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bowdownperv · 1 year

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Sweetheart [B.H + E.M]

Warnings: 18+, smut, sexual content, threesome

Pink was the color of love. The color of sugary sweetheart candies. The color of the powdery blush on your cheeks. The color of his tongue as he painted your pussy with his saliva.

Cupid struck you in the ass this Valentines Day.

A fun, post Basketball game celebration turned into nightmare when you accidentally stumbled in on your jackass boyfriend pounding some dumb cheerleader into a mattress while looking for the bathroom. Eyeshadow instantly spilled down your face like watercolors as you slammed the door shut making the whole house shiver. The dramatic thud of your heels stomping down the stairs caused the whole crowd to go silent alongside gasped faces.

Once making it home and allowing yourself some much deserved time to sulk, you quickly realized that your friends were right: you were way out of his league. You would have absolutely no problem finding a better lover, better kisser, and a better fucker. However, once the news of your breakup made its way around, you were essentially up for grabs at school.

Billy Hargrove unexpectedly became an obstacle in your path to class when his broad athletic body spawned out of nowhere in front of you. You crashed into him and sprung back while he stood sturdy as a rock.

“Sup, Y/N.” His voice had a racy husk to it as he licked his lips. You rolled your eyes while secretly checking him out.

“Yes, Billy?” you murmured, bending down to pick up the History textbook he made you drop.

If the school had a mascot for biggest douchebag, it would be Billy. He was always trying, and quite successfully, getting into every girls pants just to gloat about it the next day to his buddies. He always felt something special towards you, but you refused to give in. Making his infatuation with you only grow stronger. You had to admit though, he was really fucking hot.

"I heard about your breakup, maybe I'll come over tonight and make you feel better," he winked cupping his bulging cock through his grey sweatpants. Lazily, swinging his hips into his palm as if he were fucking you from behind. You couldn't help but feel a trickle down your thigh.

"That's okay Billy, I've never really been a big fan of shrimp."

He huffed.

"Mhm, we'll see about that sweetheart."

The stupid nickname somehow made your pussy tingle. You flipped your hair over your shoulder and scurried away as he blew you a cocky kiss. He was such a hotshot but the thought of him fucking you filled your heartbroken mind with lust. You also heard from other girls that he was packing.

For the entire day, boys followed you around like abandoned puppies. Each one so desperately attempting to shoot their shot with you every chance they could get. It was pathetic. Finally, lunchtime came meaning you could hopefully have a break from being chased down. You headed to school dining hall and sat at your usual table, waiting for your girlfriends to arrive. That's when you saw schools enigma, Eddie walk in. He approached you with a devilish grin across his face as he plopped down across from you. The entire crowd in the cafeteria seemed to vanish and it suddenly it felt like it was just the two of you alone.

"Hey, pretty girl," he smirked.

You swallowed and nervously toyed with your hair.

"Hi, Eddie."

"A pretty girl like you shouldn't be all alone. Who knows what kind of bad things could happen to her." He gave you a sinister smirk and reached for your hand. Placing a soft kiss to it like you were royalty. You were completely hypnotized by his mysterious presence.

"Why don't I come over tonight and we can have some fun."

You hesitated.

"I- I have to-"

"Great, I'll be there at ten."

Your cheeks were so red you could see feel heart beating in them. Eddie walked away and you watched as time around you magically resumed.

When you got home from school, you rushed to turn on the shower. You laid out a tank top and your most revealing shorts on your bedsheets and washed up plus shaved until you felt clean and sexy. You blowdryed your soggy hair and perfected your makeup in anticipation for it just to be ruined. There was still a few hours until Eddie would be arriving but you spent them all physically and mentally preparing yourself.

Halfway through brushing your hair, you jumped from the ring of the doorbell. Fuck. Eddie must have came early. You ran your fingers through your locks messily and hurried to the door.

As soon as you opened it, you cursed under your breath. It was Billy. You didn't think he was actually serious about coming over. You panicked. Eddie would be there soon. What would he do if he saw you had Billy over as well?

"Billy, you need to go-"

Without warning, he was leaning forward and kissing you dearly with his strawberry lips. You were instantly intoxicated. Grabbing onto the hair on the back of his head and pulling him closer. His tongue swarming your mouth.

You yanked him by his denim jacket inside and shut the door. Maybe, he could fuck you quickly before Eddie came? At this point you were too worked up to tell Billy to leave. With Billy's mouth still suctioned to yours, a series of loud thumps echoed from the front door. Damnit.

You felt your heart inflate with every knock.

Billy followed you to the door. His larger body hovering behind you like a ghost.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" he growled in his low register, raising his muscular arm.

"Just came to see my girl," Eddie announced, pointing a finger gun at you.

"Well, she's busy," Billy replied, cupping your ass in his large hand making you jolt.

The boys bickered back and fourth and you were so turned on. The two hottest studs at school fighting over who gets to fuck you.

Eventually, Billy whispered something into Eddie's ear causing him to nod. You were so confused when both boys looked back at you with devilish grins.

Billy manhandled you as he grabbed your smaller body to throw you over his shoulder. You let out a small shriek. He carried you over to the kitchen and placed your ass on the counter. His eyes staring directly at your clothed core as if he could see through your shorts.

You put your finger in your mouth. "What are you going to do to me?" you asked shyly.

Eddie turned to Billy and smiled.

"A good old pussy eating contest."

You froze.

"Sound good, sweetheart?"

Your head almost fell off from how fast you were nodding.

"Yes."

Eddie competed first. He tugged your little shorts down your thighs and you watched as they plopped down onto the marble floor. Squatting to be eye-level with your vulnerable cunt.

"Hi, pretty pussy," he said, rubbing it with his long, slender fingers and pressing a kiss to it. You felt your pussy gush as pre-cum dribbled down your thigh.

"Mm, good thing daddy's hungry."

His head nuzzled between your legs. You felt his warm tongue poke inside your pussy.

His hands grabbed your thighs for support as he pushed his head deeper into you. Licking the walls of your pussy. The texture of his taste buds rubbing against your clit. His tongue slurping in and out of you while he looked up at you with starving eyes. Cocking his right eyebrow every time you let out a sweet moan.

"Oh, fuck daddy" you squealed. Clinging your fingers to his hair as you popped your pussy forward into his face. His tongue leaving no inch of your pussy dry. Foamy spit being the only barrier between his mouth and your cunt as he coated you with his thick, warm saliva that dripped onto the floor.

“Such a sweet girl with a sweet pussy," he mumbled into your core. You could feel the vibrato of his voice echo throughout the walls of your cunt.

You closed your eyes and felt a wave of heat rush throughout your body. Your pussy quenched itself as you squirted all over Eddie’s soft face. Covering his skin with little droplets of your cum.

“Oh shit baby, all for me?” he asked excitedly as you groaned, still trying to recover from your high.

Not a drip of cum went to waste as he licked each one that trailed down your thighs.

Eddie pulled away and your cunt felt cold and empty without a warm mouth inside it.

“Alright man, let’s see if you can beat that,” he said, hitting Billy’s shoulder.

Billy walked over to your vulnerable pussy smugly. Smirking as he watched your legs tremble and your still leaking cunt drip more onto the floor. You looked up at him with nervous, doe eyes.

Billy kneeled down and vertically licked across your entire pussy. Paying special attention to your clit as he cloaked it around his long tongue, drowning it in his saliva. Your head flew forward to watch his evil, grinning face devour your pussy.

He ate your pussy from the inside out. His mouth was a vacuum sucking all the juices from your pussy until it was dry, and then filling it back up with his own spit and tongue. He pressed gentle kisses along the sensitive skin and used his fingers to spread your pussy lips open and poke his tongue in even farther. The excitement and lust of having such a hunk fuck you with his tongue so passionately, made you unable to hold back your orgasm as you cummed intensely for the second time. Decorating Billy’s pretty face with your sweet pussy juices.

Billy walked away wiping his grinning mouth. Once again, your pussy felt empty and you rubbed your legs together. Desperate for any friction as you looked innocently to the two boys ahead of you.

“Round two,” Eddie spoke.

“Cock sucking.”

This time your knees were on the floor looking up at Billy. You stared him down as he pulled his jeans and boxers off allowing his mighty cock to stand strong.

You immediately gasped. Billy's cock put your ex boyfriends to shame. It was long, slick, and girth with a blue vein that ran from its base to his big, pink mushroom head. After licking your plump lips in preperation, you wrapped them around his cock. Giving Billy the sweetest blowjob of his life.

"That's it sweetheart," he groaned, huskily. "You like having daddy's big cock in your mouth?"

"You moaned "mhm," while looking up him with your teary, cartoon eyes. His cock tucked deep inside your throat, striking your uvula repeatedly like it was a punching bag.

All the attention you were giving Billy's cock made Eddie severely jealous. He eagerly dragged his pants and boxers in unison down his thighs and tripped as his long cock sprung out. Hard and ready to get sucked.

Eddie pushed Billy aside and slid his cock into your mouth at the same time. Two giant cocks fucking your tiny little mouth.

Both the men swung their hips into your face, forcing your tired mouth to suck their huge cocks. If someone was to stand behind them, all they would see was their ass cheeks clenching and releasing as their big bodies overshadowed you. The only thing coming out of your mouth were whimpers and slobber.

You grabbed their big balls with each of your hands. Your long nails grazing the wrinkles. You squeezed them. Immediately, they both orgasmed. Their cum flooding your throat canal. Making you practically drown in their creamy, white cum. It took a few big gulps and swallows to force it all down.

Billy patted your head before throwing you over his shoulder and carrying you to the coffee table. Laying your tummy on the table. Your tits squashed against the cold glass. Your vulnerable ass and cunt shivering in the air, ready for penetration.

Billy aggressively spit on your cunt like a dirty cowboy and shoved his cock in with a howl. Hands gripping your waist hard as he fucked you mercilessly. Spanking your ass with his big palm like you were misbehaved child.

Eddie went for your gaping mouth. Lifting your head up by the chin and sliding his long cock down your throat. Swinging his hips back and fourth, giving you a great throat-fucking. His heavy balls squashing against your chin allowing you to feel how quickly they refilled. Your jaw throbbing from how wide your mouth had to open to accommodate his size.

Your body was being completely used by these two men. You were just an instrument of pleasure for their sex-driven dicks. Their impressive length penetrating both sides of you so deeply, that you swore you could feel the heads of their cocks kiss inside your stomach.

The sounds they were making were so hot. These two men who had big egos and tough exteriors, now whimpering and falling apart from the way you were taking their raging cocks. They both had fucked so many girls but it wasn’t now, fucking you, that they were finally being satisfied. It was as if all those girls were just practice to prepare for fucking you. Billy and Eddie reached over your body to high-five each other.

Eventually, they switched things up. Eddie sat on the couch, man spreading, as he smacked his thighs signaling you to hop on. His cock stuck up between his legs like a mighty tower. You slowly sat down on him and felt your pussy become stretched as you slid down to rest on his balls. You faced Billy who was now completely naked and holding his cock with his right hand, jacking it off. Your eye grazed his impressive body with lust as you noticed his chiseled abs, his bulging bicep when he pumped his cock, and his thick, muscular legs that were spread as he stood sturdy. Your eyes stayed focused on him as the rest of your body flew up and down as Eddie commanded you to ride his cock. You couldn’t close your mouth no matter how hard you tried.

Billy walked over to you and inserted one of your bouncing tits into his mouth. He sucked on the nipple as your ass hopped up and down Eddies cock. Eddie ran his hands through your hair from behind and thrusted his hips upwards into you. Billy continued worshipping your body like you were a princess. Nuzzling his face between your tits and leaving blue hickeys around your nipples. Billy crouched down and licked the top of your pussy as it got hammered by Eddie’s cock. He coated your pussy and the head of Eddie’s cock with his saliva to better lubricate it. Eddie sped up the rhythm making your pussy louder as it gushed even more.

Just as you felt the pressure of your climax approaching, Billy pulled you off Eddie’s cock and pushed your head into the couch cushion. He lifted your ass up with his hands and fucked you relentlessly into the sofa with all his energy. His thick cock plunging in and out of your pussy rapidly. Your muted moans were still so apparent from the unexpected change and without you even realizing it, you were cumming all over Billy’s swole cock. The feeling of your pussy tightening around Billy’s cock triggered his own orgasm as he shot several rounds of his white, sticky cum deep inside your cunt. Eddie pulled Billy away from you, and the boys eagerly raced to lick the cum out of your pussy. Both men’s tongues fighting to lick up every drop. You looked down at their determined faces with their tongues sticking out. You almost hyperventilated.

To repay Eddie, you got down on all fours and sucked the cum out of his cock. Giving him special attention as he filled your mouth with his semen and you held it between your chubby cheeks. Dribbles of white spilling out as you looked up at him and swallowed. Billy patted Eddie’s shoulder and they shook hands. Unable to pick a winner, you requested a rematch.

#billy hargove x reader #billy hargrove smut #billy hargove imagine #smut #eddie munson smut #eddie x you #eddie x billy #eddie x reader #eddie munson imagine

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2n2n · 10 days

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ch. 113

I do have a serious family emergency going on IRL at the moment. But wouldn't you know it, the chapter is the day before I have to make a trip about it. So I can have a brief respite from scary & stressful things....

we see Amane at the 81st annual festival. Our current festival is the 113th. the Amane we see here would be ~27. (remember, Amane would be ~60 years old if he were alive in the 'present' of JSHK, which is 2015)

so, we finally see 1:1, precisely the boy in the 'corrected' timeline'

and he looks-- LIKE THIS??????????????????

in THIS timeline, Amane feels in-control, he's humming or whistling, he's pleased to hear Tsukasa's rumor play out???!?!????!?!??

WHAT DID YOU DO!!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO?!?!? what did you do--!! what did you do--!!!!!!! This is the last thing I expected for you, what, you're in a great mood. Your brother seems to be some sort of cursed school-bound ghost. A good day for you, Amane-sensei?!?!?!?!? What did you do!!!!!

In every timeline, Amane really is crazy! Amazing! Do you always manage some sort of control over Tsukasa's fate, no matter what!?

I DON'T KNOW, AIDAIRO-SENSEI!!! you were right, this month's Hanako-kun is unbearable!!!!

ah, was it that simple all along... lol. just keeping her informed... you not only kept Nene-chan in the dark unnecessarily and had to explain yourself twice, you also made us sit through 2 chapters for the basic run-down, Teru....

it's such an interesting situation....!

It would be impossible for just anyone to pinpoint even the year of the Clockkeeper's interference... let alone the exact altercation they interrupted. Someone would have to have quite intimate knowledge of, specifically the Yugi twins history, to even start looking.

And even so, you've also got to avoid the Clockkeepers just fixing it again, or nipping at you, right? I wonder if we'll have to essentially... go back, instigate events with the Yugi which result in our yorishiro Tsukasa ... and then ... peel the Clockkeeper's yorishiro, to de-power them, and usurp control for ourselves over the timeline? It's so hard to imagine a world where we can let the Clockkeepers remain in any power, if we want to have 'control' ....

but can Nene-chan peel yorishiro, anymore? I wonder if she would need to form a contract with someone else to be granted that right, in this world.... ♥..... well, getting ahead of ourselves... but that would be fun.... I think so, anyway....

so interesting! I wonder if, in this world, Akane even typically called her 'Ao-chan'? That's such an affectionate/familiar nickname.... it would be surprising from someone you're not super close with....

and the implication seems to be that Aoi and Teru have been more familiar SINCE childhood, not just now... so Akane's been completely booted in some capacity... if she's been referring to Teru in such a familiar way since childhood, this arrangement may have happened quite early on....

he was interrupted for a bit, but he does get to say it out loud in full here. I wonder if compulsively letting this slip will seed something in Aoi's mind....

I've always been worried about Teru's interest in Aoi, what with their families histories... I've worried it has less to do with legitimate interest and more to do with, I don't know... power levels, bloodline, maintaining something or correcting something... it just doesn't pass my smell test. An arranged marriage is very bad news!

I feel so dumb for missing this LOL!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure our Ao-chan is on her way to remembering her true love....

briefly distracted by Tsutsu's tits....

noting the room number in case that becomes relevant later lol....

this is so extremely creepypasta vibes... AidaIro-sensei are in their creepypasta era right now....

UUUGH. IT'S SO EXCRUCIATINGLY EXCITING....

I saw someone joking that it's "like a gatcha", which Tsukasa are we going to get? Shosei-outfit boy? Summer uniform boy? Winter? 3 year old?????????????????????????? what Tsukasa is HERE?????? We don't even understand yet why our 'Amane' is in his winter uniform or called 'Hanako-san'! THIS TSUKASA COULD BE ANYTHIIIING--!!!

and a reminder that a 'rumor' is not necessarily a school Mystery (the confession tree was a rumor!)... mysteries are specific pillars of God appointed in some way into their position, with a yorishiro. Tsukasa could be a fully-fledged mystery, orrrrr he could be a weaker rumor!

EITHER WAY, WE'LL HAVE TO ASK HIM QUESTIONS, WON'T WE.........!!!!!! Come onnnnnnnnnnnnn Nene-chan!!!! I want to hear her summon Tsukasa just like she once did Hanako--!!!!!! RAAAHHH !! I want to know if he'd remember/recognize her or not...!!! UUUU

it's so crazy and exciting! AidaIro-sensei are too good at it all... I couldn't have ever imagined this Amane-sensei ah, smiling, crazily while girls summon his otouto to play....? why and how is Tsukasa a rumor... what happened to him in life to make his name famous... why is he in the modern-day more known than 'Amane' was..... ??? I'm scared for my life! Next month can never come fast enough....

#avvy's JSHK

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wartakes · 9 months

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Geopolitics: The Reason Why Your Tummy Hurts (OLD ESSAY)

This essay was originally posted on September 27th, 2022.

This is one of those essays where I see a string of posts or a line of behavior emerging on the internet and I feel compelled to push back on it. In this case, its how people don't understand the situation some countries and groups find themselves trapped in when they have to turn to less than desirable partners for help (especially if the US and the West aren't willing to step up).

(Full essay below the cut).

I feel like every time I rejoin you all with one of these essays I have to go “boy, a lot of history sure happened in the last month” and this time it’s no exception. I’m going to spare you the line-item state of the world summary, however, and I’m gonna try and get straight to the point in this piece because I really think the main point of this month’s essay is an important one that I want to really want to cram into people’s brains and make it stick there.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has had a number of repercussions there will be more as it continues on. One that I’ve noticed online in particular – though exclusively – is the treatment of war and struggle as being almost like some kind of team sport. This in itself is not new by any means, but I believe that the monumental nature and scale of the Russian invasion and the manner in which it caught so many off guard has amplified this tendency. The result is that you get a number of people boiling down armed conflict and the geopolitics surrounding it into essentially “yay my team and anyone that supports it and boo the other team and anyone that supports it.”

Now before you take that the wrong way, this is by no means an attempt on my part to “both sides” the Ukraine conflict. I have maintained since 2014 that Russia is an aggressor trying to impose its imperialistic will on Ukraine and that belief has only been reinforced by the events of the past seven months as Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine has slogged on. The point I’m trying to make is, by taking a “sportsball” (God help me) approach to wars like the one in Ukraine and everything else that becomes connected to it, those with that mindset begin to dumb down, disregard, or downright ignore nuance to the point that it starts to become actually harmful as it spreads to events that are removed by several orders of magnitude. It’s also worth noting that this attitude is something that’s not exclusive to any particular political ideology and that I’ve noticed it coming from all comers interacting with the War in Ukraine and other conflicts.

Said harmful effects became obvious in the past few weeks as new events unfolded outside of the scope of the War in Ukraine, but with the shadow of that conflict hanging over it and the “go team” simplified mindset having a direct impact on how it has been (incorrectly) perceived by many who have become more focused on international relations following the start of the Russian invasion. My goals for this essay are to A.) try and explain how all of this (i.e. geopolitics) is – unfortunately – more complicated than it looks and that can’t be helped; but I also want to B.) try and explain how you can wrap your head around what sometimes feels like conflicting and contradictory stances on geopolitics in a world increasingly filled with more and more crises and conflicts. At the end of the day, if you follow a consistent moral compass when it comes to armed aggression and your sense of internationalism and solidarity, you’ll find that navigating this crazy world isn’t as hard as a lot of people would lead you to believe (often to their own self-interested or sinister ends). So, without further ado, let’s get right into things.

The Tangled Web of Geopolitics

Life is inherently complicated. We, as human beings, have a natural desire to try and simplify it in order to make it both easier to understand and to manage – even if sometimes there are aspects of life that are difficult (if not impossible) to simplify. Geopolitics takes that to an extreme. Geopolitics are complicated, messy, sometimes contradictory, and always frustrating. So, it’s no mistake that the casual observer (and sometimes even the more experienced practitioner) will try and boil geopolitics down to simple, black and white terms, in order to try and make sense of it. While this desire to make geopolitics into a simple binary is understandable, it almost always ends up going too far and leads to flawed and often hurtful approaches to the rest of the world.

An excellent example of this are the latest clashes between Armenia and Azerbaijan – occurring very much in the shadow of the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. If you’ve read my essays before or followed me on Twitter (or follow Joe Kassabian on Twitter), you’re probably no stranger to the long-time struggle between Armenia and Azerbaijan – particularly over the contested majority-Armenian region of Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh. However, recently Azerbaijan broadened the conflict with a large-scale series of strikes against Armenia proper, attacking across their internationally recognized border with only the flimsiest of pretenses. While at the time of writing this essay things have calmed down some, the situation remains tense – with some countries advising their citizens to now evacuate certain parts of Armenia due to fears of further Azeri invasion.

Now, whatever you think about the Artsakh issue (my stance is that it is Armenian but that’s a completely different essay), we should all be able to agree that countries should not attack one another’s internationally recognized territory proper – especially not without actual provocation or under false pretenses (which Azerbaijan’s pretenses almost certainly are). Yet, I’ve seen quite a lot of sentiment on social media that somehow Armenia has done something to “deserve” this attack or that its somehow their “just desserts” and that they deserve no sympathy or assistance.

The very flawed and twisted justification for this attitude is that Armenia is a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance led (and dominated) by Russia, formed following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1992. Since Armenia is therefore a military treaty ally of Russia, a number of supporters of Ukraine (which I also support against unjustified Russian military aggression and imperialism) seem to believe that Armenia deserves whatever it gets as its attacked by Azerbaijan. There’s also a rather rosy attitude towards Azerbaijan by Ukrainians and Ukraine boosters, as Azerbaijan has politically supported Ukraine since the Russian invasion, sent humanitarian aid, and also has expressed a willingness to step up its oil and gas exports to Europe in order to counteract potential energy warfare by Russia this winter as the War in Ukraine drags on.

There are many problems with this logic (or lack thereof). For one, it fails to interrogate the actual relationship between Armenia and Russia beyond its more surface levels, refusing to ask why Armenia is even in an alliance with Russia to begin with. Armenia is small (both population and territory wise), landlocked country that is flanked by two states (Azerbaijan and Turkey) with much larger populations and resources – one of which has already attempted to wipe out its people before, with the other essentially now daring the world to stop them from doing it again. Armenia lacks the energy resources of Azerbaijan, which has facilitated strong relationships with countries eager to buy those resources – in addition to its strong partnership with Turkey over shared Turkic culture. From the moment it gained independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenia needed a security guarantor if it was to avoid another genocide. Russia was the closest and most able and willing to act compared to other states, essentially falling into the role of Armenia’s security guarantor by default and then proceeding to hold a trapped Armenia hostage in the ensuing economic, political, and security relationship.

Essentially, Russia has remained Armenia’s primary security partner all these years basically out of both inertia and a failure by the United States and other countries in the West to do anything to change the situation – even after Armenia’s peaceful democratic revolution in 2018. Russia has also increasingly failed in its role as a security guarantor for Armenia. Russia and the CSTO’s failure to act decisively in the face of the most recent Azeri aggression (this time against Armenia’s internationally recognized territory) has sparked widespread anger and frustration with Russia by Armenians. Some Armenians have even called for Armenia to leave the CSTO and the situation has led to outreach by the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives – Nancy Pelosi – as the CSTO appears to fragment while Russia’s war in Ukraine falters. While Armenia has been Russia’s ally on paper, it is not and has never been a universally happy and loving relationship and is one that Armenia took out of necessity and lack of options to survive.

Those making overly simplified comments about the Armenia-Azerbaijan situation also seem to ignore that, however cozy Azerbaijan has been with the West or supportive (notionally) of Ukraine, it has retained close political and economic ties with Russia – which in the typical Russian fashion has been trying to play both sides of a frozen conflict (one that is increasingly warming up). Azerbaijan isn’t acting on any profound political or moral grounds, it is simply trying to play all sides in support of its national interests – among which are removing the Armenian state and Armenian people off the face of the Earth (if you don’t believe me, take a look at what 99.9% of Azeri accounts on Twitter have to say about Armenia). Azerbaijan is taking advantage of the war in Ukraine in order to distract from what it wants to accomplish in Armenia, and unfortunately its propaganda war has been far too effective for my tastes thus far (though this time around more people seem to be taking a stand against its more naked aggression and I hope this trend continues – especially if it attacks Armenia further).

Aside from personal interest, I wanted to bring up Armenia and Azerbaijan in particular because this conflict serves as such a solid and recent illustrative example of what I’m trying to communicate. That none of these events happens in a vacuum or without a complex web of sometimes contradictory connections. This isn’t new, either. It’s always been the case, even in situations that have been historically characterized as being almost entirely binary in nature.

Let’s take the Cold War, as another example. We think about the Cold War almost exclusively as a geopolitical struggle between East and West, Communism and Anti-Communism, with two monolithic blocs led by almighty superpowers acting in perfect lockstep with one another. It makes for good propaganda, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Both East and West had many fissures and countries within both blocs often acted against one another out of self-interest or opposing principles and ideology – both via proxy and sometimes directly. In the East, the most famous example of this is probably the Sino-Soviet split, which led to the Soviet Union and China engaging in direct border clashes in 1969 and becoming enemies for the next two decades. Another prominent example is the Suez Crisis, where both Britain and France – in league with Israel – attempted one last great imperialist adventure to retake the recently nationalized Suez Canal from Egypt and potentially even remove the charismatic anti-imperialist President Gamal Abdel Nasser from power (against the express wishes and without the direct knowledge of their allied superpower, the United States).

The Cold War, despite our binary view of the competition, was riddled with cases like those just mentioned where supposed allies and partners crossed one another (if you really want to make your head hurt, take a look at the Wikipedia article for the Nigerian Civil War and then take a look at who was supporting both sides). Despite our innate desire to boil down geopolitics to a simple black and white, good versus evil struggle, that is almost never the case. The reality, as we’ve seen in the examples I’ve brought up, is far more convoluted than we’d like it to be.

How to Hold Two Opinions at the Same Time – A Primer

By now I’ve driven into your heads that geopolitics are not straightforward or black and white. Yeah, good, ok. So now what are you actually supposed to do with this information as you go about your lives? I’m glad you asked.

The point I’m trying to make by smashing you over the head with the proverbial mallet here, is that I want people to understand that sometimes states and their peoples are going to have to make decisions in order to survive that may not necessarily sit well with you ideologically, politically, or otherwise. To be clear, I’m not talking about excusing horrific acts of mass wanton violence like genocide or ethnic cleansing or other war crimes and crimes against humanity. Those are unacceptable no matter who is committing them or what reason they ostensibly have. I’m talking about actions like forging economic ties with, buying arms or seeking military support from, and generally associating with countries, groups, organizations, and so on that you may not be a fan of (for perfectly justified reasons in many cases).

Obviously, there’s no one-sized fits all approach to evaluating these actions and figuring out how you should feel about them or respond to them. There is no one universal “line” that once crossed a country or a people should suddenly no longer be worthy of support in its struggles against outside aggression (nor do I really think there should be a universal line except for specific cases like those acts I mentioned in the previous paragraph). But we have to understand when we see countries doing things that make you want to – for lack of a better term, God help me for saying this – “cancel” them, we also have to put said actions in their proper context (something I’m big on in international relations and security studies in general). We have to understand that, while in some cases countries may be performing certain acts purely out of self-interest and preserving or furthering their national power, in many cases countries and groups are doing them for one main reason: survival. Often, they just have no other options to turn to.

This is a frustrating thing to deal with because it means we have to take positions that, while they are not essentially contradictory, they feel so or appear so. I support Ukraine’s fight against the unjustified invasion and aggression by Russia, while also supporting Armenia’s similar fight against aggression by Azerbaijan and Turkey. What this means is I end up supporting countries that – if you connect the dots – appear to be aligned against one another. Ukraine being aligned with the West and Azerbaijan against Russia, while Armenia is (on paper) allied with Russia against Turkey and Azerbaijan (which I will again remind you both have very close relationships with Russia still despite all this), makes you think that therefore you should also be opposed to Armenia as well as Russia and that you should support Azerbaijan for supporting Ukraine. It all comes back to our innate human desire to make all this simple and cut and dry, black and white.

These types of positions may seem contradictory, but really when you get to the heart of the matter they are not. Said heart of that matter is we should always be opposed to unprovoked and unjustified armed aggression by one state or party against another, full stop. At the end of the day, Russia invaded Ukraine in a war of imperialistic aggression that was entirely a choice on their part (one they are paying for dearly now), that they were led to following their own mistakes they made via their heavy-handed response to the Euromaidan Revolution of 2013-2014. Likewise, while in past struggles with Azerbaijan, Armenia has certainly undertaken acts that were horrific and uncalled for and should be acknowledged as such, that in no way justifies the ongoing aggression that Azerbaijan continues has shown against Armenia and Armenians now for decades. As I shared earlier, Azerbaijan continues to engage in ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide in Artsakh – a historically Armenian majority region – and now seems set on taking those acts to Armenia proper with its most recent attacks on internationally recognized Armenian territory. In both Ukraine’s case and Armenia’s case, even though their relationships tie them to their enemies, it is still ethically, morally, and ideologically correct to support both of them in their struggles as they are both still fighting fundamentally the same struggle despite the geopolitical bullshit that encumbers them as they fight to survive.

As leftists – and just as people – we should take a fundamental stand against armed aggression in all cases, while also supporting those who are victims of aggression in their right to self-defense. This was one of the earliest points I made in writing my essays and one I endeavor to return to often, discussing how being anti-war does not mean that you can’t or shouldn’t defend yourself against armed aggression with force in kind. Being anti-war just means that you don’t start none – that doesn’t mean there won’t be none, if someone else decides to attack you (put another way: “fuck around and find out.”) Once again, this is not a contradictory stance to take. In fact, it is the only acceptable stance to take if you are to stay true to leftist internationalist principles of solidarity and resistance against fascism and imperialism worldwide. We cannot pick and choose the struggles we support based purely on the most superficial of aesthetics or we are betraying the principles we claim to uphold and take to heart. This doesn’t mean that we have to rush to a state’s aid directly in the case of every single war – especially in a case where you have one shitty regime attacking another shitty regime. However, we should still on principle be opposed to armed aggression in the interest of stopping the suffering of innocents caught in the crossfire, and we should then be prepared to assist like minded peoples and governments that share the values we hold as democratic socialists when they request our help and assistance.

I’ve seen plenty of cases of this on the Left, which is one of the main reasons I started writing these essays to begin with. It is most commonly observed in the tankie tendency to support authoritarian leftist regimes regardless of their many failings and crimes, as well as in the more general campist tendency to support any regime – regardless of ideology – that stands in opposition to the United States and the West simply because of said fact and nothing else. The fact is, for us on the Left, it is no less complicated, and we are not immune to geopolitics. As Democratic Confederalists in Rojava attempt to preserve their revolution, they’ve been compelled to balance between the United States and the West on one side and Russia and the Ba’athist Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad on the other in order to defend themselves against aggression by Turkey and its proxy forces in Syria. They do so because they are doing what they need to in order for both their people and their revolution to survive, while remembering the hard learned lesson of what happens when you depend on one guarantor of your security only to be betrayed time and time again by multiple parties and left to defend yourself with little resources on hand. This is the world we live in, and it involves striking a balance between our ideological beliefs and the cold hard facts of reality. Its never easy, and ideally always a temporary act, but still one that always seems to drag on longer than anyone wants it to and can gnaw at the soul and the conscience along the way if you truly hold your beliefs dear.

Stop and Think

In a better world (not necessarily a perfect one, but a better one), this would all actually be simpler. Perhaps then we actually would have an international united front of ideologically like-minded countries and peoples assisting one another in defending against the arrayed forces of authoritarianism, fascism, imperialism, and a like; enabling its members to not have to make deals with the devil in order to survive and ensure they have a future. In a better world, the struggle of actual good versus evil – though still maybe not as clear cut as we’d all like it to be – would at least be more defined and less fuzzy and easier to get a handle on for the average person who doesn’t have an advanced degree in international relations.

But, as I’ve spent the past multiple paragraphs explaining, that is not the case. I hope someday we can get closer to that kind of world, but as with everything else I aspire to in these essays, it’s going to take many years and a great deal of blood, sweat, and tears to achieve. In the meantime, in the interest of those who engaged in ongoing battles for survival, there are certain things we are going to have to tolerate and make allowances for.

Does this mean that we should not care at all about taking strong moral positions? That since black and white issues are so rare that everything should be treated as “gray” and that ethics and morality, and ideological positions don’t matter? That we should all become ultra-realists that Kissinger would applaud? Of course not. The main overarching point I’m trying to make (and have made on other related issues in these essays before) is that all of this is far more complicated than you think. That’s not an excuse to not care, it should be an excuse to care more and an impetus for you to want to figure out how you feel and have to think about events more deeply and your own reactions to and interactions with them more deeply. It means you have to engage your brain when you see a new Tweet on world events and not immediately decide the entirety of your position right then and there in 280 characters based on whatever thoughts are floating in your head at the time. I know this is a tall order at a time when a new historical event is occurring every five minutes, but it really is essential if we are to have fewer in the future.

Ok, I’m fading fast here due to having stuffed myself with this sausage stew I made earlier, so I’m afraid I have no eloquent conclusion here other than “think” and “don’t be a fucking jackass.” Oh, and try to take a moment to breathe now and then in between major historical events or you will go insane – guaranteed. That’s all I got for now. Until next time, stay safe and look after yourselves and your loved ones, and I’ll be back with another lecture next month.

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mostlysignssomeportents · 9 months

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This day in history

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation

#20yrsago Sen Coleman admits to downloading MP3s, but denies inhaling https://people.well.com/user/doctorow/coleman.mp3

#15yrsago DHS border policy: we can steal anything from you, read all your data, and disclose it to anyone we want https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/content/article/2008/08/01/laptops.html

#10yrsago Prominent politicians and negotiators in poor countries speak out against TPP https://www.techdirt.com/2013/07/30/discontent-with-secrecy-one-sided-nature-tpp-spreads-among-participating-nations/

#10yrsago NSA-loving, Internet-hating Rep Mike Rogers’ staffers say criticism is “defamation” https://www.techdirt.com/2013/07/30/staffers-rep-mike-rogers-apparently-claim-they-could-sue-me-defamation/

#10yrsago NSA bribed UK spooks GBP100M for spying privileges https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/aug/01/nsa-paid-gchq-spying-edward-snowden

#10yrsago Schneier: NSA secrecy kills trust https://edition.cnn.com/2013/07/31/opinion/schneier-nsa-trust/index.html

#5yrsago Toronto councillor praises gerrymandering plan to silence “left-leaning” voices in the city https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/toronto-council-votes-to-oppose-ontario-bill-to-cut-number-of-councillors-1.4033548

#5yrsago Now that telcos have “abandoned rural America,” the only broadband comes from cable monopolies https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/07/comcast-or-charter-is-the-only-25mbps-choice-for-68-million-americans/

#5yrsago Leaked documents reveal Google’s plan to create a censored search engine for the Chinese market https://theintercept.com/2018/08/01/google-china-search-engine-censorship/

#5yrsago California home-buyers are increasingly reliant on parental gifts to afford their down-payments https://www.kpcc.org/news/2018/07/31/85109/where-do-people-get-money-to-buy-california-homes/

#5yrsago Wealthy investors are buying Long Beach’s old low-rent buildings and evicting everyone, making them homeless https://www.latimes.com/projects/la-fi-evictions/#

#1yrago “View A SKU”: A plan to turn Amazon into a dumb pipe https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/01/dumb-pipes/#original-asin

#pluralistic

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objuct · 10 months

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i get so many cute comments in the tags from people who actually work with horses.

it may come as a surprise to some of you but i've never worked with or ridden horses, hell, i've only seen them in person only a few times in my life (i wish i had more chances :( )

i'm just kinda......... im just kinda weird? maybe? i didn't have a "horse girl" phase as a kid either I only noticed horses existed when I was like in my early 20s. i just all at once noticed not only the fact horses existed but also like. how fucking cool they are??? bro??? how integral to history they were??? these are massive pleistocene animals we domesticated and now ride & train to perform very complex tasks. Sure we have camelids but we did not achieve nearly as much as we did with camels that we did horses. so much history occured on the backs of horses

it makes me sad how dismissively they've been treated after the widespread adoption of cars and people regularly kind of just. infantilize the history of horses due to people now associating it as predominately a woman's sport (since cars are MANLY!!!) not so dissimilar to the infantilization of the same women who like horses :"| This becomes evident when you see how poorly the gaming industry thinks of horses (and the women who predominately play horse games) and the only game to do horses well was essentially a boy's club who decided to pay as much attention to horses as they did cars in their previous games (rdr but i guess thats obvious)

so needless to say i'm elated whenever horse content comes out that isn't like. soul crushingly dumbed down. the sims 4.... may not necessarily be that, but it's a sandbox, and they can't tell me what to do in my sandbox game :)

#uhhhhhhhhh sorry im prone to unhinged rambling rants #cope

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northwest-cryptid · 2 months

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A. Thank you for your kind words on this, it's always cool to see people be normal about music instead of insisting I listen to bad stuff.

B. I see that you were unaware of Vaporwave as a music genre so I'm gonna overshare for a moment because I'm autistic about this and I hope that's okay.

Basically as I understand it, and I won't be doing a fully history deep dive but; Vaporwave popped up around 12 years ago with THIS video:

youtube

It's arguably a remix, but it was made via a sample of Chris Deburgh's Lady in Red, you can actually hear the exact sample here at 2:40:

youtube

The song was essentially slowed down and given a sort of reverby-ethereal vibe to the whole thing. Something I overall enjoyed but found a bit too repetitive for me in the original Nobody Here video.

This sort of "Reverbed Ethereal Vibe" carries through a lot of Vaporwave music such as this:

youtube

This one lacks any lyrics at all focusing heavily on melody and I honestly think it's a lot better for it in my opinion because I'm less likely to recognize the repeating than I am with literally two words lol.

Of course, it would be wrong not to mention MACINTOSH PLUS, who basically popularized Vaporwave with FLORAL SHOPPE - 02 リサフランク420 - 現代のコンピュー which you've likely heard before even if you don't recognize the name:

youtube

And now is where it branches off into a ton of different micro sub-genres, you have a ton popping up but the one that caught my eye specifically was Future Funk. A sort of focus on the capitalistic boom of the 80's where new tech was all the rage, and brands meant everything. Except with a sort of fun and lively vibe rather than dystopian capitalistic hell. Future Funk also makes use of a lot of anime aesthetics and city pop / J-pop influences.

The big Future Funk influence of the era was SAINT PEPSI, Pepsi was sort of the artist that people looked to in order to say "sure I like Future Funk, at least the GOOD STUFF that isn't like all that cringe shit, I only listen to SAINT PEPSI because he makes GOOD music." Which is :| but the music slaps. Like if Vaporwave is too slow for you, or you're in the mood for something a little more upbeat, here ya go!

youtube

Right out the gate we can hear so much more energy here. This was sort of set as the norm for Future Funk, but for a lot of artists it strayed too far from it's Vaporwave roots and some took to making music somewhere in the middle, still upbeat and lively but with more of that classic ethereal feel to it.

youtube

To this day I will use this hour long beautiful mix of upbeat future funk classics whenever I'm cleaning the house or driving anywhere or doing anything that really requires me to just have energy.

youtube

This SLAPS and I know it by heart because I'm dumb and I've listened to it significantly too much. I think what really makes it for me is that it's not just a playlist video, it's a proper DJ mix seamlessly moving from one song to the next.

ANYWAYS, yea Vaporwave has a ton of sub genres and stuff to look into if anyone has any interest in it. I admittedly got hardcore into Future Funk but there's almost always something for everyone when it comes to Vaporwave.

You've got artists like Blank Banshee, Manapool, VAPERROR, MACINTOSH PLUS, SAINT PEPSI, ΛDRIΛNWΛVE, Vantage, Future Girlfriend 音楽 , 悲しい Android - Apartment , ミカヅキBIGWAVE

There's a ton, including indie artists like Strawberry Station (who's actually a really nice guy, we've spoken on occasion and it was nice to learn he's a chill dude.)

#Youtube

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desertsandsnstarrysky · 3 months

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I low key despise being in a fandom and someone treats me like absolute garbage… especially those who are newer fans who act like they own the series…

Like listen, sit down…

I been around this since the earlier years of it,

Hetalia has been around since 2006 and it got really popular in the west around about I’d say 2010-2011… it really started hitting its peek.

I personally was in the fandom (me and my best friend) back around 2011-2012… we had Facebook roleplaying accounts of our Hetalia plushies, and we had accounts on a site called Enjin where we would talk about hetalia together and carefully cruise deviantart for pictures we liked of our characters.

We also did some Hetalia stuff on Gaia. (if you guys remember this site, total props to you. I tilt my hat to you.)

We also watched the show on the iPad and sometimes through tv we’d have to find whatever videos we could at the time that were so shit quality…

But anyways…

I don’t like people policing others on the fandom, I think it’s dumb and really fucked way to restrict creative expression,

There is a difference in differentiating fictional from fact…

It is also A-okay to not know every single bit of history each nation/country has on it..

Hence why we all should discuss and talk about historical events in a calm manner and if someone doesn’t know everything about said country/nation, then educate. And don’t be a doucheball about it. (Not everyone’s a walking historian with all knowing knowledge.)

It is okay to only like certain ships and characters.

It is okay to self ship!

It is okay to make AUs/Headcanons of what you like.

And it’s okay to write sensitive/controversial topics, provided you be tasteful about it and don’t act like a horse’s ass about it.

What’s NOT OKAY:

Being racist, sexist, antisemitic by any means towards another fan or character through via the user/artist. (And what I mean by this is, if you roleplay/write as a character you know that’s gonna be in any of these categories of no-nos and you’re trying to stay in character, be mindful about it and make sure to tell beforehand, remember… DDDNE. Use your tags, set warnings. Make sure to be mindful.)

Condone inappropriate topics or glorifying them. (Self explanatory, there’s a difference in writing about ww2 than actually going out and trying to relive it, duh.) (same for terrorism, if you’re writing about terrorism, then don’t actually go out and do it! Like this is a given.)

Acting like a conceited, jealous, rude individual.(this is self explanatory, at the end of the day… you do not OWN the characters. I treat them like they are people that exist among us, even if fictional. So you don’t go and try and claim someone like some unhinged person. That’s disrespectful. Oh and, not everyone will like your OTP, so don’t shove it down people’s throats.)

Recognize and take safety precautions when engaging in sensitive/controversial subjects, and if you don’t agree with another fan and it gets you worked up or triggered, disengage and block!

That.

Is what you should be doing when you’re in a fandom like Hetalia.

History isn’t pretty, history isn’t kind. But what parts there are, make use of it. And most importantly enjoy what you like!

You guys are essentially fangirl/boying over countries for gods sake, so understand there’s historical events that were less than favorable…

And if someone is oppressed and they are writing such topics that you 🫵 want to police, do NOT do it!

I’m Ashkenazi Jewish and if I decide to write about Ludwig (Germany)and his internal conflict about ww2 and his now girlfriend Brigitte/Malka (Israel) and their tragedies they went through it, then I will do so. I have that right! That’s highly inappropriate to shush me of how I portray my pain through fictional works, or anyone of that matter.

My grandmother said to me,

“The way to be able to confront your demons is by dissecting your pain.”

We as humans, have used artistic and creative expression to use as an outlet for emotional turmoil and pain since the very beginning days of humanity.

You should be able to do this, without being lost in fixation in between caving to taboo subjects and reality, distorting of the mind and lack of self control.

Use your art as a tool as means to cope. Use your art as an escape to a better place, use your art to destroy pain, use art as means to convey a message.

Use art as how you feel.

Just don’t let history repeat itself.

That’s it.

#Israel Chan #Hetalia #hetalia explanation #hetalia fandom #selfship problems #hetalia ships #hetalia shipping #anything that has to do with hetalia #Hetalia fans #don’t be hateful #the hetalia fandom needs to stop being so rude #hetalia self ship #hetalia oc #israelhetalia #self shipping #words of advice

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wandering-scavenger · 2 years

Note

Curious what do you think Otto Hightower overall ? Given what we have seen so far and such.

Ohohohoho Otto Hightower is a piece of work!

I don't root for him per se, but you gotta give the guy some points for simply having the audacity to pull what he's been trying to pull 🤣

I view Otto as a man that is actually weighed down by the patriarchy just as much as Alicent is. I read a commentary about it somewhere but I can't find it sorry 😭 Otto is similar to Littlefinger so much as they both have to claw their way into court. As the 2nd son with nothing to inherit, Otto has had to carve his own glory to really amount to something. His ambition brought him success for a time, serving as hand to Jaeherys and Viserys.

There's no way around justifying essentially whoring out his daughter who was basically still a child to Viserys. That alone told the audience that he is an ambitious man who is willing to sacrifice his own child for power. At that point, I think he was very confident in how much influence he had over Viserys. He hates Daemon so much he suggests that Rhaenyra be the heir because secretly he's propping up his daughter to be the next Queen who will hopefully bear Rhaenyra's replacement.

Otto isn't dumb, I think he's very good at presenting himself as a meek and serious man with the realm's well being in mind. For most of the part, he's pretty good at looking after things for Viserys. The problem is that he got overconfident and thought he could convince Viserys to make Aegon his heir, and he didn't consider that Rhaenyra herself could be cunning, which got him booted.

This pretty much sent him into panic mode, because he essentially put his daughter and grandchildren in direct danger by offering Alicent as Viserys' queen and now has zero time to convince Viserys to make Aegon the heir now that he's being kicked out of King's Landing. Of course, he himself is in denial of his responsibility for the situation and blames Alicent for backing up Rhaenyra's claim (father of the year everybody!) I think that he was certain he could have convinced Viserys to name Aegon as heir if Alicent had tried harder to sway Viserys as well. The thing is, he is absolutely right about the likelihood that Alicent's children will be killed if Rhaenyra ascends the throne.

Even if Rhaenyra wouldn't want to kill her half-siblings, Alicent's boys would be threats for the simple reason of being male Targaryens. Their existence alone would make other opportunists clamor in their favor and cause strife in Westeros. Westeros may be a made up world, but the basic dynamics of society and the human psyche are still true to life. GRRM himself wrote Daenerys Targaryen with a certain question in mind: what happens to a person when you give them the equivalent of 3 nuclear bombs to wield at will?

In history alone, we have instances of potential political threats being murdered despite their innocence. Jane Grey was the Queen of England for 9 days but took the role reluctantly, manipulated by her father and other men who wished to benefit from her position. Even though she didn't want to be Queen, Mary I sentenced her to death when she took the throne. When the French revolutionists stormed Versailles, they imprisoned 4yr old Louis-Charles (the heir) to prevent a royalist uprising and abused him until his death at the age of 10.

So while I absolutely believe that Otto is ambitious and disgusting for pimping out and gaslighting his daughter, I don't recall him ever really lying to Viserys (I could be wrong though) and do sense his genuine fear now about what will become of Alicent and her children, which tells me that he does love his daughter albeit in a messed up way that he also views her as an instrument to his ambitions (let's be real we all know that women really were viewed as property to be used for alliances and propagation of heirs). Like I've said before, two things can be true at once.

In my case, I enjoy Otto for the political intrigue and hate him for how he parents Alicent.

#otto hightower #hotd #asks #house of the dragon #alicent hightower #hotd spoilers

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bradenthompson · 11 months

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The Maze Runner (2014) notes

It was no contest which trilogy I was gonna plow through next. I mean, it was a bit of a contest (originally thought I was gonna jump into Hunger Games) but I prioritized the series of which I'd seen less of.

Now I HAVE seen this one before, actually. Saw it in theaters with a whole group of friends, most of which I didn't know, I've forgotten most of the fine details, should be a good chaser for Divergent.

>real quick, "get ready to run" is a great tagline. "Get ready to be hungry." "Get ready to abra kadabra."

>opening shot fucks. Just the screech of the elevator, our eyes adjust same time as the dude's. Gold star

>if you let yourself get manhandled by Will Poulter that's on you

>idk the main dude's name yet but I'll guess. He looks like a Danny. My guess is his name's Danny

>oh that kid looks exactly like a Newt. Growing confidence in main boy's name being Danny

>i do remember this kid who dies at the end. Sorry, sport, you don't look movie star enough. Work on that jawline, maybe get yourself a taper

>"welcome to the Glade (bitch)"

>trying to vaporize Newt with my mind

>ain't no way these kids are keeping track of the years. Honey idk what day of the week it is and I got a widget at the bottom of my monitor (not checking it on principle)

>"no one's survived a night in the maze" okay okay i know how these things work. Danny's gonna make history

>stop calling him Greenie; his name is Danny

>"does he look like a Shank?" DANNY

>his name's not Danny. It's Thomas. No one talk to me rn, got a lot to work out

>sad to say I don't think I'd be a Runner. Probably be one of the guys that makes the food. Bet there's a quiz on one of the YA sites.

>who among us hasn't been mounted, strangled, unable to gain advantage, and reached to our sides to find a hand-sized, head-cracking apparatus? This movie tells my experience

>ik it's dumb of me to once again be asking who cuts all the hair, but seriously

>nvm, I believe that's a job around the Glade (we call them Shearers)

>death by maze, death by maze, death by maze

>"no one's ever survived a night in the maze" is the most telegraphed thing so far but I appreciate the setup. Movie's running at a solid clip

>lmao @ the maze monster quieting down to give Thomas a spook

>real sweet of the Gladers to hang around the maze entrance all night. Apparently just to entertain Chuck. Those are homies

>Danny Thomas setting Glade records on his third day. Man's looking for a promotion

>Really giving him the cold Poulter, ain't he (you don't have to laugh)

>exactly one girl showing up, nightmare nightmare nightmare

>didn't catch the part about Newt being the new leader. He looks quite overthrowable

>idk shit about mysteries but I like the speed this movie runs at. What's in the cannister, Danny Thomas?

>these boys are positively cracked at building shelters. I don't think I could built a hut in three years

>and scale models????

>girl's having a very reasonable response to this, gotta say

>Danny Thomas has still only been here three days?

>still appreciate the speed this is moving, but scenes have developed a sort of pattern: "I think we should do this" "no fuck you we should do this" "guys!" "what?!" "element from two scenes ago has developed"

>boy who just got grabbed by a Griever is named Zort

>so Danny Thomas, with like six essential Galders a foot behind him, goads one of the Grievers with a "come on!" as if it's not twelve feet long and immediately dangerous to everyone in a twenty foot vicinity. See this is why you're not the leader, Danny Thomas

>Will Poulter delivers THE most telegraphed punch of all time and Danny Thomas still gets caught with one. Bro wound up like Popeye, dude, that's your fault

>speaking of his fault, and ik we're not supposed to side with him and I'm not saying I do, I'm just saying Poulter's processing of these past few minutes is not unreasonable. This did indeed happen due to choices made by the Runners, intended by maze design or not. If anything, I think the Runners are being too gung-ho about this, considering the immediate consequences of every advancement they make

>bravo to Maze Runner for its introductions and executions. Coming into this from a trilogy of movies in love with introducing a concept then just kinda letting it fester in the frame, it feels like every element presented here has a later relevance. Danny Thomas noticing the Griever stings make the other Gladers seemingly remember something from their past, thus stinging himself to intentionally conjure his own? Well done, Whoever Wrote This Book I'm Not Looking It Up Right Now

>dude, and Poulter distrusting Danny Thomas because he, on a subconscious level, remembers seeing him when he got locked in the amnesia tank? Whoever Wrote This Book I'm Not Looking It Up Right Now really thought of everything

>literally just typing "oh cool of him to not implicate Teresa in the 'I did experiments on you guys' thing" but then he immediately does, lol. Why did the other guys have to know that about her right now, couldn't you tell her that in private

>screenwriters make british actors say Ass on purpose bc they know they'll say it funny

>ooh we got Return of the Jedi nods, somethin most silly's about to happen

>reasonable estimate on Poulter's part: if the protagonists go back in the maze they'll instigate some more Griever shit, probably. Unless the maze doors are just open permanently, now, in which case it makes no difference, Poulter

>Mutinyyyyyyyyy

>was just thinking "don't these kids wanna pack before they leave the Glade forever" but like pack what lol

>I wanna know the life story of the extra who elected to stand like this:

>Danny Thomas is just full of Trailer Lines, isn't he

>score's very generic in this, unfortunately. Could've done cool motifs, divide the Glade and the Maze orchestrally but just about all of it's unremarkable

>half these Grievers die like Land Before Time villains

>then again I also like the lack of music, a lot of the time. Makes things tense

>feeling like there's not enough of a visual difference between the Science Facility and the Glade/Maze. Sure there's video screens but the color scheme's identical. Should've been like the difference between the Commonwealth and the Institute in Fallout 4, like that sucker punch of a juxtaposition

>calculated that 24% of all lines in this movie are "we call it the (noun)"

>so these kids represent the new generation of humans immune to The Flare, so they were trapped in The Maze to study what makes them immune, and it's not just that these kids have antibodies. Like it's not just that. Not saying I follow but I won't get hung up on it rn

>"is it over?" "I don't know, chuck; think maybe we're in the figurative book one of the proverbial multi-book series that is our lives. Three books, at least."

>hahahahahaaaaaa, okay, lining up the cast in frame, "this is just the beginning," music swells, only for Poulter to run in for the antagonistic walk-off homer is good stuff

>weirdly articulate and conversational for someone who's been stung, gotta say

>one thing I remember from my first viewing was my theater cracking up when it's revealed Chuck's been shot

>what do actors think about when they pretend to be dead and their costar is crying over them

>"we call them whirly-twirlies (helicopters)"

>nice of the move go give us/the character's a bird's eye view of the maze, smart of them to wait until the very end

>"Time to begin Operation Sequel"

>author's name is James Dashner. Aight. Good work, G, got a few notes for you: --Thomas' name should've been Danny --that's it

So all in all I like the movie. Note that me liking something and being a fan are different concepts. Movie's exactly where it needs to be and there's obvious care and respect being taken, which I'm sure the fans can appreciate even if maybe Character A isn't rude enough or they cut out Character H. As for what the next movies'll be like, idk, but I'm excited to see.

#movies #the maze runner #nightblogging

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aspiringwatcher · 1 year

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There's a Fixer Loose in the Library

I’ve never really cared about the City. Never talked about it much. But then, last week, the strangest thing happened. Now, I don’t know if you’ve been following the news, but I’ve been keeping my ears open and it seems like everyone everywhere is super-mad about everything all the time. I try to stay a little optimistic, even though I will admit, things are getting pretty sticky. Here’s how I try to look at it, and this is just me, this guy being who he is, it’s like there’s a Fixer loose in the Library. It’s like there’s a Fixer loose in the Library. I think eventually everything’s going to be okay, but I have no idea what’s going to happen next. And neither do any of you, and neither do your parents, because there’s a Fixer loose in the Library. It’s never happened before, no one knows what the Fixer is going to do next, least of all the Fixer. He’s never been in a Library before, he’s as confused as you are. There’s no experts. They try to find experts on the news. They’re like, “We’re joined now by a man that once saw a Claw getting HamHamPangPang.” Get out of here with that shit! We’ve all seen a Claw getting HamHamPangPang. This is a Fixer loose in the Library. When a Fixer is loose in the Library, you got to stay updated. So all day long you walk around, “What’d the Fixer do?” The updates, they’re not always bad. Sometimes they’re just odd. It’ll be like, “The Fixer put on a maid suit?” I didn’t know he knew how to do that. The creepiest days are when you don’t hear from the Fixer at all. You’re down in the History room like, “Hey, has anyone…Has anyone heard–” [imitates clinking weapons] Those are those quiet days when people are like, “It looks like the Fixer has finally calmed down.” And then ten seconds later the Fixer is like, “I’m gonna turn into a meguca snake and blast the Natural Science floor into smithereens. I’ll have nice hair and a long tail, I’m a snake!” That’s what I thought you’d say, you dumb fucking Fixer.

And then… then… then you go to brunch with people and they’re like, “There shouldn’t be a Fixer in the Library.” And it’s like, “We’re well past that.” Then other people are like, “If there’s gonna be a Fixer in the Library, I’m going to say the N-word on TV.” And those don’t match up at all. And then, for a second, it seemed like maybe we could survive the Fixer, and then, 5,000 miles away, Argalia is like, “I have an orchestra and I’m going to blow up the Library!” And before we could say anything, the Fixer was like, “If you even fucking look at the Library, I will run you through with your sister's spear. I dare you to do it. I want you to do it. I want you to do it so I can run you through, I’m so fucking crazy.” “You think you’re fucking crazy, I’m the fucking Blue Reverberation. I live in a hobo tent camp. I’m fucking crazy.” And all of us are like, “Okay.” Like poor Salvador at those goddamn reunions. “Okay.” And then, for a second, we were like, “Maybe the Middle will catch the Fixer.” And then the Fixer is like, “I have massacred the Middle.” He can do that? That shouldn’t be possible no matter who the Fixer is.

Sometimes, if you make fun of the Fixer, a woman will get upset. That is the woman that airdropped the Fixer into the Library. I don’t judge anyone. But sometimes I ask her. I go, “Hey, how come you airdropped this Fixer into my Library?” And she goes, “Well, the Library was inefficient!” Or sometimes she goes, “If you’re so mad at the Fixer, how come you weren’t mad when the Red Mist was doing this for your mom ten years ago? You’re beating up on the Fixer when Kali essentially did the same thing ten years ago.” First off, get out of here with your facts. You’re like the kid at the sleepover who, after midnight, is like, “It’s tomorrow now!” Get the fuck out of here with your technicalities. Just ’cause you’re accurate does not mean you’re interesting, Iori. That was fun when we watched Inception tonight. “Don’t you mean last night? It’s after midnight.” Why don’t you get your sleeping bag and get out of my house! Take your katana, take your goddamn katana and warp out of my house! But when she says, “How come you were never mad at the last Fixer?” I say, “Because I wasn’t paying attention.” I used to pay less attention before it was this Fixer. Also, I thought Gebura was pretty smart, and she seemed good at her job, and I’m lazy by nature. I’m lazy by nature too. So I don’t check up on people when they seem okay at their job. You may think that’s an ignorant answer but it’s not, it’s a great answer. If you left your baby with your mother tonight, you’re not going to race home and check the nanny cam. But if you leave your baby with The Puppeteer…

#library of ruina #project moon #watcher.rtf #i'm sorry I edited all this on a whim

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thebibliomancer · 1 year

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Essential Avengers: West Coast Avengers #31: The Friday Night FRIGHTS!

April, 1988

ARKON’S BACK!

And this time -- it’s no movie!!

PLUS: To Kill A Mockingbird!

Hey, you’re not supposed to kill a mockingbird. That’s the point of the To Kill A Mockingbird title. Dammit, Phantom Rider, you dumb ghost!

Also, Arkon! Wow, it’s been a while!

You may or may not remember him as that Conan-ish guy who tried to cause nuclear war on Earth because it would re-energize the energy rings that make life possible on his home planet Polemachus.

He also kidnapped Scarlet Witch and tried to make her be his bride because she was The Girl of the team?

He’s had some other run-ins with Earth’s heroes as well. But he caused enough of a stir the times he visited Earth that there’s a successful series of movies about him which are very Conan-ish. Wonder Man Simon Williams played the villain in the most recent one.

Other context: when the West Coast Avengers were lost in past times, Mockingbird got separated when the rest of the team went further back in time. She got kidnapped and drugged by a delusional cowboy into loving him and they don’t say its sexual assault explicitly but its all but said. When Mockingbird was freed of the drugs, she hunted down Phantom/Ghost Rider and had a confrontation with him that ended in him falling off a cliff. And she didn’t save him.

She has hid the truth from the Avengers and more specifically husband Hawkeye about how bad her ordeal was and that she manslaughtered Phantom Rider in retribution. But she’s been feeling guilty about it and keeps trying to tell Hawkeye but not going through with it.

So, there’s your context.

Which you’ll need because Phantom Rider is back.

Or something.

We saw a modern version of him when the West Coast Avengers fought very Southwest America themed supergroup the Rangers.

At that time, Phantom Rider hadn’t mentioned any past history with Mockingbird but now he’s certainly angry about stuff.

Or dramatic. He’s either angry or dramatic or both.

He very dramatically rides through a rainy night to a secret cave where fellow Ranger Texas Twister is sitting before a fire and looking in bad shape. Also, talking in a very phonetic accent.

Texas Twister was very affected by the reveal that his pardner Shooting Star was either a demon all along or replaced with a demon. He wants revenge. On demons, I guess.

For some reason, I guess ghost reasons, Phantom Rider needs Texas Twister to summon a demon. He’s not interested in Twister’s revenge but he’ll use the demon against the West Coast Avengers so he can get his own revenge on Mockingbird for rejecting him and also dropping him off a cliff.

Check out this very biased take on events.

If only we could drop you off a cliff again, dude.

Anyway. When Texas Twister does his ritual to summon demons, it instead summons

ARKON!

That guy from the recap I told! And from the cover! And from the movies!

Phantom Rider is a bit confused but game, assuming that Arkon is a demon warrior chieftain with a link to Amerindian tradition somehow.

Arkon: “What prattle is this?”

Guess Phantom Rider doesn’t watch a lot of movies.

So Arkon introduces himself, loudly and boisterously, as Arkon the Magnificent, Imperion of Polemachus and that he’s here to beat the shit out of Wonder Man.

The magic ritual didn’t bring Arkon here. He was coming on his own and the ritual just sidetracked him to this exact location. He’s going to go beat the shit out of Wonder Man now.

Which works for Phantom Rider so.... yeah. He just lets him walk off. Not what he was expecting but same result!

Meanwhile, at the West Coast Avengers Compound, Moon Knight sits on the cliff over the sea and talks to Khonshu, since Khonshu is so chatty these days.

He asks Khonshu if he knows anything about Phantom Rider, which Khonshu doesn’t. But Moon Knight’s dynamic detective brain has been ticking along for some issues now and he’s figured that Phantom Rider has something to do with why Mockingbird has been acting so weird.

Khonshu couldn’t give less of a shit about this but he is pretty hype that Moon Knight will be officially an Avenger soon. Khonshu likes the Avengers, they’re an interesting bunch. He especially is interested in Hawkeye.

Aw, Hawkeye has a fan.

Anyway, Tigra interrupts Moon Knight’s internal dialogue and the two have some casual make-outs.

Tigra: “You were really in the ozone, weren’t you?”

Moon Knight: “You’d be surprised, Tigra! I was, in fact, communing with my god -- and now, I’ll commune with you -- !”

Tigra: “Yeah! Commune away!”

Iron Man: “Why don’t you two go somewhere private?”

Iron Man wasn’t established in this scene before. He manifested entirely to be grumpy about some PDA and tell them to get a room.

Amazing.

Moon Knight tells Iron Man to shove it. Surely as an employee of famous playboy Tony Stark, he’s used to people making out around him.

Except its not really the making out that’s got Iron Man’s dander up. Alas. Alas for my jokes.

Iron Man is in a Mood and he wants to be alone so this romantic cliff is a brooding cliff now.

Moon Knight really pulls the ‘I don’t see your name on it’ bit by asking if Iron Man owns this overlook to which Iron Man really responds ‘yeah, kinda!’ by saying Tony Stark helped pay for it.

Anyway, before this escalates past childish barbs, Hawkeye interrupts by shooting an arrow between them because he’s Hawkeye and that’s his favorite form of social interaction.

Hawkeye pulls Iron Man aside and tells him ‘hey, c’mon, don’t paste the new guy’ and ‘what’s wrong good buddy?’

Iron Man won’t answer, despite Hawkeye calling on their long friendship. Whatever is bothering him, the only remedy is alone time to think it all out. He says Hawkeye will be the first to hear when he’s ready to talk and then flies off.

Hm. I wonder what’s happening in the Iron Man solo that’s got him in such a state.

Mockingbird shows up - because this is a very popular brooding cliff - and asks if Hawkeye talked to Iron Man.

Hawkeye confirms he tried but Iron Man wouldn’t open up. SPEAKING OF WHICH, he feels like Mockingbird had something to tell him but never got around to?

Mockingbird pretends to have forgotten whatever she wanted to talk to him about. Hawkeye complains that he feels like his team has started working around him.

But before he can pursue this conversation further, Dr Pym SCIENCE ADVENTURER runs up to report an emergency call from the “Eakos” aka the East Coast Avengers.

Its charming that the West Coast Avengers have run with the Wackos nickname that the Thing gave them and extended it to the East Coast Avengers. While the East Coast Avengers don’t seem to have the same nickname. It’s fun that the two teams are developing their own quirks and culture.

More of that.

Anyway. The East Coast Avengers tell Hawkeye that Iron Man, in Iron Man #228, attacked the Captain at the Vault.

What’s this about? Armor Wars is what this is about.

Tony got Big Mad about all his technology being stolen so broke into the Vault to beat up fifty of the Guardsmen there. Also, he fought the Captain America.

At some point, when I have more time freed up, I want to read through the Iron Man book just for me. Because apparently in Iron Man #228 Rhodey impersonates Electro for some reason. Wild.

Hawkeye says that he just saw Iron Man but that he flew off after asking Hawkeye to trust him. Captain Marvel says they all trust Tony, great guy, but they need an explanation.

Hawkeye: “Holy -- ! I can’t believe it! Tony got me out of a life of crime -- got me into the Avengers -- an’ Steve was my first boss here! What the heck is goin’ on?”

And Mockingbird makes a relieved face behind Hawkeye’s back because this is going to distract him from asking any follow up questions about her thing.

... You do know that this is a temporary reprieve? I can’t believe I’m saying this but listen to Nick Fury and come clean!

Hawkeye decides that the plot of this issue is going to be finding Iron Man and making him explain!

-looks at the cover, laughs in irony-

No, we’re not doing that today.

Today is Arkon day.

With a KA-BOOM! of thunder, the real plot arrives.

The West Coast Avengers all run out and find Arkon flying about the grounds.

Wonder Man: “Arkon! It’s the real Arkon!”

Arkon: “Aye, Wonder Man -- and the Imperion of Polemachus is come to destroy you for that effrontery evinced in that photoplay!”

Wonder Man: “Uh -- I was just an actor there -- and I played the villain! Villain you are, for your fellow Avengers must have told you that I’m no character of fiction -- yet it is against the Polemachan code to create an image of the Imperion!”

And the only way to address this offense? He’s gonna murder the shit out of Wonder Man. Despite the fact that Wonder Man wasn’t playing Arkon, didn’t write the script, or greenlight the movie or ever even meet Arkon. On the other hand, at least Arkon is punching people who won’t explode into chunky salsa with one punch, man.

The West Coast Avengers move into help after Arkon punches Wonder Man but he warns them off.

He expected that people might try to interfere. So he brought a nuclear bomb with him. And clipped it to his belt. And he’ll use it if anyone interferes because this is about Honor and such.

Wonder Man agrees to fight Arkon man to man because he figures this will be a good workout (and then realizes, well I’d better win!)

He just has one question before they start fighting. Is that portable nuclear bomb going to go off while they roughhouse? No? Good.

Hah. Now they’re even.

Arkon praises Wonder Man, saying that he’s never been hit so hard - not even by Thor.

Wonder Man is like 'HAH, KNEW IT’

Wonder Man: “Thanks -- for the testimonial -- ! When I fought him -- I knew I was stronger!”

Simon has his priorities.

Since the West Coast Avengers can’t help without blowing up, they decide to just peanut gallery.

Tigra says she wouldn’t want to be in the middle of the fight and Moon Knight says she still would be if she had to be. Hawkeye asks if the Moon is on Wonder Man’s side but Khonshu hasn’t weighed in on it. And Dr Pym decides to rehash Mockingbird’s ‘is it okay for Avengers to kill’ discussion and mentions that may be what it takes to stop Arkon. Mockingbird dismisses the discussion as “only an idea.”

You guys are terrible at peanut gallerying. I want some hoots. I want some cries of support for your buddy. I want some sniping at Arkon’s expense.

Someone call Shorsey. He’ll teach them how to jeer.

After Arkon TANK!s Wonder Man in the face with his shield, Wonder Man grabs it away from him and crumples it into a wad.

The peanut gallery finally starts cheering “Watch his right!” “Tear ‘im up, Simon!” and Moon Knight offers constructive criticism? with “For all his strenght, he could stand to learn some tactics -- !”

Mockingbird happens to spot Phantom Rider chilling out by the cliff. She’s startled and runs off to go confront him before anyone else notices him.

In her internal monologue, she recaps all the kidnapping and drugging stuff that I’ve already recapped.

What’s interesting is that her memory of letting Phantom Rider drop off the cliff has a different one-liner. Phantom Rider remembers her saying “Drop dead!” Mockingbird’s own version is the less succinct “I’ll give you the same consideration you gave me...!”

I wonder if this is a sign of Mockingbird and Phantom Rider’s drastically different memories of how things played out... or whether Englehart just forgot what happened earlier in the script.

Who can say.

And after all that internal monologue recapping, Mockingbird concedes (still in internal monologue) that this isn’t even the same Phantom Rider! Because that one is dead! Legacy characters!

Except Phantom Rider greets her with “And so we meet again, Barbara -- on yet another cliff!”

Mockingbird says they’ve only met when the West Coast Avengers fought the Rangers but Phantom Rider explains that while the body he inhabits is contemporary but the driver is the angry ghost of the man she killed.

Phantom Rider: “I told you my legend -- how He Who Lights The Stars sent the Comanches the ghost dust and the ghost horse -- first for my brother, and then for me! I am the Son of the Spirits -- the Phantom Rider! I do not die as other men!”

Mockingbird: “You were crazy then and you’re crazy now!”

Thus conceding his point about being the same dude. Dammit, Bobbi. That’s not the way to win a debate.

Phantom Rider decides to prove that he’s a ghost.

He does the same walk out into thin air thing he did back in the cowboy times.

Mockingbird assume he’s projecting his image from behind her -- like he did in cowboy times. She thrusts her battle staff backwards only to hit nothing. And then the floating cowboy ghost starts grappling her.

Since he’s solid enough to grab her staff, he’s solid enough for to roll and throw but then he fades into darkness as he also did back in cowboy times.

Back at fight times, Arkon isn’t pleased about his crunched shield.

Arkon: “I possess three forms of bolt, actor! The golden bolts open portals to other worlds -- ! The scarlet bolts -- LEVEL MY FOES!”

And he throws a scarlet bolt into the crunched shield - exploding it and knocking Wonder Man on his ass.

I’m just wondering what the third type of bolt is.

He said three. He only listed two. Arkon. What is the third type of bolt. Arkon. Tell me.

(According to the marvel wiki, he also has black bolts which are twice as powerful as the scarlet bolts, exploding with the force of 20 tons of TNT versus the scarlet bolts exploding with a force of 10 tons of TNT. I can clearly see he’s not carrying any though.)

Wonder Man scolds Arkon for damaging the landscaping.

Wonder Man: “You became a media sensation when you first revealed yourself in this dimension -- ! The media eats their young here -- they’ve cranked out four features on you so far --.”

Arkon: “FOUR?!!”

You’re making it worse for yourself, Simon.

Hey. How DID Arkon hear about the Arkon movie and not hear that there were of them? How much information travels between Earth and Polemachus anyway?

Wonder Man PLOW!s past Arkon, knocking some scarlet bolts loose.

Two dropped bolts make a BARABA BOOM, shocking Wonder Man at the impact.

In Wonder Man’s memory of events, he had Thor beat until Thor used lightning against him. So this explosive lightning bolt-shaped weapon is giving him pause. But he decides getting beat is something for past Simon not now Simon and flies right at Arkon again.

(Who grabs some of his dimensional travel bolts? Arkon, buddy, I think you grabbed the wrong ones)

At the Mockingbird/Phantom Rider fight by the cliff by the sea, Mockingbird swipes Phantom Rider’s cape away with her battle staff. Then, she separates her staff into staves but Phantom Rider just shoots them out of her hands.

Wow, good aim.

Also, a conversation.

Mockingbird: “Your wonders don’t impress me, Spook-Man! Even if they’re real, they don’t impress me!”

(Shania Twain intensifies)

Mockingbird: “I told you last time, I’m an Avenger!”

Phantom Rider: “Yes, you told me that, Barbara -- but in this era, in this body, I understand it better! I know about Avengers -- and Avengers don’t kill, do they?”

Mockingbird: “I didn’t kill you! I let you die! There’s a difference!”

Phantom Rider: “Shall we explain that to your beloved husband?”

Back at the Wonder Man/Arkon fight.

Wonder Man has gotten right in Arkon’s face so he can punch him in the face while Arkon explodes scarlet bolts point blank in Wonder Man’s face.

An exchange that a battered, bruised, and very disheveled Wonder Man eventually wins over a much less beat up looking Arkon.

Wonder Man: “I’m telling you, Imperion, you’re a sensation here -- but you’ve always disappeared as quickly as you came!”

Arkon: “I hate this world!”

Wonder Man: “Great -- but how were we supposed to know we were offending you, making those movies? You had to come and tell us -- which you have -- !”

Hawkeye: “That’s right, Arkon! You’ve delivered your message -- now let Wondy talk to the studios for you!”

Arkon: “Talk -- ? Talk is for women!”

Stay classy, Arkon.

Arkon does admit that he understands this world about as much as Wonder Man understands Polemachus.

Arkon: “Perhaps here, men do talk as well as battle -- as absurd as that sounds -- !”

So since Wonder Man beat the shit out of him - thus impressing him - Arkon will do things Wonder Man’s way. Wonder Man can go talk to the studios on Arkon’s behalf and warn them that Arkon will “countenance no further desecration.”

Then because there’s too much talking around here and Arkon is feeling insecure in his masculinity probably, he instantly ollies outie the plot and goes back to Polemachus.

Fun guy, Arkon.

Back at Mockingbird’s ordeal, she insists that Phantom Rider will tell Hawkeye nothing.

So Phantom Rider goes off on a self-serving rant. While also kicking and slapping the shit out of Mockingbird and leaving her dangling from the cliff.

Phantom Rider: “You prefer fighting to talking? You talked last time -- you said I was a man who’d hurt a woman as only a man can! You hurt me then, as only a woman can! You took my vulnerability and sneered at it!”

Ech. I’m not loving this plot.

I didn’t love the initial cowboy times drugging and mind control. I was curious to see where it would go after because I’d heard that it was going to go places. But now the rapist cowboy is back to get revenge because he is somehow the wronged party in this.

I mean, she did manslaughter him a little. But he’s a real dick..

So Phantom Rider has knocked her onto the edge and he scoffs “You thought you’d have your revenge for your poor hurt feelings, and exact the ultimate retribution -- but look where it has gotten you!”

I know how this is going to end up for Mockingbird and Hawkeye. I don’t know how its going to end up for Phantom Rider. He’s a real dick. And its going to really suck if he walks away from his harassment campaign victorious.

He threatens to step on Mockingbird’s fingers to send her falling to her death but tells her he’s going to prolong this until he’s decided she’s suffered enough.

He’s a real dick.

He rides off on his flying horse.

As soon as she’s gone, Mockingbird falls from the cliff but manages to grab the staircase.

She pulls herself up to the top just as the Rest of the Coast Avengers come looking for her because she “missed all the excitement -- !”

Womp womp!

Also, Phantom Rider is the Moon, for some reason. Moon Knight should look into that.

Sssso. Love the A-plot. Arkon Big Mad that people made movies about him and taking it out on Wonder Man? Glorious.

The Phantom Rider stuff? I don’t trust Steve Englehart to handle this sensitive topic sensitively. Because so far it seems like the moral center of the plot is whether its okay to ever manslaughter a person and the drugging and mind control was just to incite the incident. I feel like the manslaughter is going to be the primary thing once the truth comes out.

Oy. Between the character assassination over in East Coast Avengers and the Phantom Rider stuff being the main plot in West Coast Avengers, I wish one of these books wasn’t such a letdown. But at least Wasp is going to be showing up.

Wasp is so good.

Follow @essential-avengers for some reason. I’m tired, you think of one. Like and reblog maybe? Let me know your thoughts.

#avengers #west coast avengers #essential avengers #Hawkeye #Moon Knight #Tigra #Iron Man #Mockingbird #Dr Pym #Hank Pym #Wonder Man #Arkon #Phantom Rider #Texas Twister #the east coast avengers briefly #a debate about intellectual property rights #essential marvel liveblogging

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literaphobe · 2 years

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can i just say that im so so happy with the way you wrote the diner date scene in sadf, specifically the questions george has about dream and women.

like i cant describe to you how much that scene almost made me fuckign cry /pos because of how it was written so realistically and handled so well. im bi, and the biphobia surrounding bi people dating literally anyone with things like “oh ur dating someone of this gender so u must Actually be [x sexuality]” is so real, and how you wrote about the same things but in an actually respectful and genuine way is just so. god. i want to sob.

thank you for having them talk about it and putting us in a good light like that, its so often ignored and i cant say enough how happy and seen it made me feel

HIIII omg this question means so much to me actually . and yes writing that scene was important to me as a bisexual person who’s wondered the same things about their own sexuality!!

so like . just to break down that scene . when sadf!george asked sadf!dream about women that wasn’t actually a direct probe about his sexuality, it wasn’t like . like if u misinterpret that scene (as one weird anon who called me biphobic did) its possible u could’ve assumed sadf!george didn’t want sadf!dream to be attracted to women? and that’s not the case at all. he wasn’t asking ‘are u into women still ewwwww’ he was essentially asking… am i enough . and that was BECAUSE they weren’t in an official relationship yet. and sadf!george wanted to know if sadf!dream was okay with the potential of them being It for each other . u can say its a dumb thing to wonder bc oh sadf!dream has expressed wanting to exclusively sleep w george before, he’s told him he loves him, he’s told him he’s in love with him on multiple occasions, etc etc . but the nature of humans is that we are insecure. and we let potentially reassuring memories slip our minds and things could always Change. there’s always this fear that one day someone who was besotted with you the day before loses all interest the next . it happens!! it’s terrifying!! and that’s why sadf!george freaked out when he thought sadf!dream wanted someone else. call him an idiot all u want but it is what it is !

Anyway . sadf!dream took it as a chance to talk about his sexuality . He doesn’t label it or anything, but throughout this entire duration of like. his journey in sexuality exploration, he hasn’t actually talked about it much. if u remember in ch4 sadf!dream tries to pry stuff about sadf!george’s sexuality because he’s trying to understand his own via george and gauge any genuine interest on george’s part. Which. Well. George never verbally offers this to him. He doesn’t talk about his own sexuality either even when dream talked about his in ch10. this is due in part because sadf!george just doesn’t talk about this stuff much (i thought it would be interesting to make him this way to mirror how cc!george doesn’t talk about his dating history) and also because his journey isn’t so much about sexuality exploration as it is being able to fight/ask for what he wants

sadf!george being the one to quote unquote “officially” ask dream out is essential to his growth as someone who has never been assertive enough and just wants to follow sadf!dream’s lead . in his ideal world, sadf!dream would’ve been the one to make all the promises and the assurances and ask all the important questions. but sadf!dream has fears too, and he’s got his own issues and insecurities and past trauma just like any other person, and he has already laid his cards on the table (confessed to being in love) and so sadf!george had to play the game. although it involved missteps that sped up what he had to do, hints were dropped in the scene that sadf!george asked dream on a date for this specific reason . And im proud of him for that ❤️ as someone who well . Can really lack assertion sometimes .

#ask #sadf #sadf_praise #oh god thank u so much for this #i love deep diving into this stuff

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thelikesoffinn · 4 months

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What does a social worker do? At their job I mean. I thought they were mostly volunteers, you know, everyday-helpers without any specific knowledge? Because I can't really underatand how you know so much about trauma and coping and stuff, do you need that at work?

I'm sorry if it's dumb to asks, but we don't have social workers in my country, me thinks, so I'm really confused.

Ugh, straight to the heart, petal! How could you! (Jk ily all good I swear ❤️)

What a social worker does really depends on the country you live in. So I can't 100% narrow it down to a specific explanation because a social worker from the US, one from South Korea and I will all work really differently.

But, in most countries, at least a bachelors degree is needed to become a social worker. In my country specifically, it can be in social work, social paediatrics, social sciences (with limitations), sociology (with limitations), early childhood paediatrics, and paediatrics. Each of these courses essentially teach the same things with different focal points - social pediatrics will pay more attention to upbringing, education and such while social sciences are more focused on social sciences are more concerned about societies influence on the individual and so on. (Personally, I'm a huge advocate for social work as a major, btw. It combines social paediatrics, social sciences, paediatrics, and sociology, which gives you a well-rounded skill set.)

As for what exactly we do...well, that really really depends. On your country, as stated priorly, and then on the area you work in. In my country, social workers are basically everywhere.

We work in hospitals, hospices, retirement homes, and homes for the disabled and sanatoriums. We work in schools, kindergartens, and orphanages. We work in jails, courts, and police stations - both with victims and offenders. We work in offices where we do counselling for refugees, parents, pregnant people, couples, youths, elderly, those with debt, those with ailments, and those who just need help.

We're mediators, we're financial advisors, we're there to explain medical mumbo jumbo in simple layman's terms, we're there to find out why a teen doesn't want to go to school anymore, we're the people who carry abused children away from their abusive families, and we're there to make sure a victim isn't harmed further just because the police and the court can't be bothered to protect their boundaries.

So, as you can tell, it's pretty difficult to narrow down what exactly a social worker does because we pretty much do everything. Especially in my country, because we don't need extra licenses of anything.

Once you've got your bachelors degree, you can work in all those areas I mentioned, which obviously requires a pretty extensive education and knowledge in many different fields.

But the one thing all those areas have in common is the main question social workers run by.

"What does the individual need to live the life they want?"

So, in all those areas, we always listen to the individual - their wants and fears - and then take a good look at them - their history, the people around them as well as where they live and where they grew up. That is always in order to find out what resources the individual already has and which one we can still activate but also to see what is still missing so that the individual gets to live the life they want.

So, as an example, let's say we have... Thomas O'Malley. A dude in his mid-30s, recently released from jail. His charges read drug abuse and causing bodily harm while under the influence.

Now that he's out, he needs to find both a job and a flat, and he wants to get back into playing football. Jail helped him to get clean, but now that he's out, he's scared that he might relapse. And lastly, Thomas really wants to see his daughter Mary again, but his ex-wife Duchesse doesn't want him to.

As a social worker, we'd write that list down and then get to the questions to find out what resources Thomas already has. Maybe his brothers best friend owns an apartment building and is willing to rent one to him? And if he's scared he might relapse, is there anyone that would stay with him for a while so that he's not alone? At least until we can secure a buddy for him?

After that, we start to weave our own things into it. I'm going to make a pretty generic list down there so that you can imagine what it would look like:

1. Flat: Maybe rent from brothers' friend - call friend to find out what would be required.

2. Job: Call Mr. Jones from the Work Bureau so that Thomas is in their system so that potential employers can reach out to him. Also, since the client mentioned he has issues with writing a CV, contact Eric from the Job Bureau to hook him up with a free CV course

3. Football as a hobby - Contact Michael from the football association and ask about a trial session for their hobby league and what documents would be necessary to join

4. Relapse - Talk to Miss O'Malley, Thomas' parents, about staying with them until a buddy is available. Contact Miss Evernever from the BuddyProject to make sure Thomas is on their list and will be assigned a live-in buddy soon.

5. His daughter Mary - Contact either Miss Duchesse or her lawyer/social worker/whatever to find out why she doesn't want Thomas near Mary and what would need to happen before he's allowed to see her again and what middle ground can be found until then.

So as you can see, there's a lot of calling and e-mailing and all that stuff. Since i'm all about you helping yourself, I'd let the client do the calling themself as much as possible.

So if we stick with Thomas, I would let him deal with 1 - 3 himself - bar the CV course, because you mostly need to know someone to get into those easily, so I'd do that one - and I personally would do 4 and 5.

4 because it's often better if a "person of authority" makes such calls because it highlights a certain amount of pressure and serves as reassurance that the client actually wants that help and 5 because firstly, Duchesse herself may be more willing to talk to someone who's neutral, and secondly...well, if I talk to them first, I can make sure to phrase any information that is relayed to Thomas in a way that won't harm him, which mitigates the chance of a desperation-driven relapse.

That rundown is pretty much standard and can be shoved into any available area of social work. But of course, it's really only the very basic core of the job itself, and there's much more to it than just that. What exactly depends on where you're working and who you're working with. But I hoped this helped paint a picture for you!

#asks #it's harder to explain than I thought #but oh well

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