#as I’ve said ad-nauseam

[blackandwhlteaesthetlc]

Olivia Wilde’s off-the-rails press tour for “Don’t Worry Darling” started with the “Booksmart” helmer praising the film for being a beacon of female pleasure (spoiler: lead star Florence Pugh’s character is repeatedly raped in retrospect and cannot consent since she is chained to a bed and held captive unconscious). In a splashy pre-release cover story, Wilde made what seemed to be a sex-positive statement to Variety: “Men don’t come in this film. … Only women here!”

A source revealed to IndieWire that the highly controversial set was without an intimacy coordinator at the request of director Wilde, all while off-set she emphasized just how sexy and Adrian Lyne-y the sex scenes between Pugh and Styles were on her year-long press tour. “Why isn’t there any good sex in film anymore?” Wilde infamously asked, promising that “Don’t Worry Darling” would rectify that.

“I think the idea that just because you have a female lead character, that instantly makes the film feminist, is a bit naïve. bell hooks said it best. She said, ‘Patriarchy has no gender,'” Menkes said. “As women, we have internalized a lot of these concepts on a very, very deep level to the point that they’re just reproduced. When women directors reproduce these tropes, you wonder how much is just automatic. I ask the same question of women that I ask of men: How do you think that reproducing the same shit is supposed to be revolutionary or commenting on it? Because we have had 120 years of the male gaze on our backs, because we have had 96 percent of films directed by men that objectify women all throughout history. It’s so ingrained, it’s so deep.”

While Menkes credited Wilde for employing a feminist shot design and use of visual language, especially when filming lead star Pugh’s nudity, Menkes noted that on a script level, “Don’t Worry Darling” is decidedly anti-feminist. Why?

Well, mainly because none of that hot sex Wilde boasted about is consensual. Spoiler alert: The ending of “Don’t Worry Darling” is that Pugh’s character is actually being held hostage by her abusive incel partner (Styles) and literally chained to a bed as they live out their “ideal” lives in a virtual reality simulation called Victory. Pugh eventually escapes, but there is no redemption. It’s a rape fantasy without the rape-revenge.

The plot of “Don’t Worry Darling” is hardly feminist when examined more closely, but behind-the-scenes issues are troubling as well: A source told IndieWire that more than half of the production assistants were not included in the film’s credits, despite being listed on IMDb. The production assistants left out, including COVID compliance officers, are all women. (IndieWire has reached out to representatives for the “Don’t Worry Darling” production for comment.)

🗣🗣🗣

[buckttommy]

I’ve been trying to think about a headcanon that hasn’t been repeated ad nauseam (Baby, Coffee, hoodie, curls) so here’s my hurt/comfort headcanon

Their first real fight is due to miscommunication. Tommy is kinda distant in the first weeks of their relationship and Buck feels like the chaser, once again. During on of their dates (three weeks into their relationship) Buck blurts out “do you even like me?” and Tommy is confused and Buck says “you always come when I call and you always say yes to everything but you never invite me out. Are you just humoring me because you feel bad for me? ” and Tommy says “I’m letting you set the pace. Like I said, I don’t wanna pressure you” and it escalates from there. Ends with Tommy saying “so what do you want? Do you want me to push you? Or are you gonna go back to making jokes about bros picking up girls if I do?” and Buck replies “I want you to be yourself because right now I have no fucking idea how you feel and if you even wanna be with me” and Tommy replies “Fine. I’ll be myself” and Buck says “Fine” and Tommy leaves and the next morning Buck wakes up to a delivery and it’s breakfast and flowers and then Tommy texts him sweet stuff the entire day (they’re both on shift) and at some point he texts him “I’d like to spend every moment with you but I can’t, so how about a romantic weekend?” and they have their first romantic getaway. Buck is blown out of his mind but it how much Tommy likes him.

FEELING CRAZY !!!!!! ANON COME BACK YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THIS AND THEN LEAVE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[unhonestlymirror]

I am horrified by how often I see people writing, "Well, we shouldn't take Holocaust into account when talking about Israel-Palestine war." Of course we SHOULD, and that's why:

"October 7 is getting rewritten and certain social media users are an active of the campaign to erase the atrocities.

I was barely awake on October 7th when news of the atrocities that were committed by Hamas began to trinkle in, horror by horror. With sleep still in my eyes, I had hoped it was a nightmare I could erase by burying my face in pillows and returning to slumber, but alas, reality was insistent. Hamas had butchered over 1,200 people, amongst them infants, pregnant women, the handicapped, and the elderly. Even dogs were not spared.

But Hamas didn’t just murder them in cold blood, they had tortured, raped, desecrated their bodies, and took hostages. Their depravity was limitless. And they were so proud of their crimes that they used GoPro cameras to record them, later releasing the sickening spectacles to the public as a form of psychological terror. Add to that the live streams, cell phone recordings, and CCTV camera footage, and you’ll probably have the most documented massacre in history—with a reported 60,000 video clips collected.

I’ve seen some of these videos, including those not circulating quite so widely in public. They will haunt me for the rest of my life—and that falls far short than the 47 minute “film” shown to select journalists and diplomats worldwide, a number of whom broke down and/or fell ill during the screening.

But as shocking as all of this deranged butchery was — which was entirely the intention — what stunned me in the aftermath is the world’s reaction.

Putting aside disputes of land and politics, it was jarring to hear such a blatant reframing of narrative. It started with calling Hamas the “resistance” and justifying the unjustifiable. A number of BLM chapters had put out “heroic” images of Hamas terrorists descending on parachutes. I half-expected them to release action figures of Hamas fighters too. Maybe they did?

And then came the "BUTs." Sure, some folks condemned Hamas, but it was always followed by a "BUT," justifying the unjustifiable. I've been asked, ad nauseam, "What would you do in their situation?" Well, my response remains steadfast: not commit random acts of murder, torture, and kidnapping. Call me old-fashioned. (For the record I’ve called many colorful words for my stance, but oddly that was never one of them).

It was a wake-up call for many, especially those of us in the global Jewish community. Overnight, the illusion of safety shattered, much like the dreams of anyone who's binge-watched a horror series alone at night. But now we were all collectively trapped in that nightmare, and couldn’t wake up no matter how hard with pitched.

The history of the Holocaust is taught in many schools around the world. “Never forget” and “never again” are sentiments that are echoed within that curriculum. Yet, while some might scoff at the persistent advocacy for Holocaust education, insisting that it’s hitting them over the head, a nationwide survey in 2020 reveals that the under-40 crowd seems to have missed the memo. Shockingly, one in ten respondents haven’t even heard of the word “Holocaust,” let alone being aware that as many as 6 million Jews perished in it.

Further, nearly a quarter of those questioned said they believed the Holocaust was a myth, had been exaggerated or that they weren’t sure. Meanwhile in Canada, one in five young people (under 34) either hasn't heard of the Holocaust or isn't sure what it is. And in Britain, one in twenty adults flat-out deny that it ever took place. Ah, the privilege of blissful ignorance.

Most who underestimate the number of Jews killed in Holocaust have neutral or warm feelings toward Jews.

But it's not just ignorance; there's an entire industry that has been propped up and dedicated to Holocaust denial, complete with books, “movies,” and groups. To make matters worse, alarmingly, fewer Holocaust survivors are around to share their firsthand accounts and counteract the flames of denialism.

Nearly half of the 1000 people surveyed had stated that they’ve seen Holocaust denial or distortion posts on social media or elsewhere online.

I’ve always thought that denials of genocide—such as the Holocaust —were something that happened over time, with history slipping away and being re-written.

However, I never expected to be observing this in real time.

While initially the so-called “resistance” was celebrated by a subset of society, this soon turned into full-fledged denials of Hamas’ actions on Oct 7. Despite overwhelming evidence in the form of videos captured and shared by Hamas themselves and shared on Telegram channels and elsewhere, I would read and hear people claiming that they had only targeted Israeli military. Absurd claims emerged using supposedly ‘leaked’ footage where an Israeli helicopter shoots at Nova music festival goers. That video was viewed over 30 million times on X alone. The video, which was actually originally shared by the IDF on Oct 9, was showing their attacks on specific Gazan targets—certainly NOT indiscriminate bombings of music festival attendees in Israel. (Here’s a great thread that details how this piece of disinformation spread and geolocation information that further confirms that the claim is fake).

I’ve heard countless denials of the rapes of women (and men), despite overwhelming evidence in the form of physical evidence, forensics, and a number of witness testimonies. Women’s rights groups, meanwhile, remained silent—thus offering a vacuum for denialists to fill. Proponents of “me too” also stayed silent. Worse, the University of Alberta Sexual Assault Centre’s director signed an open letter calling Hamas perpetrating “sexual violence” an “unverified accusation.” It took UN Women nearly two months to issue a lukewarm condemnation of the brutal attacks. “We are alarmed by the numerous accounts of gender-based atrocities and sexual violence during those attacks,” they wrote, following a letter writing campaign urging them to speak up. Better late than never though, right?

The roughly 40 dead babies claim was debunked as a lie. At least that’s what people on social media now declare as fact, citing a Haaretz investigation.

“Haaretz investigation EXPOSES all the ISRAELI LIES from October 7th just like I predicated (sic),” reads the post of one particularly large disinformation account.

These claims persisted despite Haaretz directly addressing that post and calling it “blatant lies” and insisting that it “absolutely no basis in Haaretz’s reporting.”

The denials continued regardless of the fact that a group of 200 forensic pathologists from all over the world had confirmed that babies were indeed murdered and that some babies were found decapitated, though it was unclear whether this was done before or after death. First responders also corroborated that they witnessed beheaded infants. Regardless of decapitation, these were babies, murdered.

The forensic pathologists also confirmed that humans were executed, bound and burned alive. Israeli police have over 1,000 statements related to the attack.

When some of the hostages were released, Hamas supporters claimed that the hostages enjoyed being held by them, that they hardly wanted to leave. That this was like a pleasant vacation for them, that’s all. Like sipping piña coladas by the beach. In fact, they would state that they were more concerned about their safety in Israeli hands. They even concocted stories of love affairs between a hostage who was shot in the leg and a Hamas captor. A sick and twisted take on reality where up is down, cats are dogs, and denial is truth. They dismissed the reality that many of these hostages watched their loved ones get murdered in front of them, and still had relatives being held in captivity. The hostages were also administered Clonazepam by Hamas, a mood-enhancing tranquilizing drug, before handing them over to the Red Cross, so that they would appear “happy.”

Meanwhile, the Yale Daily News published a correction of an opinion column stating that the “allegations had not been substantiated.”

The denials go on and on, and I can’t help but feel like I’m watching a version of Holocaust denial, except this time it’s happening in real time—not years after the fact. And this time, it has a Wi-Fi connection and a social media account.

The conditions for this were ripe. Moral relativism is why just several weeks ago, Gen Z embraced Bin Laden's 'Letter to America.' It has been building up for years across college campuses, a breeding ground for ideologies that support violent means to achieve political gains.

The perceived power dynamics play a role here too. In the eyes of many, the Israelis are seen as a superpower whereas the Palestinians, and by extension Hamas, are seen as underdogs. In their view, the underdog is always right because it is the victim, and the “power” is the oppressor. So how can the oppressor be a victim?

Israelis, despite the majority of the population being Mizrahi Jews, as well as 20% Arabs (who were also victims on Oct 7), have been framed as “white colonizers,” vs the Palestinians who are seen as “POC” in the context of this conflict. Never mind that Jews, including Ashkenazi Jews, can be traced back to the land through DNA, archaeological evidence, and historical documents.

An overall distrust for media is another factor, which has resulted in individuals taking the word of random influencer accounts as gospel over traditional media outlets. According to Gallup polls, Americans’ trust in media is near a record low. Only 34% of US adults have a “great deal” or “fair amount” of confidence as of 2022. This is a major hindrance to our sensemaking abilities.

And then, of course, there’s cognitive dissonance. When a group identifies so closely with the perpetrator and they commit heinous acts, confronting that fact happens to be uncomfortable. So, in an attempt to reduce that discomfort, they rationalize or deny the evidence. This means that they accept only evidence that supports their existing beliefs, while placing unreasonable demands on the other side.

But none of these factors would have gained as much traction if it weren’t for something that didn’t exist during the Holocaust: social media. This is the engine that helps drives this real-time historical revisionism and denialism. According to 2021 data from Pew Research, over 70% of Americans get their news via social platforms. A Reuters Institute report from 2023 found that 30% of respondents use social media as the main way to get their news.

We have a society that consumes sound-bites of information, both truth and lies (as well as lies based on grains of truth).

Social media algorithms—combined with human nature—tend to amplify outrageous untruths, which spread widely. Corrections, never make it as far as the original lie. They are just a faint hum.

Throughout the Israeli-Gaza war, we’ve seen AI generated images and bots used to paint a specific narrative—for evocative, emotional effect. But technologically sophisticatication isn’t a prerequisite for painting false narratives. Many “influencers” have taken to using existing images or videos and attaching misleading headlines to them—including sharing content that captures events in Syria while presenting it as taking place in Gaza. These networks of influencers have large reach, and can turn even the most blatant lie into a revisionist truth.

Researchers for Freedom House, a non-profit human right advocacy group, found that generally at least 47 governments have used commentators to manipulate online discussions in their favor, either via humans or bots. They’ve also recruited influencers to help spread false and misleading content, and have created fake websites that mimic actual media publications. Then there’s always Russia’s propaganda arm RT, and various other publications like Al Jazeera and Quds who have direct ties to Hamas and/or other Islamic regimes.

All of this has contributed to narrative confusion, and the erasure of unspeakable acts of brutality, and the denial of the facts of October 7, right before our very eyes.

If we cannot even share a common reality, how can have any hope of resolving anything?

“Never again” is happening now."

[facewithoutheart]

Thanks for the tags, @monbons, @rimeswithpurple, @thewholelemon, @roomwithanopenfire, @artsyunderstudy, @you-remind-me-of-the-babe, @supercutedinosaurs, @ileadacharmedlife, @fiend-for-culture & @run-for-chamo-miles ❤️ reading through your snippets was the perfect airport activity. I feel full of good writing.

I’m traveling which means I’ve been MIA on social but super active in writing. Not sure who that’s best for lol but I was finally able to finish out my EGF, make some progress on my COBB, and plot out an entire original novel 🤣 send thoughts and prayers to Mr Face who has had to listen to me ramble about it ad nauseam while he just wanted to explore museums.

A brief clip:

His boots are filled with water. He’s under it, the roar muting to a dim rumble. Timber, but not driftwood, stabs him from every angle. He lets out a gurgled cry when his body slams into something hard and pokey. Limestone, his mind supplies. The river carves through it. The river carves through everything.

I swear it’s a romance.

Side note: Mr Face said I write action well which made me nearly cry? Because that’s always been one of my weakest points and I’ve worked hard to fix that. Basically he said lots of nice things and I’m floating bc he does not pull punches so it’s some of the few compliments my sad brain accepts as truth.

No tags because I’m a day late but I’ve missed sharing ❤️

[benevolentbirdgal]

Is it appropriate for non-jewish authors/designers to take inspiration from jewish mythology and writing? I’ve seen a lot of media that does that especially in fantasy.

That's a loaded question, and while I certainly don't Speak For All Jews Everywhere - I am Not The Jewrax, I basically hold that it'd be fine in theory but in practice, it's almost always problematic because few gentiles bother to engage with Jewish perspectives on what they're using.

I'm not 112% sure on what you mean by mythology and writing, nor am I 112% sure what you mean by inspiration, but I'm going to make some educated guesses and invite both you to DM me or ask again and other Jews to float other possibilities.

I'm imagining you mean something to the impact of the use of Jewish folklore, theology, and stories in non-Jewish media, like art and literature, so I'm answering in that context. Specifically, I feel like you might be asking about angels and demons, Lillith, and golems, although that is very speculative and just because Those Are The Things Gentiles REALLY Want To Use.

The TL;DR is that I think while in theory, it's fine for gentiles to incorporate elements of Jewishness into their story, in practice they usually screw it up pretty badly if not veering into antisemitic trope-age altogether. There are a few factors that make this the case.

On the one hand, I want to see more representation of Jewish stuff, and not just the same three stereotypes ad nauseam. I legitimately do want more Jewish elements in stories, and I recognize the quantity I want would heavily benefit from, if not outright require, some contribution from the 99.8% of people globally who are not Jewish.

With that said, I think that gentiles tend to fuck up Jewish representations, both from a folklore perspective and a Jews Are People That Exist perspective. It's not some fatal flaw to view other cultures through your own lenses - it's only human, but it is challenging to address and something to be aware of. I see Christianity, Islam, and other religions (and atheism, for that matter) through the view of a Jew who was raised in and lives in a Christian-dominated society. Gentile writers see Judaism through the lenses of their own backgrounds and the backgrounds of their society. For reasons that merit their own post, gentiles tend to forget that Jewishness exists independent of and predating many of their own lenses. For many of the same reasons, many gentiles have no interest in actually consulting Jews or Jewish sources on Jew things - we aren't regarded as minority enough or different enough or whatever to merit research, even among many gentile creators who normally research cultures they are not part of. Without getting into it, a lot of people also A) really can't handle the idea that Some Things Are Just For Jews (like Kabbalah) or accept closed and semi-closed say what they mean on the tin and B) have (at the very least) implicitly supersessionist attitudes in their approach to Judaism - applying other religious and cultural contexts backwards even if they're directly at odds with the original Jewish ones. They learned about Jew Stuff in their Christian, Wiccan, Muslim, Unitarian Universalist, Atheist, etc. spaces, and how those spaces approached Jew Stuff (and the attitudes inherited from those spaces) are prioritized over what the Jews think of their own Stuff. This often results in Jewish "representation" being filtered through the eyes of the dominant culture group (i.e. Christian), even if that's not the intent. This happens a lot with depictions or appropriations of Kabbalah, Lillith, and the Golem - specific cultural and theological biases are superimposed to the detriment of original context and meaning.

If you want to represent or take inspiration from a group, you need to understand that group. It doesn't mean you have to know EVERYTHING (no one does) but it means engaging with and researching the community beyond this One Cool Thing You Liked. The degree to which you do this depends on what you're using, but you want to be able to use stuff without stripping it of its original context.

Writing, mythology, and folklore are broad categories. If you want to use the zayde from Something From Nothing or make Sammy Spider real, that's way less loaded than taking traditional folklore and going Mine Mine Mine a la the birds in Finding Nemo. Good questions to ask when determining if you want to use a thing: is it explicitly closed or semi-closed? Has it been used to cause violence against its community of origin? Is it and its uses considered sacred?

Specific topics that you just shouldn't use because they are closed and/or have been used against Jews to cause us great pain: Lillith, Kabbalah, Golems, anything that implies or uses the blood libel, any kind of Jews-and-horns thing, or anything leaning into antisemitic conspiracy theories. I'd also tread very lightly and get sensitive readers on anything to do with angels and demons, circumcision, and kosher. [above list is def non-exhaustive, other Jews please add stuff]

Also stay away from any "this is the SECRET meaning of this Jewish Thing And The Jews Are Wrong And This Proves My Religion/Conspiracy Theory/Worldview." Even if it does not promote a specific worldview, there's some major ick in saying "no this is what your holiday/beliefs actually mean/imply." Don't Da Vinci Code us, basically.

If you are wanting to write or make something with Jewish elements, consult Jews on the specifics! Seriously, most of us are SO happy to help you workshop.

Again, I do not speak for all Jews, but this is my personal take, and the kind of stuff I've heard a lot of other Jews opine as well.

[theangryjikooker]

you ever notice how jm would mention jk early in their enlistment & comforting armys that he/they were doing ok but jk doesn’t do the same? in a lot of their interactions I feel like it’s very one-sided. thoughts?

Yes, I’ve noticed that JM has a tendency to mention JK, which isn’t always reciprocated.

But JK doesn’t strike me as the type of person who talks about the others in that way unless he’s directly asked.

I get where you’re coming from, but I suppose my issue with this question is that it’s only an issue if you’re looking at Jkk in the context of a romantic relationship. As friends, there’s nothing that they do or don’t do that’s concerning or that merits comparisons.

It’s the same gripe I have with the jealous narrative that follows Jkk: if they’ve been in a relationship all this time like a lot of shippers seem to think, making each other jealous is immature, toxic, and presents a relationship that’s doomed to fail. I don’t find it cute or funny to the extent that shippers drag this dumb narrative out because, as I’ve said ad nauseam, it not only reflects poorly in the way they treat each other but also who they are as individuals. And it’s very apparent that shippers don’t talk about these quirks in their rationale.

It’s discrepancies like this that seem tiny and easily overlooked but are actually extremely counterintuitive within the shipping space. Stones, meet glass castle.

Let’s not pretend, however, that JK isn’t cognizant of JM. JK has been shown to be sensitive of JM’s feelings on numerous occasions, and that should be recognized. Where I find JM more verbal, JK is more action-oriented, and they don’t exclusively treat each other like this.

All of the members are different people with different ways of expressions. Just because what they do or don’t do doesn’t meet your expectations or how you think a member should be treated, doesn’t mean they owe you an omniscient perspective about the relationships they have with one another and what that looks like.

[mariacallous]

When Russia invaded Ukraine last February something extremely heartening was observable here in Britain: people who had hitherto shown little interest in geopolitics were suddenly hoisting Ukraine flags in their garden, offering to house Ukrainian refugees, organising fetes, triathlons, spinathons, baking cakes and organising various other fundraising activities for Ukraine.

Predictably enough, there were those whose mean-spirited cynicism led them to resent this display of spontaneous solidarity. The British people were, they said, simply falling into line with the ‘current thing’ et cetera. But that was merely a projection of their own emptiness. In reality we saw an outburst of genuine and widespread support for Ukraine because the Russian invasion was so flagrantly criminal, a disgusting violation of sovereignty on Britain’s doorstep and a deeply ominous development that people rightly intuited would set a bad precedent if left unopposed.

How could a country such as Britain, marinated as it is in folk memories of the Second World War, not hear the lessons of Munich ringing out as Putin’s troops crossed the Ukrainian border? Moreover, with a leader such as Vladimir Putin, there is no need to ventriloquise what he wants because it is right there in print. One can make reasonably good sense of contemporary Russian foreign policy simply by looking to the policies of the czars. The strategy of Peter the Great was to dominate through the ‘protection’ of its neighbours. Czar Alexander I, at the Vienna Congress of 1815, argued that the concerns of small nations should be subordinated to those of the Great Powers. And it was the ‘enlightened’ Catherine the Great who brought Ukraine under Russian control in the 1700s and who introduced the Russian serf system (more recently, ‘liberal reformers’ such as Alexander Navalny and Mikhail Gorbachev have both supported the annexation of Crimea). As Volodymyr Vynnychenko, a central figure in the early twentieth century Ukrainian national liberation movement once remarked, ‘Russian democracy ends where the Ukrainian question begins’.

The average person in Britain has a better instinctive grasp of all this than many of our intellectuals, who are so immersed in an Oz-like world of unreality that they are compelled to interpret the war in Ukraine through the prism of their own obsessions. Thus they discount what Putin has actually said - that Russians and Ukrainians are ‘one people’ and that Ukrainian statehood depends on Russian consent - and instead repeat their own theories ad nauseam: it’s really about ‘NATO expansion’; the US are the ‘real imperialists’; and there is ‘this one Ukrainian militia group that is racist actually’.

Many of the same people exhibit similar delusions when it comes to the nature of Hamas and the conflict raging in the Middle East. You do not need to support the Israeli annexation of Palestinian territory (I certainly don’t) to take Hamas’s genocidal intentions seriously. But our intellectuals of course know better, and so we are told that ‘death to the Jews’ is really a cry against poverty and oppression and that Hamas is rather like the armed wing of Amnesty International.

I don’t want to talk more about Israel Palestine - I’ve written about it here and here if you care for my opinion on the matter - but isn’t it astonishing to see people who (rightly in my view) believe that Israel should give back stolen land simultaneously calling for Ukraine to give up its land to the Russians. You either believe in the right to self-determination or you don’t. But then, just as with the bad faith debate around free speech, one is always coming up against people who want to have it both ways: to loftily cite a moral principle for their own pet cause only to disregard it like a snake shedding its skin as soon as it is no longer convenient.

There are mounting calls for a negotiated settlement in Ukraine, based on what is frequently described as ‘conflict fatigue’ among Ukraine’s western allies (it’s curious how the people far away from the fighting are more fatigued by the war than the Ukrainians themselves, who resolutely oppose all talk of capitulation).

Such world-weary calls for a settlement can reasonably be interpreted to mean that Ukraine should give up significant portions of its territory in the name of a flimsy ‘peace’. Never mind that the Ukrainians themselves do not want it - which surely ought to factor into the calculations of any democrat; and never mind the terrible precedent this would set - that aggression and nuclear threats will ultimately be rewarded with territorial concessions; and never mind that Russia routinely flouts international agreements, meaning any peace treaty it signed would effectively be worthless. Forget all of that for a moment, and consider the plight of the Ukrainians who would be expected to live under Russian occupation.

I don’t expect sleek geopolitical ‘realists’ to care about such things, lost as they are in their pseudo-worldly parlour game of ‘state actors’ and ‘spheres of influence’ and barely disguised admiration for thuggish foreign leaders with whom we must ‘do business’. One more or less expects people who think about human beings in this way to hold a cavalier and insensitive attitude toward the people actually forced to live under despotic rulers.

But it behoves anybody who cares about democracy and human rights - not as abstract concepts, but as the right of millions of Europeans to have their self-determination respected - to confront what Russian occupation of Ukrainian land entails. What does it mean for the average Ukrainian to live under Russian rule? What are the conditions like? And would giving Russia the green light to claim this land as its own really mean an ‘end to bloodshed’, as is often claimed? These questions should be addressed by those in the West who feel comfortable asking Ukrainians to tolerate indefinite occupation in the name of ‘peace’.

Of course we don’t need to idly speculate as to what conditions are like in Russian-occupied territory because we have ample evidence already. Where Putin differs from some of the czars (and has more in common with Soviet rulers) is in his insistence upon reproducing the Russian social system in the areas under his control (albeit not to the same extent as the Soviets did in the economic realm). The first thing the Russians have done in occupied areas of Ukraine is to remove the capacity of individual Ukrainians to rebel against their servitude. In Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since 2014, Ukrainian law has been supplanted by Russian Federation criminal law, making it an offence to (among other things) discredit the Russian armed forces or to call for sanctions against Russia. Politicians, journalists, bloggers, human rights activists or those who have simply been vocal critics of the Russian leadership have been arbitrarily arrested, ill-treated, tortured, deported to Russia or bumped off. Since 2014 Russian authorities in Ukraine have targeted anybody considered capable of resisting Russian occupation or who has merely rejected the imposition of Russian citizenship. As a 2017 UN report documented, the human rights situation in Crimea ‘significantly deteriorated’ under Russian occupation:

‘Grave human rights violations, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, and at least one extra-judicial execution were documented… [Meanwhile] hundreds of prisoners and pre-trial detainees have been transferred to the Russian Federation.’

Occupying powers inevitably end up visiting terrible cruelty on the people they rule over. This is especially true in the case of Russia, which regularly visits ferocious savagery on its own people (and which is jointly responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths in Syria). According to a 2022 report from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, summary executions of civilians occurred in more than 30 settlements in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy - regions that were occupied by Russian armed forces in February and March of last year. Here is Wayne Jordash, a British Queen’s Counsel who is busy helping Ukraine to investigate Russia’s war crimes:

‘If you look at what happens in Russia-occupied territory, you will see that, depending on the length of the occupation, different progression of the criminal plan. In Kherson, you will see a real illustration of what the Russian political and military leadership planned for Ukraine as a whole.’

Kherson, once home to more than 280,000 people, was the first major Ukrainian city to fall to Russian forces during the February 2022 invasion. During its occupation, Russia set up at least 35 torture chambers where victims were reportedly beaten, waterboarded, electrocuted and raped with foreign objects. Elsewhere in Ukraine, around 6,000 children - some as young as four months old - have been abducted and removed to camps in Russia where they await adoption.

I don’t expect the West’s armchair realists to abandon their calls for a ‘negotiated settlement’ in the face of reports they probably won’t bother to read. However I would like them to say what their preferred solution to the conflict in Ukraine really entails, instead of wrapping their acceptance of permanent Russian occupation in the prophylactic language of ‘peace’, ‘diplomacy’ and ‘dialogue’. When fighting a war it’s important to understand the nature of the enemy. It’s hardly surprising the Ukrainians have a better understand of their Russian neighbour than some of our cloistered highbrows. But the latter have an obligation to spell out the full implications of their preferred course of action. Unlike some of our Ukrainian friends, they can still speak freely about such things.

[pattern-recognition]

i stand by what i said a few days ago about the validity of disseminating war footage and atrocity documentation, but i think there’s a trend rn of people who are in support of Palestine but their vocalization is almost exclusively in the form of spreading extremely violent imagery. the world absolutely needs to see the tangible effects of zionist genocide in palestine, pain and viscera included, and by no means am i insinuating the yuppie apathy inherent in the “stop doomscrolling for your mental health uwu” that we’ve been seeing ad nauseam since covid, at least. but i think that there is an line to be walked, especially when palestinians and their family members are drowned in the digital deluge on one side and the unequivocally intimate reality on the other. absolutely spread the evidence, broadcast the reality so loud and clear that the zionists can’t shout you down, but don’t neglect the history, the rhetoric, the argument, and most of all the liberation, which must always move forward with vigor and never fall to fatalism. im specially thinking of a rally i witnessed recently where the majority of the speakers, including an 87 year old palestinian woman who gave a completely enthralling account of the nakba, spoke mainly of history, a trend i’ve been seeing in contrast to zionists who can only regurgitate vapid moral platitudes and cite arbitrary law, but the last speaker, a white woman who to her credit issued fantastic speech and i am by no means falling to the segregationist relativism that only certain groups are allowed to speak of themselves, was the only one to conjure up graphic depictions of slaughtered children. to provide a limpid culmination: material of this magnitude has to be treated with the utmost tact lest the voyeurism and apathy inherent in the system of social media take hold. Please disagree with me if you do though, i’m well aware that every voice in Palestine is calling for the ceaseless circulation of information, good and bad, and my voice should be taken as nothing more than subservient

[m39]

Doom WADs’ Roulette (2009): Killing Adventure

Br1: Killing Adventure

Main author(s): Ruba

Release date: September 5th, 2009 (database upload)

Version(s) played: ???

Required port compatibility: ZDoom

Levels: 32 (30 + 2 standard)

Killing Adventure… confuses me. At first glance, it looks like a typical 1994 slop made by a twat who has more farts in his head than brain matter. But something tells me there is more to it than it shows. It might actually be self-aware Troll WAD made to piss people off.

Is it true though? From what I’ve heard about its author, he was definitely a troll in the community. But I must play this WAD to be entirely sure about it, so let’s get into it.

Starting with me, feeling like WADs from the mid-90s’ looked better than Killing Adventure. I do realize that the maps were done like this on purpose, but it doesn’t change the fact that they look overly basic, stale, dull, and other synonyms of the word boring.

I liked the music, though. At least half of it feels relaxing to listen to (MAP11 might have the best track), although, there are also tracks that are more blood-pumping.

I hope you like patience because this WAD will test it. Although the maps are simple and I don’t think you will get lost playing them, almost all of the maps seem to feature one, rather small square/rectangle/whatever-shaped area that constantly repeats itself and has the same roster of enemies in (probably) almost every single one of them. You might feel like you are running in circles.

Thankfully, there are maps that create shortcuts after reaching a key or some other important place. That’s always nice in a WAD.

Some of the maps tend to be more interesting than others. Jail for instance will kill all enemies in cages when you reach the end of it, so, if you want to, you can spice it up by ignoring everything on your path (except barrels of course) and just run to the exit.

Hundred Demon Fortress (I’m slightly changing titles to be written correctly) is basically a pun to the fact, that you fight one hundred Pinkies in the area next to the start.

Death Row Ultima, meanwhile, makes you choose the correct switch to open the door with Romero’s head, otherwise, it sends an Arch-vile squadron on your ass. Still a better ending for the WAD than another Icon of Shit.

There are also maps that use Keens either in the form of secret-hunting or just stagnating your progress until you kill all of them, with Column Shift Punch Halls being the biggest example of the mechanic related to them.

Also, three of the maps from this WAD use fans’ favorite – chess-moving floor filth.

vomit noises

sigh

I don’t think it’s worth talking about how funny this WAD is since it’s yet another case of LUL SOS RANDUMP crap that most of the Mockaward winners at this point did.

I’m gonna say it now, but Killing Adventure feels like Mock 2 lite. I only watched MtPain’s April Fools’ review on the latter, but I felt like the WAD was making fun of many elements that appeared in the Doom maps back then (hell, even now), focusing on one thing per map. This WAD, as I said earlier, most of the time is the same thing with one, small area repeating itself ad nauseam. Its joke, at best, became stale after MAP11. And I’m surprised that I managed to properly play these maps twice without falling asleep.

Most of the time, the WAD was rather easy, but there were moments when it got hard (not for a good reason of course). Arch-viles on Grey and Easy smell of lots of bullshit (I got lucky on my second try), and Pyramidal Hell might look like hell, but if you know how to get to the exit, you can just grab an invun and run there (secret exit is behind the regular one).

And, uhm… I think that’s it. Killing Adventure tries to be funny, yet now that I think about it, it fails to deliver on that. It fails as regular WAD, a joke WAD, and it’s basically a worse version of Mock 2 on every level. You might get a chuckle out of it when you play it the first time, but after that, there is nothing to laugh at.

Let’s hope that’s the last poor-quality WAD from 2009. Luckily, the next Doom map on the list promises something better.

Don’t read my next review if you are afraid of clowns.

[davyjoneslockr]

I feel I've just seen the tip of a giant iceberg float scarily close to my boat, but what is the context of 'i hope jakey dies'? Who is jakey and why did his gf (i am assuming) become the target of such awful biphobia?

I’m no expert because I never really got into the joke much, but basically, “I hope Jakey dies” is a meme that started here, making fun of a cringey dynamic some m/f couples have. So don’t worry, Jakey isn’t a real person, just kind of an archetype for an assumedly mediocre “golden retriever”-type cishet boyfriend. Pretty harmless hater brand tumblr humor, basically.

(Honestly, the original post is also where the first red flag kinda popped up for me. The first replies were whatever, but, especially since Jakey is, again, supposed to be an archetype of cishet man, “nonbinary Jakey” to refer to someone’s AMAB nonbinary partner seems. Idk. Telling of how people view AMAB nonbinary people sometimes.)

After that, it kinda just ended up spreading around as a joke here and there, and tbh I kinda forgot about it until that weird Barbie post this ask is in reference to. There’s not much to say about it that hasn’t already been said, but to me, 1) it’s pretty obvious that the original tiktok was either exaggeration or outright bait, and 2) even if it wasn’t, it’s maybe a little cringe, but harmless. But regardless, people are using it to mock (or outright wish harm or death upon) bi women for dating men, or implying that bi women are actually straight and just pretending to be queer (for attention? I guess?). And “I hope Jakey dies” has kinda become the phrase all those folks are spamming ad nauseam. I’ve seen a lot of comments about how people defending the tiktok or calling out the biphobia are just “defending men,” but like. I’m not just seeing things right. This whole thing reeks of misogyny and weird gender essentialism. Because the center of the joke usually isn’t even on the man or “Jakey,” it’s on the woman dating him for expressing that she likes him or whatever.

And also I really hate how people seem to be extremely comfortable with threatening people, or hoping they die or kill themselves, over something that’s “cringe” or somewhat annoying. Like it’s genuinely gross behavior. But idk maybe that’s just me.

[nflstreetsanimereviews]

Winter 2023 Anime I've Watched

Below is a collection of short reviews for five anime I watched this past anime season.

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady (Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei)

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady, otherwise known as MagiRevo or TenTen (I’ve never seen anyone use these), or The Bourgeois Revolution of the Isekaied Princess and the Ruling-class Young Lady if you’re a pedant like me, was the anime of the season to watch if you are a yuri lover. I put that upfront because I know it’s a huge draw. It wasn’t what drew me to this show, however.

Anisphia Wynn Palettia (the Reincarnated Princess) has ‘memories of a past life’–yes, this is technically an isekai. Unlike most other isekai, MagiRevo (we’re using this) has more substance to it than being a power fantasy or a cookie-cutter harem. Anisphia, who doesn’t possess any magical power, despite being an aristocrat, develops a new form of ‘magical theory’ named ‘magicology’. Magicology is basically the in-between between this world and Earth, with Anisphia having the ingenuity to ‘invent’ products that already existed on Earth. In a feudal society, this is controversial, with nobles worried that they’ll lose what separated them and commoners.

Anisphia takes in noblewoman Euphyllia Magenta, who was stripped of her title as the kingdom’s next queen and slandered in rather dubious circumstances, in order to attempt to repair her image. This ‘plan’ involves Euphyllia helping out with Anisphia’s magicology research. Euphyllia, who is the daughter of the current chancellor of the Kingdom, is quite the diplomat, which is perfect for Anisphia since her magicology comes under scrutiny quite often.

While the show as a whole didn’t end up being as good as the first few episodes were, it was still a fun watch. In a world where isekai anime are a dime a dozen, MagiRevo is a show that has sights higher than ‘how many girls can the main character swoon?’. Even a bourgeois revolution, whose biggest supporters (and benefactors) are from the middling and upper class, is still a revolution nonetheless. Anisphia’s ambition is powerful–I hope MagiRevo gets another season, since counter-revolutionary forces are bound to strike. But if it doesn’t, it might be worth checking out the light novel series.

The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten (Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken)

It took me some convincing to watch The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten. Its premise, which revolves around the circumstantial friendship that forms between Amane Fujimiya and Mahiru Shiina, seems cookie-cutter from the description. Most slice-of-life romantic-comedies anime are. While it isn’t the most original anime, The Angel Next Door’s warmth and wholesomeness are welcoming.

What makes The Angel Next Door worth watching is that Amane and Mahiru work so well together. They both have good humor and support each other in many ways. Mahiru being known as ‘The Angel’ at their school is quite annoying–thankfully it isn’t repeated ad nauseam (and is acknowledged as annoying by Mahiru). Their relationship spawns out of the happenstance of them being neighbors. Amane lets Mahiru borrow his umbrella for the day. He gets a cold from being exposed to the rain. Mahiru, feeling responsible, takes care of Amane while he’s sick. Their relationship, which before was non-existent, grows from there.

The simplistic nature of the show makes it a ‘comfy’ watch if you’re looking for that. This isn’t a show that throws in drama for the sake of drama. The flip side to this is that Amane and Mahiru’s relationship gets slightly more grating as time goes on. Most of this is due to me thinking “Just date already!”, which most other viewers probably also said. While the pacing, in the beginning, is good, as time goes on, the pacing slows down. The light novel did this also, so I’m not surprised. There’s also the fact that this is both Amane and Mahiru’s first time being in a relationship like this. Doesn’t make it any less annoying though.

The Angel Next Door is a decent rom-com that starts to get slightly irritating closer to the end. That irritation is by design though…well, mostly. It really makes me think about the ‘boundaries’ that define ‘dating’ and ‘just friends’– as a teenager and young adult, I was too hung up about titles and way too self-conscious about how others viewed me. Inexperience with ‘love’ causes one to think that there are rules and regulations around it, when in actuality, you don’t need a reason to fall in love with someone, you just do.

Tomo-chan Is A Girl! (Tomo-chan wa Onnonoko!)

Tomo-chan Is a Girl!, as most of you know, is an adaptation of the popular rom-com manga of the same name. The anime starts with Aizawa Tomo (the main character and the Tomo-chan of Tomo-chan Is a Girl!) confessing her love to her childhood friend and neighbor Junichiru (often called Jun). The only problem is that he takes her admission of love as a reconfirmation of their friendship. Being a ‘tomboy’, Tomo and Jun often spar with each other, along with other various violent and physically straining activities. Although they are neighbors, Jun was unaware that Tomo was a girl until middle school. Their rather non-traditional friendship makes it hard for Tomo to tell Jun that she loves him. Tomo believes that if she becomes more feminine, Jun will finally have to see her ‘as a girl’. Tomo tries her best at this, but old habits are hard to break…

Coming to her help is her dear friend, and classmate, Misuzu Gundou. Misuzu’s sharp tongue makes her as fierce mentally as Tomo is physically. In a sense, they’re both friends only because their personalities put off most other students (also because their mothers were friends). Joining them is Carol Olston, who is this manga’s epitome of ‘girliness’, which Tomo admires. Carol, not having any real friends, becomes friends with Tomo and Misuzu. Together, Misuzu and Carol do their best to try to get Tomo and Jun together. However, it’s up to debate whether their help is actually effective. It’s funny sometimes at least.

Tomo-chan is a funny show. This isn’t a surprise, since the manga was funny as well. In my ‘Winter 2023 Anime First Impressions’ post, I said I had doubts about if the anime could adapt the manga well, due to it being a 4-koma that was released daily in one-page slices. Well, to say I was proven wrong would be an understatement. This is quite a solid adaptation, with no weird pacing issues or anything important from the manga cut.

It’s a hard choice to say if this adaptation is better or worse than the manga. Due to the manga’s relatively short length, this anime can be wrapped up in 13 episodes, not leaving us on a cliffhanger. That’s not something most other anime based on a manga can say. It all comes down to preference. It’ll take an afternoon either to read the Tomo-chan manga or watch the Tomo-chan anime.

NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a

The airing of NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a  has been anything but smooth sailing. First delayed for around a month after episode three, it was delayed again after episode eight, around which time every other anime on here was finished or was getting ready to finish. COVID really did a number on those working on the Nier anime.

Production delays aren’t the only thing that has been plaguing the anime. With shoddy CGI that has been plaguing the anime since episode one, there’s really nothing to be praised about. It’s not that the anime is terrible–it’s just average.

If you haven’t, you should play the game before even thinking about watching NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a. It’s the better version–and the only completed one (as of writing this)! Its appraisal has fallen slightly ever since it came out, but I’d still consider it a great game. Other than if you liked the game, then I see no other reason to watch the Nier anime. 

The nature of anime based on game adaptations leads most of them to be only a fraction as good as the said game. NieR:Automata Ver 1.1a falls into this trap, but not as much as say, Danganronpa or Persona 5 the Animation. It’s tough to put a verdict on the Nier anime just yet since it’s not finished. Play the game if you’re interested. It’s fun.

Nagatoro S2

Nagatoro will always be a no-go for many anime watchers. I understand that. The premise is off-putting, with the first episode acting as a filter for many people. And don’t even get me started about the fans. Well, they’re actually easy to ignore if you know how to curate your online space. Either way, Nagatoro is an anime that every anime fan has an opinion about.

In the second season, Nagatoro and Senpai’s ‘relationship’ is pretty much set in stone. This season, we get to see them see each other more as love interests, with them going on several what could be considered ‘dates’. Yes, the relationship between the two is hotting up at an increasing pace, with Nagatoro’s trickery towards Senpai waning and becoming less effective. They’re not ‘dating’ dating, but like The Angel Next Door, they might as well be.

The fact of the matter is that this is more or less the same as season one, but toned down to a believable extent. The slapstick element, which was part of what drew me in, is still there–but Senpai isn’t gonna tear up at Nagatoro’s teasing. If you liked the first season, you’ll like this season as well. The comedy of this series, which often gets obfuscated by many factors, (the most prevalent one being that the series appeals to those with humiliation fetishes (which going by the Nagatoro mangaka’s past history, tracks)) does deliver still. By this point, it's obvious that they’re both lovebirds, and it increasingly is becoming Nagatoro who is teased for her feelings towards Senpai.

One thing about Nagatoro that makes it fun to watch is the soundtrack. The first season had a great soundtrack that emphasized the comedy. This season improves on that, adding more tracks that would sound great anywhere. It really sets in the mood–the mood to not take it too seriously. If only Senpai had known that earlier. Due to this being a second season, this is more of me saying ‘they didn’t RUIN the show’ rather than a review for it. Senpai also gets contacts this season, which is a power-up move for him. He needs to start smoking cigarettes now if he wants to get closer to being the artist he wants to be.

[numbknee]

For the ask game—

1, 10, and 16?

👀

👀 oh boy here come the opinions lol

1. the character everyone gets wrong

If I see ppl trying to justify Kyle being overtly feminine and calling him “mommy” I’m gonna have a fucking aneurysm. Not even delving into the inherent antisemitism of routinely feminizing a Jewish male character, Kyle is a dirty little boy and he said so himself!!! He couldn’t even be metro when coerced and you REALLY think he’s gonna start spontaneously wearing dresses and limp-wristing all over the place???? To be fair gay men present feminine all the time and that’s totally cool, but it is ABSOLUTELY NOT in Kyle’s character and I will die on this hill.

10. worst part of fanon

Everything.

Nah, I kid. Probably the fact the inherent heterogeneity of the show’s fans causes as much discourse and self-cannibalization of its members as terminally online leftist communities

16. you can't understand why so many people like this thing (characterization, trope, headcanon, etc)

Masochist Kyle, hands down. But I’ve talked about this before ad nauseam. Idk man despite hearing ppl’s justifications for it, I still don’t get it and I don’t think I ever will.

[putschki1969]

What do you think can happen if let's say Wakana exit Space Craft? I want to see Wakana appear on YK events, but I have doubts about their relation. Maybe you have more insights about Wakana and YK's relationship. From my amateur observation I see that YK doesn't follow Wakana on Twitter, so I think they are not on good terms. The thing is, YK follows people like Lisa, Aimer, Junna etc who she just recently work with. She doesn't follow Wakana who she had been working since forever, why is that?

Hello there anon! I am afraid you've hit a sore spot with your ask...I really don't mean to come off as rude but I am so tired of these specific questions. Why is it that I keep getting them on a regular basis? Have you all been living under a freaking rock for the past five years? Are you on my blog for the first time? Is no one bothering to check out my extensive coverage of this topic? Don't get me wrong, I am always happy to answer questions and to help fellow fans out but I'd appreciate it if people actually invested some time to do a tiny bit of research. I've talked ad nauseam about the whole situation with Space Craft/Wakana vs. YK so there is more than enough reading material to satisfy your curiosity. For example, you can go HERE, HERE and HERE to check out my most recent posts about it.

I will still try to give you an overview〈(•ˇ‿ˇ•)-→

I’ve said it before and I will say it again, it all boils down to Japanese society being very non-confrontational. Instead of dealing with conflicts like sensible adults, issues are simply swept under the rug and everyone just pretends they do not exist. It’s all about keeping up appearances and not losing face. The fragile sensibilities of old men with outdated mindsets are put above everything else because those men continue to hold power and make decisions in Japan. The infamous herd-mentality forces everyone else involved to just ignore common sense and roll with it.

Basically, this all started with a bunch of old dudes in Space Craft’s management being butt-hurt about stupid stuff. One of those old guys (Yasunori Mori - who happened to be in charge of YK’s and Kalafina’s management) decided to abandon the agency and out of loyalty, YK left with him to join him at his new agency. The rest is history as they say. You have to take into account that lifetime loyalty is still very much a common thing in Japan. So when people decide to leave, it can easily be seen as a form of treachery, especially if it isn’t a consensual agreement. We don’t know any of the details of course but it is obvious that some sort of incident has resulted in a rift between Space Craft and Mori/YK.

Seeing as Wakana is still signed up with Space Craft, it would be beyond improper for her to publicly associate with anyone from the YK family and vice versa. I would assume there is some sort of non-interaction clause in Wakana’s contract, or at the very least, some unwritten rule to not openly engage with any of them. I know from an outsider’s point of view, this might come across as grade-school level pettiness but this is literally the reality in Japan. As I said, it’s all about not losing face and protecting fragile sensibilities. For this exact reason, it was possible for Haruna Luna to publicly attend YKs live as soon as her departure from Space Craft had been announced.

Now, we must not conflate public displays with actual relationships. What is being presented to us via official channels is merely a contrived act to keep up appearances. None of this reflects how Wakana and the YK family really feel about each other. It’s true, they don’t follow each other on social media accounts, they don’t openly support each other, there are no pictures of them together, etc...But if you follow any of them closely or just check my blog on a regular basis, you will realise that you can’t just take everything at face value. You have to pay attention to their less official interviews, posts and appearances! You will quickly notice that they still refer to each other with fondness and respect. There is no doubt in my mind that when Wakana finally decides to leave Space Craft behind, she would be welcomed back with open arms into the YK family. Not that she would actually have to be “welcomed back” because let’s be real here, in everyone’s mind she is most definitely still considered an important member. But you know, as far as public appearance is concerned, it would seem like Wakana was the lost daughter returning. On a side note, YK has made no secret of the fact that Wakana has always been one of her biggest muses so I am sure she would be thrilled to work with her again (in whatever capacity).

I hope this shed some light on the matter. I would encourage you and everyone else to read up on my other posts about this. Most of them can be found under the following tags: #reply, #yuki kajiura and #space craft; You will have to browse through quite a lot of stuff but I think it will help you get a better understanding of the situation.

[ladycamdens]

just to make a clarifying statement. do i think billy was probably queer and was internalising much of his father’s bigoted, abusive shit? ya. once again do i think that the duffel brothers are capable enough writers to execute that correctly? haha fuck no. as a result canon billy is not a good person unfortunately.

have i ever said that steve “six nuggets” harrington wasn’t wrong for calling jonathan slurs? also no. i’ve talked ad nauseam about the writers hair pin trigger love of using slurs.

the reason we don’t take kindly to people saying we’re stealing eddie’s character from billy is because it’s quite the opposite. thanks to joseph quinn (not the writers) we were given a queer character who we could relate to and was just trying to be a good person.

[paramouradrift]

"Can you hear me?"

@febuwhump

Fandom: Avatar the Last Airbender, Pairing: Zukka Modern AU in which Zuko is the captain of the fencing team.

You can scry for the location of this fic on AO3 here.

Sokka lay in his dorm room bed, sick as a dog. He was alone, his roommate having vacated the place to go and stay with his girlfriend for a few days while Sokka recovered (and in turn, he was sure, his roommate’s girlfriend’s roommate was probably staying elsewhere, continuing the chain of exiling and sexiling ad nauseam). He had a box of tissues and a massive two liter bottle of water next to his bed, a sick bucket on the floor, and every blanket he owned piled on top of him. His body ached, and his nose hadn’t stopped running in days. He felt like death was upon him. His monitor was on while he tried to stream something mindless he could try to enjoy, but frankly all he had the energy for was 90s infomercials and Chinese soap operas. He took a swig of water and settled in for another episode when his phone buzzed. It was Zuko.

“Hello?” he said, and was greeted by a blast of sound.

“Sokka!” Zuko yelled over the cheering crowds. He must have still been in the fencing arena. The team had gone to regionals, leaving Sokka and a few other unlucky teammates at home to recover from illness. “Hello?”

“Hello! Zuko, can you hear me?” Sokka asked, voice as thick as his sinuses were full.

“Wait, let me get somewhere quieter,” Zuko yelled over the background noise. There was the sound of a door opening and closing, and then the roar of the crowd was cut off. “Is this better? Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear, captain,” Sokka said.

“Hey,” Zuko said, and Sokka could hear the smile.

“Hey, dork,” Sokka said. “How’d we do?”

“Jet came in second in the senior foil division,” Zuko said. “And you’ll never guess who swept all their matches.”

“Aang?”

“No. Suki,” Zuko said, and Sokka loved how proud he sounded. “She was incredible, Sokka. It was almost a clean sweep, too. Her epee was so clean, it was like she just danced around her opponent’s swings. She didn’t get touched once until her last match, but she was up against Haru from BSSU, and I’ve heard he’s their rising star.”

“That’s great!” Sokka said. “Wish I could’ve seen it.”

“I think coach filmed it, I’ll show you later,” Zuko said. “You know how he gets, he wants us to do some post mortem thing if we lose or have something to post to the website if we win.”

“How’d you do, though?” Sokka asked, dabbing at his nose with a tissue.

“I did alright,” Zuko said. Sokka snorted, and then coughed. He put the phone down to blow his nose.

“Come on, Zuko,” he said. “What the hell is ‘alright’ supposed to mean?”

“Well, I’m bringing home 1st place in the senior saber division,” Zuko said. Sokka sat up.

“Alright!?” he cried. “Zuko! Congratulations! That’s incredible!”

“Thanks,” Zuko said. Sokka could picture him blushing while trying not to look smug.

“Seriously, who hurt you?” Sokka asked. “You should be waving that medal in everyone’s face.”

“Well, growing up with my dad and my sister, I guess I got used to thinking of myself as…untalented?” Zuko said. Sokka’s heart squeezed painfully. “I know, I know, it’s dumb. I’m not the team captain because of my winning personality, but. I don’t know, I don’t like showing it off in case I’m not as good as I think I am.”

“Wow, my handsome and talented boyfriend is so humble,” Sokka said. “What a man. What a catch.”

“Shut up,” Zuko said, chuckling into the phone and sending shivers down Sokka’s neck. “I’d kiss you if I was there.”

“You’d get sick again,” Sokka said, sniffing loudly. “Hey. When you get back. Can we…?”

He heard the door open through the phone, and his teammates called to Zuko. Zuko replied, and then said to Sokka, “Listen, I’ve got to go. Coach is treating us to dinner, and then we’ll be on our way back. Probably won’t be until midnight, though, so don’t stay up for me.”

“Hadn’t planned on it,” Sokka said. “I feel like shit.”

“I love you,” Zuko said. “Get well, okay?”

“Okay,” Sokka said, grinning despite himself. “Bye, boyfriend.”

“Bye!”

The call ended, and Sokka burrowed down into his blankets. He turned off his monitor and forced himself to sleep, determined to get better as quickly as possible so that he and Zuko could properly celebrate his win. Scenarios played out in his dreams, warped though they were by his subconscious mind, and he had more than sweat to wash from his clothes when he was mobile enough to do laundry again.

[mickgaydolenz]

highlights of mike’s commentary on i’ve got a little song here:

again mike ad nauseam asserting how confused he was, how little creative input he had, etc, etc

mike says a lot of the directors they had direct the show were originally commercial directors which lent to the unique way in which the show was framed

he says that the idea that actors would return to play multiple villains was a conscious decision they had made when they started filming the show

mike says the narratives in the episodes were never really that important, what WAS important was the kinetic energy they had, the spontaneity, and they would purposefully encourage them to break continuity. mike says it got very hard for them to keep that up as the show went on

mattel made their unicyles! mike says they had these dinky training wheels on the back that essentially did nothing and actually made them much harder to ride 😂

according to mike he was the reason they got their iconic 8 button shirts. he says he was talking with gene about their wardrobe and had asked if he could have a shirt made that was similar to the shirts john wayne wore in westerns 😂. mike said there was also a warehouse(?) where they kept a bunch of costumes from other films etc and gene would often take him there and let him choose pieces that would be taken in to fit mike

mike really hated the jc penny fashion, thought it was super bizarre

this is the episode where he talks about micky coming up with the rack of clothes!!! mike was meeting a car dealer in one of the empty offices and gene had sent micky (whether the two of them devised this plan together is unclear) up with a rack of like 30 blue jeans and jean shirts and just burst in asking mike if he was ready to select his wardrobe for the day 😂. mike is very amused telling this story :)

mike talks about his black pontiac gto for a bit, and how it also had tinted windows (one of the first cars to do so at that time) and he would frequently get stopped by the police because of it. he ultimately concludes that the car was a sexy beast….

he also expresses his continued bafflement at how people found it so hard to grasp the fact that any of them could be talented artists in their own right despite being put together as a plastic group.