I was thinking a bit today about the word "queer." I identified really strongly with it in my early 20s, then soured on it as I got older. I think one part of it was my building political knowledge and understanding. As I learned, I was able to see more clearly how "queer" and its politics perpetuate rather than reject or disturb dominant, hetero, patriarchal paradigms. Another part of it was my realization (half through therapy [sorry anti-psych folks], half through getting older) that my deep internal sense of freakishness and difference had less to do with my innate nature, more to do with how other people perceived and treated me. On both a political and a personal level, it seemed to me that accepting "queer" as my identity was an acceptance of both levels of mythology--the heterosexual mythology, the one that I was trying so hard to forcefully reject, and the interpersonal mythology, the one that was as much self-inflicted ("No, I can't go to that, I won't make friends, they'll think I'm weird, and I deserve it, I'm a freak, I'm going to be alone forever, nobody really cares about or understands me," etc) as imposed upon me from the outside. I was accepting the definition of me written by a heterosexual, woman-hating, reactive, backwards, conservative society.

I no longer believe in an ontological difference between myself and others that makes me "queer". I do believe in differences in life experience, perspective, and thinking; I believe in differences in relationships and approaches to community, love, and friendship. I believe there are some gaps in those areas that can be crossed with healthy, positive, and respectful communication; I believe there are some gaps that are chasms and might never be crossed, and that's OK. But I don't believe that I am, profoundly, deeply, innately, some fucked up freak who is sooooooo different from others (even if there are plenty of days where I feel that way). I think I'm doing fine, actually, and I think I am actually doing better than the heterosexuals et al who have perpetuated this definition of me and people like me, because I see what they're like and how they're living very, very clearly, and honestly, lol, they're the fucking freaks.

*moans shamefully*

What do you think of other Others in the Fae!Dick AU?

Not necessarily the Batfam, they can stay Dick's sweet squishy human family, but among the Rogues?

Maybe Poison Ivy is really a plant goddess in this setting? And the Joker is something demonic... Or comes back as something demonic after Dick inevitably kills him after the Ethiopia...

Otherworldly opponents to maintain the drama in the AU, opponents that even Dick can't always protect his humans from, opponents who can actually hurt Dick himself?

Poison Ivy’s certainly got potential to be up there in the other beings list on the grounds of being very protective of nature and plants in general. For something that’s as acutely connected to the natural world as she is, Gotham City must be like a horrible, ugly illness that sprang from the soil. And maybe she tried to find peaceful ways to coexist for a while but ended up running into dead ends (humans, urgh) and decided to try the more violent approach.

As for Joker, well, there’s at least one canon storyline (Batman City of Madness) where it’s very much hinted at that he’s not human!

But to be entirely honest I’m rather partial to keeping Dick as the only other being in this particular AU. I don’t think it necessarily needs others like him to stay interesting. Yes, from all the asks I’ve been getting it may seem like the other things are insanely powerful, and they are, but even they have their limitations. ✨

Ernest G. Worrell.

can y'all believe we never got a Bates & Duggar union after all these years?? i mean technically there's still time, but i feel like after everything that's happened with the Duggars it's just not likely anymore.....

Worst Video Game Song Tournament - Round 2 Match 5

Know What I Mean? - Mario Party 2

VERSUS

The Yoshi Clan - Yoshi's New Island

FIGHT!

I would recommend listening to as much as you can of each song before voting, but how you choose is up to you! Remember to be civil in the tags and replies!

Propaganda under cut:

Know What I Mean?:

"#i'm going with the mario party #it's SO off-tune and off-beat constantly #which i think is intentional but #i hate it"

(in reference to its previous match) "#this literally isn't even a fight. coughing baby vs nuclear bomb level matchup. what the fuck was that mario song. who thought that was a #good idea. i want to have words with them."

"#kwim is overstimulation in its purest form #it's the musical equivalent of getting nonstop discord notifications while looking for something i dropped while someone is talking to me"

"#know what i mean absolutely ROCKS. horrible. rocks so hard. they did the same thing that yoshi clan did. im guffawing"

The Yoshi Clan:

"the ass band will play a song of farts to celebrate your failure"

"#FUCK YOU YOSHI"

"#yoshi sounds like suck"

"#YOOOOOOOOSHI CLAAAAN!!!!!!!! #ok im gonna complete my santa review before getting to my ten page essay on why i love yoshi clan. yea that shit bad #i accidentally started it playing in two tabs at different points of the video which was honestly really fun. i recommend tryin that esp wi #bad songs really adds smthn to the exprience. it was awesoeme #it also just sounds the exact type of awful that that video image implies which is cool. its so perfect. it sounds ass #but. what it can not beat. is my favorite of all time. my darling love. it is time to begin my sermon #ok so yoshi clan is just so beautifully terrible. and truly the whole soundtrack is an orchestra of bad design. and its so fun to look at #that really nice professional looking art for the game and get BLASTED with kazoo #and like. i understand the thought process. kazoo does seem silly goofy yoshi. and it also sounds like a chorus of pain #now this song specifically has some really great awkward pauses. at 0:16 theres like a full 3 seconds of silence. which is SO cool #then the hot cross bun bit that ends at 0:27 gets so sad and deflated at the end of it. like it starts off in time but then clearly the #soloist got kinda embarrassed alone and so rushed and got really quiet. and its just so sad and lonely. its so cool #also some of these pauses have a couple lone far away kazoo squeaks for no reason before the 'melody' comes back in? awesome #but what i really really love about this. what really draws my eye. is the ending. because we go through this entire rigamarole with the #worst secondhand embarrassment of my life. then. 0:43. the kazoos move out. and in. the most genuinely awesome groovy drum beat in the worl #like its SO good. and those last few seconds are like you're in a different world. like you just survived horrors and you are brought to an #angelic chorus. and it lasts what 5 seconds? 5 seconds of beauty after a full 40 seconds of purgatory. in what world do horrors live foreve #while an angel can last for only a flash #its cruelty. its injustice. its completely ingenious. incredible music making. i am in such awe. #anyways thats my manifesto. please feel free to put any of this in the propaganda section op. im passioante"

Feel free to add more propaganda in the tags and replies, or send it to me in the ask box and I'll try to share it as soon as I can!

I have decided that the funniest thing to believe about both Solo and The Rings of Power is that they are in-universe biopics that took LIBERTIES/historical fiction.

Like the guy who made Rings of Power is some crackpot Gondorian university dropout who is basically the Ancient Aliens guy, and the director of Solo is strongly suspected by many Galactic citizens to be uncomfortably into Lando.

someone write me an apocalypse au where ghost is surviving with just his daughter, protecting her and teaching her how to take care of herself

something something Charlie’s bedroom is a metaphor for macdennis something about a huge reveal that goes back to being ignored for the sake of status quo etc etc

I feel like a roughly used hand towel ngl

My favorite ship is two grown men who hate each other.

Need me a freak

Worst Video Game Song Tournament - Round 1 Match 9

Know What I Mean? - Mario Party 2

VERSUS

Boss Theme 1 - Sonic Superstars

FIGHT!

I would recommend listening to as much as you can of each song before voting, but how you choose is up to you! Remember to be civil in the tags and replies!

Propaganda under cut:

Know What I Mean?:

(none included)

Boss Theme 1:

"A fourteen second(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) long track that plays, shifts up a pitch, and then repeats. Complete with extremely iffy-sounding Genesis-ish samples."

Feel free to add more propaganda in the tags and replies, or send it to me in the ask box and I'll try to share it as soon as I can!

Do you think either Cam or Rebecca grew up saying things like "darn" or "heck" or "fudge" in place of swears until they met the other? If so...which one? And how soon before they learned to swear properly from their new bff?

I think they both always "secretly" did it but might have used those words in front of other people when they couldn't openly swear.

Discovering ao3 is down is like if the storybook is slammed shut in your face with a cry of "no bedtime story for you!"