#ridiculous standpoint taken by ridiculous people

[favroitecrime]

if the US and UK want to go fucking nuts and bomb Yemen then they really will have nothing to say when they’re bombed back right? cause they love revenge and believe in retaliation right? they fully accept their due punishment then right?

[wanderingsoul6261]

Heavenly Skies- Part 2

credit for gif goes to fabiolajyx

James Beaufort x Reader

NOTICE FOR NEXT FIC. IT WILL BE 18+ FOR SEXUAL ACTIVITIES AND DESCRIPTIONS.

Synopsis: Part two of heavenly skies - Ruby and James get into one of their arguments during class, in which she tells him that no one would ever love him truly.

warnings: None? I think?

This one is shorter than other fics. I just didn't know what else to add, and everything else I thought about didn't feel right.

James had finally returned back to Maxton Hall, and upon his arrival, many could tell that he had changed. No one knew exactly what had happened, but after a bench and a plaque was erected in Y/N’s name, many started to talk, and eventually it had become an unspoken rule within the walls of Maxton Hall. 

Don’t speak about Y/N. Specifically, don’t talk about her to or around James Beaufort. Additionally, it also became known that the bench that was dedicated to her, also belonged to him. No one else sat in it, and if they did, they received a heavy barrage from a certain Beaufort. 

However, there was one person who didn’t care what she said, in order to hit all of the right buttons. 

“How can you be so empty minded?” Ruby called out James in class, specifically the one that would help prepare them for Oxford and the expectations of the university. “Or is it the money talking?Did it go too far into your head that you lost all sense?” She had turned around in her seat. She glared at him, and Lin was doing everything in her power to try and calm her down. 

“Money has nothing to do with my intelligence.” 

“No, but you let it speak for you.” James puffed out his cheeks. 

“It’s never about the money. From a business standpoint, money isn’t the only thing taken into account. There is more to it. Stats, logistics, the commercial avenue of the marketing industries and their customers-” 

“Never about the money?” Ruby asked. She scoffed. The professor had tried to calm the two down, but when the two started to raise their voices, her own voice was drowned out. Her attempts were pointless. “It’s always about the money for you, regardless if it’s from a business standpoint or not. That’s how every single silver spoon child is. Money is their source of greed and they feed into it at every moment of every day. Your businesses only supply the rich and anyone else who tries gets ridiculed!” 

His voice grew quiet. 

“It’s not that way for all of them.” His mind wandered to Y/N. Images of her in his mind filled the empty spots. A thriving flower in the middle of a bunch of suffocating dandelions. She was the only positive thing about Maxton Hall. The only positive thing about his life. She was a vine, weaving herself amongst his body, taking root with the intentions to stay there for eternity. 

“What?” 

“It’s not that way for all of them.” He raised his voice slightly more. 

“So now we are defending the money hungry people of society? The people that allow those of a lower class like me to suffer and be overwhelmed by the knowledge that they will never be as good as people like you? That’s such a relief.” 

“You don’t know what you’re going on about.” 

“I do.” 

“No. You don't know anything.” He argued. Images of Y/N filled his mind again and he swallowed thickly, his eyes burning into Ruby Bell. 

“I know you, and I think that’s enough, considering that you are the worst of those who go to Maxton.” Ruby bit back. 

“You don’t know me.” 

“I know that you look at every single lower class person the same way, including me. We will never amount to you and what you can achieve in the same way. You had everything handed to you on a silver platter and had eaten with silver utensils. You barely have to work for what you have now while me and everyone else like me have to work our asses off to get to where you are now. And even then, that will never be enough.” Ruby seethed as the two of them glared at each other. “And that is why no one will ever love you. Noone of their right mind will ever want to devote their time to you because they actually love you. They only want your money and that’s all they will ever want.” 

James grew quiet and every single student had their eyes on him. He shook with anger, glaring at Ruby Bell, but couldn’t think of anything to say. The only person who looked at him with sympathy was Lydia, in which his eyes had glanced at her quickly, staking in her saddened look. 

“James.” 

“Yea, sweetheart?” 

His eyes filled with tears as he looked around the room. What was he doing? Y/N’s face showed up in his mind again, imagining her laughter and voice. 

“I love you.” 

James turned his gaze back to Ruby Bell, who was opening her mouth as she continued to talk, but as he watched her lips move, no words could be heard. Even if he willed himself to listen to what she was saying, his mind was preoccupied. He was drowning in everything about Y/N. 

“Promise?” 

He clenched his fists together on the desk. His jaw clenched and he blinked away the tears threatening to spill over his cheeks. 

“Promise.” 

James abruptly stood up, grabbing his bag and coat, then stomped out of the room. 

—

Her parents weren't surprised when they got home and seen James in Y/N's study. He was curled up on the couch in there, the fireplace crackling in the background. James was wrapped in Y/N's favorite blanket, sherpa lined and extra soft, a maroon hoodie in his hands. Y/N's Maxton Hall hoodie.

James snored softly, twitching every now and then in his sleep. They noticed the tear tracks, knowing that too long ago, he had been crying. That he had even likely cried himself to sleep.

A bottle of Y/N's favorite wine had evidence of being open, with a half empty glass on the coffee table next to it.

They smiled softly, happy to know that James felt safe and comfortable enough to allow himself to be this vulnerable. They gave him a safe place to grieve and had welcomed him to come over whenever he wanted to.

When they finally turned to their left, where Y/N's paints had been pulled out, and a partially covered canvas filled the easel, they paused.

On the canvas was a loosely planned painting, the main colors being blocked out for just the moment. However, they knew already who it was going to be. Maybe it was the hair that gave it away, her clothing type, or even the position in which she was being painted, but they knew that the person depicted in the painting was Y/N.

And if that didn't work to show who he was painting, then his open sketchbook, littered with memory drawings of Y/N surely would have given it away. Even in death, she was still everything to him.

When her parents finally left the room, allowing James to have his peace and quiet, he opened his eyes. Tears pricked his eyes as he turned his head to look at the painting.

"I love you too, sweetheart."

-----

@sillyfreakfanparty @honethatty12 @lifeonawhim @ashamedtobewhitemanswhore27 @maryvibess @wheredidmyeyesgo @imasimptoowth @avada-kedavra-bitch-187 @benbarnesprettygurl

[cannoliparty]

jadekat & why i love it

jadekats this really interesting homestuck pairing to me! i feel like its because both jade & karkat are cool characters on their own, but their great strengths come with great flaws, and their dynamic balances out these flaws so well. it's a strangely underrated pairing too, considering jade is probably the character karkat most obviously flushes for in the comic, next to terezi. ill be explaining why i think this bond is so overlooked.

jade has a variety of strengths. as a witch of space, it makes sense. space is on a more grand level of intuition and clear knowledge on a vast amount of things, leading to space players sometimes not being able to explain the way things are in detail. this vastness also comes with a "wait-and-see" approach, as space is always growing organically, like an organism/plant. as a witch, jade followed through completing time loops with eagerness and a loss of wanting to know exactly why these loops must be fulfilled, simply believing things like fate knew what they were doing, and everything would come into order. shes also very well-versed in science, rifles, childhood cartoons, plants... she does everything she possibly can with the space around her, manipulating it (therefore "manipulating space") to her own will!

on a more characteristic standpoint, jade is socially isolated. shes nice to everyone she comes across (until theyre mean) but she has isolation problems. living on an island alone has made her used to having things done in her own methodical and scientific way, simply because thats the way she believes in. shes at a loss when it comes to chaotic, unorderly things like karkat's memos with his future/past selves! she just doesnt know how to handle it because she's only known how to be in tune with her own thoughts & feelings.

karkat is well-versed in the way relationships are supposed to go. he's watched an abundance of rom-coms and dealed with all his friends as a leader. it makes sense why he's so good at knowing how others feel and how to care for them. the problem is that he doesn't know how to outwardly express his own feelings or care at all. he doesn't know how to approach terezi without fighting with her, but still constantly pesters these people he likes with his angry, nonsensical ways.

when jade and karkat interact in the comic, it's confusing at first. karkat is constantly pestering jade at random intervals of time, and this ruins her ordered way of working around stuff. she develops these "conversation passwords", an intuitive way of staying on the same time track with the trolls. karkat is obviously angered by jade's action, but after realizing jade won't budge about it he goes along with it. in openbound, it's even revealed he used one of these conversation keys as a password for his own memories in a dream bubble!

in the memos with karkat's multiple selves, jade learns not everything can always be so orderly and clear, and this is very hard for her to stomach. she wants to quit dealing with it, but karkat's stubborness makes her deal with these messy, personal feelings.

in summary, jadekat's this great, balanced dynamic. jade teaches karkat to be more open and true to himself and his own feelings, while also getting him out of trouble with ridiculous things like future selves and all-over-the-time-loop conversations with clear solutions to get him back into the big picture. karkat teaches jade to consider the smaller details and how the more orderly paths can't constantly be taken to solve something.

this is all i have right now, i hope it makes sense!! i tried not to connect this to a lot of classpecting cuz i feel like jadekat's mainly about focusing on the very feelings of the characters (whether clear or messy) instead of just connecting them to a grander thing. lmk if u have any thoughts on jadekat or just jade/karkat in general ^_^!!

[itsbinghebitch]

just finished wedding plan and I have a couple of thoughts/feelings/complex emotions I need to express here--spoilers ahead [and many thanks to @the-conversation-pod for their wonderful commentary that made me give it a chance--I owe this cathartic watch to you!]

as a queer person from a conservative society I thought wedding plan was so so so special. in that--it very deftly depicted the pressures of being inside the closet in a small community where word travels fast (also posing unique challenges for lesbians in more traditional societies, which is why yiwa's story and the few nuances around her beauty/perfect femininity as currency made me shed several tears on MULTIPLE counts). but what really sealed the deal for me was this show ultimately depicting queerness as a journey: an uphill battle for Lom that he ultimately wins not solely through romance but through the power of community.

from a writing standpoint, I was very taken with the contrast betwen Lom and Nuea, and how textual it is that Lom is attracted to Nuea first at Pai and Sky's wedding for his unrestrained enjoyment. Nuea enjoys food and his job, enjoys his sexuality, and is very openly queer. that is something Lom has never imagined possible for himself: he has, by contrast, a restrained white collar life with set rules and a single peek into his rebellious side in the form of wakeboarding. and so the way the story is set up, Nuea is not only Lom's love interest, but also almost an aspirational role model for Lom. as a closeted man, Lom learns that other possibilities for his life exist, that unconditional enjoyment is allowed, that there is now a network of people past Yiwa and Marine who will accept him with no strings attached.

my spidey senses tell me queer people have been thoroughly involved in the production and writing of this show because this has totally been my experience growing up closeted in a conservative country as well. I think the most hurtful thing was having no role models (either peers people older than you in the public eye) and just not knowing a different life is possible. I had the exact same experience as Yiwa and Lom where I only saw two men holding hands on the street for the first time visiting western Europe. like Lom, I only ever felt free to explore and understand my gender and sexuality once I immigrated as a young adult. like in Thai communities as depicted in the show, the surveillance is constant and so deeply internalized. it changes the conception you have of yourself. this story very much felt like two actual gay men learning from each other in a way i've only really seen depicted in very few QL shows--Lom learning how to be freer from Nuea, Nuea understanding how Lom and Yiwa navigate the difficult situation he never personally experienced.

overall I felt really seen by this show in a way i can't say i've felt about a lot of queer media i've watched this year and beyond. I loved loved loved that wedding plan gave us a true range of experiences and a set of queer people who went above and beyond to protect each other as a de facto family unit and really wish QL will continue depicting the complexity of queer lives in the same way. 10/10 recommended-- one of the best watches of 2023 for me. i cried a ridiculous amount of times

[kokusfluffyhair]

I might delete this later, but I need to vent and at least this Tumblr is anonymous instead of IG or other social media. I'm very overwhelmed with my writing project and even though I once thought it was good or marketable, I'm having severe second thoughts. I still think I've got some good use of emotion in some scenes, but all in all I don't think any reader would stick with the story. It is massively long. I wrote it with the intention of being a "manga series in a novel form" with shorter adventures for the mcs to conquer on their path to "defeating the final boss" and solving the problem of the plot. I'm not done with it yet after working on it for 11 months (but I'm close to the end, finally). I've been doing some wc tests and I've hashed out over 250k words of crap.

While researching what publishers and agents require for manuscripts, they go for 75k max (100k max in fantasy), especially for new writers who don't have a name to them. I first thought, no problem I'll break my thing down into a series of 2 or 3 books. But then I've found that publishers and agents want you to have your first (and probably second too) to be "self-standing with the potential for a series". This is really crushing because I can't really make a self-standing book out of it. Well, technically I can but it wouldn't really be the same story. I know that if I happened to get an agent and they/the editor told me I had to change things that I'd have to, regardless of if I liked it or not.

What makes this worse is that if I didn't have to write in English (or really any language that isn't Japanese and maybe Korean or Chinese), I might be able to go with my "adventure" plot spanning over 5-6 books of 30-40k words each. I feel my project could thrive being marketed as an LN (light novel) series, and really it would be my dream to be able to sell it as that and if I'm lucky for it to be adapted into a full-out manga or an anime. But many people, including thes subreddit for LN, limit this type of writing to Japanese people only. There are some OELN (original english light novels), but they are quite rare to come by and most of them except for a lucky few are self-published. There's one publishing house out of Canada that I know of that will consider taking OELN manuscripts. I swear, at this point I'm wondering if I should finish the series, edit it, and have it translated into Japanese and work with it from there -- which is a ridiculous idea because I speak N5 Japanese at best. I don't think that I'd be taken seriously, or I'd have to hire a translator to work with me during all kinds of communication, which is impractical. I don't really want to self-publish, and part of it is from my own submitting to hearing how people don't take self-publishing seriously and that only the "rejects" from traditional publishers do it. From a practical standpoint, I don't think I can take on the marketing aspect, not just because of the marketing itself but because I'd have to rely on my personality to appeal to others. Honestly, I think that by hearing me make a TT on my book to market it that seeing and hearing me would make readers not give my book a chance, rather than get interested.

The other part of it, I admit, is my own greed and financial desparation. I'm mentally convinced that traditional publishing has a better chance of making money, even though I know that most writers don't make much money, regardless of how they publish. I didn't start writing my project with the idea of making money, but like anyone, I would like to make money off of it after finishing it.

I know that my writing needs work. The manuscript does need to be cut in places, whether it's unnecessary dialogue, other parts that are drawn-out, and even getting rid of a couple arcs that don't serve much extra to the story as a whole. I don't mean to write all of this to say that my work is perfect or that I don't need to do any effort besides hashing together a plot from conflict to resolutioon. I know that this is tough -- honestly maybe even tougher than the other creative industry I'm in (acting). But it really doesn't give me any consolation or boost in confidence or love when I look at my own work.

I wish I had the love for my work that I used to. And I guess it's not that I don't still love it. I still love the characters and the story of my imagination, it's my writing that I no longer love.

I guess all I can say is that if anyone read though this rant and it resonates with you and your own artistic struggles, know that you aren't alone. I hope, even though I might find misery in the situation I find myself in, that maybe it will make someone else feel better to know that it's not "just them" who feels like shit about what they create and see nothing but a bleak future ahead for it.

[piracytheorist]

Which Disney movie do you consider overrated? (Pixar counts)

Peter Pan from 1953. And I'm gonna choose violence here. Skip this post if this is your favourite film.

The most glaring problem with that film is of course the racist depiction of Native American tribes. Sadly, a film can be technically well made while also being racist, so it's not the racism part that makes me think that this film sucks from an entire film making standpoint.

It's the depiction of Hook, and to an extent, Peter Pan. In the original story, Peter Pan represents childhood, but also immaturity, while Hook represents adulthood and all the shit that follows it. While Hook is more of a villainous character, he's not the villain of the story, while Peter Pan is not the absolute hero protagonist and paragon of virtue of the story. He's also pretty fucked up. Pan and Hook are symbols, and of opposite sides to boot, and that's why they're antagonists in the story. Wendy is a character, learning about both and in the end pretty much choosing neither.

So Disney took that and turned it into a black-and-white hero vs villain story while forgetting that the original is about Wendy learning what growing up is all about.

Hook is turned into a caricature of a villain while also being mocked for having a very legitimate fear of an animal that wants to eat him. I don't know, maybe it's because I don't have childhood nostalgia for this film, I first watched it when I was like 14 and I was like dafuq did I just watch. Like I was legitimately cringing and feeling bad that Hook was being made fun of. Phobias and trauma-related fears are no laughing matter.

And look - I'm not saying you can't have a villain who is comical. Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians, which came out a few years after Peter Pan, is also a comical villain... but she's not a ridicule. Roger may make a song mocking her, but it's more of a dark humor song going like "She's the devil and she will eat you alive O_O but not really" while Peter Pan went like "LOL Hook is afraid of an animal that ate his hand and now wants to eat the rest of him he's such a coward LOL!" And no, I don't think it's fair to see a man who's willing to kill children in cold blood and to try and bring him down by laughing at a very rational fear he has. If it was used as a weapon against him and taken seriously - like the Lost Boys or Pan calling upon the crocodile so that Hook will panic and they can escape - it would have been a cool, albeit a little dark (though not too dark for Disney, especially for that era) idea, though not uncalled for compared to what Hook does. But no they just lol about it. It's hideous.

And in general I find that version of Pan unlikable, super annoying and an immature brat - which is funny because that's what Pan is supposed to be in the original story! He's meant to present to Wendy the "bad" sides of staying a kid forever. But Disney just presents him as a hero who learns from his mistakes like NO BITCH the whole point is that Pan doesn't grow up! He doesn't grow more mature and he's NOWHERE near being a person to look up to.

I agree that it's an iconic film but when you actually tear it down it's insulting to people with phobias and/or traumas, poorly translated from the source material, shallow as fuck, and also racist. 0/10 probably the only good thing that came out of it was whatever money the mouse decided to give to Great Ormond Street Hospital for using the rights to Peter and Wendy. (If you don't know what that is, J. M. Barrie, the author of the book and original theater play, gave the rights to the aforementioned hospital so any production getting the rights to make any production of it would essentially pay the hospital, which is a cool af idea. I think that right-holding reached its end a couple years ago and lo and behold what did the mouse do? A live action Peter Pan film :)

[fefairys]

"This is a pattern that plays out a lot in HS, probably unavoidably due to its scale, the size of the cast, and how many plot threads are being handled at once. Sometimes series of brewing events all coalesce and galvanize through some intense, dramatic, single event, as in Descend, [S] Make her pay, or the mother of them all, [S] Cascade. But then those plot points are taken off the burner and put aside on the counter to cool, often for quite some time. This lets the story drift back to the casual, silly stuff, which can be seen as HS kind of gravitationally reverting to its most fundamental nature: ridiculous kids BS'ing with each other about stupid shit. But it was also a necessary thing to do from a creative production standpoint: I couldn't always focus just on the intense stuff and keep relentlessly following through on it while it was piping hot, because that was not a sustainable proposition in terms of effort (a thing the kids at home never really understood, while feeling inclined to grouse about pacing issues). So this gradual "cooling effect" of hot plot points actually became deeply interwoven with the story construction and how that flowed. The hot material is always revisited though—rarely is anything totally dropped—but when it comes back into play it definitely has a different effect for having spent several hundred (or even thousand) pages sitting on the windowsill to cool. That cooled-off material becomes a different kind of ingredient than it once was while it was red-hot, as if the recipe called for it to be set aside to cool, to change its nature, its feel, and the way it tastes. And meanwhile many other exotic ingredients have been prepared. So when the cooled-off ingredient is reintroduced, now it just feels like all the other ingredients coming together to make something new, rather than still feeling like "the most important thing going on," as it once did. So then this amalgamation of new ingredients together with old, previously amalgamated ingredients, forms a new recipe, waiting for its turn to get thrown into the oven so everything can approach another critical galvanization as before. Rinse and repeat, until HS finally and miraculously ends." -Andrew Hussie

i actually enjoy this about the pacing tbh. maybe it was frustrating to some people when the next update wasnt immediately talking about the Big Thing that just happened, but reading it archivally, i actually really like the way it flows.

[upside-down-sock-drawer]

Dear All Shook Up,

It is 8:36, on Sunday, November 12th, 2023. I just got out of the shower after the closing night of our show.

When I walked into that building for auditions, I was terrified. I mean, would they even want me? Sure, I'd done a production with this director before, but it was just a silly highschool one. Why would they want me?

When I walked into that building for our first dance rehearsal, I was terrified. Dance isn't my strong suit. Sure I love it, but I'm just not that good.

When I walked into music rehearsal for the first time, I was terrified. I had two friends, neither of which I was terribly close to. I didn't know what to do.

That was 3 months ago. A lot happens in three months.

We weren't ready. We were running so short on time, the leads didn't know their lines, the chorus hardly knew our music. We were running out of time.

When I first stepped on that stage, with my hair done, in my pretty blue dress, I felt it.

The thing they don't tell you about theater, is that there's magic involved. From an outside standpoint, I sound crazy. But when you get everything together, with a cast who's been working their asses off for three months, something magical happens. Shows blend together, and they make sense.

All Shook Up, you have given me things I will never be able to replace. I've made friends that I'm going to have for life. I'm a part of something so much greater than myself. A family.

All Shook Up, you've given me people I will love for the rest of my life. You've given me best friends, a girlfriend, a mother, sisters, brothers. A family. You've given me my first theater dance break, my first lift, my first shot at real acting, and even my first kiss.

We laughed, we cried, we held hands, we held eachother. We put lipstick marks on a door, we snuck candy in between numbers, we screamed random lines before shows, we put glitter on our ears. We danced backstage, we serenaded eachother, we memorized lines that weren't even ours to memorize. We even put ridiculous amounts of hairspray in our hair to the point where I'm pretty sure some of it infected our brains. We made jokes that will never be understood by anyone but us.

There's magic in a theater. Especially an old one, that's been used by hundreds of great people before us. Everyone leaves a little bit of themselves behind in that theater, and they create a magic that makes shows the amazing things that they are.

I am so incredibly grateful to have been able to perform this amazing show ith amazing people in an amazing historic theater. It's changed me. I'm different now, than I was before this.

All Shook Up, you have taken 3 months of my life, my devotion, my focus, my passion, and most importantly my free time. And I don't regret a single moment of it.

All Shook Up, you have changed my life for the better. You have made me a different person.

Now, you're over. The curtain fell on us one last time. Our props and costumes have all been moved out. We will never again perform that same show with those same people. It's sad.

But as I watched the water swirl down the drain, carrying away the last of the show from my body, I didn't cry. I smiled.

This is one more step on my theater journey that I will love and treasure forever. I have so many new adventures waiting for me right around the corner. I'm not crying tears of sadness anymore, they're tears of joy.

This show is all about love. Everyone is all falling in love in ways they never knew they could. And I did too. With the theater, with a girl, with this family.

I love you, All Shook Up

Sincerely, your devoted chorus member, Florence.

[transfemstarscream]

what is your honest opinion of sg? i think it's overrated but iirc you haven't said anything else on it asides from star/op being gross in that universe?

shattered glass as a concept is hilarious. i love "good turns evil, evil turns good" stories a lot. it's fun to see how deep a type of story goes into that, as well—are they just the same characters but with better morality, or are they complete opposites? how do some characters translate into a setting where they're meant to be their complete opposite? it's fun to think about!

fun publications (at first) gave shattered glass a highly campy treatment. unserious, ridiculous and full of caricatures of good and evil to really fun extremes, i loved it there. the image of mustache-twirling autobots and frolicking decepticons is funny and exciting. it uses the less complex, more traditional "autobots = heroic, decepticons = evil" theme and swaps it to make the characters into opposite caricatures of themselves, like shattered glass grimlock being a super-genius. it's fun!

my issue comes in when shattered glass is taken seriously. because the april fools' day shattered glass issue had a very positive reaction, a lot of people clamored for a shattered glass story that was serious. and so the franchise began taking this silly concept seriously. the issue comes in with the fact it's trying to implement the black-and-white "good and evil" swap onto characters established as much more complex than that. instead of a fun, campy evil optimus, i get an "optronix" who blows up planets and colonies and tortures people but it's grimdark, serious and ADULT.

even the IDW shattered glass comic, which i will admit was creative in its changes (the characters kept their personalities intact for the most part; their ideals and morals are just different), had a little of that issue. people push for transformers to characterize their characters as more than just good/bad, which shattered glass counteracts because the characters change by that idea.

not to mention i just find it uninteresting from a character standpoint. i like optimus prime for who he is, not for what he isn't; if i want an evil optimus prime, there are already characters to fulfill that need. same with megatron. same with just about any autobot or decepticon. the characters are the opposite of themselves, but there are characters that already exist who serve as the opposite of other characters regularly in-universe. this is why i think shattered glass being unserious works! an EVIL optimus prime is funny in concept. i want him to have evil laughter as he twirls his mustache.

[backlogbooks]

I just became aware of the cozy horror discussion today, but it's interesting. The first time I heard the term, it seemed to refer to spooky things without many hardcore scares. It also seemed to be very personal - on a podcast, the hosts discussed movies that they find cozy despite being very scary because they're familiar old favorites. I don't see an issue with using the term "cozy horror" for either of these things. But i do understand the fear that this will lead to a puritanical defanging of horror, and I think it's vitally important that horror remain a space to explore absolutely anything and everything terrible. Essentially, I think there's room for both, as long as cozy horror doesn't become the new standard of what's acceptable. That being said, I have a very broad definition of horror and have no problem including things that are just kinda spooky (like Over the Garden Wall) in that.

ALSO in regard to my last ask, I do think some of the things that one article people are mad at call cozy horror are ridiculous and sexism is definitely an element. T Kingfisher's The Hollow Places, cozy??? Yeah she's at a cabin in the woods with a dog but that book is SCARY. If someone wanted to call that book "cozy horror" for the old, familiar favorite standpoint i would understand, but it is NOT a first-time comfort read

_____________________________________________________

I definitely get both uses of the term, though I think having both definitions in use has probably added to some of the confusion in the discourse (I personally use comfort horror for the familiar old favorites, though I'm sure that phrase has the same issue with confusion). Mostly where I get concerned is with the dismissive tone towards other kinds of horror that some people have taken (especially That Article, but I've seen tweets to the same effect)--it's kind of a "why would anyone even /want/ to read something that's really dark/gory/doesn't have a happy ending." Which is a thought I understand having on a personal level, but when it rises to the level of, like, discourse, I think it tips too close to that puritanical reaction to horror. I really need people to learn that "I can't understand people wanting to read that" doesn't mean "there's no reason (except maybe this bad-faith reason) for people to want to read that." I do waffle personally on whether kinda spooky things are horror to me, but genres are so malleable and it doesn't really affect me if other people define horror different from me. Plus I do think it's really useful to have a shorthand for spooky-but-not-terrifying books, both for readers who really want that, and for readers who really don't lol (And yeah, the "horror by and about women" thing that you posted about yesterday feels very similar to the thing where fantasy by women is often misclassified as YA just because it's by women)

[theangryjikooker]

Hi, I came across your blog in the tags. I'm queer myself and my ask is truly genuine: If you don't believe Jikook are necessarily a couple, why do you have a blog named after them, and based on a 50-50 chance they are? If you don't think a celebrity couple are dating, why not simply keep it moving? Judging from the last few posts that came up in the tag, you seem to put a lot of effort into discounting certain exchanges between Jungkook and Jimin (thirst trap vid, etc), and even their consistent dynamics over the years as -not- meaning they're a couple. It's just strange to me that someone who's -not- queer chooses to blog about a perceived lack of coupledom between two men, whether they're actually together or queer or not. Of course in theory, it's your blog and you can do whatever you want with it. I'm just taken aback by a cishet person providing their opinion on people (most likely) within a community (LGBT+) they don't belong to.

I'm not sure when shipping (in regards to RPS) became synonymous with believing two people are dating. Shipping, as I have long understood it (at least from a fictional standpoint), was always meant to be a show of support for two individuals who you would think would look and/or be good together for whatever reasons deemed. Now, maybe in the RPS space this is completely different, but I'm not going to mold my participation into whatever anyone says it should be. Shipping should be maintained as a hobby. That people take it so seriously as to question anyone else's motives that don't align with the majority is utterly ridiculous.

I named it after Jikook because, in my mind, I am a Jkkr. I like them and the way they interact with one another. I don't have to think they're dating to consider myself someone who enjoys their dynamic and who wouldn't mind if they became official. But because this involves real life people, there are obvious boundaries I refuse to cross that many others probably clearly don't care too much about. To each their own.

Thanks for assuming my sexuality, which I find incredibly rude and almost hypocritical, considering I've encountered many like you in the Jkkr space who act quite defensive about assuming sexualities but will clearly do so with others (namely, perceived cishets). This whole thing is laughable, really. Honestly, maybe I would've been kinder in response, but this is so insulting and, quite frankly, disgusting of you. I've had people question me on this before, of which I've stated that I personally identify as bisexual but that it might be more accurate to state that I'm pan. To a far lesser degree, I think it's odd that RPS can be gatekept from others solely based on their sexuality. People like you are the reason why the hypocrisy of shipping communities makes me sick.

Screw being nice. Don't drop into my asks with fake goodwill, just don't. I respect other people who are just aggressively confrontational because at least they're showing who they are. Not this bullshit of being "genuine" but then acting like it's an affront to your fandom activities that a perceived cishet is interested in the same thing as you are–and then being entirely wrong about it.

You're embarrassing.

Edited to add: Don’t be an asshole and assume people’s sexual identities. Consider the implications of this, by the way, and this is something I shouldn’t have to say at all to anyone who identifies as queer. Why the fuck would you put someone in a position to have to identify themselves? It’s a good thing it’s just me because I don’t give a shit, but imagine if you did this to someone who wasn’t ready to be so public about it? Fucking unbelievable.

[madamspeaker]

Nancy Pelosi’s first trip to Capitol Hill came when she accompanied her father, former Maryland Rep. Thomas D'Alesandro Jr., to one of his swearing-in ceremonies during his eight years as a congressman. When he entered the House, in 1939, there were just eight women representatives.

“When I came to Congress many years later, there were only 23, so there wasn't much progress made from the ‘40s to the ‘80s,” Pelosi said, in an exclusive interview with Spectrum News, for Women’s History Month. “We made a decision and said, ‘This is ridiculous, 23 women out of 435, that's not representative of our country and it's not fair.’”

Pelosi was elected to Congress in 1987, after serving in the California Democratic Party for decades. She became House minority whip in 2002 — the first woman to hold that position in either party or chamber — and was elected House minority leader a year later. 

“I said, this is now a different place where we're going to put diversity. We want to see diversity in leadership roles in the committee and staffing and the committee and the rest,” she recalled.

In 2007, 68 years after her father became a congressman, Pelosi became the first woman House speaker.

“It wasn't really a glass ceiling here, it was a marble ceiling. There had been, for over 200 years, a pecking order,” Pelosi said. “And they all had an agreement among themselves, the men, as to who would be next. So when I was running, it was ‘Who said she could run?’”

Pelosi helped to elevate women to hold the chair in powerful House committees, such as the Rules and Administration committees. There are now 126 women in the House, including 92 Democrats - many of whom Pelosi helped to get there.

“If you want to win elections, women are great leaders to help you do that,” Pelosi said.

The key to women running for office, she said, is authenticity. 

“Be who you are, the only person like you who has ever existed in the history of the world. Take great pride in that and recognize your power,” Pelosi said. “Know your power, know your why, know why you want to do this. Because it's rough. This is not for the faint of heart. It's rough.”

Pelosi knows all too well that political service is a contact sport — and she knows what it’s like when those who oppose, hate and fear her go too far. Within the last three years, her life was threatened by insurrectionists on Jan. 6th, 2021 ("They said they're going to put a bullet in my friggin head,” Pelosi recalled,) and her husband, Paul, suffered a fractured skull from a hammer-wielding attacker who broke into their San Francisco home in 2022.

“That’s what I tell [members of Congress],” she said. “We stepped into the arena, but our families didn’t, and … it shouldn't happen that way. And so we have to, if we win this election, do so in a unifying way to bring people together.”

Pelosi announced after the 2022 election that she would end her 20 years in House leadership (which included eight years as speaker), but keep her seat. In the process, she blazed a trail again, becoming Speaker Emerita Pelosi, the first House member with such a title.

“When they asked me what ‘emerita’ means, I said it means happiness,” she said. “For 20 years as leader or speaker, I was responsible every day for what was on the floor from a Democratic or the whole House standpoint and all, shall we say, of the exuberance that goes into that.”

Pelosi’s departure provided an opening for a new generation of leadership, including Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif. Pelosi said she is always ready to help as needed, but she has taken a hands-off approach when it comes to her successors.

“I'm not going to be the mother-in-law in the kitchen saying ‘my son likes the dressing this way’ to them,” she laughed. 

Pelosi said two things have kept her going in Congress after nearly 40 years: Chocolate (“very dark chocolate — chocolate ice cream for breakfast”) and the urgency of service.

“My 'why' is the one in five children in America that goes to sleep hungry at night, who live in poverty and go to sleep hungry at night. And I just couldn't [stand], in the greatest country that ever existed in the history of the world, that that would be the case,” she said. 

But Pelosi said she had one more reason to stay in Congress.

“We have to elect Joe Biden President of the United States,” she said. “We have to elect a Democratic Congress. We just must. That means House and Senate. So my ability to do that is enhanced by still being here.”

Voters have expressed concerns about Biden’s age (at 81, he’s the oldest president in U.S. history). Pelosi said she doesn’t see it as a problem.

“Frankly, he’s younger than I am,” said Pelosi, who celebrated her 84th birthday earlier this week. She calls Biden’s age a benefit, not a hindrance — citing his tenure in the Senate, as vice president and as president.

“You have improved judgment, and this is a president … who has a beautiful vision for the future. He knows why he wants to do this. He knows the subject matter. He's been here a long time. So he knows what has worked, what hasn't and what the possibilities are,” Pelosi said.

“[Biden’s] not that much older than what's his name, but nobody seems to make a fuss about what's his name,” Pelosi said, referring to Biden’s former and current opponent, 77-year-old former President Donald Trump, whose name Pelosi said she does not like to say. "And that's just really what is so funny to me — including the press — just always saying, ‘Well, he's old now.’ Yeah, the other guy's old too.”

“I understand how people would rather see somebody younger, but Joe Biden is doing fabulously well in the primaries, so people are voting for him even though they'd rather be younger,” she added.

[roxytonic]

i actually hadn't seen that post-- but yes, that's it exactly! (and beware, sociology/culture nerd moment incoming, youve unlocked my secret hidden chasms of interest)

i think a large part of all of this is that i did start on more solid ground than you-- you were working from the ground up to construct an image of a then-dead culture, while i had watched it unfold in real time. it's part of what i said in the tags of some post a while ago; if we posit that every relationship between two people is a dialect of its own, with communities speaking their own "languages", then the death of a community is the death of a language. of Course you weren't getting the information you were looking for, you didn't have the memories that it would have taken to ask about them!

and, examining the notes of the post that finally did blow up, that was exactly it. i keep seeing things like "they know idotsblr? theyre the real deal" and "what did gay castle do?", as well as other people going "oh yeah i remember that happening! that reminds me of..." etx etc. it's primarily a matter of having the base knowledge to know what to ask in the first place, which you were already working doublespeed to try to get after the fact. and let's be real here, you got ridiculously far for someone who was piecing things together, and i absolutely loved watching you form rada in real time-- it was, like i said before, like watching someone come in from the outside and give words to everything id noticed about communities getting pushed to the fringe, and the focus on boundaries.

(one thing that i am interested in that you never got the chance to get to, as lilyfreshwater said in the notes, is the rest of mcytblr. critblr and dlying were the fringe, but when examining only fringes, a hole is left where the main group is. the more i hear from people, the more i think that the biggest pieces of the puzzle have been sitting in plain sight, in all their difficult-to-archive glory: the discords, groupchats, individual friend groups, and the odd way that popular mcytblr tumblrs seem to be almost canonized in the fandom.)

and, of course, i just like having my favorite time period all in one place to look at; it makes me happy to have a little slice of it on the blog, and to revisit that time in my life from a considerably less manic standpoint.

Thanks for the followup. I mostly agree -- and again I could never regret putting together RADA -- but there are a few things I'd like to disagree/clarify:

Although truthing/criticizing/etc. was on the decline when I first started posting and reblogging in April 2021, I don't think OG 2020 mcytblr was never totally dormant or dead. I focused on Dreamlying because they were still posting by the time I joined, and that presence of activity was enough for me to start thinking and wondering.

I agree my perspective would have benefited from first-hand experiences with mcytblr 2020, but I don't think interpreting the resulting counterculture/fringe necessarily required I be a part of it, or have had first-hand experience with it. In fact, it was only until I had been blocked by a regular mcytblr mutual 1 or 2 months after publicly interacting with the fringe that I realized -- and quite painfully -- I wasn't part of the mainstream anymore.

This in turn is why I didn't discuss much of regular mcytblr. Structurally, it had become so large to be self-sustaining, and possibly self-documenting. But personally it was also because (I was the last one to realize) I had crossed the floor the first time I ever reblogged georgesoot, or warpedfungusonastick, or reese, or fruityranboo.

[ukhoshekh]

Being transgender was never something that was going to bar me from my life time goals. My identity is not one to be taken lightly–every other day you’re seeing something on the news about another transgender person being assaulted or killed for simply being themselves. Your identity is scrutinized by people who simply would never understand and can only see life through a tunneled lens. Your brain and body are your own enemies, betraying you down to the core of who you are, but yet you live. You continue to push through the self hatred and the hatred from others, and continue to live in spite of what the world has shown you.

My identity will not stop me from achieving and accessing higher education. That being said–being transgender (or part of any minority group) will make it harder to access college, regardless of your own educational standpoint. LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be homeless, below the poverty line, and harassed and attacked in their youth and young adulthood. The inability to access higher education ruins the opportunity to grow and develop into functioning members of society, when we are already ridiculed for our existence.

To be able to afford and be part of a safe community in higher education can guarantee that more LGBTQ+ individuals will be able to advance society in a greater way. To be able to go above and beyond all of the hurdles that are placed in front of us and in our way. Our intention is to go and grow past everything the world throws at us. My hope is that with more access to higher education, LGBTQ+ individuals will be able to be seen as more than our identity, to give us more credit than we have been given. We deserve to be seen as more than, and with greater accessibility, we are given that chance.

[davekat-sucks]

On a semi-related note to the whole "Eridan and Vriska" thing going on rn, let me just throw my own two cents in on these characters in general.

I am firmly in the camp of "Vriska did a lot of shit wrong, but if she was allowed to live, she probably would've tried to atone for it in some manner." Let me be perfectly clear: No, you cannot say Vriska did anything wrong, and keep the backstories for Sollux, Aradia, and Tavros the same. Those two are inherently incompatible. As for the second part, I ain't using the post-retcon shit as evidence. (because the retcon and all its shit are where the comic just lost my already dwindling since Cascade enjoyment. But that's a whole other issue.) Honestly, that just seemed to be where her character development seemed to be going, and would've made sense from a writing standpoint. (Also you can pry Spider8reath from mY COLD DEAD HANDS-!)

As for Eridan, well frankly, I'm just gonna go ahead and say I don't like him and think he's kind of a whiny prick. Also, him killing Feferi I'm calling bullshit on. Feferi, by all rights, probably could've lived through that, by virtue of seadwellers being much tougher physically speaking than landwellers. Shit, she jumped up to her first gate by herself while underwater! And water has ridiculous pressure, especially given how deep she tends to go to feed her lusus. But I'm getting off-topic.

TLDR; Vriska did wrong, probably would've done better if she wasn't killed off (before coming back because pffffffffffttt---), Eridan can go dance with the angels (he-he. Nobody will get that reference...)

If Act 6 and post retcon didn't happen, I definitely would see Vriska being redeemed. It probably was the plan that she and John would be a thing too. I would have loved to see that particular Vriska go on living. The Vriska we see now is her without the character development and the ones the nu-fans adore. All they care about his being this huge 8itch and being trans because some dumb whore author projected herself in a fictional character. I think that is part of the problem for the Homestuck series. The characters we saw from Act 1 - Cascade versus the Act 6 and onwards are separate beings. That's even saving the very different ones that happened once Post Retcon started. I call the Dave that we see now after Post Retcon as Jimbo. He's an impostor Dave. So when referring to certain characters, some think it is one in the same, when it is different. As we see in the Dream Bubbles that those who died may have lived the same lives, but are cut off short as another timeline version lives. Yes stuff like Pesterquest, Epilogues, and Homestuck^2 are all dubious canon and shouldn't be taken with any grain of salt. But with being exposed to this in public, new audiences or ones that like to project, would think it is part of the base character itself. Like Vriska as trans thing only came from Pesterquest, but people applied it to the base webcomic to give her more sympathy. The meta bullshit that comes upon being Ultimate doesn't help if said person is able to view the memories of their past selves and some mistaken it is them fusing with their Doomed selves. When it is not really the case. It only happened to Rose in that moment. Fair enough on Feferi should have lived through that. Hope powers would destroy anything, but knowing it only knocked out Sollux, Eridan probably didn't tap in his Prince aspect to really destroy or kill someone. I would say the same when it happened to Her Imperial Condesce in [S] Collide. Her being killed by just a stab through the sword is just anti-climatic. Especially after we see her in GAME OVER with incredible powers. Bitch fucking controlled a planet to collide with another.

[ruby-whistler]

(Just for time- any name I refer in here is all character unless specified!)

Nah, cause I'm convinced that the vault was 100% a set up and there's so much that is just left unexplained that proves that:

The Elevator

The Polished Blackstone room

The Gold/highly lit stand for the discs

The enderportal

The attachments

The Avenger's Endgame bullshit at the end

Ranboo

(1) - I don't know why, but this was one of the bigger ones to annoy the hell out of me as to why it looked so complicated. Dream- as far as I remember- hasn't had that many creations with such complex machinery/redstone engineering. Even more so to the extent of making an elevator that can function going up and down with a platform big enough to fit multiple people on.

(1) - Not only that, but we never even got to see the inner workings of the redstone itself- it may seem like an unnecessary detail, but as far as I'm aware, not many people are able to make redstone this complex in order to properly function as an elevator (in Minecraft terms). Dream just doesn't seem to fit within that category because- again, as far as I'm aware- the most complicated redstone device he's made has been the doomsday one, and even then, it wasn't even that complicated- nowhere near the level enough to make an entire elevator by himself.

(2) - Maybe it's because of the amount of times I've seen Dream login to the server and how infrequent it had been in the past, but I don't see how Dream could mine up so much Polished Blackstone, especially to use in this specific purpose. Dream doesn't even have many structures to his name, even his own base doesn't even have any materials that could suggest he would need extra Blackstone for. If it had been made out of obsidian, I could believe it considering all that material had been used for walls around L'Manburg. (Plus, it's been confirmed by the CCs that creative mode is barely used as is, so this makes mining this much Blackstone/Polished Backstone make even less sense.)

(2) - I feel like this is strongly indicated with how much Ranboo had been supposedly mining at the time and had a ridiculously low durability on his tool set so often, sure he could be mining for something totally unrelated, but if that were the case- why would he be so "unaware" of why his tools are so low to begin with?

(3) - Now this is where the bullshit meter starts kicking higher. Why would Dream display the real discs so proudly and in such a gaudy manner, especially when it functionally served no purpose? Not even the walls he had around L'Manburg or the obsidian grid were as flashy. Gold floors, bright lights, the portraits of the discs side to side by the very clear escape portal™, hell, they were even positioned to be directly in front of the elevator so that Tommy and Tubbo would first notice them and would try to run for them. AND THERE WERE TWO ENDERCHESTS RIGHT NEXT TO THE PORTALS AND THE DISCS.

(3) - What kind of Saturday cartoon evil villain™ leaves such an obvious flaw, even when taking into account that Dream is supposedly a strategist? What kind of strategic mastermind would leave an interdimentional chest that could potentially have back up gear and various other items to assist his enemies out in the open like that especially next to a portal where they could easily escape? Not even Jack Manifold would make such an oversight like that.

(4) - The placements of the portal and where Dream, Tommy, and Tubbo all stopped off at the end of Dream's grandiose speech were all much to convenient/coincidental. It was like it was choreographed so that when Dream was specifically away for the duo, Punz and whoever else would be able to step in and "separate/rescue" the two from the big bad Dream despite the fact that Dream could've easily killed the two if he really wanted to by being near and crit'ing them out.

(4) - Plus, the portal was already lit. Which leads directly to where they would've been. Again, from a strategic standpoint that makes no god damn sense. Why leave an obvious portal out in the open like this so that your enemies could try and come and find the people you're trying to supposedly kill?

(5) - Oh yeah, but the bullshit alarm is blaring. Albeit with a bit of wavering doubt, I thought that the attachments room was the most solid part of the plan, at least, if we're going with the mindset that Dream's ultimate goal was to take control of attachments, force everyone to be friends/unified again, and achieve his ultimate goal of peace and unity on the server. But as I thought more on it, some of the attachments... Don't make sense for Dream to know.

(5) - How did Dream know about someone having an attachment that was bedrock? How did Dream know about Punz's shulker box? (I know Drista gave it to him and cc!Dream was there for that, but canonically it makes no sense.) Why did Dream specifically think that Enderchest was Ranboo's only primary attachment? How did Dream know about Dogchamp despite Purpled and him never properly meeting in canon?

(5) - Sure Dream could've gone snooping around and managed to find out, but some of these attachments he doesn't even properly know of unless he had to walk up to someone and be like: So hey, what are you emotionally attached to that would make you utterly destroyed when it's gone? :D

(6) - How in the ever loving fuck did everyone manage to get there?

(6) - This one is clear that Punz lead the charge on this one, but why did everyone flat out believe him? Beforehand, everyone was deadset on staying back, regardless if it was on Tommy and Tubbo's word. But Punz? Alone? He managed to convince everyone? Even if they had a neutral opinion on Dream, to go with him to the vault to rescue the two? Nobody questioned how he even knew about where the portal to the vault is, or that it even had a portal? Nobody? Not a single soul? Or how nobody even questioned how Punz knew that Dream had taken the two down there and didn't just send them off into their own exile?

(7) - Ranboo rarely ever metas about the lore. Unlike most CCs in the DSMP, cc!Ranboo has a particular way of making sure that chat doesn't spoil him on plot points going on, so I highly doubt he would "accidentally" recite Dream's speech, word for word, bar for bar in a room he hadn't even been in yet. Nor even was there for (it's heavily hinted that Enderwalk was present during the confrontation instead). Plus, although it was confirmed unintentional by the CCs later on, Ranboo and Dream were both staring at each other, and I don't think it was to keep him in place- considering Enderwalk went to go visit Dream as often as he could before his ban and Enderwalk seemed to be on good terms with Dream even before the whole Doomsday Era.

Nah, the whole confrontation makes no sense, even down to the cherrypicking examples of it all. If it somehow gets confirmed that the confrontation wasn't staged and that Dream was somehow this cocky, I won't make a fuss, but I'm not gonna be entirely too thrilled at the idea.

But contrary to popular belief, I don't think Dream did this with only Punz or Enderwalk, I think those three were the main ones to set up this whole thing, but considering the redstone and the attachments that Dream wasn't supposed to know of. I don't know, but something about that screams like there was one other involved, the question is- who would also help Dream like Punz or Enderwalk too?

This one is an old one, but I absolutely agree. The Disc War finale is, with all due respect, either egregious writing with no character continuity in the slightest, or c!Dream faked the whole thing. It's way too suspicious not to be obvious. That's a banger analysis.