plaidadder

[plaidadder]

Actually I think if I made it now I would just have Dogberry played by AI. Otherwise, still waiting for someone to make this movie.

Much Ado About Nothing but with lesbians?

I AM TOTALLY HERE FOR MUCH ADO WITH LESBIANS.

How’s this: Beatrice is an activist professor teaching queer theory at a large state university. Bennie is a Shakespearean scholar in the same English department who hates critical theory. Their graduate students trick them into falling in love with each other by creating fake blog entries in which each posts a positive review of the other’s most recent article. Meanwhile, Beatrice’s student Hera and Bennie’s student Claudia are planning their wedding, but Hera’s homophobic mother Joanna persuades Hera’s ex-boyfriend, a Lacanian named Bo Raccio, to fake a photo of himself having sex with Hera and post it to the department website. Bennie must team up with their department chair, Petra, to track down the miscreant and kill the rumors before Beatrice decides to unleash some extralegal feminist critique on his ass. In the process they discover the blog fraud, but it all comes out all right in the end.

#Much Ado about Nothing #headcanons

[plaidadder]

Film & TV I Think About A Lot » Much Ado About Nothing (1993) dir. Kenneth Branagh

Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more. Men were deceivers ever, One foot in sea, and one on shore, To one thing constant never. Then sigh notso, but let them go

#much ado about nothing #always reblog #Best movie branagh ever made #I mean I did not love Michael Keaton in it #Or Keanu Reeves #So what though

[plaidadder]

The Long And The Short Of It

It's discouraging when you're working on something and the only feedback anyone wants to give you is that it needs to be shorter. I know it has to be shorter. It has to be long before it can be short, that's how writing works. But like...could you say something about it other than, "there needs to be less of it?"

#Writing #Arrrrrgh #Why all the complexity they ask me #Why not just cut all the entrees and desserts out of this banquet and just give everyone a big bowl of radishes #Get off my lawn

[plaidadder]

words to live by 😅

#Granada Holmes #Solitary cyclist #Let's see you try it Holmes #At least I completed the assignment without PUNCHING anybody #Jeremy Brett #David Burke

[plaidadder]

Fic Line Guessing Game

A -- go to my AO3/FF.net/Wattpad and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. Must be a full line, please -- no sentence fragments or speech tags or other such nonsense. B -- I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from. C -- A drabble (type-thing) to anyone who stumps me.

#writing #fic asks #more motivational structure for me!

[plaidadder]

Please describe your perfect picnic lunch, assuming that someone else will make it and transport it for you and all you have to do is show up to the picnicking spot, unpack the basket, and eat it either alone or alongside the companions of your choice. Extra points if you describe the picnicking spot as well.

It's tempting to go with something super outlandlish like cold roast pheasant or something. But my favorite picnic thing is a sliced tomato/mozzarella/basil thing with vinaigrette that you can put between tiny little rounds of pumpernickel bread. This is something I can make myself just as well as anyone else would make it. Also, stuffed grape leaves, which I CAN make but which are a real PITA to do so I now only eat storebought. Also key lime pie and/or lemon squares if you can keep them cold.

#picnics #food #tasks and asks #everybody has a hungry heart

[plaidadder]

what is your favorite breakfast when eating out? what is your usual breakfast at home?

(I am impatiently waiting for my fave restaurant to open in 45 minutes so i can have a meatier breakfast than i have at home, so it's what's on my mind lol)

For some reason all the questions so far are about food today...anyway, I love breakfast for dinner, breakfast for lunch, breakfast in general, and I guess my favorite things about it are a) sausages and b) hot buttered toast. I mean I eat both things at home but at most breakfast restaurants they do it better. Also biscuits! I love hot buttery biscuits. Pancakes I can make at home to my own satisfaction, also waffles. I enjoy omelets as well (again, can make them at home but the restaurants do it better). I mean basically I am a fan of breakfast made by other people and given to me without my having to do any of the work for it.

Breakfast items I cannot abide would be a shorter list:

Ham in all its forms including Canadian bacon (American bacon yes!)

Donuts (I mean I enjoy a good donut but to me it's not breakfast, it's dessert/snack)

Maple syrup (pancakes OK but butter only)

that stewed tomato that comes with the Full English Breakfast

A couple times while in England or Ireland I've tried blood sausage/black pudding and I actually find it kind of interesting but could not handle it as an every day sort of thing.

#food #breakfast #asks #long boring task day #seems like all of you need a snack break right now

[plaidadder]

Favorite kind of tea? (Or, failing that, coffee?)

I don't drink coffee. When it comes to beverages I am afraid I have the palate of a 12 year old. However, when I drink tea, it's usually Earl Grey with honey, or English Breakfast with milk and sugar.

We just bought an electric kettle because I left our steam kettle on the stove and forgot about it once too often. It is terribly convenient!

#asks #tea #americans drinking tea

[plaidadder]

It's Another Long Boring Task Day!

Hello everyone,

Today will be largely composed of boring tasks. Ask me things! Become part of my motivational structure!

#asks #tasks and asks #long boring task day #don't ask me about the tasks though #I don't talk about work on the hellsite #it might cause some kind of rift in the spacetime continuum

[plaidadder]

Fic Line Guessing Game

A -- go to my AO3/FF.net/Wattpad and pick out a line or three from one of my stories. Must be a full line, please -- no sentence fragments or speech tags or other such nonsense. B -- I will respond with which story of mine I think it's from. C -- A drabble (type-thing) to anyone who stumps me.

#Fic asks #Writing #I have so much stuff up there it ought be easy enough to stump me

[plaidadder]

Chapters: 27/27 Fandom: Sherlock (TV) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Janine/Harry Watson, Molly Hooper/Greg Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes/Lady Smallwood Characters: Sherlock Holmes, John Watson, Harry Watson, Mycroft Holmes, Janine (Sherlock), Sally Donovan, Anthea (Sherlock), Mary Morstan, Irene Adler, Lady Smallwood (Sherlock) Additional Tags: Parentlock, Johnlock - Freeform, action adventure, agra, Strong Female Characters, Light Bondage, POV Multiple, POV Mary Morstan, POV John Watson, POV Sherlock Holmes, Established Relationship, Established Sherlock Holmes/John Watson, Past Character Death, POV Harry Watson, POV Janine, Rachel Watson - Freeform, Sherlock is a Good Parent, John is a good parent, mary is really not a very good parent, Sherlock is a Mess, Near Future Series: Part 6 of Wild About Harry Summary:

Years after Mary melted into the darkness, John and Sherlock are at their wits' end. Rachel Watson, aged nine, is about as difficult as you might expect a child raised by Sherlock Holmes and John Watson to be. But life is no picnic for Rachel, either. John won't even talk about her mother; and ever since Uncle Mycroft was assassinated, Sherlock just hasn't been himself. It doesn't help that the British government is in the hands of a gang of corrupt criminals. John finally decides that the right boarding school might give Rachel the structure she seems to need. It's not until Rachel disappears that he and Sherlock realize that someone else has had the same idea. **** I recently re-read this, and thought I say it myself, for a story written nearly 10 years ago it still stands up. In a way I see more in it now that PJ is a teenager than I did when I wrote it and PJ was about the same age as Rachel.

There’s a lot going on in here but in the end it’s really a story about believing in the power of love while also understanding that love alone can’t fix everything. It’s a story I’m glad I took the time to write. 

#sherlock #johnlock #parentlock #prior engagements #parenting #in my parenting feels today

[plaidadder]

Johnlock recs for @strawberrywinter4:

@Strawberrywinter4 said: "Life is kicking my ass right now, so we all know one thing that ALWAYS makes ANYONE feel better… Johnlock fanfiction."

Here are a few (in no particular order; I love them all!) that I reread often:

The Dead Detective by Discordantwords

Underground Rescue by Khorazir

A Week to Woo by Trillsabells

For Love by lurikko

Pygmalion by Ancientreader

Something Like Love by Calais_Reno

Winter to Spring by standbygo

Dance with Me by Silvergirl

Giving All by BakerTumblings

Swallow You Whole (mind the tags!) by LindentreeIsle

Sunshine and kittens for you, @strawberrywinter4, very, very soon! (And loads of johnlock ... it works for me.)

#rec list #other people's recs #the pic is an uncredited photoshop tho #This looks like a quality list #Sherlock #bbc sherlock #sherlock fandom #johnlock

[plaidadder]

Forgot to tag! @shdwsilk, @oldshrewsburyian, @calaisreno, @ancientreader, @earlgreytea68, the Magnus archives

Favorite Line

Tagged by @allofthebeanz

"Let's all show off how amazing our writing skills are! Choose a sentence from your latest wip or published fic that you're proud of."

Sure, I'll play. Tagging @plaidadder, @mrsd-writes, @foolishmortalreplies, @flownwrong, @verushkak70, @fieldofclover, and anyone else who wants to play--consider yourselves tagged!

He was a saint, holy in his ecstasy, in his knees curled around Benton’s ribs, his waist, in the way Ray’s body clutched him tight and close, the way Ray moaned softly, like they escaped him.

[plaidadder]

Thanks for the tag, @juniperpomegranate!

So this is from the last story I posted, a Magnus Archives/original fiction crossover called "The Sun Almost Rises." Spoilers for seasons 1-4 of The Magnus Archives.

This is Jon describing what it felt when all the Entities came through him:

“Because I felt—trapped—I felt hunted—I definitely felt strange--everything was distorted—I thought my brain was burning, my blood vessels were—melting—it felt as if I didn’t even have bones, as if I was just a bag of conductive—meat—that was rotting—inside a stretched skin—and that skin kept tearing--as if blades were shredding it—and—it was all so—BIG—I was a whole planet full of these—enormous--things—but I was also nothing but a screaming speck of dirt stuck in—some fabric--that was stretchy and insane and involved—and it went dark—so dark—it was unbearable, how empty it was in that darkness--and--I thought I was going to die."

Favorite Line

Tagged by @allofthebeanz

"Let's all show off how amazing our writing skills are! Choose a sentence from your latest wip or published fic that you're proud of."

Sure, I'll play. Tagging @plaidadder, @mrsd-writes, @foolishmortalreplies, @flownwrong, @verushkak70, @fieldofclover, and anyone else who wants to play--consider yourselves tagged!

He was a saint, holy in his ecstasy, in his knees curled around Benton’s ribs, his waist, in the way Ray’s body clutched him tight and close, the way Ray moaned softly, like they escaped him.

#favorite line game #asks #the magnus archives

[plaidadder]

Josette Day as Belle LA BELLE ET LA BÊTE / BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (1946) dir. Jean Cocteau

#la belle et la bête #cocteau #yes I love this film #weirdly it was obviously a huge source of inspiration for disney's beauty and the beast (animated not live action) #and yet the creators of that film did not acknowledge it

[plaidadder]

You Are Not Their Diamond Mine: Against the Monetization of Feelings

So yesterday I reblogged this takedown of a thing called Kokobot which is apparently roaming Discord trying to get teens with mental health issues to interact with it so that it can train their AI chatbot and also give them data to mine. Kokobot promises to connect these teens with other teens who are also having mental health issues. Kokobot does this without any regard for human welfare and without any understanding of what constitutes harm, and the results are predictable, and when I say predictable I mean horrifying.

Even if this thing fails and withers away, there will be other people out there trying to do something similar. Partly because of the way the 21st century Internet works, we now have an epidemic of mental illness among adolescents. Self-harm, depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts among teens have all skyrocketed in the past decade. Like, since 2007, depression and suicide attempts among teens have gone up sixty fucking percent.

This got long. TL:dr: I think it is fair to say that at this point, internet safety is not just about protecting yourself from individual predators, but from infinitely-scalable predatory online entitites designed to not only extract money from your existing misery, but to create MORE misery to increase their own profits.

Because of this massive increase in mental illness among teenagers, there are not enough trained professionals out there to deal with the massive need. Combine this with the utter disregard for human welfare demonstrated by the new generation of tech startups and you get crap like betterhelp which will promise to get you the help you know you need and instead throw you into a shark tank full of unvetted providers who will never meet you in person and who may or may not actually have the knowledge and experience necessary to help you, but definitely will not have the time and the resources necessary to make therapy really helpful. But even that is not as bad as the goal of something like Kokobot, which doesn't even pretend to offer you a human therapist. The stated purpose of Kokobot is to connect users to other teens with mental health issues.

I did not have to read the OP's stories of how Kokobot 'helped' them with a few common invented scenarios to know that was a terrible idea which would have terrible results. First of all, this bot has the same problem that all "artificial intelligences" have, which is that they do not know anything about how humans work or what is good for them. You can feed a chatbot the entire range of human language and it still will not know the difference between what helps humans and what harms them. AI is not better at thinking or feeling than the chatbots of the 1960s were. It is only better at tricking people into thinking it is doing so.

But there is something else which I know and which I want everyone else to know:

Many reputable, professional outfits that treat teens who are having mental health crises--and there is a whole industry now, and I am sure it is very lucrative, and some of these outfits will be shitty because they are just following the money and don't really know what they're doing, but at least those shitty outfits will be subject to licensing and regulation, unlike betterhelp and fucking Kokobot--will incorporate some form of group therapy. Making connections with other teens who have similar experiences can be a big part of the process of healing. BUT. Those same reputable, professional outlets also tell you that those teens cannot contact each other outside of therapy. And that's not because they're worried that they will try to harm each other. It's because they worry that they will try too hard to help each other. They're trying to prevent their patients from getting into situations where they feel responsible for another teenager's welfare, well-being, or even survival. Because that responsibility is too much for any teenager to deal with. Often, in fact, assuming too much responsibility for other people's welfare helped trigger the mental health crisis in the first place.

So even if you designed something that did what Kokobot says it's doing but with better privacy protections, better screening-out of adult predators, etc., if it is encouraging teens with mental health issues to interact without professional supervision, it is going to harm its users. Regardless of everyone's intentions.

People talk about "internet addiction" and I think that is 100% the wrong way to talk about what 24/7 connection to every fucking thing is doing to us as human beings. I think we need to talk about this in a way that puts the responsibility where it belongs: not on the individual user, but on the people who are out there monetizing our feelings without the slightest regard for how that affects us. I am not a teen dealing with mental illness; I am Gen X-er with an intimate knowledge of depression who is parenting a teenager. And I am sick and fucking tired of people inventing new ways to make money by ruining the lives of my teenager and everyone else's.

It is really frustrating, as a parent, to feel like you alone are fighting the entire fucking internet just to get your kid some peace. (Did you know that there are absolutely NO consensus guidelines out there for what constitutes a healthy amount of online time for a teenager? They exist for children, but not for teens.) I am sure it is even more overwhelming if you're a teenager at whom all of this crap will be aimed.

So I guess what I want to say is: we can't just stop using online platforms entirely because they are built into the way we socialize now. But with this new generation of AI bullshit rolling out now, we have to start actively protecting ourselves from the people who want to make money by farming our bad feelings for profit. We have to be intentional about it. We have to fight not to be reduced to an exploited resource. Turn it off, set limits, do whatever you have to do to keep yourself sane. You are not their diamond mine.

#personal #mental health #why did the internet have to become hateful #oh that's right unreglated capitalism #cw: depression #cw: suicidal ideation #cw: codependence #In my parenting feels today

[plaidadder]

#The recipe I've been using for this was from Cooking Light #Let's see if this version is better