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missmarveledsblog · 8 months ago

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It's just pretend right ? (Bucky Barnes x Reader ) part 8

Summary : Kitty tells everyone what the discovery of her findings were... while she still processing everything a massage leads to some more revelations only this time it was the good kind while peter finds out it not good idea to spy .

warning : hydra being sick fucks but rest is fluffy and cute not proofread so spelling and grammatical errors maybe ?( soz )

previous part

The Information, showed when you think nothing could get worse or more bizarre than it already has....well hydra could top it in most disgusting way. The fact she had her birth family and adopted family ,crush all in one part of her house something even books or films couldn't conjure and yet it was her real life and now her discovery of why she was so wanted, well it came just as a cherry on the shit sundae that was just her life . She watched and waited as they all filtered into the space , Her family kept to one side of the house while the avengers worked the other side, since leaving meant danger. Head still reeling and her stomach still twisting and turning at the information learned, knowing this was what they had planned in their sick and twisted heads . She could see tony and Bruce looking over the computer, both men looking to her as confirmation, a quick nod . she could see it on him, the tinge of green on Bruce banners neck creeping up as he shook his head and excused himself from the room completely followed by a roar outside .

“ Ok that is not good , what is it? “ Nat eyes looking out the window, back at Kitty as Wanda’s eyes flashed read and both she and Loki stood like bristled cats .

“Somebody spit it out “ Steve yelled.

"They want her to make more enhanced super soldiers whether its of clone of variety or the other way “ tony sighed as her eyes closed .

“ Other way as in ..” Bucky asked, his mind piecing it together. “ no even they can’t be that sick “ he snapped.

“Super soldier factory" she waved gesturing to her stomach as they caught on .

“Slightly glad they ripped ours out now....sorry" Yelena winced

“Yeah its great victims of the red room you get your reproduction taken while hydra breed you like livestock, Their original plan was to make me a super soldier use the gifts, I got for their own gain and now their like those horrible shop channel like wait there more, like make some soldiers from scratch , since normal people are more than likely to die or that's their logic “ she sighed sitting down . “Like I’m going to make hydra great again or some shit you know i was hoping all i had to do this week was pretend Bucky was my boyfriend and now i have to fight for my womb “ she waved her hands .

“ Brock Rumlow was head of the programme to um you know “tony winced .

“ he’s dead right i mean dead dead?” she looked around .

“ I thought Bucky was dead dead … but definitely I'm sure Rumlow is gone “ Steve smiled weakly. “ sorry “ .

“ We know now and they are planning something big so we need to be step ahead , Wanda, Loki sniff out shield agent we don’t need any leaks , when Bruce isn’t shade of broccoli , me and science bro’s will dig till we find out exactly what their plan is and how we can stop it “ she stood hands on her hips and head high . “ Aven…”

“ Avenger assemble" Steve clapped .

“ Couldn’t let me do it just once could you fossil" she rolled her eyes .

“ Do we tell your family ? " clint asked.

“Nah they know” she shrugged nudging her head to the door as vision opened it only for her siblings to fall into the room .

“ What do we tell fury" Steve asked.

“Yeah what do we tell fury” the man he stood .

“ Fine sit down I’ll explain and Steve if you interrupt me so help me I will feed you to the pigs” she stood .

“ You don’t have pigs”

“ I’ll feed you to the hulk “ she stuck her tongue out.

What seemed to be new regular she was sitting in her room as they all took different parts of the house to sleep in, some of the team stayed on the jets as she sat at her window looking up at sky, waiting on an asteroid or something to hit them as it would be on par with how things were going. When she heard a light tapping on her door turning to see Bucky’s head poking in .

“ Am i still staying in here?” he asked sort of nervously .

“Course unless you don’t wanna, with Steve and Sam here" her eyes went back out to the window.

"Nah think I’m good here" he walked over putting his hands on her shoulders , movements slow at first feeling the weight of everything she been through held in the muscles of her shoulder, before he added pressure head head falling back against his stomach, eyes closed and soft sigh coming from her lips . “Feel good?” he asked with a smirk.

“ If you stop, I will honestly kill you “She laughed felling the tension melt away under his fingers ,frankly loving his touch on her skin even it was covered by her clothes, she could still feel his touch in a way . “ So what was it you wanted to talk to me about when you came into the room ya know before i puked everything including my stomach up" he asked almost a whisper too wrapped up in his fingers massaging her worries away .

“ Oh we don’t have to talk about it, you’ve got a lot on at the moment “ he smiled.

“Nah come on none of that, unless it bad, then I don’t think I could take bad now no pressure except a little... more to the left … oh god “ she moaned out making him completely freeze and halt what he was doing , brain short circuiting at such a noise spilling from her lips .

“ Hey! why’d you stop? “ she was looking up her head still leaning on his stomach, He was still standing trying to think of anything that could kill the heat rising in his veins at the very sound out ,that was repeating on loop in his head fueling fantasies at a supersonic speed . “You ok ?" her head tilted.

“ Erm yes .. yup yeah” He face scrunched at the fact he was definitely channeling some pre serum Steve and didn’t help the wide doe eyes she was giving him .

“ What is it clearly got you more awkward then tony when he caught parke imitating him with shaving foam” she snorted .

“ Ok I think we need to talk, it's ok if you got too much going on, I just need to get this out of my system before I explode” he move to other side of her taking one of the pillows at the window placing it on his lap thinking maybe it looked like he was just nervous.. He was but it wasn’t the only thing he was feeling as he looked around the room till his eyes landed on the door. “ one second “ he stood almost running to lock it before jogging back putting the pillow back on his lap .

“Ok take deep breathe whatever it is doesn’t matter if the world is falling around us, I always wanna know what’s bugging you or on your mind “ she took his metal hand slight thankful it was that hand since the other one was now clammy as hell .

“ Ok maybe my head is still scrambled or some shit but something I’ve picked on during this time together, the closeness and all that which isn’t a bad thing definitely not, actually it good more than good actually … oh fucking hell I don’t even think Steve was this bad … am I going crazy to think that closeness was leading to kissing “ he rambled as she dropped his hand making him think he scared her off , read it all wrong or so far gone in thoughts of her he made it all up .

“ Sorry my hands sweat “ she whispered wiping it before taking his hand again .

“ it’s my metal hand doll “ he chuckled slight relief he didn’t scare her off .

“ Oh! ha yeah erm shit … so god why is this so hard I mean Jesus y/n … its not you I mean it could be wishful thinking , it could be crazy .. I am crazy about you and have been since I yelled at you that day you know how hard it is to keep yelling at someone when your like damn he’s hot … not the point I’m sorry, I must be over thinking or wishful thinking I already said that oh my god if Steve was this bad, I think we might need to start a club” she stumbled and copied his rambling as he completely was more in love than he could of been . The woman he’s been undisputedly in love with was crazy about him . Not taking a chance for anymore interruptions or wasting anymore time he cut her off by pressing his lips to hers completely freezing any thought in her brain . She was stunned thinking maybe it all got too much, her brain finally snapped and here she was in the funny farm conjuring this whole thing up . Hallucinations of a lunatic or not she pulled him closer never wanting to leave the moment ever as she kissed him back . She wanted to stay like that for rest of her days, Live on the sole taste of Bucky Barnes could keep her sustained in life, hating her lungs need for oxygen as she pulled back but the look of pure love in his eyes was something she could make an exception for breaking the kiss . But as time went by she could feel more eyes on her and she turned to see peter parked looking in her window making her fall back on her ass with a scream.

“THEY KISSED" he yelled down only the window to open and her head to pop out seeing the team and sibling looking up cheering .

“ Wanda catch peeper parker“ was all she said before she blew the little flames coming out like fireflies and burning the webs making the young man screech like a little girl as he went down .

“ My sister just tried to kill Spiderman” jack paled.

“ Our sister … peeper parker she is so funny “ Yelena snorted patting his back .

“ Go to bed, you perverts!! “ she yelled out before closing the window and pulling the blinds .

“ Sooo... you like me ?” she asked smiling widely .

“ No I don’t like you doll, i love you “ he chuckled pulling her close .

“ You scared me there asshole , Don't say it like that....lucky I love you too “ she smiled diving on to the man and crashing her lips against his,ignoring the cheering still going on .

next part

taglist : @vicmc624 @babble28 @scott-loki-barnes @ozwriterchick @et-mberg

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granulesofsand · 4 months ago

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🗝️🏷️ TBC programming

I still prefer the word programming to describe what was done to us. I get that it’s kind of sci-fi sounding, and I honestly appreciate that about it. It was harsh, it was unreal, I’m not entirely sure I want to be believed — let alone by people on the fence about whether it’s possible to do what was done to make me.

Programming feels like strings tied to my limbs, cutting into me as someone else puppets my body for me. The emotional turmoil of loving the pain. I’m not primed to have responses to typing about it, but even this much has me dizzy, seeing colors that aren’t there. Autocorrect is pulling its weight today.

I also like programming because it was, at least for me, methodical, indoctrinating, a passed down knowledge of what to do to get which response. Like a computer but in community. I fall in love with it, I miss being part of it, I hate myself for having any positive association with it.

Being methodical means that failed programming is a failure on the programmer’s part. If you can’t get a CDD, you should know how to work with PDs and PTSD. The end result should always be either a CDD or OSDD-2. If somebody isn’t responding to one treatment, it’s on you to find a better one. You being technically infinite, but actually directed at our programmers.

We know how we should be fixed, or what went wrong that wasn’t caught in time. We use those details to break our programming further. They don’t have the resources to fix us anymore, not properly.

I don’t want to be known. Which is why I hand my thoughts to the internet where anybody could see them. Idk what I wanted from this. Centrifugal force gets me down. Merry Chrysler. Happy Honda days. Cause it looks like Christmas lights. I think I’m funny.

#I wrote a lot even if it took a second #proud of myself #programmed system #organized abuse #cdd system #cdd inclusivity

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cosmogyros · 4 months ago

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Still thinking about that topic I was rambling about yesterday, and I think I've put my finger on the weirdest part of the whole "making it as an artist" thing.

If you want to be able to make even a humble living in that field (music, art, writing, whatever) - to make enough money from your art alone to live comfortably - you pretty much HAVE to become extremely successful, often even straight-up famous.

This isn't the case with any other kind of job (afaik) - you can study or get training as a computer programmer, a plumber, a teacher, an administrative assistant, a carpenter, you name it - and then do that job full-time and earn a steady living from it. (Note I'm not saying a DECENT living - for instance, I've known many teachers who couldn't afford their own place and had to have roommates, and even some who went through periods of having to live in their cars, but I don't think that's the norm).

And the main point is: you don't need to be a FAMOUS programmer or whatever in order to make a living from it! You don't need to be a celebrity plumber with a million IG followers! You can live in happy obscurity and still have a steady income. But this isn't possible, as a rule, for artists of most kinds. For artists, you have to be either big-time famous, or else get some other job to pay the bills and only do your art in your free time.

From what I understand of history, this situation wasn't always as extreme as it is now. I hear that, in the first half of the 20th century, it was not uncommon to be able to scrape together a humble living as a lounge singer or a portrait painter or whatever. Even in the latter half of the 20th century, Billy Joel, for example, was able to find steady work as a bar pianist when he wasn't famous at all yet.

And that's what I want. I would love to make a living - just enough to pay the rent on my tiny apartment and eat out at a café once a week - as a musician, with a band, performing in bars or clubs as simply "the entertainment". I don't need anything more glamorous than that. I certainly don't want to live in a gated mansion in L.A. and have the paps tailing me every time I step outside and have my body and relationships scrutinized pitilessly by Internet comment sections.

I just want to be the musical equivalent of a plumber or an administrative assistant! Not the GOAT, just somebody filling a niche and satisfying my customers and bringing home a paycheck I can live on. And it makes me so sad that this world is not set up to allow that.

#cosmo gyres #personal #the music industry #ughhhh i dunno #these thoughts are all still very unformed #but... that's how i feel right now

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beardedmrbean · 5 months ago

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A French woman who was conned out of €830,000 (£700,000; $850,000) by scammers posing as actor Brad Pitt has faced a huge wave of mockery, leading French broadcaster TF1 to withdraw a programme about her.

The primetime programme, which aired on Sunday, attracted national attention on interior designer Anne, 53, who thought she was in a relationship with Pitt for a year and a half.

She has since told a popular French YouTube show that she was not "crazy or a moron": "I just got played, I admit it, and that's why I came forward, because I am not the only one."

A representative for Pitt told US outlet Entertainment Weekly that it was "awful that scammers take advantage of fans' strong connection with celebrities" and that people shouldn't respond to unsolicited online outreach "especially from actors who have no social media presence."

Hundreds of social media users mocked Anne, who the programme said had lost her life's savings and tried to take her own life three times since the scam came to light.

Netflix France put out a post on X advertising "four films with Brad Pitt (for real)", while, in a now-deleted post, Toulouse FC said: "Hi Anne, Brad told us he would be at the stadium on Wednesday... and you?"

The club has since apologised for the post.

On Tuesday, TF1 said it had pulled the segment on Anne after her testimony had sparked "a wave of harassment" - although the programme can still be found online.

In the report, Anne said her ordeal began when she downloaded Instagram in February 2023, when she was still married to a wealthy entrepreneur.

She was immediately contacted by someone who said they were Pitt's mother, Jane Etta, who told Anne her son "needed a woman just like her".

Somebody purporting to be Pitt got in touch the next day, which set off alarm bells for Anne. "But as someone who isn't very used to social media, I didn't really know what was happening to me," she said.

At one point, "Brad Pitt" said he tried to send her luxury gifts but that he was unable to pay customs on them as his bank accounts were frozen due to his divorce proceedings with actor Angelina Jolie, prompting Anne to transfer €9000 to the scammers.

"Like a fool, I paid... Every time I doubted him, he managed to dissipate my doubts," she said.

The requests for money ramped up when the fake Pitt told Anne he needed cash to pay for kidney cancer treatment, sending her multiple AI-generated photos of Brad Pitt in a hospital bed. "I looked those photos up on the internet but couldn't find them so I thought that meant he had taken those selfies just for me," she said.

Meanwhile, Anne and her husband divorced, and she was awarded €775,000 - all of which went to the scammers.

"I told myself I was maybe saving a man's life," Anne said, who is in cancer remission herself.

Anne's daughter, now 22, told TF1 she tried to "get her mother to see reason" for over a year but that her mother was too excited. "It hurt to see how naive she was being," she said.

When images appeared in gossip magazines showing the real Brad Pitt with his new girlfriend Ines de Ramon, awakening suspicions in Anne, the scammers sent her an fake news report in which the AI-generated anchor talked about Pitt's "exclusive relationship with one special individual... who goes by the name of Anne."

The video comforted Anne for a short time, but when the real Brad Pitt and Ines de Ramon made their relationship official in June 2024, Anne decided to end things.

After scammers tried to get more money out of her under the guise of "Special FBI Agent John Smith," Anne contacted the police. An investigation is now under way.

The TF1 programme said the events left Anne broke, and that she has tried to end her life three times.

"Why was I chosen to be hurt this way?," a tearful Anne said. "These people deserve hell. We need to find those scammers, I beg you - please help me find them."

But in the YouTube interview on Tuesday Anne hit back at TF1, saying it had left out details on her repeated doubts over whether she was talking to the real Brad Pitt, and added that anyone could've fallen for the scam if they were told "words that you never heard from your own husband."

Anne said she was now living with a friend: "My whole life is a small room with some boxes. That's all I have left."

While many online users overwhelmingly mocked Anne, several took her side.

"I understand the comic effect but we're talking about a woman in her 50s who got conned by deepfakes and AI which your parents and grandparents would be incapable to spot," one popular post on X read.

An op-ed in newspaper Libération said Anne was a "whistleblower": "Life today is paved with cybertraps... and AI progress will only worsen this scenario."

#nunyas news #you kinda earned the mockery there #not that I approve #but still damn

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lovecanbesostrange · 2 years ago

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ouattober2023 Day 6: Fav Rarepair

Red Warrior (aka Mulan Rouge, fandom, it was right there, come on)

The gif speaks for itself already, Do I need to say more? No. Will I? Absolutely.

Back in S2 I was very happy. I had Sleeping Warrior to ship and also Red Beauty. Two good ships. But over the years there was the question "what if Mulan and Ruby ever met?". It seemed like a fun constellation. The honorable warrior, serious, focused, happily doing her duty. And the werewolf waitress who effortlessly talks to people, who can be mean if need be (and the full moon is out). Imagine Ruby showing Mulan around Storybrooke. She'd have her start her own gym so fast. (After being teased for so long, somebody should have taken Mulan to Storybrooke and let her watch a film already.)

I watched S5 spoiler free. No promos. It's fun. But there is always the guest cast list and seeing the names Jamie Chung and Meghan Ory when The Bear King started? EXCITEMENT! I was then mesmerized by the Mulan&Merida scenes, I almost forgot I was waiting to see Ruby again. And oh boy, THE WOLF! Once again foiled with magic, but that was okay. When Mulan arrives at the Witch's Hut next? A different kind of magic happening indeed...

Meet Cute noun; (in a film or television programme) an amusing or charming first encounter between two characters that leads to the development of a romantic relationship between them.

Yep, I'd say Mulan almost getting attacked saying "you're not a wolf" with a big smile "you just need a little help remembering who you are", then splashing that potion to reveal Ruby, now sorta sitting above her? Perfect meet cute you can talk about for ages. It calls back a pivotal point from Mulan's past and we get to see a mostly decent CGI wolf (in broad daylight). Especially because we know that Red has killed people before and it's so unclear how much control she has, what exactly the Witch has done to her, ending it with her all smiling as well, is great. Of course I have to cry about "My name's Ruby. My friends call me Red." (Sorry, Mulan should have called her Red later on, to hammer that home.)

Mulan has hearteyes from the get-go, Ruby sits there panting. Frame this and put it in a museum. A clashing meeting that is definitely cute. I mean, there's a sword and fur involved.

It's funny how Mulan forgets to even introduce herself and Ruby has to ask her name later on (because suddenly it's night, how long did they sit like that?). And for somebody who likes to overanalyze it's hilarious how they do manage that Mulan mentions Aurora - with the sad music swelling in the background, to remind us all how their last meeting went - and then we cut to Ruby saying goodbye to Snow. In my mind a good reason this pairing works is, that they can get drunk together and lament how terribly in love they both once were with a princess. It's a fun thing to bond over.

Mulan is clearly the rare holder of the braincell, she also brings in a lot of training, so a good fighting form. Ruby is the muscle, but especially for the EF she has a special kind of wit thanks to the curse!persona. The Bear King allowed us to see a darker side of Mulan, hitting rock bottom, being selfish and looking for a fight.So Ruby is a great person to have her enjoy life and find a balance between duty and fun. This is kinda the promise at the end of the ep, finding a path for Mulan, while Ruby searches werewolves.

Obligatory Doylian rant: Red Warrior was the plan. Whatever you wanna say about the writers, they knew this episode was a romantic set-up. There was a cryptic tweet, some drama and so it's all speculative, but I have made my peace that this came down to studio interference. The live action Mulan film was in the works already, it was coming, Mulan is an official big Disney princess and even though everybody with a bit of media literacy understood that Mulan was very much in love with Aurora, there was this plausible deniability and she wasn't like... that gay. Oh no. And this is why Dorothy got squeezed in, Mulan left with nothing. Clearly not what was promised to Jamie Chung. I have no proof, but it is the best explanation how we went from The Bear King to Ruby Slippers (zero hate for that episode or the Red Kansas ship!!).

I want to know what kind of adventures they had together. How did they go about this search? Any rumors about wolves? The maddening thing is how they managed to end up in Oz at all. I know there's a mysterious BTS pic for the ep. But nevermind, what we do get in the beginning is a duo with a routine, complete with a badass back-to-back protective stance. I always pictured them together in Storybrooke, Ruby showing Mulan around. But I guess what I needed was them out in the woods alone, traveling realms and kicking ass (I'm a simple girl, with simple needs).

Two wonderful interactions at the end of TBK are when the Witch arrives at the coronation. Ruby is ready to go on the offense, but Mulan holds her back. Just a few frames, but it's perfect. And then there's their little banter Ruby: "I might not be the best person to ask for dating advice. I kind of ate the only boyfriend I've ever had." Mulan: "Yes, that disqualifies you." [...] Ruby: "It's better than wallowing in self-pity." Mulan: "I don't wallow!"

THEY ARE ALREADY PERFECT FOR EACH OTHER! Endless teasing and running head first into enemies (don't worry, Mulan has a plan; Ruby dramatically takes off her cloak... sometimes even when there is no wolf moon, just to distract enemies).

#ouattober2023 #Red Warrior #Mulan Rouge #Ruby Lucas #OUaT Mulan #I shipped them before they even met - I flew too close to the sun with this

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someprettyname · 1 year ago

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Lore time! (If it sounds bad I'm sorry)

Annual school fest in Osaka which will determine who'll represent the prefecture, right? Held at my school for a week (arts and sports together) while I was a high school first year. I was in for a debate competition (let me dream about being confident enough) and versification (Not kidding, I actually competed for poetry within my state and was SO close to getting a rank I was sobbing), but that wasn't till the third and fourth days, so I decided to just randomly walk about the school, maybe watch some programmes. Two days went like that, then the third day, when the soccer games would begin, I ended up running into our favorite crow boy who thought I was a soccer teammate of his (also from India, an OC). Took him a while to realize I wasn't a guy, but I assured him that I preferred being referred to as a guy. Then we talked and stuff, and he revealed the team had come individually, so he was trying to find them because they'd already found each other. So I went alongside him, searching the whole school together with him. In the meantime, we chatted a lot, casual and deep, and I'd felt like I'd clicked with somebody despite being an introvert. But then we finally spotted one of his teammates there, and we just sorta–

"Oh yeah, that's him there."

"Alright, well... so, I guess this is goodbye."

"Nah. You got a debate today, no? 'M gonna be there, 'cause I need to see you ace it. *Don't* sweat the small stuff, 'cause you're pretty fucking capable. Think of them as like plants or something."

And then he just pats me on the back and leaves. Just like that. Anyway, so in that daze, I somehow do participate in the debate (we narrowly won, by the way). And then I get off the stage, only to meet his smirking face. "Ya did good for all that panicking earlier."

I scoffed and decided to walk off casually, but then I tripped over my own feet (being the clumsy shit I am) and ended up spraining my ankle. And this guy– he literally took initiative so fast, catching me just before I fell completely, asking me if I were okay, before supporting me and walking me till the infirmary somehow (thankfully it was right down the corridor). He stayed with me the entire time basically, I got my foot bandaged up, then he again offered me support to walk around. I asked him when his game was, because I remember him saying his team would play the starting game.

And I'm telling you, never have I seen a guy run so fast. He just yelled a "Stay safe" to me and ran. I laughed so much that day. Anyway, that was the first part of it. After the game was done and stuff, he ended up coming to me to a say a bye, whether I'd be there the next days or not. I assured him I would, then he left with a grin.

Now, timeskip to the final day, we talked during the times we had free, I recited him some of the things I'd written, he talked about his interests during the days. We made a bet that if his team won, I'd owe him a favor and if my school's won, he owed me one. We could ask for anything that wasn't too much. Unfortunately, his team ended up winning. Fortunately, however, what he did was he only talked to me just before leaving;

"Ya owe me something, sweets."

"Ugh. Damn you."

"Mhm, deal's a deal. Here's what it is."

He handed me a folded piece of paper and abruptly went to the car where his parents were waiting for him to come. I opened the paper cause I was too nervous to ask him. Nothing much. Just his number and a note underneath it.

"Because your ass doesn't know how to text without panicking, call me. Plus, wanna hear that cute laugh of yours more. And I'm preeettty sure you like my voice, you kept spacing out while I talked."

Didn't get to grin at him– he'd left by then. So I called him right there and then. Still remember his smug voice that evening. What a cocky piece of shit that I had developed a crush on.

Anyway, that's how it started. We'd video call almost every other day. My family got used to me talking about him, they liked him pretty well. Same with his. About a year passed like that, then like, when we were passing into our third year, he just called me up one Sunday, and asked me if he could send one of my poems to confess to this guy that he had a feeling liked him back. I felt this weird tightness in my chest, but I said okay, deciding I'd ask the details after. Then, I got a notification on my phone. Checked it. One of the poems I'd written, sent right back to me, with an extra message underneath, "Wanted this to be the first text."

I agreed, by the way.

Oh em geeeeee gon do my commentary as I read tehhehe

"Think of them as like plants or something." <- Bahhahahja i cracked up

And then I get off the stage, only to meet his smirking face. "Ya did good for all that panicking earlier." <- tell me you crumbled down on the inside

And I'm telling you, never have I seen a guy run so fast. He just yelled a "Stay safe" to me and ran. <- AYO SUS 🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨🤨 was he blushing?

"Ya owe me something, sweets." "Ugh. Damn you." (<- I know you were blushing) "Mhm, deal's a deal. Here's what it is." <- GUHHHHH YOU'RE BOTH SO CUTE IM GONNA GO CHOMP CHOMP

"And I'm preeettty sure you like my voice, you kept spacing out while I talked." <- KARASU YOU BITCH BOYYYYY nice move

URFGHSHHSJSIIAHSHSJNS GAHHHHHH THIS IS SO ?!!!?!?!?!?!?

Oh my god this is so cuteeeeeeee how long have you both been together now?

#blue lock #karasu tabito #karasu x reader #blue lock x reader #girlfriend fc #ask

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ultimatedetectivequeen · 2 months ago

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Do Kyotaro and Minako think any of their parents friends are total hotties? And if so… who~?

Lewd topics lie below!

To the twins, it honestly feels as though their parents have an endless amount of friends and acquaintances that they have known since their original days at Hope's Peak. Not only that, but the large majority of them happen to be ridiculously attractive! So, it should go without saying that there are many that Kyotaro and Minako have the hots for. Though, they do have some favorites.

With Minako being the shamelessly slutty friendly individual that she is, it didn't take very long for her to make it clear just who she found to be the most appealing among their parent's friends. And one of those individuals would be a certain adorable programmer. Chihiro had gained just a bit more height over the years, but still remained a certified bottom-heavy short-stack, with his feminine boy buns managing to grow even thicker. That, along with the fat juicy cock in between his legs, secured him a top spot on Minako's list of go-to fuckbuddies.

Her other top favorite is none other than Mondo, who had aged quite handsomely throughout the years. Back in the day, the biker gang leader owned quite a muscular body, one that only grew beefier and bulkier with age, something that would make rival gang members quiver in fear and one thirsty barista quiver for very different reasons... (What could she say? She loved a man who could throw her over his shoulder without breaking a sweat~)

Needless to say, Minako swiftly got to working her charm on the biker, eventually even growing close enough that he decided to introduce her to the rest of his gang, who were all happy to regularly bring her along with them for intense rides on their big blazing hogs.

Oh, and riding with them on their motorcycles was pretty fun too!

———

Since Kyotaro was considerably more reserved than his sister, you didn't really see him go around showing visible attraction towards others very much.

That is, unless he was in the presence of somebody with a body as mouthwatering as Aoi Asahina’s. Or as the twins affectionately referred to her: Auntie Hina

Of course, the boy was capable of being more subtle than his sister when it came to crushes like these. However, he still had his tells.

For instance, the way that he always tried (and failed) to hide the bulge that grew in his pants each time that their Auntie would greet him by immediately smothering his face into her warm, voluptuous breasts.

Or that he suddenly became very interested in hitting the gym more often upon learning that Hina routinely exercised at one near their home.

The next lady in question would be one Ultimate Pianist.

He had met Kaede when he had to visit the office of his mother's detective partner, Shuichi Saihara. Kyotaro wished to speak with him regarding a case, only to find the "away' sign on his door. Which was code for "I'm at Kyoko's office assisting her with a case." Which was code for "Kyoko called me into her office for our daily fuck-session."

Seeing this, Kyotaro sighed and decided to just wait inside. He was surprised to see that somebody was already sitting at Detective Saihara's desk. Only instead of a dark haired and pale-skinned man, it was a gorgeous, blonde, violet-eyed woman who was unbelievably busty!

Upon seeing the cute lilac-haired boy walk through the door, Kaede wasted no time introducing herself and asking if the young adult detective could help her with an issue that her husband was currently too busy to solve.

Of course, Kyotaro accepted immediately, though he didn't exactly expect resolving this "issue" to result in Kyoko and Shuichi walking into the latter's office to find him bent over the desk as Kaede lovingly ate out his asshole whilst simultaneously massaging his rock-hard shaft with her voluptuous milkers.

It should go without saying that from then on, Kaede had a go-to detective boy-toy to play with when her husband was too busy having fun with his boss.

#minakonaegi-r18 #kyotaronaegi-r18 #DRfujisaki-r18 #DRasahina-r18 #drakamatsu-r18 #futuretime #DRowada-r18

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animeomelette · 10 months ago

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The AO3 Monogatari tagging situation is clearly a case of incompetence rather than malice, where somebody has come from a position of ignorance and has failed to realise that three different terms all refer to the same thing

But the (thankfully now reversed) Sherlock Holmes situation I find impossible to interpret the same way; anyone who has lived on planet Earth in the past 120 years knows what Sherlock Holmes is and should be able to see why redirecting "Sherlock Holmes - All Media Types" to the tag for the BBC Sherlock television programme is a ridiculous and dysfunctional idea

The Sherlock Holmes case smacks to me of someone higher up in the organisation wanting to bully their underlings by forcing them to deal with the inevitable flood of support tickets that came in when people logged in to find one of the most popular fandom tags on the website inexplicably broken

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mifustudy · 6 months ago

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I Think It’s Great That You’re Failing: A Home Movies Retrospective

Adult animation has evolved significantly throughout the years. The changes this form of entertainment has undergone are most notably seen in the creation of Cartoon Network’s late-night programming block for mature audiences: Adult Swim. Debuting on September 2, 2001, Adult Swim kicked off an adult animation renaissance with seven new shows in tow. Out of the library-sized selection of cartoons aired during its lifetime, one Adult Swim program still stands out to me: Home Movies. The first show to ever air on the network, Home Movies is a perfect example of Adult Swim’s general mindset—indie and ambitious—despite not being made specifically for the block. With a wildly distinct visual style compared to its peers, Home Movies and its unorthodox approach to adult animation was unlike any other show airing at the time. As Adult Swim continues to redefine adult animation, Home Movies remains a timeless testament to the block's bohemian attitude and imaginative storytelling, setting it apart in the unpredictable landscape of animated entertainment.

To further push my point of Home Movies being a unique viewing experience compared to the other shows on Adult Swim, it would be best to give further context as to what the block is. Conceptualized as the passion project driven by former head programmer of Cartoon Network, Mike Lazzo, there was always a push to make something more of the channel; CN began as a hub for Hanna-Barbera reruns without any original programming. In collaboration with network president Betty Cohen, Lazzo borrowed recycled animation cells from a forgotten Hanna-Barbera superhero cartoon to create the first adult-oriented show that predates Adult Swim. Named Space Ghost Coast to Coast, it is a cheaply made and hardly animated talk show with celebrity guests such as Björk and Bob Odenkirk. With unexpected success and a high number of older viewers, there was a demand for an adult programming block on the channel.

The desire for a separate block came with budgeting issues, most of them stemming from the fact that organizing a collection of mature content on a channel aimed at children was a risky move. Sarah Bahr quotes former executive VP of Cartoon Network, Jim Samples, and his worries concerning the pushback from ad sales teams: “As a kids’ network, how were we going to actively market to adults?" Being given a restricted budget in combination with the limited amount of time they had to name the block and produce content for it, the team had to get creative. “It was a very small group of us doing all of that in addition to our regular jobs at Cartoon Network,” president of Adult Swim Michael Ouweleen expressed. Borrowing the same method used for Space Ghost, they assembled three shows ready to air: Sealab 2021, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, and The Brak Show. In addition to the creation of these programs, there was a need for even more content to flesh out a stand-alone block. Aqua Teen Hunger Force was one of the last in-house shows made for Adult Swim’s first lineup, but not the last to be added. Currently full of convenient, low-budget projects, it was inevitable for the team to acquire another just as easy to produce. Enter Home Movies, created by writer and animator Loren Bouchard and musician-comedian Brendon Small.

Given the greenlight to produce a show with the help of longtime industry partner and Soup2Nuts CEO, Tom Snyder, Bouchard needed a muse. Quoted by Brian VanHooker, Bouchard recalls how Snyder suggested producing the show: “Find somebody local who could be the lead voice and a big part of the show so that you feel like you have an engine behind it." First meeting at a stand-up comedy gig, the two clicked right away; Small took on the role of “engine” quickly. Brainstorming ideas around the loose concept of a family dynamic, he was also the first to push a major part of the show’s overarching theme: moviemaking in the most amateurish way. “When I was a kid, I would go through the rigamarole of charging up the family camera and clearing a tape, and I’d make movies with my friends, so I was thinking maybe that’s the thing for this show,” Small explained.

Home Movies follows the unconventional life of eight-year-old aspiring filmmaker Brendon Small—voiced by and named after co-creator Brendon Small—living with his offbeat single mother Paula Small. Brendon accomplishes his moviemaking ventures with help from friends Melissa and Jason, completing one short film per episode. Shots from each movie they make are placed sporadically throughout the runtime; the stories usually connect with the overarching theme of each episode. Additional notable characters of the show include alcoholic soccer coach turned friend and pseudo-mentor of Brendon’s, John McGuirk, and fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Lynch. Brendon uses filmmaking as an outlet for creativity and escapism. This is seen in countless storylines throughout the show.

The show debuted on The United Paramount Network on April 26th, 1999, with an order of five episodes. This premiere was far from a strong one. While not an extremely popular channel, UPN received its worst ratings with the arrival of Home Movies. “The ratings were terrible,” Bouchard explained, loosely quoting what the head of the network told him during a phone call the night of the first broadcast. “I would be fired if I even hinted that there was a chance that we were going to pick you up for more episodes,” he added. Looking through the rest of UPN’s airing cycles, animated or not, the channel was far from a success. Out of the twenty-four shows UPN aired, Home Movies is ranked second to last based on viewership. This network was far from what the show needed to reach its full potential.

After getting canceled once the first episode aired, the team felt trapped. Even with UPN still airing the leftover episodes, the future was bleak. “I was nervous I would have to start over or go back to bartending,” Bouchard joked. When all hope was lost, an unexpected call from Cartoon Network production writer Khaki Jones changed the game. Despite being one of the lowest-rated shows broadcast on UPN, Jones ended up loving it. She played a vital role in giving Home Movies its second life on Adult Swim, inevitably guiding the show towards taking on the task of introducing the adult-oriented programming block to the world. “When Khaki Jones called me, there was this unbelievable sense that we were right,” Bouchard observed. “The work was good; we just had no place on network television at that time."

One of the reasons why Home Movies was dropped from UPN was due to its outlandish visual style—not just the general art style but also the animation technique used. Bouchard had worked closely with Tom Snyder and his production company in the past, which led to their influence being transferred to his independent project. Adopting Soup2Nuts’ animation method, other quirks present in Home Movies are also due to Bouchard’s past work on Comedy Central’s Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist. Both shows utilize Squigglevision—the name of the animation method alluded to prior—which is described as a “compact form of animation” on the AllExperts forum by user Tony Hansen. The defining trait of this technique is the use of five or more distinct-ish frames that repeat per shot. “Traditional animation consists of going frame to frame and perfectly connecting different cells to provide a crispness and clarity that Squigglevision doesn't provide,” Tony explained in his post. While both affordable and novel, Squigglevision was not used for long during Home Movies’ lifetime. The team continued to utilize it throughout Season One before switching to Macromedia Flash, the multimedia software. “Squigglevision was wonderful and charming, but it was definitely a Dr. Katz thing,” Small expressed.

In addition to visual modifications, the writing was also revised. Originally following indistinct outlines during recording sessions, the team branched out to full scripts with Dr. Katz writer Bill Braudis' help. This switch occurred due to Small wanting to create a narrative within each episode rather than having the show be reduced to comedians continuously riffing off. The comedy style of Home Movies is blatantly influenced by Dr. Katz, even down to the whole “center around a comedian” part of it all. Jonathan Katz, lead voice actor and namesake of Dr. Katz himself, even appears in Home Movies as Melissa’s dad. The association of Dr. Katz with Home Movies is a topic lavish enough to warrant authoring another paper, but that is not what matters here. This paper is dedicated to Home Movies and its peculiar aura in contrast to the other adult animated comedies at the time.

A look at an old text thread on the animation-themed forum, Toonzone, shows that a substantial number of fans agree that the changes established in the program were improvements. “I think it boils down to what kind of humor people like.” forum user Shnay posted. This sentiment rings true, becoming increasingly obvious throughout Season Two and onwards. The dialogue revisions from the later Seasons compared to the first are most noticeable in Season Two, Episode Ten: History. Shnay also uses this episode as an example in their post, pulling from the experience they had watching Home Movies evolve. “I loved season one, and the "Starboy and Captain of Outer Space" episode was my least favorite episode of the series.” Shnay added, in contrast to how a good deal of fans enjoyed that episode, in addition to how they also “loathed” Season One. “Starboy and Captain of Outer Space” is the title of the movie Brendon, Jason, and Melissa produced during Episode Ten. While a portion of this episode is just the nonsensical film in parts amidst Brendon's attempt to improve his history grade, the lines shared by the ten-minute mark unveil something that had not been stated outright in the series yet: Brendon’s relationship with his movies.

The most daunting thing about Home Movies is not the art style. It is the dialogue. I admit the visuals are far from ordinary, but the conversations between characters are incomparable to anything else seen on Adult Swim at the time. Watching Brendon interact with his work in such a mature manner is enough to have the audience forget he is an elementary schooler. Even his immature attributes feel mature for his age. The best example of this is Brendon’s need for control, following the insecurities within himself and his art. His ego is offset by the inclusion of Jason and Melissa. The way these three characters interact with each other comes off as seriously authentic and not in an average eight-year-old way. With parents neglecting the role of guardian, their role as kids is both evident and not. Standing levelheaded in contrast to the uncertainty present in the adults, Brendon and the other kids in the series take on the role of caretaker.

Throughout the peculiar show, John McGuirk serves as a notable example of this unusual relationship. McGuirk is a stunted thirty-seven-year-old man who appears to only speak to the kids he coaches—specifically Brendon, as mentioned before. While McGuirk wants to be a father figure, his attempt falls flat with offers of phony advice. Brendon usually ends up being the one advising. The eleventh episode of Season Three, “Broken Dreams,” exhibits this relationship perfectly. Summarized by Winston Cook-Wilson, “McGuirk gets a serious concussion during lifeguard training and terrorizes [Brendon] at the library while covered in blood." While McGuirk misbehaves in the library, Brendon attempts to gently parent him and study for a test simultaneously.

Transferring over from UPN to Adult Swim, Home Movies distinguished itself from its contemporaries immediately. The first lineup made for the programming block feels incompatible with the method of storytelling Home Movies adopted. Small—the co-producer, not the character—was aware of this throughout production during its Adult Swim lifetime. “I never thought that Mike Lazzo necessarily responded to the show.” He expressed, quoted by IGN interviewer Ken P. (Ken). Being an outsourced show with monotone yet quirky performances in a sea of aspiring, in-house productions led Home Movies to its demise. “Each season that aired would never perform well on Adult Swim.” Small added. This is because the scheduled time Home Movies would air changed frequently due to the network trying to find the timeslot that would improve its performance. The show’s inevitable cancellation came and went for the team and the network, considering that it was not an expensive show to produce. Both parties accepted that Home Movies had run its course.

Being given the chance to end their show with a final, fourth season, Small and Bouchard knew what they had to do. “Knowing it was going to end was energizing in its own way.” Bouchard clarified, “It allowed Brendon to explore some heavy themes for the finale” (VanHooker). Season Four, Episode Thirteen, "Focus Grill" follows Brendon, Jason, and Melissa re-watching their past films. Realizing they aren't as great as they thought. In the series finale, Brendon utters sheepishly: “I have no idea why we make them. All I know is this, we keep coming here after school every single day, and we just keep doing it” (Focus Grill 20:35-42). This new attitude towards their creations thwarted their drive.

After their failed attempt at building a grill that ended with an explosion, McGuirk and Paula decided to abandon their plan and pick up food instead. During the car ride, Brendon brings his camera and starts filming out the window until they hit a bump. His heart sinks as he watches the camera slip out of his hands and crash onto the rough pavement. The sound of crushed metal rings as another car drives over it shortly after. Brendon stares on in anguish and disbelief. Before he can get a word out, the vehicle erupts in chatter over what they should get for lunch. Sitting there for barely ten seconds—though it is obvious this is played off for comedic effect—with tears welling up in his eyes, he joins in on the conversation, forgetting about his camera.

This entire sequence occurs at the very last minute of the episode and in an impressively short amount of time; it all went by so fast that there was barely a moment to process the weight of what just happened. This show has had an unparalleled impact on my relationship with art, reshaping my perspective in ways that no other cartoon has. Revisiting Home Movies for the first time since I was Brendon's age at seventeen, then reading countless interviews with the cast recently, my appreciation for the show could not be any more evident. Brendon's reliance on filmmaking because of the sense of control it gave him made me feel better represented than I ever have compared to any other type of media. Despite not being produced in-house, this show has become a standout Adult Swim program for several reasons beyond that. Its unique qualities and outstanding execution cemented its place as a must-see for fans of adult animation. As decades pass, Home Movies continues to stand as a model for the late-night block’s essence of innovative production, differentiating it from its contemporaries.

#home movies #brendon small #adult swim #i fucking love adult swim #this was an essay i wrote for class #adult animation

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blubberquark · 2 years ago

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Share Your Anecdotes: Multicore Pessimisation

I took a look at the specs of new 7000 series Threadripper CPUs, and I really don't have any excuse to buy one, even if I had the money to spare. I thought long and hard about different workloads, but nothing came to mind.

Back in university, we had courses about map/reduce clusters, and I experimented with parallel interpreters for Prolog, and distributed computing systems. What I learned is that the potential performance gains from better data structures and algorithms trump the performance gains from fancy hardware, and that there is more to be gained from using the GPU or from re-writing the performance-critical sections in C and making sure your data structures take up less memory than from multi-threaded code. Of course, all this is especially important when you are working in pure Python, because of the GIL.

The performance penalty of parallelisation hits even harder when you try to distribute your computation between different computers over the network, and the overhead of serialisation, communication, and scheduling work can easily exceed the gains of parallel computation, especially for small to medium workloads. If you benchmark your Hadoop cluster on a toy problem, you may well find that it's faster to solve your toy problem on one desktop PC than a whole cluster, because it's a toy problem, and the gains only kick in when your data set is too big to fit on a single computer.

The new Threadripper got me thinking: Has this happened to somebody with just a multicore CPU? Is there software that performs better with 2 cores than with just one, and better with 4 cores than with 2, but substantially worse with 64? It could happen! Deadlocks, livelocks, weird inter-process communication issues where you have one process per core and every one of the 64 processes communicates with the other 63 via pipes? There could be software that has a badly optimised main thread, or a badly optimised work unit scheduler, and the limiting factor is single-thread performance of that scheduler that needs to distribute and integrate work units for 64 threads, to the point where the worker threads are mostly idling and only one core is at 100%.

I am not trying to blame any programmer if this happens. Most likely such software was developed back when quad-core CPUs were a new thing, or even back when there were multi-CPU-socket mainboards, and the developer never imagined that one day there would be Threadrippers on the consumer market. Programs from back then, built for Windows XP, could still run on Windows 10 or 11.

In spite of all this, I suspect that this kind of problem is quite rare in practice. It requires software that spawns one thread or one process per core, but which is deoptimised for more cores, maybe written under the assumption that users have for two to six CPU cores, a user who can afford a Threadripper, and needs a Threadripper, and a workload where the problem is noticeable. You wouldn't get a Threadripper in the first place if it made your workflows slower, so that hypothetical user probably has one main workload that really benefits from the many cores, and another that doesn't.

So, has this happened to you? Dou you have a Threadripper at work? Do you work in bioinformatics or visual effects? Do you encode a lot of video? Do you know a guy who does? Do you own a Threadripper or an Ampere just for the hell of it? Or have you tried to build a Hadoop/Beowulf/OpenMP cluster, only to have your code run slower?

I would love to hear from you.

#programming #algorithms #distributed computing #threadripper #software development

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divorce · 1 year ago

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i want to keep tumblr because i like aesthetics

aesthetic aggregation is important because it allows for intimate relationships to develop outside of life-long domesticated-servile contracts

you transfer

love energy,

actually, when you share your aesthetic, and merge, like that

however

i don't think its possible to make organic relationships the same way it was a decade ago, no, entirely too sanitized

i highly doubt, since the algorithm that i'll ever oganically run into; actually its absurd to even finish that sentence

luckily, i became a sysadmin / programmer, in the interem period, and can actually build the tools this time around

i have an idea for an aesthetic aggregator portal place that combines dump.fm & tumblr with cellular automata, like a living pool you gaze into and everything's a ripple on a wave, man, that's like connected, woah

and i'm schemeing on it, i love lisp, when i go looking everything i want to do is available to me like channeling a spell... somebody already wrote scheme to wasm, that really shouldn't be too hard... still looking for alternate ways to chat :D hmu on xmpp it's exactly like AIM

i've tried node/npm, python, package managers... the best most satisfying one if you're going to go and install a big library, blob thing like that, is probably some flavor of emacs... for me, this is a personal preference, the fact that you 'can' do anything that rust/python/go/js can do in LISP... is enough for me, because, it is elegant, it is more pleasant to look at and easier to read, idk. loving my time with it recently and have been knocking it out of the park most days recently... the past 7 years i've been working on a top secret project, which will have a working alpha demo of the basic features by the end of next week :D

the best os rn is a freeBSD jail with guixSD GNU/linux-libre there's also hyperbola/BSD in the works you want to try to phase out the linux kernel because of all the google/microsoft shenanigans creeping in, you don't need unix/linux any more you can do all your daily driver stuff on an embedded, low power risc soc that costs under a hundo you need less overhead for embedded systems, there's microkernels like genome, and platforms like zephyr, its ok to move away idk one thing i learned its good to take a step back and look at the scope of what you're trying to achieve, try to strip away all the unneccessary parts... a mhz is 1,000,000 calculations a microsecond or whatever, when you sit down and write a piece of code how many calculations exactly do you need to do to do your business, honestly.

^these are the 3 am ramblings of a minimalist

i'm trying to find peers here on my site that's connected to the internet that's why i'm sending messages to it about my interests, pardon me, sir please send $1 to this address

#tumblr meta #dump.fm #programming #computer #3 am ramblings

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butts-bouncing-on-the-beltway · 1 year ago

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I think one of the things that always throws me (as the child of a late 80s/early 90s queer computer programmer) is how many people seem to just not know enough about the language of tech to understand whether something is "new and revolutionary" or whether the modern venn diagram of tech bros and marketing bros is a circle.

Like, don't get me wrong. I am HOPELESS about tech. My wife tries so hard to be calm about helping me troubleshoot tech issues, but I can tell she's trying not to bash her head into a walm about it.

That said, at least part of that dynamic is that I **do** actually know just enough about HARDWARE to get myself in deep shit.

So like. One time. My operating system crashed in the middle of a game of Among Us, and then when my computer rebooted, it had literally no trace left of an operating system and couldn't even have one redownloaded because it kept redoing the crash every time we tried to power it up to do so.

To this DAY my wife is not sure what the fuck I did. But her experience of that was me saying "hey baby, something weird is going on with my operating system and I can't power my computer back up" and because she wasn't in the room with me she was like just power cycle it and you should be fine and I was like no you don't understand

And this is a trend! Every 90 days I have to revalidate my email client for work so it can stay integrated with the ehr and I have NEVER!! ONCE!! MANAGED!!! To do this without somebody sitting down with me on zoom to first find the setting page because even though I know how to do it I can never find its location!

At the same time????? I can never just have a normal user issue??? And consistently everyone who troubleshoots my tech problems is just like "I have literally never seen this before what the FUCK did you do???"

This is a roundabout way of pointing out that because of my understanding of the language used to discuss knowledge around this topic, I am able to engage really deeply and complexly with tech research! And I think many people don't get that chance because it's not really "necessary" for an average user? But like. Honestly, being confused by computers is boring! And it means being an easy mark in an industry (practical technological development applications of number theory) where being a mark can literally undermine societies lol.

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whoreviewswho · 1 year ago

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Wokeness, Responsibility and if RTD is problematic - Introduction

Is Russell T Davies a problematic figure? Is he too woke or not aware enough? Is he doing something wrong to illicit negative responses from the progressives as well as the conservatives? Is it something in the programme, something in the marketing or is he doing nothing particularly bad at all? Well, perhaps you and I, faithful reader, can come to some sort of conclusion. Let's find out together as we take a dive into the controversial choices behind RTD2 and the mind of the man behind them.

There is an extremely telling moment in issue 599 of Doctor Who Magazine in their feature on The Giggle, specifically the climax. On page 18, the magazine printed some conversation between Benjamin Cook, Ncuti Gatwa and Russell T Davies (RTD) which you can read below;

"When you wished for it," Russell asks [Ncuti] now, "there wasn't a part of you thinking, but there's no point, it's not going to happen, because I'm black?" "Never," says Ncuti. "I love that," says Russell. "Because here I am, as a 59-year-old white man, assuming that would weigh heavily on your mind." "Yeah, no, completely," says Ncuti. "When it was announced and everyone was saying, 'He's the first black Doctor!' - that was insane. Slowly I was like, '... ohh." "Yes, it's hard to know what to do with that."

I find this to be a very revealing exchange and an invaluable insight into RTD's mind. RTD thinks. He thinks a lot. It is very clear not only that he thinks a lot and is very conscious of his decisions and responsibilities as a showrunner but also that he wants us to know that. And, you know what, perhaps he is a little too conscious. Perhaps RTD thinks too much.

But of course RTD thinks. He is a writer and a storyteller. He is, in fact, a very good storyteller and, in order to be so, one has to be continuing to engage with new art, meet new people and be connected to the world around them. This is not conjecture, this is how art works; it is a expression and representation of how the artist relates, reflects and responds to the world around them. RTD is a wickedly intelligent, queer man and you need look no further than his own work to see how passionate he has always been about depicting a diverse range of characters and stories that are firmly rooted in the political and social climate of his day. In fact, he explicitly said as much himself in a December 2023 interview for Rolling Stone;

"From my point of view, whatever I make on television, I try to embrace queerness and queer politics and that’s like breathing to me because that’s my world. That’s how I live.”

At the time I am writing (two months away from season one's debuting), RTD's second stint as show runner of Doctor Who, RTD2, as it has come to be known, has proven to be as divisive for longterm fans as his initial tenure, if not more so. No surprises there, of course, but what was unforeseen however, at least by me, was the vocal backlash from the progressive crowd.

Perhaps it shouldn't have been though. After all, we are talking about a sixty year old white cis man. As well researched and intentioned as he may be, the scope of his experiences will inevitably reach their limits regarding gender, sexuality and cultural backgrounds. Even ethically, to hold somebody of quite a different generation to the exact same standards as your own, a significantly younger or potentially older audience member, is a pretty dubious and flawed thing to put into practice.

Still, backlash from the progressives might also have been foreseen if we took more than half a glance at his original time on the show. The quality and impact of representation in 2000s Doctor Who was certainly varied, and something worth discussing in more depth in some other entry. That does not make it any less significant that it was Russell who spearheaded the first openly queer companion, its first black supporting character and then first black companion as well as the oldest leading lady to date. And these things were not simply acts of ticking boxes. Jack Harkness, Mickey Smith, Martha Jones and Donna Noble were strong, fully-realised characters who were regularly recurring across almost five years of television. One of them even led a TV show of his own for half a decade. Combine that with more than a handful of overtly political storylines across the episodes that he produced and you have a revived Doctor Who that is quickly established as one of the most progressive television programmes of its kind in the 2000s.

But mistakes were made, particularly regarding racial background. YouTuber Princess Weekes has made a particularly articulate video outlining RTD's pitfalls in representing black communities in Doctor Who a couple of months ago and I strongly encourage you to go and check that out. This article is not about the 2000s though. This is about the present day and the world surrounding RTD as he re-entered the role of showrunner in 2021. So, in order to contextualise that, let us tackle that frustratingly large elephant in the room; let's briefly discuss how Doctor Who became too woke.

This will be a very short discussion because, of course, this didn't happen. Yet, somehow, this narrative, that Doctor Who has become more occupied with pushing its progressive political agendas than telling compelling stories, is a bizarre claim that has been looming over the series for far too long now. It is a line of thinking that I first remember hearing around 2016 with the announcement of Bill Potts as the first openly lesbian companion. Y'know, because having an openly lesbian character must surely mean the Moff was out of ideas. But it really seemed to become a thorn in the fandom's side in the year following when Jodie Whittaker's casting was revealed. Together with Chris Chibnall's casting of two people-of-colour in his main cast and hiring the most diverse writers the show has ever seen to tell stories that reflect their varied life experiences and backgrounds CLEARLY indicated the show was on a downward spiral. The writing was on the wall*.

Okay, so, let's break this down for a second because obviously Doctor Who of the past seven years has not been too woke. But, even if that were the case, what does that even mean? Well, let's be blunt here, this is a form of cultural appropriation. The usage of 'woke' as a slang term for being attentive to social issues originated in African American Vernacular English. As Marriam-Webster defines it;

"In [African-American Vernacular English], awake is often rendered as woke, as in, 'I was sleeping, but now I’m woke'".

In the mid-2010s, "stay woke" became a watch word in the black community eventually becoming entwined in the BLM movement. The term has since been co-opted by conservatives, in another harmful display of white aggression, as an insulting short-hand for people and works that challenge their comfortably ignorant view of the world in really any way at all.

TLDR; to level the accusation of a television programme being "too aware of social and political injustices", especially a show with as long a history in of engaging with those sorts of ideas as Doctor Who, as if it were some kind of negative is one of the most laughable criticisms that the show has ever seen.

It is actually even more laughable when you consider that one could take less than half a glance at Chibnall's version of the show and realise that it was, in fact, doing remarkably little actual engagement with contemporary social and political issues at all. Hell, 10.96 million people tuned into the first episode of his run to learn that for themselves. But this article is not about Chris Chibnall either. This is about Russell T Davies. The man who walked into the office while Chris Chibnall was still in the job and was revealed as such before Chibnall's final season, the Flux storyline, had even gone to air. As nasty a move this was from BBC, seemingly attempting to sabotage their own show, they knew how big of a deal this was. This is Russell T Davies ! The OG showrunner !! The guy who turned a dead cult TV show into an enormous national, and eventual, international franchise !!! This will be 2008, all over again !!!! RTD was going to save Doctor Who !!!!! Praise be to Russell T !!!!!!

Of course, this did not happen.

It was a pretty dumb call from the conservative crowd to claim RTD was going to swoop in and be their champion. There was truly no reason at all to suspect that he would come back to Doctor Who and not bring his established brand of mindful, inclusive and socially charged writing to the programme. After all, in the years since writing regularly for Doctor Who, Davies produced works like Years and Years and It's a Sin, two incredibly thoughtful though quite different series, the former being a speculative work of science-fiction envisioning the next fifteen years of human history through the eyes of a single family and the latter an intimate and tragic retrospective on the UK AIDS crisis. For a certain crowd of people, this was actually the most appealing aspect of RTD's return. The man was going off the heels of some of his most acclaimed work of all-time, works that spoke to harsh realities of the world we live in and told compelling stories of any number of diverse characters. And, for some people, this was somehow a red flag.

There are longtime fans of a certain generation who have been vocal of RTD's flaws as a social-justice champion from day one. Diamanda Hagan is one such person who comes to mind. I have a great deal of respect for her and her opinions which are often much more articulate and interesting to engage with than my own. If you are unfamiliar, I encourage you seek her out. For the purposes of this article, there are two recent(ish) tweets of hers that I will be citing and the first is as follows;

"[In reference to the polarised reception to The Church on Ruby Road] I continue to be amused by people watching RTD being RTD, now disliking it and thinking that RTD or his work is the one that changed." - December 26, 2023

I would like to use this quote to springboard into a more in-depth discussion of RTD's choices onscreen (strap in, everybody 'cause this'll be more than one post) but, before I do, allow me to note that I find myself only half-agreeing with Hagan's assertion here. Onscreen, Davies' work is distinctly his own. His style has evolved, certainly, insofar as his language and the presentation but the overall package, the flavour and spirit of RTD Who, is much the same as it was from 2005-2010.

But I would insist that something has changed and that something is what Davies is saying behind the scenes and in promo material because, and this is a crucial point, regardless of how 'woke' RTD2 actually is, and we will get into it, he certainly wants you to think that it is. I do not think that this is an out of arrogance or some kind of saviour complex. I don't believe that RTD is sitting at home rubbing his hands and thinking 'hehehe look how progressive everybody thinks I am". No, I think that Russell is drawing attention to how progressive the show is in the media because he genuinely believes in making socially conscious choices and their impact and consequences. He wants audiences to be talking about disability and race and queerness and class and acceptance and bigotry. RTD is asking us to talk about the topics highlighted in his productions.

So, let's do that then....

To be continued in part one; The Regeneration Question and Davros with Legs

*The fact that Chris Chibnall's version of Doctor Who was ultimately lacking in compelling storytelling for most audiences is extremely unfortunate but obviously unrelated to his diverse cast and crew.

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