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acourtofthought · 1 year

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You always have good insight on ACOTAR and I wanted to get your thoughts on something. Sorry if it’s already been answered and I just missed it. Those who hate on Rhys ... The argument is he is always about choice until it comes to Feyre’s pregnancy and him not telling her the dangers of it immediately makes him the worst of men. He also assaulted her UTM.

My thoughts:

On the pregnancy: Was it right to keep it from her? No. However, I didn’t find it malicious nor do I think judging by his character that he would have kept it from her long. He was looking for cure to save her and didn’t want her to panic while he was doing it. We all know Rhys loves Feyre (obviously enough to make that pact) and he made a choice based on his fear of losing her. He lost his family and I think he made a bad decision by not telling her immediately based on that fear. I don’t really count this part of the story as him being morally grey. I just thought it was a poor decision.

On UTM: He drugged and assaulted her? I haven’t read the first book in a while. But from what I remember, he told her she wouldn’t want to remember what happened UTM. He didn’t force it on her and if she pushed back and refused, would he have let it go? I’d like to think so, but maybe I’m being biased in that regard? Now, he did force her to dance while being dressed provocatively. This is where I consider him being morally grey. He didn’t do it out of his own enjoyment, but because he had to keep up the facade of serving Amarantha and being this “scary” high lord that people believed him to be. He did a lot of things to keep up that facade and keep Velaris and his people safe. I think he also said he needed to make Tamlin mad so that when the time came, he could unleash his fury on Amarantha. Everyone was literally captured and kept UTM and no one had hope of ever leaving. So, he did some questionable things in order to take advantage of the opportunity he saw in Feyre. Again, morally grey but I don’t consider it evil. He grabbed and twisted her arm to force her to accept his deal. Yes, he did in order to save her bc she was dying in the cell and wouldn’t accept his help. It wasn’t right, but this in my opinion was the worst of his “evil” ways. Well, that and giving up Clare’s name even though he knew Feyre was lying from the beginning. He did some messed up stuff to keep Amarantha sated and give all of them a chance. I don’t want to excuse those actions necessarily, but I guess my point it, I see why those actions were taken considering the terrible circumstances they were all in. This is also my interpretation of what is written, so I understand that everyone has different interpretations of things… but like I said, you always have good insight.

Thank you for thinking of me! Could he have handled the pregnancy better? Of course. But I think people tend to leave out an important detail. In a normal pregnancy, it is 100% about the woman. But in this case, Rhys's life was in jeopardy too. Do I think that was his focus? On his own life? No but, that's not to say it didn't play a part in his decision making process. If I knew that stressing my partner out could lead to stress and an early delivery which could lead to their death, our child's death, and my own death, I might want to see if I could find a solution before approaching them (which was his plan, he wasn't going to keep her in the dark until the end). This is a strange and complicated situation that no one in the real world would ever face considering males don't usually have anything to do with the pregnancy and delivery (aside from offering emotional support). Did Rhys do terrible things UTM? Yes. Would Rhys have done those things to Feyre if he weren't being held captive by Amarantha? If all their lives weren't at stake? I don't think so. Which is why I don't hate on Tamlin for lying about the treaty and kidnapping Feyre from her home. They were all under attack because of what Amarantha had done and they responded with some shitty actions as a result, because they were all just trying to save their worlds. While UTM, Feyre was their only hope for their freedom. And Rhys did need Feyre not to succumb to depression, illness, fear, etc. So he found a way to avoid those things while also playing the role of the Dark High Lord so as not to draw suspicion. Had he shown Feyre kindness and mercy (even to her when no one was watching) his cover would have been blown. Was Feyre a pawn to both Tamlin and Rhys at times? Yes. Was that fair? No. But again, when your at war there really are no good decisions and just as Tamlin kidnapping Feyre made him feel sick, Rhys doing what he had to do made him also feel sick. What matters most is how they treated Feyre once the threat of Amarantha was no longer driving their decisions. And the fandom can go back and forth until they're blue in the face over how good or terrible Rhys was and while debate is fine, it really doesn't matter what our take on it is. Because this is not our story and we are not the ones dictating what is acceptable behavior. SJM is the one telling us, "what this character did was wrong and what this character did is supposed to be forgiven because of "reasons". Someone can dislike it, they can say why her take on it bothers them. But it doesn't change that she wrote the rules and we don't get to decide that Rhys should be as hated as Tamlin in this fantasy world. Like it or not, this is Feyre's story and in her story, Tamlin was her abuser and the things Rhys did were understandable and a lot of readers are simply accepting that SJM decided this is how the story would go. Again, someone can say, "well I wouldn't look at it like that!" and that's fine because we'd all handle things differently in our own lives. But what makes no sense is saying, "how dare Feyre be fine with Rhys but claim Tamlin is the bad guy!" Like it or not, that is the story we got and that is how SJM wanted these characters to be written. It's only one perspective, sure. But in Feyre's story, her perspective about her love interest and what she's willing to forgive is the only one who matters.

#feysand #pro feysand #rhysand acotar #pro rhysand #ask and answer

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corvidexoskeleton · 1 year

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It took me a while to actually get through all of scorn, but now that I've had some time to sit and think about it for a bit, I have my own thoughts about it

With how many popular games these days end up as these big open world explorations that boast about how long it takes to play, or have the most complicated gameplay imaginable, or convoluted storytelling and lore, it's almost refreshing to have something a bit more simple or short in length.

That being said, there are of course aspects of the game that I think could potentially be improved upon, but I don't think they necessarily detract from the overall quality in a significant way. Things don't always need to have the smoothest combat or else do away with it entirely, and in this case I feel as if the game's current combat is more thematically appropriate than the alternative; you are a newborn wandering around in the desiccated remains of society and trying to fend off wild animals with technology you don't understand, not Doomguy on his trillionth year anniversary of killing demons.

The game is also, as many people have pointed out, very linear with no option to explore or do other stuff. And again, I have to refer back to other games such as the Portal games or the original God of War. Games don't really need to be open world or have hidden collectibles or sidequests, and some games really don't need it. Would it be enjoyable to have more places to explore and do more things in Scorn? I'm sure that it absolutely would, but that doesn't seem to be the story that the devs were trying to tell here, nor do I think that Scorn specifically needs it in order for the experience to be good or enjoyable.

With regards to the puzzle aspect of the game, I think the difficulty and quality of the puzzles present ingame really is subjective and varies from person to person. But that aside, I do have to wonder how many of the people complaining about the puzzle aspect or the lack of combat have also played and enjoyed the Portal games, which are both hugely popular and in my opinion more similar to Scorn than Doom or Resident Evil, and don't really have combat in the traditional sense. Personally, I enjoyed the puzzles in Scorn because while they did take me a bit of time to navigate, they weren't so difficult that I had to resort to looking up solutions. But again, not everyone enjoys puzzles, or are good at solving puzzles.

And finally, the perceived lack of explicit storytelling, the lack of dialogue, and the complete absence of any text that you might find in other games. I think that this is something that could also vary from person to person in terms of how good it is or how successful it was in this instance. Environmental storytelling is it's own method of getting information across, but a lot of times you end up with a Bethesda situation where the only environmental storytelling we get consists of a skeleton with knife in its chest and a note next to it that says "ahhhh no the raiders are coming i hope they don't kill me". There's always ways in which games can and should improve upon things such as environmental storytelling, but I do think it's very telling when someone would rather eschew it altogether and refuse to actually stop and think about what something could mean.

I think that there is great value in storytelling methods that are vague and are more up to interpretation than anything else, and that's what the case is with Scorn. The game doesn't tell you anything, and you kind of have to try and figure it out yourself based on what you see ingame, and even reading the information given in the digital artbook doesn't completely elucidate what's going on.

As simple as it is, and while it might not be for everyone, it remains a very unique game that has quite a lot of potential that can be built off of in the future, and I believe that criticism of it would be more constructive if it focused on what the game actually is rather than what it isn't.

#text post tag #read more #scorn #scorn game #this copy pasted from steam where i originally wrote this so bear with me

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16minutesorso · 2 years

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Hi! Did you watch Korean Money Heist? I have mixed feelings (definitely not on the level of s1 of lcdp, but some things were better in the remake, for example: less sexual harressment), but really loved Denver, one of the highlights of the show. What did you think? (if you already watched)

Hey, anon! Glad to hear from you! 😃😄

Yes, as a matter of fact, I did; I missed Denver and Mónica too much and was very curious regarding the korean take on them. And in what comes to the ship, I absolutely adored it. They took a proper pace with the development of their relationship, added some new dialogues that were truly appreciated and the actors are on point, their chemistry is adorable. *-* I was actually going to make a post about it, but you arrived first so I'm taking my chances. 😅

I've seen some people complaining about how it follows the same storyline but, c'mon, that's exactly what a remake is. They even tried to fix some issues that failed through the original, so I had my fun watching the korean version, even if it missed the human warmth and attachement that made us fall in love with this show in the first place. Of course La Casa de Papel will always be La Casa de Papel, don't get me wrong; comparisons will happen, but they're not necessarily fair...

Now with spoilers under the cut:

Denver was, once again, the show's major highlight to me. Found him a little more silly and less impulsive than original Denver (his wide spectrum of emotions was what made the character more charismatic and allowed Jaime Lorente to display his enormous acting range), but Kim Ji-hoon made him so enjoyable to watch and easy to root for, I was very impressed. 🥰🥰 Didn't get attached to their version of Moscow as much as the original, probably due to the lack of ties to other characters that weren't his son, but their scenes together were a pleasure to (re)watch.

Yoon Mi-sun was a bit more discreet through these six episodes, but then I remembered that Mónica herself didn't fully shine until part 2, so I hope to see and learn more from her in the second half. There were some minor big changes made to her story - Cho Young-min is much more abusive than Arturito and in this version her pregnancy turned out to be a lie - that I'm still not sure how to feel about, but I'm definitely curious to see where they'll lead her. Right now, I think her arc might be related to the political aspect of this version, her being from the North and trying to bring her family to the South... I don't know a thing about korean politics, but I'm willing to learn.

Can't say I'm one hundred percent confident Denver and Mi-sun will have the same happy ending as Denver and Mónica, but I certainly hope so. Thought they were at least showered with the same amount of softness and careness as the latter; even their sex scene, despite not as intimate, was filled with sentiment so, good sign, maybe...?

I don't have many other things to add outside of their characters and relationship. The concept of 'found family' played a major role in the reason why we fell in love with La Casa de Papel, both characters and actors, and I don't think the team from Money Heist: Korea is there yet. I highly appreciated Rio's backstory as a former medical student, which gave more sense to the healthcare scares they went through, and Berlin has been called out on his cold erratic behaviour, which is a win to me. Couldn't really identify with their Professor, though, and the switch of Tokyo and Nairobi's personalities didn't please me either.

So, yes: mixed feelings is the perfect way to put it. Will I come back when they release the last six episodes? You can bet I will. If not for the show, I definitely will for the ship. Jaime and Esther gave me a lovestory for the ages, but Kim Ji-hoon and Lee Joo-bin are doing a great revival of it.

Thank you for this moment, anon. Hope you're having a great weekend. ❤️🖤

#Let's Talk #anons #Money Heist Korea #in this house we stan for ALL the Denver x Stockholm love <3 #writings #LCDP meta

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bl-bracket · 1 year

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Info for how the brackets work:

So since there's been a lot more attention on this current competetion then the last, I thought I'd share some of my process on how the brackets get formed so y'all can understand how it works more!

Who gets put in the brackets?

Basically everyone who gets submitted at this point! I'm still starting out on here and I don't have a ton of traction yet, so every character submitted has been put in the bracket. Right now I've been doing 16-competitors brackets, so I basically take everyone's submissions and then add my own if I need more. The green flag bracket had the most amount of submissions so far (39) with 12 characters nominated. I added another 4 based on my personal choices to complete the bracket and that's how you got what we have now.

Why is X character against Y character?

The pairings for the bracket are about 80% randomized. The remaining 20% is my interference, which, in order to make the competition more interesting, is avoiding putting the real heavy hitters against each other in the first round. For this bracket (and those going forward), the "heavy hitters" were basically the characters I got the most repeated submissions for earlier. Like I said, I had 39 submissions with only 12 characters, many characters were submitted by multiple people. I took the ones with the most submissions and adjusted it so that they weren't going to face each other till later rounds. Maybe in the future I will adjust this policy but for now just keep in mind that the match ups are largely randomized.

Isn't this just a popularity contest?

I mean... yeah? Unfortunately that's how these bracket competitions seem to work and I'm not sure if there's any way to combat that. My best advice is to use as much campaigning and propaganda as you want for your desired canadite (also reblogging the poll if your follower base tends to have similar opinions on the shows can be advantageous to you ;).) I also think in future brackets I'll add the reasons people give for submitting their character to the posts to hopefully even the odds a little.

Also just some general info, I'm trying my best to be neutral as possible with these! I don't vote in the polls (originally because the very first round I ever did didn't have a lot of votes and I didn't want to sway any of them. Now it's just a fun little game of self restraint) so I'm not trying to get yall to vote for a specific character. I also haven't watched every single drama that is a part of these competitions so pls don't get too upset at a character being included that you think is inaccurate! There is a very real possibility that they were just a user submission I added! I don't want to stay which dramas I have or haven't watched (again I don't want to sway anything) so please don't ask me or interrogate me on why a character is a part of the poll! Like I said before, it's primarily user submissions and only a few are added by me, but I would really rather not say which are which (except maybe after a bracket has been completed!)

Anyways! This is just a reminder that this is all in good fun! The most popular bl is not necessarily the best bl, nor is the bl you find most enjoyable always the best bl either! It can be fun to argue and debate over fictional characters but please stay kind and remember to keep fun at the forefront!

#bl bracket #bl bracket info

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untitled-starwars-blog · 2 years

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Just finished reading Padawan, by Kiersten White!

Overall, an enjoyable read! I definitely think Master & Apprentice was more my speed, but I suppose that's to be expected, since I'm not quite the target demographic for YA novels anymore.

Full thoughts below, for anyone who might be interested (and spoilers, of course, for anyone who hasn't read the book yet)!

First of all, the book in general definitely did have the writing style of a YA novel (which is exactly what one should expect from it, given that's what it is)! It's not necessarily a good or bad thing, just the way it's written. That difference in style was just very apparent to me, having started this book immediately after finishing Master & Apprentice!

I really liked the idea of Lenahra in general -- the concept of a living planet, with its own sort of manifestation of the Force, existing in a perfect symbiotic harmony. I liked how the animals as well as the planet itself could be friendly, indifferent, or hostile, depending on how somebody interacts with it.

I liked the Lenahrans as well, and while I wish the book had been able to flesh each of them out a bit more, it's understandable that it wasn't able to spend a lot of time on each of them individually. It did seem like their feelings towards Obi-Wan and their motivations shifted a bit quickly at times, but that's actually pretty understandable, given that they're a group of conflicted kids.

I always enjoy when Star Wars properties explore the relationship between Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan, and this book did touch a little bit on that -- although, moreso referencing and setting the stage for Master & Apprentice, which takes place somewhere about a year after Padawan, than actually making it a focus or treading any new ground. The focus of this story was definitely Obi-Wan, his insecurities, and his relationship with the Force.

I will say, there were two things that sort of stuck out to me as being a bit underwhelming, and could have used a bit more build-up: Obi-Wan's willingness to abandon being a Jedi so easily, and Loegrib being a bit of a one-dimensional villain.

Regarding Obi-Wan, it definitely feels like he gave up on the idea of being a Jedi pretty quickly. After only being away from the Temple for two days, he's already seriously considering just never going back, and feeling as though "still thinking of himself as a Padawan" is somehow not how he should be viewing himself. I understand that this is largely because of the struggles that he's going through, and I do really like when Star Wars properties address Obi-Wan's insecurities during his time as a Padawan! But after spending his entire life with the goal of being a Jedi, it seems to me like it might have been a bit more realistic for him to sort of develop this mindset over time with the Lenahrans, maybe with it sort of slowly integrating into how he thinks about his life going forward. Obi-Wan being uncertain about his role as a Jedi does make perfect sense for the personal journey he goes through in this book, but I just wish the build up to that point was a bit more gradual, is all.

As far as Loegrib, he was just a bit one-note. From the moment he shows up, it's pretty obvious what his deal is -- and even if you weren't able to guess yourself, the book cuts to his POV just a couple chapters after his introduction, outlining very clearly that he's a selfish person who only wants power, and doesn't care at all for his niece and nephew, to the point of being perfectly willing to murder them. Obi-Wan explains that his desire for the Power is what's driving him, which does make sense as a motive... but he just has no redeeming qualities whatsoever, to the point where he's almost cartoonishly evil as a villain. He serves his purpose in the story, but doesn't end up leaving much of an impression.

The brief inclusion of Dooku was intriguing, as is the information that he's welcome to come and go from the Temple as he pleases, despite having left the Order. Master & Apprentice did seem to imply that Qui-Gon has not really been in contact with Dooku since his departure (or at the very least, he "refrained from contacting him"), although it's possible that could be more of a recent development. Also, I'm not sure if this was intended... but, am I supposed to be suspicious that Dooku may have been Loegrib's unnamed financer? I was almost expecting some sort of hint towards that at the end, but that could very well just be me trying to connect dots that don't actually exist.

Dex's inclusion in the story was definitely a surprise! I mean, a Besalisk named Dex has got to be Dexter Jettster from Episode II, right? I guess he was a miner before he was a cook -- who knew?

So, my overall thoughts on the novel -- it was an enjoyable read, despite a few areas where I wish it had been able to take its time to develop things a bit further. The location and characters were engaging, and Obi-Wan's journey through dealing with his insecurities and wanting to know his role in the world is one that I'm sure many readers can find relatable. While I would personally say Master & Apprentice was a bit more my speed, I still did enjoy reading Padawan, and am looking forward to hopefully seeing more of Obi-Wan's time as an apprentice in the future!

#star wars #obi wan kenobi #qui gon jinn #books #padawan #kiersten white #master and apprentice #claudia gray #my thoughts #my post

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stingslikeabee · 13 days

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It's rare that Broden makes his way to Midgar. His disdain for the place stems from many memories, not the least of which is what happened to him while in Soldier. However, his relationship with Melissa has made the slightly more frequent visits to at least Sector 6 more enjoyable. The debauchery that happens during that sector's nightlife is also nothing to scoff at, and something Broden has taken part in before when his health had been better.

"Melissa," he says with a smile and a bow of his head as she approaches him. "Excellent to see you again." Carefully, he holds her elbows and leans in to kiss her cheek in greeting; as ever, she smells lovely and looks exquisite. He would tell her that even on her worst days, though. "I brought your order with me. It's being brought into the kitchens as we speak."

unscripted asks . always accepting

Moving from a regular sex worker to a proper businesswoman had been no small challenge - even if Melissa had prepared herself for that over the years, the woman had not anticipated the reach of Corneo's tentacles and how he would try to negatively influence others where the new Honey Bee Inn was concerned.

But it was no matter - there was little in Wall Market that the madame needed; her goals were much more ambitious. The place, in her mind, was not going to be just another brothel - it should be a pleasure house, with the best girls but also the finest drinks and delicacies available. Hiring a foreign chef, finding experienced kitchen aid and then new suppliers was all part of the plan - but Broden becoming one of her partners had been a most fortunate thing indeed.

Not everyone that owned an inn or a restaurant outside Midgar had necessarily replied to her original letter seeking to establish such dealings - but the Kalm innkeeper did. And more than helping with the referrals and tips when he learned of who she was and the plans for Wall Market, they had become friends - even if from a distance, given how difficult it was for a slum-dweller to escape the infamous Shinra's checkpoints.

But he could come to her - and when Broden did, either to oversee a delivery from his own trusted suppliers from the Grasslands or an errand to acquire something from the local shops (although Melissa couldn't imagine what was manufactured in Midgar that would ever prevail over a Kalm original), it made her day better. His face was remarked as serious and stern by her own staff, but the madame did not feel that way.

(Or maybe it was the fact that Broden usually had a smile and the most respectful stance whenever she was concerned - it was impossible not to feel like the queen Melissa called herself when one acted so knight-like before her.)

"It is always a good day when you are here. I cannot thank you enough for the generosity you have showed me for the past couple of years," the woman chuckled, approaching him and allowing herself to enjoy the gentlemanly kiss over her skin. Melissa had been used to much more scandalous acts than fleeting signs of affection, but it was impossible to subdue the warmth that his presence evoked.

"I suppose your darling boys will need a moment to unload everything, then. Perhaps enough for a refreshment, as our thanks? I know it's early and the crew is yet to come in, but I can make them some iced tea," the woman offered, even if it was to have Broden stay for a little longer - they both had their businesses to run, but weren't owners entitled to small breaks as well?

She then reached out to him - bringing their hands together and holding his for a moment. Over the last couple visits, Melissa had been both drawn to Broden (more than usual) and also aware of the slight tremors when he gestured. Surely a visual reminder of his decaying health - even if they didn't speak about it, the rumors were plentiful. But sometimes, a steady hold and the presence of another body could comfort a soul, enough to translate to some temporary physical improvement.

The inn proprietress would know - it was their greatest asset, after all: companionship.

"Play a match of Queen's Blood with me? It's always better when we do it face to face. And you can also tell me all about life out there - is your friend still working on the old Republic mills? They sounded majestic when you described them," the woman offered, covering his hands with both of her palms - a gesture meant to share her own bodily warmth with Broden and to reinforce her plea.

There was so little she knew about Gaia - and Broden, on the other hand, had seen so much, even if it was tainted by his prior employment with Shinra. They could only hope that her childlike fascination would be enough to remove some of these stains over his precious memories.

"One day we will go see them together, Broden. It's a promise."

#cybrvce #v: FFVII #replied #I reached ch. 13 and let me tell you #I am not okay haha #I am emotional about this / about them / about this man ç_ç

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average-guy-reviews · 11 months

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Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts (2023)

"Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth."

This is the 7th outing for the Live Action Transformers and is a sequel to the decently received Bumblebee. Bumblebee was, in itself, a soft reboot of the Transformers franchise that began 16 years ago, and came after the fifth film in Michael Bay's Transformers film series, Transformers: The Last Knight. The franchise had taken some very odd twists before that and a reboot of sorts was very welcome, for me anyway.

Since the beginning of the Michael Bay run the films have had a very spotty reception. The quality of the films stories has swung wildly from really good to simply mystifying while the quality of the visuals (outside of the explosions) has always remained fairly consistent. They have been the very epitome of style over substance. That is until Bumblebee. That was a good looking film that told a fun, coherent, story and the 91% on rotten tomatoes seems to agree.

It has taken 5 years for a sequel to Bumblebee to hit the big screen, and there was always going to be a worry that the quality would drop, that we would be let down once more by the people behind the big robots.

We weren't.....at all.....

This is a really great film. Brilliant visuals and a coherent story with a very clear beginning/middle/end structure give rise to a thoroughly enjoyable romp across the world and, at times, through space. Steven CapleJr.r, the director, has taken all the bits that made parts of the franchise successful and blended them with new characters and threats to create a film that continues the rebooted series brilliantly. Michael Bay is a producer, and his fingerprints are still visible on the end product, but only in the best ways they could be.

One of the main issues I have had with the previous films is the number of human characters they have crammed into the big, chunky robot movies. Personally, I want to see robots mashing robots. The humans are, for the most part, annoying and irrelevant, even Bumblebee had this issue. This film not so much. While there are a good few humans in the movie, there are literally only two who regularly interact with the stars.

Anthony Ramos plays Noah Diaz and Dominique Fishback plays Elena. Noah is an ex soldier, though this isn't central to his personality. He's simply a guy trying to provide for his mum and unwell brother until he gets dragged into a struggle he didn't understand. Having only seen Ramos in the musical "In The Heights" this was a nice change. He handles the action well and his Noah was a believable guy who was making plans of his own behind the Autobots back. Not that he was working against them, just looking to protect his own. It was a solid performance.

Fishback, as Elena, played a nervous yet intelligent woman who broke codes and located artefacts central to the story. I've not seen her onscreen before but I really enjoyed her performance. Her scene trying to convince herself the big robots weren't real was pretty funny and how I think a lot of people would react. I do look forward to seeing her more in time.

The voice cast of the robots was impressive: Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal, Michelle Yeoh as Airazor, Pete Davidson as Mirage and Peter Dinkage as Scourge. They all did really well, but of.course Cullen is the g.o.at. when it comes to these characters.

Overall, for me at least, this is the best of the live action Transformer films, though given some of the previous that wasn't necessarily going to be hard. It's well made, it looks good and it tells a complete story....and yet it leaves it open for the future. In this case that's a future I'm quite excited about. I'm giving it a solid 7/10. It's a long way from perfect but it's a decent film that I really enjoyed. I'd recommend it to everyone, and I'm certainly going back to see it at least once more.

#transformers #robots #cars #trucks #explosions #michel bay #movies #reviews #cinema #odeon

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raymondebidochonlifechoices · 2 years

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Oh come on admit it Barchie isn’t that bad of a ship. I bet if you watched the series again without your Bughead goggles, you’d see. I used to be a Bughead but I can’t watch Cole play Jughead anymore. Which sucks because they were a great ship. But after that shower scene I was convinced that Lili has chemistry with KJ too. They’re actually cute together. And their sex scenes are next level. The barchie fandom however can be annoying.

Not a barchie fan but they’ve been on most enternimanet sites best couples and most exciting moments of the year. That’s the lili effect

Dear, anon, I’m going to make an assumption here, although that’s not very fair to you, as I might be wrong. In which, case, I apologise in advance.

My assumption is this: I think that your engagement in Riverdale ships depends on the actors rather than the fictional characters (who are the focus of my investment). This is in no way a criticism. There are a lot of different ways to consume TV. The reason I’m pointing this out is because, in regards to shipping, it seems that you and I are probably coming from completely different places: what works for you won’t necessarily work for me.

For example, I have no problem whatsoever watching Cole Spouse playing Jughead. In fact, Jughead has been -again: for me- the main source of what little entertainment s5 provided.

This is first and foremost a bughead blog, so I’m not sure what you expect as an answer to your ask.

I do indeed have Bughead goggles. They are the reason I’m still watching the train wreck that is the CW’s Riverdale! Anon! I don’t like Archie! Ergo, I don’t like b*rchie. If the show’s name had been Archie, instead of Riverdale, I would have probably not even watched the pilot!

Archie is boring at best (Comic!Archie, s1!Archie), infuriating at worst (S2-5!Archie). It’s not so much that his behaviour post s1 is problematic (everyone in Riverdale does problematic things) but rather the fact that it’s never framed in a negative light. S5Archie, anon, is a military officer, who’s been earning his living by making war abroad. Let the politics of this particular writing choice sink in.

You call b*rchie “not that bad of a ship”. That is ... not exactly a ringing endorsement. Is "not that bad" enough to make a shipper out of someone? You also call them cute together. I beg to differ, for the simple reason that B*rchie are not together in RiverDALE and never have been. During 95 episodes, they’ve never been a couple. The closest they came to being “together” was their friends-with-benefits arrangement. Was the shower scene hot? Sure, why not. Two good looking actors (even if KJ Apa does not fit my definition of eye candy –that’s always subjective) rubbed their wet naked bodies together and moaned. So? Once again: this is not criticism. There’s nothing wrong with a fwb arrangement nor with liking ships for their “next level” (debatable) sex scenes. It’s just that those aren’t enough to ensure my interest. Archie professed his love for Betty in s5 (or any season for that matter) exactly zero times. What he did profess though, while having an arrangement with Betty, was his love for Veronica. Once to Veronica herself, a second time to his army buddy and a third time … to … Betty! Oof! Same goes for Betty. While fwb!b*rchie was happening, Betty (unlike Veronica) was never involved in any of Archie’s plots. Nor was Archie involved in any of Betty’s plots (that would be Jughead). They had one and only one discussion during their “ship” and that was their break up. They weren't even exclusive (Betty was still seeing Glen). Shipping-wise, I do not find any of that very fulfilling. But again: to each their own.

As for b*rchie being on most entertainment sites best couples and most exciting moments of the year … Why should a ship's popularity or lack thereof have any baring to anyone's enjoyment of said ship? Also: really? They're popular? That’s some maple mushroom level stuff, anon. No, they aren’t. I’m sorry to burst your bubble but there is no Lili effect either: b*rchie’s plotline has been voted as one of the worst tv storylines by buzzfeed for both 2020 and 2021. The most popular video on youtube for “barchie season 5” (the shower scene) has less views than “bughead season 6” (fully clothed bughead making out). One has been up for 10 months the other for only 2 weeks. Can a really good actor shine even in a shitty film/show? Of course. But the idea that either Lili or Cole can, by the sheer force of their presence/personality/acting abilities/fanbase, compensate for the lack of good writing in the 5th / 6th season of a show that is already failing … that is a bit of an overestimation. Betty is a popular character in part due to the charisma of the actress who portrays her but, no, she has not carried b*rchie to success (and it would be absurd to expect her -or anyone really- to do so).

I’m happy you found a ship that brings you joy, anon. Bully for you! Not sure what you expect me to do with this information though! You enjoy your ship, I’ll enjoy mine: So, bully for me too!

#asks #anon #anti-b*rchie

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wackybuddiemewbs · 2 years

Text

I still feel like Buck and Taylor breaking up is bound to happen towards the end of the season. Not just coz I ship Buddie but because they just both seem to have differing priorities and outlooks on the future imo.

As others have pointed out, it's strange that they are seemingly more intent on giving Taylor some more groundwork as a character than they have with Ana whom Eddie has been dating for quite some time. They never really did anything with her character aside from being his GF and liking Christopher and being a teacher and being weird about speaking Spanish for a number of reasons.

That indicates at least that they wanna do more with Taylor's character. So I kept thinking... If the show actually wants to keep Taylor around as a character outside the first responders (a move you can move of what you will... I don't really need that tbh, but that's my personal taste)... I really would hope we'd get Buck and Taylor becoming actual friends (again).

They were much more enjoyable as a duo when they were "just being friends". And I also think they actually enjoyed each other a lot more at that point. Don't get me wrong, I think both genuinely like each other and both express care for one another, but... a lot of the playfulness we've seen with them has vanished ever since they became "official". A lot of it feels performative. So I can fully get behind this idea of them being better friends than partners.

And oh boy, the parallels to Eddie and Buck are glaring at me again...

Anyway, the point I was trying to get to: I'd really like for variety of "exes" on the show. Most of the breakups were on the negative side. The characters weren't seen again (and thankfully some of them died... *cough* Doug), e.g. Chim's ex. Or they came back for a painful reunion only to fade out again (e.g. Abby). Or there was a breakup on "somewhat good terms", i.e. no one was dragging anything out - see Ali. Or we got exes returning (e.g. Shannon). To give some examples. But what most of those exes share in is that they disappear from the narrative. They no longer feature as active parts of the story.

Then we got Athena and Michael, which thankfully shows how you can continue to have a meaningful relationship and friendships even when you are no longer together. So that's a big difference there, of course. And I would really like to see some more of that, tbh. Because not all breakups are necessarily bad or hurtful.

So if that's the route they are taking, I would really like to see Buck and Taylor as friends afterwards. I think it'd facilitate e.g. Buck's character growth and progression, more so when he is the one breaching the topic. Buck was always broken up with on-screen, not the other way around. So I think it might be really cathartic for him to realize that it's okay and that even when you aren't romantically involved anymore, some people will not leave you behind and stay around because they genuinely like you.

And for Taylor, granted that the show wants to explore her character more, it may be just as good. She can "be herself" in her quest for truth and is no longer bound as a character to exist in relation to Buck. That we get to see her interacting with other people more. Again, granted that they want to explore her character more.

I could actually see a scenario wherein both would find it quite liberating - to no longer be involved romantically but still remain friends. That they come to the realization that they both don't want/need to chase each other but can simply pursue what they want out of their lives individually.

And I guess I have a soft spot fostered by fanfic wherein Taylor pokes Buck about Eddie and such.

The point being... if the breakup is imminent, I hope we get some variation with Buck and Taylor and not just some same as old. I think it might be a great way to open up their characters for growth and self-realization. And the audience may be presented with another variety of how exes can continue to have meaningful relationships to one another, even if they aren't an item anymore.

#evan buckley #911 spoilers #911 season 5 spoilers #911 season 5 #buddie

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lokeanwelcomingcommittee · 2 years

Note

I’ve been working with Loki for a little while and recently I’ve started wondering about about if I could read to him as an offering? I haven’t seen anything saying I shouldn’t but i just wanted to check with someone a little more educated on the subject. Also would there be any topics that I should avoid? I often read poetry with varying topics sometimes those topics are brutal.

Hi there! This is actually an excellent opening to link to this post on whether your offering is fine, and for mild spoilers I would suspect that as long as you weren't picking something with the specific intent of offending him, it should be. Old Norse poetry and myth can get fairly brutal, including in the emotional sense (Sonatorrek, from Egils saga, is perhaps the most famous example of this), so it's hard to think of a specific content warning. I might not start off with a retelling of, say, the binding incident (I don't think it's a story to totally dismiss, but y'know, probably an awkward starter choice), but storytelling was a pretty cherished thing in Old Norse culture, and while Loki doesn't necessarily have a "direct" link to it he certainly is responsible for plenty of them, and I think the act of reading something with another is particularly special. Even in an instance where you might not be able to read out loud I think the act of sharing a story is something that can usually be appreciated. To that end it could certainly be about him, something related to him, or something you've liked enough to want to share-- as that first link said, I think this is an area where you can be particularly creative.

One thing that I've actually done in the past that you may want to think about incorporating at some point is that if there's an outdoor area that's special or just enjoyable to you that you can read at, that can be a nice chance to get to know your neighbors of the tree and other varieties (if that's something you're into). I will stress that you absolutely do not need to be this goth, but since I used to do it for his one-eyed friend who liked dead guys and poetry, I would go read by this tree in a local cemetery once a week. I'd sit in the same spot, read for a while, and then give the tree some water. After a while I started feeding the corvids, finding juniper trees and trading water for berries, and even if someone thought the majority of that was nonsense I can confirm it's a nice time, and a good way to help the land around you as well-- I would always pick up litter and attempt to be a good guest. Of course, this is optional and dependent on what you can get to, but it was a pleasant enough add-on that I thought I'd mention it. Beyond that you could certainly also write about what you've read with him each time, or share your own writing if that's at all appealing, but certainly I think the reading is a nice, thoughtful offering option that you could continue to develop and personalize if you and he desire as time goes on.

Best of luck, and I hope some of that was helpful!

-Mod V

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somebody-909 · 3 years

Text

Why I Still Love Ms. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid

I am used to bad jokes in anime. Shounen's got a lot of dubious consent pertaining to fan service and groping... (old man pervert, young lad who's part of the group pervert, main character pervert, and all other perverts, whose perverted antics are meant for gags while at the cost of sexualizing and/or harassing/assaulting/groping the women). When I first watched The Seven Deadly Sins, while noting the groping issue, I chose to completely dismiss it.

This tends to come from this understanding I have that there will always be something that I am not a huge fan of, or isn't necessarily the right thing to have in a series, and that it is probably just best to ignore it unless it's particularly egregious. This is also compounded by own identity, which means that I am almost never the target demographic, and the content of the material will cater to others, while completely ignoring those like me or even being to our detriment.

So I definitely have this attitude of being more chill with it, ignoring the stuff that's kinda not good, and focusing on the good (especially if I really like the good).

Much like The Seven Deadly Sins, when I watched MKDM, I completely glossed over the jokes with Shouta and Lucoa. They weren't that funny to me anyways, but I understood what the 'joke' was supposed to be. By the time I finished the show I completely forgot about it, only until I saw a few people raise their concerns and complete disdain for the show for the existence of these jokes. I totally understand that to others, these certain jokes are wholly unacceptable, and by proxy, the whole show is irredeemable. And that's perfectly valid.

But for me, what I did remember was Kobayshi and Tohru, and their dumb antics. This was the first time I had seen a lesbian couple in anime/manga that was... good.

Their relationship isn't fetishized (made to be completely dysfunctional and sexual for the enjoyment of viewers), is funny (in a way that I, a queer person, absolutely loved), and is portrayed in a way that I can actually root for their development. (Unlike a lot of shoujo ai and yuri.... which begin with sexual assault and ends with characters devoid of any substance.)

The show isn't a particularly riveting piece of lesbian representation, but for some time, MKDM was very much like queer catharsis for me who had barely seen any wlw relationships. Seeing Tohru very unapologetically be in love with Kobayashi (and lust for her) was both hilarious and important to me, and showed me a normalization of wlw affection. Seeing the two women form a family with Kanna in a way that was healthy was a representation of the possibilities of forming queer family, without conventional blood ties.

With the way the characters are designed (the boob physics...) and the fact that there's a set of dragon maid Yu-gi-oh cards (the straights have appropriated dragon maids, even though the only one in pop-culture was a lesbian 😔), I know that MKDM was not made for me. But it once felt like it must have been.

The sinful weeb humour got to me too, damnit.

#Also I'm a simp for simp lesbian comedy #yes they're both on the waifu list #yes they were the first ones to make that list #miss kobayashi's dragon maid #kobayashi san chi no maid dragon #mkdm #gl #wlw #lgbtq #lgbtq representation #kobayashi #tohru #anime #my post #meta #my meta

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thisisstillme · 4 years

Text

Less Drinking More Thinking

Its been a busy couple of weeks, mostly celebrating my birthday, in my usual manner, drinking gallons of wine. There were brunches, lunches, dinners, drinks and an overnight stay in a safari park, it was all very enjoyable (what I can remember anyway) but I've been becoming increasingly aware of something. I drink far too much. I know for some of you who know me are probably thinking "no shit Sherlock" I am stating the obvious, but I have finally had to admit to myself that I do have an issue with alcohol and more importantly, I want to do something about it.

I was out with a friend a couple of weeks ago and he had taken another friend to an alcoholics anonymous meeting as he was concerned about him. He told me it was a real eye opener and nothing like it's portrayed on TV. People were living normal lives, weren't necessarily having a glass of vodka with their cornflakes, yet they do have an issue with alcohol. It actually put my friend off of drinking and he was only going for support. Since then I am continually seeing articles about drinking, alcoholism, drink problems etc and I really feel like someone is sending me a sign. I am seeing this stuff daily for gods sake!

I have convinced myself previously that people with alcohol issues are incoherent, aggressive, loud and smell of wee, this can't be me! People are always saying that when they've seen me out they didn't even realise I was drunk, I mean I don't even get hangovers?! No ones ever told me I smell of wee? But the reality of that, whilst it may seem like a good thing, is that its more likely to be that I have built up a tolerance to alcohol over years and that is not good. I have however suffered from regular blackouts, sometimes after only a small amount of alcohol, suffered from the shakes after a few days of consistent drinking, Stomach upsets, disturbed sleep and night sweats, which I recently learned, is a symptom of alcohol withdrawal. I am honestly quite ashamed, how did I get here?

10 years ago, I barely drank, I would go out and have a drink, but I would never drink at home, I could go out to dinner without having a glass of wine, it never crossed my mind. I drank like a normal person, I could take it or leave it. I think the turning point was when I was going through a break up, a big one, a complete life changing break up (ultimately for the better) but at the time I felt extremely alone, you would never have thought it and I would never have admitted it as it was my decision and showing any sign of weakness would have looked like I had made the wrong decision (in my mind) and I knew I hadn't. I just didn't want to feel anything, I wanted to just be able to breathe and to not talk about it, not be judged, I wanted to move forward with my life. I remember being in the house that my ex and I had shared and just wanting to not think about anything, all there was in the house was red wine and I didnt like red wine, but I drank it anyway, I drank the whole bottle, I'd achieved my goal, I was most certainly numb and chilled, it felt good. That became my coping mechanism and still is today (I also love red wine now!!)

It wasnt particularly easy for me to admit, to myself, let alone anyone else, but the truth has finally hit home. I have just had pretty much two weeks solid of drinking, I'd find myself reaching for the gin because I'd had a stressful day at work, going for a wine at lunch because I was pissed off with my husband or popping the prosecco to celebrate my best friends, cousins, sisters, fathers, hamsters beards new job. Whilst I accept that I probably wont give up drinking alcohol altogether, I don't particularly want to, I do need to cut back - A LOT. I want to be in control of my drinking and my emotions, not the other way around.

When I drink, I am constantly tired, feeling snappy, my moods are low and I have zero energy, I don't want to do anything. I either eat crap, yet keep complaining that I can't lose weight! I am my own worst enemy. I drink even when I don't even want to, even when everyone else is having a diet coke, I'll still have a wine, because I am in a pub and that's what I do, its become a very bad habit and I need to take action to break it.

I went on the trusty t'internet and found a great website called ClubSoda which is all about mindful drinking. They have different Facebook groups, which I've listed below, one those who want to cut back, those who are sober there is also an LGBT one, there is something for everyone, the website was really helpful and informative, it's non judgemental and although I hadn't interacted or joined any of the groups I felt a certain sort of comfort that I wasn't alone, I mean that causes the majority of anxiety right? Feeling like you're the only one. There is such a relief in the realisation that someone else understands what we're going through.

I found myself envying these people who can go out and have a good time without necking the wine, this says so much about me and how I feel about myself. There are some situations where I absolutely would not consider going without a drink, the alcohol is my confidence. When I thought about it, I have addressed my anxiety issues and am on medication for the depression, how about I try to actually be myself and not this facade that the drink makes me become? Surely I don't need to drink to have a good time? Surely I'm more than my drunken alter ego? I really hope so.

I also downloaded the drinkaware app (you know I love an app) You can set weekly goals of how much/often/when you drink. I have set my first week up allowing myself alcohol on Thursday, as I have a birthday lunch and a night out and Friday, I don't actually have any plans on Friday but I didn't want to run before I could walk. I've also set myself a limit of units that I can have this week. I wasnt aware that women should only be drinking 14 units per week?! My husband jokingly said "that's a days worth for you!" When I calculated, roughly, what I had last week it was 72 units! And for what? 95% of that was "just because it was there" So my plan is to stick to the 14 units this week, if I happen to drink all of that on Thursday then I will try to refrain from drinking on Friday.

The App is a bit like a myfitnesspal for booze. You type in what units you have and it tells you the following:

Units

Calories

Equivalent minutes running

Equivalent burgers

Money spent

I can't tell you how much better I feel for finally addressing this with myself as I have been in denial for some time.

I have the incentive of my holiday in just over one month. I now just need to find something different to do when I would usually reach for a drink, such as write, so you may be seeing a few more blogs from me in future, I might even get around to writing that book!

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preserving-ferretbrain · 5 years

Text

These moths really weren't necessary

by Sören Heim

Monday, 04 April 2016

Trying to get a hold of the "New Weird" Movement, Sören Heim started with a modern classic.~

Some early passages of China Miéville's Perdido Street Station I'd like to have read out loud to me by Dylan Thomas' powerful bardic voice. There are poetic, even melodic moments in this book, with just the right amount of dissonance to match the fantastic-dystopic setting of New Crobuzon, loosely modeled on the cityscape of modern London. I was directed towards Miéville by fans in the aftermath of my criticism of fantasy authors mistaking being "dark" and morally ambiguous for literary merit in itself, when I asked about writers who don't either try to imitate Tolkien or outrightly criticize the genre's tropes, but tell a story for its own sake. And one can tell from the better parts of Perdido that Miéville is trying to do something special here, as it seems he is always trying, which is why Matt Hilliard wrote this about him:

"I’ll say this for the book: it might have failed with me, but it was an ambitious failure. Better to fail through overreaching than from insufficient aspirations. I don’t recommend this one but I’ll be eagerly awaiting Miéville’s next novel."

So as a type of "industrial novel", and maybe as a verbose painting of a metropolis,

Perdido Street Station

certainly has its appeal and some of its better moments remind me (mind, I don't say something like that easily) of established classics in the genre like Dos Passo's

Manhattan Transfer

, Döblin's

Berlin Alexanderplatz

, Belyj's

Peterburg

or the much too rarely read

Riverroad

by Mwangi.

Shakespeare with bugs, bad pun intended

So much for the light. There is a lot of mediocrity and some darkness, too.

Perdido Street Station

, among other things, tells the story of Isaac and Lin, him a scientist, her an artist, who both try to achieve something extraordinary in their field: Isaac tries to restore the gift of flight to Yagharek, member of a birdlike species called Garuda, who has been sentenced by his people to losing his wings, because of the incredible crime called "choice-theft in the second degree with utter disrespect". Meanwhile, Lin wants to break out of the collectivist ideal of art of her social background and therefore agrees to work on the likeness of a shady underworld mogul in New Crobuzon. As far as that goes

Perdido

is in the beginning chiefly a

“Künstlerroman”

, since science in Miévilles cosmos looks a lot like our physics, but is really much closer to what in other fantastic novels would be called magic (at least the field of thaumaturgy, which is Isaac's main interest). At the same time, the book tells the story of the unheard-of love between a human (again: Isaac) and a khepri (Lin), who is basically a human-bug chimera. Sounds interesting enough, and could easily carry the whole piece. Shakespeare made a somewhat successful play on a subject-matter maybe less risque, and one is told that a lot of writers followed in his footsteps...

But since Miéville isn't too fond of the whole "show, don't tell" business, he merely states all the possible conflicts that could arise from that love affair in two or three somewhat extended infodumps and then mostly forgets about it. Hardly ever is the reader made to

feel

the social stigma imprinted on the relationship of Lin and Isaac. Same goes for what it means being a "rogue scientist" or an artist desperately struggling with a completely new approach to ones passion. Instead, Miéville actually writes sentences like "She was an Artist, yadayadayada... He was a scientist, yadayadayada", and he does this more often than is good for any halfway decent character portrayal. He is better with his supporting cast though, which makes me wonder whether he maybe just didn't like his protagonist that much, and would also explain why he quickly has Lin taken into captivity by her mobster-artfunder and has her become the center of a substandard damsel-in-distress storyline instead of actually doing something more with her.

Writing - and failing at - three books at once

It is a common criticism of

Perdido Street Station

that China Miéville is too interested in New Crobuzon itself and doesn't care about getting the plot going for most of the first half of the book. To me, that only rings partly true. Actually, maybe there is rather too much going on plot-wise and Miéville's main problem is that he hadn't really decided what kind of book he was going to write. The künstlerroman/love story portion dominating roughly 1/3 of

Perdido

could, as mentioned above, stand quite well for itself. It's no

Portrait of the Artist

, but if it were a little bit more subtly developed it could be quite enjoyable. What does it mean for an artist, coming from a background which frowns upon individual expression, to work for a mobster who would and does kill to make it possible for her to do her job? How is Garuda society really structured besides from being described as somehow "communist"? How does this communism work without tipping over into Soviet-like totalitarianism? Does it only work because the Garuda live a nomadic lifestyle? Or because they are simply psychological so different from human beings? Or does Miéville, who styles himself a communist, know something about how to avoid previous failings of communism, he wishes to share? Also: what makes "choice-theft in the second degree with utter disrespect" a crime too complicated even to

try

to explain it in plain English to Isaac?

Learning more about all this and much more might make for an interesting read, maybe even with some story-wise pointless subplots, which could really help to

experience

the whole New Crobuzon cosmos Miéville goes on and on about without ever really showing what it

means

to live in it.

Demented Mothmonsters. I mean: Moth-Dementors. I mean Nazgul. Whatever

Instead, well... This is where

Perdido Street Station

started to lose me and got me more and more angry. Instead after some three- or four hundred pages Miéville begins to conjure up mind- and soul- sucking mothmonsters, living on the dreams of the inhabitants of New Crobuzon. If that reminds you of Rowling's Dementors or the even more prototypical Nazgul, that is because they are basically like that but much less cool. (Actually, of course, Issac conjures up the moths while investigating flying animals in order to help Yagharek regain his abilities, but since this is the point where the whole book finally falls apart shifting the blame from author to protagonist feels to me rather fishy). Suddenly, it seems as if Miéville had changed his mind completely and decided to write a mystery-thriller/detective story instead of his panoptic of a huge, vibrant city. Writing good mystery is much tougher than one might think, and Miéville is clearly not up to the task. His mystery doesn't take off, there isn't much detecting to do and while

Perdido

thus rapidly slides into

Ghostbusters

trash territory, this doesn't really work either, because a) the book never built up to be that kind of story; and b) the moth-dementors can't be busted by mere human beings anyway. Miéville solves this problem by inventing a poetry-loving spider-ex-machina which weaves and reweaves the fabric of the universe according to purely aesthetic criteria. That is mildly odd and funny. But it is much too late for

Perdido

to succeed as comedy.

When bad things happen to good books

Now, maybe I'm being a little harsh here with Miéville since the novel, as stated, clearly has its moments. But seeing how well it starts out and how completely Miéville manages to ruin

Perdido

not only for me but I think also for most readers who would have loved to experience a well-composed mystery-novel within Miéville's intriguing setting, is really disappointing. More so, since I feel I share at least some visions with the author about what a real masterpiece of speculative fiction could look like. Miéville

trying to achieve something special and he could well be the author who one day will. So when reading

Perdido

I was more than once reminded of a great moment in

Frasier

, when Kate Costas comments on Frasier completely losing track of what he was going to say: "Isn't it sad when bad things happen to good sentences?"

Yes. And it's true for books, too.

Finally, whatever exactly Miéville was trying to do with

Perdido

, his late revelation that Yagharek in Garuda society has actually raped a woman (that is the aforementioned "choice theft in the second degree", a crime impossible to translate from Garuda to English), is clearly not the way to achieve it.

It might be well-intended

, showing us how somebody we deeply invest in and care for might not be worth the effort, and how being on quests with somebody and having lived through a lot doesn't mean necessarily one has to stand up for this person. Miéville even does make his point half-way convincingly, by having Isaac turn away from Yagharek.

It still feels cheap

, since Miéville pulls "rape" out of thin air in the end, just in order to make a point. It is more for effect really, and Miéville opts out of discussing the implications much too easily by having the novel end immediately afterwards. Also: what's so difficult to explain about this "choice-theft in the second degree with utter disrespect"? Victim Kar’uchai has no trouble saying something along the lines of "you would call it rape". Maybe this is also meant to show how bad of a person Yagharek really is, concealing his crime before. But to me, it just doesn't add up convincingly.Themes:

Fantasy Rape Watch

Books

Sci-fi / Fantasy

bookmark this with - facebook - delicious - digg - stumbleupon - reddit

~Comments (

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)

James D

at 21:46 on 2016-04-04Agreed on basically all points. The "rape revelation" could have worked if it had appeared around halfway through the Kuenstlerroman version - in the actual book Isaac goes from denial to acceptance to "fuck it, I'm outta here" in the span of about a page.

In reality, how many people would immediately, unquestioningly believe a stranger's claim that their friend raped her, without evidence other than her say-so? Besides which, Isaac is financially obligated to Yagharek, who has invested lots of his own money (gained by fighting in dangerous gladiatorial bouts) in the cure. That money was spent, Isaac can't give him a refund, and besides that it's money that maintains Isaac's standard of living - would he just immediately give that up without question? And is permanent maiming even a just punishment for rape? These are legitimate questions that Isaac could easily have spent half of a much better novel considering, and probably would have, given that we see Isaac is the type of guy loathe to give up his status and comfortable life to go against the grain, i.e. his unwillingness to "go public" with his relationship with Lin for fear of jeopardizing his cushy academic position. There are SO MANY FACTORS that are set up which would cause Isaac to be highly skeptical of the victim's (totally legitimate) claims, and instead he just immediately believes her based on...well, I guess she seems trustworthy.

Instead rape, which Mieville apparently considers a serious crime, is just an offhand afterthought in the coda to the main plot.

Oh and I forgot if you mentioned the fridging of Lin but that was super lame too. I think most people agree on these criticisms, it just depends on how much they drag down your overall reading experience. In mine (and apparently yours), the answer is quite a bit.

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Ichneumon

at 04:50 on 2016-04-05I've been meaning to read this for a while, but from previous discussions and reading about the book, I thought part of the point of obscuring the wording was a way of framing just how differently the Garuda view their society from humans in that world. Everything is framed as a matter of choice, and to deprive another person of that freedom in an especially disrespectful manner is an abomination to them; thus, sexual violence is described in terms of denying a person their freedom to choose and refusing to honour a choice made by another. While not *entirely* alien, it's certainly unusual. It also comes up in at least one of his other Bas-Lag novels.

I wonder if one notices more hints in that direction on a second read. Having read some of Miéville's other work, particularly short fiction, it wouldn't surprise me if he dropped subtle hints that reward a second or third look. None of this changes that it might be a poorly structured book or unpleasantly rushed at the end, but it's worth considering.

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Arthur B

at 07:22 on 2016-04-05@JamesD:

There are SO MANY FACTORS that are set up which would cause Isaac to be highly skeptical of the victim's (totally legitimate) claims, and instead he just immediately believes her based on...well, I guess she seems trustworthy.

It's been a good long time since I read the book, but I seem to remember that Isaac's life is comprehensively wrecked by the end. Which I guess makes it easy to walk away from Yagharek, because none of the factors which could potentially have prompted him to disbelieve and stick around apply any more.

@Ichneumon:

From what I remember of the book, a reread would be more an issue of noticing all the bits which Mieville spills a bunch of ink on but which don't appreciably increase our understanding of the world or characters or advance the plot.

For instance, I seem to remember a bit where the mayor summons a demon to try to deal with the moth problem and they have this long conversation which amounts to absolutely nothing which wouldn't have been accomplished by a one-sentence aside that the mayor had sought infernal help which was refused. Likewise, the one other bit I remember strongly (there's great swathes of eminently forgettable stuff in there) is the

Dungeons & Dragons

parody when he mentions the parties of wandering adventurers who try to take down the moth, which also outstays its welcome.

To that extent I disagree that Mieville isn't into "show, don't tell" - the real problem is that he just tells us stuff that could have been more interesting if he showed it and shows us stuff which he should perhaps just told us about and moved on.

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James D

at 10:13 on 2016-04-05

You're right, Isaac had lost his girlfriend and was on the run, which would've made it easier. It's not that it's completely unbelievable that Isaac would do what he did, it's that Mieville chose the least interesting, least dramatic way to handle what could've been a really interesting character dilemma - and a much, much more interesting conflict than "we gotta kill some monsters."

And yeah there are all sorts of throwaway parts of the book which are neat for worldbuilding I guess but completely without plot significance - there was also the part where the Handlers fight the slake-moths and get their asses beat with no results. I suppose he's trying to show how the establishment of Bas-Lag is trying their best to beat the moths and failing, but these are long, drawn-out sequences that don't involve main characters, have no real stakes, and don't move the plot forward.

I think a while back we were discussing this (with valse de la lune IIRC?) and you said Mieville should just take these cool worldbuilding ideas that clutter up his novels and sell them as flashcards.

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http://arilou-skiff.livejournal.com/

at 10:57 on 2016-04-05Mieville has always felt weird in that he's half literati and half pulp, and seems to really enjoy both parts.

RE: Believing victim, IIRC Yagharek was pretty insistent that yes, he had committed a crime (though not disclosing was it was) and yes, it was a bad one. It's just that until he was directly confronted with the possibility of *what* that crime was, Isaac could feign ignorance about what it might imply to have committed a crime.

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Arthur B

at 11:28 on 2016-04-05

That's it.

To give Mieville his due, one thing I did quite like about that arc - or at least, the way I remember it - was how Isaac basically tossed aside any consideration of what Yagharek's crime might have been (and now that you remind me, I do vaguely remember Yagharek regularly being like "No, seriously, I did a really bad thing"), partly because of precisely the sort of issues James outlines with it not really being in Isaac's interests to question the point too deeply, partly down to Isaac blithely assuming "Oh, it's some cultural thing, Garuda are so ~exotic~ and ~inscrutable~ so I probably wouldn't understand it anyway."

So perhaps the handling of it is a bit more nuanced than we're giving China credit for, since it does involve Isaac assuming a stance of self-serving ignorance until he is confronted with the cold, hard, undeniable facts.

Doesn't change the fact that it feels like a cheap shot from out of left field when you read it though - or the fact that it comes slightly too late for the moment to really have the resonance it deserves.

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Sören Heim

at 12:35 on 2016-04-05

Yes, that's a more accurate way of putting it. I seem to have completely repressed the Mayor & Demon part of the book.

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Arthur B

at 12:42 on 2016-04-05On the point about Mieville apparently not liking Isaac at all - I think the rape revelation kind of lends a bit of credence to that. Think about it: not only has Isaac's life been thoroughly, absolutely, comprehensively trashed, but right at the end he finds out that all this trouble happened because he decided to help someone who, now that he knows exactly what they have done, he doesn't even want to know anymore.

Not only has Isaac destroyed himself, but he's destroyed himself for no reason. The dude never gets a break; had the book gone on for five more pages I wouldn't have been surprised if Mieville had himself manifest in front of Isaac, kick him square in the balls, and take a piss on him as he lay twitching in agony on the floor.

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Sören Heim

at 15:05 on 2016-04-05Since I haven't read any of his others I can only judge from this book, but does it have to be about liking Isaac, or couldn't it just be that Mieville wants to paint a rather bleak picture of life in general (or life under capitalism at least, which would fit with his political persuasion). None of the more idealistic characters seem to have a lot turning out well for them.

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Arthur B

at 16:23 on 2016-04-05He does have a tendency towards downer endings and plot arcs that tend to project characters into dustbins. Though some of the downer endings show a bit more... kindness? compassion?... for the protagonists in question. (I'm thinking in particular of the end of

The Iron Council

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James D

at 21:42 on 2016-04-05The funny thing is, of the novels I've read, I like Isaac by far the most out of any of Mieville's protagonists. He's clearly not perfect, but his failings are understandable and he's generally likeable. I mean his greatest problem is that he has trouble doing the right thing when it means great personal inconvenience and possibly hardship - something everyone struggles with.

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Ichneumon

at 17:02 on 2016-04-07I think this is part of why I stick with short fiction when it comes to writers like Miéville: The brevity forces a greater degree of focus, the ideas are mostly self-contained, and even the most frustrating characters don't overstay their welcome.

Which is ironic, given that I actually *do* enjoy self-indulgent digressions and "pointless" events should they be appropriately interesting or amusing in their own right. But the problem is, length increases time, and time increases the potential for impatience, particularly in novels; and because of this, novels tend to have an expected progression and degree of efficiency which undercuts the novelist's ability to spread their scope beyond a certain point.

Incidentally, I wouldn't be surprised if the turn-of-the-century "social novel" is one of Miéville's inspirations in how he structures his work. Zola and his kin certainly aligned with his political views, and the idea that every angle of a broader conflict should be explored in depth regardless of whether the individual stories really cohere beyond thematic continuity or just "fitting the whole world in a book" seems appealing to his personality and aesthetics. Likewise, the cadence of his prose has a definite hard realist feel despite the subject matter being moderately to exceedingly fantastical more often than not.

That said, the thrill of the panopticon is in seeing *everything,* and while I do think that eliding certain events is key to giving an impression of how much is going on, your comments give me the impression that more time could have been given to underexplored ideas to balance out the satirical and tangential asides.

But I dunno. I'm not very keen on whaling on books for seemingly deliberate structural choices when I can understand why they're there, even if I don't agree with them. Maybe this just reflects my impatience with how people look at novels. I get that it's somewhat of a necessity to consider them through the lens of narrative efficiency based on the time investment involved, and I do love a gripping, tightly focused read—The Shadow of the Torturer had me hurtling along at lightning speed, and I do rather enjoy a good potboiler or breezy vacation book now and then—but as I said, I also like when stuff gets convoluted and digressive and messy, and if the only point of a scene is to expound upon a theme or show a cool idea or make the world feel richer, then so be it.

However, those scenes are best when they come back to bite you in the end, especially if they seem completely meaningless at first. Incidentally, the work of fiction that immediately comes to mind in this arena is not a book (exactly), but the webcomic Homestuck, which, say what you will about it otherwise, is basically a master class on how to make the average reader think you're just throwing random shit at them and then bring it back with a grisly vengeance when they least expect it. Hussie really goes all the way down the Pynchonian self-reference rabbit hole in ways that are almost sui generis, for better or worse, and assuming that anything is simply fluff is often a mortal mistake.

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Ichneumon

at 17:33 on 2016-04-07P.S. To be quite honest, I don't especially care if he had to shoehorn in the slake-moths or the Weaver, because they are both really fun concepts if nothing else, and stuffing in fun concepts because fuck you, I'm China Miéville seems like a better rationale than, for instance, the publisher-mandated sex scene meme.

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James D

at 02:00 on 2016-04-08The thing is, that's exactly the central problem of the novel - if he wanted to write a "social novel" (something I'd probably really really enjoy if it were set in a crazy fantasy world), then the central "monster hunt" plot was terribly ill-fitting and simplistic and distracting from the genuinely interesting stuff (I found the strike-breaking scene much more interesting than the moth crap). If he wanted to write a "monster hunt" story then all the extraneous social novel stuff only served to slow down what needed to be a fast-paced thrill ride full of derring-do and whatnot. It's just a bad marriage from the ground up.

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Sören Heim

at 13:55 on 2016-04-08

It's just a bad marriage from the ground up.

- Yes. I'd have loved to read some kind of Perdido-Street-Ulysses (if well executed) and I might have liked a faced paced mothhunt ( it wouldn't have to be moths, though). It's not that I want the book to be something it just isn't, but to be at least one of the things it could be instead of trying for a bunch of them and failing at every one. Although the more I read the less I felt that Mievilles worldbuilding would allow for deeper exploration. It is opulent, but it often seems like he just took social problems he wanted to make a point about and constructed a fantastic equivalent, without worrying too much if it fits all together.

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Ichneumon

at 06:47 on 2018-08-08Hmmm.

Looking back on my prior comments after having read

The Scar

and loved it (while acknowledging that it does have its faults and weird aspects), I really do wonder how I’d feel about

Perdido Street Station

. To be frank, I can see many of the issues you have with this novel reflected in that one, and... wasn’t bothered by them at all? Your description does suggest a rougher work, maybe Miéville feeling out the tack he wanted to take with these novels, but there’s a lot there I’m sure you’d take umbrage with that I actually adored. It’s certainly an acquired taste, however, and not exactly subtle thematically speaking.

#Ferretbrain #China Miéville #Perdido Street Station #Soren Heim #Fantasy Rape Watch

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