#she's not popular people just allegedly want to bang her

[musicalchaos07]

Some of y'all really forget Nancy's a loser. Not me though, love my weird girl and her bad reputation.

#she's not popular people just allegedly want to bang her #but i think Fred is possibly biased #do not let the pastels fool you Jonathan is her only friend #some of y'all get caught up in fanon and want to crown her prom queen #the queen of Hawkins High is Chrissy #nancy is the weird sluttygirl #who's long distance boyfriend is allegedly a perv a freak and gay #shes not winning popularity contests #anyways im rambling #nancy wheeler #stranger things

[ct-multifandom]

What’s the (in universe) point of Your Turn to Shine?

(Spoiler warning)

When Mishima’s story first came out, people immediately started theorizing about the island, the endings, Jin, Touko, and Rei, but with the addition of the Kai ending, we have a fraction of an answer and way more questions.

When the side game dropped, the biggest question was, “what’s the point of the simulation?” The Sara scene shocked people, wondering what she’s doing and at what point in time.

Allegedly? YTTS is supposed to be able to stand independently from YTTD, but I can’t believe there’s no overlap in new information.

When the protagonist (Mishima or Kai as of today) escapes, she tells a mystery person to delete the simulation and to start it again “as many times as it takes”. As many times as it takes to do what?

Previously, this was the only decent outcome to the game, but now we have two “good” endings where this scene doesn’t show up.

When Kai decided to stay on the island and be a chef, or when Mishima decides to stay and be a teacher, Sara doesn’t shut things down or interrupt at all. Does this mean that these are the results she’s looking for?

I saw someone in the YouTube comments say that Asunaro’s motto is about becoming who you want to be. I totally forgot since it’s been a while since I played the whole game. I would imagine that being an inspirational teacher is Mishima’s ideal lifestyle and being a respected head chef at a restaurant is Kai’s.

When they return to their normal lives, the simulation failed, but when they put their dreams first and grow into their fantasy, it’s a success?

In the endings which I assume are acceptable to “Sara?”, the PC meets the person they care about most. They look fantastic older to me. Sara is just herself with her hair down, maybe a bit longer, and non-uniform clothes, but Nao’s bangs and most of her hair texture are totally different, not to mention the clothes. She has an overall more mature vibe. Plus, she says she’s not in college anymore and is instead entering the workforce as a teacher.

But if Nao dies at the age of 19, how does Asunaro and/or Sara? know what she looks like past that age? Are they using AI to age her up? That’s very possible. I’d think that future endings will have different characters show up at the end e.g. Reko for Alice, but as of right now, it could be that YTTS takes place after the massacre ending and that the mystery person talking to Sara? is Nao.

Anyways, why does Sara? want the people to achieve development and pursue their dreams? Does she want to resurrect her dead friends as dolls? Is this her rebellion against Asunaro; forcing the participants to become happy, successful individuals instead of turning them into hardened killers? I believe Sara? is some sort of post-ending survivor version of herself.

Popular idea, but I think Jin, Touko, and Rei are participants of the Hades Incident, Touko being memorandum girl, Jin being the man whose views most align with hers, and Rei being the memorandum man. So he’s Meister, I guess. The man who created the simulation world. Mr. Rei Chidouin? Since he dies in every simulation, did Sara? rig the game against him?

There’s not a lot to go off of yet, and unless we’ll keep getting new routes within character stories, we won’t get much. When will these questions be answered? After the regular YTTD game ends? After you complete all the PC stories? It seems like all PCs learn the same info in their routes, so any conclusive ending can’t just be a normal route unless maybe it’s Sara’s or something because she might read the diary and recognize Rei’s name despite the memory erasure. Kai didn’t, but maybe he never knew it?

What do you guys think?

#yttd #your turn to die #your turn to shine #ytts #yttd spoilers #your turn to die spoilers #your turn to die theories #yttd theory #sara chidouin #nao egokoro #kai satou #kazumi mishima #kimi ga shine #kimi ga shine spoilers #kgs #kgs spoilers #mr chidouin

[demonfox38]

Okay. Made it through the last season of Netflix's "Castlevania" interpretation. Thoughts are below the cut.

I've often thought of this series as the exploitation version of "Castlevania," and hiring Malcom McDowell confirms that.

Although, I find it hilarious that both Malcolm McDowell and Patrick Stewart have ended up voicing the same character. I'm sure there's a "Star Trek Generations" joke to be made in there, but I'm not Mike Stoklasa.

Also, I was cracking up a bit when Varney's plot twist happened. Mostly, because it came off a bit Skeletor-esque in vocal performance.

Also, also—laughing that the final boss went the "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence" route despite barely touching on that game's plot.

Animation had its ups and downs with this season. It seemed like there were some frame issues (not enough inbetweening.) I do appreciate how they incorporated more of Alucard's SOTN animations into his fights, however.

Additionally, some of the fight scenes' pacing seemed to have issues, particularly regarding weapon recovery.

The whole bit with St. Germain was off. Like, he's a weird asshole in "Castlevania: Curse of Darkness", but he's more of a weird asshole there in the same way that casually encountering "Doctor Who"'s Doctor would also be strange. Not a straight up villainous boob. Kinda makes sense thematically to have another character who is willing to do horrible shit for their lost loved one, but the series honestly did not do a good job establishing her. Like, did she even have a voice actor? Or a name? All I'm saying is it was much easier for outsiders to get the Lisa revenge thing Dracula had going.

Also, how dare you joke about not being deaf and then have a villainous monologue, TV show.

Greta's a good girl. Well, outside of being an occasional homewrecker. Point is, she's competent and trying her best to save people in a bad situation, and anyone having issues with her is not to be trusted in the same way that you don't trust people who don't like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2."

Look at me. Do not trust people who do not like Rochelle from "Left 4 Dead 2." Yes, her writing could have been better, but she's still a viable character. Let people Thunder Child their ships on the rocks of your better self. Got me?

Also, y'all really need to embrace more polyamory. Or understand the fact that Alucard's not going to love just one person in his life. Dude lives to be at least 600 in the game's timeline. For a dude who loves humans, constricting him to just one who may live to be 100 at best is cruel.

There are some interesting philosophical dialogues going on here, but I can see where some people may lose their patience for them. Considering one of Castlevania's most popular memes is a philosophy debate, you're just gonna have to suck that up. My personal favorites included the topic of acting versus reacting, as well as having agency in one's story.

Striga's battle theme was cool, but otherwise, the music was forgettable. Yes, that is a sin. Punishable by Death? In this series, maybe!

The gore's still over the top. Which, okay, fine. There's a bit of that in game. It's just generally a bit more reserved with it or uses it in crucial boss fights.

RIP doggie.

The Targoviste plot's a bit of a wash, but it doesn't feel as useless as Trevor and Sypha's previous plot predicament. It's just nothing of a surprise, considering how many times the writing has played the "authority figures are useless" and "dark secret surprise" tropes in this series. Like, Greta being reliable is actually more surprising than anything with this plot.

I cannot emphasize enough how boring I found Carmilla's interpretation and plot arc. You guys could have had a giant, naked lesbian riding a skull and spewing magic at people while her cat-eared girlfriend jumped them for extra damage. But no. Vanilla lady with a scarlet sword for you. So long. Farewell. Auf Wiedersehen. Good night.  

Gotta say, as much of a deviation from his source character as he is, Isaac really turned out well in this series. He's definitely evidence that you don't always need to stick to source material.

His Abel is fucking sick, dude. Way to go, king.

Also, I was expecting more violence from Hector this season. Oh, well. At least he got a teeny bit of a spine.

Look. I'm not an alchemist by any means. I'm just a bit baffled by this season's emphasis of obtaining a Rebis. Like, any time the game series has talked about the Magnum Opus of Alchemy, it's more been in pursuit of making a Philosopher's Stone (or at the very least, a Crimson Stone, as seen in "Castlevania: Lament of Innocence.") Pulling a Rebis out of the aether is…well. Could have been more interesting than it was. I mean, it was a bit nightmarish, but it really didn't do much.

Sypha's really never getting back to her family, is she?

Love the idea that the cross subweapon is basically a fancy chakram.

GERGOTH. BUDDY. FRIENDO.

Really appreciating the monster variety in these last two seasons. I mean, that's a big selling point of the "Castlevania" games. Not so much vampires standing around and bickering in dick-waving contests.

Breaking out of the bullet points to hit on the big subject of this season—that is, the ending being surprisingly happy.

There's been a lot of shit that's happened over the last few years. Obviously, a pandemic. Konami's run by pricks. Then, there's the situation with the allegations of sexual coercion with Warren Ellis. Additionally, the terrible ending of "Game of Thrones" likely impacted how this season was developed, considering it seemed to be chasing its progression in construction. (I mean, look at Carmilla and Daenerys.) I don't know how many people were happy with the last season of "Castlevania," but from my POV, it double-tapped itself in the foot with the way it pushed simultaneous sex and violence in its last two episodes. My point is, there was little taste for additional darkness, considering everything that has been happening. Society is drained.

A happy ending was what people really wanted. And man, did this pull through, in that regard. But, there's a conversation to be had in if this swerved too far or if it violates some artistic integrity to give people what they want. So, let's have it.

Look. Man. Have you seen a "Castlevania" ending? When you do it right, it's crumbled castles and rainbow-colored skies. If you do it really right, it results in a pretty girl holding the main character's hand. There is happiness in these games. Hope. Forgiveness and redemption. If this is supposed to be any bit an accurate interpretation of these games, it absolutely should end in such a joyful fashion. (Okay, maybe giving Dracula and Lisa a second honeymoon at the end was a bit much, but I get where people would want that.)

Did some items need to be addressed more? Absolutely. Alucard staking people and Hector getting sexually coerced into servitude are some pretty big topics to just wave away. (Oh, shit. That second part is even worse now with what Ellis was allegedly doing, isn't it?) I suppose I'm just glad the series didn't go full Sephiroth with Alucard. And at least Hector finally took some stand in his situation, even if it wasn't the bombastic, hateful revenge I'm used to seeing from this character in other stories.

I think the creators of this series were trying to save this show from the fate of "Game of Thrones." (To some extent, perhaps the "Voltron" re-interpretation as well.) There's so much media out there anymore that if a production team doesn't nail the ending, their creation gets wiped out of the collective consciousness. To that extent, I think the creators were successful in saving their series. Did it do damage to itself in yanking out of its construction and themes? A bit. But, in doing so, it pivoted back to being more like a proper "Castlevania" product. (And of course, by proper, I mean anything ignoring "Lords of Shadows." God, people need to stop chasing other products when developing "Castlevania" stuff and just let the series be as it is.)

I am very curious as to how much of this season was part of an original draft and how much was revised in backlash to everything that has happened. It doesn't seem like Trevor was intended to survive, but to some extent, Sypha had to. (I mean, until she has a kid, anyway. See "Lords of Shadows" series for dickery regarding that.) I'm also wondering if there was more intended for the Carmilla subplot, as much as the series was banging on about her invading locations. I'm not even sure St. Germain was intended to be a villain all along. Getting into a bitchfight with Death? Sure. Doing what he did here? That's a weird arc, dude.

If you come away from my POV with anything, it should be this: GO PLAY THE GAMES.

Do it. Do it, you ghouls. Go to the Steam store and download the "Castlevania Anniversary Collection." Boot up your PS3 or 4 or 18 or whatever and get "Symphony of the Night." Throttle Nintendo's stores until "Aria of Sorrow" or "Dawn of Sorrow" or "Harmony of Dissonance" or whatever rattles out of their moldy pockets. Find a ROM. Find an ISO. Just play a game. Especially, one of the ones made before 2010.

"Castlevania" as a game series isn't about hordes of vampires dick-waving at each other or edgy swearing or being grim and dark. Some of that stuff's there, sure. But, at its core, it's what game developers created when they looked at Universal Monster Movie creations and went "That's cool. Let's fight that!" It's a series about pushing technology in MMC chips to make rich, vibrant music. It's about flourishing artwork and layers of sprites dripping particles and gore onto players. It's sober and goofy and very pro curry.

The thing is, "Castlevania" players have their own unique connection to the series. We're the weirdos you see clapping their hands when a mutilated dinosaur shows up on screen. It's not because the monster alone is cool. It's that we've fought and struggled and bodied that thing through several floors like a goddamn "X-Men: Children of the Atom" stage. It's kicked our asses. We've kicked its ass. We've got a connection to it that you just don't get from passively watching it barf lasers through a computer monitor or TV screen. Like, you know how people go, "Well, the movie wasn't as good as the book?" It's obnoxious, sure. But, those who read the source materials have to go to the effort of constructing their own sets and people to understand what's happening. In a similar fashion, game players build up their own skill set to reach that next rung.

Maybe you don't always get a payout when you invest your resources into something. But, there is a sense of accomplishment, seeing what you can do.

There's a reason this series got an adaptation. I mean, outside of Konami's head executives wanting easy money. "Castlevania" is a fantastic video game series. Has it got a few problems? Oh yeah. Especially after outsourcing and pachislot machines became all the rage. But, there's a reason Simon and Richter Belmont are playable in "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate." There's a reason I spent a significant amount of time playing these games and writing or drawing fanworks for it. These games are wonderful. Beautiful. Difficult, but inspiring. Reasons I will still bang on about them decades years down the road.

When I get exasperated by layers of angst and edge lord content this Netflix series generated, I want you to know why. The roots of this show are good games held captive under poor management. Some people on staff know this. I wish they had more scenario and writing control. But mostly, I don't want to shit on them or their work. (Well, other than perhaps the obvious target.) I just want you to see what I love in these games.

And also to watch Crashervania. Because that's legit.

#castlevania #netflix castlevania #spoilers #tl;dr play ball or SOTN or a Sorrow game or something

[thecaffeinebookwarrior]

The Dos and Don’ts of Writing Smart Characters

Since I started this blog, one of the most common questions I’ve received has to do with the portrayal of intelligent characters.  This is also one of the most difficult to answer -- excluding questions about characters with specialized knowledge sets, which are fairly easy to answer with source compilations.  Most of the questions have to do with:  how do you portray a smart character believably?  How do you make the audience relate to them?  Can I still make them likable?  How do I avoid the pitfalls of popular media?

Well, I’m finally here to answer, utilizing examples from some of my favorite (and occasionally, not-so-favorite) media.  Let’s jump in to the dos and don’ts of smart characters!

1.  Do let the audience follow the character’s thought process.  

As demonstrated by:  Tommy Shelby from Peaky Blinders

Albert Einstein allegedly once said, “If you can’t explain it to a five-year-old, you don’t truly understand it.”  And the sentiment rings true:  true genius doesn’t need to dazzle with big words and technobabble.  Instead, it makes the complex appear simple.

The same rings true for brilliant characters.  BBC’s Sherlock (more on that later) ceased to satisfy in its later seasons because it began to rely too heavily on visual glitz to avoid actually explaining its mysteries and how they were solved.  Similarly, the biggest complaints with block buster franchises -- Star Wars, The Avengers, Game of Thrones -- is that they became obsessed with “subverting expectations” cleverly instead of leading the audiences to their most logical and satisfying conclusions.

Meanwhile, the smartest and most satisfying media dazzles not by staying over the audience’s head, but by illustrating how simplistic the solutions can be.

Let’s start with my boy Tommy Shelby, the charismatic, swaggering protagonist of the charismatic, swaggering crime drama Peaky Blinders.  Using only his intelligence (and complete disregard for his own life/suicidal tendencies, but that’s not the point here), Tommy claws his way up from the near-bottom of the social ladder (an impoverished Romani in early 20th century Birmingham) to being a decorated war hero, to being the leader of a feared razor gang, to dominating the race track business, to becoming a business mogul, to becoming a member of parliament and trying to assassinate the leader of the fascist party. He’s also one of the paramount reasons why I’m bisexual.

So how can such a drastic social climb be conveyed believably?  Because Tommy -- as the viewpoint character -- is placed in seemingly inescapable situations, and then proceeds to demonstrate that the solutions to those situations have been there the whole time.  I recently watched a brilliant video on how this is done, which can be viewed here.

Early in season one, for example, he responds to aggressive new methods by the police by organizing a mass-burning of paintings of the king, and uses the press this garners to publicly shame the methods of the chief inspector who’s been antagonizing him.  In the next season, he talks his way into a deal by bluffing that he planted a grenade in his rival’s distillery.  My personal favorite is in season four, when he responds to being outgunned by a larger, American gang by contacting their rival -- none other than an Alphonse Capone.

All of Tommy’s victories are satisfying, because they don’t come out of nowhere -- we have access to the same information he does, each victory is carefully foreshadowed, and we are reminded at every turn that failure is a very real possibility (more on that later.)  So when he wins, we’re cheering with him.

Other examples:  Mark Watney from The Martian, who explains science in its most simplistic terms and with infectious enthusiasm.  He would make every character on The Big Bang Theory cry.  

Also, Miss Fisher from the AMAZING Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries.  The dazzling, 1920s, female Sherlock Holmes of your dreams.  I cannot recommend it enough.

To apply this to your own writing:  Remember you won’t dazzle anyone if you smack them in the face with a “brilliant” plot twist.  They want to take a journey with your character, not be left in the dust.  

Also, for everyone in my askbox concerned that they’re not smart enough to write intelligent characters, just remember how simple the problems confronting smart characters can be.  Put them in a difficult situation, and provide them with a means of getting out.  Then, just let them find it. 

2.  Don’t assume the audience is too stupid to keep up (or try to make them feel too stupid to keep up.)

As demonstrated by:  Sherlock Holmes from BBC’s Sherlock.

Say what you will:  there were reasons why everyone was so captivated by this show during its first two seasons.  It felt fresh.  People had yet to become frustrated with the inescapable thirst for Benedict Cumberbatch.  The writing was sharp, and the editing clever.  And it wove a tantalizing web of mysteries that demanded solution.  The problem was, there weren’t any.

The most frustrating for many was how Sherlock faked his death at the end of season two, after which devoted fans spent two years creating intricate theories on how he might have pulled this off.  The creators responded by mocking this dedication in the opening episode of season three, by showing a fan club spinning outlandish theories (one of which included Sherlock and Moriarty kissing.)  This might have been laughed off -- at the time, many seemed to consider it quite funny -- if the creators had bothered to offer their own explanation of how Sherlock survived.  They didn’t.  And so began a seemingly endless loop of huge cliffhangers that promised -- and consistently failed to deliver -- satisfying answers.

The most egregious examples occur in season four, which provided answers to questions no one asked, and withheld answers for things everyone wanted to know.  For example, did you know that the real reason Moriarty engaged Sherlock is because he was hypnotized by Sherlock’s secret evil sister?  The same one who killed Sherlock’s best friend, whom Sherlock convinced himself was a dog?  Yes, that was a real plot point, in the climax of the series.  It’s an effort to befuddle the audience with brilliant and unexpected writing, but instead pulled them out of a story they were already invested in and made them far more critical of its pre-existing faults. 

It’s pointed out in the brilliant (if bluntly named) Sherlock Is Garbage, And Here’s Why that Moffat can be a great writer, but is a consistently terrible show runner, because he’s more interested in dazzling the audience with cleverness than actually telling a satisfying story.  The video also points out that the show often implied Sherlock’s brilliance, without ever letting the audience follow along with his actions or thought-process in a way that DEMONSTRATED his brilliance.  

I highly recommend giving the aforementioned video a watch, because it is not only a great explanation of how Sherlock Holmes can be best utilized, but about how writing itself can be best utilized.

Other examples:  The Big Bang Theory.  As Wisecrack points out in their wonderful video on the subject, the punchline of every joke is “oh look, these characters are smart nerds!” which is repetitious at best and downright insulting at worst.

How to avoid this in your writing:  Treat the audience as your equal.  You’re not trying to bedazzle them, you’re trying to take them on a journey with you.  Let them be delighted when you are.  Don’t constantly try to mislead them or hold intelligence over their head, and they will love you for it.  Also, cheap tricks do not yield a satisfying story:  readers will know when you went into a narrative without a plan, and they won’t appreciate it.

3.  Do remember that smart people can be kind and optimistic!

As demonstrated by:  Shuri from Black Panther.

Yes, brilliant people can be unhappy and isolated by their intelligence, or rejected by society.  But remember that intelligence isn’t synonymous with a cantankerous attitude, or an excuse to be a pugnacious ass to those around you!  

Part of the reason why Shuri of 2018′s Black Panther was such a breath of fresh air was the fact that she subverted almost all preconceptions about how a genius looks, acts, and regards the world.  And it’s not just the fact that she isn’t a sullen, middle-aged white man that makes her stand out:  Shuri has an effervescent attitude, and genuinely loves contributing to her country and family.  She referred to sound-proof boots as “sneakers” (and then explained the pun when her brother didn’t get it.)  She’s fashionable.  She teases her older brother, and cries when he is apparently killed.  She’s up on meme culture.  This makes her unlike pretty much every other genius portrayed in the MCU.

Except maybe the Hulk.  He can dab now.

Shuri is also allowed to take pride in her genius, and can be a bit insufferable about it, which makes her more enjoyable and rounded.  But she is an excellent example of how genius can be explored and portrayed in fiction, and I will forever be embittered that she was underutilized in Infinity War and Endgame.

Why, for example, are all geniuses portrayed as arrogant misanthropes?  Albert Einstein battled depression, but he is also said to have enjoyed blowing bubbles and watching puppet shows.  He was kind to those who knew him.  Similarly, Alan Turing behaved little like his fictional counterpart, described as “shy but outgoing,” with a love of being outdoors.  Nikola Tesla fell in love with a pigeon.  Why do we have to portray these people so damn gravely?

Other examples:  Spencer Reid from Criminal Minds.  Also an excellent portrayal of an intelligent person on the autism spectrum, as he struggles to interface socially but cares profusely for his fellow human beings.  He is brilliant, and completely precious.

Also, Sherlock Holmes -- the original version, and all faithful adaptations thereof.  Anyone who thinks Sherlock is an austere, antisocial jerk isn’t familiar with the original canon.  He blushed when Watson complimented his intelligence, for God’s sake. 

Then there’s Elle Woods from Legally Blonde and Marge from Fargo.  Brilliant, upbeat, optimistic geniuses.

To apply this to your own writing:  If you have a smart character who hates everyone around them for no identifiable reason, ask yourself why this is necessary and what this adds to the plot.  Are they angry about injustice, towards themselves or others?  Are they frustrated with an inability to relate to people?  Do they want to protect themselves or their family at all costs, including politeness?  If not, question why your brilliant character can’t also be kind to those around them.

4.  Don’t make your character perfect at everything they do.

As demonstrated by:  Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Ah, Wesley.  Some call him the original Mary Sue, and it’s one of the only times I’ve seen the term applied with some accuracy.  He is somehow the most gifted and least qualified person on The Enterprise.  He’s Hermione Granger without the charm, jumping in to answer questions before any of the trained officers in the room have the chance to, always in the right.  His only obstacle?  Why, the boorish adults he’s surrounded with simply don’t understand his brilliance!

As early as the series’ very second episode, Wesley -- inebriated by an alien illness -- forcibly takes over the ship from Captain Picard, only to later save it from a threat with a reverse tractor beam of his own design.  

Wesley was obviously inserted as a means of attracting younger viewers, but failed egregiously, because he was too annoyingly perfect for kids to relate too, and not cool enough for them to be invested in.  I binge-watched the various Star Trek series in my youth for Spock, Data, and my wife Seven of Nine, not to watch seasoned military and scientific officers get lectured by an adolescent.  Even Wil Wheaton, who had the misfortune of portraying this character, expressed a dislike for him.  

Precocious children are great, if you get them right.  But get them wrong, and they can easily become your most annoying character, marring the face of otherwise great media.  The most important thing you can do for a brilliant character is endow them with weaknesses and flaws -- even something as small as Shuri’s fondness for teasing her older brother made her enjoyable, as anyone with siblings could relate to their dynamic.  

But, what if you want a supernaturally talented character who not only fails to be a ray of sunshine, but is something of an arrogant, antisocial jerk?  Can they still work, especially if they also happen to be a child? 

Yes, under one extremely important condition:

5.  Do keep your characters out of their depth!

As demonstrated by:  Number Five from Umbrella Academy.

Okay, he’s not exactly a child.  He’s a fifty-eight-year-old trapped in a child’s body, who’s traveled back in time from a post-apocalyptic future to warn his siblings of an incoming Armageddon.  In other news, Umbrella Academy is a weird show.  Unlike the comics, however, the apes don’t engage in prostitution. 

 The effect, however, remains the same:  a preternaturally talented child who talks down to everyone around him, including his (apparently) older siblings.  So why does he work while Wesley fails so egregiously?

For one thing, it’s demonstrated early on that Five has the skills to back up his sanctimonious attitude, with the delightfully ultraviolent Istanbul (Not Constantinople) sequence.  It also helps that he lacks Wesley’s squeaky-clean moral code, to the point at which he can get drunk in public or kill without remorse.  

But:  the element most vital to his success as a character is the fact that he’s kept completely, and consistently, out of his depth.  He knows the world will end in eight days, but he doesn’t know how this will transpire or how to stop it.  Ultimately, he fails again to stop the apocalypse, and must travel back in time with his siblings for another chance.  

Most authors have the impulse to demonstrate a character’s brilliance by allowing them to succeed against insurmountable odds, but the Umbrella Academy writers show tremendous wisdom in allowing Five to fail.  This allows the audience to empathize with him, and countermands the effects of his arrogant attitude.

This advice isn’t just true for pint-sized prodigies.  Look back over this list, and take notes of how often the most successful characters are allowed to fail, to have flaws, and to ascend past their comfort zone.  

Other examples:  Virtually every successful example on this list.

Tommy Shelby, a character of limitless ambition, conducts a new, perilous climb outside of his social rank each season, which almost always puts him in positions of mortal danger.  He faces threats both external (rival gangs, evil priests, and rising fascists) and internal (hello PTSD, suicidal tendencies, and crippling addiction) but either way, we understand that his fast-paced climb is not for the weak-willed or faint-hearted.  

Mark Watney is a brilliant scientist who has been stranded in an utterly impossible situation for which absolutely no one could be adequately prepared (spoilers:  it’s on Mars.)  We are drawn in by his plight, and how he could possibly escape from it, and there we come to admire him for his courage, optimism, and humor.

Shuri, though not the main character of Black Panther, is allowed to show off both tremendous gifts and vulnerability, as she is powerless to stop the apparent death of her beloved older brother.  She watches Wakanda’s takeover both as an innovator and a young woman, and a large reason for her success is that she is allowed to be both.  

How to apply this to your writing:  When portraying intelligent characters, take stock of how often they fail, their level of control over their surroundings, their vulnerability, and their flaws.  We don’t want to read about flawless deities.  We want to read about characters who embody and personify our humanity.  So remember they need to fall down in order to pull themselves up.

Happy writing, everybody! 

#long post for ts #writing tips #writing smart characters #peaky blinders #tommy shelby #mark watney #the martian #miss fisher's murder mysteries #shuri #black panther #spencer reid #criminal minds #legally blonde #fargo #number five #the umbrella academy #star trek #star trek: the next generation

[incomprehensiblelentils]

@dollsome-does-tumblr​ does this and opened it up to anyone and I am feeling chatty today SO!

Because I co-write a lot with my lovely wife, I might answer some questions including those co-written stories, or I might not, depends on how I feel when I get there.

name:

Megan but I go by Lentils most places on the internet, Shadowcrawler over on AO3

fandoms:

at the moment: MCU, especially Agents of SHIELD and Daredevil; Terminator: Dark Fate; Halt and Catch Fire. Oh and I wrote Dollhouse fanfics a thousand years ago. Sometimes I will watch a movie/show and think “those two girls should be gay” and bang out 2k of fic about it and then never write for that fandom again. (I THOUGHT this was going to be HACF but as it turns out, no, it’s not done with me yet.)

where you post:

AO3, at Shadowcrawler. I also have a tumblr @lentils-writes​ where theoretically I post links to fics/advertise them in the tags, because I used to be real precious about not putting porn on this blog, but fuck it.

most popular multi-chapter fic:

Co-written, it’s definitely mallverse, which is I think the reason most writers definitely hate us because it’s very long and there are a lot of tags lmao. The problem is that every tagged character HAS shown up in a significant fashion at some point so we can’t just...untag them! It doesn’t update weekly anymore because we’re exhausted by life lmao so at least there’s that???

As for a multi-chapter fic that was just me, I don’t tend to do that so much, so actually it’s say you will, my 3-chapter Endgame fix-it where Clint dies instead of Natasha and Natasha and Laura have a past. It actually has over 1000 hits which is very exciting! I feel like it’s...niche in a way that is frustrating but understandable lol. I put a lot of my heart into it and some people really liked it, so that’s gratifying.

favorite story you’ve written so far:

Co-written, I think our SHIELD Dollhouse AU is very underrated for the amount of work we put into it. Author bias evident here because I love Dollhouse warts and all, and it’s a lot of fun translating episode plots as well as the general trajectory of the show into stuff that will work with SHIELD characters. We don’t just rewrite episodes, we really try and rework them as needed. Also it features both Skimmons and my beloved rarepair Bobbi/Kara, though of course they won’t get together until later.

Of my own stuff, I’m still really really proud of the AU where Kara Palamas didn’t die. I think that was a pretty severe misstep of the show and I think I did a good job of fixing it. (I haven’t forgotten Kara, promise!)

fic you were nervous to post:

lolololol I wrote some uh. Terminator pornography last year and. They are very porny! I had co-written a bunch of smut obviously, but that was the first time I’d posted like, PWP all by myself on purpose??? and that was TERRIFYING. Also I was very nervous to post the Engame fix-it because that was my own personal goodbye/tribute to Natasha.

how you choose your titles:

They are always either song lyrics or jokes (such as Three Lawyers and a Baby, my Daredevil Accidental Baby Acquisition fic). My WIP docs are always titled either obvious shit like “RoseJannah horse girls” or memes like “what if we belonged to a fire cult and we fucked haha just kidding unless...?” or “Morgan has two mommies.”

do you outline?:

B and I typically outline for the co-written fics, although it’s more often chapter-by-chapter outlines since that’s how we write them. On occasion we’ve fully planned multi-chapter stuff out in advance but that’s less common. Oh and the one-shots are nearly always outlined as well, just to keep ourselves organized.

When I have written planned multi-chapter fics in the past I have used outlines - particularly for the Kara one and I had to do that for the SHIELD Kill Bill AU because I was trying to follow the format of the movie. For things that are allegedly supposed to be one-shots I almost never outline, which turns out to be a terrible idea when they inevitably balloon beyond my control and become 45k like say you will. That one, I wrote out a list of scenes I thought needed to be in it and then I wrote about 75% of those scenes and then I wrote a bunch more scenes I hadn’t planned for. Don’t be like me, kids!

complete fics:

According to AO3, 89 as of right now. Uh, you do not want me to list all of them, here’s a link, I guess!

in progress:

I don’t understand what the difference is between this question and the WIP questions lmao help????

posted WIPs that I have active plans to continue at this time:

Cowritten: mallverse as I said, and its femslash smut oneshots spinoff and character flashbacks spinoff and older characters/teachers spinoff (these get updated, uh, irregularly), the first half of a Piper/Snowflake SHIELD s7 fic that we are planning on finishing the second half of soonish, SHIELD Dollhouse AU, SHIELD Teen Beach AU, SHIELD Buffy AU. You may notice a pattern!

By myself, I have: Have Your Elf a Merry Little Christmas, a Terminator Hallmark Christmas fic that I ambitiously posted the first chapter of in 2019 and then lost steam immediately (I am going to go back to it sooner or later bc I had some cute ideas for it); the SHIELD Fate of the Furious AU that has one chapter to go and which I do intend on finishing eventually; Three Lawyers and a Little Lady, the Daredevil Accidentally Baby Acquisition AU that is literally just cute kidfic and poly avocados and which I have a bunch of ideas for and just need to buckle down and finish some.

posted WIPs that I have given up on:

Lol so there’s a Dollhouse Caroline/Bennett Doctor Who AU that I wrote purely as idfic and which nobody ever cared about except me, and I think that ship has sailed! RIP darlings. I also had an ongoing Skimmons series waaaay back when where I posted oneshots that were like missing scenes or gay readings for each s1 episode, and I just feel like it would be inauthentic to even try and finish it at this point. (It does include the first ever Skimmons fic to be posted on AO3! Really truly, there’s one fic that shows up as older but it’s an ongoing fic and was updated with the tag way after I posted mine.)

exchange fics due soon/unrevealed:

I haven’t done an exchange since like 2015 lololol I am so bad at them. I am currently working on finishing up my MCU Femslash bingo card, very late, and I do have plans for almost all of the remaining squares!

WIPs that live in my fanfic folder and are incomplete and who knows when they’ll be finished:

“RoseJannah horse girls,” which has been put on hold temporarily but is literally just Rose and Jannah being gay while riding orbaks

half of a Daisy/Gwen fic from Marvel Rising because I know they’re not making any more of those but I stg those two were really gay

multiple fics about Elise Nelson-Page including: avocados Halloween with smol Elise, Aunt Elektra very reluctantly taking smol Elise shopping until she realizes smol Elise also likes weapons (she buys her a fake katana), Uncle Frank is a pushover and spoils the shit out of Elise, and baby Elise has a high fever and everyone freaks out but then she gets better and smile at them for the first time (inspired by baby me lol).

coming soon/not yet started:

“Morgan has two mommies,” yet another Endgame fix-it where Maya Hansen did not die in Iron Man 3 and she resurfaces and she and Pepper kiss and eventually she adopts Morgan

Claire and Colleen go on a nice date to get coffee/tea where Danny doesn’t interrupt them goddammit

Bobbi/Kara Warehouse 13 AU which is sort of like “For the Team” but gayer ft. grappling hook

X-Men: Evolution Tabby/Amara fluff

Cameron/Donna character study disguised as smut

Grace proposes to Dani with a ring made out of the metal from her power source and Carl officiates the wedding 

Dani gets horny watching Grace eat a peach and jerks off and Grace ends up hearing her and then they fuck (I have been calling this “the peach fic” in my head but I gotta stop being delicate about it lmfao it is just porn)

B and I have plans to do a Nico/Karolina Jasper in Deadland AU but we keep forgetting

I MUST WRITE FOGGY AND KAREN SADLY FUCKING IN A CHURCH WHILE THEY MOURN MATT THIS YEAR I STG

do you accept prompts:

uhhhhhh I have on occasion written a prompt for someone before but it’s pretty rare and I have enough trouble writing the shit I come up with in my own head lol. but never say never?

upcoming story you are most excited to write:

I’ve got a bit of the Bobbi/Kara Warehouse fic written and it’s nice to go back to that world. Also I’m weirdly excited about the Cam/Donna smutty character study I mentioned above, I have a lot of what I think are good ideas for it and it’ll be fun.

tagging @unwind-myself @swiftzeldas @swashbucklery @loved-the-stars-too-fondly and, if you want to, you!

#sometimes I write things

[ladysophy]

Snobby and Cliquey Behavior in the Historical Royalty Groups Online

TW: Subtle form of racial/ethnic discrimination described here

While I am truly glad and highly appreciative of being welcomed by open arms by other historical royal bloggers on Tumblr, sadly there seems to be a few people of the historical royalty community/field who think that learning about historical royals should be of those of Western European descent only. And don’t get me started on the cliquey and snobby behavior of a few of the prejudiced historical royal “experts”.

Case in point. Four years ago, I was following a popular blog outside of Tumblr that deals with historical royals of the “fairer” sex. She also has a big following on FB in the hundreds of thousands. One day, the owner does a FB post letting her audience know that she is allowing guest writers to write for her blog. I joined because I wanted to improve my writing skills and I was interested in the particular topics. I contacted her and to make the long story short, I submitted 4 or 5 articles on her site. She wanted us to submit our photos and I did.

Everything went okay until the owner posted on FB about us the guests writers and our photos. When it was my turn, she didn’t post my photo. She posted the other guest writers photos (the other guests where white and I think one guest writer was East Asian, but I could be wrong since a few years have since passed), but not mine! Mind you, I was dressed very professionally and my hair was done nicely too in that photo. Of course, I was quite livid about this and I politely asked her (via email) why she’s didn’t post my photo. I don’t remember what the owner said exactly, but I felt she was giving me a run-around and excuses. So I just stopped writing for her site and I have been suspicious of her since. And I haven’t been in contact with her since either. It sucks because she has some very good info about historical royals of the fairer sex. But I’m not going to be tolerant of having mixed signals being thrown my way. Ironically, this was not a woman from a different generation who did this, but this woman was about a year or two older than me (I was in my mid-20s at the time).

Not surprisingly, that indicient made me discouraged at the time and I felt the need to hide my race and ethnicity because the owner possibly allegedly felt that I wasn’t the ideal person. Fortunately, I am not like that now. I didn’t let this not so good experience ruin my fascination and interest in European historical royalty. Now to be fair, she probably chosen not to post my photo because she didn’t want to receive ignorant, stupid and/or racist comments on the post and I get that, but still. The owner could have said she wouldn’t tolerate rude and nasty comments on my post and post my picture, but she didn’t. I’m not angry at the owner now since I let it go and I had made peace with this situation, but it has since put a bad taste in my mouth in regards to her.

I am not trying to start any form of drama. This has been heavy on my heart intensely for the past few days especially (while trying to burying this and move on), and I have to say this to get it out of my chest so I won’t feel so burdened. I feel better now after writing about this.

As you can see, I’m ending 2020 with a bang! And I want to thank everyone else for continuing to support me and my blog (both on here and Instagram if you follow me on Instagram) even though I may not be an ideal race, nationality and/or ethnicity for these cliquey prejudiced snobs. And to the other women of color who has an interest in historical (and even modern) royals like I do, don’t let the naysayers get to you.

#rant #thoughts

[hunnywrites]

Arcade Dreams: Chapter Five

Summary: There’s a new girl working at the Palace Arcade and Hawkins’ Family Video. Billy can’t stand her, and the feeling is mutual. No matter what everyone else seems to think.

Pairing: Billy Hargrove/OFC

It was Teddi’s first day off from the pool. She still had her shift later on at the arcade and video store, but unfortunately not much else to do to pass the time. Her dad was off at work, so she could technically spend her day at home, but Teddi didn’t really feel like awkwardly sitting around the house while she and her mother tried to avoid each other. 

Instead she decided to drive into town. There was this coffee shop in the town square that kids from school liked to hang out at when there wasn’t much else to do. She figured since her usual spot at the lake would be a little too cold to sit at and read, she’d settle for sitting in the corner of the shop with some hot chocolate and her book. There were a few kids she recognized. She said her hellos and settled in with her very well loved copy of The Fellowship of the Ring and walkman. There was this mixtape that she had made for herself (she was well aware that that was pathetic) of a few of her favorite songs; the first being Don’t You Want Me by the Human League. 

It may not have looked like it to anyone else, but Teddi loved having time off. It was rare, she made sure of that, but she relished the time she had to shut out the rest of the world and disappear to one where the only problems were magical rings, dragons and orcs. Maybe it was childish of her. She didn’t really care. She was more than happy to trade in her life for the few moments of fantasy. 

But of course, all good things must come to an end. Teddi’s headphones were yanked from her head. “What the hell?” she snapped. She looked up at the culprit, groaning loudly and throwing her head back once her eyes landed on Billy, who was holding her headphones up with a wide grin. “Leave me alone, Hargrove.” she moaned, pressing the palms of her hands to her eyes. 

“Now that’s not very nice. Whatcha listening to?” he held up her headphones to her ears, his nose scrunching up in disapproval. “Figures you have shitty taste in music. Listening to this and thinking about me, Teddi?” he asked with a smug look. 

“If I ever think about you it’s about how badly I wish I could punch you in the head.” she said, snatching her headphones back. 

“Someone’s got her panties in a twist,” He snickered. Teddi let out an exasperated sigh as he grabbed the seat across from her, turned it around and straddled it. “You working later tonight?”

“What the hell do you care?”

He rolled his eyes. “You know, if you weren’t such a bitch you wouldn’t have to hang out by yourself all the time.” 

“That’s rich coming from you. The only person that’ll hang out around you is Tommy H, and everyone knows he’s only friends with you because you’re a new, shiny, popular kid,” she snapped. Billy’s jaw clenched. Instead of poking him further and dealing with his attitude, she sighed. “Yes, I’m working later.” 

This seemed to appease him, thankfully. “I need a favor.”

Teddi laughed. “You want a favor from me? No way.”

Billy rolled his eyes and leaned in closer. “You don’t even know what it is yet,” he argued. Teddi only crossed her arms. “My dad and Susan are making me watch Max tonight. But I have a date, and I’d much rather be in the backseat of my car with Cheryl Burns than watching the twerp.”

Teddi scoffed. “Cheryl Burns?”

“What’s wrong with Cheryl Burns?”

“Didn’t she have an affair with the gym teacher?”

“Allegedly.”

Teddi rolled her eyes. “So I guess you want me to keep an eye on Max while you bang Cheryl Burns?” Billy nodded. Teddi thought for a moment. That wouldn’t be a big deal for her. Watching Max and her friends practically came with her job anyways. But this was an opportunity to finally mess with Billy, and she wasn’t going to pass it up. “...What’s in it for me?” 

Billy didn’t bother to hide how annoyed he was. “What do you mean what’s in it for you? What do you want?” 

Teddi smiled sweetly, leaning in close to Billy. “I was thinking you and I could go to that Christmas party together? Maybe you could take me for a ride in that Camaro of yours?” she asked, batting her eyelashes. For once, Billy was actually speechless. His surprised expression morphed into a devilish grin, and Teddi let out a loud laugh. “I’m totally kidding. God, can you imagine?” she said waving a hand at him.

Billy only glared at her. This girl drove him crazy. One second she’s complimenting him, the next she’s telling him he’s satan incarnate. Now she was pretending to flirt with him? Chicks, man, he thought bitterly. He reached forward and snatched the book Teddi was holding away, ignoring her protests. He turned it over in his hands, studying the cover. “Jesus Christ, how old is this thing? It’s falling apart. And Lord of the Rings? You really are a geek, aren’t you, weird girl?”

“It’s a classic,” she said before snatching the book back. “And it’s my favorite. Have you ever even read a book before?” she asked with narrowed eyes. 

Billy thought for a moment. “...I read that one Stephen King book about the clown when I was a kid. You know, the one where the kids have a gang bang down in the clown sewer?” He was surprised when Teddi actually laughed. A genuine laugh. 

“That’s sure one way to describe it. Look, I’ll watch Max, okay? Happy?” 

“Oh, I’ll be a lot happier after a night with Cheryl,” he grinned. Teddi rolled her eyes. “I’ll drop her off at eight. Later, Larsson.” and with that he left, lighting a cigarette as he went. Teddi sighed. She really hoped that this wouldn’t lead to her becoming his wingman or something. She couldn’t think of anything she’d want less than helping Billy Hargrove get laid. 

---

Billy had assured Susan about twenty times that he was going to stay at the arcade with Max that night. Ever since the night Max had run off with that Sinclair kid, Susan had become a complete pain in Billy’s ass. Now it was somehow his job to take care of her and make sure she didn’t get into trouble. Max was his responsibility and not his dad or Susan’s. To say it was causing him to resent Max was an understatement. 

He didn’t really mind Max if he was honest. She was pretty funny, and she wasn’t annoying like other girls her age. There was a part of Billy that thought if things were different he would probably be okay with having Max as a step sister. Maybe if his dad wasn’t in the picture. Maybe one day when Billy got out of that shitty house his dad had moved them into things could be different. Maybe he wouldn’t be so angry all the damn time. 

But tonight he’d be free. At least for a few hours. Teddi had agreed to cover for him with Max, and he’d finally get to bag Cheryl Burns, who had been giving him the run around since he moved to Hawkins. Max didn’t really care, she was just happy to be out of the house. He definitely couldn’t blame her. “I’m picking you up at ten, Max. Your ass better be outside waiting for me. I’m don’t wanna have to listen to Susan bitch at me that we missed curfew because of you.” 

Max rolled her eyes. “Sure thing your majesty,” she muttered. Billy shot her a glare, but didn’t say anything. “I can’t believe you got Teddi to cover for you. She can’t stand you.”

“She doesn’t even know me.” he spat defensively. He knew he got on Teddi’s nerves sure, but Jesus, he didn’t think she actually hated him. 

“Do you even hear how you sound when you speak to people? I can’t believe she hasn’t punched you yet.” Max said with a small laugh. Billy didn’t respond. He only gripped the steering wheel tightly. Couldn’t anyone tell that he was trying? What was it going to take? Sacrificing himself to save a box full of puppies from an oncoming train or something? He scoffed. 

Billy and Max pulled into the parking lot of the Palace Arcade and went inside. It seemed busier than usual. Or more chaotic at least. Billy did a quick sweep of the place, but couldn’t find Teddi. “Well where the fuck is she?” he asked, looking over towards the video store. Still no sign of her white blonde hair. 

Max was looking around as well, a frown appearing on her face when she couldn’t spot Teddi either. “I don’t know...maybe she’s on her break or something? Just get out of here, Billy. I’ll find Teddi.” she said, waving him away. 

Billy spotted Keith behind the prize counter. He brushed past Max and headed over. “Hey, where’s Teddi? She told me she’d be in tonight.” 

Keith actually rolled his eyes at him. “Sorry, lover boy, she’s not here. She called a couple hours ago and said something came up. Notice the wild animals frothing at the mouth. She’s the only one that can keep them under control.” he said, motioning to all the kids running around the small arcade. 

Billy’s jaw clenched. Was Teddi fucking with him? Telling him she’d help and then ditching him at the last minute as some sort of joke? He stomped back over to Max, jabbing a finger at her. “Remember what I said. Ten. Don’t do anything stupid.” he didn’t give her time to answer. He shoved the door open, storming out to his car and speeding away. 

He tried to put it out of his mind once he picked up Cheryl. He had been looking forward to this for months. He wasn’t going to let Teddi trying to get back at him for throwing her into the pool (or whatever she was obviously pissed at him for) or his dad finding out he had ditched Max at the arcade ruin his night. 

But the thing was...Cheryl was boring. Maybe if he had been back home in California he wouldn’t have minded. Everything had seemed more exciting there. But now, here in Hawkins, with Cheryl not even attempting to pretend they were on a real date (even though he had taken her out to his spot at the lake since they both knew why they were going out) and immediately crawling into the backseat of his car, wagging one of her long, painted nails at him suggestively, Billy found himself just very bored. Was this it? If Cheryl Burns was the end all be all of the girls at his school, what did he really have to look forward to? 

It just made him hate Hawkins even more. 

He ended up taking Cheryl home early. He told her he’d call (he wouldn’t) and he drove back to the arcade to sit in the parking lot until ten rolled around. He felt like the biggest loser in town. 

Billy wondered briefly what must have come up with Teddi. What could have possibly happened to make Teddi Larsson, the most reliable person he’d probably ever met, skip out on work. Whatever it was, it gave him a bad feeling. The air felt thick around him and he had that anxious feeling in his chest that he got whenever his dad got pissed at him. 

He let out a huff and lit a cigarette. Whatever it was, she’d be getting an ear full from him the next time he saw her. No one stood up Billy Hargrove. If she wanted him to be the bad guy, he was more than happy to play the role. 

Flicking his half finished cigarette out the window with an annoyed sigh, Billy pressed his hand down on the horn, deciding he had had enough of waiting around for Max. He saw her face appear in the window, rolling her eyes once she spotted Billy and trudging out to the car. 

“You said ten.” she argued as she slid into the passenger's seat. 

“I changed my mind.” he snapped. Max only crossed her arms. That little part of him felt bad for dragging her away and making her go back home. But that little part was quickly snuffed out by the bigger, angier part of him. That side always won. Whether he wanted it to or not. He almost wondered when it would take control completely. He’d be lying if he said it didn’t scare him a little. 

#billy hargrove #billy hargrove fic #billy hargrove x oc

[rolandfontana]

Twitter, Banging Pots and Celebration: Eyewitness to Puerto Rico’s Protest

The sidewalks in Old San Juan are just big enough for two people to walk side by side.

The pale pink, yellow and blue apartment buildings that line the cobblestone streets are decorated with wrought-iron balconies and tropical flowered window boxes. Native birds hop from lamppost to lamppost.

All photos and video reportage, except otherwise noted, by Andrea Cipriano/TCR

But, further down the street, the picturesque setting begins to fade, and reminders of the extraordinary protests that made headlines around the world this month become apparent.

Windows are covered over with plywood, obscenities are spray painted along the walls, and the face of former Gov. Ricardo Rosselló, who resigned July 24, is plastered at every turn.

The protests, among the largest ever seen on this island, erupted after a series of disrespectful, homophobic and misogynists comments shared by the governor with his inner circle were published by Puerto Rico’s nonprofit Centro de Periodismo Investigativo (Center for Investigative Journalism) earlier in July.

The release catalyzed the simmering resentment among Puerto Ricans over their government’s endemic corruption, and its continuing failure to address the needs of victims of Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island in September, 2017. The hurricane victims were among the targets of the sneering comments in the 900 pages of texts made public.

It was a social media-fueled campaign, much like the similar mass protests that fueled—and continue to fuel—the giant street demonstrations in Hong Kong in protest over alleged moves by the local government to give mainland China greater control. But unlike Hong Kong, there have been no reported incidents of police or protester violence.

Social media provided much of the impetus for Puerto Rico’s demonstrations. One of the most popular phrases, repeated in graffiti across San Juan, the capital, was the trending colloquial hashtag, “#RickyRenunica!” —a call for the Governor’s resignation.

For many Puerto Ricans, Rosselló’s image has become a symbol of everything they feel is wrong with their current government, led by the New Progressive Party (PNP).

Despite the heavy presence of police in the San Juan protests, there were no reports of violence

On Wednesday night into Thursday morning, a prerecorded video of Rosselló announcing his resignation was released, and the protests quickly transformed into celebrations.

Around midday last Thursday, Puerto Rican police could still be found on almost every street corner. They wore bulletproof vests and carried stun-guns on their belts.

    But according to most reports, no excessive force was against the demonstrators—who soon became celebrants with news of the governor’s resignation.

You could hear the honking and cheering before even making it close to the official concrete barricade, a block away from the blue and white colonial facade of the governor’s mansion.

At some point during the past two weeks of protests, Cristo’s street sign was covered, and it now read, “Calle del Corrupto,” meaning Street of the Corrupt. Further down, Fortaleza’s sign now read, “Calle de la Resistencia” which translates to Street of the Resistance.

People overflowed the sidewalks and excitedly waved Puerto Rico’s flag. Drivers slowed down as they turned the corner to allow the car’s passengers to take photos and many others stood by the concrete barricade, waiting to have their picture taken. Children of all ages were celebrating with their families, even toddlers in strollers clapped with flags in hand.

The sounds of the car horns and whistles were deafening, yet the high energy was infectious.

https://thecrimereport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Video1.mp4

As a small rain shower blew through, some sought the cover of local bars, but many stayed to celebrate.

In the heat of the early evening, the crowd at the intersection continued to grow rapidly. Cars were no longer allowed through the neighboring streets, so the only way through was on foot.

Homemade signs and t-shirts offered the best barometer of the island’s new political climate.

One woman’s shirt read, “Vengo de una raza brava!” (I come from a brave race!) while her young son next to her donned a Guy Fawkes mask, commonly worn by members of the Anonymous protest movement.

A small group of men and women dressed in almost all black quickly became the center of attention as they got the crowd to clap and chant to the people’s unofficial anthem, shouting, “Yo Soy Boricua, Pa’que tu lo sepas!” (I am Puerto Rican, so that you know!)

https://thecrimereport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Video2.mp4

As the crowd got fired up, Gay Pride flags and Puerto Rican flags printed in black and white to symbolize mourning and resistance, were waved.

Then, the final chant that would ring through the streets of Old San Juan throughout the rest of the night was sung, to the rhythmic beat of people beating on cooking pots—a former of protest that first emerged in similar popular protests elsewhere in Latin America.

The chants first called for Rosselló’s resignation, but they changed topic as soon as the governor announced he had stepped down.

 “Dónde está Wanda? Wanda no está aqui; Wanda está vendiendo lo que queda del pa ís!” (Where is Wanda? Wanda is not here. Wanda is selling what is left of the country!”)

Justice Secretary Wanda Vasquez, via Wikipedia

That referred to the state’s Attorney General, Wanda Vásquez, who was next in the line of succession to take over from the governor (after the Secretary of State Luis G. Ribera Marin, one of the participants in the scandalous group chat, resigned July 13).

Vásquez decided she didn’t want the job. It’s not hard to figure out why. Vasquez was already a target of the protesters, for failing to investigate hurricane relief funds that allegedly had done missing.

Residents had already taken to Twitter to circulate their new hashtag, #WandaRenuncia, citing her failure to address gender violence issues and ethical complaints filed against her by the Office of the Independent Special Prosecutor.

A side street’s wall read, “Wanda, no calientes la silla,” (Wanda, don’t warm the seat [of power].)”

https://thecrimereport.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Video3-1.mp4

Above that, an ominous message to Thomas Rivera Schatz, the acting Chair of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico said, “Schatz, ahora vamos por ti.” (Schatz, now we go for you.)

Andrea Cipriano

While it may seem like the protesters are getting what they originally asked for, many believe the fight is still far from over. It is still unclear who will step into power after August 2 when Rosselló leaves.

Moreover, many believe real change won’t occur until the current New Progressive Party is out of power completely.

Andrea Cipriano is a TCR news intern. She spent the week of July 14-21 in San Juan, PR.

  See a Gallery of More Photos Here by Andrea Cipriano

Twitter, Banging Pots and Celebration: Eyewitness to Puerto Rico’s Protest syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

[chiseler]

YOU’RE A SAP, MISTER JAP

When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7 1941, Tin Pan Alley’s songwriters reacted with instant fury and patriotic zeal, churning out hundreds of war songs at a ferocious clip. Amateurs jumped into the fray as well. By December 20, just two weeks later, The Billboard was already reporting that music publishers had received more than one thousand war song submissions. Only a fraction were ever published and recorded, but even that amounted to a lot of records, and a few would have big impacts on American morale early in the war.

The hive of most of that activity was the Brill Building on the west side of Broadway between 49th and 50th Streets. At the start of the century, when the term “Tin Pan Alley” was coined, the music business was concentrated on West 28th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, with Broadway cutting diagonally through. Its nickname referred to the constant racket of cheap upright pianos where guys stacked five stories high toiled long into the night banging out a cacophony of competing tunes. By 1941 most of the publishers had migrated uptown to the eleven-story Brill Building, opened in 1931. Lindy’s, immortalized by Damon Runyon as Mindy’s, was across Broadway.

The first two Tin Pan Alley songs reacting to Pearl Harbor — “We’ll Knock the Japs Right into the Laps of the Nazis” and “We Did It Before (and We Can Do It Again)” — were allegedly written that very day, December 7. Hearing the news from Hawaii, composer Lew Pollack and lyricist Ned Washington whipped out “We’ll Knock the Japs” on Sunday afternoon and rushed it to Bert Wheeler, of the vaudeville and Broadway comedy duo Wheeler & Woolsey. (Woolsey had died in 1938.) Wheeler apparently introduced the song that night as part of his club act in Los Angeles. In part it went:

Oh, we didn't want to do it but they're asking for it now

So we'll knock the Japs right into the laps of the Nazis,

When they hop on Honolulu that's a thing we won't allow

So we'll knock the Japs right into the laps of the Nazis!

Chins up, Yankees, let's see it through,

And show them there's no yellow in the red, white and blue

I'd hate to be in Yokohama when our bombers make their bow,

For we'll knock the Japs right into the laps of the Nazis!

Also on Sunday, another pair of Tin Pan Alley stalwarts, Charles Tobias and Cliff Friend, knocked out “We Did It Before,” a rousing George M. Cohan–style march. Friend is best known now for having written the theme song for Looney Tunes (“The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down”) in 1937. Tobias’s long list of credits includes “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer,” “Merrily We Roll Along” — which he cowrote with his brother-in-law Eddie Cantor, and which Warner Bros. adapted for its Merrie Melodies theme song — as well as one that became a huge hit during the war, “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree (With Anyone Else but Me).”

Cantor introduced “We Did It Before” on his popular weekly radio show that Wednesday, December 10. Dinah Shore sang it on her radio show the following Sunday, and Cantor went on to interpolate it into his stage revue Banjo Eyes, which opened on Broadway on Christmas Day and ran into April 1942. The sheet music was a top ten seller for a couple of months. Bringing things full circle, in 1943 Warner Bros. would use the song in a Merrie Melodies cartoon, Fifth Column Mouse, in which the mice mobilize for war against a dictatorial cat.

By Monday morning, December 8, the Tin Pan Alley trio of lyricist James Cavanaugh (best known for “You’re Nobody till Somebody Loves You”), John Redmond, and Nat Simon had written the upbeat “You’re a Sap, Mr. Jap”:

You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, you make a Yankee cranky,

You’re a sap, Mr. Jap, Uncle Sam is gonna spanky

It was released as a single before the month was out. In 1942 it also found its way into a cartoon, the first Popeye cartoon of the war, with caricatures of Japanese that were so extreme it was removed from circulation after the war — along with a number of other patriotically racist cartoons — and rarely seen again until the birth of the Internet.

By the week of January 11 Billboard counted twenty-four war singles released since December 7. There was the catchy “Goodbye Mama, I’m Off to Yokohama,” written by Brooklyn-born J. Fred Coots, better known for writing “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town” in 1934. The singer of this song was going to “teach all those Japs / The Yanks are no saps.”

Kate Smith weighed in with the spritely “They Started Somethin’ (But We’re Gonna End It)” and the sentimental ballad “Dear Mom,” a soldier’s letter home. She would follow them in February with “This Time,” a not particularly memorable Irving Berlin number. (“We’ll fight to the finish this time / Then we’ll never have to do it again.”) Billboard listed three different recordings of the inevitable “Remember Pearl Harbor,” plus the clever “Let’s Put the Axe to the Axis” and the swinging “The Sun Will Soon Be Setting (For the Land of the Rising Sun).”

The list also included two interesting “hillbilly” songs, as country music was then called. They emanated not from Nashville but the Brill Building. Tin Pan Alley had been exploring the relatively small markets for hillbilly and folk music since the 1920s. Then the genres got a boost in popularity in 1941 from an unlikely source. In January, ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), the professional organization that licensed music to the radio broadcasters, demanded a doubling in fees. Broadcasters responded by pulling all ASCAP music from the airwaves and plugged the gap with music by non-ASCAP members, especially hillbilly and folk. By October, when ASCAP and the broadcasters came to new terms, hillbilly and folk had expanded their niche in the market, and the Tin Pan Alley pros cashed in.

One of those pros was Fred Rose, whose “Cowards Over Pearl Harbor” was a mournful, guitar-strumming folk ballad recorded by Denver Darling. Two of the most prolific were Memphis-born Bob Miller and Kansas-born Carson Robison, who both came to Tin Pan Alley in the 1920s. Miller worked for a while as Irving Berlin’s arranger, while Robison specialized in country and cowboy songs that humorously treated topical themes. Their response to Pearl Harbor was the outrageous “We’re Gonna Have to Slap the Dirty Little Jap,” sung to a silly, quick-time oompah melody:

We're gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap

And Uncle Sam's the guy who can do it

We'll skin the streak of yellow from this sneaky little fellow

And he'll think a cyclone hit him when he's through it

We'll take the double crosser to the old woodshed

We'll start on his bottom and go to his head

When we get through with him he'll wish that he was dead

We gotta slap the dirty little Jap

We're gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap

And Uncle Sam's the guy who can do it

The Japs and all their hooey will be changed into chop suey And the rising sun will set when we get through it

Their alibi for fighting is to save their face

For ancestors waiting in celestial space

We'll kick their precious face down to the other place

We gotta slap the dirty little Jap

Robison went on to record several more humorous war songs, including “Mussolini’s Letter to Hitler” and its flip side “Hitler’s Reply to Mussolini,” “Get Your Gun and Come Along (We’re Fixin to Kill a Skunk),” and “Who’s Gonna Bury Hitler (When the Ornery Cuss Is Dead)?”

Far and away the most successful song responding to Pearl Harbor was Frank Loesser’s “Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition,” one of the biggest hits of 1942. Born into a wealthy Upper West Side Jewish household, Loesser had dismayed his family when he went first to Tin Pan Alley and then to Hollywood, where he wrote the lyrics for such standards as “Heart and Soul,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and “Two Sleepy People.” “Praise the Lord” was inspired by a Pearl Harbor legend concerning the fleet chaplain (“sky pilot” in the song) Father William A. Maguire, who helped carry ammo to the guns firing at the attacking planes and supposedly cried out the song’s title. Father Maguire told Life he didn’t remember saying the line and it would not have been heard in all the uproar even if he did, but you can’t stop a legend. In some versions — including Loesser’s — Maguire actually manned a gun himself.

First recorded by the vocal quartet the Merry Macs, then by Kay Kyser and others, “Praise the Lord” sold huge numbers in both disc and sheet music, nearly matching Irving Berlin’s giant “White Christmas” in sales and jukebox plays for a time. No doubt much of its popularity stemmed from its easy-to-sing simplicity, with lyrics that weren’t much more than the title repeated over and over to a strolling melody that sounded like an old-time spiritual.

Loesser donated his proceeds from the song to the U.S. Navy Relief Fund. After the war he would have a big Broadway hit with Guys and Dolls.

by John Strausbaugh

Excerpted from John's new book Victory City: A History of New York and New Yorkers During World War II.

[ionecoffman]

Illegal Abortion Will Mean Abortion By Mail

With the prospect of a more conservative Supreme Court on the horizon, some progressive women have begun to fear what will happen if Roe v. Wade, the case that legalized abortion, is overturned. Some of these prophecies have centered on a popular meme in the pro-choice community: The coat hanger.

During a recent rally, New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon held up a wire coat hanger as a warning that we should not return to the previous generation’s means of obtaining illicit abortions. And Representative Lois Frankel, a Democrat from Florida, banged a coat hanger on the table at a briefing while discussing the latest Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh.

And this isn’t counting the many happy hours in progressive cities that have become peppered with gallows-humor cracks about coat hangers and back alleys.

But medical technology has progressed significantly since Roe was decided in 1973, and we—realistically, fortunately—won’t see a return to women using coat hangers or other implements to self-abort. Instead, it’s more likely that more and more women will turn to shady online pharmacies to buy abortion pills through the mail—a practice that is already occurring with surprising frequency and effectiveness around the world.

Women who want to have an abortion early in their pregnancies can take a combination of two drugs: misoprostol, whose brand name is Cytotec, and mifepristone, which is also called RU486. They are both on the World Health Organization’s “List of Essential Medicines,” which means they are considered safe and effective. The combination can be used until about the tenth week of pregnancy, and the medications are already used in roughly a third of all abortions.

Misoprostol, which also treats ulcers, is available in pharmacies, and it’s about 85 percent effective in inducing an abortion on its own. It is much more effective when used with mifepristone, but FDA restrictions dictate that patients can’t receive mifepristone even at a retail pharmacy, and possibly not through the mail, either. Most abortion providers think it’s really only legally safe to dispense mifepristone to patients directly, in person. In some places, like the Hawaiian island of Kauai, there are no abortion providers, and women must take a 300-mile round-trip flight to get an abortion. So instead, many turn to Google.

Abigail Aiken, an assistant professor of public affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted interviews with 32 people from 20 states who sought out abortion pills online for a study she and her colleagues published last week. She found women turned to mail-order abortions because a clinic-based abortion was too expensive, or because state restrictions around abortions—like waiting periods and ultrasound laws—were too onerous. Some just preferred the privacy and convenience of doing their own abortion at home.

These online abortion pill pharmacy websites, though, seem to give the women pause. They seem illegitimate and are riddled with broken English: “In this recession growing economy were we can’t afford more childrens, we need some source which can be easily available online,” one website notes. Some of the websites pop up, then shut down unexpectedly. It would be difficult for these same pharmacies to open up in the U.S., since FDA regulations require pharmacy patients to have prescriptions. In the end, none of the people Aiken interviewed ordered the pills, instead opting for unreliable herbal treatments or a last-minute clinic visit.

For a study published earlier this year, Elizabeth Raymond, a senior medical associate at the research organization Gynuity, Googled phrases like “buy abortion pills online.” The researchers ended up ordering 18 of the pill combinations from 16 different websites, none of which required a prescription. The pills came from India, where there is a large generic-drug industry. Shipments cost between $110 and $360, and the packages took between three days and three weeks to arrive.

Even then, it wasn’t entirely smooth sailing, as Raymond and her co-authors write:

Two buyers received troubling communications from product vendors. One warned about the legality of purchasing online: “Please do not share this info with any other side because investigation team is searching the details for this type of medicine.” In the second case, the vendor complained that he was unable to get payment from the online payment platform and threatened to withhold shipment until the buyer paid another way. After some convincing, he finally sent the product. In addition, one buyer who paid with Western Union received two fraud alert calls—one from Western Union advising against purchasing pharmaceuticals online and another from her credit card company.

Raymond noticed that some of the blister packs of pills were broken. “It’s our speculation that the shippers are afraid that the customs service will be able to feel through the packaging and see that that there are pills in there, so they crush the blister pack,” she says.

Although the mifepristone pills contained the expected amount of the medication, most of the misoprostol pills contained less than the labeled dose. (They might still work, even at a lower dose, Raymond says.) What’s more, none of the pills came with instructions for use.

Still, says Daniel Grossman, an obstetrics professor at the University of California, San Francisco, “it doesn’t appear that women are having serious complications” from these DIY regimens. If the pills are taken late, they could still work, but are less likely to. Mifeprex, the brand name for mifepristone, has been used by more than three million women in the United States and has caused 19 deaths, a rate of adverse events that’s lower than that of Viagra.

Pro-life groups, meanwhile, insist that the pills are not safe. Because of the risk of ectopic pregnancy, among other reasons, “the practice of obtaining abortion pills over the internet is risky, and it ought to be illegal,” says Steve Aden, chief legal officer at the pro-life group Americans United for Life. (Grossman says that while attempting to self-abort could delay the diagnosis of an ectopic pregnancy, the pills don't affect ectopic pregnancies or make them worse.) The people held accountable, Aden says, should be the companies providing the pills, rather than the women themselves.

If Roe is overturned, Raymond says, the abortion landscape will roughly look like this: “In some states, abortion will still be legal, so people will travel to those states. Some people won’t get abortions. Some people will get abortions, but later. And more people will probably use these alternative methods for getting the service.”

Women on Web, a Canada-based service, ships the abortion pills to patients who live in countries where abortion is illegal. Rebecca Gomperts, the organization’s founder, says the organization gets 10,000 emails each month asking for help and staffs a help desk that speaks 17 languages. The service asks women to fill out an online form about their health status, which doctors in various countries review, then fill prescriptions for the abortion pills. In 12 years, she estimates they’ve helped 70,000 women perform their own abortions.

Women on Web doesn’t ship pills to the United States, however, because as Gomperts told me, in America “there’s such an aggressive anti-abortion movement that will do anything they can to close down services. It could potentially jeopardize all the other work of Women on Web.”

The United States, she said, “should be able to solve its own problems” regarding abortion access. “It’s a very rich country,” she added. “The problem there is caused by the huge inequality in the society. There’s no reason the situation in the U.S. should be the way it is.”

If women do start turning to web-based services in greater numbers, it raises the question of whether they’ll face legal risks. Gomperts says it’s legal, in most countries, to receive medicine through the mail for personal use. But other experts I spoke with were not so sure.

The SIA Legal Team, a group of lawyers who specialize in women who induce their own abortions, knows of 21 people who have been arrested or prosecuted for ending their pregnancies outside a medical setting, or for helping someone else do so. (It might be an undercount, since the organization relies on news reports to track cases.) The charges brought against women who self-abort can range from child abuse, to the abuse of a corpse, to a failure to report a death, says Jill Adams, SIA’s chief strategist.

None of the women were prosecuted for buying abortion pills, specifically. But Adams notes that buying pills online and even Googling “buy abortion pills” can leave a paper trail that can be used as evidence in a trial.

Because of this risk, Plan C, an organization that provides information on self-abortion, says some people seeking abortion pills try installing private networks on their computers in order to hide their search history, use secure texting services like Signal, or pay with Bitcoin and other private methods.

In seven states, self-induced abortion is already illegal. In 2015, a woman in Indiana named Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison for feticide after she allegedly used abortion pills she ordered online. Prosecutors claimed her fetus had been born alive, and she allowed it to die. Her conviction was later overturned on appeal.

Sites like Women on Web tell women that if they require medical attention after aborting at home, they should just tell the doctors they had a miscarriage. The doctors shouldn’t be able to perceive the difference, they say. “The police in some countries put a lot of pressure on women to confess,” Gomperts said. “They should never confess that they did [abort].” If women are further along than 10 weeks, the service sometimes advises them to go to the emergency room of a hospital and take the pills there, in case complications occur.

If Roe is overturned, abortion laws would be up to the states, and about 22 states would likely ban abortion, Amy Myrick, staff attorney at the Center for Reproductive Rights, recently told Kaiser Health News. In those states, Grossman speculated, doctors might begin to practice harm-reduction by, for example, giving women information about how to use the pills, without providing the actual pills themselves.

However, it’s not likely that, say, a doctor in California could prescribe abortion pills to a woman in Texas over the internet, since Texas has already outlawed the practice of telemedicine abortion, and it would likely continue to do so.

It’s also possible that Roe won’t be overturned outright, but abortion restrictions will tighten further under a more conservative Supreme Court. That’s already the reality for women in many states. Across wide swaths of the country, women must take multiple days off work and drive for hundreds of miles to get an abortion because their home states have imposed waiting periods or created restrictions that have caused clinics to close. In the past seven years, states have enacted nearly 1,200 such restrictions.

Article source here:The Atlantic

[coturesocial-blog]

Wow, Patricia Bright. Where do we start? Firstly, we’re officially crowing her as ‘Business Woman of The Year’ as this 31-year-old just keeps on progressing in her career. She has achieved so much over the past few years and is one of the most inspirational young women in the UK. Patricia started out creating YouTube videos whilst attending university and she has transformed into a legendary #PowerCrush.

The Making of Patricia Bright

She is mainly a YouTuber who creates funny try-on hauls, makeup testing videos along with motivating lifestyle content. Her story is that she actually went to university to study Fashion Marketing but soon discovered that it just wasn’t for her. She jumped into something more prestigious: accounting. And it turned out to be one of the best decisions she ever made as it gave her the fabulous skill set and work ethic she has today.

Despite doing something more academic, she remained interested in fashion and her style is incredible. In addition to this, she then used her business skills to become an entrepreneur. Patricia Bright now runs her own company and sells hair wigs and pieces created for black women. Having hinted at many other things in the making too, we are excited to see what the future brings for her.

Why she’s wanted by so many brands

Patricia Bright has that warm and bubbly personality with just the right amounts of honesty and sass. Therefore, she’s irresistible to many brands who are looking to sponsor or work with her. We’ve seen her promoting a variety of companies mainly on her Instagram to showcase some fabulous photos. These include River Island, BooHoo, Innocent Smoothies, Dyson, Google, Huawei, and many more.

In addition to her savvy business assets, this influencer inspires her following to feel empowered through fashion. Patricia isn’t afraid to wear vibrant colours, funky shoes or slightly raunchy items. She often refers to her style as ‘bougie thot’ as she likes to feel sexy but glamorous.

Another cosmetic-loving #PowerCrush

Patricia Bright is without a doubt a makeup fanatic. As a black businesswoman in the industry, she has of course spoken out multiple times about the now popular issue of ‘makeup inclusivity’. If you aren’t too sure what this is, then you walk into your nearest drugstore, have a look at the shade ranges of different foundations. Unfortunately, you’ll see what Patricia refers to as a hundred ‘shades of beige’.

However, she is an advocate for brands such as Fenty Beauty who are setting stunningly high standards for other cosmetic companies. One way how Rihanna’s makeup brand did this was by releasing around 40 inclusive foundation shades within their initial product launch, something that has never been done before. We are crushing on Patricia mainly because of her confidence and candidness.

For example, she called out LA-based YouTuber Jeffree Star – who has allegedly made racial remarks in the past- saying that she and black women, in general, do not need him to defend them in regards to makeup brands excluding people with darker skin. She raised a great point on this issue: are influencers jumping on the ‘promoting makeup inclusivity’ movement as a marketing strategy?

This wise young woman has so much to offer intellectually and you could be in with a chance to learn what she has to offer very soon. Patricia loves to share her ideas because she is incredibly kind-hearted. She recently said that she is developing a course to help women become bosses in business which could be up and running in April.

She has so much that she wants to share including tips and techniques on how to run your own business. Are you itching to jump on to Patricia’s YouTube channel to find out more? Well, it gets better. She has another channel featuring vlogs. So, you can take a peek into her general lifestyle too.

She’s always achieving

Patricia doesn’t just get sent products to promote or review for her social media channel. She also gets invited on press trips too. Benefit cosmetics recently invited her to the Maldives for the launch of their new ‘Bad Gal Bang’ mascara. We also spotted her in Shanghai with Dior for a product line launch and she’s also attended the British Fashion Awards with Mac Cosmetics too.

Additionally, not long ago she purchased a new house with her husband. You can actually find snippets of their home in her vlogs. In the videos, you can see the sheer size of the house with lots of large open spaces and floor to ceiling windows. They also live with their toddler Grace who is just adorable and their home is beautiful.

She also has incredible interior decor skills but that could create a whole other article! What are you loving about Patricia Bright?

Cr: Instagram @thepatriciabright

Who is Patricia Bright? Meet the stylish mum and insightful entrepreneur running an empire Wow, Patricia Bright. Where do we start? Firstly, we're officially crowing her as 'Business Woman of The Year' as this 31-year-old just keeps on progressing in her career.

[gemmadunsmoreportfolio-blog]

Misogyny In The Music Industry

           Music has always played a huge part in all cultures, it is rare that you’ll find a person who doesn’t enjoy music and with music being so popular it’s no surprise that many people pursue the music industry as a lifelong career, a huge chunk of those people being female. So, it’s disturbing to realise that the industry has a dark and insidious side that involves the undermining, criticising, bullying and even sexual assault of the female gender. This dark side has been there since the beginning but has only been brought to light in recent years through the use of social media and communities of people who have been through the same experiences being brought together.

           For some reason the media always seems to undermine females, especially in the music industry, they find it hard to believe that a female in the industry can be more than “just a singer”, even for artists such as Bjork, who has been in the music industry for around thirty years. Bjork has co-produced the majority of her albums, but the media always credits the other male producer as the sole producer, even with her most recent album in which she produced 80% of. She admits in an interview with Pitchfork that she has thought about making a map of all of her albums and making it clear who did what but fears it would come across as defensive and pathetic. She finds this frustrating, as she also said in the interview, that no one questions someone like Kanye West on any of his authorship, which is true..

After this interview came out, other female artists who have produced their own work came out with similar stories. Madonna sympathised in an interview with Out Magazine by explaining that when she says that she co-produced a song with a male producer, they will always respond with something along the lines of ‘so he produced it?’ and completely ignore the fact that she also produced it. The synth-pop artist Grimes has also said to The Fader that the media would rather focus on the fact that she is a female other than all the hard work she has done as a musician and producer. Grimes produces all of her own work and also does her live performances on her own, with a laptop running Ableton Live, launch pads and so on, and says that the media and industry professionals are always insisting that she needs a band or she needs to work with outside producers, ignoring how far she has got on her own.

This problem of undermining also runs further than with just female producers, Vicky Hamilton who booked, promoted, and managed bands such as Guns N’ Roses, Faster Pussycat, and Stryper in the 1980’s, said to LA Weekly that ‘till this day she is asked which member of Guns N’ Roses she slept with, all because she managed and lived with the band for a time. Author and journalist Jessica Hopper brought the issue of undermining in the industry to the public’s attention when she tweeted: “Gals/other marginalised folks: what was your 1st brush (in the music industry, journalism, scene) w/ idea that you didn’t ‘count’”. This tweet spawned an avalanche of jaw-dropping responses containing stories of misogyny and more. Some examples of these tweets are; “Stage managing Webster Hall and the DJ’s wouldn’t take any instructions from me without hearing it from my male intern” and “former GM (he’s since retired, new GM is great) at First Ave told me majoring in music in college qualified me to ‘be a housewife’”.

The problem with misogyny is clearly coming from influential people in the industry spreading their sexist beliefs to others. The first example of one of these people is Jimmy Iovine, the head of Apple Music. During an appearance on CBS This Morning, Iovine claimed that women find it difficult to find new music on their own and that they need a soundtrack for when they are “sitting around, you know, talking about boys”. Another example is the popular rapper Eminem, who has basically made a whole career out of detailing how many ways he could cause physical harm to women, with lyrics such as “I’ll punch Lana Del Rey in the face twice like Ray Rice in broad daylight in plain sight of elevator surveillance, ‘til the head is banging on the railing, then celebrate with the ravens” and “sl** you think I won’t choke no wh***? ‘Til the vocal chords don’t work in her throat no more?”. Another is Future and Kanye West, when they made a computer game for their song ‘I Won’, in the game the player plays as both MC’s and the goal is to snag your very own “trophy wife” by throwing gold chains at women on a beach, transforming them into literal trophies. Furthermore, is the UK alternative radio station Radio X, previously called XFM. When the station was in the middle of rebranding themselves, they announced that they were going to be the “first truly male-focused” station, the public responded with outrage to this and instead of trying to save themselves, the station dug in their heels and released a PSA video which stereotyped and patronised women, teenagers, and the gay community.

Because of influences like these, it isn’t even shocking anymore when female musicians are asked ridiculously sexist questions in media interviews that men would never be asked. In 2014, alternative singer/songwriter Sky Ferreira appeared on Brazilian talk show The Noite to talk about her new album. The opening question of the interview, which host Danilo Gentili asked through a translator, was whether people liked her because of her music or “because of the tits?” gesturing to the partial nudity on her album cover. Also in 2014, pop singer Charli XCX was being interviewed by Giel Beeten on Dutch radio show The Giel Show, when he asked her to record a radio drop saying “good morning in the most sensual way”, before she even had the chance to oblige, he accused her of masturbating as he couldn’t see her hands, she obviously wasn’t doing anything of that nature and responded with “I wouldn’t do that for you”. In 2015 a video of a radio interview with pop icon Ariana Grande went viral on the internet, this interview was at LA’s Power 106 radio station and was with the DJ’s Justin Credible and Eric D-Lux. At the time of the interview, Grande had an upcoming album, a new single, her role on the show Scream Queens, and a duet with the legendary Andrea Bocelli to discuss, but instead was asked questions such as “if you could use makeup or your phone one last time, which would you pick?”. The reason the video of this went viral is that Grande stood her ground and called them out, saying “is that what you think girls have trouble choosing between?” and “you need a little brushing up on equality”.

           In 2014, the news came out to the public that pop singer Kesha had sued her producer, Dr Luke, seeking to void all of their contracts because of how, the suit claimed, Dr Luke sexually, physically, verbally, and emotionally abused Kesha over the course of ten years, Dr Luke countersued shortly after, denying all allegations. The first big decision on this case came on February 19th 2016, when due to lack of evidence, a New York judge denied Kesha a court injunction that would have allowed her to record new music and continue her career away from Dr Luke and Sony, meaning she still owed them six more albums. With this news, the internet exploded with the hashtag #freekesha, as the public voiced their support of Kesha, this included statements from celebrities such as; Lady Gaga, Lena Dunham, Lorde, Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea, Zedd, Halsey, Jack Antonoff, and Taylor Swift.

           With the subject being so popular during the case, the incident became the cause of more female musicians coming out about their own experiences in the industry, exposing an even darker side of the misogyny going on. In 2015, forty years after her abuse occurred, Jackie Fuchs (aka Jackie Fox) opened up to The Huffington Post about the endless abuse she endured at the hands of her manager Kim Fowley while she was the bass player for the all-female band The Runaways, including a time where he allegedly raped her in front of a room full of people during an after-show party in an Orange County motel room after she had been drugged.  Julie Farman who was a three-decade veteran of the music industry but is now a marketing consultant came forward to LA Weekly after twenty years about the time she was sexually harassed by two members of The Red Hot Chili Peppers in a storage cupboard while working as the West Coast associate director of media and artist relations at Epic Records. Former Secretary of Geffen Records, Penny Muck compared this to the time in 1991 when she filed a lawsuit against the company and its parent organisations for sexual harassment, battery, and assault. She claimed that the executives permitted sexually deviant behaviour, especially from executive Marko Babineau and she didn’t want to take it up with the company directly because there had previously been a long line of women who had filed complaints but the top tier declined to take action. The case was eventually settled out of court for a reported $500 000, while that was only a small payment for a company like Geffen, it still spurred a lot more women to come forward about their experiences.

           When these types of stories come out to the public, it becomes clear that a way the misogyny in the industry can be fought and destroyed is by not being afraid to speak up. An example of this occurring is when Amber Coffman, one of the members of Brooklyn-based band Dirty Projectors, began a series of tweets detailing her experience with music publicist Heathcliff Beru of Life or Death PR and Management, recalling a time in which he rubbed her buttock and bit her hair while at a bar. Immediately an LA-based music publicist named Beth Martinez responded saying that she had a similar experience with Beru, in which repeatedly put his hand down her shirt while driving her home, even after she repeatedly told him not to. This caused dozens of women to come forward with their own experiences with Beru, including; Bonnaroo co-ordinator Martika Finch, manager Theodora Karatzas, producer Shirley Braha, Empire Music’s Christy Merriner, Bethany Cosentino of the band Best Coast, Yasmine Kittles of the band Tearist, and singer/songwriter Chelsea Wolfe. With all these accusations against him, Beru ended up having no choice but to resign his position at Life or Death PR and Management.

           An example of an artist that speaks out against sexism and misogyny is Lauren Mayberry, front woman of the band Chvrches. As Chvrches is a band that emerged from the internet, it is important to the band that they communicate with their fans directly through all of their social networking sites. However, when dealing with the internet there will always be a fair share of hate comments and inappropriate messages, the majority of the ones sent to Chvrches are directed at Mayberry, which she then screen-grabs and posts on her own sites to spread awareness. Some examples of the inappropriate messages she has shared are “this isn’t rape culture, you’ll know rape culture when I’m raping you, b****” and “act like a sl**, get treated like a sl**”. Mayberry accepts that when you are in the public eye there will always be hate, but believes no female should feel violated by comments that range from slightly sexist but generally harmless to openly sexually aggressive.

           Another artist who speaks out is Katie Crutchfield of the band Waxahatchee. During a Waxahatchee gig, Crutchfield jumped into the audience to confront a teenage boy one-on-one after he had shouted derogatory comments at her. This boy didn’t get the message as he tried to kiss her, so Crutchfield had him kicked out of the venue. She has learnt over her many years in the industry that this is the best way to deal with these situations and the only way in which they will listen. Another is Meredith Graves, vocalist of the band Perfect Pussy. During a moment in Perfect Pussy’s set at Basilica Soundscape Festival, Graves read aloud an essay that she wrote on sexism. In the essay, she summed up the difficulties around female identity in pop; mentioning expectations on female artists’ appearance and the notion of authenticity. Lady Gaga has always been an icon for both feminists and female musicians, this became clear when she made her speech for the 2015 Woman of the Year at Billboard Women in Music. Gaga addressed how difficult it is for women in music entering the “boys club” that is the industry and became very emotional when she explained that receiving Woman of the Year meant to her that she was being recognised for her songwriting and legacy instead of her appearance.

           Another way females in the music industry can fight the misogyny is by openly supporting one another. In 2015, a bunch of female country musicians started trending the hashtag #tomatotuesday on Twitter, making a joke out of Keith Hill when he publicly made the comment: “Trust me, I play great female records and we’ve got some right now; they’re just not the lettuce in our salad”. Country-folk musician Brandi Carlile is the founder of Looking Out; an organisation that supports women through music. A dollar from every concert ticket Carlile ever sells goes to this organisation. Another organisation is Shesaid.so founded by Andreea Magdalina. Shesaid.so is a global community of women who work in the music industry with the aim to strengthen support networks, offer partnership opportunities, and provide a platform for female-made content. Not only do the female music artists need to support each other, but the female music listeners do as well. Girls Against is a movement made by five teenage feminists fighting against sexual assault at live music gigs. The movement was created after one of the five girls experienced sexual harassment at a Peace show in Glasgow and it aims to start a discussion between fans, artists, promoters, venues, and security companies, along with offering support to victims.

           In conclusion, there always has been (and still is) a huge problem with sexism and misogyny in the music industry. This problem stems from the media undermining female artists, influential male artists expressing their misogynistic views; whether it be through the media or through the lyrics in their music, and the dark past and present of sexual abuse in the industry. All of this can be fought if victims of it continue to speak up about what they have to face and all the females in the industry continue to support each other, then maybe and hopefully one day, all musicians no matter what gender will be considered equal and no different.

Not Linked References: Annie Zaleski 2015, Music Writers Twitter Feed Exposes Industry’s Harsh Sexism, Marginalization, A.V Club Candace Amos 2015, Eminem Still Hasn’t Changed His Misogynistic Ways – See 5 of his Most Brutal Lyrics Against Women, New York Daily Chris Coplan 2014, Future and Kanye West Turn “I Won” Into a Terrible, Sexist Video Game, Consequence of Sound Maura Johnstone 2016, Kesha and Dr. Luke: Everything You Need To Know To Understand the Case, Rolling Stone Sophie Schilacci 2016, Kesha vs. Dr. Luke: Everything You Need To Know About The Ongoing Legal Drama, ET Online  Caitlin White 2016, Music Publicist Accused of Sexual Harassment By Dirty Projectors Member Amber Coffman, Brooklyn Magazine Lauren Mayberry 2013, I Will Not Accept Online Misogyny, The Guardian Jillian Mapes 2015, Pull the Thread and Unravel Me: Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Pitchfork Jeremy Gordon 2014, Perfect Pussy’s Meredith Graves Discusses Andrew W.K, Lana Del Rey, Authenticity, Sexism in Essay, Pitchfork

#misogyny #music industry #music #misogyny in music #bjork #pitchfork #madonna #out magazine #grimes #the fader #vicky hamilton #guns n roses #faster pussycat #stryper #jessica hopper #jimmy iovine #eminem #future #kanye west #radio x #sky ferreira #charli xcx #ariana grande #kesha #dr luke #lady gaga #lena dunham #lorde #iggy azalea #halsey

[benchgenderstudies]

The Prophet from Shady Places

by Michael Bench

//A prose written to Cops and the Public by a Gender Anthropologist and Cannabis Pundit.  When certain bad guys behind badge get all wound up, cray- cray and need that time out.. something for them to de-escalate on//

--------------------------------------------------------- 

Ask a prophet from shady places about the world

they'll tell you the perils of thieving 

before the nonthief’s mind blooms a reason of positive reward.

*

I got a problem with cops to take up with other cops.

Its not NWA lyrics

Cops B is not Cops A. A does not equal B.

Cops B are down south: TX,CO,AZ,UT

Cops B been helping themselves to Quasimormon runaways

They on the roadside trying not to get raped the first time,

not get married a second time before their 15th birthday

These southern quasimormons have loyalty feuds under the bright bright sun

 *

It's really bright and sunny in those states

its so sunny and bright that if the god of jesus couldn't see

girls being raped while in bondage unprotected TIS OF THEE

That he'd not be perfect even for a son of a bitch.

*

There's low hanging fruit here, Cops.

Looky map wise like the pains of Samweis,

Worried Frodo is looking for a crib and not a ring.

To a middle east and middle south confederate region

Bible belts and bible whistles

and bible thumpers who've written every word in it

Jesus doesn't speak to them for they'd molest him too

Make him say silly things unbelievable if he has any room in his mouth

to get a word out. To sound in message like he used to.

 *

Two hostile regions getting lots of sun and no service.

There's two imaginative sources of prophets

yammering  about a visions of dehydration

no wonder you felt like it was the end of the world

Some more water, drown your spinning mind

Get some more water , lose the divinity.

 *

All these bad visions a collected page vice robbing a girl of her decency

A bunch of males each region trafficking girls, like they're the only humans in it.

To each other, to someone else. Elders of the quasimormon portapotty, compound size;

Suffer the gluttony, pride and lust so openly

No version of an assembly of Jesus's words even edited would protect them

*

The cops in texas and arizona , and utah, and perhaps other states..

They turn these girls back to the cult.

Some they turn around themselves first .

There is no religious fence against protecting the children

If in the name or mild margindoodle of Jesus ink selfie

associated to any religion, protect the children.

 *

Neither cops  of these states, sheriffs, parish leaders

nor anyone else in eased vision seems to be practicing that angle of the faith

The direct angle. Most so certain well lit angle

That if this universe had any association  

of a very creation story spun by the jews and christians..

A very hot hand would reach down from the sky  from the hot sun

pinning this world flat on a the rack of justice

And strip the identity of this mormon or lesser mans face right off their skull

Along with associated pains long past due.

*

*Ashen piles.have you sympathy for them, Cop A?Cob B?

Dirt among the white race is being ignored by white cops.

Some bad news that can be made good.

I personally would like each of these

gated community rapist mormons branded with a Swastika

to assure their head is in the game.

2 ft x 2ft, on their back. Every "elder". taking wives instead of meeting wives.

*

Protect and Serve doesn't necessarily sound like protect the children.

Its like Ragu, its in there. and if I were to believe a

father , son and holy spook have a place in the clouds,

that still isn't the commandments of Jesus that said

'love those as I loved you" and " protect the children , you stupid mothfekkers".

In fact.. Jesus has a much better record teaching humanity than the sky god managed,

 *

If all that literary fraud were set aside,

I'd rather quote myself " protect the children, stupid mothfekkers",( to the cult)

address it to the states of the south where the bible belt is allegedly tightest.

And the deep south Middle east where religion ,child abuse, teen rape is a traffic pattern

Its really bright out in the sun. Don't discount,

An overheated brain is a damaged brain.. leaving the more animalian more leash ..

to make a stupid man sound worse and then spermaspaz  a bundle of kids

with pregnancies he can't raise on the alotments of hours per day.

 *

Not even in the risen Jesus's own jewy backyard does he save the youth.

but its really bright outside and should a god hear all these people's worship

not doing a thing to protect his children.Often its in his name

 *

So if two or three people are gathered in his name

is he god taking part in the gang rape of the kids too?

Cop Group A , there's a racial thing going on about drugs,

If you check the records, these hurt and traumatized girls

white girls, get on the drugs and strip afterwards. If they escape

Traumatized and wanting freedom in their own terms

 *

Cop Group A , getting heavy on the politician's non relatives

Your supervisor is too much a bitch to have your back,

it’s a new job task environment

When the governors son gets caught banging a 16 year old

A Cop supervisor needs insulation

when musts of prosecution

prosecute ranks of the city council families.

Keep it in the paper, See who you are, whitey.

Its not tidy. among your own extremists,

in the south, in the bright bright sun

they do such tormenting deeds of power over their young girls

its like they think they were the god..

or what they'd do from the power of the throne either way.

 *

So how many wives does the god of jesus have?

Abraham, Adam .. At most two.

These antisocial desert creatures are holed up in their own lies

Nurturing the children is no verb of mormons; the hardliners are labeled.

made to fear the apocalyptic outside world.

It’s a blaspheme to expect the apocalypse, did you know this?

Doubting Thomas is a taken gig. Observe the creation and be thankful. Nothing else.

When the end is called for , the doubted faith is admitted, when worshippers want more.

Even the type of more that calls to protect the children from mormon cult rapists.

 The book of Jesus; new testament doesn't cover the polygamists.

Unlimited wives is not the spectre of  rightful unlimited hardship

Protecting and being friendly to the little children isn't going on.

Members trying to escape a faith, a marketing failure

The likes of Warren Jeffs due a lesson he won't forget.

Since they don't follow Jesus's word before..

they must follow him in no uncertain terms later

Up the cross three days , Crucifixion can skate the 8th amendment

for this one certain cause.

 *

Quasi mormons and the remainder of the child rape cults

by Jesus's name must learn to follow.

Normally the Romans just leave the body up on the post.

Traditional values also must win out for displaying faith.

The gluttony for sex by herding , not pickup lines or practiced suave

a lazy old man not earning his dick parking.

Lower than the van drivers Putting effort into a convincing abduction lure.

The quasimormon reads his reasoning from a book. 

 *

The religious heatstroke garble is too popular.

A heatstroke a lonely man shares to his friends, to a crowd

For an excuse to feel important again.

He wandered town to town

Named himself a prophet when the last place booted his ass.

From the desert , needing water , he says he had a vision

So his last occupation of ____crime whatever___

doesn't have to get much inquiry.

 *

Everybody loves a hermit.. even the liars that are robbers.

Until the shroud comes off, Touring the neighborhoods

giving the leaders and townsfolk unease

Too tired to rebel and too annoyed to be a cog.

Too fearful to be a disobediant child of men

His god wouldn't protect from the

ill leadership of other men

hoarding a good life for themselves

Without faith at all.

 *

Without faith , Only social morality One group of cops

will take down the allies of child trafficking cults

Theres only two groups.

The majority and the minority.

If the minority is the responsible party to

bust the quasimormon compounds;

I hope its not because the majority are too dick humbled by

their own parking in the prostitutes of the process less visible.

 *

The children can't be blamed when staking them into the ground like outdoor dogs

Expect "god made the grass green and the ground brown" will last 18 years for appeal?,

It Will not last; So not to expect grounds for beating.

 *

Beatings, rapes, throat slashing, molesting and armed guards

Cemeteries have better public relations.

But the living dead walk anyway, birthed into fear for living away from the cult

Translated: parents who train their children to live in their basement.

The secular world doesn't see how obvious a zombie

conversion from human quasimormon polygamy has attempted.

 Mind that Weed produced a better man than mormons did

Mind that Cannabis users are calling on cops right now ,

to pick up the attention toward family values.

A better society than jesus would herd.

A better tangible benefit than praying.

And a more successful relationship with truth than the American Government relating to the risks of tobacco, grounds of foreign war, and monogamy modeled by exemptions with power. There are no forecasts remaining for the will of the individual is the specific determination if human kind puts the next generation before its own libido.

* 

Its about what the book says a religion is, not a man's translation

there's a lot more translation than praying going on

As if anyone worthy to hear a plea of their parish exists

or  responsible enough to prevent its own worshippers from hurting each other.

 *

A god so lazy he won't even say

" listen shit for brains, if you allow the elders to impregnate-rape your 10yr  daughter in the name of jesus, she's not going to be a willing christian. Her body and mind is not ready for a nurturing task"

I says”

Where's the work schedule, god? 

You've been absent and fired a long time ago.

Now it’s a deed of enslavement to the White Race officially.”

I didn't make it up. Its been going on.. now admit

Freedom of religion is not freedom to rewrite a religion..

Lets get that solid.

 #It_Takes_An_AmericanStoner_To_Set_A_Nation_Aright