#and so like. just because something isn't your queerness‚ or mine‚ doesn't mean it can't be someone else's!

[aeide-thea]

an impulse i don't get—

or rather, so as not to be disingenuous, an impulse i get perfectly well but strongly dislike when i'm faced with it, which means i need to reexamine it in myself when i generate it—

is the impulse to sit in judgment about What Counts As Queer. like. yeah, okay, i do get it really, we're all disempowered by hegemonic culture and setting ourselves up as petty kings shores up our egos! but if there's anything i've loved about discovering queerness in and for myself, it's been the realization that there were worldviews beyond my own—and that there still are, almost certainly! that the world is a firework show of exploding possibility, and that i and my current understanding of myself and everyone else are just one bright spark in a whole connected series of them, and that more will come after me, bringing new colors and configurations to my field of vision, if i just keep my eyes open…

and so i just always feel. god. how close-minded, to shut your eyes to someone else's vision of queerness, to say not just 'that isn't a version of queerness that i recognize or feel represented by,' but to say categorically, 'that isn't queer'! if someone's saying in all sincerity, 'this feels alien to the framework i grew up with, and exciting or comforting or both to me'—i want to hear them out, and make space in my own understanding for a multiplicity of queernesses. i'm not always perfect at it! but i want to.

because what's the alternative? join with the biphobes and transphobes who would've said my gq4gq relationship with my transfem ex was really just straight, or at least enough of a union of opposites for government work? join with the aphobes and arophobes who are constantly insinuating that if you're not actively sucking or fucking, you're a square—never mind those of us who are isolated, or traumatized, or anxious, or any of the thousand other reasons why our queerness might not be siting itself in sex or romance, right now or ever! join with the people who sneer at poly and flinch from kink, as if reexamining those relational conventions were somehow cleanly separable from reexamining all the other ones—as if we should want it to be?

anyway, this is about a lot of things, really, and at least one of them i pretty actively don't want to talk about in specific; but i just think, god, i wish we could all learn a little more generosity, and a little more humility. we know the world, and the human heart, encompass more than is dreamt of in kyriarchal philosophy; why then are we so resistant to the idea that they might also encompass more than is dreamt of in our own? movement after movement of queers have come, and built, and been built upon in turn; our personal convictions are not, i feel certain, the final course to be laid down on the great work of enlightenment and liberation—and how depressing it would be, if they were!

[kaluxsims]

If things were better, I could be all "Happy Pride!" here, but Pride Month is tough this year. I'm not happy. I'm sad, scared, and angry. Right-wing American politicians are doing everything they can to endanger trans people. The main focus of their attacks is trans kids. There are all kinds of lies being spread about what it means for children to be transgender and what gender affirming care for them looks like. Like all children, trans kids are figuring themselves out. Supportive, compassionate parents understand this and let them dress how they want. That's what's at the heart of my first Pride Month post this year.

Today's download lets ALL children wear ALL EAxis children's clothes. I did this to go along with all of my child CC being CU from now on. (Well, from a month or two ago on.) I have more to say about real life trans kids, so please read on after the download.

It's very simple. All EAxis kids clothes are now unisex. Many of them should have been from the start. What's masculine about a dark red Western shirt? And why can't a boy wear pink if he likes it? All kids should be allowed to express themselves how they like.

There's no swatch here, so have some Body Shop previews:

There are similar mods out there, but mine doesn't require any special installation (just put it in Downloads) and there's an All-In-One option if you have UC or all EP's and SP's. I got so much help from @goingsimcrazy and @potentialfate-sims while I was working on this. Thanks again, both of you!!

Note: DO NOT USE THIS IF YOU USE DEFAULT REPLACEMENTS THAT CHANGE THE MESH. It works fine with replacements that only change the texture.

'Nother note: Several EP's don't add any children's clothes, so there isn't a package for those EP's in the pick-n-choose version. Nothing's missing except for the xmas elf costumes, because...I hate them. Sorry. They're mostly unisex already, I think. I have hiders for them in my game.

Download:

UC/All-In-One: SFS or MediaFire

Pick & Choose: SFS or MediaFire

So back to my rant about trans kids...

Anti-trans propaganda will try to tell you that evil queers are out to convert your kids. That's a lie. We don't want to make cis kids trans. We want trans kids to live to be trans adults. You can't make a cis kid trans any more than you can make a trans kid cis. Kids are who they are. I was once a femmy little boy in an AFAB body, roughhousing in a princess dress and happier playing with boys than girls most of the time. My parents, and everyone else, saw it and called me a tomboy...despite the princess dress. I'm very lucky to have had parents who let me express myself and didn't care if I ran around in the woods, as long as I took my tights off first. Trying to suppress or change kids just makes them miserable, and sometimes miserable kids die. It breaks my heart that there are parents who would rather have a dead child than a trans child.

If I could get one message to everyone this month, and have it sink in, it would be that NO ONE is doing gender confirming surgery on children. (Unless they're intersex and get mutilated without consent, in the name of conformity.) Even teens, who may be on puberty blockers or other hormones, don't have access to gender affirming surgeries. In America, it takes years and lots of money to have these surgeries. It's not something that's done lightly or on a whim.

That's an aspect of anti-trans rhetoric that bugs me deeply, "What if it's just a phase?" It almost never is. Gender affirming surgeries have some of the highest patient satisfaction ratings of any surgery. Higher than hip replacement and many other completely accepted surgeries.

Surgery is, again, beside the point when we're talking about trans kids. Say a nine year old realizes they're trans. All that changes is their clothes and hairstyle, and maybe their name. As they get a little older, they might be put on puberty blockers. Puberty blockers were developed for cisgender children who start puberty too soon. All these medications do is delay it. Once they're stopped, puberty starts back up. If the child changes their mind, it's as simple as not taking the blockers anymore.

A related truth is that trans people aren't the only ones who get gender affirming care. A cis woman who gets breast implants and a cis man taking testosterone for "low T" are both receiving gender affirming care. They don't face the stigma or roadblocks that a trans woman getting breast implants or a trans man taking testosterone face. I don't hear about American politicians trying to outlaw Viagra or Brazilian butt lifts or any of the other things cis people are allowed to do to feel "more like a woman" or "more like a man". Why should it be different for trans people?

I'll try not to go off on a tangent about how transitioning while young leads to "passing" (looking cisgender) more easily, but it does. And that can mean safety and acceptance. Passing shouldn't matter, but it often does. Forcing a young person, especially a trans girl, to go through puberty twice is cruel and potentially dangerous.

Going back to my personal experience for a moment, the idea of female puberty and "becoming a woman" horrified me as a kid. If I'd been offered the option of puberty blockers, I'd probably have taken them. I started developing breasts when I was nine and was forced to wear bras when I was ten. My adolescent and teen years were pretty horrible overall, and gender issues were part of that. I had the "not like the other girls" feeling, but knew by then that I wasn't 100% boy either. Maybe that would have been different if I hadn't gone through puberty with estrogen. I think sometimes about the man I might have been if I was younger and grew up in a world with more trans awareness. I had no idea about genders beyond the binary back then, but I recognized that there was something boy-ish about me. My friends, family, and other people saw it too. I was who I was, who I am. I'm so very lucky that my parents didn't try to force me to be girlier. Those years were hard enough.

Childhood is hard, and repressive, oppressive adults make it so much harder. I hope all the trans kids out there either have support at home or find it where they can. I wish we lived in a world where we could all just accept each other and live our lives. I want everyone to be safe and feel loved.

I could go on and on about various trans issues, but I think I've made my points about trans kids. Respect and protect them. They're valid and they deserve to grow up to be who they know they are.

[I have zero tolerance for transphobia. I will block and report anyone who replies to this with anything anti-trans.]

[hmslusitania]

17 or 23 (or both?) For the prompt list eddie/buck 💛

17. "OK, well...fuck." (also for @eddiediass who sent the same prompt). this got...away from me.

"Buck? What are you doing in here?" Eddie asks, opening the supply closet door and taking a step inside.

"No, wait, don't let it--" Buck lunges past him to grab the door before it can latch, but he doesn't make it in time. "--shut."

"Why?" Eddie asks, raising his eyebrow at his best friend. Buck's been a little weird the past few weeks since Eddie came out, but not...lock-himself-in-the-supply-closet weird.

"The latch is broken," Buck says, dragging both hands down across his face in despair.

Eddie turns to try the handle and it doesn't move.

"Okay," Eddie says slowly, rattling the handle a little bit. Zero motion. "Well...fuck."

"Yeah," Buck agrees, slumping back against the shelving where they keep the station's spare paper towels and toilet paper.

"Here I thought I was done being trapped in closets," Eddie mutters, and Buck snorts. Eddie pats down his pockets for his phone. It isn't there. He knows it's not there. It's on his bunk where he left it.

"Mine's on my bunk," Buck says before Eddie can ask about Buck's phone. "I didn't want to look at it anymore."

Eddie raises both eyebrows. "Everything okay?"

"If it was, would I have been hiding in the supply closet?" Buck asks.

Eddie concedes the point with a nod. "Want to talk about it?"

Buck considers and for a minute, Eddie thinks he's going to say no. But in the end, he flips over a bucket and takes a seat. Eddie mirrors him. There's not enough space in the closet for either of them to stretch their legs out all the way and so they end up interlocked like laced fingers.

"I, um, I was just wondering," Buck starts, making steady eye contact with the nametag over Eddie's chest rather than with Eddie. "How did you...figure out you're not straight?"

"Extensive therapy," Eddie replies. Buck huffs something that's almost a laugh. "And then, I don't know, I guess slowly started to realise that a lot of stuff I'd taken for granted as being part of the common experience of being a completely average heterosexual person actually, uh, was not that. Why?"

"I don't...think..." Buck seems to be fighting against himself to make the words come out and Eddie's pulse leaps for a second. Is Buck queer, too? Even entertaining the possibility jostles something in his head that he's pretty sure he's been avoiding jostling even through all of his therapy sessions, considering that it might contain the explosive power necessary to ruin his life.

Buck takes a deep breath, holds it for a second, and then says in a rush, "I don't think we have a normal friendship."

Eddie's heart leaps into his throat but more in the impending-doom sort of way.

"I didn't really notice that anything about it was weird, right, until--"

"Until I came out." Eddie can't get his voice above a whisper and he thinks he might puke. "Buck, I'm sorry, I didn't--"

"What? No, not you," Buck says, sounding much less strained. Eddie's throat relaxes. "I mean, not not you either, but like...no, I mean, I made a normal friendship."

"Oh," Eddie says.

"And I couldn't figure out why ours was so different," Buck says. "And then there was this quiz I took online, and one of the questions was like 'are you particularly possessive of a friend with your same gender?' and I was like 'yeah, that's not a bad way to put it I guess' and it told me I was like 65% queer or whatever, but then I was like 'no, obviously I would know that about myself by now,' because I'm thirty, you know, and then you came out and--"

Eddie's heart is in his throat again, but he feels much less liable to throw up anytime soon.

"And?" he prompts, knocking his calf against Buck's.

Buck finally meets his eye and he looks just this side of terrified. "And I think we might have been dating for a few years and not realised it because we both thought we were straight."

Eddie's surprised when all of his tension vanishes. It is the exact thing the unjostleable box in his head had been holding onto. And now it's here, alive and well and nontoxic, not life ruining, in the middle of the supply closet with them. And Eddie smiles.

"Do you think we're supposed to charge interest on anniversary celebration back pay?" he asks.

Buck blinks at him for a second, and then he smiles too. "I think that would require figuring out what our anniversary is."

"True," Eddie admits. "We should find screw drivers and dismantle the lock and get out of here so we can talk about it without the chemical fumes."

"Good idea," Buck agrees, standing and starting to rifle through the shelves. Eddie does the same, finding a Philips' head stuck in a box of pens that looks like it'll probably have enough torque to take off the door knob.

"Got it," Eddie says, holding it up and turning back to face the door.

Buck nods, but he's chewing on his bottom lip like it's a piece of gum and Eddie wants to pull it free.

"Hey, before we go back, can we just...check and make sure?" Buck asks.

"Check...what?" Eddie asks.

He's unprepared for the way Buck's eyes darken and drop from Eddie's down to his mouth. "I mean, can I kiss you?"

Kiss him now, so that if they turn out to feel nothing, the conversation never has to leave this closet. Makes sense, Eddie supposes.

"Yeah," Eddie says, and steps closer to Buck.

Buck's the one who gently cups Eddie's face, presses their lips together softly, and then leans back. Just that small contact is enough to make Eddie's skin fizz like he's been carbonated.

They get about half a breath in, and then crash back together. Eddie drops the screwdriver in favour of wrapping both arms around Buck, getting one hand on the back of his neck, the other gripping the back of his uniform tight enough to stretch the fabric. Buck's gentle cupping of Eddie's face transitions immediately to a hand in Eddie's hair and the other arm wrapped around his waist to make sure they're plastered as close together as they can get.

It's only when they stumble into the door with a thud and a clatter that Eddie remembers through the haze of unleashed, questionably suppressed lust that they're trapped in the supply closet.

The closet door swings inwards, knocking into them and pushing them back, and they're met with Bobby's mildly disapproving stare.

"Come on, guys, not at the station," he says, sounding tired.

They disentangle themselves and file past Bobby and out of the closet. Eddie makes it about four steps before he glances at Buck and bursts into giggles like he's fucking twelve years old again. His giggling sets Buck off and when they try to head for the bunks to, uh, giggle some more, Bobby grabs them each with an authoritative hand on their shoulders.

"Nope," he says, steering them back down the hallway to the app bay and, beyond that, his office. "You two have paperwork to do."

Eddie can't say he minds too much. After all, the paperwork might help them figure out when their anniversary is.

[sevensoulmates]

Hi there 👋 may I have your opinion on this? Because I feel like it's the general consensus that Eddie may not be all that unaware of the way his feelings towards Buck runs deeper than friendship right? he has been stocking his feelings away in this little glass box he is so careful holding close to his heart, and he doesn't really have to examine those feelings because he firmly believes Buck is straight right? and then Buck's new revelation will be crashing down on him like:

while Eddie is running away from queerness.

And I absolutely can't wait to see Eddie overanalyzing every past and future interaction with Buck under this new light and be like:

I'm so ready for this development 🍿🍿🍿 and I've always wondered if the reason it feels like Eddie was always making heart eyes at Buck was a Ryan thing, like he was playing the character the way he wants or it's him being directed to do that acting choices. Hopefully we will now soon.

Finally, do you think they will be addressing the couch theory again, at some point or will they brush it off?

I've been reading your last meta again and again (and I will do it again) still daydreaming about 7x04, still on cloud nine, total bliss 🤗

Sorry for the delayed response. Had a busy work day today. You've actually touched on one of those things that I go back and forth on a lot when it comes to Eddie and that is the idea of whether or not he is aware (on some level) of his sexuality and/or feelings for Buck.

I've seen some great arguments that he is aware but not able to COMPREHEND his feelings, and simply packed them away. And I've also seen some great arguments on Eddie not being aware at all and having just repressed it all so deeply that even though he feels his feelings, he's never allowed himself to think about what they actually mean. There's a lot of overlap in the two arguments and I think there's some truth to both.

A good friend of mine Zee @tawaifeddiediaz presented me with an interesting thinking point which is the possibility that Eddie may have realized his feelings for Buck on some level at the time of the shooting in the season 4 finale but due to the traumatic nature of the event, repressed them alongside his other feelings regarding that event, which I am inclined to agree with.

Personally, I hesitate to say that Eddie is consciously aware of his feelings/sexuality at the current point in time because then it makes me feel weird regarding his actions with dating Marisol. That's a large reason why I'm pretty certain Eddie isn't aware, or at least fights back against his feelings so hard that he's unknowingly overcorrecting by dating women.

Because if there's one thing about Eddie it's that he is almost always existing in a state of denial in one way or another. Denial about the reality of what his relationship with his parents was like, denial about how unhappy his relationship with Shannon was, denial about the fact that Christopher does not NEED a mother to live a good life, denial that he deserves happiness, denial about how deeply the war affected him, denial about how he feels regarding being with women. It's just denial, denial, denial with him. So I guess on some level in order to exist in that perpetual state of denial, one has to at least be aware on SOME level that there IS something to be in denial about, right?

I'm open to whatever the writers have in mind up their sleeve for Eddie. Now that they have the freedom to go down this route if they want, I trust they'll do it well.

As for the couch theory, I think people need to stop thinking about it as something that was introduced in season 6 and needed to be conclusively wrapped in season 6. I think it was more so meant to be a series-long metaphor for "once Buck finds his home, he'll have found where he needs to be". And that's really what the couch metaphor means to me. So, no, I don't really think the show needs to have Buck be like "hey, Eddie, want to go pick out a couch with me?" Instead, I think they can just have Buck, Eddie and Christopher sit on the couch in Eddie's home altogether once Buddie is canon and that would be more than for me to feel like the "couch theory" was satisfied.

[thermodynamic-comedian]

it takes a lot out of me to accept that i can learn and change. it feels dishonest to act like i'm a good person because of all the shit i've said and thought in the past, and the fact that i'm still unlearning so much of it makes it even worse.

i don't talk about it a lot, but a few years back, i was going down the alt-right pipeline. i didn't realize it back then, because you really don't realize it when it's happening to you. i considered myself a "centrist", an "apolitical", all that shit. i thought lazy jokes based on shock value and bigotry were funny.

it's weird to admit that as who i am right now in my life, and even who i was back then. you think that the kids who fall down those pipelines are young americans with no real understanding of marginilization or oppression, but i was an eastern european girl from an all-queer, working class family. goes to show that it can happen to literally anyone.

i don't know what pulled me out. i don't know if it was figuring out my own identity, and realizing that the content i was consuming went directly against it. i don't know if it was finding more leftist content creators. i don't know if it was just me growing out of it. but i got out.

what i'm telling you right now by telling you this is that almost no one is incapable of change. but also that i'm still learning.

i'm considered young by general standards, and back when all that happened, i was even younger. most people would shrug off everything i believed back then as just me being an immature kid who didn't know better, and even though i know that's true, that doesn't mean i forgive myself. i don't. i haven't. i don't think i ever will.

i think i hold myself to an unfairly high standard because of all that. other people are allowed to slip up and have a bad take, but not me. the subject of my guilt can range from laughing at blatantly fatphobic jokes as a teenager all the way to saying racist shit in elementary school.

the problem isn't me feeling bad about that stuff. it's good that i feel bad about it. the problem is that in feeling bad about it, i sort of spiral into apathy. i start thinking that because of what i've done before, it doesn't matter that i've changed. and if it doesn't matter that i've changed, it won't matter if i change again in the future, so why even try to do better?

i call myself inconsiderate and insensitive a lot. that's because not only do i genuinely think that, i also think that that's something i can't change about myself. this is not true. i've grown as a person, and i will keep growing as a person. i can't let myself accept the punishment of guilt without seeking out the reward of doing better in the future.

this is a very long, very personal post, and the message is unclear. all i really wanted to say is that to everybody out there who has changed, is trying to change, or will change in the future: i see you. it's a battle, and it's a battle with yourself and things that you might think are inherent to who you are. but i promise you, if you keep up your fight, i'll keep up mine, and we'll talk again in ten years as two better people.

does that sound good to you?

[sayaka19fan]

Marvin's line 🍌🐠

Some time ago, @blak-rabbit drew my attention to the differences between the first and second English translation of the manga, so I decided to share one of the points we have discussed.

Back when Viz's Pulp Manga Magazine was funtional Yuji Oniki was the translator for Banana Fish (up to volume 7). After 2004 Matt Thorn and Carl Gustav Horn took over the job and they did the translation once again from the beginning.

A comparison of one frame from volume 1 will show that both the translations and the anime adaptation might have aimed to make the characters queer, bending the original text to this narrative.

In the original scene, Gregory has just scolded Marvin for failing to behave like an adult in front of a boy, that is, for being easily provoked by Ash when Marvin says:

いいや... ガキだからってかんべんからねえ...

"No... Just because he's a brat doesn't mean it's excusable...

ちくしょう

Damn it!

ヤロウいつも人をコケにしやがって!

You jerk are always making a fool out of me!

いつかあいつの細っこい首 ねじ折ってやる.

Someday I'm gonna break that thin little neck of his."

(Translation is mine)

Now, let's give a look at the translations.

Yuji Oniki's translation (left to right):

Between the two I prefer this one, though it isn't without flaws:

1. "With my bare hands" Is just a pointless addiction.

2. It's true that Marvin says "people"「人」 there, but before that sentence there are two swear words that are omitted: "chikushou" and "yarou", Marvin isn't explaining something to Gregory, he is angry at being taken lightly by Ash, even though he says "people", he's talking about himself.

Now, let's see Matt Thorn and Carl Gustav Horn's translation (right to left):

Let's open another can of worms!

1. Yarou / ヤロウ / 野郎 is a typical shounen manga swear to address male characters, it cannot be read as an equivalent of "effeminate" or the likes. How it seems to have become a "queer"'s neck?

2. Hosokkoi/ 細っこい isn't just a descriptive term. Ash's neck being thin means that it is delicate and beautiful, not just weak. Even in his anger Marvin can't help appreciating Ash's beauty, so it makes no sense for the translator to add the word "worthless". Why? Why?

3. As this translation erases the part about Marvin being ridiculed by Ash's behaviour, the readers don't get how personal this is to Marvin. Here it seems that Marvin just generally dislikes how Ash plays innocent like a kid. This is not what Ash has done in that scene. Ash was looking down on Marvin, talking to him as if he was his master's son. "Good job giving me a lift here, no need to accompany me back" is how you speak to your employees. Ash was reminding Marvin that now he is above him.

Finally, let's look at the anime:

このガキ ちくしょう！

This would actually translate into "That brat, damn it!"

Like in many other occasions the script is shortened, and it is usually flavourless when they are not Ash's or Eiji’s lines.

The animators decided to make Marvin swear. They kept "chikushou" and "gaki"(kid/brat) but got rid of "yarou". In the manga Marvin calls Ash "brat" as a reaction to Gregory's words, but since Gregory and the other bodyguard aren't in the anime scene this line sounds weird there. The point in Marvin's line was that they shouldn't treat him like a kid, because Ash is actually a "yarou" (bastard/ jerk). Talking to himself, Marvin wouldn't ever call Ash a brat with a dismissive tone, this wouldn't convey his anger well. Plus, erasing "yarou", the animators avoided defining Ash as "male".

Thanks to NegtvaNetie_1935 for his inputs as well!

[dteamain]

my hot toxic take and if it's too spicy you can delete and not post but pls don't block me: while it'd be weird to conclude george definitely likes guys a year or so ago because most of it would be founded off of dream and it was still not yet clear if it was all a bit, it's Not weird to say george clearly likes men now because george himself acts open about it (dream, and also the dream daddy stream jesus christ george I love you but stand up), he flirts with men and there's stories of it (the zaddy thing), tubbo, tommy and quackity have in passing made jokes or referred to him as gay in a way where the joke isn't that he's gay but it's just information that leads to the joke, etc. and george is a smart guy who knows how he comes off seeming attracted to men in front of what he knows is a large lgbt audience, especially after having to deal with questions and invasiveness for years that he didn't deserve to deal with. but now he acts that way openly. and he's self aware. so I don't think it's weird to note george acting like he likes guys and note he likes guys cause this time it's not informed off weird invasive assumptions or stereotypes but just who and how george is, and someone shouldn't have to provide a clear personal explanation of what they are in order to have their attraction be noted as part of them

okay so sorry for the late reply. i needed to stop and really sit with this one. any talk about sexuality needs to be handled carefully and with nuance.

in general i want to say that i agree with you. I also think the wording is a bit off. despite the wording i think you hit a pretty important point that most people tend to miss when it comes to sexuality and i would like to elaborate: attraction and sexuality are not strictly co-dependant.

as well you hit another great point that can be elaborated: the importance of being accepting to queer-like qualities no matter the sexuality of the person possessing said qualities

at the end of the day from what we know george is straight. that is what he said and regardless of the circumstances we have to respect that.

but just because george said he is straight doesn't mean we can't accept and/or acknowledge when he does or says something queer-leaning

part of helping people feel comfortable in their sexuality, regardless of what that sexuality is, is letting them be who they are and showing support in that.

pointing out that george seems attracted/interested in certain men is not inherently bad and acting like it is puts out the idea that people must pick a label and stick within that strict label. it perpetuates the idea that straight men can't be anything but platonic bros with other men and can't show intimate and complex feelings to other men as well. it is an active participation in toxic masculinity.

at the end of the day just because you are a straight man doesn't mean there are not any men that you find attractive and/or have an interest in a deeper connection with. your attraction to people isn't always limited by the sexuality you label yourself with. sexuality is such a fluid spectrum and i actually refuse to pin a label to mine for this reason.

allowing george to see that it is perfectly fine that he enjoyed a game where he flirts with men, or that he is more open to affection from men, or that he can joke about wanting dream to hold his hand is only allowing him to see that intimacy with men is normal and not a bad thing regardless of his sexuality.

so while i don't think we can just go ahead and say he is queer, we can support him in a way that allows him to explore his sexuality without any judgement.

[unityrain24]

rambling ahead

so on any of my fics that i write about something significant that i haven't personally experienced, i always put something in the notes saying something along the lines of "i tried my best to write this, but i don't personally experience it, so if you are a person who has experienced this, please let me know if i wrote anything incorrect/offensive so i can fix it!".

Most commonly, i do this for genderfluidity, as the character i write about is loki (who is. genderfluid). While I myself am queer, i am not genderfluid, so I cannot have first-hand experience. I feel it is important to let people know they can correct me if i unknowingly wrote anything incorrect/offensive. (which has not happened yet, in fact i've gotten various assurances from genderfluid commenters i am doing a just fine job). The note i leave isn't asking for an in-depth lecture, as i'm not a completely clueless person looking desperately for knowledge, it's just a little short thing telling them to let me know if I made a small mistake somewhere.

Anyways, today i got a comment on a fic i posted a year or two ago (it was my first published fic, actually), which was about loki & genderfluidness. The comment was on the routine note i was just explained, and the comment was:

heyy, maybe i could help you with some stuff, im just a beginner myself, but i see things very fast, so i could help with that, and to make the genderfluid thing more realistic, my friend is genderfluid, so i have some experience with it. its okay ifyou dont do anything wit this, wut if you do, feel free to message me:)

Which just seems like... a sort of strange comment?? (also i do feel bad putting their comment out here so i might delete it)

i wasn't asking for help

while i may have been a beginner when i wrote the fic, that was a year or two ago?? I have written plenty since then. While i am by no means a seasoned writer, i am hesitant to call myself a beginner beginner, at least in fanfiction terms (especially when this commenter only had three fics, all from this year, one of which was actually written by/with an ai, so even if i am a beginner, objectively i would still have more experience than them. we would not be the same level of beginner)

how would you have experience with being genderfluid if you aren't genderfluid.

'i am experienced in genderfluidity because i know a genderfluid person' would honestly be kind of funny if things like that weren't said all the time about various subjects (example: "is an expert on autism because my son is autistic" or "i can't be racist, my neighbor is black") (not perfect examples but)

again how would your view of genderfluidity be any "more realistic" than mine if neither of us are genderfluid

also the implication that mine is not realistic/ or at least lacking quality, while theirs wouldn't

also this assumes i don't know any genderfluid people myself?? which isn't true. i have met numerous genderfluid people. that doesn't give me experience

again i wasn't asking for help in my note, and if i did want help, i would just... ask a genderfluid person?? Or read things by genderfluid people? If i wanted help understanding/writing genderfluidity, why would i ask a non-genderfluid person?

also, i made this fic a year or two ago, and it's completed (and marked as such). Offering help on a completed fic is a bit strange?

also, what does "i see things very fast" mean

Now i'm not posting all this because i am mad or super-offended at the commenter!! Honestly, the comment was from wattpad, not my usual ao3, so the person very well could have been a middle schooler or something. And even if not, they seemed like they were trying be very nice/helpful. The post is long not out of anger, but because i found it a bit strange and also i have the inability to shut up.

Also i have no clue how to reply to this person

[oneshortdamnfuse]

Hi. I saw your video on the HP game. I found your points interesting. I never got into that franchise myself but a very dear friend of mine, who is trans, grew up with this franchise and it helped her cope in so many ways. She never cared for jkr. However when the bs that woman spits out became hard to ignore it broke my friend's heart she was so upset. She decided however to seperate the movies from jkr for the sake of her childhood memories. She feels awfully conflicted about it though since it meant so much to her and is devastated the author ruined this magical world. Do you have any tips? Sorry for asking you but you seem so wise and knowledgeable. I have no idea how to help my friend out of this dilemma 😔 and I don't think telling her to look for another franchise is helpful or an appropriate thing to say

Hey 👋🏻

It's not my video specifically. I am just sharing it.

I know what it's like to enjoy media made by a person who is pretty terrible. While there are valid arguments to be made about separating the art from the artist, it's important to consider whether engaging in the art itself 1) perpetuates a harmful ideology and/or 2) gives monetarily to a person or group of people who will go on to fund a harmful activity of some kind.

The point is to think about where your money is going and to be conscious of the content you are consuming.

For example, the fast food industry as a whole is exploitative. All of these companies engage in bad labor practices and use up important resources. But. There are times when people have to eat something quick and easy and inexpensive. I don't blame people for that. However, some companies like Chick fil a are using their money to donate to really harmful and homophobic organizations. When we ask people to avoid buying from there, we run into the same issues with JKR's work. It's part of our childhood! We like it! We're just trying to enjoy our lives in this capitalist hellscape!

Yet, there are alternative products to Chick fil a. The downside for me is that most fast food doesn't meet my dietary needs, but Chick fil a has items I can eat. Still, I don't want to be complicit in their harm so I choose not to buy from them. I have to ask myself if my craving for grilled chicken nuggets is more important than the queer people being harmed by their donations to homophobic organizations and you know what? To me it's not worth it. It takes more energy out of me, but I can make grilled chicken nuggets at home.

Does that make my life a little bit harder? Yeah, especially when I have no energy to cook and I can't easily pick up a cheap meal. It's worth it to me though to make that "sacrifice." I don't perfectly avoid all businesses with horrible practices because I just can't afford to sometimes, but the point of that video is not "do no harm," but rather do less harm.

...and look, harm isn't 100% avoidable even if you tried your best. I know this. Does rereading the HP books you already have make you complicit in the harm JKR does to trans folks? I don't know. I am not the judge. However, I do know that continuing to buy JKR's work contributes to TERF lobbies and Anti-Trans legislation. Whether or not you like her work isn't important so much as it's important how the money made from her work is being used. There are alternatives to JKR - much better alternatives to JKR. It's not insensitive to say, hey, maybe this hyperfixation you have on her work deserves some self reflection and maybe distancing yourself from it can't happen overnight but it may be worthwhile to seek out content that has a similar premise but does not involve harmful tropes nor line the pockets of bigots.

Fiction is fiction, yeah.

There's many fictional works out there made by problematic people with problematic elements and the enjoyment of that work doesn't mean you are a bad person. It's normal to enjoy things with a critical eye or say, okay, I know this thing they said or did was wrong but I can separate that from my enjoyment of their work and I personally am not going to use my enjoyment of their work to intentionally harm anyone.

But Fiction is also fiction in the sense that it's not so deep that you can't possibly divorce yourself from art and artists who are actively doing harm forever or at least until they are no longer actively doing harm. There's other stuff out there. I feel like it's not as big of a deal as people make it out to be to drop something that is causing people harm, especially if it is doing harm to your own community. There are much bigger ethical dilemmas than figuring out whether or not to buy more HP content.

[lizredmoon]

☽ Liz | she/wer/(they) | 30 y/o ☾

Personal blog mainly for reblogs, my random thoughts/pics, and whatever else i feel like

Other blogs: dailyflick (acnh) + dressupbastard (yttd)

(My likes, asks and follows come from the yttd one cuz i made it first *sobs*)

/!\ Please DON'T use/repost/copy/etc my art in any way, thank you <3 /!\

If you're wondering about my other links, please always refer to my carrd! (that's where i list everything ^^)

{ Carrd | Instagram }

• No arguing/discourse, thank u (i'm just vibin here)

• I don't discuss in reblogs as this gets quickly spamy and confusing to me, so feel free to use the comments, messages or ask box instead! /gen

Tags and more under the cut:

# Tags guide:

#♡.drawings (my art!! yippie! :D)

#☆.txt (my random thoughts n texts posts)

#♤.jpg (my other posts with pictures)

#music ♫ (self-explanatory)

#other's art <3 (self-explanatory)

#rb (reblogs, except other's art)

#text (text posts, except mine)

#asked stuff yippie (stuff i asked :3)

-> I also try to tag everything, by the names of the franchises/sources, characters, animals, subject, etc

-> Tags for sources with long titles are abbreviated (ie. yttd, fnaf, mlp)

♡ Interests: Your Turn To Die, Animal Crossing, Grimm, Danganronpa, Undertale, hamsters and their proper care, animals in general, werewolves, cute things, but also dark things, plushies, memes, Halloween, your mom :^) (Pokemon, Digimon, Fnaf, Vocaloid, My Little Pony: FiM, Magical Doremi, Hamtaro, Tokyo Mew Mew, Omori)

(i probably forget some lol)

⛤ More: I'm neurodivergent, vegan and queer ^^ (nonbinary, grey-aroace and bi). An insomniac nocturnal creature also (probably a werewolf lol)

I tend to use tone indicators for clarity in what i say or mean, but you don't have to (but v cool if you do!)

Side-note: I block freely if i feel the need to (don't take it too personally as it usually isn't). Also just because i'm an adult doesn't mean i'm comfortable with suggestive stuffs/innuendos or other more sexual stuffs... so keep that away from me or tone it down (or just don't interact if you can't/don't want)

Annnd i think that's it? If something is not clear, or you want to talk about a common interest, or know more about me, my ask box is open! :D

[its-uh-bella]

I've been thinking a lot about "queer art" or "trans art" and what that means to me, partially for my intro to photography final and partially just in general. In one of the last projects in this class, a straight, cis man told me that I needed more pictures of transfems in my photos to really sell the idea of my "communitty".

"What if instead of just an estrogen patch, you had like another trans person putting on an estrogen patch? That way, you get more of a sense of your community." Keep in mind that this project was all solemn, black-and-white snapshots of benign places in mine and one of my partner's apartments. It was meant to show the isolation of coming off of Spiro, of rationing out your remaining medication, and it was about not feeling like I have any real transfem community in the real world. Then this guy sees all of it and says, "I think you need some more actual trans people in there, or maybe a flag." Art has all sorts of interpretations and I don't want to say you can't have your own interpretation of someone else's art, especially during a class critique, but it reminded me of who I'm supposed to be making art for. It's not for a professor. It's not for the straight guy who says weird closeted shit all the time in class or the straight guy who doesn't. It's not even for the gay man or the other lesbians in my class. I make art for me. I don't need to plaster my work with trans flags and depict trans women explicitly for my art to be queer in nature. I don't have to use art as a platter to present my queerness to the world. That would only make me miserable.

My art is queer because I make it, and I am queer. My art is trans because I make it, and I am trans. I have nothing against representing the flag or other aspects of queer communities at large being integrated into art, but when it feels like a requirement, when it feels like I have to include flag colors or something more explicitly queer for my art to be understood *as* queer. I think that queerness is not something that can be boiled down to iconography. We are so much more than that, and I want to see us break from the restraints of ourselves and break our art away from raw trans iconography for cis people's assistance. Art of a trans flag isn't going to change their preconceptions, but art of and from us as people might.

Alls I'm saying izzat you need to make YOUR ART for YOU. If that has the trans flag in it because it represents good associations, something about yourself in a greater sense, great. But don't rely on iconography to make sure your art comes across as "queer enough" to the normies. Then you're not making art for yourself at all, really.

[brainrotallthewaydown1312]

i will forever be bothered by the way the English language describes love.

you love your parents and your friends and your spouse and your pet and your siblings and pizza your bedroom and a nice hot shower. you love it all. and the only way to differentiate between all the kinds of love is with specifiers. and the descriptors used for that have a habit of falling flat.

familial love? okay sure. romantic love? seems like a nebulous category that no one is able to view as the grey area it is. platonic love? often some of the deepest connections but is unilaterally seen as less than both of the previously mentioned types. and for what? aesthetic love? that feels like a clinical and inadequate way to express the appearance or vibe of something. and some things don't even get their own descriptor.

and the way there is an inherent hierarchy to the descriptors. the way saying you are in love with someone or something is meant to either directly imply romantic love or it is meant to place your love for it on par with romance. whatever that means.

i have had a romantic partner. we were close and had a very deep connection. we shared almost everything with each other. she stayed with me when she was kicked out of her parents house. we leaned on each other. our connection was romantic and important but it wasn't important because it was romantic, it was important because we were important to each other.

i am in the process of moving in with some friends. i do not have a romantic connection with or attraction to any of them. and they don't with me. and I am just as close and vulnerable and affectionate with them as I was with my ex. they are important to me. they are who I go to when I need someone. hell, with 2/3 of them I would say that I am closer to them than I ever was to my ex. i would describe myself as in platonic love with all of them. but the phrase in platonic love is designed to play itself down. saying platonic, to most people, makes it feel less important and that isn't fair to the relationships I'm trying to describe.

and even looking at the same category of love, it is very rarely the same across the board. i love my mother in a complicated way that is inherent to the fact that she is my family. i love my grandma in a straightforward way that is unconditional and reflective. i love my brother in a way that I would tear apart the earth for him and I have purposely made my life worse to protect him from his life being as hard as mine is. and those are all "familial love." I mean they are, but that feels reductive. there is always so much more to it than that.

i want ways to say "I would go to the ends of the earth for you" "I want to carve out a place for you in my life" "our relationship is a priority for me" "I can't imagine my life without you" "you are the most important person to me" and plenty of other things that don't necessarily imply a romantic component. there should be a word for friend that expresses how deep that connection can go. there should be a way to describe my best friend as my "partner" without people assuming we are romantically or sexually involved. I live with them and plan my life around them and we lean on each other for everything and I am closer to them than I ever have been to anyone else. they are my partner in every sense of the word. but if I try to say platonic partner, it becomes a punchline. a joke about how we should just date or a raised eyebrow about how we probably are.

I know queer platonic is a thing, but it doesn't clarify much for most people and it also doesn't fit. we are friends. and we are partners. and that is it. but I cannot say that in a way that doesn't reduce us to a punchline or imply things that aren't true. and that is endlessly frustrating.

[thedancingwalrus-blog]

For the emoji ask game: 🧐 and/or ❌

Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

Yes. Sometimes to the point the story itself doesn't get written. Which I think is a good thing considering a lot of what I tend to write.

I research different cultures and traditions. I research injuries and abuses etc when they come up in my stories. I research different kinds of historical technologies. I research disabilities and queer experiences that aren't my own. I research climatic regions and farming systems and I research cuisines a lot.

Tasty, tasty 'research' yes.

A lot of this is reading that I would do anyway. It's stuff that interests me so it isn't out of my way. I read a lot of nonfiction and I enjoy looking things up.

It's.... Most of the people I write are not like me. Since I tend to write fantasy that can make things a little easier. In the sense that it tends to make it clear that I'm writing a story about- A kid trying to use his magic powers to become the best journalist, for instance. Rather trying to write about The X Experience.

But I figure so long as I'm going to keep writing characters with experiences that aren't mine, I should pay attention to people who actually have those experiences. Because I want people to feel happy about my stories, to feel seen and included.

The other sorts of research, history and climatic conditions and such- A lot of that just happens once I get an idea? One of the current original ideas I'm working on was partly inspired by the development of writing in the Middle East. So reading about the Sumerians and Dilmun is a natural extension of the idea itself to me.

And that kind of research can either really help me stay excited about a story (in the same way re-watching episodes or replaying a game can get me excited about a fanfic). Or I can get so distracted by enjoying the reading that I don't write.

But research is a big part of my process. It gives me ideas. It helps me feel confident that I do have a story worth telling.

That's just me though :)

What's a trope you will never write?

OK so this one is hard because often as soon as I say 'I will never write this' I start thinking about it and think of a way to make it work for me/be appealing to me.

Izaya I am looking at you.

I am unlikely to write a Coffee Shop or High School AU. I could do it. But it would mean reframing the trope away from the standard 'let us set this in a modern US culture' and dropping it somewhere like Cairo instead. Because that's closer to my experience and also more interesting to me personally. I think doing that would probably mean cutting out a lot of what makes those AUs appealing to most fic readers.

Actually I've thought of something- I am never going to write 'pacifists' (air quotes fully intended) as 'reluctant to be violent but we will talk them round to violence with the Righteousness of our Cause!' Because *wow* is that a deliberately offensive reading of an ethical and philosophical position. I'm not gonna insult Bamba and Bacha Khan like that.

I hope we're taking not writing blatantly racist, ableist or queerphobic tropes as read? I don't want to add to that awful noise.

Beyond that- Hmmmm.

I'm unlikely to write a/b/o stories. No objection, they just don't appeal to me.

I'm unlikely to write anything involving Greek mythology. I feel like it's been re-imagined and re-told so many times there isn't really anything for me to say.

I can't really think of anything else. I think I spend a lot more time thinking about what I'd like to write then what I wouldn't write?

[shredsandpatches]

Girl Richard?

So this AU was kind of inspired by my dissertation (which is about how monarchy is an inherently queer position, by way of talking about late-Elizabethan depictions of Richard II) and the premise is that Richard would have had very different problems if he’d been born a (cis) girl but that a lot of the personal qualities that caused him trouble irl would be things people would excuse in a woman—basically, girl!Richard also owes a lot to Elizabeth I. It also complicates the personal relationships a lot.  

Here’s a bit from the fic that I don’t think I’ve posted. Anne is in the fic because Richeldis (girl!Richard, obvs) is having marriage negotiations with Anne’s brother Sigismund (neither of them actually want to get married but the Pope suggested it and Richeldis wants the French to stop making offers) and Anne has come to England with her brother. I usually write Anne as straight but if Richard were a woman she’d still be attracted, as the following excerpt shows.

*

"That really is better with another person," Richeldis says, once she's got her breath back, and Anne buries her face in Richeldis's breasts and giggles helplessly. "I mean, especially with you specifically," she adds, and kisses the top of Anne's head.

"I can't stop thinking," Anne muses, "about an old song I heard, back at home—I don't think I'm supposed to know it, but it's the sort of thing old scholars seem to like. It goes—you don't know any German, do you?" Richeldis shakes her head. "In French it would be something like— 'If all the world were mine, from the sea to the Rhine, I would give it all up to have the queen of England lie in my arms.'"

Richeldis laughs. "So, would it be worth it?"

"It would be a bargain," Anne says, leaning in and kissing her. "Although," she adds afterwards, "it's a very old song. It might be different for whichever of your great-great-grandmothers it's really about."

"Thank you for that image," Richeldis groans, and Anne laughs again. Richeldis has been idly teasing her hair out of its plait, and when she succeeds and Anne's hair falls about her shoulders her face brightens again.

"I've always wondered how you look with your hair down," she says. "You have such beautiful hair."

Anne can feel her cheeks grow warm. Nobody has ever said that to her before, and why would they, since her hair is just an unremarkable brown? Even the portraits done of her for potential husbands invariably come out rather plain, and the entire point of those is to make her look appealing.

"It's just ordinary, really," she says. "Not like yours."

Richeldis smiles up at her. "You have no idea how beautiful you are," she says. "All the princes of Europe should be falling at your feet."

Anne tries to smile back—it really is a ridiculous mental image, after all—but she can't help thinking of the implications as she rolls off of Richeldis and onto her back. "If they did," she says, "I'd have to leave you."

"Well, I am glad they aren't," Richeldis says, rolling onto her side to press a kiss into the hollow of Anne's shoulder. "They're very silly princes."

"No sillier than my brother," Anne says. "I don't think he'd even care if he knew about us—do you know, he said I could marry you for all he cares?"

She immediately regrets letting that slip—how could she even have admitted that?—but Richeldis only giggles.

"Maybe Sigismund is smarter than he acts," she says. "You know, I took my coronation oath as king of England? They weren't sure it was appropriate to write a new one. I suppose that makes me a man, legally—I don't imagine anyone's ever thought of it, but perhaps I should ask—"

Anne is fairly sure Richeldis isn't serious, that she knows as well as anyone how foolhardy a plan that would be, but she has no idea what to say to a flight of fancy like that other than explaining why it would be unlikely to work, and she doesn't really want to do that, both because obviously Richeldis knows that, and also because she doesn't want to think about having to leave someday and marry a stranger, or be shipped off to a convent full of other unmarriageable noblewomen for a life of contemplation and perpetual virginity, an option that is suddenly infinitely less attractive. She turns over to face Richeldis, instead, and kisses her again.

"I would marry you if I could," she whispers, afterwards, and Richeldis holds her tightly and whispers, "I know."

[eatingdisorderconfession]

I have no idea if this is an appropriate outlet for this but I really need to get it off my chest and there are limited people I can talk to about this without outing my ex. One of the biggest issues in our relationship is that she constantly made me feel like I wasn’t “mentally ill enough” and that’s something I’ve discussed quite openly with my friends. But I’ve also realised that she also had a narrative that I wasn’t “queer enough” as a cis lesbian. Like she literally told me that the AIDS crisis “isn’t really your history to claim or get upset about” and the worst part of it is that I have no idea if she’s right or not?? I know I let her walk all over me occasionally because her trauma was worse than mine but I truly don’t even know how to process how she made me feel about my queer identity. I don’t know. Sorry guys, I just needed an anonymous forum for advice on this 💕 love to you all

Hi, anon.

I generally don't think that comparing trauma is a good idea, not only because of the difficulties in drawing lines (i.e. what is to be considered moderate trauma and what is to be considered great trauma) but also because we as individuals have such different capacities for dealing with trauma. Some have underlying mental or physical health issues that might make a comparatively "small" traumatic event that much harder to cope with and others have strong support systems or are lucky enough to live in a place with ample access to mental health resources etc.

Her telling you that you're not mentally ill enough sounds incredibly minimizing of her. Struggling with mental illness is hard enough in and of itself without being told by loved ones that you're not "bad enough". Again, this is something that happens frequently in the eating disorder community too: people tell themselves, or others, that they're not sick enough and therefore don't deserve help.

As for her questioning your queer identity, I think we do need to remember that there are a lot of prejudices towards each other inside the queer community. There's the biphobia and transphobia from other members, POC who are targeted by racism and so on. Being queer does not mean one is immune to being prejudiced, that goes for your ex as well. I'm not saying that you are biased, because I do not know you, I'm just trying to shine a light on the fact that there are oppositions within this community as well. Her telling you that you're not allowed to be upset by the AIDS crisis sounds unreasonable to me. One doesn't have to have personally experienced a thing to be able to understand that it was bad and to wish it hadn't happened. Yes, you might not have the same connection to it that a gay man living in the 80s would have had but to me (a non-binary, bisexual inidividual) that doesn't mean you can't mourn the tragedy and stand beside other queer people in the effort to remember those who fell victim to it and to try and prevent something like it from happening again.

I think of it in a similar way that I think of my responsibility as a white person in the anti-racist movement. I don't want to talk over POC, but I also don't want to remain silent in some false belief that it's "none of my business". So what I do try to do is be mindful of who I follow on social media so that I don't end up with a 90% white feed, I sign petitions and read and reblog things from people who actually do face racism, I donate to organizations, I confront family members who say racist things, and I do my best to take critique when people tell me that something I'm doing or saying is harmful so that I might learn and be better. And I am definitely upset when I hear/see racist things because I sympathize/empathize.

Your ex does not get to tell you that you're not mentally ill enough, and she does not get to decide that you sexual identity isn't queer enough. I hope that you'll reach a point where you're comfortable with your identity.

Take care.

- Julia

[makczio]

Maxence Danet-Fauvel's interview for EntourageS with Kevin Elarbi part 2/2

Last line was by Kevin: : So now we'll talk about the series you picked. First we're going to talk about an amazing serie, and OCS serie called Westworld and the a scene without visual effects but I think you'd like with Anthony Hawkins, a philosophical scene from the first season

The scene is about a character telling a story about a dog chasing after a cat. This is a story about freedom

K: Yes so a great serie. Season 1 and 2 available on OCS, and waiting season 3 coming in January 2020 and I'd love to see the cast on EntourageS. How did you discovered Westworld, what do you like about that serie and who are you favourite characters?

M: So I discovered Westworld the day after a party

K: Unusual!

M: Haha yes! Because I didn't had OCS and...

K: Not good!

M: I know! I know haha! 

K: OCS that we kiss (again, we say "we kiss" in France when we mean we salute)

M: OCS that we kiss obviously. So I discovered OCS at a friend's called Chloé and she's the one who discovered the serie, she probably already watched a couple of episodes and we decided to watch from the beginning and we watched all of it. And what was the second question?

K: What do you like about this serie and the characters that you liked the most

M: Ah first I'm a big fan of Anthony Hawkins, a really big fan. I think he's an excellent example of acting, we see everything in his eyes, he's an actor that you can see he knows his text and a rich subtext. You can see in this scene that everything is crazy, every monologue scene you feel that he worked them for hours, weeks or even months. Because when you watch them you can feel everything he says like he really lived them. He's really a phenomenal actor… Fucj I'm losing myself so I forget the questions 

K: Haha no it was what you liked about this series and characters that you liked

M: Haha so I answered the last one before. But what I love about this serie is the thematic. Dystopia, I love it. I'm a big fan of Philip K. Dick, Globalia, all his books I spend hours reading them when I was a teenager. I loved it! And I think it's subjects that seems fat but not that far, and it's something that can happen if the worst happens, and I find it really cool

K: Not really that far

M: Yeah not really that far when you watch the news nowadays but it's crazy! But I was a little bit spoiled

K: Who did this?

M: My best bud

K: Ah that's not cool, that's why Westworld it's important to watch it the day the episode is out 

M: But for me it was just the context that I've been spoiled. We discover it very fast but he told me "Wow watch that serie it's awesome because…" I won't say because I've been told and I didn't liked it but it's also what made me wanna start it

K: Yeah we discover it fast, it's in the pilot if I remember well

M: Yeah it's not a big spoil and it's also what made me wanna start it. That dude also did it with Lost, he told me about the… about the small cage

K: Be careful about what you'll say

M: Haha yeah so he told me about the small cage, so he explained me just this thing and it's what made me wanna start it too, and I binge watched it in 3 weeks

K: (talking to the listener) So I you advise you to start Westworld, binge watch the first 2 seasons before season 3 in January. I hope I would be able to talk about with the cast, it's in negotiation right now. So we're going to talk about another serie, a serie that I love. I chose a scene from season 1, a symbolic scene from True Detective. If you like this serie, there's a book coming up this week wrote by a certain Kevin Elarbi about the discussions with all the cast. It wasn't with Matthew McConaughey that I spoke with it was Stephen Dorff. We're going to watch a scene with Matthew McConaughey and you'll react about True Detective, also on OCS

The scene is 2 detectives in a car talking about the crime scene they just saw, religion and pessimism.

K: Yes so Matthew McConaughey in True Detective. The season one is a wonderful season, the second one is more weak and that's why they took some time to come back with an amazing season 3. So in my book I talk about this conversation with Stephen Dorff who is a GREAT actor. Have you seen season 3?

M: Nope

K: You have to see it. It's really amazing

M: I haven't seen the second either

K: You just saw the first one? It's the best one. So tell us what you liked about the first 

M: What I liked about the first one… hm… Yeah I was going to talk about actors again but that's my passion 

K: And that's why you're here

M: Yeah because Matthew McConaughey is incredible, he amazes me everytime! Even with a scene like that he kills me because there a lot of things were I found myself in True Detective. I know it doesn't seem like it but I also am a pessimist person. Without the shell of this character but I kinda have the same thoughts about our society haha

K: It's not being pessimistic but realistic 

M: Yes, yeah that's what he says. So that and what I really liked in this serie is that I found it amazing because there's so many clichés! I mean the two cops not liking each other, the cheating stories, you could think "It's all the crime serie clichés, I won't watch it" but it works so well, it works because the actors are incredible, the directing is crazy and the plot is catchy. I mean I started True Detective and I binge watched it in one night

K: Oh yeah the 10 episodes?

M: 8

K: 8 episodes yes, 8×55

M: I think I started around 4 and I went to bed only when I finished it

K: We're going to watch another scene from one of the series you picked. We have to be fast because we're short on time, the control room reprimand me

M: Oh no!

K: But I would love that you react to some series, a few quick words. So we already talked about Westworld and True Detective. Earlier I said in the introduction that Skam made me think a lot with your love scene about Euphoria 

M: That's such an amazing compliment 

K: Euphoria that I a GREAT queer serie, but not only. A serie that we discovered last summer and got huge and we're thankful about that. A few words about Euphoria and what do you like about this serie?

M: So I discovered Euphoria a Wednesday morning at one of my young coach and friend called Titouan Gautier. You know him?

K: Yes

M: Really? That's awesome! Titouan Gautier is an amazing human being and I went to a party spend the night at his place. And in the morning he asked me if I watched Euphoria and he told me "I watched everything yesterday but I don't mind watching it again today" and I was like "Are you sure?" and same I watched it all

K: Oh you saw all the episodes on the same day? You're lucky!

M: Yes all in one day, I had a lot of luck because I missed the information the time that every episode went out so I watched all of them in a day

K: Zendaya is incredible 

M: Pff wow!

K: And the prologue scene, the bad trip ones. It's for me one of the best prologue we had in a serie for a long time

M: Yes, and after playing a bipolar character in Skam France, I can say that the actress and the realisation of the scene are amazing. But the scene were she has a phase were she's a detective is mind blowing, really really mind blowing 

K: So lucky for you that you haven't seen this serie before playing a bipolar character because you would've been inspired 

M: Totally!

K: But it didn't scared you to watch knowing you would play Eliott after again?

M: I didn't knew she was bipolar (side note: max u dumb it's in the first episode in the first five minutes haha)

K: But when you realised, you didn't thought "Oh no I don't wanna see that yet"? You wanted to watch it again

M: I wanted to watch it again because I thought her interpretation was 1000 times better than mine. It's crazy 

K: But it's two interpretations very different 

M: Yes that's true but I thought she was very impressive in these scene, and I forgot the name of the other actress that I also found really, for a first role really… What was her name again?

K: … I forgot it too...

M: Anyway I found her excellent too, and I think it was her first shooting, and honestly I was blown away, really talented 

K: Okay so we're going to be fast because I would love to play a scene from Peaky Blinders because I can't leave you without talking about it. But I bother me because… Nevermind. How I met your mother, I chose a scene from Barney but again, we don't have enough time. Himym is a serie that is still a bestseller, with Barney's books in bookstores. A few words about this serie, favourite characters.

M: This serie I watched it I was with a girl called Élise and...

K: We kiss Élise!

M: We kiss Élise yes! And we were chilling watching this serie, we weren't doing anything, and well we did season 1 to 9, and again, and again, and again… And I think I watched it in total more than 15 times, every seasons. We also went to a point where we were like "Season 3 episode 17". We knew everything, everything, from the beginning to the end of the episode! And How I met your mother is my good mood serie, hungover day, depressed phase, the beginning of the winter… You watch Himym and it's better than a chimney fire

K: I feel that you watch a lot of serie when you're hungover or depressed, I totally understand! I hear in my earpiece that Zendaya's partner in Euphoria is Hunter Schafer and with that...

M: Yes Hunter Schafer putain!

K: With that theme of a trans person that isn't mentioned, and thank Euphoria for that. That's why it's such a good serie, it's because it isn't something they talk about, it is, but it's not...

M: Yes that's awesome. Like Skam, it's not a big deal and it's so good

K: Voilà! You understand now why I made a link!

M: Yes yes I understand!

K: Be careful, now I know you'll be mad to have just a few minutes to talk about it and I understand 

M: Oh God you're going to talk about Tree of life 

K: No (he's showing the logo of the show Betaseries) you know what comes from this logo? From Breaking bad, we can't not talk about it. Obviously an important serie from these last few years. A few words about Breaking bad?

M: hm...

K: How did you discovered it?

M: No no no! It's the same haha, again putain 

K: So what did you liked about that serie?

M: No I'm saying bullshit, I was my ancient roommate called Julie George that I kiss a lot because I miss her, she's in New York

K: So series with you are something that you share

M: Yes i discover a lot with people, because I'm almost never alone and i see a lot my friends, like all the time. Breaking bad is something people have to watch because the scenes are AMAZING. I make it very quick. But, once again I'm going to talk about actors because that's something that kills me. The duo from Breaking bad is the quintessence of my acting method. It's really… They're phenomenal. I learned a lot, I'm talking about acting techniques, about illustrations, it's something I learned at the Actors Factory, about… yeah I'm not going to talk about it forever about the method. But it's really a serie with excellent actors, they're complete, they're really actors with a good method… Anyway the serie is magnificent. That's a cliffhanger, it's the magic formula 

K: I agree. We're going to play another scene, a 15 seconds scene, it's not a lot but I want you to see it so you can talk about it easily because really wanna talk about it before the podcast ends. It's Peaky Blinders. But before I'm going to respond to what you just said, that the Actors Factory looks like Group Theater, I'm thinking about Marlon Brando, Lee Strasberg, and it's not theater, and I think it's really close and that you're the new generation, and I say it with all the love I have for Group Theater 

M: I believe it and I hope so

K: I believe it. So a scene from Peaky Blinders

In the scene, Thomas Shelby is talking to Danny about the man he killed. Telling him that the brothers of the man are ready to kill him

K: It was so fast sorry! So Peaky Blinders, I know it's the first time you see it in French (of all the scene showed, this one is the only one that has been translated in French) I'm sorry

M: Yeah, yeah please watch series in the original language 

K: YES!

M: Yes because it kills the actor's work if you watch it with another voice

K: It kills the actor's work and we agree that it takes 50%, no it takes 85% of the charm 

M: And when a GREAT actor plays even if you take out the sound you can understand what they say, so watch in the original language 

K: I agree watch it in the original language stop with the french! So Peaky Blinders a few words about this aerie, how did you discovered it, why… no we're going to do something else for this serie. Why should people watch it? Especially young people that follow you

M: Fuck, this time I would've said...

K: Then do both!

M: Why should you people watch it? Because first it talks about a historical period that's a little forgotten, between the two wars, we hear a lot about the 30 years post war (the second), but it's nice to see what happened for the middle class in Birmingham, it's so interesting. Also the directing is crazy

K: And the lights

M: What? Oh yes the lights! No, everything! It's really mind blowing, every scene, the slow motion, wow that's crazy! The actors once again, the two brothers Cillian Murphy (funny, he pronounces it Sillian) and, fuck I'm bad at actors names

K: Yeah and me too

M: Anyway, you see in Breaking Bad

K: Peaky Blinders 

M: Haha yes Peaky Blinders sorry, it's really a serie I would've love to play in

K: Ah! Which character?

M: Well the character of… Is that a joke I wat had an episode yesterday? Well the one played by Cillian Murphy!

K: But you know this kind of serie can come in France, Arte (a Franco-German TV channel) love producing that kind of fiction, that doesn't cost that much if there's not a lot of extra. It would be nice 

M: Yes, and I went for a casting with them on Monday, and they forgot me!

K: Well it was Monday...

M: It was a Monday morning, so I came there, I open the door and say Hello, and there was nobody! So I come back there next Monday 

K: Oh you couldn't okay!

M: No they didn't came! So next Monday and it's for something from the old time like that! But Cillian Murphy's character is completely crazy. But this man is a Greek God he's so beautiful I'm so jealous. And everything, the costumes, the decor, the gang with… anyway

K: There's an excellent bar called The Shelby...

M: Tommy Shelby yes! That was his name!

K: … I should give you some adress. Remember that alcohol should be taken with moderation

M: Haha

K: Thank you Maxence for being with us for the first episode of EntourageS, you have to come back 

M: Oh yeah that's true I'm the first!

K: Yeah you're the godfather! So you have to come back because we didn't talked about Breaking Bad a lot I wanted to show a scene, How I met your mother either

M: And we didn't talked about cinema putain!

K: We didn't talked about cinema but it's about series even if I would love talking about cinema

M: Okay

K: But you really have to come back because you told me there was shooting in the beginning of the year

M: Yes there's shooting until April

K: So it means a little promo at the end of the season 2020?

M: What promo? Skam?

K: There's Skam and the other series

M: Skam for sure but the other series I don't know if there will be a promo

K: Promise you'll come back for Skam?

M: Promise I'll come back for Skam, for everything, I'm so good here!

K: Well I'm glad, thank you Maxence it's a gift having you has a godfather! So I bring back that you're currently shooting Skam France, you also said there was other projects but that's for the beginning of the year so we'll see later. Go follow Maxence on social networks, he shares about his cinema and series tastes. It's more interesting than following some influencers haha

M: Haha thank you

K: Go follow Maxence it's important. He loves classic cinema we can see it and it's amazing. You also love good series so that's cool I think there would be a lot of young people who would watch them

M: Cool

K: Yeah now probably 100 young people would wanna watch Peaky Blinders and that's great! I'm saying a 100 but I hope it's more. 1k will watch Peaky Blinders, another 1k Breaking Bad and another 1k How I met your mother. And for the one who haven't seen Skam and afraid that it would be a teenager serie, you saw the scene it's with complete actors, a great team, go for it! It's a serie that will be important for the LGBTQI+ community and is becoming a cult, 4 seasons in 2 years that's amazing! Even I watched this serie maybe with preconceptions and I was blown by the technique, the team and the actors so watch it! Skam will impress you as much as Euphoria will

M: Woaw I'm emotional 

K: I really think it!

M: That's nice!