#poorz

[iphisesque]

wait sicilian observer of american politics pls tell me what you have against aoc

i think she's like. a pretty good politician overall as far as im aware. she's trying her best to work within the framework of the american state and make it more egalitarian and a more to the left and i absolutely support that. i just think it's quite cringe the way she presents herself as one of the poorz/one of the youthz (she IS a young woman who comes from a working class background, but i don't think marketing yourself that way when you're a politician is effective or advisable), and also how she pretends to be far more to the left than she is: i get it, we can't all be jacobins and to change the system you first need to get inside it, but her met gala stunting (which initially prompted the post) is just one example of expressing beliefs contradicted by her actions, aside from also being embarrassing.

[vk-crzy]

and the only thing z*kis can say is this: "yuuki is a slut bc z*ro was 2nd choice, f***k Ai she nothing compared to r*en, eternal z*ki love(copyed much??) radient z*ki. kaname is such a bad guy, abuser, maniplulator, etc.. yuuki does not love kaname she just using him... poorz*ro i feel sorry for him bc of yuuki uncondional love for kaname. again it was always yume. hino quote" there right back where they belong" yumefan❤

Hello Anon~ 

Honestly that side of the fandom just comes across as incredibly bitter. They’re always pissed off about something, whether it’s Yuuki’s love for Kaname or facts posted by ShojoBeat. 

It doesn’t seem like a very fun ship to be on lol. 

[rhiannonroot]

BOOK REVIEW: ‘Zero to Sixty’ by Marie Harte

Content warning: Violence, abuse, neglect, references to rape

“Zero to Sixty” by Marie Harte had so much potential for being my jam, but the book ultimately left me cold, frustrated, disappointed and vaguely angry.

Sam Hamilton is a mechanic with a troubled past. He’s been to prison. He has a complicated and unhealthy relationship with his mom. He gets into fights. But he has good people around him and he’s trying to make the best of his life and be a good person. So he gets into rescuing animals. (Yay!)

Ivy Stephens is a massage therapist and finds a dog hanging around her workplace. She befriends the dog, who simultaneously is one of the dogs Sam is helping. Awww.

Cookie the dog brings the two together and isn’t that adorable?

Ivy and Sam are very different. Ivy is straitlaced and she doesn’t swear that much. Her apartment is clean and neat, but she doesn’t appear to have many close friends. She grew up at least middle class (it’s not explicitly mentioned in the text, but this is what I gathered from context.) Her life reads like a Reddit relationships post and/or an Am I the Asshole post. (Like seriously, it’s almost comical.)

On the other hand, Sam grew up poor without many resources. He swears a lot and gets into fights regularly. He also has a close friend and surrounds himself with good people. His organizational skills are a little scary.

They meet and there’s instant chemistry, though Sam makes a huge misstep in bringing her to a scary-ass bar to talk about dog adoption and dude also gets into a fight.

YEP.

Later when they hang out more and end up back at Ivy’s place, they fool around. There’s a minor misunderstanding and then Sam bolts in fear (he thinks he wrongly pressured Ivy into being physical; Ivy is ashamed she jumped the guy and looked thirsty) and then he ends up in some underground fighting ring.

YEP. That’s fucking right. This was the point where I almost threw the book across the room.

They do talk to each other and resolve the misunderstanding pretty quickly, though. And in general, they do communicate well as a couple. And all further scenes have a lot more active consent. (This was a major plus in the book for me!)

There’s a lot that I really liked about this book, let’s talk about that: One, there’s this recurring theme that everyone is a little messed up, but that doesn’t mean you don’t deserve love. Two, even though “Zero to Sixty” works as a standalone, but you can tell there’s a lot of Easter eggs and the overall series is clearly structured. (This is a difficult thing to do!) Three, as I mentioned before active consent and sexiness. Four, awesome older lady characters.

But…but…there’s a lot here that just not only read factually questionable, but also read incredibly insensitive.

In no particular order: There’s a German-speaking character named Heller who is clearly marked as a hero for a later book. Somehow dude has been in the U.S. for over a decade and still uses casual German for “please,” “thank you,” etc. and stumbles over some pretty standard English.

Look, I know how difficult English is to learn – I’m an editor and I’ve had several roommates who speak English as a second language – but this read super fucking weird. Like it doesn’t make a ton of sense that dude wouldn’t use English for these terms. Yes, it makes sense he’d have an accent, but he would use everyday English words.

Second, the story takes place in Seattle…and there are very few characters of color mentioned. There are just two and they barely appear in the story. One of them is explicitly mentioned as a “Latin lover” type…which is just icky.

Three, somehow Ivy is a massage therapist who’s down with sexy massages in private. Like really? I get that this is consensual activity between adults and in private…but ugh…this seems weird. Related and also weird: They talk about contraception…but because Ivy is on the pill they don’t use condoms. I’m sorry, WHAT?! This happens when they just started dating. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

Four, it feels almost coded within the text with Sam’s fighting that “the poorz are dangerous but this one is OK because he’s smexy.” In general, yes, I want more working-class heroes, but not when there’s this undercurrent of condescension. I say this as someone who grew up working-class.

Five, most of the men in this book use some questionable language. I’m not talking about swearing, I don’t care about that. I mean that they use gendered insults and seem to have a problem with expressing normal emotions in a healthy way. YEP. I’m supposed to cheer for this hero while he also uses “pussy” as an insult and fights people instead of expressing himself verbally. I can’t get on board with that. I get enough of that from my regular life, I don’t want it in my fucking reading material.

Also bad and related: A major portion of the book talks about Ivy as a “good woman” because she’s not a stripper or whatever. Yes, there’s a small chunk toward the end-ish that says strippers aren’t inherently “bad women” or whatever, but UGH…I cannot. Do we have divide women into good/bad? DO WE? Your job doesn’t determine your goodness or badness, it’s what you do with it.

Six, Sam’s mom’s story isn’t handled very well. She has suffered horrible tragedy and acts like a monster. But the way this is handled and resolved in the book just left me feeling icky. I’m not a mental health care professional, but it felt odd and insensitive in the text. I could be super wrong, but that’s how it felt while reading it.

In short, for every element that I liked about this story, there was something that read weird or felt incredibly icky. I wish I’d liked this book more, but it’s just not my thing.

[playlegit]

Sweet Loading Screens Part 1

Sweet Loading Screens http://wp.me/pOoRz-7jN

Real Talk By: KJ

Many modern games require a lot of time from the player. What adds to it is the dreaded loading screen. In this society where everything has to be instant, a roadblock between game sessions can be bothersome.  Thankfully some companies made sure waiting would be an easier process.  Here are some of the best loading screens to date. (more…)

[thebroadmind]

Move up an age bracket, though, and the trends are heading in the wrong direction: Americans age 25 to 34 seem to be regressing.