[ms-demeanor]

I'm working on a client report and my CEO looked over it and asked how made it. I asked him if he meant, like, the graphs and he said "No this whole thing is really nice with the text and the images put together so well. Did you use an AI tool or something to arrange it like a book?" And I just have him kind of blank look and said "No, I've been doing print layout and design for twenty five years. I'm building this as a template we can use with other clients that will just need images dropped in. And the graphs are all screenshots from tools we already use."

And then he gave me kind of a blank look and said "Okay, that is. Very good to know."

I suspect I've unexpectedly solved a problem that I was unaware of.

[annabelle--cane]

if I feel like absolutely torturing rocky then I sometimes like to imagine a scenario on erid where a few months into The Scurvy Era grace sits him down like "hey pal. there's a chance that the scientists here won't figure out how to meet my nutritional needs any time soon. I would love it if they can! but it might not happen. and I don't want to die very slowly and painfully of starvation. now listen to me. ideally I don't want to die at all. but more than that. I do not want to die. of starvation. I don't need anything from you to help with this, I can address it on my own, but if this becomes a real problem then I am going to solve it. Do You Understand What I Am Saying Right Now." and rocky isn't even allowed to immediately become evil about it.

[annabelle--cane]

I imagine that at this point they've had The conversation about how grace got on the ship in the first place and rocky is aware that his friend has some significant issues about having his personal autonomy overruled, so in the moment he just says "hnnnnnn. Iwouldbesadifthathappened but. I can see why you would. feel that way." then as soon as he's out of range he physically attacks the first person nearest to him.

[annabelle--cane]

what goes through rocky's head for the following day: absolutely not. absolutely fucking not. I cannot let you die. I don't care what I have to do, I'll threaten biologists, I'll read all the human medical texts eighteen times, I'll break into your living space while you sleep and take anything that I think could be used as a lethal weapon, I don't care, I'll pay for the consequences after you're safe. and I'll do it all without telling you, because I know you need to feel like I'm not taking the choice away from you in order to feel safe. I won't physically stop you, you'll feel like it's up to you, but if I take too long to fix this and make you think that's the only decision you can make then it will actually be my fault.

what somehow manages to vibrate out of his carapace next time he sees grace: "don't need anything from you to help with this" no, stupid. grace clumsy and tired from medical problems, would make errors and do it wrong. rocky much better at working with hands, is my job to fix problems. tell me when time and I Do It For You.

[herainsorcia]

[fox-bright]

That is DIABOLICAL museum design, A++, no notes

[foldingfittedsheets]

When I worked at the place selling oils and vinegars I’d sometimes get asked about food. I was, and remain, wildly unqualified to ask about food, but thankfully it was pretty rare. Usually our shoppers were fully aware they knew more than me and they were content to ignore me.

One day a woman in her fifties came in. She looked at the pretty amphora displays and the sample cups before she turned to me. “What would go well with steak?”

“Oh, some of the fruit vinegars would be a nice finisher,” I said, talking out my ass. Like, I’d eat that but whether it’s conventionally accepted to douse a steak in mango vinegar is up for debate.

“I’ve been a vegetarian for forty years, but my doctor suggested I might need more red meat. So I thought I’d get a steak tonight and I don’t know much about preparing it.”

I stared at this woman. This fully adult human woman. Who had just spoken to a doctor. And I said, “Do not buy a steak tonight.”

“What? Why?”

“You’ve been a vegetarian for forty years?”

“Yes?”

“Then your body has no idea how to process meat. You will get so sick.” It was pure luck that I knew this. I had a few hardcore vegetarian friends who had been exposed to meat at potluck dishes and told me about the ensuing horrors as their gentle veggie gut biome was overrun with flesh. And how consequently their toilet overfloweth.

“Really?!”

“Yes,” I said, emphatically. “If you want to try to incorporate meat I would start with a tiny portion of fish, and slowly work your way up, but your insides will not know what to do with steak.”

“Wow! I’m so glad I mentioned that to you.”

I was likewise glad, and ended up selling her a light vinegar that would go nicely with fish. I don’t know if she didn’t have any other vegetarian friends or if her doctor hadn’t said anything to prep her for a radical diet change but it still blows my mind that she didn’t know she couldn’t just cook up and enjoy a steak.

[maxknightley]

the thing about chekhov's gun is that the gun does not literally "need to go off by the third act." the story works just as well if someone merely grabs the gun and starts threatening people with it, or if the Jewish protagonist recognizes the particular model as a Politically Concerning piece of world war 2 surplus, or if the gun's owner waxes nostalgic about the last time he fired it, etc. etc. etc.

unfortunately I get the impression that a lot of people do not understand that and therefore build theories around the idea that if the gun is not Specifically taken down from the wall and fired, it serves no purpose to the story, so why the hell was it there in the first place

[maxknightley]

"it would be so good if it was good" will haunt you but "it's extremely good, except for the one or two parts which are so bad it's genuinely kind of insulting" will straight up drive you insane

[depsidase]

[powerfulwizard]

Joe Russo when Tony Stark said “billionaire, playboy, philanthropist” in the first avengers

[powerfulwizard]

[karpad]

so far, I have quotes from the russos on how they think Cap is old fashioned and needed to go, how black widow was damaged and needed to “complete herself” how tony “needs to go.” they clearly don’t care for thor or ant man, thinking them idiots. They don’t seem to respect Falcon or War machine (I wonder why) so who DO they like?

Why were they given control over a movie franchise where they hate all the characters?

[powerfulwizard]

Completely agree. Here are the quotes they’re referencing btw

[dark-angel-be-thirsty-af-deacti]

This really freaking annoys me. If you’re in charge of a movie franchise then it is your job to embrace every character, to help them grow and overcome their differences. But no, NO! These asshats kill off every single character that they hate and are acting like complete babies just because they don’t like them. If you don’t like them so much then fuck off! Go and work on something else! Just stop ruining the MCU!!!

[powerfulwizard]

They both literally just hated everyone. Here is another quote I haven’t heard a lot of people mention either

[powerfulwizard]

Loki: h-

Joe Russo:

[wet-raccoon]

this is so funny tho

[biofomission]

Oh they hated everyone that explains why the movies are like that

[rose---child]

No wonder the mcu feels like a slightly better Michael bay franchise

[kaladork]

On the bright side, knowing the directors actively hated half the characters they were working with leaves me feeling 0% hesitant to ignore every single bullshit character move they made! 😜

[ford-ye-fiji]

I don’t know why people do this… for example they did it with Star Trek and jj abrams…

[fairy-anon-godmother]

Look, I have my differences with the LOTR movies, but you can see in every frame the sheer overwhelming love for the story that went into those movies. On genuinely every level. Every person involved with the production of those movies loved what they were doing and were working passionately, and it shows. 

The disregard that leaks through parts of the MCU, two of the new Star Trek movies, and the new Star Wars trilogy really is baffling to me. So many people love these franchises and would have lovingly poured their heart and soul into them. And filmmakers who just didn’t care were handed these films?? Imagine what we could have gotten if actual fans had been allowed to make these movies. 

Oh wait, I don’t have to imagine. People who love these franchises and these characters put their tiny amounts of free time and overwhelming effort into producing fanfiction and fanart for these characters every day. I could go on AO3 right now and in half a dozen clicks get sweeping, beautiful, poetic treatises on the human condition written through these ‘Verses. Vast arrays of adventures starring these characters, and the characters themselves would be lovingly adored by their writers. I could enjoy content made by people who care. 

These directors and producers don’t deserve to be handed these franchises and they don’t deserve the paychecks they receive for half-assing their way through them. Not when fans produce outstanding content every day for free, just out of passion alone. This is ridiculous, can Hollywood please start putting people who actually care about the characters in charge of the movies? Please? I promise I’ll go back to buying movie tickets if I think the characters will be treated fairly by their narratives. 

[sewickedthread]

That explains why, despite my incredible geekiness, I’ve been meh about seeing these movies. The contempt showed.

[lady-byleth]

I’m not even a fan of the mcu but I’m fucking livid right now

[emmaubler]

Three beloved franchises (Star Trek, Star Wars, MCU) thrown into the hands of directors who clearly did not respect their source material/characters. Cut to current day, and where are all three of those franchises now? Dead in the water, dead in the water, and drowning so fast the Russos have to bring Robert Downey Jr and Captain America back in a desperate attempt to stay afloat. And these are just the biggest examples–the landscape is filled with the expensive corpses of reboots, remakes, and revivals made by those with indifference or contempt for the originals. The moral of the story is: Hire people who love the thing you’re trying to adapt instead of people who see a beloved property and think it’s their chance to “subvert expectations” and “make it their own.”

[dingdongyouarewrong]

man y’all remember when the avengers movie came out and everyone headcanoned that all the avengers would live together in the tower and had all these cute posts about various fun ways they could interact and then the movies literally never had any of them even be friends

[mycroftrh]

I want to state, for the record, that “all the avengers would live together in the tower” wasn’t collective headcanon, it was canon. The very last scene of Avengers (2012), the one they left us on, is Tony redesigning the tower, designing a living area for each Avenger. That was, canonically, what was supposed to happen, in canon, and they just changed their minds and decided to… not. For whatever goldarn reason.

[dingdongyouarewrong]

GHHFDGJHFDS THATS EVEN FUNNIER WHY IS MARVEL LIKE THIS

[copperbadge]

Also it was canon for literal decades in the comics. First it was Avengers Mansion which was Tony’s Manhattan family home and then Avengers Tower when Tony built it. At one point Avengers Mansion couldn’t get their trash carried away because in order to operate in the US they had to be an embassy and NYC trash carriers don’t service embassies.

[sheherlockholmes]

[catchymemes]

[makahitaki]

[aquilacalvitium]

[thecrumbez]

Happy Pride Month to those two women dancing together in the foreground of the boat scene in Godzilla (1954).

I’m sorry your romantic foibles were overshadowed by a big ass atomic lizard thing.

[erratic-dragon-fruit]

out of the tags with you

[poetrylesbian]

obviously dietary requirements aren't a joke but my grandma sometimes runs errands for her church and i asked her what she's up to today and she said extremely seriously "ive got to track down the body of the gluten free christ, julia"

[ritavonbees]

this totally scans for a swear intensifier btw. what in the gluten free christ is going on here, Julia

[assignedmale]

[b0tster]

lesbians making out video but with reduced music so u can hear them making out sloppy style. happy pride! 🏳️‍🌈🔊

[themechnamedashley]

That giggle is *everything*. That joy.

[wizardarchetypes]

absolutely looosssinggg it. i'm so obsessed with movies which portray the woman MC in a highly specific job because the writers clearly think it's like "off-beat" and "quirky" but have no idea how the field works whatsoever.

i decided to try a romcom i somehow missed i the 2000s 'head over heels' and i got 3 and a half minutes in and we're introduced to the lonely MC with bad taste in men as evidenced by her extremely short list of ex boyfriends, including her first boyfriend when she was 11 or something because i guess that's still relevant in her adult life.

so she's resigned herself to never finding love and prefers to ignore men to focus all her energy into her career.

this job is immediately presented as though it's for spinsters with no hope of ever finding a man.

the mc's lesbian bestie (whose first line involves her being scolded for being too sexual in the workplace, but moving on) points out their colleagues as evidence that they're doomed to a romance-less, sexless life if they don't switch up their shared career path. the colleagues are three old women, so-dubbed "the menopause triplets":

these women are presented as if they have no idea what's going on at any given moment. this is 2001, and presumably this is an entry level job requiring low effort and no experience.

then their boss bursts into the room, unceremoniously bumping a large painting into the door jam and walls, announcing that it's a new project for our MC.

our MC is thrilled to see the painting. apparently it's a light in the daily slog at her dreary job for loser women with nothing going on in their lives.

And that job is? Conservator of paintings (specializing in Renaissance) at the New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The painting being handled like an old couch on its way to the curb?

The Bacchanal of the Andrians by Titian.

Her lesbian colleague who is presumably also a a highly trained & skilled curator finds it depressing that the MC is so excited about the painting.

it's a quirk unique to this MC that she cares so much about paintings, in her department at the metropolitan museum of art, where her colleagues find all that art business rather dreary. because we all know that's what conservators in extremely competitive museum positions are like.

[wizardarchetypes]

I'm not saying there can't be lifelong love in here somewhere but I also just feel like the monogamous heterosexual marriage you're fantasizing about isn't necessarily best represented by the bacchanal. and that's okay. but i do stand by that.

[wizardarchetypes]

HELPPPP i'm on the phone with @sagaspell and i was like "women in these movies also always have like jobs for phds when they're 21 somehow" and saga said "no it's okay because chick flicks exist in an alternate reality with different age and societal rules, like the omegaverse"

[heydocverdant]

I don’t get why people keep saying Superman was a political movie, the only things really political about it were

Superman intervening in a conflict in the Middle East in order to save civilian lives

A twelve-minute long sequence where Lois and Clark debate the political and moral implications of Superman intervening in said conflict,

during which they note that the invading nation of Boravia is a close US ally despite their president’s shady track record,

and that the invaded nation of Jarhanpur having a controversial government does not justify the mass slaughter of their civilian population (who also seem to be primarily Muslim)

Lex Luthor is a billionaire misogynist with eugenicist overtones who invests heavily into propaganda and misinformation to make himself look good and turn public opinion against his enemies

Luthor is also privately allied with the Boravian government and is providing them weaponry in exchange for half of Jarhanpur’s land to develop in his own image

Luthor is operating a black site for-profit prison where he incarcerates political prisoners, whistleblowers and any ex-girlfriends that try to leave him

Luthor thoughtlessly murders an innocent Palestinian-American man just to taunt Superman, much to the cackling delight of Boravia’s pasty white president

Speaking of the Boravian president, when that guy orders a second invasion of the (mostly-unarmed) Jarhanpur, he publicly claims it’s to “liberate” the people of Jarhanpur while simultaneously commanding his army to genocide the entire population of the country

and as an added kicker, the Boravian president at one point claims during a press conference that Superman is only saving people to build a “harem” of exploited women, before leaving to privately surround himself with fawning young women, and later visiting Luthor’s private prison that’s full of kidnapped and abused women

The US government makes a big show of brutalizing Superman during his arrest before very publicly perp-walking him away (despite Superman actually turning himself over to federal custody, and also Superman apparently only being handcuffed with standard-issue cuffs due to the Earth’s explicit lack of kryptonite)

When Superman points out that nobody read him his Miranda rights, Rick Flagg says “you’re an alien, you don’t have rights” before shipping him off to the aforementioned black-site prison

but other than that, I don’t think it has anything to do with politics at all