#anyway if i reread it i might liveblog it maybe

[penname-tbd]

oh hey i forgot that we can crowdsource bad decision making on here now

*ASH was my main WIP from middle school to high school, it's about a girl named Astrid with regenerative healing powers who gets kidnapped and experimented on, basically

pros of rereading: a fun, if not a little cringey, trip down memory lane; a lot of "oh holy shit i forgot i wrote that"

cons of rereading: it's 500 pages so it's gonna take forever; i'm in school rn and i'm supposed to be reading other things

[thewertsearch]

Asks Compilation 23/10

Done and done. I'm surprised I didn't already have a tag for them, to be honest!

Oh, fun! I always wonder if people are reading for the first time along with me. I'm sure you've overtaken me already by now!

I don't think I'd have as much fun with the blog if it was less blind. Even the knowledge that the trolls existed was enough to heavily influence my theories.

Aren't they thirteen?

Granted, we don't know if trolls mature at the same rate as humans, but they certainly seem to be in that age range to me.

Nepeta, resident matchmaker, seems unsure about the current status of the Sollux/Aradia relationship, but she'd definitely drawn a heart there before. Plus, Aradia immediately identified the '8oyfriend' as Sollux, so there is something going on with them.

If it does, and he did, then that's pretty clever - but unfortunately for him, it's probably futile. There are surely a million other ways she could manipulate his desires.

I know Homestuck is controversial, but I always had the vague idea that, like Undertale, its reputation had a lot more to do with the fandom than the property itself.

I'm surprised there's that many people who say the comic is bad. The comic is great. Even if, worst-case-scenario, it jumps the shark on the very next page, there's still so much to love.

I guess this is a good explanation for why his name is so close to Lord British - thus, their similar invincibility schticks really are coincidental.

The former works well - although, I've just noticed on reread that he hasn't actually referred to himself as a doctor. He's just 'Doc'.

That said, I have reason to believe that he is, in fact, a real doctor.

Maybe he really is a gambling man.

Well, Terezi is referencing his comic before Earth even exists...

So it's like the SBaHJifier gag, but for the whole comic?

That sounds ambitious, but interesting, especially if it's doing everything you say it is. Any fanwork that people think was written by Hussie must be something special.

It's fun, getting both of these messages in the same week. Glad you're enjoying it!

Yeah, I didn't consider Equius as an option, back when Aradia was talking about this. I don't think I'd have picked him at the time, though.

Both Equius and Vriska convinced themselves that they had an arrangement with Aradia.

In retrospect, her own statement - which came after the two above - was, indeed, deliberately vague. It's supposed to make you wonder which of the two options she was talking about. As far as I can tell, there was no reason to assume it couldn't be Vriska - she'd even told Karkat that she was going to be the 'real leader', so we knew she was planning a power grab.

Anyway, I defaulted to her, since she'd talked about her co-leader arrangement only a couple of pages beforehand. I don't think I even remembered Equius was an option until he spoke to her later. Can't catch 'em all!

Pop! Team! Nepic!

Thank you! Yeah, Vriska's attitude is completely understandable at this point. Would she really have survived if she wasn't cruel?

I was skeptical about that line initially - but Vriska honestly doesn't seem to be much of a liar, so I think part of her really did see Aradia as a friend.

I personally doubt Aradia ever felt anything positive towards Vriska - she's a blue-blood, after all, a hateful sn0b - but that doesn't stop them being friends. After all, the same could be said about Karkat, towards Gamzee. Trolls just seem to see friendships differently.

I try to avoid queueing stuff - gotta put the live in 'liveblog', after all!

There are occasional exceptions, though. For example, if I answer a lot of (non-compiled) asks at once, and don't want to fill up people's dashboards, I might queue them to space them out a little - but never more than an hour or so in advance.

Really, the answer to your question is 'neither', since I don't have a schedule. Lately, I've been posting about four days a week, and each liveblog session will last for two to four posts - but that's all subject to change, depending on my mood, my energy levels, random life stuff and, frankly, the phase of the moon. Properly scheduling this blog has proved impossible, so I'm just embracing it at this point.

If there's one thing that Aradia and Vriska can agree on, it's that an Equius-made arm is good for only one thing - rippin' out hearts!

Sorry - no breaks longer than a week? Since Act 1?

I suppose if your website pays your rent, you don't really need a day job - but still, I'm surprised that no life stuff got in the way in all that time. Hell, it's already happened to me - and this comic is surely way easier to analyze than it is to write!

Well, I'm only on 2300 now, so I haven't seen much!

I'm just curious as to why he's seeking out Karkat, specifically. Jack seems to work independently, not taking orders from his Queen - so what's motivating him, this early in the game?

No reason it can't be both, right? This is probably one of the most emotionally intense things to happen to her since her death, and it just so happens to coincide with her 'resurrection'. Frankly, I'd have been more surprised if she didn't lose her shit.

Also - damn, I didn't notice he was mirroring her '0k' catchphrase. No, Equius. No one was 0k with that.

Welcome! You can thank a few of my readers for helping me optimize my tagging system, too. I think it was @krixwell who first suggested I add a tag which included asks!

[ezkori]

Debating doing a ciconia reread liveblog. With the war in Gaza, and as an antizionist jew feeling like I’m struggling to hold up the walls of peace, I think it might give me clarity and guidance and also maybe manifest phase 2?

So anyways for the few people who follow me, and maybe if you’re not, this might be a thing. :)

[gunnerkriggcritical]

I’ve been toying with the idea of someday rereading the entirety of GKC and doing a liveblog on here as I go. It wouldn’t be solely from a critical lens—I absolutely love 75% of GKC. I would just be sharing my thoughts as I go, positive, negative and neutral. I won’t do this if it would be annoying to you guys and if you’d prefer I didn’t, and I might not do it anyway. It’s just a thought I’ve been having. That being said, would you guys be down if I was to do that?

[ultra-raging-ghost]

finally sitting down to read a book (The Divine Comedy) for the first time since graduating hs, i forgot how much i like reading when there isnt a teacher breathing down my neck forcing me to do it

Its a difficult read but im really enjoying myself, i know the base plot but ive never read it in depth so im going in mostly blind. Im gonna read it once through, glance at the sparknotes (maybe watch an analysis video? i think Wendigoon has a video reviewing this) and then rereading and allowing myself to look at the notes to see how well i interpreted the text

Id like to liveblog my first interpretation summaries of it but i fear i may reach my post limit for the day on top of QSMP posting lmao

Fuck it, might do it anyway

[jiangwanyin]

no one talk to me i am thinking about sam "i don't rightly know what i want: but i have something to do before the end, and it lies ahead, not in the shire" gamgee and gollum who "has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before the end" being frodo's companions right until the last minute and playing an essential role in destroying the ring just like sam himself and gandalf knew they would

[librarycard]

just had an amazing time reading your beatsheet liveblog! love that fic like i want them to just be sweet without the twist but i also want the batshittery of the twist, the dichotomy of man. was very glad the like class adviser?teacher? dude was like bad, but not bad in the way i was afraid he might be. anyways cannot remember for the life of me how it ended but reread the autumn and winter months multiple times (maybe even early spring? idk)

OHHH YEAH i was so worried about cain bc i also thought he was gonna be bad in a Different way. it felt so fucking weird. and same i hate drama but i love drama it’s a curse

[nerdyskeleton]

Ok so you do The Writing Activities do you have any tips/advice/posts/resources for someone dealing with low self-confidence in their writing?

oh man I sure do The Writing Activities!! sorry though that you are dealing with that. I struggle with feeling like that a lot too!

as for advice and stuff, everything below has been helpful for me personally - can't guarantee it will work for everyone, but maybe it's a place to start for you! (tell me if this should be under a read more??)

1. Don't compare yourself to others.

I fall into this trap a lot when I read someone else's writing and I think like "wow I will never be as good as them and my writing is baby garbage compared to theirs" but writers don't share their work for others to think like that! They share because they are happy and proud of what they're written. It's good to remember that sure, maybe my dialogue isn't as great as this author's, but I do this, that, and the other thing pretty well so it's okay. You are your own unique person with your own set of writing skills and style, and that's wonderful!

2. Find a beta reader (or adjacent type person).

Betas are great but I'm a secretive little clown so I don't use them that often. If you're really struggling with a certain section, scene, fic in general, find someone you trust and have them read your work, then ask for specific feedback. Did this conversation make sense? Does this paragraph flow well? Are these characters acting like themselves? And don't be afraid to say like "be nice in your criticism" like just because it's criticism doesn't mean that it gets delivered in a cruel way. It shouldn't ever if it's a valid critique. Anyway, having someone else's eyes on it can help figure out where you might be stuck both in the writing and also in your own head - it's your own work so you're likely to be pretty self critical of it! I notice my own mistakes and think how I'd rewrite certain parts all the time.

3. Write for yourself!!

Write literally the most self indulgent story of your life if it makes you happy! It can just be your forbidden little secret and never see the light of day if you want but it can be a fun exercise! There's no pressure and it's just meant to get out of your own head again. I am also a big fan of writing jokes or silly references just for myself in my writing. If others think it is funny then good great but as long as I made myself laugh, that is all that matters. I'm spending time on it so dang it, I want to enjoy it!

4. Reread nice things about your writing.

I am assuming that you've shared writing before with this one. So if someone leaves a particularly nice or funny comment, or reblogs my chapter link with commentary in the tags, you bet your butt I am screenshotting that so I can look at it whenever! Sometimes I just reread comments on my fics to see what people liked about it, and it gives me a boost. It's good to have handy reminders that people like your work - and randos on the internet wouldn't lie to you, ya know? If you haven't been publishing much, you could send it to a friend and just make them liveblog it as they read it or leave comments in the google doc. Gotta be a good friend though lol

5. Read other books/fanfic to see how they do it.

When I started writing fanfic as a wee teen, I tried to copy directly the author's style of the series I was writing for. That has now morphed into my current style. If someone is traditionally published (usually lmao) they are considered pretty good, so you can see how they've crafted their story, their style, their characterization, etc. If you like how they handled This Thing, you can mimic it in your own writing as practice. Over time, you can develop your own style and skill, as well. (But don't get discouraged or compare yourself to them!!!!)

6. Fake It 'Til You Make It.

Literally as this question came in last night, I was rereading my own fanfic to help put me to sleep (no shame) and I had said out loud, "I am the greatest writer in the world." Is this true? Yes. Saying that to myself is a lot better than self-deprecating/negative self talk by a long shot, and it made me laugh to be honest. The kinder and more patient you are with yourself can help a ton with how you feel about your own writing, and in general any skill. Tell yourself that you're working hard and doing great, and you can start to believe it one day :) (Because it's probably already true!!)

I hope this is somewhat helpful!! Sorry if it wasn't lmao. I can't think of any posts/blogs off the top of my head from others, but if I come across them, I can reblog them to this blog. I also got a writing blog @humorforwriting (wee woo wee woo shameless self promotion) that is mostly reblogs of advice, writing resources, etc.

Good luck with your writing journey!!!!

[tfw-no-tennis]

mtmte liveblog issue 36

time travel arccccccccccccc yessssssssss

I have been waiting SO LONG to reread this arc hhhhh yessss

starting off strong with the sexy roller cover. nice

I love the disconnect of ‘orion pax: outlaw’ compared to the last time we saw him in shadowplay where he was orion pax: supercop

he’s still punching people for JUSTICE or whatever so I guess not much has changed

oh my god this is the issue with the many many two-page spreads...the first time I read this issue I didn't realize that was a thing and GOD I was SO fucking confused. there's already a lot going on in this issue/arc but this made things so much worse hvbhjkdfbsk. I powered thru and still managed to understand most of the arc despite reading half this issue out of order (essentially) bc the website I read it on split the pages up and I couldn't tell they were supposed to be doubled (and also I'm dumb so I didn't figure it out)

anyways, the actual issue...windcharger is out here using his powers to rip a dudes arms clean off. wow!

and there's skids getting punched in the face. Ls

and glitch! a totally minor character of course...

MANNNNN I SO adore the panel of all the lost lighters appearing in a cloud of purple smoke, all posing epically....SO fucking good, peak sci-fi coolness vibes, A++

as usual jro killing it w/the titles, ‘elegant chaos’ is such a great name for a time travel arc

also reading the tfwiki has shown me that many of jros titles are song or album titles, to which I say - that's epic and I love it. with jro doing it, I feel like it straddles the line between referencing music and the very fanfic-esque ‘title things after music’ vibe. I love it

oh god I forgot they use bs cybertronian time units in this sometimes lmao...I mean of course they do but still like, what the fuck is a cycle. is that a day. I feel like these words all have no meaning/the meanings change drastically depending on continuity. I cant keep up and also I'm lazy and don't care enough to try

I love rodimus did u know

poor riptide looks so confused lmao

IS....IS REWIND PIGGYBACKING TAILGATE...THATS SO FUCKING CUTE....I cant fully tell bc of the page layout but ooomg so precious. minibot buddies

whirl saying ‘chuff’ just reminded me how british jro is hvbhakjhdsfbs sometimes it just Jumps Out in mtmte and I'm like Oh God Britain Is Real

I really like the mtmte approach to time travel and paradoxes and whatnot. its just complex enough to be interesting but not too convoluted that it bogs down the story. perfect sci-fi fun!

mannnn chromedome talking abt brainstorm :( I'm sad abt those two hhhhh

and I love how at this point, nobody in the cast ACTUALLY knows brainstorm well enough to know what he’s really doing - including chromedome, who’s ostensibly his closest friend, somebody he’s known for a while - and even the readers don't really know what he’s up to...I like the mystery tbh

cant believe rewind wrote orion pax’s biography, omg. completely forgot abt that detail

cd saying ‘I love it when he talks history’ about rewind....hhhh I love cdrw so muuuuch

godddd the line rodimus says abt whirl - how they need people like whirl around who are ‘happy to get in the way’ of danger and death - that shit haunts me man like...rodimus is basically saying that he’s bringing whirl along to potentially die in place of someone like orion pax (nevermind the fact that whirl dying would ALSO fuck up the timeline)...like, how deep does it go?? is he saying that bc he knows whirl has been trying to get himself killed for a while now, or just bc whirl likes violence? mannn I cant...the character intricacies...man

anyways...I love rodimus he’s such an interesting character. you have that fucked up moment and then in the next panel he’s saying ‘if you want to call it a time phone, I wont stop you’ about the quantum walkie-talkie. he has the RANGE

oh and then rodimus casually volunteering chromedome to do mnemosurgery on anyone who might accidentally find out about them time traveling, which is again fucked up on multiple levels. the raaaaange

vjaksbhdhfusajbfdjk that panel of the lost light squad just standing there like idiots reminds me of that post where someone said abt that panel ‘these characters have a collective 3 brain cells’ or something hvbjadkfnksfdl

rodimus IMMEDIATELY breaking his own rules by trying to reassure pax that they're good guys by pointing at his autobot badge, even tho the autobots DONT EVEN EXIST YET at this point...my boy PLEASE go purchase some brain cells from the store 

and the fact that rodimus introduced himself to pax w/his real name...shouldn't he go by an alias or st??? that seems like a good time travel rule since optimus and rodimus definitely know each other later 

and like, did they not anticipate that some of the people in the past would recognize some of the lost lighters hgbajkhdjfnjksf like cd and whirl get Instantly recognized...great job guys

they are all SO bad at this hvbahskjdhfbasjkf I cantttt luckily for them the orion crew is handing them easy alibis 

‘the dugout’ is that a baseball reference????

also I love the scenery here, the bg looks like rock but there's metal piping and stuff running thru it, its so cool...really adds to the whole ‘cybertron biomes are made of metal’ thing

‘ancient history’ rodimus are you KIDDING ME-

cyclonus time travels to the past and IMMEDIATELY finds a window to stare broodingly out of. icon

tailgate thinking orion pax is SUPER COOL continues here from shadowplay and I love it...tailgate is so cute

and the tg saying ‘don't you think that's awesome, cyclonus?’ hhhhh so cute

one reason I love this arc so much is that this is the arc where the gay Really amps up 

TRAILBREAKER.... oh man ;_;

are you telling me that this outlaw base they're in has ONE bed for all of these people. what the hell vhbaksjhfnsal

cant believe rung sampled roller’s steroid juice box

also cant believe robot steroids exist. except yes I can and I love it

oooh roller’s a 0/1%er? I forgot abt that 

cant believe orion pax just grabs some random phone that belongs to these weird new people and answers it. WHO does that

goddddd megatron and orion’s conversation....destroy me

HHHHHH like...the HISTORY....the regret...the missed opportunities...its all so palpable....goddddddd

and of COURSE, the whole thing is steeped in tragedy...the ideological differences that will become the foundation for a 4 million year long war...megatron, who believes that you need to burn things down and start again to really make change stick, and then orion, who says ‘reform is the answer, not revolution’....AUGHHH the intricacies. mannnn

‘you sound lost’ 😭😭😭

‘its tragic.’ yeah, that about sums up their relationship, especially at this stage and in this continuity 

anyways. [cries about old man megatron talking to young naïve orion pax] goodbye

AUGHHH and then we jump to rodimus ONCE AGAIN breaking his own rules and trying to save trailbreaker...IT HURTS MAN...god I love rodimus, I feel like him being broken up about crewmembers like trailbreaker dying is one part regular sadness over people he knows dying for tragic reasons, and one part personal guilt at someone under his command dying, even if he’s not involved/at fault. I love the dichotomy of this emotional reaction that comes only partially from empathy/emotion, but also comes from a kinda self-centered need for success as measured by people under your command staying alive. and taking into account rodimus’s life it totally makes sense that he’d act like that...GAH I love it. the complexity of it all!

orion pax saying ‘you should read [megatron]. it’s powerful stuff’ I'm screaming, so many LAYERSSSSS

I fucking love time travel AHHHHHHHHH like the opportunity for interactions like these....chefs kiss

‘hey, best friend! miss you!’ rodimus is such a shit hvbdajkfksjhfd 

‘very sus’ rodimus ahead of his time w/the among us lingo

oooh and then they realize that the senate is trying to kill the sparks...gotta save the babies!

tailgate scolding cyclonus for bluntly stating that you'd wanna be subtle when killing newborns...hhhvbhsdfhhhhhh I love them sm

ooooh and rewind has an interesting suggestion - that the senate is actually trying to irradiate the sparks into being outliers...rewind is so smart I love him

and the fact that he’s using history from his database...love it

rodimus sending cyclonus and whirl out like pokemon

ROLLER NOOOO DONT GO OUT THERE

also wow this is literally the 5th (I think) double page spread in this issue...the confusion I felt the first time I read this...lmao 

and now this is literally one of my favorite issues so I'm glad I know what's going on lmao

oh man rodimus telling cd not to erase trailbreakers memory even tho that could jeopardize the entire timeline... :( 

oh man I didn't even notice but roller getting debris blasted into his face like that makes the whole ‘roller is tarn’ theory even more legit considering tarn’s face scars....

‘tighter the better’ hhh don't say that orion. but also, that’s the companion phrase to megatron saying ‘the deeper the better’ hvbhasjkhdfbaksjlf

I do love the semi-campy action hero antics that orion pax gets up to. its just so fun, even when the stakes are high and things are serious

‘this is the greatest thing I have ever seen’ tg ily

THE REVEAL THAT THE SPARKS WENT TO NYON...so rodimus just saved himself, basically...time travel is so trippy

GODDDD ND THEN TRAILBREAKER...HVHHHHHh 😭😭😭 THATS SO CRUEL MAN

oh man that last panel of trailbreaker holding up roller’s juice box...iirc the first time I read this I thought that was roller (cause of the juice box I guess? idk I'm an idiot) so I was like oh ok he must've come back or something. very much related but I didn't really think about tarn being a particular pre-established character and totally didn't read the whole ‘roller is tarn’ thing that was going on 

which in my defense ruth also didn't pick up on any of that while reading this and eventually like 2 issues before the reveal I had to prompt her like ‘you should maybe be wondering WHO tarn is’ vhbahjksdfbaksjdf

so! issue 37! this issue is a solid favorite of mine, id say definitely top 5 or even 3. I'm super biased bc I fucking LOVE time travel, it’s seriously one of my favorite tropes ever, and this issue hits all the time travel beats I love. characters traveling to the past and interacting with people they know! conversations that have multiple meanings bc of TIME TRAVEL! trying to save someone who meets a terrible fate in your future! fun time travel action! the time traveling characters being generally terrible at hiding the fact that they're time travelers! ITS SO GOOD. 

and I love the clever way everything is tied together here - where we get a nice continuation of shadowplay, with this taking place shortly after that with a lot of the same cast, and time travel classics like the good ole ‘if we hadn't travelled back in time and done what we did, the future we came from wouldn't have existed at all,’ in the flavor of ‘rodimus saving his baby self’ and ‘rodimus NOT saving trailbreaker’ and ‘everyone forgot about roller :(’ 

ok but like, did the lost lighters just go ‘oh well, guess rollers gone now.’ like they DID realize that the outlaw crew would have no idea what happened to him if they got their memories erased, right?? did the lost lighters figure that since roller never reappeared after this time period, that was how history was ‘supposed’ to go and they shouldn't mess with it? am I overthinking it? as usual: yes, probably. I love overthinking about comics, in case that wasn't obvious

basically...I love this issue soooo much. so so good and a bunch of fun tropes that I love. I mean the whole arc is like that for me since I love time travel so much. so I cant wait to (re)read more!!

[bibliophileiz]

A (not really) Ode to bucklemming

Last bucklemming episode, and you guys, it was just such a classic example of their stale mediocrity. And yet, at the end of this post, I found myself bizarrely happy with how the episode turned out.

This is the second time I’ve watched it, and while I was planning to just liveblog my thoughts, I realized quickly that would not work, because most of the episode is boring and miserable, (especially the first third or so) and that makes for boring and miserable note-taking. I think I said in a tag of a different post that Dabb assigning this one to bucklemming is just further proof that he hasn’t cared about plot at all this season, and honestly, I don’t know there’s much they COULD have done to make this plot entertaining. Chuck even says at one point that it ... isn’t entertaining.*

The first third or so is basically Sam, Dean, and Jack being miserable with nothing around them break that misery up (except, briefly, a dog). And that makes for a miserable viewing experience. Here are a handful of notes I took that give you the gist:

- Chuck standing there talking about how loneliness and no-people is “deep” and a “page-turner” is such a gratifying little critique of shitty writers who like their gritty stories about permanently miserable protagonists. Like dude, you know there’s a reason nobody rereads “The Road,” right? - Dean slurring his words because he’s hungover is the first time anything interesting has happened with the dialogue in this whole episode. - Rob Benedict is the only one who gets to inflect his dialogue this episode. I do think his acting in that last scene is great, where he’s screaming, “Guys, wait!” as they drive off. It’s not a terrible ending scene.

So there’s that. Now here are my notes not-related to how stale and boring everything is:

Beginning: -The shots of Kyoto and New York City remind me of all the shots in NYT and other major newspapers after COVID shut everything down last spring (except in this case all the traffic would still be in New York, just no people). - “I couldn’t save anybody.” Poor Sam. (must push down feelings about Sam’s leadership arc and how it always seems to end with people dying, ugh, repress, repress!) - Also, I wanted to see a shot of a sink running and one of them turning it off. Just a random thing.

Archangel stuff: - I guess it makes sense to lose Adam if you’re going to kill Michael at the end, but goddamn if Michael isn’t a way more boring character without him. - Ah, Lucifer, a.k.a bucklemming’s attempt at comic relief. I’m starting to miss the boring dialogue. - Ooh, awesome, the only female character in the episode shows up bound and gagged and immediately murdered so she can be used and then murdered again. (Also, the first time I watched this scene, I was sure she wouldn’t wake up and was gearing up to laugh at Lucifer for sucking.) - Jensen stays as far away from her as he can when he unties her, I’m sure that actress appreciates him trying not to give her COVID. Course then she immediately ruins it by head-butting him, which is NOT practicing social distancing. - Many have commented on whether Lucifer can actually kill Death by snapping his fingers. We don’t know, but the Scythe WAS right there, and if Dean can kill Death with it (twice), I’m sure Lucifer can. - On the other hand, it IS established lore that God doesn’t have power in the Empty. Presumably he could negotiate with it like Death, and possibly he just took advantage of the loud chaos of Jack exploding, Death dying, the Empty apparently being super pissed, etc. to sneak in and make off with Lucifer. - Also WHY DO ALL THE ARCHANGEL FIGHTS IN THIS SHOW SUCK ASS???? - “I haven’t been in a battle like that in several centuries,” Michael says, as if he just fought the Battle of the Blackwater in Game of Thrones, and not what appeared to be the archangel equivalent of Mario Kart.

And climax/last scene: - But the best moment of the episode is when they GET BACK UP BLOODY AND HOLDING ONTO EACH OTHER AND ABSOLUTELY BEAMING BECAUSE THEIR LITTLE BOY IS ABOUT TO BECOME GOD. - Also, I like the music in this scene. And it seems like it’s the same place they used to film the end of Season 12/beginning of Season 13, which was probably peak Dabb era, ngl. (Jensen as Michael was also great.) - I also like that Jack and Chuck are both wearing light jackets, but Jack’s is a leeeeeetle whiter. - Chuck looking at the blank book is that moment in every writer’s life, when they’re like, “NOOOOOO, the computer DELETED EVERYTHING I WROTE.” - “Dean Winchester, the ultimate killer” You guys, 10 is Chuck’s favorite season. - Of course it is sweet that Cas’s last words seem to have had an effect on Dean, how he goes from “That’s (killing) all I know how to do” to “That’s not who I am.” I’m far from the first person to point that out though. - What happened to Amara is THE WORST. - Also, I am annoyed that Jack isn’t going home with them, because I really wanted him to be God, and a hands-off one, but I also wanted him to drive the Impala and solve crimes, ya know?  - Jared at least seems to understand that this ending is upsetting, because Sam has tears in his eyes, whereas Dean is just kind of like, “ah, he’s leaving.” Which is fine because DEAN AND JACK ARE NOT AS CLOSE AS SAM AND JACK, fight me. - Him disappearing into light is stupid, though. - At least Dean and Sam get to sit close to each other at the end. I wonder if that was the first scene shot after they got out of quarantine. - WHERE ARE THEY DRIVING? - Maybe to go see Jody. - WE GOT BELA AND CROWLEY AND ANNA IN THE MONTAGE HELLZ YEAH, ALSO ABBADON AND ELLEN AND RUFUS, but we also got fucking Asmodeus and Ketch and no Benny, what the fuck, Showalter?

So I have questions.

Some of them are unimportant, like how did people in restaurants at the end react when they found themselves looking at food that seems to have undergone days’ worth of rot in the blink of an eye? Also, you got a shot of a full airport at the end, but that begs the question: were there airplanes in the sky at the time Chuck snapped everyone away, and did they crash, and did the people on them get snapped back into crashed airplanes and was that not super confusing for them and did the airlines lose billions of dollars because all their planes crashed right before COVID shut them down anyway and if all that’s the case is it really any wonder they needed a bailout from the federal government?

But some of them are plot-relevant and could have helped an episode in desperate need of it.

For example, I want to know what’s going on with the Empty, and if Mark Pellegrino had talked about it for more than two seconds, I might not have hated every second he was on screen. Also, there are other things happening this episode. Like Jack walking around sucking life and “power” out of plants catches Dean and Sam’s attention immediately. We know that, because we see them noticing it and exchanging confused glances in the flashback at the end of the episode.

Here’s the thing though: Why not have that in the beginning? It’s not a Huge Reveal, and it would have given Jensen and Jared something to do in that stale boring beginning other than Make Sad Face. As pretty as Jensen and Jared are, and as good as they are at making sad faces, you cannot build an entire episode around that. 

Related, there isn’t actually much of a beat in the plot where it makes sense for them to figure out Michael will betray them for God. It seems like it will happen in that conversation between Dean and Michael when Michael expresses his hurt that Chuck let Lucifer out of the Empty before even asking for help. But at that point, it seems Sam and Dean have already come up with their plan. The flashback makes it seem as if they began to suspect Michael would betray them when Lucifer called him a cuck, something I think they made a plot point purely to have the word “cuck” in the episode for the third time.**

There are a few hopeful beats that show that bucklemming understand on some level that there needed to be some flow to this episode, such as the dog and Dean thinking he may have gotten Cas back. But I don’t think those are substitutes for showing Sam and Dean come up with their plan to defeat God. Even if you don’t want to reveal that they know Michael will betray them, you can still get one scene in there of them saying something like, “You think this’ll work?” if you just cut two minutes of Michael’s boring monologue in the church and/or Lucifer’s bullshit.

It follows this weird pattern of bucklemming once again seeming to not find Sam and Dean particularly interesting, so they don’t spend any time writing them DOING anything, or at least succeeding at anything, because they’d rather write Lucifer killing women and generally being an asshole.

So ... who cares, right? It’s bucklemming, they were bound to be mediocre-to-bad anyway, it kind of makes sense for Dabb to give them this episode because nepotism definitely makes it a best case scenario. And while I take issue with Dabb as a showrunner, I do think he’s great at standalone episodes and character stuff, so I’m not too terribly worried about next episode. I just think there were things about this episode that could have sucked less.

There ARE things about it that were fine, dare I say even good. It was in my notes, but I just want to emphasize that I LOVED the shot of Sam and Dean getting up bloody and broken, holding onto each other and grinning their asses off knowing that Chuck’s about to lose to Jack, and they get to see it! They may very well have gone into that fight expecting to die -- Chuck nearly just zapped them from existence, which would have still unleashed God-power for Jack to soak up.

The ending scene is pretty good, with Sam and Dean seeming like they’re still pretty beaten down, but trying to get it together. That’s more Jensen and Jared’s acting than anything bucklemming wrote, but it’s still good. The montage is good (although I will say for like the third time, where. the fuck. was Benny?) 

Jensen’s acting over the dog was SO SOFT (doesn’t he have a dog?). I half-expected the dog to run to him at the end, which would have been cute.

There are also things that were ... potentially good, if they’d been brought up correctly? I actually really like that Jack is going to be “hands-off” (although I like less that he and Sam will never see each other again, but Dabb did say it was going to be a bittersweet ending, so ....). 

I also -- and God, I’m going to get hate mail for saying this -- don’t mind that he didn’t bring Cas back. That highlights the difference between him and Chuck. Chuck brings back Sam and Dean (and, in Season 5 at least, Cas) over and over again, not out of love, but just to throw them back into their exhausting existence. In contrast, Jack NOT bringing anyone back (except the people who’d been snapped out of existence, which I would argue is more about putting the world on its proper course again, as opposed to “violating the natural order,” as Billie would put it). He knows he has to let people go. You could argue that’s always been his arc -- he and Cas even talk about how hard it will be for them to one day lose Sam and Dean back in Season 14 when they think Dean is dying.

But I wish there had been dialogue exploring THAT instead of the weird vague stuff about how he would always be a part of them. It doesn’t have to be anything super analytical like what I just wrote, it just has to be him saying, “I understand that in order to be a just god, I have to let things go and be at peace.” 

(However, if the reason they DIDN’T go that direction is they didn’t want Dean to be like, “You know, he’s right,” next episode and not rescue Cas from the Empty, then I’m fine with them leaving that out. Screw the natural order, Dean -- go rescue Cas from the Empty!)

I also really really really want to get some sense that Sam’s faith has been rewarded. We got a tiny glimmer of that this episode in the hushed, awed way Jared delivers the line, “Are you really ... him?” Sam has always been the one with faith in a just and loving God, and one of the things that aggravated me about the end of Season 14 was his faith being so blatantly not rewarded, in favor of promoting Dean’s more cynical take on God.

The show has always, since the very first season, raised questions about where God is, whether his will is just, and how we know we’re following it, and the main characters all have different answers to that -- Sam’s being the more faithful, optimistic view of “God is good”, Dean’s being the more critical “If God is good then why do bad things happen?”, and, most interestingly, Cas’ viewpoint largely fluctuating with his own sense of identity and self-worth. The point is, we had all three of these opinions on God, without the show ever explicitly saying which one was right.

Until very recently, I thought it should have stayed that way. But now I love the idea that Sam’s faith in God was rewarded not by Chuck, but by Jack -- the very boy he took under his wing and raised as his own son, the boy who understands that he is good and that people are good largely because SAM TAUGHT HIM THEY CAN BE. It’s just so beautiful, and I’m getting more and more happy about this ending as I write about it, actually, so maybe I don’t entirely hate Jack’s ending after all.

That was a happier note than I planned on ending this on. I guess that is how you stop worrying and tolerate bucklemming. 

Goodbye, bucklemming. I hated many of your episodes, but I will miss you and your weird, inconsistent writing that was so entertaining to pick apart and analyze and make fun of. I hope you find some cop shows where you can churn out more mediocrity and make some money. And in the meantime, stop killing off women.

*Yet another example from this season of the writers intentionally writing a bad episode to highlight the fact that Chuck is a bad writer. NEWSFLASH DABB: Bad writing is still bad writing, I don’t care if the villain of the story is the writer, I still don’t want to watch it if it’s bad.

**Which is such a bizarre insult to use. Isn’t it slang for a guy who’s wife cheats on him? I swear I’m not innocent or sheltered, I have just literally never heard anyone use that insult in a real context in my entire life. 

[faunusrights]

OFFAL HUNT REMASTERED LIVEBLOG // CHAPTER 12

GUESS WHO’S BACK. BACK AGAIN. OFFAL’S BACK. TELL A FRIEND.

It’s been a while but everybody knows this was just the buildup to some Peak Nonsense. If you didn’t already know: I’m liveblogging the whole of the new remastered Offal Hunt, and you can find the eleven previous chapters liveblogged somewhere in here. Without further ado, however, let’s just jump right in to the First Fanfic That Ever Made Me Cry, Because It’s Written By Two Literal Hellhounds,

JUST KIDDING I’m gonna very quickly reread my own liveblog of chapter eleven because I forgot what happened. Brb.

Aaaaaaaaaaand it was some gay shit. Back to now.

The bad news is I can’t really recall what has or has not been, like, ~properly revealed~ yet, so I’m gonna err on the side of caution and 👈😎👈* even for things that MIGHT be known because. Look. I don’t remember what happens in my own fanfic let alone someone else’s. Still, ONWARDS.

Their collective appetite was a damp stain on the air itself—shared knowledge that the only thing standing between them and the Witch was time. They lined the cavern like rows of rotted teeth, black and crooked, and Cinder was in the hungry gullet, drenched in bloodlust. 

I KNOW I’ve said it in previous liveblogs but this version of Offal Hunt is very much a visual treat. I mean, it’s of no surprise, but still! It’s also Aesthetically Slappin and is also entirely up my alley, which is why so many of my braincells are even devoted to this whole AU anyway,

Cinder’s teeth were crawling from her gums in a bid to escape, and she bit down to pin them in place.

THE HORROR AESTHETIC!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!! anyway I was warned this prose was nightmarish but good news for y’all I’m Here 4 It.

“Something—” The words were roaches wriggling up her throat. “Something’s wrong with me.” 

You know, wasn’t sure how this chapter was gonna go because we’re slowly starting to lance off the rails in bits and pieces, but OOOOOOOOH I LOVE IT. This writing! This style! Also Cinder what the shit have you done this time.

If she fought Glynda now, she would die, her rotting flesh bursting at the intimation of force.

I’m not gonna keep saying how good this is. But. I’m saying it here. It’s good.

I realised the music I’ve been listening to for this has been entirely too upbeat, so I’ve slapped on the soundtrack to The Witch, because what else am I meant to listen to if not the soundtrack of my favourite horror film of all time? Anyway.

So she meets Glynda in the drizzling rain and it’s all very Atmospheric, if I do say so myself, which this bumper line of feels:

Outside, Glynda lurked just down the incline, more presence than person.

That’s what we call a big oof.

She bit, “What was that? It almost sounded like I didn't deserve to get thrown through a window.”

Cinder, bad news, babe: I think you might just always deserve to get thrown through a window.

It was the first time she had ever seen a Witch so fully entrenched in her own soul.

Hoo. H o o.

It took longer for Glynda to respond than it had before. She looked to be chewing on it, as if trying to force the words into shape within her own mouth. Eventually, she said, “Witches. Where did you hear about them?”

The snare pulled taut. Cinder smiled wearily to herself, privately in the dark.

H  O  O.

I also know I’ve said this before too, but Cinder in this version is just. Hhh. So fascinating. Her internal conflict is absolutely Juicy. Except it’s the overripe sort of juicy that makes you go ‘uh-oh’ when u see it u kno the kind.

Nausea struck her square in the gut, made her legs go weak and tremor-struck, and she staggered back, away from Glynda, bending over herself. She wouldn’t be sick, she’d told herself, she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t—

Did y’all know I have emetophobia? This whole bit ends up being a massive mood because feeling nauseous is Panic Attack Central for me. The more you know!

For a moment, it was as though Cinder didn’t even recognize him. This was someone else. Something else. A nightmare dredged up from dreams and spilled into this world, bleeding every sort of fear at the edges.

You know I haven’t spotted a fingerguns moment yet but I think it’s ‘cause I’m so enthralled by this. Oh my GOD Glynda what did you DO. Also wait. Waaaaaait wait wait.

WAIT OH MY GOD I GET IT NOW. OH MY GOD. MY BRAINCELL CLICKED.

Softly, Cinder asked: “Is this… Do you feel this?” Hati blinked slowly. “Always?” He dipped his head. Cinder’s chest wrenched.

OH MY GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OOOOOOOOOOOOOH MY GOD I DUNNO IF-- CAN I-- OKAY I’M JUST GONNA. 👈😎👈 ONLY IT’S MORE LIKE 👈😔👈

Oh my god though holy shit. She’s not sick it’s Glyn-- oh MAN this is SUCH AN IMPROVEMENT I can like. FEEL diesel and kc going ‘wait no wait it should go like this actually’. Of COURSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I feel smarter having literally read this bit for no particular reason. Also this is actually a good like little theory bit abt Stuff that I Can’t Say but. but yeah.

the Witch and the Grimm she was soul-bound to hunt.

Oh okay THERE’S the big 👈👈👈😎👈👈👈 that’s the one babes!!! Can’t say shit but there it is!!!!!!!!!!!

“I know that Grimm.” Grimacing, Cinder said, “Maybe in another life.” Glynda seemed to barely hear. “I’ve dreamed about it. My entire life.”

👈👈👈👈👈👈👈👈👈👈😨👈👈👈👈👈👈👈👈👈

“Come with me,” she said. “I know where to go. There’s someone else who can tell you everything you want to know.” “Her?” [...] She swallowed back bile, cleared her throat, and said: “My mother.” 

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH MY GOD WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Y’ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Y’ALL ARE WE POPPIN’ THIS CAN OF PRINGLES THIS EARLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOLY SHIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The gloves are COMIN’ AWF!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay so this chapter was, how we say in the industry, Very Fucking Good. I didn’t cover absolutely everything that happened ‘cause there’s just So Much even in this small space but so much of this was just. GOOD IT’S GOOD the writing the 👈😎👈s and the everything else!!!!!!!!!!!!! And if anyone reading this is a new reader: hohohoho oh you are, IN FOR IT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HOOTY HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*the fingerguns emoji represents a reference to something in the OG version. This is so I don’t spoil stuff for brand new readers.

[neuxue]

I was looking back at the TEotW live blog entries and I noticed the distinct shift in authorial quality from then to now, which made me curious as to what goes into creating a chapter of the live blog at this stage? You've evidently solidified your style over the years, and it would be nice to know how much effort goes into something we enjoy. Thank you for your work, and I promise Sanderson gets better at writing Mat.

Ha, yeah, I’m a little afraid to ever look at the early posts again because I’ll probably want to crawl under a rock and die of shame, but hopefully they’re at least entertaining…and hopefully the quality shift is in the right direction ;)

Short answer: nowadays, a liveblog chapter usually takes 4-8 hours to write, depending on the chapter’s length and content and how much I care, how I’m feeling that day, etc. To put this in context, when I first started the liveblog I made 2-3 posts per day, of 2-5 chapters each, and a post took me 1-2 hours.

The biggest challenge is therefore finding several hours during which I know I can sit down and do a full chapter. It’s easy enough to find an hour or two, but it’s a lot harder to find 6, and I hate having to split a chapter across several days because I never feel like I can get into it as well. This is mainly because I write while reading, so it feels disjointed if I can’t do it all in one sitting.

To answer your question more thoroughly…as you say, it’s been a case of writing my way into a style that works for me (YMMV, of course). I can’t recall specifically deciding to change anything; as far as I can tell it’s been a mostly gradual change (which adds up to quite a large change when looking at the endpoints). There are a few main contributing factors, which might give a better answer to the question of what goes into a liveblog post now, as opposed to just an amount of time.

Investment, engagement, and progress in the story. I simply didn’t have as much to say when I first started. I didn’t know anything about the world or the characters or the story yet, so while there was a lot to learn and begin piecing together early on, I wasn’t nearly as invested in it as I am now. I also didn’t have as much to draw from; if I were to reread TEotW now, I’m sure I would have far more to say, because a lot of the richness is a product of the story as a larger whole. The more context you have, the more important each individual piece will start to seem.And I care a lot more about the story and the characters now than I did when they were first introduced, so I want to look more closely and go deeper and challenge myself more.  

What I get out of it / what I want to get out of it. This whole thing started as a fun method of procrastination when I was at university. Since then, it has evolved into more of…is it pretentious to say ‘an intellectual exercise’? Being Funny On The Internet is really not my strong point, whereas I actually like writing longer freeform ‘essays’ and getting into detailed analysis. I like having the freedom that a first-time close-read provides to dig into whatever takes my interest, whether that means line-by-line (over)analysis of a particular sequence, or drawing parallels between events or characters, or writing essays on the use of POV as a tool for exploring identity, or whatever else. Because I’m a massive nerd who loves this kind of thing, and this format lets me do whatever I want with it.I’ve actually learned quite a lot about myself as a reader during this whole absurd project, especially about what I want from a story, what kinds of things I like to think about, and what things I could not give less of a fuck about. I want a book that makes me think, and I want to be challenged in some way. When I say the liveblog is primarily for me, I’m really not kidding. I’d be thinking about these things anyway, and this just gives me more structure and ability to do so, because I have to follow my thoughts through and frame them more clearly.Of course, there’s something of a flipside, which brings me to…

Expectations, both my own and other people’s, real or perceived. Probably not surprisingly, I tend to expect quite a lot (too much) of myself. Part of the reason I chose to do the liveblog in a stream-of-consciousness as-I-read format was to give myself as much freedom as possible from those expectations. When I first started, it didn’t matter if one post felt sloppy, or if I skipped over an interesting line, or even if I missed bigger ideas. But as time and wordcount went on, and I got more invested, it felt more and more important to pick up on everything, and to make every post good. (Spoiler alert: I did not make every post good).Maybe it shouldn’t matter to me how many people are reading this and what they think, but I’m human and I have flaws and also an ego. When I first started, I wasn’t thinking of it as work that I was putting on display, or something that would be read and judged as an example of my capability or intelligence or whatever. But as it started to change in style/content, and as more and more people were reading it and responding to it, there was more of a sense of…pressure (an illusion of my own perception, just to clarify, not anyone’s fault). Like I had to exhibit my best work every time, because I suppose I care more what people think of my analytical ability than what they think of my bad one-liners.It’s positive in that it pushes me to produce better work, and encourages me to spend more time on things I find interesting because it turns out there are people who like reading what I come up with. Which is awesome! But as (perceived) expectation increases, it gets harder to produce content quickly. When it didn’t matter, I could spit out several posts a day. Now, I have to spend more time – I want to spend more time; if I’m going to do this I’m going to do it well. But the longer it takes, the better I want each piece to be so that the only post in a month isn’t a shitty one, so then each post takes more time, so then…you get the idea.(To illustrate: every time I think about the Rhuidean sequence there’s a part of me that throws up an absurd amount of self-criticism for not ‘doing those chapters justice’. Because they’re some of the best chapters of the series, but at the time I hadn’t progressed enough in the series or my style to spend as much time on those chapters or analyse them as well as I might now. Also, at the time I felt like I was already doing way more than I had before, and I worried even then that it was too much somehow. Check my tags on that one; I laugh at them now, and it’s clearly a Turning Point in the style of the liveblog, but I was actually quite insecure about it at the time).

The general passage of time. The Wheel of Time turns…when I started this, I was a 22-year-old university student. Now I’m (masquerading as) a Real Adult. 3 years isn’t that long, but people change over time. There are things I’ve formed or changed or relinquished opinions on, and things I care more or less about. My priorities and goals, both day-to-day and longer term, have shifted, some in small ways and some in larger ones. Most of that isn’t going to directly impact a tumblr liveblog of an epic fantasy series, but there’s definitely an indirect impact.  The other thing to consider in terms of ‘time’ is the approach to a short-term project vs a long-term one. I initially saw this as light short-term fun, meaning I could go all-in, use all my spare time on it, and put aside other projects and hobbies for a while. When it became clear that it was not going to be a matter of 2-3 months, that had to change. I wish I could still spend nearly all my free time on this, just as I wish I could get paid to travel wherever I want while reading whatever I fancy. Unfortunately, real life seems to disagree, so the liveblog has had to slow down. 

All that said, I am still enjoying this – it’s been a surprisingly and incredibly fun, fascinating, and rewarding project, and I am still absolutely committed to seeing it through.

[steaktlsideblog]

Intro

I've made this blog to post translations and/or commentary about the 高校事変 (Koukou Jihen, High School Catastrophe) novels by 松岡圭祐 (Matsuoka Keisuke). I'm not the most prolific reader of adult-oriented Japanese media [eg: seinen manga, non-"light" novels], but a couple years ago I came across Koukou Jihen randomly on Bookwalker and decided what the hell. I almost never go for non-fantasy stories that take place in the real world, so this was a real leap for me. The reviews said it was a pretty light read though and had "action movie pacing", so it seemed like a decent jumping-off point. The author also churns out a full novel every like 2 months, so that also gave the impression it would be a lighter, "pulpier" read. That was ultimately true about the writing style, but it still took a lot of work at first because of how unexpectedly detailed it got with political stuff. But by the time I finished the third novel I realized I'd found something pretty amazing that I want to share. Or at least talk about. So this blog is probably for both of those things.

Anyway, what's so great about Matsuoka Keisuke's novels? The best I can really describe it is, imagine thriller novels like "The Da Vinci Code" but if they took themselves about as seriously as "National Treasure", and contain buttloads of tongue-in-cheek social satire. While also being legit good thriller novels at the same time, of course.

The characters and dialogue are really special too. Even for characters who barely get any "screentime" and are basically "extras" if this were a movie, they end up feeling human and memorable. And every line feels like it has a purpose; Matsuoka wastes no time with frivolous over-describing. He gives exactly as much detail as we need to illustrate the character/scene/mood without sacrificing pacing.

By the way, despite taking place in the real world, bonkers shit does indeed still happen in these books. I never feel unsatisfied by the end of one. Oh, and the novels are all self-contained plots that start and resolve within a single book, fyi. Which is really nice, and he does an excellent job of adding continuity with serialized elements while also keeping the overall "episodic" pacing.

The series is complete at 11 novels, of which I've read 4. Rather than continue to book 5 I got the urge to reread book 1 for some reason and while looking over the first chapter I felt like I had a lot to say about it, and felt like maybe this could be an important story to share in English. At the very least, I want to share this series with other learners of Japanese like myself, because it's really fun and written in a conversational, understandable way. I want other learners to see that they can expand their horizons beyond "light" novels with fantasy battle plots or harem romance or whatever. You can read novels with real things to say about [Japanese] society, which portray people like real people behave. It's extremely rewarding. Anyway, I'm getting off-track....

But the first ~20 pages of the first Koukou Jihen novel are extremely dense and politics-filled, which make it quite daunting and inaccessible to the people I'm trying to rec it to. So that's kind of another reason for this blog: to guide people through the dense opening and expose them to this rewarding series.

Also probably this will sorta will be my liveblog of rereading the novel, at the same time.

FYI there is a manga that appears to cover the events of the first novel. I read part of chapter 1 and skimmed the rest of the first volume, and... I don't think it's good. Sorry, it's just not a very good adaptation, for a number of reasons I might talk about when it's relevant. Even when I was originally reading the novel, before knowing the manga existed, there were parts where I thought "this could only really work in writing". And I was correct.

[mihanada]

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation Liveblog(back to masterpost)

I have gone out of order and decided to blog my live reactions to the new chapters are they are released, and leave the retroactive review/reactions for the past chapters.

Potential spoilers for some things that haven’t been revealed yet, because I know a few of the reveals from later in the novel from my investigating lol.

Chapter 49: Aggression (Part 3)

I-I really want to know what happens after the flashbacks. For this whole novel so far, every time we hit a flashback I want to hurry up and return to the present to know what’s going to happen. But on a reread, I don’t want the flashbacks to end because they’re actually really great. Stories with a lot of flashbacks can grow too tedious if the writer isn’t careful, but I grow really fond of all of them once I go back and read everything at a slower pace.

Aaanyways, now might be a nice time to mention Mr. Headless Corpse aka Nie Mingjue is one of my favorite characters. I don’t know why?? He is a giant ball of anger and extreme EXTRA reactions like he is constantly flying off the handle it seems, but I just...really like his straightforward, gives-no-fucks attitude. He doesn’t stop for anything, and if it’s something he can’t forgive, he won’t back down- it’s his strength and probably his downfall, too.

And the fact that his sect had to come up with an elaborate burial grounds for their swords (well, they’re calling them sabers here to differentiate the type, I know). That was actually a pretty neat part of the story. Come to think of it, that was a while ago already, huh.

It still kills me that Wei Wuxian referred to him as “our dear friend” all this time though haha. god. that is way too innocuous to refer to this guy. Even half dead and literally at his enemy’s doorstep, he still finds it in him to rage and fight back.

Are these guys made of steel though or what?? I mean, I guess I’m not too surprised since xianxia seems to have originated from the general wuxia genre but yikes.

This is also the first appearance of Wen Ruohan. He’s only been mentioned once or twice before and, yeah, I can see why everyone wanted this dude dead. And the Wen clan or sect or whatever.

I...wonder...if I will like Jin Guangyao/Meng Yao any better on subsequent read throughs (i mean, I did end up liking Xue Yang as the villain he is for his arc). because right now I just want to reach into the screen and choke the life out of him.

I know that this part was him acting as a spy, but still. It’s a hard pill for Nie Mingjue to swallow, completely clashing with his personal ideology. And it’s also tough for Meng Yao at the time. Maybe if it had all ended here, because his actions at the time weren’t the nicest, but they were understandable and even necessary in terms of the war effort. It seems that he really was earnestly trying to prove and make something of himself during this part of his life.

Moving on...

How did Meng Yao manage to get out of there after striking at Wen Ruohan anyways. I mean, some of the other cultivators captured with Nie Mingjue were still alive I think, and quite a few Wen cultivators died when Nie Mingjue went a little berserk back there, but still.

It was quite interesting, narrative wise, how they set Jin Guangyao up as a nice, decent guy at first. Wei Wuxian didn’t have a negative opinion of him, so this all unfolds and. welp. he is the definition of a backstabber isn’t he. On one hand, you do feel kind of bad for him given what he went through, and on the other hand you want to throttle him. And even in this part, Nie Mingjue might think so, but his actions here aren’t irredeemable at all. Yet. Because we know he has Nie Mingjue’s head on his damn shelf in modern day and not to mention that he killed his own son and some how ends up causing the death of his wife, too.

All the makings of a good villain character, no?

Really, he does make a good villain. There are parts where you sympathize with him, and parts where he has taken things too far. It’s difficult to tell if he is ever being sincere with his words, too.

But. Nie Mingjue, you really do need to chill for, like. Two seconds. It’s no wonder he’s still roaming about after his death and even with his limbs scattered across the land. LOL he’s so extra I can’t even. “alright if it’s going to be ‘immoral’ to kill the guy who saved me then I’ll just kill myself after I kill him that’s fair right” who does that. who does that.

It’s kind of hilariously adorable how Meng Yao sees Lan Xichen and he’s like “a god from Heaven” lol.

AH. Lan Xichen called him A-Yao back then, huh. That says something...

Aww Wei Wuxian can you be more obvious. Can you. This is literally just Nie Mingjue’s memories and yet he brightens up at seeing Lan Wangji and he even calls out to him. “I miss you so much” ?? it hasn’t been that long since you last saw him in the real world lol.

Look at this. “He felt as though snow had begun to fall from the sky, drifting toward a hall illuminated by moonlight.” Who says this about their friend or whatever it is he thinks their relationship is at the moment. No one, I tell you, no one. god, WHEN WILL YOU TWO GET TOGETHER ALREADY (I know the answer, actually...still, can't wait.)

haha “No wonder others had always stared and exclaimed with such a sight.” yes but...this doesn’t excuse that Wei Wuxian still gets so happy seeing Lan Wangji in a memory that he even calls out to him lol. and it’s not because he has such a pleasant expression, it’s still described as “cold” and the sort to keep people at a distance.

these two are just. such an adorable couple I can’t even.

But anyways. LOL. Wei Wuxian looking back on his younger self...even he thought he was insufferable. I’m surprised. He even feels a bit ashamed of himself and his attitude when he was younger.

lol so. Lan Wangji has obviously liked him for a long time, whether or not he realized it himself. in this part when his brother says “Why are you still here?” and asks why he hasn’t gone to talk to Wei Wuxian yet....so Lan Xichen had realized he was fond of him already? xD I mean, he is able to read his younger brother's nonexistent facial expressions the best so.

but omgg the little moments like Lan Wangji wanting to say something to Wei Wuxian, or wanting to go over...if only you knew, Wei Wuxian, if only you knew. they're so cute. ^^

Ok, it’s a good thing I reread the other chapters or else I would’ve completely forgotten who Jin Zixuan was...

...Why is the QingheNie Sect’s place called the ‘Unclean Realm’...?

Aw, ok. Lan Xichen and Jin Guangyao are cute. What could have been, what could have been.

LOL. LAN XICHEN PLAYED THAT SONG TO CALM NIE MINGJUE’S TEMPER HAHAHA. I guess the music therapy helped a bit, but Nie Mingjue is. well. a little too much for music alone to quell.

I just sort of read the last few scenes and didn’t stop lol. Nie Mingjue can be an ass, that’s for sure, but his outbursts are somehow great fun to read. It’s kind of a wonder he hasn’t given himself high blood pressure by now.

So, Jin Guangyao makes some interesting points here about not having the luxury to act in the 'righteous way' because of his position in society vs. Nie Mingjue's, and that's actually very interesting. This is long enough of a post so I think I'll unpack this all at a later date!

(quotes from ExR’s translations)

← back・onward →

[gabriels-artblog]

Man, these aren’t getting any better are they. Oh well whatever.

Good news regarding my progress though. Since yesterday, I’ve managed to reach the point where I caught up, and have made stern progress, completing Act 5. I’m in Act 6 Act 3 now. I’m starting to think I might actually have some sort of a shot catching up on or by the 13th. I’d prefer before, because I can only imagine how many pages and pages and pages of liveblogs I have to catch up on, not to mention a lot of other social channels I’ve been quiet on trying to pull this off.

I always thought it was pretty impressive I caught up where I did (about 4000ish pages) in a total of about 4 days when I started reading. I mean it probably still is objectively, especially considering my lack of sleep during that period. But considering I have not really been reading with nearly that kind of dedication, I feel like I’m not lagging too far behind all things considered. I guess I’ve been skimming in some places, barely reading in others. A lot of stuff went over my head the first time but I was probably paying closer attention to the conversations. Pretty much any flash would get a multitude of viewings before I moved on. I guess pretty much knowing how most of it goes lets me absorb each page very quickly and move along, even when I’m into it.

Dunno if my level of interest is tied to the particular parts themselves or just my mood sort of rising and falling throughout the day, but I’ve been pretty rigorous today. I did kind of have to push myself in a couple places that I might not have thought I would, but that’s been pretty uncommon. Also, Act 6 is moving pretty briskly so far. I’ve done a reread before, but I don’t really remember taking notice of its pacing or length.

Guess I should talk about that a little. It still does feel to me like the breadth of storytelling takes a pretty significant step with Act 6. Prior to that, stuff just kinda... happens. It’s really pretty similar to Problem Sleuth. Stuff happens, and it’s all complex and labyrinthine and puzzling, but in the end, it’s just kind of stuff happening that doesn’t have a great deal of significance. At least, that applies to a lot of the “big” stuff, like the scratch, bec noir, and most of what really moves the plot along.

Granted, there is a good deal of emotional & character stuff too, largely to do with the trolls. And there are these themes of like. Morality at play. But Act 6 starts to kick off the deeper meaning of the sburb roles, the classes and aspects, retroactively redefining a lot of past stuff and creating this really deep framework to analyze practically the whole story, past and future.

Acts 1-4 are practically like laying the groundwork for the whole story, building things up slowly and steadily. Act 5 is when it started to get attention and the whirlwind phenomena and flashy coolness of it make it something exciting, memorable, epic, and awesome. Act 6 starts to introduce, or at least really explore, themes and ideas for which the groundwork had been laid that make the story seem so much deeper. Maybe give it the sort of literary weight to deserve the praise and attention persons such as myself like to lavish on it. And since I’m breaking it into fourths, I’m sure Act 6 Act 6 probably has a profound effect of its own, too. Um, if something occurs to me when I get to that point, I’ll come back to this.

And, yeah, that’s gonna be a thing. If I’m going to stand a chance of catching up, I’d like to make it up to at least A6A5 by tonight. But I dunno, I’m feeling like I might give it a rest soon. We’ll see.

Nobody is reading this. I sure hope not anyway. I could definitely stand to think about all this some more, and present it maybe in a more accessible and succinct package. I guess this has kind of rekindled my interest in discussing the comic. Maybe I’ll create opportunities to do just that soon.

[esseastri]

All right, fronds, Tor has announced that starting August 22, they’ll be posting Oathbringer chapters! This is terribly exciting for people who want to read the preview chapters, but for people like me, who want to wait and savor (and liveblog) the whole book at once as opposed to piecemeal and spread out over several months, it’s kind of a source of anxiety...

I know that I’m going to be dodging spoilers for almost three months now (thanks, tor). And while I would never want to dampen people’s enjoyment of the preview novel chapters, I’m adding my request to the pile of people saying, yo please please please tag your spoilers!!! 

Aaaaand as much as I love tumblr, it can be kind of...a complicated endeavor making sure that posts end up where you want them--or don’t. So here’s a friendly review of how to make sure spoilers don’t end up where people who don’t want to see them...won’t.

Read mores are your friends. That little line makes everything so, so much easier to avoid. Read mores are your friends.

Wait until the fifth tag. Here’s one of tumblr’s less well-known features: only the first five tags on a post will show up in the public tag. So if the FIRST tag you put on a post is #brandon sanderson, that shit’s showing up in the #brandon sanderson tag. BUT if you put #one #two #three #four #five #brandon sanderson, (or similar “junk tags”--I tend to use // marks), then we’re all safe. It won’t end up in the tracked tag and it’ll be easier to avoid spoilers in the public, tracked tags. You still maintain organization on your personal blog, because it’s still in YOUR #brandon sanderson tag, but you won’t ruin someone else’s day by having it show up in the public tag with spoilers attached.

The first five tags work the other way, too! No one wants to scream into the void and not get a response--I’m on board with that. So somewhere in your first five tags, put #oathbringer or #oathbringer spoilers or even #stormlight archive spoilers. That way, people reading the preview chapters have a place to go to interact with other people reading the preview chapters, and people who want to go into November fresh and clean and unspoiled can still check the regular SA and Bsandy tags without fearing they’ll get spoiled.

Don’t put reactions in the tags. A lot of people have blacklist settings so that even if a post is blocked, the tags still show up as readable--this makes it easier to see why things were blocked, but it also runs the risk of tags like “#omg and then JASNAH did the THING and I DIED” spoiling even tiny things. Keep tags for...well, tags for a few months, and add additional screaming or reactions to the bottom of your actual post.

Discord and Mibbit are your friends. The nice thing about both messaging services is that you can set up different chats and servers that are subsets of the regular ones. So make a spoiler chat separate from the regular, spoiler-free chat, and go wild.

TAG EVERYTHING! Even if it’s a meme or a stupid shitpost or a vagueblog or something that doesn’t seem like it’s spoilers--TAG IT ANYWAY. If it’s even tangentially related to Oathbringer, TAG IT. Especially memes, tbh. Memes are insidious, and often innocent, but with a closer look, they reveal more than they might have intended. Tag literally everything, even if you don’t think it’s spoilers, even if you think it’s annoying. Those of us avoiding shit will thank you.

KEEP tagging stuff, even after the book is released! Maybe you read the preview chapters and so you’ve got a 300-page headstart, or maybe you speed-read, or maybe you took time off from work just to read, and maybe you finish two days after the book comes out. Keep tagging spoilers. Some people read slower, or have time commitments or work keeping them away from the book, or simply read a few chapters a day to savor it, or want to read faster but can’t because they’re liveblogging it (hello, fronds!). But just because you are finished doesn’t mean everyone else is, and continuing to tag for spoilers is super necessary, even six months--or longer--out from the release date.

All right, I hope that didn’t come out as patronizing or anything. I’ve just found that an occasional reminder of the ins and outs of tumblr’s more useful systems can be super helpful, especially if it’s stuff that newer users might not have encountered yet, like the fifth-tag-rule.

ANYWAY, for everyone starting with the preview chapters, ONLY SEVEN DAYS UNTIL OATHBRINGER!!!! Those of us waiting the remaining 90 days until November 14 thank you in advance for tagging your shit. <3

....shit, 90 days? that’s closer than I thought it was.....guess, I need to get a jump on my WoR reread!!