#quoted straight from wikipedia with no edits

[andtheirmoonlight]

Vespula germanica, the European wasp, German wasp, or German yellowjacket, is a species of wasp found in much of the Northern Hemisphere, native to German bakeries that sell Spritzkuchen

[gogandmagog]

✨Anne Blythe’s (Anne Shirley-Blythe’s namesake granddaughter) father is not Jem. It’s Shirley. It’s totally Shirley, you guys. It’s gotta be.✨

And like, Ieading right off by saying of course there’s no definitive answer to be had here, since Maud obviously isn’t available to confirm or refute any hypothesises, but I do big persist in suggesting that a very rational case can be presented for Shirley... one that at least outweighs what I now see as the generally baseless widely accepted assumption that Anne is Jem’s daughter. Keep in mind, I’m in no way trying to dog on this. The assumption is ready and easy to make, and I’d accepted fully this theory too, until about a week agooo.

ABOUT A WEEK AGO, I was poring over various Wikipedia entries for the Anne book series, and inevitably also ended up looking through the edit history of those pages. While sorting through the edit history (super extensive and interesting, by the way), the username ‘blefebvre’ popped into the archive, contributing a ton of information to the Anne pages overall, around 2008 and 2009 particularly. And literally, who else could this user be besides THE Benjamin Lefebvre? Brilliant Maud scholar and essayist, inexhaustible editor and publisher of ‘the Blythes are Quoted’? Welllll, one of these edits, a written family tree of Anne and Gilbert’s grandchildren, mentioned Anne Blythe... and pointedly noted that she was either the daughter of Jem or Shirley.

Reading that? Already a huge jump-scare surprise to me. This immediately challenged what I thought I knew about the third generation of Blythes. I sat straight up in bed, brain doing a nosedive, like wait wait wait wait wait… hold on, what? We don’t know for sure? We don’t know for sure? 

Guys. We don’t know for sure. 

Whichhhhh sent me on an immediate hunt to gather up what we do know for sure. The facts we do have. And it wasn’t a huge task, either… there’s really not a lot to collect.

But here it is:

In ‘the Blythes are Quoted’, Anne Blythe is mentioned in only one story, titled “The Road to Yesterday” (not to be confused with the TBAQ abridged predecessor book of the same title 😅).

All we really have of her is her name, and a couple of superficial second-hand anecdotes from a guy named Jerry (who is impersonating a fellow named Dick, but more on this a little later).

Her paternity is unconfirmed, but because her surname is Blythe (not Ford or Meredith), we can logically eliminate the possibility of her belonging to Nan, Di, or Rilla. Walter was, of course, lost in France. This leaves Jem and Shirley. 

Tiny details about Anne.

As a matter of housekeeping, let me try to get the jump on any potential counter-arguments, and clear the air.

The only reason I’ve seen Jem credited with Anne is because…

1. Jem was married.

That’s the entire basis.

And I’ll grant you that. This is more than we got for Shirley. But let’s remember that at the end of ‘Rilla of Ingleside’, we only had a canon engagement between Jem and Faith... it takes getting around to ‘the Blythes are Quoted’ to absolutely conclude that their marriage went through. With the added extra bonus of finding out that they have children.

But even allowing that, ‘the Blythes are Quoted’ as an epilogue isn’t all inclusive. It isn’t a complete picture. It’s half a picture at the very best. Maud, pressured greatly, basically dumped all her disorganised, non-chronological and unedited Anne relevant WIPS + short stories + poems on her publisher's desk two days before she died. This is not a book that Maud put together, as a tailpiece collection. It was an assortment of partial works and in-character conversations that she’d tinkered with over decades. Works she never intended to see being published. They were vague ideas she was forming, little seeds. (It took a lot of effort from Benjamin Lefebvre to put TBAQ together in a readable way that made sense.)

Maud was over Anne. Over Anne by twenty years, at this point. So much so that noticeable character details and world building started slipping in Ingleside and Rilla… for obvious instance, in the lack of continuity around Shirley’s birth year, and the way readers saw almost no closure/representation for Shirley and Di, with varying degrees of near erasure in the original books. 

But this doesn’t mean that Maud didn’t have plans for these two characters... their incomplete or unsatisfying stories certainly weren’t nefariously intended to be that way (there’s no secret meaning to the exclusion); Montgomery was just depleted and had been feeling ruinously dispassionate about the Blythes stories since ‘Anne of the Island’.  

In ‘Reading Rilla’ we see in Maud’s many pages of left-out notes, that an ultimately scrapped journal entry from Rilla indicates that Diana Blythe wrote to their mother of her engagement to a foreign overseas officer. It’s unclear if this officer is the same ‘Austin boy’ that an older Glen woman in ‘the Blythes are Quoted’ privately wonders about (if Di 'really is engaged to him or not'), but this contradictory bit is probably just erroneous gossip from an unreliable narrator.  

Anyway. All of this to say... that just because we don’t have a canon marriage for Shirley, it doesn’t disqualify him from having had a wife and kids in Maud’s post-war Four Winds. TBAQ stories were, to reiterate, half-pictures. Pictures that did/could drop a plot bomb in a single sentence. Looping back to Di, canonly we don’t have a marriage for her either... and yet, we do have two engagements that half-register. One engagement was definitive, reported by Di herself. The other a passing curiosity from someone not close enough to the Blythe family to know.

So... clearly, Maud had active intention, a plan, for Di and her own little happy epilogue. The same can be believed for Shirley. (I’m dying for the day the ‘Rainbow Valley’ and ‘Ingleside’ manuscripts get published, I’m convinced there’s more Shirley be found in the notes.)   Now, let’s dig in to Anne Blythe herself.  

‘The Road to Yesterday’ is a short story about a woman named Susette (a spinster at 28), who is on the brink of an engagement to a wealthy man named Harvey Brooks. She expects the next day to be proposed to. On a whim and feeling nostalgic, she drives to Glen St. Mary, where she lived in her girlhood, for the evening. While there, she runs into a fellow, whom she believes to be Dick, her childhood bully who she hated profoundly. Except now, they’re grown and capable acting chummy over their shared memories. The weather takes a bad turn, and they take shelter and a meal together. Susette spends most of the time, all their ‘do you remembers’, being irritated by Dick’s constant name-dropping of the Blythes. He claims to have been kind of secret friends with Anne Blythe, which is contrary to Susette’s memory that Anne hated Dick. (In the end, it turns out that Susette was right… this isn’t Dick she’s talking to. It’s Jerry Thornton, Dick’s cousin.)

For the official record every Blythe mentioned in ‘the Road to Yesterday’ is as follows: Doctor Blythe, Mrs. Doctor Blythe, Rilla Ford, Jem Blythe [Jr.], Di Meredith [Jerry and Nan’s], and Anne Blythe.

It’s mostly a bunch of school yard talk, but the big takeaway for this purpose is that the Blythe/Meredith cousins all hung out together as school children.

Here’s some direct examples:

*****

*****

*****

The cheap boiled-down version of this exchange, for those who haven’t ‘the Road to Yesterday’ is basically: Susette is having strange feelings during this interaction with ‘Dick’, she’s attracted to him, declaring to herself that she won’t fall in love with him, and is clearly irritated with the near constant Anne Blythe (especially)/Blythe references. Though she herself was very fond of Jem Blythe Jr. herself, during their childhood, ‘Dick’ mentioning Anne Blythe so fondly is increasingly Not Cute to Susette. Meanwhile, ‘Dick’ is enjoying this kind of teasing, and is lowkey successful at getting a rise out of Susette, not matter how determined she is to look unaffected.  

But here’s the kicker... when ‘Dick’ finally leaves off mentioning Anne Blythe, guess what topic he moves on to? 🥁

The Royal Canadian Air Force.

And just who do we all know that was in the Royal Canadian Air Force?  

Shirley.

Only Shirley.  

First, it tracks that ‘Dick,’ soon enlisting (we’re on the brink of WWII timeline-wise), and thinking himself funny, would choose to move on from Anne Blythe to instead a subtler rib… what he, as a once good pal of Anne’s, would know was Anne’s dad’s war faction. It’s also in the realm of possibilities that thinking on Anne so much drew up this correlation. I also ALSO think it’s worth mentioning that the only other time that the Canadian Air Force is mentioned in TBAQ is a very passing drop for Rilla, thinking of her son Gilbert Ford enlisting with the CAF. That’s it. Just those two times.

Additionally important to note is the overall subtext tone in TBAQ, which is Maud’s very greatest collection of double-vision, double-speak and intertextual reference works. There’s a beautiful scholarly essay on this, in relation to TBAQ particularly HERE.

This doesn’t only apply to cultural references in TBAQ. It also adds layers to Maud’s own existing Anne series. It really could be considered a companion piece, with X-Ray vision, e.g. how we got a ton of ‘missing’ insight into Anne and her children’s lives and minds, during the Rainbow Valley era, in Part 1 of TBAQ.

Part 2 of TBAQ (where we find ‘the Road to Yesterday’) asks us to apply what we already know to the new text we’re given.

So, understanding this … if we’re going off what we already know from ‘Rilla of Ingleside’…

What’s the reason we have the Canadian Air Force mentioned in the same story that we learn of the existence of Anne Blythe? The connection?

It’s Shirley. 🥹

A weaker argument that I’ll only mention in mild passing, because it is very weak in terms of convincing evidence, is that the text unambiguously tells is that Anne Blythe has taught ‘Dick’ from Susan’s famous recipes. Susan is another Shirley tie. It’s there to be stated. BUT. I do admit that I think Susan would’ve taught every willing Blythe grandchild with the same zeal, maybe some partiality given to the Little Brown Boy’s kid(s).

BUT, for me?

I’m properly convinced here.

Shirley was a dad, ya’ll.

[mechadria]

I'm watching Todd in the Shadow's evisceration of James Somerton and - I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to slightly disagree with a general sentiment.

I know a lot of Somerton's audience is apparently young, and a lot of them took it all at face value. HOWEVER. After seeing some more clips from Somerton, I'm disinclined to agree with the sentiment that it's really not viewers' fault and they couldn't have known. (And it's fine if you disagree, but I swear I'm going somewhere with this).

Some claims in these videos are too shocking for /anyone/ to just take them in, shrug and move on with their lives. Hbomberguy's video had quite a few clips, but from the way it was edited, it wasn't quite as glaring as it is to me now, with Todd's video, how little Somerton includes any quotes or evidence of any of his really wild claims.

I'm sorry, did I somehow miss a period in history where you stopped learning at school that sources are a thing? Did teachers stop being jerks about using Wikipedia as a source despite its lengthy citations and the fact that we know it's pretty accurate nowadays??? Anyone who makes so many fact-based videos (those aren't opinion pieces in the slightest) should be quoting left and right and providing sources by the truckload. If you fell for it, I'm sorry - it has to feel terrible, but you have to take a long, hard look at yourself and consider how exactly you consume information and how you deem a source reliable. That's something that's learned, and you have to make the effort - otherwise you'll be very vulnerable to propaganda, and most likely harm people along the way.

And that's without even mentioning the /content/ of the claims Somerton makes. I'm sorry, you heard a guy say pirates were leftist philanthropists who built schools and just accepted it? When that goes against pretty much anything you might have heard about pirates, even in sources that severely deviate from "the norm"?

And finally- how could you listen to a gay man call AIDS CRISIS SURVIVORS "boring" and not stop in your tracks in shock and disgust? How could you listen to that man talk about the AIDS crisis and subsequent queer efforts for marriage equality and just accept the vitriol he was vomiting??? How could you listen to his sexist rants, badly disguised as complaints against "white" or "straight" women and not start to maybe, i don't know, think for yourself and doubt whether he was a credible source??

There's a time where we have to stop, look at ourselves and wonder what information we consume, how we consume it, and how thoughtless consumption might be harmful to both us and others. No matter what excerpt of Somerton's I see, I see blatant lies, shocking bigotry and a hard-on for literal Nazis. If you need someone else to tell you that it's bad and not trustworthy, then you need to stop consuming so much media, and start learning a little more about media literacy, media consumption and fact checking.

If you fell for it and you felt bad reading this, I'm sorry, but it doesn't change the fact that the lies and bigotry were poorly hidden at best, and that simply feeling sorry for yourself is neither going to stop you from falling for another James Somerton, or stop other James Somertons from gaining an audience. Mistakes, and even ignorance, aren't some lifelong sentence with moral currency that you can never change and have to carry all of your life - but you have to put in the work yourself if you want to change that.

[pagerunner-j]

Still thinking about Barbie, the movie, and Barbies, collectively, and the very particular quirk of my childhood experience with the doll.

Here's the thing: I grew up in the '80s. (Yes, I'm old, hush.) I had several Barbies, and you'd probably recognize a few of them. Peaches & Cream Barbie even made it into the opening sequence of the movie, after all. That one was, justifiably, a classic.

But my favorite Barbies as a kid looked like this.

Yes, that's an officially licensed Barbie doll, made by the Takara company for sale in Japan. For several years there, from the early '80s to 1986, Japanese Barbies looked like they'd walked straight out of an anime, big, cartoony eyes and all. They came dressed in a variety of fashions, of course, just like their American counterparts, but it's hard not to highlight the traditional kimono. A friend of mine's dad did regular business trips to Japan, and he'd bring home dolls for her, so I got to play with her Barbies during visits to her house, and I always thought they were so much cooler than mine.

Years later, after the advent of the internet and, crucially, eBay, I decided to do some research and see if I could finally snag one of these dolls for myself. To my disappointment, I discovered that Takara no longer held the Barbie license, and the company that produced Japanese Barbies thereafter made the dolls look just like ours.*

*eta: Addendum here: Bandai had the license for a few years after Takara did, and their Barbies looked a lot like Takara's, although not exactly. The last thing I found said those were made until 1989. Correct me if I'm wrong about what happened after!

Returning to the main point, though--

But then I also found out what Takara had decided to do.

They'd lost the Barbie license, specifically. Mattel didn't have any ownership over Takara's doll design, since, after all, she didn't look like Barbie. There wasn't anything preventing Takara from producing the same dolls under a different name.

So this happened.

Meet the Takara Jenny. Same look, new name, new slogan ("Jenny is another yourself"). And without the restrictions of conforming to someone else's license, Takara had the license to do what the hell ever. Traditional dresses? Frothy, elaborate Lolita designs? Friend dolls modeled after famous J-pop singers? Why the heck not?

Takara did feel compelled to come up with an explanation for the name change, I note, beyond "Mattel won't let us call her Barbie anymore." The excuse they eventually went with still amuses me. I'll just quote Wikipedia for brevity:

Prior to 1986, the doll was known as Takara Barbie. In 1986 Takara ended their licensing agreement with Mattel, and, as they owned the rights over the Takara Barbie's design, came up with a new name for the doll. The explanation given for the name change was that Jenny was the name of a character Barbie portrayed in a play, also titled Jenny. The play was a success and Barbie had become so associated with her character's name that she decided to change it to Jenny. Jenny's boyfriend was renamed from "Takara Ken" to "Jeff."

Alas, alack, no more Kenergy for Jeff. Ah well.

(Seriously, though: Imagine that your girlfriend gets so carried away with a famous role she played that not only does she change her name, you have to, too. Poor Ken!)

Anyway: Takara Jenny's had a longer run than the Takara Barbie (interrupted during a discontinuation, but I hear she's back in 2023!), although of course Barbie still reigns supreme in the fashion doll world, and even in Takara's stable, their original fashion doll, Licca, was always more popular. But I've got a soft spot for the Jenny. After all, I'm a Jenny, too. And I still think the doll design is cute as hell.

Now, for an anime movie where Stereotypical Jenny looks like this...

Edit: Okay, I have to add this video. New Licca and friends, including Jenny!

[plutodetective]

On Elijah Baley and Daneel Olivaw’s romantic relationship

Resposting this post from my previous tumblr account, several years ago, because I just discovered there’s a new C/Fe fandom on tumblr. :)

In which I defend the theory that all the C/Fe subtext was intentional, and Asimov wrote them as an actual couple. For that, it is not enough to look just at the text. We have to take a look at Asimov’s way of thinking, so let’s get to it.

I haven’t read Yours, Isaac Asimov (a collection of his letters), but apparently there’s something in there about him considering homosexuality “a moral right” (full disclosure: my source for that is Wikipedia. If I ever find the book, I’ll edit this post if I think it’s necessary). However, I have (thanks to a post here on tumblr) read Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare, a most interesting book that shows that Asimov was perfectly aware of the existence of homosexual subtext, and of how that subtext works. For reference, it was published in 1970, after Caves of Steel and The Naked Sun, and before the rest of the series.

Let me share some quotes from this book:

“The sadness is never explicitly explained in the play and it may be accepted as simply setting a mood. Antonio, after all, is to spend much of the play in a position of great danger.

However, it is possible to speculate that there is a more specific cause of sadness, one which Shakespeare does not care to elaborate upon. As will appear soon enough, Antonio has a male friend to whom he is devoted with a self-sacrificial intensity that is almost unbelievable. This friend, we are soon to find out, is about to woo a young lady in the hope of marrying her. Antonio may very easily be meant by Shakespeare to represent the nobility of homosexual love, something he hints at in several plays (as, for instance, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, see page I-473) without quite daring to be specific about it.

Well then, if Antonio’s friend has, in the eagerness of his new plans involving a lady, grown more distant, is not this reason enough for the poor man to be sad—and yet be unable to explain it, without disgrace, to his friends?”

Relevant from this quote: Asimov’s sympathy and pity towards Antonio’s unrequited love (he later mentions Antonio’s feelings for Bassanio twice more, leaving no doubt as to his interpretation of it: “It is Bassanio with whom Antonio is in love and the strength of the latter’s affection is quickly shown”, and “Surely the attachment on Antonio’s side can only be love in its fullest sense. Yet it may be one-sided. Bassanio’s affection may be nothing more than friendship, for he seems to have no hesitation in attempting to draw on Antonio’s support for a competing love”), which shows he didn’t have any problems with non-straight characters, and this sentence: “Antonio has a male friend to whom he is devoted with a self-sacrificial intensity that is almost unbelievable”.

Compare it to another quote from this book:

“In addition, there are a number of events in Shakespeare’s plays that can be interpreted from a homosexual point of view, yet which Shakespeare presents most sympathetically. There are the close male friendships, even to threatened death(…)”

I don’t think being willing to sacrifice oneself for a friend implies having romantic feelings for them. But it seems Asimov did. He used it twice as evidence for Antonio being in love with Bassanio.

And you all know what I’m going to quote now.

“Baley felt abashed. He said, “You do not resent the situation in which you may be forced to give up your existence for me?”

“It is in my programming, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel in a voice that seemed to soften, “yet somehow it seems to me that, even were it not for my programming, saving you makes the loss of my own existence seem quite trivial in comparison.”

Baley could not resist this. He held out his hand and closed it on Daneel’s with a fierce grip. “Thank you, Partner Daneel, but please do not allow it to happen. I do not wish the loss of your existence. The preservation of my own would be inadequate compensation, it seems to me.”

And Baley was amazed to discover that he really meant it. He was faintly horrified to realize that he would be ready to risk his life for a robot. — No, not for a robot. For Daneel.”

Considering Asimov’s ideas about close male friendships in which one is willing to sacrifice himself for the other… Take your own conclusions.

One more quote, and I promise I am done with the Shakespeare:

“Nevertheless, there are a number of cases in the romances in which friendship between males is suspiciously close and in which the language used between them is suspiciously ardent”

… Define “suspiciously ardent”. Would “do not, for your own sake, test the force of our love” qualify? What about “I cannot say what I feel in any human sense, Partner Elijah. I can say, however, that the sight of you seems to make my thoughts flow more easily, and the gravitational pull on my body seems to assault my senses with lesser insistence”? “Baley hoped earnestly that the creature’s unreadable eyes could not penetrate Baley’s mind and see that wild moment, just past and not yet entirely subsided, when all of Baley had concentrated into a feeling of intense friendship that was almost love.” ? “He felt Daneel’s steady arm about his waist and shame prevented him from doing what, at the moment, he most wanted to do- to turn and hide his face against the robotic chest. He might have been unable to resist if Daneel had been human”? Or what about an ardent quote from a third part? Like, I don’t know, Gladia’s “Must I tell you this? Don’t you already know it? Here is the robot that Elijah Baley loved. Yes, loved. I wanted to see Elijah before he died, to say good-bye to him; but he wanted Daneel” ?

I could go on, but I think the point is made. Asimov understood subtext far too well to write all those quotes accidentally. It can’t not have been intentional.

And since we are talking about language, there’s something else I want to point out: Asimov didn’t care at all about continuity, right? He’s been known to forget as many as three large plot points from a previous novel when writing the sequel (Robots and Empire features Amadiro complaining about Daneel’s and Jander’s looks as if they were a fantasy, and not made in the image of an actual man, and Daneel never having seen a dead human and Gladia never having fainted, both things that not only happened, but were vital to the conclusion of The Naked Sun).

So I’ll repeat that quote about Daneel and Elijah being willing to sacrifice themselves for each other, and put another quote next to it for comparison.

“Baley felt abashed. He said, “You do not resent the situation in which you may be forced to give up your existence for me?”

“It is in my programming, Partner Elijah,” said Daneel in a voice that seemed to soften, “yet somehow it seems to me that, even were it not for my programming, saving you makes the loss of my own existence seem quite trivial in comparison."”

And the other quote:

"Dors said softly, ‘Hari, I want what is good for you because of what I am, but I feel that if I wasn’t what I am, I would still want what is good for you.’”

In Prelude to Foundation that’s as close as Dors gets to confessing her love for Hari before they kiss (and proceed to get married, adopt a child, and live happily until death does them part). Look at it, it’s the same conversation. It’s a robot telling a human how much they care for them, in a way that they feel is not connected to the First Law, and that they believe they would still feel that way if they hadn’t been programmed with it.

More than that, it’s the same language. Both robots’ voices are soft, and their sentences are structured in the same way (“I care for you because I am a robot, but I feel that if I weren’t one I would still care for you”).  I don’t know when these scenes were written, but the books were published five years apart from one another. That’s an eternity in “continuity doesn’t matter” land. So there are two options: either Asimov actually went through the trouble to go back to Robots of Dawn to check Daneel’s dialogue and sort of copy it, or (honestly, much more likely) he forgot about Daneel and Elijah’s scene completely, but when he was writing about Dors, essentially Daneel’s daughter, who is a lot like him in several aspects, confessing  her love for a human who has a lot in common with Elijah, he subconsciously repeated the pattern without even noticing. Which would still mean he considered that particular argument to be romantic, and would not have used it with Elijah and Daneel if he didn’t see them as a couple. Oh, and it would also mean that he remembered that scene in some level, even when he didn’t remember major plot points.

Another point that is worth noticing is that there’s a definite increase in C/Fe moments, and in the intensity (ardor? xD) of those, from Robots of Dawn forwards. It actually gets a bit strange when you are binge reading the whole series in order.

But the explanation, of course, is that Robots of Dawn was published decades after The Naked Sun, so some changes in style are to be expected. I just don’t know if the reason for this particular change was a conscious decision of Asimov to make them more definitively a couple (maybe to provide Daneel with a reason to do the things that led to the merging of the series with the Foundation verse. I have no basis for this, it’s just speculation), or if it just means that subtext could get bolder in the 1980s than it could in the 1950s. If so, I can’t help imagining what might happen between Daneel and Elijah if Asimov could write about them today. I really do think there’d be at least one kiss.  

These have been my C/Fe rambles for this night.

[forthedancingandthethriving]

Another collection of incorrect quotes

SMG4:  How sure are you?

Meggy:  Eighty-five to eighty-six percent.

SMG4:  We’ve gone on much less.

-----

SMG4, on a call with Lil Coding in front of everyone: Where are you?

Lil Coding: I'm at school, duh.

SMG4: You better not be skipping school and at that arcade.

*skee ball machine alarm goes off in the background*

-----

Lil Coding:  Every time I hear someone talking about updog, I’m torn between not wanting to fall for it and wanting to help them complete their joke.

CPU:  Okay, but what is updog?

Lily:  Updog is a long sausage in a bun, often served with ketchup, mustard, onions, and/or relish.

Bowser Jr:  No, that’s a hot dog. An updog is when a new version or patch of an application is released.

Cody:  No, that's an update. You’re thinking of the fourth largest city in Sweden.

Desmond:  No, that’s Uppsala, where’s updog is the giant spider in Harry Potter.

Sage:  That’s Aragog. Updog is a symbol conventionally used for an arbitrarily small number in analysis proofs.

Lil Coding:  You’re thinking of epsilon. Updog is an upward-moving air current.

Lily:  No, that’s an updraft. An updog is the modern version of a henway.

CPU:  What’s a henway?? .. wait-

Lil Coding, grinning like an idiot:  Oh, about five pounds.

-----

Viality:  I’m going to need everyone to be straight with each other from now on. No more games.

Umbra:  I’m always straight.

Abyssal:  Oh, that’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told.

-----

Mario, faintly:  With great boredom comes great irresponsibility.

Luigi, looking up with a tired look:  Please tell me you’re not on the roof again.

-----

SMG3, calling SMG4: Hey, I'm gonna be a bit late.

SMG4: Again?

SMG3: Yeah, sorry.

SMG3: Take me to church came on, and I wasn't emotionally prepared, so I floored the accelerator by accident, and now I'm stuck in a ditch.

-----

Luigi: I am at a loss for words!

Lily, narrating: And despite being at a loss for words, Luigi lectured everyone else for the next 45 minutes.

-----

Ping: We still have our one phone call. We could call Antivirus or CPU.

Abyssal: I feel safer calling Antivirus.

-----

Mario: I am not out of control! I'm a law-abiding citizen!

HAL: Really? Name one law.

Mario: Don't kill people?

HAL: That's on me. I set the bar too low.

-----

Cody: How petty can you get?

Bowser Jr: I once edited a Wikipedia article to win an argument I was wrong about.

-----

SMG4: Lily...

Lily: Oh no, 'Lily' in b-flat.

Lily: You're disappointed.

-----

Nimbus: Y’know, maybe things aren’t so bad. I’m here. I got the nice ocean breeze. Just alone with my thoughts.

Leto: Hiiiiii, Nimbus!

Nimbus: GODDAMNIT!

-----

Lil Coding: That’s one of my biggest fears. Like, if I ever woke up as a donut...

Sage: You would eat yourself?

Lil Coding: I wouldn’t even question it.

-----

Bowser Jr: I'm incredibly fast at math.

Sage: What's 30x17?

Bowser Jr: 47

Sage: That's not even close.

Bowser Jr: But it was fast.

-----

Meggy: Why are Forum and Domain sitting with their backs to each other?

Juliano: They had a fight.

Meggy: Then why are they holding hands?

Juliano: They get sad when they fight.

-----

Mario: Oh, just so you know, it's very muggy outside.

SMG4: ...

SMG4: Mario, I swear, if I step outside and all of our mugs are on the front lawn...

Mario: *sips coffee from bowl*

-----

Forum: I got you flowers!

Domain: What did you do?

-----

Leto: We have fun, don't we?

Nimbus, drenched in water and nearly drowned twice: I have never been more stressed out in my life.

[uneducated-author]

Hi! Your recent post about gods existing in BSD caught my attention and I felt sending this as an ask would work best for conciseness. In response to your tags, Arahabaki is actually just a singularity and not a god. [https://www.tumblr.com/originalaccountname/711614312754692096/sorry-to-bother-you-but-ive-been-getting-into-bsd?source=share] [https://www.tumblr.com/originalartblog/713410888979316736?source=share]

Also, as for other gods, I'm of the belief that Lovecraft is a god (y'know like eldritch gods) that's just able to take a human form. This is supported in that Dazai's ability doesn't nullify Lovecraft's because it isn't an ability, it's just him. This is also further supported by another theory but since there's the possibility it doesn't turn out to be the case, I won't mention it— but I will say that there is another person with god-like origins that Dazai has made contact with that his ability didn't nullify.

Lastly, there is Atsushi whose ability may be Baiho (or at least similar), the White Tiger God in Chinese mythology (called Byakko in Japan). The White Tiger that is Atsushi's ability has been repeatedly shown to be of its own sapience which is notably different from abilities like Kyouka's Demon Snow and more along the lines of Twain's Tom Sawyer & Huckleberry Finn. (Like the times he talks to and reconciles with the Tiger)

With the movie Dead Apple, Atsushi's ability is shown to be very special and there was also the major plot point of what occurs during season two where it was explicitly stated that Atsushi's ability specifically was the key to finding the book. Heck, him being hunted by the Port Mafia in season one was because of the Guild trying to get their hands on him.

To add, his ability working phenomenally in tandem with Akutagawa's is a potential allusion to Byakko's mythology. I'll be quoting it's wikipedia for this. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Tiger_(mythology)

“As with the other three Symbols, there are seven astrological "Mansions" (positions of the Moon) within the White Tiger.” Beast Beneath the Moonlight

“In Chinese art, the white tiger often appears with the dragon. The white tiger symbolizes power and army.” Akutagawa is that dragon, which is obvious in the meaning behind his surname Ryuunosuke. The first character in his name 龍 (ryuu) means dragon because the real life author was born in the year of the dragon during the month of the dragon and the hour he was believed to be born was the hour of the dragon. His name, Ryuunosuke, literally translates to "son of the dragon". [http://yabai.com/p/4517] Whether Atsushi is like, Byakko incarnate or it's just his ability or something else, or even he straight up isn't actually a god— we don't have anything that confirms or denies it yet. Also I am sorry for rambling in your ask box, the topic of gods in BSD is something I'm rather passionate about.

First of all, this is sp incredibly interesting and I am fascinating at how my semi serious post has now given way to an actual craving for Lore (I'm trying to hunt down an edition of 15).

The whole Lovecraft thing definitely confused me and doubly so because I definitely thought (hoped) that since he's immune to Dazai he would play a larger role in the plot. I am curious though, as to whether Dazai coming into contact with Lovecraft would have any impact on his physical abilities, like limiting his speed or agility. (I suppose I am thinking a little of BNHA here. Eraserhead can't erase mutant quirks, but presumably could erase like, effects of a mutant quirk e.g: spitting acid or so) But he spends most of the fight bragging about Chuuya to Steinbeck so we don't really get to see how the two abilities would interact. It's interesting especially because Dazai CAN nullify Chuuya in corruption and Atsushi in his fully tiger state (which is a physical transformation) but has ZERO affect on Lovecraft's tentacle form.

(I'm desperately trying to think of the 'god like origin' character because I can't think of other BSD characters that Dazai's ability didn't affect... is it like Sigma or something, because he was created from the book?)

I was aware of Atsushi as Byakko, though I genuinely interpreted the 'consciousness' of the ability as moreso Atsushi's introspection, a visual way to show his personal healing and acceptance, though it's really interesting to know I was wrong! When I have time I'll have to rewatch those scenes with a fresh perspective. I was super into the Shinto belief as a kid, and it was actually how my friend persuaded me to get into BSD, and I'm loving the series so far. However, I'm honestly more familiar with the Qinglong and Baihu as the dragon of the East and tiger of the West.

(I had a very funny moment watching Dead Apple where I was insistent to my friend that 'Atsushi will definitely have to match off against the dragon, there's a lot of mythological basis' only to be proven completely wrong, though with the amazing Chuuya fight scene I couldn't be disappointed)

But I had completely missed the connection between Akutagawa and the dragon! That definitely adds a really interesting level to the dynamic between the two as members opposing forces with the matched goal.

Thank you so so so much for explaining this all in such an interesting way, it really made my day! I super appreciated it!

[dennisboobs]

What needs the most attention on the wiki right now? I'm up for helping, I like having a little project :)

oh boy, uh. pretty much everything, honestly; right now i'm trying to figure out formatting for each type of page, like what section headings should be called and how to format episode recaps and the like. it's hard to explain, because i'm struggling with how to go about it all myself, and the prospect of recapping 15 past seasons per-character as i would typically do on my other wikis is daunting, especially with how disconnected sunny is, you can't really recap a season's plot without going into specifics per-episode, (unless it's like. dennis' arc in season 12 which is pretty consistent throughout with him exploring fatherhood & coming to terms with his childhood trauma which pushes him to take responsibility with his own kid) so i would say main character pages are a priority because that is the most overwhelming part to me right now, but with no template established i don't expect anyone to be able to do that when i can't even manage it myself yet.

i'd say... if you find yourself skimming a page and you catch something that's clearly wrong, biased, or subjecive, a quick edit or just straight up deleting a sentence or two would be super helpful. the sheer amount of text to skim makes it difficult for me to tackle lesser known pages, but if you guys keep an eye out for me it would be a lot easier for me to focus on the big stuff.

an example from frank's page of what to look out for, (and you see this a LOT with the "trivia"/"notes" sections at the bottom of pages

ive colour coded to make it easier:

purple: just straight up unnecessary point. you see this most often on pages where people will use a quote as an excuse to quote slurs or funny lines. this isn't trivia.

orange: a statement that is bound to require updating at some point. listing any occurences of a trope, running gag, etc that can't be easily tracked or requires a shitload of additional context (eg. on mac's page there was a list of every time he was seen wearing shoes other than his s2 combat boots, and it had a bunch of exceptions and required updating when it could easily be fit into an "attire" section instead that just mentions that he is most often seen wearing the same boots & blue dickies) i see this frequently with episode pages as well, where it lists shit like "this is the fourth episode in which the f-word is said". useless trivia and way too much upkeep

green: and here you see the additional qualifiers ("after being established as a main character"). any lists like this are just generally useless, and instead of actually mentioning the episode on a page like this (not in this case, but in the body of the text, trivia can be a little different), it should ideally be written like... an in-universe wikipedia page (with some exceptions ofc). you can cite episodes with the template {{ep}}, like {{ep|5x2}} instead of saying something like "In [[Mac's Banging the Waitress]], Charlie gets really drunk." you can instead say "Charlie gets really drunk."{{ep|4x4}} (which will appear as a superscript [4x4]) here's an example from den's page; instead of saying "In [[The Gang Buys a Roller Rink]]" you just state it like an actual irl wikipedia page.

also trying to update character pages so they use years instead of saying which "season" something happens, it reads way better to say "In 2006, x did y" rather than "In Season 3, x did y".

blue: THEORIES. GET THAT SHIT OUT OF HERE. no one should be drawing any damn conclusions. just state facts and leave the wiki readers to determine how that should be taken.

SO LIKE. if you can keep your eyes peeled and get rid of shit like this, it would be... a huge help. filling out minor recurring character pages with their involvement would be great too, rex's page is pretty light on content, i think bill ponderosa's is too, ive worked a little on both of their pages so i believe they might be a good example but they're still rough.

[annebrontesrequiem]

hi! when u search sunne in splendor on tumblr ur post https://www.tumblr.com/annebrontesrequiem/705559484360163328/i-do-think-its-a-bit-of-a-pity-that-sharon-kay is one of the first that comes up. i’m 66% of my way thru my first read of it (also my first of any of her books). i’m at the part where edward decides to kill george to hide his (apocryphal?) first marriage...and it’s starting to drag a bit. i know sunne in splendor sacrifices quite a bit of the historical part of historical fiction to make richard Correct, but it also sacrifices the fiction part of historical fiction bc richard is prob the most boring character bc he’s almost always Correct. i think the reason it’s starting to drag for me is it’s getting to a point that a lot of the ambiguity that the earlier part so good is quickly disappearing (i read the first two thirds in two days and then nothing today bc i keep getting to the marriage bit and kinda groaning). is edward’s first marriage apocryphal- like the claims richard didn’t kill those kids? basically im hoping u can give me motivation to finish the last third

it’s really a remarkably well written book for a first novel- my library has the thirtieth anniversary edition, which i guess is re-edited by skp from the original. do u have an opinion on which version is better? a author i liked re-edited a diff series for a tenth anniversary edition and made it substantially worse. what skp chooses to include/exclude is sometimes really odd to me. what are some of ur fav moments from sunne and splendor/what odd about it to u?

i really like all the deeply odd character interactions, like isabella thinking about lancaster saying he’s against wife beating, or will hastings lying in bed w jane shore and erectile dysfunction heartsick bc he can’t ask ned to not sleep w her bc will’s afraid bed will say no. what a wild and weird and well written dynamic! honestly made hastings my fav character rn. i also really liked marg of anjou

Hey anon! Sorry for the long wait time getting this ask out, I wanted to make sure I answered everything fully and was a bit too busy to do so before now.

With Sunne, even someone like me who will defend it until I die, I definitely agree there is a lull period. To me after the whole drama with Anne is concluded there’s a bit of a letdown as the plot moves towards its finale. This could be because Anne Neville is the best character to me, but I also think it’s because there’s this sense of anticipation towards the back end. This is really where Penman begins to play fast and loose, and as such it becomes much more dramatic for the audience, trying to see how this all is going to come into play. But in the interim while Edward’s still alive, there certainly can be a sense of boredom.

As to the first marriage, it’s a little complicated. Unfortunately I don’t have any of my proper history books on me right now, so you’ll have to have some sketchier sources from me. And disclaimer that this period of history is absolutely not my area of expertise, and I want to work on reading more about it since I find Richard III so fascinating. Basically, there was this idea – according to Charles Nicoll in The Lodger: Shakespeare on Silver Street yes I am straight up yanking this quote from Wikipedia I’m sorry – that:

“Handfasting was legally binding: as soon as the couple made their vows to each other they were validly married. It was not a temporary arrangement. Just as with church weddings of the period, the union which handfasting created could only be dissolved by death. English legal authorities held that, even if not followed by intercourse, handfasting was as binding as any vow taken in church before a priest”

Thus there is the idea that Edward plighted his troth to Lady Eleanor Butler, thus making his marriage illegitimate, and all his children too. I haven’t read Sunne in a while, but I’m pretty sure Penman essentially presents this idea of what happened.

Mortimer Levine explores the idea of a precontracted marriage in his “Richard III – Usurper or Lawful King?” which is in part a review of Paul Murray Kendall’s Richard III, which I haven’t yet read but I own and I know is very partial to Richard. According to Levine, the existence of a precontract remains shaky at best – even in the act in which it is brought up, the contract does not take center stage but is rather part of a list of many. Not a great sign that Richard III himself truly believed in the contract. The idea that Clarence was killed over the contract is also pretty ridiculous. I feel like I've made my stance pretty clear on old posts, but I should say I think the idea that Edward had a marriage which made his children illegitimate is obviously just politicking and has absolutely nothing to do with any historical fact. In real life it was a tool for Richard's (successful) bid to the throne. Much like the idea Richard didn't kill his nephews, this is not - to me - part of any viable historical reality. And the impact of the claim is, of course, more important than whether or not it was real. The whole article does a much better hash of it than I can, and if you have Jstor I would high recommend the read since it’s not that long.

As to Richard being boring, I find the personal things in his life – his marriage, his guilt, etc. – more interesting than the court politics. Once Edward – and Edward his son and Anne – are dead this definitely picks back up. So if that was what interested you, I would hold on for a bit – if you haven’t finished the book in the past few days of course

The version that I have read is I believe not the 30th anniversary edition. The ISBN is 978-0-312-37593-5; if you want to compare with your version. As such I can’t say which is best, but I must say that you’ve intrigued me and I would love to track the 30th anniversary copy down now. What I wouldn’t give to read the manuscript now being held by the Richard III Society I cannot say. I know a great deal was cut by her editors – if that can be believed – and though edited books are surely better, I cannot help but want to read the original labor of love. Maybe someday.

My favorite moments are, as alluded to, the scenes involving Anne. This is partially a thing that has always been the case with me and historical figures. I think Josephine Bonaparte, for example, is much more interesting than Napoleon. And Anne is truly a fascinating woman in her own right, having been married to both the heir to the Lancastrian throne and the last York king. I want to read two of the most recent biographies out about her someday, I’m sure they would be fascinating.

In the book of course theirs is a love match for the ages, and let me tell you when I first read this book at the age of about 13 I was absolutely obsessed with them. I was also very into the Secret Garden (musical) at the time, and Anne and Richard and Lily and Archibald definitely blended in my mind a bit. I also think that Anne helps make Richard as a character more interesting. As you say, Richard can be boring for how purely good he is, and though Anne is also a very good character, I think she brings out an interesting part of Richard.

Another scene that I love is when Edward is talking to Elizabeth (Woodville) and says that Richard is alas an idealist and a romantic, as contrasted between him and George. That scene has stuck in my mind since I first read it, and I just cannot stop thinking about it.

I also love the scene right before Richard dies when the atmosphere is truly perfected. I just remember so well the stagnant, hot, languid August air that seemed to pervade the scene, so well that I remember myself in that moment reading it as being in late summer, though I first read the book in May. I also think it really captures Richard’s feelings in that moment well; tired, missing his family which has all died essentially (besides perhaps his nieces and nephews and sister-in-law who surely despise him). Richard comes off to me as almost suicidal in that scene, and bleakness is riveting in a way that I find difficult to reread. Thus his death becomes in a strange way cathartic, though bleakly so. Penman had the makings of a tragedian, makings which were honed in her later books. We see the seeds of it here. But the scene is very out of place when you consider the scenes of Richard’s childhood. It is strange for how full of despair it is. I think that’s why it’s so haunting. Of course, nostalgia could be blinding, but that is how I remember that scene.

I also like when Richard is mulling over the parallels between him and Anne and Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. I honestly think that like set off something in little me’s brain. Sometimes I imagine how interesting it would be to write a paper or a dual biography comparing them. When Richard speaks of Henry Duke of Gloucester and Eleanor, his wife, being forced to do penance that also stuck with me. I agree anon, it’s these strange little moments that are so fascinating. A true sense of historical scale. I like that Penman was not afraid to make her cast huge. And that though the book is so extremely partial to Richard, she does ultimately, I think, give a great deal of characters grace.

I also like her portrayal of Marguerite d’Anjou. If you enjoy that and you enjoy this book overall, I’d highly recommend When Christ and His Saints Slept about Stephen and Empress Maude. I think Maude is similar to Marguerite in some ways, expect much more complicated.

As I said in that post, I really think Penman hit her stride with the Plantagenets. Though she certainly has her heroes and heroines, her characters become even more conflicting and grey – Robert, Maude’s brother, stands out to me in this regard. I adore Penman as one of my favorite authors, but Sunne really is imperfect for all that I adore it. Not that I won't stop defending it until the day I die of course. I hope you get to the end, and I’m glad you enjoyed so far!

[starlitfunkster]

Wrong Quotes (LRG's Fav Characters from Object Shows edition)

Starring: Star Lamp as Herself Cake as the The Power of Two! Rep Gelatin as the Battle for BFDI Rep Trophy as the Inanimate Insanity Rep Domino as the Animated Inanimate Battle Rep and Holly as the Open Source Objects Rep

Made using a Generator on perchance. None of this is accurate to the characters, btw. If stuff seems added on, it's usually from me and not the generator. Fair warning that some of these can get long. Viewer discression is advised.

Cake: Posts a super low-quality image to the group chat Gelatin: If I had a dollar for every pixel in this image, I’d have 15 cents. Cake: If I had a dollar for every ounce of rage I felt in my body after I read this text, I would have enough money to buy a cannon to fire at you. Star Lamp: Actually I did the math, Gelatin would have $225, not $0.15. Gelatin: Fam I’m right here…. Holly: If I had a dollar I would buy a can of soda :) Cake: while you’re there could you buy me an apply juice please? Holly: Sorry I only have a dollar. Cake: :( Star Lamp: Hey I just realized my friend is right, Gelatin would have $22,500 because it's a dollar for every pixel, not a cent. Holly: If I had $22,500 I would buy a can of soda and an apply juice. Star Lamp: You can buy anything you want with $22,500. Trophy: Yeah and they want soda and apply juice. Star Lamp: Apply juice to what. Trophy: Directly to the forehead. Gelatin: Great chat everyone. Domino: Domino: I didn't even get to weigh in on this!

Trophy: Fine! Judge all you want but… Trophy, points at Gelatin: Married a lesbian. Trophy, points at Star Lamp: Left a man at the altar. Trophy, points at Cake: Fell in love with a gay ice dancer. Trophy, points at Domino: Threw a girl’s wooden leg in a fire. Trophy, points at Holly: Lives in a box! Star Lamp, giving a smug look towards Trophy: Where'd you learn that, Wikipedia? Trophy: ………….

Trophy: Rules were made to be broken. Gelatin: They were made to be followed. Nothing is made to be broken. Domino: Uh, piñatas. Holly: Glow sticks. Star Lamp: Karate boards. Cake: Spaghetti when you have a small pot. Trophy: Rules. Gelatin: Gelatin: breaks Trophy's back

Squad reactions to being called straight: Gelatin: The f---, no I'm not. Trophy: Excuse the hell out of you? Domino: Ding dong, you are wrong! Star Lamp: Who told you that? And why did they lie? Holly: Rude. Cake: kicks the person with a smile on his face

Domino: If I fall… Holly: I’ll be there to catch you. Trophy: looks at Cake What if I fall? Cake: Then I’ll fall with you, never leaving your side. Gelatin: watches these two interactions Gelatin, to Star Lamp: stupid-looking grin And if I fall? Star Lamp: Not in a good mood I’ll be the one who pushed you.

Gelatin, at Domino: You're my significant other. Domino: *presumably in-toxicated* Yeah I am! Gelatin, at Cake: You're my child. Cake: Yes boss. Gelatin, at Star Lamp: You're my b----. Star Lamp: Yeah I am- wait, what? Gelatin, at Holly: My bestie. Holly: Naturally. Gelatin, Trophy: HA, GAY! Trophy: F--- you.

Holly: Who else is hiding in the laundry room trying to listen to Cake and Trophy's convo? Domino: Me. I'm in the laundry basket. Star Lamp: I'm in the washing machine. Holly: You are WHAT?! Star Lamp: It isn't on, chill! Gelatin: I'm in the closet. Domino: We accept you Gelatin. <3 Gelatin: No I'm literally in the closet. Domino: Love is love. <3

Holly: Domino is too tall for me to kiss them on the lips. What should I do? Cake: Punch them in the stomach. Then, when they double over in pain, kiss them. Gelatin: Tackle them! Trophy: Dump them. Star Lamp: Kick them in the shin! Domino: No to all of those! Just ask me to lean down!!

Squad reactions to being told ‘I love you’ Trophy: Thanks fam! Star Lamp: Oh no. Domino: cries I love you too. Cake: Sounds fake, but okay. Gelatin: A flustered mess Holly: Can I get a refund?

Trophy: Holly kissed me! Cake: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Trophy: It was unbelievable! Cake: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Gelatin: Okay, we wanna hear everything. Cake, get the wine and unplug the phone. Trophy, does this end well or do we need tissues? Trophy: Oh, it ended very well. Cake: Do not start without me! Do not start without me! Gelatin: Okay, alright, let’s hear about the kiss. Was it a soft brush against your lips or was it like a, you know, “I gotta have you now” kind of thing? Trophy: Well, at first it was really intense, you know? And then, oh God, and then we just sort of sunk into it. Gelatin: Ohh… So, okay, were they holding you? Or were their hands on your back? Trophy: First they started out on my waist and then they slid up and then they were in my hair. Cake and Gelatin: Ohhh. meanwhile Holly eating pizza in their house: And, uh, and then I kissed them. Domino: Tongue? Holly: Yeah. Star Lamp: Cool.

Domino: I’m the smartest person in my friend group. Cake: You hang out with Gelatin, Star Lamp, Trophy, and Holly. Cake: It’s not as high a compliment as you think.

Star Lamp, to the Squad: I’d die for you. Trophy: Then perish. Cake: You will. Gelatin: Please don’t. Domino: Cool. Holly: I’d die for you first. Star Lamp, to the Squad: Okay, I wasn't being literal because of 'ya'll know why'.. but wow. These responses are wow.

Trophy: Is it still visible? Where Star Lamp slapped me? Holly: Your face looks like a don't walk signal. Gelatin: Your face looks like a photo negative for the hamburger helper box. Domino: A palm reader could tell Star Lamp's future by looking at your face. Cake: The phrase 'talk to the hand cause the face ain't listening' doesn't work for you, because the hand is your face. Trophy: …A simple 'yes' would've sufficed.

[fun-with-colors]

Persona 5 Royal and “Poe’s Masquerade”

I recently (read: a few minutes ago) saw a post about how Beneath the Mask is a brilliant and tragic character study of Joker, and I felt compelled to talk about some of the awesome references in Persona 5 Royal (not sure if they’re all in the vanilla game, never played it.)

So, in Beneath the Mask, there’s the line “I’m a shapeshifter, at Poe’s Masquerade,” right? Which is a reference to Edgar Allan Poe’s The Masque of the Red Death. Seems like a pretty cut-and-dry thing, it ties into the theme of there not being anything beneath the mask, as was the case in Poe’s Masque. Well, I am here to tell you that that particular reference is anything but simple. It’s brilliant. 

Fair warning: this is gonna be a long post.

First off, some context on The Masque of the Red Death. It’s a short story where, basically, there’s this plague going on. It’s called the Red Death, it makes you sweat blood and die in less than an hour. Terribly contagious, the Red Death. So this rich guy gathers up all of his friends and allies to hole up in his abbey, and locks the gates behind them. A few months in, they decide to throw a rocking masquerade party. 

The party is structured as such: 

There are 7 rooms in order, each color-coded. Blue, then purple, then green, then orange, and then violet. The last room is black, and lit up by red lights. There’s a big imposing clock in the last room, and whenever it chimes the hour everyone stops partying until the clock is done, and then resumes. 

Everything’s going great while people are dying outside until midnight, when this new guy shows up in a gaudy red costume that looks like a corpse killed by the red death. The host chases this guy down with a dagger. They go through all the rooms, and once they reach the last room the host finally looks the mysterious stranger in the face, and instantly dies. The guests panic and remove the mask to see who it was, only to find that there was nothing there. The guests then all also die to the Red Death. 

Grim, right? Well, it also has a lot of striking similarities to Shido’s palace.

The basic premise of some rich asshole trying to save only his friends from the plague on the land, only this time the plague is one that he himself has orchestrated: the mental shutdowns. Those on his ship are safe from being permanently cancelled, while those who aren’t (like the Shujin principal) are not. 

The letters of introduction parallel the 7 rooms, since all of that preparation is in the eventual goal of unlocking the final room.

The guests on the ship are all wearing masks that look a heck of a lot like masquerade masks. 

The intruder, ie: the thieves. 

 as a last-ditch effort to kill the thieves, Shido takes a pill that will temporarily kill him, mirroring the moment when the host dies in The Masque of the Red Death. 

But wait! We’re not done!

That is just the first layer of references

This is why I said that it was gonna get super long. Strap in folks, because those references aren’t even an original choice that the game made. They’re INHERITED references. Also I have a lot to say, and am bad at being succinct. Well, they say that if you can’t be concise, you can at least be interesting, and I hope that I’ve managed that. 

Some more context:

Akechi is based off of the famous Japanese detective Akechi Kogoro. The author of the Akechi Kogoro stories is a man by the pen name of Edogawa Ranpo. If that name sounds familiar, it should. It is, as wikipedia puts it, “A rendering of [Edgar Allan] Poe’s name.” 

There is one Akechi Kogoro story, called Gold Mask (Or The Gold Mask, or The Golden Mask), that is especially relevant here. In it, Akechi goes up against the mysterious Gold Mask, who turns out to be none other than Arsene Lupin. 

It should not be surprising how many similarities there are, but I am somehow surprised nonetheless. 

These are some insane connections, y’all. I’m basically just gonna retell the events of the story because it’s mostly relevant anyways. It’s not even all about the red death thing. Also I just really like this section of the story. This is gonna get rambly, but bear with me here. 

Ok so first plot twist: this book also references The Masque of the Red Death. Big time. Like, there is a chapter titled “The Masque of the Red Death.”

The setting: a masquerade ball put on by the French Ambassador (The Count de Rouzieres). The ball takes place in seven chambers, in the same color order as in the original story. This time, however, they are set up so that one can only see one room at a time. Do note that the final room is described as making things look as though they are “somehow not of this world.”

The inevitable twist

Guess who shows up unannounced at the moment the clock strikes midnight? Ding ding ding! That’s right, it’s the Gold Mask. 

(The next chapter is called “The Gold Death”)

The investigator who had been Akechi’s sidekick (more on that later) chases after the Gold Mask, along with the Count and one other dude. 

I’m just gonna quote the book’s description of the third man. 

“It was impossible to identify the man on account of his eccentric costume. [...] He wore a form-fitting black shirt and trousers, black shoes, black socks, a black cloth on his head, the ends of which rose sharply into two long horns, and, of course a face mask.”

...Yeah. I was way more surprised to find out that that design is straight out of the source material than to find out who that mysterious third man was. (more on why akechi was disguised in a bit)

The Count is the first into the final room with the Gold Mask. No sooner does he enter than the other two men hear a gunshot. They run in, fearing the worst. 

Turns out it’s the Gold Mask who’s been shot by the Count. They pull off the mask and discover... the Count’s interpreter. One of the investigators declares that the interpreter must be the gold mask, and this all can be called off. The guy’s dying, everything’s fine. 

Suddenly, the man with the black mask starts laughing. They demand he removes his mask, he does so and reveals himself as Akechi Kogoro. Akechi insists that this man cannot be the Gold Mask, because Arsene Lupin is the gold mask.

Everyone else thinks he’s ridiculous, until he gets the dying interpreter to confess that yes, he was working for Arsene Lupin.

Now. The part that makes this all really funny is that as the interpreter is dying, he points out to Akechi who Arsene Lupin is (since Lupin has so many disguises as to not fundamentally have a true identity). The interpreter points to (dun dun duhDUH) The Count of Rouzieres, the French Ambassador to Japan. 

Obviously the police commissioner is finding that hard to believe, but when Akechi produces an envelope that he claims is evidence, he orders that the rest of the investigators and guests leave the room, so that it’s only him, the POV character, Akechi, and the Count. 

The letter is apparently from another well-known detective familiar with Arsene Lupin, full of evidence that proves that the Count of Rouzieres is actually Arsene Lupin. Incriminating stuff, blah blah blah. 

Arsene admits to being, well, arsene, and then proceeds to have a superficially amicable conversation with Akechi. He then pulls his gun out of nowhere and threatens to shoot akechi. Suddenly, the detective who supplied Akechi with the note (his name is Weber) jumps out of the clock mechanism behind Arsene and confiscates his gun. Arsene Lupin is about to be arrested, with no way out. One of the investigators pulls out his own gun on Arsene, and both Akechi and the police commissioner are very experienced in making arrests. Even beyond that, there’s an entire crowd of investigators waiting outside the only door. 

We cut to the aforementioned crowd of investigators, who have just noticed that the voices from inside the room have gotten very quiet. After knocking and hearing only silence, they decide to open the door.

The room is empty. 

We cut back to Arsene, who is acting very confident despite his precarious circumstances. He says that he has the power to create such a catastrophe as to make it impossible for them to arrest him, before calmly walking out of the only door in the room. 

The detectives call for the police officers outside to arrest Arsene, but... there doesn’t seem to be anyone there to do it. He locks the door to the room from the outside, and flees out of an open glass window and down a fire escape to his waiting allies. (very similar to the way Joker attempts to escape from the Casino, and VERY similar to how he ultimately escapes from the interrogation room.)

It turns out that the “black-velvet room” was actually a cleverly disguised elevator, with the mechanism in the clock. Arsene used the elevator to separate the detectives from the rest of the investigators, and to make his escape for real. It is SHOCKING to me that of all the things in persona 5, the interrogation room escape is ENTIRELY true to the source material. It’s wild. 

Anyways, I’ll stop there. I’ll probably make another post with all of the miscellaneous connections between the Gold Mask and Persona 5, since there are a lot. I’ve had this topic sitting in my brain for a while. 

Edit: I forgot to get to why Akechi was disguised. Well, it turns out that’s another connection: Akechi had been presumed dead. Everybody thought he had been shot. Turns out it was just a fake version of himself, a trick taken from Sherlock Holmes. (and one that shows up in Persona 5 Royal). He was taking advantage of the fact that everyone thought he was dead to get more info without being suspected. 

[cctinsleybaxter]

2020 in books

2020 was a year of changed reading habits; people reading more than ever or not at all, some changing their tastes and others turning to old comforts. While there weren’t any huge overhauls on my end, more free time did mean a total of 32 in a wider range of genres. In the past couple of years I found a lot of the things I read to be kind of middling and ranked them accordingly, but this year had some strong contenders in the mix. With college officially behind me I love nonfiction again, and I really need to stop being drawn in by novels with long titles that ‘sound interesting.’ A piece of advice to my future self: they will only make you angry.

The Good

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky I loved the BBC radio play when I first listened to it back in 2017, but didn’t know if I could stomach the idea of actually reading the 700-page book, especially since I already knew the plot (spoiler alert: this had no effect and I gasped multiple times despite knowing what was going to happen; Fyodor’s just that good at atmosphere.) The story follows Prince Lev Myshkin, a goodhearted but troubled man entering 1860s Petersburg high society and meeting all of the wretched people therein as he navigates life, laughs, love, unanswerable questions of faith, and human suffering. I care about it in the same way I think other people care about reality TV shows and soap operas. I’m so personally invested in the drama and feel so many different emotions directed at these clowns that it’s like being a fan of Invitation to Love (with an ending equally upsetting to that of the show ITL is from, Twin Peaks.)

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlanksy I adored this book. The first half reads a little like a Wikipedia article, and I was worried that it was leaning too clinical and would be disaffected with colonialism and indigenous peoples, but even that oversight is corrected for as the text goes on. It’s not going to be for everybody because it really is just the world’s longest encyclopedia entry on, well, salt, but it’s written with such excitement for the topic and is so well-researched and styled for commercial nonfiction that I think it deserves any and all praise it’s gotten. We have to talk about that time Cheshire was literally sinking into the ground, and companies who were over-pumping brine water to steal each other’s brine water said ‘no it’s okay it’s supposed to that’ so were legally dismissed as suspects.

Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy Cried. 10/10. The plot of Midnight Cowboy is very classic and actually has a lot in common with The Idiot, as 20-something Joe Buck moves from the American Southwest to NYC and meets myriad challenges as a sex worker. I’ve been obsessed with the movie for a few years now and the book made me appreciate it anew; I think it’s rare for an adaptation to take the risk of being so different from its source material while still capturing its spirit. The movie doesn’t include quieter moments like the full conversation with Towny or time spent in the X-flat, nor does it attempt to touch Joe’s internal monologue or his and Rico’s extensive backstories, but these things are essential to the book and are some of the best and most affecting writing I’ve ever read. Finally! The Great American Novel!

The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones I would firmly like to say that this is probably the best horror novel ever written. The setup is very traditional in that it’s about a group of friends facing supernatural comeuppance for a past mistake, but delivery on that premise is anything but familiar. A story about personal and cultural trauma that raises questions about what we owe to each other and what it means to be Blackfeet, with a cast that’s unbelievably real and sympathetic even at their absolute worst. Creepypasta writers trying to cash in on the cultural mythos of lumped-together tribes wish they were capable of writing something a tenth as gruesome and good as this. It could very well be a movie the visuals and writing style were so arresting, and I can’t wait to read whatever Jones writes next.

Found Footage Horror Films: Fear and the Appearance of Reality by Alexandra Heller-Nicholas This is the least accessible title on the list since it’s a college textbook for people with background in film, but it was so nice to read a woman unpacking film theory with the expertise and confidence it deserves that I have to rank it among the best. I had an absolute blast reading it and am going to have to stop myself from bringing up the horror of 1960s safety films as a cocktail icebreaker.

Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy by Heather Ann Thompson

The year’s toughest read by far, but also its most rewarding. Thompson uses mountains of documents, government-buried intel, and personal interviews to explain what happened at Attica from beginning to end, and does a fantastic job of balancing hard facts and ‘unbiased journalism’ with much-needed emotion and critical analysis. It’s more important reading in the 2020s than any kind of ‘why/how to not be racist’ book club book is going to be, and the historical context it provides is as interesting as it is invaluable. The second half drags a bit in going through lengthy trial processes with some assumed baseline knowledge of legalese (which I did not have. All that criminal minds in 2015… meaningless), but aside from that editing and prose are some of the best I’ve seen in nonfiction. 

The Bad

The Woman in the Window by A.J. Finn A friend and I decided to read this together because I’m obsessed with how insane the author is and wanted to know if he can actually write.

He cannot.

The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All by Laird Barron Barron is an indie darling of the horror fiction scene, so I was excited to finally read one of his collections but can now attest that I hate him. If you’re going to do Lovecraft please deconstruct Lovecraft in an interesting way. I had actually written a lot about the issues I have with how he develops characters and plots, but one of the only shorthand notes I took was “he won’t stop saying ‘bole’ instead of tree trunk” and I feel like that’s the only review we need.

Bats of the Republic by Zach Dodson Look up a photo of this author because if I had bothered to glance at the jacket bio I honest-to-god wouldn’t have even tried reading this.

This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone I went in with high expectations since this is an epistolary novella I’d seen praised on tumblr and youtube but oh my god was there a reason I was seeing it praised on tumblr and youtube. This is bad Steven Universe fanfiction. Both authors included ‘listening to the Steven Universe soundtrack throughout’ in the acknowledgements, and to add insult to injury there’s a plug from my nemesis Madeline Miller.

The 7½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton The premise of this one plays with so many tropes I like that I should have been more suspicious. It’s a dinner party with stock characters one would expect of Clue, and rather than our protagonist being the detective he’s a man with amnesia stuck in a 24-hour time loop. Body-hopping between guests, he must gather evidence using the skillsets of each ‘host’ until he either solves Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder or the limit of eight hosts runs out. I read a lot of not-very-good books, and it’s so, so much worse when they have potential to be fun. This is how you lose the most points, and how I abandon decorum and end up writing a list of grievances: • Our protagonist can only inhabit male hosts, which I think is a stupid writing decision not because I’m ‘woke’ but because wouldn’t it make sense for him to also be working with the maids, cooks, and women close to the murder victim? • Complaining about the limitations of hosts makes some sense (e.g- there’s a section where he thinks that it’s hard to be an old man because it’s difficult to get to the places he needs to be quickly), but one of his hosts is a rapist and one of his hosts is fat. Guess which one gets complained about more. • One of the later hosts is just straight-up a cop with cop knowledge that singlehandedly solves the case. We spend some time being like ‘wow I couldn’t have done it without the info all eight hosts helped gather’ but it was 100% the detective and he solves the murder using information he got off-screen. • The mystery itself is actually well-paced and I didn’t have a lot of issues with it (e.g, there’s a twist that I guessed only shortly before the end), which makes it all the worse that the metanarrative of this book is INSANE. No spoilers but the reveal as to why our unnamed protagonist is even in this situation is stupid. I just know they’re going to make it into a movie and I’m preemptively going to aaaaaaaaa!!!

Trust Exercise by Susan Choi The fact that this was the worst book I read all year, worse even than the bad Steven Universe fanfiction, and it won multiple awards makes my blood boil. I could rant about it for hours but just know that it’s a former theater kid’s take on perception and memory, and deals with sexual abuse in a way that’s handled both very badly and with a level of fake deepness that’s laughable. Select fake-deep quotes I copied down because at one point I said ‘oh barf’ aloud: -I’m filled with melancholy that’s almost compassion. It’s sad the same way. -[On a friendship ending] We almost never know what we know until after we know it. -Because we’re none of us alone in this world. We injure each other.

There are also bad sex scenes that I can’t quite make fun of because I think (HOPE?) they’re supposed to be a melodramatic take on how teenagers view sex, but I very much wanted to die. Flowers were alluded to. Nipples were compared to diamonds.

Honorable/Dishonorable Mentions (categorized as the same thing because, well,)

The Life and Death of Sophie Stark by Anna North This book was frustrating because the first third of it is fantastic. It’s set up to be a takedown of the manic pixie dream girl trope, jumping from person to person discussing their relationship with the titular Sophie, and indirectly revealing that she was just some girl and not the difficult and mysterious genius they all believed her to be. Then in the third act, BAM! She was that difficult and mysterious genius and she’s now indirectly brought all the people from her past together. I wanted to scream the plot beefed it so bad, but the good news is I really liked this octopus description.

It was the size of a three-year-old child, and it seemed awful to me that something could be so far from human and obviously want something as badly as it wanted to get out of the tank.

Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore Cool new nightmare speedrun strat is to hear a 2-second anecdote from a documentary that people used to get radium poisoning from painting watch faces, be curious enough that you buy a book to learn more, and be met with medical and legal horror beyond anything you could have imagined. This was almost one of my favorite books of the year! Almost.

Radium Girls is very lovingly crafted and incredibly well-researched; one of those things that’s hard to get through but that you want to read sections of again as soon as you’ve finished. The umbrage I take with it is that it’s very Catholic. The author and many of her subjects are Irish and their religion is important to them, but it casts a martyr-y narrative over the whole thing that I found uncomfortable. Seventeen-year-old girls taking a factory job they didn’t know was dangerous are framed as brave, working-class heroes, but there’s not a set moral lesson to be gained from this story. Sarah Maillefer didn’t make “a sacrifice” when she agreed to the first radium tests, she agreed because she was terrified. She didn’t think she was helping she was begging for help.

The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins by Anna Tsing Tsing is an incredibly skilled researcher and ethnographer; there are so many good ideas in this book that I’d almost consider it essential leftist text… if I could stand the way it was structured. Tsing posits that because nature is built on precariousness she will build her book the same way, allowing it to grow like a mushroom, and thus chapters don’t progress linearly and are written more like freeform poetry than a series of academic arguments. Some people are really going to love that, but I’m me and a mushroom is a mushroom and a book is a book. I don’t think in the way Tsing does, and while I tried to keep an open mind it’s hard to play along when something is this academically dense and makes so many ambitious claims. As if to prove how different our structuring methods are, I’ve made my own thoughts into a pros and cons list

Things I liked: • ‘Contamination’ as something inherent to diversity • ‘Scalability’ as a flawed way of thinking (Tsing has written whole essays about this that I find very compelling, but a main example here is that China and the US have come down on Japanese matsutake research for being too ‘site specific’ and not yielding enough empirical data) • Discussing how Americans were so invested in self-regulating systems in the 1950s we thought they could be applied to literally everything, including ecosystems • “The survivors of war remind us of the bodies they climbed over- or shot- to get to us. We don’t know whether to love or hate the survivors. Simple moral judgements don’t come to hand.” • Any and all fieldwork Tsing shares is amazing; I especially liked reading about the culture of mushroom pickers living in the Cascades and their contained market system

Things I didn’t like: • Statements that sound deep but aren’t, e.g- “help is always in the service of another.” (Yep. That’s what that means. Unless an organism is doing something to help itself which then nullifies your whole opening argument.) • A very debatable definition of utilitarianism • “Capitalism vs pre-capitalism,” which seems like an insanely black-and-white stance for a book all about finding hidden middle ground • A chapter I found really interesting about how intertwined Japanese and American economies are, but it tries to cover the entire history of US-Japan relations. Seriously, starting with Governor Perry and continuing through present day, this could have been a whole different book and it’s a good example of what I mean when I say arguments feel too scattered (the conclusion it reaches is that in the 80s the yen was finally able to hold its own against the dollar. Just explain that part.) • A chapter arguing that ‘true biological mutualism’ is rarely a focus of STEM and is a new sociological development/way of thinking which is just… flat-out not true

For all the comparisons art gets to ‘being on a drug trip’ this anthropology textbook has come the closest for me. Moments of profound human wisdom, intercut with things I had trouble understanding because I wasn’t on the same wavelength, intercut with even more things that felt false or irrelevant. I can’t put it on the nice list but I am glad I read it.

[nix-that-rad-lass]

A Bunch of Links, Receipts, and Sources for my fellow Terves

A Girls Place In The World by William Buckner About the reality of women and girls around the world https://quillette.com/2019/05/09/a-girls-place-in-the-world/

I Was A Lesbian Tomboy Allowed To Be Female; I Fear Young Girls Today No Longer Have That Choice by Tonje Gjevjon About the transing of gender nonconforming girls that would likely grow up to be lesbians if not for being transitioned before they are even old enough to understand what transition is. https://www.feministcurrent.com/2019/06/11/i-was-a-lesbian-tomboy-allowed-to-be-female-i-fear-young-girls-today-no-longer-have-that-choice/

Dagny on Social Media, Gender Dysphoria, Trans Youth, and Detransitioning. A transcript of a talk given by Dagny, a detransitioned young woman and member of the pique resilience project https://www.feministcurrent.com/2019/06/04/dagny-on-social-media-gender-dysphoria-trans-youth-and-detransitioning/

Ross Douthat Revealed the Hypocrisy in Liberal Feminist Ideology, and They’re Pissed by Meghan Murphy Self explanatory title https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/05/04/ross-douthat-revealed-hypocrisy-liberal-feminist-ideology-theyre-pissed/

A Neo-Liberal Concept of Freedom has Allowed Gender Ideology to Take Hold by Heather Brunskell Evans https://www.feministcurrent.com/2018/12/02/neoliberalism-patriarchy-gender-identity/

Inauthentic Selves: The Modern [LGB(TQ+)] Movement is Run By Philanthropic Astroturf and Based on Junk Science https://medium.com/@sue.donym1984/inauthentic-selves-the-modern-lgbtq-movement-is-run-by-philanthropic-astroturf-and-based-on-junk-d08eb6aa1a4b

Politicians are Betraying Women in the Rush To Support Trans Rights by Jenni Russell Self explanatory https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/politicians-are-betraying-women-in-the-rush-to-support-trans-rights-xzvhcf7m8

“Don’t Forget”, a compilation of sources, receipts, and other resources on male violence, compiled by @astro-didacted on tumblr https://nixtheoneandsecond.tumblr.com/post/188876269165/dont-forget?is_related_post=1

Pretty much a masterpost of RadFem beliefs and resources, compiled by @unleashtherage on tumblr https://nixtheoneandsecond.tumblr.com/post/188804771810/radical-feminism-is-a-political-movement-in

PDF of Lundy Bancroft’s “Why Does He Do That” https://www.docdroid.net/py03/why-does-he-do-that.pdf

The Wikipedia Page for the one and only TERF Icon, Magdalen Berns. She deserved better! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalen_Berns

A bunch of Andrea Dworkins works in a google drive PDF https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1i3r-gSizLC6UbyvM1ZJyCYMHtYvdss-S

Sex Before Kissing: How 15 year old girls are dealing with porn obsessed boys by Melinda Tankard Reist Self explanatory https://fightthenewdrug.org/sex-before-kissing-15-year-old-girls-dealing-with-boys/

Some tea on the tumblr porn ban from 2018. https://fightthenewdrug.org/tumblr-banned-porn-from-its-platform-one-year-ago-how-is-the-site-doing-now/

Why Victims Freeze Up During Sexual Assaults by Jackie Hong Tells about experiences, and the fight, flight, and freeze response. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wd7945/i-froze-up-when-i-was-sexually-assaulted-and-we-should-stop-dismissing-that-response

Why Women Have Higher Rates of PTSD Than Men by Melanie Greenberg (spoiler: its because of sexual violence and misogyny)https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-mindful-self-express/201809/why-women-have-higher-rates-ptsd-men

The Difference Between Toxic Masculinity and Being A Man by Harris O’Malley Finally, a small handful of men are actually attempting to be better and make a difference! Took em long enough! https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/the-difference-between-toxic-masculinity-and-being-a-man-dg/

Criminal Justice System: The Actual Amount of Sexual Assault Perps, Pimps, Johns, Rapists, and Pedophiles that Get Away With It https://rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system

The First Legal Abortion Providers Tell Their Stories by Alex Ronan https://www.thecut.com/2015/10/first-legal-abortionists-tell-their-stories.html?mid=twitter-share-thecut#

How Much Does An Abortion Cost? by Charlotte Cowles Not only covers the price, but also types of abortion, prevention, and more on reproductive health https://www.thecut.com/2018/11/how-much-does-an-abortion-cost.html

8 Signs Your Partner Is Being Sexually Coercive by Suzannah Weiss https://www.bustle.com/articles/155328-8-signs-your-partner-is-being-sexually-coercive-because-you-can-always-say-no

Why Conservative Women are Okay With Harassment by Jennifer Wright This is regarding not only the general societal expectations which conservative women help uphold and enforce, but also why they are surprisingly okay with electing sexual predators to the government https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/politics/a23453699/conservative-women-response-brett-kavanaugh-allegations-sexual-assault/

Archaeologists Find New Way To Determine Sex of Cremated Individuals by Katherine J Wu Because we all run into those TRA’s that say its impossible to know someones ‘gender’ or ‘sex’ by just looking at them, or their remains in the case of those already passed. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/archaeologists-find-new-way-determine-sex-cremated-individuals/

Analysing the Bones: What Can A Skeleton Tell You? by Hayley Dunning Again, because TRAs love to say that skeletons are ambiguous when, in fact, they are not https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/analysing-the-bones-what-can-a-skeleton-tell-you.html

Sex Determination in Skeletal Remains from the Medieval Adriatic Coast - Discriminant Function Analysis of Humeri Hmm, wonder what this is about. You guessed it! More differences in the bone and skeletal structures of male and female humans https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3692335/

Sex Determination from the Talus of South African Whites by Discriminant Function Analysis Woah, more information on telling skeletons apart by sex! Almost like human skeletons differ between the sexes https://journals.lww.com/amjforensicmedicine/Abstract/2003/12000/Sex_Determination_From_the_Talus_of_South_African.3.aspx

The Reliability of Sex Determination of Skeletons from Forensic Context in the Balkans Oh my god, whats this?? More factual evidence of differences in physiology between the *gasp* TWO human sexes?? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/15567621/

Mandibular Ramus Flexure: A New Morphologic Indicator of Sexual Dimorphism in the Human Skeleton Okay, okay, I think thats all the skeleton stuff for now https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/(SICI)1096-8644(199603)99:3%3C473::AID-AJPA8%3E3.0.CO;2-X

Further Evidence to Show Population Specificity of Discriminant Function Equations for Sex Determination Using the Talus of South African Blacks Partner to a previously aforementioned article https://www.astm.org/DIGITAL_LIBRARY/JOURNALS/FORENSIC/PAGES/JFS2003431.htm

Why Talking About Bowie’s Sexual Misconduct Matters by Angelina Chapin Article about David Bowie and his misconduct. pretty much, you shouldnt always separate the art from the artist. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/why-talking-about-bowies-sexual-misconduct-matters_b_9009230

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses: A History of Women Healers by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English http://www.feministes-radicales.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Barbara-Ehrenreich-and-Deirdre-English-Witches-Midwives-and-Nurses-A-History-of-Women-Healers.-Introduction..pdf

This entire blog is gold. To quote them: Saying No To Penis is NOT Hate Speech [ffs] http://thenewbacklash.blogspot.com/?

Steven Hassan’s BITE Model about what constitutes a cult. You know, like the gender cult. https://freedomofmind.com/bite-model/

What Is Darvo? by Jennifer J Freyd DARVO is the reaction that many sexual offenders display in response to being faced with the consequences of their actions. https://dynamic.uoregon.edu/jjf/defineDARVO.html

Sick Woman Theory by Johanna Hedva Genuinely just read this, its too good to summarise http://www.maskmagazine.com/not-again/struggle/sick-woman-theory?fbclid=IwAR2cQyCRT5olIzkBGfO_F5HvES28bhdIcbUyc9g1W_p0L6o7U8gopDp5Kxw

Taking Back Your Mind: A Radical Feminist Approach to Recovering from Porn Use by Kitty at medium com https://medium.com/@kittyit/taking-back-your-mind-a-radical-feminist-approach-to-recovering-from-porn-use-8ae9347c3d8f

About Female Infanticide http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/medical/infanticide_1.shtml

About Female Genital Mutilation https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/female-genital-mutilation

About Child Marriage https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/about-child-marriage/

Who Cooked the Last Supper? from @aeroposter

https://aeroposter.tumblr.com/post/166368772300/who-cooked-the-last-supper-by-rosalind-miles

Breast ironing: Abhorrent Practice Becoming Endemic In UK by Alexandra Sims

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/breast-ironing-abhorrent-practice-becoming-endemic-in-uk-a6950521.html

About Forced Pregnancy

http://www.stopvaw.org/harmful_practices_forced_pregnancy

Did Sissy Porn Make Me Trans or Was I Trans All Along? As if we needed any more proof that it is, indeed, a fetish

https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/2mn8au/did_sissy_porn_make_me_trans_or_was_i_trans_all_a/

Did Porn Make Me Transgender? Who coulda thunk it

https://forum.nofap.com/index.php?threads/did-porn-make-me-transgender.61492/

Jealous of Lesbians? Yep, thats right folks. Transbians really are just rapey straight guys with a lesbian fetish. https://www.reddit.com/r/asktransgender/comments/55zkbs/jealous_of_lesbians/

Just when you thought men couldnt get much worse... https://metro.co.uk/2013/07/09/peeping-tom-arrested-after-hiding-in-septic-tank-and-staring-at-people-using-the-toilet-3874756/

Houston Man Posed as a Doctor to Rape a Student

https://abc13.com/5730127/

Rape In War: Challenging the Tradition of Impunity

https://www.hrw.org/legacy/women/docs/rapeinwar.htm

Doctors & Sex Abuse: Patients Sexually Abused While Sedated

http://doctors.ajc.com/doctor_sex_abuse_sedated/

Man pretended to be gay in order to get close to a woman and ultimately rape her

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-convicted-of-raping-woman-who-he-allegedly-befriended-by-pretending-to-be-gay/

Complete collection of Andrea Dworkins work

http://radfem.org/dworkin/

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How To Write An Example Essay A lot is determined by how charming/ unique your information is, so focusing on content high quality is crucial. Given how many different essay formats there exist, understanding the best way to start out your writing is essential. Here is an overview of three completely different kinds of essays and the best construction for every. Writing 1,600 phrases will take about 40 minutes for the common writer typing on a keyboard and 1.3 hours for handwriting. When most individuals think of plagiarism, they think of copying and pasting full paragraphs from Wikipedia into their essay. While that is indeed a type of plagiarism, it is certainly not the only method to plagiarize, and even the commonest. Most cases of plagiarism can be avoided by properly citing your sources, so it’s essential to include a comprehensive listing of works cited on your writing. If you’re uncertain tips on how to cite something, speak to your instructor about their preferred quotation method. When on the lookout for assist writing an essay you will need to stay sincere and keep away from plagiarism. Plagiarism refers to utilizing someone else’s phrases or concepts without correct credit or quotation and passing them off as your own. We’ll share with you the secrets and techniques of how to write essays sooner under. If you might be a global scholar worrying about your writing expertise, there are lots of helpful resources which are obtainable to you. Some of these may be a greater fit for you than others, so it’s finest to have an thought of how you wish to improve as a writer and which option will best match into your price range. However, if the content material needs to include in-depth analysis, hyperlinks, citations, or graphics corresponding to for a blog article or high school essay, the length can grow to five.three hours. You already have your thesis statement in the intro. So, write a hook previous it — a quote, a relevant anecdote in a sentence or two, or some statistical info related to the subject. Also, make a transition to the body of your essay at the end of the intro. In the conclusion, re-summarize the thesis assertion while linking it to the proof that you are offering in the physique paragraphs. If you apply for our professional tutorial assistance, we be sure that you're going to get a thoroughly researched and completely written paper that includes all your ideas and requirements. Discipline your self to commit a number of hours a day to finishing your paper. This is whenever you brainstorm concepts on your essay. When I do that, I write down each single word and thought that comes to thoughts for an hour straight, and before I comprehend it, I am writing whole strains of textual content. Some key requirements for writing an excellent essay are making certain a logical circulate of content and smooth transitions but in addition using compelling evidence taken from trustworthy sources. Write a conclusive sentence that would place the data in your paper into a broader context. Search for the key concepts you’re undoubtedly going to use in your paper. Remember that you just don’t have much time on the entire essay, so be transient and concise in your research. That is why we expect you must know some primary information about the paper writer. Every assignment is checked each manually and on plagiarism software program, so there isn’t a single likelihood that your paper is plagiarized. Every paper is written by an experienced writer and is edited by the best specialists. Your order is written from scratch, and we're happy to give you a one hundred% satisfaction guarantee. Colleges and universities all have their very own insurance policies for coping with plagiarism, and the results are usually fairly strict. You may find yourself failing the course, placed on educational probation, or even requested to leave the college. Though there was a require in some insignificant corrections I made them myself with out delivering for a revision. Despite this fact I'm completely pleased with my writer's work. He met all my wants and impressed me with his particular person strategy to my research paper. So the correction I required had been like a drop in an ocean. From the second I placed my order I instantly had a customer service rep placing me in touch with a author. It is necessary to know something about a person that is going to work for you. Otherwise, you can't rely on them and allow them to use your knowledge.

[famder-news]

happy pride from the mods!

Hey guys!! Mod Brit here! So it’s June and most of you guys know that June is also pride month; to celebrate this wonderful month and our beloved boys, i decided to make a couple of pride flag edits! woo! 

i made these edits with my specific head canons and thoughts but these are just my opinion! And I’ve even included a small explanation section under each one. please feel free to discuss them in the re-blogs and replies but please be respectful of one another! we’re all friends here xx

(also i found all of these flags on the Wikipedia flags for the sexualities/genders used! except for the bi flag, i had to make that myself cause i couldn’t find a good quality pic of the bi flag for ro fjkdsl) 

mod: Brit (@romanticsanders) date: Tuesday, 18th june 2019 topic: special events warnings: sympathetic deceit

1. Roman  

Flag: Bisexual

Explanation: “I’m currently...between princes and princesses. I am on a solo quest to help save myself for right now!”

As a bisexual girl myself, I personally see a lot of myself in roman but this quote here is what made me think of him! So this quote of course was said in a video prior to Thomas’ ‘official’ coming out Pride video, but i always thought of roman as bi purely because I identify so heavily with him. Also he’s my favorite boy!

2. Virgil

Flags: Demisexual and Gay

Explanation: “I’m shooting straight, even though I’m gay!”

While thinking about which flags i could use for Virgil, I thought demisexual was a good fit! i thought that Virgil would be the kind of person who would really like to get to know someone first before committing their heart to them. He always seemed to me like someone who would rather dip their toe into the pool first before getting in.

3. Patton

Flags: Trans and Pan

explanation: “I love you all so much!”

So when i came up with this one, I mostly just thought Patton seems like an all-loving kind of person which I thought would make him a good fit for the pan flag! And as for the trans flag, this one comes mainly from some inspiration I’ve seen whilst going through the Patton tag and looking at people that I follow! And it just seemed to fit so i decided to give it to him <3

4. Logan

Flags: Demisexual and Gay 

explanation: (i couldn’t find a quote i liked enough for logan but here is the boy!)

So I was having a bit of trouble coming up with a flag for Logan so i asked my fellow mods (thank u guys uwu) for some help and they came through! Personally, Demisexual appears to fit because he doesn’t seem like the person to put his heart before his brain. As a logical person, he likes to consider all logical possibilities to a situation and I think for him, he thinks the same way about relationships and love!

5. Deceit

Flags: Non-binary 

explanation: (i couldn’t find a quote for snake boy either :( but here he is!!!)

So deceit is mod wheat’s favorite (and who could blame them? look at him!!) and they asked that I make deceit’s pride flag the non-binary one! After thinking about it for a bit, i realized i couldn’t find another fit for our snake boy so thanks mod wheat for helping me w this one too <3 also don’t the colors just fit really well??? 

Leave your thoughts/comments in the reblogs or replies!! And keep your eyes peeled because we have new content on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays! If you have any requests for topics, don’t hesitate to shoot us an ask! love you guys xx happy pride!

- Mod Brit

[thatyanderecritic]

A Summary of the Yandere Panel from Otakon 2019

Hey there everyone, Kai here!

As everyone may know, Julie and I went to Otakon this year and basically dicked around. We didn’t see many yandere related this beside two Yuno cosplayers. But a highlight for yandere related things was a yandere panel that occured on Friday. Unfortunately Julie didn’t go on Friday, but I did. 

Here’s a brief summary of the Yandere Panel starring me, Kai. 

As anyone can imagine, yes, the yandere panel was wack. It was fan ran and it was just a slideshow of random “yanderes” and some video clips. Surprisingly, it was a packed room. 

Kicking things off, the host gave a definition of yandere… quoting from TV Tropes. Sigh… we said this before but we take TV Tropes with a grain of salt since it’s basically wikipedia and anyone can edit it. If you guys want to know how fucked TV Tropes is, they had Gaston from Beauty and the Beast as a known “yandere” for a brief period of time before it was edited out. As anyone can imagine, I nearly had a stroke seeing this. It’s like when a student turning in their college paper and all the sources are from wiki. I’m sure someone out there is thinking “But Kai, you guys use wiki all the time for some anons. Isn’t that hypocritical?” The difference here is that we don’t use wiki for the opinion but for the facts. There aren’t any websites out there who would write out a play by play of an entire story. From there, we take the sequence of events and make our own analysis... we even emphasize that we use wiki and it isn’t 100% accurate. That’s the difference. Anyways, let’s talk about the “yanderes”.

First off, the host showed a picture of Griffth from Berserk and explained why he’s a yandere. Cue my deadpanned expression. First off, the panel said that Griffth had two “obsessions”, which automatically knocked him out of the running. But if you need more evidence: Griffth doesn’t even love his two “obsessions” aka Guts and that one chick. Sure you can say Griffth is obsessed over Guts but not romantically. And as everyone knows, we don’t consider “Platonic Yanderes” as yanderes.

Moving on, the host talked about Homura from Madoka Magika. We already established her as a yandere, so moving on.

The host then talked about Gauron and Leonard from Full Metal Panic. Gauron is a big “eh” from me when I checked out his wiki. They describe him as a psychopath with no compassion. Aka, has no emotion = he can’t feel love = he doesn’t love his obsession making him not a yandere. Not enough information for me to say but I’m leaning that he isn’t a yandere since he holds more of “lust” than love for his target. And we all know, lust isn’t love. Next is Leonard. Compared to Gauron, he sounds more of a yandere due to the fact that he actually forced a kiss on his target. But it’s a big maybe because of not enough information and it feels more like this his target is an after thought while he’s more interested in other things…. So, I don’t really feel he’s lovesick. But idk. 

Next the host brings up the girls from School Days. As we all remember, we already state the School Day girls are more like psychopaths or yangires. But one thing to note is that the host showed the killing clip from the anime. It was the first time I ever watched the original clip that wasn’t just a gif or from a yandere AMV. And oh boy, I burst out laughing. Deadass, me and my friend, Charity, were the only people laughing at the clip.  I’m sorry y’all but that shit is so dramatic and cheesy that it’s a god damn comedy. The stabbing… the cheesy music… god I nearly lost my mind. I’m glad the music was loud enough that it masked my friend and mine laughter. I’m sure the people sitting around us thought we were nuts.

As a side note, the host mentioned Jin Kisaragi from Blaze Blue as a yandere. My friend turned to me so fast and looked me dead in the eye and said, “This chick doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Deadass, Jin isn’t a yandere. He’s just obsessed with killing his brother but he doesn’t want to fuck his brother. You know what I mean?”

It was at this point I had enough of this nonsense and I didn’t want to waste an hour having my brain cells killed. But right before I left, the hot mentioned Creed from Black Cat as a yandere. Fact checking on that Creed isn’t really a yandere. He’s a straight up narcissist and only obsessed over his target due to his ego and love for power/skill. So he’s not in love or lovesick… hence, not a yandere. 

While I never actually finished the panel, it’s obvious to see that the host would just continue spouting out clickbait yanderes. Honestly, I didn’t want the heartburn from the stress of this and I don’t want to get the crap beaten out of me as I whisper to my friend about how kawaii anime girls with knifes aren’t yanderes. So that’s the yandere panel in a nutshell.

But man… if anyone with a mediocre sized fanbase can host a panel, why can’t us? Next time otakon comes around, Julie and I will see if we can host our own yandere panel. (Partly joke, partly serious)

Bonus pictures from the con:

#YandereAesthetics: