Fallen Rocket

[fallenrocket]

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[murfpersonalblog]

IWTV Book Pages 114 - 115 (The Train Scene) Pt3 (Mind the Gap)

Ok so can someone PLEASE tell me WHERE--in the scene we saw with our own 2 eyeballs in 1x6, and the words Daniel said came from Claudia's diaries in 3x1 / 3x2--there is ANY PLACE in either version where Lestat threatens Claudia with RAPE? 🔍😭🙏🧐

Granted, there's 3 lines on Page 115 where it was just impossible for me to make out wtf was said, but even there, the jist seems to be that Lestat MOCKED her rape, but did NOT threaten her with it.

So there's multiple narratives going on:

The Train Scene didn't happen "as shown/told" -- no duh, Sherlock; Daniel already told us the pages were missing in 1x7--that is NOT a gotcha!

The Train Scene "never f***ing happened" AT ALL; the entire thing from start to finish is a big LIE (told by WHOM?) (cuz Sam Reid said there were fake scenes in S1 & Jam Reiderson argued about it; the logistics of the train stops & the position of the Earth at sunrise & the speed of a moving train in 1923 don't add up; Armand and/or the Talamasca planted fake scenes; etc etc)

The Train Scene DID happen--so Lestat (AND the Lestans) are lying/exaggerating/hyperbolizing/etc; there's just missing/additional frames, lines/dialogue--characters, even!--to be revealed (Louis was there with them the whole time, Antoinette was/wasn't there, someone DID accuse Lestat of threatening to rape Claudia (when???); Lestat was possessed by Amel the whole time so nothing's his fault actually the Devil made him do it; etc)

The Train Scene DID happen, but the context is totally different and everything that was seen/told takes on new meaning with a major plot twist (Lestat was crying when he's talking to her; Claudia's an evil manipulative liar who made Lestat look worse; Louis & Daniel & Armand are all liars too, etc)

Like.... I'm confusion, gang--what are we doing here? 🤨

Cuz it looks like Sam Reid & Lestat are being VERY insistent/consistent that the MAIN problem with the Train Scene is the accusation of RAPE; which ofc blindsides & hurts Lestat due to his own traumas wrt incest/rape/etc. But this whole "NEVER F***ing Happened" angle is being touted as this giant neon sign that the whole thing's a lie Claudia/Louis/Armand/Daniel/the Talamasca told IN THE BOOK, when even there that's not what was said either!

So WHO is the liar here REALLY? 🤔 HELP! 😅

[belovedbright]

So. One of the things this show has consistently played with is the mutability of memory & the unreliability of every single character.

In season one, Louis is very deliberately framing Lestat as The Bad Guy… but things bleed through that show that Lestat did love & care for both of them. (While being undeniably toxic & fucked up.)

Claudia remembers the train scene as purely a threat, a coldness.

Lestat can legitimately remember it differently with identical words. Have none of you ever survived something dangerous as a child where your parent threatened to fucking kill you if you ever did something like that again?

Which is true? Does it matter? What Claudia felt was real, even if that wasn’t what Lestat intended. Lestat’s abandonment issues don’t make his unwillingness to let Louis & Claudia go any more acceptable.

Bottom line… you can’t fully trust any of these messy bitches 100%.

[murfpersonalblog]

"Which is true? Does it matter? What Claudia felt was real, even if that wasn’t what Lestat intended. Lestat’s abandonment issues don’t make his unwillingness to let Louis & Claudia go any more acceptable."

THANK YOU.

I've been said that I really dgaf about the Train Scene--I just hate how Lestat (& the fandom/Lestans) act like the Train Scene not being 100% real/reliable/etc automatically absolves Lestat from being depicted & understood as a toxic abusive domestic terrorist. Eff the train, it coulda been Santa's Sled headed for the North frikkin Pole--at the end of the day it literally doesn't matter. Claudia was calling Lestat "Massa" BEFORE the Train Scene; cuz she already saw him as a slavemaster. She hated that he cheat on Louis with Antoinette (& that Louis stood by and let it happen); and she certainly hated how Lestat disrespected her grief over Charlie. The Murder Plot was inevitable, cuz Claudia had already made up her mind, determined to go to Europe & find her own companion by any means necessary, come Hell or high water. 🤷‍♂️

Claudia had already run away before, and for very valid reasons, cuz she hated being stuck in that house; Lestat called her a mistake who should've never been born and was keeping Louis away from him (an anvil dragging us down); and she blamed Louis for letting Lestat turn her into an immortal teen instead of taking her to a hospital (on top of being a weak-willed Pick Me who constantly stood aside & let Lestat mistreat & abuse them BOTH). She never even intended to stay at home as long as she did--she would've been gone in 1931, had Lestat not broken Claudia's leg & beat the hell outta Louis & Dropped him from the ozone layer; crippling him for who knows how long & assuring that Louis wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

So the Train Scene's become this big ole deal in the fandom and on the show itself, as if nothing else Lestat did matters, when actually the Train was just the final straw that broke the camel's back; the last domino before the whole thing collapsed. It's another SYMPTOM, not the CAUSE of the rot in that family itself.

And I get so irritated when it's treated as something more than it is, especially when Lestat turns around in S3 tryna use it as a DEFLECTION in his long list of bullcrap ducking accountability for what a p.o.s. husband/father Claudia thought he was; and WHY Louis was convinced by Claudia (AND Armand) that he'd made the wrong decision choosing Lestat at all. Ok, Lestat got raped & has a ton of trauma & Claudia lied on him & Louis was withholding affection & etc. Doesn't change the fact that at the end of the day Claudia poisoned his arse and told Louis to put him in the incinerator, and was pissed at Louis for 5 whole YEARS of silent treatment cuz he refused to kill Lestat & choked TF out of her when she tried to burn Lestat herself. 💀You don't earn that kind of hatred out of thin air, for no reason. EFF the Train.

But I'm nosey, and I always gotta get to the bottom of things, esp. when I smell a lie. And yeah, this whole Train issue is a mountain of lies. 😤

[murfpersonalblog]

@angrybubbles YOUR TAGS! 👌

Its just like @belovedbright said about parents who get mad when their kids misbehave and threaten to kill them in the heat of the moment; then the incident's brought up again 15yrs later at Christmas Dinner and it's like they've got selective amnesia, insisting that that never happened they never said that etc etc, like...? Just cuz you didn't MEAN it that way doesn't change that someone TOOK it that way. So either sit down & talk it out & bury the hatchet; OR...kill each other. 🤷‍♂️

Sam Reid literally confirmed that WHATEVER happened, Lestat really was a "difficult b*st*rd" to her; so it's not like he's some bleeding heart angel of a father who NEVER did anything wrong whatsoever. He just never threatened her with RAPE. The scene itself is different, the context is different, but in essence is LESTAT'S A EFFING "B*ST*RD" TO HER, and Claudia was like: I need to KILL this dude. 💀

And this is LITERALLY what Rolin Jones said before S3 even started, that Lestat lacks introspection; he REFUSES to take accountability. Lestat's far more unreliable than Louis, because he is DELIBERATELY avoiding the truth about himself, Mr. There are No Delusions Here. 😂 Meanwhile Daniel's been snatching his wig all season.

Like, in the After Dark for 3x4 Sam Reid LITERALLY talked about how much Lestat PUSHES his wants & needs (& projects his fears) onto other people, and ignores other people's individuality in the process:

Lestat makes mountains out of molehills to deflect attention off his OWN actions, by harping on everyone else's REACTIONARY behavior towards things HE did.

Ok fine, you know what infinitesimal means (lie)--did you demean Louis' animal diet and reticence killing humans, yes or no?

Ok your hair was longer--did Louis teach you how to dress cuz "there's things you don't understand about America," yes or no?

Ok there were scars all over your chest--did Louis call you handsome & hot 1000 different ways cuz you seduced TF out of that closeted gay man to the rings of Saturn, yes or no?

Ok you didn't create the Wolverine Blues--did you chase Jelly Roll out of town cuz he was finna flake on Louis and that's why Antoinette entered your lives, yes or no?

Ok sex is only your #4--did you get PISSED at Louis for being too depressed to have sex anymore because you see your own value IN hypersexualization, yes or no?

Ok you didn't threaten Claudia with rape on the train--did you make the living conditions in that house so dang toxic and unbearable for her that she'd rather risk getting hemmed up by vicious vampires than spend another day holed away in 1132 with YOU, yes or no?

And again: the WORST we see of Lestat is from CLAUDIA'S pov, NOT Louis'.

I belly-laugh every time the Lestans glaze TF out of S3 Lestat: Zomg this is the Lestat I've been waiting 30 years for~! 😭 This is Lestat from the books~! This is the REal LeSTaT~! 😍 And I'm like: Bish, WHERE? 😂 You mean this manic coked out overstimulated AF bitter AF mean AF lying domineering crashout avoiding all of his demons and losing himself in the rockstar persona to pretend that it makes him happy or fills the void in his heart that's BEEN there ever since he was a little boy alone in that rancid chateau--THAT Lestat is REAL to you? 🤨 He's been putting on a performance this entire time! The only times we see even a GLIMPSE of the "real" Lestat in S3 is when he's either ALONE and miserable; or when he's with LOUIS--cuz DUH! 🤣 (If anything, S3 Lestat's been closer to the B-movie monster Louis cussed out in the 1973 interview, a la the book/film; than the FAR more charming version we loved & loathed in S1--let alone the absolute ROMEO he was as Dreamstat in S2--THAT is more "real" than this dude in S3.)

Jarda as the Gothic Double, EXACTLY! Esp. since he sees in real time how that dumb naive innocent was steadily corrupted & twisted by the depraved hedonistic life LESTAT introduced him to (from drugs to literal herpes; as well as making Jarda the fall guy for any & all crimes that ever get tracked back to Lestat); until he ultimately landed in the jaws of GABRIELLA. 🤢

The same way Claudia was the young Gothic Naif who was steadily corrupted & twisted by the "predator's upbringing" Lestat taught her, until she brought the LITERAL cops to their front door; and ultimately landed in the jaws of THE COVEN. 💀

And now Lestat has to live with seeing his traumas play out in front of him everyday with them both--he can't stand even being in the same room as Jarda; telekinetically blowing/flicking him away like a pest as if it's Jarda's fault that he's sleeping with GabriellA--SOFIA, pardon, since no one even knows who TF she is cuz Lestat's ASHAMED.

Likewise, Lestat can't even bring himself to face Claudia's trick-or-treaters; or to say her name out loud (unless he's deflecting the Train Scene to stop Daniel from prying too deep), cuz Lestat's ASHAMED.

GabriellA didn't want any human labels on her, and certainly didn't want Lestat de Patriarch tryna be her HUSBAND in that cringe AF Blood Marriage. He wanted to be her immortal companion, and gave her the ick, so she was immediately gone. ✌️ She wants FREEDOM--which IS similar to Claudia. But did GabriellA ever actually LOVE Lestat? 👀

Claudia genuinely loves her parents, and was happy as a clam during "the Easy Times." Even at the Trial, she was PISSED at Louis, but she STILL defended Louis when everyone mocked him & cried for him when the coven buried him alive. She was PISSED at Lestat, but she still hoped that he'd "come here for me" because he loved her enough to save her; and she still looked to him for help as she died--"You're my dad!" 💔

Claudia's a shining example of "Can't live with them, can't live without them." The problem is that "It's never been about me!" She realized she could never grow up or have a companion like Loustat had. She started resenting TF out of her dads when she realized they'd "cursed her" (as Louis called it) for their own selfishness--Louis wanted a kid, Lestat wanted Louis. But her blood feud against Lestat specifically festered as they stopped getting along anymore after all the nastiness he did & said to her during the Ep5 Fight; esp. when they both started competing for LOUIS' attention/affection.

So yeah, TO HIM, in Lestat's lizard brain, he probably did think Claudia was just tryna mock/control/hurt him by leaving--to flex her power cuz she knew how much it would hurt Louis if she left; and thus hurt LESTAT. So he'd take her leaving personally; not understanding her at all; the same way he didn't understand GabriellA at all. Sam Reid said Lestat & Claudia are so similar & have a "mutual respect" for each other (a la Vampire Pride), but sometimes istg it's like he's speaking thru a Lestat-pilled pov, rather than actually considering Claudia's interiority and what Bailey & Delainey actually said about Claudia's thoughts on Lestat. Esp. since for as much as Lestat "respected" Claudia as a killer who finally got the drop on him; he also infantalized TF out of her "the vampire tot." That is a surefire way to earn Claudia's eternal smoke.

TL:DR: Thank god he's pretty; I can't even

Lestat is the most ridiculous person on this whole show. 🙄

[gaypeople]

this oomf

[angrybubbles]

[3x02- Story structure Pondering]

This is really long, and kind of stream-of-conscious breaking down story-telling elements and purpose. I get a little frustrated at the end of it, but that's most of us who are trying to make sense of the series at the point, I think.

Okay so I keep thinking about story structure. TV shows - especially ones written like this - follow a specifical story-telling formula.

The Base Story is the overall arc of the season. That story is one long and extended story and is not complete until the end. Unreliable narrators as a narrative device especially mean that the story is overwhelmingly incomplete until the end, which will usually contain a keystone to gather up all the inconceivable threads that were left loose earlier. Seasons 1 and 2 were technically one long season interrupted in the middle, which is why 2x08 acts as the keystone, rather than 1x07 acting as the first, and 2x08 as the second.

However, this series is also written by playwrights, which means they are telling each episode as an ACT. Each episode is contained in its own conversation with itself, and not just about chronological event displaying. 2x04, for example, was about roles and casting each character into their preferred role and how that created tension with the role they *should* be playing. I talk about that specifically in this post breaking down Armand threatening Santiago, and it is the background of the tension in this post where I talk about Gothic Rain in the bench scene and how storytelling-motifs reflect tone.

So we can take the same approach to Season 3. We don't have the key to address the whole series yet, but we can ask what each act is for, and how that builds on the act before it.

3X01 operates as the opening act. It is laying down the fundamentals that will get picked apart over the series (similar to how 2x01 is almost a section-by-section reflection of the rest of the season). It is telling us what to look out for, and these are thing things I got from the first episode:

The Grandeur of Mythmaking your History (MAGA reference), Sexuality as a Coping Mechanism, Tranformational Trauma, Death and Escape, Music as Expression, and the Double-Edged Sword of Attention.

I'm sure there's other things as well, but this series is dense, and honestly I don't know how to summarize the Fang Gang? They're clearly an important part, but I might just connect that to Mythmaking of History since they seem to have attached themselves to the Children of Darkness to try to emulate them. "Armand told the truth" feela just as nonsensical as "Make America Great Again," because what are you talking about? When was America great, and what did Armand tell the truth about? It's chasing a history that simply doesn't exist the way they want it to.

3x02 is the act that is specifically addressing the loudest point that Lestat made in 3x01, which is Sexuality as a Coping Mechanism. I'll go more into a Gabistat analysis another day, but we can now see where Lestat learned that coping mechanism. So this episode is breaking that down, and giving us the tools to shapren the details hiding under the veneer. When Lestat is asking for sex, he is seeking external validation. Too much external validation, and it becomes sickening because it's just treating the exterior of the wounds without cleaning them. He wants emotional and mental validation, but because the coping mechanism of external validation is easiest (because of the incestuous abuse, and Gabriella using her sexuality as act of power), it makes a negative feedback loop of dranining his emotional and mental energy (Lestat wanting all those fans, and Baby Jenks asking why he makes it so HARD).

We can see this in the side characters as well. Daniel starts out naked in the shower, and "comes out," before immediatly flirting with Gabi. He asks Louis on a date, which ends up as a cover for the Talamasca to move in. The consistent set-up where nudity is always in the background acting as a numbing distraction. Louis himself is keeping his emotions in a neat little box and fucking his "emotionally unavailable" lawyer, since his emotions and vulnerability were all laid out in print because of Daniel. The Band are reflecting on how Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll have been hiding Lestat's true identity and has been covering up their own reality and insecurities.

But why not just show us how the past built to this? Why so much time in the present, showing us Gabriella actively pushing his boundaries? I'm sure we'll get more answers later, but at the moment I will say it's probably because the rest of the bs hasn't been broken down yet. It's a scar that Lestat knows is there, and is TELLING us how he got it (like the wolves), but he's really SHOWING us how that wound (and thus his hypersexuality) is a result of trauma-related self-harm. He is in denial that he is self-harming, but he can't move on from talking about it because denial is just fingers petting over the open wound and he doesn't actually know how to stitch it closed, even in Frame #2 (I'll get to that in a second).

It's difficult to say for sure though, because Lestat's framing device wavers between 3 and 4 frames removed from these events.

Think of a Narrative frame as taking a picture. If you zoom in to a detail and take a screenshot, that screenshot is another frame you have put around that detail. If you zoom in further on that detail, that eventually becomes another narrative frame. If you don't carefully maintain and sharpen the details as you zoom in, you will only get blurry pixels by the end.

That pixel-like blur seems to be purposefully used as a story-telling device, though, which is the strangest approach to an Epistolary Narrative I have seen.

Frame 1 - This is a recording that is being auctioned off in a diatant future we do not have the pieces to understand the context of yet. However, at the moment it feels like recordings are purposefully set up for this event, considering the dramatic gesture of burning the original copies as a nod to Louis at the end of s2. Frame 2 - This recording is what Lestat made AFTER a gigantic world-shifting occurance we have no context for (Akasha), in a period of time he was isolated and alone. The state of mind he is in isn't clear, but it is clear he is still a pretentious dickwad interested in presenting the Mythos of Lestat de Lioncourt. Frame 3 - He is recalling events that he hadn't had time to fully process yet (2025) and may be processing them as he is reflecting with whatever state of mind he is in frame 2. These are occasionally paired with frames of Daniel's documentary which was being made at the time, but they still are being colored (or uncolored I guess) by Lestat's first two frames. [This is all technically told over a record, which has no visual medium, so this is for audience purposes to feel like there are additional documents that ground Frame 3 in reality] Frame 4 - The events being recalled are also about when he was recalling events he was avoiding about his past.

Events that are 4 frames away are ultimately the most unreliable, because they are being filtered through a LOT of frames of narrative, including a lot of internal reflection from frames 2 and 3. I would say the realest narrative we get from anything in the 4 frame comes from when events are framed in the emotional device of music, (like the song he sings in the restaurant), or when he isn't deflecting with humor, sexuality, ect ect.

This is VERY different from Seasons 1 + 2, where the furthest frame from the story is only 3 frames deep, and even that 3rd frame is incredible close to the 1st because of Daniel's purpose as a narrative device.

Frame 1 - Daniel and Louis are meeting in Dubai in the present. There does not seem to be a narrator, as Daniel and Louis both share control of the camera and the narrative, even as they occasionally fight for it. Frame 2 - Louis is recontextualizing a past interview he did with more perspective and a seemingly more calm and controlled demeanor. This is the frame that sometimes blurs the third frame, but most of the time it is transparent and used by Daniel to sharpen the details in Frame 3. This is the one Armand also uses to blur intention and gaslight Louis. Frame 3 - Louis's memories and Claudia's diaries depict the events in chronological order, building on each other and in conversation with each other. There are holes in this frame, and some elements are suspect through bias, emotional intensity, trauma, and mentall illness, but they are interacted with by Frame 1 in continuous conversation.

This makes me really miss Daniel as a narrative device. Daniel wouldn't stand for this autobiographical Puff Portrait of Drama. Probably why Lestat is so dismissive of the documentary and Daniel's prodding.

Lestat's narrative reminds me a lot of breaking down the Narrative frames in Frankenstein, haha. Like so much of that narrative is contained by this dude writing letters to his sister, which means it all is being written down by him recollecting conversations he had with Victor, who is recollecting his own past, who then recollects conversations with the Monster, who is recollecting events from when he was developing into a conscious being. The narrative is fundamentally controlled by Victor and his intentions with sharing it (which are more like Louis's intentions, honestly), so we have to also ask Lestat what HIS intentions of framing all of this are for. And to him, it's The Failures. Something he stuggles to admit to.

So I guess the point I'm trying to make here is that Lestat's intention seems to be reflecting on his failures, which pair strangely with the Act system the show is giving because Lestat is trying to give us the story of what THE SUBJECT was like at the time, while also hiding what Frame 1's purpose is. Lestat may have called Louis a library of confusion, but that seems to just be a projection because Louis's library actually has an archival system, which Lestat is just Vibes and arbitrary tags. (Oh my god, Lestat is like Tumblr's archival system. Or maybe a musical album, idk, I'm not much of an album person.)

Anyway, I understand all the people who are looking at this and saying it's paced poorly, or the writing is weaker. We've had two years to deconstruct and analyze the beautiful Gothic Horror of Louis's story with the keystone intact, and so this feels messy in comparison.

At the moment, I do feel like that is by design. If I remember correctly, it was Rolin or Hannah who mentioned that this season was essentially including Lestst fighting vulnerability as a narrator, and his emotional arc doesn't even finish until what they want for season 4. The fact they seem unsure they'll get renewed is a point of anxiety for me, as someone who cares about how much investment a story should expect from it's audience.

Because Louis wanted to understand his story as much as the audience did, it made that break in-between seasons work well, because we were just as motivated and impatient to meet up with him and learn more. Lestat, on the other hand, is fighting the audience AND himself, so if we don't actually get a keystone to understand the narrative by 3x07, we're investing in a wild-card. It's a gamble with no assurance we'll ever understand the story the way the writers want us to, especially becausee we're dealing with one hell of an unreliable narrator.

But, who knows. If they're organizing these acts like a music album, with each song building on the emotions the previous one left behind, I can only assume the next episode will use the sharpened details about hypersexual self-harming we just got to peer at Lestat's past relationships with Nicki, Armand, and Magnus, while the established threat of Gabriella's prodding will become more nuanced as we see her interact with other characters.

[theconcealedweapon]

[himejoshevik]

It’s just really striking how much louis is expected to be so so kind and generous with his heart with his body with his time with his story. and his EMOTIONAL DISTANCE is always treated like an equal offense as cheating or gaslighting or exploitation as if any amount of coldness merits being physically beaten or coerced into sex like jesus christ

[fallenrocket]

Favorite Scenes Between...Buttons & Auntie

Just a quick one this week. Buttons and Auntie only have a couple scenes together, but I enjoy their interactions.

When Auntie approaches Buttons on the Red Flag in 2x02

First off, the “red sky at morning” backdrop is ominous but lovely

When Auntie says, “But then you probably know that,” (she’s searched for him “far and wide,”) I love Buttons’s response and the stare he gives her: “Best not assume we know anything at all, ma’am”

I like Anapela’s super-dramatic whisper on, “Be gone, wise demon. Await for me above”

When Auntie gives Buttons the spell book in 2x02

Another great reaction shot from Buttons when Auntie says, “I see you've adopted the form of a humble man, sea witch”

His looks during these scenes are so good, because they’re so plausible for both Sea Witch Buttons and Non-Sea Witch Buttons Acting Like He Knows What Auntie’s Talking About. We get our answer a bit later, of course, but in this episode, Ewen is playing Buttons’s responses straight down the middle

I like Auntie averting her eyes from Buttons as she offers him the spell book, telling him, “Take it, thou demon. Use it wisely”

Omg, I love Buttons’s, “Oh, aye…Ohhh, aye!” while he looks at the book, his eyes getting wider as he unfolds it. He’s so happy!

[yossyislandd]

racism literally bleeds through the cracks of everything and if you dare to even barely point it out everyone will kill you

[yossyislandd]

racism runs so deeply in people that if you call it out you are calling out them, and instead of sitting down and examining their own racism they lash out at you for being sooo meansies to them. you don't even have to be talking about anyone's racist behavior in particular because it makes racists so uncomfortable they will come forward themselves and act like you're targeting them specifically. it's okay when they do it because they're doing it in the correct way, in the nice way! they don't mean it like that. in fact they're actually being progressive. you're the cruel one for acting like their racist behavior is racist. you're the problem if you're bothered by their comfort racism. you're the bitchy colored person who makes eeeverything about racism when it so clearly isn't. i'm fucking sick of this.

[rob-pattinson]

LUPITA NYONG'O 2026 | "The Odyssey" World Premiere, London (July 6)

[transjudas]

They’re such dicks about spoons.

[sherlockig]

[celluloidbroomcloset]

I do love Ed and Stede's dynamic because Ed, while I think he enjoyed some things about his life as a pirate, mostly did crime because that's what he had to do. He'd just as soon have a talent show. But Stede? Loves crime. Ran away from home to commit crime. He wants to be gay and do crime sooooooooo bad.

And Ed loves Stede, so Ed is gonna be damn certain that Stede gets to do some crime.

[fallenrocket]

Joel Fry-days

Narrator, Burglar Bill and Cops and Robbers

I’ve listened to multiple audio dramas featuring Joel Fry, but this is the first time I’ve heard him narrate an actual audiobook—I know he’s done a couple. He does a cute job reading this pair of children’s books by Janet and Allan Ahlberg.

In Burglar Bill, the title character “lives in a tall house by himself full of stolen property.” Everything from his fish’n’chips to his bed is stolen, including the sack he carries around for loot. One night, Burglar Bill steals a big brown box with holes cut in the side and gets more than he bargained for.

This is cute and amusing. Burglar Bill’s thieving is politely referred to as his work, and it does amuse me that he doesn’t steal valuables like money or jewelry. Instead, he just takes whatever ordinary things he wants or needs. Case in point, “‘That’s a nice toothbrush,’ says Burglar Bill. ‘I’ll have that.’ And he puts it into his sack.”

Cops and Robbers, meanwhile, is a rhyming book about a gang of robbers plotting to steal toys on Christmas Eve. (This was published after How the Grinch Stole Christmas—I checked.) The cops, namely one Office Pew, step in to save the day.

There are some amusing bits here. One of the robbers in the gang is the “villainous Grandma Swag,” and this is a cute line: “Like crooked Santas they’ll creep about, / Pinching presents, not giving them out.” Joel Fry gets into the cadence of the rhyme without becoming too sing-songy or losing the flow of the story.

His narration on both stories is nice, and his reading voice is pleasant and calm. While he doesn’t get too elaborate with character voices, he does use a slightly different one for each character, from Burglar Bill’s gruff voice to his entertaining Grandma Swag. Also, there are a few lines where he voices a baby, which is fun.

[lupusbaby]

Say it with me! Wheelchairs aren’t sad! Mobility aids aren’t sad! Mobility aids are instruments of freedom!

[goth-princess-gwennie]

Forgive me if this is inappropriate but

So are

colostomy bags

Diapers

insulin pumps

Oxygen systems

Braces

[cuntpunkop-ed]

catheters

rollators

hearing aids

compression garments

prosthetics

FREEDOM AIDS

[seraph1c-mo0n]

- canes

- service animals

- noise cancelling headphones/ear defenders

- wheelchair attachments

- fidgets

IT’S DISABILITY PRIDE MONTH YALL

BE UNAPOLOGETICALLY DISABLED AND TAKE UP ALL THE SPACE AND TIME YOU NEED!!!!!

[victusinveritas]

[black-crested-jaybird]

I always think of the description I saw years ago: Self-imposed deadlines don't help me, because I know the person who set them, and they're full of shit.

[makingtrouble]

Give yourself the treat before you start. I'm serious. And ideally during the task and afterwards too.

Executive dysfunction comes from a lack of available dopamine. Common advice is wrong. You need to provide your own dopamine before you can start. Otherwise you're trying to run your car on empty.

"But what if I still don't do it" well you already weren't getting it done anyway. Now you have a little treat. Try again later.

You deserve kindness and care even when you aren't being productive.

(Also read How to Keep House While Drowning by KC Davis)

[twwings]

I give my students a LOT of techniques for starting writing when it feels overwhelming or daunting, but one of them is exactly this: dopamine load BEFOREHAND. It may sound weird to people on tumblr dot com, but a lot of people seriously struggle with executive dysfunction when it comes to writing literally anything, to the extent that it can cause such symptoms as panic, depression, and AI chatbot use.

I usually suggest this technique as a "Reverse Pomodoro." In the original Pomodoro, you work for 25 minutes and then take a break for 5 minutes (the times vary, but that's the essential ratio). People with executive dysfunction often find this insurmountable, and they get even more frustrated, and then the task seems even more difficult. So instead, flip those times.

FIRST, spend 25 minutes doing something energizing and engaging that you like to do. Not scrolling social media passively, not watching tv, not napping. Try something like colouring, doing yoga, running/walking around the block, talking about your favourite tv show with someone in real time, playing with the dog or cat, making and eating a lovely sandwich, hula hooping, something active. Having a little treat absolutely falls in this category!

(on the subject of little treats: refusing yourself food until you do work is for fucking Puritans and you can be kinder to yourself)

Then, after 25 minutes (or however long it takes to eat the sandwich or finish the yoga routine, it doesn't have to be exact), spend 5 minutes writing (or doing whatever you're struggling to start). Most people can coax themselves into doing something they find difficult for five minutes, if they have already filled up the joy/energy/engagement bucket. You can put a timer on for the 5 minutes if you want, or if you find that annoying, just work for as long as you like.

The other key is: don't push yourself to keep going when you're frustrated or tired—that will just reinforce the negative belief that you already have, which tells you that this task is painful to do, and needs to be avoided. If you've commonly had to force yourself to do this kind of task, that's likely part of why you think of it as painful and have trouble starting it now. Also, you should just, at a basic level, try not to put yourself in pain for the sake of productivity. So just do it till the good feelings run out. Then start hula hooping or colouring again for another 25 minutes. When the tank's refilled, try another 5 minutes of work, if you can. Adjust times to taste.

Not every technique works for everyone, but I've seen this one work for many students who are genuinely and seriously disabled by executive dysfunction. And many people find themselves getting more and more excited and engaged in the "difficult" task—because the good feelings from the hula hooping carry over, and because they're suddenly able to do the task without feeling pain, and feel accomplishment without feeling pain.

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

The first photo is from 1956. It shows a Black woman watching members of the Ku Klux Klan (a terrorist, racist, far-right organization focused on white supremacy) walking along a sidewalk in Montgomery, Alabama (USA). I couldn't find the photo's author, but most sources state that it was taken in 1956.

The second photo shows members of the Patriot Front group (a white supremacist and nationalist group, formed in 2017, that openly advocates what they call "American Fascism") traveling on the subway during the 250th anniversary of the U.S. independence in Washington D.C., while a Black woman watches them. The photo is by photographer Cheney Orr, taken on July 4, 2026, 70 years after the first photo.

Via Jurunense

[selfundiagnosed]

SZA receiving an autism diagnosis is going to be healing to so many undiagnosed girls, but especially for a group of girls who are even MORE unlikely to be diagnosed—black girls! I am so beyond proud of SZA for getting evaluated and sharing this update with us because its going to change so many lives. I barely know any celebrities who have been open about having an autism diagnosis. I havent seen anyone on tumblr post about SZA’s post which could be a problem with my curation of who i follow but i wanted to share this awesome news with my followers!