#it might be good also to reiterate that i don't make money from what i do

[magicxc]

Holidays

Pairings: Survey Corps - their fave holidays

Word Count: 871

Warnings: none

A/N: I considered Japanese holidays for this bit but then laziness got the best of me. Like most pieces I create with these characters a lot of how I envision them will relate to western/modern culture in some way or another. Though they probably won't celebrate half of the holidays I'm about to list, I want to reiterate that this is my idea of the traits these characters possess and also they are not real. 

Eren  - Christmas

Eren is big on family, especially the family he’s made with Armin and Mikasa. It’s clear that he stands ten toes down behind them and when he gets his own family, it’ll be much the same. I actually think having kids will bring out the fluff in Eren and he’ll be that obnoxious holiday parent that's doing the most with decorations and presents. But it's honestly the atmosphere that gets him going. The holiday cheer, the kindness, the emphasis on giving - he loves it all. 

Levi - New Years

The new year signals a new beginning but also the close to another chapter. Each time Levi makes it to a new year he’s thankful but mostly shocked. From life underground to humanity's biggest threat, he never knows when disaster might strike. But, when the clock strikes 12 it's a moment of relief, one where he can sit back and relish in the thought that he’s made it to another trip around the sun. 

Erwin - Fathers Day

Lmaoo I'm not tryna make Erwin sound egotistical at all, but I was also running out of popular holidays. The day the Scouts headed to their mission to plug wall Maria was the first time we saw them get a standing ovation and it was also the first time we saw Erwin express such vocal excitement. Even though he can come off a bit aloof, I thought it was fun to see him in that way. That being said I think he’d enjoy being celebrated and can even play up the wowwwws at the macaroni necklaces and handprint construction papers lol. He would love and take care of his family obvi but it’d also make him feel good to feel that admiration in return. 

Connie - Thanksgiving 

You feed this man and he’ll love you forever. It’s his favorite holiday because it has back to back benefits. There's tons of food, a four day weekend off from work, and the opportunity to spend time with his family. He’s the type to pitch in money but over the years Connie has been more inclined to learn how to cook and has even started bringing in a dish. He’s most excited to try a Friendsgiving as he considers them family as well. 

Jean - Valentines Day

I firmly believe that Jean is a romantic. I don't think he’d be the most creative at gift giving lol but it’s certainly the thought that counts. On valentines day he goes all out - teddy bears, flowers, chocolates, etc. ya know, the usual. Although his gifts are very on the nose and sometimes he needs to be spoon fed the information, what he lacks in creativity, he'll gain in experience; learning to step his game up as the years go by. Again, sweet guy. 

Onyankopon - Easter

He more so likes the spring break aspect of it. With the flowers blooming and the sun making regular appearances, it was usually the first sign to what summer would be like. Ony enjoys traveling, meeting new people, and experiencing different cultures. So although spring break was meant to party, which he did, Ony always made the time to immerse himself in the customs of whichever country he visited. Now as an adult, he still indulged in his version of spring break as he always enjoyed the mini relaxation that it brought about; thinking of it as his summer outside of summer. 

Reiner - Independence Day

Reiner is over the whole patriotic thing, however he can't help but enjoy the events that take place because of it. There’s literally a bbq happening on every corner so he’s for sure house hopping for a plate. There's all sorts of sales and Gabi is making him put that wallet to USE hunnie. And while he doesn’t mind, he more so enjoys their time spent together. There's also the beautiful fireworks that light up the evening sky. And at the end of the day he gets to spend his remaining time with family, gathered around over good food and even better vibes. 

Armin - Mothers Day

Armin is def the type to dote on his wife. Hard day at work? He’s rubbing the stress out of your shoulders. Hungry? He’s cooking and prepping lunch for the week. Overwhelmed at work? He’s booking you a spa day. Armin literally adores his woman and enjoys any chance he has to celebrate her and Mothers Day is no exception. Expect him and the kiddies to hand make you some arts and crafts, cook you breakfast, and plan the holiday around your desired interests; with him making sure, at the end of the day, to show you why you celebrate the holiday in the first place. 

Floch - Halloween

He’s big on the spooky vibe but not to a concerning extent. Like many others he just enjoys the activities surrounding it. This is actually where Floch flourishes in creativity and fun. He’s making spooky themed treats, decorating to upstage the next door neighbor, and enjoying all the movie classics. Let's not even get started on the lengths he’ll go through to make the most life-like costumes and the parties where he shows it all off?? Top mf notch! Bonus points for getting some action at said parties.

#Emmy Writes #Emmy Tries #attack on titan #aot #aot x black reader #aot x reader #aot x you #shinjeki no kyojin #shingeki no kyojin #snk #eren jeager #eren yeager x black reader #eren yeager x reader #eren yeager x you #levi ackerman #levi ackerman x black reader #levi ackerman x reader #levi ackerman x you #erwin smith #erwin smith x black reader #erwin smith x reader #erwin smith x you #connie springer #connie springer x black reader #connie springer x reader #connie springer x you #jean kirstein #jean kirschtein x black reader #jean kirschtein x reader #jean kirschstein x you

[seraphtrevs]

Do you think it could be possible that the Salamancas were outcasts even among the cartel because of the "family is everything" mentality that Hector drilled into them? And on top of that, the twins are Like That and Tuco is Tuco, as well as Hector being dumb as a box of rocks like you said, so it would only Lalo who can blend in as the most "normal" (I feel like he's the defacto spokesperson of the Salamancas which is why he stays in Mexico until Hector's hospitalized) I'm also wondering if you think the Salamancas know and accept that they're pariahs or are they unaware and think everything they do is justified? Like Lalo, the twins seem to kill as a safety measure rather than out of fun (e.g. the man who thought their shoes looked cool) which tracks with Lalo taking Howard out just because he was there

I don't really think so, because the Salamancas are founding members of the cartel. The cartel has a lot of underlings, but at the top, there's only Eladio (the boss), Bolsa (the business guy), and the Salamancas (the muscle). Hector says that the cartel was founded on "Salamanca blood" (because an unknown number of Salamancas have died for the cartel) and interestingly, Salamanca money - I just rewatched the scene in 3 x 10 when Hector has his stroke, and Hector tells Bolsa that Salamanca money bought Eladio's hacienda.

(It kind of makes you wonder what Eladio brought to the table, if all the work and the initial monetary investment came from the Salamancas. Why is Eladio the boss, and not Hector? Maybe Eladio is the brains, or had the right connections to get them off the ground.)

Anyway, this is why no matter how much of an asshole Hector is, Bolsa always speaks very diplomatically to him and reiterates how valued Hector and his family are. I do, however, think it's possible that while Hector was in prison, Eladio ratfucked the other Salamancas somehow, which is why Hector's brothers are dead, not because he considered them pariahs but because Eladio's share of the profit would increase with fewer people to have to pay out.

And this is why Hector is so freaked out by Gus moving up in the ranks. Even if Hector and Gus didn't have a history, a new guy gaining that much importance in the cartel has a very good chance of pushing him and his family out. Gus is making them irrelevant. And once they're irrelevant, then they might become pariahs, and then it's all over for them. It isn't just a matter of Hector's pride on the line - it's their lives.

I agree that the twins are more pragmatic killers than just killing people for the hell of it, but I think Lalo's murder of Howard was also strategic, not just because he didn't want witnesses. Killing Howard was a very fast way to get the message across to Jimmy and Kim that there wasn't going to be any negotiating this time around.

#keeping up with the salamancas #hector salamanca #lalo salamanca #better call saul #asks

[theflyindutchwoman]

Has he tried anything? No, but I can handle it if he does. I know. Yeah, knowing and feeling okay about it are two different things. Look, it's not my first time. I know. It's probably what makes it worse. All right, now's not the time to talk about this. I know you'll bail on the operation if you don't feel it's safe. So if you are good, I'm good. I'm good. Good. I gotta get back to the station. Grey's waiting for a status update. Wait, no, hey. Lock the door first.

| ANATOMY OF A SCENE - CHENFORD EDITION 5.21 - Going Under

This hug alone is already enough to make this moment special… But the mirroring of this scene with their 'hookup' in the private jet in Double Down elevates it that much more. The difference being that, now, they don't need to pretend it's for anyone but them… Just like then, they both need to draw comfort from each other… Lucy practically running in Tim's embrace betrays how both of them crave that physical reassurance that they're alive and unharmed. Hearing the other's voice on the phone earlier wasn't sufficient to dispel their fear and worry. And while she isn't aware of his own scare, her quivering voice shows how affected and shaken she is by the night's events. It's a short moment - they're still on the job after all - but it was what they needed.

And just like then, Tim offers Lucy the option to pull the plug, still without forcing her hand. This always comes from a genuine place of respect. He might be terrified but he trusts her to know if she can handle it. That said, it's clear that the shooting isn't the only thing in his mind. The fact that he has to compose himself before asking if Teska has tried anything makes it clear that this is something that has been weighing on his mind, probably since she left the hospital room. He's hesitant at even bringing it up. I love how swift and adamant Lucy is in her answer : she doesn't hesitate before putting his worries to rest. She immediately goes to grasp his jacket, a gesture she usually does to ground herself, but this time, this is meant for him. She doesn't dismiss his concern either : she understands where he's coming from. Like she says : knowing and feeling okay about it are two different things. As much as he tries to reassure her, she sees right through him. She knows him… and she is aware that he's been down that road before, which as she states, makes it worse. She's trying to start this conversation, to address the elephant in the room again, but he's not ready yet. He's also not wrong : this isn't the time or place. But his deflection and the way he's looking away proves that she's right on the money. And she knows it… That's why once the op is over, once they're back home, she doesn't let him skirt around the truth any longer. It's also telling that when he gets uncomfortable under her scrutiny, he tends to change the subject and focuses on her instead. Reiterating his faith in her… He said she was different and he meant it. But most importantly, he wants her to know that.

And just like then, Lucy doesn't want to severe their connection just yet. It's as much for him than for her. It's a mix of adrenaline rush and a need for comfort… To reassure themselves. To find solace in the other's embrace. The way she grabs him is so similar… Only this time, they don't have to stop… And he catches on quickly… His little smile says it all. And who would have ever thought that this would be our 'reality'?! That these two would actually hookup in the middle of an op?! With the blinds open! While Grey is waiting for an update… That's how much they needed that moment for themselves.

#the rookie #chenford #chenfordedit #lucy chen #tim bradford #5.21 #Anatomy of a scene - Chenford Edition

[avelera]

Andor brings the importance of money and economic systems back to mainstream sci-fi/fantasy

So fun fact, one reason I love "Andor" so much is that they have money in it.

Right off the bat, in episode 1, they start establishing that things cost money in this sci-fi industrial town where we find ourselves. People have jobs. There are things people can't do because they have money. There's things that even people with money, like Mon Mothma, can't afford because money isn't infinite and it requires logistics to move around. There are haves and have-nots in this society and the Rebellion will sink or swim based on if it can pay its people and purchase equipment. One of the first major arcs is a bank heist.

Ok, so why is this so huge? Shouldn't it be obvious that money makes the world go 'round, even in a sci-fi setting like Star Wars?

Well, here's the thing. Think about all the Disney-owned movies you've seen. How many of them talk about money in any kind of concrete terms? It does happen, but it's quite rare and it's almost never to the extent that money matters in "Andor". A character might have "rich" or "poor" as a character trait, but economic systems are rarely discussed, why certain people do or don't have money isn't discussed.

This is for a very good reason. Back in the mid 20th c., entertainment companies like Disney made a conscious choice not to talk about economic systems in their stories. Why? Because to do so forced the story to take a stance in the existential battle between Capitalism vs. Communism. Even seemingly innocuous story choices like the injustices a poor kid might face in a story could be seen as taking a stance, not something you wanted to invite with things like the Red Scare going on.

But it's really a shame that this choice, which was in response to the political conflicts of the time, has been so perpetuated and that companies like Disney still avoid the concretes of money in most of their works. And that warps the conversation within those works and within society at large as a result. More often in mainstream genre fiction stories as a result, stories must play to fantastical elements and undefined Good vs. Evil to explain why a conflict is taking place between two sides. Certain "So what?" factors and plot elements don't quite line up. Money and resources are at the heart of most real world major conflicts, but by focusing on "good" and "evil" instead you obfuscate the interests involved, the motivations involved, what everyone is getting out of a conflict when they choose to help or not to help. You can't feed yourself on idealism alone.

By leaning into the existence of money, resources, and the haves-and-have-nots of a society, Andor is able to couch its story of revolution in real world limitations for the characters and real world obstacles. It makes everything deeper, more satisfying, more understandable as to why anyone is doing anything. It's hard to talk about fighting a fascist state like the Empire if you don't talk about complicit corporations, or forced labor (because even the Empire can't afford to pay for the sheer amount of labor it needs otherwise) or how everyone on the Rebellion side can afford these fancy X-Wings.

I hope shows like Andor will be taken to heart, not just by more mainstream works of genre fiction using the inherent conflicts that arise from a defined economic system, but also by younger creators who may have grown up on a steady genre fiction diet of "money only sort of exists when it's needed for the plot, if at all". So much worldbuilding is impossible if you don't understand who has resources and what economic systems are being employed. So much character conflict is shallow if you can't define who has money, who has resources, and who has obstacles from not having a limitless supply of those things, and what are those obstacles?

It's super refreshing to see and I will reiterate, Andor is perhaps the best show out there right now from a writer perspective and everyone should watch it.

#andor #star wars #writing #worldbuilding

[catsafarithewriter]

Day 2: Masquerade

A/N: This is very much in keeping with yesterday's ficlet, except this time it's a variation of Cinderella, centring Haru and Baron, neither of whom are the fairytale's protagonists, but are determined to make the best of it anyway. Enjoy!

x

When Haru Yoshioka had received the invite to the prince's ball (open to all eligible ladies in the kingdom) she had – if only for a brief moment of indulgence – imagined being swept off her feet by the young royal and into a fairytale romance.

This, of course, hadn't happened.

What had actually taken place was a demure dance with the prince (after waiting an hour in line because – naturally – she wasn't going to attend this ball and not dance with royalty) and then two hours of mingling and dancing with the other attendees.

And the prince had been nice. Polite, in a kind of customer service way. He'd said all the socially-expected comments (how are you finding the ball, how pretty your dress is, what an exquisite mask) and hadn't even winced when Haru had stepped on his foot. It wasn't, she had to admit, the stuff of which fairytales were made.

It was, however, a decent excuse for a good night out and plenty of gawking at the palace's interior. And so she'd browsed through the buffet and chattered with her fellow guests, and was quite content to continue browsing and chattering for a good few hours more, when she spotted him.

It was his stillness which caught her attention first – in a ballroom of swaggering and dancing and general revelry, his quietude was as out of place as a crow among peacocks. And once she had noted him, it became impossible to not, her gaze flickering back to him between dances.

It might have been his stillness which caught her eye, but it was the intricacies of his mask which really cinched it. It was a two-layered creation, with a slim, starlight-blue mask around the eyes, and a larger one fitted about the head to mimic a ginger cat's. It was obviously crafted by some magician, and startlingly lifelike.

It was a mask made to garner attention, and yet its owner favoured the ballroom's edge, shunning the limelight in preference of shadows.

Eventually, Haru took matters – and a buffet plate – into her own hands, and approached.

"You do know you're allowed to eat on duty, right?"

The man started, tearing his attention from the prince and his favoured dance partner. "Pardon?"

Haru raised the plate, piled high with an assortment. "Food," she reiterated. "You haven't moved from this spot for at least the last hour. I don't know what a cat such as yourself might favour," she said with a teasing smile, "so I brought a selection."

The man blinked, and Haru had to stop herself from asking if the mask's eye holes were bespelled too, for even his eyes had an uncanny feline shape to them. "For me?" he asked.

"I figured you might be hungry," Haru replied. From this proximity, she could see that his morning suit was at least a generation out of fashion – his father's, maybe? – albeit carefully cared for, despite the age. It was in stark odds with the obvious money spent on the mask.

She realised her gaze had notably drifted from his, and snapped her eyes up from his suit. "Sorry. The plate was probably presumptious of me, but I didn't want you starving out of some misplaced sense of propriety and – okay – I know some of you here have been hired out to fill up the place. Gotta give the eligible ladies someone to dance with while the prince's dance card is full, and you can't all be nobility."

For a moment, she thought she had accidentally insulted some down-on-his luck earl, but then his evident surprise cleared into curiosity.

"What makes you so sure?" he asked.

"Well, for starters, most nobility are either networking" – either with other nobility or the eligible ladies, but Haru didn't add that – "or making a dent of the buffet. Also," she added, and pointed across the room, "I'm fairly certain the local blacksmith doesn't moonlight as a lord. So, fish cracker?"

A ghost of a smile flickered on his feline lips. Uncannily realistic. "Are you offering me one because I'm a cat, or because they genuinely taste good?"

"They're the simplest thing on the buffet and, given the King's penchant for novelty, that makes it one of the safest." Haru rolled a few of the rice buns across the plate. "These seem to be a variety of flavours, so you could try your luck at them instead. The chilli and chocolate one was surprisingly decent."

The man took one of the fish crackers. Haru tried not to stare as she caught a flash of sharp feline teeth, and then again as a fraction of his tension lifted from his shoulders.

She grinned. "See? Food always helps."

The smile she'd seen a shadow of earlier now took a tentative foothold. "You sound like someone else I know."

"Well then, obviously you are surrounded by wise people." Haru felt the sudden urge to tempt that smile out, abruptly aware she hadn't seen a hint of it while she'd watched him from afar. "I understand why you may be keeping to your corner," she added conspiringly. "With a mask as impressive as that, you'd probably be inundated with dance offers."

It was immediately clear it was the wrong thing to say. The blossoming smile froze, the eyes glazing over to hide whatever emotion she'd unknowingly unearthed. "Thank you," he said. "Unfortunately I cannot take credit for my mask. It was... bestowed upon me."

Obviously some history, perhaps even some bad blood, there. Haru's mind skimmed over the possibilities, from patrons to over-ambitious parents, and then decided it wasn't really any of her business. "Even so," she said instead, "you wear it very well."

She tore her gaze from him, not wanting to see the tattered remains of the smile she'd ruined, and instead watched the prince sweep his glamorous partner across the room.

The moment the lady had arrived – late and devastatingly beautiful – the prince had had eyes for no one but her. Who she was was a mystery, for she'd come with no entourage and had entered too late to receive an announcement. The rumours around the ballroom spoke of her carriage being made of pure silver, and the coachman being eerily silent with strange, otherly eyes.

She was the real reason – the nail in the coffin – that Haru had accepted she wasn't going to be having any princely fairytale ending. Haru wasn't even disappointed; at least she was losing out to someone who looked like she'd walked straight out of a storybook.

The cat-masked man must have followed her gaze, and read her face accordingly, for he said, "You don't seem particularly heartbroken by the prince's besottedness."

Haru snorted. "You say that as if the idea of my attracting his attention was anything less than absurd to begin with." She swayed her skirts, highlighting the simplicity of her dress – lovingly tailored by her mother, but still notably second-hand. "The invite may only have specified eligibility, but I think we all knew that wealth was going to skew the scales in the end." She shrugged. "So I'm here for a good time, not a life-changing one."

The man looked on her with a shadow of that sadness she'd glimpsed before approaching him. "There are some things more valuable than wealth."

"I think if you're the prince," Haru pointed out, "you have enough choice to pick someone with wealth and the rest of it. I mean, look at her." And she gestured to the prince's favoured dance partner, whom he hadn't left since her belated entrance. "She's probably a princess, with that dress and that mask, and those shoes..." Haru had only seen the latter momentarily, but she could have sworn they were made of glass.

"Do you wish you were in her place?" he asked. His voice was gentle. Sad, in a strange sort of way.

"Only if I don't think about it too hard," Haru answered honestly. "I mean, it'd be nice not to have to worry about making ends meet, but running a kingdom? Dealing with politicians? Having to pretend to the king that, yes, I love the taste of chilli and chocolate in my rice cakes?" Her last remark teased the beginnings of a smile from the man. "I think I'll stick to the life of seamstress, thank you very much."

"A very sensible decision."

"I do have them sometimes." Emboldened by that returning smile, Haru set the buffet plate to one side and offered him a hand. "Would asking you to dance be another?"

He hesitated. "I... shouldn't."

"Oh." Haru withdrew her hand, her cheeks heating up. "Probably a wise choice. I think the prince is still limping from the toes I trod on during our dance–"

"I would love to dance with you," he said, and he sounded heartbreakingly sincere in such a way that Haru believed him, "but I can't."

"If this is because you're a terrible dancer, then let me assure you we will be perfectly matched," Haru said. She watched his gaze – those uncanny feline eyes – flicker to the dais, to where the prince danced and the king watched, and she couldn't read the expression there.

"I can't dance with you tonight," he said softly. "By rights, I shouldn't even be here. But... if things were different..."

A clock struck midnight, and the gentle waltz music was upturned by a rumble of scandalised muttering and the tap-tap-tap of glass slippers racing across the ballroom floor. Haru spun in time to see the prince's partner fleeing for the grand doors, her flight set to the chiming of the midnight clock.

Haru looked back to her companion – but the cat-faced man had gone. The only hint that she hadn't imagined him was the swaying curtains, rustling in a breeze that didn't exist.

Now, Haru had done some stupid things in her time (including that time she'd nearly been flattened by a carriage while rescuing a cat) but clambering out of the palace ballroom windows after a mysterious (possibly-not-even-invited) cat-masked stranger on the premise of a half-decent conversation and some shared fish crackers, was possibly taking the cake.

This only occurred to her as her feet landed on the palace lawn. About ten seconds too late.

She saw movement towards the palace gates and – committed to this stupid decision – ran after the shadow. She'd just realised she was chasing after the prince's dance partner instead her previous companion when her right foot landed on something sharp – and breakable.

Something glass.

She raised her foot and – whatever it had been before – saw only shards of glass now. The sole of her right shoe was shredded, and all she could do was kick the shoe off before the glass could embed into it any further.

Behind her, there came a cacophony, and Haru slipped behind some bushes before the guards could spot her. They clattered down from the palace and, upon admitting defeat in pursuing the mystery woman, gathered on the other side of the bush. Haru crouched down as far as she dared without risking ruin to her lovely, second-hand dress. She could hear their muttering, unease trickling through them, which only quietened when another pair of footsteps joined them.

"Your Highness," stuttered a guard. "The lady has vanished into the night – there's been no sign of her carriage or her past the gate – it's like she disappeared into thin air!"

"She's gone?" the prince asked.

"Yes – the only thing she left behind was this slipper."

Haru glanced through the bush to see the guard hold up her shoe, its white outer layer now dirt-flecked from her detour across the lawn.

There was no way this could end well.

#tcr birthday bash 2023 #tcr birthday bash #day 2 masquerade #cat writes #the cat returns #i have. more of this plot figured out than I should for a short one shot #if anyone is curious I had half an idea that baron fills the narrative role of the fairy godmother here #but also has his own curse that possibly the king set on him #hence why he's shying from the limelight

[mywingsareonwheels]

A general note on AI in the arts, the creative industries, and similar:-

Generative "AI" used in those spheres accomplishes two main things.

Reducing quality (and getting those who engage in the art vastly more comfortable with poorer quality, less interesting work).

Destroying jobs and opportunities for artists.

I really, really would like us not to get to the point where "real" art made by actual visual artists/voice actors/composers/writers/etc. is a luxury commodity, and the only artists who can actually work are the most privileged (usually those with a private additional income). But we are going very very fast in that direction.

It is also worth reiterating that the artists who will suffer most from this are those who are in marginalised demographics (especially disabled artists (and fuck those using disabled artists as a justification for this; I know so many disabled artists and they are all *furious* at what's happening), artists of colo(u)r, LGBT+ artists). Also that the general population including those on a low income deserve access to real art, dammit.

Please remember that limiting access to the arts (both as audience and practitioners) to the wealthy only is a right-wing priority, and has been for literal centuries. Please remember that the scorn towards arts professionals (especially actors and singers) that is practised on the left as well as the right dates back in western history to the Roman era, and was formed from slut-shaming, classism, xenophobia, and the practice of enslavement. You do not want to be going along with that crap. (Also reminder here to ignore all and any "how much does [celebrity] earn?" sites; they lie. And most arts professionals in all fields are below average in income and wealth. And getting more so.)

If you value social justice, if you value any of the arts, if you value humans getting to do one of the most important of human things: do not use ChatGPT, do not use Midjourney, do not use creation-replacement "AI" generally. And do not engage, especially financially, with any "AI" "art". Don't play the games that replace voice actors with "AI", don't read the books or the fics that use ChatGPT, don't like or reblog the visual "art" if you can help it, don't watch any films or tv shows that use "AI" in any way. Don't read online magazines that use ChatGPT instead of employing copywriters. Just. Keep away from all of it.

Production companies etc. are pushing "AI" on all of us. Don't let them. Their sphere of action is limited if we all make it clear how profoundly not-keen we all are in the arts being wrecked like this. Maybe give a bit of extra love, attention, and/or money to an artist of some kind today. :-) And maybe try to go and see a play or an exhibition or an art gallery or buy a paperback or go to hear some live music played in a pub/bar or play a game where there's a known cast list of voice actors. :-) And make some art yourself!! Even if it's not very good, it's being made by you and it's something you care about and that's an awesome thing. <3

There are a lot of cases where consumption gets treated as activism when it isn't any such things. In this case, it comes a hell of a lot closer to being it.

Disclaimer: sometimes "AI" can be hard to spot. And sometimes people are obnoxious and go around commenting on fanfics and or art accusing innocent people of using it, which is a horrible thing to do. Learn the warning signs if you can, but do please be aware that you might be wrong.

#long post #fuck ai everything

[kinnbig]

this is very random but do you know if we know what happened with tawan in the beginning? was he actually in love with kinn, betrayed kinn later and got shot and then vegas got to him, or was he always working with vegas and only pretended to be kinn's boyfriend to "betray" him, knowing that it would ruin kinn's life in some ways? the part where big suspected him the first time makes me feel like something was off right away?

hmmm, there's really not a whole lot to go off in the show! In ep8, Kinn tells Porsche that Tawan had never loved him and was always only using him - but that's only Kinn's perspective and might not actually be true from Tawan's point of view. Kinn is obviously incredibly hurt, as well as furious at Tawan's betrayal, and we know it gave him incredibly long-lasting trust issues. So it makes sense that he would see it that way even if it wasn't strictly true.

Maybe Tawan did love Kinn at first, but he was eventually seduced by money or power or Vegas. Maybe he hadn't always been planning on betraying Kinn, but he hadn't really loved him either; maybe he'd seen Kinn as a way into a life of power and luxury, and then the betrayal came later. Maybe when he met Kinn he was already working with the minor family or other mafia families and the whole relationship was a ruse.

I also don't think it's ever mentioned in the show whether Tawan was involved with Vegas or the minor family prior to Kinn shooting him. In the same conversation in ep8, Kinn tells Porsche it was the Italians that Tawan was selling his information to (which he could have been doing either with or without minor family involvement), but doesn't mention the minor family at all.

So if Tawan was working with the minor family during his relationship with Kinn, I doubt Kinn was aware of it. Considering what happened in the previous episode (ep7, with Kinn insisting that Porsche shouldn't trust the minor family, and then Vegas kissing Porsche etc), I think if Kinn knew, or even suspected, that Tawan had been involved with Vegas during their relationship then he would have mentioned it to Porsche here, to reiterate the whole "don't trust Vegas" thing.

But regardless of how much Kinn was aware of - maybe Tawan was working with Vegas to sell information to the Italians. Maybe he was working directly with the Italians but also, separately, sleeping with Vegas. Maybe he had no involvement with the minor family until after Kinn shot him. We don't know. We only really know that by the time we get to the warehouse in ep10, Tawan seems to be genuinely in love with Vegas, and that Vegas had put a lot of time and effort into making that happen.

In the novels, Tawan had been cheating on Kinn with Vegas during their initial relationship. But the show deviates quite a lot from novel-canon, especially in relation to Tawan/Vegas/the traitor situation (Big is the mole in the books, Ken doesn't exist, and Tawan has a brother who is behind Chay's kidnapping) - so that doesn't necessarily mean that's what happened in show-canon.

Basically, it's all just theories and headcanons!

Personally, my headcanon is: Tawan did like Kinn to begin with. I imagine he was also a social climber, and that was definitely part of what drew him to Kinn - but he did genuinely care for Kinn, at least at first. Vegas was young, and had only recently worked out how to utilise the power that his charisma and good looks gave him, and he was angry and resentful and committed to ruining his cousin's life. So he slowly seduced Tawan, and Tawan fell for him, and Vegas convinced him that taking Kinn down was the only way they could be together - so Tawan started bringing information to Vegas and the Italians. Big had always been jealous of Tawan, and so was always extra critical of him - which is what made him notice that Tawan was acting suspiciously and start to look into it, and eventually bring his suspicions to Kinn. I imagine that at this point, Vegas was also already involved with Ken - and that was how Vegas knew how and where to find Tawan after Kinn shot him. I think Vegas' plans with Tawan in the show were an extension of plans he'd had since Kinn and Tawan had been together.

But that's entirely just my own speculation! There's so much we don't know and so much potential for theorising, so pls tell me what you think 👀

#this is an incredibly long-winded way of saying 'idk' jsdfjdjd #but u know me. i do love to talk. #ask #kinnporsche #kinnporsche the series #kinnporsche meta #kinn theerapanyakul #vegas theerapanyakul #tawan kinnporsche #darcey.txt #kinn kp #vegas kp #tawan kp #kp posting

[the-casbah-way]

Hey. So I saw you mention a while back that you were a harpist at one point. How did you get into that? And, was it hard? Asking because I’ve seriously always wanted to learn the harp

i was just lucky enough that my school had a clarsach teacher basically. it's a much more popular instrument in my country than others so there are a lot of harp teachers over here. i took lessons for around six years and then just continued to teach myself after that. once i got my grade eight in clarsach / pedal i started learning lever / orchestral and the lyre

if you want to get into playing yourself, i'd start by saying that harps are expensive. both to purchase and to maintain. they're extremely fragile and very susceptible to tiny changes in temperature and environment and changing broken strings constantly gets pretty expensive, especially if you use gut strings. that's why i recommend trying to find a teacher who will let you use their harp during lessons, and/or renting out a harp when you're still a beginner. this way you don't waste a significant amount of money on a new hobby that you might not stick with in the long run

if you can't do that and you have to actually buy your own harp, then bear in mind that prices vary a lot depending on the type, brand and model. either way, though, i reiterate: harps are very expensive. you don't need one of those huge golden classical ones to become a decent harpist but even the cheapest ones will set you back a fair bit. the one i own now was the cheapest model my favourite brand sold at the time and it cost nearly three thousand pounds. what i'd recommend doing is first deciding if you'd like to start by learning lever harp or pedal harp, and then finding the cheapest model of your preferred type first. clarsachs for example tend to be a lot less expensive than full sized orchestral harps. they're also just way easier to transport and shit like that

in terms of how hard it is to learn the harp, i wouldn't say it's hard at all. there's nothing about the harp that makes it inherently any more difficult than learning other instruments. personally i actually found it far easier than learning piano but maybe that's just me. as long as you can read both treble and bass clef (if you plan on learning from sheet music) and you take the time to develop and maintain a good technique in terms of hand placement etc. then you should be all good

i'm sorry that was wordy but i wanted to be thorough. i hope it helped and just tell me if you want to know anything else :3 i do know like. a Lot about harps

#i'm serious about the strings thing. my harp breaks a string like. at least once every couple of months. and some gut strings cost £30 #they're also a real faff to put on when you're first learning. but maybe that's my dyspraxia talking

[mademoisellesarcasme]

I have seen one too many very bad urbanism takes on my dash from people who seem to think that this is an all-or-nothing zero-sum game, so I am about to get OPINIONATED here. This is probably going to be long. I might include diagrams.

America's car-dependency is harmful to the development and growth of communities and localism. If we can all agree that Being In A Community is a good thing (we might not be able to agree that, I don't know), we should address this issue somehow. Building walkable communities is a good step in this direction. Transit ideally connects walkable communities together with ease.

As someone on the anti-car-dependency side of this discussion, what I want to say very loudly is the option for good transit, especially in metropolitan areas both major and minor, should be available. This is NOT saying "everyone should live in cities" or "rural folks must all take buses or transit everywhere." This is saying "people who live in a dense area should have the option to take reliable public transit." Fewer people in cars will mean less traffic for buses and less traffic for people coming into the urban area from outside it. The goal is car reduction, especially in everyday errands or commutes. Think about the routes you drive every single day -- usually to work, right? Maybe dropping your kids off at school? What if you didn't have to drive it but could instead take a bus or a train?

To be clear: I'm not dunking on people who live in rural areas. I reiterate that people in rural areas should not be forced to only take buses or transit and suddenly give up their cars. (That is outrageous.) I am not even saying that city-dwellers shouldn't have cars -- I'm saying that cityfolk should have the realistic option to not have a car and be able to do all their necessary life things on foot, bike, or transit. Safely. Which means moving those big highways out of city centres and forcing more walkable communities in places which can absolutely handle a slight increase in density (looking at you, Syracuse and Milwaukee, among others).

Also, density does not and should not only look like New York City or Chicago. It is eminently possible to create an environment where pleasant single-family or small multi-family homes exist on small plots of land and there is an easily-accessible area containing commerce (including a grocery store, among other things) and local parks and so forth. But this sort of development doesn't lend itself to speculation and therefore doesn't make big money fast, so people don't want to plan it.

#uber and lyft and doordash are actively harmful to the reduction of cars upon the road #i also don't really want to get into accessibility right now but i could totally ex novo do some neighbourhood development *right now* #or even not ex novo! i have a neighbourhood i live in and quite like! #and i think it needs a couple things! #one is a real grocery store in walking distance #bc right now our local 'grocery store' is Dollar General #and a catholic church but they all just got clustered and restructured #so i'm thinking that one's a stretch #but i can easily walk to the train and take the train downtown to one! #and that's AWESOME #(but ofc my specific neighbourhood is super not great for accessibility) #(my street is at like a 35 degree angle) #(mountains. it's the mountains.)

[bbq-hawks-wings]

Seeing as you have a corset, may I ask how I might acquire (of decent quality) myself? I wanna get my mom something other than spanx to smooth out her form under her dress.

I unfortunately don't have any one particular good store to send you to. I did buy mine from The Violet Vixen (just give em a Google) like years ago, though I personally question the ethics around certain kinds of fashion brands that I don't know if this one counts so that's my disclaimer and I leave that to individual judgment.

I can however direct you a bit into what goes into a quality corset.

My first recommendation is always going to be to try one on in person and be fitted by somebody who knows how to do it if you can. Visiting some of the clothing shops at Ren Faire, for example, is a really good place to try one on even for fun. Always recommend. 👌

Next is to think of a corset like a shell, not a second skin like spanx try to achieve. Even a budget one is not necessarily supposed to *shape* you as much as to *hold* you tightly - BUT not TOO tightly. You should still be able to get more or less full range of motion and comfort breathing and moving in it with exception of being able to bend at the waist completely freely because of the boning being pulled vertically around your body like a cage.

From there, it's my personal recommendation to always shy away from plastic boning (it bends and deforms and hurts over time) and to go with either stainless steel spiral boning (first recommendation) or if you're making your own to consider using wood splints (just basket weaving materials). Using wood in place of boning is not likely feasible unless you are building your own from scratch, but it was a neat fact I came across while I was researching them throughout history, and I low-key really want to bring it back. Anyway, that's my propaganda moving on.

Next, consider the fabric that it's made of and how it's constructed. Something made of stretchy fabrics will likely be less bulky and hide underneath clothes better - these particular kinds are also usually marketed to fit underneath clothing. The one that was in my post is not one of those kinds of corsets. It's designed to function as a top or over a light shirt, and thus it's a much heftier piece of clothing than it might seem at a glance. I'm always of the opinion that I'd rather have a sturdier piece of my wardrobe then a flimsier one if I couldn't tell over an internet purchase, but I think that would defeat the point that you're specifically looking for.

Finally, and this is usually the step that determines the price point for one of these bad boys, consider the style of corset that you're buying. There are garments called stays that pre-date the Victorian corset yet nevertheless have even more of that underlying boning structure, but it's much more elaborate. I bring these up because while they can be even more daunting and complicated looking than corsets (not to mention if you're going this route you may have to make them yourself like I did or be prepared to pay some good money), when it comes to actually wearing them I much prefer 18th century stays to 19th century and 21st century corsets. They also fit under my clothes better and shape my figure better, in my opinion, then the corsets I've bought online.

Now, mind you, I have never tried to make the kind of corset you can buy online, because if I had I would have made one specifically to my measurements and may have been just as happy with that, but that's yet another disclaimer.

So to reiterate, and maybe I actually recommend these in reverse order as steps but I've written this already and I'm lazy:

Try one on before you buy if possible

Think of it like a shell or cage you comfortably sit in - so size and lace appropriately

The plastic boning is iffy, I recommend spiral steel boning

Consider the construction: fabric, overall weight, etc.

Consider the particular style of garments you're looking for: overbust, underbust, girdle, fully-boned stays, half-boned stays, etc. Not all are corsets.

#she speaks

[tomsmusictaste]

Speaking of women being disrespected in the scene I have to bring up this. Remember how people were pressuring Paramore to no longer perform misery business because of its misogynistic lyrics and what not. Eventually it worked and then they decided to retire the song. Yet they were the same people ready to riot if Brendon Urie took I write sins not tragedies off the set list. I don’t know about you but it just seems like it’s a bit of a double standard. Not just that but there are so many other songs where men are degrading women or saying horrible things in those songs have become staples in the scene or even just songs that are important to the band as an individual. Yet as soon as a woman makes a song with a little bit of calling out man it’s a mediately seen as disrespectful. I mean that’s not surprising but it’s just sad how women can’t have a place in this genre the same way that men can. 

In fairness from what I've followed of the Misery Business situation it was still very much Hayley's choice; granted there was also pressure from fans but she if she really wanted to keep it in their sets, she could have easily gone 'screw you it's our song and we'll keep playing it' and I mean, she's Hayley fucking Williams, who's gonna stop her, but instead she decided to go the other way on her own terms (https://www.nme.com/news/music/paramores-hayley-williams-reiterates-stance-on-misery-business-controversy-2623227)

Tbh I kind of respect them for looking at a song Hayley wrote when she was 17, recognising it might have a harmful message and deciding not to play it anymore, even if it is their biggest hit; on top of that, popular as MB is, Paramore have plenty of other really great songs (Ignorance, crushcrushcrush, For A Pessimist, etc.) maybe it's time for one of them to overtake MB

I do personally think cutting Misery Business from shows and playlists isn't really necessary, it would have been fine to just acknowledge That Line and keep playing it, but again, it does seem like it was still the band's own choice rather than caving to pressure. It does seem from the interviews they might be open to returning that song to their shows in the future, so it's not necessarily a permanent retirement, so there's that

But you are right, there is definitely a double standard for men and women writing controversial/edgy lyrics. I mean, there are some pretty misogynistic lines in a good half of the big Early 2000s songs ("Girls don't like boys, girls like cars and money" - GC, "I need a girl that I can train" - Blink-182) in fact there's probably far more examples from Blink's catalogue alone, but those are rarely if ever talked about. Hopefully as we go forward as a society we can begin to erase that double standard

#thanks for the ask! #pop punk #paramore #asks #anon

[watching-pictures-move]

Put On Your Raincoats | Ransom (Moorehead, 2021)

This is an anthology of segments, the first of which, "Ransom", is about a girl and her dirtbag boyfriend scheming to get her Scrooge-like father's money. They plan to do this by pretending that she's been kidnapped and sending the father a series of videos in which he pretends to rape her until the father pays up. The videos escalate in intensity, with the first two just having the two of them, although like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, the guy decides to phone a friend and invite him for a threesome so he can get those millions. I don't know if anybody ever DP'ed Regis on the show, but the concept is the same.

This is very much playing into the forced sex kink, and the way the premise foregrounds the roleplay element probably makes this easier to swallow if that isn't necessarily your thing. I'll concede that people are into different things and reiterate that this is a judgment-free zone, but I found this off putting in ways the filmmakers likely didn't intend, and it mostly comes down to the guy. Not only does he not shut up during any of this, but he does a Batman growl and directs his dirty talk not at his girlfriend, but at the father. (He alternately calls him both "Daddy" and by his actual name. Pick a lane, fucko.) I'll concede that some of this might have been hot, but it's hard to enjoy the intensity of the proceedings in light of these distractions.

I'll also concede that one should limit their stylistic expectations with modern pornography, but if the conceit is that these sex acts are being recorded, it would help if the cinematography evoked the diegetic camera. Obviously a static camera would make for a pretty boring segment, but you could solution it by having one or more characters act as camera operators and film some or all of this POV-style. However, maybe "redeems" is a strong word, but the twist at the end packs a suitably sleazy punch. I won't give away too much, but Shaun Costello would have been proud.

I do think the second segment, "The Countdown", is quite a bit better, and would recommend just watching that if you're not hung up on seeing the whole feature. It's got a pretty sturdy horror premise, with two characters being trapped in a prison cell under surveillance figuring out that their captors reward them for physical contact and deciding to fuck and suck their way to freedom. The dark, grubby cell gives this an effective mise an scene, and I found the performances by Eliza Jane and Ryan Driller pretty sympathetic. As a refreshing contrast to the previous movie, I appreciated that these are basically two good people trying to save each other from a bad situation. Jane acknowledges Driller's guilt over having to cheat on his pregnant wife, and helps motivate him accordingly. Also, the way that both characters channel their anger towards their captors into the sex is both narratively sound and super hot. The boingoingoing factor is strong, is what I'm saying. So this is pretty effective as both pornography and horror, and worth checking out if you're looking for a mix of the two.

#film #movie review #put on your raincoats #ransom #craven moorehead

[dalesramblingsblog]

I am also going to be blunt and lay something out here, which is that... health-wise, I'm not doing too great. Let me stress immediately that I am not, in point of fact, in any danger whatsoever. I am not going to drop dead tomorrow.

What I am, is... tired. This may not seem like a health thing, and in fairness it's obviously more of a symptom than anything else. Still, I have it on reasonably good authority from my doctor that the most likely explanation is that it's fallout from the frankly unholily persistent staph infection that plagues my right earlobe for reasons we do not fully understand.

The issue I am presented with is that I am currently at a point where the exertion involved in leaving the house for even a minuscule amount of time is enough to drain me for basically the rest of my day, and I basically have to plan my entire itinerary around that fact.

A consequence of that is that my reading habits have changed. I'm not currently in the midst of reading any novels, but I did have to put down David Bishop's Cursed Earth Asylum because I just wasn't able to properly absorb it. To say that this presents me with an issue as someone whose entire "career" basically revolves around the reading of novels is... an understatement.

I hope this gets cleared up, but at the moment my doctor has been up front with me and admitted that the two options available to me are a medicine which might make me even more tired, and a medicine which might make me depressed and suicidal. More than is the usual background radiation of my life, that is. Again, neither of these are exactly ideal, so I'm just kind of hoping that my work isn't derailed by this for too long.

So, I don't want to beg, *but* equally, I did think it was worth reiterating my Ko-fi here, as that remains the best way to materially support me. It is, of course, patently rich of me to call any sort of attention to a tip jar at the point in time where I might well be unable to do much in the way of posting, and I want to reiterate again that I will probably be fine.

Still, if you do want to make a tip, it would be appreciated, even though you are by no means obligated to do so. Heck, *especially* because you are by no means obligated to do so. I worry that this will come across as me being a greedy, money-hungry charlatan trying to spin a sob story to get people to donate, but... I really do feel like shit, so what the hell do I have to lose?

#dale's ramblings #health nonsense #ko-fi

[gwgaccountant]

In the interest of not turning this into a "shitting on that one prof I don't like" blog, I'd like to share an interesting "accounting trick" I learned about last semester. (This would be more detailed if I could remember which class it was from...)

Cash flows are not the primary focus of most businesses, but they're still important. A customer giving you $50 and a customer saying that $50 will arrive in a week are similar in many respects, but you can't reinvest that $50 until next week. The reverse is also true; paying $50 now means you can't do anything else with it.

You might reasonably wonder why this matters. What can you invest $50 in that will pay off in a week? Well...

Big businesses don't think about cash the same way ordinary people do. They can easily open lines of credit or take out loans. The amount of cash they have in their bank account isn't really measuring the amount of money they can spend. What matters is cash flows.

Think of a company as being like a tub with several drains in the bottom and some spigots up top. The drains are everything the company spends cash on—employee salaries, shareholder dividends, accounts payable, expenses that must be paid in cash, etc. The spigots are whatever mechanisms pump cash back into the company. The amount of water in the tub is equivalent to the amount of cash the company has on hand. As long as the tub isn't completely empty, everything is fine.

A certain amount of excess water is good; you never know when someone's going to knock a new hole in the bottom, or when one of the spigots might get clogged. But having too much water is a bad thing; it's sitting around, wastefully, not doing anything productive. Deadweight. A manager that can't find something profitable to do with a large excess of cash is not a good manager.

Over the generations, companies have found plenty of ways to make a bit of money from short-term investments. (For instance, buying various short-term market securities, or loaning money to other companies who miscalculated and ran out of water.)

And here we circle back to the core question. Cash flows are important, but volume isn't the only consideration—timing is, as well. If customers are mailing you cash and you need to mail cash to your suppliers, you might not get much time to use that cash.

But if customers pay electronically, it shows up days earlier, letting you slosh it through some short-term investments first. If you process $10k of payments a day, and process those payments two days faster, you've basically earned the company $20k that it can play with.

And now here's the "accounting trick" part. According to my textbook, some companies maintain check-writing centers out in the middle of nowhere, so the check spends extra days in the mail. Your PayPal or whatever still enters their bank account at the speed of internet, but the checks they send have to crawl out on artificially-delayed snail mail.

If the company writes $10k of checks this way per day, and their shenanigans add an extra three days between writing the check and cashing it, they've effectively created $30k for the company to play with. By, let me reiterate, making things less convenient for the people they send money to.

(Note that this is a flat sum, not a daily income or something. This only generates revenue insofar as that additional sum of money can be invested profitably.)

I don't know why this is so appealing to me. Maybe it's just the sheer audacity. Accountants or financial managers or whomever figuring out a way to directly profit off of making things more annoying for the people they do business with is just peak capitalism.

#accounting #accounting tricks #if I remember what this trick is called I'll tag it

[pudding-parade]

But Muh "Pacifism"

Sorry, I've been talking to real life people again -- always a bad idea, it seems -- and I need to rant. Since it's long and about war and stuff, and I know (and understand) that a lot of people want to avoid that in order to make Tumblr an escape from the stressful real world, I'm cutting it.

Please note: To reiterate, this is about and is addressed to people I know, all USian, and have been talking to in real life about arguments I've been having in real life, NOT to anyone who might read this on my silly simblr. I just need to vent for a moment rather than argue rationally with people, and right now this is the place I have to do it. Also, beware of f-bombs. I swear like a sailor, y'all.

I'm a hippie raised by hippies. I spent a good chunk of my childhood protesting the war in Vietnam, alongside my parents, and I've had US military guns shoved literally in my 5-year-old face because of it. I've participated in many such protests, some of which I've organized, against my own fucking insidious, war-hawking government for pretty much my entire life. I do not like the fact that, at least for now, militaries have to exist and that, here in the US, we funnel truly obscene amounts of money to five (six, if you count Trump's "Space Force," which is just an already-existing branch of the Air Force) different standing militaries rather than using that money for...oh, I don't know...healthcare and education and feeding and sheltering people, and I especially don't like that my son is in the US Army (while at the same time supporting him; it's weird and another story). I am a pacifist.

But you know what? Using "pacifism" as an excuse for not supporting the people and military of Ukraine right now infuriates me. Because it seems like such people confuse, often deliberately, pacifism with neutrality.

Neutrality means that you turn away war refugees because you don't want to "get involved because 'pacifism'" with a conflict that doesn't affect you either personally or as a country. (Until it DOES affect you, of course. You'd think the US would have learned its lesson from WWII, but oh no no no no no...) Neutrality means that you let Nazis stroll through your country so that they can attack a different one. Neutrality means that you do nothing -- not even just sending fucking MONEY, if you can do so -- to support people who are being invaded and attacked, unprovoked. Neutrality means you do useless things like sitting on your ass "praying for peace" instead of doing something productive, which would be almost anything BESIDES praying, because praying does nothing except maybe make YOU feel better. Neutrality means you do nothing because you are a FUCKING COWARD who doesn't want repercussions to fall on you and yours for doing the right thing.

Pacifism means that you ACTIVELY oppose war and violence, and what that means is that you actively oppose AGGRESSORS, especially when the aggressors are your own people but also when the aggressors aren't your own people, NOT that you don't support in whatever way you can those who suffer unprovoked aggression. Pacifism means coming to the defense of a person who's being attacked unprovoked, even if that means you might get hurt in the process. Pacifism means that, like Poland has done, you welcome and support refugees displaced by conflicts, not turn them away at borders "because of covid protocols" or because they're brown like the US is currently doing. Pacifism means that you get off your fucking complacent "Well, it doesn't affect ME" ass and do whatever you can do to stop aggression wherever and whenever it happens, even if that's just sending some money that I know you fucking have to, right now, the Ukrainian military (even though you hate militaries) in order to help them defend themselves from aggressors who attacked Ukraine unprovoked and who commit war crimes left and right in the process. It means you protest. It means you harrass, daily, your own complacent government until it fucking does something useful, something that's not posturing and talk talk talk blah blah blah. It means you don't whine when prices go up because the VERY LEAST least the US can do is cut off Russian oil imports, and you help people in your own country to afford things because of those price increases (and, frankly, at all other times, too, but especially right now), which means stopping your whiny "But muh tax dollars!" bullshit and offloading some cash that I know you have instead. It means you do something or at the very least that you support other people who at least try to do something.

I'm sick of "pacifists" who are cowardly isolationists in disguise. If you don't care about people unrelated to you suffering horrendously, then just fucking say that you're an asshole because that's what you are. Don't call yourself a "pacifist" as an excuse because you are anything but, and those of us who ARE actually pacifists don't need your bullshit.

#non sims #ukraine #but not just ukraine #fuck putin #and fuck fake pacifists #i need to vent

[queenofthearchipelago]

My thoughts on The Nine Realms:

- First the obvious, I really hope that kid is a descendant of Hiccup

- Second, the not so obvious, but I've spent the past 24 hours thinking about this and what the point of this show might be. I have an interesting theory about what the real point of rtte was (I might just make that post one of these days), and I feel this might be similar in terms of what they want to do not being obvious.

- Like, they could do so many interesting things with this, such as more httyd book similarities. Let me explain, in the books Hiccup the Third was the heir to Grimbeard the Ghastly, and several times the book reiterates from Grimbeard to Hiccup, that he hopes he will "Be a better leader than I was". There could be a similar thing with the nine realms. Perhaps Hiccup left stuff behind to whomever finds the dragons first and does a "How to Be a Pirate" overarching plot with the show. Hiccup and Berk guarded the Hidden World for a very long time, and in the case that someone should find out anyway, in Hiccup's passing he would have to hope that whoever discovered the dragons would make the right decision, if the world was ready. In How to Be a Pirate, Hiccup the Third discovers Grimbeard's huge treasure in a hidden underwater cave, and Grimbeard left a letter saying that his true heir will know what to do with it. And Hiccup takes a pencil and writes "Not Yet" on the letter, and leaves. Because he spent the whole book watching reasons why his society wasn't ready to have so much money, they would be out of their minds with greed. He never comes back, and never talks about it again. They could do something similar with the dragons in this show towards the end, that could be the real question of the show. "Are we ready?" "Not Yet"

- This show, as long as it respects what Hiccup's life was, and what it meant to his world and to us as the audience, doesn't have to go against the httyd3 ending, or ruin the franchise we love so much.

- About the animation... friends, the way animated movies and shows work, is they work on it almost right up til the release. They are definitely still working on it, there are some bits of those shots we got in the teaser that look good (the lighting off the lava) and bits that aren't, that you guys have found yourselves. This is obviously rtte quality and technology is always updating, the released version we get might look better than rtte.

- Like am I the only one who saw the first bit with the voiceover? Everyone talks about the voiceover but the animation there was GOOD, so good. The texture of the scratched iron on the DRAGONS letters is so httyd it makes me nostalgic. And the end bit, where we zip through the letters as if on a Night Fury, brought back memories, it gives me hope that this show is gonna show us speed. If the main character rides a Night Light, maybe they can animate the speed in a way rtte never did.

- That being said, I do really hope they touch up the flying, it looked too stiff for my liking, and httyd shows always got that flying feeling right, hope they fix that and make some adjustments to the shape of the Night Light, but I can get used to it.

- The voiceover, I loved it. The voice sounds warm, and kind. It's Jeremy Shada, so what other vibe would I get from that. But I've seen lots of concern about the words he speaks. I don't think the words are in character necessarily, saying he loves this story because it's his isn't supposed to be vain. I think it's Dreamworks telling us this one is gonna be good. We have heard dragon stories before, and the one of Hiccup and Toothless was our favorite, and that may not change, but perhaps they believe this much in what they're creating that they want to tell us it's gonna be good.

- Also gotta mention I read in an article about this show that John Tellegen is the showrunner. The significance there is that, yes he headed rescue riders (I don't think the premise of that show was his fault), but more importantly, he wrote several great episodes of rtte. My personal favorite episode, Midnight Scrum (you know if you know) was written by him. This is a writer who knows our world, in the way we like it. He's not afraid to get deep about it, to create real stakes. To help shape characters we love, he knows what to write. I have hope with him heading it and with it being httyd canon, because rescues riders wasn't canon for a second.

Overall, I am excited and nervous. I can see a path where this really works. And I can see a path where it doesn't. But I'm glad that at least for a day, I got to be hyped for dragons again. And I got to see some names from the rtte golden years I haven't seen since httyd3 ended. I miss this fandom, and it hasn't exactly woken up for this, but I'm glad to see you guys still around.

May we keep a hopeful eye on this, the main criticisms are based on the animation, which isn't done. And the story, which we know nothing about.

Maybe since so many of us claim to have written fanfiction with this premise, we could spend the next two months sharing how this might actually work. I've certainly never seen a show with a time skip like this, the closest was BBC Merlin (which while making the time skip, did it at the end of the show and didn't actually explore the time skip like that with all it's implications).

Hope this was all coherent, and thanks for reading this far!

#httyd #the nine realms #dtnr #tnr #dragons #httydbooks #thoughtsfromthequeen