#ITS NOT IRONIC ENJOYMENT ANYMORE.

[berryshipbasket]

I can deny it no longer guys I f/o a character from Gar.ten of Ban.ban.

It started out as a joke but its not a joke anymore.

Im not telling you guys who it is unless I make a self insert and

Ngl its looking very likely rn....

#Berry gay chattin' #how did it get to this omg #ITS NOT IRONIC ENJOYMENT ANYMORE.

[friendlifyre]

sometimes i accidentally rb something to my main and i always feel bad for the few followers on there who will inevitably get a 'nb-diluc is posting again !!!1!!! check it out !!!!' notif from tumblr mobile only for me to have immediately deleted the post like sorry, it was an accident !! false alarm

#frankly idk if i'll ever get back to active genshin-posting bc these days i would have. not that much positive to say #although ironically i find that im experiencing burnout on this game very differently than most #instead of burning out on the grind and just coming back for story stuff #i still thoroughly enjoy logging it just to do my dailies and resin. its the story stuff im burnt out on #in no small amount due to getting into hsr and that putting into perspective how unnecessarily bloated the writing is in genshin #i cant stand paimon anymore. i cant stand the punctual character building of random npcs over playables #even quests that are ultimately good and enjoyable feel like a chore to get through just bc of how theyre presented #i got like an avalanche of bad news this week that may or may not end up forcing me to make some changes next year #and as sad as it makes me to consider. if genshin doesnt step it up it might be one of the things i'll end up sacrificing

[swampghouls]

i quote that jigsaw post "in front of you there is a panini press" daily whenever my sister burps

#shut up danny ur dumb #its SO funny to me #like. yeah. jigsaws games might aswell be like. THAT at this point (says guy who ironically & unironically is a jigsaw movie enjoyer against #his own will like dont get me wrong i enjoy the first 2; maybe 3 but i havent seen that one in a while skfhdkdj i just dont take any of them #seriously anymore <3 they are. meaningless in my brain <3)

[cerise-on-top]

Giving König a Bracelet to Help with His Anxiety

@puff0o0 Hey, I'm the anon who said they'd write this! I know you deleted that ask, which is why I'm not really sure if you care about this anymore in the first place, so if this bothers you, just tell me and I'll delete it! Either way, I hope it's enjoyable enough and thank you for the idea!

From the doorway you watched the behemoth go about his day, with him currently picking out the food he would like to make. From what you could see, both options he weighed seemed to have been some form of pasta, although his large frame did cover the picture of the second bag. With a sigh, he put down one of them, the winner seemingly being noodles with broccoli sauce.

“I hoff meim Liebling werdn’s schmecken. Guad sans jo eigentlich scho.”

Fascinating, he was speaking his mother tongue again, but seemingly in the way where no machine translator in the world could help you. Strange as it was, to have been so confident in what little German you did know, there were many times you failed to understand him, but that’s what made it all the more charming as well. Either way, dialect or not, you had something else planned, something transcending language.

Creeping up to him, like a benevolent shadow, you took the piece of jewelry out of your pocket, holding it in your hand as you gave it another quick glance. It should fit him, but hopefully, it won’t pinch him too much. Seemingly distracted by the packet of noodles, or maybe he was just playing along with you, it was hard to tell, you stood behind him, not making a move. It was a bit ironic in your eyes: The gift you had gotten him takes its bearer’s anxiety and cleanses it, yet here you were, worried he might not like it. It still wasn’t too late to go back, or maybe leave it somewhere for him to find. Which, however, would make way for another problem, mainly that he would think it belonged to you when such couldn’t be further from the truth. You were certain König was a different man on the battlefield, fierce, frightening, fatal, but when it came to domestic things, he seemed a bit lost.

He was a sweetheart to you at all times, very aware of his strength and how easily he could hurt you by accident. He’s cracked several eggs on his hand instead of inside the frying pan, he’s even broken glass by holding it. And even then, the problem wasn’t the splitters in his hand, he was more worried about you being mad at him for breaking it. The guilt in his eyes was something else as you patched him up.

“I don’t deserve someone like you.”

And every time anew, you would tell him:

“Who said that?! Who do I need to cuddle the sadness out of?!”

Stupid as it was, it would always make him smile. But you couldn’t always be there with him, reassure him that everything was going to be alright. You probably didn’t need to, but you couldn’t help but want to, no matter what. For as scared as you were this time, you had to bite the bullet, let it be known that you loved and cared for him, even got him something. “Honey?”

“Oh, you’re back home. I am so glad to see you, I was just about to make dinner. Say, do you like broccoli?”

König turned to face you, his slight excitement was evident in his voice, the fact he tried to swallow it down even more so. It was adorable how his eyes almost glistened in the artificial light just because he was looking at you instead of pasta instructions now.

Softening your grip on the small bracelet, you hadn’t even realized you were gripping tightly enough to cause pain, you put your other hand on top of it, making sure to conceal it entirely. This was all or nothing. “I, uh, got you something. Can I have your arm for a moment, please?”

“Naturally.” Taking the pack of pasta into his other hand, he extended his arm towards you. It never ceased to amaze you just how big it was, his hand, too. He could likely take someone’s skull and crush it using just one. But in that moment, all it did was hang there, giving you the opportunity to attach the bracelet. That you did, putting the hook through the loop to make sure it wouldn’t fall off.

“There we go.”

König lifted his arm towards his face, inspecting the little accessory closely. While he wasn’t quite sure what those pretty crystals were, he could make an educated guess, having listened to you talk about them from time to time. The purple one, he was sure, he could make out fairly easily, the faintly pink one made his gears turn for a moment. “...amethyst and rose quartz? Is that what those are?”

“Oh, you actually remembered.” Taken aback for a second, you recovered quickly enough, taking his arm into your hands. You ran your thumb over the back of his hand. “But yes, that’s what they are. Good job, König, that makes me really happy.” Flashing him a smile, you took a shaky breath. “I got you this because it will help with your anxiety, though it seems like I should have one myself, haha. The amethyst calms the mind and the rose quartz will soothe the heart. But generally speaking, rose quartz will also help you when you can’t sleep at night. I want this to be yours so you will be well wherever you are.”

König’s eyes widened for a moment, breaking eye contact with you to look at the bracelet instead. It was absolutely gorgeous, a reminder from you that everything will be alright, no matter when or where he may be. Softly, he rubbed your arm with his free hand before pulling you into a hug. You couldn’t complain, he was tall, strong and warm. It calmed your senses, feeling his arms wrap around you, as he muttered his gratitude to you.

“Danke, Schatzi, ich hab dich so so lieb, du hast ja gar keine Ahnung.”

That German seemed to be easier to understand than what he said about the noodles earlier.

“I love you too. Be well and come back to me always, alright? Do you promise you will do that for me?”

You pulled away from the hug, putting a hand on König’s cheek while caressing it gently with your thumb.

“Yes, of course.”

________________________________

“I hoff meim Liebling werdn’s schmecken. Guad sans jo eigentlich scho.” = "I hope my darling will like it. They are normally pretty good."

#cod #cod mw2 #könig x reader #könig mw2 #also this has some Austrian German in it because I do believe he would speak it when talking to himself #and also because I could #just a bit nervous about posting this #Shrimp if you're reading this: thank you for the idea but also sorry for bothering you

[hello---cello]

I decided to try my hand at the Fandom Opinion meme : D

Close ups and some small explanations behind my choices under the cut : )

Noah: I just like him. He's my special little man.

Zoey: I liked her a lot more when i was younger but now I just kinda don't feel anything for her anymore. So I went from liking her to feeling neutral, NOT HATING HER JUST HAVING NO OPINION ON HER.

Sugar: She's Sugar and from Pahkitew, a double whammy straight into I-don't-like-her-ville

Scary Girl: I don't get the hype, but her style is impeccable. Also, she gets dimples cause I said so.

Jashawn: One of the best things to come from Pahkitew is their relationship. Also, their height difference is very important to me.

Coderra: It's Coderra. I don't hate Sierra or Cody, but I despise any relationship further than platonic with these two.

Dakota: It's the opposite of Zoey here, I didn't like her personality when I was younger, but I now love her she is a queen. I'm not too fond of the mutation arc (or any mutations in TD in general) but I can understand why it was done.

Harold: I just want to know the name of all the Steve camps he went to. I am 100% sure there are way more than what was mentioned on screen.

Trent: Ok before the before you bring up the nine things, I know. I agree it's not a great plot for Trent. But i enjoy his vibes. But, but but but, His head is the shape of a tic tac. his forehead is huge. (Ironic coming from a Noah enjoyer I know) The camo is also just a no from me.

Cody: He's cringe fail, I'm cringe fail and were both nerds. And I would dress myself in the same way if I didn't live in a country where its hot enough to cook an egg on the pavement 70% of the time.

Gwen: She's artsy and so am I. I'm not a goth but I wouldn't care if my friends were one.

Heather: She's Heather. you watched the show.

#total drama #total drama fanart #my art #td noah #td zoey #td dakota #td harold #td sugar #td scary girl #td trent #td cody #td jasmine #td shawn #jashawn #td sierra #td gewn #td heather #fandom opinion meme

[surskip]

i dont like being a hater but nonoe of those "tumblr has so many Raw Quotes that sound like theyre from a classic novel" phrases hit for me at all. if you like them thats cool im glad you could find enjoyment but its become a thing unto itself where i see someone go "Does the dog not wag his tail when he sees a yummy dinner?" or "God looks upon his subjects and smiles equally at the pig and the eel" or "Look at my posts and weep. Look at the stars and understand." like they were raised in a lab on pukicho responses and sephiroth dialogue, and i know they are fishing for people to go "WTF i thought this was from les miserables in the original french but its from someone on tumblr talking about eating cucumbers, someone put this on ironic booty shorts NOW". its like 2017 when people were sending anons saying stuff like, "Heh.. if you come into my world.. fingernails dont have to grow anymore" so people would go "what does this mean im shakingfdgdf"

#mine #i mention pukicho speicifcally because people are trying to emulate that style of response a lot #when pukicho did it years before

[victorsandvanquishers]

The Red House (and all who live in its walls) - Chapter 4

Fandom: DC Comics

Ships: Slowburn Eventual Bart Allen/Kon El; past Kon El/Tana Moon, past Kon El/Cassie Sandsmark, past Kon El/Knockout, past Kon El/Cassandra Cain

Ratings: M+

Warnings: Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers; Southern Gothic Horror; Suicide Ideation; Mentions of Alcohol & Drug Abuse; Intrusive Thoughts; Depictions of Child Grooming and Repeated Sexual Abuse, People Be Vomiting, Big Sadz, Dead Dove Do Not Eat Unless Iron Stomach

Story Synopsis: When former child star and Metropolis sweetheart Kon 'Superboy' El loses the last vestiges of his career to rampant partying and a budding alcohol addiction, he's forced to move into an old house in the Georgian woods because he can't afford his apartment or his bills anymore. Never the quitter, Kon embraces the crumbling antebellum house and all of its possibilities.

[Bart Allen/Kon El, No Powers AU, gothic horror romance]

Chapter Summary: Kon had been an industry plant, and like all failed plants, he was dumped immediately.

~~~

I decided 15k into this story that if Kon was gonna suffer, I should probably commit to the bit for the time being. I am also tagging this book as a slowburn now because it will be a while before the BartKon becomes real. It will, but it will take some time. Having much fun just remixing Kon lore for the non-powered Southern Gothic vibes.

Hope the house and its many intricacies are enjoyable to y'all. If I wasn't a loser in corporate America, I might have one day designed pretty houses.

Thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave a review! ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ

#konbart #bartkon #kon el #bart allen #dc fanfic #avafanfics #young justice

[bloodgulchblog]

Have you seen that YouTube video where some guy reads every Halo novel back to back and then reviews them? If so what did you think

The Brian David Gilbert one? Oh yeah, all my friends showed me it when it came out. (It was honestly kind of cute seeing how many people thought of me immediately.)

Rewatching it to refresh myself because it's been a couple years and a full-novel reread for me since the last time...

High fiving BDG because the Master Chief parts of The Flood were definitely the most boring parts.

He didn't have anything to say about First Strike which I think is a shame because I think it's better than The Fall of Reach and actually has A Theme I Find Interesting.

Rightful recognition of Contact Harvest as pretty damn good.

Rightful recognition of the Forerunner Trilogy as dense oldschool-style SF with deep worldbuilding. (Also the San'Shyuum thing.)

I disagree with him about, and have significant problems with, Kilo Five. He is correct that Kilo Five actually delves into some of the dark places in Halo in a way it really needed, and I would even say that its writing is extremely engaging by Halo novel standards. However, while he does notice the obvious parallels between what ONI is doing post-war and the kind of shit the CIA has pulled again and again irl, I think he misses some of the subtext I see where it feels like it justifies some shit a liiiiittle too much if you know the author's irl politics re: the military. He also doesn't seem to notice the character assassinations (particularly of Catherine Halsey) that I and a lot of other fans see/object to in those books. I kind of gaze into the middle distance with a haunted expression at the suggestion that these are the ones to read if you don't touch any of the others just because they are, ironically, so heavy-handed and feel like they treat certain kinds of evil as inevitable in a way that actually feels way worse to me than the excuse plot offered by the earlier/lighter Halo novels. (But idk, that's me? Nobody is committing a crime if they disagree with my frenzied insane person red string diagrams about Kilo Five.)

I'd swap Pariah for Dirt in the Evolutions anthology if it were me, but I think these are solid standouts.

Broken Circle is neat but really nonessential he's not wrong.

A one-sentence review of New Blood is probably not enough space to get into how fucked up the Spartan-IV program is, but yeah. New Blood is fun if you don't find Buck's first person narration annoying. (It comes and goes for me in that one.)

BDG you're an absolute sweetheart, I think Hunters in the Dark is kind of goofy in a way I cannot in good conscience ignore if I'm gonna review it. But it really really is so much fun and I love that one a lot anyway. The "it's like Halo 3... 2" observation is solid.

High fiving him again because I also found Last Light disappointing. And it is also a me problem.

Fractures!

Hell yeah these are all good pulls from Fractures, I would say Shadow of Intent is the pick of the litter in that anthology for me. Interesting that as a Kilo Five enjoyer he didn't single out Rossbach's World, which is the last we've heard about Osman and Black Box. (Also, that one is good.) I think Oasis is worth an honorable mention because I'm an Envoy stan, and the Forerunner stories are interesting but I wouldn't go for them if you don't already have a healthy interest in the trilogy.

This tangent is so fucking funny now that we know more things:

Oh BDG, oh buddy, it's really not for the people like you and me huh. (Disclaimer: I have no idea if BDG likes the Halo tv show or not and I have no desire to dig up evidence about it.)

Also, while you're here, this is the bloodgulchblog origin story:

Smoke and Shadow is fun so it's a little sad that when he ends that sentence with "whatever," I can't actually say he's wrong to. (Sorry Rion your part of the lore just.... hasn't... touched anything that touches anything else anymore.)

ENVOY IS GOOD AND EVERYONE SHOULD CARE ABOUT IT okay okay I'm cool I'm normal, anyway. Envoy is the Halo novel that restored my faith in reading Halo novels and reminded me that authors can care and know how to do nuanced, interesting themes in this space. It's great. Everyone in this book has war refugee trauma (except the Spartans which have Spartan trauma) and that's incredible to me. Please care about Envoy if you have spare room in your heart for Halo side characters.

I am cheered to see someone indifferent to the Veta Lopis stories, but I still feel petty for feeling it.

I don't have a lot to say about Legacy of Onyx here but it's always so fun seeing someone else suffer and care.

Bad Blood, the Blood is Bad now is a fun joke but lol yeah. It does have this very vital moment where Chief and Arbiter talk, though. For the first and only time in years.

PROPS FOR NOTICING THE YA NOVELS they're actually pretty nice.

"The Master Chief is the protagonist and boy does he shoot some people" is most of how I feel about Silent Storm and Oblivion too, I know they have their fans but Troy Denning's Chief books don't do much for me personally.

Renegades hadn't had its followup Point of Light yet but yeah, Spark stuff is interesting.

I had to remember that oh yeah, there are multiple books now that didn't exist when this was made. I wonder if he read them?

OKAY I THINK THAT'S ALL I HAD TO SAY as always if y'all want specific book opinions, I might have a tag for them. Or just yell in my ask box, I'm sure I can scrounge up some thoughts.

#halo novels

[11x13kyle]

mcau main four and their birthdays

kenny: on his 30th birthday he hosts a rager on his houseboat and at 11 pm while riding an ecstasy high he falls off the top of the boat and cracks his open on the lower deck. he uses this as an excuse and claims it doesn’t count as him turning 30 because he didn’t make it to the end and everyone nods politely because they don’t want to make him cry. he lies for years about being 25 and the first time he gets carded he starts hyperventilating. he’s obsessed with staying young because it’s CRUCIAL for his career.

stan: in the months preceding his 30th birthday stan falls into one of the worst manic episodes of his life. during this episode he gets into a car crash (typical), has the public urination incident, puts out an ep with some of the most egregious examples of White Boy Rapping that the world has ever seen, and on the birthday itself he gets blackout drunk and totals kyle’s car. he’s an eternal teenage girl, so turning 30 creates IMMENSE amounts of distress for him. he wasn’t ready and he never will be.

cartman: he has a huge freak out when he turns 18 because he realizes that now his actions will have real life consequences. he can’t rely on the minor excuse anymore and that TERRIFIES him. he’s also just generally the type to cry on his birthday every year and on his 18th he cries so hard that he throws up. he spends a good 3 hours blubbering on the phone to liane going “MEEEEMMM ITS OVER FOR MEEEEE WAAAAHGHHH” and she’s like “no it’s not! you’re still just a little boy and you’ll always be mommy’s perfect little poopsiekins! 🥰” which does reassure him and remind him that he never has to be an adult with his mom enabling him always and forever.

kyle: he makes it through his 18th and 30th without any big drama and is so smug about it because he’s handling aging “so much better” than everyone else is. privately though he’s SO freaked out about it, but it’s less about the aging aspect and more about fearing that he’s behind for whatever stage of his life he’s at. this hits particularly badly at around 32 because at this point he’s a father and married and owns a home and pays taxes and yet he still argues with the same guy that he hates that he’s been arguing with for decades now for a living. he’s an eternal tall child and thinks the fact that he wears ironed button ups and drinks red wine for his own enjoyment makes him mature. it doesn’t.

#microceleb au

[1-up-chump]

Hello, I share your indignation about the new part of MK. Everything was changed too much and strangely. Can you write down the moments you didn't like? For example, I’m not happy with this whole situation with Kuai Liang - Scorpion, Tarkata - a disease, Raiden - Liu Kang 2.0, Fujin - Raiden’s sister, who is Kung Lao’s lover, seriously?

I WILL STATE that i have not bothered to look at everything myself but hear from reliable sources of the basic information of the game so i cannot give a full and fair critique. And i will not give this game anymore attention than i already have given it since it is just NOT a mortal kombat game.

Lets talk about the reasons you listed bc i agree.

Kuai liang as scorpion and in role reversal:

I am not a fan of this even remotely being "canon" Although the idea should be explored by fans WHO UNDERSTAND BOTH KUAI LIANG AND HANZO HASASHI AS CHARACTERS ORIGINALLY. It completely disrespects hanzo as a character and erases his connection to scorpion being a "gimmick thing to slap onto someone" as a title rather than a personal journey of meaning. And kuai deserves more respect as well, originally being an assassin whose clan tried to "modernize" by removing free will of warriors to ensure obedience and make their spirits and talents disposable. Trying to fight against that. It seems ironic in the end his fate is nothing more than to be toyed with by this unoriginal and uninspiring "role swap au lolz"

The tarkatan race being a disease:

I shouldn't even have to clarify how fucked up this is. Right after in mk 11 we saw tarkatans just being another race living in outworld minding their own business, and kotal fucking up (kotal khan is a wasted character but thats for another post) so we got what was once a "bad guy evil race" to something better. AND THEN THEY FUCKED IT UP AGAIN like isnt that, at best, the most tone deaf shit after what happened in real life with a certain disease and people being uber racist??? And dont get me started on how they messed up mileena with that too. (God damn the writers fucking hate her just as much as kung lao)

Raiden role reversal:

Let me tell you as a raiden enjoyer i fucking HATE them making him a basic ass protag like they did with liu kang (i love liu but lately they just removed all personality from him) its so fucking uninspiring and boring as shit AND THEY MAKE HIM CHAMPION INSTEAD OF KUNG LAO???? THE ABSOLUTE DISRESPECT WHAT THE FUCK i love raiden but he doesn't deserve champion title, that belongs to KUNG motherfucking LAO.

Fujin being a sister????:

Listen i havent seen it but this is the dumbest ass shit i have ever seen in my entire life. As if they couldn't show how little they actually care about fujin......

And the shallow fans who care little about fujin other than a "pretty fuck toy to do teh yaois with uwu" which is also what they did to shang tsung now which is like YOU FOOLS! CARY HIROYUKI TAGAWA-SAMA IS RIGHT FUCKING THERE!!! YOU SEXUALIZE HIM WHEN HE'S AN OLD MAN TOO OR YOU'RE A COWARD AND A SHAM!

And then there's the absolute nothing plot that really shows they ran out of ideas and just slap together bullshit. The villains arent really villains and they suck, its just "stop evil shang tsung but hes not actually evil bc theres this other timeline-" ITS FUCKING LAZY AND PATHETIC WRITING it shows that they want to have it all just to appease fans to take their money. Thats it, thats all this story boils down to. A shoddy scam to bullshit a story to take people's money. I mean you cant even get shang tsung or marjory of fan desired characters without dlc and the base game is like 60-70 bucks like the fuck????

As a regular fighting game? Mid but enjoyable i guess. But as a mortal kombat game? No, thats not even mortal kombat thats just some dumbasses wattpad fanfic after they watched avengers endgame in their crusty batman shirt

I'll end this with a small side note: if my opinions offend, I'm sorry im passionate about a series that was a part of my childhood and made me appreciate Japanese and Chinese culture and kung fu cinema in general. Im sorry if the memories of playing a fun game and caring about the characters having strong bonds of friendship in a violent world designed to be a "kill or be killed" system and despite that choosing to do the right thing in their mind.

Sorry if i seem to be playing a different game bc i am.

Its mortal kombat: shaolin monks for the ps2

-gets head ripped off-

#plz play it its legit fun and stupid as hell #its not the best mk in terms of plot but its got so much love and soul into it #also play mk deadly alliance too its fun #rant #and watch the shitty defenders of the realm cartoon it has the best raiden and nightwolf is in it too #and watch the 95 movie NOW for the best raiden shang tsung and liu kang #and watch conquest if you want to stomach through late 90s tv cringe and for the best raiden ever in the history of ever

[aworldforastage]

Just finished: 三嫁咸鱼/Thrice Married to Salted Fish by 比卡比

Okay, not gonna lie, I'm a bit disappointed -- not to say the novel wasn't good, but my expectations might have been a bit too high due to its immense popularity, especially in the English-speaking fandom.

The story has some very interesting and refreshing ideas:

A transmigration novel told from the POV of an in-universe character rather than the transmigrator

Three separate transmigrations into the same universe

Main characters who unabashedly prioritizes their own interests

And it includes many popular tropes:

A genre-savvy transmigrator intentionally hijacks the plot from the original protagonist

A "feel-good" novel that mercilessly destroys the bad guys and other people standing in the main couple's way

Main characters are very smart and competent (if a bit OP)

The plot is action-packed and tightly-paced

The main couple has believable development and compatible personalities

But on the other hand [unmarked spoilers ahead]

I don't really like with the way the relationship arc has been handled. The gong transmigrates into three different bodies; even though it's the same spirit/personality that Lin Qingyu falls in love with, their dynamic is a bit different in each body and identity. A big part of Lin Qingyu's relationship with Lu Wancheng is them grappling with his declining health and inevitable death, and his relationship with Gu Fuzhou has a period of familiarizing with this new body. They are so distinct that I can't see it like one single relationship.

It is especially jarring to see Lin Qingyu "moving on" literally the night after Gu Fuzhou dies. Because he has been through this before, and this is meant to be Jiang Xing's "true body", there seems to be barely any adjustment. Qingyu becomes intimate with the new body before he is done processing Gu Fuzhou's death, and I feel like it was too abrupt given how deeply he has bonded with Jiang Xing-as-Gu Fuzhou.

The plot also feels more and more implausible as time goes on. The schemes Lin Qingyu and Lu Wancheng pull off in the Lu Household can be explained away by them being ballsy and smart, but as the scope of the story expands, their egregious interference of imperial politics just seems downright ridiculous. I really enjoyed the first part of the novel, where Lu Wancheng's poor health and Lin Qingyu's awkward political position give them more of an underdog-against-the-power kind of vibe. However, as they gain more political power and the "protagonist halo" , their progress becomes so smooth it can't even be called a conflict anymore.

Overall

I would summarize my impression of novel as "did not live up to the hype". It has many refreshing and enjoyable tropes, a sweet romantic arc and a feel-good kind of plot. It also has good and effective writing -- I was in tears reading about Lu Wancheng's death. Ironically, it starts in a way I really enjoyed, but shifts to a direction I enjoy less towards the end. Not a bad story, but I just hoped for something a bit more spectacular, or at least a bit different.

However, the song from the audiodrama is a bop ~

#三嫁咸鱼 #thrice married to salted fish #sjxy #danmei novels #my reading #historical danmei #political danmei #transmigration danmei

[projecthipster]

Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk

This being a stock photo is very enjoyable to me.

“We are God's middle children, according to Tyler Durden, with no special place in history and no special attention. Unless we get God's attention, we have no hope of damnation or redemption. Which is worse, Hell or nothing?”

"A bit 2edgy4u, but neat ideas about how angry men be angry. Didn’t care a lot for the terse, repetitive writing style to start but I got used to it as the threads came together to the intense climax. And it’s short, so not like it was a huge investment."

Ok, so that’s a pretty terse review. Ironically, considering that “terse, repetitive writing” was one of my criticisms. That was, directly copy-pasted, the review I posted on Goodreads after finishing Fight Club early last year. For a proper Project Hipster post I ought to expand it. And yet— I actually think that covers it pretty well. Let’s break my terse review of this terse novel down into its aspects, then, and see what I meant, in less terse words, and let’s see whether a year and a half to think things over has changed my thoughts. Terse doesn’t sound like a word anymore.

A bit 2edgy4u, but neat ideas about how angry men be angry

The aspect of Hipsterdom that I’ve never gravitated so much towards is that which stems from angsty postmodern 90s Gen X disillusionment, and as I mentioned back in my first Radiohead review, Palahniuk is kind of the epitome of that. And he does do it well.

Maybe I’m just too young to have lived through it, but I can empathize with it. The routine of life in a bullshit job under Capitalism Victorious is as mind-numbing now as it was then, I know well, and the now laughable late millennium rhetoric of the End of History must have added a particularly different sort of catalyst for mental illness. While today it’s the chaos of the world that fills us with anxiety, its seeming stability in the age of Fight Club must have created another sort of dread, living with the apparent surety that this world of fluorescence and linoleum was the ultimate aspiration of society, and now that it had arrived, it would carry on forever. I need the darkness, someone please cut the light!

Is it any wonder, then, that Palanhiuk’s pointedly nameless narrator falls into a sleepless spiral of desire for chaos, wanting to “wipe his ass with the Mona Lisa” and break beautiful things just to experience the thrill of change? That spiral leads the narrator into Project Mayhem, the anarcho-fascist cult of Tyler Durden, a mysterious, rebellious drifter who may be more than he seems, and promises an escape from monotony through rebellion, ascending over the short course of the novel from pranks to terrorism.

A lot of the discourse around this book and its adaptation centres on that always-crucial question – in stories about men lashing out in anger, how much are we meant to agree? The ending of Fight Club (the book, at least; we’ll come back to that point) makes it pretty clear that Palahniuk is hardly holding up Tyler Durden as a role model. But he comes from a place motivated by genuine criticism of a heartless society. Palanhiuk says that its’ “about a lonely person looking for some way to connect with other people." It’s a cautionary tale, then, about the fallout of loneliness and toxic masculinity, but where’s the line that morality is transcended in favour of rage? For the narrator, it’s another character’s death. For the reader, should it be the same? Or earlier? These are interesting, worthwhile questions! I have no definitive answers to them. There are interesting metaphors here, too, like how Tyler steals human fat from lipo clinics, literally the offcast fat of the fattening system, and uses it to make his weapons.

Palahniuk was himself a member of something called the Cacophony Society, which sounds a lot like Project Mayhem purely in name, but reading up on it makes it sound a lot less intense, given that it’s more of an unincorporated counter-cultural arts group. Cacophonists allegedly created Burning Man, paint Banksyesque street art, perform satirical Christmas carols, and disrupt the rush by blocking traffic to host picnics open to all visitors. Oh, and, uh, write edgy novels. Sounds fun, actually. Sounds like that’s a much healthier response to the same things that drive the characters in Fight Club to violence. Apparently the Cacophony Society itself stems from an earlier San Fransisco secret society called the Suicide Club, which focused mostly on urban exploration and the benefits of thrill-seeking.

Didn’t care a lot for the terse, repetitive writing style to start but I got used to it

Yeah, I still think this to some degree. I just prefer purpler prose, on a personal level. But I can respect Palanhiuk’s stylistic choices, to the point that they seem to be impacting these very sentences as I type them. Quotes from Fight Club in my mind are right now bleeding into the way I tackle my own keyboard. One maybe generous interpretation of Fight Club’s writing style is that it’s a window into the narrator's deteriorating mental state. When we’re working around sleepless nights, and when stress and anger are eroding reason into base fight-or-flight instinct, none of us are thinking in full sentences. It helps somehow to know that there’s a name and history for this style as well. Palahniuk was a disciple of Tom Spanbauer, who in Portland, where lives the dream of the 90s, taught the style he called “dangerous writing.” Spanbauer defines the style’s tenets as minimalism, realism, and writing from painful personal experience. In a way it’s very similar to Hemingway’s “one true sentence” approach. It’s another swing of the pendulum in the same direction, I suppose. As Hemingway was reacting against the Romantics, Spanbauer and Palahniuk were reacting to the maximalist “hysterical realism” of David Foster Wallace and Zadie Smith (who I also like.) It’s a style. Can’t fault style for consistency. In terms of repetition, I’m referring of course to the very prominent motifs, like the narrator's constant (and it is constant) reframing of the Reader’s Digest feature “I am Joe’s…”

as the threads came together to the intense climax

And what a climax. I should preface by saying that somehow I’ve still never actually seen the movie. Through cultural osmosis, though, I knew the twist. If you don’t, stop reading. Despite Publishers Weekly calling the twist “particularly bizarre,” despite the use of then-obscure dissociative identity disorder to justify its mechanics, it’s fairly simple in concept. This character seems to be the character’s secret ambitions manifested ad extremis. And it turns out that’s exactly what he is. It’s one of those devices that leads every scene to be read two ways, which is always good, and it makes the climax thrilling. I also know how the movie ends differently. I think in terms of themes I prefer the book version, but I understand why it was changed to a more visually dramatic ending for the movie. I also think it’s pretty funny that the Chinese release of the movie wasn’t allowed to show Project Mayhem succeeding, so it cuts out the end in favour of essentially telling the book ending in captions.

And it’s short, so not like it was a huge investment.

Unlike this post. Sorry. Good thing I don't write these with the assumption that anyone will ever read them.

I give this hipster book four disillusioned white men out of five.

Project Hipster is a futile and disorganized attempt to dive into the world of things that the internet has at some point claimed "are hipster," mostly through ListChallenges search results.

This review comes from the ninth list, Essential Books For Hipsters.

Next up: a more lighthearted movie that can still make you cry.

Stay deck.

#fight club #chuck palahniuk #books #hipster

[egg-emperor]

I hate to ask this, but do other eggman enjoyers... Want him not to be evil? I mean this in the most respectful way, but eggman doesn't have a whole lot going on canonically besides being evil. If someone doesn't like that part what part are they into?

I regret to inform you that it's been a very shockingly controversial aspect of his character in recent years, despite him being the main villain of the series and it confuses and frustrates me to no end lol. I think part of it is because of small things outside of the game canon media, where he has vastly different portrayals and isn't anywhere near as evil. Which is all fine and good for them to like of course but then they dislike and can't accept that the original Eggman in the games has always been pure evil without any genuine good morals and traits, and no chance of redemption. And they'll get mad and judge one's character over those who actually like it.

And as a result of them liking those lesser evil versions of him more, they will attempt to ignore or highly misinterpret Eggman's scenes in the actual games, because he's one of the most unpopular versions for actually being a lot more evil and doing so is the only way they can like him there at all. And if someone actually likes that he's evil and chooses to acknowledge and embrace those things and correct the misinformation instead, they will tell them to stop ruining their fun and accuse them of being a bad person for caring. I've unfortunately been a target of this for appreciating his evil and making passionate analysis and writings based on that.

Eggman has become the subject of a lot of tropes based around giving him redeeming qualities that he doesn't have that doesn't make sense for the character he was established to be and has remained consistently so. The most popular fanon Eggman interpretation is vastly different from the game canon and liking him as he appears in the games and expressing that openly gets you alienated. It's at the point where I'm being kicked out of the fandom by newer fans that have only liked him for as long as the nicer versions and fanon of the character has existed and some older fans that latched onto them while ignoring and misinterpreting game canon.

And yeah you're absolutely right and that's especially wild about it, he doesn't have anything going on canonically in the games that doesn't involve his evil in any way at all. Even if people like his charming funny and casual moments, his evil is still a part of everything he does, it defines him, his personality, his actions, his beliefs, even his humor. He was even given the first name "Ivo" because its pronunciation is supposed to sound like "evil"! So his name is literally "evil" and 99% of what he does on screen in the games is evil - yet that's controversial, disliked by Eggman fans, and it gets fans that actually enjoy it shamed. It's so ironic.

I can't imagine that fans of him enjoy actually consuming the game media much when they don't actually like anything he's doing. And I don't know what they actually want him to do, if not be evil because they want him to become a better person despite everything he does coming from the fact he's evil, his entire character is built around it as the villain. In all the games where he doesn't have an active villainous role, he's just sat there doing nothing. If he somehow stopped being the villain after 30 years then he'd barely be used as a character anymore. I don't think that's worth occasional scenes of nice pure wholesome Eggman for people to coo at.

All of the things that make Eggman so charming, entertaining, and lovable all stem from his evil and it's involved and evident in every aspect of his characteristics and actions. He's a very evil and selfish character that will gladly do terrible things to accomplish his just as evil goals in conquering the world, he's motivated solely by that and even finds sadistic enjoyment in it. The way most the games' adventures even begin is by Eggman kicking it off with another evil scheme. It's a very important part of his character at the very core and it's important to the overall plot in most games, nothing would be the same without it, there'd be no conflict and nothing interesting left.

It saddens me that it's something that's so disliked or ignored by fandom but you know people can be when it comes to villains, they don't like it when they're genuinely evil and don't have good redeeming traits so they can have something to be interested in and feel justified in liking them because they don't like his evil and think it's wrong to enjoy it like I do. But I love seeing Eggman being his best true self as a super evil and dangerous threat and all the thrilling badass scenes that come out of it when he's in action and being a real diabolical bastard, which is 99% of the time he's on screen, and I'll always give it the love and appreciation it deserves! 🥰💜💕

#asks #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #rant

[ladymariayuri]

7 and whatever other one you wanna do :3

character you hate only bc the fandom got weird about it ok im gonna cheat and answer with a ship cuz i dont rly have any characters that fit that. i just answered an ask about jetstream sam but sam/raiden shippers on this website are absolutely out of their fucking minds with what they do to those guys. removed from the context of like the fanbase im ambivalent to it with no negative or positive opinions but oh my god. there are so few people who can be normal about raiden and it gets worse when its in the context of a yaoi break. like im so fucking tired of seeing the same shit infantilizing raiden turning him into either an uwu clueless soft boy or TWISTED FUCKING CYCLE PATH and turning sam into some creepy perv with no respect for boundaries i cant take it anymore. ic ant take it. hello can anybody hear me. ive had that pent up for so long you dont even know. i have friends who like this ship and theyre fine and i love them bc theyre normal but good god when that wretched yaoi break hits. also people get crazy misogynistic about rosemary for reasons related to yaoi breaks and not related to yaoi breaks but thats a rant for another time (<- thats saying something because i DEEPLY despise rosemary) picking random q -> unpopular character you like that more people should like um literally any guy from dark souls 2. i think most of them get slept on except like pate/creighton/ maaaaaybe fume knight sometimes. the game sucks but i love the weird little dudes you find out in the world or kill. i am not immune to being a fume knight enjoyer so my next best recommendation is sir alonne hes a cool dude. dudes with katanas rock and i like the sicko king/advisor shit with iron king because its like i can fix him. nevermind no i cant goodbye

[carmenpeach]

ive been playing on deviantart and finding peoples profiles that range from like 2007 - mid 2010s and its kind of sad seeing this pattern of "style development" whether their old work was more anime or sonic like or whatnot that was deemed at one point early 2010s as "lesser art" anime is particular, so you see these people with these very elegant anime drawings but see them try to ditch the anime eyes which is a really hard thing to do, and you see the hate grow for anime resemblance in their art etc and it shifts into kinda mediocre cartoonism and, i dont really like this term since its kind of meaningless, but it shifts more towards 2011/12 era "tumblr art" and its interesting since this was around when a lot of people moved to tumblr, and when all your favorite artists abandon their da it led others to shift to tumblr too (myself included so this is also a firsthand experience and observation) where the art community on tumblr was more focussed on "find your own style instead of anime or sonic or other derivative things" and shifts into the noodle arms and much more simplified looks and oval/ circular eyes since how else are you supposed to detach from anime really, especially when everyone is a bunch of 16 year olds that hate their past "cringe" selves and make it everyone elses problem. and you can see in these peoples galleries as their passion for art dies and it becomes a more "i must improve at all costs or else i will be the cringe copycat loser that sucks at art" with the ironic part being the "find your own style" became a new derivative of each other, which is inevitable since your art is influenced by your intake of other art. which then leads to ironic/ insultive art and its just this hate spiral. no one enjoys drawing anymore, none of it is for fun, its all for clout of the week and getting those reblogs in, since the only way to give value to your art is if everyone else does, and if your style even remotely resembled someone elses, you got ran off the site and had people cyberstalking you for months to make sure you are never welcomed in the online world again. and you see these artists become more depressed and more angry and hate themselves and the creation of art more - less uploads, less enjoyment (descriptions being very "this sucks im garbage sorry" etc) and like i saw this in my old deviantart too. i was making these detailed fun anime drawings and putting my all into it but you can tell i was having fun, and the slow shift to moving away from "dumb anime" and the loathing of art, and the inevitable downfall of my art creation in general, the way you could tell i was starting to hate it and that it was never good enough. literally anime hate ruined countless peoples love for art.

[pesterloglog]

Dave Strider, Rose Lalonde

Act 5, page 3876-3880

-- turntechGodhead [TG] began pestering tentacleTherapist [TT] --

TG: heres one for you

TG: its a whopper

TG: are you ready

TT: For what?

TG: this huge fuckin whopper im about to just say

TT: You mean a canard of behemothic embellishment?

TG: what

TT: Or was your resolve finally dismantled by the siren's song of all that flame broiled beef?

TG: no no

TG: ok first do you even have burger kings out in the fucking woods

TG: why do you reference things that obviously arent in the woods like terrible burgers

TT: I'll limit my establishments of reference to lumber mills and sugar shanties from now on.

TT: Also, there's a Burger King less than forty minutes from my house. I won't let this stand in the way of the new policy though.

TG: there is

TG: ok whatever

TG: im talking about a dream i just had

TG: i mean it was a doozy like psychologically speaking

TG: doozy is a slightly dumber word than whopper

TT: Certainly less delicious.

TG: it was absurdly heavy handed my subconscious was really slathering it on

TG: like whatever tangy sludge the king himself squirts on his bargain patties

TG: its possible that i dreamt it ironically i dunno

TG: i figured youd be interested in hearing about it its every bit as thick and juicy as a half pound of sizzling grade A premium ok this is stupid weve got to get burgers out of this conversation

TG: are you busy

TT: Yes.

TG: cool listen to this

TT: I thought you didn't want me to analyze your dreams anymore.

TG: no but this one is too good not to put under the microscope with your whole precocious psychotherapy shtick its almost laughably symbolic of all my mental problems assuming i actually have those

TG: its grotesquely pregnant with meaning

TG: all gestating at least 8 gooey octuplets thrashing around in an undulating belly full of mind slime

TT: Maybe we can start by evaluating that troubling metaphor.

TG: no look

TG: i just want your professional take on how many things in my dream symbolize dicks

TT: We've already established that all of your dreams are packed with enough homoerotic symbolism to lift Freudian theory from the ashes of discreditation.

TG: yeah thats a given but i didnt even dream about puppets this time

TT: Are you serious?

TT: I'm clearing my schedule. This is a major breakthrough.

TG: i know

TG: it was so much more relaxing and enjoyable

TG: it was about me dying repeatedly

TT: Go on.

TG: i was in this dark place surrounded by this big flock of crows

TG: god this is so generically morbid

TG: im sorry in advance for exposing you to my unconscious minds retarded cliches

TT: It's ok.

TT: They wouldn't be cliches if they didn't comprise the unanimously understood bedrock of phallic symbolism, with no other viable interpretation.

TG: well obviously i knew the birds were just black screaming sky dongs just hear me out

TG: i kept dying

TG: there kept being these traps like i would go one way and get my head chopped off

TG: or go another way and get stabbed or whatever

TG: and every time i died the dream reset itself and i was standing there alive and ready to try to escape again

TG: but each time i would be watching myself from the vantage point of a different crow

TG: like i was the crow all squawking around in circles like a macabre flapping douche

TG: and i would always watch myself try to do something different to dodge the trap but i always ended up dead

TT: Hm.

TT: Well, if I've learned anything from my extensive skimming over the Wikipedia articles on dream analysis,

TT: It's that this dream is very unlikely to have any literal significance whatsoever.

TT: It's probably not about dying at all.

TG: you mean maybe its about anxiety over maintaining my blogs

TG: or that my beats might not be ill enough

TT: Yes. In fact, if you were on my couch that would have been my next question, as a licensed professional.

TT: "Mr. Strider, have you considered that what you actually dread is to have your urban rhythms exposed for what they truly are, which is, clinically speaking, just shy of 'da bomb'?"

TG: and then we crack up laughing cause we both know theyre fresher than your moms change of drawers and tighter than when shes wearin them

TT: Listening to you conjure imagery of my mother in her underpants is definitely keeping us buoyed high above this swirling Freudian hellhole.

TT: Well done.

TG: please its not like shes my mom i can visualize her choice ass all i want without it gettin much more than moderately uncomfortable for everyone involved

TT: What if you're wrong?

TG: about what

TT: Her not being your mother.

TG: uh

TT: Don't worry, you're probably safe. Luckily I can think of no literary or historical precedent for that sort of folly whatsoever.

TG: this isnt the first time youve insinuated were related what is up with that

TT: Isn't it?

TG: no

TG: i mean

TG: im not sure

TG: i feel like youve brought it up before which is kind of weird but now i dont know

TG: i think im getting this weird deja vu thing where i was sure we talked about this

TG: forget it

TT: Why don't you tell me more about your dream?

TG: ok

TG: so i kept dying and kept being crows and stuff

TG: and then i started to notice something coming from the sky

TG: it was this faint eerie singing and i look up and theres nothing there just darkness

TT: That's interesting.

TT: I've read about this.

TG: what did you read

TT: Certain texts say singing from the unknowable void carries a message.

TT: That its recipient has been selected for a mission of supreme cosmic importance, that will result in your death and that of billions more.

TT: But one that is essential to the perpetuation of existence itself.

TG: what the fuck sort of crackpot psychology text would say something like that

TT: It's not from a psychology text.

TG: so then youre consulting astrology books now

TT: Not astrology.

TT: More like,

TT: Zoology.

TG: oh my fucking god will you put that away

TT: Ok.

TT: Keep describing the dream, though.

TT: If the rest of it is incompatible with prognoses of the zoologically dubious, I will withdraw my insinuation.

TG: theres not even much more to it

TG: i looked up into the sky

TG: didnt see anyone singing

TG: but even though the sky was black i could see the sun

TG: it was bright as hell even through my shades

TG: so i flapped my wings and flew up away to it like a fucking piece of garbage

TG: and thats it

TT: This doesn't strike you as an impulse of self destruction?

TG: no

TG: not in the sense that it was a dark sacrificial zoology mission

TG: it was more like somewhere to go besides watching myself die a lot from the vantage of a feathery murder of dumb shitty birds

TT: So, if hypothetically you were to accept such a mission, or even insist upon one, it wouldn't be in the spirit of genuine sacrifice, but of escape?

TG: what the fuck are you talking about

TG: ok somethings wrong

TG: this whole conversation is falling apart this isnt how it originally went at all

TT: Aw. We were making good progress, too.

TT: Why did you have to go and remember?

TG: this happened months ago

TG: does this mean im dead

TT: What do you think?

TG: stop it

TG: this is so sick you using the dream bubble bullshit to pick apart my psyche

TG: am i dead or asleep

TT: If you're starting to remember, you should be able to tell me.

TG: god dammit

TT: Maybe I'm just as confused as you about it?

TG: yeah right

TT: Am I dead or asleep, Dave?

TG: i dont know

TT: Try to remember.

#homestuck #dave strider #rose lalonde #homestuck act 5 #page 3876 #page 3877 #page 3878 #page 3879 #page 3880 #homestuck act 5 act 2