#personal honesty

[weaversweek]

11 points to "The middle"

I rung in new year 2002 in Tucson with Helena and our way-cool friend chelle. One of chelle's passions of that moment was Jimmy Eat World, and "The middle" was the current single. Two decades later, it remains a little callback to a dark place in my life, and the goodness and light around us.

Jimmy Eat World, who write their own songs, have become the great survivors of aughts emo. It's introspective and heartfelt rock music, and it connected with people. And it was an introduction to a band who have always been honest to themselves, perhaps an inspiration to be honest to ourselves.

[autumn-may]

Mostly spoiler free summary of my viewing experience

[bixels]

Taking the current topic as an excuse to ask you to tell me all the reasons you love Rarijack. Your art for the ship is so sweet and intimate I'd love to hear any in depth thoughts you have.

Breathes in.

I think what makes their dynamic really strong is that they have opposing personalities but aligned values. It's deeper than just "opposites attract." Rarity's fancy, prissy, and femme while Applejack's modest, rough, and "masculine." But both value hard work (to the point of being workaholics), their families (both have guardianship over their little sisters), running successful businesses, and eventually each other. Their relationship can be boiled down to, "Despite our differences/disagreements, I still like you because we value the same things."

We see their relationship develop so much. In the first season, they can't stop bickering about surface-level differences. By season four, they still bicker, but will mend their relationship because they can't help but do nice things for each other. In Trade Ya, they start off arguing over personality differences (Applejack likes old junk and Rarity likes useless crap). Then they pivot and start arguing that they value their relationship more than the other. In the end, they mend things by sacrificing their needs and buying each other a gift. Even if they don't understand it, they know it'd make the other happy. And that's all that really matters. It's a genuinely sweet moment that shows how arguing can be healthy and necessary for relationships to strengthen.

We even see them dropping their hang-ups about each others' personalities. In Made in Manehattan, when Rarity runs off in dramatics about someone's fashion, AJ doesn't roll her eyes or scoff, she smiles. Oftentimes, their conflicts are very common domestic conflicts romantic couples face. Applejack's Day Off is about a woman's inability to balance work and life and find time to properly spend with her partner, causing her partner to feel neglected.

By season seven, they're actively participating in each others' interests. Any problems or conflicts that arise are dealt with, and they come out the other end stronger and closer. In Honest Apple, AJ pretty much spells out why their relationship works so well: even though she doesn't understand fashion, she can recognize and appreciate how much work it takes and wants to respect that. When she realizes her mistake in the episode, AJ goes above and beyond to fix things and apologize to Rarity. They care about each other so much.

The two go out of their way, sacrificing their personal desires and beliefs and doing things they normally wouldn't, to make the other happy. That's just love.

There's Simple Ways, where AJ gets stuck in an unwanted love triangle between Rarity and her hipster crush. And her frustration and anger can be so easily interpreted as AJ finding herself in a terrible position; the girl she loves wants another man, and that man wants her.

I dunno. I've always had a preference for opposites attract ships, but Rarijack's stuck with me like a brain worm because they have the perfect chemistry. The way they show they care, or do things for each other, I've always read it as the truest representation of romance in the show.

[ineffectualdemon]

[lazycranberrydoodles]

i do not remember the plot of scum villain because i read it in 2020 and it feels like a fever dream now so my characterization is entirely based off of the fanon on my dash.

hualian are my favorite but i do feel that bingqiu deserve the win. tgcf is VERY yuri, but svsss has gender as a main theme and both characters keep getting compared to maidens. overall there are more explicit references to women regarding bingqiu.

[obisamya]

DANI ROJAS & JAN MAAS Ted Lasso (2020-2023)

[swolfyxd]

Old draw but still... circus yuri, ragatha design inspo from @/yamicoolkid !

[leafspiritz]

(i kiss her again) 💜🖤

[queerasian]

[soracities]

what are your favourite movies? Do you have a letterboxd? X

i don't but a brief list of films i'm always thinking about:

the way he looks (dir. daniel ribeiro)

before sunrise (dir. david linklater)

the godfather (dir. francis ford coppola)

pacific rim (dir. guillermo del toro)

the double life of veronique (dir. krzysztof kieslowski)

pan's labyrinth (dir. guillermo del toro)

taste of cherry (dir. abbas kiarostami)

in the mood for love (dir. wong kar-wai)

ida (dir. pawel pawlikowski)

pain and glory (dir. pedro almodovar)

potrait of a lady on fire (dir. celine sciamma)

the tale of the princess kaguya (dir. isao takahata)

la llorona (dir. jayra bustamante)

arrival (dir. denis villeneuve)

gruff (9 min short film, but including it because it made me bawl my eyes out)

[weaversweek]

#Uncool 50 - the index post

This is going to be an index for #Uncool50, my very personal list of the 50 greatest singles released on the Isles Trans-Manche since 1976. It serves as something of an autobiography, albeit patchy and partial.

The challenge requires strict chronological order. My write-up requires honesty, though some names and identifying details have been changed.

For Tumblr, I'll put the songs into little groups, slight ages of my life.

Childhood My kind of pop Video stars Crushes Rock and indie Not rock and indie University friends University years The greatest year for pop music Turn of the century American influences Falling in with my crowd Say you love me Designing a decade Snapping back

Also: the top 500 countdown: two and three nominations four and five nominations six and more nominations

Below the fold, an explanation of why I think a memory tape is the right way forward.

Almost fourteen years ago, the uncarved.org blog wrote,

It's curious how often music bloggers end up stuck in the rut of expanding their cultural capital. Yes yes, you saw it first, you know more, you have more records, you have a better analysis, you’re The Man. And always *so* tasteful.

Few find the time to write about aspects of their lives which might detract from their cred. Even the “ten records hiding at the back of your collection that no grown man should own” meme ended up being an exercise in wacky popism rather than abject embarrassment. Because we’ve already purged our collections of the really awful stuff – as part of the process of reinventing ourselves as dashing young things rather than spotty teenagers.

What has my year on the fringes of music Twitter taught me? That it's populated by angels, and we're all dancing on the tip of a very small pin. The bounds of discourse are shaped by existing cultural gatekeepers. It all works to reinforce the existing cultural boundaries, not break them down.

Music Twitter is haunted by the ghost of John Peel, it hews to the spectre of what we think we remember of his shows. Music Twitter pays homage to Peel's successors on 6 Music, picks from a surprisingly narrow definition of "alternative". It's interested in the BBC's annual "Sound of The New Year" poll, which actively rejects leftfield contributions. It's small, it's confining, it's a self-reinforcing echo chamber.

Arron Nonoxcol has set a challenge, #Uncool50. The 50 greatest singles of the post-punk/disco era. I could play this to accrete my own cultural capital, thirty-five singles from the 6 Music library, ten from Radio 2, and a handful of others just for variety and show just how "whacky" I am. Go with the flow, put in what's already popular, vote the equivalents of "Stairway to heaven" and "Boheminan rhapsody" and "Euphoria". It would help ease Arron's list-keeping, but it would be faker than a nine-bob note.

Or I could put in a list of the 50 most important singles since 1977. The songs that helped shape the future of popular music, turn it into the mega-zillions industry it is now. That leads into some very dubious places. It goes to the man who mined the album for a zillion singles, suspected kiddyfiddler Michael Jackson. The Dunblane record, bought not for musical merit but to make a political point. Crazy Frog, "Gangnam style", and the inevitable meme hits. There is an objective reason to include these tracks, and it is a project worth pursuing, I cannot honestly call them "good".

Greatness is in the eye of the beholder. It's an intensely personal thing. And so is this list. Fifty singles, all of which have a place in my heart. Some of them shaped pop history. Some of them are generally accepted as brilliant. All of them shaped me, in some small or large way. In chronological order, a memory tape. From ABBA to [wherever it ends], a story of my life.

[justalittlebluetiefling]

I'm just realizing how wild it is that they let a ridiculously powerful fey creature set up a team-building scavenger hunt for them.

[dailyloopdeloop]

DAY 71: shy

[answermywearyquery]

the theerapanyakul kids: how close are you with each other?

loan’s kinnporsche 2nd anniversary: favourite familial relationship: the theerapanyakul kids (insp: ½+½)

[jeeaark]

Remember Auntie Ethel's victim who could see people's possible futures? Yeaaah, Greygold walked right into that prophecy.

In the Far Realms, they have memory foam beds

[rqbossman]

Hi Alex! Really enjoyed episode 20, wondering if the feelings on parasocial relationships were somewhat autobiographical? It’s always an interesting and relevant topic in our world. Thanks ☺️

So that case was actually primarily written by Jonny with me as Editor. The character was always going to be engaging with that side of modern culture and I can't speak for Jonny but it's definitely not autobiographical at my end. I've said before, I am more afraid of the cruelty of modern fandoms and influencers than I am empowered by it. At best I could maybe argue I have more of an insight than your average joe but that's not saying much.