#i need to start getting more representation into my books 4 real

[retired-ceo]

just realized i should do a books i read in 2022 list... so here

[slyandthefamilybook]

Noah's Spring Jewish Book Review

this isn't gonna become a regular thing, don't worry. I just need to gush some about these books. I'm gonna keep the reviews short too because who's got that kind of time!

So far I've read 4 Jewish novels this spring and I'm working on a fifth. We'll go in chronological order

1. Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott

~ Two estranged siblings, Isaac and Bellatine Yaga—the grandchildren of the famous Baba Yaga—inherit their ancestor's chicken-footed house. They travel the country putting on puppet shows and exploring their own mysterious abilities, all the while trying to escape from a threatening figure known only as the Longshadow Man, as well as their own pasts. History relives itself in a book filled with magic and mystery ~

This book was so damn good. Every other sentence is tattoo-worthy and hits you like a sack of bricks. The characters feel so real and raw while also managing to fill out their respective roles with a sense of poetry. The book has a supporting cast of memorable characters and a sense of real danger throughout. Every so often the house will interject in a way that reminds me so much of my bubbe (עליה השלום). I've read reviews that said it dragged on a bit in the second act but I was enraptured the entire way through. It's also pretty gay, which I always appreciate. 10/10

2. When the Angels Left the Old Country by Sacha Lamb

~ An angle and a demon—best friends for 200 years—set out from their tiny Pale shtetl to America in search of a girl who hasn't been heard from. They're accompanied by Rosie, a spunky and fire-spirited girl from their shtetl desperate to get away and have an adventure in the far-off West ~

No book has made me feel quite so seen as this one. As someone who grew up Orthodox there's virtually no representation for people like me. The majority of Orthodox characters in media are trying to get away. None of them love it quite so much as I do, as much as the characters in this book do. From Little Ash tucking his peyot behind his ears like my older brothers used to to the angel waking up to daven shacharit. Sacha Lamb takes the brave stance of "what if Jewish theology is real, actually" and it shines on every page. The writing effortlessly intertwines spirituality and reverence with a classic Yiddish folktale. It's also pretty gay. 10/10

3. From Dust, a Flame by Rebecca Podos

Hannah, the descendant of the famed Rabbi Yehuda Loew, wakes up one morning to find herself transformed, her eyes turning to yellow slits. Her mother seems to blame herself without explaining why, and soon after disappears. After receiving a mysterious letter, Hannah and her adopted brother Gabe travel to upstate New York to meet their mother's family, to learn the secrets of her past, and of their own lineage ~

I'll start off by saying I'm not sure if I was the target audience for this book. It was good, don't get me wrong, but the writing wasn't to my taste. It was a little... blatant, where I prefer prose to be a bit more subtle. Again, nothing wrong with it, just not my particular thing. I definitely relate to Hannah and Gabe a lot, each in their own way. A lot of the book felt very comforting and familiar to me. The book is equal parts supernatural action and intriguing mystery, and keeps you engrossed til the end. It's also Extremely Gay 7/10

4. The Way Out by Gavriel Savit

~ Yehuda Leib and Bluma set out from their tiny Pale shtetl, each on a mission of the utmost importance. Yehuda Leib is looking for his lost father, and Bluma is running from Death. Navigating the Far Country full of demons, goblins, and angels, the pair fight their way through history and mystery alike, and prepare to make war on Death himself ~

This book. Oh boy this book. Where do I start? This book made me cry several times, which hasn't happened in over 15 years. This book said everything about death I've been feeling since my bubbe passed away (עליה השלום). This book genuinely made me re-think how I view G-d? All that and more in less than 400 pages. This book harmonized with my soul. This book changed who I am as a person. This book made me crumble to dust and then built me back up from scratch. 10/10

[faeprincesswarrior]

On the portrayal of Illyrian culture in ACOTAR

I’m Sara - by ethnic origin, I am Arabic and Turkish. I was othered my entire childhood and dealt with seriously atrocious racist attacks.

As I got older, those things lessened and people started assuming I was white or biracial in part due to my having dyed my hair blonde.

Since then, I’ve experienced racism of a different kind - I get told I am a “shallow white girl” who doesn’t have the right to speak about issues facing POC by people from all different ethnicities.

I’ve had enough of that. I may not look like your typical WOC but I am a woman of color. And I will not be silenced.

Why I am not offended by the portrayal of Illyrian culture in Sarah J Maas’s books:

1. I’m from a Muslim family and grew up going to mosques in the Western World, where some of the very oppressive and sexist ideals about women and their place in society were preached from the stands and actively shared by members of the community.

2. I was chronically shamed by my peers in the community for being into my education and for wearing makeup or for daring to speak to boys.

3. The above happened in the United States in the community I grew up in because oppressive, sexist ideals travel across immigration. I clawed my way out of this community and will never look back.

3. Honor killings still happen where I’m from. To this day.

4. Genital mutilation still happens in the regions where I’m from to this day.

5. Women are not allowed to drive in some countries in the region where I’m from to this day.

6. Women are publicly beaten or stoned to death in those regions to this day.

7. Women have to be fully covered up when they leave the house in the region where I’m from to this day.

8. Women are silenced and told not to speak in public - even just to talk to someone - and not to leave their houses without a male chaperone in the region where I’m from to this day.

9. Women are glorified birthing vessels and it is socially accepted for men to have multiple wives to have as many children as possible in the region where I’m from to this day.

10. Women do not have full equality or even basic, fundamental human rights in the the region where I’m from to this day.

How does this relate to Illyrian culture and ACOTAR?

Do I really need to explain the answer to that? I realize that some people may have grown up in Middle Eastern families and not had the experience I had. Some of my experience is also due to Islamic religious ideas and not simply cultural ideals. And there are some people who may love where they came from and have had a radically different experience than my own. That does NOT make my experience less valid, nor does it make my criticisms of the culture and countries I’m referring to less valid or accurate.

To me, the portrayal of the Illyrians is an accurate representation of what goes on in some pockets of the mid east, and for that very reason, I’m not offended.

In fact, wing clipping is essentially the fictional version of genital mutilation, which still happens in the cultures that people say Illyria is inspired by.

It is not racist to look at something and call it out for what it is. If I were to say, every single ME person I’ve ever met adheres to some of the more fundamentalist and sexist rhetoric I heard and continue to see, that would be racist and untrue.

The reality is there will also always be people who attack Sarah J Maas because she’s Jewish, especially at this time with conversations about Zionism running rampant. I married a Jewish man. I’ve seen anti-semitism firsthand. I also saw it growing up among the more nationalistic people I grew up with who hated the idea of an Israeli country.

What you can do:

Stand up for women around the world who don’t enjoy the same freedoms you do, and quit picking fights about a book series. Look to solve real problems instead of making some up.

Note - If you attack me in the comments, I will not respond. I will immediately block. This was not an easy post for me to make in any way, and I feel vulnerable having shared so much.

[treblrebl]

Charting the Course of B&B : How It Began

For nobody's sake but mine, I have decided to chart out the progress of the B&B relationship through the seasons.

Seasons 1 to 3: Keyword - 'Trust'

The foundational seasons, where the ever simmering physical attraction kept smashing up against the wall of 'I just don't understand this guy/girl'. But more importantly, the seasons where both of them, much to their shock, find that their partnership bears immediate fruit. And that the walls they keep around everyone else somehow don't seem to hold up in front of each other.

The graph below charts their attraction and trust levels over the 3 seasons through pivotal points where their partnership either grew or retreated significantly. It's my opinion that fledgling romantic feelings were present during this phase, but neither of them were aware of it.

Representation:

Milestones considered:

S1 - Point 1: "I knew you wouldn't make me a liar" (S1E5)

S1 - Point 2: Rescue from Kenton/"Why are you so nice to me?" (S1E15/E19)

S1 - Point 3: "With each shot we all die a little bit, Bones"/"I know who you are" (S1E21/E22)

S2 - Point 1: "Tony and Roxie" (S2E8)

S2 - Point 2: "I knew you wouldn't give up" (S2E9)

S2 - Point 3: "Everything happens eventually"/Rescue from Gallagher (S2E16/E18)

S2 - Point 4: Zack leaves for the Army/Max gets arrested/Aborted Hodgela wedding (S2E21)

S3 - Point 1: "Making love vs crappy sex" (S3E3)

S3 - Point 2: Smurfette/"I love my gift Booth"/"You are a fully developed man" (S3E7/E9/E11)

S3 - Point 3: Baby Andy/Max's trial/Checkerbox pre-shooting (S3E12/E13/E14)

S3 - Point 4: Booth's 'death'/Zack as Gormogon apprentice (S3E15)

Season 4: Keyword - 'Emotional Intimacy'

This where things start getting COMPLICATED. They start off rough, with Brennan having her walls up again after the deception of Booth's death. But when the last of the walls fall by the end of Con Man in the Meth Lab, the emotional enmeshment is cemented. The UST is also off the charts.

By the time this season ends, the trust between them has reached it's zenith. The attraction has never wavered, but this season is where the romantic feelings start to make their presence seriously felt. It's quite obvious that Dr. Wyatt was referring to Brennan when he posited that one of them was clearly aware of their feelings and struggled with it daily. Booth was deeper in denial even though he had brought Brennan completely into his life, his family and his history. Writing the story at Booth's bedside was Brennan's way of coping with the strength of her feelings which she didn't have the courage to examine or name. Perhaps she felt that putting a label to how she felt for Booth in a fictional world would exorcise the turmoil in the real world. Perhaps it was the only way she had to admit to herself.

Representation:

Milestones considered:

Ep 3: "There's someone for everyone, Bones, you just have to be open to see it."/"What's wrong with a surrogate relationship?"

Ep. 5: "You know the reviews to my books Booth, but do you read them?" "Every single word."

Ep. 9: "My father drank."

Ep. 11: 'Look at my little boy there, with your dad."

Ep. 14: Gravedigger rescue. Needs no explanation.

Ep. 21: Sharing of metaphorical scars, adopting their baby duck. There is no going back for either of them now.

Ep. 25: Brennan's baby, Booth's sperm. "Something is wrong Booth, trust me!"

Ep. 26: "You love someone, you open yourself up to suffering, that's the sad truth. Maybe they'll break your heart, maybe you'll break their heart and never be able to look at yourself in the same way. Those are the risks. That's the burden."

In the next instalment:

Season 5: Keyword - 'Devotion'

Season 6: Keyword - 'Inner Demons'

[marlopawsome]

BRIDGERTON SEASON 3 SPOILER ‼️‼️

MY GOD CAN YOU FUCKING STOP CALL PEOPLE HOMOPHOBIC OR QUEERPHOBIC who are skeptical because of the genderswap of Michael??

1. The Writers made us doubt Francesca love for John with the kiss at the wedding and her „I forgot my name“ when meeting Michaela

In the books there is no doubt Fran and John love each other over the moon, they enjoy themselves emotional and physical

Michael falls first, not Francesca, Franny loves Michael as a friend and then with her overcoming her grief she starts to love him in a romantic way

Now we have a she’s married to John whom she clearly likes but we now doubt if it’s real love like Violet tried to convince her for 3 episodes and clearly she’s attracted to Michaela

So it’s not the Michaela is a woman it’s the whole do Fran really LOVE John or is it just mutual likeness? And why would they erase this love they had? They didn’t need to do that! They could have sticked to the book and let Fran fall in love with Michaela after John’s death

2. Michaels whole conflict was based of his GUILT taking EVERYTHING from John

Beginning from his titles and land, Michael never wanted that or the commitment coming with a title

We now had three seasons and Queen Charlotte with whole lot of conflict where WOMAN were on the brink of loosing everything because they could not inherit the title and lands

So after he inherits everything he really struggles to be around Fran, to be true to his feelings because he’s thinking „I am not taking the last thing John had from him!!“

How would that now go with a female Michaela?

As I said the SHOW showed us clearly no female could inherit land or titles

Damn it even was a crucial part in season 2 & 3 with the feaheringtons and changing that would made all the hardships Portia going through invalid

Also they could have just scrapped the Mondrichs/Lord Kent Plot altogether then

So again: it’s nothing to do with Fran should not love a woman BUT with the In-Universe Canon and how that can work out with one of Michael’s biggest inner conflicts? People are not AGAINST it they’re are just wondering how this could work out?

Edit: I see a Eloise and Michaela are going to get woman’s the right to inherit land and titles plot and Fran has a daughter of John but would loose everything and Michaela wants to save her (although Fran has always her family in London)

3. Francesca wants to be a mother more then everything

And yes, wlw couples struggle a lot with getting pregnant and getting kids too

But In the books Francesca struggles to concieve, and after John’s death she miscarried

We don’t have a lot of screentime for this kind of life and struggles, besides in Queen Charlotte, and it would be cruel to remove this

Francesca wants to be a mother so bad and although adoption is a way (but I wasn’t shown in 4 seasons so it would be strange to just pop up in Frans story) or sperm donor (which I don’t think Fran would be compatible for) again it clashes with what the show runners established in the In-Universe Canon.

Surely they can implement that now, it would have just been better to build that up! Not a sudden „it’s possible now“

So the genderchange brings two major plotquestions for the characters and the way the show did it invalidates Frans Love to John

ALSO! That feels so much like forced queerness! We love and want and need queer representation! But we deserve good story’s, nice build up and true feelings!!

In the end we have to wait how the show runners execute the plot now, and what they gonna do, how the actors work etc and can’t say if it will fail or not

But to be critical and question the decision because of how the show handled a lot of topics crucial for the John/Fran/Michael Plot does not make one homophobic or queerphobic.

[rapha-reads]

IWTV rewatch

Season 1 episode 4 [The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood With All a Child's Demanding] - part 2/2

- [Claudia] "We do like mortals do. We fight, we eat, we laugh, we sleep, we love. And then the phone rang last night. And all the easy times stopped." - ooof. How to destroy familial domesticity: bring back the real world.

I love, love, loooove Louis' coldness and casual cruelty at his mother's wake. And looooove the family solidarity. Oh, Daddy Lou's fighting with his sister? Time to show our fangs and have his back.

- Oooh, a Lestat and Claudia scene! Dad teaching his kid all the true, important ways to make it in the world. And accidentally making her realise some things she'll never get to have, stuck as she is as a young teenager. But the blood kinda makes up for it tho.

- "Uncle Les says I gotta practice killin' both the one and the plus one at the same time, but I came away understanding something else tonight. I can't quite put it into words, but it's like something opened up in my head, in my body. I've been 18 for 7 months now, and it's time I started acting like it."

Aaaaand there it is. Happy hunting indeed. Happy until the reality hits back...

"I've lost my appetite, I can't sleep!" - welcome to hormones. Can't say I know first-hand what you're going through but good luck. Oh, no, but this is waaay too adorable. The giggling and the skipping and the flowers and the staying on the balcony waiting for Charlie to look up...

- "Everyone in my family looks younger than their age." - yeah that's one way to put it I guess.

Aaaand exit Charlie, pursued by a terrified horse. Taking this opportunity to say a lil something about how book!vampires are basically asexual in the way that their desire and pleasure express themselves through the blood, blood drinking and blood sharing. While the show being a visual media for a modern audience decided to make human sexuality also a part of vampire sexuality, all while keeping the blood as this irresistible force and the source of everything. Don't really have an opinion one way or another, except to say, please we need more asexual representation that still shows that ace people can find and express desire and pleasure outside of sexuality.

- Lestat taking on the ugly role of teaching Claudia about control and how it's hard for vampires to make lasting connections with mortals... Parenting's hard.

- [Louis] "Vivid writer, isn't she" - I'm kinda glad we don't get Claudia's own words about Charlie's death, knowing the writers they would have given us another lyrical prose that would have made us all bawl our eyes out.

The way Daniel is visibly impacted and heartbroken reading Claudia's diaries: he is deeply compassionate. And you can't read people and write about them without a certain level of compassion and even empathy. "Anne Frank meets Stephen King" indeed.

- [Louis] "Claudia was... everything." - ouch. Break my heart, won't you. It's the way Louis is physically struggling to talk about her, the way he needs the pebbles of his zen garden beneath his feet to anchor himself solidly enough to talk about her.

- "It's funnier when they fight in French. And diary, you'd think a girl whose mama died in childbirth, whose daddy gave her away to a mean old auntie who beat her 'cause no one said she couldn't, who died in a fire but came back by the blood magic of two demons, well, you'd think that girl wouldn't know what funny was. But you'd be wrong, diary. And if I told you, dumb diary, that that same girl was being raised to kill like her demon parents did, to take two souls a day so she could stay in the same flat-chested, hairless-crotched 14-year-old baby doll body as her mind and spirit turn 19, 20, 25, 63, 358, you dumb, dumb diary, I bet you'd say to anyone who'd listen 'Fun? Fun? How does she even get up in the morning?' Well, let me tell you something, you stuck-up, flower-covered, three-dollar fancy fucking paper diary, I'm doing just fine. And how do I know that? 'Cause the first man I killed called me the devil, and the last boy I killed, the last boy I'll ever love in this world, called me an angel. So that means I'm on the right path. And that means there's so much more fun out there to have. I'm just getting started."

THE INTENSITY, DAMN.

The crescendo of Claudia's voice overlayed by the music and echoed in the angrier and angrier words. Wow, I need a minute.

Between the "losing my mind in the coffin" scene, that "madwoman in the attic walking down from the attic" scene and the "the sun is a deadly laser" scene, someone needs to give Bailey several awards. And the writing team needs these awards too.

Show!Claudia actually has a backstory, not very detailed but still there, a miserable, painful human life, 14 years of misery and pain - she had a life, she had experiences before becoming a vampire; unlike book!Claudia who was 5 when she was turned, told Louis she couldn't remember her human life before being Louis and Lestat's, and doesn't have her own narration in between Louis' recollections.

Here, the addition of the diaries to the way the story is told not only allows a third party, a third perspective that's no more and no less of an unreliable narrator as Louis' voice, but it also, and I think more importantly, allows for Claudia to speak for herself. She isn't anymore just a footnote in the messy romance of Louis and Lestat. She is her own person, in her own narrative, with her own agency and life. And that's a huge difference between the two versions of Claudia: eternally-5-year-old Claudia couldn't have her own agency, no matter that she was really 40 in a child's body, because that child's body was more of a damnation, a cage, than a teenager's body. At 14 and with make-up, fashion, body language and speech, Claudia can make herself look marginally older, and thus can reclaim some of that agency, of that control. Therefore the issue comes not from the fact that Claudia needs at least one adult to have that agency by proxy, but from the fact that she might never pass for older than 18 and will be taken advantage of. As we'll soon see.

Also she was right, last boy she loved, but not last person, we stan a bisexual murder deranged queen.

And I did tell Lestat, that roof window is a structural failure.

Well, welcome to the Claudia show. That was one hell of an entrance. Crowd's seated for the next part, "Claudia goes Wild party in the Mississippi".

episode 1 | episode 2 | episode 3 | part 1 | episode 5 | episode 6 | episode 7

[plutodetective]

I have to work today, but there’s a lot I want to say about Jonathan and gender, and I won’t have the time to organize it in a proper essay, so here are some points:

1) Of fucking course men can have characteristics usually attributed to women and still be men. I’m working on a series of sci-fi adaptations of fairy tales, and in my Sleeping Beauty the protagonist is a (cisgender) boy, precisely because I want boys to see they can be vulnerable and need rescue too. And I completely understand if someone prefers to see Jonathan as a cis man because it’s so rare to see men in this role, surviving abuse, when it does happen in real life. I start my Gothic Heroine Support Group fic with Belle making precisely this point. Men can be prey, women can be predators. She knows this because that’s what happened to the original Beast, and kudos to Gabrielle Suzanne de Villeneuve, the author of the original Beauty and the Beast, for making this point centuries ago.

2) That being said, Jonathan seems to identify with women on a deeper level than being on a role in which women usually are. For me, what cements the headcanon is when he chooses the women’s quarters to sleep in, seeming to long for “a gentle life”, even if it involved sadly waiting for the menfolk to return from war. He seems to identify with the female identity, not only the female role. That’s only my personal interpretation, I fully acknowledge that. But seeing as it’s one that a lot of trans people in the fandom seem to share and, more importantly, to identify with, it’s one that is more than valid: it brings people joy. I’m cis. I’m also bisexual, and I know the joy of seeing myself in a character through subtext, and also how frustrating it is when people say it’s not true because it’s not 100% explicit in the text. If trans people are telling me they identify with Jonathan, I believe them and I take that as there being reasons I acknowledge I cannot fully understand why Jonathan is potentially a trans woman.

3) I assume everyone here has heard of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey. But it’s less likely that everyone has heard of Gail Carriger’s The Heroine’s Journey. I fully recommend this book to everyone. But the point she makes is that whether someone is a “hero” or a “heroine” according to hers and Campbell’s analysis doesn’t depend on their gender. Women can follow Campbell’s Hero Journey, and men can follow Carriger’s Heroine Journey. And non-binary people can follow either. The names come from the gender of the characters who originated the archetypes, with Campbell’s being classic Greek heroes, and Carriger’s being ancient world goddesses. With that in mind, although no one has written a “Gothic Heroine’s Journey”, Jonathan Harker is a gothic heroine, regardless of whether you see him as cis man or trans woman, because he follows that story type step by step.

4) Does anyone here know of a transgender gothic heroine (in the gender neutral sense explained above)? Because I don’t. If anyone does, seriously, please point me their way, I’d love to increase my gothic knowledge. But it’s a type of representation I’ve never seen. As a member of a lot of minorities, I feel very happy whenever I see any of them represented in ways I’ve never seen before, and I can only imagine it’s the same for trans people. So what’s the harm in letting Jonathan be that? Seriously. All that is missing so far from Jonathan being a fully classical gothic heroine is him going around the castle in a flowing white dress. If I ever get to adapt my written version of modern day!Dracula, I’ll absolutely put Natália (my version of Jonathan) in a white nightgown, just to give a transgender actor the chance to play out this scene that I’ve seen so many cis women do over the years. Again, I understand if someone takes empowerment from Jonathan as a cis man surviving abuse, and I’d never want to take that away from them. Jonathan being a cis man is an absolutely valid reading too. But I think trans women deserve empowerment too, deserve to see a trans woman playing out a story so many of their cis counterparts have always had. The book is in public domain. We can each adapt them the way we choose. Cis man Jonathan and trans fem Jo, Natália, or whatever name you prefer for her, can coexist and be important to the groups of people each of them are important to. 

[puckpocketed]

Tag game <3 @neonfretra thanking and cursing you for this tag my mind is poisomde… <3

Rules: post your first ever hockey art, your latest hockey art, and your favourite hockey art, then tag three hockey artists

NEONFRETRA you and oensible are 2 of my go-to tag targets for this exact game I’m shaking my fin and cryign…. Anyway . With 0 pressure or expectations . Here are my tags!! mwah <3

@18minutemajor - we don’t interact except when I scream in the reblogs of your posts and that one time but you inspire me to paint all the time every day <3

@kmercer - my comrade my sharpie lid my woolly jumper <3 hello…!

@chownkie - hello… please show us your hokcey art…… I think I saw some from you once but I can’t remember if it was a fever dream…. If it was and u ain’t ever make hockey art then please show us some stuff u like pleag……

if ur an artist and see this . Consider yourself tagged. Photography and other crafts count (TO ME!)

First ever hockey art is technically THIS piece . it’s tangentially hockey related because I got the phrase “enemy of silence” that one time a broadcast fired those exact words at TZ (current favourite annoying girl of all time). My friend Harry was describing his journey to try and pick up books and how the cashier wouldn’t shut up and Harry has MAD stimulation issues when people talk too much at him so he hit da bricks only to have to do it all over again because he’s . Got a store membership and it’s a sunk cost situation which has turned into a horrible timeloop . I drew a representation of it <3

Latest hockey art… well. hockey has actually brought me back to taking my craft a little more seriously + practicing it with so much more joy. every artist on here is so interesting and cool and inspiring waaaaaaaaa <3 So I’ve finally dedicated time to doing a nicely rendered and coloured piece,,, here is a bit of it ! I flirted with the idea of doing it in black and white but then I started having too much fun colour picking and getting my reps in . I hadn’t properly touched my tablet for painting in about a year prior to starting back up about . 3 months ago? and coming back to form has been a journey! But I feel myself improving every day and settling back into my old rhythms/styles. life is so sparklingsweet (<- all one word because that’s the only thing that feels right) I’ve said this before on other platforms but. No matter what is happening in your life, no matter where you are, if you are an artist and you haven’t made anything in a while…Hold on. You will make art again.

Favourite hockey art.. probably my recent pfp! I did the line art for this one in a daze while recovering from an illness ksjcjskjsdk anyway it’s my favourite because a friend/moot messaged me and called it my “time skip” pfp and I just about died laughing. we ARE about to bring Sasuke back to the village….. on god….

1. This is me and my mullet. 2. I wear yellow/orange tinted lenses and have done so for. the past 6-7 years? 8? I’m not counting. Why? they look cool that’s why (also they help with eye strain but I chose the colour because they look cool) 3. Those are real earrings that I do own and they are that big . Gender isn’t just fake it’s a cop inside your head and you need to kill it with prejudice . 4. This will be inaccurate as of. 4 months from now when I get a moon tattoo on my neck <3 I love moons so bad <3

[coltrainbat]

Ok I have request where Chris Evans got nominated by a random movie. His florist or highschool teacher, reader was there to support him. He decided to propose to her in front of the celebs and everyone watching on tv

Happiest Man Alive

A/N: Sorry, I couldn't think of anything worse than being proposed to on international television. I’d say no out of pure angst of being asked like that. Sorry Chrissy. But this is still very cute! Hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: All characters and events written, even those based on real people are entirely fictional and are no representation or comment of said characters in real life.

Chris came into your shared bedroom, holding a zipped-up dress bag. 

 “It cameee.” He sang hovering over you in the bed. 

 “What came?” 

 “Your dress. For the Oscars this Saturday remember?”  

“What! Chris, I told you I was just gonna wear that black one in my closet, it’s perfectly fine.”

 “Yeah, I know, it’s a great dress but it’s dull. You weren’t made to blend into the crowd and besides I wanted to treat you.”  

You got up and took the bag from his hand. The dress felt heavy in your hand, and you wondered what he would of picked out. 

 “What if it doesn’t fit?”

 “I doubt it, was custom made to your measurements.” He smirked at you.

 “Chris! That would have costed hundreds if not thousands of dollars you can’t spend that much on me.”  

“Yeah, well too late I already did now come on go try it on!” Shoving you into your wardrobe and closing the door behind him.

 “I’m not opening this door until you put the dress on.”

 You sighed, hanging it up on the hook, you slowly unzipped the bag.

 You gasped when you glimpsed the first detail. 

 It was beautiful. The sheer body-hugging fabric was garnished in individual hand stitched flowers, embossed onto the dress. Each one different from the next sewed all the way to the floor and on the sleeves. 

(This dress but LONG)

Slowly, you took it off the hanger, stepping into the gown. 

 “I need some help with the zipper.” You called out to Chris

 He opened the door, frozen in his step when he saw you in it.

 “Wow.” He breathed out in whisper.

 Pulling your hair to the side, you turned your back on him. “A little help please.”

 “Of course, yeah… sorry.”

 His warm hands made contact with the skin of your back, pulling the zipper upwards smoothly. 

 “Perfect fit.” He whispered in your ear, turning you towards the mirror to look at yourself properly.

 “Florals for my florist.” He grinned

 “Chris, this is beautiful I don’t know what to say.”

 “Thank you is a good start.” He chuckled.

 You turned around to face him. Embracing him in a kiss. 

 “Thank you.” You whispered on his lips.

 “It’s my pleasure… really.” His hands delicately grasping your hips. 

 “Hair and makeup are coming at 2, and I booked you in to get your nails done tomorrow at 4. Keep it simple yeah?”

 “You’re doing too much Christopher.”

 “Nonsense nothing is ever too much for my girl.” Closing the space between your lips once more.

You finally got to look at yourself all done up in the mirror. Your hair in a bouncy blowout falling on your shoulders, your makeup done in a way where you looked flawless, yet your natural features stood out. 

 You were kind of shocked Chris chose such a neutral tone for your nails seeing as he usually loved your standard red shade, but you assumed it was a fashion choice to match the dress better. 

 “Hey, baby the car’s out front are you read-”

 “Jesus.” It was his second time seeing you in the dress, but he was equally blown away as the first time. He stood there just admiring you for a moment, beaming like an idiot as he let out the breath, he didn’t realize he was holding in. 

 You looked beautiful everyday of course. But knowing that today was the day and that he was staring at the woman he was going to make his wife heightened his appreciation of you. 

 You and Chris met while he was buying flowers for Lisa at your store in midtown Boston. He spent 2 hours pretending to find “the perfect bouquet” just so he could watch and listen to you talk about flowers endlessly. He was enamored by you. The fact you had your own thriving business, the way your hair at the top of your head tied up with random ribbon, how knowledgeable you were about different types of flowers and all the possible color and breed combinations. 

 He knew one day he was gonna make you his… for good.

 After the wild carpet walk in which cameras flashed everywhere and reports kept asking you about your custom gown, complimenting the stunning and relevant choice for a florist. Chris led you into the grand hall.

 “You ok honey?” His hand pulling you closer by your waist.

 “Yeah, I just don’t think I’ve ever gotten that much attention on the carpet, Jesus.” You puffed out a breath, running your hairs through your hair.

 “Told ya you weren’t mean to blend in.” He winked at you.

 “Come on we are sitting over here.”

 The night went on as you drank and ate, mingling with people at your table and clapping when winners and nominees were announced. 

 It was coming up to “Best Actor in A Short Film” Chris instantly got nervous, his hand instinctively going to your thigh. 

 While he didn’t know if he was going to win, he knew he was going homme with his most prized possession tonight you. The ring box secured in his jacket pocket. He was planning to take you on a walk down at the pier after and propose to you there.  

 He had been working with Mark on this short film for ages. It was his second time directing and acting and he was incredibly proud of the result. The Oscar’s nomination in itself was a massive acknowledgement of his hard work. 

 The camera panned over the Chris who gave a small wave as Jimmy Kimmel announced the nominees one by one.

 “And the Oscar for Best Actor in A Short Film goes to…” Slowly opening the envelope. 

 You leaned over to Chris whispering to him,

 “It’s going to be you.”

 “No, it’s not.” He brushed over your comment.

 “CHRIS EVANS.” Announced Jimmy

 The crowd roared and stood in applause as Chris was announced. 

 He immediately embraced you in a hug.

 “Congrats baby!” You cheered.

 “Come with me.” He whispered to you.

 “Chris, I cant!”

 “Yes you can come on.” 

 Chris lead you by your hand through the crowd reciprocating high fives and cheers as went.  He stood in his tuxedo on the stage, accepting his golden statue. You to the side, a little nervous but beaming with pride and excitement. 

 Thank you, Thank you so much for this. Ya know this project was a vision I had with Mark Kassen and none of it would have been possible without the incredible cast and crew who had helped us not only make this vision come to life, but better than we thought it could be. 

 There are so many people I have to thank for this award but honestly, I wouldn’t been up here or even be performing to the level I did, without the encouragement and support of my beautiful girlfriend, Y/N.

 The camera panned on you as you blew a kiss with your hand.

 And you know, I wasn’t planning on doing this now, but I want everyone here tonight and the folks watching on TV; Hi mom, Hi dad, Hi Y/N’s parents! To know, while this award is amazing, I still would have gone home happy tonight without it, because tonight, I am going to ask a very special girl to marry me.

 A gasp fell over the crowd. 

 Hang on, hang on I need to do this properly, Jimmy you mind holding this? Thanks bro.

 He got on one knee, up on stage, in front of thousands of people, but his eyes were firmly on you. 

 “Y/N, you have made me a better man and I have been hopelessly in love with you since the day I met you. Will you do me the honor of being your husband.” 

He pulled the box out from his pocket presenting the glistening diamond ring.

“Omg.” Your hand flew to your agape mouth. 

“Say yes!” The crowd heckled. 

 “Yes, a thousand times, yes.” He stood up, pulling you into a kiss, his grip raising you above ground as he pulled you into his arms. 

 “Well folks looks like tonight just got even better. Congratulations to the happy couple!” 

 Jimmy spoke to the mic. As cheers grew at what was sure to be one of the most iconic Oscar moments. 

[etrange-fleur]

So y'all (y'all = nobody) might be wondering why am I always talking about some guys who share names with artists that existed in real life. Is this girl crazy? Maybe, but she has her reasons

SO LADIES, GENTLEMEN AND NONBINARY FOLKS, LET ME SAY:

A very long ass intro about "Welcome to Sinclair City!", one of my oc projects and the one I love the most because my brain is too crazy about it. It will be VERY long, so buckle up, get on the train and let's go to Sinclair City!

Warning: I suck at explanations and after this you won't get absolutely anything other than very long ass rants and posts from yours truly

(For SC1 characters cards, start here; for SC2 character cards, start here)

So... WHAT is "Welcome to Sinclair City!"?

Have you ever encountered medias where all the characters are inspired by historical figures? Whether they are accurate representations of said historical figures or anime-fied representations, sometimes genderbent ones (eg: B.ungou Stray Dogs, the F.ate s.aga etc). Well, "Welcome to Sinclair City!" is exactly that! Almost all the characters are inspired by real life artists and other important figures in art history, but they're all more anime-ish and they live in a modern setting. I need to get back to this point later.

"Welcome to Sinclair City!" was born as a possible visual novel I dreamt about, I wanted to make it real but 1) I'm not that good at art and literally everything else (apart from drawing very bad sprites with the symmetry tool and writing) 2) I'm lazy 3) I didn't really want to ask anybody's help because I suck at managing stuff, would be worse with a team, I wasn't born a leader after all 4) I'm lazy as fuck, so it became a writing project (I'm only writing it in italian). It's divided into two books, the first one (Welcome to Sinclair City/WtSC/SC1) has been done for a long while but I think I should rewrite it, while the second one (Welcome 2 Sinclair City/W2SC/SC2) is still a wip that gets frequent changes because god knows where I'm going with it. The sequel wasn't planned but I got insane and nobody locked me so here we are. Jokes aside, this project is a huge comfort to me and I'll always treasure it, even after the ending. Everybody is sad and needs to go to therapy INCLUDING the doctor and the psychologist, but it's my comfort project❤️ Also I'm writing some oneshots that are still part of the lore, but like. I only completed one. Yay

What inspired you to make this... thing! ig

Y'all know me (no), I'm obsessed with P.alette Pa.rade, of course my main inspiration was that. Girl it's obvious!

This project started in 2020, so plpr was near its end. Of course I was sad, I also had ocs for that game and I didn't want to let them go SO I had a crazy ass dream where my ocs were there but there were other characters, like there were Michelangelo, Van Gogh and Gauguin but they were different from the plpr ones, like REALLY different. So little Lotte had an idea, got some random names also thanks to her irls aaaaand here we are! And I still don't have a job! Girl you better work on more important stuff!!

Moving on to the characters, I need to say this out loud PLEASE DON'T ASSUME THAT MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS = THEIR IRL COUNTERPARTS!! Get the good ol' "this is a product of fiction, any reference to real life is casual, a coincidence and not wanted" because THAT'S THE THING!!! If an artist was kinda problematic irl it doesn't necessarily mean they'll be the same in my project (usually I'm not writing racist/homophobic/etc fucks in general, if they end up as bad/problematic people I'm certainly not "romanticizing" them or making them good) and if a character in my project is problematic it doesn't necessarily mean that they were the same irl. I get inspirations from their biographies to get infos for their backstories or other stuff because I've got no creativity, but it's all a coincidence. That said, I wrote Gauguin as a piece of shit nobody cares about and Picasso is only mentioned to be made fun of because I hate those guys and they deserve the treatment, they can rot in hell!

Anyways, most of the characters are based on irl artists, but there are also original characters made by yours truly. Here are the lists for both the books:

Long ass lists! What the sigma

Ok good to know... But once again, what is "Welcome to Sinclair City!" about?

Ok soooo you know the thing about San Marino being a nation inside another nation (Italy)? Ok, now imagine that there is a fictional small nation inside of France, specifically towards the north and near the sea. What's its name? I don't know, ask another Lotte. What you should know, though, is that in this state there are two notable cities. One of them is the capital, Saint-Auburn, which is a pretty big religious city that fucKING SUCKS. Before attacking me, I'm catholic and the real religious evil is in another city, we don't talk about that. Saint-Auburn sucks because it sucks, that's it.

The other one is *drum rolls* Sinclair City! Even if it's much smaller than Saint-Auburn, Sinclair City is known to be a city of art, where lots of artists live, and it's also the city where the Palette Academy is situated. The Palette Academy is a huge school complex (there's elementary school, middle school, high school and the university) and it also has dorms, so a lot of students live in this city and they study to become artists. Some of them are already well-known artists, they're just studying more for the experience and in order to improve themselves. The Palette Academy is for everybody! You can either be a student or teach or just work there. If you're a student you can become a painter, a sculptor, an architect, but also a photographer, a fashion designer and more (in w2sc there are more courses), you can choose whatever you want! Will your school life be easy? Errrrrrrrrrrm it depends, it's for the plot chat

Ok interesting (no), I kinda get it (again, no). Now, what's the plot?

I know this might be shocking, but I think there isn't actually a plot. At least for sc1 there isn't a full plot where all the chapters are connected. Let me explain it.

The main character for sc1 is Giorgio Vasari ofc the main character is the guy who's obsessed with artists and their personal lives and he got invited to attend the Palette Academy, so he's travelling to Sinclair City with his friend, Michelangelo. It should be a really easy uni life for them, but here's the thing: Vasari can't mind his own business AT ALL, so whenever there's something going on in the academy he has to intervene. Who called him? Bitch nobody! So basically all the chapters deal with different characters and their problems, Vasari doesn't always solve their problems because some people are just too far gone, but it's okay we're making friends and we want to know everything about everybody! ... let's ignore the fact that Vasari himself is hiding secrets!!

Now onto sc2. Welcome 2 Sinclair City is a sequel and it's 8 years later the events of sc1. Many new characters, the old cast grew up, some started living/working in the capital for reasons and etc. There are two main characters: Cleope Darwish (and his friendgroup), a guy who has been living in Sinclair City for 2 years and is a uni student. If you got used to Vasari, lower your expectations. Cleope doesn't give a damn about anything nor anybody, he even questions his bond with his friendgroup and how useful it is to him. He hates telling people stuff about himself and finds it useless, after all "he won't stay there for too long". At some point he starts having dreams where he keeps meeting [REDACTED] (censored because I can't really spoil) and [REDACTED] kinda makes him more aware about the fact that the way he's acting and lying, his whole idgaf behaviour is actually hurting people and it will only bring him misfortune. Cleope becomes more self-aware so all the chapters are about him finally discovering the people who lived with him for all these years and yeaaaaaah I wonder how this could end. Spoiler if this was a videogame you'll have to make very specific choices and things to get the true ending, the only happy one, otherwise you'll doom Cleope for life. But I mean, that's what he wanted, right?

On the other hand there's Vasari, who's now a famous museum curator in Saint-Auburn and just opened his own art gallery! Life is always fun in the gallery, the people he works eith are trustworthy and admire him, everything is okay! Until he starts becoming more aware of the fact that he needs to be more professional, he's a serious worker and a member of society now. So he starts changing. and changing. and changing. and changing. changing until the person in front of you might not be recognised as Giorgio Vasari anymore. Is it worth it? Can we go back? Who knows if the people who loved him will still be proud of him

BY THE WAY THEY ALL HAVE HAPPY ENDINGS (even if sc1 has canonically a bad ending and sc2 has two negative endings but I'll never write them) DW!!! I'M JUST A BITCH!!!!

Well damn that's deep. Speaking of deepness, do they have messages, themes or did you just throw random bullshit?

The latter. No actually both have themes, even if all the characters have different backgrounds and situations they live in maybe something makes them all the same.

Sc1 is about identity. It might not be a common theme for everybody, but most of them deal with identity, especially Vasari. Who are you? Are you who you really should be? Are you a façade that hides your true essence? Are you one, three, seventy different people depending on the situation? Are you what your family would like you to be? Are you what the person you love most would hate? Are you satisfied with who you are or are you restraining yourself? Is it right for you to follow your own path and be what you really want to be? Just who are you?

Sc2 is about change. Eight years have passed, new people arrived and the old cast grew up, but have they actually changed? Do you have to change for the better to feel more loved or change for the worse to feel more powerful? Do you want to change? Are you afraid of change? No matter how much effort you make, do you feel that your situation will never be able to change? That you will never be able to change? Have you changed, but do you happen to return to the toxic habits or flaws you once had? Maybe in the end we stayed the same, maybe there was no change. Maybe no change was needed, maybe we were good and valid people all along. Maybe we will never change, maybe we have changed too much and can never go back. Maybe we can go back, maybe we can't. Again, who knows.

Do we talk about art? No, because I'm not an artist and I don't get art at all. Art is relevant, it's vital for some characters, for others you can see that their art ideals are reflected in their usual behaviour (idk how to explain this), but art isn't always mentioned. The uncertainty of future is mentioned, the fact that sometimes you just can't let go of the past is mentioned, all the doubts regarding life, school and anything in general, fatal miscommunications, the ways you process grief, literally anything is mentioned. In fact if you ever kin a character from this project I swear to god I'll pay the therapist for you. Really. Don't do it. Pray god, have fun, DON'T KIN A SINCLAIR CITY CHARACTER OR YOU'LL GET DOOMED (note: I don't mind people kinning my characters, this is a joke because I made all of them mentally ill ↓)

On another note, about them being yumed, I mean yes all of my ocs are yumeable in general, SC ones are on an extreme level because they either don't experience love at all (because of me) or they have a strange/sick/twisted relationship with love (because of me) or maybe they're in a happy relationship (not because of me). Most of the characters are doomed by the narrative sooooo good luck!

Conclusions

So... Now what? Now... That's it. We're done. Bye.

Seriously speaking, I'm writing this project in italian, so if you ever happen to fully understand italian (not with a translator because the translator will never translate you "grazie graziella e grazie al cazzo" in an accurate way) then good luck, otherwise never read it. Which is better! So yeah since I'm not an artist and I don't do anything else that's it. BUT I'm a professional yapper, so if you're interested in these fuckheads then you'll hear me talking about them more and more here. I'll also post their character cards I made, so you can start getting some infos abt them!

If you got this far, congrats! If you have any question regarding the project or the characters, don't hesitate to ask me anything! You can either comment it down here, ask it in the inbox or dm me!

That's all from me, enjoy your stay at Sinclair City!

[yusuke-of-valla]

Hey! I saw your tags about learning to compose music and being overwhelmed about what programs to start with so I thought I could offer some insight into some of the options available. Generally the programs people use to compose music fall into three categories.

1) DAWs, or Digital Audio Workstations: These are programs where you have multiple tracks of audio (either recorded or you can generate them in the program) and you work with sound more than visuals. If you’ve ever used Audacity to edit audio before, that’s a DAW! Good for: if you want to record your own vocals/instrumental parts, if you prefer to work with sound than sheet music, for much more detailed mixing and effects options than other programs. Recommended starter software: I don’t have much personal experience with these but if you’re on Mac than GarageBand is probably a solid place to start, or I’ve heard Cakewalk is good too for a Windows option. Or you can google “best free DAWs” and you’ll find lists with all sorts of options. If you know how to find notes on a piano keyboard, finding a DAW with a “piano roll” input mode is an especially intuitive way to get started composing (and even if you don’t, it can still be useful as a visual representation).

2) Music notation program: this is software meant to create sheet music like you would see in a piano book or larger arrangement. Most modern notation programs have playback as well which you can either export and use as-is or use it as a base to mix in other programs (like a DAW). Good for: if you can read sheet music and are comfortable in that format, if you intend to have your music played by real musicians. Recommended starter software: MuseScore is a really amazing free and open-source notation program that is easier to use than most of the paid options (though I recommend MuseScore 3 atm since 4 is fairly new and has some issues that still need to be ironed out).

3) Tracker software: These are specialized programs that are best for emulating older styles of VGM and electronic music, especially chiptune music. They work similar to programming where you input a bunch of numbers that correspond to notes and parameters for sound. Heads up that this is probably the least intuitive option compared to the other two, but some people really like it. Good for: if you like working with numbers and computers, if you want to emulate a specific sound chip. Recommended starter software: FamiTracker is meant to emulate the NES chip and the limitations of that can be helpful if you get overwhelmed by lots of fancy options.

Personally, unless you’re more comfortable with sheet music I would recommend going for a DAW since it’s the most “all-in-one” option of these. If you’re interested in more information on this topic please feel free to send me a message or ask! Composing music is a lot of fun and it would be great if it were accessible to more people. There are also many great tutorials on YouTube if you search for your software of choice there. If you’re interested in composing VGM then I have some specific channels I could recommend as well.

Oh my gosh yes thank you! Generally I learn best by seeing other people do things and then copying it a lot

[randomdeinonychus]

So last night @chimericaloutlier and I finished watching the SyFy Channel show Vagrant Queen, based on a comic book neither of us have read, which I had been wanting to watch for a while now. The show only got one season back in 2020, so I knew not to get too attached.

What I didn't anticipate was that I was going to agree with a lot of the users on the IMDb. This show is very, very bad.

It's kind of a perfect example of what people mean when they say that we don't just want representation but that we want GOOD representation. Because here is a show led by a queer woman of color (playing an alien) who gets to have an onscreen romance with another woman (also an alien), but that's all in service of a show that reminded both my wife and I of nothing so much as Cleopatra 2525.

Mind you, at first that cheap cheesiness was part of the charm. But as the show wore on, the "syndicated adventure show from the late 90s vibes" became a lot less charming. Worse, like a lot of these kinds of shows the politics ended up being astonishingly bad.

As the title implies, our heroine is a deposed child queen who has been living in exile, hiding from the revolutionaries who overthrew her monarchy. And the revolutionaries are portrayed as Very Bad Guys, while every time we learn ANYTHING about the monarchy we begin to realize the Villains Were Absolutely Right. By the time the show ends on a cliffhanger centered on the remaining monarchists doing something evil it is clearly less of a "heel turn" and way more of an inevitable outcome of their true nature.

The season also hinges on a totally inconsistent MacGuffin that causes me no end of irritation to think about; every episode contains one "bullet-time freezeframe" that I think is meant to imitate a comic book splash panel but just looks dumb every time; the constant location subtitle "Another Galaxy. Not Yours" is not even funny the first time and they use it EVERY TIME they do establishing shots; and one filler episode is just an extended homage to Clue: The Movie that just shows that if you don't have the right cast and crew to handle screwball comedy you should not attempt it.

Also, it just made me wish I was actually watching Clue instead.

It's a real shame, too, because Adriyan Rae as the titular queen, Elida, is so great. She's an absolutely stunning human being, for one thing, but she's also charismatic and instantly sympathetic--even when the show lets her down. It's definitely not her fault that you start really rooting for the "Bad Guys" by the 50th time she casually murders a generic storm trooper.

And, again, she is a gorgeous human being. I need to emphasize that.

I guess it's kind of unfair to heap criticism on a show that fizzled out back in 2020--which was somehow 4 freaking years ago--but I think I should still express disappointment even when nobody could possibly care any longer.

I also suppose it is good that the show that only got one season was not some amazing lost classic, but the missed potential still hurts.

[wuxianxkexing]

GIVE ME 5 REASONS I NEED TO WATCH/READ MDZS

I can only speak on the live action version The Untamed. I haven't been able to find anywhere to watch the donghua for free and while I have the books I haven't gotten around to reading them yet. 😅 I'm currently stuck in the Heaven Official's Blessing rabbit hole. Don't send help, I'll probably get out eventually.

1. If you have any siblings you will probably really relate to either the Yunmeng siblings story or the Twin Jades sibling story. The dynamics between them are all very realistic and you even get representation for those who have been adopted into a family (which is pretty rare in media, but as someone who was also adopted I know that the dynamics are more complex than "Yay! Family! Happily ever after!" or the typical horror story tropes of adopted children.)

2. The story has various different villains. Some of them have a good point, but not all of them. A lot of the media I consume tries to always give the villains a "good" or "understandable" reason for being like that, so it's nice to have a story where I can take a villain, spin them around in my head, and be like "Nope, no matter how I look at it I just don't get it. A lot of villains get called "crazy" but you? You actually take the cake."

3. I love the fact that side characters are actually important in this story. Granted I have had a life long love of random side characters that I think are cooler than the main character but some people have been annoyed by how unexpectedly important the side characters are. They forget that this is a story about /society/. Wei Wuxian's story is nothing without them. Or at the very least it would be a very different story without them. They can't be removed or replaced without changing the entire narrative and that is good writing. No one is just there without a reason.

4. This is also a story about the very real human experience of change. I have heard that The Untamed does a better portrayal of this than the book (in regards to Wei Wuxian) but things change, for better and for worse. It's bitter and remorseful but it doesn't matter because life will go on regardless. Even if you try to hold onto the past with a death grip things around you will change and you yourself will change even if you try to resist it. I personally haven't seen any other media, aside from the Legend of Korra, that actually tackles this subject well. Most other media seems to resist change, or will only accept the "good" changes. That ain't life. You don't get to pick and choose.

5. Along with studying society as a whole it also does a good job of studying individual characters. Because you know what? It's easy to just make society "like that", but to examine the characters that actually make up that society and see in which ways they contribute to that society, for better or for worse, through mere thought or actual actions, is really interesting! And it's not even just the big things, the little things can and do end up changing the entire course of the story.

As for watching The Untamed my only "tip" is that the first couple of episodes are set in the present and then the story goes into a long flashback. However it never tells us that this is a flashback so if you watch it completely blind like I did you'll be pretty confused until you figure it out. I'm a kind of go with the flow person so I was just like "I guess this is just the story now" but other people might get frustrated and drop it because they don't know what is going on. So that's my heads up. I guess they chose to start the story like that because the book starts like that as well and it does have some artistic merit in making the viewer feel pretty much as confused as Wei Wuxian but when it comes to making television for a wider audience they probably either shouldn't have done that or at least put something on the screen telling viewers about the flashback. But maybe I just know too many people who don't have the patience to watch a story long enough to figure things out for themselves. 😅 If you do decide to watch it I just don't want you to drop it because of that confusion.

As for my "silly" reasons to watch The Untamed.

1. Wei Wuxian is pretty.

2. Jiang Cheng is scary and sexy.

3. The music is beautiful. I loved it so much that I actually bought a working replica of Wei Wuxian's flute so I could learn to play the music, I just haven't gotten around to actually playing it. 😂☠️

4. Jin Guangyao's dimples.

5. Zidian is so pretty. Like if I ever have enough money to spend on a piece of jewelry like that I would 100% get an exact replica from the show made in my size.

[dirtbag-linecook-kyloren]

10 characters/10 fandoms

YESSS THANK YOU @jaynesilver FINALLY MY WIDE READING OF FIC COMES IN HANDYYY

We're gonna go chronologically through my life because I think that's REALLY FUN (I legit couldn't choose a west wing character just know that if there's a secret 11th character is the ensemble cast of the west wing)

Artemis Fowl, Artemis Fowl

My first antihero, and we started YOUNG on that, I was reading these books premiddle school. I was obsessed with these books as a kid, and I'm still obsessed with them today. There's rumors of a third, more adult series when Artemis and Holly may get together and I will EAT THAT SHIT UP I LOVE THEM

2. Vexen, Kingdom Hearts

I Legit think this man primed me to enjoy Hux as a character. Like, I'm not kidding, I was obsessed with him as a kid. I'm 90% certain I wrote deviant art fan fic, but I have since abandoned that account so it's hard to know for sure if it ever got published. I was definitely roll playing at age, like, 13? way too young but god I loved him he was BATSHIT

3. Ianto Jones, Torchwood

Man, I can't really explain how much Ianto Jones as a character, he and Jack's kiss on screen, their relationship, and the events of the 456 changed me? It was DEEP though, I woke up the next day a different person, with much less trust in television writer's and their good intentions.

4. Desmond Miles, Assassin's Creed

We have to jump a few years to mid high school, because no joke I was on that Kingdom Hearts train for a WHILE. I love him, he was probably my first blorbo, before the term was invented. I tried to play the games after (MAJOR SPOILER) but I just couldn't do it. They didn't have the draw without him.

5. Stiles Stilinski, Teen Wolf

Now we've hit late high school, arguably my second blorbo. As a kid with ADHD, he was no joke valuable representation to me, even if it was sometimes played for laughs. I was also the least athletic kid on multiple sports teams who still tried really hard, so I got him, yknow?

6. Will Graham, Hannibal

It's legit tough for me to chose if I like the Will Graham of the books or the TV show better. (Don't ask me about the movies, I haven't seen them, and I probably won't. Movies and I have trouble. See: ADHD.) I'm not sure if he's a blorbo or just like, a regular character I like? My hannibal phase was my last 8 year ship, so the line is pretty blurred.

Now we've reached the part where I dived into a lot of fandoms at once, because I dropped out of college and kind of did a weird spiral? Idk, we've lost chronology is what I'm saying

7. Artemis Crock, Young Justice

god I cannot say enough good things about her and I also cannot express how much (MAJOR SPOILER) made me mad FOR HER. Like it was cruel specifically to her and we should talk more about that, honestly. She was definitely a blorbo, but we're still PRE blorbo as a word in my vocabulary.

8. Darcy Lewis, MCU

My first real fandom bicycle, I ship her with everyone from Loki to Agent Coulson to Natasha. As someone who often feels like the comic relief character in their own life, I appreciate her.

9. Kent Parson, OMG Check Please

My sweet, sweet disaster son. My emotionally constipated hockey boy. The reason captain america is my SECOND favorite character with a birthday on the Fourth of July. I love him, he was amazing, and also my first experience with like, really toxic fandom was being so mad when people tried to equate his canon mental health issues with a noncanon, imagined abuse?? It was wild, I ended up so distressed about it i did have to leave the fandom.

10. Armitage Hux, Star Wars

I mean you've been on my blog for like ten seconds i think it's obvious?? The others needed explanations but like YOURE HERE YOU KNOW

WAIT I FORGOT TO TAG PEOPLE SHIT @sariastrategos @gingersnappish @fallingdeeperintothispit

[askaniritual]

question! do you have any suggestions abt where to start reading for Shatterstar?

this is essentially the preeiminent question in the field of Caring about Shatterstar scholarship because there are things that are offputting to new readers in essentially every comic he's ever been in. but he is THE worlds specialist little guy and i do think he's worth the effort so here's the deal, presented in chronological order:

X-Force (1991)

This is the comic where he is introduced, so if you are committed to The Full Shatterstar Experience you can read New Mutants (1983) #99-100 and then start X-Force (1991) #1 and just read that comic through issue 70. He's a main character for that entire stretch. If the art starts making you despondent, just know it gets really really good starting issue #44.

If you are taking this approach you also need to read Cable 1993 #22 between issues 45 and 46 of X-Force. This is possibly the best he has ever looked and is an absolutely banger issue.

Additional mandatory reading for this era is X-Force Annual 1999. I am linking this so you know how important it is. I own TWO physical copies of this comic book.

@pickleslice and @shatterstar will say that after this you have to read the first 4 pages of X-Force: Shatterstar (2004) #1. Do with that information what you will. The rest of the comic is bad though everybody agrees on this.

X-Factor Investigations aka X-Factor (2006)

Shatterstar shows up here in issue #43 through the end of the comic. This is where his relationship with Rictor becomes canon (although it was very clearly hinted at in X-Force 1991). The important thing to note about this is that the author, Peter David, slam dunks all of Shatterstar's previous characterization in the garbage in service of making him a shitty Jack Harkness ripoff. It's painfully biphobic!

Most Shatterstar enjoyers do not feel that this comic is the best representation of him as a character, but unfortunately it now makes up the majority of his publication history in recent memory.

In here you also need to read Avengers: The Children's Crusade #6. Idk where and tbh it doesn't really matter.

Shatterstar (2018)

This is a 4 issue mini and is very divisive in the fandom. People don't like the landlord thing and if you are foolish enough to go into my Shatterstar tag from 2018 you will see me complaining vociferously about nearly every part of the comic. That being said!!! It was personally my introduction to the character.

I read this first and then I skim read the entirety of X-Factor (2006) and only read panels I saw Shatterstar in and I did this for like 100 issues in ~24 hours. I don't recommend this approach I'm just being real with you.

X-Factor 2020 / Exacalibur 2020

He's in both of these! I would not recommend reading them without reading any of the other stuff first but these are the most recent comics he's been in.

Anyway this is far from any kind of comprehensive reading list, he's been in more stuff! But I would say reading X-Force 1991, X-Factor 2006, and the mini will get you basically caught up to speed on what there is to know about the character. If you have any more questions about my special little guy please lmk I love talking about him

[fellfirst-fellharder-fight]

hi, hope it’s not too much trouble, i just thought it’d be fun if before the bracket actually starts you posted your fav/s submissions for each pairing? so there’s more of a basis for voting for people not in some fandoms. thanks for doing this poll it looks like it’ll be a lot of fun!

ooh i was saving the propaganda for later in the actual polls but here's some for the ones that are losing BADLY (from the screenshots my friend sent me.

Terry/Korvo

Omg where to even begin. SPOILERS for all 4 currently released seasons ahead! So, in season 1 there's like, mostly just hints, right? And sure, there's a certain Tension™ but it's mostly played for laughs. And yes, they hate each other a bit but y'know. Personally I think Terry had feelings for Korvo even before season 1 but you can argue about that. Then, in season 2, they share some genuine feelings, they kiss and Korvo horrifically tortures Terry though time travel. In that order. They're quirky <3 Then in the Christmas special there's more emotions and kissing and also, btw, at some point we got word of god confirmation they *were* in fact in a romantic relationship by the end of season 2. Again, personal opinion, but I'm not sure Korvo was like, thoroughly in love by that point but we're certain he is by now. And then in season 3, more and more genuine emotions are shared and while technically they were posing as married the entire time, we now see Terry call Korvo his husband and mean it (after Korvo got jealous of Terry's "[standing in] line husband") but the real fun begins in season 4! That's when they really start acting like a couple and we get to see that both of them genuinely care for each other and also are attracted to each other. Oh, and they fuck on screen. They're invisible during it but they totally fuck on screen. More jealous Korvo in the finale, too, but unfounded as we learned Terry has stopped hooking up with strangers for Korvo's sake. Also, during this season we see them spooning in their sleep and it's. So gosh darn cute. And like... season 5 is already ordered. We're getting new Tervo content, probably sometime next year. And it's gonna be amazing!!!

Penelope Featherington/Colin Bridgerton:

Penelope has a long-standing crush on Colin, who views her as just-a-friend for a long time. In the show, Colin loudly tells a group of male peers who mock him for “courting her” that he would never court her in their wildest dreams, and Penelope overhears. Heartbroken, she will try to find a different suitor in the next season. But Colin will eventually fall hard for her, finding out her secret ID as Lady Whistledown, trying to protect her despite the fact that she doesn’t need it, and realizing that he has crazy levels of pent-up lust for her. They are a classic fell first/fell harder ship that is absolutely essential representation for fat women like myself. I’m counting down the days to season 3 and Penelope/Colin was the first book I read of the series because I’m so excited!

Kokoro Aichi AKA Heartful Punch/Undine Wells AKA Alchemical Water

So my Girl Kokoro has a lot of pride, she hates being seen as weak bc of her daddy and mommy issues and because of that hates it when people call her by her real name and tends to prefer to just go by HP in honor of her magical girl title, but within like TWO days of knowing Undine and hearing her call her HP she was just like '...you can call me Kokoro' and then Undine does just that all of HP's friends go absolutely bananas quoting it as 'the forbidden name' and then react even more dramatically when Kokoro just sort of rolls with it. Girl's had it bad since this waterbender pretty girl first tidal waved into her life Meanwhile Undine, whom as a magical girl struggles to kill monsters on her own since her powers are more 'support class' as it is, she's not super strong on her own, kills a HUGE monster in basically one shot when Kokoro is threatened to nearly get swallowed by it, turning her water into essentially a jet cutter. she often has dreams about Kokoro, though only realized she had feelings for her during that noted save, she's ALWAYS worried that just by being around her she's putting a target on her back (bc she's the main character so the bad guys are gunning for her) she seems really chill most of the time bc she's just a really reserved girl but like this girl can and will commit murder to keep her pink gf safe and like- they're canonically super gay end of chapter 15 they kiss for the first time it's great

Luke/Zander:

Luke fell first. Zander fell harder. They so cute (AND CANON) uhmmmmmm I can't right now I have to go fast but uh bye (WATCH THE MUSIC FREAKS ITS SO GOOD)