#artemus approved

[adamsrcnan]

I just had a vision. Walk with me here. Now i'm not sure if anyone has floated this idea before. But i would pay Maggie Stiefvater good money (i'm talking gooood money) to write about what actually happened to Glendower. For example, show me the battles he was fighting, the relationship with Gwenllian. When she stabbed the poet to prevent war and it back fired. Artemus. Just like all of Artemus and the tir e e'lintes. Glendower (i was fully abt to type Gansey lol) and his men carrying his body across the sea and across the fields (the same ones the gangsey would later be exploring) when the shield was left behind and fell to the bottom of a lake (maybe it wasn't even a lake then) what was cabeswater before it was cabeswater as we know it. How did they find the caves?? How did they build the tombs. The valley of bones they found. Gwenllian being sealed in her tomb. Glendower being laid to rest in his. The demon!!! The magic going wrong. How did the other body they found die??? What did Artemus do?? Why did he hide??

I need the whole story and how neat would it be if the characters acted as foils or parallels to the gangsey. Like how they say Gansey was a lot like Glendower but Glendower had flaws or parts of his story that Gansey did not approve of. So we could have like Glendower's knights and magicians etc paralleling Blue, Adam, Ronan, Noah and Henry. Do you see my vision????

All i'm saying is...it could really Be something

[ani4detal]

Artemus Dolgin. Just because. Posting is erratic atm. Did the upgrade to Sonoma on my mac...boy has Avast VPN screwed up everything. Smack the team that approved that for release!

[timelessfm]

𝚆𝙴𝙻𝙲𝙾𝙼𝙴 ! below the cut, you'll find the list of accepted players. before we move on, i will once again let myself sound like a broken record and extend a huge, huge thank you to every single one of you who's applied. all of your applications have been a joy to read & the choices were so damn difficult to make. i'm sorry to everyone who hasn't got in but i hope you still keep this group in the back of your mind and if there's ever an opportunity to apply again in the future, i hope you consider it ! i genuinely had a blast reading everyone's work and it was truly a pleasure to get to meet all of your characters. i appreciate your hard work and your enthusiasm so much, you guys have no idea how happy i am that you've given this such a lovely welcome and had nothing but kind words to offer. once again, thank you <3 and congrats to everyone accepted ! please follow the checklist and i can't wait to hear from you !

artemus yang as 𝙱𝙰𝙻𝙳𝚆𝙸𝙽 played by keva

your application has been such a ride and it's been some of the most fun and creative writing i've seen in a while. i absolutely adored the way you captured baldwin and london's relationship, the quote-unquote meet cute got me so excited and i was hooked from the very start. congrats !

alice garcía-xú as 𝙱𝙸𝚂𝙷𝙾𝙿 played by mia

i am so obsessed with alice's backstory and the way she was introduced to the bureau, i just can't wait to see where the mystery of her husband's death goes. aka i can't wait for shady bureau business. congrats !

dilan shah as 𝙲𝙷𝙾𝙿𝙸𝙽 played by cass

you captured the vibe i was going for with chopin perfectly ! the bright-eyed enthusiasm, the neverending curiosity, the way chopin is so desperate for approval from their new teammates. dilan is a character with so much potential and i can't wait to see it play out. congrats !

gael esai tiul as 𝙳𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙸𝙽𝚂𝙾𝙽 played by clow

the sheer amount of detail in your app literally brought me to my knees. i loved the historical setting you placed dickinson in and man, was your application a joy to read—so immersive and i couldn't wait to read more. and not gonna lie, the death part? got me emotional. and the jump ! i'm so excited for gael. congrats !

choi in-su as 𝙵𝙰𝚄𝙻𝙺𝙽𝙴𝚁 played by pi

i'm so happy you reached out with this idea to me and i can't wait to see faulkner in action—a character so out of place, who had to learn the world anew but the way he agreed to it like that, almost as if he knew exactly what he was doing. it was another app with an insane amount of care put into the details and the historical context and it was so damn impressive. congrats !

alfred powell as 𝙵𝙸𝚃𝚉𝙶𝙴𝚁𝙰𝙻𝙳 played by aaron

you had me at the combo of math and jazz and ella fitzgerald. i love how self-assured and no-bullshit alfred is and the relationships part of your app was so clever and had me laughing out loud. and the way it finished with fitzgerald wondering and questioning—ahh, i want him to get those answers now. congrats!

jonathan liyuan cheung as 𝚂𝚃𝙴𝙸𝙽 played by mimz

as the local cain enjoyer, your stein truly just hit all the spots for me. the idea of the bureau making a mistake and the ripple that one single event sends across time is phenomenal and i love where you went with it so much. i am so excited to see stein in action. congrats !

miriam rosenbaum as 𝚃𝙷𝙾𝚁𝙴𝙰𝚄 played by laine

i am so obsessed with miriam's fall from grace—that one little slip that ruined her life....or did it. i love how you explored her conflicted feelings about the bureau and i adore the idea that she suspects that the senator's death that ended her career was something that the organisation had a hand in. and the graveyard visit got me needing tissues for real. congrats !

raphael pérez de la peña 𝚆𝙷𝙸𝚃𝙼𝙰𝙽 played by seb

you really know how to paint a picture, truly felt like i was talking to raphael myself. and you got me absolutely screaming with the part about his parents' fight. getting to meet your whitman was such a journey and i can't wait to continue it. congrats !

adelina “ada” montalván as 𝙾𝙲 ( agent code name pending ) played by taryn

ada is such a phenomenal character, i just couldn't stop thinking about her. i love the idea of her being displaced in time like this and then the bureau orchestrating her life to look the way they want it to but not without its price. i am so so excited to see where you'll take her. congrats !

[your-art-is-gay]

Raya and the Last Dragon: my thoughts

I’ve officially sat down and watched Raya and the Last Dragon now that its out, so here’s an informal review of it from yours truly. Spoiler warning, obviously.

Naturally, the animation was visually gorgeous. Hair movement, lighting, water animation. There was something particularly satisfying about the way that Sisu’s hair was animated, though that may just be me. I think that, as far as world environments go, Moana was prettier, but I’m a massive sucker for that tropical ocean aesthetic, so that’s mostly down to personal preference.

For a while before the movie came out, I heard people complaining or picking on the way Disney designed the dragons. Hell, I was one of those people. I still think that giving Sisu a Disney Princess face was ridiculous (and every time she opened her mouth, I kept expecting to hear Idina Menzel talking), but I understand why they did it. It’s Disney. If they made Sisu look more like a traditionally fearsome dragon, how could they sell adorable plushies?? 

I mean, even HTTYD made the dragons decidedly cute, and Dreamworks has more balls when it comes to character design than Disney does.

As for the story, I can’t say anything about it was totally groundbreaking or anything, but hey, it’s a Disney film. A princess goes on a quest to save her father and all the people of her world from an evil shadowy force. Pretty basic stuff.

I think the narration at the beginning could have been handled....better. It felt a little clunky, which feels out of place for a Disney movie. I mean, there is a lot of worldbuilding going on, but still. 

Maybe they could have gone with a flashback to the battle that initially destroyed (locked away) the Drun, framed as Raya’s father telling her the story before the gathering of the clans, explaining to her how Kumandra had fallen apart and how it was important to become Kumandra again. Like what Moana did. It might have been a bit repetitive, but hey, when it works, it works.

I think the most interesting part of the story came in the characterization of Raya herself. At the beginning of the story (after the flashback to The Day The World Broke), we have 18-year-old Raya at the end of her six-year-long-journey to find the last dragon at the end of a river. 

She’s suave, she’s cool, she kicks major ass and has one of those gnarly jointed swords...and she’s alone. Other than her handy ride and best friend, the abso-fucking-lutely adorable Tuk Tuk, that is.

As the movie continues, we see that Raya has major trust issues. She works alone. Basically, she’s a Disney anti-hero. How cool is that?? It’s a major first for a Disney princess, and I think it’s one of the things that made me like her so much as a character.

And the most compelling part about that anti-hero-ness? Her drive is LOVE, not revenge. I’ve never seen that before!

Her entire push through the movie is to right a mistake she made as a child and see her father again (saving the world is just a plus to that). She doesn’t care about destroying every Drun, or getting revenge on Fang and Namaari for betraying her trust. Sure, she and Namaari fight, but it never feels like Raya is going out of her way to do so.

Naturally, this sort of thing is easier in a story where the motivating loved one isn’t dead. Raya can and will see her father again if she succeeds. It’s a little harder to write a love-motivated anti-hero if the one they’re doing it all for is dead and there’s no way to bring them back. I think it would be an interesting challenge though...hm, note to self.

At no point does Raya’s distrust of people feel silly or blown out of proportion, which some anti-heroes fall into sometimes. I mean, the last time she trusted someone, the world literally fell apart. Not to mention, she was a child when it happened! She witnessed her father trust in humankind and how that had gone so horribly wrong. 

It makes sense why she wouldn’t just tell Namaari “oh hey, I found the last dragon and I’m collecting the pieces of the dragon stone so I can save the world.” Sure, telling Namaari that early on would have arguably made things go so much smoother. But Raya has seen what greed and distrust can do to people. She saw what happened the last time the leaders of the clans saw the dragon stone. If anyone found out that she had multiple dragon stone pieces and the last dragon alive, there’s no telling what sort of horrible things they’d do to obtain that power.

Raya’s arc with Sisu teaching her to learn to trust again is just fantastic, Sisu herself was just a fantastic character, and I love her. I love that she’s not the uber-powerful, majestic dragon Raya was expecting her to be. She’s goofy, she’s kind of naive, but she comes through in the end and you know that she’ll always be a fantastic friend. 

The ending fight scene was gorgeous, and that final part where Raya finally trusts Namaari was just...oh, it was fantastic. And then the others following suit, because they know that if Raya actually trusts someone... And then, one by one, they give Namaari their dragon stone pieces and then let the Drun turn them to stone. Oh. Just. Just fantastic. That’s all I can say about that.

One thing that stuck out to me in the movie: the pose the Drun-turned statues made. It looks sort of like a praying position? Kind of like what Raya and the others did when they honored the family lost to the Drun, cupping the flowers in their hands before putting them in the water. I wish I knew more about the specifics of any of that, though. I know next to nothing about the South-East Asian cultures the movie drew inspiration from, so any cultural meaning is completely lost on me.

That being said, I really enjoyed the movie! It was an entertaining watch and a fantastic addition to the Disney Princess movies (assuming that Raya will, in fact, become an official Disney Princess). I love this newer direction Disney is taking with telling cultural stories like with Moana, and I hope this becomes a trend! (As long as they keep doing it well, I mean.) I’d really like to see a new Native American Disney princess. Preferably not one based on an actual historical figure because, well, you know how that went with Pocahontas.

TL;DR: I personally really liked Raya and the Last Dragon. The animation was great and the direction they took Raya’s character in is something we’ve never seen from a Disney Princess movie. I highly recommend watching it at least once. :)

-Artemus

[malinaa]

trc rewrite

the secret good trc in our heads co-written by @rosesau 

they’re actually in college :)

ronan’s a criminal justice major just for fun. gansey has smth w history and polisci but on a law track. adam is a psych major and blue majors in fashion design. noah would’ve been undeclared 

this is technically just three books in our heads bc so much of trc is just... useless 

blue is a woc who actually IS a feminist 

ronan should seek HER approval bc she’s just so cool <3

adam gets bitches 

blue and adam kiss. obviously

adam has sexy brown eyes

yk what adam also has sexy scars on his hands <333

this post but we’re making all the genesis symbolism Blatant and Intentional 

blue has friends at school that the readers get to know. she IS like the other girls 

declan lynch is somebody’s favorite . 

that’s for the declan girlies <3

the fox way women actually matter. they HAVE to pass the bechdel test 😭 on god we’re gonna do it 

get rid of the gray man / malory / greenmantle and his wife piper / whelk (replace whelk’s pov with noah’s). no gwenllian either. or artemus sorry blue but no. 

we’re not having a fucking hit man date blue’s mother. 

we’re also just not making blue a tree. like why. why did maggie do that. why did maggie make maura fuck a tree

actually we get alive!noah’s pov instead of whelk and we build up to his death... im about to sob. we are NOT forgetting noah. this is for book 1

book 1 should actually just focus on noah and cabeswater’s existence and blue/adam

it should be a mystery with magical elements. like noah and cabeswater start off as seemingly separate entities but then as the gang finds out more, they realize they’re entangled 

bluesey fuck. they don’t kiss. i mean they kiss pushing daisies style <3

also re: bluesey... their arcs ... we’re gonna make them have parallel arcs where blue’s fine with gansey dying in the beginning and slowly not accepting he’s gonna die. then u have gansey who has faced death and feared it and is trying so hard to run away from it, to someone who wants and asks blue to kiss him. he will walk to death willingly

book 1: instead of gansey seeing glendower in the vision, he sees the same vision as blue... imagine that....

blue has the vision first, then gansey smth smth knowledge being passed from eve to adam smth smth 

blue and adam gets wrapped up at the end of book 1 or the beginning of book 2 at the latest and they kiss in st agnes

we are absolutely murdering adam’s father. robert parrish must die 

what if ronan kills robert parrish ... ahaha jk... unless 😳

book 2 should’ve been: gray man stalks the gang, ronan finds out kavinsky’s a dreamer, ronan wants to protect himself and his friends but then kavinsky teaches him how to dream and ronan’s like. ur fucking insane but ur like fine or whatever and then the gray man targets them both for potentially being graywarens and he grabs kavinsky and ronan saves him in the dream 💆🏻‍♀️ kavinsky is alive. no dragons bc ... what the fuck???? i love a good dragon as much as the next person but cmon... 

TOGA PARTY. BLUE AND GANSEY FU-[gunshots]

at the end there either IS a king that they can ask a favor from but it’s only 1 favor OR . there is no king and we establish that early on n then we just vibe

gansey dies from blue’s kiss and then noah sacrafices himself for gansey and moves on AND THEY REMEMBER HIM. GOD. noah saying “this is my choice. this is my sacrifice.” 

just for funsies we’re gonna make gansey and adam drunkenly hook up. like so true bi kings

this series is about a bunch of repressed el gee bee tees

i’m fixing bluesey. cross my heart. just trust me on this i got repressed pining sexual tension yearning down 

bluesey car scene. drive by halsey. like.... there NEEDS to be more tension ... like kanej-level-several-pages-type-of-tension

bluesey in the car fu-[gunshots again] 

blue get her own mint plant… putting a leaf on her tongue just so she can imagine what he tastes like

also massive love to big noses rip to maggie but big noses are sexy 

any plot points that most readers just do not rmbr... its out love n light 2 maggie

actually we’re sending hatred and darkness. fuck her. weird ass

ok but rly like why was greenmantle and his wife there why was gwenllian there if only to make the 300 fox way girlies a trio again (there are Enough to make a trio already just add one of the younger girlies) why does the gray man have an arc why does he have an arc why is he important what does he even do. every scene with the jesse the guy guarding the cave. What was the reason... actually we are getting RID of the cave. this is why it’s only 3 books instead of 4. like find maura in cabeswater. blue does not need gwenllian to learn more about being a mirror like neeve could’ve said one off handed comment in trb and blue could just suddenly rmbr

seed: WHO is jesse

me: guy who guards the cave 😭

pynch stays the same. maggie has one right for them 

actually wait . this CAN be 4 books. everything that we got rid of is just replaced by bluesey and pynch fucking. 

god more of pynch in the barns.... HELPPPPPPPP 

and for the declan girlies... we get more declan <3 

no bluesey roadtrip... with HENRY?????? sorry to all the henry stans but i dont get him 

the way it would help to actually remember the books but we don’t

[popolitiko]

Is Ginni Thomas a Threat to the Supreme Court?

Behind closed doors, Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife is working with many groups directly involved in controversial cases before the Court.

By Jane Mayer - January 21, 202

Ginni Thomas has declared that America is in existential danger because of the “deep state” and the “fascist left,” which includes “transsexual fascists.”

In December, Chief Justice John Roberts released his year-end report on the federal judiciary. According to a recent Gallup poll, the Supreme Court has its lowest public-approval rating in history—in part because it is viewed as being overly politicized. President Joe Biden recently established a bipartisan commission to consider reforms to the Court, and members of Congress have introduced legislation that would require Justices to adhere to the same types of ethics standards as other judges. Roberts’s report, however, defiantly warned everyone to back off. “The Judiciary’s power to manage its internal affairs insulates courts from inappropriate political influence,” he wrote. His statement followed a series of defensive speeches from members of the Court’s conservative wing, which now holds a super-majority of 6–3. Last fall, Justice Clarence Thomas, in an address at Notre Dame, accused the media of spreading the false notion that the Justices are merely politicians in robes. Such criticism, he said, “makes it sound as though you are just always going right to your personal preference,” adding, “They think you become like a politician!”

The claim that the Justices’ opinions are politically neutral is becoming increasingly hard to accept, especially from Thomas, whose wife, Virginia (Ginni) Thomas, is a vocal right-wing activist. She has declared that America is in existential danger because of the “deep state” and the “fascist left,” which includes “transsexual fascists.” Thomas, a lawyer who runs a small political-lobbying firm, Liberty Consulting, has become a prominent member of various hard-line groups. Her political activism has caused controversy for years. For the most part, it has been dismissed as the harmless action of an independent spouse. But now the Court appears likely to secure victories for her allies in a number of highly polarizing cases—on abortion, affirmative action, and gun rights.

Many Americans first became aware of Ginni Thomas’s activism on January 6, 2021. That morning, before the Stop the Steal rally in Washington, D.C., turned into an assault on the Capitol resulting in the deaths of at least five people, she cheered on the supporters of President Donald Trump who had gathered to overturn Biden’s election. In a Facebook post that went viral, she linked to a news item about the protest, writing, “LOVE MAGA people!!!!” Shortly afterward, she posted about Ronald Reagan’s famous “A Time for Choosing” speech. Her next status update said, “GOD BLESS EACH OF YOU STANDING UP or PRAYING.” Two days after the insurrection, she added a disclaimer to her feed, noting that she’d written the posts “before violence in US Capitol.” (The posts are no longer public.)

Later that January, the Washington Post revealed that she had also been agitating about Trump’s loss on a private Listserv, Thomas Clerk World, which includes former law clerks of Justice Thomas’s. The online discussion had been contentious. John Eastman, a former Thomas clerk and a key instigator of the lie that Trump actually won in 2020, was on the same side as Ginni Thomas, and he drew rebukes. According to the Post, Thomas eventually apologized to the group for causing internal rancor. Artemus Ward, a political scientist at Northern Illinois University and a co-author of “Sorcerers’ Apprentices,” a history of Supreme Court clerks, believes that the incident confirmed her outsized role. “Virginia Thomas has direct access to Thomas’s clerks,” Ward said. Clarence Thomas is now the Court’s senior member, having served for thirty years, and Ward estimates that there are “something like a hundred and twenty people on that Listserv.” In Ward’s view, they comprise “an élite right-wing commando movement.” Justice Thomas, he says, doesn’t post on the Listserv, but his wife “is advocating for things directly.” Ward added, “It’s unprecedented. I have never seen a Justice’s wife as involved.”

-----------------------------------

When Clarence Thomas met Ginni Lamp, in 1986, he was an ambitious Black conservative in charge of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission—and she was even more conservative and better connected than he was. Her father ran a firm that developed housing in and around Omaha, and her parents were Party activists who had formed the backbone of Barry Goldwater’s campaign in Nebraska. The writer Kurt Andersen, who grew up across the street from the family, recalls, “Her parents were the roots of the modern, crazy Republican Party. My parents were Goldwater Republicans, but even they thought the Lamp family was nuts.” Ginni graduated from Creighton University, in Omaha, and then attended law school there. Her parents helped get her a job with a local Republican candidate for Congress, and when he won she followed him to Washington. But, after reportedly flunking the bar exam, she fell in with a cultish self-help group, Lifespring, whose members were encouraged to strip naked and mock one another’s body fat. She eventually broke away, and began working for the Chamber of Commerce, opposing “comparable worth” pay for women. She and Thomas began dating, and in 1987 they married. As a woman clashing with the women’s movement, she had found much in common with Thomas, who opposed causes supported by many Black Americans. At Thomas’s extraordinarily contentious Supreme Court confirmation hearings, in 1991, Anita Hill credibly accused him of having sexually harassed her when she was working at the E.E.O.C. Ginni Thomas later likened the experience to being stuck inside a scalding furnace. Even before then, a friend told the Washington Post, the couple was so bonded that “the one person [Clarence] really listens to is Virginia.”

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/is-ginni-thomas-a-threat-to-the-supreme-court

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/01/31/is-ginni-thomas-a-threat-to-the-supreme-court

[someonelookingpraediti]

Currently Reading...

The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater

Day 1: Chapters 1-18

Ok firstly, my favourite character continues to be Chainsaw. Imagine, the boy you love most in the world asks you to grab his jacket, and you just turn round and bite him? And he goes “yeah thanks babe”. What a life. I am wildly envious.

There’s a lot happening in this book already. Ronan is starting to see “home” not as ‘the barns, with my family’, but as ‘the barns, with Adam.’ He’s so sweetly, softly in love. And he's so sad about Matthew. He wasn't old enough to dream him a proper life, how heartbreaking! His adorable brother, with no personality except to love and be loved. Poor, sad Ronan. I love seeing him at the barns, getting his hands dirty and surrounded by animals. He’s absolutely in his element, and I love that he shares that side of him with Adam so freely.

And Noah, poor, freaky, decaying Noah. He really is a dead thing. Even creepy and deteriorated, I still adore him. I just know he’s going to ‘move on’ at the end of the book, and I can’t bear it. And I love the little glimpses of the ‘alive’ Noah. The Noah with crazy, silly ideas. And it’s incredible how much he’s changed in comparison to the others over the books - in that he hasn’t. The rest of them have grown up massively in a few months, as teenagers do. And Noah hasn’t, and he seems so much younger next to them.

I didn’t warm to Gansey the way I warmed to the other boys, but it’s sort of... grounding that he knows he’s going to die, has known, in his heart for a long time, and just accepts it with such quiet, careful poise. He loves Blue, and she loves him, and they’re learning to be right for each other, and growing as a couple, and accepting each other’s failings. And I am going to be fuming if this ends badly for them. Let them go off travelling the world together. Let them be in love.

And Ronan brought his orphan girl out of his dreams, and her and Adam immediately bonded. Obviously. And Adam caught himself flirting with Ronan, and told himself off for playing with Ronan’s feelings, and then realised he wasn’t playing. And he wants to adopt Ronan’s dream child, which is too cute to bear. And then Ronan spent several pages talking about how he worships Adam, and waxing lyrical about Adam's perfect face and perfect hands, and thinking about the dreams he’s had about aforementioned perfect hands. He knows that Adam knows. Take the plunge, Ronan.

Day 2: Chapters 19-67

Henry Cheng's toga party has got me completely, finally, invested in Blue and Gansey. Seeing them, in love, and in longing. I want him to live. I want them to travel together, to do things, and see things, and change things. I want them to build a life together.

And Adam, maybe loving Ronan. I've just found out that Ronan dreamed Cabeswater. It’s his. That’s vastly important, but my brain isn’t big enough to understand why yet. But the question is, did Ronan love Adam before Adam gave himself to Cabeswater? My heart says yes, always.

Noah, freaky dead Noah, possessed. Clawing out Blue's eye?! Yikes! Gansey with his “Be Noah!” in his king voice. Can't he just “be alive” him? I want Noah to stay. Luckily Blue will keep the eye, and Ronan approves of her "badass" stitches, so that's fine. Gansey finally stepped up and told the boys that he's dating Blue (they knew). And yet Ronan still isn't doing anything about his god damn crush on Adam.

But Adam going back for orphan girl? Too cute. And Ronan having Adam's back when they see his father? Peak romance.

Ronan kissed Adam! Adam kissed Ronan! THEY KISSED EACH OTHER!! Finally, finally, finally!

There’s a whole bunch of stuff happening right now; Henry’s mom buying Niall's dream things from Declan. The Gray Man and Piper Greenmantle and Laumonier. Ronan's first kiss. The demon unmaking Gwenllian's tree-mother. Artemus being a tree-dude. Ronan’s mother dying. Ronan's first kiss!? It's literally all happening.

But all that matters is this: 1) Gansey has to sacrifice himself. 2) Ronan kissed Adam.

Oh no. Oh no. Henry has just given Gansey his Aglionby sweater, so he’s fully outfitted for his death. They’re back at the house Gansey “died” at seven years ago. And they’re alone.

I desperately want the others to catch up to them, so Gansey has his knights, but I’m also very afraid that they’re going to arrive just in time for Blue to get her kiss before he dies.

Oh no, his shoulders are wet.

Glendower’s dead. They can’t wake him. Which means Gansey has to sacrifice himself to destroy the demon. But…. then who is the first sleeper? And what was with all that “make way for the Raven King” stuff if he wasn’t relevant?

Ok, so I'm finished. That was an incredible series, and I sobbed at the end. But I feel like I have more questions than answers.

Mostly, I'm happy with how the characters' plots ended.

The most satisfying ending is Ronan’s. He's at the Barns, his dream creatures are healthy again, no damage done, and he’s planning to rebuild Cabeswater in a new and better design. His ending is a beginning. He's with Adam, and we can assume that Adam will go to college but come back to Ronan once he's done. There's more than enough potential for a happy ending there. The only thing that worries me there is that I know there's a Ronan trilogy mostly written... and that gives plenty of room for things to change for the worse.

Blue got her pleasant, easily resolved, YA heroine ending. True Love, eco-Camaro, travelling with her besties. It's nice, and it's the ending that she was owed. Her and Gansey and Henry will have a great time.

I'm not thrilled that Noah is gone with so little ceremony. No acknowledgement that they’ve all just lost one of their closest friends. No mention of whether or not they’ll even remember him now that he no longer exists. Ronan was devastated when he found out Noah was dead, surely he’ll have some reaction to him being gone?

I'm less happy with how the mythology/Glendower plot was resolved. Or not resolved, I guess. I'm hoping that's covered in the Ronan sequels, but I definitely feel it should have been resolved in the main series.

Glendower was only ever a means to an end - Gansey was never meant to wake him, this was just the journey to lead to his sacrifice. But none of this would have been necessary if he hadn’t caused the demon to wake during his hunt for Glendower… so was the entire thing completely redundant? It all seems utterly pointless, now.

And what about the Gray Man and Laumonier and Seondeok? Their storyline literally just. Stopped. I wasn’t even invested in it, but you can’t just not have it go anywhere! Why make me read all their chapters if you didn’t have a resolution?!

And more: Why is Glendower dead? How did he die? Why did the magic fail him? Why did it work for Gwenllian? Who was the first sleeper? If not Glendower, was it Gansey? And most importantly: Who locked the demon behind that door?

[malsmanor]

Thunder Mesa Canon Characters

Follow up to my previous Thunder Mesa ‘lore’ post.

Sources are: my personal experience, cast members, ‘urban/park’ legends that spread during the years, the database of the Italian website MondoDisneyland.it and Phantom Manor Legends.

Hoping I won’t forget anybody... (if I do, please let me know!) LET’S BEGIN!

The Ravenswoods:

Henry: one of the founding fathers of Thunder Mesa, owner of the Big Thunder Mountain Mining. Co and of the beautiful Victorian Manor on Boot Hill.

Martha: Henry’s wife. Very little is known about her beside the fact that her marriage wasn’t exactly a happy one.

Mélanie: Henry and Martha’s daughter and heiress of her father’s fortune. It is said the was one of the prettiest girls in town, had a lovely singing voice and many, unfortunate suitors.

The Jones:

(they’re either siblings or husband and wife, unclear)

Jasper: The Ravenswood’s estate butler and man-servant.

Anna: The Ravenswood’s estate chambermaid. She was possibly one of Henry Ravenswood’s lovers.

Deceased citizens/ghosts that now reside in the Manor:

Madame Leota: a gypsy fortuneteller who offered her services to the people of Thunder Mesa. After her death she is tasked to summon other spirits and demons to the "ghostly ball" that's held in the manor.

The Phantom: A mysterious entity that torments Mélanie in the Manor. The 2019 Refurbishment of the attraction confirmed his identity as Henry Ravenswood, returned from the dead to prevent his daughter from marrying a man not worthy of her.

Goliath: Undead dog that appears alongside the Phantom in one of the most notoriously scary scenes in the attraction. In the original script, he belonged to Henry’s brother, Arthur Ravenswood. In the current storyline Goliath is heavily implied to be Henry’s pet and his loyal companion even in death.

Valentin the Boneless/Le Desosé: a man from Thunder Mesa whose body and spirit were crushed, either physically or metaphorically... or both.

Mary Murphy: Frank Ballard’s wife.

Frank Ballard: Mary Murphy’s husband.

Ma Ballard: Frank Ballard’s mother. Clearly didn’t approve of her son’s marriage to Mrs.Murphy. Her gravestone reads ‘over my dead body’.

B. Arnold: his occupation is unknown. His gravestone reads ‘Cold Is My Bed - But Oh, I Love It - For Colder Are My Friends Above It.’

Leadfoot Fred: a cowboy and gunslinger, his adversary made him ‘dance’ until he was hit in the legs (at least 3 shots per leg) and finished off.

“Shorty” Smith: nothing is know about them except that they died in 1862

Red Hot Harry: probably a gunslinger like Leadfoot Fred. Like him, he wasn’t fast enough.

Dakota Dick: somebody really REALLY hard to kill. According to their tombstone, they were hanged October 17th, 1867, shot January 18th, 1868, stabbed December 18th, 1868, poisoned May 21st, 1869 and are ready to come back for more.

Jaques Shrillman: a terrible musician, ‘lynched by a bunch of music lovers‘.

Peg Leg McBrogue: an outlaw that committed robberies on riverboats. ‘Walked the plank, and sank’.

Nameless Hunter: killed by a bear. (See below.)

Pet Cemetery:

A squirrel, a cougar and a bear also rest in Boot Hill... somehow. Their graves imply that they all became the bear’s food at some point. An unfortunate Hunter also met the same fate.

Mélanie’s Suitors:

Rowan D.Falls: former captain of the ‘Mark Twain’ Steamboat and one of Mélanie's suitors, died falling off a tall waterfall. He is possibly related to Dr. Albert Falls, a member of S.E.A the Society of Explorers and Adventurers.

Ignatus "Iggy" Knight: former owner of a dynamite manufacture and one of Mélanie's suitors.  He died in an explosion inside Big Thunder Mountain’s mine.

Barry Claude: oil-field master and one of Mélanie's suitors. He was mauled by a bear.

Sawyer Bottom: owner of the local sawmill. Suffered the most suspicious death of all the suitors: tied to a log and bifurcated within his own sawmill.

The Townsfolk:

William Ketchum: current sheriff of Thunder Mesa

Artemus L. Hector (current Mayor of Thunder Mesa) and his wife: [photo from Phantom Manor Legends]

James Collins: Photographer and inventor of the Spectral Camera.

J. Nutterville: undertaker and coffin maker, he takes care of Boot Hill and its graves. It is unclear if he’s still alive or a ghost himself but I’m placing him in this category because he appears from time to time near Phantom Manor and during special events to take the guests’ ‘measures’ and get their coffins ready.

Diamond Lil: the owner of the Lucky Nugget Saloon.

Lavinia ???: a beautiful dancer who worked at the Lucky Nugget Saloon. Many men were in love with her and one of the locomotives of Big Thunder Mountain bears her name.

Pierre Paradis: Diamond Lil’s French fiancee.

Jebediah Rose: Thunder Mesa’s blacksmith. He was in love with the Lucky Nugget dancer Lavinia but she did not love him back.

Lavinia Rose: Jebediah’s daughter, named after his unrequited love.

Milo ‘One Eye’ Jones: a robber who made the mistake of stealing from Big Thunder Mountain Mining Co. and an even bigger one when he thought it was a good idea to hide from the law in the very manor built by the founder of the company he just robbed. It is possible that he is related to the Jones who once worked for the Ravenswoods.

The Thunder Mesa Councilmen have... interesting names such as I.M. Chikin and I.L.B Bach.

The Caretaker: Phantom Manor’s equivalent to the Haunted Mansion’s groundskeeper.

EXTRAS: Fan Character, deleted characters and those who may or may not be involved but it’s just fun to think they are:

Jake ‘Lockart’ Evans: Formerly the only known suitor of Mélanie. A fan favorite that, despite not having been completely de-canonized by the refurbishment, is not a physical presence in the Manor anymore. The name was never official but the fandom as a whole still calls him Jake ;)

Barnabas T. Bullion: The founder and owner of the Thunder Mountain Mining Co. according to the 2013 refurbished queue line in WDW Orlando. Assuming that we’re talking about the same company that Henry Ravenswood founded, it is possible that Bullion took over 20 years after Henry’s death and re-built the company under a new image to erase its dark history. In the Big Thunder Mountain Marvel Comics, he is depicted as a better person and father to his daughter Abigail than Ravenswood ever was to Mélanie, drawing a parallel between the two.

Arthur Ravenswood: Henry’s younger brother in the original script for the ride.

Gabrielle Ravenswood: Arthur’s wife in the original script.

Melanie's cousin: One of the letters that could be found on a table inside Phantom Manor before the refurbishment hinted at a relationship between Mélanie and a cousin of hers. It wasn’t clear if this was an arranged marriage or a clandestine affair.

Henry's repudiated son: The same letters also introduce us to Henry’s firstborn (often nicknamed Elias or Alan by the fandom) who’s writing to his father to let him know that he is -once again- out of money.

S.E.A investigators: the in-universe explanation for the long shut down of Phantom Manor is an investigation conducted by the local authorities with the help of groups of ‘explorers and adventurers’ that came from the East. Fans speculate that these explorers may be part of S.E.A, a secret society around which Tokyo Disney SEA’s park lore is built. If one of Mélanie’s suitors is indeed a member of Dr.Albert Falls family, this could explain why the S.E.A may have an interest in Phantom Manor and the strange happenings surrounding it. S.E.A members are mostly depicted as positive characters, explorers and archeologists respectful of the land and cultures they get in contact with, but even within their ranks there are some rotten apples. A notable example is Harrison Hightower III who is rumored to be related with George Hightower, previous owner of the Haunted Mansion (both in California and Orlando) and one of Constance Hatchaway’s husbands.

[cartoongirl26]

Times Cartman wasn’t a dick/a Softer side to the Fat Boy Part 1

Disclaimer which probably no one cares about but me SP belongs to Matt Stone and Trey Parker and I guess Comedy Central but who cares about them? Credit for finding these moments go to the shipping blogs like fairyetc/yummykyman/2originalcents/sp gif tumblrs/a stanman blog/ the show Transcript website used for dialogue Images found from fanpop/springfield.springfield.co.uk/giphy.com Months ago I had the idea to list all of Cartmans good deeds since there’s already one for his bad deeds.  Needless to say I was a lazy bitch and it didn’t happen. UNTIL NOW.  I figure it’s a good time to do it since I really didn’t care for Cartman in the first two episodes of this new season it was so bad with the first episode I felt like crying.  I was one of the few that didn’t want the old EVIL Cartman back at least not that way I wanted season early season Cartman to return. Now yeah I know he’s an asshole and evil and a shit but he /isn’t always that way sometimes he has a heart and maybe it will grow three sizes one day.

A list of Cartman showing he isn’t always a douche

Season 1

Big Gay Al’s Boat Ride

Stan: But it was here. It was all right here. There- there was a techno dance club. Cartman: Stan, you need to lay off the cough syrup, alright, seriously. I’m worried about you man. 

Pinkeye

Stan: Oh man, I can’t believe he’s gone. Kyle: Yeah, he was too young to be taken from us. Stan: Dude, you’re the one who cut him in half with a chain saw. Cartman: Let, let us remember the good times, Kenny would have wanted it that (Begins to sob uncontrollably.)

Season 3

Jakovasrus (This guy was annoying as shit I couldn’t stand him)

Cartman rushes down the steps and runs alongside the plane. No! Jakov, don’t go! Jakov from his window: Hi, Eric! Okay, bye, then!.. [the plane takes off.}

Cartman: [speaks in a quiet sad voice] Come… back.

Everyone wants to get ice cream Cartman: No. That’s okay. I’ll see you guys.

(He really loved that annoying creature and anyone who lost a pet or best friend  knows how painful the poor kid must have felt)

Cat Orgy (This is my favorite Cartman bratty but empathic )

(Shows compassion for Shelly despite her beating him up through the entire episode. Does not approve of he guy she’s dating.)

Shelly: [appears at the door] Hey, Skyler.

Cartman: You know this guy? Shelly: He’s my boyfriend! [Cartman studies him]

Cartman: Christ, he’s like 50 years old! Shelly: He’s 22! [Cartman studies him some more] Cartman: Dude, that’s not cool. later

Cartman is thrilled that he has blackmail on Shelly having a boyfriend over but sees her cries and actually consoles her.

Cartman: Well, Shelly, he’s 22. What, what were you doing with him anyway? Shelly: Nobody my age would go out with me ‘cause I’m too ugly. Cartman: You’re not ugly. Shelly: You don’t think so? Cartman: Well, you’re pretty ugly, but, you don’t have to be dating 22-year olds. I mean, what kind of scumbag asshole dates 12-year old girls? Shelly: You’re right! He is a scumbag! I wish I could get him back! I just don’t know how. Cartman: Weh-hull, I could ask Artemus Clyde Frog. He would know. (SWEET MOMENT)

Shelly: Really? You would do that? Cartman: Just let me get my cowboy hat.

(Shelly and Cartman  even share a cute  dance at the end of the episode.)

Season 4

Cartman’s Silly Hate Crime

Cartman:Romper?

Cartman:You... well... I know you don't think you've... ever been anybody's friend, but, well, you're a friend to me.

(Then later in the end Cartman visits him and brings him Disney world which he someone stuffed in his ass??)

Chinpokomon (My favorite moment of him showing concern for Kenny thanks to the fandom for showing this moment elsewhere I love it) [Bus Stop, next day. The four boys are waiting. The rats return and crawl all over Kenny] Cartman: Nnno! Get off, you stupid rats! He's not dead yet!

Real friends brush rats off of your dead body Season 5 Kenny Dies Kyle: Cartman. [pause] Kenny's in the hospital.

Cartman: [shock and distress flashes across his face] In the ...hospital? Why? Kyle: They told us he has a m-muscular disease. An and, that ...and that he, he might die.

Cartman: [more worried] Die? Kenny? (Tell me he’s faking that face he’s crushed here) Later Cartman: [with emotion in his voice] ...You know, it's funny, Kenny. Stan and Kyle have always been sort of two best friends, you know, and... well I- I don't know if I ever told you this, Kenny, but um... I kind of always thought you were my best f-friend. I don't know.

Kenny: (Eric, well you're my best friend, too.) Nurse: [opens the door and looks in] Okay, we're gonna need to get Kenny some time to sleep now. Cartman: Don't you worry, Kenny. I I'm gonna find a cure for you. Everything's gonna be okay!  Hospital corridor, Hell's Pass Hospital. Cartman appears outside the door with a long face, chokes up, and faces the wall to cry. Kyle shows up and he promise to find a cure.

(It’s debated if he ever gave a shit about Kenny but that grief stricken face, is the same face he had when Chef was leaving so I think he gave some shits) (I’m gonna end part 1 here I thought about doing every nice moment I could find in one post but was like nah this post is getting long so I’m gonna break it into four parts)

[marauders70s]

🦉Congrats on 6000! I love your content ❤️ -compassionate, sassy, thoughtful -broadway tickets -I'd love to get paid to travel the world -Lucy Pevensie from chronicles of Narnia cause the girl is just pure sunshine -I hate vacuuming

@notyouraveragegryffindoor thank uuuuu and yes i get so happy when i personally approve of your favorite book character

House: HUFFLEPUFFExplanation: Okay so of course I want to cheat based on your URL but loving Lucy, being thoughtful and compassionate, and wanting broadway tickets just scream Hufflepuff.Favorite Hogwarts Club: Theatre Club. Whether you’re a front or backstager, theatre kids are literally so pure and so extra at the same damn time.Favorite Shop in Diagon Alley/Hogsmeade: Artemus Artefacts. You just love looking at the collectibles from around the world, and hear how the proprietors acquired them. It fuels your sense of adventure, and makes the world seem bigger than Hogsmeade.Post-Hogwarts Job: Artefact Collector. For shops like Artemus (or the dark equivalency Borgin & Bourkes), there is a job of artefact hunter. Solicitors of rare collectibles must pay someone to scout out rare items in countries from around the world and acquire them for museums or auction. 

To hear your M70s Student Life, send me an owl in my asks with the requirements!

[duaneodavila]

Sorry, Chuck, But Justice Kennedy Doesn’t Need Your Help Choosing A Retirement Date

Grassley wants you gone, ASAP.

To think that the justices need retirement advice from the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, the president, or any other elected official is laughable.

Grassley is essentially urging one justice in particular—Anthony Kennedy—to retire now before the 2018 midterm elections to guarantee that a majority Republican Senate will be able to control the confirmation process and approve his replacement without any Democratic votes if necessary. Of course Kennedy already knows this and Grassley knows that Kennedy already knows this.

Of course the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee does not possess the kind of powers a president does when it comes to inducing departures. That is why Grassley has resorted to one of the few tools at his disposal: public pressure.

— Professor Artemus Ward of Northern Illinois University, offering his thoughts on Senator Chuck Grassley’s very public cry for a Supreme Court justice (i.e., Justice Anthony M. Kennedy) to announce retirement as soon as possible.

Staci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sorry, Chuck, But Justice Kennedy Doesn’t Need Your Help Choosing A Retirement Date republished via Above the Law

[nexrp5-blog]

NAME: Damian Wilford Holstad. BIRTHDAY: March 26th, 1971. PRONOUNS: He/him. GENDER/SEX: Cisgender/male. OCCUPATION: College student. FACE CLAIM: Aubrey Joseph. 

AESTHETIC – hickeys, make-out mixes, red solo cups, the escapades of Zeus, varsity jackets, being the centre of attention, crowded football games, abandonment issues, name chanted during home games, toxic masculinity, mistakes repeated, bruises and the occasional black-eye.

LIKES: avocados, beer pong, The Ramones, blondes apparently, having the last word, throwing the last punch too, his father’s approval, dancing. 

DISLIKES: commitment and responsibility, failure, talking about his mother, talking about anything resembling genuine emotion, his brother ( most of the time ).

HEAD CANONS

– He likes to pretend his mother leaving is nothing; small potatoes, he barely thinks of it or her. But it’s the root to just about any issue presented to Damian Holstad. A fear of being left behind, unheard and unnoticed. He still sees her, every now and then, but a bound once had is gone. His entire persona revolves around the fact that he was left behind by the parent closest to. And maybe that’s why he now clings so tightly onto his father. 

– Damian has plans of becoming a surgeon. And upon first glance, you wouldn’t expect the rowdy boy to be searching for a purpose in the medical field. A football scholarship, countless parties attended and a personality that suggests spotlight, and one would be surprised to hear of his true ambitions. Although he never excelled in high school, Damian’s report cards in subjects such as biology and chemistry are ones for the refrigerator. And that’s where they are; held up by colourful magnets, for everyone to see. 

– He nearly had a criminal record. The early years of his teens was one for the books; a boy desperate for attention and going to the extreme to get it. Luckily, strings were pulled and Damian Holstad eventually straightened out. But underage drinking and the occasional joyride still stuck with him, and it is unlikely those things will ever be completely eradicated from a wild persona.

– Damian loves football. He does. The sport has been a bonding moment between father and son for as long as he can remember. But playing it is an activity grown tired of. The facade of a future star player in one of the nation’s many teams is kept up though his mind changed long ago. He would quit, he would. But when a scholarship is based on his involvement with the university team, quitting becomes an impossibility. 

CONNECTIONS

LOU HOLSTAD – His brother. They’re too different and have never gotten along because of it. But when entering their teens, they began finding each other unbearable and communication often involves raised voices or not speaking to one another at all. 

PAULINE KISCH – His crush. She’s his brother’s best friend, and years ago it presented itself as a challenge. It’s a challenge he eventually won, though he finds himself still playing. Genuine emotions developed and they’re ones he refuse to face.

ARTEMUS MADDOX – His best friend. The two boys together is a recipe for disaster. Even separately, they prove to be a handful. But when teamed up, they are a force to be reckoned with. One that undoubtedly will sleep with your girlfriend and make moves on your mother. 

JORDAN TUCKER – His pseudo-older brother. From babysitting to buying the eighteen year old cheap beer, TJ and Damian have known each other from quite some time. Despite the fact that Damian has an older brother, he views JT as the older brother he always wanted but never had. 

PENNED BY JAYDEN.