#implying that white experiences are the default is weird!! and it could in fact open up room for conversations abt other experiences

[nothorses]

I think these conversations would go better if we conceptualized terms like "homophobia", "transphobia", and "misogyny" not as the "basic" oppression that you start with until you sprinkle intersectionality on top, but rather as names for where more complex experiences overlap.

"Transphobia" is not the "base" we start with and build on with other experiences; it's the place where more specific experiences overlap. It's the middle of the venn diagram where "transmisogyny", "transandrophobia", and "exorsexism"/"nbphobia" all overlap with each other.

It's the thing we all have in common; not the thing that some people get extra special versions of while others do not.

[passionate-reply]

Here’s something I know you’ve heard before--Dare, by the Human League! One of the most famous and widely-acclaimed synth-pop albums there is, Dare was a huge game changer. Find out why by watching my video, or reading the transcript, after the break.

Welcome to Passionate Reply, and welcome to Great Albums! Today, I’m going to be talking about one of the single most important albums in the history of electronic music, and, perhaps, in Western popular music as a whole. It’s Dare, the third full LP from the Human League, first released in 1981. While there had been two albums released under this name prior to Dare, these are considerably more obscure.

Music: “Empire State Human”

While “Empire State Human” has a catchy and affable chorus, it’s still a few shades too weird and avant-garde to be a pop hit. In the early days, the Human League’s experimental, underground sound was driven mainly by founding members Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh. Prior to the recording of Dare, Marsh and Ware had already left the group, and would go on to form Heaven 17. Frontman Phil Oakey, and newly hired backup singers Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley, were without a leg to stand on, as none of them had any serious background in music composition or playing instruments.

While the situation looked quite dire, the trio would find a new musical bedrock in Ian Burden, who had played keyboards on their most recent tour as a session musician. Against the crude, naive, unprofessional vocals of Oakey, Catherall, and Sulley, Burden would provide simple, but competent melodies. The other key ingredient of this new sound was professional production, which would come from Martin Rushent. Despite working with many guitar-oriented acts prior, Rushent was one of the first producers who had deliberately devoted himself to working with electronic instruments at the time. Put all of that together, and you’ve got synth-pop magic, like nobody else had hammered out before.

Music: “Don’t You Want Me”

If you came to this video with even a lick of knowledge about Western pop, then you probably know “Don’t You Want Me” quite well. “Don’t You Want Me” wasn’t the first electronic pop song, nor was it the first major hit to feature a chiefly electronic instrumentation. The real reason it was such a game changer is that it’s ultimately a very ordinary pop song, underneath all of that. Songs like Gary Numan’s “Cars,” or OMD’s “Enola Gay,” were comparatively easy to write off as mere high-concept novelty. Many felt that their vision of a future full of machine music would blow over, the way jetpacks and flying cars had failed to revolutionize the world. But “Don’t You Want Me” proved that you could write an otherwise unremarkable love song, set it to a fairly unambitious synth backing, and achieve major pop success. “Don’t You Want Me” is that watershed moment, where synthesisers start presenting a credible threat to guitars, and everything that they stand for. Moreso than anything else that was released in this era, “Don’t You Want Me” is the reason why “pop” is, at this point, assumed to be electronic by default.

While the sheer influence of this track can’t be overstated, it’s also far from the only thing Dare, as an album, has to offer. In fact, “Don’t You Want Me” is the very last track on it, and its apparent simplicity is heavily contextualized by everything that comes before it. Take “Love Action,” for instance, which was the first single from the album, and one of the band’s best-known tracks.

Music: “Love Action”

“Love Action” is certainly not devoid of pop sensibility, and its being a chart hit makes plenty of sense. But I think it’s decidedly stranger and less conventional than “Don’t You Want Me,” with its piercing intro and glitchy synth effects. While its lyrics aren’t challenging, in an obtrusive manner, they seem to read as a sort of parody of a pop song, declaiming the superiority of limerence or casual affairs--“no talking, just looking.” It’s a pop anthem that’s aware of its own disposability, and the sort of culture of disposability and frivolousness that it’s participating in. Another strikingly ironic number is the album’s opener, “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of.”

Music: “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of”

With its confident proclamations about what “everybody needs,” and unquestioning praise of petty luxuries like ice cream and vacations, the saccharine “The Things That Dreams Are Made Of” is even more pointedly satirical, a wan hymn to the pleasures of postwar prosperity. But even if this track maintains a surface level “believability,” there are still a number of darker tracks to be had on Dare, which more strongly recall the style of those earlier albums. Take a listen to “Do or Die.”

Music: “Do or Die”

One of the more confrontational or frustrated tracks on Dare, “Do or Die” still maintains something of a pop core, and it’s easy enough to sing along to. What I think really stands out about it, though, especially for the time, is the use of mechanical percussion. Prior to this point, acts like Gary Numan, OMD, and even Kraftwerk still had human drummers who physically hit things in their bands. Even Giorgio Moroder’s “I Feel Love” used traditional percussion, despite featuring nothing but Moog synthesisers and the human voice besides. It wasn’t only the guitar that feared for its relevance during this time, but also the drum kit. The dense, rattling backing of “Do or Die” was made with a Linn “drum computer,” and remains an impressive use of it that’s still mesmerizing to listen to. But perhaps the most avant-garde track to be found on *Dare* is “Seconds.”

Music: “Seconds”

While “Seconds” feels sort of warm and dreamy at first, its startling gunshot casts doubt on just how pleasant we ought to feel. “Seconds” is actually telling the story of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, addressing us listeners as though we embody the infamous gunman, Lee Harvey Oswald. The titular “seconds” apply to the brief moments of apparent happiness and security we feel before something goes wrong, and those narrow margins of time during which everything in our lives can change in an instant. While it’s significantly shorter, I can’t help but think it recalls the high-concept narrative tracks done by the earlier incarnation of the Human League, such as “Zero As a Limit.”

Dare’s iconic cover, a powerful symbol of 80s synth-pop to this day, was inspired by fashion magazines such as *Vogue.* While the design would crib the title, the typeface, and the face-focused composition from a 1979 cover of UK *Vogue,* the stark, bare white frame that surrounds this close-cropped headshot of Oakey is a major distinction. Floating in this sterile bath of emptiness, and borderline anonymized, it feels like the interchangeable mask of someone living out a mechanized and mass-produced existence. It’s an image that almost plays into how detractors of electronic music have decried its seemingly emotionless, inhuman ambiance, and it rides that enmity with a deliberate, defiant dignity. It says, we are what you think we are, and we’re damn proud of it. Much like the bold and brash title implies, the cover of *Dare* is a provocation, perhaps even a threat. While the cover isn’t particularly beautiful to me, as many others are, I think its austere ugliness is deeply purposeful, and that’s something I’m compelled to admire.

Despite the breakthrough success of Dare, the Human League’s 1984 follow-up, Hysteria, was a relative flop, plagued by troubled recording sessions and a lack of consistent vision for the band and their sound. Its lead single, “The Lebanon,” would achieve modest success, and its use of rock guitar and surprisingly topical lyrics make it feel very different than what you’ll find on Dare.

Music: “The Lebanon”

Though they would eventually go on to have one last major hit, in 1986’s “Human,” the Human League never developed mainstream staying power, and their core trio’s reliance on outside writers and producers left them without a firm artistic identity to fall back on. They’re still around today, performing concerts that revisit their best-known work from the past, but they never recreated the fruitful environment and industry connections that made Dare possible. Still, it’s safe to say that Dare is an inescapable presence in the history of electronic pop, looming over all subsequent works like some inscrutable Sphinx, a lightning in a bottle success whose influence remains all around us.

My favourite song on Dare is “Darkness.” As the title implies, it’s one of the more dreary, gothic numbers you’ll encounter on the album, narrating the harrowing, paranoid mindstate of an insomniac. I don’t particularly struggle with sleep, but I do have a habit of being awake all night and sleeping all day, so I love nighttime-themed songs. Plus, the lyrics of this song make reference to “seeing sounds” and “hearing colours,” a phenomenon called synesthesia. I’m not sure if anyone in the Human League really experiences this, but I do--which is part of why I’m so strongly interested in music. But enough about me! That’s all for today, thanks for listening!

Music: “Darkness”

[gayagendaofficial]

Wait, what’s gay lingo? Like, what does twink, bear, etc. mean?

I AM SO GLAD YOU ASKED!

Before I get into actually defining these terms, I’d like to write about a few things:

So this is probably in reference to this post I made. Not to explain the joke to death, but that’s exactly what I’m about to do. I wanted to make fun of how people who aren’t mlm think they know what mlm terms like “twink” and “bear” mean and how they blatantly use them incorrectly everywhere, because they think they’re funny (bc gay men are a joke, right? //sarcasm), or because it makes them look “woke”. It’s an idea I had for the longest time when I saw something a str8 woman wrote about Zac Efron being a twink, in the present. Like yes, Zac Efron was a twink, past tense, but he is absolutely not a twink anymore (if you can even call a str8 man a twink). And she also implied that being a twink is something you can’t outgrow, which is laughable, because it’s kind of a meme among gay men that being a twink is something you grow out of whether you like it or not.

This mostly seems to be a problem among cishet women, since cishet men tend to be too concerned with their “masculinity” to touch gay culture. But since this is tumblr and virtually none of you are cishet, a lot of the times I’ve seen people misuse these terms on this site were LGBT+ people who weren’t themselves mlm. In those cases, the reasons seem more that these people are just misinformed, and they use these terms because mlm use these terms, and we share a community. Part of it comes from the fact that wlw might see the terms “twink” and “bear” as analogous to “femme” and “butch” respectively, which is not true in the slightest (Butch and femme are their own complex thing. What they actually have in common with twink and bear is that few outside their communities actually know what they mean lol).  Another reason might be that other LGBT people see mlm using these terms sarcastically and think they’re being used in earnest; if an actual gay man calls a bodybuilder a twink, he’s probably being sarcastic, and also probably trying to insult him (which is a whole can of worms I’ll open up in a bit).

I’m gonna try to define what “twink”, “bear”, and a couple of other terms actually mean, as well as give a little bit of context to how they’re used and controversy surrounding these identities within gay spaces, partially based on my experience as a gay man and partially based on casual research. I’m just one gay man, and I’m not an expert in queer studies or anything, so take from that what you will. I hope this will be useful to mlm who are just discovering their identities and exploring their sexuality/gender, who are new to the community, and I also hope to inform our siblings elsewhere in the LGBT community. This info could also be useful to cishet allies, although please be mindful of your intentions in using these terms.

Anywho, lets get to the definitions:

A twink is a young, smooth, slim mlm. The definition here is generally seen as being pretty strict on those 3 criteria, although “twink” is sometimes used for older mlm who are skinny and don’t have much body hair. Those last two criteria are the most important, because there are other categories for mlm that fit one of the criteria; an otter is essentially twink + bodyhair, and there’s a whole host of other words for other body types.

The definition of “bear” is a little more flexible than “twink”, although it generally comes down to the inverses of those same 3 criteria. The most important of these is the bodyhair requirement; any definition you find of bear includes something about being hairy. Almost as important as bodyhair is body type, although “bear” covers a slightly larger range than twink in that regard. Usually, “bear” indicates that someone is large or plus-sized, although it can also sometimes be used to describe someone who is muscular in the sense that they are beefy (if you can see a 6 pack, he’s probably not a bear). It’s also sometimes associated with being slightly older, but that’s not nearly as important, and “bear” can refer to any age. The term “cub” refers to mlm with the same body type as a bear, but who are smooth and young.

Now, let’s get into some misconceptions/controversies surrounding these terms. The first of these is that twink and bear are the only two options, and that all mlm fall into one of these two categories, or that other terms are simply variations on those two main terms. This misconception is really only one held by people who aren’t mlm themselves (or are, but are only just learning the terminology). These terms are extremely specific, and the fact of the matter is that the vast majority of mlm don’t fit into either of these categories. And that’s ok! There are a ton of other words mlm use to describe themselves. I’ve already mentioned “otter” and “cub”; there’s also “jock”, which refers to muscular mlm; “wolf”, which also refers to muscular mlm, but specifically hairy ones (with a bit of overlap with the “beefier bears” I mentioned earlier); the relatively new term “twunk” which you may know from this video as “a combination twink and hunk”; and many many more. In addition, all of these categories are really just physical descriptions of your body, and don’t have any bearing on anything else. You don’t need to fit into any of them.

That being said, there are a number of stereotypes associated with these terms, and it is important to address them.

Our next misconception is one that’s as common among mlm as as it is among everyone else: that twinks are by definition fem, and bears are by definition masc. “Masc” and “fem”, short for masculine and feminine respectively, come with their own host of problems, and that is a can of worms that I am not going to open up right now. This post is long enough as it is. If you want the sparknotes version of the controversy surrounding the masc-fem dichotomy, it basically boils down to misogyny, transphobia, and internalized homophobia. But back to twinks and bears: I would like to assume that it’s obvious that your body type or bodyhair has absolutely no impact  on your personal presentation of gender. There are plenty of fem bears and masc twinks. But unfortunately, most people don’t seem to get this. And this super important, because the gendered way we think of these terms affects everything else I’ll be talking about in the remainder of this post.

My next point, which is really and observation based on my experience in the gay community, is that bear as a term seems to be much less… loaded. However, being a twink myself, there might be a gap in my personal experience, so any bears feel free to correct me. However, from what I’ve seen, “bear” isn’t really used as an insult in the way “twink” is. Which is a bit of a miracle, considering how prevalent fat-shaming is in the gay community. From what I’ve seen, bear isn’t a term that’s forced on you, it’s a term that bears choose for themselves, almost always in a positive way. It’s a term associated with body positivity, and bear communities seem to be much less toxic than the gay community as a whole. Even when it’s used to describe someone else, it’s always a neutral statement of fact. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used as an insult, or even sarcastically. The worst I’ve seen of it is that it’s used as a porn category, which contributes to the fetishization of fat people; but then again, twink and jock are also porn categories, so it would be weird for bear not to be. This isn’t to suggest that bears are treated better than anyone else in the gay community, if anything they’re treated worse; just that the word “bear” itself has neutral to positive connotations. (Again, any bears correct me on this if you’ve seen it used negatively!)

Twink, on the other hand, is absolutely used as an insult, and frequently. And while this may sometimes be harmless, more often than not it’s really problematic. If you’re plus-sized and you use twink as an insult in the same vein that Nicki Minaj said “fuck the skinny bitches”, that’s completely fine. Twinks are seen as being desirable (if they behave a certain way; more on that later), so effectively it’s punching up instead of punching down. However, a good 95% of the time that “twink” is used as an insult, it really comes from one of the many stereotypes that all essentially boil down to the idea that twinks are fem. And the idea that being fem is inherently bad and insult worthy is, once again, rooted in misogyny, transphobia, and internalized homophobia. 

This association between twinks and femininity also has a lot of scary implications on the beauty standards twinks are held to. I’ve noticed that twinks fill a niche in the gay community that is similar to the role cis women are supposed to fill in western culture as large, and that we’re only seen as sexually valuable if we perform the same behaviors and meet the same beauty standards that are typically reserved for women. We’re bottoms by default, submissive both in and out of the bedroom (yes I actually am a sub bottom, but that’s beside the point). We’re supposed to maintain a completely smooth, hairless appearance; a shaved ass is the bare minimum of hygiene. I once met a guy on grindr who demanded that I be completely hairless everywhere beneath my eyelashes, and while that’s a bit extreme, he was by no means an outlier. Just today I talked to a guy who wanted me hairless between my neck and knees. We’re often seen as vapid and stupid, and infantilization of twinks is rampant (some guys put way too much emphasis on the young part of the definition). And, to cap it all off, there’s the racism! Who’d’a thunk that all forms of oppression are connected? (sarcasm). Twinks can of course be any race, but the ones you’ll see men on grindr going after the most are white or light-skinned Asian twinks. Combine that with stereotypes of Black, Latino, and Middle Eastern men as dominant and aggressive, and you have a whole slew of white supremacist ideas painted over with a thin coat of gay porn.  (mlm of color who’d like to add or correct me on anything, please do so!)

I’ll end this already long post with a comparatively brief discussion on who these terms apply to. Basically, if you’re an mlm and you fit the definition of “twink” or “bear”, congratulations! You’re a twink/bear! “Can bi men use these terms?” Of course! “What about trans men?” Are you attracted to men and male-aligned people? Then of course! That last one might be controversial to some cis gays, and to that I say fuck right off. However, it does get a bit muddier with trans women and transfem nonbinary people and the word twink. Trans women are absolutely not mlm, but many of them have been a part of mlm communities for a long time, often before they even realized they were trans, and some may be reluctant to give up the word twink (I haven’t seen this for bear, although again, lmk if you’ve seen evidence to the contrary). And on top of that, a lot of cis men looking to have sex with trans women conflate trans women and cis twinks. Because remember what I said about twinks filling the niche of women? It’s often a niche they share with trans women, except trans women have it even worse, because they are actually women. My two cents is, if a trans woman wants to refer to herself as a twink, she’s more than welcome to. Just don’t go around calling trans women “twinks” unless they specifically say you can; it’s a gendered term, you are misgendering them, and, once again, you can fuck right off. (trans women also please comment if you want!)

Well, anon, I bet you weren’t expecting a post this long. At least I hope y’all learned something! Be gay do crimes!

[mrsspidermanmaryjanewatsonparker]

Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #13-15 Thoughts

Previous thoughts here.

Yes I know I couldn’t be later to this party but I started this series so I’m going to finish giving my thoughts on it.

I tried very hard to finish Houser’s run on RYV in time to read Spider-Girls but it just didn’t happen, I only made it up until just before the penultimate arc and I didn’t write up a proper post of my thoughts back then. So I re-read her first arc today with ambitions of re-reading the next 2 stories before finally experiencing the final arc and then Spider-Girls as part of reading over most of Spider-Geddon. What you will read below are a mixture of some initial thoughts I jotted down during my first read through and my thoughts upon revisiting the story, mostly the latter.

Oh SPOILERS I guess

So let me immediately get some obvious business about Renew Your Vows’ direction from here on in. The book, sans its covers, desperately misses Stegman. It also misses Conway but that is not a condemnation of Houser at all.

Houser in this arc does a good job with the situation presented by the new direction. Whether that new direction was her idea or editorials is unknown, though likely the latter.

And really that is the absolute worst thing about this story, the new direction itself.

It isn’t so much that it is bad unto itself but it is reductive that after 12 issues building a certain status quo, the one also built by the RYV Secret Wars mini-series and was promoted by Marvel prior and during the book’s initial release that we are abruptly changing course in a big way.

The book is still unique, at least the Spider-Books on the stands (even now). But it is less unique for various reasons.

Firstly we simply have way more teen heroes than pre-teen ones. Secondly a book that pays much attention to Spider-Man’s super powered teen daughter is going to either tread upon familiar ground that Spider-Girl stood on or else it will evoke Spider-Girl in the memories of the readers. Annie unto herself innately did this anyway, but that was offset when she was much younger than Mayday.

It also throws away the world building and set up Conway enacted in his initial arc, not to mention it just fast forwards a lot of Annie’s potential character development.

Does this render Annie uninteresting or the premise less likable? No because Houser has a strong handle on both the characters and more specifically what RYV as a book is.

Perhaps this is nowhere more apparent in how she structures her opening arc. Each issue shifts the POV to one of the Parker family, starting with Peter, then handing off to MJ and concluding with Annie, exactly like Conway’s first three issues did. This is a pretty clever way of conveying to readers Houser ‘gets’ the book and reassure readers who might not be thrilled about the time skip that these are the same characters just at different points in their lives, and not even that different, sans Annie.

This is rather realistic because Peter and MJ being the adults are comparatively less likely to change all that much even within 8 years whereas Annie inevitably will drastically change going from a pre-teen to an out-and-out teenager. Fittingly Houser compensates for this by showcasing Annie’s new state of being throughout the issues that are about Peter and MJ.

On the one hand this does somewhat undermine the idea that this book is about the family collectively as opposed being about Annie or placing Annie as the ‘first among equals’ in the team dynamic of the book.

On the other hand since the book is about the Parker family it adds up that so much of Peter and MJ’s characterization will stem from their relation to Annie; your child is after all the most important thing in your life.

So we get Annie’s somewhat more salty and disconnected relationship with a Peter who is very much starting to feel his age. Which is GOOD, the obnoxious proliferation of teen Spider-Man renders almost any older portrayal interesting by default. With MJ though, Annie seems to have a much more conciliatory relationship, its more that she exhausts her mother and seems more comfortable going to her about stuff. Also as a nice way of distinguishing her from Mayday, Annie seems to share her mother’s passion for fashion which Mayday actively didn’t.

Speaking of fashion lets talk about Annie’s new costume. I’ll level you all..it looks better than her prior costume, but also less unique but neither is...all that great. I guess when you have Mayday Parker and Spider-Gwen and all the Spider-Women running around, coming up with something thing that fits the general Spider-Man motif, looks unique and also is really dynamic can be difficult. I can see where the designer was going though. Peter, MJ and Annie share the same outlines for where the chest areas of their suits turn into another colour. Peter’s is red and blue, MJ’s red and white and Annie’s is blue to black. So the ‘shape’ of the suit lends to the ‘unified family’ idea. The colours also make her stand out but maybe too much. If her parents had red chests and then she has blue it’s kinda weird. If the idea was she was trying to strike out on her own sure but I don’t get that impression at all. It is kinda cool she has MJ’s mask design but I preferred her old mask which was a compromise between her parents’ masks.

As for the main plot, I think Houser could’ve milked it much more than she did, we could’ve done with much more of the slice of life stuff and the Lizard was underutilized. There is a strong element of family defining the Lizard’s character because of his wife and child. In a book about family I presumed that was where we were going when he showed up. But...no he was just used as a monster amidst monsters.

I’m not saying Houser got the Lizard wrong just that there was an obvious and more compelling angle to exploited in the story.

The two big reveals surrounding the plot, that there is a zoo full of near-human people, and that it’s being run by Mister Sinister was also...underwhelming.

Spider-Man has the best supporting cast and rogue’s gallery within Marvel comics. Not only does this mean we don’t really need to see non-Spider-Man characters (like the X-Men) pop up, it’s frankly less interesting when we do because they have little-no history with Spider-Man or his family.

It was also just kind of a reveal that didn’t land for me, I could not care at all.

Mister Sinister was a little different because, I like Sinister as a bad guy I really do...but not in Spider-Man. I get including and referencing the X-Men in this arc because for some reason they were practically supporting cast members in Conway’s run, so paying that off makes sense. But why double down upon it with a major X-villain? Like the Jackal, even Doc Ock, either of them would be more fitting villains in this type of story or where the series implies it will be leading onto later.

It didn’t help that when we met Sinister initially in disguise there was just very little gravitas to him because he obviously looked like a no-name 18th century circus reject.

The ending let this arc down is what I guess I’m getting at. Issue #13 and #14 had pretty nice hooks for the next issues.

What was a letdown throughout though was the action sequences. They were pretty pedestrian along with the art overall. Like it wasn’t BAD per se (except Peter’s eyebrows...wtf?), it just was a major step down from Stegman and even Stockman, the latter of whom I think the artwork was chosen to be more like. It had this softer undefined element to it, and not in a Romita Senior way.

Returning to the character though, I do commend Houser for having a good grip on everyone and efficiently finding a way to distinguish them from one another across the three issues.

Peter dealing with being older and now decidedly less cool and engaging to his teen daughter is delightful..even if at points it feels like the narrative is kind of undermining him, especially in the Wolverine scene at the start of the story...still Dad Joke Spider-Man is awesome. Even more awesome is how together he over all is. This isn’t an angst ridden Peter Parker or one who is introspectively questioning himself. Throughout the story he gives off this air of relaxed experience, like he knows what he’s doing and can tell the situation allows for a few jokes and a bit of fun. Refrshingly he doesn’t angst about not pursuing the bad guy at all.

Moving on, Houser probably dissing MJ’s place in the Iron books at the time with her reprimanding and smack down of Tony was awesome (although I don’t get why she was so miffed at him). Her playing Spider-Mom, and more poignantly dejectedly owning it, was hilarious. Her sense of exhaustion is relatable whether you’ve been a parent or just been around them. It very much taps into Conway’s characterization of MJ as a juggler

Houser’s Annie also shines. She is believably an older version of the kid Annie we once knew but also stands firmly as her own person. She’s somewhat embarrassed by her Dad and wants greater independence. She loves being a superhero, but is (also in contrast to Mayday) a more of a punch first think later kind of gal with a dash of overconfidence.

She is untrustworthy of the Lizard and more gung ho, whilst MJ and especially Peter (to my delight) are both more reigned in and trusting.

This is nicely explored in the family’s single page descent underground where Houser gives Peter a really great speech about what it means for Annie to accept the great responsibility of the mask, that it might mean trusting those who are not trustworthy for the sake of others. This serves to nicely develop Annie as its her Dad treating her as more of an adult for the first time. the fact that it’s her Dad, the iconic hero Spider-Man conveying this wisedom onto her is very fitting and helps further legitimize Annie as a Spider-Hero to the readers of RYV and legitimize the new teen version to those jumping aboard at this point.

Not to be outdone, MJ an issue earlier got a wonderful piece of dialogue about how in spite of how their lives might be messed up by being heroes she and her family will still endeavour to make plans and live normal lives. Which is both a wonderfully inspiring heroic statement but also so very true to who she and Peter are as people.

Some other small points:

I saw Carrion amidst Sinister’s menagerie

The underground nature of the story’s conclusion nicely evokes the first arc by Conway

Overall Houser sells/sold you on the new dynamic with this arc as much as I preferred the older one and wish they hadn’t changed.

B+

[preservationandruin]

Words of Radiance: Prologue

Y’know, once I’ve got something going, why stop? Also this is helping keep me sane in the middle of a week filled with assignments so there’s that as well. 

This is just the Prologue, because each prologue is juicy enough to dissect forever. Seriously, a lot was going on during this feast!

Yet again, the book opens at the feast between the Alethi and the Parshendi, and also with someone who is planning a murder--in this case, Jasnah. The party is in full swing, Dalinar is completely hammered, Elhokar is trying to shush him, and Jasnah is leaving the room to meet with an assassin. Also, this is apparently relatively soon after Jasnah told the court/world that she was a heretic. Apparently, she knew it was unprecedented, and that was why she did it. 

...i love Jasnah. 

Anyway, the Parshendi look nervous--of course, because they’re scheming to kill Gavilar to try to avoid the return of the Voidbringers--and then Jasnah notices that her shadow has started pointing the wrong direction. Sadeas walks straight through it, actually--he didn’t notice. Raises the question of if anyone but Jasnah can see it. This also isn’t the first time. Jasnah also actually spots Szeth (”A non-parshendi servant in loose white clothing helping [the Parshendi.] A Shin man? That was unusual.”) That moment must have hurt for her to realize later--although we don’t know much about her relationship with Gavilar. 

Also, Jasnah sees Gavilar up ahead, talking with someone--with Amaram. He’s having a serious conversation, whatever else is going on. Ghostblood/Sons of Honor shit? Probably (also why does Roshar have so fucking many conspiracies going). Gavilar is a person who manages to get Jasnah to stop a bit when she’s being overly dismissive of other people, which she notes not even Navani can manage. Gavilar also hints that he wants Amaram and Jasnah to get together (this would have ended in Amaram dying. Personal belief) and Jasnah internally is just like. that is never going to happen. And Amaram meets her eyes and then basically runs away. Jasnah asks what Gavilar isn’t telling her, and he doesn’t respond. 

Jasnah’s shadow does the thing again, and this time she addresses it, causing more to show up and one of them--presumably, Ivory--to appear and pull a sword on her--she ends up teleporting to Shadesmar, nearly drowning, and manages to create the palace itself out of shadesmar’s beads in order to get out of the “water.” 

Anyway, her meeting with the assassin. She also notes that Parshendi music sounds disturbingly like the rattling of beads in shadesmar, although that could just be the fact that she’s still alarmed by her experience. 

Also, turns out that she may have wanted Aesudan--Elhokar’s wife--assassinated, but chose to only have her monitored instead. Which is interesting--we know that Aesudan seems corrupt later in the book, but I don’t think that alone would draw Jasnah’s attention to her. But I don’t know. Anyway, Liss, the person who Jasnah has hired, kills with a Shardblade--which is interesting. Also, turns out that she used to have Szeth’s oathstone, but sold it off to a slaver, who apparently then gave it--although Jasnah doesn’t learn this--to the Parshendi. 

Also, turns out that with almost all assassins Jasnah works with, they have a standing agreement that if anyone puts a hit on Jasnah’s family, she will match or exceed the price if they come to her with the name of the person who did it. Jasnah is doing a lot for the Kholin family, and I have the feeling they only know the beginning of it. Also, Jasnah now remembers seeing Szeth and decides to check on that, because something’s weird about this night. The music suddenly ends, and then we hear a conversation--between two of the Heralds, actually. 

They’re worried about Shalash, Kalak is worried about everything (including whether or not the Heralds were right) and Nale is telling him to shut up. Nale also looks Jasnah up and down--which, given that this might be around the time he started killing Radiants--is worrisome. Also, apparently Gavilar invited them. That could just be Jasnah assuming. Or Gavilar was in much deeper than we know. 

And Jasnah then starts hearing screaming. We know most of this--from the other prologue--but Jasnah does seem very attached to Gavilar to the point of being unable to keep her calm when she realizes the destruction is headed toward his room. Which is only notable because this is Jasnah. Jasnah shouted for Gavilar, he hesitated, and then he fell from the balcony. 

You know, if Jasnah wasn’t already Broken at this point--which I’m not ruling out, because she’s already teleporting into Shadesmar and seeing spren there--being the person who distracted her father at the moment of his death might have done it. Anyway, she sees Szeth surgebinding, and three Parshendi appear behind her, saying that they’re sorry for her loss. Also, Jasnah’s brain defaults to scholar mode when she’s upset, to the point that she’s internally yelling at herself to turn it off--which is a lack of composure we see from Jasnah nowhere else. 

The Parshendi say that Gavilar was going to do something extremely dangerous, which Jasnah doesn’t react to. I’m not sure if, in the present day, she realizes that Gavilar wanted to bring the Voidbringers back. I’m not sure I want to be there when she finds out, if she doesn’t know. 

Jasnah does refer to this as “the shattering of her world” which hints this might have been a final breaking point. 

And this is what started Jasnah’s investigation into the Knights Radiant and their powers. 

Anyway, so adding to the list of things going on in the feast

Two or as many as three heralds were present (Nale and Kalak, here, and possibly Jezrien in book one). Gavilar might have invited them. 

If Jasnah was not already broken enough to be a radiant, she broke witnessing Gavilar’s death. We also can intuit that Jasnah and Gavilar were close, although she--like everyone else--felt alienated from him due to his obsession with the Parshendi

The Heralds knew what was going to go down re: Gavilar (or at least the conversation heavily implies that they know it)

Jasnah, for whatever reason, was thinking of having Aesudan assassinated. Given her internal monologue, this was probably to protect her family, although what threat Aesudan presented is unclear. 

Gavilar and Amaram were having a serious conversation, probably about Sons of Honor business. This might also be part of the reason Gavilar wanted Amaram and Jasnah to get together--Amaram was in the same group as him. 

Jasnah teleported to Shadesmar for the first time. 

[creativeburnout]

If I have to answer all those questions so do you. GO

1)     What images do you have set for your desktop/cell phonewallpapers?

Desktop is a rotating bunch of minimalisticpokemon wallpapers. Because I am a massive nerd. Phone is a picture I took at Glastonburyyears back but I might change it because it doesn’t scale right :(

2) Have you ever had a crush on a teacher?Yup. More than once

3) What was your last text message?Dunno, don’t have my phone on me right now because it’s charging. Last facebookmessage (which I use more often than texts anyway) was a gif to my sister

4) What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?Ideally, teaching secondary level English in Canada or austrlia. Maybe in theUS if it doesn’t shit itself and die in the next few years.

5) If you could be anywhere else right now, wherewould you be?Hmmm… right now, I’m gonna say California

6) What was your coolest Halloween costume?I have a mime costume that I default to if I can’t think of anything better

7) What was your favorite 90s show?The Simpsons before it started to suck

8) Who was your last kiss?Girl called Cara, back in August.

9) Have you ever been stood up?Nope. The few dates I’ve had, thankfully it’s never happened.

10) Favorite ice cream flavor?Tie between mint choc chip and (if I’m allowed to get pretentious) stracciatella(not chocolate chip – stratcciatella has finer little shards)

11) Have you been to Las Vegas? Nope

12) Your favorite pair of shoes? My mickey mouse slip on vans. Although my new cons (metallic, arctic blue) area strong contender to challenge that

13) Honestly, have you ever cheated on yoursignificant other? That would imply I’d had one, but I wouldn’t

14) What is your favorite fruit?Grapes. People like grapes!

15) Have you talked to anyone on tumblr that youcould see yourself dating/having sex with? If possible?Yes. Although at this point, not currently, but there are people I’ve talked toon tumblr that I could have seen it happening with at one point or another

16) Are you into hookups? Short or long termrelationships?I’d rather long term. Hook-ups I wouldn’t mind if there wasn’t a sahara-esquedry spell between them, but that might be a grass is always greener thing

17) Do you smoke? If so, what?Nope

18) What do you do to get over your anger?Cry

19) Do you believe in God?

Hah, the answer to this would take waaaaay toolong. I believe there was a force at the beginning of the universe, I don’tfeel it’s interventionalist force.

20) Does the person you're in love with know it?I’m not really in love with anyone right now. It’s a liberating place to be.

21) Favorite position?

Curled up, asleep, in bed (it’s been so long I can’tremember what positions I enjoyed)

22) What's your horoscope sign?Libra (Birthday twins!)

23) Your fears?

Blood. I’m really weird with blood. Also flying

24) How many pets do you have? What kind? Right now, none ( :( ) but my family has a cat and a dog. Cat lives upstairs,dog lives downstairs and never the twain shall meet, lest the dog try to eatthe kitty, since the dog, while adorable, is an asshole

25) What never fails to turn you on?Red Dresses. I don’t know why, they just do. Otherwise, it’s different fromperson to person, but that’s a fairly constant thing

26) Your idea of a perfect first date?Oh god, I don’t even know

27) What is something most people don't knowabout you?

I used to play violin when I was a kid. I wasawful28) What makes you feel the happiest?Being with friends

29) What store do you shop at most often?

Does Amazon count? :p30) How do you feel about oral? Giving and/or receiving?

Enthusiastically yes to both31) Do you believe in karma?I’m not sure.

32) Are you single?Perpetually :p

33) Do you think flowers or candy are a betterway to apologize? Depends. How much did you fuck up?

34) Are you a good swimmer?Oh god no

35) Coffee or Tea?

Tea36) Online shopping or shopping in person?Online

37) Would you rather be older or younger thanyour current age?

Younger by about 3 years38) Cats or Dogs?

Depends on the size of the dog. There’s a bellcurve39) Are you a competitive person?Not really

40) Do you believe in aliens?I believe that there are or probably have been some at some point in theuniverse given its sheer size

41) Do you like dancing?Kinda

42) What kind of music to you listen to?Good music

43) What is your favorite cartoon character?Lana Kane from Archer.

44) Where are you from?Glasgow

45) Eat at home or eat out?Out

46) How much more social are you when you're drunk?Massively

47) What was the last thing you bought foryourself? Shoes

48) Why do you think your followers follow you?

Inertia

49) How many hours do you sleep at night?

5783. I’m actually a powerful wizard in controlof space-time (it varies)

50) What worries you most about the future?America

51) If you had a friend that spoke to you thesame way you speak to yourself, how long would you be friends?Right now, I think so.

52) Are you happy with yourself?I’m a work in progress

53) What do you wish you didn't know?

Fuck knows

54) What big lesson could people learn from yourlife?Don’t be an asshole, but don’t be a doormat either

55) If you could live in any home on a televisionseries, what would it be?

Stirling Archer’s apartment56) What's your favorite Website?youtube. Duh

57) What's the habit you're proudest of breaking?complete nocturnalism

58) What was your most recent trip of more than50 miles?Seeing The Cure in Manchester I think.

59) What's the best bargain you've ever found ata garage sale or thrift store?Couple of vinyls

60) What do you order when you eat Chinese food?Either curry with noodles (yep, I’m weird), or a mish-mash of starters

61) If you had to be named after one of the 50states, which would it be?…Tennessee?

62) If you had to teach a subject to a class,what would it be?

English literature63) Favorite kind of chips?Salt and Vinegar.

64) Favorite kind of sandwich?

Pastrami on Rye

65) Which do you use more often, the dictionaryor the thesaurus?Thesaurus.

66) Have you ever been stung by a bee?nope.

67) What's your favorite form of exercise?

Exuberant sex probably exercise bikes 68) Are you afraid of heights?not really

69) What's the most memorable class you've evertaken?My college English class. Mainly because I was hopelessly attracted to thelecturer who took it

 70) What's your favorite breakfast?Roll and bacon

71) Do you like guacamole?Homemade with lots of garlic, yes. The putrid green shite you get everywhereelse. Fuck that

72) Have you ever been in a physical fight?

Yup

73) What/who are you thinking about right now?Sophie, and the fact that I am deeply sorry I made you answer all of these :p

74) Do you like cuddling?Yup ^_^

75) Are you holding onto something you need tolet go of?Eh, probably.

76) Have you ever experienced one of your biggestfears?Yup.

77) Favorite city you've been to?Paris

78) Would you break the law to save a familymember?Depends on the family member

79) Talk about an embarrassing moment?No

80) Are there any causes you strongly believe in?I’d say yes, but there are folk who believe a lot stronger? It’s a weird one

81) What's the worst injury you've ever had?

Broken fifth metacarpal

82) Favorite day of the week?

Friday83) Do you consider yourself sexually open minded?

Yes84) How do you feel about porn?

The industry needs a shake up but there’s nothinginherently wrong with it as an umbrella, just with things under that umbrella85) Which living celebrity would you like to know?It changes a lot and it’s usually someone really obscure (like right now is oneof the better known ones and that’s because it’s Gavin Free who does the SlowMo Guys on Youtube :p)

86) Who was your hottest ex?tie between my left and right hands

87) Do you want/have kids?Yes

88) Has anyone ever told you that they wanted tomarry you?Not that I can remember

89) Do you get easily distracted?sometimes

90) Ass or titties?All about the bootay

91) What is your favorite word?That I use on a semi-frequent basis? DefenestrateThat I never ever use but I just like the sound of? floccinaucinihilipilification

92) How do you feel about tattoos?Cool

 93) Do you have any pets?You’ve asked this already

94) How tall are you?6ft 3-ish

95) How old are you?26

96) 3 physical features you get complimented on alot?Eyes… pass… pass?

97) Is there anything you're really passionateabout?I’m coming out of a major depressive phase so get back to me on that in a weekor two when my mind remembers what actual joy is :p

98) Do you have trust issues?Yes

99) Do you believe in love at first sight?No

100) What are some words that you live by? Why?

“... after you'redead and buried and floating around whatever place we go to, what's going to beyour best memory of Earth ? ... What moment for you defines what it's like tobe alive on this planet ? Fake yuppie experiences that you had to spend moneyon, like white water rafting or elephant rides in Thailand don't count. I wantto hear some small moment from your life that proves you're really alive.”It’s a reminder to focus on important stuff like time with friends and all thatinstead of worrying too much about material things and stuff like that. I stugglewith it sometimes, but I’m trying