the tma fandom really had me hyped up to hate elias bouchard going into this series and. I’m halfway through season two and all this man has done is tell jon to go to sleep and politely ask him to stop stalking his employees.
In this world, everyone is destined to be an inmate of some kind of prison.
Some are oblivious to the imprisonment their entire lives; some are aware of their captivity from the start, but seek no remedy.
There’re even some who build such prisons with their own hands, laying the bricks and tiles tightly, leaving no gaps. They have never thought of occupying the place themselves and only intended to watch over the nefarious deeds of others; but after a lifetime of sins, they find themselves the only ones in deep dark cells behind iron bars.
The time is the end of the eighteenth year of Yuanguang (1).
It happened to be the downfall and imprisonment of Pei Jun, the villainous minister of the imperial court, along with his lackeys who had dominated the court for years. This shocking and spectacular show where the wise emperor rooted out evil court officials had only just ended on New Year’s Eve, and not all the accomplices outside the court had been brought to justice yet. But inside the court, servants were already busy covering the palace in decor of auspicious red.
Suede lanterns embroidered with golden threads were hung on the eaves of palaces. Where their dim yellow light was cast, the glaringly visible traces of blood across the corridors began to look fainter in the eyes of palace servants.
People in the palace had only one urgent business in mind, and that was preparing for the New Year.
The night sky was high and black, the wintry stars shone cold and bright. Although the hall was half empty where the dinner banquet at Feihua Palace was held, music mingling with songs and laughter drifted unmistakably across the entire royal city. At the banquet, officials who narrowly survived the turmoil raised their cups of imperial brew with lingering fear in their hearts, and toasted the young emperor on the high throne behind beaded curtains. Nobles who tried to please the emperor by guessing lantern riddles (2) sat around tables, and exchanged greetings wearing solemn and haughty expressions on their faces.
“Is the Princess Consort Rui not here today?” A low voice came from the womenfolk.
Someone glanced from afar at the half-empty table before the emperor, covered her mouth and laughed: “I heard that Prince Rui has his eyes on a servant girl again and is about to take her as a concubine. One day he’s marrying a concubine, another day he’d be running after an escort – heaven knows how his wife manages to stay at home unperturbed.”
“Where else would she stay?” someone else joined in on the fun, “her own family’s deep in hell already, her younger brother will soon be beheaded. What prospect could she have in her husband’s family? How would she have the nerve to come here today?”
“We should’ve been moved to that table if she’s not coming.” Another one chimed in, dabbing her lips with a perfumed handkerchief that oozed extravagance, “Prince Jin is at the border most of the time, so that seat has been empty for a few years now. Tsk, what a shame to waste a whole table of fine dishes, now that not many are left to enjoy it.”
“The world was turned upside down, yet here you are thinking about food.” The women who spoke earlier giggled, making this one push away the flowery porcelain bowl in front of her, and glared at them with her pretty eyes: “Never mind, I’m not going to eat then. This yanwo (3) is tasteless, leave it.”
“My my,” someone looked at behind the beaded curtains and stopped smiling, “look, even the emperor is done with the meal, he’s leaving.”
Even as she spoke, the hubbub all around paused, and all the royals and nobles stood up. When the head eunuch Hu Li drawled out “the emperor is departing –”, they all kneeled down with their families and subordinates and chanted their respects to the emperor.
The next moment, the beaded curtains before the high throne were drawn up, and servants crowded around the young emperor to help him down the stairs. When minor officials and young ladies who attended the banquet for the first time had found the courage to turn around and look into the night beyond the palace doors, they could only see a bright yellow silhouette, thin and forlorn, slowly stepping into the imperial carriage.
The north wind was harsh and cold, carrying over the sound of a faint cough.
This was when the snow began to fall in the night.
In the depth of the imperial prison, Pei Jun woke up from a disorienting dream in the cold. Breathing feebly, he dimly heard someone calling him from outside the cell, and opened his eyes.
The oil lamp outside the cell was dim, and the straw mat underneath him was damp and gave off a foul stench. He lay there sideways, feeling the whole world turning upside down in his eyes, and only managed to distinguish with great and repeated effort –
Outside the cell was his old friend Cao Luan in a black coat. Cao was leaning forward and clenching the iron bars; he fixed his eyes on Pei Jun, looking anxious and distraught. His lips were opening and closing:
“Ziyu, wake up Ziyu (4), I’m old Cao... (5)”
“Listen to me, I’ve found a way for you...”
Pei Jun knew that even among the all-powerful dignitaries in the capital, Cao Luan could be counted as one of the most capable. If it weren’t the case, someone with no ranks and no connections would never be able to walk into the heavily guarded imperial prison under such circumstances, let alone visit a death row prisoner about to be executed by the personal order of the emperor.
Pei Jun was over thirty years old now; as a man of the world and a well-connected politician, he had experienced all the pleasures and temptations that his station could offer and never lacked for fine meals or company in high society. However, he had long been certain that should his fall from grace place him in dire situations – such as the one he was in now – the only one who could and would come to see him had to be old Cao, who had been his friend since his youth.
There was no lamp in the cell and all was dark. Cao Luan couldn’t see anything clearly, only a vague human shape in iron chains moving slightly with difficulty. As he seemed to get up, Cao hurriedly said:
“Listen, Ziyu. Tomorrow morning when they replace your meals, someone will come to get you out of here.”
“Disguise yourself and leave the palace, travel west by water and find Meng Guangqiu, who I told you about...”
“The brutal purge at the court was such a catastrophe that nobody involved could emerge unscathed, not even the Xiao and Mei families. Your wealth was confiscated, your properties lost, your allies and followers scattered, so you must start over. Meng has already arranged for you to change your name...”
“The luxurious and enviable life you once had in the capital, your high position and the high wages that came with it – all of it is now dust and ashes. I know how much you must hate, but you need to put it aside for now. In a few years, when all of this blows over, if you want to you could totally find another –”
Clank!
A sudden clash of iron chains rang out. A horrifying bloodied hand reached out between the bars and suddenly clenched Cao Luan’s fingers.
Startled, Cao Luan stopped speaking, and heard a low and hoarse whispery voice after a moment of silence in the cell:
“...It doesn’t...matter.”
Once the centre of power, now stripped of all titles. Various factions proceeded to stab him in the back and sent him to prison. There he was poisoned and became mute, and his mouth was covered with bloody sores. Uttering these few words alone was unspeakably difficult. Hearing him speak, Cao Lun teared up. Before he could try to persuade Pei Jun again, Pei Jun spoke with difficulty:
“It doesn’t matter...”
His bloodied hand, which slowly loosened its grip on Cao Luan, was covered by wounds, blood, and sores. When he opened his hand, a ghastly pierce wound that ran through his palm was revealed; the blood wasn’t dried yet but had already blackened.
Cao Luan felt a sharp sting in his eyes. When he raised his head again with a frown, he was finally able to make out the ravaged face covered by whip marks behind the iron bars and the man’s blood-stained prison garments.
Pei Jun grinned at him through the bars. For a moment, it almost seemed like he still was that mischievous boy who used to come to Cao Luan to stir up trouble, but the fine lines that appeared at the corners of his eyes when he smiled betrayed all the hardships for the past twenty years.
In a mere twenty years, this body of his had been worn down by the world. Now that he was in prison, his legs that once marched to the sand-swept battlefield were broken, his hands that once composed imperial edicts at the Hanlin Academy (6) were ruined, and even his mouth that once made eloquent arguments at the golden throne room – so persuasive that it made what’s wrong seem right – couldn’t even make a mumble now.
– How was he supposed to leave?
What would be the point of waiting for another few years?
Silently, Pei Jun covered the back of Cao Luan’s hand with his own blood-stained hand and patted it tremblingly.
After a long while, he patted it again as if telling Cao to take care, and uttered a final word with all his strength:
“... go.”
Cao Luan’s grip on the iron bars suddenly grew weak. He staggered to his feet, and only had time to glance into the cell one more time with reddened eyes. As he closed his eyes in pain and regret, the palace attendant who led the way signalled him to leave:
“Master Cao, it’s time. Come this way.”
Outside the imperial prison, the icy wind cut like a blade, and snow fell like tears from the night sky. Walking in the endless snow, Cao Luan flexed his hands helplessly. He looked down at his trembling fingers in the swaying shadows under the moon, and all he saw was blood from the prison cell.
The night deepened. Between the buildings of the inner palace in the imperial city, major court officials passed in a single file.
The old man in front donning a sable coat and tucking his hands in the muff was Cai Yan, the chief minister of the cabinet. There was a gloomy look in his eyes under his grey eyebrows as he walked without a word. Behind him was his third son Cai Lan, who had just been appointed the head of the Ministry of Personnel. Cai Lan on the other hand had cheery good looks, and walked with a spring in his steps. The other ministers behind them followed closely – they were all disciples and followers of the Cai family. This effectively ended the power division at court where officials were split into two factions; from now on no followers of the Pei family were left.
They arrived at Chongning palace shortly, where the young emperor Jiang Zhan resided. The officials waited outside the palace and requested an audience with the emperor to pay respect to him, seeing that the emperor felt ill and left the banquet early. However the eunuch outside the palace said that the emperor was fine, and that he instructed the ministers not to worry without saying much else.
Hearing this, the officials looked at each other, knowing that they wouldn’t get an audience, kowtowed and took their leave.
Cai Yan and his son were again at the head of the file leaving the palace. They brushed shoulders with a group of attendants entering the palace.
As if sensing something, Cai Yan halted his steps and looked back. The attendants were escorting someone coming from outside the palace. They surrounded him closely and ushered him to Chongning Palace.
Can Lan saw it too and wondered: “Father, isn’t that man –”
Cai Yan coughed in a low voice, and stopped his son from speaking with a solemn look. When he looked back again at the tall figure that disappeared inside the palace, it suddenly dawned on him what was going on. He sighed with a pitying note in his voice: “All his life he’d been a mad dog, how could he’ve known that he’d been bitten to death by one of his own...Poor Master Pei.”
Cai Lan had long been accustomed to his father’s discretion in public. He made a fist-and-palm gesture obediently behind his father, and said: “That guy Pei Jun sabotaged so many of our connections in the past ten years, not to mention that he dared to share power with you and rode roughshod over everyone else. It only serves him right to die. Now that we doubled down and rooted him out, the cabinet is finally cleansed of his influence and we don’t need to worry about anyone else. Anyway he’ll be executed tomorrow. Father, you won’t have to lose sleep over this in the future.”
Cai Yan held out a hand to flick off the snow on the muff, and glanced at Cai Lan with some deep meaning in his eyes: “I’m afraid that you’re too short-sighted to look beyond your own nose. You don’t seem to see that a catastrophe is descending upon us.”
Cai Lan was puzzled. He saw his father look up at the stars with worried eyes:
“All nine stars in the Coiled Thong (7) are shining brightly, a prophecy of many soon to be imprisoned. The court used to be controlled half by the Pei family and half by the Cai family, now that Pei is gone and justice has been served, wherefore this sign of mass incarceration?”
Cai Yan turned around to look at the flickering light in the Chongning Palace, and spoke in a flat tone: “To serve the emperor is like accompanying a tiger; the tiger lies hidden in wait and attacks abruptly, as unpredictable as the emperor. The emperor may have given us leave to destroy Pei Jun for the present, who’s to say he won’t wipe out our family in the name of rehabilitating Pei Jun in the future? For this reason, we’re also standing beneath the execution knife even as we prosper... Peifeng (8), since you’ve made yourself known to the emperor, you must stay alert. Not only should you serve the emperor with great care, but you need to keep the survival of your family in mind.”
Cai Lan looked smug: “Don’t worry father, the emperor has shown me great favour. He’ll never give the Cai family a hard time.”
Seeing his son’s expression, Cai Yan curled his lips, but retorted mercilessly: “Back in the days when Pei Jun had no idea he’d come to this, he must have thought the same as you do.”
Astounded, Cai Lan halted his steps, and heard his father’s haunting voice float back to him: “Pei Ziyu was in power for a decade. Although he’s a helpless prisoner now and his fortune is worse than yours a hundredfold, he used to tutor the emperor and preside over the court in the emperor’s stead; his glory, prestige, and renown was more than yours ten thousandfold. Even historians would have to pay him special attention when they record all the villainous officials of past dynasties. But not matter how favoured a minister is, he’s still a subject of the emperor. Once the emperor turns his heart against you and the troubles begin – one day you were still a favourite, another day you’d be a corpse!”
Cai Yan stopped suddenly to look back, and caught an expected sign of panic in his son’s astonished looks. He squinted his sharp eyes and instructed his son intently:
“In the future, Mufeng, always remember how Pei Jun meets his death.”
Snow drifted outside Chongning Palace, but inside the golden lamps held bright candles, and a charcoal fire kept the hall warm.
A young man of small stature kneeled in the hall, his short eyebrows knitted in a frown. Not daring to move, he had been prostrating on the floor for almost an hour.
Low coughs came intermittently from behind the purple mesh screen. When servants carrying the plates served up the medicinal soup, Jiang Zhan, sitting on the throne decorated with golden dragons, only sent them away with a wave of his sleeve. He huddled by the animal-head copper stove, his lowered eyes glimpsed at the screen. In the suffocating silence of the room, he slowly placed his stiff fingers close to the searing stove and watched his finger tips turn red in the heat. Then he spoke suddenly: “We remember that you’ve studied under your master for many years.”
The person down the hall immediately kowtowed with tremors down his spine: “To answer your majesty, it...it’s been twelve years.”
Jiang Zhan nodded slowly, and as if speaking to himself, he muttered with a frown: “Huh, it’s been twelve years already...” He turned his hand over the stove and watched the red-hot coal in the furnace, his clear voice lightened up a little: “It took quite some trouble this time to send the Pei faction to prison. It couldn’t have be done without you, we must give you a reward. What do you want?”
After the person down the hall heard this, his hands resting on the carved floor tiles began to tremble. His voice had an insuppressible note of exhilaration: “This comm...commoner only wish to devote my entire life to serving your majesty and the country. I dare...dare not have other vain desires.”
Jiang Zhan appeared amused by his words and chuckled. He withdrew his hand and held up the teacup on the table, and said mildly: “That was a nice and sensible thing to say, you really are your master’s good student.” He glanced at the eunuch by the screen and continued: “It’s cold, sorry to trouble you to come here and pay respects. Have some hot tea first.”
Hearing this, the eunuch beckoned to the palace maid down the hall, and quickly a cup of tea was served.
The person outside the screen expressed his thanks profusely, and hastily took two sips while kneeling there. In an instant, the tea warmed his stomach and his heart, and made him feel that the desolation and suffering of his betrayal for so many years was finally handsomely rewarded. As he looked at the beautiful teacup in his hands, he seemed to have a vision in the misty vapours rising from the tea, a vision where he rose to a high position at court and basked in glory. Upon such thoughts, it was as if the tea burned his stomach even more hotly, sending thrills throughout his whole body.
Just then, he heard a sigh on the other side of the screen: “Alas, like your master often told me in the past, your small-mindedness is incorrigible. Looks like it’s indeed true.”
Before the person beyond the screen could say a word, he suddenly felt a hot wave of crushing pain in his stomach. In an instant everything went black, he spat out some blood, fell back with a thud, and stopped breathing.
On this side of the mesh screen, Jiang Zhan was still warming his hands silently with lowered eyes. Attendants from the side palace rushed in and carried away the corpse silently. In a flash, even the blood on the floor was wiped clean.
Another person was promptly brought in, and the eunuch announced: “Your majesty, he’s here.”
Jiang Zhan raised his eyes, and through the screen, he faintly saw a dark human shape coming in and kneeling down. He said lazily: “Rise.”
The person down the hall kowtowed: “thank you, your majesty”, and rose slowly.
Jiang Zhan withdrew his hands by the stove, propped up his head and leaned on the armrest. he watched the man with some interest: “You are a busy man indeed. We sent someone to your residence three times, and you were never there. I heard that you’ve been having drinks with the surveillance commissioner Cui Lin lately?”
The figure immediately froze, but calmed himself and said: “...To answer your majesty, this commoner first met master Cui while my station in life was still lowly, we’re just old friends.”
Jiang Zhan nodded, and sighed with some pity, “My condolences then. Servants told me just now that master Cui passed away from chest pain this morning. No wonder I didn’t see him at the banquet.”
The figure shook violently. Jiang Zhan continued: “Speaking of, his in-laws from the Meng family in Hexi must be coming to the capital to offer their condolences, I heard that they're your old friends too?”
There immediately came a thump from down the hall, and the eunuch hurried to help him up.
The sight made Jiang Zhan grin, he curled his lips like an amused child: “Never mind, I won’t question you about your private affairs. I asked you to come here only because it occurred to me, you made a great contribution to overthrowing the Pei faction. I just wanted to ask what reward you have in mind.”
He watched the dark swaying figure on the screen being helped up by the eunuch, and the figure’s voice answered, dry and trembling: “This commoner...only wish that my family are alive and well, other wishes...I dare not make, I hope your majesty...grant my request.”
Hearing this, Jiang Zhan stopped his hand holding the cup, and his smile gradually faded. After a long while, he spoke slowly: “He’s right. You on the other hand is a really smart person.”
In the long deafening silence that ensued, the man down the hall saw a bright yellow shape behind the screen swaying as if waving his hand. Only then was he dragged out by the eunuch.
Jiang Zhan put down the cup on the desk. His eyes swept across treasures of gold and jade in the splendid palace, and as they landed on a petite golden rooster paperweight, the cold indifference in his heart gradually turned to dismal hatred.
He raised his hand and swept the paperweight off the desk. The sharp pain in his palm disrupted his breaths, making him cough violently again.
In the panicked cries of the servants calling for the doctor, the gaunt young emperor collapsed in the chair behind him. He covered his lips with a golden sleeve as the cough went on and on until it almost seemed to tear his body apart. His eyes grew red and he removed his sleeve, only to find it stained with red.
In the dead of night, the banquet finally wrapped up in Feihua palace. Court officials and royals bid each other farewell in the snow.
Tang Yuming, heir to the Ningwu Marquess, drunkenly stumbled out of the palace and called behind him: “Siqi! Qian Siqi! Come lend your master a hand!”
The disciple with a scarred face came to his senses and went ahead to help.
“Where were you? I was going to have you toast master Cai but couldn’t find you...” Tang Yuming scolded the disciple with a slur. But since he was busy venting his feelings, he didn’t really expect an answer. Having followed Tang for years, the disciple knew this very well. He quietly wiped off his tears and said nothing. Tang Yuming then clamoured and yelled that he wanted to catch up to the Cai family walking in front, so the disciple silently helped him over. They were soon lost in the din of the crowd flattering each other.
Ten steps away from them, the Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Library Zhang Ling and his son led a group of people out of the palace, and kept a distance from them. Their numbers were few, but they didn’t hurry to catch up with the others.
“Be careful, father.”
Zhang Ling was cautiously helped down the stairs by his son Zhang San. His hand circled back to message himself in the back, and he raised his head to see the black clouds covering the moon and stars after the great snow. Looking away, he sighed heavily: “The weather’s about to get even worse. Let’s go back.”
“Yes.” Zhang San reminded him with lowered eyes: “Be careful with your words, father.”
The same snow drifted across all the neighbourhoods of the capital, carpeting the cold hard ground in a layer of icy white.
At Prince Rui’s mansion in the eastern part of the city, the nine-year-old little prince dodged the spoonful of soup his mother fed him. he scampered to the window and laughed happily: “Mother, the snow is so heavy! Can I make a snowman tomorrow morning?”
But the boy’s smiley face only made the Princess Consort sink into a fit of heartaches. She put down the porcelain bowl and couldn’t hold back any longer. She covered her face and wept, her thin and frail wrist exposed from under her sleeves was covered by alarming blue marks.
The day was so cold. The nineteenth year of Yuanguang arrived quietly tonight. But this empire ruled by the Jiang family, which had stood for over three hundred years, was now teetering on the edge of collapse.
Drought and famine broke out in the north, but the imperial court had no attention to spare for those who were starving and dying or the bandits that terrorised the roads. In Jiangdong, people were unjustly sentenced to death, but the imperial court was too busy with its own affairs to deal with the corrupt officials there who sucked the people dry. Just then the Pei Jun case occurred, which somehow inspired all the crooked and idling court officials to work together with unwarranted diligence to stamp out evil. Everyone however slightly involved was immediately imprisoned and interrogated, and everywhere people were thrown into a state of intense fear and panic. Bloody purges and brutal tortures followed one after another in the capital. All of this leading up to sentencing and executions only took half a month.
East of the river, riots were constantly breaking out across the region; outside Shuoyang Pass, tens of thousands of refugees were fleeing the famine in the wild. All over the country, vile officials persecuted common soldiers, while greedy soldiers oppressed the people; famished fathers lost their children, and freezing children buried their parents. Terrified and helpless, the common people cried and begged, but the imperial court was utterly unmoved. In sorrow and despair, the people almost began to hope for signs of the invasion and demise of their country.
For them, the night was pitch black, and would remain so regardless of the death of one court official; just as the dark clouds that covered the moon wouldn’t disperse because of a sudden gust of wind.
But none of this prevented the bright morning sun from rising the next day.
In the dazzling sunlight, the iron gate of the imperial prison clanged wide open. Blinded by the light, Pei Jun could only hear the ringing of iron chains around him. Dragging his broken legs, Pei Jun was carried out of the prison and thrown into a prison cart. Then he heard the warden chanting in a high-pitched voice:
“– Traitor Pei Jun! Deceitful and disobedient to the emperor, usurper of the throne! Your grave offences amount to a total number of ninety-six! Upon consultation with the three judicial ministries and authorisation of the emperor, you are hereby sentenced to public decapitation, the execution is to take place immediately!”
Notes:
(1) Yuanguang is the reign title of the emperor.
(2) Guessing lantern riddles is a popular entertainment during Lunar New Year and is still practiced to this day in China.
(3) Yanwo, literally meaning “swallow’s nest,” are edible bird nests created from solidified saliva by edible-nest swiftlets. Yanwo has been a delicacy in Chinese cuisine for over 400 years and is believed to have great health benefits. Yanwo often fetches exorbitantly high prices because of its rarity.
(4) Ziyu is Pei Jun’s courtesy name.
(5) When people refer to themselves or others as “old + last name,” it is to signify a casual closeness between friends, it doesn’t mean actual old age.
(6) The Hanlin Academy was an elite academic and administrative institution of higher learning founded in the 8th century during the Tang Dynasty. Scholars at the academy performed secretarial and literary tasks such as drafting imperial edicts, compiling classics, composing historical records, tutoring members of the royal family, and serving as examiners of the imperial examinations.
(7) The Coiled Thong (guan suo) is an asterism in the constellation Corona Borealis. In ancient China, it symbolises being constrained or imprisoned.
finished Arcane, so without ever setting a single foot in fandom (and not intending to ever do so), here are my predictions of what the ship wars look like:
the Viktor/Jayce shippers accuse the show of queerbaiting for pushing Mel on Jayce
The Mel/Jayce shippers are accusing the Viktor/Jayce shippers of racism for eliminating Mel from the ship
Part of the Viktor/Jayce shippers respond by slapping a girlfriend on Mel, either the other black council member with the rotating collar, or she gets added to the Vi/Catherine pair. Now they are the more progressive ones for shipping a black woman with other women
Others argue that since Mel is rich and powerful and comes from a rich and powerful family, and since Viktor comes from the undercity and is furthermore disabled, real world racism dynamics cannot be applied and Viktor is basically the person of colour here
A small, unnoticeable minority just ships Mel/Jayce/Viktor
meanwhile, the Silco/Vander shippers are sitting happily in their corner, exchanging their ideas about a real sibling AU to make the incest spicier. So far the antis haven't bothered them much, because they are too busy arguing that since evolved!Viktor went back in time to save child!Jayce, the Viktor/Jayce ship is basically paedophilia and all Viktor/Jayce shippers should be reported to the FBI
someone calls Viktor a fujoshi self insert (this one actually happened)
Okay, I have to share this picture of my cats, because look at them!!! They think they're having a clandestine love affair! Fridolf grooms Maja whenever he thinks I'm not looking.
We introduced these two to each other about seven months ago, when they were both already older, and now they love each other so much, I'm crying
Also, once again, congrats to those two on looking exactly like Disney would style male cat vs female cat. Fridolf with his massive underbite and his brooding, masculine face and Maja with her cute little feminine Anna from Frozen face, she's a queen.
another good example is Jaws which many people view as having contributed to anti-shark hysteria thats endangered shark populations when in fact the worst of shark depopulation had already occurred prior to the movie coming out
It also confuses cause and effect because the movie would not have been a hit nor would it have frankly have made much sense if people did not already fear sharks prior to watching the movie.
A specific example of the general phenomenon of "the myth of ideas ruling the real". Society is not in fact defined most of the time by masses of people turning on a dime due to this or that media sensation or rhetorical speech or cultural figure, but particularly in the 20th century a lot of people thought it did. It happens but not often, and in constrained ways.
No but I'm so pissed at this and I don't even like Jaws, but the majority of human actions contributing to shark extinction is fucking hunting for sharkfin soup, which has nothing to do with the movie at all!
Also, Australian government efforts to kill sharks to keep them away from swimmers started in the 1930s I think and got really popular in the 1960s.
But again, it's the soup. Sharks are being hunted to extinction because of soup, not because of a movie.
Also, I read the "Jaws Effect" paper and it's not what you think it is
I did the thing nobody ever does on @jstor and filtered for book reviews. Yeah, that's right, FOR book reviews.
Am I not also the kind of person who gets all excited when they see an interesting title in their search and then deflate when they find out it's just a review?
Of course I am.
But here's a fun little tip: If you're wondering what sort of publications have appeared in your field of study recently (because you might just be thinking about pursuing some postdoc research after all), filtering for book reviews from the past two or three years will give you a pretty neat collection to check out.
No, I did not actually read those reviews; I went straight over to libgen and got the books. Except for one, which libgen didn't have. There, I had to read the review. But: not as useless as you might think, since the review had some nice citations for books I could download instead.
Pretty sure my kid, let's call him Peach because he loves peaches, has a detailed map of our and the neighbours' garden in his head, with all the berry shrubs marked. Yesterday he directed me across our place to the neighbours' exact spot where the lingonberries grew so he could pluck and eat them.
Then to the red currant.
Then to the blackberries. He loves blackberries so much, he whines and cries if I don't pluck and feed them to him fast enough.
We will need a lot of berry shrubs next year to satisfy this little berry fiend
I picked Lord Seventh for this because it's what I'm currently reading and my god, Wu Xi is getting friendzoned HARD, but this applies to so many damnei stories lmao I need a ranking of the most oblivious love interests.
stormborns
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
tangentwithtanner
ellievsbear
germansingergirl
2087
pixelskylines
kianamaiart
