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jaefman · 1 year

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slimeslayers

It's been 4 years since I started DMing my current campaign with a group of good and close friends. The anniversary is few months past, as we hit it back sometime in October, but through circumstance of everyone being in their late 20s and early 30s at this point, the frequency of play is nowhere near what it was in the beginning. Just sharing some thoughts on what d&d and ttrpg's have meant to me and thoughts about my friends who put up with my stories.

Lately I've been really examining my relationship with tabletop roleplaying games and what they mean to me as a person. I've experienced some of my greatest moments of joy playing Dungeons and Dragons surrounded by friends, and have gotten closer to others just by virtue of having played a game that supports displaying raw performance and emotion, in a collaborative storytelling environment that not only welcomes someone being "extra" but actively encourages it.

I do not consider myself a "great" GM by any means, more than anyone I know this is a personal sense of hindrance, especially when comparing myself with people that I admire that get to do it for a paycheck, in an environment that necessitates a valuable performance. I know that every GM is different and all have different thoughts regarding their own personal style and what they glean from others.

The first time I GM'd a game, it was a quick little homebrew to give one of my closest friends a taste of what d&d was like,I GM'd for 2 people, my friend and his brother. It was really simple, nothing crazy, no huge amount of lore, just dice rolls and numbers to hit, with successes and failures and crazy amounts of flavor, a roleplaying game with numbers boiled down to its simplest formula. I definitely didn't do any game systems any justice, but I just wanted to show them what I loved about playing d&d with a group of friends. They both loved it, and so did I.

The next game I GM'd was for my little sister and her group of friends, I did maybe 3 or 4 sessions before it fell apart, through nobody's fault. They were all freshly graduated from high school and it was the summer before freshman year for them and I was on a break from school myself. I know from my sister that they still played d&d after that and she even had a short stint as a DM, asking me for advice.

Since then, I have run two campaigns, one for 9 months or so, maybe a little under a year and then one I've been running for nearly the past 4 years, since October of 2018?

The first fully homebrewed d&d 5e campaign I ran back in 2018, Symphony of Bones, was a HOT MESS. I let everyone make the characters they wanted without restriction and tailored the campaign with my limited experience to facilitate that, sometimes to great results, sometimes to middling ones. I have many regrets about the campaign, but I learned a hell of a lot of lessons I brought into my next one. I ultimately made the decision to end the campaign because 2 of us, myself and Shelby, my now partner, moved to Los Angeles and the time zone issue became flipped and more untenable. It was also during the most stressful moment of my life and I was using it for an escape but needed to prioritize other things in my life. I still hold the story and player characters in that world to high regard, and occasionally make reference to them, having my current campaign, which canonically takes place in an alternate universe, make reference to some of the lore established in Symphony of Bones.

The current campaign I am running, titled the Wishing Star, felt like a reset, taking in a lot of the lessons I'd learned from DMing, from listening to actual play podcasts like The Adventure Zone and an episode or two of Critical Role, and applying them to another homebrew campaign with the intent that I wanted to build this fun little narrative playground for my friends to play as their wacky little characters in. Still a pretty nascent DM at the beginning, I was hit hard by a lot of new lessons that come with character conflict, and having a very very loose story. Story threads I introduced YEARS ago are just now coming into play, which is both fun and has its fair share of problems, and I feel self conscious about how much focus I give on individual characters, and worry so much about robbing their agency via railroading, I have felt time and again that I have failed my players. It's also really difficult because sometimes we will have bits of time where we are consistent in playing biweekly or pushing back a week, but since COVID-19 began, the consistency went out the window. Narratively, it is hard to keep the momentum going when there are months between sessions, and new influences and learnings prop up in the interim, which can change the flow of the story and cause new things to happen in the story that others don’t see coming but I at the time think in all of my mania, “Wow this is such a fucking good idea.” It can create a sense of whiplash amongst my players, and even myself. To say some of my narrative pitfalls are self-inflicted would be placing some of the blame on my players, which I am not, but I have learned how important it is to keep that momentum going, so I have to figure out ways to keep my own personal bad narrative habits in check in the long term and that’s a problem in and of itself. Another pitfall I have to leap over is during long breaks, I lose interest in my own work and my own game and it takes a pretty gnarly mental toll on me to try and get back to it. To this day it is still a sense of defeat that I contend with, but try to push through. So I’m writing this with the intent of sharing what I love about my current campaign in order to show off that spark of creativity and the wild storytelling my group and I have all been a part of.

To make sense of my thoughts on the campaign and some of the lessons I've learned I should introduce my friends' characters, all individually badass in their own way.

Firstly, I wouldn't have started the campaign without being hyped up by my partner Shelby and her character Chymes, a Milo Thatch + Kimihiro Watanuki and now Victor Frankenstein-esque Necromantic Wizard character archetype. He's a little whiny intellectual who has a lot of complicated biology and is on an eternal journey to unpack his relationship with his mother/maker. In the past few years, he has evolved from this incessant magical worm of a person to being well on his way to becoming one of the most powerful wizards the Arcane world of Orgaus has ever seen. One time Chymes did drugs with one of the potential Big Bads of the main story and saw god. Also one time Chymes got shot in the side and blacked out and saw an even stronger god. There's so much to explore with Chymes, but his rich backstory has provided me with a ton of potential lore to work with, and some vital lessons to player character creation in the future. I've got so many plans for the Slimeslayers' resident wizard academic that will be coming to great fruition, it's going to be exciting for everyone. I could write pages about things Chymes has done, but I think one of the most important things he's done has been betraying the biggest rebel anti-monarchy/anti-fascist group in the world (consequences unintended), which resulted in like 70% of their active forces being eradicated. Fun stuff! He has a couple of potential boyfriends in the mix, two are burly and one is a twink and that's all I will say about that.

Then we have Ayla Strimstar, played by Zach, a Air Genasi Paladin, a character that might be slightly overpowered at level 12 with some homebrewed items, but not a warrior who hasn't suffered her fair share of struggles. Strong as she is, one time, pretty recently, she tried to fight an Adult White Dragon alone and got swatted out of the sky and almost died. I love Ayla, the way that Zach plays her with his whole heart makes her a character I have grown so fondly attached to, the achievements under her belt really setting her up to be a hero cemented in the lore of the world should I do another campaign in the same setting (which I plan to! I want to play in this world til I'm 40). It was pretty early on that she and Drina, the next character I will gush about, became champions of the Eadrhi Arena, besting such warriors as Hyacinth the Brainwashed Aasimar Swordsman, a Tabaxi Rogue named "Light of Steps," and Big Daddy Goblin, a leather daddy goblin. He died. Light of Steps hasn't shown up again, but I haven't ruled out her return. There was a point where Ayla became a Grim Reaper for a Day, and there were benefits (that have yet to be realized) and consequences that were immediately enacted. Recently, Ayla got the finishing blow on the Adult White Dragon, Ragastat. It was a good button for the Genasi-Celestial War arc that had been going on for nearly a couple of years at this point, and we are at the point where we have begun to resolve it and move on to the final major Kingdom in the story. I honestly can't wait to see what kind of adventures Ayla will go on, and can't wait to explore her epilogue and see the mark she leaves on the world for future campaigns.

Golondrina Passerine, or Drina for short, is such a fun character, played by our friend Kat. A Fallen Aasimar, they fell from the celestial realm, not once, but twice over the course of the story. First to rebel from their family, and then once more to escape and be reunited with their friends, chased by their cocky, prideful brother who became humbled by his descent in pursuit of Drina, falling as a result of his chase. Drina is a bard, flavored to be that of a heavy metal rocker, spikes, deathhawk, black armor, blood red guitar, haunted (or partnered with) by the King of Hell, Ozymandius D. Dio. To get to this point however, Drina had to die in the story, a sacrifice that was facilitated by a close comrade who had bled in the sands of the Eadrhi Arena alongside them, Ayla who as previously stated, was the Grim Reaper for a day. Drina then spent the next hundred years in Hell, working for Dio as a guard, rebuilding their strength until they were collected by the celestials, which led to Drina rebelling once again, but buffed with hellfire, falling once more to the world below to be reunited with their comrades and in doing so, lit the flames of a different conflict altogether in the heavens above. Also Drina fucked the vampire queen.

Benji Zerahad, played by the baby of the group, Jamie, is a multiclass Kalashtar Monk / Cleric, born out of a desire to be a peaceful and intelligent type of being, chasing after a few things, knowledge, his own place in the world, and at one point, a star-crossed lover, the Quori spirit Novatari, an ancient spirit of battle and leadership, an old queen from thousands of solar revolutions past. The funniest part about Benji is how somehow it was pretty firmly established that Benji was a virgin, and this has become a recurring joke throughout the campaign. One day we'll get to fade to black on Benji. Recently, Benji got his ass kicked when his home monastery was overrun by evil monks, but it was a vital turning point in his story. He was able to get reunited with his mothers and learned that he doesn't have to fall into tradition and continue to be the head of the Monastery, and can leave that to his sister. Now he's faced with the choices that the potential of freedom affords him.

Griselda, played by our very own Abby, is a changeling Rogue. She has been more behind the scenes, a later addition to the campaign after Shelby and Abby moved in together, I was more than happy to include her in our campaign. I have not given Gris enough focus, which is something I feel guilt about, but a lot of her story will come into play in the final kingdom, where her underground influence will play a huge role in how the Slimeslayers proceed. I'm truly excited to shine an overdue spotlight on her character, her two dogs, and her FMA Alphonse-ass Shield Guardian, adorably named "Baby." Gris runs a brothel in the Kingdom of Ersatz, with long roots and untold influence, and is quick to make proper acquaintances and allies through her natural charisma, with a few close shaves revealing her true nature. If I remember correctly, there may only be one or two people in the party that even know that Gris is a changeling at all.

Keeping track of an ongoing collaborative story has been a challenge for sure, and it has challenged me in so many ways creatively. This campaign has been by my side throughout the past few years where I've felt like I have almost fully given up on creative endeavors, to still being here when I wanted to create new characters and draw fun scenes, though I am still a little reticent to share. I will one day spam the discord channel with sketches I've done of everyone's characters and half finished illustrations I should just vomit out into that void. I'm sure this campaign will be there when I feel the drive to go full-hog into creating once more and I will happily and patiently wait, as the milestones we experience in the campaign feel like milestones we have in real life to me.

The past four years with my friends have been great, I wouldn't trade any of the d&d sessions I've had with them for anything. I look forward to the many more adventures we will share together and the stories we'll craft together. From making cocktails based on made-up drinks ("GTM") to simply hanging out and roleplaying a battle of the bands to resurrect the vampire queen, I am truly excited for the things we will do together, and the more lessons I’ll learn along the way. Future stories I want to tell with this gang of misfits include but aren’t limited to, Fantasy Hero University Student Adventures, and a multiplanar romp through space to restore peace to the Greater Realms. I’m also looking forward to playing an adventure DM’d by one of them.

Here’s to more adventures, Slimeslayers. Love y’all.

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ermuellert · 4 years

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what are your honest opinions on julian draxler's career?

personally i thought he was genuinely going to be a big star because he was this young wonderkid at schalke who won the world cup as a 20 year old (he didn't do much though to be fair) but it never really turned out that way ... he's not done terribly per se, he is playing for psg, living that sweet life en france, and somehow still getting callups to the german national team but i am just kind of sad that he never reached the full potential that he had ... i thought he would be the captain of the "new" germany generation, one of the leaders, but now he barely gets to play ... i am kind of extra worked up about his case because he seems like a nice and sweet person as well ... anyways maybe i just have a bad track record of predicting career trajectories, all the youngsters i thought would succeed haven't (yet), at one point i believed that julian weigl and max meyer would also be world beaters and here we are ... i don't know what it is, probably a mix of injuries, bad luck, and maybe just not working hard enough ... long long sigh

anyways if you read all that you're an absolute superstar because i really went and wrote an essay oops ... i look forward to your live blogging tomorrow as it is always entertaining ... lots of love xxx

i hope u know that deep down.... like. Deep Down... i am always always always craving to talk about julian...... like trust me... i promise essays on monsieur draxler are always welcome here because i used to write that much about him and sometimes still think that much about him too...

objectively speaking, i think he is doing alright! pretty good by a lot of standards probably, for most of the reasons u listed. he’s getting paid obscene amounts (probably more than he deserves at this moment in time), has a seemingly great personal life, and as u said, still getting his national team callups.

my personal thoughts, on the other hand, are... well....... not really of the same sentiment. i already know i’m gonna write up an even longer essay so let me just tuck the rest of this ramble under a cut for the sake of my followers lmao

honestly for me... thinking about julian is kind of depressing. if you feel worked up about him, just know that i relate. he seems very happy where he is in his life at the moment and so of course i’m happy for him too but compared to the potential it seemed he had... it’s just a bit sad. mostly because it isn’t as though he’s an excellent player hindered by injuries (e.g. reus) or anything really beyond his control - i think a lot of what’s so disappointing about his career trajectory is really just to do with him and him only.

yes, his failed transfer to juve back when he was at schalke wasn’t his fault but to move to wolfsburg? i know hindsight is 20/20 but i almost wish he’d just stayed at schalke. the drama he got into while he was at wolfsburg really did not do any good for his image, putting aside the fact that he was putting in average (even inconsistent) performances for the team. at schalke, maybe he could’ve had more time to develop within a team he grew up in and just use his time there to work and work hard. (there’s something i want to say about mentality here but i’ll bring that up later)

then, when his transfer to psg was announced, i felt like that was some beacon of hope although honestly, i think anything compared to wolfsburg could’ve looked that way to me at the time lmao keeping up with that club just for him (and partly andré schürrle) was fucking painful my god

at psg he was off to a decent start and things were starting to look up! wasn’t starting every single match but he was playing fairly well and made quick friends with his new teammates (u know who lol) etc. but then of course any sort of rhythm/momentum he gained was totally thrown off by mbappé’s and neymar’s arrivals which i think were both only around half a year after his transfer.

and so basically since then, he’s been “competing” for a spot with ney, kylian, and di maría.

(ok reading that back i realize that whole recap of his career was not really necessary or at least. making it as lengthy as i did wasn’t but. i’m too lazy to go back and reword everything so bear with me lmao)

taking all that into account, i think yes, to some extent, he has some excuse for the stagnation of his career. he’s had his injuries and he’s been played out of position for large portions of time.

but i think what really frustrates me about him is that as a fan who’s loved him for years it’s really sad to see that what’s holding him back is not necessarily a lack of ability but just that he doesn’t have the sort of drive i wish he did. it’s been on display in his performances before - he can be lazy and invisible - but i think what’s worse is how that translates off the pitch. he’s just never really seemed to fight for a spot in the starting eleven. and if the rumors are true (as they do seem so) the parisian nightlife has not been doing him very good lmao

not only that though but i think he just doesn’t care as much about football as he does about ... image? money? i don’t know. i don’t know what the word i’m looking for is. i don’t think julian is a superficial sort of person and i’m not saying ambition is a bad thing at all, but when he couldn’t go from schalke to juventus (and that failed transfer was riding, presumably, a lot on his wonderboy status at schalke), he followed the money to wolfsburg. put in performances that understandably received criticism at wolfsburg, then very publicly made a whole thing out of wanting to leave and not being able to. then followed the money to psg where he just ... vibes on the bench. well, at least up until this season. but even then, if it weren’t for all the covid cases and red cards, i don’t know if he would be playing as much as he has.

so tl;dr: i love julian a lot still and he’s still the same sweet dorky fuckboi-ish guy i’ve been a fan of since the start and i’m happy that he’s happy! the tragic irony is that what makes him happy - collecting checks while being a bench player - is also what depresses me quite a bit about him. he has his flashes of brilliance every once in a while where you can see that 17-year-old schalke wonderboy in him, so you know that hype from long ago wasn’t all a waste and that somewhere in there is a very talented, perhaps starworthy footballer. but he isn’t. not because he can’t but because he doesn’t really care to. and not in a dismissive sense i don’t think. i don’t think he thinks “ah who cares about being the best player in the world fuck that” but moreso in the sense of “ah i think i’m doing alright! that’s good enough for me.” and that sort of mentality is what places him (or at least, contributes to his position being) a tier below his peers who have proven themselves (e.g. kimmich, although that also brings up the whole “can that sort of fighter/die-on-the-pitch type mentality be taught or must it be inherent” kind of thing so let’s move on before i write an essay within this essay) at the end of the day i know not every footballer is in this sport simply for the sake of playing it, but from time to time thinking about him fills me with a lot of nostalgia and yes a tinge of disappointment because i can’t help but think of what could’ve been (i.e. what would’ve happened if he’d stayed at schalke? stayed there for good or stayed for a season or two more, developed even more hype, strengthened his abilities. had a successful transfer to a good, solid club and continued to hone his abilities, etc).

ok. now i’m done. i’m so sorry for putting u through all that and skimming this back i sound SO dramatic lmao but man i’ve been through like six-ish years of following his career so fuck it oh well

also if u wanna know how much i still care, know that after the “draxler to leeds united” rumors first dropped, i wrestled with my impulse control every single day for a week trying to stop myself from dming him on insta saying “i love you but get ur ass to leeds or i will kidnap u and get u there myself your football career is killing me but i love you and just want the best for u have a nice day xx”

#answered #thank u for this ask you're really sweet anon omg 😭#again i am surprised anybody cares about my opinions enough to ask me this... or to even talk about my liveblogging lmao...#even if it's just one anon i'm like !!!!!!!#anyway. i actually have more and more thoughts about julian but i literally wrote SEVERAL paragraphs and that man has disrespected me for t #so i'm not giving him any more of my time and energy tonight #although yes my brain is replaying his match against slovakia in the euros #and his goals against gent in the ucl back when he was with wolfsburg #and how he was the captain for the nt in the confederations cup which we won!!!#but ANYWAY #as for weigl and meyer... :(#haven't kept up much with weigl but sad about him too #as for max..... i was hopeful for him too #but i think he just got too big for his britches #which is again. another disappointing thing because look where he's at now #i just wish players understood the importance and the benefits of BEING PATIENT...#i think they just sort of give in to the hype about themselves #which is understandable but god i swear its a poison to careers #julian draxler #babe jules #anonymous #shit ava says

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latestnews2018-blog · 6 years

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How To Spot Fake Celebrity Beef, According To Jasmine Brand

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/how-to-spot-fake-celebrity-beef-according-to-jasmine-brand/

How To Spot Fake Celebrity Beef, According To Jasmine Brand

It’s Beef Week at HuffPost Culture. Fight us.

The site feels like something straight out of 2010. The boxiness evokes fond memories of MySpace, or maybe Blogger. You look at it, and you remember an easier time in internet history, when you could flip through a blog and see what had been on the writer’s mind that day. But theJasmineBRAND, a gossip site, is a very 2018 sort of publication. It’s about celebrity and culture and the way we love to consume both through a firehose.

“I was always intrigued by how regular people like you and I are fascinated with celebrity culture,” the site’s proprietor, Jasmine Brand, told me. “So I started the site.”

It’s also, in a way, about beefs. “Lil Mo Calls Taylor Swift A THOT, Accuses Her of Having STD’s [AUDIO],” reads one headline. “K. Michelle Calls Tamar Braxton A Muppet After Tamar Insults Love & Hip-Hop Paychecks,” reads another. Brand is conscientious about beefs. She understands that our love for fights will cause celebrities, at times, to start a beef for marketing purposes. But she and her 26-person staff ain’t with the shits. Each beef is vetted to ensure readers only see stories about the real stuff, the beefs that have levels. (For the sake of journalism, I searched the site for mention of the peak fake beef between Bhad Bhabie, Lil Tay and Woah Vicky. I found nothing.)

It’s hard to imagine now, but celebrity beefs operated differently eight years ago, when Brand started the site. Twitter wasn’t poppin’ like that, and Instagram hadn’t been born. Brand had to score her celebrity news in a very offline sort of way: by sending Hail Mary emails to celebs; hiring a publicist to help secure interviews; and posting up at The Park at 14th in D.C., where famous people of the musical variety would often come and perform. Early on, she got an interview with Joan Rivers, her first A-list interview, because the comedian loved her hair. “I had like a little pink-hair situation going on,” she recalled.

Things began to get easier for Brand. “The more status I got, the more people started hitting us up and I didn’t have to beg as much,” she told me over the phone. “When social media came around and became poppin’, it made getting content easier,” she added.

Brand and I chatted about how her site chooses which beefs to cover, how to spot fake feuds, her personal favorite celeb spats and how a good beef can serve as a window into a celebrity’s soul.

I would define it as a disagreement — not necessarily physical. But a disagreement that kind of spills over. In 2018, beef spills over into social media usually. A fallout, a spat, an argument between two celebrities. A to D list, doesn’t really matter.

How does theJasmineBRAND cover beefs? How do you decide what beefs you’re going to cover?

Well, we usually decide based on the popularity of the person. Both the people don’t have to be popular, but at least one of them has to be popular. And it has to be something that everyone is talking about, something that has legs and will get traction. It won’t be a one-day story.

Sometimes we’ll sit on a beef because it’s really, really apparent that it’s staged. We usually won’t cover those. But if it looks like it might be authentic, and it may have layers to it, we’ll be like, maybe we should cover this one and then see what happens.

How do you decide if it’s authentic or not? Like, what makes you see a beef and just be like, “Oh, there’s levels to this one.”

We’ve had the site for eight years, so we pretty much know celebrities’ temperaments. You know, what they’re known for, what they’re not known for. A newer celebrity or these reality stars? It’s kind of hard to gauge. If we see something on social media, we’ll look at the comments and see how the audience, how their fans or how their critics are responding and figure it out.

It’s things you just kind of know. Certain people have the temperament of always responding, lashing out. Those are usually authentic. Then there are other celebrities that aren’t known for it. So those can be good too. But with reality stars, it’s kind of hard to gauge because a lot of times they use a beef to create a storyline for a show or to get coverage. It’s kind of tricky sometimes.

And so when there’s a lot of back and forth between two or more people, how does the site keep up with everything that’s going on?

Well, it’s like a virtual newsroom. We have a team of writers and then we have people that are really good at digging on social media. And we update stories as it happens. We’ll update something on social media. We don’t necessarily just use the website to provide an update.

I was on the site’s Instagram and I noticed that not just theJasmineBRAND but other celebrity gossip sites such as The Shade Room, YBF, Baller Alert — y’all post IG comments. Why do you think celebrities have a tendency to be shady in the comments sections?

Because they get coverage. They know we’re gonna post it. If we decided we’re not gonna post a celebrity’s comment, they wouldn’t do it. They do it for attention. Before there was social media, celebrities really didn’t have an immediate outlet.

You know, you’d have to go be on a carpet somewhere. They would go to their publicist, or they would call up People to comment on something. But now it’s an instant gratification for them. They don’t need publicists anymore. They like the laughs and the likes and the attention. All of them aren’t like that, but I feel like if you are someone who is constantly making comments, it’s so that you can get attention. There’s no other reason to me. If it happens once in a while where you’re making a comment, I feel like it may be authentic. You may really want to get this off your chest. But if you’re constantly doing it, it’s so that you can get coverage. That’s my perspective. I could be wrong though.

Which celebs are constantly popping up on the site? I know Future has been in the blogs lately because he proposed to Brittni Mealy or something like that. So are there any celebs that are just constantly being covered because they’re constantly in something?

Everything goes in phases and waves. Right now, we’re talking about Future. But we can always get something from Tamar Braxton. There was a time when we could get something from Tyrese. Then he kind of calmed down. We can always get content from Kim Kardashian. It’s not necessarily that she’s always commenting, but she’s always posting. So whenever someone posts, we can always get something from them. Nicki Minaj is someone who, as of late, is always popping up. K Michelle. Kanye. Those are people whose names are always in headlines.

Do you think that celebs know the marketing benefits of getting involved with the beefs?

They absolutely know and they use it to their benefit.

How does the site benefit off of them knowing the benefits of marketing? Is it like a symbiotic relationship between the two?

I’m not really sure about others, but if it’s gonna make good content for us it’s likely that we’re gonna do it. If it’s not gonna make good content and we feel like they’re trying to really benefit off of manufacturing a fake beef? We’re not trying to cover a fake beef. Even if it’s gonna bring some clicks, we’re really not trying to. Sometimes we get duped. But we’re really not trying to benefit off something that’s fake.

What beefs have duped you?

I can’t think of any right now. But you usually see it with the reality shows. Actors don’t really participate in it like that. It’s more of a reality genre situation.

What does make those beefs obviously fake?

If they’re sending it to us themselves. If they’re sending us what they said, footage and clips and screen grabs. To me, that reeks of staged. Or, say two celebrities are beefing with each other, but they’re following each other on social media. If you don’t care for what they did, why are you following them?

But usually it’s tipped off by them sending it in themselves or their publicist sending it in. It’s like, why would you want us to cover this? Usually celebs are like, “You guys never cover anything positive. Why don’t you cover anything positive?” And so if you’re DMing us negative things, then it’s a red flag. They’re a bit on the thirsty side for some coverage.

That makes a lot of sense. Wow. So what is your all-time favorite celebrity beef? Or top three?

I really loved when Amber Rose and Kanye West were going back and forth. And then when Khloe hopped in. That was the gift that kept on giving. It was different layers.

I loved when Remy Ma and Nicki Minaj were beefing because we got some good music and it was one of those things where there were layers to the story. It was multiple stories.

I don’t know if I would call this one a beef necessarily, but I loved the back and forth — even though it was a little one-sided — between Mariah Carey and J.Lo.

What made the Kanye–Amber one the gift that kept on giving? Because that was a mess.

[Note: Kanye West said during a 2015 radio interview that he had to “take 30 showers” before he could date Kim Kardashian since he had previously dated Amber Rose. This caused Amber to tweet about Kardashian’s sex tape with singer Ray J and it spiraled downward from there.]

It was. The thing that was great about it was that Amber had never really said anything about Kanye. There were rumors that she had signed this NDA and she couldn’t really say. So when she finally did, that was pretty cool. She gave us some insight on their relationship. And then it was juicy. Although it could have been false or whatever, it was juicy. Then she was talking about the Kardashians so that gave it another layer. Then you got the little jokes from Amber.

Remember when Kanye and Amber were together, Amber really didn’t talk. Like, she didn’t. We’d see her out smoking her little cigarettes. She’d be in the park just looking really pretty. She didn’t say anything. There was this mystery about her. So obviously after they broke up, she got with Wiz [Khalifa] and she started talking. But we never heard her talk about her relationship with Kanye. So I appreciated that.

I felt like it gave us some insight into what happened. And then it was, you know, you got more than five stories out of it. What she said was pretty entertaining, too.

As a consumer of celebrity beefs, that’s one of the fascinating things when people do start talking. Yeah, they can say some really messed up stuff. But you can also get that insight there. And with Kanye — not the kink-shaming part — it’s like, “Oh, this is what dating this guy was like.” And then his public persona continued to validate what she had already told us.

The thing about Kanye is, we feel like we kind of know him, but we don’t really know what it’s like to date him or sleep with him. You know what I mean? Even Kim doesn’t talk about what their relationship’s really like. She doesn’t give that many details, you know? So the Amber beef probably gave us the biggest glimpse we’ll ever get into what it’s like to be with Kanye, which I thought was cool.

Would you say that beefs, in some cases, cause celebrities to be more honest?

I think it does. When you’re beefing with someone, it shows partially that you’re a little insecure. It’s one thing behind closed doors for a celebrity to talk smack about somebody. But it’s another thing to talk publicly. But I feel like it shows that you are human.

Even with the whole Nicki Minaj stuff right now. It’s just like: What is going on here?

If you’re not her fan, you’re probably like “What’s going on?” But it makes me feel like she is human. She has some insecurities or some issues or some things that she feels like she was treated unfairly about. It speaks more to what you have going on sometimes as opposed to what your issue is with another person.

Some of the stuff she’s been saying is very valid, especially with the Spotify stuff. But what type of things do you usually see celebrities accuse one another of?

You’ll see celebrities accusing the other one of not giving them credit for something. Or them doing something first. I usually feel like it has to do with, “I’m low-key better than you.” Sometimes it’ll have something to do with a man. It just varies. There doesn’t seem to be one common denominator.

I really feel like it usually boils down to “I’m better than you” though.

Is there any beef or competition between the sites that cover celebrity beefs? Does it spill over?

You know, I’m sure there is, but I’m a rarity. I really don’t pay attention like that. But I don’t really feel like there is.

People in the comments will go try to pit us against each other sometimes. But most of the people who run the sites or the writers know what’s going on. We know what’s going on with celebrities and how they try to maneuver. So we know what’s up when we see people in the comments trying to get us to go back and forth with each other.

It’s kind of boring anyway, going back and forth with another site or a blog. Everybody is in this little rat race. And I don’t think people really have time to beef — at least that’s what I would like to think. I’m not worried about what other sites are doing because I just don’t have the time. You know what I mean? I just can’t get distracted. There’s too much other stuff going on.

So you’ve never thought about starting a beef with The Shade Room?

No. For what? It’s of no benefit to me. That’s whack to me. That’s super whack. And if they did, I’d be like: “What is y’all doing?” I mean, it would be entertaining — but no. I have not ever thought of it.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

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