#and a lot of people do like her enough for b&c to have an impact on the audience

[navree]

The show failed to make care about Helaena or her children and i doubt if the general audience know her name. B&C will hit hard just because how gruesome it will be (if the writers didn't changed it) but i am afraid there will be no emotional impact.

I agree that the show's somewhat failed to develop Helaena, especially when compared to her brothers, and there's a lot of reasons for that (a desire to get diversity points by making her neurodivergent without actually wanting to put in too much effort in how to sensitively write a character they've coded as autistic in a world where people barely understand autism is a thing, the tendency that exists where male characters are prioritized for development and characterization over female characters, the disordered writers' room that season one clearly had). But I don't think that precludes any kind of investment in Blood and Cheese. There's likely going to be an emotional impact just because:

a) it's a child being murdered, and two other children being terrorized, that's going to hit people's emotions no matter what because it's just sad

b) people do know Helaena and she's been in, at least, enough shots for people to at least understand who she is and how she fits into the family and one of those scenes at least was p cute (the toast scene) and watching her suffer will be hard especially if Phia plays it right

c) like you said, B&C is gruesome, and that'll likely leave people with some emotions given not just the murder but the psychological torture and

d) there's going to be an emotional impact not just for Helaena, but also for other characters.

For one, Blood and Cheese also involves Alicent, and specifically Alicent being brutalized (not only is she used to lure and has to subsequently watch what happens to her daughter and grandchildren, but she is also physically attacked, since they apprehended, bound, and gagged her and that's not happening without a fight), and Alicent is a very popular character in spite of what Twitter says and we've been following her since the pilot.

For two, a lot of the Blood and Cheese aftermath in the show is going to focus on Aemond. It is very specifically Aemond's actions at Storm's End that lead to Blood and Cheese, and the show has made it so that it was a complete accident, an unintended consequence Aemond not only failed to foresee but also actively tried to prevent. The second to last shot of the show thus far is a focus on Aemond's face and his dawning horror and regret at what he's done. And then, because of Aemond's mistake, his sister and his mother and his brother and his niece and his nephews are all going to suffer in one of the worst actions GRRM has ever written about. Aemond, who the writers now know is a fan favorite thanks to Ewan's portrayal, is going to be getting a lot of focus, and his own periphery grief and his immense guilt and his feelings of responsibility over what happened (and if the writers are smart and follow this blog to read my theories, the way this affects his relationship with Aegon and his subsequent actions in the war) are likely going to be an immense part of his character arc for that scene. I mean, there's a reason why when I wrote my own Blood and Cheese fic, half of it was from Aemond's perspective, a huge part of the emotional impact is going to come from Aemond's reaction and his subsequent coming to terms with the fact that he made a mistake and is directly responsible for irreparable harm coming to the people he loves most as a result.

They do need to develop Helaena a lot more than they have, and I fervently hope there's at least a single episode of the calm before the storm (I'd hope they make 2x01 all about the immediate aftermath and Blood and Cheese is a 2x02 focused thing). But she is recognizable and liked enough on her own for it to have some impact, and even then, it's also going to impact characters that a lot more people are heavily more emotionally invested in, enough that it'll still pack a punch (also given that he's a bit more of a nichely enjoyed character I didn't mention Aegon, but he's got his lil fanbase and watching him grieve over what's happened to his family is also going to be emotional for people who like him even if they don't much care for Helaena).

[bonefall]

So, I'm writing an essay on the whole STATE of misogyny in WC for one of my university classes, and I was wondering if I could ask you a couple of things! No pressure of course, please feel free to say no!

A) Could I reference your good takes with appropriate harvard referencing and links back to your blog?

B) Are there any specific moments from the books that you think should be covered the most?

C) The end result will be a visual essay, so it's like those fun infographics people on Tumblr make on like ADHD and stuff, so when it's done, would you like to be tagged to read it?

(Sorry for anon, I'm nervous lmao, but if you'd be more comfortable I'll resend this off anon)

AAY good topic! You've got a lot to work with. Absolutely feel free to reference anything I've written, and tag me when you're done.

While you're here and about to write something so legitimate, I'm also going to recommend you check out Sunnyfall's video on gender in Warrior Cats. She breaks down the arcs into numbers, directly comparing the amount of lines mollies have to toms, and examining the archetypes women are usually allowed to be.

I think it's a must-have citation in a paper about WC misogyny.

...and, I think it's insightful to look at the WCRP Forum thread about the video. Note how the respondents immediately come into the thread to complain about how the video is too long so they didn't watch it, dismissing Sunnyfall as not being entertaining enough to hold their attention, even whining that she starts with statistics to prove her point, which I'm convinced she did exactly because they would have cried that she "had no evidence" if she didn't.

I am not a scholar, so I don't know how to document or prove that the books have an impact on the audience outside of anecdotes. But I think if you do write a section about fandom, it would be worth mentioning the in-universe and metatextual apologia for Ashfur and its reflection in the real world discourse, the authorial killing of Ferncloud because of fan complains, and the utter defensiveness against the discussion of misogyny you see outside of Tumblr.

You may also want to check out Cheek by Jowl, a collection of 8 essays about sexism in xenofiction by Ursula K. Le Guin. There's a very unique manifestation of authorial bias in animal fiction, having a lot to do with how the author views "the natural world," and it's worth understanding even though Warrior Cats are so heavily anthropomorphized.

So... Warrior Cats Misogyny

I think discussing individual instances can be helpful, but I'd implore you to keep in mind what's REALLY bad about WC's misogyny is framing and the bigger picture.

Bumble's death is shocking and insulting, but it's not just that she died. It's that the POV Gray Wing sees her as a fat, useless bitch who took his mate so she deserves to be dragged back to a domestic abuser, and he's right because the writers love him so much. It's that Bumble's torture and killing only factors into how it's going to hurt a man's reputation.

It's how Clear Sky hitting, emotionally manipulating, or killing the following women,

Bright Stream (pressured into leaving her home and family)

Storm (controlled her movements and yelled at her in public)

Misty (killed for land, children stolen)

Bumble (beaten unconscious, blamed nonsensically on a fox)

Alder (child abuse, hit when she refused to attack her brother)

Falling Feather (scratched on the face, subjected to public abuse and humiliation)

Tall Shadow (thrown into murderous crowd, attacked on-sight in heaven)

Rainswept Flower ("blacked out" in anger and murdered in cold blood)

Moth Flight (scratched on the face for saying denying medical treatment is mean, taken hostage in retaliation against mother for the death of his own child, which he caused)

Willow Tail (eyes gouged out for "stirring up trouble")

Is seen as totally understandable, forgivable, or not even questioned at all, when killing Gray Wing in an act of rage would have been "one step too far" with the ridiculous Star Line.

"Kill me and live with the memory, and then let the stars know it would only matter if a single one of your murder victims was a man."

It's the way that fathers who physically abuse their kids out of their ego (Clear Sky, Sandgorse, Crowfeather) aren't treated anywhere near the same level of narrative disgust and revulsion the series has for "bad moms", even if they're displaying symptoms of a post-partum mood disorder (depression, anxiety, and rage), an umbrella of mental illnesses 20% of all new mothers experience but are heavily stigmatized with (Sparkpelt, Palebird, Lizardstripe).

It's Crookedstar's Promise giving him two evil maternal figures in a single book, while bending over backwards to make every man in a position of power still look likeable in spite of the fact they're enabling Rainflower's abuse. Leader Hailstar is soso sorry that he has to change Stormkit's name for some reason, in spite of leaders being unaccountable dictators the other 99% of the time, and Deputy Shellheart functionally does nothing to stop his own son from being abused or even do much parenting before or after the fact.

It's the way men's parental struggles are seen sympathetically, and they don't have to "pay for it" like their female counterparts (Crookedstar's PPD vs Sparkpelt's PPD, how Daisy and Cinders are held responsible for Smoky and Whisper being deadbeats, Yellowfang's endless guilt for killing her son vs Onestar's purpose in life to kill his own), even to the point where a father doesn't have to have raised their kids at all to have a magical innate emotional connection to them (Tree's father Root, Tom the Wifebeater, Tigerstar and Hawkfrost).

It's less speaking lines and agency for female characters, being reduced to accessories in the lives of their mates and babies, women getting less diversity in their personalities, with even major ex-POV characters eventually becoming "sweet mom" tropes.

You could zoom in on any one of these examples and have an amoeba try to argue with you that "Oh THIS makes sense because X" or "Ah well my headcanon perfectly explains this thing" or "MY mother/girlfriend was abusive/toxic/neglectful and I've decided that you are personally attacking ME by having issues with how a character was written or utilized," but the beleaguered point,

That I keep trying to hammer in, over and over, across books worth of posts,

Is that these are trends. More than just a couple one-off examples. It's the fabric that has been woven over years, showing a lack of interest in, or even active prejudice of, women on behalf of the writers.

LONG STANDING trends, which have only gotten worse as the series progressed. From Yellowfang being harshly punished with a born evil son who ruins her life in TPB and the mistreatment of Squirrelpaw that begins in TNP, all the way up to the 7 Fridgenings of DOTC and Sparkpelt's PPD being a major character motivator for her son Nightheart.

So, I would stress that in your paper, and structure it less as "the Sparkpelt slide" and "the Yellowfang slide," and more as "The paternal vs maternal abuse" slide, and "the violence against women" slide. They're really big issues, there's tons of examples for each individual thing.

Anyway to leave off on a funny, look at this scene in Darkest Hour that I find unreasonably hilarious,

"Everyone who matters to me; my truest friend, my sensible and loyal warrior, the wisest deputy I've ever known, and 2 women." -Firestar, glorious idiot

He can't even think of a single trait for either of them what the hell does "formidable pair" mean lmaooo, when I finished a reread about a year ago this line killed me on impact.

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

I talked a lot about Stella’s appearances previously, but I wanted to talk about her other appearance in season one—this scene:

This scene is interesting to me. I’ve seen some discussion on tumblr debating that this scene was only showing that Stolas felt guilty about cheating on Stella, not that Stolas was actually in the wrong for doing so.

And I find this logic fascinating b/c, yes if you would like to interpret it that way, you can. It’s up to you to decide how you want to interpret or engage with any work.

That said, I don’t think that competent and consistent writing would make the audience try to justify why Stella was there in hindsight. (Conversation continues below cut)

This scene is significant to me because the visual composition and direction of the animation puts Stella at the same level of importance as Octavia.

Which, in my opinion, means that this is one of the few times Helluva Boss did “Show don’t Tell” really well.

Through the visuals, the lyrics of the song, and Stolas’ reaction to Ozzie’s conjured Stella and Via, the audience is told that “these are people Stolas has both failed. He knows he has failed them and fears losing them. But he still hasn’t considered how his actions would impact them, and is now being faced with the idea of that possibility for the first time”

I specifically say that “he’s afraid of losing them” because the illusion of Octavia and Stella both turn their backs on Stolas, leaving him with just Blitzø. It’s extremely clear visual story telling—Stolas wants to be with Blitzø, but in doing so he is neglecting and will potentially lose his relationships with his wife and child.

And, at this point, because it’s before S2E1, the audience has still not been told that Stella is evil and abusive, and have no reason to think that Stolas wouldn’t care if Stella left (and again you can argue that there’s foreshadowing in hindsight but I have already gone over in depth why there isn’t enough information about Stella for the audience to see that coming)

What this part of the song is communicating to us is that Stella has at least some importance in Stolas’ life.

I think you could say that “well obviously Ozzie just didn’t know enough about Stolas’ personal life” but at the same time, what is being depicted in the show is also for the audience’s benefit.

When you are using a visual medium for your story-telling, your compositions and what you physically show the audience is important.

Like this isn’t subtext, it’s not even subtle—in a scene that is depicting Stolas’ shame, guilt, and embarrassment over his affair with Blitzø, Stella is included with Octavia because he knows he wronged her too.

(Also I almost didn’t write “Stolas’ shame, guilt etc.” b/c I was like “well wait, I can’t remember for sure that Stolas was shown as being ashamed or embarrassed about his relationship with Blitzø” so I went back to check and rewatched Ozzie’s and like.. Stolas being ashamed of his affair with Blitzø was shown even more explicitly than I remembered. Like, he straight up tries to ditch Blitzø and then hides his face after Ozzie asks him if he gave up his family to be with Blitzø ????

And Blitzø’s reaction to this shows he’s obviously hurt by this? Like. I know some people have acted like Blitzø is in the wrong for rejecting Stolas after Ozzie’s but I can’t imagine not being hurt by this reaction…)

But anyway, back to the main point—All of these visuals and the character’s reactions to what’s going on around them are meant to illicit emotions within us, but if Stella’s abuse and complete cruelty were always planned and she was always supposed to be hated, the emotional impact this scene is significantly lessened.

I know I’ve already said this, but I just can’t help thinking that the story would have been SO MUCH more interesting if Stolas was held fully accountable and actually had to reflect on his actions. There was so much potential for the plot and deep nuanced character development and change.

At the end of the day though, it’s not my story, and the writers and creative heads of HB get to tell the story they want to tell.

As a final note—I am not trying to nitpick, these are things that occur to me while I am trying to understand the story and engage with it on a deeper level.

But with every new episode, I find myself having more questions about why certain choices were made, and getting more and more confused about why characters behave the way they do. I can’t help thinking that the story was never fully planned out, and I worry that’s only going to become more obvious as time goes on.

[drdemonprince]

Just chiming in to agree that that person is not a selfish bitch. I'm also really put off by moralistic performances of emotion, and I know in my case it's because it was part of a pattern of abusive behaviour that my mother did.

Anytime you expressed to her that there was a problem with her behaviour, she seemed to genuinely believe that if she put enough effort into weeping and crying on her children's shoulders, and verbally denigrating herself for being an inherently bad an immoral person, and stressing so much that she developed physical illnesses from it, then she could follow that up by asking for forgiveness - as if it would be cruel for us to continue her suffering by denying her that forgiveness. Except that to her, "forgiveness" meant "it's all swept under the rug, I have Atoned By Suffering Guilt, so now it doesn't matter and I can keep doing it again." (I really wonder how much the religious background of her parents' generation came into the formation of this worldview.) And at the same time, she refuses to read news that's "too upsetting" and never engages with literature or media about dark themes "because there's enough of that in real life."

It might be cynical of me to read this pattern into the way people talk online about genocide. But I keep seeing parallels. My perspective is that a) if you're not regulating your emotions well enough to function, then you have less capacity to offer practical help; and b) people who are actually trying to survive genocide want unnecessary human suffering to END, so you're not aligning yourself with that hope by engaging in rumination etc that compounds suffering with not practical benefit to anyone.

But also, watching my mother's behaviour has led me to add perspective c) that a lot of people (in Christian cultures?) haven't developed enough understanding of the complexity of the world and how to relate to it, and genuinely believe that an overblown emotionally affected reaction, followed by helplessness and thereby inaction, is the only possible way for them to respond when they're confronted with upsetting information that demands action from them. Being raised to think in a black-and-white "good vs evil" dichotomy, and thinking about people as "either morally good or morally bad" rather than thinking about people as neutral and behaviours as either ethically helpful or harmful... it doesn't give them a conceptual framework to integrate upsetting information and then carry on getting things done, it's like their moral anxiety gets them stuck and that keeps the emotions escalating.

I see people discussing this pattern in the context of religious trauma, and in the context of the cultural construct of "whiteness" - the discovery of something morally bad has to be followed by an extreme emotional reaction that basically amounts to protesting your own innocence and helplessness to deny responsibility for your direct behaviours (in my mother's case) or complicity in a corrupt system (in the case of overwhelmed average people learning about genocide).

Maybe I'm rambling more than I'm analysing here, but the comparison stands out a lot to me and it's troubling to watch.

yo anon no this is gold, thank you for sharing. This is remarkably astute.

I will add the quick caveat that hyperempathic people who are debilitated by their sensitivity exist, of course, and have very real struggles and none of this is intended to denigrate them. In practice, their behavior can have the impact of silencing criticism or distracting from the issue at hand but being wired that way certainly does not doom a person to behaving in a counterproductive, manipulative manner.

This critique is more about performative over the top empathy as a tactic (conscious or not) of offloading responsibility, and as a pseudo-religious ideology that makes predominately white western cultures particularly ill-equipped to deal with the consequences of their global plundering. almost certainly by design. Most moral teachings that we encounter in the west promote this tactic and ideology, and it gets very deeply ingrained in most us if we don't devote a ton of attention to uprooting it.

thanks for this great response.

[melrosing]

Def agree with your opinions on the first hotd episode. I didn't mind Alicent's scenes so much, or the Cole thing but mostly it just felt random? Like they needed more time to introduce new things. Shouldve left B&C for ep 2 or then sharpen the focus of this episode. I am also disappointed that we didnt see any green side reactions to Luke's death. It felt like it was brushed over a bit. Highlight of this episode for me was the scene with Rhaenyra and Jace, Harry rly acted the hell out of his lines there, I cried.

yeah this is where I'm at too! I didn't really mind anything much, just it all felt a bit stifled by the pace? the Alicent/Criston stuff otoh just lacked context, I think if you're a casual viewer who maybe can't remember a huge amount from S1, you wouldn't really know what the writers wanted you to make of that r/ship?? it's only cos im ofc more interested that im like 'ooh maybe it's criston and alicent reflected their yearning for rhaenyra onto each other' etc but otherwise you'd probably be like 'who is this guy she's fucking oh yeah christian soot'

loved the Rhaenyra and Jace scene it was so beautifully acted by D'Arcy and Collett but yeah this was another one where it just felt like it was missing a couple beats.... I think the Robb & Cat scene in S1 of GOT for example works well bc it draws it out that bit longer where you're waiting for the release of feeling and then wallow in it a bit longer, this one was so good and then OH it's over

and for me the helaena stuff was the same. i've seen there are some people who are really happy w the direction there i.e. Helaena seeming to almost disassociate on the spot and fair enough bc I agree if saban had given streep's sophie's choice performance it wouldn't have fit for a character who just isn't very verbose and generally seems a bit dislocated from the present moment. but I think to really feel the impact of this scene you have to give her longer to work with. like watching helaena know what is happening, briefly bargain, briefly beg, panic when none of that is working, then refuse reality, go into survival mood, run. as it stands maybe she does go through these stages but it just happens too quickly for me.

also, just on the greens and Luke's death, I actually thought when vhagar was returning that the implication was that Aemond had been hiding out since the incident and was going to come back with his rehearsed 'did it on purpose' thing, but yeah no it was all offscreen. i do GET that they've got a lot to cover here but throwing big character moments offscreen was one of GOT's most egregious faults towards the end.... the audience is mentally building for these and then there's no follow through and it feels cheap.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has told The Independent that Republicans’ chaotic efforts to elect a Speaker for the new Congress are serving to highlight how grounded and reasonable she and other members of the so-called Squad of progressive Democrats have been.

Throughout much of her time in Congress, the self-described democratic socialist has heard herself and other progressives described as “unreasonable.” Former-representative Stephanie Murphy even called the coterie of Democrats “the never enough caucus” during negotiations about the bipartisan infrastructure bill and passing Build Back Better.

But against the background of repeated failed attempts by the Republicans to elect Kevin McCarthy as Speaker in the face of hard-right GOP opposition, AOC pointed out that many of the debates she was involved in with fellow Democrats were about actual policy. By comparison, House Republicans are mostly united on their goals, while they differ on the tactics and the rules governing the House of Representatives.

The current crisis has already forced the House to go three days without having a Speaker.

Speaking just off the House floor on Thursday evening, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez told The Independent that despite all the criticisms of her and her colleagues, the current GOP deadlock shows just how reasonable she and progressives are.

“I mean I think it just highlights how how extraordinarily bad faith those accusations of progressive unreasonableness are, even when they come from our side of the aisle,” she said.

“I think, whether you're Democrat, Republican or independent, what this whole episode really indicates and shows us is, again, just how bad faith and substantive some substance-less the argument and accusation is that progressives are, are just as bad as, as these insurrectionists Republicans.”

That doesn’t mean that progressives don’t fight when they think it is necessary, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said.

“When we make demands and pull the line on something, it is based on policy on substance, and something that frankly, usually every time has a path of possibility,” she said. “We offer a Plan B and we look at the reality and push us Yes, push as hard as we can. But we also have an understanding of what is best for the country.”

But beyond the theatrics and comedic aspect, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez said that she worried about the fact the impasse could make it harder to govern.

“The more days that this goes on the more this truly starts to have a corrosive impact on our country,” she said. “Right now, members of Congress because we were not sworn in, we do not have we do not have access to our security clearances, or liaising capacities with that with agencies like the IRS or [United States Citizenship and Immigration Services]. We cannot conduct constituent casework to the same extent that we would otherwise and as a result, the longer this goes on, the more real impact there is and the more people are going to suffer.”

Ms. Ocasio-Cortez entered Congress in 2019 after she defeated House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a primary. But this term will be the first time that she will be serving in the minority, which means her role will be much different.

Still, she said that in some ways, she and other members of the Squad – which includes Representatives Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jamaal Bowman of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri – will be able to “flex” their messaging and have more time and latitude to go on offense against Republicans.

“When you're in the majority, you're you're focused on spending a lot of your time on governance and we understand that the windows that we are in the majority are very precious time,” she said.

Despite the fact that Ms. Ocasio-Cortez occasionally clashed with former speaker Nancy Pelosi, she still voted for her nomination and worked with her. Conversely, she has butted heads with fellow New Yorker Hakeem Jeffries, who has been more outspoken in his criticism of left-wing Democrats at times.

But Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has joined every member of the Democratic caucus in voting for Mr. Jeffries’s nomination as Speaker.

“I think, right now, all of our central focus is making sure that we stay united as a caucus and identify what the bigger issue is right now, which is ensuring that we stave off a lot of the the negative and corrosive impacts of Republican legislation,” she said.

[faithfromanewperspective]

A) purity culture is a term describing sex negativity in religion and how it impacts people. It's not about like, holding celebrities to high standards

B) you know that conservatives exist in the real world right? They have friends, families, colleagues. Theyre not extremists because they live isolated etc etc. In fact people acting like its a-ok for them to want to destroy peoples rights is what keeps them conservative. If they were ostracised for their viewpoints they may actually reflect on them

C) taylor has had tons of bad friends. Lena Dunham literally molested her sister, for example. You think with Matty then Travis people would have learnt that taylor just doesnt give a fuck about racism, sexism (unless it affects her), etc. Shes not friends with Brittany cos shes trying to convert her- she just doesnt care. She just uses politics as PR- she doesn't actually care

hey anon! thanks for reaching out. working backwards, taylor isn’t a paragon for morality. if she were, she’d do activism properly including when it might reflect poorly on her. I agree, I don’t think she’s in it for some sort of ‘conversion’, she’s just there, and she’s honest about what she believes, but not in any kind of groundbreaking way just like a normal, bare minimum kind of way. more to the point of my post is that I don’t think you need to be a paragon of morality to make a difference. you can be self preservational and only honest when it’s not going to risk your success and still make more of a difference in peoples opinions by being one step less facist or whatever than them, but still being close enough to them that they don’t write you off completely. that’s how people’s minds are softened to new ideas, and most of the time it isn’t intentional (and I don’t think being friends with someone in an attempt to change them in any way is either healthy or ethical, but that’s for another post).

you raise an excellent point though in terms of how do we interact with rapists etc, especially when justice hasn’t been served for them and they’re still living in a world with no consequences. I know what I’d do, I don’t know about taylor or if she cares about figuring out what the right thing to do is there. all I’m saying is that if minds can be changed, sometimes the ways of getting there involve what looks like compromising your morals. we’ve all heard I can fix him. and we can also see that if minds can be changed by interacting in one way it can also happen in the other way and I don’t doubt that has happened to taylor to some extent and we do have a right to be disappointed by that. but like anything it comes with a trade off and taylor being able to post what she did without being brushed off (by some) as ‘a liberal’ and very possibly ‘a marxist’ is one positive aspect. it’s up to you to decide whether the positive outweighs the negative; if I could suggest something to anyone reading this though it’s that if you see the negative outweighing the positive, go and volunteer for a political or altruistic group that you agree with and learn to cultivate hope and confidence in your ability to make a difference, for the sake of your own happiness if nothing else. this advice is for all of us really, but I understand it’s not possible due to a number of constraints for many of us.

I do want to point out that leaning conservative and being a right wing extremist are vastly different things. and you’re so right in that they don’t exist in their own vacuums. for some of them they’re in extremist cults that require a lot of brainwashing and literally restrict who they interact with; for others it’s the small town effect where they never got to know any openly lgbtqia+ people and thus investigated the impacts of certain policies on them or questioned what they were taught about things like poverty being the individual’s fault—but would be open to changing their mind if their kid came out as trans, etc. But I do think in both cases having someone you respect (or at least you can’t bully out of your circles) who thinks differently and is able to articulate why can often be the first step to go from thinking of all liberals as some inhuman ‘other’ to people you don’t agree with but can respect (and maybe eventually learn from). I also think that there are things we can learn from conservatism especially when you look at early industrial era calls to conserve nature, but that’d be taking apart the whole political spectrum and again this isn’t the post for it.

yes, I know what purity culture is. I personally do this thing where I see aspects of it as in similar attitudes and just call it purity culture because often I find that people don’t ever think that just maybe, the same fear and longing for a structure through which to divide the world into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ that causes people to restrict people’s sexual expression could also result in people judging based on who you are willing to hang out with and it can easily all become performative, much like sexual ‘purity’ is also largely performative. while there is space to understand that who someone hangs out with says a lot about them, it also easily breeds tribalism which often does more harm than good—and a prejudice against people whose motivations you don’t know and won’t ever know unless you talk to them and accept them including their questionable behaviours. it’s not just celebrities we do this to, but I think because we can’t sit down and have a conversation with them or pop into their asks like you just did for me, that it becomes the only way in which we judge them. and I would appreciate if we questioned that sometimes. also some people are just fundamentally selfish but also have enough basic empathy or understanding or morality not to do anything really bad and honestly I think most of humanity falls into that category—but it also means they’d be open to realising when something they think is normal actually falls into the category of ‘really bad’. which, again, is something that often happens via exposure. sorry if I’ve made things confusing by calling something purity culture that’s not what it is but only reminds me of it.

[apatheticcrossovers]

✨{Introduction}✨

Hello! You may know me from my other blogs. Well, i made a new one, cause I have no sense of impulse control, and I think he need more writing blogs specifically for crossover ships.

About Mod Apathetic

Just call me Mod Apathetic, or Apathetic!

I am an adult

I am a Fudanshi, Himedanshi, Profic, and Anti-hara!

Pangender probably, Any pronouns (no she/her)

My ao3 is ApatheticCrossovers, all requests and stuff will be archived over there!

I also plan on posting original fics here too!

My other blogs are @/Syrups-edit-corner (Edit requests), @/Syrups-fanfic-cafe (General requests), and @/Spookyscaryships (Edit/stim request blog run by both me and my friend)

If you aren't if I write for a certain fandom/topic, just ask please! I have anger issues and I will get extremely aggressive

WHAT I *WILL* DO:

Headcanons

Imagines/Oneshots

Crossover ships (Obviously)

Age gap ships (Including Minor/Minor age gaps, Adult/Adult Age gaps, and Minor/Adult age gaps)

Shipcest (Mainly headcanons cause, yaknow, crossover ships rarely have canon shipcest)

Alternate universes (Including "what if Character A was a canon character in Character B's universe" and Isekai type scenario's)

Yandere content

Ot3's (no more than 3 characters please!)

NSFW

WHAT I *WONT* DO:

Same Source/Series Ships (That included characters from two different games in the same series, and two different shows that take place in the same universe. This rule can be worked around if its an ot3 involving a character from a different source/series)

Satire/Joke ships (I have nothing against these types of ships, they just personally make me feel insecure about my own ships, since I take a lot of comfort in crossover ships /lh /gen.)

Things about active S/H (Things about recovering from S/H or brief mentions of it are fine!)

RPF/Stuff involving real people (Stuff like c!mcyt characters and musicals where the characters are based on real people are on thin ice /srs)

Drug Use/Abuse (Again, recovery is fine) [note: This rule does not and never while apply to weed. Weed is super cool /hj.]

Anything considered Unsanitary/generally gross (if you aren't sure if something would apply to this rule, please ask)

FANDOMS I'M IN:

Ace Attorney

Angels of Death

Animal Crossing

Afterl!fe (yes, even if the fandoms kinda dead)

Baldi’s Basics (+ mod/fangame characters)

Bendy and The Ink Machine

BFDI/BFB

Boyfriend to Death (Both 1 and 2)

Break In 1/2

Bugsnax

Cookie run (Both Ovenbreak and Kingdom)

Creepypasta

Danganronpa (all main games + UDG)

Deltarune

Doki Doki Literature Club

Doors (Roblox)

Eddsworld

Five Nights At Freddy’s series (+ Fangames)

Friday Night Funkin (+ Mods)

Happy Tree friends

Hazbin Hotel

Helluva Boss

Henry Stickmin Series

HLVRAI

Homestuck

Huniepop (both 1 and 2)

Identity V

Inanimate Insanity

Inscryption

Junji Ito

Madness Combat

Minecraft Storymode

Monster Prom

Mortal Combat

My Little Pony

MyStreet

Obey Me! Shall We Date

Object Terror

Okegom

OHSHC

Rainbow Friends (Roblox)

Roblox Myths

Riddle School

Saints Rows series

SCP Foundation

Smile For Me

Sonic Series

South Park

Sr Pelo’s Spooky Month

Steven Universe

Tankmen Series

Telltales TWD Games

The Backrooms

The Nightly Manor

Therapy With Dr. Albert Krueger

Undertale (+ Au’s)

Vincent: Secret of Myers

Welcome Home

Yandere Sim

Your Turn To Die

Zardy’s Field

And more that I currently can’t remember :p

FANDOMS I'M NOT IN BUT I AM FAMILIAR WITH ENOUGH TO WRITE FOR:

DC

Dream SMP (Characters, never the streamers)

Marvel

Genshin Impact

HFJONE

Pizza Tower

Sparklecare Hospital

Spiderverse

Super Danganronpa Another (1 & 2, mainly 2)

Twisted Wonderland

Probably more that I, again, can't remember.

CURRENT REQUESTS:

[Tumblr Inbox]

Hopeless Romantic Part 2 (Millie May x Amy Rose x Moxxie)

Barbatos [Obey Me] x Yuri [DDLC]

Beast Boy [Teen Titans] x Steven Universe [SU] SOulmate AU Headcanons

Vector [Sonic the Hedgehog] x Alphys [Undertale] NSFW

Hellborn Artic Owl!Rarity [MLP] x Stolas [Helluva boss]

Fischl [Genshin Impact] x Gundham Tanaka [Danganronpa] NSFW Headcanons

[Ao3 Inbox]

Yuri [DDLC] x Noelle Holidy [Deltarune]

Donut Joe [MLP] is accusing Soarin's [MLP] new boyfriend, Drago [Animal Crossing], of stealing from his shop, and Soarin doesn't know who to side with.

Glamrock Freddy [FNaF] x Audrey Belrose [Huniepop] NSFW

Golfball [BFDI] x Tennisball [BFDI] x Test Tube [II] Headcanons

Monika [DDLC] x Senpai [FNF]

Collin [Helluva Boss] x Lila [Spooky Month] Short Fic

That's all! Feel free to request stuff from me! I'm always looking for new crossover ships to write about! /gen

[thenixkat]

apparently, Booster's not a fan of having rude women cling to him but he is a professional and he's gonna pretend to be friendly and excited about shit

the 1000 kidnapped the makers of the Booster Gold comic in-universe to drain what info they have on Booster Gold b/c teh senator is still very pissed off about Booster ruining his plans

huh say what you want about Booster Gold but his villains be killing people. Like killing people killing people, on a frequent basis

also Superman is in this town and apparently not investigating any large underground lead lined structures after the last one got publicly revealed to be a villain's lair

also its wild to me that the senator is going through all this effort when he could just plant a bomb in Booster's apartment. Like Booster doesnt have a secret identity, his address is findable

like you dont have to go through all his associates and their families again Booster's villains dont play around.

Senator yer beefing with a celebrity who doesnt even know yer the bad guy

Again Booster doesnt know how big yer organization is or even what it does. He's not investigating you. He's minding his own business and stopping the very blatant crimes yer guys are committing. He didnt even know who was behind the assassination attempt for the president and yall might have gotten away with it if the Legion hadn't been there instigating

again yer beefing with a dude who's been minding his own buisness and do more commercials than patrolling. You could literally just bomb his apartment or poison his food instead of all this convoluted fuckshit

the Boostermobile got repainted to match his costume

Booster's secretary makes him dress like a normal person to avoid getting press if they're gonna eat together

also why are so many of Booster's villains visibly disabled/deformed? That's certainly a choice that the writer and artist are making

sure he's joking but between that and bith him and Dirk having her work way outside of her shift hours I dont think Booster Gold is a good boss

yeah teh way Booster mangles phrases does suggest that he's some kind of foreign. But frankly, it should sound like he has an accent of some kind given that he's speaking English from several centuries in the future (and a later comic says that his first language is Esperanto so dude would have def an accent)

also Booster feels comfortable enough to tell his secretary some of his secrets like his birth name Just, Booster Gold should have a hell of a notable accent given everything. Facetiming Skeets, a robot that doesnt have a face

I'm going to assume that floater nets are for catching people if they need to jump out the windows of a highrise building or skyscraper as like a safety feature or used by emergency services

also the star on Booster's costume is different now again Booster's villains be killing people

like its not like villains werent killing people in Ted's comics or in JLI and stuff but like those didnt really have impact panels of corpses or bodies in the backgrounds of panels or a page with cops pulling a vehicle out of a ditch and describing exactly how the folks in it died.

Also, DC comics have a lot of coloring errors for something that explicitly has editors supposed to be checking shit also how the fuck did the Senator get more goons after one minion killed 900 of them at once and another minion melted a guys head for mentioning something he didnt like. Like yes, yall have benefits but i think a workplace that homicidal you just dont sign up for it

Again where the fuck is SUperman for half teh shit happening. WHy is Superman not showing up to help with a burning highrise apartment? Does he hate Booster Gold that much?

huh, would Skeets like more robot friends?

Booster's put together that the 1000 is after him b/c they sent some chatty ass robots

huh. Are you telling me Booster hasnt been charging his suit's batteries like he should be

…did he bring a charger for those power rods from teh future? …pls tell me Booster is aware that batteries lose charge over time that his 'powers' would decrease if the charge goes down. That he should be keeping track of the charge on those power rods

writer… if yer implying that yer tech using superhero doesnt bother upkeep for the suit that gives him his powers to the point that he doesnt know why he's gotten weaker… that's …

secretary lady, why are you crushing on yer boss? Why are you upset about him being asked questions about the celebrity that he's fake dating for publicity?

why you mad that Booster is a slut for the camera? you know what he's about why be mad about it if you like him? why date a model if yer gonna get upset about people openly drooling over him and him playing into it b/c it gets him paid more?

yer bad mouthing him for doing the shit that gets him money

[xoxoalette]

🌟 Diva's NSFW Alphabet

CW: sex, just sex talk

A = Aftercare (what they’re like after sex)

Diva is very sleepy and cuddly after and she enjoys snuggling up to her partner for comfort and warmth. She also loves peppering kisses all over her s/o's face and body, arms wrapped around them, and whispering sweet things into their ear.

B = Body part (their favorite body part of theirs and also their partner’s)

Hers: Diva loves her hips, the way her hips slightly dip and how full it is, one of her best defining features besides her eyes.

Yours: Your cheeks, she loves how soft they feel when she places a kiss on it, and how it fits nicely in her hands when she cups your face. Seeing the way they rise when you smile or puff out when you're upset.

C = Cum (anything to do with cum, basically)

Diva's cum tastes slightly salty, and the texture isn't too thick. Besides the taste and feel of it, Diva loves cum on her, her favorite part is the warm gooey feeling when it hits her body.

D = Dirty secret (pretty self explanatory, a dirty secret of theirs)

Although her fantasies are rather normal, one of them standing out is how she fantasizes over having sex 24/7 (high libido). Like non-stop sex where ever whenever.

E = Experience (how experienced are they? do they know what they’re doing?)

Very experienced considering she's slept with plenty of people. I'd say she knows what she's doing and even if she doesn't, she's a fast learner.

F = Favorite position (this goes without saying)

Doggy style and sideways.

G = Goofy (are they more serious in the moment? are they humorous? etc.)

She's a good mix between it, light hearted but still serious enough to keep the moment intimate and hot. If it was your first time, she wouldn't mind being more humorous if that eases your mind a lil more.

H = Hair (how well groomed are they? does the carpet match the drapes? etc.)

Well groomed AND the carpet matches the drapes. Diva trims down there once in a while to make sure it's not a lot, but also doesn't like the feeling of it bare.

I = Intimacy (how are they during the moment? the romantic aspect)

Very sweet and loving. She wants to make sure you feel loved because whether just to fuck or in a relationship, it's not fun if you aren't feeling special or connected.

J = Jack off (masturbation headcanon)

Jacks off quite a lot to help stimulate her libido. She owns a few dildos, and usually helps herself at night before bed.

K = Kink (one or more of their kinks)

L = Location (favorite places to do the do)

Anywhere but prefers either car or bedroom.

M = Motivation (what turns them on, gets them going)

Rolled up sleeves to the elbows, lingerie, foreplay, teasing/flirting.

N = No (something they wouldn’t do, turn offs)

Extreme violence on her s/o or herself (she's not opposed to small knife play, whipping, or any other impact play), noncon, doing it in dirty places

O = Oral (preference in giving or receiving, skill, etc.)

Prefers receiving but also likes giving! She's really good with her tongue and can fit up to 8inches in her mouth. Loves deep throating.

P = Pace (are they fast and rough? slow and sensual? etc.)

Diva can be as soft or as rough as you want her to be (unless she's feeling heated). She puts your comfort and pleasure on the top of her list, but she's also mindful of her own.

Although Diva prefers rough, but really appreciates the sensual too (especially in romantic relationships)

Q = Quickie (their opinions on quickies, how often, etc.)

Doesn't mind it! If you gotta do it, do it <3 Just as long as you guys still get to have really intimate sex if you're in a relationship with her.

She enjoys quickies a lot and sees no reason to have any negative thoughts on it.

R = Risk (are they game to experiment? do they take risks? etc.)

Down to experiments as long as it's nothing extreme or makes her or you seriously uncomfortable.

S = Stamina (how many rounds can they go for? how long do they last?)

Normally? 5-7 rounds but if she's heated she can go almost all day.

T = Toys (do they own toys? do they use them? on a partner or themselves?)

Yes! She owns like 2 or 3 toys and uses them on herself. She isn't opposed to using toys on her partner, but only if they're not hers, she doesn't find sharing toys sanitary even if cleaned.

U = Unfair (how much they like to tease)

LOVES to tease, one of her favorite hobbies tbh, but careful with teasing her. Diva can go from pouty to on top and in control in a blink of an eye (she gets a lil hungry sorry)

Diva LOVES edging, especially when her partner makes cute noises and faces. Something about you squirming gets her going.

V = Volume (how loud they are, what sounds they make, etc.)

Depends on the situation but ultimately she's loud. A lot of the sounds coming out of her are moans and babbles and even when she has to or tries to be quiet it's really hard for her to. Not to mention she likes to praise her partner if she's topping.

W = Wild card (a random headcanon for the character)

She's a gamer girl, so if you enjoy gaming, she's going to support you under the desk. Diva would also like it if you do the same <3

X = X-ray (let’s see what’s going on under those clothes)

B cup breasts, with puffy blush pink nipples. Down below is a darker shade of pink outie vagina. She has two star tattoos, one on each side of her hips (matching Eddie's shoulders) and a few scars trailing down her back.

Y = Yearning (how high is their sex drive?)

High. Diva is a very sex positive person, and indulges a lot in sexual play, whether with herself or someone else. But despite being a high sex drive person, Diva isn't constantly having sex every day, she just wishes to </3

Z = Zzz (how quickly they fall asleep afterwards)

Depends on the time or how long she's been going at in. Night time or going for round after round, Diva most likely will start to get sleepy and drift off fast asleep after a few kisses and cuddles.

Other than that, she'll be just a lil daze from the sex, but still awake and ready to do whatever you or she wants to do next.

[chaos0pikachu]

Hi Chaos,

I keep seeing people post about x director and their thematic parallels and storytelling, and I can't help but think that it's the writer who does all those things!!! And it's so frustrating seeing the director get the credit for the screenwriters' work. I am also in the TVDU fandom, and to this day, I've never seen the director get the credit for what is clearly a writer's work. We praise, and we curse at the writers every time. We know their names by heart. Even in kdrama fandoms, I've seen the writer get the credit they deserve. So I'm just baffled by why the director is being credited with 'making' or 'writing' a show in the eyes of the public. I understand that they are more visible than the writers, but its only a matter of looking it up on MDL. (And the only writer who gets full credit for her work, MAME, is also cursed/called names by a lot of people). ( Can't forgive the fact that MAME did not write the TT show. What's the difference, you ask? I point you to Big Dragon, Kinnporsche (positive), Step by Step (negative). ) (Sorry, I feel very passionately about this.)

Lol nah I love this chaotic passion and I love how folks are so open about how Mame is treated in fandom is weird, actually yes spill those feelings to me it's safe here

I've written and rewritten this answer like five different times b/c it got so long but fuck it under a read more cut for other stuff but here's my general gist on this: I think it comes down to a few factors - visibility, apathy, ignorance and probably other stuff but I'm not a behavior scientists I'm just a bitch with a blog. As always y'all take what I say with some season salt mix

So, visibility.

It's really easy to credit whichever person is the most visible on a project with a majority of the work. We understand, as people, that many many folks work on these shows, but it's much easier to attribute the bulk of the project with a few individuals.

Actors used to be at the forefront of this, in recent years as social media has chipped away at the fourth wall, writers and directors have also risen in prominence in the discussions of film. But like, producers can and do have a huge impact on the way I project takes form and shapes yet you hardly ever see fans talking about x, y, z producers' influence on a project.

I think the only times I see a producer come up in discussions of a project is Kevin Feige (almost universally positive) and Kathleen Kennedy (almost universally negative). And that's really b/c both of these ppl are visible - they're a part of the promotional tours, they're walking the premiere carpets, they're giving interviews, etc. But it's all very bias b/c fans look at a singular body of work - Feige's case Marvel films, Kennedy's case Star Wars - of both of these producers and b/c they made either things they liked or hated.

But like, a quick bit of research and you'd see Kennedy has been a producer on some amazing and even classic projects: Gremlins, Back to the Future I & II, The Goonies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Schindler's List, ET, The Color Purple, Hook, Jurassic Park, The Sixth Sense.

She's even been a producer on the Star Wars things people did like: The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Acolyte. She's been a longtime collaborator of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas and has eight Oscar nominations as a producer but she was a producer for some mid Star Wars films and she's the devil incarnate. I don't even care that much about Kennedy or Star Wars shit but I'm not gonna pretend there's not bias in her case that's similar to how fandom views and treats Mame.

And on the flipside she's been a producer on shit or mid projects - like the Star Wars films and Signs, the Flintstones - which is just typical. You work long enough in the industry and you'll make or work on mid to bad projects. See Ridley Scott's career of epic highs & epic lows.

[It's interesting to me that Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni get all the credit for shows like The Mandalorian but Kennedy gets no credit whilst on the flipside JJ Abrams gets like no blame for how mid to bad Force Awakens & Rise of Skywalker were but Kennedy did get blame. And I'm speaking broad strokes here, yes I'm sure JJ did get some cranky posts about his part in RoS but in general Kennedy got more.]

Which leads me to the next factor, ignorance.

I think ppl are gonna like take offensive to that word but I'm using it super neutrally ignorance is just a lack of knowledge.

We're all ignorant about stuff like fuck don't ask me about how sales tax works I don't know. Lacking knowledge is just a fact of life we can't be experts on every single facet of the world, life, etc it's impossible and that's fine. Just own up to the fact you don't know and if you want to know do some research because learning can actually be really cool and fun and shit. Except sales tax I'm not learning all that.

But from my general observations of BL fandom well a lot of people are ignorant on how film making works. Hell a lot of ppl outside of BL fandom are ignorant about how film making works - the implosion in the 911 fandom is showing out re: this lmao literally right now - and again, that's fine. It's really Not A Big Deal. I'm no by-the-by expert either. I think the grind comes when folks try to be Breadtubers and others take said posts as gospel knowledge when by my observations it's a lot of opinion and/or misinformation.

[idk what yaoi framing is but it isn't a real film making thing; comics and film are two different mediums y'all]

I saw this a lot in the BBC Sherlock fandom ppl with very strong voices claiming x, y, z is how television works and, well it wasn't lol like this very consistent argument I see in migratory conspiracy shipping circles is actors and showrunners just be lying in interviews to "hide the big romantic plot twist" for said MCS and that's just not true. It's not trueeeeee that's not how PR and marketing works. So many MCS fandoms pull out the "we were baited b/c they posted The Ship on twitter" and harass the showrunners who have nothing to do with the official twitter. That's an entirely different department of the show/film. Marketing is a different department from the film crew.

But most people don't know this or don't consider this b/c a lot of folks don't know the inner workings of film, or publishing.

Like whoever runs the Seven Seas social media is in a totally different department from who's acquiring licenses for titles and who's editing the books themselves. Likewise yelling at a showrunner b/c the trailer for an episode advertised a scene you were excited about and then the scene wasn't in the episode? Not the showrunners fault they don't cut the promos that's a different department entirely.

I'm not knocking ppl for not knowing stuff like this, it's not like it's inherently common knowledge. Like hell if I know how the education hierarchy works I don't work in education. The issue - if it can be called that - comes in when people make assumptions is all and spreading misinformation.

In the case of Mame you're right she didn't write Tharnype on MDL she isn't even listed as a producer (idk if she is and it's listed elsewhere personally I find MDL very unreliable since it's fan edited) the show is just based on her novel but she's the one who gets all the hyper focused critique not the actual screenwriter nor director. Similar for any other Me Mind Y show. They're all just considered "Mame's work" and not like, a group project (which is what film making is lol).

Now, I'm no expert on how the Thai film industry works. I imagine the hierarchy aspects are, if not the same, at least similar to American film hierarchy. Meaning producers, and directors have a lot of power in terms of what gets put on screen.

I will say from what I've seen folks do wear multiple hats on Thai productions so like the director might also be the screenwriter, or the screenwriter might also be a producer, etc so that could also add to some of the overlap in credits.

I don't use the term "apathy" as a negative here. Fandom is first and foremost a hobby and a hobbyist space. I do not research every single show or film I watch either. Hell I struggle with watching as many BLs as other people who are just straight up powerhouses with how much they can watch.

Not being interesting in the deep ins and outs of How A Thing Is Made isn't a bad thing, focusing on only "the faces" of the project isn't something I'm gonna hold against people either.

I do think if you're going to be giving a Roger Ebert style critique or go for a more academic reading of a piece of media then yeah, you might have more of a burden to do some research if only to not spread misinformation. Or at least, to properly give credit where credit is due.

Personally, I'm of the mind fandom - in general not just BL fandom or whatever - is to concerned with like, "being right" about the media they watch and being seen as pseudo authority figures at times. That Big Name Fan aspect of it all, the social clout that comes with it - saw this with a lot of bbc sherlock wank - and genuinely, bro who fucking cares?

It bothers me when fans feel guilty for liking a thing big voices in fandom claim are Bad, Wrong, in a breadtube voice like who caaaaaares there's so many shows I could break down via film techniques for why I dislike them but like I'm so lazy bro it's not that real if you like 2gether I'm so happy for you light up like a firework baby

[unless you like star trek into darkness and then your wrong pikachu has spoken es lo que es]

anyway idk where I'm going with but yeah those are my general thoughts I guess on why ppl might attribute or heavily focus on the director vs the screenwriter of a project

[esther-dot]

https://www.tumblr.com/la-pheacienne/736682129739726848/yes-ned-did-mention-to-arya-that-she-has-a-common

I genuinely don't understand what this means. Thoughts?

I scrolled through who was interacting with it and it’s jonry@s, so I’m missing the specific context (I have most of them blocked), and I'm a little confused about what exactly their grievance is. It seems like they feel that we don't understand that there were multiple reasons Ned didn't talk about Lyanna much (trauma, to keep the secret of Jon's parentage), but I don't think I've seen people ignore those reasons? Mainly, op feels that there is a lot to Lyanna and the Lyanna & Arya parallels that we're ignoring, but I'm not sure I agree with where they want to take those.

We have very little info to go on with Lyanna and Martin’s focus is on the, I mean, I guess, his own version of a Madonna myth. I don't think that has anything to do with Arya at all, and because that’s the literary angle Martin chose, it's only natural for us to focus on Rhaegar the prophecy, and the end of Lyanna's life to understand what he's saying there. And of course, the prophecy kid is the important thing here, with R+L=J Martin’s big secret that pervades the story, so again, I don’t see the problem with us trying to sort that all out. It matters for Jon more than anyone else, and he's kinda a big deal.

And then we get to the pretty discourse.

I personally do not think how pretty Arya is matters. I’ve discussed before that Sansa’s beauty / Tully looks drives her plot in a big way (LF's obsession) so we get lots on that, and that Jon looking like Ned and Arya is a creative way for Martin to get at R+L=J:

(link)

That’s why their appearance matters in AGOT. The primary use of that comment comparing Arya’s looks to Lyanna’s wasn’t that Arya is “fixated” on Lyanna’s looks as op says,

but as a breadcrumb about Jon looking like his mother.

I understand why they object to readings like that, jonry@s care quite a lot about Arya’s looks and want her to be beautiful, but there are things the author is doing for a specific purpose and then arguments we can make from the text and those are sometimes two different things. That’s why I often can see a few readings of any given “foreshadowing.”

Anyway, their anger makes the whole thing kinda hard to decipher or stomach, I find this a supremely weird way of mocking those of us who talk about Lyanna’s last months of life?

Some fans believe she was kidnapped and violently raped. They believe she was being held prisoner while Rhaegar raped her until she was pregnant with his prophecy baby. It's horrifying and tragic and it comes up when people are trying to a) pushback on the idea of targaryen greatness, b) argue how dangerous prophecies are, c) talking about Lyanna and what she suffered at the hands of a Targ and what that will mean for Jon when he comes face to face with Targs after he finds out.

Since we have Lyanna (and Cat and Dany) as takes on the archetypal “mother”, focusing on that (rather than Lyanna’s fighting, I guess?) matters when determining what the author is saying overall. And again, the R/L relationship will impact Jon in a major way, and thereby the plot, so it's a reasonable thing to try to decipher for speculation purposes.

I'm a little baffled by the idea that we're meant to focus on the Lyanna & Arya aspect of this to the same degree that we work on the Jon/R+L=J stuff. Strange. We must have missed whatever triggered their rage. What a blessing to not know enough to track the drama.

Lucky me, lucky you! 😂

[ethereal-originate]

RANKING TDI GEN 4 CHARACTERS 🏝️

AXEL: (B) S1, she really didn't leave an impact to me, since she was eliminated early. All she was is a person who believes the zombie apocalypse will happen. But she nice enough to make breakfast for everybody (even tho it was gross). S2, I started to like her more since she tries to be nice and makes friends as possible. It great that she has hobbies of Art 🎨(I will like to see more of that than Zombies since no teenagers talks about Zombies). I honestly didn't expect her and Ripper will happen. It actually cute pair together. But, I didn't like how they were making out a lot in ep 7. But I understand why the writer did it so they can be double eliminated. It feels dirty that she got eliminated bc she a “biggest threat” even tho there Caleb & last season winner, Priya. If there S3 , I want both of them to agreed to focus on the challenge while together. If Ripper is eliminated early, the writer can focus on Axel. I wonder how Axel family will react if she brings Ripper for family dinner. 😆

BOWIE: (B) S1, he alright. I like his friendship with Emma. Wishing they talk more. S2, I like when he giving relationship advice to Ripper and he feels bad for cheating when Raj doesn't like it.

CALEB: (B) S1, Actually surprised he the first person to be eliminated. S2, from the person to be eliminated to a person who actually got to the finals. He alright. He got more role this season. His relationship with Priya is alright. I didn't like when they are fighting again when Caleb ally with Julia, it was nonsense.

CHASE: (D) He a jerk. He delusions and has no remorse for cutting Emma car brakes. I don't know why no one defend Emma when she trying to tell Chase it over.

DAMIEN: (B) One of my favorite characters.

EMMA: (C) S1 is just about her and Chase. She could have simply ignored Chase. And just say no whenever he says something. S2, she finally break up with Chase and hope in S3 it won't be the same as S1

JULIA: (B) Julia & MK friendship came out of nowhere. I won’t be surprised since the writer always write things out of nowhere and it only 13 episodes they can make, so of course they will fast paced.

MILLIE: (C) She was ok.

MK: (C) She was meh in S1. But the writer did good for making me hate both her & Julia. Isn’t it dumb that she exposed herself that people shouldn't underestimate her in a live reality show?? She literally caught stealing! Like how come no contestants aren't threatened by her? Shouldn’t she be arrested? I feel S3 she won't have no purpose since everybody knows she & Julia are cheaters. I won't be surprised she will be the first person to be eliminated. I will like to see 2 new villains taking their places, pretending to be nice as Alejandro did.

NICHELLE: (B) Same as Caleb & Axel. She didn’t left an impact but revealed she doesn’t do her own stunts. S2, I actually thought she will be in the finals. But sadly no. Hollywood should hire her for the hard work she been doing. I like her friendship w/ Damien and hopefully in S3 she will train him.

PRIYA: (B)

RAJ: (B)

RIPPER: (B) S1 he gross. I waited for this guys to be eliminated early. When they hint that his parents are abusive, I felt sorry for him. In S2, I started to like him more. He become a better person this season. Did he realize that girls are strong & wise bc of Priya & Axel? I’m honestly surprised he developed a crush on Axel. This guy has a lot of confidence to win Axel heart. 😆 It so romantic once he found out Axel interest, he wrote a poem just for her. Very Sweet! 💕 Hope these 2 last forever and isn’t written terribly like the other former couples.

SCARY GIRL: (C)

WANYE: (B) Just like Raj, he such a goofball. I’m ok that he S2 winner. ZEE: (A) Also one of my favorite characters! He funny and nice. Im so glad they don’t have to shove down my throat that he disabled, like very dumb woke shows/movies. He just a guy who born as an amputee. Nothing wrong with that! I actually love that a Soda company made him to sponsor their drinks! 😆 Never change Zee!

[lovelykhaleesiii]

I’m just putting this out there, I don’t think blood and cheese will have much as affect as it should because season one showed ZERO Aegon his children content, like three minutes of Helaena with her children and Aegon

I think people will still be shocked but they haven’t really given (non book readers) enough to fully fall in love with the sweet girl and her children

(I’m referring more to people who aren’t fully in the fandom of reading fanfics etc, and only watch the show)

And I think it’s such a shame because smaller moments could have been flushed out more

I agree with you nonnie… as I said in a previous ask, the pace of the story feels rushed and I was hoping B&C wouldn’t happen until later in the second season but it seems they’re starting off with a bang….

I mean any child that goes through that should really hit but for fans that have not read the book and only indulge in the show will have no common knowledge of the situation watching it, it will have no impact.

I really do wish they fleshed out a lot of the relationships in this series, especially Aegon with his children and Helaena as his wife. we’ve seen how he is as her elder brother, but surely there would’ve been a shift once they married and consummated.

I would’ve especially liked to have seen Nyra’s relationship with her half siblings, even tho the book barely fleshes that out, the show could’ve explored that.

[overnighttosunflowers]

2, 7, 19, 21, 30, 61 for the get to know my d&d characters q’s?

thank you!! <3

2. before they met their party, what was their main goal?

Mairen - Initially, live a low-impact reality (thank you Taliesin for that phrase) in the woods; then, heal enough people to have fulfilled her godly duty or whatever as quickly as possible so she could go back to said woods.

Eos - When Ishi Mountain monks of age they travel around for a number of years to a) see the world, b) maybe meet a partner and bring folks back to the island to expand the population, and c) hunt down and take care of any escaped shadow creatures. Eos’s mom is a leader of their people and had a lot of adventures during her journey; Eos idolizes her. SO their main goal was to a) do some really cool shit like mom!!!!!!!! and b) that’s it.

7. which party member do they understand the least?

Mairen - They’ve been together for a while and she gets them both pretty well. Least intuitive to her are Ayin’s cheerful, casual, and optimistic bearing towards most danger and Nick’s attitude towards death. (He was sort of undead for the first ten levels? Archived UA rogue subclass called Revived. Now he’s not, but he spent a long time pretty sure he was at the end of his borrowed time and is pretty blasé, in Mairen’s opinion, about the chances of dying again.)

Eos - Definitely Ursula the (previously mentioned) Bloodthirsty Paladin. They used to think they understood her and now they find her ALARMINGLY erratic.

19. what haunts them? what doesn’t?

Mairen is haunted by the feeling that if one of her friends died and she couldn’t bring them back, that would be her fault.

Eos should really be haunted by the Deep Shit they’re in with the monks right now for having blabbed state secrets all over the place but they just got the HDYWTDT on a massive shadow creature that showed up at their tribunal so they’re feeling pretty good about things. Also, even before that, they were stubbornly ignoring the haunted feelings in favor of staunchly believing they’d done the right thing so it would be fine.

21. do they follow their head, their heart, or their body?

This is interesting. I think Mairen head, Eos heart, maybe?

30. what do they seek out from others?

Eos wants attention and admiration. They’re the kind of person who, every time they do something cool in combat, looks around to make sure that people (*especially our cleric Isla) saw it.

Mairen wants other people not to need anything from her because she doesn’t want to be obligated to anyone because she’s scared of what will happen if there’s bad shit and she can’t help. At this point we’re actively in the Saving The World portion of our campaign, though, and she’s been wrestling with the idea of fate and feels like maybe it absolves her of choice in a way she finds a little comforting… so I guess I would say at this point she wants for people to not ask her to make hard decisions.

61. what kind of flower would they choose to pick from a meadow?

Mairen:

Eos:

[la-jolie-mln-posts]

How do small businesses create their own luck?

There’s lots of advice out there

Make sure your business plan is agile enough to accommodate market meltdowns, have cash reserves (rainy-day money) on hand, and—most importantly—lean into your community.  A business that has done a good job of relationship building will fare better during economic slowdowns. Here’s what I mean.

Women’s Business Dinner

In early October, my boutique, LaJolie MLN, hosted a lunch for independent business owners from my community of Elmhurst and surrounding areas. It was a lively group of innovators from a wide range of categories. During dinner, each woman got to stand and make a 5-minute introduction of her business.

This included:

Colette Luchetta-Stendel who owns her own law firm in Lombard

Maria Vacchiano of Pampered Chef, quality cookware

Susan Musaus, owner of The Riding Store in Woodridge for quality riding equipment

Travy Hodges if Water/Fire/Mold Restoration of Fox Valley

Candice C. Kuhnen, The Conector, a concept marketing firm

Brooke Lighton of Addiction Hurts, You Can Help - a t-shirt and apparel line that I sell at my store

After the luncheon, many of the women reached out to each other and started the process that often results in a new client relationship. And, of course, the occasion took place in my boutique, so shopping was on the menu.

Collaborating with businesses in the community

Winter Coat Drive

Recently, La Jolie MLN joined neighboring businesses for the 2022 Winter Coat Drive. Our goal is to collect 1,000 new or unwanted coats, hats and gloves for those in need. Our partners in this endeavor include:

Judith B. Salon+Spa

Illinois Spinal Care

Elmhurst Bank

Bazzy Boutique

Evolve Beauty Bar & Med Spa

Accelerated Aesthetics

“Sip ‘n Shop”

On December 20th, La Jolie MLN Boutique celebrated the holiday season with “SIP’n SHOP.” We partnered with 14 of our neighboring retailers to contribute one item to a gift basket. Shoppers collected a stamp from each location where they visited. Then they entered their stamp card with name and contact information. One lucky winner won the gift box valued at $400.

Here is the list of contributors and the items that went into the gift basket:

Bread and Butter - Decorative Throw Pillow

Kilwins - Box of Family Assortment of Chocolate

Uptown Shop - Nest Holiday Candle and Elmhurst Kitchen Towel

Maxine Boutique - Jeweled Bangle Bracelet

Tannins - Bottle of. Italian Red Wine

Sandlot - Gift Card

Evolve Beauty Bar – Full Body Spray Tan

Salon Jel - Bedhead Satin Pillowcase and Under Pressure Eye Mask

Carmie Cakes - Gift Card

Merle Norman - Cleansing Lotion

Judith B Salon+Spa Makeup Eraser and Gift Glove

Enzee - 2 pairs of Silver Stud Earrings

La Jolie MLN Boutique - Beanie Hat and Gift Card

Bazzy Boutique -The Works Lips and Hands and Gift Card

Paula Pezza / Pezza Realty - Bottle of Red Blend Wine

Advent Calendar

We also teamed up with local businesses and offered an Advent Calendar, with products worth $300.

Collaborators include:

La Jolie MLN Boutique

Maxine Boutique

Bread & Butter Home and Gifts

Bazzy Boutique

Judith B Salon+Spa

Merle Norman Cosmetics

Kilwins

Most of us can remember the days of in-person networking events. These were often large, industry-specific lunch or dinner get-togethers with speakers and time to mingle and pass along business cards. COVID had a devastating impact on U.S. business with an estimated $28 Trillion in lost economic output. The business events sector was one of the worst hit.

But, now that masks are no longer mandatory, COVID is a fading memory. However, people are fighting a new set of problems such as inflation, supply chain disruptions and the threat of recession. In other words, small business owners are going to have to learn new ways to band together in mutual support.

When we do events like the ones mentioned here, the benefits accrue to both the business owners and the community. La Jolie MLN Boutique is proud to be a part of these mutually-supportive ventures. We welcome you to join us.

A Few Ideas…

Hold you own event where people can share their business stories and build their networks

Post recommendations on friends’ LinkedIn profiles. They will typically return the favor

Consider opening an account on sites like hivebrite, a platform that allows you to stay in contact with alumni from your college or university.

Ask business owners if you can contribute to their blog site. For instance, at LaJolie MLN, we regularly write stories for businesses we support. This includes artists, designers, not-for-profit partners and the like. It allows you to broaden your profile and attract new customers.

Got an interesting business story you’d like us to share? Contact me at dms@lajolie-mln.com

La Jolie MLN: ”It’s our mission to give young ladies the lessons all of you can share with us. So, let’s share our experiences, strength and stories. I cordially invite you to join a cohort of empowered women. Please send your stories to Blog@lajolie-mln.com