#like easy makeing to read books

[dragontamer05]

I love this tol birb demon-man

[average-hua-cheng-fan]

another reason i think that xie lian felt an instant connection on the ox cart is because he and hua cheng both grew up in xianle.

there are maybe 4 people still alive that grew up in that culture. based on my own experience, you can pick up on things like accent, cadence, references, and humor that suggest a person is from the same place as you without consciously noticing it. that sense of comfort and similarity probably played into their instant chemistry.

[hoofpeet]

I'd probably have to read the printed version and web version back to back at some point to note all the differences but... ough

[karamazovanon]

controversial opinion maybe but it BEWILDERS me when people (mostly americans ime) genuinely seriously with their whole chest complain about how impossibly hard russian names are. like. do a single google search. i don't see how you can comprehend that charles = chuck and margaret = peggy but can't fathom that rodion = rodya. how is this such a huge barrier of entry for people

[journey-to-the-attic]

au where this was how ik and diavolo met for the first time when she was like seven

[arospecsyourblockdudes]

more historical fiction needs to be set in ww1. bonus points if you fag it up

[ghostly-cabbage]

I have officially edited and updated my DP fic recommendation document

I've so far only used it for friends but now I'm wondering if any of you guys would be interested...

[robertsbarbie]

the more i read of this book the more is cements in my mind that this was never meant to be a snow apologist book people just don’t have any reading comprehension anymore

[crimeronan]

i keep reading thinkpieces and critiques of current mainstream fiction & how fandom has influenced mainstream lit and vice versa, n some of them make salient points about how fanfic does and doesn't prime a person for writing original fiction, etc. and some of them are very "fanfic has poisoned and corrupted the youths" and "we are rotting our brains" and "old man yells at cloud." and throughout all of this i just have the unshakable feeling that no matter what side of the "culture war" (if.... it can even be called that....) u fall on, these thinkpieces are typically missing two of the most important explanations for Why The Mainstream Market Is How It Is. which have very little to do with fanfic.

1. publishers are looking for books that are easy to read, easy to hype, and easy to mass produce. great insightful well-crafted works of subversive literature are not this. cute romcom tropey fluff IS this.

and perhaps most importantly,

2. most professional writers are not very good.

[bonefall]

Thistle Law

The most extreme, violent interpretation of the Warrior Code, initially founded by Thistleclaw near the end of the Campaign Era, with its first implementation defining the beginning of the Slash-and-Burn Period.

One of three distinct Clan ideologies, next to Fire Alone and Traditionalism.

A guide to its origin, the parable associated with it, its principles, and most importantly, my authorial intentions with it in the Bonefall Rewrite. Seen a couple of questions about it, so I think this’ll help clarify.

Origin

Extreme interpretations of the Code go back as far as the founding of the clans themselves, but the roots of Thistle Law trace back to the Exile of SkyClan. Justifying the loss of an entire clan included cracking down on medicine cats and quashing a rebellion, and the ‘clan pride tide‘ added FOUR new laws to the Warrior Code.

The following wars and conflicts in the Chivalric Period further contributed to xenophobic sentiment in the Clans, with each one vying for supremacy over the others, branching out to attack non-Clan cats when there were brief stints of ‘peace’. Thistleclaw merely gave these ideas a name while educating his apprentice, using thistles as a metaphor.

Tigerclaw then went on to tell the story to his clanmates, to his own apprentices, and at gatherings to his future allies who told it to their own clanmates. Though the details of the story changed at times, the takeaway is constant;

Other cats must die, so yours can stay strong.

The Parable of the Thistle

The story goes that Thistleclaw brought Tigerpaw out to a massive, thorny bull thistle. He pointed out that the other plants were dying around it, but the flowers stood tall and proud. Thistleclaw explained the thistle was killing the plants around it to have more room to grow, and then cruelly commanded that Tigerpaw try to destroy it.

By the time it was done, Tigerpaw was covered in scratches and the sun was setting. All the way home, he tried to shake the thistlefluff out of his fur and forget the painful experience. The seasons turned, and one year later when Tigerclaw was a young warrior, Thistleclaw led him down a path lined with young, thorny leaves.

There, in a sea of green spikes, the thistle was standing as tall and as proud as the day Tigerpaw shredded it.

In killing every other plant in the area, the thistle had given itself room to come back stronger. The fluff that clung to Tigerpaw’s fur became new growth. Around them was an entire clearing of thistles, ready to burst into a wall of flowers and seeds.

Thistleclaw asked if Tigerclaw would dare to try again, and remembering how his last battle with the weed ended with scratches as deep as claw marks, admitted that he would rather be a thistle than fight one.

(Little did Ivypaw know, the beautiful field in which she meets Hawkfrost was completely strangled by flowering thistles.)

Principles

Depending on the exact time period and the cat it takes root in, Thistle Law can look different. For examples, Brokenstar’s goal was to drive every Clan out of the forest except ShadowClan, where Tigerstar’s aim was to annex every clan into TigerClan and enforce a standard of purity.

Incarnations of Thistle Law tend to share these principles,

The Code Hardens The calling card of Thistle Law is a stricter, more violent interpretation of the Warrior Code. The harsher laws are emphasized, such as the Law of Loyalty and the Right of the Challenge, while softer ones are downplayed or dropped entirely, like the Law of Honor and the Queen’s Rights.

Extreme Xenophobia Against outsiders, against cats of other clans, against half-clan cats. Thistle Law sets itself apart from Traditionalism for becoming willing to enforce some sort of purity.

Hierarchy Becomes Rigid The social power of medicine cats, deputies, and elders is suppressed. The leader is raised as the ultimate authority, even if that leader isn’t the Clan’s -star.

There Is No ‘Pointless’ Death The Clans are a battle culture, but a good battle is still fought for a reason. When tides turn to Thistle Law, fighting is the goal AND the means. To live is to battle, to kill is to win, and a warrior’s purpose is to die at war.

Each incarnation likely contains each point in varied amounts and tosses other ideas into the mix, but the name of the game remains the same-- and it springs from the taproot of Thistle Law.

Intentions

Thistle Law is what fascism looks like in Clan culture. I approach this using Umberto Eco’s 1995 essay Ur-Fascism as my primary reference. Ur-fascism is a ‘fuzzy‘ concept that looks very different depending on the exact society it springs from, mixing and matching several symptoms in varying degrees of severity.

So, in adapting this, I had to simplify a very complicated topic. I wanted to keep the antifascist theory recognizable, while still following canon events and creating an engaging rewrite.

So for simplicity sake, even if a clan might have technically called their own version of Thistle Law something else, I use this name to address it.

[camellcat]

it's irritatingly funny that I can find books for almost any other series like it's nothing and yet somehow doctor who continues to evade me. I just. can't??? none of my usual sites have them, and looking online brings me nothing, and I ??? where are they ?????

[phierie]

Been thinking about bullet train and it's costume design (and why it's so good) for a while now so some thoughts about lemon + tangerine and their clothes I guess. this got a bit long so i'll put it under a cut

so I think the reason Tangerine's outfit works so well is it tells us so much not only about who he is but who he WANTS to be, it instantly evokes that kinda 80s gangster east end vibe, but the little details like the banker collar show that it's more the image he's trying maintain than it is who he actually is. I've thought a lot about that quote from the costume designer Sarah Evelyn about how the suit is to "contain the beast", and how he loses that veneer as the film goes on and his outfit gets more ruffled and, literally starts coming apart as the job goes wrong (even starting as early on as his top button being undone after he & lemon realise they've lost the case), his outward appearance starting to match his actual personality

in comparison, at first glance I didn't think Lemon's outfit was telling us as much about his characterisation, or his relationship to his image + clothes (like, he's not in a suit like tangerine is, so does he just not care as much about what he wears like tangerine does?)

but I've been thinking about it a lot while picking outfits for him (for a Lemon & Tangerine fashion zine project I'm working on, as it goes) and I don't think that's the case - his outfit is neat and well put together too! he literally wants people to see the tie he picked out for his outfit even if it comes across dodgy as hell with the blood on his shirt!! he has a fairly eclectic/unconventional style, what with the double denim and the suspenders, his accessories are practical instead of showy (the smartwatch he wears vs tangerine's rolex), and I think what that shows is that he's completely comfortable with his look, and has a kind of confidence in himself that tangerine Does Not possess. He has no desire to present himself as a Mr Big type character like tangerine, he has nothing to prove to anyone (or himself) like tangerine does

and then I think that confidence is even more interesting when you consider the context, in particular of Lemon as a black man (in this instance in Japan), and growing up in the UK alongside tangerine - does that confidence stem from his personality? or was it something learned? (or, maybe most likely, a bit of both?) and what does it say about tangerine and how he relates to the culture they were raised in that his look is based off the prototypical businessman (of the kind he probably didnt have as a role model in his immediate family/life)? I don't necessarily have the answers nor am I actually smart enough to say anything meaningful about it I just think it's super interesting thinking about these two within the context of the UK esp wrt class issues lol

ANYWAY this got a bit rambly I just love the costume design in bullet train so much!!!! I think it's even more pronounced with how the movie takes place over such a short space + time and everyone only really has one main design, it's almost cartoony/anime-esque (in a good way). everyone has a unique style and the characterisations and designs are so well entwined it makes everyone so memorable in a way i think few action films do. And I love the tiny details you probably won't even notice on a first watch, it just shows how much thought and care went into everything, I admire the costume + hair + makeup departments and what the cast all brought to it so! much!! love the fast train movie so much man

[tubbytarchia]

Hey, just wanna say that I love your "blabber" posts, especially when you answer asks. I understand why someone would feel like they're being annoying but I just want to be another person to tell you that you're not, and if anyone doesn't vibe with your thoughts then they can indulge somewhere else. You seem like such an incredibly open-minded person with a very big heart. You're clearly so passionate about what you do and you love to share what you know. Even when you've disagreed with something or felt hurt (like feeling envious of others, like you say), or felt that you've done wrong, you always respond with such heartfelt thoughts. You always make it known that YOU KNOW what's up and how you're dealing or planning to deal with it rationally. You're clearly working hard to better the parts of yourself that you're not happy with and that makes you an amazing person in the truest sense of the word. Interacting with people and expressing your thoughts seems to make you happy and so you do that. You do what makes you happy and that genuineness shines through your text posts. Don't stop doing that.

what am I supposed to say to that

[magnoliasforyourmedic]

Wounded men were Roe's stock-in-trade. And he'd seen more death than anyone else in the unit. To the rest of us, death was some rogue wave that would crash down on us from time to time. Hell, Roe was standing out in the surf every day, taking one shot after another. Since we'd got to Bastogne—bloodier than any other place we'd been—Roe been was getting a bit of that thousand-yard stare himself. Quieter. You could tell it was getting to him. And who could blame him?

— Excerpt from Don Malarkey in his book, Easy Company soldier : the legendary battles of a sergeant from World War II's "Band of Brothers"

[urheavenlylux]

I’ve been a Wof fan since the tender age of 10. I was also an internet kid, so I’ve been in this fandom a long time. So I’ll say it with my chest, this fandom has killed a lot of the pure wonder and love I once had, and try to still have, for this series.

No one is excited for anything. No one can enjoy anything. There’s no hype. There’s only complaining. Everything is wrong, and bad, and apparently horribly written even though Tui is clearly just having fun with her little dragon books yet y’all expect Cormac McCarthy level writing from her.

This is what some of y’all sound like:

“These characters suck! Those characters suck! Why? Well..because I said so?”

“Dark colored dragons are the villains (even though they are clearly based off of caucasian Nazi’s)?? This must be racist!!!”

“Tui made a (clearly unintentional) mistake when mentioning a character’s age? She’s a p!doph!le!! She groomed me!”

^^^(unfortunately, this is a real claim I’ve seen)

post: This book is horrible, let me tell you why…

Me: *nodding, actually excited to read this critical post, as I agree this particular book in the series is not the best*

Y’all: ACTUALLY, it sucks because it doesn’t affirm my headcannons, and doesn’t focus on the particular niche background characters I wished it focused on! Nye-hehehe!! Tui is the most illiterate writer!!!

Me: good heavens.

[francy-sketches]

No guys you don’t get it grrm announcing the dunk n egg show means he’s confident he can write more of those books soon and he’s not going to do that until twow is done wich means he’s close to getting it done and it’s coming out tomorrow. Trust me