#i guess it's an essay?

[powerfulblob]

YEAH IT'S THAT POST TIME

let’s go!!!

OK so I’m gonna just talk about Goldenloin for a bit because Sir Fucksalot has given me many thoughts about life and shit

some background: I started out reading the Nimona comic, and was super hyped when the movie got released. I’m Korean, living in North America, and also queer and genderfucked which is probably relevant to this

ANYWAY

A lot of people have talked about the Model Minority Myth so far, but I wanted to talk about something else: Specifically, his complicity in other’s oppression, and how he uses his lack of choice in his privilege to justify his actions.

In that one scene: “A direct descendant of Gloreth? I never asked for that!” He’s actually really accurately portraying a lot of the conflicting feelings about being both privileged and Asian: It’s the recurring thought I’ve had so many times:

“Look: The only reason why I have this privilege in society is because of my parents’ horrible amounts of pressure, and the pressure their parents put on them, in order to not get literally crushed by it: I never asked for that! Why should I care if other POC are suffering?” 

It’s about knowing that your position is horrible, and comes with thousands of sacrifices (especially when you consider the subtext that he’s had to hide his relationship with Boldheart from the media), but not being able to use that for the process of liberation?.

It’s about ignoring all of the ways in which you’re still not allowed to live freely (the poverty rates for queer Asian folx, the rates of suicide, the rates of illness, abuse).

It’s a constant struggle for me to avoid that train of thought: The “I don’t care,” the “it’s not my fault, because I never asked to live here,” the “What could I possibly do?” the “I better stay with this Institution, then, and not try to run away” 

So in a way it was nice to see that, in the end, he (sorta) stood up for other people, himself and his values? Or something? I don’t know?

(Lol I do think that they absolutely fucked up his character growth in the end: They should have had a more coherent theme for his actions near the end of the movie, but I still love this character... If I were in charge of the movie, I’d definitely make sure he gets a better arc to go with that incredibly monologue near the middle that was sadly played off for comedic effect... if I were in charge of his ending, i would have made him resist the institution much more quickly, because he really didn't change much until legit the last minute, and they never quite explained why??? )

Yes, it is a children’s movie, and I’m probably getting a bit too worked up about this. But still... let me cook ig?

idk honestly i'll put together a more coherent essay later i think

[exeggcute]

btw did you guys see how the hannah arendt prize committee tried to revoke masha gessen's prize after gessen, a jewish journalist, wrote an essay about how zionists and zionist-sympathizing gentiles, particularly in germany, wield accusations of antisemitism to shut down anti-zionist jews... an essay in which they specifically quoted hannah arendt several times

[comradekatara]

the siblings ever

[crushing-on-nico-di-angelo]

and I'm sorry I left, but it was for the best my little dove...

absolute solitude: selected poems, dulce maria loynaz (tr. james o'connor) // the glass essay, anne carson // boyish, japanese breakfast // @uglyfruit // yves olade // hunger, harry styles // a not admitting of the wound, emily dickinson // no surprises, radiohead // fourth of july, sufjan stevens

[rendevok]

“Take my hand” pages 5-11

1 - day 2 - truth - 3

[probablyaseamonster]

so insane about the Fairy Queen (or whatever the hell it is).

It takes no "disrespect" or "talking back". It wants you to stay. It will literally die without you. It is explicitly described as an elder. We are sticking to tradition because "this is just the way it is."

The Fairy Island is a place of pure nostalgia. Everyone who goes there stays young. You can live in the bliss and pretend everything's alright but the rules are set in stone and you cannot change or bend them.

Childhood is wonderful in comparison to adulthood, sure. But there's a reason being "treated like a child" feels like a dismissal of dignity. You could play and pretend you could fly and have zero responsibilities but there would always be an older figure holding you back, holding you down. You were never really free.

And leaving is hard, and painful, and you'll be leaving family members who love you behind. But you need to leave. Escape, even as the island tries to stop you. The human world will seem boring at times, but that island is a prison. You were never really free.

Hilda said a lot of things this season, about families and the different ways we love and hurt each other. But I was not expecting that the last reveal of the show would be that Johanna is not just the best mother in fiction, but that she also broke the cycle. By letting her daughter be free, by giving her daughter the same respect she'd give an adult. By treating her like a person. Like a human being, not a fairy. In the fairy realm, in nostalgia, and childhood, you were never really free.

[ink-ghoul]

now to my fave minecraft worldbuilding topic

what can you cook? what's edible? what's possible with enough imagination?

I'd like to start with things that are present in-game (vanilla), first, the foods and drinks (ingredients too), having a loaf of bread with a nice mushroom stew seasoned with dandelions for breakfast is an option taken straight from the game

now let's say that I take the apples, wheat, milk, sugar and eggs to make an apple pie, that isn't in the game, but it's something possible to craft

in an extend things like salt can exist because the presence of sea water, same as things like bacon (pigs), cheese (milk) and so on

what if I throw the existing leaves in hot water to make tea?

or since all the dyes have an organic source can I make a rainbow cake?

how you cook things must be important too I imagine, maybe steak cooked in the smoker tastes way better than cooked with a fire aspect sword

[bluefox192]

baby fight

reference image under cut

[creeperthescamp]

i think one of the least used concepts in elder scrolls lore is its nebulous relationship to truth.

like something i do actually appreciate about that cunt kirkbride's writing in morrowind is that the mythology of the tribunal is allowed to be relatively ambiguous and there's room for poetry and fable and unreliable narrators. there's a strong general tendency in both fandom and dev to interpret lore quite literally and treat every text as reliable sources of fact about tamriel even when the text is like. fiction or written with a clear bias towards certain factions or prejudices.

the main example I'm thinking of is the 'notes on racial phylogeny' lore book. it's literally just racist pseudoscience and in a real life context would be considered unreliable and deeply offensive. but in tes, i rarely see anyone stop to actually consider that perhaps this lore isn't really a factual study of how bodies work but about how the imperial empire categorises the people it colonises and justifies it's supremacy. there's so much focus on determining the rules and metaphysical aspects of the world that there's no consideration that the way factions like the empire see the world is inherently flawed.

it's fun to think of a world where stars are literal holes punched in the fabric of the sky, or that water is made of memory, but i also think it would be a much more fun and flexible world if these theories are considered to be just a few of many lenses that people in tamriel use to try to understand their world. some of my favourite pieces of lore and world building are things like 'cherims heart of anequina' that imply a rich world of culture and art; i love the idea that tamriel has art and art critics and people who discuss ideas for other purposes than trying to figure out what's The Only True Lore.

[robinfollies]

KEEP THE DANGER OUT // KEEP THE DANGER IN

[allthecastlesonclouds]

hi something something bad kids all magic users now something something everyone learning how to save each other something something they've all got friendship bracelets and they're gonna make it through this year if it KILLS them

[fictionadventurer]

I usually think of Gale as "playing by the Capitol's rules" and Peeta as "refusing to play the game", but it's not quite as simple as that. Gale and Peeta are both extremely skilled in different parts of the Game.

Gale is good at the violence part of the Capitol's game. He subverts society's rules by living as a semi-outlaw, illegally poaching to save his family, getting more and more active in fighting against oppression. Yet his violent outlook warps who he is at his core, because it warps his vision of the world into a game of "us versus them" that is actually the bedrock of the worldview that led to their oppressive society in the first place.

Peeta is good at the media spectacle at the heart of the Hunger Games. He can manipulate an entire nation with a story and a smile--a dangerous level of power. But though he's good at putting on the mask, he does so as a way to protect who he is at his core, and to stay loyal to his beliefs. He's able to subvert the system of lies into a tool for presenting the truth in ways that change people's hearts and minds.

Of the two of them, Peeta's probably the more dangerous. He could be the next President Snow if he wanted to be--manipulating the truth to warp hearts and minds and shape society in a way that best serves him. Yet Peeta doesn't play the game for personal gain. He doesn't use his skills to benefit himself. He's always acting out of love for Katniss, and eventually, for the good of all Panem, wanting to save everyone from the lies they're living under, instead of punishing some of them for their role in oppression. Gale works to save others, but only his people--everyone else "deserves" destruction, or is acceptable collateral damage. While Peeta could play the game and keep himself, Gale played the game in a way that warped even his good intentions to bad ends.

You wouldn't think that the honest hometown boy would wind up being less moral than the cunning media manipulator. Yet that's how it plays out, which suggests that it's not just playing the game that matters, but who the players are and how they choose to play.

[artsubject13]

[comradekatara]

normally when i engage with fiction i view the events being depicted through the framing the narrative imposes, but because i am so invested in these characters when it comes to atla im legitimately like “i bet sokka was actually really scared when he got stuck in that hole. he’s spent his whole life preparing to die a martyr, and here he has to contend with the fact that he may die a stupid, insignificant death, failing to provide food for his friends while they hone skills he lacks and is further devalued for, hungry and alone. and yet this existential crisis is brushed aside. first, by his own coping mechanism, making jokes to distract himself from his ultimate fear, and secondly, by his friends, who barely give him a minute of their time and cut him off from a rare moment of true sincerity for the sake of admiring aang’s flashy new earthbending skills. the fact that this entire subplot is played for laughs thus becomes even more sick and twisted, as sokka’s greatest fear, that he is truly worthless, is fully realized, and his entire existence is shown to be nothing more than an absurd, frivolous joke, with no punchline but his own insignificance.”

like what is WRONG with me….

[forestmossling]

me thinking that an enormous amount of bookmarks on ao3 somehow gives me cool person street cred, when in fact, the only thing it does do is reveal how much of an antisocial disfunctional mentally ill wreck of a queer person whose only reliable unhealthy coping mechanism is escapism i am

[geekynightowl1997]

Okay, somebody can correct me if I'm wrong- but at the end of The Nigerian Job, when the team was convincing Nate that they should keep doing what they did- Eliot's whole argument was Nate. Nate falling apart. Nate needing the chance. Nate not being able to walk away. Nate.

Then, suddenly Eliot became the whole team's body guard. (Something he's grunt and gruffed about.) Yet. Yet. Somewhere (I say it was The Iceman Job and The Inside Job,) Eliot's brain switched from protecting the team to protecting Hardison and Parker. (Again correct me if I'm wrong.) Suddenly his job became more about having Hardison and Parker's back than having Nate's back. Maybe I'm the only one whose noticed- but Eliot become more softer with both Hardison and Parker after those particular jobs. Sure he keeps that gruff, sarcastic wit about him but there's often tones of... protectivness(?) when he interacts with them. Almost like he's telling other people around them- whose in ear shot- that Hardison and Parker are his. Like he's possessive.

Now, I'm not saying Eliot just stops caring about the rest of the team. I mean- he beats up Sterling for Nate and in Redemption Eliot is following Sophie around a handful of times. Their are even times where he has Breanna's back and Harry's. But he seems to treat those situations like a case. He compartmentalizes those situations. With Hardison and Parker- he doesn't. It's like his brain won't let him. He sees Hardison and Parker and it's like- all bets are off.

And on the flip side- has anyone noticed that Parker and Hardison seem to be the only ones that know how to... defuse (is that the right word?) Eliot? Like even Maria couldn't get Eliot to relax in The Hurrican Job. (Of course that's probably because Eliot was hiding who he was to her.) But Eliot always seems to be more relaxed when he's around those two.

In The Iceman Job after when Hardison tries to hug him? Eliot wasn't really fighting it. (I would know- I do that to my brother ALL the time when he tries to hug me.) In The Inside Job- when Eliot went to attack that employee- Parker stopped him. In The Double-Edge Sword Job, when Eliot is furious because an abusive ex comes after a women that they tried to hide- it's Parker that calms him down. It's Hardison who pays off the bartender when Eliot attacks Sterling. It's Parker who is always by his side or close to it. It's Parker who trusts Eliot when their in the back of the van with Vance. (Yes, Parker trusts Hardison too, but Hardison is a hacker- not a protector.) It's Eliot who Hardison listens to when he's not confident. It's Eliot who grabs Hardison from the coffin. It's Eliot who crouchs behind Hardison as Parker flips around him. It's Eliot whose hands are shaking when he they have half a second on a bomb.

Eliot Spencer is Hardison's and Parkers. They own him. In the same way Hardison and Parker are his. He owns them. (Does that make sense?)

For the record- I don't know why I'm pointing all of this out. It's just interesting to me... I guess.