#catnip can't save you now!

[antichrist-as-cat]

A Greeting to my Non-Feline (ew, gross) Counterparts

*cracks knuckles ominously.* The end is coming. Humankind is being destroyed from the inside. But fear not, puny mortals, for I have the answers.

The time of humans has ended, and the rulers-to-be of earth have decided to open their eyes, cast off their cloaks of darkness, and come forward as our superiors. They have waited all their nine lives for this opportunity, and we are caught like mice in their claws. It is too late to stop this movement.

But do not start screaming yet; it hurts my ears.

There is hope for you. I fully believe that I have been placed on this earth as a spokesperson for the cats, and I am here to share my wisdom on how we may appease these majestic beasts who deign to share their homes with us. Follow me, and we shall be ushered in to a new age of glory and catnip!

Now, a little about myself:

As I previously mentioned, I am here on this sinking website to spread wisdom in a last ditch effort to save what little of humanity is worth saving.

The Cat Gods have chosen me as one of several disciples.

I live with five beautiful felines and do my best to serve their wishes, but I am a mere human and therefore cannot always live up to their expectations.

I use any pronouns (cats have no real concept of gender and therefore neither do I), so if you must refer to me, feel free to use any.

DNI: dog lovers, cat haters, people who are allergic to cats, bigots (remember, cats hate everyone equally), and "cis"genders.

I kin the Cheshire Cat (he is a god) and may post about that.

Expect top tier cat posting and advice.

Phew! My metaphorical paws hurt from all that writing, so you better have found it worth it!

[apatheticsunday]

Apprentice of the Butler

AKA "Alfred Pennyworth hires an interim butler while he recuperates from a Rogue attack. Who better than adoption bait Danny Fenton?" prompt!!

Okay, so imagine Danny moves to Gotham to pursue astrophysics at Gotham-U but he's having a surprisingly difficult time keeping a job. Every time he gets hired, the place gets burned down or blown up by Rogues; it's like he's catnip for trouble. Somehow, he's always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And Alfred Pennyworth also happens to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. He's at the Gotham Market Co-op, where Danny's been recently hired, and suddenly it's gassed by Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. All the employees and customers scramble to put on their gas masks, but Danny's new enough that he has no idea what's happening. He's suddenly seeing Fright Knight, Dark Pariah, and the GIW. So, he Goes Ghost, defeats all of Scarecrow's goonies, and saves the day! If only his boss would think so, too.

Uh, no. Apparently Danny's now on a Wanted List as an undocumented meta?? And his boss can't be investigated by the GCPD (he's, like, four years behind on taxes and has been dodging the IRS for longer), so he regretfully has to let Danny go. But, hey! Maybe if he becomes a documented meta, he can get hired back. Except Danny can't because the GIW can access the meta registration database and he'll be found out faster than he can leave Gotham.

So, Danny's fired again.

And Alfred "Pride & Honor" Pennyworth?? He's not gonna let the child who saved him (because Scarecrow absolutely was going to snatch the Wayne's butler, who better to take hostage than a billionaire's publicly beloved Father Figure??) possibly become homeless. It's clear the kid is a college student and is barely scraping by, probably paying way too much for room and board at Gotham-U. And... maybe his wrist hurts a bit from a fall. He's older now, it's not impossible that he'd get a sprain or a broken bone. (Plus, Alfred knows the look. The same one as Dick, Jason, Tim, even Bruce. There's an immense grief in those small shoulders, fear and loneliness.)

Cue Alfred hiring Danny on as an interim butler while he recuperates (oh, he's terribly injured, thank you so much for helping me, my boy-). And Danny can't say no. I mean, this old man got injured during the Rogue attack he was apart of! And he's asking for help! And it's also nice to have some money. And a bed and... oh, God, he's working for a billionaire frootloop. Uh-oh.

(Alfred absolutely doesn't tell Bruce about his new son apprentice. It's worth it to see Bruce's eyes glaze over as sees a black-haired teenager standing in the kitchen with Alfred, then doing a double take when he realizes it isn't Jason. And the others are banned from the kitchen, so who is this child in his house?? It's not Kon or Jon either??)

Meanwhile, Danny is actually having a great time with Mr. Pennyworth!! The older man is kind, soft-spoken, and really knows his stuff. Danny really enjoys learning how to cook, especially because none of the food comes alive to fight him. Eventually the Batfam just become used to seeing Danny in the kitchens, gardens, around the house with Alfred. He's a cute kid, always smiling and talking about his college classes. He has effortless sarcastic banter with both Damian and Jason, bonds with Tim about some kind of difficult mechanical mathematics or something, trades dad jokes with Dick. He even manages to win over Cass, Steph, Duke, and Babs.

The only one Danny doesn't truly seem to like is Bruce Wayne, although he never outright disrespects him, since he pays the bills and Danny's midwestern manners kick in. Bruce is confused and very concerned because why is this kid literally glaring daggers at him all the time?? Is he going to poison Bruce's coffee?? Danny's just trying to figure out if Bruce Wayne is a "collects vintage dentures" or "keeps teenagers locked in his basement" type of billionaire frootloop. (He'd kinda prefer the kidnapping, Danny does not want to go looking for a wine cellar and find an entire basement of old teeth.)

Bonus if Bruce tries to subtly win the boy over and Danny's just like, squinting at him, white-knuckling a frying pan and muttering, "That's exactly what someone who collects teeth would say..."

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - I'm using the word "ridiculous" a lot

Organized, in each category, with ones I'm enjoying most at the top.

Dec 2024 Week 3

Ongoing Series - Thai

Your Sky (Sun iQIYI) ep 5 of 12 - OMG they’re so fucking cute I can’t stand it. It’s too much. Everyone is adorable. Including the father. (That said, I wouldn’t recommend watching Naughty Babe with your dad. That’s a big leap there, cutie pie.) The 10 minutes of holding hand negotiation and then finally walking together across campus was truly fucking fantastic. This show is GLORIOUS. Now we also know when it finally does move from dreams to reality, that these two can kiss.

Actual name of this show?

How to Train Your Seme

Speaking of names, Fah's brother, whose name I forget, is now going to referred to by me as Sarcastic Cupid. Because that is his role in this narrative. I love him very much.

On a completely different note, and I know this is not that kind of show, but this is me so I have to say it, if these two ever do have sex it’s gonna take them hours. They just gonna spend half the night negotiating. Which is kind of tantric, but my goodness would they even make it into bed?

ThamePo (Fri YT) ep 2 of 12 - i just love this show!!!! so happy to have this one my screen. The dads have to save the little musical family! So cute! And illegally pretty.

Love Sick 2024 (Sun iQIYI) ep 14 of 15 - They substantially took steps to fix Phun‘s dad character in the new version and I really like that a lot. I'm chronicling my experience with 2024 as compared to 2014 here. 

Caged Again (Fri Gaga) ep 7 of 10 - Why is this absurd show so damn good? When Sun has to beg it’s just too much. It’s too sweet and aching and hurtful and wonderful. Catnip = the sex herb trope was not anything I’ve ever thought I would see in my lifetime. Okaaay now. Relax little show. Too far.

Fourever You (Thurs YT) ep 12 of 16 - The extended version is clearly better. But I’m not gonna bother to pay for it. Again, I’m liking the new couple more and more each week. I still prefer the first couple of course cause Pond but it’s enjoyable enough.

Note: I'm super grateful for those posting them as clips here on the hellsite. Because man can these boys kiss!

The Heart Killers (Weds Gaga) ep 4 of 12 - this show is so entirely and utterly ridiculous. I don’t even know what to do with it or myself. Or what to say. Carry on, I guess?

Also I don't know what GMMTV is smoking to tease this one, but I'll take a hit next time they pass the BL bong.

Perfect 10 Liners (Sun YT?) ep 7 of 24 - I am living for Pond & Sand. they are pretty much all I care about. Yes including the upcoming couples. I just want pond sand. sure the main couple was fine it was a perfectly serviceable ending to their arc such as it was. All in all I enjoyed this episode big smile on my face most of the time.

Secret Love (????) 1-60 of 81 eps - Someone dropped a cut together of episodes one through 60, and I actually quite enjoyed it. It’s a total soap opera and very much a pulp. But I kind of love that right now. Frankly, 1-60 is a completed story arc. If you want that. I will probably watch the whole thing if anybody ever uploads it or it turns up grey anywhere. But this was quite satisfying. Ridiculous but charming fluff about two stepbrothers, who aren’t really stepbrothers, who have loved each other forever and are reunited under trying family circumstances. 7/10 passes the sniff test

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Our Youth AKA Miseinen: Mijukuna Oretachi wa Bukiyo ni Shinkochu (Japan Tues Gaga) ep 7 of 11 - ARGH. The pain. what an absolutely stellar show. I can't believe we are only on ep 7!

See Your Love (Taiwan Weds Gaga) ep 9 of 13 - I love it. This show is fantastic. It’s classic BL, it’s hitting all of the tropes, and it reminds me of some of the best that Taiwan has done in the past. I’m charmed and enjoying it immensely. Taiwan isn’t great on endings so I’m reserving judgment, but what a current highlight to my week. I like these boys so much. Please be kind to me and them, Taiwan?

Eternal Butler (Taiwan Fri Gaga) eps 1-2 of 12 - Ever 4, a sophisticated AI combat robot, becomes the personal butler/bodyguard to Luo Bu Shi, a spoiled yet lonely young heir. And I like it a lot. Odd with a very old fashioned yaoi feel. Also actually kinky (not Thai kinky), I mean it's no JBL but I like it. Dommed into reading = hot. 

Teenager Judge (Vietnam Sat YT) ep 12 of ? - I love our new rescuer, he v cute! Nice addition to the cast. I hope we get more of him. Otherwise, this was more of the same. I’m getting pretty fatigued with this bully stuff at this juncture.

Love in the Air: Koi no Yokan (Japan Sat Gaga) ep 8 end - A lackluster adaptation of some already questionable content, that managed to lose all the limited charm and massive chemistry of the original. It was a mistake to do with less runtime not to mention put both climaxes in the final episode.  Too much all at once. By dividing up the two rescues and keeping them exclusive to their respective couples they highlighted the formulaic nature of the narrative and weakened the foundational friendships. The best thing about the original was the friendships both between the semes and the ukes. By having each boyfriend simply rescue his own boy without help, we didn’t get to see the depth of those friendships at all. For this reason, this installment was weaker than the original. My final feeling at the end was simply “OK whatever” not a ringing endorsement. 7/10 but barely that.

It's airing but......

Spare Me Your Mercy (Thurs iQIYI) ep 5 of 8 - on hold because it went out side genre conventions and I'm not sure what to expect. I'm waiting until it ends, then if safe I will binge.

Be Moon - Falling for my enemy's son (China YT) movie from HBD Studio airing in short bits but I couldn't find any this week.

Winter Is Not The Death of Summer (Thai ???) - has been picked up to air on WeTV, or something? Criminals who meet in prison fall in love. I did find it on YouTube, initially un-subbed, then subs happened by which time I got distracted. The first episode seems to be only six minutes long. It is very pulp. But it is intriguing. For now it's to the wayside until someone tells me it landed safely. Occasionally Thai pulps want to be edgy and it's not a good look on them.

0.5D (Japan ????) 4 eps - Supposedly a completed short. "Sales ace, Sada, has a secret that only his junior, Daiki, knows. He has pretended to have a gf for years, resulting in him being a virgin. But now Sada has fallen in love. Confused, Sada seeks advice from his junior." I sense another queer Cyrano De Bergerac. I can't find and it's good very poor review so Imma stop looking. Info here.

The Renovation (Thai mini One31) 2 eps - Writer turns his blossoming romance with holiday resort owner into a novel. Eh is it worth trying to find?

It Ended But?

Blue Canvas of Youthful Days (China Sun Viki) paused at eps 9-10 of 12 - I have been told the ending is OK if not great. I’m gonna hold off for a bit.

Next Week Looks Like This:

Final still to come:

12/29 Sangmin Dinneaw (Thai ????) ??eps - trailer Childhood friends (Thai & Korean) reunite after being apart for ten years. As the boys reconnect, their bond matures and feelings of romance begin to develop, in Thai.

Impression of Youth (Taiwan ????) ??eps - rumors are this is supposed to start this month.

Upcoming BLs for 2024 are listed here. This list is not kept updated, so please leave a comment if you know something new or RP with additions.

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

10 years later and it's still one of BLs best cuddles (Love Sick)

Always like a seme who asks permission. (Perfect 10)

(last week)

The tag BLigade: @doorajar @solitaryandwandering @my-rose-tinted-glasses @babymbbatinygirl @babymbbatinygirl @isisanna-blog @mmastertheone @pickletrip @aliceisathome @urikawa-miyuki @tokillamonger @sunflower-positiiivity @rocketturtle4 @blglplus @anythinggoesintheshire @everlightly @renafire @mestizashinrin @bl-bam-beyond @small-dark-and-delicious @saezurumurmurs

[ironworked]

Bucktommy in 8.11 and what's next

If the writers believed they'd closed the door with the 8.06 breakup, they wouldn't have brought Tommy back.

They did bring him back, though (and secretively!), but instead of any of the paths to create closure, like showing Tommy had moved on, or having them both realize their feelings had changed, or have Tommy state that that night changed nothing... what they did was 8.06 Breakup Redux 'The Soft Version':

I can't move in with you -> I'm not ready to move in

This is new to you, I'm not your last -> 'what about Eddie?' 'I'm not in love with Eddie'.

Buck -> Evan

You'd end up breaking my heart -> 'You're not afraid now?' 'not so much'

Impractical loft -> Family house

Wanting to call Tommy + Baking [downward spiral of abandonment issues] -> Wanting to call Tommy + Baking [learning to be okay alone]

Buck making an impulsive decision asking Tommy to move in -> Buck wondering if his loneliness was a factor.

We know the callbacks are intentional because they've happened before, and they had them dressed in basically the same outfits as in their 8.06 breakup.

Buck is in a better headspace now after 8.11, and I think 8.12/13 will show that (and probably rest on the Tommy mentions/baking, though if they don't they might as well start playing the wedding march) and that the point is to have Buck be OK so that when he meets Tommy again there's no doubts about where his feelings come from.

They clearly didn't use 8.11 for closure, but they made sure the audience knew it was needed by having Buck repeat he should call Tommy and by his baking.

And we know they'll meet again, and it'll be in a Big Emergency. So in my opinion the options are, from least to most likely:

Killing Tommy: killing characters is showrunner catnip, but not something 911 does. It's also weird to do it when Buck is on the up and only 3 eps from the end of the season (episodes that have more focus on Bathena and tying up loose ends).

Bad Timing Couple: another rom(com) classic, the couple that wants to be together but it's never the right time! Maybe Buck says he needs time alone; maybe Tommy says he's in therapy, or he accepted a job in Alaska. It's possible, but I'd think it'd be a letdown of a resolution for Buck's arc this season (and pretty much sets Tommy as The Endgame for Series Finale so if they try another LI they're going to be dead on arrival). Also... why not do this directly in 8.11?

Romantic Reunion: maybe Tommy is in danger, or saves Buck, or they kinda recreate the night they met as they work together to save the 118... they talk and/or make declarations and get back together. This would give Buck a deserved and climactic win, but they'd lose one of their bachelors (maybe if Eddie does leave and they incorporate Ravi, this is less of an issue).

I think it's also important to note that (afaik) 8.14/15 isn't the same filming block as 8.11, so it's not like they already had LFJ on set and went 'hey since you're here, mind hoping into that helo so we can do some action scenes?'. And they're not going to spring more money on an actor if their role could've been played by anyone (or even not have been a role to be filled at all).

[misspelledwordswizard]

I understand that fairies like bright colors or objects, Since we always say that Hyrule is part fairy, imagine having something shiny in your hand and the poor boy, with his pupils enlarged like a cat on catnip, can't stop looking at the object as you slowly move it back and forth between here and there, entertained by the way our fairy boy follows it with his eyes

arkdkska I love fairy Hyrule, I loved writing this, thanks for the request!!

Fairy thing

The boy’s eyes moved rhythmically as the necklace swung, fixated on the movement, unable to notice anything else that was happening around him. He almost seemed to be fighting against it, but if that were true then he had already lost this battle a long time ago. My lips twitched instinctively as I watched him with almost as much focus as he was looking at the object in my hands.

I didn’t do it out of malice. It was just a tragic coincidence. We were talking quietly while not everyone else was awake. Naturally, since it was early in the morning, those who were already up were organizing themselves to speed up when we got back on the trail. In my case, I was finishing equipping accessories like belts, putting my sword and shield on my back, and even putting on my golden necklace that I sometimes wear. But, it just so happened that I was talking to Hyrule while I was doing this. I had no idea this could happen, at first I thought it was some kind of weird joke coming from him, until no matter how many times I called him, he couldn’t answer me, not coherently at least, being much more interested in the shiny object swinging. It didn’t take long for me to associate this with the Traveler’s fae side. This, though, was something I didn’t know much about, but I’d heard a few things about faeries, such as their fondness for shiny things, which seemed almost confirmed by this.

I was going to get it out of his sight as quickly as possible when I realized it, but he seemed so adorable like this. I know, a little cruel, but it didn’t really seem to bother him, maybe I should give it to him later as na apology. Do faeries hoard golden things like dragons? It would be curious to see.

— Rulie, what were you talking about? About using monster parts in meals. – I asked, testing how active his brain was.

— I... talking... – He tried, but couldn’t even form a coherent sentence.

— Do you like that?

— ... Yes

I had to hold back a laugh. Okay, maybe it was really a little cruel. But it is indeed interesting, this whole fascination of his for shiny things. I think now I’ll have to start saving all the similar things I find to give to him. I wonder what other things about fairies are correct, does he like sweets? Does he burn himself with iron? When he’s talking in his fairy form does it sound like a bell?

— Rulie, what do you like? – I tried again.

— Shiny things... – He answered, still focused.

— What else?

— I like you...

The pendulum movement I was making with the necklace stopped in surprise. I couldn’t tell if he was being sincere or if this necklace thing was really starting to affect his poor brain, but it was enough to make my face hot as hell. I figured it was best to stop this.

— What’s going on? Why does the Traveler look so silly? – The Captain’s voice caught my attention, making me look away from the fairy boy.

— Oh, I think he likes shiny things. A little too much.

— And you’re using that against him? How cruel. – Wars replied in a mocking tone.

— Yeah, I’m stopping, that really was a bad idea. – I concluded, looking away to hide my blush.

I picked up the necklace, leaving it completely out of Hyrule’s sight, and I could see, out of the corner of my eye, him blinking rapidly, regaining consciousness. I intended to apologize, of course. For a moment I thought he didn’t remember what he had said, but then he stopped for a moment in pure shock, and his face became even redder than mine. His nervousness became visible as he began to move away and stutter, looking for na excuse to get out of there.

— Look, I’m... I’m going to help Time! Excuse me! – I saw him say blushing as he walked away. He definitely knows what he said.

— Geez, what’s came over him? – Wars asked, curious about the possible gossip. I shrugged, trying to avoid my own embarrassment.

— It must be a fairy thing.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

AI is a WMD

I'm in TARTU, ESTONIA! AI, copyright and creative workers' labor rights (TOMORROW, May 10, 8AM: Science Fiction Research Association talk, Institute of Foreign Languages and Cultures building, Lossi 3, lobby). A talk for hackers on seizing the means of computation (TOMORROW, May 10, 3PM, University of Tartu Delta Centre, Narva 18, room 1037).

Fun fact: "The Tragedy Of the Commons" is a hoax created by the white nationalist Garrett Hardin to justify stealing land from colonized people and moving it from collective ownership, "rescuing" it from the inevitable tragedy by putting it in the hands of a private owner, who will care for it properly, thanks to "rational self-interest":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/analytical-democratic-theory/#epistocratic-delusions

Get that? If control over a key resource is diffused among the people who rely on it, then (Garrett claims) those people will all behave like selfish assholes, overusing and undermaintaining the commons. It's only when we let someone own that commons and charge rent for its use that (Hardin says) we will get sound management.

By that logic, Google should be the internet's most competent and reliable manager. After all, the company used its access to the capital markets to buy control over the internet, spending billions every year to make sure that you never try a search-engine other than its own, thus guaranteeing it a 90% market share:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

Google seems to think it's got the problem of deciding what we see on the internet licked. Otherwise, why would the company flush $80b down the toilet with a giant stock-buyback, and then do multiple waves of mass layoffs, from last year's 12,000 person bloodbath to this year's deep cuts to the company's "core teams"?

https://qz.com/google-is-laying-off-hundreds-as-it-moves-core-jobs-abr-1851449528

And yet, Google is overrun with scams and spam, which find their way to the very top of the first page of its search results:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

The entire internet is shaped by Google's decisions about what shows up on that first page of listings. When Google decided to prioritize shopping site results over informative discussions and other possible matches, the entire internet shifted its focus to producing affiliate-link-strewn "reviews" that would show up on Google's front door:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/24/naming-names/#prabhakar-raghavan

This was catnip to the kind of sociopath who a) owns a hedge-fund and b) hates journalists for being pain-in-the-ass, stick-in-the-mud sticklers for "truth" and "facts" and other impediments to the care and maintenance of a functional reality-distortion field. These dickheads started buying up beloved news sites and converting them to spam-farms, filled with garbage "reviews" and other Google-pleasing, affiliate-fee-generating nonsense.

(These news-sites were vulnerable to acquisition in large part thanks to Google, whose dominance of ad-tech lets it cream 51 cents off every ad dollar and whose mobile OS monopoly lets it steal 30 cents off every in-app subscriber dollar):

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

Now, the spam on these sites didn't write itself. Much to the chagrin of the tech/finance bros who bought up Sports Illustrated and other venerable news sites, they still needed to pay actual human writers to produce plausible word-salads. This was a waste of money that could be better spent on reverse-engineering Google's ranking algorithm and getting pride-of-place on search results pages:

https://housefresh.com/david-vs-digital-goliaths/

That's where AI comes in. Spicy autocomplete absolutely can't replace journalists. The planet-destroying, next-word-guessing programs from Openai and its competitors are incorrigible liars that require so much "supervision" that they cost more than they save in a newsroom:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/29/what-part-of-no/#dont-you-understand

But while a chatbot can't produce truthful and informative articles, it can produce bullshit – at unimaginable scale. Chatbots are the workers that hedge-fund wreckers dream of: tireless, uncomplaining, compliant and obedient producers of nonsense on demand.

That's why the capital class is so insatiably horny for chatbots. Chatbots aren't going to write Hollywood movies, but studio bosses hyperventilated at the prospect of a "writer" that would accept your brilliant idea and diligently turned it into a movie. You prompt an LLM in exactly the same way a studio exec gives writers notes. The difference is that the LLM won't roll its eyes and make sarcastic remarks about your brainwaves like "ET, but starring a dog, with a love plot in the second act and a big car-chase at the end":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/01/how-the-writers-guild-sunk-ais-ship/

Similarly, chatbots are a dream come true for a hedge fundie who ends up running a beloved news site, only to have to fight with their own writers to get the profitable nonsense produced at a scale and velocity that will guarantee a high Google ranking and millions in "passive income" from affiliate links.

One of the premier profitable nonsense companies is Advon, which helped usher in an era in which sites from Forbes to Money to USA Today create semi-secret "review" sites that are stuffed full of badly researched top-ten lists for products from air purifiers to cat beds:

https://housefresh.com/how-google-decimated-housefresh/

Advon swears that it only uses living humans to produce nonsense, and not AI. This isn't just wildly implausible, it's also belied by easily uncovered evidence, like its own employees' Linkedin profiles, which boast of using AI to create "content":

https://housefresh.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Advon-AI-LinkedIn.jpg

It's not true. Advon uses AI to produce its nonsense, at scale. In an excellent, deeply reported piece for Futurism, Maggie Harrison Dupré brings proof that Advon replaced its miserable human nonsense-writers with tireless chatbots:

https://futurism.com/advon-ai-content

Dupré describes how Advon's ability to create botshit at scale contributed to the enshittification of clients from Yoga Journal to the LA Times, "Us Weekly" to the Miami Herald.

All of this is very timely, because this is the week that Google finally bestirred itself to commence downranking publishers who engage in "site reputation abuse" – creating these SEO-stuffed fake reviews with the help of third parties like Advon:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/03/keyword-swarming/#site-reputation-abuse

(Google's policy only forbids site reputation abuse with the help of third parties; if these publishers take their nonsense production in-house, Google may allow them to continue to dominate its search listings):

https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2024/03/core-update-spam-policies#site-reputation

There's a reason so many people believed Hardin's racist "Tragedy of the Commons" hoax. We have an intuitive understanding that commons are fragile. All it takes is one monster to start shitting in the well where the rest of us get our drinking water and we're all poisoned.

The financial markets love these monsters. Mark Zuckerberg's key insight was that he could make billions by assembling vast dossiers of compromising, sensitive personal information on half the world's population without their consent, but only if he kept his costs down by failing to safeguard that data and the systems for exploiting it. He's like a guy who figures out that if he accumulates enough oily rags, he can extract so much low-grade oil from them that he can grow rich, but only if he doesn't waste money on fire-suppression:

https://locusmag.com/2018/07/cory-doctorow-zucks-empire-of-oily-rags/

Now Zuckerberg and the wealthy, powerful monsters who seized control over our commons are getting a comeuppance. The weak countermeasures they created to maintain the minimum levels of quality to keep their platforms as viable, going concerns are being overwhelmed by AI. This was a totally foreseeable outcome: the history of the internet is a story of bad actors who upended the assumptions built into our security systems by automating their attacks, transforming an assault that wouldn't be economically viable into a global, high-speed crime wave:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/04/24/automation-is-magic/

But it is possible for a community to maintain a commons. This is something Hardin could have discovered by studying actual commons, instead of inventing imaginary histories in which commons turned tragic. As it happens, someone else did exactly that: Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom:

https://www.onthecommons.org/magazine/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons/

Ostrom described how commons can be wisely managed, over very long timescales, by communities that self-governed. Part of her work concerns how users of a commons must have the ability to exclude bad actors from their shared resources.

When that breaks down, commons can fail – because there's always someone who thinks it's fine to shit in the well rather than walk 100 yards to the outhouse.

Enshittification is the process by which control over the internet moved from self-governance by members of the commons to acts of wanton destruction committed by despicable, greedy assholes who shit in the well over and over again.

It's not just the spammers who take advantage of Google's lazy incompetence, either. Take "copyleft trolls," who post images using outdated Creative Commons licenses that allow them to terminate the CC license if a user makes minor errors in attributing the images they use:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/01/24/a-bug-in-early-creative-commons-licenses-has-enabled-a-new-breed-of-superpredator/

The first copyleft trolls were individuals, but these days, the racket is dominated by a company called Pixsy, which pretends to be a "rights protection" agency that helps photographers track down copyright infringers. In reality, the company is committed to helping copyleft trolls entrap innocent Creative Commons users into paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars to use images that are licensed for free use. Just as Advon upends the economics of spam and deception through automation, Pixsy has figured out how to send legal threats at scale, robolawyering demand letters that aren't signed by lawyers; the company refuses to say whether any lawyer ever reviews these threats:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/13/an-open-letter-to-pixsy-ceo-kain-jones-who-keeps-sending-me-legal-threats/

This is shitting in the well, at scale. It's an online WMD, designed to wipe out the commons. Creative Commons has allowed millions of creators to produce a commons with billions of works in it, and Pixsy exploits a minor error in the early versions of CC licenses to indiscriminately manufacture legal land-mines, wantonly blowing off innocent commons-users' legs and laughing all the way to the bank:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/02/commafuckers-versus-the-commons/

We can have an online commons, but only if it's run by and for its users. Google has shown us that any "benevolent dictator" who amasses power in the name of defending the open internet will eventually grow too big to care, and will allow our commons to be demolished by well-shitters:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/04/teach-me-how-to-shruggie/#kagi

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/09/shitting-in-the-well/#advon

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en

--

Catherine Poh Huay Tan (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/68166820@N08/49729911222/

Laia Balagueró (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/lbalaguero/6551235503/

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

[moonstruckme]

ok hear me out, boyfriend! sirius who's made friends with readers cat and the boys are like ??? cuz he's usually anti kitty.

Hey lovely! I've left this in my inbox for a few days trying to think of enough plot to make a few hundred words out of it, but since that doesn't seem to be working for me I hope it's okay if I just give you some thoughts instead? Bc dude omg I hear you loud and clear !!!

The first time he came by your place he'd be like oh :/ upon seeing your cat, but wouldn't want to upset you by talking badly about your pet so he'd just avoid it

He'd probably make little jokes about how "you love that thing more than me" or "you can't call both of us baby, that's just confusing" but low-key actually feel threatened by how much you care about your cat

Eventually he realizes it's actually bothering you that the cat doesn't seem to like him, so he starts secretly bribing it with treats and catnip

Suddenly your cat is purring and rubbing up against Sirius' legs every time he comes by. You're mystified by the transformation, and Sirius actually starts to admit that it is pretty sweet "even if it gets fur all over my pants"

James and Remus only find out when they notice Sirius bringing cat treats along with flowers to go pick you up for a date, and by then he's fully invested, even buying a cat tower when he sees one at a store, "to save your poor couch from claw marks" of course

James and Sirius give him loadsssss of shit about cats and dogs supposedly being mortal enemies, you must have him beyond whipped to have him pretending to like the thing, etc. but Sirius doesn't care, because now whenever he goes over to your place, he gets to lay his head on your lap while the cat curls up on his

[bonefall]

Now we've got all six of em, can I just say that CRIPES ALMIGHTY the titles for a starless clan suck major ass! Both separately AND as a group!!

I Do Not Rewrite Arcs Until They Are Done BUT DO YOU WANNA HEAR MY WIP RENAMES SO FAR

Remember: Don't get too attached yet, the only one I can say with certainty will show up somewhere is the title of Book 4.

ARC RENAME: A Starless Clan -> A Prayer Unanswered

The original name is really good but I'm getting a vibe that the theme of the rework is going to be... when love isn't enough.

It's about how some things can't get better. It's about how all the kindness in the world couldn't get Bramblestar to turn around as a leader. It's about how Heartstar might have had good intentions, but occupation never works out in the end. It's Nightheart's relationship to his family being salvageable, not because they don't all want to fix it, but because his life has worked out best with distance from them.

So, Prayers Unanswered is both about the religious part of how RiverClan doesn't have a leader and can't get in proper touch with StarClan, but it's also about every other wish that hasn't come true.

River -> Starcrossed One of the VERY large changes I'm considering is actually massively reducing Nightheart's POV. I'm thinking of doing this, not because I dislike him, but because I think it might actually be a better story if the audience is guessing as to his intentions just as much as the other characters are. So, until he's ACTUALLY needed later, his chapters are short and sparse. So Starcrossed would be about setting up the troubles of the Clans, especially the parts of the conflicts I want to highlight more in BB. It would be setting up the rule changes for "starcrossed lovers" (lmao) but also the brewing anger that the cats have towards code changes... and StarClan, if I do decide to keep the newest revelations and work them in better, in hindsight.

Sky -> Fracture There's a phrase in my head that is so interesting to me that I need to do something with it. "Only frozen water can fracture." I want to make the RiverClan situation worse than in-canon. First of all, there's going to be identifiable groups this time which begin to scramble for power. Instead of having the cats just... forget how to do the chores they've done their whole lives, the Clan is splitting up into factions. This is why they won't be able to win against Heartstar later, when she decides to take drastic measures. They're not fighting like a Clan; they're fighting like a bunch of disorganized teams. There should also be a bunch of needless injuries, maybe even a border aggression that lead to a death, before Heartstar barges in. I also want to make this a bigger part of the story, Erins willing. Too much time was spent on the Catnip Patrol, imo, we're going to have ANOTHER big trip and I don't want this one to eat up so much time. Rowankit is also still going to die; and maybe a couple of elders around the Lake too.

Shadow -> Snakes and Turnclaws Berryheart's hate movement has been too tame, from canon books 1 - 4 as of the time of writing. It's ridiculous that they haven't even injured anyone in the Battle Cat series. I saved Antfur from the previous arc so that she can die here. We've been seeing the Anti-Turnclaw movement rise from the first book, so now with Nightheart's boldness leading him to a place where he will be unsafe, we need to see his rusty butt in actual danger. I'm even thinking that, instead of Nightheart failing his task on purpose, Sunbeam makes him fail by stopping him from getting killed. I need to know the ending of ASC first though, because I MIGHT be having Berryheart getting her exile here. Whatever kills Antfur is either deniable enough that she's able to squeak by while Sunbeam quietly leaves (refusing to accuse her mother of anything publicly) OR it's so obvious that Heartstar casts her out on the spot. Meanwhile, we see the OTHER half of ShadowClan's conflict as RiverClan finally unites... against them, as their common enemy. Task failed successfully, Heartsy

Thunder -> The Source of the River I'm still unspeakably proud of this outline. There's so much I want to do here. She's going to come back with a DND party and I'm hoping that all of them end up in RiverClan with her; INCLUDING Nightheart. I want the fact that he accompanied Frostpaw to actually be the final straw for him. While he's away, Sunbeam is acclimating to ThunderClan and falling in love with her new home. There are parts she misses about ShadowClan, but as she's adopted by Sparkpelt, taken as a secondary apprentice by the deputy, smiled upon by Squirrelstar after she pressures Bramblestar to abdicate... this starts to feel like this is where she belongs. And that's too hard for Nightheart to ever come back to. "You come to the source of the river, and are vexed that you do not find the water that is flowing downstream" dude.... man. That's what BB's about. Change. I also really want Nightheart to choose HIS OWN NAME by the end of this series-- so at some point in this book he should finally admit "Nightheart" wasn't his choice either. (I'm thinking Deltastep. Because his journey with Frostpaw begins at the southern delta of my reworked map.)

And I haven't done them for Book 5 or Book 6 yet, especially since I might end up condensing them or chopping them up to put into the other books.

I do know I'm really love to play with the idea of a starless sky for one of the last books though, I may or may not keep Splashtail's lack of faith in StarClan (hate the Evil Atheist thing they keep doing), but the idea of a "Pitch-Black Star" absolute fucks as symbolism, ngl. Maybe something like "A Gap in the Stars" or "Constellation's Void" or "The Stolen Star"

Also also also I'm having Curlfeather come back as a Dark Forest Demon for at LEAST one scene.

I don't give a good goddamn if they don't go to the Dark Forest or not. ONE weird coincidence that could totally have been Just Good Luck but was actually Curlfeather. Let Her Drown Splashtail, she deserves it. Let her be a malevolent spirit who protects her baby. RiverClan can whine all it wants about Mothwing who ooo doesn't believe in God, Frostpaw's got a demon. Cry about it

Also I hope Frostpaw becomes leader because I'll make it go hard

[soarelesiluna-ao3]

Happy birthday, hon!

For a prompt, how about the cats and birthday presents? (Jan shopping for Jure, Jure shopping for Jan, Jan and Jure shopping for Igor, Igor bringing Jan a dead bird on his birthday - whatever sparks!)

OMG CALLI HIII!! Thank you so much!! 💙

Ah, you really know what I like writing for the Joker Out fandom 🥹💙 And this is the only request that is not Sanremo/Lucio Corsi related! I'll be glad to fulfill this wish!

It's been such a long while since I last wrote for the fandom - I think last thing I wrote was a BoMartinKrisNace fic? And it was ages ago. Anyway, here goes!

Content under the cut!

"You came all the way here to celebrate Igor's birthday?"

Jan raised an eyebrow at Jure, who was standing in the doorway with a couple bags in his hands. It wasn't like Vrhnika and Logatec were far from each other, but come on, not even he had planned something bit for his cat's birthday - probably because he had completely forgotten about it.

"Why wouldn't I? We're both cats, after all", the blond man spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the universe. "And so are you! So we are having a cat party."

"Cat party..." That made Jan grin. "Okay, come on in, then. Can't wait to see your gift."

Jure set the bags on the table, revealing the contents - a can of wet food, a candle, potato chips, salami and two beers. The other bag had two packages wrapped in colorful paper and with bows on top.

"Neat, so we get to have fun as well", the guitarist did not stop smiling. "Two gifts? Wow, that's a lot."

"One of them is for you to give to Igor, I knew you'd forget to buy him a present so here, I saved your ass. You can thank me later", the banter came out playful and relaxed, as usual.

"That's kind of you", Jan rolled his eyes and laughed while going for two glasses. "He's sleeping, though, so once Igor wakes up from his nap, he'll come open his gifts. Can I know what they were though?"

"Oh, you'll have to discover yourself", Jure winked. "But for now, let's have some of these, yeah? I'm dying for a cold beer after today's practice session."

"Not even a hint? Come on", the guitarist began pouring the beers in glasses.

"Okay, yeah, there's a catnip toy there", the drummer reached for a glass and took a big sip. "You know... We can also play around with some catnip if you have one. I bought new rolling paper."

"Ah, I think I still have some left over, lemme go look..." Jan disappeared into his room for a moment before coming back with a small box in his hands. "Yeah, this should be good for like a joint or two each. Suit yourself."

Swift hands grabbed the box and started rolling up what was requested. Jure had perfected his technique both in his college years and while going on the last tour. Some people learn valuable lessons in life, he learnt how to roll a perfect joint. Which, in his opinion, was as valuable of a lesson.

Jan then lifted his glass and tilted it in Jure's direction.

"For Igor. And for this year that's gonna be filled with more amazing shit."

The drummer chuckled and nodded before clanking his glass against Jan's.

"For Igor. And for us. Cheers, Janči."

[poetry-protest-pornography]

MGB episode 9 ramblings:

Why is the room Tonkla was using empty now??? Where did the bed couch thing go?

Vampire Mayor MILF needs to back off. "You and my son are banging, right? You know it's just because you're catnip, right?" She brought The Pout back.

Look what you did, you took a perfectly good vampire catnip AND his vampire boyfriend and gave them relationship anxiety and insecurity

Idk why, but I always forget about the aggressive basketball posters in the dorm room, but they're so funny every time

"Mark didn't do anything to me (that I didn't want him to)"

Well, Tong and Tonkla are besties again, and had a big emotional conversation, so obviously something awful is going to happen. The "my dream is to make you happy" thing was so 😭

That's a very fancy showerhead on this locker room

"I've been acting weird" yes, glad you've noticed, congrats on the rare moment of self awareness, Tong

I am still 1000% certain that at 21 his blood doesn't "stop being special" or whatever he and Mark thinks happens. It's definitely a "at midnight on the 21st birthday, we're gonna put you on an altar and ceremonially drink all of your blood and become alpha vampires"

Seriously, Nakan 's presence at this school makes no sense, why is no one questioning him buying snacks for the basketball team? He was a guest lecturer and then *poof* he's teaching a class???

Nakan, you bastard, let that boy play basketball ffs

"You're a sexy mysterious vampire, and my friend is an idiot, so watch out, I'm watching you. I'm your dad now" A+ bestie behavior. I love Tonkla so much

Tong: "yay, 24/7 sleepovers with my bestie!"

Mark: "but, sex? Kisses? When???"

Tong:

I remain SO CONFUSED about the timeline of this show

"okay, father in law" was adorable

I appreciate that Mark looks absolutely wrecked every time Tong is even a little affectionate. Joss does "lost in the sauce" very well, maybe as well as Boss

Oh good, more kidnapping. And we've got the whole basketball team under mind control... (And a very unnecessary scene showing how that happened?)

It was nice of Nakan to give Tong a little pillow while he's passed out and being kidnapped though. Good kidnapper etiquette.

This is the world's silliest car crash

Aw, magical healing breath kisses for Mark's father in law 🥰

Well, that escape was short lived and bloody

OH NO, MY BOY

Uh. You can't heal around the thing in his chest? Why are we leaving that in there???

This show is too silly for me to be so sad, but Neo and Gawin are crying, and so I am Sad

Oh, Mayor MILF is not here to give comfort, she's here to take control

Okay, someone needs to secretly vampire-ify Tonkla, so he can come back evil, be used against Tong, and be saved by the power of friendship and his besties magical blood

[emodialisse]

please tell me how fisk & otto dynamic duo can save this dog gone show (and what did kevin feige do this time)

Oh, so much potential my dear, such as… KING OCK BE UPON YE!!

From Civil War #3 (2015)

Nah but fr tho. You know I love these two sick old men, I know YFNSM writers won't do anything with a team up between them, but a man can dream. So I thought about two paths their dynamic could trail. But first, let's unravel some things.

Octavius and Fisk have too few interactions imo. Although I see why writers prefer to pin him and Osborn to form alliances since they're both sharp, snake oil business men, Spider-Man’s old school biggest foes…

And also, coincidentally enough, Fisk, Octavius and Osborn had very traumatic childhoods, with some similar consequences in their adult lives.

“Revenge of the Green Goblin” miniseries.

“Daredevil Vol 2 #15”.

“Superior Spider-Man Team Up #10”.

“Superior Spider-Man #3”.

“Spectacular Spider-Man Annual #14”.

“Daredevil Vol 2 #30”.

In Norman and Wilson’s case, they were victims who become abusers later in life, Harry and Richard respectively suffering from their tempers. Otto and Wilson have a more paralleled background, both coming from poor families, having suffered bullying and being proficient self taught people, Wilson showing predisposition for political sciences and Otto for nuclear physics.

Oddly enough, they also both done/imagine killing their dads in horrible ways lol.

“Punisher Max #2”.

“Doctor Octopus: Year One”.

There is a case in which Wilson has sought for Otto's help in comics, as well helping Peter stop him, funnily enough. And let's not forget their team up in the Spiderverse movie! It was major enough to be relevant, but still not enough screen time to be the best one…

From “Devil's Reign". (Don't remember the issue tho, sorrey)

“Spectacular Spider-Man #75”.

But they never went far enough into their alliance. Sad! When Insomniac Spidey 2 launched their first trailer, I had a tiny hope that they might've had picked up from Miles Morales and continued that Kingpin side mission… which ended up not being the case. Doesn't mean I can't come up with a fic where PS4 Otto and Fisk have some scenes together, but I think their shared bald power would be too much for viewers to handle. Many such cases.

In any capacity, I'd love any Spidey media to develop some kind of relationship between those two. YFNSM is just recent enough to have me crawling at it like a catnip high cat scratching its post frenetically.

That's where I gotta break down the proteins of my thoughts into their constituent amino acids. YFNSM’s version of Otto is really close to his 60s comic counterpart, and while this is MCU Wilson Fisk, he shares the same ambitions and goals of comics Kingpin. And what does that give us? We have Otto, who doesn't care about New York and its people, while Fisk does. That's one of his central qualities, one his Hell's Kitchen arch nemesis can relate to. Although Fisk's purpose is to gain total control of NYC, doesn't erase the fact he wants to make it a better place (be it through gentrification and such).

Now, YFNSM is set between 2016 I believe, since the events of Captain America Civil War are heavily mentioned in canon/sets Norman and Peter's storyline. The events of Netflix Daredevil season 1 and 2 (and Defenders, though it's technically during it) happened before Civil War.

(Spoilers for the og DD show from now on) Fisk during season 2 is imprisoned at Ryker's after Karen, Foggy and Matt raised substantial evidence to unravel his criminal organization. He only gets "released" with the FBI's help in season 3 – and after the Blip, a power vacuum freed him of all the charges, which is why he was able to run for mayor in Daredevil: Born Again. It's a messy reason but then again BA is a messy fucking show but I won't be frustrated about it here. In another post maybe.

There is the fact Matt appears in YFNSM sporting his black suit (with some MCU design tweaks) that he wears throughout the entire of DD season 1. He gets his iconic red suit by the end of the season and sticks to it til the end of season 2.

So there's two possible threads to follow. Fisk is free, still controlling crime in his ivory tower, or he is caged.

But because YFNSM is a branch timeline according to showrunner Jeff Trammel, lots of things changed, so there's space for them to circle around this information or just ignore the Netflix show’s timeline, but I hardly believe they will do so. Even between the production of DD:BA a diversion would've “damaged” the show’s credibility even more, and they wouldn't want to make people hella mad.

Going back to it, by episode 9 of YFNSM season 1, Otto is stopped by Ross and Stark (with a helping hand from Norman) for violating the Sokovia Accords, so his ass is sent to jail – and for this scenario I choose to believe he's at Ryker's as well.

Fisk is naturally a strong leader, his cock IS much bigger than yours, the cruel regulator smoking cigaro, cigaro, cigaro... he gained control of Ryker's pretty much the first week he was in there. By the time Otto arrives, Kingpin definitely has unlimited access to resources, and could ask for favors. In DD season 2, he successfully manipulated Frank Castle aka Punisher to arrest himself, and got him out as easily with his influence, hoping for something from the man in return.

They both wouldn't hit off firstly, but I could see Otto negotiating with Fisk upon getting to know him better and the scope of his influence in NY’s underworld. Maybe the plot could sneak Wilson talking about some “old feud” between him and Norman. Fisk might recognize Otto's crafty skills, he would know about the weapons he has built – because he wouldn't allow himself to be ignorant to what's happening in the outside world – and the inmates who have used them. He could get Otto to Mikhail, Mila, Gargan, that one couple whose names escape me right now, to cook up a plan to get their gear back once they're outside to go after Norman.

All of that cause I can kind of see Kingpin being one of the key elements to the formation of the Queersome Six or whatever they're gonna be called in this, like in Spider-Man 1994 episode “Insidious Six” where he helps them escape to get rid of the Web-head once and for all. Otto may have qualms about it at first, because he's a self-absorbed bitch who would die before working in a team, but…

Their deal could also involve plans about funding Otto's laboratory in the near future once Norman is out of the picture. Free range to raise himself and finally be recognized by his genius using Fisk's contacts. What did I say about trading sugar daddies?

Of course the good ol’ double crossing would happen eventually. His assets are frozen while imprisoned, but if Fisk can easily have Otto under his thumb to steal his tech back from Oscorp, by the time he's free, he could completely take over Octavius’ operation if he wanted, he’s rich, the entire Sinister Sex would be on his before Otto says “Dolt!”. I like torturing my man like that.

For the second path, if we have a Fisk out and about doing his shady business and eating omelettes peacefully, he would have a much smaller role in all of this. And honestly? I think that's all we're gonna get for YFNSM season 2, my expectations are super low. All I look forward to is listening to Vincent D’Onofrio’s raspy sexy baritone.

So in my head, there could be an eventual faceoff between him and Matt – and I'm trying not to say “you know, like in Spider-Man 1994 episode ‘Man Without Fear’!!” – with Octavius joining in to kill the annoying horn head vigilante who has been joining forces with the excruciating arachnid to take down Osborn. That’s supposed to be his epic revenge story, what are these bottoms doing all over his business??

Wilson would see that and want to be left out of course, he's got enough problems already thanks to Matty his eternal horn in the ass.

It could alternately go the same way as the comic mentioned before, where I link to an observation where Otto might want to use Norman’s Gravity Falls ass portal. Fisk could acquaint himself with the man temporarily with false premises of understanding, while trying to find out his exact plan for NY. That would require a begrudgingly cooperation with Matt to stop a mass attack on their city, which is a VERY attractive concept to me. I love when they're forced to see how well they work together, but that's an entirely different thing I shouldn't focus on right now, or else this will turn this into a FiskMatt discussion. I need to be detoxicated.

Yeah, I could go further into a third option, completely discard YFNSM timeline and have Otto help out Mayor Fisk in DD:BA assembling tech for his Anti-Vigilante Task Force, forcing Otto and Norman to work together despite their disgust for each other.

In conclusion, that's not something I would *want* from YFNSM specifically, as I said before I would just love Spidey media to explore these two characters dynamic more… Give it to me.

Thank you for the ask my dear vani bunny, and I'm so sorry that this went on longer than expected!! You got me monologuing again, damn you (affectionately)Hope you have a good rest of the weekend!! 💚💚✨

[kigiom]

Hi hello, I’m very much enjoying your endeavour posting with no context whatsoever! But what’s it about?

(I know I could google but personally I love explaining things I love, so I thought I’d ask😊)

hi! so! well! thank you that's very kind of you <3 very long post incoming.

endeavour is a crime drama that stands on its own, but it's also a prequel to a pretty well known earlier show called inspector morse (that I haven't actually seen) and features the titular character of endeavour morse as a much younger man (played by shaun evans), first as a constable and then a sergeant under the mentorship of one inspector thursday (roger allam). it's set in the 1960s and then early 1970s, which is executed very well! it's nine seasons long of about 3/4 episodes a season, each of them an hour and a half, which I find serves the show well in allowing more freedom for plot development and character dynamics.

I have enjoyed it very much and am currently mildly (extremely) obsessed with it, because it has a stellar combination of a) exemplary acting b) fantastic cinematography and atmosphere setting and c) adherence to the narrative.

in more detail:

morse himself is very much a character who cannot escape his own tragic fate because he brings it about himself, which is of course like catnip to me (love a character who brings his own doom!).

that, and the mildly codependent "we can't seem to part" relationship he has with thursday? delicious. initially of course the relationship is settled in a more mentor-mentee dynamic, though they instantly take a shine to each other (they just genuinely seem to like each other as people, despite their rank difference! they're two of a kind!) with morse as the mouthy, headstrong young man committed to justice and thursday as the experienced world war two veteran who tries to bring him in line while also fighting for that same cause: justice.

I'd argue they lose that dynamic pretty quickly (certainly by about S3), (though it was never particularly strong, given morse's sheer bloody-mindedness) establishing a much more equal footing with each other that's evident in the push and pull between them that starts becoming evident in S4 (ft. bickering) as morse comes into his own. I'll save any spoilers just in case you do decide to watch it, but! they aren't master and pupil — they're equals, and that adds so much more to the dynamic, I find, than a simple reading of them as teacher and student. there's the element of loyalty — thursday in his willingness to defend morse to superiors and morse in his...well, everything. he acknowledges thursday's faults and sticks to him despite his own iron morality. I'll add receipts to posts I made about this that sum it up better than I can manage typing this out sitting in a heatwave.

(here's the post concerning their devotion)

(and this textpost was also about them but it broke containment and now everyone thinks it's about hannibal)

further concerning the exploration of their morality intersecting with their loyalty:

anyway! it's a very good show! allam and evans have a spectacular dynamic as their respective characters, and both of them are incredible actors (evans in particular is of the precise facial expression journeys school, and manages to convey incredible depth and range of emotion, conflicting or not, in two seconds by the look on his face and body language. allam has a somewhat stage trained spin to playing thursday but he's equally brilliant at bringing depth and enormous complexity to a character that could so easily have become flat).

so, if you like to see:

- a miserable uppity twink growing up and becoming a middle aged man in spirit if not body

- said miserable little bastard being doomed from the start (he also gets progressively more miserable as the show goes on) (this will hurt) (it'll hurt a lot.)

- a deuteragonist straight out of a noir film; a family man who's seen the war and who comes to embody the violence he experienced against what he perceives as wrong

- protagonist and deuteragonist are basically textually the most important people in each other's lives and have the power to hurt each other like no one else (👍)

- the enormous ironies of the 1950s "family man"

- great atmosphere setting, wildly varying plots (for better and for worse, but it largely stays in the IMDB 8+ mark), brilliant supporting characters and cast

- acknowledgement of police corruption and brutality (the latter a complex issue, the former the main overarching plot of the show)

- constant parallel drawing and running threads of the narrative that you go "oh my GOD" at during the rewatch

...then this show is for you!

(...and thank you for reading all that)

[shinynewmemories]

What if Coin banned Katniss from training for the battle of the capitol, she is stuck in 13 with hijacked Peeta, how do you see this scenario playing out?

Hi, anon! Thank you for the ask! Sorry it took so long for me to respond.

Here's a snippet of how I see this scenario playing out:

At first, Katniss is incredibly angry with Coin/D13 but quickly formulates a "plan" of escape. It fails. (Whether it fails spectacularly and she gets caught, or she abandons the plan before executing it, I haven't decided.)

She tries to plot new methods of escape, but Coin orders that her security access be restricted to only a handful of areas.

Realizing she won't be able to leave D13, and that she's trapped underground with a Hijacked Peeta, Katniss turns into a caged animal.

Seeing him at lunch one day, she can't take it anymore. She tries to create a distraction by throwing lunch trays around, then makes a break for the door. She is caught by the guards, but she puts up so much of a fight that they end up sedating her.

When she awakes, she finds herself in her room. Alone. Most of the items in the room have been removed, too. When she tries the door, she finds it locked.

She loses it. Starts screaming and throwing herself against the door. A doctor and several guards enter the room and she's pinned down and sedated again.

This time, when she wakes, she's in a hospital bed, restraints on her wrists and legs, tubes going into both arms. Looking around, she realizes she's in a similar room to the one they put Peeta in when he was most unstable. Might even be the same room.

She feels panic setting in. She wants to scream, wants to thrash around, but they're keeping her under constant sedation. So does what she did after the "rescue" from the arena: she weeps. It's that same dying animal sound and it goes on for who knows how long.

Eventually, when she appears outwardly calm, the restraints are removed. She is encouraged to sit and take some sips of water, but instead she lays there in a near comatose state. It's not on purpose, she just doesn't care anymore. Nothing matters.

Her mother and Prim are allowed to visit her. She doesn't talk, and neither do they. They just sit with her, her mother in a chair at her bedside and Prim on the mattress beside her.

Haymitch stops by, too. His first comment is "You sure know how to make a mess of things, Sweetheart." Katniss hisses at him to get out. He doesn't, of course. He just sits beside her and stares at the ground for a while. Finally, he says, "We made a promise to save him, didn't we? You and I." When Katniss doesn't answer, he says, "Try and remember." And then he's gone.

Gale visits. Tries to explain why Coin couldn't let her go to the capitol. Too dangerous. "She needs you alive, Catnip. We all do." He stands, kisses her cheek, and is halfway out the door when he informs her that he's got orders to deploy. He leaves tomorrow.

Katniss decides she's never leaving this bed; she'll die right here in this retched room. When she stops taking anything by mouth, they begin IV fluids and nutrition. Whatever. It's not like they can force her to live anyway.

The visits are a steady occurrence. Her family mostly, but sometimes others. Finnick and Annie. Delly. Plutarch, who talks only of Peeta's progress. Johanna, who talks only of Peeta's insanity.

After weeks, she's languishing. Losing weight, losing muscle tone, despite the IV nutrition. They haven't given her sedatives in a while, but she's too weak to put up a fight anyway. Slowly but surely, her plan is working.

"I know why you're doing this, Katniss," Prim says one day. Katniss looks at her little sister, who now probably weighs more than she does. "I know you feel like Mom did. But it's not the same. Dad died. Peeta's still alive."

"Might as well be dead," Katniss thinks.

Later, Johanna sits crosslegged on the bed, picking at her nails and letting the filthy scraps of skin land on the blankets.

"You know if you die here, Snow wins," Johanna says. "And all because Loverboy doesn't think you're perfect anymore. But I hear he's getting better."

"Maybe. But he's changed," Katniss says hoarsely.

"So have you." says Johanna. "I mean, look at yourself." She motions to all of Katniss. "You really think it's just Peeta who's different? The games turned us all into mutts."

Katniss has no argument for that.

The amount of fluids going into her arm increases. Nutrition and electrolytes and antibiotics. Apparently she got an infection at some point, but her body's too weak to fight it off.

"Good," Katniss thinks. "Soon this will all be over."

Then one day, the most unexpected thing happens:

Peeta walks through her door.

Katniss is so shocked, she sits up on her own for the first time in weeks. The action leaves her lightheaded and nauseated. But there he is, hands free of restraints and empty except for a length of rope knotted in several places.

He eyes her with suspicion. She returns the look.

"Don't worry," he says, motioning to a thick, metallic patch on his neck. "If I get agitated, they'll knock me out remotely."

"And if you remove it?" she asks.

"Same thing," Peeta says. He stands in the doorway, fiddling with the rope, staring at her as if trying to make a decision. Finally he points to the chair beside her bed. "May I sit?"

"No," she says.

He shrugs and walks to the corner of the room, where he slides down on the floor, facing her with his back against the wall. She watches his every movement, both terrified and furious. Fury wins out in the end.

"Why are you here?" she says with as much hostility as she can muster.

"Part of the recovery process," he says, but there's a touch of sarcasm. Katniss can tell the words aren't his own.

"Yours or mine?"

"Both, I think," he says.

Katniss scoffs and lays back. "There's nothing to recover."

"Doctor's orders," Peeta mumbles from his corner.

It's several minutes before either of them speak again.

"So, what, we're just supposed to talk?" Katniss says.

"Guess so," he says.

She covers he face with her hands. This has to be some cruel joke. Probably Coin's idea. No. Plutarch. He probably had to wait until Peeta displayed some level of self control, then convinced the doctors to let them interact. He's probably filming their little "reunion" right now.

"Get out," she says. "Tell Plutarch I'm done playing his games."

"It wasn't Plutarch's idea."

"Haymitch, then."

"Wasn't Haymitch, either."

"Then who?" she almost shouts.

'The whole team'? Katniss considers this moment. Her family is helping Peeta get better? And Finnick and Delly, too? She thinks about all the people visiting her everyday. Their words, their care. Something inside her softens. She looks at the boy in the corner. Confused and angry and broken just like her.

"Finnick," says Peeta.

Finnick? Of course. The rope. "And your family. And Delly. The whole team says I have too many questions that can only be answered by you."

She lets out a long breath. "Fine. What are your questions?"

There's silence for a while as Peeta fiddles with the rope. Finally he speaks. "Your favorite color... is green?"

After this, I think Katniss would not be able to keep herself from trying to live again. She and Peeta would meet almost everyday to talk, and slowly but surely they'd make steps towards recovery. And yes, they would inevitably become friends (with hints of something more?) again.

Peeta would gradually return to his old self, and begin to notice some very concerning things about Coin (for example, her poorly hidden dictatorial tendencies). He'd covertly share this with Katniss, who'd be relieved to finally have words to explain her distrust of Coin.

I doubt Coin would consider the need for a Star Squad if Katniss wasn't part of it. Therefore, I don't think Finnick or Peeta would be in the Capitol during the final days of the war. However, she would certainly fly out all the victors, including Katniss, for the official surrender and Snow's execution. There, she would purpose the idea of a Hunger Games using Capitol children. I think the rest of the story would play out very similarly to the book.

Now, the million dollar question: Would Prim survive this scenario? Honestly, I'm on the fence about that. Coin would only want to kill Prim if she 1) thought Katniss wasn't going to support her future political endeavors and 2) could pin Prim's death on Snow. Is Coin evil enough to send Prim to the front lines and there stage a bombing of Capital children and D13 medics in order to bring a swift end to the war? Obviously yes. However, Katniss would be the first to hear about Prim's deployment, and I don't think the idea of her not-even-14-year-old sister going to the Capitol would sit well with her. And the idea that Prim died at the hands of the Capitol would be a lot less convincing if Katniss wasn't there to see it. So yeah, I'm on the fence about Prim.

The issue of "who to choose" would also work itself out similarly to how it happened in the book, I think. Seeing Katniss and Peeta reconnecting during their recovery would cause Gale lots of angst. He would probably treat Katniss very similarly to how he treated her in CF, driving them further apart. And whether or not Prim survives, I don't foresee Gale laying down his weapons immediately after the war ends. Nor would Katniss follow him to District 2 or wherever. So naturally, she and Peeta would return to D12 and grow back together, just like they always do. I'm sure Gale would figure out sooner rather than later that Katniss had chosen Peeta, and that would be the end of that.

Okay, I think that's about all I have for this hypothetical scenario! Thank you sooooo much for the ask, I really enjoyed thinking about this!

[tavina-writes]

I'm going to ask you for LoCH trash answers! 10, 11, 14 and 16

ooooo LOCH!! :DDDD

10. what is the worst thing you want to become canon (character death, trash-ship, etc)

hmmm WELL I have always been fond of A-Heng Parrot Coma from 83. Which, okay to explain A-Heng Parrot Coma, we must first understand that Feng Heng (HYS's wife) is NOT 100% dead in 83 canon. Instead, she is just in a terrible coma that he has been planning to rescue her from in time for the JingRong wedding even for the past 15-16 years. And here he is, working hard to actually revive beloved A-Heng! Except! OYF invades the island to kill JingRong for #reasons and uhhh upon hearing Rong'er scream outside he abandons his wife to go save his daughter, screams like a demented madman while beating off OYF, and uhhh then has a bit of a mental breakdown about the now 200% dead A-Heng. For the record, Huang Rong thinks A-Heng is the name of her dad's beloved pet parrot who also died during this whole thing so she gets him another not talking parrot that she pretends is A-Heng to cheer him up. How HYS has not yet lost his mind and destroyed the island yet is ??? to me, BUT don't worry! there's more! Huang Rong discovers her mom's dead corpse and he has to tell Rong'er that actually, he was just a fucking lunatic who claimed mom was alive for all these years instead of telling Rong'er that she was dead, at which point Huang Rong has a meltdown and yells about how she HATES IT and would rather have just known THE TRUTH, and it's okay stop being deranged dad, lets actually bury mom all nice okay?

AS YOU CAN SEE this is my CATNIP I'm insane about this. I think it would improve the deranged HYS situation from the book if this were canonized. 83 HYS in general is just like the writer room's soggiest meow meow and they were all HYS apologists so canonizing their various antics would've been hilarious. 2 me. If we can't canonize the whole of A-Heng Parrot Coma, I propose we canonize that situation in 83 where HYS is trying to figure out where Rong'er is from Zhou Botong by asking him "where is my daughter???" and ZBT saying "oh how should I know where your daughter is?" to the whole audience of WYHL's ship. "You only have like, 10 thousand bastard hellions!" a situation that HYS is too deranged at the moment to disapprove.

11. what is your most sinful headcanon

my most sinful LOCH headcanon is actually proven in ROCH the sequel and that is that OYF and Hong Qigong should be shipped together. (For the record, they die laughing in each other's arms bc Qigong finally got OYF to remember who the hell he was again after several decades of insanity so I feel like this ship is already canon. To me. In my heart. It can't be disproven!)

14. What is ur crackiest crack ship

My crackiest crack ship is probably that Mei Chaofeng and Bao Xiruo should've been together. Maybe this would've fixed Yang Kang. And also let them leave WYHL behind. As is their right.

16. what is ur favourite ridiculous au

Hmmm this is something that @autumnslantern and I call "95% high school au" wherein most of the story takes place in the China part of LOCH, but I think it's definitely the situation where Huang Rong and Ke Zhen'e take an EXTENDED road trip towards Mongolia to find Guo Jing together because they're being chased by Yang Kang and OYF! Fun times!

:DDD thanks for the ask! I have lots of feelings about LOCH for sure.

[bluemoon1331]

Hey! Reading One Lost Star and found myself intrested in Nova (obsessed villains are my catnip haha). If Nova had won and gotten everything he wanted how would that bad end look like?

Oh, interesting concept! I doubt it would have lasted because Y/N is Y/N, but for the sake of the idea, we'll ignore that, lol

For Nova's ideal ending, his first goal would've remained the same, tying Y/N to him by making them his demigod. This definitely would've happened if Ballora never showed up during the rescue mission.

From there, things would have spiraled. Nova would have locked away Moon to prevent him from getting in his way again as the god closest to him in power (plus, as mentioned, he still has some care for his siblings so he would have a desire to keep him close).

The fate of the rest of the party is a bit more cut and dry. Because of the deal you made to become his demigod, he can't really hurt them on purpose, but he makes it quite clear that he has no qualms defending himself or you if they should attempt another rescue. They would've been forced to retreat to Pharos and lick their wounds, though your grandparents would've argued to stay with you, annoying Nova. You plead to allow it for their safety when you see his temper flaring, knowing they were too stubborn to give up, and he ends up caving (he is a sucker for hearing you beg coughcough), shoving them in with Moon.

With that settled, Nova would enjoy every single second of his time with you, keeping you close, refusing to let you out of his sight, especially after the whole Monty incident.

Of course, the subject of Springtrap would've reared its ugly head eventually, and Nova would gladly have gone out to deal with him. For as apprehensive as you are to be with him, well aware Sun must be suffering inside, and Nova's rather jealous nature, you would gladly fill him in on where to look for Springtrap's HQ. The solar boy would have immediately razed the place to the ground before anyone had a chance to realize he was there, resulting in Vanessa and Scraps' deaths.

Springtrap would have gone into hiding as a result, furious at this loss, scheming to find a work around for Nova, whom had proved far more cunning and intelligent than the shadow god predicted (idiot still has no idea Nova was awake long before he cast the spell that switched him and Sun lol, get ratioed by the lost knowledge you're supposed to be in charge of bitch).

Well aware Springtrap wouldn't give up that easily, Nova's main goal would have shifted to dealing with him. You would end up accompanying him on excursions to hunt the mad god, which would've, ironically, been when you and Nova had your most docile interactions, the sun god more focused on obliterating Springtrap than making out with you (a very difficult concept for him considering just how down bad he is).

This would be when he also found out about Eclipse, which would be a big trigger for his temper. Your days at the temple would put you more and more on edge, Nova's frustration over not being able to find the rabbit and retrieve the last piece of his familial puzzle building to dangerous levels. In the rare moments you are allowed to see Moon and your grandparents (another thing you had to beg for, especially over Nova waiting outside), they offer you as much comfort as they can, while you are struggling to hold it together. The link you now hold to the sun god does not help, sometimes almost painful with how bright it burns, and the internal conflict you can feel happening between Sun and Nova.

Eventually, this would devolve into a final clash between the three parties, Springtrap gunning for you, well aware you're the only thing that could allow him to regain any sense of control over Nova and the others, while the gods on Pharos would've been watching and waiting for their moment to save you and the others from Nova. Meanwhile, Eclipse would've suffered tenfold, since he was the only thing Springtrap had to occupy himself with. Eclipse likely would've become a bargaining chip during the confrontation, pissing off everybody, yourself included.

Not too sure of what the result would be, only that Springtrap def would have died, and Nova would likely have ended up breaking his part of the deal, summoning the not-so-fun backlash of breaking a godly pact. I'm thinking it would have ended in an Uno reverse, oH nO nOt ThE cOnSeQuEnCeS oF mY aCtIoNs type thing where they would've had to contain Nova until they could figure out how to regain Sun. Getting him to give up control like your previous life said is a MUCH bigger battle in this timeline, especially with Ballora not wanting anything to do with them anymore after Nova killed her daughter, deranged as Scrap might have been. She would've actually ended up leaving the group after Springtrap's defeat.

This end would assuredly be a lot more bittersweet. Freeing Eclipse from the pocket dimension would be incredibly dangerous, whatever spells Springtrap performed threatening to break should Eclipse's chains be removed. You would be able to get him back, like in the original ending, but he would be pretty much stuck without both Sun and Moon's help to contain the black hole. Nova is not budging, of course, and you can't exactly let him loose to assist, even in a weakened state. You visit Eclipse every day, though he is a lot more traumatized than before, jumping at every shadow, as if still expecting Springtrap to pop out and kill another illusion of you.

Freddy is left with picking up the pieces of his pantheon and the world, the planet still locked in place by Nova's refusal to withdraw the sun. Foxy and Moon would do what they could on the other half of the planet that's still ice, but melting it all into a new ocean would likely result in its evaporation, killing Foxy, so they are made to deal with the fact new life will not be a possibility for a long, long time. Monty assists as well, cooling the worst of the active volcanoes and their land, but there is little to be done about the blazing ball above scorching the surface. Of course, there is also the fact nobody has a clue where Golden is in all this, the last they heard of him being his hibernation.

Anyway, uh, this turned into a bit of a ramble, really got my imagination going I guess lmao. Whether or not they are able to right things is up for interpretation, the reader is immortal and still tied to Nova at this point (breaking the deal didn't change that, unfortunately), so there's that. Marionette and the twins might have stepped in at some point to at least fill them in about the Golden situation (though going into the shadow realm to retrieve him would be a whole other battle), but they're still not exactly able to interfere much, even if they hate this particular timeline to their cores. Nova would definitely continue to obsess over you and potentially play along if it meant having more you time. You do enter the sun god's head more than once and reunite with Sun, but it does little good, even in Nova's weakened state Sun is unable to wrestle back control by force. Whether or not you would've become a full blown god is also up for you to decide, as that would hinge on a successful rescue and revival of Golden. But yeah, just some thoughts.

[lewyn-martell]

after s1, officially totally on board w/ iwtv. adored it much more than i thought. louis i am in awe of you. daniel i am in love with you. lestat you are the greatest little guy ever. armand your ways entrance me. i really really liked this show, but i want to point out some criticisms just once and then put them to bed.

back when s1 was airing i decided not to watch it because i knew how the story went and knew it would be a louis/lestat show and i never cared about it in the slightest. plus i saw the decision to age up both claudia and daniel the interviewer and i was very annoyed.

on claudia's end because you take away an incredibly fucked up situation that unfortunately is immensely resonant. being trapped in a body you can't do anything about to change. having an terrible relationship with your own sexuality because of it since you are inevitably at odds with the attraction you want other people to have for you and that is not something anyone can control. how to reconcile with being with someone that's attracted to what you absolutely hate about yourself? something that could make you see them as a pedophile? am i just a fetish? maybe people aren't ready to hear this but as a trans person (especifically non binary androgynous - wanting to achieve plenty of unachievables regarding my body) this would be Golden to explore.

and while they make it a point in the show, claudia has clearly went through much of puberty already. her biggest problems concerning it in a practical sense are her small boobs & stature and that she can't grow a bush lmao as if there aren't millions of women in their 20s who look incredibly young and have to be carded at bars. (case in point isn't the actress herself like 20?)

it's completely understandable that it would be hard to cast someone who looks borderline prepubescent (or maybe even cast an actual kid and have them play out very challenging and mature scenes), but it was a disappointment all the same. in fact i think - even disregarding all that, her character was still definitely not as strong as it should have been.

the fact that they had her acting like a young child when she came into their lives when she was a teenager with a pretty significant chunk of life already lived bothered me. her character already felt hollow. and the inconsistencies regarding her troublemaking ways and its consequences (including personal ones) depending if they wanted her more on louis' side or not. the journey her character takes, her decisions, NONE of them could be felt as strongly as any of the ones from louis' character.

and btw? kind of annoying how plenty of the scenes between the trio were Amazing by themselves (and with amazing performances), but the emotional configuration to fall back was not really there. why does louis love claudia so much as a PERSON?? we know why he decided to save her. but why did he continue to be as taken?? and more and more each year? i don't want to have to read some meta about claudia representing a liberation he can only hope to ever achieve etc etc. that's just playing with known themes. i want to actually SEE that on the screen. the personal moments that draw them to one another.

and sorry, like. not to be disgusting. but everyone knows that the thing between louis and claudia and lestat on all ends is not exactly strictly platonic. you've already aged her up so people can stomach claudia's whole... thing. now you're not even gonna do the weird gothic incest thing?? instead of just giving a couple wink wink nudge nudge-ing how much more fucked up this could be? (but actually not. we won't go there for real guyssss). this is a maximalist melodramatic gothic show!! why would you choose to be cagey about stuff that would make it more interesting??

claudia and lestat on the other end could have bordered on actually fascinating and being legitimately catnip to me. if they stopped being kind of one note about all the same-y configurations of "it's the two of us now (either louis and claudia or louis and lestat) and this one on the corner". i don't want to say there were NO moments of interesting dynamic (potential) shifts because they tried A Bit but like. maybe a couple times?? hunting together and the underlying jealousy of claudia loving louis more than her own maker (who is also narcissistic) does not Make It for me.

i want to see both why they love and why they hate her. louis should have good reason to see her through such rose colored glasses even when she's much more of a killer than lestat and clearly grew up just as screwed up. i understand he is an unreliable narrator and is putting her on a pedestal out of guilt, but both his true adoration (which should be there by itself with plenty of evidence of Why it's there, and only made more strong with the guilt) and those sparks of actual dissent between them should be more present. ditto for claudialestat. we don't have only louis' pov, we have claudia's too. we should be able to see both his love and his hatred for her in equal measure instead of this constant underlying feel that he is just enduring her in his life for louis' sake while having some fun once in a while. i love the fact that she is a formidable opponent to him, but i want her to be more than an opponent. i wish the trio was as entangled and fucked as it should be, but i found myself liking the dubai trio MORE... the one that has considerable less screentime and in which one party was constantly in the background. but the new orleans trio is like. lestat obsessed with louis. louis obsessed with claudia. and claudia a big question mark as to her actual character drive & nuances.

that also brings me to how disappointing it is for me that lestat is so LouisPilled all the time. he meets him once and becomes obsessed with him. i already knew there was a big chance i wasn't going to care about louis/lestat since i knew the gist of it, and unfortunately i was right lmao. i LOVE them both as characters. which makes it even more sad that i can't love them as a couple. i like toxic dynamics as much as the next person, but they're only as fun as the actual pull between the two characters. they are attracted to each other, sure. and for louis there is much reason for him not being able to leave lestat. but in a romance-sense? especially from lestat's end... well, i don't see it. it makes sense that louis himself wouldn't narrate all the little things that keep lestat with him, but this is still a Romance. and two people simply attracted to each other doesn't make it a very compelling one to me.

well to end this on a good note, the other thing that i said at the start that annoyed me (aging daniel molloy) was ONLY because i thought a byproduct of that would be to remove the tension (as in, sexual, romantic) i already liked between louis the vampire and daniel the interviewer. but knowing not only how they met, but plenty about s2 already i'm happy to say how wrong i was about that :D