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animanga-bc-tournament · 1 year

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What is animanga Before Crunchyroll

This is a period in time roughly from 2005-2014 when the world is fully post-internet and Japanese anime and manga was already fully integrated into international youth culture and readily available to people outside of Japan.

Animanga fans had access via legal offline channels such as: television, home video, libraries, and bookstores. And illegal online channels such as: Youtube, pirate streaming sites, and torrenting. It is also a period with a sudden change in our general media viewing and reading habits impacted by events and technological innovations like the 2008 financial crisis, the introduction of social media as a primary way to be online, smartphones, and the slow death of live TV

Why start this period in 2005?

This page will be primarily dedicated to the English language distribution and fandom around anime and manga. By this point in time we are well beyond the stage of “evangelizing” animanga as mediums and a canon of “must watch/read” series has already been established.

The above mentioned channels were well established and readily accessible. Depending on where you lived you had a higher chance of being able to go to the bookstore and read the latest Fruits Basket volume, go to anime conventions, watch anime on TV, or join your school’s anime club, than in say 1996. The media industry in several countries outside Japan has or will soon start investing in the distribution of translated animanga for the first time ever. The US manga bubble spearheaded by Tokyopop is also still a few years from bursting.

From this point on online fan communities dedicated to anime and manga also steadily expanded via forums, database sites, to eventually meme aggregator sites, or facebook groups around 2010. In 2005 Geocities pages dedicated to sharing information are mostly dead and platforms such as Livejournal become the new place to engage in fan activities and access unofficial translations until the site was en masse abandoned following its 2009 acquisition by SUP Media

Why end this period in 2014?

Short version: 2014 is when the Naruto manga ended a mere 2 years after the Bleach anime ended its Japanese broadcast. Marking the end of the chapter on a seemingly endless period where every week without fail you could expect not just a new chapter of the manga, but a new episode of the anime version for the mega hits Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach. Kids today will thankfully never know what it was like for years have all of these series as a constant presence in 2 mediums simultaneously. This trio was controversially called the “Big 3” by fans. I could also easily leave it to the fact that of course after 9 years fans have obviously grown up and moved on and the face of the industry itself is completely different. But was just the medium that changed? What about the way international fans interacted with it? I will now present my case on why we can use the popularity of Crunchyroll as a service to make a pre- and post- era in the way international fans consumed animanga.

When the US manga bubble burst after the 2008 financial crisis there was a massive shift in which manga was licensed. The publishers that survived the collapse had to downscale their output leading series to be cancelled or go out of print for several years. The cost of manga also went up turning translated print manga into bigger investments for consumers. Another major shift is online fan translations (scanlations) becoming more prominent and accessible, with new aggregator sites appearing one by one. Not only could you read as much manga as you wanted for free with unedited art and a translation that felt more “authentic”. The high output from the fan translators revealed not just how much manga was not being licensed; the international publishers were often really far behind and much slower than the original Japanese serial.

The popularity of scanlations has always caused obvious tension to the decisions on what US publisher would license as companies like Viz Media and Vertical inc repeatedly expressed the belief that fans would never buy a title they already read for free online. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that as the fansubbers of the 1990s proved, unpaid fan translators were and still are the most significant tastemakers and gatekeepers of Japanese media for an international audience.

This sets the stage for what i personally believe forever changed the way international fans watch anime (and in turn read manga): social media and the premiere of Kill la Kill and Attack on Titan. Prior to this the average international animanga fans experienced anime rather delayed. There is little awareness of what was actually new in Japan and to the average fan watching anime recommended in online or offline communities may have been enough. But how many official channels like TV, video rentals, and home video sales were actually available as distributors went out of business or lost their licenses how was a fan supposed to watch the series they wanted to see? And what if you didn’t even live in a country with any of these official channels? Fansubs or DVD rips uploaded to Youtube, torrenting sites, or other unauthorized streaming aggregators successfully democratized access to anime for anyone with a stable internet connection. The high output of fansubbers just like scanlators also revealed again just how far behind the official channels were. Why wait for the right to purchase something when you know you want it and can just get it for free online?

Enter Crunchyroll: the site was founded in 2006 as a for-profit media hosting site for east asian media. A lot of the media hosted was unauthorized and illegal but some distributors chose to look the other way. This was until Crunchyroll started securing more and more funding in turn letting them enter legal partnerships and distribution deals. Eventually striking gold with partnership with Studio Gonzo and the acquisition of the Naruto Shippuden anime rights. Eventually all unauthorized media was removed from the site as they built a catalogue of anime for consumers to legally stream, at a price. In parallel to this, by 2012 fansubbers could and were expected to keep up with just about every new anime airing in Japan.

Another change happened in our daily lives: smartphones became a piece of technology most people owned. And the abrupt consumer shift from live TV to streaming was right around the corner.

A gradually acquired awareness of just how far behind and slow official “legal” channels were was already completely reshaping the way the most avid fans viewed anime. So was our new phones. The smartphone wasn’t just good for watching anime while you were away from home it also made reading manga online an even easier experience. How were the official distributors supposed to compete with this?

Unfortunately most pirate streaming sites were slow to implement players that functioned on smartphones, Youtube was also not far from implementing an aggressive DMCA strike system preventing new anime uploads. A service like Crunchyroll became more and more attractive as it was available in almost any region outside of Asia. With a big catalogue of titles that put Netflix and hulu to shame and a smartphone app that worked smoothly, it didn’t seem like a bad deal for people who wanted to watch anime on their phones or other devices, not to mention the premium gave you HD quality. A luxury the illegal sites couldn’t always grant. And it offered what previously only fansubbers could: you got to see brand new episodes of subtitled anime only an hour after it aired in Japan. It’s second major selling point to younger and less financially free individuals was that free users could watch as much as they wanted as long as they sat through ads, were fine with SD quality, and being 1 week behind on brand new anime.

Socially the immediacy and size of large scale social media like Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter cultivated bigger and bigger and more public communities. It became more and more commonplace to not just watch and read whatever was recommended to you but to keep up as well as finding the next cool thing before anyone else. So what channels would keep you updated on everything new? Trustworthy sources were for many still difficult to discern. More and more fans were watching new anime at the same time as Japanese viewers via illegal and legal channels, but what would it even look like if everyone watched the same show the same time as Japanese viewers?

When Attack on Titan premiered in April of 2013 we learned. Its immediate success was unprecedented and shocking. In a matter of weeks previously unprecedented changes happened within the official channels. Not only could the US industry observe how overnight every online community was discussing this new series, Crunchyroll who streamed the series from episode 1 could provide them the actual numbers proving its success. For the first time the dub specialists Funimation would offer an unsubtitled and ongoing series for sale on iTunes. Kodansha America as well had lucked out by licensing the manga over a year prior giving the US industry another rare example of how a successful anime can give a previously niche series an unprecedented boost in sales. For fansubbers and anime and manga aggregators to keep up if a hit like this was to occur again they had to somehow work faster than Crunchyroll, or just steal from them.

Attack on Titan i think was the first time such a huge group of people all at once learned and experienced how to keep up with a brand new anime and still ongoing manga. October the same year Kill la Kill, an original story and the first work by Studio Trigger directed by the already acclaimed Hiroyuki Imaishi premiered. Once again there was an unprecedented amount of attention from international fans given to a series that was still airing in Japan. This new desire to be part of a series as it was happening was not just significant to the way international fans started viewing and evaluating anime and manga but also new opportunities for the industry to make a profit by investing more and more into “simultaneous” streaming

I didn’t read all that, sorry

Fans come to expect instant access to brand new anime and manga -> Crunchyroll is the only service able to fulfill that expectation and can do it faster than a fansubber -> in 2013 an unprecedented hit opens the eyes of the industry and anime fans alike -> now discussions and trends among international fans of anime and manga is more than ever centered around what’s “new”, a huge shift from when awareness around “newness” was vague or less relevant to how international fans interacted with animanga

How will you qualify an anime or manga as B.C. (Before Crunchyroll)

This blog and its polls will be primarily centered on the offline and online English speaking fan communities. English Second Language speakers are included in this.

Any survey will include works that received translations (official as well as unofficial) into the English language. And with consideration of these criteria

If anime: did it air on TV in the US, Canada, UK, or Australia? If so when and through which channels. Because the aforementioned delays in distribution this will matter more than when it first aired in Japan. I will continue to make 2005 my start point but exceptions might be made for series that were in some way rereleased or put in long term syndication. 2014 is the end point because of the above mentioned changes in how a lot of us watched anime was completely changed by this point in time.

Did it receive a fansub? When and by which group(s)? Identifying the groups also allows us to map out who were the tastemakers and what they wanted to make accessible to other fans. This is very key for anime that sustained popularity despite not being accessible through official channels for extended periods in the years 2005-2014. Also if you don’t live in the countries listed above it was most likely the only way you watched anime.

How often did it appear in “Anime is life” collages? (VERY IMPORTANT DATA!! how else are we supposed to quantify its cultural impact)

If manga: was it licensed by a US publisher? If so when and by who? This also matters more than when it was serialized in Japan. Viz Media’s Shojo Beat and Shonen Jump, and Tokyopop’s catalogue are very defining of the first half of this era and shaped our manga starter pack years after they stopped existing.

Did it receive a scanlation? When and which group(s)? Once again key to identifying the true tastemakers starting around 2010. Scanlations were not just key in bringing fans brand new manga hot off the Japanese presses faster than a US publisher could, but was very important in making manga that were neglected by publishers accessible in English.

Any criteria you want to suggest or already use yourself to determine eras of animanga? Or perhaps your own memories of this time? Feel free to share!!

#long post #introduction #people who were on livejournal are especially encouraged to share their experiences!!

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camerongonewyld · 2 years

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Bill and Ted: What They Mean to the LGBT Community

Hello! This is my first tumblr post! So before you read any further, here is a brief introduction!

My name is Cameron! My pronouns are he/him, and I am a 16 year old transgender kid currently living in America. Given the state of most of the country I am living in today, it's safe to assume that I've seen a lot just simply growing up here. The topics of my posts will be mostly random, although each blog will have a point and a focus, as I intend to dedicate this account for organizing and explaining my ideas in a well thought out and cohesive way, often tying these thoughts into the media I consume. Some of these posts will be about my personal experiences, opinions, beliefs, and thoughts, all with a hard basis in reality. Some might be persuasive, argumentative, or informative, as I intend to let the world peek into my perspective of the world around me. I do not officially speak for any minorities or groups of peoples or organizations, as all of my blogs are my bias, and are rooted in the way I think, feel and act, as well as things I have simply observed. Any ignorance on my part is in no way intentional, so always feel free to correct me. With that being said, my name is Cameron, and welcome to my blog!

Research available to write a post solely on this subject was very limited, so I will try to articulate everything I write to the best of my ability, and excuse me for any absence of cohesion and structure.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure is a film released in 1989, distributed by Orion Pictures, a subsidiary of the better known Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Studios. This film was the first installment to what would soon be a franchise, spawning two sequels in 1991 (Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey) and 2020 (Bill and Ted Face The Music) respectively. A franchise that proved to be profitable, raking in millions in the box office and boasting a spin-off animated series (Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventures), a video game for the NES, and other novelties.

The first film, and easily the most memorable, follows the story of two teenage boys, Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan. Two known slackers who are doomed to flunk out of school because of their grades in history. To prevent this from happening, the two of them must perform an oral report detailing different famous historical figures, and how they may view the world of their little Californian town of San Dimas in the year 1988. With this seemingly impossible task at hand to create this report overnight, all hope is lost until they are met with a time traveler from the future named Rufus, who presents them with a time traveling phone booth. Using this booth, Bill and Ted go back in time to gather different famous people from throughout the world's history, with the intent to bring them back to San Dimas to help them present in their oral report.

This movie at it's core is very comedic and lighthearted, with the two main characters easily being the defining novelty of the film, with their wholesome friendship always on display throughout the course of the entire movie and franchise. Bill and Ted are simple characters at face value. Teenage boys, both seemingly naive, deemed as "lazy slackers", who speak with dated vocabulary and valley accents, only seeking to have a good time and gawk at girls their age. Being a stereotype of the nerdy, stupid, metalheads of the era, Bill and Ted were definitely a mold for the underdogs of the audience to fit themselves into.

So, what does this have to do with the LGBT community as we know it? Assuming you have seen this movie and are familiar with our titular characters, Bill and Ted, all of what was previously mentioned is already known to you. If you have not seen this movie, I suggest you stop reading and go do so, the movie is available to rent on Prime Video or stream on Paramount Plus with a subscription. (Of course pirating is always an option, but please be safe on the internet, and only do so if the movie isn't currently readily available to you. I do not condone any kind of illegal or unlawful activity.)

Spoiler warnings exclusively for the Bill and Ted film trilogy are in effect for the rest of this post. You have been warned.

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are established as best of friends from the beginning of the movie as we are introduced to the exposition of the film by Rufus (George Carlin) as he refers to them as "the two Great Ones."

From the get-go, Bill and Ted are already seen as great friends, as they spend their time in Bill's garage, practicing guitar for their band Wyld Stallyns, as they laugh and have a good time together. They keep this act for the entire film, their friendship never letting up, and they stay together for the duration of the series, not just in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. They figure out different situations together, usually listening to one another and sharing ideas, one hardly ever being upset or angry at the other when things go wrong. In fact, the most angry we ever see either of them get at one another is when Bill irritably tells Ted to shut up when Ted would adoringly talk about Bill's stepmother, Missy, with Ted hardly being afflicted by this, only smiling at him in response.

Two best friends, who in their school life, are implied to not fit in among the crowd. They are called out in class, and laughed at by the other students when they can't answer the teachers' questions. In a deleted scene, Bill and Ted walk to school together, where before they get to class, they are picked on by a few jocks or seemingly popular kids in their school. Ted in particular has a strained relationship with his father. Ted's father, is shown to be a cold, demanding and hard hitting man, who weighs his high expectations onto his son. In the first few scenes of the film, one of these scenes is an interaction between him and Ted, where he tells Ted that if he fails history, Ted is to be sent to an Alaskan Military school.

(Ted and his father)

Bill and Ted are at their core, a spin on the underdog stereotype, where they against all odds, do the impossible and face a task together in spite of what their teacher, their parents, or their implied classmates might say. This underdog trope is one of many that members of the LGBT community, myself included, can reconcile with. Familial and societal pressure to fit in, and yet still being outcast because of who they are. Bill and Ted certainly do not fit in among their peers, although not as apparent in the movie we know it as, research into the production of this film speaks more on this implied trope. Bill and Ted are certainly not popular, and are known as nuisances to the school.

(Courtesy of Wikipeda)

Although once adapted for the big screen, Bill and Ted were modified to be older, seeming to be around the ages of 16-17, and less cookie-cutter characters, the original characterization of Bill and Ted remains. Even with the remnants of this vision remaining, Bill and Ted are highly relatable characters to their targeted audience. Many of those who struggle with their own identities might see themselves in these characters, feeling as if the weight of the world is pushing on them, and if not pushed to do what is asked of them can mean the ends of their lives as they know it. Still, Bill and Ted raise their heads high and adapt to their situation with gung-ho attitudes, which serve as inspiration to those who might be struggling in their own lives.

(Bill and Ted in their classroom)

The story of Bill and Ted's wacky time traveling adventure is universal, with the two main characters appealing to a wide audience, and not just those of the LGBT variety. Yet what makes this film particularly special to specific members of LGBT community is the very stuff that holds this movie together as a whole: Bill and Ted's friendship. Due to a severe lack of media representation, I and many other members of the LGBT community resort to seeing traits and ourselves in characters when they're not there or not intended to be there. Bill and Ted's unbreakable friendship is never established to be anything more than just a friendship, but looking through the lenses of a queer person, they can be interpreted as a couple, or at the very least, to be less than heterosexual, despite their on-screen relationships and romantic interests in the princesses they meet in Medieval England, Joanna and Elizabeth. Taking what is already there and building on it, shaping the movies canon to create something they can further relate to.

Bill and Ted definitely care about each other, otherwise the interpretation of their relationship being less than platonic wouldn't hold much merit. Bill tends to show his concern for Ted more often in the first installment of the franchise. In a scene where Bill and Ted are in Medieval England, after fooling around in suits of armor, Ted falls over and falls down a flight of stairs.

youtube

(Content warning, a homophobic slur [f*g] is used at the timestamp 2:29)

This scene is one of the most talked about clips when it comes to Bill and Ted and their sexualities. Bill, after witnessing Ted presumably die, he proceeds to mourn his friend. While witnessing the events unfold leading up to Ted's death, he shows clear concern for his friend by running after him down the flight of stairs. While mourning, Ted's attacker appears and Bill immediately gets up to fight in an attempt to avenge his friend, saying the iconic line "you killed Ted, you Medieval dickweed!" While anybody would mourn their friend if they were killed, not many would actively throw themselves at somebody to avenge them, showing that Bill would intentionally put himself in harms way to protect/save Ted, which can suggest a more-than-friendship between the two of them.

To address the elephant in the room, Bill and Ted do use a homophobic slur after they hug each other in this scene. Back then, this was seen as socially acceptable and the word f*g was a word in the general lexicon. This movie was released not too long after the historical AIDS crisis in 1981, where many gay people were blamed and hatecrimed for the spread and outbreak of the sexually transmitted disease (AIDS) due to a spread of misinformation and hate rallying against members of the gay community at the time. All christian churches were condemning homosexuality, so gay people were seen as deviants, and treated like many other much more heinous and harmful deviants would be treated today (i.e p*dophiles and z**philes)

The use of this slur doesn't just date the film to a degree that might taint it's overall lighthearted and wholesome image, but the use of the slur sometimes serves as a form of signaling to some members of the LGBT community. The word f*g has since been reclaimed by the community, and many gay people today use that word to describe themselves or others who are comfortable with it and use that word frequently as well. Bill and Ted call each other f*gs because they are insecure about their loving friendship for one another, and is in no way used maliciously, which is why many of us have looked at the two of them and decided that they could be interpreted as a gay couple.

(look at these two lovebirds, awhh aren't they adorable?)

It's no doubt that Bill and Ted have been through a lot together, and since the beginning of the film, it can be assumed that they have been friends for a long time because of the way their personalities nearly mirror one another. While they're not completely the same (Bill seems to be just a bit more outspoken than Ted, usually being the voice of reason at times, while Ted is the 'ladies man', and is more observant, contributing to their shenanigans by helping to come up with ideas to weasel their way out trouble.) Their demeanor and behavior are damning evidence of their friendship having started long before their adventure through time was conceived. As a queer person myself, I have certain close, long-lasting friendships where our dynamic is similar to that of Bill and Ted's, and if being queer has taught me anything, it's that falling in love with your best friend can certainly come easy if you let it.

Another clip, although less serious than the clip I had previously attached to this blog, is also a talking point in "what is Bill and Ted's sexuality?" discussion.

youtube

(Apologies for the quality, this was the best clip I could find 😭 the f-slur is also used here, so proceed with caution.)

Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey is the second installment in the Bill and Ted's franchise and is definitely less frequently talked about. The plot is somewhat convoluted, so explaining it here is a luxury I cannot afford, but to add context to the clip, Bill and Ted are being hung over a cliff by two evil robot clones of themselves, these evil robots having been tasked to kill the real Bill and Ted so the clones can take over their lives. In a desperate attempt to save themselves, Bill and Ted pretend to be in love with the robot clones to increase the possibility of the clones letting them walk free. This obviously doesn't work, and Bill and Ted are thrown off the cliff. While this scene is usually just there to be a joke, digging deeper, it can be seen that maybe Bill and Ted are inadvertently confessing their feelings for one another before death. And while Bill and Ted do not truly "die" (this movie takes the concept of death very lightly, and character death isn't an end-all for a character's development) it's still plausible to assume that this is how many people view Bill and Ted at this point.

Many project themselves onto Bill and Ted. I mean, we are human, and projection is something that a lot of people do, whether that be intentional or unintentional. Seeing yourself in a character, whether that be explicitly or not, is something that means a lot to many people, which is why media representation is so important. One minor detail can go a long way. I have already mentioned that I am a transgender male. I struggle with my identity and those struggles have taken over many aspects of my life that many cis people hardly have to think twice about. The way I dress plays a big role in my self image, so any 'feminine' clothing, or any clothing that can be interpreted as 'feminine' was a no-go for me for the longest time.

Seeing Bill wear a crop top for most of the first movie was a detail that I and many other people have grown to appreciate. Fashion for men in the 80's was wildly different to what fashion for men is now, so then the crop top wouldn't have made any impact. As times have changed, the crop top has become a more 'feminine' article of clothing.

Despite identifying as male, it was never clothing that gave me a problem with my identity, but rather the connotations attached to it. If I could be called a male while wearing a bikini at the beach, I would wear a bikini. Clothing ultimately has no gender, so when I see a piece of clothing I like, simply wearing it wouldn't tear apart my self image. Since society has insisted on putting people and inanimate objects into little defining boxes, wearing a skirt to school would mean I'd get a sleuth of 'she', 'her', 'ma'am', and 'girl' hurled at me, which is the root of the problem. Seeing Bill rock his crop top, not being shy to expose his midriff to most everyone who encounters him, is empowering. Because of Bill, I had grown to be more confident in wearing crop tops in public, despite what others might say or think. And damn, do I look good doing it.

(Courtesy of pinknews.uk)

And it's not just me who has noticed this either. Many people have gone out of their way to headcanon Bill himself as transgender FTM, and Alex Winter himself has spoken out in support of the headcanon.

In addition, I have noticed many other fans headcanon Ted as non-binary along with Bill being transgender. There is clearly something in these characters that speak to the LGBT youth of today, the franchise having come a long way since the 80's and is still being enjoyed today. As a member of the community myself, this is something that I love exponentially, and I definitely feel less alone in this battle of being a queer kid in a big world that still hasn't grown to love me the way other queers love me as one of their own. There are some points in this essay that I didn't touch on, but I feel like my point has still been made. Bill and Ted are characters that have shown themselves to be universal in their love for each other and their friendship, and it has touched the lives of many, even today. Most importantly, they have touched my life, and the lives of my queer brethren around the world. May Bill and Ted continue to be excellent to each other!

(Edit: typo in title)

#bill and ted #ted theodore logan #bill s preston esquire #bill and teds excellent adventure #bill and teds bogus journey #gay #lgbt #personal essay #transgender #lgbtq community #keanu reeves #alex winter

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nanjokei · 11 months

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i think the spread of character ai usage (and ai art generation usage also) is definitely an issue with people wanting instant gratification which actual rp usually is just not sustainably built for unless you're doing chat rp, even then your friends aren't awake 24/7 waiting at beck and call to entertain you. it's not literally entitlement, but it 100% stems from entitlement to be entertained constantly and passively instead of actually going out and finding something to do.

god this sounds like such boomer shit but the creation of endless scrolling like on tiktok with specifically tailored algorithms has made people so PASSIVE. ai can never come close to human creators but if people, especially the younger generation, are getting too cozy with choosing it over seeking out other human beings (whether it be indirectly via consuming fanmade work or directly via actual collaborative stuff like online roleplay), then how different is it from the ai "winning"? i don't think any of the excuses are valid. it's a subpar product in every way. it's almost never im character, it breaks if you propose anything too left field, and it's ultimately empty wish fulfilment and i have no idea how anyone past the age of 16 AT BEST gets any gratification from it. is it just the spread of a lack of reading comprehension? OPEN THE SCHOOLS!!

i do think it's an issue of people not being comfortable with boredom, always needing instant gratification, not wanting to sit down and hone a craft, or give the people who hone a craft themselves the time of day because they can't crank out """content""" for you 24/7. in a way, i'm thinking right now, when i'm bored i just channel surf on tv even if i don't do it as much anymore. but most people don't have tv anymore (personally we pirate iptv so LOL). i don't blame it on that necessarily, but i think with the rise of streaming, you just sit there on a media library staring at a bunch of thumbnails and posters, having to make a decision on how to invest your time. in this case, i get why people are so passive. tiktok is easier, character ai is easier. because i never ended up watching anything whenever i opened netflix (when we had it years ago). one could argue that watching tv is passive, but there's still a choice. you check the tv guide or google it and you know a certain show is on tv a certain channel at a certain time so you keep that in mind. what do you do in the meanwhile? i remember when that was an actual routine for me. i'd be slacking and not doing my homework, so maybe i'd draw a bit, maybe i play on my ds for a while, maybe i go make myself a snack or bake some pastries if i have all day, maybe i continue a book or even surf the web a bit.

the instinct of "aight, im gonna do something else on my own while i wait" is kind of dying. yes i'm on my phone! the difference is my use case. these days i'm not on social media aside from here so i don't use it as much aside from talking to friends on messaging clients and playing games (rarely tho). i say this as someone who stares at the ceiling not doing anything for a good bit each day, but at least i feel like i still have retained some ability to sometimes go, ok time to learn about a new hobby! i don't have to even pick it up. just entertaining it is gratifying on its own. i'm not a writer, but sometimes i'll write a little bit for fun then go "yeah i get why i don't jive with this". lately, i've been interested in competitive pokemon (with not much interest before) because i've been replaying platinum. i research a bit, watch videos, i even got a little brave and tested some sample teams on showdown. it was a fun time killer! i might keep doing it. i might even do it later today. i started reading pokespe too to scratch the pokemon itch too. and it's not like i don't suffer from crazy hard executive dysfunction but hey, this is a product of my effort. lately i've been thinking i wanna pick a character in guilty gear and learn at least one combo! trying new things is fun!!!

i'm sure this post sounds self important, self impressed, self absorbed (c-c-c-combo breaker) and boomer ish as fuck but honestly i don't care anymore. if someone who struggles with simple tasks on the daily like me can find shit to do that isn't just instantly caving to endless scrolling and resorting to chatting up an AI then i'm sure most people can too. it is so much more gratifying actively seeking out fun than to be passive about it.

#rambles #long post

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under-the-eye · 11 days

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Today after school, we took the kids to a Watcher based family center that just opened up in Newcrest!

It’s a lovely modern facility full of toys for all ages. Outside there’s a basketball court and playground, and they even have a TV in the teen area for them to watch Watcherful movies and play select video games! Johnathan and I don’t believe in letting our children consume such media, but it’s nice for people who want that option.

Johnathan and Adam had a wonderful time playing pirate outside, with Johnathan playing the role of the sea monster! Father-son bonding is really so important, I’m so blessed to be married to a man who takes an interest in his son’s development.

Of course we made it home for Book time. Aren’t they so cute all sitting together listening to their father teach? Especially the girls in their matching cold weather clothes!

#fundie simblr #fundie sims #gen 1 #fundie snark #loomis family #modest sims #quiverfull sims #ts4 #ts4 gameplay

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wanderdreamer · 3 months

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Tag Game

Tagged by @johnbly eeee thanks!

Last Song: i was listening to the Curse of the Black Pearl OST as i was cleaning up my place today, so i guess i can say anything on there which really isn’t too surprising. I also did come across Noah Kahan’s “Homesick” feat. Sam Fender for the first time today, which was also lovely

Last Film: Moonstruck🥰 was just in that typa mood recently and oh the magic of love oh the magic of new york oh the magic of wild families

Currently Reading: The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker. I had to read it for a university class a while ago but i remember it was during finals so i really just skimmed ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ been thinking about it recently though so picked it up again and it. Is. Fascinating.

Currently Watching: Coupling, which in the simplest easiest, synopsis ever is like a british version of friends featuring none other than my love my one and only james norrington aka jack davenport. It truly is such a witty show it should absolutely get more recognition. Also i’ve been waiting for black sails to drop on netflix? Because it was reported to be doing so on january 1st? But i have checked that bad boy every day and nothing so please someone just give me my lil pirate media back

Currently Consuming: umm i’m in bed at the moment like i should actually be asleep right now but the last thing i did consume was water and before that was some vegan chocolate covered peanuts

Currently Craving: i mean chocolate is always a go-to. Following the lead of @johnbly though a new job would be great, or if you’d like me to go smaller, the discipline and motivation to work towards getting said new job, because man is it all draining (by “it all” yes i do mean life)

alrighty then i’m gonna pass this on over to you @mostlikelytobeagainstcapitalism if you haven’t already done it and you’d like to:)

#wandering thoughts #tagged #tag game

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running-swimming-living · 1 year

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I woke up and walked the dog this morning then promptly fell back asleep even though I was planning on going to the gym. I eventually got up around 1 pm and went for a swim. Same sweater, different day.

The experience at the pool was odd. I was sharing a lane with one woman when this other guy dropped right in without asking and made it dangerous for me to continue doing laps with the three of us. So I got out and just sat in the jacuzzi. Then he promptly got out and left too 🤦‍♀️

Came home and found I have a new client to tutor. I meet her Thursday. I tutored one student tonight. My current student is almost done with his high school career. His AP test is in may 8 or 9. Then he goes off to college.

Diet wise, I am trying to focus on the unhealthy foods I consume in a day than all the food in general. I’m pretty good with making healthy choices. So I just need to reign in those few and far between unhealthy ones. Today it was a bowl of ramen noodles and some pirates booty.

As far as media consumption goes, I ended up just listening to music and basically staring at Home Screen because I had run out of options of apps to use. I really gotta start applying myself.

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awek-s-archived · 1 year

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i accept that capitalism sucks but i think people need to understand that you’re not fighting capitalism by not paying for art .. it’s true the Internet makes everything more accessible which is great and poor people reserve the right to access art however they can (pirating) but if you have the means to buy books and the like then .. you should. what do you think happens to writers (and more) who don’t get paid for the art they put out into the world? they get dropped and no longer put it out. y’all are too used to treating art/media as a commodity. ‘don’t wanna buy books ew :/‘ ok, but that book was written by a real life person who is struggling to stay alive in todays economic crisis while making things that the rest of you can mindlessly enjoy as a break from your own life. that artist doesn’t GET a break from their life. they make things to live and you’re saying you don’t want them to afford to live but you do want to consume their art. you can’t have both lol.

#aweks.txt

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streets-in-paradise · 1 year

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Wait, hold on, you like Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010)??? I didn't think anyone else watched, much less liked the movie, too.

I used to love it as a child and i'm in the process of rediscovering that.

Lord of the Rings was a life changing discovery for me. I wouldn't be the person i am today without lotr and that played a key role in my childhood - early teens media consumption taste. It was the gateway to a lot of other stuff i discovered and loved. For as weird as this sounds, that includes the Prince of Persia movie.

I was a super clueless child regarding videogames, but from arround elementary age to middle school age I used to consume tons of historical films, swords and sandals epics and historical settled fantasy - adventure.

And when i say tons is tons.

Any movie i would find in cable reruns fitting the vibe, i would watch it. My family thought I was gonna be an historian because i was all day watching movies about people from old times.

I watched Prince of Persia: Sands of Time the same way i discovered Pirates of the Caribbean or The Mummy. I had no idea it was a vídeogame and watched it as if it was some historical fantasy adventure thing.

Back in the day i loved it, although i gotta admit that interest faded over the years precisely because nobody cared that much about that movie. Pretty much like it happened with Troy, another unpopular movie i love, i saw myself forced to move on for a time because i felt there was no one else to enjoy it with.

Then Thor came out in 2011 with its fantasy-esque shakesperean vibes and i thought I had found a semi popular thing to love with more people.

Before Mysterio in the MCU, whenever i would see Jake Gyllehaall the first thing I would secretly think was " OMG, that's Dastan!".

#asks #messages #prince of persia #dastan #jake gyllenhaal #my love for historical settled movies #fantasy- adventure #swords and sandals #period dramas

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bluroux · 1 year

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NaClYoHo day 6

I had high hopes of doing a deep-dive bathroom clean today, but ended up just doing a regular surface clean (wiped down the sink, tub and shower surround, scrubbed the toilet, swept and damp mopped the floor). My motivation was just shot today, and I spent a fair bit of time knitting and consuming media. I did also make the sirloin grill cap with the sous vide. I paired it with some maple roasted acorn squash and rice, and have enough left for two more meals.

I'm going to count stuff like preparing a proper meal for myself as part of my salty pirate efforts for the month, because since my husband passed away, I've been having a difficult time with that, and have been wasting food (as well as eating terribly). It'll be me cleaning up my act...

#salty pirates #naclyoho

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via-whitmore · 2 years

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So I was talking with a friend today about my rash of Charles Vane apologist reblogs mostly from @twinsunstwink and my knowledge on this rewatch that he is, apparently, the most disliked character in the fandom.

I DEFINITELY get this. He is the one we see onscreen committing, what i would argue, is the most heinous onscreen act with regard to what Max is put through. I am never going to argue with anyone who doesn’t like him, his being propped up as a martyr, or can’t continue watching the show because of how that violence is portrayed so early on. I always understood it as the writers leaning on prestige TV tropes (competing with GOT) and then realizing they couldn’t have their romantic lead be this terrible a person.

I will fully admit Vane has the least interesting arc, even though it’s very personally meaningful to me for reasons. And that he never quite moves beyond being the character that is there to keep the 18 to 35 year old dudebro demographic happy. I am totally dazzled by If Bad Then Why Hot and also by only having seen Zach McGowan in a slapstick comedy role before watching Black Sails and being impressed with his range. I also was not radicalized when the show started and wasn’t thinking as critically about media so I was consuming his actions towards Max in a more passive way. This is the kind of thing pirates did. It’s a genre convention, and on I went.

But I have just seen this meta by @seaofgriefs about how, in Season One, everyone is acting according to preconceived notions of the pirate story and are slowly given more subtle characterization. In this framework, Vane is the raping pillaging villain. He is repeatedly referred to as an animal by Eleanor and Flint. His actions towards Max show him to be so. But a less competent viewer, as I was, might just take it as “well this is accurate and this kind of sexual violence is a big part of prestige TV.” Like I said, I definitely get viewers who don’t want to look past that. I am only 90 percent sold on the intentionality of this character expansion. But it makes Season One an easier sell. Maybe the writers did just realize this was a fucked up move. But maybe they used that pushback in a way that benefited the writing for the whole.

But it got me thinking it’s only after he attempts to aid in Max’s escape and realizes he can’t stop the violence he set in motion that he begins thinking about his past and goes to face the man who enslaved him. We see this as being a result of wanting to reassert power over Eleanor. But those scenes when he returns to the island have a heavy overtone of him having experienced sexual violence to me. When he returns to Nassau in power as a result of that coup, he tells Jack he won’t kill him and Anne because “I am a little less concerned about perception than I used to be.”

His perception, his notions of “a proper pirate” and his toxic masculinity motivate his method of punishing Max. But what if, once he realizes he cannot stop the situation, he sees what he has done to her as a mirror of what he underwent? It would certainly be better if he freed her in the way Anne feels bound to. But what if shame for her as well as being shamed by Eleanor motivates his return to face his abuser and move forward?

I am not saying any of this to let him off the hook. A true redemption arc would involve him asking Max how he can make amends. But it is a read that possibly integrates his Season One actions into the rest of his arc.

#black sails #meta #shoutout to the based on your likes feature for giving me all the meta #this is the first time I’m not lurking

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munzs-stuff · 2 years

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does anyone else feel guilty about still liking(loving) harry potter? i'm a non cishet person. i'm neither cis, not am i straight. jkr hates my community. she hates my identity. she would hate me if she knew me personally. but yet, i'v liked hp since i was a child. it's shaped the way I think and the way i am today. i dont think i can ever let go. i dont support jkr and i never will. i don't do anything that can further earn her money. i pirate the movies if i wanna watch, and i consume fanmade media. like i know i shouldnt? but it's a genuinely important thing to me and it make sme feel extremely guilty

#harry potter #jkr

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dykementality · 2 years

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im gonna be honest the "gay media from decades ago was more interesting and raw than todays popular gay media" take annoys me. ive been seeing that and similar takes lately and i believe its supposed to be a dunk on rainbow capitalism. which i mean. sure. gay content made by gay people is better? it is. turning identities into products kills authenticity? obviously. modern mainstream sucks? yeah. what irks me is the nostalgic tone of it implying content like that doesnt exist anymore, when gay people been making stuff regardless of whether theres a famous logo plastered on it or not. these movies and shows from the 80s and 90s were not mainstream at the time at all. genuine gay content was and still is harder to promote then the bullshit scraps big companies offer but its still out there like.. broaden your horizons watch other stuff.. try non american content consume more independent movies and shows pirate some shit.. all it takes is interest and a smidge of effort to stop relying on "mainstream"

#im sure they mean no harm i say this out of love. close netflix max plus for a min #i promise reading subtitles and looking at actors you didnt know before wont kill yall #i agree with the general idea but i can sense when the underlying philosophies are not right

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calciferstims · 2 years

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izzy hands anon here. so i was gonna reply to you the day after you had replied to what it is because it was getting late and i needed to rehearse some words but then...i got maaaad sick, like i rarely get sick. it was strange bc i had felt weird since thursday and then i got fever and felt like a punched rice bag the entire day 😶. still had fever today but i feel a tad bit better now so ima take the opportunity in replying to it now!

huehue when i read this "you do NOT have to read all of this oh god please don’t force yourself to read it. I’m serious." i was thinking "hahaha you bet i am gonna do it anyways!!"

ngl i wasnt thinking he was from a show, much less from this one lmfao i thought he was some...idek, random dude or sommet baha.

wait what "one time he moaned ‘daddy’ on screen because he was???? trying to make fun of someone I guess??? but it traumatized many people." LMFAOO??? he moaned daddy and it traumatised a lot of people lmfaoooooo I CANT. THATS HILARIOUS WHAT EVEN?? 😂

"he has like, these insanity-inducing micro expressions going on in the background at all times." AHAHAHA WHATTT 😂

"you can just feel him VIBRATING with repressed gay thoughts" okay by now i gotta say, the way you explain things is fucking hilarious lmaoo. i was gonna say he doesnt look too angry, but then i thought if this gif was shown with no context then yea, i think he does look angry lol, or more like frustrated.

okay i read it all and i gotta say, this is definitely not what i had thought was gonna be said. idk what i thought but...this wasnt it lmfao. his names soooo fucking random. who tf names a character IZZY hands. and now all i see is that dino rb'ing the flaming izzy hands hahah

Ohhh nooo I hope you feel better soon!!! 🥺 that sucks, def get some rest and relax!

And yeah, he’s from the beloved gay pirate show that consumed tumblr 😂 I simply watched a show with the the most groundbreaking queer rep I’ve ever seen, the sweetest most tender gay pirate couple as the main center, only to shove aside everyone else and point at the worst guy ever and go ‘that one. that repressed homophobic bitch in the corner that one’s mine’.

DHSGH THE DADDY SCENE IS So Much™️ ITS SO BAD LMAO. Pretty sure he’s like. Trying to do this weird homophobic impression of stereotypical gay people but he just gets WAY too into it and completely exposes his whore gay ass SGHSGHSHS. Also fun fact apparently it was supposed to be even longer but they cut it for time…. The fucking mad lad just kept going… absolutely desperate to see that tbh. Give us the extended daddy cut NOW.

I would share a gif of the daddy scene but honestly I am not brave enough for that

God Con O’Neill and his expressions are SOO good… tbh I’m also probably just biased and overanalyzing a lot of shit!!! But he’s rlly rlly good and I have seen the creators of the show and his fellow actors praise him a lot for his work as Izzy lmao so I’m probably not just going insane. He rlly put everything into every second of his screentime and I thank him for it 🙏

Why thank you I try to be comedic 😌😌

His name IS weird lmao 😂 mf literally named Hands… people call him Mr. Hands with a straight face… to be fair it’s not like they made it up for the show like Israel Hands was a legit dude! He even appears in other pirate media! But apparently for ofmd they were like no…. His name isn’t stupid enough….. we must nickname him Izzy too… that old man looks like an Izzy…….

also I FOUND MORE DUMB IZZY PICS I COULDN’T FIND LAST TIME YAY

ty for indulging me anon lmao <33

#also question!!!! are u the same anon who I talked to about the popcorn thing and stuff #I’m guessing???#bc if u want u could pick a lil emoji so I know it’s you!!#I’ve never really done the emoji anon thing before but it would be fitting in this case I think :)#so u could sign off as something #or just. pick a name or something idk #totally up to you!!!#ask box

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