#and she sure was present and influential that book

[bookwyrminspiration]

it took me longer than I care to admit to realize the reason tmos’s cover is an elephant is probably because elephants are Thaena’s sacred animal. and thaena sure was. important. that book

#a chorus of dragons #the memory of souls #that covers bothered me for a while #well. not bothered. but bemused #book 1 dragon makes sense. sharanakal #book 2 horse: horat #book 4 kraken: the Lash #book 5: kind of a halo around a skull? kind of divine and dead? which fits well enough #also with the glyphs on them #but an elephant…? there are no elephants in book 3 #my first though was the whole thing about elephants having long memories #and it’s the memory of souls #but that always felt weak #however! thaena is tied to elephants #and she sure was present and influential that book #so. that seems more correct #took me a while to put together #still might be wrong though

[dostoyevsky-official]

Struggling as a single mother in 1967 to raise a son on scant funds while teaching 10 college courses a year, Helen Vendler realized that “the only way I could make my life easier was to give up writing” — something she couldn’t face. " ‘They can’t make me,’ I said to myself in panic and fear and rage. ‘They can’t make me do that,’ " she recalled in an essay decades later. “I suppose ‘They’ were the Fates, or the Stars, but I knew that to stop writing would be a form of self-murder.” As she had done before and would do again, Professor Vendler found a path through that crisis. And soon she published the second of some 30 books of poetry criticism she wrote or edited while becoming one of the most influential and esteemed figures in her field. [...] “I believe poetry is for everybody,” Professor Vendler, who was still writing and publishing essays, said in an interview for this obituary as her health was failing. “Helen understood that all poets needed what she did so they could take the next step,” said Jorie Graham, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet who had barely heard of Professor Vendler when she reviewed Graham’s earliest work for The New York Times in the early 1980s. “I encountered the most lucid account of what I was doing that I could ever hope for,” Graham, who became a friend and Harvard colleague, said of those first reviews. “She certainly taught me right away that there was more to a poem than I could fathom on my own.” Seamus Heaney, the late Nobel Prize-winning poet whose work Professor Vendler championed early on, once said that “she is like a receiving station picking up on each poem, unscrambling things out of word-waves, making sense of it and making sure of it. She can second-guess the sixth sense of the poem.” “I do understand, I think, what it feels like to be a poet, even though I’m not one,” Professor Vendler told the Harvard Gazette afterward. “I was born with a mind that likes condensed and unusual language, which is what you get from poetry.” [...] At Emmanuel College, from which she graduated summa cum laude, Professor Vendler decided against studying literature — taught there, she wrote, “as a branch of faith and morals.” Majoring in chemistry, she found science crucial to her intellectual development. “I think it’s the base of everything I do,” she said in a 2004 National Endowment for the Humanities interview. “You have to be exact in all your writing in science: your flow chart has to go from beginning to end with all the steps accounted for, and all the equations have to balance out. Evidence has to be presented for each step of your reason.” [...] At Harvard, Professor Vendler also taught a celebrated core course, “Poems, Poets, Poetry,” which was aimed at non-humanities majors. “I thought — and still think — that all people would like poetry if they were only brought up with it and shown how easily it is entered into and what enormous solace it has to offer,” she wrote in a 1994 essay. Poems offered vital comfort and support to her as well. “Helen needed poetry to live by,” Graham said. “She fashioned and honed her moral sense not through the church, but through the church of poetry — the whole history of poetry. I can’t imagine a poem that she didn’t know.”

Helen Vendler, a towering presence in poetry criticism, dies at 90

[ceasarslegion]

I mean this in the nicest possible way but somebodys media tastes do not inherently mean anything. And yes that includes if someone has positive associations or mixed feelings or anything short of total hatred of harry potter. I mean this in the nicest possible way but that series was one of the biggest cultural phenomenons of the 2000s whether you like it or not and you look like a massive asshole if you unironically go around saying shit like "if you ever liked harry potter i hope your transphobic ass dies." And if youre about to claim that i must support jkr and i must be a terf because i said this im informing you right now that that is the exact behavior this post is about.

I am so goddamn sick of people acting like hate campaigns against random ass people is an acceptable response to having had any association with the most popular childrens series of the 2000s at all. I am so goddamn sick of you chucklefucks acting like this is the pinnacle of trans activism or helps us at all. Do you think i give any hint of a fuck about what books someone read as a kid when i exist in the real world as a trans person who is affected by actual legislation? Do you think it helps me at all to be constantly reminded of an incredibly influential person who wants me dead who wont shut up, who you keep feeding attention to like your goddamn life depends on it every time she trolls for outrage on twitter? Do you think that helps us? Do you honestly think it helps us when you start talking about how people should lose their jobs over liking a book?

But sure. That youtuber with a video titled "i played the old and terrible goblet of fire game from start to finish" where they go haha look at how glitchy this is for 45 minutes is the most pressing issue in the world to us.

It also yknow, totally sounds amazing and helpful to how your cause looks to an outsider when you unironically say shit like "if you like that extremely popular book than you must be a terrible bigot who deserves to die." Youre not scaring anybody away and you are presenting us in the most favourable light to somebody on the fence who could still be swayed. Get it together.

#vent post #i am so sick of this im so sick of it #based on a real thing i just saw too #the youtuber example i used is something i just saw that made me snap and write this

[joesalw]

Ok, that's gonna be long one.

One jet is around $50 million. She has two. And now she had the ig tracking account taken down claiming that's an invasion of privacy. Very interesting considering the account existed for a few years and she didn't have any problems with it and now suddenly she gets called out for abusing the environment it's become invasive. The lady is shady. And the fact that her answer about not going to therapy is 'i feel very sane'. Oof. She's republican raised for sure. Those people think that any mental health issue equals clinical insanity and if you're seeing a therapist there must be something wrong with you.

She's jumping from one relationship to another and doesn't even know who she is. She just molds into whatever her man wants or what looks best for the image. She doesn't know how to exist on her own. For someone who presents herself as a 'girlboss' she sure doesn't have a sense of self-worth and always has to have a man next to her. No matter how bigoted he may be. She's not getting any younger so she's getting desperate and that's probably why she's unleashing on Joe. If she wants a kid, she doesn't have much time left so she latches on to every man throwing themselves at her in hopes of a happily ever after. It doesn't work like that. Fix yourself first then move on to look for someone to build a life and future with. There's no way any sane grown man would want a self-sabotaging, fight-picking, obsessive overgrown teenager with no sense of boundaries to even marry let alone have a child with. She doesn't know where her public life ends and private one begins.

I'm sure Joe saw all of that and dipped. It's not good to bring a child in that environment. And if they'd ever had one, she'd go on with her life and he'd be a house husband. I've never seen TS as maternal, nurturing or even mature enough to have a child because she seems not to have the capacity to take care of herself. In 2016 Joe was the one who took care of her and 'saved her'. It wasn't her own doing. And when he left, she started spiraling again. She portrayed herself as a mature grown woman in her 2020 albums and that turned out to be a farce. She's still that same insecure 16 year-old but richer, more influential and famous. Her recent interviews are a solid proof of that.

Her music is also nothing special. Some generic pop with repetitive and recycled melodies. She's not a vocalist, not a dancer, doesn't have a superb instrument skill, there's barely any emotion in every song she sings. Her lyrical topics are the same and don't hold any though provoking themes. She uses nonsensical metaphors and uncommonly used words to make her lyrics look better and herself seem smarter. It doesn't change the point of the song though. Argumentative antithetical dream girl is just a glamorous way of saying manic. Machiavellian is a way of saying manipulative, being morally indifferent and self-serving, lacking empathy. Sure does sound nice, huh? "I'm only cryptic and Machiavellian (manipulative, selfish, deceptive, cunning. call it whatever you want) 'cause I care". Machiavellianism in psychology is described as one of the traits in the Dark triad model. Right along narcissism and psychopathy. Mastermind is masterminding out in the open and no one bats an eye. The psychologists that named the trait after Niccolo Machiavelli said that one of the core features is lack of concern for conventional morality (they aren't concerned about the morality of lying and cheating). If you're into psychology Richard Christie and Florence L. Geis (the ones that named the trait) have a book "Studies in Machiavellianism" which is a pretty good and insightful read.

(just my assumption) I'm sure Joe dropped that word on her and she was like 'ooh, sounds nice and Machiavelli was like very political, a bit controversial and cool and people refer to him a lot, I'll definitely be using that in a song'. lmao. little did she know. I think she thought he meant it in a political sense and not a psychological one. Which are totally different things. And I'm sure he was like 'lol, she thought'.

There're a ton of celebrities bringing her up on talk-shows as well. At least once a week there's a bit on some show about a certain celeb's interaction with her. As someone who enjoys learning english trough media that's quite disturbing. I see her everywhere, TV shows, news articles, social media outlets. She's becoming inescapable. And that makes me wonder about the proportion of celebrities and journalists who genuinely like her and the ones who bring her up to get more attention. God forbid you say anything negative about her. Her Karen army will immediately send death threats your way, make fun of every aspect of your life or even dox you. And with her silence she's enabling this behaviour because she's a self-proclaimed Machiavellian (whether she chose a psychological meaning for the song or not) and doesn't care what her minions do as long as she doesn't get called out for it.

She only allows non-critical journalists to interview her. I mean, what kind of self-suck is that? An interview should be a form of discussion and not an ass kissing session. Any negative article about her will have your whole outlet blacklisted from interacting with her and her team. She needs to be in full control of the narrative all the damn time because she knows that once she lets go of the rein all of the skeletons in her closet will fall out on their own.

She's digging her own grave and I'm here for it. Last time she could make Kim and Kanye the villains and this time she'll have no one to blame but herself. Her narcissistic flat ass would make Tree the scapegoat if there's no one else she could point her finger to. It's always someone else's fault but hers. A chronic victim of this cruel patriarchal world.

I have studied psychology briefly and have learned about the dark triad and machiavellianism. What's surprising to me is that high mach people can gain advantage in the short run but ultimately lose their power in the long run because people start seeing through their surface level acting, which is what we're seeing through her behaviour right now. She acts to be an activist only when it benefits her. But swifties have so much obsession with her that even if they find it disturbing, they will try to justify it. Also idk how Taylor flexes about her machiavellianism, like to me that's not something to be proud of, the ends do not justify the means when you hurt so many people in the process. The fact that she's accepting she's cunning, manipulative, deceptive and lies to get things according to her own interest tells a lot about who she is as a person! no wonder why Joe didn’t want to marry her. Her machiavellianism trait only benefitted her in the short run

#anti taylor swift #joe alwyn #swifties dni

[skippyv20]

Spotlight on Markus Anderson + SOHO House

Hi Skippy & Friends-Pilgrim here thinking it is ABOUT TIME an intense spotlight unearths the truth of what has been going on at SOHO Houses since their beginning in London. We do know their specially designed wallpaper that looked like flowers was really private body parts up close. We have read and deducted that Markle basically lived in them, having her own place to store luggage in London. Didn’t JH describe in Spare being taken thru secret hallways to get to her door? Together Markus & Markle, who act like friends with hot benefits in photos, enjoy playing gaslighting games together. It seems he can go either way as it has been written he had a fling with Edward Enniful-who did the disastrous Vogue issue with Markle and is just now retiring as the editor-in-chief of British Vogue. As for her, well, she sends wedding rings back in manila envelopes saying it’s over while having been living with the new guy and is in the process of moving onto the next victim. She changes religion with a snap of her fingers. Don’t forget all those foreign business trips to famous playgrounds on yachts in-between, proudly photographed and presented on her Tig site as if she was on her own dime- sure Jan. 6 degrees of separation with this group is more like 2.

We do know that Markus Anderson was born in Ontario, not far from a private school a 17-year-old Randy Andy attended for one semester. (Hmmmmm-dare I wonder about the older, half-brother/cousin possibility?) Anderson started impressing the bosses at Toronto’s SOHO House and is now their global membership director helping drive the company’s international expansion. He was/is? the guy rich patrons called looking for easy, classy, hook-ups. From the U.S. Sun, “He started working for the company as a waiter but quickly moved up through the ranks, turning his hand to practically every position at the company on his way up the ladder. The stylish chap is the right-hand man to company CEO Nick Jones and personally crafts the guest lists to some of the biggest celebrity parties - including an annual Oscars bash. He was named one of Toronto Life’s 50 Most Influential in 2014.”

We do know he and Markle have been in cahoots for years, (she went to Toronto for Suits in 2011) travelling together often. I have so many questions about this man it’s not funny. He was photographed at the Montecito polo fields babysitting a weird acting Markle, seemingly calming down tempers after a huge fight. He was THE one ushering Markle closer to Prince Harry, be it polo matches in the UK, parties with international magnates or the 2017 Invictus Games. He was one of 4 who was in the IG’s suite waiting for the prince to come up and say a formal GOODBYE to Meghan but instead, was met by Doria who told PH what was reeeallly going to happen. He was the one who gladly showed up at her half million-dollar, bogus baby shower in Manhattan to take her out to dinner. She told the paps what door to be at and they were photographed as she walked out NOT wearing the huge baby bump she sported when she arrived! He is the one who babysat her now orphaned dogs staying behind in Canada. He was around so much many said he was living with them starting on Vancouver Island. I even think Archie looks just like HIM! I’m referring to the child shown off with Rev. Tutu and reading the Duck/Rabbit book. This whole dang thing stinks to high heaven.

Yes, shine a big spotlight on this man and company. If short sellers discover there is not enough to sure up the value of their stocks…well then SELL!!!

Thank you Pilgrim!  Great post!!!!❤️

[thatrickmcginnis]

LYDIA LUNCH, Toronto 1988

The closest thing I had to a photographer's studio in early 1988 was an unused room behind the bar at the Silver Dollar Room, a former showbar-turned-strip club that was reopened as a rock club the previous year. This was where I'd do a series of portrait shoots that turned out to be pivotal in my early career, beginning with Lydia Lunch, who came to Toronto on January 26, 1988 on a spoken word tour. Lydia was a star in my little world, famous since her band Teenage Jesus & the Jerks had four songs on the landmark No New York compilation album a decade earlier. She was by this point known as a force of nature, making records and films and publishing books, with a personal style that was as influential as Siouxsie Sioux in that every town's scene had at least a couple of dozen young women who looked exactly like her.

Lydia Lunch showed up performing the material she'd later release on her Oral Fixation record, a pioneer of the spoken word genre (along with former Black Flag singer Henry Rollins - more about him shortly) that would turn out to have real longevity. My photos of her were meant to accompany an article my friend Tim was writing - a paean to the woman who was a kind of nihilist sex symbol in the underground subcultures that had formed since punk rock. So I tried to approach the shoot as something like glamour photography, not dissimilar to the photos I'd take of actress (and onetime Bond Girl) Jane Seymour for a fashion magazine a couple of weeks later. Bringing along my little portable studio - a light stand and umbrella bounce, a portable flash and a big white painter's tarp I carrried around in a gym bag - I cleared a space in the storage room at the Silver Dollar and found an unbroken bar stool that I place midway between my tarp backdrop and my flash.

Delivering a decent shot must have been a priority when I photographed Lydia Lunch because I shot two whole rolls of 120 film that evening hoping for something worthwhile. If you know anything about Lydia you'll have some sense of how intimidating she can be, by choice. (I don't think she'd have a problem with that statement.) My contact sheets show me moving closer with my camera as I got a bit more confident with my subject, who (perhaps accidentally) presented a bit more than her usual defiant face as we talked and took pictures. Lydia had just released Honeymoon in Red, working with guitarist Rowland S. Howard (about whom more soon) and members of The Birthday Party; when I told Howard (in the same back room at the Silver Dollar) that I'd photographed Lydia just a few weeks later, he asked how she was, and I said that there were occasional frames where I got a glimpse of the Catholic girl from upstate New York. He smiled and agreed, laughing that while he'd seen the same aspect of Lydia, he was sure she wouldn't be pleased about it being revealed.

#portrait #portrait photography #photography #black and white #film photography #lydia lunch #punk rock #musician #author #early work #some old pictures i took #photographer #mamiya c330

[talenlee]

How To Be: Cassandra and Rapunzel from Tangled (In 4e D&D)

In How To Be we’re going to look at a variety of characters from Not D&D and conceptualise how you might go about making a version of that character in the form of D&D that matters on this blog, D&D 4th Edition. Our guidelines are as follows:

This is going to be a brief rundown of ways to make a character that ‘feels’ like the source character

This isn’t meant to be comprehensive or authoritative but as a creative exercise

While not every character can work immediately out of the box, the aim is to make sure they have a character ‘feel’ as soon as possible

The character has to have the ‘feeling’ of the character by at least midway through Heroic

When building characters in 4th Edition it’s worth remembering that there are a lot of different ways to do the same basic thing. This isn’t going to be comprehensive, or even particularly fleshed out, and instead give you some places to start when you want to make something.

Another thing to remember is that 4e characters tend to be more about collected interactions of groups of things – it’s not that you get a build with specific rules about what you have to take, and when, and why, like you’re lockpicking your way through a design in the hopes of getting an overlap eventually. Character building is about packages, not programs, and we’ll talk about some packages and reference them going forwards.

You know the story of Rapunzel? The kid’s story about a girl with long hair in a tower which you can tell as a bedtime story and it takes maybe ten minutes, fifteen if you’re doing a lot with the voices and details and want to make the witch’s end really grisly? Well, yeah, turns out that got a movie back in the day and then that movie got a TV series and that TV series kicks ass, and so for this Smooch Month, I decided to try and make an article about base-level optimising choices for a pair of characters, a battle couple. In this case, one of those Battle Couple members is Rapunzel, the hero of the story Rapunzel, and the other is, uh

Her name’s Cass.

Original art by Nonadraws

And hey, I’m going to talk about some spoilers for a kid’s cartoon you probably didn’t watch but I do like it and I think if you care about spoilers, well you should watch it without me being the way you find out about the third story arc of the TV series and what it means okay byeee.

Alright, what do you know about Rapunzel and Cassandra? They’re Disney Princess style characters so it’s not like you see a lot of comic book measurement stuff going on in their stories. They’re adventure stories, and the characters are as tough and strong and smart and witty as they need to be to get you to an ad break, or, because this was late 2018, probably to the next streaming check-in. Though maybe they have ads on Disney+ now, it wouldn’t surprise me.

The characters are pretty basic, though so it means it’s not that hard to give a rudimentary breakdown of how they present in the story and then how that informs choices about how to build them in the rest of the game.

Rapunzel,

Is a charismatic leader with a huge variety of skills. In the story of Tangled she’s shown developing a huge variety of skills, including engineering, crafting, knot-tying and juggling, which implies mathematical skill.

Extremely sociable and prosocial and operates in a good faith with almost everyone.

Access in some form or another to influential music; she can sing songs that change people’s minds or maybe make a compelling case.

Cass, on the other hand:

Routinely is shown handling weapons and wearing armour

Is represented as being physically fit and uses her physical strength to achieve things

Doesn’t, at first demonstrate any magical powers or prowess

For this exercise, the challenge is not in trying to find a way to represent everything the characters can do but instead to present an example of how two players can construct their characters so they fundamentally work together, while sticking to the framework presented above. It’s also going to try and build a pair of characters that work together expressing the different versions of these characters that you can perceive throughout the story, in a way that fills two complementary roles in a party.

Basically, how do you make team synergy that also leaves other people ways to connect, and can it be done such it looks like the different possible iterations of Cassandra and Rapunzel?

Before the Beginning

First principles, established introduction for Cass and Rapunzel. You have Rapunzel, as she was at the end of the movie Tangled, and her handmaiden Cass. These are characters who are very new to one another and new to their relationship to the world. Rapunzel has not been a princess before, and Cass has been a handmaiden in waiting looking for a princess to take up the mantle.

Cassandra in this time is also sneaking out to fight. She wants to be a warrior, she has aims to be a knight, but her predominant job is to be a handmaiden doing needlecraft and proper courtly management. At this point I would suggest you can represent Cass best with a Rogue, and Rapunzel, without magical powers as a Warlord.

The build I’d pick for Rapunzel is a lazy Warlord – the build that doesn’t actually have to make attacks of its own, and only grants them to other people. The best advantage of this build for Rapunzel is that it avoids her needing a high strength score, and instead focuses on things like her Wisdom and Charisma. While Rapunzel does not commonly wear heavy armour, this kind of build can give up on armour in exchange for better and more free movement.

As a rogue, Cass can emphasise a good basic attack, which is exactly the kind of thing a Warlord wants to have on hand. The Thief build from Heroes of the Fallen Lands starts with a good basic attack, and can do things that emphasise and improve it.

During The Day

The next major iteration of the pair, Cassandra is now openly able to act outside of the Handmaiden duties she has in the castle. She gets involved in fights, but her fighting is in defense and protection of Rapunzel. Rapunzel, on the other hand, now has access to her hair again, which changes a lot about how she acts – now she’s a character with a lot of reach and the means to control people at distance.

For this pairing, which represents the bulk of the narrative of the series, I’d represent Cass with a Fighter of some variety, and Rapunzel now as a Bard.

Rapunzel as a Bard can take the Superior Weapon Proficiency (Whip) and have that represent her hair. Melee bards don’t have to care that much about the power of their melee attacks, but they can do things that trigger off those attacks. An example would be the Skald bard, where you set up an aura around you and trigger buff effects off your basic attacks.

The Fighter gets to wear armour of varying degrees, but can mix up a melee weapon and a bare hand, if you want Cass to feel like a fencer, or you can represent a shield with a reinforced arm guard, and play a much more standard fighter build. The bard can grant attacks, or temporary hit points depending on build choices, and the fighter can capitalise on that.

The Lonely Twilight

In the final season, Cass and Rapunzel are apart, broken up by the revelation that Cass is the real child of Mother Gothel and has had to deal with Rapunzel literally being chosen over her by even her own mother. But in this time, Cass embraces magical power, and gets lithomancy magic, a kind of stone based magic. What it looks like is attacking with spikes and having big chunky stone armour. She still draws a great big sword, and she still fights with that.

At this point, the Cass looks a lot more like something like a Paladin. Her powers are driven by her personality and she’s less mobile. If you take this aesthetic, this look, you’re going to see her raging out and swinging a big sword. There’s a lot more magicality to her area control, and if you want the Warden could do the same thing, similar vibes. The heavy armour pulls me towards Paladin here.

Rapunzel is at this point full blown wizarding with glowing eyes and magical incantations and the hair as a whip is less important. For this end, and because a thing like granting basics is less important, I’d instead look to a Cleric as your compatriot pair. Two different sources of divine powers are pretty cool but also they can have overlap on energy damage types. A cleric who goes for blasting lasers and charisma based powers can benefit from the Radiant Mafia build, and that means these two bring the core of what that needs to any given play group.

Junk Drawer Options

It’s pretty cool how many of the leader types can be stuck onto the different versions of Rapunzel. Bards, Clerics, Warlords, they’re all covered, but don’t neglect the value of the Shaman or Artificer, which both can carry a lot of the feelings of the setting even if Rapunzel herself doesn’t do much with it. Cass is very limited but if you don’t want to play the defender type in the group, she can play a dual-wielding Ranger or Scout, too.

At this point the outline of this document is a thousand words. Presenting specific examples of things that can make builds work together in synergy is pretty challenging. There are things like Agile Opportunist and specific ways to maximise basic attacks. With a really off the wall option you can have Cass doing the leader duty of a Bard while Rapunzel takes up the job of a Wizard or even –

yes, I’m going to mention it

A druid.

Okay, okay, I’ll stop.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

#cassunzel #DnD 4e #How to Be #tangled #Dungeons & Dragons #Games

[alivesoul]

Poet, playwright, activist, educator, and essayist June Jordan was born in Harlem, New York City, in 1936. An only child, she was raised by her Jamaican immigrant parents in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. She began writing poetry at only seven years old. Jordan attended high school at the Northfield School for Girls in Massachusetts and university at Barnard College, which she left without a final degree due to her alienation from the strictly white and male literary curriculum there. She married and later divorced Columbia student Michael Meyer, with whom she had one child. Despite anti-LGTBQ+ stigma at the time, Jordan’s writing openly acknowledged her bisexuality.

The author of 27 books—including essay collections, libretti, and children’s books as well as volumes of poetry—Jordan was also a lifelong activist who fought fiercely for civil rights, women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights, and anti-war causes. She taught at CUNY’s City College, Yale University, Sarah Lawrence College, and SUNY Stony Brook before being appointed professor of African-American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, where she founded Poetry for the People. Jordan’s many accolades include grants and awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, PEN America, the National Association of Black Journalists, and numerous other institutions. She died of breast cancer in 2002. A widely influential poet who worked in accessible language to convey deep truths around identity, Jordan is celebrated today for both her literary writing and her dedicated advocacy for social justice and historically excluded groups.

Why are you posting this @alivesoul?

Because June Jordan taught a class at the University of California Berkeley called Poetry for the People and that class has been permanently cancelled. A shame. Teacher/Poets are essential to any higher learning experience as poetry informs us in every way of the world around us. I can't imagine my college experience without the poetry of Nikki Giovanni, Quincy Troupe and so many others. Beyond that, June is a truth hunter, a truth gatherer, and a truth provider---a modern day griot. I truly hope she finds a safe space within the diaspora to continue her work as she represents the very best of what it means to be Black in this country. The attack on Black intellectuals from Ta-Nehisi Coates to Claudine Gay is truly one of the great academic and cultural crimes of my lifetime and cannot continue to go ignored. Never have I seen so many highly educated and accomplished black men and women so unfairly attacked and discredited. These men and women are literally trying to save the soul of country by shining a light on the FACTS of our history, present AND on those who would profit from lies, greed and violence. If there is one thing I would implore those who read this blog to do, it is to read, study and protect not only our history but those who make it their business to make sure it is never forgotten.

We are excellence.

Peace.

#Alive Soul #History #Know Yours #Teach Black History

[bracketsoffear]

Ever After High: The Legend of Shadow High (Shannon & Dean Hale) "Now, Ever After High itself is very Web. The children of famous fairytales being destiny-bound to relive their stories or go 'poof' is the driving force behind all the books' conflicts.

However, Shadow High takes it to another level. The narrators, who were present throughout the series, are more influential within the story. Even the straight-laced narrator parents who believe only in observing stories leave 'plop devices' to coerce characters in or out of making decisions. The titular Shadow High is a school for narrators run by antagonist Ms. Direction after a narrator schism between those who observe stories and those who control them. Ms. Direction uses 'unmaking lava' that turns characters and props into the words that compose them, destroying them so that they can be made again in her vision. She also uses narration to compel characters into doing her bidding. The narrator of the book, Brooke Page, is the daughter of the other books' narrators and has frequent arguments with her parents between chapters about why she can't intervene in the story to help the characters. Brooke ultimately does this in the book's climax by climbing the Fourth Wall and asking the reader for help, turning the book into a choose-your-own-adventure and having the reader write in how Ms. Direction is ultimately defeated.

Also, it's a crossover with Monster High so Frankie Stein and Draculaura are there."

The Taking of Jake Livingston (Ryan Douglass) "Jake Livingston is one of the only Black kids at St. Clair Prep, one of the others being his infinitely more popular older brother. It’s hard enough fitting in but to make matters worse and definitely more complicated, Jake can see the dead. In fact he sees the dead around him all the time. Most are harmless. Stuck in their death loops as they relive their deaths over and over again, they don’t interact often with people. But then Jake meets Sawyer. A troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school last year before taking his own life. Now a powerful, vengeful ghost, he has plans for his afterlife–plans that include Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about ghosts and the rules to life itself go out the window as Sawyer begins haunting him and bodies turn up in his neighborhood. High school soon becomes a survival game–one Jake is not sure he’s going to win."

#web poll #the web #poll #the magnus archives #leitner tournament #Ever After High #The Legend of Shadow High #Shannon Hale #Dean Hale #The Taking of Jake Livingston #Ryan Douglass

[sukibenders]

(1) I hate that they gave laena the 'consolation prize' treatment to prop up daemyra. I obviously think laena deserved much better than daemon but at least in the book she seemed happy and loved, and the way her character was described sounded like someone who would've loved the life they had in the show (except for the part where she couldn't see her family as much as she wanted). Not that i like laena being reduced to daemon's love interest (or simply to what she meant in his life) but the show was never gonna give her more than that with the way they rushed through things so they could've at least focused on them and not on 'how can we use this character and marriage to highlight even more that daemon wanted rhaenyra and would only ever be happy with her'. They made laena unhappy and unloved to show that daemon was depressed cause he couldn't be with rhaenyra.

In the context of the show they could've made daemon and laena marry and leave to see the world and be happy away from the place, people and customs that made them unhappy or chained them down. Laena would've loved that i'm sure, and they still could've made time to visit her family at driftmark. Laena could've been a woman daemon didn't expect to fall for but did, a love that filled his heart and life despite the way he missed rhaenyra; their time together and the family they formed could've been idyllic while it lasted. It could've been an oasis in the desert for daemon and a truly happy (short) time for laena, before tragedy fell on them in such a horrible way.

Yes to everything you said! Now, keep in mind that while haven't read the books themselves I still know things about them from like.....Google search and just learning from people who've read it. Now, for how easy it was for me, it makes no sense as to why Condal and Sarah whoever and the rest of the creating team for the show couldn't do the same because it seems like they either 1.) had no idea the difference between show and book Laena (which is bs) or 2.) simply didn't care and really wanted to center Daemyra (which seems more likely for how much they focus on the two together). But back to your point. I personally don't like Daemon that much either, really only care about him for his proximity to, mostly, Laena and their children, but from what I've seen, him and Laena were relatively happy and he did love her. Like aside from him killing her betrothed, if he didn't then knowing who this character is there would have been signs that their marriage held difficulty (I do believe the same couldn't be said for Daemyra in the end but that could be a factor of the war) but there weren't. Because, unlike what the show presents, he genuinely loved not only her but his daughters as he brought them to court and King's Landing multiple times.

In context of the show, to add more backstory behind their relationship: you could had Laena growing into herself as a woman, having contrast when we last saw her in prior episode, and have her know her worth (better than her parents trying to give her off to the king). She rides the largest and influential dragons in the world (I would have added a scene of her claiming Vhagar personally but Condal saw it as "unimportant" which was stupid) and comes from one of the richest houses in Westeros. With that in mind we could see her actively seeking Daemon out, like in the show during the wedding, because she knows that she wants him and she will make him notice her. Regardless of what any toxic Daemyra stan says, Daemon not only noticed her but was enthralled as well because he followed her to the dance floor and hardly took his eyes off of her when they were together. We could of had a scene of him explaining his travels and how he isn't burdened by the society around them (foreshadowing their future) and then, when the fighting starts, have him protect her from harm. Their marriage, to even hone in more that he loved her and didn't view her as a replacement for Rhaenyra, show him seek her out this time but, surprise, she turns him down because she views him as still wanting Rhaenyra. It isn't until he kills Bravos (which good for her because I would have added that too) and goes to her father for her hand that she (and the audience) truly realizes that he wants her. They get married and there's actual love there between them because Daemon, keeping good on his word, builds a life for her that isn't weighed down by their society around them and provides her a freedom that she definitely wouldn't of had with Bravos or Viserys. We could see them bonding and enjoying one another's company during their travels (have Laena send letters to Laenor about the new places they have been) and she ends up pregnant with the twins or (because in show I think Baela is older) becomes pregnant with Baela and then Rhaena later on (which could have been a difficult pregnancy that could also explain why it took them a while to try again) early into their marriage because they were just so involved with one another. When Laena nears her end they could had her beg Daemon to take her to Vhagar, for one last ride, have him carry her with the girls behind him, have them hold Laena, their mother, one last time and watch as Vhagar flies overhead with her one last time (this could even add to their story more such as Baela wanting to build her relationship with Moondancer more as to be similar to that of Laena and Vhagar to Rhaena desperately wanting a dragon to feel what her mother felt). We could had this instead of that brutal death scene because, Sarah, I have choice words with her because even the actress for older Laena asked why that plot was added. We all know why it was added because, whether intentional or not, it feels more likely used to prop Rhaenyra's death as more badass as, already, I'm seeing takes of how her dying by dragon fire was a dragon riders death---even though, in the books I think, and actual dragon riders death was being able to ride your dragon one last time and then, by that context, doesn't that mean many of the Targaryen enemies died a dragon riders death as well....?

All of this could have fit in the show (maybe even more with a few more episodes----which still surprises me how many there are because of its predecessor GOT *reminiscing when shows had more episodes*) but if not, then some scenes within the existing episodes could have been cropped or scrapped altogether (especially certain scenes like Aegon jerking off or the disgusting foot scene). It wasn't hard for the HOTD creators to add this, especially into the context of the show (or maybe Condal just doesn't have vision) as what I presented was very simple. But instead, there was a very obvious centering of Daemyra from Laena feeling like a second choice to Daemon not wanting to return home (wonder why) and as a result keeps Laena and the girls from returning home too and so on and so forth. Like they couldn't even let this man shed a tear at his wife's funeral (he laughs instead) and then have him sleep with his niece (who thought that was a good idea) and ignore his daughters for his niece's children even though they were bruised.

These choices do a lot of damage not just from a plot standpoint with Daemon, but the implications. Firstly, there is, to me personally, very little good shown for Daemon that would make me see him as a morally grey character. Like even with Rhaenyra little is shown (why was his ass sitting in a chair while his pregnant wife is standing?) it doesn't read that much like a man who deeply cares for his family. If they had shown him actively in love with Laena and caring for their little family (like they do in the books), then I would have changed my mind, but they didn't. They couldn't even have him say that he loved her when Rhaenyra ask (don't get me started on her saying to him "you abandoned me" but doesn't add Laena in the context as well considering in the books they were friends, could have been another way to add details from the books subtly). Even his relationship with Rhaenyra's kids seems surface level. I actually like book Daemon more than show, and it's because of the things I listed. Instead, in the show, he just, personally, seems like a grooming piece of shit husband (like his brother).

Now on to the implications. When the Velaryons were confirmed to be black in the show, I was excited because I heard great things about the house and characters itself and was like "yeah, black people in fantasy especially on dragons", even forgetting the negative experiences I had as a black audience viewer from GOT and their treatment of poc characters. But I should have known. From the costume design to the wigs, it was already a sign. Seeing more scenes with the white characters than Laena and Laenor, who were crucial to the story and have them put into tropes instead was disheartening. For Laena, it's the disposable black girlfriend (or wife in this case) who can't measure up to Rhaenyra, Daemon's one true love, and can't even have her story be told how it deserves. For Laenor it could be the absent father trope because we see more scenes with Rhaenyra spending time with the children than him, barely see them grieve his "death" before they move on and he is never mentioned again. I won't get into Baela and Rhaena here too much yet until I see how s2 plays out, but already have issues with their character plot in the show and have little hope for the future for them if I'm being honest.

#hotd #house of the dragon #laena valeryon #baela targaryen #rhaena targaryen #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #anti daemyra #anti daemon targaryen #ask #lunars ask

[ceescedasticity]

'Unforsaken' cutting room floor

From where they're first talking about the possible warden. I guess I decided this got more detailed than it needed to be? I kind of like it…

------

Anyone know where Radagast is these days?

Celeborn says he was present when they were disassembling Dol Guldur and trying to restore things, but left even before the Ringbearers sailed.

Elrohir says Estel was mostly sure Radagast was helping with ecological restoration in Mordor for a while, but never actually caught sight of him and hasn't heard anything for a while. Maybe he went farther into Sauron's old territory?

So, no one knows where Radagast is in any useful way.

They might actually have some idea where one of the Blue Wizards is, or at least was: the Magus Caerulus who is or was very influential on the Men living in the lands just west of Pelndoru. Khitwê and Risyind don't know much more than that, but they assume the Men who live there would.

So they could, if they choose, go most of the way to Pelndoru and see if they can pick up the trail of a wizard.

A wizard who's apparently involved in human politics, Celeborn points out. That's not an obvious good sign.

(Okay look, it is not easy coordinating resistance to Sauron when you have no Eldar or Edain in your arsenal — Avari and other humans have the heart and the will to fight the Shadow, but they mostly don't have lingering bits of Valar-favor. If the Magi Caeruli didn't stay personally involved the people of the East and South just wouldn't have any tools to protect themselves. It's gotten a lot better! Almost no one thinks they're gods now and they're definitely not kings!)

(In a different incarnation of this fic, with additional digressions about the Blue Wizards and even more outrageous OCs— Well, never mind.)

Still: Going most of the way to Pelndoru and talking their way into meeting the Magus Caerulus is an option.

…Assuming they're still there.

Getting a wizard would be a long-term and chancy endeavor, and no one is very enthusiastic about it.

"Besides," Celegorm says, "it's not like you need to be a maia to fight a maia."

"Strictly speaking no, but…"

(Celegorm is thinking: Finrod actually didn't do too badly against Sauron until he lost his nerve, and Maglor is a much better bard than Finrod, and the Warden is — he assumes — weaker than Sauron, so this should be workable if Maglor gets in the right frame of mind.)

(Maglor and Turgon are thinking: True, but all balrog-killers died doing it and this thing may be stronger, so let's not get cocky.)

(Glorfindel, Celeborn, Elladan, and Elrohir are thinking: How much of Glorfindel's Second Age pre-return-to-Middle-earth power-up is still lingering? Is this hypothetical Warden bigger or smaller than a balrog, figuratively speaking? Also there's the Saruman comparison, Mithrandir did a lot to break his power but he was definitely vulnerable to other attacks, what kind of shape is this thing in—)

(Khitwê and Risyind are thinking: Wait, what's a maia again? Is it the same as a wizard or not?)

(Whiterot is thinking: About something else entirely because she doesn't want to think about maiar.)

(Sharlinnu is thinking: Is it too late to start taking notes?)

It's still not like anyone is planning to let this stop them either, so Elrohir asks if there's any procedure of arming for umaiar.

"Fire-resistant armor and the best weapons you have," says Turgon.

"That's balrogs specifically," Celeborn says. "More generally, you need to be aware of the mental and spiritual influence — like the Black Breath of the Ringwraiths, but possibly much worse — and be prepared to resist it."

"Just about anything dies if you cut its head off," Celegorm offers.

Maglor gives Celegorm a 'I know you are not actually this book-dumb, will you stop embarrassing me' look, which Celegorm ignores. "There are seventeen known repeating types of umaiar, and any individual might be unique. What Lord Celeborn said is the only consistent rule."

"Mithrandir left Glamdring here, though," Elladan says, half-joking. "He killed a balrog with Glamdring, so it could be considered a weapon for use on umaiar?"

"Hmmmm."

"I forgot to mention that," Glorfindel says to Turgon. "Glamdring is here — we don't know how it got to Eriador, but after it surfaced Mithrandir wielded it until he sailed — do you want it back?"

"…No thank you," says Turgon. "I don't think it would like being wielded by an orc."

Is there anything in the armory that would? They'll have to check.

Anyway, what about Maglor's anti-maia capacity? Clearly he's been keeping in practice driving orcs into the Sea…

Maglor wants to avoid admitting to weakness in front of Turgon, Celeborn, and the children more than he wants to yell at Celegorm for having unreasonable expectations. He says he can play a harp if necessary, but it's been a while since he did anything big.

Turgon says he thought they were already counting on Maglor to break the Crucible open. Asking him to fight the Warden at the same time seems a bit much.

Sharlinnu asks how the Dark Lord was defeated, anyway.

…They don't know?

Well, they know it happened fast and unexpectedly and Mount Doom erupted—

The One Ring was destroyed in Mount Doom, that's how.

…Wait, do they know what the One Ring is?

Yes, they know what the One Ring is.

…Actually Whiterot and Sharlinnu are a little vague on that.

Okay, if anyone wants details, there's a book. Suffice to say: No one actually fought Sauron.

All right, so there's no one — other than Glorfindel and Maglor, hopefully — particularly equipped to fight the hypothetical warden. Are there other people they could call on for more strength in general?

Well, there's Thranduil. He's pretty busy right now, though.

And while he's been easy-going about old Sindarin grudges in general asking him to work directly with Maglor Fëanorion might be a bit much to ask for.

Not to mention the orcs. Thranduil still struggles with dwarves.

Whiterot asks if knowing he has a… personal stake… would make it easier for him to handle it.

Nimloth? Maybe…

No, Oropher.

…

(Turgon, Celegorm, and Sharlinnu actually do all recognize the name — highest-priority Greenwood target in the Second Age. —Also Reckless and Sly really wanted to kill him. None of them had any idea he's an orc, though.)

(Celeborn is horrified, but not as shocked as he would be if Celebrían hadn't identified Ningloreth of Lórinand, who died in the same battle as Oropher and had less of a reputation for obstinacy.)

(Maglor never heard the King of Greenwood's name while he was king of the Greenwood, but recognizes the name from old intelligence on Iathrin nobility. He does not mention this.)

(Khitwê remembers the name from various history lessons in Imladris and has to remind Risyind.)

Personal stakes notwithstanding, Thranduil is still very busy and not guaranteed to keep his temper even when he's trying very hard. Celeborn would rather not involve him in this and would really rather not tell him about Oropher.

Círdan? Probably not.

…Although they should probably keep him in the loop.

Maglor sighs dramatically and asks if anyone knows where Daeron is.

Sailed under a false name, Celeborn says. So much for that idea.

What about dwarves? Or Men?

Dwarves might be able to help if not with a warden specifically, but… this isn't really their problem, is it? It's an elven problem. (It could be the dwarves' problem if it turns out there's a warden and it can trigger orcs multiplying, but that's never happened that they know of.)

It's an old, terrible, horrific, even shameful elven problem. Elves should take care of it.

#orc bank unforsaken #orc bank

[spade-riddles]

Submission:

A Swift checkmate

(A few thoughts @drizzletide and I have on Hits different)

Hits different immediately appears as an isolated song, if compared to the themes of Midnights. Just like a memory, abandoned deep into a drawer (a closet?) of the mind- let's leave aside the fact that it would have been a masterpiece of a single.

Why put such a song in an album like this? If we closely scrutinize it, it is easy to see it as the legitimate offspring of 1989 and Reputation. Putting aside the first doubts, this song is not about a breakup as we are initially led to believe. It is actually about a recently bloomed relationship, one still in the beginning stages, so frail that everything seems unstable and epehemeral.

Rings a bell?

The picture of an "unhinged" Taylor comes out fairly often in her most recent works. In Delicate's video we see her wandering, unstable and unsure in her moment of invisibility, crossing streets as she searches for something, or someone.

We know she will find what she was looking for in a dive bar (be it a Victoria's Secret after-party or a wink at some of the most influential lesbian pulp fiction, it is not that relevant).

In Hits Different we see her again, maybe tipsy, maybe desperate as she imagines the person she is longing for in the company of other women.

That was when the match struck.

I pictured you with other girls in love

Do the girls back home touch you like I do?

If you've got a girlfriend, I'm jealous of her

But if you're single that's honestly worse

Their song is always playing in each bar. What does it mean? That they broke up and this is some kind of persecution? Not if we see the song from a different perspective.

Suppose you're Taylor Swift, your last relationship veashed marvelously and perchance you meet Karlie Kloss, sensing all the cards of your well crafted deck into thin air. Are you ready to play again? Even music is giving you signals, in each and every bar.

You say "No, absolutely not." But then a melody makes you think of her. Constantly.

And I'm so furious at you for making me feel this way

We know how these scenarios play out. There are friends interfering, there's your past and in Taylor's case even bearding is thrown into the mix- the Kens she switches out and chooses from a vending machine.

Another match striking.

If this part of the song was a book, I'd call it "Young summer love" and there we see her, drunk as hell, screaming Karlie's name as they shove her into a car that she had already mentioned to us.

This is why I love her lyricism.

It's just like having an old photograph in your hands, and suddenly finding another that shows what was hidden in the first scene.

And that's how we know that Taylor did in fact get on that car, crying like a baby.

Said, "I'm fine, " but it wasn't true

I don't wanna keep secrets just to keep you

So this is not about breakups, but fear and terror.

The fear you feel when you're aftaid of losing someone.

Now let's see that controversial bridge.

Taylor's songs often contain elements of reminiscence. And Taylor has regrets, lots of them. She curses her uncertainties.

For what?

The only certainty was her love for Karlie. The choice of words, so melancholic, hides her resignation. It's tearful.

You were the one that I loved

Don't need another metaphor, it's simple enough

You must like me for me

You once believed in me

We know how things went and are as of now. I think that Taylor, just like all of us, must have her "what if' moments.

But back to the present.

Echoes of your footsteps on the stairs

Stay here, honey, I don't wanna share

This is the past by now.

Let's imagine this scene in the slumber of waking hours, as Taylor hears the key turn in the door. This is an open finale.

Is it Karlie?

Or is it the fabled "others" that will choose for her once again?

I'm sure of the answer.

And I woke up just in time

Now I wake up by your side

My one and only, my lifeline

The great war is over. Don't be afraid, there are many moves in a chess game. But what matters is the last one.

#submission #hits different

[batrachised]

please i need your thoughts on perry from the emily books, dump everything into a masterpost, he needs more love and attention <3

perry, oh perry, wherefore art thou Perry?

I'm afraid if you're looking for articulate thoughts on Perry I have very little to offer; my thoughts are more like "I Like Him :)" He's just a very fun, true to life character. In particular I think about how he is somewhat a foil to Teddy. Teddy we rarely get to see speak for himself, while Perry's voice is upfront and present throughout the book. This post is about Perry though, not Teddy, and so Perry away we shall.

There are two things that come to mind when I think of Perry Miller: (1) his support of Emily, which is a sharp contrast to others around her, and (2) his unwavering belief and confidence in himself. Rereading the books, there are frequently moments when Perry either stands up for Emily or protects her, although it can be very clumsily. There's a scene where iirc, she drops her penny in church and it's loud, and so he immediately drops his too. He makes a face during prayer which makes Emily laugh, and immediately takes the blame when she gets in trouble for it. In a typical LMM way this equally translates to Perry's faults (ie, his refusal to take no for an answer and sheer inability to be humbled is a double-edged sword), but a lot of the time Emily is put down by others, and Perry provides a satisfying contrast to that.

Now we come to my favorite aspect of Perry Miller: this boy is determinedly confident. I'm thinking here of this particular scene:

Perry Miller is someone who goes after what he wants and with gusto. What's more, he rarely does it gracefully. We have the repeated proposals to Emily, and we also have the hilarious scene where he's visiting the influential politician for dinner and makes every faux pas imaginable. He writes terrible poetry unashamedly despite everyone groaning over it, he's bold enough to to propose to Emily and thickheaded enough to keep trying. Speaking broadly, Perry is someone who is not self aware. This sounds like a negative trait, but it's actually why he's so appealing. He's an excellent example of how someone's greatest strength is usually also their greatest weakness. I think you could read Perry as arrogant, but in a way, I think his lack of self awareness represents true humility. It's like that CS Lewis quote:

“Do not imagine that if you meet a really humble man he will be what most people call 'humble' nowadays: he will not be a sort of greasy, smarmy person, who is always telling you that, of course, he is nobody. Probably all you will think about him is that he seemed a cheerful, intelligent chap who took a real interest in what you said to him. If you do dislike him it will be because you feel a little envious of anyone who seems to enjoy life so easily. He will not be thinking about humility: he will not be thinking about himself at all.”

Now I'll add the disclaimer that I'm probably skimming over significant scenes here because my memory is as watertight as a sieve. Perry is definitely flawed; many times, his attempts at being thoughtful are actually very thoughtless, and he is the epitome of bullheaded. But he's also charming, and to me he's charming for the reasons listed in that CS Lewis quote above.

Looking at his character through more of a modern internet lens, I think I also like Perry because he is someone who is not afraid (or perhaps aware) of being cringeworthy. We all are familiar with the internet culture's tendency to denounce things as cringe (is that outdated now?) when a lot of the time, it's just someone trying something new with all the grace of a first timer (or in worst case scenarios, it's literally children playing--like, sure, that 12 year old's cover of her favorite song might not be artistically fantastic, but does it need to be?) Perry defies this. I'm thinking of his poetry; it's awful, sure, but you know what? He created something. It reminds me of that story girl quote where Peter says something about how no matter what people may jeer, he created something that hadn't existed before with his poem (and on that note, Peter reminds me a lot of Perry). Perry shoots for the stars and lands on his face quite a lot, but he doesn't let that stop him. Idk, I don't have much more to say that "man i like that dude."

#perry miller #emily of new moon #lm montgomery

[creature-wizard]

(CW: This post is talking about Laurel Rose Willson/Lauren Stratford and her book, Satan's Underground, which was influential on the Satanic Panic. Stratford claimed she was a survivor of CSE and satanic ritual abuse, so there will be discussions of CSE and other disturbing topics! Also, in case you missed it earlier, her claims were completely discredited, and then afterward she went around claiming she was a Holocaust survivor. The whole book is bullshit, and its author was a fraud.)

We're nearly halfway through the book, and so far Satanism hasn't been a prevalent feature. But now, Stratford's slaver Victor is getting into it, because he's reached the point where CSA isn't doing it for him anymore.

And now things get really silly.

In the following months as Victor progressed deeper into satanism, his interest in pornography took a back seat. Learning the powers of Satan became his new "profession," as he called it. Each time I was taken to his home, Victor told me a new story about what he had seen in a ritual. At first the rituals seemed fairly innocent, and I wasn't too frightened. There was fire changing colors and ghostly apparitions coming out of the smoke. Bodies were levitated. Objects were moved by the power of the mind. Once he even described how the powers of Satan (which he always insisted were good powers) had healed a woman who was dying. The high priest had used magic to make the cancerous tumor come out of her body. "She coughed it up," said Victor. "I saw it with my own eyes!"

lmao sure

Victor starts telling Stratford about a ritual he watched where a woman sold her soul to Satan by signing her name in blood, which as I think most of us know is a trope that goes back to Europe's witch hunts, and is therefore up there with "every witch has a spot on her body that won't hurt if you prick it with a needle." Victor is presented as giddy with excitement over it, and he basically acts like an annoying new convert.

Some undefined but short time later, he's claiming that he's a high priest and holding grody Satanic rituals in his basement. He decides to dedicate Stratford to Satan in an extremely vile ritual. And I'd just like to point out here that I've never heard of any actual abusive Satanists, or even any cult leaders in general, who believe that you dedicate another person to Satan or any being against their will.

Stratford claims that the Satanic cultists allowed a finger to be cut off to the first knuckle. Satanists cutting off fingers is a claim that appeares in other discredited works such as The Satan Seller and Michelle Remembers. Despite this, it seems that nobody who participated in the Satanic Panic and believed in these books ever thought it remarkable that significant numbers of people put on trial for allegedly committing Satanic crimes were not missing fingers.

Stratford claims that Victor told her a story about a woman who was about to tell outsiders about the cult's activities, who was killed by a curse cast on her by a high priest.

The Satanic cults having the power to kill randos by the truckload, but somehow never being able to touch the authors of these books in a way that matters, is a recurring thing.

According to Stratford, Victor realized that he could make Satanic porn, and claims:

These films, videos, and photographs were not sold to the stereotyped "dirty old man" in seedy porno shops. Victor marketed them to doctors, lawyers, corporate businessmen, and high-level political figures. Only they could afford thousand dollars per photo or the five to twenty thousand dollars per film or video. The more barbaric, cold-blooded, and unrestrained the acts of Satan were, the more Victor could get for the film. In fact, the more diabolical they were, the greater the demand.

This paragraph is... a lot.

Remember what I said about wondering if Stratford looks at a grungy blue collar guy and thinking "yeah that's a child molester"? This makes me think that this is really how she thought. It looks like she had a really specific, stereotypical image of who engages in sexual depravity in her mind.

Also, porn films weren't really a thing in the 1950's, so I'm not sure what films she thinks the "dirty old men" were buying. (Keep in mind that video cassettes wouldn't be widely available until the 70's.) But even if we take this at face value, it's kinda silly because like, if Satanic porn would be such a hot commodity why wouldn't the normal porn producers make it with horror film effects?

But anyway.

Victor wants MOAR POWER! so he comes up with increasingly ghastly sacrificial rituals involving human sacrifice and CSA. It's basically no different from all historical allegations of witchcraft and Satan worship - it's basically the most shocking, offensive stuff a conservative Christian mind can imagine someone else doing. It's extremely transparent if you know the conspiracy theories she's repackaging.

Stratford claims that the satanists would find infant sacrifices by posing as people working for adoption agencies, and it's... silly:

One afternoon Victor and Tom were laughing about what they called "want-ad babies." "Did you see the ad I placed in the paper the other day?" Tom asked. "I said that Janie and I were prospective parents who were searching for an unwed pregnant young woman who would give her baby up to us for adoption after it was born. Man, you wouldn't believe how many gals answered the ad! We've got a supply of babies all set up whenever we need them. We could have enough babies to last us a whole year!"

You'll notice a couple of conservative boogeymen in this: Unwed pregnancies are at epic proportions. Mothers who let others care for their children are putting them in grave danger.

Also, the cult supposedly has "breeders" - defined as "women who were born, marked, and raised for the sole purpose of having babies that would be used by satanists - either to be raised in satanism or used in ritualistic sacrifices." Stratford claims "since there was never any public record of their births, they were never missed when they were abused or killed."

Satanists make women pop out babies to be raised as new members of the religion and for exploitation! Unlike good godly Christians who would never - oh, the Quiverfull movement, you say? Oh, oh dear...

Anyway, Stratford wants you to know that if you don't believe everything she says, you're letting the Satanists win!

I'm sure this seems too horrendous for many of you to comprehend. It was for me. But I heard it and saw it. It's true. I know these practices are shocking and repulsive. That is the intent of those who do such evils - to make the horrors so shocking, so heinous, so fiendish, and so barbaric that they will not be believable. If you do not believe, you have played into their hands, and they have accomplished their purpose.

lol. lmao, even.

#satanic panic #satan's underground #lauren stratford #laurel rose willson #satanic ritual abuse #sra

[tysonfurybattlepass]

Multiples of 7 for Kairoh :0

7. What element would your character be?

fire, for sure. but not the raging wildfire type. she’s more like a flamethrower; her violence is concentrated, precise, and intentional. most importantly, she can switch her expression of rage on and off at a moment’s notice. this is more of a trauma response than anything, but she does weaponize it when she feels so inclined.

14. What foods does your OC like to eat? What are their least favorite foods?

kairoh likes beef! as a north american sabercat, her lineage is thought to be bison hunters, so she likes any meat that came from something with hooves. she also loves coffee, but usually takes it with hazelnut creamer :3 cats cant taste sweet, so she actually doesnt like sugary food like fruit or candy or pastries (SAD!)

21. What kind of personal problems do they have? Pet peeves?

honestly i could write a book. kairoh comes from a very ancient and very influential family in her area, and this background combined with the added pressure of having to negotiate with and interact with the ever growing human population, means that kairoh was expected to be very mature and presentable from a very young age. even as a little kid, she was discouraged from expressing herself or showing intense emotions, especially negative ones. she and her sisters were punished for crying or throwing fits, even when they were toddlers and fits were a normal part of that life stage. as a result, kairoh is heavily emotionally repressed, and struggles to connect with people. not only does she not express herself, seeing others express strong feeling is alarming to her and she tends to flee from these situations, which gives her a reputation as heartless and unsupportive. she also experiences moments where her repressed and stuffed frustrations explode out. she was also parentified a lot as the oldest sibling, so she shoulders a lot of responsibility and guilt that isn’t really her own, but that’s a whole other can of worms. i won’t dive much deeper into that, because her emotional repression is definitely the big one, but kairoh does feel like everyone’s wellbeing is her responsibility which results in her generally being very stressed and under a lot of pressure most of the time.

28. What kinds of nervous habits does your OC have? Do they stim? Do they have any kinds of addictions?

kairoh carries one of those spoke hairbrushes everywhere and is constantly brushing her fur, mostly her mane. if she doesnt keep slicking it back or brushing it down, it will fluff up naturally and make her look both more intimidating and more masculine. the latter she isn’t necessarily against, but her family hates that she even lets her mane grow so she tries to keep it low-profile to avoid fights (her parents used to pressure her to clipper it down to look more feminine.) kairoh drinks… probably too much. definitely too much. she’s sober during work hours but every night like clockwork she sits alone on the couch and drinks herself into a blackout in order to fall asleep. nobody knows this and thus she thinks it’s fine and normal👍

35. How is your character’s imagination?

kairoh can be pretty creative, but most of her time is consumed by stress and worrying about. well. everything. she seems incredibly collected but 99.9% of the time she’s spiraling into worst case scenario thoughts.

42. Does your OC have any scars? How did they get them?

a few from her time as a fighter. she tussled a lot with other big cats and inevitably claws became involved. nothing particularly serious, though.

49. Does your character like candy?

nope! tragically, she lacks the taste receptors for sweetness and thus her favorite foods are either meat/animal based, or bread. cats fucking LOVE yeast

#shes a mess :) #jordan talks #oc kairoh

[xtruss]

What Does Rasputin Have to Do With the ‘This Is a Work of Fiction’ Movie Disclaimer?

Photo Credit: Imagno/Getty Images)

What on earth could Rasputin have to do with that ‘fictional’ disclaimer before films? Well, a lot, actually. It is because of his life and death that production studios are terrified of being sued for defamation and want to make sure that audiences know what they are presenting should not be taken as historical fact – even if it is. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) steered a little too far from the truth and it cost them dearly. It was a mistake that many production companies have since tried to avoid.

The Death of Rasputin

Grigori Efimovich Rasputin, Russian mystic, spiritual advisor to the Romanovs, and a highly influential figure in the court of Tsar Nicholas II, circa 1905. (Photo Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

As history books tell us, Rasputin was difficult to kill. His eventual demise came at the hands of Prince Felix Yusupov, who was married to the tsar’s niece, Princess Irina Alexandrovna. Yusupov, along with other disgruntled aristocrats, devised a plot to get rid of the mystic who had grown too close for comfort to the Russian Imperial Family.

Their first attempt was unsuccessful. In 1916, Rasputin had been invited to Yusupov’s palace where they had laced cakes with cyanide. Strangely enough, the poison seemed to have no effect on the mystic. Later that evening, Yusupov resorted to shooting Rasputin with the help of fellow aristocrat Vladimir Purishkevich, who followed up with four shots to his back.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin – peasant, mystic and self-styled holy man, who had a magnetic influence over Alexandra and her husband, Tsar Nicholas II is in the midst of a group of his followers, circa 1911 (Photo Credit: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images)

As punishment for his crime, the tsar exiled Yusupov and his wife, Princess Irina, from the country without a penny to their name. They moved to Paris, which, unbeknownst to them and the tsar, would keep them from being killed alongside the rest of the Imperial Family in the Russian Revolution.

MGM Came Out with a New Film

Movie poster for the 1932 film, Rasputin and the Empress (Photo Credit: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/MovieStillsDB)

In 1932, MGM made a film titled Rasputin and the Empress that involved the killing of Rasputin. This film was expected to be a hit, as MGM was able to hire all three of the Barrymore siblings (who were huge stage and silent film actors) to star as the main characters. Lionel was Rasputin, Ethel was the tsarina, and John was “Prince Paul Chegodieff.” This film was the first (and only) time all three starred in the same film together, so it was a pretty impressive cast that was sure to draw in large crowds.

In the film, Prince Paul Chegodieff’s wife, Natasha, is a supporter of Rasputin. Rasputin was not trusting of Chegodieff and uses his wife to attack him. Rasputin places Natasha under a hypnotic spell and assaults her so that she admits she is no longer fit to be a wife. The film made it very obvious that Prince Paul Chegodieff was a representation of Yusupov, which naturally made Natasha a representation of his wife, Irina. They even made Natasha the same age and dressed her in a gown that looked oddly similar to one Irina had once worn.

MGM was really excited about the plot they had come up with. They found it a lot more interesting and believed audiences would too. There was one skeptic, however, a researcher for the company, who warned them that the factual discrepancies between the film and real-life could cause them a lot of trouble. Not heeding this warning, they fired her and went on with the film.

The Lawsuit

Prince Felix Yusupov, with his wife Princess Irina, granddaughter of Tsar Alexander III, circa 1934 (Photo Credit: Sasha / Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

After they were exiled, Yupurov had written a memoir about his crime, since he was very proud of having killed Rasputin. Unfortunately for him, this memoir prevented him from coming forward with a libel case against MGM after hearing the plot of the film. As he was the one to actually commit the murder, that information was not necessarily presented as false by the production company. What was presented as false was the depiction of Irina as Natasha. Irina had never met Rasputin, so the idea that her character in the film not only met and supported him but was hypnotized and raped by him was clear defamation of her reputation. So she sued.

MGM made the mistake of prefacing the film with a statement that basically told audiences to trust the film as historical fact. They said, “This concerns the destruction of an empire… A few of the characters are still alive – the rest met death by violence.” Considering that Yusupov and his wife were the only two surviving members of the Imperial court, it was not difficult for people to deduce that Prince Paul was Yusupov and Natasha was Irina. At this point, MGM had done virtually nothing to protect themselves against this lawsuit, and Irina won the case, receiving £25,000 ($2.4 million by today’s standards). The film was taken out of circulation for years and unsavory scenes were removed from the film as further punishment.

A Disclaimer Would Suffice

A title card from the film Affairs of Cappy Ricks (1937) showing an ‘all persons fictitious’ disclaimer (Photo Credit: Public Domain)

The justice of the case had actually mentioned that if they’d presented a disclaimer that did the exact opposite of what their original one had, they would have stood a much better chance in court. That was the slap on the hand MGM needed to make sure they were protected from further lawsuits. From then on, they placed a disclaimer at the beginning of every film stating that what they presented was fiction and should not be taken as fact in any way.

They weren’t the only production company to do so. The lawsuit lost by MGM cost them a pretty penny, and fellow studios did not want to risk that happening to them. Soon, every film had a disclaimer at the beginning reminding the audience that what they were about to watch was not real. Even films that were fact, like Jake LaMotta’s biopic Raging Bull, were labeled as entirely fictitious although, in this case, the man himself and his memoir are cited as consultants on the film.

No one was taking any chances with libel cases. It was only after Yusupov died in 1967 that studios began to ease up on using the disclaimer before every film. Still, you often see it today.

— Published by Samantha Franco in Instant Articles, Strangeness, Vintage Hollywood