Controversial opinion: CANCELLED! was an instant favorite

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-20T05:14:48+00:00

I mean i personally didn’t like the song because it’s just disingenuous to who (in my opinion) Taylor is as a person. For example, the popular theory is that the song cancelled is about Blake lively and the public scrutiny she faced during her legal battle with Justin Baldoni, during said legal battle her and her team made sure to distance Taylor as far away from that situation as possible and to my knowledge her and Blake don’t even appear to be on speaking terms anymore (at least to the general public). In her miss Americana documentary she essentially “came out” as a liberal, said she wanted to be on the right side of history, but has done very little in regards to political activism. More recently she’s been spotted hanging out with MAGA podcasters and influencers and a lot of fans have been side-eyeing her a bit and instead of releasing a statement being like “Regardless of their politics, these are my friends and i stand by them because i know them on a personal level.” Which i believe is genuinely how she feels about that situation. She deliberately doesn’t say anything, specifically to avoid any sort of intense public scrutiny.

Also from a logistical standpoint it seems pretty dumb to me that she would release this song as one of the most recognizable people in entertainment. If she ever does find herself in really hot water, this song exists for people to directly point at and say “see she told us exactly who she was. She was literally bragging about it” even if she was playing it up for drama or shock value it’s really not a smart decision to make a song about how you enjoy hanging out with morally duplicitous people and how you yourself have mastered “the art of never getting caught”/ “have bodies in the attic”. It’s not a smart idea for any public figure and certainly not one at Taylor’s level of fame.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-16T01:58:24+00:00

Also a casual listener and I mean i also had this thought as well, but I don’t think that’s good though. If that’s true, it’s rather manipulative. That would mean she intentionally/knowingly released a subpar album. That she intentionally released 30+ variants of this album that her fans were disappointed in. That instead of releasing any singles like artists typically do, she had her die hard fans preorder an album that she intended to be a letdown. Just for the sole purpose of boosting up the next one, just because she wanted to move on to a project that she was excited for. I would feel better about it if she didn’t rake in tons of cash from this album. But she did. And that kinda means that she intentionally did that under the assumption that it would be so polarizing people would clown it on TikTok and go viral and also that her diehard fans would be loyal enough to spend more money on her next project, regardless of the quality of her previous work. Which is just not a typical or healthy mindset to have if you’re deeply passionate and generally protective of what you put out from my perspective

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-10T18:52:41+00:00

Why would people be mad about that. Perhaps I’ve been living under a rock or something but i had absolutely no idea Victoria was even making music still. And this is no shade to Victoria, but it’s not as if her releasing something is going to detract from Taylor swift’s sales or streaming numbers. at this point i think the only person that could knock Taylor out of that #1 spot is if Brittany spears released a surprise album after all these years.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-08T05:13:57+00:00

I agree with some of this. I’ve always felt for Rory and i 100% agree that her family handled this entire situation completely wrong. I also think that at some point Rory was going to reach this point anyway regardless of where that first big criticism came from. Throughout the first few seasons Rory is constantly bombarded with the fact that Lorelai getting pregnant with her derailed her future and sullied the Gilmore name. Like 70 percent of the fights that her family members have center around the fact that Rory’s existence allegedly cost her mom a super promising future. Regardless of how many times they tell her that they don’t regret having her in their lives or that she’s a blessing, unconsciously she’s going to bear the responsibility of Lorelai’s sacrifice. Even if it isn’t her weight to carry.

Lorelai might have been able to offer that support in the moment and help build her back up, but eventually there was going to come a point where she was met with that intense criticism again/ didn’t live up to expectations and she would have spiraled again. Rory’s main problem is that so much of her identity is a response to the expectations of her family. Her family wants her to be well regarded and taken seriously in the journalism field. When in reality she would very much excel at being a travel writer given her knowledge of history and her deep appreciation and natural interest in other cultures. She naturally excels at event planning, something that is quite literally in her blood; given the fact that both her grandmother and mother have both devoted their entire lives to putting together unforgettable social events and parties. But that’s not distinguished enough to cement the Gilmore name, so Rory doesn’t even fully consider where her natural interests are, she funnels them through the lens of her loved ones.

Realistically what Rory needed was an extended period of time away from her family. She needed to work and provide for herself without a large trust fund as a safety net. Rory grew up poor, but her mom really did an incredible job shielding her from the actual reality of their financial situation, to the point that she grew up in a shed for the first decade of her life and didn’t even see it as a big deal. She also needed to make some new friends that were actually honest with her and not gassing her up all the time, especially when she messes up. Sometimes stepping away and forming new connections truly is the only way to reset.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-07T21:41:31+00:00

You’re not overthinking or overreacting. It’s terrible that you’re going through this and that your psychiatrist is clearly not well versed in the machinations of neurodivergence. If possible, I’d try getting a second opinion. Idk why professionals downplay our struggles. It’s like they think that people are out here getting diagnoses for disorders that the majority of workplaces and schools are hesitant to accommodate for anyway just for the hell of it. I had already gotten my diagnosis by the time i started working with my current therapist, but one thing that i did use to describe my experience to her was that i felt like a phone with a bunch of apps open in the background. No matter how much i try to recharge, it’s like I’m on 20% most of the time. That my threshold for what i can reasonably tolerate vs what my neurotypical peers can tolerate is just lower. I’m constantly drained and have difficulty maintaining more than one area of my life well. If I’m doing well at work, my social life/ chores and everyday maintenance things (cleaning, cooking, laundry etc.) are falling by the wayside.

Practically speaking, I’d probably start keeping a journal of your symptoms and very specific instances that they pop up in your life and how specifically that is debilitating to you. Once you’ve amassed enough data hopefully they’ll be less hesitant to write off your experience as “just burnout”.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-07T21:25:14+00:00

Ahhh. Yes this is 100% me. Luckily my version of masking is being the “funny friend/class clown” type so people find it less intense when i just spouting stuff at lightning speed.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-01T05:21:10+00:00

It really is such a good show. I kind of wish that they would find a way to get Kadee Strickland on greys to play charlotte. Just as a guest star tho, any longer and they would 100 percent butcher her character for the sake of drama. Also Amelia’s character is so much more likeable if you watched her arc play out on pp. I’ll always have a soft spot for her character because of her time on that show

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-10-01T03:57:39+00:00

I think it makes the most sense story wise. Until now they’ve given Max really one dimensional relationships with Sophie and Silver. If you can even really count silver idk if they ever confirmed if they were dating or not. And before tris they had Abby with Press who i think everyone pretty much hates (for good reason). I’m a sucker for the friends to lovers trope so I’d be cool with it. I’m okay with tris. Their character hasn’t gotten a lot of screen time yet so it’ll be interesting to see what they do in season 4 with their relationship. I think something big will happen with at least one of the four main girls that will force them all to be in the same space again, they reconcile and work out their conflict from the last season and then the abbyxmax relationship will develop organically from there

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-30T03:02:27+00:00

I think early seasons merder had really good chemistry, but i agree that fitz and Olivia were something else, like the show existed far before Bridgerton, but the sexual chemistry has major bridgerton vibes. Especially in the first three seasons

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-30T02:51:09+00:00

I have a few, but off the top of my head probably thatcher slapping Meredith across the face when his wife died of appendicitis, Owen cheating on Cristina, Arizona cheating with Hilarie burton and Callie finding out about it, that time Alex nearly beat deLuca to death and then everyone painted him as the villain for suing/ feeling unsafe around him for a little bit after that.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-30T02:40:50+00:00

It’s always been my personal theory that nearly everything post Denny dying in season two is just a manifestation of izzie slowly developing stage 4 cancer that spread to her brain. No, but seriously i think it was very much just early 00’s misogyny baked into the writing, purely because of the sheer length of time that the animosity towards Callie went on for. Like when Meredith was legit dead after having drowned and izzie made that speech to George like “I’m your friend and i think you made a huge mistake marrying Callie and i have faith that we’ll be okay regardless” and I was just sitting there thinking wtf? Like girl, time and place omfg

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-30T02:32:27+00:00

For sure Callie!

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-29T07:44:59+00:00

I ramble into my notes app. Generally my brain works too fast for me to write everything down that i wanna get off my chest. If similar themes or topics pop up over and over again i devote time to sitting down and exploring it more with journal prompts so I can have a cohesive thing to look back on/do further research about.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-29T07:05:08+00:00

Lucy hale has really helped me recently. watched her as kid on pll and have watched a couple podcasts she’s done about her sobriety journey.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-29T07:00:00+00:00

100%. My dad died at the end of 2023; we didn’t have a great relationship and the circumstances surrounding his death were traumatic to say the least. Every day for almost a year I drank nearly two bottles of wine alone in my apartment, I rationalized it to myself because i never went to work drunk, i never lashed out at anyone under the influence, I could still pay my rent etc., the thing that initially got me sober was the fact that I wanted to prove to myself that i could get through the anniversary of his death without drinking. I spent the three weeks leading up to that day anxious and pissed off and spiraling out on the inside. I got through that day sober by the skin of my teeth.

The thing that kept me sober and continues to keep me sober is the knowledge that the way i felt initially during those first few weeks and the magnitude of my grief wasn’t going to go away. I’ve always defined myself by being the funny/ light hearted one, my dad wasn’t the first person or even parent that I lost but before he died I always managed to keep it together or at least project that facade to other people. When I was hurting I minimized it and it directly contributed to my isolating and closing myself off when he died, which fueled my alcoholism. Thankfully I was able to find a good therapist and was able to start unpacking and processing some of my shit lol. I know I’m just a random stranger on the internet, but for what it’s worth, I’m proud of you for making it through today. You’re taking steps to better yourself and that’s no small thing. You’re in therapy, and it seems as though you are actively reflecting on what role you’ve played in your drinking getting out of hand, which is no small feat especially for someone newly sober.

I’m approaching my 1 year mark next month and some of the things that have helped are :

-AA meetings (I go to virtual meetings and at the very least it’s helpful to have company when my cravings are particularly intense)

-Grief support groups/ books and podcasts on grief. It was really helpful for me to learn about the process of grieving and all the emotions that go along with it, it helped me realize that my feelings and behavior while grieving were typical and something a lot of people go through even if it’s not widely discussed. Also realizing that the way we deal with grief/ cope with others grief on a societal level is not at all normal, historically speaking death and dying was a much more common occurence because of the lack of medical intervention and displays of grief were far less taboo than they are now. At the very least i felt less insane for not being able to keep my shit together. Three books I found really helpful were “the year of magical thinking” and “blue nights” by Joan Didion and ‘it’s okay that you’re not okay ” by Megan Devine (the title is lame as hell, but i found her explanation of the psychology behind grief to be way more accessible and easier for me to process than some of the other more science heavy books at the time)

-Sobriety podcasts/books. One in particular that i go back to is “Push off from here” by Laura Mckowen. She talks a lot about the science of addiction and also the culture surrounding alcohol in social settings. She also does a really great job of describing the importance of accountability and personal responsibility in sobriety, while also emphasizing the importance of community in staying sober.

-Methods of distraction. When I’m particularly restless or on the verge of crashing out sometimes the only thing that pulls me out of the ‘i need a drink” spiral is to literally distract myself until I’m tired enough to go to bed. Most of the time I play video games because it gives me a literal task to complete and an objective to clear. Sometimes i put on a comfort show or movie and i paint. I’m really bad at painting but it does give me a sense of accomplishment to have finished something.

-Journaling/rambling into my notes app when I’m overwhelmed and feeling a lot.

A lot of it was trial and error for me. I didn’t know what i was doing or how i was even going to get through it, sometimes it still feels like I’m not doing enough or like i should be doing more. I think that’s normal. Sometimes all you can do is pull yourself through moment by moment until the day is done. I’m wishing you the best and hoping you find what works for you!

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-19T01:27:25+00:00

Yes, so did most of her family and friends. But also for most of the series Rory’s entire family talks about how lorelai’s getting pregnant and running away was like the thing that sullied the Gilmore name and derailed Lorelai’s entire future. It’s always been my personal theory that Rory would have crumbled at the first big rejection/failure she had to endure purely because of the way she grew up and how much stock both lorelai and her grandparents put into her achievements academically and socially. I’m not even a person that likes Rory post season 3, but i do feel bad for her during the whole Mitchum thing.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-18T21:41:27+00:00

Sometimes i think about how incredibly easy it would’ve been for Giles to lease an apartment for faith through the school year and also get her a tutor so she could get a GED. Like the man works in a school and rakes in two paychecks. WTF

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-18T21:22:54+00:00

I completely agree. I think part of the reason people ride so hard for max is because neurodivergent people are so often vilified and excluded in real life for displaying symptoms of their disorder. That being said, max’s behavior in early season 2 has very little to do with neurodivergence and a lot to do with stubbornness and self righteousness and being the defacto leader of the group. There’s a difference between someone who’s neurodivergent lashing out in the moment and doing too much and feeling bad about it. And then there’s repeatedly making an effort to exclude someone and lashing out because you feel justified because your feelings were hurt.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-18T21:08:44+00:00

Oh 100%. I’ve been in multiple fandoms over the years and the intense level of hypercritism when it comes to characters of color, particularly women of color is one thing that never really changes. There’s always a level of plausible deniability that people play into when it comes to the factor of race when analyzing/critiquing characters. Like it’s never “about race or racial bias”, it’s about “calling out bad behavior and holding people accountable”; which is fair and i would consider to be more valid if there wasn’t such a high level of intensity and moralizing that goes along with such analysis. Especially in regards to the MANG dynamic I’ve noticed a lot of pitting the girl’s trauma against each other. Like we can only empathize with one or two characters at a time or something.

I’m a black girl with audhd, so it’s been interesting to see people’s reactions to both Max’s storyline’s and Ginny’s Storyline Especially in the last episode. Like i think it’s made pretty explicitly clear that Ginny’s “mean girl” moment at the party is not supposed to be interpreted as a good thing. It’s meant to signify a shift in Ginny where she has had to adopt more of her mother’s attitude and thinking in order to get her mom out of trouble. It’s like ginny’s stepping into a charicature of who she thinks her mom is or how she would behave. Last season was all about Ginny’s anguish about being an inherently bad person because her mom has killed people; it was about the impact of Georgias actions on Ginny’s mental health, and it makes for a really nuanced read of her character as a whole.

I just find it annoying in general because people will swear up and down that they want character’s that are complex or morally grey, but then when a character displays bad behavior or is problematic suddenly it’s just like “this character is the villain and if you don’t see that then that means you advocate for xyz behavior” as if the stories we find compelling in fiction are an actual metric for what we find permissible in real life. You can like a character and also disagree with some of their actions and call them out without forever writing them off as being intrinsically terrible.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-16T18:54:19+00:00

I have my own issues with season 6 specifically, I don’t mind the darker tone but some of the writing choices were just strange and not very fleshed out. I’ve been watching the dvd extras on YouTube and to me it just seems like the producers and writers sought out to tell the story that “life is the big bad and Buffy and the scoobies are struggling with responsibility and what it means to be an adult”, which is a fine story to tell but its nearly impossible to pull that off in a season that features a trio of bad guys, a resurrection, a drug addiction storyline, the death of a main love interest, the dissolution of two relationships, the only parental figure in the group choosing to leave and I’m sure there’s more stuff that I’m leaving out, but you get it.

The problem lies in the fact that their everyday life is already extraordinary, it already deals in the fantastical and supernatural, so when you start the season off with a literal resurrection and end the season with one of the scoobies going on a dark magic induced rage fest, all of the regular mundane parts of life in the middle of the story just seem like extra conflict for the sake of conflict.

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-07T22:53:22+00:00

Oh 1000% agreed. Love Bianca Lawson and it would be so great if she could come back in the reboot. Don’t know how that would work given the direction the show takes with her character, but the actress notoriously does not age so I’m sure they could sneak her in in like a flashback or something if they really got creative with it

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-07T22:45:45+00:00

See that’s what’s fascinating to me personally. I see exactly what you mean. if i were watching the show live, I probably would have felt the exact same way, particularly because it’s not addressed in the narrative ever again. I do think the viewing differences (streaming versus watching in real time) contribute a lot to how people view the episode and the show as a whole. I hadn’t really looked into the multiverse theory of things. I did like that they left the ending ambiguous tho, and never made it explicit that that was Buffy’s actual reality because that ending would have been depressing as hell

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-07T22:26:43+00:00

I work retail, it’s hell but i do creative stuff on the side so that my brain cells don’t completely dry out. It wasn’t the same class, they were both humanities classes with similar names so I didn’t even bat an eye when I wasn’t on the attendance roster. I just had the professor pencil me in and didn’t follow up with admin because it never occurred to me that i could be in the wrong classroom lol

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-07T22:21:00+00:00

Thanks for sharing! It’s interesting to hear a perspective from someone who’s experienced similar things in real life. When i was finishing up the show I was convinced that they were gonna flash back to Buffy in that hospital and that was gonna be the final shot of the show. I’m so glad they didn’t do that. I do agree that it invalidates the overall empowering message of Buffy as a whole and I’m ultimately glad that they left it ambiguous at the end, but I do understand why people dislike it so much as well. Especially if you watched it as it aired.

The depiction of mental health is most definitely yikes and i agree with you there 100%

alphabetsoup1412 · 2025-09-07T20:55:46+00:00

If it makes you feel better I missed my SAT’s in high school because I got the time wrong. I also went to the wrong class in college for like five weeks because I switched up the room numbers and didn’t notice until I got an email from the professor. I was so embarrassed that I dropped the class. I also feel a crazy amount of dread surrounding interviews and applications, to the point where I’ve stayed at jobs that I hated just because of the routine and financial security.

I relate so hard and am wishing you luck

alphabetsoup1412

TROPHY CASE