#and creators are allowed to make something as an art form without having to teach a fucking lesson

[callmearcturus]

A friend linked me this video uh MONTHS ago and I finally watched it.

My god I fucking love broccoli.

The thing about The Beginner's Guide and by extension Ultra Deluxe (because I agree, they are telling the same thing) is that: I will never, ever actually know what Davey Wreden intended by making them. I will never ever know anything about Wreden other than: the topic of boundaries and parasocial fixations and the Plight Of Creation is on his mind a lot. That's it!

So what's actually important about TBG and Ultra Deluxe is not trying to read between the lines and connecting the dots with red string to divine what Wreden wants to teach you. The only thing that matters is what do you pull from them?

TBG is frankly one of my favorite works in any medium I have ever experienced. I think its the most useful story for our current era. The first time I played it, I felt ripped between Davey-the-character and Coda. Davey made me question if I was some kind of monster, if I was sick in the head for wanting validation. And Coda's parable scared the hell out of me, how the expectations of Davey poisoned and polluted his work until he stopped being able to create anything without that contamination.

Now, what I get from TBG is a two-pronged lesson.

One: I don't allow anyone to think that by reading my work, they know me. Even the most lovely, enthusiastic people who adore my writing-- it's the writing. That barrier between the Work and the Creator is a bottomless moat. No one will ever know who I am just from reading my stuff, and when people start to think otherwise, I remind them.

Which extends to me as well, obviously. I consumed all of TMA and all of the Mechanisms albums and watched Jonny Sims stream. I don't know him! I may have a few assumptions about the guy, but I have no misunderstanding that I know fucking anything about him as a person. And that's fine. That's good honestly. I don't want to know. That is an intimacy that cannot be shared through someone's art.

Two: When you begin to trade parts of yourself for validation, you will wind up destitute and ruined. Davey, in TBG, wonders if his desire for validation is a disease. He says something along the lines of "I cannot imagine not being driven by external validation." And for a long time, that haunted me.

My own take-away, my own way of dealing is a reframing, one that benefits me and anyone who interacts with my work. What I want is communication. I have been very open about the fact that I write as a form of conversation. Seeking pure praise and headpats will absolutely make you into a cautionary tale like Coda, like Davey. But I also cannot reject the fact that I create to garner reaction. But its not a conversation about me. It's a conversation about my work.

Anyway, I owe TBG a lot. And I'm pretty sure my take-aways from it are not the actual Intended Parables. But also... who the fuck cares? Why would I elevate the intentions of Davey? I don't know him and I never will. What I personally get from the work has more meaning and more applicability to my life.

Man, this broccoli is fucking delicious.

#long post #Youtube

[ramblingredhead00]

Reflections on Divinity

adjective: of or like God or a god

My beliefs have never been a particularly set thing. Growing up Christian, I read the bible and believed, but never really understood. Atheism was never something that made sense or appealed to me much. There is a beginning to everything, and surely someone had to have started it? Once I started to research the bible and Christianity more, the more I distanced myself. The hatred for lgbtqia folks, women? If we are all made in gods image, then why are aspects of one’s personality or biology sinful? Also, if he is omniscient, then he knew exactly what would happen from the second he came into existence.

The salvation narrative makes zero sense if this is true. He knew that humans would turn against him, he knew that giving us free will would mean that some would choose not to worship him, he knew from the very beginning. Yet he claims we are at fault for that? That our lack of belief is surprising, or the act of upstart children. He believes he deserves worship because he created us, such casual narcissism. Arrogance. Divinity does not mean that gods are worthy of worship. Kindness, even handedness, love, aid when we are sick or to help our crops grow. To guide us to the afterlife when we pass. To be just! That makes them worthy, not merely existence. Asking a father to sacrifice his son as proof, planetwide genocide, war, rape, circumcision. If he truly does allow these things, he is monstrous.

That is why I do not believe the abrahamic god to be omnipotent. Beyond my own experiences with other gods, the very existence of so many polytheistic faiths prior and post to the rise of Christianity, Islam and Judaism shows that the idea of a single creator deity is not only uncommon, but not tenable to the human psyche. In all fairness, the henotheism of Judaism allows it more wiggle room when it comes to pluralism, and for this they have my respect. Islam, while a beautiful faith with many admirable aspects, has been twisted by men with an agenda. Christianity has amazing rituals, art, and a rich history. I do believe in god, and would venerate Jesus for his teachings of mercy and kindness, and his Mother for her sacrifice and hardships, and mercy. Some saints too, no doubt, for humans given power by gods are beyond us, and if they can reach us from death, I believe them worthy of veneration. But the sheer level of violence enacted by those who truly believe in god, means that the institutions of that faith have been corrupted. Their continued existence shows a level of complicity and acceptance of their behaviour on behalf of the god. Yet I find myself drawn to Christ, so I do not know.

However, I also worship Thor, Sunna, Freyr, Gaia and others. Multiplicity of deity is true in my eyes. Relative levels of power however, is beyond my ken. The idea of deific power being determined by number of worshippers is new in fantasy and not historically accurate: the gods have always and will always exist. Yet, why do some seem to fade from human imagination when cultures die? surely, if they still exist, which I believe is the case, they would maintain a cult of sorts. They could reach out in dreams perhaps. Maybe it isn’t my place to judge such things.

What are the gods, anyway? Mythic literalists believe them to be physical beings somewhere, such as the Hellenistic idea of the gods residing stop Mount Olympus. Do I believe this? No. Do I think the gods could take human form and visit us? Of course. They are beings of immense power.

I think I agree with Stephen Dillons definition; Remarkable greatness, disembodied consciousness, Immense power. The reverence we feel during spiritual experiences is warranted by their power, but of course what inspires awe is subjective. Timeless beings that interact us without having to use physicality would certainly be very powerful. I think spiritual experiences are our minds and theirs interacting. I myself have felt their presences, making me smile uncontrollably or sob without restraint. I love the gods. I love them for their kindness, their mercy, their ability to empower me and heal me when I’m sick. I believe they watch over us when they can, but they are not all powerful.

My recent veneration of Sante Muerte has been enlightening. She is so kind, and motherly. I feel her presence, almost a desire to serve her. When I pray her rosary, or just pray to her, I imagine myself sat in her lap, or kissing her cheek. I wonder if she will guide me to my ancestors when I die? I hope so. I could imagine no better a guide than Holy Death herself. I do not fear my own passing, for it isn’t anything to be afraid of. I will see my family stretching back to the beginning. I will learn such beautiful things and eat and laugh with them. I hope I can visit morgen in her own ancestral hall. Or if she goes to heaven or anywhere else.

Divinity is so strange. I wonder if they do all exist simultaneously, how do different pantheons interact? I know that some practitioners claim they get on depending on the group of course. It’s so interesting.

Does every variation of a god exist as they change over time? Or can they flow with our changing views? If so, to what degree? Do they desire that change? Can they manipulate events to ensure that cultural diffusion occurs?

I would love to know if there was a creator deity, an uncaused causer. Perhaps a group of them? If so, are they present in any of today’s belief systems? Have they begotten creation and their divine children? Why?

An idea I’ve toyed with is that when the universe exploded into being, the gods formed slowly over time. Their atoms coalesced and joined with that immense explosion of energy and animated it, giving it physicality and personality. Their alignments were perhaps dependant on the types of energy they absorbed, or the atoms that formed them. Due to the sheer immensity of creation, and to a degree, the linear nature of the way mortal beings perceive life, every culture had distinct deities for aspects of existence that they share. Gods of harvest, death, life, winter, war. Perhaps their power was based entirely on chance, how quickly they could absorb energy. The force created by mortal worship could empower them, perhaps.

Because good and evil are entirely subjective, I think an alignment more based on order and chaos is appropriate. Different people will believe different things of course, and will project their own moral compass and code of ethics onto the gods, meaning they will believe that the gods share their view, or at least hope that they will. I do believe there are actions that upset the natural order; meaningless or warrant less death, cruelty. However, I also understand that these things are bound to happen.

The problem of evil is incredibly interesting. The Christian Greater good theodicy solves it well I think. It idea that the gods also don’t control everything can avoid the problem entirely; such things are out of every one’s control, so we should all work to limit those things.

#paganism #religion #philosophy

[castrorooney]

Minecraft To Launch Education Edition

Minecraft will launch an education edition of Minecraft By Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

19 January 2016

An "education edition" of Minecraft is to be launched by Microsoft.

The product will offer teachers new ways to utilize the game's world-building capabilities in a range of subjects.

In 2014, Microsoft paid $2.5bn (PS1.8bn), for Mojang, Minecraft’s Swedish creator. It also bought the four-year-old MinecraftEdu game from TeacherGaming which is a Finnish independent developer. Strongcraft.org

It is promising to add features now however, schools may face additional costs.

It is reported that more than 7,000 classrooms around the world are using Minecraft in some form.

"Teachers are using Minecraft to do so many things, such as teaching science, math poetry, religion and even poetry," Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's vice-president of worldwide education, told the BBC.

"Once we make the tools more accessible for schools to gain access to and use I think you'll see that number [of classrooms] grow quite quickly."

Camera in-game

MinecraftEdu already allows teachers to modify the content of the game and access an education-related library that is shared assets.

Microsoft promises to improve user experience:

Children's characters to keep their characteristics between sessions

Students can allow students to "photos" of themselves using an in-game camera and then placing them in an online journal with their notes. These can later serve as tutorials for other children, or be used by teachers to assess their progress.

Allowing children to download software that will allow them to play the educational version of Minecraft outside of school, without having to purchase their own version of the game.

To use the service, teachers and children require their own Office 365 ID, which can be used to give access to Microsoft's cloud-based productivity software.

Microsoft claims this will allow teachers to manage fewer online accounts they have to manage.

It could also assist the company to promote its word processing, file sharing and email applications over other services like Google and others.

Microsoft plans to charge an annual fee of $5 (PS3.50) for each teacher and child.

It could cost more than the current basic setup, which is $14 plus $41 for server software.

Deirdre Qarnstrom is the director of Minecraft education, stated that "we believe that we are creating value".

"On top of having a recurring identity, they will also have access to the most current version of the game.

"MinecraftEdu was, along with other Minecraft mods. This was due to the nature of the development process.

"We are also replacing the need for schools to purchase and maintain separate server hardware."

Virtual Shakespeare

The new features were well-loved by Leigh Wolmarans, the head teacher at Lings Primary School in Northampton.

The school he works at utilizes MinecraftEdu to teach its students about A Midsummer Night's Dream. He requested them to create a Shakespeare-inspired play within MinecraftEdu.

However, he said other teachers should be aware of the software was not without its limitations.

"Technology can result in exceptional learning, but it has to be utilized in conjunction with other tools" the professor said.

"If all you're doing is sitting them down and allowing them to play Shakespeare through Minecraft, you would be doing something wrong.

"Dance, art, drama and music remain the best ways to educate children.

"But technology can also be added to it as an additional tool."

Microsoft has announced that it will allow teachers to start "beta-testing" Minecraft's education edition at some point "in the summer" free of charge, prior to the start of the official launch.

Minecraft was used to teach chemistry

5 November 2015

Minecraft lessons in schools

20 June 2014

Minecraft

MinecraftEdu

Lings Primary School

#Strongcraft

[lindedejesus]

Minecraft To Launch Education Edition

Minecraft to launch education edition by Leo Kelion Technology desk editor

19 January 2016

Microsoft will launch an "education edition" Minecraft.

The product will give teachers new ways to use the world-building game video game across many different subjects.

Microsoft paid $2.5bn (PS1.8bn) for Mojang, Minecraft's Swedish creator in 2014. It also bought the four-year-old MinecraftEdu game from TeacherGaming, a Finnish independent developer.

It is promising to add features now however, schools may face additional costs.

It says more than 7,000 schools around the globe are already using Minecraft in some form.

"Teachers are using Minecraft to accomplish a variety of things, such as teaching maths, science poetry, religion, and more," Anthony Salcito, Microsoft's vice-president for education around the world said to the BBC.

"Once we make it easier for schools to access and use the tools, I think you'll notice that the number of classrooms grows very quickly."

In-game camera

MinecraftEdu already gives teachers the possibility of editing content and access a shared library that contains educational-themed resources.

Microsoft promises to enhance user experience by:

Children's characters to maintain their unique characteristics between sessions

Students can allow students to "photos" of themselves using an in-game camera and then storing them in an online journal with their notes. They can be used to teach other children or by teachers to score their performance.

permitting children to download programs that allow them to play the educational version of Minecraft outside school without having to purchase their own copy of the game

To use the service, children and teachers each need their own Office 365 ID, which can be used to give access to Microsoft's cloud-based productivity software.

Microsoft claims this will allow teachers to reduce the number of online accounts they need to manage.

But it may aid the company in promoting its email, word processing and file-sharing applications over competitors from Google and others.

Microsoft will charge a $5 annual fee (PS3.50) per teacher and child.

It could cost more than the current standard setup, which is $14 plus $41 for server software.

"We believe that we're bringing added value," said Deirdre Quarnstrom, director of Minecraft education.

"In addition to having a permanent identity and a permanent password, players will also be able to access the most recent version of the game.

"MinecraftEdu, along with other Minecraft mods was between one and two releases behind by nature of the development process.

"We are also replacing the need for schools to maintain separate servers hardware." STRONGCRAFT.ORG

Virtual Shakespeare

The new features were well-loved by Leigh Wolmarans, the head teacher at Lings Primary School in Northampton.

The school uses MinecraftEdu to teach students about A Midsummer Night's Dream by asking students to create a version of Shakespeare's work within the game.

However, he added that other teachers should be aware the software had its limitations.

"Technology can result in exceptional learning, but it needs to be used in conjunction with other tools," he said.

"If all you're doing is sitting them down and leaving them to experience Shakespeare through Minecraft you are doing something wrong.

"Dance, music, art, and drama remain the best ways to teach children.

"But technology can also be added to that as an additional tool."

Microsoft has announced that it will allow teachers to "beta-test" Minecraft's education edition at no cost at some point during the summer months, prior to its official launch.

Minecraft was used to teach chemistry

5 November 2015

Minecraft lessons in schools

20 June 2014

Minecraft

MinecraftEdu

Lings Primary School

#STRONGCRAFT

[themysticnamedfae]

Let Me Tell You A Secret

Psst... y´all didn´t see my last post, move your well-formed asses over there and leave a like.

Pile 1 - Rose

You are not alone. I know you feel isolated right now but just because your body isn´t in touch doesn´t mean your mind is disconnected as well. There is a community out there for everyone, for you too my dear. Don´t give up hope, keep searching, the right people will find you.

Nothing has to make sense right away. You are allowed to just follow your intuition without needing a reason to do so. Make little baby steps, you don´t have to rush yourself. Just keep on moving. Trust your path. It´s happening, you are all the power you ever needed.

Pile 2 - Art + Book

Your voice is deserved to be heard. You have so much to say, don´t waste your time by those who do not listen. Dive deep into what you desire and what you want. Don´t let anyone tell you what you do isn´t "good enough" . Ground yourself and listen to no one but yourself.

You are called to take a rest, stop. Don´t be afraid of standstill. There is nothing to be afraid of, you will survive this. New solutions and beginnings are coming your way.

Pile 3 - Lemon + Book

Let it go. You need to establish better boundaries. It is NOT yours to carry. The weight of the world is not yours to carry, honey. Even if they are your friends or family. Your true family is still out there, waiting for you to call them in and let go of carrying others' burdens.

You see the good and the potential in everyone. You are a kind, sensitive soul and you do have the ability to bring the unconsciousness to light... but please stop using your gift for people who don´t even care about you.

Pile 4 - Tree

You are allowed to love. You don´t have to be afraid of accepting feelings. Every connection we make has its own meaning, is there to teach you something new, something useful. It´s part of our life lessons to feel, it´s part of our soul growth to fall.

You are the creator here, allow the connection, the feelings to form in their own way. Express your desires and allow life to form its own net around your wishes. You are made out of stardust.

#pick a card #pick a picture #pick a pile #pick a crystal #pick a card reading #pac readings #pac #divination #free readings #intuition #clairvoyance readings #prediction #intuitive #tarot reading #tarotcommunity #pac tarot #free tarot readings #tarot cards #tarot reader #oracle cards #witch #witchcraft #clairvoyant #spirituality #spiritual #medium #tarot

[fishoutofcamelot]

IT’S OFFICIAL! I’M MAKING A MERLIN-THEMED D&D CAMPAIGN!!! <3

Do you like Merlin? Do you like D&D? Do you like the idea of D&D but don’t know how it works? Then The Rising Sun campaign is just for you! (named after that one tavern in Camelot lmao)

CAMPAIGN PREMISE:

Jailbreak! The members of your party have been locked away in Camelot’s dungeons and must work together to bust out. But with a mysterious curse terrorizing the city, that might be easier said than done. Takes place during the three-year gap between seasons 4 and 5.

BASIC INFORMATION:

4-6 players, all at LVL3

Is this your first game? Your 50th game? All experience levels accepted!

Will feature monsters/characters/settings present in BBCM canon

The session will be recorded and posted to Youtube, so even people who don’t play can still join in on the fun!

Wanna chat about Merlin? (And D&D, but mostly Merlin) Join the Rising Sun Discord Server!!!

It’s a oneshot campaign, meaning there will only be one session

Submit your character sheet/s to me (email under the cut) by November 15th!

The exact length of the session will depend on player availability/preference, and how long it takes us to get through the campaign. But expect it to take around 2-4 hours

You can play as a canon character (like Mithian or Percival), or make an OC 

We will be running this through D&D5e (5th edition) as this is what I’m most familiar with. If you don’t know what that means, don’t worry about it!

Players must have access to Discord. Announcements, party talk, scheduling, etc. will be held on an exclusive channel through the Rising Sun Discord Server

WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITHOUT PLAYING?

Don’t worry, we’ve got something for everyone! I want this to be something everyone in the fandom can enjoy :)

The campaign will be recorded virtually and posted to Youtube in 30-minute parts/episodes, with captions available

Transcripts will also be posted to AO3

Join the Rising Sun Discord Server!

Don’t have a Discord account? Information about the campaign will also be posted to the Rising Sun Campaign tag on Tumblr

Feeling artsy? Feel free to post it! Any campaign-related art sent to me (through Discord, Tumblr, or Gmail) will likely be posted to my Tumblr blog and also feature in one of the episodes uploaded to Youtube, provided you give me permission to do so <3

Interested? More details under the cut! 

PROJECTED TIMELINE

November 1: Player Submission period opens

November 15: Player Submission period ends

November 20: Official player + character list announced

December 18-January 18: Campaign session held. The exact date/time will depend on the availability of party members, but this is just the time period in which it’s most likely to happen (it’s my winter break!)

January/February: Campaign “episodes” will be uploaded to Youtube on a weekly basis, with their respective transcripts posted to AO3. Official release schedule to be posted after the campaign has been recorded

SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Submit to my email: [email protected]

If you don’t know a lot about D&D and want me to teach you/help you make your character sheet, let me know through Tumblr! 

Submissions should include your: 

Tumblr URL and/or Discord ID

Time zone

Expected availability between Dec18-Jan18

Experience/comfort level with D&D

If you are willing to have your face shown in the recording

Character sheet/s

Any homebrew content you would like to use

You can submit more than one character sheet, but you can only play as one character, and only one character will be accepted into the campaign

If we get more than 6 submissions, players will be chosen based on their availability, friendliness, and how well I think their character will fit into the campaign/party

If you’re accepted as a player, I will let you know via Tumblr/Discord before posting the official player list to Tumblr. You will also be granted access to the Party-Only channel on the Rising Sun Discord server

You MUST be a member of this server, as crucial party discussions, announcements, and Zoom links will be shared there

Make sure to have everything submitted by November 15th!

GUIDELINES

My time zone is PST. Expect this to influence scheduling

If you aren’t comfortable having your face in the recording, you can turn your camera off! However, I will ask that you at least keep your mic on

The session will be held and recorded through Zoom. Make sure you have access to this program! 

Due to Zoom restrictions, a Zoom meeting can’t be any longer than 45 minutes. So the session will probably be broken up into 30-minute meetings, with 5-minute breaks in between each one. The Zoom link/s will be posted to the Party-only channel on the Rising Sun server. If I find a more efficient way of doing this, I will let you know

There will be a session zero, also on Zoom, about a week before we record the session. This is just a quick and casual opportunity for us to meet, work out any technical issues, address campaign expectations, talk about our characters, and get to know each other better <3

General courtesy and Zoom/D&D etiquettes apply. Don’t be a dick!

I might end up commissioning/having art done of the Player Characters (PCs). If you’re not okay with that, let me know!

CHARACTER CREATION

Put your character at LVL 3

Homebrew content is allowed, so long as you have me look it over first!

Use the D&D5e character sheet for character creation (if you need help accessing this I can send you an editable pdf, or help you find an online character sheet creator)

CANON CHARACTERS

Make sure all information on your character sheet is accurate to canon. Any deviations from canon (like giving Elyan magic, or making Percival a time-traveler) must be talked over with me first

Does their canon background have holes or unknowns? Fill them in yourself! Get creative <3

If this character doesn’t have a race available in D&D, like a sidhe, then you have two options. You can either homebrew their profile, or you can using an existing race profile that’s similar while clearly establishing what their real race is

When writing their backstory, try to think of how they would fit into the campaign. Why are they in the dungeons? Is Merlin suffering the aftermath of a magic reveal gone wrong? Did Gwaine get into a tavern brawl? Has George been framed for murder?

OCs

Be creative! Time travelers, shapeshifters, orcs - as long as you develop it well enough, I’ll probably allow it

If your character has a race/species that doesn’t exist in BBCM canon - like an elf or a dwarf - then provide backstory as to why their people are never seen or mentioned in the show. Did the dwarves go into hiding during the Purge? Is your character the first of their kind? Were they cursed into a non-human form?

In the event that we get someone to do art for the PCs, please make sure the physical description of your character is very clear and concise. Consider including reference art of some kind as well. This will hopefully make it easier for the artist/s to do their thing

When writing their backstory, try to think of how they would fit into the campaign. Why are they in the dungeons? Did they get caught trying to kill the king? Did their friend turn them in for sorcery? Did they steal something from the vaults?

This should be a chance for us all to goof off and have fun, so I’m not gonna be super strict on the rules. And if you have any questions, hit me up on Tumblr!! <3

#yall its finally happening!!!! #i have been legit working on this for over 2 weeks now #i made graphics #and a discord server #and ive got a whole bunch of resources compiled for any newbies who need them #i taught myself some rudimentary animation + video editing stuff #i reread the entire dungeon masters guide for this #I. AM. READY #rising sun campaign #dnd #merlin #bbc merlin #merlin bbc #bbcm #fish post

[spnfanficpond]

June 2020 Angel Fish Awards

(New Angel Fish design by @slytherkins!!)

Every month all of you fantastic writers work your asses off to post some truly incredible stories. Our Angel Fish Awards are the way for all of us, as a community of writers and readers, to lift each other up and give praise to those who have captured our attention and deserve a few kind words.

The monthly Angel Fish Awards are peer-nominated, meaning ANYONE IN THE POND CAN NOMINATE ANY POND MEMBER’S FIC. While the Pond was founded to support the Guppies, everyone in this community deserves to be showered with love and feedback, and we hope that by opening this up as a Pond wide system, we’ll be able to share the love as far as it can go.

NOTE: WE’VE BEEN HAVING OCCASIONAL PROBLEMS WITH ASKS GOING MISSING. Please use the Submit button when submitting your nominations and make sure you’re signed into Tumblr or your URL won’t show. (If the form asks for your name and email address, then you’re not signed in.) If you like, you can also send a message to Michelle @mrswhozeewhatsis or Mana @manawhaat to check and make sure we got your submission.

Be sure to read through this whole post as people who were nominated more than once only had one tag activated for tumblr tagging purposes!

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, HERE ARE JUNE’S ANGEL FISH AWARDS!

Nonimated by @thegirlwhorunswithwinchesters

I Thought You Were Going To Die (oneshot) by @fun-and-fandoms

My nominations for the month wouldn’t be complete without a little bit of angst. Though this one isn’t just that. If you’re easily triggered by mentions of depression and its symptoms, this one’s not for you. But it’s an important topic and I will always encourage any creator who uses their art to remind people it’s okay to talk about it. (Note from Kale, this was actually submitted in May but I missed it.) 

More to Me (oneshot) by @becs-bunker

No spoilers, but I’m so glad this ended the way it did. So sweet <3

Help  (oneshot) by @blushingjared

I came across this fic and was immediately intrigued. Then I started reading and I was captivated from the first sentence until the very last. The author did such a good job with setting the scene and painting the right picture.

Talking Bodies (oneshot) by @ne-gans

This AU-Sam is such a huge weakness of mine. That, in combination with this dangerously filthy masterpiece, is nothing short of perfection.

Nominated by @focusonspn

Into The Woods (series) by @amanda-teaches

So well written, interesting plot and great development. The chemistry between Y/N and Dean is also amazing, and I loved how this mini-series could be so easily part of the show. Totally worth reading.

Nominated by @thoughtslikeamindfield 

Stranger Than FanFiction (series) by @cherry3point14

The premise is similar to the film Stranger Than Fiction – a story about a story being written about you – and it’s just as hilarious. Also, Cherry Pie is still one of the funniest writers in this corner of SPN fandom.

“You’re not supposed to move your head if there’s someone trying to murder you, probably…”

No, I wouldn’t think so, but lollllll

“You’re being insane, out loud.”

Omgggg

“It tried, oh, how the door tried to divert her attention from the unknown men who could be terrible, rule-breaking influences on her. However the door was only wood and she was a stubborn woman made of free will and limbs—a woman who refused to be deceived.”

“Your hand is on the doorknob before the mention of your limbs has finished rattling around your head.  Realistically you don’t want to encourage the voice by doing what it says. After all, the voice’s ultimate goal seems to be killing you.”

BAHAHAHAH omfg you guys

I need to stop quoting from this bc I probably seem insane to those of you who haven’t read this, so stop being judgy buttheads and go read!

Nominated by @flamencodiva

The Choice (series) by @superfanficnatural

A couple of things. 1) this is an amazing fic that highlights Dean unwillingness to let himself go until it’s almost too late. and 2) the smut in this is hot hot hot hot! not for anyone under 18 years of age.

Mert has a way with words and can literally pluck you into one and make you see it as it comes to life in your head.

Mine (series) by @holylulusworld

Lulu has an abundance of different stories she tells and this one is my favorite of her ABO’s at the moment. (although I love all of them) I think this one deserved a mention. I am glad she joined to Pond so I could help nominate and spread her amazing work!

One Night at a Time (series) by @crashdevlin

Another great fic by Cassie! This one shot full of Angst, Smut, and if you squint just the right amount of Dean fluff. She has a way of capturing your attention and putting you in the world as you read.

What He Lost (oneshot) by @jensengirl83

This short story by Brandy is sure to rip your heart out. she leaves just a bit of hope where you think there is a chance only to crush it completely with the ending. This one is sure to bring you to tears if you are looking for the most delicious angsty story to read.

Nominated by @risingpheonix761

Down The Rabbit Hole (oneshot) by @dontshootmespence

So, this was hysterical. XD I love crack fics, and bad smut in particular, and this one hits the spot. (I’ve also learned several new horrible euphemisms lol). The ending, though? Golden!

Nominated by @myinconnelly1

The Affair (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I love how well all the characters are portrayed I truly hate everyone except the reader! Well done!!  

Red Riding Hood - or how you ran into a wolf... (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I have nothing to say about this. I will simply allow the puddle I have become to speak for me. 

Last Omega On Earth (oneshot) by @holylulusworld 

This was a great entry in the ABO world. and we need more of this and more like !!!!! Great work!

My Beta (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

I am a greedy little bitch with this fic.  I think I've read it 3-4 since i first read it this month!!!!!! READ THIS FIC!  

Third Period (oneshot) by @fictionalabyss

Some truly inspiring smut.  Inspiring to change my panties. 

Gods of Twilight (series) by @thecleverdame​

I think i posted this fic in my rec before, but it is so amazing and intricate that i can't stop gushing about it.  Fucking awesome. 

Apple Pie (oneshot) by @bad268​ 

The amazingness of this is great, check this guppy out!

Deal (oneshot) by @bad268 

Comedy at some of its's finest!!! 

Confession (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

THE FLUFFFFFFF!!!! I don't read straight fluff.  So get the tissues ready.

Fallen (series) by idreamofplaid

My therapist has told me i'm not longer allowed to talk about this fic during our sessions.  So instead i shall now talk about it here... *pulls out soapbox* ahem... *gets pulled away with hook*

Memory (oneshot) by @idreamofplaid

This fic is older, but i love it so much.  I recently went back and reread it, and the angst and reconciliation in this fic are heartwrenching.

Home (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

My dentist bill the month was higher than normal, due to the new cavities caused by this fic.

Imperfectly Yours (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

Cuteness overload as you get Dean's perspective of Home ^^

Second Hand News (oneshot) by @emilyshurley

Alright listen. I am a glutton for punishment.  And this fic, I asked for.  Also i had it set within one of the universes we now own.  That all being said, reading this was like a dose of my own medicine and it fucking hurt.

Honesty And Lies (oneshot) by @crashdevlin

This was super dirty, and great.  Totally recommend. 

Nominated by @deanwinchesterswitch

The Classifieds (oneshot) by @talesmaniac89

This is rip your heart out and stomp on it angst right here. So well written, but so, so heartbreaking.

So Much More Than Perfect (oneshot) by @imagineteamfreewill

This fic is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read. It made me tear up a bit, but who doesn’t love Dean being the most protective, most adorable dad ever?!

Nominated by @mariekoukie6661

Dear Dean (series) by @smol-and-grumpy

It’s one of those series that makes you wants more after every chapter. It’s a brilliant story.

Left Behind (series) by @kittenofdoomage

It’s the only John Fic I can read over and over and over again. Its hot, the plot is awesome! And it makes me wants more each and every time I read it.

Not Much Left (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer

I think Beka tries to kill her readers every time she writes smut… or she just tap into our mind what we want or what we fantasize about. Every single time I’m speechless by her talents!

Yes Professor (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer

It’s a Misha fic, there’s no one who write Misha the way Beka does!!!

Owe You One (series) by @supernatural-jackles

It’s such a great series! The friends with Benefit and Mechanic!Dean… I just love this so much and I don’t have words to describe how good this one is!!

Flirty In French (oneshot) by @fictionalabyss

This is brilliant, and I know its an old one, but from someone who finally decided to read more and from someone who is from Quebec, this is absolutely brilliant! The flirty french pick up line are so hilarious!

Nominated by @moosekateer13

Watching for Comets (series) by @holylulusworld

This fic beautifully captures the song that it was inspired by.

It also showcases things that when things are meant to be.

I’ll will all fall into place.

Please Trust Me (oneshot) by @holylulusworld

This fic beautifully emotionally captures what it’s like to have trust issues.

Nominated by @fictionalabyss

Last Call (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer 

It was everything we needed and wanted.

Culinary Exploits (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer  

Too utterly ridiculous not to get a mention.

His Omega (oneshot) by @iflostreturntosteverogers 

A sweet little comfort fic of Dean being utterly perfect caring for his Omega. Carrie also pulled off keeping this gender neutral, which isn’t something I see a lot of, and probably something I’d struggle with, so hats off to you, babe.

Poison (oneshot) by @supernatural-jackles 

YES omg i feel this on such a level. I’ve gone through that shit myself. A friend who lets you down so profoundly but then acts as if you’re the most toxic person in the world.  Nothing feels as good as letting go of that shit and moving on to better things. This was beautiful, and perfect, and TRUTH.

Amara (oneshot) by @impala-dreamer  

This one hurt. It really hurt, but it hurt so good that I’m left wanting more.

Take Me Now (oneshot) by @sorenmarie87  

If Dawn doesn’t continue this, I’ll riot.

Stuck On You (oneshot) by @kittenofdoomage  

I rarely read a fic this long (I just don’t usually have the time) but it looked too interesting for me to scroll past, and it had me completely captivated. I needed to know what would happen as if I needed air, even though I could guess how it ended, I needed to read the words. Phenomenal.

Thank you all for the awesome work and great feedback!

These are not actual awards! This system is set up so everyone in the pond has a chance to share the love and promote a fic/author that has grabbed your attention. The more people that participate, and the more everyone remembers to submit their own fics after posting, the better this will be :D

THANK YOU ALL AGAIN, KEEP UP THE AMAZING WORK, AND AS ALWAYS, HAPPY WRITING!

#afa masterlist #afa awards #angel fish awards #spn fic rec #spn fanfic #afas #fan fiction #fanfiction #fan fic #spn fan fiction #spn fanfiction #spn fan fic #supernatural fan fiction #supernatural fan fic #supernatural fanfiction #supernatural fanfic #fic rec #supernatural fic rec

[jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels]

Don’t You Hear My Call Though You’re Many Years Away - Chapter 14

Credit to the gif creator.

A/N: It’s a long one y’all! Angst and fluff.

Happy happy birthday to the handsome and extremely talented John Richard Deacon. You are greatly missed, but my only wish for you this and every year is happiness! Here’s to you and many, many more trips around the sun!

Slowly we made our way in. I drop the key and my purse on the dresser before turning to watch him shut the door. His shoulders were tense as he stepped further into the room.

“Before you begin, I just want to thank you for coming back” I said taking a deep breath, wrapping my arms around myself. My heart was pounding so loudly I’m sure he could hear it. Nerviness overwhelming me.

“I can’t deny what I feel for you, and I do have questions. Did you” he stammered “...did you really just come back...for the band?”

“Partly” I replied “mostly. I was also running away from a breakup.”

“So that was true? The breakup?” He asked.

“Yes” I said, leaning heavily against the dresser. “I expected you to doubt me and things I’ve told you, and I’ll tell you the truth about what I can, but I may not be able to answer every question.”

“Why?” He asked, leaning against the wall.

“Rules, there’s rules.” I said, my arms dropping weakly at my sides, as the weight of the lies still bared down on me before they were whisked away by the truth.

“Such as?” He asked, his brows peaking.

“Not telling anyone about being from the future, I broke that one. Not giving information about the future, I sort of broke that one. We’re not supposed to develop friendships or relationships, I absolutely broke that one. Not to talk about the machine, yet another one broken.” John spoke up then.

“Quite the rule breaker aren’t you?” He smirked briefly, before the pained expression returned to his handsome features.

“Not usually” I laughed humorlessly. “And to no matter what, always come back to our own time” I continued.

“Why, what would happen?” He asked, his brows furrowing, he began to fidget.

“I don’t know” I said honestly, “none of my friends have ever traveled to a time where they might be alive. So I don’t know what would happen. And I don’t exist in this decade or even the next. My parents are around 14 and 15 years old right now. Probably meeting for the first time.” The thought made me pause. I hadn’t considered where they would be.

“The idea of me doesn’t even exist right now” I continued.

“Why come back for so long?” He questioned.

“I wanted to...experience and explore...part of me hoped to tell you all I was a fan, but just in passing. I didn’t anticipate this” I answered, gesturing between myself and him.

John’s shoulders sagged as heavily as mine as he stepped towards the bed where he slumped down, putting his face in his hands.

“It’s so much to take in, and I have so many questions” he said, his words muffled.

I slowly knelt on the floor in front of him, placing one hand experimentally on his knee. I was relieved when he didn’t move away from my touch.

“I know, and unfortunately I can’t tell you much...but what if I tell you what I can?” I offered.

His hands slip from his face, “alright” he replied softly.

“To start, I’m not going to be a teacher, I am studying a form art, I won’t be teaching it though.” I began.

“Okay. Not painting then? You seemed to know so much about the art when we went to the museum” he interjected.

“No, I don’t paint and I’m not sure what I do will ever end up in a museum. But I still enjoy all art...especially when I get to experience it with you.” I said, placing my hand over his. He squeezed it briefly before standing again, to pace around. I stayed on the floor, following his movements with my eyes.

“And my Mom works at a bank, my brother, he manages an electronics store. My Dad does actually work for a telephone company, and he’s the reason I’m a fan. I grew up listening to the music of Queen, his favorite band and now mine” I admitted, allowing what truths I could tell him to surface.

“So we’ll have albums, or at least a song that makes it in America? This is a long term thing then? How long will we be together?” He asks.

I smile up at him sadly, “I can’t answer any of that.”

“Okay” he replied, his mouth set, unhappy about my none answer. There was a heavy pause before he spoke again.

“I hate lying” he stated, “I was angry with you when I left this morning. So angry. But, not so much anymore. I’m trying to understand.”

“It means so much to me that you’re here, you had every right to be angry. I’ve hated lying to you. Not just to you, but to Brian, Roger, Freddie...all of you. This hasn’t been easy. And I’m not saying that hearing any of this has been easy for you.” I rush my explanation “I’ve broken so many rules. I never expected any of this Deacy. I do want you to know though, I am so happy it’s all happened. I have tried to figure out how to tell you what a huge fan I am, but that has been eclipsed by how it feels to be friends with you. With all of you. I’m so happy to have met you, spent time with you...”

“But you’ll still leave me?” He asked, the pain obvious in his voice as he cut me off. He continued to pace.

“Only because I have to” I reply softly, “I’m an intruder, and I’ve involved myself too deeply in your life, I could be changing history...not only yours but the person you’re actually supposed to be with as well.”

“The person I’m supposed to be with?” He asked, stopping his movements to look at me.

“Yes” I replied “you’ve already met her.”

“Yes I have met her...because it’s you...I love you, you’re the person I want to be with.” He said, his arms falling to his sides as he stared at me, waiting for a response.

“W-what?” I stammer, just above a whisper. Freddie had been right.

“I love you, I came back because even though I was angry, I love you enough to come back, and get the full story. I love you, Y/N.” he repeated as my chest exploded. The bubbling I had felt inside wasn’t strictly due to my disliking the lies, but my feelings for John were completely surfacing. I loved him. My heart was screaming with joy as the words rang through my ears.

This was love, like one I’d never felt before. A whirlwind romance. Falling fast and hard.

“You don’t have to say it back...” he began, as I interrupted him.

“I love you too” I blurt out, “that’s why I couldn’t keep lying to you. I can’t promise to tell you everything, but I won’t lie, not again.”

“And now?” He asked, falling to his knees before me, tears filling his eyes “what am I to do? You’ll leave me for a place I can’t travel to! What am I supposed to do without you?”

“Enjoy the time we have left” I answer, tears welling in my own eyes.

“Can’t you stay...please?” He begged as tears trickled over, his grey green eyes pleading.

“Deacy,” I said, cupping his face in my hands “you have a life and a destiny, fate has already written it in stone, and I cannot stand in the way of that. I will not change that. No matter how much I love you.” My own tears were now falling freely. The words I hated to speak struggled to get past my lips. Wasn’t there an old saying about letting go of what you loved?

“I don’t even have a say in my own future?” He asks, almost bitterly. “You’re who I want to be with.”

“I wish it was me, I so desperately wish it was me” I reply, my voice cracking “but I’m not even supposed to be here. We’re not supposed to even know one another.”

“But we do” he whispered as he took my hands in his, staring at them as his tears fell, his shoulders shaking.

“I’ll make you a promise” I begin, knowing it wasn’t even a promise I was sure I could keep.

“Which is?” He asked softly, something sparked in his eyes as he looked back at me.

“I’ll see you again.” I whispers “I’ll do everything within my power to see you again.”

“When?” He asked, desperately. He searched my face, grasping to the sliver of hope.

I sat quietly thinking, when would be the best time to see him again. So much would happen. I went over what public details I knew, the ups and downs. Freddie’s passing, and finally John’s retirement.

“Y/N?” John spoke softly.

“1996” I replied. Deciding before his retirement.

“19-96...that’s 25 years from now, why so long?” He asks, his face falling.

“It’s the best time” I replied.

“Because you know what will happen in between” he said, his voice giving away his displeasure.

“Every life is full of ups and downs, yours will be no different.” I chose my words wisely “and I only know what was made public. You’ll have a private life I know nothing about.”

“There’s just so much I want to know.” he said, casting his eyes downward, looking at our clasped hands again.

I couldn’t imagine what he was feeling, here I was with a wealth of knowledge, sitting in front him, but it was all kept away from him. Just out of reach. Teasing and tempting. My knowledge, much like our relationship, should have been forbidden. It was too dangerous. But I’d already crossed so many lines, what was one more?

“Do you really want to know everything?” I asked, my tone neutral.

He quickly looked back at my face, waiting for me to take it back. But I did’t. I simply waited for his response.

“No” he sighed, squeezing his eyes shut.

Nodding, I smile at him, as I lean back against the side of the bed with a heavy sigh.

“What now?” He asked, looking towards me as if he was worried I’d disappear that instant.

“Now? Right this moment? I’d like to go to bed.” I reply, leaning my head back “I’m exhausted, I didn’t sleep last night and today has been...trying.”

John stood up, and held his hand out to me, helping me to my feet.

“Then let’s go to bed” he said, pulling me into an embrace, his forehead leaning against mine.

“You’re going to stay?” I asked hopefully.

“Yes. You’re one that will be leaving...not me” he said sadly. The words piercing my heart. They hurt.

“Deacy” I said gently, looking up at him “even when I’m forced to leave, I’ll never truly be gone. Do you know why?”

He shook his head slowly as his eyes continued to stare into mine, they were fill with love, sadness and curiosity.

“Because you now have a part of me, and that part of me will always be with you. My love will stay with you, and my heart will always hear your hearts call. No matter where I am or what time I’m in.” I poured my feelings into my words, speaking the complete truth. Tears stinging my eyes again as I mentally begged time to stop so I’d never be made to leave him.

“I love you” he breathed a moment before his lips touched mine.

***

The following morning, John was full of questions, not caring if I couldn’t answer them.

“What is the world like, in 2012 I mean?” He asked, laying back on the bed as I sat brushing my hair.

“Different. More connected, at least according to my parents.” I replied, how much could I get away with telling him?

“How so?” He inquired, cocking a brow at me.

“In ways...people are more connected across the globe. The world doesn’t seem as big. But that can make it a scarier place too” I said, setting my brush down, and turning to lay next to him.

“I wish I knew how to explain it, and what to say” I sighed.

“I know, you can’t tell me” he said softly, his hand reaching out to stroke my cheek.

“Here’s the thing, I do worry about changing your life, changing the future, but my friend Dustin doesn’t believe that butterfly effects can happen.” I began “In their trips to the past they’ve basically thrown boulders into the water and it hasn’t changed anything. I’m on the fence about it all. But there’s also the fact that, I can’t fully explain everything. The world has changed so much just in my lifetime, I can’t even begin to try and explain the changes it will make in yours.”

John stared at the ceiling for a moment before he spoke.

“What do you miss most?” He asked, turning to look me in the eyes, which causes my heart to flutter, not just because he was handsome, but because he was still here. He stayed, and he’s trying to accept who I am, and where I’m from.

And he loved me. I could see it in his eyes when he looked at me. He loved me. And I loved him.

“You mean aside from my family and friends?”

He nodded, a strand of hair slipping down around his neck, I couldn’t help myself as I reached for it, twisting it in and out of my fingers, causing a smile to spread across his lips.

“Well, I guess maybe my phone, I’m always on it” I began, my fingers lightly grazing his chin as I continue to twine his hair.

“Your what? Phone? There’s a phone right there.” He stated, hooking his thumb towards the corded rotary on the nightstand.

“It’s not exactly the same” I laughed. “One of those changes I was talking about it.”

He closed his eyes before speaking again “what will you miss here?”

I gently touched his cheek, gliding my fingers delicately across his skin, over his sideburns and into his hair.

“You” I whisper before kissing him. A tear slipped down my face, dropping on his cheek. He opened his eyes, smiling sadly at me.

“I could go with you, you know?” he ventured.

“You what?” I stammered, feeling a shiver run up my spine.

“I could go with you...” he repeated.

“Deacy” I sighed “your life here though...now...what’s to come...I, there’s so much! I would love for you to come with me. Let’s pretend for a minute that you’re willing to give up everything here, we don’t know what would happen if you were to go with me. You’re alive in 2012, it would be a risk...”

“One I would gladly take” he interrupted, his jaw set. He meant it.

“I’m not willing to risk you” I whispered, stroking the slight stubble on his cheek.

He placed his hand over mine, his expression becoming softer again “I know...it was just a thought.”

“It’s one I had myself” I consoled him.

“When?” I asked.

“The thought has popped into my head from time to time. I wondered how I could stay, how I could take you with me. I spent some time last night trying to figure out how...because the thought of not being with you...” I couldn’t bring myself to finish. Because nothing could describe the pain adequately.

“I know” he sighed before pulling me into a soft kiss.

“But you might grow tired of me before you leave” he quipped as I broke the kiss.

“Why would you say that?” I asked, my brows furrowing.

“Because I plan to be by your side the rest of your time here.” He said smiling.

“But you have things to do, like practice.” I laughed.

“I can’t bare the thought of not being with you every minute you have left here. I’ve already missed so much with you. You’ll just have to go to practice with me.” He replied.

“You know I wouldn’t miss it” I whispered, as a grin spread over his face, his eyes crinkling sweetly.

“But” I said, sitting up “speaking of practice, we better get going, Freddie came looking for you once, I doubt he’d like doing that again.”

I held my hand out to John as he stood, grasping it in his own.

@queensdivas @liliah39 @leah-halliwell92 @painkiller80 @painandpleasure86 @deakys-chesthair @yourlocalmusicalprostitute @heybuddy-drabbles @queenwouldyourathers @mirkwoodshewolf @ixchel-9275 @deakysmisfire @thosequeenboys s @tryin-her-best @deacyspatronusisacheesetoastie @johndeaconshands @apailana @cowparsleys @januarycolor @madamsixx @johndeaconstoothgap @mazzell-ro @brinteylovesaliens

#john deacon #queen #deacy #roger taylor #brian may #freddie mercury #70s #dont you hear my call #john deacon fanfiction #fan fic #my fic #john deacon x female reader #john deacon x y/n #john deacon x reader #traveling back in time #time travel

[monkey-network]

Eizouken v. Ratatouille: Dawn of the Creative Drive

WARNING: This critique will contain spoilers for Eizouken episodes 1-4 and the film Ratatouille. Also this is long. And yes, I had to make this or else I would’ve exploded. Enjoy.

Youtube’s TheRealJims made a video review of pixar’s Ratatouille not long ago, check it out by the way, and one thing about it caught me deep. He described Ratatouille as “a progressive kind of film, not in the political sense, but a very forward looking movie.” This line stuck with me as I begun to watch Keep Your Hands Off the Eizouken, an anime about a high schooler, inspired as a child, working her way to create anime with her friends. It wasn’t until episode 4 where mind threads started to knot, where that line about the pixar flic started to click with this anime in a way I’ve never thought of before. As such, I found that these two have a great thematic link, a connected warp between the creative minds of adults and children. Eizouken and Ratatouille do the remarkable in giving us the bouts and beauties to having a creative, “progressive” drive, and I wanted to explore how they stack up differently and similarly. And with that,,,,

The Ignition

The beginning scene of Eizouken where Midori see her inspiring anime for the first time is personally my favorite moment of the anime so far, borderline perfect. Like Remy, we already see her have this extrinsic passion for drawing once she arrives at her jungle gym of a newfound home; crude as they look, we see her seedling talent in jotting the details of her world onto paper. It’s then when she watches Future Boy Conan where her passion becomes etched in stone intrinsically. Miyazaki was her Gusteau, the bonafide inspiration that, taking it all in, made a simple hobby into a driven pursuit. Ratatouille more or less streamlines this whole moment with narration (makes sense cuz it’s a film) but they nonetheless bring home how a talent can be solidified if given the right push. Even if you didn’t have a desire to have a fulfilling career from it, you can’t deny that there was a moment in your life where something (be it a show, game, book, etc.) was the foundation to your biggest hobby, which then allowed you to explore it more as you grew up.

One thing to note is how Ratatouille handles Remy’s character with his interest. In spite of his palette gift, he doesn’t become a snob or too good towards his rat family; there’s not a moment where he claims he knows better than his skeptic father, they just idealistically disagree and their connection remains intact throughout the film. He has taste and knowledge, but isn’t smug about it. Midori is rounded the same way, she doesn’t push Kanamori or anyone to accept that anime is the best thing ever, and there’s that layer of anxiety to her love of anime that humanizes her aspirations a little more than Remy. It was a lot easier for Remy to be a cook than it was for Midori to make anything beyond concept art, or be sociable about it for that matter. At the same time, both remain humble in their ignited desires and understandably had to deal with an initial drawback to pursuing their dreams which is where...

The Helping Hands

Now, I’m not saying Midori is puppeting Tsubame or that Tsubame is a subversion of the whole rags to riches trope. I say like Linguini, Tsubame is one of the bridges for Midori to live out her desire, with the added bonus of being just as on board in scaffolding Asakusa’s passion to its most palpable form with her own dream of being an animator. Midori and Remy, be it their figurative or literal limitations, needed the likes of Linguini and Mizusaki to make things come to fruition. Even when Linguini doesn’t desirably wanna be a top chef himself, he witnesses Remy’s skill and is willing to put himself out there to work together and make the best cooking at the restaurant. Likewise, Tsubame is more than willing to work with Midori if it means not being forced into doing what her parents want and sharing that pathos of anime with a similar mind. And unlike Ratatouille, it helps that Tsubame is already adept in animating; I’ll talk to more on this later, but I’m glad Ōwara didn’t force us a character that wants to be somebody but has done nothing for herself. That’s what I noticed with both of these features, there’s a great semblance of support when passion is there but can’t progress singularly. There can/will be people out here to help you and they will come when you least expect it. Linguini and Tsubame both work well as the muscle of the cast, the character that does the heavy lifting in bringing the meal or anime to life. As such, we essentially have our director and the more hands on conductor of the project, but this all can’t be done without the producer.

Colette and Kanamori serve well as the anchor for our respective characters; we can’t just have the four characters go nuts with whatever, there needs to be some stability, a reality to the ambitious madness that can come with creating. Kanamori isn’t teaching the two any ground rules of anime, but she understands the analytics and guidelines to keeping things on track. Colette helps Linguini, by extension Remy, on the known etiquette to being productive in the kitchen, the same can be said for Kanamori in helping Tsubame and Midori in getting the film done clean and timely. While making a meal isn’t the same as making a whole cartoon, the ins and outs of getting things done have a parallel organized track. There’s especially more to making animation, especially on a deadline, and I’m glad Eizouken doesn’t shy away from giving you the thought process in what might go on behind the scenes; it practically gives you the ropes on what could happen if you were in each of the trio’s shoes. 

Additionally, these two are the most resolute of the three characters; they stick to the mission understanding where Remy and Midori are philosophically, and Tsubame and Linguini are fundamentally, coming from. She and Kanamori exhibit the practical outsider, the one to truly stick their neck out, don’t put up with bullshitting, to push the creative drive further. Both see the weight that comes to production and while Colette has her fallback in the 3rd act, they make sure everything goes as planned. They truly practice what they preach and are the glue that holds things together. The only disadvantage Colette has is that she lacks a relationship with Remy, it’s mostly indirect at the end while Asakusa and Kanamori are initially on better terms since they were already close friends. But with our characters on the move, there’s hardly such thing as a perfect run,,,,

The Fallback

This part is where Eizouken and Ratatouille truly divide because the problems that arises for our characters come in differently. Ratatouille has more outside factors coming in with the fact that Remy is a rat and is pulled between his connection with humans vs his own kind. Eizouken is more in-fighting between the three where Tsubame and Midori’s ambitions have to face off against Kanamori’s more realistic shut downs and options. Eizouken also presents the compromises that can come with being a creator where Ratatouille reasonably montages through the hardships that can come with human puppetry and becoming an instant hit in the kitchen. Success is portrayed more consistently in Ratatouille than in Eizouken, which focuses more on the progress. It’s obvious given that, again, making food is not as time and energy consuming as making a feature; we see that animation is a lot more than just drawing all your ideas onto the equivalent to a flip book.

To sidetrack a bit, I came to agree with Jim that Monsters University is the antithesis to Ratatouille where the hard work that one puts into their dreams doesn’t mean imminent or easily delivered success. It’s a bizarro film in that, while not breaking new ground plotwise, MU is grimly realistic in that your passionate drive won’t always lead to getting the spoils you exactly want. Eizouken cleverly sits the middle of the two, where success is achievable if you put the effort in, but that effort realistically won’t go exactly how you want. Mizusaki wants everything hand-drawn and Asakusa wants a story, but come to understand that shortcuts need to happen if they want to get it done by the  council meet. Kanamori isn’t crushing their aspirations for the hell of it, she makes it clear that time and the student body are not on their side. As opposed to Ratatouille, the final boss that are the critic(s) are notably secondary to getting the project done somehow. As mentioned before, I’m glad Ōwara made Tsubame already apt in animating because we can focus less on her being able to do it, more on the limitations that come with doing it. She has the skill, but has to bargain on her capabilities with what’s necessary as we see the tolls that come with the job.

Where I say these two collide somehow is the facet of the outsider putting the effort in for their goals. Remy and Midori are gifted and near encyclopedic in their trades, but are reasonably setback by both internal conflicting question of how far are they willing to go in exercising their drives. Remy more external than Midori since he could literally be killed if the truth was out too soon, but there is that self doubt in both of them where it can be hard to imagine that anyone can cook or that creating the great world is possible. It’s near the end of the arcs where they truly stand up for their beliefs and I appreciate that both handle the determined directing of our MCs in a respectable, pretty relatable way. They finally get to call the shots. They never sacrifice what could’ve been for what could be dauntingly realistic either; both offer an organic sense of optimism. But, with this optimism, comes the endgame that truly puts it all to the test in...

The Moment of Truth

Mr. Anton Ego, Skinner, and the Student Council are undoubtedly the final piece to these puzzles. It’s smart that they’re only present by the end of the arcs, only mentioned initially as the antagonistic force Remy and the Eizouken need to convince; they didn’t need to shoehorn their looming gavels any further. Naturally Skinner parallels the council president, a disingenuous hothead that antagonizes our MCs in a more unfair light while secretary Sakaki represents Ego, an intellectually honest person with actual standards and can see the forest for the trees. Eizouken’s episode 4 perfectly conceives why Kanamori is the boss, as she effortlessly confronts the allegations against them; not so much bluffing as she is spotlighting the council’s rash judgement. Unfortunately Kanamori can only debunk them so far, which leads to Midori overcoming her anxiety to demand that they’re given a chance. It’s great that Asakusa can suffer in silence for only so long before pushing herself to say something. This falls in line with Remy’s dad showing his son the grim realistic front of humans and rats before coming back to help him when he realizes Remy’s determinism. It’s like the rat says, the only way to go, “With luck, forward.”

Like the scene where Ego eats the titular dish, the moment we finally see the anime in full is almost disgustingly perfect. It’s fitting that a riot was going on before the presentation only for the action packed film to essentially come to life and throw chaos right back at everybody with powerful air waves, tank shells, and the tank itself jumping off the screen, literally blowing the audience away. Eizouken has literally more louder of a scene than Ratatouille’s, but both offer that climatic impart equally hard in their respective moments. They don’t shy away from grasping that immersive feeling of what you loved the most about food and/or animation, those invested in the film/series are basically with Ego and the student audience as those moments happen. It kinda hurts the brain how perfect these two moments are. Eizouken and Ratatouille, in a meta sense, weren’t successful only because they poke at our nostalgia or love, but of how they go the mile to convey it significantly. Ratatouille by the end, thanks to Ego, provides the apt idea of open-mindedness; that greatness can come from anywhere. Eizouken does this but adds the step that being open-minded can come with seeing what the efforts of that determined greatness can lead to. And with this, we see how it ends, or how it begins...

The Step Forward

I mentioned this before, but I loved that immediately after their demo reel finished, they weren’t worrying about any approval from the council or audience but discussing about what to improve on next. We see the soon boundless enthusiasm of the trio when, regardless of , they want to improve and do more as a team, all while the secretary approves the club in the hopes to see the fruitful potential. Compare this to Ratatouille for while Remy succeeds in convincing his family and Ego of his talent, they don’t sacrifice realism too much. Gusteau’s is naturally shut down, rats and humans aren’t suddenly living together by the end. At the same time, the movie wasn’t really about that, but about achieving small victories, optimistically grasping that palpable progress. Like Eizouken, Ratatouille leaves us with the progressive prospect that there’s the potential for more, for better.

To quote Jim once more, I say what makes both Eizouken and Ratatouille work fundamentally is that they keep the finger on the pulse of their respective message(s) while still creating enjoyable moments; they don’t sacrifice the fun of getting things right for pushing why it matters. They don’t sellout the bonds between our characters for irreverent romps in the kitchen or studio. Both offer a meaningfulness to their respective crafts, blending its many flavors into a well made dish that explores what it means to create and the steps that come with it. What it means to have passion and utilize that to its capable extent. What it means to enjoy a meal while watching an impressively finished production. They’re also very well animated; thanks Yuasa and Bird. 

#keep your hands off eizouken! #keep your hands off the motion pictures club! #eizouken #eizouken anime #KYHOE #Ratatouille #pixar #disney #anime #animation #critique #analysis #Good Stuff #long post

[corinthbayrpg]

NAME. Sebiorn Kolev AGE & BIRTH DATE. 545 & April 3rd, 1475 GENDER & PRONOUNS. Male & He/Him SPECIES. Vampire OCCUPATION. Unemployed FACE CLAIM. Jamie Dornan

BIOGRAPHY

( tw: murder, violence, death ) Wicked things often get unremarkable beginnings. Dissatisfaction sits under the skin, trying to take root as the years go by and Sebiorn watered and sowed it, watching it bloom and seethe, and seethe, and seethe. There had always been too many faces wrapped around the table, too many sets of dirty hands and filthy fingernails, half crescents caked in the earth that the family had towed and tilled, trying to raise fields of rye out of what was cold and unwilling to bear life. He clings to memories like these and they return to him in dreams, of fields of struggling crop, whose tops he brushed his fingertips against under the bowl of the cloudless, blue sky. Then they had spelled the difference between survival through the harsh Danish winter and the thinning of their family, everything that depended on seed that swayed and whispered as the wind coursed through the land. It was like this that he grew, dissatisfaction linking hands with hunger, making a home in his belly.

He married a girl from town whose wide eyes had reminded him of rain that torrented down on the roof of the tiny home he’d built with his hands, and they started their own family- a parade of flaxen haired, second generation Ibsen’s who carried on the same tradition. On cold nights their fingers and toes curled under threadbare blankets, on colder ones there was never enough to fill the bowls that sat expectantly around the table. Sebiorn grew older, more tired; what had once been a youthful face carried lines as his body bent and broke under the strain of thankless work, plowing through half frozen fields and feeding cattle who produced little milk and little meat. Every night, he’d bend his at the head of the table, begging his god, the old gods, any one that would listen, for a way to be free of a life that he had determined to be a curse.

Prayers, when whispered close to the earth sometimes reach the devil’s ear and when no god came to answer his call, a demon came to offer salvation. She whispered of a bargain, told him the story of how the fiddle had been made. Her story was of how the devil had asked for each member of a family, turning them into strings and the body of the instrument, saving the wife to be used for the bow. He told her that he wished to make music, and in that accord she stole him away, leading him to the dense forest that surrounded their farm. He followed her, raven haired and wicked, through the cursed rye that she stamped through with bare feet and past the cattle whose milk had soured and bodies grown lean. Sebiorn was glad to throw it away, letting her drain what little life remained from his tired body. As she lay him on the earth of the land that had belonged to the Ibsen’s for years and years, she smoothed his brow and fed him her blood, letting him die in her lap. It was there that he would rise once again; new, free of pain and weariness- but still bearing a hunger unlike that he had known in life.

The hunger didn’t go away, it grew claws and raked itself up his dry throat, hardly satiated when they’d both feasted on his family, severing his tie to the Ibsen line, ending a cursed lineage with the snap of each young neck. She whispered him praises for freeing them of an existence of pain, for sending them to their god, and he accepted it. The hunger didn’t end as he tore through his village with her in his arms, desperately attempting to sate a thirst that could hardly be managed. His sire had laughed at his appetite, and she gleamed at his voracity and capacity for violence. It had taken scarcely more than a week for his last living ties with the living world to meet their end, severed at her wish- but the massacre of the tiny village was on his hands and at his conscience, of which he had found to have none. For a while, he had thought that his bond with his sire was the same as love- she doted on him, her newest creation, her newest pet, and when she slid a ring onto his finger, far more ornate and beautiful than his wedding band, he smiled as he tossed the roughly hammered metal away. But, demons are not the kind to be loving, and as the years rolled by she grew tired of him, leaving his life as quickly as she had come.

The dissonance between who he was and who he had been stretches the spans of valleys, but Sebiorn never found himself plagued by the feeling of loneliness in her absence. He had seen enough of the world then, the taste of cruelty was acrid and bitter on his tongue, unkindness had set lash marks into his flesh, but now he had a hand in creating some for himself- he understood what it was like to hold power over others. He fleshed out the years that trickled by with travel, making his way through Europe and then when he had exhausted his fascinations there, the rest of the world. Building a life for himself had come with ease, he regaled the story of his beginning as something new every time, plucking out the best parts of his fabrication until he had formed something fascinating. No longer were the Ibsen’s farmers, he told the story as though he had been a soldier, how his life had been gallant and brave. He lied through his teeth when surrounded by his kind, theatrically retelling tales of valour, of blood soaked fields and holy wars. It was enough, every bit was a new brick, a small building block of the monolith he wished to become: an arrogant figure among the dead.

Modelling his actions after those of his creator, Seb began to make more of their kind. He was determinate in his selection, striving to see a reflection of himself in those that he saved from the finiteness of life. His intentions were to preserve beauty like a rose behind glass, but his choices had fangs for thorns and hunger for petals. He wasn’t a good sire at first, letting his progeny run amuck. The earliest ones had been the worst off, too headstrong and proud: he lost most to wolves, others to hunters. It took years to perfect the formula to having them stay, to learn without their teeth bared, but as his last one left his care and he prepared to teach another fledgling vampire, Sebiorn found himself wholly distracted.

Another vampire had entered the fray, and he’d seen him plucking money from pockets with one hand and necklaces from bare throats with the other, all in the same breath as he pressed a kiss to a rouged cheek. He was fascinated, enchanted from the first moment. Allowing himself to fall into Vince’s world was dizzying, a headlong sprint that he knelt not, barrelling to the front of his affections. They tore through the world together for a while, and he opened his chest to let the other vampire see all of the truths there, the ugliest parts, the ones that he had almost forgotten of himself. And it was good, for a long time, before it was bad- viciously separating at the cause of Sebiorn’s inconsolable jealously, their youth, their terrible priorities. Years apart were spent yearning, he replaced Vince with other being, other faces and bodies- but when they came back together he was pliant and liquid once again- entirely his, entirely aware of how foolish he had been to try and forget such a fact. It was a tango that they’d do for years, tugged back and forth while Vince raced to tend to his progeny, while Seb couldn’t bear to hear about them anymore. His existence had spanned nearly five hundred years when he decided that this was no way to live, that his heart would not belong to anyone else- he offered it to the other vampire, should he take it or leave it, and they were married as soon as it was possible. 

Married life has suited him fine, he’s realized. Domesticity and days in the sun, languid and rich in enjoyment of the other’s company, this is how he enjoys living. Now in Corinth, Sebiorn has become something domesticated. The violence that he had once revelled in as a youth no longer holds the same appeal, he cannot fathom enjoyment from tearing gore up and down a street- he is only momentarily raptured by terrified screams in alleys. He prefers his little rituals, walking down to the markets to get fresh ingredients, creating the perfect cup of coffee, collecting bizarre art and gossiping over wine with his friends. Instead of work, he has taken it upon himself to establish a haven for young vampires in the city, cleaning their messes and fixing their troubles- he can see the gleam of troublemaking in their eyes and aims to keep them from harm, despite the fact that he often gripes about missing out on what he claims would be a quite restful retirement.

PERSONALITY

+ paternal, steadfast, observant - jealous, petty, possessive

PLAYED BY SAM. EST. She/Her.

#sam

[aahsoka]

So having been on tiktok for a bit I wanna talk a little about it.

What I like

It’s actually rather entertaining to scroll through up to 30 second videos one after the other. Sometimes the humor falls flat or it’s not your taste, but the algorithim is quite good at recommending the kind of content you will like.

I joined right when there was a big trend going around about sharing your culture, and soon after a Blackout trend where non-Black creators stopped posting for a day & spread/supported videos by Black creators. So I ended up with a fairly diverse fyp or “for you page”. It also quickly gathered that I am bisexual, so I get plenty of lgbt+ content. There’s some art mixed in there, some cosplay, some historical costuming/seamstresses, lots of avatar jokes lately, musical theatre content, fashion, girls in bikinis on rollerskates (in outer space), commentary on political issues, body positivity, all the kinds of stuff I like. To get a feed that caters to your interests you just have to watch & like videos you’re interested in & eventually it gets a feel for what you’ll watch and what you won’t.

Theres a trend where people say which ‘side’ of tiktok they’re on and I get ‘science side of tumblr’ flashbacks but I’ve mostly avoided the “straight” and conservative sides of tiktok. I would be considered a part of “woke”, “alt” (as in alternative) and lgbt+ tiktok (there are separate ones for each letter of the acronym). Possibly also “theatre” and “cosplay” tiktok. These categories are nebulous and you’re usually part of multiple communities; its just as arbitray as ‘science side of tumblr’ was.

The format reminds me of snapchat a little, and I love to talk to myself on video & post dumb thirst traps for my friends (none of which I’m attracted to so idk what my goal is there) and make stupid jokes. So this app is kinda perfect for my attention seeking side & hyperactive tendencies. Its very easy to consume on a short attention span, though not as easy as vine was.

Being in quarantine, its a way for a lot of people to engage in hobbies that involve community. Cosplay is pretty popular, as its a fun way to show off a costume & dress up & have fun without having to attend a convention. I enjoy the way lip synced audios can be used to emulate the character someone is dressed as; that’s something you couldn’t really do unless you were really good at impressions. Its a nice succinct way to show the process of creating a cosplay as well.

Those who enjoy theatre, but cannot perform in shows at this time, are able to create mini-monologues & sketches as well as sing parts of their favorite songs. Its an avenue through which to perform without putting anyone at risk of the virus. It’s also an easy way to show off your talents without having to go through the audition process & actually get cast in a show as a prominent enough role that someone will notice it.

It’s a convenient format for discourse and educational videos. Nice, short, easily digestible tidbits that stay in your mind. This extremely catchy song, for example: “Black neighborhoods are overpoliced, so of course they have higher rates of crime, and white perpetrators are undercharged, so of course they have lower rates of crime. And all of those stupid stats you keep using are operating off a small sample size. So, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up”.

As well as other videos where people take the time to explain historical events, satirize racist arguments to demonstrate why they are wrong, talk about prevalent tropes in movies, teach a few signs in ASL, share facts about their culture, etc, etc. I have found there are quite a lot of people there from unique and fairly unknown cultures and backgrounds- and this is a place where they’re able to share their culture & existence with people all over the world. There are a thousand different viewpoints. Their videos are doing far more for diverse representation than any other platform, I’d argue, as everyone is extremely visible on the app. (‘Their’ as in the creators, not the app itself).

I also have enjoyed coming across new artists on the app. It’s really fun to watch the process they go through, as most art videos deal with the whole creation of a piece. It’s inspiring. I have also come across a painter who’s work I’m in love with, and a woman who makes and sells the CUTEST ceramic mugs, and I need to purchase some stuff from them both.

Now onto the bad:

Unfortunately, the app doesn’t have much in the way of a filtering or warning system. I talked about that tiktok of the kids coming across human remains? That was just on people’s fyp. Just popped up. No warning. No reason for it to still be up. Traumatizing.

You can click on a video and say ‘not interested’ (I do this to literally every video I get where some girl is thirsting after kylo ren 🤮..... like I want the star wars videos just not THOSE videos). However, it doesn’t seem to know exactly why you weren’t interested, because I still get those videos from time to time. There’s no content filter where I can blacklist the kylo ren or any other hashtag.

There’s some very shitty content. There are racist conservatives. Misogynistic teen white boys. Really weird thirst traps. Videos where people lip sync to something with a straight face and tag it with #acting. Harmful body image trends. I thankfully stay very clear of this, but this kind of content makes me worry for the minors on the app. The one’s who don’t have enough of a concept of self yet to realize they don’t need to be able to do the newest pointless beauty trend to be beautiful, to realize it’s ok for them to be gay, to realize how predatory some adults can be, etc etc.

It is extremely easy to come across minors on the app who don’t look like teens. One time I went to a girl’s page and it said she was FIFTEEN. I’m usually good at guessing ages but something about this app messes that up. I wish there was a way to separate people under 18 and adults. Where I don’t have minor’s thirst traps popping up on my fyp. Where pedophiles don’t get a chance to curate that fyp intentionally. If anyone reading this has kids, I highly recommend they make their tiktok private or only viewable to friends.

Just like any site, there are plenty of bigots. Lots of racist comments. Plenty of transphobia. Any hatred you’ve seen elsewhere, of course it exists on tiktok. I have actually zero clue if you can report people & if it works. Most people seem to send a video commentary to their haters or duet a video of a racist pointing out their racism. I’ve heard of creators blocking people, however. I remember a tiktok of a Black woman who’s video somehow went fairly viral in Poland and now she gets a lot of racist comments from this large group of random racisf Polish followers she has and its extremely time consuming to block them all, as there’s no mass block feature.

The rumors about what works with the algorithm and doesn’t abound. I’ve heard well lit videos get more views. Many people suspect they have been shadowbanned for speaking out about current events. TikTok will remove the audio from videos sometimes if they deem it controversial enough. Most of us know they were criticized recently for intentionally keeping Black creator’s videos from being seen (a catalyst for the Blackout, actually). Or you may also recall when it was criticized for widely removing lgbt+ content. Those creators are fighting to be seen the same amount as straight cis white creators are allowed to be seen with no effort.

The effects some trends could have on teen girls. So many of them are already so uncomfortable in their own skin simply because of societal standards, but the absolutely meaningless challenges people come up with on tiktok make it so much worse. One trend was based around whether your finger touched your lips when you put it in your nose. Or if you could get your clasped hands around the back of your legs and over your butt (if they get passed, you have a flat ass, if they get stuck, its big). These completely arbitrary signifiers of the things you need to have in order to be pretty, are far more ridiculous that anything I have seen yet in my life. I worry about little girls taking these ideas to heart. There is a very kind body positive community on the app & I hope more people can find that.

There’s also that thing where they steal your data. Like most apps. But apparently they got a lot more invasive than usual, so I would look into it before making an account; if you want to do that.

I think the apps users can be great & its a pretty intuitive set up. It certainly deserves its popularity solely as a creative form of social media. That being said, its owners are so so insidious & do the worst things. Just like all other social media, its controlled by the worst kind of people. Who can never figure out how to effectively get rid of nazis or keep kids safe from adult content.

These are my less serious gripes with the app:

1) Lip syncing

When people lip sync and don’t do any kind of skit, joke, etc, just look as if they’re saying what someone else said; I hate that. I have to go back and find the original tiktok so I can like it instead. You literally did nothing interesting by ripping off someones audio and moving your lips along to it. So many people on this app are creative and so many others lack any semblance of creativity.

Also people are too easily impressed by lip syncing to kinda-fast songs. I lip synced to like....10 seconds of the devil went down to georgia and two people praised my lip syncing abilities. Like, I can also sing and talk fast, out loud, isn’t that more impressive? more skillful? The fiddle playing in that song is impressive, not the fact I can lip sync ‘the devil went down to georgia, he was lookin for a soul to steal, he was in a bind, cause he was way behind.’ Have you ever seen someone play Johnny’s fiddle solo????? It’s insane!!!

Rather than see someone lip sync to the verse in Stressed Out 2x faster than normal (which is, extremely simple and the song was overplayed and ingrained into our collective consciousness) and go WOW what about someone.....doing the verse out loud. You can litterally just mouth random words and look like you’re saying the right ones. It’s driving me crazy lmao. I’m set to become a God of tiktok because I have a repertoire of fast songs and rap verses memorized. It’s not even an uncommon skill to speak or sing quickly, people literally make rap music for a living! Listen to it maybe.

2) “Acting”

I am begging you to stop making me sit through those horrible POVs. I cannot take another girl not quite fake crying towards the camera as she lip syncs the words from a song that apply to the random situation she decided she was in. I cannot take another boy who thinks its sexy to stare into a camera and smirk in every single situation he creates.

Back to lip syncing, making facial expressions along to words isn’t really acting. Try saying the words out loud perhaps? The inflection you use with your lines is a pretty big part of acting. Like you can lip sync all you want, just stop tagging it with #acting.

3) Comedic timing, or lack thereof

You don’t need the entire intro to sit there looking at the camera waiting until the first line starts and you can lip sync to the part that’s the joke. You could cut off at least 15 seconds. Brevity is the soul of wit.

When your joke involves both reading text on screen and listening to the song for the punchline, if it isn’t done prefectly, its so difficult to follow. I can’t read a paragraph in 5 seconds. Paraphrase.

4) self deprecating artist audio

the audio thats like ‘this wont get views’ ‘I suck’ ‘you probably won’t see this anyway’ LOVE YOURSELF

It sucks when people dont enagage with your art but it sucks worse when your value in yourself and you art is based solely on receiving that validation. Please find a healthy medium.

Also you’re asking for pity, and you don’t want that. You want people who genuinely love your art for what it is.

5) editing videos is really hard how do you make such cool & smooth transitions????

please help me I don’t understand

Finally

here’s my account if you’re interested

#this long ass opinion article no one asked for #tiktok #social media #jordan talks #long post /

[unless-we-choose-to-reverse-it]

Re: Contrapoints.

So Natalie Wynn, AKA Contrapoints, recently deleted her Twitter. And I’m going to state, up front, that if you are celebrating this fact, you are the problem. Inb4 y’all cancel my ass about this.

And to give the TL;DR up front: this is a post about what “cancel culture” actually looks like. Actual violent abusers being named and shamed is not cancel culture. Sex pests and people who are genuinely fucking hateful being accurately described as such? Not cancel culture. That’s a thing called “I don’t want to associate with these bastards, and I want other people to know that they are bastards.”

But let’s talk about what actual cancel culture looks like. I’m going to put the rest of this under a “read more” so that I don’t put an entire goddamn essay on everyone’s feed.

For those who do not know, Natalie Wynn operates the YouTube channel Contrapoints, focused on discussing leftist politics with a particular focus on gender and sex. Natalie, being a trans woman, has a level of insider knowledge that a lot of performatively woke people online lack, and her work, true to her nom de plume, often deals with the fact that these are complicated issues.

She has a considerable following, and a good deal of her following consists of men who she has essentially saved from becoming alt-right shitlords. Her production values, knack for performance, and willingness to recognize complex issues when she sees them has a certain power with people who are not already involved in leftist circles, and while many of her takes are fairly pedestrian by the standards of people DEEP into left-leaning circles, she is one of the avenues for bringing people into leftist politics from outside. Go onto any one of her most popular videos, and you’ll see the comments filled with people talking about how Natalie made them change their minds. It’s a beautiful kind of thing.

Now, am I loading the conversation a bit because I am a fan of Contrapoints? Yes. Yes I am. Because I believe that her work is valuable to modern leftism. She is a propagandist, and what’s more, she’s a brilliant propagandist. Where so many people attempt to bring people into leftism through shame, she entertains and entices, and presents a force that reactionary shitbags seem incapable of attacking.

But where reactionaries find themselves wanting, the Puritans have plenty of ammo to destroy progressive spaces from within.

Fast forward to a few days ago. Natalie Wynn posts a tweet talking about asking for pronouns. Now, because she deleted her Twitter and I don’t have the tweet in front of me, I cannot quote it verbatim, but to paraphrase, she said that asking for people’s pronouns isn’t always the best idea, since it can make binary trans people feel like they’re being isolated and viewed as “less than” their gender.

Okay, have we read that? Good. Let’s consider that for a second.

This is a genuinely good point to make, and it mostly arose from her own feelings of discomfort re: being a trans woman and finding trans-inclusive spaces uncomfortable on that account. Perhaps the point was not elegantly made, but still.

Non-binary trans folk, binary trans folk who can “pass,” and binary trans folk who cannot; they all have different needs. For some people, asking about pronouns is an affirming thing, something which allows them to articulate themselves fully and prevents them from dealing with people misgendering them. For others, especially those who are interested in a more classically gendered expression, asking about pronouns can feel like misgendering, can feel like people regard you as less than your actual self.

This is a discussion that needs to be had. How can the community balance different needs from very closely linked groups of people? How can we reconcile the needs of people who are openly defiant of gender norms and who want their opposition to that recognized, with the needs of people who are more comfortable with traditionally gendered expression and who want to be recognized as such?

It’s a conversation that needs to be had. Unfortunately, subtlety is dead on Twitter dot com. And on social media in general.

When I talk about “Puritans,” I refer to a specific subset of Extremely Online progressives. Just as the IRL Puritans seemed to disdain any kind of Christian teachings of love, community, and acceptance in favour of control, guilt, and hating thy neighbour, the “Puritans” seem to derive their politics solely from a sense of guilt and control, and relish in attacking those who are not Woker Than Thou.

The average Online Puritan is far more concerned with cancelling other progressives than they are with opposing evil in this world. Opposing reactionaries? Nah, that might actually do something. Let’s just attack other progressives, and then wonder why people don’t seem eager to support our causes. Opposing people who are actually making the lives of LGBT people worse in tangible ways? Pfft, that would take work. Hey, let’s nitpick every form of art that displays anything remotely shitty, because clearly, depicting shitty things in art or consuming art with dark themes means that you actually want to do those things in the real world. Hey, let’s all dogpile this queer creator who is trying to convert alt-right shitlords to the good side of history! Surely, that’ll advance our cause!

Hell, I think there’s something to that comparison, because at the heart of both groups is the idea of the Elect and the Reprobates. An unfortunate aspect of modern western culture is that we tend to believe that people are good or evil at heart. This is a really dumb idea. Good and evil are not things that we are; they’re things that we do. We perform good acts and evil acts upon this world, and when I say “we,” I mean all of us. Sometimes, I see people who otherwise do really good things for the world do something really stupid. Sometimes, otherwise monstrous people do good stuff.

But if we believe that some are Elect and others are Reprobates, then that paradigm is impossible. The Elect cannot sin, and since it is a sin to not believe yourself one of the Elect, then you must enforce this law upon all others. If they sin, they are a Reprobate. Alternatively, you must work hard to explain why what they just did wasn’t actually a sin, so they’re still good, actually!

This, right here, is cancel culture. It isn’t accurately calling out people who have done legitimately evil things. It isn’t attempting to get predatory people out of the community. It’s this dichotomy between the Elect and the Reprobates, and the need to constantly enforce that We Are The Elect and that All Who Do Not Match Up Are Reprobates. No willingness to admit the recovering shitheads who might not fully grasp the issue without some help. No consideration that people who do minor stupid things might just need gentle correction to set them on the righteous path. Nope, none of that. Any sin makes you a Reprobate, and Reprobates Must Be Purged.

I should stop beating around the bush. The Online Puritans descended, because apparently, “we should consider how this makes people feel” means, “asking for a person’s pronouns is personally attacking me.” In other words, Natalie was now a Reprobate.

What followed was Natalie clarifying her point and even attempting to throw her critics a bone, suggesting that she wasn’t as considerate as she needed to be about the ways that non-binary people would interpret her words. The response was unchanging. Other leftists came to her defense, but they were, of course, Cancelled as well, as I am sure to be the second that people discover this post. Eventually, Natalie deleted her Twitter, and the Online Puritans rejoiced at another Reprobate driven off of Twitter like it was any real victory. 

Now, this is not the death of Contrapoints. She still has her channel, and a shitload of people who will continue to watch her content, like me. But a woman who, in my personal opinion, is a force for good in this shithole we call the internet, was essentially driven off of a social media platform because the Puritans decided that she was a Reprobate.

And to anyone who wants to declare me a Reprobate for making this post: go the fuck ahead. I am not perfect, and I am certainly not one of the Elect; hell, I’m no Calvinist, so I don’t even regard those as valid categories. And furthermore: you, the Elect, are as great a danger to progressive spaces as the reactionaries, because you force us to fight on two fronts. You force us to oppose each other, as opposed to standing together for the betterment of the world. And for fucks sake, is it too much to ask that the people who are getting fucked over the most by the current order should stand together in opposition to it?

So fuck it. I stand with Contrapoints. Puritans are cancelled.

#contrapoints #leftism #lefttube #cancel culture #cancelled #i had to get this off of my chest #and do not read this as me saying that people should not be criticized for doing bad shit #we absolutely need to criticize bad behaviour where we see it #but ffs #maybe we can keep the criticism proportional to the transgression #if i see one more Online Puritan calling natalie a bootlicker #i'm going to shit a mile of rage snake #swear to god

[fozmeadows]

1) I was binge-reading your Wordpress blog a few days back and came upon a post you made where you talked about the ubiquity of really bad/rapey/abusive relationships in SFF and how early exposure to those stories changed how you looked at real-life and fictional romances, and it got me thinking: how can we talk about the real challenges and troubles of Problematic Fiction without, like, giving everything over to the antis? because as somebody who cares about the messages in media but who also

It’s a hugely important issue, I think - and my short answer is, it hinges on context, circulation, criticism and conversation. When you look at a fanfic on AO3, the tagging system means that you, the reader, are either forewarned about the presence of any dark or squicky themes at the outset, or are made aware via the ‘author chooses to use no archive warnings’ tag that you’re venturing into the unknown. I’ve said this before, but to me, knowing the author knows a particular theme or relationship is badwrong, dubcon or otherwise fucked up allows me to enjoy the story in a way I otherwise couldn’t, because it changes how I receive the narrative - letting me know if I’m meant to accept the characters and their narration as correct, or if I’m meant to be reading critically. Some stories achieve this function with narrative framing - as in, something within the story itself lets us know that particular actions or characters are Bad, or at very least morally grey - but when a story is depicting dark themes without internal commentary, authorial intent becomes vital to interpretation. This is, for instance, why so many fuckboys think Tyler Durden is a hero in Fight Club instead of a terrifying asshole: they missed the fact that Chuck Palahniuk was writing ironically, and so took away the exact opposite message to the one intended.

Likewise in the case of Fight Club, the context and the circulation matter hugely to the impact. The film was a mainstream product with widespread distribution, and it came out in 1999, three years after the book was written. The idea of the protagonist lamenting belonging to a disenfranchised generation without a war to define them - aside from being inaccurate in the first place - was obliterated by the political landscape of the early noughties in the wake of 9/11, which in turn changed how the film was perceived in our cultural memory. All that being so, I’d argue that it had a much more toxic effect than was ever intended, in large part because the idea that the characters should be critiqued rather than lauded was missed in the mainstream dialogue around it for a long time. In the same vein, I’ve never held to the idea that fanwriters should be free to write whatever because stories don’t impact readers or reality - manifestly, stories *do* matter, and they can certainly impact their audiences in ways their creators don’t necessarily intended. Rather, I’ve held that fanwriters should be free to write whatever because, firstly, there’s no sensible, foolproof way to censor fanworks anymore than there’s one to censor other forms of art; and secondly, because fanwriting in particular is currently far ahead of the mainstream in its use of tagging and criticism, which are the real tools needed to navigate art and our reactions to it in the first place.

When I read fucked-up romances in mainstream SFF as a teen and absorbed the message that those romances were cool and normal and a little bit thrilling, it wasn’t because those stories should never have existed, or even because I shouldn’t have been allowed to read them; it was because they - and I - existed in a critical vacuum about their contents. I didn’t have an IRL or online community where I could go and talk about my favourite books and read enlightening essays about the character dynamics, and I didn’t have access to any older SFF fans who, just by virtue of having more adult experience in the world, could’ve helped me clue in by saying something like, “I love the magic and worldbuilding, but man, X novel is rapey.” We don’t learn how to be critical of media - how to analyse it, how to love a thing while still acknowledging and understand its flaws - as an automatic process: we have to be taught, or actively undertake the task of teaching ourselves. A lack of critical thinking about the narratives we consume and create - just like the cultural and political narratives we consume and create, for that matter - is the real cause of harm to readers; which is a major reason why fandom, for all its flaws, is so hugely important: it makes us think.

So, to answer your question: the problem I have with antis in this context is the idea that one piece of fiction is all things to all people: that there’s only ever one valid reaction to any one work, and if just one person has a bad reaction, then the work - and other works like it - is therefore inherently Bad. Purity wank deliberately elides the distinction between authorial intent and critical reception, arguing that the only way to prevent Bad Reactions To Fiction is censorship, instead of - as is actually the case - self-curating what we read, analysing the contents and thinking about their impact, while accepting that different people might have wildly different, yet still valid, needs and reactions to us. 

#foz answers things #foz rants #fandom #purity culture #fanfic #fanwriting #narrative #criticism

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: 5 WEBTOON Series We’d Love to See Animated!

  With Tower of God over and The God of High School hitting the midway point, it’s pretty obvious that WEBTOON Series adaptations are a hit, but what will come after Noblesse later this year? While we don’t have any real answers to that question, we do have five titles we think would be fantastic adaptations to see animated on our screens. The WEBTOON library is frankly huge and filled with tons of great possibilities, so we decided to try and narrow it down to five different genre titles we think would really shake things up on the “big screen!” If you want to learn about even more WEBTOON Series we think are great (some of which definitely deserve an anime), check out our previous article here.

    When deciding what would make a good anime, though, there’s more to it than just, “Wow, I really love this series, so it should totally get an anime!” It’s also worth asking the question: “Would this benefit from being animated?” What would they be able to do with it that they couldn’t do as a WEBTOON Series? What sort of changes might they have to make? As we’ve seen with Tower of God and The God of High School, action series benefit from animation greatly, but that doesn’t mean only action series deserve some lovin’. So with that in mind, I tried to grab a few different genres and styles of WEBTOON Series. But, of course, this is by no means an exhaustive list, and we highly recommend you go check out the WEBTOON website or app (available on Google Play and on the App Store) and see what types of amazing series you can find! 

  Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell

    I’m a huge comedy fan, some of my favorite series of all time are comedies. So when I started reading WEBTOON Series, I really wanted to find something that would make me laugh. I didn’t have to look too hard, but perhaps no series has been as funny so consistently than Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell. The main character, Paul, just can’t seem to get the attention of the woman he thinks he loves. So he chooses the best possible course of action: learning black magic and summoning Astaroth, one of the Great Dukes of Hell!

  The comic routinely features amazing, understated visual gags and humor while building an interesting and deep storyline over the course of its run. In fact, I really didn’t expect the characters and world that Duke of Hell creates to really suck me in as much as it did, but that just lends to its overall strengths. As far as an adaptation goes, I could see this as a fantastic comedy hit that either focuses on extensive, gorgeous animation for gags like HINAMATSURI, or a muted and simplistic animation style like Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san that lets the art and jokes combine without getting too big. Either way, just thinking about voice actors for the various characters, especially Astaroth, is perhaps one of the most fun fantasies to have—after all, it would need to be someone with enough gravity to play such an amazing Duke of Hell! 

  Purple Hyacinth

    Purple Hyacinth has long been on my read list and was actually one of the series that got me started on the idea of seeing WEBTOON Series animated. Unlike other series, Purple Hyacinth routinely asks readers to turn their audio on, playing ambient and specific music throughout the series to create a multimedia experience. Of course, that isn’t the only reason for it being on this list. No, Purple Hyacinth is here because it’s a type of story that, frankly, isn’t told very often in anime lately: a gritty crime mystery thriller!

  Lauren, the protagonist, has dedicated her life to avenging the death of her childhood friend and the elimination of Phantom Scythe, a terrorist organization responsible for the events that would alter her life forever. Lauren meets the assassin “Purple Hyacinth,” who just so happens to share similar goals as her. This series really just gets how to build a complex and deep mystery and the fact that you need excellent character drama to make people care about what happens next, especially when big twists and turns come! Lauren possesses the ability to detect lies, “seeing” them in red whenever people tell them. Just imagining the creative ways this could be animated alone makes me giddy at the idea of a Purple Hyacinth adaptation. But beyond that, the character drama and intrigue of the twisting mysteries here would turn this into a killer multi-season anime. I can just imagine the gleeful frustration waiting for the next season after the first one ends on a cliffhanger! If any of these series were worthy of being dubbed “binge-worthy” as an anime, I’m convinced it would be Purple Hyacinth. 

  Lookism

    Readers of our first article on WEBTOON Series pointed out Lookism as a favorite of theirs, and with good reason. This long-running ugly-duckling story packs a lot of punch, both literally and figuratively, as the story threads of school bullying, the ugly side of society, delinquent fights, and more together into a fascinating tapestry. Daniel is poor, overweight, and bullied to such a degree that his mother scrapes all the money together that she can to send him to a new school. However, his life takes a huge change upon arrival to his new school home when he wakes up in a different body: gorgeous, tall, and super-strong! The “new” Daniel gives him the ability to pursue the life he thought he wanted, but it comes with a lot more than he bargained for!

  One thing about Lookism that caught me off-guard is that it seems, at first, to be a sort of traditional ugly-duckling story where Daniel learns to love his original self while teaching those around him to be better people. But it also features heavy delinquent style fights and action. While this might sound a little dissonant, it’s fair to say that Lookism would provide tons of great material for high school delinquent action and social drama—and the fight scenes in later storylines are truly amazing to behold on the page. Lookism also features an amazing supporting cast of unique and weird characters that tend to steal the spotlight from Daniel as they get introduced, meaning there are tons of characters to fall in love with here (I’m a big Vasco and Jay fan, myself!). With a unique mix of action, comedy, and heavy drama, Lookism really has a lot to bring to the table, and when animated, would surely take advantage of its mixed genre-typing to be a big hit.

  Let’s Play

    While many of the series we’ve talked about have a tinge of supernatural action or combat to them, Let’s Play is quite a bit different—just regular people here! Of course, these regular people are involved in all sorts of turmoil and romantic drama, but that’s to be expected. Let’s Play follows game dev Samara “Sam” Young, creator of the game Ruminate, and the trouble she runs into when her game’s biggest critic, Marshall Law, becomes her neighbor. Let’s Play is a fairly interesting drama due to the combination of game dev discussion—which veers into similar territory as shows like Shirobako that delve into making things—and the personal drama of the main cast.

  Although it is indeed a romance, the most striking part of the series is Sam’s struggles with anxiety; her internal monologues and issues make her an incredibly relatable and fresh character. Let’s Play would make an amazing romantic comedy with a woman lead, which we really need more of these days! The video game elements of the story add that extra touch that, in all honesty, feel like they would be amazing to see animated and played with using various graphical touches, allowing animators to play with the adaptation in ways that don’t rely solely on action sequences. 

  unOrdinary

    If you’re an avid WEBTOON Series reader, then it’s very likely you came to this list expecting to see this exact series, so don’t worry: we agree! UnOrdinary would be an amazing anime adaptation, likely to find a huge audience of new fans who would gobble up the series premise: a world in which some people are born with powers, or Abilities, and those who don’t find themselves treated as lessers and outcasts. John, unfortunately for him, is the latter, and as a result, he is relentlessly bullied by his classmates for his powerless nature.

  In a lot of ways, unOrdinary is almost like a darker My Hero Academia, except instead of a world of superheroes and villains, it's a world of the “haves” and “have nots,” where people without abilities are treated extremely poorly. Like quite a few WEBTOON Series, social class, status, and bullying are a big part of unOrdinary, which gives it a sharp, dark edge to its narrative at times. Similarly, John is a fairly interesting protagonist and, without spoiling things, certainly makes unOrdinary, well, unordinary! Given the popularity of My Hero Academia and Tower of God, unOrdinary would probably be the best possible candidate to get the anime treatment next, likely becoming a smash hit in no time—especially once the superpowers start showing up!

    With the continued success of shows like The God of High School and Tower of God, it’s only a matter of time before we see more and more WEBTOON Series adapted to anime. Of course, there’s no real plans or releases yet, but we think our list is pretty solid. No matter what, it seems like an exciting time to get into WEBTOON Series and keep an eye out for the next big hit title that might be showing up on your screens in animated form!  

  Which WEBTOON Series titles do you want to see animated? Do you agree with our list? Let us know what series you like and what you think in the comments!

  ➡️ Watch The God of High School today! ⬅️  

    Nicole is a frequent wordsmith for Crunchyroll. Known for punching dudes in Yakuza games on her Twitch channel while professing her love for Majima. She also has a blog, Figuratively Speaking. Follow her on Twitter: @ellyberries

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: [email protected]

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

[skincarebeautymakeuptips]

How Indie Beauty Brands Practice Inclusivity

In this edition of Beauty Independent’s ongoing series posing questions to beauty entrepreneurs, we ask 17 brand founders and executives: What is your brand’s approach to inclusivity?

KETHLYN WHITE | COO, Coil Beauty

Our brand was created to give a face to beauty that has not always been considered beautiful. When we create graphics for our marketing, we strive to look for the nontraditional beauties because we know how important representation is to everyone, even on a subconscious level.  

One of my favorite things as an adult is to be able to watch a show like "Insecure" or "Black-ish," and say, “Oh, there’s my hairstyle for next week.” As a kid, I was trying to use the Topsy Tail and, if you remember what that is, then you, my friend, are aging gracefully. So, for me, my brand aims to be inclusive of the people who weren’t always included, and I think our website and social media pages do a good job of that. Of course, we are always trying to do more. For us, this is a marathon not a sprint.

ADA JURISTOVSKI | Co-Founder, Nala

We strive to be inclusive of forms of sexual identification, body types, cultures and race. To us, it means being mindful of representation in our brand, but also being open-minded to continually learning about how we can widen that representation. It can be something as detail-oriented as updating our copy from “women” to “womxn,” or deliberate decisions we make such as intentionally having our packaging represent body forms that are fluid, androgynous and ambiguous with the hope that anyone can identify with it and see a part of themselves within the art.

KAILEY BRADT | Founder and CEO, OWA Haircare

Inclusivity has to mean something personally to a founder and, therefore, a brand. I've always been mindful of inclusivity because I've always felt a bit on the outside. It's important to think of inclusivity with a holistic perspective. It's not just about appearance. Inclusivity goes beyond age, gender, ethnicity. I always felt judged without saying a word. As I got older, especially when I first got to college, I felt even more out of place because I was studying engineering and my appearance didn't say "engineer."

My approach to inclusivity is to look beyond the physical attributes of a person and take into consideration their experience, education, career, etc. My approach with our brand is to give real people a genuine voice. I really enjoy working with up-and-coming professionals and giving people opportunities they might not have been given otherwise. I know others who have done this for me in my career, and I wouldn't be where I am today if people didn't believe in me and present me those opportunities that challenged the norm.

RANAY ORTON | Owner, Glow by Daye

My approach of being mindful of inclusivity in my brand is to try and create multiple physical avatars of my customers. Many books and experts say to have one exact avatar, an icon or figure that represents your key demographic. Well, the reality is that, yes, you can have a go-to person in mind for key decision-making on your brand and it's positioning, but all your customers do not look alike.

People want to see some physical resemblance of themselves when they see your website, marketing and social media. As a company, we have to be conscious of that as we serve many different people with different ethnicities, hair types/textures and/or complexions, but all have the same goal of achieving healthy, thriving hair.

PAAYAL MAHAJAN | Founder, Essential Body

Inclusivity is not just a term for me. I am a brown woman who has faced a lot of discrimination while living and working in the U.S. I have faced assumptions around my background with no thought or interest in where I come from or what my heritage is. I have dealt with the blows of white privilege in the workplace and personally. I was also judged for my size for a majority of my life. I am someone who has fought and continues to fight for the rights of the marginalized and oppressed.

I am not interested in tokenism. I smell it from a mile away. You can’t fake your way into being inclusive. My authenticity and my voice are the most powerful ways for me to communicate that my brand is me, and it espouses my values and my perspective on the world. It never was, and is certainly not enough now, to do a rainbow of ethnicities in your imagery. I see brands appropriating cultures, not giving thought to messaging and imagery. None of that is for me. You can’t be mindful of inclusivity unless you fundamentally shift your mindset. This is not something businesses can phone in.

ADA POLLACEO, Alchimie Forever

We strive to be inclusive in everything we do. From the people we use in our marketing materials (fun fact: They’re all family members, team members or friends.) to the way we train our brand ambassadors, we focus on skincare concerns rather than gender, skin color or other identifiers. We don’t say, “Hey, we’re inclusive." Rather, we strive to behave in a way that makes everyone feel welcome and comfortable, and that our products were made for them.

KATONYA BREAUX | Founder, Unsun Cosmetics

As a black founder and consumer, I have firsthand knowledge of what it feels like to not be considered by companies providing skincare and makeup products. I wanted to make sure that not only women that looked like me, but women in general had the benefit and knowledge that there is a product that is made with them in mind, and not only as an afterthought. In this very inclusive environment, the companies that aren't getting on the bandwagon are the ones that are standing out.

NISHA DEARBORN | Founder and CEO, Fresh Chemistry

I teach my kids that the only difference between skin of different colors is the amount of melanin in it. As a daughter of a dermatologist, I can attest to this very simple, yet still profound truth. So, when it comes to my brand, I choose models or repost user-generated content that represents who the freshly activated serums are best suited for: all skin types and colors.

JULIE PEFFERMAN | Founder, The Lab and Co.

We have always thought about inclusivity from the customers perspective and our employee perspective. In the near future, inclusivity won't be a buzzword. Instead, it will be something every brand must do. It will be the authenticity that inclusivity is delivered that will distinguish us from the rest.  

On the employee internal side, since we are a lab, it makes sense that our one-word company philosophy is "mix," which guides us as we grow. Mix in kindness in everything you do. Mix with other kinds of people/thinkers to expand your mind and life. When something isn't working, mix it up with a new approach. There is always a way. Work hard, take pride in what you bring to the mix. Take the risk, failure is valued, speak up and mix in your ideas, and see what bubbles to the top.

On the customer side, we try to rethink target customers and find meaningful ways to include others. Our brand, Cleantan, was the first self-tanning brand to showcase full-figured models of various skin colors. We encourage people to be as tan as they want to be with our color controlling concentrate. Our brand Equal By Nature was birthed out of inclusivity, encouraging everyone to celebrate their differences. We aim to create luxurious hero products that fit into anyone's routine at a reasonable price. We call it inclusive luxury.

AMBER FAWSON | Co-Founder, Saalt

Inclusivity is a central and all-important topic in the world of period care. It is actually one of the reasons we love period care. There is something about period talk that brings people together regardless of background or belief. We all share struggles with period management. We all agree that no one should feel confused and alone about their period and their body. We all agree that we want students around the world to have period care that allows them to attend school when they are on their period.

At Saalt, we believe in being period positive and, by focusing on period positive topics, we can do some incredible things with the help of our audience. Our audience helps us break stigmas and also connects us with impact organizations who are doing incredible work around the world. Every part of our brand is about being welcoming and adding people to our tribe regardless of any variety of personal backgrounds or beliefs.

MELISSA REINKING | Chief Marketing Officer, BioClarity

We always try to stay grounded in knowing that the consumers who discover us all have different starting points and skin goals in mind. Step one to being inclusive is being individualized. If we can help people get to where they want to be by understanding their individual needs, desires and starting points, and if we can customize their experience around these attributes, not some idealized version of what we think a consumer might need, this helps us remain not only inclusive, but also very mindful of the evolving needs of those who become part of our brand.

BRANDON GARCIA | Co-Founder, Mira

My co-founder Jay Hack and I wanted to ensure that anyone, no matter who they are, what they look like or what their interests are is able to find what works best for them. The incredible diversity of beauty consumers has driven not only the increased fragmentation of beauty products and trends in the industry, but also the heightened demands for personalization.

Diversity and inclusivity are not only baked into our very core, but they are also the primary factors driving the need for a platform like this. We've worked hard to build an expansive data catalog of over 60,000 products and millions of reviews and videos that can be leveraged to help consumers from all walks of life find what works for them.

In the long term, we hope that it becomes a platform for beauty brands, content creators, and consumers to engage in authentic, meaningful conversation. By doing so, we seek to help advance the industry in co-developing products that best speak to the amazingly diverse individuals that comprise the beauty community.

RENAE MOOMJIAN | Founder and CEO, NipLips

We are vocal in all touch points with our community that everyone is welcome. Whether it is a photoshoot, new brand ambassador or activity, we are continually looking for ways to bring diversity in race, ethnic background, religion, sexual preference, sexual indentification, age, size (large to small and everything in between) into our brand.

Our company tag line is “Beautiful, Authentic You!” and our goal is to help people look within to define not only their unique beauty, but who they really are at their core. So, for example, by using our app, doing a color scan of your nipples, and matching to one of our vegan, organic, lip colors, you are using your body to define what looks good on you rather than social media or celebrities. True beauty and inclusivity starts with embracing your uniqueness and, then, sharing it with the world. We work very hard to promote that message.

FEISAL QURESHI | Founder, Raincry

My personal view is that beauty is not real, it doesn't exist. It's all perspective. That perspective evolves, changes and means different things to different people at different times in our lives. Just look at the 80s. We looked ridiculous, but were full of confidence.

So, beauty is not about the things we buy or how we look, but rather how that thing makes us feel when we wear it, use it or experience it. Therefore, beauty is about emotions and, as a beauty brand, you become a custodian of those emotions to help better people's lives.

KRISTEN BOWEN | Founder & CEO, Living The Good Life Naturally

My entire life I have been on a diet or searching for the perfect diet. I just wanted to be skinny and equated that with being healthy. I will never forget the day that I was sitting in my wheelchair feeling pretty sorry for myself and wondering if I would ever feel good again. A friend walked up and asked me how I was doing. Instead of the usual, “Oh, I am fine,” I answered her honestly. “I am so tired of being sick and having seizures and stressing my family out.”

She looked at me and said something that would shatter and change the course of what I was searching for when it came to my health. She patted my leg after I told her how tired I was and replied, “But Kristen, at least you are skinny.” I had achieved my lifelong dream of being skinny, but it was not what I wanted. I wanted vibrant energy.

Now, when clients start to work with me, I ask them to write out what healthy looks like to them. That way they have a specific goal in mind of what they are wanting to create. Because of that one exchange, we make sure to include all body types in our marketing. Being healthy is so much more than being skinny.

JEAN BAIK | Founder and Creative Chief Officer, Miss A

One of our biggest missions as a business is to #justhavefun with makeup and beauty. So, we always offer as many shades as possible and offer products that would work for a young teen all the way into late adulthood.

JASMIN EL KORDI | CEO, Bluelene

Cellular health is gender, age and ethnicity neutral, and our brand reflects that philosophy. We ensure that our packaging and messaging appeal to a wide human audience, and that we incorporate that variety into the imagery we use.

Source: Beauty Independent  

#beauty #cosmetics #makeup #beauty industry #beauty brands #skincare #inclusivity #makeup lovers #beauty lovers #entrepreneur