#I do think the Communists are on to something when they say that “everything is political”.

[upfrog]

An AI-generated art hot-take

Time to get some people mad at me.

I just saw a post where someone was expressing their frustration at generative AI, specifically the risk it poses to artists, and how it continues/worsens/partakes of a tradition of reducing art to a finished product. There was a particular piece of it that made me very annoyed, and I've seen this piece in a lot of posts about generated art. Well, it's past midnight where I am, I'm tired, and I'm tired of shutting up about my view on this.

"It's [AI art's] entire central premise is built on the grim truth that many people don't see artists as skilled laborers using years of practiced skill to create something unique, but as data to be exploited"

Some other posts also emphasize a perceived sense of entitlement to art; that AI art advocates feel it is unfair for artistic creation to be limited to the elect few.

I would like to give a very strong rule. Like all rules, no doubt you could come up with exceptions to it. But this rule is foundational to the world around us, it's development, and it's future.

Making it easier to create things is good. Period. Making it take less time, effort, people, and training to create things is good. Period.

Technology making jobs redundant is a good thing. It is the foundation of almost all human progress. We are all descendants of farmers who were cruelly put out of work by new technological developments. The day when one person and a computer can do the work of an entire department of artists will be a good day - we are not there, maybe we'll never get there. But technology making people redundant is good. Expanding the ability of the average human to do things is good. And the fact that we have gotten to the point where people are unironically saying "it's *good*, actually, that it takes years of practice and effort to be able to produce good art, and you shouldn't want it any other way" is... Perverse? Horrifying? Taking self-interest into the realm of actively tearing your fellow humans down?

To be clear (because this is the internet, and if I don't specify then someone will fill in the gap with the worst things imaginable) I'm not saying that a future where generative AI is extremely good, widespread, and accessible will not have downsides. The threats of bespoke scams, deepfaked videos, floods of bots with a superb ability to guide the narrative, and so on are real, dangerous, and may already be coming to pass.

I know that one aspect of the anti-AI-generated art kickback has to do with the nature of professional art, and the type of people who do it. "Art", broadly defined, is substantially a passion field. You don't do it to get rich, or to have a stable life. You do it because you love the work, and are willing to put up with a thousand downsides, annoyances, and more in order to do what you love. And having this taken away feels cruel in a way that, say, keeping grad students and accountants from having to manually calculate thousands of sums doesn't.

A few words of encouragement. Widespread literacy may have killed the scribal profession as it was understood at the time. But it opened up vastly more work than it destroyed, even if you just count the directly writing-related work. Mass-produced off-the-shelf clothing shrunk the tailor (as once understood) into practical insignificance. Does that mean that no one who is passionate about making clothes can work in the field now? No. We have far, far more clothing (insert anti fast fashion rant here, I'm all on board with that kickback), and more variety, and lots of people working with clothing. The development of software code compilers unemployed a large number of human compilers. In many ways, programming has gotten easier over the years, with a lower barrier to entry, more comprehensible languages, more resources, and so on. But that hasn't meant that software developers are stuck in an unemployment hell of too many job seekers and not enough openings. We, as a society, keep on finding more and more things we want them to program, and demand for the skillset keeps rising. I can't see the future. Maybe AI-generated art will be the end of employment for artists. Maybe the generative AI revolution is fundamentally different from every past productivity revolution. But I doubt it.

#ai art #ai #art #hot take #technology #The part I'm really sad about in all of this is how “tech bro” has become associated with basically everything tech #and how the tech bro stereotype is now often thought of as right-wing. #This makes sensible discussions of technology more difficult because people are using the tech topic as a tool to argue a more general #and unrelated political idea #Like #to change fields a bit #lots of left-ish people are all aboard on space travel. But as Musk has gone more and more right #and presented himself as more and more right #people who might otherwise have cheered any advance in space travel are now glad when a SpaceX thing doesn't work #Because they don't like musk #and musk/space is subsumed into the greater political debate #I don't like it #but in all fairness #I do think the Communists are on to something when they say that “everything is political”. #So a bit of an internal conflict there.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

I think Hobie brown is the one character I've seen written completely out of character the most

Like, he would NOT say that

He definitely is. I see people write Miles and Gwen as spot on (pun unintended). Miguel and Pavitr are usually butchered for linguistics reasons

But with Hobie, him being a punk - one from a very specific time - adds a whole new layer of difficultly and honestly. At this point, I can't even blame people.

I think Hobie's mischaracterization is caused by two primary things, one purposeful, and one not. Please allow me to rant.

Hobie Brown, Mischaracterization, and the Sanitization of Punk Culture

I think Hobie's characterization is the perfect example of the way media purposely deminished and trivialized the punk identity in order to erase it's political connotations.

In other words, people misunderstanding Hobie shows how the media warped and censored the definition of 'punk' in the last 50 years.

And that's on purpose.

Let's take the hippies for an example. When you think of them, what beliefs comes to mind?

Peacefulness, usually. Pot smoking. Music loving. And Anti-war. They love peace. The phrase 'Make Love, Not War' make come to mind.

But it's easier for the media to historically display hippies as people who were opposed to war - rather than people who were openly oppossed to the Vietnamese War.

As in, they weren't just opposed to war - which they were. They were also specifically opposed to the United States government crossing borders in order to push a capitalist agenda in Vietnam.

It's easy to say hippes loved communes - then to say 'Hippies were Communist'. With a couple words switched around - sanitization.

Punk is just like that.

It's easier to focus on the response rather than the source. It's easier to look at Hobie singing than to consider what he'd be singing about in those songs.

I feel like in the past 50 years the media has purposely centered the outrage of punk around music - as a targeted distraction, and a method of silencing. This goes from the outward hatred of Sex Pistols - to a President's wife literally taking a metal band to court in order to get the 'Explicit Content label' instated for the first time.(crazyyyy long story- crazy interesting. Google 'Mary Gore vs Twister Sister' - the videos of the band in court is hilarious)

But anyway the outrage of punk music in specific and the silencing of the message behind it kinda changed the way people viewed punks.

Media very much wanted to make punk something about senseless rebellion towards everything, the same way they tried to turn anarchy into 'unending chaos that never stops', when neither of those things are true.

Basically saying 'Oh, those people over there? They aren't angry oppressed people screaming and forming a community based around resilience, those are teeennagerrs. theyre just screaming cause theyre mad at their dads or something PLEASE dont look at them PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT CHECK IF WE'RE TELLING THE TRUTH'

And so people are presented with someone like Hobie, they see the loud music, but not picking up what he's saying if you get my drift.

And the other thing I'll try to keep short.

It's not purposeful, but I think it matters.

The Internet - Subculture vs Aesthetic

I don't think this is something that's been talked about yet.

But I feel like a lot of people misunderstand what a subculture is. So when they see Hobie, they see fashion, and music taste, and attitude. They instead perceive him as an aesthetic. Not someone who participates in subculture.

Subculture is a way of life. It encompasses not only your fashion and music tastes, but it can and usually extends to things like your morals, your behaviors, the spaces you exist in, etc.

Goth, Punk, Vegans, hell - even Nudists - are all subcultures. Because they effects the persons lifestyle. Subcultures are lifestyles.

Aesthetics are not.

An aesthetic is a (usually) visual ambience that is meant to evoke a specific emotion.

Aesthetics can extend to fashion, decor, and music taste - but not your morality or behavior.

E-girls, Emos, Hipsters, what have you - all aesthetics as they do not encompass morals, or behaviors.

And because of that - there are things that do or don't make you a punk. But there aren't really things that do or don't 'make you emo'.

Aesthetics don't have conditions, but subcultures do.

You have to be anti-government to be punk. You don't have to hate your life to be emo.

(Which is why when people bring this up, people are quick to call 'gatekeeping!' Because in the context of aethetics gatekeeping is seen as unneccesary, whereas in subcultures 'gatekeping' is more so protecting the underlying beliefs and motivations of the movement. People who see Hobie as an aesthetic will find these conditions odd because they're not seeing his punkness as a subculture.)

Today on the internet, it's a lot more common and easy to engage in an aesthetic. It's not uncommon for someone to purposefully pick an aesthetic - and go all out - simply because they like it. It's great. I engage with an aesthetic all the time.

But because of that, when people see Hobie it's easy to immediately be like 'oh okay hes doing it out of fashion hes doing it because he vibes with it cool.'

They look at Hobie the way they would look at an eboy (do those still exist).

______________________________________________

Sooo mixing the censored image of a punk along with the modern-day instinct to perceive something as an aesthetic rather than a way of life kinda causes.....this.

A Hobie tag were a lot of people completely misunderstand who he is as a person and his motivations as a superhero outside of 'I hate the establishment'.

Plus add in a dash of people just being totally blank on 70's politics. The Vietnam War, Margaret Thatcher coming to power, the IRA, etc. - all of those things I think tells us a lot about Hobie. I'm currently on a piece about that and an explainer of most of those events. Or if you want a brief rundown please feel free to ask, I'll do my best.

If you wanna know Hobie more - don't listen to punk music. Go read the lyrics, if you get what I mean. They truly do have something to say.

Hope this made some sense, thanks for reading if you made it this far :) also no proofread we die like kings but ill most likely do it later and delete this note.

#atsv anaylsis #hobie brown #spider punk #spiderpunk #across the spiderverse #spiderman #spider man

[txttletale]

so when Palestine fights back by killing civilians, including children, you go: it's justified

but when Russia invades Ukraine and kills civilians, including children, and Ukraine fights back in defense, you go, Ukraine should settle for peace

and you say Israel can just stop the occupation, they have that power and then they could avoid their civilians dying by simply deciding to that, yet you don't see that the Ukraine war stop just as "easily", by Russia stopping the invasion. They invaded, they started the war, just like Israel occupied Palestine, they are the one who can stop it

I know these are two different situations but I cant help but notice how different your approaches are, like adjusting your theory according to who is attacking who.

also, you said it would be strategically impossible (im paraphrasing you) for Russia to stop their invasion, well, wouldn't it also be strategically impossible for Israel to stop their occupation.

Also, if Ukraine settle for peace (I want them to, I generally agree with your points on the topic) and Russia gains something from it (as their peace treaty will most definitely assign a lot of Ukraine land to Russia), then Russia gets the message that invading other countries is successful and a good way to go about things. I mean, obviously the peace work will begin after they settle for peace, preferably working with Russia, im just curious to hear your thoughts.

English isnt my first language but I hope you understand

volodymyr zelensky might have something to say about this comparison. obviously to be clear his comparison is fucking ridiculous, but is illustrative of a key difference--that all of the force of NATO are arrayed behind ukraine (a privilege not enjoyed by palestine) and that the government of ukraine is aligned with NATO rather than its own people--which is why it's selling everything that's not nailed down to the predatory west.

i do of course think that russia should stop the invasion! i respond flippantly to most people asking this because they rarely ask in good faith, but let me say it unequivocally--i'm a communist, i think that the fall of the soviet union was a tragedy and the oligarchic mafia state that rose from its ashes is an insult to everything it stood for. putin is a far-right anticommunist and the oligarchs that he represents are scum. in the case of russia vs. ukraine, russia is straightforwardly the agressor and it would be a good thing if russia withdrew immediately.

but when i talk about the need for a peace settlement, i'm not (no matter how much nationalists and the NATO fandom will yell that i am) advocating for an unconditional ukrainian surrender. i'm talking about the maximalist positions about 'punishing russia' and ensuring some imaginary total defeat that the NATO bloc advocate for and push the ukrainian position towards. the US and their allies have made no secret of they fact that they seek to prolong the war, use it as an opportunity to open ukraine up to US investors, and don't care about ukrainian casualties:

[1] [2] [3] [4]

& ultimately, there is the fact that i (and almost all my followers) live in the imperial core--as communists there is nothing any of us can do to push russia towards peace. that's a task for the russian communist and peace movements. what we can do, however, is obstruct and protest NATO's involvement in the war. this is what the union of ukrainian communists have said in their statement on the war:

We appeal to the Russian workers as a fraternal class, bearing all the burdens of war on its shoulders, also suffering from impoverishment, unemployment, and the elimination of fundamental rights and freedoms: seek the defeat of the bourgeois power in Russia, turn your weapons against the Russian oligarchs and their political acolytes. We are ready to fight with you to turn the imperialist war into a class war against the power of capital and for the communist revolution. We appeal to the workers of the countries belonging to NATO: To stop the threat of the destruction of humankind in the nuclear clash of imperialist war is only possible in a struggle not for abstract peace, but for the overthrow of the power of the bourgeoisie of their countries, who are waging these wars and profiting from them. Work for the defeat of the bourgeois governments and the NATO bloc in this war, put forward the task of turning the war between nations into a war between classes, turn the weapons produced by workers' hands not against the workers of other countries, but against the capitalists of your own countries, against their power.

—Union of Communists of Ukraine, On The War And The Tasks Of The Working Class

so--people in the west are powerless to do anything to prevent or weaken russian imperialism, short of supporting their own imperialist powers--which, if you care at all about human life or the working class, is robbing peter to pay paul. however, those same bourgeois western governments are the ones supporting the israeli genocide--this is a case in which the Western proletariat can and should mobilize to suppress the imperialism and colonialism of the aggressor, because they live in countries that directly support it.

of course, there are also massive differences in the actual circumstances of the relations between russia and ukraine--russia is not, for example, built on stolen ukrainian land, nor is ukraine an open-air concentration camp whose water and electricity are provided by russia only sparingly, nor has ukraine seen in peacetime regular brutal massacre, invasion, bombing, and murder as palestine does every single year of so-called 'peace' that passes between israel and palestine. the situation of 'peace' between russia and ukraine before 2022 was not one of totally intolerable one-sided massacre, as the situation of 'peace' between israel and palestine has been.

as such, there are in fact multiple parties who can pursue peace in ukraine, including parties that we, communists in the West--who are the people i blog as and for--can pressure and organize against effectively. there is only one party that can pursue peace in israel. the situation is not comparable, either on its face or in the relation the West and as a result communists in the West have to it.

#ask #tbc i know abotu the war in the donbass #which is still not in any way comparable to the situation in gaza or the west bank

[runawaymarbles]

Hii!

I don’t understand what’s going on with AO3 and the election? I’ve been using it for about a year so this is all new to me! Is Tiffany getting elected actually bad?

I hate censorship, so seeing posts about them censoring stuff is concerning but idk how much truth to it there is 😳

I just want to be informed, and understand!

Hi! Welcome to AO3:)

since I'm not sure how much you know already, the background (background as interpreted by me: I am not speaking on behalf of the OTW) is: Ao3 is run by the Organization for Transformative Works (OTW), the nonprofit that also runs Fanlore and publishes Transformative Works & Cultures. Anyone who has donated $10 to the OTW in the last year, and chooses "yes I want to be a member" at checkout is an OTW member. (This is not the same as having an ao3 account.) Every year, there is an election to fill either 2 or 3 seats on the Board of Directors. OTW Members (i.e. people who donated between 7/1/21 and 6/30/22, in this case) get to vote on this.

Most of the time, this election is only really followed by people on fail_fandomanon. Sometimes, it isn't.

Things the Board of Directors does: writes posts to send out to the general public when Things Are Happening (the recent csam attacks, the requests for more antiracism measures.) Writes posts to send to volunteers when Things Are Happening (see prev.) Keeps track of what all the committees are doing and how it ties in with whatever the strategic plan says they should be doing. Deals with the IRS/US laws. Approves large funding requests. Deals with emails that someone else has deemed outside their own wheelhouse. Herds cats. Proposes priorities. Points at something shiny, pats the org on the flank, and says "walk that way, walk that way!! Come on buddy, you can do it!!". etc etc etc.

Things the Board of Directors doesn't do: unilaterally determine ao3 content policy. Let us use the word "porn" on ao3 drive merch. Make decisions that are going greatly affect other volunteers' work without input and some level of agreement from said volunteers.

Anyway. This year, one of the five candidates for the three open board seats is Tiffany G. (More information about all the candidates and their platforms is at https://elections.transformativeworks.org)

Tiffany is a tag wrangler from an unspecified country that is, from context, assumed to be China. The candidate Q&A can be read here. Her answers were a little bit confusing, but she said she wanted to update the ToS policies on 'pedophilic and illegal content' because, quote, "people think we host child porn content and such things... It might... be helpful to clarify that to the public." Further down she said:

a) I support 100% “maximum inclusiveness of content”, yet there is always a boundary to everything. Since OTW is already an influential org, we need to protect our image and hold a better image to the public. I want the public to think of us as an inclusive and socially responsible community. So in general, we have to do something to change. Things like making the rating system more specific and obvious to users will be what I want to do. b) Not really restricting the content being posted. I hope it is like more warnings and ratings for posting work so people know what to expect. And all of these are not surprising to people who do not wish to see this.

I took this to mean "she wants to clarify to outsiders that ao3 does not host csam, is not only for erotica, and update the ratings and warnings system." I don't think that those things are necessary or should be a focus of the org, which is part of why I didn't vote for her.

Other people took it to mean "Tiffany is against pornographic or underage works and wants them to be banned." Some people took this, combined with her nationality, to the conclusion of "Tiffany is a secret plant of the Chinese Communist Party who wants to join the board, get all the ao3 user data, and then have the users from mainland China arrested" (despite the fact that this is not information the board would have access to, if for no other reason than ao3 is blocked in China so anyone trying to view the site from mainland china has to use a VPN anyway.) Some people are upset that the OTW elections committee "allowed" her to run in the first place, because they think that not letting anyone with opinions the current board or elections committee didn't like is an absolutely great precedent to set.

There are a bunch of comments on tw.org, and some in fail_fandomanon, that give more context to her comments in terms of Chinese fandom (though most posters still disagree with her position.)

This got... longer than planned. But to the question "Is tiffany getting elected actually bad" - If my interpretation of her statements are correct, I think it would be annoying, because she does not have the experience I think that being on the Board requires, and focuses on priorities I disagree with. Which isn't to say she'd never have a valuable perspective or ideas about something, but there are four other candidates that I think are much better suited to it at this point in time. If the people who think she is an antishipper bent on censorship are correct, she could probably make life very annoying for the rest of the board-- but considering the rest of them are not pro-censorship, I can't see how she'd have much influence in that direction in the org as a whole.

If the people who think she's doing espionage on behalf of the CCP are correct, then... look, I can't even finish that sentence because I find the idea of the CCP deciding that a) they need to get ao3 user data and b) the way to do that is to run a clearly unqualified candidate in a public board election absurd.

the tl;dr of this tl;dr is that there's a lot of fearmongering going around, and a lot of accusations and hate (and racism. let’s be real a lot of this is racism) directed her way. I don't know her, so I don't know what her "real" opinions are, but regardless of who wins the board election, ao3 is not going to be censored any time soon.

if for no other reason than if the Abuse team was told on top of all their other work, they now had to assess and remove fics reported for being "problematic", they would say "we'd prefer not to" and then proceed to not do it.

It's awesome that people are realizing the board elections and OTW membership are a thing now, though. We kept talking about how to encourage membership, and "running a very dramatic and wanky election" did not occur to us. In retrospect, I don't know why.

#otw #again not speaking for the org #otw elections #the current wank #op #asks #anons #answers

[hornedqueenofhell]

Hidden Depths Pt. 2

Part 1

Keith had only stopped in to get his jacket he'd forgotten, he wasn't expecting to see Harrington asleep on the couch in the back room. Even more surprising was Eddie Munson sitting there with Steve's head in his lap.

"You wake him and I will never sell you another dime bag again." Munson threatens in a harsh whisper. Steve wasn’t even scheduled today. What was he doing here?

Keith held his hands up in surrender and carefully inched over to grab his jacket. He knew Eddie was all bark and no bite, kids wouldn’t flock to him the way they did if he was actually cruel. But the memory of the witch hunt stuck with him as it clearly had the metalhead, Eddie had been far more waspish around town unless the dork patrol or Robin or Steve was with him.

“Don’t think we don’t know what you’re doing Keith.” And with those deeply threatening words from Munson he shuts the door to the backroom behind him and breathes out a sigh of relief.

“You didn’t wake him did you?” Robin asks immediately as she waves off her last customer. Ugh so Steve had gotten to her.

“Why do you care about him Robin? He’s a jock, he's everything you and me and even Munson should be against! Why do all of you defend him?!” He finally blurts out.

Robin just gives him this pitying look that causes him to bristle, he was sick of those looks from everyone. He managed multiple of his fathers properties. He was going to learn business at a nice college. He was successful damnit! More so than Steve fucking Harrington who never worked for anything in his life and still everyone flocked to him!

“He saved our lives Keith. No joke, no exaggeration. He was the one protecting Eddie while he was being hunted, carried him out when he almost died in the earthquake.”

“None of that explains why he’s sleeping in the backroom with Munson, who last I checked doesn't work here!”

Robin looks out to the parking lot and he notices a few small piles of litter around, no big deal. Eddie’s van is there but he doesn’t see that gaudy Beemer Steve drives. Still no reason for her to be looking so upset, or for Eddie and Steve to be taking up the breakroom.

“You remember Starcourt burning down right?”

“What of it?” Probably a bit too callus of a response to a tragedy that killed thirty people and exposed their Mayor as a communist sympathizer but he just doesn’t get the point Robin is trying to make.

“Steve and I worked at the mall, we were there when the fire started. He made sure we got out, me and the kids. He had several pieces of debris fall on him getting us out, I thought for sure he was going to die… he almost did. Something like that changes people, changes your opinion of them, it also makes the start of July very uncomfortable for us. So when little shits start lighting off fireworks in the parking lot and aim for Eddie’s van… you can imagine how someone with ptsd might react to that.”

This… was not what Keith expected. He was still waiting for Robin to break, to laugh and say that she was kidding. To smack him in the arm and say that Harrington was just being lazy or hiding out from a crazy ex, but that was a good one right? And then he thought of March, Robin and Steve bruised and beaten after the earthquake. Steve with a scar spanning the entire length of his throat, bandages poking out from the collar or hem of his shirt. Black eyes and broken noses back at school, Hargrove boasting about busting Steve’s face in and Steve weirdly absent from the cafeteria for most of his senior year.

“So he… fainted?” Keith guesses, unable to come up with a less insulting word on the fly.

Robin’s sigh contains mountains of disappointment, Keith feels small under that sound but this time there isn’t the desire to snap back. He’s not sure how to react to her now.

“A panic attack Keith, both of us told you about that.” More Robin threatened to sue for discrimination if he tried to fire Steve again. This was after Keith had gotten on Steve about wearing his sunglasses and Robin ripped into him about Steve having migraines.

“Okay, and?” He didn’t know what panic attacks entailed.

“Your body burns through its reserves of adrenaline in an extreme fight or flight response and once it’s gone you want to sleep for a week because everything aches and you feel like you can’t breathe. You are left completely drained and it can also trigger migraines, sometimes all you can do is sleep it off. Best sleep you can get when you have screaming night terrors, your body just shuts down and nothing but blissful darkness.”

Well, that sounded terrifying. He sighs and fidgets with his jacket.

“Just don’t let me catch Munson in the breakroom again unless he plans on submitting an application.” And with that Keith walks out of the store feeling very wrong footed.

Part 3

#stranger things #eddie munson #steve harrington #steddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steve x eddie #robin buckley #stranger things Keith

[contemplatingoutlander]

I’m starting to think Donald Trump is sounding like Hitler on purpose

Satirist Alexandra Petri hits another one out of the ballpark. ⚾😁 This is a gift🎁link, so anyone can read this column, even if they don't subscribe to The Washington Post. Below are some excerpts:

Sorry! I know! You are sick of hearing about Donald Trump! “Don’t worry,” people keep saying. Donald Trump did just promise to “root out” the internal enemies who “live like vermin” in our country, but he only might be the next president. I don’t mean to worry you, but people are running around with their hair on fire, saying they are suffering from intense, nauseating levels of déjà vu, and those people are historians. I don’t like seeing historians this stressed out. If something in my house has to emit an ominous beeping, I want it to be the alarm clock, not the smoke detector. “We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump announced on Veterans Day. And when people complained that sounded like something Adolf Hitler would say, a spokesman responded that “their entire existence will be crushed when President Trump returns to the White House.” Which, to be fair, also sounds like something Hitler would say. When you say, “What you just said sounds very much like Hitler’s rhetoric,” you don’t want that to be taken as a challenge. The response you are hoping for is something more like: “Oh no! That was not how we meant to sound, and we are going to leave political life and rethink everything about ourselves and hope that by our final day, we can say we atoned a little bit.” This is not a problem that most candidates have! Ominous, dictatorial rhetoric is not a hard thing to avoid for most candidates. Except possibly for the ones who are running for school boards on the platform of “Let’s ban books,” which also, candidly, I do not love. I can see accidentally saying something like, “I love to stand on a balcony” or “I am interested to see more fashion by Hugo Boss,” but those are not the kinds of things we are talking about. You cannot just “oops” your way into dehumanizing huge swaths of the population. [color emphasis added]

I encourage folks to use the gift link above to read the rest of this column. These are frightening times, but I'm always grateful that when some of us get tired of screaming in fear😱, Alexandra Petri can make us laugh.😂

#trump #fascism #satire #alexandra petri #the washington post #gift link

[brazenautomaton]

hi hi ^.^

no amount of me reading Marx changes the fact that communists are wrong about everything they say, in a very predictable way

i want to complain about this. i want to say that its unfair, or overly harsh, or something like that... its hard to do that though since i basically agree XD

the thing about communism is that its an idea with very broad appeal, that many different kinds of people end up identifying with. unfortunately, as with any popular idea, a great many of the people who identify with it will have terrible opinions.

so i can understand why you feel the way you do, but i hope you're able to keep your mind open to the possibility of communists having worthwhile insights sometimes.

(disclaimer that many people would probably think of me as a communist, even though i don't necessarily identify with that term and merely have an appreciation for some ideas related to it. i just want to be clear that i'm not trying to like trick you into an ideological betrayal of your ideals or something, i just feel like you've over-corrected in response to many communists being insufferable idiots.)

okay I'm gonna say your intentions are probably pure, but every other communist can also say that, and a lot of them do, and all of them are wrong

other communists aren't crazy and wrong because they're bad people in addition to being communists. they are always wrong because communism is a belief system that cannot make accurate predictions about the world, and they have adopted that belief system to try and make predictions about the world. it is not a moral issue, communists are not wrong because they hate the rich too much instead of hating them the correct amount, communists do not become wrong when they "take it too far" -- if you look at the world the way Marx did, you are incorrect. You will explain things in terms of capital and class interests, and those explanations will be incorrect.

Marxism has a worse track record than astrology, as far as making predictions goes. Astrology has no insight to offer, not because believers in astrology are evil, not because some people take astrology too far, but because the world does not work the way astrology says it works. Whatever ideas associated with it that you appreciate are incorrect, and they're incorrect in a very very deep fundamental way, they made a bunch of very wrong assumptions before you even noticed them saying anything.

"Poor people should be able to live nicely" is not a communist insight, it's a nearly universally held position. Communism claims to be synonymous with the well-being of poor people because people who are always wrong like to fall back on "well, all I'm saying is this uncontroversially and universally agreed on thing, so if you disagree you must hate the thing everyone likes." Communism is also a set of beliefs about who the poor are, what situation they are in, what causes that situation, what will change that situation, and what will benefit those people-- and every single one of those beliefs is incorrect. They don't know what is happening or why or how or to whom or how to change anything to get the outcome they want. That's not an individual moral failing, that's what happens when you try to use communism's worldview to answer questions.

[apas-95]

I don't think the post that says "anarchy means I fuck your parents sloppy style" is actually trying to say anything about the ideology

i think you're just not very well-versed on anarchist rhetoric, because 'anarchy is a critique, not a program' is not a view invented by that post, it is an incredibly common defense of anarchism - which is what was being referenced in that post by an anarchist, and what was being critiqued in the response by a marxist. the joke part of that post was the 'anarchism is where i have sex' part, and not the 'anarchism is not a strict political program' part. if a marxist makes a post - as they are wont to do - saying, e.g.:

'the idea that socialist states are exceptionally violent or repressive is a false one. all classes engage in political censorship to a greater or lesser degree depending on their needs, and the question is whose interests are served by a given act of censorship. censoring nazi speech is correct and good. similarly, the systems of detaining and reforming political enemies of socialist states have been generally inline with those of their contemporaries, if not ahead - the rehabilitation of the emperor puyi, for example, is an excellent example. programs like political executions were carried out in times of extreme duress, such as in wartime or imminent to war, when rehabilitation and detention would simply not have been practicable. except for tumblr users, that is, you're all getting the wall.'

then, while evidently the post was bookended by a joke, the positions expressed leading up to that joke weren't just random - it's not like that anarchist would have made a joke post that began with a paragraph of fascist rhetoric rather than anarchist, because they're not a fascist, they're an anarchist. if someone were to respond to and critique the positions given in the above example, it would be an incredibly weak defence to say 'haha i didn't actually believe that, because i said something funny at the end'. generally, when you say a joke along with something, it doesn't render everything else you've said to also be a joke. once again, the rhetoric of 'anarchism is a critiqe, not a program' - which was what was being discussed in that response - is not unique to this post, and the response post could have done even without the image itself, as it was just an example of a common position used to spur critique.

if you don't agree with what I've said, then, too bad, you've actually been taking a joke post seriously this whole time, because watch this: a man walks into an anarchist bar, and, despite noticing that nobody actually has any drinks, and there aren't any taps or bottles, asks for a cuba libre - the bartender says 'hey, man, the point isn't that i know how to get you a drink, it's that i tell you that you're thirsty'. the man then walks into a communist bar and gets a cuba libre.

[auspicioustidings]

Make your own way home

Word Count: 850

SPOILERS for MWIII BELOW THE CUT!

Summary: Short little drabble of what happens a few weeks after that ending cut scene.

CW: Dubcon/non-con by virtue of spirit possession.

If there was ever an example of wrong place, wrong time, you think you were it. The trip alone to the Highlands was supposed to be a journey of self-discovery. It was supposed to calm your mind, let you meditate in nature and find some peace. Not be in your head so much.

And now here you were, in your head. Stuck in your head. 

You hadn’t ever really given much thought to whether you believed in ghosts or not. You thought of them as something from horror films, always creeping in the dark and spooking young couples in their new house. You had never considered that they could be out in the hills during the daylight, waiting for a warm body to commandeer. 

And he had commandeered you without too much of a fight. For a few hours you had wrestled him for control, but his will was overpowering. It didn’t help that whoever had rudely put themselves in the driver's seat was an arse.

Let me out

“Cannae dae that, got places to be.” 

It’s my body!

“Our body hen.”

No, absolutely not, this is not a communist body, this is single ownership

“In that case, it’s my body” he laughed, seemingly finding your screaming in your (his?) head amusing.

It is NOT

“Let me see if I have a pretty wee body tae match my pretty wee voice.”

You could only watch as he took your body to the lakeside and peered into the glassy surface. It was bizarre, watching your own face light up in a grin that looked nothing like yours. He seemed pleased with what he was looking at, and you thought if you were in control you might have blushed. In fact, you knew that to be the case seeing a dusting of colour appear. Interesting, your body at least still reacted to your emotions. 

“Fuck me, look at this,” he all but purred, a hand coming to squeeze at your chest.

Oh, oh it wasn’t just your emotions that your body still reacted to. You felt the touch as if it was someone else’s hand on you and you certainly felt the sick little bolt of pleasure from it. The little bit of excitement of how horribly wrong this was. 

“Dinnae tempt me hen, told ye we have places to be. Once we get there we can play together as long as ye want.”

You could not think of a single thing to say to that and you almost felt a sense of motion sickness when your body started moving again, trekking through the mountains at a pace you would never go at. You tried everything. You pictured a battering ram to try and smash through to get control and he responded by putting thoughts in your shared headspace of the ramming turning lewd. You sang obnoxiously and he only joined in using your voice, delighted with how it sounded. You gave him the silent treatment and got so painfully bored of it that within 30 minutes you were back to just wailing in your head. 

“Ye know, they dinnae usually stay.”

What do you mean?

“When we take a body, the previous tenant disnae usually stick around.”

Am I going to die?

“Naw if ye dinnae want that. Even if ye did, might keep ye around. If ye behave might even let ye have control for a wee bit, would ye like that?”

If being possessed was not terrifying enough, the concept that the thing possessing you one, had plenty of experience and two, had never had anyone survive was making you feel sick. You felt that feeling in your body and he felt it too if his confused little grunt was anything to go by.

“Come on hen, be nice,” he said, not stopping but shoving a hand unceremoniously into your pants to rub gently. “Just relax.”

It was an insane feeling, you touching yourself but it actually being someone else controlling the movements. He wasn’t going fast, the languid pace seemingly aiming to soothe more than anything. It was wild that it sort of worked, that sick feeling fading out to a hazy rolling pleasure that was only just a gentle simmer.

At some point you felt your thoughts drift off to a strange sleep even though your body was still awake and moving. When you felt consciousness leak back in, you could see yourself approaching a house. 

“Look who's finally awake! Good timing princess” he said. You could hear the exhaustion in your voice, you wondered if he had let himself and the body sleep at all. Maybe if the body slept, you could wrestle back control.

You watched as your hand came to knock at the door. Watched it open to reveal a huge man in a skull balaclava. Watched and very much felt when your body launched at him, pushing the mask up to get your lips on his. He reacted as if he knew you, holding your body tight and laughing into your lips.

“Knew you’d make your own way home.”

“Always do LT.”

#fanfic #john soap mactavish x reader #ghost x reader #soap x ghost #mw3 spoilers #mwiii spoilers #I see that Activision has made a decision but as it is a stupid ass decision I have elected to ignore it #and I would love to go on about the potential for this lore to actually have been going on for generations but I shan't #mhairiwrites

[sgiandubh]

Such unsmiling people

The comment that moved me the most after posting that August 10 diatribe came from a very special blogger, @myrthil23. I promised her a longer, thoughtful answer, so here it is.

I share with her way more than meets the eye and with a bit of deductive skills, you could easily place us very specifically on an European map. To be honest, I was surprised (and then absolutely thrilled, of course) to find someone like her hanging on in here. But this is not the only reason prompting a response - her comment made me think a lot about a couple of relevant things.

For those who loathe foraging for reblogs, here goes:

In the colorful Shipper family, the Eastern Europeans are (supposedly) the unsmiling ones. This is one of the stubborn clichés that informed the Western gaze, especially in Communist times. Unsmiling, foreboding and unfathomable people: I am not smiling, I am laughing while writing it, because if anything, Myrthil, @zeya-zg, a couple of others and I do share a superb ability to use bullshit-o-meters, an unsinkable sense of humor and a hefty dose of sarcasm. All of these are basic, compulsory street smarts if you want to survive, God knows how, a nuclear winter of sorts.

Imagine you grow up in a world with empty supermarket shelves but permanently sold-out concert halls, where trivial details such as cotton swabs, potato chips (crisps, heh), political parties or The Last Tango in Paris are virtually unknown. Imagine your family is either cautiously aligned to some public idiocy they loathe everyday at home, teaching you at the same time to never talk to strangers. Or even worse, a political pariah, for reasons that have everything to do with the way you sip your tea, as Ella Fitzgerald would say. The latter situation (mine) was something very much akin to a civil death. And you just knew you could never be, for imbecile but firm reasons, an architect, a lawyer or even an epidemiologist: jobs way too sensitive to entrust the enemies of the people (and their spawn) with.

What is left for you, then, when the view from your window, in 1982, is something not very different from this photograph:

(side note: these people are staying in line to buy 1 kilogram of sugar for each person, which was the monthly allowance fixed by law in my country, from 1980 to 1989; you could only buy those with Government-issued tickets, not unlike what happened in the UK during WWII or what you can see in series like The Handmaid's Tale)

When all is seemingly lost, you will still have, in no particular order: books. Music (including piano lessons). Sports. Each other (although that was overall more complicated than it seemed). Going to the opera and never taking off your winter coat inside, but enjoying every second of it. Impromptu dinners by candlelight during power outages ("wir machen ein bisschen Stimmung"/let's make a bit of atmosphere, grinned my aunt). Foreign languages (a must). Fits and giggles and jokes galore. And the ability to adapt to just about anything, anywhere.

When change finally reached us, many had the almost surreal opportunity to go West. Some came back, others didn't, simply because they chose to continue elsewhere their pursuit of happiness. And yes, Myrthil is right, that fabled West was always something to behold and measure up to. In my case, it was almost too easy, but then I consider myself really lucky: going to live in Paris, at 18, felt both as homecoming and being left alone (and with unlimited credit) in a candy store.

So, here we are. We may have discovered Sylvia Plath a bit late, but I think we are decently knowledgeable about Chaucer. We sometimes may sound Edwardian and if we do, you should probably blame C.E. Eckersley's Essential English (this is how that life-long affair started, for me). And if anything, we bring another, perhaps even more inquisitive, angle to these strange things we are dealing with daily, in here.

But for the love of Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, don't you ever dare tell us what to think and with whom to talk. Don't call us stupid. Don't call us liars. Historical reasons prompted a durable allergy to sanctimonious speech and yes (I can only speak for myself) I will always, always react. Because we do not deserve the arrogance of people who have no idea of how it really was to grow up somewhere in Eastern Europe during the Eighties. Oh, and something else, lest I forget: being pariahs never bothered us - we can cope.

Other than that, we should go along just fine. :)

PS: @claraisabelcampohermoso, you probably don't know how your gif made me smile. Nadia will always be Nadia: a humble, warm person with a terribly heartbreaking story.

#fandom #Youtube

[joelsgirl]

It's A Free Use World; You're Just Living In It // Joel & Tommy Miller x Reader

Anon Asked: A free use fic in Jackson, where you're assigned to or maybe used by Joel/Tommy? A/N: Reposting as I think it'll end up being part of a series! Fuck, free use is one of my favourite things to write. Thank you so much for this! Muse: Joel & Tommy Miller Content Warnings: Age Gap, Size Difference, Rough Sex, Threesome, Tommy & Joel sandwich (no inc*st), Free Use, No Use of Y/N +  Want to see more? I’d love to see some requests, here!

Jackson truly was a communist settlement; everything was shared, including the women. The free use rule had been set in stone long since you arrived. You'd argue the rule, or leave, but everyone here accepted it and aside from that, this truly was a beautiful home. All the women were given a place to stay, warm clothes, a soft bed, all the food you could ask for.

All you had to do, was take what was given to you whoever, whenever or wherever that may be. It didn't help that the home offered to you, belonged to another. in your case, your keys unlocked the door to the Miller boy's home. They just so happened to be the most insatiable of the lot. Outside of the house, you wore respectable clothes. For the most part. No panties or bra, that was the rule, and more often than not you'd wear little dresses; learnt early on it was easier to do that than constantly have them ripped from your body. You still reminisced about your favourite pair of jeans, may they rest in peace.

At home, however, clothes weren't optional, they were against their religion. At least on you. It was a pretty sweet deal, you mostly kept the house clean when they were gone, for your own sanity, and served them whenever they wanted it. You'd say it was a chore, but... well, have you seen the Miller boys?

Joel had been out hunting for the last few days, so it was just you and Tommy when he wasn't out working the fields. He'd come home exhausted and wrung out, something had happened but you didn't want to ask, knew better than to get too personal with him. The hot shower he'd gotten out of not too long ago must have helped, though, because his mood had infinitely improved.

He'd walked past you, giving you a kiss, and you thought perhaps he was too tired for anything tonight... what a rookie error. Just as he was about to walk away, his fist locked in your hair, half dragging you along to the living room. Sinking into the sofa, he took you down with him. Forcing you to your knees, the hard wood knocking you about a bit. You don't mind, you're used to it now. Tugging down the zipper of his jeans, releasing his already hard cock as he wrapped a free hand around it. He didn't say anything, just looked down at your wide, innocent eyes. Tapping your lips with the thick head, telling you without words to open wide for him.

You oblige like the good little girl you are, wrapping those beautiful, plump lips around his cock before he rocks his hips forward, slamming in the rest of the way. A low groan escapes him, his head tipping back on the couch as the fist in your hair tightens. Holding you firmly in place, he begins a steady rhythm, fucking your face like it was nothing but a flesh light. His balls slap against your chin on every thrust, your throat bulging from the size of him, but so used to the invasion now you don't even choke on that monstrous cock anymore.

You hear the faint click of the lock, then the front door opening. A soft thud telling you Joel's back, and he's caught something. You can't see what, can't move from your position. Tommy doesn't stop, his pace unrelenting as his groans tell his brother exactly where you both are. You can't see the dried blood on his hands from the fresh kill, or the splatter across his flannel shirt. The dirt his boots track through the floor as he cuts a path directly to you both. It's been days since he's been able to take what was his, what he shared with Tommy.

He takes a heartbeats pause to drink in the sight of you, down on your knees, Tommy's fist yanking your head up and down his cock as he fucks up into your face, his brother meeting his eyes over you in greeting; before a roughed up hand drags his own zipper down. Dropping to his knees behind you, he lines the equally thick head with your tight little cunt as both hands massage your ass. Spreading those cheeks nice and wide before slamming in balls deep. No warning, no preamble. His own groan mixing with his brothers as he pulls back to the tip, and slams in again. His pace slower, more brutal than Tommy's but you're used to it now. It wouldn't last long, the beat between thrusts giving you a chance to get used to how god damn big he was inside you.

Both brothers ignore you, too busy chasing their own release. Joel moves faster, deeper, fucking you so hard you feel like you're splitting in half. Between the two of them, your body struggles to keep up. To cope with the size of their cocks, with the roughness as they use you... and yet, you wouldn't have it any other way. A hand comes down on your ass, big and heavy, the harsh sting echoing in your mind as Joel slaps you again, and again before wrapping both hands around your slender hips in a crushing grip. Pulling your body back onto him, making you meet every thrust. The momentum propelling you forward, to take Tommy's cock even more. Rocking back and forth between the two giants.

The hand not in your hair finds your tits, slapping them, catching the nipple with the tips of Tommy's fingers as he takes out the days frustrations on your little body. You're not supposed to enjoy it as much as you do but you can't help it, the lick of pain their hands elicit just adding to the pleasure as they use you. You love it, love knowing you're there to service them, that you're their favourite toy. Joel's fucking you harder still, their cocks bulging your petite little body as you're impaled by both of them.

Tommy is the first to cum, slamming in deep and holding your head in a vice like grip, grinding against swollen lips as he forces you to take every drop of his thick cum. So deep in your throat, it has no chance of escaping. His groans sending his brother over the edge, who does the same. Slamming in and holding you in place, the pressure so delicious you can't help your own orgasm. Tight little cunt milking Joel's cock. They couldn't care less if you came or not yet your muffled cries tell them both you're right there with them. Your body trembling as Joel pulls out first, tapping your ass before zipping his jeans up and walking away, heading in the direction of the shower. Tommy holds his cock in your throat longer, just warming it now, you can still feel it twitching as you watch him, fighting back the smile...

"Always such a good girl for us, aren't you, pet?"

#Joel Miller #Tommy Miller #The Last of Us #Joel Miller x You #Joel Miller x Reader #Tommy Miller x You #My Writing #My writing x Joel Miller #My Writing x Tommy Miller #IT'S A FREE USE WORLD YOU'RE JUST LIVING IN IT

[ineffablecrisp]

Soviet!Ice Headcanon 3/?

(also in this kinda maybe AU Sarah is his sister)

An idea I've been playing around with that I kinda briefly mentioned in the last post about this was Ice's family becoming religious after immigrating to the United States.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, there were many Jews who became religious through the Chabad movement, now that they were able to be more open about religion. Most, if not all, religious Jews in my community became religious this way.

And bringing this back to Ice, I've kinda been exploring some scenarios in which his family decides to take on more religious observances.

It starts off small, like being invited to the local Modern Orthodox shul by someone helping them assimilate into their new lives in America. They do have a hard time following along with the liturgy since they barely speak English yet, but the Rabbi is kind and invites the Kazansky family to learn more about Judaism.

This leads to Ice and Sarah attending Hebrew School with all the other kids in the shul. At first they feel like outsiders since they haven't had as much exposure to Torah as the other kids, but they quickly warm up to it and even improve their English when interacting with everyone.

Ice ends up having a Bar Mitzvah, even if it's a bit later than the other boys. He doesn't mind- he finally feels connected and like he found a missing part of himself.

(quick little note that around Ice's time, Jewish males didn't get circumcised as many traditions were pretty much abandoned in order to fit in)

Over time, his family as a whole takes on more religious observances. Ice and his father start wearing a kippah and tzitzit, and his mom experiments with covering her hair. They begin to keep kosher and keep Shabbat.

Unfortunately, becoming more visibly Jewish made Ice even more of target at school. Aside from being called a communist, his peers have taken to calling him a wide variety of Jewish slurs, and have even removed his kippah from his head numerous times.

By the time Ice gets to the academy, he becomes so fed up with the taunting that he starts to hide his observances. He doesn't wear a kippah, and tucks his tzitzit into his pocket (I imagine he got some kind of exemption for religious purposes for him to even be wearing a kippah and tzitzit in the first place). He davens in secret, hoping nobody finds out.

Eventually Slider starts noticing there's something off about Ice. Mainly, why he never consumes meat and cheese at the same time, and why he always disappears at certain times of the day. He confronts Ice who's initially panicking because he thinks Slider is about to say something nasty. But he doesn't. And for the first time, Ice finds himself opening up about his experiences and tells Slider everything. From that moment on, Slider vowed to always look after Ice, no matter what.

When they get to Top Gun, Ice still isn't comfortable enough to wear a kippah in front of everyone, but has started to wear baseball caps as a head covering when he's out of uniform (this also gave me an idea of Ice wearing a baseball cap during the volleyball scene which probably isn't very practical, but at least the sun isn't in his eyes). The tzitzit stay tucked in his pockets.

When he admits to himself and later Slider that he wants something more with Maverick, he's hesitant to pursue a relationship with him because of his observances. He's terrified but as he starts getting closer with Maverick, he finds himself opening up more and more about his struggles of being visibly Jewish.

It is a few years into their relationship when Ice feels ready to once again wear a kippah in public. He figures that if it wasn't for his boyfriend's support and encouragement, he never would have done it. From the very beginning of their relationship Ice has been firm in his wants to keep his observances. He teaches Maverick about the laws of kashrut so they can keep a kosher kitchen. Maverick doesn't mind, even if he was initially confused. They also find a synagogue nearby for Ice to attend.

By the time they're getting ready to be married Ice doesn't strictly consider himself to be Orthodox due to the fact that his marriage to a man wouldn't be seen as legit. He finds a more egalitarian synagogue that does accept queer Jews (also since the mechitzah doesn't do anything for him as he pays more attention to boys instead of girls) and for the first time, he is able to bring Maverick as his boyfriend, instead of his "friend." He fulfills his dream of standing underneath a chuppah as he gets lost in his now-husband's eyes and thinks back at how everything came to be.

#top gun 1986 #jewish tom kazansky #pete maverick mitchell #ron slider kerner #icemav #yeahhhhhhhh so this took me a hot sec to write and is way longer than i planned but i'm never capable of writing anything short

[yamada-ryo]

Thoughts on Disco Elysium:

Went into the game completely blind other than the obvious "inner speech characterisation" thing and the following

The game calls you a centerist if you don't pick a political stance

Our lucky racist will grant you 3 wishes

Lamby

There's something with this Cuno kid

Drove his own car into the sea

Kim Kimball Kitsuragi

And that's it

Thoughts:

Grabbed the horrific necktie so quick I didn't even do the skill check and was wondering why the tie wasn't speaking to me

I thought the inner monolouge voice was his actual voice. Until the karaoke part.

Loved how the game lets you call yourself Raphael as an option at every point in the game despite multiple characters calling him Harry. I never once made him call himself Harry.

I didn't believe the ex wife thing one bit. Still don't. Genuinely think it's just part of his mind acting up. After all if he forgot everything how can I trust that this one supposed memory of his is real

Didn't drink or use speed at all. Bought one pack of smokes just to set the paint on fire.

Didn't go after any women because I thought he was homosexual by default and was wondering when I could romance Kim (didn't know homosexuality had to be unlocked first)

^also why I didn't buy the ex wife thing one bit. That and half light insisting that I don't pursue the thought

"A major part of being a communist is arguing with other communists"

The part about the game developer being fired from his own company

Died in the chair about 5 times because I didn't know the number above the health bars was the number of heals I had at the time (2) and not an indicator of my maximum health (also 2). Also didn't know how to heal

Bought about 20-25 health pills just to tank the ruby encounter only for her to run away before I used most of it

Lady who bought the pawned gun straight up didn't spawn. Like I could hear the police sirens at the spot where she was supposed to be but there was no one there

I thought Kim would get shot no matter what but apparently not. Raphael got shot in the leg and Kim was hit on the head

Softlocked myself from the ice cream maker machine and had to forget a skill to retry it

Didn't buy any dice or sneakers or speakers

Didn't know it at the time but I learnt indirect modes of taxation and had the +1 shoes on so I was getting 2 real every time I talked to someone and had more money than I ever needed

Gym guy (sunday friend's friend) actually noticed I was wearing the hat I knicked from his room which was cool

There is no way Cunoesse's last name is actually "vittu"

Royalty free alternate universe Karl Marx

Measurehead finally got off the gangway and it turns out you can't even press the button. And the box behind him there all this time only had 1.10 real in it. SAD!

The fact that there even is an option to shoot Cunoesse

Was hoping Kim would wear the matching PISSFAGGOT jacket (he didn't)

Ran about shoeless on the first day. Found the balcony shoe just before debreifing with Kim. Then found the shoe in the starting room.

Thought there would be more to Contact Mike but no Raphael just confuses one poor girl about it

Didn't buy the map until day 3 and didn't figure out how fast travel worked until day 5

Is the expression rigor mortis? Did he have The Expression during all that? Even the gunfight?

The pawn shop owner is the only character that responds to you having a torch in your hand. Also cool detail where if the cursor is in front of Raphael the torch will shine in the direction of the cursor

Paid 20 real for the motel room first thing in the morning before I realised I had free accomodation for the night at the pier

Not much to say about the harbour since my screen fucking died

#test

[everydayyoulovemeless]

FNV Companions Living Together

➼ Word Count » 0.7k ➼ Warnings » None ➼ Genre » Fluff

Boone doesn't clean anything ever. Sometimes he doesn't even shower. He’s usually up all night because he's so used to when he had the night shift in Novac, so he mostly finds it hard to sleep. On nights like these, he'll go take Rex out on walks. It's good for both of them because they are both so ready to defend the house from absolutely anybody and being out and about like this makes them both feel like they're guarding the place—like he's back in Novac. He and Cass also usually end up getting into a few altercations, but they work great when it comes to sniping legionaries from the upstairs window.

Arcade is usually studying something, so the only time he ever really leaves his room is to eat. Sometimes it'll be he and Veronica locked in one of the rooms studying something. Their shared experiences of growing up surrounded by armed militias help them bond and make it easier for the two to go out on excursions without bickering. He and Lily end up being the resident caretakers when anyone gets sick. Arcade also tries to avoid ED-E a lot, but for whatever reason, ED-E's attached to him and is, most of the time, following him around.

Raul mostly just sits on the couch with Boone during the day. He's also the one everyone goes to when something's broken. He'll be sarcastic and say something like, "Oh, sure, I can fix anything", but every time he does end up fixing everything. Whenever anyone leaves the house, he'll ask what time they'll be back so he knows when he's supposed to be worried.

Lily's the one who cooks for everyone. Some of the others are especially helpless when it comes to making food, so she’s a godsend in the household. She's also the reason the place looks so nice, she and Veronica are the only ones who have any idea how to decorate. She dotes on everyone and is honestly the main reason that the house is functional. In the mornings when she's making breakfast, ED-E will float around her and play the New Vegas Radio so she can listen to the news.

Rex ends up using Cass' bed because she's usually passed out drunk on the couch. She also ends up 'borrowing' a lot of things from people, specifically from Arcade, but he puts an end to that fairly quickly. Whenever she doesn't want to drink alone she goes and gets Raul and they go down to the bar together, he usually only drinks a little, though, because he wants to make sure that they both make it home safely.

Veronica wakes up way too early and just ends up talking to Boone until everyone else wakes up. One of her favorite things to do is play card games with everyone else, although Raul usually ends up winning. She's also one of the only ones who pick up around the house, her and Lily end up making everyone's bed to keep the place looking nice. She's a lot more strict when it comes to everyone's role in the house and will get onto any of the others if they slack off on their chores.

ED-E loves playing music around the house, Arcade thinks it's annoying, but Raul managed to pick up on a Mexican station and ED-E never turns it off. He likes to follow the others around, the only problem with this is that sometimes he'll just be hovering over them as they sleep, it freaks a lot of them out. He's not too much of a bother besides that, although, he has a habit of hanging any poster he finds out in the waste randomly up on the walls, and everyone's confused about why there's a communist propaganda poster in the living room.

Whenever Rex is annoyed or upset he'll go bark at any of the others who happen to be wearing a hat. Cass locked him outside once because he wouldn’t stop barking at her while she was hung over, so he mostly targets her. He and Arcade will occasionally take trips down to Freeside to visit with the Followers and The Kings, he gets super happy whenever it happens and will run around the house for hours after.

#craig boone fnv #craig boone #boone fnv #fnv boone #fallout new vegas #fnv #fallout #fnv companions #fnv arcade #arcade fnv #arcade ganon #arcade gannon #arcade #fnv raul #raul tejada #raul fnv #raul alfonso tejada #lily bowen fnv #lily fnv #fnv lily #lily bowen #fnv headcanons #cass fnv #fnv cass #rose of sharon cassidy #veronica santangelo #veronica fnv #fnv veronica #ed e #rex fnv

[returnsandreturns]

OKAY, i'm revisiting senator!foggy

“Why do we never walk briskly down a hallway while we talk like in The West Wing?” Karen asks, apropos of nothing, as she shoulders her way into the office balancing a stack of folders and a tray of four coffees—one latte for Foggy, one latte for her, and two black coffees for Matt.

“We’re too poor to have long hallways,” Matt says. “Get incumbent levels of funding and we can do that.”

“I think one of us would have to seduce an oil executive,” Foggy says, turning to raise his eyebrows at Karen. “Do you have something you need to briskly talk about?”

“Fisk is calling you a, quote, ‘godless communist,’” Matt says, distractedly.

“Oh, come on,” Karen says, huffing as she sinks into a chair in front of Foggy’s desk. “I wanted to say godless communist. Y’know, there’s no real reason for both of us to have Google alerts for Foggy’s name. I can handle the press stuff.”

“Matt has to know everything about all things all the time or he’ll die,” Foggy says, fondly, grabbing his cup and taking a long, scalding drink. “Thanks for this, Karen. We really worried about the communist thing?”

“It won’t stick,” Matt says, shaking his head. “You’re running on popular policies that are only trending upwards. Just push your voting rights stuff more to show that, unlike your opponent, you actually do give a fuck about democracy.”

“. . .we could sell that, actually,” Karen says, after a beat, shuffling through her pile to pull out a notebook. “Fisk has been part of blocking voting rights legislation for, what, decades?”

“Centuries,” Matt says, darkly.

“I think I’ve got something good,” Karen says, already scribbling fiercely even while she’s standing up and walking over to steal Foggy’s office, adding before she shuts the door behind her with her foot, “I’ll let you know when I’m finished. Maybe we can livestream it.”

“Drink your coffee,” Foggy says, sliding a cup in front of Matt, feeling a little weak when Matt smiles tiredly at him.

“Are there—”

“Two,” Foggy says, nodding. “I disapprove.”

“I’ll quit cold turkey when you’re in Congress,” Matt says, smiling when Foggy bursts out laughing.

“You fucking liar,” he says, wondering internally for the five hundredth time whether it’s a scandal for a candidate to be in love with his campaign manager if he’s not married and if he’s been in love with that campaign manager for most of his adult life. Probably not. Maybe a little more since Foggy’s not exactly out but his life really isn’t interesting enough to have a scandal, gay one or not.

That doesn’t make it any easier, though.

“Can I call him a soulless capitalist?” Karen says, opening the door and peering out.

“No,” Matt says.

“Fuck,” she murmurs, immediately shutting it again.

“Gotta say,” Foggy says. “I kind of like soulless capitalist.”

“Your Twitter following is saying it for you in droves,” Matt says. “Let them stay in the mud. You just—smile and look pretty and above the fray.”

“You saying I’m pretty, Murdock?” Foggy asks, grinning at him.

“Gorgeous,” Matt says, dryly.

Honestly, sarcasm is better than nothing.

#IT'S SO QUIPPY AND GOOD #mattfoggy #my fic #i think i have posted this bit before but there's about 3500 words of it in existence

[no-1-rosalind-lang-apologist]

Underrated scenes from each ss book

These aren't all scenes and I think the flf section just turned into a highlight reel of things i love about flf but here.

TVD

The scene where Roma picks up tiny Alisa because she was climbing inside of his walls and she's like hey don't rip my shirt it's new :( when her shirt his very obviously extremely old.

Not a scene but just the fact that the White Flower's used to have a golden retriever named Tsarina.

Idk if it's underrated exactly but that scene where Rosalind waits for Juliette in her room for three hours to tell her about the monster attack hits me like a truck every time I remember it.

"What is a Montague? It sounds Italian."

The scene where Benedikt holds Tyler at gunpoint after he threatens Marshall because he knows Marshall wouldn't have had the impulse control to not shoot

Roma beating the shit out of Dimitri

Celia coming up with her fake backstory for a Communist meeting and saying, "My mother is dead. My father is dead to me."

Juliette calling Roma a "wet blanket"

Juliette taking responsibility for Celia when she accidentally knocked Amethyst out

OVE

Juliette Cai says healthcare for all

Alisa being mad at Roma because he hasn't taught her how to catch a knife

Marshall styling Juliette's hair

Juliette making fun of newsboy cap guy

The Marshall flashback to when he met Benedikt

Roma and Juliette getting tailed by the the French White Flower guy who ends up being one of the monsters and Roma saying idk maybe he thinks I'm hotter than you when Juliette asks him why the guy looks like he wants to kill Roma

Benedikt knocking Roma out before trying to kill Juliette because holy shit

When Alisa realizes that Roma agreed to a duel to get her back

When Rosalind had Roma at gunpoint

"I would rather the two of you not burn the world down each time you choose each other."

The paragraphs where Celia starts really being Celia are just so,,,

Somehow I forgot that Alisa was already officially a Communist spy in the OVE epilogue?

fhh spoilers

FLF

Celia forcing Rosalind out of bed to go to Lourens when she wanted to die

Orion calling Dao Feng "Old Man"

Rosalind immediately making tranquilizers right when Orion moves in because she doesn't want to put up with his shit

Silas writing and publishing a fucking op-ed at 14 immediately after getting home from London (iconic)

The implication that Silas has tried to confess to Phoebe before which I call bullshit on.

Not a scene but when Orion shows back up in the morning before their first day at Seagreen, I am convinced that the red stuff on his neck was blood not lipstick.

I NEED TO KNOW IF JIEMIN'S CROSS WAS A SIGN OF ALLEGIANCE TO PRIEST?????

"Who's stealing Silas from you? You're the notorious boyfriend stealer not me." because what exactly are we implying help-

Rosalind remembering hearing Silas's parents brag about him

Phoebe "spying" on Seagreen while she has Silas wait in the car

Lao Lao instantly adopting Orion

I think a lot of the olivercelia stuff in flf is a bit underrated because a lot of us were too busy being haters for a while but the necklace knife scene!

"My little ego can always stand being snapped at by you, sweetheart."

Oliver being really really freaked out in the warehouse hit different now that we have more context ughhhh

Orion thinking that his dad might have done something to his mom. What the fuck. And also being in that house with them alone for years jesus christ

Alisa covering her walls in drawings from Benedikt

Rosalind killing Zilin

Silas taking on Orion's assignments when his headaches were really bad

The fact that Lord and Lady Hong probably knew that Oliver was onto something when Orion told Lord Hong about Oliver breaking in

The cards that Zilin had in his pocket were a spade and a diamond (spade = aroace and diamond = demi)

Rosalind and Orion's argument after the Peach Lily Palace incident

Celia being like stfu Oliver (i like telling him what to do. teehee. aNYWAY)

Ik the nation over everything quote gets talked about a lot but I think people seem to forget how pissed Celia was after he said that. Because "You're so damn selfish. Have you ever stopped to consider that I value your life just as much? If you want to protect me, don't you think that I want to protect you, too?" And then the way that Oliver is absolutely baffled by this. Ack.

Rosalind flinching when Orion pretended to kiss her forehead towards the start of flf vs her casually noting it when he actually kissed her temple midway through flf

Alisa casually having Russian classic literature at her desk despite the fact that she probably stopped receiving formal school at about 13. Slay queen.

The domestic spat. I don't think we've talked about it in a bit I'm so disappointed in us.

Alisa seeing Rosalind and Dimitri together and never saying anything about it

Silas immediately hanging up when Lord Hong picked up when he was trying to call Phoebe

Also who were Gray and Archer??? I thought they were going to be important but oh well

"She doesn't bite." "Yes, I do." like geez ok Rosalind thank you for sharing

"Phoebe walked a small circle around the hospital corridor. Silas, his eyes tracking her absently, stood with his chin propped in one palm." Yeah ok.

Then the scene after Orion sees Rosalind's scars where they're both lying on her bed together and talk for a little bit. I don't know if it's underrated exactly, but I have a very clear image of it in my mind and it is very parallely and nice I like this scene

Alisa drinking orange juice out of a coffee mug. Why? Because.

Tiny detail but Orion telling Phoebe to stop answering the phone in English because he's afraid of gossip

Phoebe immediately going DO I GET TO SEDUCE PRETTY WOMAN???? when Orion tells her he needs her help and him being absolutely exhausted by her

"You warn me for control." "I don't need your warning." I want to kiss Rosalind on the mouth.

Ok sorry but I do not interpret the scene where Orion steals the Frenchwoman's necklace as him flirting with her I think he just put on a really exaggerated twink voice because it's funnier that way

Silas knocking out a guard by holding a cloth with sedatives to his face when he and Phoebe broke Alisa out of jail.

Also just Silas trying to signal to Alisa that he's totally definitely a double agent in the process of betraying everyone because Alisa knows that he's aligned with the Communists somehow while Phoebe is Priest is so insane.

Silas fixing Phoebe's hair then Phoebe noticing that he shifted maybe half and inch away from her going hmm no that's not allowed and shifting closer to him. Especially since there's not very much emotion in her internal monologue in flf since you're not really getting her pov you're just getting a front.

"Are you keeping any other secrets from me, Janie Mead?" "One. But I don't want to tell you yet."

Orion faking a nosebleed

"His proximity was supposed to be some sort of tactic to make her flustered, she guessed, but she was only concentrating on the fact that Orion had missed a sport right by his jaw." Rosalind you absolute genius (I am so obsessed with her)

Phoebe entering Silas's house then immediately going hihihihihihi pay attention to meeeeeeeeeee without telling him that she was planning on coming over

Probably not underrated but. "Phoebe's scowl was immediate, taken aback as to who was in his bedroom, but she realized seconds later that the voice was too grainy and distant to be a visitor." Just something about Phoebe not recognizing it as her own voice and being jealous of a part of herself that she doesn't really recognize as herself is just. so. ahhhh.

aDmIrAtIoN

Not underrated but. The scene where Rosalind is like. Orion put his head on my lap to annoy me. His hair looks dumb. I am going to yoink it. To bother him. Then just. Starts playing with his hair.

A random guy selling flowers seeing a boy and a girl in a car together and thinking ah yes. customers. then fearing for his life and running away after watching phoebe yoink Silas out of his car

Phoebe conning Silas into thinking she wanted him to drive her around so she could observe architecture. Damn he is easy to trick

"'Can't I convince you to partake in a different outing instead?' Silas pleaded. 'I'll buy you cake. Or pastries? You like pastries.' 'No! We have to do this.' Phoebe separated her clasped hands, clutching at her skirts instead. 'Do you want to watch me beg?' 'pHOEBE-' 'So help me, I'll get on my knees right in the middle of the street, and then you will have to answer for my virtue-' 'Fine, fine,' Silas hurried to say, unable to withstand her theatrics. There were two red blots deepening on his cheeks." .......................ok.

Alisa purposely freaking Silas out by telling him that he has to handle the explosives. Then they end up being firecrackers she bought from a middle schooler.

Phoebe making the 🥺🥺🥺 face and Silas covering her eyes

Alisa faking a middle aged man voice

Rosalind looking at Orion and being like hmm he's really pretty it kind of looks like he's wearing mascara. Anyway.

To be continued because I'm hitting the word limit oops