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mimzy-writing-online · 3 years

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Writing Toph Beifong, Advice from a Blind Writer

I’m Mimzy, an actual visually impaired writer and blogger who talks a lot about writing blind characters accurately and sensitively. A while back someone sent me an anon asking how to write Toph more accurately and sensitively.

Anonymous asked: Hi there! Your blog has been super-helpful already - I thought I knew a bit about writing with blind characters, but it turns out there was a lot to learn - but this is more specific. I'm writing a The Last Airbender fanfiction, and one of the characters is Toph. I think the fandom has done a fairly good job of respecting her blindness, but what are some things you'd like to see when people write her? I want to represent the character as best as possible; thanks in advance!

It’s taken a while for me to answer because I have a lot of thoughts about it as both a blind writer and someone who has read a lot of atla fanfiction. So here we go:

Before we get started, I want to mention some things:

One: I have an entire series for writing blind characters that continues to grow with time and the most up-to-date version can be found pinned as the top post on my blog. There will be a time-stamp for when the post was last edited and a long series of links to all relevant posts on the subject.

Here’s a quick link to that post, but again, all you have to do is click my blog url and you’ll find it immediately.

Two: I’ve noticed something amazing about the atla fandom and I would like to thank you for it. I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers have taken to writing image descriptions for both the fanart and memes you post in the fandom, whether it’s OP including the description or another blogger adding it themselves. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a fandom so consistently doing this and that’s incredible. Realizing how many different blogs were picking up this habit has warmed my heart.

I’d like to see writers use her other senses. There’s soooo so much more to her O&M (Orientation and Mobility) than earth sense.

Beyond sight and earth bending, there’s hearing, touch, smell, taste, sense of direction, hot vs cold, sense of pain, sense of where your body parts are in relation to the rest of you, sense of internal well-being, etc. Before Toph had mastery of her earth bending, she had to have mastery of those too.

Toph also must have very strong opinions about certain smells, sounds, tastes, and textures. Toph is opinionated about everything, and when so much of your understanding of the world depends on senses that most people are ignoring in favor of some other sense you don’t have, it gets frustrating. I’m sure that tree looks pretty but the smell is terrible. Who cares if this fabric looks pretty, it’s scratchy, do. not. like. at. all.

But also in positive ways too. Oh, that flower arrangement looks bland and monochromatic? Who cares, it smells sweet and honey-like. Weird dark cavern with high ceiling and no light? The harmonics are awesome.

Every character probably has a certain sight or image they’re particularly fond of: Katara watching snow fall, or Aang enjoying how small the world looks from up on Appa, or Zuko enjoying the sunrise every morning during meditation. In that line, Toph must have some things personal to her that she enjoys.

I imagine she likes the taste of foods familiar to her childhood, the smell of whatever flowers grew around her home, and the texture of certain kinds of dirt Example: loose dirt probably isn’t the best for seeing, but I think she would enjoy how it feels to run her fingers through it or maybe enjoy the way it softens her perception of the world the same way sighted people like to see colorful, bright lights reflecting off puddles in the middle of rain.

If you struggle with this, that’s okay. I recommend taking some time to think about it for yourself, to find what tastes and smells and textures and sounds you enjoy the most, what makes you feel safe and at home, what brings you comfort, and relate that back to Toph.

In a Modern AU, I want to see Toph have a cane. Even in a Modern AU with bending included in the world building, I think Toph would benefit from having a cane.

The cane has a lot more function than bumping into things. A big part is that it signals to others that you are very obviously blind. Which is a big deal because sighted people are really, really bad at spotting the blind person.

(psst, please stop saying ‘the blank look in her eyes’ because I swear to god it’s been killing me inside for years.)

Also, even in an AU with bending, I think Toph would like the advantage of tapping her cane to create a stronger, more distinct vibration than a small shifting of her weight on her feet. It would have more control.

You could give Toph a guide animal, buuuuuuut, um, Toph is not a guide dog person. Like, there are some people who definitely prefer a guide dog, and some people who definitely prefer a cane, and some who definitely prefer no mobility device at all. Toph does not have the vibes of someone who wants to be both responsible and reliant on an animal when she’s so insistent that she can take care of herself on her own. Toph likes animals, but not that much.

Although, yeah, only 10% of the blind community use mobility devices, so cane and guide dog users are the minority of the blind community, but I stand by the vibe that Toph would love the independence of a cane. Also, it’s almost never ever done. Modern AUs never seem to touch much on Toph’s O&M skills with canes or guide dogs.

I wrote a whole post on everything you need to know about canes, what orientation and mobility is, how you learn O&M, what kind of canes exist, how to use them, how to describe the sensory input a cane gives you, and everything I know about guide dogs from past research.

Honestly, you could give Toph (or any blind character) a cane in any AU, because I fully stand by the theory that canes are a piece of technology that has been invented, lost, and reinvented again and again.

I wrote “I found a piece of lost blindness history” a few months ago after a visit to see my grandparents. My grandmother told me how her blind aunt found a way to write letters by hand to send to my grandmother when she was a child. I speculated on how the long cane has probably been invented and then lost and then reinvented over and over again in history, as well as giving a little history on the growing popularity of guide dogs in the 20th century following World War 1.

About the “blank look in her eyes,” I have a theory to the exact cause and nature of Toph’s blindness.

I know it’s common to think that the milky green color of her eyes is why she’s blind, though I’m not sure how many realize that milky green color is caused by severe cataracts. At least, cataracts is what I assume to be the reason for the color of her eyes. However, people with cataracts still have some remaining sense of light and shadow perception.

Only 9% of the blind community is completely blind, seeing absolutely nothing. The rest have some remaining vision, even if that’s only light and shadow perception or the perception of vague movement.

The percentage of people born completely blind is even smaller.

Toph says that she’s never been able to see, which would lead me to guess that the initial cause of her blindness was a defect with the visual processing part of her brain. I also theorize that the cataracts developed slowly over her very formative years and that she likely wasn’t born with them. For that reason, I think it would have taken a few weeks or months for her parents to realize there was something wrong with her eyes.

Here is a post about the developmental years of blind children and how their life would differ from both sighted children and from someone who went blind as an adult.

What is it like to see nothing?

It’s a concept that sighted people struggle with and I completely understand. I myself didn’t understand the concept of “nothing” until someone explained it as this:

“Imagine trying to see out the back of your head.”

Which, genuinely, imagine that. Try that. Because here’s what I found. There’s no part of my body that can help perceive that. I don’t have eyes there, nor do I have a part of my brain that can process that. Because of this, there is no sense of light or dark, no shape or shadow or movement or depth that I can perceive. There is nothing.

And honestly, it gives me a headache trying to think too much about it.

Toph doesn’t see black, doesn’t have a mental image of it. When people talk about light and dark, Toph has nothing to base the concept on. The closest relation she has to that is silence versus sound, or her earth sense when she’s in the air on Appa versus when she’s on solid ground. But it’s not the same.

I would like to examine the way the show tried to describe Toph’s earth sense, that black void with ripples of white stretching from her feet and outwards. Television is a visual medium so of course their explanation of Toph’s earth sense would be visual, but that’s not what it’s actually like in her head. More accurately, it’s like touching the back of your head to something and feeling what’s solid behind it and what has more give. A wall versus a pillow for example. Slamming your hand on a flimsy table and feeling it rattle under your palm. And for someone so adept at using that sense, she feels not just the table surface under her palm, but the individual rattles down the four legs, how uneven those rattles are because the legs are carved decoratively instead of solid planks, and how the foot of each leg bumps against the ground, and how the floor vibrates in response to the impact, which she feels in both her feet and hand.

About Toph’s Relationship with Her Parents

It’s not something I see touched on much. There’s been a lot of focus on Zuko and Azula’s relationship with their parents and the abuse, as well as exploration of Sokka and Katara’s trauma with losing their mother, and Sokka looking up to his warrior father while Katara struggles with her abandonment issues.

Please don’t take this as a critique, because there are a few valid reasons for this and I would like to give you some insight on how to explore Toph’s relationship with her parents.

For starters, the show had a lot more reason to focus on Zuko and Azula’s parents, with Fire Lord Ozai being the primary villain and Zuko’s greatest abuser, and Azula’s dependent worship of her father in response to Ursa’s neglect and favoritism of Zuko, which was likely Ursa’s response to Ozai’s favoritism of Azula. Their parents are huge driving motivators for why Zuko and Azula make the decisions and mistakes they do, why they are at one point in the show the villains themselves. (And why I think Azula should get a redemption arc and some healing.)

Katara’s trauma of losing her mother and blaming herself is a huge factor in both her response to the war, her relationship with her bending, and her motherly nature with her friends. The show has to explore that. Just as it has to explore Sokka’s problems with toxic masculinity in response to being the man of his village, and his desire to be a great warrior and leader like the father he idolizes.

The show needs to explore that to make the plot move forward, and it benefits from these being two sibling sets with different responses to their upbringing and different sibling dynamics, setting them up as foils for each other.

The show also wouldn’t benefit by giving Lao and Poppy Beifong more screen time. Their established character were two nobles who kept as far out of the war as possible and prospered monetarily for it. Poppy was polite and demure and Lao liked to lead the conversation. Unless the gAang decided to return to Toph’s home, those characters had no reason to pop up anywhere in the show. And if they did, they would be a hinder to Toph and her part in the plot as both Aang’s earth bending teacher and as the greatest earth bender in the world, tossing Fire Nation soldiers eight ways to Sunday.

So truly, I understand that there’s not a whole lot of canon material (comparatively) to go off of when developing this, but I will offer some insight on what is there in canon.

Toph’s relationship with her parents is explored in that it maps out why Toph doesn’t want to be mothered by Katara, why she wants to prove how independent she is, but there’s very little on screen interaction between Toph and her parents.

Toph deeply loves her parents. I think that plays into why she doesn’t want Katara mothering her, because she has a wonderful mother at home who she loves and wants to better understand her, but she had no friends growing up and no older sister, which are the roles she needs and wants Katara to fill. If Toph wanted a mother figure, she would have latched onto Katara. Look at how Zuko never sought out another mother figure but did find a father figure in Iroh as he began to heal from his childhood trauma and separate his self image from his father’s acceptance.

Toph is in a complicated situation, she loves her parents but the way they’re raising her is hurting her in the long run. But Toph can see that their actions are because of their immense love for her. She can see how they would do anything for her. While she never had any examples of how other noble children were treated by their parents, who might have been distant or disinterested or always away for their social and work lives, she was remarkably loved by her parents. Her father put careful thought into her tutors and checked in on her progress. Her mother feared for Toph’s emotional state when she was kidnapped (even if she was incorrect about how Toph would respond), showing genuine empathy for her daughter.

I think their over protective nature became the love language Toph best understood them by, and part of her reasoning for not revealing how capable she was, was because she wanted to keep experiencing that love and care for as long as she could. But it’s not a love language she would put up with from anyone else.

I would like to point out Toph’s genuine excitement to see her mom again in the season finale of Book Two, how badly Toph wants her mom to understand and accept her for who she is.

My thoughts on what Toph can’t do: read, swim, see in the sand, fight things mid-air.

For how incredibly powerful the show makes Toph with her earth bending and the O&M she taught herself through it, they do touch on some of her weaknesses when they come up and find a useful way to showcase them.

The Serpent’s Pass was an excellent example of Toph’s vulnerability in water. From her fear of not being able to see on Katara’s ice bridge to not being able to swim and needing Suki to save her, Toph’s weaknesses putting her in danger added to the excitement and “sitting on the edge of your seat” feeling while watching the episode without turning her into someone who was helpless. She was just in a position where her normal defenses were useless.

Just like the earth benders in the metal prison in the ocean, or Katara having little water in the middle of a desert where her friends needed that water to survive more than she needed it to fight, making her vulnerable later in the show when the insect-wasp things attacked. Just like fire benders being weaker at night, or powerless during a solar eclipse, or a sighted person being lost in the dark. Those were just situations in which the tools you were accustomed to relying on could no longer help you or were taken away.

The show was clever in that it didn’t make her inability to read a direct threat to her safety, but rather as a clever plot device for her to be alone when the sand banders attacked and have to choose between fighting them to save Appa, or holding back an entire fricking building by the tiniest spire on its very top from falling into a void leading to the spirit world. It also showed her weakness to not being able to see or fight as well in sand. Which the show later made an effort to show how she’d improved on that problem in Book Three when she was surrounded by nothing but sand at Ember Island.

Like improving her ability to see in the sand, I would like to see a character teach Toph to swim, or at least float, so that she never feels helpless again. If she took the initiative to improve her sand bending so much, I’m sure she would have learn to swim eventually.

And on the note of reading, I’ve seen some speculation on how Toph could learn to read, whether it’s through using ink that has some percentage of earth mixed in, or developing the sensitivity to feel out the different weight, consistency, and texture of ink on paper.

I would like to bring your attention to Louis Braille, the blind Frenchman who invented Braille while studying at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, the world’s very first school for the blind in Paris France (established 1785). Previously Louis was learning to read through a method in which each letter was pressed into the paper to leave an imprint that someone could feel out with just their fingers.

Louis Braille concluded that raised lettering was impractical because-

1. It is difficult to read, the letters had to be printed in huge font to be fully felt out and printed on thick paper.

2. Thick paper means higher quality, more expensive. Larger font means more paper is needed for a single text.

3. This made it inaccessible due to expense and the sheer volume of a text.

4. If today’s Braille books are hard to access and giant compared to traditional books, I can’t imagine how inaccessible those raised letter books really were.

The subject of Braille, the start and controversial near downfall to Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles were discussed in a post about writing a blind character during the Victorian Era.

I’ve heard others complain in the past about fantasy universes in which a sighted person invents a solution to allow the blind to read, when the most effective and longest lived method was invented by a blindman over two hundred years ago and is the standard taught in schools today.

And while I couldn’t easily explain it or how it works because I can neither read Braille nor speak Chinese, I can tell you that Chinese Braille exists and works only slightly differently from the Braille western languages use. So, again, modern AUs especially would benefit from enabling Toph to read Braille and use a computer and phone with screen reader.

But just as easily you could choose not to have her learn to read but rather have sighted people read things aloud to her. Whether it’s in a professional setting as an adult having an assistant who reads and writes for her, or as a cute, fluffy little moment between Toph and another character. Both are just as genuine to the blindness experience.

Blind Jokes

If you ever get around to reading my post about blind jokes, I’d like you to remember that it’s primarily written for people writing original characters and that Toph canonically makes blind jokes, so to take away from that would not be true to her character.

Does Toph’s Earth Sense Negate her Blindness?

It’s a question I’ve seen raised before and discussed by both abled, disabled, and blind people. There are multiple perspectives on it, but my own take on it is that Toph’s earth bending does not negate her blindness, but rather functions very much like the process of learning to use a cane.

She had a tool, a teacher, and she learned to use that tool. Instead of a cane, it was seismic perception and her teacher were blind badger-moles. She spent years learning to earth bend as they do and then continued to take it to new heights as she explored fighting with it on her terms against sighted fighters.

Come to think about it, I would love to see Toph teach another visually impaired or blind earth bender who to see and bend as she does.

Is Toph Good Blindness Representation?

This question was posed to me in the comments of my master post, and my answer was something like this: “Toph is good representation, but she can't be the only type of representation we get. She's the best we had 15 years ago, but there are a million ways to nuance the blindness experiences. Toph's experience being born blind, having very over protective parents, being a small girl in a patriarical and wealth influenced society, having no friends growing up. Those are all great aspects of blindness to show, but there is so much more to explore. As for her blindness and whether or not that's negated, that's also nuanced. She has limits, she's not all-powerful, but she is the best earth bender hands down. More or less, I love Toph, she's a great character, give me like a million more blind characters who are completely different from her.”

I want to see accurate and well-written blind characters become much more common in modern media, and that’s why I started this blog. So if you decide you want to write your own blind character from scratch, feel free to come back and look at some of my other stuff.

End Notes:

I want to thank the anon who sent the original question because it never occurred to me how much the atla fandom would benefit from a post like this.

You should follow my blog. Along with advice about writing blind characters, I write general writing advice and answer questions about writing, college, plot development, character analysis, and living with blindness. I curate writing advice from fellow writeblrs, write my own image descriptions for writing memes, post about mental health and working/living with ADHD, disabilities outside of blindness, and LGBTQA+ topics.

#avatar the last airbender #toph beifong #atla toph #atla #blind character #writing advice #writeblr #fanfiction

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griimhilde-a · 3 years

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if you know, you know.

——— a response to those who refuse to move on.

EDIT: after some encouragement and realizing that, while i tried to be respectful and private about this situation, i was not given the same treatment, i’ve decided to be upfront and filterless. here is a link to my page of receipts that i did not provide in this post.

i would like to point out that when i made the DNI, it was buried and sandwiched in my super long rules purposely so that it wasn’t explicitly visible and drawing attention. it was specifically put there for mutuals to understand my boundaries for the new blog, and as soon as i moved blogs, my guidelines underwent heavy reconstruction and the DNI section was removed overall ( i don’t like DNIs for myself ), as well as on this blog. all statements made in the DNI were what i felt to be true and based off of not only my experiences, but others’ as well, backed up with evidence i have saved that i didn’t feel the need to provide because it wasn’t meant to be a big deal, but i also felt i needed to explain why this person was on a DNI and that it wasn’t done out of malicious intent. again, if something sounds bad it is because “bad” things were done and i can’t control that.

reading the call-out had me ( and others ) confused on where it was i had bullied her, when i had her blocked since november, where it was i had manipulated her, and so forth. i’m always wanting to be a better person, so i was extremely confused on where i had done anything wrong. i also didn’t appreciate my new blog url being attached to it as it had nothing to do with it and i was trying to move forward, and it read very much like an attempt to blacklist. despite everything, i never wanted it to be a spectacle. the pinned, public call-out by this person doesn’t read to me as someone wanting to move on, but wanting to drag things further. this is not a call-out post, this is me defending myself. i will not name drop. if you know who this is about, i ask you just read this to understand the full story.

this is going to be a long boi ( i really tried to keep it short but alkfjdklfksldf nope ). i would also like to apologize for any dryness here, but i am aiming to just state facts as they are. it feels ---- ridiculous writing this all out because it’s something that could and should have been handled privately. but, here we go !!

everything on the DNI is true. i will not post or reveal the sources because one, they are not my stories to tell, and two, i am not going to give her the excuse to bother them. they deserve to be safe, and i am walking proof of what happens when you speak out against someone like her. if i have to bear that burden, then so be it.

it stopped being about “just a url” a long time ago. it became more about how i was treated in that interaction, and how i was continued to be treated afterwards. not to mention the increasing tension within the rpc and having to second-guess whether or not i was truly wanted. it was about how it was affecting those around me, my time in a hobby i love, and my mental health. the amount of times a mutual has tagged me by accident when they meant to tag her is insane. it most definitely did not feel good !!! if that kept happening, it was a problem. i also had to shut off the anon feature because of the amount of anons i was receiving. some had good intentions, but others had resorted to hate.

regarding the messages on discord --- i stand by them. i thought if you were friends with someone on discord and have previously talked over time, it was okay to message, otherwise what was the point of discord? i didn't realize it would make her uncomfortable to do so, and i’m more careful about how i approach people now !!!

regarding the messages: there was no change in tone other than that i grew exhausted and extremely anxious ( shaking !!! palms sweaty !!! knees weak !!!! mom’s spaghetti !!! ) and wasn’t in the proper mindset to sound happy while i was being invalidated to my face. i have even apologized there if i came off as mean. i don’t “present myself” in a way. that’s just how i talk, i prefer communicating one-on-one and i try to alleviate tension that arises no matter what because these types of conversations aren’t always a walk in the park. i wanted things to be good and not stressful for all parties involved. i’m sorry my tone came off as insincere. after being in desc rpc for a year, i was a little surprised seeing a near-identical url so i think it was fair for me to message her about it. she made the decision use it, and i was allowed to react. it was said misspellings in urls made her anxious so i wanted to help and i was shot down and vilified, essentially told i made her feel unsafe and shouldn’t have messaged. if it wasn’t okay to claim i felt “unsafe” and “paranoid”, why was it okay for her to claim the same based on a choice she made herself, but not me to feel anxious about those choices?

i have never told a blog to block her. i have never initiated conversation about her, nor have i spoken negatively about her as a person. ever. i have, in fact, even stated that i didn’t want anyone blocking and that it would be okay to interact. here’s one example after i was approached about her. i cannot control what other people do.

hardblocking her on my end was to avoid seeing her on dash as much as possible.

i am allowed to softblock / unfollow people who interact with her after months of trying to be okay with it. what kickstarted this process was someone i thought was a close friend had dropped me and suddenly i realized i didn’t need to sacrifice my comfort for the sake of keeping a mutual. if they could do it, so could i. while i adore the descendants rpc, the rpc is not a family, we’re not obligated to interact IC or be mutuals with every single person in the rpc. it’s not causing a rift when we don’t interact on dash. i have even emphasized that i would love to stay in contact via discord and write there if possible !! why am i being vilified for trying to make my blog a safe space for me?

regarding the “vagues”: they were all responses. a mutual wrote the post, i reblogged it, my tags were in response to the post ( said mutual’s url wasn’t even blocked out so ... ). if it felt like a vague, i can’t control that. the meaning behind the url post was circulating on dash, i didn’t see any vaguing in it other than me recounting my process of choosing this url, which was true ( was i not allowed to participate?? ). the shrek meme was in response to a public dash event ( which i originally thought was a joke ) that had received copious amounts of criticism for. it wasn’t a vague and it was explicit on what it was referring to, it was meant to be silly dash commentary, nothing deep.

this is in my rules but i have explicitly stated that my headcanons about my characters are not a vague if they differ from yours. the talk about hair styles was actually initiated in a conversation with my friends in private. it had absolutely nothing to do with her. if it sounded like a drag, i encourage everyone to look at how i’ve “dragged” many other things including the original outfits for descendants, evie thinking mermaid dresses are ugly, evie not liking wine, and so forth. my portrayal of evie =/= other portrayals of evie. while she may never do so-and-so, it doesn’t make it wrong for another portrayal to do it. ( why was my blog being kept tabs on and compared with, in the first place? that’s not duplicate friendly ).

regarding sex week: i've stated it was an inappropriate event because the descendants rpc had been heavily criticized for smutting and felt it wasn't the best response, nor was it the best way to promote sex positivity. it was insanely uncomfortable to witness, as someone in this rpc. it doesn’t matter if the people or the muses involved were adults, i would still call it inappropriate had it happened in any other rpc. it wasn’t a “block and move on” situation. i’m also allowed to defend myself because i didn’t want to be associated with something she posted. i didn’t want it tied to my url. i would like to clarify that when i said "embarrassing" in the responses under that anon, it was directed at the anon for misreading the url, nobody else. ostracizing occurred when the descendants rpc was being added to DNIs because of sex week / smutting, which was posted by this person ( if you post it, you start it. simple ). i had been blocked simply because i am a descendants blog and that had never happened before.

i was also notified that people uninvolved with this have been namedropping me on dash in an attempt to have me “written off” ( their words, not mine ) because my rules stated that i was open to exploring evie’s sexuality. below is a screenshot of my rule regarding smut. i deleted the rules page from this blog when i moved so i snatched it from my other canon descendants blog that i reuse on all blogs. the second is my elaboration on sexual content in my new evie rules. the third is what’s on my google doc, a condensed version of my rules. there is a major difference between smutting and posting a public dash event dedicated to sex versus being open to explore sexuality as a topic. they are not the same. also, me not choosing to smut does not dictate my opinion on smut, so do not make assumptions about that either. if you want to move on, why are you still talking about me on dash, especially when unprompted? if you just want to move on, why are you upset that i’m not “written off”?

this person has vagued me multiple times ( which they conveniently did not show in the call-out ), this person has been shown to talk badly of me in private ( and now, publicly as well ) ---- all of which i have not done. i have screenshots sent by others to show for it, but do not feel it’s relevant to share because this is not about her. this is just about defending myself.

i have spent three months apologizing for feeling things, apologizing for reacting, apologizing for things i should not have been apologizing for. i have spent so long accepting blame because i felt it would help. i’m done doing that. i know what i did and what i didn’t do. people know what i did and didn’t do.

all in all, i am confused on why a call-out was made when the content provides nothing other than catty remarks meant to air out personal drama. the messages exchanged only show how i tried to remedy things. the screenshots of my “vagues” were just responses, and most of which had nothing to do with this person. my initial silly dash commentary and later discomfort over a sexual dash event posted by this person is not a vague.

if you ( referring to maker of the call-out and others who partook ) are upset about people not talking about me in regards to the “rest of the call-out”, maybe consider the fact that there was nothing about me in it that warranted a call-out in the first place. people saw that i did nothing wrong. the only thing of substance in the call-out was something the maker themselves did : the public, sexual dash event. people are allowed to identify that as a more prominent issue as opposed to how my messages or public posts could be perceived through basic, biased narrative manipulation.

me deciding to unfollow / softblock blogs that interact with this person =/= involving the descendants rpc or making it public. i am allowed to softblock whoever i want to cultivate my dash experience. most people i know have it in their rules that they are okay with people softblocking for their comfort and that it won’t be taken personally. you know what IS making it public and involving the entire descendants rpc? this person messaging a descendants server and name dropping me in the server, reducing the situation to just being about a “url” and publicly announcing it in the server. here are the facts to consider: her message was sent jan. 21. my DNI went up feb 2.

so, regarding the call-out: there was no bullying, no manipulation, no harassment, no gaslighting, nothing from my end, and the call-out shows precisely that the claims are just that: claims. whatever was felt is valid, but feelings =/= gravity of the actual action itself - the most common thing pointed out in therapy: feelings are valid, but are they justified? call-outs should be reserved for people who cause actual harm, not because someone wants an excuse to blacklist. if i am a “bully” for unfollowing blogs for my own comfort, then i think the rpc really needs to reevaluate what these terms mean because the misuse is harmful.

here are the things i did do: treated everyone i talked to with respect. approached things civilly. communicated. tried to accommodate for others. attempted to make a safe space for myself. did not involve the entire rpc by announcing it in a server. did not make a call-out post nor pin it. did not continue to name drop afterwards despite claiming to want to move on.

this entire situation is absurd and should have never been public, much less made a call-out for !! while this was meant to defend myself and state facts, i understand it may not change minds. a friend has told me that people will hate me because they want to hate me, no matter what. and i can’t do anything about that !! all i have to say is that holding hate in your heart never ends well. i hope everyone can find peace at some point.

so please, let me move on. let me write with my friends. let me unfollow / softblock people to keep my dash comfortable. let me take a break from descendants while also having the choice to return at anytime. please stop talking about me when i’m not even giving this another thought and haven’t since i moved blogs. please stop name dropping. stop keeping tabs on me, stop stalking my new blog. please leave me alone. i hold absolutely nothing against anyone i may have softblocked / unfollowed or am not currently interacting with on my new blog. my IMS / discord is always available, you will not be violating my safety by messaging me, everyone is welcome, but i also understand if you feel the need to separate yourself !!! as for those of you who have interacted with the call-out post, i wish you the best but i hope you understand why i do not want to interact with you by any means in the future.

i’m hoping this post lays everything to rest, seeing as my first one did not. honestly, what are you trying to prove if you still have to post about this? it helps nobody. this back-and-forth is exhausting and unneeded. no more. let’s be better people, yeah?

i hope everyone takes care of themselves, i hope you all have a great day / night !!! thank you for reading this long boi !!

#this is a long boi.#thank u to everyone who's offered their support these past few days!#i refuse to let people push me out with baseless claims !!!#so here are all the facts #i really don't want to talk about this anymore but if u need proof of the things this person has done u can msg me #otherwise. this ends here.#pls don't reblog!

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amphtaminedreams · 3 years

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Spring/Summer & Haute Couture Week 2021: Whoops, I’ve Missed a Loooot (Part 2)

Hey to anyone reading,

I’m so sorry for the gap between the last fashion week review post and this one! Argh. I had no idea I posted it as long ago as the beginning of March but I think we can all agree that lockdown has fucked with our perceptions of time completely. I wish I could say the delay in posting was as simple as me being busy but I’ve also started to reflect on whether or not I want to carry on this format of posts for the time being; on the scale of problems, this one is wayyy down there in the very lower quartile of the first world region, but my motivation to carry on this kind of content in the form of long-winded text posts is...meh...not so much there anymore. At first I was thinking the issue was that working on these was my last priority on my daily to-do lists but as I’ve got back into writing fiction, it’s kind of occurred to me that the fact I was putting these posts on my to-do lists in the first place along with things like doing the ironing and contacting student finance speaks volumes. When I’m back from work or winding down, opening up Tumblr and coming back to this draft isn’t something that I think of as a fun stress reliever in the way drafting stories is. It doesn’t feel like I’m using my imagination or my creativity or expressing myself in any way and it’s not much of an escape from day to day life in the way that writing dialogue or exploring characters is. Maybe it’s because I’ve done quite a few of these posts now but I just tend to feel like I’m repeating myself, you know kinda like when you’re writing an essay and trying to fill up a word count; of course there are collections that I do have a lot of opinions on but by and large, sometimes it boils down to THESE CLOTHES ARE JUST FUCKING PRETTY, OKAY?! There’s only so many things you can say about a tulle skirt or an exaggerated collar before you want to strangle yourself with said tulle. I used to think iF VoGUe RuNwaY wRitErs CaN dO iT WhAT's MY exCusE until I realised that 1). Vogue Runway writers actually get paid and 2). for the most part all they do is explain the designer's intentions behind the collections verbatim without giving a critical opinion anyway.

I think a lot of the pressure I feel to justify what are in reality quite simple observations and opinions goes back to some of the feelings I explained in my first ever fashion week review where people who know more about fashion and have a formal education in the subject tend to be kind of gatekeep-y and elitist. It can never be that you appreciate different things about a collection but rather than one of you has taste and the other doesn’t and if it wasn’t obvious, the taste level assigned to you by the powers that be tend to positively correlate with the amount of money you have available to spend on a degree that has a reputation for failing to provide a steady income, which for most makes it an unrealistic avenue to pursue. I know, I know, the pressure is totally self-inflicted and wholly imagined seeing as I have under 500 followers on here and those who do interact with these posts most likely do so for the pictures but I still feel it, and given that I’m going to have enough external pressure to write essays when I return to uni in September, why on earth am I wasting time putting it on myself? When just posting photosets of my favourite looks is not only actually enjoyable for me but is also what other people WANT to see too? Nobody wants to read a self-indulgent paragraph like this when they’re here for the clothes and to be honest, for the most part I don’t want to write them anyway unless it’s something I have strong feelings about or if a collection can only be properly appreciated with analysis. I think I’ve made pretty clear which designers I’m a fan of, do you really need to hear me raving about Gucci or Zimmerman or Miu Miu or Balenciaga again? Is there gonna be anything revolutionary in yet another rant about Maria Grazia? Course not. I mean, if you are reading, you might have to witness those things one last time because I do intend to finish off this season’s review in this format for consistency purposes and because I’ve already got all the notes now but on the whole, I doubt anyone will miss my rambles.

So, with all that in mind, I think after I finish my S/S21 posts I am gonna start just uploading these posts without the written part. I mean, for one, the simplicity of doing this means I’m much less likely to procrastinate making them which in turn means I’ll be able to get them out right after the shows as a kind of summary as opposed to months later when they’re no longer as relevant. This will also give me more time to work on the writing I actually enjoy. Right now I’m going through and editing my 17 year old self’s “grown-up” take on the Pretty Little Liars blackmail murder mystery style plot line which I wrote back when I was completely and utterly obsessed with the show and bitterly disappointed by the last couple of seasons. The writing is pretty mediocre and often hugely cringey to read back now but I am still a fan of the basic plot and I’m genuinely motivated to see if I can make it something actually worth reading, and to get onto that ASAP; this feels especially important right now given that the HBO version of the series’ apparent upcoming release has sent that ever-present writer’s fear of seeing-your-same-storyline-done-better-by-somebody-else-thus-forever-relegating-your-version-to-being-the-poor-imitation-so-you-gotta-get-there-first into overdrive (or maybe that’s just me and my neuroses). Again, it’s a totally unfounded fear based on the fact that the HBO show will probs get millions of viewers whilst I will be doing little more than shouting into the void but anybody who’s used Turnitin to submit an essay that ultimately counts for little more than like 1% of your grade or degree will know that no matter how irrelevant your work is, the concept of failing a plagiarism check, be it via a computer algorithm or one random stranger on the internet’s assessment, is enough to conjure visions of the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse galloping towards you screaming “START THE WHOLE THING AGAIN” before releasing a hoarde of 2015 Chanel vs. Walmart style comparison memes.

Now, speaking of Chanel, I should probably get back into the reviewing.

So for the last time for a little while, here’s Christian Siriano:

Siriano’s designs are a great example of work I feel guilty enjoying. I know that when it comes to quality, the high fashion community have a lot of (negative) things to say and I really can’t speak to that because quite honestly, I know very little about textile manufacturing. Solely from my own point of view though, I do like his work a lot. I wouldn’t claim for a minute that he’s a pioneer in terms of his creations but I would 100% love to wear them and I DO hugely admire his commitment to putting women of all sizes on the runway and designing pieces that don’t simply cater to straight up and down types which is more than can be said for most brands. I get that his collections are pretty formulaic, taking what has worked for the likes of Chanel and Alessandra Rich, De La Renta and Carolina Herrera, Michael Kors too (who is kind of guilty of the same thing himself), but that’s not to say his work is bad. Let’s be real, we’ve been on this planet thousands of years, we’re all taking inspiration from someone, and maybe figures like Kors and Siriano could wait a *little* longer before taking said inspiration but their aim at the end of the day is to sell clothes, not break barriers, a task which although often left to the big name brands, they too often fail at. I’m not going to lie, I’m feeling this whimsical mid-century tea party vibe, it’s elegant and it’s cutesy and My Fair Lady-esque, and you bet your arse I would be absolutely thrilled to wear one of these looks on a summer red carpet. I just can’t say no to anything tulle-maybe it’s that I was on Toddlers & Tiaras in a past life or maybe it’s that I watched too many Barbie Princess films growing up, but I like pretty much everything going on here, especially Siriano is giving us matching fedoras too. Plus, can we take a moment to praise Siriano for his COVID relief efforts? Near the beginning of the pandemic, he turned his studio into a mask manufacturing factory in order to send them out as donations, and I think that is very cool.

Then there’s Christopher Kane who once again came through with the most insanely gorgeous prints:

I mean, paint splattering is hardly a new technique but I haven’t seen it done as a print so tastefully before-it eats the Moschino biro scribble print (which apparently was copied too speaking of the tendencies of designers to “borrow” inspiration) for breakfast. It’s shit because there weren’t many looks in this collection and they weren’t really shot in a way that does them any justice but I thought I’d include the few I saved.

Comme Des Garcons is a fave of the high fashion community and one I look forward to seeing at fashion week but can never quite get behind. I appreciate the what-the-fuckery of it all with this show totally being able to pass as a run-through of some kind of nuclear waste themed scare house at one of Thorpe Park’s fright nights. I assume given that and the plastic Mickey Mouse print it’s supposed to be some kind of reference to the part late-stage capitalism has played in the hellish landscape we find ourselves in today? Or something all intellectual? In which case I made my interpretation with farrrr too much confidence. But Anyway! Who knows! I’ll leave the analysis to the fashion students, and give it one word: trippy.

Onto Dion Lee, a brand I truly do get excited to talk about because it’s rare that I don’t LOVE his work.

Without fail, Lee manages to be confidently ahead of the curve without going out of his way to announce it and his genius to everyone with flamboyant shows and exaggerated designs and extortionate prices. He is very much an underdog in the fashion world in terms of big names but you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love his collections. His S/S21 collection is one of my favourites of the bunch. I love seeing something I’ve never seen before and the palm leaf breast plate is so odd but so cool and so perfectly Dion Lee at the same time; we’ve seen jungle/tropical inspired collections sooo many times *cough cough D&G cough cough* and THIS is how you make them fresh and unique. I mean, never in a million years did I think I’d get behind the resurgence of the gladiator sandal trend but Lee has me changing my mind. This is one of the very rare times you will ever see me using this meme to praise a man but:

I mean, he has Fernanda Ly modelling for him, that the man has taste goes without saying.

Now for a bit of a full circle moment, given that I did actually praise Dior’s haute couture collection in my first ever post; Maria Grazia did GOOD. Well, with haute couture at least.

She’s always pretty hamfisted with her references, there’s no denying, with that Grecian Goddess style RTW collection typifying that statement completely, but luckily she struck gold this time round; as someone who studied the Tudors for A-level history, seeing a modern take on the exaggeratedly feminine renaissance silhouettes with the baroque prints and the deep jewell tones got me super excited especially when you throw in the dreamy tarot theming and the nods to the mystical and arcane. Seeing as the Heavenly Bodies Met Gala (I know, I know, I need to move on) was some time ago now and Cersei Lannister’s *SPOILER* been crushed by a rock (could also be seen as a metaphor for the irrelevancy David Benioff and D.B Wise condemned GoT to when they aired that shitty ending tehe) and so probably won’t be getting a collection based on her costumes any time soon, this is the only fashion take on this kind of period dress I’m going to get…and you know what? I’m okay with that. Thanks Maria, I guess?

Her RTW collection wasn’t absolutely awful either, and slightly better than the past few collections at least. Put a monkey in a room with a typewriter (or show it enough similar well-received collections) and it will eventually write something that makes sense, don’t they say? I like the nomadic feel of a lot of the looks and there’s beautiful layering going on but the aura of exotic opulence unsurprisingly didn’t stick around for long and I found that there was a decline in quality in the midsection of the show that landed a lot of the outfits in either awkward mother of the bride at a beach wedding or The Only Way is Essex Ocean Beach PLT sponsored poolside party territory. The looks picked back up a bit towards the end stretch of the show but I wasn’t a fan of the Gucci style oversized glasses which were so out of place with the rest of the theming that if anything they seemed like a cheap grab at relevancy. So yeah, a middling, subpar Etro-esque collection which is better than usual for Dior I suppose.

Next, Elie Saab, whose S/S21 collection was kinda disappointing, tbh. Oh how the turns have tabled given that positive Dior review and my usual love of Saab’s collections.

I know his dresses lose some of their appeal when we can’t see them in motion but even ON the runway I can’t see myself being dazzled by any of these pieces the way I usually am. They’re lacking the level of detail and craftsmanship I associate with the brand seemingly in favour of block colours and suits and the issue is that the whole Disney Princess fantasy has always been the appeal for me because the silhouettes aren’t interesting enough on their own. They’re not ugly pieces, they’re nice, but does nice really have a place in high fashion when the pieces are so basic in both their design and presentation that the shots could pass as ripped from a catalogue? The strongest parts of the collection were when it did go down the more delicate route with the muted blue suits and the white feather trimmed dresses, the small, ornamental gold details reminding me of a very toned down nod to Schiaparelli’s hardware, but with regards to the bright coloured pieces, I can’t lie-they did look like something you could find in the M&S Per Una holiday section. Then you’ve got the weakest parts, which were just flat out ugly: sheer giraffe print, sweat band style elasticated waits, and long chiffon shirts that I hate to admit read as frumpy. There are times where I’ve not been particularly excited by an Elie Saab collection in the past, but I do think this is the first time I’ve actively disliked parts of it.

Conversely, Erdem’s S/S21 collection was super strong, and solidified the brand’s place in my mind as a dependable source of kooky maximalism, this time round giving us Anya Taylor Joy’s Emma wardrobe on speed. You could tell me Erdem Moralıoğlu had just raided the Bridgerton set’s fitting rooms and put it on a runway and I would 100% believe you and I mean that in a positive way because to give my unpopular opinion, the clothes were the only good thing about that show. The endearingly florid details of exaggerated bows and clashing florals were still there but this time in a way that felt more subtle and self-assured, as if the calming influence of the wooded set’d had a direct hand in the designs, giving the rugged, ethereal feel to the collection I associate with brands like Brock and Simone Rocha, all whilst keeping the parts of Erdem I’m so fond of.

Is it really much of a shock that I included pretty much every look from the Etro S/S21 show? Like, you know that Christian idea of God, like, (the voice in my head is very much taking on the dumb valley girl voice that anybody who reads this is most probably getting too) knowing our souls? I think Veronica Etro knows mine. So no, no surprise. Though there were a few unconventional touches thrown into these looks (the campier prints and nautical theming we see with the 80s beach towel print, for example, reminded me a bit of Versace) the mystical bohemian it girl that Etro designs for would still be highly satisfied. Sure, it might be a wardrobe fit for a holiday less adventurous than backpacking but if she wanted a tropical poolside holiday, this collection is the one, the paisley print chiffon mini and maxi dresses especially. I’m just gonna pretend I don’t see the monstrosity that is leggings worn as trousers-it’s a fashion rule I refuse to abandon-because they are the only stain on an otherwise expectedly gorgeous collection.

Next, an unusually reserved RTW collection from Fendi:

More in line with the wardrobe of a European fashion editor than the glamorous trophy wife (who let’s say uses that facade as a guise to ruthlessly run her husband’s whole business empire from behind the scenes because in this house we do complex female characters only), these pieces are lot “smarter” and more professional looking than Fendi’s typical offerings; where I feel Fendi usually designs for the society girl who wouldn’t mind a front page scandal, these are the kind of outfits a young member of Monaco’s royal family would wear for a positively received but business-as-usual press tour. I know, Fendi is an Italian brand, but this is more Southern France to me. We’re talking some 2nd page shots of a Kate Middleton type on a yacht on the Riviera smiling and waving as her PR team’s ideal scenario. Still, whilst fewer exaggerated silhouettes, animal prints and overtly luxurious fabrics (real leathers, silks and furs for example) mean that the drama’s a little toned down, it’s all still very expensive looking and combines the classically feminine glamour of the past and the minimalism of modernity in the artful manner that we’re used to. Maybe it’s me being a basic bitch but I always love seeing Ashley Graham on the runway too, even if brands to tend to use her as their single token plus size model.

Kim Jones’ debut haute couture collection for Fendi, however, wasn’t a very well received one. I don’t hate it personally but I can see where the criticisms are coming from. Whilst it’s closer to the version of Fendi I’ve come to expect and there were some stunning pieces which completely encapsulated that distinctive aura of luxe and glamour, there were quite a few lazy pieces which could’ve been from any designer. I also felt the collection was a bit upstaged by what seemed to be a who’s who of the modelling world; having Bella, Cara, Kate and Naomi ALL walk in one show was a bit distracting and took the focus off the clothes completely.

Giambattista Valli’s RTW collection was gorgeous as ever; the man has undeniably mastered the art of delivering classic, objective elegance, the kind of designs I feel would make you light on your feet and smell like strawberries and cream the minute you put one on. Whilst as a brand his RTW shows are rarely trendsetting, they reliably produce a plethora of unfailingly graceful and demure pieces, as appealing to your mum and your grandma as they are to young women and little girls, and this collection is another victory lap for Valli when it comes to upholding his signature tea party and artisan cupcake making and rose garden strolling and bottomless rosé brunch appropriate aesthetic. There were a lot of outfits that were bordering on overly juvenile, with structures a little too basic to justify the amount of sequins thrown on, but when it’s good, it’s so sweet that regardless of how to formula it is, I can’t help but fall in love.

Valli’s haute couture collection was stunning too and for sure a more exciting offering than the RTW. There was of course a lot of the signature tulle but it was head-turning, over the top in a way that leant far more towards the experimental than I expected. The photos themselves are 100% believable as a some kind of Vogue behind the scenes editorial shoot on the set of live action Disney princess movie (in between takes of the climactic ball scene if you wanna get specific with the vision); if you are looking for a prettier alternative to the primary colours and disruptive shapes of a Molly Goddard collection, this is the one. It’s giving the themes of excess and abundance I associate with that of the Hunger Games Capitol but through the softer lens of a Sofia Coppola movie, and being the typical cinema loving white girl I am, I’m obviously on board with that vibe.

I did SUCH a 180 on Givency’s S/S21 collection from when I first saw it to writing a review. My initial reaction was one of disappointment, I guess simply because Givenchy has given us so many bold pieces and presentations over the last few years whereas this is more low-key. After properly considering it though as I would any other brand, I came to the conclusion that I do actually really like it. It’s still got the strange, androgynous silhouettes popping up throughout and the futuristic space-age details but with a more down-to-earth, streetwear feel, albeit a very slick, glossy spin on the trends of the rabble (that’s us guys) of course before we go believing it’s achievable. On the one hand, the devil horn accents are a touch Claire’s accessories halloween range but at the same time, done with confidence they’re kind of cool and bring something new and fun to the table in line with the dark theatre of Givenchy’s last few shows.

Now for Gucci, which for the first time I have to say, if I'm attempting objectivity, is not a standout.

Like, can I just start by saying though the format it’s presented in is cute, it’s not ideal as a way of actually showing the collection. I get that the vintage shop bin vibe is a huge part of Gucci’s brand but polaroids make it SO hard to actually see the clothes, and that’s what we’re here for right? I don’t want to give the impression that I don’t like what I see here-the clothes are gorgeous, an idyllic ode to the off-duty wardrobes of Studio 54-ers, bohemian style icons like Charlotte Rampling and young Olivia Newton-John, psychedelic rock guitarists and the inhabitants of San Fransisco’s Haight during the late 60s and early 70s, Alessandro Michele’s favourite period of reference. I can’t pretend otherwise, or act like I wouldn’t want to wear the shit out of this collection. Buut, for Gucci? It’s a little underwhelming. These are the kind of filler looks we get in a typical Gucci show to go alongside the more statement pieces, which this collection is lacking. It’s just that these are designs which usually gets people talking and these pieces don’t do that. It sucks because for most other brands this would be a stand out collection, an immersive, luscious vignette of what people tend to think of as a cultural golden era, but when you’ve had a show that involved models carrying replicas of their own decapitated heads down the runway in the last 5 years, of course something more toned down like this is gonna generate a lot of “is that it?”s.

I owe Hermes an apology. Looking back, I have disliked all their previous collections for the same reason that I now really like this one; maybe it’s in part down to the frustration of still having to whack out the winter coat on occasion in May (fuck British weather and climate change), but suddenly I really appreciate the value of some good quality, versatile outerwear. Hermes is giving us that in spades here and for that, I bow down to them. The pieces on offer are clearly well-made and genuinely practical, and through the minimalist approach manage to retain both an air of timeless sophistication whilst also being youthful and on trend. The leather tactical vest co-ord I can easily see edged up and taking centre stage on one of those insane Seoul street style slow-mo TikToks that were big a couple of months ago and there are several pieces that could tie together a grunge influenced k-style look just as well as they could exist for years on end as the wardrobe staple of a high-powered businesswoman. Designer Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski’s strengths really come through with the simpler looks and it’s the patterned pieces that drag down an otherwise flawless collection; I guess because the aesthetic is very minimalist, the patterns can’t be anything overly decorative but unfortunately this has a bit of a dowdy effect when you pair it with such modest silhouettes. Disregarding those elements of the collection though, it was super good.

It goes without saying that Iris Van Herpen’s haute couture collection was breathtaking; if the fashion community can agree on anything, it’s that this woman’s work is consistently awe-inspiring. She captures the wonder of the universe, the biological structures and kaleidoscopic colours we don’t even register, through fashion in a way that others can only imitate, to mesmerising, truly transcendent effect; I can only assume Van Herpen has mother nature whispering into her ear because how the hell else do you explain her ability to take the kind of microscopic organisms they show you images of in an outdated GCSE science powerpoint and make a dress that resembles one so stunning? Care to explain, Iris? Because if there is some kind of line of communication between the two of you can you please tell the bitch I’m over this weather and that I have cute summer outfits I’m waiting to wear so can she pack this torrential rain shit in? K, thanks xoxo

See it seems shady as fuck to go from IVH to Isabel Marant like this because we are talking 2 designers with totallyyyy different approaches to fashion; Iris Van Herpen is haute couture for starters whereas Marant is commercial, and that’s her thing, but unfair comparisons aside this collection is still a bit of a let down. This is considering I do usually really like Isabel Marant collections based on whether or not I’d wear the pieces, which seems a more appropriate barometer to use to come to a quality verdict. Whilst there were a few of the elegant bohemian pieces my mind goes to when it comes to her brand, the steps outside of that comfort zone didn’t pay off; graffiti print (can be cool if done with some subtlety which apart from a few exceptions was not the case here), cheap looking reflective fabric, and MC Hammer style dungarees, it seems to be an attempt to merge 80s trends with modern urban culture, and an attempt that at times verged on the disastrous. It’s good for a brand to experiment, of course, and appeal to a wider client base than usual, but when it’s bad the unfortunate take away is that the design team don’t have the chops to pull off straying from familiar territory; designers wouldn’t be showing at fashion week if this was truly the case because disregarding the influence of nepotism, fashion is an area you need real talent, perseverance and business smarts to excel in, and so it doesn’t do a team justice when they do fail.

J.W Anderson, on the other hand, really put his best foot forward this season and presented this work in a really cool way too which only added to the positives; whilst the way the shots were edited was funky af, it didn’t detract from the actual outfits, and if we are to see the same limitations when it comes to the F/W collections being released, this is something a lot of designers and editing teams should take note of. The idiosyncratic exaggerated shapes that we see as a recurring feature of Anderon’s collections were still on show but this time round with added femininity, billowing skirts and trailing jewellery that channel the stage looks of Stevie Nicks in a way that’s modern and functional and maybe even fit for the office if you were to work in a more creative industry with a chill boss. Could also work for a coven of witches who practice meditation by bonfires in the moonlight and burn the letters of men who wronged them in some Arizonian desert, so like I said, functional! Who doesn’t like versatility? The only thing I’m not too keen on is the shoes but they’re not so bad that it affects my opinion of the collection and they look comfy I guess.

Lastly, we’ve got to talk about Jacquemus, one of the most influential names in fashion at the moment. And yes, this time round, I’m doing it: I’m buying into the hype.

This collection is gorgeousss! I can see already that a lot of the recurring elements of the show are going to be big summer trends for this year (the cut outs and strappy details on the blouses are everywhere already) even though it isn’t hot enough to have collectively decided the time to start dressing for heat is upon us yet, and that’s always a good indicator of how successful the designer was in their vision and attempts to assess the needs and wants of fashion enthusiasts; whether I’m as big a fan of his work as everyone else seems to be, there’s no denying Simon Porte Jacquemus has always excelled at this practice if the buzz around him is anything to go by. It makes sense given the last year of us all being stuck in and suppressed that a lot of us are already romanticising the summer ahead, anticipating picnics and beach days and general Theresa May running through wheat fields type shenanigans galore, in spite of how dubious an assumption it is to make that British weather will allow for this; Porte Jacquemus has very much catered to this wishful thinking and the popularity of the whole escapist “cottage core” aesthetic, sexing it up a little bit with pieces that hug the body in ways only Mugler knows how whilst being lightweight and relaxed enough to look good with windswept, sandy hair and a little dose of sunburn. I’m talking enough to give you some cutesy freckles and rosy cheeks not PSA on the importance of suncream territory, guys, what is it with those of us on the gen Z/millennial cusp not taking sun damage seriously!? Why do I have to beg so many of my friends to wear it!? Does nobody else remember those photos they’d show you in PSHE in English primary schools of burnt people’s skin under UV lights? Or is that just me being weird and only having such a vivid memory of the images because teachers told us we had to wait until year 6 to see them due they to their “graphic” nature only for my gore-loving self to be extremely underwhelmed when we finally did get that lesson? They showed us a woman giving birth in year 4 for fuck’s sake. THAT was traumatising.

Back to the actual point anyway, with just a couple of negatives, the first of which being that the pieces are very similar to those feminine looks we saw dotted about the Jacquemus menswear collection from last year that were all over fashion Twitter. In Simon Porte Jacquemus’ defence though, it makes sense that those tones and silhouettes would be revisited in a full womenswear collection for that very reason; considering they went down so well and that lockdown gave us a bit of a half-baked summer in 2020, expanding on those elements enough for a whole new collection makes good business sense. We did get some cool additions too, mainly in the form of accessories, with the hardware details on the belts similar to those included in the Givenchy collection and the abstract hair slides being standouts for me. It was all exquisite-the shoes, the jewellery, the styling, everything 10/10. My other nitpick, and I say nitpick not because it’s not important but because it’s an issue that’s hardly restricted to Jacquemus (this casting team are far from the worst offenders, Saint Laurent I’m looking at you), is that I WISH we’d see more diversity with the models. Despite what my body dysmorphia yells at me, I am small, and yet seeing all those fucking minuscule waists made me die a little inside; it’s crazy to me that in 2020 the lack of variety in body types on the runway is still such a problem.

I must have said this a million times but I don’t want to end on a negative note so let me reiterate: this collection was STUN. NING. Plus there were some others I’ve talked about in this post that I’m sure will make it into my top 20 in the final part, Jacquemus, Dion Lee and Etro for sure; we even got some gorgeous pieces from Maria Grazia which I thought was a sentence I’d never type out. Have I said enough to not leave a bad taste in the mouth of anyone who read to the end of this post? I hope so, lol! TBH, it’s impressive given everything that’s going on that the majority of designers did roll out collections in September as usual so serious respect to them and their design teams for that.

In the next post, I’ll fingers crossed be able to include everything from Kim Shui (exciting!) through to at least Off-White (actually pretty good this time?!) and make this whole thing a 4 parter before getting straight on top of the photo posts I’m thinking about doing for the time being for the F/W21 shows. So as usual, if you did read to the end thank you so much and I respect the perseverance you must have to get through all my rambling, lmao. Hope everyone is well and coping okay and again, my inbox is always open for any post suggestions, constructive criticism, or just a chat for anyone who needs a listening ear.

Big love and thank you again!

Lauren x

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fleetofshippyships-archive · 5 years

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Fanfic Author Meme

Tagged by @diligent-thunder and @rockmarina =)

Okay, so I’m me, and I talked way too much, so I’m putting this under a cut to save your dashes. You’re welcome 😘

Please do not reblog this post.

Author Name:

Fleetofshippyships + Knowyourincantations + Legendaryroar

Fandoms You Write For:

(in order of decreasing # of fics) Harry Potter, Voltron, Merlin, Yuri on Ice, Star Trek, Star Wars and then a few one-offs that aren’t really worth mentioning.

Where You Post:

AO3 primarily, Tumblr, trying to post more on Pillowfort, I also post on a couple of sites for knowyourincantations

Most Popular Multi-Chapter Story:

RestraintNone of my old multi-chapter fics are available to read at this time and I don’t really write multi-chapter fics anymore.

If oneshot/drabble collections or two-shots count, then:

Fleetofshippyships: Vanilla and Sweet Spices (Drarry, Explicit, 2 chapters, 20k)

and this really doesn’t count, but technically it has multiple ‘chapters’ soooooooooo

Legendaryroar: Kinktober 2018 (Multiple ships (Voltron), Explicit (duh), 31 ‘chapters’, 26k)

Favourite Story You Wrote:

I don’t think I ever have a static favourite, I’ve just written too many things, I too quickly move on to the next (and frequently forget some of my own fics exist XD), but recently I re-read In Pursuit of Red Wine (Dreville, Teen, 29k) and really enjoyed that again, and I am really attached to it cos it was my first longish rarepair fic, kind of proving to myself that I can write longer rarepair stuff.

I also recently re-read Unburdened (Merthur (BBC Merlin), Explicit, 2k) and really enjoyed that too, had a total disconnect from having written it since it’s been so long, so I was able to read it without self-judging, and oh boy that was nice.

I’m also quite proud of Healing What’s Left (Parkgrass, Teen, 2k) for some reason, I dunno, maybe the dark political backdrop of the fic, or maybe just cos it’s the first time I’ve written Daphne as the main character and I’m happy with the result and now have some headcanons about her rather than her being an unknown blank character to me.

I also binge read a lot of my Voltron stuff recently and had big feels over that so....I also specifically enjoyed re-reading The Perks of Skincare (Klance (Voltron), Explicit, 3k) again cos I dunno, I like how I wrote Lance XD and also the Sheith fic I linked earlier is a fav for sure. Shiro/Rest is the ultimate OTP.

It really depends how soon after I write something or when I go back to re-read it as to what my fav is at any given time (or people commenting on it and hyping me up for it again).

Story You Were Nervous to Post:

Everything. But most recently I was terrified out of my mind before posting:

Friday Night by the Fire (Harry/Neville, Teen, 583 words) because I have a lot of fears about screwing up trying to write ace characters and somehow not even making that a focal point of the drabble made it even more terrifying, No More Waiting (TianShan (19 Days), Teen, 2k) because it was a new fandom to write in, Harry Potter and the Maudlin Merman series (Drarry, Teen+ Mature, 3k +6k) due to my feelings of inadequacy because it would be better as long fic but I struggle too much with writing these days to write long fics and can only manage short things. I’d rather write this as a long fic, but then I’d never finish it so connected oneshots are the best I can do right now, but I still feel it’s not good enough and have a meltdown whenever I post one. And speaking of which, I’ve been sitting on the next one for months and should probably just fucking post it already.

Actually, most recently: Minding One’s Limits (Cho/Ginny, G rated, 1.5k), because I gave Cho a disability modeled off my fibromyalgia and wrote a scenario similar to something I’d dealt with myself, it was incredibly uncomfortable to write in the first place, and then terrifying to post, even though it’s so short. But in the end I’m proud I finally wrote about it a bit? I dunno, might take me a while to work up the nerve again though XD (also was my first time writing that ship, so there was a lot of nervousness over that too)

Oh, and I was a super ball of anxiety posting Kinktober 2018 (Multiple ships, Explicit, 31 ‘chapters’, 26k) because for almost all of those it was the first time I was writing those kinks (and some were kind of squicks for me but I wanted to see if I could write them anyway cos I’m dumb like that) and in a lot of cases those ships were completely new for me to write too, in addition to trying to write and post 1 a day, so...yeah. Also that was my first time writing tentacle and human/werewolf smut so...yeah. I was an absolute mess that month and not in a fun way. But I’m still really glad I did it, it was fun =D

In summary, I’m always an anxious mess posting anything, but most especially if it’s something I’ve not written before or is personal to me XD

How Do You Choose Your Titles:

Most of the time I’m staring down the empty title field in AO3 cursing like a fucking sailor when I choose titles XD Sometimes it’s a line/theme/feeling from the fic. Sometimes it’s totally random and just comes to me. Sometimes I just grasp the first thing that I can no matter how stupid it sounds cos it’s been three days and I still don’t have a title and I’m over it and ready to post before I lose my nerve.

And tbh, it’s only getting harder to think of titles as my number of fics increases, and I’ve now started thinking of the perfect titles only to realise I already have a published fic by that title so....TITLES CAN DIE A FIERY DEATH

Sometimes, not so much anymore, it would turn out that I would give a wip doc a name just so I’d know what it was, sometimes as a joke with whoever was reading it and cheerleading while I wrote it, and then I would refer to it by that and think of it as that so much that when it came time to actually give the fic a title, it was too late and I could not think past that stupid file name, and that’s how Potter’s Insatiable Cock happened, and how I very nearly called a Merthur fic Arthur’s Wanking Tower (saved that one at the last moment thank god cos the tone of that fic is actually really serious and emotional and wtf was I even thinking with that file name and actually I linked to that fic above XD it ended up being called Unburdened).

Potter’s Insatiable Cock slipped through cos it’s actually relevant to the fic content and I could live with it.

But needless to say, I don’t give my wip docs joke names anymore XD

Do You Outline:

Only if I never want to actually write the idea...once I outline, it’s over. I can’t write to a detailed plan. It stifles me. I’ll always get stuck having to try and think ahead to the plan, and then I lose the flow and nothing works because I’m a pantser/intuitive/instinctive writer not a planner. Sometimes I jot down ideas but in like, the vaguest of ways, usually more focused on emotional development than actual scenes or events or anything because then I won’t be able to write it (and I rarely stick to those vague ideas anyway).

I can really only write when I’m staring down a blank doc with no idea where it’s going and discover it as I go (which is why writing is so fun for me). I can only finish a fic if I don’t think too hard about what’s going to happen next and just let it happen as I write.

This of course means that editing is a fucking bitch when I finish anything, beginnings often get totally re-written, but if I plan, it just doesn't happen at all, so I’ll take the extra editing if it means I manage to write something.

I do have a lot of detailed plotty fic idea outlines...and I mourn them cos I’m never going to write them now, but they’re so goooooooooood XD

Complete:

Online (across all 3 accounts): 381 (incl. my hidden drarry fics as they are technically online just hidden, not incl. individual oneshots/drabbles in collection ‘fics’, of which there are ridiculously many). Offline: 20 (I have the worst habit of just sitting on completed fics and I really need to stop)

In-Progress:

Too many to name, last time I counted it was ~60 but that wasn’t even including my vld wips so...I don’t actually know. I hoard wips and just switch up what I work on all the time depending on mood/interest levels/effort required.

Current main focuses are a 50k+ plotty Drarry (*fingerscrossed* cos this is my first time seriously attempting something long (will probably reach 80k at least) in a very long time and I put it down for a few months and thought that was it but then I picked it up again recently, yay!), and re-writing some hidden fics I can’t put them back up in the quality they’re in, I just can’t guys, they’re awful.

I’ve been thinking a lot about working on the longish 8th year Pansmione fic I started for the wlw big bang before I had to pull out of cos stupid life stuff. I might pick that up again for a bit too, couldn’t be more different from the Drarry one so it’d make a nice focus break =)

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started:

I don’t even plan fics I’m writing, I sure don’t plan ahead to stuff I haven’t even started XD The only think I can think of for this category would be me re-writing my hidden long Drarry fics.

Oh, and there will be a Merthur oneshot coming (hopefully) soon, because @april-thelightfury115 won my custom fic giveaway with a merthur idea. Just waiting for my brain to cooperate so I can start that and not suck XD but I’m so fucking excited to write some Merthur again, you have no idea.

Oh, and lots more Sapphic September drabbles coming too, I’m way behind and only just posted day 11 cos this month is literal hell for me, but I am still planning on finishing the prompt list, no matter how long it takes, but no plan for those, not even which ships, I just sit down with the next prompt and a blank doc and see what happens.

Do You Accept Prompts:

Yes, I love writing to prompts, I’m take them via google form here, but I’m in such a bad space with my health I’ve been really struggling with writing lately, managed to do a bit of editing (fuck knows how), but writing new stuff is so hard, so there’s a long wait while I wait for my fibro fog to ease off to the point I can write new stuff with more regularity (and less stupid errors I have to edit out later).

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited to Write:

Again, I so don’t plan. But I really want to be making more progress on the long plotty drarry wip I’m trying to write. I’m still not sure I’ll have the guts to post it even if I do finish it, given its subject matter (it would make a great careers or consent fest fic tbh), but damn I’m really excited by it. Not sure I can maintain it being plotty and not revert to focusing on the relationship (which is easier for me), but I can only try and see what happens. (trying to write a non-relationship plot without planning is a nightmare but I don’t have a choice if I want to write it at all XD)

I’m also now excited for my longish pansmione wip too actually, just because it’s already longer than my Dreville long-ish fic and it’s exciting and scary to do longer rarepair stuff. I’m way out of my comfort zone with the fic itself, but I dunno, I re-read some recently and fell in love with it all over again, like, flustered lesbian-awakening, disaster for Pansy (but sure she still hates her) Hermione? YES PLEASE! and also, I am guilty of not writing female characters as much as I should because, well, canonically, they don’t have much depth and I’m very meh about them, but in this there’s a huge focus on them because they’re all determined to band together for 8th year and Hermione is making friends with them (Parvati is like, dragging her along all the time XD) where she once dismissed them so it’s scary but exciting =D I’m getting more practice with all the sapphic I do over on knowyourincantations, so I feel more confident working on this wip now =D

I’m also kind of excited about re-writing my old long fics, because they’re all 3 years old now, and my writing tastes (and skill, yikes) have totally changed, so it’s like I’m writing the story again but how I would write it now while maintaining the overall same plot, so it’s really interesting, like discovering the story all over again. Like in one (Making Malfoy Blush) I’ve gone as far as introducing a new side character to replace another’s parts because I no longer feel those parts are in character for them. It’s super terrifying, but it’s fun at the same time =) it’ll take me forever to do these though, so I dunno about ‘upcoming’ really, I only chip away every now and then when I’m unable to write new stuff but am still coherent enough to do something.

Eh, it is what it is, I can’t write like I used to, hence me being inactive more than active these days, but I’m trying to work within my new limitations instead of getting frustrated with them and just giving up entirely =)

---

Now, who to tag....I think anyone I would tag has already done it, and if not..I blame the fog if I’m forgetting someone obvious, if you wanna do it just say I tagged you so I can be nosy and take a look =)

Again, please do not reblog this post

#*#tag meme #tag game #about me #hope i don't regret linking to my other ao3 accounts #but i'm at the point if I get more bullshit like before i'll just abandon fandom entirely rather than shift to one of my other accounts #they served that purpose well when I needed it but the reasons for having to do it are not a problem anymore #so i'm tentatively linking to them for anyone who wants to read my other works #and hoping no one is mean about it #and please don't reblog this post in case I have to delete it to cut the link

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acest-of-them-all · 6 years

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So now story time bc today is the day I became extremely sure I am asexual

So. Let's go waaay back to when I was a kid and had no idea there was other sexualities than straight. Obviously I assumed I was gonna have a boyfriend sometime. I didn't really think about it, though. It wasn't relevant because I was a kid and I had other worries like what will I play with my friends during the breaks between classes.

When I was about 13-14, I had discovered the fact that there were not only straight people, but also gays, lesbians and bisexuals. I was like hey, girls are nice, I would date a girl as well as a boy. So I labeled mhself as a bisexual. Now, I hadn't had any real crushes(I now have realized), only a few people I had taken interest in, so I didn't really know how attraction to another person felt like.

When I was about 14 years old or when I was turning 15, I wasn't so sure about my gender anymore. I didn't feel good in my body, and I hated it so, so much. I had more knowledge of sexualities and genders, so I began to wonder, if what I was experiencing was me being transgender. I was kind of suspicious though, because the feeling came so late, and not as a child already. But I knew that the gut-wrenching feeling that made me want to throw up I got when someone called me a girl, was very real. I was convinced I was a transgender, and I was fine with that. It still hurt though, when after two years of feeling horrible dysphoria with my body I told my mom that I was pretty sure I was trans, she still would address me and my sister as "girls" when talking of both of us. I never got the chance to tell my father, though. At some point, I realized that I might not be able to go through the surgeries, as the places I could do that were quite far away, and I didn't know how expensive it was gonna be. Soon, I was fine with that, too, because I realized that my discomfort in my body being female was fading. I was so confused. I had felt like a boy for the last two years and now I suddenly felt like wearing more makeup and dressing more femininely?? I was like huh. I was a fake after all.

At the same time I started to realize that I didn't feel the desire to become close to people. I thought I was somehow incorrectly developed, that it would come to me later, so I didn't really pay attention to it.

Now, in the spring, this year. My first year of vocational school was almost over. We had photography, and I was sitting at my computer on my phone, because I had already edited all the photos I had taken and nothing else to do. There was this guy, that I knew my friend knew, sitting at the computer next to me. He wasn't in our class(he was on his second year). He asked about what we had been doing, which I found weird, because I didn't know this dude, but I just awkwardly answered him. We conversed for a while, and he offered to show me how the studio lights and flashes work. I accepted, because yeah, I had nothing else to do. Well. He showed me how they worked, I was quite awkward all the time, and he asked about stuff. One thing he asked was if I had ever kissed anyone. I obviously hadn't, so I answered no. He asked if I wanted to try. I was confused and I kind of panicked so I accepted. I was tense and nervous and confused, and he told me to relax and close my eyes. I slapped my hand over my eyes, because I couldn't bring myself to close them, I was so nervous. I was just standing there, tense as hell, as he kissed me. Or tried to. It didn't go well, as I kept my lips tightly together and I was panicking. He told me I had to relax, to which I repeatedly told him that I wasn't capable of that. That was followed by him letting it go and us both apologizing for making things awkward. The whole thing was like straight out of a fanfiction. Except that if it was a fanfiction, I wouldn't have been an already suspecting ace, I would have magically been able to kiss him back and we'd have banged in the studio. Yeah, no. I didn't really see him after that, which I was pretty relieved of, because now I wouldn't have to deal with awkward shit! At that point I was almost completely sure I was ace and aro, because I didn't feel like romantic relationships were really my thing and the idea of me having sex with someone, to be completely honest, disgusted me. I had also found a term that I felt like it fit my gender: genderfluid. My preferred gender tends to change quite slowly, I can feel really feminine for months, or really masculine for, apparently, years. Sometimes it's one of those, but in between happens too. Currently I am leaning a little bit on the feminine side.

Anyways. This fall. Summer was over, my second year of school started. And I get to live alone, which is super awesome! One day, after like two weeks of school, the guy texts me(we had exchanged our numbers back then), asking how I'd been. We talked about stuff, it was casual and cool. He's pretty nice, since he likes memes and listens to good music. I told him that I lived alone, and he joked about coming to ruin my peaceful isolated life. I was like yeah, you can come over sometime if you want to, because sometimes some company isn't too bad. The next monday he came to hang out, and it was cool. We listened to music, showed each other memes and all, and I was relieved it wasn't awkward(I had done research on the internet on how to carry on with a conversation before he arrived lmao). Then he left and everything was well in the kingdom. A week or two went by, he would occasionally text me and yeah. It was cool and I was like whoa did I manage to make a friend.

Until.

The day before yesterday(saturday). He texted me like usual and asked if I wanted to hang out on sunday, but because I wouldn't have had any time, we agreed to hang out on monday. A.k.a. today. And then he asked if I still couldn't kiss. And I was like ooohh nooooo, and said that no, I can't because who the hell would my ace ass I have been kissing? He was like well do you want to try on monday and internally I was like WHY??? DON'T YOU REMEMBER HOW AWKWARD IT WAS??? And because I figured that the sooner he realizes I'm a hopeless case, the sooner he leaves me alone with the kissing stuff(and because my idiot brain is like BUT WHAT IF YOU'RE A FAKE ACE??? WHAT IF YOU DO LIKE IT HMMM?!? and I wanted to be sure), I was like uuuhhh sure I guess. I warned him that I was most likely going to be awkward as hell AGAIN, but he just told me to "relax and enjoy". Which confused me because I simply do not see the appeal of having other person's tongue shoved down your throat, but I let it be.

So he came over. We conversed for a while, then browsed memes again(which meant we were both sitting on my bed). Soon he was like sooo about the kissing and I was like oh god oh god what do I do, so my brain switched into "scientific experiment" mode, and I was like yeah, I only need to think of this as an experiment on what kissing feels like and everything would be fine. So he told me to get in his lap and I was just confused as hell and was like uuhhh do I have to like do something, to which he answered that not really. And then he kissed me. And his tongue was in my mouth. It didn't taste like anything, it felt weird and I was just kind of trying to not be too awkward, trying to somehow respond to it. He asked how it was and I was like weird, not the most unpleasant thing but nothing special either. And we ended up lying down and kind of cuddling on my bed, which was okay. I was just making random comments about like how babies have more bones than adults and at some point I was like do you wanna take a nap, naps are nice, to which he agreed. It wasn't a nap though. He kissed me some more and yeah. At some point though he had to leave, so he did. And that's when it really hit me. I felt really unhygienic and weirded out. I still could taste his tongue, which is why I brushed my teeth twice in a row. The taste wouldn't go away! I ate, and I noticed I was terribly aware of my own tongue in my mouth. I could still smell his deodorant or whatever it was, and now it wasn't even nice anymore, it was disturbing and overwhelming. I couldn't even drink from my bottle normally because of the way it feels! I brushed my teeth one more time and put my clothes at my window to air out, I don't want them to smell like him. I went and scrubbed myself under a practically boiling shower, I think I've never been so thorough when showering. I'm still confused. Why do I feel so disgusted and unclean, when clothes weren't even reduced? Apparently it doesn't need much. But if mere kissing makes me like this, I can't even imagine myself in even a slightly more intimate situation. Just, no. If he wants to do that again, I gotta tell him that kissing definitely isn't my thing, maybe just straight up tell him that I'm asexual. At least now I'm sure about it lol

#sorry for the rant #sorry for the long post #personal #i just wanted to tell this #asexual #aromantic #lgbtq #lgbt #lgbtqa

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shirlleycoyle · 3 years

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My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited

In November 2007, an entirely contextless video of me being punched in the face went viral. You might have seen it. It still does the rounds every couple of months, often when something notably bad happens that warrants a response of disbelief. In these strange times, it’s managed to remain endlessly prescient.

For the uninitiated, the video in question is an 11-second clip in which, aged 16, I appear wearing a dressing gown cord around my head, a chain necklace, some children’s sunglasses and a black T-shirt. I sit down and address the camera, ostensibly about to tell the viewer what I was thinking. I am immediately interrupted by my friend Tim, who appears stage left and lamps me. Rather than react in pain or anger, I err more towards disappointment and dismay, bewildered that something like this could happen. “Ah fuck. I can’t believe you’ve done this,” I said. End scene.

It’s been nearly 14 years since I uploaded the original video and to this day it still prompts questions. Who was the guy who got punched? Why did he get punched? Who punched him? What was he thinking? Why did he react that way? Why did he leave YouTube?

In recent years I’ve come to appreciate and even enjoy its bizarre status as an enduring piece of internet history, but my relationship with the clip in the decade that followed its inexorable rise hasn’t always been easy. To understand why, it’s useful to remember that the internet in 2007 was, for better or worse, a very different place.

Having spent the best part of my school years filming stupid skits with mates instead of studying, there was something semi-appealing about the prospect of being able to put videos online to share with friends. It began in mid-2003, when myself and a group of friends would have been in our early teens. Inspired by the likes of Jackass and Bam Margera’s CKY movies, our impressionable young selves set about ignoring all relevant safety warnings, hurling ourselves out of trees, riding scooters into curbs, and racing tyres down hills on skateboards.

At the age of 14 or so, I had envisaged cutting the footage into a chaotic feature-length video of “stunts.” I’d probably have soundtracked it with music from the Tony Hawk games, alongside countless other homemade skate videos people made circa 2003 that probably featured a mix of Ace of Spades or Guerilla Radio. I still have a box full of VHS-C tapes kicking around somewhere, which can only be viewed on one of those absolutely insane VHS adapters. Having not watched any of it in well over a decade, I can safely say that the content contained within those tapes is unequivocally shit.

All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in.

Looking back, the whole endeavour was entirely aimless, but aside from coming away with mild head injuries from time to time it was an innocuous way to spend my childhood. At the very least it also means I have a bizarre, tangible record of my youth that I’ll be able to laugh at one day when I’m old and wizened.

By summer 2004, we had started filming on Mini-DV, which opened up a whole new world of editing possibilities. Plugging a video camera into a computer and capturing footage directly to editing software is pretty much a given for today’s generation of content creators, but back in the early 2000s, this was revolutionary.

We’d eventually gravitate away from ‘stunts’ towards more structured skits and sketches. Nothing was ever scripted per se, but we’d usually start out with a rough idea of something and see how it played out.

There was an ambitiously misguided 'silent horror' short, soundtracked by Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, in which someone chopped off ‘my cock’ (a banana) with a garden shear. We considered this to be the absolute pinnacle of comedy.

There was an ill-advised 'Ballers' skit in which we ventured out in sports gear to make a mock training video taking the piss out of a guy at school who fancied himself as a bit of a gangster; this painfully middle-class white kid who listened to rap metal and liked basketball. He obviously never saw it and there's no question that we looked like idiots filming it at the local park. It’s probably quite offensive in hindsight.

The author at the Bristol Climate Change Protests in September 2019. Image: Shanya Buultjens

There was a James Bond 'spoof' that involved misquoting portions of dialogue from that scene in GoldenEye where Q gives Bond an exploding pen. It was funny to about three people. One of them was my mum.

One time a mate of mine fell out of a tree when he tried to swing from a branch. He landed on his back and ended up coughing up blood. He didn’t go to the hospital even though he probably should have. He’s now a doctor and a father.

Mercifully, none of this stuff ever made it online, but I did sell a couple of DVDs to people at school who rightly/probably/hopefully never watched them. In an ideal world, I'd own the only copies. I'm also fully aware that writing about this now only makes it more likely that one of the four people that still have a copy will dig theirs out. Please do not do that.

In 2005 and 2006, YouTube was very much in its infancy. This was the time when clips were limited to about 100mb and you could only upload about 30 seconds worth of footage at a time, which basically made it perfect for bursts of frenetic, inane content. As the platform grew, it became a dumping ground for skits and footage that we’d accumulated over the preceding years. Much of it went completely unnoticed until late 2007, at which point things started to get a bit weird.

The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it.

The clip that people have come to know started out as an aimless skit filmed in Summer 2006. We hadn’t planned anything, least of all me being punched. In the footage building up to the event, I pushed Tim off the chair, he fell and hit his head on a filing cabinet off-camera. Rather than react to Tim, I sat down and proceeded to ad lib something that I’d venture to guess would have been considerably less funny than the act of violence that followed. Unprompted, Tim upsided me and I reacted with an inexplicable, completely incredulous response, which has followed me online ever since.

The footage sat on a tape until July 2007 when I decided to upload a brief segment under an ambiguous title. Fast forward to November and the video had somehow blown up, had its comments section relentlessly spammed, been ripped countless times and had offensive Wiki pages written about it. I also received a few direct messages which could at best have been described as ‘worrying’ and at worst ‘threatening,’ which was nice.

To this day, I’m none the wiser as to how it blew up in the way it did. I originally uploaded the video under the title ‘ ___________’ but the video somehow found its way onto 4chan where it spread like wildfire. The earliest mirrored link I could find was from January 2008, by which time it had been re-uploaded by multiple accounts, the most prominent of which had already clocked up almost double the number of views compared to my original upload.

At the time, going viral wasn't really comparable to any other experience and it certainly wasn't something I could discuss in solidarity with my friends. All of a sudden you're everywhere and it's out of your control. You either try to fight it and get destroyed, or embrace it and try to cash in. After yanking down several other videos on my YouTube channel, I opted for the latter.

When the video blew up, I got a call from a friend who informed me that the video had made the front page of Break.com. I peripherally knew what that meant: they offered a buyout scheme for videos that made the front page, which meant that I could make some money from it.

As it transpired, this wasn’t such a great idea. After signing a release form with some pretty appalling terms, over the following months I had several unnerving interactions with researchers for various TV shows looking to license the clip. Each offered far more favourable terms than those of Break. One of them harassed a bunch of my mates on Facebook. I think he even offered to pay one of them for my contact details.

By that point, it was all too apparent that I had completely fucked it. Break had the rights and I couldn't do anything with it even if I wanted to. At just 18 years old, I had sold out. In the short term, I used the money to buy a TV, which was great, but I soon started to get the creeping feeling that this was a decision that would come to haunt me. At that point, it was easier to disassociate myself from the clip, abandon YouTube, and move on with my life.

And yet, for the best part of 14 years the questions have kept coming: no, it wasn’t staged or scripted, it wasn’t a set-up, I didn’t know it was coming and, yes, it hurt. It was also very funny, which is presumably why I felt the need to upload it in isolation in the first place. Incidentally, Tim and I are still friends and contrary to some of the absolutely insane comments people leave on YouTube I can confirm that neither of us are in prison, the punch wasn’t a reaction to some sort of disagreement and he’s a lovely bloke.

To be clear, the lack of context wasn’t a deliberate choice to add intrigue either. I’d never even considered the possibility that anyone outside my circle of friends would see it. To me it was just another daft clip that a few mates would find funny.

Around the time I’d started to make peace with the issues around ownership, in 2018 it came to my attention that Break had shut down and its owner Defy Media had gone bust. The site was subsequently purchased by Yeah1 Network, but to this day I have no clarity whatsoever on my legal rights to the video. Any attempts to receive guidance have either turned up dead ends, or led to suggestions that I speak to IP lawyers, whom I have neither the means nor the time to deal with. Incidentally, if anyone has any insights in that area, I’d love to hear them.

Having said this, there’s something quite empowering in taking something embarrassing and admitting to it before someone else can point it out to you—a bit like taking ownership of an amusing surname. I’ll leave it to you to figure out what gags can be made from the name ‘Weedon,’ but I learned quite early on that if you make the jokes yourself and beat others to it, no one can fucking touch you. It’s much easier nowadays to hold my hands up and admit that I shouldn’t have sold the rights, make a joke of it and move on. At the very least, it makes for a good anecdote at parties.

As I suspect is probably the case for old content creators, if you can even call us that, the real story about I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This isn’t in how it’s aged and endured, or even how it’s impacted my life. For me, it’s tied up in issues of rights, ownership, and monetisation. As mercenary as it might be, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t regret missing out on a slice of the pie when it came to YouTubers being able to monetise their content sooner. On the one hand, that's probably a very cynical view for something that was created by a bunch of teenagers who were fooling around making videos for fun in the noughties, but on the other, that's just the world we live in now.

Perhaps the strangest thing about my experience with it nowadays is the way people engage with it on a day-to-day basis. The comments vary from young people discovering its origins for the first time, surprised to discover that it is in fact a 14 year old video and not a recent creation filmed for Vine or TikTok. At the other end of the spectrum are those who are incredulous that someone with a video that has 9.2 million views and an account that’s amassed over 15,000 followers without really trying would step away from the platform and not want to make content.

The truth is that, nearly a decade and a half later, I’m still processing it. I love seeing how it’s been re-interpreted in modern mediums and that positive association has made it easier to accept. Charles Cornell turned it into a sad song. It got sampled in a KIll The Noise track. I had a nice interaction with The Sidemen about it. Will Smith even featured it in an insane Instagram post during the pandemic. I DM’d him to say thanks and he obviously didn’t reply.

To that end, a small group of us have recently started work on a film project exploring the nature of the meme, how it grew, its impact on my life and my relationship with the internet at large. In doing so, the hope is that, while answering some of the burning questions that other people still seem to have, I’ll ultimately be able to make peace with the whole thing.

@Twotafkap

My Life as a Meme: ‘I Can’t Believe You’ve Done This’ Revisited syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

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svtskneecaps · 6 years

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Blink and You’ll Miss It - Epilogue

Summary: Sanha’s been a curious shit her whole life. Jackson’s always told her she’s going to get herself killed at some point. She thought that was a bunch of bull, but he might’ve actually been right. She might be in way over her head on this one.

Featuring: A bunch of bull, a lot of cursing, merciless butchering of honorifics, and other things. Essentially, it’s a Comedy of Errors: Story Version.

Warnings: Cursing. Lots and lots of it.

First ~~~ Previous ~~~ Next

Masterlist

The news media went into a frenzy over the next couple days as the once exploded dorm building appeared overnight, along with the students which had been missing. Not to mention these students looked the exact same as they had when they’d gone missing. Scientists everywhere were scratching their heads, but nobody really pestered the kids. That must’ve been one of the spirit’s parting gifts; not having to deal with that bullshit (he also did end up posting a formal letter, although it arrived several months later).

The families of the missing flew in on the first flights they could, and videos of the heartwarming reunions went viral online for the next three weeks. It was the sweetest thing Sanha had ever seen, and too many times they’d find her crying into Youngjae’s shoulder while trying to get a hold of herself.

The kids finished out their years at the university, although they planned to get out of town the second they could. The campus was a bit of a bad reminder, and besides the small town didn’t offer much anyway. Until then, they chilled and caught up on the years of culture they’d missed out on.

“Hey Sanha noona, guess what Jaebum hyung taught me!” BamBam called, bursting into Sanha’s (now solo) dormitory. She looked up, and he dabbed so aggressively that he almost fell over, knocking over a vase as he did.

She was out the door before he could even start apologizing.

“The dab is dead, Im Jaebum!” She dared to drop honorifics as she slammed into the boy’s dorm.

“He already left.” His roommate, Jinyoung, gave her detailed directions of which way he’d gone, and smirked when he heard the raging argument through the floors.

Truly, Sanha lived a quiet life.

Mark had moved in with Jackson, since the school had caught onto Sanha messing with the arrangements. They seemed happy together, so she wasn’t mad about it, and she joined the throngs suggesting they just fucking kiss already. They hadn’t yet, but the jury was still out. It wasn’t as though anybody saw what went on in the dorms; the school didn’t have the budget for cameras.

After seeing that Jaebum had taken it upon himself to introduce the excitable younger boys to the wonderful world of memes, Sanha made it a point to show them all the ones which were still relevant. It took a while, since they still had to teach them how to use technology, but regardless of actual age, they were sweet little babies compared to her and she couldn’t stay mad.

Even though BamBam was a flirty little son of a gun.

Nobody had gotten seriously injured during the final confrontation. Jinyoung sprained his ankle, and Mark had been crushed under a thirty clone dog pile, but there wasn’t any real lasting damage. The worst the others got were some cuts and bruises, and Jackson almost broke his nose.

Overall, Sanha was satisfied with the results of the investigation. It was pleasing to get a happy ending for everyone, or as happy as it could get anyway. Nobody was majorly injured in any way, physical or psychological. She could happily commit her time to wandering around in other potentially dangerous places with new sidekicks to drag along wit her. It really made the expeditions fun.

And besides, now she could use one of her ‘Case Closed’ stickers.

LAST NOTES / THE TALKY BIT:

Holy hell was that a ride. It took me solidly three weeks to draft this, a week to edit it, and a full day to retype all 22,000 words onto tumblr for the sake of formatting. And yet somehow, I managed to finish it? This is actually the first thing I’ve finished drafting, ever. And I’ve been writing since 2010 or so. It’s been a damn long time. So, this is a really special moment for me.

Anyway, thanks for coming on this ride! Sorry if bits of it were underwhelming or the pacing was a little weird. I’m still a huge amateur. Also, sorry if Got7 was out of character. There’s only so much your girl can do to accurately portray them, since I don’t know them personally. I really hope I did well enough that you can enjoy.

A few things to say: I OWN THIS STORY. Please don’t repost it to any other sites; I have accounts on almost every other fan fiction site, and will post this story on there shortly, but tumblr is my main so I wanted it on here first, finished. I swear to god, I will actually cry if I see my story on your page. Do you want to make me cry? No you don’t. Just share the link if you want your friends to see it.

A quick disclaimer, I do not own Got7. I mean obviously. Just gotta get that one out of the way.

I also loosely based any instances of magic in this story after real life witchcraft; loosely because I don’t practice a lot of the things I used here personally, plus I don’t think a spirit would be flinging people around willy nilly in the real world. I’m not sure they’d be able to.

THE PLOT AND KIM SANHA ARE MINE! I SPENT WEEKS RESEARCHING, DEVELOPING, DRAFTING, AND EDITING THIS SHIT. PLEASE PLEASE DON’T STEAL; I WORKED SO FUCKING HARD ON THIS. IT WOULD JUST BE A SUPER DICK MOVE.

Thanks so much for reading! I love you lots!

#got7 #got7 au #mark tuan #im jaebum #park jinyoung #wang jackson #choi youngjae #kim yugyeom #bambam #bambam bhuwakul #bye bye~!#i love you lots!#Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

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resbang-bookclub · 7 years

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AMA Transcript: Pell Grant Matrimony

This weekend, @marshofsleep, @sojustifiable (known as Amanda on Discord), @adorabbey and @tilliquoi braved yesterday's Discordacolypse in order to chat about their 2016 Resbang, Pell Grant Matrimony! Here's some of what went down:

Q: Please, give us a rundown of how this was conceived.

sleepmarshes:

sleepmarshes: It's almost been an entire year. We've lived with this sin for 11 months. Right, so, like, there was that tumblr post going around about how a bro realized he could help another bro out since gay marriage became legal, and they could get a green card. So my thought was, of course, this is Soul and (somebody).

Amanda: I believe this was the tweet marsh referenced when she first described the initial idea to me before we were collabing on it:

sleepmarshes: So, the setup would be Maka meets Soul and of course they hit it off because this is why we came here. But it turns out Soul is married.

sleepmarshes: Then we decided B* would be the best choice. He would be ultra gung ho about PDA. THEN, Amanda started signing up for financial aid, and she was like hey, what if we do it like this instead of green card? And then BAM, COLLEGE AU. Then it became a game of how many tropes, cliches, and memes we could pile in.

Amanda: And then when I was signing up for financial aid I also saw this post and was like hey alternate motivation: http://zhuy-doodles.tumblr.com/post/144803762284. How we ended up collabing and doing it for real was that I was talking to marsh about how I wasn't sure if I was going to do resbang or not, and that if i was, I wanted to do something silly. And she was like, hey you should do that thing I told you about. And I was like I can't do that, it's your thing. And she was like oh we can collab and then we made a blood pact.

sleepmarshes: Now we are borg.

Adorabear: Amanda, marsh, and I did a minecraft FRAND ritual. Very legit.

Q: How did the collab work?

sleepmarshes: At the time, I was busy with house building stuff and other things, so I knew I wasn't going to be able to help a whole lot.

Amanda: I imagine it works differently for different people but ours was a Process. When we discussed collabing we pretty much decided I would do the bulk of the writing while marsh would act as helicopter mom with plotting and everything.

sleepmarshes: HELICOPTER MOM omg. It me.

Amanda: So we plotted together and marsh would be like hey I know this is a joke but we need actual character motivation and shiz and then I started cranking out words. And then marsh trailed behind me, editing and making parts funnier and more coherent and filling in the scenes I was really struggling with.

sleepmarshes: She trucked right on man, just huge chunks. Well, I also kept throwing stupid ideas at you.

Q: Who came up with my daughter snappy, and also, how do you feed an alligator on student budget?

sleepmarshes: We don't talk about the budget.

Amanda: So once upon a time, I sent marsh this meme:

sleepmarshes: How DID that happen? This is clearly America.

Amanda: Just as a joke, I was like haha look at this meme and she was like fake gay fic??

sleepmarshes: I don't remember this but I believe it 100%.

Amanda: And I was like, not my intention, but okay, I can roll with it, they have an alligator now. Gained through some vague but nefarious means.

sleepmarshes: Snappy*Star. I think we decided [she was] smuggled from Disney World? I regret not making the epilogue about [Black*Star's] TV show.

Amanda: Yeah there were some interesting epilogue plans for when Snappy got too big to keep in an apartment. Black*Star was gonna have a TV show with Snappy I think on exotic pet care or maybe like, exercising with your pet. Just picture like, 3 years from the end of the fic, Soul and Maka are hanging out and turn on the TV to see the two of them.

Q for the artists: What inspired your arting decisions?

Adorabear: So I knew I'd do drinks, and wanted to do nail art (after getting a lot of encouragment from the resbang discord). I did some trial runs of the nail art shortly after the Resbang matchmaking.

Q: What inspired Queen Wes?

Amanda: Queen Wes appeared out of nowhere when I was writing the last 15k in three days and was in a delirious state of confusion.

Q: How did you two like collabing? Did it work well?

Amanda: I had a blast and think the collabing probably went better than either of us could've expected.

sleepmarshes: Oh yeah def. I've been terrfied to collab for years.

Amanda: Like, it ended up being even more collaborative with merging our writing styles so we just got this monster of laughs out of it. Tbh I was surprised that marsh even suggested collabing cuz I didn't think she did collabs.

sleepmarshes: I DON'T do collabs, but I get along with you so well I figured well, if anything'll work, it'll probably be this. Actually, Amanda did a lot of work on the timeline.

Amanda: More like I did a lot of work harrassing Marsh about the timeline because I need things to be linear.

sleepmarshes: Yeah I'm definitely not that.

Amanda: Let me pull up some parts of the outline for posterity. These are the kinds of notes Marsh makes in the outline:

These are the kinds of notes I make which are about 5% more coherent:

Q: Why Harvar with Wes? I think it was hilarious.

sleepmarshes: Uhhh well we knew we wanted Wes to hit on DTK. Why DID we hook him up with Harv? Just because Harv has put up with his shit for so long and won't leave him?

Amanda: We hooked him up with Harv because you love Harv and love shipping everyone with everyone else.

sleepmarshes: Ok this is probably true.

Amanda: Other random add in about shipping cuz I forgot we had another pm chatlog and found where we were discussing possible ships and I have this quote from marsh's shipping habits:

sleepmarshes: Can confirm, this is my hobby.

Q: Was there a line or joke or meme that made either of you legit laugh out loud when you realized it fit/it ended up in there?

sleepmarshes: Probably every meme we came into contact with?

Adorabear: Amanda and Marsh are basically the people on the date shoving all the breadsticks in their purse, but the breadsticks are memes. And their purse is overflowing, and they're going into the Olive Garden kitchen to get more breadstick memes.

Amanda: I think there was a lot of coming up with ridiculous lines and then having the other be like "wtf is wrong with you that's hilarious."

sleepmarshes: Yes, exactly that. As for drummer DTK....

Amanda: That was another last minute thing. We knew he was a math metal head but then I was like lol what if he shows up as a guest in the music festival?

sleepmarshes: ROFL when you said that I thought well man, if you wanna write it go for it. And then when I caught up to it for edits even I was surprised. I was like FUCK YEA.

Q: Did you guys have a playlist?

sleepmarshes: I didn't have a fic-specific one, personally. I think I was mostly listening to the Macabre Records mix and maybe a Sufjan Stevens album.

Amanda: I also didn't have any specific writing music, being a musician also I find music pretty distracting so the only music I can write to is if it blends together well and is really cohesive and doesn't have any distracting vocals. Hey, I was listening to Sufjan too. Carrie and Lowell.

sleepmarshes: SAME HAT oh I had uhhh. A Sun Came.

Amanda: And maybe some Seven Swans and some old Bon Iver and Iron and Wine sometimes. But basically I need a specific ambient music to write to as opposed to anything relevant.

sleepmarshes: There was a lot of dialogue in this fic, so I needed some chill stuff towards the end.

Q: Did you guys find any characters really challenging to write?

Amanda: I can't write DTK at all so I needed a lot of Marsh intervention in that camp.

sleepmarshes: DTK is uhhh very polite 'I care nothing about what you just said, let me do what i came here to do.' How happy do you expect goth burberry to be? Despite all that, he's got squishy innards [and] four smile muscles. I had Wes issues so his flamboyancy got a lot of help from Amanda.

Amanda: I turned Wes into a monster. Marsh did most of the bbq scene cuz I was quite stuck in the middle of it and wanted to keep steamrollering ahead.

sleepmarshes: We always knew Wes would be obnoxious but I was watching a lot of beauty gurus on YouTube at the time and like... stuff... happened.

Q: Does Tsubaki continue to be a badass pilates instructor after the story ends? Does B* continue to go to her classes? Q: DO THEY BECOME PARTNERS EVENTUALLY?

sleepmarshes: Maybe they can have a workout show together with Snappy the mascot.

Amanda: B* continues to be a big fan of her workout stuff and they're swolebuds.

Q: How goes Patti's Etsy?

sleepmarshes: She's always in business the more Snappy grows.

Amanda: I think we had another potential future ending in which Patti adopts Snappy and cares for her at a wildlife refuge when she gets too big. There were quite a few potential futures for the different people, especially as we were still playing shipping roulette.

Q: Is it really that easy to get divorced in America?

Amanda: Yes, at least as far as I'm aware. If it's not, then we're going with suspension of disbelief.

sleepmarshes: I mean, as long as both sides want it and no one raises a fuss, yeah no one cares.

Q: Why continue to call Kid 'Morty' instead of Kid?

sleepmarshes: Oh, man, idk, college AU with a guy named Death? I couldn't do it.

Amanda: Like, Kid isn't a name and if it's his stage name people wouldn't probably call him that all the time.

sleepmarshes: Bonus: Shinidaddy calling him Junior.

Amanda: Even with B* it's definitely a nickname, we just decided to go off the walls with his actual name. Like, what if instead of being Blake we call him something ridiculous?

Q: Does Blair ever give up the panty thieving?

sleepmarshes: Actually I had wanted that last sock Blair stole to actually belong to DTK, and he was going to find out at the festival, but I totally forgot. Disgruntled DTK with only one sock... chance missed.

Amanda: Just one of those things that slipped through the cracks in the last three days of screaming.

Q: How did Stein and Spirit move the car?

sleepmarshes: I don't know, I always figured Spirit just annoyed the heckie out of everyone in between parking spaces.

Amanda: I wanted to leave it ambiguous just to leave it like... how the fuck did they do that? Cuz they had to get the people to switch spots with them anyway, but then also had to get everyone to move to let them through too.

[a tilliquoi appears, there is much joy]

Same Q: What inspired your arting decisions?

tilliquoi: Hmmm well for Soul and Maka at the mailboxes, I liked it bc shark slippers and bc that was when they first met. And I drew Snappy and Wes just bc they're both fabulous and I couldnt resist.

Amanda: Both the showstealers of the fic.

Q: How did you make those pieces? What programs/materials did you use?

tilliquoi: They're all digital and done in photoshop. It's the only program i really use anymore.

Q: What made you go: Yes. That. This is the fic I want in the first place?

sleepmarshes: YEAH, I WANNA KNOW, TOO.

Adorabear: For me, I was looking for things that I knew I could make drinks for and uh, yeah, it looked fun af, and I like silly af shit.

tilliquoi: Well, last year I was an artist for another Marsh fic, coincidentally, and that one was a lot more serious. It was amazing but this year I wanted to go for something fun and ridiculous as a change of pace. When I read the summary for Pell Grant I was just thinking that I'd probably end up laughing the whole time, so I was like "that one. thats the fic I gotta art for."

sleepmarshes: When your claim came in I laughed SO HARD.

tilliquoi: Yeah it was pretty funny finding out you were one of the authors.

sleepmarshes: She had no idea I was involved.

Amanda: Marsh messaged me like "lol guess who claimed us" but wouldn't tell me until it was official.

Adorabear: Amanda and I were talking about my list, and she was in my Google doc watching me make my pics, watching me eliminate stuff.

Amanda: I was screaming inside because I couldn't let her know it was me.

sleepmarshes: We were both dying.

Adorabear: The joys of anon claiming, I guess.

Q: What are you guys' next projects?

Amanda: Uhhhh I should probably finish Strangers... but I've been focusing more on writing music lately and taking a break from fic, and then I have a couple back burner fics that I won't go into cuz I haven't decided if they'll be for a Resbang or not. Potential original fantasy story also, but I think working on more music is really gonna be the focus while I'm finishing school.

sleepmarshes: Strangers hype. I'm working on Quantum Entanglement, and intend on finishing Lodestar. Probably no Resbang ficcing for me this year, because I want to finish some fics and work on an original novel.

Adorabear: I'm not going to Reverb this year, but I think I'll Resbang art next year.

Q: Did you all ever have to reign each other in? Like were there moments you had to go whoa whoa whoa too much, too far, time to say when?

sleepmarshes: Uhm I think we were just a cycle of enabling, tbh.

Amanda: Confirmed: no reigning in nonsense, only enabling more and more batshit insanity.

Q: Anything not make the cut?

sleepmarshes: I think stuff that didn't make the cut were things we ran out of time for, since a large part of it was written in the last three days. Like I wanted Wes to have an obsession with cinnabon. I think there was more bean warfare.

Q: How did everyone, writers and artists, feel like they grew/changed/learned during the resbang season?

sleepmarshes: I think overall I learned there are more ways of collaborating in writing than I had thought. Like, I thought there was only some way with magical hand holding sentence by sentence and somehow no one committed murder. But like, we just delegated roles, she did the bulk of it, I did invasive betaing, and we talked in discord a lot about junk.

Amanda: I think my growth was just it being the first time I ever wrote that much in a short period of time. Like the last three days were crazy, but I didn't have any problems micromanaging cuz I was fine with just being like "yolo just make this better", for a murder free experience.

sleepmarshes: I was so worried at first about hurting your writing feelings. But then you were like JUST EDIT IT DON'T SUGGEST 200 THINGS.

Amanda: I don't have any writing feelings. JUST FIX IT MARSH MAKE IT BETTER. I'M WRITING AS FAST AS POSSIBLE WITHOUT THINKING ABOUT ANYTHING I KNOW QUALITY IS SPOTTY.

sleepmarshes: After that it was just prancing through a field of yolo.

Amanda: I think both our collaboration and our friendship was helped severely by the fact that I don't have control issues or take anything personally, so invasive betaing was no sweat.

tilliquoi: I think if I learned anything or grew from this, it was in experimenting with coloring styles, particularly with that Wes drawing. That was pretty far out of my comfort zone in terms of how I usually color, but it made me a LOT less afraid to use excessive colors in places I wouldnt normally.

sleepmarshes: I had Wes open on all three monitors while I was editing. This is what it's like to have Wes on every channel:

Adorabear: I think for me, it was just a lot of confidence building in terms of my artwork, because I have been really nervous [about whether] my authors are going to like what I do, or [whether] they'll think I've done enough. I'm just a worrier.

sleepmarshes: Did you get ultra fast at cross stitch? Because that's certainly what it looked like.

Adorabear: I think I just motored through that one. I guess I have gotten faster. But I was like, in beast mode for that one. I am very pleased with it, though.

sleepmarshes: I love it.

Adorabear: Anyway, I think I feel more confident that the things I make are ~enough.~

sleepmarshes: THREE CHEERS FOR THE FAKE GAY FIC TEAM.

---

Thanks to all of our creators for stoppin' by!! Stay tuned for more transcripts!

#AMA transcripts #resbang book club #rbbc #resbang

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moonshugar · 7 years

Link

Search Voat Limit to v/pizzagate Submission Info Posted by: Johnny3names Posting time: 2 months ago on 12/13/2016 4:35:31 AM Last edit time: never edited. Traffic stats Views: 2645 Score SCP: 75 80 upvotes, 5 downvotes (94% upvoted it) Share a link Discuss pizzagate unsubscribe block 12204 subscribers ~1837 users here now Darknet Hack DATA COLLATION MEGATHREAD Pizzagate Subverse Network /v/AskPizzagate – Pizzagate-related questions /v/pizzagatewhatever – anything Pizzagate-related /v/PizzagateMemes – Pizzagate memes /v/pizzagatemods – meta concerns and Pizzagate moderation discussion Submission Requirements Please review BEFORE you submit content. Submissions not meeting these requirements will be removed. 1 ALL submissions should be directly related to Pizzagate, and this is how we define Pizzagate. It is the responsibility of the poster to demonstrate relevance. In most cases this will require a Discussion post where you provide a brief explanation of how your content relates to the investigation. Sometimes there will be content (like an article on Pizzagate) where a link post with an accurate, descriptive title will be enough to satisfy this requirement. 2 EVERY claim that is made as part of your post needs to be sourced. If you are asking a question, give a brief summary of what led to your question, and provide sources for those elements. If you are giving an explanation of how your content relates to Pizzagate (satisfying Rule 1), and you need to connect a few dots to do so, please provide sources for your "dots". If you wish to ask general questions about Pizzagate, please do so HERE. 3 LINK posts (VIDEO, IMAGE, ARTICLE, etc.) all need to include an accurate description of the actual content. If you can't provide an accurate summary in the title of a Link post then you must submit it as a Discussion post where you provide the link with a brief description of the content. 4 META submissions and general discussion submissions without sources will be removed. To avoid diluting the front page, please make those sorts of submissions HERE. Please bring any meta concerns you have HERE (this is also where the mods will discuss moderating the sub, so you are welcome to participate in those conversations as well). 5 Standalone MEMES will be removed. Please post standalone memes HERE. If you feel that a given meme can be used to raise awareness, please link it as part of a Discussion post where you source the elements that it is related to and discuss the best ways to use it. If you want to discuss the accuracy of a meme, again, link it in a Discussion post that sources the relevant elements from the investigation. 6 NSFW submissions (gore, nudity, etc.) must be labeled as such. This is not an adult subverse. Adspam, illegal content, and personal info about Voat subscribers will be removed, and the offender will be banned. Moderator Rules and On-Demand Removal Explanations Submission Removal Log WARNING! Due to the nature of this investigation, some links could result in the opening of incriminating material. Always practice common sense before clicking links, and make sure you're browsing safely. Use archive.is to archive and distribute sources. Links Resources for Investigators Memes and Infographics List of Independent Pizzagate Subverses List of External Pizzagate Sites – Stay secure! Chatroom #voatpizzagatemain:matrix.org (Riot) created by kingkongwaswrong a community for 3 months Advertisement Eat my ass Want to advertize on Voat? message the moderators MODERATORS kingkongwaswrong [O] Crensch [O] heygeorge [D] VictorSteinerDavion [O] Millennial_Falcon [M] rktyp [J] belphegorsprime [M] wecanhelp [M] l4l1lul3l0 [J] Kwijibo [J] Vindicator [M] abortionburger [J] SpikyAube [J] sensitive [J] MODERATION LOGS Removed submissions Removed comments Banned users 80 Nancy Pelosi and husband accused of shipping little boys in for Harry Reid back in 2014... (pizzagate) submitted 2 months ago by Johnny3names I posted this over on the shipping thread already but... Idk how dependable this publication is but I just ran across a post from 2014 accusing Pelosi and her husband of using his business to ship in little boys for Harry Reid. Anybody know what business her husband's in or a company name? His wikipedia page just makes some vague reference to American businesses with no real specifics. Well, today we found out, from the same unimpeachable whistleblower who gave us the information about Reid, that Nancy Pelosi has been Reid’s primary supplier of little boys. Apparently her husband has a multinational business and he’s been shipping in children for Harry.> http://conservativebyte.com/2014/03/harry-reids-pedophile-nancy-pelosi-supplying-children/ Harry Reid has been one of the asshole faces everywhere you look lately pushing one line of bullshit or another, Idk if this is it but he's got some kind of baggage somewhere. 31 comments unsave source report sort by: New Bottom Intensity Old Sort: Top [–] coincidencesmyass 8 points (+8|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) Not that it's proof or anything, but I've always thought that Nancy Pelosi's wide eyes looked psychopathic. Her eyes remind me of the eyes of the guy with the dyed orange/red hair that shot up that movie theater. His are worse, but still, her eyes are not the eyes of an average person. permalink save source reply report [–] Bulgakov 4 points (+4|-0) 2 months ago I always assumed her plastic surgeon didn't do an even job...really opened that one eye permalink parent save source reply report [–] Johnny3names [S] 3 points (+3|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) More of these assholes than not look weird af with either bugged out or bird of prey eyes. They all remind me of the Skeksis from the 80's Jim Henson movie The Dark Chrystal or Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons and Mitch McConnell has a face like a shaved droopy nutsack wearing glasses. No one can ever say "never woulda guessed". permalink parent save source reply report [–] rail606 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago What you dont like?JPG permalink parent save source reply report 1 reply [–] it_was_foretold 3 points (+3|-0) 2 months ago wide-eyes think mk-ultra permalink parent save source reply report [–] [deleted] 3 points (+3|-0) 2 months ago [Deleted] parent [–] coincidencesmyass 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago ethic-eze, I love it. The men have the cremation of care at Bohemian Grove, maybe the Stepford wives are given medication. permalink parent save source reply report [–] blind_sypher 2 points (+2|-0) 2 months ago You can always tell by their eyes. permalink parent save source reply report [–] Forgetmenot 6 points (+6|-0) 2 months ago Harry Reid was absolutely not happy about bannons appointment to trumps cabinet. http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/15/politics/harry-reid-donald-trump-steven-bannon-floor-speech/index.html Could it be because bannon might be aware of the same information that Andrew breitbart was tweeting about? There was also a video where breitbart yells what is in your closet podesta but I cannot find it. Maybe someone can post it. http://www.infowars.com/andrew-breitbarts-chilling-podesta-tweet-from-the-grave/ permalink save source reply report [–] FyndersKeepers 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago It can be safely assumed Breitbart filled Bannon in on everything that Bannon wasn't already privvy to. permalink parent save source reply report [–] hashtaggery 4 points (+4|-0) 2 months ago Have you looked into Paul Pelosi Jr (her son)? He seems to hang around with a rough crowd - James E. Cohen / Joseph Corazzi. I'll dig around to see what I can find. permalink save source reply report [–] LearningTheLessons 4 points (+4|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) In the comments of this article about Bengazi someone posts "Nancy Pelosi's husband was the money manager for the Muslim Brotherhood in Turkey, when they were married in 1963. It's in their wedding announcement in the NY Times. Pelosi's husband has been orchestrating from behind the scenes." http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/04/real-benghazi-story.html permalink parent save source reply report [–] LearningTheLessons 2 points (+2|-0) 2 months ago http://gawker.com/5113868/paul-pelosi-jr-the-fresh-green-prince-of-san-francisco permalink parent save source reply report [–] jbooba 2 points (+2|-0) 2 months ago This is another hint ..: Pelosi’s daughter leads effort to block Trump through Electoral College permalink save source reply report [–] FyndersKeepers 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago A hint treading on giveaway grounds. permalink parent save source reply report [–] Mrs_Ogynist01 2 points (+2|-0) 2 months ago Utah is perusing a $2 million bribe case against Reid. http://www.sltrib.com/home/4533272-155/a-2m-check-harry-reid-and permalink save source reply report [–] 28leinad82 2 points (+2|-0) 2 months ago a lot of emails from nancy and about her in the podesta wikileaks if you want to dig further. permalink save source reply report [–] BRING_DOWN_THE_RING 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago Well, there's always the Pelosi Goat Hill Pizza thing... http://magafeed.com/guccifer-2-0-nancy-pelosis-goat-hill-pizza-may-be-a-front-company/ permalink save source reply report [–] ALDO_NOVA 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Pelosi-s-husband-prefers-a-low-profile-2660253.php " the couple's net worth, most of it linked to Paul Pelosi's investments, has made the Nancy the ninth-richest person in the House(of Representatives)." permalink save source reply report [–] surgit2 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago She and her husband Paul own a Napa Valley vineyard: http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-richest-nancy-pelosi-vineyard-story.html permalink save source reply report [–] The_Kuru 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago The reason they promote people to the top positions who are horribly compromised like Hastert and Reid is that they can be trusted. Same reason that you have to be destroyable before you can be "made" in the mafia. permalink save source reply report [–] [deleted] 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago [Deleted] [–] Votescam 3 points (+3|-0) 2 months ago Goat Hill Pizaa http://magafeed.com/guccifer-2-0-nancy-pelosis-goat-hill-pizza-may-be-a-front-company/ The owner of Goat Hill Pizza is Philip DeAndrade. as per this article from October 2016 He was a former staff member of Nanci Pelosi as recently as 2013 which can be found in the document ‘NP STAFF LIST UPDATED.xlsx’. Suggest a few others involved in purchase: Monley, Dickinson, Lipski Goat Hill Pizza is owned by Goat Hill Inc. Another website reports: BREAKING: Guccifer 2.0 - Nancy Pelosi’s Goat Hill Pizza Restaurant Is A Front Company Used To Funnel Money To The Democrats. Goat Hill Pizza is REGISTERED IN PANAMA. Who registers a pizza place that is in San Francisco in Panama? https://www.reddit.com/r/The_Donald/comments/55w48s/breaking_guccifer_20_nancy_pelosis_goat_hill/ permalink parent save source reply report [–] LargePepperoni 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago You know about her and Goat Hill Pizza? permalink save source reply report [–] Johnny3names [S] 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago Not at all, but I grew up in the bay and I shit you not my HS Social Studies teacher was married to one of the owners. The mf didn't believe in deoderant and taught in an inner classroon with no fucking windows, it was insane. permalink parent save source reply report [–] VictorDaniels777 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago Harry Reid hasn't gotten enough attention. Nice lead. permalink save source reply report [–] sunshine702 4 points (+4|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) Harry Reid resigned his office in such an abrupt fashion. Not long after this happened: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/01/02/reid-is-hospitalized-after-exercise-accident/ There are some whispers about a "Mr. Exercise Equipment" paying him a visit at home over Christmas week but who knows?! permalink parent save source reply report [–] CadiBug 1 points (+1|-0) 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) "Mr. Exercise Equipment" = Ried's younger brother I believe permalink parent save source reply report [–] quantokitty 0 points (+0|-0) 2 months ago Paul Pelosi is a land developer. https://www.google.com/#q=nancy+pelosi%27s+husband "Paul Francis Pelosi, Sr. is an American businessman who owns and operates Financial Leasing Services, Inc., a San Francisco, California-based real estate and venture capital investment and consulting firm. Wikipedia" Then there's the gifting of Treasure Island to this b*tch. This article leaves out that Clinton forced the military to sell the land. https://sadbastards.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/the-real-nancy-pelosi-multi-millionaire-non-union-resort-baroness/ permalink save source reply report [–] madmanpg 0 points (+0|-0) 2 months ago As much as I wish this were true, "I heard Harry Reid touches little boys" has been a meme for a long time, mainly in response to his unsubstantiated claims that Mitt Romney cheated on his taxes during the 2012 election. He claimed to have an anonymous source but never produced them or any evidence, and his announcement of the baseless charge on the Senate floor was seen as proof that he was a slimy, ruthless piece of amphibian shit. I am looking forward to when he drops dead, and I really don't doubt that he's a kid-toucher if pizzagate turns out to be real...but going to any conservative blog for that source is going to be a dead end. permalink save source reply report

4 notes · View notes

preciousmetals0 · 4 years

Text

Bezos’ Saudi Blunder; NFLX Buffers; NIO Chunders

Bezos’ Saudi Blunder; NFLX Buffers; NIO Chunders:

Phishing With Princes

“This is soooo funny! Like and share to see what happens!”

Few things in the English language get my blood boiling more than phrases like these. They come in emails, on Facebook posts, in direct messages and through texts. What’s even more infuriating is that people I know send this stuff to me — even though they know better!

No, Uncle Jerry, the Nigerian prince isn’t going to send you any money. And neither is Bill Gates. Stop sharing this crap!

If you want to know the dangers of sharing these emails/texts/messages, just ask Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

Back in 2018, Bezos’ iPhone was hacked after he viewed a video sent to him via WhatsApp. The sender wasn’t a Nigerian prince … but someone connected to the Saudi prince. The hackers lifted personal images that complicated Bezos’ divorce that year. They also reportedly skimmed gigabytes of data in the process, but exactly what they got hasn’t been revealed.

The situation has since escalated well beyond a romantic spat, however. The United Nations (U.N.) is now involved. That’s serious.

“The information we have received suggests the possible involvement of the Crown Prince in surveillance of Mr. Bezos, in an effort to influence, if not silence, The Washington Post’s reporting on Saudi Arabia,” U.N. representatives said in a statement this morning. The U.N. is calling for an immediate investigation. (FYI, Bezos also owns The Washington Post.)

The Saudis have rejected the claims as “absurd.”

Still, FTI Consulting, the business advisory firm that carried out the hacking investigation, says it has “medium to high confidence” that Bezos’ phone was hacked by malware from an account used by the Saudi crown prince.

The Takeaway:

There are two takeaways here:

Don’t open any message, attachment or link you don’t recognize!

Yes, No. 1 and No. 2 are the same. Yes, it’s that important. It doesn’t matter whom the message, attachment or link comes from. This includes relatives and friends … especially relatives and friends!

No one will send you money, no matter how many forwards or “likes” you get. No amount of laughter is worth opening that “funny” image/video — it isn’t that funny anyway.

And if you think: “It won’t happen to me! I’ve got great security on my devices!” — just remember Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the richest guy in the world.

His security was far beyond anything that you or I could afford. What’s more, he was using arguably two of the more secure platforms on mobile: an iPhone and WhatsApp — both so encrypted that even the U.S. government can’t crack them.

So, no, Uncle Jerry, that copy of Norton/McAfee won’t keep you safe. Once you open a message, click an attachment or visit a link, you’ve given your permission to whatever is on the other side. Not even the best cybersecurity in the world can help you at that point.

In these situations, just remember Great Stuff’s words to live by: When in doubt, delete it out — at least until the world runs completely on blockchain.

Blockchain? What’s that?

Right, blockchain! You know, the ultra secure digital ledger that records transactions like no one’s business? This tech is perfect for our less-than-secure world … especially for when your “long-lost cousin” is “totally stranded” in an “Indonesian airport.”

Blockchain tech could disrupt everything about how we use money, from banking to retail to real estate.

But Mr. Great Stuff, can you tell me more about what blockchain is? I bet there’s a way to invest in it, too…

I could tell you more, but it’s best that you hear it from famed tech expert Paul Mampilly. Thousands of Great Stuff readers love Paul Mampilly’s insights into the latest tech trends … and blockchain is no different.

Click here to hear why blockchain is so disruptive — and the gigantic profit potential it’s unleashing.

Good: Earnings Don’t Mean Squat

I tried to warn you on Friday when Great Stuff previewed earnings for Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX). Did you listen? I hope so.

By all conceivable measures, Netflix’s quarterly report was out of this world. Earnings skyrocketed 333% to $1.30 per share from $0.30 a year ago. Revenue soared to $5.5 billion. Wall Street expected earnings of $0.50 per share and revenue of $5.4 billion. Heck, even the Whisper Number projected a mere $0.58 per share in earnings.

And what did NFLX get for its troubles? A loss of more than 2% on the day.

But why? Netflix said it now has more than 60 million subscribers worldwide. It reported 8.3 million new international subscribers, beating expectations.

The reason for the 2% drop? Domestic growth concerns. Netflix only added 420,000 subscribers domestically, versus expectations for 618,000 adds. What’s more, 2020 guidance only called for 7 million new subscribers, compared to 9.2 million new subs in 2019.

Subscriber growth is slowing, and investors fear that Netflix has hit peak saturation. With the company spending billions on content this year, that could mean lower returns and higher negative cash flow.

That said, Netflix proved that it could execute even amid a fresh assault from The Walt Disney Co.’s (NYSE: DIS) Disney+. Furthermore, I think both investors and analysts are discounting international subscribers way too much. It is a global market after all, and Netflix is quickly doing to the rest of the world what it did stateside last decade.

In short, keep your eyes on Netflix, as this dip might be a buying opportunity.

Better: Old Dog, New Tricks

Surprise! International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is relevant again.

Big Blue is among the last of the old-school tech giants to move to the cloud, and it’s paying off big. The company reported earnings of $4.71 per share, $0.02 better than the consensus.

Revenue was also ahead of expectations at $21.78 billion.

The kicker for IBM? A 21.8% jump in cloud revenue to $6.8 billion. It’s amazing what charging to support a free operating system can do for your bottom line — thanks Red Hat Linux!

Things are going so well, IBM also boosted its 2020 outlook above analyst expectations.

This is the most excitement IBM investors have seen in years. Seriously. The stock has basically gone nowhere in the past five years.

As boring as it sounds, maybe paying $34 billion to buy out software company Red Hat really was the best thing to happen to IBM. I’m still having trouble getting excited about this dinosaur, though … if you couldn’t tell.

Best: Look out Below!

So, when I started out writing on Nio Inc. (NYSE: NIO) this morning, the shares were up about 5%. I was impressed … truly. Nio was on its way to an unprecedented 10-day rally, gaining more than 60% in the process.

But, in true Nio fashion, those gains were not to last. The stock rolled over sharply this afternoon, as investors decided that $5 per share was too much to pay for the Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker.

The $5 area could be quite the hurdle for Nio. The company is riding high off December’s stellar earnings call, reports of a $1 billion cash infusion from GAC Group and Tesla Inc.’s (Nasdaq: TSLA) EV success in China.

In fact, NIO shares have more than tripled in the past three months. With that level of speculation, however, comes an equal level of volatility. There’s no bad news making the rounds on Nio today, so this sudden midday drop is likely due to profit-taking.

I mean, if you banked a 200%-plus gain on a speculative Chinese EV stock, wouldn’t you take profits?

The company has investment potential (if you have the risk tolerance). But, if you’re looking to jump in, you should probably wait until the stock comes back to earth a bit more.

Let’s revisit our two rules, shall we?

Don’t open any message, attachment or link you don’t recognize!

Thank you.

Great Stuff: Feed the Beast

You better believe it’s that time again.

You have less than 12 hours to drop me a line at [email protected] to make this week’s edition of Reader Feedback.

We take all kinds here: comments, questions, witty remarks and secret recipes. As always, no cursing, please. We can’t publish that s#&%.

I’ll get the festivities started for you:

Have you kept up with the Senate impeachment trials?

Would you spot a cyber hack or phishing scam — before it’s too late?

Have you ever made ridiculous profits off speculative Chinese stocks?

Are you keeping your New Year’s resolutions? (And is your local gym back to being empty?)

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Great Stuff on social media. If you can’t get enough meme-y goodness, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

0 notes

goldira01 · 4 years

Link

Phishing With Princes

“This is soooo funny! Like and share to see what happens!”

No, Uncle Jerry, the Nigerian prince isn’t going to send you any money. And neither is Bill Gates. Stop sharing this crap!

If you want to know the dangers of sharing these emails/texts/messages, just ask Amazon.com Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) CEO and founder Jeff Bezos.

The situation has since escalated well beyond a romantic spat, however. The United Nations (U.N.) is now involved. That’s serious.

The Saudis have rejected the claims as “absurd.”

The Takeaway:

There are two takeaways here:

Don’t open any message, attachment or link you don’t recognize!

No one will send you money, no matter how many forwards or “likes” you get. No amount of laughter is worth opening that “funny” image/video — it isn’t that funny anyway.

And if you think: “It won’t happen to me! I’ve got great security on my devices!” — just remember Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the richest guy in the world.

In these situations, just remember Great Stuff’s words to live by: When in doubt, delete it out — at least until the world runs completely on blockchain.

Blockchain? What’s that?

Blockchain tech could disrupt everything about how we use money, from banking to retail to real estate.

But Mr. Great Stuff, can you tell me more about what blockchain is? I bet there’s a way to invest in it, too…

Click here to hear why blockchain is so disruptive — and the gigantic profit potential it’s unleashing.

Good: Earnings Don’t Mean Squat

I tried to warn you on Friday when Great Stuff previewed earnings for Netflix Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX). Did you listen? I hope so.

And what did NFLX get for its troubles? A loss of more than 2% on the day.

But why? Netflix said it now has more than 60 million subscribers worldwide. It reported 8.3 million new international subscribers, beating expectations.

In short, keep your eyes on Netflix, as this dip might be a buying opportunity.

Better: Old Dog, New Tricks

Surprise! International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) is relevant again.

Big Blue is among the last of the old-school tech giants to move to the cloud, and it’s paying off big. The company reported earnings of $4.71 per share, $0.02 better than the consensus.

Revenue was also ahead of expectations at $21.78 billion.

The kicker for IBM? A 21.8% jump in cloud revenue to $6.8 billion. It’s amazing what charging to support a free operating system can do for your bottom line — thanks Red Hat Linux!

Things are going so well, IBM also boosted its 2020 outlook above analyst expectations.

This is the most excitement IBM investors have seen in years. Seriously. The stock has basically gone nowhere in the past five years.

Best: Look out Below!

I mean, if you banked a 200%-plus gain on a speculative Chinese EV stock, wouldn’t you take profits?

The company has investment potential (if you have the risk tolerance). But, if you’re looking to jump in, you should probably wait until the stock comes back to earth a bit more.

Let’s revisit our two rules, shall we?

Don’t open any message, attachment or link you don’t recognize!

Thank you.

Great Stuff: Feed the Beast

You better believe it’s that time again.

You have less than 12 hours to drop me a line at [email protected] to make this week’s edition of Reader Feedback.

We take all kinds here: comments, questions, witty remarks and secret recipes. As always, no cursing, please. We can’t publish that s#&%.

I’ll get the festivities started for you:

Have you kept up with the Senate impeachment trials?

Would you spot a cyber hack or phishing scam — before it’s too late?

Have you ever made ridiculous profits off speculative Chinese stocks?

Are you keeping your New Year’s resolutions? (And is your local gym back to being empty?)

In the meantime, don’t forget to check out Great Stuff on social media. If you can’t get enough meme-y goodness, follow me on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!

Until next time, good trading!

Regards,

Joseph Hargett

Great Stuff Managing Editor, Banyan Hill Publishing

#Timor Invest

0 notes

1nebest · 6 years

Text

BuzzFeed built its own editing tool for short, meme-y videos

Although the “pivot to video” has been notoriously challenging for most publishers, they can’t exactly give up on video. In fact, BuzzFeed has been ramping up production with a new editing tool called Vidder.

Vidder was created Senior Product Designer Elaine Dunlop and Senior Software Engineer Joseph Bergen. Dunlop recalled talking to Bergen more than a year ago and pointing out that while BuzzFeed is known for building its own publishing tools, “there wasn’t really the same opinionated software solution” for creating videos.

So they decided to build a video editing product that could be used by anyone, not just experienced producers and editors. Duynlop said the initial goal was to “demystify video production.”

“We basically started out with this hypothesis that if we gave a very simple tool to these editors who are constantly creating very funny, interesting things, they would really be able to fly,” Bergen added.

Fast forward to 2018 and BuzzFeed says Vidder is being used by 40 or 50 team members to create 200 videos each month, with 800 videos created in all since October. Almost none of BuzzFeed’s Vidder users are full-time video producers, and most of them had little to no experience with professional video editing software.

For example, Kayla Yandoli was a member of BuzzFeed’s social team (she’s since transferred to the video) when she created this compilation of “shady” insults from The Golden Girls last fall. With 1.1 million shares, it was one of Vidder’s early success stories, and Yandoli estimated that it only took her only an hour and a half to edit.

We moved even faster when the Vidder team demonstrated the product for me last week. We started with a basic template, then customized it by uploading one or two video clips, typing in captions and subtitles, adding emojis, and we had a perfectly serviceable video ready to go in just a few minutes.

The experience had very little in common with the hours I’ve fiddling with timelines on FinalCut. It also benefits from being entirely web-based, with no software download needed.

The key to Vidder is simplicity. As Product Manager Chris Johanesen put it, “We’re not trying to recreate Adobe Premiere.” There are teams at BuzzFeed creating more in-depth, highly produced videos, and Vidder isn’t built for them. Instead, it might be used by an editor like Yandoli who wants to quickly translate a regular BuzzFeed post into a video for Facebook or Instagram.

“There was a really big boom with Facebook videos around pop culture, animals, babies and stuff,” Yandoli recalled. “People on my team interested in creating videos, but everyone couldn’t download premiere. We were yearning to just find an accessible tool so that we could create things for our social platforms.”

And while you might think that Vidder has become less relevant with recent Facebook algorithm changes, Johanesen said the tool allows BuzzFeed to continue experimenting.

“Ever since the big Facebook algorithm changes that happened, our social strategy is less about longer videos and more about making things that will engage communities and conversations,” Johanesen said. “Vidder has helped teams move a little bit faster than mgiht ahve been possible with other tools. I don’t know that we’ve cracked it, but it’s helping us make progress.”

BuzzFeed is also using Vidder to adapt videos for different platforms, like creating a shorter video for Instagram or compiling several short videos into a longer cut for YouTube. The tool is also being used by international teams who might quickly create a localized version when they see that a BuzzFeed U.S. video is doing well. In fact, BuzzFeed says one international editor was able to “clone” eight Vidder videos in an hour.

Usage is spreading beyond social media teams, with the sales team potentially using it to create “BuzzCuts” for advertisers. And of course Johanesen and his team are going to continue working on the product — for example, they have plans connect it to a library of licensed content.

0 notes

christopherross7601 · 6 years

Text

BuzzFeed built its own editing tool for short, meme-y videos

Google Analytics Certification Exam: Get Certified in 2 Days

Vidder was created Senior Product Designer Elaine Dunlap and Senior Software Engineer Joseph Bergen. Dunlap recalled talking to Bergen more than a year ago and pointing out that while BuzzFeed is known for building its own publishing tools, “there wasn’t really the same opinionated software solution” for creating videos.

So they decided to build a video editing product that could be used by anyone, not just experienced producers and editors. Dunlap said the initial goal was to “demystify video production.”

The experience had very little in common with the hours I’ve fiddling with timelines on FinalCut. It also benefits from being entirely web-based, with no software download needed.

“There was a really big boom with Facebook videos around pop culture, animals, babies and stuff,” Yandoli recalled. “People on my team were interested in creating videos, but everyone couldn’t download Premiere. We were yearning to just find an accessible tool so that we could create things for our social platforms.”

And while you might think that Vidder has become less relevant with recent Facebook algorithm changes, Johanesen said the tool allows BuzzFeed to continue experimenting.

“Ever since the big Facebook algorithm changes that happened, our social strategy is less about longer videos and more about making things that will engage communities and conversations,” Johanesen said. “Vidder has helped teams move a little bit faster than might have been possible with other tools. I don’t know that we’ve cracked it, but it’s helping us make progress.”

Make Google AdWords your B*****

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eludiumofficial · 7 years

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Rant #1: The brutal self-slaughter of my former favorite company and why I think comparing Electronic Arts to Bethesda Softworks is ignorant and irrational

Before I get started I’d like to make clear that my opinions presented here are subject to change, dependent on current events and my future beliefs. This post does in no way intend to manipulate the reader’s view on the situation or try and showcase my conviction as being the factual one regarding the topic, it only presents my personal reaction towards the statement featured in the title and should be treated as such.

I dislike rants. I dislike rambling in general, I find it to be a huge time-waster with little to no sense of rewarding. This is probably the first such post that I ever write, and I can’t say I’m quite pleased with my decision, but the subject at hand really provoked me. I feel that writing down my view on it, saving it someplace where I can see it later on in life (and remind myself of my past ways of thinking, as well as the reasoning behind them) is the best course of action. Regarding the second half of the title: I completely understand this is not a big deal, but making Electronic Arts look like the bad guy is something that I’ve seen mentioned for over a decade now in the gaming field, very few times being also backed up by solid arguments. I’m here to present it from my perspective.

Electronic Arts... a name as big in the industry as it is infamous. At least by common standards. Standards that (presumably) mostly come from reading the dumb, uninformed YouTube comment. Hell, I wouldn’t even be surprised if the vast majority of “experts” that comment defamatory remarks at EA's address have never touched any of the company's games. But how could they, right?! You need to pay, what, one hundred dollars for the Deluxe/Premium/Ultimate edition, which is in truth the actual content that assembles the main game... right?

Maybe.

This old company that the average customer loves to bash in ignorance is the same one who grants you complete access to full editions of over 75 of their titles, for €4 a month. It’s the same company who puts their game on sale for €10 one year after its release.. be lucky if you manage to score a €30 deal with other companies’ games in such a short time after launch (and in a sale). Not to mention, they actually have a working DRM *cough* Ubisoft *cough* and customer support.. *cough* Valve *cough*.

But enough about that. I'm not here to lick EA's boots, just pointing out how pathetic it looks to me when people keep complaining about this company 24/7 when there are much bigger culprits in the industry.

Culprits.. like Bethesda. Yeah. Something the old me would never believe he'd write. I wasn't just a fan of Bethesda Softworks. I loved Bethesda. I would read all the lore of their universes for hours on end, at school, at home, even before going to sleep. Hell, I didn't think The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vanilla was a bad game at all to begin with, but when I discovered modding and found out that the Creation Kit, the godly tool that unlocked such a vast world (inside an already huge world), was brought to us by the developers, I went crazy for this team.

The introduction of paid mods.

Not only was it a global letdown when Valve + Bethesda announced paid mods on Steam back in 2015, it was unfortunately only the beginning of something much darker for BethSoft. Now, to be fair with you, I was willing to give them a second chance as customer after that absolute mess, more or less because I saw the partnership with Valve (a company that I stopped respecting since at least 4 years ago, for reasons that are now obvious worldwide) and I couldn't help but assume that they had the upper hand on here. It was downright difficult for a die-hard fan of Bethesda Studios to just drop all respect for them and accuse them at the fullest (or at least mostly) for the wrongdoing. Nonetheless they lost a big sense of meaning at that time, to me and many other fans as well.

When the "Special Edition" of Skyrim rolled out last fall I genuinely thought that was a bad joke. I went and read its system requirements, up to this day I cannot fathom how some improved shaders and lighting system along with some small improvements to textures require a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 as graphic processor. It's beyond insulting the way this company neglects any kind of optimization processes for their products.

One year later, here we are: Creation Club. What the actual hell, Bethesda? What the actual hell? Here’s the trailer, it should speak more than mere words can:

youtube

The best course of action here is to fight for what we stand for. Don't let Bethesda win this fight. They've lost it once already, but it seems they're coming back with a much, much greedier and more disgusting ploy.

Some more detailed information about this Creation Club mess, as I really do not have the mood to write more about it and ultimately ruin my state of mind:

Creation Club on Fallout Wikia

A very succinct description in video format, by Gopher:

youtube

It’sAGundam goes much less family-friendly into the topic, but his points are very valid:

youtube

An extremely flawed system explained by YongYea:

youtube

I don’t see how it could get worse than this... but I actually have a feeling it still will. At this point, Bethesda Softworks is not just an anti-consumer company, they're inarguably becoming a threat to the industry. They have the power to manipulate other companies' directions, they have the power to manipulate renowned modders into falling for their trap (as proved in the 2015 scandal). But I believe they don't have the power to treat us, customers, like some absolute fools, and to succeed in doing so. I believe we can take the fight to them. For a greedy company like this, where fan service means absolutely nothing today, money speak in totality. Bethesda does not deserve to be given further financial support. Not until they wake up and realize the damage they're creating.

If Bethesda really doesn't want to give up their unethical practices (and so far, it does indeed look like they're going to keep living in a dream), they have to be put down. The company that once held the crown for creating the best sandbox role-playing games, with unlimited modding possibilities, is now digging its own grave. But it won’t lay itself inside.

Nexus mods

Let's face it, Bethesda: you would never be where you are now — up there at the top, laughing in your customers' faces — if it wasn't for your community. So many people still keep playing games that go as far back as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, because of modding. As great as your games might initially be, in a vanilla state very few people would still play a 15 years old game on a regular basis. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is still up in the players' charts today thanks to the dedicated modders that spare hundreds of hours from their lives to expand the base game’s content. Not to mention the insane amount of bugs that every of your games has: you never fixed that, Bethesda. It was the community who did it for you. Free of charge.

I began this article by writing about Electronic Arts and never got around talking about its relevance to the topic. That’s simply because I wanted to make clear my thoughts about Bethesda Softworks first. You see, while searching up the community’s reaction to this whole scandal I couldn’t help but notice a couple dozen comments comparing the “new” Bethesda Studios to Electronic Arts. Mostly saying they've become just as bad.

I know, I know.. why do some meaningless comments matter to me? This post should be about Bethesda's fall from glory, not about this. And to be fair I did debate whether to write this in a separate post or not to write it at all. I understand it might not be a big deal, but it does really drive me nuts. I consider the society's uninformed opinions to be just as damaging as Bethesda's recent actions.

Because these uninformed opinions carry on. They influence people. They influence companies' rate of success. Paid mods were taken down in 2015, a few days after their launch, for the fact that the community made its voice heard. All the comments raging at Valve and Bethesda's poor attempt could be translated into a substantial financiar loss for the companies.

With the Electronic Arts case, things are slightly different: we aren't talking about a mass of hateful comments bashing at the team in just a few days' time, we are talking about the worldwide consensus that EA is a "bad" company. This consensus has been spread out in a wide variety of ways, mainly through chats, comments, forums talks etc. and in a very high amount of time (basically since at least ten years ago). It was initially based on the fact (among other things) that you often had to pay for the game's "Premium" edition in order to receive content that was classified by the standard gamer as mandatory for the base game. Later on the consensus was adopted by.. just about a lot of people on the Internet. And that's how it went viral, it basically became a "meme", so to say. Bad things happen in the gaming world, the community instantly associates it with EA. This is not only morally wrong, but it does affect the company as well, for reasons that should be obvious.

"So what? Let them suffer, it's not fair having to pay €100 for a game in order to get the full edition." While I agree that most of the DLCs for EA's games are somewhat mandatory (especially if you're planning to play online), one should not forget the points that I made in the initial paragraphs of this post. If money is indeed such a big issue, wait for a sale. Their games' prices drop by a lot even during the first year. At least you have the assurance of quality control. You pay for a game that... you know, actually works, it's not riddled with bugs.

"How does that still relate to Bethesda?" When people compare these two studios they do it just because they're trying to put Bethesda to shame, really. Most of the time they don't even think twice before hitting the "Send" button: "Just stick EA's name in the comment so everyone can understand I'm only trying to make Bethesda look bad. I might have actually never played an Electronic Arts game, I sure as hell have never read any documentation on them, but hey, they're a meme, everyone refers to them as the bad guy so it has to be true." Their comment/message might literally not try and say anything disparaging about EA, they probably just want to put the focus on Bethesda, but the fact that they're using the brand name as a means to make something else look bad is absolutely ignorant. You are comparing every single damaging event in the industry to one company's marketing unpopular opinion, how crazy is that?

Electronic Arts has made its fair share of mistakes in its time (I agree, buying smaller, good companies and later firing their staff is not cool at all; releasing a new edition of Most Wanted is still supposed to be a Most Wanted game, not a Burnout game), but comparing it to a company that tries and monetize a feature that has been globally free since 1980 (Castle Smurfenstein) is downright insulting. If according to the society EA is “bad”, then Bethesda must be the devil itself. Unfortunately people will continue to bash at Electronic Arts without backing up any of the criticism with straight facts and/or proof.

The point of this section is not to make EA seem like the victim and Bethesda like the villain. It merely summarizes that if you’re trying to show your feeling of antipathy towards Bethesda Studios through a comparison with another company, then you should pick a suitable candidate. Don’t just rush at placing Electronic Arts' name in your post because you know that will draw attention and favoritism from fellow poor-informed members. It’s a shame that out of all the gaming companies out there, some with much higher rates of greediness, the community has crowned EA as the “greater evil”.

Times have changed, people. Maybe a few years ago the main problem in the gaming industry was indeed the high pricing and the necessity of purchasing a Premium pack in order to enjoy what the whole game has to offer, but if you think that’s still the main issue nowadays then I am afraid you are living in the past. Welcome to 2017, where we are greeted with microtransactions in singleplayer-exclusive titles, card games over card games with little to no difference between each other (except the company your money for in-game items will go to) and an actual increase in the game’s price during the sale, just so it can be “discounted” to very, very little below the normal price (yeah, I know that happened in 2015, but I trust you catch my drift as to what’s happening in the “new world”). While these things are happening and the industry is falling apart, people are still busy complaining about a company that gives you a full-fledged product for a higher sum of money than the “standard” one. And then offers it to you on sale during the next 12 months.

Bethesda has reached an all-time new low and no other company comes to mind that is as brain-dead, heartless and greedy as them, but if you really have to use a comparison to prove your point, for the love of God step up your game and stop mentioning Electronic Arts. There is Valve out there who keeps milking the same damn three games for years now instead of producing anything original, they have a barely functional DRM, their customer support is safe to be assumed AWOL at this point in time and now they’re releasing a card game to further milk money away from players. Take-Two Interactive literally tried to definitively shut down modding for Grand Theft Auto V. There you have Activision shooting themselves in the foot with the Call of Duty franchise, releasing pretty much the same game year after year, also charging the same amount of money for the Deluxe version as EA would for a game that is actually original.

But Electronic Arts is still “the worst company”. Ok.

To sum this up (because it’s getting late, I want a cup of hot chocolate and to play some good old Dragon Age):

Maybe EA is bad. Maybe it isn’t. But it’s certainly not the culprit of the industry anymore, considering all the petty/greedy attempts of other companies in recent years. To compare it to Bethesda, however, is a whole other story. It’s insulting. Bethesda Softworks is not just greedy, they have become a threat.

Bethesda Studios is the kind of wounded owner who kicks his own faithful dog with a club after it comes and licks its master’s wounds. That kick is painful and performed with a Creation Club.

I ran out of hot chocolate sachets.

#bethesda #paid mods #creation club #electronic arts #greediness #rant #gaming #game industry

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