#I think that's another reason I'm bad at social media since I'm very one sided about it lol

[lesbienyu]

having little or no access to the internet is smth ppl talk about but in a detached, intellectual sense because people online talking about it generally aren't the people experiencing it for obvious reasons.

obviously, I can get on the internet. I live in the country, so I can't get wifi and rely on mobile data with a slow signal. I can really only stream about four to ten hours of video a month, depending on the time of year (winter sucks bc everyone is clogging it up, stuck at home), and I'm stuck with primarily text-based sites with about 50-70% of pictures loading.

And it's a super mixed bag. There's the obvious hurdles it causes to education and work. It's annoying getting news - I rely more on public access, which is debatably a good thing compared to social media.

There's also the fact it hinders businesses here from modernizing, which is probably hindering our local economy. It's hard to figure out what the menu is or who's hiring if the website hasn't been updated since 2004

It's also nice- I feel like I'm outside a lot, I don't really stress about social media. I do doom scroll, but it's very limited by my mobile data cap and bad signal. I could easily live without subscription services- I pay for Hulu, mostly for my dad in the cities and some friends, but I still use DVDs and CDs, and it's cool that I don't have to keep paying for them to be able to watch them. I also just don't really watch television seriously. So there is that. not saying it doesn't suck, being cut off from wifi, but there's some good points, just before I get really negative in a second.

It makes it harder for women to find domestic violence resources. also lacking computer skills makes it easier for the abuser to catch them. not having access to women outside the community is also fucked because many women in communities like mine think abuse is normal, largely because they haven't had exposure to people from places where the abuse present here is abnormal.

It also makes it difficult for anyone in need of a lawyer to find one taking new clients. When I was living in a city and needed one, it took one google search. when a friend here needed one, it was a lot of phone calls and word of mouth. most people going to court don't tend to have time for that shit, or the disposable income to spend that time. also a lot of probation, parole and public defenders rely a lot on convicts having access to wifi. also a fun fact: many jails and prisons expect inmates families to have wifi to manage commissary, video visits, and lord knows what else.

and then we can also talk housing- a lot of tenant unions make the error of organizing primarily online. my issues with that on the organizational side are for another post, but many of the people I talked to when I was in a tenant union were not technologically literate, didn't have access to internet or other technology, or couldn't access the necessary resources in their language. most of the work we did was home visits, phone calls, or in-person as a result.

Also basic services- a lot of banks, utility companies, health insurance, they want you to do everything online or over the phone and it's not really feasible. I have to plan to come into town early to do a lot of this, even just to make phone calls. and it's ass when applying for jobs because you can't always be in town or somewhere with a signal, so you end up missing calls or emails and seeming unreliable.

I can go on, I just feel like people talk about how equal access to internet is important but I never see anyone talk about why. and I'm saying this as someone who has access to it, albeit relatively limited

#About to hit the slowpoint of having 3g data after using up the 4g watching star trek rip #rural issues #rural living #anti capitalism #internet access #poverty

[semper-legens]

153. This Is How You Lose The Time War, by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Owned?: Yes Page count: 198 My summary: Red and Blue, time-travelling agents working for rival agencies, start writing to each other just to gloat. They write in fire, in animals, in plants, in tastes and colours - but what they don’t realise is that they’re growing closer with each letter. If they are caught, they will certainly be killed. But Red and Blue are falling in love… My rating: 5/5 My commentary:

I've spoken about this book before. It took me a long time to read This Is How You Lose The Time War initially - I knew about it as I follow one of the authors, Amal El-Mohtar, on social media thanks to her being featured in a Blake's 7 podcast I was listening to. It's been long enough since my first read-through, however, that a reread would be both an interesting prospect. I remembered some things about the book going into it, but not all of the details, which is always fun when you're reading something like this. Overall, I still really liked it, for many of the reasons I highlighted in my first writeup of the book. So, let's get into it!

First of all, I absolutely love the lyricism and poetry of the prose here. Long-time readers of this blog might remember that I like my prose on the purpler side, and this does not disappoint in that capacity. The words are archaic and modern, teasing and serious, playful and sombre all at once, and the overall impression is of a hazy dream, the kind of thing that would get endlessly quoted online to show how deep and cultured the person doing the quoting is. Not that I think that's a bad thing. It very much fits the tone of the piece and the impression of these two endlessly smart, endlessly devoted women. And I absolutely love how the letters between Red and Blue are themselves written - not just pen and paper or keyboard and screen, but found in smell and touch and taste as much as sight and hearing. It's a very sensual experience, by which I mean that it involves all of the senses. This is a book that you can feel, deep in your soul. (Now who's wanting to sound deep?)

Red and Blue are incredibly engaging protagonists. Blue is from some sort of biopunk flower place, where everything is grown and everyone is supposed to be encompassed in a sort of hive mind, led by the Garden. Red is more cybernetic, with hacking and connecting to computers being her thing, and she's led by the Commandant. Nevertheless, they both employ very similar methods in their fight to change time to favour their particular future, perhaps highlighting the similarities between their two shadowy organisations despite their very different backstories. They're two very similar women, but I found their voices to still be unique and distinguishable, both in the narrative style of their chapters and in the letters they write to one another. And, of course, the fact that this is a love story between two women is a huge selling point for me. We see their relationship go from slightly flirty rivalry to deep and pervasive love, the kind that would have both sides ultimately desert their original function and devote themselves entirely to each other.

Overall, this is still an incredible book, and I would still highly recommend it! I'm sure it'll be popping up on this blog again in due time.

Next up, snapshots of life in Weimar Republic Berlin.

#This Is How You Lose The Time War #Amal El Mohtar #Max Gladstone #bookblr #book blog #5

[ecoamerica]

Watch the American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 now: https://youtu.be/bWiW4Rp8vF0?feature=shared

The American Climate Leadership Awards 2024 broadcast recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by active climate leaders. Watch to find out which finalist received the $50,000 grand prize! Hosted by Vanessa Hauc and featuring Bill McKibben and Katharine Hayhoe!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24Leaders #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental justice #environment protection #environmental health #Youtube

[atamatajiih]

To Hazbin Hotel fans and haters alike, a reminder: you hold very little power over this thing's success and you shouldn't really worry about that either

The web-show pilot turned Amazon Prime animated series Hazbin Hotel by Vivienne Medrano/Vivziepop is scheduled to finally start airing next January after a very long wait since the pilot of the show was first uploaded to Youtube. There's a big crowd who are looking forward to the show, both fans who are eager to spread the love and dedicated haters who are waiting to rip this show to pieces.

I'm not really gonna pour over the reasons why this show has such a strong fanbase and hatebase, because the reasons aren't really important to this message/call out/shout into the void. Good thing is that love is just hate turned inside out and vice versa so these two feelings have a lot in common! To be more specific, both of these emotions require heavy emotional investment. And, as someone who has largely watched The Great Vivziepop Discourse from the sidelines, I can definitely say that both sides are extremely emotionally invested in this show. People who love it really love it and people who hate it really hate it.

Just as I am not gonna go over the reasons people might love or hate Hazbin Hotel, I'm not gonna tell anyone how they're supposed to feel about the show. Whatever your thoughts on Hazbin Hotel are, they're totally valid. Instead, now that the show is only about three months away, I think both fans and haters need to start internalizing one thing about the show before it releases and the floodgates truly open:

You do not have any power to affect the success of this show.

A simple thing, no? Obvious one might even say. And yes, you'd be right. Most people, when they have feelings about a thing, can accept that it's success, or lack thereof, is wholly independent of their own actions. A show doesn't succeed or fail because you, as an individual, choose to support or not support it.

But the thing is, when you become very emotionally invested in something, you start to imagine things. Fantasize a bit about how you'd wish for things to go. And if the posts I've seen online from both fans and haters are to be believed, both groups have stacked a lot of hopes and dreams on how this show's big debut will go.

On one side, Hazbin superfans have painted in their minds a scenario where Hazbin breaks all the records, wins all the prizes, Vivzie becomes the Hayao Miyazaki of indie animation and the Hazbin criticals get owned so bad that they shrivel into dust.

On the other, the Hazbin Hotel criticals have written in their mind another scenario: A24 despises the show, the whole thing falls apart under it's creator's lofty ambitions, the entire Hellaverse universe comes to an embarrasing end, Vizie becomes a pariah and the Hazbin superfans get owned so bad that they shrivel into dust.

And while there's nothing wrong with some flights of fancy like this, the problem is that it seems like both groups are so sure, so absolutely certain that their favored scenario comes to pass, that they have started to essentially treat it as fact, lambasting the other side for being delusional in the face of obvious facts. All of this ignoring the fact that, frankly, both sides are talking out of their ass. The only party involved in this who actually gets to decide whether this show is a success or not is A24, since they now own the series. What anyone else tries to tell you about how the numbers line up is at best making an educated guess or at worst talking nonsense. The circumstances that allowed show X to succeed or show Y to fail are not something you can actually use as a measuring stick when it comes Hazbin Hotel. The measure of Hazbin Hotel's success is not something that some rando on the internet can claim to be an authority on.

Now, this isn't to say you can't have any influence on the show's viewership numbers. A popular post on social media or your talks with people you know IRL can certainly influence a small number of folks to watch or drop the show. However, the actual impact these actions have is breathtakingly small. My current team at work has about 12 people in it and I'm not at all convinced I could easily sway all of them to watch or not watch a show. The exact numbers are all over the place, but Amazon Prime subscriptions seem to be somewhere in the ballpark of 200 million. That's, well, a really big amount. And I feel most of us realize that even the most popular, record breaking post on tumblr is probably not gonna be enough to sway 200 million people into your preferred opinion on Hazbin Hotel. If that huge mass of people has enough people who want to watch Hazbin, you'll have no choice but to accept that. And if that mass doesn't have any people who want to watch it, you'll have to accept that too.

Everything I've said is probably painfully obvious to people, but I have seen both of these groups get incredibly invested in their dream scenarios for how how the big Hazbin Hotel debut will go down, I am starting to really be worried about the folks who will inevitably have their dream scenario come crashing down before their eyes. And someone must, when the possibilities being proposed are either historic success or catastrophic failure. That's why, regardless of which side you're standing on when it comes the Discourse, I am urging all of you to start emotionally distancing yourself from this show, at least to the extent that you can accept the show's actual reality without having feeling emotional anguish. Because placing this much emotional weight on the success of a TV show, something that again, is completely out of your power to meaningfully affect, is just not healthy to you. Whether you love the show or hate it, please start processing the possibility that your desired outcome for it may not come to pass. Entertainment industry is a fickle business and really, as a viewer it's not even your job to really care about how a show is doing, that's the burden of the people working on it. All you need to do is sit back, relax and let your heart fill with love and/or hate. Not to mention the success or non-success of a show isn't even that conductive when thinking about a show critically. A successful show simply means it is popular, it doesn't mean it's good. Is your Hazbin hating heart really gonna step aside and not enjoy ripping this show a new one just because it made money? And of course, vice-versa for the Hazbin stans! Everyone knows tons of great fiction goes underappreciated by the masses, are you really gonna stop filling the internet with your endless gushing and adoration just because enough normies didn't like your hell cartoon?

So, really this heavy investment both sides of the discourse have for the show's future success is kinda preplexing. Discourse is about whether something is good or not! And sales and viewership numbers should barely be a footnote when it comes to that discussion. There's so many more interesting things to dissect in a show. TL;DR: Whether you love Hazbin or hate it, none of us individually can actually tangibly affect Hazbin's financial success, so it's best you stop making up scenarios about it in your head and getting invested in them + it's not like financial success actually matters when you wanna talk about the show's actual quality.

#hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel critical #vivziepop #vivziepop critical #hellaverse #helluva boss #helluva boss critical

[earlgraytay]

why death note isn't copaganda

Since y'all seem to like my Death Note Metaposting, here's another nugget for you to chew on: I don't think Death Note is copaganda. Either in intent or execution.

I think that Death Note is a story from a very specific time and place, with a very specific target audience. It is a Japanese story from the 2000s, and it's aimed at edgy thirteen-year-old boys.

Japan does not, technically, have a rating system for TV. But most media outlets do choose to self-censor. (To give you an idea of how that looks in practice, I turned to Eirin- the Japanese film ratings board. Eirin splits movies into G, PG-12, R-15, and R-18. Most anime movies are somewhere between PG-12 and R-15. Drug use and abstract supernatural horror tends to get treated much less harshly by Eirin than by the MPAA, but graphic violence, criminal behaviour, and nudity/sex get a much harsher penalty in Japan than they do in the USA.)

A Japanese show for preteen boys in 2005 could not portray the cops as being fundamentally corrupt and violent, any more than an American show for preteen boys could have. So... assuming the writers of Death Note had Some Things To Say about the police, they had to make some choices. They had to figure out how to convey what they wanted to convey- "having the power to kill fucks you up, and cops have that power"- without pissing off their publisher or their TV company.

The easiest way- and the laziest- would have been to make one cop, perhaps Light's Dad, into the Designated Corrupt Punching Bag that the Good Cops have to defeat to catch their criminal. Maybe the Corrupt Punching Bag cop would use a lot of bureaucratic red tape that the Good Guys have to punch through to get their man, or slow down the justice process by insisting on Correct Procedure at all points.

That writing decision positions the failures of the police department as the failure of one man. That writing decision implies that forcing cops to follow the rules that are designed to keep people safe from them actually puts people in danger. I think you could definitely call that writing decision copaganda= and too many shows, on both sides of the ocean, choose it.

But that is not what Death Note chooses to do.

Another way Death Note could have handled the problem is to just... sidestep it. Completely take the focus off of the police, throw in a line about how they're baffled, and let our Genius Detective Hero-Antagonists handle the case completely. In this version of Death Note, we'd have no Aizawa or Matsuda, Soichiro would just be Light's father, and L/Mello/Near would be the only ones pursuing the investigation.

This writing decision positions the police as irrelevant in a way that means you don't have to think about them. The Police Are Baffled, and that's all you need to know; they've handed the case off, and the story goes into the realm of The Outsider Boy Detective Story. This isn't copaganda, per se; it acknowledges that the police are a flawed force that can need outside help... but it's not engaging with the social issues that make the police genuinely flawed. It's veering into pure fantasy. And that can be a valid decision...

But that is not what Death Note chooses to do.

Death Note chooses to actively present the police as being good, but deeply flawed people... who, because of the system they operate in, have no choice but to become bad people. The cops we get to know are kind, funny, ordinary people. But for one reason or another, they don't notice the monster in their midst, until it's too late. And Light's influence corrupts them- or forces them out.

I'll admit that I'm going off my interpretation of the anime here, which does make some significant changes from the manga, but considering that the big change to the ending that the anime makes from the manga is continued into every future adaptation? I feel comfortable including it in my analysis.

[oh, and, uh, spoilers for the end of Death Note, obvs.]

Soichiro refuses to believe that his son could be a criminal. He knows Light's a smart cookie, and he trusts Light's sense of justice. He comes to treat Light as something of a superior officer, even though Light is his teenage son. ...And Light repays him by sending him off on a suicide mission. I mentioned this on a reblog of the original post, but when Soichiro gets his hands on the Death Note? He dehumanizes the criminals he's been sent to kill, the other members of his squad, and ultimately, himself. He treats everyone like they're an expendable cog in a big machine. No one is a person; everything is something to be used in pursuit of Justice. And unlike Light, Soichiro includes himself in that. Soichiro falls into the ultimate trap of being a Good Cop. If you fight for justice as a cop, you wind up utterly expendable. If you're a Good Cop, you die, on command, and take as many people with you as your overlords see fit.

Matsuda also looks up to Light, though for slightly better reasons; they did more or less join the force around the same time, if you count Light joining the Kira Investigation as Light becoming a cop. Matsuda implicitly trusts Light, especially by the start of Season 2. He sees himself as naiive, weak, careless, and stupid- even though he's actually really good at his job. Matsuda is sympathetic to Kira, but thinks he's going about things the wrong way, and that surely there's got to be a better way to make a better world? ....And then Matsuda discovers that everything he thought he knew was wrong. That Light is Kira, and always was. That Kira wasn't a good guy doing things the wrong way, that he was callously manipulating the entire task force this entire time, and that Matsuda has been his patsy. And Matsuda goes out swinging. Matsuda shoots Kira. And hits. More than once. If Ryuk hadn't decided to put Light out of his misery, it would be Matsuda's fault that Light died without real justice being done. If Soichiro is what happens to you when you're a Good Cop, then Matsuda shows how a Good Cop can become a Bad Cop. A moment of anger at the wrong time, a realization that you've been living a lie, or a criminal the cop cannot see as a person anymore? He uses the power of life and death. The power that the viewer has just been told is murder. Only instead of coming from the inkwell of a pen, it's from the barrel of a gun.

Aizawa is... interesting. I'll admit, I remembered him as being The Cop Who Leaves, and that coloured my interpretation until I went back to check the wiki. It turns out he left and came back- what I remembered as "Aizawa working as a private investigator" was Aizawa working well within the bounds of the Kira investigation, but going behind Light's back to talk to Near. But I do think it's significant that Aizawa, more than anyone else in the Kira investigation, is the one who's able to leave. When the Kira investigation gets defunded by the Japanese government, it's Aizawa who can walk- who feels like he has the duty to walk, because he has something to live for that's more important than Justice. Catching Kira is less important than making sure his wife and kid don't starve, after all. He moves to a different part of the police force, and considers leaving the force altogether. And even after he's come back to the Kira investigation, he's detached enough from it that he can see Light's transparent bullshit for what it is. Aizawa is the Good Cop. He follows procedure when he can; when he can't- because the investigation is too corrupt, mostly- he still tries to do what would make the world a better place for everyone. He isn't violent; he isn't cruel; he isn't into justice as retribution. FFS, Aizawa tries to hold back Matsuda from shooting Light. The writers have said that if more people were like Aizawa, the world would be a better place.... And Aizawa is the guy who can leave. Who does leave. Whose loyalty is to his family and his own morals, not to the police as an agency, not to his comrades on the force, not to the thin blue line.

A couple of people have pointed out to me that in Death Note How To Read 13, the writers have said that they didn't have a theme they were going for. And honestly, that'd explain some of the hiccups with the writing.

But I can't help but feel like, even if it's unintentional, the way that the major cop characters' arcs play out is a very well structured critique of some common copaganda tropes.

I think that Death Note is only copaganda if you define "copaganda" as "there is a cop character who is sympathetic" without interrogating what the show is saying with its cops beyond that. And considering that Death Note is a show written for tweens, in a country where respect for authority is paramount? I think that the show's done as much as you can reasonably expect it to to subvert Being Copaganda.

(If anyone wants to say that the Autistic Detective Crew is somehow copaganda, a) I have another essay locked and loaded, do not test me, the short version of which is b) there are two genres of detective fiction, and the one that L/Mello/Near are part of is not part of the tradition that gave us copaganda, it's the other one.)

#death note #shoichiro yagami #touta matsuda #shouta aizawa #copaganda #< that doesn't even look like a real word anymore jfc #general malarkey #tumblr malarkey #fandom malarkey

[julaibib]

As salamu alykom

I'm looking for some advise. I'm a 27 years old girl and my family is looking for prospects to get me married. There is some distant family that asked my hand in marriage and I met the guy and talked for a bit too. I couldn't judge his character much but he seemed very introverted.

My parents asked my opinion and from the brief encounter that I had with him and his family, I didn't get any bad vibe and I told this to my parents and they said yes to the family because they also know them since many years and really wanted this match to happen.

The guy lives in a different country and will be going back in a week. He's not financially stable yet and it might take him a while, so right now my parents just want me to get engaged to him and the marriage might take place after a year.

Now I checked his social media and I found out that he had a girl added (non muslim and of a different nationality, they are colleagues) while there were no vulgar comments, it seemed like they were very close (heart reacts to each other pictures etc) and it was very surprising for me because they guy seemed very shy to me and he had his gaze down the whole time and it was just not settling with me.

I told this to my mother and she said it's not a big deal and not a reason so say no to them.

Now the family is calling us for a meeting with their side of the family to get things finalised over the weekend and I'm really confused what to do now.

I want to mention here that I'm religious and my parents are a little broad minded and they don't really understand my point of view, for them this is a really good prospect.

I don't have enough time to get to know the guy because he'll be flying back very soon. I also did istakhara a couple of times but I couldn't come to any conclusion.

I need some advise about what go do in this situation

جَزَاكَ ٱللَّٰهُ

وعليكم السلام

I think that the fleeting meeting did not give you the opportunity to know everything about the man. You might tell your parents and ask for another meeting with him before any formal engagement. It is possible to investigate who he listens to from the sheikhs and the books he reads. Is he interested in Sharia knowledge? Does he perform all the prayers? In general, it is possible that if you have an initial acceptance of him, try during the meeting to confirm everything, especially the religious one, because you are a religious person, so it is important that he agrees with your ideas.

[observers-journal]

Do you think that the whole controversy with Tenoch has caused ER to either be more popular among social media and the public or just less as if people are turning away from her? Especially since the 'so-called' evidence that she posted was used against her to call her out on her lies as well as her crimes and history. Also, I wonder if politicians who have tried to be associated with her, such as that one deputy who schemed with her to try to pass the stealthing law by dragging Tenoch, are avoiding and turning away from her due to probably realizing how toxic and criminal she really is. Because it's amazing how they are all silent instead of supporting her, even with the access to the media power that they have that they could use to promote her such as they did with her case as there is not much news going on except for what she posts on Twitter, even with her acid case. I could be wrong, but it seems to me that no one prominent is really on her side publicly, except her lawyer and followers, which makes her really all alone. She probably does these horrible things as a way to feel good about herself and have some self-importance, which would have been sad, if it wasn't for the fact that she tramples and hurts others with her family to do so. If there is one important thing that I have learned in my two and a half decades of life on Earth that is very true, it's that the bill always comes due, and I feel that her bill for all that she has done might be on its way.

Thank you for the submission, anon! You pose a very interesting theory, which I agree can be true.

I'm gonna be a bit more cautious here about my answer, mostly because everything is so chaotic, nuanced and layered it's hard to tease out a specific reason for this. Whatever I say is purely my opinion, so please take it with a pinch of salt.

She could be the case of "bad publicity is still publicity". If she truly is trying for a political career, this might bring her some exposure. Politics is usually dirty and messy, and any kind of exposure helps. I have a feeling she's not very big on her own, but tries to show herself by using the few contacts she has gained, and the nexus she has from her own family. She cares a lot about her carefully constructed image, coz that's what she has going for her. That public sympathy and an activist image.

On the other hand, an equally valid argument is the one you raise. And that I suspect too: this is gonna come back to bite her. Everyone acts to preserve their self-interests, and so we have seen people distancing themselves from her. The amount of stuff she and her family has going on is a biggg problem for her. It's not like other politicians are not toxic or criminal, they just hide it better.

She definitely created a big ruckus and then nothing came of it. So to some extent, I think her temporary social media popularity is down. Will it continue to be that way? I can't say. Does it reflect the ground reality? I don't know.

I don't want to pass any personal comments on her as a person, and keep myself limited to her case with Tenoch. I feel bad for her acid attack, but what she did to him was nasty. Terrible.

Here's what I suspect. All of our conclusions are based on publicly available info. Behind the scenes? She could have quieted down and shifted her focus elsewhere (other cases that are more important). She might have found solace in the fact that she was able to successfully deliver a blow to Tenoch's career. She might be covering up her criminal traces. She might be working on her network politically. Or she might be quietly planning another attack on Tenoch (I actually doubt that).

But boy do I hope he sues the hell out of her.

Sorry for such a long post! I had thoughts. I hope you keep the world bright through your goodness and optimism! 🫶

#tenoch huerta #tenoch huerta mejia #jose tenoch huerta mejia #maria elena rios #elena rios #long answer #i had thoughts #anon asks #answered

[castletown-cafe]

Life Updates, AuDHD, and A Mental Trainwreck

Content Warnings: Mental illness, current events, betrayal trauma, abuse, & family death.

It's time I talked about how things have been for me lately. I'm tired of hyping up all these things/projects I can't commit to, it feels like I'm making promises I can't fulfill. I get too ambitious, I get too many ideas, and even the ones I manage to see through, I just do not enjoy the writing portion.

About a year ago, my focus drifted away from Castletown Cafe. Many of you here may know what that's like to lose interest/hyperfixation on one thing and get fixated on something else, that's natural for us with autism and ADHD. We get an intense hyperfocus on a topic or project for a while only to shift to the next topic, losing interest or forgetting about the previous. I got really fixated on Pokemon Scarlet & Violet, Splatoon 3, and ACNH this past year, as well as making my own unrelated cooking projects revolving around seasonal ingredients. This fall, I got crazy ambitious for an entire fall-themed cookbook and even a Halloween one, things that obviously will take years of practice and experimentation (and need year-round work).

On top of that, however, I have not been feeling as well mentally this year. I've had less motivation to draw, and felt a stronger dislike of writing. If you have ADHD you know how hard it is to get yourself to do something you don't want to do. It's like pulling teeth. I've always had issues with executive dysfunction, and I wonder how much of it I've succumbed to this year. And while I've never been diagnosed with clinical depression, I'm wondering/concerned if I am showing signs of it like I might have been this year with my lack of motivation, my focus and drive getting worse, loss of enjoyment of things I ordinarily enjoy doing, such as drawing, feeling sad more often, and either sleeping too much or too little.

Granted the events of this fall haven't helped. We all know what's going on in the world right now. It's horrifying, it's depressing, and it's easy to feel helpless, but we all have the power to protest, to boycott, and to use social media to amplify voices of the marginalized. I have been very active on Twitter with this, but it has also been hard to enjoy my favorite times of year, the fall and Halloween, when tens of thousands are being massacred. It's no wonder I have been so depressed this fall, knowing the country we live in is siding with the colonizers and is actively funding genocide. Our tax dollars are being used to fund this and many, if not most, American brands and companies are also in favor of it.

Then, in November, I discover that an 80s band I liked is guilty of VERY inappropriate behavior toward women. One I had been listening to for the past few years. Fronted by a guy whose music I had enjoyed since childhood. I shouldn't have been so surprised, but it still broke me anyway. Another betrayal was a YouTuber who turned out to be an imposter with no thoughts or opinions of his own, only stolen from others. Yet another was a confirmation of suspicions I had toward a certain animator having NPD and being abusive, (who, to be honest, I never actually liked, just her art style and cartoons).

Oh, but that's not all! Here's where it gets really personal, but I think I really need to disclose this. On top of everything going on, I had two deaths in the family recently. One was a parent whom I didn't get along with very well, the other was my old pup Oscar. My old doggo has been easier to grieve, because he was a sweet, good boy....and honestly....he deserved a better end to his life than what he got. He was living with my father, keeping him company. My father was the parent I had a bad relationship with, and is the reason I advocate strongly for responsible and careful drinking. Because he failed to do that. He always used alcohol for self-medication, something you should NEVER do. His substance abuse got worse and worse over the years, driving him meaner and more abusive. He was never really kind to me, even if he tried to be. I never had a good relationship with my father, and honestly I know a lot of people can relate to that with one or both of their parents. A lot of us have betrayal trauma from growing up, maybe you have parents who don't love you unconditionally, or parents who never wanted to be parents, emotionally or physically abusive parents, you get the idea. Mine just so happened to be a man born and raised in a time where there was no diagnosis for his neurodivergence. He had tons of internalized ableism that he pushed onto me, and modelled horrible, angry behavior. He also had depression, but never sought help, and I believe that's due to toxic masculinity.

He can't hurt me anymore, though. I moved out of his house almost 5 years ago, and I wish it had been sooner. I'm not sure how to feel about his passing, because of how he treated me when he was alive. One thing I have been feeling though, is stress. He has left behind a house that is a disaster because he neglected to take care of it, tons of debt because he had failed to pay his bills, and no will whatsoever so inheritance is also going to be a mess to untangle. My family and I have been going back to that house to clean it, get it repaired, and figure out what to do with everything left behind. Right in the middle of a holiday season. What fun /sarcasm.

On the topic of Oscar, it's safe to say how he passed/what happened. My father went first, and so Oscar just curled up next to him.....and stayed there until he also died. And honestly....that's just heartbreaking.....I wish Oscar could've howled for help, that someone could have heard him and come to his rescue and taken care of him....but he didn't....I just wish i could have been by Oscar's side in his final moments. I know he was an old dog, he lived to be 15 and a half...but he's with my grandma now and I hope she's taking good care of him, wherever they are.

Meanwhile, Penny has been a new family member since July. She has been by my side to give hugs and cuddles, and I've needed them a lot these past few weeks. Since Oscar stayed behind to keep my father company when I moved out a few years ago, I missed my puppy, and having a little doggo around. And so, enter Penny. She's even registered as an emotional support animal, or ESA, and she goes all kinds of places with me. I love the attention she gets from other people when we go shopping together. Her cuteness lightens up a room and makes the day of many people.

My little fluffy girl has been a big help getting me through everything this season.

Back to Castletown Cafe, it may take a while, but I hope one day to return to it. I have all kinds of ideas and things I want to make and practice, and I also hope to create more content in 2024, even doing more live gaming on Twitch. I got a new computer for streaming, but I still need a monitor for it. I wanna have a streaming schedule and everything.

I really appreciate all of you who are still here even though I haven't been able to make many new things or deliver upon hyped ideas. I feel bad about my lack of content this year, though with recent life events I think it's really understandable as to why I haven't been able to churn out much in that regard.

One more thing: I do want to disclose that my ADHD is unmedicated. I can't get medication for it (not with this hell-thcare system) and I don't know what I should take for executive dysfunction. For those of you who made it this far with ADHD, what do you recommend?

Anyway, thank you for taking the time to read this, especially if you made it all the way to the end here. I know it was a lot, and some of this is REALLY heavy stuff. These are things that we all do go through, however.

Thank you.

~ Mari 🧡

#long post #cw: death #cw: abuse #cw: addiction #cw: grief #mari speaks

[flonautilus]

Thinking about the way vox positions his brand and his own image -- his company stands for perfection, for innovation, for trustworthiness and progress; how hard he probably works to maintain a respectable image while wangling Val's whims. This is a man who, in a hell that respects pure brute power over anything else, created an empire based in consumer trust and playing on the human instinct to follow the herd, don't fall behind, keep up.

We know that alastor made a name for himself by almost deliberately playing a provocateur, upturning the status quo, framing himself as an unpredictable threat, and it's fairly consistent in behaviour patterns as well -- Alastor relishes in disturbing other people's sense of comfort; he turns to fear and intimidation as his first weapon.

Both of them use reputation as a tool but in completely opposite ways, and even in their personal relationships as well (another interesting point -- Alastor is much more genuine with people he does consider friends, like Mimzy and Rosie, but Vox never seems to fully let down his persona even with Velvette and Valentino? He has that big fake smile on with Velvette in ep2, and with Val he drops the smile but still plays the charming, reasonable, logical business partner -- at least until Valentino gets under his skin by mentioning Alastor. There's technically ep8 but I'm almost certain that's an exceptional case?) And both of them know very well how to play to their audiences

Well there isn't really a conclusion here but I find it really funny that in one season we're sorta already seen both of them break their own image to an extent? Vox obviously showing a total lack of composure on live tv, but also, Alastor's loss to Adam. Like I've seen some people say it's not a big deal because Adam is so strong, but the problem is that Alastor's reputation relied on the mystery of his power ("no one knows where he came from; he just started toppling overlords one day, and not small ones either"), and losing to Adam puts a definite upper limit to his power.

Basically he went from unknowable eldritch monster to like, powerful overlord sinner, but still a sinner.

Thoughts about recent leaks under the cut

You know what else is interesting? Vox's biggest asset is not his personal power (though it's almost certainly not small either) but rather the trust the people of hell invests in his brand. It makes me think that actually the primary conflict of season 2 will not be a physical battle (Adam) but a battle over the narrative. And who's the people of hell going to trust more, the overlord that's been providing them with technology and protection(?) for decades, or the princess of hell who's not here visible in public eye for ages, and heaven, who's been trying to kill them since who knows when? (obviously charlie stopped the exterminations which is a big plus on her record but that wasn't exactly a show of redemptive power was it? The strength to resist and unite yes but also the power of having hell's big daddy on your side)

And okay I'm not super sure still what vox is planning to do with hypnotizing the whole of hell, but I wager rather than any aggressive action (not his style) it'll have to do with convincing people that they really are irredeemable, that hell is the status quo and come on, do you really think those angels believe in redemption? Do you really think you can be redeemed after everything you've done? Pentious was an exception; he wasn't all that bad to begin with, and you don't think the princess' silly hotel can actually help you, do you?

And y'know what putting it this way it's suddenly clear to me why the vees are designed that way (because obviously they were planned to be one of the main villains way ahead of time) -- they represent respectively mass entertainment/social media/porn and drugs, all possible means of addiction and soft control and getting people to basically surrender to their own vices (more than hell already does of course) (gambling is another addictive means and I'm hopeful but sceptical that they'll explore it through husk)

But anyway. The Vees have much to lose if redemption succeeds (technically all the overlords do but eh). It's why I'm sorta hopeful that S2 and maybe S3 will feature a much more in-depth discussion of the topic of redemption? Who can be redeemed, what does redemption involve (beyond literally sacrificing yourself?), are there any limits to redemption?

Though putting it this way makes me think none of the vees aren't going to meet good endings ahshdd or at least they'll have to fall very very far to even get a chance at it bc why tf would you even consider redemption if so much of your power depends on people just giving into hopelessness and dependency? Not that any of them would ever want to be redeemed but...idk. and really that's a huge conflict in the show right? Charlie doesn't fundamentally understand why some people wouldn't want to be redeemed not just bc of addiction or other reasons, but the ones who benefit from the status quo (Alastor, vees, the overlords to some extent or another). And heck like Rosie and cannibal town helped stop the extermination but how much do they actually care for redemption vs getting a chance to eat angel meat? The show makes it pretty clear it's the latter. Charlie struggles to understand even Angel and it's why it's husk who gets through to him, cuz they can understand each other (but it doesn't mean Charlie's efforts are insignificant, they created the space for redemption in the first place)

And that's I think the central conflict of the show? That heaven (at least the side represented by Emilie) and Charlie believes everyone will to some extent want to be redeemed, it's just the lack of opportunities; Adam and lute and sera's side, who disdain and fear that if provided any opportunity, hell will always rise up and overturn heaven (ngl heaven and hell in Hazbin always reminded me of gated communities?); the vees who want hell under their control and in extension to convince that redemption is too far out of reach to bother; and maybe like Lilith too who I sorta suspect doesn't actually care for redemption as much as overturning heaven's authority? (But all we know of her is like a few minutes/seconds so like...)

Final thoughts but I was admittedly disappointed in the presentation of episode 6; for redemption to be worthwhile you need to show why heaven is so good, not just why hell really sucks, and imo the welcome to heaven song isn't really that convincing? It's a clever mirror to like a happy day in hell, but you can't just tell me everyone is happy every day in heaven and call it a day, like what's life actually like in heaven, rlly it just looks like a metropolitan city but in pastels?? Do people in heaven ever have personal conflicts; how are those settled; what does social life look like; happiness isn't just the lack of like addiction, poverty, pain, etc tho that goes a long way.

#inane ramblings #hazbin hotel #vox #alastor #might delete and rewrite later #it's a mess but i just wanna throw it out first #also inspired by like that really good post about alastors and voxs portrayal of power

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

I don't watch a lot of US tv shows. Not because I think they are "bad", but more because they barely hold any appeal to me.

The last few I tried were like : let's start with a pointless sex scene, because dang, regular american boy loves that! Also, let's not pay anyone to do the light. Better if it's too dark to see anything at all 60% of the time, wow we're so gritty.

That said, I happened to stumble on Night Sky. And the reason I got interested was that for once, our two heroes were old people (and it's sci-fi, which I have always loved). And as the heroes, the tone of the first episode was very much slower, calmer and yet super interesting.

It had zero useless sex scenes the whole way, the plot unraveled at a pretty slow but good rhythm, the acting was good. Lovely.

and then.

and then, the number one reson why I've been mostly staying as far from US shows as humanly possible.

The reason why I absolutely despise 99% of all american TV shows.

They can't ever write a freaking ending, and you never know if a show is going to be "renewed" or not.

I've been watching so much shows from other countries where the show is clearly bought to last a set number of episodes, so there is always an ending. Good, bad, I don't even care, as long as it's there.

Now I'm left with no ending, more questions than answers, and the absolute certainty that this was my last ever foray into "made for the US" series.

What are your thoughts about that format? You obviously watch older movies, so I'm not sure if you are into shows at all. I'm curious.

Pfff, I watch sort of everything anon. And definitely tv series.

I wasn't sure how to answer your questions because there is a lot to unpack and honestly? In order to get an encompassing answer, I'd have to write a thesis. But I'll keep it short.

In terms of American shows not getting an ending and in turn, becoming a frustrating viewing experience, I'd say that it has more to do with current production practices and the industry at large, rather than the shows being American. The US has produced most of the greatest tv since its invention and we have experienced the golden age of television for the first couple of decades of the 21st century.

I'd say that the problem is represented by the streaming services and the run of the mill and cancelled shows are a product of that culture. Binge watching, too many projects getting a green light leading to a lot of trash as well, focusing too much on algorithm and quick social media response lead to abrupt cancellation. And sometimes they do it for tax purposes as well. It's the same in the film industry.

Getting out an entire season to streaming immediately hurts the people behind it. With cable tv, writers had a more long-term job, each season had more episodes, the episode was written specifically to fit in commercials as well. Direct to streaming changed that for the worst, hence the writers strike. There's a lot more to be said on this and you can watch this as well, it will help

Poor lighting has indeed been another criticism which I can understand. It's because they're shooting on digital and somehow it gives this illusion that it's more "realistic"? It's not, it's just lazy and it's a shame. Lighting in cinematography is an art and there's plenty of examples out there.

Lastly, the "useless sex scenes". I wonder what constitutes as useless for you though? The existence of a sex scene is not just for some "regular american boy". It's part of a lot of people's lives and being depicted in fiction is to be expected. There's nothing wrong with watching it, for everyone. Would it have a point only if it advances the plot? Could it not be another means of characterization? Of setting a mood? A commentary? Perhaps a glimpse into a life? There's plenty of reasons, even if it appears "pointless". It's unfortunate to see this trend nowadays, but at least it creates debates from people on all sides. I'd actually say that the lack of eroticism and the abundance of sexless characters in a lot of mainstream cinema/tv is creating a false, artificial image of a world that gets boring really fast and certainly a fictional Hollywood subpar to everything that came before.

#m thoughts #film talk #tv series #hollywood #american tv

[telomeke-bbs]

BAD BUDDY – OH, THE ALLEGORY OF IT ALL

This write-up was inspired by something that the ever-incisive @miscellar posted on 27 Sept 2022 regarding Bad Buddy's lack of homophobia (linked here), by the resurfacing of Pran's guitar during my rewatch of Ep.3, and also by a post from the thought-provoking @faillen (which unfortunately I can't track down and link to – my apologies!).

I really wasn't planning to do another write-up of this kind for some time, since we're now in the Bad Buddy rerun season and for the next few months I was only planning to list observations (not any kind of analysis) while going through the episodes in chronological order. Just a bit of light (if long-winded) reporting, avoiding (what amounts to, for me at least) any kind of heavy lifting to do with the messaging behind the media.

I'm actually far more interested in the social, cultural and linguistic aspects of any media I consume, and Bad Buddy is so rich in these it's possible to ignore its weightier content. My preference is for entertainment media to be lighter on the political front, since real life can be heavy enough to deal with. And I've been actively avoiding the heavier stuff in Bad Buddy, for these and other reasons.

But now I think it's time. 😉

It should be clear to everyone by this point that Bad Buddy is very much an allegory for the experience of growing up queer in queer-hostile environments.

The series is fronted by the out, proud and wise Khun Noppharnach Chaiwimol after all, so some aspect of queer messaging was always going to be inevitable in the mix.

(above) Aof Noppharnach Chaiwimol

And part of the genius of Bad Buddy is that its queer themes are interleaved within layers of fulfilling (and sometimes even exquisite) TV drama craftsmanship from all those involved, from the crew, to the writers, to the directors and of course to the actors (with a couple of exceptions perhaps, and I think we can/should forgive the inexperienced newbies among the cast). The queer themes are there, but they're not the eyewhacking coat-of-arms in the center of the tapestry – they're woven unobtrusively into the main fabric instead.

As homophobia is basically absent from their fictional universe, the fact that PatPran's relationship is (eventually) a gay one is – on the surface at least – totally immaterial compared to the other issues dealt out by the narrative.

For example, they have to hide their friendship behind a fake rivalry at university, because their faculties are at war. And then they have to face the hostility of family members – their parents – because their relationship (romantic or otherwise) is forbidden due to the enmity between Ming and Dissaya.

We see Pat trying to live his life as a do-over of Ming's, according to the rules set by Ming himself, rather than on his own terms. And Pran fights to contain the expression of his musical talent, as symbolized by his guitar-playing, because of Dissaya's displeasure with it (I've written-up Pran's side-story in greater detail in my previous post, linked here).

To deal with the pressures that their families and social circles put on them, Pat and Pran are forced to be a certain way, to act a certain way, and to conform to established norms or the needs/wants of others. They deny their authentic selves and their illicit relationship, burying their true natures, in order for there to be peace in their lives and so that they can go about the basics of just living.

But that comes with always looking over your shoulder (that's Pran at the wonton noodle stall in Ep.3!), and resorting to lies and subterfuge in order to get things done (Let's build the bus-stop together! It's for a good cause! But we can't let them know the whole truth, that we're really friends!).

There are so many examples. It's everywhere in Bad Buddy. And if any of this sounds familiar to LGBTQ+ viewers, well of course it's intentional. Because Pat and Pran's lives basically depict – metaphorically – the hostility, hiding, self-denial and performative deception that so many LGBTQ+ people have to grapple with on a daily basis.

But the strife in Bad Buddy from the warring faculties and families, Pat re-living Ming's glory days for him, and Pran's side-story with the guitar, are all allegorical in their messaging of the queer experience – none of the drama or conflict springs from anybody actually being LGBTQ+.

So in the end, making the trauma queer-adjacent rather than queer-centric, all while cloaked in the comfortable fleece-lined coverlet of a Thai BL rom-com, means that even non-LGBTQ+ viewers will be able to identify with Bad Buddy's themes of alienation and othering, as it applies to their own lives.

If you've ever had to face familial, social, religious, or any other kind of pressure because you are different in some way, even if you're not LGBTQ+, it wouldn't be difficult to be empathetic about PatPran's predicament. The fact that the queer aspect is right there embedded in the fabric of the show, without being the cause or focus of the angst, still alerts any viewer to the issues faced by the community, simply by osmosis.

And that's a gentle, yet powerful way of getting the message across, that everyone deserves to be treated with respect, including members of the LGBTQ+ community of course, but really it includes anybody who's disenfranchised, marginalized, or discriminated against for arbitrary, unjustifiable reasons.

I've said it before, and I think it bears repeating, that perhaps Bad Buddy's greatest gift is its normalization of the LGBTQ+ experience, while demonstrating that so many struggles of the human experience are common to us all.

For in looking past our differences to the commonalities that bind us, we take the first step toward creating a world that allows for differences to exist, without the discrimination that harms so many.

Pat and Pran found a way to surmount the opposition in their lives and live their own truth, and in doing so found their way to a very satisfying ending for their love story.

The message to us is that we can live our own truth too – and not only that, but also that we should live our own truth. Because ultimately it's what we deserve – just like everybody else. 💖

#bad buddy #bad buddy analysis #bad buddy allegory #bad buddy queer allegory #aof noppharnach chaiwimol #lgbtqia+ #telomeke #patpran

[timidloner]

I am interested in the sociological perspective!!!

I’ve noticed that all these conventionally attractive white men look the exact same to the point where they’re not really attractive to me anymore, like the only point that makes them attractive to me is finding out a unique thing about their personality!

Hey! I'm glad you're interested, and thank you for waiting as well. I really took my sweet time with your question, but I wanted to find a moment of inspiration. Let's thank Tenoch Huerta for giving me one.

I want to start by saying I'm not a psychologist, social investigator or anything like that, I'm just someone who likes to play as one.

Also, I'm an outsider in a LOT of things. An observer. The English-speaking side of the Internet is very centered around the US, you literally can't escape from it, and I get to know about a lot of things going up there when I'm not even searching for it.

The issues in the US aren't the same as the ones in my country, and the social dynamics at play can be similar, but they aren't the same. It's an experience like this.

(No es un chiste de saquénme de Latinoamérica, pero sí saquénme, pero mejor no, pero si quieren sí, ahh se creen, no lo hagan, pero en realidad—)

I feel interested in this topic because while people these days are generally more open to appreciating different kinds of beauty, it all feels very rigid.

I think it's obvious that white beauty is still the standard, conventionally attractive people are those who no matter their race get close enough to fit inside that box of "fine" features. Or those who possess whatever characteristic (rich) white people have decided that is good enough to trend for now.

Also, I feel like this is something that we have deeply rooted inside ourselves, and it's a process to get rid of it. For example, here in Mexico you grow up hearing that the whiter you look, the better you are.

To say that marrying a paler person than you is seen as a triumph since your children won't be as dark as you. This is just the tip of the iceberg, it's a shitshow.

And that stuff affects how you see yourself and other people, how you decide that one person is more attractive (or worthier) than another is. And I think it's the same in a lot of other places.

So, I think the reason behind why handsome white men people in social media are so similar to each other it just as simple as that they fit and beauty sells.

So, of course we're seeing the same kind of person over and over again, they're who perform best on social media. Everyone has been taught to be attracted to the beauty standard in some way, people will and do gravity toward them.

Also, I think spending so much online, seeing these "perfect" people everywhere, tends to make us feel bad about our unique features, those that differentiate us from each other. Which could let us to try and get rid of them to the point where everyone looks the same.

Not to mention that beauty standards are always moving in and out style, if you change yourself to fit in now, what will you do when it changes again? And again? And again?

The only people who can do that are those with a lot of money and free time, and normally they are the ones dictating what's the trend. Which is why I see beauty standards as a status symbol.

I think it's better to find your own kind of beauty, more than chase trends. Dress how you like, style your hair as you want, do what makes you happy as long it doesn't hurt you or other people.

#from lon to you #ask away!

[maxverstepponme]

some of my opinions on recent matters summarized and other takes because fun!

- i was very neutral about alexa for a long time but i'm starting to like her alot! as another anon said, i think just her vibe and aura itself is very pretty. she seems like a really nice girl. also charles seems to have a type for the "shy and sweet" girl, charlotte only ever seemed „confident“ online but she came across as very shy but polite in videos with fans and often seemed unsure of herself. her modelling bts videos from a few weeks ago were also screaming insecurity tbh..

- i somehow have stopped caring for kelly completely. idc anymore. i don't keep up with her grooming and immature ass, idc for what her and max do, idcccc and it's the best feeling ever besties. if max is dumb enough to still be with her--well, shit. that's on him. ofc i would still be more than ecstatic if they'd break up but yk what if not...again, on him. also on talks with dilara,, i really miss that girl! what a stunning and sweet woman. max fuuuumbled. But also Dilara? You single honey?

- for some reason rebecca herself doesn't give me that much of an ick,, like at least it's known she's an escort and being with men for money and her fifteen seconds of fame. which is also the reason why i don't get why carlos picked her exactly for a PR relationship because it's obvious for anyone who is on social media. also carlos never has chemistry with any of his girlfriends. it's so fucking bland and dry and giving noooothing. he literally has more chemistry with lando and charles at that point lol

- isa hernaez posting shady tiktoks is just funny asf to me for some reason. also. why now. but it's funny to me and tbh she's been glowing since the breakup. maybe she's still sheming with charlotte s. who is also posting some questionable stuff here and there like the happier than ever when i'm away from you video

- at the talk of cha s. i feel like she only has two types of fans left. a) the ones who are still desperatedly clinging on to charles and "chacha" and making awkward edits of them and b) those who hate charles and are all like "omg cha you're the queen" and "mother's side of the divorce always" and are saying that her new guy is hotter than charles,,, girl. bffr. i'm cackling. who are you trying to fool baby? also funny that her new guy is apparently like shitty or sumn

- also i know absolutely nothing about that erling haaland guy and his weird isabel girlfriend other than that he's kinda hot and she has crazy eyes and is shitty too, but i find it entertaining as hell lol i'm eating that drama up like munch munch munch mhm delicious food. also good to know that not only f1 has weird wags lmao

1. Agree! So far I like Alex and her vibe, so I hope she doesn’t end up going to the dark side.

2. Same. At this point nothing she does surprises me, and even though we don’t care about her that much, I still hope Max opens his eyes. He deserves better than that. Also, Dilara has a boyfriend, and his name is Max 😭

3. They’re just so weird imo. This is either a bad PR relationship or they made it public because everyone found out he cheated on Isa with Rebecca.

4. Yes yes and yes!

5. The “I’m a child of divorce” narrative is so cringe to me. Like people need a lesson on relationships and that many can end 💀

6. I also agree with you on this. She has the crazy eyes and everything that has come out about her creeps me out. Her mom stalking other women had me shook. These men need to stop going for psycho and insecure women 😭

[pinkpeccary]

all or any 5 of the warrior cats breeds asks? 💜

!!! hello friend!!!! 💚💛

okay i picked 5 via random number generator here we go:

Japanese Bobtail: Which Clan is your favorite? Why?

aesthetically i have always liked windclan the best and it was by far my favorite growing up; i think to a degree it will always be my favorite.

more recently though i have gotten a lot more appreciation for riverclan because while the focus at least for a lot of the early stuff was very solidly in thunderclan i think the narrative throughout leopardstar's leadership had a lot of very interesting stuff within riverclan that i wish their perspective throughout was more centered (it's okay though because i have been thoroughly indulging in that lately courtesy of @mallowstep)

British Shorthair: Medicine cat or warrior, which would you rather be?

i'm inclined to say medicine cat but realistically i think warrior is the better option. like i like the intellectual aspect of the former, but i think the spiritual aspect and specifically the immense pressure that comes with it (combined with the reduced permission for forming social bonds) is kind of a dealbreaker.

like child me would 100% say medicine cat but honestly a decent chunk of that was the overwhelming need to feel special and important and now i think i'd much rather be Just Some Guy.

Himalayan: Who’s your favorite villain?

probably scourge. i am a sucker for characters who are beaten down by the world and say fuck it, if power is what makes the world go round then i will get some for myself and kill anyone who tries to stop me. like. i will burn this whole world to the ground before i let anyone hurt me again.

in retrospect i don't love the moral of "atheism makes you weak" in his downfall but it's made up for by the fact that i remember first reading the scene where he kills tigerstar so hard he dies nine times and it was so. like there's a post on here somewhere talking about how scourge and bloodclan are like. eldritch horror. i don't remember exactly how it goes. but something about how like we see tigerstar being eviler and eviler for six books and then scourge comes out of nowhere and kills him like it's nothing. blew my child mind.

also the scene with violet and barley in cats of the clans fucked me up a little bit when i was like ten.

Somali: Forest, lake, or mountain territory?

the forest holds a special place in my heart for being the first one. i think also, people have been pointing out a lot of things that have changed (culturally speaking) since the early books (things like kits not being allowed out of camp until they're apprenticed, queens not sharing who the father of their kits is, etc) and that isn't specific to the territory but it does feed into the nostalgia.

also i just was a very big fan of the journey to the moonstone rite of passage and the moonstone specifically i like a lot better than the moonpool so that's another point in its favor. something something caves.

Ragdoll: Who are your favorite and least favorite characters?

favorites are ivypool, poppyfrost, and yellowfang (tpb at least, i didn't like a lot of her stuff in the later books because i have a lot of negative feelings towards how starclan behaves later on; but i really really liked her relationships with fire and cinder).

ivypool's whole thing resonated with me a lot when i first read it because of how i related her relationship with dovewing to my relationship with my sister (although now a lot of dovewing's narrative resonates with me as well, and i can appreciate the relationship from both sides)

and poppyfrost i just. i latched onto her for some reason; i have a tendency to become very attached to random side characters in media that i know aren't going to be important but i love them anyways and she was the one for warrior cats. i love the jaypoppy bit where he literally walks her back from death's door. i felt bad for her ending up with berrynose after honeyfern died; even with confirmation that he did also love her it still didn't feel quite fair.

least favorite is hard because like. okay my issues with characters are often less "i dislike this character" and more "the narrative wants me to like this character and i don't". like. brambleclaw. i don't think i'd have an issue with him really if it weren't for the story constantly acting like he's never done anything wrong in his life. and like i think there is interesting stuff in his character i just wish it was written better.

i remember really really not liking clear sky throughout that entire series, but i honestly forgot most of what happens after i finished it aside from that one gray wing line so idk that it really counts.

warrior cats breed asks

#thank you!! #ollie talks #warrior cats #fulltimesunshine

[ivaspinoza]

Your thoughts??

"In our dreams, we have limitless resources and the people yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hands. The present education conventions fade from their minds, and unhampered by tradition, we work our own good will upon a grateful and responsive rural folk. We shall not try to make these people or any of their children into philosophers or men of learning, or men of science. We have not to raise up from among them authors, editors, poets or men of letters. We shall not search for embryo great artists, painters, musicians nor lawyers, doctors, preachers, politicians, statesmen, of whom we have an ample supply…The task we set before ourselves is very simple as well as a very beautiful one, to train these people as we find them to a perfectly ideal life just where they are. So we will organize our children and teach them to do in a perfect way the things their fathers and mothers are doing in an imperfect way, in the homes, in the shops and on the farm."

General Education Board(Rockefeller philanthropy), Occasional Papers, No. 1

You guys are kicking the doors of my inbox with some hardcore stuff, and I love it.

Short answer: the educational system is a scam. But you can figure that out just by reading the General Education Board.

Long answer? Well, before I start, let me quote this Scottish dude that died in 1832:

"Every man who has become, in any way, valuable, has taken the reins of his own education." ‒ Sir Walter Scott

The "history of education" is an extensive research that, after some point, revealed itself as fruitless to me, as I was busy with other interests. No mainstream media and easy-to-find books will help you on this journey. But it's a good start for anyone who wants to understand more about how this world works. I must say this is not a road for the faint of heart. If you don't have a solid, truthful hope, you might go a bit nuts.

During my bachelor's degree, after dropping 4 half-completed graduations, my keen nose guided me to study about this and one thing led to another. You end up seeing the same family names, their companies, then you check a bit of underground history and politics, artistic movements, ideologies, parties, big tech and pharma development... I mean, none of this is new. It's been happening since forever, so let's get a bit more dystopic and realistic here:

We are under a big system that wants to smash your face into the ground and break your teeth. They will give you the illusion of two polarized sides, and make you fight your brothers and sisters till death, while hiding truth in plain sight and keeping you busy on a 9-5, confused and tired. Always sedated, if possible. Always scared. I was actually working on a poem that goes like this:

"There they teach you to love what's bad Here we teach you to hate what's good They teach you to tell lies We teach you to hide truth"

Don't take me wrong, I'm all in for education. But I only believe in self educating. You will eat as much as you're hungry.

We are intelligent beings for a reason. We were designed to think and understand. But thinking is actually quite hard and not very encouraged anymore, and no one can actually teach you how to think. You have to learn by yourself. You have to want to think.

I mean, most people don't even stop and ask themselves why they are doing things the way they do. It's what my therapist says: stop the autopilot!

As a former teacher, I can tell you there is so much more to developing cognition and process of thought, and creativity, and virtue and social skills, than to sit in a classroom all day, being fed a very filtrated and distorted version of "world history". They teach you to hate true knowledge. And let me tell you this: the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, and all their little friends, are not only relying on the educational system to remain on power.

And there is so much I could write on this, to be honest, but I don't want to. It's not necessary. I can quote George Orwell instead.

#hard subjects to talk about #keep them coming #no wait i didnt say that #but if youre interested in this or related subjects im happy to talk about it on dms #ivatalks #dystopia #research #information #education

[hitaka5ever]

I haven't been on social media much for months and I'll explain why here and how I plan on finishing the rest of the year and what my goals for next year are (I will probs forget to do it later, hence why I'm doing it now)

Anywho, my main reason for being away is for my mental health that has gotten much worse since the end of summer, mainly of course to do with the genocide of Palestinians and the amount of information that has been shared by millions. I've kept my eye on the atrocities on and off since it started, getting some info from family, who I visited recently, but for the most part I've avoided minute-by-minute coverage

I'm a very empathetic person. This means I have a strong sense of noticing others' emotions that become a part of me after enough exposure to them. So for example, if someone I know is extremely sad or cries, even though I'm not experiencing their sadness or pain, I get emotional along with them (since I spend 99% of my time with mum, we feed off each others' feelings and physical attributes the most)

So my depression and anxiety are the main reasons for my absence on everything but YouTube and email. I ultimately have to take care of myself before I can worry about anyone or anything else

I'm back to seeing a therapist every other week on Thursdays via Zoom. She's the first therapist I've ever had that's asked me what my main goals with therapy are and what I'm looking for. My last therapist asked the same thing, but we never actually went over anything practical. Right now, my severe anxiety is what's ruining my life the most, so I wanted to focus strictly on that for now. I want to know what I need to do to combat my anxiety in specific situations, like being out in public places

I've brought up before that I have severe hearing sensory overload. If too many physical noises (meaning stuff not on a screen or through speakers) surround me, I get very jittery and weird feeling in my head and body. I have to leave the room when it gets really bad. Normally I can calm down within 5 minutes of leaving the situation, but that's only if I'm in between 2 people talking with each other. It's a lot worse when they're talking over one another. My worst experience was having sound inside and outside my house that surrounded me on all sides. It took ~30 minutes to return to normal after I went into a secluded area to listen to music with headphones on. As you can imagine this is way too much stimulation for my broken brain to handle, so finding jobs out in the real world are very hard on me

That comes to my next bit of information: I'm still unemployed and looking into temporary disability through my therapist while I learn to take control of my anxiety. I have severe PTSD from being bullied in middle school, living with a mentally abusive parent, and having experienced a terrible car accident almost a year after I graduated high school (this was in 2009) So trusting people on and offline (less so online) has made my adult life very difficult. Riding in vehicles to reach a certain destination was the absolute worst symptom of my mental illness from 2009-2021, and even now I get very subtle anxiety knowing when I have places to get to. I'm obviously loads better than I was back then thanks to meds, but now I have employment to think about, which brings on its own problems

Finding jobs that don't include retail, fast food, or talking to people face-to-face or via phone, especially in my shitty small town, is a nightmare. I've tried finding work remotely at home, but there's always at least 1 requirement that makes me ineligible for the job. I want to make money making digital art, but I lack the skills and exposure in a world where even the most experienced freelancers are struggling to make ends meet (bc of artificial images (AI) taking over the community) As you can tell, this gives me very limited job opportunities and I don't know if I qualify for disability on a normal basis rather than a temporary one, so either way I have less than $150 left in my bank and unable to pay my parents rent bc of all of this

But things here aren't all bad. I enjoyed going to stay with my sisters for all of November where they live, getting to spend time with 4 cats and a foster baby (I did get a bad cold the last week of vacation, but that was the only bad thing about the trip) and coming home to have something I haven't had since 2020

We are fostering a purebred Pitbull girl named Stella for the rest of the year. She's 8 years old but still in her prime and we have become best buds (and napping pals) since day 1. This was a trial run to see if she would be the right fit for the family, and so far everything's been going great, minus her ear infections that we're taking care of. Stella has basically become my dog and we're likely keeping her for the remainder of her life. She's the sweetest and most chill dog I have ever met and I fell in love with her immediately. It took her 2 days of coaxing to be used to getting on my bed, with and without me, and she follows me everywhere I go, so we're bonded for life lol

So that's the most exciting news I have to share about what's been happening with me. I get to go into the new year owning my very own dog and learning how to cope with my anxiety before and after it starts, so I'm looking forward to the new year

Speaking of the new year (I'm almost done, promise!) I have a few goals for 2024 that I really want to stick to my guns about

Run a successful Kickstarter making and selling fire-breathing insect and bug stickers

Making extensive reference sheets of my OCs and fan fiction characters (eg my werewolf au and LoZ stories)

Learning (digital) art restoration. When I visited my sisters, my oldest was gathering foster kid stuff when she became a foster parent, and she got a set of Mega Building Blocks that had significant wear and tear. Some of the pieces with stickers on them were faded and peeling off, so I want to remake those stickers, get them printed, and give them to my sister so she can restore the broken pieces for her future foster kids. This gave me the idea of restoring art that has worn down or ruined over time. I like taking electronics apart and putting them back together again and I enjoy the assembly and design of things, so I think restoring physical items could become a potential art job

Learn basic idle animations of characters and objects. A Clip Studio Paint user makes tutorial videos on the official English CSP YouTube channel, and their latest is simplistic animations in CSP, so I want to try it out and offer it as a commission option if I'm comfortable with the process

Cartoonify famous or interesting places from real life, such as cool cities/towns, schools/colleges, or the Seven Wonders of the World, etc

Visit my friends at our homes or going out to restaurants and into town. My anxiety has made being around the friends I've grown up with really hard as well, not just with employment, so I want that to change a lot too

Legally change my name and gender after wanting to for the last few years (Rocky Dean (dad's middle name) Fuller (mum's maiden name))

Look into getting top surgery in the next 3+ years. I'm finally to the point where having breasts is ruining my life physically (back pain) and mentally (dysphoria) so I need to find a surgeon that doesn't require weight loss or hormone therapy to do the procedure

Just do art in general

That's all for now!

[blackpoolcombatwriter]

Who do you think is more to blame for this latest drama?

I'm not sure if you're looking for an answer between Punk or Perry, but my answer is this all falls on Tony Kahn's shoulders. Or at least 90% of it since he should be able to trust his roster of adults to not get violent with each other backstage. But since the past has proven he can't and he hasn't done anything about it, I put most of the blame on him. That's the short answer. There's a longer one under the cut since I'm sure a lot of people are tired of seeing or thinking about it.

Some of this is speculation or deductive reasoning on my part so keep that in mind. I have a hard time believing that Tony didn't know part of his roster was blaming Punk for Colt's situation. Tony loves being friendly with the roster and I really don't think you can spend a lot of time backstage without hearing about something like that. Whether Punk did ask Tony to keep them apart or Tony assumed that's what Punk would want, he let those rumours continue instead of addressing them. He allowed bad feelings on both sides to simmer until they finally boiled over at Brawl Out.

It makes me think back to how the other smaller issues we learned about were handled. The ones between Sammy/Eddie and Sammy/Andrade. They eventually made their way to the dirt sheets but nowhere near like it's been with Brawl Out and Brawl In. I'm not even sure we would have found out about Sammy/Eddie if it weren't for fans asking where Eddie had gone when he was suspended.

Instead of taking care of Brawl Out and both sides leaking stuff to the dirt sheets, Tony just let the sides continue to take shots at each other. When they all came back, he kept them on different shows and as far as we know, there not been an attempt at resolution between the sides and more people have gotten involved since then. Tony could have sent out a memo if he didn't want to say it in person but he should have let his whole roster know that taking unapproved shots(live on TV, post-show, or in interviews or social media) is not tolerated. I would add no talking to the dirt sheets but I highly doubt the dirt sheets would admit to Tony who leaked them information so that's harder to stop.

And obviously communication is lacking huge between the two shows. I don't know how much crossover staff they have but guys shouldn't be finding out last minute they're now unbooked from a show. I'm sure they're still paid but that's an extra day they could have spent with family. And the head of talent relations should be exempt from being banned from any show because he's kind of important(no matter how respected Punk might be backstage, it's not his job to tell talent what they can and can't do, it's talent relations but can't do that job if you're not there). AEW needs more staff that aren't wrestlers.

This next part I could be way off, and this is where deductive reasoning comes into play, and I can admit that I could be way off. Tony books about 10-15% of his roster very well, maybe another 25-30% decently, and everyone else fights for scraps. That leaves over half the roster unsure of their spots. I can see where a young guy like Jack Perry, who used to be featured a lot more as a babyface, might feel like his new heel character isn't clicking and needs to do something shocking to make an impact(his cry me a river comment, not the fight obviously). On the flip side, there's still veterans who feel like you need to pay your dues before you have the right to say something like that and that Jack was being disrespectful.

At the end of it all, most of the blame should fall on Tony's shoulders for not acting like an owner and a boss and allowing the tensions to get to this point yet again. There's no simple fix, it's gone on too long for that. He definitely needs to hire non-wrestlers for the backstage non-wrestling jobs. And maybe not give veteran wrestlers so much creative control over other wrestlers storylines until they've proven themselves. If he doesn't get things under control, he's going to end up with two wrestling companies because his roster refuses to work together.

#j answers things #anon asks