'em you saw it in Vector--that's GAY POWER!" A few months later, the founder of the Los Angeles Advocate similarly advised readers, "You can do much to strengthen and promote power in the gay community because you wield the great deciding weapon: The Almighty Dollar." He defined "gay power" as "buying power, selling power, voting power...No dear, it isn't a queen with muscles," he joked.

...

Even when shouted at Stonewall, the cry for gay power was largely about the desire of gay men and women to have control of their own commercial spaces. "Get the Mafia and the Police Out of Gay Bars," proclaimed one of the first pamphlets in response to the raid of the Stonewall Inn. Craig Rodwell called for "gay businessmen" to open bars and shops to create a healthier social atmosphere than bars like Stonewall. And he simultaneously encouraged customers to support them and "Buy Gay."...

For many gay liberationists, especially in New York City, physique magazines also came under attack as exemplary of the negative effects of a gay ghetto. In contrast to previous generations of young men who found comfort in images that glorified the male body, gay liberationists saw exploitation. "These magazines crudely showed men as nothing but sex objects; if they were objects, I could be one too," remembered John Murphy. "That frightened me then, and it infuriates me now," he wrote in 1971. Some worried that the "masculine mystique" depicted in these magazines was so inaccessible and exaggerated that it constituted a form of self-hatred. "Those male idols so worshiped cannot possibly be faggots!" they complained. Following the Black Nationalist, Black Power, and feminist movements, they envisioned a world where gay men and women owned and managed their own, more equitable and inclusive, businesses.

Despite his "Buy Gay" campaign, Craig Rodwell refused to sell "sexploitative" magazines in his own Oscar Wilde Memorial Bookshop, offended by both the high price-tag for nude male images and what he found to be an over-emphasis on sex. He was unaware of how physique publishers such as Bob Mizer were among the oldest gay businesses around and had been created with precisely the same goal of fostering community. But Mizer's crusading mission had waned as many straight and gay publishers had since entered the market with an eye toward making a quick buck. Rodwell and other gay liberationists tarred them all with the same brush. They did not appreciate the tremendous struggles they had encountered in the face of government censorship. They increasingly saw physique businesses as part of the problem of, not the solution to, community empowerment."

David K. Johnson, Buying Gay: How Physique Entrepreneurs Sparked a Movement

#queer history #queer theory

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all-hallows-street · 2 years ago

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Lingzi's Odaibako/Twitter Answers Collection Volume 1

In case you weren't aware, the author of 1031 All Saints Street Lingzi has a twitter account they update rarely, mostly rt'ing announcements of the Japanese release, 1031 fanart, Jpns comedians, and sometimes posting doodles and answering fan questions through Odaibako. You can still send questions/comments/requests through Odaibako but please be respectful and mindful! As the author stated they will not respond to any questions or suggestions about future content! Also do not spam, Lingzi answers in rare bursts so they might not get to answer your comment any time soon. Here is a compilation of what has been answered so far. Chinese questions and answers are being machine translated and I'm verifying with a friend the Japanese questions translations.

A few clarifications. I will skip some doodle requests/drawn answers and will compile them later in a post with all of Lingzi's twitter drawings. Everything with [] marks an edit so the English sounds more natural.

1. Hello~ Lingzi! What made you want to become a manga artist?

To put it simply, it was because of a domestic comic called "Super Alloy Society". At that time (around 14 years old), I became completely obsessed with it after reading a few chapters, and I was very eager to draw such a work myself 😌

Source

2. Does Nick [have] feeling[s] towards Lynn?

ummm······I would say it's more like “he is curious about/interested in Lynn”

Source

3. Who out of all the character would have the [ugliest] laugh?

Ah-never thought about this before, maybe broken [Cupid]？

Source

4. Will we get stories about Nick's university friends? Their designs are so cool and I would love to know more about them!

maybe? 🤔🤔 let me ask my editor next time.

Source

5. anyone you relate to in the series?

Does this count? Look that is my name on the background 🤣🤣

Source

6. Which character do you enjoy drawing [the most]?

Definitely Nick[.] He's the easiest to draw, also [the] sexiest. 😌

Source

6. Lingzi, do angles live longer than demons?

Yes! Angels basically cannot pass away unless they are killed. Teacher Lynn's age is also in the three digits~

Source

7. I really, really, REALLY love All Saints Street. Thank you so much for creating this series! There are so many diverse characters, and I love the charming and relaxed atmosphere. I find it really difficult to choose a favorite character because I just love them all so much (Nick is objectively the best though). It encouraged me to try learning to read Chinese again in order to read the manhua. Again, thank you so much for creating this!

Wow I'm flattered, thank you for [liking] my manhua 😳😳 I will do my best to keep [it] going!

Source

8. A work of my pleasure! I love you! I love “All Saints Street”! I love you big hair! Thank you for creating such wonderful works!

[Thank you]! 😊😊 Hope you will like the Japanese [dubbed] version too~

Source

9. This is not an ask but I wanted to say thank you for your hard work! Your series makes me very happy and I love it so much! It's inspired me more to continue making my own characters and helped me create art more. thank you so much! <3

Thank you too 😊😊 Glad I [..] helped.

Source

Not a question but a fact related to a previous question that is very much lore relevant:

Fun fact: Although angels live much longer than demons, because demons can reproduce independently but angels cannot, the number of angels is currently less than one-tenth of the number of demons. ( ← A small private device

Source

10. Can Lynn turn into a girl like Nick and Neil?

No~ Transfiguration is a demon thing.

Source

11. Can Ira taste demon blood? or does he hate it?

He can [...] but demon blood is always too strong for vampires, one bite is like [drinking] ten cups of coffee at once[.] They can get really hyperactive by drinking demon blood. Some vampires may like it, but not Ira. (And it's really bad for vampire kid[s])

Source

12. Hi! This is not a question but i wanted to tell you that I REALLY LOVE ALL SAINTS STREET, since 2020 i been in love with this manhua/donghua, thank you for create all saints street, the manhua/donghua really help me in hard times and inspire me to create my own comics. I really love the characters specially Abu and Luis ❤️

Thank you too, glad you enjoy my work 😊😊

Source

13. Who gives the best hugs?

Maybe?

Source

14. Why are Lily's wings so small compared to other angels?

No special reason, I just think it's cuter this way.

Source

REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE: IN CHINESE FANDOMS C P MEANS CHARACTER PAIRING, IS HOW THEY REFER TO SHIPS/SHIPPING

I will replace it with ship because I don't want the use the acronym due to tumblr search.

15. Will it be very Lynn/Nick? Because people keep telling me that Nini/Lily is the official ship, I am troubled. If the original painting is very bad, it feels like I have violated someone else's OC. I'm very sorry for disturbing you, and I really like your illustrations and works!

To answer this question, mainstream ship ≠ is correct. I think any ship has a reason to exist as long as some people like it. I don’t think it is a minefield at all... and even "official" ship does not mean anything. What kind of ship you want to consume is completely up to you, and you don’t need to ask for my opinion, just be happy

Source

Continued in Part 2!

#all saints street #wan sheng jie #1031 万圣街 #Lingzi #manhua

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