#finally something to prove the allegations wrong

[gaysonlyocean]

I'm going to explode I am also an enjoyer of Hawaiian style pizza -defnotadam

your name gets funnier with every ask you send KJHGFDFGHJ

[markantonys]

fuck it, proposing an s3 episode-by-episode structure even though we barely have any info to go off of, because i'm bored and yearning for s3 news. can't wait to see how wrong this ends up being! i can't emphasize enough how much this is just me completely inventing structure ideas because, for real, we barely know ANYTHING yet, so do not latch onto anything i say here.

we know 4 episode titles so far, so i've included those.

3x01: to race the shadow

A-plot: the gang in falme

lots of relationship-building between various dynamics, especially rand & elayne (just friendship with Crush Hints for now) and nynaeve & lan (ring scene maybe)

rand and egwene's final breakup

mat's luck established during a gambling scene

mat goes through the doorway in turak's room of curiosities, is told to go to tanchico, gets his marriage prophecy & medallion & ashandarei, and gets cpr from rand

elayne and nynaeve learn something about liandrin that points them towards tanchico

rand decides to go to the waste and egwene does too after speaking with amys in her dreams, and perrin goes with them because he has no other plans as of yet

B-plot: aes sedai politics, catch up with siuan, catch up with liandrin

3x02: a question of crimson

i'd always hoped this would be a caemlyn episode, and the title points to that imo!! perfect title for elaida's intro episode, and red is andor's color as well.

so, A-plot: rand, egwene, perrin, et al pass through caemlyn on their way to the waste

egwene has been tasked by elayne with delivering a letter to her family; rand insists on coming with her; they trespass in the caemlyn palace and meet gawyn, galad, morgase, and elaida

i don't expect a forsaken here just yet, i think it's important to see Normal Morgase and Normal Caemlyn first so that we have a contrast later once they ARE under forsaken control.

perrin hears rumors of trouble in the two rivers and decides to split off from the group to investigate, with loial, bain, and chiad accompanying him

the rest of the group reaches the waste at the end of the episode

B-plot: nynaeve, elayne, and mat arrive in tanchico (they split off from the others in falme and go straight there, no caemlyn trip for them)

C-plot: more white tower stuff

3x03

A-plot: rand in rhuidean + general intro to the waste (rand's focal episode)

B-plot: perrin arrives in the two rivers and gets situated

C-plot: continued tanchico shenanigans, maybe they run into thom and/or min and/or tuon (who is undercover for reasons) if they didn't already in 3x02. my guess is min has been kidnapped out of cairhien by liandrin, who knows min figured out she's black ajah and doesn't want her to snitch, so maybe at some point in the early episodes there's a plotline of mat, elayne, and nynaeve rescuing min from the black ajah, and after that point min joins their scooby gang (because she's got a personal vendetta against liandrin now and also she wants to re-earn mat's trust and prove herself).

an alleged leak puts mat, thom, and min all in tanchico, so that's why i have them in this plotline. it's also why i have tuon in this plotline, as i can't think of a strong reason to move mat from the waste to tanchico if not to incorporate elements of the ebou dar trip and have him meet tuon who is filling an egeanin-type role.

3x04

A-plot: nynaeve encounters moghedien in TAR and almost dies but is saved by birgitte, whom elayne saves by bonding her as a warder (this whole sequence is the midseason climax at the end of the episode)

mat gets into some kind of shenanigan with tuon and they grow closer, but neither knows the other's true identity

B-plot: elaida, gawyn, and galad reach the white tower and start investigating elayne's disappearance and clashing with siuan

C-plots: the waste gang doing their thing, learning about aiel ways, developing avirand, etc; perrin doing his thing in the two rivers, meeting faile if he hasn't already

i could also easily switch 3x03 and 3x04 so that 3x04 is the rhuidean episode. just depends if they throw rand right into it like TSR does or if we get a General Waste Intro episode before sending him off to rhuidean. but based on a combination of leaks, we do just about know that the glass columns visions are during block 2 (eps3/4).

3x05

A-plot: perrin in the two rivers, maybe digging more into the whitecloaks, padan fain, laila trauma, luc/slayer, wolves & TAR, relationship with faile, etc. (potentially his focal episode)

B-plot: cold rocks hold stuff for the waste gang

C-plot: continued tanchico shenanigans; continued white tower politics

3x06

A-plot: alcair dal, asmodean identity reveal & capture

B-plot: some kind of tanchico conclusion. maybe this is when tuon finds out some of her new buddies can channel (and possibly even that sul'dam, and she herself, can channel) and heads back to the seanchan with Much To Think About. maybe the black ajah make their exit from the season to shift full focus onto Final Boss Moggy.

C-plots: perrin prepping for battle; continued white tower politics

3x07: goldeneyes

A-plot: perrin defending the two rivers (perrin's focal episode, unless it's instead an earlier one that's less about a major battle and more about his internal life as a character)

B-plot: tower coup? i'm very unsure where in the season to place this, i could see it at any point in episodes 6, 7, or 8. kinda doubt it would happen earlier than ep6 because i'm not sure if that would allow us enough time to build up to it, especially since major coup players like elaida and gawyn are being introduced for the very first time this season so we need decent time with them before shit goes down (plus, it just naturally feels like a Late Season Climactic Event). the head writer of 1x06 & 2x07 (aes-sedai-heavy episodes) being the head writer of 3x08 could potentially indicate that the coup happens in 3x08, but she is also an executive producer so it's not like aes sedai politics is The Only Thing she knows about.

C-plots: the waste gang travels back to the wetlands, rand learns from asmodean; tanchico crew takes a sea folk ship to the eastern part of the continent (same city where waste gang is headed)

3x08: he who comes with the dawn

A-plot: the climax of the waste crew's plotline, potentially a battle in cairhien or tear, but that may cause Battle Fatigue if 3x07 has just had a big battle. maybe this could point towards their destination being tear and them taking the stone in somewhat more of an infiltration operation like in TDR, as opposed to the more traditional battle for cairhien in TFOH? just to mix things up a bit with perrin's traditional battle in the prior episode.

okay yeah i'm leaning towards tear, plus there was the leaked alleged sammael audition script (i trust no audition scripts after the phony gawyn one from s2 lmao) where the person he's talking to is demanding to know where "it" is. so my vision is that sammael's sitting comfy in tear, rand & co launch an infiltration operation to take the stone, rand finds sammael and demands to know callandor's whereabouts, and sammael ultimately flees to continue causing trouble in a new location in s4.

A-plot part 2: the tanchico crew gets involved with the infiltration operation, and nynaeve battles & defeats moghedien AND breaks her block (if she hasn't already, that could be a good Early Win to include around ep5-6 ish)

after all this stuff is done, there is a Final Final confrontation with moiraine and lanfear getting yeeted through the doorway; nynaeve bonds lan straightaway rather than his bond going on a noncon detour to alanna

post-battle checkin with perrin, but not a ton of time with him in this episode

final stinger: our buddy tuon from tanchico is shown dressed to the seanchan nines and being addressed as the daughter of the nine moons. gasp, mat's fated wife is our buddy tuon from tanchico, who is in fact a high-ranking seanchan noble! dun dun dun!!!!!

elephant in the room: "emily, why are you having rand in the wetlands for 3x08 when an episode called 'he who comes with the dawn' would obviously be about alcair dal?" listen, i know, but i typed up this whole post before i found out about that episode title and was too attached to it to change it lmao plus, i genuinely can't think of enough for rand & co to do in the waste for 6 entire episodes. i could see an argument that they chose this episode title as a general "yeah that's a baller title for a season finale about rand coming into his own in a big moment" rather than as a specific "this episode focuses on rand coming into his own in a strictly-aiel-related way" (see: 2x07 just being about general political shenanigans rather than literal daes dae'mar). rand pulling callandor from the stone while surrounded by his aiel followers could still be a "he who comes with the dawn" moment, okay!

so i will leave this post as is, but if indeed 3x08 only takes us up to alcair dal (and the moiraine & lanfear yeeting which i think will be this episode no matter what), that actually doesn't change my structure too much. basically it'd just be slowing down both the waste & tanchico crew's plotlines and having their climaxes be still in the waste & tanchico respectively, and then we can do a travel timeskip between seasons and have s4 open with the waste crew taking tear or cairhien and the tanchico crew meeting up with them there. i do strongly believe that mat, elayne, and nynaeve will join up with rand & co for s4 and skip their whole salidar/ebou dar detours, because that positions mat to form the band and have his Dragon's General storyline in s4, positions elayne to spend time with rand and aviendha and potentially join rand in retaking caemlyn and then just stay there to start her succession, and positions nynaeve to spend time with lan in the immediate aftermath of moiraine's "death" and then join up with elayne's or rand's future storyline. for these 3, salidar & ebou dar are filler sidequests rather than Main Story storylines imo and it could be quite efficient to cut those out and just distribute the handful of Main Story elements from them into other Main Story storylines.

[tiredrxtz]

New beginnings: down with the sinners [Part 1/3]

T’was a dreary night when two stars destined apart finally aligned, their shine— blinding yet enrapturing —seen throughout both heaven and hell alike; a symbol that shattered through Japans history.

This was, without a doubt, the recreation of two beings that died two very different deaths on the same hour but on two very different days...

It was so dreadfully boring being kept in the depths of a citadel dungeon in the middle of the forest, hanging from the wall by nothing but chained wrists. There was no telling what time of day it was; days could’ve turned into nights and Fyodor wouldn’t have know.

However, despite being conducted to such torture methods, Fyodor did not yield nor did he give into the aching sensation that settled within his body— a silent plea that forged many to confess their crimes.

Yet he was no criminal, in fact he was a traitor— that’s what he was deemed to be. On the orders of Count Bram Stocker, he was played for a fool; he had been charged (mostly under suspicion) for trespassing into forbidden land and being a spy from a neighboring land.

What a joke. Like he’d allow some useless king to have the upper hand over him...

Being a prisoner held at capture for such heinous things did prove to be quite the bore. There was nothing to do but stand around and listen to the conversations of the guards that often switched places between dusk and dawn. Everyday was practically the same; but today was rather different and Fyodor appreciated the change...

“The Count want this criminal at mid city?” One of the knights abrupt disbelief echoed through the small underground chamber. Fyodor’s eyes gleamed a sinful crimson at the sudden news— today will prove to be a spectacle indeed.

Unlike all those fantasy books that scribed the tale of criminals being killed while in transportation portraying a fake reasoning, Fyodor’s journey to the city centre was rather peaceful— the guards left him alone and he had the chance to gaze into the evening skies once more.

That alone meant that something important was to occurs and he was summoned to witness the deed on purpose— on an order perhaps?

There were thousands, if not, millions of people gathered around the spectacle housed in the centre when Fyodor was forced to his knees next to the vampire that captured him. The people didn’t pay heed towards his figure and yet instead continued their chanting of—

“Down with the sinner, long live the lord!”

As much as Fyodor liked the ideology of being gods messenger, he truly wondered if the beings inhabiting earth were even human; the violent verdicts conducted on those who wronged the rules were nothing a human would recommend but be such things a demon would spew.

Reality was a confusing spectrum that not even he understood but there was one thing that settled in his mind at the end of the day: Sinners must die and the lord must live— and being the messenger of the Devine meant becoming a sinner to unravel the blade of divinity...

“Proceed with the onslaught.” Bram commanded lowly, his piercing crimson gaze never strayed far from the sight before him.

Eyes boring into the crowd, Fyodor could just about make a discrete vision of a silhouette perched upon a stage, their hands restrained to the pole that loomed above them; it was a girl...

The female didn’t seem much older than he was, perhaps she was even younger; She stood unaffected by the common people’s discrimination and simply gazed at the wooden surface below her own feet.

Ah, an execution.

”With being charged several times with the allegation of witchcraft, today, Y/n L/n shall no longer take her final stand against humanity and instead will be purified by the flames of god!” A man preached from beside the young girl, holding a flaming torch to the people in accomplishment, earning cheers of joy from the crowd.

what a pity.

Fyodor expected the girl to plead for mercy before the executioner like most did when put on similar trials of death, but... she did nothing at all...

For the first time in his life, Fyodor wished to know what was going on in somebody else’s head— he wanted to know everything that played before her in her mind as the man dropped the source of fire onto the stack of hay surrounding her.

he...wanted to know her name...

“A pity, really.” Bram spoke sternly yet not directly towards the crown or his guards, this was directed towards him.

“May I ask what it is that you find so pitiful?”

“You humans taking another’s life just because somebody pointed a finger—what kind of humans are you if all you do is play follow the leader?”

“sometimes people need someone else to take their blame, it’s a natural way of life. Humans cannot feel nothing more than humanity if they do not commit a sinners act.”

The Count did not dare speak after that but Fyodor could feel his piercing gaze on him as he sat motionless on the ground, peering at the burning corpse of the young girl.

The beige maiden dress cascading her figure was burnt from the waist down as the flames grew higher and higher. For the first time, Fyodor met her [e/c] eyes head on.

They were just like his own; blank yet held an abyss stronger than hell itself...

The guards surrounding the Count and himself gaped in disbelief and horror, as did the crowd, when the girl being burnt to death before their very own eyes managed to remove a single hand from the restraints and reach outwards.

Fyodor couldn’t compel himself to gaze away. Her hand was covered in the soot of the flaming ashes spewing into the atmosphere but that didn’t seem to stop her from cradling the air as if it were a face.

“....A human born to be different from the rest; a wondering soul that carried humanity to its end...”

From there on out, Fyodor couldn’t help but visualize that very girls death over and over again in his mind. Even when he was escorted back to the dungeon, those fake flames of god burned at the pure self hidden away deep within him, leaving the impure counterpart behind...

The sinner he had been made to act as was no fake facade, he was a sinner born through both spirit and soul....

T’was a night so dreary when Fyodor was impaled by a spear, a death recommended by the Count Bram Stocker himself.

A suitable way to rid the world of his sinful body.

What had made history was never seen again because, after both dreadful nights, the two stars that shone hand in hand, despite being destined apart, vanished and never shone again...

That left the sky devoid of purity, leaving nothing but a vulnerable canvas of evil...

[chlobliviate]

Wolfstar Microfic - Win

Words: 809

@wolfstarmicrofic

🌙✨🌙✨🌙

The ten-year Hogwarts reunion had been an interesting evening so far. While a lot, maybe even most, of their classmates were married, many with kids, neither Sirius nor Remus had settled down. In fact, they were still sharing the house just outside Hogsmeade that Sirius had bought with his inheritance from his uncle. James, Lily and Pete had also lived there at various times over the last decade, but it had just been the two of them for over six years now.

While doing the rounds at the reunion, Sirius found himself fielding questions about Remus, in the same way that he was sure James was fielding questions about Lily, and Pete about Mary. By the time he went back to sit with Remus at their table, he was amused.

"I'll bet you twenty quid that someone is going to just outright ask us if we're dating by the end of the night." He said, causing Remus to choke on his wine. He rubbed Remus’ back until he could breathe again and then realised this was probably the kind of thing that made people think they were dating.

"No chance. I'll never win that bet.” Remus spluttered. “They’re not exactly subtle.”

“Fine then, we bet on who will come over and ask us outright. Whoever loses has to buy dinner tonight." They’d made plans to floo into Edinburgh, have a late dinner at the Pompadour and stay overnight so they could both have a drink.

“Ah yes, dinner. That’s a prime example of why we're not beating the dating allegations." Remus’ eyes sparkled dangerously.

"Are you taking the bet or not?” Sirius huffed. “My money’s on Emmeline. She’s going to come over and say ‘I say, lads, did you finally get yourselves together?’” He imitated Emmeline’s high-pitched, posh voice.

"Well, if she does I'm going to kiss you on the mouth and then tell her never in a million years.” Sirius blinked at him, surprised. “My money’s on…” He scanned the room, “Edgar. He always had a thing for you.”

“He did?” Sirius followed Remus’ gaze. “Those jeans are really working for him, to be fair.”

“And what if someone else comes and asks, or nobody asks?” Remus leaned his head on his hand and looked at Sirius, he already regretted the last glass of wine.

“Oh, somebody’s bound to ask.” Sirius grinned. “I’ve just had half an hour of ‘How’s Remus?’, ‘Remus is looking well’, ‘You and Remus look so happy’.”

“Well, that's… nice?” He mumbled. “Oh, shit. Edgar and Emmeline are on their way over.”

“It’s going to be a photo finish.” Sirius ruffled Remus’ curls affectionately before turning to smile at their approaching friends. At the last moment, Emmeline caught sight of Mary Macdonald and changed direction. Sirius frowned.

“Remus!” Edgar grinned, sitting down opposite him, “Long time no see!”

“Must be a decade.” Remus smiled at him, and there was something in his eyes that made Sirius suddenly feel like he was intruding. Interesting. “How’s things?”

“Oh, can’t complain. Been working for the Department of Mysteries for a while now.”

“Sounds interesting.” Remus nodded.

“What about you?” Edgar asked politely.

“You’re looking at the longest-serving Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for decades, Bones.” Sirius butted in as Remus shrugged humbly.

“Oh, incredible!” Edgar said to Remus, pointedly ignoring Sirius. “You always were an amazing tutor, I bet the kids love you.”

“I wouldn’t go that far, but it’s very rewarding.” Remus looked over at Sirius. “Not as rewarding as being a healer, but…”

“No, it’s every bit as rewarding,” Sirius said. “You don’t even have to clean up sick, so maybe more rewarding.”

“So you two are finally together, then?" Edgar asked, somewhat dejectedly.

"Please, he couldn't tie me down even if he tried,” Remus said, not looking back at Edgar. The corners of his mouth twitched as Sirius gasped dramatically. “No, we just live together. Bachelor pad.”

Edgar seemed to perk up slightly at this but still didn’t look convinced. “Ah, right, sorry for assuming, Re. Look, if you fancy going for a drink one night, here’s my number.” He produced a ministry business card and slid it across the table to Remus.

“Thank you,” Remus smiled at him mildly. “That would be nice. I’ll be in touch.” Edgar nodded as he stood up and looked around, before heading towards Emmeline and Mary.

“You think I couldn’t tie you down?” Sirius murmured in Remus’ ear, sending a shiver up his spine. “Challenge accepted.”

Remus leant back to look at Sirius. His eyes were mostly pupil, with a slither of grey around them, a blush sat on his aristocratic cheekbones and his jaw was set. Eyes never leaving Sirius’, his voice was low, “Alright then, since you’re buying dinner anyway. Do your worst. Give me the full Sirius Black date experience. Prove me wrong.”

🌙✨🌙✨🌙

[Notes:

At some point during dinner:

"Wait, I thought you said that Edgar had always been into me," said Sirius.

"Oh, did I say that he was into you?" Remus smirked, "I meant me."

And Sirius is like damn he played me, and I'm not even mad.]

[snarkesthour]

United By Music Hatred Of The Jury  

Eurovision has been dogged by allegations of cheating, corruption, bad judging calls, and hatred of the jury for many years. This year brought that to a head with Sweden’s win over the public favourite Finland, in an allocation of points that shocked Europe.

Sweden received only 243 points from the public vote, without a single “douze points” from any country. Finland received 376 votes from the public, the second highest amount ever, including the coveted 12 points from eighteen different nation-states. How, then, did Sweden manage to win? Finland was only awarded 150 points by the professional jury, while Sweden was given 340, sailing their singer Loreen, a previous Eurovision winner, to victory.

Understandably, people are upset.

One reason that Finns have said it hurt to lose to Sweden is due to their history. Finland was colonised by Sweden for over 600 years, after Sweden annexed them (a long process lasting between the 1150s and 1350s at least). Sweden is still seen as superior in a number of ways. The Finnish language is often considered weird and ugly. Käärijä, the singer representing Finland, went to Eurovision to prove that a song sung in Finnish could win.

The professional jury clearly shows bias against songs sung in native and minority languages and not English. Time and time again, they vote for the most generic pop songs instead of performances laced with languages and culture from the performing countries. Last year in 2022, France sent a song in Breton, a language with a long history of oppression in France, with Celtic iconography. They received only 9 points from the jury. Meanwhile, audiences enjoyed the performance, and were happy that France finally sent something other than a modern chanson song, French audiences included. Keiino included aspects of Sami culture and language in their song in 2019, and lost out to the Netherlands, falling several places due to the jury vote. The Eurovision Song Contest exists to showcase and celebrate the full cultural richness of the competing countries, and it is wholly wrong for the jury to penalise that.

This argument is unhelped by those that often complain about the amount of Anglophone pop songs, yet then vote for the same due to loyalty, or the attractiveness of the singer, or politics. There is nothing wrong with voting for an English language pop song if you think it is the best song that year, but one way to help these non-English language songs is to allocate them a smaller amount of votes and save the rest for your favourite. This way these countries know that other people did enjoy their performances, and that they would like to see more of the same.

During its occupation by Sweden, Swedish became the dominant language in Finland, spoken by the upper class, administration, and education. It was only under Russian rule that the Finnish language started to gain traction and recognition, finally achieving equal status as Swedish legally in 1892. This is part of why it was so important to Finns to have a winning song sung in Finnish, their only previous win being in English. To show that their language is not rough and ugly sounding, and to demonstrate what it means to sing in your native language. The crowd sang along to Käärijä’s performance in Finnish; people who are not Finnish and have never spoken a word of Finnish. I cannot imagine that feeling. Käärijä also performed topless, with a perfectly normal body, unlike the heavily chiselled bodies favoured by Hollywood, which are, only produced by extreme diets, workout regimes, and dangerous levels of dehydration. It is no surprise he became a national treasure. Finland redecorated statues and had green shrines in their libraries and supermarkets. The country was so excited. Then they lost to Sweden over the jury vote.

Norway got the third highest votes this year from the public. They also won the televoting in 2019 too, but lost because of the professional jury votes that propelled Netherlands to the win. It was said that Norway may have had some voice trouble during the finals week, including her jury performance. The BBC praised her jury performance, but Swedish newspapers allegedly said it was very rough, and that she missed nearly every note.

The professional jury doesn’t judge the same Grand Final performance that everyone else sees. The jury judges the final jury performance, a separate show where the public is not allowed and only press accredited people can attend. Performers will obviously give it their best, but that does not guarantee it will be their best performance. It is also reasonable to assume that some singers might have a lower energy performance during the jury performance due to exhaustion, or in order to save up for the grand final, among other possibilities.

It is clear that everyone needs to be voting on the same show – anything else is just blatantly unfair. Votes cannot be accurately distributed if people are voting on two different shows.

If the juries are unbiased, we have a huge problem. Even if Finland got 12 points from everyone voting in the grand final, they would have only scraped a win with 11 points. They scored the second highest votes in Eurovision history, second only to Ukraine last year, a win that itself was mired in allegations of cheating and corruption. And yet Finland still lost.

The weighting of the votes is undoubtedly tilted towards the jury. As mentioned earlier, Finland received the second highest amount of televotes in Eurovision history, and won the public vote, yet lost to Sweden based on the professional jury. This is a kick in the face to members of the public that watched and voted. It sends a clear message that the public and their opinion clearly does not matter at all and they might as well have not voted. The public pay for Eurovision, the public stream and download and buy the songs, and as such, the publics vote should count, otherwise why bother? Why have a competition?

As it stands right now, the Eurovision Song Contest is essentially voted on like a US Presidential Election. The professional jury vote is essentially the Electoral College, capable of snatching the victory from the clear public winner that secured the majority of public votes. If we are going to complain about this system being used for American elections, then there is no reason that it should be acceptable here.

One way to fix this is to change the weighting of the jury versus public votes. The professional jury was established to prevent nations from simply voting for their neighbours or allies, yet it is remarkable how often the professional juries’ votes reflect these politics anyway. A 30/70 split to the public votes will allow the jury to make clear who they think should win while also not holding enough sway to alter the public results.

An overhaul also needs to be made to the professional jury itself. It is no secret that corruption is present within Eurovision. Keeping the names of the jury secret to prevent this from happening is only going to make it impossible to know when it has happened. Instead, the jury list should be transparent, and the juries themselves should be diverse, with a number of musical styles represented. Eurovision has a wide range of musical styles perform, and having a jury compiled of industry professionals from only one or two genres will only harm these entries, especially those that draw on traditional music styles. Many fan favourites were cheated by the voting system because their songs and performances weren’t “normal” or “palatable” enough for the jury. As mentioned earlier, these trend towards songs that have considerable influence from the culture of the country, including native and minority languages. It was also caused by the “war” between the juries, as evidenced by the graphic put out by Eurovision showing the difference between the jury favourites and the public favourites. Sweden and Finland sat in the middle of each half, essentially causing a fight over who would win by each half voting only for that one country.

Worldwide voting should also be removed. There should be a return to form when it comes to who can vote, as it was last year. Those that did not pay for Eurovision should not be able to vote, and worldwide politics could tip a win or loss by a considerable amount. The US has a population of almost 332 million people. India has a population of 1.408 billion. Imagine if any country with a population like this had even a fraction of its people cast a vote based on socio-political reasons.

Even within the voting process itself, there are problems. Votes should cost the equivalent amount everywhere. It ranges from 15p/17ct up to over a euro to vote, depending on where you are. This is going to have an impact on who can vote, and therefore who will win. Even on the app, it costs money to vote. This will not be a fair competition until everyone can vote equally and the organisers need to get on top of this rapidly.

Equality is the basis of every democratic vote, but Eurovision does not treat all of its competitors equally. The Eurovision Song Contest explicitly acknowledged the war in Ukraine and the need for another nation to host because of it. They sanctioned Russia by banning them from entering, this year being the second year in a row after their initial ban last year. This is considered the right thing to do, but it has raised several questions. The Eurovision Song Contest declined to let Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy address the audience at the grand final, saying that it would politicise the event, ignoring the fact that they had already politicised it by acknowledging the very real events happening in the world that caused something as drastic as a change of host nation. They also politicised it by denying Russia entry. The politics are even implied in the theme. While seen as the correct thing to do, it means they have, to an extent, been hypocritical. They have then taken it one step further though, with the inclusion of Israel.

Israel’s participation has long been debated due to geographical location and politics. However, to ban Russia for the invasion and war against Ukraine while allowing Israel to compete is hypocrisy at its finest. Israel has carried out the same actions against Palestine as Russia has against Ukraine, yet they have not been banned. Instead, they have hosted in recent years, often receive a decent amount of points, and this year had a previous winner featured during the interval act. Many people with the job of awarding points made statements in support of “peace and unity!” only to immediately award points to Israel.

This disparity of treatment is most obvious at two previous competitions. Israel hosted in 2019 when the Icelandic group Hatari famously waved Palestinian flags during the grand final, causing them to be deported and banned from the country. They were later fined for breaking the no politics rule.

In 2021, the Israeli entry was a song called ‘Set Me Free’, a song title that was mocked and by many for its irony. The day before the grand final, Israel launched a missile strike against Palestine (reminiscent of the harrowing news that the hometown of the Ukrainian entry was bombed moments before they took to the stage this year simply from the other perspective) as part of a series of escalations that included threatening to evict Palestinian families from East Jerusalem and nightly clashes between Palestinians and the police during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Many people felt that it was wrong for the performance to go ahead. For a considerable time, YouTube searches for Israel’s grand final performance only returned results for the semi-final.

Despite all this, Israel faced no sanctions at Eurovision. Contrasted with Russia, who has faced sanctions for their actions in Ukraine, fans are understandably angry and upset with Eurovision’s lack of consistent positioning on this issue, calling for the end of the hypocrisy. The double standard shown here, in the disparity of Eurovision’s treatment of Russia and Israel, is a symptom of racialised Eurocentrism – something which remains a massive problem in Europe and a subject which deserves its own post.

Speaking of the war, the UK did not utilise enough Ukrainian talent, or songs. The UK hosted on behalf of Ukraine, yet little of Ukraine was represented. Previous performers Verka, Go_A, and Jamala (who herself faced controversy for her entry at the time, it being an allegory to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the same year as the title under the excuse of “allying with Nazis”) returned to sing their Eurovision entries, and last year’s winners Kalush Orchestra returned with an extended opening sequence. Beyond this, and one Ukrainian presenter, Ukrainian representation was far below what it should have been. Other Ukrainian groups or previous entries should have been invited to perform, and the three previous groups that performed should have had the option to sing additional songs if they wanted to. This was a serious let-down by the UK, especially given the interval performance. Famous songs of Ukraine could have been sung instead, or even some of those Liverpudlian songs translated into Ukrainian and sung by Ukrainian performers.

Moving on from those who didn’t perform to those who did: Loreen, too, is facing accusations of rudeness and arrogance. She has already won Eurovision once before and has returned to try and win again. The popular opinion is that those who have won Eurovision before should be allowed to return and perform as part of interval acts, but should not be allowed to enter again. It is unfair to the other contestants; they have already had their moment, and should move on to allow the new competitors a fair chance under the spotlight.

Viewers noticed that it was strange that the hosts kept mentioning Abba, and that a member of Abba even made a recorded appearance. Eurovision has nothing to do with Abba’s 50th anniversary next year. Abba won Eurovision for Sweden in 1974 when the UK hosted on behalf of Luxembourg. Now, 50 years later, Sweden wins Eurovision again, in the UK hosted on behalf of Ukraine, just in time for Abba’s big anniversary. No-one can deny that this coincidence seems suspicious, especially considering the jury versus public votes Sweden received and the landslide amount of votes won by Finland.

And that brings us to the plagiarism. Many fans say Loreen’s song this year, “Tattoo” is very similar to her previous winner ‘Euphoria’. An even more common accusation is that her song is very similar, or even identical to ‘Flying Free’ by Pont Aeri. Indeed, the openings are almost a complete match. It seems hard to believe that she could compose an identical opening without having heard the original at all. Sections of the instrumentals are also similar to Loreen’s entry.

Having not heard about this controversy before the grand final, the comparison this blog draws is with Abba’s ‘Winner Takes It All’. Perhaps this is why Sweden scored so many points from the jury this year? After all, Abba constructs very enjoyable, musically excellent songs. This was only noticed when my own father heard Sweden’s entry and began singing along with Abba’s lyrics, only realising that something was different when his lyrics didn’t match Loreen’s. He has been a fan of Abba since they won Eurovision and owns several records and CDs. And even he thought it was a dance remix of Abba.

During the judging section of the competition where the points are awarded, the crowd kept booing, and chanting Käärijä’s name and “cha cha cha” while the hosts were trying to announce Sweden’s victory. This chanting continued during Loreen’s victory song, as well as many other competitors immediately making their way to Käärijä to chant and support him. It was very clear who people thought the winner should be, and it was not Loreen.

No-one remembers who won the year Verka performed. They remember Verka. That’s what’s going to happen this year. This won’t be remembered as the year Loreen won Eurovision for the second time. This will be remembered as the year the juries finally went too far, and the year Finland was robbed.

Next year we should all just send our previous winners. And maybe question if Israel has a place in this competition anymore.

[reel-fear]

Wow, so umm... This looks bad, not only is it inaccurate due to using the wrong ink demon design [unless this is confirmation BATIM Ink Demon has been outright retconned... Which would make me pissed enough to make a new post just about THAT] but from an art standpoint this is just... Confusing and poorly done.

I wouldn't care if this was fanart, of course you should support young, indie artists... But for a Graphic Novel making sure your cover doesn't look like something Butch Hartman shat out in an afternoon is kind of important. Remember they're going to be asking us to give money to them to read this. The artist likely won't see any of that money and neither do the authors most of the time, not to mention this art screams of the artist being underpaid and overworked.

Like they Had to get something on someone's desk and their boss said 'good enough'. A concept Joey Drew Studios is very familiar with considering the allegations of poor working environments that Kindly Beast. Not to mention Mike Mood admitting in a Reddit AMA that they did in fact rush projects like Showdown Bandit. [Which they sold at full price]

He also says they can in fact say no or yes to designs involving their IP. Either Mike or Meatly had to say yes to this cover, according to his own damn words.

And do you really think this company in particular would care enough about its fanbase to not sell them garbage? They have done exactly that on several occasions. It's not like they care particularly about art either, considering their previous use of AI Art. There was no apology or even posts addressing it... Instead, they just rushed out an archives update to their game to get people to stop talking about it... Even forgetting an entire character in it. Again

This company is [or at least SHOULD BE] on thin ice when it comes to being suspected of misleading their fans or rushing out crappy products to them.

So with all that context in mind, I'm gonna talk about why this cover sucks ass.

The light sources are all over the place? Why does it look like someone put maces or knight armor on his shoulders but it's just flesh?? It looks both gross and weird [not in a good way either]

To explain more I'm going on a rant below but sadly this seems to have been confirmed to not just be a rough pass but the final cover and man... I am not excited about this graphic novel just at all. This felt like it really drained any possibility of it turning out good for me and I already had expectations low.

Okay first point, the light sources?? And there is no consistency here with the shadows or lighting, it looks like there's a hundred light sources all at once but none of them are even consistent!

the arrows here represent all the different light sources I can make out and yet the the shadow clearly implies there's only one. I understand wanting to use highlights to give the character a more clear shape but then just give him one or two lights behind him or in front of him? No matter how u follow the light sources, the highlights make no sense and the shadows make even less sense.

Why are the shoulders like that? Like on the legs it's a little understandable, at least those are clearly very heavily affected by perspective, for me I think they are so exaggerated it makes it look like one of the legs is either huge or one is small but that's maybe subjective.

However, the shoulders are unjustifiable, what happened there, what did they do??

I could pick on so much more honestly, how the color choices of piss yellow with no other colors being used, and the harsh pitch black being used for every part of his body is weird. How it looks straight out of Butch Hartman's recent crappy art. But to put bluntly bad start! Also what the HELL is going on with this background??

Seems once again the Bendy team is fine with sending out stuff thinking it's "Good Enough" for Bendy fans and honestly the people trying to tell me to "Be Grateful" for this are just proving that no matter how many times you betray your audience some of em will defend you!

Which is sad tbh. If anything we should be putting MORE pressure on the Bendy team to do better. Cause we deserve better than this, honestly we do. There are amazing artists in the bendy community who could do so much better for a cover. They've employed their fan artists before... Wouldn't it be great to do that for such a lore important book? The book that gives us the identity of one of the main characters in BATIM? The character you spend the entirety of Chapter 4 fighting to save? Not to mention will give several major characters their human designs?

But I guess this is... Good enough...

[emmathemandelaresident]

My final statement on the Kister vs Ven drama.

I have read all of the documents word by word, and initially, I had nothing to say about it, but re-reading all of them again, even Ven's new document before they deleted their Twitter/X account, I now finally got something to say about it.

Just to note, this statement is my full over opinion on the Kister vs Ven situation. I'd love to hear what you overall thing about this drama that had been all going around for nearly a month.

For those who don't know:

On March 12, Alex Kister, the creator of one of the most popular and well known analog horror series, the Mandela Catalogue, as well as his other series called Mystifying Oracle, was accused of predatory behavior by Twitter user STIRRINGJUICE (or Ven). I am not gonna go into too much detail, but the doc mainly states the accused problems Alex did while he had been with them and been friends with other fans.

A week or so later, Alex Kister has made a long response towards the accusations. In the doc, he provided plenty of evidence to justify his claim that overall that the doc Ven made is moreover wrong, but at the same time, he admitted that he had been friends and boyfriend with the fans and even trauma dumped to them. I will tell you, person reading this blog, about my personal opinion on this kind of action Kister has admitted too.

Later on, Ven made a pubic apology about them making the doc and their wording, saying that it is "transmisogynistic" and that what they did to him as an actual person was "excruciating". A day after they posted this apology, they have since deactivated their Twitter/X account, thus possibly putting an end to this drama.

Now that you all know about the history of the Kister vs Ven drama, lemme tell you my final opinion/statement.

When I first heard the allegations, I instantly felt devastated and upset over this and I had thought that Alex Kister was a good being. As a result, I felt some sort of heavy resentment towards the dude, but I never stopped loving his series, the Mandela Catalogue. I still do and I continue to write it (Wattpad is emmathemandelaresident; I digress).

Later, I began to move on and when I saw Alex's response, I was initially unsure of what to say or what to feel about it, but I will admit though, the way he has written the doc and provided much evidence to justify his claim is not really that bad at all.

But lemme tell you my overall opinion with his admitted actions. Being together romantically with a fan is not a great idea at all! These are your FANS that love your work and you should appreciate them, not go too far to be together with them, and ESPECIALLY not trauma dumping towards them! These are people that look up to you and your work, and venting towards them as well as dating them is fucked up in my personal opinion. These actions Alex had are inappropriate and I hope that Alex learned a very important lesson over that!

Overall, I will admit that he proved himself innocent, but I was still skeptical about this, so I continued to have some resentment towards him (though by a little bit).

Then when Ven's document came up, I legit had enough of this shitty drama. I kept asking to myself, when is this gonna end? Then I decided to read their doc. I honestly had no idea who I can trust anymore, cause at this rate, it looks like Alex Kister has won against the allegations in the most impressive way possible.

But I do believe that Ven's actions to get back on the dude and deplatform him was wrong and it should never be taken this kind of way to make an accusatory doc. Also the sentence "I did not expect crew members would leave because of how some of them responded initially" is kinda stupid. Like dude, your document had a WHOLE LOT OF SHIT AND "EVIDENCE" AGAINST KISTER. How could you possibly not expect crew members and actors to leave the Mandela Catalogue!?

I feel like this whole thing should have been kept in private and behind closed doors to avoid any kind of drama and other problems that escalated into something big! This would've been simple and easy, but Kister and Ven didn't do it.

Now just like Alex's response to the situation, I didn't have anything else to say or feel with Ven's new doc. But now I know that what they did was wrong as Alex's admitted actions to his fans.

So overall, I believe that both sides are mainly at fault. Alex's admitted actions are inappropriate and wrong and Ven's "goal" to deplatform the former is abhorrent. Now do I still love the Mandela Catalogue? Of course I do and like I said, I continue to write my crappy fanfic on the series. I believe Ven's decision to delete their Twitter account was good enough considering his actions, but I also think that Alex SHOULD learn something from his actions of dating people who looked up to and venting towards them.

I will continue to be active in the Mandela Catalogue fandom without traces of the drama barging into my brain and my Wattpad life.

But that's all for this giant statement! God, this was a lot to type on my laptop but that's my overall opinion on this Kister vs Ven situation.

I'd love to hear what you think about this drama!

Okay, now time to go sink into a mud puddle.

[dreambeloved]

you don't think that the snaps were sent to someone else? he's said on his twitter that he had relations with someone over age back in 2020, from where I'm standing it looks very much like that person was possibly nat, who has admitted recently that she's been in contact with the people behind the burner.

not to mention that the evidence of the alleged exchanges between dream and the victim are images of screenshots of screenshots of a video of someones phone.

I just think it's way too soon to go throwing everything away, he hasn't even released his video yet!

much love and i hope you're ok <3.

There are over 50 asks in my inbox right now, but this one is actually worded kindly, so I’ll answer. Believe what you want of course, I’m not here to harass people into seeing things the way I see them, but just an explanation on the way I view it.

It’s very clear to me that he lied about who he sent those snaps to when everything is put together. At first, I wanted to attribute it to just forgetting who they were sent to, or mixing people up- but the way he went about proving that lie is what makes it obvious that this isn’t some mix-up.

To start, I want to point out that both the burner account and Nat (who Dream says is the actual recipient of those snaps) have denied Nat’s involvement with the burner beyond sharing the “chia seeds” discord screenshots. She also provided proof (linked here) that she hasn’t been in contact with him on snap since 2019. (burner account confirmation linked here).

Now, when he provided proof of Nat being the recipient, he provided this screenshot (seen below on the left). It should be noted that the “Sam” in discussion was a mutual between them both on Twitter, and not his ex, like some think. In the screenshot Nat provided (seen below on the right), there are voice memos that were either edited out or deleted before Dream posted them. Nat also provided videos (linked here) to show that the messages are authentic.

Okay I’m going off on a tangent here. I don’t have the energy to go through every little piece, so for now, here’s my conclusion for the Nat thing. To me at least, it very clearly isn’t her. But if the actual recipient of those videos wasn’t someone that shouldn’t have been sent them in the first place, why go to such lengths to claim so? Why go through all the trouble of bringing in someone completely uninvolved if there was nothing wrong with it in the first place? Even as a stan, I could admit that he has a thing about lying at first when he’s in the wrong, so all this just feels like the final nail.

Now, even if this was just some elaborate set-up to get him cancelled, I still find it really uncomfortable and strange that he sent something like that to a fan anyways? I feel like a lot of people forget the whole power imbalance aspect when it comes to youtubers with their fans. The fact that he has so many intimate relationships with stans/fans strikes me as weird whether they’re legal or not.

That’s all I have for now, at least on the “could be Nat” situation. There are a Lot of asks and messages that I don’t have the energy to go through, so I’ll probably make a final post and then never look in my notifs again.

[chaifootsteps]

y'know, im usually against using screenshot of people doing bad stuff in the past to "prove" that they are bad people nowdays; for example, when they try to get some youtuber cancelled because he said a slur 6 years ago or something.

Because that just negates the fact that us humans commit a lot mistakes, sometimes we do mean stuff, but that doesnt make us terrible humans that are incapable of redeming themseves, most of us grow out of those ugly behaviours, and learn to be decent human beings.

However, with miss Vivziepop its a different story, i like the fact that that we are still finding screenshot of her doing heinous things in the past, for 3 important reasons:

First, The things she did are like, actually really bad.

Its not like most cases where its like "omg this dud said the n-word when he was 12 and didnt know what a slur was! We must cancell him!1!", no, the things Vivziepop did are always when she was a grown ass woman that know what she was doing, she was just being evil.

And then you have her fans insisting those arent "that bad", thats its "a nothing burger", etc. And like, yeah, they ARE bad, those things are really mean and people arent evil for pinting it out.

It is important for growing up to reconise that our past behaviours were not good, thats how we learn better.

Defending a stranger on the internet will just lead you to repeat those behaviours of your idol because you conviced yourself those arent "that bad", until you do them and then you get hit with reality because, thanks to those behaviours, people dont like you anymore and see you as a rude toxic person.

Second, she proved many times she NEVER changed.

She still shows those gross behaviours, unlike most people she never learned to be a better person.

For example: that catcalling comic was made years ago, so, i guess it doesnt represent her views anymore, right? She is no longer misogynist, right?

Well, the way she treats her female characters, plus how she gets mad at people pointing out how badly written they are, proves she never stoped having those mean ideas about women.

Or how about those aboit how she was shaming a fan for not paying her what she wanted and making them feel bad for it? Obviously she grew up and never did something so mean like that again...

Oh wait! No she didnt, every once in a while we see her throwing a fissy fit about people criticising her work and liking tweets of her fans saying people are EVIL for not loving her and giving her all the support in the world.

And about those abuse allegations... wait, those are not even old, most of them are from less than a year ago. You cant even "those were years ago" out of this one.

So fuck the "those were long time ago, she changed!", thats total bs.

And finally, every time she responded or "apologised" for these acusations, she keep proving that she didnt belive she did anything wrong and its just "the haters" being mean.

Anybody remember when she made a weird ass apology that started with "i would apologise for existing, but i know people would get mad at me still"? Her responses are always full of "actually, YOU are the mean one for calling me out, look how bad i feel? Dont you feel any shame?".

One day she will def make a shitty youtube apology video where she admits everything but with the classic "i was in a bad place", "i didnt know what i was doing", basically painting everything as "just a mistake" and not her being an evil asshole. Then half of the video will be her ranting about how this whole situation that SHE created is making HER sad, she will probably said something like "i just wanted to make cartoons and people are being mean :(((" to victimise herself.

Mark my words, we will have a Vivziepop ukelele apology in any day of 2024, im really sure.

All I can say is that after everything she's put people through, she'd better have a damn ukulele.

[ultimasonata]

In 2022 Lucifer appeared among the first news on the Hazbin Hotel page, thus starting to test the waters for the official S1 date. The theories about his alleged role within the show immediately began, some characteristics such as his personality and interests were confirmed, specifying that he was not a model father but loved his daughter despite "dreaming too much".

In the 5th episode, finally, he appears and immediately proves to be a character who is the victim of a closed mentality, a survivor of who knows what problems with his family and the kingdom, leading him to depression and constant insecurities, so much so that he is no longer in contact with his wife for reasons still unknown and is completely detached from his daughter with whom he has so much in common.

A phone call awakens him, we see him cheerful and extroverted with Charlie but also very doubtful about his plans and, despite the funny moments with Alastor, we notice that something is wrong.

During the duet "More than anything" we therefore understand how disappointed and traumatized he was by the cruelty of his colleagues and how much he probably lost from life, ending up despising his people without taking into consideration the idea of ​​fixing them, as the mother wants to do instead. Daughter. With Charlie at her side, a more positive attitude immediately blossoms, he seems to return to the dreamer he once was and goes into battle to help her against the angels who have invalidated him.

Other funny moments and digs at Adam but he shows everyone why he is the King, between one joke and another, alongside his daughter.

This little fallen angel made me smile and get excited in every moment, I was worried about losing him immediately because he seemed too unstable with that "I'll make you have an encounter with heaven but I won't be able to accompany you" and I'll let you imagine my face when he returned during the extermination to save his new family. But above all to SHOW both to themselves and to them what it means to make a difference.

I'm still afraid of what could happen to him and/or his family but the idea that he was represented like this, the idea of ​​finally having him here and one day being able to cosplay as him makes my heart warm.

I longed for an original representation of Lucifer and this show didn't disappoint me in that either.

After years of waiting, it was worth it ❤️

[argentsunshine]

hey not doubting you at all, but do you have any specific proof that points to matpat being a plagiarist?

augh i had a whole thing typed up and Tumblr ate it

short version: there's been a lot of allegations for years. the hermitcraft one seems pretty cut and dry to me. he has also just stolen theories from the source material itself - when he made a theory on a series i shan't name, his whole theory was something explicitly canon in the books, and he doesn't acknowledge that once.

now for my own personal evidence. i consider this less "proof" and more "occam's razor says plagiarism, and the other explanation is that he's incredibly dumb". under cut because it involves fma and chemistry neither of which i can shut up about

so, here's the video in question:

I'd use more screenshots to prove my point here, but apparently game theory can't afford captions, so I'll just explain the old fashioned way.

Matthew is trying to prove that the Elric's formula for a human (water 35 liters, carbon 20kg, etc) is incorrect (ie. does not have the right elements in the right proportions to make a human.)

to do this, he has to convert the several compounds (water, ammonia, lime, salt, and saltpeter) into elemental masses.

first, he divides each element by its molar mass. so for water, that's 35,000g/(18g/mol)=1,942mol. this is correct. don't get used to it.

so saying you have a "mole" of something is kind of like saying you have a "dozen" of it - you know if someone has 2 dozen eggs, then they have 2x12=24 eggs, because a dozen means 12. moles are like that, except instead of 12 it's 6.023x10²³. so the moles we just calculated is the number of molecules of water that are in 35L - 1,942mol converts to ~1.17x10²⁷ molecules.

this next bit is where matthew goofs it. he says that to get from the number of water molecules to the number of oxygen atoms, you multiply the number of molecules by the percent of the weight of the water that is oxygen, so about 89%. i hope you can see why this is incorrect. (if you can't: each water molecule has one oxygen atom in it, so the number of oxygen atoms in the water is the same as the number of molecules of water, not 89% of it.) he then uses these incorrect figures to calculate the elemental masses. these are his final masses (which, for some reason, he doesn't show clearly):

but after a few jokes, he shows this table comparing the fma numbers to reality:

ignoring that the top ones are in g and the bottom in kg, you can see that he only gets the same numbers if he didn't have to do any conversion. somehow, hydrogen goes from just under 700g to 4.5kg. he doesn't explain why the numbers changed or where the new ones came from.

so, i did the maths myself (here's the full spreadsheet if you want to check my work):

(you'll note my "matpat mass" doesn't match either set. i was doing what he said he did in the video. i have no idea what else he did to get some of his numbers. i think the hydrogen one might be because he added the correct mass from ammonia to his incorrect water mass? the oxygen i have no idea because. matthew how is there less than 3kg of oxygen in 35kg of water, even ignoring the other oxygen containing compounds)

now some of my numbers are a bit off because of rounding errors, but you'll see that my numbers agree pretty well with the wikipedia-looking chart. this is because i, unlike matpat, understand how to do chemistry calculations that they teach to babies (fourteen year olds). but the change in Matthew's numbers from two points thirty seconds apart in the video raises the question of where the hell he got them from. way i see it, there are two explanations:

1. matthew did realise he'd explained everything wrong and his maths was off, but decided to publish the video without correcting his explanation or his first set of numbers anywhere;

2. matthew stole these numbers from somewhere else, where they'd been calculated by someone who understands chemistry 101, and couldn't even understand the chemistry well enough to replicate their results.

why bother saying all of this if it proves nothing? i need you to understand that i was in chemistry for babies when this video came out, and deep in the weeds of my fma hyperfix and my chem hyperfix. this has bothered me for a full third of my life. this isn't an explanation it's an exorcism

[deadaccount1211]

TD 2023 Season 2 Rant Pt3

Spoilers Below

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I want to start off by saying I think S2 still has the same comedic value S1 does. Episode 2 and Episode 6 were very funny. However I think every other aspect of the show is weak asf rn.

Let me break it down.

Relationships: I think Bowie x Raj was handled the best out of all of them. However I was a bit disappointed that Raj forgave Bowie so quickly after he found about the cheating. I just expected a bigger blowup.

I still think Ripaxel is mid. We never got a full perspective on why Axel likes Ripper back. And now they've become S2 Geoff x Bridgette so they're super duper mid. These two need to be the double boot, get them off my screen.

Priya x Caleb is fine. I'm just not a fan because I think it's corny. (Also a salty Priya x Damien fan.) Caleb is basically a blank slate so they magically molded him into Priya's perfect bf. He has everything in common with her, no arguments, "perfect" chemistry.

Also just really predictable. Zee is gonna tell Priya that Caleb is only gonna use her for an alliance. Priya gets mad and tells off Caleb. Caleb does some heroic sacrifice bullshit to prove his love for Priya. Yawn.

Episode 5 is probably Ripper's best performance in the entire season because he's actually interacting with his team and not spending the entire time simping for axel.

Welp my finale pick is officially wrong since Nichelle went home. But honestly I'm more disappointed about how her elimination was handled than the early boot itself. Off screen training arc, minimal interactions with her team and then she's just used as fodder to show how good of a villain Julia is. Very anticlimactic ending. Reminds me of how they got rid of Anne Maria.

And when it comes to Nichelle discussions, I feel like I'm kind of in the middle. Because I can see from an outsider's perspective how Nichelle fans could be annoying. Because they just simplify her character to "girlboss." But Nichelle haters are equally obnoxious. Personally I'm on Team Nichelle is Okay But Could've Been Better.

Damien is THIS close to beating the filler character allegations. My guy made merge and won the first immunity? Yessir. Now he just needs a plotline. I don't know what. But please give him something.

[fromtenthousandfeet]

idk whether there are special plaques for project manager’s appreciation but here we are. and suddenly so-called ot7 (who, mind you, will find even a needle in a haystack if it’s about their true faves and their praise; and here is the ceo of hybe, a very much known man among fd) and fake boycotters are nowhere to be found but let us wait for next Jimin’s donation to children of his own country not capable to afford themselves education

every time I tell myself I can’t be more disgusted with armys (and company) but they keep proving me wrong

https://x.com/pjmoriarty_/status/1798665443642868118?s=46

I can't believe this controversy happened only 24 hours ago or so. It already feels like ancient history in light of the new song release.

I need to state a fact before we talk about the boycott. Jungkook is held to an entirely different standard by both the company and the fandom. I don't entirely know why, but it's the reason why he can break BTS norms (misogynistic lyrics, heavy promo, certain behavior) without much or any blowback. Folks, it is what it is.

But let's talk about the boycott. HYBE cannot remove SB for his religious or politic views under US employment discrimination laws. Period. End of story. And as I've said before, there is no way on earth Bang Si-hyuk is going to give up his association with Scooter because his connections in the western music industry and knowledge about how to game the system are too valuable.

In my humble opinion, the real boycott should have started the minute HYBE bought Ithaca Holdings. The boycott should have been about Scooter and his history of screwing over musicians (especially women), exploiting talented minors for his financial gain and failing to protect them from industry predators (Justin Bieber, anyone?), and for consistent allegations of using payola and other unethical means to promote his clients. He's been a bad guy forever and it was no secret, but way too many people in the fandom looked the other way or simply didn't know his history.

The boycott should have started in earnest when Like Crazy's versions were split and song sales disappeared. But again, it didn't. And finally, when JK was flown out to L.A. to work with Scooter, everybody should have known something bad was coming. It was a massive red flag, but it didn't get enough attention from the core of the fandom. And don't get me started about SEVEN.

Is it worth fighting with JJKs fans to prove Scooter is deeply involvement in JK's album? My hunch is no because they seem to get a high off of other solos' frustration. They feed off your suffering. And at the end of the day, they don't care if SB is involved as long as JK is put above all the others.

Boycott aside, can we talk about the timing of Scooter's post on Instagram just hours before it was announced that FACE earned RIAA Gold Record eligibility? He's such a petty man. He could have posted that photo and bragged about all those streams for SEVEN on any other day.

P.S. Jimin is a good human.

[strqyr]

So, with Jinn's answers, I always got the idea that she was being 100% honest and truthful, but much like how Ambrosia needed you to be as accurate as possible with what you make, you had to word your question properly to Jinn.

So when Ozma asked "How do 'I' destroy Salem" and Jinn replied "You cant." I took that as her not saying Salem cant be destroyed or that she couldnt be beaten, but that "Ozma" couldnt destroy her.

And I feel like that distinction is what is going to prove vital in the end.

Or maybe im wrong, who knows?

yeah, that's pretty much it. the question — "what is ozpin hiding from us?" — makes it so that the lost fable is based on what ozpin knows, rather than what jinn knows, and as such it would also come with any bias ozma has, and every single conclusion ozma has jumped into and assumptions he has made over the years, colored by his mission given by the god of light.

that's not to say it's completely false, just that, say, if ruby had asked about salem and what's motivating her, it would be mostly the same story, just from a different viewpoint and painted in different light.

what was it that raven said? "the truth is that 'truth' is hard to come by. a story of victory for one person is a story of defeat for someone else." — which is fitting because. well. knowledge, and if you're talking about peoples' experiences rather than answers to math problems, there rarely is just one truth to it.

when it comes to "how do i destroy salem" though, personally, i think it's less about the person — salem was immortalized by the gods, and if she could survive half of the moon crashing into the planet she was on and everything that came after, i doubt one person who is going to be born thousands of years after ozma is brought back is going to be able to destroy salem — but more about the verb.

in another words, destroying salem is not the answer. honestly, talking to her would be a good start, because no one really... does... that. at all. the gods didn't. ozma kind of did but he also withhold relevant information and when he did share it and things got uncomfortable, he stopped. and nowadays, salem sure does get talked about, assumptions are made about her, she gets yelled at based on said assumptions, but yet again, no one talks to her to find out what her problem is, about what she is planning, why she is doing what she's doing, etc. etc.

i mean. when the big difference between a lot of the heroes and villains is that the former had support (i.e. someone to talk to) through their tough times and the latter didn't, and your Alleged Final Boss (But Not Really) is an immortal-cursed-by-the-gods who nobody talks to (no talk, only project), i feel like there's something there, ya know?

[heircurse]

› ﹙ @vulpuslunae ﹚ continued.

privacy was something best taken as sacred when it seemed as though your entire life was for the entertainment of others —— from the day he had made his debut in this cold world , it felt to be more of a stage while harry was the show. prying eyes watching his every move [ ... ] every youthful mistake , every relationship , every death. none of it could be his and his alone. the public loved your downfalls just as much as your accomplishments... maybe even more. of course , what those gossip magazines have especially honed in on after the passing of his father —— was his bachelor lifestyle amidst his still relatively new position in the osborn legacy. rightful heir , successor. new york's finest and youngest c.e.o was unattached ; and seemingly leaving a trail of broken hearts in his wake. read more about it on page eleven. ( photos of his alleged latest hook up included ! )

most of those he decided to kill loneliness for a night or a week with didn't mind the attention [ ... ] their name or face in tabloids. in fact , one might argue that it's a part of what draws them towards him in the first place. to be seen with him , to get what they need —— relationships that take and take. but it's easier to say that he doesn't mind ; is he not also getting what he needs out of them in return?

but the sneaking away from an obnoxiously boring party and driving fast for miles outside of town before booking a room would prove this to not be the case. after all , miharu had her own reputation to uphold. one he is sure that others have warned would be tainted if she began mixing business and pleasure with the osborn heir. but what could the pair do when something so primal called —— was it wrong to listen to the natural wants and needs of your body? it couldn't possibly be so terrible when it feels this good.

he managed to keep up the act of patience as their lips collided until swollen and bruised and shiny with spit. it didn't matter whose [ ... ] it tasted of the same rich fruity wine both had gotten their fair share of. the true desperation would come to make itself known once he'd all but torn the clothes from her frame ; mouth reconnecting to her skin as she's cornered to the nearest wall for further exploration. open mouthed kisses that began at her jaw and neck and continued them further —— a longer moment of attention given to breasts upon his slow descent , and he finally settled himself on knees before her.

it was short lived much to his own dismay ; not even enough time to make himself at home between the thighs parted just enough for him. but enough time for his tongue to achieve a small hint of honey that was dripping. he moaned a vibration against her at the initial taste —— feeling the trembling of legs he was more than ready to support , but she would quickly snatch his own pleasure away from him to bring him towards the mattress instead. a short sound of complaint left his throat at the sudden loss and he'll press a deep kiss into her lips before pulling back. ❛❛ what d'you mean not yet? ❜❜ both confused and whiny , he was practically pouting. tongue brushed against his lower lip to find a small remnant of what had cruelly been taken from him. ❛❛ c'mon , i need it— ❜❜ he'll go in for another kiss with furrowed brows. ❛❛ i wanna make you feel good— ❜❜

[bizarrebazaar13]

Some Aria writings, because I’ve been thinking about my girl lately.

Content warnings for death, mental health issues, and Victorian typical homophobia and sexism.

If Aria Carmichael could be described in one word, then that word was obsessive. She found something that sparked her interest, and then she held it tight and refused to let it go until she had picked it apart and learned every piece of it by heart.

When Aria was eight years old, her father took her outside on a clear summer night to see the stars, and from that very moment, an obsession took root in her. She knew, right then and there, that she would never be satisfied until she knew every secret thing the sky had to offer her.

She was a strange girl, and she grew into an even stranger woman. She felt everything too strongly and not enough at the same time. Aria’s obsessions made her every emotion more intense, and yet she was also capable of a scientific, almost cold, detachment. Her rage and joy and sorrow and fear could be all-consuming, but she could also set those feelings aside if it meant she could learn something new.

It was like being on fire, all the time.

No, it was more like carrying fire. When the fire had no fuel left, it turned on her, but if it was offered something new, the flames would jump to the next pile of kindling in an instant.

Aria fell in love the same way she did everything else; obsessively, methodically, oddly. She was working at a university, underpaid and under-appreciated, but finally, finally able to begin unraveling the secrets of the stars the way she had dreamed of.

And then she met Elisa di Bartolomeo, an Italian chemist who was technically an assistant professor, but taught classes on her own for half the money. Elisa was fiercely intelligent, and regularly debated scholars far higher-ranking than her just for the fun of it. She had been locked in a struggle for a promotion with the head of the university for two years, and would voice her thoughts on him to anyone who would listen. She had many admirers, more enemies, and few friends. If one word could describe Elisa di Bartolomeo, that word was trouble.

Aria had heard over and over again that it was wrong for her to fall in love with another woman. But the only thing that felt more right than loving Elisa was loving the stars.

So Aria learned Italian, read chemistry textbooks, and learned everything she could about Elisa before she finally felt ready to have a real conversation with her.

If Aria hadn’t already loved Elisa, she would have fallen in love all over again at the way the other woman’s face lit up when Aria greeted her in Italian.

That first conversation led to many more, one of which eventually led to them living together.

They kept the truth about this arrangement a secret, but Aria didn’t mind. It was a small price to pay for being able to love Elisa di Bartolomeo in ways she had been told were impossible.

Eventually, they were found out, right when Aria was about to receive funding for a project she’d proposed three years ago.

She received an unsigned letter saying that if she declined the grant money, their secret would be safe.

If it was just her secret, Aria would never have caved to the mysterious blackmailer’s demands. But if things went wrong, Elisa would be collateral, and she couldn’t allow that.

So she cancelled her project, and foolishly thought that would be the end of it.

The demands kept coming, and Aria kept paying.

Until she was ordered to leave the university entirely.

Elisa found that letter and confronted Aria, who told her everything. Elisa insisted they both stay at the university; no one could prove the allegations, and they’d both worked too hard to leave everything behind. She was stubborn, and that stubbornness eventually cost Elisa her life.

When Aria found Elisa dead, she gained a new and deadly obsession, one that surpassed even her devotion to the stars. She would find the murderer and she would kill them. Even if she had to walk through hell itself.

The Fifth City wasn’t quite Hell, of course. But it was close enough, miserable enough, and populated with enough devils that Aria thought the distinction was mostly meaningless.