Mr. Collins would be such a fan of ai. He would love it. He would have it write scripts for him to use for complimenting people. He'd ask it what to do in social situations and then when someone would tell him "I think that's a bad idea" he'd be like "my dear madam it's so good of you to be concerned but I think the highly esteemed Grok knows a little more about this than a lady like yourself" and then he'd go humiliate himself publicly.
A YA romantasy writer filed suit against another writer for copyright infringement, and as is always the case with these things, she padded her claims with delusionally spurious examples. The judge issued a 160-page ruling against the plaintiff where you can tell from the start how resentful they (or whatever clerk actually did the work) are to have been forced by duty to have read the works in question.
Glad everyone is getting so much joy from early Quaker names! Looking forward to seeing any future pets/children/bands/drag acts named after stuff on this list.
Fake Names Your D&D Characters Made Up To Get Into A Formal Event: Eustace Cockery, Corn Russell, Marvelous Scanfield, Elizabeth Poope, Gey Poope, Job Bland, Love Beer, Rich Whale
Reading Volume 1 of Stories of the Raksura and I really appreciate how Martha Wells really digs into the complicated relationship that Jade and Pearl have. They are often in an antagonistic dynamic with each other, but they're also mother and daughter, and I love that we get to see that they do care about each other and love each other.
When Jade is missing, Moon is all set to go search with Stone and an assembled rescue group and then Pearl, out of nowhere, is like "I can't leave a consort in charge of the court." And Moon realizes that Pearl is having to talk herself down from going after Jade, because she's also scared for Jade and needs to find her.
(Also Ember freaking out about this comment in the background, A+ comedy material: "We're talking about Moon, right? Moon in charge of the court? Because I don't think I should be left in charge of the court.")
“In the lee of a picturesque ridge lies a small, unpretentious winery, one that pampers its fruit like its own babies. Hi, I’m Moira Rose, and if you love fruit wine as much as I do, then you’ll appreciate the craftsmanship and quality of a local vintner who brings the musk melon goodness to his oak Chardonnay, and the dazzling peach cral-bapple to his Riesling Rioja. Come taste the difference good fruit can make in your wine. You’ll remember the experience and you’ll remember the name. Herb Erfling … ger. Burt Herngeif. Irv Herb-blinger. Bing Livehaanger. Liveling. Burt Herkurn. Ban bingo ling-fucker!”
I will be honest. I'm not sure how I'll get through the year (year+ ????) waiting for the next season of heated rivalry. This was so much fun to watch on a week by week basis and obsess over. And the care taken in each episode for each shot--it really felt like I was watching something artistic. Smutty, but artistically smutty. I was excited for the show to come out, but it exceeded all of my expectations.
I just finished watching the first two episodes of Heated Rivalry. They were amazing. I loved them. The chemistry between Ilya and Shane was off the charts. No notes there.
But, something that did stick out to me as being different from the book (and there were a bunch of other changes, most of which I really liked) is the lack of focus or Shane POV on what it means to be gay. Gay as a person. Gay as a professional hockey player. Just gay, period.
There were a few parts where Shane is paranoid about other people seeing them, but it's not really something that they dwell upon. And the sole reference to Shane potentially being uncomfortable with being gay is kind of quickly glossed over--when Ilya starts fingering Shane and Shane freezes up, Ilya says something like "you know what makes you gay? sucking my dick."
But in the books, Shane is pretty concerned about being gay. He's really worried about people finding out about him and Ilya (or him and any guy, really) because (a) it would 100% be a full PR nightmare back in the 2009-2012 era AND (b) it makes the fact that he's gay realer.
Ilya also figures out that being gay/being less than a man is an insecurity for Shane. I can't remember the exact scene, but there's one or two times that Ilya compares Shane to a woman to intentionally rile Shane up (which he's successful at). Shane also struggles (in the books) with feeling more submissive and liking Ilya's dominance in the bedroom--so far they've really played that dynamic down (which I'm fine with, I think that the sex scenes have been A+ so far--well, aside from how quickly everyone seemed to come in the hookup in episode 1). And that ties into attitudes of the time about roles in the bedroom and manliness. The same way it does now, of course, for some people, but it was so much more back then.
That all leads to how Shane grapples with the thought of being gay and what he likes sexually. There's a lot of internal homophobia from Shane that he works through over the course of the books and that's part of his character growth. And we don't see that in the show.
A few months ago, I rewatched a movie that I love, Breakfast with Eric, which came out in 2007 and combines my love of all things hockey as well as lgbtq+ films. It's about a former NHL player who's gay, has a partner and is out to his family/friends, but not out at his work, where he's a sports commentator. And I hadn't rewatched it in quite a few years and it was really a throwback, watching it and remember how steeped in homophobia everything was back in the mid-aughts. Where people across all levels of society were much more okay with gay people as a concept, but were still a little awkward and uncomfortable when people came out around them.
And yes, the 00s were not as bad as the 90s. But I remember going to high school on the national day of silence (meant to represent that lgbtq+ kids felt like they had to hide themselves) and there being a significant amount of other high school students protesting the day of silence. And I lived in an incredibly liberal part of the US. That would never ever happen today at the high school that I went to.
I think that the show loses out not having that be more present for Shane. Because it would have been very much a part of society (hockey a million more times more homophobic). Growing up in the 90s and 2000s, Shane would have very much had that seeping through him as he struggled with his attraction as a teenager.
I'm sure that the show had to grapple with a lot of topics and figure out which ones they could fit in, but this one feels like one that should have made the cut to be more present.
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