#not to be a debbie downer

[fandomsandfeminism]

Ok.

So.

I know this movie was very pretty. Very pretty. Super nice to look at.

But.

God so much of the plot felt very underdeveloped and confusing. It felt like it was missing 80% of the story from inside the U. She only has like 2 conversations with Beast? How does anything in the virtual world....work? Why does not-Gaston have a dox-ray? What exactly did Beast do that would make the not-internet-cops hunt him? Why is there no moderation happening? Do they...feel pain in U? Why? (It feels like Digimon rules. Is this Digimon rules?)

Honestly, the moment the movie really lost me was when an adult finally calls the cops for a wellness check and is told "they need to wait 48 hours" for....for what? To report an active assault? I...

But at least it was pretty?

This movie has 95% on rotten tomatoes.

[quarra]

Housing Crash (maybe)

I just saw a post that was a whole lot of people SUPER excited about a news article covering a potential crash in the housing market.

And, listen, thats fair. Housing prices are fucking stupid high, for a bunch of reasons. So i get the excitement.

Just. Keep in mind that a sudden real estate crash is not all wine and roses.

Back during the first year of covid, the US had a surge of people buying homes. Lots of folks suddenly were working remotely and loving it and deciding that they didnt need to live in a place they hated. They moved out of the big city and spread out. Which was cool! This, predictably, made housing prices go way, way high up (one of the many reasons).

Meanwhile, small businesses failed in droves while huge mega businesses consolidated their forces (aka they have more power and control in their markets).

(Another thing that these big corporations did was they went all in to an ol' Lex Luthor classic and invested in real estate. Huge corporations bought up homes to rent out at a premium, coincidentally contributing to the high housing costs as they priced out individual people looking to buy.)

Then two years went by and employers, by and large, decided it was much harder to keep drones under their thumbs when the drones are out of the office, and there was a mass shift to drag people back into the office at least part of the time.

Now lets match that up with the fact that many people bought homes in locations not ideal for their line of work, and for a potentially much, much higher price than the home is worth.

With the housing market looking at a crash, all of those people are now fucked, paying for a mortgage thats far more than their house is worth in an area they likely will have trouble finding or maintaining work in.

So, like, yay. Lower housing costs. But dont forget that a swift change in the market will absolutely screw a number of folks, and given the sheer finanical vulnerability of most of the people in the US, a crash in housing costs is gonna cause just as many problems as it solves.

[writingwife-83]

I get the excitement in the ship surrounding the movie deal for The Love Hypothesis, I really do. Amazing thing for shippers to see and awesome accomplishment for the author! 💪 But now I just really hope shippers can cultivate some realistic expectations and understand that there’s about a 0% chance Adam and Daisy would ever be cast in those lead roles. 😆

[ghostdata]

‘tuckeecarlson being fired is hilarious’ and ‘he will go somewhere else take his following and be more unhinged’ are two statements that should coexist

[writteninthestarsinyoureyes]

[aquato-family-circus]

the art book's been delayed so much at this point I'm expect nothing less than to recieve it, open it up, and find bob and helmut making out on the front page with a note saying "sorry for the wait"

[stripeydani]

I wish I could love Stardust. I think the work Cody did to try and make the gimmick work and be fun is great. He always gives everything to his roles and I will forever admire him for that.

But ever since hearing how miserable Cody was to the point he was drinking at work after his segments just hoping he'd get caught and fired because he didn't feel brave enough to quit by himself makes me so fucking sad.

Imagine begging anyone who would listen to just let you be yourself at work and them ignoring you? Especially given his Dad died and they were withholding the right for him being called a Rhodes on screen.

Yeah... Stardust gives me a lot of conflicting feelings 🙁

ETA: I'm glad Cody seems to have made peace with it all, it makes it easier. I just get all protective because it was a sad time and he deserved better.

[crocsandbitches]

A modern day Dracula where the plot is my boy Vlad realising that remortgaging his entire castle in Transylvania buys him a one bedroom flat in London with a sink for a toilet and he has to chose between having electricity for the month or buying a muffin from Prêt a Manger

[compacflt]

i’ve got a question about your writing process: in order to write a 30 year narrative, you create it out of hundreds of individual moments & actions, and each one has to function by itself and also part of a whole—have truth to itself and emotional resonance in a timeline. imo the key to doing this successfully is to care about each moment and make each one memorable, which seems very difficult: you have to get at the meat of the human behavior, believably, in a way that matters and explains and progresses the story, every time. and to write 200k words of it you do it hundreds of times! could you talk a bit about idea generation for each moment and how you brainstorm and write them?

omg an excuse to make more diagrams ! Thank you so much for this lovely ask!

okay: in case you don’t want to scroll through like four/five months of my inane icemav Poasting, I’ve done a couple other posts that go into my process — here about specifically chapter 1 and here about the fatal flaw of my fics from a construction standpoint

but from an idea generation standpoint… it’s pretty boring and cynical. I literally just make checklists. “things that HAVE to happen.” here’s my notes app check list of stuff that HAD to happen for the story to make sense in my rewrite of what is now chapters 8 & 9. this is from last december lol

and here’s a checklist/diagram of the major story beats and the changes in relationship dynamics throughout the story. any one of these dynamics changing reflects on the others in a way that‘s worth talking about. the hard part is finding a framing device or scene to talk about them.

the A plot of the fic is ice’s relationship with the navy, primarily. his arc is defined by his rank. so that’s the number 1 dynamic I wanted to focus on in such-and-such scenes, and why I stuck as stringently as possible to the “one rank per chapter” formula until ice got to the top & had to reckon with what being at the top actually means. His change in ranks is inspiration enough for most scenes because it shifts the dynamics in a way that is worth remarking upon in and of itself.

as an example im thinking of this scene (mostly because it’s short but also) because i think it’s kind of representative of how my idea generation process works

It fills a lot of gaps that i needed filled at that specific juncture in the story. the idea started with a stupid little section of dialogue in my head (mav would be surprised that ice’s official Navy docusign signature isn’t his actual signature) that happened to be symbolically relevant too (of course ice would have two different signatures for his two different personas). Then it morphed into a discussion of Ice’s canonically unhappy-looking compacflt portrait, which is canonically unhappy-looking. Then add onto that ice admitting he’s only happy at home (home obviously meaning with maverick, given that he’s literally in his house right now and still doesn’t feel like he’s home) and maverick telling him, “well that’s a problem that has literally the easiest fix in the world. youre making this way more complicated than it needs to be. just come home to me.”

so it’s literally just checking off boxes of things I wanted to talk about. as I said, a very cynical creation process. ✅ ice and mav doing the long-distance-relationship phone call thing (framing device for the whole scene). ✅ mav knowing ice’s real vs fake signature ❤️. ✅ ice’s canon unhappy compacflt portrait that makes an appearance in TGM. ✅ ice not feeling at home in Hawaii. ✅ ice not being fulfilled by the job & only being fulfilled by mav. ✅ ice coming up with excuses to see mav at any possible chance he gets. ✅ ice still obviously thinking of mav and Bradley as his family & maverick as his home. Etc etc. You see what i mean? how many stupid little ideas, symbols, and dynamic shifts can i cram into a page or so? that’s pretty much my thinking.

[leelaihardly]

same.

[imflyingfish]

Tbh i think that even if/when the mimecraft series gets cancelled for its 2nd season or whatever, its not going to be the biggest deal for me since theres still the game.

Other series don't have that. If the series ends, thats it. No more content for that franchise. But minecraft already is a game, so you can still enjoy the world anyway. Heck, if its bad theres still those fanmade animations on youtube that have been around for god knows how long.

Additionally we have no idea how long the series is supposed to be. It could be 5 episodes long and it would count as a series. There could be 10 episodes but at 5 mins an episode. There could be 15 episodes at 20 mins an episode.

I dont really see them doing shorts as that feels very similar from youtube animated shorts from the community and i feel like theyd want to stray away from that, and i feel like if those were created they'd be created for the youtube channel. On the other hand, they have concrete proof that those fanmade animations are popular, so they could go for that anyway. We dont know. So its kind of weird to be worrying about the show cancelling for seasons when we dont know if the show will even have seasons.

Also, i feel like a lot of people who have critisised the fact that netflix is taking it also arent excited/expecting the worst anyway, so why does it matter if it gets cancelled for you.

Personally I'm really excited BUT im also the type of person who watches the minecraft youtube channel promotion animations and music animations for fun with a big enjoyment for the default skins. So Im an increadibly niche demographic.

I do hope that it doesnt suck for obvious reasons. However if it does then it'll just be one of those rhings that people meme on for a bit and then forget about. Which i dont like, but thats the way its going to be. People make fun of minecraft anyway

In whole, I do think that mojang has treated minecraft with some decent respect in terms of updates, media and merch, often keeping that more chilled out/cool/optimistic aesthetic in game music and animations, and updates. Merch is a little more difficult tbh because minecraft merch is almost impossible to make graphically pleasing without running out of ideas. However i do think that the way they treat their brand is consistent and leans towards relaxing and bubbly, so id hope they continue this on in the animated series without trying to be abrasive and random. Tbh i liked mcsm and wouldnt mind it being similar to that.

My one wish is that they dont make steve talk though. Oh also that the minecraft live presenters arent there because i dont. Like thejr acting and it would be weird.

[frodo-of-the-nine-fingers]

Miranda: I just missed it. Our life then when he was alive. I can feel myself forgetting it and I don't want to forget it. This place, this life that we've been living here, it doesn't feel like living anymore. I can't be alone in feeling this way. Some part of you must feel it, too.

Flint: Things will get better here. I promise you they will.

ok sorry for like doing this (or am i evil imp emoji dot jpeg) but i really do think this flint and miranda interaction would be very similar to how madi and silver would interact post canon (if at all lmoa). and this is the driving force for silver starting the events that lead to treasure island because there is no life here there is no joy here and silver knows the exact moment he gave all that away and will always, always, be trying to recapture that feeling, that sense of belonging, just like flint was but it can't be done because flint (and originally thomas) are gone and silver and madi's (and flint and miranda's) relationship is broken beyond repair

[anxiouspotatorants]

I found a new thing in Gilmore Girls that would be so much better if Palladino and company had just had the guts to be more explicit about class on the show. And it’s Marty’s storyline.

So I’m one of those few people out there who really liked season 5! Marty, and even though I hate that he was written to crush on Rory I also think his confession scene and departure was well written (it was just ruined by season 7 hindsight). The thing is, I’m fully convinced that you could’ve had a big conflict between Rory and Marty that would cause a rift so big he wouldn’t come back for a full season without that conflict being Marty’s feelings for Rory. And you see what it could be in the same episode as Marty confesses. 

It’s the Life and Death Brigade.

So hear me out. In LDBs introductory episode we are not just introduced to the main trio (Logan, Finn and Colin) as womanizers and pranksters, but as people who pick on Marty because he has worked in their functions. Logan even explicitly states that he thinks he’s better than Marty, and it’s implied (if I’m remembering right) that he thinks so because he’s wealthier and has been in a position where he pays Marty. Then as we get to the confession episode, Marty gets dragged along to a dinner with the LDB gang where they frivolously spend money and then mock Marty for struggling to pay for things he didn’t even want to purchase. The LDB gang - Logan included - is shown multiple times to look down on Marty for his lack of wealth. Marty can’t socialize with these people because of that, but also because he literally cannot afford to spend time with them when all of their gatherings and events are money pits. But Rory’s dating one of them. To Marty, she’s actually dating the worst one. 

How do you think that would make Marty feel as her friend? 

He really doesn’t have to be into Rory or in love with her, his close friend dating one of his bullies is more than reason enough to cause a rift between Marty and Rory. And the thing is, this conflict could’ve been an impactful addition to Rory’s thematic storyline if the writers had just gone for it. Rory is financially and socially stuck between worlds. She will never fit into Logan’s world because of her upbringing, but she will always have more access to that world and resources than someone like Marty. And Rory “chosing” Logan’s world in season 5 before she hits rock bottom, and then returning to her roots (her mom, studying, Lane and Paris) and standing up for herself against Emily can be seen as a step in her journey of coming to terms with never being able to truly choose one world. And then Marty could’ve come back, not as a bitter former crush, but as a hurt friend who sees the change Rory is going through, and might help her along as she continues on this journey. 

We could’ve had a great storyline about the highs and lows of a friendship that’s affected by class, and instead we got a half baked nice guy plot.

[blackladynerd]

My Gentlebeard Endgame Thoughts…(Analysis)

I preface by saying I want Gentlebeard endgame as much as everyone else but…

here’s why I think it might not happen.

It’s been established since season one that Stede and Edward (Blackbeard) are on different trajectories in life. When they meet, Blackbeard is already clearly tired of the pirating life even expressing an interest to Izzy that he was tired of life in general not just pirating. When Stede introduces him to the idea of retirement it excites him. His original plan to burn Stede’s face off was so that he could retire and have Izzy take over as captain.

While Stede, on the other hand, upon meeting Blackbeard is excited to learn from the best in the business so he can start to live as a pirate; his pirating life is only just beginning.

At the end of season one, Edward has completely shed his Blackbeard persona - beard and all. He is perfectly happy to give up the pirate life. This is expressed in his demeanor in the recruitment camp. He makes no effort to escape and eases into the life folding clothes and “playing things by ear.”

It is only when Edward believes Stede reciprocates his feelings that he plans the escape. He knows that normalcy/society won’t let them be together. However, his plan never involves them being pirates again. His plan is only to start over as new people in love.

We see a glimpse of what he hoped for when he returns to The Revenge. They would live a life at sea not pillaging and thieving but just…living, singing songs and enjoying each others company. Heck they might even put on talent shows. This is not the pirate life Stede would want/dreamed about.

So, of course season one ends w/ Edward heartbroken and returning to his Blackbeard persona. Yes, he’s heartbroken because Stede rejected him, but that’s not the only thing he’s devastated about. He is heartbroken by the idea that he’s trapped. He’s trapped in this life he no longer wants, playing a role he no longer wants to play. For him being Blackbeard is a lifelong fuckery, and he is mourning the life he imagined/desired for himself.

Into Season Two…

It is at the start of season two that we see Stede really doesn’t understand this.

As he’s talking to Edward’s wanted poster he admits that he’s less worried about Ed wanting to kill him and more worried that Ed’s life has been better off without him. He sees that wanted poster and the endless list of crimes as Ed “living his best life.” Being out on the seas committing crimes is what a pirate wants, right? He doesn’t view it as the hell it’s actually been.

We see that Edward at the start of season two is actually suffering. Again, it’s not just because of Stede but because he feels trapped in this endless pirating life. He is the seabird that never touches land. It’s this idea of being destined to an endless life at sea coupled with feeling unlovable that causes Edward’s suicidal thoughts from season one to return.

When Ed goes to purgatory we see those desires for retirement haven’t gone away. He wants the simple life as Jeff the innkeeper. It is the part he hates about himself (Captain Hornigold) that is keeping him from it - the pirate part of himself.

However, Stede is fully embracing the pirate parts of himself and is honestly improving as a captain. He found the crew shelter, planned a somewhat successful robbery, orchestrated a successful escape, managed to land a good punch, and even made a decent threat. On top of that we’ve seen he’s still actively seeking advice and taking notes from Izzy and Zheng Yi Sao.

Just like Stede didn’t see how much Ed was suffering as a pirate, Ed hasn’t seen how much Stede is growing/thriving as a pirate. For Ed he still views Stede as the “fragile” man he first met. Even as they’re reunited and reconciling, they still haven’t realized how much the other has changed or how different their goals are.

Conclusion

So…what happens when they’re forced to confront that they’re at different stages of life? Buttons told Ed that change was required in order to love properly/ fully, but how much are they willing or able to change for the other? Would Ed completely sacrifice his desire for retirement by staying at sea w/ Stede? Or would Stede give up his dreams of piracy to stay on land w/ Ed? I really don’t see either happening which is why I question a Gentlebeard endgame.

Who knows maybe they’ll be able to figure out a happy medium/compromise. I hope they do I love them together, but right now I’m not feeling so sure 🥺😕

End of rant. If you’ve read this far, thanks for indulging me.

[thisisyourdriverspeaking]

Sky Sports F1 trying to say it's gonna be tough for Max tomorrow...bitch the Red Bull is 20000 miles faster than everyone else and all the drivers will probably just let him by and not challenge him. He will be fine

[bish0ps]

How many times do i say oh fr. Literally. Yeah fr. before this dude shuts uppp