Wanda is the only person who would take the police seriously.

Izbubbles art on ig

The Cosplay Progress (?)

Okay...I'm doing it. I'm showing off the hot mess of progress of the possibly decent, or absolutely hot garbage, cosplay of my version of human!Ink. I do have a nice chunk of the items for the cosplay - just gotta put it together. Most of the putting together can be done in a day, and I have until July to finish it all, soooo...we'll see how this goes! ^^;

Now I'll just post updates maybe every other day, or once a week, since I do have most of it in hand. And it will all be under the cut, since it'll long as fuck. So, without further ado, let's begin, shall we?

First off, this is probably the most ambitious cosplay I've ever done. Normally I do something easy. Examples: Stiles from TW, casual Keith from VLD, and recently (for Halloween) genocide route Frisk. debating on positing what garbo pics i have of those

Flowerfell!Frisk? Probably the most complex I've done, and only because I had to have help make a flower crown, actually use fabric glue for the flowers and little heart on the shorts and flower on the mask , painted up a random prop stick I had lying around no idea why i had that , and did a little bit of faint make-up. And ended up with this:

bad pic i know but it's all i got of the full thing where i don't look like a drowned rat coz goddamn it was hot af

So after that, for some damned reason, I decided it would be a GREAT idea to do a difficulty jump and do Ink! Yaaaaay...I'm so smart. I have been looking at this as a reference for what I need mostly coz i had it saved on my phone already , which has been both motivation to get this done...but also a little intimidating. But I'm already too far into this. Can't back out now!

Anyways, enough rambling! Let's start with the first update on this silly thing!

HOODIE

So, firstly, I already had my eye on the Ink hoodie from Simakai (I'll properly tag once the whole thing is done). I already have the Underfell one that I used for my Flowerfell!Frisk cosplay. I also have the Outertale hoodie, bi pride hoodie, and ace pride hoodie all from Simakai! They are all amazing hoodies, and I actually just bought Epic's hoodie from their new shop! Definitely check them out! They're comfy, well made, and I'll admit I wear my Outertale and Underfell hoodies out sometimes.

The pic doesn't do it justice (hence all the millions of links above), but tada! The hoodie! My biggest worry is maybe tripping on the scarf, but I think I can manage. place your bets coz my ass clumsy

Also, there is a little surprise in it!

Twas quite the laughing jumpscare when I was messing with the pockets.

And that's it for update 1! Stay tuned for more. >:3

~+~

Update 2 time!

Apologies for how garbage the pics are for this part. Space was a mess at the time, and I'm too lazy to redo it. With that out of the way...let's ramble!

PANTS

So, next to the sash for the vials, this was surprisingly the hardest thing for me to find. I couldn't find anything that looked "just right". The first pair that I bought did look just right...but the color was way off. Way too bright from what was advertised. Took me a while to find another pair, and I actually bought two more. one of which i may use for a ftfo!ink Now, the next pair is the right color...but it's just a nice pair of sweats/joggers. Which is a bit of a bummer, but seeings how I cannot sew/make a full blown pair of pants (can barely sew at all), and my stepmom (who can sew) isn't that insanely skilled, they will have to do.

Here is a pic of the pants side-by-side coz for the longest time I was going to go with the first pair I bought. But after putting it together with the top...no. Just...no. Did not look good. You'll have to take my word for it.

And before you ask, yes. I will have assistance sewing on the little suspenders. That will be two separate posts on their own in the future! It won't be just plain brown pants.

So that's it for update 2! Stay tuned for more! if you want i ain't forcing ya lols

~+~

Update number 3! Wooooo!

And it is actually really boring.

Like...royally boring. sorry?

GLOVES

So these were a bit easy to get. Granted, I did buy two pairs, because I couldn't decided initially. It was only after trying them on that I could make a decision.

They are a bit long, but I can live with that. especially coz I am not planning on doing the tatts, that would end terribly And, yes, they are missing that little piece on the pinky. Just like the pants are missing the suspenders. And just like with those, I will be having assistance sewing that piece on!

I could show you want I have of that, but I'm planning on making that one big update.

Okay! That's it! Stay tuned for update 4!

~+~

Update 4! Not another exciting one again. The more exciting ones will slowly trickle in. depending on what you define as exciting

Anywho! Update 4!

SHOES

Yes. Shoes. I know our favorite souless bean doesn't wear shoes anymore...but I have to. No need to get my toes all messed up! Especially at this convention center. Walking around there can be a nightmare! Closed toed or not. 😭

Anyway!

Shoes!

They were sadly kind of expensive, but these were the closest I could find that kind of fit for what I was going for and i looked at custom ones first. Plus, I will be wearing these outside of the cosplay. So I get shoes for cosplay, and shoes for whenever I wanna wear them - a win-win.

But, one more thing! I will also I guess ruin them, in a way. How will I ruin them? Well...I was thinking of adding more splatter to them. Plus, see that pesky logo? Welp...I also had an idea for that.

And I'll just leave this update at that. >:3

~+~

I Read The Triple Frontier Early Draft Script

And I have several thoughts on it. @frannyzooey Told me to, so I’m going to go down the line of points I thought were interesting and notes on the characters. It’s all going to be below the cut so we don’t bother the people who don’t care.

It was clearly a very early draft, but I still think it’s interesting to see how the characters changed over time.

Important note: Everyone except for Benny and Tom is only referred to by their nicknames, no real names. So I keep that up to keep from getting confused. 

I do not link to the google doc with the script, but you can dm me if you want the link privately.

Warnings: Mentions of violence, suicide, and sex; mild gore; character death; racism

Story:

Pope during the drug raid learns from a teen in the gang where Lorea keeps his money

Redfly, Benny, and Cat are in North Carolina and keep turning down bs military mission

Pope shows up on Redfly’s stoop, stays with his family, and he tells him about the heist

Redfly seems to agree, but only because Pope is asking and not for the money

The “ You were shot 5 times for your country and can’t afford a new truck” scene is here bit for bit

They go meet Ironhead at one of his support group speeches to convince him to join. He begrudgingly agrees.

Cat and Redfly talk at the fight about the job and both reluctantly agree since the other will do it

Cut to South America running through surveillance, we learn that there are two gun towers, ground sensors, machine guns, and several guards

Pope’s informant is Lorea’s sugar baby(?), Yovanna, who gave him a pic of the money in the office a few weeks prior

The plan is to hide in one of the maid vans and make their way in and out with the money

Everyone is distrustful of his old intel, so they do their own surveillance 

Getting caught in rain on heist day, they wait in the jungle for the guard rotations to resume, almost catching hypothermia

The heist vibe is the same, but this time they find the money is not there instantly

Redfly and Cat try to call the mission, but Benny and Pope insist on getting the money

Benny gets shot(grazed?) in the face and wants to say fuck it, but Redfly reminds him it was his idea

Pope blackmails the guard in the video room and gets the tape before killing him

While Cat, Benny, and Redfly grab the money, Ironhead is shot badly and they have to tape his mouth to keep him quiet

This is when Redfly snaps and decides they go out blazing

Lorea’s guards are outside waiting for them, but the boys literally blow up the front of the house and make a run for the river behind the house with a raft waiting

Lorea’s personal guard shoots him

Kidnapping Yovanna from her apartment, they get her money, passport, and visa to her Redfly grills her and seriously debates killing her, but instructs her to get to Australia 

After essentially holding up the airstrip workers, they see the news of the break-in on TV and weigh 8 tons of money 

Cat argues it’s too much weight, but agrees it will probably be fine

During the flight, Ironhead dies from his wound

Helicopter crash is the same

Pope goes in solo to speak with the farmers and they actually almost kill him before Redfly shoots way too many of them

They get pack animals from the farmers, load up the money and Ironhead, and start climbing

At some point, Cat insists they bury Ironhead because taking a body with them is going to start causing way worse issues

They camp at the burial spot, Pope voices how he blames himself for the death

The trek up the mountain is the same, including dumping some of the money and memorizing the coordinates

Getting to a port town, Cat gets sick from exposure, so they rest a few days

The local gang leader figures out who they are and uses his gang of kids to confront them

They shoot their way out and grab with guns and the money backpack on the way to the car

Benny drives and they almost flip the truck

They literally ALL get shot, but still make it to the boat and get away

The boys all agree to donate all the money to charity, in honor of Ironhead, and almost literally head off to the sunset

Characters:

Redfly

All-American late 30′s white guy; genuiniely wants to be a good person, but seems too wrapped up in the Army life

He’s the main character and most of the story is his POV

He is still with Molly and the girls, and we actually get a nice scene with them in here

He legitimately snaps once Ironhead is shot and doesn’t come back until after they bury him

He seriously almost kills Yovanna and sounds like he regrets not doing so

Says the words to her “After you sucked him off? You were lying there, playing with him- And you asked ‘What’s your real name? Where are you from?’-What did he say?” and I disliked it

Yovanna tells him that Pope thought he was so honest and he hates knowing he is not that person anymore

Pope

Mid-30′s white guy; way more of an instigator and really manipulated his friends to join him 

They never give a reason why he wants to get rid of Lorea

His argument for committing a crime is that America was founded on crimes and it’s not different them the war crimes they committed under orders

Seems embarrassed about his relationship with Yovanna and it’s implied he actually told her his name, but he told her Redfly is the most honest guy he knows. 

Calls some indigenous South Americans “Indians” and says they “don’t even know what century it is”

When an informant runs late, he says it’s because they run on Latino Standard Time

He saved Ironhead’s life once in fire and that is how he convices him to come, so he blames himself solely for his death

He literally brought cigars with them for after the heist. They smoke them once they are in the boat

They made Pope the asshole we don’t like, which is understandable, but upsetting

Catfish

Laid-back mid-30′s white guy who now trains Benny and works as a Private Investigator

He still is the main joker and sarcasm, but they really make sure we remember how dark his past is

There is a scene played as a laugh where he gets annoyed waiting for a cheating couple to fuck, so he holds them at gunpoint, tells them to strip and kiss, take the picture, and then tells them he’s sorry, but they should just get a divorce. It comes off terrifying and gross.

He seems to really distrust Pope and is closest to Redfly

He barely speaks Spanish

The Special Forces Museum put up a statue of him, the only living operative to have one, and his wife tells him to retire then because there was no topping that

When they argue about the weight limit, Cat says “Oh, I’m sorry, I missed you going to flight school.” And I appreciate that line.

Benny

Early 30′s white fighter

He’s described as being all or nothing and prone to manic depressive behavior and “prone to pills”

Redfly thinks he’s too old to go pro in fighting and Benny is v offended

He’s the only one to cry over Ironhead’s death

He still uses his “fuck you” money for a fire

He seems to have the most med knowledge and is the one checking for hypothermia, gives the “reason” why Ironhead dies, helps nurse Cat when he’s sick

He’s mostly played for laughs and it’s sort of a waste

Ironhead

Grizzled, but generous 55 year old white vet

He is literally the father figure here and is called that often

He is not related to Benny, but he seems to have a very soft spot for him as the youngest

He somehow served under Redfly?

He gave up running and gunning to mediate and help newer retirees

In the support group, his speech details all of the horrible things that he’s seen and had happen to him, this is supposed to be the reason why the younger soldiers listen to him

One of the group admits to almost committing suicide the past night and Ironhead say he will not tell him not to do it, just that he will not do it tonight and they all recite not tonight, it’s actually touching to “see” them all taking heart in what he is saying

He only agrees to help Pope because Pope once saved his life in combat and he told him he owes him. This scene is described as a father sadden that he can’t get through to his son, but says yes to keep an eye on them

In the “what will you buy with your money” scene, he says he will donate it to charity. It’s quickly followed by Benny excitedly saying he wants a Ferrari and Ironhead affectionately looks at him and says, “That’s a nice car, Ben!” Which made my doubting heart melt...

He the entire time gives the boys reminders to preserve their humanity and is the one who tell Redfly it’s good he let Yovanna go

When he’s shot, they say that the wound was through, meaning that the bullet entered and exited. But, when he dies, Benny says the bullet must have shifted and nudged into his heart. And I’m really annoyed by that clear mistake....

I genuinely did like this version of the character, not more than OUR Will, but I liked him

Lorea

His intro to the movie is literally leading the police in a high-speed chase in his yellow Lambo

He brings a business partner to his mansion during the boys surveying his house and they see his personal guard shoot the partner and cut off his head so it fits in the trunk of the car

I had to learn that, so now so do you

He has a thing for exotic birds and has to bring in several shifts of maids to clean up after them

He comes off here as way more of a rich wimp

Yovanna

Lorea’s sugar baby/girlfriend who sleeps with Pope and gives him info

She used to be a beauty queen

The script says Redfly is her type and she says out-loud that she wants to watch Pope and Redfly fuck. 

She taught one of Lorea’s birds to say “Hello, Beautiful” and lets that bird get loose in the mansion so she can get the pic of the money for Pope

I genuinely liked her character, too

My Review

I prefer the actual plot and planning of the final movie. The plan and surveillance here slowly fell together smoothly, but ultimately made far less sense.

But, I think they felt like actual friends here. They interact with each other instead of around each other

But this version is racist and kind of gross, so I’d take kind of boring any day

4/10, please do not make me read again

Tagging because you guys seemed interested: @frannyzooey @mandoplease

@krissology @pedropasscals (thought you might like it)

Not The Kind of Snacc I Had In Mind || Connor & Luis

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @connorspiracy and @ontheluis  CONTENT: Recreational drug use, NSFW SUMMARY: Connor and Luis decide to meet up after chatting on a dating app and absolutely nothing goes wrong. 

Grindr dates were weird. Connor was far from opposed to a simple shag, but he usually felt like he was supposed to not be so blatant about it, to try and be a gentleman. Was it customary to clean the house before a Grindr hookup came over? He wasn’t sure, but he did what he could to make the place presentable; ran the roomba, made the bed that he was sure would be messed up again pretty soon, lit some Yankee Candles. He’d showered, changed his clothes, brushed his teeth, and was debating starting on a beer when the buzz of the doorbell stirred him from the couch, indicating his date’s arrival. Connor answered, giving the other man a smile in greeting. He’d had no clue this was wolfbane-dude when he’d proverbially swiped right, but seeing the young man in front of him, he put it together. Not that it mattered. He was still certainly curious, but seeing the profile pics come to life before his eyes gave him little desire to revisit that conversation anytime soon. “Hey, Luis, right? Come on in, I was just about to grab a drink if you want one?” 

The cold freshness of the Whye River single lingered in Luis’ nostrils even after the water had dried off his skin and hair. Bathing in the river outside his date’s upscale neighborhood might not exactly be classy, but the brutal pragmatism of Luis’ new life had weaned him off feeling embarrassed about trivial things. Piers’ place reminded Luis of the houses along Boca Chica, eliciting a sharp prick of unwanted remembrance amidst the more arduous thoughts in his head. 

Connor turned out to be just as gorgeous as his profile picture, and Luis had another pang of guilt for placing yet another innocent person in danger of being eaten just for the sake libido and company. But the less human part of Luis brain, the aspect of himself that was all primal instinct and cold pragmatism, didn’t see why that danger should get in the way of shelter, sex, and free food?

The corners of Luis' mouth drew up into a knowing smirk as he closed the door behind him, enjoying the randy tension in the coy game these types of meetups often started. “Sure.” Luis placed his backpack against the wall by the door. “Hey uh....are you the ghostuber dude by the way?” 

If it hadn't already been obvious from the risque Grindr conversation, then the grin tugging at the edges of Luis' lips confirmed to Connor that this lad was well up for it. He doubted it would take them too long to get down to business. "Right, we've got got beer, shots, cider, whatever you want, mate." He helped himself to a White Claw, handing Luis whatever he'd chosen. "Heh, Ghostuber dude," he chuckled. This was why he didn't send dick pics with his face in them. He didn't want it to end up on twitter or reddit once someone realised who he was. "Y'know what? I like that. Might nick it for my instagram bio.” He gave him a little grin. “I wanna ask what you do for work but I don’t even know how much you wanna talk and stuff. I never know how personal folks wanna get.”

“I mean there’s part of me that just wants to jump your bones,” Luis confessed as he leaned forward to accept a White Claw with a wink, the werewolf perhaps being a bit more literal then the words necessarily implied. But Luis didn’t necessarily want to give that primal part of more leeway over his life then it already had.

“But I don’t mind talking,” Luis admitted helping himself to a seat on one end of the couch. “I’m hiking cross country,” was a rather selective version of the truth. “So I’m just taking whatever work I can find along the way here y’know?”

In spite of being in media and in the public eye just enough to receive decently regular flirtation, Connor wasn't always the smoothest at this. He gave a kind chuckle, toasting their White Claws together. "That's very flattering, but yeah, we can talk. Come on." He gestured for Luis to follow him, heading onto the deck and lighting up the fire pit and sitting on the outdoor bench. "Figured this'd be a bit better than watching telly," he snickered. "So are you in White Crest for long then? Just passing through?" 

Luis had been an easygoing and social person before his life had become a runway train of carnage. Connor definitely had the sexy British angle for him, and a sinewy muscularity to go with the baby face, but perhaps was a bit blunt for coy games. Though Luis couldn’t (or didn’t want to) explain why, his sense of hearing and smell had sharpened to the point of being painful at times. He caught the fragrance of the soaps that Connor had used in the shower as his host passed by and listened to the steady background noise of his heartbeat. 

As they went out on the deck Luis looked out over the East End evening. The sun was sinking like a golden torch in the Whye River's horizon, staining the tufty lines of Stratocumulus clouds ablaze with bright magenta against the deeper blues and violets of the upper atmosphere. East End’s upscale houses and shops trailed off at the harbor where ships slept on a liquid mirror of the sky, seeming to bob up and down on cloudy stained glass. Boat masts and pier poles stood out stark like thin black columns against the prismatic sunset.  

But though Luis’ couldn’t see most of those colors anymore, the shadows of the sunset city strangely didn’t impede his sight at all. Luis glanced to smile playful at Connor, the fading light briefly reflecting off the tapetum lucidum blue in his eyes in a flare of electric blue. 

“That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” Luis admitted as he leaned his elbows on the deck rail, breathing in the faint scents of fish and smoke on the chilly autumn air. “Got this gig at a fighting ring, doing Cutman work and whatnot for the fighters,” he mused. “Guess we’ll see how well that pays huh?”

"Bit of an amateur boxer or something, are you? That's pretty hot," Connor said with a smile. Most people's Grindr photos didn't leave that much to the imagination. There was usually at the very least a topless selfie in there, maybe a post-workout pic, complete with sweatpants bulge. Luis had a casually athletic build, more compact and slightly bulkier than Connor's slimmer frame. He imagined Luis being able to hold his own. "I... couldn't fight my way out of a paper bag. Have to talk my way out, hope they fall for the accent. This is all for show." He looked at Luis' bright blue eyes with a self-deprecating smile. 

"Well, this place is fuckin' weird, which is why I'm here, but it's not for everyone." In the back of his mind, he was still kind of suspect about the eating wolfsbane thing, but Connor left that alone. He actually wanted to get off with the bloke tonight, not scare him away by interrogating him. "Smoke?" he asked, pulling out a pack of tobacco and everything else he needed for a good joint. 

“Luis shook his head with an aimable wrinkle of the nose at the notion. Learning to fight hadn’t been something he’d willingly picked up or enjoyed, but it came naturally to the less human part of him, way too much so honestly. “A cutman is just the dude who makes sure the fighters don’t bleed out too much,” he explained, finding it wiser to not going into detail what sort of illicit fights would just hire some rando off the street who knew his way around an enswell. “I try not to get into fights if I can help it,” said the fellow whose rap sheet contained a bit too many charges of manslaughter for that claim to be entirely plausible. “You’re better off avoiding it honestly dude. Like...I dig some macho dom vibes much as the next guy, but that aggro life isn’t worth it,” confessed Luis, having woken up too often amongst grotesque carnage to glorify violence.

“It is weird,” Luis admitted with another look out at White Crest’s innocently picturesque panorama stretching out beyond them. “Guess that works for a ghostuber though?” Luis didn’t believe in spirits or magic, but a metaphysics argument wasn’t he wan’t to get up to with Connor tonight, so he just let that be. 

Then it turned out Connor knew the way to heart: weed. “Duuude, you must be into some weird shit if you’re buttering me up this much,” he teased with an assenting nod.

“Oh,” Connor said with a chuckle, feeling just a little bit stupid. “I guess that makes sense. It’s in the name.” Hearing that Luis avoided fights if he could help it only made Connor more attracted to him. He had no patience for that toxic masculinity bullshit. Knowing someone could defend themselves was one thing, being good at a sport was another, but seeking violence for violence’s made someone the type of person best avoided, even for a one night stand. “Yeah, couldn’t agree more. Save the macho dom vibes for the bedroom,” he teased, rolling them each a joint with a grin. 

“The views are fucking gorgeous too, I mean, look at this ocean.” He gestured to the sand and sea that spread out before them, glistening under the moon and stars. “And I never run out of stuff to film.” Even if sometimes, the thing he happened to film was someone being murdered in the woods. That’d be a mood killer, though. His grin only widened when Luos accepted his offer of some light recreational drug use. “What can I say? I like being a good host.” And once he handed Luis the rolled joint, he leaned in for a brief kiss, lips brushing against Luis’ and lingering for barely a moment before he sat back to light up, handing Luis the lighter too. 

The lighter’s flame was a momentary spark against the oceanic sunset as Luis breathed deep. Substances had come to be Luis’ escape from the train of violence his life had become, and the unwilling werewolf closed his eyes and breathed smoke into the night for a time, letting it soak into his blood and cloud out unwelcome thoughts. “Definitely gorgeous,” he affirmed, before turning away from the sea. 

Luis gently lowered himself down to straddle Connor’s lap. He looked down into Connor’s eyes for a moment with a questioning raise of tawny brows, silently asking if this was ok. “So what made you want to do youtubing stuff,” Luis asked with an unconvincingly innocent smirk as he ran both hands up the front of Connor’s shirt. Luis played it slow, his splayed fingers consciously tracing the lines of Connor’s body beneath the fabric, traveling up until he caressed the bare skin of the Brit’s neck. He leaned forward from his perch on Connor’s lap to meet his host’s lips in a long kiss, taking time to just savor the take and smell of him before parting with a breath chuckle. “So were you legit born in England,” he asked in a murmur, pulling down the front of Connor’s shirt slightly to press his lips to the firm skin of Connor’s pectorals. “Or are you actually some Cali-boy whose doing the Brit thing for sex appeal.” Luis continued to lay exploring kisses up the curves Connor’s upper chest and neck as he glanced up. “Won’t mind either way,” he assured with a grin. 

Connor closed his eyes for a moment as he inhaled the joint and blew out the smoke, watching it dissipate into the night. He took another sip of his beer, not expecting the next events that unfolded, but certainly appreciating them. His breath hitched in anticipation as he felt the warm weight of the other man's body on top of him. He lifted his hands to wander over Luis' upper legs and waist. "Started to video journal for myself," he answered, closing his eyes again and sighing as Luis' hands and lips caressed his skin. He curled his own fingers into Luis' sides, sliding them just beneath his shirt. "Ran out of space on my hard drive, started uploading them to YouTube," he snickered. "And the rest is history." 

Thankfully the neighbours' houses weren't right on top of them and there was a bit of space between the houses along the beach, so he didn't feel too self-conscious about the display they were putting on. At least for now. "I'm a born and raised South West London boy, darling," he whispered, playfully exaggerating his own accent. "What about you?" he asked, fingertips tracing tiny lines along Luis' abs. "Hispanic?" 

“Chicano,” Luis confirmed with a nod, closing his eyes for a moment and just letting Connor touch bring on a trembling flex of his abdomen that brought a hitch to his breathing. “South Texas chico my dude,” he elaborated in a teasing imitation of Conner’s phrasing, as if the Coastal Bend was somehow on the same cultural tier as an ancient city of eight point nine million. Luis shrugged off his white cotton shirt onto the deck, ignoring the chilled autumn air as it brought goosebumps along his bare skin. Luis’ shoulders and chest rose and fell with deepened breaths as drank in the scent of Connor and the taste of his lips with a hungry insistence.  

A voice in the part of Luis' brain warned that he needed restraint. He needed to not lose control here.

“So why ghosts,” Luis asked as he reluctantly parted from Connor. He kept running one hand affectionately though his date’s hair while leaning back to take another drag from the joint he’d left on the railing. “You could easily get internet-famous with other stuff,” he pointed with, exhaling smoke at one end of a smile that left the ‘other stuff’ ambiguous. 

Connor’s stomach tightened and he felt himself becoming more and more aroused, especially as Luis pulled off his shirt. His own was unbuttoned all the way down to the navel, so he unfastened the rest of it, letting it hang open to reveal his chest and stomach. For a moment, he thought they were going to shag right there on the decking, but thankfully (at least for the neighbour’s sake), Luis pulled away to take another drag, smoking from his position straddling Connor’s lap. “Right, you’re one to talk about sexy accents then. You can get anyone to drop their trousers by saying romantic shit in Spanish,” Connor teased, continuing his own beer and joint. 

“Why ghosts?” He repeated. It felt like he was about to open a can of worms, so he did his best to put the pushy, opinionated part of him aside, at least for the sake of getting his dick wet tonight. “Ah, well, suppose you’re either a believer or you’re not. Hard to believe in ghosts when you can’t see them. I just happen to be someone who can.” His fingers absentmindedly continued drawing shapes on Luis’ forearm as he spoke. 

The claim about his ability to make people drop drow with Spanish elicited a snorting laugh from Luis, who’d endured less complimentary claims about his background in the past. He pressed his lips to the skin about the hem of Connor’s pants, laying teasing kisses along the muscled v-shape below the Brit’s abdominals, toying with his tongue down the very edge of the curve before relenting. 

“Te voy a joder los sesos guey,” Luis promsied with a soft murmmer in Connor’s ear. 

Connor’s answer clearly brought Luis up short, confusion mixing with the more straightforward lust on his features. Luis wasn’t particularly good at it, but could pick up sometimes when people lied sometimes. The beat of their heart changed. Even though they were skin to skin Luis hadn’t heart any falter in Connor’s aroused pulse. Maybe Luis wasn’t really in any headspace beyond screwing this guy, but it sounded like he thought he was telling the truth.  

Luis sat up on Connor’s lap for a moment and looked at him with reflective blue eyes that grew brighter at the darkness deepened, lips in cast in a half frown of vexation and both hands lifted behind his head. 

“Shit, don’t even know what to fucking make of you Con,” Conner mumbled after a while, the frown broadening in a toothy smile. Luis stood up and reached down for Conner’s hand with a come-hither look that made clear Luis’ personal suggestion to resolve this quandary. 

“Oh, bloody hell,” Connor murmured under his breath, jeans tightening as he got hard when Luis kissed and licked along his pelvic bone. He’d had a few flings in town, and it hadn’t exactly been that long since his rendezvous with Nell, but there was something incredibly alluring about Luis, the way he took what he wanted, unapologetic and confident, just a little filthy, behind a blue-eyed cherubic face you could take home to your mum. “You’re the kind of lad I could take home to family dinner and give you a blowjob in the bathroom after,” he chuckled. 

Connor ran his fingers through Luis’ light brown hair, tugging it gently as his fist clenched with arousal. “I have no clue what you just said, but it was sexy as hell,” he snickered, practically pulling Luis back to his lips so he could kiss him more firmly, more deeply, more desperately. When their lips parted, his breath caught in his throat, and he twisted the joint out in the ashtray. “Why don’t we go inside and you can make whatever you want of me?” 

Luis let himself be led back to Connor’s bedroom, putting up coy resistance at times, pretending to look around the house with wide innocent eyes but wearing a cruelly teasing smirk. One hand in Connor’s and the other tracing the lined of the cool-colored walls, Luis let the adrenaline of anintipation buoy him up like a chemical tidal wave. For a little while he was just a normal guy horny out of his mind and climbing into a hot brit’s bed. 

There came a cracking sound from somewhere outside the room, like a piledriver being used as a nutcracker. 

Luis jerked up instinctively as it hit his lupine hearing like a gunshot, looking around. “Did you...”  But the sound had stopped or maybe hadn’t existed. Fuck it. “Nevermind,” he murmured, busying him with trying to make out with Connor and get unzip his pants at the same time. 

Connor headed inside, kicking off his shoes and leaving them deserted somewhere in the hall. He threw his shirt on top of the laundry basket, climbing on top of the bed with Luis. He heard nothing, ears not as keen as the werewolf, and let himself be in ignorant bliss for a while. They continued to kiss, leaving him with tousled hair and pants half-unfastened, blood rushing between his legs as they got hotter and heavier. “What?” he whispered against a jawline that could cut glass, but whatever Luis had heard, he’d quickly forgotten. 

He whispered compliments, sighs and groans against Luis’ skin, hands wandering his torso. Their bodies were warm against one another as Connor pressed into him, haphazardly reaching to unfasten his belt before he heard it, an obnoxious sound, miniature saw blades gnawing away beneath him. “What the..” he mumbled, narrowing his eyes and looking at Luis as if to question if he was losing his bloody mind. He rolled over, begrudgingly separating himself to look under the bed. “Oh, FUCK.” Connor scrambled back on the bed, scrambling for the closest object to throw on top of the creature. He was trying to get his rocks off, and there was a fucking demon rat under his bed. 

“Dude…please...” Luis moaned, breathing fast and craving release with all this built up tension. He tried to pull Connor back down to him, skin flush and burning with the raw need that turned every nerve into a livewire. 

But before either batter or pitcher could make the final run towards home base, one corner of the bed vanished in a cloud of sawdust. There was the sound of claws scaping up wood, and Luis choked on another flurry of dry sawdust in his mouth, dust clinging to the sweat on his skin 

Luis found himself face to face with an obese beaver-shrew the size of a dog at the ruined end of the bed, and wondered for a surreal second if he’d gone insane from sheer Blue-Balls. 

“What….holy shit….whu…”

Connor really, truly would have preferred to just stay in bed and take the rest of Luis’ clothes off, doing unspeakable things to one another for the next several hours before having another cigarette and maybe sneak in some cuddling. White Crest, however, had other plans. “Bro! What the fuck--” He scrambled to fasten his pants, willing his boner to go down, which thankfully wasn’t too difficult “You little bugger, I rent this house!” He didn’t know if it was dangerous or not, so he instinctively grabbed for Luis to pull him away, then scrambled for the nearest pair of flip flops. “We gotta go, dude. I have no idea what that thing is.” 

Why...how did this rat have horns? Even while gagging on sawdust and woodchips Luis could smell that this thing wasn’t a dog, rat, squirrel, shrew, or beaver. His rational mind recognized it was impossible that a person could smell that well, but his instincts just sorta knew on a gut level that this wasn’t any animal he’d ever seen before. There was a moment of confusion as his brain and gut disagreed on what was going on. But as usual when shit went down, guts won out. 

Luis let Connor pull him away and he rolled off the side of the bed not occupied by a giant woodchipper on legs. Stumbling into the shoes he’d shed at the bedroom door, he sprinted with Connor through the house and out the front door, the frigid outside air extinguishing the amorous fire in his skin. 

Great. This was just great. He’d found a nice, handsome, and incredibly seductive boy to take to bed, and now he had an infestation of God-Knows-What chewing on his furniture. Connor shook his head, more annoyed than panicked. “I’m so sorry. This is--not what I planned for tonight. I have to call an exterminator.” Or a hunter. “But… this was nice, before it got ruined. I’ll call you, okay?” And with that, he pulled out his phone. 

Star Trek DS9 Rewatch Log, Stardate 1909.09: Missions Reviewed, “Waltz,” “Who Mourns for Morn?” and “Far Beyond the Stars.”

Benjamin Sisko is on a ship transporting Gul Dukat from a mental institution to his war crimes trial. The ship is attacked by Cardassians and Sisko and Dukat end up with a wounded Sisko in a cave on a small world. 

The Defiant is out helping search, but they have to leave the search in just over two days to escort a Federation troop convoy. Sisko is at Dukat’s mercy, but the Cardassian has set up the emergency beacon and has gathered supplies from their shuttle, setting it to an open distress call so whomever catches the signal first will come to get them. Meanwhile, Dukat is seeing visions of Weyoun, Damar, and Kira, all telling him his inner thoughts.  Sisko realizes the beacon was not activated and manages to get it running while Dukat is out. Dukat’s mania becomes stronger though, and he is beginning to actively debate Sisko and the voices in his head all at once.

 When he discovers that Sisko has activated the distress call, he beats him, and desperately tries to get Sisko to admit that he admires Dukat, and that Dukat had no CHOICE but to be the tyrant he was to the Bajorans. Sisko knocks him out, and makes it back out to the shuttle, but Dukat follows him there, then abandons him on the surface before leaving with his “voices” on the shuttle. Dukat has decided he will have his vengeance on Bajor and will need Sisko in place to do it.  Dukat contacts the Defiant just before they break off their search to rescue Sisko. Sisko indeed vows that he will be there to counter Dukat wherever he turns up.

Pulling Dukat out of his madness (kinda) is no mean feat, and indeed every performance here is great.  Marc Alaimo showing us the public, smarmy Dukat, now tempered by the loss of Ziyal, then swinging into raving Dukat is really worth watching, as of course is Avery Brooks. My issue here is a larger one.  We know they are setting up Dukat to be Sisko’s foil in the last two seasons, in particular with the upcoming Pah-Wraith storyline, but it seems to me this robs Kira of her dynamic with Dukat.  I love the show, but I think it might have been even greater to allow Dukat to believe he was the equal to Sisko, when it turns out to be Kira who takes him down after all.  (Note: The Author may be biased by his complete and utter infatuation with Kira Nerys.) SHUT UP PARENTHETICAL VOICE!

“Who Mourns for Morn” begins when our favorite barfly dies in an ion storm, and bequeaths all of his possessions to Quark.  First Quark finds that there is no money, then that cargo-wise Morn only had several crates of rotting beets.  Then, when inspecting the deceased’s quarters he finds only the black velvet painting Morn got at auction last season (In the Cards) and a tub full of mud. In the mud however is a naked redhead who claims to be Morns ex-wife. She says Morn has 100 bricks of gold-pressed latinum somewhere, and she wants her proper cut as an ex, but would be very…grateful.  Soon, two rather criminal brothers show up to say that they loaned Morn money they want back, in the sum of 100 bricks of gold-pressed latinum. As Quark is now dodging three of Morn’s old friends, he is approached by a fourth, who is a member of Laurian security saying that Morn is the crown prince of the royal family, and that money belongs back in the treasury. Quark finally figures out that ALL of these people are lying, and helped Morn with a huge robbery years before…of 100 bricks of gold-pressed latinum. 

The statute of limitations has run out and they want their cut. Since Quark has now found it in a Bolian bank, he has it delivered to the station, and it is not long before the four turn on each other, allowing Odo to capture them all. Quark checks the loot to find the latinum has been extracted, and the bricks are now just worthless gold. Despondent, Quark goes back to his bar and finds Morn! Morn had faked his death to draw out his old rivals, and now can access the latinum freely.  He has in fact pulled the mercury like fluid out of the bricks, and has kept it in his second stomach all these years.  He regurgitates enough to be the equivalent of about 100 bricks into a glass for Quark to thank him for his troubles as Quark proposes a business arrangement.

For a joke character whose name was just an anagram of “Norm” to be the barfly back in the pilot, Morn without a single word of dialogue has become a fixture on the show, getting a whole episode devoted to him, and an entertaining one at that.  There’s a very noir feel to this as the various criminals come looking to collect, and Quark is the perfect character to drop in the middle.  Keep an eye out in the memorial service scene. As Quark talks about making sure someone always keeps “Morn’s chair warm,” he guides a Bajoran man to sit there. That man is Mark Allen Shepard, the actor who plays Morn. (Mustard colored shirt sitting on the right in this pic:)

“Far Beyond the Stars” begins with Sisko getting the news that a dear friend has died in the war while Joseph Sisko visits the station from Earth. Ben’s father tries to comfort him, but the younger Sisko begins to think maybe he can’t fight the good fight anymore and it is time to leave Starfleet. Soon after, he begins seeing people in 1950’s Earth clothes, including a baseball player. He follows the man and finds him self on a street in the 50s where he is hit by a car.  He wakes up in the infirmary and Bashir tells him that it would appear the part of his brain that gave him visions in the episode “Rapture” is active again. Soon Sisko finds himself as Benny Russell, a Black man in the 50s working for a small science fiction magazine.

 Each person with whom he works seems to be someone form the station, though Benny seems oblivious to this until the magazines artist presents him with a picture of a station, and Benny begins to write the adventures of a Captain Sisko,  a Black officer commanding the station 400 years in the future. The editor, a more human Odo, declines to publish the story, but Benny keeps seeing an old preacher (Joseph Sisko) telling him to “walk with the prophets” and to “write the words that set us free.” He persists and writes more Sisko adventures and his colleagues suggest that the story could be framed as a dream, and the editor moves forward with publishing. Benny is out celebrating with “Kassie” (Kassidy Yates) when his young friend Jimmy (Jake) is shot down by two racist cops (Weyoun and Dukat). When he protests, they beat him nearly to death.  He spends weeks recovering and finally returns to his office the day his story will appear in the publication.  The editor returns however to reveal that the owner has pulped the entire run for not “meeting the usual standards.” 

Benny is livid, talking about how real and important it is to tell this story, and they can’t wait; a good man must do what he can, and the idea is important. He breaks down however, and again awakens in the infirmary on DS9 surrounded by family.  Bashir reveals that whatever happened has stopped, but Ben has taken Benny’s lesson about standing up to the unjust to heart and will stay on the station in Starfleet. He wonders to Joseph though if their lives might be the dream, and Benny Russell is still out there dreaming, far beyond the stars.

Let me not prevaricate: holy shit. This episode manages to deal directly with racism, and still frame it within the show with the Prophets providing insight to The Emissary with episodes from his own world’s past. Everyone’s simply amazing in the 1950s versions of their characters, and the world comes off as believable. It is an added joy to hear them talk about “Heinlein” and “Bradbury” in context, and a great way to sneak in some easter eggs as the cover of one of the SF magazines Benny samples is a matte painting from The Original Series, and Nana Vistor’s 50’s character is “K.C. Eaton,” a woman writer who has to use her initials to cover up her gender so people will read her. This harkens to the story editor and arguably the best writer on TOS, Dorothy “D.C.” Fontana, who went on to write and edit for TNG as well. Avery Brooks manages to star in this episode while giving one of his most riveting performances and also direct this tale that is obviously a story close to his heart. This is a tour de force, and belongs right there on the level with “The Visitor” and the upcoming “In the Pale Moonlight” as great DS9, great Star Trek, and great Science Fiction. See the world you want, and tell others. It’s how you bring that world to fruition. Don’t wait until it is safer. Do it now. You are the dreamer, and the dream.

NEXT VOYAGE: A strange anomaly shrinks a Runabout and its crew down to the size of something that would fit on my shelf in “One Little Ship.”

Second Section of this little scavenger hunt.  Same rules...I can use a picture from any show or game, as long as I can identify them, even if I haven’t seen it personally.  Since it’s a hunt more than a “I want a pic of this chara”

Character Situations

Main Character The main character of any show or game.  If there are two characters counted as the lead, you can use either of them! FOUND...Sword and Shield Male and Female protagonists with Lillie

Main Antagonist Now, as Anime sometimes shift who the Main Antagonist is (due to subordinates taking over after a main villain dies, or even just new antagonists every arc) and games do this from time to time too, as long as the person spends some time as the major threat in the heroes’ eyes, it will count. FOUND...Shigaraki with Himiko (Hero Aca)

Two Cosplayers as a Canon Couple Now, I know “canon” can sometimes be debatable when it comes to a series.  Therefore, we’re only going for 100% verified couples who get together by the ending, between a show/game and a sequel series, or they’ve been stated to be romantically involved by the creators themselves.  So for characters who appear to be canon but don’t officially get together (such as Ark and Ivy from CIMA...I know you don’t know who they are but that means nobody is going to complain about me using them as an example), they wouldn’t count. FOUND...Alm and Celica (Fire Emblem Echoes)

Two Cosplayers as a Non-Canon Couple This is for any couple that 100% DOESN’T get together (usually because one or more of them are involved with someone else, or the show/game isn’t romantic in nature).  Again, that means you can’t use people (like, again, Ark and Ivy) who seem to be canon but aren’t 100% confirmed, as they exist in a gray zone between canon and non-canon.  However, if the character is from a Harem that doesn’t answer who the MC canonically got with, any of the characters would be fair game (unless one is heavily implied to be the canonical love interest, but then you could use any of the other characters).  You should probably try to choose a pair that is clearly playing them as a couple.  However, if you can’t find any, feel free to choose any pic of two people you ship together, or possibly just make finding a duo acting romantic as bonus points.  But...nothing with any extra characters in it (unless you’re playing it off as an OT3, OT4, etc.). FOUND...Ophilia and Therion (Octopath Traveler).  Hey!  I’m in one of these!  The non-canon couples were pretty dry this year and this is my favorite ship for her.  Even if we didn’t take the pic as a shipping pic.

Cosplaying Family Sometimes, the parents who cosplay will do a family cosplay with their kids.  This must contain at least one adult and one child or teenager, and they must be in costumes from the same game or show!  Not a family where one parent went as Kagome, one child went as Deku, and the second child went as a Pokemon Trainer. FOUND...Robin, Tharja, and Morgan (Fire Emblem Awakening)

Guy With a Giant Weapon It can be wide.  It can be tall.  It can even be both!  As long as the damn thing is nearly as large or larger than you (or at least as large as your convention rules will allow) it can work! FOUND...Breath of the Wild Link with a Lynel Sword (Legend of Zelda)

Character With Lots of Weapons He doesn’t have to naturally carry them all on him in the game/show.  Or even be a dude!  But as long as you see someone running around with at least 3 weapons, you can use it! FOUND...a Cloud getting weapons ready for a fake duel (FF7)

Superhero I don’t care if it’s an American Comic Book hero, a Magical Girl, or a Japanese take on the American Super Hero!  If the character can be classified as a Super Hero, you can use them! FOUND...Tsu (Hero Aca)

Magic User Tomes, Staves, Scrolls.  Healing or Destruction.  Human or Non-Human!  If the character’s power is over mystical forces, they fit! FOUND...Flonne, Fallen Angel Version (Disgaea)

Deity Character They can be a god or goddess who shaped and created the world.  Someone with limitless power.  Or even along the lines of “nigh immortal and doesn’t consider themselves divine but is considered a god.”  Just as long as they’re seen as divine by someone within the universe.  Demon or Youkai Gods do count if that’s all you can find. FOUND...A Konosuba Group, so that means Aqua was there (Konosuba)

Dragon Character They can be in a full dragon suit, use body paint, look human but have some draconic features such as wings or a tail.  Or even just be fully transformed into their human form.  If the game or show classifies them as a Dragon, they work! FOUND...a hilarious pic of Corrin and Azura doing Jojo Poses due to a botched FEH summoning ritual (Fire Emblem Fates)

Demon Character Good Demons or Evil Demons, it doesn’t matter.  I’d even count Youkai in this mix if you manage to find someone from a series that focuses on it (there are usually a few Touhou characters running around).   Just as long as their series of origin classifies them as a Demon in some way. FOUND...Rin, actually in full Demon Mode (Blue Exorcist)

A “How Do They Battle Evil in This?” outfit Sometimes...games and anime make no sense!  Too skimpy!  Dress too long!  Complete fashion disaster where their only victories should be due to making the enemy laugh so hard!  It all can count as long as you or other people ask this question about them. FOUND...Judith (Tales of Vesperia) although she was also with Flynn who definitely does not count on this!

Pokémon Trainer They can be an actual character in the games or anime, a representation of one of the Trainer Classes in the games, or even just someone wearing normal clothes but running around with Pokeballs and at least one plushie!  Although, you can choose to only go for actual characters or classes, or make getting one of them a bonus point. FOUND...Red with a Pikachu and Charmander

Any Pokémon Design Reinterpreted as Clothing Seriously!  I’ve seen some creative things, such as the Hoenn Weather Trio being reinterpreted as a Kimono (Kyogre), a Samurai (Groudon), and a Ninja (Rayquaza).  People who cosplay actual Pokemon usually do an amazing job at capturing their chosen ‘mon in human outfits. FOUND...Schoolgirl Scorbunny

Animal Companion Any animal that might assist the heroes, regardless of whether or not they are the game or show’s mascot.  Even if that character is only around for minimal time, if they appeared and helped out, they count! FOUND...Rubble, Sky, Marshall, Chase (Paw Patrol...no, really, they even helped cheer up a crying baby at one point)

Mascot Character The opposite of above!  It’s a mascot, regardless of whether said mascot is an animal, a mechanical lifeform, or even a mecha!  As long as it’s very synonymous with the series of origin, it works! FOUND...Detective Pikachu (Pokemon)

Fursuit Whether they’re portraying an actual animal character or their own furry avatar, it doesn’t really matter.  As long as they’re in a full on fursuit that you have to hand it to them for wearing even in the summer! FOUND...Susie (Delta Rune)

Group of Bishonen Doesn’t all have to be from the same series.  As long as a group of friends are portraying a bunch of hot guys, it fits.  Also, they don’t have to be the only people in the group, like if you got lucky and managed to find the entirety of a Reverse Harem’s cast which included the female lead they were all going crazy over.  As long as most of the people are playing guys, it’s cool. FOUND...Fire Emblem Lord Group (that also had Lucina and Celica)

Character From a Game That’s Not Out Yet As long as you took the picture before the game is out, it’s fine.  Even if said game is going to be coming out within a few days! FOUND...Kris and Ralsei (Delta Rune), though if you don’t think it counts due to Toby Fox’s vagueness on when the game will come out, I also did find Sonia from Pokemon Sword and Shield (because this fandom works crazy fast...there was also a Milo and two Wooloo running around but I didn’t get pics).

Jesus! No, really!  I’ve seen people cosplaying Jesus at many a convention! FOUND...I found him!

ACQUIRED POINTS...21

Thunder Cats Roar: The hatred of Cal Arts coming to a head because...?

Okay, We all, at this point, know about “Thundercats: Roar” Which has earned the Ire of Many MANY fans of the original. Generally because of the style of not only animation but genre the show seems to be going for. So, I want to give my Two Cents, cool? Cool.  So what’s the problem with the Style of animation? A lot of people use, what is basically a catchall term, “CalArts Style.” For those not familiar, CalArts is the short version of “California Institute of Arts.” This is basically an Art School with quite a few people who have shows these days. Now, why is this a problem? Well for starters, The style most people have walking out of there is similar, I think we’ve all seen the following quasi-meme. 

Yeah, Weird, isn’t it? Now, Here is ThunderCats Roar:

It’s got a lot of color, if nothing else. Kinda looks actiony, I guess. But Otherwise, it kinda looks ugly and fairly sloppy. The characters look more fat than muscular, And yes, I’m well aware that Proper Muscle, not just from bodybuilding, like actually going out and getting super fit, makes you look more broad, But the anatomy doesn't QUITE sell that.  Compare that image, while you’re at it, to shit from the original show or from the 2011 Reboot. 

The original show, while the designs on the kids were funky in all the wrong ways, Had detail and knew how to get across the musculature of its characters, I wouldn’t want to run across ANY of these people in a dark alley, I’d probably get killed. Especially Panthro, Spikey bastich. Buuuut, one look at Lion-O if no one else, and I get this vibe, Like “He means no harm” He’s a guardian, a protector. And on top of all of that, they pulled off fairly fluid animation despite the time frame. 

Mind you, the latter is a low res pic, But the point stands that the character Designs in the 2011 reboot were actually pleasing to the human eye. I could tell all of these people, just from a glance, while fairly fit and probably deadly if they wanted to be, are actually decent people, and the kids don’t look too weird anymore. This show had more heart in these two frames it almost seems, than that poster up above. So that’s actually part of the reason this new direction pisses people off, we HAD a reboot that was actually well drawn and had heart, the only reason it failed was because Cartoon Network didn’t know how/want to Market it and put in a bad time slot as either an ill-fated boast or out of genuine stupidity, no one knows.  Now, I by no means “Grew up” with either show, but I enjoyed the 2011 series during its run and the original is still a legacy series, It had a lot of people that loved it to death, it is, to this day, the subject of one of the longest-running “Who would win” debates, “Lion-O or He-Man?” The second series looked better than the original, and now Roar is happening, with what most consider to be an inferior style to the show from (At present) seven years ago. 

This isn’t just fanboys hating reboots, it’s people spurned by an idiot network that then re-uses a licence they fucked up on the first go. And let’s actually talk about the “Cal Arts Style” thing for a minute? Okay? I don’t hate the Cal Arts Style. It’s just a lot of shows are using it right now. Compare it to back in the day, Courage the cowardly dog, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, etc. Most of the shows then looked different. Cal arts has become somewhat ubiquitous as a style, and let’s talk about the shows that use it, namely the four listed above in the meme.

The Amazing World Of Gumball:

The Watersons, the main family from the Amazing World of Gumball. 

Tina And Bobert, side characters from the same show. Do you see how the styles are different from the Watersons? That’s one thing that helps Gumball stand out, all the different styles working with each other, all of them pretty well animated and the show is still good from a writing stand point. 

Gravity Falls:

Gravity falls has (Mostly) good characters, good fluid animation, an interesting setup, and fairly unique monsters and plots. Those things all help it stand out.  Star vs the forces of Evil: 

Star is like Gravity falls, the characters and unique monsters keep it afloat, you also have aspects IN THE NAME that are evocative of Older Cartoons, the idea that our heroes are always justified. “Well those guys are evil, aren’t they?” And then later it gets twisted on its head. Star is a good show for those reasons and more, you feel me? But let’s get on to my favorite one form that little example list:  Steven Universe: 

I want to make something clear, I LIKE STEVEN UNIVERSE! The music is captivating, The animation is usually pretty awesome, the characters are great, the designs are fairly memorable, the world it built is at a Transformers level of top-notch... Until the most recent twist. Like whoever wrote that was on something. Also, just to air my grievances, the animation fuck ups are numerous. Don’t blindly be like “Well that’s just hate.” “You aren’t an Animator” Etc. It’s not hate, it is a COMMON criticism of the show, and I may not be an animator, but I’m not an actor either and I can tell you when an actor screws up. Okay? The show is good but it’s flawed.

Now, What did all the shows (Save for Thundercats Roar) have in common save for the head shapes more or less?

... Give up?

THEY WERE ALL ORIGINAL. 

They built their own worlds, made their own characters, had their own thing going on. While they have slightly similar styles, the lot of them are so unique from both each other and generally what came before that it beggars belief.  And what about Thundercats: Roar? It’s appropriating an old show for no godsdamned reason. Theoretically, you sometimes do that to attract the old fan base or get attention. Transformers gets away with it because it has 1100000 reboots and separate universes and shit, whereas Thundercats Roar is the Teen Titans Go of the franchize. If nothing else, that’s how it comes across. Plus, the animation in the shows above is actually Better. Roar looks like one of those wonky sketches from MAD.  Those are my thoughts. Other shows built their own worlds, Roar looks like crap, and we lost a show that looks better than this fairly recently. Okay? That is why I HATE Roar. It has basically no spark of its own. 

For the homestuck asky, EVERY question 🔫

CARL I OWE U MY MCFUCKIN LIFE

1. Do you have a chum handle? What does it mean?

i don’t! i mean i used to have pesterchum installed on my computer when i was like, 13, but i don’t remember SHIT of what it was. probably something embarrassing.

2. Is your username homestuck related/have you had one hs related?

my current one isn’t, but i used to have one w/ dirk in the title

3. Do you call your s/o a matesprit?

i … i haven’t heard of anyone doing this since middle school. nah

4. Do you call your best friend your moirail?

see answer to 3

5. Are you “kin” with any characters or commonly called a character?

answered!

6. God Tier?

knight of heart!

7. Do you make HS fanart?

i haven’t in a rlly long time, but i rlly want to! i’m thinking i’ll end up doing some soon for a late 4/13 pic

8. Do you make hs fanfiction?

don’t remind me i was just a kid

9. Do you roleplay homestuck? where and how often?

i used to! i rlly wanna do it again, but everyone i know who wants to rp hs just wanna do it for the smut :/

if i could get an rp partner who just wanted to for fun tho, i’d b down to try my hand at it again!

10. Do you cosplay homestuck characters? Who and where?

GOD DON’T REMIND ME

when i was but a wee lad i cosplayed as dave bc he was my fav, but that was it

i’d lov to cosplay the signless at some point tho, i like his design

11. Are you apart of ask blogs?

nope! i debated it, but i was never confident enough in my skills as rping a certain character outside of private rp

12. Are you in any homestuck groups?

nope!

13. Favorite character?

tbh i’d probably say dave, since he’s … the most relatable to me personally? that and i love his rambles when he just spouts some random shit and goes off on a billion tangents at once. i also rlly like karkat, roxy, kanaya, and mituna!

14. Least favorite character?

caliborn.

i can appreciate him as a character, but he’s…yeah. y’already know.

15. OTP?

i lov rosemary a hella lot, but i also like davekat!

16. NOTP?

…y’know that’s a good question. i don’t rlly think abt ships a lot, just homestuck as a story itself, so. never rlly thought abt it. i’m gonna have to mull that over.

17. BROTP?

nepeta/equius, hands down.

18. Do you want homestuck to just die already?

nah – it’s a rlly good story, tbh. sure it’s confusing if you don’t keep tabs on things and engross yourself in it, but it’s really well done.

19. Are you following up with hiveswap? Do you play? Watch YT videos?

i am! i mean i haven’t seen anything going on except for the troll reveals, but ye – i need to catch up on the playthrough i’m watching (jack’s). i’d play it myself, but i’m staying on a budget.

20. Tell us how homestuck has effected you in real life?

it’s made me really rewire how i go about telling my own stories, tbh – that and it made me rethink comics and how interesting they could be without being just “sunday funnies.” i grew up with shit like archie comics, nothing that really strung together (not to mention something as long as homestuck is), but it made me change my view on how good and serious one could be.

21. Have you met anyone through homestuck?

i have! i don’t know ‘em anymore, but they were a chill group.

22. Have you left the fandom before?

nah – i’m just kinda off to the side of the fandom in my own little bubble, i don’t really get too involved in discourse or w/e to rlly feel the need to leave

that and it’s had my interest for too long for me to leave

23. How many times have you read through it?

5! 3 times on my own, and 2 times reading it to other people.

24. Did you ever skip intermissions/dialog/animations?

god fuck no that’s extra content i could scarf down r u kidding

25. Opinions on the fandom?

i haven’t really mingled much with the fandom to really have an opinion on it – i remember when i was a kid it was really wild and people feared having the homestucks show up, but the people in the fandom seem to have calmed down, and i can fuck with that, so i tease the idea of mingling in. i probably won’t tho, i’ll prolly just stay on the fringes of it hangin in my own space.

26. Opinions on the comic?

get ready

the comic … is honestly, i mean considering it literature, the best piece i’ve ever read? the characters are all really diverse in their views and thoughts, every one of them have different aspects to them that make them unique (john being very aloof when he wants to be, dave’s rambles, rose’s entire personality aside from her interest in psychology, etc.), and they’re memorable in whatever they do. they have their own quirks, their interests, their morals and – i really like how the characters are into genuinely bad things. it’s not like “oh yeah this character likes x and x,” and the things they’re into are neutral or good in nature, it’ll be like, “oh yeah this character actually loves horrendously terrible movies,” and i can appreciate that.

that, and i like how they’re unaffected by “purity culture” – in a lot of media i see today, all of the characters are usually mad acceptable, but homestuck doesn’t really do that. like fuck, take caliborn and doc scratch, they’re hella problematic but i like that – having characters that aren’t acceptable, whose actions are…disgusting, really, but still portray them without having to spoonfeed the reader that they’re not okay. i think a lotta shit i see nowadays misses out by not having characters that have gross views and actions like those two.

i also really like how complex it is. like you get media that shows video games like sao (which don’t even get me started), and they’re…lacking, they’re not like how a real life game would be with all the little events within its code and all the sidequests and yada yada yada. they feel bland. but with homestuck, it’s rich, it’s interesting, there’s always something going on (and it’s limited in time). that and it’s concepts – the way it does its own version of rpg classes, its perma-death aspect, how the players can vastly change things with small actions in a butterfly effect, things like that.

i could go on, but i just really like the worldbuilding, characters, and story, it’s rlly good

27. Do you favor the trolls, humans, or carapaces?

i think i like the trolls the most, but the humans are a close second!

28. Favorite moment of all of homestuck?

either the penis ouija scene, [s] collide, or [s] game over

29. Least favorite moment of all of homestuck?

whenever there was a hiatus

but beside that, tbh there’s rlly no moment in the comic that i disliked!

30. Tell us a homestuck based story.

one time, i tried doing a fanventure.

i’m gonna stop that story there because it was embarrassing and i was an overexcited 15 year old.

31. How homestuck related is your blog?

not really? i reblog quite a bit of hs related content, but otherwise it’s just kinda here and there y’know

Zack Snyder’s Vicious Wonder Woman Photo Reflects Warner’s Early Internal War

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While the bellwether day-and-date HBO Max release of Wonder Woman 1984 left audiences divided, there can be no question that the sequel’s storyline reinforced writer/director Patty Jenkins’s vision for Gal Gadot’s version of the DC Comics heroine, reflecting ideals of compassion and mercy with pathological nuance. However, shockingly vicious imagery from an early concept photo displayed by the character’s first directorial steward, Zack Snyder, presents a stark contrast to her current ethos of unbridled optimism.

The photo (see the article’s main image,) was prominently showcased by Snyder in the background of a virtual interview with ComicBook Debate, in which the director’s upcoming HBO Max miniseries version of Justice League, a.k.a. the once-mythical “Snyder Cut” of the 2017 film, was the main topic of discussion. Supposedly set during the Crimean War (1853-1856), the photo, which further surfaced on social media, shows Gadot’s Wonder Woman posing stoically at a military encampment among a surreally-diverse group of warriors, notably joined by an arguably-hilarious kicker, a fully-armored Japanese Samurai (don’t ask why). Yet, the catch here, is that she’s holding a trio of severed heads—presumably of Russian soldiers, given her depicted allies, and the war’s historical catalyst being that country’s territorial seizures in the Middle East.

Here is a clear look at the pic shown during Zack’s interview today, it was used as a placeholder in BVS and was taken before Patty was hired and took on Wonder Woman’s origin Story. Thanks boss @ZackSnyder for letting us share this.#UsUnited #ZackSnydersJusticeLeague pic.twitter.com/qeBFCev9MT

— NQ Cole & Nana #UsUnited (@TheNerdQueens) January 4, 2021

So, how and why did the concept of Wonder Woman holding heads—that she presumably severed—exist in the first place? Well, such imagery was the byproduct of studio Warner Bros. and its long-held ambivalence about how to approach a big screen rendition of Wonder Woman, who, despite being an iconic DC character, primarily remained associated by laypeople with the campy, sexified 1970s television series, as played by Lynda Carter. Yet, Jenkins, who had broken big directing Charlize Theron in 2003 crime drama Monster, had been pitching her concepts for a Wonder Woman movie sporadically since 2004, only to be repeatedly countered by intractably dark and violent visions from studio suits. However, the studio ultimately greenlit the film in 2014—contextually, after Gal Gadot had already landed the role for the movie that would become Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice—and hired director Michelle MacLaren, a successful small screen helmer from shows such as Game of Thrones, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead.

Unfortunately, the MacLaren era of Wonder Woman saw the studio conspicuously circle as many as 30 scripts, which led to a significant amount of confusion over the general direction of the film and the character herself; a dilemma that Jenkins recently described on podcast WTF with Marc Maron (via The Playlist) as “an internal war on every level about what Wonder Woman should be.” Indeed, the confusion remained ongoing, even after MacLaren’s 2015 departure and Jenkins’s subsequent hiring. “They wanted to hire me like a beard; they wanted me to walk around on set as a woman, but it was their story and their vision,” Jenkins continued, further explaining of the studio’s expectations of an ultraviolent Wonder Woman, “Even when I first joined Wonder Woman it was like, ‘uhh, yeah, ok, but let’s do it this other way.’ But I was like, ‘Women don’t want to see that. Her being harsh and tough and cutting people’s heads off, that’s not what— I’m a ‘Wonder Woman’ fan, that’s not what we’re looking for. Still, I could feel that shaky nervousness [on their part] of my point of view.”

Read more

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By the time Jenkins had finally stepped into the Wonder Woman director’s chair, Gadot’s first performance as the character in Snyder’s Dawn of Justice was already in the can, shaped—albeit in a limited capacity—by his vision. Thus, while Jenkins had finally procured her dream gig, she was dealt the dubious task of crafting a proper introduction for a character that Snyder had depicted in the 2016 film as a sword-and-shield-wielding super-powered femme-fatale; one who, in the fog of war, you could envision being ruthless enough to decapitate villains in order to move things along. Of course, Jenkins’s work on the 2017 solo film brought poignant dimensions to the character, presenting an artful mix of action sequences with comical fish-out-of-water tropes and genuinely heartfelt moments, which yielded tremendous audience acclaim and financial success.  

Nevertheless, Snyder’s wall art—apparently a placeholder for the Easter Egg World War I-era photo we eventually saw in Dawn of Justice foreshadowing Chris Pine’s Steve Trevor and the gang—is a shocking scene for fans. This is especially the case after the sanguine, literally stratospheric note on which Wonder Woman 1984 ended, and the film’s compassionate treatment of antagonists Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Minerva/Cheetah (Kristen Wiig). Indeed, both of her enemies were given relatable backstories and motivations that defied cinematic definitions of being “villains,” despite the fact that Wonder Woman could have easily mitigated the global threat of the wish-granting Dreamstone by chopping off a couple of heads quick enough to be home in time to watch Miami Vice. Moreover, she no longer even carried her once-trusty sword and shield in the sequel, proving that some 70 years of living in human civilization as Diana Prince made her reluctant to dish out the more brutal aspects of Themysciran justice.  

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Wonder Woman 1984 is still currently available on HBO Max, although you might want to catch the film before its initial streaming window closes on Sunday, January 24.

The post Zack Snyder’s Vicious Wonder Woman Photo Reflects Warner’s Early Internal War appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/35epj9V

The Social Undistanceables: A Plan

Pic of Dunstanburgh Castle in Northumberland by Mike Smithson

Thinking through the problem of the moment

What a mouthful. Like the name for a reality TV programme. Trying to match up the odd, the awkward, the peculiar. Or perhaps a play – if a theatre can be found. Almost unremarked, the RSC recently announced it would close until next January. Birmingham Hippodrome has started redundancy consultations, its reason being what Basil Fawlty might have termed the “bleedin’ obvious”: “We are unable to reopen until social distancing measures are relaxed”. “Abandoned” might be a better word. (Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Keswick’s Theatre on the Lake are doing the same. More will follow.) The performance arts are facing an existential crisis in the land of Shakespeare, a land with a claim to having one of the best, richest, most vigorous and influential theatrical traditions around.

I feel particularly sad about this. Like many lawyers, I am an actor manqué. As a teenager I beat Daniel Day-Lewis in an acting competition. My Juliet was to die for. He is now a 3-times Oscar winner. And I am here.

Sometimes life just doesn’t go to plan. An epitaph for 2020, perhaps.

But there are others equally damaged by social distancing: all those activities and businesses whose very purpose is social closeness: not just theatre but live music-making, choirs, cafes, pubs, restaurants, comedy clubs etc.

In my largely rural corner of South Lakeland, there are many such places: repurposed old and industrial buildings (the clock tower into a restaurant), a former mining HQ into a hotel/restaurant, part of the train station into a town museum and café, an old 18th century coaching inn into a pub, a chapel into the village hall, an old club into a small theatre, 19th century halls hosting music festivals. Even done up, they show their historical and architectural origins: low ceilings, slate floors, arrangements of rooms rather than large open-plan spaces, fireplaces etc. It is part of their charm; and often required by local planning authorities seeking to preserve what is best about an area’s history, to avoid ruining character and beauty. This may sound sentimental. But sensitivity to what is around us and valued by many should not be casually dismissed.

Here the pub, the café, the restaurants are not simply a place for people to buy a drink or eat: it is where locals meet to exchange gossip, to find out what is going on, to make friends (particularly valuable for those new to the area), to raise money for local charities, to have meetings and talks – for the local history and photography societies, for instance, or by the Arts Council funded artist making locally inspired sculptures (think Andy Goldsworthy to get the idea). It is where funeral wakes and teas are held; live music performed; mountain bikers, walkers, climbers and riders – fresh from galloping along the long sandy beach – stop for refreshments. This is what society means – in this rural corner, anyway.

If places like these close, there are few other locales where social activity can happen. There is no obvious public square or streets to walk down, Italian-style, for one’s passeggiata, certainly not in normal Lake District weather most of the year. To meet people by chance, walking one’s dog will become de rigeur, more so than now. These meeting places – one of the threads making the community, allowing society’s “little platoons” to operate, one of the attractions for visitors – will vanish and the community will be the poorer for it. Every area has its own version of this. Of course, places and people’s wants change. Nothing is – or can be – preserved unchanged forever. But the need, the desire for social closeness, friendship, mixing, support and communal action will remain. We should not make it needlessly hard for this to happen nor for its providers to ply their trade.

How to reconcile minimising the virus’s harm with not doing irreparable economic and social harm? Whenever lockdown is eased or lifted – and whether now it is wise to do so is debatable – here are some suggestions – from the perspective of small hospitality businesses.

No Magic Wand – Government cannot do everything. Even if they can trade freely, businesses will likely face customer behaviour changes, will have to adapt. Hard work, resourcefulness and luck will be needed and still may not be enough. Businesses understand the vagaries of business life. But they need the chance to try.

Careless Talk Costs – Government should understand the level of fear and worry there currently is. Uncertainty is crippling. So don’t add to it by anonymous kite-flying to newspapers or favoured entrepreneurs or speculation one day, then withdrawn hours or days later. Businesses have enough to worry about without wondering which rumour they need to concern themselves with. “Engage brain before opening mouth” ought to be put in front of every Minister before they speak. For a government led by a former journalist, its communications strategy is woeful.

To Everything There Is A Season – Understand that hospitality in particular is very seasonally based: the high earning months when fat is earned to see businesses through leaner winter months are March to September. Nearly half of that, four of the highest earning Bank Holiday weekends and Mother’s Day have been lost; and all during glorious weather when people would be out spending. Government grants, however welcome, scratch the surface of what has been – is being – lost. If the rest of the season is to be salvaged, hospitality cannot have its hands tied behind its back. If it cannot open at all because it is still too risky, then it will need supporting for a while longer.

One Size Does Not Fit All – What works for big London gastro-eateries will not work for country pubs. A la carte not menu fixe should be the approach. Set out guidance about the ranges of measures from which venues can choose what works best for them and their customers. Businesses should be free to adopt whatever is reasonable for their premises: sensible hygiene practices for customers eg hand gel dispensers, good ventilation, rigorous and regular cleaning, additional spacing – if that is physically/financially possible. But do not make them legal requirements – either in regulations or by the back door through EHOs or the police. Hospitality already has strict food hygiene regulations to follow. Telling a hospitality venue to stop customers mingling when that is why they have come is to ask it to self-harm. It’s contradictory nonsense.

Let’s Kill All The Lawyers (Henry VI, Part 2 – one of Shakespeare’s little jokes) – not literally (obviously). Remove legal liability for the virus from venues (and, incidentally, hospitals – pretty risky places these days). Venues are not now liable if customer A catches a serious illness from Customer B’s sneezing or chatting. Why should that change just because there is a new virus?

Fairness – Work with the insurance industry to have fairer burden-sharing. Currently, even with government grants and furlough, it is businesses which have borne the brunt of the costs of the shutdown. Why? They are not responsible for the problem and have not even been able to claim on expensively bought insurance policies for losses suffered, let alone the loss of business. An FCA report tut-tutting about it all some years later is neither use nor ornament.

Cut Red Tape – At last this perennial Tory cry can help! Relax licensing laws to allow business to be carried on outside without needing expensive, time-consuming applications. Don’t impose pointless restrictions – like requiring food to be bought with a drink. Just get them opening, attracting customers, people working, giving them a chance to use their entrepreneurial oomph. A bit of imaginative speedy cut-through is needed in exceptional times.

And If All Else Fails – Consider converting grants/bounce back loans into compensation for closed businesses, perhaps making it conditional on being used – at least in part – to create new ones/learn new skills/retrain.

“There really is such a thing as society” said the PM this March. Indeed. Or as a famous Irishman put it in 2016: “We are not simply a credit rating or an economy but a history and a culture, a human population rather than a statistical phenomenon.” Those social undistanceables are part of our culture.

CycleFree

PS Hat-tip and thanks to a fellow PB’er (he knows who he is) for that marvellous phrase – social undistanceables.

from politicalbetting.com https://www7.politicalbetting.com/index.php/archives/2020/06/09/the-social-undistanceables-a-plan/ https://dangky.ric.win/

The

 queen is back and I’m so freaking happy <3

‘annoyed’ nothing you say is annoying ok, I’m actually just really relieved and happy that I’m helping in any way at all. Also you listen to my rambling all the time and you supported me with my anxiety (you have no idea how much our convos helped after I first saw a doctor about it and was feeling really confused about what to do) so ‘what did I do to deserve you’ is probably what I should be saying to you.

Tbh when things are as serious as you’ve described then you’re definitely not overreacting. Like I said before, I’m always ready to listen/talk when you need to. And you don’t have to stress about replies; I honestly don’t mind at all as long as you’re ok.

Thank you Queen Luna you’re the best ;-;

Also, good news and bad news:

Bad news- A bit after I sent the last message mom apparently found out about Tumblr and decided that I probably shouldn’t get an account here because of all the NSFW content. I get why she’s worried so I guess I won’t be getting an account here for a while.

Good news- HOWEVER, I was chatting with someone on ao3 and they asked if we could move our convo somewhere else. They recommended something called Discord so I got an account there. If you’ve never heard of Discord it’s basically a voice and text chat system usually used by gamers, but it seems to be pretty popular among non-gamers too. PMing is possible there :D (The only flaw is that you can’t send very long messages, so you have to send multiple short ones, which is a bit annoying…but otherwise it’s pretty neat so maybe we can try it if you’re ok with that?)

XD yeah that’s actually pretty accurate.

*reads Luna’s message*

*inhale*

UM. DO YOU HAvE ANY IDEA HOW AMAZING YOU ARE. LET ME TRY TO BE A GOOD, SUPPORTIVE FRIEND AND TELL YOU

Yep it was one of the grossest things that ever happened to me OTL I’m still swimming but I’m taking a long break right now- a break that started because my little sister broke her toe and we were basically stuck at home taking care of her (the pool is a bit far for me to go on my own so if mom’s stuck at home so am I), and then got longer because the pool’s old and some things had to be ‘fixed’, and then got even longer because my coach is getting married (just reread that and realized that I sound super annoyed, I’m actually not, I have no problem with my coach getting married XD). I’ll probably start again around next month, though :)

Thanks ^^

Oooh are you a comic fan??? I haven’t read any superhero comics because there seem to be so many AUs(?)/different timelines so trying to figure out where to start is really confusing, plus I actually sorta prefer manga/manhwa art styles (not that wester comics are bad- a lot of them have really good art too, I just personally prefer the manga/manhwa styles (especially for the panels). Also the ecchi-ish costumes/anatomy for almost every single female superhero gets a bit ridiculous sometimes lol). Some of them seem really fun, though, and I’d like to try them out someday…

It’s really cool that you’ve been a fan of T'challa for so long, it must’ve been even more exciting to see him in the movie :D

Imagine everyone watching The Winter Soldier together. Then the  'brainwashed bucky’ scenes start.

Illumi: *stares intently at the screen*

Illumi: I see no problem with this.

Watching Civil War and Leorio goes Dad Mode and covers Gon’s and Killua’s eyes when Hisoka starts making…innappropriate…noises during the fight scenes

(Hisoka low-key writing reader insert lemons about various MCU heroes. Most likely Natasha (because she’s a lot like Machi, his only female crush so far), Bruce (how Hisoka would love to unleash the beast), Thor (he’s a literal GOD imagine how badly he could mess Hisoka up *schwing*), Wanda, and Vision (he probably liked Loki too before Loki got beat up by the Hulk and Hisoka was like ‘oh I have a new senpai’)

Then Illumi gets Milluki (his tech genius little brother) to hack into Hisoka’s computer for info and is like 'what is this Hisoka I do not understand why you derive pleasure from this trash’)

Everyone thinks Gon should relate to Tony on a personal level but he doesn’t, because despite being a sunshine angel he’s also a freaking weird kid who doesn’t hate Ging. At all. (Though that might have something to do with the fact that he doesn’t even consider Ging his parent in the first place; he never even calls him 'dad’ or 'my father’)

Killua, on the other hand, relates to Bucky a bit too much and thinks HYDRA is basically the Zoldyck family.

Everybody’s Team Cap except for Illumi, who’s Team Iron Man (“Why would you want to break the rules?”), and then Hisoka randomly shows up like 'Team Hulk ;)’

Every time Howard Stark is mentioned everyone just stares at Ging, who shifts uncomfortably

(Yeah did I tell you about the time Leorio punched Ging for being a trash dad?)

OMG. Thank you for that. I’ve seen a lot of 'Hisoka as the clown from the 'It’ movie’ posts on tumblr but never any fanart for that idea. Run, Gon. Run.

I’m considering teaching myself to animate just to make those animatics XD

(Also, random thing: it’s Chuseok over here (basically like the Korean version of Thanksgiving, I guess?) and usually, people recieve money from older relatives during holidays like this in Korea. I got about 80 dollars (50 from my maternal grandparents, 10 from my paternal grandfather and 20 from my uncle) so I’m debating on what to spend it on: It’s either a tablet so I can learn how to do digital art (I’m thinking about polishing my drawing skills for a while and then making a webcomic. My parents support this so they’re willing to pay a little extra for a tablet) or a ukulele (I like the piano but I realized a while ago that it’d be great to have an instrument that I can carry around, so I did some research and the ukulele seems good. I really like the sound so I’m willing to put some effort into learning it). Idk which one I should choose, though. Technically the tablet should be my priority but I also like the ukulele…

(and idek why I mentioned this either, guess the talk about animating reminded me of the tablet lol))

I thrive on angst. Tragedy fuels me. (But tbh HxH is a LOT darker than I was prepared for. I’m currently shipping an ant king with a genius human girl and I know from spoilers that they’re both going to die)

Yeah, she’s alive :D but apparently Kaneki is now 'dead’ (though I don’t think he is really, if Ishida kills him off now (after all the stuff with Hide? All the character development Ken hasn’t gotten yet? When he still hasn’t talked about anything with Shuu or Hinami or even Akira?) and gives us a new protagonist or something I might finally rage-quit this series.

Or not, since with all the Touken stuff and Kaneki being sorta insensitive ever since he became the OEK…maybe a new protagonist is what we need?). I was liking all the parallels with Arima in the first series until this, because it was just…um. I think my main problem with the whole thing is the freakng PACING because it just feels so clunky and awkward. This is probably one of those chapters that will be really good if Ishida somehow manages to connect it with the next chapters and has everything make sense later, but if he doesn’t do it well it’s going to suck forever OTL

At least TG finally confirmed Naki’s death, though. I mean, the ideal situation for me is if he never died in the first place, but at least a confirmed death is better than Ishida suddenly bringing him back to life after that panel with Yamori. And his death scene was handled well. (Now please just tell me that he, Kanae and Hairu aren’t coming back as Kanou-Furuta zombies and I will be semi-satisfied)

Also AOT if you haven’t read the new chapter yet spoilers but

(The-Reiner-Eren reunion I HAVE WAITED SO. LONG FOR THIS

Also Eren’s grandad ;-;

And maybe we’ll finally be seeing Annie again soon since she’s been appearing in so many flashbacks and Reiner’s probably going to ask about her if he and Eren get to actually talk

Love those hints about something finally starting to change

ANOTHER PERSON FROM MIKASA’S CLAN? I hope we see this lady again, she’s lovely

I can’t believe how much the art has improved, it actually looks GOOD now 0.0)

Aw, that’s ok! I’ll be looking forward to seeing it when you get a new skirt :D

Yeah, I’m really excited for OC’s name too…must be something important if they’re keeping it hidden for this long. I guess it’s French (or a word from some other non-English language) since 'Ciel’ is French for 'Sky’…and it probably has a meaning related to the sky since they’re twins. Idk. Maybe it’s the word for 'star’ ('etoile’) since stars are also a big thing in this arc?

Looking forward to your reaction! I haven’t read the novel yet but from what I know it sounds great :D (also I cannot resist the L + Naomi duo even if they never actually interacted in manga/anime canon)

Btw, is it ok if I ask how far you’ve gotten with the DN anime?

(Also fun fact: Ryuk was originally designed to look like a handsome young man (an 'attractive rock star’, in the words of DN’s creators. You can find a pic of his original design on google). His design was changed because the creators felt like he was overshadowing Light XD

But also, I just found a post on tumblr that said Takeshi Obata (DN’s artist) mentioned that Ryuk’s face in canon could just be a mask to hide his true appearance…which means that he could technically still look like that in canon. Wow. I actually think I have the book where it says Obata mentioned that, I have to go and check it now lol)

Watch it if you dare and prepare to weep over all the wasted potential, because now that I read/watch more about it I guess the saddest thing is that it COULD have been great. I mean, like I said, the visuals are REALLY good, L’s actor could have been a good L if not for the bad script, Ryuk’s actor/design were also super great (it’s just his role in the movie and his motivations they messed up ;-;)…

I don’t watch Avatar (I’d like to when I have the time, though, because it seems like a great show) but I’ve heard of that movie and tbh I can’t even.

Ty :D (Ayy the queen said I’d make a cute Peridot *fangirls*

You’re also my closest friend right now and I love talking to you so much <3 thank you for everything Luna.)

See this is why you’re awesome. Thank you so much ;-; (and what, did Queen Luna mention me to her parents. Did I make a good impression. Omg. (jk, jk lol))

Also: I’d like to rec a song to you, it’s called 'Lovely’ by Twenty One Pilots :D

Oh look I actually replied within a week :’)

OK ILL START W DISORD BC IM EXCITE. I already have one, from a while ago, my # is 5773! So add me whenever you want ^^ ((But please just send me a short message here, cause I turned notifs off for it, so i can turn them on again ^^)) Well, uh, here’s the thing about short messages.  If a site/app has an instant message feature, you can bet I’ll be the one to split a sentence into 10 separate messages for dramatic effect… So, uh, prepare to have 42 new messages instead of like 4 waiting when you open the app ^^

I never ever ever have any problems with listening to you. I just appreciate you’re comfortable enough with me to be able to come to me. Honestly, I truly appreciate you in my life, especially considering that you can always reassure me with your words ^^ Truly a writer’s talent :p

Well, I’m going to a psychologist soon, so we’ll see what they’ll say. Idk tho, I dont think I even care anymore. I just want this stomach thing to pass as soon as possible.

Ouch, I hope your sister is better now… I’ve never broken anything so I wouldn’t know the feeling. Aww, coaches getting married is actually the cutest thing ever XD My archery coach got married a few years back and she was practically glowing.  Ah, if you don’t mind me asking, do you have a particular stroke you specialise in or do you just swim everything? 

I could say the same about comic/manga styles. Tbh, I don’t really consider myself a comic fan? When I was a kid, I used to buy the children’s comics to ward off boredom, but never really continued after I got into reading actual books. Black Panther happened to be among those comics and I remembered him when they mentioned T’Challa in CW. I wonder if i still have those old comics somewhere… But yeah, i was pretty excited when they mentioned him XD

That viewing actually sounds amazing… I get the feeling they’d all want to do an in depth analyzation of the characters? (But idk i don’t really know the characters that well) except for Hisoka, who’s probably just schwinging around being creepy per usual. I’m torn between wanting to read those lemons and just backing the fuck away…. Probably read like a paragraph and then set everything on fire. Yeah, that sounds good. 

I presume you’re not gonna watch IT? Random, but i thought of it bc of the fanart… Tbh I won’t watch it either. I’ve never watched a single horror movie in my life and i intend to keep it that way. Unless you count Coraline as horror, which I actually would in some ways? Idk tho, that movie traumatised me. Not even joking when I say I occasionally have nightmares related to it. Advice; if you haven’t, DO NOT WATCH CORALINE. Don’t be fooled by the fact that it’s a cartoon. I mean 9 is a cartoon, but it’s also freaking dark. HAPPY TREE FRIENDS IS A CARTOON AND I WOULDNT TOUCH THE VIDEOS WITH A 9 FOOT POLE.  Long story short, cartoons are not a joke.

For some reason I confused the Ukulele with a Lute and was like ‘I’m not gonna judge, but… why?’ then i actually googled it and realised I’m an idiot.  But, um, I can’t say anything other than it’s your choice and you should do whatever would make you happier? There’s that trick of throwing a penny in the air and if you’re disappointed when it lands heads/tails, you know you want the other one. Idk, tho, both options sound equally nice!

… HxH gets weirder every time you tell me about it

KANEKI IS WHAT NOW Um, okay then.... alrighty...

guess who dropped TG again

WELL FUCK IM SCREAMING ABOUT THE NEW CHAPTER WHOAH EREN’T GRAMPA WHOAH THE REUNION However, the best part is Reiner acting like a dad during the festival

Oooh Etoile would be interesting!

I’m still at the ep where L dies ;-; I haven’t had the time to move forward, so I’m hoping I’ll be able to watch some during this weekend

Well, uh. My mom came into my room while I was writing this and had to ask me why i was crying (I’m pretty sure she thought I was having one of my all-time-lows again). The reason why I was actually crying? The song. Words can’t express my gratitude. I’d download it, but tbh I feel like I’ll start ugly sobbing again every time I listen to it...

random note, i started going to school by train! It’s actually a lot nicer than the bus and cheaper XD Idk why i put this here but yay

Nine Worlds 2017

This is a slightly lengthy report but meh. Tumblr has a ‘skip to next post’ function so what the heck.

I managed to get a pre-con cold rather than the traditional post-con one, which I’ve managed to give to @knittedace​ as well, oops. I did have hand gel on me and tissues to minimise the spread. If I gave anybody else my cold I’m sorry!

I met up with @knittedace​ on the Thursday. We were meant to go to the Natural History Museum but I’d been off work sick the previous day and just couldn’t do it. No energy. Instead we met up at the hotel itself and as soon as we could get into the room we unpacked and I took a nice and much needed nap.

We went to the ‘Cheese and Cheese’ evening event, one of two events to welcome people to the convention. There was cheese of both the literal and literary variety to be enjoyed. I read out a riveting and very cheesy Power Rangers VHS tape description, but the best was a very cracky, rather explicit Doctor Who one that had the entire room in hysterics. I was laughing so much I was coughing up a lung.

FRIDAY

I was initiated into the Order of the Dalek! Learnt how to put on @knittedace​‘s knitted Dalek costume - something I got better at as the weekend went on. I also came across some great cosplays, and @knittedace​ got to pose with a Missy and Thirteenth Doctor. She’ll post the pic if she wants to. 

In the morning I decided to go for something different from what I usually go to. We’d met the woman running some of the kids panels and she invited us along. So I went. It was pretty cute, gave the parents some adults to be around too and just played some simple games. Don’t really get to do that ever. And then there was a fun story that was like some kind of Dinosaur version of Planet of the Apes but about environmental issues and written a few decades back.

Then I went to a crafty thing in which we all made hair bands! Met some great teens, two of whom had made their own cosplays. For one it was her fourteenth birthday and she ended up having to help me out because I’m rubbish at this stuff. We had some good talks fandom but also human orientations and labels and just being happy with who you are.  Oddly we all also ended up in the next thing which was basically free tea and cake with tables to chat at. 

I came across this same group of teens at this con, all through the weekend. They’re all smart and for all that they’re still growing up and maturing they’re great people already.

I was given the green tea left ofter after. Yay free tea!

Toxicity in Fandom was my next stop. Nothing particularly surprising but still a good talk that had someone who had once been a part of those hostile groups though they’ve grown up and are better now. It also touched on how the toxicity doesn’t just come from the traditional bigots and gamergate type folk, but also people from those who use the language of social justice to bully rather than for good. The folk who live up to all the bad things people throw at the ‘sjw’ name.

Nine at Nine Worlds: Nine Tropes which was about, well, tropes in fan fic. Nine of us presenting five minutes on our favourite trope. It had the return of Nina - Lady of the Puppets - and then I did mine on ‘Time Travel Fix It Fics’. Went well. People laughed. Someone the next day pulled me aside to have a chat about it. Apparently I accidentally made them read loads of fic with the trope. Oooops. There was also a dramatic 007/Q power point fic reading that I helped out with, to lots of laughter.

There was also a late night game of Slash, with my home made deck, with other members of that panel including Tanya who had lead it. Tanya, for those who don’t know, was co-head of the Fan Fiction track back when tracks were organised differently and there was a specific Fan Fiction track. She’s still a big part of the fan works type stuff and is pretty damn awesome. She’s been there to help me out when I needed it and is pretty brilliant. There were also others who just came and joined in and that’s the beauty of these things. But then it was time for bed.

SATURDAY

Before any panels started, me and @knittedace​ met up with the person who’d be our third in Sunday’s Redemption round table to have a real world chat over breakfast which was fun. I’ve no idea if he has a tumblr ID to tag him in however. I’d wanted to have someone who knew about anime on there because neither me or @knittedace​ know anything about it. I know about Yuri on Ice but not much else. And though it’s mostly a workshop it is a bit panel so yeah. We had a great talk. And food.

We found the infamous ‘TARDIS full of Bras’ cosplayer. For those who don’t know there was a comment on a British newspaper site that is our version of Fox saying that the new Doctor couldn’t be a woman because then the TARDIS would be full of bras. So some brilliant soul went and turned this into a cosplay and just…. love. Again the pic I have is of Helen too so it’s up to her to post it. But seriously, OMG LOVE.

Time Travel and Film was our first panel of the day. We both got there in time for the hall to be mostly empty. I had on my TNG uniform hoodie thing with my comms badge pin so we get this photo:

The talk itself was also fun. Presented by an actual university lecturer on Philosophy, and turns out she was also the woman on a panel I’d be running later in the day. I looked at her name on the power point, down at the names I had for the panel and up again and went ‘huh’. Seriously though, good lecture about time travel from the perspective of philosophy rather than physics and its different possible models.

I was talking to some folk and the lecturer after, @knittedace​ having already left when I got a text from her saying there was a Londo cosplayer outside. I sped out there as fast as I could to find this fantastic person:

I have no idea their name or anything other than they were determined to remain in character and had a wife who sounded a bit bemused and long suffering of it all. Kinda reminded me of my mom trying to deal with my dad actually.  He was really fun though. (ETA: I am told that he is @TheWarLlama on twitter) (ETA2: Apparently the woman wasn’t his wife. I just assumed because the dynamic going on reminded me of my mom lol. Oops. )

Queer Coding in Disney was my next stop. The person doing it did a good job. Made sure they explained what queer coding was in the first place for those who didn’t know and then went through Disney. Talked about films I didn’t know much about, and there was some talk about how some of this also intersected with other minorities and representation of various people.

After that I went upstairs for a nap. I was tired, still had that damnable cold, and wanted to be my best for my panel. I missed a panel slot with content but self care is important so up I went.

But then I was back! With my Hufflepuff scarf and wand! And still in my Starfleet uniform hoodie!

I think on the way into the panel hall someone said something like ‘hello Commander’ and I was a bit confused. Mostly because I didn’t have any pips so couldn’t be an officer but that’s a small thing and I think I smiled back?

In any case, next up was my panel. Which upon arriving at the convention I discovered was to be held in the largest room at the convention. Eeeep!

Dumbledore: Good or Evil? Went pretty well. At least one member of my panel was surprised it was ever even a debate, but she none the less stood up and argued for good. She was the above mentioned philosophy lecturer so debating is kind of her thing. She comes at it very much from a philosophical theory perspective though which I think caught out one or two people in the audience going from twitter. A person took a picture and stuck it on their twitter. You can find that here. I’m in the middle.

There was a lot of talk about how Dumbles does or doesn’t use his power for people, abandoning Harry, the things that go on in his school under his responsibility, and at one point he was compared to Boris Johnson. How he seems to be about consequences more than the actions themselves. Is it intent or your actions that make you good or evil? Does the era that the man grew up in excuse things? Does the fact that there was a war coming/going on excuse things or not?

There was a question at the end about him being a slave owner due to house elves. That…. I had red sirens screaming in my head there. Thankfully it was with hardly any time to go. It’s a very good question. Something worth looking at. But nobody on the panel had any real place speaking on it. The philosopher took it, but she took it from literally a philosophical perspective rather than a moral one which probably came off wrong to some. Because yeah, that wasn’t a moral stance. I didn’t really know what to do there other than internally panic a bit and try to move on as fast as I could with a ‘this could be a whole other panel and should be’ thing.

I was so worried about not being neutral that I didn’t step in to point things out or ask things when looking back I wish I had. There are things about that I’d have liked to improve but largely the response seemed to be good. I learnt from it. We had a vote at the end on of the audience thought Dumbledore was ‘good, ‘evil or bad leaning’ or ‘it’s complicated guys leave us alone’. The result was a mixed bag with lots of complicated so I guess that wins. People did come up to chat to us when we were still on stage after it ended to thank us for this or that. I’d warded off a comment from team Evil that was about cheating but could also have come across as anti-poly and so someone thanked me for that.

Druids, Deities and Daemons: Archeological Horrors in ‘Doctor Who’ was my next thing. It wasn’t particularly exciting but it was an interesting look at how the show portrays archeology from an Egyptologist who had a delightful manner of presentation. You can tell he’s upper middle or upper class but he isn’t snooty and he’s just really cheerful and into his thing. Which is always a joy to see. He wasn’t fond of Ten saying that as a time traveller he laughed at archaeologists. Fair.

Ageism in fanworks/fandom was a panel Tanya had asked me to be on last minute when playing Slash the night before. So I had no prep time and possibly a few people were confused as to why an extra person was sat up there. I was probably the youngest person on there, no worries. But interestingly also the only person who had actually grown up in fandom rather than finding it as an adult. It was interesting, throwing up different experiences with fandom and how it sees age, how it changes. But also how media sees us. How it expects women to age out of fandom but for male fans to be the sad lonely people in the basement forever. 

Space Opera! SF&F in Musicals was a unique panel, for me anyway. Held in the lower levels with half the room covered by bean bags. By this point I could barely walk. I don’t know why, something happened to my legs and I found it increasingly hard to walk through the day. @knittedace​ said I should grab a priority access sticker but I’d have felt like a fraud even as I slowly limped my way around the place so i didn’t. But I managed to get a chair anyway so yay!

The person presenting it was drunk. I thought they were just mellow. It had originally been designed as an academic thing but given when it was scheduled it became a kind of guided tour of musical SF/F complete with YouTube clips, sarcastic comments from the audience and much fun. Also singing along sometimes.  I lost the key to my room. It later turned out I’d left it there when I awoke from my nap but I couldn’t find @knittedace​ so I got reception to invalidate the old ones and issue new ones. With slightly disturbing ease come to think of it. And that was that.

SUNDAY

Marvel v DC Fanworks was the first panel of the morning. Chaired by a very very very tired Tanya who was having a hard time of it I think. It was a good conversation but you could tell she didn’t have the energy to chair it as she might want to. I was sat next to the birthday girl from Friday who is smart and knows her stuff and was very very excited. So excited she frequently interrupted and spoke over others. I don’t blame her. She was excited and we’ve all been there. I’ve been there. And ideally it is the chair’s job to gently deal with that but as I said, tired. In the end a person left the room when they got talked over once too often. I don’t blame either. It sucks to be talked over, especially for some people who find that really hard. And though I’m sad she left I understand it.

But I’ve been a very excited teenager, in fandom at that, before. It’s also hard to pull that in when you don’t have the experience and you’re having so much fun and you have so so so many things you want to say and nobody is telling you no. I’ve been her as I said. The things she wanted to say were all good things. Just a convergence of multiple things that didn’t mix well is all. I think she noticed too as she got a sad look with the woman left the room. Felt bad for both of them really. All three of them.

Queer Dax was my next panel, and one I was running. I’d decided that there was no way joined Trill weren’t queer, and wanted to talk about that, so here we are. I’d made sure that the panel had people on it who were queer in various ways and though one person couldn’t make it due to passport issues we held on. 

The room started to fill up well before the start time. So we were chatting at everything from pets in the different series with someone insisting that Neelix was the pet on Voyager. Gasp! To how Mourn maybe talks a lot in ways we don’t get to Garak/Bashir slash to anything. The place was pretty full by the time we started.

It was a good discussion. I later found out that the person who’d manned the convention’s front desk really wanted to go but couldn’t and so was following a person’s live tweet of it as it went on. 

We talked about the identity of the symbionts themselves, what it may be like to suddenly be flooded with all these humanoid identities. How maybe they’re like drag (at the start anyway). How we never hear them talk for themselves, as themselves, just the hosts. We’ve even had former hosts separated from the whole and able to talk in the singular. But never a symbiont. We asked how memory worked, to what degree were the hosts individuals or now and how that may work. How there were ‘very special episode’ moments but how they kinda also played out like every other Dax romance and was pretty good for the era. How Trek at least had a framework where this discussion was possible.

I framed lots of things  as ‘for Paramount in the 90s’ or similar because yeah. The studios. Boy. And the times.

There was also a good deal of talk about the parallels between the way joined Trill are treated, and how Trill are screened to trans gatekeeping and queer separatism. How Dax seems to get away with literally everything and does Jadzia Dax at least have privilege? Lots of stuff I haven’t mentioned.

Someone in the audience asked about things within Trek that called to us as queer people and I got to go on about my asexual headcanon for Seven of Nine.

A Study in Redemption: Character Arcs in our Fandoms aka ‘Redemption’. And oh boy this has a long history. Originally this was a proper panel but stuff happened behind the scenes, messages got mixed and instead of it being a panel full of fandomy meta people it was proper Named authors and I got anxious and didn’t know what the hell to do and internally screamed some. I reached out to Tanya for help, and she and a person above her in the Nine Worlds team really did help. I am so thankful to the both of them. We ended up splitting it into two with the authors keeping the proper panel thing and doing it from their perspective and I’d do a kind of panel/round table discussion thing. Mostly round table. I heard some not so great things about the ‘Redemption in Sci-FI’ panel aka the parent one. I couldn’t be there so I don’t know the details.

This one was awesome though. @knittedace​ was on it with me, as well as our third the anime guy. Who did have things to contribute even to western stuff that coming from another perspective and tradition was pretty cool.

Again it filled up fast. We were chatting about various stuff before the panel time started. And by the official start time arrived we had to put a sign on the door outside saying we were full except for a couple priority access seats. And it truly was only two priority access seats. One woman came in, and then left as she didn’t have a priority access sticker when there was still a ‘open to all’ seat left. Oh well.

In this one I brought all of my experience charing over the weekend. What I’d seen and liked, seen and didn’t like, as well as stuff I knew already. I knew this could be a tricky topic for some so I made sure rules were set out first.

Like, obviously we are talking about characters who have done bad things. And this will be mentioned. We can talk about Anakin Skywalker but not go into graphic detail over what he did. Use trigger warnings. If someone is talking about something you find hard raise both hands or otherwise make yourself known in a way other than ‘I want to talk next’ and we will stop. Let you get out. And send someone to let you in again. That people know the protocol for spoiler warnings in their own media types and fandoms and to use them. And again if you need to stop someone because you’re behind the bell curve in catching up, let us know and leave and we’ll bring you back in after. Someone did take advantage of this which was awesome.

I also made sure people knew talking over others wasn’t what I wanted, that they were to respect others and let them finish and that sometimes the three of us on the mini panel thing would pull things back to us to raise new points or add new questions etc.

It went really well. Orderly. One person had to leave for a minute and did so, no fuss was made, and came back in after, People respected others, good discussion was had, the topics moved forward rather than spiral deeper and deeper on things, nothing got graphic. Somehow there was humour even given the topic but not inappropriate humour. 

Lots of good points including how some characters are seeking redemption even if probably they don’t need it. How for many people who had either been raised in a toxic/evil environment or who had been through crap otherwise, redemption was also often a story of gaining or regaining agency. How doing a good thing and then dying to save a person for selfish reasons wasn’t really redemption. Or how someone forcing you to be good by putting a soul in your body or other magic or something making you good is also not really redemption. Redemption, proper redemption, required choice and consequences and owning what you had did and overcoming. How sometimes there is an aspect of white saviour going on. 

I loved that panel. I really really did.

What gets me most is that at the end of the night, someone who I really respect (not Tanya to be clear) came up and told me that my Dax and Redemption panels had been her two favourite of the entire convention. I was so so touched, and honoured and it meant a lot. I had a couple other people say they’d loved Dax but this one person was… it blew me away. 

Geeky Cupcake Decorating was just pure fun. Me and @knittedace​ went to this just as a fun thing to do. Also being asexual we figured it was our duty. Speaking of, I made this lovely delight:

I had to mix the grey fondant myself. I think it’s fondant? Terms confuse me. @knittedace​ Made this brilliant set of Doctor Who cakes that she can show off later but where much admired. And the table near by made a truly adorable set of Yuri on Ice cakes. Some seriously talented folks. Also plenty of kids having a lot of fun. One little girl was running around showing off the cake she’d made and that her dad had made with real pride. So cute.

We went for dinner after that, sad that things were ending, and came back in time to go to the end of convention quiz. 

End of the Con Quiz is hosed by Ash every year. And much to my delight we were once again visited by the infamous No Face. This isn’t a cosplay, this is like a visitation from the real thing. Last year they were slowly chasing Ash all over the place. This time they were menacing him from the corner whilst people gave it tribute (and it ate the dire wolf) to making Ash dance.

I knew almost none of the answers. I never do. But they did ask a question about my panel!

Our team decided to call ourselves ‘Quiz Master Ash/No Face OTP’. Not much of a reaction from Ash to that when he read it out. We came fourth. There was joint last which mean they had to battle it out to get (or not get if they so chose) the last place prize.

Never have you seen such a tense and dramatic game of Jenga. There was Star Trek fight music (Kirk edition) on repeat several times, there was the Benny Hill chase music, there was the Crystal Maze music, there was the Tetris theme. There were people at the back standing up to watch, everyone was tense. Even No Face got in on the action intimidating people/paying attention.

No Face got way closer than that. Scary.

I mean seriously. Though it has since been revealed, nobody knew who the person doing No Face was for two years. And they were fantastically in character. It was genius. And people treat them with the respect and caution as though they were actually a malevolent spirit. So this was fun for everyone up there lol.

Eventually that ended and we retreated to the mini bar in the games rom. Played more Slash for a bit until we all had to leave.

And then it was the end of the con. And all is sad.

Me and @knittedace​ had to share a bed as the room was one large bed rather than two singles. And I was joking that if we were inside a fan fic this would so be the ‘forced to share a bed’ trope. Followed by some joking about waking up to bumps in unexpected places. Like lower legs. Or something. But we got to sleep eventually.

I’m sad to be home. I have ideas for panels next year already. I miss it. @knittedace​ described getting home sick when she got home and I hadn’t framed it that way before but it is. We both grew up in fandom. Spending time here, talking here, learning here. Fandom is a culture we spent our formative years in and are still a part of. And conventions are like temporary pop up real world manifestations of that. So it kinda makes sense. But what makes them so special, in many ways, is that they are temporary. Even if it’s always sad to leave.

Also, and importantly, at the bottom of the back page of the program was this very touching easter egg that will make you feel the feels if you decode it:

–. -. ..- / - . .-. .-. -.– / .–. .-. .- - -.-. …. . - -

Nine Worlds Staff and Volunteers

They are brilliant. They work tirelessly before, during, and after the con to make things work. From the techies making sure all the equipment works to those running the front desk and twitter so people know what is going on to those making sure things go to plan or even have a plan, to everyone else who makes everything work. To those who do the nitty gritty stuff like finances and talking to hotels or sponsors to get stuff done to those who organise tracks and content to those who book entertainment to everyone who volunteers for a few hours. 

They work so hard. And need so much thanks. None of this would work if not for them. It doesn’t matter how many of us are willing to sit at behind a mic and babble at you for an hour, if none of them are there nothing would happen at all.

So thanks to them for all they have done, and all they continue to do.

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/the-danger-of-a-single-story-chimamanda-ngozi-adichie-18/

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I’m a storyteller. And i want to let you know a number of private reports about what I like to call "the danger of the only story." I grew up on a institution campus in japanese Nigeria. My mom says that I began studying at the age of two, even though I believe 4 is most of the time practically the reality. So I used to be an early reader, and what I learn had been British and American kid’s books. I was additionally an early writer, and after I started to put in writing, at concerning the age of seven, studies in pencil with crayon illustrations that my bad mother was once obligated to read, I wrote precisely the kinds of studies I used to be studying: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played within the snow, they ate apples, (Laughter) and so they talked rather a lot in regards to the weather, how beautiful it used to be that the sun had come out.(Laughter) Now, this youngsters that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we in no way talked in regards to the climate, on the grounds that there was once no have to. My characters additionally drank quite a lot of ginger beer, on account that the characters in the British books I learn drank ginger beer. Not ever intellect that I had no idea what ginger beer was once. (Laughter) And for decades afterwards, i’d have a determined desire to taste ginger beer. However that is an additional story. What this demonstrates, I believe, is how impressionable and inclined we are in the face of a narrative, mainly as youngsters. Because all I had learn have been books where characters were international, I had turn out to be satisfied that books through their very nature had to have foreigners in them and needed to be about matters with which I would no longer in my view establish. Now, matters changed once I discovered African books. There weren’t many of them to be had, they usually weren’t rather as handy to find because the overseas books. However since of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went via a intellectual shift in my notion of literature.I spotted that persons like me, girls with skin the colour of chocolate, whose kinky hair would not kind ponytails, would also exist in literature. I began to jot down about things I well-known. Now, I cherished these American and British books I read. They stirred my imagination. They spread out new worlds for me. However the unintended end result was that i did not comprehend that people like me would exist in literature. So what the discovery of African writers did for me used to be this: It saved me from having a single story of what books are. I come from a conventional, core-category Nigerian family. My father was a professor. My mother used to be an administrator.And so we had, as was the norm, are living-in home help, who would normally come from regional rural villages. So, the yr I grew to become eight, we got a brand new condominium boy. His title used to be Fide. The one factor my mom told us about him used to be that his loved ones was very negative. My mom despatched yams and rice, and our historical clothes, to his loved ones. And after I did not finish my dinner, my mother would say, "conclude your meals! Don’t you understand? Folks like Fide’s household have nothing." So I felt tremendous pity for Fide’s household. Then one Saturday, we went to his village to talk over with, and his mom showed us a fantastically patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.I was once startled. It had no longer came about to me that any one in his loved ones would in reality make something. All I had heard about them was how negative they had been, in order that it had become not possible for me to look them as whatever else however negative. Their poverty was my single story of them. Years later, I thought about this once I left Nigeria to move to university in the us. I was once 19.My American roommate used to be shocked by me. She asked where I had realized to communicate English so well, and was once burdened when I stated that Nigeria happened to have English as its authentic language. She requested if she could take heed to what she called my "tribal track," and used to be as a result very dissatisfied when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey. (Laughter) She assumed that i didn’t know how you can use a range. What struck me was once this: She had felt sorry for me even before she noticed me. Her default position towards me, as an African, used to be a kind of patronizing, good-meaning pity. My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe. On this single story, there was once no probability of Africans being just like her whatsoever, no possibility of emotions extra complicated than pity, no possibility of a connection as human equals.I must say that earlier than I went to the U.S., I failed to consciously determine as African. However in the U.S., each time Africa got here up, humans became to me. Certainly not intellect that I knew nothing about places like Namibia. But I did come to include this new identity, and in many methods I consider of myself now as African. Despite the fact that I nonetheless get particularly irritable when Africa is known as a country, the most contemporary instance being my or else exclusive flight from Lagos two days in the past, wherein there was an announcement on the Virgin flight about the charity work in "India, Africa and other international locations." (Laughter) So, after I had spent some years in the U.S.As an African, i began to comprehend my roommate’s response to me. If I had no longer grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from standard pics, I too would suppose that Africa was a situation of attractive landscapes, lovely animals, and incomprehensible folks, combating mindless wars, death of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved with the aid of a sort, white foreigner. I might see Africans in the equal method that I, as a youngster, had seen Fide’s household. This single story of Africa eventually comes, I suppose, from Western literature. Now, here’s a quote from the writing of a London service provider known as John Lok, who sailed to west Africa in 1561 and stored a fascinating account of his voyage.After regarding the black Africans as "beasts who haven’t any houses," he writes, "they’re also folks without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts." Now, I’ve laughed at any time when I’ve learn this. And one have got to admire the imagination of John Lok. However what’s fundamental about his writing is that it represents the establishing of a tradition of telling African reports in the West: A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a situation of negatives, of change, of darkness, of men and women who, within the phrases of the individual poet Rudyard Kipling, are "half satan, half child." And so, i began to realize that my American roommate need to have during her lifestyles visible and heard one of a kind versions of this single story, as had a professor, who once informed me that my novel used to be not "authentically African." Now, I was once relatively willing to contend that there have been a quantity of matters fallacious with the novel, that it had failed in a quantity of areas, however I had no longer particularly imagined that it had failed at attaining anything referred to as African authenticity.In fact, i didn’t recognize what African authenticity was. The professor instructed me that my characters had been too much like him, an knowledgeable and center-classification man. My characters drove cars. They were not starving. For that reason they weren’t authentically African. But I ought to quickly add that I too am simply as responsible within the question of the only story. Just a few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S. The political climate within the U.S. On the time was irritating, and there were debates occurring about immigration. And, as more often than not happens in the united states, immigration grew to become synonymous with Mexicans. There were endless stories of Mexicans as folks who have been fleecing the healthcare approach, sneaking throughout the border, being arrested on the border, that sort of factor. I recollect running round on my first day in Guadalajara, observing the persons going to work, rolling up tortillas in the marketplace, smoking, laughing. I take into account first feeling mild surprise. After which, I used to be overwhelmed with disgrace. I spotted that I had been so immersed within the media insurance policy of Mexicans that they’d come to be one thing in my mind, the abject immigrant.I had purchased into the only story of Mexicans and that i might no longer were extra ashamed of myself. So that’s learn how to create a single story, show a people as one factor, as only one factor, again and again, and that’s what they grow to be. It’s inconceivable to talk about the single story without speakme about energy. There’s a word, an Igbo phrase, that I consider about whenever I suppose about the vigor structures of the sector, and it is "nkali." it can be a noun that loosely interprets to "to be bigger than a different." Like our fiscal and political worlds, reports too are outlined via the principle of nkali: How they are advised, who tells them, when they are advised, how many reviews are told, are fairly dependent on vigour.Vigor is the ability now not just to tell the story of yet another character, but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest technique to do it’s to inform their story and to begin with, "secondly." the story with the arrows of the Native americans, and now not with the appearance of the British, and you have got an absolutely one of a kind story. Begin the story with the failure of the African state, and now not with the colonial construction of the African state, and you’ve got an totally distinctive story. I recently spoke at a school where a pupil informed me that it used to be this sort of disgrace that Nigerian men have been bodily abusers like the father persona in my novel. I told him that I had just learn a novel known as "American Psycho" — (Laughter) — and that it was once this sort of disgrace that younger american citizens were serial murderers.(Laughter) (Applause) Now, surely I mentioned this in a fit of mild irritation. (Laughter) but it will never have happened to me to feel that just seeing that I had learn a novel in which a personality was once a serial killer that he was come what may consultant of all americans. This is not considering the fact that i am a greater individual than that scholar, but for the reason that of the us’s cultural and economic power, I had many experiences of america. I had learn Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill. I did not have a single story of the usa. When I realized, some years in the past, that writers were expected to have had quite sad childhoods to be effective, i began to suppose about how I might invent horrible things my dad and mom had finished to me.(Laughter) but the truth is that I had an extraordinarily joyful childhood, full of laughter and love, in an awfully close-knit household. But I additionally had grandfathers who died in refugee camps. My cousin Polle died since he could no longer get enough healthcare. Certainly one of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a airplane crash on the grounds that our fireplace vehicles didn’t have water. I grew up under repressive army governments that devalued education, so that mostly, my parents weren’t paid their salaries. And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table, then margarine disappeared, then bread became too steeply-priced, then milk grew to become rationed. And most of all, a sort of normalized political fear invaded our lives.All of these stories make me who i’m. But to insist on handiest these bad studies is to flatten my experience and to miss the many other experiences that shaped me. The single story creates stereotypes, and the predicament with stereotypes will not be that they are unfaithful, but that they’re incomplete. They make one story end up the only story. Of course, Africa is a continent filled with catastrophes: There are mammoth ones, such because the horrific rapes in Congo and miserable ones, akin to the fact that 5,000 individuals practice for one job vacancy in Nigeria. However there are other stories that are not about catastrophe, and it is very principal, it’s only as major, to speak about them.I’ve invariably felt that it’s not possible to have interaction accurately with a situation or a man or woman with out enticing with all the reviews of that place and that person. The outcome of the single story is this: It robs men and women of dignity. It makes our attention of our equal humanity complex. It emphasizes how we’re one of a kind alternatively than how we’re identical. So what if before my Mexican shuttle, I had followed the immigration debate from all sides, the U.S. And the Mexican? What if my mom had informed us that Fide’s family used to be bad and hardworking? What if we had an African television network that broadcast numerous African reviews all over the place the world? What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls "a stability of studies." What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher, Muhtar Bakare, a notable man who left his job in a financial institution to comply with his dream and a publishing house? Now, the traditional knowledge used to be that Nigerians don’t learn literature.He disagreed. He felt that people who could learn, would read, in case you made literature inexpensive and on hand to them. Quickly after he published my first novel, I went to a tv station in Lagos to do an interview, and a woman who worked there as a messenger came as much as me and mentioned, "I rather liked your novel. I didn’t just like the ending. Now, you have got to write a sequel, and that is what will happen …" (Laughter) and she went on to tell me what to jot down within the sequel. I used to be now not best charmed, I used to be very moved.Here was once a girl, part of the usual masses of Nigerians, who weren’t imagined to be readers. She had not simplest learn the booklet, but she had taken ownership of it and felt justified in telling me what to put in writing within the sequel. Now, what if my roommate knew about my pal Funmi Iyanda, a fearless girl who hosts a tv show in Lagos, and is decided to tell the studies that we prefer to forget? What if my roommate knew concerning the coronary heart system that was carried out within the Lagos medical institution final week? What if my roommate knew about cutting-edge Nigerian tune, proficient persons singing in English and Pidgin, and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo, mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela to Bob Marley to their grandfathers. What if my roommate knew concerning the female attorney who just lately went to court docket in Nigeria to project a ridiculous legislation that required women to get their husband’s consent earlier than renewing their passports? What if my roommate knew about Nollywood, full of progressive persons making movies despite great technical odds, movies so general that they relatively are the excellent instance of Nigerians consuming what they produce? What if my roommate knew about my splendidly ambitious hair braider, who has simply started her possess industry promoting hair extensions? Or in regards to the millions of alternative Nigerians who begin organizations and normally fail, however proceed to nurse ambition? Every time i’m dwelling i’m confronted with the normal sources of infection for many Nigerians: our failed infrastructure, our failed govt, but additionally by the extraordinary resilience of men and women who thrive regardless of the federal government, as a substitute than because of it.I instruct writing workshops in Lagos each summer time, and it’s amazing to me what number of folks apply, what number of persons are keen to put in writing, to inform studies. My Nigerian publisher and i have just started a non-profit referred to as Farafina believe, and we’ve got huge goals of building libraries and refurbishing libraries that already exist and offering books for state colleges that do not have some thing of their libraries, and likewise of organizing tons and tons of workshops, in reading and writing, for all of the individuals who’re eager to tell our many stories.Reports subject. Many stories subject. Reports had been used to dispossess and to malign, but reports will also be used to empower and to humanize. Reviews can break the dignity of a persons, but experiences may additionally restore that damaged dignity. The American creator Alice Walker wrote this about her Southern relatives who had moved to the North. She introduced them to a guide about the Southern lifestyles that they’d left behind. "They sat around, studying the publication themselves, taking note of me read the booklet, and a sort of paradise was once regained." I want to end with this thought: That after we reject the only story, when we understand that there is on no account a single story about any place, we regain a form of paradise. Thanks. (Applause) .

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

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The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

I’m a storyteller. And i want to let you know a number of private reports about what I like to call "the danger of the only story." I grew up on a institution campus in japanese Nigeria. My mom says that I began studying at the age of two, even though I believe 4 is most of the time practically the reality. So I used to be an early reader, and what I learn had been British and American kid’s books. I was additionally an early writer, and after I started to put in writing, at concerning the age of seven, studies in pencil with crayon illustrations that my bad mother was once obligated to read, I wrote precisely the kinds of studies I used to be studying: All my characters were white and blue-eyed, they played within the snow, they ate apples, (Laughter) and so they talked rather a lot in regards to the weather, how beautiful it used to be that the sun had come out.(Laughter) Now, this youngsters that I lived in Nigeria. I had never been outside Nigeria. We didn’t have snow, we ate mangoes, and we in no way talked in regards to the climate, on the grounds that there was once no have to. My characters additionally drank quite a lot of ginger beer, on account that the characters in the British books I learn drank ginger beer. Not ever intellect that I had no idea what ginger beer was once. (Laughter) And for decades afterwards, i’d have a determined desire to taste ginger beer. However that is an additional story. What this demonstrates, I believe, is how impressionable and inclined we are in the face of a narrative, mainly as youngsters. Because all I had learn have been books where characters were international, I had turn out to be satisfied that books through their very nature had to have foreigners in them and needed to be about matters with which I would no longer in my view establish. Now, matters changed once I discovered African books. There weren’t many of them to be had, they usually weren’t rather as handy to find because the overseas books. However since of writers like Chinua Achebe and Camara Laye, I went via a intellectual shift in my notion of literature.I spotted that persons like me, girls with skin the colour of chocolate, whose kinky hair would not kind ponytails, would also exist in literature. I began to jot down about things I well-known. Now, I cherished these American and British books I read. They stirred my imagination. They spread out new worlds for me. However the unintended end result was that i did not comprehend that people like me would exist in literature. So what the discovery of African writers did for me used to be this: It saved me from having a single story of what books are. I come from a conventional, core-category Nigerian family. My father was a professor. My mother used to be an administrator.And so we had, as was the norm, are living-in home help, who would normally come from regional rural villages. So, the yr I grew to become eight, we got a brand new condominium boy. His title used to be Fide. The one factor my mom told us about him used to be that his loved ones was very negative. My mom despatched yams and rice, and our historical clothes, to his loved ones. And after I did not finish my dinner, my mother would say, "conclude your meals! Don’t you understand? Folks like Fide’s household have nothing." So I felt tremendous pity for Fide’s household. Then one Saturday, we went to his village to talk over with, and his mom showed us a fantastically patterned basket made of dyed raffia that his brother had made.I was once startled. It had no longer came about to me that any one in his loved ones would in reality make something. All I had heard about them was how negative they had been, in order that it had become not possible for me to look them as whatever else however negative. Their poverty was my single story of them. Years later, I thought about this once I left Nigeria to move to university in the us. I was once 19.My American roommate used to be shocked by me. She asked where I had realized to communicate English so well, and was once burdened when I stated that Nigeria happened to have English as its authentic language. She requested if she could take heed to what she called my "tribal track," and used to be as a result very dissatisfied when I produced my tape of Mariah Carey. (Laughter) She assumed that i didn’t know how you can use a range. What struck me was once this: She had felt sorry for me even before she noticed me. Her default position towards me, as an African, used to be a kind of patronizing, good-meaning pity. My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe. On this single story, there was once no probability of Africans being just like her whatsoever, no possibility of emotions extra complicated than pity, no possibility of a connection as human equals.I must say that earlier than I went to the U.S., I failed to consciously determine as African. However in the U.S., each time Africa got here up, humans became to me. Certainly not intellect that I knew nothing about places like Namibia. But I did come to include this new identity, and in many methods I consider of myself now as African. Despite the fact that I nonetheless get particularly irritable when Africa is known as a country, the most contemporary instance being my or else exclusive flight from Lagos two days in the past, wherein there was an announcement on the Virgin flight about the charity work in "India, Africa and other international locations." (Laughter) So, after I had spent some years in the U.S.As an African, i began to comprehend my roommate’s response to me. If I had no longer grown up in Nigeria, and if all I knew about Africa were from standard pics, I too would suppose that Africa was a situation of attractive landscapes, lovely animals, and incomprehensible folks, combating mindless wars, death of poverty and AIDS, unable to speak for themselves and waiting to be saved with the aid of a sort, white foreigner. I might see Africans in the equal method that I, as a youngster, had seen Fide’s household. This single story of Africa eventually comes, I suppose, from Western literature. Now, here’s a quote from the writing of a London service provider known as John Lok, who sailed to west Africa in 1561 and stored a fascinating account of his voyage.After regarding the black Africans as "beasts who haven’t any houses," he writes, "they’re also folks without heads, having their mouth and eyes in their breasts." Now, I’ve laughed at any time when I’ve learn this. And one have got to admire the imagination of John Lok. However what’s fundamental about his writing is that it represents the establishing of a tradition of telling African reports in the West: A tradition of Sub-Saharan Africa as a situation of negatives, of change, of darkness, of men and women who, within the phrases of the individual poet Rudyard Kipling, are "half satan, half child." And so, i began to realize that my American roommate need to have during her lifestyles visible and heard one of a kind versions of this single story, as had a professor, who once informed me that my novel used to be not "authentically African." Now, I was once relatively willing to contend that there have been a quantity of matters fallacious with the novel, that it had failed in a quantity of areas, however I had no longer particularly imagined that it had failed at attaining anything referred to as African authenticity.In fact, i didn’t recognize what African authenticity was. The professor instructed me that my characters had been too much like him, an knowledgeable and center-classification man. My characters drove cars. They were not starving. For that reason they weren’t authentically African. But I ought to quickly add that I too am simply as responsible within the question of the only story. Just a few years ago, I visited Mexico from the U.S. The political climate within the U.S. On the time was irritating, and there were debates occurring about immigration. And, as more often than not happens in the united states, immigration grew to become synonymous with Mexicans. There were endless stories of Mexicans as folks who have been fleecing the healthcare approach, sneaking throughout the border, being arrested on the border, that sort of factor. I recollect running round on my first day in Guadalajara, observing the persons going to work, rolling up tortillas in the marketplace, smoking, laughing. I take into account first feeling mild surprise. After which, I used to be overwhelmed with disgrace. I spotted that I had been so immersed within the media insurance policy of Mexicans that they’d come to be one thing in my mind, the abject immigrant.I had purchased into the only story of Mexicans and that i might no longer were extra ashamed of myself. So that’s learn how to create a single story, show a people as one factor, as only one factor, again and again, and that’s what they grow to be. It’s inconceivable to talk about the single story without speakme about energy. There’s a word, an Igbo phrase, that I consider about whenever I suppose about the vigor structures of the sector, and it is "nkali." it can be a noun that loosely interprets to "to be bigger than a different." Like our fiscal and political worlds, reports too are outlined via the principle of nkali: How they are advised, who tells them, when they are advised, how many reviews are told, are fairly dependent on vigour.Vigor is the ability now not just to tell the story of yet another character, but to make it the definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you want to dispossess a people, the simplest technique to do it’s to inform their story and to begin with, "secondly." the story with the arrows of the Native americans, and now not with the appearance of the British, and you have got an absolutely one of a kind story. Begin the story with the failure of the African state, and now not with the colonial construction of the African state, and you’ve got an totally distinctive story. I recently spoke at a school where a pupil informed me that it used to be this sort of disgrace that Nigerian men have been bodily abusers like the father persona in my novel. I told him that I had just learn a novel known as "American Psycho" — (Laughter) — and that it was once this sort of disgrace that younger american citizens were serial murderers.(Laughter) (Applause) Now, surely I mentioned this in a fit of mild irritation. (Laughter) but it will never have happened to me to feel that just seeing that I had learn a novel in which a personality was once a serial killer that he was come what may consultant of all americans. This is not considering the fact that i am a greater individual than that scholar, but for the reason that of the us’s cultural and economic power, I had many experiences of america. I had learn Tyler and Updike and Steinbeck and Gaitskill. I did not have a single story of the usa. When I realized, some years in the past, that writers were expected to have had quite sad childhoods to be effective, i began to suppose about how I might invent horrible things my dad and mom had finished to me.(Laughter) but the truth is that I had an extraordinarily joyful childhood, full of laughter and love, in an awfully close-knit household. But I additionally had grandfathers who died in refugee camps. My cousin Polle died since he could no longer get enough healthcare. Certainly one of my closest friends, Okoloma, died in a airplane crash on the grounds that our fireplace vehicles didn’t have water. I grew up under repressive army governments that devalued education, so that mostly, my parents weren’t paid their salaries. And so, as a child, I saw jam disappear from the breakfast table, then margarine disappeared, then bread became too steeply-priced, then milk grew to become rationed. And most of all, a sort of normalized political fear invaded our lives.All of these stories make me who i’m. But to insist on handiest these bad studies is to flatten my experience and to miss the many other experiences that shaped me. The single story creates stereotypes, and the predicament with stereotypes will not be that they are unfaithful, but that they’re incomplete. They make one story end up the only story. Of course, Africa is a continent filled with catastrophes: There are mammoth ones, such because the horrific rapes in Congo and miserable ones, akin to the fact that 5,000 individuals practice for one job vacancy in Nigeria. However there are other stories that are not about catastrophe, and it is very principal, it’s only as major, to speak about them.I’ve invariably felt that it’s not possible to have interaction accurately with a situation or a man or woman with out enticing with all the reviews of that place and that person. The outcome of the single story is this: It robs men and women of dignity. It makes our attention of our equal humanity complex. It emphasizes how we’re one of a kind alternatively than how we’re identical. So what if before my Mexican shuttle, I had followed the immigration debate from all sides, the U.S. And the Mexican? What if my mom had informed us that Fide’s family used to be bad and hardworking? What if we had an African television network that broadcast numerous African reviews all over the place the world? What the Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe calls "a stability of studies." What if my roommate knew about my Nigerian publisher, Muhtar Bakare, a notable man who left his job in a financial institution to comply with his dream and a publishing house? Now, the traditional knowledge used to be that Nigerians don’t learn literature.He disagreed. He felt that people who could learn, would read, in case you made literature inexpensive and on hand to them. Quickly after he published my first novel, I went to a tv station in Lagos to do an interview, and a woman who worked there as a messenger came as much as me and mentioned, "I rather liked your novel. I didn’t just like the ending. Now, you have got to write a sequel, and that is what will happen …" (Laughter) and she went on to tell me what to jot down within the sequel. I used to be now not best charmed, I used to be very moved.Here was once a girl, part of the usual masses of Nigerians, who weren’t imagined to be readers. She had not simplest learn the booklet, but she had taken ownership of it and felt justified in telling me what to put in writing within the sequel. Now, what if my roommate knew about my pal Funmi Iyanda, a fearless girl who hosts a tv show in Lagos, and is decided to tell the studies that we prefer to forget? What if my roommate knew concerning the coronary heart system that was carried out within the Lagos medical institution final week? What if my roommate knew about cutting-edge Nigerian tune, proficient persons singing in English and Pidgin, and Igbo and Yoruba and Ijo, mixing influences from Jay-Z to Fela to Bob Marley to their grandfathers. What if my roommate knew concerning the female attorney who just lately went to court docket in Nigeria to project a ridiculous legislation that required women to get their husband’s consent earlier than renewing their passports? What if my roommate knew about Nollywood, full of progressive persons making movies despite great technical odds, movies so general that they relatively are the excellent instance of Nigerians consuming what they produce? What if my roommate knew about my splendidly ambitious hair braider, who has simply started her possess industry promoting hair extensions? Or in regards to the millions of alternative Nigerians who begin organizations and normally fail, however proceed to nurse ambition? Every time i’m dwelling i’m confronted with the normal sources of infection for many Nigerians: our failed infrastructure, our failed govt, but additionally by the extraordinary resilience of men and women who thrive regardless of the federal government, as a substitute than because of it.I instruct writing workshops in Lagos each summer time, and it’s amazing to me what number of folks apply, what number of persons are keen to put in writing, to inform studies. My Nigerian publisher and i have just started a non-profit referred to as Farafina believe, and we’ve got huge goals of building libraries and refurbishing libraries that already exist and offering books for state colleges that do not have some thing of their libraries, and likewise of organizing tons and tons of workshops, in reading and writing, for all of the individuals who’re eager to tell our many stories.Reports subject. Many stories subject. Reports had been used to dispossess and to malign, but reports will also be used to empower and to humanize. Reviews can break the dignity of a persons, but experiences may additionally restore that damaged dignity. The American creator Alice Walker wrote this about her Southern relatives who had moved to the North. She introduced them to a guide about the Southern lifestyles that they’d left behind. "They sat around, studying the publication themselves, taking note of me read the booklet, and a sort of paradise was once regained." I want to end with this thought: That after we reject the only story, when we understand that there is on no account a single story about any place, we regain a form of paradise. Thanks. (Applause) .

I saw:

Wonder Woman- I admit I was almost nervous about seeing this film.

 Wonder Woman was a key figure in my childhood. I had the Ms Magazine book reprinting golden age Wonder Woman comics, held together with packing tape from my carrying it everywhere, that I read and reread. My best friend and I got in the sort of heated debates only five or six get in over what Wonder Woman’s starting pose for “bullets and bracelets” should be. My best friend going with the then running tv show’s crossed wrists seemed silly when you gotta be ready to move, and it wasn’t like that in the original story. We played at being Wonder Woman and made up stories usung our dolls. The only Halloween costume I still have is the Wonder Woman one from back then, an object I take great care of. ** Heck, I still have my dolls, pencil sharpener, puzzle book and the rest of the Amazon Princess gear I gobbled up...

My Mom, whose father never approved of comics, had secretly read them as a little girl back in the 1940s, so approved whole heartedly. In fact Wonder Woman related objects have been a sort of running theke for gifts between us (me giving her a Wonder Woman plush bunny at Easter and her giving me a mug at Christmas being the most recent). 

So if both my mother and I have waited most if our lives and through scores of Batman and Superman movies for a Wonder Woman feature film, why the anxiety?

Well, because despite my love of the concept of Wonder Woman, I have really disliked some of the takes on the character over the years. As a little girl adoring the ‘40s comics and the ‘70s tv show (though the Superfriends take was fine for something so “childish”...I was a mature little tyke! LOL), , I’d tried the comics at the newstand and went “This is stupid!”. I ended up for some years buying it just for the Huntress back up stories. At my first comic store trip at 14 I tried some very cheap battered old copies from like around 1960 and....Ick! NO! But then along came the George Perez run, and here was MY Wonder Woman. I loved the comic during his years, but unfortuantely it wasn’t forever. The new creators had a vision of the character, both in personality and increasingly over appearance, that was dramatically different than me. Over the years tales of her have been a roller coaster...here feminist, there sexist, here a figure of peace, there a snarling war monger. 

So here is the thing, I admit my image of Wonder Woman has been rather specific. I saw her as someone that can kick your ass, but would rather not if she doesn’t have to. Her first interest is peace, despite being prepared before. If talk fails, she will use force out of a need to protect, but that force will be the minimal necessary for the job. As in she would prefer to restrain you than beat you to a bloody pulp. My Wonder Woman would kill as a last resort, shows compassion and kindness and has a sense of humor. She smiles as often as she glowers. I realize this is a reflection of my basic moral code. Did Wonder Woman shape my world view, or did I take to depictions of Wonder Woman that reflected what I believed? 

Which ever, my anxiety came from all those other Wonder Woman versions. The ones that were grim and brutal concerned me more than the old fashioned sexist ones simply because in the modern age the idea of “strength” seems to involve the ability to kill. The recent DC films hadn’t filled me with much hope. Bystanders should matter to a hero (Looking at you “Man of Steel” city smasher, when you could have taken your fight with Zod to a cornfield or the moon or...). A “gritty” Wonder Woman wasn’t something I wanted. 

Luckily it looks like I wasn’t the only one. Not that there isn’t plenty of violence  and our heroine does rack up a body count.

It begins by telling us of Wonder Woman AKA Princess Diana’s childhood, with the only little girl on the island if Amazon’s running off wanting to learn to fight. And OMG! Isn’t the woman chasing after her trying to catch the little scamp Dayna from Blake’s 7?????? Wow! Yep it really was Josette Simon!*** We get to see the child’s over protective mother reluctantly allow her demigod of a daughter get trained. We also see Diana embrace whole completely the legends and ideals of her people. These things always turn out to be a lot more complicated when you grow up...

And grow up she does. A WWI pilot crashes lands at the island, followed by pursued by Germans, leading to bloodshed and a corpse strewn beach in paradise. Finding out about the World War in progress, Diana wants to take the pilot (Steve Trevor, of course) back into the world, partly because he’s gotten a hold of info about a new a deadlier than ever before gas cooked up by a German scientist, a woman with an interesting bit of mask work covering her experimentation damage. Her main reason is the belief that such a war could only be the result of Ares, god of war, and that as an Amazon she is duty bound to stop him. Naturally, her first step in growing up us to defy he parent and go off to do what she believes is right.

Once out in our world Diana is a fish out of water, coping with a world where women don’t even yet have the right to vote and fashions are most definiately not conducive to battle. She is also incredibly innocent, with a sort of adolecent passionate belief in the world as a simply place. Just go to the battle front, kill Ares, and the world will be at peace. And so, through the story, she comes to learn the world is more complicated, but comes through quickly from the dark disillusionment that brings to find again the hope deep within, only now with a more mature understanding behind it.

Or, you know, lots of fighting and CGI work as Wonder Woman leaps over tall buildings in a single bound...oh wait, that’s the guy in blue tights...But she does leap, off the charts strong. There is a detour for brief romance, much to my mother’s annoyance. (My mother grimiced and muttered as the kissing started.) ****And there is the pyrotechnic superbeing versus superbeing ending, plus the emotional blow of a tragic sacrifice.  That sort if thing.

I liked the choice of WWI, not simply because WWII has been done by superhero films already and we are in the anniversary period for that war, but because it was a particularly messy, large and ugly war. It works thematically, both for Diana to assume Ares is behind all of it and to realize humans really are capable of such horrors, without the more simple good guy/ bad guy  dichotomy of WWII. 

On the other hand, I was a bit uncomfortable with how once Steve showed up he became more of the driving force in the story. In a way it makes sense. He has the experience in our world and knows how it works. He would seem the adult to her not yet fully mature personality in this sort of coming of age story. Yet, a few times I was a bit bothered and had a fleeting “SHE is supposed to be the hero of this story!” moments.

Over all I really enjoyed it. It can’t live up to the hype, but that’s okay because nothing ever does. My mother, who is notoriously hard to please when she has an idea of a character, gave this Wonder Woman her endorsement, saying that this one got the kindness as well a strength. But really, I don’t know if I can give a proper verdict when I have so much emotions tied up with the very existance of the film. Watching the first few minutes of the film I noticed I had tears on my cheeks. After 76 years there was FINALLY a Wonder Woman movie, so for now my feeling is just ....“YES!!!!”

**There are no photos of my wearing it. On fact there are no photos of me wearing ANY Halloween costume! What’s up with that? I dunno, but it just sort of happened. Talking about the costume with Mom she said there should be photos and was shocked when I pointed out the only Halloween pics I have are with jack o’lanterns, and many of them. My folks just didn’t even realize they weren’t thinking to take pictures of us growing up......

***I have a story about my best friend in high school reacting to a pic of her...but that’s for another time...

**** Since this week was my parents’ anniversary and Pop was called “Steve” I think it was reminding her of her grief too. 

If you’re using lockdown to get back in touch and apologise to your ex, don’t

(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk) metro illustrations Illo – How will you have office romances and friendships when everyone’s working remotely?

It’s the modern-day Cinderella story: boy matches with girl, they go on some dates and it starts to go somewhere. 

Sex, and the promise of a new relationship feels good. She tells her friends – ‘it went so well!’ – and looks hopefully towards the next date, only for him to quite suddenly disappear into the abyss. 

She wonders what she did wrong. Was she too keen? Not keen enough? Overdressed? Not pretty enough? 

Then two years later he reappears, uttering those all important words: ‘Long time no speak! You don’t have to reply, but…’ 

This particular move has been given plenty of labels already: zombieing (speaks for itself), submarining (in which a ghoster confidently emerges months later acting like nothing happened). Now, it’s had a lockdown makeover. We’ve entered the age of the F**kboy’s Reckoning*. 

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Allow me to explain. 

The world has gone topsy turvy, which means that business as usual for anyone — f**kboys included — is no more. For a lot of us that has resulted in an excess of free time. Time to twiddle your thumbs. Time to think. 

Unfortunately, though, all that thinking time has translated into a surge of repentance for many f**kboys who — starved of access to new wanking thinking material while stuck at home — have been finding solace in delving into their repertoire of past lovers. 

Faced with all their past wrongdoing and unable to distract themselves with new lovers, they’re emerging repentant for their sins — and they really want you to know.

Over Easter (quite fittingly) this happened to me. Someone I dated a few years ago who later disappeared into thin air was resurrected in my DMs, apparently not dead afterall. 

At first I read the message outlining his contrition over wrongful behaviour and I couldn’t place the name — I’ll leave it to you to decide what that says about the calibre of his contemporaries.

‘Ohhhh….HIM’, I thought eventually. His crimes had not been too serious… comparatively speaking. We had been on a couple of really good dates a few years ago before he ghosted me. 

‘Okay’, I thought, ‘But why now?’ Why was he getting in touch in the middle of a global pandemic years after the fact?

There’s something almost comforting in the predictability of it — in the inevitability of the return. These ‘boomerang boys’ you lobbed out into the ether that are now on their return voyage back from the abyss to tell you they’re ‘really f**king sorry — honestly’.

They hope you don’t mind them getting in touch. They apologise for disturbing your life — it’s just….it’s just they’ve been thinking. About what went down with the two of you. About the part they played, or the way they left you. They had some stuff going on, they’ll say, but it wasn’t fair, you didn’t deserve it. 

‘Sorry’, they’ll say, and then reassure you that they’re not looking for anything in return, just that they feel compelled to apologise.

To any f**kboys out there edging towards a moment of reckoning, I have some advice: keep it in your notepad pal

Now, you might be thinking, ‘that’s nice isn’t it, that they want to repent, to apologise’. Of course, I can’t speak for everyone. But, for me, it’s a hard ‘no’. 

Yes, it is nice to be apologised to for pain you have been exposed to at the hands of another. But make no mistake about it, this behaviour is more about appeasing the conscience of the ghost, rather than a selfless act to rebalance your emotional health. 

There’s a self-importance to it all that is wildly frustrating — not only are they asking you to let them off the hook for something they did in the past, but there’s also an assumption that whatever form your engagement took was so meaningful that it would provoke a deep hurt only remedied by the grand gesture of their apology.

Perhaps the lockdown and the whole dystopian scenario currently playing out in countries all across the world has thrown his life into sharp focus. That sitting alone with his feelings has caused him to reflect on past behaviours and recognise wrongdoing. Good. That’s honestly productive behaviour. The thing is, I don’t need to hear about it.

Because to ask someone to forgive inexcusable behaviour that caused them hurt in the past — apropos of nothing — means shifting the emotional legwork involved in reaching a resolution back onto them. 

Not only that but it also doesn’t consider that maybe the person doesn’t need reminding of sh***y past behaviour inflicted on them in a time of global crisis. But mostly because it’s a paper-thin grasp at a bit of attention when they’re presumably at home feeling lonely… and in need of some tit pics. 

Of course, maybe it’s genuine. And I’m not arguing for a lack of repentance. It’s an expressly Good Thing to recognise past mistakes and learn from them. It’s how we grow as humans. 

The point is, you just don’t know what the context is when you barge into someone’s life unannounced and, ultimately, any apology like this has very little to do with its subject, and everything to do with easing the sender’s own guilt.

To any f**kboys out there edging towards a moment of reckoning, I have some advice: keep it in your notepad pal.

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If you really must reach out, try a simple ‘Hey how are you?’

Simple, effective and gives the other person the power to engage if and when it feels safe and comfortable to — it puts the ball in their court. If they’re ready for or interested in your apology, your message invites them to let you know.

But if not, then maybe — just maybe — sitting with your feelings and reflecting on your behaviour is enough. Maybe instead of asking forgiveness you could make a commitment to never treating someone like that ever again. Just a thought.

For the moment, my f**kboy has been left on read. Although I might send him this article as a response. 

*There are definitely female and non-binary versions of this character, but I speak from personal experience here.

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