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lecsainz · 6 months

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! I’M NOT ASLEP MY MIND IS ALIVE . . . send a scenario + driver and i will make a headcanons about.

lewis hamilton + late night drive. i'm such a sucker for this concept omg <3

i love your blog btw, keep doing what you're doing!! :))

LATE NIGHT DRIVE

˒ ⌕ masterlist . . .

parings: lewis hamilton + wife!reader

summary: the one where you are lewis, go out for a car ride at night.

🗒️: just thinking that I hardly write to lewis 🤧

type: fluff ಇ

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Lewis Hamilton found himself yearning for a quiet escape with you. The Formula 1 season had been a tough one, with his Mercedes car struggling, and he needed a break from the relentless competition.

"Hey, love," he said, flashing a tired but inviting smile at you, who were reclining on the couch, immersed in a book.

You looked up and smiled back. "What's on your mind, Lewis?"

"I was thinking we could take a late-night drive," he suggested. "Just you, me, and the open road."

Your eyes sparkled with excitement. "That sounds perfect."

Quickly gathering your essentials, you both stepped out into the warm summer night. The city was alive with soft, golden lights, and the gentle hum of the engine was music to Lewis's ears.

As you ventured into the quiet night, a renewed sense of peace settled over both of you. The city lights twinkled like stars on Earth, and the soft breeze caressed your faces, creating a serene backdrop to your late-night drive.

While Lewis kept one hand on the steering wheel, he extended the other one to rest on your thigh. It was a simple yet suggestive touch, expressing the desire to be closer to you. His thumb gently stroked your thigh, a tender caress that spoke volumes of affection and reassurance.

You placed your hand over his, intertwining your fingers, and smiled at him. "I love moments like this," you said, your voice soft and filled with warmth.

Lewis nodded, his eyes locked on the road, but his heart entirely focused on you. "Me too, love."

The night air seemed to carry your shared laughter and the shared silence that spoke volumes. No words were needed; you understood each other completely.

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vivwritesfics · 2 months

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Jester Stole His Thorny Crown

Chapter Two

He never had a choice in his life. His dreams were nothing more that that. Dreams. But then he met a lounge singer at his brother club and everything changed.

Mafia!Au

1.3K

Warnings: drugs (not taken), gun violence

Series Masterlist

"I've done your dirty work," said Charles as he entered his mamans apartment and strode over to the couch. Arthur was still sat there, a sling holding his injured arm. It took everything Charles had in him not to reach out and punch that arm. "All three clubs are fully stocked."

Arthur sat up quickly, all traces of a smile gone from his suddenly pale face. "Even the lounge?" He asked, urgency in his voice.

Nodding his head, Charles looked at his little brother. "All three clubs," he insisted, and Arthur swore under his breath.

"Charles, I don't deal in the lounge," he said as he held his arm. "It isn't that sort of club."

"No offence," began Charles as he sat beside his brother and accepted the tea offered to him by his maman, "but I take orders from Lorenzo, not you," he said and sipped the tea.

Arthur let out an audible sigh. "The stuff isn't going to get moved in the lounge," he said. "It's not a place where young adults want to get fucked up or where men do dodgy deals in the back. It's a place where people come to enjoy live music and drink a little. It's not gonna get sold there and Lorenzo is gonna be pissed at you."

Charles let out an exasperated sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay then, what do you normally do with the drugs?" He snapped.

Looking down at his injured arm, Arthur looked almost ashamed. "I dress down and... I sell them in alleyways," he admitted.

Charles hit his injured arm. "What the Hell are you going?!" He shouted. "Arthur, you're not canon fodder! Why are you going out there and trying to get yourself killed?"

"What else am I supposed to do?" Arthur hissed at his brother. "If I leave them sitting in the safe, Lorenzo would kill me."

"Lorenzo doesn't want you to get killed! He doesn't want you out there selling drugs!"

Arthur let out a sigh. They could go around like this for hours, with neither of them coming to agree. "What did you think of her?" He asked somewhat quietly.

It took Charles aback. "Who, the pianist?" He asked, but he knew he was right. Who else would Arthur be talking about.

He nodded his head. "I thought you'd like her," Arthur finished. "Just... go tonight and see what it's all about. You'll understand why I don't sell there, trust me."

Charles said nothing. He stood from the sofa and walked to the kitchen to say goodbye to maman. "Take it easy on him, Charles," She said as she straightened his lapel. "He just wants to be like you and Lorenzo."

"He's not ready, maman. He still acts like a child," Charles spat as he looked to the window.

"Do as he asks," said Pascale. "You know how much the lounge means to him."

Charles couldn't say no to his maman. He nodded his head and kissed her cheek before setting off to do more work for Lorenzo.

Lorenzo didn't have much for Charles to do. He was in and out of meetings with the Ferrari's, the Hamilton's and the Vettels all day. Charles was left to do his admin work for him, stuck in the office all day. Thank god the office had an amazing view.

When the books and paperwork were sorted, Charles left the office. He sat in the cat for just a moment, deciding what to do.

But he had a promise to his mother that he had to keep.

Charles drove how he always drove, like he thought he was a fucking race car driver. Others on the road got out of his way and he parked rather carelessly, as always.

The lounge didn't have a line outside of it like the rest of the clubs owned by the Leclercs. Charles scoffed as he pushed the door of his car shut and walked towards the lounge.

But then he opened the door to the lounge.

The chatter was loud, but only because there was so much of it. The music wasn't playing yet, but every single seat was filled. Charles walked over to the bar and got himself something to drink. On the house, of course. The bartender wouldn't dare to charge him.

The stage was empty, aside from the piano. He couldn't help but look around for some sign of her, but she was nowhere to be seen.

The lights dimmed and the audience went quiet. A spotlight was pointed at the piano and Charles felt himself consumed by the atmosphere of the lounge. The audience was clearly excited, and he was too.

She walked up onto the stage. Charles almost didn't recognise her, a far cry from the dressed down girl he had met earlier in the day. He didn't think much of her then, when he was there to do a job. But now, in that long black dressed, hair done flawlessly, Charles couldn't pull his eyes away.

The audience clapped as she sat at the piano. She pressed a few keys and the clapping stopped.

The song started slow. It wasn't a slow song, but that was how she started it. But quickly it was up to it's tempo and the song properly began. It was just the piano, no accompanying instruments, and her voice.

It was only when she started singing that Charles recognised the song. An eighties rock, maybe pop, song that he'd heard through his childhood.

It was a piano cover of a song that was usually filled with many instruments, but she did it perfectly. Charles sipped his drink as she pressed the keys fluidly, recreating the guitar solo.

As soon as the song was finished she grabbed the microphone and turned to the audience. "Hello everybody and welcome to the lounge," she called and the audience clapped and cheered. "Tonight is oldies night so relax, get yourself something to drink and sing along is you know the words," she called an a member of the audience whooped.

She turned back to the piano, put her microphone back and began playing once again.

She played three songs before taking a break. She left the stage and disappeared into one of the back rooms. Charles left his drink on the bar and followed after her. He knew there would be one topped up and waiting for him when he got back.

"Hey," Charles called as he followed her into the room beside the back office.

She visibly jumped. "Mr Leclerc," she said, her hand against her chest, her glass of water shattered by her feet. "Shit," she whispered as she bent down to pick it up.

"I'll get somebody to clean it up," he said and snapped his fingers at one of the staff members on the main floor. They immediately dropped what they were doing and came to clean it up.

"You're... really good at the piano," he said as she accepted another glass of water from the staff that cleaned the first one up.

A small, nervous smile twitched onto her face. "Thank you."

Charles continued. "I've always wanted to play the piano," he said. "I never got a chance with the line of work that my family is in."

"Well, it's never to late to learn," she replied, still wearing that nervous smile.

No, it wasn't. That was exactly what Charles was thinking. "You can teach me," he said.

She froze at that. Teach Mr Leclerc, one of the most dangerous men in the principality, piano? Oh, it was terrifying. And she couldn't say no.

"Great." His smile wasn't kind, exactly. It was more... satisfied. "You can call me Charles." He held out his hand.

She hesitated before grabbing it. It was like signing her soul away, handing it to the devil on a silver platter. But she shook it. "You can call me Y/N."

Permanent taglist: @biancathecool @rewmuslupin @prettiest-at-the-party @minkyungseokie @formulaal @darleneslane @andydrysdalerogers @hrts4scarr @llando4norris @honethatty12 @hollie911

TAGLIST (OPEN): @ninifee1802 @booksandflowrs @ashy-kit @weekendlusting @nikfigueiredo @annispamz @watermelonworries @spideybv28 @janeholt3 @barcelonaloverf1life

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missgryffin · 3 months

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lying in wait

Randomly listened to some Hamilton over the weekend, ended up with "Wait For It" stuck in my head, and wrote this in a couple hours today. I think it's angst, but with a nice dash of crack? Idk 😅 But I hope it makes you smile! 🫶 below + AO3

November 3, 1981

The cottage is silent, save for the ticking of the old grandfather clock in the hall, and it’s already pitch dark, with only the faint glow of street lamps and budding moonlight shining in through rain-slicked windows.

Lily draws up her knees to her chest where she sits on the sofa, peering mindlessly into blurry windowpane. She doesn’t remember the last time she walked aimlessly down a road, or went into a shop. Sometimes, on stormy autumn nights like this, she wonders if she ever will again.

Footsteps tumble down the stairs, then come to an abrupt halt.

“Lil?” She can see his shadowed outline, one hand in his hair. “You just…sitting in the dark?”

She shrugs, though he probably can’t see, and asks, “Harry went down alright, then?”

James chuckles to himself as he crosses the room, picking his way around the furniture until he drops onto the sofa next to her. “After reading every book twice and playing the Snitch game for thirty minutes…yes.” He leans closer, grinning. “Our son is asleep.”

She rests a hand on his scruffy cheek. “It’s only supposed to be ten minutes of the Snitch game,” she teases him.

“I know,” James sighs. “But he asked for ten more.”

Lily snorts. “What, and then ten more after that?”

He throws his hands weakly in his lap. “Wha—am I supposed to say no to the kid? He looks just like me!”

She falls into him, a laughing heap, and for a moment, they simply giggle deliriously together. It’s nice. It’s normal. Or at least a sliver of it.

James cuddles her into him, and Lily breaths him in. They’ve lost so many over the few years since Hogwarts, but they still have each other. She clings on to that, to him.

“I love you,” she says into his chest.

He kisses the top of her head. “I love you, too.”

A stretching silence; a heavy sigh. “It’s his birthday.”

“I know,” James murmurs. “I can’t stop thinking about him.”

Lily peels herself off his chest and swings a leg over his lap, sitting with her arms looped around his neck. How many conversations have they had over the years while sitting just like this? How many more will they get?

“He said he’d be in touch by today.” Her mind won’t stop racing. “What if this was a bad id—”

“It wasn’t,” James cuts her off. “Besides.” A heavy sigh. “It was…our only idea.”

“Do you think…” She pauses, plays with his hair. “Do you think we…did the right thing?”

He sits up straighter, pulling her closer against him. “You’re the only two people in my life I know I can trust completely,” he says. “So yeah, I think we did.”

There’s no use rehashing it again; they’ve done that enough. Yes, he now has a target on his back, but it’s not like he wasn’t already a target before. No, it couldn’t have been anyone else—not Albus, who knows more than he’s saying; not Remus, whom Albus and Sirius both suspect; and not Peter, who’s been looking exhausted and strung-out from the night-shift reconnaissance he’s been assigned. Yes, he had to leave. And no, it wasn’t cowardly to do so.

Granted, that last bit had taken a not insignificant amount of convincing (damned Gryffindor), but he eventually came around to their idea. Staying around in England with Voldemort sure to be onto him was certain death. But why not take advantage of being top of Voldemort’s mind? Why make it easy, when instead he could make it hard? Give the Order a leg up? Let them use him (or rather, the idea of him) as bait to lure and manipulate all the Death Eaters looking for him, and maybe even root out the spy in the process? And really, if anyone was going to lead Voldemort on a wild goose chase, setting traps and lying in wait, who better than Sirius Black?

Still, she worries. She can’t help it. And she knows James worries too, even if he does do a better job of hiding it.

There’s only one thing left to do, really; only one way to pass the time sufficiently distracted from racing thoughts. James must read her mind, because he’s all eager hands and excited tongue when she kisses him. Maybe it’s unhealthy, how much they’ve used sex to cope the past year. But when his mouth feels like this and hair’s in her hands…she’s not sure she cares.

“Prongs!”

They jump, springing apart like they’re fifth years caught after curfew. James swears under his breath as they fumble to right the clothes they’d started shoving aside before he reaches for the small mirror sitting on the coffee table.

“Padfoot!”

Lily frantically feels around the sofa for her wand.

“Why’s it so dar—oh, don’t tell me you were just—”

“We were waiting for you,” James covers.

“Mate. That’s worse. Just say you were shagging.”

“Well, we weren’t yet.”

“Hi, Sirius.” She brandishes her now-glowing wand, recovered from the seam between the cushions.

“Lily! Looking rumpled as ever!”

She yanks her cardigan back up her shoulder as she scolds, “Shut it.”

“I miss you, too.”

They can only see Sirius’s chin in frame, and it seems like he’s moving around.

“Happy birthday, man,” James says.

“Thanks.”

“Where are you?”

“Hang on—I have to show you—ready?”

“Yeah?”

His face comes into view and Lily instantly gasps.

Sirius grins. “Like it?”

His once shoulder-length hair’s been chopped off stylishly short in a fresh cut that makes him look like old Hollywood charm in that loose button-down he has on.

“Damn, Pads!”

“I…barely recognize you,” Lily stammers.

“Well.” He adjusts the mirror closer to his face. “That’s sorta the point.”

A heavy pit settles in her stomach.

“How you been?” James asks. “Travel go okay?”

“Yeah, fine.” Sirius shrugs. “I’ve been doing things the Muggle way—that Muggle Studies N.E.W.T.’s finally paying off, who woulda thought.”

“Where are you now?”

The mirror turns around, panning over an ocean-side city lit up with lights through a set of patio doors. “Cannes,” he says, and Lily hears the grin in his voice. The mirror turns back to his face. “I have access to money here, dad’s side of the family, in the French bank. And I figure…” He flops back atop a hotel bed, one hand beneath his head. “If Voldemort wants to come get me, he’ll just have to bring his snakey arse down to the beach, won’t he?”

They all bust up into snorting, wheezing laughter. It’s not normal; none of it’s normal. But laughing with her husband and their best friend like this is the closest to normal she’s felt in a long time, and she thinks, if this is how life has to be for awhile, she can live with it.

#missgryffin writes #jily #jple #james x lily #jily fanfiction #alternate ending #not really sure what this is it just happened #everyone lives au #justice for sirius black #getting the adventure story he deserves

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lyrakanefanatic · 6 months

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Okay so I’ve been seeing @hathorneheiress do tig family hcs and I wanted to try that as well

but with my own!

- Grayson and phone girl (maybe 😜) would have one daughter

- Libby and Nash would have two girls

- Xander and max would have a boy and a girl, exactly the amount max wanted

- Avery and Jameson weren’t gonna have too many kids, but then Avery got pregnant with twins so they just left it at that 💀

- Avery’s daughter and Graysons daughter are 4lifers, and they hang out all the time

- they’re also super close with Xander’s daughter

- Nash and Libby’s daughters are polar opppsites. One’s quiet and shy and the other is popular and loud, but they both are best friends

- Graysons daughter is Rory Gilmore smart, and it’s her dream to go to Harvard like her dad (yes, like Rory and yes, I know Grayson dropped out 💀)

- jameson’s son and Graysons daughter have eternal beef for absolutely no reason, but they’re also very close. Also, Graysons daughter has definitely chased him around the house with a knife before.

- maxs son is super into books like his mom, and practically lives in the Hawthorne house libraries

-jameson’s daughter is super theatric and leads the school plays at her school

- and max’s daughter is smart, and more outgoing and extroverted than her brother

- she also loves board games and puzzles, and loves chess just like her mom

- Graysons daughter is TERRIFIED of sports. Like if she sees a ball coming towards her she will run away screaming, which kind of shocked Grayson since he was so athletic and into those kind of things

-but jameson’s daughter (and son) LOVES sports, and will take any chance she can get to do them

- all of the kids (except Graysons daughter) were terrified of Grayson till the age of 5, when they finally realized he’s nice and wont kill them in their sleep 💀

- Xander’s daughter uses big words even though she doesn’t know what they mean, like machiavellian

- Graysons daughter and Savannah are besties and hang out every chance they get

- all the kids love gigi and hug her every time they see her (🥺💖💖)

- the kids (except graysons daughter) were even more scared of Savannah then they were of Grayson, and Xander’s son would even cry everytime she would try to talk to him till he was like 7

-Nash and libby have a million holes in their backyard because their daughters wanted fish and they all died, and even though the fish kept dying after two days nash would still buy them even more 😭😭

- one time they rented a huge van/trailer and tried to do cute family road trip with all of them, and it did NOT go well

- graysons daughter and Avery’s son were both beefing (again, bc whose surprised) for absolutely no reason

-Xander’s daughter was throwing up on the side of the road because she has motion sickness

- jameson’s daughter was blasting Hamilton songs and was pissing everybody off, especially her brother, because apparently Hamilton songs “make his ears bleed”

- that started another argument

- xanders son kept asking Nash “are we there yet” every 5 minutes

- Nash’s daughter (the eldest and louder one) kept singing along to her music despite having headphones in, and then ANOTHER argument broke out between her and her sister

- Nash had finally had enough and yelled at all of them saying, “stop arguing! Can’t we all have fun as a family for once?”

- all the kids felt guilty but Jameson’s daughter and graysons daughter we’re trying so hard not to laugh

- anyways they finally made it to their place and never went on a road trip again

Okay I’m finally done, sorry it’s so long I have way too many ideas 😭😭

Again, thank you @hathorneheiress for giving me the idea 🫶🫶

#I feel like rory gilmore and graysons daughter would literally be the same ppl #also sorry it’s so long lmao #the inheritance games #jameson hawthorne #nash hawthorne #avery kylie grambs #grayson hawthorne #xander hawthorne #the brothers hawthorne #libby grambs

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crippleprophet · 1 year

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Hey Mac! Do you have any crip books or resource recs for crip sex/sexuality?

Feel free to delete if you're uncomfortable answering :]

do i ever! i actually did an essay for my master’s in disability studies on the topic of disabled people’s access to sex so a lot of these are sources from that (feel free to dm me for my paper!) & others are things i’ve collected for leisure (hah)

i’m bolding my favorites and italicizing ones i haven’t read but have been recommended / have on my list; as with everything, having read a piece + recommending it is not an uncritical endorsement, & i have various contentions with all of these pieces ranging from minor nitpicking to outright disagreement.

feel free to send an ask or dm if you want my thoughts on a particular work or need help obtaining a pdf!

books

Sex and Disability ed. Robert McRuer & Anna Mollow

The Sexual Politics of Disability: Untold Desires by Tom Shakespeare, Kath Gillespie-Sells and Dominic Davies

Unbreaking Our Hearts: Cultures of Un/Desirability and the Transformative Potential of Queercrip Porn by Loree Erickson. York University, dissertation submitted 2015.

McRuer, R. 2006. Crip theory: Cultural signs of queerness and disability. New York: New York University Press.

Kinked and Crippled: Disabled BDSM Practitioners’ Experiences and Embodiments of Pain. Emma Sheppard. Edge Hill University, dissertation submitted 2017.

Love, Sex, and Disability: The Pleasures of Care by Sarah Smith Rainey

intellectually disabled people / people with learning difficulties’ right to sex

Hamilton, C. A. 2009. ‘Now I’d like to sleep with Rachael’ – researching sexuality support in a service agency group home. Disability & Society. 24(3), pp.303-315.

Hollomotz, A. 2008. ‘May we please have sex tonight?’ – people with learning difficulties pursuing privacy in residential group settings. British Journal of Learning Disabilities. 37, pp.91–97.

Vehmas, S. 2019. Persons with profound intellectual disability and their right to sex. Disability & Society. 34(4), pp.519-539.

Significance of the attitudes of police and care staff toward sex and people who have a learning disability by A. Bailey & D. Sines. Journal of Learning Disabilities for Nursing Health and Social Care (1998), 2(3), pp.168-174.

sexual facilitation & making sex accessible

Bahner, J. 2016. Risky business? Organizing sexual facilitation in Swedish personal assistance services. Scandinavian Journal of Disability Research. 18(2), pp.164-175.

Linda R. Mona (2003) Sexual Options for People with Disabilities, Women & Therapy, 26:3-4, pp.211-221.

No Pity Fucks Please: A critique of Scarlet Road’s campaign to improve disabled people’s access to paid sex services by Tova Rozengarten and Heather Brook. Outskirts vol. 34, 2016, pp.1-21.

Julia Bahner (2013) The power of discretion and the discretion of power: personal assistants and sexual facilitation in disability services, Vulnerable Groups & Inclusion, 4:1, 20673.

BDSM, paraphilias, & alternative sex

Goldberg, C. E. 2018. Fucking with Notions of Disability (In)Justice: Exploring BDSM, Sexuality, Consent, and Canadian Law

Hollomotz, A. 2013. Exploiting the Fifty Shades of Grey craze for the disability and sexual rights agenda. Disability & Society. 28(3), pp.418-422.

Reynolds, D. 2007. Disability and BDSM: Bob Flanagan and the case for sexual rights. Sexuality Research & Social Policy. 4(1), pp.40-52.

Tellier, S. 2017. Advancing the discourse: Disability and BDSM. Sex & Disability. 35, pp.485-493.

Sheppard, E. 2018. Using pain, living with pain. Feminist Review. 120, pp.54-69.

Tyburczy, J. 2014. Leather anatomy: Cripping homonormativity at International Mr. Leather. Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies. 8(3), pp.275-293.

Sheppard, E 2019, 'Chronic Pain as Fluid, BDSM as Control' Disability Studies Quarterly, vol. 39, no. 2.

other articles

Finger, A. 1992. Forbidden Fruit

Fritsch, K., Heynen, R., Ross, A. N., and van der Meulen, E. 2016. Disability and sex work: developing affinities through decriminalization. Disability & Society. 31(1), pp.84-99.

McKenzie, J. 2012. Disabled people in rural South Africa talk about sexuality. Culture Health & Sexuality. pp.1-15.

Shakespeare, T. 2000. Disabled sexuality: Toward rights and recognition. Sexuality and Disability. 18(3), pp.159-166.

Shildrick, M. 2007. Contested pleasures: The sociopolitical economy of disability and sexuality. Sexuality Research & Social Policy. 4(1), pp.53-66.

Wentzell, E. 2006. Bad bedfellows: Disability sex rights and Viagra. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society. 26(5), pp.370-377.

“‘Like, pissing yourself is not a particularly attractive quality, let’s be honest’: Learning to contain through youth, adulthood, disability and sexuality” by Kirsty Liddiard and Jenny Slater. Sexualities 2018, Vol. 21(3), pp.319–333.

non-academic texts

Andrew Gurza’s blog - andrewgurza dot com / blog

Disability After Dark podcast

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability by A. Andrews

Cripping Up Sex with Eva

my cripsex tag, which i’ll add to this post, has other relevant content, & i welcome any additions from folks! all the best to you 💓

#asks #reading lists #cripsex

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mostlysignssomeportents · 2 months

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Dinkclump Linkdump

I'm on tour with my new novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT in LA (Saturday night, with Adam Conover), Seattle (Monday, with Neal Stephenson), then Portland, Phoenix and more!

Some Saturday mornings, I look at the week's blogging and realize I have a lot more links saved up than I managed to write about this week, and then I do a linkdump. There've been 14 of these, and this is number 15:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Attentive readers will note that this isn't Saturday. You're right. But I'm on a book tour and every day is shatterday, because damn, it's grueling and I'm not the spry manchild who took Little Brother on the road in 2008 – I'm a 52 year old with two artificial hips. Hence: an out-of-cycle linkdump. Come see me on tour and marvel at my verticality!

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/16/narrative-capitalism/#bezzle-tour

Best thing I read this week, hands down, was Ryan Broderick's Garbage Day piece, "AI search is a doomsday cult":

https://www.garbageday.email/p/ai-search-doomsday-cult

Broderick makes so many excellent points in this piece. First among them: AI search sucks, but that's OK, because no one is asking for AI search. This only got more true later in the week when everyone's favorite spicy autocomplete accidentally loaded the James Joyce module:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2024/02/chatgpt-alarms-users-by-spitting-out-shakespearean-nonsense-and-rambling/

(As Matt Webb noted, Chatbots have slid rapidly from Star Trek (computers give you useful information in a timely fashion) to Douglas Adams (computers spout hostile, impenetrable nonsense at you):

https://interconnected.org/home/2024/02/21/adams

But beyond the unsuitability of AI for search results and beyond the public's yawning indifference to AI-infused search, Broderick makes a more important point: AI search is about summarizing web results so you don't have to click links and read the pages yourself.

If that's the future of the web, who the fuck is going to write those pages that the summarizer summarizes? What is the incentive, the business-model, the rational explanation for predicting a world in which millions of us go on writing web-pages, when the gatekeepers to the web have promised to rig the game so that no one will ever visit those pages, or read what we've written there, or even know it was us who wrote the underlying material the summarizer just summarized?

If we stop writing the web, AIs will have to summarize each other, forming an inhuman centipede of botshit-ingestion. This is bad news, because there's pretty solid mathematical evidence that training a bot on botshit makes it absolutely useless. Or, as the authors of the paper – including the eminent cryptographer Ross Anderson – put it, "using model-generated content in training causes irreversible defects":

https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.17493

This is the mathematical evidence for Jathan Sadowski's "Hapsburg AI," or, as the mathematicians call it, "The Curse of Recursion" (new band-name just dropped).

But if you really have your heart set on living in a ruined dystopia dominated by hostile artificial life-forms, have no fear. As Hamilton Nolan writes in "Radical Capital," a rogues gallery of worker-maiming corporations have asked a court to rule that the NLRB can't punish them for violating labor law:

https://www.hamiltonnolan.com/p/radical-capital

Trader Joe’s, Amazon, Starbucks and SpaceX have all made this argument to various courts. If they prevail, then there will be no one in charge of enforcing federal labor law. Yes, this will let these companies go on ruining their workers' lives, but more importantly, it will give carte blanche to every other employer in the land. At one end of this process is a boss who doesn't want to recognize a union – and at the other end are farmers dying of heat-stroke.

The right wing coalition that has put this demand before the court has all sorts of demands, from forced birth to (I kid you not), the end of recreational sex:

https://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/02/getting-rid-of-birth-control-is-a-key-gop-agenda-item-for-the-second-trump-term

That coalition is backed by ultra-rich monopolists who want wreck the nation that their rank-and-file useful idiots want to wreck your body. These are the monopoly cheerleaders who gave us the abomination that is the Pharmacy Benefit Manager – a useless intermediary that gets to screw patients and pharmacists – and then let PBMs consolidate and merge with pharmacy monopolists.

One such inbred colossus is Change Healthcare, a giant PBM that is, in turn, a mere tendril of United Healthcare, which merged the company with Optum. The resulting system – held together with spit and wishful thinking – has access to the health records of a third of Americans and processes 15 billion prescriptions per day.

Or rather, it did process that amount – until the all-your-eggs-in-one-badly-maintained basket strategy failed on Wednesday, and Change's systems went down due to an unspecified "cybersecurity incident." In the short term, this meant that tens of millions of Americans who tried to refill their prescriptions were told to either pay cash or come back later (if you don't die first). That was the first shoe dropping. The second shoe is the medical records of a third of the country.

Don't worry, I'm sure those records are fine. After all, nothing says security like "merging several disparate legacy IT systems together while simultaneously laying off half your IT staff as surplus to requirements and an impediment to extracting a special dividend for the private equity owners who are, of course, widely recognized as the world's greatest information security practitioners."

Look, not everything is terrible. Some computers are actually getting better. Framework's user-serviceable, super-rugged, easy-to-repair, powerful laptops are the most exciting computers I've ever owned – or broken:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/13/graceful-failure/#frame

Now you can get one for $500!

https://frame.work/blog/first-framework-laptop-16-shipments-and-a-499-framework

And the next generation is turning our surprisingly well, despite all our worst efforts. My kid – now 16! – and I just launched our latest joint project, "The Sushi Chronicles," a small website recording our idiosyncratic scores for nearly every sushi restaurant in Burbank, Glendale, Studio City and North Hollywood:

https://sushichronicles.org/

This is the record of two years' worth of Daughter-Daddy sushi nights that started as a way to get my picky eater to try new things and has turned into the highlight of my week. If you're in the area and looking for a nice piece of fish, give it a spin (also, we belatedly realized that we've never reviewed our favorite place, Kuru Kuru in the CVS Plaza on North Hollywood Way – we'll be rectifying that soon).

And yes, we have a lavishly corrupt Supreme Court, but at least now everyone knows it. Glenn Haumann's even set up a Gofundme to raise money to bribe Clarence Thomas (now deleted, alas):

https://www.gofundme.com/f/pzhj4q-the-clarence-thomas-signing-bonus-fund-give-now

The funds are intended as a "signing bonus" in the event that Thomas takes up John Oliver on his offer of a $2.4m luxury RV and $1m/year for life if he'll resign from the court:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GE-VJrdHMug

This is truly one of Oliver's greatest bits, showcasing his mastery over the increasingly vital art of turning abstruse technical issues into entertainment that negates the performative complexity used by today's greatest villains to hide their misdeeds behind a Shield of Boringness (h/t Dana Clare).

The Bezzle is my contribution to turning abstruse scams into a high-impact technothriller that pierces that Shield of Boringness. The key to this is to master exposition, ignoring the (vastly overrated) rule that one must "show, not tell." Good exposition is hard to do, but when it works, it's amazing (as anyone who's read Neal Stephenson's 1,600-word explanation of how to eat Cap'n Crunch cereal in Cryptonomicon can attest). I wrote about this for Mary Robinette Kowal's "My Favorite Bit" this week:

https://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit/my-favorite-bit-cory-doctorow-talks-about-the-bezzle/

Of course, an undisputed master of this form is Adam Conover, whose Adam Ruins Everything show helped invent it. Adam is joining me on stage in LA tomorrow night at Vroman's at 5:30PM, to host me in a book-tour event for my novel The Bezzle:

https://www.vromansbookstore.com/Cory-Doctorow-discusses-The-Bezzle

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/23/gazeteer/#out-of-cycle

Image: Peter Craven (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aggregate_output_%287637833962%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #the bezzle #ryan broderick #mary robinette kowal #exposition #john oliver #margot robbie #adam conover #ai #ai search #change healthcare #centralization #pharma #pbms #pharmacy benefit managers #corruption #scotus #crowdfunding #clarence thomas

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angstics · 5 months

Text

three cheers for sweet revenge starts like a musical. “the end” can be more obviously seen this way but “helena” works as well. this is something i learned about in NBC’s falied tv show, Smash. musicals often start with a song separate from the rest that summarizes the show and its themes. id even say theyre outside of diegesis? it isnt an introduction to the plot, the action. it isnt like the common advice on how to start a book, “jump in the middle of the story.” you can start the narrative like that but not the musical. take really any mainstream musical. “alexander hamilton”, tells hamilton’s life story + self-built theme. “road to hell”, introduce characters + recurring inevitable tragedy theme. “wilkommen”, introduce setting + willful ignorance theme. then the very next song they jump into the story. like the cabaret song frames literally, it introduces the viewer to the musical’s world.

That’s what “helena” does. if one is to argue for a narrative in three cheers then “helena” summarizes the story without being part of it. from the first line, “long ago…” it starts with narrator non-diegesis, like an old tale a la hadestown. it establishes the album-wide characters: the lost and someone who has lost. (h)elena and gerard. demo woman and demo man. and it establishes the album-wide theme of following / being followed by death, “things are better if i stay”. so all these points set up the “world” of the narrative — me, you, and whats come between us — and i have the option to let it go (and it would be better..) Out of nature of being an introduction, it is obvious that stasis would mean resolution would mean no album. So, “give em hell” starts and shit happens. Action!

#mcr #mcr music analysis #theatre i love you!

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no1sharkenthusaist · 11 months

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! hsr headcannons for several characters ! [modern au]

♪ In-ter-net-o ya-me-ro ♪!

Y u m i - c h a n i s n o w o n l i n e !

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚ ˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

Characters : Dan Heng, Serval, Blade, Gepard, March

Plot : no real plot, just headcannons about honkai Characters in a modern au setting

Tags : modern au, headcannons, fluff, slight crack, wrote this at 11pm while heading home from a road trip

authors note : omg got a steam deck for my birthday (may 30th) and I. AM. IN. LOVE !!! I could talk abt it for hours and hours but i have my discord for that ehe. Anyways, ive been having fun rediscovering my old childhood games and thats when i had an epiphany. Hsr or genshin boys in a ddlc type scenario!!! Feeling so swag abt the idea. Also i got out of school so more uploads yaya. Thank u all for the support on my intro page yippee. I promise not to let you all down

╭( ･ㅂ･)و ̑̑ enjoy !

DANHENG

Now playing : Scrawny - The Wallows

He definitely dresses like with collared shirts and kinda has that accidental soft boy look

English major frfr

definitely listens to lovejoy/wilbursoot and bo burnham

Water drinker enthusiast (even tho he forgets to drink half the time-)

burnt out gifted kid

messed up sleeping schedules

Hes that quiet guy everyone has a crush on to some extent

He looks cold and serious during lectures, but hes actually just daydreaming and has his head in the clouds

Probably stays with the same group of kids he met in middle school because he cant socialize

I think said kids would be march, stelle/caleus, himeko And on ocasion blade, kafka, and silverwolf

Welt would be a chill english teacher that would let Dan Heng sit in his classroom during lunch

he likes going to concerts a lot

Learned to play guitar in middle school but doesnt like playing in front of people

Consider yourself lucky if he plays in front of you

Extremely oblivious to romance

Girls will try to flirt with him but he will just have a blank and confused look

Spends his free time in book stores shopping for records

Ps5 gamer frfr

Theater kid (had a hamilton phase)

SERVAL

Now playing : Shut Me Up - Mindless Self Indulgence

Shut me up by mindless self indulgence on loop

Like its probably to an unhealthy level

Always has headphones in(that gepard gave her for her birthday)(And so loud to the point you can hear the music standing next to her)

(went deaf at the ripe age of 13, after that it was all "huh?" /j)

Shirts from old bands, baggy jeans, fishnets, etc

Had an alt phase

Bad habit of smashing guitars

Dropped out of college after first semester

Had a band in highschool with Blade and Dan Heng that received noise complaints on a regular Basis

Really extroverted and easy to get along with

Loves going to concerts (especially the ones that get crazy like halfway through )

Probably gets in fights during black friday

Addicted to coffee (gepards needs to step in and help her drink something else)

Likes bitter stuff more than sweet stuff

Cares very deeply for her friends

The type of gal to go on road trips with friends and go Camping

Goes to protests every other tuesday

Probably banned from several places

very passionate about things she loves

Loves scary movies and Rollercoasters

The six flags employees have memorized her name

(shes just so cool i wanna be like her fr)

BLADE

Now playing : Consequences - Lovejoy

Theater kid (would never admit it tho)

Kafka teases him about it so much

met kafka and silverwolf in detention

The teachers hate the three of them

Alt kid and never got out of his emo phase

Besties with serval, change my mind

Kafka probably pushed him to join boxing to get his anger out in a less…destructive way

Loves the sleepovers he has with kafka and silverwolf

Broke silverwolf's tv while playing wii sports

Goes to college, no clue what he wants to do so hes just doing liberal studies

Adopted a small stray cat he saw on the ground during a storm

he tries to be tough and mean, but hes a big Softy

Loves the Beetlejuice musical(and mean girls but we dont talk about that)

has probably been on probation on multiple occasions

Probably vandalized the car of someone he didnt like

Kafka has to sweet talk everyone out of getting blade in serious trouble

Hes really good at basketball, he just doesnt like it so he never pushed it further

Doesnt really like or understands sports

probably listens to videogame osts 24/7

GEPARD

Now Playing : Pretty Face - PUBLIC

Getting serval out of trouble isnt a choice, its a lifestyle

Which is ironic, as he is a criminal justice major

But he still will always be her biggest supporter

Dresses (like a costco dad) soft boy by pure accident

Completely oblivious to anything and everything

Enjoys gardening and has a lemon Tree

Cave Town enthusiast

Lemonade Enthusiast

Sends people those "reminder to drink water and be happy" messages

Straight 4.0 GPA student. The teachers loved Him

Was really shy so he didnt have many friends growing up (Serval had to help him out)

Hates rollercoasters, serval drags him around six flags and he screams his head off

Poor guy :<

Still loves it since he loves hanging out with his sister

Student council secretary

No clue how the internet and technology works

Strong sense of justice

That has gotten him involved in several issues

Which ironically, serval got him out of

Wholesome cinnamon roll, pls protecc

MARCH 7TH

Now playing : Cupid - FIFTY FIFTY

That one girl in class that no one could hate

Class representative and student council public relations officer

Photography major (duh)

Social butterfly and very easy to talk to

Want to go out to go eat something sweet while having fun? March has you covered !

March Makes friendship braclets and sells them so she can go shopping

has a secret stash of candy hidden in her dorm

March has a babysitting gig and comes to peoples houses with candy

Shes a little kid magnet, they all love her so much

had a club penguin phase with Dan Heng and they both shudder just thinking about it

learned all her profanity from watching Dan Heng play Call Of Duty

sucks at english, fries her brain like a hashbrown

k-pop girlie

dresses really cute with cardigans and pastel pinks

(watched aphmau, Her favorite one was a mermaid tales and mystreet) [submitted by someone on my discord who wants to stay anon]

plays overwatch and says things like "Hey, thats not nice!"

lowkey kind of a teachers pet-

Loves webtoons and collects the physical releases

! Thats a wrap !

! Join my discord HERE !

! Likes, reblogs, comments are greatly appreciated !

and thank you for reading ^^

♪ Overdose 君とふたりやるせない日々♪

! y u m i - c h a n i s n o w o f f l i n e !

t h a n k y o u f o r c o m i n g ~

#hsr headcanons #march 7th #dan heng #serval #star rail #hsr blade #blade hc #march 7th hc #hsr x reader #Yumi's shark blog that isnt quite about sharks #hsr x you #hsr x y/n #hsr x gender neutral reader #hsr drabbles

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fionajames · 2 months

Text

prompts

A/N: Hello guys!!! I decided I'd send a list of various prompts for you guys to send me as requests. Absolutely anyone is free to use this! There are one word, dialogue, idea and song prompts!!!

One word prompts

hiraeth

lost

catacombs

bloodhound

whisper

broth

brine

froth

angel

wheat

camp

cry

shadow

bramble

herd

pack

wild

runaway

solstice

courage

tracks

woods

hike

firefly

quill

moon

sun

stars

spirit

song

splinter

clear

ice

sea

clouded

hum

jinx

limbo

wire

barbed

spear

sword

breath

holly

sink

drown

canine

willow

twine

whistle

Song prompts

not strong enough (boygenius)

meet me in the woods (lord huron)

cherry wine - live (hozier)

sweet tooth (cavetown)

1979 (smashing pumpkins)

bloodhound (the foxing)

rory (the foxing)

still feel (half alive)

best friend (rex orange country)

be nice to me (the front bottoms)

wires (the neighbourhood)

running with the wolves (AURORA)

the night we met (lord huron)

i’d rather be alone (boodahki)

cocaine jesus (rainbow kitten surprise)

romantic homicide (d4vd)

duvet (bôa)

breezeblocks (alt-J)

me and the devil (soap&skin)

heavydirtysoul (twenty one pilots)

father (the front bottoms)

waterfalls coming out of your mouth (glass animals)

genesis (grimes)

devil like me (rainbow kitten surprise)

rockstar (boywithuke)

bad habit (steve lacy)

my ordinary life (the living tombstone)

notorious (neoni)

nothings new (rio romeo)

lighthouse (the waifs)

step on me (the cardigans)

inside out (duster)

the man (taylor swift)

mind over matter (young giant)

rises the moon (liana flores)

sparks (coldplay)

mama’s boy (dominic fike)

way down we go (kaleo)

evergreen (richy mitch & the coal miners)

yorktown - the world turned upside down (original broadway cast of hamilton)

i love you so (the walters)

505 (arctic monkeys)

labour (paris paloma)

worldstar money - interlude (joji)

willow (taylor swift)

leave a light on (tom walker)

pretty boy (the neighbourhood)

lovers rock (tv girl)

the last great american dynasty (taylor swift)

you’re on your own kid (taylor swift)

ho hey (the lumineers)

stubborn love (the lumineers)

dear arkansas daughter (lady lamb)

watching him fade away (mac demarco)

o children (nick cave & the bad seeds)

Idea prompts

running through wheat fields

running through garden hose droplets

dancing in the rain

walking in the bush

splashing in the sea

horse riding

rolling down grass fields

trekking through forest

swimming in forest creeks

rock hopping

daisy chains and crowns

collecting wood for fire

bonfire at night

walking on abandoned highways and roads

lighthouse exploring

cartwheeling and playing in fresh grass

morning dew and crisp morning air

dirt under your nails

tree climbing

abandoned towns

walking on train tracks

wooden boats

island exploring

baking in then morning quiet

watching movies very late at night

staying up late at sleepovers

corn mazes

wheat fields

frozen lakes

frozen forests

paper planes

jam jars

friendship bracelets

barbed wire fences

blood dripping on tiles

scratchy vinyl music

empty dark cold nights

canine teeth

fireflies in fields

camp cabins

sea shanties

sibling play fighting/rivalry (blood or not)

road trips with loud music

picnic dates in the forest

busy arcades

bookstore dates - the smell of old books

playing soft acoustic guitar in nature

playing fiddle and dancing around campfires

stargazing

laying in bed awake

Dialogue prompts

“please kill me”

“i’m everything you can not control”

“i am the monster you created”

“am i that easy to forget?”

“i will never hesitate to put my life on the line for you”

“stars can not shine without darkness”

“i miss the old you”

“remember who you are”

“please don’t leave”

“listen here pal”

“how much is enough”

“i remember smiling the whole way home”

“i never told you i was falling in love”

“do you want to go wander around aimlessly?”

“you still feel like home”

“no matter what, you’re still my brother”

“i could never hate you”

“let me help”

“help me, please”

“we’re just kids”

“water is so exciting with straws”

“i can’t stop thinking about you”

“get in the blanket fort”

“when they smile, i forget how to breathe”

“platonic love is just as important”

“i’m homesick for a place i’m not sure is real”

“smile more, it looks beautiful on you”

“runaway with me”

“dance with me?”

“come back to bed”

“your bleeding on my floor”

“stars sparkle in your eyes”

“sarcasm is a weapon”

“can we just go back?”

“i miss how it used to be”

“hold me”

“any closer to them and i’ll kill you”

“i’ll be by your side forever”

“are you ok?”

“it’s going to be okay”

“i’m going to cry, but happy tears”

“can i crash on your couch?”

“we’ve got more than two people crashing in our house”

“i belong with you”

“you’re my soulmate”

“hold my hand, please?”

“they smile when you message them”

“i want to live”

“sing to me”

“we’re finally home”

A/N: @techs-goggles9902, @skellymom

#tcw #clones #501st legion #clone troopers #anakin skywalker #captain rex #ahsoka #the clone wars #clone wars #star wars

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ghostlyarchaeologist · 4 months

Text

Thanks @my-beloved-lakes for tagging me!

Star sign: Gemini

Favorite holiday: Easter. I'm not religious or anything, I just like Easter.

Last meal: Chicken pasta.

Current favorite musician: Zebrahead

Last music listened to: Indonesia Better Be Worth It by Hopes on Hold.

Last movie watched: Heaven Sent during the week running up to Christmas and I felt the urge to watch something Christmassy which is unlike me

Last TV show watched: The Nanny

Last book/fic finished: I decided to read through the official Librarians novels so whichever is the last one in that series (Pot of Gold maybe?)

Last book/fic abandoned: The Reality Dysfunction by Peter Hamilton. I really enjoyed his Great North Road novel (although it is a brick of a book!) but I just can't get into this series. It just made me uncomfortable.

Currently reading: Behind the Enigma because I have a rapidly approaching deadline for an assignment on Bletchley Park and I need to get my butt into gear and actually write the bloody thing!

Last thing researched for writing/art/hyperfixation: The Knights Templar/Hospitaller/The Knights of Lazarus.

Favorite online fandom memory: Posting that I wish I could draw because I had a mighty need to see Eliot with Sophie's hairdo from The Turkish Prisoner Job and then Lemissingmask actually drawing it! Yeah, I bought that from their redbubble and now have it framed and hung up next to my bed. I love it so much!

Favorite Old Fandom You Wish Would Drag You Back In/Have A Resurgence: Forever (2014). If ever there was a show that should not have been cancelled. I don't recall the fandom being very big for this one anyway.

Favorite Thing You Enjoy That Never Had an Active or Big "Fandom" but You Wish It Did: The Doctor Blake Mysteries. Although what fics and such are around are excellent! And then I moved onto Leverage and well... Here we are!

Tempting Project You're Trying to Rein In/Don't Have Time For: I am steadfastly ignoring my plot bunnies at the moment as I am busy with life/a joint honours degree. I also stupidly went against my 'I don't do crochet commissions' rule and so now have that to get done as well.

Tagging: @the-tomorrow-road @thewanderingace @running-in-the-dark (If you want to do it of course!)

#tag game

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frodo-with-glasses · 1 year

Note

Do you just not like gay people? I'd rather you just say the quiet part out loud so I can block you

With all due respect, Anon, I fail to see what this has to do with Lord of the Rings.

Oh, but you’ll probably want a serious answer, tho. Very well. I mean, I’d rather talk about any number of more interesting things than sex—like walnuts, or toenail clippings, or watching paint dry, or perhaps the consistency of squirrel droppings—but in the interest of making my own stance clear, and answering the questions that I’m sure have hovered unasked in the minds of many of my followers, I will provide the most kind and thorough answer that I can.

But I’m still putting it under a read-more, because, as aforementioned, it has nothing to do with Lord of the Rings.

The short answer is no. No, I don’t dislike gay people. I’m sure most of my follower count identifies as gay, or somewhere along that spectrum, and y’all have been lovely ever since I began this blog. To be fair, I know more than half of you half as well as I should like, and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve, but so long as you’re nice to me and leave fun interactions on my artwork, I like you plenty. If that’s satisfactory to you, good!

Because the long answer is more complicated.

Hate the Sin, Love the Sinner

The first thing we must do is define the difference between “liking someone” and “approving of what they do”. If you’ve been anywhere near most Christian circles—or just listened to Hamilton—you’ve probably heard the phrase “hate the sin, love the sinner”. That phrase applies here. I have religious reasons for believing that the lifestyle of homosexuality is wrong, but I don’t harbor ill will towards the people who practice it. There’s a difference between disliking a person and disapproving of their actions.

I don’t approve of smoking. I think it hurts people. That doesn’t mean I hate people who smoke. On the contrary, I care about them, and I would rather they don’t get lung cancer and breathing problems later in life, so I would urge them to quit smoking.

I don’t approve of gambling. I think it hurts people. That doesn’t mean I hate people who gamble. On the contrary, I care about them, and I would rather not see them form an addiction that squanders away all their money to an uncaring corporation, leaving them poor and unhappy—or just as bad, winning the jackpot, and then being rich and unhappy—so I would urge them to quit gambling.

I don’t approve of any and all forms of self-harm. It hurts my heart. I watched my best friend go through a long period of depression and self-harm, and it utterly broke me, that someone I loved would have to cause themselves external pain in order to get a reprieve from the pain they felt inside. I didn’t hate my friend. No, no, no, that couldn’t be further from the truth. I loved my friend more than my own life, ached for them, and wished more than anything they’d stop this thing that was hurting them, because I couldn’t stand watching a sickness slowly torture someone that I dearly, dearly loved (and still do).

In the same way, I believe in a loving God who made us, knows us inside and out and front and back, loves us deeply, and wants what’s best for us. He once said, “The thief comes to steal and kill and destroy, but I have come that they may have life, and life abundantly”. I believe that, in His wisdom and kindness, He left us a Book of instructions on how to find that life. He laid out the road to that destination—the straight and narrow path—and He said, “Just follow Me, and I’ll get you there. I’ve put up guard rails along the way where there are pits by the side of the road.”

And I said, “What if I fall in?”

And He said, “Just turn around and take My hand. I’ll pull you out.”

If you’d known someone all your life, and they’d always proven themselves worthy of your trust, you’d believe them when they said “this is the right way that will lead you to safety, and that is the wrong way that will lead you into danger”. So it is here. He outlined, very clearly, in His Book, what is the sexual ethic for which He designed us. Contrary to popular belief, there’s actually a lot of freedom within that ethic; He basically said, “Lady, here’s your man, and mister, here’s your lady. Now you promise to be good and loyal to each other and take care of one another forever? Yes? Great, the rest is yours, have fun, kids.” The Bible actually has very little to say about sex as long as it’s in the right context. But anything outside of that context—including homosexuality, beastiality, incest, fornication, adultery, lust for someone other than your partner, etc.—is a pit by the side of the road, a bug and not a feature.

So you see that I have religious reasons to disapprove of homosexuality. I have been told—by Someone I trust more than my own judgment—that it is outside His planned parameters for the world. But this does not mean I automatically dislike those who do not share my faith and convictions. I can believe they’re in the wrong without disliking them.

To put it simply, “I don’t like what you’re doing” DOES NOT EQUAL “I don’t like you”. I’d urge you to keep that in mind; it’s a good life lesson in general.

So now that we’ve established that baseline, let’s look at how it applies to this blog.

The Rep Sheet of Frodo-With-Glasses

Now, of course I’m a biased party, by nature of being the defendant in this trial (and my own lawyer LOL), but I think you’ll find that a fair and honest analysis of everything on this blog will reveal that I never even once expressed disdain for gay people.

I’ve made it very clear where I stand on shipping through disclaimers on my art. I don’t ship Frodo and Sam, or Legolas and Gimli, etc. But to jump from that to “you must not like gay people” is like saying that because I don’t ship Romanogers in the MCU that I must hate Russians.

I have repeatedly expressed that I see my own friendships reflected in the friendships in LotR. For that reason, they’re very important to me, and I feel no need to interpret them as anything else. To jump from that to “you must not like gay people” is like saying that because I am perfectly content with plain vanilla ice cream, I must have a personal vendetta against chocolate fudge.

I have posted a disclaimer setting expectations for a passage I knew could be interpreted very differently. I expressed my own understanding of the nudity involved, and asked that my followers please have the decency to respect my interpretation of the story, with a few tongue-in-cheek jokes to lighten the mood. To jump from that to “you must not like gay people” is like your high school English Literature teacher giving an F on your perfectly formatted and well-argued paper just because your interpretation of the blue window curtains doesn’t match the one in the textbook.

I have engaged in polite discussion with an anon who complimented my art. When the discussion came to “immoral relationships” between the characters, my response was to celebrate friendship. All I have ever done on this blog was celebrate friendship. I have never insulted gay people, I have never called them slurs or hateful names, I have never even confronted anyone who tags my art as ship art against my wishes. All I have ever done was try to be civil and polite and celebrate friendship.

Have you ever considered, Anon, that I have been silent for a reason? That “the quiet part” has stayed quiet on purpose? That, perhaps, I did not come here to police my following and force my views upon them, but simply to celebrate a book that I love, and invite people of all stripes to come and celebrate it with me, if they so wish?

Have you considered that, if I disliked gay people, I could block every single one of my followers who express such views on their profiles? I didn’t get to over 800 followers on tumblr, of all websites, by policing those who are allowed to interact with my blog. I didn’t cultivate the community I did by shutting down people I disagree with.

I am here to entertain myself. I have always been here to entertain myself. I was doing it before there were 800 of you, and I will be doing it long after this blog is gone. Whether or not you would like to join in with me is entirely your prerogative.

You wanna see how much I hate gay people? You wanna see how far the vitriol goes? Watch this! Sir Ian McKellen is a fantastic actor and seems like a splendid person in real life. No one else could possibly be Gandalf the way he is. To see his face on the screen when I watch Peter Jackson’s trilogy makes me feel warm and fuzzy and happy inside, because I feel like I’m looking into the kindly eyes of an old friend. I enthuse over it every time Phil Dragash manages to perfectly replicate McKellen’s iconic cadence in his audiobook, because it’s like hearing the Gandalf I grew up with speaking the real words on the page. Sir Ian McKellen’s contribution to the fandom, and to the community surrounding Lord of the Rings, is invaluable and irreplaceable. Middle Earth would be a lesser thing without him in it.

This is now a thing that is on my blog: enthusiastically singing the praises of the work of a gay man. His lifestyle choices, though I don’t agree with them, are separate from the mark he’s left on this fandom, and everything I could have to say about the latter category is positive.

So, now. Would you like to ask me that question again?

The Dismount

Here’s the TL;DR, in case I rambled on too long:

I do not, and will never, approve of the act of homosexuality. I have religious reasons for doing so; much the same, actually, as I believe Tolkien himself held.

I harbor no ill will towards gay people. No matter what you believe on this topic, you are welcome to continue interacting with this blog if you so wish. All I ask is what I ask of everyone who passes through here: Be kind and polite.

Your response is your prerogative. I have expressed what I believe is right, and I will not budge or apologize for it, but I’m not demanding that you agree with me. Heck, I can’t tell you to do anything, and even if I could, I wouldn’t want to. I’m not your mom. I’m not God. You don’t have to answer to me any more than I have to answer to you. How you choose to respond is your choice.

If that means you have to leave, that’s fine. I wish you all the best, and I hope you find what you’re looking for.

If you ever want to come back, I’ll still be here, talking about Lord of the Rings.

#asked and answered #lady glasses speaks #my writing #mention of:#christianity #theology #on sundays we fly our jesus freak flag

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soob1nn · 6 months

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MYSELF - FORMULA 1 DR

REMINDER! I haven’t shifted yet, so all these is just my imagination 🤍

masterlist - main masterlist

Hi there, I'm Emma Julia Mirren, and I'm about to take you on a whirlwind journey through the vibrant tapestry of my life. Picture this: London, UK, a warm summer's day on the 23rd of June, 1997 – that's when I joined this wild ride we call existence.

During the day, I'm a true creative chameleon. As the sun graces the sky, I'm the visual storyteller, the one behind the lens capturing the extraordinary moments in the thrilling world of Formula 1. That's right, I'm a photographer for none other than the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team. I frame those screeching tires, the euphoria of victory, and the camaraderie in the paddock, all through the power of my camera. But that's not all. Once the photos are shot, you'll find me diving into the digital realm as the Social Media Manager, orchestrating captivating content for the Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team's social accounts. It's not a job; it's a thrilling adventure that never ceases. And, let me tell you, I'm not just about static posts and captions – I love creating TikToks, especially in the heart of the paddock, where the energy is electric, and some of the drivers join in on the fun.

And when the sun sets, when my world turns to hues of twilight, you'll discover the heart of the Emma beyond the motorsports arena. I'm an unapologetic bookworm, with an insatiable appetite for romance and fantasy novels. I believe in the magic of storytelling, and I'm a sucker for those heart-pounding moments in a good book. Taylor Swift – oh, she's my muse, my confidante, my soul's echo. Her music is the soundtrack to my life, every emotion, every chapter, every twist and turn.

But here's the crescendo – the real showstopper in my life is musical theater. I live for it. And if you ask me which musical has claimed the throne in my heart, it's none other than "Hamilton." Lin-Manuel Miranda's masterpiece, weaving history into music, leaving me breathless and enchanted every single time I listen to it. It's not just a musical; it's an emotional journey that never gets old.

So there you have it, my life is a rollercoaster of creativity, the rush of motorsports, pages filled with love and magic, and the timeless notes of unforgettable melodies. It's a life worth living, and I can't wait to see where the next twist in the road takes me. Welcome to my world!

#f1 shifting #f1 dr #f1 #formula one shifting #formula one dr #formula 1 dr #formula 1 shifting #formula one #formula 1 #carlos sainz #charles leclerc #lando norris #lewis hamilton #george russell #max verstappen #checo perez

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eptodaytommorowforever · 3 months

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Events In The History And The Life Of Elvis Presley Today On The The 16th January in Memphis Tennessee in 1971.

Having worked tirelessly on his speech the night before, Elvis Presley attends the press conference for the Jaycees award at the Holiday Inn Rivermont in Memphis, stating, in part,

“I don’t go along with music advocating drugs and desecration of the flag.

I think an entertainer is for entertaining and to make people happy.”

After a $2000-a-plate dinner and a speech by future President George H.W. Bush,

Elvis Presley than gives his address, at the Close Eliss Auditorium in which he quotes a favorite Roy Hamilton R&B tune,

“Without A Song”: “When I was a child, ladies and gentlemen, I was a dreamer. I read comic books, and I was the hero of the comic book. I saw movies, and I was the hero in the movie.

So every dream I ever dreamed has come true a hundred times. These gentlemen over there,

these are the type who care, are dedicated. You realize if it´s not possible that they might be building the Kingdom, it´s not far-fetched from reality. I learned very early in life that: ‘Without a song, the day would never end; without a song, a man ain’t got a friend; without a song, the road would never bend, without a song.’ So I keep singing a song. Goodnight. Thank you.” Rare B/W Photos of Elvis Presley And Wife Priscilla Arriving At The Holiday Inn Rivermont Hotel For The Dinner Jaycees Press Conference Before Giving Is Speech At The Eliss Auditorium Close By To The Holday Inn Rivermont Hotel

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trekkiehood · 4 months

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Stopped at my favorite bookstore while on a road trip and wanted to show you my book haul. Spent just under $20.

Haul under the cut

Star Trek Memories by William Shatner - $4.50

I bought I Am Spock which is Nimoy's Memoir over the summer so I couldn't pass this up.

Into Darkens novelized by Alan Dean Foster - $3.50

I was on the fence for this one but. Then I read Kirk's death scene and Spock's reaction and knew I couldn't pass it up.

My Brother's Keeper: Republic by Michael Jay Friedman $1.95

This book is about Kirk and Gary Mitchell's friendship at the Academy. How could I pass that up???

Alexander Hamilton: A Biography by Forrest McDonald - $1.50

I'm always looking for good Hamilton biographies. Had it been much more I probably wouldn't have gotten it but it was cheap enough it felt valid.

Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - $3.00 per book

Yes I have them in paperback. But $3 hard copies??? During my Hunger Games obsession rebirth??? How could I not???

#star trek #star trek books #book haul #Hamilton #alexander hamilton #the hunger games #books #booklr #thrift finds

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eldritchboop · 8 months

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The Vikings & Norse Mythology Book Collection

The Lost Book Archive charges $15 for this collection. If you found this roundup helpful, please consider donating to the Internet Archive instead.

Mythology by Edith Hamilton (1942)

The Long Ships by Frans G. Bengtsson (1941) (Ed note: this is a rental; I cannot find a public domain version)

The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson (1954)

The Prose Edda: Tales by Norse Mythology by Snorri Sturlusson, Jesse Byock (1220)

East o' The Sun and West o' The Moon - P. C. Asbjornsen (1921)

The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes (Unknown)

The Poetic Edda - H. A. Bellows (1923)

Germania by Tacitus Tacitus (AD 98)

Myths of Norsemen: Retold from the Old Norse Poems and Tales by R.L Green (1960) (Ed note: this is a rental; I cannot find a public domain version)

Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia by E.O.G. Turville-Petre (1964)

Myths of the Norsemen from the Eddas and sagas by H. A. Guerber (1908)

The Story of Rolf and the Viking's Bow - A. French (1904)

An Elementary Grammar of the Old Norse or Icelandic language - G. Bayldon (1870)

The Road to Hel: A Study of the Conception of the Dead in Old Norse Literature (1968)

Heimskringla: The History of the Kings of Norway by Snorri Sturluson (1230)

In the Days of Giants; a Book of Norse Tales by A. F. Brown (1902)

Asgard Stories - Tales from Norse Mythology - M. H. Foster (1901)

The Children of Odin - P. Colum (1920)

Norse Mythology Or The Religion Of Our Forefathers Containing All The Myths Of The Eddas By: R. R. Anderson (1875)

The Nine Books of the Danish History of Saxo Grammaticus Vol. 1 and 2 - S. Grammaticus (1905)

A Handbook of Norse Mythology Hardcover by Karl Andreas Mortensen (1913)

The Perfect Wagnerite - a commentary on the Niblung's Ring - B. Shaw (1912)

The Nine Worlds - Stories from Norse Mythology by M. E. Litchfield (1900)

The One-Eyed God: Odin and the (Indo-)Germanic Männerbünde by Kris Kershaw (2000)

The House of the Wolfings and all the Kindreds of the Mark - W. Morris (1888)

Bulfinch's Age of Fable or Beauties of Mythology (1855)

Asgard and the Gods by W. Wagner (1902)

Teutonic Myth And Legend - D. Mackenzie (1921)

Teutonic Mythology Vol. 1 by J. Grimm (1835)

Teutonic Mythology Vol. 2 by J. Grimm (1835)

Teutonic Mythology Vol. 3 by J. Grimm (1835)

Teutonic Mythology Vol. 4 by J. Grimm (1835)

Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg by F. Klaeber (1922)

Beowulf; an introduction to the study of the poem with a discussion of the stories of Offa and Finn by R. W. Chambers (1921)

The Kalevala - The epic Poem of Finland Vol. 1 and 2 - J. M. Crawford (1904)

Manual of Mythology - Greek and Roman, Norse, and old German, Hindoo and Egyptian mythology - A. S. Murray (1875)

Laxdaela Saga - translated from the Icelandic by Muriel A.C. Press (1899)

Myths of Northern Lands, narrated with special reference to literature and art by H. A. Guerber (1895)

The Heroes of Asgard - Tales from Scandinavian Mythology by A. Keary (1908)

Norse stories retold from the Eddas by H. W. Mabie (1900)

Kalevala, the land of heroes Vol. 1 & 2 - W. F. Kirby (1907)

The viking age the early history, manners, and customs of the ancestors of the English speaking nations Vol.1 by P. B. Du Chailu (1889)

The ethical world-conception of the Norse people by A. P. Fors (1904)

The Heimskringla or, Chronicle of the kings of Norway Vol. 1 - S. Laing (1844)

The Heimskringla or, Chronicle of the kings of Norway Vol. 2 - S. Laing (1844)

The Heimskringla or, Chronicle of the kings of Norway Vol. 3 - S. Laing (1844)

Viking Tales - J. Hall (1902)

#norse mythology #witchcraft resources #viking age #viking history #norwegian history

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