medusasterling

[medusasterling]

My Unpopular Opinions #3: Character Development - Star Wars Sequels

When I say unpopular that means one of two things: a) stuff the people I know don't give a damn about and don't care to hear or b) stuff the people I know don't agree with and don't care to hear.

I don't think the character development the original trio went through between the Original Trilogy and the Sequels is completely baseless. I'm not saying it is great but it's not completely garbage either. (Do note that this is based solely on the films as I have not read any of the books, comics etc)

Now, hear me out:

Leia: ... Actually, I don't think there's much to talk about here. New threat rose so she fell back on past experiences and formed the resistance... So that's that.

Han: I have heard it said that the problem with Han's characterisation is that there was sub-zero development between the OT and the Sequels and it rolls back on his development from the OT. And that is... not wrong, I'd say, but it's also not quite right - or maybe "implausible" is the better term.

Yes, Han was pretty underwhelming as a parent. And yes, he does go back to being a smuggler and scoundrel after Ben becomes Kylo. And yes, that seems to be in contrast to where his character is at the end of ROTJ.

But, is it? Being more readily/openly caring and helping toppling a galactic empire doesn't necessarily qualify you for being a good parent. You can care about your friends, family, lover and still be completely out of your depths with handling a child. Even your own, even if you love the kid. Love does not equal good parenting. It's certainly a big part but it's not all you need. And Han might just not have been ready to have a kid (or not as ready as he thought at least) and add to that the Force, which he has come into contact with but doesn't know how to handle and of course he's going to be out of his depth.

And when people are out of their depths, they like to fall back on the familiar (sometimes even if they know its going to be unhelpful / is a bad choice). So with the turmoil of a kid you don't actually know how to handle, teach or help and then the added mess of that kid turning evil, I can totally see how Han might fall back on smuggling & being a scoundrel. The split up with Leia is something that follows from that, a mix of stress, being out of one's depth and the somewhat traumatic experience of "your son just killed his classmates, tried to kill your brother/brother-in-law, burned down a temple and joined an evil would-be-empire, just like your father/father-in-law" could put enough of a strain on your emotional/mental state and your relationship to break the camel's back.

Luke: His characterisation is considered almost heresy it seems. But I think there is a way to look at it that might at least be somewhat understandable.

And it all begins with the idea that Luke wasn't hiding to protect himself or to shut out the world but to protect the world from himself.

Luke in the OT is the paragon hero with unfailing belief in the good in people, especially his family and who is completely unwilling to give up on people.

Now imagine that, knowing his father's story, Luke is constantly sensing the darkness lingering around his nephew who is also incidentally very powerful in the Force. And this paragon decides to believe in his nephew because of course he believes in his family but it still persists and it keeps coming back to his mind. And then, in a moment of weakness, he gives in, he actually contemplates killing his nephew to avoid giving rise to another Darth Vader. Then he catches himself, realises what he was just about to do and regrets it immediately but the damage is done.

So now Luke has just accidentally through one moment of weakness caused the exact thing he wanted to prevent. He created this problem. He was what pushed Ben over the edge and caused him to become Kylo Ren, the new Darth Vader.

And it eats at him. If he was willing to give up on his own nephew, to even consider killing him, what else might he do? It's not just a lapse of judgement, it's a betrayal of what he thought fundamental about himself, his belief in the good in people.

So with what he tried already in shambles and his faith in himself equally battered, he runs to the farthest corner of more or less known space, where there is no-one. No-one to find him, no-one he can hurt in another lapse of judgement. And to be thorough and extra safe, he cuts himself off from the Force. Because he knows how to astral project and he can't risk the temptation of meddling even from a distance because what if he lapses again?

So he lives out the next years in self-imposed exile. Not to protect himself or because he has lost faith in the world, but because he has lost faith in himself and wants to protect the rest of the galaxy from what he might do if left unchecked. And he would be unchecked, because who could match him for power?

And then, years later, a girl he knows nothing about shows up on his island, offers him a lightsaber he last held when he was a much younger, very different person. And she's brimming with all this power but there's darkness too and he's scared. Scared Rey might become like Kylo Ren - failed by her mentor and turned to evil, scared he might fail her like he failed Ben. So he's grumpy and dismissive and does what he can to get her to leave but she won't. So he reluctantly does teach her, but he's still not sure it's a good idea, afraid, not even so much of her turning to the dark but of making the same mistakes he did with Ben. Plus years in isolation probably made his social skills rusty.

Now, I know there's no concrete evidence for this in the films. We don't get to hear characters' thoughts. But it's a possible interpretation.

#star wars #star wars sequel trilogy #character development #characterisation #it's not that bad #self doubt #Falling back into old pattetns #luke skywalker #han solo #unpopular opinion #Give it a thought

[medusasterling]

So... I watched Pocahontas II for the first time in ages... There's two things I noticed that I didn't as a child:

1. The starkly different ways John Smith and John Rolfe act towards Pocahontas

John Smith, after being open to her ways in the last movie, in this one acts as if no time has passed since he last saw Pocahontas, as if they could pick up right where they left off. And when the Armada is stopped and he is rewarded with a ship, he expects her to conform to his plans and dreams.

He does let her go when he realises she doesn't share those dreams and that he no longer has her heart. He's not a bad person, just one who wants something very different from life. As Pocahontas said, they walked the same path for a time but now their paths have diverged.

John Rolfe starts the story with very clear ideas of how the world is supposed to work. He expects people to act with honour, he expects leadership to be exclusive to men, he expects everyone to conform to British societal norms, which he perceives as the height of civilization. But over the course of the movie, Pocahontas challenges his views again and again. This leads to the scene in the garden after the ball, where he is struggling with what to do. Does he follow the King's orders as he has so far or does he free the innocent Pocahontas, do what's lawful or what's honourable? This, I think is the turning point of his character arc. He has seen men he thought had to be honourable act in dishonour, he has seen a woman stand up for something, he has had the veil stripped from the vain cruelty and barbarism of his so esteem British society. And now he understands Pocahontas better. He no longer thinks she should conform to his societal standards. He no longer questions her ability or right to lead, to take actions independently. And when the Armada is stopped and he has become chief advisor he decides, independently of her, that that is no longer what he desires and instead goes with Pocahontas back to America instead.

His path and hers finally run together after approaching each other all movie.

Basically, Smith goes from acceptance of her ways to expecting her to conform to his standards while Rolfe goes from expecting her to conform to his standards to accepting (his last line might even imply embracing) her ways.

Which also shows clearly what child-me didn't understand: why did she pick the new guy? Because they fit together in ways Smith and her don't anymore.

2. Disney couldn't be bothered to so much as check a picture for visual referances on Stuart England, apparently... Or more accurately, didn't give a damn about being visually consistent. Queen Annevs hair and dress is reasonably accurate (on a casual glance) which makes Pocahontas' outfit look even more unfitting in comparison.

Pocahontas' dress and underthings are Victorian, her hair looks more Georgian than Stuart era to me and okay, I think the jewelry might be Stuart, I don't know enough about jewelry to say that definitely... And that's not talking about the rest of the people (I saw one Elizabethan looking skirt in the London song scene... As well as a dress that's an obvious bustle cage caricature and otherwise pretty generic "princess" dresses - that is to say, what is sold as children's costumes and not necessarily Disney branded...)

Also, they turned James I (who was at the very least moderately competent) into a complete caricature of a monarch. But that's neither here nor there and opinions on James I differ...

#musings #pocahontas 2 #Things I never noticed #historical fashion

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So... I finally watched The Neverending Story for the first time today. And I am currently re-watching it in German.

Having watched the bookshop scene in both English and German, I noticed that Bastian lists different books depending on the language.

In the English version Bastian lists: Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson), The Last of the Mohicans (James Fenimore Cooper), Wizard of Oz (L. Frank Baum), Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien), 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne), Tarzan (Edgar Rice Burroughs)

In the German version he lists: Der letzte Mohikaner (Last of the Mohicans), Old Surehand (Karl May), Winnetou 1, 2 & 3 (Karl May), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe), 20.000 Meilen unter dem Meer (20 000 Leagues Under the Sea), Die Schatzinsel (Treasure Island).

As you can see, Last of the Mohicans, Treasure Island and 20 000 Leagues Under the Sea appear in both versions.

No idea why, but I thought it rather cool.

#neverending story #book list #Bastian balthazar bux #english #German #so that's cool

[medusasterling]

What's up with the Mikaelson Names?

Maybe this is just bothering me because I'm bored and picky about names, but I can't let it go now that I noticed.

Why the hell do all the Mikaelson children bar two have names that are, you know, not Norse?

Henrik and Kol are the only ones that do have actual Norse or Norse based names that might even have been around during the late 10th century.

Finn, while derived from Old Norse, literally means "from Finnland" while the Mikaelsons are explicitly stated to hail from Norway.

Elijah, Niklaus and Rebekah are Jewish and Christian names. It took me about three minutes of online search to know that Norway wasn't christianised until Olaf Tryggvason became king in 995. Since all the Mikaelson children save Finn were born after the family came to North America, for their transformation into vampires the year 1001 is given and the wiki states Elijah's year of birth to be around 977/978, it is save to assume none of the Mikaelsons were Christians. Why the Christian names then?

It's not that hard to find names that can at least pass for Norse. In fact let me demonstrate:

F - Fróði ᚠᚱᚬᚦᛁ

E - Eiríkr ᛅᛁᚱᛁᚴᚱ (or a more widely known derivate: Erik)

N - admittedly à bit more difficult, but there's Njáll ᚾᛦᛅᛚᛚ, a form of Niall that was at least mentioned in the context of 10th century Scandinavia (even if it was Iceland), or Njǫrðr ᚾᛦᚢᚱᚦᚱ, which is the name of one of the Vanir - Norse gods (but then, so is Freya)

R - Runa ᚱᚢᚾᛅ or Reidun ᚱᛅᛁᛏᚢᚾ from rún or Hreiðunn respectively

So there you have it.

The runes by the way are from the Younger Futhark, which was in use from about 800 to 1200 AD

And while I am a history student, I do not currently have access to the university library so all this is not properly done research by scientific standards. In fact this is what I came up with after a short Google search in the middle of the night. I revise this and add sources and citations once I do have access to the proper books again, but for now, take this for what it is. A late night rant that was just barely fact checked.

Still, if this is what I can do with five minutes of research, why did the creators of TVD not do the same?

Edit 06/05/2020: I have already picked out the books I'm going to need so as soon as the university library opens up again, I will revise this to be at least somewhat scientifically respectable...

#Tvd #the vampire diaries #elijah mikaelson #klaus mikaelson #rebecca mikaelson #finn mikaelson #kol mikaelson #henrik mikaelson #mikaelson family #norse #Names #kinda ranty #but also not at the same time #Not properly scientific yet #Sources and citations to come once I have the time

[medusasterling]

Everything Link does that's Not Okay™

When my sister @elemeny was playing Skyward Sword recently, we were joking about Link doing stuff that is... sketchy at best. So here's a (for now non-exhaustive) list of everything Link does over the course of the games* that's probably Not Okay:

Murder/Manslaughter (I'm not sure which, probably both)

Pillaging

Plundering

Burning

Vandalism

Theft

Impersonating official personnel

Identity theft

Fraud

Desecration of corpses

Sacrilege

Animal abuse

Kidnapping

Grave robbery

… How are we the Good Guy™ again?

Also, if anyone knows enough about law to add a tally of years he'd have to spend on jail for all this (most of which are offences committed on multiple accounts) please do so (including the country whose laws you use, I'd love to see different tallies for different countries) and any more offences for the list are welcome as well

*Our focus for this list was heavily on Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword since those are the only games we have actually played

Edit 09/09/2019: added 1 new offence

#legend of zelda #Link #Law #Good Guy...? #crimes #I'm not gonna tag every crime #That would take forever #Anyone know laws?

[medusasterling]

Totally you, @elemeny

Hawke: I’m the type of person who likes to think things through.

Varric: Remember that time you tried to eat a marshmallow while it was still on fire?

[medusasterling]

Describe Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) in no more than two sentences:

A beautiful tragedy with a great (size as well as quality) romantic subplot and horror used as I do Tabasco for my Tortilla Sauce: a good dash or three for flavor and spice.

#dracula #bram stoker's dracula #description #Cooking comparisons #It's a tragic love story more than a horror movie #I hate horror movies but I love Dracula

[medusasterling]

Random Twilight Rants (RTR) #1 Papercut (NM)

So, I'm rewatching the twilight movies (first three only bc a) I don't own copies of the other 2 and b) the other two are really not worth watching) since I've got literally nothing better to do in the evenings and it's either that or Dirty Dancing for the fifth(?) time (if Netflix had Pretty Woman I'd watch that instead, but they don't. At least not here).

And since I've got nothing better to do and I thought something about that scene with the papercut was weird in NM, I watched it at half the speed. Then at quarter the speed. And then another time at 1/8 the speed for good measure. And I noticed something.

So let's recount the scene real quick before we go on. It's Bella's birthday party at the Cullens' and she's opening presents and gets a papercut. Jasper snaps and moves towards her and Edward pushes her into a table upon which glass vases and glass bowls full of candles are placed. He pushes Jasper into the piano and we see that now Bella's bleeding like a stuck pig.

Except... That's not quite what happens, unless my eyes are deceiving me.

So Bella gets the papercut and holds it up in front of her face (stupidly, I might add), camera cuts to the carpet to show a drop of blood fall on it (how much does that stupid papercut bleed? It's a papercut. I get them all the time. They don't usually bleed that much...), Edward states at Jasper but looks more emotionless/villainous than worried, then starts to look worried (Bella's still looking at her finger, I thought she had a problem with seeing blood?), cut to Jasper who looks like he couldn't care less about the blood (his eyes are still gold) and instead looks at Edward with what looks like a mix of suspicion and worry, cut to Edward who gets in position to push Bella back (Jasper hasn't even really moved yet), Jasper starts to move forward (still looking at Edward and not Bella btw) at a human pace, Edward pushes Bella through half the room into a table filled with glass stuff, which breaks (who would've thought) and then throws Jasper into the piano and only now Jasper starts moving at vamp speed but the family now moves to stop him and we see that now his eyes have gone black, we see Bella finally getting up from the ground as Alice moves in to try and calm Jasper, cut to Bella and we see she's cut herself on the glass and is bleeding like a stuck pig, now every Cullen except Carlisle is staring at her bc blood.

So...

1. Edward pushes Bella before Jasper even moves. Yes he can read minds but if Jasper was thinking about eating Bella, why the hell would he look at Edward with suspicion?

2. Jasper moves at human speed towards Bella, giving Edward all the time in the world to move her out of the immediate way. A) if you try to eat someone, you might want to move faster than they can evade, B) if you want to get past someone, maybe you shouldn't give them time to think about how to counteract you. And Jasper's a veteran of bloody vampire wars for heaven's sake, he knows all this and instincts know this, that's what they're for. So why move at human speed?

3. Jasper is an empath. So he can feel what every single one of the others is feeling. Sure, there's bound to be some bloodlust, which is an emotion, but I doubt Maria let her army just run rampant all the time. That would be super counterproductive and she's smarter than that. But what is Jasper picking up from Edward to make him look at him with worry and suspicion? Bloodlust, most likely. Bella is Edward's singer, we know he has trouble resisting her all throughout the first movie/book, I doubt actually having tasted her is making it any easier (I don't crave strawberries less after tasting them for the first time come spring, I want them more than I did all year bc the memory is there to remind me how much I enjoy them and how delicious they taste). So what if Jasper picked up a serious spike in Edward's bloodlust, one to actually make Jasper worry Edward's gonna try and eat Bella in a lapse of control?

4. A lot less force would have sufficed to get Bella out of the way. Or better yet, push her sideways out of Jasper's line of movement instead of back. Or pull her close and behind him so Jasper literally has to deal with Edward first. All of those would have been better and Edward had the time to think about those. So why didn't he do any of that?

Conclusion: Either Edward is as thick as two short planks while Jasper gets overwhelmed by 5 other people's bloodlust (and then there's Carlisle but he doesn't really count, does he?) in addition to his own (one of which has a special inclination towards Bella's blood in particular) or maybe Edward almost succumbed to his own bloodlust and Jasper noticed and was prepared to intervene only to fall prey to the combined bloodlust of all the others when Bella starts to bleed a lot more.

Is it very apparent that I'm anything but fond of Edward? (Don't worry, Jacob's likely gonna get his due as well, probably during E, a movie I literally watch only for Jasper's involvement)

#new moon #movieverse #edward cullen #jasper hale #cullen family #bloodlust is an emotion #and all bc of a papercut #rant #twilight saga

[medusasterling]

So after S8 of Game of Thrones turned out as it did, my flatmate and I got talking about various dead characters, chief among them Robb Stark and Tywin Lannister.

When my flatmate said she wished Robb Stark had survived, I asked her why,he was an idiot. She agreed but added that he was a good looking one. After a bit of back and forth about how the survival of the so-called "King in the North" would have complicated things for Jon, as well as Robbs deficiency in both ruling and warfare (which we both agreed on), I told her my opinion on Robb in no uncertain terms: "He was decently good looking, that's all. He wasn't even especially handsome or beautiful. Just pretty. A pretty face and nothing more." And she agreed. The only reason she wanted him to survive was so he could look pretty. "So, what? Take his crown and give it to someone who actually makes a decent ruler, like Jon (as long as he has someone by his side to remind him he has a fucking spine every now and then, but the conversation about why we wished Ygritte survived is another topic) and tell him to go stand in the corner, keep his mouth shut and look pretty?" I asked. Her answer was a simple "absolutely" followed by both of our laughter.

We agreed that Jon was of course the full package: handsome, reasonably intelligent, kind hearted, honorable, powerful. He just needed to be reminded of his spine every now and then, and kept away from razors, as my flatmate pointed out.

Then we talked about good kings and bad kings and Tommen's short comings (He was young, impressionable, had an overbearing mother and was ill prepared) and I mentioned that killing Tywin was one of the dumbest things Tyrion ever did and my flatmate slammed the door in my face. Why ever would I say that? She questioned (through the closed door). I explained that you could say about Tywin whatever you want but he knew how to rule. At which point she said "But he was an ass on a personal level" to which I retorded "That doesn't make him a bad regent" (we were still shouting at each other through the closed door, mind you, but in a decidedly friendly way). Now I'm not saying Tywin was an exceedingly great ruler. I'm sure as hell not calling him a kind one. But he was a decent ruler. He had the experience, the brains, the ruthlessness (sometimes you need that) and apart from latent nepotism and an obsession with the family legacy he did a decent enough job of ruling. Does that mean I like him? Hell no, he was an ass. But I respect him. There were worse rulers (that should have known better, Cersei I'm looking at you) and there were worse people (even in his own family, Joffrey). Doesn't make him a good person, but he might have been helpful, you know, if he had been in the dragon pit when they showed around that wight, he might have even realized the greater threat should probably be dealt with before we squabble about an uncomfortable, ugly health hazard of a chair...

#got #got8 #got8 spoilers #sort of #robb stark #tywin lannister #Killing Tywin was stupid #Good ruler does not mean good person #king in the north #Robb Stark is an idiot #Tywin is a decent ruler (mostly) #He is not a decent person (mostly) #Game of thrones #got spoilers

[medusasterling]

A tragic hero in a superhero movie...

So... When we covered ancient Greek theater in my literature class, we also talked about tragic heroes a lot.

Around that time, I watched Thor for the second (or was it third?) time and I noticed that Loki basically fits the bill for a tragic hero (as defined in my class) to a tee. I was pleasantly surprised to find such depth in an action/superhero movie (I didn't know it was a comic adaptation. Or that it had anything to do with Iron Man - which I had not yet watched - or that there was a whole universe this movie tied into).

...

... It took me almost five years to realize the director was Kenneth Branagh, the same guy that made my favorite (and a lot of other) Shakespeare movie(s). (Also the same guy that played Gilderoy Lockhart...).

Now I'm not that surprised anymore. He'd probably know how to do a tragic hero in an action movie.

(Edit: If I ever find that old essay where I analyze just how much Loki fits the description of a tragic hero, I'll clean it up and upload it, I think...)

#mcu #marvel mcu #thor #loki laufeyson #loki (marvel) #loki #kenneth branagh #tragic hero #greek theatre

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My sister + Doctor Who...

This time at least, she didn't make me cry. I was already crying. We were watching Face the Raven to Hell Bent and on that last episode, when Clara and Ashildr/Me are talking about taking the long way round, and while I'm crying from the doctor's last words to Clara, all my sister (@elemeny) has to say is "I would totally watch that spin off"

For a moment, I thought about hitting her, but I was too busy crying my eyes out to actually do that.

...

Why did I think watching Doctor Who with her was a good idea again?

Then again, we do both ship Whouffaldi and was great to watch most of the previous seasons with...

#12th doctor #doctor who #clara oswald #whouffaldi #whouffle #spoilers #face the raven #heaven sent #hell bent

[medusasterling]

"What's in a name?"

- Timon, Hakuna Matata, The Lion King // Shakespeare, Romeo & Juliet, 2.2

It only took me 13 years to realize that Timon quotes Shakespeare in the Lion King. And it's from Romeo & Julieta of all things, too.

#hakunamatata #timon and pumbaa #timon #the lion king #shakespeare #romeo and juliet #how did i not notice #how did i never notice this

[medusasterling]

My Unpopular Opinions #2: Strong Female Characters & Love Interests and other Misconceptions - No Fandom

[When I say unpopular that means one of two things: a) stuff the people I know don't give a damn about and don't care to hear or b) stuff the people I know don't agree with and don't care to hear.] (Technically this fits into neither of my usual "unpopular opinion" categories. I just get pissed about this a lot. It's almost a third category: things I see/hear people say - often enough to my face - that I just get pissed about)

Why do so many people seem to think a "strong female character" cannot have a love interest or be in a relationship? Does having emotions suddenly make them less of a compelling character?

I had a conversation once about how Rey from Star Wars can't end up with Kylo Ren (their opinion, not mine). Since this was before TLJ I gave them the benefit of the doubt, there was after all, at that moment, still an argument to be made for it (though the strength of it would have been debatable). So I asked why they were so convinced, it could have made for a nice conversation. The answer they gave me really had me thinking whether I should groan or laugh. "Because she's a strong female character". The conviction with wich they said that was almost ridiculous. As if that was a legitimate argument.

Why the hell should a female character not have a love interest or a relationship and still be considered a "strong female character"? Does having emotions - or, in the case of our example, being the recipient of implied affections - make a character weak now? Or does being in a relationship take away from a female character's accomplishments?

I think we have a wrong picture of a "good" portrayal of female characters. What good does a representation of "strong female characters" do, if those characters are forbidden vulnerabilities or love? That's not the way I want characters to be portrayed, male, female and everything in between alike.

I want interesting characters. Complex characters. With strength and weaknesses and room for personal growth. A character driven story, interactions causing reflection and change, character development. Three-dimensional characters, so to speak. What good does a hard-assed steel core woman do anyone? (What do we need generic muscle men with half a brain for? Or those sleek jack of all trades device guys that can do just about anything? But the portrayal of male characters or protagonists in general is no the point of this post, so that's a rant for another day.) Those kinds of characters are boring and easily forgettable.

Maybe it's a misnomer. Because by now, experience causes me to associate "strong female character" with the type of female character that are basically the generic male action movie hero turned into a woman, without the arm candy. Maybe this expectation is half the problem. Maybe it would be better to call the kind of character I wish I would see more often "dimensional character". Because quite frankly, half of what I've heard called "strong female character" was either inconsequential or flat.

There's good examples for dimensional female characters too, though, so not all is lost. One of my favorite examples of complex characters are Star Trek Voyager's Captain Janeway.

Captain Janeway is the female captain of a spaceship in a 1995 - 2001 sci-fi TV series. She's stranded half a galaxy away from home with her crew and has to get them home, basically. She's commanding, curious, assertive and decisive, but over the course of the show you also get to see that she can be merciful, vulnerable and uncertain. (Plus there's that on-going will they won't they with her commander but that's a rant for a different post, too.) She is clearly in command over characters older than her (and yes, males as well) but not at the expanse of her feminity. She is neither sexualized nor treated like she's devoid of passion. She is complex and intriguing. (There actually went a lot of thought into the conceptualization of her character and the portrayal before the show started and during it to find the precarious balance between Captain and woman.)

Obviously this is not a general thing. This is mostly a problem I'm faced with talking to people who I meet at university. As a history student, most of my classes are in the arts faculty. Now I have the problem that the town I'm studying in has a very strong left movement. And I always seem to get caught up with the narrow-minded ones. Then again, there seem to be infinite amounts of them at my university alone. I mean, a guy can't hold a door open at the arts faculty without someone calling it sexism. That's not sexism, it's manners! Those doors weigh more than me and are easily two feet taller than my meagre 5' 1" too.

#rant #people are stupid #unpopular opinion #star trek #star wars #hints of #reylo #kathryn janeway #james bond #strong female characters #Dimensional characters

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Last minute change of plans sucks...

You know, it's no big deal that while I'm staying at my parents' I cook once or twice too. And it's no big deal that people change their minds about what they want for dinner. But is it so bloody hard to tell me earlier than RIGHT BEFORE I WANT TO START MAKING BLOODY DINNER?! Seriously, is that so hard?

I was about to start cooking the meat sauce for the wraps when I get told that I needn't bother since they decided to use up all the left over ham by making Spaghetti Cabonara instead. So my cooking has been postponed. Again. (Considering that originally the wraps were planned for Friday) I'm starting to wonder why I even bother.

#change of plans #are you freaking kidding me #i hate people sometimes #Why the hell is it so hard to just stick to the plan? #My family is driving me crazy #I don't even like Cabonara #and they know it #this is frustrating #deep breaths #Freaking out helps no one

[medusasterling]

My Unpopular Opinions #1: Politics - Star Wars

[When I say unpopular that means one of two things: a) stuff the people I know don't give a damn about and don't care to hear or b) stuff the people I know don't agree with and don't care to hear.]

I do not believe a republic can work as a lasting political structure on a galaxy wide scale.

I really don't. A democracy has a key problem: it is slow. It is slow on a state scale. It is even slower on a federation scale. On a planet scale it's basically a sloth. [Don't get me wrong, I'm not against democracy. I'm glad I live in a democracy. I just believe that in some situations, other systems could work better.] How is it supposed to work on a galaxy scale?

It has failed in Star Wars at least two times already (three if you count legends, as far as I know). The Galactic Republic did last for 1000 years, even though it ended up being rather simple for Palpatine to turn it into an empire. But it became stagnant long before that (and the Jedi with it). Third time's not the bloody charm. Maybe it's time to try something new. Like a monarchy where the ruler is not a megalomaniac psychopath Sith lord. Or an empire reigned not by one man but by a man and a woman with very different opinions on politics but harmony between them.

#unpopular opinion #unpopular thoughts #star wars #politics #hints of #reylo #not a rant #don't hate me #third time's not the charm

[medusasterling]

“Get you a man that loves you as much as Rory loves Amy”

— Me

[medusasterling]

Doctor Who + my sister = me crying

So, I was watching Doctor Who with my sister and we reached "The Angels take Manhatten" and I think it broke me a bit. But then my sister had to go and say "Get you a man that loves you as much as Rory loves Amy" and now I can't stop crying and I'm so glad I haven't put on my Christmas makeup yet or I'd look like a racoon by now.

I love my sister but she sure knows how to make my heart break.

PS: @elemeny Don't do something like that when we watch Hell Bent. Please!

#doctor who #amy pond #weeping angels #the angels take manhattan #rory williams #true love #Relationship goals