thereadingmoon

[thereadingmoon]

this but also also. in the history of white people, they detail how italian and irish immigrants in the US felt buoyed and privileged in the new racial hierarchy made possible by enslavement and theft of Black peoples in America. in europe, anglo/germanic people were seen as top-of-the-line whites while everyone else was less so and were marginalized. but in america? where there are even "lesser" people? suddenly the formerly oppressed could be part of the elite class of general White. it's not just perpetuating a cycle: it's taking advantage of the new punching bag class of non-white peoples

oh i love this detail sm.

it really frustrates me to think about how people are inevitably going to take Remmick’s one (1) singular statement about how much he resents the way the Irish were colonized and forcibly converted to Christianity and use it as fuel for “actually he had a point” and “he was right actually” and “he’s not really the villain here” posts, when the whole point is that Remmick is, through the vampiric hive mind he’s creating, forcibly assimilating people into yet another manipulative and parasitical system. he doesn't value the cultures of the people he assimilates—notice how all the vampires he turns dance to his culture's music using his culture's dances, and how he only uses the languages or knowledge other vampires have to offer when he needs to manipulate someone. Remmick is extremely transparent about the way he sees the people he turns as resources to exploit.

he’s perpetuating a cycle that he claims to hate and resent, and I think the movie is pretty damn clear about the fact that he doesn’t see anybody as valuable or useful to him except as prey and as pawns—otherwise he would just, you know, focus solely on people who actually consent to being turned. but he looked sad in that one scene and he’s an apparently attractive white cis man so people are gonna bend over backwards justifying all the harm he did.

[thereadingmoon]

Murderbot's Dream.

[thereadingmoon]

Provenance is like. Space jane austen to me.

[thereadingmoon]

been pondering murderbots organics vs inorganics ratio

the rambling thoughts under cut with full disclaimer I have only read two books so far because the fucker who has the library copy is overdue to return it by 3 weeks so i'm stuck waiting and dwelling and thinking so this is based off 2 books of vaguely remembered information, as can't doublecheck since they were library books

couldn't decide what the face would look like and saw some artwork where SecUnit's face was always obscured by something else so stop perceiving it.

so I've been wondering how the whole construct system functions. It can’t be too much human/organics since not needing to eat so the calorie/energy needs must be low? But it needs charging so primary energy must be battery (+other storage) and considering no stomach/guts the best place to put those would be in the waist/hips.

But the head at least passes for human so that must be majority human.

It has emotions and adrenalines and chemicals so it must have a vascular system to move those organics about. Although I wouldn't be surprised if the company removed most and relocated the vascular system to "streamline" it (cheaper, less organics to deal with).

And to make those emotions and adrenalines there must be adrenal glands but I couldn't decide if there would be thyroid glands to regulate hormones and emotional balance then decided the company would probably remove that and let the inorganics do the emotional regulating (or lack of)

I THINK All Systems Red mentioned a rib cage and waffled that it could be bone but then thinking about how all the Sec Units are uniform, that the skeleton may be based off humans to help organics/inorganics read it but are probably some sort of reinforced inorganic material built off a mold or something. To save on costs and for extra durability.

Lungs, small altered ones, to get the oxygen for the vascular system and organics.

Ultimately went with organics for hands cause those are fiddly fuckers so all up organics are hands, feet, vascular remaints, endocrine remains, brain and head organics.

assume the inorganics are covered in gell anti-heating agents.

[thereadingmoon]

Hello Murderbot fandom. I can't explain. I'm sorry.

[thereadingmoon]

link: https://bsky.app/profile/brainvsbook.bsky.social/post/3llc72lyhu22j

google translate defaulting to chinese at first

okay but for those of us with interests in both the murderbot and the daomu biji fandoms this is kinda hilarious

(english-side-only really, i get that the kanji and hanzi are completely different)

our good (air)ship murderbot! thanks google

[thereadingmoon]

“ART sounds… scared? for me? thats illogical.”

-mb, probably

[thereadingmoon]

Murderbot, a construct that was built and used to do extreme violence it's entire existence : I hate talking to people but I will try to resolve this situation peacefully if I can, threats only make people panic and then they take irrational decisions. Extreme violence is sometimes unavoidable but last resort.

ART, a peaceful research transportation : I love talking to people because I can threaten them with extreme violence right off the bat and it makes them do what I want (ads more totally-not-weapons to it's research equipment)

[thereadingmoon]

The beginning of All Systems Red is probably the fastest I've ever been hooked by a book, the first line alone got me pretty good but the whole first chapter has stuck in my head- the visuals, the timing and pacing of each line, every time I've relistened/reread it (too many times to admit) it I can see it so vividly so finally drew them to release them from my head

(I've already realized I feel I made Secunit too tall and long in these but releasing them before I say I'm going to redraw it all again)

[thereadingmoon]

Friendly reminder that if you talk about how representation is important and how there's not enough diverse media, I implore you to seek out the media that already exists. And if you live in an area with a public library, go to see if they're available at your public library. And then go check them out.

As a librarian, it is demoralizing to see how low the circulation statistics are on lgbt+ books and books by BIPOC authors. I include them in displays and readers advisory, but people still don't check them out as much. Libraries only have a finite amount of resources, including space. We don't get a book then keep it forever. If not enough people check it out, we have to get rid of it to make room for more books. And when James Patterson Book #69 gets checked out 30 times in one year and cool, subversive Sci fi novel with a Black trans woman main character has never been checked out once, the librarian (me) has to make a hard decision.

If you're looking for something tangible and easy to do this pride month, look for lgbt+ books (there are millions of lists online that you can find. It's easier than it's ever been to find diverse books) and check them out from your library.

No time to read? Look for a short story or poetry anthology and just read as much as you have time for. Or just check out a book cus it looks interesting and read as much as you can. We have movies too.

As cool as it would be for me to just keep the books I want and get rid of the ones I don't, I have to listen to the community on matters of collection development. And the community tells me what books they want by checking them out and leaving the ones they don't want on the shelf.

If you think this doesn't apply to you because you live in a progressive area and obviously the books are being checked out, you're wrong. I once worked in a community with a large lgbt population. Those books were not getting checked out. If you want to tell me you live in a conservative area and your library doesn't have any diverse books, you are legally obligated to check the catalog before replying to this post. I currently work in a conservative community and we have lgbt+ and bipoc books. And if you still cannot find any, you are legally obligated to see if your library has a collection request form that patrons can fill out before replying to this post.

[thereadingmoon]

Murderbot meets ART (who knew transports could be smart enough to be MEAN)

[thereadingmoon]

Welcome to Preservation! we have nice people and even nicer murderbots.

[thereadingmoon]

link: https://bsky.app/profile/brainvsbook.bsky.social/post/3llc72lyhu22j

google translate defaulting to chinese at first

okay but for those of us with interests in both the murderbot and the daomu biji fandoms this is kinda hilarious

(english-side-only really, i get that the kanji and hanzi are completely different)

our good (air)ship murderbot! thanks google

[thereadingmoon]

what if alexander skarsgard plays murderbot with his natural accent. what if murderbot is swedish and the company is secretly ikea. what then.

[thereadingmoon]

the jump in competencies between imperial radch and translation state is so!!!

in imperial radch, you have a 3,000-year-old disabled pilot, saint, assassin, caregiver, captain, housekeeper, and polyglot who’s overqualified by a hundred times over for any task given to her. she also sings as a hobby and only politics when need be, and she has a 97% accuracy rate in a shooting range. she lightly turns her nose up on the performance of human troops and—rightfully—thinks to herself that she can do better.

then. you have enae, reet, and qven.

they are all—through no fault of their own—social rejects and failures.

enae still lives with hir grandmaman at the age of 50 (possibly equivalent to late twenties or early thirties socially). sie is seen as a recluse, has no social or familial circles, has no pursuits or hobbies to eir name except for the emma-style management of an old and moneyless noble house. sie is then saddled with a cushy diplomacy job with a 200-year-old cold case that e breaks in months—alongside settling a violent nationalist group, navigating an escher-style artificially-created pocket dimension, and someone’s family crisis with the only training being from historical dramas and handling hir grandmaman. enae also does this with a trusy handbag and a cute comb in hir hair. monarch shit.

reet is in a dead-end state-assigned job that is beneath his talents and is virtually a space version of a hikikikomori. fixes pipes, watches shows in his cramped apartment, and eats dumplings. his parents keep pushing him to get a better job placement. he thinks he’s the least favorite child.

and qven. qven!!! e was a victim of circumstance. from the moment of meeting em, e says that e was not a failure, not an extra. e was essentially the pride of their clade. e had things GOING for em. and then. a single incident. an attack. no fault of eir own. and everything fell apart. e was thrown away, with no second chance, and eir life crumbled around em and e realized that maybe, maybe e never wanted the life e was made for anyways. a failure on two accounts.

Like. What the fuck. These failures can get shit done.

[thereadingmoon]

if you think about it, existing as a non-white person from a non-WEIRD context is just constantly facing and fending off against the Eldritch Horrors (realizing your smallness against a massive systematic inequalities you can hard ly comprehend, everywhere a proof of a massacre or a graveyard or a slaughterhouse, [justified] paranoia of the apathy and antipathy of the north, walking on eggshells in fear of the Horrors). like yeah. i am going insane with fear and loathing and paralysis. and yeah. no one understands unless they face the Horrors themselves. and do i want to let people know about the Horrors? do i want to inflict the Paralysis on them? yes and no. hold my hand. be blessed in your ignorance. let's burn this down together. it's too big for us too burn down. i hate you for your ignorance. i don't want mine again. i want my life back. my life was never mine. this thing is too big and we are too small.

[thereadingmoon]

going back to my parallel between thistle dunmeshi and tisarwat, i think tisarwat's situation is an allegory for living after life-altering abuse and violation. she's so disassociated from herself that she and breq sees herself as pre-ancillary tisarwat and post-ancillary tisarwat, and in a way, it's true. she is forever changed from the experience of having someone else crammed into her consciousness to the point her previous psyche was snuffed out. she, in breq's words, was dead the moment the operation started. she is grieving who she was and never got to be. she is someone else entirely. she spends two-thirds of ancillary sword floating through a miasma of PTSD and self-loathing, wishing she'd died and wishing so desperately to do something with herself to make the violation - not worth it, but to do something past it. finally mentioning the elephant in the room has her breaking down in tears, a cathartic end to months of dwelling on it in the background. she cannot go back. she cannot go back to being the other tisarwat. one step, two steps, she can only move forward.