#not facts

[useless-catalanfacts]

My workplace has decided to open a TikTok account and I've been appointed in charge of running it. So far, I've only posted some of the videos about the job we posted in other social media time ago.

Today, we got the first comments. 6 in total. And 3 of them are just insulting us and calling us names because the voice speaking about the work we do is in Catalan 🤦

It always seems like the biggest fans of content in Catalan —the first ones to find it, the ones who follow it more closely, who look at the hashtags, who comment— are the Spanish supremacists telling us to go hell or insulting. It's tiring but at least I guess it's good for us if they leave engagement!

[sassypleia]

Always will be my Endgame.

Xx 🩵

[transformersbrainrot]

MegOp is making me crazy as usual, but now I have some new, specific inspiration!

So it started with @that-fanperson-meg saying this under a post I made about the Transformers account posting a TFO MegOp edit.

I recognized the name of the song but had never actually listened to it, and hooooo boy, it activated something in the part of my brain that thinks about MegOp... So, I'm listening to this song, and I have the clearest vision that it's about Megatron's mindset/thoughts during his mental health's lowest point in the worst depths of the war. (fair warning, my analysis/brainrot is based on my own personal continuity/au, so there are some minor references to that, but it's all fairly standard, and I explain it a bit, so just go with it, and you shouldn't be confused.) Ok, preamble over. Time for the lyrical analysis:

I hope that our few remaining friends Give up on trying to save us I hope we come up with a failsafe plot To piss off the dumb few that forgave us I hope the fences we mended Fall down beneath their own weight And I hope we hang on past the last exit I hope it's already too late

Megatron assumes that Optimus is in just as bad of a place as he is. He's wrong, of course, OP certainly isn't enjoying himself, but he has an actual support system that he feels comfortable leaning on. On the other hand, Soundwave is the only thing even approaching a friend for Megatron (and he is waaay too closed off at this point to admit it). Starscream is a backstabbing, power-hungry sycophant with his own heap of baggage (I really gotta make a post about my version of all that sometime); Shockwave is purely logic-driven as usual, only interested in advancing the Cybertronian race via the Decepticon cause. By this time, Megatron feels like both sides are too deep into the war to even consider peace. He honestly can't fathom it.

And I hope the junkyard a few blocks from here Someday burns down And I hope the rising black smoke carries me far away And I never come back to this town again in my life

Megatron has always wanted to escape the path that was decided for him. But now, after losing what he and Orion had and the resulting fallout, he won't go quietly into the night, not before causing some irreparable damage first. And the war will do just that. He hopes the destruction the great war causes keeps pushing him forward, even out beyond Cybertron. At least then, he won't ever need to face the past and who he used to be. He couldn't recognize himself now if he tried, so he doesn't even try.

I hope I lie And tell everyone you were a good wife And I hope you die I hope we both die

Even though it's clear to him that they hate each other and are not good for each other, Megatron still has some form of loyalty to what he and Orion had. If somehow, someday, someone were to ask him about them, he wouldn’t tell them about all their problems, but instead that they were good together. Maybe if this hypothetical future version of Megatron doesn't mention all the pain their split caused, then maybe it was a little less real. He knows that as long as Optimus is around, he won't be able to stop fighting; he's just too hurt and angry. He wishes Optimus would just die, that they both would.

I hope I cut myself shaving tomorrow I hope it bleeds all day long Our friends say it's darkest before the sun rises We're pretty sure they're all wrong I hope it stays dark forever I hope the worst isn't over And I hope you blink before I do And I hope I never get sober

Soundwave, the only even semi-positive influence on him right now, is the one telling Megatron it's darkest before the sun rises. Soundwave is a true believer in the original cause of the Decepticons, probably the last one in High Command; everyone else is either using the cause as a means to take out their pain (Megatron and Starscream) or as a means to an end (Shockwave). Megatron is finding it harder and harder to believe Soundwave with each passing day, and yet again assumes Optimus is doing the same. He's starting to hope it never ends. He's comfortable with it now; the war fills the hole that his old life left in him. All he really knows is that he can't bring himself to yield to Optimus and doesn't think he ever will. If he did, he wouldn't know what to do with himself.

And I hope when you think of me years down the line You can't find one good thing to say And I'd hope that if I found the strength to walk out You'd stay the hell out of my way

Megatron is hoping that Optimus is suffering too, since he is, and doesn’t want him to feel anything positive through this since he cannot. But at the same time, he’s trying so hard to be a bastard so that it won’t hurt as much. He does still want to speak well of their past if he gets the chance, so some loyalty or fondness remains deep down. If there were good times to look back on, there would be sadness that those times are over. If Optimus has nothing good to say about him, all he would feel is relief that that part of their lives is over.

I am drowning There is no sign of land You are coming down with me Hand in unlovable hand And I hope you die I hope we both die

Megatron can't see any way out of where he's gotten them. To him, there's no path to peace anymore. The only solace Megatron can find is the hope that Optimus falls with him. Even now, the two of their fates must be interlocked, as if it were a universal constant to him - simple common sense. He just wants it to be over, even as he can't bring himself to stop.

[remembertheplunge]

The Religious right is discussed on KPFA Radio in 1995

I taped a show about Church vs State that I was listening to on May 4, 1995. I listened to the show today, 12/29/2024, and was amazed at how it was a precursor of Project 25 and Trump 2.0. 

The following are my notes from the show. I didn't catch the names of the participants, and my old cassette tape which I taped the show on refuses to rewind! If it ever decides to work, I will include their names:

They call themselves the Religious Right. “Religious Right vs Religious Wrong. I wouldn’t want to give them the compliment of calling them right.”

The  Jewish community, just like the Christian community, has right wing extremists.

The Religious Right expresses political views as religion.They claim to speak God’s word on all subjects. Belief is all that it takes. They don’t care about the facts. There is no room for negotiation. The Methodists, unlike the Religious Right, believe in the quadrilateral: Scripture and Tradition, Reason and Experience.

 Progression involves drawing people in. The Religious Right excludes people.

Progrssive beliefs per the Religious Right are not right. The Religious Right attempts to impose on the rights of others. Examples given were in schools and regarding abortions.

 They create a threat to the normalcy of our lives.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next show on KPFA announced  events regarding Mexico and Mexican Americans , Cinco de Mayo, which would be taking place May 5th and 6th, 1995.

Jump ahead about 30 years to today, December 30, 2024:

The issues of Church and State and of Mexican Americans and Mexico have been smoldering for the last three decades and are about to ignite into a raging brush fire on January 20, 2025 at noon EST when Trump is sworn in. 

In the 1995 show, they announced that there was going to be a meeting of a group whose aim was to keep church out of state. They were right on point. We should keep that spirit alive. 

Gays have no rights per the Religious Right.

[mafaldaknows]

THIS 👆

But also

THIS 👇

Caveat emptor, darlings

[destinyc1020]

That actually crossed my mind too. What if the studios find out that they don’t actually need celebrities to do such heavy promotion. Like during Covid they discovered zoom works just fine (even though in person is so much better) and it never went back to normal. Not fully anyway.

Yep! That's my fear as well.... Sometimes disasters make people realize what can be done without... 👀

That's my only fear. Because it seems like all HW execs care about right now is about saving money, cutting costs, and keeping as much money going in than going out. That's why I wonder whether or not the industry is really actually doing as well as they try to portray, or if they're really not doing so well. Cuz these seem to be actions of a company/industry that is FAILING...not THRIVING. Ykwim?? 🤔

[inevitably-johnlocked]

HellooOoOo Steph! Maybe this is out of nowhere, but I've seen that you've been in this fandom for a long and I want to know your opinion on the way it ended. I mean, the creators, the actors, people from the crew seem to be very open about Johnlock, but after S3 everything changed. Do you think something happened? or everything was for the play? :/ (PD. Thank you for your amazing blog! You're doing amazing<3)

Hey Nonny!

Ah, I've actually talked about this in a few posts before:

Do you think we’ll ever get an S5 (Dec. 31/19)

Do I Think S5 is still a possibility?

Do You think there will be an S5 and was it Queerbaiting? (Mini master post)

What would You like to see in S5?

What do I think about the rumours of S5? (July 2021)

Is there confirmation of S5?

Watching S4 Made me Sadder (discussion about fandom and the future of the series)

about the hiatus, do you think the show would ever return?

The long-short of it is this, and THIS IS MY OPINION, NOT FACT, just speculation based on what I see/read and gossip, so PLEASE take it with a grain of salt:

I think that Ben and Martin were led to believe, right up until TAB, that the show was going in the direction the rest of us thought it was. Martin seemed proud to be doing the series and proud to be "confirmed" a bisexual Watson. They were VERY disappointed in what they got instead. I think Martin was MORE pissed off because they essentially turfed the character he worked very hard to develop.

There was gossip post-S4 that AA had a lot to do with S4's fuckery. Word is that she wanted to be rocketed into stardom the same way the whole series did for Ben and Martin, so she got chummy with MG and SM, and that's why she features so heavily in the season even though she's "dead". I'm a bit 50/50 on this gossip, only because post-S3, she seemed really to want to be a villain that Mofftiss were setting her up to be in HLV. BUT I think there's merit in the rumour that she had a hand in Mary's death scene in T6T... At the time of filming, AA and MF were going through a then-unknown messy split, so she was basically forcing MF to mourn her and John's marriage and Mary's death. Looking at the rest of the season with this in mind, and with how much John was fucked over in S4... I can kind of believe it, but again, this was the gossip going around at the time, and NOT PROVEN.

That all said, I think EVERYONE aside for MG and SM were blindsided with S4. So I lean more heavily to MG and SM's ego fucking up S4.

Though, I do think SOMETHING corporate may have happened behind-the-scenes between TAB and S4. I believe there was a changeover at the BBC around that time, so that may have had an effect.

Another rumour that was going around was that the (supposed) holders of the remaining copyrights on the Holmes IP saw what was going on with TAB, and didn't like the implied Johnlock (this has been a back and forth discussion that's been had here in the past, and has great insight from people more educated than me and corrected me on things I erred on, so do read this post).

This is my saltiest take of the whole thing: Mofftiss were PISSED the fandom figured out TAB before it aired, despite putting ALL the clues there. Prior to TAB airing, it was well known that they kind of had a love-hate relationship with the fandom that they cultivated, but because that fandom made them money, they played into it. Because I suspect they don't think good story-telling means that the audience should be able to pick out clues to predict the ending (which is kind of the whole POINT of foreshadowing), they instead changed their story, retconned the whole series, all for the sake of multiple "twists" no one could ever predict. And without a third writer to reign them in, their egos went through the roof after TAB was critically praised and awarded. Essentially, Mofftiss got too full of themselves. It's well-known that they were doing rewrites literally a day or two before filming each episode. However, when S4 got panned from the audience they were INSTEAD trying to cater to (ie anyone BUT the multiple branches of fandom), they instead took their ball and went home and blamed the fans for it being bad, and it took months for them to finally admit to queerbaiting. AND they won't ever confirm if the series is done because Sherlock the Brand™ still gets them money (ie the Escape Room that is exclusive to people who pay them to see the additional content) Basically: Mofftiss were just big man-babies about the fandom itself..

So yeah, anyway. That's my thoughts on it all. And again, PLEASE know that it's ALL GOSSIP AND SPECULATION, and barely anything has ever been proven. Post-S4, those of us who stayed did a lot of it to try to make sense of what happened.

And don't take any of what I said the wrong way: I still love Sherlock and I still love the show, and I do still have hope for another Season. I'm just... at peace?... with if it never happens, because honestly, I love the fandom and I love what came OUT of the dumpsterfire of S4: art, meta, fanfiction, poetry and prose... I try to look on the brighter side of it all.

If anyone has anything to add, please do. I do like some gossip, LOL.