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imakemywings · 11 months

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Fandom: The Silmarillion

Characters: Maedhros, Lalwen, Fingon, Nerdanel

Summary: Maedhros considers the role of sex and romance in his life and receives support from unexpected quarters.

AN: Something for @aspecardaweek! More notes on AO3.

WC: 5,281

AO3 | Pillowfort | SWG

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Maedhros did not yet have Grandfather’s skill for keeping his face neutral. He did have his own parents’ penchant for strong emotions and so the sense of annoyance which permeated his clipped pace down the palace hall was plainly apparent. Even the swish of his robes seemed to speak to an immediate, if mild, irritation.

The heat of Valinor’s soft summer was creeping up over Tirion, which meant most of the palace was out-of-doors, except for Caranthir who was likely tucked away somewhere with a book or a preserved insect, and Maglor, who was either “composing” or languishing artfully on a pile of pillows (these were not always distinct and separate acts), and so perhaps Maedhros was less careful than he might’ve been with the usual palace audience around to provide a bevy of useless commentary. He slid open one of the side doors and slipped out onto the rail-less porch, throwing himself down on the edge with an air of petty temper.

The fresh air almost immediately took the edge off. In the lush palace gardens he could hear the call of birds and the rustle of the fresh green leaves, still tender with new growth. The lychee trees were starting to sway with the weight of fruit and the smell of the flowering plants perfumed the air. Maedhros leaned back against one of the posts supporting the eaves. Curufin and the twins were out with Atar for the day, which meant there was no childish yelling this side of the palace, though if Maedhros listened carefully, he could hear some of his youngest cousins elsewhere on the property.

“You look rather troubled, little one.” The low, smoky voice took him by surprise, partly because he was not often in conversation with his aunt, who bled out of the bushes with a idly curious look. “Who’s put this look on your face?”

“My brother,” Maedhros groused after a pause.

“That still leaves quite a few options,” said Princess Lalwen with a slanting smile, perching on the edge of the porch with one leg tucked beneath her. Her nut-brown skin was already taking on the darker hue of summertime and judging by her dress and the dearth of gems in her hair, he guessed she’d been on an early morning hiking or hunting trip.

“’tis nothing,” Maedhros demurred. No need to go airing family laundry, even if it was the relatively harmless kind. Besides, Aunt Lalwen always looked like she was searching for a secret—to what end, Maedhros couldn’t say.

“If it were nothing, you would not be troubled,” Lalwen said. Maedhros, ever the pragmatist, visibly weighed the pros and cons of sharing—and how much—with Lalwen. Truthfully, he didn’t know her well enough to make much of an estimate. She was often in Tirion, unlike Aunt Findis, but also often in the company of Uncle Fingolfin, which meant not in the company of Atar and Ammë (or their children).

“Kanafinwë is…immature, I think, at times,” said Maedhros at last. “It causes a great deal of trouble for him and for many around him.”

“Little brothers will be that way,” Lalwen said sagely, nodding. Maedhros must have looked skeptical, for then she said: “You doubt it? Arafinwë was a terrible tattle when he was little. Nothing could you tell him if you did not wish to get back to Ammë within the hour. Thank Ilúvatar he grew out of that!” A faint smile crossed her face. “And if you were inclined to ask, it is possible that Arakáno and Findis might have their own stories of me to share.” Maedhros assumed Atar went without saying.

“Kanafinwë is old enough to know better,” said Maedhros with a frown. The antics of a child were one thing—Maglor was a grown adult, if a young one. Lalwen canted her head to the side and her eyes flitted off into the vegetation. She had Fingolfin’s eyes, the same brown that turned gold with just a bit of light, framed in lashes brown where Fingolfin’s were black.

“A little brother is always a little brother with his older sibling,” she said. “At least a little bit.”

“He makes a mess of his own life and then comes to me wailing about his misfortune!” said Maedhros, remembering his annoyance anew. “He never listens to me! Why tell me these things if he refuses to take my advice?”

“What has he done now?” Lalwen asked, and still on the tide of his temper, Maedhros said:

“He does the most foolish things wherever a comely Elf is concerned and he seems to seek the chance to make a mess of things! He can never settle on one thing to want, and as soon as his desire is within his gasp, he loses all interest in it!” A more tempered Maedhros would not have shared, but he was doubly irked because Maglor had recently borrowed several of his favorite hair pins without asking, and had left one of them behind with his tryst, whom he insisted he could not speak to again to get it back. “Already he has a courting companion, yet he has been seeking the company of another!” Now he felt he had to explain the rest.

“For ages did I listen to his laments about trying to win the heart of Culuina, and at last they were courting, and finally they had stopped fighting, and now he tells me he has been seeking the attentions of someone from the actor’s guild! He tells me how this Elf has no interest in him and looks right through him as if he were not even there, and he tells it with a shine in his eyes more than when he ever talks about Culuina anymore! I told him to be happy with Culuina after he spent so long in pursuit of her, but did he listen? Of course not! And rather than end their courtship as might have been honorable, now he chases down some other, like a greedy hunter!”

After this little tirade, Maedhros fell silent, flinty gray eyes narrowed, remembering all over again why he was so cross.

“How can he complain so when he’s done this all to himself? Culuina was happy with him at last, but now he’s ruined it! I don’t understand him at all.”

Lalwen shrugged.

“You know how Kanafinwë is with a pretty face. Arakáno says he’s been that way since he was young,” she said. “How old was he when he told his music teacher he would marry him?” Lalwen smiled indulgently, but Maedhros was not willing to fondly reminisce now (for the record, Maglor had been eight).

“There’s no sense in it!” Maedhros fumed insistently. “He had what he desired! And for what does he tell me these things if he never heeds my advice?”

“Perhaps he seeks only a listening ear,” Lalwen suggested.

“Nay, for he asks my opinion!” Maedhros objected. “But then he pays it no mind!”

“What advice gave you to him?” Lalwen asked.

“That he should be content with what he has!” Maedhros’ jaw clenched. “He sought so ardently after Culuina, how can he set her aside so easily? And for one who cares not for him in the slightest? So what if he has a pretty face? Culuina does as well!”

“You seem rather indignant on her behalf,” Lalwen said with seeming amusement.

“Hardly,” said Maedhros. “I have exchanged not entirely ten words with her. But Kanafinwë is a prince of the Noldor and should behave better.” Lalwen tipped her head from side to side.

“There’s not much sense in it, is there?” she said.

“None!” Maedhros said. “He loses his head entirely about romance; it’s as though he lapses into madness! How is it that so many Elves lack any kind of sense or restraint about these things?”

Lalwen was looking at him then in a way that made Maedhros remember he did not usually speak of family matters to others (even other family). There was something appraising in her look that made him decide he had said too much already and he regretted it at once. Maglor made enough of a fool of the house without him elaborating for others.

“Forgive me though, for taking so much of your time, Aunt,” he said, lowering his head and then rising to his feet, his voice at once level and impassive again. “I should not have troubled you with such trivial matters.”

“No trouble, Nelyafinwë,” she said. “I believed I came from a big family until I saw your parents’ penchant for children.” She chuckled a little. “I cannot imagine having had six brothers! Three was quite enough for me.”

“Most often they trouble me not.” Maedhros murmured out the lie. “I should have less of a temper with him.” Another lie—he believed he had every right to be just as irritated with Maglor as he was. But he should not have shared it outside the house; it did nothing to improve their image.

“What one struggles to understand may often prove an annoyance,” Lalwen posited after a moment. Maedhros gave her a critical look, then bowed his exit and went back inside. Conversations with Lalwen had a way of making him feel he had missed something, and it was not a feeling for which he cared in the slightest.

***

“Maitimo.”

Maedhros refocused his eyes on Ammë, dredging himself up out of his thoughts.

“I did not move,” he said.

“You are making a face,” said Ammë. “Why this air of sullenness?” Falling out of his pose, Maedhros rubbed the heel of his hand between his eyes.

“’tis nothing,” he said. “I’m only tired.”

“Well, if you keep making that face, the sculpture will wear it too,” said Ammë, tapping her pencil pointedly against her sketchpad. “Oh. Sometime has it been since I saw that look.”

“No ‘look’ do I wear,” Maedhros insisted, resentful of the whining note that crept into his voice. Only Ammë could bring it out.

“There is a look,” she said. “So what is it?”

“As I said before, nothing.” Ammë flipped closed her sketchpad.

“I think we shall be done with this for today,” she said. “If you still wish to help, perhaps you can help me cut wood for the kiln.” With a sigh, Maedhros rose in acquiescence and they went out into the yard, where Ammë handed him an axe.

He was still ruminating on his conversation with Lalwen, and the sense that she had seen something in it he had failed to notice, an idea which peeved him to no end. Furthermore, it was bringing to the forefront of his memory the handful of instances in which Maglor, no doubt in an effort at brotherly camaraderie, had attempted to return the favor that Maedhros granted him in listening to his woes by asking Maedhros about his love life, a line of questioning that invariably made Maedhros both queasy and ill-tempered. If he was feeling particularly adventurous, Maglor would probe into Maedhros’ various relationships, seeking some hitherto hidden romantic intention which Maedhros insisted did not exist. Most recently, he had seized on the notion of Maedhros’ friendship with Ingwion as something that might bear fruit, a suggestion which Maedhros had been too embarrassed to even mention to Ingwion, even to have a laugh at Maglor’s efforts.

Ammë set a log down and Maedhros raised the axe. In a sense, there was something calming about the repetition of it.

Whack, whack, whack.

Maedhros hated not to understand things—it was something Grandfather had once said he shared with Atar. And what he didn’t understand now was how he could be the only one with any sense about relationships—how could everyone else be so careless and obsessed? He had even seen Curufin making eyes at other Elflings his age. When Maedhros had been Curufin’s age, the thought of romance hadn’t even entered his head! It had been as alien to him as the notion of childbirth or property taxes. Back then, he had assumed it was something that would simply come with age. Eventually, he told himself he was a late bloomer, and perhaps just needed more time to come into it than others (another idea which unsettled him—he also misliked the thought of being late to anything).

Whack, whack, whack.

Then, when he determined he must be fully matured, he theorized he simply had not met the right person yet. This made perfect sense. Maedhros was discriminating in taste about nearly everything—why should he be less particular about his romantic partners? He needed to give himself time to meet someone who could pass his standards, and then would experience one of those head-over-heels crushes which people waxed poetic about. After all, Grandfather said that Atar had had next to no interest in courtship of any kind until he met Ammë, and then everything had happened rather quickly.

Whack, whack, whack..

He supposed this theory still wasn’t disproven, but there was an uneasy feeling in his gut that he might be waiting for something which would never come. Technically, there was unlikely to be harm in this, but Maedhros did not like things unsettled. He wanted answers, cut and dry. He wanted to know where he stood. But how did one prove an absence of a thing? And what did such an absence mean?

Whack, whack, whack.

“Does this seem enough to you?” Just as Maedhros was pausing with the axe, Ammë spoke. He observed the pile of wood so far and flexed his hand against the shaft of the axe.

“Perhaps a few more,” he suggested. Ammë looked at him rather than the wood and nodded.

“Yes, I agree,” she said, and set down another log. When Maedhros had split the last of them, he felt that some of the tension in his shoulders had dissipated. He rolled them to loosen the muscles. In an uncharacteristic display of gentleness, Ammë placed a hand against the back of his head and pulled him down until she could press a fleeting kiss to his copper crown.

“This will do finely, Maitimo.” She slapped his shoulder as she drew back. “Now go on, I do not believe you shall be any more help to me today, and as I recall, you have your own work which needs doing.”

Maedhros groaned. He really had been overthinking all this if he’d forgotten, even for a moment, about that blasted essay.

***

“Yes, this is much better,” said Professor Lastarion while Maedhros intermittently held his breath as part of an effort not to fidget while sitting in front of the professor’s desk. “You have still some gaps in logic here, but this is much better.” His eyes flicked up to Maedhros’ face. “They are small, but closing them will make for the neatest possible paper. This is quite good on its own, but I will insist you see to these before the compendium’s publication.”

Having his work published would more than make up for all the effort that had gone into it, including the many late nights he had spent working by candlelight. It was something he had yearned for since his first works had gone into the student publication during his years as a pupil of the university. He had been pleased with those then, but now, to be published as an adult scholar—!

“Leading a reader through your argument is like…”

Leading a horse, Maedhros finished silently to himself.

“…leading a horse,” Lastarion finished aloud. “The slightest hole might result in a snapped ankle.” This was where the metaphor tended to fall apart for Maedhros. “You want to take your readers in an unbroken chain from point A to B to C to D…” He waved his hand in a flowing gesture. Maedhros nodded tensely, waiting for any more concrete feedback.

“It’s quite well-reasoned as a whole,” Lastarion went on. “In fact,” he said, meeting Maedhros’ eyes directly, “I believe it will be the centerpiece of the volume.”

“Thank you, professor,” said Maedhros breathlessly, feeling his heart stop for a moment.

“It has the possibility to be truly remarkable, which is why I have nitpicked so many things on it,” he said. “With a few fine-tuning touches, it will be the jewel in the crown, so to speak.” He passed the paper over to Maedhros. “Have a look at my notes. Connect these last few gaps and you will have a final product to be quite proud of, Nelyafinwë.”

“Thank you,” he said again, taking the paper, his heart jumping as if he had run up a flight of stairs. “I will see to it immediately.”

It wasn’t until he was out of the professor’s office that he let the grin spread across his face. Published! There would be something to talk about at the next party!

***

The summer sun was just edging towards too warm against Fingon’s exposed arms and legs as he lay back in the golden grass, tossing his ball up and down. He kept his eyes closed so as not to be dazzled by the brightness of the sky, but he was so familiar with the weight and fall of the ball he did not need to see it to catch it each time it came back down towards him. The thrust and fall of it was relaxing; the repetitive flexing and bunching of his well-trained muscles lulled him into calm. There was a faint breeze rustling the grass, which occasionally blew over him and swept away the worst of the heat, keeping him comfortable. Overhead, birds caroused, wheeling this way and that, occasionally dashing across the tendrils of wispy clouds that were all that marred Valinor’s skies that day. It was entirely peaceful and Fingon let out a deep breath of contentment.

Ah, but Maedhros was still talking.

“Well?” he was saying, and Fingon realized he had let slip by a crucial moment to interject with a sympathetic or disapproving noise (whichever was most appropriate) and now was being asked a question. “Am I wrong?”

He caught his pigskin ball and opened his eyes, turning to look at Maedhros’ pale, vexed face.

“Well of course you’re right,” he said. “If Makalaurë listened to you, he wouldn’t be in half as much trouble.” When he had missed a cue, it was always good to fall back on “you’re right.” That usually calmed Maedhros down.

“I told him this would happen,” he griped, and Fingon debated whether he could inquire into what “this” was without revealing that he didn’t already know.

“You know Makalaurë,” he said with a somewhat indulgent smile. “Foresight is not his gift.”

“Foresight! I would gladly settle for common sense!” He snorted. “The way this city gossips—and he thought Culuina wouldn’t find out about Eteminion?”

“Well…” Fingon began, then trailed off, not sure if Maedhros would appreciate his speculating on the less-than-admirable behavior of his brother.

“Well what?” But Maedhros would not let a thought go unsaid once it had been hinted at.

“Perhaps he wished for her to know.”

“Wished!” Maedhros exclaimed. “Why would he wish for her to know he had been unfaithful to her?” Fingon shrugged.

“Perhaps he wanted their courtship to end and knew that she would do it herself if she knew,” he said. “Or perhaps he wanted her attention.”

“He was courting her,” Maedhros said. “In what way did he not already have her attention?” Fingon shrugged and started tossing his ball again. “Do share your thoughts, Findekáno,” said Maedhros, and Fingon could hear the annoyance in his voice. A smile twitched on Fingon’s lips.

“Perhaps Makalaurë enjoys the turbulence of his relationships,” he said. “Perhaps he thought if he riled Culuina this way, it would inspire her to passion.” Maedhros was looking at him like he had just suggested they test whether the Children of Ilúvatar had the power of flight, an expression at which Fingon couldn’t help but laugh as he sat upright.

“Passionate in her anger with him, perhaps,” Maedhros said. Fingon shrugged. Anger was passion, of a sort. “For what could he ever want such a thing? I think you have been laying in the sun too long.” Fingon laughed again.

“Is it so hard to understand?” he said. “Never have you wished to make another jealous to prove their affection for you?”

“Never!” said Maedhros, looking perfectly appalled. “Have you?”

“Once or twice,” said Fingon, shrugging one shoulder. “Never have I done it thought—it is rather immature, is it not? Although for Eteminion?” He grinned. “He would be worth the effort! Have you seen him on stage? There is an Elf who knows passion!” Maedhros was still looking at him like he’d gone crazy. “No? You find him not attractive?” he said.

“I never thought about it,” said Maedhros. “I do not watch plays to drool over the actors.”

“Are you accusing me of drooling, Russandol!” Fingon laughed. “One can appreciate both the art and also the bodies behind it!” Maedhros’ look had gone sulky, the way it did when they spoke overlong of issues concerning romance. “Perhaps you and Makalaurë simply cannot see eye-to-eye on this,” he suggested.

“I think perhaps we cannot,” said Maedhros quietly, picking at the grass. “It makes no sense to me, Findekáno, not even when you speak of it.”

“What doesn’t?”

“The way people behave when they find another attractive,” said Maedhros. “How do they manage to lose all sense of reason?”

“That is nature of love and sex,” said Fingon with a little smile. “It renders one a little insane…but that isn’t always bad. One may enjoy a touch of madness.” Maedhros was just looking at him, indirectly, still tearing at bits of grass.

“It makes no sense to me,” he repeated, softer still.

It took Fingon a moment to gather that perhaps Maedhros was trying to tell him something. (He was not always very good at picking up on these things, which Turgon had told him.) Sobering, he folded his legs, setting his ball in the space between.

“You know,” he observed after a pause, “I believe Auntie Irimë is that way.”

“What way?”

“I mean, that she agrees with you. She is unwed,” said Fingon. “And I have never known her to express a desire for it.”

“Aunt Findis is unwed also,” said Maedhros.

Fingon shrugged.

“Auntie Findis has always been a bit aloof, has she not?” Maedhros was shredding a long blade of grass between his fingers, a furrow between his eyebrows. Aunt Findis also spent a great deal of time out of Tirion, and was not in general inclined to discuss such things around her nieces and nephews, which made it harder to guess at her stance.

“Russandol,” said Fingon, and when Maedhros was looking at him, he pitched the leather ball right at Maedhros’ face. His nose was spared the unfortunate content by his quick reflexes, and then he glared in a way that would have made their cousins cower (it was rather reminiscent of Uncle Fëanor).

“What was that for?” he demanded.

“You are thinking no longer about your problem, are you?” said Fingon cheerfully. “You’re welcome!” The ball clocked Fingon in the head right before Maedhros tackled him.

***

It pleased the king to host, as frequently as he could, large dinners for the entire extended family. Atar always insisted they were there, to a man, and there was little that could excuse one from the event—academic demands were about the only thing. Grandfather Finwë would throw a celebratory dinner for nearly anything—Princess Findis visiting from Valmar or the start of a new season or a grandchild getting a particularly good grade or Atar finishing a new project—but often he hosted them for no reason at all. That night’s dinner was one of that sort.

The dining hall was bedecked in lanterns alongside the lamps of Atar’s design and the seats around the table had been cleared to allow family and guests to take food and wander at will. Maedhros and his brothers, as always, were dressed to the nines, as Atar would not tolerate them arriving at any event of his father’s smirched in soot or dirt, or dressed unsuitably. The particular headpiece Maedhros had chosen for that night demanded he move with stately grace, or it was going to fall off his head and with the weight of it, probably take out someone’s foot in the process. (It did look very fine though, and he had spent several minutes in front of his mirror admiring the effect.)

Choosing the right time to approach Lalwen meant not accosting her as soon as they arrived, while ensuring she wasn’t able to slip off before Maedhros got to speak with her. It would need to look natural—he was not interested in anyone else thinking he had cause to seek out his aunt. For a few moments he lingered around the wine with Maglor, to reassure him that there was nothing amiss between then despite Maedhros’ earlier annoyance. Maglor was then distracted by one of his many musical rivals and disappeared to go boast under the guise of conversation.

When Maedhros did approach Lalwen at the table, he didn’t get his greeting past his lips before she said: “You took your time.” Then she turned to look at him, seeming amused with his expression. “I will give your subtlety is much improved on that of your brothers, but your eyes have been burning a hole in me since you arrived, Nelyafinwë.”

“You knew,” he said, deciding Lalwen did not need a lead-in. Lalwen shrugged.

“I theorized,” she said.

“But you said nothing of it. Why?” Lalwen added a few more dumplings to her plate and considered.

“You seem to me rather reserved,” she said. “And we have not spoken much. I did not think you would appreciate my theorizing, nor take it to heart. Some conclusions we must reach on our own, in our own time.” Maedhros was somewhat troubled that she had gathered so much about him despite the brevity and infrequency of their interactions.

“And are you?”

“I am,” she said, flicking her eyes up to him.

“How did you know?” She shrugged.

“It is harder to see a lack of a thing, but at some point, it becomes apparent. Anyway, it is not as uncommon as you might think. It is simply not spoken of.”

“And…Aunt Findis is…?” Lalwen let out a burst of laughter.

“Findis? No, not her. She’s only excessively particular—about what is she not particular—and will take only women as long-term partners.”

“Does…do people…know?” he asked.

“About me?” she asked. “Some do. Some may have guessed by now. My siblings know. But,” she added abruptly, holding up a finger, “that was by my choice only. Such things are private, and no one has a right to know what you do not wish to tell. This you should bear in mind, Nelyafinwë. To none do you owe answers or explanations about this. If I may offer counsel, as your aunt, little though I have taken the role—” This being the fault more of Atar than of Lalwen, Maedhros suspected, for she was close with both the children of Fingolfin and of Finarfin, “—let no one pressure you to speak when you would not. Your heart is your own business, and no one else’s.” She turned to go, paused, and glanced back. “There are many kinds of love. An absence of one does not mean an absence of all.”

Then someone was waving her down from the side of the hall and she departed with a last glance at Maedhros over her shoulder. In pensive silence, he took a few pork buns and meandered off out of the way of those trying to reach the table.

Witnessing Elves in the bliss of courtship and wedlock, it was easy to feel cheated. Taking in the countless works of art labored over with such effort and devotion for the sake of romantic love—for a particular paramour, or simply for the notion of it—it was hard not to be frustrated at his own lack of perspective and understanding. Hearing the way others spoke of romance and of marriage—how could he not feel the rest of the world was in a joke he simply didn’t get? Yet Lalwen seemed content.

“Russandol!” He recognized Celegorm’s excited call as he tore himself out of his thoughts. His brother was coming towards him with an ear-to-ear grin that usually spelled Trouble, and even more concerning, with him was Fingon, who rarely spent time in the company of Maedhros’ brothers, less still without him present.

“What are you doing?” he demanded.

“Not what I’m doing,” said Celegorm in a poor pantomime of innocence. “What Findekáno and Irissë are doing.” Maedhros’ eyes snapped over to Fingon, who grinned.

“And what are Findekáno and Irissë doing?”

“Grandfather has some fireworks from your father he has saved for a special occasion,” said Fingon.

“And?” said Maedhros.

“And Irissë and I have decided tonight is a special occasion,” said Fingon.

“And why is that?” Fingon shrugged.

“Because it is!” he said. “Tyelko is coming with us. Are you? When the party begins to wind down?” Maedhros scrutinized the pair, opposed in so many ways, but united over the opportunity to make things explode in pretty colors. They were both grinning at him, pleased as a bird on the wind with the prospect of their stolen pyrotechnics.

“Come on, Russandol!” wheedled Celegorm. “Come with us! It will be such fun!”

“I suppose I shall have to,” Maedhros sighed with feigned resignation. “Someone must make sure you burn nothing down by mistake.” Fingon pumped his fist in triumph.

“I shall come and find you when we’re ready!” he said, hurrying off for more food. Celegorm flashed a double thumbs-up and went to go steal sweets from Caranthir. There were plenty on the table, but he insisted the ones he took from their younger brothers and cousins tasted better.

The Arafinweans were in from Alqualondë for at least the next few weeks, which meant Maedhros could pick out their golden heads among the rest of the dark-haired Elves. Finarfin himself was there with Fingolfin, debating over what to take from the table, while Queen Indis leaned over the table to remark to them both. Finrod was over by a window with Turgon and a friend, where they were all in animated conversation about something, which presently involved Turgon using cheese cubes to make a demonstration (Finrod gave a wave when he saw Maedhros looking in their direction). Aunt Eärwen, warmly tanned after several months in her hometown, had her had bowed by Aunt Anairë’s, speaking lowly as they did when they wanted no one to intrude on their conversation. Atar was crouched beside Grandfather’s seat, listening attentively to whatever was being said, while Finwë observed his guests. Aegnor and Amrod were either playing or squabbling, it was hard to say, and either way it was happening perilously close to a pedestal housing a priceless vase. Lalwen was leaning back against a red column in easy conversation with the friends who had summoned her away from him before.

Something which had been tense in Maedhros for some time relaxed slightly. Ammë had warned him he had a tendency to overthink things and while he privately considered Ammë habitually underthought things, perhaps in this instance, there was truth there. Maybe Lalwen was right—maybe he was too worried about something that did not bear worrying about.

His bigger concern, in all truth, needed to be making sure Fingon did not set those fireworks off around a building.

#aspecardaweek #aspecardaweek2023 #maedhros #fingon #lalwen #lalwende #nerdanel #the silmarillion #tolkien tag #fanfiction #tolkien fanfiction

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metanarrates · 6 months

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oh no the staff that nuked someone for pointing out their active members were terfs & deactivated black people constantly (while accusing them of being russian psyops!) & deactivated transgender women constantly & pushed out sex workers & suppressed pro-palestine tags and blogs & pushed ads about supporting israel & ignored photosensitive users while making their shitty updates & constantly talked down to anyone who called them on their bullshit might be upset now that their site is tanking after a bevy of massively unpopular site changes? cry me a river

#narrates #im glad people are discussing the possibility of the site going down since it's something to prepare for #but FUCK the idea that we should be kind to staff. what have they done to deserve anyone being nice!

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mariacallous · 12 days

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Do Arab leaders have Israel’s back? If one has scrolled through the social media commentary on the combined effort by Israeli, American, British, French, Jordanian, and possibly other Arab governments to thwart Iran’s missile and drone barrage on Israel, one might think so. A bevy of analysts, Israelis, and pro-Israel activists clearly want to believe it.

Alas, that claim is mostly hyperbole. Last weekend was many things, but the dawn of a “new Middle East,” marked by intensified Arab-Israeli cooperation at a renewed time of war, was not one of them. Fortunately, the truth is still reassuring enough.

Israel’s devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip over the last six months has put significant pressure on its ties with Arab countries, especially Egypt and Jordan. Of the Arab states that have diplomatic relations with Israel, the Moroccan, Egyptian, and Emirati ambassadors remain in the country, though Abu Dhabi suspended its coordination of humanitarian aid with Israel after seven aid workers of the nonprofit World Central Kitchen were killed in an Israeli drone strike. Still, after all of the violence and diplomatic tension, it has become routine for journalists and analysts to ask whether the Abraham Accords, the diplomatic deal that normalized relations between Israel and several Gulf Arab states during the Trump administration, are now dead.

That’s one reason why the display last weekend of regional security coordination under the auspices of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) was so important. The other has to do with the United States itself. After more than a decade in which the American foreign-policy community sought to deemphasize, pivot away, and retrench from the Middle East, the Biden administration proved that Washington can be—separate from its confused approach to the war in Gaza—a source of security in the region.

But the conclusions should not be overstated. At the same time that Israel’s friends were high-fiving and the Israelis were publicly thanking the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Jordan, and regional powers for their help, Arab officials and analysts were working hard to temper all the talk about the new Middle East. Jordan’s King Abdullah II made clear that shooting down Iranian drones was a defense of their country’s airspace and that they would do the same if drones were launched in the other direction.

In a private conversation, one keen observer of the region and former Arab official relayed, “It comes down to how states perceive the legitimacy of military action. In the Red Sea, no one wanted to appear to be part of a maritime coalition that was seen to be defending Israel. Last night, countries shot down incoming projectiles because it can be portrayed as defending sovereign airspace and not wanting a regional war.”

Those are important arguments. Given the horrors of Gaza and the concomitant outrage of many Middle Easterners over the deaths of tens of thousands of innocents at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), there is not a single Arab leader willing to publicly align with Israel—much less secure it. Still, defending airspace and preventing an intensification of the ongoing regional conflict yields the same result: helping Israel.

Setting aside the cheerleading of recent days, the coordinated military operations that protected Israel from mass casualties and destruction highlight the durability of the Jordan-Israel and Egypt-Israel peace treaties as well as the 2020 normalization agreements. No doubt, relations between the Israeli and Jordanian governments have been under strain in recent years as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu focused attention on developing ties with the Gulf states and engaged in provocative policies in Jerusalem as well as the West Bank. This created political difficulties for Abdullah, threatening the delicate balance between the demands of Jordan’s majority Palestinian population, its active Islamist movement, and East Bank tribal leaders, alongside the strategic necessity of maintaining a profoundly unpopular relationship with Israel.

The king’s apparent determination to maintain ties to Israel—given their importance to Jordan-U.S. relations—included a security dialogue that remained important to Jordan’s leaders even as other aspects of the relationship with Israel weakened. This security cooperation intensified once Israel came under CENTCOM’s area of responsibility in September 2021. The Egyptians, for their part, do not seem to have played a discernible role in last weekend’s events, but they, too, have ensured that their security dialogue with Israel remains robust and mutually beneficial despite the many crises that have buffeted the bilateral relationship since 1979.

Critics will undoubtedly argue that these securitized relationships are nothing to cheer. The ties between Arab governments—whose legitimacy is compromised, in part because of their ties to the Israelis—and an Israeli state that has dispossessed and repressed Palestinians would not exist but for authoritarian leaders and the support they enjoy in Washington. But this does not negate the fact that the security dialogues that have been underway between these countries for years paid off on April 13.

The same basic argument holds for the Abraham Accords, under which security cooperation developed rapidly after years of informal and secret cooperation. There is no leader in the Gulf who trusts Netanyahu, and they recoil at what the IDF has wrought in Gaza, but the Emiratis, Bahrainis, and the Saudis (who are silent partners in the Abraham Accords) certainly dislike and fear Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps more. This underlines what everyone already knows about the accords and why supporters of the Palestinians are so angry about it: The Arab leaders who have normalized ties with Israel place more value on fending off the Iranian challenge than Palestinian statehood. Despite the absence of some Arab ambassadors in Israel throughout these months of shocking violence, none of the Arab states that have come to terms with Israel have completely broken ties. The Saudi government, for instance, publicly maintains that it remains committed to normalization, though officials in Riyadh say they will require serious progress toward a Palestinian state. Yet even after all the violence and bloodshed of innocents in Gaza, the very fact that the Saudis still want to move forward with the Israelis says a lot about where the Palestinian issue stands among Arab leaders’ priorities.

Finally, after more than two decades during which the American investment in the transformation of the Middle East returned little or nothing, last weekend’s coordinated effort to prevent a wider and more destructive regional war (and, yes, defend Israel) was the result of Washington’s leadership. The episode demonstrates that when American policymakers focus on preventing threats to regional stability and security—as opposed to leveraging the power at their disposal to remake societies—Washington can be successful. Sure, critics will argue that the United States has been destructive in enabling the IDF’s destruction of Gaza. That is a potent critique. Would these observers prefer an all-out war in the region? Some may, given their views on Israel, but U.S. policy dictates otherwise.

Last weekend, there was a lot of commentary on social media and elsewhere expressing amazement at a new Middle East in which countries of the region coordinated an effort to thwart Iran’s attack on Israel. There is something to be said for that. But what’s more amazing when one takes a step back is that war has not actually changed the region that much. Regional governments still hate and fear Iran, harbor no particular commitment to Palestinian justice, want good relations with Israel, and desire American leadership.

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xtruss · 12 days

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Leaked New (Jew) York Times, The Hub of Yellow Journalism, Gaza Memo Tells Journalists To Avoid Words “Genocide,” “Ethnic Cleansing,” And “Occupied Territoty”

Amid the Internal Battle over the New York Times’s Coverage of Terrorist, Fascist, Apartheid, Illegal Occupier and War Criminal Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell’s War, Top Editors Handed Down a Set of Directives.

— Jeremy Scahill, Ryan Grim | April 15 2024 | The Intercept

Pro-Palestine protesters flood the lobby of the New York Times offices and block the security entrances during a demonstration against the newspaper’s coverage of Israel's war on Gaza on March 14, 2024, in New York City. Photo: Michael Nigro/Sipa via AP Images

The New York Times OR The Jew York Times instructed journalists covering Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip to restrict the use of the terms “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing” and to “avoid” using the phrase “occupied territory” when describing Palestinian land, according to a copy of an internal memo obtained by The Intercept.

The memo also instructs reporters not to use the word Palestine “except in very rare cases” and to steer clear of the term “refugee camps” to describe areas of Gaza historically settled by displaced Palestinians expelled from other parts of Palestine during previous Israeli–Arab wars. The areas are recognized by the United Nations as refugee camps and house hundreds of thousands of registered refugees.

The memo — written by Times standards editor Susan Wessling, international editor Philip Pan, and their deputies — “offers guidance about some terms and other issues we have grappled with since the start of the conflict in October.”

While the document is presented as an outline for maintaining objective journalistic principles in reporting on the Gaza war, several Times staffers told The Intercept that some of its contents show evidence of the paper’s deference to Israeli narratives.

“It’s the kind of thing that looks professional and logical if you have no knowledge of the historical context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.”

“I think it’s the kind of thing that looks professional and logical if you have no knowledge of the historical context of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” said a Times newsroom source, who requested anonymity for fear of reprisal, of the Gaza memo. “But if you do know, it will be clear how apologetic it is to Israel.”

First distributed to Times journalists in November, the guidance — which collected and expanded on past style directives about the Israeli–Palestinian conflict — has been regularly updated over the ensuing months. It presents an internal window into the thinking of Times international editors as they have faced upheaval within the newsroom surrounding the paper’s Gaza war coverage.

“Issuing guidance like this to ensure accuracy, consistency and nuance in how we cover the news is standard practice,” said Charlie Stadtlander, a Times spokesperson. “Across all our reporting, including complex events like this, we take care to ensure our language choices are sensitive, current and clear to our audiences.”

Issues over style guidance have been among a bevy of internal rifts at the Times over its Gaza coverage. In January, The Intercept reported on disputes in the Times newsroom over issues with an investigative story on systematic sexual violence on October 7. The leak gave rise to a highly unusual internal probe. The company faced harsh criticism for allegedly targeting Times workers of Middle East and North African descent, which Times brass denied. On Monday, executive editor Joe Kahn told staff that the leak investigation had been concluded unsuccessfully.

WhatsApp Debates

Almost immediately after the October 7 attacks and the launch of Israel’s scorched-earth war against Gaza, tensions began to boil within the newsroom over the Times coverage. Some staffers said they believed the paper was going out of its way to defer to Israel’s narrative on the events and was not applying even standards in its coverage. Arguments began fomenting on internal Slack and other chat groups.

The debates between reporters on the Jerusalem bureau-led WhatsApp group, which at one point included 90 reporters and editors, became so intense that Pan, the international editor, interceded.

“We need to do a better job communicating with each other as we report the news, so our discussions are more productive and our disagreements less distracting,” Pan wrote in a November 28 WhatsApp message viewed by The Intercept and first reported by the Wall Street Journal. “At its best, this channel has been a quick, transparent and productive space to collaborate on a complex, fast-moving story. At its worst, it’s a tense forum where the questions and comments can feel accusatory and personal.”

Pan bluntly stated: “Do not use this channel for raising concerns about coverage.”

Among the topics of debate in the Jerusalem bureau WhatsApp group and exchanges on Slack, reviewed by The Intercept and verified with multiple newsroom sources, were Israeli attacks on Al-Shifa Hospital, statistics on Palestinian civilian deaths, the allegations of genocidal conduct by Israel, and President Joe Biden’s pattern of promoting unverified allegations from the Israeli government as fact. (Pan did not respond to a request for comment.)

“It’s not unusual for news companies to set style guidelines. But there are unique standards applied to violence perpetrated by Israel.”

Many of the same debates were addressed in the Times’s Gaza-specific style guidance and have been the subject of intense public scrutiny.

“It’s not unusual for news companies to set style guidelines,” said another Times newsroom source, who also asked for anonymity. “But there are unique standards applied to violence perpetrated by Israel. Readers have noticed and I understand their frustration.”

“Words Like ‘Slaughter’”

The Times memo outlines guidance on a range of phrases and terms. “The nature of the conflict has led to inflammatory language and incendiary accusations on all sides. We should be very cautious about using such language, even in quotations. Our goal is to provide clear, accurate information, and heated language can often obscure rather than clarify the fact,” the memo says.

“Words like ‘slaughter,’ ‘massacre’ and ‘carnage’ often convey more emotion than information. Think hard before using them in our own voice,” according to the memo. “Can we articulate why we are applying those words to one particular situation and not another? As always, we should focus on clarity and precision — describe what happened rather than using a label.”

Despite the memo’s framing as an effort to not employ incendiary language to describe killings “on all sides,” in the Times reporting on the Gaza war, such language has been used repeatedly to describe attacks against Israelis by Palestinians and almost never in the case of Israel’s large-scale killing of Palestinians.

In January, The Intercept published an analysis of New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times coverage of the war from October 7 through November 24 — a period mostly before the new Times guidance was issued. The Intercept analysis showed that the major newspapers reserved terms like “slaughter,” “massacre,” and “horrific” almost exclusively for Israeli civilians killed by Palestinians, rather than for Palestinian civilians killed in Israeli attacks.

The analysis found that, as of November 24, the New York Times had described Israeli deaths as a “massacre” on 53 occasions and those of Palestinians just once. The ratio for the use of “slaughter” was 22 to 1, even as the documented number of Palestinians killed climbed to around 15,000.

The latest Palestinian death toll estimate stands at more than 33,000, including at least 15,000 children — likely undercounts due to Gaza’s collapsed health infrastructure and missing persons, many of whom are believed to have died in the rubble left by Israel’s attacks over the past six months.

Touchy Debates

The Times memo touches on some of the most highly charged — and disputed — language around the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. The guidance spells out, for instance, usage of the word “terrorist,” which The Intercept previously reported was at the center of a spirited newsroom debate.

“It is accurate to use ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ in describing the attacks of Oct. 7, which included the deliberate targeting of civilians in killings and kidnappings,” according to the leaked Times memo. “We should not shy away from that description of the events or the attackers, particularly when we provide context and explanation.”

The guidance also instructs journalists to “Avoid ‘fighters’ when referring to the Oct. 7 attack; the term suggests a conventional war rather than a deliberate attack on civilians. And be cautious in using ‘militants,’ which is interpreted in different ways and may be confusing to readers.”

In the memo, the editors tell Times journalists: “We do not need to assign a single label or to refer to the Oct. 7 assault as a ‘terrorist attack’ in every reference; the word is best used when specifically describing attacks on civilians. We should exercise restraint and can vary the language with other accurate terms and descriptions: an attack, an assault, an incursion, the deadliest attack on Israel in decades, etc. Similarly, in addition to ‘terrorists,’ we can vary the terms used to describe the Hamas members who carried out the assault: attackers, assailants, gunmen.”

The Times does not characterize Israel’s repeated attacks on Palestinian civilians as “terrorism,” even when civilians have been targeted. This is also true of Israel’s assaults on protected civilian sites, including hospitals.

In a section with the headline “‘Genocide’ and Other Incendiary Language,” the guidance says, “‘Genocide’ has a specific definition in international law. In our own voice, we should generally use it only in the context of those legal parameters. We should also set a high bar for allowing others to use it as an accusation, whether in quotations or not, unless they are making a substantive argument based on the legal definition.”

Regarding “ethnic cleansing,” the document calls it “another historically charged term,” instructing reporters: “If someone is making such an accusation, we should press for specifics or supply proper context.”

Bucking International Norms

In the cases of describing “occupied territory” and the status of refugees in Gaza, the Times style guidelines run counter to norms established by the United Nations and international humanitarian law.

On the term “Palestine” — a widely used name for both the territory and the U.N.-recognized state — the Times memo contains blunt instructions: “Do not use in datelines, routine text or headlines, except in very rare cases such as when the United Nations General Assembly elevated Palestine to a nonmember observer state, or references to historic Palestine.” The Times guidance resembles that of the Associated Press Stylebook.

The memo directs journalists not to use the phrase “refugee camps” to describe long-standing refugee settlements in Gaza. “While termed refugee camps, the refugee centers in Gaza are developed and densely populated neighborhoods dating to the 1948 war. Refer to them as neighborhoods, or areas, and if further context is necessary, explain how they have historically been called refugee camps.”

The United Nations recognizes eight refugee camps in the Gaza Strip. As of last year, before the war started, the areas were home to more than 600,000 registered refugees. Many are descendants of those who fled to Gaza after being forcibly expelled from their homes in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, which marked the founding of the Jewish state and mass dispossession of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians.

The Israeli government has long been hostile to the historical fact that Palestinians maintain refugee status, because it signifies that they were displaced from lands they have a right to return to.

“It’s like, ‘Oh let’s not say occupation because it might make it look like we’re justifying a terrorist attack.’”

Since October 7, Israel has repeatedly bombed refugee camps in Gaza, including Jabaliya, Al Shati, Al Maghazi, and Nuseirat.

The memo’s instructions on the use of “occupied territories” says, “When possible, avoid the term and be specific (e.g. Gaza, the West Bank, etc.) as each has a slightly different status.” The United Nations, along with much of the world, considers Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem to be occupied Palestinian territories, seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab–Israeli war.

The admonition against the use of the term “occupied territories,” said a Times staffer, obscures the reality of the conflict, feeding into the U.S. and Israeli insistence that the conflict began on October 7.

“You are basically taking the occupation out of the coverage, which is the actual core of the conflict,” said the newsroom source. “It’s like, ‘Oh let’s not say occupation because it might make it look like we’re justifying a terrorist attack.’”

#The New York Time | The Jew York Times #The Hub of Yellow Journalism #Leaked Gaza Memo 📝#Journalists #Avoid | Words | Genocide | Ethnic Cleansing | Occupied Territory #New York Times’s Gaza War Coverage #Terrorist Fascist Apartheid Illegal Occupier and War Criminal Zionist 🐖 Isra-hell #The Intercept #Jeremy Scahill | Ryan Grim

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xenodile · 1 year

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odd question I know, but what're your problems with Stormblood? Just like, in general. And a related question, what are you changing in the rewrite you're doing?

I've said it before in other posts, but my biggest complaint is that Stormblood is thematically and narratively inconsistent with the rest of FFXIV in that it seeks to take agency away from the Warrior of Light and the Scions in order to be a Pro War Propaganda piece, and it fumbles a lot of very interesting character ideas. FFXIV is, for the most part, a story about a small group of people motivated by their own beliefs and ideals changing the world by their own ability in a typical heroic fantasy. Stormblood bizarrely weakens the WoL and Scions and forces them to appeal to the powers that be or the masses to ask for change rather than being the force of change like in ARR, HW, ShB, and EW.

There's also a bevy of smaller issues like Zenos's ridiculous plot armor, Lyse calling people cowards for not wanting to fight a war, Fordola and Yotsuyu being cartoonishly evil and one dimensional until it's time to give them a half assed Sad Backstory, the flagrant racial stereotypes depicted in the Xaela and Ala Mhigo, the inciting incident being "everyone stands around and just let's the bad guy do his thing when they have the power to stop him", character writing being inconsistent, Garleans being Always Chaotic Evil in a setting that has been consistently gray, how badly it treats Alisaie and Alphinaud, etc.

My changes are essentially trying to keep the tone and characterizations consistent, give more agency and screentime to our central cast, and just Do More with the antagonists, while staying somewhat close to the canon sequence of events. The biggest change is putting Tsukuyomi as the climax of the Doma arc and just sorta stretching out the total run time so that Ala Mhigo and Doma have some room to breathe and tell their own stories.

#David plays FFXIV

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wwesaige · 1 year

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Saraya after her win! 🤘🏻🖤

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warsofasoiaf · 2 years

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Is there a way out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict where the Russian and Western (US/EU) blocs could be allies against their enemies (China), other rising powers (India), and others that would preserve their long term global hegemony?

I see a big issue here - China has a growing relationship with Russia, not an adversarial one, while China and the West have a declining relationship.

The only way I see Russia and the West become allies is if Russia undergoes a massive internal revolution and the pro-Western blocs (Navalny, Kara-Murza, etc.) get power, or the United States and the EU accept Russian hegemony and the growing relationship between China and Russia breaks down, and Russia doesn't just decide to expand its influence further west and force more European nations under the Russian umbrella and export its brand of nationalist authoritarianism. Even that would be a hard sell, the Russian public largely despises the West, partially out of historical resentment during the Cold War, partially out of blaming the West for the corruption and misrule of the Yeltsin era and the more recent bevy of sanctions, partially out of the states from their traditional sphere of influence joining western blocs like NATO and the EU. It would likely take two decades or more (likely closer to four or five) for public opinion to shift, unless there was something drastic like a Chinese invasion to reconquer Vladivostok and Outer Manchuria. Don't get me wrong, I want Russia to liberalize, I want its people to get out from the heel of the corrupt oligarchs. But it takes a long time to change a culture, and entrenched power figures will fight liberalizers every step of the way.

I honestly don't see a solid path for Russia to maintain its hegemony without a complete victory in Ukraine which looks completely unlikely. The Russian Armed Forces, one of their pillars of foreign policy strength, has been seen to be completely incompetent, their tactics ineffective and outdated, their leadership corrupt, their modern technology either absent, inoperative, or incapable. Their oil resources will become less useful as the world shifts away from fossil fuels, and they are facing severe demographic decline. It's possible that there's a path forward with some emerging technology like quantum computing, but I'm pessimistic. I think much like the empires of the past, they will suffer diminished presence on the world stage, much to the chagrin of Russian revanchists (like Putin) everywhere.

India's largest foreign policy concern is China, hence why they want to be friendly with Russia (to serve as a counter against China and to prevent China and Russia from getting closer). But Modi can smell which way the wind is blowing, Russia is weak and is not as effective a counter to China as it was it the days of the Sino-Soviet split, so I predict that Modi will remain ostensibly unaligned but increasingly look to ways to counter China both by supporting initiatives in the Indo-Pacific and an increasing outreach to the developing world as Russian damage forces a retreat.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

#foreign policy #russia #india #china

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udo0stories · 1 month

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Sports have long been a popular theme in film, helping to create a unique genre that appeals to viewers all over the world. The thrilling entertainment they offer or the motivational tales they share with the public, along with the genre's adaptability, are responsible for their enormous success and popularity over the years. Sports films can explore a wide range of genres, including comedies, thrillers, dramas, biopics, and everything in between. Furthermore, it should come as no surprise that these films attract sizable audiences, given the billions of sports enthusiasts that exist throughout the world and will watch anything that even slightly touches on the sports they love. Everyone has encountered individuals who are constantly searching for the newest products showcasing their preferred NBA players or who amass sports collectibles linked to various teams or sportsmen. These are also the ones who get the most enjoyment out of sports movies. However, this movie genre can still be very entertaining, even if you are not an avid fan of any one sport. All you need to do is choose the appropriate films to watch in order to appreciate their appeal. Here is a list of movies that will have you glued to the screen if you are willing to try sports-themed movies. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) Bend It Like Beckham is a fantastic example of a successful film that has the name of one of the most well-known football players of all time in the title. For those unfamiliar with football history or jargon, or who do not know the origin of the title, one of Beckham's trademark skills was his ability to bend the ball's trajectory and make it go around obstacles. However, the title also alludes to the idea of using one's abilities to overcome obstacles in life and find solutions. The protagonist of the story is Jess, a British-Indian adolescent whose dogmatic parents will not let her play football. All that will change, though, is a meeting with Jules Paxton (Keira Knightley), who asks Jess to contribute to the costs of her semi-pro team. As an added bonus, David Beckham and his wife Victoria have a brief cameo in the film. Fighting With My Family (2019) As the biographical sports drama Fighting With My Family portrays, girls face significant challenges in the world of professional wrestling, similar to what happens in other male-dominated sports like football. The film centers on the life of Saraya Jade Bevis, also known as Paige, a character expertly played by Florence Pugh. Paige and her brother are obviously excited about the opportunity to try out for World Wrestling Entertainment because they were raised in a wrestling family in the UK. But only Page gets selected to be a part of the WWE training program in the United States, so she is thrown headfirst into the cutthroat world of professional wrestling. Rush (2013) Hollywood heavyweights Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Brühl star in this biographical sports drama that will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that Formula 1 is a brutal world in which only the toughest survive. The film revisits the heyday of Formula One racing, when conditions were undoubtedly wilder and riskier than they are now, and it tells the story of the legendary rivalry between James Hunt and Niki Lauda. The film features plenty of thrilling racetrack action and moments that will keep you on the edge of your seat, along with a healthy dose of racing humor. Bring It On (2000) If you’re in the mood for something a bit lighter, we recommend this turn-of-the-century classic that has become a staple in teen comedy movies. When Torrance Shipman (Kirsten Dunst) gets elected as the new captain of the popular cheerleading team at Rancho Carne High School in San Diego, little does she know about the challenges that lie ahead. After finding out that the team’s best routines were stolen from a rival school, chaos ensues, and the squad is forced to put together a new choreography in record time in order to compete at the annual championships.

The movie was such a massive success that it prompted the release of several sequels between 2004 and 2017. Ford vs. Ferrari (2019) It seems like Formula 1 has made a huge comeback in recent years, at least judging by what’s happening in the movie world. So, if you’ve never been much of an F1 fan, you might become one after watching these films. This time the biopic revolves around automotive designer Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) and fearless British race car driver Ken Miles (Christian Bale) as they struggle to build a trailblazing race car for Ford that could compete against their number one rival Ferrari at the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans circuit. There’s no shortage of dramatic moments as the two are forced to deal with numerous obstacles posed by corporate requirements and their own personal issues. Million Dollar Baby (2004) We end the list with a movie that is intense, difficult to watch, and highly rewarding at the same time. Clint Eastwood’s Million Dollar Baby, which features superstars like Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman in leading roles, is a masterpiece of the genre that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster from start to finish. The Oscar-winning drama covers the highs and lows of a female boxer whose journey connects with that of an old trainer and the unexpected turns that life takes along the way. While this might not be the kind of feel-good sports movie many prefer, the depth of the characters and the outdating performances make it a worthwhile watch.

#Entertainment #Epic #movies #Sports #Watch

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this-week-in-rust · 1 month

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This Week in Rust 539

Hello and welcome to another issue of This Week in Rust! Rust is a programming language empowering everyone to build reliable and efficient software. This is a weekly summary of its progress and community. Want something mentioned? Tag us at @ThisWeekInRust on Twitter or @ThisWeekinRust on mastodon.social, or send us a pull request. Want to get involved? We love contributions.

This Week in Rust is openly developed on GitHub and archives can be viewed at this-week-in-rust.org. If you find any errors in this week's issue, please submit a PR.

Updates from Rust Community

Newsletters

The Embedded Rustacean Issue #15

This Week in Bevy: Foundations, Meetups, and more Bevy Cheatbook updates

Project/Tooling Updates

rustc_codegen_gcc: Progress Report #31

Slint 1.5: Embracing Android, Improving Live-Preview, and introducing Pythonic Slint

yaml-rust2's first real release

testresult 0.4.0 released. The crate provides the TestResult type for concise and precise test failures.

Revolutionizing PostgreSQL Database Comparison: Introducing pgdatadiff in Rust — Unleash Speed, Safety, and Scalability

Observations/Thoughts

SemVer in Rust: Breakage, Tooling, and Edge Cases — FOSDEM 2024 annotated talk

Go's Errors: How I Learned to Love Rust

Strongly-typed IDs in SurrealDB

Iterators and traversables

Using PostHog with Rust

Using Rust on ESP32 from Windows

Compiling Rust to WASI

Achieving awful compression with digits of pi

Zig, Rust, and other languages

What part of Rust compilation is the bottleneck?

Lambda on hard mode: Inside Modal's web infrastructure

Embedded Rust Bluetooth on ESP: BLE Advertiser

[video] Diplomat - Idiomatic Multi-Language APIs - Robert Bastian - Rust Zürisee March 2024

Rust Walkthroughs

A Short Introduction to Rust and the Bevy Game Engine

[video] Strings and memory reallocation in Rust

Research

Rust Tools Survey (by JetBrains)

Miscellaneous

RustNL 2024 schedule announced

Fighting back: Turning the Tables on Web Scrapers Using Rust

The book "Code Like a Pro in Rust" is released

Red Hat's Long, Rust'ed Road Ahead For Nova As Nouveau Driver Successor

Crate of the Week

This week's crate is heck, a no_std crate to perform case conversions.

Thanks to Edoardo Morandi for the suggestion!

Please submit your suggestions and votes for next week!

Call for Testing

An important step for RFC implementation is for people to experiment with the implementation and give feedback, especially before stabilization. The following RFCs would benefit from user testing before moving forward:

No calls for testing were issued this week.

If you are a feature implementer and would like your RFC to appear on the above list, add the new call-for-testing label to your RFC along with a comment providing testing instructions and/or guidance on which aspect(s) of the feature need testing.

Call for Participation; projects and speakers

CFP - Projects

Always wanted to contribute to open-source projects but did not know where to start? Every week we highlight some tasks from the Rust community for you to pick and get started!

Some of these tasks may also have mentors available, visit the task page for more information.

Rama — add Form support (IntroResponse + FromRequest)

Rama — rename *Filter matchers to *Matcher

Rama — Provide support for boxed custom matchers in layer enums

Rama — use workspace dependencies for common workspace dep versionning

Rama — add open-telemetry middleware and extended prometheus support

Space Acres - Packaging for MacOS

Space Acres - Implement Loading Progress

Space Acres - Show more lines of logs when the app is "Stopped with error"

Space Acres - Tray Icon Support

Hyperswitch - [REFACTOR]: Remove Default Case Handling - Braintree

Hyperswitch - [REFACTOR]: Remove Default Case Handling - Fiserv

Hyperswitch - [REFACTOR]: Remove Default Case Handling - Globepay

ZeroCopy - Fix cfgs in rustdoc

ZeroCopy - Audit uses of "C-like" and prefer "fieldless"

ZeroCopy - in zerocopy-derive UI tests, detect whether we're building with RUSTFLAGS='-Wwarnings'

If you are a Rust project owner and are looking for contributors, please submit tasks here.

CFP - Speakers

Are you a new or experienced speaker looking for a place to share something cool? This section highlights events that are being planned and are accepting submissions to join their event as a speaker.

If you are an event organizer hoping to expand the reach of your event, please submit a link to the submission website through a PR to TWiR.

Updates from the Rust Project

498 pull requests were merged in the last week

BOLT Use CDSort and CDSplit

NormalizesTo: return nested goals to caller

add_retag: ensure box-to-raw-ptr casts are preserved for Miri

f16 and f128 step 3: compiler support & feature gate

add -Z external-clangrt

add wasm_c_abi future-incompat lint

add missing try_visit calls in visitors

check library crates for all tier 1 targets in PR CI

copy byval argument to alloca if alignment is insufficient

coverage: initial support for branch coverage instrumentation

create some minimal HIR for associated opaque types

delay expand macro bang when there has indeterminate path

delegation: fix ICE on duplicated associative items

detect allocator for box in must_not_suspend lint

detect calls to .clone() on T: !Clone types on borrowck errors

detect when move of !Copy value occurs within loop and should likely not be cloned

diagnostics: suggest Clone bounds when noop clone()

do not eat nested expressions' results in MayContainYieldPoint format args visitor

don't create ParamCandidate when obligation contains errors

don't ICE when non-self part of trait goal is constrained in new solver

don't show suggestion if slice pattern is not top-level

downgrade const eval dangling ptr in final to future incompat lint

enable PR tracking review assignment for rust-lang/rust

enable creating backtraces via -Ztreat-err-as-bug when stashing errors

enable frame pointers for the standard library

ensure RPITITs are created before def-id freezing

fix 32-bit overflows in LLVM composite constants

fix ICE in diagnostics for parenthesized type arguments

fix long-linker-command-lines failure caused by rust.rpath=false

fix attribute validation on associated items in traits

fix stack overflow with recursive associated types

interpret: ensure that Place is never used for a different frame

make incremental sessions identity no longer depend on the crate names provided by source code

match lowering: don't collect test alternatives ahead of time

more eagerly instantiate binders

never patterns: suggest ! patterns on non-exhaustive matches

only generate a ptrtoint in AtomicPtr codegen when absolutely necessary

only invoke decorate if the diag can eventually be emitted

pass the correct DefId when suggesting writing the aliased Self type out

pattern analysis: Store field indices in DeconstructedPat to avoid virtual wildcards

provide structured suggestion for #![feature(foo)]

reject overly generic assoc const binding types

represent Result<usize, Box<T>> as ScalarPair(i64, ptr)

split refining_impl_trait lint into _reachable, _internal variants

stabilize imported_main

stabilize associated type bounds (RFC #2289)

stop walking the bodies of statics for reachability, and evaluate them instead

ungate the UNKNOWN_OR_MALFORMED_DIAGNOSTIC_ATTRIBUTES lint

unix time module now return result

validate builder::PATH_REMAP

miri: add some chance to reuse addresses of previously freed allocations

avoid lowering code under dead SwitchInt targets

use UnsafeCell for fast constant thread locals

add CStr::bytes iterator

add as_(mut_)ptr and as_(mut_)slice to raw array pointers

implement {Div,Rem}Assign<NonZero<X>> on X

fix unsoundness in Step::forward_unchecked for signed integers

implement Duration::as_millis_{f64,f32}

optimize ptr::replace

safe Transmute: Require that source referent is smaller than destination

safe Transmute: Use 'not yet supported', not 'unspecified' in errors

hashbrown: fix index calculation in panic guard of clone_from_impl

cargo tree: Control --charset via auto-detecting config value

cargo toml: Flatten manifest parsing

cargo: add 'open-namespaces' feature

cargo fix: strip feature dep when dep is dev dep

cargo: prevent dashes in lib.name

cargo: expose source/spans to Manifest for emitting lints

rustdoc-search: depth limit T<U> → U unboxing

rustdoc-search: search types by higher-order functions

rustdoc: add --test-builder-wrapper arg to support wrappers such as RUSTC_WRAPPER when building doctests

rustdoc: do not preload fonts when browsing locally

rustfmt: fix: ICE with expanded code

rustfmt: initial work on formatting headers

clippy: cast_lossless: Suggest type alias instead of the aliased type

clippy: else_if_without_else: Fix duplicate diagnostics

clippy: map_entry: call the visitor on the local's else block

clippy: option_option: Fix duplicate diagnostics

clippy: unused_enumerate_index: trigger on method calls

clippy: use_self: Make it aware of lifetimes

clippy: don't emit doc_markdown lint for missing backticks if it's inside a quote

clippy: fix dbg_macro false negative when dbg is inside some complex macros

clippy: fix empty_docs trigger in proc-macro

clippy: fix span calculation for non-ascii in needless_return

clippy: handle false positive with map_clone lint

clippy: lint when calling the blanket Into impl from a From impl

clippy: move iter_nth to style, add machine applicable suggestion

clippy: move readonly_write_lock to perf

clippy: new restriction lint: integer_division_remainder_used

rust-analyzer: distinguish integration tests from crates in test explorer

rust-analyzer: apply #[cfg] to proc macro inputs

rust-analyzer: implement ATPIT

rust-analyzer: support macro calls in eager macros for IDE features

rust-analyzer: syntax highlighting improvements

rust-analyzer: fix panic with impl trait associated types in where clause

rust-analyzer: don't auto-close block comments in strings

rust-analyzer: fix wrong where clause rendering on hover

rust-analyzer: handle attributes when typing curly bracket

rust-analyzer: ignore some warnings if they originate from within macro expansions

rust-analyzer: incorrect handling of use and panic issue in extract_module

rust-analyzer: make inlay hint resolving work better for inlays targetting the same position

rust-analyzer: refactor extension to support arbitrary shell command runnables

rust-analyzer: show compilation progress in test explorer

rust-analyzer: use --workspace and --no-fail-fast in test explorer

Rust Compiler Performance Triage

Even though the summary might not look like it, this was actually a relatively quiet week, with a few small regressions. The large regression that is also shown in the summary table was caused by extending the verification of incremental compilation results. However, this verification is not actually fully enabled by default, so these regressions are mostly only visible in our benchmarking suite, which enables the verification to achieve more deterministic benchmarking results. One small regression was also caused by enabling frame pointers for the Rust standard library, which should improve profiling of Rust programs.

Triage done by @kobzol. Revision range: e919669d..21d94a3d

Summary:

(instructions:u) mean range count Regressions ❌ (primary) 2.5% [0.4%, 7.8%] 207 Regressions ❌ (secondary) 2.9% [0.2%, 8.3%] 128 Improvements ✅ (primary) - - 0 Improvements ✅ (secondary) -1.0% [-1.3%, -0.4%] 4 All ❌✅ (primary) 2.5% [0.4%, 7.8%] 207

4 Regressions, 1 Improvements, 6 Mixed; 4 of them in rollups 67 artifact comparisons made in total

Full report here

Approved RFCs

Changes to Rust follow the Rust RFC (request for comments) process. These are the RFCs that were approved for implementation this week:

No RFCs were approved this week.

Final Comment Period

Every week, the team announces the 'final comment period' for RFCs and key PRs which are reaching a decision. Express your opinions now.

RFCs

Reserve gen keyword in 2024 edition for Iterator generators

Tracking Issues & PRs

Rust

[disposition: merge] Tracking Issue for raw slice len() method (slice_ptr_len, const_slice_ptr_len)

[disposition: merge] downgrade ptr.is_aligned_to crate-private

[disposition: merge] Stabilize unchecked_{add,sub,mul}

[disposition: merge] transmute: caution against int2ptr transmutation

[disposition: merge] Normalize trait ref before orphan check & consider ty params in alias types to be uncovered

Cargo

[disposition: merge] release cargo test helper crate to crates-io

New and Updated RFCs

[new] Add support for use Trait::method

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Quote of the Week

In 10 years we went from “Rust will never replace C and C++” to “New C/C++ should not be written anymore, and you should use Rust”. Good job.

– dpc_pw on lobste.rs

Thanks to Dennis Luxen for the suggestion!

Please submit quotes and vote for next week!

This Week in Rust is edited by: nellshamrell, llogiq, cdmistman, ericseppanen, extrawurst, andrewpollack, U007D, kolharsam, joelmarcey, mariannegoldin, bennyvasquez.

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soundbanks2342 · 2 months

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iZotope RX 8 Advanced (MAC) Download

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Top 8 Podcast Audio Issues RX 8 Will Solve | iZotope

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