#i want people to come over and feel like they're about to solve a decades old mystery bc their grandma is being accused of murder

[thepixiedreambitch]

I want to live in one of those hidden object games:/

[loumandiel]

It's an underdiscussed part of the show, maybe because it's so obvious, that ultimately this whole interview is happening because Daniel Molloy wanted to fuck that vampire. Like before the 1st season even started Eric Bogosian was already talking about Daniel feeling attracted to Louis, and that attraction is an essential part of their complicated history and relationship and is always underneath every other thought and feeling Daniel has about Louis.

Daniel's intellectual/journalistic interest in Louis is inseparable from his physical attraction to him. When they met in the 70s Daniel felt an instant pull towards Louis, and as he said he really wanted to interview him, but he was also quite obviously assuming they would sleep together. Decades later that pull is still so strong he's ready to throw everything else away to get some kind of closure. I think he's sort of embarrassed by his own emotions (especially when he seemingly hasn't come to terms with his sexuality) and that they still have so much power over him no matter how old and mature he is. He's so snarky and rude to Louis to protect himself, to hide his vulnerability and feel like he has some kind of control over the situation. It's something similar with Armand; whether Daniel and Armand have a history or not, Armand is an attractive, powerful man who managed to trick Daniel, so Daniel feels the need show that he's in control and that he's not afraid of or intrigued by Armand, even though he's both.

But this exterior started to crack at the same time Louis' own did. In the beginning Daniel tried to keep his distance (and he probably reminded himself 'these people serial killers' every time he found himself feeling sympathy towards vampires) but when Louis is now acting so vulnerable and strikingly human, doing things like openly crying when talking about his daughter and sincerely thanking Daniel for helping him, it's impossible for Daniel to not feel empathy for him. In the s2 premiere you can see he's genuinely sympathizing with Louis and not even always trying to hide it anymore. Although Daniel says he doesn't really care it's a blatant lie; he's personally invested in Louis' situation. He cares about finding out what's going on and he cares about Louis. He wants to solve this and he wants to help Louis. He still feels strongly attracted to him. Hell, he might even be a litte bit in love with him. Most people who meet Louis are.

In the first season Daniel often perceived Louis as his opponent, and in the s2 premiere he acts like Louis and Armand are both his opponents, but i think the situation will (based on what we've seen so far and promo/cast interviews) now probably pretty fast evolve into Daniel starting to think he and Louis are in the same team and Armand is their common enemy. We know Daniel is basically inserting himself between Louis and Armand's relationship and even the word love triangle has also been used. Armand and Daniel were famously a couple in the books and might end up together in the show too, but at least for now they're both focused on Louis. I wouldn't be surprised if Daniel starts to feel like he has to 'save' Louis from Armand - even though Louis probably doesn't want to be saved

[reasonsforhope]

I can't take the state of the world anymore, every day things constantly get worse and there's literally nothing we can do. Every time things get better they're immediately undone by forces more powerful than us. I just want things to go back to the way they were before when it felt like there was hope, now it feels like humanity is doomed and will never, ever get better. I just want to die so I can finally know peace from this evil.

Hey. I'm really, really sorry you're having such a hard time. That sounds like an incredibly painful headspace to be in.

Please find someone you can talk to and who can help you - whether that's a peer counselor or a good friend or a trained mental health professional. Especially a trained mental health professional, if you can. You can find a really thorough list of crisis hotlines listed by country here.

Also, I realllllly recommend getting off any websites or social media that are contributing to you feeling like this, or at least block all the people/tags posting things that are making you feel like this. Negativity bias is real - the news/internet doesn't accurately reflect the world and neither does the way your brain perceives it

In the meantime, a few quick words/facts of comfort. I hope they can give you at least some reassurance or solace.

We literally have more reason to hope we can solve climate change than ever before x

Starting about six months ago, major international energy reports have come out for the first time showing that we have a visible, concrete path to staying under 1.5 degrees celsius x

Twenty, even ten years ago, scientists talked about whether we could possibly manage to limit global warming to 4 or 5 degrees Celsius. Now, those numbers aren't even on the map - we're talking 1.5 or 2 degrees Celsius. We've cut expected warming in half in under a decade x

Renewable energy is growing so exponentially it's now "unstoppable" x

Two hundred years ago, in 1800, there wasn't a single "liberal democracy" - a democracy that gives all citizens the right to vote - on the planet. Just over one hundred years ago, in 1900, there were five of them. Today, roughly half the countries (aka roughly 100) on the planet fall into this category. International politics is so often two steps forward, one step back, but this is actually an astonishing pace of progress in the grand scheme of things x

For all of human history, until just over 200 years ago, roughly half of all children died. Across times, across cultures. Half of all children died by the age of 15. Half of them. Today, globally, that same child mortality rate is only 4%. We did that. We changed what was previously an eternal, inescapable, and horrific condition of human existence, and we are going to keep making that rate go down x

Two steps forward, one step back, is still moving forward. There are so, so, so many reasons that we are not already doomed. There are so many reasons to think the future is going to be bright

To anyone struggling with thoughts like this: please, please give yourself the chance to see it

[beevean]

I'm so happy that I get the chance to rant again, because the subreddit just gives me so much inspiration <3

I don't really care about Carmilla. She was, at the end of the day, a villain from a kid's cartoon, who wanted to conquer the world because she was just so eeeevil, with only the barest of backstories to pretend she had good motivations. In fact, it's hilarious to me that when you think about it, the N!Isaac vs. Carmilla epic fight, one of the climaxes of this show that has touted itself on being so deep and nuanced, has all the emotional depth of an average Sonic vs. Eggman boss battle: the impossibly cool superhero wants to stop the nefarious supervillain and her world domination plans.

(no shade to Sonic and Eggman, who are far better written than those two assholes could ever hope to be. you know what I mean)

yeah yeah she became what she depised, after a whole season of sitting on her feminist ass lol and then randomly going insane at the last minute. peak writing, as per usual.

No, it's as usual Lenore who has my attention.

She's the most human of the sisters, they say. And they're right. She is a terrifyingly realistic depiction of an abuser.

She's not a cackling madwoman who only serves as a caricature, and she doesn't exist only for shallow representation like Striga and Morana who have no objectives or personalities outside of each other. Lenore may not want world domination like Carmilla, but she absolutely longs for power over other people. I went about it here, how once you read between the lines, Lenore only wants to feel powerful and important, and she's willing to steep as low as she can to get her way because she folds like a coward the moment she doesn't have the upper hand. While Carmilla would just beat people for shit and giggles because look at how Evil (but in a Cool way) she is, Lenore is genuinely convinced that everything she did, all of her physical, mental, emotional and sexual abuse, it was all for a good cause, and she did nothing wrong, and anyway you were enjoying it too so what's the issue?

So yes, in this, she's human. She's a cruel, cunning, vile human like many women in the world who know that they can use their charm and take advantage of emotionally starved men to feel powerful, all while still painting themselves as cute and lovable. Her vampiric nature doesn't come into play until the very end, where she realizes (in theory) that she's nothing but a disgusting evil creature and she's doomed to always be so; but until then, you could write her as a human and little would change in her personality and the way she played with N!Hector.

And that's what makes her scary to me. Yes, Dracula and Carmilla are more dangerous on a wider scale, but we are much, much more likely to fall into the trap of one of the many Lenores around the world.

(I usually don't like making it all about gender, but Lenore's abuse of N!Hector is absolutely gendered. Her entire character revolves around what I can only call toxic femininity.)

And that's why the takes I see about her deadass trigger me, because what the fuck do you mean, she's the less cruel of the bunch????

I don't give a shit about the Lesbians, but at least they realized that what they were doing was wrong! Sure, their motivations were mainly self-centered because they didn't want to waste their existence fighting, but they also took pity on the humans they were meant to kill!

I just fought fucking farmers. Saw the fear in their eyes. Not fear of dying. Fear of not having fought. Fear of not saving their people.

It's more empathy than Lenore ever showed for N!Hector, with her filthy "you were having fun"!

"Found her strengths" yeah, instead of physically torturing N!Hector, she used manipulation, abuse, coercion, gaslighting and rape by deception to "solve his problem". Wow, such strengths, many power. And then the second things got worse for her she immediately decided to peace out of life rather than wait a few decades until N!Isaac died, sorry N!Hector if you grew to care about me but my own bratty feelings are more important. I'm sorry, I know it's in bad taste to paint suicide as the cowardly way, but it's what the story did!

The Lenore apologism creeps me out more than anything else. I can stand the Carmilla stans who think she's so cool and badass and #grrlpower. I'm annoyed but resigned to the N!Isaac stans who believe he's the most complex character of all time and forgot about all the petty murders he commited. I'm baffled by the N!Dracula stans who genuinely believe he had the right to start a mass slaughter because some peasants didn't take him seriously enough. But this rhetoric that Lenore is the least evil of the sisters, that she was ultimately a poor broken woman who only did what she thought was the right thing, terrifies me. She's a realistic, human female abuser... and just like many female abusers, her crimes get brushed off because she's cute, because she looked sad enough, because women who sexually dominate men are inherently hot. And I know that fiction is not reality and you can enjoy villains without being a bad person, but the arguments the stans use, not to paint Lenore as cool like Carmilla but to actually downplay her very realistic crimes, just hit too close to home for me.

I just wish that "human" didn't become shorthand for "good deep down", because it's not true. Sometimes a "human" villain is far more evil than a villain so shallow they don't quite feel real.

[parvuls]

okay. so I couldn't very well post all those meta posts and not analyze 'coach', could I?

there is just. so much to unpack here.

bitty's fear of confrontation

(bitty's first mention of coach vs. the coach arc)

could you even imagine bitty yelling at his dad like that in year 1? could you even imagine him explicitly seeking out the confrontation instead of taking the easy way out and making peace with not knowing?

year 4 bitty is sick and tired of feeling ashamed of who he is. that's not where he's at anymore. bitty found a home, and found a family, and came out to them, and found love, and came out with him, and faced every bad thing the world had to say about that, and is now leading a division one hockey team as an out gay man.

bitty learned to overcome his fear of confrontation one tiny step at a time over three long years, and this is the final step. the boss level. bitty is going to face the root of all that and demand an answer, and is going to learn to live with that answer, whatever that may be.

2. coach's Emotions

and that's emotions with a capital E.

the most telling statement coach gives in this whole comic is this one: I don't know what to do with you. and he means that super literally. bitty knows that; suzanne knows that; we know that.

coach spent his entire life with one type of men, and then he had bitty, and he does not know what to do with him. not because he thinks bitty's wrong in some way (although bitty certainly fears that), but because he literally doesn't know how to talk to bitty. in coach's world, coming all this way to watch bitty's game (and, also, routinely watch all of bitty's boyfriend games), is a straightforward way to support bitty. that's the love language between father and son that coach knows. much like: signing his son up to peewee football so he can coach him - so they could share a love for the sport.

coach doesn't know how to express his emotions in words. he really does think that not making a big deal out of bitty's sexuality and just quietly accepting jack into their life is the best way to support him. and honestly? coach probably wants the path of least resistance (much like... someone else we know). he's not exactly comfortable with this whole concept of """gays""" yet, but what good would that conversation be? and he's actually pretty hurt that his son let him find out about this with the rest of the entire fucking world, but what good would that conversation be?

let us flash back and remember that coach, in the midst of the cup party, didn't say a word about bitty coming out on tv before ever talking to them. all he said was "jack played a good game" and "call your mother [you're hurting her]". coach didn't give any indication that bitty hurt his feelings, too - but now it comes out in a burst.

3. plot twist: bitty is his father's son.

('summer with jack' blogpost)

so you thought bitty takes after his mom, huh? haha. NOPE.

so bitty represses his feelings, huh? so bitty would rather solve everyone's problems before admit he's hurting? so bitty would do anything to avoid confrontation? so bitty would escape tough conversations even when they're so important and hurting the people he loves ('hi honey', anyone?)?

yeah. so. the bittle men.

bitty has been in pain for, like, coming up to a decade now, because he really does think that his father considers the way he is as 'messed up'. and coach has been struggling to connect with his only child for about ~22 years now, and actually in pain for about 5-6 months, because his son apparently thinks his parents are on the same level of importance as every other living soul on the planet.

and they... choose to acknowledge this only when it literally explodes out of them.

how could coach know the right way to support bitty if bitty never told him? he couldn't. how could bitty know his father loves him as he is if coach never told him? he couldn't. it's like? words are? important? listen, when jack zimmermann tells you you need to talk to your daddy about your issues, something must be truly fucked up.

4. a hopeful future

so that's the bottom line. arguably four years of growth coming to fruition. bitty willingly confronted his dad; coach said the word 'boyfriend' and told bitty he's good; they parted ways knowing the next time they're going to see each other isn't in vaguely 7-8 months again. it's not just making nice with each other: they both took actions to communicate. coach using the word boyfriend is the representation of his willingness to learn and grow for bitty.

why do you think bitty nailed that check in the finale? because he can finally face the memory of that symbolically traumatic peewee game, and all that comes with it, without having to also wonder if his father is ashamed of him. he is now ready to (symbolically and uhhh kind of literally) take on the face of the hatred and homophobia that plagued him his whole life without holding himself back.

[gerryrigged]

mmkay I've read the first two issues out of G0tham War and

(CUT FOR BIG SALT, lol)

this is so dumbbbbb oh my god 😭 like we knew it was gonna be dumb, artificial conflict, but LORDT.

everyone is OOC, even more than I expected, and the stupid, ridiculous plot hinges on the stupid, ridiculous idea that Selina's dumbass plan would ever, ever work. (Let's train ALL the henchpeople/goons (yes all of them) to be ethical 😌 non-violent catburglars 😌 like Selina 😌 who donate part of their profits to charity 😌 and only target rich people so they're really #hashtagvictimlesscrimes and then they don't have to work for dangerous Rogues and mobsters, yay, they're bettering their lives!!) (this is ~Sophisticated Social Commentary~!)

And it especially depends on her plan working astronomically better than the hundreds of millions of dollars Bruce has poured into similar outreach for the city over literal decades through the Wayne Foundation and other programs, creating and offering people jobs, support networks, etc. that aren't criminal in nature.

but oh, no one is going to bring that up (has the Martha Wayne Foundation ever even existed? haha, none of these Wayne kids know, apparently! they're just going to sit and twiddle their thumbs while Selina yells at Bruce that he's just "...clearly furious because [he's] wasted [his] fortune and [his] brain on bat-cars and punching people, and it took compassion to solve this problem").

Anyway, Bruce's efforts never meaningfully improved Gotham (cough because Batman stories can't be told without a crime-ridden Gotham cough), while Selina's (gasp) actually have! Somehow!

because the Power of Plot demands it, her cartoonish plan apparently works SO well that violent crime is down almost 75%!! wowiee, Catwoman is actually fixing Gotham, which no one has ever been able to do before!! who needs Batman, haha! that's such egg on your face, Batman, how come you never thought of doing something like this before, haha. Just convince the criminals to be non-violent, Batman, haha, what like it's hard. Ha.

So anyway, gosh, the Batkids (minus Damian, who's siding with Bruce, and Jason, who, harkening back to his "control crime" roots, 100% supports Selina) are conflicted. It feels ~weird~ just blithely letting burglars walk right past them into people's homes, but the ~numbers don't lie~, Batman, it's ~working~, maybe we shouldn't interfere and just see where this goes, like Selina asked! Aren't you being a little unreasonable walking out of this both-sides-might-have-a-point debate, Batman?? Also, ohhh nooo, you shouldn't push back so hard against her people because we don't want to start a ~war~, Batman!

I'M GONNA FACEPLANT INTO MY KEYBOARD IT'S SO ABSURD. How can you write anyone in-character when you're stuck twisting them in knots to accommodate such an absurd premise?

And then, when one of Selina's "graduates" is shot and killed during a break-in by a scared woman who'd unexpectedly stayed home when she was supposed to be out of town, the Batkids (minus Damian) act like it's somehow unexpected/out of control for Batman to bring down the hammer on Selina's operation? Like a man didn't just die because of the path Selina set him on? Like a massive surge in crime targeting the rich isn't going to eventually have more such incidents and ramifications down the line, as backlash and escalations hit? Like rich people are not known for vigorously defending their property?? What is your long-term plan here, Selina??

Batman isn't even shown being excessively violent in rounding up Selina's people (for Batman, lol) - just relentless. But Tim shows up and tries to talk him down as if he's putting petty crooks in the hospital again like after Jason's death (he just lasso'd that crook's legs and growled at him?? what is so over the top about that, in vigilante context?? this is completely normal Bat behavior??), making noises about Bruce's health and taking it easy, and oooo, nothing's black and white...

And Dick goes, "He's on a rampage, he's out of control" (WHERE? LITERALLY WHERE? are you perhaps referring to the murderous police-state robot he built and accidentally unleashed on Gotham a few arcs ago (which was ACTUALLY bad and over the top), because there is nothing in this event so far???). And Tim worries about how Batman was so angry, he's worried about what he's going to do, how far he's willing to go, and Babs is like if Selina asks for help, I'd be inclined to give it.

Like if they'd actually showed Bruce escalating and going out of control, losing it on these non-violent thieves, I wouldn't be so enormously peeved about this aspect of it. Granted, I'd still be hella mad about people like Cass and Dick and Tim thinking about supporting Catwoman's (IDIOTIC) plan, especially after a man just died, but they've all seen Bruce go off the rails before, they're very familiar with having to oppose him on those occasions.

But the way this is set up??? No. Just no. Bruce is pissed about the one thief dying, he's not trying to kill the rest of them??

It doesn't make sense, and they all come across as painfully out of character. Standing aside and letting certain crimes happen as a matter of standing policy, because they're Catwoman's people - like you can count on nobody getting hurt because Selina just trained them so well - are you kidding me, what happened to these kids' principles?? Writers and Editorial I am IN YOUR WALLS, STOP CONTORTING CHARACTERS JUST TO FIT THE DUMBASS STORY YOU WANT TO TELL.

Dick: I'm gonna head into Gotham and see if I can talk Bruce off his "moral ledge."

QUOTE UNQUOTE MORAL LEDGE??? DICK GRAYSON of all people referring to Bruce's adherence to his Mission and his Code with sanctimonious, condescending scare quotes???? Like he doesn't also believe in "no life is an acceptable loss" to a reckless, at times self-destructive degree??? Huh????

And this absolutely DUMBASS fight scene where all of the Batkids (minus Damian) fight against Bruce, but the all-powerful Bat-god doesn't need strategy or contingency plans to handle the most dangerous and highly trained vigilantes on the planet, he just goes ahead and one-shots Cass (lmfao????) and Duke and then Steph and Tim at the same time and only Dick and Jason even land blows on him for ~some reason~.

UUUUGH.

Funnily enough, outside that stupid-ass fight scene, Bruce is one of the ones who seems least out of character, considering everything he's been through recently, his paranoia about becoming old and unnecessary and only feeling at home in his Batman suit (we've certainly seen that before 🙄), his Code, and not to mention Zur-En-Arrh (and also a shadowy something else?) lurking in his psyche whispering to him, clearly not actually constrained by the cage Bruce thought he was locked in.

I'm 100% blaming instability and Zur for the bits where Bruce is more obviously wilding (mainly when fighting Jason), but like - at least he has reasons built into the narrative to be slipping like that? Everyone else is just acting that way because ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, I guess.

This would all be much more enjoyable if they'd found a way to make Selina's side less ridiculous/more convincing. Like I would actually be interested in seeing Zur-En-Arrh twist Bruce's mind against his family. It was fun for that brief period in the Failsafe arc because we got to see Bruce fight against and eventually overcome it! But I can't even enjoy it here when the whole thing is so frikkin' stupid and being written terribly.

Like clearly Bruce is going to go way, way more off the rails fairly quickly from here, given how Zur is straight up fucking with him at the end (and Vandal Savage??? okay Jan). So siding against him will rapidly become more obviously reasonable, I assume. I just hope the (small) bits where like, Tim expressed worry about Bruce's wellbeing are expanded on, and shared by other characters (Dick??? Cass???), so they can help him with this mental breakdown rather than it being constantly hostile/adversarial.

...Admittedly a bit intrigued by the big Rogue Gathering, teaming up as they don't have minions to do their bidding anymore. Like, fun, evil backlash resulting from Selina's (STUPID) plan? Good! And also a compelling reason for the good guys to eventually band back together and heal this rift? Well, hopefully. :/

[angel-hawthorne]

Some thoughts came to mind.

Just because some people don't hit their children doesn't mean they're unruly, let alone lack discipline. Is that all they ever think about when it comes to children? "If they're not obedient, soulless automatons catering to my impossible ass standards that I'll never uphold myself, or displease me in any way, I will assault them." Sadly, these are the same fuckers who think the world is going downhill because adults don't hit "dIsCiPLinE" children enough. Jesus, fuck, these people. They never cease to trip me up.

Firstly, why do you want to assault children so badly? Why do you wear that shit as a badge of honor? What I don't seem to understand is: why do certain people think that kids will run all (or rule) over them if they don't have a violent authoritarian approach towards children? It's like they're swinging from one extreme to the next. Inside their minds, there's only two alternatives: be an authoritarian or be permissive. Nevermind the fact that there are at least 4 parenting styles. It wasn't that long ago plenty of men said the same shit about women, and treated them like second class citizens. News Flash, more than enough of them still do to this day. The same applies to those who hold similar attitudes towards black people & people of color.

In a way, it gives me a bit of a window into what these faultfinders are like. Like why do authoritarians feel threatened by children so much? I'm not sure how to word this. What exactly do they mean by run all over them in the first place? Last time I checked, adults are the one with unchecked power. They project that misuse of said power onto children. The latter party still has yet to learn, process and respond to their emotions and surroundings in healthy ways. Whereas adults have decades of self exploration and practice (or lack thereof) to hone their emotions.

Something's wrong with your mindset If you perceive a small child, who's dependent on you for survival, wielding the alleged power to that of an imaginary tyrant. Again, kids have no means of self-defense, and still has a lot to learn about themselves (& the world). I seriously doubt grounded adults attack people weaker than themselves as an effective strategy to solve a problem. It all sounds like they only care about power and control. At this point, I don't care if this is a shaming post. It's all too maddening.

[at-verticallity]

tag someone you want to know better

tagged by @alwinfy

Favorite Color: i have a hard time choosing… i usually answer grey as the best general purpose answer, but i also like reserved warm greens, bright orange, and eyestrain blue.

Last Song: haven't listened to much lately, except for a few vocaloid songs here and there. i currently have 問題児P - 地球を削る巨大な歯車 (Giant Gears Grinding the Earth/“World Rock Drill”), Kikuo - As it is, as it is, without change, and r-906 - Panopticon 2021 stuck in my head.

Last Movie: i watched The Rodfellows Movie after it was brought up in the most recent Patricia Taxxon video and that definitely counts. aside from that, i had been watching a few old movies with my dad, and i think the most recent were The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and True Grit. and before that i think would just be Barbie and Oppenheimer back when people were watching those together.

Currently Watching: nothing right now, though recently i picked back through my ‘introductory anime’ list that i made to try to go through last winter. i'm very late to the party on all that, but even moreso now because i also sprinkled in a couple of shows from the current season at the time to try to be relevant. all of that to say i watched WataMote and Bocchi the Rock! a few weeks ago, which was a fun surprise in that there was more to contrast between the two than i was expecting. unlikely i'm going to watch anything else soon, but if i do the main three ones left are lain, bebop, and utena.

Currently Reading: i haven't been reading anything though i probably should… i still have a short list to get to but i'm not really in the mood right now. anyway i'm hijacking this section to be about games instead because i've been catching up on a lot of those after only trying one or two per year for the longest time. recently finished Braid, Outer Wilds, and Superliminal, and up next planning to try Rain World (top priority at a friend's behest), A Short Hike, IMMORTALITY, and SIGNALIS. i've also started a few more in-depth skill games and puzzle games, but because those are made to put more dedicated time in, they're pushed to the side for now.

Currently Working On: writing a small programming language with an effect system so that i can use it in other projects. in particular i wanted it for a Touhou fangame (or if i fail to finish that, at least a skeletal engine for one) to describe bullet patterns, but i think it could also be useful for some audio coding stuff i wanted to try. of course, this is PL brainrot because both of those are already solved problems, but it's fun to work on. i still feel like i'm a creative downturn, not for lack of ideas but because over the past half decade i've gotten a lot worse at seeing anything to completion, so i'm also continually trying to get used to doing more small creative stuff, but not much has come of that so far.

Current Obsession: really into Touhou right now. yeah.

Who I'm tossing the potato to: i don't know many people on tumblr, and many of the tumblr people i don't-know were already tagged… i guess @mickelbach and @tenqi if they'd like, since we've talked before at least. anyone else feel free as well of course.

[dearreader]

latam swiftie here

I'm not on tik tok so idk what's going on there. The math side of the easter eggs has got a bit out of hand and they don'tknow what they're talking about. And I agree with you on "not needing an announcement to make it special". I feel this is kind of similar to when ppl complain about the surprise songs they got. I would have never chosen Labyrinth!! And I got it and loved every second of it!! It's special because it was my surprise song, not the other way around.

I didn't believe we'd get an announcement tonight until her dancers started posting black hearts. But my favourite thing would be for her to just play foolish one.

I'm super grateful for the shows, I got to see the mashup, it was insane and I loved every second of it. I had been waiting for over a decade for this so it meant everything to me. I am not expecting her to do anything other than show up at the announced time and perform (as long as weather and health allows her to).

I waited 3 years between 1989 and rep, im not expecting releases this often. No one was expecting 1989 tv right after speak now (I certainly wasn't expecting it until early next year the soonest). But she did announce it and it did happen. Thats just why it's not that crazy to think of an announcement this soon. It just hurts to see everyone calling us ungrateful. Over 17 years we only got 3 tour dates. And we're so so grateful for it, we tried to show her that with the "we will stay" fan project. I screamed so loud every single lyric I damaged my vocal chords and it took me a week to recover. People are still making edits, friendship bracelets, they're gathering in the parks and doing swiftie meetups, today I gave two fbs away on the subway!!

The reasons why I believe she won't come back are market-related and financial, but the whole T4F fiasco didn't help at all. The local producer (T4F) is responsible, not the stadium (Im saying this bc i saw this confusion a lot, here those are two different companies, I believe in the US it's the same one).

I understand and agree with what you said, I just want you to know we're very grateful for what we got. (and I didn't think you were rude). In all honestly, the feeling I got from everyone in that crowd was excitement and wanting to be a part of something this big. We didn't want to show anything other than support and love. I heard exactly 0 people complain we didn't get an announcement (but I'm not on tik tok so i might be wrong lol)

And no, we're not really a part of this whole thing the same way everyone (the US, Europe and even parts of Asia/Oceania) is. But I'm not gonna complain because at least we got tour dates. There are lots of places who got no tours dates at all (African swifties you're in my heart). I obviously understand she can't please the entire world and that there are financial decisions to be made!! She's a human and a business woman and I understand. But it does mean we get left aside (again! This is a world/capitalism problem where poorer countries get less chances in general and I'm not expecting Taylor to solve this).

Im sorry, this is so long. Im just trying to say that this is a reality (a sad one), that we understand it exceeds her 100%, and are grateful she toured this year. But that in the bigger picture, we're not a part of things like "the rest of you" and I believe thats where this whole rep tv thing is coming from. It doesn't mean we're not super grateful she took a chance on us and visited this year 😊

Thank you for reading and answering. I know you didn't have to. I really hope you enjoy the last show of 2023 :)

hi, please forgive me for a not good response as i’m tired and focusing on my breathing right now.

but thank you again for responding and explaining more about the financial aspect. and i’m so sorry if i ever implied latam swifties were ungrateful, i never meant to or ever thought that as everything i’ve seen has been nothing but overwhelming love and support from latam, and i really really hope she you’re there again because it’s clear the fans love her and i want her to just be able to be with fans and people who love the music. and the fact you guys are still doing friendship bracelet exchanges is insane and i love it!

and i do think she plans on releasing all of the taylor’s versions on the tour and she wanted to hit certain dates, which is why she announced speak now and 1989 so close together. i think we’ll get reputation sometimes early next year (late january or february ((but i think february is more accurate))) and debut a bit closer to the end of the tour.

and i’m not going and sit here and say you’re apart of this tour just as much as any other location is, because again i’m an american so no matter what i’m not going to understand what it’s like in latam. but i really hope it doesn’t feel like you’re apart if this differently than anyone else, this tour is a monumental moment in taylor’s life and career and the fact she’s able to go to so many locations (especially for the first time) is so massive and big in of itself. an album announcement is a special thing but it doesn’t make the tour or anything about the night any less special.

again, im sorry if this isn’t the best response, but i do hope that you have a good night 🫶🏻

[ilyrafe]

.

i'm writing this just because i need to vent.

i hate my life. this year has been the absolute most difficult one i've had to endure. i lost my job in january, still can't get a new one, i'm no longer eligible to get unemployement insurance, can't focus to study, i've been severelly depressed and have had many suicidal thoughts. i've struggled with suicidal ideation for over a decade, but never actually did anything, until the last couple of weeks.

i tried to throw myself from the balcony and tried to hung myself and gave up both times because i didn't want my mom to find me.

you see, i just want to have a regular life. normal job, money to pay the bills and a little leisure, my own place and that's it. i don't want a lot from life, i just want to live without feeling like i'm drowning.

i don't see another way to solve my problems, though. dying is the only thing that comes to mind. i think of dying constantly, literally every day all day. i catch myself being jealous of people that die and that had the courage to end their life. i cry myself to sleep every night because i can't kill myself because i don't really have the guts to, but i'm so close. what stops me is the trauma that this can give to my parents and grandmother, who i am very close with.

i don't want to hurt anyone, and i don't want to hurt myself either, but it's just so excruciating to exist. i'm in tears as i write this because i know tomorrow will be just as gut wrenching as yesterday and the day before. i've been stuck for so long.

i do go to therapy and have talked about my attempts, but i still can't really talk too much about it because it's hard for me, for some reason. i feel ashamed and embarrassed still.

i know i'm not the only one struggling. in fact, i'm in such privileged position. i don't have kids, i'm not married, i live with my mom and she works. my dad helps me, my grandmother also. but we're not rich, and i hate that i'm an issue now. they know i'm trying and they're encouraging me to keep going because they know how hard i'm trying which is somewhat validating.

i've always felt like a burden to them and now that i'm jobless i can't contribute with the bills like i did before. this is killing me inside.

i just don't want to exist. if this is life, then i don't want it.

[magistralucis]

Hello @magistralucis !! First how are you, I hope life is treating you well! (Hope better than me I am freezing in my dorm these days 😅🥹)

I was watching Madoka Magica and the new Frieren End of a Journey today and though;

Orikan and Trazyn really would vibe with these animes (hell even maybe necrons with Madoka especially)

Madoka magika is about collection of naive young girls had to take a faustian bargain (they didn't know about) and got turned into basically flesh automatons with their souls put in magic rocks that can be used to manipulate , hurt and control them through fear. And the whole turning into an eldrich abomination if you won't kill these witches (who are also magical girls who have given into despair) or fall to much into nihilism and despair turn into these montrocities have some uncomfortable resemblance to their situation. Not to mention Kyuubey...

Anf the Main Characters...I have a feeling Orikan simultaneously really wibe and really despise Homura for obvious reasons 😅🥹

Trazyn would absolutely go feral for something as old as 21th century product already. I think he would LOVE Sayaka's fight with the witch girl done in silluates. Also the music. Non religious music.

I think they'd enjoy the mellow and nice athmosphere of Frieren. And emphatize with her being an immortal among very mortal people. Also I think they'd love her ruthlessness and drive for knowledge. I think Imotekh also can really wibe with Frieren as a character.

What do you think? If you even watch these shows , if not than I am sorry for this long ass ask 🙇‍♀️😅

I've never actually watched Frieren but boy oh boy do I have words to say about Madoka. I watched it back when it was first airing, over a decade ago, and am eagerly waiting for the last movie to come out 💖

The magical girls of Madoka vs. necrons dynamics are not lost on me either. Deceived, then turned into liches by cosmic malice, forever in danger of becoming an even more twisted version of themselves on top of what they've gone through. Always at the risk of falling to the Destroyer cults, becoming Severed, or becoming Flayed Ones, or falling out of favour in some other way.. In both cases they turn to the divine to solve their problems - or more specifically, seek to turn themselves into the divine, like with Ultimate Madoka and Orikan's goals - but whether any of that is a satisfying solution remains to be seen.

I guess the girls of Madoka have it somewhat better, by virtue of not being in the world of 40K (🤣) and still having their souls, even though they're no longer in their bodies. Necrons don't have any souls, at least not the ones they were born with so many millions of years ago - but at least some of them can love, which may be as good as having souls in a universe as dark as this.

(Speaking of Homura, have you seen Rebellion yet? There's an aspect of her psyche in that film that I think is a key parallel to the Trazyn-Orikan relation, but I don't want to spoil if you haven't seen it)

[sparkyblizz]

tell me all your blackbright headcanons

sorry it took me so long to answer this!! I was working on an exam at the time

so in no particular order:

they are in love, of course, as you would expect from a romantic pairing, but also, they are friends. bros. buddies. a good friendship is the foundation of a good romantic relationship! before they were together they ended up becoming friends and actually enjoyed each other's company, as strange as it would seem considering their contrasting personalities.

Bobby is a himbo obviously, dumb, beefy (I like to think of him as being like beefy in the sense that he's strong and has muscles but he also has like love handles, he has a little bit of chub because we need more of that in this world) and kind, and while the idea of him being dumb is funny, I reckon he is actually also smart, like he can think and he knows things. he is dumb in the sense that's he's light-hearted and says silly things and can be scatterbrained and forgetful, but he's smart in the sense that he's a good detective who can observe a crime scene and find clues and solve a case. he is dumbsmart. he can have intellectual conversations with Simon but he just tends to default to joking around. also he can be a bit of an overthinker.

Simon is smartdumb. not the same as dumbsmart. he is a good prosecutor, very good at what he does, and he's also a psychologist, he has a good grip on what makes people tick and how to work with it, but he's also very blunt, slightly socially inept, and sometimes just doesn't get things. smartdumb. also he's so smart that it comes full circle to being dumb, via overthinking and overanalysing, mental gymnastics galore. he needs to learn that sometimes the simplest explanation is right one.

that being said, them being the dumbsmart-smartdumb duo works as they can reach an equilibrium of sorts. at work, they can solve cases better by getting each other's views and comparing and contrasting. however, at home, I feel like they'd also have the potential to butt heads and disagree at some points, but in the same way that you do with someone you love and get along with well, they don't hold grudges over it and they make up pretty quickly. on a funnier note they can theorise about their favourite shows together using their combined less than ten braincells.

prior to them getting together everyone in the Criminal Affairs Department and Prosecutor's Office knew that Detective Bobby Fulbright had a crush on Prosecutor Simon Blackquill, and they're all just watching this prosecutor who's supposed to be fantastic when it comes to psychology just be completely oblivious to this fact. maybe he's in denial, maybe it's Maybelline. somehow missing the telltale signs of a flushed face, dilated pupils, and goofy grin on his detective partner every time he looks at him. "this is entirely platonic behaviour." smartdumb. Athena yells at him like "I CAN HEAR HIS HEART SCREAMING THAT HE WANTS YOU HOW ARE YOU MISSING THIS" and Simon's like "poppycock. your ears are malfunctioning."

Simon tries to be discreet at work about their relationship and everyone he works with just wakes up and chooses violence. for the first few weeks he's just straight up denying the allegations, he goes to the precinct to meet up with Bobby because they're working on a case together and Ema Skye is just nearby like "we all know you're dating. you know that, right?" and Simon deadpans "I haven't the faintest idea what you are on about, Detective Skye." and then Bobby's just next to him trying his goddamn best not to laugh just nodding like "mm-hmm, mm-hmm". eventually he accepts that everyone knows and they don't try and hide it and it goes well, there are a couple jokes made in good nature here and there, mostly from Ema (I love her).

Bobby has spent many a time trying to do a straight face as Simon says the weirdest shit known to man. he pulls out British insults and terminology that have not been used in decades and his loyal boyfriend and detective partner is just trying not to laugh. he eventually manages to get used to the fact that Simon just talks like that and he can translate it in his head after spending so much time around him. he loves the way this strange man speaks and he wouldn't trade it for the world.

affection! they're not PDA (Public Display of Affection) people but when they're at home they'll throw an arm around each other in a lazy hug and kiss each other on the cheek casually. wholesome content.

the weird family that Simon has amassed: Bobby is friends with Taka. Taka lets Bobby pet him. he loves this terrifying raptor bird. Athena is super friendly and treats Bobby like a second uncle because he's dating her first uncle (not blood related but aurametis makes Simon uncle-adjacent as well as the fact that he just has that sort of mentor-ish older relative dynamic with her). they will go on runs together. Aura has definitely given Bobby the shovel talk at one point, "if you hurt my brother you'll wish you were never born" type thing, she eventually warms up to him however. she questions his taste in men. "why are you attracted to my emo edgy gremlin of a little brother?" Christmas dinner with the Blackquills + Athena is surreal for Bobby, the siblings are casually insulting each other, Athena is making polite conversation in between the insults with both of them, and Bobby is just following it trying to figure out what any of this is. he has been adopted into this found family now, there is no way out.

I think that's all the main stuff, I've made a bunch of other random posts about ideas I've had for them separately and together as well as put a bunch of fun and funky fresh details into the fic I'm currently writing! this is a uh long post and I hope you enjoy this answer! I have no idea what to tag this augh

[sevensided]

I'm thinking aloud here, but I think the shift that occurred in fandom spaces around a decade ago was the move away from canon as scripture and more of a suggestion. Like, this is the base story that we're working with and the fandom builds on top of that; for some people, it actually improves the original story by elaborating on what, whether by convention or form, could not be fully communicated in canon.

People in fandom get frustrated when there aren't highly specific and niche scenes or subplots between characters, but they're forgetting that the story they're consuming doesn't exist in a fandom space: it exists in a space where there is a narrative structure and beats that need to be hit. To you, this character is the main character. But in canon, they're a supporting role - they can't have the attention given to them as if they were a main character, because that would bloat the whole story and nothing would ever happen.

But the issue in taking canon as a suggestion means that whatever is created within that problem-solving process results in a space where fans think they own the source material, because they have put so much effort into 'improving it'. There's also the issue of character ownership, where fans feel that they 'understand' the character better than the person that created them. In reality, the fan has over-identified with a fictional character and distorted them through the lens of fandom to create something different - and something unrelated to canon. This isn't a bad thing, exactly. It's just important to reflect on that process and recognise your role in it.

When this is taken too far, it results in fandoms essentially ruining the story for themselves and everyone else, because they become convinced that their version of the story is the superior one (see, for a classic example, Sterek and Teen Wolf).

I think it's okay to feel frustrated about these stories and you can express that frustration within the fandom space. But when it starts to bleed outwards and impact upon the creators, actors, or whoever else is involved in the story's adaptation, that's an issue.

As for arguments that 'queer stories don't exist and we don't have any representation'... Sorry, but I was in fandom when literally no gay characters at all, ever, existed in canon. Ever. Fandom was the only way to find representation. These days, you have so many wonderful queer stories being told and we are being represented on screen. That's brilliant, and it's only going to improve from here on out.

Without turning this post into even more of an armchair psychologist moment than it already is, I would suggest that the drive to see queer characters in typically 'mainstream' stories is the result of a desire to see our stories as normal and normalised to the general public. Take Mike and Will. To tell a slowburn coming-of-age gay story set in the 80s with sci-fi elements would be seriously significant and could potentially mark a genuine shift in how gay stories are presented. I sincerely hope this is what the Duffers have planned - or, at least, that they have realised is what the story needs.

But it's a very fine line to tread between hoping for queer stories and lobbying for them to an adversarial degree.

And at the end of the day, if you want to see more queer media, go ahead and create it. Nothing is stopping you.

[themusesthrall]

I just watched a video of a formerly-married het couple where the guy was gay and that was why they hadn't been able to make the marriage work and I'm just like...

Look. I don't want act like there are any easy answers here. It's a relationship between humans, of course nothing is simple. And I know it's heteronormativity and internalized homophobia and religious pressures and stuff that got you into this situation in the first place.

But like... it feels like amatonormativity is what's making this part suck so much! Because it sounds like you love each other, you enjoy "doing life" together, you care about each other, you're good at raising your kids together... it sounds like the only thing that's "missing" is sexual attraction, and that's why you've pushed so hard for so long to try to make it work anyway.

And. Like. If you really *need* to have sexual attraction go with all that, okay--but have you checked? Have you even *considered* that you can both date and have sexual and romantic relationships with people other than your spouse, and maybe still have that stable and loving domestic life?

I'm not tryna be out here acting like polyamory and open relationships and relationship anarchy can solve every relationship issue. Maturation, honesty, care, communication, and boundaries comes first. But it sounded like they had those and... like MY DUDES you relished this dynamic enough to spend like over 2 decades painfully trying to keep it intact. I know y'all sound too Xtian for it but at that point IT MIGHT BE WORTH CHECKING IF AN OPEN RELATIONSHIP WOULD WORK FOR YOU. PLEASE TELL ME YOU AT LEAST. THOUGHT OF IT. ;_;

Just. Like. My super gay nephew has been like, yeah this straight girl is my soul mate, we're thinking about getting married and raising a kid together. She isn't any more attracted to him than he is to her. They're just like, hey, we work, we think we could co-parent, let's think about making a life together. You know, if nothing else comes up by the time we're both financially stable enough for that. And I'm like. VIDEO EXES. YOU GUYS COULD HAVE HAD THIS MAYBE. YOU COULD HAVE TRIED IT OUT. But probably no one told you it was even an optionnnnnnn, and, like, fuck society ya know?

[nellie-elizabeth]

Grey's Anatomy: Wasn't Expecting That (19x02)

Nick is the most boring character Grey's Anatomy has ever written! Sorry!

Cons:

Like, seriously. Meredith's whole speech about how she went numb when she lost him... please. I think my problem with him is that it's hard to think of him being anything more than a blip on Meredith's radar. Her life has been filled with vibrant and interesting characters, and Nick is not vibrant or interesting.

You know I have to complain about this... Owen and Teddy. I will say that the somewhat comedic marital woes are a step above the angsty, overwrought drama we usually get with these two, but it's still not exactly pleasant to watch all the same! I was complaining last week that Owen's whole plot thread last season led to absolutely nothing in the way of real consequences. Well, apparently the consequences are going to be marital problems between Owen and Teddy. Yippee. Can't wait to see that. Ugh.

Pros:

I continue to enjoy seeing Meredith as chief even if I'm not thrilled about the Nick stuff. The episode ends with a reminder of the other part of Meredith's life that we don't get to see much of: she is a mother. Zola looks so big, it's crazy how long this show has been on the air. While she's making a presentation on her hero, her grandmother Ellis Grey, she panics and talks about how Meredith and Maggie are both also going to get Alzheimer's and die and she'll be all alone. First of all, Zola, that's a super relatable anxiety. I'm curious how this story will continue, if we're going to loop around to that looming threat of Meredith's health. After all, it's been roughly two decades since this show started. She's got to be getting close to the age her mother was when she exhibited symptoms, right? Crazy to think about.

It's fun to see Bailey get some time away from the hospital! She deserves it, and seeing her settled into her role as a mother is a special treat after all the drama and pain she underwent on her journey to get there. She and Jo being mom friends is such a lovely little detail. This show is inconsistent at best at showing these people having lives outside of their work, but when they get it right, I often really enjoy it.

The interns continue to impress me. It's early days yet, but they all feel distinct and interesting. I liked that there was a medical mystery this episode that they all got to come together to solve. They save their patient's life, although he is forced to have his leg amputated. I like how this played off of various strengths and weaknesses among the various interns. Simone gets to have the insight about the diagnosis, Jules gets to amputate his leg, but things almost go badly when she can't control the bleeding. I loved the scene of the two of them in the gift shop at the end of the episode, calming themselves down. I could see a real friendship forming there!

Not much of a friendship forming between Blue and Lucas, however. The cockiest of our new batch of interns sees Lucas and Amelia speaking in hushed tones together coming out of an on-call room, and incorrectly believes they're sleeping together. The truth? Aunt Amelia was trying to make sure Lucas had a place to sleep and food to eat! But Lucas doesn't want his coworkers to know he's related to the Shepherds, so he's keeping his mouth shut for now. That should be interesting.

The marital trouble in this episode didn't stop with Owen and Teddy. We also see Maggie and Winston at odds, as Maggie depends too much on Winston to basically act as her resident during the time when they didn't have a class of residents. Because of this, his own surgeries are constantly getting pushed around, his assistants are being poached. Winston is fed up. The thing is, in contrast to Teddy and Owen's over the top snark and bickering, Maggie and Winston feel like a realistic married couple, navigating the challenges of working together. They resolve it by the end of the episode, Maggie explaining herself but also admitting wrongdoing. I remember when Maggie and Jackson dated, and two characters who I had otherwise quite enjoyed, became insufferable to me. I'm so glad Maggie and Winston don't make me feel that way. I rather enjoy their relationship!

I'm sure there are other notable developments that I'm missing, but that happens all the time with a show as stuffed full of characters as this one is! That's where I'll leave off for now!

8/10

[monocytogenes]

OTP ASKS!! Josephine/Pravin: 14, 20, 22!!

Ah yep, here we go on DAI!Pravin ("pravinquisition")--

14. How do their personalities compliment each other? How do they clash?

Well, I think Pravin and Josephine bond initially because they're both politically savvy, well-connected Social Experts. Ethically, Pravin falls sort of between Josephine and Leliana--he's not to the point of "I need to totally emotionally detach and treat my contacts as tools", but he's also enough of a cynic to believe that when negotiations fail, sometimes you just have to knife a motherfucker in the back. Much of that attitude comes from the trauma he's gone through--he cares about people more than he lets on, but he also has a tendency to hold grudges, a (justifiable) paranoid streak, and a general disdain for institutional power. Josephine believes the Inquisition can be a force for good; Pravin believes she's good, and Thalia's good, but he's been burned before.

That's where they tend to clash ideologically, I think--Josephine's proud to be part of the Inquisition and of what she's been able to accomplish in it, while Pravin's out here all 'don't put my name on the reports, don't tell people I'm here, I'm snagging my own invitation to the Winter Palace so I don't look like I belong to something.' He's intent on remaining a free agent, and while she understands well enough in the period where they're still trying to build clout with Orlais, she can also get annoyed with his commitment issues. I imagine there's a couple times where he goes behind the backs of the inner circle to solve problems in his own way, or is all 'you need to pay me way more to clean up this or that mess for you', and she just wants to shake him like 'you are a DECENT PERSON who GIVES A SHIT and you need to ACTUALLY JOIN THIS CAUSE THAT I KNOW YOU CARE ABOUT DESPITE ALL OF YOUR PROTESTATIONS.'

I imagine too that while they work preternaturally well together when they're both in a social setting with their charms turned up--they both can be very difficult to read beyond the friendly empathy they're expressing, and are both effective liars (though Pravin's capable of selling far more elaborate tales than she is)--she's pretty good at compartmentalizing that part of her life, while Pravin...finds it hard to just be himself with folks other than Thalia, who gets a pass because he's known her for so long. He's kind of moody under all that, whereas Josephine's naturally more sweet, and I think when that side of him does manifest (e.g. at the war table as he does get more invested) she isn't really sure what to do with that. Generally, her kneejerk reaction to uncomfortable scenarios is to try and smooth things over (being a parentified elder child and all) while Pravin's more than capable of being absolutely caustically snarky to straight up pissed off if he's got his guard down.

20. Choose one song that perfectly describes their relationship.

Lol so I should probably first mention that most of what I've written stuff about this version of Pravin to is, weirdly, Cuban/Latin music. Like, if you want a sense of his vibes™, here's some examples.

That said, here's a song in French that I had on rotation because it sounded like something you'd hear in a tavern, and I think the lyrics kind of capture where Pravin winds up when he 1. realizes he has feelings for Josephine and 2. she tells him they can't be together because he's not nobility. Which isn't actually true, of course, but he's spent the last decade pretending to be a commoner after a horrific near-death experience made him reevaluate his life, and the thought of jeopardizing what he's built for himself terrifies him. He's all like, fuuuuck me, I should never have gotten close to her in the first place.

(Part of the translated lyrics; I cleaned them up slightly):

It's me / who said why not

Now it's me / who's saying why

It's me / who was the brave one

Now it's me / the fearful one here / from time to time

And sometimes / life gives us / things that we don't want

Love out of the question / death out of season

-

I don't know anything about love / I don't know anything my love

I'm in love with you / Still in love with you

22. What reminds each of their partner?

I imagine in general they had a whole "same hat!!" type of reaction to each other upon finding out they're from the same country, so they come to each other with a lot of stuff like 'I discovered this place that serves great lemon cake that reminds me of home' or 'at this tavern they sang this folk song from Salle and I was real excited about it.' (There's the language thing, too. Their conversations are often totally in Antivan or kind of an Antivan/Orlesian mishmash, and sometimes Pravin will think of a really good joke and be like 'I have to tell her that', only to find afterwards that it's nigh untranslatable when Cullen or Thalia's like what?? What's so funny?)

There's also the obvious associations; she thinks of him in regard to Orlesian theater stuff, and he thinks of her when there's some really fuckin good political gossip going on. And, you know, appearance-wise she's kind of known for the poofy sleeves and he's kind of known for the flamboyant hats, so they might spot something in a shop or someone walking around like that and think of the other.