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kali-writes-meta · 4 months

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Eldercare and Trump Worship

We think a lot about how to turn people away from Trump, but there's one aspect of Trump's appeal to his oldest followers that's been overlooked. It's a truism of eldercare that anything that engages the interest of the elderly helps keep them alive and healthy. It doesn't matter if it's hobbies, community service, exercise, church, pets, or whatever, if they have something to look forward to they keep going longer. There's numerous studies to back this conclusion up. Well, like it or not, this fact has to apply to Trumpism as well. Their interest in Trump, devotion to Trump, is keeping them active and engaged. No matter how much harm it's doing our country and our world, on a personal level that commitment to Trump has to be improving the health and longevity of his senior citizen followers. Which means that even though his policies may hurt their friends, family, and themselves, they are going to fight for him as if their life depends on it, because on a strictly personal level their life DOES depend on it.

This subliminal awareness presents a huge obstacle in weaning senior citizens off Trump. Disengaging from Trumpism is disengaging from the thing that's keeping them going. Without it, from their perspective, what reason do they have to keep on living? That's a deadly question at their age.

It's not enough to just say that the world and their life would be a better place without Trump, we have to actively paint a vision of HOW the world and their life would be a better place without Trump. And then we have to actively SELL that vision. Until we offer them a vision of the America more lively, interesting and engaging to them than Trump's, they have a vested interest in not making the switch.

We've given America hope before. We must do it again.

#donald trump #trump #trump 2024 #trumpism #republicans #democrats #us politics #politics #senior care #senior citizens #elderly care #elder care #voting #vote

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kali-writes-meta · 5 months

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Doctor Who "The Giggle"

So the Doctor's inner child cut loose, told the old man to take a rest and get some therapy, and went on a walkabout. That's utterly delightful. I can't wait to see what happens next!

#doctor who #david tennant #ncuti gatwa

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kali-writes-meta · 5 months

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Loki Season 2 Episodes 1-4

Oh joy. It's an Airport movie.

I suppose the MCU had to tackle the disaster movie genre at some point, but I grew up in the 1970s, during the peak disaster movie years. I was forced to watch The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure, and all four Airport movies long before puberty, and even played "There's Got to be a Morning After" (the PA theme) at a childhood piano recital. I find the trope of a bunch of people running around getting in the way of solving the problem that's about to kill them tiresome and -- well, once upon a time I would have said "unrealistic", but that was before global warming.

Genre phobias aside, the writing is pretty good and the acting is very good. I liked seeing all the character development moments. But what's going on with the directing? The director seems to struggle with transitions between emotional states with all the actors, and in Episode 4 the pause before the mic drops was so long it gave those scenes erectile disfunction.

Still, I suppose I must watch it to the end out of respect for the actors, even though anyone who's watched The Poseidon Adventure knows what's going to happen. "There's got to be a morning after...."

#loki #loki season 2 #loki series #loki laufeyson #mcu #marvel cinematic universe #disaster movies #the poseidon adventure

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kali-writes-meta · 7 months

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Thank you. It's a rotten situation, but that doesn't stop me from cheering for every ray of hope that comes along. If we only take the lotuses that don't grow in mud, we won't have any.

Solarpunk Singapore

We talk about solarpunk like it's a dream, but Singapore is already living the dream. As of 2018 all new large buildings have to meet a standard of sustainability, with the goal to "green" 80% of the capital city by 2030.

Oasis Hotel

Gardens by the Bay

ParkRoyal Hotel

CapitaGreen Office Tower

Kampung Admiralty Senior Housing and Services, named World Building of the Year in 2018

Solarpunk isn't just a dream anymore.

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kali-writes-meta · 7 months

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Solarpunk Singapore

We talk about solarpunk like it's a dream, but Singapore is already living the dream. As of 2018 all new large buildings have to meet a standard of sustainability, with the goal to "green" 80% of the capital city by 2030.

Oasis Hotel

Gardens by the Bay

ParkRoyal Hotel

CapitaGreen Office Tower

Kampung Admiralty Senior Housing and Services, named World Building of the Year in 2018

Solarpunk isn't just a dream anymore.

#solarpunk #solar #ecopunk #architecture #eco architect #sustainability #sustainable #sustainable architecture

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kali-writes-meta · 10 months

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Secret Invasion 101

Well, that's new. I've felt many things while watching the MCU shows, but I've never felt bored before.

**sigh** Look, at this point I'm just here to watch them lay the groundwork for Teddy. I don't even expect to meet Teddy right now, just give me a sliver of groundwork!

And to see Talos. I like Talos. I'm going to hate to see him die from stupidity.

#marvel mcu #mcu #secret invasion #nick fury #s.h.i.e.l.d.#talos

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kali-writes-meta · 10 months

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Sometime after Star Trek SNW 0201:

Young Kirk recognizes Young Spock: Hey, I know you! You're the guy who disobeyed a direct order, took a skeleton crew of young officers, and stole Starfleet's flagship out of drydock to go fight Klingons! You're crazy. I like you!

Young Spock wonders if it's actually possible for a Vulcan to die of embarrassment.

#star trek strange new worlds #star trek #spock #james t kirk

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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Love Stories vs. the Romance Genre in America and Asia

I was brought up by women who went through romance novels like candy, and I read several people's share of them growing up. I love a good love story, but I find most romance stories not merely bad but downright disturbing. Let me explain by telling you my favorite love story:

"Once upon a time there was a very smart young man with good prospects. Everywhere he went, people said, "That is a young man with a future!" There were many neat, graceful, lovely girls at his college who wanted to be part of that future. They would come up to him and promise to be his ideal helpmate, allowing him to make all the decisions in their lives and do whatever he wanted without ever thinking about talking back to him.

"He couldn't run away fast enough. The idea of spending his entire life with someone who would never talk back to him was terrifying!

"On the edge of the campus social set was a smart, messy, cranky girl. She didn't always talk, but when she did she would either toss off something disturbingly insightful about the most uncomfortable subjects, or on rare occasions talk for hours on end about some obscure and not widely accepted topic. She was frank about her personal problems in the hope that this would drive people away, for she was deeply troubled by things that she did not know how to speak of and the culture she was a part of did not want to hear about.

"He found her fascinating.

"She was very resistant to the idea of being courted and put up all kinds of barriers, but he was patient. She had every reason to fear people, especially men; but she was also desperately lonely, especially for someone who could hold up their end of a conversation.

"They would talk all night.

"People became alarmed when they realized the pair were getting serious. Such a damaged young woman was the worst possible choice for such a promising young man! All sorts of people put up all sorts of arguments to dissuade him, to no avail. Finally they threw their hands up in the air, convinced the marriage wouldn't last six months.

"That young man and young woman were my husband and I, and we have been married for 35 years."

Now I'm prejudiced, but that's still a pretty good love story. But it would never fly in the romance genre. Far too many of those stories are written for, and ostensibly about, the neat, graceful young ladies in the first paragraph. They sincerely believed they could get through a marriage by not thinking and by being like their favorite stereotypical romance heroines, passive and conventional.

But real life isn't like a romance novel. It doesn't stop throwing problems at you once the wedding bells ring. I saw every one of those girls marry out of college, and every one of them divorced within five years. Once they hit the first problem that couldn't be solved by being passive, unthinking, and conventional, that was it.

A sobering number of them went through three or four marriages without questioning their basic life choices.

Consequently I find stereotypical genre romances alarming on many levels. They're not just boring. They encourage impressionable young people to BE boring, to hide all their interesting quirks, under the impression that being boring will get them married. Even worse, given the associations I've seen, I can't help but wonder if they promote an unrealistic view of married life that contributes to divorce.

So while I love in good love story, I want it to be about non-stereotypical people actively figuring out how to deal with the problems they've been handed together instead of trying to stuff themselves and their problems into some conventional formula. This combination isn't always easy to find in American fiction, especially in romance stories. But one unexpected place turned out to be a treasure trove of such stories, and that was gay romance, especially slash fiction. Not all, but the very best of those stories ask, "Since we're not heteronormal, why should our romance be heteronormative?"

(Also being full of amorous hot guys is a bonus.)

Then I got into Japanese pop fiction. While they can tell many wonderful stories, unfortunately unconventional love stories isn't something they're good at. All too often at the end of the day every effort is made to force the relationship into a conventional path. That's a turn off.

But if I was turned off by what I found in Japanese straight romance stories, I was repulsed by what I found in Japanese gay romance stories. When I first encountered those stories in the late 90s and early 00s, they seemed to exert an enormous amount of pressure to violently force the characters into a grotesque parody of heterosexual relationships. Why does everyone have to be "seme" or "uke"? Why can't they just be people?

Cut to the present day. I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss showed that there have been small but significant changes in the Japanese pop culture romance area. These changes are coming out of the web novel/light novel corner, where more women writers work under less supervision than previously. This less restrictive medium has also had an effect stories from other Asian cultures, and on gay romance stories.

I took a dive into romantic web/light novels recently, and I'll be posting about some especially interesting ones shortly.

#i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #love stories #romance genre #villainess isekai #web novel #light novel #anime #manga #shoujo #romance novels #shounen ai #yaoi #gay romance #slash fic

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Extra Short Stories Part 3: Valentine's Day

It's Valentine's Day. Who is getting treats from whom?

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-2-part-2/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-2-part-3/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-2-part-6/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-2-part-7/

#isekai #i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #villainess isekai #otome isekai

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Extra Short Stories Part 2: Walt and Kyle

The top-level Demon Assassins Walt and Kyle have been sold to the Demon Lord. Or have they?

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-1/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-2/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-4/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-5/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-6/

https://knoxt.space/villainous-daughter-aims-for-the-last-boss-volume-2-chapter-side-story-part-7/

I have no idea why some of these links came out different. Tumblr is having one of THOSE days.

#isekai #i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #web novel #villainess isekai

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Extra Short Stories Part 1: Issac and Almond

If you loved the anime or the manga, the books are even better. But there were some web short stories that haven't been offered for sale yet. Here's links to the fan translations of the first of those short stories:

Aileen Meets Isaac

Every villainess needs a competent assistant.

Hopes and Plans

On a quiet afternoon at the Demon Castle, Aileen and Claude talk about their hopes and plans for the future.

Almond's Day

#i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #web novel

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Episodes 11-12

Can Aileen save Claude and restore his memory? Will there be ducks?

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While I loved this story to bits, they really should have slowed it down a little. I dearly want to see a Season 2, but I don't know if anime is ready for the married life of a Villainess and a Demon Lord.

Until then, see you in the light novel aisle, where the series is up to Volume 4 in English and Volume 10 in translation!

#anime #isekai #i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #villainess isekai #isekai anime #otome isekai #Youtube

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Episode 10: The Love of the Villainess Isn't Enough

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The trap around Claude grows tighter, and his uncertainty hampers the rescue efforts.

#i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #isekai #anime #otome isekai #villainess isekai #isekai anime #Youtube

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Episode 9: The Villainess is Best Forgotten

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The Demon King's enemies finally succeed in harming him, taking away his memories and magic, and isolating him from his retainers. Too bad they underestimated his fiancee.

#isekai #anime #i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #isekai anime #otome isekai #villainess isekai #Youtube

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming the Final Boss Episode 8: The Crimes of the Villainess Are Exposed

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The mystery is exposed, the secrets are revealed -- but who is really pulling the strings?

#akuyaku reijou nanode last boss wo kattemimashita #i'm the villainess so i'm taming the final boss #anime #anime review #isekai #isekai anime #otome isekai #villainess isekai #romcom #Youtube

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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Introducing the Christmas 2022 His and Hers Anime Giftset

Do you have a shallow, rigidly heteronormative couple on your Christmas list? You know, the one with the sign in their living room which asks, "WHY CAN'T REAL LIFE BE LIKE A HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIE?" Do you struggle to find them a Christmas gift that displays not the slightest hint of irony? Then have I got the present for you! Introducing our Christmas 2022 His and Hers Anime Giftset!

For the gents, we have The Eminence in Shadow, a cool-looking, funny, shallow power fantasy. For the ladies, we have The Bibliophile Princess, a pretty, shallow, quasi-historical romance. Both of these look gorgeous and are guaranteed to please their target audiences by not activating a single braincell to challenge their hidebound worldview!

Act now to get your order by Christmas. Type "Get this disappointing crap off my dashboard" into the coupon box to get a special discount. Our sales representatives are standing by!

#anime review #anime #anime shitpost #fantasy #isekai #romance #historical romance #the eminence in shadow #bibliophile princess #shitpost #meme

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kali-writes-meta · 1 year

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Golden Kamuy S1E01

Ah, the latest remake of The Treasure of Sierra Madre. It began a sub-genre of Westerns about hard-bitten ex-Civil War soldiers looking for a hidden treasure of gold buried out West. Well, enough samurai movies became Westerns. I see no reason why a Western can't become a samurai movie.

#anime #anime review #golden kamuy #treasure of the Sierra Madre #historical

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