#but like. doing this means i cut off like 80% of my socialization with people that aren't related to me

[mazamba]

Sponsored By

Ironically, the most eventful day in the careers of Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had nothing to do with ghosts. The two had just returned from the supermarket and were carrying in the groceries, when the shadow in the corner began to speak.

"We need to talk."

"GHOST!"

The couple were on their back before they could draw their weapons.

"You are the foremost experts in the field of ecto-biology," said Batman as if he hadn't just brought down a three hundred pound man and a ninth-degree black-belt before either of them could realize he'd moved, "I have questions regarding your sponsor."

"Sweetie, is the Batman in our living room?" asked Jack.

"I do believe he is," replied Maddie as she stood up and patted the dust off her clothes, "you know, you could have called for an appointment. We'd have made time."

"In the 80's, the two of you had your doctorate studies rescinded due to your studies in what you called "ecto-science"," he stated, ignoring their indignation, "yet you now live in an upper-middle class neighborhood and spend thousands of dollars a year on technology that didn't have a proper proof-of-concept until recently."

"What's your point?" asked Jack.

"Where is the money coming from?"

"If you must know, we have a sponsor," replied Maddie, "after our dean proved to be too small-minded for our research, we were approached by a man who was more open to the possibility of inter-dimensional research."

"He wanted us to study ghosts!" cut in Jack, "He even gave us our very first sample of ectoplasm!"

"That one sample was the backbone of our research for years, until we got our portal running."

"You never asked where he got that sample from?"

"He seemed like a trust-worthy fellow," dismissed Maddie, "all he asks is for copies of our experiments and for ectoplasm from our portal."

"What sort of experiments?"

"Well, at first we needed to verify the psycho-active behavior of the sample," recalled Maddie, "if you give me a second, I have my research around here somewhere."

"You took the sample to several morgues," Batman told them, "the sample's most drastic and extreme behavior occurred when it was placed close to bodies who had a history of violent and anti-social behavior in life."

"Maddie, the League's reading our papers!" Jack giggled excitedly, "But yes, it's how we know that all ghosts are evil ectoplasmic scum!"

"You never questioned the origin of the sample?"

"It was the only sample we had," pointed out Maddie, "but it's properties matched all of our theories."

"The man you spoke with was Ra's al Ghul," he informed them, dropping a folder full of pictures and documents for them to peruse, "thousands of years ago, Ra's found a well of green water that is now known as a Lazarus Pit. Using its power, he has rejuvenated himself time and again to maintain his position as the head of the League of Assassins. After some experimentation, he found the same pits could keep his forces alive, even in death.

"Over time, the League came across a problem that threatened their continued existence. They were consuming the Pit's water faster than it was replenishing itself. After much experimentation, they found a solution. At the moment of death, when the human soul passes over to the Infinite Realms, what you call the Ghost Zone, a small amount of ectoplasm leaks over to our side."

"Wait, you don't mean...?" Maddie trailed off, horror settling in.

"Ra's killed people en masse to replenish his pool," affirmed Batman, "further experimentation revealed that people who died in a state of extreme fear or pain provided more ferocious soldiers. That is where your sample came from.

"In it's neutral state, ectoplasm reacts equally to all emotional ranges. Repeated exposure to emotional extremes will imprint the ectoplasm, causing it to react more strongly to a specific emotional range than to others. The negative emotions of Ra's victims imprinted on the ectoplasm, resulting in your skewed results."

"Wait, how would you know that?" demanded Maddie, "We're the foremost experts on ecto-science and we didn't know that!"

He pulled out a thick folder and slammed it onto the table.

"I had my research peer-reviewed."

"By who?" asked Jack, "We looked all over and couldn't find anyone in the scientific community!"

"You weren't looking in the right place. There is a branch of the Justice League that specializes in the supernatural, ghosts and demons chief among them. They want me to bring you in."

"Really!? Did you hear that Mads! We're being recruited by the Justice League!"

"They want me to arrest you," Batman corrected them, "for illegal poaching of innocent and neutral spirits, particularly after last week's attack on their newest member, Danny Phantom."

"The Ghost Boy!?" roared Jack, "That no-good ectoscum made the League before we did!?"

"I have watched his fights. He takes care to avoid collateral damage and only appears when other ghosts attack, sometimes at great personal cost."

"Look, Mr. Batman," sighed Maddie in a condescending tone, "we've fought the ghost boy for years. He has a history of crime and violence. If you look far enough, you'll find-."

Batman had no time for nonsense.

"The League has already looked into the incidents. All show indications of either coercion or mind control."

"Ghosts are deceitful and conniving-!"

"We have already established that your initial sample skewed your results," he cut Jack off, "this would imply that all of your research and experiments need to be reassessed, including your opinions towards ghosts in general.

"Regarding Ra's al Ghul, you will need to continue working with him. Cutting contact suddenly may put you and your family in danger."

That caught their attention.

"What do we need to do?" asked Jack, all jokes and outrage immediately tossed out the window.

"Keep doing your research with this new information in mind. Your experiments have been applied to the Lazarus Pits, resulting in unstable results. Recent subjects have come out in a mindless rage, while others have shown no effect on their mind, and yet others have had no effect. Ra's is already skeptical of your continued collaboration. If you provide him with research based off this new information, he may decide you are not worth his time or money. When it comes to Ra's, your best option is dismissal to irrelevance. You do not want to make an enemy out of him."

"It's not just that," admitted Maddie, "if we were the only ones being affected, we'd simply let him know we're exploring new horizons outside of ecto-science. The thing is, we have two children, one in college and one near graduation."

He gave them a card. "Call that number. All of their college expenses will be taken care of."

"I... Bruce Wayne?" read out Jack.

"We've collaborated before, he is trustworthy," he reassured them, "the next part is up to you. Will you be scientists, or poachers?"

Their lights flickered, and he was gone.

#dp x dc #batman #jack fenton #madeline fenton #kinda messed with the Lazarus Pit's canon #but it's not like I'm the only one who's done that #so whatever #I do hope I got the Fentons' overconfidence right though

[matthewkniesys]

it was supposed to be a secret but we suck at secret keeping - jack hughes social media au

a/n: an anon requested a jack ig edit where you're cole caufield's little sister and you and jack start dating when you're at the beach house but you keep it a secret. eventually the boys realising you're spending so much time with jack that they start making joke instagram posts that you two are dating but little do they know they're right. so here it is :)

sorry for not having a cut but my pictures wouldn't load properly if i did

pairing: jack hughes x fem!reader

warnings: none i dont think

trevorzegras

Liked by @/ colecaufield, alexturcotte, jamie.drysdale and 80 569 others

trevorzegras - my best friends sister looking extra cozy with my other best friend

Tagged: @/ jackhughes & y/ncaufield

View Top Comments

colecaufield - not funny trev thats my little sister

↳ trevorzegras - i think its very funny

↳ colecaufield - i'll chop your dick off for posting this and if this ever becomes true i'll chop jack's dick off too

↳ trevorzegras - i'm very very sorry it's just a joke please don't chop off my dick

y/ncaufield - well isn't this just hilarious...

↳ jackhughes - its so funny...

↳ y/ncaufield - no it really is and no one understands

↳ trevorzegras - im glad some people enjoy my sense of humor *cough* cole *cough*

↳ colecaufield - im coming to find you right now trevor and i have some scissors

↳ trevorzegras - okay okay im actually very sorry please don't hurt me

alexturcotte

Liked by @/ trevorzegras, jackhughes, y/ncaufield and 65 937 others

alexturcotte - more pictures of y/n and jack...(please don't hurt me cole)

Tagged: @/ y/ncaufield & jackhughes

View Top Comments

colecaufield - this was a bad desicion on your part alex

↳ alexturcotte - oh shit, currently trying to find where trev is hiding from you so i can hide too

y/ncaufield - i looked so hot in that brown bikini and i was just trying to get a nice picture but jack had jump in too... so very rude of him

↳ jackhughes - i stole the show as always

↳ y/ncaufield - yeah you did you little thief

↳ jackhughes - and im the greatest thief ever i mean come on just look at me in that picture...and if we're being honest alex should've just cropped you right out and left just me

↳ y/ncaufield - you are the most insufferable person in the world and my brother is cole caufield so that saying a lot

↳ jackhughes - its okay for you to say that i know you could never really understand my true beauty

_quinnhughes - they're cute

↳ colecaufield - quinn... not you too

lhughes_06

Liked by @/ nicohischier, _quinnhughes, colecaufield and 78 325 others

lhughes_06 - had to add my own pictures since we're doing this

Tagging: @/ jackhughes & y/ncaufield

View Top Comments

colecaufield - i like you luke so i'll let this slide just this once since i know its a joke

↳ trevorzegras - are you saying that you like him more than me and alex??

↳ colecaufield - yes

↳ alexturcotte - jack im so offended

y/ncaufield - if i'd have known how bad at cooking jack was i never would've let him near the stove

↳ jackhughes - don't be a drama queen im not that bad at cooking

↳ y/ncaufield - i mean sure if you like it when the crust of your pizza is so charred that it's fully black and it crumbles into tiny pieces the second you pick it up

trevorzegras - look at me i'm a trend setter

↳ lhughes_06 - you could say that

jackhughes

Liked by @/ trevorzegras, lhughes_06, y/ncaufield and 145 908 others

jackhughes - didn't really have many pictures of me and y/n (that i could post) so just enjoy my appreciation post for her

Tagged: @/ y/ncaufield

View Top Comments

yourbestfriend - hottest caufield sibling not gonna lie

↳ jackhughes - i know right??

↳ y/ncaufield - ...

↳ colecaufield - firstly wrong but secondly JACK WHAT

trevorzegras - y/n > cole

↳ alexturcotte - y/n > cole

↳ colecaufield - cole > y/n

↳ jackhughes - nope the right answer is y/n > cole

colecaufield - jach hughes what the hell do you mean by pictures that you can post... what kind of pictures of my sister do you have??

↳ jackhughes - well um you know

↳ colecaufield - no i really don't please share

↳ jackhughes - i'm just gonna not answer this okay

↳ colecaufield - no actually not okay

y/ncaufield - in my lake house summer era and i love it

y/ncaufield

Liked by @/ jackhughes, colecaufield, trevorzegras and 193 857 others

y/ncaufield - and you all thought it was a joke this whole time (cole please don't come for jack)

Tagged: @/ jackhughes

View Top Comments

jackhughes - my one and only my life line

↳ y/ncaufield - can i go where you go, can we always be this close

↳ jackhughes - forever & always

colecaufield - oh hell no

↳ y/ncaufield - you know i love the brothers best friend trope

↳ colecaufield - didn't know you loved it this much

↳ y/ncaufield - what can i say i guess i do

trevorzegras - I KNEW MY SPIDEY 'S SENSE WERE RIGHT

↳ y/ncaufield - congrats buddy

colecaufield - wait...who took all those pictures for you

↳ y/ncaufield - quinn :)

↳ colecaufield - why the fuck did quinn know before me also it suddenly makes so much sense why you and quinn and jack were going on so many boat rides together

↳ y/ncaufield - he caught me sneaking out of jack's room one morning so he's know for a while

↳ colecaufield - WHY WERE YOU IN JACK'S ROOM OH NO ME AND JACK ARE AT WAR

↳ y/ncaufield - i will always be yours if we survive the great war

↳ jackhughes - your brother is scary i'm not sure i will

thanks for reading🫶requests are always open for fics, blurbs, ig edits and just thoughts!!

taglist: @woodruff-edwards @nicohischierz @makarhughes @cobrakaisb @huggy-hischier94 @boldysswld@cole-mcward48@kashee-h@kjohnson-91 @jackhues @corneliaskates @imma-mirrorball @hvghes @emptyflowerpots @h0e4fictionalme-n

join my taglist

#jack hughes #jack hughes x reader #jack hughes imagine #nhl imagine #fake ig edit #social media au #hockey #nhl #x reader #trevor zegras #cole caufield #alex turcotte #luke hughes #quinn hughes #claire tries writing <3

[badoccultadvice]

So like, I have been having this weird experience analyzing the Harry Potter books lately, and please indulge me while I talk about J.K. Rowling's weird writing.

My goal was simple: read the Harry Potter books to find which parts were influenced/inspired by actual magic that people do in real life. My theory was that there was a lot more magic in the earlier drafts of the books, and that she took a lot out due to fear of backlash from America's ongoing reenactment of the Satanic Panic. For instance it's quite obvious some of their magic lessons got dumbed down so that very little of what's in the books could actually be tried in real life, and I think she took out a lot of astrology.

I also wanted to do a couple errands along the way, one of which was to check and see if it's explicitly written in the books that Harry is a cis man. I'm a trans man, SO I'D KNOW. (I'm a slow reader so all I can say for now is: the FIRST book does not explicitly state Harry is cis, but if he's trans, there's some implied worldbuilding with items like the Sorting Hat that comes into play. Also I'm fairly sure the Dursleys would have gone along with him being trans because that meant Petunia could reuse Dudley's old clothes instead of having to get girl stuff. I'mma save any other explanations on the topic for a video on it.) The reason I'm doing this read-through is because I think J.K. doesn't know anything about trans people and didn't think to make sure her wizard world was trans exclusionary. AND IT TURNS OUT THAT WE TRANS MAGIC USERS HAVE A WAY OF WIGGLING INTO MOST PLACES UNDETECTED BY NORMAL MEANS.

While I was doing the re-read I encountered two sort of broad revelations:

There's a lot of old stuff in there like Latin and Greek and tradcraft stuff, but also modern magic of the more recent era... but the incorporation of modern magic cuts off somewhere before the 80s. These books read like they were written by a early 70s magician. Like they honestly read like J.K. is a magical practicioner who just didn't read any magic books written after 1972 and never discovered what Chaos Magic is, (and also, never heard of most of what happened in the Cold War). I have never found a writer, in fiction or non-fiction, more dedicated to referencing magical stuff that most magicians alive today just don't care about anymore.

J.K. Rowling's knowledge of child abuse laws and general social mores regarding treatment of children also ceased to update itself by about the 80s. I keep getting distracted by this and having to make more side-notes about corporal punishment and researching stuff like when caning was banned in England. (HInt: it was banned before Harry went to school, so in Book 1 it's fuckin weird that he assumes that Wood is the name of a cane he's about to be whipped with.) Like, this woman raised children in the modern era, she should know when canes stopped being used.

So like, when I mention that I'm doing some research in this area, this is the sort of stuff I'm reading for and the sort of stuff I'm encountering. I haven't been talking much about this journey because it seems like any time anyone brings up anything Harry Potter up whatsoever, we've got to talk about how J.K. is a terf in every other sentence. But like, y'all: I hope you slow down and re-read the books, because J.K. Rowling is a terf who is also a child abuse apologist and normalizer. She is a terf who is also a horrible fat-shamer. She is a terf who is also an ableist with a huge problem writing about mental illness. And she's a terf who's also a sexist who undermines feminism with her actual writing of female characters.

And I honestly think she double and triples down on the terf stuff so that people will only talk about that. I think it's worth talking about the fact that not only is she an awful person in the terf way, but like, every other way imaginable too. I think it's worth talking about the fact that with all the obvious biases she has, the group she CHOOSES to publicly marginaiize is trans women, and I think she makes that choice because she thinks that she'll get more allies that way. That if she wore all of her issues on her sleeve like she wears the terfness, that she'd lose a lot of allies, that a lot of prestigious charities would stop having anything to do with her. That she uses the identity of "terf" as a shield because she knows that certain people will protect a terf, and she does this specifically so people won't notice how much of a sexist, abuse apologist, ableist, fatphobe etc she ALSO is. Opinions that could lose her a lot of money and clout if people remember them enough.

She's trying to pick on who she thinks is the most unpopular kid in the class out of the hopes that the bullies in class will be her friends instead of pile up on her, but if the bullies knew what she really thought of them, THEY wouldn't even be her friends.

Also like... I just want someone else to read the actual words in these books and see what fucked-up choices she made as a writer. I think a LOT of people remembering these books are actually remembering the movies, which are way more different from the books than you might expect.

#this got long and rambly #every time i try to read the books i find a new thing that is weird #i had to look up when milk bottle delivery stopped in england #i know so many things about knickerbockers now #it seems like the only reason platform 9 3/4 is used is for the parking and that's so weird #why would you name something futuristic a 2000 when that's only 9 years from when the first book is set #who leaves a one year old on a doorstep #how come the dursleys are so affluent to have late-era milk bottle delivery at the doorstep #yet no 4AM joggers in the neighborhood who would have seen Harry before Petunia did #these books are an assault upon all logic and I am mad and angry that there is a theme park based on them that fails the ADA #you're telling me wizards can hide an entire castle yet they can't add a ramp to a shop's doorway #oh gods i'm never going to stop get me out of these tags I need a snack and a hug

[old-school-butch]

here is my second anon, on same-sex attraction and the fuckery i've experienced around it in the trans community. i wonder if any ex-TRAs and TIFs will recognize this, or if it's only me who managed such a convoluted mental somersault? also, please forgive me for venting in your inbox, i have no better place. but alas.

i thought myself a gay man for 10-ish years. and yet i had... very clear sexual attraction towards women, clear enough that i've genderswapped 80% of my fictional male crushes so they would have breasts and vaginas, while still considering them "men" because i kept their he/him pronouns. seeing females as men allowed me to tell myself i was only attracted to males. i think a mix of biphobia and lesbophobia, stirred into gender-think. i was only allowed to love women if they were actually "men". because it was ok to love men.

i had crushes on girls as a teen and i'd always feel gross and predatory when i shared the locker rooms with them. i remember so badly wanting to sneak looks at my crushes but doing all i could not to. bc i "knew" that it was wrong. however i never developed into accepting this same-sex attraction as normal, because i got swept up in genderism, and became a "man" and... all my attraction towards women suddenly felt EVEN MORE predatory and violating. i swept it away as male gaze, objectification, leering, still predatory. etcetera etcetera. genuinely did all i could to suppress/explain away my obsession with female bodies. i centered my male attraction, and as the trans movement is very male-centered to begin with it was only encouraged. people (straight females) calling themselves f*gs left and right. every time i started thinking about breasts (i'm boob obsessed for real) or having sex with women i pushed it down as male depravity. i also thought me wanting to fuck women had been conditioned into me by advertising. like, yes, of course everyone wants to have sex with women bc they are trained by society to want this :)) logical. this totally happens to all female people. oh you love the smell of pussy? advertising taught you this. -_-

obviously as a TIF, i felt somehow that male identity and pronouns was a prerequisite to be fully human/be the way i was inside. misogynistic as fuck. it seems i felt this for other women, too. you told me i'd feel the weight of the harm i'd done along the way, when i sent the first anon; this is a heavy one. having viewed women and myself this way for so long. and having written off my same-sex attraction (i salivate when i see bare chested women lol) because, well, i'm a "man" and i violate them with my eyes.

the power dynamic between TIFs is funny/tragic too. ssa ones being treated as if they're straight males and culpable for everything those do. osa ones being the ones with more social capital. bisexual ones centering males bc well, the whole movement shits on women and you don't wanna be "straight" or bi ending up in a "straight" relationship. a lesbian TIF just enters a world in which her attraction (which she's likely felt predatory for her whole life already) is REINFORCED as bad. because now she's a straight man. and when a real heterosexual male is not accessible to shit on, she will be the target of the "gay" ones. god, the trans community is such a complicated type of homophobia...

i feel so good now to be out of it. i've been butch my whole life, i had a buzzcut since i was 14, up until my 20s. tomboyish always. now i have a long braid, and i considered cutting it off when i peaked, but i can't bring myself to do it. i miss my breasts very much and my braid is a body part as well, one that i can still hold on to. i can't let it go. it means something to me, i suppose, symbolically. but i don't feel like i'm a man anymore, and my attraction towards women is not to blame for their oppression. it is so liberating. i no longer feel like i'm degrading or harming women by being attracted to them. and most of my friends who dropped me were osa TIFs, binary and nonbinary... they have a lot to lose if they should give up that identity. they'd get booted out the "queer" community, lose the oppression they built their identity on. it's weird looking back at them. ah, i ramble so much, but thank you, even if you don't end up posting this, for having a space open here to go to. it feels so valuable, and it helps to read others anons.

Oh, I've definitely read wilder somersaults. It's amazing how confusing it is when reality is upside down. A lesbian becomes a gay man, or a straight man depending on the identity of the women she's attracted to. All nonsense, but I do wonder if it allows people to contemplate relationships they had rejected previously. Like, if you're a straight man who decides he's a lesbian but then meets another TIM then you're supposed to also include him, or women might have idealized views that relationships with men might not be so bad if you can escape 'being the girl'. Women, according to the stats, are the most likely to twist ourselves into these pretzels, of course, female socialization at work. So, we must forgive ourselves and each other for our roles in all this.

I'm glad things are working out well for you. There are times when I feel isolated being gender critical, but then I remember the headache-inducing mental repression I had to endure to make myself believe all this and I feel much more free and real.

[canonicallyanxious]

[huge disclaimer up top that I am incredibly lacking in knowledge as to queer/lgbtq+ history and culture in Thailand, especially outside the context of globalized queer identity, so this post should absolutely not be taken as any sort of authority or statement on the topic; i'm just in the very beginnings of doing my own research and wanted to sort through some thoughts as well as see if anyone else out there knew more or could point me toward other sources]

so one thing i was thinking about is that if Jim is in his mid-late thirties, this means he was probably born in the early-mid 80s, which means he came of age in the 90s. i must confess my ignorance of the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic [particularly social stigma against the lgbtq+ community] outside of a western context but even still i can't not find this timing significant. so i'm starting to do some research on the situation in Thailand during this time period and have come across some really interesting sources i wanted to share [under the cut, if you please!]

First is from Untold Stories originally published in 2002. The full video/transcript is super interesting and has a lot of information about Thailand's response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 90s. one thing i wanted to highlight [bolded emphasis is mine]:

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Viravaidya is confident Thailand’s infection rate can be contained once again. Awareness is high, as is literacy, as is the availability of condoms. The big problem is how to deal with the one million or so Thais already infected. Tens of thousands of previously symptom-free HIV patients are now in the visible, advanced, or terminal, stages of the disease. The campaigns may have raised awareness, curiosity, and even generous donations, but patients like Phra Choochart, one of about a dozen monks here, say that doesn’t translate to sympathy or compassion.

PRA CHOOCHART: I keep secret for many years. But finally, something happened in my skin. It beginning to appear. I cannot keep secret anymore. So, I come to be a monk because in society if you catch HIV, nobody want you; also your family.

Untold Stories also has a follow-up story from about 5 years later in 2007. again the full video/transcript is super interesting imo, but here are some personal highlights regarding the social stigma of hiv/aids in Thai society [bolded emphasis is mine]:

REV. MICHAEL BASSANO: He’s 50 years old, but his family just left him. They came over and dropped him off. And they left him here with us. [...]

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Many, like this man, are dropped off, their disease unattended, many with tuberculosis, a daunting infection they must survive before they are physically fit enough to go on the AIDS medicines.

[...]

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Thirty-two-year-old Nok Eng came to the temple when her skin showed rashes, a classic HIV symptom. She left when her health improved but came right back in a few months. Health care was hard to find for her and her HIV-positive husband. And it was especially tough at her factory job, where people knew she was HIV-positive.

NOK ENG (through translator): Every day at lunch, I could hear people whispering next to me, gossiping about me, being sarcastic. I just couldn’t take the criticism.

FRED DE SAM LAZARO: The most painful, her parents, who live in a rural community, wanted little to do with her.

NOK ENG: I told my parents that I wanted to come and visit, and they said, “Just stay where you are.” They said that I would humiliate them.

still trying to find sources for what the attitude/stigma is like in more recent years, as well as information about social stigma regarding the gay/queer community outside of this specific context [also worth noticing these sources don't really focus on HIV/AIDS stigma in the context of the gay/queer community specifically], but even still, considering the huge impact the HIV/AIDS epidemic had on social stigma against the lgbtq+ community as well as the generational trauma of living as a community through such a thing in western society, i would be really interested to know if that context had a significant impact on Jim's coming of age as a gay man - i don't think it's something that they would ever explicitly get into on this show but still, that social/historical context could help put some things into perspective, particularly the emphasis on family relationships being the most painful part of the social stigma

i mean idk. i just think about jim running away from home with his sister, and referring to himself and Jam as "two great survivors", even in the context of the homophobia he had to face from his own sister. and i think about his flashbacks with Beam, how even at the peak of their relationship there was hesitance on his part [like when Beam loudly declared their love in the temple for example], and how quickly and easily he accepted that Beam couldn't tell his family about them, and how the tension between being open about yourself in your personal life versus your family/public life is already a lot to deal with even outside of the context of Beam living a whole separate life with a woman his family set him up with. and i can see how even as an older gay man who has been out for some time now there's still a lot of fear and pain Jim carries with him, as someone who seems to value family quite a lot. i really hope we can see him get to the point where he can begin to accept and understand that even after all that he's been through he has created a loving and supporting family of his own, and that's not in spite of the person that he is but because of it.

#sarah.txt #moonlight chicken #mlc meta #seriously i feel like there's a lot i might be missing in context of thai society/culture watching this show #it feels like something that has a fairly significant influence on the story/characters even if not explicitly engaged with #i would really love to learn more if i can! #story meta

[sergle]

i just read the tags on one on ur posts and i would like to know why you hate red bubble, i want to help artists by buying their merch so if red bubble is bad i’d like to stop shopping from there

yatta yatta this is all my own opinion and speculation nobody sue me I MEAN if you are going to an artist's redbubble page through their own social media- and you know for a fact that it is their page and it is their art, and they don't have other shops, I don't want to discourage you from supporting that person. I used rb for awhile. that said, RedBubble is really just a hot, festering breeding ground for stolen art. they really don't even TRY to discourage it, it's so incredibly easy to sell stolen work on there and there's no vetting process whatsoever or even really any REAL punishment for doing it. RB takes like 80-90% of the profits from every sale anyway so it's not like they're ever gonna make it more difficult to make merch on there, they're turning such a huge profit, and the quality of the merch they print the designs on just really is at that Twitter T-Shirt Generator level. there are some great artists who just happen to be smaller artists (or very young) who put their art on RB, but they're making very small cuts, and their art is on danger by even being on the website bc other people are always happy to just rip a design directly off a listing and then start selling it themselves. It's also, imo, incredibly dishonest the way that "reviews" work on redbubble, because if you go to buy an item, you can look at the reviews for it, but the reviews aren't actually even for That Item, or that artist, it's just for the RedBubble t-shirt or the RedBubble Mug, In General. like just for the general product. It's not like Etsy where the reviews you read are for the actual shop, or for the actual item you bought. I don't know I just really despise RB LMAO I used them for so long and they were a living hell

#sergle answers

[stranger-than-fictionn]

Welcome to Hellfire, Girly

 (my first fic! i hope you all enjoy :) I tried, key word tried, to base the reader as a close as i could to 80′s goth and shoutout to my bestie for helping me :) <3)

-Eddie Munson x alt!reader

-warnings: light talk about his drug but otherwise no warnings :)

 The morning started out like any other, sticking to your routine perfectly.

 6:00 am

Wake up and get clothes on. Today you decided to wear your cuffed boatneck black sweater, your ripped up stockings, and a red plaided penicl skirt. You added your silver ankh necklace and silver rings, courtesy of your friend for your 18th birthday. Before you could start anything else you tucked your sweater into your skirt.

You teased your hair to your liking and put makeup on for the day. By the time you leave your room and make your daily buttered toast, it’s 6:30. After slipping on your black, worn out boots you make your way to the bus stop. You slip on your koss porta pro headphones that are connected to your Gpx cassette player. As ‘Shake the Disease’ from Depeche Mode begins to play in your ears, the bus makes it stop and you walk on the crowded vehicle

This morning already started on a bad foot, your best friend wasn’t here at your meeting spot so that meant going to the basketball pep rally by yourself. You spotted Robin Buckely within the band section of the gym. You gave her a small wave and she returned it. 

The two of your were close freshmen to junior year but with no classes together and having jobs, the two of you rarely hangout anymore.When you do see her at Family Video, you two equally talk each other’s ears off with stories from the past week,

The rest of the pep rally went by and you left for your English class. You didn’t mind this class but the basketball boys were still pumped up from the pep rally so their loud excitement didn’t sit well with you at 7:35 in the morning.

“Okay everyone, it’s book discussion day, please out your books and 3 questions and split up into groups two to four.” your teacher said, sitting at his desks, clearly to busy grading your past test to care that much. You went to closest 3 person group you could find, starting to discuss ‘Jurassic Park’ and the metaphor of how the book shows we shouldn’t disrupt mother nature and the cycle of life. The three people you sat with could care less about the book, but you really wanted this grade.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Lunch. God not this period, usually you sit with your friend but their absence means sitting alone. It’s like being in a small row boat in the sea of social classes within this high school. You have your band kids, party goers, your popular kids table etc. You can either sink or float, and it feeling like you’re sinking.

You decide to sit in the back of the cafeteria, music playing through your headphones as you ate your sandwich. Being at lunch alone is like being a zebra alone in the wild, the lions can come up any second and attack-

“Hey, you listening?” a younger boy said while smacking the table to get your attention. You quickly set down your sandwich and took off your headphones, looking at the two look at the boys. 

One wearing a hat that says ‘thinking cap’ and a fun button shirt, the other tall with black curly hair and strong cheekbones and jawline. The two have one thing in common, a hellfire club t-shirt. Most famously known to be the dnd club of Hawkins High. You thought of joining, but your job makes it hard for an after school club.

“Yes? May I help you?” you ask, the shorter boy looked excited. “Hi I’m Dustin, so would you know a game called Dungeons and Dragons also known as dnd? It’s a really cool game-” he was cut off by you saying, “Yes I know what dnd is, I have a character for it.”

“Great! Now my buddy Mike and I need a sub for tonight’s meetup, would you like to come to hellfire with us tonight?” he asked, adding a smile to butter up his deal with you. 

Playing dnd with stranger you’ve never met? Is this how you want to spend the night before spring break?...fuck it, what’s the worst that can happen? “Sure, I’ll join you,” you said, looking at the boys smile at each other in accomplishment. 

“Awesome! You won’t regret this!” Dustin said smiling, shaking your hand. You couldn’t help but smile a bit, these kids were excited you wanted to play, it felt nice. “Okay, all you have to do is talk to the dungeon master and we’ll be in our way. Meet us outside of the gym around 5:30. that can be our meeting spot then we can play.” Mike says obviously sounding more chirped than when he first came over here.

You nodded, “Okay, sounds like a plan to me,” then the bell rung, signaling people to movie to your next period. “I’ll see you guys then,” you said to the boys, making your way to the exit.

———————————————————————————-

5:30 came around, you waited by the gym doors. while you held your note sheet and pencils. You soon hear shouting from the boys, making it clear they’re here. They came up to you, “Ready to meet our dungeon master?” Dustin asked, “Ready as I’ll ever be,” you gave a small smile.

The three of you walked to where the hellfire club meeting was taken place. You walked into the dimly lit room, seeing the ‘dungeon master’ and the three other members of the hellfire club around him.

“Soooo, this is who you brought as a sub?” Eddie asked, leaning back in throne. “Yep! And they already have a character made,” Dustin added in. Eddie smirked, his eyes examining you and your posture. You seem a bit nervous but otherwise determined, he likes that about you. “Okay, state your name and tell me about your character.” he demanded, feeling almost king-like from the chair he sat upon.

“My name is Y/n and my character is a level 15, chaotic good, elf, ranger named Saeya Gaelen. She has poison laced arrows and a dagger named ‘Dagger of Death’s Flower’ carefully crafted to be able to kill any being she so pleases.” you stated, feeling a bit silly saying everything out loud, you never played with this party, how will they react to you?

Eddie got up from his throne, walking towards you with a smile, “Not too bad there…Think you can hang with us?” he asked while leaning close to you, his voice had genuine excitement in it. Your face heated up a tad, he is really cute and was so close to you.You smile and nodded, “Yeah I do,” he stuck out his hand for you to shake, “Welcome to hellfire, girly,” he said while you shook his hand.

———————————————————————————

After the most intense game, the 8 of you walk out the school, same time as the audience of the basketball game. You all were laughing and celebrating after you rolled a successful 20 as the last player standing against vecna.

“So Y/n, you like it here?” Eddie asked, coming up to walk with you. “Yeah! It was loads of fun, thank you for letting me in, dungeon master,” you joked at the end, put a smile on his face, “You can call me Eddie now that we’re not playing…You know, you’re different from the rest of the people here,” he stated while looking at you. He smiled and continued, “You’re not some conformist like everyone else at this school, you’re actually really cool… and pretty..” he mumbled towards the end.

You blushed, “Did I hear that correctly Eddie?” you asked, making him smile and blush out of embarrassment, “Nooooo, you didn’t. I didn’t say anything actually,” he laughed and you joined him, “But no I’m serious, you are…really pretty,” he stated as he stopped walking to look at you, “T-Thank you, I think you’re pretty cute yourself Eddie..” you added, feeling yourself unconsciously but your lip and look down at your boots.

He gave a small laugh before saying, “Can I get your phone number at all? Just so we can talk when I get home? I got do this deal, someone’s buying and I’m selling,” he joked, but he was serious about selling what someone wants to buy.

“Yeah you can, i’ll give you my personal phone so you don’t call my house phone late tonight…” you mumbled, using your pencil and a spare piece of paper, you wrote your number, “Okay I gotta go so call me when you get home,” you smiled, going towards your car to drive home.

Eddie smiled as he watched you pull out and drive away from the school. He looked at the paper that had your phone as a small message that wrote, “Thanks for the fun night dungeon master Eddie, hope this means I’m invited to next meeting :)”

He bit his bottom lip, trying to hide his excitement from getting your number. People say dnd makes people go crazy, start cults, or even commit murder…never mentioned how it can bring someone new to you.

#stranger things #eddie munson #eddie munson x reader #eddie munson x you #stranger things eddie munson #eddie munson x y/n

[simpforfandoms]

Can you just write x-men headcanons? Specifically for jubilee, jean, banshee and Cyclops??

you give me to much power

sorry this took me a hot minute

masterlist

Jubilation Lee

not really a headcanon but she love gymnastics

home girl can do like a double twisting double tuck

she’s on the younger side of the x-men (roughly like 18-20)

so she obviously has to keep the molder members up to date on slang

like Logan will be like “what the fuck does pop off queen mean”

and she’ll just sigh and be like “we’ve been over this”

also because of her close relationship with Logan I feel like she’d be into a lot of the oldies

music wise

but she will still listen to newer music

Like she’s a full on SZA stand

remember when she was a vampire?

She can’t even look at blood now

Like she has a phobia of it

She’s also like a mother

ik what?!?!!

but she takes care of him

Like she definitely makes tiktoks raising him

and she makes fun of those “sad beige moms”

She makes sure Shogo has like all the colorful stuff

I also feel like she’s a sneaker head

Like bro loves her some Jordan’s 4

I feel like she’s also tiktok famous

She does like fashion stuff and just vlogs her everyday life

she’s also most definitely had cut her bangs by herself

And she had a red hair era

Mostly bc she was like “Jean looks good in red hair I wonder if I could”

Jean Grey

How old is Jean

She’s like in her early 30s I think

so she most definitely listens to like 80s 90s hip hop

I don’t know why I just feel it in my bones

Like she loves no-dignity

I know she’s married to Scott or whatever

But she definitely “experimented” in her earlier years

She wore contacts for a hot minute

Just to change her eye colors

She most definitely had a punk phase

Like I just imagine it

this is weird but she has a forever bracelet

those ones that never come off

I don’t know why

Also her primary social she uses is instagram

she’s and insta baddie

Idk why

Sean Cassidy

I love him

He definitely makes dad puns

“I’m hungry”

“Hi hungry I’m Banshee”

I feel like he’s sorta everyone’s father figure

Like they go to him for advice

He does give the best advice though

He sings to himself in the shower

Bro has a majestic voice

His favorite color is purple

I just get that vibe for him

He is the master at karaoke

He’s an even better singer when he’s drunk

Though he hardly gets drunk

It’s very rare

Scott Summers

Whether you like or you don’t like him he’s number one

Bro is tiktoks resident dilf

Like Scott has like 10 million followers

He’s got those 13 year olds simping for him

His love language is acts of service and gifts

Like he loves giving gifts to Jean

Jean and Scott’s are a power couple

The people love them

Theres multiple edits of him

He likes every one of them

Sometimes he’ll duet them

He loves the attention

Phobia of spiders

Homie jumps on the counter when he sees one

One time he tried to kill it with his lasers but it just destroyed the kitchen

He loves Star Wars

Bro is a little nerd

anyways the end I hoped you liked it, it’s kinda short

#marvelcomics #marvel #xmen headcanon #xmen #x men evolution #x men fanfiction #jubilation lee #jubilee #jean grey #marvel girl #Phoenix #scott summers #cyclops #banshee #sean cassidy #head canon

[gillianthecat]

Fahlanruk episode 12

my mostly negative thoughts while watching the final episode

Sher really took off his shoe to throw at Fah. 

This ending is making me appreciate Big Dragon's finale even more. 

The problem with Fah and Sher is that their story keeps reminding me of other shows that do whatever trope or plot better. Tending a cut on the bottom of the uke's foot -> Between Us made it more interesting. "Don't let me chase you away" -> I cared much more when Ji-woo said this to Seon-joon in To My Star 2.  The shoe throwing I haven't seen before though. 

I feel like Fah and Sher aren't actually going to do anything to solve their problems. Like have a conversation about... whatever their problems are, I don't even know at this point. Not trusting each other I think is at the base of it, and that's not going away just because you're being cute and calling each other faen. 

Tap and Ping have such good pajama game. They're so cute in their coordinated old man jammies. I've seen very few repeats, and I've loved every one. Do you think Ping has been buying them for them both all along? Excited about getting into bed next to his crush in the couples pajamas he got for them? 🥺

Ok, this scene in the kitchen where Fah is about to feed Sher porridge and asks Sher to be his boyfriend is pretty cute, I will give them that. 

Ping and Tap tagging tagging each other in their relationship status on Facebook is adorable. I love the way they're looking at each other here. (But do university students in Thailand even use Facebook anymore? I thought it was passé for that entire generation.)

I'm annoyed that even in late 2022 even sexually voracious uke characters still turn reluctant about sex once the relationship is established. It makes no damn sense! First Big Dragon and now this. I mean, it does sort of fit both their characters and dynamics (and Yai better than Sher), but I'm so annoyed by the trend overall. 

But at least even the sweetest most innocent of the three couples get to have sex. Good for them. And interestingly, these actors seem most comfortable with the physicality of it, out of all three pairs. Well done, Gear and Prince.

There is no way that Sher's cut was that serious. This is ridiculous. 

Are these music people cameos by actual famous music people? Otherwise there is no reason to listen to their extremely boring conversation. 

JESUS FUCKING CHRIST. Will anyone in this fucking show just let Sher live his own fucking life the way that HE wants to? Now that they're all done pressuring him to give in and date Fah they can't be content that they won that round and have to start pressuring him to reveal himself as a singer songwriter. There are a lot of good reasons for someone to want to remain anonymous and not be a pop star! Just because it doesn't fit your idea of how he should be living his life it doesn't mean he's not "embracing his own uniqueness" or whatever the fuck. I am getting much angrier than I should about this on behalf of a character I don't even care about. But it really is pissing me off. 

Wait, this play is about how toxic social media is and how gossip can fuck up relationships? Didn't Pink write this play? I... I don't even...

I'm still kind of rooting for Pie in all his campy villain glory. At least he's not pretending to be anything other than a selfish asshole and not trying to justify his interfering behavior as anything other than self-interest. 

Does no one teach the children basic internet safety anymore? Sher, why are you talking to this rando who messaged you out of the blue instead of blocking him. Maybe everyone SHOULD be making all of Sher's decisions for him after all. 

I know 80% of BLblr is relieved not to hear singing in their BLs, but it weirds me out when the characters are singers but we never or rarely hear them singing. Or, even worse, they play other music over footage of the character singing or playing. At that point, why even bother. 

See. These idiots never actually dealt with the fact that they don't trust each other! Shit like this is going to keep happening. Unless they somehow manage to have a real conversation in the last ten minutes of this show, but i I highly doubt that. 

Ok, I guess they did manage to sidestep the jealousy and work together. Whatever. I still don’t buy that they figured it out.

This episode is taking me forever to watch because I keep getting bored and/or irritated and going off to do something else. I could just not watch it of course, but I keep telling myself, just 30 minutes left, just 20 minutes left, just 5 minutes left of the whole fucking series, just get it over with so you never have to watch it again. So I am determined to watch it and be miserable. I am starting to actually hate the show now though, perhaps because of it.

They even did the thing with the play that I hate, where the dialogue is a barely veiled metaphor for the main characters relationship. And who is this woman in the white dress that they thanked? She was also the music... producer? that Sher met, I think? I feel like she must be a cameo because otherwise the focus on her makes no sense. Maybe the novel author? (She's certainly not an actress; she's even stiffer than all the other terrible acting in this show.)

Since I'm already being mean about it, I will take this opportunity to get it off my chest: the acting in this show is, with few exceptions, pretty awful. Sher and Fah feel like the worst offenders, but that's probably because they're awful characters that have no other redeeming features to save them. It's part of what's making this last episode such a slog. Them being "cute" together is not actually cute because I keep noticing how awkward and fake the acting is. 

And even Ping and Tap, as much as I adore them, are not doing very good acting most of the time, I hate to say. Ping is the best by far, and has moments of brilliance, but also a lot of awkward fake moments. I do blame the director for a lot of it, because it's so universal, and it often just feel like he's been given bad direction, and odd instructions regard timing/pacing. I would love to see him in something else with a better director because he's still pretty young and I think he has a lot of potential. As for Tap, I think he's the prettiest out of all the actors, and better than most of them, but he's still not that good unfortunately. But again, perhaps with a better script/director...

I do not understand (well 80% of this show to be honest, but specifically) why Sher and Fah are friends with Pink. Why they tolerate her sobbing and screaming "my ship has reached its destination." That is CREEPY. She is a fucking CREEP.  If I was them I would take out a restraining order. 

Speaking of things I don't understand, why is Fah doing an instagram live for the general public? He's not an influencer or anything like that as far as a can tell. Just a random popular kid on campus. Is this a real thing in the real world? Anywhere? Or in Thailand specifically? Do college kids these days treat the popular students like minor celebrities and follow their every move? It could well be, I am old™️ and don't understand how the youths are using social media. 

I do find it hilarious that for whatever reason they decided Fah and Sher needed a last minute separation. But only were willing to do it for a week(?). I couldn't actually tell you why or for how long because I'm seriously struggling to pay attention at this point. 

Yay! It's fucking over. I made it. Now I can let everything about this show slip from my memory, as it’s already trying to do. (Except for Ping and Tap, them I’ll keep.)

I will say that this final episode is making me appreciate Big Dragon's more. That one I did love, because the show has my heart and they did do many things very well, but I was also aware of several things I wished they'd done differently. But any flaws it had paled in comparison to the nonsense mess that was Fahlanruk ep 12. 

#fahlanruk ep 12 #grumpyblogging #in which i’m a bit mean #fahlanruk #fahlanruk the series #kind of like liveblogging #final episodes #gillianthecat reacts to bl

[theroundbartable]

It recently has come to my attention that there will be a new Harry Potter Series.

More under the cut, about my frustrations with it. I'm a little angry and emotional.

I'm tired. I am so fucking tired of JKR, of the never ending story that is the wizarding world.

I'm tired of the commercialism, the way she's milking her own franchise. Her fans. ( She's going to be paid per episode.)

The way she threatened them over publishing fanfics in the past.

I'm tired of the queer erasure in her books. I'm tired of the framing of marginalized groups as oppressors on her fucking twitter.

I'm tired of her pretentious feminism, because that's not what she stands for. If you don't treat trans women as women, you're not a feminist. Period. Yes, women are oppressed, but not by trans women, for god's sake, how can anyone even think that. Trans women are doubly opprossed. For being women and for being trans. It's called intersectionality, look it up.

In a podcast "the witch trials of JK Rowling" she made tumblr the enemy???? Tumblr???? You mean THE most chaotic Website for socially awkward people who talk about their blorbos and who are like 80% of your target audience? Those people? That's the evil people? Because the only power they have is canceling the people in power who oppress them? Yeah, for goodness sake, then don't be a bitch. (Disclaimer, i watched a video that more or less gave the gist of the Podcast. With direct quotes.)

I'm so tired. Harry Potter taught me to read. It's what got me into writing. It's, ironically, how I first learned what racism was, because until I was 12 I hadn't been confronted with the subject. (I admit, I did a racist thing back then in writing. I was 12, came from a pretty white village and I simply didn't know better. The encounter that called me out at the time, became part of the reason why I also invested into learning about the LGBT+ community to make sure I didn't do the same thing again. It was and still is a process that also lead to self discovery.)

It makes me so mad to see that legacy be tainted at the roots.

I'm not going to tell anyone whether or not to watch the new show. I don't have the moral high ground to make such a demand. Liking Harry Potter doesn't mean you share JKRs views. But like... At least pirate it, so she doesn't get the money. She doesn't deserve it.

She doesn't know when a story ends. Harry Potter was over after the 7th book. Everything else is a shitty spin off that lives off of HP' popularity. I'm honestly at a point where I don't want to see her name ever again.

Just. Stop.

#hp #harry potter #discourse #tw #jkr #transphobia #queerphobia #racism #jkr is a terf #rant #delete later

[kinocomix]

Untitled project Devlog #3: The crab effect

Today we’re going to talk about how art and politics are inherently inseparable on a conceptual level, but first: let’s talk about boots.

If you google Doc Martens you’ll be taken to their website where you have the option of buying an assortment of very overpriced shoes that a lesbian on tiktok assured me are made less good than classic ones from the 90’s and 80’s. When I was in class one day our professor mentioned how nowadays a lot of companies adopt an ideology put forth by Ford (the car manufacturer) where if you have a very sturdy part of a machine that’s expensive to make but the rest of the machine isn’t, the “smarter” idea is to make this part cheaper and less sturdy than to spend a bunch of money to make the whole machine better- supposedly this is better for the consumer somehow but that’s not the point. Setting aside how that raises the question of planned obsolescence and potential consumer exploitation, part of the reason that people say old Doc Marten shoes are better… is probably because they actually are. 

from how to geek: https://www.howtogeek.com/731791/what-is-planned-obsolescence-and-how-does-it-affect-my-devices/

This sentiment, the idea that companies aren’t worth your respect because they optimize their products to make more money and not to actually sell you a good product is part of what a lot of punk subcultures are about. Those same boots were likely part of the original fashion focused subculture, skinheads, that assisted in the creation of the punk genre. 

The original meaning of “skinhead” referred to some working class young people who had some extra cash to spend on clothing. Because history is always very messy, some racists saw that and thought “oh wow young people who can vote” and then neo nazis happened. in reaction to that you had people still calling themselves skinheads now taking an anti racist anti fascist approach. to note: it’s not clear cut, you still had people in the middle not caring.

This is how the ideology of punk was born. It’s this whole messy history lesson spanning continents, politics, fashion, a distaste for what was then the way too polished mirror sheen of rock. they wanted something tangible, something of the people by the people. so take the urban fashion of the original reggae/soul/ska influenced skinhead movement born in the UK, combine it with the now beginning to be unique sound of american punk just trying to sound different, the image of the working class “bastard” that deconstructed and challenged the idea of what a musician was and you get a socio-politically motivated genre of music that wants the best for the people.

sidenote: in case you’re wondering- yes there were neonazi punk musicians, but it’s not called punk, it’s called hatecore, which is… a fitting name. Genres are not only defined by sound, but themes as well.

Remember when I mentioned that music changes based off of the social fabric it’s built on? there you go. Punk as we know it would not exist the way it does today had it not been for that messy history. Now with that in mind, you can hopefully see why there’s an overlap with metal. If I were to vaguely state “loud music that actually wants to say something very important” you might have a hard time telling me which genre I’m talking about. This overlap is vaguely similar to how nature keeps evolving crabs independently from each other:

“Carcinization is of interest to carcinologists and evolutionary biologists for several reasons and at different levels. First of all it is an instance of astonishing convergence, concerning a whole set of structures.”

Scholtz, G. (2014). Evolution of crabs – history and deconstruction of a prime example of convergence, Contributions to Zoology, 83 (2) 87-105. https://brill.com/view/journals/ctoz/83/2/article-p87_1.xml

And… it’s weird right? how these people trying to do different things ended up in the same place. to note, I’m aware that both of these genres are not exclusively worried about social and political issues, no genre is. Metal is first and foremost fun, and punk music is first and foremost that: MUSIC. But it’s hard to deny that both genres are intense in their messaging. 

Remember the time System of a Down set aside years of creative differences to talk about the war happening in Armenia?

Literally any Russ Russel song will be talking about some variation of politics/the man/religion

Napalm Death, Metaphorically screw you

Here’s a fun fact, Rage against the machine got the N-word pass (I would presume) to sing their cover of Fuck the police

You know the meme of Gojira being all like “come here bb girl” and then it’s just like a tree? I mean that’s not based on nothing either…

On the lesser known end of the spectrum, you have artists like 3teeth which raise an interesting question:

3teeth, president X

“It’s all kind of… tongue in cheek?” you might say. There’s the song “God hates us all” by Slayer, when the lead singer Tom Araya was asked if he actually believes that he simply said the following:

Tom Araya in in Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, directed by Sam Dunn

Metal Musicians aren’t dumb. They know what they’re doing. Sometimes they’re Genuinely convinced of what they’re talking about. Other times They’re just trying to be outrageous. 

Dee Snider, Lead singer of twisted Sister

A lot of the gender norm defying things the metal scene did in the 70’s was because they were just trying to look cool and outrageous. But let’s forget about that for a moment. I can hear someone giving the arguments “What about Nu metal?”, “What about Rob zombie?”, “what about Ghost”, “what about [insert commenter’s band here]?”. Are those political? no, neither is most music in general. No one listens to Feiruz and thinks “ah yes, you can clearly hear the Palestinian struggle represented through the lyrics” but you might just look up Feiruz, learn she’s from Lebanon and then learn about the part of the world glued to Lebanon called Palestine. This is called tangential learning, so in that same sense, maybe you’ll be listening to Bodies by Drowning pool–which is about moshing by the way– and for a moment you’ll think of something else more serious for example. Again, you might not, and that’s fine… but you can’t deny that the path is there. 

Setting that aside for a moment, let’s consider the argument that music is a form of escapism. Leaning on this as your sole argument is very narrow minded and forgets the idea that escapist fiction is inherently anti-escapist. When you read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (which is great by the way go read Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson) sure you’re immersed in the world of the book and the intricacies of this nigh-impossible magical bank heist. But once you put down the book, you’re always reminded of the world you’re escaping from. Escapist fiction offers a temporary relief from reality, there is always a thread that tethers that fiction to the real world it pushes against. 

Craig Thompson, Blankets

If you're still reading at this point you’re probably wondering how any of this is relevant to a comic book, let alone one that I'm making. The project I'm working on is going to feature a band that we’re going to be eventually making characters for. but in order to do that and do it properly, it’s important to understand the motivations behind the music. If I don’t then you end up with cliche characters like “angry rebellious metalhead” and “overly verbose activist punk” which no one wants and that would make the whole thing a shit fest at worst, and a boring comic at best. It’s important for me that i don’t rely on the events taking place in the story to hold it up, the world and people in it need to be just as interesting and complex as the contrivances of my narrative, otherwise I’m just writing a less good bandslam or a very uninspired rip off of inception that completely misses the point.

Anyways!I would be remiss to not specifically point out that I actually have a goal I’m working towards, I have a plot outline that’s been figured out for a while. All the work I’m doing fits into that skeleton in one way or another, but that’s it for now.

Devlog updates on tuesdays

#comic #kinocomix #devlog #graphic novel #metal #webcomic #craig thompson #twisted sister #slayer #punk rock #Youtube

[ventrue-in-control]

Jackie Mczyne

since I never made one before cuz im bobo the fool

Name: Jackie Emanual Abdul Mczyne Pronouns: he/him they/them age: 25 forverer but 68 in total Nationality: British-Tanzanian Species: Vampire (VTM) Clan: Ventrue Sect: Camarilla Location: Andover (primarily) and Swindon (secondary) Personality: egotistical anarchistic idiot Partner: @misericorsalvator Sire: @keeper-of-lions Notes: This man is a germaphobe and has a bit of OCD. Also can NOT handle physical toutch what so ever. If he was a bird he would be an impundulu

There are no specific rules for interacting with my blog! Just dont be focking racist cuz ill feed your kidneys to the dogs

THINGS ARENT TAGGED SO BE WARNED OF GORE BLOOD AND WHAT HAVE YA NOT you can of course ask me to tag certain things I will appologize because I may very well forget orz plz do remind me.

More rambles under the cut off

You've unlocked the extra rambles! congrats! Im so sorry as this may just be incomprehensible

first of all Hi! Im birdy, 24 years old, a black trans animator from the netherlands. I do da drawing and da makin of da gaymes. I stream on twitch you are always free to reach out to me here in DM's or else on discord The-Nerdy-Birdy#0918 <- JUST BE AWARE I was terrible social anxiety and I may be slow to respond THAT'S NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU PLEASE KNOW THAT I LOVE YOU Im just silly :3 and have my moments. I promise ya tho I love to talk and ramble.

WITH THAT OUTTA THE WAY MY BOI OH HOW I LOVE HIM SO HE CAN SOMETIMES BE A BIT OF A BITCH AND I AM SORRY. HE CAN BE MEAN. ITS JUST A CHARACTER THOUGH BUT IF I EVER GO TOO FAR LET ME KNOW PLEASE I DONT WANNA HURT NOBODY

anyways, quick summary about jackie.

Jackie went through a lot in his living years! going through the 50s to the 80s as a black man in the uk certainly was something! He used to be a genuine sweet and caring kid and now he still cares but hes very jaded by the world. He used to be part of the british black panther party and he has many opinions bout stuff and politics! but he has quited down quite a bit after his embrace.

he has a bit of a shortfuse cuz folk keep threathening him and hurting him so he is quite defensive. sadly he does not have the brains to see yet that he himself also hurts people and he should be a bit nicer to folk sometimes!

He cares tons about his friends and those who he considers fam. he does not enjoy seeing folk get hurt but.... if push comes to shove he will always choose himself. hes all he has. and all he can rely on and nobody is worth destroying himself over. atleast he'd like to think that. he does however often finds himself choosing his friends over himself and he hates it.

EHHHH FASHION WISE. He basically runs a GIANT company called SALMON which both makes ready to wear as haute couture. he is not the sole designer of it al. but he is most well known. he is a bit of a control freak with his company (not much better outside it either) so he will pick up more work than he should resulting in him always stressing about something.

he has many other companies also and a whole buncha other lore PLEASE ASK ME BOUT ME BOI HE IS ALMOST 10 YEARS OLD AND HE MEANS A LOT TO ME.

EHHH IDK WAT ELSE TO ADD SO U GET SMALL FUN FACTS!

Jackie is terrified of moths his handwriting is actually a perfect typewriter font he is really good at math! unlike me! cant see shit without his glasses was part of the british black panther movement HIS FEEDING RESTRICTION IS FOR ME TO KNOW AND YOU TO FIGURE OUT TEEHEE He wishes to become prince someday fave color is salmon of course.

HAVE SOME MORE ART OF HIM ALSO

HIS COTERIE BTW HOW COULD I FORGET! He is actually from a still active chronicle! though I most things on dash arent like canon lol In order the characters are: Tommy Riley Jackie Ada and Chris. they all hate each other and they has an awful time together :)

#long post #ooc #because i litterally cannot stfu #cuz im silly :3 and I love my boi a lot #IM ALSO SORRY AS I DIDNT SPELL CHECK IT AND I HAVE SCATTERBRAIN SO THIS MAY NOT EVEN MAKE ANY SENSE AT ALL #I AM LITTERALLY SO SORRY FOR ANYONE WHO DECIDES TO READ THIS

[beardedmrbean]

Some 1.8 million Muslims from across the world made it to Mount Arafat in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to mark the most important day of the Hajj. But due to global price rises, the pilgrimage is becoming increasingly unaffordable.

"The number of bookings has significantly dropped this year. It's too costly for many people," says an employee at a private Egyptian tour operator in charge of organising Hajj trips, who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of a backlash over their criticism of their country's economic situation.

In Egypt, the most populous Arab country, the cheapest government-sponsored pilgrimage currently costs around $6,000 (£4,720) - double what it was last year.

The price hike has been fuelled by the sharp devaluation of the Egyptian pound, which has lost more than 50% of its value against the US dollar since March 2022. As a result, the cost of living has also skyrocketed, with annual core inflation hitting 40% in May.

About 30% of the population was living below the government's poverty line before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the World Bank says the figure is likely to have risen since then.

'My dream'

Farida, a retired Egyptian civil servant, saved to go on the Hajj for five years.

"All my savings are not enough to pay for the trip. When I saw the price list, I was shocked," she says.

Farida - not her real name - is a widow and mother of five. She also asked not to be identified because she did not want to publicly criticise Egyptian authorities over the rising cost of living.

Farida says that performing the Hajj is "my dream", adding: "Hajj cleanses the soul."

She says her children are all married, so "social and financial responsibilities have been lifted off my shoulders". "It is about time to go to Hajj."

Farida has already been to Mecca four times before to perform the lesser Umrah pilgrimage, which includes some of the rituals of the Hajj and can be undertaken at any time of the year.

This time, she used a loophole in the system so that she could perform the Hajj.

"Instead of the Hajj visa, I got a three-month-tourist visa and arrived in Mecca a month before the Hajj season kicks off," she tells me from Saudi Arabia while waiting to start the pilgrimage. "This is the only option I have got."

Farida's whole trip to Mecca works out 80% cheaper than the government-sponsored Hajj package.

Subsidy cuts

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. Muslims are required to make the journey to Mecca at least once in their lifetime, if they are physically and financially capable of doing so.

The pilgrimage starts on the eighth day of the Islamic lunar month of Dhul Hijjah, which this year corresponded to 26 June in the Gregorian calendar, and lasts five to six says.

The Hajj usually attracts between 1.5 million and 2 million pilgrims, but this is the first time since the pandemic that Saudi authorities have allowed it to return to full capacity.

Saudi Arabia allocates each country an annual quota based on the number of Muslims living there.

The biggest goes to Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim-majority nation, with a population of 270 million. It was given 221,000 places this year.

Indonesian authorities decided this year to cut the subsidy for the pilgrimage to 50% from 60%, meaning that each Indonesian pilgrim had to pay $3,320. In 2022, the package cost $2,660.

Political barriers

While the financial cost can prove an obstacle for many Muslims around the world, for those in Yemen - Saudi Arabia's war-torn and impoverished southern neighbour - the situation is far more complicated.

The country has been devastated by a conflict that escalated in 2015, when a Saudi-led military coalition intervened after the Iran-backed rebel Houthi movement seized control of large parts of the country. The fighting has reportedly killed more than 150,000 people and caused one of the world's biggest humanitarian disasters.

This month, Yemeni pilgrims flew directly from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, to Saudi Arabia for the Hajj - the first such commercial flights in about seven years.

Those who travelled had to pay about $3,000 - a considerable sum in a country where more than 21 million out of a population of 30 million people need some kind of humanitarian assistance and 17 million do not know where their next meal will come from.

"In 2016, I went to Hajj for less than half of this price. It's too expensive for me now," one Yemeni journalist says.

#nunyas news

[derridoid]

Very interested in your thesis 👀

ALRIGHT. putting this under the cut because it's A Lot and i don't wanna clog up your dash. but i'll go ahead and pop in the link to my thesis here! tl;dr - 80 pages of scholarly research that answers the question "why do people use tumblr?"

so, because i'm a grown up with a considerable presence on the web, i'll share some potentially personal info. i don't have any concerns about being doxxed or anything like that lmao this is tumblr dot com.

i completed my masters degree about a year ago at bowling green state university. bgsu is one of the few institutions in this area of the country that has programs for cultural studies, so it was a great fit for me.

my thesis's goal was to use qualitative, humanistic research methods to understand the broad culture of tumblr - that is to say, i wanted to study people and their experiences on the site. basically, my thesis advisor and i sat down and asked, "what the fuck is up with tumblr?" and developed a research methodology to answer this question. my methods were inductive, meaning that i went in and gathered data, took a look at my notes, and generated a conclusion that answered the question.

i did it within the realm of "constructivist grounded theory," which is a specific way to apply inductive reasoning to humanistic research. it focuses on how experiences construct meaning and value; people don't inherently give sites like tumblr value, they use it in a way that creates that for them. the basic steps of the research method are as follows: go over your literature to get an idea for what you're up to, collect your data (in my case, interview users of tumblr), "code" your data (go over the transcripts word by word and look for similarities/draw conclusions), go back into the field and interview MORE people, and then draw a conclusion that answers your question (which is usually "what is up with this thing").

i'm really proud of my thesis and the "theory of tumblr" i came up with (which i'll put in a blockquote at the end of this answer), but there are some things i'd change in the future if i go on to do a phd. i would have liked to go back out into the field to interview more people - i didn't have time for this since i only had two semesters to write my thesis lmao. i also would have liked to get a broader sample size. i was deep into bandom hell, so a lot of my research participants were in that subculture as well. they were all also personal acquaintances and friends - it would have been nice to interview perfect strangers! i guess my theory of tumblr is more "theory of a handful of people in my bubble who are part of a very specific subculture and all have very similar demographic/social backgrounds"

if anyone wants to build off this research, i recommend setting a survey out into the wild on tumblr and THEN doing interviews. give it a nice mix of multiple choice/slider questions as well as some short answer questions. look for overarching themes and similarities in all those responses! and maybe make one of your survey questions "can we reach out to you with further questions?" so you can do interviews that are more in depth. interview a few people at a time, see what they say, and then go out and interview more people and see if they say the same thing. don't be afraid to update your research question or change what themes you focus on. if your findings are different than what you expect, that means you're onto something cutting edge!

also - i TOTALLY recommend doing interview via zoom like i did. if you have a premium subscription, it'll generate a transcript for you in real time, so you don't have to sit down, listen to the audio, and transcribe it chunk by chunk. makes coding WAY easier.

as promised: my academic "theory of tumblr":

Tumblr is a microblogging social media platform that has been turned by users into an emergent space for community development, cultural creation, and identity affirmation. The aspects of the site that prove significant to its construction and userbase include but are not limited to the userbase’s focus on social engagement through shared interests and worldviews, the uniqueness of the site’s design, the prioritization of marginalized and diverse people, and the performance and refinement of user identities. These nuances of Tumblr have made it continuously relevant to users, even when considering both positive and negative personal experiences on the platform, as it helps provide a sense of connectivity and authenticity in an increasingly virtual world.

#frankie.txt #i love infodumping abt my thesis #i'm no longer in academia but i still take pride in it #mayhaps i will start a video essay channel where i do research like this...

[crescentfool]

after a year of on-and-off playing, i finally finished persona 3 fes (the journey) and it was a very lovely experience! so i thought i’d write a post compiling some of my thoughts about it!

first things first, p3p or p3fes:

i enjoyed fes a LOT but for people who are looking for a smoother game experience and fun social links, i would suggest playing femc’s route on p3p, and then watch the p3 movies to see minato’s journey.

that said, if you feel that 3d models are important to help immerse yourself in the setting and storyline (like me!), i would still recommend playing fes!

and if you are not entirely sure if you want to commit to an 80+ hour long game… the movies are a very good starting point!

where im coming from:

before i actually get into Some of My Thoughts™, a lil’ precursor  i did go into fes with the general gist of p3’s plot (i watched the movies).

p3 fes was the second persona game i played (after p5r), but i have seen a good chunk of gameplay of the other games (p1, p2is, p3p, and p4g).

i can say that playing the game definitely heightened my appreciation for the characters and setting in a way that the movie couldn’t. soufhglkhdf i loved it. 

but anyways. some More Thoughts™ under the cut, mostly just about fes’s gameplay and Some Spoilers!

on the gameplay:

i think that playing fes after p5r was really interesting! i felt that i could see the foundation of what makes up the ‘modernsona’ games. it’s not as streamlined as p5r (no baton passes 💔) but i think it’s still playable (though that might be because i played on easy, lol).

tartarus, i found it… oddly calming? but i understand if people feel it’s repetitive, and not as interesting as the dungeons in p5r. i enjoy that tartarus isn’t as segmented since the story beats didn’t have to be tied to it.

i think the worst part of the gameplay to me was anything to do with the golden hands…. it’s very annoying to get into a battle with them on the map, and once you DO get into a fight they can just run away before you can do anything? so i’m glad that their appearances in p4g are much more fair and feel more rewarding bc i had to abuse so many save states just to hit the fuckers.

in regards to the ai, i think they’re alright unless you’re trying to pull off a more elaborate strategy that isn’t “knock down enemies and all out attack them.” i think the directions that you can give SEES are fairly straightforward but there have been times where their decisions are questionable (no mediaharan or… attacking when the final boss activated their reflect barrier… lol).

i found fes to be tolerable but i do think that sometimes enemy advantage attacks combined with the ai can be rather punishing when party members heal people that aren’t the leader (given the if protag dies = game over). totally not speaking from experience haha what do you mean (volume warning)???

if you’re playing on emulator i highly recommend keeping save states! i used them a lot for hands and the (groans) random skill mutations and. shuffle times. im cheap. i know. but don’t b afraid to make it easier for urself ✨ 

there’s also the new moon difficulty mod for anyone who’s concerned about the game balance, but i haven’t played it myself.

on the characters / story:

i liked sees when watching the movies, but gosh, playing the game really heightened my appreciation for them! especially yukari, i loved her social link and i really enjoyed getting to know her better.

that said. anyone who’s been in the p3 fandom long enough probably has heard that minato’s social links are… lackluster. there are a few good ones (that weren’t SEES) that i really liked- bebe (XIV), mutatsu (XVI), and akinari (XIX)! but all of these are… available in femc’s route and she gets a lot better options. i don’t want to sit through nozomi and kenji’s social links again </3

even if i feel that minato’s SLs are a bit meh, i really appreciate how SEES’s social links are handled and that their development does not hinge on minato DOING things- i think it allows for stronger and more believable character arcs and i loved seeing the different dynamics among the cast!

i think that playing the game and living out each day brings out the inherent strength of the persona calendar system- i really felt a stronger attachment to the characters and their individualized storylines than i did in the movies, which in turn enhanced my enjoyment of the themes portrayed in the narrative. which. i already enjoyed a lot (gestures a lot at ryoji mochizuki who everyone probably knows that he’s my favorite character ever).

if it’s not readily apparent! i really! enjoyed playing FES! im glad i chose it over p3p bc :) i like to look at minato and smile at his silly little animations. but uh. i think that’s all i have to say!

if anyone wants any specific thoughts™ on the characters / gameplay, feel free to leave an ask !!! i would be happy to answer it whenever i have the chance to~

��TL;DR: p3 GOOD i loved it a lot

#persona 3 #lizzy speaks #this is moreso a personal post than anything #i like being able to reflect about my experiences with media and!! p3 good !!! #i think even with the p3p ports coming next month (HOW... time fake).... fes is still respectable #like ok yeah ive seen p3p's gameplay and it definitely seems easier to play but ough when u like seeing idle animations and whatnot... #fes is very good 4 that... and even though i played it unmodded there are def mods out there that make it more tolerable #if anyone wants to kno my onions at more detail than what i put here... feel free to ask and if i have time i will answer ! #also no i dont think it would take the average person a year to finish this game #i just got preoccupied with uni / water emblem / woomy game which slowed my progress alot LOL #oh yeah. forgot to write it in the post itself. 100%'d most of elizabeth's rqs except a katana from monad depths + the. the NG+ fight #i dont think 100%-ing it is necessary for enjoyment but i wanted to say that i finished the compendium in one game.... LMAO. anw. bye

[kebriones]

What are some myths you want to debunk about the Maniots? I am interested in it, mainly because the general image that most non-Maniots Greeks (like me) have about the Maniots are:

War-like people

Vendettas, VENDETTAS everywhere

Completely old-fashioned (to put it lightly) on their ideologies and the way they treat women

i am not sure there are many myths to debunk hahahshdfjhs most things are true, just in a more nuanced way, and no my dad doesn't shoot people who so much as look at his daughters, even though the joke is made at least once every family gathering. But of course, most stereotypes do not apply to people born in and after the 80s as populations are mignling a lot more and the cultural exchange means the extremes have gotten evened out.

Details about the points you mentioned under the cut:

-Well, war-like was a thing 200 years ago. The need for that no longer exists, and having met both older cretans and maniots, I would say the maniots are a lot more chill than cretans, when it comes to their love for guns and other weapons. But even until my parent's generation, the "you can go out naked but not without a knife" mindset sometimes pops up.

Something interesting to note is that when many people left mani in search for work and came to athens, after initially settling down at pireus and working the hardest jobs around the port, the clan mindset kicked in and they formed notorious mafia-like groups. -The vendettas were very real and very prominent, but that practice ended before the 20th century, mostly thanks to the state starting to get involved to stop people slaughtering each other. However, my family which comes from some of the most backwater, godforsaken, isolated little villages, has at least one convicted murderer (who I have met after he came out of prison, everyone was chill with him), my grandad who planned a double homicide (for a matter of family honor, he told my grandma and she went and told the police, but then he was let go with a warning lol) and an uncle who came very close to killing someone as well. So yeah murders for honor were, up until recently, a thing.

(moving on to the next section I must say I did my very best to explain things but sometimes I struggle a lot to understand all the convoluted social and political stuff because so much of it is human stupidity piled onto itself for generations but I also had to make an attempt to sort of explain, hopefully it makes some sort of sense)

-Yes, again, with older generations, the traditional patriarchy-based views about women were usually the norm. But having met people from all over greece, I can't say that maniots now are more or less sexist than others. Treating women with respect, even though the men were considered the family's leaders, was a matter of honor, when it came to their traditional morals. It's all a very strange mixture of "if my sister marries someone I don't approve of I will kill her and her spouse" and "if my son harasses or hurts a girl I will cut off his hands myself". Conversely, almost all the older maniot women i've met are very fierce, outspoken and free-spirited.

(Also, when talking about completely isolated maniot communities like the village my paternal grandfather grew up in, things were worse than you can imagine. My dad describes them as living in a semi-wild state, and there is no nice polite way to put things such as incest being a regular thing amongst all family members, very few knowing how to read and write, or only washing yourself once every few months. Some villages in mani only got electricity, water and roads in the 80s.)

When it comes to extreme conservative political views, unfortunately the numbers showing this isn't an unfair stereotype are there, even though I am obligated to say i know enough maniots who are progressive enough, and my grandad was a sworn communist.

There's a very convoluted way so many maniots ended up supporting fascists and i'm not a historian so I struggle to explain it in a way that makes sense. but basically, mani has been for centuries very difficult to intergrate into anything new, because of how crazy closed off they have always been. They were, for example, the last people in greece to become christians by a significant time margin. It took them until at least the late 900s to let go of the old religion. All throughout the centuries that followed, mani was just a poor isolated place nobody cared to mess with. It was too much trouble for a place that had nothing to offer. So this sense of us vs outsiders, the attachment to their identity, combined with the extreme poverty they faced and the attempts from the government's side since very early on to intergrate them and stop them from causing touble etc somehow led to this situation now. Becoming overly conservative and obsessed with tradition and stuff was how they felt like they safeguarded their cultural identity, even if in reality through that they lost touch with their free spirited, piracy loving ancestors. It is quite sad.

When it comes to stereotypes which I think are true even for people at my age, it's the "don't speak much". Like my parents have beaten this into me my whole life. You must always remember to speak as little as possible, not for lack of having things to say, but because that's just considered sensible and proper behavior. Also the idea that you must protect the family and put it before anything else is still well and strong, in the case of my family to a frankly catastrophic degree.

#hope any of this makes sense honestl dhfgjhv