#once again not justifying it but like. they are not equivalent circumstances and consequences

[pallases]

“discrimination is totally wrong until it’s against white heterosexual males, it’s such a double standard […] and the thing is the last thing you wanna do is piss off white males bc they’re the majority and the strongest” regina george voice so you agree you recognize that you’re the ones in power and therefore “discrimination” poses no danger or threat to you

[dreamteamspace]

They really went there huh

/rp (good lord I rly hyperfixated on this essay huh)

torture tw, abuse tw, manipulation tw, gaslighting tw

So the Dream SMP built a character, once maybe morally gray, who slipped straight into villany with little to no desire to change, and willing to cause a LOT of pain to get his way. Despite this, he doesn’t question what he does enough to stop, justifying his actions with a good intent that doesn’t come close to justifying what he’s done.

C!Dream is unremorseful of what he’s done, he’s quite literally manipulated and gaslit (like actually, not in the way everyone keeps throwing the word around) c!Tommy, almost drove him to take his last life- like, jesus christ. That’s not even to mention blowing up L’Manburg three times, encouraging c!Wilbur, wanting the discs JUST to have power over c!Tommy, etc.

SO, he gets thrown in a box for it so he doesn’t hurt anybody anymore, making his own hubris his downfall (narrative consequence my beloved). This leads us to a good finale - the bad guy, the person who’s caused objectively the most pain and destruction, is now unable to do so anymore, taken down by the person whom he tried to weaken. It is also revealed he was planning on blackmailing and threatening pretty much everyone, but now everyone gets their stuff back.

Good, right?

Especially for the finale, yeah! The message of the finale is good, c!Tommy manages to escape his abuser with nothing more but his clothes on his back and fights his way back to c!Tubbo and his home.

He doesn’t let his trauma (which is still very present!) let him become a terrible person (arguably the way that c!Dream DID let his frustrations make him a terrible person, c!Tommy, despite bearing quite a heavy weight, recognizes when he begins to turn that way and actively works against it).

It shows that while alone, c!Tubbo and c!Tommy were outfought by Dream, but because c!Tommy went the length to ask for help (which he didn’t even really seem to be relying on actually showing up), he wins! It truly is a good message.

C!Tommy escapes his abuser and manipulator, refuses and fights his trauma to not become someone he doesn’t want to be, and defeats his abuser by asking for help and receiving it, even more than he thought he’d get. He refuses to play c!Dream’s “game”, refuses till the very last moment to let c!Tubbo die, to surrender and say goodbye to him.

So, great! Good finale! C!Dream The Villain is boxed like a fish in a prison of, quite literally, his own making. It sent a good message to people. C!Tommy wasn’t expected to forgive him and did, in fact, axe him down twice, causing c!Dream to finally fall from his high horse.

Most media would stop at this point, say the villain is now defeated and never show them again, or have them come back another one or two seasons later, escaped and seemingly unharmed and worse than ever.

Alternatively, there’s a throwaway line, (or, in good media, a genuine, reasonable backstory, complete with remorse and bad role models and complicated situations), that allows the villain to be redeemed.

In GOOD redemption arcs (See: Zuko from avatar tbh), the villain was already never quite as heartless, or stressed their good intent, or felt remorse for what they felt they “had to do”. Then, ideally, the villain takes a looooong time adjusting their habits, regretting their actions and changing until they’re considered redeemed.

Not on the Dream SMP, though.

They don’t stop at c!Dream’s defeat.

He doesn’t dissapear off-screen and is never spoken of again. His life continues on, everyone’s does, just like it would in reality. He doesn’t magically want to become a better person, far from it. So no redemption. But he doesn’t dissapear, either.

They go on to, slowly, stress how awful the conditions in Pandora’s Vault are. c!Bad says c!Dream should be imprisoned, but at least at slightly better conditions. We’re in very VERY morally gray territorry here. Nobody says c!Dream is a good person, of course not, but even c!Bad - who knows Dream was planning on keeping c!Skeppy in a cage to control him with - goes, “yeah, he should stay boxed, but does he really need to like... suffer suffer?”

Still, c!Dream seems to be kindof inconsistent in his behavior. Is he faking his pain? Is he not? His actions don’t fully make sense for either take. He acts differently to each person, but at the same time some things he does don’t make sense if he were just fishing for pity.

Then c!Sam admits to trying (and thinking he succeeded) to “break Dream’s will”, to quite literally starving him for weeks.

Okay, so now we’re a step further. C!Dream is now suffering even more, although already boxed and unable to hurt anyone. Pandora’s Vault is one thing, but now c!Sam just seems to be out for revenge and nothing more. Instead of spending his time with c!Tommy, he spends his time pickaxing(?) c!Dream.

C!Sam isn’t an angel, and we should all know that by now. He does what he thinks is right, but he’s deeper than that, all characters on the DSMP are.

He cares deeply for the Badlands, and would always choose them above anybody else. He’s a capitalist. He built the prison because it would benefit the Badlands resource-wise, despite knowing Dream would probably use it on his enemies, and it was no secret that ALL members of L’Manburg, especially c!Tommy, are his enemies. C!Sam, undoubtedly, knew that. He still built it.

Arguably, he didn’t know about c!Dream’s attachment obsession at the time, but the point still stands.

People have already latched onto the untold story happening between c!Dream and c!Sam, and frankly, we barely know enough about it. Does c!Sam torture him regularly? Do they talk? Does c!Dream try to verbally fight back? CAN he fight back? We don’t know! We’ve gotten proof for both, between c!Sam saying that c!Dream is terrifying even in prison and c!Dream going silent to go on strike. We don’t have enough of an idea how bad or how good it truly is.

So the people who prefer to humanize c!Dream and explore morality imagine c!Sam to downright torture him, people that prefer to see c!Dream as nothing but evil due to his actions imagine prison on the DSMP to not be equivalent to real life prison, and thus nowhere near as torturous as people are making it out to be.

Now all that is thrown out the window as c!Quackity quite literally tortures him.

So now the internet is faced with a question that, judging by some of the impulsive reactions *cough cough* celebrating torture *cough*, it didn’t turn out to be ready for.

Tell me.

How far do we go?

C!Dream hurt a LOT of people. He did a lot of things that caused irreparable damage. Now what? Do we torture him forever? Why? Because he deserves it? How do we determine that without comparing one kind of pain to another?

It’s custom and kindof generally respectful not to compare people’s pain too accurately, because different things vary greatly in severity depending on the person that experiences them.

At what point do we say he’s suffered enough without comparing exile to the prison?

And if we DO compare, does that even make the question easier to answer?

And if he’s never suffered enough ever, killing them would be a mercy...

At what point has a person done enough damage that they “deserve” to die? What if someone only did half of the things c!Dream did. But if c!Dream gets infinite punishment, and half of infinity is still infinity, do they ALSO deserve endless suffering?

Do you think every person that did something you can’t emphasize with deserves to suffer for eternity and die?

I’m not saying we SHOULD emphasize with c!Dream. He did things we cannot justify, that NOTHING can justify. He did things that were, by their nature, unjustified.

I’m also not saying anybody should forgive him. I think it’s a GOOD thing that c!Tommy doesn’t want nor is narratively pushed to forgive c!Dream.

But c!Dream doesn’t need c!Tommy’s forgiveness to be... a person.

There’s a saying that I’m sure you know, that goes “I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy.”, because there’s things you wouldn’t want any human being to experience. Not because you like them, not cause you think they’re right, but because they’re human.

And perhaps this is my personal opinion, but I don’t think c!Dream being a bad person justifies dehumanizing him, because then we get into an area where someone needs to meet criteria just to be human.

-

I met someone once, whom, because of outside circumstances I knew I probably wouldn’t meet again. We’d been getting along just fine for people who just met, and were both getting into an interesting discussion about morality. They kept insisting upon something I kept refuting, so they said they needed to get something off their chest.

They proceeded to tell me that they had, years ago, while a teen, manipulated someone in a relationship, pushed boundaries and tried to convince them to do things they didn’t really want to do to get what they wanted.

They cried, while telling me, too terrified to tell anybody they know, terrified nobody would ever speak to them again, insanely regretful of their actions. They didn’t know whether to go back and apologize or just stay as far away as humanly possible, didn’t know which one the right thing to do is.

It had been years, by then, and I talked them through it. I said that what they did was bad, and there’s no going around that. But I also said what I saw, which is someone who would never do something like that ever again. I saw a human being. Someone who regrets a mistake they did and now, after enough time has passed, would do anything to make it undone.

Someone who is too terrified to be close to anybody in fear that they would do it again. I don’t remember if they already went to therapy or not, but it was definitly on the table, or in the near future.

They asked me how I could possibly even keep talking to them after they told me all that. They implied they felt like some kind of monster despite literally chocking back tears, firmly convinced they don’t deserve to be close to anybody in their life ever again.

I never swerved from the fact that what they did was wrong, and harmful. But I also told them they’re human. The universe isn’t keeping score. They want to be a better person now, and they were never going to learn how if they never let themselves be close to anybody.

I told them to seek therapy, and to slowly, carefully, try. Assured them that the fact that they regret it so strongly will at least help them in not falling back into the same pattern, and if they do, they can learn to recognize that.

They thanked me after the conversation, genuinely, especially for the fact that I didn’t sugarcoat what happened, because I know otherwise it would’ve felt like I was lying, like I was just sparing their feelings. I wasn’t. I was thinking about how to make sure they get to live without hurting anybody.

As per the circumstances, we didn’t speak again after that, which we knew basicly from the very start.

-

I still think about that conversation a lot.

Do you think they should’ve been locked up for life after it happened, instead?

Do you think this real human being, that I spoke to, that took years to realize their mistake - and never would have realized it if they hadn’t had the time to, if they’d been killed right afterwards - deserves to suffer forever?

Let me tell you something, from someone who’s been in more than one abusive situation: People that hurt you are human.

That doesn’t mean you have to forgive them. That doesn’t mean you have to like them. That doesn’t mean you have to make an effort to understand them. That doesn’t mean you need to go anywhere near them ever again.

You can hate them. You can be angry at them. You can (and should) go as far away from them as possible, and/or defend yourself.

But that doesn’t mean you have to dehumanize them.

You’re allowed to hate and dislike people that are human, because you’re human, especially if they hurt you. That’s how life is.

And to go back to my original point - c!Quackity torturing c!Dream is not something that should be celebrated.

There’s a difference between necessary measures (locking c!Dream up so he doesn’t hurt anyone), and torturing people for fun.

It’s not right. It’s never going to be right, and do not justify literal torture on human beings, and do not make someone lower-than-human to justify torturing them.

Taking revenge on someone for what they did tenfold is romanticized, I know, but I promise you it’s not actually as cool as it sounds.

[shinidamachu]

yo asking someone to make a wish so half of their heritage is gone forever is fridge horror-level wtfness (thnx TV Tropes).

of course RT and Sunrise chose not to focus on it, and in mythology people do give up divinity or humanity for romantic reasons, but specifically in Inuyasha it was like ‘despite your demon half you can still live a good life’ as if he has some disease 🤨

like I get in history people have had to hide their heritage to survive war and avoid being shipped off to their death or lose their rights, but to ask someone to permanently discard half their heritage and presumably hide their origins until death is tragic as fuuuuuuuuuuu

It's not even that they chose not to focus on it, is that they deliberately portrayed it as this grand romantic gesture from Inuyasha’s part and for a part of the audience, it truly was. But then again, this backfired for people like me, because it only served to proof how desperate Inuyasha really was to fit in.

Poor guy was literally planning on using the jewel to become a full demon just the day before. Then, at Kikyo’s request, he agreed on doing the exact opposite with little to no deliberation other than “what will be made of you, Kikyo?” I can only assume he was afraid her feelings were conditional. That if he had said no, she would have called it quits.

Imagine the same situation, but this time Inuyasha has a support system to lean on. Prejudice against half demons are still a thing, however he has his parents, his friends, a place to belong. Would he still have said yes in order to live with Kikyo? I honestly doubt it.

You see, Inuyasha hates being human. Not in the sense of saying he hates it, but liking it in secret. He actively hates it. And I can’t stress enough that we don’t actually understand how rightfully entitled he is to hate it.

We know how a human body feels like, we’re used to have a human body. Inuyasha is only human once a month. The majority of time he is a half demon. That’s what he is used to. Even worse: put yourself in his shoes. If you were to lose half your strength, half your sight, half your hearing and speed every single New Moon, you'd curse that night too. 

Not to mention the sheer vulnerability of being emotionally and physically exposed, of not being able to protect yourself or the ones you care about and becoming a "burden” when he takes pride of being the (un)official guardian of the group. No wonder he felt so hopeless he made a point out of staying up all night. And this is what Kikyo was asking him to feel like every single day for the rest of his existence so their life together could be easier, with the aditional quicker of forever losing the features that marked him as his father’s son. You know, the man who died saving him and his mother.

Every single character that got close enough to find out about his night of weakness quickly became aware of how much he despises it. Now, we don’t know the exact duration of Inuyasha and Kikyo’s relationship, but here are our options: Kikyo didn’t know about the New Moon and that Inuyasha hated turning into human or she did know and decided to go for it anyway.

Considering that the latter option is straight up awful, I’ll just assume she simply didn’t know. What does this say about their relationship? If they were an item for a considerable period of time, how come she didn’t know about such a fundamental thing about him? Especially when people who weren’t even his love interest were aware of that fact pretty early on? What was it worth all that time together if they didn’t use it to have meaningful interactions and get to know one another? If Inuyasha was keeping secrets from her and if she wasn’t interested in learning them?

On the other hand, if their relationship was indeed short lived, that could justify the lack of knowledge, but a different issue raises: if they didn’t have time to collect basic information about each other, how am I supposed to believe in their love? How am I supposed to view the decision to erase his demonic side and live together as anything other than reckless, impulsive and thoughtless? How am I not supposed to see it as mutual convenience, a mean to an end? How am I not supposed to think they are acting out of lonileness and desire to fit in? How am I not supposed to think that if literally anyone else had given them the same options they would have taken it? 

A New Moon would have happened in at least one month, tops. That’s not love. That’s a thirty days affair. It could have grown into love, if given the chance, but the pairing seemed more interested in the life they ideolized for themselves than in each other.

I don’t think Kikyo meant it as an ultimatum or that she was disgusted by his demonic attributes. She wouldn’t have approached or kissed him as a half demon otherwise. But I think it’s hard to deny that she wasn’t necessarily fond of them either, since she jumped at the opportunity to get rid of them first chance she got, with no remorse whatsoever. As if it was a bonus. This allowed with the fact that the prejudice against half demons is an allegory for racism and that she used from false equivalence to make the point that both her and Inuyasha were in the same situation puts her in a bad light.

Inuyasha was isolated by people because of his heritage, something he couldn’t change without resorting to intrusive, traumatizing and permanent magic, which Kikyo herself suggested he did. Kikyo isolated herself. People loved her because of her status and she was a privileged woman in comparison. She could have dropped everything since she was unhappy living like that, but she spontaneously chose her duty and powers over love and an ordinary life. And as much as I disagree with her choices, I can at least respect and understand them. What I can’t do is feel sympathy for her when the consequences of said choices catch up with her.

The narrative doesn’t give this problem much focus, it treats it in a much more subtle way. For instance: the jewel only being destroyed by the right wish, paints wishing for Inuyasha to become human as wrong and selfish, with the potential to be catastrophic.

That being said, Inuyasha didn’t hate being a half demon, on the contrary. What he hated was being ostracized over it, so he decided to take matters on his own hands and, when he was free to choose between using the jewel to become a full demon or a human, he went the full demon route because he knew living as human would made him miserable. But the desire of being a full demon was a facade. What he so very clearly wanted, all along, was to be accepted the way he was. That’s why he had no trouble letting go of that goal to pursue the exact  opposite: there was no attachment to it. Full demon or human, he longed for a place to belong. If Kikyo was offering that to him, of course he would have taken it, even if becoming human was far from being the first choice.

Compare that with Inuyasha finally giving up from becoming a full demon, realizing he didn’t have to change at all, that he had a place to belong and people who loved him not despite of what he was but because of it, that he could be accepted as a half demon. Compare that with Inuyasha ending up with the girl that always encouraged him to be himself, with being comfortable enough around her to follow his instincts and embracing his canine mannerisms rather than shutting them down, which he didn’t quite did with Kikyo... The message is clear:

Kikyo should never, in any circumstance, have asked that of him. The implications of it were really bad and on paper it was a win-win situation for her because getting rid of the jewel to become an ordinary woman was something she already wanted. He was the one with the short end of the stick, sacrificing everything without the same level of compromising from her part.

And Inuyasha should never, in any circumstance, have accepted this deal. As his love interest, Kikyo should have been the very first persond advocating for him not to change. If the feelings they had for each other truly were love, then she should be the one helping him getting to terms with himself while he does the same for her, not legitimizing the absurd idea that a part of his essence was less worthy of existing than the other, that he should have be the one to change in order to fit in, rather than the people who oppressed him.

Thematically, even if subtle, the narrative did a decent job out of showing the audience how fucked up the whole thing actually was. What it failed to do was making Inuyasha and the others realizing how wrong it was and holding Kikyo accountable for her actions by making them talk about it.

Because God forbid Kikyo gets vocally told she was wrong (even though she often is) and God forbid Takahashi give Inukik the tiniest bit of substance and relationship development.

[jostenneil]

I think something so fundamental to Naruto as a story is the fact that Naruto and Sasuke’s individual journeys in relation to Konoha—as a system and as a collective of people—are always going to send them in opposite directions. Like I realize that a lot of fans (including me, at times) wanted anything but angst for them as a conclusion, after all that they went through, but in doing so I think people ignore something undeniable about the story itself. As the story progresses, Konoha becomes a home to Naruto, and a source of exile to Sasuke. More under the cut!

The problems I have with Naruto’s post-canon—Chapter 700 and onward—lie mostly in the idea that Sasuke is willing to bend and cater to this system that: 

manipulated his brother into massacring his whole family,

isolated him as a result of that massacre, fixing his hatred on a singular point with no thought to how that situation could easily spiral, which it did, 

provided him with no knowledge as to why that massacre actually occurred,

and when he did find out the reason, lead him to realize that Konoha was a village that had never wanted him to begin with, that he had been spared solely because his brother loved him that much (but even then, that love wasn’t without consequence, and it was manipulated by the background intentions of Konoha’s elite), 

and, regardless of all these facts, continued to alienate and criminalize him rather than help or address his trauma and his very valid reasons for rage aimed at the village. 

Do I agree that there were better ways for Sasuke to go about his intentions once he recognized Konoha’s elite for the scum of the earth that they were? Sure. But I also think it’s important to recognize that he was incredibly destabilized as a child, and it’s amazing, because for some people this is a very hard thing to understand? I think fandom doesn’t realize the difference in the words ‘justified’ and ‘explained’. Were all of Sasuke’s actions in canon justified? Maybe not (although a lot were). Were all of his actions well explained by his trauma? Honestly, yeah. 

So to circle back to the point that I am trying to make—it’s true that during Part I, he grew very close to Team 7, and for a brief moment in time, these relationships were like a lifeline for him. But think about it—is a connection that you hold to three people enough to keep you in a village where you hardly feel connected to the rest? This is only a mild issue for Sasuke at the end of Part I; he doesn’t feel very connected to most people in Konoha, but at best, they’re just annoying background noise, trivial obstacles in the face of his goal to hunt down and murder Itachi. 

By the end of Part II, however, it’s overwhelmingly integral to his situation. Over the course of his journey, he’s come to learn that Konoha as a system always viewed him—his family—as a potential threat. His life was spared by his brother, but even that came with consequences and orders orchestrated by Danzo and co.; add onto that the chaos that he wrecked once he was free of Orochimaru’s tutelage, and you have a person who didn’t just alienate himself from his village, but who was alienated by that village in turn. 

It just makes so much sense to me that he leaves at the end of Chapter 699, because while he obviously cares deeply for Naruto and Sakura, is it really realistic to imagine him staying there just for them? What would he do, and what purpose would staying there serve him? This village rendered his entire life a lie, trivialized his existence, and traumatized him as a result. Aside from his connection to Naruto, by the end of the manga, Sasuke is purposeless. For someone whose entire arc is propelled by hate and sadness that stems from a very specific purpose, he ends up in this strange, sort of in-limbo space. . .

. . . which is why I actually like the idea that he decided to go on a journey for himself. It’s why I like the Blank Period notion of him being this forever traveler who drops in on occasion to help when circumstances are dire. It’s a good balance for him. In the fast-forwarded post-canon, however, we see that he’s essentially become a more child-friendly Itachi equivalent—he’s signed his life away to forever protect Konoha from behind the scenes, despite the fact that it comes at the cost of him neglecting his own family, and for the sake of a populace that for the most part does not care for him. It just feels like such a cruel way for his story to come full circle, after everything that he went through, because as much as he loves Naruto, Sasuke admitting to loss is more an acceptance to let love in, in full, and to let it guide him over the hatred he’d harbored in his heart for so long. That doesn’t have to be equivalent to submitting himself to Konoha—it just means that he should allow himself to prioritize his own needs and desires, rather than let anyone else’s evil or trauma guide him, as it has for the whole story.

And actually, that notion, to me, is what made Naruto’s character progression and ending make a lot of sense in comparison. He is someone who constantly strove for heartfelt connection to others, despite the pain and rejection that it could very often inflict on himself. In many ways, it was a dangerous way to think, and he often came off as naive(, which Naruto as a story is plenty criticized for, because it easily runs counter-intuitive to any sort of worthy political commentary on the series), but it also made him a very hopeful and independent person. He didn’t allow what others thought of him or inflicted upon him to guide his thinking, and he was very much someone who prioritized his own heart over the malice of others. 

So naturally, Naruto always ran in a direction opposed to Sasuke as a result of this thinking—and we know this. Befriending and changing the people around him for the better was what propelled Naruto more than anything, and it’s why Konoha ended up as a home for him despite everything it and its people did to discourage and put him down. He had to go to ridiculous lengths to prove himself, and in many ways it was cruel to realize, but he also formed so many valuable relationships along the way. Like, his relationship with Sasuke obviously takes precedence, because it is the foundation and catalyst for everything, but I don’t really agree with people who view Naruto’s dream of becoming Hokage as an obstacle to that bond. I actually feel like those were goals that ran in parallel for him. And I mean, he even says it, doesn’t he? How is he supposed to become Hokage if he can’t even bring back this one friend from darkness. It just resonates so much to me that by the end of the story, Naruto is someone actually prepared to take on the mantle of Hokage—because he understands other people’s pain, and he runs with it, and he is insistent upon making the people around him love themselves because he knows how miserable he was as a child hardly able to love himself. 

In that sense, Chapter 699 is, to me, a really great chapter. I think it captures that forever diverging dichotomy between him and Sasuke perfectly. Naruto is a story equally about Naruto making a home for himself in Konoha as it is about Sasuke freeing himself from the same village’s shackles. True, there is this intense, deeply rooted love that they are always going to have for each other, but that love is something that runs alongside their own personal feelings and ambitions, rather than against it. I think people get caught up in the idea that a happy ending for them has to mean that they’re together together, but to me there’s a certain poetry in them going their own separate ways. Konoha is no longer a home for Sasuke (if it ever was, even a little), but that relationship to Naruto and Team 7 will forever be important to him and influence him wherever he goes; and Konoha has become a home for Naruto, but it’s also with the peace of knowing that Sasuke won’t ever succumb to the darkness of others again, and will love himself first. 

So, tldr; I think the notion of Naruto ending with Naruto and Sasuke going their separate ways is kind of ingenious, because it ties deeply into what Konoha means to each of them by the end of it. This isn’t me saying that I think they’re never going to see each other again—I just don’t think the conclusion to their individual arcs has to be in opposition to what their relationship means to them. They can continue to be intensely important to each other, while prioritizing their own hopes and dreams. That’s the beauty and tragedy of their relationship to me. (Chapter 700, who?)

[osleyakomwonkru]

Octavia Blake and the Long Moral Darkness of the Soul, Part 1: What is Darkness?

If you’ve followed me for awhile, it is possible that you’re confused about how exactly I perceive our dear Octavia Blake.

I’ve written a lot about how she doesn’t need redemption. I’ve also written a lot about her dark spirals, her inner darkness and her journey back to self-love.

These might sound like contradictory viewpoints, but really they’re not. Let me tell you why.

Redemption (at least insofar as it typically applies in media tropes) is external - a character has wronged someone or multiple someones, and a redemption arc is their way forward to atone and make up for their wrongs. This is what Bellamy did in both seasons 1 and 4, and Kane in season 2, as two examples.

But like I said above, I don’t believe Octavia needs redemption, because I don’t believe she wronged anyone. She was ruthless as Blodreina, to be certain, but ruthless doesn’t mean wrong. She wasn’t wrong. She has, however, been battling her inner darkness, and that’s an entirely different beast than redemption.

In Part 1 of this series, we’ll look at precisely what darkness is in the context of this show, and why Octavia is unique among main characters in possessing it. (But not unique among all characters).

In Part 2, we’ll look at the perhaps-surprising beginnings of Octavia’s darkness, and how the kindness of strangers and an echo of hope helped her emerge from it to save the human race.

In Part 3, we’ll look at Octavia’s second descent into darkness, and how once again it was the kindness of strangers and not those ostensibly close to her that helped her emerge from it, to once again save the human race (well, jury is still out on the details, but chances are good, anyway).

So let’s get into it, shall we?

What Exactly is “Darkness” in The 100?

So, to have a discussion on darkness, we need to define precisely what darkness is. In so doing, it will also come to light how Octavia’s darkness is something that no other main character on the show possesses, or indeed, could possess, because of the circumstances at hand.

“Who we are and who we need to be to survive are two very different things.” - Bellamy and Clarke’s mantra of moral absolution

“First we survive, then we get our humanity back.” - Abby and Kane’s mantra of moral absolution

Two phrases. Two generations. Same principle. Also same limited scope - this is a forgiveness and absolution they only ever grant each other, and not to anyone else outside of this quartet (usually also only within the pairs, but there’s been some cross-generational absolution between Abby and Clarke, as well as Bellamy and Kane).

These phrases are fundamental, because they explain where the “darkness” resides - on the survival end of that spectrum. But both phrases come with the implication that what you do for survival exists within a limited scope of time, and that you can spend the rest of your time being “who you are”. To put it a different way: It is our intentions that matter, not our actions.

Now this is something I’ve talked about at length - the intentions vs actions spectrum, and how most of the characters of this show reside firmly on the intentions side, but that Octavia, by virtue of not only her upbringing but her most defining moments beyond that as well, has only ever been able to exist on the actions side.

If your actions define who you are, then what you do for survival isn’t just a momentary blip or detour in your moral standing, it is a part of who you are. An immoral deed isn’t something that you can just absolve yourself of or justify to yourself and go about your day, it is still inside you, and until you can do a moral deed of equivalent or greater worth to make up for it, there is no absolution, there is only darkness.

Thus, Octavia’s darkness is a result of having to live in “who we need to be to survive” for a long time without any sort of respite. Which is why it is internal rather than external (thus something where redemption applies) - it is a discord between one’s own morality and what has to be done. You live in that darkness long enough, you start to believe there’s no way out of it anymore.

The Ark adults do, of course, know a few things about this sort of situation - but on the Ark, they had each other to lean on. They didn’t have to do anything alone. They supported each other, they did what they had to do together (diffusion of responsibility) - which is part of why their abandonment of Octavia in the bunker to ensure their survival alone is so horrific.

Not only that, but the Ark adults are also masters of believing in intentions over actions - but no one, not one of them, has ever thought to allow Octavia into that club. To teach her that your actions aren’t the only things that define you, that your intentions do too, and sometimes shit happens along the way and you can get past that - because this is not something anyone has ever taught her, and her experiences keep reinforcing the idea that actions are all there is. It’s almost comical how Kane keeps telling her “your actions have consequences”, as if that isn’t the fundamental guiding principle of her life already.

Bellamy also started the show very actions-oriented - and it makes sense, because of both the life and death stakes the Blakes lived with from the moment of Octavia’s birth and their low socioeconomic status (which both on the Ark and in today’s world means that actions have higher stakes and thus have to matter more than intentions with regards to survival). But he has one key life experience that Octavia does not - he earns the favour of highborn Clarke in season 1, and she forgives him his trespasses, and initiates him into the privilege of believing in intentions over actions. This was a pivotal moment for him (in 1x08), but it was also a memo he never passed on to his sister.

So thus we see - when it comes to the main characters, Octavia is unique in her darkness, a combination of needing to live on the survival end of the spectrum for too long, as well as not being allowed to believe that intentions matter too. Others have dipped their toe from time to time, but no one else has had to live there as long as she has. But there is one recurring character who knows this darkness well, and that would be Luna.

Luna was raised in an environment that created this type of darkness for people who were not born as natural leaders, people like Lexa and Clarke who could compartmentalize like leaders need to do. But she was raised to be a Commander nonetheless, by virtue of being a Nightblood. And she was good at the fighting aspect of it, which may have been part of what bothered her. In a sense, that may have been the case for Octavia too - she was a warrior prodigy, and over time, came to be defined by that because her skills were always needed, especially in Skaikru-Grounder contexts where she was the only member of Skaikru (at the time) who knew Grounder fighting methods. 

Luna struggles with this throughout season 4 - she wants to believe what Raven tells her, that it isn’t her blood (which she’s always associated with violence) that defines her, but her heart. But as the season goes on, she sees that her heart isn’t enough. She’s already lost her entire clan, then she loses her bodily autonomy as Skaikru commits more violence using her blood.

For all of her best intentions, her world all turned to ruin, through no fault of her own.

She articulates all of this despair to Octavia during the Conclave: “You were right when you said I used to think that people were basically good, if you took them out of this world and showed them the way of peace, the darkness would fade, just like the darkness in me faded. I even stopped blaming myself for killing my brother in the conclave. But the truth is, when I saw him standing across from me in the arena, and I knew only one of us could live, I wanted it to be me. I ran, because I was afraid of what I am. I am the darkness. We all are. And this is the end.”

It was the end for Luna, but it wasn’t the end for Octavia. For Octavia, it was a new beginning - the Conclave was Octavia’s first rebirth from the darkness. But where exactly did that first darkness start?

Hint: It’s not where you think.

[keire-ke]

What does Steve want?

tl;dr going back in time fulfills neither Steve’s narrative wants nor needs, because the former are too broad and the latter are negated by foreknowledge.

Aside from other reasons for disliking how Endgame ended, I find Steve's arc narratively unsatisfying, and it comes down to one simple thing: because what Steve wants to do and what he believes is right were always consistently the same thing, I never had the sense Steve wants anything except doing the right thing, and as such the absolute selfishness of leaving everyone to deal with the present and going back in time to get a life comes out of nowhere.

This is not necessarily the wrong narrative choice, but it also isn't one that feels like an ending of an arc that set a character up to face the difficult choice between the right thing and the consequences of the right thing (and never delivered).

Contrast with the beautifully clear and coherent arc for Iron Man: Tony wants to go home to a family and Tony wants to save everyone. We know this about him from very early on, and his story is consistently about navigating between those two wants, so when the choice comes to sacrifice going home versus saving everyone, we feel the gravitas of the moment. This is the culmination of his two warring wants, finally coming to fruition.

What does Steve want? What does Steve sacrifice on the altar of doing the right thing, what has he given up in his quest to fight for the world that he needs to reclaim to grow and be happy?

I honestly don't know.

He loses certain opportunities as a result of his choices, sure (e.g. being with Peggy), but losing things, especially opportunities, that you might have wanted is not the same as consciously sacrificing something, even opportunity, especially when those things are lost to snap decisions. There is no point at which the right thing is in question, versus the desire for something, in no small part because the right thing is always stopping the imminent danger, and not stopping it would likely also take out the thing Steve wants in that moment: in fact it is no choice at all.

Not putting the Valkyrie in the water was not an option because auto-guided missiles were threatening millions right that minute, not stopping Hydra was not an option, because if the war was lost there was nothing left to want, not fighting Bucky meant letting SHIELDra probably have him back and killing millions. Civil War comes closest to presenting an actual dilemma, but there was never a choice between things Steve wants and things Steve thinks are right: not letting Bucky be killed was the right thing to do and also something he wanted, not signing the Accords proved to be the right thing and also what he wanted. Argument can be made about the conflict with Tony, but jury's out on whether their friendship was sufficiently established in the MCU, at least from Steve's end. Steve never seems to have to choose between losing something he wants by doing what's right, or getting it by not doing it: what's right and what he wants are always intertwined.

It ties in with another facet of Steve to contend with, and that is his inability to not make everything his problem. That is a huge factor of how something drastic needed to happen before he stepped down and got a life, it is, in fact, the clearest example of what Steve needs versus what Steve wants. Steve can't seem to walk away from a fight: for all of his life he was doing the right thing because it was the right thing, which mostly meant fighting. This is not sustainable, and Steve needed to stop to some degree, but stop what, that's the question. Stop fighting all the time, certainly. Learn to enjoy victory, build something instead of throwing everything you have at a brick wall all the time. Learn to accept that there are things you cannot change, that you shouldn't change, because other people's freedom fucking sucks. In that light going to the past may be just what he needs, finally giving up control, giving up the illusion that if he just tries hard enough he will save everyone, because all of it already happened. On the surface that works.

However.

Learning a lesson like "you need to not fight sometimes" can't be "remove yourself from the world and all temptation". It is the narrative equivalent of an opium den. Retreat into a world where none of your choices matter, because all choices have already been made.

Leaving the world he saved would have worked, were he forced to sacrifice or lost that which made him fit in along the way, except that never happened. Time and again we are shown that Steve very much belongs in the XXI century, that he has a life there, friends, family. Even as early as the Winter Soldier Steve was shown to be very much at home in the 2010s. Occasionally it was lonely, sure, but so was Tony, so was Bruce, so was Natasha. Missing the people of his past is not the same thing as missing the past itself. Steve needed to make connections, and by the end of CAWS he did: he had Sam and Natasha, and the ball kept rolling. In fact by the end of Egg Steve has more people anchoring him in 2023 then he had in the 1940s.

The last thing is that we are at no point sold the idea that Steve truly wants anything concrete. He doesn't even particularly want to save the world, or at least doesn't view it as an attainable goal (with good reason – the world will always need saving, that is the price of freedom). Steve never seems to want stability, or a nuclear family, or security, or... seriously, what does Steve want from life at any given point? He says in CAWS he wants to do the right thing, but doesn't know what that is anymore, and that is resolved by the end. Steve never wanted to work for SHIELD for the sake of SHIELD, he just wanted to do his part and SHIELD appeared to enable that. That desire doesn't change. He doesn't give anything up, his wants and needs do not change, only the circumstances do, and even then they don't change enough for him to be forced to adjust his perspective.

Steve’s never been shown to be torn between “I want a normal, happy life” vs “I can’t stand by while evil is afoot”. If anything, his dilemmas tended towards “I can’t stand by while evil is afoot” vs “not standing by causes problems” (further weakened because he always ends up justified in choosing the former). Has this been resolved? Has Steve learned to pick his battles, to weigh cost and benefits of engaging depending on the situation? Has Steve learned to accept sacrifices in the great war against evil, or does he still consider sacrifices a personal failing that he needs to fix and or undo?

In the end we don't know, because we are not shown. Or told. All we know is that Steve existed consciously for another century, and either took the opportunity to re-do things that went wrong the first time (not great in terms of accepting and honouring the sacrifices of people who fought the first time, and also not a retirement), or sat back and not only let evil flourish, but watched his beloved wife take pride in building the place where he knew it flourished (…yikes).

…yeah, I'm gonna guess: no. Steve didn't learn.

There is one candidate for want: Egg tries to sell the idea that it’s Peggy, Peggy personally, which... okay, I buy that Peggy was the singular person with whom Steve ever dreamed of being, so being with Peggy, alright. That’s not nothing. That is a very clearly defined want.

(would help if we knew Peggy spent her whole life waiting for Steve to come back because he was the One Man who could make her happy. Nothing weakens that ending quite like the knowledge that the woman has been regressed into the desired prize)

But it’s also not much, considering Steve is never shown to want the things that going back to be with a woman usually represents, like home and stability and “life”. AoU was a golden opportunity to have Steve wistfully look at children running around a farm and be like “ah, that’s the dream”, but he just looks bemused. So the "want" is just Peggy, the specific person, however here is the final kick: Peggy-the-person represented something when Steve knew her in the 40s: she was the kindred spirit that believed in the same things and validated his wants, because those were the same things she wanted. They both believed in doing the right thing no matter the cost, standing up to bullies, being true to yourself. The thing is, all of that is voided by the fact that Steve needs to go back to be with her: going to the past is not the morally right choice, it is a selfish one. By going back Steve negates the entirety of why he wanted Peggy in the first place, and what he gets is just the shadow of Peggy, really, the undefined shape of a beautiful woman at the end of the day. In the end the fulfilling of Steve's apparent want is like cotton candy. It is pretty, well-shaped, sweet, and exactly what you think you want, except once you get it is nothing but a spoonful of empty calories that melts in the sunshine.

The problem with Steve's arc is that for all the talk about always doing the unselfish thing Steve has never done anything he didn't want to do, and that matters, as context. Steve is never conflicted about fighting, Steve is never shown wanting things other than the things he chooses, because the narrative never puts Steve in a position where he needs to choose between what is good for someone, and what he feels is right. We never see him grapple with the consequences of choosing his rigid morality at the expense of other people, which on one hand is fine – this is not necessarily the right genre for the meditation on the nature of selfishness, but on the other that leaves him with little room to grow, so to have an arc it must be one of selfishness, which would be fine, if it didn't play out as a happy ending. It is a deeply unsatisfying thought, that always choosing the right thing is so taxing that to be happy you need to eschew it altogether.

In conclusion: what Steve needs to be happy is to gain the wisdom to know the difference between the things he can change and the things he cannot change, and the serenity to accept the latter. Going into the past gives him the opportunity for none of that, because as mentioned above, depending on interpretation, he will have to either accept all things, or claim the power to change all things.

[lightsandlostbells]

Druck season 2, episode 8 reaction

Things go to hell pretty quickly, except Björn, who doesn’t go to hell fast enough.

Episode 8

Clip 1 - Happy ending for now

Mia and Alexander head into school together. Their little sideways smiles at each other warm my cold heart, I’ll admit. She hands him his keys so she drove his car. There was a windshield wiper situation, heh. Really I just love how they’re looking at each other, like they’re deeply pleased to be with each other. I know that seems obvious, but for some reason a lot of fictional couples spend so much time having drama that they don’t seem to actually enjoy each other’s company. Something I like about Mia and Alex is that I do think that they enjoy just hanging out and talking to each other about whatever. It’s not just about attraction, I do feel like there’s some inherent compatibility there.

Mia is rocking that red lipstick, by the way. It seems particularly bold today, reflecting her mood, I guess.

Mia and Alex hold hands when they get inside and people stare, I assume because Alexander Hardenberg is holding hands with a girl. He’s dating someone? Not just banging her??? And it’s Alexander Hardenberg of the Hotel Hardenberg fortune, you know, he’s a big deal at this school.

Also, they’re basically announcing themselves as a power couple, lmao. Let me put it this way, if fandom hadn’t come up with Winterberg as a ship name, the students themselves would have, because that couple is a big deal.

LMAO, Druck gets in its own version of the “I’m so hungover from the weekend”/”It’s Wednesday” exchange from Skam when Kiki says she’s still hungover from the Tangore party and Mia says that was two days ago. I fucking love that they managed to work in that iconic line somewhere without totally copying the scene. (Again, I have to ask: what was Julie’s inspiration for that moment? Did those girls win a walk-on contest?)

Mia and Alexander are going to the movies on Thursday, Valentine’s Day. You know, they’ve actually established movies as a thing that both of them enjoy, a common interest? I know liking movies is not exactly an obscure trait, but we’ve seen Mia and Alexander have a movie night where they both discuss movies briefly, and a day where they watch a film in bed together, and now they plan to go to the movies on Thursday. Mia has a pic of an outdoor movie screen on IG. I forgot if there were anything else, but it’s a small detail that makes it feel more like a real relationship.

We get a Kiki/Carlos conversation as they walk away, so super POV break, although not unusual for Druck. Kiki asks Carlos what they’re doing for Valentine’s Day and he says that’s just something the Americans invented, like Halloween. Carlos, I’m not gonna stand for lumping Halloween and Valentine’s Day together like one isn’t an extremely fun day where as a kid you wear a costume and get a lot of free candy and the other isn’t an extremely bleak day where as an adult you wear sweatpants and eat a whole bag of candy you bought yourself while you try not to think about your love life or lack thereof.

Kiki says she likes Halloween, however, and Carlos pretends to be a zombie and attacks her. It is extremely cute. I’m glad the German Magnus/Vilde equivalent proved to be so delightful, I wouldn’t even mind seeing these two being gross at each other. (I mean. Don’t push it.)

Mia hugs Hanna happily, and Hanna says, “Happy Ending?” which in a fictional context with three episodes to go might as well be putting a curse on Mia. She also knows that Mia and Alex are going to the movies on Valentine’s Day. Already? Alex just said that downstairs? Mia says Kiki is unbelievable. So Kiki just texted that to the girls right then and there, in the middle of a zombie attack no less. That is a special skill 

There’s some very cute girl squad interaction, Sam filmed Mia and Alex holding hands, all the girls are so happy that Mia is happy, everybody’s cool with each other, no more drama, yay!

Except some drama, because Mia asks Hanna about Jonas, Hanna is stressed because Jonas is all freaked out because boy Sam flirted with her. I love Jonas but he needs to chill. Poor Hanna has other things to worry about, and you’re not dating anymore so she can flirt with anyone she wants. 

Clip 2 - Violence is not the answer but hit him harder

Alex twirls Mia adorably. I’ve said this before but they’re a really enjoyable couple on just a clip-by-clip basis, watching them interact. A scene of them doing mundane tasks like grocery shopping or doing laundry together would probably be entertaining. Assuming Alexander does not pay someone to deliver his groceries or do his laundry.

He’s taking her to an indoor skate park. He did have that skateboard in his apartment! They managed to work in a skater despite German Jonas being more of a musician.

Alex says he goes here to blow off steam. Mia asks if he means from school, and I do not think he actually means from school, probably all his family and personal drama. He clearly knows some guy there and is friendly with him. It’s great that we see Alexander have like … actual interests and hobbies considering that was one of my gripes about William, I had no idea what he did in his free time.

Lol, watching someone else skate is not the most exciting date, like what a typical sidelined-girlfriend activity. I mean, I do think in a relationship you want to learn about your partner’s hobbies and it’s probably really exciting for Mia getting this insight into Alexander, fun to just watch him when they’re in the glow of their new relationship. But on Skam and the remakes we had the Evas watching their Jonases skate, basically them being passive, the Jonases being active. Though I feel like that was part of the point about that relationship, with Jonas having more of an identity and Eva just being a tag-along, and the context is pretty different here with Mia and Alexander. But damn, what’s with all these dudes bringing their girlfriends to dates where the girls are just spectators to the guys’ fun? Where are all the girls and their skateboards? Or where are all the guys watching their girlfriends play sports? It’s not really a criticism of the show, just an observation. We know Mia is driving Alexander’s car so I’m going to headcanon that she also borrows his skateboard. 

Lol, Mia even sees the women on the sidelines and is like, are you the players wives and girlfriends? There’s a whole group of women just hanging out and watching their guys do stuff! But they seem nice and offer her a drink.

So I actually missed the first time around that there’s a text message where they plan this outing. It’s Mia who asks about watching him skateboard. She also asks if she can try and he teases her by saying it’s just for boys. Lol, I love that it played out like that and that it’s her idea. I’m sure in the future once their relationship heals, Mia will get her own chance with the skateboard. 

We see Alexander skateboarding and being dorky, Mia smiling as she watches him. It’s all fun and games until Björn shows up. The upbeat 50 Cent song fades out and there’s a brief moment where there’s like a tense sound effect as Mia waves to him. It’s gone when Alexander skates over, so it’s like it’s establishing specifically this ominous connection between Björn and Mia, which we know turns into something awful later.

Alexander is pissed and wants to know how Mia knows Björn, and she explains that he was in the flat when she stayed over at Alex’s place. Alexander is being somewhat alarming with his demanding answers from Mia, although his anger obviously is not targeted at her and is motivated by this scumbag not only being in his presence, but having some sort of acquaintance with another person he cares about. After losing Sophie, the thought of losing Mia because of Björn is terrifying. Like I get why Alexander freaks out, knowing that Björn was in his flat, and not only that, but when Mia was alone there and didn’t have a clue who this guy really is and that he’s dangerous.

Alexander walks over and hits Björn with a skateboard twice, so Björn is crumpled on the ground gasping for breath. We get that ringing in the ears sound which is both Björn dealing with getting whacked and Mia having a harsh reality crash into her beautiful love story. People pull Alex away and someone says to call an ambulance, Alexander runs off. He shoots Mia some glances before running, so I’m wondering if he realizes he fucked up, or is just concerned about her well-being, or scared what she thinks of him now, all the thoughts running through his head.

I mean, … violence is not the answer and I do think Alexander should face consequences for that action because that’s just how it works. BUT it’s hard for me to be appalled at this knowing what Björn did to Sophie and later did to Mia. He’s an abuser. Even when this clip first aired and we didn’t have the full story of Björn’s history, I was like, well, if Björn raped/assaulted/did something bad to Alex’s sister, and she’s dead because of it, then I have a hard time judging him for this. 

But I also don’t care for William smashing the bottle over that guy’s head, which is essentially the equivalent scene. Is that hypocritical? I’d argue that they’re two different circumstances, and that William didn’t need to do what he did. I think a big difference is that the situation with the Yakuza boys might have been able to be prevented before it got out of hand just by going to the police, which William dismissed at the time as naive. Alexander didn’t need to attack Björn either, but Björn probably wasn’t ever going to face justice for abusing Sophie and influencing her death. Again, not that it’s justified, but I can admit that on a gut level I get it more.

And honestly, looking at the whole season, a lot of it has to do with the respective degrees of investment in this situation by Mia and Noora. The Yakuza plot seems very impersonal because Noora doesn’t have a solid connection to it herself; the whole time she’s a bystander. She watches Chris get out of the car with a black eye, she sees Isak get into Chris’ car, she observes the fight. Sure, Chris and Jonas get beat up and William might face punishment, but she feels so outside what happened. Mia, on the other hand, gets very personally involved in the Björn drama. Björn preys on her, and even aside from that, Mia is more up close and personal with the effects of Björn’s behavior on Alex such as the panic attack. Ultimately it just feels like the Yakuza dudes are a nebulous menace with nebulous motives, I don’t even know the name of the dude who got a bottle smashed on his head, and that makes less aligned with William and more skeptical of his motives in attacking that guy, but I do have a clear idea of who Björn is, why he’s a bad guy, and what he did to Alexander and his family, and later Mia, and so I just find this more engaging and Alexander more sympathetic, even if I get that these are both inappropriate actions.

Intellectually I’m like: violence is bad, vigilante justice is bad, don’t do that, Alexander needs to learn to control his anger. Emotionally I’m all: kick his ass.

Clip 3 - Someone needs to adopt Michi

Mia comes home and flops on her bed. She’s been texting Alex and trying to get in touch with him to no avail. Alex, dude, that is a bad move. Even if you need to cool off and clear his head, you’re leaving your girlfriend in the dark over an extremely shocking, possibly traumatizing moment. Plus, you know, leaving her open to sympathizing and possibly being manipulated by Björn, the guy who ruined your life and Sophie’s.

Linm comes in and offers her soup in Chinese. Michi comes in because he heard someone offering food. Relatable as fuck, my boomerang friend.

Actually he came in because he said Hans went to get pizza but Michi doesn’t know if he’s coming back. DUDE, Hans, did you really go out for pizza but not see if your boy wanted any? You ditched him?

Also, this seems like a parallel to Mia and Alex, which I thought might happen. Hans ditched Michi like Alex ditched Mia. Michi asks if Alex cheated on Mia, with what seems like a casual tone, like it’s expected, which is depressing if you think he’s used to that in his relationship. Mia asks him to leave, lmao. 

Mia tells what happened at the skate park to Linn. Linn asks what happened to Björn. You can see Mia get an idea. Oh no, don’t talk to Björn before Alex gives you the story! We know where this is going!!

Clip 4 - Fuck Valentine’s Day

It’s Valentine’s Day. Mia walks through the rain as we hear her leaving Alex a message about being worried about him. The music has some apropos lyrics: “And if you dream you fix me / And if you stay you hurt”

Mia waits outside of the movie theater, like they planned. They’re showing Casablanca. I’m trying to think up some symbolic reason why it might be that movie, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen Casablanca. Errr, it doesn’t have a happily ever after for the couple? 

The marquee says “Valentine’s Day Surprise” which is not inaccurate, lol, it’s just a fucking shitty surprise for Mia. She waits for him. Another happy couple shows up and rubs their romance in her face. Always a great feeling on V-Day! A dude in an Alex-typical coat and hoodie strolls up just to rub his Alexness in her face. She’s being hit with reminders of her fraught love situation like pies to the face.

Mia gets a call, not from Alex, from Hanna, saying she got a message from Jonas telling her that if she went to Sam’s gig, that’s it for him. WTF, Jonas? “It” as in him and Hanna? Stop being a drama king. You guys broke up. IDK if there’s a clarification in German, but could he also be like his well-being/stability is over if Hanna goes to the gig? Because that’s even more extreme. No matter what, it’s manipulative. He’s putting something about his quality of life on Hanna, like what is she supposed to do? Not go because it will make Jonas upset?

Mia is getting emotional about being stood up on Valentine’s Day and seeing happy couples show up to the theater isn’t helping. She throws away her card and the movie tickets and leaves.

Bad move, Alex. You could have at least sent her a text. Even if you didn’t want to explain, just say you can’t make it to the movie so she doesn’t wait outside in the rain on Valentine’s Day. 

Clip 5 - Happy ending my ass

Mia goes to see Björn, who’s in the hospital. She got the info from a girl at the skate park. The lighting in this room is very warm and bright and I wonder if that’s intentional, to create a sense of security and trustworthiness and to influence us into thinking this guy doesn’t seem so bad. It just struck me immediately when you compare it to Mia outside, or previous clips of her waiting for Alex at the theater. 

Mia wants some answers. Björn says he was dating Sophie, who lived in Bali, and when Mia asks if she came back, Björn is like … she died. Shit, so she is dead. I thought they might make her alive but dealing with serious consequences of being with Björn. I will say I am surprised Mia didn’t find any news of Sophie’s death during her Google stalking, or from people gossiping, but I can also buy that the family tried to keep it quiet, especially because of her manner of death. He says that Alexander told her something totally different, and the way he says it, he’s presenting it like, of course Alexander has lied to her, not surprising, like he knows Alexander is the untrustworthy one. We hear that same ringing sound that happened when Alex was attacking Björn, because again, it’s Mia’s world getting rocked, it’s the happy ending being overturned, she’s learning upsetting things about Alexander.

Mia is upset and Björn comes off all comforting, saying it’s not her fault, the whole family is broken. He tells her about the dysfunctional family dynamic and describes Alex’s charming act. Obviously this applies more to Björn rather than Alexander, down to Sophie falling for the act, but it’s unclear how much Björn knows he’s fucked up or whether he’s just projecting like an IMAX. Or you know, lying. 

Björn says Sophie committed suicide and that she always suffered from depression but it didn’t fit in with the image her family wanted. Björn and Sophie planned to go to Bali and travel after graduation, but the family didn’t like Björn and constantly tried to get her to come back. I bet Mia is reacting to this strongly because of her relationship with her own family. She also has parents who try to get her to fit into their own image and come back to them when she’s living independently, parents who don’t seem to really get her. It seems like they were most concerned about Mia being away from them because of how people talked about it, not necessarily because they missed her.

You can see why Mia believes him, because this dude isn’t like, radiating an evil aura. He’s very convincing in his manipulation. He seems sincere about caring for Sophie and very broken up about what happened to her. And Alex did lie to Mia about Sophie, and he had a sudden incident of violence, and Björn happens to be hitting close to home when he describes Sophie’s relationship with her family. I get that we know as a viewer that Björn is bad news, but Mia? Mia doesn’t have the benefit of knowing she’s on a TV show and that this storyline played out with a Norwegian girl already. 

As Mia leaves, Björn tells her to stay away from Alex, he’s dangerous. And Mia has reason to think this is correct. I mean, she went to meet Björn at a hospital, because Alexander put him there.

When Mia steps outside, she finally gets a text from Alex saying he was at his parents’ place to clear his head and he wants to meet. LMAO, dude, it’s not like you went to a spa to take a break from studying for exams, you ran off and ghosted your girlfriend for days after beating up a guy in front of her. You need to offer a way bigger apology than that. Especially because you want to meet with her? Do you think she necessarily wants to meet up with a guy who’s physically violent?

I like Mia’s face as she walks away. She’s not crying or anything, but she just gives off this sense of being torn and turning over what she just heard in her head. She puts in her earbuds and even though she’s not literally muffling Alexander’s voice like in that previous clip where he meets her in front of her place, in a way it feels like it’s a sign of her blocking him out. She doesn’t wait for his response after she tells him she met Björn, that’s all she needs to say and she’s done.

Social Media/General Comments:

As I mentioned above, Mia and Alexander planned the skateboard date. I wonder what fun activity Alexander will observe of Mia’s? He’s already seen her piano-playing, the true reveal will be when he walks in on her ironing to classical music. Now that tells you a lot about a person.

Mia tried to get answers from boy Sam about Alex’s whereabouts and what the hell happened, but Sam does not tell her anything except to find out from Alex himself. I can respect that, honestly. It might be frustrating for Mia, but Sam isn’t giving away his best friend’s sad backstory without his permission. 

Both of Mia’s parents contact her this week:

Her dad makes small talk and then asks if she knows where her mom went, never a good sign. That makes it seem like the mom walked out on him.

Her mom wants to come to Berlin and hang out with Mia. She complains about Mia’s dad getting on her nerves and how they’re so different and she doesn’t know why she got with him. You know, all stuff that you should maaaaybe not dump on your teenage daughter about her father. Tell that shit to a friend. Also, there’s something childish about it, not just the complaining, but that she wants to hang with Mia as a way to escape Mia’s father, not necessarily because she wants to see her daughter.

Druck conveniently did not have to provide any footage from boy Sam’s secret concert by having the invitation state NO PHOTOS - NO INSTA. Saved them the time and expense of staging a performance just for the SM content.

Jonas was bitter about the concert but what else is new. Stupid sexy Sam and his stupid sexy music, being in proximity to Hanna.

Hanna went ahead and posted a picture of her and boy Sam at the concert despite Jonas warning her that it’d be over if she went, which is a power move if there ever was one. I love Jonas but fuck if Hanna needs to listen to his dramatic ass. 

So Mia had a crappy V-Day where Alex ditched her, Hanna had Jonas drama weighing on her, Amira and Sam seemed unimpressed by Valentine’s Day, judging by IG posts that suggest so. In fact, I think the only couple who had a happy Valentine’s Day, whatever they did, was probably Kiki and Carlos. 

I’m not German so please feel free to correct me on stuff like cultural context and translation issues.

If you got this far, thank you for reading!

[perfectdocument]

Some Information About Rent Agreement !

The house lease arrangement of a property is one authoritative report that practically nobody can stay away from. You may need to arrange (if at all you know how to) or possibly sign one either for individual or business use. Anyway it's amazing with regards to what a small number of individuals accept the open door to arrange or even comprehend these arrangements – land owners and occupiers included.

A great many people in India have little thought with respect to what to pay special mind to in these arrangements. Consequently, we chose to compose this complete manual for arranging and understanding legitimate arrangements managing renting, leasing or leave and permit game plans for private and business properties. This is an absolute necessity read in the event that you own property that you need to lease, or regardless of whether you are remaining or working from a leased premises.

While each house lease or rent arrangement has its one of a kind circumstances that can justify extraordinary terms and conditions to be embedded in an agreement, there are some critical terms that ought to quite often be remembered for arrangements to secure their inclinations and forestall future mistaken assumptions that might actually prompt difficulty, debates, monetary misfortunes or case.

In the first place, let us see what are the most widely recognized lawful connections you may go into while leasing a house or a business property.

What is a Lease?

A rent is an exchange of the option to utilize the property being referred to which might be for a predefined period, or in any event, for unendingness given that a cost is paid for something similar. In the event that the property manager would not like to make a rent in ceaselessness, it is smarter to determine a time-frame in the rent understanding. It is beyond the realm of imagination to expect to expel the leaseholder while the rent is in presence – except if there is an arrangement for ending the rent understanding gave in the rent arrangement itself.

Imagine a scenario in which a rent adds up to a tenure.

Most Indian states have ordered tenure laws or lease control enactments, which place a roof on the lease that can be charged on rented properties, and furthermore seriously confine the grounds on which the occupancy can be ended. The resident is known as a 'legal occupant' in such cases. Properties in premium areas in Mumbai and different urban communities have been rented on what is today viewed as an ostensible lease – as the speed of expansion and expansion in property costs was ordinarily higher than the relating expansion in lease allowed under tenure law. This makes extreme monetary misfortune the proprietor of these properties. While the proprietors have truly significant property in their possession, they can not appreciate the worth of equivalent to they can neither one of the charges market pace of lease, nor would they be able to expel the current occupants.

Consequently, people renting their property should guarantee that the letting of property on lease doesn't qualify as a tenure under lease control enactment, and this must be done through cautious lawful drafting.

Leave and License

A leave and permit arrangement is quite possibly the most mainstream ways received by gatherings to guarantee that the letting of property doesn't add up to a rent under occupancy related enactment. In contrast to a tenure or rent, a leave and permit arrangement doesn't make any property rights for the individual who involves the house (licensee).

If there should be an occurrence of occupancy just as rent, the option to utilize the property gets moved from the proprietor to the individual who is leasing the spot. Notwithstanding, no such exchange of option to utilize happens in leave and permit arrangements. There is just a permit given to the licensee for restricted utilization of the property with a specific goal in mind. The details of the licenses oversee what are the privileges of the licensee (the individual who leased the house). This is the type of understanding generally liked via landowners, and multi month leave and permit arrangements for private properties have become a standard all over India. Rent arrangements are regular just concerning business properties.

Benefit of leave and permit

Because of the trouble of getting an inhabitant or a leaseholder to clear a spot, most property managers like to go into a leave and permit arrangement for an authoritatively indicated period after which the licensee is committed to abandon the premises. Under a leave and permit, the measure of lease (and expansions in lease in the event of restoration of the understanding) can be authoritatively dictated by parties. Further, the lessor or proprietor has more prominent opportunity regarding end of the permit and removal of the renter.

It is a typical practice to give leave and permit arrangement just for a very long time or less to try not to be named tenure. Leave and permit arrangements additionally don't draw in the lease control acts that once tormented numerous private land owners. In the event that the licensee and the landowner consent to proceed with the plan and restore the arrangement, they may go into a new leave and permit understanding for a very long time.

A rent, notwithstanding, is for a more drawn out term of time, typically for 1 year or more, in spite of the fact that there is no base or most extreme period determined by law. A rent makes a property directly for the renter (the individual taking a rent over the property). Leases are more normal for business properties rather than private properties which are typically let out on premise of leave and permit (rent of business property is talked about later).

Agenda to guarantee a powerful rent deed or leave and permit arrangement

Following is an agenda for the fundamental provisos in a leave and permit just as rent arrangements:

Discover who is the genuine proprietor

It is vital that a leave or permit or rent understanding is marked distinctly with the genuine proprietor of the house. Discover who is the proprietor, and even interest to see a few papers setting up the name and personality of the proprietor. Typically, in private social orders, it is not difficult to discover the name of a proprietor. You can demand the proprietor to look at the title deeds of the property, which will specify how land was initially distributed (by an administration authority, and so forth) and how its possession moved. These records ought to be mentioned prior to paying the security store or making any settlement ahead of time. Power bills or bills identifying with metropolitan duties can likewise be alluded to (in spite of the fact that they are not truly solid markers of proprietorship).

It is more hard to follow responsibility for land, which may have been moved through a few private hands, through intestate progression, allotments, intra-family move and so on for many years.

On the off chance that the individual renting the property isn't the proprietor of the land, see whether he has the power to rent it.

Need to rent this house? Better discover who is the proprietor first!

On the off chance that the individual going into the agreement isn't the proprietor yet another person, you should check whether he has the power to rent the property. Typically, a force of lawyer can do the trick for the reason.

On the off chance that you neglect to go into an agreement with the genuine proprietor however go into a concurrence with somebody who isn't the genuine proprietor without due power to go into contracts, at that point the genuine proprietor may anytime oust you from the premises and you'll have the situation with an intruder according to law.

While it very well might be feasible to recuperate your expenses from the individual who distorted himself as being equipped for letting out the property to you, yet it will require a troublesome and now and again delayed fight in court which is best kept away from. In such cases, you may even enlist a FIR charging extortion.

Likewise, in the actual understanding, it is attractive to embed a guarantee condition for the benefit of the lessor expressing that he is a bonafide proprietor of the premises and that he has the essential liberated rights to lease, rent or give on permit the premises being referred to. A repayment provision can likewise be embedded in cases there is a penetrate of this guarantee, making the proprietor responsible to make great every one of the misfortunes emerging out of such break of guarantee.

Leasing sold property.

Some of the time, a property to be leased will be sold with a bank or some other monetary organization, where case they would hold the enlisted deal reports. Around there, the proprietor would require a no-protest endorsement from the bank or the monetary establishment. Neglecting to do this would be infringing upon the home loan understanding – and on the off chance that the bank attempts to recuperate cash by selling the property it might risk the privileges of the inhabitant, which should be remembered and accommodated in the arrangement.

Term of the arrangement.

What is the length of the rent? Or then again the permit? This is vital to determine. Any misstep in such manner can be exorbitant for the property manager. For leave and permit arrangements, a term of close to 11 months is alluring. Business leases are frequently of long length, now and then running into 5-6 years too. If there should arise an occurrence of processing plants, film corridors or such different properties leases can be multi-many years or even multi-very long term.

In the event of rent of cafés, or any property with huge arrangement or establishment expenses ought to be of a more drawn out span – so the tenant who might make a great deal of interest in the establishment and set up gets sufficient opportunity to abuse his speculations.

[oathkeptroxas]

I loved your story on dean & laurel but I'm curious what's your take on those who say that Laurel is a gender-swapped version of Dean? If you agree I would love to get your take on the similarities between Laurel and Dean it's the only similarity I can think of is they are the oldest sibling.

Thanks so much for reading it!! :)

I don’t necessarily agree with referring to Laurel as ‘gender-swapped’ Dean because a) I don’t like that term and it’s implications that there are only 2, binary genders, and b) I feel it discredits Laurel’s individual development and dismisses her as ‘oh a female equivalent of something that’s already been done’.

However, there are a TON of parallels between these two that I believe would make them able to understand each other so well! There’s a difference between a similarity/parallel/comparison and ‘they are the same’.

Though Laurel and Dean are of course both older siblings, that’s not a similarity, that’s a narrative fact, a way in which they are the same. It’s the dynamics with their siblings and their individual personalities in how they deal with them that matter.

Dean would do anything for Sam. He’s sacrificed his life for Sam multiple times, Dean is willing to die for Sam at any given moment, no questions asked. When Sam died Dean did what he had to in order to get him back, consequences be damned. He gave up his childhood so that he could dedicate himself to preserving what was left of Sam’s. Keeping Sam safe is his priority.

Keeping Sara safe growing up was Laurel’s priority. Sara was free-spirited, a rule breaker. Laurel did things by the book, was studying to be a lawyer. Sara was prone to getting herself into trouble, Laurel got her out of it. When Sara died Laurel did whatever she could to bring her back, consequences be damned, no questions asked. 

Both Sam and Sara took their older siblings for granted.

Now, in Sam’s case it’s more than forgivable. Dean felt betrayed/deserted by Sam when he left for college, Dean just wanted his family to stay together and hated being alone. However, it’s necessary and healthy to put yourself first sometimes. Sam removed himself from a toxic environment and took the chance to better his life. Yes, it hurt Dean. But it was necessary for Sam’s well-being, even if Dean didn’t understand. Sam may have been far too young when all this started to realize how much Dean gave up for him, and even as the series goes on Sam learns new things about their childhood that allow him to appreciate Dean a little better. Sam’s ‘betrayal’ of Dean is justified and forgivable and not really a betrayal at all (though it felt like one to Dean).

Sara resented Laurel. When Sara told Oliver about how Laurel shut down that party Sara went to and then Sara got grounded and then Oliver and Laurel were dating and Sara said that Laurel only did that to be spiteful and steal Sara’s chance with him. That’s so fucking immature and short sighted?? And totally out of character for Laurel. Now, if you remove Oliver from the equation, Laurel’s actions would have been the same? Her underage sister was lying to her parents, going to a party with older boys where unknown substances were being passed around. Of course Laurel got it shut down? She was being responsible. The fact that Sara made that about a boy because she was jealous is absurd. Laurel had Sara’s best interests at heart and Sara dismissed her as being spiteful. She thought ‘Laurel doesn’t want me to have fun or be happy’, Laurel thought ‘My little sister is putting herself in dangerous situations with people taking advantage of her’.

Laurel and Oliver and Tommy were friends their whole lives. They grew up together. Laurel and Oliver were essentially childhood sweethearts. I’m an older sibling. I know younger siblings follow you around like imprinted ducklings and think that hanging out with the ‘big kids’ makes them cool. Younger siblings having puppy love crushes on their older siblings’ friends is common af. Thea had one on Tommy. So, any ‘feelings’ that Laurel may or may not have known Sara had for Oliver, she could have easily written off as just that? There was no malicious intent on Laurel’s end. Yet, Sara betrayed her by sleeping with her boyfriend to prove a point? And then when Sara returned she started sleeping with Oliver again before she had worked to build the bridges between her family, and then invited Oliver to a family dinner at Laurel’s home when she knew Laurel was going through a hard time? 

Now, Dean and Laurel also had similar dynamics with their fathers. John neglected/abused Dean, he took him for granted and made Dean shoulder the weight of his responsibilities. John even acknowledged ‘you shouldn’t have had to do that, it should have been me saying that to you’. Due to the circumstances, Dean was conditioned to believe that Sam’s well-being was his responsibility, and anything that happened to Sam was immediately his fault.

Laurel’s father emotionally abused her and her mother neglected her because they couldn’t handle the fact that Sara was gone. So, Laurel, not being given the chance to grieve her sister and boyfriend (who died whilst fucking behind her back) then got deserted by one parent and mistreated by another. Laurel became Quentin’s carer through his alcoholism and shouldered his responsibilities, despite her own trauma. Quentin even said ‘she was my rock’ because he used Laurel as a emotional crutch and leaned on her constantly whilst offering her constant criticism for her choices. He blamed Oliver for what happened to his family, and in a way blamed Laurel by association, because if it wasn’t for her relationship with him, Oliver wouldn’t have been in the Lance’s lives.

Alcoholism is another comparison. Alcohol is a huge coping mechanism for Dean. We see him wake from nightmares and immediately reach for a bottle, regardless of what time of day it is. Dean is drinking beer or whiskey in almost every episode. It helps him deal with his trauma. It’s not healthy but he’s dependent on it. Despite this dependency though, Dean is a high-functioning alcoholic, in the sense that his addiction does not hinder his ability to live his life and do what he needs to.

Laurel’s alcoholism hit her harder. She was never a big drinker, she didn’t even drink socially very often and not excessively. She went from 0-100. And with an alcoholic father (addictive personalities and substance dependencies can be hereditary) it was almost inevitable that she would become dependent, and that it would become a vice. She couldn’t control it, whereas Dean was able to control his to the point where, though he drank a lot, he did so to cope. Laurel started drowning her sorrows only for it to overrun her entire life, she lost control. Dean’s experiences with the mark of Cain and the first blade are a prime example of an addiction gone wild. Both Dean and Laurel have addictive personalities. This is also shown in their steadfast determination in doing whatever they can to reach an end they’ve set themselves.

Dean saw Charlie as an adoptive sister, they had a lot in common, he loved spending time with her and Dean is a big believer in finding and building a family. Laurel was exactly the same with Thea. Laurel was there for Thea more than Oliver was.

Dean uses meaningless sex as a coping mechanism for his trauma, his lifestyle doesn’t afford him the opportunity to commit. Yet, despite this, Dean has never forgotten the name of any of his one night stands. Dean wanted to build a relationship with Cassie Robinson, she was the first person he came clean about his life to. It was Cassie who turned him down, she knew they would grow to resent each other if they pursued something long distance and didn’t want that for them or herself. Dean was so enamored by Lisa Braeden after their weekend long fling literally years prior, that when he was given a year to live and found himself in her hometown one day, he tracked her down. He thought he was on borrowed time and didn’t want the opportunity to see her again to pass him by. When he found out she had a kid, he was shocked but not in any way upset that child could be his, was even disappointed when Ben wasn’t. He left them without attempting to pursue anything because at the time he believed he was going to die and didn’t want to allow Lisa and her son to become attached to him because he wouldn’t be around much longer. Dean had recurring dreams about a life with Lisa where he adopted Ben.

Laurel (as far as we know in canon) has only ever dated two men: Oliver and Tommy. Two boys that she grew up with and knew her whole life and trusted implicitly. We don’t know how exactly Tommy and Laurel first hooked up, but we know that during the time Oliver was gone it was strictly casual. It was more than likely a coping mechanism, they trusted each other, they comforted each other over the fact that they’d both lost Oliver and one thing led to another. She took comfort from someone who knew what she was going through instead of finding meaningless sex elsewhere. We see in flashbacks how Laurel had planned her and Oliver’s lives together and imagined getting married, how she told Oliver she wanted to move in together. Both Laurel and Dean are ‘all or nothing’ types. They are able, and often want to, commit. They love with every part of themselves, but sometimes other things just get in the way.

Which leads me to my next comparison, perhaps the most important one: Dean and Laurel are both loyal to a fault. They have forgiven people who never deserved it countless times. They’ve always put the well-being of others before themselves. They’ve been walked over and disregarded by people they loved yet they can’t help but still love them. Their sense of loyalty and family is unfaltering, even at the detriment of themselves. And despite this, they fight to keep the people they have and they don’t think they are deserving of the love they receive. Dean once said “sooner or later everybody’s gonna leave me.” Laurel once said “What is so wrong with me that everybody leaves?” They both fear abandonment because the people they devoted themselves to never showed that loyalty in return. 

These two would honestly be perfect for each other because their beliefs are cemented in the same ideals. I think they’d have an incredible dynamic and they’d understand each other so well. I’m sure there are things that I’m forgetting but this got long as hell and this is just the big ones that jump out at me. I’m sure @laurelwinchester would know more about this :)

[reneejohnson2019-blog]

The Subscription Plan

STARTING FROM MONTH 1 – MONTH 3

In these initial three months, no real advancement to the site is performed. This is the part that a great many people will in general question, particularly the individuals who need to be streamlined At this point! It’s enticing for us to need to begin upgrading the site ASAP however we’ve needed to oppose doing that.

We take a gander at the improvement and promoting of a site to be like structure a house or maybe assembling an expansion to your home. Before you can start working there is a ton of work that can be done: grants will not be gotten, plans will be created, endorsements, etc, and afterward the establishment will be done. Skirting in the subscription plan these means may enable you to fabricate your expansion all the more rapidly however you’re going to find that by avoiding these pivotal advances that you won’t get full happiness or fulfillment from it. Issues will emerge that will not anticipate on the grounds that the arranging will be ignored, and maybe you may need to tear the entire thing down and begin once again. This is a whole lot of nothing for anybody.

Before

Before we start doing any chip away at a customer’s site we need a reasonable arrangement set up. That arrangement must be created after we have done broad research and examination. While three months may appear to be quite a while to pause, the customer is better situated for ideal achievement. We don’t do half-assed Search engine optimization or marketing. We would prefer not to put a bandage on a circumstance, rather we need a finely tuned, high performing site. Compromising won’t get that going.

After we have arranged these reports the battle goes on rest. We give the customer time to survey the data and have it executed. For certain customers, these progressions will be negligible and for other people, it might require emotional reconstructing of the site and additionally back-end. We have thought about the customer’s objectives here and make change proposals dependent on how best to meet those objectives. We couldn’t care less if the customer has us execute the suggestions or they have their own group do it, gave that we as a whole cooperate to deliver the ideal result.

Should the customer choose not to actualize the progressions we can even now push ahead, however it may not be to our greatest advantage to do as such. The customer has the choice here to purchase out of the agreement for a set charge and proceed onward. Regardless, the data gave to them is definitely justified even despite the cash officially paid.

BETWEEN MONTH 4 – MONTH 6

Streamlining to be finished and executed 10 weeks after the start of the fourth month. Usage of different procedures to start right away. Note that a few proposals for viral and buzz showcasing techniques may require extra advertising dollars to make and execute. These systems, alongside their assessed costs, have to be brought to the customer to audit and favor. The customer has the choice not to actualize these methodologies.

BETWEEN MONTH 7 – MONTH 9

For the three months, the majority within recent memory has to be devoted to connecting lure techniques. This enables us to invest devoted squares of energy creating and executing one of a kind systems that we generally probably won’t almost certainly if our center separated with different things being actualized. We keep on giving reports and we additionally keep on dissecting past work. We likewise need to give the advanced pages time to wager built up in the web indexes and start to accomplish results as we assemble joins.

Between Month 10 – Month 12

Optimization of the primary arrangement of Keyword Phrases in subscription plan expresses on a foreordained arrangement of pages. Another round of Keyword page Optimisation to expand internet searcher traffic reach. Assess/modify the connection campaign. Evaluate/amend a viral promoting effort. We investigate our present procedures and make amendments to improve results. Audit the streamlining of the past gathering of pages/catchphrases. Alter as important.

Beside basically enhancing new pages, we return to the advancement of past pages. Check execution audit the pages to check whether any progressions are justified and roll out those improvements as necessary. A complete examination of traffic designs in the course of recent months. Once more, re to a total audit of the measurements in the course of recent months and contrast that with the initial a half year. This enables us to see improvement in rush hour gridlock, ease of use, changes and give a triumph report to the customer.

From Month 13 Onwards

Now, the official contract is finished yet customers have the alternative of proceeding on a month to month premise inconclusively. After the year report is conveyed once in a while have customers decide not to restore and have to be laid out development and the consequences of our work by means of measurements.

The arrangement for the subscription plan each after year is to a great extent equivalent to the principal year. We totally re-break down everything which enables us to fill any openings or change whatever might go off course. We keep on estimating the exhibition of each part of the battle, including changes and generally business execution while proceeding to improve the site for more watchwords.

There is no restriction to the number of keyword phrases in the subscription plan that we’ll streamline. Indeed, insofar as a customer is with us we must discover and streamline catchphrases that will get focused on, high changing over traffic. Should the pool of keywords each run dry we at that point search for keywords that manufacture brand acknowledgment, fill data search questions, etc.

[bharatiyamedia-blog]

Scientific Linux and Antergos are shutting down: It is time for Linux Mint to go

http://tinyurl.com/y5scw9ns Cinnamon, the favored desktop atmosphere featured in Linux Mint, makes extra sense as a distribution-agnostic package deal. What to anticipate from Ubuntu 19.04 The subsequent iteration of Ubuntu is however a month away. What new options and enhancements will discover their approach into one of the standard Linux distributions on the planet? Discover out right here. Since time immemorial—or, extra possible, the late 1990s—the intractable downside of “fragmentation of the Linux desktop” has been debated on the web. Whereas some contend that the big variety of competing distributions gives extra option to customers, that alternative may also be overwhelming—making it too tough for brand new customers to resolve on a distribution, or main them to decide on a distribution that’s poorly-built or unsupported, offering a nasty first expertise. Whereas these arguments have benefit, they ignore a crucial downside: The infrastructure and developer consideration wanted to keep up a distribution is in depth, and tough to justify. Lengthy-running Linux distributions have stopped operations as a consequence of an absence of sources, and it’s time for Linux Mint to think about doing the identical in an effort to forestall developer burnout, whereas transitioning Cinnamon into being a completely distribution-agnostic desktop atmosphere. Standard Linux distributions are ceasing operations Shortly after the release of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 in Might, Fermilab introduced that there can be no new edition of Scientific Linux, ending Fermilab’s 20-plus 12 months historical past of sustaining their very own Linux distribution. Scientific Linux is little greater than a recompiled model of RHEL sources, with Purple Hat’s emblems eliminated. This technique made sense on the time, as RHEL is a paid, industrial distribution. Purple Hat’s 2014 acquisition of CentOS—a general-purpose free recompile of RHEL sources—made Scientific Linux functionally redundant, notably with the introduction of CentOS Special Interest Groups (SIGs). SEE: 10 ways to prevent developer burnout (free PDF) (TechRepublic) CERN withdrew from Scientific Linux in 2015, starting a migration to CentOS, with Fermilab asserting their very own migration to CentOS Eight as a part of the transition from their very own distribution. Likewise, the Arch-based Antergos distribution announced plans to shut down, because the builders “now not have sufficient free time to correctly keep Antergos,” and that “persevering with to neglect the challenge can be an enormous disservice to the neighborhood.” Actually, neighborhood members have already introduced their intent to proceed below the title Endeavour, which might be a big enterprise—constructing a user-friendly installer for Arch is an fascinating science experiment, contemplating that this is kind of at odds with Arch’s aim of decreasing abstractions that complicate system administration. Why Linux Mint grew to become standard Linux Mint has the distinctive distinction of being pragmatically right twice, relative to the historical past of Linux on the desktop. When Mint was launched in 2006, patent-encumbered codecs weren’t simple to put in in standard distributions like Ubuntu or Fedora; likewise, proprietary software program like Adobe Flash required separate set up, which was itself usually a problem. Partly, this was made attainable as a consequence of Mint being distributed from the EU, the place software program patents are primarily unenforceable. Circumstances modified shortly thereafter, as Ubuntu added an additional display screen to the installer to put in codecs beginning with Ubuntu 7.04, and in 2008, varied third-party repositories for Fedora merged to type RPM Fusion, offering a single supply for packages not offered by Fedora for authorized causes. By 2010, Google Chrome 5 was launched, offering an embedded Flash plugin, and assist for Linux (and Mac OS), making the method of utilizing Flash on Linux extra simple. Since then, Flash adoption has plummeted, with support ending at the end of 2020. Patents for MPEG-2, MP3, and Dolby AC3 have since expired, permitting Linux distributions to supply this functionality freely, out of the field. Whereas Mint was the primary distribution to successfully remedy this downside, the vanity that Mint is less complicated to make use of as a result of it gives codecs put in by default now not holds benefit, as different distributions have since caught up. Mint has truly regressed on this place, as codecs are now not put in by default as of Linux Mint 18, making this equivalent to different Linux distributions. The desktop atmosphere debacle of the early 2010s Practically concurrently, each main OS made extremely polarizing modifications to the person interface. Microsoft launched the “don’t call it Metro” interface with Home windows 8, in 2012, which landed with a thud, and partly, prompted the exit of Stephen Sinofsky. In 2014, OS X Yosemitie tried to make Helvetica Neue the default font, and deserted the thought a 12 months later. SEE: How to manage job stress: An IT leader’s guide (free PDF) (TechRepublic) Linux had their very own schism, for desktop environments. Ubuntu Unity, initially developed for Netbooks, was launched in 2010 to widespread derision, although had redeemed itself by the discharge of 12.04, with TechRepublic’s Jack Wallen migrating back to Ubuntu after leaping ship following points with the preliminary releases. Likewise, in 2011, the introduction of GNOME 3.0 on Fedora 15 was met with derision. GNOME Three was meant to be used with touchscreens, upending the utilization patterns that customers had change into accustomed to, prompting Linus Torvalds to declare it “unacceptable.” Dirk Hohndel, then-chief Linux and open-source technologist at Intel, declared on the time that “Gnome Three is simply utterly unusable so far as I am involved.” None of those have been almost prepared for primetime once they launched, and this drove customers away. For a time, Linux Mint “simply labored” in a approach that different distributions struggled to do, as a result of they pushed too-new software program on customers. Out of this chaos was born Cinnamon, the fork of GNOME Three constructed for Linux Mint that makes use of the traditional desktop paradigm launched in Home windows 95. It is acquainted, and that is factor. Cinnamon, the raison d’être of Linux Mint Cinnamon’s familiarity to thousands and thousands, and the straightforward studying curve it gives by retaining a utilization paradigm almost 25 years outdated, is critical, in a approach that proponents of GNOME or KDE could also be unwilling to confess. Whereas Cinnamon is just not the one desktop atmosphere shipped by Mint, the distribution has jettisoned the KDE edition with the release of Mint 19. Whereas Mint didn’t begin with Cinnamon, for a while the majority of unique code produced by the Linux Mint workforce pertains to Cinnamon—it’s the motive the distribution has enduring recognition. That mentioned, the method of creating a Linux distribution and creating a desktop atmosphere are reasonably dissimilar. Clément Lefèbvre, the founder and challenge chief of Linux Mint, does a improbable job of guiding improvement of Cinnamon, although famous his personal frustrations with the challenge within the March Mint update. The submit is tough to summarize succinctly, although he notes that “I personally have not loved this improvement cycle to date,” and notes a divide between the idea of “customers” and “builders.” The next month, Lefèbvre—who merely goes by Clem, within the Linux neighborhood—walked again the feedback noting that he’s not “depressed,” regardless of some blogs reporting it as such, including that “I additionally talked a tiny bit an excessive amount of about what was occurring throughout the workforce. On the one hand it’s a part of my function to report on the progress being executed, then again we’re coping with people, there are folks concerned, efforts being made, emotions which could be harm and it is a part of my function additionally to guard that.” Clem would not want to hold the world on his shoulders Linux Mint is definitely two distributions—the Ubuntu spinoff, for which Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce editions are offered, and the Cinnamon-based Linux Mint Debian Version (LMDE), which exists “for the Linux Mint workforce to see how viable our distribution can be and the way a lot work can be needed if Ubuntu was ever to vanish.” Notably, LMDE beforehand had Xfce and MATE editions, although these have been jettisoned as a part of an elevated targeted on Cinnamon. Ubuntu is virtually within the too-big-to-fail class, as Linux distributions go. Whereas Canonical has deserted improvement of Unity for Ubuntu—switching again to a modified GNOME 3—the distribution is continuous. Canonical is, at a minimal, solvent—notably as expenditures for improvement of Unity stopped as programmers on that challenge have been largely laid off. SEE: Startup Republic: How France reinvented itself for the 21st century by wooing entrepreneurs to Paris (cover story PDF) (TechRepublic) Ubuntu is just not going wherever. However, that solely addresses why LMDE is pointless, not Mint general. Sustaining this parallel plumbing for another Mint for a doomsday situation is paranoia, nevertheless it surfaces an fascinating level: Cinnamon is, to an extent, developed to be distribution-agnostic, partially as a consequence of the existence of LMDE. Many of the unique improvement for Mint is focuses on Cinnamon, although sustaining the plumbing for the Ubuntu and Debian-based distributions—and different infrastructure, equivalent to the web site—is an enormous enterprise, and a time sink for a workforce this small. Cinnamon has momentum behind it, because the progressive, feature-rich implementation of the traditional desktop paradigm for Linux customers. (For comparability, MATE—whereas venerable—is basically in upkeep mode.) Persisting in sustaining Linux Mint as a platform to showcase Cinnamon is mindless, when the labor of sustaining a distribution is dealt with—higher—by Ubuntu, Fedora, SuSE, and Arch, amongst a choose few others. In the end, the good thing about Cinnamon could be realized as a very distribution-agnostic desktop atmosphere. Many of the work is already executed: Fedora already has a Cinnamon spin, and could be put in in Debian, OpenSuSE, and Arch (amongst others). Transitioning Linux Mint improvement efforts to make Cinnamon an Ubuntu Flavor—adhering extra tightly to Ubuntu’s infrastructure and launch timelines, reasonably than working independently and operating the danger inflicting package deal conflicts—would deduplicate a substantial amount of work, offering extra time to additional enhance Cinnamon, and ease the strained schedules of Clem and different Linux Mint contributors. For extra on Linux, take a look at “Fedora 30 brings immense quality of life improvements to Linux on the desktop” and “Half of employees think the cloud is actually in the sky, according to a third of IT workers” on TechRepublic. Open Supply Weekly Publication You do not need to miss our ideas, tutorials, and commentary on the Linux OS and open supply functions. Delivered Tuesdays Join right this moment Join right this moment Additionally see Picture: Linux Mint Source link

[talking-movies]

The Masterpiece Society

Season 5, Episode 13

It’s always amazing how Star Trek managed to bring to light social issues issues into light in a time where social justice and progress were limited to achieving goals that are considered basic now.

The Enterprise stumbles upon a human colony on a non-class M planet, in a distant sector of space. There is no record of a ship getting lost there to justify an accidental colony and neither is there any record of a planned colony being established there. The colonists refuse to answer the Enterprise’s hails for a couple of days before finally Captain Picard warns them of a stellar core hurtling through space towards their planet that will wreak havoc on their establishment in a one way message, which prompts the leader of the colony, Aaron Connor, to finally answer them. After some interaction and investigation, it turns out that the colony completely consists of genetically modified humans: each of them carefully bred to serve a specific purpose upon reaching adulthood, their entire lives charted out for them even before conception.

While the crew of the Enterprise attempt to come to terms with the existence of such a people, Lt. Commander La Forge and his engineering crew put their heads together with apparently the only Physicist, Hannah, on the surface of the planet and Counselor Troi (for some reason) starts hanging out with the leader Aaron. Throughout the episode, everyone was so focused on saving the colony that no one paid heed to the prime directive. It was just put away as an after thought, something at the back of their minds. Only, once the disaster was averted, Aaron had fallen in love with Deanna and Hannah had fallen in love with the Enterprise and everything it had to offer, that everyone realizes the grave mistake in judgment they’d made.

The prime directive serves to preserve societies and cultures as they are and not to interfere in their natural progression. Since the people on the colony were humans, the crew and captain did not consider the lack of technological advancements that might be present in their society. So they went charging in, swords raised, to save their human brothers and sisters from a catastrophe and unintentionally threw them into another different disaster. If the stellar core had caused destruction on the planet, at least all them would be dead and no one would TECHNICALLY suffer, but if some of the building blocks of their very existence suddenly left, everyone would suffer the consequences.

This brings to light several questions, as thoughtful episodes usually do: who or what gave the Enterprise the right to interfere with the fate of the people on the colony? If they didn’t have the technology to save themselves, wouldn’t that count as the natural progression of the people? Surely not all of them would die and the survivors would have to make drastic changes to their lifestyle to adapt to the new circumstances, but surely THAT would have been their growth. Should they have thought more about the rescue mission before actually executing it?

Another point raised is the eugenic nature of the society. Captain Picard was quite, and quite understandably, irked at the thought of people been engineered to serve a specific purpose. The way Aaron explained how he was basically produced to be the perfect leader, that his entire life he knew that he is going to be the leader and every event that he encountered contributed to his destiny, makes it sound more like a punishment rather than an accomplishment. It is almost equivalent to taking away peoples’ free will. They’re programmed since before birth to fit in to niches carved into the fabric of their society. While true that it makes life easier if everything is already planned for you and you’re not placed in a position to have to make difficult, life altering decisions that you might regret later. But as stressful as that uncertainty might be, isn’t that what acts as the spice of life? It would be so immensely boring if everything was already pre-decided. What if, though created to be a doctor, you want to be an artist? What would do in such a situation in a society that insists you stick to the role that you were ‘made for’?

However, what spoke louder to me was the dilemma faced by the engineers and the scientists of the colony for once they saw all the progress that seemingly imperfect people had made, they saw potential they never knew existed and wanted to leave the planet with the Enterprise. I can totally understand why the wanted to leave. After all, once you get a taste of freedom, it’s not that easy to give it up. Once the spirit is out of the box, it’s impossible to put it back in again, because that would then be imprisonment. Because anything other than that will be a violation of what we consider basic human right. Having basically ran away from home and an extremely suffocating society, Hannah and the others’ plight speaks volumes to me - having to make a choice between doing what you think is important for yourself and what is best for your ‘family’, not an easy choice to make. I like to imagine this is similar to the power of books and knowledge: once you know know what’s in them, there’s no going back to the dark ages.

Overall, I liked the episode, even though the “romance” between Aaron and Deanna was a bit far fetched in my opinion. It was a thought provoking episode rather than some random filler. The fun in watching Star Trek is that after watching a few of the aforementioned thought provoking episodes, watching the fillers used to progress a story line, lose their charm very quickly. Oh and Data had a very small role in the episode and I missed him IMMENSELY. Hope your enjoyed reading the huge essay! If you’d rather have something shorter, by all means let me know. Till next time! 🖖🏼