Moira's Musings

It's bad fanfiction with some good music and acting. I found out it was partially based on Frederick Forsyth's Phantom of Manhattan, so I decided to read that and see how he handled the post-ALW Phantomverse.

The answer is... not well. I don't know anything about his other work, but it seems like he wrote a rough draft and submitted it to a vanity publisher and called it good.

The thing is, there's a lot of potential in that book that could've been developed into something interesting if he'd just bothered to write more than one draft of the thing, and I've been playing with the idea of "fixing" it.

What I'm wondering, though, is whether that's something that would even interest anyone. Thoughts?

It's bad fanfiction with some good music and acting. I found out it was partially based on Frederick Forsyth's Phantom of Manhattan, so I decided to read that and see how he handled the post-ALW Phantomverse.

The answer is... not well. I don't know anything about his other work, but it seems like he wrote a rough draft and submitted it to a vanity publisher and called it good.

The thing is, there's a lot of potential in that book that could've been developed into something interesting if he'd just bothered to write more than one draft of the thing, and I've been playing with the idea of "fixing" it.

What I'm wondering, though, is whether that's something that would even interest anyone. Thoughts?

No, I heartily fucking disagree.

The majority of the world is default 'adult' space and should be, because kids become adults. It is not the job of society to become universally kid-friendly or kid-focused. It's the job of a kid's caretakers to supervise and guide kids in their auspices to be savvy about the things they see and hear.

The public library has a kids section and a general section; kids generally are still allowed in the latter. Television has 'kid channels' and then general content, where it is understood that adult content might exist - things that might be upsetting or incomprehensible to children. Unless you have parental controls installed, your kids are fully capable of watching violent and sexual content. These are accepted hazards of existing in the world. Why should the internet be different?

We might be talking past one another regarding what content is child safe or child friendly, what constitutes 'adult' content or 'adult' spaces. You've said 'tags count' but also that adult spaces need to be 'very limited' - I want to know more about how and why you think those limitations should apply. What constitutes an adult space, in your mind, and what differentiates it from a general audience or kid-oriented space? What barriers or sanctions do you suggest to enforce these distinctions?

Speaking of the Super Bowl, this is a screen shot of a video ESPN posted (the commentary text on the video is theirs) and I find it *fascinating* that the official video of the show didn't show this angle.

So most folks at home didn't see the shadow being cast on the ground, which is a very classic "hangman" from tarot. Although, I'd assume we're supposed to think of other hanging men when we see this. Strange fruit, if you will.

People are rejecting/accepting it based on the name.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who are not punished by the narrative by the end of the story.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who win.

😈 You are allowed to have evil characters who make evil look fun and cool.

😈 You are allowed to make your fun, cool evil character the protagonist.

😈 You are allowed to glorify, romanticize and eroticize evil characters and villainous acts.

          What if the demons of Hell had nuclear families with children who went on field trips? Where would they go? What would they learn?

           Asmodea is a quarter-human elementary schooler who attends the Sixth Circle Common School with other young demons who are all studying hard to become assets to the legions of Hell when they grow up. Today (though there are no real days or nights in Hell) Mister Astaroth will take Asmodea and her classmates on a tour of the nine Circles of Hell, complete with - yay! - interactive exhibits.

i feel like this is important enough to put on here.

This user is anti-censorship

This user believes in “don’t like, don’t read”

This user believes in “ship and let ship”

If you haven't seen it, please do. It was produced by Charlie Chaplin in the late 1930s, when it became clear that the war was going to happen, and came out in 1940 after it had started. Essentially, Chaplin realized that his famous mustache was about to be usurped forever by a fascist, and that fascist was going to kill a lot more people in the future than he had already.

It's a parody, made before the worst horrors of the Nazi regime were known to the general public, so there is discomfort here (if you've seen Disney's Der Fuhrer's Face, you'll get the idea), but the movie ends with Chaplin essentially saying "fuck it, no one else seems to be speaking out about this and I'm going to use my platform to do that."

For context, this character is a Jew who has been mistaken for the dictator (for obvious mustache-related reasons), and has been sent onstage at a rally to give a speech. Instead of trying to impersonate Hitler, he says what he really thinks. And keep in mind, Chaplin was coming out of semi-retirement for this. It was the first time most people had ever heard him speak, and this is what he said:

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone.

I should like to help everyone, if possible. Jew, gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world, there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful.

But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little.

More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life would be violent, and all would be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood, for the unity of us all. Even know, my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millionsof despairing men, women and little children. Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me I say: Do not despair.

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St. Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you!

You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!"