Shiny Things and Random Musings

[foryoursexualinformation]

Doctors Are Now Saying That Menstrual Cramps Can Be as Painful as Having a Heart Attack

Finally people are starting to listen to what women have been saying all along.

And in other news, water is wet

[onlyblackgirl]

Not like women have been telling y'all this since the beginning of time or anything.

[frenchswissborder]

I mean, yeah, at one point three years ago I was curled up in a fetal position literally screaming/crying/gasping for breath on my bed in my dorm room, so my response to this headline is basically, “No shit.”

[phiralovesloki]

No wonder women are so likely to ignore heart disease/attack symptoms. If something isn’t as bad as my cramps, I figure it can’t be that bad.

[akiameokami]

THAT LAST COMMENT

[thatsyawholethanghuh-deactivate]

!!!!!

[blackmagecat]

No seriously. There aren’t enough people who understand how important that last comment is. I lost my right kidney four years ago because of “if something isn’t as bad as my cramps, I figure it can’t be that bad.”

My. Fucking. Kidney.

Don’t force people with periods to internalize and silence themselves when they have cramps!

[queeniecatart]

Several of my friends ignored their appendix rupturing/kidney related medical issues/ovarian or uterine cysts rupturing until it was almost too late because they thought it either wasn’t that bad because they’ve had cramps worse or they thought it was just their normal cramps.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

This exact thing happened to my sister. When we were younger (she was probably 15-16 at the time) she had really strong cramps for about a week. They weren’t as bad as some of her period cramps so she (and my mother and I) figured she would be fine, probably just stomach flu.

Cut to a week later and my mom takes her to the ER cause they’re back and my sister is doubled over in pain. And this is impressive, we had both done karate for almost 10 years at that point her pain tolerance is through the roof so seeing her doubled over is unnerving. She and my mom spend a few hours in the ER and the doctors order an ultrasound to see what’s up. While waiting for the results my sister starts feeling fine again, walking around and no pain. That’s when the intern returns with the results and is flabbergasted at what he’s looking at. There’s a huge build up around her kidney they want to send her to emergency surgery and she’s walking around like nothing.

The intern manages to get over his shock and they cart her off to emergency surgery. Surgery goes without a hitch no problems. The doctor gives my mum and sister the rundown after she wakes up, no lasting problems, usual cautions, etc. Mentions that the only reason the poison stuff that had collected around her kidney didn’t explode and poison her from the inside is the exceptionally strong core muscles she had from karate (and cheerleading and soccer). Had it ruptured she would have been in the ER for sure and it could have killed her.

Moral is listen to your body. Even if you think it’s not ‘bad enough’ or ‘you’ve had worse’ and make sure your doctor listens to you too. It’s better to check on it and be nothing than let it go and it’s something.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

There’s so much concern over the Kurt/Allie/baby plot line in the Blindspot tags right now and I’m just.... kinda okay with the plot line? I feel like it’ll go the way of Hotchner’s family plot lines in Criminal Minds. Important enough to be brought up occasionally but not the primary focus whenever Hotchner is on screen. Allie and Kurt’s talk seemed more like Allie is going to do the single mom thing and if Kurt wants a part in the kids life then he is more than welcome. Her statement that she doesn’t want to get back together with Kurt just reinforces this. 

All in all, I have no concerns with the baby plot. 

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

So the feeling I have coming out of this episode is not shock (the revelations!) or excitement (for what’s gonna happen next week). Its disappointment, with a little bit of anger. Because something I’ve noticed for a while is how.... erratic the writing on this show is and how they’re trying to do too much too quickly. Jane regularly jumps between doe-eyed for Kurt and doe-eyed for Oscar without any transition. As well as jumping between being completely 100% against what Oscar asks her to do and is only doing so under the threat on Kurt’s life - and being only mildly annoyed about what is occurring. Maybe its just Jane, because everyone else seems to be able to hang onto some consistent motivations and characterization. Maybe the writers are just struggling with writing someone who had their memories erased and was a blank slate not so long ago. But I think a bigger issue is that they’re trying to make it so that in the future Jane can be completely (or close to) absolved of her actions and associations with Oscar while still having her be sneaky-double-agent-in-a-love-triangle-with-both-Oscar-and-Kurt.

...A lot more beneath the cut

And that’s not even mentioning what happened in this episode! Let’s start with Mayfair and the early scene between Sofia, Oscar and Jane. Mayfair is not innocent. By any means. She skirted the law to put people in jail and deserves to be punished for that. I understand where Sofia, Oscar and prewipe!Jane are coming from. They are also doing it wrong though. Two wrongs don’t make a right. You are not cancelling out Mayfair’s illegal shenanigans by doing illegal shenanigans of your own to get her in jail. The entire purpose of Jane was to hand the FBI illegally or not quite ethically obtained information that they could then follow and put actual bad guys in jail. WHY NOT JUST STAMP MAYFAIR’S (and Carter and Sofia’s) wrong doing’s over Jane’s body IN A MUCH MORE OBVIOUS WAY than the one tattoo mention in the first third of the season. Like, we have this tool to do exactly what we want, but we’re gonna Mcgyver a completely different tool over here instead. WHY? If you wanted the convictions Daylight helped provide to stick why even have the case file on there at all? This does not make sense. 

Mayfair’s death. What a lazy fucking excuse for conflict. Like I am completely behind Mayfair breaking out of her house arrest and running around the city by herself trying to figure things out. But culminating it with killing her off (or the very strong implication that she’s dead)? And by Oscar’s hand to save Jane’s life? What purpose does this serve except to drive an artificial wedge between characters? It ostracizes Jane from Oscar because he shot her and Jane from the team because she is responsible (on the whole). It just feels like the writers are essentially saying, we don’t actually know how to deal with numerous people who live in the muddy shade of grey on the morality/legal scale so we’re just gonna start killing them off. 

Now lets talk about Kurt and his ‘promotion’. Like what kind of ass backwards logic says - you disobeyed the SAME direct order TWICE. I’m gonna promote you! Cause you got cahones kid. Also make sure you follow that same direct order now that you are in charge and did so well listening the last time. What? Just what? That scene made no sense. 

And then there’s the ‘big reveal’. Oooohhhh. We’re the blindspot writers. We’re going to introduce something in episode 5 and then make no mention of it for like 15 episodes and then throw it back at the audience. Taylor actually is dead! That heart to heart Kurt just had with his father a few episodes ago? COMPLETELY INVALIDATED since well - he lied! He actually did kill Taylor! Which means Jane is not Taylor! Bet you wouldn’t have guessed that since we hinted at it and then DROPPED IT for over 10 episodes. 

I am just so disappointing with the writing right now. I don’t know what this episode could have done to make me not disappointed because it’s something that’s been bothering me for the past 8 or 10 episodes and it just all came to a disappointing head here. 

Like, I am happy that they are addressing the DNA issues this season. And Im happy that Mayfair didn’t get to sit at the top of the NYO for seasons on seasons as this good guy/bad guy (THOUGH SHE COULD HAVE LIVED). And I am hopeful that this will lead to Oscar and Sofia and their group telling Jane the fucking truth about things and who she is sometime SOON. 

Maybe next episode will make me feel better about the writing. I do not have high hopes though. 

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

So Jane is not Taylor. Surprise. Writers drop a hint in like episode 3 and then make absolutely NO mention of it for the next 18 episodes and are like surprise! Plot twist! No. Not plot twist its lazy writing.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

....was killing Bethany necessary. No it was not. It was lazy writing to create an unnecessary conflict because the writers don't know what they're doing with Jane.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

Also the writers really need to get their shit together regarding Jane's feelings. She jumps between Doe eyed and in love with Kurt and Doe eyed and in love with Oscar depending on the episode with no transition.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

You routinely disobeyed direct orders. So I'm gonna make you directed of the nyo. Make sure you follow this order that you've already disobeyed twice. Like what kind of logic is this. Bad job writers you fail logic.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

So as much as I love Mayfair I completely understand where Oscar, pre-wipe!Jane and Sofia are coming from. I don’t think it’s right to vilify any of them for their actions. Everyone’s doing underhanded things with the right intentions.

[apirateslifeforme123]

And I’m STILL on the modern Sparrabeth Jack is immortal after drinking from the fountain AU kick. Like, what if…

Lizzy dies in the final battle of AWE. Jack tries to save her with the heart but OOPS whelp already stabbed it! Stupid whelp. Shipwreck Cove sends her off with a hero’s funeral Viking style in a burning boat laden with flowers and rum (Jack’s last little joke with her). Jack is devastated. He can only really admit to himself how MUCH she meant to him, now that she’s gone. Jack seeks oblivion in rum and whatever else. Life seems impossibly bleak. Until he remembers something Tia told him, about sometimes a restless soul will chose to be born into the world again a la Reincarnation. On the slim s l i m almost impossible chance that he might see Elizabeth again someday, Jack seeks the Fountain.

Flash forward to the 2010s, almost 300 years later. Jack is still bumming around the Caribbean, cool as fuck, still the BEST pirate we’ve ever seen, naturally, but hunting treasure in a slightly different way now. He’s very well known in certain circles as a man who can procure the finest treasures the ocean ever had privilege to swallow, for a price. The pain of losing Elizabeth has faded to a dull ache in the back of his heart, never quite forgotten, though he’s pretty much given up hope that they’ll find each other again someday. It was a hope that was driving him mad, so he boxed it up and put it back upon the shelf, and returned to what he does best: being Captain Jack Sparrow. It’s what Lizzy would have wanted, anyway.

Jack is returning in his boat, The Governor’s Daughter, to home base in Jamaica from a successful dive expedition. It’s a fine day to be at the helm and burn one down…even if it is impossible to sail past the remains of Port Royal without experiencing a pang in his heart. But what is all the commotion going on at the fort? Someone has fallen in. Bloody tourists. It’s all too familiar, but Jack doesn’t hesitate, and fishes the unlucky half-dead chit out of the water. He lays her out on the deck and immediately performs that deucedly useful modern marvel, CPR. Only after she throws up about a gallon of water and gasps for breath does he realize…

She looks   e x ac t l y   like Elizabeth Swann.

 Dun dun dun!

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

I have a mighty great need for this fic. And a mighty need to add to it. 

So Jack saves new!Elizabeth yeah? But what happens when he does?

Does she remember him as her memories come rushing back to her when she sees him? Is she happy/sad/angry/all of the above? There’s a fountain of youth so what’s to stop reincarnations from remembering their past lives if they see someone (or the right someone) from them?

Or does she remember slowly as he tries to keep inserting himself in the periphery of her life? Does a close family friend named James come running down to the docks and is immediately suspicious of the man that just fished Elizabeth out of the water before revealing himself to be part of whatever legal system Jack is breaking the laws of in his pirating and attempt to arrest Jack in what turns into a modern version of the scene from the first POTC movie? 

Or does she not remember him at all? And despite his 300 years of waiting and the time he spends and the relationship he builds with this Elizabeth (who’s every bit the pirate her former self was) she never remembers him? She is never his Elizabeth. 

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

I feel like this is a giant red herring with Weitz and with framing Bethany. There is still an episode left and Blindspots writers have thus far revelled giving just enough info that the wrong conclusion is reached by either the characters or fandom or both

[mmelolabelle]

Why is the verb ‘to die’ so ridiculous in Italian

I mean

‘Muoiono’

Who needs that many vowels

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

Italian is hoarding all the vowels (but it’s willing to share with the other romance languages). All the other European languages have to make due with what they can get though. Poor Czech has just given up and started making whole sentences of consonants (Strč prst skrz krk)

[mmelolabelle]

Hoarding the vowels and adding in more double consonants than is strictly necessary.

Meanwhile Irish is still trying to figure out how to properly render its sounds with the roman alphabet.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

So what’s really happening is that Italian is living up to its ancestor Latin and is being the Roman Empire of the European languages. While Irish, which has had more than enough of the bloody Roman alphabet, can be found scrawling ‘Italianes eunt domus’ over everything until Sardinian shows up doing a Monty Python impression and correcting it to 'Italiani ite domum’.

[mmelolabelle]

Why is the verb ‘to die’ so ridiculous in Italian

I mean

'Muoiono’

Who needs that many vowels

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

Italian is hoarding all the vowels (but it’s willing to share with the other romance languages). All the other European languages have to make due with what they can get though. Poor Czech has just given up and started making whole sentences of consonants (Strč prst skrz krk)

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

I absolutely love how they’re writing Oscar. I love that he’s trying so very hard to stay focused and oriented on the mission and the big picture because he knows its important and knows what Jane/Taylor gave up to see it through. But he just can’t. As Jane remembers and becomes more and more like her old self and he spends time around her he just caves. I love that he loves her so much. 

[booksandpublishing]

[moonweave-deleted-deactivated20]

there’s no text on page 45 it’s just a picture of a hot dog

[lazytechsupport]

Robots briefly passing through small fires are usually not harmed

[waffleguppies]

She confessed herself ‘harassed and perplexed’.

[smoreofbabylon]

“Postmortem results aren’t in.”

[thisoneiscarl]

“They reached a hilltop, raised up there a prayer altar, and offered their psalms of praise, and begged forgiveness for their transgressions.”

I edited this book, I have only myself to blame.

[nerugiganon]

“I shot him, then, right in his gaping stupid mouth. I emptied the gun into him.”

Um

[dozmuffinxc]

“Halfdane’s heir had to be away/to his night’s rest.”

More like I need to be away my night’s rest.

[cleverqueen]

“The surviving half of the earth / Shuddered: centred the sun: / went on turning.”

…I’m pretty sure this is a poem about life after Chernobyl. Which I could take in a really bad way about my love life. Except that my young spouse was born in Europe just before the disaster and has to do things like inform his doctors of this fact. (We live in the USA, so that’s not a standard thing.)

[barbeauxbot]

“Under Alabama’s statute, jurors were told that unless they convicted Beck of the capital crime of intentionally killing the victim in the course of a robbery, he would go free and he could never be tried again for what he had done.”

[feralkwe-deactivated20210912]

“This arrangement lasted until 1615 when the city of Madrid assumed control of the theatres and the distribution of their revenues for charitable purposes.”

[brennacedria]

“He wiped the blood clear and looked around for the dark, shadowless rider, but the figure had vanished.”

[vulpemarshmallow]

“He did give her one delightful sensation in the very early days of their acquaintance.”

[sunegami]

“Nobody spoke of them except in whispers, and even then only to say that when a Seeker showed up you knew there was trouble.”

CLEARLY this means my husband & I are badass and magic

[saysaraelle]

“Posed as exclusive alternatives, neither argument has won universal acceptance.”

That’s… actually not a bad description of how I regard the push-and-pull between the desire for romantic love and the need for the freedom that comes of being single.

[siruannika]

“Across a crowded platform, a guard announced that the Dover-bound train for the ship to Ostend was delayed by thirty minutes.”

Okay then, delayed.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

Even if she did look enchanting.

[xxmegaliciousxx]

So apparently, even when I say I was actually curious about something, and that I didn’t want a fight, shippers still jump up to slash at my throat.

This is why I judge all Klaroline shippers as one, as much as I don’t want to. I’m not even allowed to ask a question (yeah, I threw in some points that made it sound like I was arguing) without getting attacked.

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

You are always allowed to question. But realize the way you present your arguments influences the way people respond to you. Your question, for the most part, seemed sincerely interested and curious, but there were moments where it came across as condescending and dismissive, which is how the Klaroline portion of fandom is generally spoken to by the rest of the TVD/TO fanbase.

They were not right to respond the way they did, but you didn't do the best job asking your question originally either.  

And you can't judge the whole based on a vocal minority. Welcome to the internet, where text cannot convey the full tone and intended feeling behind words, and where people are occasionally assholes. 

[xxmegaliciousxx]

Before I begin, I do not want to start any fights.

But I can’t help but wonder..

Do Klaroline fans just.. ignore everything Klaus has done? Do you guys pretend like he isn’t a horrible person who has killed Elena, Elena’s family, was going to sacrifice Caroline, had Tyler bite Caroline, killed...

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

To say you can't ship a pairing from the show based only on the horrible thing each of the characters has done would be silly. You wouldn't be able to ship anyone on the show because over the course of the series everyone has done some awful, horrible things. 

Yes Klaus has done some horrible things. But so has Caroline. And Tyler. And Matt. And everyone else in the main and recurring cast. However, this is also a work of fiction, and I like complex and interesting characters, both of which Caroline and Klaus are. When I empathize with Rebecca or Katherine, I do not forget all of the horrible things they have done, those things are and always will be a part of them. I do not forgive these things either. However, this doesn't stop me from enjoying their character and wanting better things for them. 

I want something better for Klaus and Caroline, and I believe that they could and would be a wonderful couple, bringing out the best in each other and teaching each other about themselves and the world around them. 

As for Tyler, I've never particularly been interested in him as a character. He just isn't the character for me and this influences my perception of Tyler and Caroline's relationship. There's no doubt that they both care(d?) deeply for each other, possibly even were in love with each other, but I have had no emotional investment in that relationship at any point, so I have no problem supporting and hoping for other relationships.

PS. This line "Or, do you all literally have amnesia?"

Comes across as kinda condescending and rude, which is probably why some of the responses to this have been angry and equally rude. 

[bonneibennett]

A Public Service Announcement for Characters of Color

(not pictured: Sheila Bennett, Harper the tomb vampire, Bethanne the tomb vampire, Mindy the hybrid, Chris the hybrid, Jonas Martin, Greta Martin, Gloria, Aja, Aimee Bradley, Bonnie Bennett… and probably more that I’ve forgotten)

[ipodchick]

You’re probably going to have to make another one of these for the very white New Orleans seen on The Originals, because we all know that any POC that shows up on that show will be killed./p>

[auri-ahna]

I swear the only POC who hasn’t been killed on this show was Katherine’s friend Lucy who helped put her in the tomb in S2. 

[ipodchick]

Lucy Bennett and Jamie Wilson, I think both ran away to Narnia where they keep the black extras they bring out every now and then for diversity (and to be killed).

[ifijustbreathe]

Is everyone just going to ignore Bonnie?? Seriously. You are all just looking for things!

[bonneibennett]

lol

ok lemme splain you two thing

1. There is a world of difference between tokenism and fair representation. Pointing to a single character of color who has survived (and I use that term figuratively since Bonnie is actually quite dead, but as they’ve kept Kat Graham on the series let’s go with it for the sake of argument) doesn’t prove anything.

2. The only reason I included Bonnie in the caption instead of the gifset itself was that it is literally impossible to capture all of the myriad ways that girl is mistreated by this show and its writing (and often in ways that fall neatly into typical racist tropes like the mammy) in a single gif.

[irresistible-revolution]

Bonnie is thoroughly disciplined by the narrative to the point that it’s LAUGHABLE how racist it is.

A powerful witch who has no other ambition but risking life and limb TIME AND AGAIN to solve yt people’s problems?

A fucking gorgeous young woman who for some ~mysterious~ reason never seems to attract romantic attention from the powerful male characters?

A girl who has NO issue perpetuating the centuries old servitude of her family to white people?

Yea miss me with that utter racist shit.

fuq this show fuq mystic falls and fuq a julie plec

[shinythingsandrandommusing]

The representation of poc in TVD is definitely a cause for worry and critical reflection, but I also think that for the location in which Mystic Falls is set, there is some (likely unintentional) logic. Mystic Falls is located in the South, and from my understanding of American history (Canadian here) it makes sense for there to be significantly fewer poc in the general population, especially in such a small town. 

Going from rough googled estimates, the total number of named characters that have died (including characters that are still on the show; Elena, Bonnie, Jeremy, etc.) is around 50. If you then include the 2 massacres needed to awake Silas, we're sitting around 71ish. 

Of those 71, 19 of the deaths have been poc. Here is the full 19 (to the best of my knowledge, memory and google searching).

Bonnie, Emily, Sheila, Abby and Rudy (Bonnie's father). Anna and Pearl. Luka, Jonas and Greta. Connor, Bree, Aimee, Mindy, Chris, Harper, Bethanne, Aja and Gloria. 

Okay, so those 19 characters a organized purposely. 5 of them are associated with the Bennet line (4 through descent and then Bonnies father through marriage). Anna and Pearl are the only two named Asian characters (to my memory) and are also related. Then the family of Luka Jonas and Greta. The remaining nine are unrelated to each other or any of the three prior families.

So of the people that have died in Mystic Falls, around 25% have been poc, give or take. According to Wikipedia, the 2000 census for Virginia showed the population was roughly 75% white, 20% black, 4% asian. Thus making population of Mystic Falls roughly similar in racial composition.   

Now, I'm not saying that the treatment of POC on TVD is the best or even well done. What I am saying is that the number of POC characters that we have been introduced to seem to have an equal chance at dying as the white characters. This is a town where everyone dies, where the only people who CANT die are Elena, Damon and Stefan because of how the show is marketed. 

'Keep the fuck out of Mystic Falls' is good advice for EVERYONE. The death rate is staggering and its not a safe place for anyone, poc included. Again, this is a town where everyone dies. 

Do I wish that POC were treated better within the show? Of course I do. Do I think the writers do a good job with the writing concerning poc? No not really. But the writing has a lot of issues.

Hopefully this makes sense and I'm hoping that The Originals will provide a cast with a much higher proportion of poc because that's what's represented by the real life demographics in New Orleans (for comparison to the Virginian demographics, in 2000 the city was comprised of 28% white, 67% black and 2% asian).