More like a white Friar Tuck

Perturabo is back, is a sick giant mecha monster and wants to unleash a plan called the Infinite Citadel, which is neat. Guilliman and Yvraine had a baby. He actually carried it, the Yncarne did an immaculate conception thing, there was a Gav Thorpe novel about it. Gav also did a Votann novel which was generally well received. Everyone is looking forwards to Total War 40k, but are kinda cynical of Creative Assembly’s ability to do a smooth launch. Games Workshop sent a Pinkerton to Alfabusa’s residence, trying to do some WotC shit. The guy broke in and it turns out Alfa is like 7’2” and threw him out a second story window. Swedish court ruled it was self defence. Darktide is getting a Skitarii DLC, which is very exciting. Everyone is keen for that. Games Workshop fucked up one of their promotional renders and made people think it was maybe AI, but it wasn’t AI and they apologised, taking a strong anti-AI stance. Good to see, honestly. Dan Abnett released a new novel called Hive which is very good, but very Abnett-y. Everyone is watching 11th edition arrive with the usual cautious weariness, hoping the game isn’t too ballsed up. The opening narrative stuff for it is based around Armageddon and the return of Yarrick. PancreasNoWork got caught at a LotR LARP day (in Kuwait) fucking a Legolas cosplayer in an inflatable hobbit hole. Oculus Imperia is still releasing consistent, good quality lore videos. Go watch his stuff. TWW3 is preparing for a bunch of End Times DLC. Oh, and GW is getting rid of their Black Library site for some reason. Pushing their shit app or whatever. You can watch Astartes II on it when that comes out, I guess. Or the new Aeronautica animation where Aeldari pilots actually style all over the Imperium.

Winn Adami who spent so much of her life imprisoned under fascist regime with the threat of genocide looming over her. Who never partook in the resistance but instead turned to prayer and faith in a jail cell, relied on it to get her through those dark, dark years. Who behaved like the perfect faithful servant, who dedicated her life to her faith, who did everything she was supposed to do. She was non-violent and peaceful. She was dutiful and good. She did everything she was asked to do, everything she could have done. And none of it was ever enough

Can you imagine that? Dedicating your life to something, doing everything you’re supposed to do in line with your faith, everything that those that came before you did to hear their voices, and it isn’t enough? You were good. You never raised a hand to anyone. You taught what you were supposed to teach. And they never speak to you. They could, but they don’t. Instead, this human comes along, and they speak to him. They make him their emissary. They say nothing to you, day in and day out, they’re silent. You become the leader of your faith and still they’re silent. How do you become anything else than what she becomes? How do you become anything less than angry? Bitter? Resentful?

Kai Winn is frequently treated like she hasn’t suffered the same as so many other Bajorans, she’s talked down to about her faith and her people, she’s treated like she’s on par with those who oppressed her. And I’m not saying she’s in the right- but man, can you blame her for ending up the way she does? She endured a lifetime of trauma by clinging to faith and the idea that if she was good enough, if she listened to the Prophets and did their bidding, taught their teachings, then everything would work out. She would be rewarded. And she never is. Her entire life is a battle that she never wins. No wonder she’s angry. No wonder she’s bitter. No wonder she’s resentful and petty and condescending

Peter Pan edited by Anne Hiebert Alton (2011)

(sorry to interrupt joke post but) this is true!

Children not clapping did happen too, (and some were even expected to have hissed, which was later written into the 1928 playscript and 1911 novel). But my all time favourite anecdote about it is from Pauline Chase (who played Peter)'s intro to Peter Pan's Post Bag 1909:

Children love to clap their hands at the play because then they feel that they are really part of it, and you can see them holding their hands poised ready to seize an opportunity. Their great chance is when I ask them to clap their hands if they believe in fairies, and so save Tink's life. But they are very wrathful if any one claps who has the reputation of being a cynic, and once there was quite an uproar in the front row of the dress circle because of a girl who clapped. Those about her pulled down her arms angrily. "How dare you clap," they cried, "when you know you don't believe in fairies!" There was one dreadfully hard-hearted little boy who came to the theatre not to clap. That was his object for coming, and he came round "behind" to tell me so in the middle of the play. His teeth were firm set. "I won't clap," he said doggedly; "I'm not going to clap." And when the time came he didn't clap; above the clapping of all the others I could hear him shouting from a box, "Peter, I'm not clapping."

All Star but it’s in a minor key so it makes you question life and realize the years start comin and they don’t stop comin

aka, the theme song to Shrek 9: Shrek’s Third Divorce

Clip of Sam Nicoresti (she/they), she has a comedy special available in full on YouTube if you want more:

Both come from the Latin "burgus", meaning castle or fortified town. A burglar being someone who bypassed the security of fortifications.

Meanwhile burger comes via Hamburg, the burg of Hamma.

Centaur Watching Fish by Arnold Böcklin (1878).

My own favorite paintings of centaurs in mundane situations include "The Centaur Playing with Her Child" by Otto Soltau and "A Centaur Playing with His Son" by Otto Bache

That text post that's been making the rounds that goes something like "Omg you made it to the same red light as everyone else but faster and more dangerously and recklessly, should we call nascar? Do you want a medal?" summarizes exactly what I'm trying to talk about.

It's like when I have to change buses at one of the bigger and busier bus stops, and the people who get off the same bus as me shove and elbow past me to get off before me, and then shove and elbow past anyone even slightly in their way on the way to the bus they're switching to, only to end up on the same bus as all the people they shoved and elbowed, with several minutes to spare before it leaves and plenty of open seats left.

I think this unnecessary urgency a lot of people feel in their day to day lives drives a lot of bad behavior. I'm not saying I'm innocent of this (is anyone's?), I've felt it too in plenty of situations that didn't call for it, and regrettably was less kind than I should have been as a result. But I try to be aware of it, and always try to ask myself it it's really as urgent as my lizard brain is trying to tell me it is, and even if it was urgent, does that still justify unkind behavior?

Is shoving or elbowing another person aside going to make the difference between whether or not you make it to the bus before it pulls away? (hint: at least where I live, most of the time that's a no because the drivers usually won't leave if they see people from another bus heading towards their bus). Is shoving and elbowing people aside in a crowded grocery store going to make any real difference in how quickly you get your shopping done?

- Waiting in line at the store and the person behind you creeps closer and closer to try to pressure you forward, and ends up violating your personal space and making you uncomfortable, because they think creeping closer and pressuring the person in line in front of them will somehow get them through the line faster (it won't)

- Going through a self-serve buffet, and the person behind you keeps creeping closer and closer to try to pressure you to serve your food faster and get a move on. All it achieves is that you can't scoop your soup without elbowing them, and that's somehow your fault

- Crossing a crosswalk when the car waiting for you to cross creeps closer and closer to you to try to intimidate you into crossing faster (because using a 2 ton metal machine to try to intimidate a fleshy little ape you could easily kill with said 2 ton metal machine isn't acting like a bully at all no sir-ee)

- Honestly a huge heap of the poor treatment of service workers is also rooted in this sense of urgency in things that are not actually urgent

I run a panel at anime conventions about how to make your panels more accessible to disabled people, and one year I had an attendee with a severe stutter who wanted to make a comment. It was relatively short, but of course, because of his speech impediment it became much longer.

He actually cried a little after the panel and told me he couldn't remember the last time someone held an entire room in silence until he was done and didn't make him feel like he had to try to hurry up.

I told him nothing I had to say was more important than showing I was serious about holding space for disabled people and letting them speak for themselves.

He told me he's been in other "accessible" places where that isn't true.