#anyways. how's your friday

[al-mayriti]

on another news COULD THE FUCKING WELSH UNIVERSITY CORRECT MY MASTER'S THESIS SO I CAN GRADUATE THERE AND NOT BE IN AN ACADEMIC LIMBO PLEASE

[supernovatx]

Obviously “America is Great Again” is a fantastic critique of capitalism and American propaganda, which would be enough to make it an incredible scene on its own. It’s a great song and a great demonstration of the show’s themes, and it’s really well done.

But there’s a tragic layer to that song that really elevates it for me, and that’s because it’s specifically MacNamara singing it.

MacNamara first is introduced to seem like a stereotypical patriotic army guy in the scene where he knocks Paul out. However, he then subverts that in the next scene where we learn his true morals, namely that he believes in love and humanity as his higher purpose and he will put that above the orders of his country if they conflict. He chooses to let Paul live because of that, and when Paul asks if he can save Emma, MacNamara gives him his gun and tells him to go. We learn, as does Paul, that despite his appearance and general vibes, he is a genuinely good person who wants to help and is willing to put his moral code above his patriotism.

But when he gets apotheosized, he becomes the complete opposite. Suddenly his loyalty is to his country only, and his own moral code is erased in service of that, which causes contradictions between the lyrics of AIGA and his thoughts in the scene with Paul. “You can’t run because our borders are closed” when he was helping Paul escape in a helicopter as a human; “Americans should fit a mold” when he didn’t at all fit the “douchey army patriot” mold he was presented with; “There’s only room for right and wrong” when he clearly is able to choose between his own morality and his orders, indicating a more complex outlook instead of a binary. He becomes the stereotype he was subverting, and in doing so he becomes someone that the real MacNamara would have hated. That’s the tragedy of that song, and of the whole show really, is that the people who become part of the hive mind lose their true selves and are only able to act in their stereotypical roles, even if that’s nothing like how they actually were as humans.

There’s also something to be said here about how the us war machine and capitalism corrupts people and makes them into something they would never have been otherwise through a forced loss of personhood but I can’t figure out how to phrase that so

[knifebaby3000]

chateau lobby #4 (reprise)

[notbecauseofvictories]

This is going to sound negative, but I think Snuff deserves to be the last Discworld book. I mean, Raising Steam is good in certain ways, a fond elegy to the characters and plots a reader has come to know so well. I don't even object to the visceral pleasure of the earlier novels giving way to something diffuse, harder to pin down. (Unseen Academicals felt like this---a wonderful novel, but not actually a victory; just a plot that rearranged matters in an interesting way.) But there's a sort of...ill magic setting in, by the time you get to the scene where Vetinari gives medals to our wonderful shining heroes of the railway.

Namely, they're too good at this.

Vimes uses the Summoning Dark multiple times, and without even the terrified self-doubt he was showing in Snuff. (I have other issues with Snuff, but that was an interesting thread to pull.) Vetinari not-too-discretely points the Black Clerks at a problem, and it is solved; when necessary, he goes undercover working on something he personally considers vaguely distasteful, and yet becomes the center of a folk song. Moist neither sleeps, nor eats nor makes love to his wife (except sometimes, too rarely in his opinion) but rushes all over doing the railways' job for---what? for why?

They're too good, they've climbed too high; Vimes and Vetinari are edging into myth while still being alive, and Moist was already half of a song anyway, has been since he put on the golden suit.

I'm not saying it's not an interesting setup, because strangely it is. But it feels like the start of something, not closure at all, because what else is Discworld good for if not to tackle the fact that everything glowy and laden with awe will not remain such. Because, you know, that's how the world works.

[aeb-art]

even in a story with reader insert, i'm still putting myself in there separately ahahaha so here's another lil thing with some of @venomous-qwille's characters

and then the moment they leave the room:

[vodkaslyme]

Friday Nights are so uncomfortable

[akai-anna]

Round 4

Round: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

[twinktorturer]

augustus and marcus agrippa

[xvxblahhhxvx]

I still think about the fact that when Dazai got captured by the Port Mafia, not only did no one in the Agency worry about him, Kunikida made him write a report on it when he got back.

Which only makes me wonder how often this happens that it's become standard procedure to write reports after returning from being captured by the enemy.

Sometimes, I wonder what the Agency's actual job is.

[toasteaa]

I had a gyro and the world became so beautiful once again 😌

[icantalk710]

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAHHH 👏🏽🗣️

[p-sunghoonies]

I am normal and sane and okay and fine and normal and indifferent and neutral and cool and aloof and

[alastyr-not-alastair]

Hhhungryyyyyyyyyyy

[wintermav]

I dreamt about a nursing student/nurse Wilson x Dr House AU, so I needed for it to become real (in a way) 😭

[seilon]

top surgery…………tomorrow…………

[dinosaurcharcuterie]

So.

My manager was not informed my assistant manager told me to focus on nursing claims while senior coworker is out sick. My coworkers assume that someone checks workloads before dividing up the work of sick people, rather than just shell stuff out by hours worked. They're wrong.

I'm six weeks behind on my healthcare claims.

Our clients have decided the first sunny Friday of the year is the best time to call about stuff. The employee reps have a meeting again. A nursing coworker is drowning in calls. The corrections team is huffy because I rewrote my ticket after they couldn't make heads or tails of it.

I'm five and a half weeks behind on my healthcare claims.

Our phone number is still being printed on certain tariff claims we have nothing to do with. All calls are about teeth stuff I've never heard about. I get asked to violate federal data protection laws. A customer who wants to reach us by email is upset we ask that all attachments are legible. A customer who knows they only have 30% cover is confused why we aren't paying out 100% of costs. I get asked to violate federal data protection laws.

My nursing claims are piling up.

Someone wants me to write "just a quick message to the anti escalation team" that takes an hour to not make sound like the most passive aggressive thing ever, because the anti escalation team only deals with things that are easily misinterpreted as the most passive aggressive thing ever. In either direction. I can see three ways this could have started and it's no one's fault. I can't put that into words without sounding like I'm blaming someone.

I'm five weeks behind on my healthcare claims.

Another coworker can't reach the assistant manager and I'm the most senior adjuster still logged in for her problem. She's just so confused. It's simple. She refuses to believe it's that easy. I go on lunch break.

My nursing claims are piling up.

I've got the most nonsensical letters in my workload that need to be processed before all else. I shut down my phone line. A healthcare provider seems to be violating federal data protection laws on a whim.

I'm four weeks behind on my healthcare claims.

I email my assistant manager the requested list of screenshots illustrating the logging error in healthcare claims I mentioned three weeks ago. I skim my newer workload for time sensitive stuff and misdirected correspondence. I'm on an hour of overtime.

I've got no idea if my assistant manager was told I was told to work on my healthcare stuff today. Sick coworker won't be back until Easter. I never get work done on Monday. Too many calls.

My nursing claims are piling up.

I'll be four weeks behind on my healthcare claims next Tuesday.