Also, A Friendly Reminder, The World We Live In Now Consists Of An Active Genocide.

Hey so like many of you, I saw that article about how people are going into college having read no classic books. And believe it or not, I've been pissed about this for years. Like the article revealed, a good chunk of American Schools don't require students to actually read books, rather they just give them an excerpt and tell them how to feel about it. Which is bullshit.

So like. As a positivity post, let's use this time to recommend actually good classic books that you've actually enjoyed reading! I know that Dracula Daily and Epic the Musical have wonderfully tricked y'all into reading Dracula and The Odyssey, and I've seen a resurgence of Picture of Dorian Gray readership out of spite for N-tflix, so let's keep the ball rolling!

My absolute favorite books of all time are The Haunting of Hill House and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson. Classic psychological horror books about unhinged women.

I adore The Bad Seed by William March. It's widely considered to be the first "creepy child" book in American literature, so reading it now you're like "wow that's kinda cliche- oh my god this is what started it. This was ground zero."

I remember the feelings of validation I got when people realized Dracula wasn't actually a love story. For further feelings of validation, please read Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. There's a lot the more popular adaptations missed out on.

Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier is an absolute gem of a book. It's a slow-build psychological study so it may not be for everyone, but damn do the plot twists hit. It's a really good book to go into blind, but I will say that its handling of abuse victims is actually insanely good for the time period it was written in.

Moving on from horror, you know people who say "I loved this book so much I couldn't put it down"? That was me as a kid reading A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Picked it up while bored at the library and was glued to it until I finished it.

Peter Pan and Wendy by JM Barrie was also a childhood favorite of mine. Next time someone bitches about Woke Casting, tell them that the original 1911 Peter Pan novel had canon nonbinary fairies.

Watership Down by Richard Adams is my sister Cori's favorite book period. If you were a Warrior Cats, Guardians of Ga'Hoole or Wings of Fire kid, you owe a metric fuckton to Watership Down and its "little animals on a big adventure" setup.

A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry was a play and not a book first, but damn if it isn't a good fucking read. It was also named after a Langston Hughes poem, who's also an absolutely incredible author.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury is a book I absolutely adore and will defend until the day I die. It's so friggin good, y'all, I love it more than anything. You like people breaking out of fascist brainwashing? You like reading and value knowledge? You wanna see a guy basically predict the future of television back in 1953? Read Fahrenheit.

Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee are considered required reading for a reason: they're both really good books about young white children unlearning the racial biases of their time. Huck Finn specifically has the main character being told that he will go to hell if he frees a slave, and deciding eternal damnation would be worth it.

As a sidenote, another Mark Twain book I was obsessed with as a kid was A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Exactly what it says on the tin, incredibly insane read.

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin is a heartbreaking but powerful book and a look at the racism of the time while still centering the love the two black protagonists feel for each other. Giovanni's Room by the same author is one that focuses on a MLM man struggling with his sexuality, and it's really important to see from the perspective of a queer man living in the 50s– as well as Baldwin's autobiographical novel, Go Tell it on the Mountain.

Agatha Christie mysteries are all still absolutely iconic, but Murder on the Orient Express is such a good read whether or not you know the end twist.

Maybe-controversial-maybe-not take: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov is a good book if you have reading comprehension. No, you're not supposed to like the main character. He pretty much spells that out for you at the end ffs.

Animal Farm by George Orwell was another favorite of mine; it was written as an obvious metaphor for the rise of fascism in Russia at the time and boy does it hit even now.

And finally, please read Shakespeare plays. As soon as you get used to their way of talking, they're not as hard to understand as people will lead you to believe. My absolute favorite is Twelfth Night- crossdressing, bisexual love triangles, yellow stockings... it's all a joy.

and those are just the ones i thought of off the top of my head! What're your guys' favorite classic books? Let's make everyone a reading list!

do u ever think about the jab tak hai jaan soundtrack and think wow that composer was on a different kinda drug

Were others as uncomfortable as me when Yijin in ep12 said, 'It doesn't matter that she (heed) doesn't know what she's doing; I know.' Maybe it's a mistranslation, but in the present version, it came across as paternalistic and very odd.

*sigh*

listen, i get you. it’s very easy to misinterpret or misunderstand this line, and i don’t think there’s anything wrong with your reaction. the way we react to text within or without context comes down to our interpretation, and sometimes our instinctive reading does not take into account the larger picture shown in the entire text.

i can’t speak in terms of translation, but i’m going to tag the lovely @consigliere-vincenzo in case they have any remarks about the translation of this scene as a whole (please feel no obligation to engage with this unless you want to!)

what i can offer my take on is the meaning of the line as i hear it and understand it within context, because context is where the majority of meaning is formed.

firstly, i hear two implied endings to this line:

1. she doesn't have to know what she's doing, because i know what she’s doing towards me.

2. she doesn't have to know what she's doing, because i know what i’m doing towards her.

i believe that both of these endings exist at the same time; they are equally implied within the first part of the line, and are equally important for the negotiation of meaning behind it.

what comes across to me in both of these versions is a statement of trust and a vow of reliability.

in the first instance, i hear the meaning of even if hee do doesn’t understand the full meaning of her actions, i trust her to do things the right way. even if she doesn’t realize what her actions towards me imply, i see her feelings and accept them. even if it takes her a long time to translate her feelings and actions into words, i know her well enough to understand her without her needing to explain herself. i know what she’s doing about our relationship and i’m going to stay by her side until she sees it through. i know her well enough to see her heart.

in the second instance, what comes to focus is the difference between yi jin and the “cutie pie character” (never letting him outlive this) in the way they approach a potential romantic relationship with hee do. while the “cutie pie character” doesn’t know what he’s doing, as he’s just as likely to be serious about his relationship with hee do as he is to get tired of her after abusing her feelings, yi jin knows what he’s doing. while the ex-boyfriend is careless about how he treats hee do, yi jin is careful to never hurt her feelings, to never overstep or take advantage of her. while the ex-boyfriend doesn’t know hee do well enough to harbor any real feelings towards her as a person and not just a pretty face or a successful fencer, yi jin knows every facet of her personality and knows that there is real feeling behind his actions towards her, and her actions towards him. while the “cutie pie character” will approach the relationship without responsibility towards hee do’s needs and feelings and prioritize his own, yi jin naturally puts hee do’s needs first and doesn’t even dare to cross the line between friendship-coded behavior and romance-coded behavior, because he values her emotional well-being more than his own. so hee do doesn’t have to know what she’s doing in terms of their relationship, or whether she’s doing things the right way, because she can count on yi jin to know what he’s doing. she can make mistakes for both of them, because he is careful not to make any.

with yi jin, hee do can be vulnerable enough to do things by instinct instead of by logic, by feeling instead of by thought, because yi jin trusts her instincts and feelings, and because yi jin is committed to always putting her first.

as this line is the culmination of yi jin’s speech, all of these meanings are encoded in the statements he makes before this one and supported by his previous behavior and words towards hee do. if yi jin’s reaction towards the ex-boyfriend seems out of proportion to the conversation, that’s because yi jin’s feelings are much bigger than the ex-boyfriend’s. it’s because he cares intensely while the ex-boyfriend is willing to toy with him and hee do that yi jin gets really angry, because who is this person to question their intentions towards each other when his own do not come from a place of genuine love? who is this person to accuse yi jin or hee do of not knowing what they’re doing, when he clearly doesn’t know the consequences of his own actions?

if anyone is being “paternalistic” in this situation, it’s the ex-boyfriend, who keeps infantilizing hee do by calling her by a pet name, and tries to verbally “win” the right to date her, as if the matter should be solved between him and yi jin, without taking hee do’s opinion as a factor at all. yi jin is clearly uncomfortable with this conversation from the start, and systematically counters the ex’s usage of the pet name by placing emphasis on hee do’s name in his sentences (it’s not always translated but listen and you’ll hear it), thus continuously asserting her autonomy as a person and not the idea of a girlfriend. when the ex questions hee do’s judgement, yi jin implies that even if hee do is unable to put a name to her actions and feelings, he trusts her to know what she’s doing, and she can rely on him to know what he's doing.

interpretations are subjective, and your feelings are valid -- but i hope my analysis helps you understand the line in the way that i do.

What to boycott NOW to help stop Israel’s unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

BDS Movement

What to boycott NOW to help stop Israel’s unfolding genocide of Palestinians in Gaza

We call on our supporters to strengthen our targeted boycott and divestment campaigns to maximize our impact!

Reminder that boycotting DOES work, there is historic proof! Don't let anyone discourage you otherwise!

The BDS movement uses the historically successful method of targeted boycotts inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the US Civil Rights movement, the Indian anti-colonial struggle, among others worldwide.

We must strategically focus on a relatively smaller number of carefully selected companies and products for maximum impact. Companies that play a clear and direct role in Israel’s crimes and where there is real potential for winning, as was the case with, among others, G4S, Veolia, Orange, Ben & Jerry’s and Pillsbury. Compelling such huge, complicit companies, through strategic and context-sensitive boycott and divestment campaigns, to end their complicity in Israeli apartheid and war crimes against Palestinians sends a very powerful message to hundreds of other complicit companies that “your time will come, so get out before it’s too late!”

no but i am actually going to cry. grover being played by a desi actor will forever make me cry as a desi person who never saw himself in pjo because there weren’t any desi characters because this is THE representation we need

Please keep calling your representatives to ask for a ceasefire.

The situation is getting worse with the passing of time.

If you have the possibility to donate, you can do it here:

Doctors Without Boarders

Barzilai Medical Center 

Palestinian Children's Relief Fund 

Anera

Medical Aid for Palestinians

Arab.Org

Here’s to 2023, a year of as many little courageous kindnesses as possible. ♥️