basicbeholdingbitch

[basicbeholdingbitch]

Horror Recs for Magnus Fans, Part the Second

Last time I did this I was assuming that anyone who was listening to a horror podcast already knew some horror, but I have since learned that this is not the case, so there are a few more classics in here, as well as some more of my faves.

For anyone and everyone who listens to TMA: Sarah Monette’s Kyle Murchison Booth stories, many (though not all) of which are collected in The Bone Key. Queer information professional would very much like for ghosts and monsters to leave him alone, does not get what he wants; can’t resist the impulse to help out people who are more fucked over than him anyway. I love Booth so much, he deserves much better things than he gets.

For Web stans: Blindsight by Peter Watts, a sci-fi horror novel about free will and consciousness. Lydia Nicholas named this as one of her favorite books in the first Assistant’s Round Table; I respect her for it, but I read this once and it gave me an existential crisis. Highly recommended, but make sure you’ve got a palate cleanser.

For jonelias fans and/or fans of the Corruption: Candyman (1992). With bonus folklore & urban legend meta! Kissing bees into your (potential) lover’s mouth in order to convince them to become a murderous spirit of vengeance just like you! “All you have left is my desire for you”!!! It’s extremely sexy, is what I’m saying, in all the best ways. (Trigger warnings for violence against children and a fair amount of gore, in addition to the aforementioned bees.)

If you love the no-holds-barred social commentary of season five: The Ballad of Black Tom by Victor LaValle. No, I will not shut up about this book until absolutely everyone in the world has read it. It’s short! You could read it in an afternoon! This is Lovecraft’s “The Horror at Red Hook” from the point of view of a black musician and hustler who’s hired to help out with the ritual, and it’s incredible. (If you’re enjoying Lovecraft Country, absolutely do not miss this.)

If you miss the standalone statements of season one and two: the works of the early 20th century cosmic horror and ghost story writers: M.R. James, Algernon Blackwood, Arthur Machen. Machen has a tendency to get pretty eugenics-y, and they’re all either misogynistic or don’t have women in their stories at all, but goddamn do they do atmosphere. (“The Magnus Archives” is named after James’s “Count Magnus,” Jonny’s favorite M.R. James story.)

For Stranger fans and those who love unexplained mysteries: The Twisted Ones by T. Kingfisher, a Southern horror (not a Gothic) about a woman who goes to clean out her abusive grandmother’s house to sell it only to find that there are things other than his wife that her grandfather was afraid of, and for good reason. Features hot competent neighbors, extremely practical reactions to terrible monsters, and a Very Good Dog (the dog does not die).

For Lonely bitches: “The Horla” by Guy de Maupassant, the story I use to describe my depression to people. That’s a pretty good content warning, honestly.

If you loved the “Am I still human?” plotline: The Monster of Elendhaven by Jennifer Giesbrecht, a grotesque little novella about monsters in (dysfunctional) love. I’m a bit iffy on the ending, but honestly landing the ending of horror is so tricky that I’ll almost never discount something just because I’m iffy on the ending. The body horror and emotional repression throughout make up for it.

If you crave the supernatural adventure series starring Gerry Keay: The Sandman Slim series by Richard Kadrey - modern noir, so gritty you can feel it in your teeth, featuring all kinds of monsters, demons, curses, and narrowly-averted apocalypses. Not as misogynistic as noir can get, but it is noir so there’s definitely a bit of that (but definitely not as misogynistic as Jim Butcher). Trigger warnings all over the place; this is B-movie horror in book form.

For Distortion fans: The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. Bears almost no resemblance to the Netflix series of the same name, or any of the movies based on it; this is a twisty psychological novel with a profoundly unreliable narrator and a lot of repressed queerness. Michael/Helen would be right at home in Hill House. (Content warning for suicidality.)

If you want your horror to make you cry: El Orfanado, directed by Guillermo del Toro; a family moves into a house that used to be an orphanage, that is, of course, haunted. This is a tremendous distillation of the way that horror movies are so often centered around women not being believed, so content warning for gaslighting (and for harm to children); I saw this movie once and entire scenes are embedded in my brain in full color. (Honestly you can’t go wrong with any Guillermo del Toro movies; he’s fantastic.)

If you want your horror to make you cry, but make it gay: In the Flesh, two seasons of a zombie TV show tragically cut short (yes, it ends on a cliffhanger, I’m sorry). Uses zombies as a metaphor for homophobia, but also includes actual queer people. Content warning for small-town-typical homophobia and tragic gays. Please come yell with me about Simon Monroe, I love him so much.

For Slaughter fans: The Shining by Stephen King - look, look, I know. He’s not great. He needs an editor. The movie is all kinds of fucked up. But this book is one of the most raw, personal horror stories I’ve ever read, and it’s got an excellent combination of supernatural influence and real-life mundane fear of addiction and personal weakness that really grabs you by the intestines. Again, an iffy ending, but it’s worth it for the slow descent into paranoia and madness.

If you just want to try to find some authors to read: The Borderlands anthology series, paperbacks from the height of the 80s horror boom; there are so many different kinds of stories in here that I can pretty much guarantee you that you won’t like some of them but you might well find something new to fall in love with. A lot of these writers are out of print but readily available at used bookstores or for pennies on Amazon.

As always, let me know if you liked any of these or if you have a specific need: it is no longer my job to recommend books and media to people but it is still my very favorite thing to do and I will be obnoxious about it forever

[basicbeholdingbitch]

i strongly believe binary deserves the same amount of fame as the anatomy students episode. imagine trying to download like, sonic.exe and getting a 17 hour video of a man eating his entire computer

[basicbeholdingbitch]

So here’s the germ of a theory. It may not be even close to correct, but...it’s rattling some things in my brain.

We have good evidence that the Web wanted Jonah’s ritual to succeed, specifically with a Web-touched Archivist (helping Jon to survive Prentiss, nudging him with tapes, etc.). And there’s been a lot of hints that the Eyepocalypse was just the first part of the Web’s plan, and that the next step involves Jon, the Web lighter, and the Archives (all the hints at burning down the Archives in the tapes that were sent to the cottage).

We know that the fears used to exist somewhere outside the universe, pushing their influence into the TMA universe⁠—and very likely into other universes as well. But the place they used to be no longer exists, per Post-Apocalyptic Google. They’re trapped in this universe, where⁠—if Oliver is correct⁠—their food source will eventually be consumed by the End, and they will starve.

Unless, of course, someone makes an escape hatch.

There’s an excellent theory (which I first saw @zalia suggest) that the Web is trying to recreate what happened at Hill Top Road on a larger scale using the Archives. The crack in reality was caused by a clash between the Desolation (Agnes) and the Web (Ray Fielding) that burned down the house. And was supposedly “compounded” by the influence of other powers at the location over the years. The Archives are full of statements about all the fears, touched by every power, so it’s possible that burning them down would cause a similar phenomenon.

It seems that the “crack” at Hill Top Road leads to another universe, per Anya Villette’s statement. So if the Web are trying to recreate it…?

Remember the spider legs that came through the crack in the basement?

An escape hatch. Created by the Web, one that it intends for itself, leaving all the other fears behind to starve.

The Web knew that no individual ritual could ever succeed, which is why it never bothered. It knew that the fears had to be pulled from their extradimensional space into a given universe together. But the crack isn’t a ritual, is it? It’s a gash⁠—a wound between universes, maybe one that’s possible for the Web to travel through alone.

In its new universe, it will be the only fear entity that exists, the only one feeding off the terror of all living things. The outcome that all the entities have been striving for throughout their existence, through all their failed rituals.

TL;DR: The Web set the other entities up to snare themselves in an inescapable trap (how fitting!) while it scuttles off to another universe and sets up as a solo act.

[basicbeholdingbitch]

i need to watch 2 documentaries for class so i have far too much time to keep my hands busy (an excuse to make this shit)

part two based on @eliasbouchardslut ‘s post as proposed by @twinliches

[basicbeholdingbitch]

this has been said to some extent by other people here but i didn’t want to hijack someone else’s post, so here are my two cents: 

i’m entertaining most theories about the root of The Weirdness of Martin this season, honestly. however, i think at least a portion of The Weirdness—by which i mean the tactlessness to the point of being callous—can be written off by the fact that he is acting as an audience stand-in. jonny needs to convey how jon and the whole world have changed following the apocalypse, but that’s hard to do in an audio medium where the main character isn’t that talkative and won’t show off his flashy new powers of his own volition. the audience has questions that need to be answered to fully understand what’s going on, so martin is asking them, even though much of it is stuff he could figure out in-world through observation and inference (because this dude’s got a hell of an intuition). he has to ask elementary questions about the way the world works so that we, the audience, understand its newly established rules. he has to awkwardly and painfully pull jon’s explicit emotional development out of him because it might not fully be explained if jon was left to his own devices. 

so yes, martin’s been weird this season. and it’s probably a lot of things—a setup for a breakdown, the lead-in to a j/m conflict, foreshadowing for web!martin, and/or a sign of general disaster on the horizon. but i’m willing to bet a fair amount of it is just that exposition has to happen somehow. 

[basicbeholdingbitch]

Thoughts

I keep thinking about Martin asking Jon about if he had known that his death would free the other assistants would he have done things differently. I see a lot of people reading negative intent in that question and giving him hell for adding to Jon’s survivor’s guilt, but it hit very differently for me. Granted, I think it was a thoughtless and tactless question to ask, and goes along with the theme of Martin not registering Jon’s emotional state, whether willful blindness or whatever. 

Sorry if this is incoherent, I’m still trying to put my thoughts in order.

Weiterlesen

[basicbeholdingbitch]

Racism in the TMA fandom

everyone’s favorite kind of post 🥰

let me start this off by saying i like tma :) it’s a fun show, and i think you can tell by my url and icon and recent reblogs that i’m in pretty deep 😰 but it’s not a perfect show, and i haven’t seen many people talk about the racial issues in the podcast, so i thought i’d take a crack at it. also i am indian so ✌️

jonathan sims / “jon of color” x white martin

i think everyone in the fandom draws jon as a person of color despite him having no confirmed race which is pretty cool. but given that it’s generally accepted that jon is Not white, certain interpretations of him can be a little... uncomfortable.

don’t describe jon feral or savage. just don’t. that word has some ugly connations, as white people have an ugly history as describing non-white cultures as primative and their people as, well, feral savages. i think this is mostly a joke, as feral became the Cool Tumblr Word to use but it hasn’t lost its implications.

along this vien, it’s a little uncomfortable for me to see jon’s monsterous characteristics exaggerated to the the point where he is a threat to (a usually white) martin. moc are often unfairly viewed as violent and abusive, particularly if they have white partners, and while i don’t think i’ve seen anyone push this that far, it’s still a choice with harmful implications. please don’t misinterpret this as me saying don’t call martin a monsterfucker or something, i just think it’s worth paying attention to how you have his abilities manifest. jon is not unnecessarily violent (at least as of writing this, post E166). he feels guilt when destroying something as evil as not-sasha and is constantly paranoid of how his actions can hurt those he cares about.

it’s also a little racist in my opinion to portray jon as a dirty, unclean person. to be clear, i’m not saying drawing him with unkempt hair or disheveled clothes is problematic, but saying that he doesn’t shower or groom himself ever is uncomfortable. people of color are unfairly viewed as dirty by white people for centuries, often as an excuse to justify imperialism as a way to cleanse them, so it’s obviously not great to perpetuate this. that being said, i can see that jon is certainly the type to lose himself in his work and i suppose he has dry skin according to nikola ordinov, so i suppose what i’m really saying is don’t push this idea too far. and it’s also very bizarre to have (again usually white) martin serve as some sort of caretaker to him. i’m once again being very clear so i am not intentionally misconstrued, this isn’t me saying martin shouldnt care or help him, obviously not, but the idea that jon cannot have good hygiene without (white) martin’s aid in some way is racist.

racism against asian people

tma is unusually particular about not confirming the races of most characters (my opinions of this choice r mixed btw) so when the race of someone is confirmed, it’s worth noting.

the haan family is “east asian” and likely “chinese” (mag130). there are two members of this family that are present in the statements: john haan and his nephew tom hann. they are both closely tied to the flesh and john hann is a cannibal. i hope why you can see why this is uncomfortable. rusty quill’s members are all white (except for one person) and as far as i can tell, the team working on tma specifically is all white. for a group of white people to tie two chinese characters as literal cannibals or otherwise weirdly into meat is disgusting. chinese people already have a multitude of racist stereotypes regarding what they eat (you’ve probably heard the “dog eating” stereotype) and this seems to be a manifestation of that

alright well that’s it then :’/ i’m not an “expert” on racism, i’m just basing this off my own personal experiences. feel free to ask for clarification or lmk if i forgot something. ❤️

i encourage you to reblog this if you are white

[basicbeholdingbitch]

an excerpt from ep. 32 of The Magnus Archives, which I think about constantly.. miss Prentiss you are always on my mind

[basicbeholdingbitch]

166 be like

[basicbeholdingbitch]

some inspirational words from archival crew for these trying times : )

[basicbeholdingbitch]

what big teeth you have

[basicbeholdingbitch]

callout post for mr sims

[basicbeholdingbitch]

r/relationship_advice

Posted by u/Plukas97 3 months ago

My ex husband called me by my late great grandfather’s name during sex. 

What do I do?

Edit: I’ve never used this site before. I’ll remake the post.

Posted by u/Plukas97 6 weeks ago

My (77M) husband (M) called me by my late great grandfather’s (M) name during sex. 

What do I do?

Edit: I don’t know how old my husband is.

Edit: We got remarried again since I made the first post.

Edit: I don’t know how old my great grandfather was when he died. Please stop asking about him. He didn’t like to be discussed.

wattsup 3.2k points · 6 weeks ago

dude why would you remarry him if he called you by your great grandpas name

      ihatepottery 1.5k points · 6 weeks ago

      I think the real question is why he doesn’t know his own husband’s age??

                     [expand]

jnmrtn 263 points · 5 weeks ago

            OP are you sure it was your great grandpa? maybe he was thinking of someone else with the same name

      Plukas97 1.9k points · 2 weeks ago

      It’s a very uncommon name and I know they used to be friends before he met me.

            iwantanap 126 points · 2 weeks ago

            Wait he knew your great grandfather before you two met?

                    Plukas97 981 points · 2 weeks ago

                    Yes. 

                [expand]

r/relationship_advice

Posted by u/watchersheart 3 months ago

I (48M) called my ex husband (77M) by his great grandfather’s (deceased M) name while in bed together and I don’t want him to bring it up.

He doesn’t usually tend to pry into my private life, but this definitely threw him. I’ve been thinking of proposing to him for a while, and it might work as a distraction. Would it be too obvious a tactic? If I do it in a public enough place, it might make him uncomfortable to leave for a few months, but I don’t want to give him time to think about it.

Edit: I had a pleasant working relationship with his great grandfather, and in fact my ex husband and I first got engaged at his funeral, which are usually family affairs. There’s no chance he misheard, and his great grandfather had a rather old fashioned name, so I doubt he’ll think it a coincidence. 

Edit 2: No, he’d never see this. He hates talking to people, and barely knows how to use a computer.

cash2burnn 2.3k points · 3 months ago

lmao dude hes not going to want to marry you after that

      watchersheart 5.6k points · 6 weeks ago

      He said yes. Perhaps you should focus on your own relationships before passing judgement on others. 

[expand]

screwspaceships 1.1k points · 3 months ago

You got engaged at his FUNERAL?? Good god, OP…

      watchersheart 2.7k points · 3 months ago

      Our first engagement was a special circumstance.

                           leitnerpiper69 974 points · 2 months ago

                    for the life of me i cant figure out what op means by this 

          [expand] 

ghosthuntuk 1.6k points · 3 months ago

post divorce hookups are never a good idea but this really takes the cake

      gorgolini 1.2k points · 2 months ago

      I don’t know how OP could possibly salvage this

                           watchersheart 4.2k points · 2 months ago

                    The wedding is in five days.

          [expand] 

r/relationship_advice

Posted by u/watchersheart 1 month ago

I (48M) called my husband (77M) by his great grandfather’s (deceased M) name while in bed together and I don’t want him to bring it up. UPDATE

As I mentioned in the comments of my previous post, I proposed and he accepted. He hasn’t brought the incident up, but the annual fundraising party for my business is coming up and his family is one of my biggest financial supporters. Another benefactor of mine, and our mutual friend, will be there, and he’s a shameless gossip. My husband isn’t prone to oversharing, but I’m worried if they talk our friend will mention something incriminating. My husband’s great grandfather provided the funds I needed to start my business, and I have a portrait of him in the room I always hold the party in. Moving to a different location would raise suspicions, as would taking down the portrait. I do not under any circumstances want the incident to come up at this party. My business relies very heavily on donations, and if any of my benefactors pull their support it could greatly inconvenience me.

Edit 1: Yes, my husband does closely resemble his great grandfather, in appearance if not personality.

Edit 2: No, I’m not worried about him wanting another divorce. He rarely goes through with them, and even if he does, the alimony makes up for it.

Edit 3: Please stop speculating on the nature of my business, or my relationships with my benefactors.

r/relationship_advice

Posted by u/watchersheart 1 day ago

My (48M) husband (77M) wants a divorce

Top Comment

skybluelovr 879 points · 1 day ago

sorry elias! i didn’t know it was supposed to be a secret

      watchersheart 967 points · 1 day ago

      Yes you did.

                    skybluelovr 724 points · 1 day ago

                    yes i did! 

[basicbeholdingbitch]

[basicbeholdingbitch]

hey i just got a message about somebody translating the tma transcripts into italian!! the blog is @tma-traduzioni so go check it out if youre interested!!

[basicbeholdingbitch]

I can’t believe Simon Fairchild made a tumblr back in 2012 just to make the “do you love the color of the sky” post and harvest the low-level dread it brought for years. 

[basicbeholdingbitch]

us @ jonny sims

[ID: a youtube video made by CollegeHumor titled: No New Mikes In 2016. In the thumbnail, there is a guy looking very tired next to a text saying “stop naming your children Micheal”. The word stop is very big and also red. end ID]