#scathing

[shaykai]

Doing that thing I do where I force all of my blorbos into songs they debatably shouldn’t be in. But also consider Election of 1800 with Ketheric (Burr), Gortash (Jefferson), and Orin (Hamilton)

And also cut out all the times they’re civil. Really it’s mostly just the last bit. But also political thriller Dead Three??

[friendraichu]

i know this essay is good because i felt myself getting pissed while reading it

What Did Men Do to Deserve This?

Changes in the economy and in the culture seem to have hit them hard. Scott Galloway believes they need an “aspirational vision of masculini

i encourage you to read the whole thing, but here are my favorite bits:

"But then much of the centrist manosphere’s rhetoric is predicated on refusing to see half of what’s in front of you."

"What these pundits are nudging us to do, ever so politely, is accept that women, in the main, are accustomed to being a little degraded, a little underpaid and ignored and dampened in their ambitions, in ways that men are not and never will be. The “female-coded” person [...] may feel overwhelmed by child-care costs, ashamed that she can’t acquire a mortgage, or hollowed out by long hours as an I.C.U. nurse, but such feelings do not disturb the order of the universe. This person’s duties to protect, provide, and procreate are real, but they do not take the capital “P.” This person’s opinions matter, but not decisively."

"The familiar flatness of feeling a little degraded seems preferable to the anger, entitlement, and alienation that (we are told over and over) gnaws away at so many male specimens. What a gift it is, really, to have no choice in the matter. To have to move out of your parents’ house, to show up for your shift, to change the diaper, not because any of it is gender-affirming but because life is full of tasks that need doing, and you are the person who does them. At least then you know who you are."

[programmingisgay]

Here is my review of Pierce Brown’s Red Rising, which I wrote in response to a comment on YouTube:

I was hoping to avoid it but here's my brief thoughts in no particular order: It felt like an incredibly cliched mashup of a bunch of different genres. The characters felt flat, the plot was incredibly predictable. The world building felt shoved in place. The science was bad. The author’s understanding of Roman history was not great. It suffers from that thing that can happen where the main character is so intelligent that they start to just be an annoying ass. Plot points and scenes are deliberately hidden again and again from the reader so that later events can be surprising Etc…

Look if it’s the first time you’ve ever read space opera then I can see how you might enjoy it. But I grew up reading sci-fi and have already read this same kind of story again and again by more talented authors. It had some interesting elements, some of the tech was neat, some cool imagery here and there. I’ve read worse things. But it was massively overshadowed by an incredibly predictable plot, incredibly thick foreshadowing, and overdone tropes that managed to suck out almost all enjoyment.

And yes I read the whole trilogy, honestly the only thing that kept me going in the third book was sheer unadulterated spite. Why did I do this to myself? I honestly don't know. Look... a cute guy on a dating app raved about it when I said I liked science fiction and I got it because he was hot. He became about 12% less hot with each chapter and ultimately we did not meet up. Maybe I'm a sci-fi snob, I dunno. What I do know is that this book is so bad that it makes charming sexy guys go all gross and ewww.

[thankstothe]

when your divorce lawyer knows you better than all your ex-wives

[airesgay]

'don't flatter yourself Liam, it was hardly that memorable'

ooooooff

[yaoicommentstxt]

[howifeltabouthim]

His writing is—both aesthetically and in substance—page by page, line by line, without interruption, worthless. The only thing impressive about it was that he managed to take a subject flush with intrigue and grind it down into something so boring, so absolutely pedantic and without glamour . . .

Catherine Lacey, from Biography of X

[witchstone]

i don't really Go Here w regards to growing up christian but the line "god loves you, but not enough to save you" knocked me off my feet