people who let how "annoying" a character is completely influence their judgement of them won't get this but kai winn is absolutely iconic for being abrasive and rude to sisko when every other bajoran is sucking up to the emmisary. she said i don't care what the prophets say, you are Not waltzing onto bajor and taking our artifacts. and she was right. she was rude to weyoun too. she already was tortured by the cardassians for refusing to respect their power and she's not going to let whatever current bullshit convince her she should stop either

like. people argue that "at least dukat is less annoying/charming" as if this reflected POSITIVELY on him lmao. yeah at least dukat is a narcissist who needs to constantly seek validation from people he doesn't even respect or he'll keel over. you're right he's clearly a better person

Winn is also completely reasonable to go, "We have just come out of two generations of alien occupation and cultural oppression, and so I'm questioning the motives of this alien in claiming to be our Emissary and also letting an unqualified person teach our children that their religion is fake."

Some might say that going on to try to assassinate Bareil was unreasonable, but no, I'm on her side there, too.

People on Tumblr love sharing information about themselves no matter how asinine it is. And I'm the same way. Everybody tell me what the last thing you drank was.

I usually have to buy this online, but I picked up a box at an Afghan grocer in Brisbane, and the moody teen looked at it and said, "This is a really good tea. I didn't think white people knew about it."

And she's right, it's a really good tea, and I don't want to gentrify it, but it would be cool to be able to buy it in a shop at home.

Going to stake out the bold position that Starfleet Academy will be good, actually.

I've heard it described as "Star Trek by way of Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and I can see why that would turn off some long time fans, but, like, BtVS is one of my favourite non-Star Trek series of all time, so until I have proof to the contrary, I shall assume it's a matter of two great flavours that taste great together.

I don't understand fans who lack the humility to let a new thing actually try to be new. Our favourite show already exists! That's so nice for us! Maybe we'll like this new one. And if we don't, that's okay. Our favourite show already exists! The great thing about stories is that they can never be taken from us. Hmmm. I wonder if there are any Star Treks about this.

absolutely no humility fron the crowd who said that Lower Decks looked like trash five years ago.

No humility from the crowd that said that Picard looked like the best thing ever six years ago.

The embargo is up tomorrow afternoon (my time) and I'll share my review then, but I am actually convinced that someone in the SFA writers room is on Tumblr, or at least aware of the things that Tumblr Trekkies specifically want in a Star Trek.

one thing that works about the benoit blanc movies as a franchise that has tanked other franchises for me (aside from the stupendous acting, clever screenplays with meaningful commentary, and sheer passion for filmmaking done by people at the top of their game) is that the movies aren't connected at all. yes i want 12 more of them. no there cannot be one single mention of any plot point of any of the other ones in any of them (and thankfully there never will be). there's no fatigue of having to keep up with 20 characters' storylines, or remember anything that has happened previously. it's a blank slate every time. plus! they all admirably possess the same distinct style (thank you, rian johnson!) but at the same time are vastly different between them, in sets, costumes, types of characters, interactions between them, etc. so refreshing

The only time it is acceptable for Blanc's sidekicks to meet and interact is in fic, and I will not read that fic because it's not what I am here for.

Every attempt to like, "explain tradwives" or whatever (or basically "explain" the presence of conservative, far-right, alt-right, and otherwise reactionary women) always seems so focused on finding one single thing to blame it on ("they're disillusioned with girlboss feminism having gone too far" and "actually they just wanna do bdsm" being the two worst ones imo) and yet no one seems to have come to the conclusion that women are fully autonomous individual people equally capable of being religious fundamentalists, White supremacists, nationalists of all kinds, and, yes, misogynists for mostly the exact same reasons men are

I think this is sort of a reductive take, but I strongly recommend the Cursed Media podcast Truly, Tradly, Deeply for a very long, detailed deep dive into tradwife culture, its origins in anti-feminist backlash, right wing politics and social media, the different forms in which it manifests (which includes, yes, a backlash against "girlboss feminism" and also, separately, sexual fetishes), and its ties with Christian nationalism, white supremacy and the rise of everything making the 2020s so terrible.

(It's behind a paywall, but worth it if you can spare US$25, and the first episode is free on the QAA feed. The hosts are an academic and journalist who each specialise in online extremism and radicalisation, and they bring a lot of empathy and critical thinking to the subject.)

Women leading the Star Trek franchise

Anika and Liz don their snazziest outfits and beam down to Vulcan for the most miserable wedding we’ve covered yet. It’s Star Trek: Enterprise‘s “Home”! In which T’Pol marries some dude, while Archer goes rock climbing and Phlox encounters the spectre of xenophobia on Earth. 

I hope you're all excited for my treatise on how Erika Hernandez is the beta version of Katrina Cornwell!

When I was about to go to college my dad, who is a thoracic surgeon specialized in lung cancer, sat me down and told me I could be a stoner, but absolutely not a cigarette smoker

His logic was:

@buticaaba you are absolutely correct! My dad hates vapes. He says the lungs of cig smokers look black and kind of like asphalt, and that the lungs of vape smokers retain their pink color but are covered in burn like blisters. He participated in a double lung transplant on a 20 year old vape smoker and has done multiple drainings of vape smoker lungs that filled with fluids because they’re absolutely full of blisters.

When you smoke cigs you’re clogging your lungs with tar and other nasty stuff, but when you hit a vape you’re quite literally giving your lungs chemical burns.

Medicinal cigarettes used to be a thing! For example, my grandfather was advised to smoke menthol cigarettes for his asthma when he was fifteen.

Anyway, he died of lung cancer 36 years later.

Something that I really like about Voyager and Tuvok is that Tuvok is not a science expert. He’s not a scientist. He’s a tactical officer. Basically every other Vulcan we meet is a scientist of some kind. Spock is the XO and the Science Officer. T’Pol serves the same roles in Enterprise. T’Lyn is also a science officer, but not The.

And then there’s Tuvok. Who’s Chief of Security and the Head Tactical Officer. He also does not share input often on scientific matters, not unless it’s something that concerns him. He asks clarifying questions. I love it. I love love love that Tuvok isn’t the stereotype of smart sciencey Vulcan. He’s a master of combat.

This was super duper controversial when Voyager premiered! Fandom was very upset that Tuvok was (a) Black; and (b) not a scientist.

The racism goes without saying, of course, but there was also a hell of a lot of "It is ILLOGICAL to become a security officer and tactician instead of a scientist! All Vulcans must be scientists or diplomats! That is what IDIC means!"

I'm not watching the gay hockey show (but I'm happy for you guys), however, I will take this moment to once again point out that networks are missing the opportunity to do a lesbian football/soccer drama. You wouldn't even need to make up the plot, you could just adapt the messiest storylines from real life. And I do mean messy.

That season where the player leaves her wife for a married, hitherto-believed-straight TV actress? WILD.

The hive allowing Carol to slowly be driven to suicidality so that she’ll come crawling back to her out of abject loneliness and emotional starvation and at no point do they tell her someone is looking for her. Someone believes in her. He’s putting his life on the line for her. She is his only hope. They let her believe she’s really alone for a month. Totally alone. Universally hated. But she’s not, but what she doesn’t know can’t hurt them!

Not only did they let her get to that point, but they drove her to a state where she is more bonded to the Hive, knowing it would drive a wedge between her and Manousos when they finally meet.

I hate the Hive, but I lowkey admire their manipulation game, you know?

Anika and Liz attend a four-day Klingon bachelor party — where the feats of strength include somehow NOT developing a time machine to go back to 1997 and fight the entire DS9 writers room for Jadzia’s honour. 

Yes, our wedding series has brought us to Star Trek: Deep Space 9‘s “You Are Cordially Invited”, and we have … questions. Concerns. Loud protests. And that’s just Anika’s cats!

There are some scenes in late DS9 that feel like they were inserted purely to put Avery Brooks in his place. And the big Ben and Jadzia scene in this episode is one of them. It's absolutely terrible, and also, unfortunately, the episode's highlight.

So you're telling me that in Wake Up Dead Man, this Catholic Church:

I knew right away that there was going to be something seriously wrong with this church because there was no crucifix.

Like. My dad is a super conservative Catholic. The sort who might be buying what Monsignor Wick is selling, except. There's no crucifix in the sanctuary. When I was a kid, we attended a church with very modern architecture, and instead of a crucifix, it had a sculpture of Christ sort of hanging out in mid-air near the empty cross. To signal the Resurrection.

"It's a nice idea," my dad sniffed, "but it's not appropriate."

Even by the standards of ultra-conservative Latin Mass-attending dads, Wick was out of pocket, and I really appreciate the little details that which made that obvious to people in the know.

reading bad media takes online will never compare to the exquisite torture that is trying to have a conversation about basic literary analysis with your own family members

discussing media with people online: can you please put down the greek mythology for a second and actually read the text in front of you

discussing media with your parents:

Worse, actually, is having this conversation with family who are convinced they are good are literary analysis because they did rhetoric in highschool in the 1950s. Or 55 year-old men in general.

My family does the history version of this, where, like, I'll mention that I read a book about Mussolini and my mum will say, "Oh. So do you like him?"

No, I just wanted to understand him. Likewise, if I read about Robespierre, it's not because I like him and think the Terror was great, I just want to figure out why it happened.

elaborating on the post i made last night, women’s hockey is where it’s at if you watched heated rivalry and want to see it happen irl!!!

the montreal victoire have a married couple on a line together (captain marie-philip poulin and assistant laura stacey), which led to this iconic line. and yes that’s them wearing shirts of it at their bachelorette party

as for RIVALRIES let’s talk about the OGs, captain of the american team julie chu and captain of the canadian team caroline oullette, who now are married and have children together!! they played against each other in THREE olympics

not to mention current rivals, girlfriends emily clark (assistant captain of the ottawa charge) + jamie bourbonnais (assistant captain of the new york sirens) who met and played together on team canada

the vancouver goldeneyes have TWO couples on it now, captain ashton bell + rookie nina jobst smith and veterans michaela cava + emma greco, who are finally reunited after playing against each other on different teams last year

and that’s just a small percentage of the players who are together!!!

anyways the PWHL season is on now, watch it (on TSN/CBC/Sportsnet in Canada and on YouTube in the USA/internationally) if you want to see actual gay hockey players