#femme nerd problems

[sparklyslug]

You know a fic concept has you REAL excited when you’re like “whelp guess I’m taking these press-on nails off when I get home I’m gonna type like the WIND”

[the-descolada]

Spoiler-Free Advance Review:

Exordia by Seth Dickinson

I could not put this book down, my god. Staying up super late multiple nights because I couldn’t stop reading is such a great problem to have, and Exordia gave me that problem more than any book I’ve read in a few years.

This is a very different book than Baru, but Seth’s evocative prose and dark humor is familiar from page one, and the laser focus on defamiliarizing real world injustices is again the core of the work. Despite being far more immediate (Exordia is set during the Obama administration in our world, with an alternate history beginning from the moment the book starts), the heaviness of the topics never gets overwhelming. There’s some incredible (and extremely fitting) tonal dissonance here, with every perspective character having their own sense of disaffected humor about the apocalyptic situation they’ve been thrown into.

I described this to my friend after just starting as “if the Books of Sorrow were written with Gideon the Ninth’s tone and just straight up in our world,” and I think that remains true throughout. There’s a huge amount of references peppered in, and it helps maintain that lighter tone to balance the despair of what is essentially a doomsday clock ticking down throughout the book - and it helps keep things grounded, honestly. I never felt it took away from the gravity of things, or was unnatural - after all, if I, an early 21st century sci fi nerd, was thrown into some fucked up alien bioweapon mystery, it’s hard to say my first thought wouldn’t be “oh shit, this is just like the Andromeda Strain!”

Having seven (eight?) different protagonist (or deuteragonist, I don’t know which they qualify as) PoVs is pretty wild but works perfectly here. Every character has such a unique outlook that you can instantly figure out whose head you’ve popped into even before any identifying names or things are mentioned - Seth’s mastery of the tonally cohesive PoV shifts was something I had loved in Tyrant, especially, and they’re equally impressive here. The characters are lovable, hatable, and everything in between - and each as mentioned is so distinct and compelling that I can’t say there was a single character who I was unhappy to get into their head. And that’s saying something, given who some of these characters are, but I’ll leave the specifics a surprise. Predictably, my favorites were the dysfunctional autistic butch-femme lesbians, but I really loved all of them in the end.

The base premise is almost comical in how small it starts to how much it escalates - a cynical, disillusioned Kurdish genocide survivor, Anna Sinjari, meets a terrifying (and yes…very hot. I’m a simple woman) alien in Central Park, and this seemingly chance encounter sees her roped into a small group of scientists, soldiers, and her own mother in a desperate countdown to solve an otherworldly mystery and save their world. The twists and turns of the plot are intense, so engaging that I was bouncing up and down at times (there’s plenty of sci-fi insanity that I absolutely eat up), and tightly paced.

Seth seems to really enjoy writing ethical dilemmas to great effect, and Exordia is ruthless in that area, taking the base concept of the trolley problem and the moral justification for what someone would sacrifice for the greater good and carving it apart for narrative weight. What greater good does the sacrifice serve? Is it actually good? Who gets to make the choice, and do they have a choice but to make it? There’s a lot to dig into here, and Exordia is a four course meal.

One aspect of this simply taking place in our world, rather than being an alternate universe like Baru, is that the defamiliarized commentary is even more on the nose. Whereas Baru is a commentary on empire and homophobia as a whole, transparently pulling from primarily American history of genocide and imperialism to shape a culture unlike our own in many ways to defamiliarize this moral exploration, Exordia is just literally about real world American imperialism and enabling of genocide in the MENA region, primarily the ramifications of the military industrial complex’s usage of drone warfare and the extremist regimes armed and encouraged by “counterterrorism.”

All this sets the stage for the question of what happens when a bigger fish arrives, one just as hell bent on empire building and justifying its own atrocities. The sci-fi intervention into this banal evil is at the same time a reflection of that evil, and asking if the world has the capacity for resistance to both. Exordia’s answer is profound, and far from easy, but entirely fitting for the ethical dilemma that runs throughout the book, creeping up on you slowly as you start to recognize what shape it takes in this story.

The central material conflict of the book, a locked box mystery of sorts that you piece together with the characters, is fucked up and fun and scary, a reality shifting threat that treads the line between body horror, meta-narrative, and lovecraftian math. It’s extremely cool, and I think it’ll be right up the alley of fans of The Andromeda Strain, The Locked Tomb, The Books of Sorrow and other parts of Destiny lore, and a lot of other SFF stories where ethics, horror, and mystery mix together.

I don’t want to say too much about the climax and the ending - going into this book without knowing too much was an incredible experience that had me on the edge of my proverbial seat - but the ending left me asking myself some very similar questions as I had at the end of Traitor, and I cannot wait for a reread when the physical book is in my hands to see what little foreshadowed things I can pick up on.

I don’t think people are going to be quite as completely emotionally Destroyed at the ending of this one as Traitor, but…it is very much a Seth Dickinson book, and they have quite the talent for making every thread tie together at the end to make the reader feel every emotion at once and realize that this could never have gone any other way. I cried, I laughed, sometimes simultaneously, and a book that can do that to me is entirely worth the experience - and what an experience this was.

Absolutely fucking incredible, I want more of these characters and everything they’re wrapped up in, 10/10.

I received an ARC of this novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[punkeropercyjackson]

Spiderverse characters' Pjo counterparts

Miles:Nico.Beyond optimistic softboy who's also a huge nerd with a fast food fixation,a black color scheme,a little shit,gets treated as an 'Anomaly' despite being perfectly normal by his society's standards and a lot better than he gives himself credit for

Gwen:Hazel.Pastel ray of sunshine trans ghost girl with a dead mom,an abusive corrupted dad,her own impressive street cred pre-story start and a total mean side in a good way and is hiding so many horrors both her own and other peoples for everyone's 'own good'(got gaslight by adults)

Hobie:Percy.Punk Team Dad who's femme in a way that comes across as masc to normies,hates restrainment,huge asshole yet not mean,vibing yet always on high alert and he's only not a role model if you weren't a troubled but good kid and just a bookworm.Cool dudes

Margo:Rachel.Totally ordinary girl in the sense she's relatable in personality to autistic fems who never realized they're autistic despite obvious symptoms due to boyification of autism,spunky girl geek,unique powers in the set and hated over ship desperacity by the hoeless

Pavitr:Leo.Silly goofy sunshine that likes causing problems on purpose and is really smart despite the unserious exterior and can't help but go crazy over pretty girls.Also masc pretty boy swag

Jessica and Rio:Sally fusion.Rio has the same place in the narrative she does by being the mc's angelic yet so human mom he's a mama's boy to and Jessica is her rebellious streak and tragic background connected to the lore

Peter B and Miguel:Apollo and Poseidon but like,the fanon version of them people think is canon due to low standards in men.Demoted to loser ex-worshipped oldhead(affectionate)who's buds with the kids but knows how to act and damaged dilf who's got good intentions but dosen't quite have the right exceution

Mayday:Sequel baby daughter played for cuteness and arc completion with inhereted powers but in her case it actually makes sense to have them

[butch-with-a-deep-voice]

Hello! I recently found your blog and wanted to thank you for sharing so much of yourself with us. Your posts about your journey in learning to embrace queer masculinity and your butch identity have been an absolute Goddess sent. If you have the bandwidth and are open to sharing, I would love to hear more about your process of separating masculinity from manhood and embracing queer masculinity. As a fellow trans femme trying to figure out if Butch works for me, I keep hitting roadblocks in learning to appreciate and embrace those masculine/chivalrous traits without identifying them with my formative experiences. I'm Colombian, and chivalry (unfortunately wound up with a lot of machismo) was essential to my upbringing. I resonated a lot with what you shared about pursuing hyperfeminity to leave behind masculinity, and I have reached a point where I can't sustain the hope of waking up and looking like Barbie one day and working toward appreciating the mortal coil I have and stage of transition I'm in. I apologize this got so verbose but I hope it made sense lol

Hey! So this was sent in a few days ago and I wanted to give time to sit on it. This is such a complicated and honestly deeply personal process. One person's relationship to masculinity will look entirely different than another.

It's been a process that I've been working through honestly most of my adult life, even before transitioning. I think there are two major factors that proved the most important, and they're pretty linked with eachother.

Find examples of healthy masculinity that speak to you.

I will preface that due to the nature of media, these will primarily come from men still. It's gonna happen. That is okay actually, it will lead into point 2. Finding healthy examples of masculinity was so necessary for me because masculinity was so wrapped up in just constant negativity. The harm so many men cause to women/queer people. Toxic masculinity and how those who perpetuated it shaped nearly every waking moment of my childhood/adolescence. The entire "anti-men" issue that fully plagues feminist and queer spaces, and how in most of those spaces men are hated on so casually you're looked at funny if you call it out.

Finding examples of both manhood and masculinity that were healthy and safe was so important in being able to reclaim masculinity. As a trans-feminine person I was never going to be able to even start to look at the process of first separating masculinity from manhood, nevermind reclaiming masculinity, if I wasn't able to first view both as not inherently bad. So, I'll provide three of my top examples of healthy masculinity that played really integral roles for me during the early phases of healing my own.

Lord of the Rings Now this is pretty much everyone's go-to, especially if you're a nerd like me. But there's good reason for that. While Tolkien has his slew of problems, from lack of women in the books, to the racist undertones of Orcs/Goblins, his works provide plenty of examples of healthy masculinity. No one would ever say Aragorn isn't masculine, he's peak "manly man". And yet, he's gentle. He's a healer. He recites and writes poetry (to the point that Bilbo goes to him for advice on how to finish a verse). He loves flowers and art and history. He's masculine, but he's unafraid of being soft, and he uses his masculinity to protect. To lead. To love. Not for malice. Samwise Gamgee is frankly a rolemodel to me. I used to joke he and two other fictional characters were my type in men, when in reality, they were my butch-coded role models (Malcolm Reynolds and Milo Thatch). Samwise is still firmly masculine. But he's the softest sweetest man out there, and I hope I can live up to the healthy masculinity he performs daily.

William Prince William is an Indigenous Canadian folk/country artist, who comes from the same neck of the woods I do in terms of region. His music has gotten me through so many tough times I can't even begin to express how important it is to me. One of the biggest reasons he is on this list is so much of his music explores being a man in a healthy way. Whether it is being a father, to the importance of healing your trauma before it hurts those you love, to the importance of being vulnerable as a man in general. Top three songs for some great healthy masculinity imo are "The Gun", "That's All I'll Ever Become", and while it isn't necessarily masculinity focused, "Run". My only other note with him is just uh. Don't listen to the "Gospel First Nation" album. He went a little "born again" during Covid and it nearly killed his career.

Arcane The writers of Arcane wrote gender so well it's ridiculous. You will find plenty of people on tumblr discussing how well it did women, but I think there isn't nearly enough praise for how well they wrote the men in the series. I could go into it more, but honestly, this video essay by my favourite video essayist Schnee details it beautifully (I'd also watch the sister video to this one about women in Arcane, it's pretty great). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBNUgGhPZzY

First and foremost finding healthy examples of masculinity in your life and the media you consume is so important. Find ways to separate those masculine traits you know you want to embody from the toxic ones like "machismo" as you put it. That way you can get into the next part.

Address Internalized Shame Surrounding Masculinity

This one is a doozy. I'm still working on it if I'm being honest. (I would also like to note that a lot of internalized shame work should be done with a professional if you can access one). Shame rules our lives if we let it, not just with gender. It affects everything. Work, family, food, hell shame makes people feel shameful about getting an extra hour of sleep here or there. It makes us hate when we want to just. Relax. It makes us hate when we ask for our needs to be met. Shame work is something EVERYONE should do, ekosi.

But as a trans person, whether or not you decide to claim butch, you MUST eventually look at that big ugly stain that is your shame with masculinity. Even the most hyper feminine of us trans-femmes must do so. Hatred and shame of men and masculinity will continue to fester if left unchecked no matter what. Yes, many men have done terrible things. Yes, we live in a society that favours men to the umpteenth degree and perpetuates toxic masculinity and patriarchy. Yes, as trans-feminine people we were and sometimes still are, associated with a lot of those perceptions and beliefs. It's an awful feeling and it makes you hate yourself. Part of why I went hyper feminine is because of how much I hated my shame. I was so shameful of being born male. Shameful of the fact that I was a "threat" in feminist spaces purely for existing. Shameful of how intimidating I would become if I ever raised my voice because of how powerful my diaphragm is, on top of my already large demeanor. That shame will eat you alive if left to persist, regardless of transition.

That shame must be dealt with. Masculinity cannot be shameful. I'm a complete buzzkill in a lot of queer and feminist spaces because I shut down sarcastic anti-men jokes pretty damn regularly. I shut down the joking perpetuation of the bi "all women and one (1) man" stereotypes. I shut down "ugh men" jokes. Whether or not people who make those regularly realize it or not, those jokes continue to tell men, cis or trans, they are unwanted in queer and feminist spaces. That their very existence is worthy of shame. (and no, the "trans men are an exception" thing doesn't provide an out. They're men too.) It is biphobic, it is transphobic, and it perpetuates colonial patriarchal systems still in place. That cannot be the case. Part of feminism is making masculinity a healthy thing. Part of why it is okay if your personal examples of healthy masculinity end up all being men is because men performing healthy masculinity adds to the overall de-shaming of it. Gender stops mattering when you de-shame masculinity. What matters is healthy masculinity as a whole. Once gender no longer matters for healthy masculinity, the next step of separating it from manhood kind of already did itself.

While there are other small things I've done throughout my life that helped with the overall separation of masculinity and manhood, that in turn allowed me to claim butch for myself, those two steps were absolutely integral in the process. I hope you're able to find things that work for you, and that these examples of mine were helpful to you. Thank you for the wonderful ask 💕

[notquitehuman-creations]

~ Sem' System Intro Post ~

So this is us! Info cards under cut;

Oliver Suraci - 🌿 - OS

He/Him

Cis male

Gay

Fictive(Source: Pokémon)

Galarian

16-18 y/o

Femme

Gardentender

Azlo - 🍄 - TC

They/It

No gender

Unlabeled

Fictive(Source: OC)

Winged CatRabbit Creature Animal

No set age

Trauma/Pain keeper

Rabb1t i23 - 🐰 - R1

He/They

Transmasc Nonbinary

Androsexual

M4sked

18(Shares age with the body)

Prosecutor/Co-Host/Representative

Canonically smokes despite the body having asthma

Knife collector

Likes fire

Noah - 📚 - TD

He/Him

Either cis or trans at any given time

Gay

Fictive(Source: Total Drama)

Human(Ghost/Siren sometimes but we don't talk about that)

19

Therapist that needs therapy

Smartass

Sarcastic cynical realist

Likes reading(lmao nerd)

Ash - 🐀 - AIM

They/He/Kit

Nonbinary

Demiromanric Androsexual

Void animal

Adult

Host

Tired

Sensory soother(auditory)

Musician

Sevyn - 🐕 - PUP

He/Him/Good Boy

Male

Pet

Pupplay Alter, idk

Borzoi

~ 1 d/y

Petreg/Petplay/Primalplay/etc.

Stim holder(tail wags)

Appellisian/Sexual Alter(in-scene only)

Fukase - ❤️ - FV

He/It

*shrugs*

Masc-leaning Pansexual

Fictive(Source: Vocaloid)

Vocaloid

No canon age

Jester

Confidence holder(unfortunately /hj)

Pain manager

Ex-persecutor(got us admitted oops)

Pulls from songs a lot

🌲 Headspace 🌲

Description: A cozy lakeside single story wooden cabin in a large forest in rural Michigan(pulled from a childhood memory). Slightly whimsical, think Cosmo Sheldrake. It's fully stocked, insulated, hooked up, etc. so bugs/climate aren't a problem. The forest is quite large, perfect for meditation or a calming walk. Alters who sleep have their own rooms inside the cabin, decorated accordingly including bathrooms and a mini fridge because it be like that sometimes.

💞 Inter-System Relationships 💞

Ash & Rabb1t - Platonic brothers

Rabb1t/Noah - Friends with benefits, smoke together

Azlo & Sevyn - Play together, be animals

Oliver & Noah - Bond over video games

Ash & Noah - Fan/Idol type beat idk

Ash & Fukase - Make music together

Noah & Fukase - Banter, get along surprisingly well

Sevyn & Noah - Noah is a dog person

Fukase & Everyone - Annoying /j

Noah & Everyone - Therapy

Sevyn & Everyone - Emotional support dog

➖️ End ➖️

Thank you for reading! Thought it was about time we organized ourselves ^^

Have any questions? Just send an ask(anon or not)! We're open to answering most things. Feel free to direct at all of us or a specific Alter. Thanks again <3 love you all /p

_NotQuiteHuman_

[cleverthylacine]

I'm not well versed in Transformers, but who is your favorite Autobot? What's one thing that if Hasbro called you up right now and said they would do whatever you suggested, you tell them?

My favourite Autobot is easy because I don't like most of them very much. I love Decepticons.

It's either Jazz or Ratchet or Rodimus, depending on the phase of the moon and whether my brain is in RavWaves mode or Deadlock mode.

Jazz and Ratchet and Rodimus are all people who probably would have been Decepticons if it weren't for a stroke of fate.

I also love Rosanna, but she's a civilian and she's been in like 3 things, one of which almost everyone hates.

The problems with Autobots:

they tend to use the same colour schemes which makes them hard to tell apart

many of them are boring af

the Decepticon movement was a legitimate revolution against an extremely bigoted and oppressive government, and the Autobots were the liberals who patted them on the hand and said "we can do this the nice way" even though most of them were from social classes that were literally disposable.

some of them are fucking fascists

some of them are just such goodie two shoes rule bound characters you have to laugh (Star Saber in anything other than IDW was probably the robot version of Sheldon Cooper once)

It's really only in TFA that I don't think Optimus Prime is a giant hypocrite. I don't hate him. I think he's an awesome character. I enjoy him a lot! I also write a lot of fic where he gets his aft handed to him, at least verbally.

But I don't really sympathise with him. Because even when he's unfailingly sweet, like in TFP, he's still...a part of the problem, not the solution.

In some series the Decepticons did become horrible and genocidal, which is wrong, of course, but that led in IDW at least to both sides playing atrocity chicken.

In other series the Decepticons are anti-human mostly because we're in their way and we like the Autobots. In the Bumblebee movie they never even wanted to come here, but they had to--it is Prime's fault that their war came to Earth.

If Hasbro was willing to do whatever I said I would ask them to create a series of all the femme characters most people don't know about. And not make them teeny tiny Core Class dolls. (I own a few of them because they're cute, but.)

I would get them to include Ravage now that ES has confirmed her for a femme. (She is ACAB, assigned cat at birth.)

This would also include:

Esmeral, who should really be a leaderclass because her husband is the size of a small planet (from the Victory manga)

General Strika, who is the least feminine female character in all of transformers and a butch goddess of war (from TFA and Beast Machines)

Botanica because she's cool AF

Rosanna and her evil twin Flipsides (Rosanna's in KP but both of them are in... TFA, I thought? For a heartbeat.)

Howlback (done like her twin sister Ravi, with biped-to-quad transformation that does not involve extra limbs hanging off, because both MMC and Xtransbots have done it just fine) from the Cobalt Sentries who never got a show

Lyzack (from Victory -- the twin sister of Leozack who defends the home front and is a teal and pink seeker)

Nautica (from the IDW comics, who is the most adorable of nerds even if she is Ravage's unwanted aemula/kismesis/hatecrush until they make friends)

the Megatronia combiner which includes Megaempress, Trickdiamond, Lunaclub, Flowspade and Moonheart)

Minerva (yes there's a legacy but it's tiny and they made it a walgreens exclusive)

Clobber (from Cyberverse)

Nightbird (G1 not ROTB)

Termagax (Megatron's mom from the IDW 2019 series)

I have nothing against Elita-1, Arcee, Windblade, Chromia, Moonracer and Slipstream but some people can name hundreds of male characters and only those six and not even all of them.

If I was also G-d of the Transformers franchise as a whole, I would revive Kiss Players, cut out all the bad sex jokes and dropped panties of teenagers, rename a few things -- we do not need a base called "the spiral vagina" -- and take the plot we were actually given in between sex jokes, which was very cool, and write it all out as a comic/story/cartoon. They did the plot in the last few episodes of the radio show after kind of leading up to it very slowly between dirty jokes.

Everyone says Kiss Players is the worst thing Transformers ever made. I'm sorry, that's RID 2015, which is a Transformers show for the "Blue Lives Matter" crowd where the entire plot of the show is to find all these low-class Decepticons who are from denigrated castes that escaped from a prison ship and throw them all back in jail. Like seriously fuck you very much.

I will take perverted panty jokes over asskissing the cops any day. Besides some of the stuff that looks so bad and gross looks so bad and gross because it is--you're not supposed to be down with it, you're supposed to guess that a certain person is being groomed looooong before she figures it out. and the main human characters are actually Secretly Lesbians

I'm sorry this is way more info than you asked for but this is my main hyperfixation other than thylacines, fossas, small wild cats that can't eat you, and other cute weird predators.

[yangscowlick]

You're tags about early hiatus leading to calcified headcanons makes me think about why certain parts of the fandom are so against the idea of yang being butchier and cling to her beacon persona so hard. Odd to me beacon yang's whole thing was she was putting up a front to hide her insecurities, yet early fandom portrayed her as some femme fataleish fashionista that flirted with everyone and talked about her boobs nonstop. But even beacon yang was never like that, and now we have a yang that wears big butch boots and overalls and bomber jackets and likes to manspread and actually it's her gf that likes to get prettied up for their dates while yang watches with heart eyes from afar. Sorry for the essay, I just wonder why early fandom saw a show that telegraphed pretty well that it's about turning tropes on its head and decided "no I want the surface level version of these characters and any change or development that differs from it is bad"

I totally agree and ended up writing an essay in turn!

I think it’s especially annoying when fandom does that with Yang’s V1 “persona” in particular since (1) she got the least amount of development of the girls in V1 (we really don’t “meet” Yang til we get her backstory in Burning the Candle — hell we don’t even get an explanation of her semblance until Painting the Town) and (2) all the girls have grown and changed since we met them, so why are some folks SO stuck on early Yang? But I do think it taking so much longer to really “meet” Yang means there were huge chunks of time between the Yellow Trailer and V1 and then V1 and V2 where people filled her character in how they saw fit and have clung to that.

I think there are sort of two buckets. In the bad faith group are the weebs who saw big boobs and an empty vessel of a character they could project onto. To your point, the show told us from the get-go in her trailer and in her song that she was “more than meets the eye”, but the shonen-brained who are accustomed to fanservice and 2D female side characters saw Yang and assumed she was for Them (and feel betrayed that she isn’t and have made it everyone’s problem). I dont have a lot of patience for those types — they can go watch 99.9% of shonen anime if they want that (though I hope for their sake they expand their media diet…).

I have some more patience for the second bucket who just don’t really understand the lesbian experience and how it can be to re-contextualize your identity once you’ve figured yourself out. Because in some ways you only really “get it” if you’ve gone through it. Yang settling into herself is SO cool to me, because I was similar. In high school, I was pretty femme / assumed I was straight / etc. And even once I understood I liked girls, knowing your identity and integrating your identity are two different things. It’s so normal to me to see Yang “become” Yang as she has (from the way she dresses, her posture, the way she sits, her chivalry, etc) because I lived it. But I think it is lost on some people who just see her “dykeyness” as a retcon and not a development — so to them, I want to try to be patient because I realize what’s obvious to me comes from my lived experiences. (Again, the bad faith folks who wanted surface-level digestible anime waifus don’t get my patience here).

But to those coming at Yang in good faith, Yang coming into herself and getting more butch as time goes on (Yang was always going to be more than her first projection - they spelled it out) is no different than Weiss and Blake settling into their ‘true’ selves (and their color schemes have slowly come to match their aura/soul colors). It’s also a pretty common experience when sexuality is yet another thing piled on top of the identity crisis that is your late teens/early 20s.

I also find it a little silly that people glom onto V1 Yang as this flirty party girl because it’s not even supported by actual canon. Yang plays video games and is like a super-nerd about the table top game they play in V2, but none of those “I miss V1-3 Yang” types are like “why doesn’t she play video games and board games anymore? What a betrayal of her character”? Like why isn’t “gamer bro” Yang part of That fandom’s flanderization of her character? There’s more support in canon for that than her supposed puns…

Anyway, went off on a tangent there, but TLDR: Yang’s butch-ness is completely organic and part of her settling into herself, just as the other characters have settled into their true selves. I dont have time for the folks fueled by entitlement, but I can have time for the folks with empathy who might not have all the inputs to understand it but are willing to listen (and my inbox is open!).

[seelix-blog]

So, I've been thinking a lot about the Met Gala and the folks who are mad at everyone who showed up and I realized that there's a context that a lot of folks are missing: Skipping the Met Gala for people in fashion, music, art films, and other related fields is like skipping your biggest professional conference of the year and personally spitting in the face of your most powerful colleague (even if they're a complete nightmare like Anna Wintour). Only people of a certain status can do it - the Zendayas and Blake Livelys of the world. For a lot of the people who did show up - particularly the ones with various marginalized identities, they can't skip it and still have professional success. Because if Anna Wintour perceives a slight against herself and her precious empire, she will burn your shit entirely to the ground. Now, Kim K and the Jenners, etc? They could skip it! It would be a huge thing, and probably temporarily harm their invites to things, but they could do it! They made a choice to be there and I am absolutely side eying that choice. But there just aren't that many people with the personal power to go toe to toe with Anna Wintour and not have their entire careers ruined. Even someone like Janelle Monae can't really skip it. They're fairly newly out as a Queer Black Femme in a world that hates all three of those identities. And they've been very, very vocal about the choices they've had to make in their career to balance "career" with "personal truth". Janelle's career *needs* the good grace of Vogue. Overly online nerds know them and would die for them. But while they're very respected in their niche, they can't do what they do of fostering community and professional support of up and coming young Black femmes without playing along with the big players. Janelle is truly carrying the legacy of Prince forward, and knows the choices they need to make to do that. I would put Jenna Ortega in the same category, as well as Harvey Guillen. Lizzo absolutely could skip. But at the end of the day, Lizzo being there in her fat, Black, fucking gorgeous joy, eating fries in a kitchen is a bigger fuck you to Lagerfeld, Wintour, and the entire fashion industrial complex than her absence would have been In summary: Activism and ethics in this capitalist hellscape are hard and there are sliding scales to all of the choices we make. If you've ever sat through dinner during your work conference's keynote, trying to ignore the creepy well-known colleague who keeps rubbing his leg against yours while also holding a conversation with his buddy, who you need to tolerate in order to get a job, you know exactly how hard they are. But fuck the rich white ladies who showed up with "KARL" on their skirts like someone had a Cricut and too much time on their hands. They know what they're doing, and they're part of the problem. Go ahead and roast them to hell and back. I'll bring the marshmallows.

[omnybus]

Electric Rally Daybreak Crew (for WC Purdy)

A series of commissions for WC Purdy, featuring characters from their Shonen-style adventure setting Electric Rally Daybreak!

Characters featured are, in order:

-Arizona Blackjack, the "professional archaeologist" who graduated from the Croft, Drake, & Jones" school of archaeology, meaning she's more like a rock-climbing grave robber who blows things up a lot.

-Jim Dandy, Arizona's sidekick and best friend, a wannabe "gentleman spy" who wishes to be the world's greatest spy like his father, despite his cowardice and lack of skills.

-Ruby Tuesday, an "assassin" from a "secret assassin's guild" which is "totally real I swear", once ordered to kill Arizona but failed miserably, ending up befriending her instead. She desperately wants to prove she is a deadly and totally cool master of the ninja arts, regardless of whether or not she's a cute bunny girl.

-Willow DeWisp, a shy and socially awkward bookworm with a knack for magic and a split personality. Normally she's a soft-spoken and self-conscious wallflower, but any time her glasses fall off her face (often at the worst possible moment), her features and personality transform into that of a sexy, sinister femme fatale sorceress. 

-Kyuriko the Kappa, a sneaky trickster and thief who enjoys watching all the creative and interesting ways Arizona and her team end up working themselves into a trainwreck. Despite her laid-back nature, she's the most level-headed of the group, as well as their accountant- someone's gotta do the taxes.

-Sobek, real name Dexter Willoughby, is a tough-as-nails bounty hunter with a dark past who, for some unexplained reason, is also part alligator. In his private life, he's a hopeless otaku nerd who loves anime and tabletop RPGs.

-Cherry, full name Prince Charis Papakonstantinopoulus, prince of the satyr kingdom. While most satyrs are known to be rowdy, brawling drunkards who love getting in fights and seducing women, Cherry is much more effeminate and well-mannered, and prefers to work out problems with diplomacy rather than brute force. He's also an extremely powerful weilder of druidic nature magic, but doesn't like to use it because, in his tribe's words, "magic is for fauns" (AKA female satyrs).

—

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[rpmemesbyarat]

RP Memes from Reddit 5/14/2023-5/19/2023

“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to hunt school children.” “They’re all lying bitches.” “Did the wolf come with his own dressing gown or was it provided?” “I wanna wolf, it's a me-sized dog. If only they were less murder-y.” “What did you feed those baby birds to have them evolve to this?” “Thats not mildly infuriating, that’s fucking nasty.” “There is no scenario where this is acceptable behavior for an adult human person.” “I’m going to go vomit now.” “Why would you throw your career away like that?” “You’re hurting my penis.” “Make it viral.” “Just because you got a fancy job don’t mean you can stomp on others.” “It’s already hit the news cycle.” “With all due disrespect, fuck your former coworker.” “What other laws do you want to break?” “I regret things that did harm to others.” “It may seem odd, but there was always a positive motivation in what I did. I was just sadly a mess.” “People who have given me tittie twisters have seen my darkest, least flattering side.” “What do you think of fan art?” “Do you play golf? Want to have a round at my club with me and the boys?” “My body is fuckin falling apart.” “What's the worst pain you've ever felt?” “Was there a specific moment in your life when you first thought to yourself that ’you made it?’ “ “It was mostly the PCP that made me react that way, but, man, that was a special time.” “What’s the most weight of drugs you’ve put up your ass to bring into another country?” “I never put drugs up my ass, I just put weed into condoms and swallowed them before traveling, then shit them out and smoked it.” “Schrödinger’s Karen. I know there’s someone to dislike here, but without more information I’ve got no one to side with.” “Some people just need to get their face punched in one time in their lives.” “Why are corporations buying homes when they aren't making babies?” “The whole system needs to go down and be rebuilt.” “People thinking that any lesbian less femme than Princess Peach might as well be a straight man, what else is new.” “This is creepy as hell, good lord.” “I’m not really seeing the symbolism there?” “If you have a problem with your life choices being published, maybe you shouldn't have made those choices?” “So many questions. None of which I really want the answers to.” “You have experience with turn of the century drag queen honeypots?” “What a terrible day to have eyes.” “Believe nothing you hear, and only half that you see” “Can’t decide if these are the nerdiest badasses I’ve ever seen, or the most badass nerds I’ve ever seen.” "I work with the goddamn customers!" “It’s not acceptable. But it’s also not illegal.” “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to steal.” "Is that my wife in this photo?" “So much fucking around, so little finding out.”

[inaducurserphelper]

P E R S O N A L I T Y - W I S E:

THE HALCYON – someone who is loving and care-free. they see the brighter side of things. their optimism can often lead to them being childish

THE SACCHARINE – someone who is overly sweet. whether you love or hate them, they will always respond positively and in a polite manner

THE SOILED DOVE – someone who is sympathetic and full of hope. however, they can also be lost

THE FRAGILE BUTTERFLY – someone who is sensitive. don’t do anything that will yell at or scare this lil angel because they will break down

THE HELPING HAND – someone who wants nothing more than to help people. and, most of the time, want nothing in return

THE CRESTFALLEN – someone who is depressed and is often disappointed

THE MAMABEAR / PAPAWOLF – doesn’t necessarily have to be an actual parent but acts parent-like to their friends ( basically the mom/dad friend™ )

THE HEEL – someone who is FULL of hatred. not only towards others, but (sometimes) towards themselves as well; for little-to-no reason

THE FALLEN ANGEL – someone who was once a cheerful little lovebug is now damaged and have become reckless and rude

THE TEMPEST – someone who knows the exact WRONG thing to say or do and does them just to cause a rise in people….so an asshole

THE BLABBERMOUTH – someone who never shuts up about anything ,, can be gossip or just general talking

THE MANNEQUIN – someone who is physically attractive and fashionable. something seems fake about them; they tend to be cold  and distant

THE CUDDLE BUG – LOVES, LLLOVES cuddles and physical contact. it doesn’t even need to be sexual tbh. they’ll find any excuse to touch you ( i.e hold your hand, hug you ). they just love it

THE TACITURN – someone who is shy and tends to be very quiet, especially around those they don’t know very well

THE DIRTBAG – someone who loves to cause a rise in people and break rules

THE CRIMSON – someone who gets easily upset (mad) and aggressive

THE CATALYST – someone who is independent

THE LOTHARIO – typically a man – someone who is seductive and often irresponsible in relationships

THE VIXEN – typically a woman – someone who is alluring and manipulative ; uses their good looks to get what they want

THE FILLE FATALE – femme fatale in the making, someone who is still learning how to get away with things by using their charm and good looks

H O B B Y - W I S E:

THE ASTROPHILE – someone who loves watching the stars, learning about astrology and just adores the topic of our galaxy

THE BEACH BUM – someone who LLLLOVES the beach and sunny days. typically a surfer

THE BIBLIOPHILE – a person who has an collection of books to show off. looking for them? they’re most likely off, alone, reading their favourite book

THE EYES AND EARS – also known as the gossiper – nothing goes around without them hearing it. they’re a hoe for passing on juicy gossip

THE CITY MOUSE – someone who lives for being out in the city. there isn’t a bar/club/park they haven’t been too ; they enjoy the hustle-n-bustle of the city life

THE COUNTRY MOUSE – someone who loves being in the country. they like that there isn’t a lot going on around them and can never seem to understand why anyone would ever like feeling rushed ( aka in the city )

THE SONGBIRD – someone who enjoys singing and/or music. they most likely have a very impressive collection of CD’s and records laying around their house

THE STUDIOUS – also know as the nerd ( awwww, yeS ) – they love to study and are very intelligent people. tbh, don’t even try to fight with them about that math problem ‘cause binch, they’re

THE GOOFBALL – someone who loves to crack jokes but knows when the line should not be crossed. they’re usually lovable and fun to be around

THE PHOTOGRAPHER – want some nice pictures but don’t want to pay silly prices?? go to them. they LOVE to take pictures of just about everything and anything. they carry a camera around with them everywhere they go

THE ARTISAN – someone who is an art hoe. they enjoy painting, drawing, etc. if it’s a form of art, they’re all for it

THE AESTHETE – someone who appreciates not only art but the beauty of it as well. they tend to look aesthetic af

THE FOODIE – isn’t someone overweight, someone who loves food. they love to eat and honestly, it isn’t a bad thing

THE BELLWETHER – loves setting trends and trying new/risky things with their style

THE THESPIAN – a drama queen ; can also be an actor or actress

THE ANIMAL LOVER – loves all things animals. from house pets to exotic animals, they love every one of them

L I F E S T Y L E - W I S E:

THE FITNESS GURU – someone who loves fitness. they often go for early-morning runs. can do yoga as well

THE NEAT SHEET – ( typically the neat fre*k but i don’t like that word tbh ) someone who enjoys organizing things and their house is probably spotless… ,, bicht you can see your reflection in their flOOR I BET

THE CLEAN SLATE – someone who may have had a difficult past which they want to forget. they’re starting a new life in hopes of stopping and, eventually, forgetting the pain of their past

THE ECDYSIAST – also known as the stripper – someone who is a striptease performer

THE NOMAD – someone who can’t stay in one place for too long; similar to the traveler but doesn’t travel for their own amusement.. they go because they have to

THE TRAVELER – someone who wants to see the world. it doesn’t matter where or how long it takes to get there, they’re GONE - don’t be surprised if you text them one morning and they’re like “oh yeah btw, i’m in france :)”

THE BAR HOPPER – ALCOHOL TW !!!! – someone who has a drinking problem

THE CRITIC – someone who feels the need to critic … every…thing … can sometimes go overboard but can also be very helpful with their art friends

THE TRUST FUND BABY – someone whose family is wealthy ; typically a teenager who gets their parents’ funds

THE DADDY’S GIRL – much like a trust fund baby except they use their father’s money. they typically use the fact that they’re ‘ daddy’s little angel ’ to get whatever they desire. you’ll often hear them say “buuut daaaadddyy….. :(”

THE OPULENT – again, much like a trust fund baby / daddy’s girl, the opulent showers in luxury. they wake up on their private yachts and drink fancy-shancy champagne

THE ACTIVIST – someone who fights for change and doesn’t/won’t give up easily

M I S C: ( JUST OTHER RANDOM ONES )

THE HELLION – someone who wants to raise hell, can be a hot-head

THE RUNAWAY – on the run from someone or something, doesn’t usually stay in a single place for long

THE SHEEP – someone who follows others

THE ORPHIC – someone who is beyond ordinary,, they’re like from a fantasy book or something ; tend to be very mysterious

THE TALISMAN – a person who is astonishingly charming and often know certain things before anyone else does

THE ANTISOCIAL – says it as it is, someone who dislikes the company of most people ( there’s those few people that don’t drain them emotionally) and someone who isn’t sociable

UPDATED ON: 02/06/17.

H O B B Y - W I S E:

THE AQUAPHILE – someone who will do anything to be near water. they love any body of water ( lakes, oceans, etc )

THE PACK RAT – someone who obsessively hoards something to the point where it’s probably unhealthy ( this can result in their appearance looking rough and unkempt )

THE ADDICT – someone who is addicted to one thing or another

THE HARDCORE GAMER – someone who executive plays video games

THE DILETTANTE – an amateur artist; has room for development

PERSONALITY- W I S E:

THE DYNAMO –a zestful person who likely has a big personality. they chase their ambitions with full potential of being successful

THE FACADE – someone who obviously ( or not-so obviously ) hides behind a mask

THE QUIXOTIC –  a romantic person who is also idealistic but can be foolish and impractical

THE ISOLATO – someone who is isolate from society; physically or metaphorically 

LIFESTYLE- W I S E:

THE HOYDEN – a tomboy. typically a girl; they are often bold and carefree

THE ECCLESIASTIC – someone who is religious

THE BENEFACTOR – basically a sugar daddy

THE CELEBRITY – typically someone who is famous or has a high and public profile

THE AMARANTH – someone - typically a woman - who is very difficult to forget

[swampvoid]

My impression of the characters:

Spike: problem child no. 1., iconic, outwardly chill, emotionally repressed, Julia's malewife

Faye: problem child no. 2, cunty, iconic, only child/ rich coded, extremely dramatic femme

Jet: tired dad energy, the owner of the single brain cell on Bebop, they'd be lost without him

Ed: precious!!!, unhinged child, subverts the "computer nerd" stereotype, can eat anything, what is a gender???

Ain: Dog!!! Corgi!!! enough said

[punkeropercyjackson]

D*p x DC is absolutely Not It when it comes to found family writing.It's not found family or intergenerational friendship if it's you just getting legally adopted and i think it's so embarrasing i need to tell DPDC stans that considering the superiority complex y'all have when it comes to the way you write the DC cast,which awfully bold coming from people who've never read comics and just watched a racist and misogynistic parody cartoon

Spiderverse x Pjo x DC aka The Anomalies IS found family with Miles,Percy and Jason as the core three and titulary team.Percy and Jason are afro-caribbean like Miles and darkskin too and Percy is a femme trans woman because boys only trios are one of the worst thing's in fiction ever and they're all audhd so that's already three bonding points without even getting into their complimentary yet contrasting personalities and stories.The other two 'adopted' Miles not legally but in the sense they became such close friends just because they love eachother so much they started viewing him as their little brother and him them as the older siblings he never had.Miles goes to them with his problems no hesitation since they've established themselves as trustworthy and helpful and Percy and Jason had actual progression and conflict in their dynamic instead of Jason being infantilized or Percy made into a misogynistic stereotype.Percy and Jason never exploit Miles but go after adults who DO and taught him how to spot people with bad intentions on subjects his parents wouldn't know about(not necessarily sexual ones to be clear,moreso how to not fall for villains manipulation!)

They have eachother's food orders memorized and do cartoons marathons once a month and play video games together and go out to the beach with themed swimsuits to their own individual aesthetics with Miles' being goofy ahh swim trunks and a black and red tank top because he hasn't gotten top surgery yet,Jason's edgy ahh swim trucks and his Lazarus Pit top surgery scars proudly on display and Percy's a girly ahh bikini she made herself with her diy skills that's all blue shades has an attached hoodie

Miles and Percy make themselves read Jason's favorite books with him when they aren't even book nerds because they want him to be happy.Miles and Jason do whatever mermaid-adjacent Percy thing is into to get closer to her and end up enjoying the things themselves too.Miles is completely unashamed of his special interests and comforts and thinks he's cool for them now thanks Percy and Jason telling him they and he are as they truly think so as former autistic kids themselves.Miles makes jokes about beating up Bruce for being a shitty dad to Jason and tells Percy she's a better mom than Poseidon is a dad and Jason's killed MULTIPLE guys for sexually harrasing Percy and him and Percy scarred villains for life for messing with Miles.Miles is Jason's Little Man and Percy's Girasolito and he wouldn't trade the entire multiverse for them and Percy and Jason can't believe they ever hated eachother after all they've been though now.The Anomalies ain't co-workers,they best friends and also not for white asses,it's for the niggas

[lunapwrites]

Favorite Lines, Snippet Smonday, etc...

Okay, I was tagged in MANY things recently, and I'm going to probably kill many birds with a single post. Thank you to @femme--de--lettres, @spindrifters, @greenvlvetcouch, @bluestringpudding, and @bluesundaycake for the tags over the last week or two (and others who I am probably forgetting but appreciate just as much!)

This whole section absolutely tickles me. Just... Remus being 100% in the zone and only vaguely aware of Problems occurring around him while he's doing nerd boy shit. XD

Downstairs, the front door slammed open. (“FILTH! BEAST! MUGGLE-LOVING WHORE—” “INCENDIO — oh, bugger all!”) “Can you check that?” Remus muttered, prodding a bind rune to shift it ever so slightly to the left.  Seven degrees, maybe? No, too much —  five should suffice. Sirius huffed, his footsteps carrying him out of the drawing room and into the hall. “Hullo Annie, nice to see you Annie, thank you for setting fire to the drapery again Annie—” “Not now — is Nymphadora here?” Sod it. Quicker to just rebuild the whole bloody thing from the ground up at this point. And if he took it piece by piece, it shouldn’t come crashing down on him — that was the tricky bit. One wrong move and he could wind up blowing them all to kingdom come. Or he could wind up giving someone a duckbill or something. Magic was funny like that. “No? We haven’t seen her since she left for work. I thought she was having dinner with you tonight.” But he could use Orion and Sirius’ work as a foundation and just… make something that made a little more sense based on that. Wards for detection, protection, alarms, maybe even slipping in an apotropaic talisman because, quite frankly, Remus was at his wit's end, so he might as well get creative with it. “She was supposed to, yes, but she never came home.” If he worked from the outside in and just… replaced wards as he went, that would be the most sensible approach. But then he’d probably need to go back and adjust them again after he’d replaced the central bind rune, and he really didn’t want to keep fucking around with it. That was just asking for trouble, it was. “Well, she’s probably just been kept late at the office—” “That was my first thought, but we already asked Kingsley, and he said she left at her usual time. She’s not there.” If he was quick and careful about it — and he typically was — he could hot-swap a new core in and then build the rest out before it all backfired. Take a little planning, but he could get there. Probably.

Remus. Remus, no.

Anyway, this is extremely rough draft but I do like how it's turning out as of right now.

I'd tag someone else but honestly idk what I'm even tagging for at this point hahaha.

[thehours2002]

diva reading list for nerds below the cut

Books

1.     Cold War Femme: Lesbianism, National Identity, and Hollywood Cinema by Robert J. Corber

2.     Heavenly Bodies: Film Stars and Society by Richard Dyer

3.     Stars by Richard Dyer

4.     Stardom: Industry of Desire, edited by Christine Gledhill

5.     The Queen's Throat: Opera, Homosexuality, and the Mystery of Desire by Wayne Koestenbaum

6.     The Diva's Mouth: Body, Voice, Prima Donna Politics by Susan J. Leonardi and Rebecca A. Pope

7.     The Celebrity Culture Reader by David P. Marshall

8.     Divas on Screen: Black Women in American Film by Mia Mask

9.     Moving Performances: Divas, Iconicity, and Remembering the Modern Stage by Jeanne Scheper

10.  Star-Gazing: Hollywood Cinema and Female Spectatorship by Jackie Stacey

11.  Screen Dreams: Fantasising Lesbians in Film by Clare Whatling

12.  “Fabulous! Divas, Part 1,” an issue of Camera Obscura, edited by Alexander Doty

13.  “Fabulous! Divas, Part 2,” an issue of Camera Obscura, edited by Alexander Doty

Book Chapters

1.     “Judy Garland and Others: Notes on Idolization and Derision” by Michael Bronski from Lavender Culture

2.     “A Polemical Introduction; or, The Ghost of Greta Garbo” from The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture by Terry Castle

3.     “In Praise of Brigitte Fassbaender (A Musical Emanation)” from The Apparitional Lesbian: Female Homosexuality and Modern Culture by Terry Castle

4.     “Keeping the Celebrity Flame Flickering: Reality Television Celebrities on Broadway and Fan Interaction Through Digital Media” by Emily Clark from iBroadway: Musical Theatre in the Digital Age

5.     “Judy on the Net: Garland, Camp, and Contemporary Fandom” from Incongruous Entertainment: Camp, Cultural Value, and the MGM Musical by Steven Cohan

6.     “The Lady Is a Camp: Glamour, Star Turns, and the Boys in the Chorus” from Incongruous Entertainment: Camp, Cultural Value, and the MGM Musical by Steven Cohan

7.     “First a Star: Elizabeth Taylor” from Only Entertainment by Richard Dyer

8.     “Four Films of Lana Turner” from Only Entertainment by Richard Dyer

9.     “The Singing Sixties: Rethinking the Julie Andrews Roadshow Musical” by Brett Farmer from The Sound of Musicals

10.  “Re-Examining Stardom: Questions of Texts, Bodies and Performance” by Christine Geraghty from Reinventing Film Studies

11.  “How Do You Solve a ‘Problem’ like Maria von Poppins?” by Peter Kemp from Musicals: Hollywood and Beyond

12.  “ ‘A Cutie With More Than Beauty’: Audrey Hepburn, the Hollywood Musical and Funny Face” by Peter Kramer from Musicals: Hollywood and Beyond

13.  “Divas or Anti-Divas? The Act and Woman of the Year” from Kander and Ebb by James Leve

14.  “Kiss of the Spiderwoman: Sex, Politics, and the Diva Musical” from Kander and Ebb by James Leve

15.  “Ginger Rogers and Gay Men? Queer Film Studies, Richard Dyer, and Diva Worship” by David Lugowski from Screening Genders

16.  “A Few of My Favorite Things: Movie Stars and the Soundtrack of Broadway” from Broadway to Main Street: How Show Tunes Enchanted America by Laurence Maslon

17.  “Queer Jewish Divas: Jewishness and Queerness in the Life and Performance of Barbra Streisand, Bette Midler, and Olga Guillot” by Moshe Morad from Mazal Tov, Amigos! Jews and Popular Music in the Americas

18.  “Reading as an Opera Queen” by Mitchell Morris from Musicology and Difference: Gender and Sexuality in Music Scholarship

19.  “Divas and Divos” by Hilary Poriss from The Oxford Handbook of Opera

20.  “Stars and Fans” by Holley Replogle-Wong from The Oxford Handbook of The American Musical

21.  “The Sexual Bonds of Racial Stardom: Asian American Femme Fatales in Hollywood” from The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene by Celine Parreñas Shimizu

22.  “ ‘Dreamgirls Will Make You Happy’: The Pleasures of Voice and Body” from Studying Musical Theatre: Theory and Practice by Millie Taylor and Dominic Symonds

23.  “Having a Ball with Dottie: Queering Female Stardom from MGM to Todd Haynes” by Noah Tsika from Reframing Todd Haynes: Feminism’s Indelible Mark

24.  “A Matchless Melange of Mirth and Melody: The Stars of The Passing Shows” by Jonas Westover from The Shuberts and Their Passing Shows: The Untold Tale of Ziegfeld's Rivals

25.  “The Streisand Musical” by Pamela Robertson Wojcik from The Sound of Musicals

26.  “Actors’ Biography and Mythmaking: The Example of Edmund Kean” by Leigh Wood from Interpreting the Theatrical Past: Essays in the Historiography of Performance

Articles

1.     “Made in Movieland: Imitation, Agency, and Girl Movie Fandom in the 1910s” by Diana W. Anselmo

2.     “ ‘A Legend in Her Own Time’: Lauren Bacall, Aging Stardom, and Cultural Memory in Applause” by Sara Bakerman

3.     “The Virtuoso’s Stage: A Theatrical Topos” by Gabriele Brandstetter

4.     “ ‘The world belongs to the young?’: Age and the Golden Age Diva in Coco (1969) and Applause (1970) by Maya Cantu

5.     “Beyoncé’s Slay Trick: The Performance of Black Camp and its Intersectional Politics” by Constantine Chatzipapatheodoridis

6.     “ ‘What has she actually done??!’: Gay Men, Diva Worship, and the Paratextualization of Gay-Rights Support” by Jimmy Draper

7.     “Embracing Excess: The Queer Feminist Power of Musical Theatre Diva Roles” by Michelle Dvoskin

8.     “The Fabulous Sublimity of Gay Diva Worship” by Brett Farmer

9.     “Greta Garbo and Silent Cinema: The Actress As Art Deco Icon” by Lucy Fischer

10.  “I Had a Dream: Rose's Turn, Musical Theatre and the Star Effigy” by Jason Fitzgerald

11.  “The Romance of Monsters: Theorizing the Virtuoso Body” by Judith Hamera

12.  “The Death of Camp: Gay Men and Hollywood Diva Worship, from Reverence to Ridicule” by Daniel Harris

13.  “Diva Worship and the Sonic Search for Queer Utopia” by Craig Jennex

14.  “The True Voice of Whitney Houston: Commodification, Authenticity, and African American Superstardom” by Jaap Kooijman

15.  “Fierce, Fabulous, and In/Famous: Beyoncé as Black Diva” by Jaap Kooijman

16.  “Divafication: The Deification of Modern Female Pop Stars” by Linda Lister

17.  “Stepping out of Line: (Re)claiming the Diva for the Dancers of Broadway” by Dustyn Martincich

18.  “Feeling and the Filmed Body: Judy Garland and the Kinesics of Suffering” by Adrienne L. McLean

19.  “ ‘Can You Handle My Truth?’: Authenticity and the Celebrity Star Image” by Erin Meyers

20.  “ ‘Queer for Uncle Sam’: Anita's Latina Diva Citizenship in West Side Story” by Deborah Paredez

21.  “Diva Relations in The Color Purple, the 2015 Broadway Revival” by Deborah Paredez

22.  “The Interpellations of Interpolation; or, The Disintegrating Female Musical Body” by Bradley Rogers

23.  “Katherine Dunham: The Crossing and [con]Fusion of Borders by Broadway’s Original Diasporic Dance Diva” by Pamyla Stiehl

24.  “Desire in Evidence” by Stacy Wolf

[crimsun-n-clover]

dalia chronicles update

shits getting wild man

i did one of those “like this and i’ll introduce you” story games and originally she didn’t but then later she went through all the other introductions and i guess decided yeah i can use the attention

and i’m happy to oblige obviously

so this is the template

so i put that shes my friend, we’re not very close, she reminds me of ed from ofmd (total copout, he’s her favorite), the song was femme fatale by the velvet underground (don’t think about that one too hard!!), and then it gets worse. for the memory, i brought up a joke she made once and then TOTALLY FUCKING FABRICATED a story in which mickey was harassing me over the pretty girl on my phone because she saw me going through her stories. yes, mickey does harass me about her, but that’s because i’m being FUCKING INSANE. so yeah. kinda comes off as flattery, but i wanted to call her pretty without having to call her pretty. and i said i liked how creative and interesting she is, and that i like talking to her.

she responds “thank you this made my day!!” and i was a giggly fuckin ehehe nooo really?? mess.

later that day she posts on her note “running away to the ocean” and i was like fuck yeah i love doing that highly recommend. she tells me that she lives by the harbor in toronto and she’s gonna apply to work on the cargo ships. i was like holy shit that’s awesome!! if you end up in orlando you should tell me and we could do something like an ofmd watch party!! which was also a copout. like. massive fuckin copout. just wanted to test the waters a bit, i think we may be both a bit flighty.

and then. she drops the absolute fucking BOMB “that would be awesome, i have a place in florida”

you. y. you. you have. a fucking WHAT

oh my god. i’m so fucked. this was more fun and silly when it was like ohhh i have a harmless little stupid crush! i’m a bit sweet on this artist girl i know! but now. oh god. oh fuck. son of a bitch.

i’m speechless. this girl who is SO my type and maybe into me is within reach now, but not easy enough to get to that it’ll bore me or freak me out.

i’m being ridiculous but i’m just so interested in her. she posts about her room and shows me trinkets and stuff and it’s like. i wanna lay on your bed and listen to your weird folk music while you tell me the story behind every single fucking thing on your walls.

maggie has been making fun of me because yk. if i like a girl she has to be a little fucked up. a little off. and this girl is a fucking boat nerd with an ego than can suffocate a city. maggie has only been comforted by the knowledge that she does roller derby and archery and is a lifeguard and all that shit.

this just feels. i don’t know. don’t wanna say fate because that’s fucking stupid.

but that does remind me

earlier today i was on the phone with john and he mentioned mickey and i was like no way!! she asked about you this morning!

and then matchmaking has ensued.

j and mick are the same fucking person. they’re both my adopted kid siblings, just one of them lives out of the country. they’re both little alcoholic guitar freaks with a weird sense of humor that come to me for problems they reallyyy shouldn’t come to me for.

i tell john that mickey asked about him and he loses his shit. posts some bait on his story and they get talking. i’m playing both sides, while j is telling me he’s in love and mick is saying that john is lowkey fine. they’re both wayyy into each other. john has been up my ass about “stevie you better come to the wedding” and i’m happy to give him a win after getting his heart broken like four times recently. like. enough to call me for a drunken cry sesh. i’m worried about him but i don’t see anything too bad coming out of this besides mickey being all “nooo omg i can’ttt i need him to be here if i’m gonna say anything” while j is begging me to report back on if she’s into him.

mickey was asking me about how i met him n stuff and i said i saw him posting kickass guitar stuff and followed him for that and then i posted a megadeth meme while saying “no one else will find this funny” and he says “I DO” and suddenly he’s my brother. and he even looks like me. he convinced our friend we were related when he met her. (said friend and her bf broke up today)

so mickey says him and i are platonic soulmates bound by fate or something with the coincidences that led to him and i being close.

back to j and i’s friend who broke up with her bf. he was a dick to her about the way she looks but he was really sweet when it came to getting her things n stuff. her and i met in a weird flirty way and she said the other day that it wasn’t platonic for her and i was like. me too bestie. and she said something about “if we’re ever both single…” and i was like yeah lmao! because i’d hook up with her. j clocked me on that. dunno how. we were on the phone today and he goes “would you hook up with her be honest” and i had to explain to him that yeah absolutely but i have no romantic intent toward her? she’s my friend and i adore her but she’s also gorgeous and i’d go down on her if she asked. we just wouldn’t make a good stable healthy couple. we’re both fucking HEATHENS.

so yeah shits wild rn