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#I'm talking about the U.S. specifically.
reddbuster · 2 months
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Some people really just do not understand the concept of legal precedent do they? I feel like a solid 30-40% of the awful takes I see on this site could be avoided if people knew the most basic shit about their own legal systems.
#“why can't we just do x horrible thing to these bad people instead?”#“why can't we allow a violation of bodily autonomy in this one very specific circumstance?"#even if that were ethical (which it isn't) that doesn't change the fact that YOU ARE SETTING A LEGAL CASE PRECEDENT#THAT CAN BE USED AS AN ARGUMENT IN ANY TRIAL GOING FORWARD and WILL be weaponised against a marginalised group#did anyone hear about that one case in the usa where a lady wanted to design websites for peoples weddings#but wanted to exclude gay couples from her services and she had to take it to trial because it violated discrimination laws?#it seems ridiculous right? what she's going after clearly violates The U.S constitution AND Nevada's public accommodations law#WRONG. a lot went on in that case because it lasted like 7 years but#her legal team managed to find legal precedent of queer people being excluded from an event#(i think it was like a religious gathering or a parade or something I don't remember)#that gave them a leg up in the case and eventually they won#now why do we care that this nobody graphic designer won't design a website for your wedding? you can just hire someone else right#WRONG AGAIN. because now THIS case is setting even stronger legal precedent for people being excluded from services on basis of sexuality#and if you can discriminate based on sexuality then why not for other reasons like gender or race or religion#I could go on and on about the horrible possibilities opened up just by this one case but...you get the point#I'm not even usamerican!!! I just have to pay attention to shit that happens there because I have to#sigh. anyway. I'll shut up now#red talks
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scarletblob · 1 year
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Am thinking about how there is no place on Earth where I don't sound at least a little foreign when I speak... This wasn't always true; when I was a child, my pronunciation in my first language was perfectly standard, but now I use that language so little that I have to consciously think about my pronunciation to get it 'correct' (otherwise I start accidentally imitating random provincial accents, which almost certainly appears ridiculous). And I'm not sure I ever had a single natural accent speaking English; it varies wildly depending on how stressed I feel and whom I've listened to recently, and doesn't match any geographical location.
I don't mind it, but it's still strange to think that the only country to which I'm legally tied is the United States, and that the country to which going feels like returning home requires me to have a visa to do so. I'll probably spend almost all the rest of my life in the U.S. anyway because the employment prospects here are much better. But sometimes I see advertisements or whatever in my first language and I miss something that was never really mine and never will be.
(This sounds much more negative than I intended, really... I'm very lucky to 'belong to' the United States, for all its flaws, and I know there are so many people who would give an arm and a leg to be in my position. But my emotional response doesn't always reflect that.)
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cleolinda · 6 months
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The Scariest Movie I Ever Saw in a Theater: The Ring
I'll tell you up front that the story I'm going to tell you is about "The Ring (2002)," in the sense that it is about The Ring in the year 2002.
See, I don't know what The Scariest Movie Ever is. A quick google says that the consensus is The Exorcist (I haven't seen it, because I never felt like scheduling a day to freak myself the entire fuck out). But horror is specific, and not just to a person, but to a time and place, even. When I saw The Shining as a teenager in a well-lit living room with other people, I didn't even really flinch, but I bet it would play very differently to me now. I don’t think The Ring is at the top of anyone’s list, but twenty years ago, I had a personal interest in it—at the time, I was running a dinky little Geocities site devoted to movie news. Links curated and compiled from all the other, bigger sites I followed—basically, it was the linkspam format I have used on multiple platforms, including here on Sundays. And so, as someone who followed theatrical releases pretty closely for two or three years, I saw the trailer for The Ring, and I immediately knew it was going to be huge.
To locate you in time, this was just after three self-satirizing Scream movies and the Overcomplicated Serial Killer films of the '90s. The Ring was something completely different: chill aqua-blue color grading a good 5-6 years before Twilight; a mournful Hans Zimmer score; no jokes, no quips; and a slow, inexorable sense of doom. Grief, even, given that the movie begins with the death of the main character's niece. What immediately struck me about the first trailer was 1) the melancholy of it, and 2) how much it doesn't explain. Onscreen, you get the title cards,
THERE IS A VIDEOTAPE IF YOU WATCH IT SEVEN DAYS LATER YOU DIE
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Concise! Understandable! A woman (Naomi Watts) is freaking out upon discovering that her young son has just watched it! Admirable job setting up the premise and the stakes of this entire movie in thirty seconds flat, without even any dialogue. That's all you need to know, and thus, the remaining minute of the trailer can do whatever it wants, and what it wants to do is be fucking weird. Echoing voices, TV static, a closeup of a horse's eye, ladders, a girl with dark hair, people reacting to things we don't see, drippy doorknobs, rain. Characters don't give us the whole plot in convenient soundbites of dialogue (like they do in a later trailer); we just hear lines, overlapping, murmured out of context—
did you see it in your head? she talks to you... leading you somewhere... showing you the horses... you saw it. did you see it in your head? she shows me things. Everyone suffers.
That you saw it has lived in my head ever since, and not once have I charged it rent. But the "best" part is Naomi Watts screaming at the end, because you don't hear her voice; you only hear this heartless telephonic beeeeeeep. It's 2002 and I'm watching this trailer, thinking, I have no idea what the fuck I just saw. This is going to be huge.
And it was, to the tune of $249 million on a $48M budget.
At risk of recapping what you might already know, Ringu, aka Ring, is a media franchise that spiraled out from a trio of Koji Suzuki novels into Hideo Nakata's film Ringu (1998), a landmark of Japanese horror, plus several other movies, some TV series, many comics, and even a couple of video games. The overarching story is about a murdered girl/vengeful ghost named Sadako Yamamura whose rage and pain have created a cursed video tape, you watch it and you die unless you pass the tape around like a virus, seven daaaaays, etc.
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The "ring" in question is the rim of a well. Keep that well in mind.
The movie I saw is the U.S. remake, which itself had two sequels. (The iconic Sadako is now named Samara Morgan. Keep her in mind, too.) Director Gore Verbinski moved from The Ring to Pirates of the the Caribbean (!), and so Hideo Nakata himself would direct The Ring Two. I... honestly have only seen the first one. And I was right, it was huge, and it kicked off the American J-Horror Remake genre, for better or worse. But what gets forgotten about The Ring is its marketing campaign, which I followed pretty closely for my doofy little news site.
It was inspired.
The story of The Ring is partly the story of the sea change in the media landscape—how we watch movies. And the story of its marketing is a picture of the very last years before social media changed the wilderness of the internet into something that feels so big, like a billion people could see anything we say, and yet so small—only a tame handful of places to say it, owned by three or four companies, and corraled by algorithms.
Back around 1997-1998 or so, I worked at a video store (Movie Gallery, where the hits were there then, guaranteed) for about a year and a half. By the time I left, we had started adding DVDs to the VHS tapes on the shelves, but we hadn't replaced the entire stock. Video stores might have transitioned fully to DVD by 2002, I'm not sure, but people still commonly had both VCRs and DVD players in their homes. And I remember that The Ring was sold in both formats when it eventually hit home video. Which is to say—you know the analog horror genre today? Marble Hornets, Local 58, The Mandela Catalogue?
Analog horror is commonly characterized by low-fidelity graphics, cryptic messages, and visual styles reminiscent of late 20th-century television and analog recordings. This is done to match the setting, as analog horror works are typically set between the 1960s and 1990s. The name "analog horror" comes from the genre's aesthetic incorporation of elements related to analog electronics, such as analog television and VHS, the latter being an analog method of recording video.
Okay, but this is just what home media was like, and 2002 was at the very tail end of that—boxy black VHS tapes that degraded with time and reuse were just how we lived. At the same time, I'd been using CDs for music since about 1991, and all our software installs came on CD-ROM discs; a "mixtape" by that time had shifted to mean a rewriteable CD rather than a cassette tape. In college, I—well, I'll plead the Fifth as to whether I downloaded mp3s via Napster, but I was also taping Mystery Science Theater 3000 on VHS over the weekends. It was Every Format Everywhere, All At Once, and we kept half a dozen kinds of players around for them. Here in 2023, we stream and download everything invisibly, unless we choose to engage in format nostalgia. (I've already run into the problem of Apple Music deleting songs I really liked, due to this or that licensing issue, because I was really only renting them.) The year The Ring hit theaters was the edge of a last shimmering gasp of physical media where iTunes had only come into being the year before, and iridescent discs were still mostly what we used, but cassettes, both video and audio, were still viable. And so, people did not think it was terribly weird when they started finding unlabeled VHS tapes on their windshields.
Movieweb, quoting TikTok user astro_nina:
"Their marketing strategy was essentially 'let's get this tape viewed by as many people as possible without these people being aware of what this is, sort of raising intrigue," she says. One way they achieved this was by airing the tape, which allegedly marks its viewers for death within seven days, as a commercial with no context. The video would air between late-night programming "with no words, no mention of a movie, for like a month...so people would run into it and it would just go on to the next thing, and people would be like, 'what the f--k is this?'"
I remember seeing the Cursed Video as an unexplained ad at least twice, by the way. That TikTok also indicates that DreamWorks straight-up sent copies of the tape to Hot Topic stores, as well as planting them under actual movie theater seats. While running my movie site, I heard at least one story of someone finding a tape on the sink counter of a restroom at a club. Did the marketing department actually plant tapes in bathrooms—or did a freaked-out recipient leave it there, hoping to dodge the "curse"?
(I haven't embedded the Cursed Video here, by the way—but I could have. If you'd like to see the American take on it, you can watch both the full version and the shorter variant that appeared in the movie itself. A text description of what the fuck you're even looking at is here [content note for both: blood, insects, animal death, body horror, and suicide by falling]. The original version from the Japanese film is shorter, and it's eerie rather than gruesome.)
BUT WAIT, THERE WAS MORE: DreamWorks had something of an alternate-reality campaign going with a handful of in-character websites. This was only a year after Warner Bros. ran the groundbreaking "The Beast" ARG for A.I.: Artificial Intelligence: "Ultimately, fifty websites with a total of about one thousand pages were created for the [A.I.] game." (I lurked in the Cloudmakers Yahoo group.) Marketing for The Ring did not go anywhere that in depth, nor did it need to; it was both a smaller film and a smaller story. I saw at least two “personal” websites (seemingly amateur and a little tacky, like my own), but the one I particularly remember was about someone who owned/trained horses? I'm not sure if it was meant to be the actual Anna Morgan character—Samara's mother—or maybe someone who had noticed that the Morgans' horses were disturbed? I'm not even sure anyone even remembers this but me. Reddit users dug up a few other archived websites, but they're about Sadako, the curse and/or videotape; they aren't as subtle or character-oriented as the site I remember. (Honestly, I wonder if weird shit like "What Scares Me" or "SEVEN DAYS TO LIVE" were made by fans rather than a marketing department, but who knows.)
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[The “About” page from Seven Days to Live on the Internet Archive.]
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[The entirety of An Open Letter on the Internet Archive. “UPDATE” is a now-blank pop-up. I would bet $5 that it was originally a pop-up of the cursed video.]
I need to point out here that Facebook did not exist in 2002. It would not exist for another two years, and Twitter wouldn't exist until 2006. Even MySpace was not a thing until the next year. I didn't start my Livejournal until October of 2003. What we had, for the most part, were independent forums and blogs. We also had Creepy Internet Fiction like "The Dionaea House" and "Ted the Caver"; their use of the blog format, of people out there seemingly living their lives until something fucked up went down, gave the stories the shape of reality. And it helped that these blogs had comment sections, sure—sometimes more story unfolded there—but for the most part, an author could "abandon" a blog, and you'd just find the story there via word of mouth. Like the Ring blogs I remember, it wouldn't seem strange if no one replied to you, whereas today, you'd have to hire a writer to sit on Twitter, or Reddit, or even Tumblr, and interact with people in character. Could you do something like The Ring's mysterious, weird-ass blogs today? Would anyone even notice?
So: It's 2002, my head is full of Alternate Reality and eerie images and you saw it, and I'm hype as hell to go out and see The Ring. I'm perfectly happy to go see movies by myself, so I went in the early afternoon (best time to get a good seat). The movie ended up being a sleeper hit, and the first weekend, the public was still sleeping on it, so there were only 7-8 other people in that theater, grouped in maybe two clusters. I was off in my own little pool of darkness in the upper right quadrant. Functionally, once the lights went down, I was alone.
Despite some middling reviews at the time, The Ring is something of a horror classic nowadays. If you want a scary movie this Spooky Season, check out The Ring. Or don't, because it nearly killed me.
We're at the last, I don't know, third of the movie? And Our Heroine has tracked down the origin of the Cursed Videotape to some creepy mountain motel or whatever. SPOILER, it turns out that it was built over the Cursed Well (everything in this movie is cursed) that Our Villain was thrown into—that's why Sadako/Samara is a vengeful wet murder ghost crawling out of TVs now. While investigating this decrepit hotel room, intrepid journalist Rachel and her, who is it, her ex-husband? her kid's dad, idk, discover the well under the creaky old floorboards. And then, wouldn't you know it,
NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE WELL
NAOMI WATTS FALLS INTO THE FUCKING WELL
THAT'S WHERE SAMARA'S BODY IS
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[The rather slapstick moment when Rachel falls into the well. Does not include what actually happens next.]
I go absolutely rigid in my seat. Naomi Watts is splashing around this dark-ass death swamp of a well and I know, with as much certainty as I have ever known anything in my life, that Samara is about to pop up in all her pasty, waterlogged glory. All the sad creepy dread, all the desperation to figure out what the fuck all that shit on the tape was and stop Samara from killing Rachel's son, all the horrible contorted victim faces, all the alternate reality I’ve been soaking in, it has all come to this. I have to leave the theater. I cannot be having with this. I have to be gone from this place. My legs do not work. I cannot feel them. I am frozen. I want nothing more in this life or any other to get up and leave this cavernous pitch-black room, and I cannot. I start praying for death. I want you to understand that I am not trying to be flippant or humorous. This is genuinely what went through my head. I was too scared to even think, "You know, you could just pray to pass out or for motion to return to your limbs or something." No, I sat there in The Ring thinking, Please for the love of all mercy just let me cease being.
You know that scene in Mulholland Drive (also starring Naomi Watts)? Winkie's diner and the EXCRUCIATING tension? It was a little like that, except I wasn't watching it, I was experiencing it, and Samara was my dirt monster out behind the diner.
Except that the jump scare didn't actually happen. I mean, yes, Rachel finds Samara's body down there, but—I don't remember exactly, please don't make me go watch it again to tell you what actually happens. It's played more sympathetically on Rachel's part, as I recall, and she and her ex get Samara's body out so that she (Samara) can have a proper burial.
And then it turns out that this is not the end of the movie. It turns out that Rachel has Fucked Up.
I think I was relatively okay through the rest of it, although the climax is Samara emerging from a TV in her full glitching swampy glory to scare [SPOILER] to death. I don't recall praying for death twice. There's a point when you're so exhausted from fear chemicals that you're like, yeah, this might as well happen. Bring it, Soggy. I did have a hard time prying myself out of that seat afterwards, though, and my mom says that when I got home, I had the classic thousand-yard stare. How was the movie?
"It was great," I said, and I meant it.
I've seen things that were objectively scarier (I watched much of The Haunting of Hill House from behind a pillow, to be honest), and it's not like I've never experienced fear in real life. But I respect when a movie that can make me feel so intensely, and there's something weirdly precious about the way horror is a safe roller coaster, as it's often been said. So I love telling the story about The Time The Ring Nearly Killed Me—a movie that actually made my body stop working—and I love thinking of how embedded in a specific time and place that movie was for me. The last gasp of VHS when the Cursed Videotape still seemed plausible; the way the internet was still wild and weird and free; where I was in my life, keeping up so avidly with all the movie news, and finding myself in such a little pool of darkness early one afternoon. It's the scariest movie I saw in a theater; that's the alchemy of circumstance.
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sleepynegress · 6 months
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THIS ISN'T COMMON KNOWLEDGE BUT SHOULD BE...ABOUT MEDICAID....
If you ever find yourself in the position of living in the home of a parent who is disabled and requires full-time care and you are their primary caregiver for at least 2 years, and they intend to leave their assets to you after they pass, make sure to transfer ownership of their assets, home/land in your name ASAP...or they will require you to pay back any benefits received and claim those assets even out from under you, as soon as your loved one passes. This is yet another way that generational assets /wealth are easily taken out of marginalized communities. It is a loan.
And the sharks circle as soon as your loved one passes. Here's an article about it:
Decided to add context. I don't like to talk about it here, because ehh, social media is for my vapid entertainment thoughts for me. It's a hobby/getaway/ place to get semi-social with strangers and online friends with shared interests, but I don't want anyone else to go through what I am... Of course, this applies specifically to the U.S.'s broken healthcare system. So, for those who don't know, my mom passed recently. I am an only child with no siblings or children. My whole life during that time was 24/7 care. She had insurance, but it wasn't enough to cover everything that she needed, so Medicaid was the obvious solution, right? The government takes care of our disabled elderly who have worked until retirement, right? It seemed like the routine thing to do, I had never heard anything during the process about having to pay it back,but sure enough, less than 12 weeks after her passing, I was hit with a warning (which I followed up on and was told I would NOT be charged because of my caregiver status) and then 2 weeks later the "bill". The lady I spoke to, totally changed her attitude from the first time I spoke to her to the point where I felt scammed. Out came a patronizing voice certain people use with children, that measured whiny thing (it's always a red-flag to me and makes me instantly dislike you if you do this even with kids, btw... speak to kids like PEOPLE). I feel like an idiot. I have been doing this for over a decade and didn't think to transfer any assets of hers during that time because it *was* hers. I wanted her to feel as empowered about that as possible.
Not a single soul said I should transfer those assets to keep this from happening and now I'm facing down what feels like some kind of weird conspiracy to take the land and house.
FYI, there have been weird inquiries, the census came to mark down my mother's death literally *immediately* after she passed...and odd timing called the day of the notice to "help", with all the southern Christian signifiers (bless your heart we'll be praying for you).... It feels so seedy. Anyway, all this to say if you find yourself in a similar position....
TRANSFER THOSE ASSETS INTO YOUR NAME 2 years into caregiving or they will take them from you, house etc..
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foodiewithdahoodie · 5 months
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I'm always confused as to why people ask the actors anything about s5 and why they ask them specifically about characters they don't even play. All those shipping questions should be directed at the actual writers of ST, not the actors. The writers are the ones who know every major and minor detail of the characters.
I'm not gonna be asking Caleb or Sadie about team Jancy or Stancy cuz that has nothing to do with the characters they play, Lucas and Max.
If you're talking to David Harbor, at least ask about Hopper's arc of becoming anti authority after being bamboozled by the U.S. government and tortured by the Russians so now he can possibly relate better to the kids/teens. How he goes from former soldier and cop to being in a prisoner's shoes, considering cops police prisoners. How his tortured self could empathize with El more after his overbearing s2/3 attitude. Just saying the show does have plot beyond romance.
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helius-helius · 6 months
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Let me *** explain
I enjoy my S&M relationship with history. Specifically, I'm talking about the 20th century. And so, uh. I present to you S.T.A.L.K.E.R. but it's an alternate universe in the setting of the movie "Stalker" by Tarkovsky.
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Military+ Duty+ Monolith+ Free stalkers
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Free stalkers+ Freedom Freedom+ Military
The military this time is the army of the Soviets. The uniforms of Soviet soldiers consist of regular summer casual and field military uniforms. On the chest there is an armored vest 6B2. Equipped with a gas mask PMG-2.
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Free stalkers Mercenaries Mercenaries+ Monolith
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Ecologists Ecologists Ecologists+ Clear Sky+
Freedom Fighters wear the modified uniforms of the U.S. military for the period from 1970 to 1980. The PASGT or Flak Vest M69 serves as protection. They use the U.S. M17 gas mask.
Since the Mercenaries in the game itself wear uniforms similar to the British SAS, I did the same. (Why not)
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And an example of what it would look like.
I'll still be working on it, but here's all there is for you now.
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Say that You Love Me - Chapter 18
Will You Still Want Me (when i'm nothing new?)
Fandom: Criminal Minds
Pairing: Spencer Reid x Fem!Reader
Warnings: 18+ Minors DNI, canon typical violence, insecurities, death, inaccuracies for how the U.S. government works, MAEVE STORY LINE
Fluff + angst, smut in separate chapters
The temporary assignment lasted for a little over five months. In those times you had built a profile for the team of the big-time thieves going after specific paintings from your grandmother’s collection. Unfortunately, you also uncovered some truths about your new sister-in-law. However, after months of tailing her, nothing ever stuck.
When Derek and Penelope were sent to London, you made yourself scarce and went back to the Chateau under the guise of going over your grandmother's books. The case was already confusing as it was and filling in Derek and Penelope would be too much of a hassle to do. 
So then you were back in the BAU, waiting around for a new lead on the case. Unfortunately, again, you heard they hired someone in Emily's place. 
First case you were back on after a temporary assignment with the Art Crimes division was the L.A.-San Diego case. Hotch had wanted you to go with Rossi to San Diego. You, however, asked Derek to switch with you and he didn't bother to argue. If anyone wanted to put as much distance as possible between you and Spencer, it was Derek.
When you inevitably re-grouped, you clamped up. You didn't make any quips or observations, and the team functions just fine. With Blake there, they didn't need you. She was every bit as smart as Spencer, and every bit of an agent as the rest of the team. Besides, after your temporary assignment, you had a feeling your expertise would be better elsewhere.
"Y/N," Derek called, snapping you out of your thoughts. "You coming?"
"She'll stay here," it was Hotch. His voice made you jump. "We'll look for anything we might be missing."
Derek glanced between you and Hotch, trying to decide whether his team was okay or not. He didn't have much of a choice, though, because Spencer called his name. 
"You want to talk about it?" He asked, taking a seat across from you. 
"About what?" You played dumb. "Nothing to talk about."
"Are you sure?" He said. "Because I can think of a number of topics. Emily. Marcus. Blake–"
"–okay, that's enough," You sighed. "You read the report."
"About?"
"The task force," you told him. “It seems so big, but I don’t know, Hotch, I have a bad feeling about it. It’s probably nothing, though.”
Hotch raised an eyebrow. “Your instincts saved our lives multiple times. It kept you alive all these years.”
You shrugged. Truthfully, you didn't know how much you could tell Hotch. You didn't want to put him in any more doubts from the team. The BAU needed to trust their Unit Chief to function, and looping Hotch in meant that he had to lie to everyone else. After Emily, you didn't ever want to put him in that position.
“Y/N,” Hotch approached cautiously. “Is this going to be a problem?”
You shook your head. "No, Marcus and I are handling it for now. I will need some time, though, when this goes down."
"Okay," he said. "Anything else?"
You bit your lip and shook your head, no.
**
If anyone noticed you were pulling away from the team, nobody said anything. And if you noticed Spencer was acting weird for the past few weeks, you didn't say anything either.
It wasn't like you were mad at him or anything. It was Blake. And him. And their combined super-genius brains. 
When you were in Georgetown, you sat in on Blake's class because you had free time and hers was the only interesting one out of the roster. It was supposed to be something you can learn in another time, low commitment and effort. You also knew a lot of people taking the class.
You had love and hate relationships with authority figures, professors were not an exception.
There were those who encouraged your curious nature. Those who guided you to your full potential while working with your ADHD, whom you loved endlessly. Then, there were those who found what you were doing to be disruptive, annoying, and unnatural.
Blake was the latter. She singled you out multiple times, expecting her students to pay attention to her every word. She would ask you questions you'd only know the answer to if you did her assignments (which, because you were sitting in, you didn't do). In short, she made you feel inadequate.
You stuck it out until the end of the semester, and prayed to never see her again.
This team was no different, unfortunately. With every quip you said, she'd go, "Oh, you think so?"
Or, "We'll check in with the others."
Or, "That's a big jump."
Or, "Dr. Reid and I are trying to figure it out, you are welcome to join us."
It twisted inside you like a vice. 
And then Spencer was different. 
You'd call and the line would say it was busy, then he didn't call you back. Every Sunday, like clockwork, he'd deny yours, JJ, and Penelope's invite for brunch. 
Truthfully, you should've seen it sooner, should've investigated sooner.
"You want to come to a book signing this Sunday?" You asked Spencer at one point. "He's from Lebanon and his poetry are so–"
"I can't," he cut you off, not even looking up from his book.
"Why?" You pressed, confused.
"I'll be busy." 
"Since when? You rarely have plans on weekends."
"Oh, it's just an appointment," Lie, you mind whispered. It surprised you so much you almost jumped.
"With the specialist? For your head?"
Spencer turned to you, then, annoyed. "Yes, if you must know, since you want to monitor my every move."
Your skin crawled. "Why are you being so defensive?"
"I'm not being defensive," he said, defensively. 
You wanted to fight him, find out what exactly was going on, but you put your hands up instead. "Okay, Jesus. None of my business, got it."
You never asked him again after that. The rejection gripped your heart, poisoning your head, and so you stopped asking. You knew you couldn’t handle another ‘no’. 
Hotch had Beth to worry about, going back and forth to New York, cutting your time with Jack short. Derek was, well, Derek. JJ had Will and Henry, Penelope had been trying to welcome Blake so you couldn't exactly talk to her. Rossi would've told you to suck it up.
For the first time you had been in this team, you felt alone and unneeded.
Things came into a clearer picture by the end of the month. It was the case of someone surgically attaching one leg to another's body, arguably the first cut-and-dry case you had to work with Blake. 
"He's not doing it for the money," you said, definitely on the jet.
"How can you be sure?" Blake questioned. Of course. You held a sigh.
You started to explain, "It's not clean enough, and he would've taken more. The eyes, the skin, or go inside like lungs, heart, and kidneys. If he wants to make cash, he'd pick him apart like Mr. Potato Head."
"I'm not convinced we should rule the black market out," Blake said. "We should still check it out, see what we get by asking around."
Hotch nodded at her. "Reid, you, JJ and Y/N go to Juarez and look at Richard Hubbel's body. Morgan and Dave, you go talk to Tony Anderson. Blake and I will investigate the black market angle."
You pursued your lips and looked out the window. The more cases you worked on the worse that you felt. Not only now that Derek was questioning your loyalty, you had Blake to question your expertise. The team was starting to feel like a glass coffin closing in. All the growth in the world could not change how your brain was wired, after all. 
When Spencer presented your findings to the team, he concluded that the unsub was trying to attach a leg to someone else.
"We should alert hospitals," you suggested. "If this unsub's not even a surgeon, then the complication risks would be astronomical. All that, just for a guaranteed failed experiment."
Spencer pondered the idea in his head, nodding. “That's a great idea, so they'd know–”
Blake, unfortunately, shot it down. Spencer frowned in confusion. You wanted to tell him that it wasn't him, that she was attacking you instead. 
She said, "We don't know for sure if he's putting the legs on alive victims." 
Three hours later, the local hospital called about a man who died in the ER with someone else's leg attached to him. 
You were getting tired of being dismissed, but one look at Hotch (who was missing his girlfriend) and Rossi (who was conflicted about Strauss), you knew it wouldn't be worth the trouble. You snuck a glance at Spencer, who was just tapping his things anxiously, and knew he wouldn't back you up either.
After they found the next body, a woman this time, Hotch called you back to the station to brainstorm. When you got there, you didn't find Blake anywhere. You didn't care that your relief was visible. JJ shot you a worried glance, and you shook her off.
"Someone he can heal by sacrificing these victims," Derek said, getting the brainstorm session started.
"Like a spouse, or a child," Rossi supplied. 
"Look, I can't get past this blood donation ruse," you said. "Blood donation is like a free health check up, that's why college kids do it, athletes, and others. They screen your blood for viruses, bacterias, basically any abnormalities. He could've picked up his victims anywhere else, but why through blood screens?"
"You think he's looking for something specific?" JJ asked, flipping through the files.
"I think so," you said. "I think we should look at what they have in common to figure out–"
"I figured it out," cut Spencer Reid, barrelling through the doors with Blake. Everyone turned their attention to the newcomers, excited for the find. "Chicken pox in mothers can cause–"
You swallowed the rest of your words, leaning back to your chair, defeated.
Doesn't matter, you internalized. As long as we get the guy and save the victim.
On the jet, you pretended not to notice the kissy face Derek gave Spencer. You pretended not to notice the worry in Hotch's eyes when you didn't sit next to Spencer the third case in a row. 
You opened an email account that you haven't had the chance to since forever. Tens of unopened email from researchers and experts on certain topics that tried their best to answer your questions greeted you. However, you then found the anomaly. Out of all thirty unopened emails, there were four that were opened. Curiously, you clicked on the thread, and sure enough, that was how you found her.
The next time you caught Spencer calling her, it was purely a coincidence. It was his fault really, no more than yours that you parked nearby a telephone booth after yet another dead-end meeting with Ron in a different coffee shop. He was the one who chose a payphone near your car.
You figured out their MO fifteen minutes after you found that email chain, but you weren't crazy enough to track anything or establish a pattern.
"Was that her?" You asked, leaning against your car as you watched Spencer hung up in the phone booth. You were getting pretty tired of him blowing you off and being standoffish when you have done nothing wrong. 
"What?" He asked, surprised. Spencer looked so worried and mad that if you weren't kind of pissed at him, you'd think it was cute. "Are you spying on me now?"
"If I was spying on you, you wouldn't know," you rolled your eyes. "You didn't answer my question. Was that her? Was that Dr. Maeve Donovan?"
"Don't say her name!" He whispered the warning. "Don't you think there's a reason why I'm calling her from a phone booth instead of my own private line?"
"What, is she being stalked or something?" You joked, but the look on Spencer's face confirmed it. You straightened up, feeling bad. "Jesus. Do you know how easy I find her, Spence? Who is this stalker?"
"It's not of your business–"
"I can help so you don't have to sneak around–"
"Stop!" He yelled, hand hitting the roof of your small car. You flinched back in response, body tensing up and on high alert, before you assured yourself that it was just Spencer. "If I had wanted your help, I would've asked. If I had wanted you to know, I would've told you. You going behind my back to stalk someone I care about is crossing a line."
He was right. You knew he was right and you couldn't really justify your actions. Why had you sought her out? Why had you lifted a finger to find out about her? 
"You told her about our cases, didn't you?" You went on the offense because you ran out of your defense cards. "She solved the crazy surgeon case, didn't she? How many more of our cases are you going to tell her, Spence? Until you become a security risk?"
"She helped. She helped us save a lot of lives," he defended. "Don't turn this on me like this isn't jealousy speaking."
"Jealousy?" The idea was so ridiculous to you that you started to laugh. And also, mostly, because you didn't appreciate being called out like that.
"Yeah, and you have no right to." He continued. "You agreed that we stayed friends and you were the one who pushed me away first. Then you took Marcus to your brother's wedding–"
"Marcus?" You exclaimed, focusing on the one thing you could counter. "This is about Marcus from Art Crimes?"
"No!" Spencer ran a hand through his hair. "This is about me, and my privacy, and you're crossing those lines again."
You looked at him then, the way he talked to you. The way he was standing defensively with his body turned away from you. The way he was looking at you like you crossed a line so thick that it was unforgiven.
"Okay," you conceded, taking a deep breath. "I just hope you know what you're doing. I hope you have an exit plan."
And you had. You had debated over and over again in your head whether confronting him was the right thing to do. You knew now it wasn't. You were just worried, you justified. Then, you remembered what Derek said.
You did feel that Derek's intervention came out of nowhere, but then you understood. This was why.
"Not everyone is as eager to leave as you are." 
Well that stung.
"Okay." You threw your hands in front of you. "Okay, I'll leave you be."
And so you left him there, in front of the phone booth, as you drove away in your car.
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taylorswiftstyle · 8 months
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TSS x HRH
What a delight chatting with Elizabeth Holmes, author of HRH: So Many Thoughts On Royal Style. As I'm sure you can imagine, we had a lot of things in common (and, naturally, so many thoughts) when it comes to the use of fashion as a method of communication. It was an honour to be thought of as Elizabeth sought to highlight Taylor's incredible six date run in Los Angeles to close out the 2023 U.S. leg of the Eras Tour. I deeply admire her analytical and thoughtful approach to the styling of royal women and it was so humbling to find the feeling was mutual when it came to her wading into our Swiftie waters and the cultural moment of the Eras Tour.
We talked about the founding of TSS, Taylor's style evolution, our shared love of signature colours (HRH Blue meets TSS Green), and - of course - the outfits and significance of Taylor's tour wardrobe specifically.
Have a read over on Elizabeth's Substack here.
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timetravellingkitty · 2 months
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hi!! I just found out about tumblr having an anti-hindutva tag and I shall be making myself comfortable here! just found your account like a few mins ago and if it’s ok, i wanted to ask some questions (you absolutely don't have to answer if you don't like any of them or even if you don't feel like answering :) ) (edit added, this ask got way too long lol. feel free to skip it! also, you're kinda super cool lol)
I'm Indian, currently outside India, and I've only started learning about the shitshow going on in my 'mahaan bharat' since November (specifically since finding out that we are Irahell's biggest weapons buyer). and the more I find out the more shocked and heartbroken I feel...
like this week i learnt about the immigration ban in US against Chinese women that existed a few decades ago, and the ongoing discrimination against Palestinians in Canadian immigration services... and both the times I was so disgusted and there was this subconscious feeling that India should never be like that. but then an hour ago I learnt about the 2019 CAA and wtf!?
another example being that currently we're seeing israhell's continuous bombing of heritage sites of great cultural and religious significance, that also held so many centuries old records and histories... and learning about how they are bulldozing over graveyards and exhuming them...
and then today I learnt about Akhonji Masjid and Gyanvapi Masjid and of course have known about Babri Masjid for a few weeks now...
and only learnt about Kashmir in november...
and I feel like my whole worldview has shifted from a previous foundation, except it's so drastic and I still don't have a new foundation...
I try to talk to members of my family about this but they're the Indian equivalent of the U.S. liberals, and every single time they'll tell me "whatever news you're hearing is propaganda written by Pakistan/China/U.S./Russia. trust me I have Muslim friends and they're very happy. you just don't know the situation cause you're not in India" and like it sometimes make me think maybe I'm the one losing my mind...
I even read some places about free Punjab and that confused the fuck out of me cause I'm Punjabi (who does not live in Punjab) and I don't have any clue what it's about... I asked my fam, but they just gave me a weird look and told me to stay away from anyone that mentions Khalistan😭💀
(this got way longer than I expected, so sorry) but would you have any recommendations for any blogs/articles/books/podcast resources or any personal recommendations for news publications that are reliable (finding God would probably be easier than finding such publications lmao) like I thought Al-Jazeera is super credible, but then read that they're super credible when it comes to Palestine, not when it's global...
like where tf do I go from here lol
hello nonnie! some news sites I'd recommend are newslaundry (they have a youtube channel too), the wire, scroll.in and newsclick. maktoob media is mostly focused on minority rights in india. hindutvawatch.org is about hindu fascist violence committed against minorities. I still think you should stick to al-jazeera at least when it comes to palestine (they have journalists on the ground there, shireen abu akleh was one of them)
this is a good introduction to anyone wanting to learn about hindutva, this and this are about how india is becoming increasingly unsafe for minorites and is undergoing a democratic backsliding. this and this are about the rss link to nazism
hostile homelands by azad essa is about india's historical relationship with israel and the parallels between hindutva and zionism. the brown history podcast has an episode about how india went from the first non-arab state to recognise palestine to its largest buyer of weapons, featuring azad essa (x). you can also read colonising kashmir by hafsa kanjwal about how india came to militarily occupy kashmir. if you want to learn more about kashmir there are the blogs kashmiraction.org and standwithkashmir (which is um. blocked in india. i wonder why)
i have not read khaki shorts and saffron flags yet but this one is about the history of the rss. i also suggest watching the documentaries ram ke naam and jai bhim, comrade which are about the hindutva revival in the 1980s
for me free punjab is very ?? the indian government is beyond evil as they continue to spy on sikhs abroad (and ofc, how can we forget the 1984 sikh genocide) but i don't think liberation will be achieved through a religious ethnostate. any state formed on the basis of a religion will inevitably turn out to be a disaster. i do encourage you to read lost in history: 1984 reconstructed by gunisha kaur, which is about the humans rights violations committed against sikhs during this time and why operation bluestar was in fact not about freeing sri harmandir sahib from "terrorists." all i can say is to stand with sikhs unapologetically as our shitass government continues to commit more and more human rights violations against them
in general, i'd tell you to observe the language used by different news outlets and question it (eg. american news referring to israelis below the age of 18 as children but the same courtesy is not extended to palestinians) and check their sources. if it's from whatsapp university don't even bother
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phoenixyfriend · 2 months
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DeSantis is calling for a US representative to be denaturalized and deported.
The apparent cause? Said representative, Ilhan Omar, is a naturalized Somali-American citizen who recently gave a speech where she referred to herself as "Somali first, and Muslim second," without mentioning America.
“Expel from Congress, denaturalize and deport,” urged Ron DeSantis about U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is taking criticism from the Right for comments she made privileging Somalia over the United States.
As Newsweek notes, Omar recently told a crowd of Somali American constituents that she was “Somalian first, Muslim second” and “here to protect the interests of Somalia from inside the U.S. system.”
She also claimed that while she is in Congress, “no one will take Somalia’s sea. The United States will not back others to rob us.” There, she was objecting to a deal struck by Somaliland to give Ethiopia access to the ocean.
- Florida Politics
I'm not going to comment on the discussion of who deserves to own the disputed territories she's actually talking about in her speech, because quite frankly I barely know enough about that area to understand why Italy caused the Ethiopia/Eritrea/Djibouti port access issue, but I will say that it is a frankly ridiculous cause for STRIPPING SOMEONE OF THEIR CITIZENSHIP AND DEPORTING THEM. The woman was talking about her ethnic and cultural background and promising to protect people of that specific background. This is a normal thing for politicians to do. It's often their platform.
And let's not pretend that "I will strengthen ties with/support this ally" is uncommon. It's just usually the EU or Israel or something, instead of Somalia.
... possibly the actual cause, politically, is that she has been supporting Rep. Tlaib in pro-Palestine activities, and has been calling for reparations to be paid to the families of civilians killed by US operations in Somalia.
“Congress appropriates $3 million every year specifically to make payments to civilian victims and survivors of U.S. operations,” Omar said. “However, those funds have never been used in Somalia — despite confirmed civilian deaths there.”
- The Intercept
So, you know. Her other "hold America accountable in the middle east" activities probably are part of this.
Plus the usual racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia of the GOP.
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There is a lot that has been written about the ways that the Louis/Lestat relationship becomes an interesting sort of commentary on colonialism -- the white Frenchman who is framed as the more masculine and dominant partner with a black Creole man in New Orleans, who basically uproots his life so that he can be his forever companion -- but the decision in episode 3 to have Lestat basically help Jelly Roll Morton "write" one of his trademark songs is interesting to me in light of this, as someone who knows a fair amount about the early history of jazz and the role of race in it. It's framed as Lestat having the idea to inject classical music into jazz, and I've seen many people in the fandom suggest that he "invented orchestral jazz" in that moment. So it's curious that 2022 Interview with the Vampire, a show that otherwise seems very aware of the racial disparities it comments on through its changes to the original novel, not only gave a white European man that role but had him basically usurp the role of a real black Creole man from Louisiana who is widely acknowledged as one of the originators of jazz, particularly in terms of its use of improvisation and arranging/improving on preexisting works of music (as Lestat is doing there).
I don't say this is "curious" for the reasons you think. For one, I think it's important to remember that what we're "seeing" is Louis' recollections of what happened, what he's telling to Daniel Molloy, and not necessarily the unbiased "fact" of what went down. But more to the point, it's interesting to do this with "orchestral jazz" because that's a genre whose history is defined by that kind of appropriation.
I'm probably going to write way more about this than is necessary, so let's put this below a cut:
First of all, jazz has basically always had classical music as its close stylistic companion. There's a reason jazz originated in New Orleans, a city that had a history of having a black middle and arguably even upper class before Jim Crow laws tried to bring them all down to the same level (discussed in the show) -- a middle/upper class that particularly represented black people who had mixed European ancestry, which is historically what "Creole" meant in New Orleans when applied to people of color. And middle-class in the 19th-early 20th century meant having a piano at home and it meant at least some degree of "classical" training in music, and in America, an up-and-coming country that had become the industrial and political equal of Europe but was still struggling to be taken seriously culturally, a lot was riding on their association with European art forms like classical music. It was a big part of how class disparity was defined at the time, education about and interest in classical music.
This creates a situation where in New Orleans, we see a lot of overlap between classical musicians and black blues musicians, and that is one of the many influences that went into the gumbo (if you will) that is jazz. If you count ragtime as jazz, ragtime composers like Scott Joplin were pretty open about wanting to be seen as similar to classical musicians, with Joplin composing in classical forms like opera. (Granted, talking about ragtime gets us further afield from NOLA specifically, but it was part of that influence stew at the time.) If you go to New Orleans and you listen to the style of jazz widely played there, much of which attempts to harken back to the kind popular in the early part of the 20th century, you'll hear a lot more classical influence than you will with (some) later forms. It even includes some "classical" instruments whose popularity in jazz has waned in the decades since, such as the clarinet or the tuba.
Anyway, so this early influence was largely the work of black composers who were interested in classical music, But a lot of what "mainstreamed" orchestral-flavored jazz in the 1920s was -- as is so often the case with black music in the U.S. -- white musicians, helped along by Jim Crow making it hard for black people to get the opportunities and audiences white people did. (There are lots of stories where famous black musicians from the era like Louis Armstrong played in concert halls and clubs where they would not have been allowed to attend a concert as a spectator. Think about that.) Many people think of "orchestral jazz" and think instantly of "Rhapsody in Blue," a work by a white composer, George Gershwin (albeit, also a son of Jewish immigrants who had grown up in immigrant communities in New York, not someone who'd be seen as unimpeachably "white" at the time). But its first performance was in a band version by the group led by -- no joke, this is his real name -- Paul Whiteman. Whiteman is a controversial figure in the history of early jazz for having profited off the innovations of black musicians, including in making a lot of his fame from the "idea" of blending jazz with classical music. (As that Wikipedia article shows, there are some who dispute this, and note that he frequently collaborated with black musicians as much as was allowed during segregation, and no less of a black jazz luminary than Duke Ellington sung his praises.)
You could argue there is some inherent "whitewashing" going on in “orchestral jazz,” as it was obviously going to be more palatable to white classical music listeners who saw jazz as beneath them. There is, of course, a pattern of this throughout the history of black music, that continues to this day, and isn't always done by white people. (The popularity of Hamilton among people who don't otherwise listen to hip-hop always felt like a reflection of this trend to me.) Oftentimes it's made by minority musicians who like classical music (or whichever white genre) pretty genuinely. As stated before, a lot of the earliest orchestral jazz is just... jazz. It was the kind "originally done" by black people. But there's a reason that blending jazz more "obviously" (to the then-contemporary white listener) with classical music and other pre-existing "white"-coded genres (like the marching band tradition) is what helped get jazz into more and more "respectable" white venues. And that association with whiteness and white "respectability" is why white people were so easily able to take credit for something that in fact black musicians had been doing for decades.
So it's interesting to me that Interview with the Vampire, a show that is always very conscious of the racial dynamics of New Orleans in the early 20th century and particularly within the Lestat/Louis relationship, gives us a scene where Lestat gets to take credit for a big innovation in jazz history, by pretty effortlessly doing jazz-improvisation on a preexisting classical piece and it "inspiring" Jelly Roll Morton to try the same thing himself. You know, rather than that being something Jelly Roll came up with on his own and was already doing.
There's a lot to unpack here. Lestat admits later that Jelly Roll sounded fine, and he did what he did for other reasons; his snobbery toward jazz is also implied to be a front, and I think it pretty much has to be for him to be able to improvise that easily. I'm someone who has been actually trained somewhat in jazz, and let me tell you, that kind of improvisation on the fly is hard and not something someone would be able to do without being practiced at it. You're basically doing what composers do but on the spur of the moment, and in a genre that has distinctly different rules about harmony, rhythm, etc. than classical music normally does. He had to have had practice -- if indeed, this did actually happen as we see it.
I think what makes me take the side of that this story is false is the particular classical piece that Lestat chooses to improvise: the Minuet in G. This piece is often falsely attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach, and Lestat does that here; the joke about "he had 20 children" is a reference to a really common story about Bach. But it was in fact written by the lesser-known composer Christian Petzold, and only gets mistakenly attributed to Bach because it was found in a book of music that Bach gave to his wife Anna Magdalena. There are countless J.S. Bach pieces that are famous and that we know he wrote, especially for the keyboard -- and that's the one the show chose to have Lestat play, the false-attribution. Given how attentive this show has been to its music, I can't help but think that is intentional, and so it means history is repeating itself: false attribution on top of false attribution.
So if this didn't happen, or even just didn't happen the way we're told, what is Louis' reason for putting forward this story including to Daniel Molloy? I think it's one small piece of a mountain of evidence that even in the present day, he retains a lot more fondness for Lestat than you'd think at first glance. He clearly still has feelings for him, and in this case, to the extent of constructing a false and politically-incorrect story to attest to his greatness. You can also put it in context with the holes Molloy keeps poking in Louis' story of how great this relationship is. "Yeah, sure, my boyfriend was abusive, but he was also a musical genius, how could I not be drawn to him?"
(Daniel Molloy's own skeptical reaction to this story is also something to take into account here. And the conversation between them helps give viewers context for just how big of a wrench Louis is throwing in the history of jazz by claiming this.)
What's most interesting about this to me is how this troubles the story of Louis the Anti-Racist Crusader that we see both in the story he tries to tell and also, honestly, in terms of how a lot of the fandom misinterprets him. Here Louis is directly making a story less "black" in order to make his white boyfriend look better. He's truly "whitewashing" history, in multiple senses of the word. But if you look closely at Louis' behavior, this shouldn't be surprising. He's willing to play the game with white segregationists, people whose thoughts he can read now to tell that they don't really respect him (but I think he always kinda knew this), as long as he gets to keep his business running. He kills Alderman Fenwick already sorta knowing that what happens after is not going to be good for the black residents of Storyville, the people he claims to protect... but he does it anyway, and makes a very public tableau of what he did, because it felt good. He's not the good person he tries to represent himself as in contrast to Lestat; he has his own largely-selfish motivations, and his priorities are squarely focused on the little family of vampires he's built, not on any broader community. Maybe on his own guilt and wanting to feel like he still has a moral compass, but he regularly disregards that and amends his "moral code" as convenient. Louis is very sympathetic, especially with all the discrimination he experiences and the fucked-up way that Lestat treats him, but that doesn't make Louis a good person. But it does make him a far more interesting character!
The Jelly Roll Morton story is just one small piece of the puzzle, but a very telling one when you dig a little bit deeper into it and ask yourself why these storytelling decisions were made. Both in the out-universe sense of what the showrunners are trying to tell us by highlighting particular moments in Louis' long life, but also in the in-universe sense of the choices Louis makes in telling his own story.
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gwendolynlerman · 3 months
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Things that surprised me as a European tourist in the United States
This is based on my experience as a Spaniard traveling to the United States (specifically New York City and Washington, D. C.).
Like many people around the world, I have grown up in contact with U.S. culture through literature, film, and music, so I didn't experience much cultural shock, but some things still surprised me.
All vehicles (cars, trucks, school buses...) are huge! Most cars are pickup trucks or SUVs. The most common brands came from the United States, but I also saw many Japanese cars, especially Nissan and Toyota (mostly Prius, USAmericans seem to love this model 😂).
Customer service is great, not only in restaurants or places where one is expected to leave a tip but also in museums and subway stations.
I heard many different languages spoken by locals, including Mandarin, Russian, and Spanish, as well as European languages spoken by tourists, such as French, German, and Portuguese. (I think that this is mostly the case in big cities, and especially NYC.) In general, the United States is more ethnically diverse than that in Europe, or at least Spain.
People wear face masks more often, although I guess that this is transient due to flu season. Still, way fewer people wear them in Spain.
Taxes are not included in the price. (I was aware of this but used to forget about it at first.)
Toilets are not as deep as in Europe (the water is really close to your butt 😖), and many flush automatically. Public restrooms always have seat covers but normally do not have a toilet lid.
The doors are really heavy! No wonder many people (mostly men) held them open for me. I once had to throw myself against the door to open it. What is the deal with doors in the U.S.? (Is it a NYC thing only?)
People were quite loud (and this is coming from someone who grew up in a country that is renowned for how loud we talk) and played music/videos without headphones in the subway 😑
Cops are surprisingly chill despite the reputation that they have. A guy was insulting a couple of them from across the subway platform, and they just smiled and waved at him. In Spain, it is a crime to insult a police officer, so I was surprised that they were so chill about the whole situation.
On that note, there were a lot of cops around the city at all times (even at 5 a.m.). I counted nine of them in Penn Station!
Drivers honk all the time because of every minor inconvenience. On Thanksgiving Day, there were a lot of traffic jams, and people were honking as if that would magically clear the streets... And, of course, if one person honked, the rest honked as well, so walking on the street on the main avenues was really deafening 😐
Traffic lights are quite far away from where cars have to stop.
Fire truck sirens are really loud and sound like emergency alarm systems. (It reminded me of those TikTok videos ranking them.)
People say "Excuse me" in the subway when going in or out, which was a nice change from the shoving and pushing I'm used to in Madrid.
I saw a lot of people carrying around huge reusable water bottles. (Here's an explanation for why USAmericans drink so much.)
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People called me "Ma'am" instead of "Miss". I know it's the polite way to address people, but it was very weird 😂
New Yorkers (maybe USAmericans in general) love to use cardinal directions (north, south, east, west) when giving directions. Someone once told me, "Go west on Broadway" and I was like "I have trouble orienting myself when I use Google Maps, do you think I know which direction I'm going in at all times??".
There are lots of caution signs about worker safety on construction sites, both in English and Spanish, which leads me to think that there are many work accidents 🤔
As a solo female traveler, I was a bit concerned about my security in a city that I have heard is dangerous and in a country where mass shootings are a relatively normal occurrence (unfortunately), but I felt mostly safe. I was surprised to see many posters that read, "If you see something, say something".
Related to the above, I was shocked to see "This is a gun free zone" posters in public places and "No guns allowed" posters on supermarket doors.
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I was really surprised to see ads with phone numbers with words in them, like the one below. After doing some research, I discovered they are called vanity numbers and are easier for people to remember. (If, like me, you're wondering how to dial these numbers, apparently you just press the number that corresponds to the letter on the keypad.)
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I smelled marijuana everywhere! Although illegal in Spain, you can also smell it sometimes, but it seemed ubiquitous in NYC. (I personally hate the smell, which is why I noticed.)
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scoobydoodean · 3 months
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It will always make me cringe that John (presumably?) made his sons call him "sir". Like, what the fuck, man? Show them some love.
I'll be honest—while I get this bothers other people and I can get that, this specifically doesn't bother me too much personally. It's probably because I come at it from a different cultural perspective. I was raised in the deep south (U.S.), and my parents taught me to always answer adults "Yes/No sir" or "Yes/No ma'am" as I was growing up. Just as with Sam and Dean, "Dad" and "Mom" are still addressed as "Dad" and "Mom", but yes/no questions got a "ma'am" or "sir" tacked on.
This has largely fallen out of fashion now, and that doesn't bother me either—there are a lot of reasons it's probably best to leave this in the past. But I'm 28 years old now, and I tell you what—I still shift back into this sometimes. Not with my parents—but when I was in a gas station soul food restaurant in the middle of nowhere for lunch this past Wednesday, you bet your ass I instantly jumped to replying to the older gentleman waiting on my family with a "yes sir" or "no sir". Sometimes it just pops out.
I will say, this is not standard behavior with parents I think at Sam and Dean's ages even within my experience. Usually, kids shift out of answering with "yes sir" or "yes ma'am" as they get older. I think it is meant to reflect a certain drill-sergeant mentality where Sam and Dean are John's soldiers—something John himself admits to in 1.20. It just doesn't really raise my blood pressure if you know what I mean.
Do you notice though—how John responds to Sam's "backtalk" versus Dean's? The scene I just made a gif set of is the first where John doesn't admonish Dean, specifically, for standing up to him. You can also tell Sam is surprised and also a little worried for Dean there. In the discussion that proceeds that set, Dean calls John's insistence that he's trying to keep them safe "Crap", and gets an "Excuse me?" that Sam didn't when he was just spewing simmering anger at John a few seconds before. In 1.21, when John criticizes Dean for not calling to tell him about Sam's visions and Dean blows up about it, John ends up saying he's right, but also policing his "tone". I think one reason is that Dean is supposed to be his dutiful son who doesn't talk back—so John isn't used to this. But I also think Dream!Dean's comments in 3.10 "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" lend to the idea that John took a more exacting stance with Dean over "backtalk". 14.12 "Prophet and Loss" suggests the same—indicating John would send Dean away if Dean pissed him off.
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howtofightwrite · 7 months
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Greek fire was an extraordinary specific weapon found in a particular time and region, naval combat was primarily an afar of rams (in the medaterriaan with its oar powered vessels) and armed roaring ie: getting as close as possible and just swarming onto your opponents boat to fight in melee, with some archery and whatnot. One of the sucesses of the eventual roman navy was perfecting a sort of boarding ramp to quickly put their troops on an enemy ship
Furthermore, in later periods, there are accounts of skirmishes in the atlantic between rival fleets. In which case the fore and aftcastles on the cogs are used as platforms to post archers and men throwing rocks and iron bars down on opponents ships while others boarded (hence why their called castles and elevated). Theres at least one account (I forgot of which battle) in which an English king boarded an enemy ship then abandoned his own as it sunk.
So, free advice, if you want to remain anonymous, you probably should make sure that both asks go through as anon. Though, I'm pretty sure Tumblr's extended ask length would have let you drop both paragraphs into it. Worst case (and I do realize I'm a poster child for looking like I ignore this advice), but when you run into a word (or character) limit, it's usually a good idea to start editing and trimming down the length until the system accepts it in a single pass. Splitting an ask into multiple parts is an excellent way to lose part of a question, or just make sure it never gets answered in the first place. Cut everything you don't absolutely need.
Either way, I'll err on the side of caution and answer the anon response to preserve your privacy.
I thought I made it clear that Greek fire was a much later invention. It's actually a little frustrating, because you'll see poorly researched history articles which will straight up make it sound like Greek fire was used during the Peloponnesian War. Which, yeah, no. A lot of the major Hellenic wars we think of today were around the 5th century BCE, while the invention of Greek Fire was over a thousand years later.
While you were talking about Greek fire in particular, what you said applies to a lotof weapons throughout history. When we're talking about something like the rapier or the claymore, those are weapons from very specific points in time. It's something to think about when you're mixing and matching technologies to create a fantasy world. No weapon exists in a vacuum, and they all develop as responses to the state of warfare around them. This doesn't mean you can't mix and match pieces you like, but it is something to be conscious of.
While it is outside the scope of the original question (because it's a firearm), one of the more amusing weapons from the age of sail were actual gun blades. These would be musket (usually a pistol), with a cutlass blade mounted under the barrel. (There were also examples that mounted an axe head under the barrel.) The intention was to be able to use the firearm during boarding actions and then switch over to using it as a melee weapon rather than reloading. The design was fundamentally flawed, the weight distribution was poor for a blade, and the (relative) mechanical complexity of the early firearms meant those components were too fragile for serious use. But for a couple decades in the 17th century these things saw limited use.
Now, I do need to give serious credit to A Number of Hobbies, who came back with a trio of fantastic reference articles. Naval Combat Strategies from Shadyislepirates.com, Choosing Naval Tactics for Your Pre-Gunpowder World from Mythcreants.com, and The First Punic War: Audacity and Hubris from the U.S. Naval Institute. So, if you're still wanting more information, those are all excellent resources to check.
-Starke
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queenofmalkier · 6 months
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In regards to the arrow removal, I think a lot of people are not considering the context in which Nynaeve made the decision. And I am here to defend my wife, obvy.
For starters - they're going to Egwene, who Nynaeve refuses to think of as anything but 100% FINE AND OKAY AND DEFINITELY NOT TRAUMATIZED. And Egwene can channel which means she can heal.
Nynaeve spent enough time in the tower to basically see the impossible compared to her knowledge of healing before. Suddenly a lot of her knowledge is irrelevant because the one power can fix things better than she can with traditional medicine. Nynaeve is stubborn, but she takes healing seriously. She'll always choose the best option.
That informs her decision. The most important thing is getting Elayne off the active battlefield and to Egwene for healing. The closest I can think of is Star Trek - you wouldn't treat a wound when in ten minutes it's going to be gone, you just need to get the injured person to the doctor.
(Side note but I don't believe she had anything on her to even treat a wound at the time, either, given the sul'dam costume.)
Now, I've gone through a lot of first aid training due to various jobs I've held, so I'm right there with everyone saying not to take it out! You do not take the thing out. Never, ever, ever. Pulling/pushing it out can cause more damage and more bleeding and no one but a medical professional should be touching that sort of injury. This is a modern approach though! Remember, context.
I've seen a lot of people talking about her breaking the shaft before pushing it through, but that would actually be worse. There's no way to cleanly break the fletching away, which means by tugging it through she'd be introducing splinters of wood into the wound. Also the breaking is in regards to arrowheads, not the fletching.
The fletching (feathers on the back) is not actually the dangerous part of the arrow. I've seen some people say it was a crossbow bolt, but either way, from what we were shown the arrowhead itself had exited Elayne's leg already. If that was the case, pushing the shaft through wouldn't actually be harmful to her. It would hurt like hell, but it wouldn't cause any more damage.
I tried finding some actual sources for this specific scenario, but unfortunately most articles are focused on removing the arrowhead and not the shaft (and were also paywalled, boo). The closest I found was information from U.S. Army Surgeon Joseph H. Bill who essentially catalogued American Indian arrows as a way to determine the best removal technique.
He advised not applying traction to the shaft due to the likelihood of the arrowhead coming lose and remaining in the body, but I couldn't find what he advised if the arrowhead had already passed through the body although I did find this quote "An arrow may be pushed out as well as plucked out."
I DID find this lovely gentleman giving a very in depth discussion on medieval arrows as well as removal techniques and some of those are shove it through and hope for the best. (He also mentioned that healing the infection was what doctors and healers handled rather than wounds which... wow. Remind me to never be a medieval soldier in case I ever get that longing.)
So, yeah. I trust Nynaeve was right about her approach to the wound, and I feel like this is a case of a modern audience not trusting her knowledge because of our own knowledge of how those injuries are approached currently. I do think the scene could have been improved (in that regard) if they had Nynaeve explain her thought process, but overall, we got the point: Nynaeve felt like an utter failure, she couldn't help her friend, she couldn't do anything with all her alleged power. What good is she to her friends?
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Our true feelings about race and identity are revealed in six words
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This is a poignant article about a project that Michele Norris started that tapped into people's thoughts about race in a profound way--using only six words. This is a gift🎁link, so anyone can read the full interactive article, even if they don't subscribe to The Washington Post. Below are some excerpts from the article:
I have always cringed when the accusations fly about someone allegedly “playing the race card.” It’s usually a proxy for “You’re making me uncomfortable, so please stop talking.” Or a diversionary tactic used to avoid having to speak about race with any kind of precision or specificity. A shorthand for “Just shut up.” And so, in 2010, I flipped the script, turning that accusatory phrase into a prompt to spark conversation. I printed 200 black postcards at my local FedEx Kinko’s on upper Wisconsin Avenue asking people to condense their thoughts on race or cultural identity into one sentence of six words. The front of the cards simply read:
Race. Your thoughts. 6 words. Please send.
I left the cards everywhere I traveled: in bookstores, in restaurants, at the information kiosks in airports, on the writing desks at all my hotels. Sometimes I snuck them inside airline in-flight magazines or left them at the sugar station at Starbucks. I hoped a few of those postcards would come back, thinking it would be worth the trouble if even a dozen people responded. Much to my surprise, strangers who stumbled on the cards would follow the instructions and use postage stamps to mail their six-word stories back to me in D.C. Since my parents were both postal workers, this gave me an extra thrill. Here I was, doing my part to support the Postal Service. Who says snail mail is dead? Half a dozen cards arrived within a week, then 12, then 20. Over time, that trickle became a tide. I have received more than 500,000 of these stories — and more arrive every day, though the vast majority of submissions now arrive through a website portal online. They have come from all 50 states and more than 100 countries. Though limited to six words, the stories are often shocking in their candor and intimacy. They reveal fear, disappointment, regret and resentment. Some are kissed by grace or triumph. A surprising number arrive in the form of a question, which suggests that many people hunger not just for answers but for permission to speak their truths. It was amazing what people could pack into such a small package:
Reason I ended a sweet relationship
Too Black for Black men’s love
Urban living has made me racist
Took 21 years to be Latina
Was considered White until after 9/11
Gay, but at least I’m White
I’m only Asian when it’s convenient
To keep the conversation going, I created a complementary website for the Race Card Project, where people could submit their six-word stories online. Over time we added two words to the submission form: “Anything else?” That changed everything. People sent in poems, essays, memos and historical documents to explain why they chose their six words. The archive came alive. It became an international forum where people could share their own stories but also learn much about life, as if it were lived by someone else.
I highly recommend reading the entire article, using the above gift link. As an olive-skinned Italian American, with curly hair, I have often felt like I am a walking Rorschach test for race. Even though I'm classified as "white" in the U.S., I've had people ask me if I'm a Latina, a Native American, Black, Egyptian, Jewish, and even a South Pacific Islander. Given my history, here are my six words on race.
A book is not it's cover.
I welcome people adding to this post their own 6 words on race.
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