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slacktivist_feedao3_fakenews_feedBasically Stewbert Hogwarts AU. I wanted to write/read this so long, finally wrapped my head around to write some. It's far from perfect and I am not sure I can continue, but well. This AU just should exist.
Words: 1962, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
ao3_petshopofhorrors_feedby Jess_L
Кажется, в новом деле детектива Оркотта нет ничего особенного — всего лишь обрушился дом, и исчез один человек. Но расследование неумолимо приводит детектива в магазин графа Ди, а оттуда в еще более странное место…
Words: 4125, Chapters: 1/1, Language: Русский
markwatchesstuff_feedIn the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of Enterprise, Archer must navigate a tense situation while Reed and Tucker attempt to disarm the drone ship. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
I feel like this episode is great if you’re a Star Trek because of the references and some real cool visual imagery. Look, I can’t deny it was pretty awesome to see that ragtag collection of ships show up to go after the marauder drone. This is it! This must be how the Federation gets its start, and that certainly makes “United” entertaining. Archer faces a near impossible task in trying to unite multiple species and cultures, and he’s doing it while two of his crew men are facing down the Romulans, despite not KNOWING they’re up against the Romulans.
Couple this with a fight sequence that’s rather brutal and comes off as a giant visual reference to that one big fight scene in The Original Series, and you’ve got a lot of things I should have enjoyed a great deal. I did not dislike this episode, mind you, but my patience for Enterprise’s bizarre scripts is starting to wear thin.
Look, it’s smart that the writers forced these characters to deal with the ramifications of Lt. Talas’s death. I don’t think it made sense to ignore it, especially given how emotional Shran was for this woman. But as vicious as that fight scene was, LORD did it ever feel extraneous. The plot in “United” grinds to a halt once the script veers off into this ritual. And like… I get it? Sort of? Archer demonstrates that he “respects” the Andorians, and it is why he ultimately gets their acceptance. That’s an important developmental point, but it feels so CLUMSY. As soon as Archer said he was standing in for the Tellarite, I felt like the show was desperate to put Archer in the middle of everything. He already saved the whole world! And all of Vulcan! Damn, dude, please give ANYONE ELSE a chance to be the center of attention!
At the very least, I appreciated the tense and imaginative plot involving the drone Marauder. See, THIS IS WHY I LOVE SCIENCE FICTION. Shit like this is my JAM. I loved watching Reed and Tucker trying to outsmart their unknown opponents. It’s brilliant that this script only reveals their identity to the audience; the Enterprise crew never actually finds out who they’re up against. All they know is that this ship is involved in complicating matters between the Tellarites and the Andorians. And like all good science fiction, there’s a deeper matter at work. Reed directly disobeys Tucker’s order to save himself, and he ends up taking control of the drone after setting his phaser to explode. It’s a tense sequence, but it’s also an emotional one! I think it could have benefitted from a further exploration of the dynamic at hand, especially since this is like… the second time? Third time? That this has happened? There was that episode in season one where they both nearly froze to death? And that other episode where Reed got stuck outside Enterprise? And that other when… jesus, these two are like the perpetual punching bags for this show. LEAVE THEM ALONE.
Anyway, I can’t deny how cool it was to see the Federation sort of start, and maybe this isn’t the actual beginning, but it sure feels like it. Which is why I was shocked that this ended on ANOTHER cliffhanger with the revelation that the pilot of the drone (and the entire holographic system) for the Romulans IS AN ANDORIAN. And an albino one, it looks like????? WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON.
The video for “United” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now available for pre-order! If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter! DO IT.
ao3_pmmm_feedIt takes only a drink.
Words: 517, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
colbertnewshub_feedao3_hellsing_feedby SonicFan8967
A witch filled with amnesia, is tasked to sacrifice angels for the damned while searching for her memories of her past and meeting various characters along the way. But all caught in a corporation that hunts other vampires and a sinister plot to destroy the world.
Words: 266, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English
markwatchesstuff_feedIn the fifth episode of the third season of Person of Interest, I was truly not ready for this episode. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Person of Interest.
I just… I just love so many things in this episode, y’all. The performances, the writing, the tension. HOW IS THIS SHOW SO CONSISTENTLY GOOD.
Flashbacks
I actually want to start with this because I hope to open a discussion on Sameen Shaw and representation. Even more so than when she was first introduced, I’m realizing that I’ve never seen a character like Shaw on television. Men are usually given roles like this! But now, we’ve got a flashback that expands Shaw’s characterization beyond what we saw in “Relevance.” Here’s what I want to talk about: does this count as representation? See, one of the things that matters when you’re talking about representation for marginalized communities, specificity plays a huge part in that. We find out here that Shaw might be neuroatypical, or she might have something else going on. She experiences emotions differently than other people, and she’s known since she was young that this made her weird, that people reacted to her negatively because of it. Now, I was initially worried that that paramedic just didn’t understand grief? Because grief doesn’t always manifest immediately, and many people who have experienced it can speak to the fact that it can pop up out of nowhere much, much later on.
Thankfully, the show was more explicit than that: Shaw says she’s not wired to experience emotions like everyone else. And even when Gen “figures out” Shaw, it’s not a negation of this! Shaw really is different. But without a name to it, I could see people either identifying strongly with Shaw’s character or feeling like it’s a cop-out. I don’t experience difficulty with emotions or empathy like Shaw does, so I feel like it’s not my place to comment on this beyond the superficial. I do enjoy that Shaw is so different from all the other characters on the show, but I’d love to know what others think of her.
Gen
So, I kinda have a soft spot for characters like Gen, who was cast into a terrible situation but found creative ways to deal with it. She’s plucky, funny, and resourceful, but the show always lets her be a kid. Of course, she’s almost like a foil to Shaw, and she’s definitely here to remind Shaw of who she was when she was Gen’s age. Y’all, there’s just so much DEPTH here!!! FOR A TEN-YEAR-OLD CHARACTER.
But I tend to love fiction that deals with people who have fallen into the margins. Gen’s story is an extreme example of that, given that I doubt there are many kids who have picked up surveillance techniques that they used to spy on their entire building, but STILL. Gen was forgotten by immigration services. She was more or less supporting herself as a child because her guardian, Vadim, was addicted to bath salts and saw her as nothing more than a nuisance. Even though Shaw didn’t want to admit it, she felt protective of Gen after seeing her living state and her little listening station. There’s a bit of idol worship going on here, too, since Gen basically wants to be Shaw when she grows up.
Yet on top of this all, the writers found a way to tie Gen’s story into the existing HR plot, and IT WAS SO FUCKING GOOD. Y’all, I can’t get over this: a ten-year-old girl was able to push this case forward. It was with those tapes that the team finally got information on Yogorov, Simmons, Terney, and others, that implicated HR in a despicable scheme to push an addiction on the streets of New York in order to make a profit. Which: EVIL. Clearly. However, this episode deals with Shaw’s own moral dilemma. Does she do what she can to save Gen or save the tapes Gen made? She quickly comes down on the side of saving Gen, which was amazing to me because at the start of this episode, Finch kept having to remind Shaw to protect Gen. AND HE DIDN’T HAVE TO ANYMORE AT THE END.
I doubt we’ll see Gen again, but it would be a treat if we did.
Carter
I JUST LOVE HER SO MUCH AND OH MY GOD, I AM SO PLEASED THAT SHE WASN’T BEING IGNORANT AND FOOLISH THIS SEASON. Look, I distrusted Laskey from the start, especially since he appeared in the same episode as the one where Terney said Carter might still be a problem. Yet my main concern was that Carter was being written as missing all the obvious signs that Laskey was a plant. I AM GLAD THIS IS NOT THE CASE. This re-contextualizes literally ALL of their interactions because she always knew what he was doing! She purposely acted shady in front of Laskey so she could see his reactions.
AND HOW ABOUT THAT SCENE IN THE BAR IN THE END? IT’S A WORK OF ART, PLEASE PUT IT IN A MUSEUM. OH MY GOD, SHE IS GOING TO HAVE LASKEY WORKING FOR HER? I LIVE FOR THIS. IT IS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED.
The video for “Разговор” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
Mark Links Stuff
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now available for pre-order! If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter! DO IT.
slacktivist_feedmarkreadsstuff_feedIn the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of The Science of Discworld, we learn about the complicated and mysterious ways in which life formed, and the Librarian goes on an errand. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to read Discworld.
I know I said this before, but THIS IS LITERALLY HOW EVOLUTION WAS DISPROVED TO ME. Knowledge wasn’t a life-long process of learning as much about the world as one could; it was a rapid-fire quiz that reduced existence to whether or not I could provide an answer to deeply complicated processes. When I first started questioning creationism and the things I was taught, I was presented with a frustrating logic: the world was as my mother said it was unless I could prove otherwise on the spot. To make matters worse, that “proof” never seemed to stick. Obviously, someone constantly shifting goalposts on you is a sign of a different problem, but the basic phenomenon followed me throughout my teenage years. It definitely cropped up in church, too, and I’d hear the same shit: Show me an animal that evolved here in our modern world. How could humans have been monkeys? Why would God allow that?
Anyway, despite my own interest in all this stuff, I AM STILL LEARNING! One of the lies-to-children mentioned here that I “learned” was the whole primordial soup thing, that this was the only way complex chemicals formed on Earth. The reality is that… well, it’s way more detailed than that, and it’s also mysterious. I appreciate how frequently this text just says, “We don’t know.” It makes me feel better about not knowing things, either!
And there’s a huge unknown smack in the middle of all this. Does anyone else find it difficult to even fathom the sense of time that’s spoken of in the Roundworld chapter? It’s not just the length of time, but I also can’t even picture a world like the one I read about in this chapter. It’s so long ago; it seems so alien; and humans have been here for such a relatively tiny time compared to everything else. There’s a vastness to this that almost unnerves me, sort of like when I think about the deep ocean for a long time, or if I consider how big our known universe is. There’s just so much I don’t know and probably won’t ever know. WHICH KIND OF FREAKS ME OUT, but at the same time, I wouldn’t trade away the sense of wonder I have about this world and our universe. One of the main delights of The Science of Discworld is that it basically fulfills this desire to learn of mine by giving the reader little doses of education. Y’all, I am not sure I ever heard about triploblasts until I read this book. THAT’S SO COOL.
Thus, I’m glad that there’s a wizard who is also quite enamored with trying to learn as much as possible, so Ponder is a lot of fun. But was the end of chapter 25 a hint that the Bursar is going to contribute to this, too? I hope so!
Mark Links Stuff
– My YA contemporary debut, ANGER IS A GIFT, is now available for pre-order! If you’d like to stay up-to-date on all announcements regarding my books, sign up for my newsletter! DO IT.
ffnet_bssm_feedleifandthorn_feed
Leif: Thorn!
Leif’s Self-Image
Leif: I’m sorry, I didn’t have time to clean up . . .
Thorn: Leif! Please don’t be the sorry!
Thorn’s Leif-Image
Thorn: I am so happy that you came.
ffnet_pmmm_feedffnet_pmmm_feedao3_pmmm_feedby Skarm
The shadow government of the Mahou Shoujo Youkai grows to encompass the entire world, promising to provide safety and security to the magical girls of Earth. Powerful families both magic and mundane consolidate their power, amassing immeasurable holdings while the impoverished fight over scraps. The ever-increasing complexity of implantable electronics, genetic modification, and artificial intelligence brings into question the very meaning of humanity.
Through it all, the administration of First Executive Akemi Homura struggles to find a path forward, and is forced to come to terms with the results of its inaction.
Words: 3929, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English
metebelis3_feed
- You’re going to have to be more specific.
- Yes. And no.
- It happened in the books/comics/audios EU.
- It happened multiple times (exept for that one time it didn’t).
- It was… heavily implied.
- No one can decide if it was canon.
- Everyone ignores that it was canon.
- Of course that was canon, STFU.
- It literally got officially retconned.
- Aliens?
- Aliens.
- Because something behind the scenes happened and they had to change/improvise/cut at the last possible second.
- Multiple companions. Multiple times.
- The show referenced it, but it only actually happened in the EU.
- Because the TARDIS wanted to.
- Because the TARDIS didn’t want to.
- Canon AU.
- Ummm…?
- Alternate timeline.
- Because multiple actors.
- Because multiple writers.
- Because no budget.
- That character died (except they didn’t exactly die).
- In classic Who, yes. In new Who, no.
- In classic Who, no. In new Who, yes.
- **[4-hour-long Powerpoint presentation]**
- It happened, but not really.
- It didn’t happen on screen, but a writer/producer/actor insists it totally happened.
- …maybe…?
- Because the entire franchise gets ridiculously meta.
- Don’t question it, just go with it.
- Because the BBC says so.
- The Doctor is a genius.
- The Doctor is clueless.
- It’s fanon.
- That trope was probably invented because of Doctor Who.
- The fans are in denial.
- Because Rassilon is a dick.
- Because an old joke had to be repeated, regardless of the consequences.
- Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey.
- No bloody clue.
- It was retconned, but in a way that makes no sense, so we ignore the retcon.
- Both the original event and the retcon are canon because time travel.
- The Doctor lied.
- The writers forgot.
- That was meant as a joke, not as canon. Probably.
- It’s not a plot hole, it just doesn’t make sense to us because we aren’t Time Lords.
ffnet_bssm_feedslacktivist_feedslacktivist_feed - Talking trash (cans)ao3_fakenews_feed - Without Knowing Howao3_petshopofhorrors_feed - Русалка его мечтыmarkwatchesstuff_feed - Mark Watches ‘Enterprise’: S04E13 – Unitedao3_pmmm_feed - First Timescolbertnewshub_feed - Stephen Colbert Among the Featured Performers at ‘Night Of Too Many Stars: America Unites For Autismao3_hellsing_feed - Bayonetta/Hellsing Ultimatemarkwatchesstuff_feed - Mark Watches ‘Person of Interest’: S03E05 – Разговорmetebelis3_feed - jennakass:
Steadfast
Pencil and powdered graphite, 7″x11.5″slacktivist_feed - LBCF, No. 156: ‘Martyr envymarkreadsstuff_feed - Mark Reads ‘The Science of Discworld’: Chapters 24 – 25metebelis3_feed - ladyrinlyn:
Zelda in palette 1 with emoji D1 for chewytriforceffnet_bssm_feed - Vleifandthorn_feed - Watching Over Me 27/29ffnet_pmmm_feed - Horuma's Secretffnet_pmmm_feed - A Twist In The Mythao3_pmmm_feed - The One-Hundredth Floormetebelis3_feed - Common answers to seemingly simple questions asked about Doctor Who:ffnet_bssm_feed - Interludeslacktivist_feed - Local angle: News from here in Exton
