#and a scary Julia which we all love

[anxious-chaos-art]

Hey guys did y’all know that this (fan)art Karina Drawfee made is actually so important to me

[antlerqueer]

sorry im literally putting all of my complaints about ppl's critiques of leave the world behind here bc it's alll..... like what? so i literally looked up interviews from sam esmail and rumaan alam and i'm not crazy!!! the things i was like "this is the opposite of what was going on??" were actually the opposite of what was going on.

Some criticism I've seen is people saying "the movie mocks Rose's dependence on technology with the final scene" but it was like... Rose's journey was seeking her own solution to not wanting to be miserable and inside and waiting for death?? And she found it??

Quote from Sam Esmail, from Rolling Stone (emphasis mine):

During the early days of the pandemic, I remember how we were all very scared. We were scared for our loved ones, we were scared for one another, we were scared for ourselves. People were dying on a daily basis and we were locked in and trapped. There was this real sense of fear and anxiety. And then Tiger King dropped on Netflix and that was all we could talk about for weeks.  As silly as that show is, I love that we as a community dropped our differences to engage with this story and to laugh with it and talk about it. I just found that very human. I love when you can mix tragedy and comedy like that because I do think the essence of tragic comedy speaks directly to who we are and to the human condition.  So when I was constructing this story, I felt that throughout all this bleakness, to have this character, Rose, escape into something comfortable — I thought that was just something that felt like a kind of universal touchstone.

Rumaan Alam, the author, also says this to Variety:

I say it’s funny, but I don’t think it’s a joke. I don’t think it’s a joke on Rose. I don’t think it’s a joke on the audience. I don’t think it’s a joke on “Friends.” It’s a reminder that art is kind of a salve.

Sam Esmail LOVES media. He's not fucking condemning a child for wanting comfort????? Anyway. The dependence on technology isn't a point of inherent criticism, it is a point of what do we do when our survival is reliant on technology but we lose it. It's part of the horror. It's scary.

Literally, a quote from Esmail in GQ:

[It] really kind of underlines the theme of this reliance on tech, and once it goes away, what are we left with? And that in its own way is pretty terrifying.

I've seen it said Julia Roberts's character was "redeemed" in the film from her bad actions, which I so heavily disagree with, and so does Rumaan Alam, in the Variety interview:

In that final scene between Julia and Myha’la, they don’t embrace. Even prior to that, when they’re in that little shed and come to a détente, Ruth acknowledges that there’s some truth to the things that Amanda has said, that they’re in agreement about something, but it doesn’t end with a hug. It’s not that kind of story.

(A detente is "the easing of hostility or strained relations" - not a reprieve or a reconciliation, but an easing.)

These characters don't have to like or forgive each other to agree that there are things more important to survival and making it through than Amanda being overbearing and racist. Ruth lost her mother and even though Amanda steps in and maybe saves her life (we don't know what the deer were gonna do) that is not an apology! And it's not treated like one because we don't see any sort of forgiveness from Ruth!

And then the whole "it's an attack from a foreign government making the US a victim" shit. Like... GH theorizes, out loud, that this could be the US government's doing? Anyway.

[zabala0z]

Welcome back to “new fan listens to S3 and OH MY GOD THEY NAME DROPPED THE ENTITIES” and I’m your host, Zabala0z!!! I just listened to MAG 111 if you could tell so be prepared for a long post.

MAG 107: Third Degree

Very The Desolation-core. I mean the officer literally asked “what do you love most” and the guys dad was dead a week later so duh. Sucks that Jon literally has to read out a statement or else he’ll like get sick. Bro has to read a scary story unless he wants to die 💀

ALSO JULIA MONTAUK??? TREVOR HERBERT?? Isn’t that bitch dead???? Bro had lung cancer last we heard about him wth 😭 the weirdest duo ever by the way

MAG 108: Monologue

Not much on this but Peter god damn Lukas, get out. He’s very cheerful in a way that reminds me of Michael Crew, y’know. I don’t know how old he is but he’s a sea captain so like 35-40? “Thought we had a chat. Alone” oh haha, you bastard. Anyways the statement dealing with loneliness and Peter Lukas appearing I guess was something Elias did, I mean Peter said it himself. Peter didn’t seem to like Elias a lot which makes me think, why is the Lukas family even patrons of the institute and why is Peter and Elias suddenly having these meetings?

Not much on MAG 109. Still wondering why Trevor is not dead but whatever. Bulbs breaking is a common theme with like Julia’s thing.

MAG 110 has a heavy spider theme (eughhh). Also loving the Basira, Martin, and Melanie trio.

Now finally the major one; MAG 111: Family Business

Oh my god. First off, hearing Gerard speak is giving me so much closure. Literally his first mention was in MAG 4 😭 his mom sucks. Duh. But let’s get to the main part. The entities. Jesus Christ.

There’s 14???? Jon says that’s a small amount for them being manifestations of peoples fears but that’s too much for me. But I’m so happy we get all the names for them. Because of course they are manifestations of peoples fears, that’s what gives them power. Fear has always existed as long as living things existed. I think it’s so interesting they brought in animals into it as well because maybe they aren’t as complex but they feel fear as well. And there’s billions of animals.

Gerard makes me sad. Like every mention of him, he’s like helping people or at least doing something good. I wish his life was better cause god does he deserve it.

The Lukas’s I guess are apart of The Lonely. I thought they were apart of The Vast but maybe there’s just some overlap. I think it’s interested they serve The Lonely and are patrons of the institute which serve The Eye cause if you think about, those are two different things. The Lonely deals with being alone and there being no one around. The Eye deals with there being someone, something, that’s watching constantly. I gotta know how they became patrons or I will explode damn it.

Then there’s the rituals, what the hell is the Watchers Crown 😭😭 give Jon a break. I’m gonna theorize that Jon is gonna have to deal with that and is somehow going to be the key to it because he can never have a normal life. Gertrude is interesting because yeah she’s ruthless as hell but she also stopped the world ending like a ton so I guess give and take.

I think that’s like most of my thoughts I can write on here. Which is like 1/5 of it. But god I’m so happy we have names, these are so cool. Or not cool. I might make like a post, ranking on which would be my biggest ops 💀

[umbraastaff]

stuff about the taz atla au:

Taako and Lup are the last surviving air nomads (and by extension, elves). Lup is the Avatar. I established Taako as an airbender but I think it could go either way; if he's a nonbender, he's still got the high-dex rogue-y vibes of an airbender for any fighting.

Barry is a waterbender from the Southern Water Tribe, and the one who finds the twins. He's extremely unnaturally gifted at bloodbending, but shit at most other waterbending until they find a master. (He can bloodbend when it's not the full moon, but usually only to shift someone's balance, shove a limb, etc. Can be very handy when used right, though!)

Lup's hardest element is water. She has the instinct to directly blast stuff, which pushes against the give-and-take nature of waterbending. Once she gets it she likes making huge, scary, ocean-like waves. She's progressively faster at learning earthbending and, of course, firebending comes easiest & becomes a favorite.

Lucretia is also water tribe, probably in the North, though I would love for her to be friends with Barry somehow. She may not be a bender, but she's for sure attuned to spirits, especially the moon. Possibly the whole North Pole spirit imbalance is because of some well-intentioned thing she does while they're trying to repel the fire nation.

Prince Kravitz is trying to capture the Avatar but the Avatar's brother keeps flirting with him and it's very confusing. I don't know if I want to make the Raven Queen be the Firelord but if she's anyone she might be Ursa.

Kravitz is accompanied by Davenport (tell me captain "haven't we earned a little wrath" davenport isn't a firebender), a family member or close advisor who has been secretly a traitor/spy for like a decade. He's mostly coming along to keep his own eye on the Avatar and make sure she doesn't get captured or killed. White Lotus member.

Merle is a swamp waterbender with plantbending and, to everyone's shock in a dire moment, healing powers. He was a good friend of Lup's 100 years ago. Also White Lotus.

Magnus is an earthbender, Julia is a Kyoshi warrior. "Why isn't Magnus the token nonbender" well you see this whole thing is an elaborate AU of that one stretch of SC where Taako learned fighting and Magnus learned wizarding (joke)

Magnus is desperate to interact with spirits but is not attuned to them at all. He's excited to meet Lup because she is obviously the bridge to him getting to pet spirit dogs. Might have a pet dog or bear fusion variant.

[totaldrama-showdowns]

Here's the list of Valid Submissions that unfortunately could not be featured in the bracket proper! Invalid Submission will have their own post

Scaryemma (Scary Girl x Emma) (2)

"Scary Girl wants to be "normal", Emma is the closest thing to a "normal" girl on the island… I know what I'm getting at"

"why not?"

Calulia (Julia x Caleb) (2)

"she was the only one who could make him interesting"

"ngl those last few episodes. they got real. 5 minutes together and insanely more compelling and dynamic than priyaleb"

Mkaleb (MK x Caleb) (2)

"screw total drama and all its fans I hope they get exactly one more season and MK marries a man /ref"

"I like that mk is small and caleb is tall. that's all"

Axelle (Nichelle x Axel) (2)

"axel is the opposite of bowie"

Juliayne (Julia x Wayne) (2)

"Everyone wants rice cakes at a party"

"because i wanna start drama"

Wipper (Ripper x Wayne) (2)

"real ones know 😎"

Chulia (Julia x Chase) (2)

""i could fix him" says woman who is worse"

"They would date each other for clout and hate every minute of it it would be so funny"

Damichelle (Damien x Nichelle) (2)

"Damien and Nichelle are seen to interact through to season, they encouraged each other in challenges and seem to just have a great chemistry all around. Damien is also a DnD player (which requires good acting/roleplaying skills), and Nichelle is an actor! Just imagine the potential.. overall their canon interactions are just a treat to watch and while it's not really popular I love them nonethelesss."

Zeepper (Zee x Ripper)

"Zipper"

Priya and Zee… Pee if you will

"we were robbed of the peeleb love triangle"

Calipper (Ripper x Caleb)

Chaleb (Chase x Caleb)

"Two men who's names begin with C and are 5 letters wrong and ruin the lives of their respective love interests. Fuck chase and Caleb they deserve each other"

Emmjuliayne (Julia x Emma x Wayne)

"blonde polycule"

Ripelle (Ripper x Nichelle)

"Nichelle would teach him stunts:)"

that one girl intern and that one guy intern

"love can flourish behind the scenes, can’t it?"

Chipper (Chase x Ripper)

Wintern (Wayne x The Female Intern)

"He was nice to her :-)"

Milliechelle (Millie x Nichelle)

"Girl failure x Girl failure <3"

Rippemma (Emma x Ripper)

ScaryK (MK x Scary Girl)

"if they teamed up mk could steal so much more and i think she deserves to"

Chowie (Caleb x Hezekias x Bowie)

"It'd be so funny if they beat chase X Bowie"

Caxel (Axel x Caleb)

"Mwahahahahahah"

Prikate (Priya x MK)

ScaryZee (Zee x Scary Girl)

"idk but i saw this and started shipping https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Fmore-zee-x-scary-girl-since-yall-love-it-v0-00h7aqq6kava1.png%3Fs%3D5cf331157af4761c67837f01ba4152a37e40765c"

Traffic Light Trio (Wayne x Damien x Zee)

Mkuliayne (Julia x Wayne x MK)

Bowaleb (Bowie x Caleb)

"caleb would be so much better gay"

Scarprillie (Priya x Millie x Scary Girl)

"episode 4 of season 1 had so much yuri potential"

Prillemma (Priya x Millie x Emma)

"wholesome yuri polycule!"

Chase/the two guys from his channel

"Chase is totally the kind of thing to flirt and make out with guys as part of the videos…and contribute exactly zero thoughts toward the implications of that"

Olivia Von Trashpanda x the bear in episode 2

"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE"

Polycule of all of MacArthur's dogs

"Ruff ruff 🐕🐕🐕🐩🐩🐶🐶🐾🐾🐾🐕🐕🐕bark grrrrrrr😡😡😡😡"

Damien's sheep × Goats in s1 finale

"I think it speaks for itself"

This is the section of submissions that, according to the rules, were valid, but were not valid in my heart.

Shamy (Scary girl, nicHelle, Axel, Millie, priYa)

"I fucking love shamy"

Marmaduke (Millie x Axel x Ripper x emMA x Damien x jUlia x mK x zEe

"I'm gonna kill that fucking dog"

Marmafield (Millie x Axel x Ripper x emMA x prFIya x zEe x nicheLle x Damien

"In this world it's just us"

pilk (Priya x mILlie x mK)

"just like real pilk you don't know how good it is until the second try"

Chillie (Millie x Chase)

"IM SO COLD🥶🥶🥶SO CHILLIE UP IN HERE"

Chiya (Priya x Chase)

"Chiya pudding chiya seed c"

Ashley (Axel x chaSe x Hezekias x nichelLE x priYa) and all of them hang out with aroace MK. Mary Kate and Ashley (Olsen)

"Full house sweep idk I can't remember what those girls were in"

Key (mK x calEb x priYa) x Zee

"I got the Key, I got the Zeecret"

chicken juice (CHase x nIChelle x mK x damiEN) (JUlia x rIpper x Caleb x Emma)

"Chicken juice is sooo good make a broth bitch!"

[krysanthii]

The introduction of Olrox is absolutely genius because when we first saw him he looked dreadful and scary!

The light reflecting off his face to make him look ghoulish and baring his teeth out like a blood thirsty predator out for blood! He looks horrifying and deranged kinda like Varney.

Olrox is out for blood and this to me seems to be recent of the death of his lover by the hands of Julia. He wants blood and revenge and it’s such a primal expression! He looks totally different and unkempt!

The clothes look frumpy and do not suit him at all! He looked like he pulled them out from a dead guy which that’s totally possible that actually happened.

Here he looks like nightmare incarnate and this is from a 10 year old little boy’s perspective he saw his mommy getting killed by a big scary vampire.

Lo and behold Olrox is back and officially entered his pretty girl era✨ Looks like he gotten himself a killer tailor on how his clothes suit him and he looks like he’s of royalty. He’s done the inner works and is on his healing journey and looks like he’s going to interview for a job.

After 9 years he meets Richter again is calm and composed.

Awww and now Olrox wants to take a Richter out on the town and go dancing 🕺🏽 I absolutely love his glow up!

[cheesecakeluvs]

Damien x Priya, I need to talk about them

Right now Damiya shippers are lying dead on the ground and eating whatever scraps they can but I have hope for season 2, I have hope

Why would they make this perfect dynamic just to throw it all away

First off there is the obvious brains and brawn dynamic. Damien is obviously super smart going on rants n stuff about random facts and Priya is one of the most strong people on the show

Then there is their reason for joining. Priya had been training her whole life for this moment knowing exactly what she is getting into while Damien’s friends just dated him to sign up with him knowing absolutely nothing about it (such cruel friends)

Even season 1 gave us some good scenes and hints. With her blushing when he compliments her and even calling him “The love of her life” when in a time of panic. We also had Priya convincing the team to vote him off (It was sweet in the moment lol) and him helping her out at the end (which they were both very happy that Damien was picked) and trying to calm her down

Season 2 has given us… nothing… yet. The most we had were Damien making weird faces when Caleb and Priya were interacting but he also did those faces before they did so… yeah we have nothing. My one and only hope is that they do something with Caleb. To be honest I don’t really want Caleb to like her but I guess I wouldn’t be too opposed to a love triangle. Everyone thought there was going to be a Scary girl and Priya love triangle, obviously didn’t happen. Then people though Millie and Damien, didn’t happen. I don’t even like love triangles I just want Damiya. Doesn’t even have to be a love triangle Caleb could just be used to stir up jealousy

Something must be a wedge between the partnership of Caleb and Priya and I think it will either be Mk and Julia or Damien

Please we need something in the next few episodes because I know Priyas’s getting eliminated soon and if Damiya isn’t canon I don’t know what I’ll do with my life

Anyways, Damiya nation rise, we shall never give up, Damiya IS canon and WILL be real

Also if anyone has any other theories of stuff to add please tell

[chains-of-destiny]

Firstly you suck you made me cry with like everything concerning MCs poor mom.

As a parent i felt that incredibly so booo! Lol i thought it was very emotional.

Iris is adorable ooomg. 😭

Just the sweetest thing.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but 2 scenes seemed missing to me. Or maybe i just chose different options?

1. The scene with Zenon in the library at the party.

2. Baranabas confronting MC if we pretended to be a stable hand before the party. Because he doesn't say anything to MC at the party or when Nemio shows up in the stables. He just walks away when he shows up.

Anyway besides that i love your work as always. Your writing always leaves a smile on my face and julia is such a sweetheart when MC has a good relationship with her.

I love the family. And i can't wait for a zenon romancer to actually be sharing this scary ass journey with him. That's cute.

Our mom trying to set us up with iris made me laugh too. Especially because it's her besties kid.

Sorry my ask is all over the place lol ❤️❤️❤️

Hey! Thanks so much for playing, I'm glad you enjoyed the update!😊

About the scenes:

Zenon Scene: You can access it in one of three ways:

Have a panic attack/get overwhelmed during the party.

Ask Julia if she knows where Zenon is.

Do one or two activities and then choose to "Search for a quiet place to recharge before returning to the celebration."

Barnabas Scene: I'll double-check, but just so you know, Barnabas won't appear at the party if the MC decided to punch him earlier. Can you maybe remember which options you chose? It's not a problem if you don't, but it would make my job a little easier.

Thank you again for the feedback and the continued support!

[hughjidiot]

Total Drama Level Up Finale Sneak Peek

Life is still more than a little crazy for me right now, but I am getting work done on the finale of Total Drama Level Up. Here's a brief preview for you all.

After nearly a week, the storm over southern Toronto had finally broken. The gray clouds that once choked the sky had broken into small clusters, allowing the morning sun to shine through for the first time in days. The rain itself had ended sometime in the night, its only remaining evidence being swollen run gutters and puddles that dotted the landscape, soon to be evaporated by the heat of the summer.

Zee took all of this in as he sat at one of the tables in the cafeteria, glancing out the window as he picked at some waffles and took the occasional sip of soda. The silence was broken by the squeaking hinges of the entrance door swinging open; Zee looked over and offered a small smile.

“Morning, dude,” Zee said to Damien, who paused on his way past the table.

“Morning Zee,” Damien said after a moment. “You uh, doing okay? After last night and all.”

Zee sipped his soda and shrugged. “Eh. Still kinda sucks not having Lauren around, but at least I’ll get to see her later today, so I can’t complain too much.”

Damien nodded, hands in his pockets. “Yeah, I gotcha. Listen, I know we haven’t talked much this season, but I wanted to say sorry about Scary. I meant what I said yesterday; I have my issues with her, but I have nothing against you.”

“You’re good, brah. This is just how the game goes. And I know Lauren gets… pretty intense sometimes, and she got a little competitive this year. But deep down, she’s a cool girl.”

Damien shrugged. “Well, she can’t be all bad if she wound up with someone like you. Speaking of which, I’ve been meaning to ask for three days: how did that happen?”

“Well, it started with her wanting to hear about how I lost my leg. Then we just started hanging out, watching movies, getting to know each other…” Zee paused for another sip of soda, blushing faintly. “Then when I saved her from Zombie Robot Caleb, she just up and kissed me. Caught me off guard, not gonna lie. I did a lot of thinking that night about the time we’d spent together, and realized how like, nice it felt to be with her. So the next morning I went looking for her to ask how she felt, turns out she liked me back and… Here we are.”

Damien nodded along with Zee’s speech, noting the sincerity in his tone. As odd as it still felt to hear someone speaking so fondly of Lauren, Damien couldn’t deny the two seemed happy together. And who knew? Maybe Zee’s chill nature would help curb some of Lauren’s intensity. (Or at least, Damien hoped, direct it towards anyone but him.)

“Well I’m happy for you,” he finally said. “Like you said, at least you’ll get to see her today.”

“That’s right.” Zee cracked an amused smile. “And hey, at least you won’t have to face her for the million, right?”

Damien chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I wasn’t thrilled at the prospect. On that note: nothing personal, but I’m fighting like hell for that prize.”

“I’d expect nothing less, brah. Do what you gotta do, so will I, and may the best player win.”

“Thanks, I’d planned on it.”

Zee and Damien looked up at the familiar scratchy voice. They’d been so engrossed in their conversation they hadn’t noticed MK enter the cafeteria and saunter up to them.

“Last chance to back out now and spare yourselves the humiliation of losing to me,” MK said with a smug smile

Damien barked out a laugh, crossing his arms. “You wish. I got this far; I’m seeing this through to the end.”

“Me too, and I’ve got a lady to win for,” Zee said, holding his soda can over his heart.

“Ooh, the power of love,” MK snickered. “What’s next? You gonna take me down with a Care-Bear Stare? Team up with the others to blast me with a friendship rainbow?”

“Big talk from someone that needed Julia and Scary Girl’s help to even make the finale,” Damien said with a smirk.

MK smirked right back. “Maybe I did. But in the end I’m here and they aren’t.”

[haveaclock]

yeyah birthday.

I decided to post this on the day on my birthday because why not..it's my birthday and I'm talking about birthdays..

June 3rd is a good day to be alive..on the east coast..I'm assuming

Axel: October? Whose stopping me? No one!! She was born October 15th or something and you know it!!!

Bowie: December-January, I can't pick. Anyways. It's either December 20th-31st or January 1st.

Julia- she's June. Not early June, June. June 31st? Maybe...does June 31st exist. June 7th, possibly. June 18th? Possibly.

MK: July-August, nobody is stopping me from believing she's a summer baby. July 4th, why Independence Day? Because, I said so.

Chase: I'm pretty funny. I said "You should be born on April 1st because you're a joke!!".. I lack a sense of humor, btw.

Caleb: July. Why? Cancer. July 6th or something, I don't know the dates.

Priya: She was born in the summer, okay? So uh..that would be..uh.. Late July..Like..uh..The 26th. I forgot.

Millie: imagine if she was a leap year baby.. imagine if she was a leap year baby. February 28-29th. haha..

Ripper: he looks like he was born in November, but really, he was born in May.. flowers and sunshine and birds..teehee. I can only think of may 21th

Zee: zee..I love zee..zee is love. Zee is life. Zee is air. Zee is, zee is the necessity of life. And for someone, as special as Hezekias, I see him in April, April 19th.

Damien: now he was born on Halloween. Nobody's stopping me. I'm a Track Runner!!!

Scary Girl: no she wasn't born on Halloween, she was born close to Christmas or after. Like.. December 19th or so..

Emma: Emma? Which Emma?? Ridonculous Race Emma?? It's okay, they both look like they were born in March. March 22? Maybe..

Raj: May 30th.

Wayner: he has March on him I can't see anything else!! March 21st is written all over him!!

Nichelle: She can be born in early June because I love her, we can be birthday twins because if Nichelle Ladonna was born on June 3rd then I'm happy.

[lesbian-books]

Lesbian Historical Fiction

Fingersmith by Sarah Waters

Victorian England, 1860s. A con artist hires a London pickpocket to help him obtain the fortune of a naïve heiress.

Beyond the Screen Door by Julia Diana Robertson

Washington, USA, 1945. Two best friends grow up together and start to fall in love. One of them can see ghosts, but this is not a scary book.

Cantoras by Carolina De Robertis

Uruguay, 1977. During the military dictatorship, homosexual people were persecuted, imprisoned, and tortured. Five women (three lesbians and two bisexuals) manage to find each other and cultivate a friendship that will last for decades.

Club Storyville by Riley LaShea

Virginia, USA, 1944. A girl raised to be a “proper lady” falls in love with a nurse who comes to care for her sick grandmother.

Belladonna by Anbara Salam

Italy, 1950s. An insecure teenage girl develops a toxic obsession with her beautiful and popular best friend. As the girls graduate high school and attend an art school, their relationship becomes complicated by sexual lust and secrecy.

Lies We Tell Ourselves by Robin Talley

Virginia, USA, 1959. Sarah is one of the first black students to attend her previously all-white high school. She becomes acquainted with a white student named Linda, whose father is a major opponent of desegregation.

Shaken to the Core by Jae

California, USA, 1906. Giuliana, a working class Sicilian immigrant woman, goes to work as a maid for a rich American family. The daughter of the family, Kate, is expected to marry a rich man and have children, but Kate wants to be financially independent and be with a woman. This book is set in the time period of the real life 1906 San Francisco earthquake, one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history, which killed over 3000 people and destroyed most of the city.

Last Night at the Telegraph Club by Malina Lo

California, USA, 1950s. A Chinese-American girl has a lesbian awakening, makes friends with another lesbian at her school, and discovers the vibrant nightlife in lesbian bars.

Matrix by Lauren Groff

England, 1150s. A young French woman named Marie is forced to go to an English convent to become the new prioress. The nuns are living in hunger and squalor when Marie arrives, and when she takes charge she transforms the fate of the convent and the lives of the nuns into something better and more successful than they could have imagined.

Click “Keep reading” for content warnings. Minor spoilers ahead.

Content warnings for Fingersmith: abuse, including child abuse

Content warnings for Beyond the Screen Door: child abuse, domestic violence

Content warnings for Cantoras: abuse, child sexual abuse, corrective rape, marital rape, suicide

Content warnings for Lies We Tell Ourselves: racist abuse. Additional note: This book does not hold back from depicting the racism and homophobia of the time. It has also been criticised for its portrayal of an oppressed person falling in love with their oppressor, and rightfully so because that aspect could have been done better, but at the same time I don’t think that lesbian relationships in books have to always be written as flawlessly healthy and morally pure, just as hetero relationships often are not. If Linda had abandoned all her racist beliefs immediately and rededicated her goals to supporting black civil rights, then the book would have been criticised for being too unrealistic, imo.

[totaled-drama]

Can you do a height comparison on who you think the tallest to shortest person might be-? (The reboot cast btw!)

HELLO!!!!!!!!! :D

I don’t talk about it often but I’ve got like a whole ramble about character heights and inconsistencies and such for the reboot specifically because they’re my favorite cast and I love analyzing inconsistencies!!!!!!!! And their heights are super inconsistent!!!!! This is literally one of my favorite topics so I apologize if I get all long-winded and start to ramble.

I go screenshot hunting very very often. Which basically just boils down to rewatching the reboot over and over and screenshotting frames that I like. I have so many. I Am The Screenshot Guy. And I use these screenshots to figure out the inconsistencies :D

Putting this under a read more tab thing because this is going to get long

So with the way that Total Drama is animated, sometimes the characters are scaled differently based on the frame. This leads to many, MANY height inconsistencies.

A Few Examples of Inconsistencies:

-Bowie is sometimes too tall or too short depending on the frame. This causes characters who are standing next to him to have inaccurate heights comparatively.

-There’s a couple of scenes where Ripper is taller than Zee and Bowie.

-Raj is sometimes depicted as being way shorter than Wayne; sometimes they are depicted as the same height. The height difference becomes more apparent when they are wearing helmets.

-Sometimes Bowie, Raj, and Wayne are an entire head taller than Nichelle and Julia, sometimes they are only a few inches taller. The latter is more accurate in Wayne and Raj’s case.

-Millie is usually taller than Priya, but there are a few scenes where Priya is taller than Millie.

-Ripper’s height is all over the place. Sometimes he is taller than both of the hockey bros, sometimes he’s only taller than Raj and he’s shorter than Wayne.

There are far more inconsistencies than just this but if I were to keep pointing them out, then we’d be here all day akdhsjdh

So with all of that being said:

Semi-Accurate Height Chart (From Tallest to Shortest):

Caleb

Bowie

Zee

Wayne

Ripper

Raj

Damien

Nichelle

Julia

Chase

Scary Girl

Emma

Axel

Millie

Priya

MK

Notes:

-Axel and Emma’s heights could easily swap here; we don’t really get to see them stand close to each other in order to compare them.

-Bowie and Zee’s heights could also swap.

-Chase is sometimes shorter than Julia. Sometimes he is taller. It changes constantly. If he’s shorter than her, then that means he’s also shorter than Nichelle. If he’s taller than Julia, then he’s taller than both of them.

-Ripper’s height changes CONSTANTLY. There’s some scenes where he’s taller than Zee and Bowie. There’s scenes where he’s shorter than both of them. It’s difficult to tell. Usually he’s around the hockey bros’ height, if not taller.

I could talk about this forever and ever but I will end it here. I love analyzing small details :)

Thank you for the question!!

[cornfields-td-nonsense]

here are my random speculations/hopes for the TDI reboot season 2

Emma and Chase break up and stay that way. please. please god please break them up for good Emma deserves so much better

characters like Nichelle, Axel, Damien, Lauren etc. (the early boots) get more development. this is (hopefully) a given, but please please please can we get more Axel content she's too cool to be booted in the second ep

I genuinely don't know what they're going to do with Caleb. like, the subversion in ep.1 was funny and made sense, but like. what do they do with him now

If I had to guess, I think he'll either be another Justin or another Ezekiel. By which I mean either he'll finally fill out his role as the Hot Guy Character, maybe manipulate some people, possibly have a villain arc. or maybe he'll just be a nice guy but still be hot. OR he'll get booted in the first ep Again, and probably something horrible will happen to him.

speaking of which. I know there's no way this is going to happen because the reboot seems allergic to referencing the previous seasons. but can we get a Zeke cameo? pretty please? literally just closure so we know he's okay? please?

leading from that. more references to the previous seasons in general would be nice! I didn't mind the lack of them, and I don't think it's like a flaw or anything, but. idk a couple of callbacks would be fun. I don't mind if not though.

rajbow. please for the love of all that is holy can we not fuck up rajbow. they're literally so cute please don't ruin them

we've had a canon mlm ship and it's immaculate, as I've just said, so could we have a canon wlw ship? pretty please? and can it be axelle?

MORE. SCARY. GIRL. CONTENT.

Ripper is an early boot. I don't hate him as much as some people but he's very quickly outgrowing his welcome, please either give him something interesting to do or boot him early

Maybe some exploration of Priya's trauma? Like, Millie acknowledged that what her parents did was messed up but it was kind of swept under the rug. this probably won't happen but. meh. that's what fanfiction is for babeyyy

MORE RAJ AND WAYNE PLEASE

ZEE TOO, LET HIM BE AWESOME PLEASE DON'T BOOT HIM EARLY

(psst. you should boot Chase early and let Emma explore who she is away from him. that'd be cool.)

Raj and Bowie are the fireside couple. Wayne is the interrupter.

Julia tries to go on a revenge spree against Bowie. her interference during the finale was just the tip of the iceberg, bitch

👏MK👏VILLAIN👏ARC👏

and to cap it off... the season should be another take on Total Drama Action. they already did Island, now they should do Action but with this cast. it'd be so cool promise promise

[icebluecyanide]

Alex Rider S03E05 Reaction

Once again posting my unspoilered reactions to the episode as I continue to go 😻 at Yassen being Alex's tutor.

Liveblog

They’re going to agree?? I guess in this case they don’t have to rely on the Americans to agree

“We do not negotiate with terrorists” ashdfhsldh Scorpia is very funny for that but also what is their plan?? I can only assume that they do actually want to cripple the UK or just get at the Department because I don’t believe Scorpia gives a damn about the debt

“He’s out there being a teenager because of us” lmao yes Alex doing normal teen stuff joining a criminal organisation to take down the government Department that blackmailed him

They just figure out it’s inhalation?? Well that’s easy lol

Why is Alex the one bringing him in ahsldfhs. What is the point of involving Alex in the meet and greet lmao

Max Grendel calling Julia Rothman out on it being personal 👀👀 I mean, yeah, definitely, but also what’s with his changing motives lol

They just find the tubes?? Lol I guess they will not need Alex for any of it

I wonder if Syl will be the one sent to kill Alex at the end, if the shooting happens like in the book

How did they send the package??

Love Yassen implicitly calling Alex’s handwriting illegible lol

Why does Alex think they will tell him what he’s stealing ahsflhd get with the program Alex, this is not a safe space for questions

“I don’t want you to fail. I don’t want you to die” 😭🥺 Also I assume Yassen is gonna kill Grendel lol

“You wouldn’t have a clue” gosh the horror with Alex not knowing he could die at any moment

Lmao that smoke was some bad CGI, but I do love Yassen and Alex working together

Yassen being there to kill was very unsurprising but still a nice plot twist, he’s so polite offering to let Grendel finish his drink 🥰 Alex is so shocked lol

I was cruelly torn away from the ep right as Alex told Tom to leave and Yassen walked out, this tension is unbearable 😭

And then nothing happens lol I need an AU where Yassen catches them

Alex yelling at Mrs Rothman about getting him involved in murder… Alex bb I love you but you joined the murder organisation, you cannot be surprised when they commit murder in front of you like they did several times before

Though in fairness to Alex it’s probably more that he feels culpable and that he thought Max was on their side that bothers him

Ohh so we are blaming Mrs Jones!! Excited to get the assassination attempt, but really no idea how Scorpia thinks Alex is going to take the shot in this universe

Overall

Lots of Yassen and Alex scenes which was great! Loved the mission and Yassen shooting Grendel as he did. I’m a bit sad that Alex is no longer the key to dismantling Invisible Sword like in the book because they seem to have been able to work out the weapon pretty easily. Very excited to see the assassination attempt and more Yassen and Alex.

Thoughts/predictions

Noticed the students all sleeping together in bunk beds, and gosh it’s such a difference from the luxury in the book, where Scorpia is all money and the good life and even the killing is there, but it’s talked about like it’s very understandable that Alex is having trouble, he’s young, he just needs to see that it’s not so scary. While here they are a lot harsher on him, and I do miss the contrast with Alex’s experiences with the Department. Although I suppose Yassen is providing the ‘nice’ side of Scorpia here, along with Julia Rothman’s manipulation.

So we get confirmation that Julia is doing this for revenge against the UK and the Department, like Mrs Jones brings up, they don’t care about the aid. And like no offence but why did it take them that long to work that out ahsdlfhs. We also get told as a viewer that Alex already has the particles inside him (and no mention of it passing out of his system here), but Alex himself doesn’t know yet, which is a shame because I loved that in the book Alex is the only one who knows and he doesn’t tell them.

Gosh Alex telling Tom that he messed up was good, and I love his desperation in telling them to get out. I’d love an AU where Yassen does catch them and things go horribly wrong and tense.

I’m guessing Alex can get home pretty easily in this and that’s when we get the scene at the grave that was in the trailer and him telling Jack he knows who killed his father.

Questions

Once again, what does Yassen know?? He wants Alex to live so he’s clearly not on board with Mrs Rothman’s scheme, or at least it seems highly unlikely. But why assign him to Alex when Alex seems to be someone he cares about if they plan to kill him?

What’s the transmitter going to look like? Will there be a Church of Forgotten Saints? Given that we got Mrs Rothman walking around that miniature of a church in the first episode, I’m assuming there might be something like in canon, but perhaps not with the air balloon.

Is Kyra going to think that Alex was more involved with the murder than he was? She definitely saw they went in there to kill someone, so that could lead to interesting angst.

[gale-gentlepenguin]

Did you finish the S2 of the Total Drama Reboot (all the eps are out already) ? I did and while the season started strong the ending flopped badly imo.

Incoming spoilers (and long rant) if you haven't watched it yet:

The winner is not it I'm sorry. Wayne is a cool character but he had zero stand outs moments to justify his win. They tried to recreate Owen's win in Island but at least Owen was really strong in some challenges (including destroying the main villain Heather in the final 3 challenge). Wayne literally flopped hard in almost all of the challenges this season and then got hard carried by his best friend's boyfriend in the final 3 for his win. Also I don't understand how he got so many enthusiastic supporters when Raj and Bowie were the only characters he interacted with from that group, especially cause he didn't even need them as Bowie literally did almost all the work for him by himself.

Julia dominated this season but it felt hollow, she quite literally had no opposition left after she got Bowie booted off. Imagine if Heather got booted in the middle point of World Tour and Alejandro just freely dominated his way into a final 3 with the likes of DJ and Cody (which he somehow would've still lost just to have one of the good guys win). That's pretty much how I felt about the final 3 from this season. Mkulia (and their cheating conflict with Bowraj) did carry the first half, so I'm gonna give them that.

Priyaleb literally got turned into a Skave 2.0 with their flip floppity mess drama just without the "Keith" plot point at the end to bomb out their relationship completely. They turned Priya into a Courtney knock-off who's more obsessed with revenge and winning (even tho she already won a season) than her own boyfriend. She even seems to despise Caleb's personality and is only in love with the idea of having a hot boyfriend (just like Courtney seemed in love with the thrill of being with a bad boy than Duncan himself and we know how that relationship ended up). Honestly if they bring up this couple for another season they're def gonna have a huge messy break up, I just don't see them lasting with the way they've been portrayed in these last S2 eps.

Ngl but I actually enjoyed Ripaxel, even tho they were just the gross comedic relief side couple. Surprisingly Ripper treated Axel like a Queen (unlike Caleb who just kept embarrassing his girl over and over on international tv) and Axel stopped abusing him completely after they started dating, so they're unironically one of the healthiest TDI couples so far. And even tho they're the horny couple at least Ripper really does seem to have genuine feelings for her unlike Priya for Caleb.

And I really hated the Hockey Bros flanderization this season. Last season they were dumb himbos but they were still very competent in the team challenges, heck arguably the best overall from their team. But this season they literally got turned into man children who probably wouldn't be able to cross the street without Bowie around to take them by their hands. Which literally didn't make sense at all when this season was supposed to focus more on them than the last one.

They really had Millie go crazy in that one ep and almost kill Damien just to win a challenge, but honestly I kinda dig that. Her team was so boring that they needed at least one (secretly) unhinged member.

Bowie was clearly weaker as a character this season but he still served. Scary Girl was technically in only 2 episodes and you know she still SERVED. I didn't really care about the other characters this season tbf.

So overall it might still not be the worst season (I mean All Stars and Pahkitew still exist) but season 1 of the Reboot was def superior imo. While I'm not opposed to at least some of this cast coming back in a future season I really hope they create a new cast beforehand if they get the greenlight for new seasons cause they're already exhausting all the plotlines for this one and some of them already started to become flanderized. At the very least they should add new characters and change the location to shake things up if they still want to go ahead with this cast.

So Yes, I did finish Season 2

And much like season 1 I found it mid. I think Season 1 ended stronger, but started pretty weak. While Season 2 was the reverse

I did think it had a promising start, I even liked how Priya and Kaleb were set up for the drama. But after the reveal it kind of... fizzled out. Like they could have milked the drama more and Priya had a right to want revenge but Priya was never such a super angry revenge person before and it felt weird.

They turned Caleb into a complete idiot after they resolved the arc. He was smart, just not game show savvy. That was his thing.

I wouldnt call it anywhere CLOSE to the atrocity that was Skave. But it was a lot less fun. At least Priya calmed down at the end.

But the moment the season went down hill for me was when Damien got eliminated.

I really felt they were setting him up for something good in the character arc department but they didnt. I knew he was doomed the moment he found the immunity idol but it would have been a nice inversion to have HIM use it.

And lets be real, I didnt care about the final 3 at all, I knew Julia wasnt going to win because lets face it she is basically Diet Heather.

They even did something to her hair like Heather.

As for Wayne winning. I didnt care, it was going to be him or Caleb.

Season 2 could have used more Scary Girl. Every scene she was in was gold.

I also appreciated the tasteful cameos of Owen. MacArthur and the Tennis pros.

It wasnt anything awful, but i did find it fizzled out in the later half.

[krysanthii]

I love Nocturne despite it being very small fandom but what I don’t care for is the treatment of Richter and Mizrak while holding Olrox in a pedestal which I do but not at the expanse of Richter and Mizrak. Richter’s only crime is that of his mother for killing Olrox’s lover who is a Mohican indigenous man. We don’t know what was behind Julia’s motive for killing his lover other than him being a vampire. That’s it. Olrox had every right to kill Julia and we can’t give Richter any shit for having negative feelings for Olrox.

Olrox doesn’t have any personal beef with Richter at all and he says he’s going to kill him but at Richter’s prime. Richter is only 19 years old and not there yet and still has a long ways to go. Olrox killed Richter’s mother when he was 10 which you know in child development years it’s very crucial and Olrox had utterly messed up Richter’s development years astronomically. When he saw Olrox again and Richter was a 10 year old child again who just watched his mother get killed by a big scary vampire and was unable to do magic for almost a decade. Olrox had fucked him up greatly.

Mizrak on the other hand has agency and is a fully grown man and he barely known Olrox for about a week and the two fell so strong in the relationship. As much as we can intrepid Olrox’s past we still know nothing about Olrox. We can say Olrox was a freedom fighter or has fought with the Mohicans and his lover was Mohican and fought for the liberation of every oppressed group in the 13 colonies. Who’s to say that’s even canon or it can later be revealed that all of Olrox’s motive was entirely self-serving? Again, Olrox is an enigma and so is his past and even Mizrak and his life as a Hospitaller Knight.

Mizrak calling Olrox,” An animal” has to be his callousness of leaving Richter, Maria, Annette, The Abbot, and Tera to die in the Abbey which is why Mizrak left Olrox behind to find Richter and the group.

People are reading waaaaay too much of Mizrak calling Olrox an animal which is Mizrak calling Olrox out on pulling Mizrak away from the line of fire and leaving everyone else to die and Mizrak isn’t afraid to die. Olrox doesn’t love him, the world is ending and his friends are about to die by this evil cat goddess, what does he have to lose?