This Is A Ritual, A Prayer, A Plea.

WoM (by @sharpth1ng) cope sketch

Look I love unconditional devotion love stories as much as the next person, but there's really something so deliciously raw about conditional devotion.

I have served you and I have loved you for decades, but I will not give up my principles for you. You cut out part of my heart and took it with you down that path that you insist on walking, but you walk it alone. Even when the bleeding, gaping hole you left in my chest kills me, I will not follow you.

I love soulmates but also this-

i wish more people knew about the goes wrong show. there's bad timing. inconvenient set design. battling egos between actors. people being cast woefully against type. one actress is always looking at the camera for some reason. one guy can never open containers and another guy can never open doors. the look of utter defeat on an actor's face when they realize what they're going to have to do to continue the scene. a christmas episode where santa gets drunk and belligerent. good actors playing bad actors playing characters. what could be more perfect?

I would just like to thank @official-time-loop-posts for making me aware of the Groundhog Day musical, it's pretty good. Another one for the list of "Classic movies I've only seen the musical adaptation of"

I have some random thoughts about Vace from Teenage Exocolonist. (It's been a while since I played, so hopefully I haven't gotten anything incorrect.)

He was always so insufferable at the start, but I really like characters who can grow and actually become better people, because that doesn't happen often enough in real life. And he really does change, if you can get through to him. It's not an instant, overly perfect change, it's still a struggle for him, but he never stops trying. He doesn't even ask for forgiveness from the people he hurt, he understands they don't owe him that, he just acknowledges his wrongs and tries to right them and be better.

And when you think about what the Helios society is like and learn about his upbringing, his past, it doesn't make some of his actions excusable, but it does make them make more sense. He was abused by his parent. His enhancement, according to the artbook, is a perfect body or something like that, though in-game it's listed as having a big dick. That's what he was raised to believe is most important in life. Helios seems to be a society of toxic masculinity and bullying and "might makes right." He says himself, "I was born because they knew they'd need the next generation of soldiers to fight." IIRC, Rex and Nomi are anomalies on Helios. Vace is the norm. Vace is the ideal. And he's still young. All the adults in his life are just as much to blame, and at least (again, depending on the ending) he's breaking that cycle. That's a credit to him. That he's willing to go against so much of what's ingrained in his mind, to face the regret or shame or pain that comes with acknowledging your wrongs, and say, "I'm going to be better than that from now on." The world would be a better place if more people did that.

Listen, in real life, I'd have most likely avoided him pre-change because he is a real asshole at the start, and I wouldn't blame anyone hurt by him for not forgiving him. But as a character, I like him a lot *shrug* There's more depth to him than it first seems there is, and he has a great redemption arc. And although some of his convo after he starts therapy is a bit cliche and maybe a bit more insightful than is realistic for most people, it's a great look at how someone's upbringing can mess them up and what it means to genuinely change and try to do right by the people you've hurt.

Also he did sometimes make me laugh when he was just being grumpy or full of himself 😅

hermes in hadestown is the exact opposite of an unreliable narrator. a tortured narrator. a little *too* reliable. incredibly aware of exactly what is happening at any given moment, vaguely spoiling it for you in the beginning, despairing every second of it. but ultimately motivated to continue to tell the story over and over and over with a smiling face for the sake of the audience, and for the sake of the characters themselves, singing it again to keep them alive. knowing how it will end, but singing it again so that the cycle may restart and eurydice may come back to life. enduring the misery of it all, over and over, holding the knowledge of what will come to pass but continuing anyway to see orpheus happy just one more time before it all goes down in flames again.

the most insane double casting i’ve heard of is ophelia and horatio being played by the same actress. the implications of that drive me crazy

Sci-fi short stories are so efficient; they take 15 minutes to read and then you think about them for the next 5 years

man this piece of media i like that's bad and sucks would be so cool and awesome if it wasnt bad and didnt suck. unfortunately,