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wowsoboring · 3 years

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Deconstructing baseless Harry Potter arguments #1: Harmony Edition

There’s a very helpful account on instagram (this instagram page merely gathers toxic harmony shippers, they don’t ship Harmione or hate all Harmione shippers, please don’t send them hate, show them love and support) where you can essentially find stupid fucking bashers who make baseless arguments. I’m all for Harmione shippers, as long as they don’t denounce Romione, bash Ron and just peacefully co-exist. To my pleasure, such people are out there: they just dont seem to be seen as often as the ones that are not nice. Maybe all I see is the mean people and the majority is nice, but in this post, I am attacking those who make baseless claims and bash Ron/Romione/Hinny/Ginny. I don’t myself hate all Harmione shippers. On top of that, as a Romione/Ron fan, i do acknowledge Ron’s character flaws along with Hermione’s and I hold them on the same pedestal.

This is copied directly from my own instagram page, granger.weasley_ on ig.

Anyways let's get deconstructing

rebuttal:

Yeah okay mf; maybe don’t compare real-life relationships with fucking fictional ones. Your relationship going wrong has nothing to do with Ron/Hermione. It has everything to do with you and your ex: the *real life* people involved in it.

rebuttal:

The weird subreddits and discord servers also seem to have a lot of die-hard Harmione “non-canon” shippers. They bash Ron and Romione (along with Ginny and Hinny) with a burning passion without any objective sense of remorse. They ignore all the merits of Ron’s character and bash him to push their agenda. They can’t even do so much as fucking acknowledge any of Hermione’s character flaws but still somehow manage to fixate on that one time when 11 year old Ron just shit-talked one line while Hermione had just publicly humiliated him in front of the Charms class and practically shouted at him for doing the spell wrong just before. I personally don’t because Hermione was 11 too and wasn’t that good at social cues that early on, which is more than okay. Neither am I.

Only a few people in the Romione fandom bash Hermione. And it’s not like Harmione shippers (most, not all!) don’t bash Ron and Ginny remorselessly, right? The fucking hypocrisy.

If someone considers Ron as the best member of the trio, it is their own opinion and not a fact. I do that. If you consider Harry and Hermione as the best member of the trio or in the whole wizarding world, most people don’t give a flying fuck and probably won’t argue with you because it is simply an opinion. That will only happen when you pass that off as a fact.

Statistically speaking, most (not FUCKING all) Harmione moments are in the movies. The weird dance scene especially. The passionate kiss that happens in Ron’s vision, shit like that. Ron is pushed to the sidelines in the last set of movies while Harry and Hermione show each other endless love and support. “I’ll go with you”. The books on the other hand, describe Harry and Hermione as siblings multiple times, with very little Harmione references.

rebuttal:

So you don't want us to fixate on the large majority of Harmione shippers who do the exact same thing, just kissing Hermione's and Harry's ass and hating on Ron. However you will fixate on people who are most likely not EVEN bashing or hating but pointing out a few character flaws in Hermione in a fair and unbiased way. I would know, I'm a huge fan of Hermione as an individual character (in the books). The only criticism I've seen of Hermione to this day has not been bashing. In the comment section of my own fics (shameless plug) I've seen some Hermione bashing. On an ao3 comment section. And I've seen so damn fucking many people bashing Ron, Ginny, the Weasleys etc. and garner tens and thousands of upvotes on quora.

What does Ron even need excusing for? The running away incident and Krum. What does Hermione need excusing for? Canaries, contributing to Ron's insecurities by making him jealous through Cormac and Krum even though she didn't even like them (especially not Cormac, she fucking hated him). Ron wore a locket that literally highlighted his fatal flaw (insecurity) in an echo chamber. Harry kept getting annoyed when Ron wanted to check in on his family. Harry asked Ron to leave; Ron didn't say that shit in the books about Harry's parents being dead: that was plain shock value.

And sorry for repeating myself but I have seen quite a few Harmione shippers bash Ron and Ginny and excuse every single thing Harry and Hermione have done.

37 upvotes on this weird comment that makes no sense? Echo chamber alert! You know what us Romione/Ron fans all have in common? We have never experienced such an echo chamber. I made a pro Ron/Romione post on reddit and got a considerable amount of people who bashed Ron and Romione in the comments.

The amount of Hermione haters is very few compared to Ron bashers. Nobody hates Hermione for being independent, determined, etc. We dislike perfect movie Hermione who’s an unrealistic image of females and seems like some sort of agenda than a real woman. Most Romione shippers/Ron fans and book fans in general (except for you apparently) dislike movie Hermione and still are fans of realistic book Hermione. Most, not all. In general, we do not claim anyone who does the exact same thing to Harry and Hermione that these sorts of Harmione shippers do to Ron, Romione, Hinny and Ginny. I say this on the behalf of all Romione shippers and Ron fans.

Ron's not a bitchy lay-about drama causing loser. That's Steve Kloves's movie Ron. In the books Ron is realistic and simplistic and apologizes whenever he causes problems. He acts up substantially twice in a span of 7 years where he is also a hormone-fuelled teenager.

This is so contradictory and juxtaposed to the point of near delusion. First you talk about how Romione shippers bash Hermione and then you bash Ron as a Harmione shipper. Mate, fighting fire with fire will get you called a hypocrite. Fix yourself.

So the movies are fine when they work according to your agenda? And yes how dare he add such a (fake) chemistry fuelled moment between Harry and Hermione while defeating the entire purpose and groundwork for Romione, the sadness caused by Ron leaving and so many more things? Those Harmione moments you mention seem friendship -esque more than anything else.

Steve Kloves's moments ruined many things while just paying fan service to the Harmione fans he'd birthed through years in the course of 6 movies where he showed Ron as a, how you so eloquently describe it, lay - about drama causing bitchy loser, Harry as one dimensional and Hermione as a zero - dimensional Mary Sue who might as well be the main titular character. Obviously Harmione fans such as yourself don't see the problem with it as it fits your narrative

We do care about Harry and Hermione at large. Most Romione shippers rightfully bash Draco, Pansy, etc. not particularly Harry and Hermione, that's quite rare. Harry and Hermione can get along without Ron as friends. Ron and Harry can also get along without. Hermione as friend. So can Hermione and Ron without Harry as friends or more. I don't understand your point and how what you said is any different than Romione or Ronarry’s friendship.

Constant arguing is not what they do. They bicker, they apologize, and sometimes they just do it for the heck of it. They are argumentative teenager. Opposites attract doesn't work in the sense of fire and ice, it works in the case of Brownie and ice-cream. Ron is passionate, laid back and insecure. Hermione's passionate, a workaholic and not as insecure. Ron can help her get calm and composed and get her to give herself a break. Hermione can motivate Ron and re - enforce his confidence.

It wouldn't be step incest. Harry and Ginny do not regard each other as siblings. They do not look similar whatsoever. And a Harmione shipper also bashes Hinny and Ginny along with Ron and Romione? Checks out

" that fucked up Harmony" hahaha. What?

Are you literally going to date someone on the basis of what Harry Potter ships they prefer? That is so shallow end depraved. Your Harry Potter ship preferences should not be the groundwork for your dating life. Please understand that. Harry Potter is a fictional world which is not real. Hogwarts doesn't exist. Magic doesn't exist. I sound like a Dursley but that's what it is: a fictional realm with fictional character. I would personally not give a fuck if my best friend or significant other was a Harmione shipper. In the case of them being a Ron basher, I would ignore it as if it was just a minor inconvenience and something we wouldn't be discussing and that's how it should be with you. Fuck BuzzFeed, your opinion on what Harry Potter ship / character is your favorite says squat about your personality and relationship with others in a romantic or platonic context. But who cares? Live your life however you want. I'll be stoic.

It's not opposites attract rubbish or high school opposites attract. Ron and Hermione aren't polar opposites like I said, they are a bit different but similar too in many ways. They have a lot more in common than Harry and Hermione. Ron and Harry have the most in common. Both Ron and Hermione are passionate, loving, argumentative, caring, etc. Your argument lacks substance. It's biased trash. And what does “obhwf " mean?

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at the end of the day, i’m just an annoyed teenager. I try my best to be open-minded to people but only as long as they are too. I tried to use my brain more than my feelings for this post.

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a-mended-pact · 3 years

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Unsteady Keys: Chapter 6

Authors notes: This chapter is really short. I wasn't overly sure if this was a good stopping point or not for it. I also will not be posting the next couple of chapters for sometime. My messages and asks are always open.

Word count: 2,192

Part 5 Part 7

Warnings: I can't think of any for this exact chapter. If there is any please inform me.

Requests are open

I think her vision finally cleared because with the way her eyes flickered between Ethan and I. I knew one of us was in for a rude awakening and I certainly knew it wasn't me.

She moved before I could stop her and I winced at the impact of her palm to his face. The sound of it echoed off the walls in the seemingly abandoned office. My wife wasn't thinking like a federal agent and how that just crossed too many lines. She was thinking as herself and that probably wasn't a good thing.

'He trusted you! He invited you to our wedding and you were involved in kidnapping him!?! I can't believe this! You bastard! Why are you not in a holding cell?! Better yet, why are you not in an interrogation room!?' She was vibrating in my grasp as her voice got louder and louder. She was no longer filled with the overwhelming emotions she was dealing with earlier; she's now just one big bundle of rage.

I should be trying to stop her. I really should but it was so rare when she let her emotions get the better of her that I didn't wanna stop her. I was sorta enjoying it. That is until she turned to me and glared.

She shook with anger as she looked at me. Like a small puppy trying to hold in a bark. The longer she stared the more she shaked. She was trying to control herself. One of her rules that she made of her own choice was that she'd never yell at me. I told her how preposterous that was. Sometimes I deserve to get yelled at.

The rule was made due to past trauma of hers that definitely doesn't need to be brought up or discussed in front of Ethan. He didn't need anymore ammo to use against us. I'm not sure that he would but I couldn't take any chances. Not anymore then I already have anyway.

I had enough time to catch Ethan's gaze before I watched my wife storm out of Morgan's old office.

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I paced around the bullpen until Tara told me if I didn't stop I was gonna leave a tread mark in the carpet. I couldn't help but laugh. I sounded exhausted. I felt dead on my feet but I couldn't close my eyes. I knew that if I did all I would see was Spencer being hurt and tortured. Me being right there only to have him look at me like I meant nothing to him. Like I was nothing. Maybe I was but right now wasn't the time to dwell on that thought.

I looked at her and then at the board of all the victims. 'Do you think it's possible that what Reid said is true? That Ethan didn't have a choice? That Ethan isn't fully in on it? They were kidnapping and killing victims that look like me for Christ sake.' I turned away from the board and through my hands up in frustration before I let them fall to my sides. 'Is Lindsey Vaughn even in on this? We have an eye witness identifying Ethan and here he is walking about as a free man. All because he has Genius in there believing he is innocent!' I could feel my aggravation getting the better of me again.

My palm still stung from the slap I gave him earlier. I knew it wasn't protocol but I didn't care. He deserved it. All I wanted to do was scream. It wasn't fair. God I needed to sleep. I glanced at the analog clock on the wall. I've officially been up for 4 days now. Which honestly wasn't anything overly new. If I didn't take my medication regularly even without everything going in sleep would still eluded me. Insomnia is definitely a cunt. My mind never knew how to shut off. Playing records of things I didn't want to see or hear. It had been 4 days since a proper meal. I began to wonder when someone would notice and tell Emily to send me home.

A part of me hoped someone did another part just wanted to close this case and arrest all those involved. I was sick of Cat always having the upper hand on us in this case. I ran my hands over my face and sighed. I think it's time for a wake up call for our sleeping kitten.

____________________

When I came into view of Cat Adam's I saw that Spencer was already in there grilling her about what she'd done to Ethan. Asking if Lindsey was the true unsub all along. He was making assumptions completely based off the fact that he knew Ethan. I understood truly I did but he was being biased he can't seriously excuse that his college friend was a kidnapper. Whether being manipulated and played like a puppet on strings he was still a kidnapper and the victims deserved proper justice.

'So you're telling me that you're not the one behind this really Cathrine? I doubt that. I really do. He has photos of me in Mexico. Drugged laying next to Nadie Ramos dead! Don't tell me you had nothing to do with this and it was all just Lindsey!' His voice was nearly ruptured the speaker when I turned it on. He was so loud. He was so angry that I myself flinched. I don't see how she could just sit there looking at him unfazed as if this was normal for him.

I watched as she leaned forward making herself look like a viper ready to strike.

'Spencie If I knew Ethan being evolved would have you so worked up I would have done it sooner.' She smiled at him. 'I however did not plan on you being taken. You being apart of it like that wasn't part of the plan.' She leaned her head on her hand. That's when I realized he had taken off her restraints. What was he doing?

'My only goal was to make you squirm in discomfort as your precious wife went missing. With the chance of her being another victim on the side of the road. Ya know I don't go for the throat Baby boy. I go for the mind.' She laughed as she swiped his hair out of his face. He let her.

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I was furious with everything that had happened. Ethan being evolved I almost through me off the edge. Then her saying that the goal was for it to be Y/n and not me made me see red. I needed to remind myself that I needed to remain calm. If I didn't I wouldn't get anything out of her besides her lust filled obsession of me being angry with her.

To be honest I did think about playing into her desire for me. It would have been an easy choice. A simple one. I could have gotten away with it if it wasn't for the fact that my wife was already upset with me.

I didn't mean to do it but I did end up leaning into Cat's touch when she moved my hair out of my face. I was disgusted with myself. I was a better man than this. Yet here I was mesmerized by her eyes as they watched me with the curiosity of a wolf preying on sheep. Only I was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

How easy it would be to deduce Cat Adams into nothing but statistics and profiling. She wanted to have me squirm in misery but It would be so easy to have her broken and on her knees for me.

I pulled away immediately once I realized what I had done. 'You are threatening a federal agent not to mention you are an accomplice to what happened. Even if I wasn't the target. You still knew who took me and who else was involved and you still chose silence. '

A smirk formed on my face as I moved my chair closer to her. Pulling it around the metal table and on her side of it. I leaned in really close to her ear. To be fair I had no idea if anyone was watching or listening but I wasn't about to take anymore chances.

I gently moved her hair behind her ear as I leaned in closer to whisper. 'If anything would have happened to my wife or Ethan I would certainly be the one in an orange jumpsuit.' My hand slipped up to her throat not squeezing hard but with enough pressure to remind her of the time I had been this close to her last. 'I would watch the life drain from you and sleep well. I know how much you love when people see the resemblance between you and I.' My hand tightened before I slung it off her with such force she wobbled a little in her chair.

Cat watched me with her pupils dilated as she gently caressed the redding skin where my hand had been. 'If I didn't know any better Spencie I think you just like touching me.' The way she panted as she watched me made my skin crawl. I hated myself for thinking she was such an attractive specimen of a human being. Her mind intrigued me more than anyone I have ever met.

I wanted to pick apart her psyche. I wanted to know what made her tick. Besides her abandonment issues and lack of empathy because she was never shown any kindness a day in her life. Even if she was shown some form of kindness I'm sure she didn't know what to do with it. She probably shut herself down from it. Most likely abused by someone in her life. She was just like every other unsub so why did I crave her so much more.

I couldn't figure out my attraction to her after all these years. Sure she held a very natural beauty to her but she was nothing compare to Y/n who could strut around her hair a mess and stains on her clothes and still pull me in as if she were the gravity holding me to this earth.

I realized then one of my biggest mistakes of the last few days as my wife walked in leaning herself against the wall with her arms crossed. I could tell the moment I walked into the bureau that she hadn't been sleeping. I also knew from her mental state that she in fact hadn't been taking her medication.

I sighed more at myself than to her. 'Love you shouldn't be in here. If anything you should be at home resting and taking care of yourself.' I turned to lock eyes with her only she wasn't looking at me. She was looking at Cat Adams.

'You know it's been a couple of hours since you and I spoke. I was hoping you'd be willing to share some info but I see you've been busy.' As she spoke her eyes never left Cat.

I was surprised to watch the manipulative woman squirm under anyone's gaze. 'So here's the thing Catherine. I'm done playing nice and pretending like I'm not steps ahead of you already.'

My wife strutted to her, swaying her hips from side to side in a confident manner. I was intrigued by what she meant but chose to keep my lips sealed. 'The truth is. You lost control over Lindsey the moment you didn't want to hurt your precious Spencie and she didn't like that fact. She was in love with you and you betrayed her by trying to keep the federal agent she hated safe. The moment you brought Ethan in and had him take women that looked like me was the moment you fully and completely lost control over her. By then she knew you would never truly hurt or kill Spencer because rather you understand it or not the desire you have was never to kill him. All you want is his precious attention to never leave you. Simply because you’ve never had anyone show you their undivided focus until he showed up.’ My eyes widened. I kept my head down as I listened. Clearly my wife was done playing by the original rules of Cat’s game. It was always mental but right now my wife was aiming for the verbal killing strike. I glanced up and I could see her eyes hold unshed tears as she sneered at Y/n.

‘It’s funny that you don’t even understand the reasoning you are so infatuated with the idea of Reid. You've never had a man show you attention that didn't want to use you. Spencer came into your life showing you with respect and you didn't know how to handle it because you didn't know what that felt like. It's a shame really. '

Y/n kept her face calm but I could see the blood dripping from her palms as her nails dug into them. She was deeply upset right now. I doubt she even noticed she was doing it.

Taglist:

@sassymoon @rainsong01 @onlyhereforthefanfics @itsdars

#criminal minds fanfiction #unsteady keys #criminal minds #spencer reid fanfiction #spencer x reader #spencer x you #spencer x y/n #yuki's babbles

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subjecta5newtella · 3 years

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thoughts on newtmas :) go on :) i’m listening :)

sami rly said ok time for violence. this is going to be so long sorry everyone.

if we’re talking newtmas itself as a ship in itself, outside of any other influence (and specifically in the movie version, which is generally what people are talking about), I think it’s a good ship. I would have to be the most unobservant motherfucker alive to not see what people see in it, and I am not, in fact, the most unobservant motherfucker alive. it’s a good dynamic with good chemistry and realistically I think if I’d started with the movies rather than the books, I would’ve gone all in for it.

however. I personally am incapable about talking about it in isolation.

I realize from that segue it sounds like I’m about to lead into some grand moral point, but mostly I just liked how dramatic it sounded. anyway. I feel like I need to start with a disclaimer that the easiest, simplest part of this is that you tend to get attached to your first ships in a fandom, as well as your initial feelings about the characters. obviously you can change your mind about any of those things, but it does stick with you. if we’re going to be kind and skip my internalized homophobia era (please be kind), I shipped thominho and nalby because that’s what was big at the time. I also just... did not like book thomas very much, so I wasn’t about to ship him with my favorite character.

(complete and utter tangent: it’s interesting to me that people read the books now and overwhelmingly see newtmas. I recognize that every time I start a sentence with “it’s interesting that” it automatically sounds shady, but i genuinely just love Analyzing. anyway some of it’s definitely people seeing the movie first or having fandom content as a first exposure even in passing, all of which are valid ways to engage, but I do kind of find it fascinating when people talk about book!newtmas as some massive presence because then... theoretically we all should’ve seen it pre-movies? the ship existed, usually among people who hardcore multishipped, but it wasn’t anything like it is today. not at all to say that reading it like that is invalid, it’s just interesting to me the way some people talk about that interpretation, rather than the interpretation itself)

anyway. with that all out of the way, i do have some actual issues with newtmas, although it really doesn’t have anything to do with the characters or the ship itself. these are things that surround the ship and affect my feelings about it, meaning that I never bought in despite, like I said, Seeing It. my main issue with it is how much the roles of other characters have been reduced to create the ship in its current form. I’ve talked at far too much length about the way minho was adapted and honestly will probably talk about it more, because that’s the big one to me (that post can be found here, for those who don’t keep up with every rant I’ve ever gone on for some reason). I will not go so far as to say that’s required reading to fully understand this post, but I would recommend it since I don’t want to just repeat myself. so much of newtmas being the major ship feels like it’s predicated on minho not being there and not having anywhere near as strong a relationship with thomas and newt as he did in the books, and that will never sit right with me.

newt’s relationship with alby is his other most significant dynamic outside thomas and minho, and i feel like it might be surprising to hear me say this, but i get why that one was reduced for the movie. there’s only so much time in the film, so you want to focus on the characters who are going to make it past the first one. I do have a problem here, but it has more to do with dashner and with some fandom bullshit. with dashner, i think the crank palace is the worst of it (I could’ve just stopped that sentence at “I think the crank palace is the worst” but whatever). since all my rants lead back to each other, I’ll link the relevant one here, but the general gist is that my biggest problem was that newt does not seem to have any more of a post-swipe past than thomas does despite theoretically having two more years of memories. given that fact, I don’t know about you, but I would kind of expect alby to be more of a presence in his consciousness. that’s true of pretty much any of the original gladers, but newt and alby are clearly very close in the first book, and again, alby saved his fucking life. he’s literally mentioned once. dashner prioritized the newt/thomas dynamic so much that newt seemingly had no meaningful relationships with anyone else. tcp isn’t immune to treating minho badly either; like I said in that post, it sounds like newt read the wikipedia page on minho. is any of this the fault of the ship itself? does this change anything that came before it? no, but the whole thing feels massively disingenuous, and also kind of disrespectful to people who actually, like, gave a shit about the other characters. also, the way he’s retconning makes me real nervous.

the other part, like I mentioned, is the fandom more than any of the actual content. I’m aware that part of this is just a statistics game and also that’s it’s not representative of all newtmas shippers, but most of the alby bashing I’ve seen comes from newtmas people. it’s... baffling to me, honestly. what’s the point in putting down a ship being kept alive by me and like 3 other people? what do you gain by misrepresenting a character to the point of maliciousness when you could easily just not engage with them? again, I know it’s not everyone and it doesn’t have anything to do with the ship, but I’d be lying if I said things like this don’t color my perception. if someone goes out of their way to put down a ship I like, I’m not really gonna want to associate myself with their ship. I’m gonna cling to my own harder out of spite, actually.

also.... okay. so I peaced out to go do other shit between earlyish 2015 and mid 2019. and it was very weird to temporarily leave the fandom while the two main (in my recollection at least, which could be biased by who i was friends with) mlm ships each included one of the explicitly non-white characters, and come back to find it almost entirely dominated by white boy/white boy... like. I don’t wanna make a statement as simple as “the fandom is racist” because a) it’s not my place to say that, b) if we want to go into that, there are other examples of fandom racism where it’s Blatant and there really is no excuse, whereas this is a bit more complicated imo because c) like. that’s the dynamic the movies gave us. the movies focused very heavily on the newt and thomas dynamic, so of course that’s what the fandom is going to focus on. there’s a lot to say there, but that’s a different issue. it does.... still contribute to the bad taste in my mouth, though, and also contributes to me feeling like I need to keep those ships alive. it’s not about who has the Most Progressive Ship, I just feel weird about the particular shift I’ve seen here.

on a note that sounds less like I’m leveling accusations, New Relationships just aren’t my vibe. you look at my ao3 and it’s like. friends of many years to lovers. established relationship. friends to lovers to exes and back again. just from a dynamics perspective, there are other ships that are more interesting for me to explore. there. this is a lighter reason.

idk overall I don’t wanna sound like I’m on some Moral Crusade here, even though i know some of my points made it sound like that. this is really just me putting all of my thoughts that I can currently round up in one place in order to... idk, explain myself? and like it’s stupid that i feel the need to explain myself, but I know it’s weird not to ship it at this point, and I know if I did I would have so much more content to choose from and a much wider audience for my own content. there’s just baggage there thats entirely separate from the ship itself, having seen the shift and knowing what had to change in order to center newtmas. I’m not trying to sound like I’m better than anyone; I just think maybe I have a different perspective on things having been here for long enough to qualify it as a new mental illness, and that’s ultimately why I feel the way I do.

#and honestly maybe all of that is bullshit and I’m just a contrarian asshole at heart. who’s to say. not me.#why did I write so much about this. they’re literally fake people who gives a fuck #ask game

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zeawesomebirdie · 3 years

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Hey!

I really feel like I’m writing forum messages again haha, that’s a lot of fun :)

Yeah the popularity of Kylux is pretty impressive, the fanlore page is interesting if you want to have a look. I wasn’t really there to see it but apparently it grew pretty slowly but steadily, contrary to those ships that get super popular suddenly. I honestly think it’s so fun that the like, 2nd most popular ship on AO3 for all of Star Wars has this rando who doesn’t even get 15 full minutes of screentime over 6 hours of movies as one half of it, that’s pretty impressive (and yes I did time that when I rewatched the sequels, I was kinda surprised, he doesn’t even get a full 15 minutes! More precisely, it’s ~4:20 in ep 7, ~6:30 in ep 8 and a measly ~2:20 for ep 9! Counting those seconds you see him vaguely laying on the ground dying! What the hell, JJ Abrams, what the hell. But I mean, if we’re talking about Hux, what happened to him in ep 8 wasn’t… yeah. I have a few rants ready at all time and the one on whatever the hell they did to Hux is one of them haha). I know I have the potential to get into Reylo somewhere in me, I just know it, but I never did because… I don’t really know, maybe the fact that I’m generally not a multishipper and Kylux is already there, something. I’m honestly pretty curious of what ships are popular on what platforms and with which audiences and how much and when and all that? There are so many things that could influence that, it’s the kind of thing that would deserve a study but also you can’t really do one. I didn’t check FFN though, even if that’s where I started reading… I’ll add that to my notes for when I finally feel like writing down numbers. The advantage with the sequels is, contrary to all the older fandoms, I imagine the LJ population is much smaller and there won't really be archives, it’s just too recent for that. Look at me getting all excited for maths and statistics when I should be doing literature homework lol. Anyway, apart from that, I too could talk about ships for hours, I get the feeling :’)

The “fixed point in time” was a Doctor Who thing, I thought it was clear but maybe I’m biased because I have the context. It’s this thing where some events are fixed, they happen whether some time travelers decide to change history or not. A lightly spoilery example: in one of the seasons of the 11th Doctor, there’s this whole thing with his death, and it’s a fixed point in time, that means he’s always going to die whatever all his friends do to try and make him stay alive. The internet archive idea is super good though, that’ll help me flesh the thing out! I have to say, I have a deep fondness for the whole citrus scale, but I don’t think I feel quite ready to explain what a lemon is to a classroom haha.

Yeah fandoms get… intense sometimes, it’s pretty scary to hear about it. That Hetalia thing sounds ridiculous, though it’s funny to see another variation on why genderswaps are bad. There was a bit of that with John’s wife in BBC Sherlock, what with the show having quite a lot of queerbaiting, but you could pretty easily avoid it. I never got it either, people really do weird stuff on the internet.

Thank you!! Probably mostly flimsi, but I imagined she would also try other mediums like metal or wood? Kind of like your arts classes where you drew but also tried sculpting and all kinds of techniques (even if here you can’t sculpt a map, but I think she’d try stuff for the fun of it. Also, an engraved map of a sector on a piece of wood sounds dope). The Mary Sue thing is so bad for confidence when you’re young, I totally get the strong feelings, me too tbh. Like I always saw people criticising their old cringy OCs or other people's and I desperatly didn’t want to “fail” at anything, even something you can’t really fail because as long as you’re having fun you’re good, so I just didn’t create any, since I was sure I couldn’t do it properly. Internet is fun but sometimes not that much actually.

I hadn’t even realised for “dear one”, I mean it makes sense that he wouldn’t say it in canon but it just… fits so much!! That’s a thing you read once and go “yeaah he WOULD say that” because yes he would. And you know what this makes me even more curious of who thought “Yan Dooku” was good, because yeah it is, honestly I like it, it sounds like a SW name, it works. By the way, I’m super curious about the human naming conventions in the galaxy, where do the names come from? Cause they have normal names that you could give a kid in our world (if you exclude the fact that some of them are Star Wars Names and immediately off limits), like Luke, Leia, Norra, Wedge, Caleb, probably Han or Sinjir, Ben, Owen, Amilyn, Armitage, Rey, Poe, Finn, Orson… you get the idea. Then there’s the more ambiguous like Lando or Satine or Padmé and her handmaidens, they’re not really real names but they might work if you want something original. And then, well. Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon. Anakin. Shmi. Temmin. Mace. Cliegg. Sheev. Dryden. Mon. Galen. All of the damn Knights of Ren, if that’s even their real names? I suppose Lor San Tekka’s name is Lor?? Anyway, you catch my drift. How do they work is my question. I’m not gonna start on birthdays and certain things not existing because what they’re based on doesn’t have a SW equivalent (like uuh the name Christopher is based on Christ but they don’t have Jesus), because you gotta know when to stop. I just can’t figure where they found those weird human names and what would sound fine. Are the same names considered basic and timeless? Are there weird ones that sound perfectly normal to them? How does any of that work?? Because picking a name for a species that has few info available is fine, you just invent your own stuff and fill in blanks, but humans? That’s us! … Maybe I just answered my own question and I’ll have to invent my own stuff. Still curious about how the fuck Obi-Wan came to be though, that's a very nice but weird name. Also I know I’m not the first one to notice but I think it’s very funny that it’s more or less official that the strip of cloth Jedi have around their waist under their belt is called an obi. Because haha, funny joke, Obi-Wan is a Jedi, Obi's obi, all that.

Oh this is pretty comforting actually, thank you! There’s always that “I don’t want to be annoying” voice in the back of my head but putting it in perspective does help. I’m glad that you’re having fun too then :)

Also unrelated to the rest but I really want to talk about it, I went to a con this weekend, and while it was more fantasy themed, there was a stand for the local lightsaber combat association, and they did demos and short little initiations. I didn’t catch any of the demos but I did get to learn a few stances with a saber and it was super cool. I mean I’m really bad at most anything physical so I probably looked like a tiny initiate having their first lesson but hey, at least I tried! I also have renewed appreciation for literally anything they do with lightsabers in the movies and series because those movements are not easy, even when your weapon is pretty harmless. The instructor tried to teach us how to do the little twirly wrist movement you can do at the end of your salute when you’ve finished a session, the same kind Obi-Wan does when he “unsheathes” his saber in TCW sometimes, and my friend got it right away but I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out lol. So yeah that was fun, there was also a super nice cosplayer who came as her own OC with an apparently Revan-inspired design that looked really cool.

Now that I’ve written the equivalent of the homework due tomorrow on some text analysis I should have been doing instead, I think I’ll go attend to my actual responsabilities (sadly, because this is much more fun). Have a nice – I think it’s late-afternoon/evening in the US, so a nice end of your day I suppose, and don’t worry, I did see your answer! (I think at that point the anon isn’t very necessary BUT I’m shy lol)

- ☂️

Hey ☂️! Thanks for your patience with me, I really appreciate it!

Ngl that kind of popularity from kylux is crazy impressive. I remember it being the crackship back in the early days of the sequel fandom, that was before TLJ had come out. Its really epic that its gone from being a crackship to the 2nd most popular ship though! And its such a good ship too, it definitely deserves that popularity lmao!

Okay so ik i say this a lot but Hux really did deserve better from d*sney. Less than 15 total minutes of screen time? How dare they! And they gave him this terrible awful backstory and then refuse to show any of it on screen, like his whole relationship with Brendol could have been so interesting to see outside of comics but no ofc not and his bio mother isn't even a named character in canon and thats!! So terrible!! Im very defensive over him i love him very much (yes he's a villain ik but look) and like maybe im just super defensive of him because I built an entire backstory for him for fic purposes (that i can't really talk about until the kylux big bang is released) but I love him and he deserved!! So much better!! And how dare they just kill him!! I have a whole rant about this somewhere lmao, im so glad we can agree on this!

I can def agree with kylux being the better ship compared to reylo. Why have het enemies to lovers when gay enemies to lovers is right there? But legit reylo is what got me to like the sequels back in the day, they're still a soft favorite of mine 😅

Now exploring ship popularity in comparison to which platform you're on would be very very interesting! I can tell you that tumblr has a very small kylux base these days (i go through that tag almost weekly these days and there's very rarely new stuff that im interested in) compared to say, reylo or obikin where there's constantly new stuff being posted. But there's also a ton more "hate" in the obikin and reylo communities compared to kylux, so by popularity are you going for traffic overall vs positive interaction vs just the negative interactions and you're right, there's so much that can influence it and its definitely worth a study if someone has time!

Oh, im gonna be honest I stopped watching Doctor Who after Eccleston. With your explanation though it makes a lot of sense! Seems like theres a few of those in the prequels fandom, generally there's always the Clone Wars and generally unless its a fix it au Anakin always falls.

Explaining lemon to a classroom, thatd be,,,, rough lmao. Its probably a good idea to leave that one out 😅

Fandoms do get intense. Its pretty crazy, and I say that as someone who's been around fandoms for the last decade. I have so many Opinions(tm) about it lol, it really is easy to avoid the stuff one doesn't want to see and ngl its a lot better that way isn't it

Omg an engraved wood sector map would be so so cool!! She sounds like a great character, im very excited to hear more about her whenever you want to share!

The whole concept of "cringe" is kinda sucky tbh, I dont know how to explain it but it feels like it was just a way to make fun of people for their ocs or their writing or art or whatever. You're right, the internet is fun but also not sometimes. But yeah, you really can't fail as long as you're having fun! Just getting over that initial hump of feeling anxious about your oc is the hardest part! This reminds me of that one meme, "I want a good grade at [thing], something that is both normal and possible to achieve-" and I dont remember where it started but I remember @/mandocule having a good one somewhere, I think it was about fic writing?

Okay so human naming conventions is such a hotly debated thing! Or was at one point, i dont keep up with fandom drama anymore lmao. I remember seeing something on reddit saying Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon must have come from the same planet because their names use similar conventions, which is very interesting to think about but also! There's so many different planets and cultures that its absolutely impossible to narrow the naming conventions down to a single thing, and I doubt even Lucas and d*sney have it all figured out so if you can find a naming convention go for it yknow! I think also thats the benefit of fanfiction, we can make up whatever we want and it'll be plausible because the SW universe is so vast whos to say xyz thing isn't true. That got a little meta, but yeah you did answer your own question there!

Also yeah Obi-Wan is a v nice, v weird name. Re: obi also being the belt, do you think its maybe one of those things were theres a name variation of a word? Idk if that question made sense, yknow how theres words that are Also Names? Bc it could be like that, so maybe "Obi" as a name prefix isn't actually that weird? Again, making it up as we go along but! Wouldn't that be interesting!

Let me reassure you again then, you're not annoying me whatsoever! I love talking about this stuff :) this is really fun, and delving into these topics also gets me thinking about stuff I wouldn't have normally thought about!!

Omg testing out lightsabers is so much fun!! I have two lightsabers myself, I've been messing around with them (and actually have to replace the electronics in both whoops) and its so so hard to get the movements right! And its good to try new things!! Im not sure which actor this was said about but there was an interview once about how the lightsaber duels were choreographed like actual sword fights or something, and there was one actor who was really good at it and worked really hard at it and stuff. It was either Mark Hamill or Hayden Christensen, im pretty sure?? Anyway, yeah that stuff is wicked hard and good for you for trying it!!

Omg i hope you got your homework done! And attending real life responsibilities is never as fun as fandom stuff, its too bad its necessary 🥲 you're always welcome back in the inbox for more analysis :) im not sure what timezone you are, so I hope you're having a good day/night today!

#anon ☂️#ahhh i had a lot to say today #i have a whole rant locked and loaded about hux lmao #most of it will have to wait until after the kylux bang is released in december though lmao #as always i love having you in the inbox!!

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bbugyu · 4 years

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melody + yoon jeonghan

it seemed like a sick joke that the ta for your university level musical theory class was actually as hot as dramas made them out to be.

wc.654 | fluff, mentions of sex, walk of not-so-shame

i biased jeonghan yesterday so i’ve been having some feelings. hope quarantine is treating you all well!

It was early. Way too damn early.

Granted, he had warned you. Before you snuggled into his chest to fall asleep, he told you he had to wake up early. That you’d have to get up with him so his roommates wouldn’t murder him for leaving a strange girl in the house. That you’d have to leave at 6:30 in the goddamn morning.

But even then, you groaned in defiance when he tried to get out of bed.

“Babe, no,” you mumbled, clutching to his form after he turned off his alarm. “Stay.”

He planted a kiss on your forehead. “I gotta get ready for class.”

“Play hookie,” you said, eyes finally prying open. Your arms were around his waist as he sat up. “What the fuck kinda class starts at seven?”

“Look, I don’t love statistics, but I need the class for my degree.”

You were groaning again. “I’ll just stay here. I won’t get out of bed. No one will know I’m here.”

He laughed and managed to loosen your grip to find clothes. “It’s just going to happen again tomorrow morning.”

Finally sitting up, you rubbed your eyes and yawned. “Weeknight dates are the fucking stupidest.”

“You’re the one that arranged this.”

You glared at him with jaded eyes, hair surely pointed in eight different directions, making him laugh. He excused himself so he could take a quick shower and brush his teeth.

Jeonghan was the TA in your musical theory class, and you have had your sights set on him since the beginning of the quarter. He was too tall and too skinny for his own good, an absolute joy to look at, and maybe had a slight resting bitch face, but he was just so cool. He was good friends with the prof, and they even did dumb little improv songs about dicks when they needed to give an example of some complex arrangement. He had a great voice and an even better laugh. He would chat with students about dramas and music before class. You were sure that half the class was in love with him, and the other half were straight males in questioning.

Much to your surprise, he had asked you out. But between your classes and work schedule, the two of you had struggled greatly to find any time you were free to hang out. And when you had met up at a bar on a Tuesday night, you were a bit too eager to accept his suggestion of making your way back to his place.

You never put out on first dates. Never. You had even told him that when he had kissed you outside the bar. He had smiled and said he didn’t care, and that he’d like to see you again anyways.

Two hours later, the two of you were in a post-orgasm haze, giggling and watching tiktoks on your phone.

By the time he returned from the bathroom, you had managed to put on the clothes that had gotten discarded embarrassingly quick the night before, and you were wrangling your hair into a semblance of an updo - more to get it out of your face than to look like anything more than a mess. He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into a searing kiss. He was minty, and smelled like Old Spice. You couldn’t help but melt into him.

“I really enjoy your company,” he said after separating his lips from yours. “I like you a lot.”

You grinned and traced your fingers on his jaw. “I like you a lot, too.”

“Let’s do this again soon.”

“Agreed.”

Not even half an hour later, you were exhaling happily in the comfort of your dorm, your roommate eyeing you warily from bed as you changed into pajamas when received a text from him.

“I’m dying to see you again.”

Grinning, you flopped into bed and returned the sentiment.

#two in one day bay bee #han makes me feel so many things #jeonghan #yoon jeonghan #seventeen #seventeen imagines #seventeen fluff #seventeen scenarios #jeonghan imagines #jeonghan fluff #jeonghan scenarios #i wrote dis #hannie

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lifesbecomings · 3 years

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The email

Hi Drew— I just wanted to clarify something and share some perspective. First off, I want to say that I understand and respect Denison’s admissions process. I reached out a few days ago to everyone just curious about the process and wanted to talk about options to continue my education, IF even possible, through Denison! With the positive feedback from everyone and your first email, and then mention, even as a slight possibility, of spring enrollment...one certainly can understand my excitement and push for more discussion and my initiative to get applied/enrolled. With that said I am still curious about steps in general. And maybe I applied as the wrong type of student. I know there are openings still this spring, and especially in the EDUC classes (like EDUC 390), and thought "wow, maybe this is all aligning because it's meant to be." If it is or isn't meant to be, I'm at peace with whatever the decision is or remains. But Denison will always be my first choice. I did leave in 2017 as a medical leave student, and technically I wasn't pursuing a degree through CCS, just taking classes, many students take summer classes or semesters (like if on academic suspension), and then come back and return to campus. I know usually students typically return 1-2 years, and I understand there are deadlines and I know their importance. In no way shape or form am I trying to surpass these. When I first reached out, I said I'd be happy to discuss ANY options in a return. Others, throughout the thread, were mentioning a spring return and spring availability and how fantastic this could be. Both Karen Graves and Baker were on board in the Educ. department, where I am majoring, presumably for a spring enrollment. Maybe it is the fact I only have art credits as transfers. Was it that they were hoping for more core class transfers? Either way, to be perfectly transparent, whatever the outcome is, I will be taking spring classes. As well as summer classes. I want to get my degree. My first choice is Denison. If there is anyway to make this a possibility still. You already know, It would be my pleasure to stay in touch, and I will happily move to Ohio and take classes back on campus in the fall. Denison holds a special place in my heart. I hope my time on campus impacted those I came into contact with, as much as they impacted me. The Briefing: Within the last 2 weeks. Literally, two weeks, a series of events occurred that made me see the potential I could have. It started with a ski lesson, we had philosophy lessons up the chairlift, and the technical skiing lessons going down the hill. It was eye opening. I realized I need to work on my patience, but It also made me realize that I don't have to do something I do not enjoy. Moreover, it made me recognize I need to stop running from what satisfies me the most, people, education, learning, and teaching. I shut myself off in 2017 to the idea of "traditional schooling". I thought, "It's not for me". " I'm not good at it". It stuck. That is, until January 6th 2021, when I had this ski lesson. The ski lesson in combination with my parents friend, a teacher from Brother Rice High School, got me thinking. I was thinking and analyzing myself. My change in perspective was shocking. I needed to accept my talents and embrace them, instead of shutting them out and rejecting them. It is so funny how we sabotage ourselves. This is the start of my story. About how I found my drive and fulfillment. Below are three personal stories I would like to share. 1. Monkey Bars.

There is a story my mother always would tell me growing up about my perseverance and determination. When I was very young, 4 years old, there was a set of monkey bars on the school playground. After school one day I told my mom I wanted to go across the monkey bars. The only problem...I did not know how to do them. But, I had watched other kids that day at recess. So I was determined to figure it out. We were there for 2-3 hours. I was bound and determined to do those monkey bars. I knew that was what I wanted. I had numerous failed attempts, failure after failure, my mother began to beg me to leave with her because my hands were all beaten up, blistered, and bloodied, I still kept going. I made it all the way across those monkey bars that day, and every day after. There is another story, too, a similar story about me riding a two wheeler. Same determination, different goal. Both accomplished.

2. My Miracle.

A senior in college, to the modern western world, is still considered "young". If you're in school, attending high school or even attending university, to have a child anywhere, at any time in that mix, It is looked down upon, plain and simple. I chose to not tell any of my peers, while I was at Denison, my fall semester, that senior year, in 2017. I kept this knowing to myself. I told my parents, and told the father/ fathers parents. Guess what was encouraged? An abortion. Whether verbally spoken (which it was) or unspoken, I knew this is what was wanted from me, wanted for me. I mean, it was, after all, the easiest thing to do. I could still finish my degree and the family could always come later in my life. So, I did just that. I went in for that appointment, at 5 weeks.

Statistically speaking it is 99% effective. Did you know, 1:4 women will have had an abortion in their lifetime. It's neither here nor there, just an incredible statistic. I actually came back to Denison to finish out my degree after. Putting the past behind me. I enjoyed a fantastic fall break that year in Philadelphia with friends, because through Denison my Junior year, I did a "study abroad," in Philadelphia (the best experience ever. Cannot speak enough about that program! So grateful Denison is a part of the Study in Philly!)

Anyway, after coming back from break I wasn't myself that week at school. I came home, went to a doctor's appointment. Pregnant. I was 11 weeks pregnant. 1-2 weeks away from being in my second trimester. I knew. In that instant, I was keeping him. No one else understood, at the time, my decision. I was blamed on one side, entirely, for this outcome, the father still lives in denial. This is important information in my story, as it describes where I have been, who I am and who I've become. The father isn't, and has never been involved. This is fine. It's been uncomplicated. I'm actually very lucky. Besides, I know that my son and I deserve someone 100% interested in me AND my son, not an either or situation. So once making my decision, to continue with the pregnancy, I took one day. One day to be broken hearted, to feel like it was me against the world. Later, to my surprise, I found I had a support network bigger than I could ever have imagined.

I am blessed. I am loved. "We" are so loved. But it took me that one day to realize, the easiest thing is not always the right thing. I knew honestly from the day I first found out, I wanted this baby. And my god, has it not only blessed me, but this child of mine blesses and brings joy to anyone and everyone he meets. As a biased mother would say, he truly is something special. My choosing to bring this new life into the world, is an amazing and miraculous testimony to my dedication and character. Being a mother (parent) is one of the toughest jobs in the world.

3. My Bakery.

First, back story: I tried to take some classes at College for Creative studies in 2018. Knowing I was more than "just a mom". I've done a lot of "soul" searching and self love in my time away. I didn't reach back to Denison at this time because I was convinced traditionally schooling just must not be for me. The root of it, I later would find, was that I was somehow undeserving of it. (super messed up mental ideal). Disclaimer: I, like many, struggled with self worth. Therapy is necessary and beautiful. Anyway, continuing---I had a hobby of sketching. Homes and houses always intrigued me, so I picked up some classes at CCS, interior design classes. This is where I realized a hobby does not make for a career. More importantly, I remembered the promise I had made to myself, that I didn't want anyone else raising my baby boy. I was spending 60hrs + a week on projects and classroom time, leaving him home with my parents and babysitters, a little bit at first, then, more and more. So, I pulled the plug.

When I give of myself I want to give 100%. If I was giving my school work 100% there was none left for my son. I had to pick between the two, and clearly, without a doubt, my baby boy was the sure pick. Schooling this time round failed because It was in person, he was not in school yet, and it was not practical or logistical. I stopped in OCT of 2019. Between October and December of 2019 I went stir crazy. I was 24/7 with my son, living at my parents home still, and my mental health was on the decline. I felt trapped. I needed a way out. And thus "A Degree Above Bakery" was born. I have made over 5,000 dollars in profits from this business. I have a standing order, weekly, with Westborn Market. However, this flow, and work is at my grace. I can shut it down, permanently, or temporarily. I can drive it forward more, or scale it back, starting tomorrow. I was determined to find a way out and give myself some "me" time, as well as doing something I enjoyed that gave me flexible hours to work with my son present. I originally started in my own home. Operating under the cottage food law. That is, until I started to rent space in Plymouth MI from Westborn Market in April 2020. I bake Sundays currently.

I created and established then registered my name. I created and bought a web domain. I have my own labels and packaging I created. Every aspect of my business I have built and created. The brand, the marketing, getting into a grocery store. My point here, being, when I think of something, I do everything in my power to try to reach my goal, whatever the road block. When I get an idea, I see it through. To the best of my ability. __________ My overarching theme is determination. You will have nothing without it. I will be respectful and understanding of any final decisions, acceptance, reinstatement, or lack thereof. If there is still a slimmer of possibility to qualify for spring semester at Denison or be considered again... It would be an honor and mean more to me than any words could begin to describe. I had to take one last shot with you all, before seeking another institution. Rules and regulations will be forever. I understand this, but If there is anything I can do to help enhance my application/reinstatement/case/enrollment/scenario please don't hesitate to ask. I would be honored to commit to in person class on the hill in the fall, after taking summer classes, and taking the spring classes online at Denison, I also will be able to pay, in full, for the spring tuition as well as on campus next fall/winter. I also paid in full while being on campus every year from 2013-2016. Please also hear me when I say, yes, obviously I would do whatever and help to see a successful spring enrollment, but I would be happy to transfer credits from this spring (elsewhere), and summer, to complete classes on campus in the fall. I will stay open minded to all possibilities, as I know Denison does!

With much respect and appreciation, and excitement,

Sarah McNaughton

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losingmyjustice · 4 years

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@patiencethin sent;

How has rp changed you personally?

“To Be Honest!” Meme

Oh boy.

To be honest, quite a lot! Though this loaded question is a bit difficult to answer — not only because I'm generally awful at putting things to words with such reflecting questions, but also because while I know that RP has made a vast impact, I can't give you like. Game statistics or something. Life happens, so yeah, can't exactly say what has changed what. You uh, get what I mean.

Let's go with the low-hanging fruits first,

The most obvious one would be writing; I'll be honest, I wasn't much of a writer aside from school work — I did want to write, put my creativity somewhere, but it never went far, really. So not only do I write much, much more than I used to, I've also improved so much faster than I would have if I solely went by what education gave me. Granted, huge words for someone with such mediocre writing, but do consider the fact that I'm with peers who can barely do half a page on writing assignments — on English, anyways. It does come with a price, though, as I feel like I regressed when it comes to German, what is meant to be my first language now pretty much worse than with this one. It's not a good thing if I feel inclined to start talking English mid-conversation because of the lack of vocabulary I've got to express myself properly in discussions, smh.

( Also worth to mention (despite that you could argue it's a little off-topic) is also the fact that this is finally a community I feel comfortable in, unlike the spots I used to associate myself with on the web — & also that it had helped me as escapism this year, like a lot. Just saying I'd sure be off horribly if I wouldn't have had this as a pastime while being stuck in this household for who knows how long. Sucks when most of your hobbies need other people, huh? )

Anyway, personally speaking, like the question asks in the first place & I'm just talking around it at this point, uhm — I don't want to go too specific into this, cause, personal, but roleplaying Clive, in particular, had helped me a lot with my own growth. I'm usually hesitant to say this considering how the fandom is like in regards to this guy, but. Yeah, I relate to him uncannily much, unlike with other fictional characters; you can prolly see why I stfu about that most of the time, seeing how he is, well, a terrorist? Bound to give the wrong idea to some, though I mean it when I say his story had helped me plenty. I do NOT look up to him, he's not an example to go after, that's something you'd rather call Claire or such — but how often do you idolize the people extremely similar to you?

Not going to lie, writing it down like this makes it sound so absurd, but — I guess it helps me in regards to hypocrisy? Identifying bad habits, patterns, traits etc. is so much easier when you have a distant look on it and only in hindsight notice how much it applies to you, rather than when your name is attached on it where you are bound to be biased in some form.

I guess to put it in a nutshell he's a worst-case-scenario example I'm learning from by my own pace, but I'll leave it at this now, 'cause elaborating further — this is getting a bit too real for me, whoops.

#dana is screeching again! [OOC]#it’s friday and the house is burning [memes]#nothing left to say [ask reply]#patiencethin #such a simple question yet here I am w/ 600 words #w. whoops?#im sleepy so u got to deal w/ me rambling #quarantine tw

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a-cai-jpg · 4 years

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frailty, thy name is woman! (HAH)

So the other day, I was ambushed by a group of tiny puppies.

I was in the park, breathing some fresh air and sunshine for the first time in a long, long time. I sat on a grassy hill--notebook just recently closed and resting in my lap--staring blankly at the amphitheater beneath me and suddenly, I hear barking to my right and felt something nudge my thigh.

Not gonna lie, I almost screamed and whacked the puppy in the face.

They were three beagles(?), bounding around the hill because, according to their owners who respectfully stood 6 feet away from me, they hadn't left the house in a week.

(same.)

Anyways, before they came to say hi, I was listening to a sad, acoustic playlist and writing down notes about women.

(it's not weird if u don't make it weird)

That morning, I had woken up thinking about women's issues.

Sexism is not exactly the social issue I'm most preoccupied by. It's prominent in every aspect of life, but because I've been fortunate enough to be sheltered from most of it, the sexism I experience is very subtle and difficult to pinpoint. I grew up in a primarily female household with a lot of strong personalities, and only recently did I begin to take note of the almost indiscernible power dynamic between the men and the women.

So, most of my life, I've just been kind of cruising along, with this vaguely gender-less persona that only started to shift some time in university.

A friend once asked, "How do you know that you're a woman?"

I think this was during the same time I was taking a philosophy course about theories of sexual differences, and so all my thoughts were kind of meta and hypothetical. My initial thought was, uh what do you mean like of course I know I'm a woman that's what I've checked on all the forms. But then I thought about it and I was like. Bruh.

Bruh.

The reply I gave her, I feel like, was unsatisfactory and very personal. I didn't want to fall back onto gender norms, because that was so obviously a cop-out. Furthermore, I feel like I didn't experience a lot of the stereotypical "what it means to be a woman." AND, the definition of "adult human being" was too inadequate.

So, how do I know that I'm a woman?

At the time, I gave her a pretty sloppy answer about internalized misogyny, and I'm not going to pretend I have a better answer now, but I think I've broken it down to two main points.

Number one: I know I'm a woman because I'm constantly in competition with other women. I view women as my primary competitors. Very rarely do I see masculine-presenting individuals as competition, even though technically, all of us are competing for resources, prestige, or whatever it is we seek. Sure, you can play a probability game and say it's all statistics, but I think there's an aspect of misogyny as well.

Number two, I know I'm a woman because I feel anger and indignation on behalf of other women, internalizing it as a personal offense, even when I myself have not undergone the same struggle.

It's the same criteria I think of when I ask myself how I know I'm Asian American. But, in the racial aspect, there's a third criteria, which is the reflexive self. I feel that other people see me as Asian American, and therefore, I am Asian American. For some bizarre reason, I didn't experience the same reflexive self when I thought about my gender.

I think it was this lack of a reflexive self and vaguely gender-less upbringing that pushed me to declare, very loudly, in the middle of a science classroom in highschool that, "I am not a feminist."

(I could self-psychoanalyze and come up with a million reasons why my upbringing was gender-less. It could have to do with the fact that my primary caretakers were women, so there was no other for me to reference, and thereby, no juxtaposition between women and men. It could have to do with early, internalized misogyny that caused me to push away things that identified me specifically as a "girl." It could also be that I'm incredibly not self-aware.)

(I stand by the statement that contrast is necessary for identification, though.)

Anyways.

I remember when I said those words, my best friend looked at me with exasperation and a classmate looked at me with disgust. For good reason.

At the time, the word "feminist," to me, had a lot of negative connotations. I equated it with the "feminazi." I didn't buy into sexist ideals, but neither did I understand the angry, seemingly unnecessary reversal of gender roles that "feminazis" were proclaiming.

And my friend patiently explained to me that no, you don't have to be a feminazi to be a feminist.

But see, even that in itself is anti-feminist, isn't it?

We were, again, drawing lines for what it means to be an acceptable woman--an acceptable feminist--and what it means to be an unacceptable woman.

Why is there a negative connotation to the term "feminazi"? Why is there a negative connotation to the term "feminist"? Isn't the term "feminazi" in itself misogynistic?

I think it has to do with the fact that the general culture is uncomfortable with women stepping beyond what their gender roles have prescribed them. The culture has moved in a direction where it is acceptable and almost expected for women to be feminists, but being a "feminazi" is still frowned up.

This might seem very obvious to some, but I actually haven't thought about the term "feminazi" in a long while. So, to make sure I actually knew what a "feminazi" was, I pulled up the Wikipedia article. Here are a few words used to describe a feminazi:

a committed feminist or a strong-willed woman

radical feminists

see as many abortions as possible

militants

quest for power

belief that men aren't necessary

well-intentioned but misguided people who call themselves feminists

the term came to be widely used for feminism as a whole

marginalize any feminist as a hardline, uncompromising manhater

hate men

dogmatic, inflexible, and intolerant

an extremist, power-hungry minority

I've never met anyone who fits that description, though [Limbaugh] lavishes it on me among many others

bossy, hating men and femininity

hyper-vigilant to perceived sexism

vindictive

puritanical

The term was apparently, popularized by a dude named Rush Limbaugh, and I'll be damned if I let a man determine what kind of feminist I am.

Maybe I am biased because a militant women's group seeking to overpower the patriarchy sounds pretty lit and like good material for a new Netflix show, but like.

Tell me again why it's not okay to be a feminazi.

(my primary reactions to the list above are: "i wonder why," "sounds ok to me lol," and "who the fuck are you to say")

ANYWAYS.

"Feminazis," according to Mr. Limbaugh (who even is this guy) is an unacceptable way to be a feminist.

He is a man governing what it means to be a feminist (again, who the fuck are you), but let's be real, there are many women out there who draw similar lines, maybe for others, maybe for themselves. The popular "Am I not a good feminist if I __________" questions in themselves are anti-feminist. Once again, it is a show of how women are policing themselves and each other.

I'm not big on philosophy because I can't understand most of it, but Foucault made the assertion that policing and discipline in a modern society lies with the self, or an invisible, anonymous power embedded in society.

(Ok, I'm going to be honest, I didn't want to read through 30 pages of feminist theory and I barely understood the four pages that I did read, so if I'm wrong, don't hate me.)

In other words, men and women become the gender police for themselves. Even as women gain more rights and freedom, they continue to police themselves in a new way, like asking themselves what it means to be a good feminist.

(Bartky introduces the argument that there needs to be an upheaval of social norms to end the policing.)

(And okay, so, the more I read Bartky's Foucault, Femininity, and Patriarchal Power, the more excited I get, so I'm gOiNg To StOp mYsElf hERe.)

I ask myself this question often too.

Am I not a good feminist if I express vague disapproval at someone who switches boyfriends every other day?

Am I not a good feminist if I am grateful for men opening doors for me or offering to grab my suitcase for me on the plane? (I'm 5'2 okay, I have to stand on the seat sometimes, it's embarrassing.)

See, I appreciate chivalry and I don't think chivalry is dead because what does that even mean, but I also recognize that chivalry isn't the same thing as gender equality or liberation for women (or dare I say, liberation of gender?). But, gender equality doesn't mean that women and men do all of the same things and are assumed to be able to do all of the same things. Because we, as humans, have varying abilities, don't we?

The question of what the fuck is gender equality plagued me for an entire semester and bothers me even now but I just kind of stomp on it and make it go away. The easy answer to it, for me, is a fair division of labor agreed upon by both parties, ensuring there is no abuse of power within the relationship.

But that statement in itself is problematic because it introduces a possibility of stasis, of complacency that might revert to a new abuse of power.

(It's also not one that every feminist agrees on.)

But let's return to the question of what it means to be a woman.

I wrote that contrast is necessary for identification, but I fear the statement implies that women are defined in opposition to men, which is false. Like, non-men = women. And, since gender is a spectrum, that obviously is not true. But, since gender is a spectrum, is it necessary for us to identify ourselves?

At the end of my notes, I scribbled a series of questions.

Why does it matter to me what gender people are?

Why does it matter to me what gender I am?

Is there a correlation between sexuality and gender? Especially since we are all on a spectrum for both? Are we socialized to choose? Is this or is this not evolutionarily favorable?

(I see now that the flaw in me writing blog posts is that I can't actually have a conversation about this and that's frustrating.)

(Also, I recognize that I live in an immense amount of privilege to be asking these questions and not, I don't know, fearing for my life.)

I briefly entertained the idea that women are essentially the oppressed party in the larger narrative of gender. But there are two problems with this statement. One, women are definitely not the only oppressed party. Two, everyone ultimately suffers when there is an accepted narrative.

But, the undeniable fact is that there is a common reality that people who identify as women live. It has nothing to do with anatomy, organs, chromosomes, hormone levels, brain structure, or sexuality. It is an experience that is placed upon us by the patriarchal society, regardless of whether or not we recognize it, based on how we present ourselves.

This is how the reflexive self began to develop, in Calc B, freshman year of college.

I try to talk about gender as removed from sex as possible, because I get terribly confused when I talk about them in conjunction with each other, but also because I do think there is a difference between the feminine experience and the female experience. I just don’t really understand it.

I wrote in my notes somewhere: Gender is a spectrum. You are your own individual, gender be damned.

I don't proclaim myself an expert on this matter. These are words that chased their own tails in my mind as I tried to understand how to function in an infuriating society that constantly made me angry.

The other day, I saw a Facebook post from a stranger who was talking about how their boyfriend didn't believe women were being oppressed because even though women get paid less, men pay for dates. And this led me to think about the wage disparity and how people always tell me, well, no, it doesn't exist. It's the woman's fault for not asking for a higher wage.

And I’m just kind of like, ???

A student of mine came to me one morning, a little disappointed and a little annoyed, because he had been shut down by a fellow classmate when he made a comment about the wage gap not being an actual thing.

(the thing about talking to students is that it's a lot easier to forgive ignorance and to actually have a conversation without getting angry.)

He said that he wished the classmate, a girl, wouldn't just be all angry about it and call him dumb.

I didn't know how to respond to that then, aside from agreeing that it is necessary to have actual dialogue around important issues and asking a few questions so he could critically think about gender issues in the U.S.

But, I thought about it the morning before I got ambushed by the dogs, and I wish I asked him to think about why people get so angry talking about these matters.

I think the reason why it's so difficult to have these conversations is because--

God, imagine the privilege of not having to have these conversations and not feeling angry and humiliated because you are pulling out this vulnerable bit of you that's been attacked by Society and trying to make someone who is implicitly attacking you understand.

That's not a comfortable feeling, and adults can't even manage it so how is a teenager expected to?

The same feeling rises within myself when I talk about race and when I talk about gender. Some of it is internalized racism and misogyny, but a whole lot of it is not wanting to be vulnerable, and that in itself is a little fucked up (and maybe, misogynistic?).

See, when I feel very strongly about a matter, I expect strong, rigorous, academic debate. I want to break down the logic in every sentence and refute facts and opinions with Better Facts and Opinions, complete with citations, and I don’t want to fall back on anecdotes even though I end up resorting to it anyways.

(I am also the annoying person who would do the Hamilton thing and be like i have the honor to be your obedient servant, A DOT CAI.)

But, so often, we don't have the luxury to do that. And also, very often, we are utterly consumed by the larger narrative that facts end up not meaning very much to us.

We are all part of an accepted narrative, and that, along with the social norms that come with it, is the enemy.

Men are not the enemy in feminism, which is why men need to calm the fuck down and get behind the feminist movement. Men are also suffering from this accepted narrative and gender policing that lauds toxic masculinity.

I'm not saying there's a right way to be a feminist, but I strongly believe there's a wrong way to be a feminist. I think being a feminist means you support gender equality, regardless of what gender someone identifies as. I think being a feminist means you want everyone to embrace their true selves. I think being a feminist means you stand with every individual, and so I think being a feminist should be the default for a human being.

But if a person identifies as a feminist and draws rules and regulations for how to be one, then that is anti-feminist.

(Come at me, feminist philosophers, I'm very zen and I'm willing to listen to you tell me about how society needs to see an utter deconstruction of feminism and masculinity.)

Be you, my friend. Be you and let other people be themselves. It's not like they're hurting you by being trans or gay or bi.

Like jeez, why is that so hard.

(stop hating on Irene 'cause she's a feminist, she's fucking beautiful and i will fight you.)

I don't know, I love women. They are inspiring and beautiful, and the term "woman," as much as I've broken it down, actually matters because society has forced it to matter. And weirdly enough, as difficult as it is for me to truly identify with woman at times, I like being one and I'm proud to be a feminist.

But it's also a little scary to be a woman. There are the general things a woman has to worry about, like walking around at night or traveling alone or going to a bar alone or doing anything alone to be completely honest. But there are also the other concerns, like what does a family dynamic look like with my personality and my ideals? How do I navigate a patriarchal society in terms of work and relationships? Which values do I give up to make sure I can actually go somewhere? When do I tell a friend to shut the fuck up because he’s mansplaining? How do I respond to defensiveness without getting defensive myself? How do I ensure that my daughter lives in a safer, more equitable world? How do I ensure that my son doesn't turn out to be a misogynist? Like? Help?

(sos i drank too my caffeine and now my hands are shaking)

Feminist theory, crudely put, falls into two categories (fuck i’m literally dragging things out of my ass, i don’t actually know if this is true lol), with one firmly asserting that a feminist revolution is rejecting the societal definition of femininity and the other embracing femininity.

(idk if there are only two camps, but these two perspectives definitely exist in feminist theory ok)

I definitely fall in the latter, because I can’t wrap my head around the rejection of femininity. Like, is that not misogynistic? Camosy’s Behind the Abortion Wars uses a similar argument to proclaim abortion as inherently sexist. It strips females of what has traditionally given them power, rendering them...males. Or some version of a male.

(i’m sold on camosy’s argument. don’t misunderstand, i’m definitely pro-choice, but i have thoughts.)

See, all of this is very complicated. Sometimes I see quotes about feminist theory and it’s so intellectually exhilarating that I just have to file it away and think about it on a day where I’m wired on caffeine. But even on those days, I feel like my brain falls short on trying to understand this very meta gender theory thing.

So, obviously, I don’t hope to convince you to believe in my ideal, because I don’t know what I’m talking about. But, if you have read this far, I leave you with the same thing I said a number of paragraphs back.

BE YOU AND LET OTHER PEOPLE BE THEMSELVES.

Recognize when you are causing harm, explicitly or not.

Recognize when other people are causing harm, explicitly or not, and engage them in conversation.

(these are actually goals and guidelines for me because i have no backbone and generally just fume in silence.)

(between me brainstorming this and me actually writing this, a number of different things have come to my attention)

(one of them is the erasure of non-masculine stories in history) (and yes that's obvious, but i also watched a bunch of TedEd videos about women so it's just very salient in my mind right now)

(another is the nth room south korea scandal, and i don't even know where to begin with that)

(Disclaimer: I don’t actually know what I’m talking about but I welcome counterarguments. I also realize putting a disclaimer at the end is really dumb, but I don’t want to interrupt my non-existent narrative flow. I feel like my take on gender is too simple and not nuanced enough, but honestly, I just don’t really get gender at times? So I really shouldn’t be talking about gender theory. Yet. Here we are.)

I LOVE WOMEN.

So here is a song from a woman that I recently found and fell in love with:

陳粒 - 无所求必满载而归它让你受折磨觉得痛觉得渴 [life] makes you suffer, makes you hurt, makes you thirsty 觉得无路走无处躲 makes you feel like there's nowhere to go, nowhere tohide 无所求也求不得 even if you want nothing, you can't even have that 当我昏昏欲睡摇摇欲坠 but when i'm about to sleep, about to fall 却学会放下错与对是与非 i learned to put down right and wrong, yes and no 无所求必满载而归 if i want nothing, then i'll receive everything

(on a side note, i've done nothing but read a chinese, boys love light novel. i have read three chinese novels in my life, and all three were boys love. this doesn't seem right.)

(but also, my chinese literacy is basically at that of a fifth grader, if even, so i think it's fitting that i read some trash novels.)

(but this one talks about the psychology of sexuality and gender, and i'm all for genre novels spreading ideas about bEiNg YoUrSeLf.)

(GAH.)

#this is both senseless and aimless #but it's nice to just blergh sometimes #u feel?#skrrt skrrt

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whelvenwings · 6 years

Text

A Pretty Good Pair

it just turned midnight here in the UK, which means IT’S MY BIRTHDAY!! have some destiel fluff, 2.7k of fake relationship goodness, on the house :DDD

read it here on AO3 if you’d prefer!

***********************************

“Sir, I’m sorry, but we really need the table…”

“Five more minutes,” Castiel said. “Just five.”

He checked his phone under the table as the waiter walked away.

Nothing.

His boss, on his left, gave an impatient sigh.

“Castiel, we should just order,” Naomi said. Across the table, her partner Bartholomew gave a curt nod. Castiel swallowed hard.

“He’ll be here,” he said. “He just -”

“Got stuck in traffic,” said a voice behind Castiel, and then there was a light kiss being pressed to his cheek, and he was turning to find Dean Winchester standing above him and squeezing his shoulder. “Sorry, Cas. I’m here. Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?”

As Dean took a seat, Castiel gave him a wide-eyed look that tried to encompass everything he was feeling, and couldn’t even begin to do one percent of the job. Dean raised his eyebrows in return.

A brief flash of their conversation of two days earlier flashed into Cas’ mind.

My boss is inviting me out for dinner. She wants me to bring my partner.

Cas… you don’t have…

I know… what will I do? She’s totally biased towards people in relationships. Last week she gave Jody a raise because she heard that Jody and her wife got a dog. She’s all about ‘family values’.

Well… at least she’s not homophobic…

No. Just arophobic, I suppose. Anyway, she’s going to overlook me for this promotion just because I don’t have a nice husband and a picket fence and a sedan.

I mean… well, I mean, what if you did? For one night?

Castiel could still feel the way his heart had twisted in his chest.

“You going to introduce me?” Dean said now, smiling at him. “Babe?”

At the pet name, Castiel felt his mouth go dry. His fingertips were tingling as though with pins and needles. This plan was never going to work. They were going to be caught within the first few minutes. But Dean had told him it would be fine - had said that they’d easily make it through the evening.

Dean knew that Castiel was a decent liar, and a good actor when he needed to be. Dean knew that Castiel was desperate to get this promotion. There were lots of things Dean knew - and there was just one thing that Dean didn’t know. One spanner in the works, one fly in this already bizarre and ridiculous ointment.

“Of course,” Castiel said.

The one thing he didn’t know -

“This is my partner,” Castiel said to Naomi and Bartholomew, “Dean.”

- was that Castiel had been wishing he could honestly say those words for two years, now.

Dean beamed at Castiel’s boss and her husband, a winning smile. Just seeing him react so happily to Castiel’s words - fake though they were, just lies - had Castiel in a spin.

“Nice to meet you at last, Dean,” Naomi said smoothly, taking a sip of her water. “Castiel’s been with the company for almost five years and we’ve never met. Did you two only recently get together?”

Castiel opened his mouth to answer, but Dean was already speaking.

“No, no. We moved in together about three years ago. We’ve been roommates ever since.”

“Roommates?”

“Well… in a manner of speaking,” Dean said, with a wink. He looked to Castiel, who gave him a look that would have been imperceptible to anyone who didn’t know him as well as Dean; Dean cleared his throat, and made an effort to look serious. “I guess just living together brought us closer, and after a while, I realised I was totally gone for this guy.”

He reached across the table, and Castiel struggled with himself for a moment before putting his hand in Dean’s and smiling across the table at Naomi and Bartholomew. He squeezed, and then let go.

“That’s nice,” Naomi said, though she sounded as cold as ever. “At the company we really value strong family values. We like our employees to be settled, happy people.”

And of course, Castiel thought bitterly, that could only be the case if the people were in a relationship. Never mind that he and Dean had been each other’s rocks since before Castiel had even developed romantic feelings for him, and had continued to be so throughout all these years without being in a romantic relationship.

Dean didn’t even feel that way about Castiel, after all. Castiel was pretty sure.

Three years of living together. He’d have noticed after three years.

“So, are you two thinking about the future?” Naomi said. “I notice there’s no wedding ring.”

“Oh,” Dean said. “Right. Well, uh… you know, sometimes things are a little complicated…”

Naomi’s neutral expression was turning into a frown.

“We’re very committed,” Castiel cut in. “It’s just, you know… we haven’t really spoken yet about that.”

“Why not?”

“Well…” Castiel looked back to Dean, his expression wide-eyed.

“Uh, it’s me,” Dean said. “I guess I just haven’t got my head out my ass and… uh, bought a ring yet.” Naomi still looked unimpressed, and Dean went on. “To tell the truth… I just haven’t been sure that Castiel really wanted me to. And I didn’t want to put any pressure on him or make it awkward between us, I guess. Sometimes I got a vibe, you know, but…” He looked back to Castiel. “I wasn’t… sure.”

Castiel stared at him.

“That’s very honest,” Naomi said, raising her eyebrows and looking down at her menu, as though finding Dean’s supposed truthfulness a little distasteful. “Let’s see if we can order.”

“You should be sure,” Castiel said to Dean, who was twisting his hands together under the table, where only Castiel could see.

Dean smiled at him, a little uncertainly.

They ordered, and the talk turned to smaller things: the weather, the upcoming Halloween party at work, the latest statistics at the company. Bartholomew held forth on golf for a long ten minutes, during which Dean kept kicking at Castiel’s leg under the table to try to make him laugh.

When the food finally arrived, Castiel hoped that they could eat in peaceable quiet; Naomi, however, seemed to have other plans. She fixed her gaze upon Dean, and said,

“So, do you plan on having a family?”

Castiel didn’t even know what the right answer to that was; Naomi didn’t like her employees taking parental leave and frequently expressed frustration when they did so, but also wanted everyone to be settled and family-oriented. He supposed it was asking too much for her to make sense and be consistent. When Dean hesitated, Castiel said,

“It’s a little early to be thinking about that.”

“I think Cas would make a great dad,” Dean said, “if he wanted to be.”

Castiel, taken by surprise, offered Dean a smile.

“I feel the same,” he said. “Dean would make an excellent father.”

After another ten minutes of small talk and eating, Dean excused himself to the bathroom; after a few moments, unable to resist, Castiel stood up and offered his apologies, too, to follow him.

In the bathroom - or rather, a fancy, carpeted, mirrored anteroom that led into the bathrooms themselves - Dean was washing his hands in a marbled sink. When Castiel came in, he turned around, and smiled.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hello, Dean.”

“We make a pretty good pair,” Dean said, and Castiel’s heart skipped a beat. “I think we’re selling them on it, right?”

He stepped back towards the door, walking towards Castiel; he must have misjudged the distance, because he ended up very much in Castiel’s space. He smelled amazing - wearing his best cologne, Castiel thought. He smiled, and gently reached up to adjust Dean’s tie. He never normally would, but - well, tonight, they were together, weren’t they?

“You’re doing wonderfully,” he said.

He looked up into Dean’s eyes, and Dean swallowed.

“We should get back out there,” Castiel said, after a long moment.

“They’ll think we’re doing things to each other in here,” Dean said, in agreement. Castiel tried not to let his mind wander towards what those things might be.

Dean left the bathroom first, and Castiel took a few moments to wash his own hands and give himself a look over in the mirror. He breathed in, and out. Was he reading too much into things, being too hopeful? When Dean had said those things about how he hadn’t been sure whether Castiel really wanted him to make a move…

No, it couldn’t be anything. Surely. It was just wishful thinking, being in this confusing situation where all their normal lines were being crossed.

The way Dean had looked at him, though… Castiel knew him well enough to recognise that Dean didn’t wear an expression like that lightly.

The idea that Dean might actually feel that way about him - Castiel couldn’t even begin to comprehend it. It was so exhilarating as to be terrifying. Castiel had decided with relative happiness over the last few years to enjoy being Dean’s best friend, to living with him for as long as he could, to just cherish being as close as possible for as long as it lasted. He knew Dean would eventually find someone else he liked romantically, and want to build a life with them - though the number of dates he’d been on had dropped off sharply over the past couple of years, now that Castiel really thought about it -

The point was, Castiel had never really entertained any real hope of Dean liking him back. It just wasn’t possible.

He left the bathroom, and sat back down at the table. When he rejoined the conversation, he realised that they were talking about hobbies, and Dean was discussing in very close detail the enjoyment that Castiel found in needlepoint.

The fact that Castiel had never embroidered so much as once in his life didn’t seem to be holding him back, particularly.

“And you should see the cushion he made for my aunt Mavis last Easter. Just two giant chickens, sitting on two giant eggs. I don’t want to know how they laid those things, but it sure was nice to look at. Maybe needed a vet afterwards, I don’t know. He’s just very skilled.”

“Oh, Dean,” Castiel said, “you’re too kind. Listen to you talking about my needlepoint and not even mentioning how good you are at singing.”

Dean’s expression split, momentarily, into absolute horror. He could immediately see where this was going, Castiel knew, with a burst of enjoyment.

“Oh, well, babe… don’t flatter me…” Dean said, awkwardly laughing.

“No, he’s fantastic,” Castiel insisted. “Operatic, you might say. Go on, Dean. Give them a little Puccini.”

“I don’t think this is the right…” Naomi said, sounding worried.

“Yeah, wrong setting for it,” Dean agreed, before she’d even finished her sentence.

“Are you sure? I think everyone would love to hear you. Remember the time you made a whole restaurant weep just by singing me ‘happy birthday’?”

Naomi’s protests slowed, and her eyebrows went up.

“Let’s order dessert,” Dean said, and hailed the waiter. Castiel pulled a wry face at Naomi and Bartholomew.

“He’s just very humble,” he said.

They shared a slice of apple pie for pudding; Castiel could feel Dean’s begrudgement of every bite Castiel took, but Naomi and Bartholomew were sharing and it seemed like a couple-y thing to do. It was delicious, at least. This place was going to break Castiel’s wallet, but at least it was worth the money.

When they were all finished, they paid for the meal, put on their coats, and made their way outside. Overall, Castiel thought, a successful night. Not exactly one that had been filled with sparkling conversation on all sides, but Naomi and Bartholomew didn’t seem at all suspicious - and with any luck, he’d have that promotion before the month was out.

“I’m getting a taxi,” Dean said, once they’d left the restaurant. He began to look towards the road, ready to hail one down. “Just need to drop back into work to pick up some stuff before heading home, babe.”

“Of course, Dean.” Castiel couldn’t bring himself to use a pet name, not even to sell the lie. He tucked his hands into his pockets, the cool September air nipping at them.

“Where do you work?” Naomi asked, sounding interested.

“I’m a -” Dean began, and Castiel knew how that sentence ended - tattoo artist, a profession that Naomi would never approve of.

“Bank!” he interrupted. All eyes turned to him.

He cleared his throat.

“Dean works at a bank,” he said.

“Well,” Naomi said, looking a little confused, but apparently accepting it. “How nice. It was good meeting you, Dean.” She shook his hand, just as a taxi pulled up beside them - Bartholomew had seen it, and managed to catch the driver’s attention on Dean’s behalf.

“Thanks,” Dean said, shaking his hand, too. He turned to Castiel, who was standing right beside him. “Uh…”

They stared at each other for a long moment, Castiel suddenly filled with panic. Would a simple “goodbye” give the game away, after Castiel’s fairly suspicious answer to the question about Dean’s work? Did they have to -

Dean answered the question for him by leaning forward, and placing a quick, nervous, chaste kiss on Castiel’s lips. He pulled away, and looked Castiel in the eyes.

In that single, pivotal moment, Castiel knew. It was in Dean’s eyes, in the way he didn’t smile, in the way he swallowed. It was right there, in front of Castiel’s eyes.

And then Dean was in the taxi, and the door was slammed, and he was gone.

Castiel felt frozen. He couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe.

“Well, Castiel,” Naomi said. “That was a very pleasant evening. Perhaps tomorrow you can come to my office and we can discuss -”

“I quit,” Castiel said.

There was a long, long beat of silence. Neither Naomi nor Bartholomew moved, save that their mouths fell open in comically identical expressions of shock.

“You - what?” Naomi said.

“I quit,” Castiel repeated, calmly. It made perfect sense. He knew exactly what he wanted, now, and it wasn’t this crappy promotion. “I’ve had enough. Your policy on promotions and raises is discriminatory. You are nosy and judgemental. I have had enough. I will be sending you my formal letter of resignation tomorrow and coming to clear out my desk.”

“You - you will not be getting a reference from me,” Naomi spluttered, taking a step backward.

“Fine,” Castiel said, riding a high the like of which he’d never known. He turned to go and find his car in the nearby parking lot, but then caught himself; at the last moment, he looked back at the pair of them standing like agitated scarecrows on the street, and said, “Oh - and Dean does not work at a bank. He is a tattoo artist.”

And he walked away.

The drive passed in a haze. All this time - all these years. They’d been waiting for each other to make the first move, waiting for the perfect moment, waiting, waiting, waiting.

Castiel had had enough of waiting, now.

He stepped through the door of Dean’s tattoo parlour, which was in near-complete darkness. Dean was just making to leave, having switched off the lights. When he saw Castiel framed in the doorway, he went very still.

“Cas,” he said.

Cas didn’t speak - knew that if they talked, if they got caught up in sentences and explaining, then he might never have the courage that he needed. He walked across the dark tattoo parlour, and he put his hand on Dean’s cheek, and he looked into Dean’s eyes -

And then he kissed him. Softly, yes - and not for long, still hesitant - but into that kiss, that brief touch, he poured it all.

The wishing.

The longing.

The terrible, wonderful, terrifying hope.

He tried to pull away, but Dean’s hands came up to cup his face, and Castiel was being kissed back - was lost, suddenly, in a world of sensation. A world of fingertips and soft lips and nearness.

“Cas,” Dean said again, sounding rough and ragged and so, so happy, when they finally broke apart.

“You were right,” Castiel said. He kissed Dean again, swiftly, because he could, and Dean kissed him back, and they didn’t speak again for a while.

“I was?” Dean managed eventually.

“We make a pretty good pair,” Castiel said.

“You - you want to do this? For - for real?”

“More than anything,” Castiel said, “in the whole world.”

#whelvenwingsfic #destiel #thebloggerbloggerfun #destieldrabblesdaily #destiel fluff #fake dating #fake relationship #fluff fluff fluff #birthday fluff #happy autumn equinox everyone!!

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widgenstain · 5 years

Text

Black Mirror Season 5

Just like Dark Phoenix this has been panned by the critics and cheeto-dusted neckbeards alike and I just don’t get it. Black Mirror always has had some weaker episodes, a lot of good ones and a few stellar moments that raised the standards of TV. This season doesn't feature any of the latter, but it’s only 3 episodes and they all fall into the “good” category imho.

Spoiler-y thoughts after the cut:

Striking Viper:

- Love it when Black Mirror does “love stories”, as in the technology facilitates relationship that wouldn't have existed otherwise.

- I liked the tenderness between the two guys in rl, I know, a lot of it was based in reluctance and 'men don't show their feelings' but it contrasted so well with how physical and violent everything got in the game's reality.

- When they did hit each other, it was beautifully complicated and I felt like, “yeah, it’s not a good way to address your feelings, but at least they’re doing it somehow”.

- Also loved that Mackie played the character who wanted to discuss it, in my mind he’s slated as this macho man and it was refreshing to see this. Generally I loved that two black dudes played these parts, because A: there weren't really any white people in this episode, were there? And B: it’s wonderful to see black masculinity shown like this.

- What I've seen people praise was the ending, but tbh, I thought it was the weakest part. It was supposed to be happy? But I don’t really see this working out for long-time? I dunno.

- Nicole Beharie is a beautiful gazelle of a woman and hasn’t aged in the last 8 years.

Smithereens:

- Yes, I’m biased but this was my fave episode. Also the one that frustrated me the most, due to the reactions it got.

- NOT EVERYTHING NEEDS A TWIST, and no, the theme of Black Mirror isn’t “super sci-fi tech”.

- This episode was so good exactly because it could happen today. And there was a twist! Just one that way too many seemed to have missed. It’s not about Chris Gillhaney, nor Jaden, nor Billy Bauer. It’s about how it’s not about them. There’s a tragedy unfolding, Chris has been through hell and lashes out, he takes Jaden under, who is a wonderful, innocent boy. They form a connection, they both show true humanity, pain and understanding. They are the only two people in this really talking to each other, Bauer shows moments of this too, but he’s completely powerless and he can’t stop what’s unfolding. The two men in the car most likely die, or one dies, or neither does. But it doesn't matter, they’re nothing more than blip on the net, a police statistic, a timeline that’s busy for a moment, a message that pops up on a newsfeed and is forgotten the next second. Maybe someone else will die/kill someone reading the news, but that’s just another tragedy that will be ignored. And the fact that so many didn't get the subtlety of this, tells me just how on point the episode was.

- Does Andrew Scott’s contract have a clause in it which says he has to have a scene where he frantically gestures and swears? I’m not complaining, au contraire, it was super touching and relateable but we have noticed. :D

- This featured a bad bad kink of mine, one I’m actually ashamed of: I love when men who were previously shown to be violent or dangerous show tenderness and kindness to someone else. It’s what made me appreciate Thanos way more than I should have, and in here I can’t get over how gently Chris wipes Jaden’s face after he puked. I know, I know, unhealthy, but I like it, kay?

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too:

- That was the most sci-fi one and the one that gets most flack, probably because everyone on the internet hates Miley. And you know what? She was fine!

- They were not subtle about the Disney references and this is who this was really made for: The tween and teens who watch all those Disney shows. But this time with “No, you can’t always do what you set your mind to, sometimes -you will just fail!” I love that!!

- The story of the older sister was absolutely lovely too, how she feels responsible and loves her naive baby sister but is a damned teenager herself still and not a parent.

- The extraction technology was scary af, since you know they would absolutely do that.

- I left this episode giddy and ready to hate Disney just a bit more. I also know I wasn’t the target audience, so this is definitely a win I’d say. And if people pulled their heads out of their arses and saw past Miley covering NIN, they’d probably appreciate it too.

I felt the whole series suffered from people trying to be cool on the internet, and that includes not contradicting reviews from popular outlets. They know best, if you disagree you clearly know nothing about film, AMATEUR. Urgh.

Anyway, I enjoyed this, it didn’t really shake my top 3 episodes out of their positions, but it was a good season.

#black mirror #striking vipers #smithereens #rachel jack and ashley too

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memecatwings · 5 years

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I know I said I was going to outline a rewrite for Misfits and I'm doing it so take that executive dysfunction I also compiled a playlist of songs I think best depict the aesthetic of my rewrite so here it is

Ok first off everything past season 3 is just straight up SCRAPPED there were so many horrible gay jokes, and rape jokes as well as transphobia, misogyny, and literal instances of rape so it’s going out the window i accept NONe of it except Abby the lesbian, Abby the lesbian can stay

Plot-wise,,, nothing much happens in the show aside from interacting with other super-powered people. There really isn’t any suspense or intrigue, I doubt I would have stuck around as long as I did without Robert Sheehan’s chaotic fun energy. And what are the police even doing? They should be able to connect how many people are going missing from the community center, trying to evade the police should be a bigger deal than it’s shown to be in the show, it should be an ongoing challenge that they face not just a one-time thing.

So basically what I’m saying is that after the second probation worker, the police start to take a closer look into the community center, they keep a close eye on the people who spend time there, maybe the cop who arrested Curtis gets assigned the task and that causes some tension.

Mainly what I wanted to overhaul were the characters and their arcs. I feel like they weren’t really explored to their full potentials and it really disappointed me especially where Nathan and Curtis’ characters were concerned. None of the characters were really done any justice but I was most upset about those two so that’s where most of my notes are. I was mainly upset about the whole thing where they sold their powers, and then bought back completely different powers, I felt like that cheapened the whole thing where the superpowers were specifically tailored to each person's insecurities and fears. Having a power that is the physical manifestation of your insecurities was a good way to address those issues that the characters have and help them overcome them I don’t know why you would throw that away especially when you haven’t even taken the time to develop them. So I’d like to ditch that entirely. There still is a point where they sell their powers because that in and of itself wasn’t bad, it teaches them to appreciate what they were given, but they get the exact ones back. Basically, all of the events that happen are the same except the ones I specify in the following:

Curtis Curtis’ arc and his ability to rewind time reflect his inability to accept things the way they are. He’s living in the past, he’s so focused on the past that he can’t see what’s right in front of him. He needs to learn how to focus on the present and future. His arc should also reflect overcoming prejudices against him as well as that. The cop who arrested him was also black so if that same cop where to be investigating the community service crew it would provide a chance to discuss racial biases in law enforcement as well as police brutality. It results in a “fuck cops” message in the end but it would be a good chance to at least address the fact that the only reason Curtis was there is because of his skin color in more explicit terms. Because Curtis is so focused on the past, he doesn’t have any goals for the future. I did really like the point where he had gender fluidity as a power I thought that was a good development for him. It was a chance for him to confront his own toxic masculinity and misogyny, and he comes out of it at the end a more understanding and empathetic person who’s ready to let go of his past. Once Seth gets the rewind time ability back Curtis switches back to his original power, I thought it was cheap that they had Curtis give up gender fluidity because he got pregnant (what even was that honestly is that even possible? It didn’t sound right but I don’t know enough about impregnation to dispute it), so instead of giving it to the iguana it goes back to Curtis, who is shown to be responsible with it. After he gets it back he manages to learn how to control it to its fullest extent. Another thing I thought was cheap was the way the show treated the sexual assault of men, I can’t go into it fully but here’s a great video essay on the subject. Anyways, Alecia did rape Curtis, and that’s not okay. While Alecia learned her lesson on misusing her power, what she did to Curtis should not have just been written off, Curtis was right to be upset with her and that shouldn’t have ended with them as a couple in my opinion. The last thing I would change where Curtis is concerned is that I think Curtis should have been the man in the mask, not Simon. Curtis has the athletic history, he’s got the right metal profile, he’s got the ability to time travel, and, most of all, vigilante justice would provide what he was looking for when he gave up running: a purpose and a future beyond bartending. Maybe he goes back in time to warn them all about the evil milk guy, he was the only person immune to his lactose powers. After saving Alecia from that video game guy (Tim? Was Tim his name?) he goes back to his time but not before warning them about Milk Man. And the reason Future Curtis survived Tim(?) was that he wasn’t a dumbass and wore a bulletproof vest.

Alecia Alecia’s got a lot to unpack and it’s very clear that she was treated like shit by the writers. Her power was the physical manifestation of her belief that her value as a person is proportional to the number of people who want to have sex with her. She’s internalized this toxic mindset to such a high degree that she developed a superpower over it. Her character arc should revolve around her unlearning that mindset. She needs to stop viewing herself as a sex object and start viewing herself as a person. That journey of self-discovery and growth should start after Curtis rejects her for using her power on him without his consent. It kick-starts a realization in her that using her power on people is essentially raping them, even if they don’t remember it. So she stops and focuses her time on finding someone who can either get rid of her power or is unaffected by it. Alecia is the one who finds Seth first and sells her power. The main point of her arc should be that while statistically, men are more likely to perpetrate sexual assault, women can too and it’s neither okay or funny. After getting rid of her power Alecia shows a lot of regret for the way she used it when she first got it and pays Seth extra to get rid of it entirely because no one should be able to use that power. Now let’s look at Alecia’s romance with Simon. As a concept, it isn’t bad, but the way it was executed was kind of horrible. It reduced Alecia to an object, a damsel in distress. She had no agency of her own she was just the mourning girlfriend and I hated that. If the masked man wasn’t Simon and didn’t tell her she fell in love with him, she never would have fallen in love with him and that’s the truth. Their relationship is basically a self-fulfilling prophecy that just resulted in the two of them being stuck in this time loop where one of them dies and the other overcome with grief and it’s just not healthy. Take that aspect away from their relationship and it wouldn’t be all that bad. So what I propose is Alecia helps Simon with murder cover-ups and gives him dating advice because she’s highly socially intelligent. Alecia is a people person and is good at reading body language so she could tip Simon off when something’s wrong. Over time they end up falling in love because they both see each other as real people, not just “hot girl” and “creepy nerd guy”. They both wind up helping Curtis with his vigilante operation, Alecia being recon while Simon is tech.

Simon Simon’s ability to turn invisible represents how he feels whenever he tries to make friends or interact with a group he wishes to be a part of, which is why before he can control it, it activates only when the rest of the group ignores him. Simon’s arc should be about breaking out of his shell and learning to assert himself in social situations especially against the bullies he faces. He needs to find a group of people who listen to his opinion and take him seriously, he spends the show attempting to impress the others and gain their approval and he does gain their attention and approval. He gains it after repeatedly keeping the police off their trail. In this version, Simon getting seduced by the probation worker goes marginally less successfully because of Alecia’s advice. She still ends up dead by accident but Alecia was involved as well and helps Simon get rid of the body and clean up the blood. As I’ve already established, I don’t like Simon as the masked man. Simon’s personality is more suited for tech support, just because he breaks out of his introvert shell and makes a few friends doesn’t mean he goes around jumping off of buildings now he’s still an introvert. Something else I think the show should have gone into deeper is Simon’s history of being bullied. The way Nathan, specifically, treats Simon should have been a bigger issue. In this version, maybe Alecia tries to convince Simon to stand up for himself and confront Nathan over what he says, stand his ground y‘know. And maybe there’s some sort of emergency with his sister, with his emotions being so high strung while his sister is in trouble he snaps and calls the rest of the gang out on how they’ve treated him. They eventually apologize and Nathan encourages Simon to mock him back rather than just standing there and taking it. Simon does find respect and friendship in the community service gang and the power of friendship gives him the strength to finally confront his childhood bully. Maybe it happens by Curtis saving him and Simon, knowing who he is, tracks him down and lets the guy Have It. Maybe he breaks the dude's nose too but who’s keeping track. The point is, Simon’s sister is ok, he’s got a partner who respects him, he’s a superhero, and he’s living his best life.

Kelly Kelly was pretty short-changed by the show in my opinion. Kelly’s ability reflects that she struggles with self-acceptance, she’s so worried about what other people think about her that she doesn’t think about herself. Her arc should be about accepting yourself for who you are and not caring about what other people think of you. Kelly is highly emotionally intelligent and that shows in the way she handles relationships, she knows what she wants, she doesn’t accept people keeping important secrets, and she’s good at keeping personal secrets personal. She’s an excellent confidant. I wish the show had gone into Kelly’s relationship with the hair girl more. That was an interesting budding friendship that showcased Kelly’s want to help people. By hearing people inner thoughts, Kelly learns she can help people overcome their issues and become better people. I think she’d make an excellent Mom Friend. I also think because she’s hearing everyone’s thoughts all the time, she’d take up an interest in psychology. She can help Simon keep the police off of their trail while diffusing serious fights amongst the gang and ensuring nobody keeps any major secrets. And helping her friends sort out their personal issues and shit could help her with her own shit. She learns that everyone struggles with self-acceptance and that the best way for her to live is to just not care what other people think about her. She becomes unapologetically herself over the course of the story. I liked the way Kelly’s relationship with Nathan resolved so that can stay it’s an important message that men and women can just be regular friends. Not just regular friends, they’re Best Friends. Nathan’s got a lot going on psychologically and Kelly is the only person he can talk to because he doesn’t even need to talk she just hears his thoughts and shares her own in return. She’s trustworthy with a secret when she knows it’s supposed to be a secret. After community service, she goes off to get a degree in psychology.

Nathan My biggest beef, my largest cow you might say, with the tv show is how spectacularly disappointing Nathan’s entire character was. There was a lot they had to work with with him and they did nothing, they barely scratched the surface with how deep his character could have gone. Nathan is the one character whose power is never explained. It’s not really shown why Nathan developed this specific power. With everyone else, it’s pretty easy to infer why they got what they did but with Nathan, there’s practically nothing to work with so I took creative license this is mine now. So why does Nathan develop immortality? Why is he literally impossible to kill? Well, it’s established that he’s wildly desperate for his mothers' attention and love, it’s to the point where he tries to chase off all of her boyfriends because he thinks that her loving them means she loves him less but that is a Whole Separate can of worms, but because he’s so desperate for attention it’s not outside the realm of possibility that he might have attempted suicide as a cry for help. I’d guess some time in his late teens (?) he may have OD’d at a party but when he woke up in the hospital nobody was there. The nurse told him that his emergency contacts couldn’t be reached and so he came to the conclusion that nobody would notice, or care if he died. That idea stuck with him and terrified him to the point where, when he developed a superpower, it was Not Dying so he wouldn’t have to worry about no one caring if he’s dead. His ability to see ghosts is also a weird thing that’s not really explained it might just be a side effect of dying and coming back to life. It’s also not established if Nathan has eternal youth as well as immortality, he could be looking at a Jack Harkness situation. It is possible though, that dying kind of resets his body to the state it was in when he got struck by the lightning that gave him his power. So he ages until he dies and then he turns young again or something like that. In addition to Nathan’s power, my other beef is with how his character arc was ended. It was wildly out of character with what was established with him. Nathan Young is a character who is controlled by his fears of emotional intimacy and commitment as well as an extreme amount of performative masculinity and what could be interpreted as internalized homophobia. He’s also got a whole cocktail of parental issues (he would rather be arrested than accept help from his dad) that mean, while he does like kids, he probably has a major fear of becoming a parent. The kind of person with those issues would not commit to a relationship with a pregnant woman, adopt her child, and get hitched in Vegas I’m sorry but I’m not buying it I don’t accept it. That’s canceled. It’s broke. Another thing I’d like to change is the plot line with his brother. That bit was an excellent chance to bring to light the fact that Nathan is definitely bi. If Nathan’s brother came out to him as gay it would get him to consider his own sexuality in a way he hadn’t done before. It would get him to recognize that all of the homophobic jokes and the picking on Simon are because he’s insecure about his attraction to men and he’s afraid of other people recognizing that attraction and turning him into a target for violence. So he acts in a way he believes to be as Straight As Possible in order to avoid that outcome. All of the Adorkable Misogyny that Nathan takes part in is just a front to cover his own fears that if he doesn’t act that way someone Will hurt him and Nathan is all about self-preservation. Nathan manages to get over a lot of his fears and insecurities just by having good friends, honestly. He talks to Kelly a lot and she helps him work through shit. But it does take a while, it’s a slow going process trying to convince someone who turns everything into a joke as a coping mechanism to take his feelings seriously. I feel like Nathan would be the kind of person to go on a backpacking trip across the world to “Find Himself” once his community service is over. Kelly offered to let him stay in her flat until he found a job but he declined because he didn’t want to rely on her. Also what job would he even get? He would inevitably end up blowing his brains out on live television for a living and that's just a given. So in the end, Nathan’s arc would be about emotionally maturing.

As far as other characters go, mainly it’s the same except everyone introduced after season 3 is canceled except for Abby but especially Alex. Alex can drop dead. Abby is allowed to stay but the whole thing with the tortoise? Wack. That was weird and it’s scrubbed. I hated Fin too tbh. Jess is cool as long as she isn’t dating Rudy. And between Curtis having Zero Tolerance for sexual harassment behavior that ideally would transfer over to the other male characters, and Nathan’s newly accepted bisexuality, there’s no room for any of Rudy’s shitty behavior. I like the superpower support group thing that was cool that can stay too. Seasons 4 and 5 would ideally consist of attempting to evade the police and interacting with the support group. And controversial opinion probably but I think I’d end it with them getting caught or at least going on the run.

#this is so long omg how did i even finish this #YES i DO accept constructive criticism please offer more ideas #its like midnight 15 rn and im a little buzzed and ive been working on this for 3 hours #misfits

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surveyjunkie · 5 years

Text

Is there a bus stop near your house?: I’m not sure, I don’t take the bus anywhere

Do you prefer red wine or white wine?: White wine for sure

What’s the last airport you were at? Why were you there?: I was at CVG because I was coming back from vacation

Who do you live with?: My boyfriend and his brother

Do you read Reddit? If so, how often and what subreddits do you like?: No. I think I’ve been on there like four times and I never understood the appeal. The layout is so messy and confusing, but maybe that’s the point, Idk. < Yeah, I’ve been on there a few times too but I agree, the layout is really messy and old-school. < same

Have you recently broken up with a significant other or even just a friend?: no

What’s the weather like today? Is it nice enough to go outside?: it’s hot and sunny. it’s nice enough to go outside but not stay outside for too long unless you plan on going to the pool.

Do you know anyone who’s had a baby recently?: my coworker’s daughter just had a baby, if that counts?

Have you used a pen or pencil today? What did you write down?: i used a pen to write down events in my brand new PLANNER

What does your last text message say and who is it from?: “i love you :)” - josh

Can you count how many times you’ve seen your favorite film?: i have a few favorites, i’ve seen them all at least 30 times each

When was the last time you ate marshmallows?: probably the last time i made hot chocolate...so back in April?

Do you listen to any podcasts? How do you listen to them?: sometimes! i listen on my phone but also sometimes on my computer

How old will you be in the year 2030?: 38....vomit

How often does the kettle in your house get used?: we don’t even have a kettle, if we want tea we just boil or microwave water

Does your skin bruise easily? Do you have any bruises right now? What from?: i do, but i’m not sure if i have any right now or where they are

What was the last thing you spent $150 or more on?: a car payment

Do you prefer yes or no questions or more open-ended questions?: open-ended

What brand of toilet paper do you usually buy?: the cheapest brand, but never the store brand bc it sucks.

If I knocked on your door right now, would you be acceptably dressed?: i’m at work...so go right ahead.

Why did you leave your last job?: they weren’t giving me any hours after i got a second job, so it made more sense to just go full time at the second place and quit the first. also, i was kind of sick of retail.

What color were the last socks you wore?: black.

Are you studying currently? What level of education and what do you study?: in the fall i’m starting my 1st year of grad school in health informatics (aka bio-statistics) so i can finally start making some real money

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant and left without paying?: no

What was the last thing that made you laugh out loud?: there was a funny situation that just happened at work

What’s your favorite scent of air freshener?: i have one in my car right now that i really like called bay breeze or something like that. it’s just one of those little tree air fresheners.

How many weddings have you ever been to?: 7 i think??

Do you know anyone named Nora?: yes, that’s Josh’s grandma’s name

Are your hands and feet in good condition or could you do with a mani-pedi? I just painted my nails but I need to go over them again, and my toes need painted.

Have you ever been to a festival for beer or other types of alcohol?: many times

Do you own a record player and/or vinyl?: no

When was the last time you went out for drinks?: unless you count grabbing beers with dinner, a few weeks ago is the last time i went out to a “real” bar. Have you ever been to a strip club?: i’ve only gone twice in my whole life

What’s your favorite kind of smoothie?: mango or strawberry banana

Do you know anyone with a ‘virtue name’? (Google it): yep

Would you ever wear real authentic leather?: nah

Have you taken out the trash today?: no but thanks for reminding me bc it’s being picked up tomorrow lmao How often do you wear make-up?: like, once a week if that

What’s your opinion on The Simpsons?: it’s not really for me, i’ve watched a few episodes with Josh and found them funny but i probably wouldn’t watch it on my own time

Do you prefer horizontal or vertical stripes?: horizontal

What’s your favorite brand of deodorant/antiperspirant?: i just found a new one i love but i forget the name, it comes in a green matte container

Do you know anyone who has been through a divorce?: yes

If you had the money, would you take taxis everywhere instead of driving?: i live in a small town so there’s no need for taxis, but if i lived in the city then maybe

Have you ever done a juice cleanse?: no

Do you have any friends who you can’t decide if they’re attractive or not?: honestly, yes Is the inside of your fridge clean right now or does it need a cleanout?: it could do with a cleanout

When was the last time you washed the dishes?: Josh takes care of that, he washed them all on Saturday but we’ve been eating out since then.

Are there any magazines that you read on a regular basis?: sometimes i read Game Informer but that’s literally it

Do you have to pay for parking in most places in the town/city you live in?: nope.

What’s the first thing you tend to do when you have a headache?: lay down or take an ibuprofen, drink lots of water

Tell me about your responsibilities at work: i’m a patient registrar at a doctor’s office, i check people in, verify their information/insurance, collect payments, scan orders, all that good stuff.

Can you hear lots of traffic from your house? Does it bother you?: no, it’s really quiet where i live. Have you ever had proper Canadian poutine with the squeaky cheese?: i’ve had poutine, but i don’t know what squeaky cheese is so i guess it wasn’t proper Canadian?

Do your parents know how to operate smartphones and/or computers?: yes

How old are your parents, anyway?: my dad is 56 and my mom is 57

Are you allergic to anything? What do you have to do to prevent them?: mosquitos, i don’t do anything

What song is stuck in your head at the moment?: shooting stars by....i forget the artist.

Do you hate it when people try really hard or do you kinda like it?: it bothers me a bit

What’s your boss’ first name? Do you call him/her by that name?: amy. yes.

When was the last time you wore a uniform of any kind? What color was it? i’m wearing one right now, it’s a blue long-sleeved sporty looking collared shirt.

Do you complete a survey before taking this one? Will you take one after?: nah this is my first. it got really slow at work and i needed something to do. Have you ever lost enough weight to drop a dress size?: yep. my weight fluctuates really bad. i go back and forth between a size 4 and a size 8 depending on the type of job i have. right now, i have a desk job so i’m chunky again.

What’s your favorite kind of bread?: french

When was the last time you got pizza? What toppings did you get?: i can’t remember

Do you own Monopoly? Is it the original or a special version?: no

What was the last thing you said out loud?: bless you, cause someone sneezed

You have to choose one: cats or dogs?: dogs

Would someone being either a cat or dog person affect you dating them?: no, i love both cats and dogs. i’m just biased towards dogs right now.

How do you travel to and from work?: car

Do you primarily use cash or card for your purchases? Why?: card

Have you ever been to a stadium concert?: yuuup

#survey

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lj-writes · 6 years

Note

I'm nervous to even ask a question that I need to give a disclaimer to, but my intention with this ask is only to learn about representation in media, and what to look out for in the things I enjoy as well as what I create. Given the recent reveal of Nagini by J.K. Rowling, it's been on my mind a lot what is racist and problematic representation. We want to see difficult, nuanced roles given to POC. Unfortunately, some of those roles by nature will include sketchy backstory and/or (1/)

irrefutable analogues to real life or history that makes that representation icky or racist. Let's take Nagini for instance. Imagine a raceless character for a moment. A girl is born into a magical world with a disease that will slowly transform her from a human form. As she grows up, she learns this is passed on from her mother, who knew this would happen, but had her anyway. She grows to resent her mother as she starts to turn, and begins to buy into a blood purity narrative she hears from(2/)

the corners of society. She finds someone in Riddle who simultaneously loves her and understands her in her new form and shares her purity beliefs. She devotes her life to him and views carrying a piece of his soul as the deepest form of love he knows. So, I've read now from countless Asian people why this character is so problematic, and it seems so obvious to me once I heard from their point of view. Yet the ignorant part of me wants to say, "This could be such an incredible character. (3/?)

Why shouldn't she be able to be played by someone of Asian descent just because the real world sucks and has disgusting parallels." So my ultimate question is, is there a point where we are so aware of problematic representation that we miss out on opportunities to represent? If the creator is of a particular culture or color, does that change what is acceptable, because we can trust them better to represent without leaning on inherent biases? (4/4)

I think a work or character can be profoundly moving and deeply problematic all at once. For instance we can criticize the ableist implications in Gollum’s depiction while still enjoying the character and his story. Maybe Nagini’s will similarly be a well-told story that rings true like the one you describe, even if it would leave a bad taste in my mouth.

The questions you raise are ones I’ve struggled with, too, as have many others. We want marginalized identities to be represented as complex and meaty characters, obviously, not just bland, smiling tokens. That complexity includes great evil. I myself envisioned Bellatrix as a Korean-Chinese woman in a fanfic written between Books 4 and 5 before her name and details came out, and readers commented positively on how scary she was even as a teenager. Her brand of violent fanaticism from the Book 4 trial scene really resonated with me, and I drew from Korea’s post-liberation history of ideology-driven atrocities for her depiction. All this is to say I am most definitely not averse to evil characters who look like me, and I imagine this is true of many others who criticize Nagini as Asian representation.

So what’s the line between racist demonization and full, rich depictions of evil characters who happen to be minorities? I think one major issue with Nagini in the context of the HP franchise and the media environment in general is lopsidedness. If Western media had many examples of positive as well as negative representations of Asians and one of them, Nagini, happened to have taken up beliefs about blood purity as a wrongful response to understandable resentments and being preyed on by a powerful Dark magic user, I don’t think I’d mind as much. I mean I’d still be weirded out by her being a Korean woman with a Sanskrit name, but that could be Voldemort being a racist shithead because quelle surprise. Heck, if HP itself regularly treated Asian characters as complex and complete characters instead of bit parts and misogynistic caricatures torn down for the sake of the main white girls, I would not mind as much either. Instead, one of the very few times there is a major Asian character she’s the animal thrall of a magical fascist and thaaaat's pretty uncomfortable.

Your question about the creator’s identity is an interesting one, too. I mean maybe I’d feel more comfortable if the creator were Asian herself, but that’s more as a matter of statistical probability since a lot of biases get internalized. Personally I think empathy, a sense of balance, and humility go a heck of lot farther than identity alone. What’s really terrifying about societal bigotry is that it allows people in the dominant group to get a pass for underdeveloping and underusing these qualities when it comes to people different than them. Empathy is not inherent in any one race but if you’re, say, a white person in the West you are encouraged in large and small ways to withhold empathy from racial minorities and you can function without being empathetic to their marginalization. The same goes for representation--there’s nothing saying that a white woman can’t depict a fictional Asian woman with sympathy and nuance, but societal racism means that she can get away with not doing so and will still be praised for it.

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hellzyeahthewebwieldingavenger · 6 years

Text

I want to use Star Wars to discuss my feelings on modern Spider-Man

SPOILERS for the Last Jedi coming up.

Okay so anyone who’s been following me for a while should be aware I hate Slott’s run and modern Spider-Man in general (a few exceptions not withstanding).

Often times I’ve heard my criticisms and complaints shot down or countered (even with people who’s preferences for Spidey echo my own) with the argument that I am biased in favour of the type of Spider-Man status quo I grew up with and that now I’m older I just don’t like the new stuff and am letting my biases taint that.

Obviously this most obviously manifests in the form of ‘you just don’t like it because Spider-Man isn’t married anymore’. Similarly I hear comments like “You only like Renew Your Vows BECAUSE Spider-Man is married in it’.

Here is the thing. Ever since 2006 or so I’ve made a very conscious effort to try and draw lines of distinction between what I critically evaluate and what I simply like or dislike.

As I define it, liking and disliking something is involuntary. It’s sit back consume a story and let yourself feel about it however you are going to feel about it. It’s something you can’t really help or control.

Critical analysis is a little different because you are really looking for points of praise or condemnation. That’s you looking at a story and really asking what it is trying to do and how well it succeeds at doing that whilst being aware of what you personally enjoy and do not enjoy but trying to rise above that.

One is subjective and the other is trying to be as objective as possible.

I place zero stock in the lazy post-modern notion that the latter is beyond all possibility and does not exist. Writing is a craft and human beings are biologically geared to tell and consume stories. It literally chemically stimulates us. It’s why jokes work. Jokes with no set up or pay off do not work specifically because the human mind is geared towards that construction. Similarly it is the reason so much of human culture relies upon a rhythm involving the number three. For whatever reason that number and rhythm just resonates with us. So yeah, objectively good and objectively bad storytelling are a thing although it’s not a one size fits all thing. Depending upon the genre or the intentions of the story the criteria for its success or failure can change. A romantic comedy and an action thriller don’t have identical criteria for what makes a good story within those genres.

Anyway, in a sense I always have 2 opinions on any given story I consume. One opinion on how good it was and one opinion on whether I personally enjoyed it and I do my utmost to NOT conflate the two. Of course there are happy instances where my enjoyment is in line with something being good or stems from the fact that it is good.

Star Wars is always my main example to demonstrate this.

From a critical point of view I can write you long essays on why A New Hope and the Empire Strikes Back are such powerful movies that succeed at what they are trying to do and why Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones are such bad examples of storytelling and filmmaking.

I can tell you why Revenge of the Sith from a storytelling/filmmaking point of view has a lot of problems that means at the end of the day it isn’t really a good movie, just better than it’s predecessor prequels.

However I can also tell you from the bottom of my heart that Revenge of the Sith is unquestionably my absolute favourite Star Wars movie, although I could only offer speculation as to why that is. For whatever reason I just adore that film more than all the other SW films even though I fully recognize it’s flaws for the most part and agree it’s inferior to the original trilogy.

And I do this with Spider-Man too.

The Death of Jean DeWolff from a strictly storytelling (not social/political POV though) is utterly fantastic whilst Spider-Man Torment is garbage. But I am indifferent to the former whilst I adore the latter, likely due to nostalgia.

I have nostalgia for Spider-Man Torment but I have taken enough of a step back to really look at it and recognize it as mostly a mess by an artist with no experience writing trying to put out 5 issues worth of what he thinks would be kewl.

I do not think it’s good. I just like it is all.

So then we come to the modern era of Spider-Man and Star Wars and I’ve noticed more than a few similarities between the latest movie and the last several years of Spidey comics.

Namely that there is a clear division within the audience, with the majority displeased with the content but nevertheless often drowned out and dismissed by it’s protractors, chiefly int he form of professional critics.

Now in my view, most professional film critics are much more qualified to do their jobs than most ‘professional’ comic book critics. I’m of the opinion most film critics frankly forget that part of their jobs is to actually try and look at the film a bit more objectively than everyone else as opposed to just throwing out their own preferences for or against it and passing it off as coming from an enlightened place. But nevertheless I believe in their analytical abilities more than your average comic book reviewer on places like CBR who I thoroughly disbelieve have any really noteworthy experience or qualifications to analyse literature at all.

To make matters worse, whilst I’m uncertain if this is an issue within film criticism as well, comic book criticism has the huge problem of having a vested financial interest in being supportive of the companies output and agenda no matter what. When the EIC of Marvel has/had a regular column on CBR’s website you should be able to tell they’re not going to be honest or accurate in their evaluation of Marvel’s output. This is why for any faults you can come up with about it, smaller fan driven sites are usually going to be more honest and even handed with their reviews of titles.

Film criticism isn’t like that in my view and if a film sucks or a critic doesn’t like it is more likely than not that the film is going to get slated.

The flipside to this is when a film that is aggressively and obviously bad gets praise and, as has been explained by other people more learned than me, this has a lot to do with critics living in a bubble due to their job. A film that is bad but subverts expectations is likely to hit more with critics than general audiences because critics see so many films that the tropes, formula and usual tricks become stale to them as they grow more desensitized to them. I love Disney movies but make me watch Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and a few other movies like that in one day and I’m likely going to love something subversive among their canon much more.

This is a massive component to the Last Jedi’s generally favourable place among many professional critics. It very deliberately subverts expectations and critics reacted positively to that because it was so refreshing for them. Refreshing to the point where they were willing apparently to forgive the films numerous and serious problems. Perhaps the most serious of which was its complete and utter betrayal of the core defining philosophies of the Star Wars films as a whole and of one of it’s most central figures, Luke Skywalker.

Closely tied into this is the fact that whilst professional critics have probably seen other Star Wars movies, probably liking at least A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, statistically it’s unlikely that many of them, let alone anything close to a majority are fans to the point where they really spend any amount of time thinking about the movies after throwing out their reviews for them.

I regard anyone with any interest in a story they’ve consumed to be a fan of said story but there are degrees of fandom. Whilst the 5 year old who just got done seeing A New Hope is 100% a fan it is foolish to argue they are fan to the degree as the 20 year old who has seen all the movies, written essays about them, dived into the expanded spin-off material and otherwise thought a lot about the franchise. Which isn’t saying older fans are MORE fans of something than younger ones.

Case in point. Joe Quesada wrote a Spider-Man story that totally betrays the character and the defining philosophy of the series despite being a fan for longer than a sizable chunk of it’s readership.

My point is the majority of Star Wars fans DON’T like Last Jedi precisely because being blunt about it, they think about Star Wars more than the average critic and actually know much more about it.

They also see the film on two levels and prioritize both whilst critics only look at it on one of those levels, or at least prioritize that level above the other. Those levels being the film as an entity unto itself as well as part of a larger story.

Film critics look at Last Jedi as a film unto itself more than they look at it as a sequel to the Force Awakens and apparently pay little mind to its place within the soon to be 9 film saga. For them the here and the now is absolutely the most or only important thing whereas for fans the here and now is 100% important but the past movies and broader universe is equally important.

Now of course it is not JUST film critics who’ve praised Last Jedi. Non-professionals, including some fans (casual or otherwise) have as well. But in my observations thus far it is interesting to note that most people of this group are either rather young or decidedly older.

In other words non-professional proponents of the Last Jedi are either people for whom the experience is rather formative in their history and relationship with Star Wars or people who statistically are much more likely to be cynical and jaded about...well most things in like actually.

Which makes sense because for the former group they’re more likely to be impressionable and lack developed critical evaluation skills and are just hyped about seeing a rousing special effects driven action flick on the big screen. Meanwhile for the latter group the film’s cynicism likely speaked to them and was offering something new in a film franchise where they’ve believed they’ve seen all they can. Plus even if they are older that doesn’t mean they’re particularly good about analysis and can therefore not see how the film is in fact rather derivative in various ways.

And as I said for these proponents of the movie the loud cries of defiance over the Last Jedi from the majority (and yes, it is the majority) of Star Wars fandom the primary tactic against detractors is to delegitimize their complaints. Mainly through deriding them for being too in love with nostalgia or recognizing that things need to ‘change’ and ‘be new’.

This is all eerily echoes countless examples I’ve witnessed within Spider-Man fandom.

· Professional critics not actually that familiar with the franchise heaping praise upon the latest issues mostly because it’s new to them and because they prioritize the quality of the latest content over the bigger picture (a bigger picture they aren’t necessarily invested enough in to properly criticise the latest work).

· Newer fans who honestly don’t know enough about the franchise to see the problems in the latest material that is formative to their relationship with it.

· Older fans who’re jaded and therefore supportive of taking the franchise in ‘new’ directions, even if those directions aren’t actually that new at all and overall damaging.

· Fans basically tricked into seeing something flashy and ‘cool’ and generally a novelty as representing legitimate quality.

· Delegitimizing the majority of fans who’re detractors of the material on the grounds that nostalgia is blinding them.

Just using Slott’s run as a microcosm of this (because he is not the be all and end all of modern Spider-Man) we can see people fall all over his stories for being ‘new and fresh’ because they’re so used to what they perceive as the ‘standard’ Spider-Man.

Street level, every man, limited gadgets, Bugle cast, down to Earth stories etc.

So when Spidey is suddenly Doc Ock, or a tech billionaire, or dating Mockingbird it seems like something innovative when it isn’t.

It’s a selling out and throwing away of the core values of the character and series just like Last Jedi was.

You can be new and innovative whilst still respecting those.

And it is stories like the ones I grew up on, the ones that these pro-Slott/modern Spidey fans use to attack fans like me, that prove that.

Spider-Man returning to college. Harry Osborn dying. Peter becoming a teacher. The rise of Venom. Spider-Man marrying Mary.

This mostly respect the core values of the franchise whilst still innovate something new that can challenge the character(s).

They aren’t novelty for the sake of it and they are much more subtle than the flash nonsense Slott throws out.

Which brings me to the fundamental lack of self-awareness and analysis of the ‘you just don’t like it because it’s not what you grew up on’ bullshit defenders of modern Spidey throw out.

It’s a convenient argument to shut down all debate because it seemingly applies to everyone equally. You are only praising to criticising this thing because it is in line or out of line with the version of the series from when YOU were growing up. So your words mean nothing you are being a biased idiot, there is nothing wrong with this new stuff.

But people are rather hypocritical about that now aren’t they.

Because it’s blatantly obvious, rightly or wrongly, that there is a clear cut narrative at play within Marvel and within fandom in support of Marvel’s stance.

Stan Lee/Ditko era Spider-Man when he was in high school is sacred, post high school Spider-Man is less sacred but still pretty sacred (especially the MP Trilogy and MJ’s introduction). Roger Stern Spider-Man was good. Death of Gwen Stacy is good. The marriage was bad. Everything in the 90s was bad. Everything else doesn’t matter at all except for everything post 2008 which has all been good.

When you have multiple people within Marvel talking about how Spider-Man is defined by youth and the marriage was a mistake because of that and the Ditko run (especially when he was in high school) gets referenced more than literally anything else that isn’t the MP trilogy or Gwen Stacy’s death.

So the ‘your childhood is blinding you’ argument already has a few cracks in it doesn’t it. It’s clear that there IS a quality judgement being made about different parts of the franchise by Marvel itself. Which is particularly galling because it’s blatant that post-OMD Spider-Man is essentially a gigantic nostalgia trip for the creators involved to recreating THEIR childhoods in direct reaction AGAINST the ‘wrong’ directions Spider-Man went in after whatever period they stopped considering the story legitimate.

And in addition to that hypocrisy fans and creators will lambast whoever points this out and accuse them of doing the same thing if they do not consider post-OMD Spider-Man ‘legitimate’.

But there is the rub isn’t it.

There are genuinely incredibly strong valid reasons for NOT considering post-OMD Spider-Man legitimate in the grand scheme of the series much as there are totally valid reasons for not considering Last Jedi legitimate or a selling out on Star Wars’ core values and philosophies.

The big one is that One More Day literally created a new alternate timeline meaning there are two distinct versions of the characters in play, a clearer watershed line in the franchise than anything else in it’s history. But even beyond that post-OMD Spider-Man has time and time again aggressively gone against the defined characterization and established intentions and philosophies of the Spider-Man franchise as a whole. I’ve already spoken about stuff in Slott’s run, but even the notion of Spider-Man as a representation of youth is anathema to what happened in Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s run on the character and the broader character arc for Peter Parker across the decades. In particular his becoming married as this is clearly in line with aspect of the Stan Lee run.

Marriage is a responsibility and responsibility is the entire point of Spider-Man’s first ever appearance. Responsibility to family is clearly conveyed as a major priority within the Lee/Ditko/Romita run as Spider-Man is chiefly motivated by how he failed his father figure and strives to do right in supporting his mother. Later he tries to support Gwen Stacy whom he has ambitions to marry and to whom Lee originally intended him to wed. Even Mary Jane is first mentioned within the context of her becoming Peter’s wife someday. And of course his big three villains within the Lee run are in various ways tied into family dynamics. Doctor Octopus is associated with Aunt May. Norman Osborn is the father of Peter’s peer and friend Harry and their father/son dynamic is key to both characters. J. Jonah Jameson is introduced to us as admonishing Spider-Man in support of his own son John Jameson, the first person Spider-man ever saved as a superhero.

The notion that finding a Spider-Man story or run that undercuts and sells out on the Spider Marriage to be bad merely because you have childhood nostalgia for it is ridiculous because the Spider Marriage itself is very strongly tied into the core philosophies of the series.

It’s just as stupid as admonishing someone for being blinded by nostalgia for Return of the Jedi if they found Luke Skywalker’s characterization and direction in Last Jedi to be wrong and anathema to the series.

In summary:

No, this stuff isn’t strictly subjective.

Yes people can be blinded by nostalgia.

But no, that doesn’t mean they’re beyond capable of seeing things as what they are.

Yes, their nostalgia CAN be in line with the objective reality of a piece of storytelling.

Fact is that on a story telling level Last Jedi AND post-OMD Spider-Man have precious little redeeming value.

Both sell out the characters and core philosophies of the franchises for the sake of shock and novelty and are therefore objectively bad examples of storytelling.

#Spider-Man #the last jedi #last jedi #star wars #star wars the last jedi #Star Wars: the Last Jedi #luke skywalker #disney #peter parker #stan lee #steve ditko

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packernet · 4 years

Photo

New Post has been published on https://www.packernet.com/blog/2020/01/16/packernet-podcast-keep-the-hate-coming-were-loving-it/

Packernet Podcast: Keep the Hate Coming - We're Loving It

Transcript:

8s – 1m 8s

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome, once again to the back of that podcast. I am your host and residence analyst that’s always Ryan slip check it out online packernet.com. Find me on Twitter Pack underscore that is so today. I’ve got quite a bit of things that I want to touch on some news and notes some rumors. Probably going to get a little bit Ranchi. There’s a couple different things to different people at you know, I was just talking yesterday about how you know, if I’m being honest I liked the days when the media was gushing over the Packers a lot more than I like today. I really did like that. It kind of it was it was somewhat undeserved kind of like what the Chiefs get with Mahomes and now Lamar, you know that the Golden Boy treatment that Aaron Rodgers somehow had for felt like basically his entire career up until what 2015 maybe even late cuz I think I think even as you started to decline the video

1m 8s – 1m 45s

Because you know, that’s just how they work. Nobody wants to be the first to say it and then as soon as somebody says it is like this just Avalanche. I don’t like them either. It’s just you know who can dislike him the most so, you know, that’s that’s how you get to be edgy you without actually being edgy because you didn’t want to say it for 5-10 years. Anyways, I don’t like this so much. However, I got to admit there’s something kind of nice and extra motivating about these games. You’ve already got the aspect if I really really really really really want to win and see this team in the Super Bowl is sort of like

1m 46s – 2m 46s

It hasn’t even sunk in that it’s a possibility and it’s not because I’m sure I believe thoroughly that we’re going to lose. It’s just it’s just like that that just doesn’t happen Packers don’t go to the Superbowl this certainly don’t win the Superbowl and it’s super rare and probably nod and I forget who it was and I apologize but somebody gave the visual in the Facebook group. Make sure you join the Facebook group that he could Envision Aaron Rodgers and Aries and Aries next to each other hosting the trophy and it was like one of those things that visual just made it very real and it’s like, oh my goodness this could really happen. I mean this could really actually happen but then you take the excitement of winning and the desire to win and add to it how much distain I’m developing for everybody because everybody dislikes the Packers and some of it is fine, right? You got the sports books and everything else. They’re saying the Packers have the lowest chance depending on where you look of winning a Super Bowl get it. You’ve got some stew.

2m 46s – 3m 46s

Mystic people just kind of laying out some facts, but for the most part you have very biased people that have never liked the Packers and love the fact that Aaron Rodgers is not the favorite anymore and take every opportunity. They can to remind everybody which largely is wrongly but because this is what the statistic Community now believes remind everybody that Aaron Rodgers is no longer the goat. He’s no longer even any good. He’s averaged this team is a fraud. They just can’t stop and every opportunity they get to say it they say it so that’s starting to make me angry to the point that I want them to be wrong almost as bad as I just want the Packers to win because the level of distain I have for them. Although I get it because that’s what being a fan of a different team is about. It’s still a little bit annoying. So I want to address some of that and again just some other little bit of this little bit of that. But anyways I said,

3m 46s – 4m 46s

Make sure you jump in the pack and a podcast Facebook group. That’s where the party’s at all day everyday we party and we talked about the Packers. That’s just what we do also apparently get into very serious discussions about needles in San Francisco, you know, some people tend to rant kind of like I tend to reims I can’t hate him for it. It’s it’s my life to also make sure you jump in the back of my podcast Facebook page. Thank you to all of you have sent messages. Obviously. You’ve not been getting hardly any responses. I have to go in and start working on all those responses and develop or develope responses to all the stuff you been saying to build the ultimate supercomputer. I don’t think that’s possible but it’s you know, I got all year figure this thing out. I don’t care. What else do I have to do? I pick one thing that I want to really work on this year on top of all the stuff that I’m doing and that’s one of the things I want to build. So leave me alone. What’s your New Year’s resolution push-ups get on my face. I’m building a supercomputer man Skynet Sun before the T-1000 was

4m 46s – 5m 46s

Schwarzenegger guy before the Schwarzenegger guy was the Packer. Chad Bock. You didn’t catch that and Terminator. Did you wait till Terminator 8, they’ll tell you how it all begins. If you would like to support the fact that podcast I would strongly encourage you to check out patreon.com pack underscore daddy. There is a link in the description somewhere in the link of links. You can support the show for as little as a dollar a month. It means a lot more to me than it does to you is in terms of you know, it’s more positive for me than its negative for you. I understand podcast for free, but I’m hoping that you like the value that I bring enough that you think it would be worth it to you to offer up at least a buck a month. Please consider it. I’ve had a very very good response up over $50. Which is awesome. As long as you don’t consider the fact that there are literally thousands of people that listen every day that it’s slightly less. Awesome. But still it’s good. It’s a good start and don’t forget there will be a giveaway ever.

5m 46s – 6m 29s

Single month, all you have to do is make a small donation. $1 is one entry 5 dollars is 5 entries etcetera etcetera. If you just want to win the thing straight out Super Bowl tickets are to do it. I think that’ll increase your odds substantially. So there you go something about otherwise a five-star iTunes review Stitcher review and make sure you are listening to the Packers iPod cat because the podcast broadcast on another podcast that has not called the Packers at podcast. If you don’t want to switch over that’s fine. I still get all the accounts for it. I just would like iTunes in the rest to realize that people actually do listen to my podcast. So if you wouldn’t mind subscribing to mine as well that be greatly appreciated, why don’t we take a break cuz I got a lot to talk about not a lot of time to talk about it.

6m 30s – 7m 30s

Living with chronic pain is kind of a nightmare. It’s more than just discomfort. It can affect your whole life. I know there are a lot of people listening to this podcast. I probably have some type of pain that has prevented them from relaxing sleeping stopping them from exercising perhaps been ongoing for weeks. And now it has an improved with any of the treatments. They’ve tried enter omax Health. If you’re looking to get rid of nagging muscle and joint pain immediately while providing long lasting recovery, then you need to try the natural breakthrough pain relief solution. Cryofreeze CBD roll-on developed Biomax Health. This non-prescription triple-action pain relief roll on is specifically formulated to block pain receptors reduce inflammation and provide muscle and joint flexibility. The best part is this 100% natural CBD powered remedy works his magic within 10 minutes of application and relief lasts up to eight hours much longer than over-the-counter products as a bonus to you. All Max health is

7m 30s – 7m 53s

Offering my listeners 20% off a full bottle of cryo freeze CBD pain relief roll-on plus free shipping this discount also applies for any product site wine. Just go to omax health.com today enter promo code over time. That’s o m a x health.com and enter promo code overtime to get 20% off cryofreeze and site-wide.

7m 54s – 8m 53s

And once you’re feeling better, you don’t want to just feel better sitting on the couch. You especially don’t want to just feel better out shoveling your driveway making the pain come right on back. How about instead? We spend our February and March following our favorite baseball teams to Arizona for the Cactus League spring training. I can’t imagine a better way to spend February then out in 75 degree weather watching some baseball eating a couple hot dog hanging out with your significant other your body’s your kids and after the game getting some autographs and then buzzing over to one of the great craft breweries some great outdoor scenery and Adventures like hiking biking Jeep tours hot air balloon skydiving jet ski horseback riding and then after you’re completely famished go out and get some great Arizona cuisine cuisine as Gordon Ramsay kind of says, you know the British don’t speak too good scene. They try, you know,

8m 54s – 9m 54s

Make sure you plan your spring training get away at visit arizona.com spring training. Alright so much to do so little time. What are we talkin about? How about the fact that Luke Kuechly just retired yesterday. Can you imagine being a Carolina Panthers fan? You had a good team then it all kind of went sideways. We know what that’s like, it happened last couple years, right? Suddenly things just aren’t good anymore. We were Super Bowl Contender and then we were trash quarterbacks banged up but we’re starting over now. We get this guy rule in and it’s like he’s going to take over and he’s going to transform everything and then you find out the LSU who just won the National Championship the passing game coordinator. The guy that’s worked with Joe burrow land in the rest of that LSU crew to help them to win. The national championship is going to join Rule and help us rule the NFC South took me a second there and it you just feeling good and you know it you’re probably going to get a new quarterback. Maybe you like it. Maybe you don’t but

9m 54s – 10m 54s

It’s just it’s a new era, right? Cuz it this is a good team. We just got some work to do. We got to fix up this defense a little bit. But may we got the best running back in football? We’re going to get an electrifying quarterback in here. Take a guy like Herbert would be great somebody that doesn’t really need to be benched. But as long as he has a good Supporting Cast which which the Panthers kind of do right, they’ve got wide receivers kind of for the first time that got a great running back decent enough offensive line, like you can plug him in and just make some stuff happen and it will just focus on the defense and just hammer away at it. We’re going to be good man. We got Kuechly hang a hammer in this thing ain’t turn it down in the day that you get the news. You got a new offensive coordinator. The guy that has been like the guy on your team. One of the better linebackers of all time decides that at 28 years old with two years left on his contract. He’s going to hang it up. That’s wild by the way. This is not insignificant news to the Green Bay Packers because the Green Bay Packers are playing the Carolina Panthers at home in 2020 the Panthers

10m 54s – 11m 54s

Who had a abysmally horrible defense this past year are now without Luke Kuechly now. Who knows what’s going to happen to you know, after Gronk left, obviously, there was a total speculation that he’s going to come back. Maybe this is just stay a moment, you know as far as lacking Clarity, maybe it’s it’s injury-related and he’s he’s just really worried who knows but things change Stihl 28. He still healthy maybe is not the same Luke Kuechly was last year. He said in his goodbye message. He’s just not that same guy and he doesn’t want to play if you can’t play up to that level anymore, but maybe I mean Jared Veldheer retired now, he’s back helping us win a Superbowl but as it stands the Packers now are planning to go up against the Carolina Panthers at home without Luke Kuechly. I think the sooner we get that team the bed because the new coach and all that stuff that’s going to take some time to kind of develop that team build that locker room build up the new scheme in the new system. And I you you get those teams early enough before they really

11m 54s – 12m 54s

Get into the groove if they ever do but you catch them before they get into a Groove and that’s that’s going to work to our benefit. I also wanted to comment on something in just a little bit old news, but it’s interesting apparently and this is reported via Tony Pauline. I actually was I found this while I was doing some draft homework trying to get caught up on all the latest news and rumors and things for the draft and came across some news that apparently prior to the Vikings beat in the New Orleans Saints and then understand Tony Pauline is legit. He called stefanski to the Browns like in the same article prior to in Minnesota and the Saints game. She called it but decided the Browns number one candidate was stefanski. Anyways, he had said based on an inside source. The Minnesota Vikings are kind of tired of of Zimmer now, I’m shocked by this because the outside perspective by everybody not in Minnesota is that Zimmer’s a phenomenal code? He’s done a great job obviously is Zimmer defense is a very tough defense in the defense is what makes that team great, obviously.

12m 54s – 13m 54s

Cousins did a good job and all this other stuff, but the Zimmer defense is what makes the Minnesota Vikings in Minnesota Vikings, but in Pauline’s words Zimmer has worn out his welcome in Minnesota. Here’s the interesting thing. The report was if they lose to the New Orleans Saints Zimmer’s done and stefanski will get hired as the head coach so bad because I believe the source I do think that the ownership wants to move on from Zimmer. However, they did beat New Orleans. I can’t imagine one game like that is really going to make that big of a difference. Although I mean, of course it’s a big win but to be that good of a team to get in the playoffs and to still say if you lose to a basically the number one team arguably in the NFL then you’re no good. And it’s that’s kind of a ridiculous statement. It sounds to me like something you’d say when you kind of just want him to go but the other kind of unfortunate thing is for the Vikings. Anyway, you also lost your intended replace.

13m 54s – 14m 54s

So now what are you do you you not only beat the Saints but the guy that you were going to replace dimmer with supposedly is gone. So you don’t have a replacement. No, forget that forget. The fact that I think this whole thing is a ridiculous conversation. I don’t know what’s going on inside the organization. Maybe Zimmer has become an insufferable jerk. He feels like he runs things, you know, whatever. I don’t know. I’m just telling you what the standpoint of ownership is and in for the Vikings fans listening. I want to clarify something. I understand that. The owner has said we 100% are bringing back our GM and our head coach. We have no intention of moving up. Please understand the eagle said the same thing about two of their coaches and fired them both the same day within 24 hours. I think it was like the quarterback coach something else. I don’t know but there was a question. Are you bringing it back? You should absolutely they’re coming back within 24 hours. They were both fired. So when you get put on the spot, you know, you don’t waver on a Zimmer coming back of course is come.

14m 54s – 15m 47s

Oh, yes, definitely. You tell the media. Yes, and then you go do your job or you try to throw out some it mean that there’s really just two ways to handle it. You don’t care what the media thinks and you just say yes because it’s better for your your franchise because you don’t want to waiver on it and then keep Zimmer was Zimmer, you know in the back of his mind taking these guys are trying to get rid of me. So you just say, of course, that’s our guy or the other way to handle it is just kind of, you know, not answer the question in which case everybody fully understands. You are answering the question. So you think you’re being cute but you’re answering the question and say yes, we’re trying to get rid of them by wavering on it don’t hurt her. I should have asked you to come Sizzla Floor coming back next year. What do you think the answer you think is going to be? Well, you know we go to the media asks you I think the right thing to do is say yes, of course dumb question and then if you want to fire me fire if the media wants to call you on it just to cares.

15m 47s – 16m 47s

He made you look dumb not the other way around cuz guess what you’re going to keep asking me questions as though I’m an authority and I want to keep telling me the answers that I want to give you whether they’re true or not. Cuz I could not care any less about you and your little articles. I’ve got a team to run a multi-billion-dollar franchise to run in a little Minnesota blog doesn’t mean anything to me and I’m not going to hurt my franchise answering your ridiculously dumb questions. I don’t care about you. So again, this is just to say I fully understand he said they’re they’re intending to keep them at this point. That might be their only option i d d, you know, I don’t know maybe they like some of the other candidates that are out there be enemy McDaniels. The Ravens offensive coordinator is getting a ton of love and could be a very good option. You also have to figure that. You might be looking to get a new quarterback in the near future. So maybe you want to get it off. I think that I think this is all ridiculous. I I think this is a defensive team of talk about identity in the past and the weird thing but certain teams

16m 47s – 17m 47s

This is just have identities that last through the decades the Vikings trying to go off at doesn’t work. They win when there are defensive team same is true for the Chicago Bears. They have tried over and over and over and over with guys like Trestman and everything else trying to get an elite offense and it just never works in. The one time that they’re legitimate team is when despite the fact that they’re still trying to go off ends Vic fangio building Elite defense and there you have it this Minnesota Vikings team lives and dies with their defense the purple people eaters on through the line This is a defensive franchise. They are a smash you in the mouth kind of a team and I just I don’t I don’t know. I don’t know why they would do it, but I wanted to bring it up because it is interesting and it definitely feels like this team has kind of been flogged. It’s kind of like Luke Kuechly Jumping Ship when everything’s kind of influx. Anyway, I’ve been kind of on the fence. Anyways, you’re going to fire my code. You’re getting rid of my quarterback. Probably maybe you’re bringing in all these new people. I just you know,

17m 47s – 18m 47s

The franchise is kind of in the in the in the train in the dirt. Whatever I can think of a word out of here and you know, the Vikings are kind of going through that’s enough that they’re a bad team. But you lose your offense of coordinator your defensive coordinator your assistant GM you might look at him know, you know what since we’re getting poached and we’re losing everything. I’ve been kind of want to make some changes. Anyways, let’s just kind of make some changes until I all I’m saying is if I had to guess the dimmers going to stay if for no other reason than he met that one qualification in that they beat the Saints and the replacement is currently coaching the Browns. However, keep that in the back your mind if the Vikings don’t have a good year next year. He’s 100% gone and it’s also possible that if they could find a good enough candidate they may move on. Anyways, I mean maybe before they go out and find it offensive coordinator. Maybe they go out and find somebody and offensive coordinator to coach the team and you know, there’s a lot of good defensive coordinators floating out there. They don’t get as many looks as had head coaching jobs as offensive coordinators do so. There’s some really quality guys that are just floating. So anyways something to keep an eye on.

18m 47s – 19m 47s

Something else that was brought up kind of a long that same vein Max in the Facebook group said he is a Packer fan from Minnesota and that there is growing speculation that Stefon Diggs is permanently unhappy on an overall average Vikings roster. Now though the point of his question was as a possible we end up getting them in the in the main response at he got was that there’s no way the Vikings are going to allow him to go to the Packers. That’s probably true. However, let’s also keep in mind. He doesn’t have to come to Green Bay in order for him to benefit us if the Vikings really do it again, they’re kind of in this middle grow their kind of in a spot where if they wanted to kind of tear things down they could or they can just try to hang on just replace the vacancies go into the draft get some more quality guys and come back and Hammer it again next year. I mean there there’s still a pretty good team. Although there is that question of the ticking Time Bomb might these guys are getting a year older and a year older and all our guys that are older or under these really long contract. I don’t know maybe we do need to start doing something a little bit more dramatic a little bit more.

19m 47s – 20m 47s

Secure Kendricks the odds of him playing at this level again or basically zero, he’s never play that at that high of a level ever in his career. He’s arguably the top linebacker in all football and I’ve been dogging the guy for 4 since forever saying he’s overrated Kendrick sandbach. You certainly was November 8th of this year and you know Everson Griffen and daneel Hunter very very good. But, you know the age catches up with everybody. These guys are both in or push in 32. Neil’s obviously a lot younger. He’s got a lot of tread left but Everson Griffen. I know you got them locked up long-term, but that doesn’t mean you got a quality player locked up long-term. He’s 32 just cuz you sign them through 35 doesn’t mean you’re freezing his age. So I don’t know. I mean if it’s true that they are considering moving on from their head coach. It’s certainly true that they could be willing to move on from there. They’re wide receiver, especially if he is kind of a head case and you feel as though he’s a negative in the locker room. I don’t know that he is I mean sometimes loud guys like that are positive other teammates really like him and I think her cousin says very much cuz he’s always screaming at cousin but so is

20m 47s – 21m 47s

The receiver feelings constantly getting into space 2 so you have to cut him if that’s if you’re just worried about him his Kirk Cousins feelings and Kirk Cousins is probably gonna be gone pretty soon. Anyway, so what are you worried about that for? Anyways, that’s enough about the Vikings. But I guess here’s to hoping you know, if the offseason has been really crazy since what like 2017 when it just really went nuts and we’ve seen teams do things that you know people that have been watching football for a long time. You just think that would never happen. That’s to correct. Those things have been happening the last few years, but some of the biggest stars just randomly end up on different teams. So it’ll be interesting to watch the Vikings in the kind of gauge and see what their strategy is which for a long time has been. Let’s just retain everybody at some point. You got to assume that they’re going to try to blow it up a little bit. We’ll see what happens little bit of minor Packers news parent leave the Packers had to work out with CFL running back to Shawn Amos. No clue. If there’s any relation to Adrian Amos. However, he is a r was a Calgary stampeder and a teammate of Reggie begelton another guy that we had.

21m 47s – 22m 47s

I believe sign to a reserve Futures deal. So we’ll see what happens when it comes to a PC still doing a lot of work and it clearly they’ve been doing some work in the CFL as well. And you know, I’m not going to not get a job goop the man knows what he’s doing. So we’ll see how the last thing I want to bring up before we take a break and get into some other more. I don’t know what college visit philosophical type thing. There was a point brought up by no other than OJ Simpson that Aaron Rodgers probably still has a chip on his shoulder against the 49ers leaving aside the part where that was a very long time ago because you probably still have some kind of a chip something that OJ seems to be forgetting is that he probably has a chip had a ship on the shoulder on November 24th, when we lost 30728 probably had a chip on his shoulder when we lost of the 49ers 23 to 20 back in 2014 as well as losing twice to the 49ers the year before

22m 47s – 23m 47s

So I’m not so sure that that really holds a lot of water I bring it up just because it’s entirely possible that there’s some pack offense of her then go. Oh, yeah, he was snubbed therefore. He’s angry therefore he wants revenge do this is the third time we face it for San Francisco in the playoffs with Aaron Rodger We Roll for 2. So yeah, maybe but I’m not putting a lot on that. However, he was the one thing I will say to try to get a little bit to that bigger than Aaron Rodgers is the general theme that although the Packers haven’t been perfect. They win when it matters, I would focus little bit more on that to be honest the fact that yes, we did lose to them earlier in the regular season, but when it really matters do we have the guys on this team come up and play a good football game and again to win when it matters that’s been there Mo all year. So be very Packers ask of them to have an ugly series with the 49ers but ultimately win when it matters and to once again prove everybody wrong something they’ve been doing literally all

23m 47s – 24m 47s

Let’s take a break and then I want to get in to see how much of this other stuff we can get at. I want to start with the the first thing first. That is this Eric eager guy who is a vitriolic anti Packers Vikings fan who is trying to put on his analytics hat as he tries to dismantle the Green Bay Packers and the shocking thing is that although other people are doing a fairly good job of it. Just just laying out historical fact and letting it lie there and letting Packer fans. Overreacting look like The Crazy Ones this Eric dude is just out of his mind. So I want to kind of walk through this a little bit to matter simply means that the offense is what is most predictive and actually this game was a perfect example of that. So it’s pretty clear. He’s trying to defend something right? He’s he’s he’s not walking something back but he got called out for something dumb and he’s trying to defend it. First of all, what in the world are you talking about? Trying to defend apparently some comment he made about defense.

24m 47s – 25m 47s

Doesn’t matter which is dumb as the guy that has in a self-proclaimed way written the book on it. That’s just not true offense is more predictive of success. That’s not true. Remember what my little project was quarterback versus defense, which really is how they started off. That’s what I call it ends up being sort of what the predictive odds of winning based on your statistical points where you rank in terms of points and yards on offense and a defendant in a mathematical sense looking at every single Super Bowl winner throughout all of Super Bowl history. I looked at what the percentage odds are based on all these things and end points against which is defensive points allowed is by far the most predictive in terms of actually winning a Super Bowl 30% 30% of all Super Bowl winners have the number one overall defense. That’s just number one.

25m 47s – 26m 46s

I’ve been through all this stuff before he’s just wrong about this defense is more predictive of success know if you’re talking about maybe some other things. I I don’t know what is initial claim was but he’s absolutely wrong having a great offense is going to help you win the Superbowl but having a better defense is much more predictive and then for him to go on and say end this game was a great example of that. Excuse me, the Packers won because of their offense against the Seattle defense. Is that the claim that you’re making that’s absurd It song about the Packers five sacks Russell Wilson had a better day than Aaron Rodgers did statistically it was Aaron who it was Russell Wilson versus the Packers defense. That was the story of this game. This was not an example of that. If you go back over history the last time they played in the playoffs the Seahawks want and it was Seattle’s defense against the Packers offense. This was Seattle’s offense against the Packers defense in both cases defense came out on top two hilarious thing though. Is that his co-host

26m 47s – 27m 47s

Yeah, that’s right. And then goes on to explain how the Packers defense was really good and that the Seattle offense was really good what this game was? Absolutely. I mean we were we were told the entire in a sort of going into the game that Green Bay was more Stout up front in Seattle and they were I mean, they think pressured Wilson more than 50% of his dropbacks. But ultimately Russell Wilson and the Seahawks have gained the Packers. They made a lot of plays Wilson at 106 passer rating when pressured their yards per play We’re actually higher than their historical, you know average for the season. I think they were saying that offense is more important than defense and this game shows in the co-host goes. Yeah, that’s true. Seattle’s offense was incredible. And in fact, they played better on offense then they have all year, but the Packers defense was better. Maybe they just think Seattle one. I don’t know.

27m 47s – 28m 13s

I’m a little confused because the initial statement for mr. Eric was defense doesn’t matter the whole Cohoes comes out and says, yes, he knows offense was great Packers defense was great Packers won and to look at his face as he just sits there and watch it happen to him is hilarious Cindy goes down and tries to do damage control and explain how Green Bay’s defense actually isn’t that good? And that in fact, I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know listen to what this guy is trying to do here.

28m 14s – 28m 48s

Upoint were talking before this which is like Willie Turner Turner drops a stone cold light up in past. That’s not an example of Green Bay’s defense being great, right? It’s an example of offense dictating what happens in this game great offense is going to win out right? That’s just what happened and that offense is also going to make your defense look good, right? So Russell Wilson in this game his fatal flaw was that he held onto the ball a long time and he did not feel the pressure and Aaron Rodgers. Stop. Stop. Stop. Stop stop.

28m 49s – 29m 49s

Wow, this is this is how I knew he was a Vikings fan. This is how I absolutely knew because this makes no sense Point number one offense dictates to defense. So the point you’re making is basically the the way that I’m going to be right about this is that I’m going to say offense is more important the defense and if you point out to me a good defense I’m going to say that it wasn’t actually good defense was just bad offense, which you can do in every case, except your one example is ridiculous. You gave one example of a guy dropping a pass how many other dropped passes were there? And and what are the five sacks come into play and how about the dropped interception? Can we just hand him? Can we hand Kevin King the ball since we’re just going to make stuff up. Let me ask you another question explain to me how the Tennessee Titans beat the number one ranked offense in football. How did that happen? It don’t even give me this garbage about Lamar didn’t play. Well, he threw some of the most pinpoint perfect passes I’ve ever seen in my life. He was running for his life. That is a very good offense that try to dictate a with but loss.

29m 49s – 30m 35s

To a better defense because the old adage that defense wins championships has kind of been true for a while. If you don’t have a good defense, you don’t have yourself a Super Bowl the last time a team won. The didn’t have a top-10 defense was the 2013 Ravens and I tell you right now with 100% certainty that was a top-10 defense by the time they hit the playoffs and Ray Lewis said guys. I just need one more the last time a team won Super Bowl without a top-10 defense or offense. 2016 Bronco that offense was not good at all. The quarterback was ranked 39th about the number 4 ranked scoring defense in the number one defense in terms of yarded and know their quarterback didn’t get better in the postseason. He was the same guy that couldn’t hardly do any of it. At least physically this it this is such.

30m 36s – 31m 36s

Ridiculous nonsense trying to say that despite the fact that it was actually the Packers defense that one and then the Seahawks offense that lost another what’s a good offense force a good defense and the defense with the way you twist. This is by actually saying the the Seahawks offense wasn’t good. The guy just laid out the statistics. It was a very good offensive performance and Russell Wilson played out of his mind and a know he held on the ball too long. I wonder why genius you think maybe it’s cuz nobody was open because you know defense, what are you talkin about? Why are you doing this the reputation of Pro Football Focus is going in the tank. Every time you open your mouth PFF is all about Advanced analytics. It’s about statistics is supposed to be about facts right that the even her grading scale is based on a very strict criteria of factual information and you got this guy flapping his gums sing the dumbest crap I’ve ever heard of my life offense dictates to defense a good defense.

31m 36s – 32m 36s

Is nothing more than a bad offense. What are you talkin about? This these words have never been spoken in the history of the universe ever accept by this Vikings fan who forgets that he’s on on an actual broadcast and his hatred of the Packers has so consumed him that he can’t even form a coherent thought he is. So Lowe’s to give the Packers any credit that he’s essentially saying that the Seahawks just their offense just fell apart. The five sacks just kind of happened Russell Wilson held onto the ball because he just felt like it not because nobody was open but because he felt like it despite the fact we saw the replays in the coverage and nobody was open and there was nowhere to go with the ball for not going to give Packers any credit this this this is exactly the problem and I don’t I don’t think we’re going to have time to get to my other thing. Maybe we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I don’t have a problem with the analytics Community. But but this is no different than than the end in the political realm there statistics and there is evidence for just about anything that you want to prove and when you get people with enough

32m 36s – 33m 36s

They’ll try to use all this stuff to basically paint the picture that just isn’t so and this is not even a coherent looking picture. This isn’t even using statistics or anyting. This is just a guy that’s lost his mind either. He’s lost his mind. He’s never had one. I don’t know. I don’t know who this guy is. I’ve never heard him speak before but this is dumb and it’s not just cuz he’s talking about the pack of this is the end of this is a stance that he’s taking that offense is more important the defense an example of a defense beating out the offense. It’s because the offense didn’t do what it’s supposed to do that’s called circular logic my friend. That’s not how this works. That’s not how anything works. If you’re listening to this and you want I can let you borrow my thirteen-year-old daughters introduction to logic book. It’ll maybe help you work through this a little bit. She’s done with that when she’s moved on to intermediate logic so you can borrow the the intro to logic book if you if you want it seems like you you might need it but the but the but that’s what that’s what gets me so frustrated about this because there are people that are just being honest.

33m 36s – 34m 36s

I don’t have any problem with Vegas giving better odds the 49ers again. I trust Vegas because Vegas is just all they care about is money. I trust a greedy capitalist because they just care about money there a biased they’re not willing to to to lose money to get their way of Vikings fan working at a casino setting a betting line is not going to move the line to sort of hurt the Packers fans feeling because they just care about money and so I can trust them doesn’t mean they’re right but they’re going to take all the available information which is the other thing I wanted to talk about but we don’t have time is in a how much how much of the stuff that we can see accounts for the whole picture. That’s sort of a another question that will try to talk about tomorrow because some of the analytics people seem to think that all the information we have is all the information we need and my ability to take the information and paint the correct picture is is 100% accurate. So I am all-knowing and that’s that’s when you get to be obnoxious. I love analytics. I love none.

34m 36s – 35m 36s

The love playing with stuff because it provides a little bit of context. It paints a picture but the actual Beauty and football I’ll give you the end of the story tomorrow. I’ll just ruin it is the fact that we don’t know anyting the fact that there isn’t a supercomputer that’s going to tell us who wins the Super Bowl because there will never be a super computer that can tell us that because there is an unknown quantity to the human element of football that will always remain unknown that at that can’t ever be no that is the part about football that makes football special statistics will never be able to touch that part of football ever until some of these people are just wildly speaking out of turn and I’m to the point now that anytime I see it. I’m just going to try to come swing it if you want to say you think the 49ers and I went I don’t care that’s fine. You should think that if I wasn’t a pack of Five Nights at 49ers going to win and I don’t need the other game. I don’t know. How do I run things Chiefs? I’m kind of leaning Titans a little bit same way. I was leaning Titans against the Raven cuz you have these wildly good offense is going up against a team that has a rat that is just a solidly, you know steady team.

35m 36s – 36m 36s

You don’t like I go for the study Team every time it was steady Patriots looking team versus team that let a team score 24 points in a quarter and then came back and scored like 30 or three touchdowns in 3 minutes. That is the epitome of volatility. Anyways, that’s neither here nor there point is I have no problem with Packer fans saying I think we’re going to lose that I’ve gotten so many messages saying I’m not feeling good about this. I don’t think we’re going to win that doesn’t bother me letters are a good team. Even if they weren’t there’s no guarantees in football, which is another thing that the analytics Community doesn’t want to look at. They look at the fact that the Packers almost lost the Lions save their for their garbage. Why because your supercomputer said if they were good, they would have blown him out of the water. Your supercomputer is stupid and I hate the fact that I am at war with the analytics Community because I feel like these are my people. I’m the one that’s been taking the the arrows for PFF for 2 year haven’t talked about how we can go back up in this and this guy is not the embodiment of what PFF is. I don’t know who he is. I don’t know why he’s there. I don’t know who liked who gave him a microphone.

36m 36s – 37m 36s

Speaking anything factual or even using what is going on with Twitter do this is ridiculous the stuff that’s trending is just get out of here. I got to get off here stuff popping up like why is what anyways, so there’s a lot more I want to talk about but, you know time constraints and whatnot. I know. It’s only 36 minutes in but I got to go to work speaking of a couple things everyone. Don’t forget patreon if everybody listening decides to give me a dollar a month. I can start working on my sales pitch to my wife to quit my job. It won’t work, but I’ll start I’ll try secondly on a slightly more serious note, although I would seriously appreciate that regardless of what happens with the Green Bay Packers in a few weeks. The season is over. Let me encourage you because there’s a lot more listeners now than there have been over the past year because of how much popularity with the Packers and their the playoffs and all that. Let me encourage you to please stick around after the season is over if you need a couple days to recoup after a loss if there is a loss, that’s fine. But but please come back.

37m 36s – 38m 36s

Because I’ll tell you what the offseason is when things get fun with the draft coming up with free agency coming up. This this is one of my favorite times of the year. In fact that the Packers won in the playoffs. This would already be my favorite time of the year. It’s the time when we get to dream as Packer fans about what can be what might be to look at the prospects to look at the free agents. And then once we get them to talk about what they might be able to do for the offseason is the time to dream about what could be it’s also that the best time to go back and really digging deep into what the Packers were. Not just what they can be but what they really were in to theorize and that’s what I love the most the regular season is not my favorite time to podcast it’s easy because everything is laid out for you, but it almost kind of gets monotonous is the same thing at the same schedule as it’s just but you got to hit on these points so I can’t get away from it. Even on a daily podcast you get your routines in your ritual. I like the offseason the offseason is when the fun happen, so, please let me encourage you to at least stick around for

38m 36s – 39m 12s

Weaker for 2 weeks just to see if if I’m lying to you and if you don’t love it, and if you’re not getting some inside, so you never thought you would and if you’re not enjoying the offseason by all means going to the football hibernation, and we’ll we’ll see you again in August, but I promise you this offseason going to be a lot of fun. I’m still planning on doing daily. I did it daily last year didn’t think I could but I made it and I fully intend to do it again. So that’s my pan. I’d love to see the numbers increase in the offseason instead of decrease. Anyways, you folks have ourselves a fantastic day. It’s us against the world, and that’s exactly how it needs to be. I will talk to you tomorrow. Have a good one. Bye. Bye.

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