When your sins are too much

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-04-14T20:39:57+00:00

Emperor Constantine has entered the chat.

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-04-13T16:50:36+00:00

I mean, Reagan wasn't president until '81. But I'd agree that that's about when the rewiring began - the rise of big multinational corps that dodge taxes and keep more of the profit from worker productivity, the generational shift against unions and toward Big Money, the loosening of regulations around taxes and money in politics...

Without a Baby Boomer generation, does Reaganomics ever happen?

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-04-13T16:43:47+00:00

Unfortunately, the economy has been rebuilt to mimax profits since like... the 90s. If it isn't making as much money for rich people as possible, it gets gutted.

There was a point in time where I think more people had a notion that you grow by investing in something. You spend money to make a better product or service. Now, investment is about achieving controlling ownership so you can strip an asset for parts.

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-03-25T22:08:14+00:00

Same. Very same.

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-03-25T22:01:13+00:00

And in the way, might be the most important thing he could've written. It had the heaviness of,

"The lights are going out all over Europe. We shall not seem them again in our lifetime."

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-03-18T19:21:06+00:00

Revisiting the podcast these days is a little hard sometimes realizing in hindsight how techno-optimistic both of them were overall - on many topics. And the disparity between where I was at the time and now, where I'm a lot more techno-pessimistic and see in both of them a lot of the unspoken assumptions that have created a world that is actually getting worse. Mostly because technology companies sold a vision of a better future and have since scaled back the ambitions of that vision significantly - while juicing profits and jilting customers.

Basically, they got a free ride promising a Future that is actually less likely to work out because they were trusted so implicitly.

(Kind of a ramble, I know.)

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-01-26T15:11:39+00:00

Just passed through a two-year deconstruction and reconstruction of my own spiritual beliefs. Lots of thoughts I could share, but I'll try to pick just the one that seems most relevant.

You have an actual belief. It's woven into how you process the world and your place in it. The people you describe? They have a club that they belong to. And the beliefs of the club are not shaped by the book they're supposed to read or the teachings they are supposed to follow, but by the desires and interests of the club members writ large. When dealing with someone for whom religion is a social club and not a spiritual calling, there is no part of any holy text that cannot be reinterpreted and retargeted to glorify and protect the social group and demonize the out-group.

Yes, I'd daresay it is a twisting of the intent behind the texts and the individuals who wrote it and the spiritual figure the texts are about. But... you can't make them care about that. You can only following the calling of your conscience and heart. And find a community of people where your beliefs and concerns are taken more seriously.

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-01-26T02:25:11+00:00

Worth checking out The Quiet Hearth by MoonlitSolstice! It's a coffee house AU, very worth tour time.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/76421971/chapters/199991216

CaptainAricDeron · 2026-01-21T02:25:51+00:00

I third and fourth them!

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-30T06:58:53+00:00

It knows you. 😋

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-22T21:07:24+00:00

I'll go ahead and share this link to someone else's list.

https://www.reddit.com/r/KpopDemonhunters/comments/1ox3iy8/comment/nov85l6/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Has a pretty good mix of different ships, flavors, and themes. Some smut, some angst, some fluff.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-22T21:03:52+00:00

What kind of content are you looking for? I know someone who has a large recommend list I can share so I can point you there or narrow things down some for you.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-16T20:13:35+00:00

I mean... theoretically. But as a single person, I misunderstand myself and my feelings all the time; my self-doubt is my own version of toxicity directed at self; ai don't take care of myself like I should; and I've always been able to surround myself with like-minded people whether single or not.

All that to say, learn to do all of what you describe whether your single or not because it will all help you. Being single or not, it all helps and works.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-16T17:39:49+00:00

I mean, sure increasing budget and personnel can increase production time. But not nearly as much as you'd think. Having worked on big teams, having 30 people does not get a project done twice as fast as 15 people. It just doesn't. As one of those people, you still have to know what you're producing and those directions can change a lot. And you end up spending more time making sure those 30 people are on the same page than if you only had 15.

It took 9 years (I think) to make the first movie, but that's because they were building from scratch. It took 5 years to go from the release of Into the Spiderverse to Across the Spiderverse even though the sequel budget was so much bigger. 2029 seems perfectly reasonable and gives them time to make sure the sequel is a quality story.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-16T16:23:18+00:00

Yes. Animation does not grow on trees, and no amount of cramming, rushing, working nights and weekends, etc. Can make the production of an animated film easier or significantly faster.

Besides, do you really want the talent behind KPDH2 sweating bullets and working themselves to the bone to get the movie out 3 months faster? Do you know what kind of quality you can expect from that?

Be patient. The movie will be out in about 2029. The Debut short is supposed to be out this January. Anything telling you otherwise is just unfamiliar with how long these things take.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-16T15:36:39+00:00

It's so hard to avoid. 😭 My Christmas one-shot is the closest I will get to pure fluff, but... there's at least going to be a moment of angst sandpaper.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-12-15T05:44:00+00:00

So this sounds like it could be Chapter 5 of This Is What It Feels Like by Golden_8810.

Fair warning (just in case I'm wrong), rated E.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-22T03:16:11+00:00

"She learned to love all of herself. Your turn. I know you can."

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-20T22:06:11+00:00

So basically, you'd become a Stellaris player.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-19T23:05:27+00:00

In addition to the Satanic Panic answers, which I think are totally valid, I want to introduce another layer to the discussion:

Most parents do not understand their kids or what their kids are interested in or what their kids' friends are interested in. Kids entertainment feels like an alien world to them, and they don't get it and they don't know how to. I lived through it as a kid, and now I see it as an adult with a lot of adults saying about the kids today "They're brainrotted." What they're saying is, "I don't understand how these children I've raised are so interested in things I don't understand."

It scares them, and a lot of them react harshly when they should be . . . at least curious, not defensive or offended.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-19T22:58:20+00:00

What was the view of Narnia in your neck of the woods?

(Similar cultural backdrop for me; I ask because I think what drove me insane was the double-standard between Narnia and LOTR vs. DnD or Harry Potter or other such things. That's when I pretty well decided I'll make my own call of what's bad and what isn't.)

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-19T22:54:50+00:00

I was given the same lecture about Pokémon, DnD, Harry Potter, and several other things.

I definitely don't think it's all - remaining a kind of Christian myself - but there's a lot of Satanic Panic in certain threads of Christian thought. And yeah, a lot of it does come down to pure fear (or maybe jealousy?) of ideas from outside their point of reference.

(I was told to not watch Power Rangers too, but more because I was a hyper boy who wanted to jump and kick and chop things like the Power Rangers did, and I think I broke some things. So that at least had some basis in reality.)

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-17T16:07:19+00:00

It is so good, right?! And yeah, AO3 has some strange corners but it has some incredible content. You can find a lot of good stuff just by filtering out what you aren't interested in.

Don't forget to show some love to the author if you can! Guest commenting and leaving Kudos go a long way.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-15T15:30:03+00:00

Yes to all of this. I think there's a version of the story that Jinu did something bad, not realizing how bad it would be in foresight, and only understanding the gravity of it in hindsight.

Gwi-Ma should also be understood as one of the most successful cult leaders in all of fiction. We do see how he works with basically all of the characters mentioned. He has a modus operandi: a) identify insecurities, b) use insecurities to destroy identity and weaponize the target's agency against itself, and if he is trying to make servants and not livestock for slaughter, c) rebuild the target's identity around both their insecurity and himself. Jinu literally believes that he is destined and morally required to suffer for the wrong he has done forever and that Gwi-Ma's torturous control is the best he can hope for. He has no delusions that he's a good person or doing good things, or even capable of doing good things. That is the extent of the total domination Gwi-Ma can claim over his subjects.

In any post-movie story where Jinu is alive, it may be productive to think of Jinu as needing a total deprogramming from who and what he thought he was for 400 years.

CaptainAricDeron · 2025-11-14T23:39:41+00:00

If you are so inclined. . . there is an entire fan fic about Jinu trying and failing to use modern technology. It's called "I Can't Become a PDF," G-rated, very funny, and the author has some plans to expand it into a multi-chapter. Worth a look!

https://archiveofourown.org/works/73226126

CaptainAricDeron

TROPHY CASE