#victims - and this is not necessarily about white people but it's mainly about white people yes - because it's hard to have their core

[queen--of--maggots]

What’s your most unpopular DN opinion? (It can be about canon, fanon the fandom)

I don’t even know if you are still around anon, but I promised you an answer, and here it is. Unpopular opinion time! And here’s a really unpopular one: I wish Wammy’s wouldn’t exist and Ohba went in a different direction after L’s death.

I’m probably almost the only one with this opinion. I know many people love the Wammy kids, and I want to make this clear, this is not necessarily about the characters from Wammy’s. I appreciate them, some more, others less. However, you can like a character and still think the story would have been better without them.

First, a few points on why I don’t like the introduction of Wammy’s.

One thing I enjoyed a lot about DN up to L’s death is the lack of overused tropes. For example, DN isn’t L’s story despite him fitting more into the good guy role, L isn’t portrayed as a hero, Light isn’t portrayed as a villain, Misa isn’t the innocent victim who was dragged into this, and neither L nor Light is the chosen one(s), main characters don’t have an extremely outstanding design, and so on. Wammy’s changes this partially. There must be people, qualified ones included, in the entire world that have reasons why they want to stop Kira, but all of Kira’s antagonists originate from the same place – Wammy’s. That’s pretty much the secret-intuition-that-protects-the-world-from-evil trope. It also falls into the chosen one trope because only L’s successors are apparently good enough to put an end to Kira. Also, Near has a rather outstanding design. Having white hair isn’t impossible, but highly unlikely. In addition, he looks like 12 despite being 18 and always wears fucking pajamas instead of normal clothes. Mello has a somewhat outstanding design too, but it’s more the way the dresses. I won’t complain too much about it. Still, compare this to Team Kira’s new additions. Mikami’s and Takada’s designs are way more grounded.

Another trope I find annoying is linking everything to the same two or three people. Every important character that is introduced later in the series has a connection to one of the original main characters (being related, childhood friends, same former mentor, …). In my opinion, that’s just a cheap way to give a new character credit without them doing anything and make them more popular among fans. If the character is well-written enough, things like that are not necessary. Ohba goes hard for this trope with Wammy’s: Near, Mello, and even fucking Matt are all L’s successors, so they have a direct link to him. And, while it’s just a spinoff, and how canon it is is debatable, even the BB murder case goes back to L and Wammy’s. (I know AN wasn’t written by Ohba, but it fits the pattern.) Compare this to Light’s allies. Most Kiras had no previous connection to Light before meeting him. The only exception is Kiyomi after the time skip. In Misa’s case, Kira gave her the revenge she wanted. However, she’s likely still one of many with similar stories. She didn’t know Light before, and Light didn’t know her. Even how Misa got her DN is unrelated to Light and Ryuk. Mikami had to stand entirely on his own feet. He had no direct connection to Light or L whatsoever.

I’m also disappointed that Ohba toned down the realism with Wammy’s. DN wasn’t 100% realistic before either, but there is a drop in it with the introduction of the Wammy’s characters. We go from one rich dude who fights crime mainly for entertainment to an entire training ground for super-intelligent orphans to become the world’s greatest detectives. Then there’s Mello with the missile and ultra-fast healing powers, and Near winning because of magical guessing powers and plot armor. Both are also younger than Light and inexperienced. And while humans aren’t born with special powers in the DN universe and supernatural aspects are limited to the Shinigami and the Shinigami realm, BB has Shinigami eyes for no apparent reason. Technically, these are still connected to the Shinigami within the story, but the explanation given for this is extremely vague and unsatisfying.

The points I’ve listed so far would bother me less if they always would have been a thing or if both sides were treated equally regarding tropes and bullshit. But they are particularly noticeable for Wammy’s characters, while Team Kira is not so much affected.

Also, I liked that before Wammy’s became a thing, L was an extraordinary element. L appeared to be self-made. He even became an important part of law enforcement even though his main motivation wasn’t justice. Before Wammy’s introduction, his death would have had a massive impact on the DN universe because once he is dead, L doesn’t exist anymore and is no longer a secret weapon in difficult cases. Even if Kira is defeated, losing L in the process would be a massive loss. Wammy’s existence reduces L to a replaceable role. If he dies, someone else from the L-factory will take the position. The death of L as a person has almost no impact on the DN universe because L as an entity still exists, and that’s the only thing that counts. No consequences whatsoever. Barely anyone knew how he looked anyway.

I understand why Ohba went with L’s successors as a continuation instead of something else. He was playing the safe card by feeding the consumers something they are already familiar with. Going for different scenarios would be risky and require more effort. However, it could have been more rewarding if executed well. I would have liked a greater variety of enemies for Light and him having to adapt to new dangers. So, here are some scenarios that I would have found more intriguing than the one we got.

The premise of Mello’s arc was interesting; unfortunately, the execution was horrendous. But Light vs a criminal organization that, for example, wants the DN or Kira’s power for themselves isn’t a bad idea. A criminal organization would be a lot more ruthless than L. L needed evidence, while a crime syndicate would immediately shoot Light if he showed up on the list of suspects. And his family would be in danger too.

Or a revenge plot? Something like Kira killed a family member or other loved one (preferably justified, but could also be someone wrongly accused), and a bereaved person wants revenge. Now, this person is on a suicide mission, and Light has to fight against someone who has nothing left to lose. Their own survival is optional, only getting revenge before dying counts.

How about Kira vs a fanatic Kira fan? Someone who thinks Kira isn’t Kira enough anymore and feels they can do better? Maybe this person could make Light’s allies question their loyalty to him. Who are they loyal to, Light or Kira?

A female antagonist would also have potential (but not with Ohba as an author). Light tends to underestimate women. Now, Light faces one as a competent opponent, and he has to take one or more critical hits to realize the danger.

Anyway, the successor arc definitely has its moments, but overall, it is a lot weaker. And in my opinion, these weaknesses are primarily connected to Wammy’s. So, removing it could have been beneficial for the story. At least, that’s my opinion. If you have a different opinion, that’s great. But please, I’m not particularly interested in lengthy discussions about this subject.

#death note #anon #ask #i know the text is a bit messy but i have this in my drafts for about a month #and i have zero motivation to rework it #thx for asking

[teasdays]

Hi hello I'm your friendly neighbourhood ghost, can I pretty please have the context about Wilbur abuse??? If you are ok with it of course , And thank you, I hope you are having a great day

hi hello ghost! Yeah no worries, I bet it's... difficult to wade through everything that's been going on

So last week, Shubble (streamer, she/they) hosted a stream about their experiences with an unnamed abuser. You can watch it here (if you prefer to read, turn on CC & read the transcript). It's a pretty hard-hitting video, and people pretty immediately guessed that it was, in fact, Wilbur Soot. He's since confirmed it himself in a statement/kind of apology (?) which u can find on his twitter... Shubble has, understandably, rejected it.

That's the short answer!

Uh for a longer one lol, there's more info here: this is an EXCELLENT conversation Shubble had (before W*lbur was officially named) with her friend lexiemariex. They both talk about the abuse and misogyny they've faced as women dating within the streaming community. Neither of them named anyone at this point either, and I actually haven't had time to watch the whole thing yet !! But about 45 minutes in so far they have both shared a lot of really important perspectives on domestic abuse, their experiences as victims (in their words) during & in recovery from those relationships, and about the really harmful norms within streaming.

Just to add a couple comments of my own: if a community is MAINLY dominated by white cis men, that's usually NOT a coincidence; it's usually (at least partly) because the environment is hostile to diversity. Several other people have also come forward about negative experiences with Shubble's ex in particular, but I REALLY think--personally--that it is a mistake to focus just on him. He is, for better or worse, Just Some Guy: it REALLY sounds like his behaviours reflect a deeply harmful culture within streaming. We can't and should not try to cancel all streamers, obviously! But... if we REALLY want to centre survivors? We need to hold the whole community accountable for the CULTURE they've gotten comfortable with.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that all white men in streaming are malicious people, who only want to hurt/abuse/have power over the weak & helpless women in their sphere. But there's been writing on the wall for a long time: there's a lot of casual misogyny that we HAVE seen streamers ignore, even if they wouldn't (necessarily...) make those jokes themselves. I do NOT have receipts on hand lol, but that's been my observation over the years. So I think it's... too simplistic to say that Shubble's ex, and lexie's, were just outliers. A couple of bad eggs.

We can cancel them, and exile them from streaming, sure--fine. We certainly don't owe anyone a platform. But we also NEED to look beyond the individual people & understand that every single one of them is a product of their culture and community.

tl;dr Shubble's ex is shitty, for sure, but he's not the whole problem! He's a symptom.

oh omg last thing actually: as people navigate how to respond to unfeminist/antifeminist content creators, I'd like to recommend Roxane Gay's perspective in Bad Feminist (excerpt here). As people who consume media, we have to understand that our consumption will always be imperfect, because (again) the problems are deeply embedded in like. the whole culture . We can & will continue to work for a better future, but in the meantime we've gotta forgive ourselves & our comrades for being imperfect <3

#sdjhkgjd sorry this is so long!! #answered #shubble

[doodlegirl12345]

Most Wanted Part II

Hello everyone, I’m back here once more. It’s been a white since I updated but the past couple months but without getting deeply into my personal life a lot of stuff happened that put writing on the backburner. On top of that I will admit this part took a while to write to get exactly what I wanted to do with this chapter. Honestly a lot of character work. But as always I really appreciate all the patience and support is given to me.

So without further ado here’s Most Wanted Part II.

Also available on Wattpad

Here’s a quick recap for those who need it: After helping Ladybug and Chat Noir as her alter-ego Honeybee Sabrina is almost caught by her father about to return the bee miraculous. Now she’s stuck in a rock and a hard place.

Most Wanted

Disconnected.

There are points in life where relationships can go through several rough patches. No relationship is excluded from this fact. Romantic, platonic or familial there’s bound to be moments where the people involved don’t feel like they’re on the same page. Although this does not necessarily mean that the people involved had stopped caring about each other. Often life’s pressures make it easy to step out of sync. Due to the fact that life and people do not remain static. For a relationship to be maintained all parties need to make an effort. If not, the relationship will remain a fractured shell of what it once was.

This was the moment that she wanted to disappear. To escape all of the unfortunate events that had suddenly fallen upon her. A wish stemmed from the fact no good deeds goes unpunished. At least that’s how it seemed for Sabrina Raincomprix, who had fallen victim to this statement. She never imagined that this part would become the most bleak. The distant aftermath of a battle. While most of the horrors: destruction, violence and the villain had faded away to become distant memories. All the danger, risk and the feeling of dread remained. It permeated through the air, almost as if it was punishment. To take something enjoyable and fill it with anxiety.

“Is everything alright, Sabrina?” asked a familiar voice.

The red haired girl looked up from the kitchen island where she was sitting; pulling away from her own drifting thoughts, returning to the real world. Instead of her usual outfit she was wearing a soft lemon yellow blouse with a straight across neckline and mid length lace cuffed sleeves. Paired with a black denim button up skirt, black sandals and yellow rose dangle earrings. Sabrina sat up a little straighter pulling her elbows from the island. Unfortunately for her, she was still in her family’s apartment. The home itself had a simple yet welcoming style. Mostly in blacks, whites and grays. The living room’s walls were painted white.

While the floor was a dark hardwood with a large gray scatter leaf patterned rug. Laid underneath a shelved rustic wooden coffee table. Behind the table was a dark gray couch sandwiched between two rustic end tables that each had a bronze lamp. In front of the couch and table was a black TV stand bookcase with a large flat screen television in the middle of the surrounding shelves. Shelves filled with multiple framed family photos and books. Above the stand was a black circular wall clock that read ten twenty-seven pm. The attached kitchen area had white stone countertops with a matching kitchen island that had multiple wooden storage compartments. Four wooden bar stools surrounded the island. The floor’s tile was gray while appliances such as the refrigerator, stove and microwave were all black. All wooden cabinets and drawers were a deep walnut brown.

She hadn’t disappeared, not just from her apartment but her problems, mainly the one who was sitting right across her: her father. Between the two of them laid a white ceramic plate of homemade snickerdoodle cookies and two glasses of milk. Behind the lieutenant was two white shopping bags with the store name “Holly’s Craft Shop” written in silver font. Beyond that, one of the walls of the living room was a sliding glass door, leading to the apartment’s patio that had multiple potted plants in blue ceramic planters, white wicker patio furniture and a vacant iron shepherd hook stand in the corner.

The red haired girl had her doubts about her wish but still figured it was worth trying. Unfortunately, it remained unanswered leaving her to still find a solution to this dilemma.

“Uh…I’m fine,” she sighed. “What were you saying?”

“That I’m glad we’re having one of our late night chats,” he told her. “It’s been a while, wasn’t the last one we had was…”

“I think some time during winter break a bit after Christmas,” Sabrina finished for him. “So it’s been a couple months.”

The lieutenant shifted uncomfortably in his seat, appearing to be surprised by the answer. “Well, it’s good that we can make up for some lost time.”

“Yeah,” she nervously twirled the ends of hair. “It’s just I didn’t expect it to be tonight.”

“Is there something wrong?” he questioned. “Call it a hunch but it seems you don’t want to be here. You know you don’t have to stay up on my accord.”

“Of course not, why would I want to leave when everything important is here?” Sabrina sounded slightly frantic. “Uh…I mean you haven’t even tried the cookies that I had made.”

She slid the plate of cookies toward his direction.

He took a cookie from the plate before taking a bite causing his eyes to light up. “Whoa, this is amazing.”

“You’re not just saying that right? I just followed Granny’s recipe. The only thing done differently is letting the dough chill in the fridge before baking.”

“I’m not, I think you might’ve outdone your grandma with this one,” the lieutenant’s eyes widened. “Wait, don’t tell her I say that the next time she and your grandad visit.”

The red haired girl chuckled. “Noted. Don’t worry.”

“Good, the last thing that I want is a repeat of what happened at Great Aunt Susie’s birthday party after you repeated what I said about-“

”I know what you’re about to say and in my defense. I didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret and I was eight. Besides, I have gotten much better at keeping secrets since then.”

“Alright, but I’m sure that your grandma will be happy to hear you are trying her recipes by yourself. Maybe you can try her lemon pound cake next?”

“Depends if I have the time as that is one of my favorite recipes by her. But the reason that I had done this was to make some cookies for one of my new friends. The recipe by default makes a lot so I knew I was going to have some leftovers. But I doubt this would become a serious hobby.”

“Well, I’m sure that your friend is going to like it.”

“Oh she did.”

Her father raised an eyebrow. “Wait a second. I thought you said that you were planning to give them to your friend. So how do you know that she likes them already?”

“Uh…” a flare of panic rose began to show on her face. “I forgot to tell you when I give you my recap of today. After I finished baking the cookies…I texted my friend to meet me at Rosie’s Cafe. So I could give a bag of cookies to them. That’s when I got something to eat before going to the craft store.”

“Alright,” the lieutenant sounded skeptical. “I’m glad that you are finding ways to keep yourself busy since school has been let out for the summer. Are you sure that you’re alright being here by yourself while I’m at work?”

“Definitely, it’s already been a few weeks and nothing bad has happened,” Sabrina confirmed.

“That’s good,” his eyes shifted to the side. “Since you know if there’s a problem. I can still arrange something with Mrs. Gale.”

“Dad,” the red haired girl groaned. “I thought we already discussed this. I have outgrown needing a babysitter.”

“It wouldn’t be exactly babysitting.”

“Are you sure? Since she offers to watch all the little kids in the building during the summer. The only other way to describe it is daycare. Another thing that I’m too old for.”

“I just want to make sure that you’re okay when I’m gone.”

“We already made an agreement if there was a problem at home that is not serious enough for emergency services to call Mrs. Gale if that happens. Isn’t that enough?”

“I just wanted to remind you there’s another option if you need it.”

“That won’t happen. I’m actually enjoying the free time that I have been having these past couple weeks. Besides, it’s not like I’m isolating myself. Remember I went to Marinette’s slumber party with other girls that were in my class. Also I had been spending time with Marinette as we have been doing the work for my cosplay. We are supposed to start sewing on Sunday.”

“True.”

“Also it gives me time to think over some things.”

“Like what?”

Sabrina’s eyes fell on the shopping bags behind him. Before looking onwards, towards the right corner of the patio door that had a notepad placed against the glass. “You know life, these past couple weeks, everything has been so eventful.”

“It feels like something I’ve been missing because of work. Ever since I have been promoted it feels like there’s even less time to spend at home. Already it feels that I should be making up for lost time with you.”

“Dad, you’re just following the family motto: “Protect and Serve. Besides, I’m okay. I know things are a little different this year but that’s not automatically a bad thing.”

“Oh, I have been meaning to ask. How are you holding up not having Chloé here? It’s been a few weeks since she left the city for vacation. The first time in years you girls haven’t spent summer break together, sadly.”

Sabrina suddenly shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She felt compelled to avoid eye contact as a nerve had been struck. Not that the red haired girl could blame her father. Based on his knowledge the tenseness that was breathed into the girls’ friendship was nonexistent. In his mind, they were still the bestest of friends. That the other girls in her class were added to her social circle with Chloé instead of in spite of her.

Although for a few weeks Sabrina was unsure what to make of it after learning the truth about what happened the day of the Miracle Queen attack. She hadn’t told him, unsure if it was necessary since it was between her and the mayor’s daughter. However, it felt sometimes like it hadn’t been with her father constantly encouraging their friendship. But maybe because she refrained from telling him all the dirty gritty details.

“Well maybe that’s a good thing,” she attempted to push the issue.

“Really? I figured that you would be more heartbroken about this.”

“Um…well with everything that had been happening in the city these past couple months with Shadow Moth. This way she could get a break from it all. Who am I to be upset at that?”

“That’s very compassionate. It’s nice of you to think about Chloé’s benefit.”

“That’s nothing new, trust me.”

For years that’s all she thought about before hers.

“Besides I’ve been very welcoming to change lately-“ Sabrina started before stopping mid sentence as her eyes shifted towards the end of the patio door.

The lieutenant raised a brow. “Are you okay?”

“Of course,” the red haired girl bit her lip. “Why would you ask?”

“It looks like you got distracted.”

Distracted. That’s one word that could describe Sabrina as she looked at the apartment’s patio door. More specifically the notepad pressed against the glass, that she had placed in a panic included haze. When her father’s back was turned the red haired girl grabbed the notepad and pen from the coffee table to write a quick note that said: “I’ll figure out something.”

Words she assumed CosmoBug was reading as the heroine floated in front of the patio door. The bug looked back at her, almost as if she was handling her all the trust in the world. Sabrina wasn’t lying about getting better with keeping secrets. In fact she was already in the midst of another one. It started as a good deed that came with more than a week’s worth of trouble. The moment that she became the second bee miraculous holder, Honeybee.

This decision was made when her father was attacked by the villainous Lord Justice who targeted him a few weeks ago.

She kept him in the dark due to the established rules enforced onto temporary holders. The current dilemma she’s stuck in happened after being recruited by Ladybug to deal with the city’s most recent villain Cat Burglar. A thief who was easily mistaken as Chat Noir. She was able to help defeat the villain with Ladybug and Chat Noir but that led to a problem of her own. She still had a curfew to abide by and failure to do so could lead to suspicion.

To help her out Ladybug gave her a space power up so the both of them could fly to her home together to the miraculous hand off there to prevent her from being caught. However, her father came home from work, almost being caught in the middle of the act. This led both CosmoBug and Pollen to hide. The heroine floating above the apartment patio while Pollen resided in one of the shopping bags holding the bee miraculous. CosmoBug held her hand up signaling to pause as Pollen started to peek out of the shopping bag while clutching the hair comb against her body. It seemed the kwami was pondering if this was the best time to move.

Her father turned toward the patio. “What are you looking at?”

CosmoBug quickly launched herself into the air out of sight while Pollen dove back into the shopping bag.

“I thought I had a pigeon on the patio and I know how you feel about them,” she told him.

“With good reason, remember last week one of those pigeons knocked off my plant hanger pots off the hook causing it to be cracked on the patio. Luckily it wasn’t close to the ledge. I still haven’t figured out what to do with that hook out there.”

“Well, I think the bird is gone now.”

Sabrina traced the rim of her glass with one of her fingers. She knew needed to find a solution to this problem for the sake of everyone. Instead of conjuring imaginary pigeons to prolong the process.

“Based on what we were talking about before. There is something I wanted to run by you.”

“What is it?”

“Do you remember when I told you that Officer Richardson went on vacation with her family.”

“That was last week when you told me, wasn’t it?” she smiled. “Did she have a nice time?”

Officer Richardson was one of her father’s coworkers and had become a family friend over the ten years that she and her father had been working together. Sometimes the officer would give her rides and pick her up from places when her father couldn’t. While Sabrina doesn’t see her on a regular basis she had always thought highly of Officer Richardson as she always seemed to be a kind and genuine person.

“Yeah, she came back today and we got to talking about her trip. She had gone to this place called Futuroscope Park.”

“The high tech amusement park?”

“You heard of it?”

“Of course, there’s been a lot of videos on social media lately. Probably since it’s summertime. It looks pretty cool.”

“So is that a place you would like to go?”

“Definitely, it looks fun from the videos of the 4D rides and live shows that have been posted online. Why?”

“Well, I was considering that we could visit the park for a family vacation.”

The red haired girl’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Really? You’re not messing with me right?”

“Nope, we could do it around mid August after your birthday but before school starts.”

“That’s great, we haven’t been to any parks since going to Disneyland Paris a few years ago. So where is it exactly? After all this time living in Paris I never ran across it.”

“Actually, it’s not in Paris.”

“It’s not?”

“No, actually the park in Chasseneuil-du-Poitou. It’s three hours away. So, it’s not like we’re leaving the country but it would be a nice break from home.”

Sabrina could feel her excitement instantly deflate. This wouldn’t just be a break from home, it would be taking her away from her new responsibilities. A few weeks ago this wouldn’t be a problem but now it is a concern. Due to Shadow Moth’s unpredictable nature, the time that she would be gone could be just a mild altercation or the city could be plunged into the next apocalypse that would require all hands on deck.

“What’s wrong?” her father questioned automatically noticing the shift in mood.

“There’s nothing wrong,” she nervously pulled at the ends of her hair. “Everything is fine.”

“It doesn’t look like it. Your face looks like all the air has been sucked out of the room. Is there something you want to talk about?”

“Um… just wouldn’t this be too expensive? I mean we have already been putting together plans for my birthday. Traveling does cost a lot as we would have to pay for a hotel. Plus the park tickets, food and souvenirs, won’t we be spreading the household budget kinda thin?”

“Oh that’s what you’re worried about? Don’t fret, remember when I got promoted it came with a significant pay bump. And since we haven’t changed our spending habits over the past couple months. There’s a lot more in our savings so we can do both.”

The red haired girl gritted her teeth. “Great, but I don’t think I’m that into traveling.”

“Really?” the lieutenant crossed his arms, looking unimpressed. “That’s laughable considering I have been saying ever since you came back from your class trip from New York that you wanted to take a gap year before university to travel. You even said that you might go back to New York to visit Delmar.”

“Well things have changed since then.”

“That’s been quite clear. Sweetie, are you sure that there’s nothing wrong?”

“Nope, I’m great, nothing is wrong.”

“Sabrina, you realize that I have known you for your whole life. So that means I know you. So spill, what’s going on?”

“But there’s nothing to spill.”

“I have almost over fifteen years of experience to sense that someone is hiding something. And even if I wasn’t an officer any attentive parent would notice certain changes with you these couple weeks.”

Sabrina’s eyes narrowed as her voice rang out icily. “So is that the reason why you wanted to have one of our late night chats. So you can scold me?”

“No, I did want to spend time with you. This wasn’t supposed to make you feel like in an interrogation. But I started to notice some patterns that had gotten me concerned. You have been more exhausted lately. You have kept more to yourself these past couple days. Earlier this week you had to remind you to do your chores when I usually don’t have to. You haven’t been picking up calls and answering texts. Even though that was another part of our agreement for this summer. It just feels like you are hiding something.”

“Like I said there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Is this due to Chloé being away?”

“What?” Sabrina’s features hardened. “Why are you bringing her up?”

“Well, her being gone matches up around the time that I noticed these patterns starting,” he explained.

“This has nothing to do with Chloé. I know that we had been joint at the hip for the longest time. But that doesn’t mean I can’t have my own issues separate from her.”

“So there is an issue.”

“Yes, it’s because I don’t want to go on the trip. If you still want to go, I could stay home alone. I can manage.”

“Do you really think that I’m going to leave you alone here for a whole week? I’m already concerned about you being alone for a few hours.”

“Well you shouldn’t miss it because of me. Since I don’t want to go to the park,” she could feel her patience running thin. “Why is that so hard to understand?”

“Because doing that defeats the purpose of a family trip. It’s supposed to be about spending time together just like tomorrow-“

Sabrina snapped at him. “Well maybe you not being in my life wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world!”

Suddenly her face softened with regret as she saw the deeply wounded look on her father’s face.

“Dad, I’m sorry I didn’t mean it like that,” she shook her head with immediate regret.

“Okay,” his voice now sounded dull and emotionless. Almost if he was trying to reserve other emotions. “Maybe it’s best for both of us to just go to bed now. It’s getting late.”

The red haired girl looked over the clock realizing it was a little over a quarter of eleven. It was late but she knew that wasn’t the sole reason for the sudden call for bedtime.

“What about talking about the trip?” she asked.

“We can just put a pin in that until we figure something out,” he told her while standing up reaching toward his glass.

“I can clean up here,” Sabrina volunteered. “Don’t worry.”

“Are you sure?”

She repressed the urge to quip something about now being incapable of handling dishes and instead held her tongue. Only replying back with a simple nod.

Her father wished her good night although he still sounded cold. There was a mixed wave of relief and remorse washed over her. But the moment she heard the lieutenant’s bedroom door close. She couldn’t partake in it. Her feet moved briskly across the living room picking up the shopping bag with Pollen before entering the apartment’s patio.

“CosmoBug. CosmoBug,” Sabrina whispered after closing the patio door behind her. “Are you still here?”

After a few seconds, the bug descended onto the patio’s metal railing.

“Sorry for the wait,” the red haired girl apologized. “Just needed to have the opportunity for my dad to leave the room. Along with dealing with him coming home early.”

“It’s alright,” the bug reassured her. “You’re not the first person who has been in a tough spot while trying to balance identities.”

“Really?”

“Definitely, I have a few stories myself that I might tell you someday. Just not tonight.”

Sabrina turned to Pollen who flew out of the shopping bag with the hair comb.

“Sorry for not getting your cookies, Pollen. But I think it’s best not to chance getting caught again. I’ll find a way to make it up to you.”

“It’s alright You’re Highness,” she told her while giving the comb to CosmoBug. “I’ll see you next time.”

Pollen vanished after the comb was placed in the yoyo.

“I’m glad we were able to avoid another crisis,” the bug told her.

“Definitely,” the red haired girl’s eyes shifted guiltily while thinking about the exchange between her and her father.

“Is everything alright?”

“Oh yeah…just a little tired. It’s been a long night.”

“Of course, I shouldn’t keep you up,” CosmoBug ascended into the air. “Thanks for everything. Good night.”

Sabrina waved goodbye before gaining a thought leading her to peeking into her shopping bag. With that she went back into the apartment to clean up. It wasn’t hard to fall asleep after all that Sabrina had been through. After tying some loose ends and doing her night routine she drifted off to sleep. Simply slipping from one day into another. This led her to wake up around ten o’ clock when her phone alarm went off.

She ran into her dad in passing seeing him already dressed before he went to the kitchen. After showering and getting dressed the red haired girl stood in her room, in front of a silver full length mirror clasping a yellow plastic flower statement necklace around her neck. The finishing touch for this outfit. Today her outfit consisted of a gray scooped neck top with yellow horizontal stripes and three-fourths sleeves. A pair of black stud earrings. Dark blue flared denim shorts over a pair of solid black tights and yellow ankle strap flats.

Her room’s walls were painted a bright lilac color. Meanwhile the furniture was a bright white which included a wooden dresser with silver painted roses painted across the drawers. A full size bed with a white wooden bed frame and silver floral patterned white bed sheets. It was covered with a lilac floral comforter and had several purple throw pillows lined against the bed’s headboard. Beside the bed was a white nightstand with silver painted roses that had her cell phone on it, charging. A white ottoman laid in front of the bed. Against the wall was a white wooden desk with a silver laptop on top a lilac desk mat with matching pencil holder, magazine holder, a black desk lamp, circular container divided into sections that held thumb tacks, paper clips and binder clips.

Underneath the desk was a lilac file holder placed next to a black office chair. Streams of sunlight came from the window over the desk. Attached to the wall was a picture bulletin board, nestled in the ribbons were various photos. A few were her and Chloé dressed up in their Ladybug and Chat Noir costumes. Others were scattered across the board from Marinette’s slumber party that was given upon request.

There was one picture with the girls which included Marinette, Alya, Rose, Alix, Mylène, Juleka, Kagami and herself wearing the homemade beauty masks that Mylène had brought for the party. Another was the girls including Sabrina covered with leftover confetti from a playful fight while cleaning up. Along with a photo of her and Juleka that was taken after they had amended fences. One of the walls of the bedroom made a closet with an accordion style door painted with silver roses. Attached to the ceiling overhead was a white ceiling fan. Sabrina couldn’t help herself but hum after adjusting her necklace. She could hear her father playing music in the kitchen, mostly fun bright retro poppy beats, often being the songs he grew up with.

This usually was a good sign as even in the most sour mood she noticed his mood would become a little sweeter when interacting with good old fashioned nostalgia.

After hearing a few pings from her phone. She walked over to her nightstand still humming a few bars of the pop beat that was currently playing as she had heard it so many times before. The red haired girl picked up her phone seeing the phone was filled with text notifications from the group chat that she recently joined with the girls from the sleepover. It was a stream of texts from the girls, confirming the group’s plans which included her going downtown to check out the heroes’ pop-up store. It was supposed to sell all kinds of merchandise based on Paris’ heroes such as Ladybug, Chat Noir, Rena Rouge and Carapace to name a few.

On Thursday, Marinette invited her to join her and others figuring that it might give them some ideas for Sabrina’s hero cosplays. The red haired girl agreed, figuring to take things slow, deciding not to fall headfirst in these new friendships after her experience with Chloé. But she assumed that spending another Saturday with them wouldn’t hurt.

She texted to the chat: Can’t wait, I’ll see y’all at 12:30.

But first she needed to make amends.

As the smell of bacon wafted into her bedroom Sabrina opened up her closet pulling out a blue gift bag and went toward the door to grab her purse off the door hook and her phone in it. Before walking out of the door and entering the living room to see her dad in the kitchen finishing up frying a pan of bacon at the stove. Instead of his work uniform, the lieutenant wore a light blue polo shirt, dark blue jeans, blue baseball cap and brown shoes. On one side of the counter was his phone attached to a mini speaker still playing music she heard from her bedroom. While the other side near the stove was multiple plates of food. There were pancakes, fried eggs, toasted baguette slices, a bowl of fruit salad that consisted of blueberries, strawberries, grapes and kiwi. Along a small bowl of raspberries and a jar of orange marmalade.

“Good morning,” she called out to him.

“Hi,” he greeted her while using a pair of tongs, picking up the slices of bacon and putting them on the plate with a paper towel. “I’m guessing the bacon drew you out?”

“Not exactly, but I’m willing to take two slices if you are offering,” she told him. “Once again I wanted to say that I’m sorry for snapping at you last night.”

“It’s alright,” her father put the plate down along with the other food. “But again, I’m assuming that because you didn’t mean it.”

“Of course not,” she held up the blue gift bag in her hand. “But with everything that happened I never had gotten the chance to give you this.”

“A gift? But Father’s Day was a few weeks ago.”

“Consider it as a bonus gift. I wrapped it after you went to bed.”

The lieutenant took the gift bag and pulled out copper red wind chimes with a bamboo top plate, clapper and sail.

“Wind Chimes?” he asked.

“Yeah, I saw it at the craft store yesterday when I was picking my fabric,” she explained. “I figured that you can put it on the hook on the patio since the planter got broken. This way if a pigeon knocks it off you can just pick it up and put it back on. So no more worries about cracked pots. I would’ve given you last night but…actually I guess right now is the right time.”

Her father smiled. “Well thank you. I think that’s a great compromise for that hook out there. Can’t believe I didn’t think about that before.”

“I’m happy to help.”

“I’m glad to see that,” he put the wind chimes back in the bag. “Come on, the last thing that we want to have is all this food to get cold.”

“Definitely, I was planning to get some cereal but that definitely went out of the window the moment I saw those pancakes.”

“I figured. I even got you some raspberries since I know you like to put on your pancakes. So get a plate since the bacon is done.”

Sabrina did not hesitate to follow instructions as she went to the cabinet next to the fridge to get a plate before grabbing a knife and fork from the drawer. A moment later the red haired girl sat at the island with a plate of short stack of pancakes topped with raspberries and syrup, two slices of bacon and a serving of fruit salad. Along with a glass of orange juice. She scooped a forkful of pancakes into her mouth, light and fluffy in the middle while the edges were crispy. Just how she liked them. It’s paired well with the sweet raspberries.

“Mmm these are great, Dad,” Sabrina told him as he sat across from her with a plate of two eggs, two slices bacon, baguette slices with orange marmalade and a mug of coffee.

“I’m glad you like it,” he started to dig into his eggs with a fork. “We definitely have leftovers for tomorrow.”

“Yeah, but I’m wondering what’s the occasion. You usually don’t make big breakfasts like this unless something special happens,” she reminded him after taking a forkful of pancakes. “The first sign was you playing those oldies on your phone. That’s usually a sign you’re in a good mood.”

“Oldies? These songs aren’t old. A lot of them came out in 19-“ her father started.

Sabrina gave him an all knowing look.

“They’re classics,” he finished. “Besides, you didn’t mind listening to them when you were younger.”

“I still don’t mind them. I’m just wondering what the occasion is?”

“Like you really don’t know.”

“Actually I don’t. What? Was there some good news that you didn’t get a chance to tell me?”

The lieutenant’s face flashed with concern while she took a sip of orange juice. “It’s Daddy-Daughter Day.”

The red haired girl’s face twisted with panic while resisting the urge to spit out the orange juice onto her food. This led to a coughing fit after swallowing the juice.

“Are you okay?” her father looked like he was ready to jump out of his seat to perform the Heimlich.

“Yeah,” she put down the glass after finishing coughing. “Just went down the wrong pipe.”

Sabrina played with the ends of her hair to suppress her panic, wondering how in the world did she forget this important day. Due to her father’s work schedule ever since she was little the two of them had scheduled special outings for just the two of them. It was coined as Daddy-Daughter Day being one of the main reasons of its existence was to bond. Different from the late night chat that was more sporadic and less rigid. Often they would try out a new activity, see a movie or try a restaurant that they haven’t tried before. Those also were the days that Sabrina would learn a lot such as how to ride a bike, swim, ice skating, rollerblading, dance and even how to play football.

The lieutenant has even hinted once she gets old enough driving lessons could be on the table. No matter what they did each day would end with them going to Swirls Ice Cream Shoppe, a local ice cream place. For the day to come to a close on a sweet note. Sabrina loved those days to the point it being one of the few times that she stayed firm with Chloé. Many times she had tried to persuade her to skip it. Eventually the mayor’s daughter relented, telling her just to put at least two weeks of advance notice.

“Is everything alright?” he asked her.

The red haired girl nodded. “Of course, why do you ask?”

“You seemed surprised. But I don’t know why since we agreed on plans to go to Morrison’s Mini Golf Course in early May. I even reminded you on Thursday night.”

Sabrina thought back to Thursday night when she was searching the bookshelf for her grandmother’s snickerdoodle recipe. Her father came home and she remembered chatting with him. Admittedly she was only half listening due to the pursuit of the recipe. Along with being exhausted from fighting alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir against an akuma before coming home and after visiting Marinette to discuss the final details before starting her fox miraculous cosplay.

“Not that I needed to,” her father smiled. “You’re always the one that reminds me.”

“Yeah,” the red haired girl nibbled on a piece of bacon. “That’s usually the case isn’t it?”

“You didn’t forget, right?” disappointment was evident in his eyes.

“Uhh…” Sabrina felt unsure how to answer. Already it felt like she was still on thin ice due to last night. But at the same time she did not want to skip the pop-up store with the girls. There had to be a way to do both. “Of course not, I was just messing with you. How could I forget one of the most special days of the year.”

“Ain’t the truth,” the lieutenant took a sip from his coffee mug. “That’s one of the things that I like about it. No matter what changes in our lives that is one thing that will always stick. Even through all the tough times.”

The red haired girl pushed her fork across her plate. “Well I’m sure there’s a lot around the corner.”

“Huh?”

“Um there’s something I want to ask you. It’s just one small thing.”

“Of course, but we shouldn’t take long to finish breakfast. We don’t want to get to the golf course when it’s too packed.”

“I’m wondering if it is possible that we can push back Daddy-Daughter Day for a few hours.”

“Push it back, why?”

“Well there’s this superhero pop-up store downtown that was invited to go check with Marinette and some of the other girls who were in my class. This might help me get some more ideas for fox miraculous cosplay. Along with other ones I might want to do in the future. We were supposed to meet at twelve thirty.”

The lieutenant looked at the living room that already read eleven fifteen. “That’s so soon. Why didn’t you say something before?”

“It’s a recent invite,” she sheepishly explained.

“Couldn’t you reschedule for tomorrow? Or next weekend?”

“Tomorrow I’m going to be busy working on my cosplay, remember? Next weekend won’t work either since it’s a pop-up store so it’s only here for a limited time. By next weekend there will probably be something else in its place.”

“It sounds like this is the only day to do it.”

“Pretty much it is. So just want to ask can I go? It will be only a few hours and I can come back to do our original plans.”

“Where is it?”

“The address is on my phone,” she reached in her purse, grabbing it. Then handed it over to him after pulling up the details. “Marinette texted me about it.”

“It’s not as far as I thought,” her father said while reading the screen. “You would have to take the metro…actually this appears to be a few blocks away from the golf course.”

“See, nothing to worry about,” Sabrina grinned before scooping up after a forkful of pancakes. “You’re familiar with the area anyway.”

“So that just means I should tag along with you.”

“Wait what?”

“It makes the most sense since the golf course is not that far away. So after you’re done with shopping we can go and play golf. This way everyone wins.”

Everyone? Sabrina could imagine the awkward encounter if she brought her dad. The invite was offered to her and did not include a plus one. She would be the only one with a chaperone making her stand out and not in a good way.

“Uh Dad, that’s not necessary,” Sabrina told him. “I figured that I could go alone and spend time with my friends.”

“But that means you would practically be running back and forth across the city.”

“It’s really just two trips on the metro. Besides you’re off today this can be your chance to have some time to yourself. Didn’t Aunt Claire send some seed packets to do some planting on the patio?”

“She had a few months ago. I still haven’t gotten around planting all of them.”

“This is the right time; it’s summer and sunny. I’m sure that the plants on the patio also need to be watered. You don’t want them to be dehydrated. Hang up the wind chimes. Maybe soak up the sun, whip out the blender and take the leftover fruit salad to make a smoothie. Dig through granny recipes to make her lemon pound cake. All things that can be done here instead of going to that pop-up.”

“Don’t you think you’re laying it on kinda thick here?”

“Of course not, I am just expressing my feelings that one of the most hard working people in the city deserves some much needed downtime. Instead of being a chaperone.”

“Wow, I really need to teach you the art of subtlety,” he raised an eyebrow. “You really want to go to this store don’t you?”

Sabrina gave him a pleading look. “Yeah, it was nice that I was even invited to go. It feels great that I’m starting to have more friends. Otherwise, there would be no one to hang out with this summer. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do both things today. I just need to be allowed to leave for a few hours.”

Her father looked a bit hesitant as well as conflicted. “Alright, you can go by yourself. But only if you follow a few ground rules.”

“Of course, anything.”

“Rule number one is that I want you back by four. Morrison’s closes around ten so even with this deviation from our original plan we can still get time on the course. Rule number two is that you keep your phone on and reply to any calls or texts I sent you soon as possible.”

“Isn’t that a given?”

“Well considering the bad habit that you’ve been developing lately. I think it’s best to say the quiet part out loud. Rule number three, if there is any reason that you will be late. Either you miscalculated the time getting back or the metro broke down. Something like that, either call or text me to let me know. Since it’s not a secret that I worry about you.”

“Okay, it’s a deal. Those few hours will slip by so fast you won’t notice that I’m gone. After that we can still go to Morrison’s and I can beat you at mini golf.”

“Beat me? Did you forget, I’m the one who taught you how to play in the first place.”

“True, but wouldn’t it be a joyous day for the student to suppress the master? Especially since I’m now old enough for you to play for real,” she smirked before taking a few bites of her fruit salad. “Luckily, I have a few minutes to finish breakfast before going to the pop-up and golfing.”

After finishing the last bit of her pancakes and bacon. She had a little more of her fruit salad left when her father said.

“Well, since you got a few minutes, how about we pick back up the discussion from last night?”

Sabrina suddenly looked at the clock. “Oh did I say a few minutes? I meant a few seconds. Don’t want to be late.”

She stood up picking up her purse, grabbed her phone and put her plate in the sink. Before putting her bag on across her shoulder and slid her phone into her pocket.

“Bye Dad,” the red haired girl walked over, wrapping her arms around her father, giving him a hug. “I’ll be back soon.”

“Have a good time,” he hugged her back. “Remember to be back by four.”

“I will, I promise,” she told him.

Seconds later, she left the apartment blissfully unaware of the future events that will transpire today. Embracing the calm before the inevitable storm.

End Of Part II.

Thanks for reading. 😊

Uh-oh it’s clear the cracks are starting to form on this father-daughter relationship. Will it be patched in time or will the cracks get bigger before getting better? Is Daddy-Daughter day going to be in vain? Find out in part three of Most Wanted. I hope everyone liked this long awaited part including the things that I added to Roger’s character. As we really don’t know much about Roger but I can’t blame the show for that.

His role is supposed to be a recurring character who's supposed to show up once in a while. It makes sense since he’s not as developed compared to characters like Marinette, Adrien and Alya for example. But he will get some development here. So stay tuned for those later chapters.

The song this week is “Running up that hill” by Kate Bush. Considering it as foreshadowing for what coming up in future chapters.

If you made it this far, I would really appreciate it.

See you next time. 👋

This is story is also available on Wattpad.

#miraculous ladybug #ml fanfic #miraculous sabrina #bee!sabrina #sabrina raincomprix #sabrina redemption #miraculous fanfic #roger raincomprix

[becauseimanicequeen]

RANDOM THOUGHTS: Manner of Death ep. 1 (rewatch)

Since my rewatches may contain spoilers, I’m putting my random thoughts after the “Read More” link.

Manner of Death is the QL I’ve seen most times (after Not Me), mainly because it’s Max and Tul and because it’s a mystery (I love mysteries). Is it perfect? No. But it’s a perfect fit for me whenever I need something entertaining and visually pleasing with some fiery chemistry.

I haven’t seen it in a while (my last rewatch was in October last year, so it’s been some time), so I’m excited to dive in. Let’s go!

I’m going into this first episode expecting magic, because that’s what I know I’ll be getting. Especially in terms of chemistry.

Tul is such a beautiful human being!

This might sound morbid, however, that blood dripping down and staining those white sneakers is very visually pleasing. There’s something about the combination of red and white that always catches my eye.

Those bite marks are made by a special kind of predator: a power-hungry, middle-aged man with a dick the size of a toothpick. Wait, was it too generous to liken it to a toothpick?

Mr. Inspector M, sir. Why are you so fine?

Every time I watch this series, I always wonder what’s up with those green, giant ass bears in the background behind Bun as he’s eating with Jane.

And here is the gorgeous human being that is Max!

It only takes one second of eye contact between Max and Tul for them to ooze fiery chemistry, no matter which series they’re in. Acting as Tan and Bun is no different.

Look at Bun and Inspector M being all friendly and shit only to butt heads for most of the remainder of the series.

Inspector M is such an enigma. Look at him being nice and smiley only to have the toughest stoneface for the rest of the series (granted, it’s while working). The way he gave me whiplash the first time I saw this series… My neck is still sore.

I’m only 18 minutes into the episode and Tan and Bun are kissing. (It’s slower than Together With Me, but that one was iconic in terms of how it started.)

Shirtless Bun!

The fact that the first thing Oat thought of when he went to pick up a drunk Bun was to film said drunk. Considering Bun is Oat’s mentor/supervisor… I approve.

Shirtless Bun!

That kid being used by her grown-up sister to get Bun’s number… That’s child labor!

For someone who can’t read Thai, I’ve always wondered what it says on Bun’s shirt since he was so eager to buy and change into a new one.

And now Bun got the opportunity to collect some compromising evidence on Oat as well. Sweet revenge.

The way Bun gets shy when he meets Tan’s gaze… Tan, though, he’s like: ”Let’s get married and raise a cactus together.” (Not necessarily in that order. Sometimes cactuses come before marriage.)

Poor Oat. But I must say that he’s adorable in that pink dress.

The way Tan is asking Bun about drinking and memory loss to figure out if Bun remembers that night at the club…

The way Tan is staring at Bun’s lips…

Bun is already whipped considering he’s lying in bed thinking about the kiss. And who can blame him?

If statistics say that 80% of murders are committed by people who are close to the victim and that it’s especially lovers, what about family members?

The way Bun abandoned Oat not just once but twice makes me laugh every time.

This was a great first episode with fiery chemistry between Tan and Bun (which I love), introducing the characters, and setting up the plot. Watching this again, I realized how much I’ve missed watching Max and Tul and this story. I’m glad I decided to rewatch it again.

#manner of death #thai ql #thai bl #thai series #my shit #iq random thoughts

[artsysurvivor]

Drowning Facts

For... no particular reason. (Lying).

Let's start with this: the average amount someone can hold their breath is around 30 seconds to 2 minutes. (Although one could train to hold their breath for longer). After that, the body automatically tries to breath normally.

Within 3 minutes of not breathing, most people pass out.

In drowning incidences, one of the obvious outcomes is death. However, after they are unconscious it doesn't necessarily mean they are dead yet. As said before, the body automatically tries to breath again--so, if one is taken out of the water during that time, they should be fine.

Well... aside from troubles with remembering things, poor motor coordination, and general poor judgement. They could also have swollen abdomens and vomiting, blueish skin, fast or slow heartbeat, weak pulse, coughing, increased breathing, and the obvious shortness of breath. Chest pain is also an occurrence, as well as lethargy and change of skin color. (Lethargy in the medical field is pathological sleepiness/drowsiness).

Another symptom, if the person was drowning for longer than 15 minutes, is pink froth that may come out of the victim's mouth or nose as a result of "hemolysis," which is a destruction of red blood cells. Less then 15 minutes the froth will be closer to white; longer than 15 minutes, around the 50 minute mark, the froth is more brown in color.

If the victim was drowning for more than 5 minutes, a coma/a death is possible due to neurons in the brain dying.

Also, just to be clear, dry drowning is technically a thing, but it has a lot of misconceptions.

Mainly, lungs after drowning sometimes don't have water in them, which causes this confusion–but what really happens is a process called "laryngeal spasm." This is when the lungs close up to not let excess water in. So when someone is drowning, it's less the overflow of water in the lungs and more of lack of oxygen to the brain.

Relatedly, secondary drowning is the less accurate term of secondary injury. This happens when the laryngeal spasm doesn't happen in time, allowing water to get into the victim's lungs. Too much of that can cause breathing problems and lung damage 6 to 12 hours later.

One example of a condition that this could cause is called pulmonary edema. It includes excess fluids in lungs and swelling.

Symptoms of drowning show up either immediately after or up to 24 hours later depending on which symptom one is talking about. For this reason, after someone nearly drowns it is vitally important they get a doctor to check up on them.

[Sources: Santa Maria Law, DRUGS, ALBERTA, PH.D, Unity Point, Cleveland Clinic]

#drowning facts #“(Lying)” I'll just link this post for the fandom related one !! #PSA #secondary drowning #dry drowning #important to note #I think anyway #is longgg #near death tw #drowning mentions

[uncloseted]

to your last anon: you might want to not take things out of context. also if the genders where reverted then the women would be an abuser. mutual abuse is just a lie told so people can put blame on victims.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CdvAd1rgFz0/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

johnny depp is more powerful than her, richer, bigger, an alcoholic, drug addicted who defended his friends from pedophilia and sexual assualt and also went out of his way who defend roman polanski. is this the men you all wanna defend????

in a few years society will be saying they did this woman wrong and ill have to sit and laugh cuz how can people not look at this trial and see how ridiculous and cruel it is.

In my understanding, the "there's no such thing as mutual abuse" argument is mainly one of semantics; they're defining abuse as "abusive and coercive behaviors used to maintain power and control over an intimate partner." It is rare for both partners to be using abusive tactics to angle for power and control over the other. But it does happen, and I think to say that it doesn't fails to account for how complicated and varied the human experience can be. Plus, that's how the couple's own marriage counselor characterized their relationship. In a less pedantic sense, relationships that are mutually toxic or where both partners engage in physical violence do happen for reasons other than power/control. This is called "situational couple violence" and it can happen for a number of reasons, including poor impulse control, poor conflict resolution skills, and anger issues, especially when drugs or alcohol are at play. It's important to recognize that self-defense and violent resistance are not mutual abuse, and that survivors of abuse have done nothing to cause or deserve the abuse. And its important to recognize that "mutual abuse" is often used to blame the victim instead of being a reality of their situation. But not every example of mutual violence is as a result of self-defense or violent resistance, and it's important to recognize that those are different situations.

As I've been saying, ultimately, we have no idea what happened in this relationship. Heard could be totally innocent. Depp could be totally innocent. I think either of those are unlikely, but they're possible. Both of them could have played a part in what happened. Both of them have a documented history of violence towards other people, so it wouldn't surprise me if both of them were violent in their relationship with one another. Heard does make a compelling argument that she's the victim in that clip you linked. But Depp makes compelling arguments at other points during the trial as well. They're both trying to paint a narrative about what happened for their own purposes, and we can't take what either of them say at face value.

The ways that interpersonal dynamics work are complicated; a person's physical size, wealth, popularity, or other characteristics don't necessarily protect them from being a victim. I very much think that Depp was violent and abusive towards Heard, and I don't think we should be protecting him. But I also think this black and white approach to the situation is dangerous. There doesn't necessarily have to be a victim and a perpetrator, and the idea that there does is one of the reasons victims need to seem perfect in order to be taken seriously.

But regardless of what happened, the jury (in my opinion) made a wrong call. This case wasn't really about whether Depp or Heard was the abuser, and that shouldn't be what the public conversation is about, either. And Heard definitely deserves an apology for the way everyone has treated her, regardless of what she's done or not done. But this verdict is going to have serious consequences for future abuse trials and the way people view accusations of abuse in general, and that's what I think we should be focused on and concerned about now.

[saetoru]

Hey, I think I sent in ask by accident. It said have you seen lady parts, but there was more I was going to say, apologies! This is what I meant to say.

I am not Muslim so I really hope I am not overstepping but about your post about wanting representation for hijabi women that isn’t questioning her faith, We Are Lady Parts is a British about an all Muslim punk rock band - two of the members are hijabi and the band manager wears a niqab but I don’t think their actors do.

This is a quote from the creator, Nida Manzoor “I was slightly frustrated with the kinds of representation I've been seeing, especially with Muslim women as being oppressed, as being these victims, and I wanted to show them like I knew them, with all the joy and warmth and silliness”

hello !! it’s ok ur not overstepping !! but i have not seen this—although if you say it’s good representation i will look into it bc i rly would like to see something with rep that doesn’t make me want to fold into myself 🥲 so ty for telling me ab it <3 i definitely agree w the creator on the fact that muslim women are often portrayed as oppressed or even just seen that way outside of media rep too and it’s simply not the case—which even if there are clear instances where you see oppressed women who are muslim, it’s always a result of culture not religion. culture can be very toxic, i know mine is, and a lot of the views ppl have are often misogynistic but it has nothing to do with religion. a lot of the misconceptions ppl have ab islam are almost always a culture vs religion thing that they didn’t bother to look more into. which is a bit frustrating bc if u just look into islam a bit, as in read the guidelines and the values—doesn’t matter if you practice or not—you’ll see it gives women a ton of rights. a lot of it also doesn’t have to necessarily do with the cultures of muslim ppl specifically—some of it also just what western culture and the media has adopted. like for example people always ask me if i “was free to make the decision” would i show my skin instead of dress modestly. which is honestly a rather rude way of asking if i wish i could dress less modestly from time to time because it is my choice to dress this way, and women’s rights are not directly correlated with how much skin they show. a women who does not show her skin is not automatically oppressed—but in a way social media conditions a lot of ppl to think that way bc feminism has more or less been heavily pushed as this concept of wearing clothes as revealing as u like bc it’s ur body. which is true, you are well within ur rights to dress revealing if that’s ur choice—but the opposite also holds true where wearing clothes as modest as u like is ur choice as a woman and choosing not to show skin is not a sign of oppression

anywayyyyy ramble aside bc i could go on about this all day fjsjfjshf at the end of the day it stems mainly from like white savior complexes where white ppl just feel the need to a) not understand minorities and their values and traditions but also b) feel the need to erase them and portray them as wrong in order to “save” them. like 9 times out of 10 the muslim girl is written to take off her hijab and the white people are the ones that influenced her to do that and it makes her “happier.” i speak for myself and for a LOT of other hijabis when i say the best thing a white person could do is stop making a scarf on someone’s head seem like an abnormal concept and leave them alone—that’s the realest way they’ll be “happier” bc usually we just mind our business until they come along. i promise we don’t sit and stare longingly at their hair like “if only :(“ 😭

#asks!

[volixia669]

Y’know what’s funny. When I was a teenager, I thought Guillermo Del Toro created horror movies, mainly because I walked in on my parents watching Pan’s Labyrinth and the pale man scared the shit out of me. Now that I’m older, I understand so much better. Guillermo Del Toro uses the horror aesthetic to make commentary on the world. Pan’s Labyrinth is not horror. Like many people have said, it’s a fairy tale. Not the disney-fied ones either. No, this is the stories told for both adult entertainment, and to warn young children. On the magical side, you have the Pale Man, representation of institutions, and if you pay attention to the paintings, you can tell the pale man was once human. A greedy businessman gobbling up children. Yet. The more ‘realistic’ world is still a fairy tale in its way. The little girl ran from the fascist Captain, and while she may have died, her brother survived and will never know the fascist’s name. That in itself is its own fairy tale. And if you’ll notice, the magical world is not necessarily better than the realistic one. They both have their horrors. Crimson Peak, advertised as a horror movie and if I recall correctly did use some color themes often found in Italian horror. But it wasn’t a horror movie. It’s more in the Gothic genre. Gothic fiction tends to be about a character’s journey of self discovery. Which sounds happy and uplifting, until you realize that often the self discovery is ‘oh, I am actually a horrible person and these are my consequences for being a horrible person.’ THere is also a decent amount of gothic fiction where it’s another character discovering someone is actually a horrible person, or the horrible person is recounting their journey of self discovery before jumping off a cliff or something. (19th century fiction had a tendency to use gossiping about other people for hours as a narrative device.) There’s also various sub-genres of Gothic which is how you get Southern Gothic (Think The Awakening) vs. Victorian Gothic (Picture of Dorian Gray). BUT WHAT DOES THAT INFO DUMP ABOUT GOTHIC LITERATURE HAVE TO DO WITH GUILLERMO DEL TORO ASKED NO ONE? Well No One. The Gothic movie Crimson Peak may have been advertised to show the skeleton ghosts as the monsters, but the real monster was the sister all along. From the very beginning, the victims are framed as monsters. It’s not until Edith listens to the victims, that she realizes who the murderer is. It is also through Edith that Thomas goes on his little ‘oh fuck I am actually a horrible person.’ Lucille has her own...But Guillermo del Toro shows us visually how she and Thomas received very different realizations as that.  In short? Using the Gothic Horror aesthetic, he shows us how society views victims. And then there’s Shape of Water. Admittedly haven’t seen that one yet, but, the meaning is clear. The monster is not the fishman. The monster is the government agent, keeping both Eliza and the fishman captive. The monster is the government that does not see this disabled woman, the black woman, or the fishman, as human. And what I love about Shape of Water? It has the appearance of a 1950s/1960s monster flick. The fishman could have been taken from many of those. And often in those movies, the chick is saved by the government agent, who kills the creature to keep the population safe. Incidentally, often the monsters in those films represented a marginalized group. So Shape of Water spins that around. And asks, but what about the creature’s story? What about all the people the creature represents?

TL:DR: Pan’s Labyrinth uses Fairy Tale horror to show us facism=bad, as well as Greedy White Men in power=bad. Crimson Peak uses Gothic Horror to show us how society views victims. Shape of Water uses 1950s monster horror to show us how society views those who don’t ‘fit’. Guillermo Del Toro’s movies are not horror*, but use a horror aesthetic to send powerful messages. *(Unless you’re a facist white man, or a greedy person in power. Then I suppose it would be horror. Also if you are these things, get off my blog)

#guillermo del toro #crimson peak #pan's labyrinth #shape of water #media analysis #i didn't include pacific rim or the hellboy movies in this posts just because i need to rewatch those for any messaging #it's been a hot minute and since they're more summer blockbusters than meaningful art piece any deeper meaning is actually gonna be deeper #wouldn't be surprised if there is messaging or a question being asked in those movies #you just don't have 'well obviously the usage of colour here is intentional and means blah blah blah' #i say blah blah blah but THERE IS A LOT OF INTENTIONAL COLOUR USAGE IN THE MOVIE WHERE COLOUR IS LITERALLY IN THE TITLE ALMOST LIKE COLOUR I #S IMPORTANT #this isn't even DIFFICULT media analysis #listen if you paid attention in English class and can analyze of mice and men or the great gatsby you can understand a del Toro film #you'll need a bit more knowledge about types of media and visual metaphors but overall? #he doesn't make it difficult to grasp and i'm pretty sure that's ALSO intentional

[quazartranslates]

Welcome to the Nightmare Game II - CH36

**This is an edited machine translation. For more information, please [click here]**

[<<< Previous Chapter | Table of Contents | Next Chapter >>>]

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Chapter 36: Star Death Reality Show (XIX) {cw: gore}

After being preached to about gods, Lara was silent and did not dare to talk to Qi Leren as they walked.

Qi Leren’s heart was still thinking about Dr. Lu and Du Yue, and at that time he was silent. After cutting off the power supply in the underground laboratory, he had returned to the laser corridor. Although the door to the corridor was open, Dr. Lu and Du Yue were gone. Outside this door was Jing Siyu's basement, where there were traces of fighting. Qi Leren guessed that someone had entered the basement whom Dr. Lu had judged to be a threat. It was not clear which side won, but both sides had left the scene, and it was indistinguishable whether they had returned to the surface or entered the underground research institute.

Earlier, he had entered the underground research institute, but Dr. Lu and Du Yue had been locked out. These two people must have been looking for ways to enter the underground research institute everywhere, and they also met Lara and the others. Later, Dr. Lu had used his talent of "treasure hunting expert" and found another ID card, so he opened the door.

It was already 11 o'clock on the fourth night. According to the amphioctopus’s parasitic tendencies, except Xue Jiahui who was killed by Qi Leren, the remaining three amphioctopuses may or may not have finished one round of parasitism. Now, the total number of amphioctopuses should be between three to six.

The larval body had no fighting power, and could even be eaten by other octopuses in a competitive state, so the enemies he needed to face at present were only three mature octopuses.

Qi Leren quietly caught a glimpse of Lara. On the way to Lara's house, he had been ready to face two octopuses at the same time, because Xue Jiahui had been infected the previous night. After one day, the octopus in her body had matured. On the third night, she should have infected one person. Qi Leren felt that Lara, who had been taking care of her, was the most suspect.

However, when he sneaked into Laura's house and overheard her and Xue Jiahui's speech, he temporarily ruled out Laura's suspicion and just killed Xue Jiahui on the spot. But if Laura wasn't parasitic, who would it be?

"Who has seen Xue Jiahui in the last day?" Qi Leren asked.

"Jing Siyu, Jing Sixue, and Francis," Lara said, her face turned white. "Do you mean..."

"Were any of them in your room between 8:00 and midnight last night?" Qi Leren asked, roughly calculating when the octopus would have become parasitic.

"...Francis. He had come many times, mainly to see me... I... I asked him to take care of Xue Jiahui..." Lara's face became pale and almost ghostly.

The two walked in the snow, and only their footsteps and breathing were left in the quiet space between heaven and earth. Lara swallowed saliva hard and asked in a hoarse voice: "Has he already..."

Qi Leren nodded his head.

The cold wind blew and froze the tears that had just flowed out of her eyes. Lara covered her face and breathed hard, and the exhaled hot air was frozen into a white mist amidst the snow and ice. She was shaking, and even a temperature-regulating suit could not warm her frozen heart at the moment.

Qi Leren was taken by Lara's emotional state, and he couldn't help feeling sorry for her. But her strength is beyond Qi Leren’s imagination. In less than a few minutes, she calmed down, and only her reddish eyes exposed her heart.

"I see, if he really becomes a monster, I... I... I will... I will," Lara resolutely said.

Qi Leren thought, and thought, and thought.

What if it was him? Could he make a decision like Lara’s?

"You don't have to make a decision now. You’ll never know your choice until that moment," Qi Leren said to Lara, as if he were talking to himself.

No one could easily make such a difficult choice. No matter how many plans there are before things happen, it’s not necessarily rationality that makes people decide. Maybe the righteous would become deserters, but the cowardly would become heroes, who knows?

In the extremely bright night, two people who didn't need additional lighting arrived at Annie's house smoothly. The lights inside were off, but Qi Leren didn't dare to take it lightly. Mark was the first person to be parasitized, and the second was Xue Jiahui. On the third day, one of the two victims was Francis and the other was Annie. Aware of the terrible amphioctopus, she had still cooperated with Mark, the parasitized person. Her position was not innocent.

Whether she was parasitized or not, breaking into Annie's house was bound to be a great risk. If the octopus in her body had matured, Qi Leren couldn't think of a good way to catch her by surprise.

"Take this, you hide. If you hear me call your name from inside, throw this into the window and then run away." Qi Leren gave Lara a hand grenade, which had been taken from the institute, and instructed her on how to use it.

Lara was uneasy: "Can you handle it?"

Qi Leren showed that kind of sage-like smile again, paving the way for his "miracle": "Don't worry, God will bless me."

Although Qi Leren's expression and tone at this time was very confident, it still couldn't completely reassure Lara. After all, she had witnessed the "Apostle of God" being hit on the back by an exploded door not long ago, which seriously damaged his credibility. Laura looked at Qi Leren full of worries, hoping that the injury wouldn’t affect his combat effectiveness.

Qi Leren was stressed by Lara's gaze, so he had to jolt himself into taking action. He turned to look for the window he had used to sneak into Annie's house last time. The last time, they had a hard time climbing up, but after his near-death breakthrough in the laser corridor, Qi Leren felt that he could climb in by himself without help.

Indeed, Qi Leren was as agile as a cat, climbing the notches on the outer wall, and the strength in his arms easily supported his body, pulling himself up the wall to climb to the window sill on the second floor and sneak into this quiet house.

The room was dark, and the light outside the window wasn’t enough to illuminate it. However, after the shell was broken, Qi Leren's eyesight was significantly enhanced, and he could see the environment clearly. There was no one in the room, so he quietly opened the door, holding the revolver in both hands, and walked forward against the wall.

Annie seldom left her house, but at this time she was most likely looking for the next parasitic prey. Whether she was here or not, she would surely come back.

Qi Leren quickly searched the second floor of the house. Annie wasn’t here, so he came to the first floor again and still found nothing.

Now there were only two possibilities. She was out foraging, or she was in the basement.

But if he wanted to enter the basement, it was too dangerous to crawl down the pipe. He didn't forget how he had ambushed Annie when she had climbed down the pipe before.

Qi Leren was caught in a dilemma. Although waiting could give him an answer, he didn't have much time to delay here. He would continue to look for Dr. Lu and Du Yue.

Let's go to the attic, Qi Leren thought. He found the hidden ladder on the second floor’s ceiling and entered the attic.

That special floor panel in the attic was there, just lift it up...

With a "click" sound, the floor was suddenly pushed and lifted from the inside. Annie suddenly was crouched there. Qi Leren’s mind raced—should he throw a bomb immediately or test the waters first?

Panic broke out in two very different creatures at the same time. Annie screamed, and Qi Leren dove to the ground, but didn’t forget to pull out his gun and pull the trigger to shoot—Bang! Bang!

Three consecutive shots hit the nearby target. Annie's beautiful head had been blown into a broken watermelon. Without the command of her brain, she failed to support her body. She immediately fell into the pipe and fell back down to the basement. However, Qi Leren knew that it was not dead, its brain was only broken. For it, this is just like a hermit crab that has lost its temporary residence. Its vitality was tenacious enough and its fighting capacity was amazing.

Qi Leren almost held his breath. He took out a grenade and threw it into the pipe, and then ran away, squatting in the corner with his head in his hands.

After an earth-shattering noise, the whole house shook a few times, and then everything was silent again.

You must be dead now, right? Qi Leren guessed that this hand grenade should be enough to kill the octopus. If Mark was down there, it would be a perfect double kill.

Qi Leren waited on it for ten minutes before returning to the pipe’s opening that led to the basement, looking down. It was dark and silent below. He hesitated for a moment, making sure he didn't have the tracking camera on, then he took out a long rope from the item bar and tied it, and stepped on the iron ladder that had become fragile after the explosion.

It was dark in the basement, and in this unlit environment, you couldn't see anything without turning on the lights. Qi Leren smelled the hot and smoky air after the explosion, and reached out and touched the handgun in his pocket…

The Rain-Day Laundry skill hadn’t cooled down after the laser corridor, and it was impossible for it to give him an early warning. But in this deep-sea darkness, Qi Leren's intuition screamed in his mind, danger! Danger! Danger!

At this moment, the reaction forced on him by Chen Baiqi torture made Qi Leren fall to the ground, and something heavy flew over his head and slammed against the wall.

It wasn’t dead yet! Qi Leren’s mind screamed. S/L hadn't cooled down yet. In this case, he had only one life!

Darkness was obviously not an obstacle to the amphioctopus. It started to attack relentlessly in the darkness. Even if his intuition was sensitive again, being passive right now would make him lose. Qi Leren turned on his flashlight and threw it out. Only by this light did he see around.

Needless to say, the octopus that had broken free from its human shell was waving its tentacles freely, grabbing up the rubble on the ground and throwing it at Qi Leren. It didn't rush up to attack because it was kind, but because after the explosion, a huge rock was pressing down more than half of its body, making it unable to move.

Looking at the immobile enemy in front of him, Qi Leren was greatly relieved. He got up from the ground and easily avoided the stones it threw. After the light came on, its crazy attack with only two tentacles seemed to be like a child’s unreasonable protest.

It seems that my luck is really good this time, Qi Leren thought, aiming the revolver at the monster that had once lived in Annie's body, and he fired three shots. The monster was dying, and dark brown mucus flowed all over the floor, but its vitality was still tenacious, almost like an immortal monster.

When the bullet chamber was empty, Qi Leren had to stop and load the revolver while walking around and dodging the stones thrown at him. He even had the leisure to think about where Mark had gone.

Did it go out to find a new host? Originally, he had thought that Mark would continue to dig out the stones here and aim to quickly clear the passage so it could enter the underground research institute.

.....So this was already done.

Qi Leren stepped forward, circumvented the obstacles, and looked deep into the basement. The channel that had been blocked by collapsed stones had been pried open, revealing a hole more than one meter wide. Qi Leren was frightened, and he suddenly understood why He Yi hadn’t turned off the power in time when he left the laser corridor—because he had met a difficult opponent.

And at this moment, the opponent was standing at the end of the hole, holding a single rocket launcher powerful enough to blow the basement to ruins!

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[dennyvong]

Blog Post #6 Due 10/7

Q1: How are racist acts still happening today and what are some examples?

Racist acts happen everywhere, right in front of our faces literally or hidden. Racist acts seem to be everywhere because, although we have made movements to spread awareness and try to stop it. It seems as though we will never escape the acts of racisms completely, there will always be someone or somewhere inciting these racial groups or whatever it may be. For example, in the Oscars, they mainly award a white cast of actors for an excellent display of their works but where are all the POCs whom are famous and performed extremely well? There is also that incident Daniels talks about where A former Apple employee whom was asking about African American English speech for Siri, was told that Apple are for the premium market but this event happen one year after Dr. Dre sold his headphones company to Apple. The rundown of all this is that it was ironic how they devalued and valued Blackness (Daniels 9) No matter where it may be racisms seem to find you whether you want it to or not. While you are taking a leisurely stroll to the park, you may see a POCs pulled over and being question by a policeman, on online you may see racial remarks on the media. 

Q2: How are racisms showed through the internet?

On the internet you can find anything, unfortunately one of those thing are racisms. Noble states “ A second Pew report written in 2012, pronounced Asian America’s most educated and successful minority (Pew Research Center, 2012). Once again, scholars contested Pew’s definition of “Asian” as Chinese, Filipino, Indian. Vietnamese, Korean m or Japanese, noting that while those communities do make up 85 percent of Asian Americans, they don’t include those most at risk such as  Cambodians or Laotians.” This points out that they do not count all Asians as Asians and left out the bit that they deemed not necessary for their report. They also purposely chose not to address the other percent that was doing poorly and needed to be addressed. 

Q3: How does being ignorant of these racisms taking place equally as not caring about the situation?

This shows complete ignorance to a situation happening in the past and even now. Racisms are here and now, to feign ignorance with phrases such as “I do not see color” not only do they show they do not care, they also are not necessarily against it. To whom are ignorant of these racisms, they are almost like bystanders who watch the bully racially target their next victim with slurs or racial remarks who do not either help or may even be the bully themselves. These people also show that they display no sympathy to the POCs by thinking it is common for people to make they uncomfortable remarks as if normal and brush it to the side. These people also choose to not noticed the unbalance in social class the POCs are placed in while being in the high class of society. This is how our society came to be with it’s racial problems. Those born with privileges, stay rich and ignorant of problems, while the poor stay poor while trying to make changes. 

Q4: Does white supremacy online hurt the community as a whole?

White supremacy has been around for so long. White supremacy is the thought that everyone but the white man/woman are lesser beings to them. (Sort of ironic how even as I place white woman there in the text above, the hierarchy of superiority ranks from white man at the top then the white woman, and then the so call “lesser” beings. So even the white woman does not necessarily rank with the white man only when color is involve but once gender is involved it’s quite the opposite.) Not only does this hurt us offline, even online is not safe from racial views and remarks from the community.  Daniels states that “Even  so,  white  supremacy  online  is  troubling.  Consider  (1)  its  easy  access and global linkages, (2) harm it may precipitate in real life, and (3) the challenge it presents to honoring cultural values such as racial equality.” Where as in person, you may not meet a white supremacist in a everyday life, on online it is quite different. Online you may stumble upon supremacist, through a blog post, a picture remark, or anyway possible online. The fact that the limitations are almost limitless are what is scary online, hence why white supremacy does hurt  the community as a whole. White supremacist are already feared by the minority because of their past acts of violence and hate towards POCs so having them online is just as bad for the community. Through there the supremacist may gain followers or just spread unwanted/unnecessary hate/violence wherever they may lurk online. 

#csufwgst320baddies

[mybg3notebook]

Loving your analyses of Astarion's behaviour and character so far! It has really reaffirmed in my eyes just how much of a bastard he really is. (I say that fondly, of course.) Do you have any thoughts on why the general reaction on tumblr has leaned so much towards woobifying him? After looking at his actual (explicit and implicit) morals in game it seems quite odd that some people are reading him as an edgy soft boi who just needs a hug from the right person to fix him.

Hello!

Thank you very much! I really enjoy seeing chars in a deep way. It makes me change my opinion on them, sometimes. That's why I like to do these analysis, even though it's a lot of work for a person who doesn't speak English as a native.

Lol, please, I won't be offended. Astarion is a bastard in the whole sense of the word, lol.

However, I find Astarion an interesting evil (evil neutral imo) char to explore the narration of “abuser who found a greater abuser”, with all the topics I talked about in those posts. I would feel a bit disappointed if Larian suddenly changes him into a man who always had a gold heart (because for that, you need to give hints, even in EA, and none of that has been seen so far).

An example of how this is done is with Shadowheart, she is evil and she supports a lot of cruelty that Astarion does too, but we got meta-knowledge (and not so much meta when we see her heavily drunk after killing the tieflings) that gives us enough reasons to believe she has some heart in her, despite Shar and her teachings. I do not support the idea of “she is a softie”, because she is not, but she doesn't have the same level of cruelty nor revels in murder so much as Astarion does. They represent different degrees of evilness. What plays in her favour is her face, which gives the idea of more softness than she truly has; the same happens with Astarion. Lae'Zel is less cruel than Astarion in general, with more logical reasons to be so because her brainwashed culture made her to be more pragmatic than a taster of cruelty, and yet, she receives a lot of more hate in the fandom... and it is clear to me why: she is not “beautiful” in the traditional white euro-centric standard sense.

And this is my point to answer your question (remember all this is personal opinion): I think there are many reasons why people woobify Astarion (not only in tumblr, but also in Reddit or in Larian Forums, it's a big part of the EA fandom).

First and foremost, I believe it's his appearance. If he were a bugbear or a goblin, few in this fandom would give a thought about his abuse, his pain, Cazador, etc. They would focus on his “bastard” side and leave it at that (again, Lae'Zel has this treatment). I want to make clear that I'm not questioning people's taste, everyone can like whatever they want to. I'm saying that, for me, there it proof enough to sustain this idea that Astarion is woobified because he is beautiful: when you read that a lot of people in this fandom never had an interest in Larian's previous games, or isometric rpgs, or even turn-based combat games (there are some people who are giving feedback against the game being a turned-based combat one! It's the nonsense because it's basically Larian's style), but they bought bg3 because they saw Astarion, even though they knew nothing about him.... All this, clearly, shows to me that a lot of people approached this game for only one char, for only his design (a big amount of them say it explicitly), and it is not far-fetched to know that people justify more easily beautiful villains than ugly ones. We can explore a lot of examples of this in many fandoms. People can love villains because they have real complex reasons to be so (like Loghain in DAO), but they also can like whimsical villains just because they are “hot”. I feel this is Astarion's case, he is a “beautiful villain” who apparently has always been evil. His reasons for his whimsical evilness is more like “it's always been in his nature”. Unless the family part has a different role in his backstory (mirror option) and it's not a mere line for a player to play a “good aligned” Astarion when picked as Origin. I don't like to read much about it in that scene because the game still doesn't have companion Tags; those options in the mirror can be there just for the player to pick, flavoured with each origin, but not necessarily the three of them are canon. This will be seen once we have the companion tags activated as it happened in DOS2.

What we can say for sure is that Larian knew what they were doing when they picked Astarion's design; they choose a dangerous white guy with white hair and evil alignment: an archetype that catches a lot of people in many fandoms.

Part of his woobyfication process has a deep root there, in my opinion. Again, if he were a bugbear, a goblin, a githyanki, a monster-humanoid... we would not have 90% of the EA fandom collapsed with his image, or Larian focused on him to the point that after 4 patches he had new scenes, lines, corrections, and development, while Wyll is still there, sitting in the bench of “the less developed chars” (with around 2k less lines than the rest of the chars, and his personal quest bugged since the first day). Yes, I don't like the preference on one single companion when I am seeing the “future Beast” (from DOS2) in Wyll.

Second, he is a vampire. Vampires are a great element in any fantasy narrative. You know you will have a lot of fans behind a vampire char. Not by chance Vampire The Masquerade is one, if not the most important product of White Wolf, which keeps still giving them a lot of profit despite being decades old. Vampires are always a good element of personal horror, of lack of control of your own body, and also an allegory of abuse, power, and rape. This concept of “being a monster without control” that they embody helps a bit more for the woobification.

Third, people tend to mix a lot headcanon with what a character gives us as canon. We can have a long useless discussion about which is more worthy: canon or headcanon, or about why one should or should not respect canon, but putting all that discussion aside, and considering the previous two points, I see that a small part of his woobyfication comes from the fact that people love denial and self-projection instead of analysing of what they are given (and let's be honest, we know in tumblr, reddit and others social networks, people lack of reading comprehension skills, which makes analysis all about self projection without a real effort in understanding the character's perspective. It's all about the player unilateral perspective. How can you analyse a char you didn’t play with or explored in all its paths? ).

So if their beautiful character is behaving in a way they don't want to, they start considering him “random” (I read this so much that confuses me, because Astarion has clear patterns for everyone who wants to see them, like the rest of the companions. He is not random, he follows pretty well all what I listed here, that list helps you to predict what he will disapprove or approve) so they end up filling this apparent “randomness” with headcanons and self-projections. Don't get me wrong, I don't despise headcanons, I love them, I have a lot of them and create with them. But I also like honest analysis and separate what I want from what I get from a company (to correctly give them feedback, otherwise I will be giving them my headcanons).

If you don't want an aspect of a given char, and you want to deny it, it's perfectly fine. Do it, it's your entertainment, but be honest with the fandom about it, acknowledge this is a personal denial you enjoy. And mainly, don't use headcanons and self-projections to attack the rest of the chars you don't like in their own tags. We know how aggressive some people in this fandom are, and it's a bit frustrating to see aggression without the slightest effort in understanding the character they hate.

There is also something sad to say, related to self-projection, that contributes to Astarion's woobyfication too: a lot of players are survivors of abuse who connect with him from trauma, and I can understand if denying his past is a way to help them to release any kind of pain or need for vengeance against their abusers. It's a natural and totally understandable projection. The woobyfication, then, ends up in an intense self-projection where they give to the char something that they needed because their own trauma.

This is why I would like Larian to give us other survivor chars that people can project onto, whose stories are really about survivors of abuse who were not evil in the beginning. Because I feel a lot of people approached Astarion as a narration of a “victim who will become a victimiser” or as a “bad behaved victim”, instead of what I think it's shown: an abuser who found a greater abuser (and his story is about punishment of the abuser and the concept of justice in a world which has none), so trauma survivors will end up with disappointment if they think Astarion is something similar to the representation of what they experienced. Plus, vampirism is never good to use as allegories of abusers/victims because the relationship Sire/Childe is too sick and twisted. So, again, this is a mere opinion from all what I've been reading since the game came out.

I hope Larian sticks to the narration they seem to follow with Astarion: an abuser who found a greater one, and now wants to become the next Cazador, and this woobifycation doesn't change the real potential of a dark deep story that I believe they want to give us: not every char is redeemable, and sometimes evilness is capricious. We had chars like these in bg1 and bg2 after all. 

#bg3 early access - answers

[headspace-hotel]

Hi, it’s me again! About your post on sexual violence as feminism, and that ask about how it connects to TERFS: I think I have been influenced by TERF rhetoric in the past. And it was one of those things where I was like “I’m not sure that’s right but they must know more than me”. (None of the transphobia shit just the “shared girlhood” and the “all sexual workers are victims” thing. Like I didn’t believe it but it was internalized a bit? And I’m worried that’s impacted my writing a bit. 1/2

PART 2: I do tend to write about misogyny and violence and such because I want to help people and I feel like I should be an activist but as a white straight cis girl, I feel like the only issue I can comment on is women’s issues? And my influences in writing are fairly widespread (mainly that I’ve read a few Margaret Atwood books that really resonated with me) And a lot of it’s based on stuff that really angers me. Still I’m worried that I was influenced by those types of posts to write about it. And I’m unlearning it and it’s great! It’s great to know that the world isn’t as scary for women as TERFS made it seem! But I also know that without seeing those posts I probably wouldn’t have let myself write about that stuff. Is there a middle-ground between acknowledging that where I got the urge to write about this was from shitty people, but also that it’s mainly from outside sources and almost all of my commentary is my own? (It’s also not graphic because WHY WOULD YOU?) FIN

_____________

I think it’s totally cool that you write about women’s issues and handle them using your own perspective. And I don’t think there’s really a need to worry about it that the original “spark” to addressing those things came from...a shitty source? That doesn’t mean you never would have been inspired to write about feminism or women’s issues otherwise. And I think the fact that you realize where the “spark” originated means you can evaluate your own ideas in a critical way?

I think it’s not only okay but important for people to write about their own experiences as women and how their gender has impacted their lives. To (tangentially) address the thing about wanting to help people, though...I don’t think helping people through writing necessarily means activism or sharing a marginalized perspective. It can be as simple as writing a story that brings people joy. Comfort. Because, just...look *gestures at world.* We need all the joy we can get.

#feminism #terf mention #terf cw #writing

[witcherly16]

Anne With An E, A Love Letter

Spoilers ahead...

I have to start off by saying just how much I love this show. So many of the characters struggles I relate to deeply, I really can't offer it enough praise.

This show is not only fantastically true to its characters but also true to the reality of life during the 1890s. There is death and heartbreak, often from illness as there would have been at the time. There is the inconvenience of postal communication... and the lack of easy access of phones. It also plays out class and race struggle and the sexism of this time.

Season One

Season one so beautifully shows you the gift of chosen family, as a person whose mother was adopted and father's family mainly unknown apart from a deceased grandmother - I know what it means to find chosen family. What a gift it is to be connected to people not necessarily by blood but love. Anne is a troubled girl as we hear many times, she is a victim in so many ways and yet she is powerful and strong enough to not allow victimhood to dissuade her passion and love. She makes an incredible connection with Diana who becomes her best friend. In this season we also see the death of Gilbert's father, my father died a few months ago and was also very sick so with him I sympathise greatly. Death really does shake up your life in unexpected ways. Gilbert's subsequent travels overseas in the next season provide us with all new characters and social dynamics to explore.

Season two

This season feels a blur because so much happens, I watched the show in such quick succession that I struggle to remember what happens when. I do however remember the beautiful introduction into the first episode, it brings lightness and hope for Anne and all our characters. And the cinematography (chef's kiss)... This season is the one with criminal boarders, meanwhile Gilbert explores trinidad with his new friend Sebastian. This season shows us so much about life as a Black person at that time, the everyday prejudice despite being 'free'. It is certainly very topical at the moment and has great moments that display white privilege and includes crucial learning moments for the white cast when he is eventually brought back to Avonlea. This season also introduces the fiercely independent and strong Mary. Whilst the dynamic with Bash and Gilbert unfolds we have another story of discovery in Cole. This season is extremely eventful and in it Cole learns a lot about his sexuality after meeting aunt Josephine who is a lesbain and widowed by her female partner. This also introduces the idea of same sex partnership to Diana who is at first unsure but then comes to be accepting and loving. Anne and Cole's bond grows even stronger when he confides his sexuality in her. I have of recent been questioning my own sexuality, I always identified as one thing and now am unsure what the right label for me is... seeing this acceptance of Cole has given me hope for my own coming out to those I love, whenever that will be. Cole's story sets off another that had been developing througout season one, the romance between Prissy and her teacher. We learn that he is in fact gay and though he never reveals this to the cast, Prissy decides to be free, not to marry him as intended, and pursue education.

Season 3

We learn more about the previously introduced Miss Stacey, the new teacher. A huge inspiration to Anne's dream of teaching. This season is so much about self discovery and learning, much like seasons before. We meet new Indigenous characters, Ka'Kwet and her family who anne quickly befriends! Anne follows her passion of writing alongside the others for the school paper and in doing so challenges the town views on sexism and racism against the indigenous. All the while on a journey of finding her own lineage and about her parents. The final episode Marilla and Matthew find a book that was from her father to her mother, here she learns her mother was also a teacher. Interestingly I notice the book to be full of pressed flowers just like the one Anne had given to baby Delphine earlier on in the series. Gilbert's happy family found in Mary, Sebastian and Delphine is hugely disrupted. Mary falls ill and dies but before she does she is given a send off of the one thing she had always wished for, acceptance and inclusion. It is a terribly sad story but also a common one at the time. She leaves behind her baby to Sebastian and Gilbert who become a stronger family unit than ever. We begin in the end of the series to see the ups and downs of young love through Anne and Gilbert's growing and inevitable relationship. There are others in the picture but of course we know that he will be with Anne. Their story is so beautiful, and I adore that they don't sacrifice education for eachother. They get to be together even though they are far apart geographically. Their kisses in the last episode are truly beautiful and the long 3 series lead up makes it feel all the more realistic. It isnt a swept off your feet romance, it is a long and growing connection, a love that sits right under your nose.

Why it should be renewed

There are so many reasons I feel that it should be renewed, not just for love of the characters.

We have not gotten to further explore what is happening to Ka'Kwet and her family, the story hasn't been resolved.

With the kids in college it could make way for further exploration of being a woman in that time. Exploring sexism in courting etc.

Everyone wants to see Anne and Gilbert's relationship develop.

I would like to see Cole explore his sexuality more and maybe even meet someone, seeing more of the lgbtq+ circles of this time would be fascinating.

There is so much more to learn with Bash, I had expected a hint at an interracial relationship between himself and Miss Stacey. This could explore more of the prejudice of the time.

Seeing the role class plays in the Toronto medicine school with Gilbert. It would be interesting to see Gilbert learn more about high society outside of Avonlea and even him exploring the sexism in medicine.

I would like to see more class battles with Diana and her parents, to me it's inevitable she will want to marry someone below her class standing. It would be interesting to see Diana come into her own as Prissy did after her education.

Prissy, I would like to learn more about Prissy, I would like her to take over her father's business and be on a list of many other firsts for women in Avonlea.

Theres so much more I could add, there aren't enough words to express my feelings and thoughts on this show. Please do watch it and rewatch it and campaign for its return.

#renew anne with an e #anne with an e #gilbert blythe #anne shirley cuthbert #anne of green gables

[weekendwarriorblog]

BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM: Does Sacha Baron Cohen deliver the Un-PC laughs again?

Fourteen years ago, Sacha Baron Cohen was unleashed on America in his 2006 comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. In the years since, very few people thought Cohen might ever consider masking a sequel, because the movie turned his character into a household name and recognizable face across the nation. The chances of being able to pull off half of the pranks Cohen managed in that first movie seemed impossible, one of the problems with anyone trying to do any sort of successful hidden camera anything.

Granted, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Borat when I first saw it, mainly because I didn’t really get what Cohen was trying to do, which was to expose stupid Americans to slightly less stupider Americans (and the rest of the world) for laughs. Unfortunately, he did it by playing an anti-Semitic character in an effort actual anti-Semitism for the amusement of people who think anti-Semitism is something to laugh about. (Oddly, you didn’t see nearly as many Jews complaining about the movie or about last year’s Jojo Rabbit, which I had similar problems with.)

Fortunately, I actually got to listen to Cohen talking about the movie on NPR as himself after it was released, rather than doing all the in-character press the rest of the world was subjected to, and that gave me a lot clearer idea  what he was aiming for, and that made it easier to appreciate Borat, the character and movie.

Cut forward to 2020 – possibly one of the worst years in American history in at least half a century – and Cohen does deliver a sequel conveniently titled, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm … never fear, there’s a number of significantly longer alternate titles sprinkled throughout, some which may be a plot spoiler. It may not be such a surprise if you realize this year also produced a third “Bill and Ted” movie, that following Ben Stiller and Will Ferrell returning to their own popular characters, Derek Zoolander and Ron Burgudy, with mixed results. The big difference is that Cohen was able to make his movie almost entirely in secret and during a pandemic, no less.

Saying too much about the movie could in theory be deemed a spoiler, but just knowing he basic premise won’t ruin any of the surprises or laughs. Basically, things have gone very poorly for Borat Sagdiyev since the previous movie, which made an embarrassment of his country Kazakhstan. The Kazak reporter is given as chance to make up for it by returning to the United States to bring a gift to Vice President Michael Pence in order to win his country favor ala places like Russia, North Korea, etc.  What Borat doesn’t expect is that his teen daughter Tutar (Maria Bakalova) has tagged along, so he changes his plans to give her to Pence, who is rumored to be a big ladies’ man.

That’s all you really need to know, and honestly, fans of the first movie probably won’t even have to know that much or even whether I liked the movie or whether it’s better than the first movie (which I personally think it is), for them to decide whether they’re going to watch it or not. Borat’s never particularly woke humor doesn’t necessarily deviate too much from the jokes from the first movie, although they’re delivered in a world and country that is so different now than it was fourteen years ago.

Also Cohen has a new secret weapon in Maria Bakalova as his daughter Tutar, who not only keeps up with him while setting up the movie’s bigger gags, but also has many of her own solo moments to fleece those she interacts with. It’s actually surprising to see Cohen share the spotlight so freely, but there’s little question Bakalova steals many scenes as Borat’s much-maligned daughter by being just as game for anything as Cohen.

Frankly, I’m surprised Cohen could still find ANY Americans that didn’t recognize him either as Borat or other “disguised” characters, but he proves how easy it is to find idiot Americans to say and do the stupidest things. Some of the reactions he gets from some of his raciest and outright racist pranks, especially in places like Texas and Georgia, are often worth some of the biggest laughs.

There’s no question that Cohen has a lot more ammo this time with the likes of Trump, Pence and other politically incorrect individuals to poke fun at, and in American 2020, Cohen is given plenty of targets or victims or whatever you want to call them. He also has so much more taboo topics to explore, whether it’s abortion or all of the rhetoric and bull crap coming out of the White House. The key to the sequel working so much better than the original movie is that all these jokes and pranks are tied together by an actual story and solid throughline.

In my mind, this ends up being funnier than the original movie maybe because Cohen had plenty of time to analyze what worked and didn’t work, plus he brings back the character at a time when a world really needs to be able to laugh right now. In fact, I really wish I had a chance to see the movie with an audience who would probably be in the aisles laughing. Heck, I bet if Amazon sends a copy of this to Governor Cuomo or Mayor DiBlasio, they might have had the druthers to reopen NYC theaters so that New Yorkers (who really need to laugh right now) could get some laughs before the election. Still, it will be on Amazon Prime and should do very well to make Jeff Bezos even more money.

Rating: 8/10

#Borat #BoratSequel #borat subsequent moviefilm #Review #Movie #Amazon

[thepropertylovers]

What Foreigners Really Think of The U.S. Right Now

The other night, after the kiddos went to bed, we decided to watch the second Borat movie that just came out (have you seen it?). It was insane and hilarious all at the same time, but it got me wondering: what do folks who don’t live in the U.S. think of The United States of America right now? What is their perception of us?

So I decided to pose this question on Instagram and wow. Y’all did not hold back. I want to thank everyone who submitted for your candidness and honesty, even if some of these were hard to swallow. It’s important to note that just because these are their opinions of America, it doesn’t mean it is all necessarily true. Regardless, it was interesting to read everyone’s thoughts and get an outsider’s perspective.

We received hundreds of submissions and couldn’t post them all, but below, people from all over the world share what they really think of the United States at the moment.

Leadership is out of touch with reality and messing things up real bad, not just for the U.S. but also for the world. What’s worse is that half the country is being misled successfully. It just shows poorly on the country all over. -Annonymous

Your president is a disaster when it comes to foreign politics and corona. No class, no knowledge. A joke. Very scary to watch. But half of the voters are happy with it. And that is even more scary. Very difficult to understand the hate and ignorance in your society right now. -Mikkel

It’s just weird. Everything basically. I totally understand now why the U.S. is described as '“flawed democracy” in the democracy index. It’s just a crazy system which is not providing equality among people- regarding the vote especially. This system leads to the fact of the two big parties (similar in the UK basically). But democracy is about diversity in opinions and options. Not just two. -Max

The US is more divided than ever. The two parties cannot work together nor do they appear to want to. The government is no longer run by reason, facts, and policy aiming for the betterment of the entire country and or world in the long or medium run; rather it’s instant gratification for the few who benefit from nepotism. Lies and misinformation are used to build a dictatorship hiding in the form of “patriotism”. And those who could act as a check or balance focus on their own personal gain, putting their needs above those of the persons they should be representing. -Joel

I personally don’t think there is a very good atmosphere in the USA, especially right now, Trump’s administration does not protect the American people or the economy. He only cares about himself and his male-white supremacy. The worst of all is that lots of Americans think Trump is actually a good leader (idk why, honestly). But thank God that people are starting to wake up and fight about what they believe. We can see it through BLM protests, feminist movements, and so on, and the whole world is proud about those people fighting for their rights. America was once the land of dreams, but nowadays (with all that is happening) it is even scary to go there. Lots of things have to change and those changes have to start, voting and defending your rights and your beliefs are the first step. Greetings from Spain. -Antonio

The main reasons I can think of are vote suppression/gerrymandering, expensive health care wealth inequality, racism, lack of fun control… -Brian

Definitely find the hypocrisy of the Republicans so annoying, Trump still being in office, the fact that there has been no police reform or justice for Breonna Taylor, the gun laws, and the COVID numbers just to name a few. -Brian

Here in the UK it seems like CARNAGE over there..don’t get me wrong, it’s wild here too but Trump is insane and it’s really odd seeing so many Americans supporting him. -Dan

Really worried about the fact that you might go for 4 more years with Trump and the fact that he’ll for sure contest the results if he loses. Add to this, all the racial violence and in particular the way some policemen act without being condemned by any judge. And finally the pandemic which seems to be even more out of control than in other countries. This is coming from someone who lives in France where we’re going to be under lockdown for the second time since the beginning of the pandemic (2nd lockdown starting tomorrow evening and will last at least until December 1st 😢). -Estelle

To put a long story short, let’s just hope Cheeto doesn’t get reelected otherwise our UK trade deal will be a disaster and we don’t need any more negative influences in the UK around gender and sexual equality.-Christian

I think with this administration, the US has demonstrated how to shipwreck a whole nation economically, ideologically, socially, and politically within a really short period of time. After just 4 years, we’ve come to associate the US with widespread narrow-mindedness, a lack of respect and courtesy to other nations (and minorities in its own country for that matter), short sightedness when it comes to global phenomena like environmentalism or migration patterns, and a celebration (by some at least) of almost barbaric notions of violence, oppression, and backward thinking, all under the camouflage of its constitution and socio-historic heritage. We’ve really admired the Obama administration over here in Europe, which-despite its flaws and shortcomings- has opened up the US to international partnerships and has established an ongoing discourse shaped by mutual respect and politeness…the contrast couldn’t be more pronounced these day…-Sebastian

I look at our Prime Minister and government and then see Trump and think we really could have it so much worse! Vote!! -Ant

As an American living in London, I can tell you that the news coverage here makes the US look like an absolute joke. Mainly due to 45, his lies, his bigotry, and his insane desire to make covid seem as though it’s a falsehood “created by the left” while hundreds of thousands of Americans have ben victimized by this pandemic. What was once seen as a country of opportunity and freedom, is sadly no longer held to that level of greatness in comparison to its neighboring countries. It saddens me because I had plans to move back home within the next year or so, but if the US continues on its path, I can see myself in London for the unforeseeable future. I can’t live in a country where I am seen or believed to be lesser than another because of my sexual preference. I can only hope and pray that this election brings the change we need to be that country of greatness once again. -Rob

Very poor to be honest. And I’m not necessarily [talking about Trump]- I think the immediate reaction is to blame him. Though, he is pretty awful. There was obviously a huge level of social and other problems in the US, and the current administration has exploited them to the breaking point. Whereas more “skilled” past administrations had the ability to leverage those issues for their benefit, but not let it boil over. I actually thought Trump would be a positive for the US and world- in that his incompetence would force other world leaders to step up. Meaning more equity in how disputes etc. are assessed and the US wouldn’t bully smaller nations. I think the US has hit the point in its journey with capitalism that the USSR hit with socialism in the late 80’s that led to its collapse. Does that mean collapse for the US, I don’t know but the system isn’t providing equity and equality for all as it stands. -Paul

Worried but also hopeful for you guys because I don’t think all citizens in America reflect the current administration. It’s been really great to see people voting early and making their voice heard. No matter what happens just know you did what you could in this moment in time. Even though the current administration provides a scary outlook for the future. As long as the current and future generations lead with love, there will hopefully be a brighter future. Love from Canada. -Ajetha

I've been subscribing to all of the US News since the Black Lives Matter Movement commenced and honestly, it made me scared as a Filipino Asian to step foot in the States ever since. I have big dreams of flying over there and probably working there as an immigrant after I finished college. However, when I found out about the racial injustice that is currently ongoing in the country, I became hesistant of still wanting to live there. Although, I'm positive that there are still people like you two that will be open about working immigrants, I really hope that racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia will end for good among every human beings in the US and also around the world. I do wish and pray that the 2020 US election will make certain amends to the current situation y'all are experiencing because it's getting pretty scary out there. -Harvey I’m an American living overseas working for the US government. I’m trying my hardest to stay overseas so my family and I don’t have to come back to the mess that is the US right now. From politics to COVID, it’s not a good time. While the virus may be surging again in Europe, at least the people comply with the government rules. Sometimes I believe Americans take freedom and liberty a bit too far, especially when it comes to the greater good. -Anonymous

Allthough on social policy the US is no real example for us (I think there is more social ‘security’, more justice, high standards in education for all in most of the EU countries), they always have been a ‘safe haven’ in big international politics. It now feels like ‘they have our back’ doesn’t imply anymore. -Jasper

Well personally I think the country seems in total disarray, instead of focusing on the real issues in the streets both house of the capitol are focused on bashing each other during the election campaign which is a circus due to the sitting POTUS. The obsession with the right to bare arms and the gun culture bewilders most other countries, you have teenagers walking into schools with Assault weapons and yet people still want guns to be available, worst still you ban one type of assault rifle but another just as powerful is kept on sale, it’s plain weird. -Philip

Neither candidate represents their party well. As an outsider looking in, it just baffles me that either of these men could potentially be the leader of the free world...It genuinely feels like worrying times are ahead for the US. -Marc I'm from India and living in Germany at the moment. The race problem in the US is as bad as the class/caste problem in India. Even if I don't have money I can go to a government health center in India. I just had an operation and stayed at the hospital for 18 days here in Germany, I had to pay only 180 Euros, everything else ( the operation and the many tests and scans that followed) was covered by the insurance. When my friends at the US heard about it they were shocked about low the hospital bill. There are really great labs (I'm a researcher) that I would like to work but I have no intentions of working/living in the US for a longer period of time. -Maithy

I think the US has become a joke to the rest of the developed world. Neither candidates running for president are fit to run such a powerful country. I can't help but feel after the election if Trump wins the left will riot and if Biden wins the right will riot. The country might just rip itself apart. American politics has zero empathy and zero morals. Honestly its terrifying. -Andrew

The US has always been a bit confusing to me - the two party system, the focus on religion, the divide in income and possibilities- as well as being the beacon of light in the fight for human rights, the strong personal pride in creating caring societets, the blending of and openeses for ethnicities and cultures... But for a while politics have become not at all about politics, religious beliefs are taking charge in policy work, the wealthier part shows little companion towards the less wealthy, the public spending is way above budget year after year while health care seems to be crazy expensive and not for all. The intrusion of US interest in politics in other countries are blunt to say the least, creating conflict where human lives have no value if they’re not US lives... School shootings that seems to be acted upon as that is part of normal lives, and schools to expensive for even middle class kids to study at... This is a shift in trust and soft power that affects all of us. -Olof

To be honest, I couldn’t come to the US right now, it scares me. The leadership, the gun laws, the violence and the divide of the nation. It sucks, because I love America and have been there 7 times in the last two years from Australia for work... but not anymore. I’m not coming back now until peace wins. -Anonymous

The fact that such a hate filled government is presiding over what is one the greatest countries in the world is scary. And it is seriously mind blowing that out of such a powerful country filled with some of the greatest minds in the world it’s these two men are the best you can do to be your next president. Unbelievable. Seriously unbelievable. -Rachel

I think the orange dude in office is making you guys look bad. But also, good (?). Seeing the black lives matter movement and so many of you stand up to the problems your country faces has been inspiring. One thing our countries have in common is how we are divided into very distinctive opposites sides. I mean, where do all these racists, bigots, utterly, madly conservites people came from? I few like a few years ago things did not seem so much as a boiling pan about to explode. Or maybe they were all hiding and when a lunatic like them rose to power (how that happened still boggles my mind) they all showed their true colors. It’s scary. I hope Trump doesn’t get reelected. Brazilians loooove to imitate americans🙄, so if he gets reelected it makes that much probable that our lunatic will also be in office for four more years. P.S. have you guys watched the show Years and Years from HBO? A really good watch is this election times! ☺️ -Taty

Re. The US atm. Unfortunately your president has made your country a laughing stock around the world and he's destroyed relationships with allies. It's gonna take time to rebuild all of that. He's also moved an entire branch of your government to the far right, even though the majority of the country if left/centr of left. So you've a supreme court that doesn't represent you and it's looking like they're going to try and take away rights from people. You have a healthcare system that doesn't look out for its people and there's this bizarre fear of universal healthcare that seems insane to every other 1st world country. If if Biden wins (and I really hope he does for everyone's sake), there's going to be a lot of work in undoing the damage Trump has done before he can even get into what he wants to do. All the while you've an ultra conservative highest court. There's also the massive political division and the systemic racism. It's a lot. It's not impossible, but it's going to take so much time and people who want it to change. -Ciara

I’ve been sitting here for an hour thinking about your question and there are many different outlooks I could raise so I’ll keep it generic. I’ll start with the elephant in the room known as Covid. Each day, our morning news informs us of what your leaders are doing and daily case numbers in the US. We sit here completely shocked at how your government has let it reach this point. You may have heard that Melbourne has just come out of one of the strictest and longest lock downs in the world. I wouldn’t wish that upon anyone to have to do, but I will say, I feel much more comfortable to be able to go to the shops knowing the numbers are at about 2-3 a day instead of in the thousands. I do think that your government does need to address this now, could even be making it compulsory mask wearing. It’s hard for me to comment about your economy as we don’t here much about it, but I will say Trump ‘says’ make America great again, let’s get more jobs, they are pro life, yet how is someone who is prolife not doing anything to stop a virus that is killing people? Isn’t your unemployment rate worse (pre-covid) than what it was when Obama was president? I think as a generic outlook, if change isn’t made in the election, the outlook from a Australian does not look like it would be something you’d want to be apart of. I love America. Have visited a couple of times, even thought about moving there, but at the moment, I’ve never been more thankful to not be there. -Ben

[the-desolated-quill]

It’s Summer And We’re Running Out Of Ice - Watchmen (TV Series) blog

(SPOILER WARNING: The following is an in-depth critical analysis. if you haven’t seen this episode yet, you may want to before reading this review)

I’m not going to lie. I was incredibly sceptical going into this. This isn’t the first TV adaptation of a classic novel to go beyond the source material and try to continue the story, and they nearly always suck (see The Handmaid’s Tale and The Man In The High Castle). There’s a reason why books end where they’re supposed to end. If the author intended to carry the story on, they would have done so. This is why I get angry when the TV industry arrogantly oversteps the mark and try to continue a plot that has already come to a satisfactory conclusion. Doing a sequel to Watchmen, a story that hinges on the ambiguity of its ending, is just utter madness to me, and allowing Damon Lindelof to write that sequel borders on moronic at first glance. This is the man behind the TV series Lost, a show that ran out of steam within the first couple of episodes due to the fact that the plot was complete and total bollocks and the fact that nobody could be bothered to come up with satisfying answers for these ludicrous mysteries and series arcs beforehand. They were just making that shit up as he went along. Now you’re handing Lindelof the keys to one of the most intricate and detailed comic book properties of all time?! Fuck, why don’t you just let JJ Abrams direct the next Star Wars mo- Oh yeah, I forgot, he already did that.

Thankfully, judging by this first episode anyway, HBO’s Watchmen is nowhere near as bad as Lost. It’s certainly far more engaging and coherent. Does that mean I’m looking forward to the rest of this season? Well... I don’t know if I’d go that far. I’m definitely intrigued though.

HBO’s Watchmen is a sequel to the graphic novel (Lindelof called it a remix, but come on. Grow a pair and call it what it is. A sequel). Superheroes are still illegal, Robert Redford is now the President, Rorschach’s death has inspired a white supremacist cult, and it’s raining squid.

Yeah, the raining squid thing feels like the only egregious bit of fanwank in here, to be fair. Maybe they’re going somewhere with this, but I have my doubts. Are we supposed to assume that Ozymandias has been making squid rain for the past thirty odd years in order to keep up the whole alien invasion ruse? Why squid rain? And why is everyone so nonchalant about it? Shouldn’t people be just a bit concerned by this, considering what happened in New York?

Speaking of Ozymandias, we see him riding a horse and writing plays for his butler and maid in some fancy mansion. Quite what the significance of The Watchmaker’s Son is, I don’t know. All I do know is I’m not going to be able to sleep at night without thinking about Jeremy Irons’ thighs from now on, so thanks for that.

Putting my cynicism aside for a moment, I do like what Lindelof is trying to do here. He’s not merely cashing in on the Watchmen brand. There is a genuine effort to do something fresh and different with this material, and I commend that. Watchmen’s central theme has always been about power, but whereas the source material focused mainly on its relation to sex (Comedian’s hedonism, Nite Owl’s impotence, Rorschach’s mummy issues and the sexual objectification of Silk Spectre), the TV series seems to be zeroing in on race as a topic. This I applaud. Expanding on certain areas that the graphic novel only ever really touched upon is a great idea. This doesn’t feel like a repeat of the graphic novel, but rather a clarification of it, exploring areas and themes that Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons may have overlooked. This helps set this series apart from the outset. 

The opening scenes where we see the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 is a pretty harrowing way to start. I’m ashamed to say I had no idea about the Tulsa Massacre prior to this, and we could have a whole other discussion about why schools seem to have been avoiding teaching specific topics like this in favour of the broad strokes of the Jim Crow era, but now is not the time. The fact that it’s depicted here sets the stage for what’s to come. Some have criticised the show for the length of time the opening focuses on Tulsa, claiming that it sensationalises the pain of black people at that time. I personally don’t think it does. It’s not overly graphic or gratuitous, at least in my opinion, but it is a very shocking way to open a series. Some might say even upsetting, but I think it’s important that we saw this because it’s relevant in setting the tone for the episode and indeed the season as a whole, as well as letting the audience know that this show isn’t going to fuck around or shy away from more sensitive topics, and I can respect that. Unlike Zack Snyder’s overly stylised adaptation from 2009, Watchmen the HBO series is grounded very firmly in reality.

Let’s discuss characters. This episode mostly focuses on Angela Abar, also known as Sister Night. Regina King has given some terrific performances in the past and this is no exception. She’s simply phenomenal. The way she switches from light-hearted wife and baker to violent, no nonsense vigilante cop. The shift is noticeable and yet both personas feel like they’re aspects of the same character. It’s exceptionally good. It also helps that the character herself makes for a great protagonist. Having survived the ‘White Night’ four years prior, where the Seventh Kavalry attacked the families of forty Tulsa police officers in response to the government giving special reparations to the victims of racial injustice, Angela has become cynical and battle hardened. She has no sympathy for Kavlary members and is willing to skip due process by beating one of them to a pulp and bundling him in the back of her car. She’s angry and in pain, and yet retains the audience's sympathy. I’m interested to see what happens to her over the course of the season.

I also really liked her friendship with Don Johnson’s character Judd Crawford. Johnson is a charismatic performer and Crawford is a charismatic character. He really dives into the olde western sheriff persona and seems to be having a lot of fun with it. Crawford is the only other character, besides Angela, who stayed on as a police officer after the White Night, and the two characters seem to have a great relationship. They laugh and joke around and there’s clearly a mutual respect between the two. I genuinely like this character, which is what makes his murder at the end so much more heartbreaking. Not to mention all the little details that force us to realise he may not be what he seems. We see him sniff cocaine in private and there’s a photo on his desk featuring the kid from school who aggressively asked Angela why black people deserve reparations. It doesn’t necessarily mean that Crawford himself is racist, but there’s clearly more going on with him that we don’t know about.

The final character of interest at the moment is Tim Blake Nelson’s character Wade Tillman, aka Looking Glass. We don’t know anything about him yet other than he’s a human lie detector, which I find very intriguing and I hope will be explored further as the show goes on. There’s a lot to play around with there, and the moral implications are tantalising. A conviction based not on physical evidence, but rather on the observations of one man. Even Sherlock Holmes has to back his deductions up with evidence, and yet Looking Glass clearly doesn’t need to. That just raises so many ethical questions. What if he has a particular bias towards someone? What about burden of proof? What if forensic evidence contradicts him? If Looking Glass is supposedly that accurate, does that mean the police will side with him regardless? It’s a great premise for a character and I really like Nelson’s performance, giving him a cold and detached personality that contrasts beautifully with Angela’s.

The characters and ideas are solid, however where I feel the show is lacking is with the consistency of its world building. Let’s analyse. This is an alternate history where Nixon used superheroes to extend his term limits, but after the New York attack at the end of the graphic novel, he’s been kicked out in favour of Robert Redford (nice nod to the source material there by the way. lol). As a result, black people got reparations for the racial injustices their ancestors went through and police are now unable to openly carry firearms without special permission from Panda (literally a cop wearing a panda costume). However, after the events of White Night, the government agrees to allow cops to wear masks to protect their identities, hence why quote/unquote ‘superheroes’ like Sister Night and Looking Glass are around despite the existence of the Keene Act. These are, in effect, legal vigilantes. Except already there’s a problem with conflicting messages. I like the idea of masked cops. In the current age of Black Lives Matter and police accountability, it makes sense and could be interesting to explore. However this is hindered by the whole ‘no guns’ stuff. Again, not a bad idea. America’s current gun laws are, to put it mildly, woefully inadequate. What if we went the other way? What if not only was it near impossible to own a gun, cops couldn’t even use a taser without special permission. Both ideas could work... but not at the same time.

Cops being allowed to wear masks creates the effect of empowering them through anonymity, and runs the risk of officers overstepping the mark and normal citizens being unable to hold them to account. But on the other hand, we’ve also got cops whose lives are constantly at risk and who are hindered in their duties by an overprotective nanny state, which effectively depowers them. So... which is it? It can’t be both. I like the scene where Panda reads the law about how the use of firearms can only be permitted in extreme circumstances, and everyone just angrily shouts him down because it tells us how the police feel about this new system. The fact that they’ve made one cop the sole arbiter of these new restrictions and forced him to dress like some ridiculous furry demonstrates the sheer amount of disdain they have towards this policy. But having said that, with the masks on, they have the power and freedom to break into people’s caravans and basically kidnap and assault them without consequence anyway. So what the fuck are they complaining about? It just doesn’t gel together. Either have it that the rules and regulations of the police are the same as our world except that cops can wear masks now, which has led to an increasing problem of police brutality and corruption, or have it that the police are being too heavily restricted and so a few have chosen to turn toward more ‘unorthodox’ methods of crime fighting out of frustration. Pick one and go with it.

Then there’s the Seventh Kavalry. Again, not a bad idea. In fact I love it. A white supremacist cult that’s taken Rorschach’s journal as gospel and have banded together out of a fear of being sidelined in a more liberal world. Very relevant and very interesting. Except... well... there’s not an awful lot to it, is there? In the original graphic novel, there was no clear bad guy. Ozymandias believed he was doing the ultimate good by killing millions of people to save the world, and everyone reluctantly went along with it. It was morally complicated. This, not so much. They’re unambiguously evil. The end. So what? What is there to discuss? It just feels lacking compared to the graphic novel and it runs the risk of creating a conflict that’s too clear cut. Obviously we’re going to end up siding with the cops, regardless of what they do, because the alternative is objectively bad. Hopefully Lindelof is going somewhere with this, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I was slightly concerned.

So on the whole, would I say I enjoyed this first episode? Well... I’d say I did, but with reservations. There’s some good characters and ideas that could be interesting to explore and develop, but its execution feels a little shaky in places. Hopefully the episodes to come will offer further clarity.

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