#and nothing ever (hyperbole) progresses

[pcktknife]

sketch graveyard

[raayllum]

Hey Raayllum. I was just curious to know as to why you believe Rayla hurt herself, considering she's been wronged and abandoned by everyone in her life. Do you think that Rayla doesn't let Callum love her? It really bothers me that nobody ever defends her besides Callum.

Like I understand, Amaya was defending her nephew, but I think she was being completely judgemental towards Rayla. I'm just saying. It was unfair.

To start I'm gonna talk about Rayla, but I wanna clarify before the read more that I don't think Amaya was being unfair at all or overly judgemental; that said, we'll work our way there.

I think Rayla struggles to do exactly what she says so in the show: she struggles to share her burdens. She struggles to let herself be vulnerable / be 'weak'. Which given "your heart wasn't hard enough to do whatever it takes" + growing up in a 'one strike and you're out' community system could not have helped the issues she already had as a young child to begin with: "I wasn't fast enough, I wasn't strong enough" (Bloodmoon Huntress).

Most of the time even when she's telling people what's wrong, it's still under the lens of "this is the price I'm paying and even though it hurts I'm totally fine with it, actually, you don't need to help me." She's not asking for solutions, she's updating them on the choices/prices she's already decided to pay.

Whether because of her own perceived mistakes, or because of other people's choices, or because there's something Much More Important than her own personal wellbeing to ever possibly prioritize, of course.

She wants / wanted to "be strong alone" (and sometimes had to be) and she has a very hard time forgiving herself / giving herself the same compassion she shows other people.

That said, we shouldn't say she's making no progress. 5x04 is the first time in the entire show she 1) seeks someone out to talk about her own problems and 2) talks about her own problems because she wants to, not just because she feels guilty, or because she's having a breakdown. That's huge, and shows she's beginning to learn to accept the grace given to her - there's just a long way to go.

She's bad at being nice to herself, too. Why should her pain, or what she puts herself through, matter? She can shoulder it alone. It's fine. Until it isn't. And, luckily, until she doesn't have to.

But again, thankfully, she's starting to improve.

With that in mind, as said, I don't think Amaya was being unfair at all. She barely knows Rayla, she's a lot closer to Callum, and she saw his heartbreak up close. Then she sees Callum and Rayla show up together, out of nowhere, when Amaya didn't even know Rayla had come back into his life. Of course she has her guard up (nor does Amaya ever say she was right to hurt Rayla back at the Banther Lodge because Rayla ended up hurting her nephew; her issues with Rayla are now completely removed from her being an elf, and she's also being hyperbolic).

Rayla did hurt Callum; she did abandon him, and she did break his heart. She had 'good reasons' for doing so, or at least good intentions. She was scared of losing him. She wanted to protect him from what she saw as her burdens. She "couldn't bear to put him in danger" just over her (because, for a lot of the reasons stated above, she doesn't think she's worth that; regardless). But she was still wrong to leave. That said, Rayla was wrong to leave not only because it hurt Callum, but also because it hurt herself, and Amaya is the first person we've seen directly acknowledge it (although Callum does so in the background that will likely be taken to the forefront in S6).

Amaya, who's had a 4 season long arc about developing more empathy and seeing herself in others ("We gain nothing if we throw away the chance to learn and grow"), is also able to recognize what's going on, because she's been through it herself. And she identifies it all for what it is: a hyper independent trauma response because of grief and fear.

R: You think I meant to hurt Callum? That's the last thing I wanted! A: You abandoned him. You broke his heart. R: I was trying to protect him! I left without him because I couldn't bear to put him in danger. I knew I had to be strong alone. A: [Sighs] You know who you sound like? R: Who?! A: Me.

R: Oh... Thanks, I think? A: When I was growing up, my big sister Sarai was the smartest, strongest, bravest person I knew. When she died, I felt lost and weak without her. I hated feeling that way, so I learned to be strong alone. Stoic, strong, and lonely. R: That... does sound like me sometimes. A: But the last two years have changed everything. Meeting Janai, falling in love. I am stronger now than I have ever been, because we are stronger together. And I realized that was the real truth of me and Sarai, too. Love and trust grow a kind of strength that is much bigger than we each possess. To have that kind of strength, it is not enough to love someone. You have to trust them to share the burdens you carry.

Amaya and Rayla once had a spat in the Banther Lodge because Rayla asserted that she was alone (which I think Rayla truly believed, anyone, running off with two boys she barely knows) and Amaya called her a liar. Now, Amaya reminds her that the choice to be strong alone is a choice, and she can make new ones; she can let trust coexist with the endurance of her love to make something that's stronger together, and Rayla takes her up on it.

Like Amaya says in 4x06, "All I ask is that your justice is compassionate." Amaya calls Rayla out, and then she offers actual help so that the pattern doesn't persist, so that she's less likely to hurt Callum in that way again. You can't fix people's emotional problems or relationships for them; you can only keep giving them chances, if you want to.

Thankfully, Callum and Rayla both want to - so they do.

[bethanythebogwitch]

It's truly strange that Biden has radicalized me left harder than Trump ever did. Like I knew Trump would be bad and he ended up being worse than I ever could have imagined. But Biden I expected to be yet another mediocre establishmentist who would have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the left like basically every Democrat ever. When we got instead was him committing genocide, starting yet another endless war in the Middle East by attacking Yemen, refusing to reign in an openly corrupt SCOTUS, leaving LGBT+ people with no help as the right is actively beginning a genocide of us, selling out the climate to corporations after promising to help stop climate change, lying about being unable to cancel student debt, vetoing actual progressive bills that hit his desk, selling out immigrants to the Republicans, letting Garland sit back and do nothing to investigate Trump until the select committee forced his hand, failing to clean out a lot of trump-appointed saboteurs in government (why the fuck is the same guy who tried to destroy mail-in voting still leading the postal service), failing to restore net neutrality, failing to reign in police brutality and the military-industrial complex, doing nothing about gun violence, doing nothing to prevent the next insurrection, doing nothing to stop the rise of fascism, and so on.

I guess the point is that Biden at least had the chance to help fix this country and be a progressive, but at every opportunity he chose to do the opposite. And now I've gone from wanting to fix the system to wanting to tear it down and start from scratch. And it is truly fucked up that going into the election year he is still the better choice because he at least won't overthrow democracy and install a dictatorship like every Republican wants to do. That is not hyperbole. Read Project 2025, it is terrifying and is exactly what will happen the next time any Republican gets into the White House.

[jcmarchi]

Sam Altman, OpenAI: The superintelligence era has begun

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/sam-altman-openai-the-superintelligence-era-has-begun/

Sam Altman, OpenAI: The superintelligence era has begun

OpenAI chief Sam Altman has declared that humanity has crossed into the era of artificial superintelligence—and there’s no turning back.

“We are past the event horizon; the takeoff has started,” Altman states. “Humanity is close to building digital superintelligence, and at least so far it’s much less weird than it seems like it should be.”

The lack of visible signs – robots aren’t yet wandering our high streets, disease remains unconquered – masks what Altman characterises as a profound transformation already underway. Behind closed doors at tech firms like his own, systems are emerging that can outmatch general human intellect.

“In some big sense, ChatGPT is already more powerful than any human who has ever lived,” Altman claims, noting that “hundreds of millions of people rely on it every day and for increasingly important tasks.”

This casual observation hints at a troubling reality: such systems already wield enormous influence, with even minor flaws potentially causing widespread harm when multiplied across their vast user base.

The road to superintelligence

Altman outlines a timeline towards superintelligence that might leave many readers checking their calendars.

By next year, he expects “the arrival of agents that can do real cognitive work,” fundamentally transforming software development. The following year could bring “systems that can figure out novel insights”—meaning AI that generates original discoveries rather than merely processing existing knowledge. By 2027, we might see “robots that can do tasks in the real world.”

Each prediction seems to leap beyond the previous one in capability, drawing a line that points unmistakably toward superintelligence—systems whose intellectual capacity vastly outstrips human potential across most domains.

“We do not know how far beyond human-level intelligence we can go, but we are about to find out,” Altman states.

This progression has sparked fierce debate among experts, with some arguing these capabilities remain decades away. Yet Altman’s timeline suggests OpenAI has internal evidence for this accelerated path that isn’t yet public knowledge.

A feedback loop that changes everything

What makes current AI development uniquely concerning is what Altman calls a “larval version of recursive self-improvement”—the ability of today’s AI to help researchers build tomorrow’s more capable systems.

“Advanced AI is interesting for many reasons, but perhaps nothing is quite as significant as the fact that we can use it to do faster AI research,” he explains. “If we can do a decade’s worth of research in a year, or a month, then the rate of progress will obviously be quite different.”

This acceleration compounds as multiple feedback loops intersect. Economic value drives infrastructure development, which enables more powerful systems, which generate more economic value. Meanwhile, the creation of physical robots capable of manufacturing more robots could create another explosive cycle of growth.

“The rate of new wonders being achieved will be immense,” Altman predicts. “It’s hard to even imagine today what we will have discovered by 2035; maybe we will go from solving high-energy physics one year to beginning space colonisation the next year.”

Such statements would sound like hyperbole from almost anyone else. Coming from the man overseeing some of the most advanced AI systems on the planet, they demand at least some consideration.

Living alongside superintelligence

Despite the potential impact, Altman believes many aspects of human life will retain their familiar contours. People will still form meaningful relationships, create art, and enjoy simple pleasures.

But beneath these constants, society faces profound disruption. “Whole classes of jobs” will disappear—potentially at a pace that outstrips our ability to create new roles or retrain workers. The silver lining, according to Altman, is that “the world will be getting so much richer so quickly that we’ll be able to seriously entertain new policy ideas we never could before.”

For those struggling to imagine this future, Altman offers a thought experiment: “A subsistence farmer from a thousand years ago would look at what many of us do and say we have fake jobs, and think that we are just playing games to entertain ourselves since we have plenty of food and unimaginable luxuries.”

Our descendants may view our most prestigious professions with similar bemusement.

The alignment problem

Amid these predictions, Altman identifies a challenge that keeps AI safety researchers awake at night: ensuring superintelligent systems remain aligned with human values and intentions.

Altman states the need to solve “the alignment problem, meaning that we can robustly guarantee that we get AI systems to learn and act towards what we collectively really want over the long-term”. He contrasts this with social media algorithms that maximise engagement by exploiting psychological vulnerabilities.

This isn’t merely a technical issue but an existential one. If superintelligence emerges without robust alignment, the consequences could be devastating. Yet defining “what we collectively really want” will be almost impossible in a diverse global society with competing values and interests.

“The sooner the world can start a conversation about what these broad bounds are and how we define collective alignment, the better,” Altman urges.

OpenAI is building a global brain

Altman has repeatedly characterised what OpenAI is building as “a brain for the world.”

This isn’t meant metaphorically. OpenAI and its competitors are creating cognitive systems intended to integrate into every aspect of human civilisation—systems that, by Altman’s own admission, will exceed human capabilities across domains.

“Intelligence too cheap to meter is well within grasp,” Altman states, suggesting that superintelligent capabilities will eventually become as ubiquitous and affordable as electricity.

For those dismissing such claims as science fiction, Altman offers a reminder that merely a few years ago, today’s AI capabilities seemed equally implausible: “If we told you back in 2020 we were going to be where we are today, it probably sounded more crazy than our current predictions about 2030.”

As the AI industry continues its march toward superintelligence, Altman’s closing wish – “May we scale smoothly, exponentially, and uneventfully through superintelligence” – sounds less like a prediction and more like a prayer.

While timelines may (and will) be disputed, the OpenAI chief makes clear the race toward superintelligence isn’t coming—it’s already here. Humanity must grapple with what that means.

See also: Magistral: Mistral AI challenges big tech with reasoning model

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

Explore other upcoming enterprise technology events and webinars powered by TechForge here.

[bugbastard]

This . . . Ended up longer than I intended, sorry about that, it's a topic I have a lot of feelings on as the son of an 80s-90s brand second wave feminist who mercifully managed to not fall down the "radfem to terf pipeline" by virtue of actually knowing some trans women.

It's so weird to me that people act like this is new. The "hateful feminazi strawman that incels made up", to quote someone from the notes, has always been a real, fairly prominent, and widely accepted minority of feminists. It's just that there's no way in hell that it will ever meaningfully impact cishet white men as a demographic, so, before the community collectively realised how much damage their rhetoric could do to *other* demographics, there wasn't much "need" to criticize it.

Like, I remember running into TERFS a solid 10 years before the wider progressive left suddenly pretended they'd come out of nowhere over night. You didn't have to dig deep to find them, they were shoulder to shoulder with the rest of the rest of the online femininst community. It'd be like 9 posts about cis men, 1 post about "men", by which they meant trans women, and because transphobia was more widely accepted, and hey, at least it was in a misguided attempt to criticize men, people largely looked the other way. TERF ideology is almost interchangeable with the bioesentialist feminism of the 90s that gave us "gender is a social construct" (as in, the gender "woman" IS the set of oppressions women labour under, and they are foisted upon women purely on the basis of their anatomy -- AKA there is no internal sense of gender, and gender IS externally enforced oppression and nothing more -- so weird that people say this like it's pro trans these days).

And you didn't even have to look deep to find the anti man sentiments? Like, noone was hiding it, it was everywhere, sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes serious, and, to be fair, it's legitimately hard to blame anyone for for as long as those criticisms stay aimed at cishet white men, because like, yeah, ofc you're gonna be pissed and get a little bit hyperbolic with it, and lowkey kinda mean it. For as much as "feminism is for men too" was a line, at the same time, "yes all men" was a standard response to "not all men". "Not all men" is a deeply disingenuous line, wilfully misinterpreting men as a social class and some men as individuals to be a criticism of every specific man, individually. And people responded with basically"yeah actually that. I AM criticizing every man individually". And I could keep going; there are so many examples that don't sound like a big deal, and are ultimately so much less of a big deal than what they're opposing, but nonetheless betray undercurrents within popular feminist thought.

Like, incel, MRA, whatever ideologies are toxic and ultimately founded on misogyny and entitlement, but their stereotypes of feminists didn't come out of nowhere, just blown out of proportion. If someone's been criticizing a group, and you've been going "nah those criticisms aren't legit", but then you find out that there are people saying and doing all the things you've been saying "nobody says that" about, the reasonable conclusion is probably that those people existed all along, "worst person I know made a good point"-style, rather than "wow, some people decided to be walking stereotypes".

But, that's kinda been the MO for dealing with this criticism the whole time. "Nobody says that" > "Okay, some people say that, but not many" > "Okay, a lot of people say that, but they aren't really feminists because feminism is about gender equality, and hating men kinda runs counter to that" > "Oh, but, no, if course they're still welcome in feminist spaces."

And of course, criticizing *that* too loudly would historically get YOU excluded from feminist spaces, so you really just learn to keep your mouth shut.

i am not being needlessly alarmist when i say that popular feminism has become extremely radfem-esque and that the normalisation of negative stereotypes towards men needs to be resisted. like. i clearly remember when feminists were derided as "man-hating feminazis" and the main counter-argument to that went something like "we don't hate men, feminism is for everyone, patriarchy harms men too and our goal is to dismantle that oppressive system, this will benefit everyone including men, men can and should be feminists because feminism is a movement for gender equality"

in fact the major rebuttal to men forming "men's rights" movements was always that the issues these groups identified were the negative impacts of the patriarchy on men. they didn't need a separate group because feminism was for everyone and feminist thought and theorising already accounted for the ways patriarchy harms men. which is true! many of the societal issues faced by men stem from white supremacist patriarchy and restrictive gender roles and traditionally feminism has given thought and time to those issues. feminism is for everyone and it is concerned with men's struggles under patriarchy alongside women's.

but somewhere in the last few decades that attitude fell by the wayside and now popular online feminism is this radfem-flavored "all men are bad forever" thing. now mocking, belittling, or hating men is #feminist #praxis. it's feminist to make jokes about #killallmen. it's feminist to view masculinity as inherently bad and dangerous. it's feminist to talk about the men in your life like they're animals who need to be house trained, or emotionally stunted children who need to be babied and distracted.

it's this idea of flipping patriarchy on its head and saying that actually women are the Superior Gender, women deserve to run the world and make all the decisions, and actually it's men who are the Inferior Gender who can't be trusted or left unsupervised.

these attitudes will always have the most severe negative impact on marginalised men. i don't know how we got here but it's past time we circled back around to "feminism is for everyone".

[the-irreverend]

In Defence of Growth Spurt

Well, this has been quite the last quarter of the year…

As if we Undertale fans haven’t already been spoiled enough, the beginning of October blessed us with the triumphant return of one of the most beloved UT comics in the fandom. From the cold ashes of a long hiatus, Growth Spurt rose like a glorious Phoenix, treating us to 29 panels of vibrant colour schemes, sharp writing, and one of the most unique art styles this godforsaken site has ever known, an art style that this godforsaken artist has taken a lot of inspiration from.

But as great as this page was, it did leave me a bit stunned as it unveiled a shocking twist…

...that Alphys is not a good person.

*GASPS SOMEWHAT SARCASTICALLY*

Pardon my hyperbole and lousy humour, but I knew from the moment I read this that some were going to discuss how Alphys is depicted in this page, and I understand why. 

I know how easy is to dismiss these kinds of viewpoints, especially since the excessive idolization and demonization of morally complex characters is a bit of a tradition here, and the Undertale fandom is no exception. Trust me, as a person who’s been part of the Chara fandom, I know from experience (who was also exceptionally well-written in this comic by the way). 

I’m very glad I didn't talk about this immediately because it’s given me some time to think about this scene and you’ll be relieved to hear that I no longer have an issue with this page. But I still understand why people would take issue with this. Because hey, at one point so did I.

But to say that everyone who has a differing opinion is just a salty Alphys stan is nothing short of tasteless. That’s why I am going to explain the best I could criticisms that someone might (and that I used to) have, before explaining why I decided to abandon said criticisms.

To give a brief recap, the Matainence/Defect Arc centres around Alphys and Asriel, along with Frisk and Undyne as they attempt to fix the CORE which has suffered from, would you believe it, a defect. In addition to repairing the CORE, Alphys must also repair her relationship with Asriel, as she’s haunted by the creation of Flowey, and dreading what might result from it.

Wholesome family-friendly entertainment, am I right?

Fast forward to where we are now, where we see the CORE starting to break down completely, along with Alphys’ and Asriel’s emotional state. While starting to doubt if the meltdown can be stopped, she argues with Asriel that it may be better to just give up on their efforts, and when she’s confronted with the possibility of fatalities resulting from that course of action she says this:

As I read this panel, which did give me a bit of a shock, these were my first impressions, which I must re-emphasize are impressions that I NO LONGER HAVE.

There’s a difference between saying “we can’t save them all.” and “it’s just a few deaths.” It’s the same reason people were left reeling when Superman asks his dad if he should’ve let the kids die to protect his secret identity, to which he replies "Maybe." I understand the feelings behind what’s being said, but to articulate said feelings like that wouldn't sit well with some people.

But the real reason I had doubts about this scene's direction was not that it highlighted a flaw in Alphys’ character but that it, as it seemed to me, potentially undid Alphys’ progress in overcoming those flaws. Let me better explain.

It should go without saying that Alphys isn’t the greatest person in Undertale. I mean, no one is. This has more to do with just her checkered past with Amalgamates as she does possess personal qualities that… aren’t the best. Just look at her true motivations for helping Frisk get through the underground.

But while she’s not the greatest person, she did become a better one by the end of the Pacifist Run. Yes, she didn’t exactly get a complete redemption arc, but she’s in a better position than she was now. She did find the courage to release the amalgamates and confess to her former king and queen about her role in creating them, which gave her the honour of becoming the former royal scientist. 

So for Alphys to be beside herself with regret about what she did to the Amalgamates AND Asriel only to later be seemingly unconcerned with the deaths of people (AS IF SHE WON'T REGRET IT LATER), while also reducing their demises to being “outliers” just didn’t click right with me… AT FIRST.

But eventually, after a little consideration, I eventually came to accept this scene, and realize that this panel in the Defect Arc is anything but a defect. All you have to do is look no further than to the panels that followed it.

You don’t need to express indignation about what she said because Asriel already did. Of course a well-deserved chastising should follow that line, but what makes Asriel’s lecture that much more impactful is not just because it’s just a well-deserved reprimand, but because of what it does for Asriel’s character development.

Keep in mind the previous page saw him asking Alphys not to call him by his title because he felt he didn’t do anything to deserve it. And yet one page later, he displays qualities that show that he does. But what makes this scene even more memorable for me is what came before the reprimand:

See? Right before he proceeds to humble the good doctor, he takes a moment to EMPATHIZE with Alphys plight and shows that he fully understands that this isn’t worth “taking at face value”. Though he still rakes her over the coals for her statement, he still takes a moment to show that he fully understands why she made it.

It’s while I was re-reading this scene that I realized something: if Asriel can learn to understand Alphys, then why the duck shouldn’t I?

This is what continues to draw me and many others back to Growth Spurt to this day. It’s more than just the comedic one-shots or sadistically revelling in Asriel’s teenage angst. 

The story didn't need grand clashes, shadowy conspiracies, or inter-dimensional antics (not that there’s anything wrong with that). It’s just the main cast learning to confront their past. It’s so simple, yet so impactful, just like the art style.

I’m not concerned about what Alphys is like here because I know where she’s going to end up. Just look at what happened with Toriel!

Remember this scene where she completely attempts to shut down Asriel as he attempts to get her to talk with Asgore? 

It’s not a good look for her if you just cherry-pick these panels, but look where this scene eventually led up to. Only perhaps my favourite story arc that I have ever seen out of any Undertale comic period, and one of my favourite comic scenes!

Seriously how can you not get teary-eyed looking at this?

I save the can't even-ing about this particular arc on another post, but for now, all I know after reading this comic is this: sometimes when a character’s progress takes a step back it’s because it’s about to take a bounding leap.

Because in the end, that’s what Growth Spurt is all about: GROWTH.

So don’t judge a book by its cover...

...and don’t judge a character arc before it’s finished.

Thank you for reading the incoherent nonsense I've typed here. I look forward to hearing your own insights.

Growth Spurt AU belongs to @potoobrigham // @potoo-reblogs

[fuckyeahreligionpigeon]

You’ve been warned....

Somber warning from a Pastor about the intentions of Evangelical "conservative" christians in American politics.

Pastor John Pavlovitz: 

“I’ve been a pastor in the church for over two decades, much of that in predominantly white churches in the American South.I’ve spent countless hours in church staff meetings and men’s Bible studies and youth pastor conferences.

I’ve stayed connected on social media with thousands of people still there in those churches. I read what they share and post and amplify and I know how they think and what they believe.

I need you to understand something and I say it without any hyperbole: white Evangelicals need to be stopped, now.

If the 2022 midterms elections allow Republicans to gain control of Congress, Conservative Christians will decimate this nation, and LGBTQ people, Muslims, women, people of color, and non-Christians will never have equality under the law again. We will all be at their mercy—and they will no longer have use for mercy.

This is not alarmist, sky-is-falling histrionics, it is the clear and sober forecast from someone who knows these people better than anyone. Over the last decade and a half, as my theology shifted and my beliefs grew more and more progressive, I’ve been a kind of undercover Liberal in an increasingly extremist movement, that while once relegated to minor fringe noisemakers is now at the precipice of Roman Empire-level power. They are less than two years away from having a dominance that they will wield violently and not relinquish.

I watched it all unfold from the inside:I was at a North Carolina megachurch when Obama was elected and I saw the shift take place firsthand. I saw the fear slowly being ratcheted up and the agenda become solidified and the prejudices leveraged.

I was speaking regularly at the Billy Graham headquarters when Fox News reporters and Republicans like Sarah Palin started walking the halls with frequency. I saw the messages at pastor’s conferences grow more incendiary and urgent, and heard the supremacist dog whistles become louder and more frequent.

While many decent people around this nation celebrated the progress of a black president and the many civil and human rights victories and gradually let down their guard—the white Conservative church set off the alarms and prepared for a holy war.

Yet, they were still a largely powerless, dying dinosaur until 2016, when Donald Trump acquired the presidency and gave the Evangelicals the perfect amoral partner to serve as the biggest bully pulpit they’ve ever had. Combine that with a fragmented Left, a general fatigue by the larger population, a ceremonial victory in Congress (thanks to Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema), and Republican attacks on voters’ rights— and we are now a hair’s breadth from the subjugation of diverse humanity here.

These are not followers of Jesus despite the trappings and window dressing. They are Jesus-less extremists: blind zealots for nothing but power. They have been conditioned by decades of polluted theology and FoxNews alternative facts to see diversity as a threat, to see progress as attacks on America, and to interpret more people being treated with dignity as oppression of white people.

Trust me when I tell you that we won’t recover from the theocracy Evangelicals are constructing once it is established. If we fail in 2022, they will have a political power that will render every election null and void, and we will never have a voice again in our lifetimes.

Women will lose autonomy over their own bodies. LGBTQ people will have the rights to marry and adopt taken away. People of color will be fully squeezed out of the electoral process. Immigrants will be denied access to opportunity and refuge here.

These are not creative projections. They are precisely what Evangelicals have repeatedly stated as their intentions, and they’re closer than they’ve ever been to having a rubber stamp.

We can still stop it, though.We just need a unity and coordination that transcends theirs. We need a sustained, passionate, dedicated defense of humanity that rivals their relentless assaults on it.

I hear many people say they’re terrified, but being terrified alone doesn’t do anything but help these people.

Be terrified and get angry.

Be terrified and get busy.

Be terrified and go to work.

Be terrified and fight like hell.

I wish more decent people in America remembered they are among the vast majority instead of acting as if they are helpless victims of Republican Christians. We could defeat them, and we need to. We just need to stop lamenting how much damage they are doing and start doing something to oppose them.

We’ve seen this play out throughout history and we know how it ends. We know what unchecked religious extremism is capable of and we know the cost of the silence and inaction of good people. We also know what people are capable of when they refuse to accept fascism and white supremacy cloaked in the Bible and wrapped in the flag, when they fight for something inherently good together.

As someone who knows just how much these Christians have lost the plot of their faith tradition, believe me when I tell you that they cannot be allowed to steer this nation. It will not end well for the disparate people who call it home or who one day wish to. Love and equality and diversity are in the balance.

It’s time we made a choice.

It may be the last one we get.”

Pastor John Pavlovitz

[septembersghost]

I went through that with John, his music is so special to me but then I had to deal with the fact that he sucks as a person and I don't support him at all and I thought I had to give up the music. I detached it from him and keep the music for myself now though. I already decided I'm going to listen to SNTV and it's not about supporting her, it's because it'll make me happy. idk if we have to answer for every artist's mistakes and faults we'll never have time for anything else.

and this is totally fair, because the art is what has significance and beauty to you. you're allowed to decide that for yourself and to keep personally meaningful things. taylor's also, frankly, incomparable to actual "bad" and notably harmful creators (particularly abusive men. also gentle reminder, because i keep seeing it mentioned, that the jet discourse was proven false/incorrectly researched and was basically a hit piece), so at some point when does criticism and disappointment in her personal choices and very poorly handled PR statements become hyperbolic outrage? that's not to say you should ever blindly go along with anyone. it's hard! it's not something that has a simple solution or even one definitive path, it's up to each of us to decide. there's one 1975 song i really liked before all this (happiness), am i evil for liking it and does liking it condone m***y's gross behavior? no. are we hurting anyone or pretending john is a great guy by listening to and enjoying (off the top of my head) slow dancing in a burning room and neon and half of my heart? no. (besides, if we can divorce these guys' art from their personalities, why can't we give that space to her?)

it's an unfortunate reality, but if we eliminate everything ever created by people who are flawed or make mistakes, we'd have nothing left, and sometimes people are outright awful, but successful nonetheless. that's not to excuse it, that's not to say we shouldn't be mindful and aware, that's not to say we shouldn't ask for accountability. it's disingenuous, if not somewhat dangerous, to pretend good art can only come from good people (or worse, morally pure people, because what does that even mean?) - and i say dangerous only because that line of thinking bends very easily towards conservatism. (we really do not need to reinvent the hays code or a new form of guilt by association mccarthyism, that's not the road to progress and better representation and equality). we definitely can, and should, pick and choose what we engage with for our own happiness and peace of mind, but we can't decide that for others. some hard lines are uncrossable with art to me, but many things exist in more complex areas. anyway yeah at some point is punishing yourself achieving anything? or would you be able to make a REAL difference in some other way?

[straydog733]

Reading Resolution: “Solutions and Other Problems” by Allie Brosh

11. A biography or memoir: Solutions and Other Problems by Allie Brosh

List Progress: 16/30

TW: Suicide.

-/-

Memoirs have a fine line to walk. Every person is unique and has a particular and nuanced story to tell, but audiences read memoirs to find something relatable and true about human nature as a whole. This line becomes even more narrow with a comedy memoir. Allie Brosh came to online prominence through her blog Hyperbole and a Half, telling wild personal stories interspersed with intentionally-chaotic drawings. This was spun off into her first book, also called Hyperbole and a Half, which was published in 2013. She then proceeded to go on hiatus online, and no real updates came out until she published Solutions and Other Problems in 2020. In the intervening years, Brosh lost a sister, ended a marriage, suffered major health issues and had several mental health spirals. Her comics always had an edge of darkness, but there is no way to keep things truly light while writing about that string of life events. And through some of the deep dives into her own psyche, Brosh is so far beyond the pale of what most people live with that she is no longer relatable; it is her book and she has the right to share her raw, unfiltered truth, but it does make for a somewhat rocky ride for the audience.

The tiniest bit below the surface, under the funny drawings and stories about dogs, Solutions and Other Problems is about how to survive while truly and completely immersed in nihilism. If Brosh’s words are to be taken at face value, she believes that nothing has any meaning or inherent value and that all actions and decisions are intrinsically random. If someone believes that, then they also have to come up with some reason for bothering to stay alive, despite all of the difficulties of human life, and continuing to move forward. Especially after her sister’s death by suicide in 2013, Brosh thought about all of these questions and worked through them on the page. She takes some strange detours to get there, but she does ultimately come to conclusions about why to keep going: essentially, finding both solutions and the other problems that come from them. It is a bracing and immersive read, but not always the most enjoyable one.

At points, Brosh feels constrained by her own established format: while some of the artwork is incredibly evocative and some of it is quite funny, a lot of the illustrations feel begrudging, like she’s including them because that is the Allie Brosh Style. And some of the stories are so odd that you have to wonder how her actions ever seemed like good choices: it’s difficult to think of someone else whose response to “I want to learn to live without fear” would be “I will watch a bunch of horror movies, take a lot of drugs, and get myself intentionally lost in the woods”. Almost no one else’s mind works like that, the audience has to sit back in befuddlement.

These issues sound like bigger deal breakers than they are. There are parts of Solutions and Other Problems that knock you back on your heels with how powerful they are. But like life (and by the sound of it, especially Allie Brosh’s life), it is a mixed bag with a fair amount of randomness thrown in.

Would I Recommend It: Soft yes.

[infinitecrime]

Just a quick statement in case anyone was wondering where I have been/will be. I've been taking, and will continue to take, a short Tumblr break until the SCU (Sebastian Cancellation Universe) wears itself out and goes on hiatus. I deleted Tumblr off my phone a few days ago and realised immediately that all this vicious, misinformed discourse pretty much solely exists on here and twitter, and if I want to avoid it, I can simply remove myself from the space.

I'm certainly not going to be gone forever - the head Canceller has made it quite clear that her sole intention was to "bully Sebastian off the internet", and presumably his fans too, while using POC and social issues as pawns/collateral damage. To quit the fandom feels like letting them win, but taking a break feels necessary at this point.

I like to listen to others who have different perspectives and value their opinions - but at the end of the day, I form my own and do my own research. And so far, I have seen absolutely nothing to change my opinion that Sebastian is a kind and well meaning man who sometimes doesn't think through every conceivable perspective before his does something - in other words, a flawed human. I'm not going to call for the end of a man's career and/or life, or withdraw my support of him, because 4 years ago he (accidentally, for all we know) liked a video of a man being called out for rapping the N-word and being told to censor himself, or because he smiled weird next to a statue while playing a Buddhist character. We can criticise him for his own actions, but these are willfully disingenuous interpretations specifically designed to harm not just him, but also POC fans who look up to him. I won't let myself be lied to, gaslighted, or dragged into a herd mentality. A disturbing number of people are not actually angry at him, but are simply scared of being harassed if they dare to question what they're being told or form their own opinions, so join the herd. The pursuit of the moral highground is addictive but futile, and you lose it as soon as you stoop to bullying, abuse, harassment, stalking and running dedicated, deranged hate accounts.

I'm not going to cancel him for a handful of bad jokes or mistakes made years ago that have been profusely apologised for and learnt from, either, and I'm not going to cancel him because of the years old actions of people he is associated with that he had nothing to do with. This isn't fair, proportional or helpful, at all. It's not activism, and it's not social justice - in fact, the constant malicious attempts to cancel him are only making it harder for him to see legitimate criticism or respond without setting a precedent that death threats will get his attention and a grovelling apology for things he didn't say and views he doesn't hold.

If your whole life was on tape and available to comb through with the worst intentions, and you weren't hiding behind anonymous accounts, I could construct equally terrible narratives from every bad joke, misspoken word, ill thought out comment, accidental like, dubious friend, mistake, genuinely hurtful moment or show of ignorance that you have ever made, but apologised for, grew from and forgot about instantly. You have that right: but you don't grant it to him, because he isn't truly a human being to you. So many of the blatantly and demonstrably false accusations I have been seeing would have been dispelled through the most basic level of fact checking and critical thinking, but through herd mentality and what I can only describe as moral bloodlust, they've gained serious, dangerous traction.

For someone who was raised in a deeply insular, conservative, traditional, orthodox environment, he has done a genuinely excellent job of freeing himself from that cycle of ignorance and using his platform in a positive way, as well as responding when he genuinely has misstepped. He will likely never be on the same level of educated/woke as a ~25 year old American who was literally raised knee deep in social justice twitter discourse, because he didn't have that privilege, but we are all on a journey and progress is not linear or with a clearly defined end.

The ironic thing is: the current state of the fandom is a direct result of how nice and willing to listen and learn Seb has been! The level to which he used to engage with fans and respond to criticism and feedback has created an expectation that he will ask how high whenever he is told to jump, and if he doesn't respond to every little thing, this means he doesn't care or hates us. His willingness to own up to mistakes, apologise and grow publically has created the strange idea that if he's not doing something publically, it's not happening, as if he only exists while we can see him, like social media peekaboo. His openness and willingness to act on criticism of those in his social and professional circles has led to the belief that we can demand he cut anyone we dislike out of his life immediately instead of helping and supporting them in making amends and learning, if only we can dig up some old dirt on them. It's entitled, parasocial nonsense. This is a total stranger who owes us nothing, is not actually accountable to us, does not have to ever respond to us or meet our demands, and has a complex and private inner life that we ultimately know nothing about.

I feel immensely sorry for the fans, especially POC, who have been wrongly led to believe that Seb hates or is discriminatory towards them on the basis of lies, hyperbole and some serious reaching. I feel deeply sorry for Seb's friends and family, who have been subject to an enormous amount of abuse and harassment (much of which has been racist, sexist, bodyshaming, xenophobic and cruel in nature - all in the name of social justice?) merely for being friends with him, and who recently had to see #RIPSebastianStan trending. Mostly, I feel immensely sorry for Sebastian, who has not been allowed the same basic rights everyone else in the world gets: the right to learn and grow, the right to forgiveness and freedom from harassment, and the right to be judged on things that *you* actually *did* rather than fictional narratives.

I cannot imagine the mental toll thousands of people calling for your death must take. I cannot imagine how it feels to have hate accounts dedicated to abusing you and critiquing your every move, and that of everyone you love. I cannot imagine the impact of obsessive doxxing, stalking and harassment. I cannot imagine all of this happening when you have been quite open about your mental health issues and serious struggles. There are truly only so many messages telling you to kill yourself that you can take, and I just hope he has people in his corner to remind him who he truly is and what he truly stands for.

[raisans-art]

What the Fuck Are these Characterizations: The Essay

Full warning: This is only concerning Tommy's stream made today, 4/29/2021. I know Ranboo has streamed after Tommy but I haven't watched that.

On with the essay.

A lot happened.

Tommy tried to kill Dream, Dream actually killed Ghostbur, Wilbur is back (pog). It's a lot. A lot of plot and a lot of emotions. I will preface this with the usual "holy hell these people are pretty damn good actors for having no formal training as far as I'm aware." They get their emotions across very clearly and that's kinda why I'm making this in the first place. The way some of the characters acted in Tommy's 4/29 stream is a bit odd in my opinion.

Now, I will concede that I have not been diligent with the Dream SMP lore. I've been given broad strokes and have seen various clips but I have definitely not been on top of it. I may have missed streams entirely and you all more avid fans may be able to name scenes that I haven't seen that rationalize some of these reactions that I will be criticizing. If you can, please do so! I'd love to start a dialogue over this!

So, how I'm gonna break this all up is to take a look at Tommy, Wilbur, Ranboo, and Awesamdude and how their CCs characterized them during the stream. I'll sing praises where they are due and point out my criticisms where they arise. Then, I will try to surmise some meta as to why I think these characterizations came to be in the first place.

Tommy

Tommy, to me, has the best characterization in this. CC Tommy clearly has a very good sense of what he wants from his character and has been playing into that line of thought from the beginning of this whole debacle.

Tommy is scared, paranoid, and pissed off. Ever since he left the prison he avoids taking damage like the plague, rambles indecisively, is easily sent into a panic, and is hypersensitive to the people around him. He panics when he sees weapons out and one crucial thing that he made clear from the start was that he wants Dream dead.

Straight out of limbo, Tommy concludes that Dream needs to die. From there he plans this whole mission with Ranboo, Tubbo, and Ghostbur to get in and kill Dream. He says that Dream can't keep living with this power at his fingertips, and from before his final death, Tommy clearly wants to be rid of his abuser, adding a personal layer to his plan. Tommy is stubborn and determined since the beginning, sacrificing his life and disks for L'manberg and refusing to believe that his home is gone until the place is blown to bedrock. Of course, he would stick to his plan to a T.

Now, is this a smart decision to sneak into the highest security area in the entire SMP? Fuck no. It's a stupid idea. Even if Tommy hadn't messed up, Sam would've seen Dream die to a floating axe and kept Tommy and Ghostbur in that containment cell. It would've been a one-way ticket, especially given what we see of Sam in this stream.

But this all makes sense for the character CC Tommy is playing. Tommy isn't thinking about how smart of a decision this is and he hardly ever does when he takes action. He shoots from the hip, takes his first instincts, and acts on them.

It's easy to draw a clear line of progression of Tommy as a character from season 1 to this moment in season 3 and past Ghostbur's death. His hyperventilating as he tries to get his plan to work after it failed, Trying to save Ghostbur from what he went through, lashing out at Sam, and yelling at Wilbur. All of this in line with who Tommy is as a character and how events have changed him. This is a good characterization.

Wilbur

Wilbur has changed a lot since we've seen him last, both alive and dead. Since he's been alive, Wilbur has changed his tune from "I want to die" to "hell sucks, mate." What's particularly interesting is that this sentiment that he has from being alive carried for a long time into his limbo, as evidenced by his appearance in the season 2 finale on the bench. He wanted to "stay dead" at that point. Since we've seen him in limbo, he's gone from content in his situation and understanding why he's there and that he's there forever.

Now we have Revivedbur. Revivedbur is ecstatic to be alive again. He goes from numb to embracing feeling again. The fandom once thought that Revivedbur would be annoyed with or hateful towards Dream for bringing him back turned into joy and reverence. This is quite a drastic leap. Bad characterization.

But it isn't.

I have seen one clip from Ranboo's stream on 4/29 and that is Ranboo telling Philza that Wilbur is alive. In this bit, after mentioning that Wilbur has been in limbo for a perceived 13 and a half years, Phil says "13 years is a long time to be away... he almost certainly isn't the same person... people can change quite a lot in a single year, two years, three years, four years, even five years, Ranboo."

Wilbur has been gone for 13 years. He's been in the same place with no change other than Tommy for 13 fucking years. That's 13 years where we heard from him 2 times. We know virtually nothing about what those 13 years were like for him, but from what Wilbur has said, it was torture to him. He was stagnant, stuck in a fucking tube station for 13 years, unable to leave no matter how hard he tried.

We know so little about how his time in limbo changed him because it's such a long span of time with radio silence. I dare say this is fucking great characterization.

Ranboo

This is where I start having some issues, and this is where I have the least amount of context. From what I've seen, Ranboo is little miss angst who forgets things and is constantly on the verge of having a panic attack (hyperbole). From what I have surmised of his character in various contexts, serious and dramatic scenes and domestic ones, Ranboo really cares about the people around him and is scared of himself and his mind.

So why is it that he straight up just sneers at Tommy, saying "the hell did you do?"

I'm really just focusing on this because it just seems really off to me in the context of his character. Ranboo was in on this plan. It's pretty common knowledge that the only person with revive powers is Dream. Ranboo doesn't know everything that happened within the prison, sure, but why is he so quick to assume that Tommy was the root cause? Is it because he's been hanging out with the world's 2nd biggest Tommy hater, Niki (the character for clarification)? I honestly don't know where this jump-in assumption is coming from. Given what I understand of his character, this line and the implications I'm getting are just a bit out of character. Feel free to explain why I'm wrong because I am not in this loop whatsoever.

Awesamdude

Sam is where I have the biggest issue. How does a man go from living on an isolated island in grief over a death he could've prevented if only he had been quicker, to yelling at that same formerly dead person that he was at fault for the death/revival of another person?

Now, one thing that is strengthened by this characterization is Sam's dedication to the rules. He has his strict protocol and he is not going to let that slip up for anything. He wants to keep Dream in prison and never let him out.

But I'm just having a hard time grappling with a man so quick to blame himself last time something like this happened being so quick to place blame on a child he, from what I've seen, had a good relationship with. It feels like I'm missing something here.

Yeah, Tommy broke into the prison, but why is Sam's first thought that Tommy was trying to break dream out? This harsh turn on Tommy just doesn't come across right to me.

Why Did This Happen?

I do think there could be a meta reason as to why these don't land right to me. These two characterizations are centered around Tommy. How people are reacting to Tommy's actions. Tommy and Dream are the head of the prison stuff right now. at least as far as I know. I'm not sure if Wilbur has come back on as a writer yet but last I heard it's still Tommy and Dream handling their shit. With the writers in mind, I wouldn't put it past them to decide to add more conflict with Tommy and other members of the SMP right now. The Egg is a bit busy with other things, Jack is just running the hotel, and the Syndicate doesn't really have any qualms with Tommy on any level that they would act on. It could be the writers trying to add conflict to the prison storyline by generating conflict between Tommy, Ranboo, and Sam with Wilbur being a fuckin wild card.

I don't know mate, I just wanted my thoughts out there and maybe be fucking pounded into the ground by people more knowledgeable than me.

Have a dialogue with me I'd love to debate. (All friendly debate please I don't feel like taking this too seriously it is Minecraft roleplay after all.)

[its-toasted]

10.13.21

I'm explaining this one time. For your consumption, but for myself. As in not asking for feedback. I've never felt the need to proclaim this publicly, but yesterday was coming out day. It got me gathering thoughts and this is where I been sharing my truth, so here we are.

I'm not fully straight, despite a lifetime of posturing as such. I'm not even done rewiring all those coping mechanisms, but we've been getting there for a few years. To sum it up short, I'm very attracted to certain feminine auras, so mostly cis women, but not necessarily. The odds for boys aren't good, but definitely aren't null. The odds for those in-between are yes. Maybe, but yes. Attraction to femininity is called gynosexual, but that is not a word I'll be describing myself as ever. Like the word itself is the problem lol.

I didn't realize myself until my second year of college, I guess I was always in love with some girl until then. But over the year after losing my forever person, I met two people I was very drawn to who weren't women. One's some boy, and one's some beautiful creature. I spent some time with both but we weren't close. I did feel a stir, or the air before it, but I didn't really roll it in my mind for years. I was amidst a stifling culture in greek life, and I'd grown up deep in a progressive church, and I was going through a very real identity crisis, so there was baggage stopping me from feeling myself out until things quieted again, just couldn't fade at that point.

This isn’t easy to talk about because it's just weird to approach. And anyone who should know has asked, or I let them know. I see that I don't really post love poems about boys either but that still makes sense to me. I've crushed and written a few joints but I've never really had a boy who's pulled me to write that way, and who knows if when, so I’m not holding it yet. It would have to be full attraction because I'm not very attracted to the male physique. There may be remnants of leftover instincts to flat avoid the stigmas associated with a non-straight identity. But I think I'm past that and it just doesn't feel right.

Fear of perception can be nasty. The shame that kept me quiet was not religion-laced, it was pack mentality and conformity and anxiety. It came from lowkey stumbling into an unnecessarily negative self-image, for the first time since very young, and I felt in no position to rattle relationships with the people around me. Because no matter how open-minded people are, many will look at you different. Over what, that maybe I'd spoon a boy if the stars align? Please, not worth. I guess concentric as to why one might tuck trauma, I just couldn't afford to deal with it. It wasn’t a big thing to me either, non-hetero attraction was normal “enough” where I’m from, but just new to me. And my love for women never changed so it didn't affect me heavy.

I do recognize it's as much a hang-up on my end, I don't mean to paint it like I was surrounded by a bad crowd. I wasn't, we mostly just had a group of likable and sensible people, but every huge group of boys will have at least a small handful of trash. Also I'm pretty sure in a personal convo with most friends I would've told the truth if asked, but people will widely run with the assumption you're straight if you only talk about women, and god I love women.

But I'm done with school. Not living at my parents old home with all those ghosts. My workplace is genuinely progressive. And all of the bullshit people in my life are gone. Nothing's been holding me back from sharing this except that it's never felt like the right time and it's tangled. And I guess I've always wanted to look at this like I'm not hiding anything too. That's hyperbole, but I do know that when I'm serious about someone, I'm not subtle or ashamed. All my people will know soon enough lol.

I knew sharing this would come with a whole roll of context, which overstates what this is. It's not a big deal. Who's all the way straight these days, half of y'all lying lol. That punchline's better suited for another social platform don't @ me.

This is just me owning who I am since that's what I try to do here. It's for the best. And when I start to feel comfortable enough to put myself out there again, just know I'll be looking out different.

[xmystophalesx]

Best New Heavy Metal Releases Week of September 16th, 2022

I was thankful for a bit of a break last week and I guess I needed it because this week was another avalanche of incredible releases. No one genre dominated the week as it felt like there were highlight and standout albums everywhere I turned. This could be the longest list I have ever posted and to be honest I’m too lazy to actually look but there are 52 albums total that made the list this week. That means 52 albums in one week that deserved attention so if you go through this list and find nothing that interests you as a fan of the heavier musical styles, reevaluate if you are actually fan of heavy music…lol.

Let’s get to the highlights!

Dead City Ruins-Shockwave (Hard Rock/Heavy)**

This Hard Rock band from Melbourne Australia is a band that should be a LOT more well known than they are. A lot like their countrymen in Airbourne, this is music that could easily be on any American rock radio station and why it isn’t says a lot about the state of the music industry and the gatekeeping involved in what gets on the air and what doesn’t. I could go on an entire hour long rant about the corrupt organization that is Clear Channel Communications. That all aside, this album absolutely rips with that catchy Hard Rock goodness that is all about having a good time. This is one to sit back and listen to as the last days of summer start coming to a close and you are hanging out with some friends at a back yard Bar B Q.

Dying Alone-One Man Tragedy (Melodic Death)**

This album came completely out of nowhere and knocked me on my ass with its quality. Finding out anything about this band (one guy?) was not exactly easy. There is a website for the band but it is pretty bare bones. All I really know for certain is this is some flat out exceptional Melodic Death Metal. Great riffs at every turn and the song writing has this quality you would find from a band 5 or 6 albums into their career and from what I can tell, this is a debut album. This is just a great listen from beginning to end. This album is just overflowing with great ideas and fantastic songwriting.

Wolfheart-King of the North (Melodic Death)**

What can you say about this band that hasn’t already been said? If you are a fan of metal over the last few years, you have seen the serious push this band has made in the Metal underground with great album after great album. This one is no different and is one that I can see moving them even further into the forefront. This one is not quite as heavy as the last one was with a bit more Progressive songwriting moving in and a bit more clean vocals. That being said, it is all done insanely well and sounds like a simple natural progression in their sound. This band just keeps getting better and better and I’m glad i’m along for the ride.

Liar Thief Bandit-Diamonds (Hard Rock)**

I was getting very close to cutting it off for the weekend when I came across this album and, from that point, I played it three times in a row. Ever wish there was a really good modern equivalent to Thin Lizzy? Well, this band has you covered all the way to Boys Being Back In Town. Just listen to track 2 “Better Days” and tell me you don’t hear Thin Lizzy. This, however, is more than just a band being heavily influenced by another band (Think Greta Van Fleet and Zeppelin) this band takes that Lizzy DNA and adds a bit of heavier vibe and a bit of a more modern take which does actually help them stand out. I dont know anyone that would not like this album.

Sumerlands-Dreamkiller (Heavy)**

Sumerlands made quite a splash with their self-titled debut album back in 2016 and I was quite eager to see if the followup would be as strong. I can say with no hyperbole, absolutely and then some. This time around we have a new vocalist with Brendan Radigan replacing Phil Swanson who left to start another band with guitarist Tim Schmidt. If any of this is wrong, blame the interwebs. I just noticed a new vocalist right away and looked up the information myself. I can say, however, that Radigan has much more range, which adds a lot of extra dimension to a band that already had that classic Traditional Metal sound down. This album continues where the last one left off and to be honest I think it is superior in every way to the debut. If you liked the first one, I would be absolutely shocked if you did not LOVE this one.

I will stop all my blathering there but just know that I could have gone on and on about every album in the highlight section this week, especially the three absolutely killer Black Metal albums on the list that were back to back to back on my weekly playlist for this post. After the last couple weeks with Black Metal taking a bit of a back seat, to have three in a row that just blew me away was awesome. I was thinking I was going to go into withdrawals if I didn’t get a Black Metal fix eventually…lol Until next week, and as always,

BANG THY HEAD!!!

All worthy of a listen if you like the genre

*= standout in that genre

**=best of the week regardless of genre

Best of the Week

Dead City Ruins-Shockwave (Hard Rock/Heavy)**

Omophagia-Rebirth in Black (Death)**

Dying Alone-One Man Tragedy (Melodic Death)**

Wolfheart-King of the North (Melodic Death)**

Daemon of Oa-Hesperian Shores (Black)**

Silence Oath-From the Womb of the Earth (Symphonic Black)**

ACOD-Fourth Reign over Opacities and Beyond (Black/Thrash)**

Sumerlands-Dreamkiller (Heavy)**

Eldprov-Rift (Melodic Death/Black/Thrash)**

Spectrum Mortis-Bit Meseri-The Incantation (Death/Doom)**

Liar Thief Bandit-Diamonds (Hard Rock)**

Mindforce-New Lords (Crossover/Thrash)**

Standouts in their genre

Brainless-Ruler of Everything (Thrash)*

Retador-Retador (Thrash)*

Sublation-The Path to Bedlam (Technical Death)*

Ginevra-We Belong to the Stars (Hard Rock/Heavy)*

Spiritus Mortis- The Great Seal (Doom)*

The Necromancers-Where the Void Rose (Heavy/Doom/Hard Rock)*

Virtual Symmetry-Virtual Symmetry (Progressive)*

Battlesword-Towards the Unknown (Melodic Death)*

Mentalist-Empires Falling (Power/Heavy)*

Lunattack-Speed Back to Life (Speed/Heavy)*

Edenbridge-Shangri-La (Symphonic Power)*

Hetroertzen-Phosphorus, Vol. 1 (Black)*

Francesco Marras-It’s Me! (Hard Rock)*

Gnipahalan-I Nordisk Vredeslusta (Black)*

Messiah Nostrum-From the Ashes (Technical Death)*

The Erinyes-The Erinyes (Symphonic Metal)*

Sinnery-Black Bile (Thrash)*

Terra Atlantica-Beyond the Borders (Symphonic Power)*

Epoch of Unlight-At War with the Multiverse (Melodic Death/Black)*

Forkill-Sick Society (Heavy/Thrash)*

Behemoth-Opvs Contra Natvram (Black/Death)*

Worthy of a listen if you enjoy the genre

Kill Division-Peace Through Tyranny (Death/Grind)

Ahasver-Causa Sui (Post)

Frolic-Fusion of Spirits (Thrash)

Mortuous-Upon Desolation (Death)

The Mighty Wraith-Elegies (Heavy)

Innumerable Forms-Philosophical Collapse (Death/Doom)

Veter Daemonaz-Muse of the Damned (Black)

Altars Ablaze-Life Desecration (Death/Black)

Super Vintage-Guardians of Tradition (Hard Rock/Southern Rock)

Marco Mendoza-New Direction (Hard Rock)

Veritates-Silent War (Heavy)

The Darker My Horizon-When Two Worlds Collide (Hard Rock)

Crust-Wanderers (Death/Doom/Sludge)

Staota-Unihauta (Black)

Fans of the Dark-Suburbia (Hard Rock/Heavy)

Vogelfrey-Titanium (Folk)

Sonja-Loud Arriver (Heavy/Goth)

Miscreance-Convergence (Technical Death/Thrash)

Tribal Gaze-The Nine Choirs (Death)

This week was VERY close among a few very deserving albums but in the end I have to give pick of the week to Wolfheart with 5 Viking SKOL bulldog chants out of 5​

[whitehotharlots]

It’s all religion, and it’s all profane

Over the past few days I have delved, rather pointlessly, into the messy scenery of the UK’s ongoing gender wars. My interest was equal parts morbid and academic. I hoped to answer two questions. First, why is the back-and-forth between trans rights advocates and gender critical feminists so vicious in the UK, culminating not just in the threats and recriminations found in the war’s American iteration, but in women being blackmailed and even arrested. 

The second question is why is it even happening? That is, why is the UK in particular a hotbed for an ideological war of this type among liberal-identifying people, while in the US the feminist movement has accepted trans ideology more or less uniformly and with minimal pushback. My first inclination was that it was a matter of professional survival. Perhaps academic jobs aren’t as precarious in the UK, meaning that it’s somewhat safer for people to issue heterodox opinions. But, again, the viciousness of the first question seems to rebut my assumption in regards to the second. Losing your job is bad, but going to prison is worse.

Of course, I found no clear answer to either question. UK academe is utterly unknowable to an American who’s never experienced it. I found out what “O Levels” means but after that I got kind of lost. As much as a shitty lie our myth of academic meritocracy might be, the UK makes us look like a Dutch Montessori school run by doctrinaire Quakers. If your first name isn’t proceeded by Lord, Lady, or Sir, or if you don’t have a number after your name that’s at least as high as The Fourth, there’s not much of a chance you’re going to get yourself a gig within Oxbridge.

So I delved into the viciousness, and oh boy did I get what I was looking for. The English are renowned for their dry, cutting humor, but that’s because only the best of the best come into the American purview. The majority of pedestrian UK humor is a sort of sarcasm without jokes. Like, let’s say you brought home a sausage pizza. I asked you what the topping was and you said “It’s pepperoni, mate.” And then you opened it up and it was sausage and that made me confused and slightly pissed. That’s the extent of the comedic ability of your average Brit.

The fights, meanwhile, are more direct and blunt, really a sight to behold. Again, there’s no attempts at humor, which tend to accompany the verbal conflicts of Americans. When Americans fight, we’re usually doing it to try and get the people around us to think we’re cool. When UK people fight, they just want to hurt the other person.

Of course, there’s much in common between the US and UK iterations of gender discourse. Minor disagreements are regarded as violence, hyperbolic overstatements of harm are routine, and person who uses terminology that was considered progressive up until very recently can find themself labeled a Nazi for not making linguistic adjustments quickly enough. But it’s still somehow even more rancorous in the UK. You get a sense that they’re not in it just for online clout but out of a desire to cause real, physical harm to members of the other side. 

One of the more salient aspects of UK arguments is how their insults will often consist of a simple description of a person. Sometimes you’ll get “fat” or “snaggle toothed” or something most of us would consider mean. But other times it’s like “you blonde cunt” or “you working class shite” or something else that us Americans would never regard as an insult. Mentions of religion are surprisingly common. They say “you Catholic bigot” as opposed to “you bigot,” or “you deranged Protestant” instead of “you freak.” 

This really struck me. You’d never, ever see that in America. Firstly because it’s taboo (unless it’s a Republican talking about Muslims). Secondly, because we simply do not care. Your average religious American cannot articulate any meaningful difference between Catholics and Protestants. We have no need to, because as much as we love Jesus we don’t bother with any of the messy parts of religion, such as having a faint understanding of the faiths we claim to adhere to.

This, I have always felt, is the greatest folly of New Atheism. What are you gonna do, present a scientific case demonstrating the absurdity of the creation myth? You gonna stick solely to the bible and highlight its multiple hypocrisies and contradictions? What is that gonna achieve? These people had Donald Trump autograph their bibles. They think salvation can be purchased by giving 20% of their paychecks to millionaires who preach in stadiums. There’s nothing an outsider can do to profane their religion that’s more obscene than the manner in which they practice it.

(I recall a time in my mid-teens when I attempted to “A-ha!” a youth pastor with my knowledge of the story of Jephthah from the Book of Judges, who committed yahweh-approved ritualistic sacrifice of his eldest daughter. In response, the pastor informed me that he hadn’t read that part of the bible, and that his relationship with Jesus was more about the feelings it gave him than some words written down in an old book. Needless to say, he won the argument.) 

The UK is, even now, broadly to the left of the US in regards to their social safety net and most cultural matters (this is a low bar, for sure, but they do clear it). Perhaps people who us Americans would identify as liberal (in that they don’t openly want to murder poor people; they’ll often still do it, but they won’t giggle while doing it) aren’t as ideologically siloed over there. The Democratic party is, after all, an unworkable mishmash of a few dozen different concerns, and their basic strategy since the Clinton era has been to blame the incompatibility of those concerns for the fact that their governance is indistinguishable from that of the GOP. 

An American liberal therefore doesn’t focus on piddling things like principles or ideals or even whether or not a policy they support does the exact opposite of what it’s supposed to achieve. Paying too close attention to the workings of our coalition will reveal its manifest contradictions, which will in turn weaken it, and if gets too weak then we’ll once again have an evil fascist doing the exact same stuff that a good and honorable man like Joe Biden is presently doing. Instead, we must understand politics as a means of achieving self-actualization through the process of deferring our concerns to others. Those concerns are not addressed within the present system, no, and neither are our own, but worrying about cause and effect and results is not the point. It’s much more important to exist, to validate, and to listen. 

In the UK, politics is still understood as politics. It is a means of gaining and exercising power. In the US, politics falls eerily in line with our profane understanding of what religious devotion entails: an acontextual, borderline illiterate expression of ourselves, which we have been trained to believe connects us to some kind of higher power that unifies us as humans by calcifying our utter disconnectedness from one another. 

And so maybe that’s the difference? In the UK, people are delusional enough to think that politics is entered into by people who have something to gain or lose. In the US, it’s all about vibes.

[doomstypewriter]

Disembodied, yes, I'm back

So, after a long hiatus, I can inform you that I've written 30 pages for the last chapter and I'm one scene away from finishing it.

This is the first chapter, in case anyone was curious:

Disembodied Chap. 1

It follows the premise of what would happen if Logan and Remus fused.

If anyone wants to be tagged, let me know in a comment!!!

Given that I've made progress, I'll give you guys another sneak peek:

Remus said he loved him. What a strange concept.

It defied everything.

Since they were metaphysical beings they shouldn’t be susceptible to pesky chemical reactions, especially someone whose entire job description amounted to logic. Yet, he felt. Plenty. When he first had told Remus he was in love with him, Logan had made it clear that he understood none of it, but he felt it nonetheless. Just as he felt strongly about Remus’ declaration. Could it even be considered as such? In context, it had been more of a slip-up. Now an unmendable slip-up.

‘Not that I regret the irreversible nature of it’ Logan thought.

Remus had seemed uncomfortable at the notion. Which was a lot considering almost nothing made Remus uncomfortable. Maybe it was unfair to scrutinize his posture in the matter when Logan had reacted by offering a few encouraging words and reassurance. Also, said reaction could be mistaken with rejection. His reduced knowledge of such things didn’t give him much to work with. Luckily Remus did know him, so he must be sure that him not stating clearly that he did not reciprocate meant he hadn’t been rejected.

At least, not exactly.

Logan could not reciprocate.

There were far too many reasons why. To get started, he wasn’t supposed to. And, yes, he had overcome his qualms to partake in this relationship, but not by choice. Logan had been driven to Remus by need. By the other far too many reasons why spending time with him was better than most things, and how he was horrible in the most optimal manner. He… he…

If he reciprocated it would be a choice by definition. Nothing could pressure him into doing it, as he was already a partner to Remus, so this nonsensical need of his to have him by his side, emotionally of all things, was covered.

The worst part was knowing. Knowing he could reciprocate without lying, not that he would ever consider something as ridiculous. That on itself was… terrifying might be hyperbolic, but technically correct. It would forever set him apart from everything he aspired to be perceived as. Already the unspoken notion rendered him fallible. It made his very existence a paradox.

As a fortunate change on his train of thought, and yet, a reaffirmation of the calibre of his concerns, Remus stirred awake and Logan cast any mental ponderance aside to give him his undivided attention.

“I’m awake, how did you--”.

“Yes. I noticed”, Logan interrupted.

Remus wasn’t someone who usually felt shame, but, at the current moment, it was overcasting anything else, especially taking into account that he had woken up and only now he bothered to think about throwing himself onto Logan and having his way with him.

“This is awkward”.

-----------

Taglist: @mostlikelytokillyouwithaspoon , @willowaudreykeyes , @theyluna-womoon , @queerly-a-hisssstory-momster ,

@atticusfinchthelegend (I'm tagging you because you did comment on AO3, so I thought it might interest you, if not, I will remove the tag, no problem)

[moominquartz]

“Mr. Universe,” “Fragments,” & Steven’s humanity

! ! ! MAJOR SPOILERS ! ! ! If you haven’t seen the eps, don’t read!

In “Mr. Universe,” we see Steven get increasingly frustrated with Greg. Steven clearly knows so little about him; he didn’t even discover Greg’s original surname directly from him, but from a family member he didn’t know existed. So of course Steven is hungry for more; he wants to know how his father became the person he is.

But when Steven sees Greg’s parents’ home, he doesn’t see the “prison” Greg described. I imagine that Greg isn’t being hyperbolic when he talks about his family; they kept him from doing the things he loved, but allowed him to do things like wrestling and mathletes, which he hated, and the former put him in harm’s way. The fact they didn’t even open the letters he sent is also telling: Greg often reached out, but they were a closed door.

Which is interesting, given that they still hang Greg’s portrait up in the hall.

There may be more going on here than Greg is even telling him. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s on the same level as what Pink Diamond went through with the other Diamonds -- or if not quite that extreme, then at the very least, analogous.

To Steven, though, he sees a “normal” house. He hears Greg talk about all the things he never had; chaperones, meatloaf Thursdays, curfews, and he only sees the evidence for a “normal” childhood.

A normal, human childhood. Something Steven was denied.

When Greg explains the reason he chose the last name “Universe,” embracing it as more than just a stage name, Steven can’t understand. Not because he doesn’t love music, too -- he clearly does, they’re singing along to the song they wrote together! -- but because this name means nothing to Steven. There’s no history to it. Every human on earth has a family history, genealogy, ancestry.

But Steven’s the first to be given the name “Universe” at birth. The name has no weight; it’s a made-up in-between, neither Greg’s true surname nor anyone else’s.

And “Mr. Universe” ends with Steven crashing the van.

When Steven comes to, he’s expecting Greg to yell at him, to scold him. But... he doesn’t. Greg instead says he’s “proud” of Steven. When was the last time Greg scolded him? The last time Greg drew a line that Steven couldn’t cross? Steven needs that, now more than ever, to be told what isn’t okay.

But Greg doesn’t do that.

Steven deleting the picture is a way of him realizing this. He isn’t “disowning” Greg. He’s rejecting his humanity. He sees that he won’t ever get the things that make so many of us human, so fine. Maybe he isn’t.

This part of “Fragments” gets me:

I think Steven no longer being a vegetarian is not a sign of inconsistent writing, but rather, a sign that Steven’s rejecting his human half. What does it matter whether or not he’s vegetarian if he isn’t even human?

Though I didn’t exactly see this coming, I think the progression of his character makes complete sense. Of course he’s gone Diamond mode. He only sees himself as a gem, and not a human.

Which is probably why we see him as Quartz-sized when he’s ready to fight Jasper again.

If Steven seems “off” in this episode, I think that’s intentional. He’s not acting like himself because he doesn’t see himself in the same light anymore.

And as “Fragments” ends with his accidental shattering of Jasper, and her acknowledging him as her Diamond, that will only cement it.

I’m curious to see where the finale will go, and how it will resolve. Only thing left to do now is wait and see.