#tmp critical

[anghraine]

an-artsy-girl000 replied to this post (but presumably actually this one):

Decker was asbolutely in the right. The good thing about this movie is that it never tries to make Decker into the obnoxious villain you paint him out to be. He's hurt, yes. But he's always making rational decisions and never panicking. Kirk is also partly right- he is definitely more experienced than Decker. But he doesn't know the ship anymore. He's driven by his ego, more than Decker is, but even then, he knows when to admit someone else was right. All that to say, Decker and Kirk are super well written. Neither is perfect, and that's why their characterization is so fucking good

I nowhere said nor meant that Decker is a villain, though yes, I do think his behavior is deeply obnoxious and short-sighted long past the point when it's justifiable. Villainy would be trying to get Earth's population wiped out on purpose. Decker merely recommends an approach to the V'ger crisis (over and over and over, even after Spock's arrival) that would unintentionally have that result, which is less competent than doing it on purpose but definitely not villainous.

His conduct as first officer is additionally unprofessional and petty, but as I also said, I think that is a much smaller issue than his relative weakness as a tactician. I firmly believe that Decker is unqualified for full command of this particular mission, all the more given the number of lives at stake and his own tactical recommendations throughout the mission. That doesn't mean he's unqualified to command any mission, or that he's secretly malevolent, he's just not the guy for this job.

And the thing is, given the stakes set up by the plot of TMP, this is not really a situation where you can split the baby. After the early refits learning curve (which Decker is not uniquely qualified to assist with), his ongoing recommendations would have been disastrous for billions of people had Kirk followed them. Like, either—

a) these recommendations are not what Decker actually thinks should be done. Had he retained command, he would have made the kinds of decisions Kirk does in TMP that allow for even the possibility of success, in which case his contrary advice as first officer is wildly unprofessional at the worst conceivable time, or

b) he's actually being honest about thinking slow and cautious tactics are the way to deal with the V'ger crisis, in which case he's a deeply inferior commander for this specific mission, and it was for the best that Starfleet placed the survival of Earth's population in the hands of someone more experienced, gifted, and decisive (clearly indicated by Uhura's chiding remark about how Kirk receiving command had doubled their chances of success).

Either way, Decker's wrong in the circumstances. Yeah, it sucked for him personally, and yes, he was right about a few specific orders early on, but I think he's absolutely wrong in the big-picture sense that matters a lot more. There are just far more important things going on during all this than him being mildly screwed over, and he doesn't seem to recognize the urgency or priority of those in the way that Kirk, Uhura, and eventually Spock do.

Also, we have even deeper disagreements if you think Decker is that well-written. The writing of him isn't godawful, but I don't think it's anything like good, much less super good. If anything, I think the script is probably more unkind to Decker and Ilia than any other major characters, to a degree that feels unfair. IMO pretty much all the best dialogue in TMP goes to Spock or Kirk, and even with them, there's a lot that's carried by Nimoy's and Shatner's performances far more than the writing, as well as by the audience already more or less knowing them.

I think Decker's and Ilia's dialogue in TMP is mediocre, not helped by so much of their characterization and motives getting lost in the shuffle from Phase II to TMP (even the conflict between Kirk and Decker is mainly an artifact of late reshuffling; Decker had been envisioned as a personable first officer who idolizes Kirk almost as a father while Kirk is deliberately grooming him for command). And Decker's actor in particular does not have the screen presence to elevate the dubious writing the way that Nimoy and Shatner do in TMP, or Frakes and Sirtis in TNG for that matter. Riker and Troi are obviously much-improved second drafts of Decker and Ilia but still suffer from plenty of bad writing, yet the actors bring a ton of warmth and charm to the characters in a way that I don't think succeeds in TMP.

[shittymurderparty]

The Narrator: My god! I didn't think you'd need to travel to another dimension to prove your love of Christmas!

Redacted: Well, this is set to be the dimension that loves Christmas the most, and I have to let my love for this holiday destroy them all. Nobody loves Christmas more than me… to death.

The Narrator: ...

Redacted: Too much? The Narrator: WAY too much.

Redacted: Fiiiine, they'll just suffer instead.

The Narrator: That's better.

(Partial Source: Malcom and the titular Nostalgia Critic, The Nostalgia Critic, Rapsittie Street Kids: Believe in Santa review)

[holywoter]

critical role reference???? in MY magnus protocol???

[marvelstars]

TPM

The phantom menace movie is so important not just because of Palpatine´s conspirations but because it shows exactly what were the systemic failures that allowed for Palpatine to get so much power, it´s very important for the plot of the prequels even if it wasn´t appreciated at the time.

Queen Amidala appeals to the laws of the republic to help free her world from an illegal invasion and the only answer she gets is that they will discuss it in a comitte because they are not even sure she is telling the truth while at the same time the Federation is putting her people in camps. This leads to her accepting Palpatine´s counsel to nominate him to become Chancellor and use what little power she has on the Senate as a Planetary leader to call for a vote of no confidence on Valorum, who was actually the only one who helped her by sending the Jedi because he was totally unable to help her in his own arena of the Senate. He only could help her going behind the system not using the system.

The Senate could have chosen to listen to Padme and help Naboo, they didn´t, it was a mid rim world of little importance to core worlds so their problems were added to the agenda for when they could have time.

Fans forget Anakin wasn´t in canon the only one who criticized the republican system, Queen Amidala goes back to her planet telling Palpatine she hopes he can do something to bring back sense into the republic because it was failing.

This is central to the plot.

This scene is connected to Anakin being rejected by the Jedi Order not because he wasn´t skilled enough or because there was something bad with his character, it was because of his age and because he worried about his mother, a slave living in a world run by slavers with a bomb inside her body that could go off at any point in time.

Anakin´s fears for his mother were not irrational, they were logical and understable, the Jedi could have still rejected Anakin and help free his mother if only in thanks for services done in favor of the Order by giving asylum to a Jedi Master during one of his missions if doing the right thing wasn´t enough motivation.

The Jedi Order choose to ignore Shmi´s situation and accept Anakin only after he showed the magnitude of his skills in the force, not because of the good he did for Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan and Naboo without expecting anything back, Anakin did it because it was the right thing to do but this clearly wasn´t the reason why he was accepted as a Jedi, bad beggining for a difficult training with a child who was a former slave with the scars to show it and then the Council agreed to send him to someone without any previous experience as a master, as a favor for a knight and in honor of one of their fallen comrades not because he was the best possible teacher for a future Jedi.

Neither Anakin or Shmi fate were of importance to the Jedi which also lead to them allowing Palpatine to tutor Anakin since he was a child, because what does it matter? Anakin is the outsider, he needs to fit himself into the Jedi Order´s mold, not the other way around.

Would they have been so careless with other padawans of their order, letting them be teached by a politician who pressured them to allow confidencial contact with them? or this kind of negligence was just part of Anakin´s particular situation?, I hope for the good of those padawans this isn´t the case with them and even if it isn´t, they are still treating Anakin differently, just in a negative manner.

Those two plot points are the direct link to ROTS but they are often ignored by the fandom, a shame because this is point a that leads to point b and c, AOTC and ROTS.

The fight, the battle of the fates, was fought in TMP and the Republic and the Jedi Order lost it, they just didn´t realize it at the time.

[mice-and-moonbeams]

Hi yes I would like to start down this rabbit hole please because I'm totally normal about this ... I am convinced Jon and Martin are part of a tape drive. It links with the tapes from TMA and the trailer for TMP especially with the opening computer screen (I already posted about my thoughts on that).

What is a tape drive?

A tape drive is a device that stores computer data on magnetic tape, especially for backup and archiving purposes. Like an ordinary tape recorder, a tape drive records data on a loop of flexible celluloidlike material that can be read and also erased.

Tape drives differ from hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs) in the way data is read and written to the storage media. Tapes store data sequentially, whereas HDDs and SSDs use rotating disks with rapidly moving seek heads, nonmoving flash memory or similar technology to transfer data.

Drives come in many sizes and capabilities. They are sold as standalone units or stacked in data center racks, creating tape libraries. The tapes themselves are often housed in sealed cassettes that can be inserted into the drive and activated.

There are several benefits to using tape drives, particularly for backup and archival uses. They include the following:

Capacity. Tapes have a large capacity for storing data when compared to HDDs.

Low cost. They are economical when compared to other storage media.

Life span. Tapes stored in a suitable environment can last for decades, an important factor for archival storage.

Transportable. Tapes can be easily moved from one location to another and are considered off-line storage.

Disaster recovery. Tape is often the storage medium of choice for data backup and DR. Storing critical systems and data on tape creates an air gap between systems that are at risk from cyber attacks simply by removing the tape cassette from the drive.

Security. Today, tapes support encryption such as Advanced Encryption Standard-256 and provide varying levels of data protection.

[fataldrum]

The Magnus Protocol and The End of History

In episode 21 of TMP, Leonardo Kennings, co-treasurer of the Magnus Institute, debates the Institute’s plan to participate in the London Millennium Exhibition.  

The calculations provided by Dr Welling and his team presuppose that any outputs from the site will be broadly balanced; that as a symbol of the future it captures both optimism and despair – the belief in a better world and the terror that a new millennium will bring nothing except new ways to suffer. It is my belief, however, that the actual balance of energies involved will be profoundly skewed towards the fearful and despairing[…]

This modern social and political order, following the fall of the USSR, has taken root in the popular imagination as a natural and final state of society with an emergent and inherent stability. The turning of the millennium is therefore felt as an “end of history” to borrow a term, and in this context the Dome may be seen as a monument to this order. A full stop. 

I’ve been hearing a lot about The End of History lately and wanted to share some information for those who are unfamiliar. Note that this is based on secondary sources like Philosophy Tube and the podcast If Books Could Kill, because I’m not about to read 400+ pages of a neoconservative being deeply wrong about everything.

In 1992, political scientist Francis Fukuyama wrote The End of History and The Last Man. In it, he makes a pretty bold claim: Western liberal democracy is the final stage of society. After the recent collapse of the Soviet Union, people worldwide would accept capitalism and American-style democracy as the objectively superior way of life. 

Once every country adopted liberal democracy, there would be no real need for major social change. Small events would continue to happen, but the overall shape of history is an arc that ends with liberal democracy. Everything else would just be minor adjustments. That’s it, guys, we won. History is canceled!

Admittedly the word end can be a bit deceptive. On one level, Fukuyama was describing liberal democracy as the final destination of society. But he was also using end in the sense of a goal, borrowing from the works of Hegel. 

I don’t need to tell you that Fukuyama was full of shit. Every major event since 9/11 has been a massive callout post for him specifically. To be fair, he wasn’t alone in his bullshit. Plenty of Western political scientists assumed the fall of the Soviet Union would lead to mass adoption of liberal democracy. 

There was a lot of misplaced optimism at the end of the Millennium. Take, for instance, the Millennium Dome in London.

A massive undertaking, this 48-acre building would cost £789 million and be the ninth largest building in the world. Tony Blair, the Prime Minister at the time, declared confidently that it would be "a triumph of confidence over cynicism, boldness over blandness, excellence over mediocrity." Critics called it a Museum of Toxic Waste, based on the site’s history as a gasworks. 

The Dome contained 14 zones aiming to depict modern British life. There was a concert by Peter Gabriel. There were daily acrobatic shows, and a special Blackadder film.

In the statement, Kenning asks the foreman how long the Dome will last. He went quiet for a moment, then told me he wasn’t sure. “Could be there forever!” he said, with an odd manic edge to his voice. “Or it could be gone in a year. You just… never know. Do you? You never know what’s coming.” 

Organizers predicted the Dome would bring in 12 million visitors per year. They got just over half that. It was closed after a year, and even then, it cost over £1 million per month to maintain. The government couldn’t even sell the damn thing, because who needs the world’s ninth largest building? It ruined a fair number of careers. To quote the Sunday Times: 

At worst it is a millennial metaphor for the twentieth century. An age in which all things, like the Dome itself, became disposable. A century in which forest and cities, marriages, animal species, races, religions and even the Earth itself, became ephemeral. What more cynical monument can there be for this totalitarian cocksure fragile age than a vast temporary plastic bowl, erected from the aggregate contribution of the poor through the National Lottery. Despite the spin, it remains a massive pantheon to the human ego, the Ozymandias of its time.

Kennings describes the Dome as “almost uniquely dangerous to our work as a place of power, adding, “It is my firm belief that not only is this site already on its own journey to become a decidedly hostile locus, but that the future it represents, and that we are being pushed to incorporate into our grand ritual, is unfit being so profoundly and irrevocably poisoned.”

The Magnus Institute burned down on December 24th, 1999. The Dome was officially opened to the public on December 31, 1999. It appears Kennings was right about one thing: the Dome was a very bad idea for the Magnus Institute.

[magpod-confessions]

i saw a joke post going around that’s like “the juxtaposition between tma and tmp’s first villains being jane prentiss, an overall serious and tragic character, and mr bonzo” and like yeah haha, but i actually do think that’s a valid criticism and really showcases the differences between podcasts so far. jane prentiss was interesting and creepy in a way that wasn’t just caused by her murders, and she was gross but still compelling and the grossness had dimension and reasons behind it. she was also built up slowly as a lurking threat. with mr bonzo, he’s just a knockoff fnaf animatronic who beats people up in a mess of gore and fluid then leaves. who cares? what’s interesting about that? it’s just shock value.

.

[tomorrowusa]

It's the media, stupid!

No, I'm not talking about specifics of various news media outlets or nitpicking about particular stories or attitudes. The problem is the vast overall state of the media environment in the United States.

Kate Riga is on target with her blog entry at TMP. (emphasis added)

Democrats Just Can’t Compete In This Media Environment

[T]here’s one leading factor that Democrats absolutely need to respond to as quickly as possible to avert this kind of electoral disaster in the future: the media environment unequivocally favors Republicans. We don’t have a ton of data yet, and much of it is partial. But we can already tell that Harris performed best — that is, underperformed least — in the battleground states. In the places where her campaign flooded the airwaves with her messaging, put her on TV shows and radio stations and in local newspapers, scattered driveways with information flyers, positioned her beside local celebrities, she improved on the repudiation of Democrats that infected nearly every other state. In other words: In the states where she set up a temporary but pervasive media apparatus, she negated some of the nationwide drag. That speaks to the reality that most of the country is awash in right-wing propaganda all the time. For the olds, it’s Fox News and conservative radio; for the youths, it’s the right-wing manosphere podcasts and streams that Trump so assiduously courted all campaign long (plus soothing TikToks promoting retrograde gender roles, evangelical values and distrust of government regulation — think the trad wives and crunchy so-far-left-they’ve-looped-around-to-the-right content — aimed specifically at women). It helps explain Biden’s prodigious unpopularity, despite passing a ton of legislation that not only polls well, but has meaningfully improved people’s lives. It helps elucidate the consistent claims that people don’t know what Harris stood for, before and after she released her policy proposals. It’s a playing field that Republicans not only dominate; Democrats don’t even compete. They still depend heavily on traditional media sources that simply don’t operate the same way these right-wing PR arms do. And we know that these forms of media are powerful; they reach tons of people, and are seen as useful enough pawns that Russia has invested in some of them. This isn’t a novel observation. The Obama alums who started Pod Save America and the greater Crooked Media family did so after Trump won in 2016 specifically to try to build up a Fox News of the left. There are structural problems with mimicking this right-wing content beat-for-beat. The Pod Save guys, while open about their political allegiances, often criticize the party and its politicians. It would be much more difficult to recreate the fawning adoration of Donald Trump Fox News and those podcasts produce for, say, Joe Biden on the left. It requires creativity and investment, but I think Democrats and those aligned with them could do it. Voters say over and over that they prefer Democratic policies — even Republicans often vote for them when they’re standalone ballot initiatives. It’ll require a cultivation of talent, a saturation of these spaces, finagling how to wrest back the counter-cultural bad boy persona from those who are espousing a way of life most people consider retrograde, confining, divisive and exhausting, not to mention solely in service of the plutocratic elites that run the party. Obama was such a revelation because he hijacked technology in a way that was new and exciting for people, and it helped him micro-target low propensity voters. Trump has since taken that mantle. In the two and then four years ahead, Democrats have to find a way to get in people’s eyes and ears, to figure out how to make an affirmative case in these spaces that people would likely respond to if they were exposed to it.

It's not just Fox News – which is bad enough by itself. There are the rightwing talk radio stations dating back to the 1980s. They joined Christian fundamentalist stations which had been pushing social conservative positions since the 1930s. And now there are countless bro types who talk rightwing shit for hours at a time on their podcasts.

Apart from Obama's skillful use of social media when it was still new, Democrats have fallen behind with digital media. Most recently, Elon Musk bought Twitter simply to use it as a propaganda machine. Facebook and its sister sites like Instagram use algorithms which promote rightwing talking points.

There had been attempts to set up liberal talk radio. But they have been sporadic and met with mixed success. Al Franken set up a liberal radio network called Air America Radio in 2004. But it had only modest reach on mostly medium powered stations and ultimately filed for bankruptcy during the Great Recession.

We need to increase our news and information footprint in a major way and on multiple media platforms – and fast. Obviously that takes money and business talent. So if you find yourself next to Mark Cuban, Bill Gates, or Michael Bloomberg on a flight or in an elevator, have your pitch ready. If that doesn't happen, we need to start raising money on our own. Nobody said that freedom is free.

[electronickingdomfox]

"Black Fire" review

Novel from 1983 by Sonni Cooper, and as far as I know, the only TOS novel from this author. This one was pretty fun, fast-paced, and a real page-turner. It's also notorious for being totally nuts, and having Spock going rogue and doing all sorts of crazy things. The intro was written by Theodore Sturgeon, no less. It's also very, veeeery spirk-heavy (and so far, the only K/S novel I've read that seems to get their relationship right, without going over-the-top).

Spock is the central character, and for the most part, the story follows his solo adventures, though Scotty shares some of these exploits in the early chapters. Amazingly, and despite all the unusual stuff that Spock gets involved with, he manages to stay believable. The other characters are all well-written too, even if they take a background place. And the same goes for the original ones, in particular Desus, the Romulan befriended by Spock.

The story takes place shortly before TMP. One thing that surprised me, is that this novel doesn't seem afraid to modify canon in substantial ways. Most of these books are more timid when playing with the characters, and focus on self-contained adventures that have little impact on the whole. Main characters are rarely put in real danger, or suffer grave injuries. Here, on the other hand, we have the entire primary hull of the Enterprise being destroyed and jettisoned in the very first chapter (a year before The Search for Spock blew the ship to pieces). The TMP uniforms are introduced already by the end of the five-year mission. Spock suffers a disabling injury, portrayed with realism, and not resolved immediately and easily with a magic pill. Also, this book gets pretty dark at times; Spock tries to kill himself not once, but twice... And a popular guest character from the series is also killed for real.

Some spoilers below the cut:

The Enterprise is in a routine mission, training cadets fresh from the Academy, when a massive explosion in the bridge leaves the primary hull destroyed, Kirk in critical condition, Spock with a splinter lodged near his spine, and many cadets dead. The primary hull has to be evacuated and separated, while the rest of the ship limps back to a starbase. In the following investigation, Starfleet declares that everything was a mere accident. But neither Spock nor Scotty are satisfied with this answer, since nothing on the bridge could cause an explosion of such magnitude. Therefore, they travel back to the jettisoned hull to find clues.

Spock is suspicious of some new yeoman, who entered and left the bridge shortly before the explosion. In her abandoned quarters they find two clues: a piece of paper with dots, which seems to be a star chart; and a ton of depilatory cream. However, Starfleet isn't convinced by this flimsy evidence. So Spock starts the first of a long series of reckless actions, and steals a small ship with Scotty, to travel to the star system depicted in the paper. Spock is in severe pain (and having suffered a similar injury in the past myself, I can testify: he IS in pain), but leaves nonetheless before undergoing the necessary surgery (I told you Spock is nuts in this novel). Meanwhile, Kirk's still recovering and has no clue of what's going on.

When Spock and Scotty arrive at the only habitable planet of the star map, they find out that a Romulan and Klingon ships have also been lured to that place by similar maps. Everything was a trap, and all of them are captured by the Tomariians, and brought to their home planet in an ancient rocket. The Tomariians are short, stocky and very hairy aliens, living in an extreme cold environment. Being poor and primitive, they've turned to scavenging, adapting the most disparate technologies to expand across their sector of the galaxy. Spock and the others meet the Tomariian leader, Ilsa. The one who disguised herself as a yeoman to plant the explosive in the Enterprise (hence all that depilatory cream). And she takes a liking to Spock, just as every other woman in this book.

The Tomariians plan to test their captives' strenght by sending them to different battlefields. This way they could determine the weaknesses of Federation members, Klingons and Romulans, in order to expand later through their territories. Spock's injury worsens, to the point that he's left immobile from waist down. But due to her attraction for him, Ilsa spares his life. Meanwhile, Kirk has found clues about Spock and Scotty's whereabouts, so finally, the Enterprise rescues them in the nick of time.

Back in the ship, Spock has to fulfill the promise he made to the Romulan woman captured with him: to warn the Empire of the Tomariian threat, should she not survive. After this, Spock has to face a court-martial for all his offenses: stealing a starship, and above all, establishing secret communications with the Romulan and Klingon empires. Charged with treason, he's sent to prison, where he meets and befriends the Romulan pirate Desus.

I won't spoil anything more (this is about halfway through the novel). Suffice to say that, after this, Spock gets involved in a prison break. He becomes a pirate by the name of "Black Fire", and gains a following of fangirls that write love poems about him (an amusing parody of real-world fandom). And finally defects to the Romulan Empire, creating massive drama with Kirk. Of course, there's a satisfactory explanation for Spock going amok, at the end.

Spirk Meter: 10/10*: Kirk and Spock are separated most of the time and have little physical contact, but the story truly reads as a break-up/reconciliation one. Specially with the introduction of Desus as a rival for Spock's affection. In the first chapter, Kirk is partially healed by a mind meld with Spock, and sighs his name upon waking up. Then Kirk anguishes over Spock's disappearance, and risks the entire ship to go rescue him (well... and Scotty). And there's a lot of commentary about how Kirk is Spock's only close relationship, and how his defection to the Romulans is a particularly painful blow for Kirk. The whole issue of Spock's treason has Kirk on edge and in a foul mood, to the point that other crewmembers are afraid of bringing the subject in his presence. As other books with a lot of spirk content, it's difficult to pinpoint single scenes, since it's a general theme all over the place. Add to this, Spock's absolute indiference towards all the women swooning around him.

Then there's, of course, Spock and Desus' extremely close friendship, said to rival that with Kirk. At one point, Desus reads aloud some of the love poems that Spock has inspired as "Black Fire". And one has to wonder if he isn't adressing the words to Spock himself.

McCoy doesn't appear much in the novel. But still gets some McKirk and Spones. In the beginning, he's devastated by Kirk's serious injuries and his inability to cure him, crying about the prospect of losing "the man he both admired and loved". Then, at the end, McCoy asks Spock to sign his book of love (and erotic) poems dedicated to him (!!!???), as an excited fangirl. "To belong to this man of fire, if only for a moment. - My flaming love." he reads aloud. And Spock even gives him his pirate earring as a gift. The novel closes with these lines: The black jewel gleamed its strange luminescence in McCoy's palm, but it was no match for the gleam in Spock's dark smiling eyes.

*A 10 in this scale is the most obvious spirk moments in TOS. Think of the back massage, "You make me believe in miracles", or "Amok Time" for example.

[gunstreet]

20 Questions for (Fanfiction) Writers

Thanks @twinkboimler for tagging me! 1. How many works do you have on Ao3? 39 that are visible to the public at the moment, a couple more that will be released soooon 😇

2. What’s your total Ao3 word count? 802,367! I probably won't hit a million this year because having a job eats up a lot of writing time, but maybe next year...

3. What are your top 5 fics by kudos? Lead Us to Our Own Bliss (aliens made them do it) Rain Dogs (getting together and just. a lot of sex) Heirs to the Glimmering World (alternate first meeting) Way From Within (timeloop! a collab with the incredible @justveeing) This Must Be the Place (my first novel! an episode-style space mystery)

4. What fandoms do you write for? all my fics currently are Star Trek, save my one Babylon 5 yuri

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? Maybe if it's just an emoji I won't, or if it's critical of what I've written (because I don't need to know if you disagree), but yes, almost always! I love comments!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? I am a baby and I've never written a truly unhappy ending. Let Forever Be is probably the most bittersweet.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? All my endings are happy but I think any old married spirk probably wins by simple fact of de-canonizing Generations

8. Do you get hate on fics? Nah, not really

9. Do you write smut? I would go so far as to say I'm known for that specifically

10. Do you write crossovers? I think I've written only one? Maybe two if you count the one based on a canonical crossover episode.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? I hope not! I've seen some of my HCs show up in other works, though, which I love.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated? Yes, Would That Not Be Nice was translated into Russian by @eldar-of-zemlya!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before? No, but most of my fics which feature Lor's art are quite collaborative 💖

14. What’s your all time favourite ship? a single look at my works page should give that away easily

15. What’s the WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will? I have to have faith that I will finish all my WIPs or else I don't have the strength to go on. But my oldest WIP is an accidental bonding fic I started in October '23. It haunts me

16. What are your writing strengths? Dialogue and character voice. Building tension. And the porn probably.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Knowing when to breeze through something quickly rather than write it out in detail (my editing process involves a lot of asking myself 'why did you include this' and then taking out sentences or paragraphs).

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in a fic? I try not to do it if I'm not familiar enough with the language because it almost never sounds natural.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Star Trek (shocking, I know)

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? It really depends on my mood but I think Pick Up Your Swords and Fly is one of my most well-crafted and under-appreciated works. And The Promised Land is so special to me because it is my personal canon about why they are Like That™ in Star Trek TMP.

[anghraine]

woman-of-many-fandoms replied to this post:

Let's be real though. Decker should have been in charge and the only reason Kirk didn't get himself and everyone under his command killed was because of him. If this was TOS days and Kirk had an admiral try to take over his ship, the audience would clearly know this was the antagonist but we let it slide because we are following Kirks story.

I totally disagree, actually (as is probably obvious from my post). I think Decker is completely temperamentally unqualified for the specific crisis at hand in TMP. For a significant portion of the movie, he doesn't seem to even comprehend the stakes of the crisis for the billions of people on Earth who would have died if Kirk took most of his advice. Apart from updating Kirk on the refits, something other people could do and which is at most temporarily useful, Decker's tactics are cautious and short-sighted at a time when they (and especially Earth!) can't afford either. They had to take the kind of risks Decker opposed (and continued to oppose after Spock fixed the technical problems) to have any chance of stopping V'ger. I think Uhura was absolutely correct when she said that Kirk taking over had doubled their chances of success. Kirk is a tactical genius who is willing to question himself but decisive in a crisis, none of which is true of Decker.

Doesn't help that Decker spends 80% of his screentime caring more about his ego than the mission or the most basic kind of professionalism, but his tactics are the real problem. He'd be fine in other missions, but this was not the one for him.

[yalikejazz9]

In honor of TMP coming out, heres my personal favourite Tma/Tmp oc

Yes. He is a cloud.

Yes. He is serious.

Yes. He is a menace.

No I will not take criticism.

[mmikmmik]

With the latest TMP’s big deal about Sam’s background, coming right after him telling Celia that he would accept her keeping secrets but at a certain point it would stop them from getting closer to each other. At first I was like “lol hypocrite.” Not a criticism, I love when characters are hypocrites.

But actually I think maybe Sam was practicing what he preaches. He didn’t tell Celia it’s wrong to keep secrets, he just accurately said that secrets put up barriers between them. Has Sam accepted that as the cost of keeping what happened at the Magnus Institute inside of him? Never telling everyone, and permanently keeping up that barrier? It’s not even like it’s not relevant - that was the case for most of his life, sure, but he hadn’t told Alice - didn’t even really hint at it - even when they were sitting in the ruins of the Magnus Institute together specifically talking about what the Magnus Institute means to him and why he cares about it. God. The way this recontextualizes that scene. And that iirc that was right before Sam asked Alice for some space. god. Sammmm

[reno2005]

Hello Vinescott Kennsauce

While the offer is nice to personally reach out to you, a part of me feels like the whimsy idea of a crow flocking to you might feel rather lost if I might reveal who I am

But maybe one day I might tag you in a drawing

Okay question, what would you say is your favourite weapon in RE4, either OG or Remake, or both. Whichever you want, I'm just here to ask random questions since I find this fun. Just flocking by, occasionally asking a random question, or maybe leaving a reminder and message

💙💙💙

-🐦‍⬛

Hey Crowe,

I totally understand, no worries.

My all time favourite is the Chicago Typewriter. Both for nostalgia and just because it’s a powerhouse of a weapon(unfortunately not as much in the remake but it’s still pretty strong thankfully)

My favourite pistol is the Red9(followed by the SG) in both versions. Both for the look and the power. If not the red9, the SG for its critical chance, which is also present in the OG and also gives the knife a crit boost as well.

My favourite shotgun in the original is the starting one but in the remake I really like the riot gun. The original versions of both shotguns are actually kind of bugged as I understand it, so it’s better to use the original. In the remake they fixed the distance/reach so I tend to gravitate towards the riot if I want to make sure I have all the power hit in a singular area. Though the WF is good for crowd control and is stronger so I tend to swap depending on my mood/playthrough.

In the original my favourite automatic is the TMP though I admittedly tended not to use it unless I was low on ammo. I don’t really have a favourite in the remake. The TMP is good for getting a melee opening but the LE is good for piercing. I guess it depends on if I want to kick or not.

My favourite magnum in the original is the butterfly. It’s just strong. And cool looking. I never really bothered to use the killer 7. Though I do like the crit boost in the remake but I still find myself just using the butterfly for its superior and guaranteed strength in every shot.

My favourite rifle in both is the bolt action. I like the superior power and honestly using it is cool and fun. I also like the reload animation. I’d love to love the CQ in the remake over it but the max ammo is just too low and the snipe shots just aren’t as strong. I use it more for crowd control and quick take downs with cat ears.

[departmentq]

This trekkie wishes George Lucas a happy 80th.

Prior to the premier of the original Star Wars, Paramount had plans for a new Star Trek series with most of the original cast, which would have been a flagship show on a proposed fourth TV network. Sets were built, as well as an new model of a refitted Enterprise.

All those plans, as well as the plans of other studios, were shattered when the success of Star Wars was evident.

Paramount pivoted and announced Star Trek the Motion Picture, to be released in 1979. Sets were refurbished, and a new model built that could handle the scrutiny of film resolution. Oscar winner Robert Wise (West Side Story, Sound of Music, Andromeda Strain) was tapped to be director.

Despite the problems that the production faced (whole sequences scrapped and refilmed, delays in SFX and editing), TMP was released on December 6th, 1979, though to less than critical success.

Paramount, had enough faith to put their money on a second film, though with a tighter budget. Sets and footage from TMP were reused, and new SFX shot done by Lucas's Industrial Light and Magic.

Two additional sequels, Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home (🐋) were made with 🐋 premiering on November 26th, 1986.

Subsequently Paramount announced a new show, using a straight to syndication model, that would take place in the 24th century, 100 years after TOS. The Next Generation premiered on September 28th, 1987, less than a year after The Voyage Home. TNG would eventually be following by additional shows, all on syndication.

Star Trek became a franchise, all because George Lucas wanted to make Flash Gordon...

So, may the force be with you George Lucas, and may you live long and prosper.

[casbooks]

Books of 2023

Book 51 of 2023

Title: Chasing Chaos: My Decade in and Out of Humanitarian Aid Authors: Jessica Alexander ISBN: 9780770436919 Tags: AU African Union, AU AUMIS African Union Mission in the Sudan, BDI Burundi, COG Congo-Brazzaville, Disaster - Cyclone Nargis (2008), Disaster - Hatian Earthquake (2010), Disaster - Hurricane Mitch (1998), Disaster - Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami (2004), GBR BA British Army, GBR United Kingdom, HND Honduras, HND Teguchigalpa, HTI Delmas 31 Camp, HTI Gaston Margon Camp, HTI Haiti, HTI Jacmel, HTI MINUSTAH United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti, HTI Port-au-Prince, Humanitarian Aid, ICC International Criminal Court - Hague, IDN Banda Aceh, IDN Indonesia, KEN Kenya, KEN Nairobi, LBR Liberia, LBR National Patriotic Front of Liberia, LBR President Charles Taylor, LKA Sri Lanka, LKA Tamil Tigers, MOZ Mozambique, RWA Hutu Tribe, RWA ICTR International Criminal Trial for Rwanda (Rwandan Civil War), RWA KGL Kigali International Airport, RWA Kibuye, RWA Kigali, RWA Kinbungo, RWA Kiziba, RWA President Juvenal Habyarimana, RWA Rwanda, RWA Rwandan Civil War (1990-1994), RWA Rwandan Genocide (1994) (Rwandan Civil War), RWA Tutsi Tribe, SDN Abu Shouk Refugee Camp, SDN Al Salam Refugee camp, SDN Dar Zagawa, SDN Darfur, SDN Darfur - Abu Shouk Refugee Camp, SDN Darfur - Al Salam Refugee Camp, SDN Darfur - Zam Zam Refugee Camp, SDN Hamadyia Refugee Camp, SDN Hassa Hissa Refugee Camp, SDN Janjaweed Militia, SDN Jebel Marra, SDN Jebel Si, SDN JEM Justice and Equality Movement Army, SDN Juba, SDN Kalma Refugee Camp, SDN Khartoum, SDN Korma, SDN Mukjar, SDN North Darfur, SDN North Darfur - El Fasher, SDN Nuba Mountains, SDN Nyala, SDN President Omar Al-Bashir, SDN Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005), SDN SLA Sudanese Liberation Army, SDN South Darfur, SDN Sudan, SDN Tawila, SDN Zalingei, SDN Zam Zam Refugee Camp, SLE Bo, SLE Child Soldiers (Sierra Leone Civil War), SLE Freetown, SLE IMATT International Military Advisory and Training Team, SLE Kailahun, SLE Makeni, SLE RUF Revolutionary United Front, SLE SCSL Special Court (Sierra Leone Civil War), SLE Sierra Leone, SLE Sierra Leone Civil War (1991-2002), TCD Chad, TMP East Timor, TMP Free Aceh Movement, TZA Tanzania, UN UNDP United Nations Development Programme, UN UNICEF United Nations Childrens Fund, UN United Nations, US NY JFK International Airport, US NY New York, USAID Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars) Subject: Disasters

Description: An eye-opening and intimate memoir about life as an international humanitarian aid worker in the field in Rwanda, Sudan, Sierra Leone, and Haiti. Jessica Alexander arrived in Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide as an idealist intern, excited to be a part of the international humanitarian aid community. But the world that she encountered in the field was dramatically different than anything she could have imagined. In this honest and irreverent memoir, she introduces readers to the reality of the life of an aid worker. We watch as she helps to resettle refugees in Rwanda, manages a 24,000-person camp in Darfur, and helps a former child soldier in Sierra Leone get rid of a tattoo that was carved into his skin by a rebel group. But we also see the alcoholic parties and fleeting romances, the burnouts and cyncism, the plans and priorities that constantly shift and change. Tracing her personal journey from idealistic and naïve newcomer to hardened cynic to hopeful but critical realist, Alexander transports readers to some of the most troubled locations and shows us not only the impossible challenges, but also the moments of hope and recovery. Review: It was a pretty decent book that gave the reader some insight into the situations in Darfur, Haiti, and Sierra Leone from the perspective of a humanitarian aid worker. You'll understand why the help offered is rarely helpful at all, and good intentions is really a double edged sword. There's some good, a lot of bad, a lot of stress, confusion, and a system rigged to fail for the most part. But there's also the human element, and the people that are affected at every level make this a story worth reading.