#she's like level 8 fwiw

[sarasa-cat]

My on-and-off twin first play throughs of Stardew Valley continue.

Have been playing more on my ipad late at night as a bed time wind down activity so that farmer -- my disaster farmer whom I started first -- is now a few days past the autumn harvest festival.

For some reason, I haven't had success triggering heart-scenes with some of the characters (and not ready to look at the wiki to find out why) but, between this playthrough and the other on my PC (currently in late summer), I've seen everything up to 6 hearts for Shane and for Sebastian (plus anyone else at a lower level I'm forgetting). More on that in a bit.

It took me a lllloooooonggg time to successfully get the community center quest rolling and, tbh, I think the ipad version had a bug that made a certain something in the community center ignore half the clicks/taps on it. Anyhow, that's now in the works.

Lots of thoughts about this game and how relaxing it is. But not a relaxing that quickly becomes boring and I'm the sort who gets bored really easily. The game's constraint of a ticking clock that force me to decide what I will do each day (so many choices, so little time) mixed with me doing short term and medium term goal setting combined with no such thing as a game over or a "bad" choice makes it all very relaxing. Plus, the game is very pretty with its saturated pixel graphics and the music is pleasant. And, while some players might opt to craft more stuff ASAP that makes farming "easier," I am finding the first year (first three seasons) of farming to be fun as a haphazard, simplistic, hands-on horticulturalist. This is very chill in a good way. Although, lol, so much watering by hand when it doesn't rain. ;)

Also: why must my cat insist on repeatedly BLOCKING my progress when watering? Such a cat. SUCH A CAT.

Orange cat. Lol.

But it is all part of the charm of the game. Which makes it relaxing.

Fwiw, Verdi the disaster farmer (who lives on my iPad) has no intention of marrying Shane --- and after the 6 heart event I fast-scrolled-vaguely-spoiled myself on the rest of his story, huge emphasis on vague --- and I do give CA credit for writing this character in the way that Shane is presented.

Must say that I am infinitely amused by the recipes (and other letters) that Shane sends to the farmer. His story contains a good deal of content for a game like this.

I think my plan for Verdi is to be very easy-going and thorough with the game --- after all, it is a perfect game for the iPad mini which just adds coziness on top of more coziness. I think I'll have her level up all of the romance-candidates to 8 just to see their stories and get to know them before making the decision that is right for her. If that takes a long while, perfect. Her game wants to go on for a very long time.

As for Violet, on my gaming machine (which is a far less cozy place to play), who is very spreadsheets and wiki pages strategic, she decided shortly upon arriving in that town that Sebastian was her INTEREST. I think once I have seen enough of the game from Violet's POV, I'll start messing around with mods and so forth.

.

As per earlier conversations regarding some of the characters feeling young, at least for me the implied youth of 4-out-of-8 romance characters doesn't really bother me or affect my decision making. I can imagine my player characters as younger or older, as per who I feel like RPing. Overall, just not fussed about that, and I like the fact that the game has romancable characters who feel like they span a little bit of an age range.

.

Have been amused with how the rhythms and messages and vibe of the game have leaked over into my day-to-day life.

Not quite ready to put it all into words but the cozy good feelings are good.

[rivetgoth]

hey char! out of curiosity, how did you and angel get together? and whats one of your favorite things about her? :)

We met right here on Tumblr through this interaction :D

She followed me and I hadn’t followed back at the time (I really rarely check new followers) but after she sent this ask and I answered it I followed her back. After that we started interacting with each other in the comments of our posts and stuff, then we got each other on different social media, and after a couple of months she reached out on Instagram to tell me that she actually lived close by and inviting me to come hang out with her. We hit it off immediately and spent like hours and hours and hours talking, we kept driving from place to place around the city finding more things to do, we went to a record store, a little alternative store, we got food, we got coffee, and from there we started talking to either through text or on the phone literally every day. We’d spend HOURS on the phone together back then, like sometimes 8-9+ hours, just sitting there talking.

Like I love this screenshot, of us awake at 5:40 AM on the phone for 8 hours talking about Paul Barker 😭

We also would meet up pretty frequently in person too of course. Like one time that she stayed over the night before Record Store Day and instead of sleeping we stayed up the literal entire night into the next day talking about Nivek Ogre and Al Jourgensen. And then we moved in together before we were a couple about six months later. We were both looking to move anyway so the timing just worked out and we could kinda “test run” things since I was in a dorm room at the time that was much larger than it needed to be because my school didn’t know how to provide gender inclusive housing for transitioning individuals LMAO. We cohabitated really well and living together only made us grow closer. FWIW I was attracted to her right away, I remember the first moment I fully processed what she looked like was when she first messaged me asking if I wanted to hang out and I looked through her selfies so I’d be able to recognize her when we met and could not believe she really looked like that. I was like lol no way is this person this hot and asking to hangout 😳

Anyway. A little while after moving in together I think there was a lot of tension forming between us because she was (spoilers) attracted to me as well. So we started hooking up before we actually started calling ourselves a couple. The funny thing is neither of us really remember the exact moment we started formally considering ourselves a couple. We never had a big “what are we” convo where we put a solid label to things. We had a few conversations about how we hardly knew how to describe our dynamic because girlfriend / boyfriend felt almost juvenile for the level we were at, already living together and sharing finances and then also hooking up, but we started actually verbalizing stuff we were doing as dates, we’d been saying I love you etc for ages already, we started sharing a bed every night, and at some point us being in a relationship was just our reality. 🤷‍♂️

I love her so much. I feel like the luckiest man in the whole world getting to be with her and spend my life with her. Genuinely cannot believe she is so cool, smart and articulate, stylish, thoughtful, funny, with such good taste in music and everything else, and that she is my baby. It’s still so surreal. As for a FAVORITE thing, it’s so hard to pick just one obviously lol, but I think one of the things I appreciate about her more than anything and that I never ever want to take for granted is the way she’s always striving to learn and grow and form a fully consistent and logical and articulate worldview and ethical / philosophical system, like she’s always thinking about new things, reading new works, investigating the world around her, engaging with complicated subject matter, sharing her insights with me, trying to genuinely form a cohesive system for how to make the world a better place, and that’s inspired and driven me so much to do the same. She’s genuinely one of the smartest people you will ever talk to. I never get bored of our conversations and I learn so much from her all the time.

[bisluthq]

The talk about how Taylor and Joe left things has made me curious about where her exes fall on the "hate" to "love" scale, so I have done a *speculative* ranking:

Starting with guys I doubt she thinks about, period:

- Lucas

- Martin

- Conor (aside from an occasional, "Dear God, what was I thinking?")

- Sam ×3

- other randos (for example, Belmont guy, Tom Odell etc)

#10. John - I really don't think I have to explain this one like at all.

#9. Matty - fresh wound, plus he pulled a lot of the shit that other guys did before him, which really just rubbed it in

#8. Jake - she seems to hold A LOT more empathy towards him than she does for John, which I think is ultimately because despite his many flaws, they had an actual relationship. He wasn't just trying to fuck with her head, as John did, and as she accused Matty of doing. Again, pulled a lot of the same shit, but I think she's moved past it (for the most part).

#7. Calvin - she seems to hold a lot of resentment towards him, but she's never written a full on disstrack, just songs about him getting cucked😭

#6. Tom H - I don't really think she thinks about him either, but she also seems to really dislike him. I can't even call it pity, it's just disdain. He hardly even got an apology song. It was just her calling him a dumbass (which tbf, he was).

#5. Joe A - I don't think she hates him, but again fresh wound, and all the rest of the dude’s on this list were very young and therefore less deep, therefore less hurtful.

#4. Harry - I really don't think she gives a shit about him now, but when she did there was a re mix of good and bad, but I think in retrospect, it's such a nothing that i doubt she cares

#3. Joe J - the only one of her exes she's been like legit friends with, though it seems that's kind of fallen through in recent years. Obviously was pissed after they broke up, but she got over it

#2. Drew - she has always spoken really highly of him, and per like Midnight Rain does think about "what if" on occasion, though I doubt it's ever a serious consideration. Not much else to say. Just that I think him being her first boyfriend/kiss/date/maybe hookup makes him seem a little better in retrospect. Her teenage self romanticised Mr. Senior Boy because she had nothing to compare him to.

#1. Taylor L - he annoys me to know end, but I can't deny she likes the guy and has very consistently. Again, I think other factors may influence why she feels SO favourably towards him in comparison to some of her other exes (looking at you, John), but overall they're clearly chill, though you can't convince me they're like "Besties."

I am very proud of your knowledge of the ex files, this is a very solid list and I’m willing to bet you can list the “other randos” we know about and for that I salute you queen because very few people have the level of brain rot you and I have obtained.

I agree with your list 100%

fwiw it’s Sam (x6) not Sam (x3). Doesn’t mean she ever thinks about him in 2024 but she hated the absolute fuck out of him when she wrote debut because she really thought he SHOULD HAVE SAID NO and he SHOULD HAVE GONE HOME!!!!!! I love that song so much lmao because it’s so so so angry and so very teenagerish in its stance on infidelity? I mean we’ve criticized her hypocrisy with men and women cheating but when her grown ass is angry with men cheating or worried about it, it’s… a more grown up vibe. Sixteen year old her was literally like “LISTEN HERE SAM SAM SAM SAM SAM SAM: YOU SHOULD HAVE SAID NOOOOO YOU FUCKING COCKSUCKING PRICK!!!!!!!!!!!! I WAS ON TOUR!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE FAAAAAACKKKKKKK!???????”

[utilitycaster]

You’ve talked about this subject before, so do you mind sharing your thoughts on ExUs use of rule of cool?

Hi anon,

So I have had some frustrations with EXU, specifically plot based; the vibes are immaculate, the characters are great and well served by each other and the DM-ing, and all the individual moments are fun and emotionally engaging but to me it feels like too many balls are in the air to stick the landing (this metaphor brought to you by a universe in which gymnasts also juggle while in the air I guess), unless next week’s episode is like, 7+ hours - it’s not that I can’t follow the plot so much that the pacing of said plot has felt increasingly unbalanced. I will reserve judgment until it airs, and I’m still very much looking forward to it, but for all the reasons I mentioned liking before, rather than any expectation of the mysteries being resolved. With all that said I think Aabria’s use rule of cool has been incredibly skillful and indeed I credit the immaculateness of the vibes to that*.

Now, having written more than you probably wanted to read for a mostly unrelated introduction with its own footnote: D&D actually allows a ton of agency and wiggle room, if you actually read the rules, and the idea that it doesn’t is a lie told by people who want to plug their favorite indie game. The overarching rule is “The DM has some degree of final say.” In other words, rule of cool is included in rules as written.

Anyway a lot of the “rule of cool” things, at least that I’m thinking of (also please give me examples if I’m on a totally different page than you) were boons during a tricky battle granted by a weird ancient rock, maybe, and I think that’s completely valid! Brennan Lee Mulligan does this with some frequency; Brian Murphy and Matt Mercer tend to grant things like this more formally through homebrew magical items but I think Aabria making it spontaneous fits well with her personal DM-ing style and makes more sense in the context of, well, being in the middle of the jungle.

The Opal and Ted magic stuff is also well done. I mentioned this a couple years ago when Fjord’s powers were lost: there is not much in D&D on how to handle how issues with one’s warlock patron (or deity) may resolve and it’s really up to the DM. Tasha’s pretty much gave DMs the barest of outlines on how to handle subclass/class switches and I see this as related; everyone resorts to Rule of Cool in this space, if you think about it.

I will admit I’m not personally a big fan of granting advantage after a roll is failed, unless it was a legit error, but I will also admit both that I’m a hardass and also that I struggle with moving the plot along as a DM at times and this might be part of it; I can’t really fault a DM on an actual-play show for doing so when the alternative is “nothing happens”. Indeed, when you consider her casual portrayal of some of the deities and NPCs (a very valid and enjoyable stylistic choice) and Aabria’s greater willingness to drop not only out of character but also “DM mode”, if that makes sense, I actually think even more rule of cool might have addressed some of my frustrations with the plot. She could have revealed much more earlier on, because low level characters understandably miss a lot and the series is time-limited.

Which is a learning moment for me! I think my thoughts on rule of cool are more flexible than I’d realized! I still think most things can and should be handled within the rules but a DM with good rule of cool instincts (and I think Aabria has some of the strongest rule of cool instincts I’ve seen) can and perhaps should lean into that more heavily. It’s certainly a specific style and it might not work for everyone, but I think it works here.

*FWIW I think an 8-episode at 4-ish hours each is a really tricky length for actual play, and I think the pre-existing setting and the need to play to both long-term fans wanting an update on Tal’Dorei and new fans complicated things further and I will probably write more about this next week, when I know how things have ended and any future intentions. But just to sum up: I feel Aabria’s DM-ing has been great but far more suited to a longer, more sandbox-y campaign, and indeed if this were a 16 or even 12 episode series I’d have absolutely no concerns at this point, but right now I'm like "how are you going to resolve Myr'etta, Poska, Ted, the missing week/Thordak/whatever Fy'ra was doing, the Ash Hole, the tetrarch in the Iron Authority, and the Circlet of Barbed vision in 5 hours when I also want more Observer lore; let's go in with no expectations of most of those being resolved and be pleasantly surprised if they are."

[sineala]

Is Tony E. Stark bi in the comics?

Sadly, anon, the answer to this is no. I wish it were true. But he is not canonically bi. By this I mean that he has never canonically dated or otherwise been involved with men, nor has he made any explicit statement -- other than for one very specific purpose, that I will tell you about in a second -- that he is attracted to men in any way. Just women.

There are, however, a lot of hints that at various points in Tony’s history there have definitely been people involved with the Iron Man comics who would have liked him to be bi. But none of them have ever made it to the realm of canon confirmation.

I can tell you about a lot of the evidence that people like to present in this vein. Mostly what you will see these days is this panel from Tony Stark Iron Man #4:

The context of this panel is as follows: for Plot Reasons, Tony needs to come up with a way to crash a certain dating website. So he makes a profile, and a lot of people immediately message him at once, and he achieves his objective: the site goes down. His profile must have listed him as interested in men and women, because we see men messaging him as well. After the site goes down, he apologizes to all the men and women who messaged him, because he’s actually not single -- he’s dating Jan.

So, I mean, it was nice of Marvel to have men interested in Tony -- but it’s not explicitly clear that the interest is reciprocal. Tony made the profile to crash the website, and he presumably set himself as interested in everyone in order to crash the site faster. That’s not exactly a canonical statement of bisexuality. At most, that’s posing as bisexual to crash a site. That doesn’t say anything about who Tony actually likes.

There is also Superior Tony’s evil bisexual orgy, in Superior Iron Man #8:

There are a lot of people in this room and at least one of them is a man. However, we only see this one panel, the aftermath. We don’t actually know how many of these people Tony slept with. So that’s not conclusive either. (Not to mention that it’s kind of a bad look if he’s only ever with men when he’s, well, evil. As I’m sure we all know.)

There’s also this panel from IM v1 #284, in which Tony has faked his own death and the news is reporting rumors that he was HIV-positive:

This comic is from 1992. For anyone reading this who does not personally remember the year 1992, the extremely heavy implication here is that Tony has died of complications from HIV/AIDS which he would have acquired from sleeping with men. But this really isn’t Tony coming out either. This is just people making assumptions. And, sure, it’s interesting that they are making these assumptions, but it’s not confirmation of bisexuality.

The only other instance I can think of, of someone assuming Tony is gay/bi, is this exchange from Eternals v3 #2. Tony has just come out to the public as Iron Man; one character is asking another character what they thought of Tony coming out, and the person being asked assumes that it was a different kind of coming out. (And also they think it can’t possibly be true, FWIW.)

And, I mean, if you’re looking for subtext, there is definitely a lot there, but none of that is actual text. I personally think it’s definitely very... telling... that in flashbacks of Tony’s childhood, we often see him interacting with his father and being reprimanded for things like being a sissy and weak. He’s basically sent to boarding school to toughen him up. There are also several pages from Legacy of Doom, in which (adult) Tony encounters a demon version of Howard in hell (comics are really something), and Howard spends the entire meeting insulting Tony in ways that specifically malign his masculinity. Basically, almost all of the insults Howard canonically levels against him are from a realm of insults that are often applied to men who are attracted to men. Now, I mean, it’s certainly interesting to speculate that Howard might have been worried that Tony would grow up gay, but... no one ever actually says that out loud.

Tony has been known to comment that other men are handsome -- Doom in Bendis’ run immediately comes to mind -- but, I mean, that’s not proof that he’s actually attracted to them.

There’s also the relationship between Tony and his old friend Tiberius Stone. They were never canonically in a romantic relationship. There’s a photo of a gutter note on a piece of the original inked artwork in which someone has written a thought bubble suggesting that Tony and Ty slept together once. That did not make it to the printed page. I also spoke to someone else in fandom who talked with the artist for that arc, and apparently she confirmed to them that she’d wanted Tony/Ty to be canon. But they... didn’t actually make it to canon. Tony & Ty’s relationship is very intense and it would sure make an awful lot of sense, but it’s not canonical.

(I have a couple posts here and here where I’ve talked about most of this before, also gathering up the various pieces of evidence that people have used when making a case for Steve being bi. There’s... not much there either.)

In summary: Would it be awesome if Tony were canonically bi? Yes. Do I think Marvel could very, very easily make him canonically bi if they wanted to? Also yes. Is he canonically bi at this time? Nope. Sorry.

[goddamnitkastle]

A Distraction from This Hellscape™ Questionnaire

Thanks for the tag @carry-the-sky! Am I filling out this questionnaire to avoid my very pressing, very real world problems? I won’t tell if you won’t 🤫

Name/Nickname: Megan/Meg

Pronouns: She/Her

Star Sign: Sagittarius baby ♐️✨

Height: 5′3″

Time: This will be posted at 3am (The queue time is a reference to The Punisher fwiw) but I am honestly filling out this questionnaire throughout the day. Time is a construct people.

Birthday: November 30th

Favorite Bands: Florence + The Machine, Fall Out Boy, Mumford & Sons, The Civil Wars, Evanescence, Counting Crows, Fleetwood Mac, The Goo Goo Dolls 

Favorite Solo Artists: Dermot Kennedy, Hozier, Halsey, Taylor Swift, Sara Bareilles, Charlene Kaye/KAYE, Noah Gundersen

Song stuck in my head: Well before my life became consumed with apartment hunting shenanigans, this cover of Johanna Quartet from Sweeney Todd by SUF/SOND was on repeat.

Last Show: Shadow And Bone is so good! Also Prodigal Son is the shit, please don’t let it die a cancellation death 🤞🏼

Last Movie: Those Who Wish Me Dead. It was alright, Jon was the best part obviously.

When did I create this blog: July 2016 so the Kastle train was already chugging along and I hitched a ride lol

What do I post: My Kastle gifsets and edits, my subpar Kastle fanfiction, Kastle insp posts and songs, and a lot of questionnaires.

Last thing I googled: Shopping for a desk and chair to buy for my WFH set up in my new apartment.

Other Blogs: If you head over to my main blog, meganerin, 99% of my content lately was me going feral over Prodigal Son (WHY WAS IT CANCELLED SERIOUSLY 😭).

Why I chose my URL: Because this ship. Goddamn it.

Do I get asks: Not a lot but I love when I do!

Following: I am following 469 blogs from my main blog, meganerin.

Followers: I have 247 followers on my main blog and I have 1,793 followers on goddamnitkastle.

Average hours of sleep: Getting like 7 1/2 - 8 hours now? A corporate job will do that to you ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

Lucky Number: 2

Instruments: I would be scared to see how much I still remember at this point but I still consider myself remedial/basic level on piano and guitar.

What am I wearing: Leggings and a tank top. My official Summer WFH uniform.

Dream Trip: Ireland and Italy are my top two. But I cannot wait to start traveling again, I want to go to all of the places.

Favorite Food: I’ve been craving sushi lately. But this is such an impossible question to have a definitive answer to, I’m sure it’ll be different if you ask me again in a day or two lol

Nationality: Like my pal Haley, I am also unfortunately an American 😬

Languages: English

Favorite Song: Love Gone Wrong by Wild Rivers was my other song obsession before I entered this apartment hunting hellscape and God, they just do not miss.

Last book read: Still terrible at reading but I have gotten super into podcasts over the course of this global panorama. Check out Guilty Pleasures, Song vs. Song, and MusicalSplaining.

Top three fictional universes I’d like to live in: Please propel me to the Shadow and Bone universe stat, I want to be a Crow and kick ass. I would also not mind being propelled to either the Star Wars universe or the Avatar: The Last Airebender universe.

Tagging (no pressure!): @thevampirecat @brenli @witchygagirl @joanofarkansass @evilbunnyking @152glasslippers @captainkilly and anyone else that wants to do it!

[i-just-like-commenting]

Timeless rewatch (part 8/?)

Getting close to the end of season 1 here. As always, spoilers through season 2...

Episode 13: Karma Chameleon

I tried taking notes for this episode but they mostly degenerated into variations of me writing “FUCK YOU WYATT” in all caps. I remember that I was upset with him after this episode the first time I was watching it, to the point that I had to kind of take a break from the series, during which it got cancelled, then uncancelled. I was not anticipating how much it would still piss me off a year later.

I’ve been saying that Wyatt and Flynn are very similar personalities, but this is the episode where Wyatt goes full Flynn. Just...the episode isn’t even subtle with comparing Wyatt and Rufus to Flynn and Anthony. The latter are both the sensible, practical scientists who agree with what their ex-military friend is doing but question whether their reckless, constantly failing plans are actually the way to go about doing it. And both of them get ignored in favor of escalating levels of violence.

Wyatt storms into a hotel room waving a gun at two innocent people ffs!!! And then he gets one of them killed! How is this any different from any of the shit Flynn has done all season?

Well, I’ll tell you one way: Flynn isn’t under any delusions that he can just go back and be with his wife after pulling all the shit he’s pulled, whereas Wyatt, after admitting that Jessica would “be horrified” (his words!) by the shit he just pulled, seems to think it’ll all be okay and he’ll get to be with her.

No, that is not how this works. Flynn may be an arrogant jerkass who is incapable of noticing his basic logic error about teaming up with Lucy in the future, but he’s way more self-aware than Wyatt. That may be more due to being a decade older than him than anything personality-wise.

But even his motivation...I watch the opening scene where he tells Lucy what he’s doing and it is so obvious that he is as motivated by a fear of letting Jessica go and falling for Lucy as he is by any desire to save his wife. He literally makes her cry, and what is Lucy’s reaction? “What do you need me to do?” i.e. she caves instantly to his emotional needs rather than sticking by her - correct! - idea that his whole plan is stupid and is going to fall apart immediately and he GETS AN INNOCENT MAN KILLED.

Hell, this episode goes out of its way to show how nice and good that barkeeper was, and then Wyatt gets him killed! I know, doesn’t kill him directly, but as I’ve said with Flynn, reckless endangerment and depraved indifference are a thing. Wyatt shows them in abundance this episode, and I am so mad at him for it.

Episode 14: The Lost Generation

...of course he does get better. He’s rightfully penitent by the next episode, ready to reevaluate his choices, focus on the now, and move towards the future, and for the next six episodes, 1.14-2.3, I was very Team Wyatt, he was showing so much progress. Knowing how much he backslides, though, makes it hard to completely disengage from my rage at him in 1.13.

Anyway, this episode. One Timeless blogger I’ve taken to following for her spot-on takes on what went wrong with Wyatt last season argues that Lucy is bisexual and yeeeaaaah I can definitely see this especially after this episode. Why don’t you gawk at Josephine Baker a little more there, hon? And the camera cuts between her and Rufus’ unabashed attraction and there isn’t much difference.

One question I had by the end of this episode is how aware Rittenhouse is of Flynn’s journal. They know, via Emma, that he has one, but she doesn’t seem to know whose it is. Then Carol gives Lucy’s hers shortly after this...did Emma guess what “LP” stood for and passed in on to Carol, completing a loop? Or was she completely incommunicado, meaning that Carol gave the journal to Lucy because she wanted her to do it, not for time travel reasons? I could see the latter still being nefarious, as it would make for easy spying on Lucy’s personal thoughts. If I remember correctly, she never writes in it this season, and it didn’t appear in season 2. I would think she still has it, and I’d like to see her start writing in it randomly, just to get her thoughts down like her mother says, then retrieve Flynn’s copy and realize they’re the exact same, letter by letter, dun dun DUN.

Fwiw, Limburgh’s refusal to oppose Rittenhouse, along with Carol’s lack of a deathbed repentance in 2x10, are what make me skeptical of Jessica ever fully breaking away from Rittenhouse. She may decide she doesn’t like Emma, what with Emma shooting their guru in the head, but that Rittenhouse upbringing is hard to fight. I also want to know more about what Lucy was supposed to do and why they waited until she was in her 30s to tell her. I have a feeling that the complacency of her personality might have been completely intentional - the Rittenhouse heir has to do what she’s told.

[covid19updater]

COVID19 Updates: 07/23/2020

US: RUMINT/Analysis: Critical Update 07.23.2020 This is only the beginning. This morning I took the time to pour over on the ground reports from an especially hard hit area of Texas. It is a town of about 350,000 people that I'm very familiar with as I lived there for 5 years and still own property there although I haven't been there in about 5 years now. Despite it being a very backward and uneducated place, this town issued a stay at home order and was conducting temperature checks before there was a single case of COVID in the county. The first confirmed case was on March 21st. Local experts were predicting a peak in April and that by June, there would be virtually no cases. Fast forward to July- for the past several weeks the town has been consistently reporting 300-500 new cases a day and 8 people in the town are dying every day this month from the virus. Doctors and members of the police force have been lost to the virus. Lines of cars go on for miles at testing sites. Medical staff in full PPE- body suits with tape, face shields, n95 mask with a surgical mask on top of that. Many people are low income even before the shutdown ravaged the economy. The only shopping mall is now a meal distribution center where the lines of cars waiting for food are just as long as the ones at the testing sites. It is unclear how the virus spiraled out of control in this town which is almost 3 hours away from any other city. As much as I loath the place, ostensibly they did everything right from the very beginning before there was ever a known case of the virus. It seems like you can run but you can't hide from this thing. For as much disruption to daily life as it is causing, it has only burned through 2% of the population. By my calculations, even as quickly as the situation has spiraled out of control there, it will take 4 more years to reach a point of herd immunity at this rate, if that is even possible with this virus. From everything I'm seeing, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Everything we have seen and experienced so far is just one tenth of what is to come. Supply chains are already spotty, local budgets are spent and within the next week the economy will implode with bankruptcies and the end of stimulus benefits. Regional hotspots are on the verge of erupting into conflict. Economic strain and resource scarcity are all it will take to shove things off the cliff. Those places that haven't been hit very hard by the virus won't be spared, they are just waiting for their turn in the barrel.

World: New England Journal of Medicine: Antibodies Mild Infections: 73 Day Half-lifeRapid Decay of Anti–SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies in Persons with Mild Covid-19 LINK

World: Structural basis for translational shutdown and immune evasion by the Nsp1 protein of SARS-CoV-2 LINK

Japan: Report of a #COVID19 cluster in a childcare centre in Tokyo, comprising 2 adults and 20 children.

Florida: COVID-19 in Florida Microbe The latest report from @HealthyFla is out. There’s 173 new deaths reported, which is a record. Our two-week moving average for daily deaths is well over 100 per day. We were at 39 on July 1. New cases (10,249) and % positive (12.31%) also increased. And Florida dept of health reports covid death of 9 year old from Putnam County FL. Putnam County Health Officer Mary Garcia confirmed the fatality to CNN on Wednesday and said she was unaware of any underlying medical conditions in the girl's case.

RUMINT/Analysis: here is what i see at the moment. it is not much really. The local governs. have to keep the economy moving to get paid the sales taxes. they already lost enuf from the 1st lockdowns to growl to the states for $$.thius is why they want schools open. with both parents working,the local govern's see double the income. won't work that way. but is their theory. this is another "kick the can down the road plan". here is the problems. 1 is not enuf $$ to make up for the lost time. not enuf items to sell to bring in the sales tax.CHINA still dead in the water means no goods being sentg to stores. the local govern will still b short $$ since they lost months of tax $$ already. how long before this is an issue? best bet is going to b layoff local govern workers so they get kicked to the state UI dept. this won't buy much time. can they get to spring financially? think the local govern's have different fiscal years than the normal taxpayer or calendar year. we have xmas in the middle. how bad are things and how much does the state and local govern really know? NOV-DEC is the biggest shopping mths to bring in that sales tax. however, u do not want to p*ss the ppl off and panic them in these mths either.unless Santa has a magic wharehouse, where do all the goods come from to sell? based on waht we know and the DR report, the lockdown has to occur in Oct at the latest. farther than that will lead to riots and the govern losing control over the ppl. i don't think there is enuf supply to buy them into JAN. now since it is an election year, can they kick the can into NOV a week or 2? will TPTB do that if the DEMS are losing the election? tipping popint seems to b between mid OCT to mid NOV. all depends what TPTB decide is their best move with the election. watch for "flue season" to start as soon as schools open. expect death counts for OCT. expect the situation to b 50-100x as bad as now.

US: The coronavirus threatens auto industry recovery as cases rise and more employees miss work LINK

UK: Covid-19: England could need another lockdown in winter, say government’s chief advisers. LINK

Australia: Melbourne lockdown could last until Christmas as state battles coronavirus cases LINK

RUMINT (Texas): Yeah just saw a verified report that in the McAllen area it is killing entire families. Local funeral place there is doing 3 funerals a day. They did so many this week that their backhoe broke down and workers are now digging graves by hand with shovels.

California: California reporting 157 dead in the last day, biggest daily deaths since pandemic began

World: Scientists discover coronavirus in the EARS of two dead Covid-positive patients as studies suggest hearing loss may be a rare symptom of the infection. Another study on 20 symptomless patients, with no history of hearing problems found that hearing abilities worsened after the infection had passed

Georgia: ~4,300 new cases (3rd highest daily), and it's not bc testing is up. Testing is down, but the positive % is 17.1%. Current hospitalizations remain ~same while new hospitalizations up 431 (3rd highest).

US: UNITED STATES - 2,600 new cases per hour. Cases of coronavirus contamination exceeded 4 million on Thursday, with an average of more than 2,600 new infections per hour.

Florida: Level 5 emergency” in Florida — 6,700 nursing home residents & staff infected with coronavirus in July. The 129% rise is blamed on major delays in getting COVID19 test results & letting people enter facilities WITHOUT proof they’re not infected. LINK

US: About 40 percent of U.S. adults are at risk for severe COVID complications LINK

World: Coronavirus can travel 26 feet in rooms with cold, stale air—like meat plants LINK

US: Trump cancels in-person Republican convention in Jacksonville, Florida LINK

RUMINT (Hong Kong): Hk update Record cases two days in a row It’s out of control in city City is shutting down again and schools have no opening date Today large groups in supermarkets some panic buying  Acute bed shortages in hospitals Hk Government has ample reserves but lacks common sense and keeps making blunders like kept boarders open , not strictly quarantine people Still no mass testing and test results takes several days and people are moving about  Social distancing was a joke in hk and now we have major clusters This so called second wave is just starting  Most people who can are working from home  Hk maybe couple of months ahead of rest of world for second wave Be warned and prepare for 3-6 months bug out supplies

World: Huge: Masks LOWER SEVERITY of COVID too! Masks definitely reduce transmission, but scientist now think that MASKS CAN ALSO MAKE ILLNESS MILDER. How? masks may limit the dose of virus people get, & result in less severe symptoms of illness. on evidence.

RUMINT: FWIW, My bank branch was closed due to Covid exposure. The phone number taped to the door linked to someone who had worked there b4 the covid closure. They were at another branch in the process of closing it due to exposure. I had to wait 10 minutes w/o a guarantee of non-exposure to put some items into my safety deposit box. They drove to the branch to let me in...God only knows what it would take if more branches are closed and no one to retrieve items. Just passing it on. This shit is real.

Texas: COVID-19 patients will be ‘sent home to die’ if deemed too sick, Texas county says LINK

California: Dozens of top influencers gathered for a massive Hype House birthday party despite record COVID-19 numbers in California LINK

World: COVID19 Projections based on machine learning LINK

[ah17hh]

New to this: understanding personal and relationship boundaries. via /r/polyamory

New to this: understanding personal and relationship boundaries.

I (25 M) met an incredible woman (25 F) about 3 months ago, and honestly, I can't say I've experienced such a relationship where I've felt so cared about equally (all of my previous partners have revolved around primarily their mental health to an extent, which I knew what I've been getting myself into, but it's almost a surprise to not have that extreme burden in the way of growth as a couple). It's the first time I've really taken things at a much more natural pace (I used to be rather introverted and lonely, so I'd usually pressure myself into relationships fast).

I was raised under a monogamous mindset, both through religion (raised Christian, now Atheist) and societal expectations. Having really enjoyed my dating life in more recent years (I've grown a lot as an individual, and have way more luck when it comes to women these days), so I don't really want to stop experiencing new connections. My mindset when it comes to thinking about polyamory at the moment is like 10% jealousy, quickly shadowed by 90% realistic thoughts and being excited and proud of me and my partner to experience these things.

Things had been getting more serious with my new partner, so concepts of 'how to define our relationship' (FWIW, we don't care for labels, but saying "this is my girlfriend" just makes it easier for others to understand), as well as concepts of polyamory. We had this conversation yesterday, and I know that I absolutely wanted to be in a relationship with this person, and that I wanted to experience polyamory; just had to make sure that it's what she wants, but even more importantly, that she is #1 and I WANT to always prioritise her.

Since this discussion, I've actually deleted Tinder (still have Hinge, but not really bothering swiping more, don't feel the need currently), and told/in the process of telling previous matches that I may be interested in that I've just gotten into an honest and open relationship (so far told only one, and she met it with overwhelming support to my surprise!). I feel actually closer to and more understood by my partner than I could've ever imagined.

She has been genuinely supportive of me to experience new casual connections, which means the world to me! She's vocalised to me that she wants to chat to previous male encounters, and interested in potentially trying female encounters - I'd usually met this with jealousy, but I can honestly say the fact that everything is up front and honest makes it feel 0% unfaithful in my head. I am rather extroverted these days and have an abnormally high sex drive so this seems healthy for the both of us. I've also acknowledged that she may enter polyamory herself, and as long as she treats me with the same respect and honesty, I don't believe I have any reason to feel doubt or hurt.

I know I stay very loyal and committed in any relationship, so I'm confident I can put my (what I think are) strong communication and understanding skills to do my best to ensure people don't get hurt.

I've been doing a good amount of reading into poly. Sexplanations has been an INCREDIBLE resource that I've found useful for understanding my high level of desires and sexual energy. A few very good points I've especially noted is how increasingly important sexual health is in this scenario. I'd usually get tested after each new partner regardless, but I have been and continue to be fluid-bonded exclusively with my partner, and use contraception otherwise. Also, honesty, trust, communication being very important to me as an individual, if either of us were to break ANY boundaries, I would consider that cheating.

Another fantastic point is that "there are people who have already been through this, troubleshot and tested: reach out to the community and get answers so you don't have to repeat mistakes". As an individual, I live for making mistakes; I find I learn best by making a mistake once (but only once). This situation is a little more serious, and I'd prefer approach polyamory with the experiences of others, as opposed to risking playing with peoples' hearts for my own knowledge and benefit (so here I am posting on this sub for the first time!)

8 Signs Polyamory is for You (I agree with most points, although I don't like it seems to point monogamy in a negative light) was also a good way for me to understand and express with my partner how I feel.

We're going through the process of establishing boundaries and understanding each other more and more, but we're both brand new to this, so I'm doing my best to make sure I don't rush into things, and especially not trespass in unknown areas with external connections (it'll be wiser to stop and save for later to discuss acts I'm unsure my partner and I would be okay about).

Any further advice on maybe something I've missed, misinterpreted, made questionable choices/direction in my intent I'd really appreciate be highlighted! I know there are a ton of "poly for beginners" guides out there including probably many on this sub; but if there are any strong sources you've personally found help you, please do share!

Submitted August 13, 2020 at 09:51PM by FaunKeH via reddit https://ift.tt/2POS4Sr

[topmixtrends]

“The only members of the party not perhaps completely happy are the corgi dogs, feeling apparently just a little bit out of the picture.” – “Royal Family on Holiday” (1960)

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again…

Where

Are

The

Corgis????????

I never wonder this more often than I do when watching Netflix’s The Crown. However, the recent second season—which premiered on Netflix earlier this month—took my questioning to absurd degrees. It’s no secret that Queen Elizabeth II loves corgis—indeed, has loved corgis since before she was ever what she is most known for now, which is the longest-reigning British monarch, though even that is debatable because, Christ, the lady LOVES CORGIS. She loves them publicly. They love Meghan Markle. We saw them all over The Crown: Season 1. When I heard that there would be more seasons, I thought to myself: Ah yes, There Will Be Corgiez.

Where, then, exactly, in The Crown: Season 2, are they?

Here we glimpse them for the first time in Season 1—a total of THREE episodes in and during a flashback to Dec 10, 1936 (the day of King Edward VIII’s infamous abdication) no less:

During this first view of corgis (“Where are the corgis?” “There they are finally!”), we never see more than two corgis in one frame. Yet, we hear the girls on bikes (here, the young Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret) repeatedly shouting, “Gina! Carina! Ella!” while the dogs bark along, which suggests that there are in fact three corgis. As though to avoid any confusion about what “Gina,” “Carina,” and “Ella” rigidly designate, we see young Elizabeth turn a corner towards a corgi while saying, “Ella! Ella.”

Now, I always thought this scene was fishy. According to my records, Elizabeth never even owned any corgis under the names of Gina, Carina, or Ella. And it’s even more unlikely that she would’ve had all three of them in 1936, given that Dookie—Elizabeth’s first corgi—was introduced into the household only three years prior in 1933. (Something I recently learned was that, when selecting her first corgi puppy, Elizabeth went for the one with the slightly longer tail “so that we can see whether he is pleased or not.”) Dookie was followed three years later—aka 1936, during which this scene is set—with corgi Lady Jane (who Dookie actually didn’t really take to, but that’s another story), so it seems even more implausible that the princesses would be hanging around with Gina, Carina, Ella, et al here. Some further googling of these three names together leads me to one Maria Carter, who is the owner/trainer of—yes—three show corgis with these exact names (see here; they’re also supposedly featured in this advertisement for London, if you care to compare to image above).

It seems more than a little possible, then, that the actresses portraying young Elizabeth and Margaret in this scene are simply calling the actual names of the three show corgis, which doesn’t even make that much production sense if we assume that they hired these corgis to act and thus presumably respond to names that might not be their own. (Corgis have the IQ of a 5 year old FWIW…BUT CAN AN ANIMAL REALLY ACT?) This seems borderline offensive to me, especially if we remember that this is the first time we see any corgis on a show that is literally about the life of a famous monarch who basically “made corgis happen” and because it’s a bracketed representation of a historical date in what is already a historical drama! I get why the show needs to dial up the unreliable intrigue when it comes to Philip’s affairs, Jackie Kennedy, and whatnot, but there is zero reason why anyone needs to lie about how many corgis 10-year-old Elizabeth had or what their names were. And honestly, given Elizabeth’s penchant for liquor, “Gin” would have a far more plausible name than “Gina.” There’s simply no excuse for this shadiness.

Sit down folks, we’re going to be here all day.

The second time we see corgis on The Crown is in S1Ep7, during a meeting Elizabeth has with Winston Churchill. Here they are:

The middle one is drooling with excitement, and the one on the far right seems completely starstruck about meeting the Bulldog. Corgi on the left seems more chill, like maybe he could take it or leave it, but for now this is fine.

Moving on to the next corgi appearance, here they are in the following episode, appropriately titled “Pride and Joy”:

Our three corgis sit obediently near Elizabeth while she works. Corgis apparently come in threes in the Queen’s household. At this point, I’m starting to get a little suspicious. Is The Crown simply reusing the same three corgis for all their corgi scenes? Actors are expensive these days, but do they really need to skimp on corgis?

And given the primacy of Susan—Elizabeth’s famous “foundational bitch” from which all her current corgis derive—at the time, it seems more than a little egregious to represent the corgis of her early reign as some mere indistinguishable pack. Elizabeth and Susan (an 18th birthday gift following the unfortunate death of Lady Jane by car) were historically inseparable. Susan went with Elizabeth and Philip on their honeymoon to Scotland, after all! I would’ve liked to see more one-on-one with Susan in The Crown, and the level of deception and assumed ignorance on behalf of viewers is unsettling. Corgis are not simply background features in the Queen’s life. In fact, Elizabeth had to train Susan to accept the presence of new human offspring Charles when he was born, with tricks like introducing Susan to the baby while “stroking Susan all the time” and also to “when nursing baby let Susan have a nice saucer of milk or tea [???] beside you.” This corgi drinks tea. The corgi is part of the royal family, not some kind of quaint joke accessory.

Even more unforgivable is the fact that the corgis acting on The Crown are Pembrokes with a nontrivial amount of white fur. The Queen’s corgi aesthetics famously tended toward Pembrokes of the darker red persuasion (as the breed more commonly used to be), and with very little white on them. As Vanity Fair has reported, Elizabeth once remarked upon one of the corgis of the chairman of the Welsh Corgi League with the following disapproval: “Oh, he’s got a lot of white on him, hasn’t he?” What we have on The Crown, it seems, is the Americanization of the corgi. (To be sure, one of my favourite corgis is an all-white albino corgi named Winston, but that’s no excuse for period piece inaccuracy.)

Compare the above images, then, with an actual photograph of Susan:

Where is the white chest fur here? Exactly.

I bet the actual Queen cringes each time she sees a corgi on The Crown, if she’s even still watching, because this level of corgi-washing is unbearable.

Alas, onwards. Elizabeth returns from her 23-week tour of the Commonwealth countries to her children and corgis and doesn’t bend to hug either one:

DEAR GOD, SOMEONE GIVE THIS CORGI SOME LOVE!!!!

Look into the corgi’s desperate eyes, for they are trying to tell you something.

Now onto Season 2, where the corgis are at least introduced a bit earlier this time with their first appearance occurring near the end of episode 2:

Captions are featured here because at least someone cares to be specific about the corgis on this goddamn show.

Here we see them, leaving the car with the Queen as God intended them to. This is the only time The Crown eludes to the fact that Elizabeth travels everywhere with the corgis. Half of the public photographic record of the Queen’s corgis involve them getting in and out of cars, or up and down airplanes, so you’d think the show would make a point to feature travel scenes with corgis. This is not the case. When Elizabeth flies on The Crown, there are no corgis ever in sight.

Look, all I’m trying to say here is that the Queen goes everywhere with her corgis and The Crown doesn’t even try to respect this fact.

Beggars, it seems, cannot be choosers, so back to regular programming: after the corgis bound from the cars, they scurry inside, and we find the family sitting around the radio in anticipation of Philip’s Christmas speech:

Elizabeth isn’t even making eye contact with the corgi here.

The next time we see corgis in Season 2 is near the end of Episode 5, when the Queen invites a bunch of semi-commoners into the palace at the end and the corgis join too, presumably for promotional reasons? As if the corgis aren’t genuinely an integral part of Elizabeth’s daily life?

Once again, three corgis. Always (the same?) three corgis…

Near the beginning of Episode 8—otherwise known as The Kennedy Episode—we see three grumpy corgis (you can always tell by looking at how their ears begin to droop) at the back of her Land Rover:

Sure, give us corgis in vehicles only when the corgis appear to be suffering. These corgis are going through hell. I hope they fed them plenty of tea after this shoot.

And finally, the moment you’ve all been waiting for since you hit that click button and started reading this piece: The Corgi Room Scene. This scene is arguably the heart of the episode, which is further centered around the key to, yes, Elizabeth’s heart. In a moment of intimacy, the Queen takes Jackie Kennedy into the Corgi Room (this aspect of The Crown is at least accurate) and introduces her to Sugar and her puppies Whiskey and Sherry.

It’s a touching scene—a moment of what appears to be sincere empathy and affinity between the two women who bond over having each found themselves rather unwillingly in the public spotlight. Both Elizabeth and Jackie self-identify as the “shy” one between their respective sisters, and as “deep down […] happiest with animals.” Corgis are not simply background effects here, then. Instead, they crucially mediate the newfound closeness between Elizabeth and Jackie as well as become the literal topic of conversation. In this scene, corgis are both form and content. They are revealed as the background—the hidden Corgi Room—that in fact grounds the very core of what makes The Crown, well, uniquely Elizabeth. Viewers see this scene as a turning point for Elizabeth, as she opens up to Jackie on what is very much her turf. Both women are brought just a little bit more down to earth, as often happens when one is around corgis. And as if to allay any anxieties that the show might be recycling the same three corgis, the three corgis here are noticeably neither Gina, Carina, nor Ella as evinced by their darker markings and varying sizes. Viewers are further drawn then to understand this scene as a turning point for corgi representation on The Crown as well, in which the animals are finally recognized for the key figures they are.

Alas, for anyone who watched through to the end of the episode, this scene is yet another disappointing mirage. Elizabeth and Jackie aren’t really friends. Susan, Whiskey, and Sherry aren’t really the corgis we are led to believe they are. L To begin, the real Susan looked like this:

  Yes, folks, she is a lovely deep-hued red corgi. And the Susan on The Crown is, oh dear, a tri-colored corgi:

Sigh.

Equally troubling is the fact that while Whiskey and Sherry were born in 1955, the Kennedy visit to Buckingham Palace didn’t happen until June 1961. The most generous reading of the artistic decision to play fast and loose with dates here is that The Crown is replicating the illusion of corgi-lubricated intimacy played out between Elizabeth and Jackie here by simultaneously pulling the wool over viewers’ eyes with a bald lie about Sugar, Sherry, and Whiskey’s biographical details. Did they think we’d eat out of the palm of their hand here because of how naming Sugar’s puppies Sherry and Whiskey is SO HECKIN’ CUTE? How we move on from this I don’t even know.

It should go without saying that I adore The Crown so much, and, perhaps against my better judgment, still do. I’ll take any corgis I can get. But this season, especially, I felt increasingly that the corgis were featured as Easter Eggs—popping up here and there, always in threes—rather than what they actually are, which are living, breathing, frapping members of the royal household. Check yourself, The Crown, before you etc.

For instance, I started listing the moments where the show would be more plausible if there was a corgi in the scene. Besides almost all the scenes featuring a vehicle, think also about those where Elizabeth is sitting around the television. The Crown does excellent work of always reminding viewers that Elizabeth’s reign follows the arc of television’s increasingly everyday presence in people’s lives by having Elizabeth follow real-time world historical news on her television. Beginning with the televizing of Elizabeth’s own coronation, The Crown frequently thematizes how Elizabeth’s understanding of how the public views her through the medium of television is a first-order experience of how we as Netflix viewers come to understand Elizabeth through The Crown. In other words, there ought to be more corgis.

The TV they are watching is so small they could definitely fit a few corgis in here:

They even rented a TV for watching the Kennedys!:

You would think the Queen would definitely nap with corgis:

It just doesn’t add up! If The Crown is about both realism and entertainment, then wouldn’t both beg the presence of more corgis? It’s not like the show or the advertising around it isn’t already aware that corgis are a major selling point. All the articles featuring how the corgis “stole the show” on the red carpet, for example, led me to expect more of the same in the actual show itself. Consider too the enviable London promotion where one might “Borrow My Corgi” to binge-watch the premiere of the second season. Or The Crown’s little add-on spoofs featuring an all-corgi cast. I would have preferred if corgis weren’t treated like fluff to be paraded as some paratext to the show, and were actually taken seriously as the heart and spirit of the Queen—indeed, the Crown—itself. As with the first season, this one concludes too with a photographic portrait of Queen Elizabeth, except instead of a solo portrait, this time we have Elizabeth surrounded by her growing, bouncing, increasingly unruly family. This season, Elizabeth looks a little less put together, a little more dead inside:

Could it be because there is no corgi in the frame? That it is finally dawning upon Elizabeth that the corgis are being slowly erased from the life of the heroine? That, as Claire Foy sits here in her last appearance portraying the Queen on The Crown, she too is slowly coming to comprehend how the corgis have already gone long before her? A spectre is haunting Britain—the spectre of corgilessness.

  The post Occasional Corgis: The Crown’s Canine Politics appeared first on Los Angeles Review of Books.

from Los Angeles Review of Books http://ift.tt/2pKQAhW

[bisluthq]

It’s not just parents being comfortable to let their kids watch taylor because her content was family friendly and not sexual or sensual, but it’s comfortable for the kids too. I’m only a bit younger than taylor and been a fan since debut, and when other teen girl or early 20s pop girls music videos would come on and they were sexual or whatever, I felt so uncomfortable because my body did not look like theirs, my friends and I weren’t dancing like that, we weren’t wearing those clothes, no one I knew in real life was making out as heavily as people in some videos were. I felt like I was abnormal and my friends and I needed to be more, that our parties needed to be wild or we were ‘immature’, and a few of us felt there was something wrong with us because teen girls in music were nothing like us. Of course no one’s life is like a music video lol but when taylor came on the scene she wasn’t sexualised or doing anything abnormal for other 16 year olds in her videos. Any one of my friends could’ve been a backup character in a taylor video exactly as we were already you know? So there was a comforting factor to her “innocence” because she was validating our simple lives that didn’t look like a hot and sweaty, tanned and coloured hair, pop or hip hop type dance video.

I also remember seeing Britney and Christina’s videos on tv when I was much younger and I liked their simple ones, but I was so confused by Christina’s Dirty era videos because I liked her songs but my young brain was like why is she wearing a bikini top when she’s not at the beach or pool? Bikini tops are like bras, so she’s in her UNDERWEAR and I am watching her WITHOUT a proper top on! Does that make me naughty? Because people are meant to wear clothes… why are so many people not wearing all their clothes and keep touching around or pointing at their private parts? This is rude! Therefore they must be bad people!! Cause you know, idk how old I was when those videos came out but in that 8-12 year old age group, it WAS confusing to me. but for me and at least some of my friends, we went from thinking watching Dirty by Xtina made us bad people to comparing our bodies with hers within a few years.

fwiw we weren’t from a religious or conservative home either, so it’s not like we were seeing things we were taught were sins or wrong at a big level, but just like…. People should wear clothes lol. So taylor also appealed to weird kids like me and my friends because sure she had great hair and was tall and skinny and had some beautiful dresses, but it wasn’t intimidating and didn’t seem unachievable to emulate

I totally agree dude. I also think her clothes - ugly pieces aside but that’s a taste thing - have always been possible to emulate for the average (financially comfortable and often white but still) girl. Like she always dresses trendy and age appropriate but not like SUPER trendy. As I said when we had this convo the other day, if I wore more pants I’d steal some of her recent outfits lol like that one outside Jack’s house or the one in that park with Joe and stuff. I love Zoë and Dakota’s style but I wouldn’t ~ever dress like that because it’s just too edgy for normal life yk?

As you say: she’s prettier and shinier than like us or our friends but it’s not as intimidating as like people who do Pop Star™️ vibes.