#the friendly hellsite records all

[leam1983]

I posted 3,296 times in 2022

That's 1,163 more posts than 2021!

478 posts created (15%)

2,818 posts reblogged (85%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@hikineet-trash

@daemonhxckergrrl

@millenianthemums

@fizzyimp

@pollylittlehigher-littlelower

I tagged 1,085 of my posts in 2022

#work post - 93 posts

#thoughts - 68 posts

#life post - 30 posts

#it post - 26 posts

#long post - 20 posts

#on writing - 15 posts

#not a review - 14 posts

#youtube - 13 posts

#cyberpunk 2077 - 12 posts

#politics - 11 posts

Longest Tag: 129 characters

#a living area that would look like an eighties' megamall food court with a lamborghini testarossa in pride of place in the middle

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Rummaging Things Around

I have a thing in mind. A vaguely Lovecraftian thing, inspired by my re-reading Champion of the Worms, by Mignola and McEown. The early stretches are basically a pastiche of a pastiche, but that's never stopped me before...

So we have this guy - sort of a failed academic with something like a decent brain to call his own, that gets pulled out of a life of relative non-ambition by a more successful relative. The uncle's long been a curator for a bunch of obscure exhibits and more or less lives like the Dieselpunk Forties never ended and Eldritch Horror were real. He's the type who speaks six languages, unearths remote tribes the world over and somehow finds ways to show even the people of the 21st century that yes, here sometimes be dragons anyway.

Dropout is brought in to help his uncle with the curation of his new exhibit in an obscure little New England town, and it's through piecing things together that our main guy realizes the object of the exhibit-to-be is Hyperborea, also known as Ultima Thule - the very continent Nazi occult weirdos spent years chasing in the hopes of anchoring their theories about the Aryan race to anything at all. Hyperborea is Antarctica, of course, and briefly consisted of a few landmasses that weren't yet covered in ice, several million years ago. The story goes that the archipelago was colonized by an extant Hominid species, a forgotten branch of Humanity that has strengths and weaknesses altogether different from the Neanderthal and Cro-Magnon species that both preceded and followed them. They grew in secret, mastered art, language and philosophy - even dove into the mysteries lying beyond mere intellect and intuition.

Then, they vanished. No fossil records, no bones, no traces of their civilization - nothing except what our Uncle character finds.

And what does he find? Two burial sites that would make Tutankhamen absolutely green with envy. The catch is is laden in dark portents and the other one has an almost messianic undertone - as if opening this particular tomb would somehow usher in Mankind's next stage in History.

It's a small museum, Uncle's on the frail side, and his wing's curator isn't exactly on-the-level... Things get leaked, pictures are taken, and thieves get involved. As greedy as you'd expect and far too confident after overpowering an older man, an out-of-shape thirtysomething and a dumpy idiot in his sixties, they crack open the bigger, more festooned sarcophagus.

Things... take a turn for the worse. The Hyperboreans, as it turns out, owe their disappearance to their falling under the insane sway of a death cult. A Great Old One-esque monstrosity more than likely claimed them so completely it erased Hyperborean civilization from the map, leaving its priest to serve as the hierophant of things to come if anyone were to awaken him again. If an entire culture's drank the Kool-Aid, it follows that someone hell-bent on spreading destruction would receive Grade-A Messiah treatment, complete with a beatific burial site that just so happened to send the wrong impressions to a bunch of credulous grave robbers, millions of years ago.

Fighting back against zombies, spirits and other monstrosities, Uncle and Dropout lose the curator. Eventually, Uncle dies. Dropout is alone, barricaded in the same room as the second stone coffin, one that's etched out of crude limestone and that's had every carving and identifying marker chipped away by chisel. Someone did not want anyone else to find thar second tomb, and did not want anyone to open it.

With the world slowly succumbing to chaos outside and with nothing else to do, Dropout opens the second sarcophagus. What he finds inside is a... different kind of undeath, one that feels less like a perversion of life and more like one heck of an obstinate man that absolutely, positively refused to give in to death. The dessicated mummy reaches out with a dusty moan, grabs ahold of Dropout's neck - and pulls him in for a kiss.

When he finally breaks away, gagging and heaving, Dropout somehow instinctively knows that this contact served as a means to copy his thoughts, linguistic and situational skills, and awareness of the situation. As for the mummy, it's sitting up in its sarcophagus and lounging in it for a few moments, stroking its beard for a few breaths.

"Six million years, eh?" it says, its voice going from sepulchral croaks to a precisely-toned and conversational King's English over the next minute or so. "Well, I have to give you credit - you lot at least look like you never went snooping about in places where sane men aren't expected..."

It catches itself. "Ah, well, there was this one chunk of you with a thing for portents brought about by sulfurous fumes - Athenians and the Pythia, hm? Overall, however, if we're generous? Barring brief moments of potential concern like MKULTRA or some of your Feds keeping an eye on the Ayahuasca fad? I guess you could call yourselves blessedly ignorant."

The second mummy grins, which isn't a pretty sight. It scoffs. "I know - I look horrendous. Past a certain point, it really doesn't matter who or what your keeper is, man-flesh is as man-flesh does - but you're not here to listen to me ramble, are you? The Serpent is loose, the world will be devoured, End of Times, yadda yadda - unless you help me climb out of this thing."

The dropout screams. Shenanigans ensue.

21 notes - Posted June 14, 2022

#4

On Revengeance

I agree with Jacob Geller. Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance is prescient not only in how it's more or less become immortalized as a meme vector - which Monsoon would find ironic - but also in how it gave us something that should have triggered shirt-tearing and pearl-clutching Republicans and Conservatives, if they only gave a shit about video games.

See, Senator Armstrong is a stroke of genius. We spend most of the game piecing his agenda together, and eventually fight him head-on. At first, he spouts very on-the-nose rhetoric, as if Raiden were a CSPAN interviewer in need of a few conciliatory buzzwords. And yes, in 2013, a video game character shouted that he intended to make America great again. That's long before Trump would unabashedly take that zinger and plaster it on crimson caps manufactured in China.

So you wear Armstrong down and force him to not just ditch his well-pressed suit, but also all pretense. You realize that his America is basically a Libertarian's coyly-assumed ideal and a Fascist's wet dream, where policy is dictated by the strong and the weak only have two choices: tow the party line or die - either literally or socially. It's hard not to draw parallels with several politicians who embrace similar notions, out of the sociopathic conviction that what's really holding the Western world back is empathy.

It's strange to look at Putin and then reflect back on Armstrong - and to realize that Absolutist, do-or-die rhetoric can plausibly leave the mouth of an IRL politician. It makes you wonder where Putin, Trump or Bolsonaro would consider pushing their agenda, if they'd overdosed on Nietzsche.

Of course, it's also a setting where the Good Guys push Combat Maximalism and pure aggression, where lyrics land in the most appropriate spots in order to take already absurd moments and elevate them to the status of quoted maxims (see Rules of Nature) and where a franchise normally known for its extremely ponderous stealth mechanics effectively has a psychotic breakdown and spends five hours Wrecking Shit while wearing too much eyeliner.

In short, it's glorious, and it's probably the most ponderous and, I daresay, intellectual entry in Platinum Games' oeuvre. It's dumb, happy to be dumb, and also follows along with KojiPro's focus on anchoring its mechs-and-soldiers nonsense in real-world ethics. It's like catching one of Volodymyr Zelynsky's skits before he gained Ukraine's presidency, and realizing that this dude who was typically known for playing half-wits has one heck of a serious noggin on his shoulders.

22 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

#3

Your Average Soulsborne Opening

"Shit's fucked, man. The Important Twelve-Feet-Tall Big Guy ghosted on us. World's gone to shit. People are, like, fucked out of their minds! The Big Guy's Helpers could hold an intervention and force Him to come back, but they've all hit Snooze on their alarm clock. The only one who's Woken Up and Who Knows It's Monday is the Useful Idiot. That's you.

Your job: to get your massive buddies to get out of bed, either by slapping them a few hundred times or by slapping whatever it is that's keeping them down. You won't succeed, though: you're a Scrawny Shit, and Scrawny Shits get nothing done. Telling ya, man: we're doomed."

The narrator leans to the side. "What? We still have thirty seconds of intro left on this thing? Um... I'll just, uh, dramatically name-drop the Big Guy's Helpers! There's Bitch-Fucker the Unloveable! Asshole-Face! Weird Fucked-Up Dog Thing! That one female part of the gang with a slightly skeevy thing that makes you go 'Yeah, this is Japanese for sure!' Then there's the most important of them all, um... Steve!"

"You, though? You're a Scrawny Shit. You're so lowly even Steve doesn't know you. It all rests on you, though: wake up the Posse, bring the Big Guy back, and we just might move on to call you... A Player-Directed Plot Device."

22 notes - Posted April 11, 2022

#2

On Difficulty

"Hey, why are you so psyched for Elden Ring? You've never finished the Souls games or Bloodborne!"

To that, I've been replying that what I especially like about From Software releases is how granular things are. The total challenge is immense in all cases, yes, but the moment-to-moment gameplay is very piecemeal in design. You're rarely forced to do-si-do against four or five simultaneous enemies and you're typically given all the tools you need to do what obviously needs doing. The two catches are that boss fights have life bars the size of Siberia, and that they hit you like two angry trucks meeting again on the set of Jerry Springer. They're easily telegraphed, simple to read and uncomplicated in their tactics - the challenge-related aspect is only punitive in design.

Considering, every encounter is self-contained and it doesn't really make much of a difference to wonder if that incoming boss fight is going to feel different from the last mobs you wiped out.

Approaching the game like this means I never felt narrative or situational pressure, and that I'm more compelled by exploratory concerns than by the need to end up with a Pure White World Tendency or whatever else. I'm not really given to yeet myself across enemy-infested courtyards because I'm tired and this is my -nth corpse run. I'll be as cautious going back for that corpse as I was during the run that got me killed - and eventually, timing and luck are going to meet my mediocre Soulsborne skills and will let me wipe the floor with a boss I previously found impossible to face.

In that respect, Elden Ring is exactly what I hoped to see out of From in the murky depths of the future: a Soulsborne with transitional spaces approchable by any character of any skill level, thereby providing me with a safe space in which to develop my skills and farm without feeling like my gathered Souls are constantly on the line and in the care of my dubious skillset.

That means I'll be able to venture around Limgrave and beyond in the Lands Between without wondering if the Legacy Dungeons are part of my overall progression. I'll be free to backtrack as needed and to workshop angles of approach in wider spaces than were previously accessible. That's without mentioning stealth, around which I don't doubt you could build a frighteningly effective build that's less focused on pattern recognition. The designers' comments do suggest that while Elden Ring isn't easier than the previous titles per se, the player has more options - and some of them are effective at mitigating the perceived challenge.

To me, that's smart design. If difficulty is such a core aspect of your ethos, it makes sense that you'd want to forego gameplay menus and player-adjustable variables. However, tweaks can be dispersed in-game, and left to the player's discretion. Both this and the level design seem to combine into what's probably the most accessible Soulsborne title to date, all the while never disparaging the studio's reputation as a creator of punishing titles.

This is why I'm especially interested in this one, even if I'm expecting it to kick my ass for several weeks, before things start to click.

39 notes - Posted February 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Cult of the Lamb - Quickie

Cornelius Agrippa's Formula for Making Fucked-Up Shit

One part "Aww, the artstyle looks a lot like Gumball's!"

Two parts of "Should I be amused or disturbed?"

A dash of "Well, someone knows their Lovecraft... Me likey!"

One Animal Crossing: New Horizons cartridge, chopped up in your choice of power blender

One USB stick containing a full playthrough of The Binding of Isaac. Any edition will do.

A grab-bag's worth of normally-throwaway secondary mechanics. Be sure to give them pride of place in your mixture, just to be sure the bigwigs at the Big Three discredit your design doc.

One cup of the blackest cynicism imaginable.

Two large handfuls of cake sprinkles. Empty your entire tub in there for extra awkward cuteness.

Shake, bake and deliver to Devolver Digital for publishing, because nobody else was going to touch this with a ten-foot pole

Actually make this motherfucker addictive and rewarding.

Plus - hey! The game's a complete offering! There's a roadmap planned, but what we get is a full game! The DLC's only cosmetic!

Buy it. This is highly, highly reccomended.

54 notes - Posted August 12, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[ihni]

I love your unadulterated joy in being in Fandom at 40! Happy Birthday! Let me tell you a not-so-secret secret- it doesn't go away. To give you a clue as to my age, I sat in front of the TV with a cassette player and recorded episodes of Star Trek, long before VHS tapes. I weep that I only found tumblr about 10 years ago. My people. Love you all in the ST Fandoms (Stranger Things and Star Trek)!

Thank you - this is a fantastic message to receive.

It makes me very happy to know that it won't go away (I didn't think it would, but conformation is nice!). I like it here, in fandom - it's a friendly, creative space with lots of people that I enjoy interacting with - so i definitely don't plan on giving up on it any time soon. On the contrary! I have found that the older I get, the less I care about what one is "supposed" to do, and about what people will think of me not doing it. It's very freeing feeling, and it only grows with time.

Thank you for sharing about your cassette recordings, that's awesome! I was just talking with a friend of mine today, and she told me that when she got a Walkman when she was a young teen, she recorded parts of her favorite shows onto it, so she could listen to them when she was out and about (we had VHS tapes by then, of course, but still). I think it's a very creative way to just do what we do best - take the things we love and Keep them, Cherish them and Bring them with us.

Tumblr really is a wonderful place for fandom. My second home. I did a survey recently, where they wanted opinions on internet habits of people in different age groups. They listed a whole bunch of websites and social media that I don't ever use or visit and asked how often one visits them, but Tumblr wasn't listed. I wonder what they think of my answers, when I stated I spend hours every day on social media, but almost never visit Facebook, instagram, twitter, snapchat, twitch (whatever that is), tiktok etc. Obviously they have not heard of our hellsite ...

Thank you again for your message, it made me smile. May we all live long, grow even older, and prosper. :)

[yue-muffin]

Time Raiders (2016)

Part 1 || Part 2 || Part 3

This hellsite turns the images into POTATO quality but ah well, here we go. Into the tomb!

P A R T T W O

He’s a puppy!! Everyone in the family wants to protect him from this business, but here Uncle Three goes ‘eh, might as well’. This boy has no idea what he’s doing. At least Zhang Qiling is here to protect him, because in what world does he not?

Lovely scenery!

Wu Xie…he’s such a nerd. But I relate, I would also use random facts I know from school to start a conversation, my mom probably hates me for it haha. It’s sort of obnoxious coming from some people (me…especially in undergrad). I love it when Wu Xie goes on a ramble tangent though.

We’re really going straight for the throat with the “lookin the mirror because you don’t know who you are” thing, aren’t we. Aw, then he gives a little pout.

These subs are really decent grammar-wise, but LOL at them just giving up on translating Zhang Qiling’s nickname: 闷油瓶 (sullen oil bottle), apparently referring to the way he doesn’t like to talk. It’s a cute nickname but it’s so hard to translate. Some have gone with Poker-face, which I think is the best one you can get in English.

HAHA WU XIE. This kid. I looked up 安静 and the dictionary gives me “quiet, calm, peaceful”. He’s not really quiet, he is rather calm in that he doesn’t flip out easily, but he has such puppy energy that it’s hard to use that descriptor for him. But confirmation that he thinks Zhang Qiling is a handsome man.

Aw, there’s our Wu Xie. It’s funny because he’s so annoyed with Zhang Qiling in the first volume of the novel when he doesn’t respond to Wu Xie’s attempts to be friendly, he always refers to him with a bit of scorn. But, well, it’s a super slow burn relationship (I’m talking platonic, since that’s fully canon and I can turn my shipping goggles off lol) and we don’t have that kind of time in live action adaptations. I do have to say, I like the drama and movie for changing that dynamic a little - if not, it detracts from Wu Xie’s image as an innocent, naive young man, probably.

Oh my fucking god his finger is on the trigger THIRD UNCLE WHY DID YOU BRING THIS KID WITH YOU. Well, that marks the first Zhang Qiling rescuing Wu Xie (from himself…this dumbass) of the movie haha.

Oh he took the bullet out ok that’s better. Ha! Wu Xie is a little imp still.

You just gave Zhang Qiling an heart attack, Wu Xie, hope you’re happy.  

This kid. If he wasn’t so stoic, he’d have rolled his eyes. You can just see it in his soul.

Oh ok, we’re getting a flashback to Third Uncle scolding Wu Xie that’s better. I thought he really was that irresponsible to just go “ok sure!”

He looks so sad. It’s the puppy eyes, I’m telling you. That’s how he always gets his way lol.

So he has a dream that weighs heavily on him, but is it worth risking your life in an actual tomb for?

Smooth, he redirects Zhang Qiling’s question right back at him - why do you want to go to the tomb? I love it, he’s still got that mouth on him.

Ooh so they did end up using the periodic amnesia part of his character. And his insecurities about whether he truly exists in the world.

These looks they give each other. They’re so soft. Aahh (shipper me is back). Aww. “Don’t worry, I’ll record them with my camera. You won’t be lost.” So there is a purpose for making photography part of his character. I like using the camera and mirrors as motifs.

“If I come or go, who cares.” I GUARANTEE YOU SOMEONE WILL.

More scenery for the record!

These shots really drive home what he just said: the world is so big, what’s one person in light of it all?

…Never change Wu Xie, never change. This is why everyone wants to protect him, because he says things like this. You’ll protect him?? Haha I remember when he said something like this in TLT2. It was so endearing. But also you just want to die laughing. But that is what makes Wu Xie, Wu Xie. Even in the first book, he cared and worried about Xiaoge’s whereabouts whereas everyone else was like “nah, he’s probably fine”.

HAHA WAIT. Third Uncle you are responsible.

Is this a prison transport truck why can it lock someone inside so easily.

This is so funny.

Oh no it’s the foreigners!! “You’ll be safer in the truck” they said.

It’s Pangzi and Ah Ning!

I still really miss TLT2 Ah Ning, I can only imagine that one in my head now haha.

I don’t understand why she had to climb on the side of the truck just to sit on the hood. Also, wear something a little more protective in the chest area if you’re gonna go tomb raiding it drives me absolutely crazy that women must always be so underdressed just for that male gaze.

You’ve got some good reception considering where you are. Her accent doesn’t make my ears bleed which is a good thing.

Oh-hoho he’s catching onto your little spy cam! IMPOSSIBLE haha that’s everyone’s reaction upon seeing Zhang Qiling after xx years looking the exact same.

And we’re in! Cue the greedy tomb robbers who touch things and get into trouble the second they enter the place. No deaths yet though…still too early.

-DO YOU SPEAK ZHONGWEN (Chinese)?

-*whisper* Chinese.

-CHINESE.

?? I’M DYING. This part is such comedy gold.

Yup that’s Pangzi, I think I’ve heard this one in other DMBJ adaptations but I don’t remember which one.

I’m pretty sure the tomb needs a key…which you have, Third Uncle…

Don’t worry, Zhang Qiling is here to help! As always, he tends to trounce everyone with the most mundane items even though the enemy is carrying heavy duty weapons.

Is something to happen to the beams? First a bracket fell off, now the camera focused on it briefly.

This Zhang Qiling is so low-key funny even though he doesn’t intend to be. They really said “how can we show Zhang Qiling being even more badass” by having him use the cloth as a distraction, then have it fall over his shoulders when it lands.

I also like how he never has any stupid qualms about fighting a woman. Oh he spoke English! Haha. “Not bad.” “I know.”

This Zhang Qiling.

Ah Ning pulling that gun out of her sleeve was real badass. I love how she’s the only one who actually gets hand-to-hand fighting and everyone else in her team just shoots from afar. She’s the team leader and boy does she deserve it. You go, Ah Ning!

Haha they are pretty good! Even set a trap.

Oh, Wu Xie got out of the truck.

Again, kudos to this Wu Xie for actually recording the stuff he sees in tombs.

Why am I laughing so hard right now haha. Look at his hands patting Zhang Qiling’s. His hands are a lot thinner now that they’re right up next to each other.

So high tech what is this haha.

What is my name? Wu Xie did you think he was an imposter or-

Aw, helping him check for his amnesia acting up haha. This kid.

Look at this smile. How can you hate him, it’d be like kicking a puppy. But also, he says the darnedest things. And Zhang Qiling gives a little laugh and a smile! See?

Gotta snap a picture of the bf.

Aww, nice music to go with the “hey you’re alright, proper introduction time” part. And they share a laugh, too.

GUYS YOU HAVE A KEY FOR A REASON?? If the darn thing isn’t turning, maybe you shouldn’t force it and try another method??

Wow they really went for the gore on this movie. Even got some nice blood splats when the thing clamps close. That’s not horrifying at all, nope.

Haha first trap you, the cut off the arm with a guillotine!

As always, Zhang Qiling to the rescue! But yikes is that one heavy duty sword.

Was it smart to light the ball on fire. I see statues holding crossbows that is not a good sign. This is a pretty imaginative way to light up a room though!

I love this Zhang Qiling.

The female statue is rather good looking?? It’s a statue?? And it looks downright creepy, not beautiful or sexy.

Oh no. They touched stuff in the tomb.

It’s a guy who has been dead for hundreds of years. What did you expect it to look and sound like.

Oh fuck no the eyes moved I hate it when this happens!!

Do you also see all the wires rigged to it or is that just me. And they’re holding CROSSBOWS. Now the HEADS MOVED I CAN’T.

There’s no corpse in the coffin great. And now the puppets are playing instruments. This is not disturbing.

COVER YOUR EARS. It’s too late!! Now everyone’s hallucinating, great.

Oh, she’s pretty! But don’t trust her!!

But why did Wu Xie get trapped in that dream of his, while everyone else is hallucinating that they’re still in the tomb.

A decent CGI lion for once? As long as it just stands there it looks fine.

And there goes Zhang Qiling’s magic blood!

It’s super effective! Oh, so he has to spill some blood for each person who is effected by the illusion? Yeah, no one say Zhang Qiling doesn’t care. He’s willing to spill enough blood to pass out (Book 1/TLT1), for all these dumbasses who probably had no business being in a tomb anyways with how they go about it and get themselves into mortal danger.

Yes, Wu Xie, be the voice of reason and protect him from your uncle and his friends. He could’ve left you guys to go crazy if he really did have malicious intentions. But he cut himself to save you, geez. Show some appreciation.

This is a pretty fun trap, gotta say. Wu Xie figured out the rhythm.

Don’t lie, he was definitely worried about Wu Xie, but haha turns out he’s not completely helpless. Just compare picture 1 to picture 2 lol.

HA KNEW IT. THE CROSSBOWS ARE NEXT.

Haha I love it how Zhang Qiling always preferentially helps Wu Xie up or worries about him, to the point Pangzi in Reboot/Chongqi doesn’t even really comment on it anymore.

Someone’s gonna end up dead at some point I’m just waiting for that ball to drop.

HAHAHA I’m howling.

Everyone falls on their asses and crashes into stuff. Zhang Qiling falls into a crouch A+ landing. Wu Xie?

Of course Zhang Qiling catches him. There always has to be a scene where Zhang Qiling holds Wu Xie in his arms, no matter the adaptation, haha. Is this the one for this version?

Of course it’s insects.

I QUIT? Everyone is looking for a way out, ok, you literally cannot quit until you get out of here.

Oh ew the bugs are here of course.

Aww that’s the Wu Xie we know. He wants to save people, always.

THE BUGS CAN EAT METAL. That surpasses “flesh-eating” ok.

Aw, look at his face. Poor boy. I didn’t think I’d grow this fond of Lu Han!Wu Xie.

This is why one person from your family died a month when you were a kid. Welp, that’s one person down.

Zhang Qiling hurting himself again to save their butts. In this adaptation it doesn’t seem that his blood repels so much as hurts creatures outright though, which is far less useful than his evil creature repellant in the dramas.

Lol, dude he even had to help you get your feet up on that metal thing.

WU XIE TRIES OK. He tries really hard. But it’s his first time in a tomb and he’s got more guts than half the people here ok.

SO YOU DECIDE TO PLAY THE FLUTE??

Always record Zhang Qiling’s smiles ok. He was so worried Wu Xie was going to be mooched alive by the bugs. I guess that’s why he can’t have the bug repellant blood in this adaptation lol. If he did, it would’ve helped a lot.

Oh, sure, now the foreigners come in.

You. You might have blown up the only exit??

Good thing your brains, Wu Xie, showed up after all, huh.

Option 1: Dig a hole!!

Option 2: Smash your way through!

How is he doing this haha. Zhang Qiling is too OP.

Aww, see, this is why their relationship across the franchise is so good?? Zhang Qiling in the books especially is so much of a badass, he always is ok and always wins, but it doesn’t matter how many times he escapes death. Wu Xie always cares and worries about leaving without him.

What’s with the awful weather outside lol.

Next Up: more tomb shenanigans!

[keplercryptids]

hey i lov ur blog a Lot it’s rlly lovely and i appreciate ur image descriptions a lot but q*eer is and has always been a slur, so it makes sense to put a content warning on it since like any other slur it can be very triggering for some people, including myself. it’s the same reason ppl will tag dyke or f*g yknow, but a content warning for dyke isn’t lesbophobic just like tagging/putting a content warning q*eer isn’t queerphobic

i could argue with people all day as to why the reclamation of the word queer is different to the reclamation of other slurs. international communities have been built around the word queer, courses have been taught under the umbrella queer studies, books have been written, battles have been won.  “queer” simply is not equivalent to slurs, first and foremost because for most reclaimed slurs, they’re only supposed to be used internally within the community that has reclaimed them. 

this isn’t true for queer. if someone identifies as queer, that’s the word they want used for them, by everyone. it is FAR removed, for whole communities all around the world, from its original meaning and use.i don’t know what to call a word like that–but not slur. not even reclaimed slur. maybe 40 years ago, it was in the process of being reclaimed, but this battle has already been waged and won. queer has been accepted into many people’s lexicon of non-slur words, and this has been true for DECADES.

there also isn’t an equivalent synonym for queer for people to use instead, like there is for all those slurs you mentioned. queer IS my identity. it’s not slang, it’s not a synonym for something else, it’s the literal only way i can describe who i am. requiring that i content warning the only word i have to describe my experience as a queer person is fucked up. which is why i compare it to someone with trauma associated with the word “gay” asking gay people to tag “g slur.” can’t you see that that’s fucked up?

of course, queer has a history of being a slur, i’m not denying that. and of course, queer can be lobbed as a slur now. but the same is true for basically every word the lgbtq+ community uses to describe itself. and the ONLY word treated like a dirty, dirty unspeakable curse on this hellsite is the word “queer.” the other slurs you mentioned are not policed half as much as “queer” is, and i really wish people would question why that is.

i am not suggesting that everyone should identify as queer or that people don’t have legitimate trauma associated with the word, which is why i tag it at all. but it’s hurtful to be asked to tag my identity–my! marginalized! identity!–as a slur, or to put a content warning in every post where i celebrate who i am. i, a queer person, am telling you that this is hurtful. it hurts me and it hurts all queer people. so by all means, people with trauma associated with “queer” should blacklist it and do what they need to to protect themselves. but queer people shouldn’t be forced to police their own language, or link every celebration of their identity with the word “slur.” IT HARMS US.

also, for the record, PLEASE do not message me with “qu*er.” you’re not protecting anyone from a trigger by doing that, especially since i tag the word QUEER in my tags. my blog is a queer-friendly space and censoring the word, in a queer space to a queer person, is not cool.

[janiedean]

(1) Can I just say I hate all this Freddie Mercury biopic wank with a passion? Like, this hellsite went from "Queen is one of those boring 'classic' bands all whites are obsessed with bc they won't even consider new music by diverse artists u.u" to "WWRY is clearly a song about rebellious queer youth, cishets don't touch Queen u.u" after someone pointed out Freddie's ethnicity and sexuality, to "why aren't they making Freddie gay in the biopic!!!11" and... whatever they're whining about now.

(2) And I HATE looking at all this bs and thinking "fake fans", bc I'm pretty damn sure that by most standards, *I* count as a "fake fan", too. I mean, most stuff I know about the band's history is actually stuff about Freddie, thanks to a few documentaries centered around him and my mom, the long-time fan with a big crush on Freddie who introduced me to Queen when I was a kid. Hell, I couldn't even name all their albums or anything needed to be considered a "true fan". But ppl on here... ugh. (3) It's like they're really embarrassed bc they were called out on mistaking "woke" stuff for "unwoke" stuff, and now they have this desperate need to prove their ability to discern wokeness by getting offended about something they don't even care all that much about, as loudly and dramatically as they can.

HAHAHAHAHA.

okay so, tldr: I hate this discourse and I honestly hope that it dies within two weeks out of the biopic for a whole lot of reasons amongst which the ones you said, but like, this discourse actually highlights a shitload of issues with the usual tumblr discourse which I will gladly go into now because I’m fucking tired and this movie isn’t out yet.

now, premise: while I don’t think that true fans are a thing - at most there’s casual fans or in-depth fans but I mean, a fan is a fan so I don’t believe in the *fake* fans thing..... the problem here isn’t that they’re fakes. it’s that they aren’t fans. period.

other premise: from what you’ve said you’re a casual fan which is normal and you DON’T count as fake I mean if you like them and listen to them and know something it’s basically being a casual fan same as I am with idk the rolling stones, I like the famous stuff, I have the fundamental records and I like them when they’re on but that’s it.

but, yours truly is a Not Casual Queen Fan in the sense that a) I got into them when I was seventeen and I’m thirty now so thanks it’s been a while, b) I own all the records, c) I own a decent portion of roger taylor’s/brian may’s solo records (and I have listened to all of them that I couldn’t buy), d) I went to see them live once (k it was with paul rodgers but nvm guys not my fault if I wasn’t born in time for freddie) and I love queen’s music and I’m also fucking cishet and you know what? these people Are Not Fans and they should stop pretending they are and just stop making themselves look like assholes.

SPECIFICALLY:

the movie’s not out yet and I’ve had to see FIFTEEN ‘FRIENDLY REMINDER TO ALL CISHETS THAT FREDDIE MERCURY WAS GAY (at least a couple said he was bi and they were less asshole-ish) AND POC AND IF YOU DON’T KNOW YOU’D BETTER LEARN NOW HAHAHAHA YOU THOUGHT HE WASN’T. spoilers: every fucking casual queen fan who has bothered to buy three records knows that. yes, also the cishets. like, as someone who went from VERY CASUAL (ie: I know three songs) to NOT CASUAL in the span of two months I can 100% assure you that before getting into queen the usual preconceptions are that freddie was gay and that queen = freddie + three other people. the first three things you learn when getting into queen are (more or less in order but it can change) that a) the band was actually brian may + roger taylor first, b) that roger brought freddie in because they knew each other already, c) that mary austin was a fundamental person in freddie’s life and that she was also brian may’s ex and knew him first before they got together, d) the members’s backstories including where freddie was born, so like...... this idea that CASUAL CISHET FANS wouldn’t know that freddie was a) not heterosexual, b) poc is just something a NON-FAN would say because guess what, most queen fans even at a casual level are 100% aware that freddie was a) not heterosexual, b) not ethnical british. and saying that OMG CISHETS DON’T KNOW it’s ridiculous because guess what, everyone knows and if they have no idea they do, though luck, we did;

(spoilers: I also am 99% sure that those ppl have no idea that roger and brian actually sing on the records and composed a shitload of the music and queen =/= ONLY FREDDIE but okay)

they have no idea that rock music in the 70s/80s was not so heteronormative and was not the cishetmalething they think it is. like, please look at led zeppelin (ie THE PEOPLE WITHOUT WHOM YOU WOULDN’T HAVE HEAVY METAL) and tell me they were heteronormative. like, you saw robert plant? yeah, me too. and the thing was that queen were revolutionary in the sense that they brought an operatic/theatrical approach to the music that no one tried before but guess what, the point is that they made it sell. the thing that I would like tumblr Woke People to grasp is that what made queen groundbreaking as far as Wokeness goes is that they managed to sell and become the monster-moneymaking group they were (while keeping things quality) with a frontman who was Not Heterosexual, Did Not Try To Pass For Heterosexual One Day In His Life and Never Shied Away From It. like, idk if people are aware that while the scene was way less heteronormative than they think it still wasn’t the most openly talked about topic around (I mean guys elton john did marry a woman at some point X°DDD), but going around in the seventies flaunting your non-heterosexualness around and selling millions of copies making your stage persona a selling point of your music wasn’t exactly common. like ffs one of the most famous queen songs has a video where for 3/4 of the time they’re in drag and the other part has freddie performing with the royal ballet (and guess what the song was actually written by john deacon and the idea of doing the video in drag was roger taylor’s and none of them as far as we know is Not Heterosexual, but never mind giving the rest of the band some credit when it came to Not Caring About Heteronormativity) and fine, that video was banned/controversial, but it still was a huge british hit and it’s in the top five queen songs Everyone Knows. and tbh I’m terrified of that video being shown in the biopic (which it should since the works was from ‘84 and they stop at ‘85) because I’m 100% sure that those people have no idea it exists and when they find out how long is it gonna take them to decide that IT’S PROBLEMATIC? I mean, Woke Kids on here think the rhps is problematic, I’m shuddering at the thought of what they’d think of the i want to break free video;

actually a lot of us cishet queen fans might have had a wake up call including, er, finding out certain preferences, thanks to either their music or their shows or their videos (*cough* I 100% assure you that watching roger taylor in drag was what made me realize crossdressing was my thing for good like I knew before but I didn’t actually put two and two together until I saw that video and went like ‘............. AH WELL SHIT THEN THAT’S IT FAIR ENOUGH’), and a lot of us cishet queen fans who weren’t, like, strictly playing to heteronormative rules back in the day found a lot to relate to in their music even without being queer ourselves and guess what I’ve never met a single queen *fan* who could give less of a damn about freddie’s ethnicity or orientation (as in: everyone was a-okay with it) regardless of their background. that was what made them groundbreaking and extremely important as well, because they managed to be that kind of record-selling records-breaking band while not shying away from having a Not Heterosexual frontman AND Not Heteronormative Heterosexual Band Members Who Also Didn’t Give Two Fucks About Their Lead Singer’s Sexuality so going like OMG NOW WE’RE GONNA TEACH YOU THAT FREDDIE WASN’T HETEROSEXUAL BECAUSE WE’RE WOKE is ridiculous because dearest susan, we already knew and we already were woke about that and to us he was the frontman of a band we liked for a bunch of reasons;

also I don’t think people realize that freddie was a role model/example for the entire next generation of rock bands frontmen even in genres that had zilch to do with him - I mean guys AXL ROSE had a hero-worship for freddie and sang bohemian rhapsody at the freddie memorial concert WITH ELTON JOHN and grn really aren’t the same exact sphere as queen jsyk, but if you look at axl on stage esp. when he was younger? guys. it’s obvious. like you can see the influence. but lmao, now ALL the very cishet(-ish) singers who OPENLY SAID FREDDIE INFLUENCED THEM DIDN’T KNOW ACCORDING TO TUMBLR DOT COM?

LIKE, fuck’s sake, one of freddie’s major accomplishments in that sense was to ending up being a role model for younger singers in a genre where heteronormativity is way less common than everyone thinks BUT where not many people esp. back in the day would be open about their sexuality because it still was a taboo-ish thing -- like, gender roles were a lot more blurred but you wouldn’t hear many of those people admitting openly they were bi or gay or Not Heterosexual and the entirety of the rock scene especially mainstream but also not was entirely fucking aware of it, do these people think THE FANS wouldn’t?

also, we will rock you was WRITTEN BY BRIAN MAY AND IT WAS ABOUT A FUCKING ENCORE WHERE THE FANS SURPRISED THEM AT ONE SHOW IN LIKE MID-SEVENTIES which already shows that They Know Nothing because if they think freddie wrote all the queen songs then it’s already obvious they have no fucking clue about how queen worked as a band because all the members contributed something (guys john deacon wrote at least two of their major hits, roger taylor sang on all the records along with brian may and if you hear the back harmonies on ‘39 he goes way higher than freddie and a part in seaside rendezvous has both him and freddie mimicking other instruments with their voice and you wouldn’t know if no one told you first, brian may wrote a SHITLOAD of music for queen and it was an all-four effort, not just freddie + three other generic british dudes for fuck’s sake) so like, anyone saying that is already giving ample proof that they have no idea;

now of course you can interpret it as whatever the hell you want, but assuming that all of queen’s music that might relate to queer issues was written by freddie ABOUT QUEER ISSUES (this when freddie’s main topic of interest was... not really discussing his sexuality especially in the seventies like again, I want to break free is one of the queen to-go songs everyone brings up when it comes to that topic and IT WAS WRITTEN BY SOMEONE ELSE and the video concept was THANKS TO SOMEONE ELSE) just shows that a) you don’t know shit about the band’s history, b) you’re not a fan because you didn’t even bother to look it up on wiki, c) you’re trying to look woke at all costs;

they have NO FUCKING CLUE that most people in the 70s/80s/90s in the business were NOT politically correct according to their standards LIKE LITERALLY NO ONE WAS;

goes unsaid they probably haven’t listened to one full queen album from beginning to end not even the greatest hits.

tldr: I hate that they don’t seem to realize that things existed before 2005 and that music in the 70s/80s COULD and WAS diverse and *woke* already before they were even born, I hate that they decided that ALL CISHETS DIDN’T KNOW when thank you I think even my damned parents know and they don’t listen to rock music, I hate that they decided that queen APPARENTLY DIDN’T HAVE A FANBASE BEFORE THEM (lol) or that that fanbase didn’t understand them (triple-lol), I hate that they’re reducing freddie to his sexuality when he didn’t want that in the first place, I hate that they’re falling into THE MAIN MISCONCEPTION AROUND ABOUT THIS BAND as in THAT IT WAS FREDDIE + THREE OTHER PEOPLE and not an all-around group effort of people who were friends and deeply loved/respected each other and put the same share of work into it, I hate that they moment they see the movie and are introduced to the actual music/the actual story they’ll MOST LIKELY find problematic things to wank about because like hell they wouldn’t and I hate that they’re basically pretending to give a fuck about a band that I love and have loved dearly in a very non-casual way when they actually fucking don’t.

fucking hell please never let anyone make a biopic about either springsteen or led zeppelin or other people I actually like because this is bad enough, I don’t even want to think of what tumblr ppl would say if they knew anything about any rock artist of medium-large fame back in the day. peace.

[pinkcloudsnightlightbell-remade]

[This post really doesn’t make sense but you should deffo have some experience with the game Resident Evil 2 : Biohazard (2019) -- here’s a short livestream of the 30-minute demo by some cool video journalists and a H U G E L Y Y influential horror gamer’s video of the demo, as well. (And here’s a favourite artist who is probably the very one you can blame for me wasting your time/gushing sm lol...) ]

Input/commentary is sincerely, absolutely, and aggressively, encouraged! ! 

Leon Scott Kennedy is nooooooooooot supposed to be any heterosexual woman`s fantasy because he is bisexual let me get into it

👉 First like the whole thing with Ada manipulating him? 

GOLD

but it’s unfair to Leon who’s actually incredibly...human?

And the other thing is that (and I probably have made it really clear) Resident Evil and the fandom are so ... weird and racist but I like seeing all the changes from the remake as well as (to a lesser degree) backtracking through the games where Leon’s appeared

I love seeing him in 2019 being completely off-the-bat friendly towards Claire and then flirting -- and it being okay with me???? I went ahead and looked up tags on here and @/mikaeled had a drawing of the RE 2 protagonists 

The first protagonist, Claire, is drawn with the bi flag colours

The second protagonist, Leon, got the ace flag

THAT made me want to tap into fandom a little bit more and I went on Twitter and Pixiv and got to see some weird fantasies of being a really controlling Leon but on the other hand saw amazing depictions of Claire being in a loving relationship with a Leon whose kindness lined up with my first exposure of him. (The other day I had a similar experience looking up lesbian/bi claire redfield on this hellsite and someone wrote that Claire is a lesbian -- big big yes -- but added in the tags that “Leon is a trans bi guy!”)

So.

Why not get into it a bit while I’m overcaffeinated?

👉 Leon and Ada is ... weird and people can read weird, bad things into it especialllllllllly if you consider “yellow fever” but it can also be smth super cute where a bi guy and a really cool girl he meets allows him to survive the events of RE 2 (1998) because she is literally mourning the death of her boyfriend in Umbrella. I think that Capcom unbeknownst to their demonic loudmouth staff have created some really thoughtful chances for representation and that helped them get so big--so Ada and Leon are good

But like...

Claire is right there! Leon and Claire become friends like that and tbh they make my bisexual heart melt as individuals. As a couple I feel hope imagining the ways they’d buck the trend of alienation and the threat of abuse...I feel like I care nothing for the fandoms, the creators, and even a majority of the games’ plot points, but here Leon and Claire are, making me feel so much pride because they show that there’s a way for men and women to be ... healthy while in love. They’re the couple that’d be great peer parents (Shirley is a big part of their game they’re protagonists of, and I love how she is written both in 1998 and 2019 which parallels how Moira Burton is written--and completely diverges from the tragedy of the pigeonholey writing of Ashley Graham) and then while they’re wonderful supports to Shirley and are intimately “””together””” in many aspects of life I believe that they’re the type to not even date because the intimate devotion and protection or sticktoitiveness of a friendship ends up building first, because it matters more. Which is not to say that when they do get into a relationship it’s anything but one that is rare.

It’d be r.a.r.e.!!

look at this ... fucked me up 

👉 In regards to this rare kind of love, the key isn’t sympathy or understanding and cooperation even through struggles ranging from PTSD to personality clashes through the years, nor is it chemistry and attractiveness (yeah I will go on record that they’re for better or worse based off of Caucasian models who are paid to be taken pictures of in real life and it fucking shows like I’d be a dishonest bisexual if not just a bad bisexual if I said I didn’t wanna ram both of them into a mattress shut up).To me it’s how Claire is as much of a hero as a typical Die Hard movie hero and YET no more of a hero compared to Leon who is, very clearly, atypical. That’s the biggest part. I love the atypicality. Leon’s seen as hot but approachable and even “a little baby who’s an incompetent rookie cop” but he isn’t... the usual cop, a.k.a. a batt*rer and a **pist and a vio*ent threat and a pig... He’s known to be a soft kind person in the remake.... so to me... 

I love him for Claire but I love the possibility that Leon Scott Kennedy’s bi and gender-nonconforming, and asexual (being demisexual) and not-cisgender and completely proud. I love that he could be this and he IS as good as this ...and he supports lesbians and bi women and alll trans and gnc and nb people unequivocally, maybe,,? Yes? Sbshshdjdjd 

Granted this is all a LOT. Let me defend myself and say that perhaps this is a hyperfixation for me but I’m the type that likes to mix into some of the emotions a tiny nugget of logic so let me make the disclaimer that, ya boi isn't an easy 'n convenient character that's hot into which I as a reader can insert myself... For me I’ve pieced something together that brings comfort and makes some sense. I like to think that he is a survivor of gay-bashing, ostracization, financial abuse, emotional abuse, ****, humiliation, public threats, familial bullshit such as custody battles and gaslighting and is transgender but he’s proud... he’s proudly trans and perhaps he is touchaverse and in terms of sexuality is bi/pansexual while in terms of who he has dated before it’s very messy as he is very aggressively misandrist and hates men and perhaps he’s very stone when he is in a mewd -- and perhaps transphobia makes him go into a rage and he has actually gotten in lots of trouble before as a kid which came back to bite him and he’s lost family and found family and best friends and the loss really hurt and made his choice to go to police academy ring hollow by the end of his training and made him a big believe in social justice and in defending people who society left behind and in therapy and self-change and in accountability (he ISN’T a selfinsert prOMISE!!) but he’s been through a lot aaaaaaaa lotttttt like idk hes just a dude sure

he’s just a dude.b,ut theres a reason zombies don;t faze him!

LOVE THAT. That part.

👉 to sum up: i support the remake fans not being uncritical and loving on the cast of characters and leon specifically! there’s a reason he recently bucked the trend of masculinity and (21 years of fandom and 21 years of problematic annoying fans, perhaps also writers, aside) has always been objectifiable, that is, seen as hot/a sidepiece/specifically desirable for women--but just /: not /: women /: as in /: Women slash str8s /: . . . .RETCH lmao he’s a gun toting hero that is very atypical but not in a disempowering manner -- rather, in an empathetic and emotional one and I want to see the RE2 protagonists heal through a life changing care and tender friendship rather than bonding through liferuining catastrophes 💓💓💓but what I am trying to say in the end is that they are so inspiring both together and as individual protegonists due to their abiliy to weather thru struggles that I as a qtwoc immigrant in America can identify with🤧 

[📍]  tl;dr   -- - 💓cute pan pew pew man is loving and cute ! :> also claire is 💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓💓 so cute...........................pls support/refute my theory

[takaraphoenix]

I recently noticed that I have less patience for assholes than I do for villains. That’s actually nothing new and I have a track-record of it, but I only noticed a couple days ago.

I mean, villains who are assholes taken out of the equation because obviously I do have negative amounts of patience for those.

But generally, a well-written villain where we get, from the get-go, where they come from. Why they do the things they do. You know, a fleshed-out character, if possible with actually reasonable motivations. Those are amazing and this very hellsite is like... the pit to prove that, I think.

Those are cool. Those make me want to see a redemption arc - whether in canon or in fanon. I love those.

And then there’s assholes. And assholes don’t necessarily have to be villains. More often than not, they are part of the main cast and supposedly part of the good guys. But they’re just... deeply seated assholes who do asshole things. Bullies and creeps and, well in lack of a better word, assholes.

And I just genuinely do not care for those kind of characters.

Like, even the best of characters can have an asshole day where they do something dickish and okay. That’s something different.

But if a character continuously and repeatedly only displays an asshole attitude and asshole behavior, for multiple seasons even, then I just... nope out of giving a fuck.

And legit the worst writing decision a show can make, in my opinion, is trying to shoehorn in that “Oh no! This asshole has Reasons!!”. And I do mean really retconned in, all of a sudden they come with a teary-eyed background story that’s supposed to make you care.

And at its base, I do think you could argue that “But Phoe, isn’t that the same thing? A character doing Bad Stuff because of Bad Past and having a reason for being that way!”. But actually no.

For one, the kind of villains that I do like are the ones were you essentially from the get-go know where they come from. Like, say, Erik Lehnsherr. Before you meet villain!Erik, you meet child!Erik seeing the literal worst of humanity and you just... you get it. You are repeatly shown why he does what he does. You knew from the beginning why he is the way he is. If all I’d met was... say... X-Men: Evolution Erik Lehnsherr, I would not care for him because aside from never doing the background story, this show also never dove too deep into the “Humans are scum and yeah the mutants are right” thing - they did cover it, but not to the same all-consuming extend as the movies.

And with the asshole characters that is the norm.

Either you don’t get the reasoning for why they are the way they are at all, or you only get it after up to multiple seasons. At a point where it becomes plot-convenient that asshole character now gets some compassion from the viewers and might even turn to become a Good Guy (like, actually a good guy now, as in changing their behavior).

But... that’s just too little too late.

If I spent weeks, months, even up to years watching this character mistreat others and be a petty bitch, then you can try to force your tear-jerker all you want, the deeds of their own doing outweight whatever others might have done to them.

If you give me the background and reasoning early on - it does not have to be straight-up from the beginning, but, you know, not wait years - then that might be a different issue.

And another reason for why it doesn’t work for me with the asshole characters is that they believe they’re good. Villains? They own it. They know what they have turned into. But most asshole characters actually believe they are good and that is just... very disturbing for me.

Heck, some of my favorite characters are asshole characters worthy of redemption, because the franchise showed from the get-go where their assholery came from and then, gradually and slowly unveiled layers of issues and had the characters opening up more. That’s deserving. When you make it clear from the start that the asshole behavior is a front to cover up insecurities and issues. When you establish that right away.

But when all we get is a character who for long instances behaves like an asshole, pushes others around, does not show an ounce of care or friendliness, then you can’t just suddenly decide “Oh no, the asshole act was just a cover-up! They were Nice And Kind All Along!”. That just... does not work for me. If anything, it makes me even more angry.

And nearly worse than those who were openly and deliberately written as asshole characters are the ones where I am unsure if it might have happened accidentally. Those are generally female characters. Where in a very warped perception abusive, pushy and bullying behavior are seen as Progressive And Strong and you just know, for a fact, that if the roles were reversed and this character would be male and would display this behavior toward a female character, so many people would be outraged and disgusted. I don’t know, I think this trope was born in the late 90s when they were trying to break the Barbie stereotype but weren’t quite sure how to write strong women and many of today’s writers still channel that energy and many of today’s readers/viewers were raised with it and just do not recognize the signs because they were trained that “If a woman does this thing, then it’s cute and funny and hilarious!”, or at the bare minimum “understandable”. Those types of characters just make me plain uncomfortable and angry.

And... that’s it. There is literally no point I wanted to get at with this. I’m just really fucking tired of shoehorned in redemption arcs for asshole characters - either it was planned from the get-go to be “just a front” and you could have actually worked with that, or you just... don’t. I mean, seriously, not every human being is nice. Assholes are a thing that exists and it is perfectly okay to have some hateable disgusting pieces of shit on your show or in your book, because quite frankly it is intensely unrealistic to only have nice, kind cinnamon rolls in your cast. You are allowed to just keep the asshole an asshole and not try to force your audience to like them. Because not every character has to be liked.