Targtowers 💚💛

Ewan Mitchell + laughter during the HotD S2 press tour

genuinely do think house hightower is cooler and more interesting than the targaryens, like dont get me wrong i like both but the hightowers take it. easily. their shadowy history of alchemy and necromancy, patronage of westeros' cultural and religious institutions, and big fuckass taller-than-the-wall lighthouse has bewitched me body and soul. dragons, blood magic, and a destabilising obsession with incest is all well and good - but institutional corruption and the delicate mastery of soft power? just too tasty. been on the wrong side of several wars and never lost a head or a penny from their main line because they know how to play the game. one of the richest houses in westeros and they know how to do it right ! funding the arts, sciences, faith. controlling the narrative. every message goes through the maesters, them and septas tutoring little lords and ladies, all roads lead to oldtown, and thats just how its done why would you even question it. how could you question it. and all the while the lord of the hightower sits up in the clouds in a tower built atop an unsettling ancient labyrinth of black stone, burning a flame that can be seen for miles, lighting the city every night. like good luck getting away with shit when theres no shadowy corners to hide in. the metaphor isnt subtle. every other house would wish they were the hightowers if they could conceptualise the higher plane this familys operating on.

chaoyang.substack.com

Chaoyang Trap | Substack

A regular exploration of contemporary China, one important niche at a time. Click to read Chaoyang Trap, a Substack publication with thousan

~From the article~

Nísù (泥塑): an online subculture of female fans fantasizing about male celebrities being female, often in the role of a lover, a sister, a daughter, or even a stepmom. 

Literal translation is "clay sculpture." 泥 Ní is clay (n.) and 塑 sù is to mould (v.).

Sū (苏): originally a Chinese shorthand for “Mary Sue” (玛丽苏), a fan-fic trope of idealized self-depiction.

Nísù, then, is a homophone of 逆苏 (“reverse-su”) and it is the gender of the celebrities/fictional characters that is reversed here.

~Extra~

Xiǎo xiān ròu (小鲜肉): teen male idol

Nì (逆): inverse (adj.)

~Fav quote~

“If in nisu, you are slut-shamed, impregnated, humiliated, pursued, hurt in the name of love, it is not because I hate you—it is because I hate myself. I give you all the suffering and passion my gender has endured. I live and die with you. And in the ashes of our shared fate, there is just me, you, and our humanity.” - 白媚娘bfk

EP 2 Thoughts

Jiwoong talking about starting in BL dramas and the mentors feeling ~weird~ after his performance 😭😭😭. I’m actually kinda surprised they mentioned his roles. Keita is sooo good! What a voice and he’s so sweet and charming. Sorry but I don’t care about the guy from Pentagon. It’s so obvious they’re creating a redemption storyline for Han Yujin, but once again I’m not moved. The scenes where trainees cry after achieving their goals (moving up a star-level) really drove home what I love about the produce shows: being able to witness people’s journeys to achieve their dreams. And last but not least, TOYONAGA TAKUTO!!!!❤️

NW: Boys Planet (2023)

I just watched the first episode of Boys Planet (I know I'm super late). I went in expecting little but was pleasantly surprised by the talent on display and the minimal scripted bits meant to boost so and so's popularity. My favorite trainees so far are Haruto and Sung Hanbin. My favorite moment was definitely Lip J and Hanbin tutting and whacking (played that part over and over again). I really felt like I was watching SDC; it was that good!

https://x.com/gyuivns/status/1621129034674614272?s=20

Excuse me sir

4/12/25

Tariffs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIhO4AJ1ZBY 

High tariffs are historically accompanied by extreme wealth gains for the capitalist class

High tariffs may promote the rebirth of domestic manufacturing, but those job/salary gains are offset by an increase in consumer prices

Tariffs artificially inflate the prices of foreign products, and reduce competition for domestic producers, allowing them to jack up prices in turn

Conversely, free trade (ex. NAFTA), destroys domestic manufacturing and enables American companies to offshore manufacturing and pay foreign workers a fraction of what they would have to pay American workers, increasing corporate profits

If Trump was serious about promoting American industry and helping the working class, he would use our tax dollars to fund factory-building, but instead, he wants to cut taxes for the 1%

Trumps wants to use tariffs to fund the gov’t so he can eliminate the progressive income tax

i am sooo normal about criston's loyalty to the greens haha i swear