thinking about queer!house, who would’ve been just getting out of medical school at the beginning of the AIDS epidemic. house who loves puzzles and mysterious diseases. who probably did have to interview patients when he was younger and didn’t have the reputation to back up his behavior, having to deliver a diagnosis of GRID, that has only experimental treatments, a mysterious disease that nobody will fund the research for. the medical community can’t even agree on why exactly people catch it or on how it’s transmitted at first.

in the hallways, the unspoken consensus is that it’s spread through deviancy. degeneracy. queer behavior. that it’s more social contagion than real disease.

it would’ve made him furious. to watch people die, over and over again, from a puzzle that those with power didn’t want to solve. to hear so many become indignant or furious or hysterical at a diagnosis that labels them as queer. maybe it was worse to see those visibly gay men who only nodded their head, accepted that what had already begun killing their friends, their lovers, was killing them too.

everybody lies. whether they’re lying about their sexuality or lying about accepting an awful death shouldn’t make a difference to him. they’re going to die irregardless.

i think living through the epidemic as a young queer man would give additional explanation to a lot of house’s behavior. his general distaste for and mistrust for authority, his willingness to try any treatment no matter how radical or experimental, his conscious refusal to connect emotionally with patients, even down to less obvious stuff, like his consistent refusal to use heroin. he’s genuinely traumatized from living through an epidemic that killed people like him.

moral severity in fiction: a ramble about some shit ive been thinking about for a long time bc ive started seeing marwa discourse again

ok my central thesis is this: the moral severity of a given action or belief in fiction does not necessarily equate to the moral severity of said action or belief in real life, and is moreso affected by the public acceptance and treatment of it. namely bigotry.

a lot of times i'll hear the "anything goes in fiction" crowd say "hey youre ok with wanton murders in fiction but when sexual violence is casually depicted suddenly its glorification?" while murder may be morally worse than sexual violence irl, it is not socially on the same level. like. everybody knows murder is bad. generally speaking if you murder someone you are going to get arrested and people will think you are bad. but sexual violence is very normalized. (there's a reason its called rape culture and murder culture isnt a thing.) even if people on a surface level think they are against sexual violence most will turn their back on victims once it actually happens and support predators.

and on a more specific level some types of murder ARE normalized. police brutality, war, hate crimes etc. and these, just like sexual violence, need to be handled very carefully in fiction. bc 1 there is a high chance that someone in your audience is or knows a victim of said violence and will be hurt by it. and 2 there is a high chance that someone in your audience on some level genuinely believes that violence is justified and your work will help enforce that idea.

ok now onto wwdits. theres a lot of violence and terrible shit done by our lovable main characters that is treated very lightly. the reason theres no moral panic (as far as ive seen) about this is cuz. well. first of all vampires arent real. but even taking out the fantasy aspect ppl going out to find virgins to kill and drink the blood of is not a problem that is happening in real life. it is just not connected enough to reality to be considered "glorifying" anything.

so while nandors (and the show itself) treatment of marwa is not in the reality of the show worse than the vast number of people he eats it is absolutely worse from a writing perspective. again if we're taking out the fantasy aspects of djinns and mind control then all we've got is a woman of color being manipulated and brainwashed by her husband to be more appealing to him and then being discarded without a second thought. which. yeah. is not an uncommon situation. and definitely one that people will make excuses for irl. its just not something that can be comfortably laughed off like crazy gore. i didnt expect her to become a fully fleshed out character or even to survive. its the specific manner of the way her story is told that is uncomfortable. like. i legitimately wouldve preferred her graphically dying than the psychological horrorshow shes subjected to in canon. it doesnt make me dislike nandor as a character (although i understand if it does for some people) bc it doesnt change much about his own morality but it absolutely says something about the writers that they didnt think through the way they wrote her

i apologize if you’ve answered this before but a lot of younger gen-z especially ones on tiktok say ryan should’ve been the lead singer and panic would have had the same amount or more popularity do you think that has any substance or people are just delusional

ive seen that too, imo it is delusional and people are only saying that because brendon is canceled and everyone likes to pretend fan perceived morality is equivalent to success and talent. ryan was not even the sole singer of the young veins, he split vocals with jon. brendon is, objectively, a better vocalist than ryan. brendon may not use those vocals to the best extent, but ryan is not a strong singer.

i am finishing up the dissertation™️ right now and pete always knew ryan had a band. he didnt care until brendon joined and the girls on the forums started freaking out. they just lied about what happened later.

the dissertation is about pete and ryan meeting so i havent really done a deep dive into the split but im touching on it at the end. one thing i ran into while researching was the guy who co-authored petes book did a lot of writing about panic during their split and theyd do exclusives with him about it and its stuff i dont see floating around anywhere on here and i thought it was all really interesting and he said very explicitly pete and ryan were no longer friends.

anyway, it appears from that and kelties book and ryans interviews years later that ryan kind of went off and started doing a ton of drugs and drinking and gambling. i dont think he had a support system to cope with the death of his father and they were all really young and got really famous really fast and were getting really mean. brendon has talked about how mean he was back then and ryan acted the same way. i also think he was being a tool and its difficult to help someone acting that way especially since everyone else was also a douchebag dude in his 20s on drugs.

anyway its explicitly reported that pete cast his lots with brendon immediately and ryan didnt seem to know what was going on. im not sure if he was being told things and not listening because he was kind of in la la cocaine land or if everyone ganged up on him and jon despite the split being mutual. petes writer friend also wrote a super brutal review of the young veins that i think gets across why it failed. i think everything he said was right and i agree with it and think he was even trying to find something nice to say, but also. Woof. ryan also had and has no desire to continue being in panic and continue being famous, and he has been open these days about how tyv fell apart very quickly.

but anyway, no, panic never wouldve gotten very far without brendon. i think ryans backing vocals wouldve added a lot to the first record and i do think ryans lyricism and vision added a different dimension to the band that was completely critical to their early success and fan reception but that wasnt and wouldve never been enough on its own. people just like to say that because they dont like brendons career decisions.

1, 6, 9, 18, 30

i just realized on some of these im gonna have to do different answers for her pre-war and as an Sploicer but u know what thats just fine

1. What is their favourite food?

pre war: amys got a huuuge sweet tooth, and she especially loves fruity pastries and cakes!! she grew up very poor and barely had money to feed herself at all as a kid, nevermind treats. one of the first things she probably did after her first gig in rapture was buy a huge box of donuts. shes also big on fast food and takeouts since she’s Not a cook and loves convenient salt and grease too much to ever learn how to make her own meals lmao

she also used to love seafood because it reminded her of her home city and her childhood in general, but after her dad is arrested for being a smuggler and when the morale of rapture starts going downhill she kinda.. goes off it. instead of being a sweet nostalgic thing, it starts reminding her of the Situation everyone is in. real unfortunate considering like 90% of what everyone eats in rapture is seafood fhfgh, she still eats it, but she doesnt enjoy it like she used to

splicer: she’ll eat anything she can find. she still loves sweet things but theyre impossible to come by anymore outside of like, canned fruit, which she probably has a stash of somewhere. she’s always been an alcoholic and a chain smoker but during/after the war she manages to be drunk 24/7 and definitely turns to alcohol/tobacco instead of eating almost exclusively. she also eats other splicers for their ADAM; first time she did that was probably when she was in SERIOUS withdrawl and it was the only option. she wouldve felt absolutely horrible the first few times but it’s more than normal for her now, she ends up eating people partly for ADAM and partly cus she just wants to :///

6. What do they look like?

pre war: amy’s a tall, skinny bigender thot (binary man or woman, she/he) (im gonna describe her usual femme look for the sake of this post not being Too Freaking Long). she’s white and has short brunette hair usually worn in this sorta 50s ass curly bob style, and her eyes are hazel. she wears quite a bit of makeup and she especially likes brown/grey eyeshadow, thick eyeliner, and dark red lips. her eyes are perpetually lidded and tired looking and her makeup only highlights it. shes got bad teeth from a toxic combination of growing up poor, heavy smoking and a lot of coffee drinking, and not looking after herself in general, but she really doesnt care.

typical outfits are made up of button up shirts and high waisted pants of some description. going to a fancy dinner?? nice shirt and nice pants. visiting dad at the fisheries?? ratty shirt and ratty pants lmao. she’s not particularly a fashion person and she sticks to wearing whats comfortable and what looks good on her most of the time, but she probably ends up going out of her way to buy an array of nice things specifically for her stage performances and hanging around posh folks since she has a bit of anxiety around being The Comedic British Funny Accent Girl Who’s Rough. she also has a silver chain necklace that she never takes off; it was given to her by her grandma

splicer: her hair is now a bit longer than shoulder length; it’s gross and matted and ratty and covers most of her face. the right side of her face is mangled and she’s blind in that eye; it’s cataracted over. sometimes she wears masks; typically a teal eyemask or a cat mask (as seen in-game). her right leg was broken after a fall and she tried to fix it with an EVE injection in a panic, which only caused it to heal wrong and become severely mutated. all of her limbs are heavily bandaged with bloody gauze, partly to stop any bleeding and partly to try and prevent the tumors from growing any larger. she has some visible, shoddily stitched up cuts here and there. she still wears her typical shirt and high waisted pants combo albeit torn up and bloody, and she doesnt wear anything on her right foot other than more gauze because it doesnt fit in a shoe anymore.

9. Do they have any artistic talent?

yeah! before the war she was a drag king, stand up comedian, and stage actor. she also dabbled in poetry but she never thought she was particularly good and was too embarrassed to show anyone. in terms of like, drawings, i can see her doodling every now and then but that wasn’t really her forte.

18. Have they ever been in a romantic relationship?

Oh Yes, lots. pre war she was an absolute thot who slept around with everyone and greatly preferred casual relationships. post-war she ends up meeting and falling in love with @robbytheturtle‘s chris. her relationship with him is the longest and strongest she’s ever had by a mile; i definitely think thats partly thanks to their dire situation and a need to cling onto any small comfort they can find, but it also really is just cus they love eachother so much and they really did just had to find The One after everything’s gone to hell lmfao

30. Do they have a job?

kinda answered that in 9!

The Blather Storm Gathers Strength: The Astonisher Is So Desperate For Love, Is Tinder Next?

BLAM! The Astonishers iditor scores another bullseye on her tootsie, while penning a paean of self-praise making the floods all about THEM, not YOU. For comic relief, it cant be bettered. Whats our deputy Doo Dah, Messagebank Walker not telling us? ThePie hears he is so upset with some Facebook jibes, that hes seeking legal advice. Also, the (old) gangs all here Townsville gets another council CEO with a chequered history. And THAT photograph of a female footy player to revert to a dismissive saying of his youth, The Magpie asks whats the hairy deal? And motor scooters dont usually make us laugh, but this one does. But first In these days of whine and posers, few things are hard to imagine as being impossible but The Magpie being genuinely indignant ON BEHALF of Pauline Hanson would be up there until this week. This screechy harridan is truly an ill-educated, blinkered ignoramus, but the set piece public bullying ambush on national TV during the week successfully cast her as a victim deserving sympathy and thats a role she doesnt really deserve. So David Koch and Derryn Hinch have more than their unprofessional behaviour to be ashamed of, but also the fact that it immediately gave Hanson the undeserved role of a victim of misogyny. The is a deplorable trend in pop media to mistake shouty bullyboy ranting as a justified replacement for clever and reasoned questioning. The smug stand-over tactics of the hugely self-satisfied talent-cipher David Koch was reinforced by a swearing and blaspheming Hinch. Any moral point they were trying to make on Sunrise i.e. that Hansons track record of anti-Islamic rhetoric played more than a totally speculative role in the Christchurch massacre was completely lost by their behaviour. Bentley was totally unimpressed.

These two dunderheads quickly learnt that their ranting was self-defeating, with viewers generally sympathetic to Hanson and making widespread calls for Koch to be sacked and Hinch well, well just have to wait on the ballot box for him to get his. The ABC Tries Its Hand At Soft Porn It was the week of THAT photograph of THAT kick. The image that dominated the public chatterati this week was this one AFL footballer Tayla Harris.

And the young lady can thank Channel 7 for the publicity she is now enjoying (well, she indicates she quite OK with the attention.) The pic was put up by 7 on their FB page earlier in the week, but when it attracted some totally predictable low comments from some pimply near-illiterate trolls, the station made the bizarre decision to remove the image instead of just the comments. This skewed logic suggested they agreed that the trolls had some sort of point with their totally unacceptable view of things. Cue predictable outcry over this sort of flinching management oafishness and back up it went sans comments of course. As is the world these days, this attracted a great deal of notoriety for the picture and for Ms Harris, and various members of the professional huffnpuff brigade. Now, you may find this hard to believe, but The Pie has looked and looked and looked examined this photograph at least a dozen if not 20 times, and was nonplussed as to what the whole thing was about. But then the awful truth dawned, courtesy of ABC TV news on Wednesday night. It was what was NOT being said that was the problem. The ABCs lengthy tut-tutting report showed, for reasons known only to themselves, a series of stop-motion pics of the entire Harris kick. Not once, but TWICE (roll through to 16.38 and 17.39 if the link is still up). The relevance or necessity of the extra pics is not immediately apparent. This very un-ABCish display hit like a freight train to the senses the lovingly slowed, later zoom, double dose started to take on the semblance of soft porn for the trolls and talk about the Streisand Effect (decrying the publishing of something magnifies its exposure tenfold). Because the one thing absolutely no one was saying was that the picture was undeniably sexy. And anyone who indignantly says otherwise is simply lying. Or dead. The athletic female form is every bit as sexy as that of a male perhaps more so, but it seemed everyone was tip-toeing around this fact. But The Pie let it all pass until the following night, when a further ABC TV report on the issue again featured the same series of photographs (scroll to 25.14), which started to look like an excuse to run the pics again and again. This was now beyond ingenuous. And it was dishonest, close up zooms and the like also making it clearly prurient. Of course, the whole thing was clothed in a finger-wagging moral tale, with the photographer wittering on about a beautiful, graceful, powerful image - which it is and some other thundering gorgon calling for detection and expulsion of the trolls if they were found to be gasp members of an AFL club. Speaking your mind on social media nowadays requires awareness, common sense and an understanding that private thoughts and grubby unattainable ambitions should remain just that, private. But the medias prissy denial of the reality in this instance, pretending that an obviously sexy image should not be seen as such, just aggravates the situation instead of taking a sober look at the issue. And an image like this can bring out the wrong reaction in the emotionally immature. Sport has always been inextricably linked with sex, indeed, born of it, the first instances of ancient games were devised to advertise the best genes available for breeding purposes and thats not a million miles away from the way sports like tennis, swimming, gymnastics and athletics are subliminally marketed today. And, like the seasoned exponents of other, established sports, Ms Harris and the other women who play AFL will soon get comfortable with the new reality and no doubt flaunt their new image for fun and profit. (As an AFL die hard, The Pie might be unkind enough to suggest the photograph was the only thing worth watching of the new womens league.) But even after rocking that vision back and forward a score of times, The Magpie admits he is stumped try as he might, he just cant see it what all the fuzz is about. The Bulletins New Slogan Its All About Us Well, thats what they meant, and at least thats a refreshing burst of honesty and hilarity. In what in The Magpies experience is an unfortunate first, Bulletin iditor Jenna Cairney has used a prominent two page spread (about $10,000s worth to punters) to tell us how wonderful she and her team have been for doing their jobs. Like hundreds of others, continuing to do their jobs despite suffering flood damage to property . And what tough times she and her battling journos had of it. Suddenly it was Were For Us ,and not Were For You.

Self praise is never any recommendation. But in this virtue-signally fest, a desperate bid to establish that the turnstile staff door at the Astonisher doesnt exist and everybody is here forever, Jenna comes spectacularly undone. First, theres this laugh-your-arse-off clanger

Despite in itself the highly questionable claim of who does what and where, (certainly much of the advertising layout is done in The Phillippines) the boast doesnt say much about the papers writing or subbing or local knowledge when it is featured above a picture carrying an incorrect caption. There is no intersection or corner of Norris Street and Queens Road, these streets run parallel and dont intersect, they are two blocks apart. The initial error could be forgiven, formed under trying circumstances but that was back then, now is now, where any sub with local knowledge wouldve picked it up, or at least checked. And real papers keep the archives updated. But thats not the only dubious claim when we read on.

Just love that line much of what they say will be true; much will be their version of the truth, and lets be blunt, some may be downright lies. That would make a much more accurate description of the Townsville Bulletin instead ofnthe mimsy Were For You, which by the way, is a News Corpse company-wide slogan for all mastheads across the country. So we are to trust you when you tell us 77% of locals read our content. As the Hotels Combined bear keeps saying Really? Lets see, total population of the immediate Townsville local area i.e. possible circulation, is, in round figures, about 250,000, 77% of which is 179,000. Yet the latest Roy Morgan readership figures show that on an average weekday, 43,000 see a Bulletin and on the weekends, 52,000 and almost all these readers are the same repeat readers, the Bulletin is not a destination for casual browsing. Nice try at creative accounting, Jenna, hope you dont do your books with this method. And your risible claim that we can trust the Townsville Bulletin is as believable as this little bit self-praise bollocks.

Pure and utter tosh, and the city knows it. But good job on youth crime, though, mate, herograms all round to your tough journalists. And boy, is your closing going to come back and bite you on the bum sometime soon.

Like they say in Hollywood, Jenna, when you can fake sincerity, youve got it made. It seems appropriate to follow those sentiments with this ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL WITH JENNY AND JENNA Make no mistake folks, were on the campaign trail, and its the Jenny and Jenna show from now until next March. Get used to it.The blizzard of bent bullshit is gathering force down at the Astonisher. We could have been excused for alarm and panic when we read the suggestion that our new council Chief Excecutive Officer is yikes!! Mayor Mullet herself!! Isnt that how anyone would see this at a glance?

But hang on, thats obviously an error in putting the story together, so lets ignore the click bait come on, and click through to the real story as it appears in the online Bulletin.

Nope, still looks like Mayor Mullet. But then we get to the story which is by established practice, usually summarised in photograph and headline and we find that the familiar-sounding Mike Chiodo has been bumped up from acting CEO to the full time gig. So lets look down through the story, see what this Chiodo bloke looks like. No luck! Seems the Bulletin hasnt got a pic of him to inform us what our new CEO looks like. So let The Pie help out here this is our man an why his bname souns familiar AS REPORTED IN THE MAGPIE JULY 15, 2017 EDITION.

New TCC CEO MIke Chiodo Back in 2017, that same article included this .

The mystery resignation was never publicly cleared up, but again, in July 2017, The Pie reported this interesting tidbit about Adele The Impaler Youngs NT chum and now successor.

Seems Mr Chiodo has hit on another sweet little earner in yet another city he is passing through. Look, he may be a fine administrator Christ knows, anybody will do after Adele Young but a bit more transparency at how the choice was made, and what other interest was shown in the position would have been well in order. But of course, Mayor Mullet is like Jenna, and just wants us to trust her. OK, Big Mama, we trust you yeah, right. A Little Messagebank Mystery

Deputy Doo Dah Les Messagebank Walker This floated into The Nest during the week from a Magpie contact (trust The Pie, please ). I read with interest an article you put together some while ago with respect to Wellards possible involvement with certain councillors and some unusual behaviour with feed lots and land. Step forward to our dispute in relation to the Cattle holding yards near Oak Valley. Plenty of opposition from the locals, and for good reason, the submission by the developer (Gary Dixon & Co aka Ronmar Rural Pty Ltd) was an absolute shambles. I suspect they have been trying to strong-arm the planners at the TCC to get their way. Regardless, I thought that you may find it interesting that Les Walker excused himself from chairing the Planning Committee meeting that heard the case. He alleges that posts on social media (I presume the private Oak Valley Facebook page) indicate that he has a relationship with the developer. There certainly have been some comments, but none that anyone who has a thick skin but is innocent wouldnt deflect with a chuckle. Therefore, quite curious behavior from our deputy mayor who he is apparently seeking legal advice on the matter. Thats now on The Magpie watch list. An Historical Bit Of Doggerel For Our Coming Federal Election Season. Some observations defy time and changing fashion, never to lose their core truth. This from Jonathan Swift 250 years ago. Let them, when they once get in, Sell the nation for a pin; While they sit a-picking straws, Let them rave at making laws; While they never hold their tongue, Let them dabble in their dung We may, while they strain their throats Wipeour arses with their votes. And Another Timely Reminder Of These Political Times It applies just about everywhere.

This Is Just Fall-About Funny Motorbike fanciers, cant yet afford that souped-up, scream machine youve always dreamed of? Heres your answer in the meantime. This Week In Trumpistan

Just when you think Americas Chump In Chief cant sink any lower in his increasingly demented ramblings, this week was dominated by his attack on much-loved war hero Senator John McCain. While a young Donald dodged Vietnam because of alleged bone spurs made him unsuitable for the armed forces, pilot McCain was captured by the Viet Cong but remained loyal and unbreakable through years of imprisonment, deprivation and torture. Of course, McCain couldnt reply to Trumps barbs, hes been dead some months now. Trump denigrated McCain viciously, and for no real apparent reason except McCain wouldnt go along with his loopy policies the response to the attack came from across America and was instantaneous, as reflected by cartoonists on all side of the political divide.

Another ridiculous week has gone by, and somehow, were still here. Hit the comments page with your thoughts or just for silly fun. And sincere thanks to those who have supported this blog with a donation, times are a bit skinny at the moment, funds are always needed to defray costs; if you can help out, the how to donate button is below, it will be greatly appreciated.. http://www.townsvillemagpie.com.au/the-blather-storm-gathers-strength-the-astonisher-is-so-desperate-for-love-is-tinder-next/