#hope 2020 is brilliant for you

[celaenaeiln]

Robin Dick Grayson Characterization

I'm not sure how or where this started but there's been a rampant misunderstanding of Dick Grayson as Robin.

For some reason there have been posts upon posts that dick was some kind of angry robin and I don't know where this is coming from because in every single comic Dick is said to be the happy one. It seems to be a Covid craze because such defamation was not even in existance before 2020. Every one of the comics - Justice League, Batman, Detective Comics, Nightwing Comics, Jason's comics, Tim's comics, all of them! Talk about Dick being the happiest of the robins.

Some people say that he wanted to avenge his parents death by killing Tony Zucco. However Dick could never do that. John and Mary raised their son better than that.

Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight Issue #100

Where do you see a raging blood-soaked boy fanon makes him out to be?

The biggest supporter of happy Dick comes from Alfred so if you're going around claiming Dick was angry, you're literally spitting on his grave because Alfred ADORED Dick. He thought of Dick as the sole reason for Bruce's happiness which made him love Dick even more.

Alfred is Dick's biggest advocator. When Bruce is hesitant in his initial days of Robin - Alfred says

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1000

"They will be easier than they ever were for you."

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1000

"He will see excitement and adventure...and he will help you see it, too."

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1000

"He's gotten a taste for it, Master Bruce. He has the natural skill and talent. Do you really think you could stop him at this point?"

"He could make you better. He could BE better."

"A hero forged in the LIGHT."

And Dick feels this too.

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1000

"Then WE help them find the better path. Together."

Detective Comics (2016) Issue #1000

"Let's show them how to do it right."

Calling Dick an angry robin - that's an insult to Dick, Bruce, and Alfred. It's an insult to who they are as characters and it's an insult to the very creation of robin.

Dick wasn't made for vengeance. He was made for the light.

Dick is the embodiment of hope and a brighter future. He's what people look forward to on their darkest days, their shining light. He's the hero of all heroes that came after him. There is no one like him.

There are tons of comics on Dick's journey as Robin but here's a clear one as to his thoughts before he became Robin.

Robin & Batman Issue #3

Dick wasn't angry. He's was sad, lonely, and scared.

But.

This good boy doesn't deserve what you call him. This small loving child. Don't you dare push your evil agenda onto him.

"I don't need to be the next batman. I can be something else. Something better."

"And you know the best part?"

"Now I know I don't need to be alone. And I don't have to be the dark."

"I can be the light."

"I can be Robin."

Batman (1940) Issue #687

Dick was an excitable, brilliant, and over-excelling child. He was a ball of sunshine and happiness who loved laughing, playing games, and being crazy. He was a hypercompetent, crazy child who lived for the love of living and adventure.

It's the loss of the original dynamic duo that Alfred grieves over.

Batman (1940) Issue #687

Just look at this adorable baby!!!

Batman/Superman (2019) Issue #16

"Hey, Batman! You took down one of 'em and I took down three! I told ya I've been practicing!"

"Good work, Robin."

What the heck you cute adorable baby.

"Holy--! Is this a warden's office of a museum of horrors? Look at that old rocket ship!"

"Ew. There's a skeleton inside!"

LOOK AT THAT BABY FACE!! THE PURE ENTHUSIAM IN THE WAY HE TALKS - HE'S JUST A HAPPY BABY BOY!!

Batman/Superman (2019) Issue #17

IT'S A CRIME TO CALL HIM ANGRY.

Love this sweet, adorable child.

Another issue with the “Dick Grayson was an angry Robin” take. It’s not just a different perspective, it’s just blatantly wrong.

How wrong?

In order to fight the Batman who laughs, Bruce creates a machine that will emulate the joy of the happiest person he has ever known-who?

Robin Dick Grayson.

"Happiness is seeing the world though the eyes of children."

The Batman Who Laughs Issue #4

"Dick was the first robin. He had the happiest eyes. Circus eyes. Weightless - leaping, never falling."

Bruce drives himself insane from the joy he feels by looking at the world through Robin Dick's eyes.

Every comic. In every. single. comic. All of them talk about how Dick was a happy child and a happy robin. Dick's talk about it, Jason's talk about it, Tim's talk about it, the Justice League's talk about it, the Batman's especially - all the batman comics - talk about.

I would've actually added about 50 more panels but I ran out of image space because posts only have a 30 image limit.

I'm not kidding when I say it's IMPOSSIBLE. ABSOLUTELY, INCONCEIVABLY IMPOSSIBLE to say that Dick was angry Robin. Dick, Jason, Bruce, Tim, Damian, Alfred, Barbara, the JL, the titans, the Gotham villains - they all talk about Dick was a symbol of hope, joy, and light to Bruce and Gotham.

Not only that but if you read the comics, you would know that Dick was a happy robin because all the following robins had a cascade effect on their personality based solely on the fact that Dick was a happy robin. Jason's personality was the result of Dick being charcterized as happy, and Tim's personality was based off Dick's being happy.

But you know what the biggest piece of evidence against this blasphemy that Dick was angry robin is?

Secret Origins (2014) Issue #8

"...Becoming a much needed FOIL to the batman, whose own grim obsession with revenge could easily have caused him to cross the line..."

Explain something to me. It canonically states the Dick was a foil to Bruce Wayne who used to be revenge obsessed and grim. A foil in literature means a character who contrasts with another character to highlight the differences between them.

So if Bruce was dark, gloomy, angry, and revenge filled and Dick was the foil, then how on earth is it possible Dick to also be dark, gloomy, angry, and revenge filled?

On top of this impossibility of Dick being angry and full of hatred, can we take a step back for a minute and think about Dick's position in all this? Dick is the very first child hero, the one countless heroes after him look up to because he, Robin, was the embodiment of light and goodness. He single-handedly dragged Bruce out of his pit of self-destruction merely by existing because of his charming and playful demeanor. How, then, is it possible for every single character in the entirety of DCU along with every single writer who has ever written a comic - to be wrong?

Let's be clear. Bruce's personality, is written to be the opposite of Dick's personality. And Dick's personality is the opposite of Bruce's. Furthermore, Jason and Tim's personality were written to be a response to Dick's. There's also Alfred waving a massive banner about how Dick is a literal godsend front and center. So. If you still believe, that Dick was not a happy robin, then you have effectively mischaracterized every single person in the entire batfamily aside from Kate.

Congratulations. It's truly an accomplishment to be so wrong.

So no, Dick was not in fact, ever, the angry robin.

Dick was a happy robin and that is the FOUNDATION of understanding the batfamily.

[onlyangel4]

invisible string. mv1. smau.

max verstappen x model!reader

where max and reader's stories seem intertwined up until they finally get together

face claim: nicola anne peltz

taylor swift series masterlist.

2019- september

parisfashionupdates

liked by user1, user2, user3 and 138,928 others

parisfashionupdates: the turnout to the chanel show here in paris has been star studded, with hot new modelling talent y/n y/ln opening the show dressed in vintage chanel. spectators include f1 driver max verstappen and pop sensation harry styles with more a listers rumoured to arrive

view all 14,579 comments

user1: y/n looked so fucking good i am so glad that she is getting more and more popular

user2: harry's outfit omg

user3: i would have never expected daniel and max to show up but honestly it makes sense

2020- april

y/ninsta posted a story

written: hi darlings i am just here to remind you that i am taking part in a charity stream on twitch tonight, this will be to raise money for those affected by the pandemic, i hope you can all join

maxverstappen posted a story

written: on stream all day today to raise money for a brilliant charity

2021 - may

y/nupdates posted a story

written: y/n spotted at a concert in paris looking so stunning

mv1lover posted a story

written: max seen at a concert in paris clearly getting ready for this years season

y/ninsta posted a story

written: can't believe i can now call monaco home

redbullracing replied to this story: since you live right near the track how would you feel about attending the grand prix as our guest in may this year

y/ninsta: i would love that i'll forward you my pr manager's details and she will sort everything out with you

f1updates

liked by user4, user5, user6 and 21,430 others

f1updates: the gorgeous y/n y/ln has just entered the paddock. y/n moved to monaco this year and told us that attending the grand prix just felt like a right of passage, she met with a red bull official so it is safe to assume that is where she will be spending the race.

view all 901 comments

user4: hear me out y/n would make the perfect wag

user5: y/n and max have been seen in the same place at the same time but have never been seen actually interracting

user6: she looks so good omg

y/ninsta posted a story

written: vroom vroom

2021 - august

y/insta posted a story

written: the perfect view

maxverstappen posted a story

written: relaxing with my favourite person

2021 - december

y/ninsta

liked by maxverstappen, landonorris, danielricciardo and 1,873,219 others

tagged: maxverstappen

y/ninsta: safe to say i am the proudest girlfriend ever

view all 168,112 comments

maxverstappen: couldn't have done it without your support my love

y/ninsta: i adore you

landonorris: i am so glad this is finally out been difficult to keep my mouth shut

y/ninsta: proud of you for being quiet a whole seven months

y/bff: mum and dad

y/ninsta: love you child

user7: max verstappen i am in love with your girlfriend

user8: world champion and a gorgeous girlfriend, max is a very lucky man

2022 - august

y/ninsta posted two stories

story one written: i have become a mother meet jimmy

story two: surprise we actually got two meet sassy

maxverstappen posted a story

written: summer break and i have become a cat dad, me and y/n could not be happier

2023 - august

y/ninsta posted a story

written: surprise !

maxverstappen posted a story

2024 - september

y/ninsta

liked by maxverstappen, vogue, danielricciardo and 2,358,911 others

tagged: maxverstappen

y/ninsta: last month i married my favourite person. a massive thank you to vogue for capturing the best day of my life !

view all 391,998 comments

maxverstappen: so excited for this chapter with you my love

y/ninsta: ready for the wife chapter of my story

danielricciardo: for the record this was the best wedding i have ever been to

y/ninsta: thank you danny

landonorris: max sobbed like a baby guys

y/ninsta: please stop exposing my husband

alexandrasaintmleux: i still can't get over how beautiful your dress was

y/ninsta: it was a dream come true

user9: can't believe vogue photographed a f1 wedding

∘•···············•∘ʚ ♡ ɞ∘•················•∘

TAGLIST SIGN UP SHEET

taglist: @formulaal @formulaonebuff @danielshoe @noooway555 @dilflover44

@peterholland04

@sunshinedaisy21

@nikfigueiredo

@fall-bambi

@mel164

@lando-505

@charllleclerc

@paigem00

@heavy-vettel

@pseudoyo

@simple-soul-searcher

@lyannesworld

@wordesthatics

@toldyouitwasamelodrama

@sltwins

@aquamariene-me

@justarandomfamdomblog

@janeh22

@kol67-t

@gr3yhues

@luckyladycreator2

@nichmeddar

@multi-fandom5

@whatthefl1p

@stradlingmrstradlin

@notpeachybby

@kikiki04

@marknolee

@asparklysoul

@sleutherclaw

@stinging--nettle

@holybatflapexpert

@gothicwidowsworld

@pear-1206

@scorpiodiosa

@charlesgirl16

[mostlysignssomeportents]

An open copyright casebook, featuring AI, Warhol and more

I'm coming to DEFCON! On Aug 9, I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On Aug 10, I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

Few debates invite more uninformed commentary than "IP" – a loosely defined grab bag that regulates an ever-expaning sphere of our daily activities, despite the fact that almost no one, including senior executives in the entertainment industry, understands how it works.

Take reading a book. If the book arrives between two covers in the form of ink sprayed on compressed vegetable pulp, you don't need to understand the first thing about copyright to read it. But if that book arrives as a stream of bits in an app, those bits are just the thinnest scrim of scum atop a terminally polluted ocean of legalese.

At the bottom layer: the license "agreement" for your device itself – thousands of words of nonsense that bind you not to replace its software with another vendor's code, to use the company's own service depots, etc etc. This garbage novella of legalese implicates trademark law, copyright, patent, and "paracopyrights" like the anticircumvention rule defined by Section 1201 of the DMCA:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/eff-lawsuit-takes-dmca-section-1201-research-and-technology-restrictions-violate

Then there's the store that sold you the ebook: it has its own soporific, cod-legalese nonsense that you must parse; this can be longer than the book itself, and it has been exquisitely designed by the world's best-paid, best-trained lawyer to liquefy the brains of anyone who attempts to read it. Nothing will save you once your brains start leaking out of the corners of your eyes, your nostrils and your ears – not even converting the text to a brilliant graphic novel:

https://memex.craphound.com/2017/03/03/terms-and-conditions-the-bloviating-cruft-of-the-itunes-eula-combined-with-extraordinary-comic-book-mashups/

Even having Bob Dylan sing these terms will not help you grasp them:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/25/musical-chairs/#subterranean-termsick-blues

The copyright nonsense that accompanies an ebook transcends mere Newtonian physics – it exists in a state of quantum superposition. For you, the buyer, the copyright nonsense appears as a license, which allows the seller to add terms and conditions that would be invalidated if the transaction were a conventional sale. But for the author who wrote that book, the copyright nonsense insists that what has taken place is a sale (which pays a 25% royalty) and not a license (a 50% revenue-share). Truly, only a being capable of surviving after being smeared across the multiverse can hope to embody these two states of being simultaneously:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/21/early-adopters/#heads-i-win

But the challenge isn't over yet. Once you have grasped the permissions and restrictions placed upon you by your device and the app that sold you the ebook, you still must brave the publisher's license terms for the ebook – the final boss that you must overcome with your last hit point and after you've burned all your magical items.

This is by no means unique to reading a book. This bites us on the job, too, at every level. The McDonald's employee who uses a third-party tool to diagnose the problems with the McFlurry machine is using a gadget whose mere existence constitutes a jailable felony:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cold-war

Meanwhile, every single biotech researcher is secretly violating the patents that cover the entire suite of basic biotech procedures and techniques. Biotechnicians have a folk-belief in "patent fair use," a thing that doesn't exist, because they can't imagine that patent law would be so obnoxious as to make basic science into a legal minefield.

IP is a perfect storm: it touches everything we do, and no one understands it.

Or rather, almost no one understands it. A small coterie of lawyers have a perfectly fine grasp of IP law, but most of those lawyers are (very well!) paid to figure out how to use IP law to screw you over. But not every skilled IP lawyer is the enemy: a handful of brave freedom fighters, mostly working for nonprofits and universities, constitute a resistance against the creep of IP into every corner of our lives.

Two of my favorite IP freedom fighters are Jennifer Jenkins and James Boyle, who run the Duke Center for the Public Domain. They are a dynamic duo, world leading demystifiers of copyright and other esoterica. They are the creators of a pair of stunningly good, belly-achingly funny, and extremely informative graphic novels on the subject, starting with the 2008 Bound By Law, about fair use and film-making:

https://www.dukeupress.edu/Bound-by-Law/

And then the followup, THEFT! A History of Music:

https://web.law.duke.edu/musiccomic/

Both of which are open access – that is to say, free to download and share (you can also get handsome bound print editions made of real ink sprayed on real vegetable pulp!).

Beyond these books, Jenkins and Boyle publish the annual public domain roundups, cataloging the materials entering the public domain each January 1 (during the long interregnum when nothing entered the public domain, thanks to the Sonny Bono Copyright Extension Act, they published annual roundups of all the material that should be entering the public domain):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/20/em-oh-you-ess-ee/#sexytimes

This year saw Mickey Mouse entering the public domain, and Jenkins used that happy occasion as a springboard for a masterclass in copyright and trademark:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/12/15/mouse-liberation-front/#free-mickey

But for all that Jenkins and Boyle are law explainers, they are also law professors and as such, they are deeply engaged with minting of new lawyers. This is a hard job: it takes a lot of work to become a lawyer.

It also takes a lot of money to become a lawyer. Not only do law-schools charge nosebleed tuition, but the standard texts set by law-schools are eye-wateringly expensive. Boyle and Jenkins have no say over tuitions, but they have made a serious dent in the cost of those textbooks. A decade ago, the pair launched the first open IP law casebook: a free, superior alternative to the $160 standard text used to train every IP lawyer:

https://web.archive.org/web/20140923104648/https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/openip/

But IP law is a moving target: it is devouring the world. Accordingly, the pair have produced new editions every couple of years, guaranteeing that their free IP law casebook isn't just the best text on the subject, it's also the most up-to-date. This week, they published the sixth edition:

https://web.law.duke.edu/cspd/openip/

The sixth edition of Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society – Cases & Materials; An Open Casebook adds sections on the current legal controversies about AI, and analyzes blockbuster (and batshit) recent Supreme Court rulings like Vidal v Elster, Warhol v Goldsmith, and Jack Daniels v VIP Products. I'm also delighted that they chose to incorporate some of my essays on enshittification (did you know that my Pluralistic.net newsletter is licensed CC Attribution, meaning that you can reprint and even sell it without asking me?).

(On the subject of Creative Commons: Boyle helped found Creative Commons!)

Ten years ago, the Boyle/Jenkins open casebook kicked off a revolution in legal education, inspiring many legals scholars to create their own open legal resources. Today, many of the best legal texts are free (as in speech) and free (as in beer). Whether you want to learn about trademark, copyright, patents, information law or more, there's an open casebook for you:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/08/14/angels-and-demons/#owning-culture

The open access textbook movement is a stark contrast with the world of traditional textbooks, where a cartel of academic publishers are subjecting students to the scammiest gambits imaginable, like "inclusive access," which has raised the price of textbooks by 1,000%:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/07/markets-in-everything/#textbook-abuses

Meanwhile, Jenkins and Boyle keep working on this essential reference. The next time you're tempted to make a definitive statement about what IP permits – or prohibits – do yourself (and the world) a favor, and look it up. It won't cost you a cent, and I promise you you'll learn something.

Support me this summer on the Clarion Write-A-Thon and help raise money for the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers' Workshop!

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/07/30/open-and-shut-casebook/#stop-confusing-the-issue-with-relevant-facts

Image: Cryteria (modified) Jenkins and Boyle https://web.law.duke.edu/musiccomic/

CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

[johnwickb1tsch]

Sympathy For The Devil ~ Donaka Mark x fem!Reader

please allow me to introduce myself, i am a man of wealth & taste... -the Rolling Stones

Summary/ Warnings. Um… Donaka Mark is a scary rich asshole–with a soft spot for you. If you’re squeamish [or righteous] you’re not gonna want to read this. Voyeurism. Predatory behavior, manipulation. Power IMBALANCE. Eventual NSFW. Eventual line between dubcon and noncon is gonna be microscopic, y’all, this man plays gAmes… Reader is shy, but tough, in her way.  Also, when I say Reader is small, I’m more implying just compared to Donaka. I kind of assume most of us would be, no matter your body type. 🥵

Big Fat Author’s note: This is a Donaka Mark x fem!Housekeeper!Reader fic based on the brilliant @discoscoob ‘s bot, which is SO fun to play with and I really recommend it. I fell into a rabbit hole for daaaaays. I’m in CAI Anonymous now. Seriously it was a problem. 

I guess you could call this a little experimental hybrid fic written with AI. I was curious. And after working on this for weeks I don’t think the writer’s union really needs to worry about AI coming for their jobs. The bot’s writing is shamelessly fun but clunky, you delete more than you keep, it’s a lot of work to edit, and you really have to lead it by the hand for anything to actually HAPPEN. 

THAT SAID it is sO entertaining, and once in a while he’d do something i wouldn’t have ever thought of, I felt like the lab rat hitting the button for the treat over and over again, LOL. Disco really knew what she was doing when she programmed the personality of the bot!  It was also helpful in keeping a character on track. I think AI could be a useful tool generating ideas, breaking writers block, or something to bounce ideas off of, but not for the grunt work of actually writing a story that has any soul in it. Isn’t that a relief? I made an outline and basically ran the scenes through like a simulator to see what the bot came up with. And when I didn’t like it I made it do it again, LOL, the Donaka bot probably thinks i’m a bossy c*nt.🤣

So….I hope you enjoy, and a HUGE THANKS to Disco for giving me permission to even do this, you’re the sweetest my dear, and the Queen of the Bot Creators in my book!!

And and…it’s been a LONG ass time since I’ve been to Hong Kong. I did some research to refresh my memory but please bear with me. All mistakes are my own. Why do we say that? Who the fuck else’s would they be? 🤣 Obv. this is set c 2013, when Man of Tai Chi came out, before the crackdown in 2020. Oh, and, I have no real idea about work visas, i made that shit up... just roll with it. 🙃😘

One. 一

The first time you meet your new employer, Donaka Mark, you aren’t really even paying attention.

It’s because you have on headphones, and you’re intently focused on sweeping the floor while listening to your upbeat girl power rock mix–so you don’t hear him yelling at someone over the phone threateningly, and you don’t notice when his gaze locks on to you like a tiger who has just spied a tasty little deer.

You are oblivious, as he comes up behind you, appraising your figure with narrowed eyes. You seem small, next to him, but most women do. He decides he approves of his assistant’s choice in hiring you. You’re a sight he won’t tire of for a long time.

Donaka leans on the door frame, his dark eyes fixated on you, taking in your every minute detail, the way the muscles in your arms move, the shape of your face, the curve of your hips and your little feet. His expression is stoic but behind it are a million thoughts running through his mind, he can’t take his eyes off you and after a few moments he finally speaks, his dark tone cutting through the music. “You’re new.”

Your music wasn't so loud that you were unaware of outside sounds. Standing up straight, you sweep off your headphones to face the commanding voice. "Yes, sir?"

Donaka notices he towers over you, and he likes that. His dark eyes shamelessly take in your innocent eyes, your lips, your  curves. His gaze lingers almost long enough to make it uncomfortable, but not quite.

“Have you been informed of all of your duties?” Donaka asks, his tone and gaze both demanding and intense, making you feel small.

"Yes, Mr. Mark."

Donaka smiles at his name on your lips, the way you say it, the way you look up at him with your wide eyes. He likes it more than he’d like to admit, but he knows how to mask his emotions well. Even though his expression is still stony, there’s a hint of excitement in his breast as he leans off the door frame and takes a few steps closer, but still maintains a respectable distance. “And you can handle them?”

"Yes, Sir."

Donaka nods, his dark eyes slowly and shamelessly trailing over your figure again. “Good.” Donaka murmurs, his dark and intense tone making his next sentence more of a demand. “I need to be able to depend on you. I like things just so.”

You tilt your head, feeling like you’re missing some subtext, or that you’re the butt of an unspoken joke. "Your house will be clean, Sir.” Between you and the two other girls on the household staff, surely you could manage.

Donaka smirks at your naïve reply, his dark eyes still fixated on your face as he takes another step closer to you, almost like a predator stalking its prey. “I trust that it will…” Donaka purrs, his voice low and smooth, his dark stare intense and demanding. “Let me show you the rest of the house…”

You’d already received a walk-through with his assistant, but you are more than intrigued to receive a personal tour from the big man himself. There is something captivating about him. It's not just his good looks. His presence commands your attention.

Donaka can feel you watching him as you follow him down the hallway, the way you’re intrigued by him, the way you’re staring. It fills him with satisfaction, like you’re a new prize he’s added to the shelf of his collection.

He’s aware of the effect he has on people. Men fear him, women want him. Yet you don’t look at him with the same blatant hunger he’s used to from the opposite sex. You’re curious, but not ready to fall down on your knees yet. 

He would see how long it takes to change that. He glances over his shoulder at you as he leads you through the house, his dark eyes looking you up and down again. You follow close, taking two steps for every one of his, his legs are so long.

He can’t help but feel somewhat amused, enjoying the way you have to scurry to keep up with him. He can’t help but think how easy it would be, to pick you up, and to pin you down…

Donaka Mark’s home is an achievement of luxury architecture, dark, modern, yet filled with Chinese elements of style. Ceiling-high tinted windows afford a breathtaking view of the bay. His living room is like a museum filled with priceless artifacts. Antique carved ivory elephant tusks, beautiful Ming vases and exquisite stone Elder statues, silk scrolls and bladed weapons. All of it you will be expected to keep tidy with a painstaking hand. You think it’s possible your practically useless degree in art history and former employment in a gallery may have given you an edge in his assistant’s selection of hiring you.

He seems to genuinely enjoy your interest in these things, telling you about them at length. There is a large Qing dynasty vase in cobalt blue and gold enamel designs of clouds, cranes, and bats you cannot tear your eyes from. It looks…familiar, and in person, utterly enchanting.

“You like that one?”

“I like bats,” you admit, shoving your hands in your apron pockets so that you do not forget yourself and touch it with your bare fingers. You will be wearing gloves, when you detail these items. 

He lifts an eyebrow at that, seemingly amused. “Oh?”

“They’re cute. And…they’re good luck.” In Chinese culture, at least. 

“Most women I’ve met find them sinister.” 

“I think…they’re just misunderstood.” You can’t help looking up at this intimidating man through your eyelashes at that. You swear you didn’t mean to start double talking with your new boss–it just falls out of your stupid mouth, and you feel his attention upon you sharpen.  

He’s used to women looking at him in a certain way, women staring up at him with lustful hunger. The way you look at him feels different –like you truly see him–he’s not sure what to make of it yet, and that is certainly new for Donaka Mark. “Misunderstood?” he repeats, his dark gaze intense, looking down at you from his lofty elevation.

"Sure. They have a reputation for being scary, but really they eat mosquitoes and pollinate plants. Without them whole ecosystems would collapse."

Donaka hums at your words, finding it surprisingly endearing. He’s usually used to women fawning over him or at least trying to seduce him, but you’re here lecturing him about bats. His smirk remains on his face as he watches you fidget nervously, his dark eyes fixed on you. You look back to the vase, and then it dawns on you. “Oh my god…is this the piece that sold at Christies last year for like…1.5 million dollars?” You take another cautious step backwards, as though you might shatter it if you breathe wrong. You saw it in an article–the gold enamel had been so distinctive against the blue. Sacrifice blue, the same as in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing.

Only after the question falls from your mouth do you realize how gauche it is to ask, your hands flying to your lips. “Forgive me, it’s none of my business.”

Mark, however, just continues to look at you interestedly. “You follow auction results?”

“I follow…art news,” you confess.

He nods, his intense gaze starting to become uncomfortable. “Actually, it was 1.8 million. You think I overpaid?”

You feel like this is a test–or a trap. It was a nice job, for the day it lasted…

“Well…it doesn’t seem you bankrupted yourself?”

He snorts in answer, shaking his head. 

“Does it make you happy?”

He lifts an eyebrow at that, as though the thought hadn't even occurred to him. “It made me happy to outbid a Sheikh’s son and a Mainlander plastics tycoon for it,” he admits.

Ah, so he was invested in the thrill of acquisition–not appreciation for the object itself. You shouldn’t be surprised.

“I see.”

“I’ve disappointed you.” It’s not phrased as a question.

You shake your head, though maybe it does a little. Looking around his home, you’d thought Mark had exquisite taste–but he probably has an art buyer like every other obscenely rich businessman needing to acquire items for the sake of cachet. 

“Does it make you happy?” he asks, and there is an unexpected hint of playfulness in the question–delivered on a knife’s edge.

“Yes,” you admit. Frankly you’re stunned you get to see it like this, without a glass barrier or sensors or alarms. It’s usually the only way people like you get to enjoy art like this.

He smirks at you. “Then it was worth every penny.” He’s being sarcastic, of course, but there is a glitter of something in his dark eyes. It’s there and gone, like ripples in a pool–it makes your heart skip in your chest.

“Let me show you the rest of the house,” he invites, before placing a hand on your lower back, his fingers large and strong against your soft skin as he gently guides you away from the vase and to the next room.

His light touch makes you aware of every nerve in your body. It's not quite improper enough to complain about--you’re sure he’s well aware of that. 

And…there's the fact, deep down, that you like it. 

The span of his big hand on your spine makes you feel impossibly small, and protected, and that is insane, of course, because you are just the maid. 

He shows you the library, filled with built-in bookcases that make you drool, his office with his huge carved ebony desk that makes you think impure thoughts…and then, his bedroom.

He isn’t oblivious to the way your reaction changes as you enter the room where he sleeps.

He can see the way your eyes roam and your expression changes, the way you look at the massive bed against the far wall, the way your eyes widen when you look at the expensive rosewood furniture and the stunning view out the wall of windows that can be brightened or obscured with a dimmer switch. He watches you intently as he takes in your every reaction.

He's all business on the surface, specifying clean sheets every other day, laundry, and daily detailing of the bathroom. But it's hard not to keep looking over at the bed, even out the corner of your eye.

He knows exactly what he’s doing to you, but he doesn’t push it, staying just this side of the line. You don't linger, and he shows you a more private lounging area filled with a long leather couch, additional chairs, and monitors, all black at the moment. There's something almost sinister about all the screens, and you wonder what all he's watching.

“You must really like movies?” you ask hopefully, and he senses the wariness in you. Your intuitiveness gives him a small thrill–he likes it, that you’re smart enough to be afraid. 

“I like to watch all kinds of things,” he tells you, almost like a dare for you to guess what that means. “But mostly…I use these for business. I run a security company, I assume you’re aware?” 

“Yes, Sir.” 

Donaka decides he loves hearing the submission in your tone when you call him Sir. It’s almost like a promise to keep him happy, to do exactly as he says.

He asks you to keep all the screens clean, and to dust the cords and routers and be careful not to unplug anything. 

Then your attention turns to a meditation area, a massive sand sculpture on the wall and the floor, flanked by natural stacked stone. “Wow, been a while since someone vacuumed here,” you crack, earning a reluctant huff of laughter from the man behind you. 

“Maybe…leave that alone, for now,” he requests, then his hand is on your back again, guiding you out. 

Though it’s not going to be your area of responsibility, he shows you the garden next. It's a beautiful, manicured space. Two Rottweilers patrol the grounds. They look fierce, but one immediately comes up, sniffing you and leaning on your leg for a pet.

Donaka blinks as his reputably ferocious and staggeringly expensive pure-bred guard animals roll over at your feet for a belly rub.  Delighted, you pet them both, speaking to them sweetly. They grin up at you, their dagger-like canines glinting in the sun. 

He is never one to be moved by anything sentimental, but something about the sight of you like this inspires a warm twinge in his chest–heartburn, he reasons.

“Let me guess,” he says acerbically. “They’re just misunderstood?”

You press your lips, trying to suppress a smile, and failing. "Animals tend to like me?" 

He can honestly admit, as he watches you crouch down to administer a belly rub, that he’s never been jealous of a dog before. 

Sensing that maybe you’re not doing the dogs or yourself any favors with this severe man, you try to shoo them off. "Ok, babies. Go back to being fierce again. Shoo."

Donaka snorts with amusement as he watches you attempt to gently shoo these dogs that are nearly as big as you are. Suddenly he whistles sharply, administering a sharp command in Cantonese. That is when the dogs jerk to attention, and trot off to patrol the grounds again. He turns his attention back to you, taking in your slight expression of surprise, clearly caught off guard. "That was impressive,” you admit. “What did you say?” 

“I told them to get back to work,” says Donaka with a smirk.

“Ah. I guess I better learn that one.” 

“Will I be needing to reprimand you too, Miss y/n?” 

You’re not sure why his dark stare calls up a boiling heat inside you at that moment. You press your thighs beneath your dress, under the guise of standing up straight. You’re afraid…he knows all too well. 

“I…certainly hope not.” You’re pretty sure that you’d pee yourself if this intimidating man raised his voice to you. 

“Have you learned much Chinese since you’ve been here?” he asks conversationally, just as you assumed it was time for you to get back to work. 

“I can count to ten, and say thank you,” you admit, a little embarrassed. Obviously, you intend to learn more. “The essentials for international travel.” You’d originally come to Hong Kong to teach English, but when you saw the pay attached to this job listing you couldn’t resist the opportunity. Teaching was ok, but you hadn’t anticipated how expensive this city would be. You’d only made enough to cover your basic expenses month to month, with no room to save or do any fun activities or side trips to the mainland. This position paid three times as much–and you were beginning to understand why. 

“Hmm. Have you traveled much?” He seems skeptical, and you don’t really blame him. 

“I’ve…been all over the world,” you admit, albeit it was on a shoestring. “I wanted to be a travel writer.” 

“Wanted to be?” He is a man who picks up on subtlety immediately. 

It’s a dream you’ve all but given up on, after publishing a few articles, but all in all it was more slog than triumph. You’re not cut out for the grind of periodical work, the stress and the deadlines. It sucks all the joy out of writing for you. You shrug with a little sigh. 

“I hope you will remember the NDA you signed to work here?” he asks, his dark eyes roaming your face, taking in your every micro-expression. You would really hate trying to lie to this man. Good thing you’re not a corporate spy. He’d probably…string you up, and do something unmentionable to you. 

Why the thought titillates you more than scares you, you have no idea. 

“Of course, Sir.” He seems satisfied with this. So why do you have to add, “I won’t tell anyone your guard dogs are suckers for a belly scratch.” 

He frowns down at you, stepping in close so that you have to crane your neck to look up at him. It’s intimidating as hell, and you know he knows it too. You admit that you are shaking in your shoes under that look, until a smirk breaks his intense expression, and the relief you feel is palpable. 

“I would appreciate that, Miss y/n.”

Donaka savors the satisfaction he feels in flustering you, enjoying the way you swallow, watching the muscles in your throat. He imagines what his hand would look like there, on your delicate skin, your pulse fluttering against his strong fingers. He would literally hold your life in his hands…and the moment you surrendered to him, he would so enjoy rewarding you for it…

He finds himself caught up in this little daydream, while you stand before him, practically hypnotized like a mouse before a hungry snake. “Y/n?”

“Sir?” you answer quietly, and he revels in your deference. This was going to be fun. 

He speaks Cantonese again, softly this time, the language beautiful and whispery on his tongue. You find yourself staring at his lush, pink, lips, and it takes you several moments to realize he’d said the same thing he’d told the dogs: get back to work. 

Flooded with embarrassment, your face on fire, you stutter, “Yes, Sir.” 

With a dark chuckle and his hands in the pockets of his designer suit, he watches as you practically flee back to the house. 

The Smithsonian article about this vase...

Aesthetic post about Donaka's house...

Part 2 -->

[ef-1]

+ for posterity I hope people know how inextricably linked McLaren's passive and active malice is to the erasure of Daniel's credentials in the public domain. he was seldom defended last year. And never this year.

On November 3rd 2020, 58 days before Daniel became a McLaren driver, Ross Brawn, F1's managing director, dedicated part of his last column of the year to Daniel saying “Daniel Ricciardo is a brilliant driver, and one of the very best in Formula1 [...]I hope McLaren can give Daniel a car he deserves next season. He’s a great member of the F1 fraternity.” And reiterated that Daniel is a championship contender whose never been in a contending car

He's tied for second place with Lewis for most wins starting outside the top 3. For reference, first is Alonso and Raikkonen, he's tied with Lewis for second and 3rd is Schumacher. 4th is Jenson Button. All champions while he's never been in a championship contending car

McLaren letting the *Daniel is not a very adaptable driver* narrative run rampant when in his supposed "bad" first year at Renault in 2019, he ran out the incumbent driver and produced unimpressive feats like going from 20th to 4th on two occasions.

Broke Renault's 10 year podium drought. Twice.

People genuinely running with that bizarre conspiracy that Daniel is poor in the technical realm of F1 when Cyril, who had no reason to defend or protect Daniel after he announced his departure said that the technical breakthrough Renault had was solely Daniel's doing and the only reason they were even able to compete for 3rd in the championship + "Daniel will be competing with a stronger team next year thanks to his own efforts"

The first driver in 8 years to score multiple fast laps without being part of a top 3 team, a record previously held by Raikkonen

In 2019 Nico Rosberg revealing that during briefings Mercedes drivers would ask not to be released around Daniel after pitting because if he's in front of you he's not going to let you through and if he's behind you he's overtaking you.

Helmut Marko, known cunt and crackhead, admitting that the only time they've had 2 drivers matched in performance at Red Bull was during the Ricciardo-Verstappen line up.

People saying he was too arrogant and egotistical (¿¿¿) to gel with the team like. When was the last fucking time a driver went to another teams garage to apologise to another driver's mechanics for a racing incident he was NOT penalised for, during a wet session, where Carlos Sainz himself said Daniel couldn't have changed the outcome if he tried.

In his first year in Red Bull, during the most radical regulation change in recent f1 history, he was the only driver besides mercedes to win a race. He won 3 races.

This is Daniel's calibre, and no amount of historical romanticism from McLaren or their paid shills will ever change that.

[haydenyoungappreciationweek]

(this amazing poster was made by the brilliant @sazanes!!)

It's our third year of the Hayden Young Appreciation Week!! (or fourth, if you include our one-day HYAD celebration in 2022 😄)

Hayden Young will always have a special place in our hearts, because they were first character that we (hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes) ever ran an appreciation week for, back in 2020! Now 4 years later, we still experience the same love, passion and joy this character brings, with so many other players!!

Hayden's birthday is around the corner, and as usual, we hope to celebrate it in style! We hope you can join us.

HYAW 2024 will happen from Sept 25th-29th, and we have a range of great topics you can choose for your pieces:

Day 1 - Sept 25 - Character Appreciation/Vacation

Day 2 - Sept 26 - Throwback/Pizza

Day 3 - Sept 27 - Soul/Changes

Day 4 - Sept 28 - Relationships/Psyche

Day 5 - Sept 29 - Happy Birthday Hayden!!

Any form of creative, original work is welcome - fic, art, meta, edits, moodboards, interactive media, headcanons...even screenshots of your favourite Hayden moments! The only rules are that they show a positive depiction of Hayden, and that the works center Hayden as a character. We will also accept WIPs and it is not necessary for the pieces to be put up only on the day of the theme. We also have a specific day for throwback pieces where you can share older stuff and even take us through the process of creating it if you like (here's an ask list that may help!)

Make sure you tag @haydenyoungappreciationweek, as well as hosts @lizzybeth1986 and @sazanes in your content. It would also be helpful if you used #haydenyoungappreciationweek and #HYAW in your tags!

For inspiration, you can always refer to our previous years' masterlist: HYAW 2020 | HYAD 2022 | HYAW 2023.

Various fan content blogs have helped us immensely in promoting the events, and run a range of amazing events themselves!! Check them out here: @choicesficwriterscreations, @choicesmonthlychallenge, @choicespride, @choicesprompts, @choicesholidays, @wordwarriors, @choicescommunityevents. If there are any other Choices fan content/appreciation blogs you'd like us to give a shoutout to, do let us know!

We have a month to go before we enter HYAW 2024, and we'd love to get signal boosts from the fandom! If you know any Hayden stans who would love to participate/consume content, do tag them too!

Hope to see you all at the end of September, to celebrate Hayden's birthday!! ❤️❤️

✅✅signal boosts will be much appreciated!!✅✅

[useless-catalanfacts]

No question. Just rant. I love your page. And sorry for chaotic story time vibes, but I don't think I'd realised how crazy this anti-catalan thing really is until I travelled to southern Spain. My Spanish is not great, but I took a course in Catalan in high school (long story on why this was available in my city but it also included a human tower party at the end and it was brilliant even tho I almost died) so when talking to people I casually threw in some Catalan words to help my Spanish. I am Norwegian, and I thought it was kind of like... as if someone was trying to speak Norwegian but casually threw in some Swedish to fill in the gaps. Like we would totally have joked about it, but overall we would just be grateful they really made an effort to be understood. But no. IT WAS NOT THE CASE. My host was literally offended. Like offended offended. I didn't really get it, because it's not like the Catalans have oppressed him and I'm coming here speaking the tongue of the oppressor (its kinda the opposite). But no. My host acted if I was the most ignorant person ever. He basically sat me down and explained that I have to show respect and speak castillian (or english, which was apparently fine, even if he understood about 1% of it), and then I asked if he would speak Catalan if he visited Barcelona and he said he would never visit Barcelona because he didn't like the people there. And then I said that if you hate them so much, why not throw them out of the country, get rid of them, and let them have their own state? It sounds like a win-win. And he looked as if he was gonna hit me.

Ah 😬

I wish things like this surprised me, but I have family from Andalucía and Extremadura and have friends who also have family from Andalucía, and so I've heard this and worse... It also reminded me of a few weeks ago when there was a scandal because a train in Málaga (in Andalucía, southern Spain) gave the announcements in Catalan instead of Spanish (turns out the train had been programmed in Catalonia during the COVID-19 restrictions and later moved to the Málaga train system, but for some mistake this day it was showing COVID-19 precaution in Catalan from 2020 now in 2024). It was such a scandal that it was on the news and politicians were making such a big deal of it, the PP (the most voted party in Málaga and of all Andalucía) also said it was "offensive" and that Malagans were being "laughed at" by the trains. Other errors in public transport that actually mean people can't travel in time don't get reported as much as when one train's screens tell you in Catalan to wear your facemask. 🤷

The last part of what you say, absolutely right. I never understood it either: if they really don't like us, then shouldn't they also be interested in not having anything to do with us? Why not just kick us out? I never really understood it until some years ago when I heard the words of a right-wing Spanish journalist (I think was Federico Jiménez Losantos?) who said something along the lines of "if Catalans want to leave, then leave. But Catalonia is ours." Meaning that Catalan people, individually, we can leave and migrate abroad. But the land is a possession of Spain, our homeland is their property. I think that sums up that view. It's not about being annoyed at having to share a state with a culture you despise, it's about wanting to keep domination.

I'm sorry you had this experience. Your effort to communicate should have been valued, and pulling the words you know from a language from the same linguistic family was a good idea that would have worked great, they wouldn't have found it offensive if the language you knew instead of Catalan was Italian, Portuguese, etc. Thank you very much for sharing your experience, and I hope you could enjoy the rest of your trip (Southern Spain, outside of situations like this, is a beautiful place), and I'm very glad to hear you enjoyed the castells party (and didn't die in it)!

[aziraphales-library]

Hi, first off, thank you for this blog, I've read so many brilliant recommendations from here. You folks have been my go-to for Good Omens fics for a good month now, and I must have spent hundreds of hours in that time reading based on this blog.

If it's possible, could I also ask if you know a fic I read a while ago but can't find again? It's quite long, maybe 20 chapters or so, and it goes through history with the ineffable husbands. The one thing I really remember is that the watchers are involved. Crowley and Aziraphale meet one of them on the wall, and the watcher warns Aziraphale about Crowley. We then see the watcher fallen, with a peacock aspect, chained under a mountain for the whole nephilim business, reading reports that Dagon brings. Crowley goes to the fallen watcher at various times to moan about his longing for Aziraphale. It's been driving me bonkers not being able to find it, so I'm hoping you may have better luck (or rather, better skills)!

2/2: Ahoy awesome archivists! Could I please cancel my request for a lost fic? I found my white whale! It was https://archiveofourown.org/works/22457749

Thank you for coming back to let us know you found it! Your asks were months apart, but your username stuck in my memory so I could match them up!...

Where the Mountains Meet the Heavens by KannaOphelia (E)

"I don't want to let go of you. Never again." "Crowley," Aziraphale breathed, and for one heady, impossible moment Crowley thought the miracle would be even bigger than he thought, that the embrace and the my darling would be followed with a kiss, because Aziraphale's gaze was on his mouth and there was a heat to it, as if it was tinged with desire as well as tenderness. **** 6,000 years of pining. Collaboration with the amazing Tamsly and lonicera_caprifolium as artists for the 2020 Good Omens Big Bang.

- Mod D

[myfruitlessthorns]

𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐧𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬, 𝐅𝐎𝐌𝐎 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥-𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐞𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬

as an 18-year-old, 2006 baby, most of my fandoms were in their prime long before i was even cognisant. i mean, merlin had finished by the time i had just started school, superwholock was thriving away as i obliviously flicked from the ludicrous image of matt smith dancing away in the tardis to sherlock babbling away to john on the bbc, and even by the time i'd hit secondary school, i was left with the tail ends of pretty little liars. i can just remember so desperately binging the entire show at the ripe age of 11, just to catch the shitty season finale and exactly on time for the enraged twitter afterparty. living like this, i've somewhat made peace with the fact that i am a sort of fangirl-archaeologist, sifting away happily through the dusty ruins of once great and mighty fandoms and finding the occasional relic hidden - fantastically written fanfiction.net smut hidden amidst the rubble of mid 2010s jhutch whistle edits.

however, bitter as i am, nothing - and i repeat - *nothing* has given me such enraging, all consuming FOMO as the ballad of songbirds and snakes. 

picture the scene. its 2020. a young, 14-year-old tisha has just finished the hunger games trilogy. she adores it, and to her luck, the brilliant suzanne collins has decidedly published a prequel just as she tucks mockingjay away, back into her bookshelf. perfect timing, right? i just remember the feeling of 'i cant wait to read it!' battling away with 'except it's covid so i cant' and one of my friends had pre-ordered it anyway, so i was determined to get my hands on a copy as soon as lockdown was over. 

except, after lockdown finished, came gcses and after gcses finished came a levels and it was then, amidst personal statements and entrance exams and oxbridge applications that *it* came out. the ballad of songbirds and snakes: the fucking film. i was long out of my hunger games phase; i dont think i considered even quickly flicking through the novel before going to the theatres. im a purist like that - book before film always - but i just didnt have time to read it and so, completely oblivious to the fact that i was alive and concious, missing the hunger games renaissance when every other teenager was obsessing over tom blyth and making fan edits of rachel zegler and listening to the soundtrack on repeat, i decided to save the book till after a levels.

and what a fucking mistake. 

the fact that i could’ve revelled in the prime of tbosas fandom in live time and been there at its peak!!! and that i fucking missed it???? everyone i knew watching that masterpiece play out in theatres and now, i have to sit and listen to you all reminiscing about november 2023 not knowing what that felt like, envying the fyp full of coriolanus snow edits and the fresh off the cut late night interviews with the cast that you all got to experience. in fact, the movie has aged just enough to be declared a ‘phase’ by everyone that was there in at its peak. and its driving me up the wall, because the worst part of all this is i have no one to talk to share my burning obsession with, knowing well, that 11 months ago, half the internet would’ve happily shared it with me.

so please, tbosas fans, if there are any of you still active, if you empathise with the plight of listening to ‘cant catch me now’ on repeat whilst pretending to be lucy gray - lets be mutuals. please.

-a girl going slightly insane.

(on a side note, i have sincerely learnt from my mistakes and will not, by ANY means, be leaving sunrise on the reaping to the last minute. i just hope its as good as tbosas!!!! in suzanne collins, we trust!)

[utilitycaster]

Hi! Hope you don’t mind me asking but, I’ve seen you comment about a “fjord moon” theory every so often in your tags, and I’m quite curious what’s it about? I don’t think I’ve ever heard about it, is it something more prevalent in twitter spaces?

It started in Reddit spaces but it had a moment within the fandom at large during Campaign 2, especially after a YouTube video surfaced shortly after the campaign had come back from hiatus in August 2020. It hasn't come up lately since Campaign 3's plot pretty thoroughly debunked it, which wasn't necessary for reasons I will cover below.

I talked about how stupid it was at the time, and will do so again but I don't feel like looking back through my archives to find that post, so: the idea was that Fjord was from Ruidus. I call it a theory because its creators called it a theory but it was really just a lot of incoherent yelling that unfortunately happened to fall into the hands of a prolific and popular but talentless video maker and was boosted by a prolific and popular but deeply stupid figure on CR Twitter.

You can read it here but in short he basis was that Fjord was actually a Spelljammer Space Orc (Scro; yes this is just Orcs backwards; Spelljammer is not exactly the most brilliant of concepts) because he was intelligent and walked upright, ignoring that Spelljammer was, at the time, from D&D 2e only which can generously be described as "wicked racist in the depiction of orcs". Not that 5e is not without its foibles, but it had largely 86-ed the worst of the racism that pervaded earlier orc depictions. Also Garthok pre-dated Fjord and was a half-orc with the same intelligence, but what are facts to an idiot. So anyway this guy working off a deeply racist older concept for orcs spun this into a wild conspiracy theory involving the fact that Travis likes Dragonball Z; something about the film Spaceballs (as far as I know Travis has said absolutely nothing about this, this is just that the Mel Brooks Star Wars parody and my personal childhood favorite Spaceballs exists I think?) and various other random pulls from science fiction media. This guy asked a question at a panel and mistook the cast looking at him like he had lost the plot as a sign he was onto something. Somehow, people listened to him.

Here's the thing about theorycraft. It is more important, in writing a theory, that you base it on evidence than that you get it correct. Any dipshit can guess and any lucky dipshit can guess correctly, but if you show that you can't structure an argument for beans, anyone who can structure an argument for beans will rightfully look at you and say "well, they predicted something once, but that's a fucking fluke because they're a fucking joke." Theories should explain something that needs explanation (Fjord having an INT of 14 and the name Fjord and being an orphan does not). They should not solely rest on things the cast likes or things that merely exist in-world and certainly not from Spaceballs and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, the connection of which to Critical Role in that Reddit post is not explained, ever.

To give some examples of good, mediocre, and bad but at least not nearly that bad theorycraft: the theory that Ashton was a meteor that was around early in C3 is in my mind not very good, but at least it fits within Exandria canon and explained something about Ashton needing explanation at the time. The theory that The Emissary is the source of the stasis bubbles is in my mind a very good one explaining several key mysteries (source of stasis bubbles; why Erathis sent him rather than coming himself). The theory that Bor'Dor was a dog was fucking stupid and made no sense nor did it explain anything that needed explanation (and also wildly misjudged how border collies behave) but did at least not say "also, the TV show Lassie...exists in our reality, and this is evidence" The Fjord Moon Theory is maybe the stupidest and worst CR theory I've seen in my entire life, and it's up there for fandom theories over all. I get that it was August 2020 and I don't begrudge people who were very bored and scared from joking about it while not taking it seriously, but I do begrudge those who did take it seriously because like, come on.

Anyway, I bring it up in tags sometimes because many of the worst C3 takes on Twitter that make it to me via "can you fucking believe this" screenshots in the groupchat are either started or propagated by Former Moon Theory People.

[theaguanzon]

I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember. Novellas, poetry, fanfiction—you name it. There was always a burning desire to express what was in my heart, to tell the stories that lived in my head. However, because I’m located in the Global South, because I’m the product of several generations of law and medicine, l never let myself think that it could be anything more than a hobby only for my spare time. It wasn’t until 2020 that I took a leap of faith, quitting my office job and deferring my master’s program abroad in order to write a fantasy romance epic rooted in Southeast Asian culture, tradition, and mythology.

And now, flash forward three years, my debut novel THE HURRICANE WARS is a USA Today, Indie, and New York Times bestseller in its first week of release! This would never have been possible without: my communities, fandom and Filipino, and all the book bloggers who really showed up for this novel, who tirelessly spread the word; my brilliant agent Thao Le who’s had my back since day one; my Harper Voyager US team, who poured so much time and creative energy into THW’s publishing and campaign; and the booksellers and librarians throughout the US who advocated for an unknown brown author’s debut to have a place on their shelves. I owe it all to you!

I kind of want to cry for the girl I used to be, battling mental health issues and flitting from one degree program to the next, hoping to find the one that was fulfilling and “acceptable” at the same time, even though deep down writing was all there ever was or could be. I kind of want that girl to see into her future and say “Kaya naman pala” and wallow a bit. But I prefer to embrace this moment, in awe at the knowledge that my past has informed the voice that I now share with the world, and it is this same past that has gotten me here.

I’m proud to represent my motherland the Philippines in this achievement. I hope that in some small way this can be a step toward encouraging Southeast Asian policymakers to address the gaps in support and infrastructure for our talented local writing scenes, as well as motivating the global publishing industry to seek out more Southeast Asian writers and give our stories a platform. Onward! 💖🌩️

[truetalesteam]

True Tales of the Illuminati needs YOUR help to fund a third season!

Big news! We just launched our indiegogo to crowdfund the third season of our show, True Tales of the Illuminati.

True Tales is our full-cast audio comedy about conspiracies gone wrong, where a group of illuminati goons bounce haplessly throughout history snatching defeat from the jaws of other, weirder defeats.

In our first season (which you can listen to here or on your podcatcher of choice) , our gang of Illuminauts failed to keep the pyramids a secret. In the second, they failed to fake the moon landing so hard that they had to actually land on the moon. In the third, Beck and the gang will be going up against their toughest foe yet - the Enlightenment.

That’s right, reason IS the font of goodness, and it’s back to the 18th century to deal with the likes of Denis Diderot, Johanne Weishaupt, and Wolfgang Goethe. Can they match their scintillating wit? Create an objective test of intellectual acumen? Kiss?

We've been acclaimed by the AV Club on their Podmass roundup and made it to the finalists in the 2020 and 2022 Audioverse awards.

We've also had the following very kind words said about us:

"True Tales of the Illuminati is the wackiest, most ridiculous fun. Get swept away into a witty, space-time spanning rollercoaster ride of Looney Tunes hijinks and cartoonish comedy. It reminds me of my favourite audio fiction comedies, from Victoriocity and Wooden Overcoats to Oblivity and The Amelia Project. If you want your ears full of laugh out loud audio mayhem, please help bring this project to life!"

Ella Watts, BBC Studios, Doctor Who Redacted

"One of the funniest scripted podcasts out there, with brilliant characters and a wildly imaginative world. We need more!"

Tom Crowley, Wooden Overcoats, Victoriocity, Crowley Time with me, Tom Crowley

"True Tales is a fantastic, hilarious workplace satire, perfect for the post-truth era."

Henry Galley, Less is Morgue co-creator

Pretty good, right? If you're intrigued, if you like the show, if you want to help us make more, please head over to our indiegogo and drop us a few dollars. If you drop us more than a few, we even have rewards, like early access, stickers, pins, and more!

Oh, and did we mention that we're releasing 15-30 minute standalone minisodes as we hit our funding goals? The first one is already out for your enjoyment here, and we’ll be releasing new ones for every $3k raised. If we hit our $9000 goal, we'll drop a minisode by very special guest writer and performer, Tom Crowley! That’s right, the one from the pull quote! Tom’s one of our favorite writers and performers and he’s given us an incredible minisode, so as you can imagine, we really want to share it with you. So help us do just that!

Making this show is a labor of love, but we also need to pay our actors, our sound designer and rent studio space to make this as great as we can. Thank you so much if you decide to be a part of that. If you decide to donate, head on over to truetalesteam.com/crowdfund. We hope to see you there.

Illuminati, Ollominoto, The True Tales Team

[yurimother]

Fantasy Yuri Visual Novel 'Red Rebellion' Launches Kickstarter and Demo

On April 25, Yuri game studio Aikasa Collective launched a Kickstarter campaign for its newest game, Red Rebellion, a historical fantasy romance. The studio also released a demo of the game on itch.io.

Set in a fantasy version of late medieval England, Red Rebellion follows a lesbian romance featuring reimagined versions of Robin Hood and Red Riding Hood. The studio describes the game:

Robin is desperate for a hero. Families are starving. Her village is falling apart. The people can’t afford the taxes, and the lords only care about themselves. She enters Sherwood Forest knowing only one thing: Robin Hood is not real. Either she waits in vain for a hero who doesn't exist, or she takes on the mantle of the legendary outlaw. She knows it’ll be dangerous, but she risks death either way. Robin is not alone. A witch provides guidance. Red Riding Hood gives her hope. As more and more choose to join her cause, Robin finds herself at the heart of a burgeoning rebellion. She’s cautious and smart, and brilliant with a bow... but there are so many pieces in play, so many people relying on her. Who can she trust? What should she risk? Will her plans be enough?

The Kickstarter is seeking to crowdfund $10,000 to fund the project. Backer rewards include game keys, digital soundtracks, artbooks, wallpapers, early access and custom scenes and CG artwork.

The Kickstarter is seeking to crowdfund $10,000 to fund the project. Backer rewards include game keys, digital soundtracks, artbooks, wallpapers, early access, and custom scenes.

Staff for the game includes:

Creator/Writer - Roxie

Lead Artist - Nalcyon

Ui Designer - Kidokaproject

Programmer - Dragoon HP

Art Consultant - Moonsta

CG Director - Candace

Scripter/Marketer - Reina

Editor - Amori, Walkingnorth

Line Editor - Geckcellent

You can check out the Red Rebellion demo today on itch.io and support the Kickstarter campaign.

Aikasa Collective is a WLW-led studio focusing on creating LGBTQ+ games. The studio previously released Mizuchi 白蛇心傳, a fantasy Yuri visual novel based on the Chinses legend of the white snake, in 2020.

[storiesfromgaza]

Do you see this charming young lad?

He holds a microphone in his hand while an angelic smile graces his face.

His name is Awni, "Awni Adel Eldous," a twelve years old boy.

Children at this age are often mischievous, aren't they?

Yes, but Awni was different.

Despite his deep passion for photography and editing, he was diligent in learning, dedicated to it.

Awni was one of the top students in his school, securing the third position in his seventh-grade class with a remarkable 97.78% average.

Despite his profound passion for photography and editing, his teachers dubbed him as the outstanding and creative student. He received numerous certificates, including winning the Friends of Libraries competition, achieving fourth place in the Fruit of Reading competition, and being selected to represent his school in the Addressing addiction through the internet competition.

Due to his excellence, and his passion for computers, his teachers chose him to explain to his friends the computer ports under the supervision of his teacher as part of the young teacher's strategy.

Doesn't all of this indicate that he has a brilliant future ahead of him? Awni, alongside all of this, had a deep affection for computers and video editing, aspiring to become a YouTuber.

On the second of May in 2020, he decided to create a YouTube channel and posted his first video over a year later, marking the start of his dream.

Awni used to contact famous YouTubers on Instagram, praising, supporting them and interacting with their stories. They were somewhat his role models in this field, and he aspired to succeed like them in this field.

“Nothing is impossible; keep going, legend.”

“My brother, there's nothing quite like the winter in Palestine, in Gaza. Legendary weather, sahlab (warm Middle Eastern sweetened milk drink) with charcoal nearby, it's a fantastical experience. and roasted chestnuts on the charcoal. I hope you come to Palestine. All the love”

“Aouni's comment on a story showcasing a page from the Holy Quran shared by one of the YouTubers he deeply admires: 'Your voice is incredibly lovely, I swear, I hope you keep sharing it with us through the Quran.”

And a year later from this date, specifically on the 18th of August 2022 he posted an introductory video in which he revealed his face and celebrated reaching one thousand subscribers. He expressed his gratitude to his followers, and this achievement was monumental for him. It served as a reason for joy for him, he felt his soul soaring in the sky with joy. but despite this, his enthusiasm and ambition continued to soar. He dreamt of his channel reaching one hundred thousand subscribers, half a million, one million and, eventually, ten million.

It is a colossal dream, Isn't it? But, don't we all have the right to dream, even if our dreams are as vast as the expanse of the sky?

Yet, he didn't know that on the very same day he achieved his first dream, the 18th but in October this year, the occupation would bomb his house in the Zaitouna (olive) neighborhood of Gaza City. Killing him, along with his family, and that his body would be covered in dust, laid to rest with his dreams...

On the same day his soul had soared in the heavens due to happiness a year before, his home was struck by bombardment, leading to his soul departing to the heavens, for eternity.

Awni departed, leaving his channel looming on the horizon, lifeless and soulless, mirroring his body's fate, as the spirit of its creator succumbed to this harsh world that refused to let him live in peace.

Today, eight days after his departure from our world, Awni's YouTube channel has reached 489K subscribers. But where is Awni?

[chaifootsteps]

I ended up coming across your blog awhile back when I saw it frequently recommended for Vivz critiques and leaks. I’m surprised by how engaged you are with others on the subject, especially with the frequent questions you get.

Though I wonder and out of curiosity how did you come across Vivziepop? What compelled you to be as engaged when discussing her current former self?

Apologies if they aren’t good questions per say but I appreciate the work you’ve done and hope things are currently better on your end. (Scary with the current “allegations” they’re throwing your way)

Nah, they're great questions! I enjoy revisiting this story.

I discovered Hazbin in the summer of 2020. COVID lockdown was in full swing, I was suffering some incredibly triggering fandom stuff, and my grandma had just died. Then Addict dropped and it was like a lifeline had been thrown out. I imprinted on Angel hard and fast. For a while, I breathed Helluva/Hazbin, thought Vivzie was brilliant to write the Hazbin pilot and the Instagrams...of course, she didn't write either, not the parts I loved.

The pilot cast being dropped, and the realization that Vivzie was lying about it being a union thing out of her control, was my first hint that something was...off. I didn't know what at the time, but the way she handwaved them off, the coldness of it after gushing that she owed everything to them, and that they were like family to her, marked the first crack in the rose colored glasses.

Then Erin Frost spoke out, then Ken. Once you realize how much of a shitty person Viv is, how many hurt people and outright lies her success is built on, you can never really unsee it. I started talking about it casually on my blog, edging deeper down the rabbit hole, and then suddenly I was talking to all these people who used to know Viv, learning just how much went on behind the scenes, and then suddenly people were showing me things...

I don't quite know how it happened, but it's not about being a salty jealous hater, or even my grief Hazbin. It's about good people trying to get their stories out, to make the truth known, and saying to them, "What do you need me to do?"

[darkmaga-retard]

Saturday August 24, 2024

Karen Bracken

As I am sure you all know by now….RFK Jr. has given his support to Donald Trump. He offered his help to Harris and she refused to even talk with him. Trump and Kennedy agree on ending all wars and to help end the chronic diseases killing our children and adults. He could only be an asset to helping heal our country. I watched his entire press conference and he is a brave man and speaks truth. He also knows where the bodies are hidden. He is hoping that the Trump administration will love our children more than we hate each other. Here is a link to his press conference. VIDEO

TRUTH IN HUMOR - Don’t miss this short satire. VIDEO

Did the US Government Pay $370,000 Death Benefit for a Covid Vaccine? ARTICLE

How Kamala Harris's friendship with Beau Biden united her with Joe - hmmmm perhaps she had more than Beau’s back??? She stated in this article that she was bussed to school everyday. “There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bussed to school every day. And that little girl was me,” Harris said. Kamala left the US when she was 7 years old and lived in Canada until she graduated from High School. Just another lie about her past. She is NOT A NBC and I will say this every time I share anything about her until Americans start demanding Harris/Walz be removed from the ticket. Another lie…….she surely didn’t take her “friendship” into account when she viciously attacked Joe Biden during the 2020 election period - Biden picked her because he was ordered to do so by her mentor and Biden’s puppet master Barack Obama - ARTICLE

Door To Freedom (Dr. Meryl Nass) and Children’s Health Defense host a 2-day live stream conference on: Attack on Food and Farmers and How to Fight Back - INFORMATION

Sun Drives Earth's Climate, Not CO2: 30-Page Study in Journal 'Geomatics' Refutes Mainstream Climate Change Narrative - When they came up with UN Agenda 21 (global communism) they knew no one would ever go along with this plan of global governance under communism. SO they invented a global boogie man. They has to come up with something that affects the entire world. First it was global warming and when they exposed that as the lie it was they changed it to climate change. Climate change IS just the new name for UN Agenda 21. So is Sustainable Development, Smart Cities, 2030 Agenda, Sustainable Development Goals, Great Reset all one in the same. A very good friend of mine was a NASA research scientist. He was invited to present to Congress every year (until Obama was elected...he was uninvited but sent his research to every member of Congress each year). He warned of global cooling and its impact on food. He said the sun goes into hibernation approx. every 235 years and it was moving into a period of hibernation. CO2 is the foundation for life. The more CO2 the better. Food grows with CO2 so it is clear to me why they targeted man made CO2 as their target. My friend, John L. Casey wrote a book called COLD SUN........he like many REAL scientists know the sun controls the climate except for the climate our government creates in order to scare people into compliance. I recommend getting John's book. He had a stroke some years back and no longer is doing research. He also used to track earthquake activity too. ARTICLE

CDC Stands by Water Fluoridation After Report Linking Fluoride to Lower IQs in Kids Finally Published - Good old CDC strikes again. Gee remember when tooth decay was killing people? Dead people all over the place. No? Well neither do I because no one has ever died from tooth decay BUT lots of animals and trees were dying when chemical companies were spewing their toxic waste into the air so they came up with a brilliant idea…..we will put it in the water supply and convince people it was harmless and would stop tooth decay. Now if that were true there would be a lot less dentist today, right?? And what about countries outside of the US. Are there people dying in the streets of tooth decay? No. And they do not have any more incidence of tooth decay than we do here in the US. This deal was a deal to help out companies dispose of their toxic waste at our expense. Did you notice they now sell fluoride free bottles of water for baby formula?? Why? If it is so safe why are they selling fluoride free baby formula water? It is not safe. They lie to us all the time and we believe putting a toxin in our water is safe? There are about 13 countries just in Europe that do not put fluoride in their water and they do not have any higher incidence of cavities than we do here in the US. Good daily dental care is a much wiser prevention for cavities. Putting fluoride in our water was just another lie in order to save chemical plants a lot of money disposing of the toxic waste. ARTICLE