#midweekblues

2 days into the routine and the boredom is already hitting me so hard! 😩 Parang ang tagal-tagal pa ng Friday!

I just want a long rest right now. My brain is in complete shut-down mode. I'm literally counting the hours until my shift ends.

Since you've also watched Black Sails, I wanted to ask you: parallels? Maybe? Mostly Flint vs Drummer? (or actually, Nassau Vs the Belt) But somewhat opposite narratives? I don't even know if you could call them parallels or if it makes any sense to relate/compare the two shows. BUT the brainworms are real.

I can't really elaborate right now, so feel free to ignore this if it doesn't make sense 🤣 i just wanted to leave this here, just in case.

What a great ask! I feel like I'm gonna ramble a lot to get to my point, but I'll try and make your question justice =)

So, disclaimer: I adored The Expanse; I deeply deeply enjoyed it, and came to passionately care for its characters, so on so forth. But one thing that I learned the hard way is that it is better for me not to compare any show I like to Black Sails, because what that comparison ends up doing for me is usually to point out how incomparably good Black Sails is above anything else ever.

Now, does this mean that I didn’t think about possible comparisons between the two shows? Hell no. And I do believe that there is something good to be said there about the character work both shows made, both in terms of individual arcs – it could be argued that Camina is a Flint who’s been given Max’s arc – and in more general terms of how nuanced and thought-provoking and subtly progressive the characters in both shows are; how we’re allowed to explore the emotional backlash of every single choice they make; how their psychology feels grounded and real even through all the war and grief and loss they’re all constantly facing. And yet…

And yet, if I look at the overall philosophy of these shows, at their deeper meaning, at the deeper story they tell about the state of the world, I can’t help but feel that The Expanse is yet another narrative convinced that Civilisation is the good guy, and that in the dark there be dragons. There are physical incarnations of Civilisation that may be corrupt, sure: we spend the whole of the first seasons fighting them and outgrowing them. But in the end, the biggest enemy humanity has is a dragon born of darkness, and the best shot humanity has is to come together to fight for Civilisation, and against the dragon.

Now, do I blame the Expanse for this? Absolutely not; were it not for Black Sails, I would not think it possible to have any show articulate the revolutionary idea that there is freedom in the dark once we illuminate it. It’s Black Sails that sets the bar too high; the Expanse is thought-provoking and subtle and progressive in its own ways. I just think that those ways are better found in the character work. Which means that I’ll revel in the thought that the character of Naomi even exists: a marginalised woman who’s a brilliant engineer and who’s allowed by the narrative to put her own survival and shot at happiness before her motherhood, without it depriving her of her capacity for love. I’ll rejoice at thinking that we got a male hero such as Holden: a quiet, physically frail man whose strongest suit is his deep compassion for others and whose arc is fulfilled by him letting go of power. I’ll stand in awe in front of Camina Drummer, pirate queen extraordinaire, a marginalised queer woman who’s allowed to fight and love and lose and emerge from her all encompassing grief unbroken, unbent, unbowed, wielding unimaginable power with which to protect her people. And I could go on raving about Avasarala, the literal more powerful person in the universe being a woman of colour who so easily exudes authority and assertiveness through her every move that she could single-handedly end sexism and racism by the simple act of standing in a crowd and commanding it; or about Bobby Draper of my buddy Amos or anybody else, really.

I recorded @midweekblues outstanding lyrics.  One take, no practice.  I know it’s flawed.  If folks like it, I’ll make a serious attempt.

@midweekblues I’ll delete if you want.  I couldn’t figure out how to reblog your post and attach the audio; I’ve never done this before.

Oh, now this is a juicy little challenge! This goes without saying, but these are ranked by how much they intrigue me/how fun they are to watch, rather than any ideological reasons lol and also not in any specific order until the top 3, they're all so close

This got so long, so readmore time! TW for brief mention of sex crimes and suicide

i don't live far north at all by norwegian standards, but in the height of summer there is never a true night here, more of a perpetual twilight during night which lasts about 3 hours maybe?

i genuinely love it. i love the timelessness of it, and there is nothing like walking home after a night out and it's either twilight or the sun's coming up. for me it's just an essential part of summer - i always got thrown the times we spent in mediterranean countries during summer, bc it always felt like the day just suddenly ended?? like boom it's 10pm the sun is Gone.

mind, i quite like winter days too!! but there has to be snow, because snow lights everything up (not an exaggeration! there is a stark difference between a snowless winter night and one with snow).

midnight sun is a different beast. obvi mostly this comes down to what you're used to, but the few times i've spent up north north (within the polar circle), midnight sun has just completely thrown me off. it is literally daylight 24/7, and (when you're unused to it) it fucks with your brain a little haha.

like, it never gets dark down where i am (which is about the same latitude as the Shetland Islands, IIRC?) but there is still a clear distinction between 2am and 2pm. Not So up north.

Changes, Light, Ocean?

Changes - what signals the changing of the seasons to you? 

Winter to spring: “nice” days exist but are generally really windy, birch trees have their leaves again, sky is cloudless and actually blue for once

Spring to summer: sunny days with the perfect balance of warm and windy, glorious foggy mornings that never stick around past 10:30

Summer to fall: everything is very bright and warm, but in sort of a crisper way than usual, air tastes dry, EVERYTHING IS SUDDENLY ON FIRE OH GOD

Fall to winter: things have mostly stopped being on fire, first rainstorms of the year, the people on this one street near my house take down their thirty or forty ghost decorations from the trees and put up their thirty or forty light-up wire stars...

Light - night owl or early bird?

I think I’m more of a morning person overall, but that might just be because it’s the one time when I can get stuff done without interference from anyone else.

Ocean - what’s your favorite sea creature?