Mal | She/Her | Queer | Indian | This blog is a hot mess of my hyperfixations and I'm sorry to all my followers | Avatar is by @buckybarsn & header is a photo taken by me :D
learning to notice an absence of people of color is crazy. you start seeing it everywhere. ill see a random pic of characters or people or whatever and be like "these are all white people. why"
all the babies in those baby youtube video memes. humanized character posts. like. its the little innocent shit. and like, the people making those baby memes probably arent seeking out white babies. maybe theyre just easier to find. but why are they easier to find? a complicated question, surely... but you know what it probably comes down to. someone, somewhere, maybe a lot of someones in a lot of places, made a choice. maybe knowingly, maybe not. but they made a choice. it starts to make you feel like a conspiracy theorist!!
its really funny that after 2 months this post is still making racists come into my askbox treating me like im a horrible person for pointing out that sometimes people of color are excluded from things in visible and offputting ways. cry about it
seven year old shaney trying to be helpful to the other kids at hockey camp and telling them âyou should try aiming the puck at the net! thatâs what i doâ
Just learned this absolutely delightful bit of etymology:
During the 15th century, the English had an endearing practice of granting common human names to the birds that lived among them. Virtually every bird in that era had a name, and most of them, like Will Wagtail and Philip Sparrow have been long forgotten. Polly Parrot has stuck around, and Tom Tit and Jenny Wren, personable companions of the English countryside, are names still sometimes found in childrenâs rhymes.
Other human names, however, have been incorporated so durably into the common names that still grace birds as to almost entirely obscure their origin. The Magpie, a loquacious black and white bird with a penchant for snatching shiny objects, once bore the simple name âpie,â probably coming from its Roman name, âpica.â The English named these birds Margaret, which was then abbreviated to Maggie, and finally left at Mag Pie. The vocal, crow-like bird called Jackdaw was also once just a âdawâ named âJack.âÂ
The English also gave their ubiquitous and beloved orange-bellied, orb-shaped, wren-sized bird a human name. The first recorded Anglo-Saxon name for the Eurasian Robin was ruddoc, meaning âlittle red one.â By the medieval period, its name evolved to redbreast (the more accurate term orange only entered the English language when the fruit of the same name reached Great Britain in the 16th century). The English chose the satisfyingly alliterative name Robert for the redbreast, which they then changed to the popular Tudor nickname Robin. Soon enough, the name Robin Redbreast became so identified with the bird that Redbreast was dropped because it seemed so redundant.Â
there seems to be a fundamental disagreement between microwave oven manufacturers and the producers of microwave meals over whether the customer should know the wattage of their microwave or if such details should be abstracted away from them
the microwave rice demands 800 watts of power for 2 minutes, but all the microwave can offer me three settings: one low, one high, and one somewhere in the middle. I turn it to the one in the middle as I happen to know 800W is the average power of most microwaves. the light comes on and the bag of rice starts slowly turning, but rather than hearing the usual rumble of the microwave, I instead start hearing short snippets of conversation - words snatched from the ether. the lights flicker and a chill runs up my spine. the voices remind me of those "spirit boxes" ghost hunters use. I double check the setting on the microwave. "ah," I say, remembering that I had set it to medium,
I've been meaning to make a post talking about my stroke because y'all got bits and pieces of the recovery but I never actually told the story of HOW it went down and the thing is the type of stroke I had is usually the type young people have and since having mine i've now heard multiple stories of people under 40 having very similar strokes and the scary thing is, is that they didn't get help right away. Because you're young and healthy and sure you feel weird but it'll pass right? but it doesn't, and it gets worse, and by the time you get to the hospital (some people literally take days to go) the deficits are worse and recovery is harder.
so here's a super long post about strokes in general, and mine in particular/what I went through.
So for strokes the signs are abbreviated BE FAST. Balance loss, Eyesight changes, Face drooping, Arm weakness, Speech difficulty, -> Time to call 911.
Had I known those MAYBE I would have figured it out but my symptoms were a little mixed. I was reading (fanfic!) in bed because it was a sunday morning and i had nothing pressing to do and suddenly got dizzy. I put my laptop aside because my eyes were blurring (Eyesight changes - symptom #1), and laid down, thinking it would pass, it didn't, it's a little vague how it progressed because I'd been having headaches and neckpain for about 3 weeks leading up to it so I was like 'idk is this a migraine?' (headaches can be a stroke symptom so symptom #2) but i got nauseous and eventually got up and to my utmost surprise I immediately fell over as if I was the drunkest of frat bros. The room literally spun before my eyes as I fell to the floor (Balance loss - symptom #3). I have had some Nights and I had never been that unsteady before. I crawled my way to the bathroom, threw up (nausea - not a common stroke symptom) , took 800mg of ibuprofen, and crawled back to bed.
if you know anything about ibuprofen you might know it's a mild blood thinner and that's a high dose. I may have inadvertently helped myself with that one. I was just feeling like shit and thinking 'idk this might help'
At this point I still thought we were still in Normal Land. Sure, it was a weird morning, but Surely There Was A Reason. (Yes There Was) Anyway, as I'm lying there willing my body to stop suffering I realize my arm is going numb (stroke symptom #4) and I switch positions, because weird, but it doesn't go away, and I gave it a good little while. I'm on a medication that can make my limbs tingle but it usually just does it to my fingers and it dissipates quickly but this wasn't dissipating, and then I realized one of my legs was also going numb. Then one side of my face is going numb.
(at the time I did not look in the mirror but I had a drooping eyelid - symptom #5)
Those all seem bad. I grab my computer and google 'when to go to the hospital for dizzyness' as that felt like the worst of my problems. and indeed the list I found highlighted that if you are also experiencing loss of balance, blurred vision, nausea, and limb numbness, you should see a doctor. That seems like far too many symptoms to be having all to be listed. I grab my phone (thankfully plugged in and by my bed), and start layering on more clothing because it's about 10 degrees out and i'm in a pajama dress. The very nice man at 911 talks with me and sends an ambulance, I tell him I don't think I can get out the front door of my building on my own and he asks if I can get to MY apartment door to which I say yes and he assures me that's fine they will have keys to my building.
(I have been since informed they love to chop down doors but no, I could get that far)
I wait by my door laying down on the ground and they arrive pretty quickly. They see to me in the hallway, which is more of a lobby in my building and the only place with room for me to lie down (I cannot stand unassisted at this point) they ask me a bunch of questions, take vitals, and ask me where I would like to be taken. Me, having never had to go to the fucking hospital in an emergency before, simply go 'wherever is close' because I again, I am having a stroke and do not have the wherewithal to think through these things.
A big firefighter helps me down the stairs (it's only a half flight and I still almost did not make it) and we get underway.
At the hospital they wheel me into triage and I mostly lie there gratefully and answer some questions and respond to some tests (grip strength, following a pen with my eyes, that sort of thing) and then I hear what is great when you've been at urgent care for two hours but what is Very Bad when you just arrived in an ambulance and that's 'She's next'. I jumped the line for a CT scan and an MRI. I was there less than ten minutes before I was actively being scanned. honestly closer to five.
my active symptoms seem to have been worse than some of the stories I've heard, not being able to walk AT ALL in particular, although some other are pretty equal (Footless Jo on youtube had a stroke around the same time I did of the same type and has discussed hers, she delayed going in despite the severity for a variety of reasons and it sounds like her recovery has been difficult) My recovery was pretty easy because i was actively being cared for and on blood thinners right away. I was pretty out of it in the beginning, but I was only in the hospital for 6 days and then in a rehab for another 4 to relearn how to walk and balance, then i was released unto the world and just spent time going to physical therapy and recovering for awhile. I was out of work for about 8 weeks total. I basically had the best outcome for a stroke. I recovered almost fully back to 100% (I'm about 2% less sure footed than I used to be, but it's rarely noticeable), my face still feels a little weird but has markedly improved so I live in hope it will eventually get back to normal. It massively sucked. But strokes can fuck you up for life and I came out a weird medical story to tell and have to take some extra medication now/precautions to take (i cannot do certain types of yoga, no weightlifting, no push ups, no going on rollercoasters.... things that could strain my neck essentially) but overall I escaped very lucky.
For anyone who has ever had covid before, please be sure you are aware of stroke symptoms. Each successive infection raises the risk in a pretty major way, and a lot of people are dying young due to not knowing these signs or being afraid to act on them. Please take care of yourselves.
Meanwhile, âutterâ works for the first (e.g., âyou utter floorboardâ) but somehow âutterlyâ doesnât seem to work as well for the second (âI was utterly floorboardedâ).
⌠huh.  I thought that might just be the similarity to âflooredâ, and yet âI was utterly coat hangeredâ does seem to convey something similar.
I have to tell you, I am utterly sandwiched at this discovery.
Mel Medarda (Arcane) vs. Irene Adler (Sherlock Holmes)
Mel Medarda
Irene Adler
Voting ended on8h
Propaganda below the cut:
Mel Medarda:
Reduced to an obstacle to Jayvik. Her character background and nuances are ignored in favor of making her an evil Jezebel who seduced Jayce to turn him against Viktor/the undercity; sheâs always getting put in the cuck chair, and even positive depictions of her in fic have her playing Jayvik therapist or yaoi fangirl instead of developing her as a character in her own right. Often excluded from group official art & fan art.
As a character, she has so much interesting canon material to work with that people just ignore. She was raised to inherit a war-loving empire but believed she was discarded as a child for being too soft. She overcame a cold and traumatic childhood to be a champion for peace. There are still traces of this upbringing in her - sheâs a strategist who wants the best for the whole, which sometimes means making decisions that come across as ruthless for the individual, but sheâs always been just as willing to sacrifice herself for the cause. Sheâs flawed and has her own blind spots but always tries to operate in good faith. Criminally underutilized in canon and in fan works lol
Because of her interactions with Jay, much of the fandom only saw her as a malignant and hostile obstacle to the Jay/Viktor pairing, using words like 'temptress' and implying a romantic relationship between Jay and Mel is automatically inferior to one between Jay and Viktor. Definitely misogynoir, because the fandom would not have been this hostile to her if she wasn't black.
Mel is a complicated, morally gray character. Initially characterized as a ruthless and cunning politician, but who is torn between being merciful and stopping at nothing to prevent more suffering. Her emotional arc involved getting out of her parent's constricting grasp and living according to her own desires.
Where do I start. Constantly villainized for actions that fully make sense for her character. Ignored in her main relationship in order to ship her boyfriend with a skinny white guy. Sooooo much unchecked fandom misogynoir. The WRITERS don't even know what to do with her, they like never fully nailed down her motivations and just let her Happen. Like. It's YOUR show!! WRITE your characters!!
Smartest woman in the room. Powerful mage. INCREDIBLY tragic figure forced to continue the cycle of conquering and bloodshed. Knows what she wants and how she's going to get it, and sees that plan through. Figures out how to deal with an entire mage cult on her own, outsmarting the leader. I love her. She didn't do half the shit the fandom is mad at her for doing but she would have been fully within her right to do so.
Mel is hated by racist fujoshis for daring to "get in the way" of a non canon gay ship. One of the animators mentioned something about how he pictured the sex scene between Mel and her boyfriend being unimportant compared to Mel's boyfriend's concern for his white bestie. Fujoshis rejoiced, only going to show that they view her as a disposable Black girlfriend character/thats what they want for her. They write fanfiction where she's been killed, too.
Mel is the most interesting character in the show by far. She has a nuanced and complicated relationship with her mother, and its already rare to see this with a mother/daughter relationship let alone between 2 Black women, and its the most heartfelt relationship in the whole show. Mel was abandoned by her mother for being "too soft" and made her own way in the world of politics. She is manipulative, to a degree, but she always means well and its easy to see that she has so much heartfelt emotion in her that she holds back. She stands up for her lame ass boyfriend despite him not deserving her, and she gets cool magic powers in the second season that she uses to save everyone. She is also always dressed impeccably and is inarguably the most beautiful character in the whole show.
Oh, boy. Hoo. There's a lot of fandom misogyny but it is mostly from JayVik fans. I am a fan of the ship myself, but to insinuate that Mel is in the way, and is no good, and that she should leave Jayce alone, or that she manipulated him? Sigh⌠I am Viktor himself (an IRL/DA. That's not important, I just have to mention incase I get some weird looks). She wasn't in the way at all. You can ship what you wish without constantly finding ways to hate on Mel and insist that she was being a user and a manipulator.
She is a goddess of the Arcane. She's made of pure magic and she looks it. She's golden, glowing and gorgeous. She is politically strong, and got away from her mother's bad influence to make a name and a life for herself. She commands the attention of a room and makes sure not only to be powerful but to be nurturing. She's kind, and whilst she might have been raised as a wolf, she knows when a good leader must be soft, too.
Many people have this idea in their head that she was manipulating Jayce & Viktor and just using them for her own selfish gain. She wasn't. I don't think so in the slightest. She was genuinely intrigued by the research Jayce had done and was nurturing that. Sure, a few of her words may have come across as manipulative, but perhaps it's because she is a flawed character. She isn't perfect, and that's okay!
Someone who genuinely wants the best for everyone and is trying so hard to be a good person, hampered by the fact that she doesn't entirely "get" people and didn't exactly grow up in the best environment for that. While she tries to be different from the rest of her family - being a Pacifist and more of a thinker than a fighter - throughout the series it kind of feels like she's "doomed" to become one of them. She literally gets tortured into awakening her powers and becoming a fighter (and playable character in League of Legends) like the rest of the cast, like she was being forced into a role she didn't want. Despite this, she still tries to use her powers mostly defensively. Her relationship with her mother (Ambessa) is also really interesting - her mother loves her despite treating her poorly, but they just have incompatible worldviews and never really come to an understanding. This is only one interpretation of this scene, but I love Ambessa's line after Mel kills her, "you are the wolf." From Ambessa's perspective, it was probably praise and reassurance to her daughter that she still loved her. From Mel's perspective it was probably one of the cruelest things seh could say. I love her sm and there are so many parts of her character that are under-discussed.
Irene Adler:
sigh. adaptations always characterize her as being in love with sherlock or needing him to save her for some reason :/
she literally did nothing wrong. and!!! and she outsmarted sherlock holmes and got away with it!!! making him acknowledge that women can be smart (at least in the original books, if i remember correctly). and then she went off and lived her best life. go girl
My scorching hot take on Christopher Nolan Presents Homer's The Odyssey is Tom Holland having his mind blown while filming this, then going back to Marvel to and being all "Why did no one tell me that you can, like, have a finished script before you start filming and a cinematographer who has all the shots planned before filming instead of figuring it out in post, has anyone else heard about this?" is pretty funny
