Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a gifset that superimposed the "I'm not used to people sticking around when things go bad" / "Welcome home" Jyn/Cassian interchange from Rogue One over Jyn and Cassian's faces as they cling to each other before dying.

Tagged: #adjkfkj; #okay #the NERVE #of reversing this #in such a perfect way #!!!!!!!!!

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged this post from alphacrone about loving a character at 13 for being cool and smart and capable, while loving a character "now" who is endearingly stupid. The OP had reblogged the original post with the addition that people frequently responding that both statements are about the same character were "incredibly valid," which was the version I reblogged. My addition:

#fitzwilliam darcy #i mean ... honestly

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a post from ahandsomestark about the difference between plot holes and elements you personally dislike/groundwork for future exploration/implication rather than explaining everything to audiences. I added:

#looool #no lies detected! #i was just thinking about creative writing classes and how my instinct is to give readers enough evidence to figure things out #rather than stopping to explain #but my experience of workshops and fandom inclines me to 'okay everyone sit down it's storytime hour'

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a gifset showing Jyn helping the injured Cassian escape the tower on Scarif, and the two of them smiling at each other in the third (and last) gif. I added:

#their expressions in the third ;_;

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

One of the things I love about Darcy canonically having to work himself up to talking to Elizabeth when he first gets interested in her is that … honestly, it’s not that his feelings for her at that point are all that strong.

I mean, it takes him time to get there! He’ll later say that falling in love with her happened gradually. He’s just kind of reluctantly intrigued when he has the genius idea that maybe listening to her talk to other people will make it easier to talk to her himself. A great passion for Elizabeth isn’t making him like that; his own personality is.

There are also later events and conversations that suggest he is genuinely awkward and uneasy around people he doesn’t know well or isn’t comfortable with, and a few occasions when he talks about jarring people in general. Those aside, though, his “what if … I just listened to her talk …?” lightbulb moment always has a special awkward turtleduck charm for me.

And it’s all the more delightful because he is otherwise a stubborn, straightforward, frequently arrogant human being. But when he’s out of his depth, he’s really out of his depth, even when he’s trying harder. And even then, Austen is insistent on this as a character detail alongside his ultra-competence in so many other ways and … what a fave!! <3

Tagged: #have i mentioned lately that i love book!darcy a LOT??? (she says after having monologued about him for 15 years) #and it's always kind of amazing that he's been so influential and there are so many characters like him but also ... they aren't really? #the blend of assurance and awkwardness is just really hard to carry off imo and she does it /so/ well #where i think a lot of derivative and adaptational versions end up skewing strongly one way or the other #anghraine's meta #sorta #since i don't have a tag for just throwing squee at the page :P #ALSO this is why elizabeth going from 'maybe you should just try :) harder :)))' to trying to shield him is always so dear to me #like #if he's not really awkward and uncomfortable Deep Down then it makes that part of her arc really odd and disconcerting #but if he needs to actually put some effort into social things AND they're genuinely difficult and draining for him #then it becomes this sweet mutuality thing and one of my top fave things about the whole ship #:)

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a post originally from sauronnaise asking Silm fandom to make a "brief but unhelpful" summary of The Silmarillion for The Hobbit+LOTR fandom. Silm fandom tends to be overwhelmingly focused on Elvish characters in The Silmarillion, especially the Noldor, and insistent that characters with big fanbases like Fëanor are more central to The Silmarillion (or even the Silm+LOTR) than I think they are, so at least the first posts focused on them. jubaah then responded:

Dunedain tragic backstory

I reblogged from her and added:

#'dúnedain tragic backstory' is the best and most accurate :P

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a screenshot of a tweet complaining about struggling to do anything all day when there's an appointment late in the day.

Tagged: #high octane about me

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a post from ameliarating about how forgiveness of a wrong is not about the wrongdoer deserving, or not deserving, it, or anyone owing them forgiveness, or anyone else being obliged to forgive/not forgive them. I added:

#thiiiis #fandom's fixation on deservingness is so weird and unsettling #general fanwank #though also just #life

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

The final day of grading is always rough, but every year a) I think this time it will be different!!! and b) it is actually worse than every time before.

/flop

Tagged: #i think this is the first time a student has blamed me for them not doing an assignment though

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

On Tumblr, ao3commentoftheday responded to an ask about having one fic that is far more popular than any others and the ambivalent feelings that arise from that. I reblogged a further response from giasesshoumaru about how sometimes a particular fic just strikes a chord with people and we won't always know why (or there might not even be a good reason).

Tagged: #this is weirdly reassuring #given my It's Complicated feelings about SOC

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a promotional shot of François Arnaud as Cesare Borgia for Season 2 of The Borgias with a mask held in his hand, a sparkly ring on his finger, a chain over his shoulders, etc.

Tagged: #the promo department was next level

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a gifset of Tom Hiddleston as Henry V in The Hollow Crown (Henry V), and added:

#i loved him as hal SO MUCH

Tumblr crosspost (22 December 2020)

I reblogged a post about the whole "/sigh where's my Mr Darcy?" trope of Austen fans that then added that he's likely at home, avoiding people.

I tagged it: #looooool #but it's true #if there's any swerve in austen fandom i'm happy about #it's the shift from suave masterful alpha male romance lead darcy to cheerful acceptance that he is ... not that

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

Setting up automatic replies is self-care

Tagged: #i've never done it before but the end of this semester has been so terrible that i'm just like ... no #fuck it #i am out of here until 2021 byyyyye

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

Under a cut for being a petulant joykill:

( Read more... )

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

kareenvorbarra responded to this post:

I’d die on this hill but I can’t, morgoth won’t let me, he just makes me sit up here and watch people ignore the edain

jubaah said:

always and forever

kaz said:

beren, húrin, huor, haleth, túrin, nienor, tuor, and like eight dozen others would like a word

I replied (particularly to kareenvorbarra, but also in general):

dfjk; right? unless it somehow serves the purposes of Elf Discourse, it’s like they’re wallpaper. D:

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

dragoness_e responded to this post:

I think that Faramir knew the whole time: he was delirious with fever when Denethor laid him on the pyre, not unconscious. The knowledge filtered through fever delirium that his father tried to kill him probably worsened the Nazgul-induced despair that Aragorn had to pull him out of. Remember one of the things Aragorn said contributed to his critical condition? “Grief over his father’s mood”. I think Faramir just gave up after Denethor tried to kill him, and that’s why his condition was so bad that only Aragorn of the line of Luthien could heal him. By the time he’s up and meeting Eowyn, he’s already dealt with this, or he wouldn’t be up and about.

I replied:

Hmm, I tend to disagree. I don’t think we really have much of an idea of what Faramir was aware of while he was delirious or what he remembered later. I’ve always taken the reference to grief for Denethor’s mood to refer to the causes of Faramir’s sickness generally, not the final phase of it (the direct context is explaining how Faramir became so sick in the first place, IIRC?).

And unless I’m misremembering, Gandalf is the one who says—after Aragorn’s healing—that Faramir shouldn’t be told the full story of what happened until after he’s fully recovered, even though he’ll have to find out that Denethor is dead. So Gandalf at least thinks that Faramir missed or isn’t going to retain the details.

Éowyn is also up and about while plainly not having dealt with her issues, so I don’t think we can assume that Faramir is A-OK about nearly being murdered by his father just because he’s moving around and personable. I mean, maybe he completely got over it in a few days, but I don’t think we have anything like certain evidence of it.

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

I reblogged an end of the year Spotify meme based in a site/app called "Judge My Spotify."

Tagged: #kjsj;afdk the epic score / two steps from hell/ queen fmk was extremely unexpected #lolololol

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

jubaah responded to this post:

That has been my hc for so long i forgot it wasn’t actual canon tbh… I tend to imagine Númenoreans looking like whatever in general, but the people who go on to become Gondor to have the same Beorianelvish look…

I replied:

Yeah! I mean, I do think that the line about how Númenóreans gradually became near-indistinguishable from Elves refers to all Númenóreans, but that the specifically Bëorian, startling-to-other-Númenóreans variant is what’s going to lead to the Dúnedain of Arnor and Gondor.

(& I also think this is a great excuse to headcanon random Peredhil just being born and mingling with the locals in Andunie ;P)

I replied:

Yesss. The scarcity of peredhil is one of the things that’s hardest for me to accept in a worldbuilding sense—like, sure, requires a special destiny etc etc, and it’s not a huge problem or anything, but when I think about it, there’s so much contact that it kind of strains my imagination. Especially once they’re barely distinguishable and just hanging out together in the Andustar. I mean!!!

Shorter version: I love that headcanon! Elves and peredhil blending into the Andustar is just this mix of super charming and kind of hilarious to me, and it also makes for a fun headcanon in terms of the local culture and norms and such.

Erendis’s description has always brought Morwen Elfsheen to mind, too

I replied:

Right? I imagine her as … a bit less !!!!!!!!!! than Morwen but still a really similar physical type who’s striking in that kind of intimidating, Elvish way.

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

I reblogged this post of mine about Youtube's algorithm being bad and added:

like, really bad

????

????????????????????????????????

Tagged: #WHY #literally all i watch are atla/lok clips and writing videos #and it's like ... oh would you like to see ben shapiro's ranking of the sw movies?? #me: NO. NO I WOULD NOT

Tumblr crosspost (23 December 2020)

I reblogged the "go write three sentences on your current project" meme and tagged it:

#muahaha #i sort of did it!

Tumblr crosspost (24 December 2020)

I reblogged a meme asking people what 2020 fanfic they were most proud of, and added:

#i didn't write much but #turning out a bunch of lucy chapters after years with no updates felt really good :)

Tumblr crosspost (24 December 2020)

I reblogged this illustration of Elrond and Celebrían by vinyatar, and added:

#this is so cute! #and an original elrond appears! #he's appropriately pretty too haha #and celebrían's hair... aww it's so nice

Tumblr crosspost (26 December 2020)

I reblogged a gifset/fancast for book Denethor by nenuials and added:

#whoa op #this is amazing and i'm so glad to see it #adjkf; this is just so refreshing #:))))

Tumblr crosspost (26 December 2020)

Still thinking of how Denethor and Faramir are explicitly compared with Gandalf  … and even Gandalf describes himself and Denethor as ‘two … terrible old men’ … and in Faramir’s case, his wizardliness is by contrast to Frodo’s Elvishness …

I just. They.

Tagged: #adkjf sam doesn't even know he's saying 'frodo is elvish but you have a maia vibe' but HE IS and it's just ????!!! #look. gandalf's powers may be dialed down from olórin's but he is still a freaking maia #and gandalf lumping himself in with denethor??? i am compromised

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

I reblogged a gifset by garethsedwards for an AU where Cassian is an undercover agent among the Partisans at nineteen and meets sixteen-year-old Jyn. I added:

#awww now i'm having persuasion au feelings #this is lovely!

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

I reblogged this video of the sea and added:

#:)))) #i don't know what this is but it reminds me of the tornado day when the columbia went kind of wild

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

Less offensively, Youtube keeps sending me lightsaber duel rankings, and … part of me is “rankings are ridiculous,” but the rest of me is “if the Cloud City and Death Star 2 duels aren’t in the top five, what are you doing with your life???”

Tagged: #the tension of the esb duel is amazing okay #and it's a radically different yet equally cool experience on rewatching which a lot of them ... aren't really #and the most powerful moment of ANY lightsaber duel is luke looking at his cyborg hand fight me #not that the choreographies and sound effects and so on aren't important parts of the experience but ... c'mon #anyway ummmm rankings are silly and extremely subjective and blah blah (but also i am right)

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

2020 fic writing post!

2020 was not my most productive year, but apart from the general state of 2020, I had a lot to do for my PhD and sleeping problems, so … /shrug. Anyway, this year—

- I got inspired by my “eh” feelings about TROS to outline a big chunk of my f!Luke series, and after (I think) four years of no updates, wrote some eighteen and a half chapters on The Jedi and the Sith Lord in something like six weeks. It’s now 67k.

- I updated my very niche Guild Wars 2 fic, pro patria, a kind of fragmented AU in which the “Missing Sister” option to say that the PC/Deborah are proud Ascalonians has a major effect on the PC’s character and story. I got Althea through a bunch of Ebonhawke/Fields of Ruin stuff, which was 50% of the motivation for writing it at all. It’s now at 89k.

- I finally finished the gift of men, the Eldarion/Faramir-and-Éowyn’s-daughter fic that has been rolling around my brain/Google Drive for years. It’s only a little over 1k, but I was really glad to get it finished and posted.

- I was overpowered with Ascalon/fuck the Searing feelings while playing the original Guild Wars and wrote a fic about the Prophecies PC’s last day (creatively called the last day) before the Searing. It’s also just over 1k and almost nobody read it, but it was really for me, so that’s okay.

- I updated tolerably well acquainted, my canon-compliant book-only P&P fic about how Elizabeth falls in love with Darcy from Pemberley onwards. Lydia just ran off with Wickham and Elizabeth reunited with Jane; I wrote about half of another chapter, but didn’t finish it. The fic as a whole is now 27k, which is kind of astounding to me tbh.

- I’d always thought of my Éowyn-meets-f!Faramir fic, we also are daughters of the great, as a one-shot, but got inspired by their canon scenes to take it further … and then got waylaid by Merry feelings? I don’t know. I also wrote about half of another chapter of this one before exams struck, so that’s partly done. I’d really like to get to the hair mingling scene! Someday. It’s 4800 words.

- I haven’t posted much of it (just this) or named it, but I started a fic about Darcy’s family (canonical and head-canonical) reacting to his engagement to Elizabeth/Elizabeth herself. It’s part of the tolerably well acquainted continuity, I think, and a kind of fun experiment with different voices. It’s 1500 words so far.

- I started a fic about Faramir’s birth and early childhood, but it stalled partway through dealing with tiny Faramir’s first dream of Númenor. I might get back to it someday. It’s 1300 words.

- I also brainstormed a Star Wars/Dungeons and Dragons fusion where Anakin is an aasimar (as are Luke and Leia), but the composite setting drifted far enough from either that it became an original fic in a universe powered by the blessings/curses of the gods. It follows a sorceress of the god of the Void who takes on the care of a troubled demigoddess. I wrote a ton of background material, but only 1200 words of actual fic.

- After only cutting things out and fixing the gaps for years, I wrote two full chapters of my original fantasy novel; I’ve decided to take out a big chunk of one of them, but even so, it’s very satisfying, and (after a lot of cuts) brought the whole thing to 72k.

And I think that’s everything!

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

An anon said:

as the year is ending I was going back through my journal of it and I found my notes for one of those "list your ten favorite female characters" memes, and one of the ones I had listed was given simply as "Althea" with no other notes or names. I couldn't remember who she was— my brain didn't have an image for her, so I knew she had to be from something text-based, but that was all I had to go on. I'd been googling and AO3 searching for days with no success. Then I saw your post and was like YEAH

I replied:

My Althea, really? I am … inexpressibly flattered, anon!

Tagged: #i'm just... #she is my girl but i did not expect her to be anyone else's!!

Tumblr crosspost (27 December 2020)

Honestly … associating Annabella Milbanke’s disastrous marriage to Byron with her opinion of P&P/Darcy is gross as fuck and I immediately lose respect for anyone who does it.

Tagged: #i've come across it multiple times and aghhhh #it's obviously a terrible take on austen but it's also so victim-blamey and ... ugh

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

heckofabecca responded to this post:

can you explain? ><

I replied:

Annabella Milbanke responded to P&P by saying something to the effect of “the interest is very strong, especially for Mr Darcy.” She also later married Lord Byron and had a terrible marriage. Scholars (and others) occasionally suggest that she liked P&P/Darcy for the same reasons that she was attracted to Byron (though that itself is a whole complicated issue). I think doing that is super gross.

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

Being an ace lesbian can be a hell of an experience sometimes.

#super fun to be in the crossfire! #or tacked-on afterthoughts whose opinions and experiences don't really matter to anyone. also fun!

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

Belatedly, re: my genderbending post:

brynnmclean said:

Solidarity, friend!

I replied:

Thank you!!! Gender feelings are so complicated and the intersection w/ genderbending is complicated and then people are like … That.

knighthooded said:

I felt this in my soul, thanks for putting it into words

I replied:

You’re welcome! Glad it’s not just me, honestly.

mairesmith said:

Matches my experience of gender perfectly

I replied:

*fistbump*

cosmonauthill said:

Late to the game on this but yes!! The idea that gender euphoria is something that everyone who isn’t trans experiences is so weird to me because I think most people live in a “well this is where the train stopped for me” sort of mindset? I know I certainly do.

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

“I don’t like Faramir with long hair” is a really odd thing to get on a reblog. Like … take it up with Tolkien.

Tagged: #éowyn is considerably shorter and yet their hair mingles in the breeze. qed #also tumblr keeps reccing quite nice art to me ... where it is not possible for their hair to mingle #like you get canon-compliant art of them once in a blue moon—and then people complain that it's TOO canon-compliant? #i mean fandom's going to be fandom but STILL

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

I’ve talked about it before, but it’s really weird to me when people complain about “Faramir is the one who goes to Rivendell” as a concept when Tolkien goes out of his way to emphasize that the sender of the dream favored Faramir.

Unless I’m misremembering, Faramir has the prophetic dream first, and has it repeatedly where Boromir only has it once, and everyone but Boromir agrees that Faramir should be the one to go. It was Boromir alone who insisted on taking Faramir’s place, and he managed to carry the day. No, it’s not that it was morally wrong for him to take the journey on himself; on the contrary, it was noble and heroic. But that doesn’t make it the only or best course of action when Faramir was clearly being favored…?

Tagged: #also pretty weird when people are like 'it would doom the quest' or 'it would change nothing bc faramir would do the same thing' #they're... different people...? #but also it's just really clear that faramir was meant to go #like—if i set out to write it again i would be way friendlier to boromir than i was at 18 #i'm really fond of boromir! #but i still wouldn't nail it to the railroad tracks of canon as if faramir and boromir are the same person #OR as if faramir cannot possibly be better equipped to deal with any situation ever than boromir #which is ... kind of how some posts on my dash seem to talk

Tumblr crosspost (28 December 2020)

heckofabecca responded to this post:

Oh mood

Like… Did they not read TTT???

My guess is that things would have gone *better*, for whatever definition of better there is, but that Boromir receiving the dream meant that his going ALSO ensured success because while he wasn’t preferred, he was still acceptable re:the quest being fulfilled

I replied:

I basically agree. I don’t think his going ensured success (too many other people’s choices etc at work), but he was a legitimate option to the powers that be, even though they preferred Faramir.

Tumblr crosspost (29 December 2020)

I reblogged this gifset of Tarrlok on the boat, about to commit murder-suicide + Tarrlok and Noatak playing together as children + Noatak's silent tear as he passively acquiesces.

Tagged: #i feel like suffering #:(((( #tiny noatak's concerned face always gets me ;_;

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

The user suyinsimp responded to my fic Ten Facts About Tarrlok, originally posted on Tumblr for a Tarrlok Appreciation Day in 2012. It's also at AO3. suyinsimp said:

#you have the absolute best characterization of tarrlok ever #noatak too for that matter

I replied:

Wow, thank you very, very much! I really enjoyed writing them and I’m still immensely fond of them both.

Tagged: #apart from taraka i think the last lok fic i wrote was years ago #so it's really nice to know that people are still reading and enjoying them!

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

I reblogged this gifset of one of my favorite scenes in all three seasons of The Borgias, Cesare's literally fiery defeat of Savonarola in full cardinal's regalia (somehow it only has 200 notes as of 3/18/2024???)

Tagged: #this was so so SO good #i was just thinking about it earlier today and hunted down gifsets just because #SO GOOD #i think it's still my favorite episode of anything #even more than the s2 finale! which is also really great! #anyway #enter my fave who has *cough* done nothing wrong in his entire life #2x09 #i think! my memory of the numbering system isn't so clear as it once was #but that does not diminish my love for this scene!

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

Reading stuff from 2019 is wild because it feels like it was just the other day, and also, like the intervening day lasted forever

[ETA 3/18/2024: damn, even that late, I had no idea what was coming. >_>]

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

I reblogged this manip of Cesare Borgia in red, contrasted against the buildings/colors around him, and added:

#how to burn your enemies alive and look great doing it: a book by cesare borgia

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

sulfin-evend responded to the April 13th 2019 post here:

The idea that Elrond is against Gondor somehow is a reoccurring idea in the tumblr fandom. So I went back to reread the Council of Elrond to make sense of it, and I can barely find one phrase that could be considered anti Gondor. Am I missing something?

I replied:

I think we must be interpreting Elrond’s description of modern Gondor very differently. For me, going on about how they’ve dwindled from imperial heights through intermarriage with inferior races is high octane Yikes and certainly negative towards modern Gondor. Especially given that it’s said with a Gondorian right there.

(It’s partly Tolkien being Tolkien, but only partly IMO: we later hear that the inclusion of non-Númenóreans in Gondor has contributed to the strength of Gondor’s people and is a way in which the Stewards were wiser than the kings.)

They also said:

Love the commentary on the names. Also i love that Elured is supposed to be a Taliska and Sindarin mixed name. The half elves do honour the human side of their heritage

I replied:

Thanks! I think Tolkien ultimately decided Taliska had died out by that point (since “The Problem of Ros” didn’t work out). But yeah, the peredhil are pretty consistently respectful towards their human heritage.

They responded to this post:

Headcanon; Gondor is full of various languages and bilingual people. Everyone knows Westron, but some speak Sindarin or one of many native ancient languages, words from dead languages come up in regional dialects.

I replied:

Total agreement! We know there are at least some place-names that have elements derived from indigenous languages, so it’s possible to extrapolate from that, and of course, many of the soldiers in Minas Tirith shout at each other in Sindarin. When we hear that people burst out singing in “all the ways of the City,” I like to imagine that it’s not just musical styles but all these different languages at once.

[ETA 3/18/2024: In the interests of full disclosure, they did later respond again re: Elrond and Gondor, but I find Elrond's characterization of modern Gondor so intrinsically indefensible that I had no interest in engaging further.]

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

Feeling this again—

Denethor to Pippin:

'And why should such songs be unfit for my halls, or for such hours as these? We who have long lived under the Shadow may surely listen to echoes from a land untroubled by it? Then we may feel that our vigil was not fruitless, though it may have been thankless.'

And, at last, the Eagles sing to the people of Minas Tirith:

Sing now, ye people of the Tower of Anor,
for the Realm of Sauron is ended for ever,
and the Dark Tower is thrown down.
Sing and rejoice, ye people of the Tower of Guard,
for your watch hath not been in vain

Tagged: #:') :') :') #he didn't live to hear it and would have had problems with royalist eagles if he had but also... RESPECT FOR MY PEOPLE

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

irresistible-revolution responded to this post:

😭😭😭😭

I replied:

ETERNAL MOOD!!

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

ylvaaaaan responded to this post:

I think it’s also likely that at the time, he was still in survival mode. Everyone in middle earth who was aware of the danger was. Often people don’t process their trauma until long after the fact. Just a theory, but as a person currently living through a deadly plague, I know I’m not processing it right now and it’s going to be a whopper in therapy a few years from now.

I replied:

Yeah, that’s very possible!

Tumblr crosspost (30 December 2020)

Normally I have a lot of words for things, but sometimes … O_O

Tagged: #this site used to be worse but sometimes it is still like... whoa an actual human typed that and thought posting it was a good idea

Tumblr crosspost (31 December 2020)

I’m using Samuel Johnson for my exam, and he’s such an odd character.

He was pretty conservative in some ways, but also a hardline opponent of chattel slavery; his argument against the American Revolution was that the drivers of slaves had no moral ground for talking about liberty, and he argued in “A Brief to Free a Slave” (1777) that “No man is by nature the property of another.”

I took a class in which he was only mentioned as influencing a female novelist towards making her heroine more docile at the end, which, yeah, but also, a lot of British people more radical than he was could only seem to grasp slavery as a metaphor for their own lives or extension of their own experiences. Johnson was like, nope, even accepting that a person can give up their own liberty, they can’t make the choice for their children and descendants. And he argued that most people who end up in slavery didn’t give up their liberty but were abducted and traded by merchants whose right to do this had never been examined anyway, and the whole system was morally abhorrent in law and in practice.

He also had a pretty sympathetic take on mental illness in 1759, saying “To mock the heaviest of human afflictions is neither charitable nor wise. Few can attain this man’s knowledge, and few practice his virtues; but all may suffer his calamity.”

Tumblr crosspost (31 December 2020)

I reblogged this gifset of an injured Cassian holding Jyn back from killing Krennic. I reblogged it directly from jubaah, who had said:

#:) #:D #i still cant believe the amount of drama there was over they not kissing when we have stuff like this... are you kidding me #this is the sexiest and best star wars couple. no i haven't watched most of the star wars movies and shows. but i know im right #the longing...

I added:

#you are so so so right

2020 is done!

To those of you who haven't been driven off by the massive quantity of cross-posts from Tumblr lately: thank you! I really wanted to get 2020 on Tumblr backed up over here and it now is. The other cross-posts should happen more slowly. I appreciate your patience as I've been dumping old posts here!