By @levinky_art On X

Getting a canon trans woman character was not on my bingo card but damn am I happy about it

One of the latest works

no i dont think richard was "not smart enough" for the greek class. but lets not pretend his monetary status is what kept him from fitting in. Bunny was not rich, despite his illusion of wealth/big rich guy persona and his 'friends' knew this. Even the twins weren't well off, lol. Only Francis and Henry were wealthy.

The reason richard never became a core part of the group (unless absolutely necessary) was simply this: he was boring. he was a voyeur whose sole purpose was bearing witness to something greater than himself (nnnot really. all these guys were kind of pathetic and swept up in the tides of their delusions.)

that is part of the tragedy of richard and his entire story: he wanted, so badly, to be a part of this group, this other-worldly phenomenon that could never really accept him. he got swallowed whole and spit right back out by the very people he had built up to be these divine beings of perfection. He becomes doomed to forever feel the grief of a rejection so in-his-face and the only closure he gets is some fantasy he forces in a foggy dream.

Fellow "The gray house" enjoyer yay 👊😊

yeah! I even have fanarts for this book!

Red

Vulture

Corpse

And my fav one!!

" <...> Skull himself sat on a simple bench. Not in a hundred years would you suspect that he ruled this place, except everyone knew that he did.

When Grasshopper looked at him, Skull seemed to radiate an invisible halo. It was not apparent to the eye, but it separated him from the background, made him brighter. Like they do with light in old movies. And the fact that he was just sitting there, lost in the sea of mere mortals, only strengthened the effect."

s1 jayvik in my mind

Judy Poovey — Fancast + Moodboard

Rachel Sennott as Judy Poovey

“I found her lying in her bed, watching a Mel Gibson movie on a VCR she’d borrowed from the video department. She was managing somehow to polish her fingernails, smoke a cigarette, and drink a Diet Coke all at the same time.”

So I just recently finished The Secret History by Donna Tartt and let me just say, Judy Poovey is my baby!!! Anyway, just was thinking about actors I would want to play her, and I just thought, ‘Oh my god, Rachel Sennott!’ you cannot tell me that she wouldn’t be a perfect Judy I mean come on!!!

The failure of Greek myth retellings

This is a personal rant about how I, as a Greek and mythology lover, view these modern retellings and how they came out more as a disappointment.

Here are some examples of forced labelling from the book sites like Bookreads:

Do you see a pattern? Is not only they are telling the audience rather than showing how "feminist" are these retellings but also..

Man vs woman

According to the retellings all ancient Greek men are bad, sexist, misogynists, worthless, abusers and women are girlboss ✨. But it's obvious that humans regardless of gender are complex beings.

But when you read the Original epics you realise that women have as much importance in the story as men. But not in the way you are used to...

The women aren't afraid to speak their mind, they have agency, they are a driving force the admire, but it's not with shields, armor or physical strength. They are also showing it with kindness, empathy, cunning but also with anger, sorrow, vengeance.

Penelope, Electra, Antigone, Ariadne, Andromache, Helen, Cassandra etc. ARE strong women! They don't have to go to battle to prove it!

BUT that also doesn't mean we should glorify the women who are abusers and do wrong things!

Clytemnestra for example, exiled Orestes, had her daughter Electra a slave, showed proudly her Trojan women (also slaves) and killed Cassandra an innocent woman.. Do i understand how and why she acted? Yes 💯. Does this justifies her actions ? Of course no.

Medea, killed her brother and her children, and also poisoned Jason's next wife and her father because "she wanted to make him suffer like her". Do i understand why she did it? Yes. Does it justify to have everyone suffer because of one man? No.

Hera, punished several women and men alike because she couldn't do it on Zeus (because he is the king and stronger). Is cheating bad? Yes. Does it justify her to punish someone who was obviously a victim or was powerless against a god? No.

The retellings:

fail to do complex characters.

fail to let the audience come to their own conclusions who's right, wrong or neutral.

They fail to make daring characters without be labelled on a modern stereotype.

Fail to understand the norms of ancient Greece and how they shaped these stories.

Fail to realise that men and women are more complex than modern stereotypes.

I am not against retellings but do better! Making a great retelling respectful to the source and having complex characters with quality reading would be deeply appreciated.

And to the readers to not rely on retellings as "faithful resources".

view from a california beach town

hot take maybe, but my opinion of you automatically dives if the first reaction you have to a cool character is to ask if there’s a c.ai bot of them. write shitty fanfic like the rest of us, or just maladaptive daydream if you must. find a community and rp online!! we’re losing important social and writing skills to a tech product controlled by and overseen by the slimiest, most exploitative billionaires silicon valley has seen in a generation and we’re doing it willingly???

i was thinking about lesbian winterpapen and then i imagined henry winter as a really tall buff lady and i ripped my shirt off and started howling at the moon