#at least to a certain extent

[singsweetmelodies]

alright anons

[polskasroka]

Guys stop treating rzk as if he were a child or sth

Rlly, he fell and what? People fall on a daily basis and you don't go crying abt it

He's an ordinary human and, like an ordinary human, he can trip over once in a while

He's not poor bc of that, stuff like that happens, that's all

[tanadrin]

it’s hard to square TOS’s Spock with SNW’s Spock, and I’m glad the producers of SNW didn’t try--TOS is dated in a lot of ways, not all of them charming--but I am really starting to enjoy SNW Spock. T’Pring is also very different, but given that she was a one-off side character whose only trait was “stone-cold bitch (affectionate)” in Amok Time, this can hardly be avoided.

[izzysillyhandsy]

I love the murder/suicide scene (and I've watched it far too many times), but I'm realizing more and more how incredibly cruel it is.

Izzy is always looking at Ed and Ed knows this (I saw ya - Course ya did), but Ed only grants Izzy those little glances, not more. When they are directly interacting, Izzy's eyes are on Ed's every expression like a laser beam - and Ed is distractedly looking out to the sea, turning his back to Izzy or looking at other things/people.

And then, in the middle of Izzy's worst nightmare, Ed comes in and really looks Izzy in the eyes for an eternity, soft light, so close, over the barrel of a gun. Looking more beautiful than ever, not the Kraken anymore. This is Ed, finally there with Izzy, totally in the moment - he's even holding his hand for a bit.

After all this time, Izzy finally gets Ed's undivided attention - but only because he wants Izzy to do something for him. The worst thing he's ever asked of him. The ultimate act of cruelty.

No wonder Izzy tries to kill himself.

(the only other time Izzy gets Ed's full attention is when Izzy is dying - those two really are closest in death, aren't they)

[shitty-check-please-aus]

PSA for all drivers in the city of Chicago! There are red octagonal signs at a lot of intersections with the word STOP on them- when you see these signs, that means you should try and use this fun pedal next to the gas called the "brakes" and not attempt vehicular manslaughter with every pedestrian you see! There are also large lights at some intersection- when the top light, the red one, is lit, that means the same thing.

once we master this skill, we can talk about a cool trick for signaling to people (including pedestrians trying to cross the street) that you're going to turn. This tool might be a little tougher to find if you've got a BMW, Audi, or Lexus, but we can find a way to work one-on-one to make sure you can use it. However, it's also important that we learn how to not use it when we're not turning.

[shikai-the-storyteller]

Laughing a bit because earlier I was thinking "Well, Pac's probably going to be ok since Cellbit's just attacking Federation workers and he hasn't actually "reverted back into Cell", which means Pac probably won't wind up in the line of fire," and then I remembered Pac is friends with Walter Bob (Federation worker), he's in love with Fit (Federation janitor), and Pac has a horrible habit of undervaluing himself and sacrificing himself for others' sake, and I literally went:

(Note: I do think Pac will be ok since once again: Cellbit's not reverting back into Cell or anything, and they are family, but getting caught in the crossfire is A Very Pac thing to do).

[mel-loly]

-Them <3

[vickyvicarious]

Frankenstein annotators vs Dracula annotators FIGHT (this Ask brought to you by the Frankenstein weekly annotator takes)

For real, there do seem to be some blisteringly cold takes going on in academic circles.

I think Frankenstein suffers more with people tending to identify harder with either Creature or Victor, and thus skewing everything the other one does in order to demonize them. They get plenty of material to work with either way, because both are extremely flawed individuals. Both are self-absorbed, make bad choices, cause harm to those around them. Both also are extremely depressed/self-hating, do not want to hurt anyone until they're well caught up in a self-perpetuating cycle of hatred, feel trapped and victimized by the other. I think a lot of the power of the book comes from being able to sympathize with both of them and spot so many moments of "if only-" while still feeling that the way things turned out was somehow inevitable. It's just ingredients of a great tragedy!

With Dracula, it feels more like people are trying to distance themselves from the characters. By reducing them to plot points, archetypes, and the like, these people stop engaging with them as characters. And as such, they try to force in negative nuance where it wasn't intended in the original, or view them only as a stereotypical Frigid Victorian Male (Jonathan) or say "this side character didn't do a lot so maybe they were secretly evil" (Quincey), or just get... super, super into horny symbolism everywhere in a way that actually saps away a lot of what makes the characters themselves. In doing so, they miss the heart of the story, which despite being a horror novel actually has some really uplifting stuff.

I haven't read tons and tons of academic takes on both books, but based on what I have read, I think those are the trends that seem to bring about some of the really weird or hostile takeaways. Getting too attached to a particular character in Frankenstein, and trying too hard not to care about the characters in Dracula. Opposite in a way, but both ending up missing a lot of heart/nuance that I think you can find in the original works.

I feel there also is an element of a kind of feedback loop in both cases. Each book has had a major impact on pop culture, but in ways which tend to diverge significantly from book canon. I do feel that some of the simplifications and reversals start out as either derivative of (Dracula must have a sympathetic backstory) or defiant to (actually, Frankenstein is the real monster) the film/pop culture versions. This as well as responding to so many other established lines of criticism and types of takes that have become almost a "standard" and which are somewhat removed from the actual canon of the page.

[thedevotionaltour]

even for period typical ableism it still drives me nuts for karen to go oh poor matt how can he deal and get around as if he hasn't been blind most of his life at this point and living on his own by himself as an adult for his entire adult life after college and has also lived in the city his whole life like girl use your damn brain he can get around by himself just fine. good god. like take five seconds to use your brain. literally adult man who lives by himself if nothing else that should tell you he is fine and when he needs assistance has the knowledge and ability to go get it you act as if he can't even walk on the sidewalk by himself. he literally shows up to work by himself. it drives me up the wall sometimes how she sees proof of him functioning fine independently literally witnesses it on the daily and still thinks these things. like again foggy isn't great either bc again the period typical ableism (and just general ableism in the world outside of this period as this is a common attitude of viewing disabled people as helpless and unable to function even if they are people who do live independently (and im not touching on people who do need extra support and caretaking in this context. as this post is about these characters in the context of a story. so im talking about what we see there instead of any truly meaningful nuanced way) but the writing here is like. Particularly this way due to the time) he has a modicum more of understanding that matt is literally a capable grown adult man. literally told karen matt is a big boy who can handle himself and then karen went b-b-but you forget he's blind as if foggy hasn't known him for years of his life and is his best friend like PLEASE SEE HIM AS AN ADULT. I AM GOING TO GO INSANE. PLEASE RESPECT HIM IF YOU LOVE HIM SO DEARLY. AND EVEN IF YOU DIDN'T. JUST RESPECT HIM AS A PERSON!!!!!!

[irhabiya]

one thing i really resonated with while reading the stillborn by arwa salih is her palpable bitterness. she perfectly articulates how cheated i feel decades later by the generations of the egyptian marxists that came before me (and her), nothing's changed, if anything did it's the near complete dissolving of the remnants of the "left" in egypt. it only seems to get worse somehow.

tragedy, disappointment and bitterness is all i feel when i read and look back at our first postcolonial experiment, our first attempt at self-determination. because all things considered, we had it better off than most of the other arab states that were also emerging into a postcolonial era around the same time we were. i feel so bitter because ultimately the responsibility of how things turned out is on us, on a failed generation of marxists who couldn't prevent the unmaking of our national liberation.

[anxiously-sidequesting]

Yknow I think one of the saddest parts about Malorn being a professor is that his social circle in particular must have taken a hit. Idk if he had any homies before his promotion but with that Teacher and Student relationship having to be almost strictly professional, I can't imagine it would be smiled upon to have Malorn acting buddy buddy with some of his peers anymore. And like that's really sad that one of the many aspects of his childhood is essentially taken from him because he's in this awkward spot of mentally, physically, and emotionally at par with his students but has to be different than that in order to be their teacher

Like imagine how lonely that is bro. He can't be a kid with his students anymore but he's not an adult that can necessarily relate to other adults either so he's just in this separate space all by himself because there are no others like him (except The Wizard who has at least some similarities)

Thinking about how Malorn's former friends just slowly drifting away from him not because they hate him, but because they have to regard him as a teacher FIRST above all else is super sad and once again I'm crying for Malorn in the evening

[the-monkey-ruler]

I was reading The Monkey King's Daughter (you can read the whole book for an hour) and apparently the protagonist is also Guanyin's grandchild? Can Guanyin be shipped?

I mean I can’t say like what are like the moral implications of shipping GuanYin itself cause that is so not my place but I’m still going to answer this cause it kinda of interesting when it comes to modern media. First off saying that like I have never really seen romance done with GuanYin. At least in a serious way. But if I had to take a guess it can be seen as 'possible' as much as like shipping anyone in Chinese mythos, in that isn't really taken seriously at all. In a lot of modern fan spaces there are a variety of crack ships for more humorous or hypothetical situations like I have seen literally the Star of Venus shipped with Jade Emperor just cause. But I don't see much with buddhas or bodhisattvas in either post-modern media nor in fan spaces. At least that isn't Wukong or Sanzang since they are both Buddhas. And I have done a whole thing about how Wukong for decades wasn’t seen as a romantic figure until like there was a huge character reconstruction, but that isn’t usually the case for most characters.

I would say that the most mainstream instance I can think off the top of my head is The Lost Empire (2001) where it had the main character has a romantic plot with Gaunyin herself. Of course, that wasn't really a masterpiece within itself but this was considered like a 'bad choice' more so that it was just a very strange and awkward romance at that.

Funny enough I think I see more romantic for humor's sake on Guanyin in comic books or games as likes gags at most. Like in Westward comics (later a tv series) Guanyin has a celestial-turned-demon trying to pursue him that he always rejects. Another is more play for laughs but Guanyin in the Fei Ren Zai where people just don't know it's Guanyin and think she is so attractive.

I've seen some games that have Guanyin as like a pretty boy/girl but otherwise nothing even close to a romance plot. Those are more just for like aesthetics of making every character look overly attractive to sell it.

The best I can say is that is just kinda strange and a little strange personally but I can't say that it can be taken seriously. I mean Wukong is supposed to be a Buddha by the end of the novel, so if The Monkey King's Daughter has it that a buddha can have a daughter then there wouldn't be anything stopping the author from having a bodhisattva having kids.

[littledancingphoenix]

Ugh. The more I read about Feng Wei, the more I have to wonder: why the HELL did they put him back on the roster for Tekken 8? There is nothing likable about this guy. Absolutely nothing.

Or did they just bring him back because they brought back Leroy?

Honestly, I hope Leroy kicks his ass.

[pinbitch]

this is deeply incoherent and meta but i really feel like the way fandom treats john is incredibly karmically appropriate. like, if john could somehow see the ways he’s so commonly misinterpreted as a straight up villain and used in fanfic as the convenient whumper/bad guy he’d be so horrified that his treatment of his sons lead to that impression. john in canon is abusive but he’s also complex, and he wouldn’t do a solid 90% of the things fandom happily depicts him doing. so if he could see that, if he could see all the awful things these strangers think he’s capable of, i think he’d know it was his own fault people were making those assumptions. and that’s exactly what he deserves

anyway john winchester’s hell was the “john winchester’s a+ parenting” ao3 tag and the reason he never broke and stopped his own punishment was cause he knew he deserved it

[tear-catch3r]

something i've been thinking about 1899 is that scene where maura grabs eyk in the mental hospital and goes "maybe we've both gone mad 🥺" and like it's a nice moment for them good chemistry etc and sure it's valid from their perspectives and all but it's so funny how they keep acting like they're they only ones that know something is wrong while every other character on this damned boat is also experiencing the Horrors

[bloodydeanwinchester]

ughhh i can't decide if i should change the way i make my bloody dean sets. i feel like the posts would get more notes if i just focused on 2-4 close ups from the scene (also the sets would be way easier for me to make). but from the start i really wanted these sets to give a good overview of what happens in the scene. i can't keep spending so many hours on sets that barely get 100 notes tho 😭 idk maybe i will finish up s3 the way i've been doing it and start doing the easier way when i start on s4 ☹️