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lilietsblog · 1 year

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so in between the power outages and taking care of my grandma I rediscovered a book series

- it takes place in Moscow, starting in 1991

- yes, that’s the very end of the Soviet Union and the very start of the, uh, Bandit Nineties. The economy going to pieces, organized crime surging. Unless I’m mistaken, the organized crime wave ended with the successful crime bosses all becoming legitimate businessmen/politicians, so, you know, yeah. The organized crime won that one.

- (yes, I’m referring to Putin and his crowd. However, the book doesn’t. All the politicians are made up and whenever ‘the president’ comes up, he is left nameless. It’s not political except in acknowledging realities of the time)

- the main character is a cop, in the murder investigation department

- no not like that

- the main character is a thirty-two year old woman (at the start, the series continues iirc into her fifties)

- she is not athletic, has a bad back and bad blood circulation. Also anxiety / impostor syndrome, though that’s mostly unrelated

- she is an analyst, hired by a department head who decided to lean into the whole “we are not legally allowed to do police brutality anymore” thing and do things the smart way instead

- notably, the writer has, actually, herself worked in that, ah, industry, though I believe not in that specific postion. Still, she knows how it works, from formal organization to interpersonal dynamics

- the books are not traditional murder mysteries per se, in that we get clues alongside the main character and have the chance to decipher what really happened along the investigation. The story is multi-POV, shifting not only between the mc and her coworkers, but also between the investigation-ees, including frequently the murderer, frequently immediately named such in the narration. Of course the audience doesn’t get all the answers immediately, but still, it often becomes obvious who did it to the readers way before it does to the mc, and the tension lies more in “will she figure it out, and will it be in time for [...]”

- basically it’s a psychological drama centered around murder investigations

- the series is not what I would call copaganda, on any level. The mc herself does not take bribes (nor is she usually offered them, being too low in the hierarchy), nor does she really take full advantage of the “acquaintanceship” system the whole, er, society runs on, due to aforementioned anxiety / impostor syndrome. But the series is VERY frank about how the system works (not that any Russian/post-soviet reader is surprised by that, as it is VERY frankly how it works. My family has had nice things because of where our family members worked and who they knew, too), and the main character does go through acquaintances instead of official channels to find out information (often information that’s technically illegal for them to give her) approximately half the time. It’s Just How The System Works. Her boss runs on full acquaintanceship system, too, and there’s at least one investigation they “win” by acquiring blackmail on a politician through a con. (A rapist was being protected by his politician relatives...) Police brutality is acknowledged as a thing, Though It’s Illegal Now. Not defended, not condemned, just... there as part of the setting.

- the main character and her coworkers genuinely care about justice, putting away murderers, and so on. However, the series explicitly goes out of its way to reject black and white morality. The criminals are not “the bad guys”, the cops are not “the good guys”. It’s more... law vs chaos. It’s brought up that apparently some of the criminals the mc’s boss had put away later came to see him with a bottle of alcohol because in the process of investigation / arrest he got them out of a bad situation / saved their family / etc. Approximately all of the police structure is hopelessly corrupt, in the sense that the mc’s boss is also very much expected by his colleagues and superiors to play along - and he sometimes does and sometimes doesn’t, depending on the situation. In the case of a guy who raped a 12 year old girl he doesn’t, see the blackmail situation above. He’s buddies with at least one crime boss, with a “you know and I know but you just try to catch me” relationship. (He also lies shamelessly to that crime boss for a scheme where they get a chance to catch an assassin normally protected by the organized crime system)

- the main character’s love life is... very queer. Nobody’s gay (in the main cast, there are gay that-book-only characters later) (unless I forgot someone gay in the main cast, which is possible), but the mc is VERY on the aroace spectrum (complete with the “I’m not a woman, I’m a computer” “I am incapable of normal human emotions” not-quite-angst-as-she-has-just-accepted-it-as-fact-and-is-comfortable-with-it), and her overall situation is very Like That. She’s in a long-term sort-of-relationship with a childhood friend who has a crush on her, but also gets crushes on other women all the time, only to burn out quickly and come back to her complaining about his disappointment in women in general who are not her. This is normal and she is very comfortable in the relationship. Eventually (into her forties I think) they actually get married, because she gets the epiphany that she’s actually happy with him and loves him very much, and romantic feelings can get fucked given she’s not had any since teenagehood. She also sometimes sleeps with men who are not him, and flirts with more, sometimes for work, sometimes for personal reasons, only to inevitably conclude that yeah she’s Too Aroace For This. Zero jealousy is involved.

- other arrangements along these lines also come up in various books, and I think it’s this series that opened my mind way back when to the concept of “marraiage as a platonic cohabitation agreement”. A gay guy who’s married to a woman who has her own adventures and he his own, and they’re best friends and partners and each other’s shoulder to cry on about romantic troubles - this happened at least once.

- the series is occasionally stereotypically “crazy psychopaths” ableist, it certainly is in the first book, but overall it leans more towards a very... incisive take on people just being That Way (with no particular terminology involved). Like the main character’s anxiety (and probably autism tbh, though the writer seems unaware of the concept)

- there are many topics like that. Fatphobia gets a whirl many times, visibly without the writer having any idea that the topic is somehow political or controversial. She’s just writing what she sees, you know? Same with homophobia etc. The writer’s mission is to give black and white morality kick in the nuts and just write How Life Is, and she is just. Very good at it.

- like, the criminals aren’t always The Bad Guys. At least one murderer is a teenage girl who was abused by her father and so desperate to escape, she did Very Stupid Things (if wearing lipstick is as bad as murder...). Her father has understandable motives in turn, though not in an excuse way. The narrative is just genreally very... non-preachy and non-judgemental towards people involved, even people like professional assassins and (worse) professional big bosses who don’t give a second thought to stealing/conning people, and when caught in a blackmail situation because of it only hesitate some before escalating to murder over it, and mostly because of “what if I get caught”

- the understanding of everything is very... societal/systemic, in a very good way. No Shit People Who Live Here Are This Way, the books say every time, while also saying People Have Different Personalities And That’s Normal (and It’s Not The Personality That Makes A Murderer, It’s Personality In Systemic Context)

- like, it’s just... so good, holy shit. While also occasionally being bad in places where the writer is just kind of making shit up and the ignorance is audible (see “psychopath” ableism - the writer is doing her best to write her characters as people with coherent motivations and logic, but she just doesn’t know enough to nail it)

- there is so much... sympathy for like... mundane life situations. A character who’s driven to being an absolute piece of shit by living conditions of “five people in a single-room apartment including a disabled elderly relative you Have to take care of”. And nobody’s demonized? Like. Situations that just suck for everybody involved and nobody’s to blame, particularly. And if someone is, they still get sympathy.

- like... there’s a character who was denied an opportunity in Soviet Union because of the systemic antisemitism, but the guy who got to break her the news was very awkward about it and didn’t want to say the antisemitic thing, so he was ableist about it instead. Oops. That person is a bit character who played an unquestionably negative role, but they still get sympathy from the narrative for their choices - they said the worse-for-this-particular-person thing while trying to avoid, you know. The other thing that’s also very bad.

- i would like to reiterate that the main character is an autistic aspec woman with chronic illnesses who starts at thirty-two and progresses into her fifties over the course of hte narrative.

- (she loses her impostor syndrome along the way, as the book series is very much the “genius detective figuring it all out from tangential clues” genre and her achievements and reputation mount)

- oh yeah, to say that the series tackles sexism is to say that Karl Marx’s “Capital” tackles economic inequality. “People underestimate women and they really shouldn’t” is, according to the writer’s foreword, the original idea that sparkled the premise for the first book and then also the entire series. (”People underestimate fat women and they really shouldn’t” appears as a consistent sub-theme later on as a new prosecutor character enters the scene at some point and sticks around.)

- like, holy shit guys. I hadn’t realized how good it is (despite the... The Flaws...) until this reread...

#books #literature #marinina #theres also a tv series based on the books but i have no idea how good it is #i dont watch tv #anastasia kamenskaya my beloved

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betagrove · 10 months

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Finding out that "The Bear" isn't a show about a fat gay man is kind of devastating

#i dont watch tv

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leechs · 10 months

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Seen the new Desantis ad? It’s real.

send a youtube link

#i dont watch tv

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myfeedsworld · 1 year

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youtube

The Only Thing That Stops You Is YOU | Get Out Of The Truck In this video, we explore how our own self-doubt and limiting beliefs can be the biggest obstacles to our success. We'll look at the idea that the only thing that holds us back from achieving our goals is ourselves. We'll discuss strategies for overcoming our doubts and making positive changes in our lives.

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taikoturtle · 2 years

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My Friends: have you seen this TV show?

Me: no, but thanks to tumblr,

#i dont watch everything #but thanks to tumblr #i’ll never need to #i absorb TV shows through tumblr mutual osmosis #this is how i feel with all the motherland fort salem posts right now #i know the character’s names #and a vague idea of things #but i think ive only ever actually watched 30 min of episode 1 lol

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lovemoroporo · 4 months

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warm ups w the trio

#the reason i joined this godforsaken site getting a faithful reboot is crazy. and this cast fr >>>> BUT DONT WATCH IT ON DISNEY #the fact that i was younger than percy when i read lightning thief and now am grovers age in the tv series is also crazy. anyways #pjo tv show #pjo #pjo fanart #percy jackson and the olympians #percy jackson #pjo series #grover underwood #annabeth chase

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robotpussy · 3 months

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#polls #personally i dont like it but thats only because i dont like fandom. the type of stuff that gets the most attention #in fandom usually just annoys me idk. how to explain it in a way that wont come off as me saying #fanfic or whatever is evil its just the fact that it just bombards alot of the conversations?#i prefer it when the thing i like has 10 fans and theyre all on one message board or forum #like for example mtvs downtown is getting popular but apart from annoying #'me and the mid nerd guy i copped by being weird and sexy' posts its not awful....#but then smth like... clone high or smth i suddenly cant remember ppl just got so annoying abt that show??#like i cant stand it i dont even bother watching it anymore plus its just weird to me now like i can't watch it regardless #im just rambling but personally i do not like it. like i dont want what i like to get a revival #i dont want anything new! i just want to enjoy the thing and move on 😭#fandom seems to prioritize shipping and memes over evaluating or simply just enjoying something!#this goes for anything. music film tv books....

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sugarcoatednightshade · 5 months

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thinking about how Humans Are Space Orcs stories always talk about how indestructible humans are, our endurance, our ability to withstand common poisons, etc. and thats all well and good, its really fun to read, but it gets repetitive after a while because we aren't all like that.

And that got me thinking about why this trope is so common in the first place, and the conclusion I came to is actually kind of obvious if you think about it. Not everyone is allowed to go into space. This is true now, with the number of physical restrictions placed on astronauts (including height limits), but I imagine it's just as strict in some imaginary future where humans are first coming into contact with alien species. Because in that case there will definitely be military personnel alongside any possible diplomatic parties.

And I imagine that all interactions aliens have ever had up until this point have been with trained personnel. Even basic military troops conform to this standard, to some degree. So aliens meet us and they're shocked and horrified to discover that we have no obvious weaknesses, we're all either crazy smart or crazy strong (still always a little crazy, academia and war will do that to you), and not only that but we like, literally all the same height so there's no way to tell any of us apart.

And Humans Are Death Worlders stories spread throughout the galaxy. Years or decades or centuries of interspecies suspicion and hostilities preventing any alien from setting foot/claw/limb/appendage/etc. on Earth until slowly more beings are allowed to come through. And not just diplomats who keep to government buildings, but tourists. Exchange students. Temporary visitors granted permission to go wherever they please, so they go out in search of 'real terran culture' and what do they find?

Humans with innate heart defects that prevent them from drinking caffeine. Humans with chronic pain and chronic fatigue who lack the boundless endurance humans are supposedly famous for. Humans too tall or too short or too fat to be allowed into space. Humans who are so scared of the world they need to take pills just to function. Humans with IBS who can't stand spicy foods, capsaicin really is poison to them. Lactose intolerance and celiac disease, my god all the autoimmune disorders out there, humans who struggle to function because their own bodies fight them. Humans who bruise easily and take too long to heal. Humans who sustained one too many concussions and now struggle to talk and read and write. Humans who've had strokes. Humans who were born unable to talk or hear or speak, and humans who through some accident lost that ability later.

Aliens visit Earth, and do you know what they find? Humanity, in all its wholeness.

#humans are space orcs #humans in space #earth is a deathworld #earth is space australia #tagging this so that ppl can find it even though the space shit i write about always feels like its in direct opposition to all the pop tag #also my biggest pet peeve in all of writing - all writing. everywhere. not just in fanfic but books and tv and movies too - is when people #write off an injury by saying something like 'oh nothing bad just a couple of scratches some bruising and a minor concussion' like girl WHA #MiNOr ConCuSSioN is such an oxymoron and I hate it so fucking much. like i dont care how minor it was thats still brain damage.#especially when the same character does this more than once. like im sorry ms. but uh. you can no longer read. or talk eloquently. sorry #evidence: my brother has had two 'minor' concussions and now cannot read write or speak without tremendous effort. And like its totally #ruined my ability to watch action shows/movies because now i just sit there and count how many concussions there characters are getting #after a certain point it becomes totally impossible to believe that these guys are able to function. (still fun to watch tho im not a hater

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carnivalcarriondiscarded · 5 months

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THHAT STICKER THING IS SO ADORABLE AIUUUGHH'

ough yeah i made myself Emotional.. just a bit...

#sticker party!!!!#lovin' the little man!#he appreciates the attention...#love these grimy guys. they. yeah #this quartet has a special place in my heart i dont know why #they just... theyre interesting... they have funny dynamics...#along with the addition of 'theyre all kind of losing it' yk yk #BUT YEAH STICKERS!!! STICKERS!!!#sticker party and then they can all curl up on the couch and watch tv #rambles from the bog #scribble salad #wh lights out au #sticker giving is a love language. im right #who cares about kissing the homies. put a sticker on their face #wally probably keeps that left sleeve rolled up to display the peace sign sticker #the sticker on his face peels of quickly i imagine... too much Goop...#sad :(#its ok they can put another star on his chest or somethin. or on his forehead #also obligatory WOAGH COLORED LIGHTS OUT 🫵🫵🫵🫵

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sc098321 · 10 months

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Lois Lane's design is so cute!!! I haven't watched the show yet, but hopefully will soon

Also started a 30 days drawing challenge, hopefully will finish this one (i'm not sure because i do not like challenges neither do i like uploading on any social media)

#it's just that the prospect of me having to go to another platform to watch this and that is so tiring #but i dont have a tv so #lois lane #my adventures with superman #superman #lois #fanart #30 days drawing challenge

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rearranging-deck-chairs · 5 months

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do you ever imagine what it would be like if instead of just dubbing and losing all the britishness in translation, what had happened with doctor who was national adaptations like they do with game shows like masterchef or whatever or uh skam thats a better comparison, and every country had their own series of doctors, all at different numbers like if the dutch show spinned off when the english was at 4 or smth but we just started with our own dutch doctor number 1

and maybe they'd like start off just sort of copying stories and localising them but then as time goes on these national spin offs would you know start building on their own lore and seasonal arcs that would get removed further and further from the british original until it's like 2024 and you've got 15 national doctor whos running somewhat simultaneously all in different seasons and all preoccupied with INCREDIBLY different stories

it'd be like 'whos your favourite doctor' and you'd be like uh the polish 3rd or the brazilian 12th it's a toss up. what if some countries go through doctors way faster and theyre like on doctor 44 and youre like WHAT are they DOING to them

and can you imagne the fucking CNAONS can yuo IMAGINE can you IMAGINE the FANDOM when SOMEone decided to make looms canon and all the losers come out of the woodwork to say well thats not REALLY canon bc it's not the british version. imagine the localisations, the reinforcements of every countrys national history. what would countries who have more history being colonised than colonising do with gallifrey. how would every Important PartTM of the show be transformed by the perspective of another team. what even are identified as the Important PartsTM of the show. maybe one country decides the tardis should change appearance every week. maybe one country is like we're just gonna put all the edas on television. the amount of OPINIONS can you imagine

#anyway im gonna think about who i'd want to play dutch doctor who now #i dont think i know enough dutch actors i dont watch a lot of dutch tv fhkjghjkh #it's fun to imagine tho #if only bc we'd get 10 times the doctor who #i think it's just interesting to think about bc doctor who is so british #like to think about okay what would WE do with this #what would dutch doctor who look like #what are the national values that would be revealed #also just to see so many more actors get a chance at the role would be really fun #to compare stories #like parallel timelines

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