#you must be really bored

[sergle]

people being dramatic about "american cheese" (in quotes bc americans didn't make it) is one of my favorite topics because it's funny to see people talk about it like it's a biohazardous waste when it's literally just Cheddar That Has Been Watered Down With Milk, And Then Emulsified

[satsuha]

valerio for 60min challenge

[delicatepointofview]

#he’s just like me

[lagosbratzdoll]

On Daenerys, Colonisation and Race Discourse within the ASOIAF Fandom

This has been on my mind for a good long while and honestly, as much as I would like to leave discourse in the pits, it has been bugging me intermittently over the past few weeks.

Far too many of you get on here and call people who like the fictional dragon-riding family, neo-Nazis and that sentiment is so prevalent, that white people feel comfortable telling me a black woman that I am a neo-Nazi for rooting for Daenerys Targaryen. I am upholding neo-Nazi power fantasies for wanting to see a little girl live at the end of a story. I am a neo-Nazi for wanting to see the rape survivor have the family she aches for and children with the man (or men) she loves.

Then, those same people go on spiels about how the systemic erasure of those who sing the song of the earth and other old races is not colonialism. That their removal from their home is not displacement but an agreement between two equal parties. The fact that the only place where those who sing the song of the earth exist in the present timeline is north of the wall, surrounded by the bones of their dead, is not a travesty. That the expulsion of the old races from their home isn't that bad and should not be condemned. 

Instead, people argue, completely seriously, that the harm that the First Men and Andals have caused is centuries in the past, so essentially the slate has been wiped clean. The logical leaps that are required to arrive at such a boneheaded conclusion are truly mind-boggling, and those who make such arguments are not good people. 

I am unsure how one could read those books and come away with the impression that the old races do not mourn the loss of their home. I am unsure how one could read The Last of the Giants[1] and Ygritte’s reaction to both the song and Jon’s dismissal of the ethnic cleansing of the giants then believe that the old races and the free folk have moved past their displacement. 

In Westeros, from the Wall to the broken arm of Dorne, they all speak one language despite the fact they are all different ethnicities and they all landed on the shores at different times. That is not the case in Essos, we have been introduced to at least six languages and in A Dance with Dragons, Tyrion notes that the Valyrian spoken in the Free Cities has evolved into nine distinct dialects, and they are well on their way to becoming different languages.

How would a continent as large and diverse as Westeros maintain its hegemony over the people if not for forced assimilation, discriminatory practices and violence? The brutal repression required to keep one house in power for thousands of years is nothing to sniff at. The suppression required to keep the vast majority of Westeros worshipping one (or seven) gods. The systems in place ensure that language does not grow or evolve amongst the highborns at least.

Centuries before Aegon's Landing the maesters were the definitive educational authority and even now centuries after, nothing has changed. The grey rats still decide who learns what and when they learn it. There's one in every highborn home, all correspondence passes through them, they are the healers and the councillors.

The circular logic gets even more blockheaded when you factor in the fact that Daenerys is far from the only white character in the books. She is not the only character who wishes for home. She is not the only character who draws strength from her ancestors, her bloodline and her magical creatures. 

Cersei draws strength from her family’s iconography, and the Stark children (Jon included) all draw strength from their direwolves, their home and their blood. Sansa, Arya and Bran wish to return home and their home was built on the indiscriminate murder and displacement of the indigenous peoples. Their home is built on centuries of rape, murder, exclusionary practices and sexual slavery. 

However, if we give the nonsensical argument that time erases crimes air; the Starks, Lannisters and Tullys are warring to settle personal grievances in the present timeline. As a consequence of that war, thousands (a modest guesstimate) of small folk, minor nobles and even some major ones have been raped, tortured, maimed and killed.

Despite all this, no one writes meta after meta about how Sansa and her siblings must surely die for justice to be had for those who sing the song of the earth, the free folk, the giants and all the old races that fled beyond the wall.  

People write meta about Cersei and how she must die, but those are typically more misogynistic nature. They typically argue that she must die not for the “crime” of being Lannister, but for the “crime” of being Cersei and “ruining” Jamie. 

I would not mind criticisms of Dany and her peace-focused approach to ending slavery because the approach is naïve and she gives the slavers far too much ground. However, she is learning, growing and self-critiquing. At the end of A Dance with Dragons, she has decided to embrace fire and blood, her knight is breaking the false peace which is a necessary step forward.

What I find offensive is people saying that she should have planned better before she abolished slavery. And that the death, violence, and sickness that arises from her quest to eradicate slavery is somehow worse than the death, violence, and sickness that already existed in Slaver’s Bay. 

This argument often downplays the horrific conditions and suffering that exist(ed) under the slave system in Slaver's Bay. Such arguments are often in poor taste and prioritise the lives and comforts of the slavers more than the people they have enslaved.

I would not mind criticisms of Dany if people applied that same critique even-handedly. The same people who believe that Jon and Bran have done much to rectify the evil that their ancestors perpetuated believe that Dany has not done anything to right the wrongs of her ethnic kin. They praise them for the non-existent steps that they have taken, but in the same breath, they condemn Dany for not being able to immediately end the plague that is slavery. 

It is perfectly alright to not like fictional characters, no law requires you to like certain fictional characters over others. However, what is not right is making broad accusations about those who do, it is beyond the pale. It is disgusting, and annoying, and trivialises real-world issues to score cheap points against fictional characters.

Equating the survival of a teenage survivor to the restoration of a fascist house or neo-Nazi power fantasy when such designations do not exist in the world of ice and fire is strange behaviour. Saying that the teenage survivor will eventually be manipulated and raped (again) before ending up dead on her manipulator's blade is also strange behaviour. 

Dismissing the horrors of colonialism, especially when the text shows you that the involved parties are still affected by it, is not normal and often veers into real-world imperialism apologia. While criticism and analysis of characters and their actions are valid and even encouraged, it is essential that we do not resort to sweeping generalisations about other people and that we keep criticisms of characters grounded in the text. 

[1]  

Ooooooh, I am the last of the giants, my people are gone from the earth.

The last of the great mountain giants, who ruled all the world at my birth

Oh, the smallfolk have stolen my forests, they’ve stolen my rivers and hills.

And they’ve built a great wall through my valleys, and fished all the fish from my rills

In stone halls they burn their great fires, in stone halls they forge their sharp spears.

Whilst I walk alone in the mountains, with no true companion but tears.

They hunt me with dogs in the daylight, they hunt me with torches by night.

For these men who are small can never stand tall, whilst giants still walk in the light.

Oooooooh, I am the LAST of the giants, so learn well the words of my song.

For when I am gone the singing will fade, and the silence shall last long and long.

[desultory-novice]

I think it'd be kinda interesting if Marx, after becoming part God-Clock, is unable to rest. After all, if a part of the Nova lives on in him, it'd surely be running to try do repairs or archive data, and this would mean Marx has developed long term insomnia. The reason this is bad is due to Marx being a Noddy, a group known entirely for sleeping. Imagine trying to get immense power, having a battle you lose in a way you can never truly understand, then lose the activity you love most as a part of you isn't really You anymore.

No wonder Marx went crazy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH (/POS)

>DESS.EXE HAS STOPPED FUNCTIONING

[heatseekingreptile]

we are so back

[brittlebutch]

actually it's kind of funny how people will say Alex's fatal flaw is that he 'doesn't ask for help' and that it's his determination to handle things on his own that leads to his deterioration and eventual death when his whole introduction to the present-day timeline was a very literal cry for help that simply went ignored

[thedrotter]

didnt think I'd be drawing anythjng today but i saw this one tweet by @/crying_anabell about a ship dynamic and it inmediately reminded me of these two so i blinked and this happened .

ive been posting a lot lately it makes me a bit dizzy but rhe brainrot tells me to go cook something up and i must obey making sure we all well fed/lh

[penroseparticle]

irreplaceable rant? to the left to the left

My irreplaceable rant is essentially:

When Beyonce wrote Irreplaceable it was like a giant stepping on an ant. Even in 06 she was shaping up to be a Juggernaut. B'Day launched at number 1 I believe? She was blowing up. Well established, producing bop after bop after banger after banger. And We bought Irreplaceable because we, fully, were on board. Beyonce COULD have another you in a minute. The mythos of Beyonce was taking shape. She was Beyonce, you were some guy. To the left.

When she wrote Lemonade it was like. Oh there are stakes now because whether you think Jay Z is great or not or a garbage dude or whatever, he's at least closer to her level than just "some guy".

Like. Of course she could have another you in a minute if you were some dude. But could she have another Jay Z in a minute? No, categorically she could not, and to say otherwise is to tell yourself fun lies because you hate cheaters or men or whatever. I am a firm believer that Beyonce is one of a kind and cannot be replicated in our lifetime as a cultural phenomenon, artist, creator, singer, you name it she is. incredible. But I'm also not going to pretend Jay Z wasn't in some ways just as singularly, powerfully monolithic with popculture just because most of this website understands rap less.

She writes the Sistine Chapel about him because like it or not, she wants to. She looks at him and sees things you could only dream of creating and I for one am just happy to be here, and could care less what you think about Beyonce's specialist boy who is the catalyst of some of the best music I've heard in the past decade, and also someone who MADE some of the best music I've heard in the past 20 years as well.

Beyonce's first solo recording was 03 Bonnie and Clyde, btw. As in, she was a feature on a Jay Z song before even releasing Dangerously in Love. Which. Also prominently has a Jay Z feature. In the lead single. That arguably launched Beyonce's career. Why would she ever write songs about the man who helped her launch her career that she has been married to for 16 years. A damn mystery.

And for the record, if she wanted to make the most beautiful art in the world about literal garbage, so the fuck what. We hate Duchamps The Fountain on this website now? Irving Penn spent years taking extremely detailed, well composed photos... of actual trash. Like Mud Glove. His photos were hanging in the Smithsonian a few years ago. Turns out beautiful art that says something, even something about trash? Still beautiful.

[unohanadaydreams]

I will say that this filler has some really fantastic background shots. These are definitely not all from the same episode, also.

[sicklyseraphnsuch]

I dont know about you guys but if I had to face my neglectful abuser once a week for two years in order to progress - I would turn into the Joker

[avianreptiles]

Teehee

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

13/dhawan: too orange 12/missy: too blue 10/simm: too suits in offices

this is the burden of the thoschei shipper

[pokeology]

I’m terribly sorry but you can not seriously think that Magcargo is hotter than the sun

I really should just burn my degree now that everyone is an expert all of the sudden.

[nezumeanie]

☆ a s m o party night! *˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧.˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. •̩̩͙*˚⁺‧. ˚ *•̩̩͙ ✩.

warnings: alcohol mention | drunk mc | a party scene, ofc (horrific!!!!!!) | but gn reader as always >_<)7 and maybe some typos i dunno

♡ you had never actually considered going to one of those “asmo parties”—spending so much of your time exhausted from devildom antics, swamped with language homework you couldn’t make sense of, and the overall overwhelm of your exchange, you just couldn’t find the time or energy to look into it. this particular asmo party, however, was going to celebrate his birthday making this asmo party even more asmo themed: everyone should wear as much pink as possible and glam themselves up as much as their pretty little bodies could handle. something about that made you feel giddy and annoyed at the same time, not really knowing whether or not it was a good idea to go.

♡ that night had been filled with an electricity you hadn’t been used to as well. unconsciously, you really wanted to impress asmo, and wanted to make sure you looked good in front of all the guests he loosely called his friends. maybe his sin was peppered in the air, you hoped people would look at you and know that you knew asmo in ways that they would never think to imagine, that you had seen him really cry or that you had even seen him with a bandaid over a pimple on his forehead (thought you hadn’t ever seen the actual pimple). that your proximity to him would incite anything in them: anger, jealousy, awe, admiration. maybe that feeling was new, maybe it wasn’t. the venue was dark with varying shades of pink and white neon lights, all sorts of beings were pressed together in a way on alcohol could make cozy, the sound of the music drummed deep in your chest making your own heartbeat unrecognizable. you wondered is this the right idea? since you would, undoubtedly, see asmo again in the morning at home and would wish him happy birthday then, instead of watching him turn over a new year at midnight tonight. he thought himself to be the whole world like this, it made you smile how strange he truly was.

♡ the only worry you had was whether or not you would get to see asmo at all! the air was hot and sticky, the people around were singing and yelling and laughing and all of their faces were unrecognizable to you. there’s no earthly way someone could have actually known this many people, but then you supposed asmo had thousands of years to make friends. or maybe he hadn’t. there was also a surprising amount of humans at this party which lifted your spirits slightly: there would be something other than demonus here tonight. worming your way through the crowd, you found the bar, the bartenders all wearing paper masks with asmo’s smiling face on them. definitely weird, definitely on brand. asking asmo number five for something from the human realm, they poured you something pink and shimmery and you downed it in haste. it definitely was not champagne. but you couldn’t ignore the warmth and…..and confidence it was giving you. you asked for another.

♡ the ‘countdown to asmo day’ was projected on a screen behind the dj, ten minutes and fifty-four seconds. how long had you been here? this whole thing suddenly feels really funny. you start to giggle with a sparkly drink in your hand. hey when did you order this drink? hehe. it tasted sooooo good though maybe someone gave it to you with a smile because you looked sooo pretty tonight? hehe. well, you knew better than to drink an open drink anyway. you blinked slowly and staggered backwards bumping bodies with someone, not uncommon. giggling again you turned to apologize. oh! you found him! asmo! he had a wide eyed expression. “what’re you doing here? and like this too?” he gracefully stole the glass from your hand and smiled. “you look gorgeous” he added. hehe asmo was always so forward wasn’t he? you could smell demonus on him, but you really couldn’t tell he had been drinking at all. and what sort of question was that? what other reason could there be to go to an asmo party? that made him laugh in a way that made you swoon in a way you normally wouldn’t allow. maybe he hadn’t noticed maybe he had. asmo told you he was flattered you came this time after many many months of asking you to attend one. wishing you two had walked in together to turn heads and gain gasps from his audience. somehow you were just sober enough to roll your eyes at such a statement, but unable to tell if it was bass or butterflies in your stomach.

♡ the ‘asmo day’ timer ticked on minutes went by that he stood and talked with you. you don’t remember when he had taken your hand in the conversation, whether to steady or you because he liked doing so you didn’t have the mind to wonder. your drink still in his hand like an accessory. anger burned in your chest inexplicably—why was he down here talking with you? shouldn’t he have been on stage taking in the excitement when the asmo-faced ball dropped down the miniature tower? you had been shouting over the music all night, so maybe your tone hadn’t changed when you said this. asmo kept on smiling at you, but his eyes softened. “i really wish i would’ve known you were here tonight.” he had leaned into your ear to say that. something in your chest burned again. what the hell is that supposed to mean? and shouldn’t he be up there hosting his party. he leaned in again. as much as this is an asmo party, the majority of it is mostly, he said to you, for show—the humans; the incubi; the demons; those sneaky, sneaky angels; they weren’t here for asmodeus, but for what he represents: unadulterated and limitless access to their deepest desires. asmo always found himself being incredulously honest with you, and here he was telling you that it wasn’t him they desired, but the desire itself kept them drawn to him. you blinked hard and he laughed. “unfortunately there’s no one else in the devildom who can host a party like i can, after attending an asmo party every other party will feel like a five year old’s birthday,” he spoke while waving that glass on the air, the glitter in it spun but not a drop sloshed out. “and besides, i’ve already gotten everything i wanted out of this party about ten minutes ago.” his smile morphed into a smaller, more intimate one. you couldn’t help but wonder if anyone else got smiles like this or if it was just for you. that shimmery drink hadn’t given you the confidence to ask him that.

♡ asmo was impressive, maybe you were truly seeing it for the first time. the atmosphere was both lighthearted and intense. all the bodies around found ways to flirt with each other, touch each other, give each other knowing looks before sneaking out of the crowds. you had even noticed a larger amount of eyes on you than usual and, without meaning to humble or self deprecating, you knew it was an effect of the party: the secret wants of someone bubbling beneath the surface of their everyday life was brought beneath asmo’s moonlight, unclothed, inspected, and accepted. encouraged, even. he looked over his unruly crowd with a pleasure of his own, something almost paternal in his eyes. you called to him again. the countdown had begun from thirty. when asmo turned to look at you, you noticed the way he looked at you. innocent. not that he thought of you in that sense, but that he hadn’t looked at you with the intention of eating you up. maybe it was that drink, but this really annoyed you. the crowd calling numbers annoyed you, the way people came and went touching asmo’s arms and shoulders and waist annoyed you, the fact that he felt like babysitting you in the crowd instead of putting on a show on stage annoyed you. also the way he trusted you with his secrets was starting to annoy you. half teetering, you leaned into his chest hoping to press your lips against his and to your bewilderment, he pulled away biting his own intensely. “you don’t understand it,” he panted “but i’ve really, really been holding back. because it’s you.” the look in his eyes where the ones you had been longing for. the countdown concluded in a series of cheers and applause, the crowd all pulling the ones nearest to them into lust filled kisses. only you and asmo stood staring at each other. the energy, the smell, his hand in yours, the look on his face…you leaned once again and said “did you really think you were the only one?”

[tyrannuspitch]

but i do feel the need to register a direct complaint, again, about thanos's utter lack of charisma. his concept has so much potential but his actual execution is giving me literally nothing. like oooh there's an ~insane~ gangster warlord on a floating throne in an asteroid field who cuts deals with terrorists and kidnaps tortures and mutilates children to turn them into living weapons who he then calls his "daughters" all in pursuit of a bizarre fanatical ecofascist masterplan to kill half of all life. and then he turns around and delivers mediocre lines in a tone best described as "mildly annoyed". no tension no stage presence no menace no humour no fucking pizzazz. MAKE AN EFFORT!!!