vrabia:

earlier this week i wrote a bit about the upcoming american show comrade detective, set in communist romania in the 80s, and how upsetting it is to me as a romanian who was born and lived her early childhood during the regime’s most brutal decade. comrade detective is written by american screenwriters brian gatewood and alex tanaka. it cast two romanian actors, florin piersic jr. and corneliu ulici, as leads, but their voices are dubbed in english by channing tatum and joseph gordon-levitt. aside from the two lead actors (whose voices won’t even be heard by the audience) there is not a single romanian person involved in this show. 

the premise of comrade detective is that back in the 80s the romanian communist party decided to create a comedy series featuring two cops in order to present communist ideals in a positive light while also entertaining the public. the show, later lost when the communist regime fell in 1989, was re-discovered recently, dubbed in english and finally broadcast to western audiences as a glimpse into the mysterious world of eastern european communism. 

there’s another reason why comrade detective is a giant, gratuitous slap in the face for us, besides turning the suffering of people who are alive right now to witness it into a novelty show: it implies that the romanian communist party made use of humor (featuring law enforcement officers as protagonists, no less) to promote communist values, and that we watched it and laughed, because it was funny. it doesn’t matter that this never happened (it hasn’t) because the show comrade detective is wholly fictional. it matters that it would have never happened. if the romanian communist party had really decided to make a comedy about communism, and we were all forced to watch it and laugh, we would have. and then we would have made a thousand relentlessly clever and nasty jokes about it out of the party’s earshot.

humor was very important during communism in romania, as it was in every other communist regime. it was vitally important, because for the longest time it was the only power that we, the entirely powerless, had. humor belonged to us. it did not come from the communist party. nicolae ceaușescu, the head of state, never told jokes in his public addresses or mixed little fun ironies into his speeches the way barack obama does. he was a mumbling, uneducated, small-minded man, all the more dangerous for being acutely aware of his inadequacies. the party did not make jokes. we did, and in some cases risked our personal safety for it. here’s a few, so you can get an idea of the things we joked about:

a man walks into an alimentară (supermarket).
‘don’t you sell any beef here?’ he asks.
the vendor replies: ‘no, we don’t sell any fish here. they don’t sell any beef next door.’

before embarking on his first soviet-led mission to space romanian astronaut dumitru prunariu leaves a note for his mother: ‘dear mother, i’ve gone to outer space. i’ll be back in 30 days.’ when he comes back home he finds a note from his mother: ‘dear son, i’ve gone out to buy eggs. i’m not sure when i’m coming back.’

comrades nicolae and elena ceaușescu arrive in moscow on a state visit. while stepping off the plane, elena trips and falls flat on her face. the news report says: comrade elena ceaușescu has embraced the soviet land as her own and to mark the occasion comrade nicolae spoke his first word in russian: ‘zăpăcito!’ (romanian: ‘hare-brain!’)

question: what is the securitate (secret police)?
answer: it’s the heart of the party and it’s beating, beating, beating…

some of these jokes or their variations may be familiar to people who lived in other communist regimes. their spirit certainly is. 

Keep reading

reioka:

MAN I LIKE THIS IDEA

Wingust? Flytober?

[Scene: a nervous-looking older man meets with a millennial in a darkened alley.]

Millennial: what’s the target?
Man: I don’t know if I want to do this.
Millennial: people don’t come to us until they’ve made up their minds.
Man: Alright. Styrofoam cups.
Millennial: Six months and they’re gone.
Man: Can millennials really kill styrofoam cups?
Millennial: we can kill anything, but not cheaply.
Man: I can pay. I work for a plasti-
Millennial: I don’t need to know and frankly I don’t care. One of us will deliver a routing number to a Zurich account. Two billion euros, then we start.
Man: Al..alright.
Millennial: It will be your last chance to reconsider. Once the money is processed you’ll have no contact with us again.
Man: I understand. It has to be done.
Millennial: then it’s sealed. The cups will join chain restaurants and diamonds in the void.
Man: Thank..thank you.
Millennial: We don’t require thanks. Participation is its own trophy.

zamnwilson:

Are you interested in reading and shaping content you love? Are you a person of color who wants to make sure your favorite characters are given the respect they deserve? AWESOME!!!

The Sam Wilson Big Bang is looking for betas (in general), but more specifically Sensitivity Betas™ to help make this Birthday Bang the best it can be!

Not everyone is perfect, and we know this, so we want to make sure people get the direction they need. Some OTHER people don’t know they need direction, and we want to make sure they get the direction they need too to maintain the fun Sam-loving atmosphere so many mods have created for us.

If you’re interested please visit @samwilsonbirthdaybang for more details and sign up if you can! There are a ton of mods willing to answer your questions either there or at their personal blogs.

ivyblossom:

Dear fanfiction readers,

Thank you for reading. Please don’t stop! Click on that fanfic that looks like it might suit you right now; read what you want to. Leave kudos if you want to. Or don’t; if you don’t like what you’re reading, or you’re not ready to add your name or your thumbs up to that fic today, or ever, that’s alright. You aren’t required to. There’s no payment required for reading fanfiction. You’ve honoured us already but being willing to be become our readers in the first place. That’s more than enough, as far as I’m concerned.

Almost all writers enjoy and appreciate comments, and they always will. Comment where you’re moved to, and never imagine that your contribution won’t be welcome. But please don’t let anyone shame you into commenting on a fic where you’re uncomfortable doing so. Interaction in fandom should always be by enthusiastic choice, never through pressure, or a sense of owing the writer anything, or guilt.

As a fanfiction writer, I welcome comments and reactions from readers who feel moved to comment and react. I have learned a great deal from these interactions, and I will be forever grateful for them. But I would never want a comment or kudos on a fic to come from a place of shame, duty, or sense of obligation. If writing fics causes that kind of negative experience and harm to readers, I for one would certainly stop writing. There is nothing for me to learn from that.

The vast majority of any fandom is lurkers. Those of us who do the talking may not understand the drive to lurk, but it would be foolish of us not to acknowledge and respect this form of being fannish. Being out front isn’t for everyone, or it’s not for someone just yet. And that’s okay.

I cannot speak for everyone who writes, and I know many disagree with me. But if you are a lurker and you want to read fics and not kudos them, like them on tumblr, reblog them, or leave comments on them, you’ve got my support. Read on, lurker friend. Read on.