10, 19, 20, 28.

10. Quote

I actually have several quotes that I love, but my favorite non-song lyric quote is from Virginia Woolf.

“Life is a dream. ‘Tis waking that kills us. He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life.”

Some of my other favorite quotes are from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and CM Punk, so there’s that.

19. Actor

I actually don’t have a favorite actor. It used to be Nicolas Cage when I was a kid (I somehow managed to con my parents into giving me money to see Face/Off FIVE TIMES IN THE THEATER), but his work after City of Angels/Face/Off/The Rock has really sucked. As I got older, Johnny Depp became my favorite, but HIS work has been super lacking, so now I don’t really have a favorite actor. I guess Ryan Gosling and James McAvoy are the closest I have to  a favorite actor.

20. Food

Mashed potatoes. If I were on death row, I’d want my last meal to be a gallon-sized bowl of mashed potatoes only.

28. Country

I’ve unfortunately never said the chance to travel outside of the United States, but the country I want to visit most is Australia.

I'm sure you don't know but I'll ask just the same...WHY are you so feminist?

Well. Um. The answer to this question isn’t very cut and dry.

I suppose I first became a feminist without realizing it because my father, like most men, left the majority of childrearing to my mother. My mother, however, is not society’s definition of what women should be. She’s brash, abrasive, aggressive, and never minces her words. She’s angry and she lets everyone know it. She does her own nails and knows how to fix electrical shortages. Her accessories always match but she knows how to change the oil in any car. She wears purple eyeshadow and is the biggest football fan I know.

Most importantly, my mother never placed any gender constraints on my sister, my brother, and I.

I was never expected to wear skirts and dresses daily, but I could wear them if I wanted to. I was never told that there were separate toys for girls and separate toys for boys, and had both Barbies and action figures. I never had a baby doll or a kitchen set forced on me. My mom is a very crafty person, but she never forced me to learn how to cook and sew and make things. 

At home, I had no idea that society had separated girls into a lesser category. I had no idea about things like the myth that girls are bad at math, because while I wasn’t good at math, my sister was and still is an ace at it all while having awesomely fabulous curly hair. I had no idea that boys were supposed to be mean and tough because my brother was and is still the most sensitive person I know. At home, there were no rules based on our genders. My mom’s rules were gender neutral, and applied to all three of us regardless of our gender or ages.

Going to school and interacting with other children is what made me realize that girls were considered less than and treated like shit. I was constantly told by other boys in the class that I wasn’t allowed to like wrestling or comic books because I was a girl. Boys talked to me like I was stupid, and like many women, boys felt the liberty to do things like push me, pull my hair, make fun of my clothes, make fun of my glasses. The teachers said nothing. Other adults told me that it meant that the boys liked me. That teasing and bullying led to being sexually assaulted by one of my classmates in second grade. The school’s reaction was to move to me to another classroom, and told my parents and I that it would be best to keep things quiet.

Of course, at eight years old, I had no idea what misogyny and sexism and patriarchy was, but even though, I knew instinctively that there was something very, very wrong with how the school reacted. And I was angry.

Slowly, things started to click as I got older. As I got through middle school and was hit on as I walked down the street by lecherous older men, as boys in class spent their time snapping my bra, that anger intensified. By the time I hit high school and was labeled too fat to date but guys willingly accepted make out sessions and handjobs, I was a ticking timebomb of pure, unfiltered rage. 

It wasn’t until I graduated high school and entered the workforce, and had to endure things like being paid less than every man that held the same position I did, when desperate friends of mine called me begging to pick them up because they couldn’t live with their abusive boyfriends anymore, when my gay and transgender friends cried on my shoulder because their parents couldn’t accept them, when my mother confessed to me our family history that included my grandfather beating and sleeping around on my grandmother, that I was finally able to discover the language, and more importantly the words, of what I was feeling.

I understand now that while there were some events in my life that led me down to this road, I would have found it anyway. I would have found it because of women like my mother, my grandmother, my sister. But really, I don’t feel like I chose to be a feminist; I feel like I was meant to be one, no matter what.

I do want to point out that feminism itself is a dirty word to society as a whole, and even within academic and social justice circles, feminism is problematic due to the exclusion of women of color, as well transgender/transsexual people. I understand these concerns, and fully agree that the academic feminist circle is very exclusive, dismissive, and downright arrogant to those who never had the chance to study women’s studies at prestigious expensive schools. I didn’t finish college, so I’m primarily self-taught when it comes to feminism. Even I feel excluded at times.

But my personal feminism is intersectional; I firmly believe that everyone, white women, women of color, transgender people, asexual people, even men need to band together to reshape our society because it is harmful to EVERYONE. Certain people suffer more, but as a whole, our society is damaging to every single person within it. 

So why am I so feminist? I am so feminist because the world shouldn’t be this way, and because it is my duty as a decent human being to try and change this in any way I can.

Are you watching the new season of The Walking Dead? Opinion?

I am indeed! My overall general opinion? Even thought it’s only two episodes in, this season so far is six BILLION times better than last season. 

Pros

-THE TREATMENT OF LADY CHARACTERS. This show has never been great at portraying their female characters as anything other than gross stereotypes, so the change this season is REFRESHING. Maggie is both a badass zombie killer yet still vulnerable and in tune with her emotions, and isn’t shamed for it. Carol is exhibiting more agency, and her exchange with Daryl in the first episode had me DYING, it was awesome. The writers have even wised up with Lori; instead of trying to tell the audience that she’s one thing where her actions on screen say another, they’re embracing the huge mistakes they made with her and framing it for her characterization. It’s totally working. 

-The pace is so much better. Let’s be honest, the characterization of their characters has never really been their strong suit. It’s only because of the actors (i.e. Norman Reedus especially) that the characters are memorable. This show is, above everything, about the atmosphere of their enviroment. The show’s best moments are always the action scenes, and they haven’t failed to deliver so far. And with the Governor looming on the horizon, those action scenes are going to be great.

-That being said, even though the show’s strong suit isn’t the characters, they’ve done a MUCH better job with portraying the core group. The characters are not only much more cohesive and know how to work together, the toll that their existence is wearing on them is so much more apparent. I think the time jump has worked wonders and has revitalized the show, giving the audience more layered and complex characters to root for.

Cons

-The framing of the Andrea/Michonne angle. I understand that they’re trying to keep Michonne a mystery for the audience who’s never read the comics, but at the same time, I feel like they could have shown more of her while still keeping that mystery. I know we’re only two episodes in, so this is really just a slight nit-pick on my part. But I don’t think they’ve even revealed what her name is yet? What’s the harm in telling the audience her name so they don’t have to refer to her as the black woman with the sword?

-Again, this is slightly nitpicky, but I’m a little miffed that they gave Hershel Dale’s storyline. But that’s because I’m a canon elitist.

-While the show has been doing better with the characterization of the core group, they still failed with the prisoners in last week’s episode. Especially with the leader of the prisoners, he was really stereotypical. 

-The logistics of the virus spreading within the prison. Obviously we know that everyone is a carrier of the virus; however, one has to die in order for that virus to be enacted, so to speak. So how did the virus take over the prison? Did a prisoner die of some sort of natural cause, like a heart attack, then reanimate? Was a prisoner somehow bitten? There were civilian zombies in the yard, so I’m guessing that the prison was being used as a safe shelter. Did civilians that were bitten go to the prison, looking for shelter, and died? That would explain how the virus spread so quickly in the prison, since typically, the virus is spread through bites, but if you look closely, the prison guards in riot gear did not have any bite marks. How did they die, and then reanimate? It’s just really confusing, and it’s bothering me that the group didn’t question the surviving prisoners about it.

Possible concerns going forward

-The Woodbury storyline. For those who haven’t read the comics, I’m not going to spoil it for you. But really, I am most concerned with how this is going to play out as a whole.

• The Governor is one of the most monstrous villains I’ve ever seen. I don’t even find anything redeeming about him, and I have a history of loving monsters. The actions he commits are horrific, gory, and sadistic, more so than anything we’ve seen on the show so far. I don’t know how AMC is going to be able to pull that off. 
• From what it looks like, it appears that Andrea and Michonne will run into the Governor next week. This is not how it happened at all in the comics, and I’m worried about how they’re going to get the major players involved this story to the community. Again, I’m a canon elitist, and while I’m willing to give this show some leeway with foregoing canon (i.e. Daryl’s entire wonderful existence), I will not be okay with them changing the characters that are involved in this. 

-While the show has been better with their characterization, I’m still terrified that they’re going to backslide and the lady characters are going to be one-dimensional offensive stereotypes again. What can I say, I suffer from TV Show PTSD, I’m always waiting for everything to become horrible.

☼ Because you are a motherfucking ray of sunshine.

☼ Something You Love

This motherfucking ray of sunshine really loves her fucking cats. Even more so than Buffy Summers (who would be the next great love of my life).

♡

♡ Five More Favorite Songs

• Suburban War, Arcade Fire
• Monster, Kanye West
• Schism, Tool
• In Exile, Thrice
• The Lost Souls, AFI

Superhero Boyfranz and OT3 of History and Legacy, because this week has sucked and you feel my happy place.

I’m going to save the Superhero Boyfranz for a ship manifesto that can be rebloggable. Because it is time that I write it, and my feels are so frenzied that it needs its own post. For now, I’ll just say that the lines of shipping are so blurred with them that I ship them both in kayfabe and “real life” too.

But the OT3 of History and Legacy! Gurl you know they’re our babies. The three of them are so great in their own individual way, but put them together and it’s magic. Any combination of them, Shawn/Hunter, Taker/Shawn (which you know I’m partial to), Hunter/Taker, the three of them together…it’s not just magic, but it’s really just like a soap opera with Shawn in the center of it. The glue that holds the triangle together, the one that Taker and Hunter orbit around. I really don’t think you can have any of them without the other two at this point in their careers. Taker, in my opinion, began his path to greatness with his feud with Mick Foley, whereas Shawn obviously became a star thanks to Bret. Hunter’s ascent is very much different, whereas it was his marriage to Stephanie or Shawn’s retirement that gave him his chance. But at the end of the day, it is the three of them together that defined their individual legacies. 

Wrestlemania 28 was the cultivation of their history and their legacy. And it was one of the most beautiful moments I’ve ever seen in all the years I’ve been watching wrestling. Our weekly gross sobbing about the match build-up was one of the most fun times I’ve ever had being a fan. In a nutshell, while the three of them achieved greatness on their own, they are immortal when they’re together. And legends, especially these three, will never die.

No idea if you're someone who gets excited about stuff like this, but what were your thoughts on the deleted Nagron scene? Because I thought it was awesome and perfect and insert a loooooot of feels and I love all the meta that is floating around about it, but I'm curious about your thoughts :)

I do get excited about deleted scenes! And I have to say that the deleted Nagron scene itself wasn’t incredibly significant and it makes sense why it was cut, what I absolutely love is the fandom’s response to said scene. Spartacus is one of the most intelligent TV shows I’ve ever watched, and the fandom follows in the same suit. Flyingthebanners’ meta is SPOT-ON and perfectly worded, but what REALLY amazes me is that I don’t think the writers intended this scene to be an example of character development, but the fandom TURNED it into an example of character development. Spartacus as a show has constantly delivered thought-provoking and incredibly deep scenes/writing throughout its entire run, and as such the fandom is almost conditioned in a way to examine each and every scene as if it is character development, even if it wasn’t what the show intended at the time. Does that make sense? Basically TL;DR the scene itself was cute but it was the fandom’s response to it that really makes me love it.

Ummmm Jon/Stannis? IDK WHAT YOUR OTPS ARE BESIDES THEM AND SCIENCE BROS

Ugh oh God there is such a lack of Jon/Stannis in A Feast of Crows and it is making me super sad I just want Team Honorable Sexually Repressed Warrior Kings is that too much to ask.

I also have a theory that Jon fascinates Stannis because Jon is everything that Stannis strived to be but he also envies him because people love Jon for the very thing that they despise in Stannis and you can’t tell me nothing.

AND IT’S OKAY, IT’S HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF MY OTPS BECAUSE I AM SUCH A MULTI-FANDOM SHIPPER IN GENERAL. A small portion includes

-Charles/Erik, X-Men: First Class
-Richard/Jimmy, Boardwalk Empire
-Agron/Nasir, Spartacus
-CM Punk/John Cena, WWE
-Simon/Alisha, Misfits
-Caroline/Tyler, The Vampire Diaries
- Buffy/Herself, Buffy the Vampire Slayer

I don't actually KNOW what your BE otps are but please educate me!

RICHARD/JIMMY. ALWAYS AND FOREVER. THE BROS THAT SCALP RACISTS TOGETHER WILL ALWAYS BE TOGETHER IN MY HEART. Because they are the only ones who will ever understand a semblance of what the other went through. Because their kinship goes beyond an exchange of goods, whether those goods be currency or liquor or political power. Because even during his extreme downward spiral, Jimmy still saw Richard as his equal. Because Richard loved Jimmy enough to let him go, even though Jimmy was his only link in the world left. Because at the end of the day, they would have fought for each other right down to the last bullet.

In a very much platonic sense, I ship Chalky/Dunn, Gillian/Richard, and Nucky/AR.

I also ship Nelson/Freedom from his repressed childhood, Angela/Happiness/Agency, Gillian/Sound peace of mind, Margaret/Power, the Boardwalk Ladies/Freedom from the misogyny held by the man who created them (still side-eyeing you, Winter. Still side-eyeing you).

TELL ME ABOUT ALL YOUR CURRENT NAGRON FEELS.

My current Nagron feels are a bit subdued at the moment, but will more than likely start raging again once the new season of Spartacus begins in January. Still, though, this pairing is so goddamn perfect it takes my breath away. The relationship itself, the characters themselves, and what they represent is just so…refreshing.

It is so wonderful to see a canon gay couple whose main issues are OUTSIDE of their sexuality. The biggest obstacle to their long-term happiness isn’t their sexuality, their confusion over it, or homophobia. The biggest obstacle to their long-term happiness is that they are soldiers fighting a war against a ruthless regime, and I know that they’re never going to get that happy ending, but at least it won’t be because they’re gay. Not to mention neither one of them are the ridiculously over-the-top and offensive gay characters you normally see on TV. Their sexuality, while important to them, isn’t their defining characteristic. 

I swear to God, Nagron is only one of many reasons why Spartacus is seriously the best TV show that no one is watching.