POV: Me watching the Scott pilgrim fandom (a series about a guy who sucks and a girl who sucks and a bunch of other ppl who suck) somehow be less racist then the spider verse fandom (movies about inclusivity and how anyone can be a hero regardless of age gender or race) I hate it here. (rant in tags) (also this is in no way bashing spvtw I love it im proud of it so far this is all me being mad at a the atsv fandom)

more rp ideas from me and my overactive imagination

a group inspired by all the country music that is constantly playing rn, just like a small town in a southern state where denim jackets with fleece collars and rodeos reign supreme. you could even throw in some yellowstone inspo with there being like one large ranch in town that sorta has a monopoly on like business for the region??? anyways it feels like the type of group that could go a lot of ways, even have a crime element or undercurrent maybe?? either way it’d also be a great opportunity for people to play more people of color in these settings but esp black, latinx, and native people who are traditionally sorta left out of the narrative - now yall could bring them into it :)

a star wars inspired rp, set on a planet that is like the central hub of activity idk listen i do not watch anything star wars related but i play the journey to batuu game on the sims and honestly it made for a nice three hours i think but im also easily entertained either way it could be cute!!just like a central hub city planet place idk it doesn’t have to take place in the sw universe that would just probably be a really great starting point ya know? it also lends itself to a good basis for any magic or technological systems right yall get it yall see the vision it would just take place mostly in one place but it would also be a place for people to get missions, jobs, etc

a city rp with the twist that its like a city from a superhero universe idk ive been on gothamtok for a month now i feel like gotham/metropolis/central city would be so funny like it’s just a regular city rp but you could intersperse it with like news alerts that like deadshot has just killed the mayor or the riddler has taken seven people hostage and is hiding them in a maze that poison ivy created in the center of the city park shit like that idk. your character can even work for them love a henchperson omg it can be the more fantastical versions of the cities like from the animated series or the 90s movies or the more grubby, sad ones from the recent movies or tv shows either way it’d be a nice twist on a classic city rp

BRING BACK BIKER GANG RPS THANKS

college rp centered around a hockey team idk i just love the coho fics that’s just a personal thing

summer is coming up so a summer house/houses rp would eat. maybe like a community omg it just hit me as i started writing this but a community of houses that was built almost specifically for the purpose of it being a party haven??? and it’s like on an island or an two hour drive out of the city and everyone goes up from the city (of your choice) every thursday and leave on sunday/monday (obv some people can stay behind) but either way, the big community aspect could be if you want it to be a bigger group with several houses but if you wanna keep it to 2-3 houses with like 6-8 people per house, that works for smaller groups too omg that would be cute

im watching the valley which is horrible tv but i think a group centered around people that live in a town just outside of a major city would be cute like just far away enough for it be a different county but not so far away that it takes more than an hour to get there and the concept hinges on these being older people who maybe are done living faster paced lives in the city but have a bit of fomo so they wanna settle down out there, idk it feels like a cute idea for a 30+ muses rp esp if you wanna have characters with like full blown relationships, careers, kids, etc

the 30+ idea but inspired by friends / sex & the city where it’s people in their 30s but still living in that major city, trying to ease into somewhat settling down while maybe dealing with the fact that they are getting older??? could be cute i like it

another show/movie to draw inspo from : the gentlemen. i think just a crime rp set in london is actually what im saying here actually, nothing more <3

any city rp set in a city that is not usually highlighted, especially places like rio, mexico city, dublin, singapore, lagos, istanbul, buenos aires, mumbai, etc just to switch it up ya know???

actually this would eat so bad a group in the vein of the gotham idea but actually set in wakanda??? listen i would love that and it could take place before the first movie so it’s still isolated OR OR OR after the second movie so they’re a little bit more open and there’s more people just now moving there, etc. i just love the idea of a wakanda rp and it seems like it would be so much fun as well as give people an opportunity to play more underused black fcs actually thnx

said this last time but a rp set in the 1920s or the 1940s right after ww2 would also be very fun esp the roaring twenties like cmon yall, great gatsby hello???

ive seen a couple of these and they have been so cute but more bridgerton type rps with preset families and shit those just seem very fun and also remind me of jane austen novels/movies JUSTICE FOR THE BRIDGERTON RPS

that’s all i got for now, make some new rps, see yall in 6 months <3

I'm so upset about Guillermo. It's not even so much because I think his reasoning is weaksauce given a), all the direct and indirect killing he's done over the series, and b), the unexplored blood options beyond random hunting. People are complicated, I get it.

It's that dude, I am also a nerdy queer fat latinx raised-catholic divorce-kid who deeply wants to be a vampire, and I was trying to live vicariously through you, Guillermo.

I was rooting for you! You are blowing this for us! This is a fully personal gripe and I'm big mad about it. 😤😭

@schmem14, I like the way you think. Cool idea, and thanks a bunch for the invite. These are in no particular order. All of these books were chosen because they had a significant impact on how I read, perceive the world, try to conduct my own thoughts and actions. Some of these works are problematic/troubling to me today. I’ve read all of these multiple times and share how my thoughts on them have changed over the years. I hope I’m not too rambly! I'm not tagging anyone, but all who see this are welcome to share.

Coming of Age in Mississippi, Anne Moody. I think was the first memoir by a women involved in the US Civil Rights movement that I read. Moody tells her own life story here in a way that is true and very personal. Her voice and experiences were and are very different from the famous and more lauded male leaders of the movement I’d learned about in high school history classes. The Parchman Prison (and its many atrocities) written about in this memoir still exist.

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen. When I saw previews of the beautiful miniseries on A&E network in 1996 I immediately tore through this novel. Reader, I loved it. I still appreciate the author’s complex use of gender and class expectations. Austen has a wicked wit and sometimes sharp tongue- her real life letters are also a good read.

Fun Home, Alison Bechdel. This memoir changed my opinion on graphic novels (they’re not all comic books about men in tights), and Bechdel’s thoughts on pop culture, queer studies, and feminism are thought provoking. The artwork and writing are fab, funny, tragic, insightful.

Cather in the Rye, JD Salinger. When I was 15 I pulled this off the library shelf, read the first page (phony bastards!), and carried it directly to the circulation desk. Holden Cauffield’s character and narrative voice were a modern splash of cold literary water and introduced me to a different kind of protagonist. I think this is the kind of book you read at different ages/stages in life and see different things. As an adult… wow, Holden’s life if full of neglectful and absent adults.

Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, & Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, Maurianne Adams et al. These books are/were pivotal in shaping my work as a social justice educator. The teaching guides and bibliographies and articles are designed to challenge bias and privilege and encourage individuals to critically examine institutions and the status quo. They’re now a bit dated and feel very academic…

The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros. This novella is a short read but jam-packed full of beautifully lyrical (almost magical, sometimes) language and life in a working class, Latinx neighborhood. Esperanza shares incredibly insightful observations about culture and prejudice, sexism and sexual assault, gender roles, poverty.

The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley. A book about the Arthurian legends that isn’t dude-centric! This giant tome of a book swept me into a fascination with the various and differing lore of Camelot. Later re-reads seemed troubling in that the violence against women seemed less old-timey misogyny and more just straight up brutal. I can’t read this book anymore because of the revelations of abuse and enabling of abuse by the author- it makes the book’s violence even more disturbing for me.

Coming Home, Rosamunde Pilcher. This is my go-to easy read when I’m feeling nostalgic or sentimental. My favorite of Pilcher’s “Aga Sagas,” this WWII novel clocks in at almost 1,000 pgs and helped fire a lifelong love of stories set in UK.

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee. I now find this book troubling and racist, but at 17 it was powerful and a felt like an exposé of racial violence and prejudice. No one in my life wanted to discuss these topics. TKAM is flawed and a classic example of the white savior. I think it’s worth comparing the overt racism of Lee’s characters to both modern micro-aggressions and the raging violence we see in hate crimes, policing… pretty much everywhere.

Saint Maybe, Anne Tyler. The best of Tyler’s books, IMO. It’s an absolute gem as she explores her main themes of family life in Baltimore. What is family- are we born to it, or can we create our own definitions and bonds? The characters are incredibly well written. This is a comfort read for me, and re-reading it reminds me that I’m allowed to enjoy “beachy” reads.

Man accused of killing transgender woman in upstate New York found guilty

A man accused of killing a Black transgender woman in upstate New York last year has been found guilty. The Times Union reports that 27-year-old Iaeir Robinson was convicted last Thursday of second-degree murder in the May 2022 death of 30-year-old Ahsid Hemingway-Powell. Hemingway-Powell also went by the name Chanelika Y’Ella Dior Hemingway, one source noted. She also reportedly went by the nicknames of Sid or Cyd. While prosecutors referred to Hemingway-Powell using she/her pronouns, Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents describes “Ahsid Hemingway-Powell” as her “deadname” — it’s unclear which name she personally went by. Related: New reports show the distressing reality of violence against trans people worldwide A recent report identified 321 trans and gender-diverse people killed around the world over the past year. Robinson was found guilty of shooting Hemingway-Powell in the head in her Albany, New York apartment sometime between the afternoon of May 27 and the morning of May 28, 2022, according to the Times Union. He reportedly believed that he had contracted HIV from her, but while both Robinson and Hemingway-Powell were HIV-positive, prosecutors said that it is unknown how either of them contracted the virus. Get the Daily Brief The news you care about, reported on by the people who care about you: Subscribe to our Newsletter Robinson faces 25 years to life in prison for the murder. Sentencing has been scheduled for January 2024. Assistant district attorney Ariel Fallon, the case’s lead prosecutor, said that while the trial had focused for weeks on Robinson’s crime, Fallon wanted to “shift the spotlight away from his heinous actions and redirect it toward the beautiful soul we lost.” “She had so much to offer this city, from the LGBTQ+ community and beyond,” Fallon said. “Sid will be sorely missed, and I hope today’s verdict brings some sense of closure to her loved ones.” According to Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, Hemingway-Powell had just turned 30 at the beginning of May 2022. She had also recently graduated from the University at Albany with a degree in biology and had received the 2022 Spellman Academic Achievement Award, an award that recognizes the accomplishments of undergraduates of African, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native American descent. “She was a really loving person,” Amir Powell, Hemingway-Powell’s brother told WNYT in August 2022. “She wouldn’t ever hurt anyone. She had so many ambitions and goals and her life was just starting when things were just getting good. It’s just really hurtful for everyone.” Hemingway-Powell was at least the 15th transgender or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), which also notes that many such deaths go unreported or misreported. In total, at least 41 transgender and gender non-conforming people died by violence last year. This year, the HRC has tracked at least 26 transgender and gender non-conforming people who have died by violence in the U.S. According to the LGBTQ+ rights organization, 88% of those killed in the U.S. this year were people of color, with Black trans women accounting for over half (54%) of all deaths. The National Center for Transgender Equality recently launched an online memorial site to honor trans and non-binary people who died from violence in 2023. http://dlvr.it/SzLsG2

Ball cap babe, ball cap boy, BALL CAP BITCH, wants a job? They just want to poop, it’s easy, and they get housing. It’s not hard work, they are given a blueprint and they just do what they are told as they tell. What the fuck are you saying, burnt pastries, loosened seat in a public bathroom (needs elbow grease and a screw driver, but instead some bastard Whitey promises me something I didn’t ask for). Fuckface, why don’t I engage this “bill” I am playing and make a fool of you. Fuck your table, WHITEY. Fuck your Home Depot Bucket, some asshole leaves a toolbox, full of tools, and idiots don’t know about it. Lol

Some woman is acting like I am a stranger, but she needs help. I said, “you are losing your mind”, only for her to say, “I’m pregnant and I have no ring.” She didn’t want to hear that the Greeks put the Blondes in slavery, and she too didn’t want to hear that the Europeans made the threshold, mould, for the traditional wedding ring. In this, many couldn’t even understand the cynic if they saw one. So, some guy is on a conference call, getting you pregnant, as I know what you don’t want to hear? Why I don’t like that Negro? A people would be demoralized, and in their bad mores they needed money that did nothing but bring worse mores.. as the mores worsened, the threshold of “improvement” became impossible and now it is “make it work.” You miser! What do you mean, “make it work” as you are pinching pennies?There is an asshole out there, handicapped, saying he can’t work in the workplace as a proletariat. What does he do, besides get money from the Government according to his disability? He goes off, sees the law, to see if sinks make the standard, bathrooms make the standard, by the accessibility, and now as he rolls to show he is as a caveman given sense - you see his inability to kill by means of metal and arm (void of gun powder) - he is your politics. Some blemished asshole with a family that shows they aren’t nothing.

Your politics would be a mould of people not able, and if you do not accommodate to them there are laws in the books where the hammer gives them pay - the hammer then comes to be called a gavel. A gavel is a stonemason’s mallet, as a hammer is rock - a stone tool. What is a builder? The bank is the bench! Do you know what “under the hammer” means? Under the hammer is for sale at the auction. You know why that Whitey, that Cracker, would come to not like “rap?” He is the asshole at the auction raising a finger trying to make an asshat say, “sold”, as the draft is the draft. You hear this to hate Jeshurun, he wasn’t sold in wickedness! These passive people who want to be Whitey, just to not see Ragtime (or ignore it), are complete imbeciles.

The chaff quote on quote latinx don’t want you to know of it, wisdom (they reject it, just to want to be better than you), and some negro who would worship Saturn just to apply pseudoscience to being in Neptune (the sky), now thinks he is an architect with a blueprint. Some sod negro. Why he won’t adapt? Exactly. You NEGRO, you ain’t about nothing, why would I enable a Negro who wants to be Whitey - when I know how to put Europa’s bull in slavery? What is a jester doing besides make music and vaudeville? So, am I to make the life of a fucking jester? You lost it, so in the lost are you better than a fucking jester? If you are not better, what is your cant? Now you understand Europa’s bull, now you understand screw that Negro and screw that Negress. I would define myself by culture, and you know Ancient Greece just to not see some person with skin looks like it was burnt to the flame is a proletariat just to be endorsed by Nike. Your NBA is all for some Greek Freak playing in the NBA, but I know Black College players are better than those people in the Euro League’s. What is a coach? So, someone goes to be a star, only for Europe to have a better league as their European players are busy more times than less in the league? “Luka.” Ok, Yao Ming, BITCH. You are a little better than the Chinese, now I’m in Government and you are in suspense. Fuck you! Go slap kids on the ass, just to be afraid to bring the shotgun to a FISH - one time with a kid. You are not fit to be like Semjaza.

John Mulaney: From Scratch in Las Vegas, September 4

Once again, spoilers for the show and what will presumably be in the special. This is about his relapse so tread with caution is that will be an issue for you. However, the tone of his struggle is the same one he used in his past specials so if you didn’t have any issues then, I think you’d be ok with this. Of course, use your own best judgement, friends.

The opener was Seaton Smith. 

He opened with trying to find the rich people in the crowd but acknowledged that they’d go mwrmwmwrw money isn’t everything so then he started talking about golf and went aha I got ya’ll. 

There was a joke about weed being the only Christian drug

He had a bit about when white people are nice, be nervous

He had a bit about there being a black man on the Bachelor and was like America (ABC and Disney+) were not ready for a black man to be fucking a house full of 50 white women. That shit premiered on Tuesday and the Capitol burned on Wednesday.

He also did some crowd work and roasted a couple in the front row for having different answers about kids and she was like I didn’t hear the question and was roasted about how not hearing questions you don’t want to answer is certainly a tactic, often used by drug dealers

He also had a bit about how different child rearing is in Texas versus New York and about how hitting your kids is treated differently, like his dad would have just threatened it whimsically. 

Now on to the Main Event!

The first thing he said was “hiiiiiiiiii” exactly in the tone you think he said it in. he followed that up with a little shrug looking adorable and a little bashful

“It’s him! Mr. Problems. Oh Las Vegas, Oh my god” he then talks about how Vegas is a land of vice and a Choice for him to preform in as a recovering addict. He had a sober buddy and 3 bodyguards with him at all times. 

“And here’s what happened” December 18, 2020, he gets invited to a friends apartment for dinner AND HE’S TWO HOURS LATE because he stopped, coked out of his mind, at SNL for a haircut because he still had his building access badge and he went to the hair department and they were like, he’ll leave faster if we just do this, and then he stopped at his drug dealers. 

He called venmo and cashapp, apps for drug deals and was like what do normal people even use them for. He maxed both out paying for drugs. 

He was the best looking person at his intervention. “Coke skinny, new cut” and the 12 people intervening looked like shit. He looked “tears for fears while they all looked jerry garcia” (I hope you know who those musicians are besties). 

He immediately yelled “Can I go to the bathroom” to you know, dump his drugs because when you walk into that, you know what it is. 

He was not allowed to go (he would be asked if he still needed to pee later and would say “what?”

There were 6 people in NYC and 6 people over zoom in LA because he guesses 6 people couldn’t be bothered to fly in for HIS INTERVENTION

Interventions can go two ways, it can be kind of accusatory and this is how you let us all down, or it can be supportive. Everyone but Nick Kroll got the memo to be supportive.

Nick Kroll went first.

Nick Kroll listed all the ways John was a bad best friend and brother over zoom and John was getting texts during the intervention saying Nick wasn’t supposed to do that and they were all sorry. 

Bill Hader went next. he originally wasn’t going to be able to make it so he had recorded a thing but since he was there, he did it live. (He would eventually send the video to John in rehab, which is not what you want on the way to rehab “awesome, more intervention”)

He tried to derail the intervention, “there’s not enough latinx representation” he said he’d go to any rehab except the one they had picked out for him. This was a star-studded affair and he was mad no one was being funny. 

 Natasha Lyons went next, telling him his life and career is in shambles

So he gets carted off to rehab after this intervention. Don’t let 12 comedians pack your bags for 2 months at rehab. it was bombas socks and iphone chargers. 

A little secret about rehab, you’re not allowed to bring drugs in. You remember how he was late? In his pocket on the way to rehab included: a huge amount of pills, 3g of coke (which was 2g by the time he got there, courtesy of a koala station in a gas station bathroom), and $2000 in cash. He had other plans for the weekend. He was admitted for xanax, coke, perocet, and adderall addiction. Say what you will, but he does not do anything half way.

It’s 4am when he’s sent to detox, he’s been awake for 3 days. 

He also gives a small lesson on how to get drugs. Find the lowest rated doctors on yelp and webmd reviews and go ask for them, they need all the business they can get. You become like Captain Phillips, I am the doctor now. 

Dr. Michael was his shady doctor. He was a first avenue apartment where he would write prescriptions from his kitchenette where his girl Minerva was always asleep. “I didn’t kill my wife Minerva.” But John would ask for his drugs, Dr. Michael would write the script and then ask what he needed it for. Dr. Michael would also make John take his shirt off, always offering a flu shot and going no, shirt all the way off (in case you were wondering how bad this addiction actually was)

The first moral is now you know. The second moral is get vaccinated.

He’s sent to the regular ward the next afternoon and they finally get him to sleep. 

He’s sketched out that doctors have last names at this establishment

He asks for drugs such as klonopin and is taken aback a bit when he doesn’t get them. The doctor is like PA state law says no, and so John suggests they go to a CVS in Jersey to get some. 

His bestie Pete Davidson starts calling that night. Except Pete changes his number every month and a half so John has him send a selfie and saves the new number under some other random name, at this point in time, Pete is saved as Al Pacino. (We get an Al Pacino impression) John is asleep and his nurse sees Al Pacino trying to call him 5 times and so she wakes him up. 

Pete Davidson and John Mulaney did not do drugs together. (The author is lowkey surprised and sad about that, like if Pete was my bestie, we’d make so many poor choices) But Pete was always very supportive of his sobriety. 

John needs recognition so badly, in group when they introduced themselves he said “I’m John M.” and no one cared. So he left a tabloid out with the news of his admittance and his face on it in the rec room on the table. The not being someone was “driving him bananas.” When they talked about what they do for a living and he said I’m a a stand up comedian, someone asked if he made a living that way. He said “yeah ask your daughter” (or your son)

One of the things you do at rehab is break up with your drug dealer.

One of his drug dealers only bought drugs to keep John from buying worse off the streets and only got into the game because John kept asking him for drugs and was his only buyer. That guy was originally a painter and John has no idea how they met. John is the only person to turn an innocent man into a drug dealer. 

Here he did the Baby J is back baby joke. the Park Theater is one of the biggest stages in the world so he did that joke in one pace across the stage and said the stage is that joke long. 

“I am no longer on drugs. It’s very good but also ah---” He’s in a 12 step anonymous group. 

“I need attention, clearly.” After a show you think he would be sated, but no. 

He wants that attention that the kid who’s grandparent died and showed up to school dressed for the funeral and got to sit in the beanbag chair for reading despite it not being his turn, gets. He went on about being willing to let one of the lesser important grandparents die so he could get attention, for quite a while. 

He feels left behind in science, like his C’s and D’s in those classes. All those classes were was putting things on a windowsill for the janitor to throw away. He had a bit about how the fuck people put dinosaurs back together, it’s like getting wayfair furniture without the instructions. 

He also things the moon belongs to America. Like we got there first and when other countries say stuff about the moon he’s like mmmmmmm.

He also had a joke about paying to get into college and like, for white people that’s always how it’s been. 

The show ended with him going over the highlights of that GQ interview that he was so coked out for that he forgot he did it entirely. He has no memory of it at all. He was just called up that day and asked for an interview and you know how coke is the best drug to receive attention on? He just did whatever he wanted with that attention. 

And that was the show.

WLW Japanese Buddhist Who Uses Ghosts for Powers, has Ghost GF

@kanehon submitted:

Hello! I’m Latinx, planning a story set in a Urban Fantasy-equivalent of my own city. One of the main characters is Japanese-coded, as my city also has a large immigrant population, I plan to include her family as background characters too. In this setting almost everyone has some kind of magic power, or is a magical creature, so that is seen as normal and common. For this character I planned for her to be able to interact with ghosts and, only if she allows, they can possess her to do things she wouldn’t be able otherwise.

In the story she’s a Coroner and her powers would help with that, talking to them, viewing their side of the story, etc. Not only that, but there is the ghost of one woman in particular who is often with her, with them being lovers.

However, when considering the character’s religious beliefs, I could only find that in Shinto, Death is seen as impure so it seemed disrespectful to go with that. On the other hand, when I looked up at Buddhist views, the best I could find was that Buddhism views organ donating positively as a way to help the others.

Can I respectfully keep those powers/profession with her being Buddhist, being that she uses it to help people, or would it be better to not mix the two things and take a different route entirely? Is there something I’m overlooking and should be aware of?

Secondly, the ghost lover is a butch Japanese-coded woman, Are there any stereotypes I should be aware of and avoid? This is not the only queer relationship or character in the story, and I want to make sure those are shown in a positive light. Ideally, I also want to avoid it seeming like “bury your gays” by showing that, she is as much “There” as anyone else for my character thanks to her powers.

I think a key difference between Japanese versus Western views on ghosts/ spirits is that we differentiate between 幽霊 (yuurei) or specters and 精霊 (seirei) which are the spirits/ souls of the dead as a whole. Yuurei are almost always viewed negatively, while seirei are simply dead people who haven’t moved on. While seirei may have general attachments to the real world, yuurei have particularly negative attachments: desire for vengeance, memories of betrayal, histories of pain and oppression. The key point for both, however, is the cultural belief that both should move on. 

As you say, in Shinto traditions, death is unclean, and so ghosts should be purified and go to the underworld (i.e. Yomi/ Yominokuni/ Yomotsukuni). In Buddhism, attachment is viewed as a barrier to achieving enlightenment (Nirvana/ Nehan) and thus, for a ghost, attachments to a previous life delay their re-entry into Samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth necessary for their soul’s spiritual progression. Thus, even if your coroner character is only culturally Japanese-coded (and not religious in any way), I imagine they would feel some level of discomfort doing anything to allow a dead person’s spirit to linger. Thus, I question the utility of having their love interest character be a ghost. I can picture more transactional relationships where her interactions with ghosts and use of their powers are done in the interest of helping the ghosts move on such as: 

Completion of a task left undone

Resolving regrets

Pacifying malevolent specters

However all of the above are poor fits for a long-term love interest, particularly one who is Japanese-coded themselves. A short, intimate fling with a ghost would certainly be an interesting pitch, but the distinct expiration date would make it quite bittersweet.

- Marika

One thing that stood out to me was that you are Latinx writing a story set in your own culture, which I figure has its own beliefs around ghosts. Considering, as Marika said, that you’re employing ghosts in your story in a way that doesn’t jive with Japanese Buddhist-Shinto beliefs, I think it may be better to draw from your local religious lore rather than to push a round peg in a square hole. Is your character’s Buddhism important to the plot, or did you make her Buddhist because she’s Japanese? Is your character’s Japanese-ness important to the plot, or did you make her Japanese because it was one of the more populous minorities in your home city/country? 

Second: with regard to the girlfriend herself, I must stress that a deceased gay character does not inherently a “bury your gays” make. You do appear to have a sense of this as you mention her “there”-ness in the plot, but that’s exactly why you had nothing to worry about in the first place. The trope, and the issue with it, is withholding the happy ending of, AND screentime for, a queer character, because they are seen as disposable. A story can even bury-its-gays without actually killing them (comas, disappearances, abruptly written off the show, etc). Death is not the important component. 

Also, I don’t think we are able to answer to the point of the girlfriends’ butch Japanese-ness because you gave us no other information about her personality, ethnic/immigrant background, or relationship dynamic with the coroner. 

~ Mod Rina

Note: Due to Japanese pop culture, the notion of the yuurei vs. seirei divide has blurred, particularly as Westernized notions of ghosts/ apparitions have made their way into urban legends, manga and anime, however, I advise against going with these interpretations as we have more than enough of them in Japan already.  

- Marika

Hi! I'm very curious about something regarding the Spanish language. I'm currently studying A2 Spanish but I had this question and my teacher did not seem too willing to discuss it. Here it goes:

I know that Spanish has, something my Spanish teacher says, linguistic gender. I was wondering how do the people who don't align themselves with the gender binary (masculine and feminine) speak/write in it? I have read this article about Spanish speaking people from US adding "x" Or "@" and people from Argentina using "e" to make the words gender neutral.

Thank you so much for responding, whenever you get to it. Also love your blog. ❤

Short answer, in general speaking terms people are tending towards the -e now because the other two are very hard to actually speak, and because Spanish-speakers feel the -e is more authentic

What you're most likely to see in Spanish is masculine plural as the default, or in written things you might see todos y todas or like un/una alumno/a "a student", or like se busca empleado/a "employees wanted" / "looking for an employee"

If it's something official or academic you typically include both [todas y todas] or you go masculine plural [todos] unless it's specifically feminine plural

-

Related, linguistic gender applies to all things, not just people. Why is la mesa "table" feminine, but el libro "book" masculine? Just linguistic gender. I can tell you that most loanwords (that aren't people) in Spanish are masculine, and that there are certain words that come from Greek are masculine, and that -ista words are unisex most of the time... And I can tell you there are some words like testigo or modelo that are unisex and don't change for gender. Aside from that, speaking about nouns and grammatical gender... those particular things are harder to parse for regular people, but if you go into the field of linguistics you can explore that more deeply. Some of it is source language (i.e. "it came from Latin this way") or things like that. And in general when talking about nouns it's unimportant and not considered sexist, that's just how it is.

There is such a thing where it gets a little too far the other way and people will say "history? what about herstory" which is a nice thought but the etymology has nothing to do with gender there

When it comes to people - and when it comes to gendered attitudes - that's where it gets more confusing and more complicated.

I believe there was an experiment where people had French and Spanish speakers [I believe it was Spanish] try to identify how a "fork" would sound. French people gave it a more feminine voice because "fork" is feminine in French, while Spanish speakers gave it a more masculine voice because it's masculine in Spanish.

Whether we like it or not, certain gendered things do influence our thoughts and feelings and reactions. A similar thing in English exists where the old joke was something like "There was a car accident; a boy is rushed to the ER and the surgeon but the father was killed. When they got to the ER the doctor said 'I can't operate on him, he's my son!'" and it's like "well who could the doctor be?" ...and the doctor is his mother. We associate "doctor" as masculine and "nurse" as feminine.

There's a gender bias in our language thought patterns, even though the language changes. And that does exist in Spanish too, to different extents.

There are certain cultural and gendered stereotypes or connotations attached to certain words, many tend to be more despective or pejorative when it's women.

For example - and I know this has changed in many places or it isn't as prevalent - el jinete "horseman/rider", while the female form is la amazona "horsewoman/rider". Because la jinete or la jineta was sometimes "promiscuous woman".

There were also debates about things like la presidente vs. la presidenta or what the female version of juez should be, whether it should be la juez or la jueza

Most languages with gendered language have varying degrees of this, and all languages I'm aware of have gendered stereotypes related to professions or cultural attitudes in some way, and not just for women, and not all in the same way with some of them being very culturally based

-

The longer answer involves a bit of history, and I'll be honest, some of it is contested or considered a little controversial in Spanish-speaking countries particularly in the conservative parts (which honestly should come as no surprise)

The first symbol that I know of that came about was the X

First piece of contested history: As far as I know, it was the trans/queer and drag communities in Latin America who started the trend of X. When there were signs or bulletins that had the gendered endings - specifically masculine plural as the default plural - people would write a big X through the O. This was a way of being inclusive and also a very smash the patriarchy move.

Some people attribute this to women's rights activists which may also be true, but a good portion of the things I read from people say it was the trans/queer/drag communities in Latin America doing this.

I've also read it originated in Brazil with Portuguese; still Latin America, but not a Spanish-speaking country.

Where it's most contested is that some people will say that this trend started in the Hispanic communities of the United States. And - not without reason - people are upset that this is perceived as a very gringo movement.

That's why Latinx is considered a very American-Hispanic experience

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The arroba (@) is relatively new. I remember seeing it in the 2000s. I don't know if it existed earlier for gender inclusivity.

People used it because it looks like a combination of O and A, so it was meant to be cut down on saying things like todos y todas or niños y niñas in informal written speech

I remember quite a few (informal) emails starting like hola tod@s or muy buenas a tod@s or things like that

I think of it more as convenience especially in the information age where you never knew who you were talking to and it's easier than including both words, especially when masculine plural might be clumsy or insensitive

Still, it's practically impossible to use the @ in spoken Spanish, so it's better for writing casually. You also likely won't be allowed to use the @ in anything academic, but in chatrooms, blogs, or forums it's an option

-

I love the E ending. And the gender neutral form in singular is elle... so it's él "he", ella "she", and elle "they (singular)"

The -e ending is I think became more common within the past 10 years though it might have existed longer than that. These sorts of changes tend to come from the queer or trans communities and tend to be more insular before becoming more of an outside thing that then the general population finds out about

It came about because there are some adjectives in Spanish that end in -e that are unisex. It's not an A, it's not an O, but it's something grammatically neutral for Spanish

It's not as awkward as X, and E exists very firmly in Spanish so it's not perceived as some outside (typically gringo) influence

The good news is, it's pretty widespread on the internet. Not so much in person (yet), but especially in Spain and Argentina at least from what I've seen, particularly in the queer communities and online culture.

The only issues with it are that for non-native speakers, you have to get used to any spelling changes. Like amigo and amiga, but to use the E ending you have to add a U... so it's amigue.

That's because there are certain words where you have to do spelling changes to preserve the sound; gue has a hard G sound like -go does [like guerra]... but ge has the equivalent of an English H sound [gelatina for example]. Another one is cómico/a "funny" which would go to cómique. Again, because co has a hard C/K sound, while ce is a soft sound more like an S or in some contexts TH/Z sound; like centro is a soft sound, while cola is a hard sound

Unless you make it to the preterite forms where you come across like pagué, alcancé, practiqué with those types of endings... or subjunctive forms, pague, alcance, practique ... Basically you'd have to be exposed to those spelling rules or you'd be really confused if you were a total beginner.

It all makes sense when you speak it, but spelling might be harder before you learn those rules

The other drawback is that the E endings are sometimes not applicable. Like in damas y caballeros "ladies and gentlemen" there's not really a gender neutral variation on that, it's all binary there. And while la caballero "female knight" does exist, you'd never see a male variation on dama; the closest I've ever seen is calling a guy a damisela en apuros "damsel in distress" in some contexts where the man needs rescuing, and it's feminine una/la damisela, and it's very tongue-in-cheek

There are also some contexts like jefe vs jefa where I guess you would say jefe for "boss" if you were going the neutral route, but it's a bit weird because it's also the masculine option.

I can't speak for how people might feel about those if they're non-binary or agender because every so often you kind of get forced into the binary whether you like it or not

I totally support the E, I just recognize there are some limitations there and it's quirks of the Spanish language itself

Important Note: Just to reiterate, E endings are the ones most Spanish-speakers prefer because it's easiest to speak and doesn't have the American connotation that X does in some circles

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Where it gets very "Facebook comment section" is that you'll see many Latin Americans traditionalists and conservatives claim that "this is just the gringos colonizing our language" and "grammatical gender doesn't matter in Spanish". They'll say that the "gender movement" is an American feminist movement and that it's a gringo thing and doesn't reflect actual Latin Americans or Spanish-speakers

Which on the one hand, yes, English does have a lot of undue influence on other languages because of colonization, and American influence and meddling in Latin American politics is a big important issue

But as far as I'm aware of the X (and especially the E) were created by Latin Americans

The other issue I personally have is that any time this conversation comes up, someone will say something like somos latinOs and claim that masculine plural is gender neutral

To that I say, first of all, "masculine plural" is inherently gendered. Additionally, there is a gender neutral in Spanish but it's lo or ello and it's only used with "it" so it sounds very unfriendly to use on an actual person... and in plural it looks like masculine plural and everything applies like masculine plural

Second, the reason masculine plural is default is because of machismo. It's more important that we don't possibly misgender a man, so it has to be masculine plural. It's changed in some places, but growing up when I was learning Spanish, if it was 99 women and 1 man you still had to put masculine plural

I'm not opposed to there being a default, and I understand why it's easier to use masculine plural, but some people get very upset at the idea of inclusive language

...

In general, my biggest issues with these comments come when people act like non-binary/queer/trans people don't exist in Spanish-speaking countries, like English invented them somehow. So it's nice to see linguistic self-determination and seeing native speakers using the E endings.

Woke' warriors on San Fran school board deny gay white dad with bi-racial daughter place on volunteer parent committee because he's not diverse ENOUGH!

Seth Brenzel, a gay white father of a bi-racial child, was denied a spot on the San Francisco Board of Education's volunteer parent committee

The issue of whether to allow Brenzel to volunteer for the 15-person parent advisory council was debated for almost two hours on Tuesday night 

His candidacy faced opposition from some board members and members of the public who argued that there wasn't enough diversity on the council 

Those who opposed his candidacy were concerned with the fact that he is white 

The 15-person council currently only has 10 members: Two black mothers, one Asian-American, three Latinx, one Pacific Islander and three white 

Brenzel, who is the executive director of a music program for children, is openly gay. He lives in San Francisco with his husband and their young daughter

If approved, Brenzel would have been the only father on the council 

The issue of whether to allow Seth Brenzel to volunteer for the 15-person parent advisory council was debated for almost two hours on Tuesday night during a board meeting. 

The parent advisory council, who had unanimously supported Brenzel to join their all-female committee, had submitted his name to be approved by the school board. 

His candidacy, however, faced opposition from some board members and members of the public who argued that there wasn't enough diversity on the council - even though there are five seats currently empty.

Those who opposed his candidacy were concerned with the fact that he is white. 

The 15-person council currently only has 10 members: Two black mothers, one Asian-American, three Latinx, one Pacific Islander and three white. 

Brenzel, who is the executive director of a music program for children, is openly gay. He lives in San Francisco with his husband and their young daughter. 

If approved, Brenzel would have been the only father on the council. 

After the lengthy debate, the school board eventually decided against voting on his appointment at all and asked the council to find alternate candidates for them to consider. 

Brenzel's appointment to the council was just one of the agenda items for the meeting that ended up going for seven hours. 

Another item on the agenda was about reopening San Francisco schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic. 

It is the same school board that last month voted 6-1 to strike the names of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln from the district's institutions.

As a result, 44 schools had to change their names after board members deemed the historical figures to have ties to racism or have 'dishonorable legacies' despite basing the decision on incorrect Wikipedia articles. 

The issue of diversity was a main argument in deciding whether to appoint Brenzel to the council. 

One person, only identified as Tara, said during the meeting: 'They are not a diverse group of parents as far as I have seen, I have noticed and have observed.' 

Others who opposed Brenzel's appointment argued that the council 'does not even mirror Joe Biden's cabinet' and that other 'voices need to be heard first before white queer voices'. 

Commissioner Matt Alexander - who described himself as the lone white board member - had said that it seemed 'like the white members are over-represented on the P.A.C.' and that there was an under-representation of 'Arab, Vietnamese, Native American folks'.

'I'm probably going to get complaints now I'm telling white parents not to be involved or something. I want to be clear, that's not what I'm saying,' he said, before later adding that 'white parents also in the city tend to have a lot of privilege and power and access the board of ed in various ways.' 

Several others, however, defended Brenzel's candidacy, pointing out that he would bring diversity because he is gay and a father.

'I see no reason why Seth should not be confirmed. I think this is just honestly just a political show so you can say that you stopped a white person from getting on,' one speaker said. 

Another member of the public said: 'I'm very upset we are focusing solely on race. Seth would be the only male on the pact. He would be the only LGBTQ member. He has a bi-racial child.

'I mean, this notion of oh, he's just a white person therefore we can't have him, it's absolute nonsense. There's diversity beyond the color of our skin and I think it is important to consider diversity beyond just race and the intersectionalty of parents.

'We are all diverse in our own way and Seth brings a lot of diversity to a pact that has no men and no LGBTQ parents.' 

It comes as the school board president Gabriela López, 30, defended last month's decision to rename the 44 schools honoring historical leaders who have since been branded by activists as racist.  

San Francisco Unified School District had been criticized for voting by 6-1 last month to change the name of one-third of the city's schools.

Parents and residents became concerned when it emerged that historians had not been consulted by the renaming committee.

Instead, committee members allegedly used references from Wikipedia and other non-scholarly sources to determine which personalities were racist and problematic. 

Several of those citations have now been proven to be factually incorrect, including a false claim that American poet James Russell Lowell did not want black people to vote and that Paul Revere's military activities were tied to 'the conquest of the Penobscot Indians'. 

Gabriela López, the head of the San Francisco Board of Education, continues to defend the decision claiming in a tense interview with the New Yorker that she doesn't want to 'discredit the work that this group has done' despite their use of inaccurate information.

She claimed that she did not believe the names had been selected in a haphazard way, even after being read a list of the misinformation that was used in some of the decisions. 

'No, because I've already shared with you that the people who have contributed to this process are also part of a community that is taking it as seriously as we would want them to,' Lopez argued about the errors made in the research process. 

'And they're contributing through diverse perspectives and experiences that are often not included, and that we need to acknowledge. 

'What I keep hearing is you're trying to undermine the work that has been done through this process. And I'm moving away from the idea that it was haphazard,' she said in the strained Q&A. 

Lopez also pushed back on the complaints that historians were not consulted as part of the process. 

Among the names included on the list that had provoked pushback from residents and historians was President Abraham Lincoln.  

Lopez said that she did not believe Lincoln was a person she would 'admire or see as a hero'.

'I think that the killing of indigenous peoples and that record is something that is not acknowledged,' she said.

'It's something that people are now learning about, and due to this process. And so, we just have to do the work of that extra learning when we're having these discussions.'

Lopez also claimed that the renaming was only facing criticism because 'people will always have a problem with the discussion of racism', not because of the inaccurate information.

'That is what I know. That is why I'm getting death threats. That is why people aren't open to other possibilities. Because when we have this discussion, that's the outcomes no matter how good it's set up, no matter how open we are,' she said. 

'No matter what, people are going to have an issue with that. That is what I know, given my experience. Of course, I'm hearing what you're saying, but I don't think it's going to change the outcome. People are still going to be up in arms when we're doing this.'

Among the other criticism received by the city's board of education was that it had voted on the renaming when there appeared to be no plan in place to bring students back to in-person learning.

'What I cannot understand is why the school board is advancing a plan of all these schools renamed by April when there isn't a plan to have our kids back in the classroom by then,' San Francisco Mayor London Breed had said.

The city of San Francisco has also since sued the board of education and school district claiming they have violated a state law that required districts to adopt a clear plan during the pandemic as it relates to in-person education.

Lopez claimed that it is 'completely false' to say they don't have a plan and accused to the mayor of jumping at 'any opportunity to cause further division'.  

In the Heights, Colorism, and the Legacy of Lin Manuel Miranda

The last few days Twitter has been ablaze with discourse about the lack of Afro-Latinx representation in In the Heights. And while I am just another voice on the internet who no one asked an opinion from, I’m going to give it out anyway.

I think the backlash that Lin is getting is uncalled for. 

And before I proceed any further, I want to be clear about which backlash I’m talking about. I will never tell anyone that they don’t deserve to be seen and feel represented--I’m sure if the Black Panther trailer had come out and it was a majority light-skinned cast, we all would’ve felt some type of way--HOWEVER, what I am 100% not for is all the insults directed specifically at Lin and his work. 

Over the weekend, I saw people say he was anti-Black, racist, that he didn’t show support for Black Lives Matter (which he did many times tweeting out the names of those who had been killed by police, talking about how he was against police brutality, making a video specifically saying that Hamilton was his responsibility and that his production supported the movement) and more laughably, that Hamilton was a bad piece of theater and that Lin himself was not only a terrible person but a terrible writer. Have whatever feelings you have about the issue of colorism--but to say “The Room Where It Happens,” “Satisfied,” and “Wait For It,” are not exceptional pieces of music is just petty. 

Criticism of the movie has stemmed from the fact that none of the lead roles were dark-skinned or Afro-Latinos. The leads of the musical are Usnavi (and that role was always going to Anthony Ramos), Sonny, Benny, Nina and Vanessa. I consider the salon ladies secondary, but that’s just me and here’s how I feel about it.

Personally, as someone who is Black/Filipino, given the narrative of the musical, I always thought that not having any dark-skinned or Black characters in the main cast was intentional to drive home the prejudice of Nina’s father who doesn’t accept Benny because he’s not Latino. In those two roles specifically, that narrative point doesn’t work if Benny is actually Latino and Nina is Afro-Latina. It would defeat this point. Now granted, in the movie for some reason they drop this from the story (it was one of the cons I mentioned in my review) so in this version Nina could’ve been Afro-Latina and really, Vanessa could’ve been as well (I thought Karen from the original production was but she’s not) and wanting to see more representation from those two characters is completely valid. 

Now, I can’t speak for John Chu who really put his foot in his mouth over the weekend (although I will say that I also don’t agree with the issue of not casting South Asians in Crazy Rich Asians. If anyone who brings this up had read any of the books, they’d know that that is a major plot point. These people are classist and colorist. They want all of their children to have fair skin, they look down on those who aren’t. I mean this very literally when I say that it wouldn’t have made sense in this specific case because if the family would’ve had no problem with South Asians, they wouldn’t have had a problem with Nick’s girlfriend being American Chinese) and really, I can’t speak for Lin--I don’t know the guy. 

However, when I look at In the Heights as a stage musical and as a movie, I don’t see something that was written to maliciously exclude Afro-Latinos. I am not Latino, so maybe I don’t have the right to speak on it, but every time I’ve listened/seen the show, I always walked away feeling happy for the Latino community because it felt like a celebration of who they are and in this sense, if something is supposed to be a celebration of your community and you are not represented I 100% understand feeling slighted but I don’t agree with coming for the man’s career, questioning his integrity and basically calling him a piece of shit. 

I also don’t agree with saying the apology was bullshit--either we want people to grow or we don’t. Either people can fuck up and work towards being better people or they can’t. So unless you’re expecting everyone to come out the womb, knowing exactly what to do with a perfect moral compass and knowledge of how to navigate through these things then it’s a little baffling for you to say you’re upset about something, be given an apology and a promise to do better, and then say, “That’s not good enough.” 

But again, this is just my long two cents about the situation. 

5 Favorite First Viewings of July 2021

Quick note: Hi everyone, I'm back, things have honestly been getting better for me, and I'm glad to be on this site full of cinephiles, people that are too horny, and cinephiles that are too horny. I'll be more active on here. But anyway, let's talk about some movies.

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970) (dir. Russ Meyer)

CW: Abortion mention

What a picture. What a gorgeous, sexy, horrifying slice of what Hollywood and star life can do to a bunch of bright-eyed young people looking for success. Also is a critique of how macho nature can ruin friendships and romantic relationships with total ease. I was obsessed with the scene transitions, like Pet pouring pancake mix onto a plate after the abortion scene, or Kelly singing after someone screams before their murder in the opening scene.

Great, campy flick with exceptional music too.

Deep Cover (1992) (dir. Bill Duke)

Laurence Fishburne plays Russell Stevens, a Cincinnati police officer who hopes to do well by the community, to make a difference. He’s traumatized by the death of his substance-abusing father, and wants to make sure that he can help the people of his own town. He goes undercover on assignment as a drug dealer, where his boss orders him to take down the kingpin. Stevens realizes the police’s own failings while on assignment. The racist abuse he takes from Agent Carver, and the realization that the police department is protecting drug kingpins like Gallegos and Barbossa. Giving drugs to Black kids and Latinx kids so there will be less of them. The cops are no different than the drug kingpins looking to make filthy amounts of money.

Fishburne’s performance is excellent, as Stevens feels he has to maintain a stone face so he doesn’t get caught by Jason or Barbossa or any of his cronies, but also he maintains a stone face to try and hide his emotion, his trauma. But when he gets pissed, Fishburne acts it beautifully, as is when he has to deliver a funny quip to counter Jason’s douchebaggery. And the production design, holy fuck, the sets and the lighting.

A perfect neo-noir for the HW Bush years, arguably one of the most timeless commentaries on the era, as well as the police as a whole.

Fast Five (2011) (dir. Justin Lin)

I was torn between including this or Furious 7, but I ultimately went with Fast Five because it felt like an important turning point in the series, it's a great heist film, and it reached the same chaotic highs and genuinely excellent filmmaking that I had been waiting for since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift.

Fast Five opens where Fast & 4ious left off. Dom is hauled away to prison on a bus. Mia and Brian drive in their high-tech cars and knock the bus over, helping Dom escape. The title drops. Fast Five. It’s such an intense yet short action scene, and dropping the title immediately after it lets the viewer know that this movie is not fucking around. It’s arguably gonna be more intense and insane than the previous one.

And it is. The filmmakers made the decision to use a lot more practical stunt work for the film, and as a result, it leads to, so far, the best action in the entire series, since 2 Fast and Tokyo Drift. It’s not just how it’s shot or edited, it’s the geography of the locations, the rooftop chase echoes the rooftop chase of Jackie Chan’s masterwork Police Story, particularly the way each character bounces from top to top.

And of course, there’s the silliest moment in the movie, the one that matches the intensity and kineticism of a film like 2 Fast, which is driving the Reyes’ bank vault throughout the street, getting chased by corrupt cops.

I know we make fun of Vin Diesel for saying “family” all the time in these films, but there’s a reason we remember him saying all of these impassioned monologues. Because he’s unbelievably sincere, and has so much love in his heart for every single person in the room. Anytime he delivers a speech to any of them, it’s genuinely heartwarming.

This is the film that finally shows La Familia in their best environment, which is working together, in a movie genre that allows them to work together, which is a heist film. And a great one at that.

Last Days (2005) (dir. Gus Van Sant)

CW: Mention of suicide

Several films have been made about legendary rock artist Kurt Cobain, and for good reason. He is one of the most tragic figures in rock and roll. A tortured genius who has written and performed classic song after classic song with his band Nirvana. He was called the voice of a generation, and helped change the face of mainstream alternative rock music as we know it. But with that fame, and all of those expectations came a worsening depression and further drug abuse, and his eventual death. But most of the films about Kurt Cobain ask one question which gets under my skin way too much:

“Who REEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLY killed Kurt Cobain?”

It was him. He did. And it’s okay, I’m sad too. Thinking that Kurt Cobain was murdered is completely ignoring the depression that he faced. And despite Last Days being more inspired by the death of Cobain rather than actually about it, it feels much more honest than the conspiracy documentaries on his death, wanting to leech off of his dead body.

This is the last installment of Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, the previous two installments being Gerry (2001), and Elephant (2003). While I have not seen Gerry, I have seen Elephant though, and love that film for its minimalist, raw nature, and its boldness for not romanticizing the school shooter or the lives they had taken. Last Days falls into that trap once, as I don’t agree with the shot of Blake’s soul climbing up a ladder, that always struck me as cheesy in a film that is anything but.

Last Days is similar to Elephant in terms of the way it is filmed. Its usage of long takes, and still shots of characters doing various things, such as Blake playing his guitar behind a drum set. The way these moments are shot is similar to a Chantal Akerman film, particularly Jeanne Dielman. Where the acts of the mundane are the stars of the film. Blake wanders around an empty house, and the viewer can feel the pain, not just through Michael Pitt’s acting, but from the house itself. Its decay, its paint peeling from the walls, from the soft glow of the lamp that lights his face.

I say this is the most honest film about Kurt Cobain, because, despite the characters technically being fictional (the main character who looks, walks, and acts like Cobain is named Blake), this film focuses on the mental state of a person before they eventually take their own life. They’re still working, still making music, still trying to talk to friends and bandmates, but the depression lingers on. Not once does this film try to make you believe that someone else killed him, because you can see the signs of his own suicide taking place just through the film’s excellent cinematography by Harris Savides, showing his mental state only growing worse through the production design.

And it’s empathetic with him. There’s no judgement for leaving rehab, there’s no finger-wagging at him or the people he was with, there’s just a silent prayer at the end of the film, hoping that he is in a better place than he was.

Sometimes you don’t need to show every event that led you to where you are, all you can show is the moment, which also makes this better than most biopics as well, as it never feels messy or muddled, just showing one moment of Blake/Kurt’s life.

I really loved this film, and I’ll be writing about it in full soon.

The Village (2004) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

The Cracked.com/Channel Awesome audience stuck in 2012 will tell you that this was the beginning of the end for Shyamalan. That this was when people stopped taking him seriously, that this was when he became more of a punchline because of his twist endings.

But why?

The Village was released in 2004, deep in the Bush administration, during the early stages of the Iraq War. The leaders of the time were talking about imaginary boogeymen, terrorists that would attack the civilians if they could. Because of 9/11, politicians could get away with these false ideas with the majority of Americans fully believing them. The boogeymen in The Village are “The People We Don’t Speak Of”, monsters attracted by the color red. Yet we find out that they are all costumes made by the Elders of the land, designed to prevent people from going outside the land. They rule by fear disguised as love. They’ve gone through their own traumas through the deaths of their family members, but they’ve decided to completely abandon the lives that they’ve had and have their children living lies.

9/11 impacted American life by teaching citizens to live primarily by fear, to not trust anyone but their own people. And yet, post-9/11, all that increased was not “coming together”, but hate crimes against South Asian people. The rage white Americans had felt led to conservative politicians pushing fear-mongering agendas, and said white Americans blindly accepted. The outside world was progressing, but too many people were fine with living with further conservative politics only regressing American life further and further back, all for the illusion of safety. Meanwhile, the only threats to them were not the brown citizens outside of America they were so afraid of, but the white elders, the white politicians.

The Village explores these fears so eloquently, all while having a terrifying atmosphere, an enchanting score, and brilliant sound design. I enjoyed this movie very much.

Other viewings I enjoyed:

Beavis and Butt-Head Do America (1996) (dir. Mike Judge) (re-watch)

Blow Out (1981) (dir. Brian de Palma) (re-watch)

Clueless (1995) (dir. Amy Heckerling) (re-watch)

Furious 7 (2015) (dir. James Wan)

The Long Goodbye (1973) (dir. Robert Altman)

Lupin III: The First (2019) (dir. Takashi Yamazaki)

Unbreakable (2000) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan) (re-watch)

Velvet Goldmine (1998) (dir. Todd Haynes)

The Visit (2015) (dir. M. Night Shyamalan)

here’s the entirety of the paywalled businessinsider article interviewing charles beacham about marvel’s racism in staffing and editorial decisions! 

In the early 2010s, Marvel's comics business focused on a diverse slate of new characters, but by 2017 comic sales had fallen, which resulted in the exit of editor-in-chief Axel Alonso.

Three former Marvel editors and one current editor told Business Insider that in the years since, Marvel has recommitted to nostalgia and classic, mostly white characters, often at the expense of some of those diverse characters like Miles Morales, a biracial teenage Spider-Man.

That shift was guided by an editorial department that lacked diversity, particularly in leadership roles. Today, there are no Black staffers on Marvel's editorial team of about 18 people, and only two people of color, Marvel confirmed.

"My voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally," said Charles Beacham, one of two Black editorial staffers to work at Marvel in the past five years.

Have a tip? Email the author at [email protected] or DM him on Twitter @TravClark2.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Miles Morales was the character who pulled Charles Beacham into the world of comics.

Beacham was studying journalism at Brigham Young University, in Utah, when he walked into a comics shop in 2011 and picked up a copy of Morales' first appearance. Beacham, who is Black, said he was amazed to see Morales — a teenage Spider-Man who has a Black father and Puerto Rican mother — in its pages.

"When I was growing up, I always wanted to be the red Power Ranger, and the other kids would say I had to be the black Ranger," Beacham said. "The same thing happened with Spider-Man. They'd say, 'You can't be Spider-Man because Peter Parker's not a Black dude.' Seeing Miles Morales made me wish I had that as a kid."

Morales propelled Beacham into comics and into Marvel itself, where he worked as an assistant editor.

"I didn't have job prospects when I moved to New York in 2013, but the goal was to work for Marvel because of Miles Morales," Beacham said. When he landed a job at the company the next year, he loved it.

But Beacham, now 31, was living in New York City with a child on a $38,000 salary. He said that after three years as an assistant editor, from 2014 to 2017, without a promotion, he was ready to leave. It wasn't about the money as much as the lack of a path forward.

"I thought I'd be at Marvel forever," he said. "If they had promoted me I'd probably still be there and surviving on ramen."

Beacham is one of two Black editorial staffers to have worked at Marvel in the past five years, the company confirmed. The second Black staffer, also an assistant editor, left this year after five years without a promotion or raise, a person familiar with the matter said. The editorial team of about 18 people now has two people of color.

"I want to be back there all the time," Beacham said. "But when it comes down to it, my voice and what I brought to the table wasn't valued equally."

Disney-owned Marvel has grown into a cultural force that extends beyond its comic books and into movies, video games, and other media. The comics are the foundation for it all, including the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has become the highest-grossing movie franchise of all time.

The stories that Marvel's small editorial team helps shape are central to popular culture in the US and around the world.

"Who works on these stories can help broaden them," said Regine Sawyer, the founder of Women in Comics Collective International, which helps to spotlight the comics work of marginalized people.

That was clear from 2011 to 2017, when Marvel ushered in a new era for its comic books under then editor-in-chief Axel Alonso, who is Mexican American.

New and diverse characters like Morales took center stage instead of Marvel's decades-old classic characters, who were primarily white. These characters inspired new fans like Beacham, and continue to inspire new fans as they make their way to other media.

But by 2017, Marvel's comic sales had fallen. Marvel's president of sales, David Gabriel, publicly blamed it on diversity. Alonso exited the company and was replaced by a white man in the role of top editor. Marvel reversed course.

Now, in the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the protests that followed, Marvel is promising to once again introduce more diversity to its ranks and its stories.

Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter sent a letter to employees on June 18 saying the company would "support more Black voices."

And in a memo to staff sent July 6, Marvel's president, Dan Buckley, outlined three areas of focus for Marvel moving forward:

broaden Marvel's creative landscape, which includes identifying "what has traditionally prevented us in the industry from recruiting and fostering more BIPOC talent."

build a foundation of lasting growth by "examining our internal culture and rebuilding our long-term process for talent recruitment, retention, and outreach to communities of color."

create new initiatives and expansion opportunities by "looking to explore new projects that will enable us to reach and represent an even broader audience."

In addition to Beacham, Business Insider spoke with two former Marvel editors and a current editor. Aside from Beacham, the Marvel insiders spoke on condition of anonymity to protect their stance at the company or job prospects. They said they weren't confident in Marvel's latest initiative.

"The guy who made a commitment to diversity and wanted to try new things was fired," a former Marvel staffer said, referring to Alonso.

'Spider-Man with an asterisk'

Alonso led Marvel through a bold era during his time as editor-in-chief starting in 2011, helping to establish a diverse slate of characters.

Jane Foster was the new Thor. Sam Wilson, aka the Falcon, a Black character, replaced Steve Rogers as Captain America. Riri Williams, a Black girl, was introduced as an Iron Man-like character named Ironheart. Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American Muslim teenager, was the new Ms. Marvel.

It wasn't a new phenomenon in comic books. Characters are regularly passing on their mantles, at least for a while. Dick Grayson, the first Robin, was DC's Batman for a time in the early 2010s, for instance. Sam Wilson wasn't the first person to take over as Captain America. This era at Marvel Comics, however, was notable for how it emphasized diversity.

But by 2017 — Alonso's final year as editor-in-chief — the company's print sales had plummeted (Marvel in 2014 said that Ms. Marvel's solo title was a top seller digitally, but digital comics sales aren't released to the public).

"What we heard is that people didn't want any more diversity," David Gabriel, the vice president of sales at Marvel Entertainment, said that year in an interview with ICv2, a website that covers the comics business.

"I don't know that that's really true, but that's what we saw in sales," Gabriel said. "Any character that was diverse, any character that was new, our female characters, anything that was not a core Marvel character, people were turning their nose up."

What Gabriel meant by "core Marvel character" were the classic, decades-old characters being sidelined for new, younger, and more diverse characters.

Seven months later, in November 2017, Marvel's Alonso stepped down from his role and was replaced by C.B. Cebulski, a white man who faced controversy when he was hired after admitting to writing comics in the early 2000s under a Japanese pseudonym.

"The comics that [Alonso] made me think I could work in comics," Beacham said. "But when a Latinx guy is scapegoated for diversity and replaced by a white dude, and the sentiment was that Marvel was 'getting away from its roots,' what does that mean?"

In a statement after his 2017 comments, Gabriel emphasized that "our new heroes are not going anywhere."

But in the months between that retailer summit and Alonso's exit, Marvel introduced an initiative for editorial staff that had been discussed internally for some time: Phase out the familiar superhero codenames for some newer, diverse characters and give them their own, two former assistant editors including Beacham said.

Marvel confirmed to Business Insider that it had previously considered stripping Morales of his Spider-Man title and giving him a new name, but has no plans to do so right now. Marvel added that it discusses status quo changes for all of its top characters.

Today, some of the classic characters have been thrust back into the spotlight. Steve Rogers has taken back the mantle of Captain America, and Thor is a man again. Miles Morales shares the Spider-Man title with Peter Parker, the original Spider-Man.

Morales has grown in popularity beyond comic books, having starred in Sony's Oscar-winning animated "Into the Spider-Verse" movie in 2018 and in a coming PlayStation video game called "Spider-Man: Miles Morales."

Beacham said he was glad that Morales continued to be a Spider-Man.

"It would have made him less important," Beacham said of Morales' losing the Spider-Man title. "He becomes Spider-Man with an asterisk. It takes away the power for kids who relate to this character."

'There's not a lack of people who can do the work'

Now, Marvel's comic-book slate is once again largely focused on classic characters, though characters like Morales and Khan remain. And there are some comics starring diverse characters from creators of color, like Ta-Nehisi Coates' "Black Panther." But their stories are in the hands of an editorial department run by an establishment of white male leadership.

"There's not a lack of people who can do the work," said Yumy Odom, the founder of the East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention, which helps to showcase the talents of creators of color. "But it's about how receptive the industry is to them. I can think of 20 creators, mostly African Americans, who would be ready to work at Marvel."

Women faced an uphill battle at Marvel as well, the Marvel editors said. A female former assistant editor told Business Insider that she was never promoted or given a raise from her $30,000 salary in her three years at the company. She said she got promoted within a year at her new company, a different comics publisher.

Marvel declined to discuss employee salaries.

The Marvel insiders said a notable exception was Sana Amanat, who is Pakistani American and a former editor. She is now Marvel's head of content and character development, a leadership role outside the editorial department.

'There's a whole cohort of young readers'

Marvel has significantly bounced back from its 2017 sales decline, which might suggest that the refocus on its classic characters reeled longtime readers back.

Of the top 100 best-selling comics of 2020 so far, 69 belonged to Marvel, as of Wednesday, including four of the top five, and the company has accounted for 41% of comic sales this year, according to industry website Comichron. Three years ago, Marvel was lagging behind DC, its biggest competitor.

An example of the start of this resurgence was the first issue of Marvel's "Amazing Spider-Man" relaunch — starring the original Spider-Man, Peter Parker — which ranked fifth in 2018 out of all comics, according to data from Comichron. In contrast, when Marvel launched a series called "Miles Morales Spider-Man" in that year, the debut issue didn't crack the top 200 best-selling comics.

"People of a certain age have a connection with Peter Parker, not Miles Morales," a former Marvel staffer said. "Years from now, that may be different."

The current and former Marvel staffers Business Insider spoke with said they were hopeful that readership could broaden, particularly now that characters such as Morales and Khan are being introduced to audiences in other media like movies and TV. Khan is to appear in a Disney Plus TV series and the upcoming "Avengers" video game, for instance.

There are signs that the comics industry is going through a larger shift in how people read and who is reading, which could also spur change.

Last year, comic sales through the "book channel" — which includes chain and independent book stores and online retailers like Amazon — surpassed comic-book stores for the first time, driven by the increased popularity in children's graphic novels, according to an analysis by ICv2.

Milton Griepp, the chief executive of ICv2, said at the New York Comic Con conference last year that the shift could usher in a new audience for superhero comic books.

"There's a whole cohort of young readers that are being introduced to this medium and may graduate to other forms of content in the comic format over the course of their lifespans," Griepp said.

Beacham said: "Marvel needs to figure out the next stage of its core demographic because it could change rapidly."

(TW//Death threats, Suicide mention) Saw the ask about pansexuality in LatAm and Spain and wanted to add a few thoughts.

From what I saw here in Brazil during the past few years, people were somewhat more ""ok"" with other mspec identities besides bi and pan. They wouldn't defend it or support it, but at least viral posts attacking them weren't so common. However, around February many posts attacking ply and omni people showed up out of nowhere (or from some reason that i am not aware of) and many LGBT teenagers seemed to have become experts in queer History after reading Twitter Cards. When just a small number of people called them out and defended mspec labels, I knew pan would be the next one. And that is exactly what has been going on! Questioning pan, ply and omni labels on Brazilian Twitter is a safe space because you know you will have people supporting you still. When you look through the quote RTs from huge posts, it has a lot of exclusionists telling people to kill themselves. Then they will oversimplify the History of queer labels into set-in-stone definitions and make viral tweets explaining how those definitions are wrong.

Everyone who looks deeper into this this will find out that it's a bunch of teens who think they know everything and the world can be the way they want it to be based on their definitions (so shocking /s), but it worries me how some people will only see the simplified debate and and will feel more comfortable attacking and questioning mspec identities.

There are many tweets like this example

- Person 1 posts about bi, pan, omni or ply people, either supporting or not

- Person 2 genuinely (I like to believe) asks the difference between bi and pan

- Person 3 copy pastes an 'it's the same, the only difference is the historical context' sentence that is used everytime someone mentions pansexuality on the neighboring app

- Person 4 asks what is the historical context

- No one knows how to properly answer because all they learned was direct sentences and the conversation dies with the 'it's the same, but I will say I respect pan people so I won't be a bad guy' mentality that leaves the debate open for panphobia

I don't know how much of what I said happens outside Brazil or if some other Latinx disagrees with me and has a different point of view, but that has been my experience. And sorry for any bad communication, I still struggle with English.

why am i not surprised that people are parroting statements then floundering when someone asks them to expand on it.

omfg im just gonna rant a bit bc im so annoyed about this whole latine/latinx thing thats always a debate in the latine community. for some background info im a queer latine! lived in latam for a bit, lived in the us, have been and still are on social media? spaces in the us and latam, especially lgbt ones. latinx is not something gringos invented You guys do not know how idiotic you sound when you say its some white liberal pc term made up in the US…… ITS NOT. spanish has a ton of gendered terms and there is a type of movement? id say going in latam, has been going around for awhile perhaps where queer latines replace the a/o with an e! the x is used mainly on the internet and is supposed to be pronounced as an e!!! an example would be instead of saying amigos, you say amigues! now, latines here in the US may be mispronouncing it saying “latineks” but i promise u no one gives a fuck 😭 seriously its not harming anyone jfc latine/latinx are practically the same its just pronounced differently by ppl. feminist and lgbt organizations IN LATAM have used these terms. if you dont want to be personally referred to as latinx GOOD FOR YOU that’s perfectly fine! but Do not discredit nor discourage ppl from using latinx bc its not wrong at all! i bet there are terms that u use that literally do not exist to the RAE and u are out here whining about some little letter. also, no its not fucking linguistic imperialism or whatever u all claim it to be Thats so fucked up on so many levels when many of our ancestors have been killed for existing and LITERALLY FORCED TO SPEAK SPANISH. we speak spanish bc of that And for u to compare THAT to inclusive language…… and another thing u love to say is “its hard to pronounce” no its not? we literally have non-spanish words in our vocabulary (im pretty sure almost every latam country has at least one bc of our indigenous roots) that perhaps u arent aware of . Please stop sucking the RAE’s toes its so embarrassing 😭

i grew up around people saying amiguis, amiwis, amixer and amix on the internet and irl i do not think latinx is a concern or a problem lol

The Staff of Brandy Springs Suites

Welcome to Brandy Springs Suites- a luxury apartment complex filled with clean, cared for facilities and on location gym, spa, emergency laundromat, and even a recreation room. It was once a hotel, but bought and modified by the current owner it is now peak luxury living. It’s a place that values consistency, kindness, and loyalty. The owner, a very mysterious man known only by Mr. Carter, was already very wealthy, so money is not something he prioritizes solely. In fact, he values loyalty more than income and if you prove to be a loyal and kind person, you may find certain perks and advantages. So, I hope you enjoy your stay and remain here for a long, long time. Nevermind all the tenants who seem to always have ulterior, hidden motives or the ever revolving spa and cleaning staff. Oh, and if you’re looking over things, please do try to ignore the first floor after midnight- and if you go down it’s in your best interest to feign ignorance to whatever noises you hear or things you see. And if you ever- EVER- manage to meet Mr. Carter make sure you are on your best behavior and prove your worth, or you may not leave the complex alive. 

TW: mentions of sex trafficking, kidnapping, murder, drugging, torture 

The Owner - Mr. Carter

55 - 6’1” - 188 lbs || Caucasian || he/him || lives separate || Weinstein Wannabe

Evil, awful man. Sells victims in the basement of the apartment complex, sex trafficker and if a tenant can’t pay and their intensive “background check” indicates the tenant is not someone that may be missed that tenant will be sold. That being said, if a tenant shows worthwhile attributes that could bring the Owner more money (ie bringing victims, more tenants, or generally having skills the Owner can exploit, etc) then the Ownery may be able to help the tenants with their own, perhaps nefarious, deeds (ie kidnapping/killing someone for them, bribing the police, etc). That being said, only the staff know what he looks like and have a direct line of communication with him. All tenants speak to staff, unless they are unlucky enough to have bumped into him or to have been a direction for his ire. He has no empathy and doesn’t attempt to pretend he does. He’s a cold, cruel man and he makes it known to everyone he interacts with. 

Emergency room in complex is Room 002

The  Front Desk -  Ronaldo Cortez

28 - 5’9” - 196 lbs || Latinx || they/them || lives separate || Golden Retriever Friend

Raised hyper christian american; couldn’t speak at the table or if they weren’t spoken to, couldn’t make or visit friends outside of the church, etc. Because of that they are fantastic at masking or playing characters and very much embodies the charisma of the golden retriever friend, but has an aggressive and vicious side hidden. Doesn’t let the tenants know much about them, but does blind side them with occasional double-sided comments. Great at picking up information on the tenants or on potential tenants from the position of Front Desk. Very beneficial for the Owner. The Owner places a lot of trust in them and how they vet tenants and workers-- essentially the Owner’s right hand person and second in command. Much smarter than they seem and is quite intuitive. Struggles to back their intuition so they get along very well with Lily-- the very person who can dig up the evidence to back their intuition. The pair are largely unstoppable. Their intuition is never wrong and Lily can find literally anything if they motivated her enough. Has never personally done anything illegal (hands on) but has facilitated and encouraged it enough. Essentially, the plan B of the operation should it fail. Cannot legally be prosecuted for any crimes and thus can help anyone who falls  into legal trouble get the best help to get away with whatever crimes committed. 

In case of emergency has access to Room 003.

The Head of Security - Lily-Anne 

23 - 5’4” - 180 lbs || Russian American | she/her || Room 005 || Greasy, Lazy Genius 

  Doesn’t look it but can pick anyone up and throw them like they’re nothing. Learned to deadlift and hack to prove the boys in her high school classes wrong. Mastered biology freshman year and went on to throw herself into the STEM programs. Won lots of scholarships but never went to secondary school. Can find anything about anyone. Normally quite apathetic but you don’t want to trigger stronger emotions- obsessive to either degree. She’ll either kidnap you as hers (and literally love you to death) or she’ll just kill you in her anger and hatred of you. Wants to push those around her to the brink, control them to the point that they’d do anything- kill or die for her. Heavily sapphic but not exclusionary and likes who she likes. Has few friends, most online, but Ronaldo is one she begrudgingly admits to befriending. The Owner knows a lot of Lily-Anne, but she knows little of him. She mostly digs up the dirt for Ronaldo, in return for a toy to play with and some cash, but she also largely protects the complex more heavily than traditional security including cyber security and bribing/hacking the police. This makes her a very valuable asset and the Owner has a soft spot for her, throwing her a toy to play with out of the blue occasionally if one fits her preferences that the Owner can tell. 

The Gym Trainer - Rocky

25 - 6’1” - 265 lbs || Dominican-German || he/him || Room 217 || Aggro-gym bro

Got hired after being a tenant due to his actual degree but also because Marissa had stumbled across his strength and ruthlessness and mentioned it to Ronaldo. The perfect backup and, well, Rocky killed his darlings often enough that the disposal of their bodies was payment for the heavy lifting he did for the Owner. Doesn’t know much, just knows he sees some bitches being taken and he beats some douchebags up. He doesn’t care what happens to the victims, doesn’t know, doesn’t want to know or care. Rent is significantly cheaper and after being the backup for a few years, his rent was waived. He showed loyalty and that is rewarded. Always on the prowl for tenants to trick into the complex and then trap them in the gym so he can bully them. Its a win-win for the Owner and for him. He earns commission from both. Quite handy to have on staff despite his own (willing and willful) ignorance. The rooms on either side of him are often vacant due to the screams of his victims (both sexual and tortured) and the Owner buckled down and sound proofed his entire apartment. Saves them both some stress.

The Head of Maintenance - Marissa Thompson 

27 - 6’ - 178 lbs || Black American || she/her || Room 008 || Chaotic ADHD gremlin

Trans-woman and proud. Black and proud. Can do everything a straight white man can do but better. Always has 100+ projects on her plate but still takes on every project offered. Prioritizes well and always helps the tenants in a timely and kind manner. Has never gotten a complaint-- about her work. She, herself, now requests tenants be out of the apartment while work is being done because she’s so chaotic it stresses out the tenants. Loves and leans into the “plumber’s crack” trope when she does plumbing work. Makes straight white men super uncomfortable and she lives for it. Unlike most other tenants, she knows nothing about The Owner or his operations, she was vetted by Front Desk and okay’ed due to her oblivious nature and genuine skills. (Front Desk totally knows about how she’s obsessive and stalks her love interests, how she sneaks into their rooms and frots against their bed while she caresses their skin while they sleep, how she hooked cameras up in her apartment so she can watch them always, how she always helps them first-- drops everything to help them first; but it’s okay, Front Desk can use all that to their advantage and when it stops being an advantage, well, they have more proof against her than she could dream of having against them. This job pays too well to lose, anyway, right?)  

Lobby Cleaner - Amelia Moser

21 - 5’6” - 134 lbs || Caucasian || he/him & she/her || Room 004 || Discreet Wallflower 

Soft, sweet, and quiet. She often blends into the background unnoticed. Gathers  a lot of intel that way and is quite willing to play the bait or honey pot people for the Owner. She’s more dangerous and promiscuous than she looks, after all looks are deceiving. She’s always getting dirt on the tenants, too. Cleaning the lobby and gym bathrooms while people are in them, eavesdropping on conversations, and generally watching everyone with a very close eye. She, herself, has an entitlement to her if you can catch her in conversation, though just know if you are in a conversation with her she’s already got you hooked. She doesn’t talk to anyone unless she wants or needs something from them- though they’re largely the same. Whatever it is, she’s getting it. Loves sweet things that aren’t just pretending to be kind, if you treat her and everyone with kindness but also get shy and flustered or you’re a little bit of a crybaby then- well, you’re her’s now. She’s kidnapping you, locking you up in her nursery, and drugging you until you believe you’re the child she’s treating you as. And if you try to leave- well, she won’t be afraid to take drastic measures. She knows how to clean up the toughest of stains after all.