April 2: The Expanse 1x08

I don’t think this was my favorite episode of the show, although I will give it credit for getting interesting toward the end and finishing on a high note. The whole first half was just wandering around the ship, though, which I’m sure was supposed to be mysterious and suspenseful and a little horrific, and I did want it to be, but which struggled to hold my attention. I kept zoning out because I couldn’t really see anything and didn’t know what I was looking at. Also, I feel like this show could really benefit from a ‘last time on’ style recap. The art of the recap has definitely been lost in the age of streaming but like not everyone binges everything all the time. And even if I were binging this, there are details from episodes 1 and 2 that are now coming up again in episode 8 and like… how am I supposed to keep track of all of that?

Anyway. I’m really starting to enjoy the energy Alex brings to the crew. He has the vibe of the tech guy in the heist: he’s not breaking into the bank but he’s out in the inconspicuous van with his super computer and his headset, mic’d into everyone’s ear, saying things like ‘there you go beautiful’ to a lock he’s picking remotely through the use of binary code. And I’m into it. That’s not really the role I thought he was going to have but here we are. Almost makes you wonder if Dr. Feelgood would have become less annoying with time, but here we are.

I do really love Eros and the thought and detail that goes into these sets. It’s another way-way-out-there space station but it feels totally different from Ceres. Like, not just Ceres but worse. It has a different mood, different color scheme, and I definitely got that ‘jewel of the Belt fallen into disrepair’ vibe I think they were going for. The hotel was sort of 70s, the people were sort of all giving ‘secretly in the Mob’ vibes. The shoot out felt like anther genre sticking its head in all of a sudden, like 70s exploitation flick, but not in a bad way. The thuggish security felt oppressive, and notably different from Star Helix, even before Miller’s friend started explaining more about them, right from the landing of the craft. We’ve been teased for a while that this a Really Bad Place and I feel like it’s living up to its reputation.

It’s of course exciting that the different threads of the narrative are coming together: that we’re seeing Miller and the Rocinante crew in the same place, and finding out that they are both looking for the same person. The thing is that I don’t remember enough details to really know what I’m watching here. I can see the structure of threads coming together but I can’t get any more specific than that. They’re after the same McGuffin, but… why again? Absolutely no idea what Fred Johnson wants with Julie or if we’re supposed to understand them as working together or not. I get that the Thing at stake, the thing on the level above Julie, what she was maybe searching for or maybe using/transporting or maybe trying to destroy and definitely killed by, is some sort of weapon, probably bioweapon, and it likes light or warmth or something. But who created it, who has it, who knows about it, who wants it, and how it relates to the reign of terror that’s been following Holden and friends around this whole time is like complete question marks for me right now. It’s like I’m reading a story in a language I’m not quite fluent in: I can get a lot of the big picture and get a general sense of things, but I lack a lot of vocabulary. The noun did verb with the noun to the noun.

Julie is still very mysterious and confusing to me, and I hope that in the next couple episodes we find out more about her. She seems more mystery than person a lot of the time. I’d like to get real answers so she can feel more like a human and less like an object or plot device. But—I hope I’m not sounding mean or harsh because I am still basically just along for the ride and having a good time on it—I feel optimistic that I will.

day 28 - 7th anniversary

happy 7th anniversary to my most favorite game ever . play rain world

(and perhaps zeroranger, which i stole the framing for this from.. teehee)

The Expanse | Season 1 (2015-16), Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby

MiqoMarch Day 20 - Town

Once the centre of a great, academic city, the recently resettled town of Idyllshire is always bustling with life. The chattering of fellow adventurers, the whistling of steam from the goblins' workshop, the carefree laughter of children who know they have a warm bed and meal waiting for them... it never fails to bring a smile to Arsay's face.

Palestine's legal representative at ICJ, 19th February 2024, Philippe Sands: "The right of self determination requires that UN member states bring Israel's occupation to an immediate end.

No aid, No assistance, No complicity, No contribution to forcible actions. No money, No arms, No trade, No Nothing.

All UN members are obliged by law, to end Israel's presence on the territory of Palestine."

Decolonise Palestine 🇵🇸🍉🫒🍉🫒🍉🫒🍉🫒🍉🇵🇸

. Decolonise Palestine

every movie I watched in 2024:

乱 (Ran) dir. Akira Kurosawa, 1985

sanitized agent 3 FUCKING DIES

@febuwhump

februpony 2024 days 22 & 23: crossover & species swap

since the reason i didnt do februpony yesterday was because side order consumed me i feel that horse(?) agent 8 is only natural

(day 21)

(day 22 2023) | (day 23 2023)

February 14: The Expanse 1x05

Halfway done with The Expanse S1. I can definitely see it coming together… I think. I felt like this episode had a lot of pretty explicit extra exposition and summarizing going on, and in some ways felt more like an inflection point than anything. But the amount of explaining also sort of reminded me that I have not been really actively trying to follow anything so much as just going along for the ride.

I do find it funny that the former-Canterbury crew’s plotline for fully half the season has just been going from ship to ship and blowing stuff up accidentally. Are they the targets? Are they in the wrong place at the wrong time, as seems to be the case? Second one sure is a funny possibility.

I enjoyed seeing more of Ceres again, as it feels like it’s been a bit since we spent a significant amount of time there. I feel like the Earth/UN stories are for really bird’s-eye-view understandings of the political situation, the now-Rocinante crew stories are for (attempts at?) tense, individual-focused, adventure storylines, and the Ceres stuff is like in the middle. There’s a familiar noir-detective story but also a lot of worldbuilding about the political situation, and all of it connects to the stories on the other ends of the spectrum, and I think it’s a good balance.

As far as following all the specifics… I kind of figured early on that this show was going to require more than one watching to really properly follow, so the main things I’m looking for in this go-round are a viewing experience that I enjoy enough to want to come back for a re-watch and, by the end of the season, something that basically feels like it makes sense, regardless of whether I followed every detail or picked up on every specific of it.

And so far, it’s been good, it’s been fun. I really, really, really love the world building. Like worst case scenario and it’s all ultimately just Vibes and no coherent plot, I am enjoying the complex interplay of the various locations and the detail given to the political intrigue and so on.

I’m sort of starting to warm to the Rocinante crew as well, especially Amos for some reason? I don’t know, there was just something very funny about him in this episode, like ‘I knew a woman named [Workhorse], she was good to me’? Okay, bro. And Naomi just scoffing, relatable as hell.

The Anderson Station story was extremely sad, but I thought it was well done except that it was a little weird to be introduced to that back story in the same episode as we first see Fred Johnson himself. Like I basically figured out exactly what would happen from the end of the first scene with Anderson Station because I recognized his voice, plus the placement of the scenes was like…duh. So I knew he’d kill them all and it was just a question of how depressed I’d be about it. I sort of feel like that back story should have been in an earlier episode—or maybe even a later one? I don’t know.

 I decided today that I really like the designs of these ships and space stations. All the sets and clothing and tattoos and stuff are very cool; they did a good job.

The whole concept of a future-Earth that’s recognized as such a beautiful, unique, wonderful place that should be cherished and protected, especially as seen in contrast to alternative places humans might someday live, like space stations or ships or other planets, is sooooooooooooo my kink, you don’t even know. So I’ve also been digging how hard this show goes in on that theme. I don’t know if the environmentalist message is on purpose (the anti-colonial anti-capitalist message sure is, I assume) but I see it regardless.

day 26 - create spears(master)

my baby

TRUMP MORE THAN EVER

The Expanse | Season 3 (2018), Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby

MISS SOPHIE WRITING A DR RATIO FIC??? YES PLEASE SIGN ME UP 😩😩

(ok no but after seeing the wip post about it along with your mini character study on him, i can already tell it's going to be amazing and aaaa i can't wait to see how it turns out!!)

AHGHJ NONNIE !!!! thank u for ur kind words and support for the ratio fic ;w; (teehee-ing and throwing finger hearts towards u rn)

just for u, u get a sneak peak

Chinese legal adviser of foreign affairs at the International Court of Justice: " The UNGA resolution 3070 of 1973, I quote " reaffirms the legitimacy of the people's struggle for liberation from colonial and foreign domination and the alien subjugation by all available means, including armed struggle" - end of quote.

This recognition is also reflected in international convention: 'Armed struggle', in this context, is distinguished from 'acts of terrorism'. It is granted in international law. "

Palestine has the right to resist occupation. 🍉🫒🍉🫒🍉🫒🍉

So, I was just looking for a Snow White gif set, and I came across quite a few posts expressing displeasure about Rachel Zegler’s flippant attitude to the original Disney film. And while I agree she was being a bit glib, you have to remember, it’s all about playing it up for the camera. Maybe her manager told her to push a love-to-hate-it angle. Who knows. Disney is still trying to work that little bit of feminism that is truly marketable but is ‘safe’ in their standards.

But what irritates me is that those posts immediately delve into the history and animation of the work in the film. As an artist, I totally respect the work and success Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was in 1937. It’s a beautiful piece, to be sure.

And Snow White was kind of modern for the movie’s supposed setting and time period! She has a bob! It’s easily demonstrated and acknowledged by the audience how hard she works, in both the castle and the cottage! She’s a upper class woman who manages to stay chaste despite living with, horror among horrors, seven unmarried men!

But, come on. She was relatively safe, barely pushing the envelope, in 1937. Women were in factories, wearing pants, and were still actively fighting for their rights at the time. All while weathering the Great Depression!

Films like Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Huntsman have already done more-feminine-modern takes on the tale. But Zegler isn’t wrong. If the original film’s story, no changes, came out today, it would be disappointing to a lot of feminists. So if you’ve watched the other live action Disney princess films, I’d say don’t knock the Snow White one just yet. It might actually offer something new but nice to more modern feminist audiences.

Just please don’t forget that something can be wonderful in one way and meh in another. The original film was an artistic masterpiece, but wasn’t the be-all end-all of feminism in the 30s. Check out this film, for example.

And hey, this is the webbed site of anxiety. You’ve all probably said things you regret, whether you ‘deserve’ to regret it or not. Don’t forget actors can make mistakes too. They’re human.