#i don't really buy that because of singular they but at least they were trying. and they only told me they were struggling in private

[coquelicoq]

did i tell u guys about how my family, who have been lukewarm at best and vaguely antagonistic at worst about using they/them pronouns for my nonbinary sibling, did a complete 180 upon learning that my sibling is also good with she/her...like i can't even tell you how hard it's been to get them to even just try to use they/them and then they hear she/her and a switch is flipped in their brains that goes "you are an asshole actually" and all of a sudden my mom is buying PROTECT TRANS KIDS t-shirts and my grandmother's apologizing to me when she messes up. okay i'm glad you got there eventually but if this capability was inside you all along i don't understand why you couldn't have been doing this with the they/them set. like my grandmother told me a couple years ago that she wasn't even going to make an effort because she was probably going to die soon (<-completely made up excuse; obviously any of us could die at any time, and she is old, but she's in good health and her mother lived to be 100) and therefore wouldn't be seeing my sibling often enough for it to matter??? but she/her is worth the effort where they/them was not, apparently. like again i can't complain about the outcome but i am very much complaining about how we got here. what even is this.

#also love how my stepdad said he would start using she/her on my sibling's birthday as a birthday present... #don't even know where to start with that. like oh thank you how benevolent of you to grant this favor #and these are people who see themselves as progressives #my theory is that they vaguely theoretically support trans people because Being Mean to Trans People is what Bad People do #but didn't actually categorize my sibling as trans until they heard about the she/her pronouns. they/them is just a silly fancy i guess #transphobia #pronouns #idk just like. how hard is it to try to respect the way someone wants to be referred to. it hurts no one #i'm not even complaining about the family members who had trouble because they/them is a plural pronoun #i don't really buy that because of singular they but at least they were trying. and they only told me they were struggling in private #away from my sibling. but to not even try? and then it turns out you ARE capable of changing the pronouns you use for someone #as long as they're pronouns YOU'VE decided are legitimate? that's not how this works people

[elli3luvs]

good girl reader x bad girl dealer ellie? I feel like it would be rlly cute

a/n: love this so much! i agree it would be really cute omfg thank you so much for requesting! i will keep my requests open until probably friday or so so request if you want to <33

all ellie knew since she got into college was to deal. she had one singular retail job, quit in the middle of her shift, and never went back

through the years it has hardened her exterior a little bit

having to deal with gruff men who would sometimes try to get handsy called for her to toughen up

it wasn't uncommon for her to have to yell and swing on some of the men that try to buy from her

some men see her skinny frame and don't think she has muscles

she's shown them

her least favorite place to deal was hands down parties

she got a lot of clients during the party, college kids wanting to smoke away their stress but she hated the way they tripped over themselves

they would rarely buy anything more expensive than 30 dollars so she wasn't turning a huge profit but it was better than nothing

if she had to deal with another frat boy trying to get weed free by "seducing" her she was going to throw up

she was leaning up against the counter in the kitchen, red cup filled with some sort of concoction when her eyes met yours

you were already looking

how could you not look at the mysterious dealer who barely even talked to their customers

she always fascinated you as you have seen her a couple times around campus

you were too shy to say anything though because of her gruff appearance

there was no point either since you didn't smoke

her eyebrows quirked up when she took in your features

"you're pretty." she mouthed from across the way

your cheeks flushed

you shook your head, "you're prettier." you mouthed back

she laughed and you wished you were closer so you could hear it

you bet it was a beautiful sound

after a brief battle with your anxieties you decided to go closer

when you got next to her she leaned down a bit, "you buying?"

you look up at her, "i don't smoke!" you hollered over the music

she patted your shoulder, "don't start!" she yelled back

that's how it started between the two of you

ever since that moment if you passed each other on the street, walking to your respective classes, you would wave or smile at each other

ellie thought the way you carried yourself was so endearing

the backpack sitting high on your back, clothes that covered every part of you, and hair always sitting perfectly

when she passed you she could always catch a faint hint of strawberries and something like sugar or cookies

it made her smile everytime

but you loved the way ellie looked even more

disheveled, hair sticking every which way, and backpack hanging open leaving a trail of papers behind her

eyes always a kind of hazy red

it was very attractive to someone who has been around only uptight people her whole life

the first time you saw her yell at someone it made your attractive toward her grow even further

it was another party and as soon as you spotted her, you walked up

"you sell?" she turned around while nodding her head until she realized it was you

she pushed your shoulder, "not to you!" the music bumped in your ears loudly as the two of you shared a laugh

you were right, it was a gorgeous sound

thank god you were close enough to sort of hear it this time

she pointed at your drink, "what's that?"

you stood on your tiptoes so she could hear you, "water! i don't like drinking!"

she smiled at your response, "good girl! why do you come to these things?"

"to see you!" it was a half-truth, half-lie

she rolled her eyes at the flirty remark but you could see blush creeping up, "yeah right!"

"my roommate-"

you went to tell her the truth when a guy walked up to her, speaking to her in a low voice, shoving a 20 her way

she pulled out a bag and handed it off to him without much of an interaction

the issue is when he caught your eye and smiled creepily

"how much for an hour with you, sweet girl?" he grabbed your arm roughly

you wince at the calloused feeling of his hands on your arm, trying to pull away but his muscles overpowering you

before he could get much farther with you, ellie's tattooed forearm shot into view

"get the fuck off of her!" her voice was loud and rough, lips curled in disgust at the man

he scoffed, "what are you gonna do about it?"

she shoved him harshly, "i'll fucking kill you."

before you could register what was even happening, she was on top of him slamming her fist against his greasy face over and over

a hoard of frat boys broke it up shortly after

you were in the bathroom sitting on the marble counter with her in between your legs

you looked over her arms and face to make sure he didn't catch her in any way

her knuckles were bloodied and she was shaking a little bit from the adrenaline

"you didn't have to do that." you whispered, feeling guilty that she had to do that for you

she smirked, "of course i did."

"i can handle myself. i'm a big girl!" she outwardly laughed at your words

"a big girl, huh?" she leans forward, arms now caging you to the counter, "you don't drink or smoke. always going to class. studying... i bet you can't even lift 5 pounds. i had to make sure you were alright."

you bite your lip, "thank you."

the start was slow but you fell for her harder and harder every day

#ellie williams x reader #ellie williams x you #ellie williams imagine #ellie williams fluff #ellie williams scenario #ellie headcanons #ellie williams headcanons

[a-dumb-sarcastic-bisexual]

More Nimona headcanons cause I'm bored

Bal and Ambrosius are absolutely those people who take Valentines Day seriously 

But not in the way you would think

They’re not that couple that acts like Valentine's Day is specific to couples

No they acknowledge that its about all kind of love platonic, familial, self love the whole shebang

So they go out of their way to spend time with their friends and loved ones and take time to take care of themselves 

Some years they even host little get together with their loved ones

Like don't get me wrong they absolutely spoil each other rotten and have stupidly sappy romantic dinners 

But that isn’t the main focus of the day

They kind of expected Nimona to hate Valentine's Day 

I mean it seems like the perfect time for her to rant about how “Valentine's Day is a made up Holiday by greeting card companies”

But they fucking love Valentine's Day 

It’s the one day out of the year that their favorite colors are spread across the city and chocolate is literally everywhere 

They even participate in the boy's little get-togethers and help them set up

So in my personal opinion there is no way that a singular person in the trio had a normal childhood 

In the clip of Bal jumping the fence he looked around 7-9 which is when I assume he started his training and we can assume he was homeless before that

Ambrosius has been training to be a knight since he was a kid

And the only moments we got to see Nimona being a kid were with Gloreth which is really short in the grand scheme of her existence 

So I like to think that they take at least one day out of the month to do something childish

Whether that be going to an amusement park, hanging out in an arcade, going to a movie theater and then getting ice cream afterward

You know things that none of them got to do when they were “kids”

And slowly but surely they start to heal their inner child

They really look forward to those days and it becomes the highlight of their month

I feel like the trio all have different ideas of money

Even though he didn’t have a great childhood money was never something he dreamed of worrying about

And not in like a snobby way either (it’s lowkey cute to watch this grown man try and wrap his head around taxes)

There have been multiple times when Bal has expressed that he wants something and Ambrosius buys it without thinking 

Bal will just look at him and go “Love this was 6,000 dollars” and Ambrosius just tilts his head like a golden retriever and goes “Yeah is that okay”

All the while Bal is trying not to puke because he hasn’t held more than 400 dollars in his hand 

Nimona has no concept of money because whenever he wanted something he’d steal it 

He’s been around longer than money so he finds the concept incredibly amusing 

She’s gotten in multiple arguments with finance bros because she’s said with a straight face “Why can’t we just print more?” 

And she just laughed as their faces got progressively redder because she genuinely doesn’t get it 

Bal is on the complete opposite side of the spectrum 

He’s always been cautious of his spending 

And while this isn’t inherently a bad thing it’s stopped him from doing things he really wants 

Slowly but surely Nimona and Ambrosius have gotten him to break those habits 

Mostly by spending Ambrosius' families money

#nimona 2023 #nimona movie #nimona headcanon #nimona #ballister boldheart #ambrosius goldenloin #ballister x ambrosius #goldenheart #Bal is always worried the family will notice #Ambrosius always says it's unlikely that they will make a dent in their lifetimes #So spend while ya can love

[cinemaseeker]

Let's Review: Barbie

FAIR WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK

Barbie.

No other singular female name invokes quite as many various feelings, to such varying degrees, as Barbie. And very few names are quite as ubiquitous as Barbie (no really, name anyone you know who's never owned a Barbie at least once in their lifetime). And as with any ubiquitous entity, people are going to try and take their best shot, hoping to bring them down to our level.

Make no mistake, this movie is meant to reintroduce Barbie to a new generation of consumers. You will, more likely than not, want to buy a Barbie doll or other Mattel product either before or after watching this movie, either for yourself or for any child you know. This movie effectively serves as a mass market rebranding of Barbie, pivoting her from the poster girl for unrealistic body image/impossible feminine beauty standards to a vehicle for individuality and female empowerment.

Barbie is now all things to all people (anyone can be Barbie!), but all those things are still Barbie. However, as most of us know, a friend to all is a friend to none. If you are all things to all people, then you are effectively nothing, an empty vessel for others to project themselves onto. And indeed, even this new re-vamped Barbie can be validly viewed as a vapid vehicle for the consumer's own dreams and desires, leaving very little to no room for Barbie to have any dreams of her own.

And yet this movie still dares to ask: can a corporate capitalist product, whether it's a mass marketed toy or a Hollywood movie starring that toy, ever be a good thing, a force for positive change? Can subversive feminist messages stick stronger with audiences, especially its youngest and most impressionable viewer, if we cover it in a pink candy coating? Just give it a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down?

After all, this new Barbie now comes with her own existential crisis and has to deal with scary realities such as cellulite, aging, and *gasp* FLAT FEET (a hilarious bit of family-friendly body horror).

Not to mention a growing awareness of mortality.

To answer Barbie's question: yes. Yes, I do think about dying. We all think about dying at some point. And perhaps more importantly, our kids are starting to think about dying. I would not be surprised if there is even a single kid out there who has asked this question during playtime through their own Barbie. And for many good reasons. The world is a mess right now. Don't even get me started.

It feels like kids and adults alike are more anxious than ever and this new Barbie can certainly relate to that anxiety, even if it's not necessarily her own (it belongs to the girl playing with her). But it turns out that it's the girl's mom Gloria (America Ferrera) who's really struggling and needs Barbie's help, if only by using Barbie as a means of working through her own dissatisfaction as a working wife and mother.

This movie reminds us that we don't stop worrying about things just because we grow up. If anything, we find more things to worry about as we get older. But adults often don't get the same kind of comfort that we give to children; we're just supposed to suck it up and tough it out, but sometimes all we wanna do is stay in our rooms and play with our toys, just like we did when we were kids. Especially if we're girls, since the world is significantly much harder for us to deal with in a society that constantly polices and critiques girls and women (Gloria's speech about the impossible, and often double, standards imposed upon women is a highlight of the movie and should be required viewing for all humans)

But Barbie helps us feel like kids again.

Throughout the entire movie, Greta Gerwig and her team manage to recapture the joy of playing with Barbies with an obviously loving attention to detail. Barbie Land is that now-rare fantasy world that doesn't require a factual explanation but runs on a strong engine of internal logic that makes sense if you've ever played with dolls.

But enough about Barbie.

What about the men?

They're the ones who really have it rough here. Having to deal with all this girly stuff.

Now guys, this might come as a shock, but this movie might not be made for you in mind and therefore you may not get it. You may find yourself confused about why women in this movie are hogging the spotlight and not letting the men do anything important.

But, it's okay, don't worry guys, Ken's got you.

Barbie may be the star, but Ken gets the real emotional journey here. You see, he keeps getting friend-zoned by Barbie, who would rather hang out with her girlfriends and maintain her autonomy than spend the night with him. But once he follows Barbie into the Real World and discovers a magical society where men are in charge and women have to respect them, Ken brings some of these ideas back to the Kens in Barbie Land, thus subjugating all the Barbies to the awesome new patriarchal rule of "Kendom".

Now every night is guys' night.

Folks, go give bonus points to whoever had "Ken gets a villain arc" on their 2023 Bingo card. And while you're at it, add an extra 5 if they also included "Ironic use of a Matchbox Twenty song on the Barbie soundtrack".

Ken's story arc is a powerful reminder of why it's important to critique feminism when it doesn't work.

After all, Barbie Land's matriarchy may seem utopian at first glance, and may even be super inclusive to Barbies of all shapes and races and abilities, but ultimately it is exactly the same as our real world patriarchy, only gender-swapped, with women holding all the power and men being treated as useless accessories. This doesn't balance the scales, it just tips them all the way in the other direction. The only way to achieve true equality is for both men and women to have equal power in society. A conclusion that, thankfully, the movie reaches on its own by the end.

And although Barbie shouldn't have to apologize for not wanting to spend time with Ken or for prioritizing time for herself and her friends, I do appreciate that she was able to make things right with Ken without having to fix things with a kiss or kowtow to his desire to make her his girlfriend. Instead she helps Ken realize that he needs to figure out who he is outside of Barbie, cutting right to the root of toxic/fragile masculinity, which is usually the result of men with low self-esteem just wanting to be heard and respected.

But while Ken is hilariously drawn as a pouty, mostly innocent man child who just wants to be loved (ideally by Barbie), it's a lot harder to laugh off his antics when they result in the Kens actively stripping away constitutional rights and taking over the Supreme Court of Barbie Land. This moment especially should hit just a little too close to home and inspire us to take action.

Thankfully, this movie is not only entertaining and hella meta, but also serves as a practical instruction manual for how girls and women can deal with toxic men and take their power back, whether it's from men in power or obnoxious film bros who constantly espouse the virtues of films like The Godfather and the Snyder cut of Justice League (there's nothing wrong with enjoying these movies, just don't be a dick about it).

It has been a long, time honored tradition in Hollywood for "chick flicks", which is usually code for female-centered films, to be looked down on and mercilessly mocked while elevating more masculine movies to prestige levels. Hopefully Barbie will be the movie that helps us see that "chick flicks" can be just as powerful and impactful as "dick flicks" and then help us reclaim hyperfemininity in our fight against the patriarchy.

After all, would it really be the worst thing in the world if the revolution was not only televised, but also pink?

Listen, if you laugh during this Barbie movie and it happens to make you question and effectively challenge the patriarchy, then all the better.

So will Barbie be that radical watershed movie that inspires a whole generation to believe that the future truly is female or will it just pay lip service to a feel-good you-go-girl message while still maintaining the status quo?

As with any seed we plant, the best we can do is nurture it, give it time, then wait and see what grows.

Come on, Barbie. Let's go party.

#barbie #margot robbie #kate mckinnon #issa rae #hari nef #alexandra shipp #emma mackey #dua lipa #and ken #ryan gosling #simu liu #kingsley ben adir #ncuti gatwa #kenergy #i am kenough #america ferrera #will ferrell #barbie movie #barbie 2023 #greta gerwig #noah baumbach #barbie girl #come on barbie let’s go party #barbenheimer

[lastweeksshirttonight]

Guess who's back

Lee is back, tell a friend.

I know I let this project sit fallow for the last few weeks, but I'm gonna kick it back in gear - especially now that we don't have any new LWTs to pick apart every week.

Last Lee Tonight (wherein Lee is still alive, he promises) Season One, Episode Five

(original air date: 6/8/2014) Major topics covered: Net Neutrality, the spelling bee, European elections

"Is there anyone into both anti-Zionist conspiracy theories AND smooth jazz?"

Welcome back from our mini-break! When we last left off, Last Week Tonight was still trying to figure out how, exactly, to structure its show, now that it's determined longer-form dissections of issues can and will work as stand-alone viral bits. This episode is, at least in some respects, where things start gelling into the format we know and love - and gives us our first really big viral bit from the show. I think this, more than the episode on the death penalty, is where LWT really starts to take shape.

Our episode is a rare start where John does not slap his desk a lot, but instead bobs around like a weird bird while everyone claps. It is delightful and important for you to know this, and he should do this more often. (Did you know that one of my main character traits is 'strong opinions about objectively useless shit'? SURPRISE IT IS)

The episode kicks off discussing a surge of far-right victories in European elections. Good to know people were worried about this getting out of hand in 2014. John makes it very clear this is a bad sign - "when Europe goes far right, they go far right through Belgium" is an amazing joke - and showcases multiple far-right Nazi groups that now have seats in their countries' governments. I hate how numb to a lot of this shit I am now because of the US' slow descent into fascism, but this was a startling warning sign at the time.

In contrast, Ukraine elected a chocolate baron as their president, and John takes the opportunity to sing badly and "whimsically". My heart.

Next is an update on Afghanistan, and a new plan for pulling out of the country by the end of 2014. Or the end of 2015. They've been just about to leave Afghanistan for a long time, and John has some further updates on plans going into 2016 and 2017.

These first bits before the "And Now This" feel a lot more like the modern introductory sections of Last Week Tonight. Everything aside from the brief Afghanistan update is centered around one singular theme (European elections), goes on for about 6 minutes (leaving plenty of time for the main topics), and goes into at least slight depth about the news (unlike earlier, extremely brief tossed-off news updates that expected at least a modicum of familiarity with current events). Things are starting to come together everyone!

Our first "And Now This" is about Jay Carney resigning from being White House Press Secretary, which they frame his resignation speech declaring his respect and love for the job with clips of him getting irritated, bemused, and drained by the idiocy of the press pool he dealt with. I honestly completely forgot this guy existed but all the memories of those Obama-era press conferences came back hard to me while watching this clip.

The first main story starts with the Internet, and John going on an extremely long tangent about buying coyote urine before bringing us to the actual topic - Net Neutrality.

This episode had a massive social impact when it aired in 2014. I remember this being such a huge deal, it seemed like every news organization was covering John's show and, through that coverage, informing the public about why net neutrality would be an absolute disaster for the US. Looking at this now, it also was a huge turning point in the marketing of the show - I've mentioned multiple times for previous episodes that the YouTube clips pulled from each episode so far make absolutely no sense, sometimes chopping up bits and not showing full context (like with the GM recalls), sometimes having shorter and longer versions of the same thing (like with the climate debate and the Bill Nye cameo). This episode marks the first time I can share the entirety of the episode's main bit with you as a YouTube video. It is absolutely wild to think that most audience's main way of interacting with this show, through longform YouTube bits, was not a thing at the start.

While the YouTube channel continues to have some smaller fragments of LWT episodes from this point on (usually the smaller intro bits or episode enders divorced from the main topic), and episode 7 inexplicably doesn't have video of its main topic at all (oh boy, that'll make my write up fun), by episode 8, the main subject of every episode has its own longform YouTube clip.

Here's the net neutrality clip for your viewing pleasure:

John opens the clip noting that discussions of net neutrality are boring as shit, saying he'd rather watch Caillou with his niece than listen to them. That's one of the most casually damning insults I've ever heard, because Caillou is fucking terrible. But net neutrality, I think as we all know now, is extremely important to the function of the internet as we know it.

I said I won't go deeply through each bit on a technical level, and this clip is very technical. It shows really well how LWT, at its best, really breaks down a complex issue and makes it easy to understand - and easy to get incensed about. Helps that cable companies get shit on CONSTANTLY in this one. I am still ready to destroy Spectrum over my early year internet fuckery.

I wish I remembered what I put in that FCC comment website, lol.

The episode shifts to another Other Countries' Presidents of the United States, which focuses on Tony Abbott of Australia, a religiously anti-immigrant shitheel who was an immigrant to Australia himself. It's always projection with these idiots. He's got a cavalcade of bad thoughts and ideas, a lot of which feel like they were pulled directly from a Thick of It episode. "I've given you the response you deserve", Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ.

He also looks a bit like a Paul Scheer character. I can't unsee it.

The last segment of the episode focuses on the Scripps National Spelling Bee. I made it to the regional tournament for this godawful stress-inducing nightmare in middle school, and I'm pretty sure the only reason I got that far is because my dad promised to buy me the Game Boy Advance game 'Ed Edd n Eddy: Jawbreakers' if I made it to state. I did not make it, and my dad felt so bad about it that he still bought me the game. I loved that game far more than I ever loved the goddamn spelling bee.

As an expert on this subject, "the Hunger Games of the mind" is a super accurate assessment and I related very very hard to the girl who said she was going to get every horror movie ever upon losing. I did much the same, except with Ed Edd n Eddy. (I was fucking obsessed with that show.)

I have to note that John also says "pop that pussy" in this clip. This is of interest to me and my gremlin followers.

Also Jesus Christ, Chris Cuomo, go to a fucking fight club or something to get out that Mortal Kombat-ass rage. My God, you absolute lunatic.

Random notes:

Lee obviously focuses on important things corner: plum tie, light blue shirt, dark gray jacket, holy shit it is too early for me to be this flustered. A LOOK. 10/10 no notes

Weird items from the Last Week Tonight YouTube page: a video of a singular joke from the Net Neutrality clip. I am not entirely sure what they were going for here - did they think one joke might go more viral than an entire 15 minute clip? Did they make this as a lead-in on a long-lost corporate website? Did they predict TikTok? I have so many questions.

A couple of years after the Spelling Bee bit, in 2016, John sent his congratulations to Scripps for their 90 year anniversary and some encouragement to participants. This is worth watching because a) all-ages/family-friendly John content is generally adorable and this is no exception, and b) John is smoking hot in it. Not even including the 'imo' there, he just IS. 11/10. 12/10 even. Ranking scale destroyed.

I would ask you all to guess who my favorite character on Ed Edd n Eddy was, but I am such a stereotype of a human being that if you guessed anyone other than Double D, you don't know me at all. Also this show is still hilarious as an adult, and I maybe got sidetracked watching a bunch of clips of it this morning.

#john oliver #last week tonight #last week tonight with john oliver #last lee tonight #ed edd n eddy #sorry for that tag people in the eene tag it makes sense in context #Youtube

[sparrowsgarden]

As someone with a passing knowledge of how AI/computer image generation works, I really wouldn't have minded my stuff being plugged into an engine before a handful of months ago.

That isn't to say that artists shouldn't have control over whether their content is used as training data (the general lack of discretion in the data sets is a whole issue of its own), but up until recently these programs were a lot more of a novelty, and also commonly acknowledged to be very bad at what they were trying to do. While stable diffusion has made the outputs scan better, they're clearly still lacking a lot. Of course, I've never been personally at risk, because I don't have a singular distinctive visual art style - I have a good handful which I apply depending on my mood or what the project demands. My writing, also, is geared toward clear and concise communication, and that simply can't be imitated if the engine doesn't understand the concept behind what it's trying to communicate.

But moreso, it seemed absurd to me that image generation in its current state could compete with actual artists, and I still don't really see that as being as much of a concern as some people think. The people who understand the value of human-made art will still want it regardless of replicability. Anyone willing to substitute it for something that gives them much less flexibility with the final output probably either wasn't compensating artists fairly before, or wasn't buying art at all. I'm not really convinced this hypothetical guy exists who previously would have paid full price for a work by a popular digital artist, but won't anymore because they can generate a facsimile of the artist's style. I think the problem is way more with the general devaluation of art and design work.

There certainly may be less commercial work, but the survival of artists shouldn't depend on their commercial viability. In our capitalist hellscape those corners are liable to be cut when any substitute is available. That could be computer image generation, or it could be a guy who can whip out a barely-passable Photoshop job in 20 minutes where an artist (or a designer who cared and was paid enough to make it more than barely-passable) would spend hours.

Anyone who's argued for modern art before - or on the other end of the spectrum, for photorealism - knows that art shouldn't be valued only by how easy the image is to replicate, and I feel like the emphasis on commercial viability really flattens the discussion on how this technology actually has the capability for harm.

My concern is not about the artists not getting paid for jobs in industries they were already being cut out of. My concern is about how our world might get measurably worse because some people have decided that "actively garbage but scans ok at a first glance" is good enough. Or they don't know enough about what they're doing to discern whether the output is good quality, which is uh, horrifying in some of these contexts. But again, those people were already cutting those corners - it's just gotten way easier to point and laugh at them.

So really, if we want to protect ourselves, I think the main thing that we can do is point and laugh. This won't guarantee that they'll change anything meaningfully, but it'll at least show them they can't get away with making these changes without anyone noticing. It'll hopefully teach people who have not figured it out that these tools are not smart and essays are not an appropriate use for them. And it'll give us some pretty guilt-free schadenfreude to tide us over.

#these engines have a lot of other issues that need to be addressed #but i have zero issue with the *concept* of these tools when used appropriately #a lot of the issues currently are that people aren't using them appropriately #and are thereby making themselves look very stupid #everyone should have vastly more control over their data than is currently given to us regardless of its use #but even if a computer or a five year old or anyone else can replicate your style your art has value #and you must sell to people who know that because those who see art as only a commodity will always treat you poorly #anyway i genuinely put a lot of work into this mini-essay please reblog it

[dogtoling]

Do you ever get tired, or annoyed, of these questions? Because I can sit here and come up with more questions all day, and watch you answer them. I can slow down, or stop if you like. Just want to know if this is bugging you.

Besides Splatoon, any other games you like?

Side thought: I feel like games like Splatoon break the immersive lore by calling everything "ink". It's a trap that games like Pokemon fall into, where Pokemon has everything starting with Poke. By calling so much stuff "ink" or stuff like that, you break the immersion. Do you really think that Inklings would name everything starting with ink? Or Splat. No, they wouldn't. That would be as weird as humans calling everything "human" or something. It just doesn't make sense. Inkopolis, Inkadia, Splatsville, and more.

No I don't really, I like excuses to write essays. The only time asks get on my nerves is when people come to my askbox to try and use me as a publisher for their own completely unrelated theories, in which case MY GOD, get out of MY ASK BOX and just go post it on your OWN BLOG. I think this is just a general PSA at this point for people thinking of sending asks... before you send an ask, take a moment to think if it's actually a QUESTION, if it's something i'm likely to be able to answer, and if the answer to both of those is "no", ask yourself why you're sending it. I don't mind the occasional non-question asks, but sometimes there's just stuff that's like... what am I supposed to say about that? And it might just get the delete treatment. I don't really like saying this stuff because I don't want to discourage people from sending asks (because I like receiving them and seeing people's thoughts!), but there's been numerous times before where I've gotten an ask that's got like nothing to even do with me and could've easily been a reply or an original post! But as far as asks go, I don't mind as long as it's... actually an ASK most of the time. It usually makes my day seeing an ask notification, actually, so no, I don't really mind repeat asks. In fact I'd even encourage them if my previous reply raised more questions.

As for game series, I like Pokemon (regrettably), although scarlet and violet were incredibly disappointing to me and I played the game for like... a week. I don't see myself going back to it honestly lol. But Pokemon is definitely my second-largest interest. Battling is my least favorite part of it. I just really like creatures. I DON'T like the inconsistent (or hard to decipher, rather) worldbuilding and for that reason, I haven't bothered making content about it. (But I am part of some PMD groups on other sites...) I like Zelda a lot but I wouldn't call it something I'm REEEAALLY into. Twilight Princess is my favorite, I've only really played 3D Zeldas... I like them, but my GOD the timeline is a freaking mess and I can't be assed to get into the details of the world and lore (there's a lot) so I also don't do zelda content, lol. It's something I enjoy occasionally whenever a new game comes out, but Tears of the Kingdom hasn't sold me so far, to be fair. I'll still buy it and I'm sure I'll love it, but what the hell, man. I already spent 300 hours exploring every single inch of Hyrule in BotW, I hope the main objective isn't exploration again. Other than those two it's mostly smaller games, and I don't really play a lot of games, honestly. Night in the Woods continues to be one of my all-time favorites over stellar characters, a really immersive story, gorgeous art and music. Like I can't think of a single thing I don't like about it except how it will trigger an existential crisis literally every time (which is also the point). It's like the one singular indie game I would say I'm "into", I've played (VERY FEW) other indie games in my time, but pretty much all of them have been a case of "ok cool" and moving on. Night in the Woods tho? Every time the end of the year comes around I WILL think about it and probably play it. Obviously Minecraft is on this list and it might honestly be the best game of all time, but I can barely consider it a game because it's so much more than that, lol. With that being said though I CANNOT be assed to actually play it myself almost ever due to how time-consuming it is (and also building is really hard lol). But honestly? If I had to pick only one game to play for the rest of my life it'd be Minecraft and that's not even a contest... that game can be anything you want it to be!

Splatoon's naming conventions. True, they are, um... unique. I don't think they break the immersion though, depending on what brand you're immersed in. For Splatoon as the funny game it sets itself up to be, it's perfectly in line - I find some of the weirder stuff breaking my immersion VERY OFTEN but that is solely because I build my image of the Splatoon world to be much less cartoony than it actually is, and then you get sucker punched by the silly elements that are just normalized. I think in Splatoon's case (at least with Inkling societies) ink- and splat- are just one of those cultural naming conventions that isn't strange at all in-universe because they're like, used to it. I do wish the localization team got even a little more creative with their naming of places, though... the one good thing I can say is that it makes it really easy to come up with authentic-sounding place names if you're coming up with original locations. Just slap "ink" on it and it's done.

#mailbox

[ithilien-wolf]

So I was thinking, there is people that finds it really really dificult to understand that for some of us, writen stories, films, videogames, music... are not just entertainment, they are actually an artistic expression of ideas that thrive within us.

These forms of art, while they might not be the most refined or sophisticated, connect us with other people, with other ways to exist, to live, to feel, and sometimes they even help us feel love in strange and intimate ways. Self-love I would say.

It worked this way for me at least, when I was growing up. I had these comfort stories or comfort characters, even though I didn't know the term at the moment, and they helped me escape the sadness of my every day. And they really showed me things different from what I was living were possible. And I am not someone with a tragic childhood or past or anything. Although there was some tough stuff, I had really the most common life you can imagine.

However it was, I've grown so fond of these stories, they were there for me when no one else was, they understood what I was feeling, or needing. They shooed away my loneliness for a while.

And many people, they just don't understand, don't want to understand, how can something that is 'not real' mean anything, "you're delusional" they would say, "you live in your head", "you live in wonderland", "you need to come back down to earth". And all of this while they moan about their sad boring unfulfilling lives.

It might be fiction but it can be authentic, and present very real feelings, situations, topics, characters...

And so when I try to show certain people my favorite films, or videogames, or music, they don't understand that is not just a pretty adornment you buy in a supermarket to change it for a new one the next year. It's a part of me that I am showing you, exposing it, and that I hope makes you feel the same way it makes me feel.

But they just don't get it, it's impossible for them to imagine it. And they won't refrain themselves from saying how shitty, stupid, cheesy or tacky that thing you love is. While they maintain they want to be friends with you.

Well, it used to hurt me when I was young, because I didn't understand that not everyone lives the same way. I don't care now, the way I am makes me happy, and that's what matters, and there's a lot of people that experiment these artistic expressions the way I do.

I pity these grey individuals, trapped in their singular little lifes.

#films #music #books #fandom #video games #fanfiction #english not my native #art #art expression #feelings #life

[strangefellows]

4. “I picked a bad time to become a decent person.” with someone of your choice because I can only imagine the situation and I'm sure it'll be hilarious. For some reason I'm imagining Cu to be involved somehow but I don't know how XD

gfsGSgsfgsfgfgsgh oh my god i love this one. i'm gonna have to use my asshole moth for it, i can't picture anyone else, we'll see if cu pops in (time to absolutely bullshit vaguepost about events that haven't happened in NA yet and that I didn't see the translations of!)

--

"No. Absolutely the fuck not. No. I'm not sure I could possibly say 'no' with any more disgust and disdain than I'm already saying it."

And yet, the orange-haired hurricane continued to grin at him. For a human, she was sure capable of that menacing aura a predator had when it was about to eat you, Oberon thought sourly.

"Come on. Everything's more or less settled! We got the Grail, shenanigans have been duly punished, all that's left is to enjoy the Singularity for the few more days it's gonna last!" She grinned at him wider, which made him feel a little bit like a very stupid squirrel that had walked right into a fox's den with an EAT ME sign. "You have to come! It's the first summer Singularity since you got here, you should at least see what it's like!"

Oberon gave her the most withering stare he could muster, which while wearing this particular face was a little kneecapped. Didn't stop him from trying. "No. I don't. In fact, I refuse. I'm not sure what happened in the Singularity, but you have to have hit your head pretty hard to even think about assuming the words 'summer' and 'beach' have anything at all to do with me. Ever." He grimaced, baring the sharp row of pointed teeth he usually hid with a glamour when in this face just to make a point. "I would rather eat thumbtacks."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," his ridiculous, terrible, horrible, natural disaster of a 'friend'-turned-Master said, flapping a hand. "First off, if head trauma or other grievous bodily harm really caused stuff like that I'd need to be a lot more worried than I am. And secondly, it's not that bad. I'm not even making you put on a swimsuit!"

"First of all, you are insane. Clinically. How has your medical team not all had aneurysms," Oberon asked flatly. "Secondly, if you so much as think the word swimsuit at me again I am never coming out of my room." He crossed his arms. (The only bonus about being in this stupid face was he wasn't accidentally scratching himself with his claw, honestly.) "Go on. You're still completely failing to convince me to come. Try again."

Oh. Wait. No. Abort, abort, that was not a comforting look on her face. In fact it was the opposite. Abort, he took it back.

"Weeeeell," she sing-songed. "Castoria's coming~ She did mention she'd like it if you tagged along for old time's sake~"

Casto-- right. That's what she'd taken to calling her since there were a good goddamn dozen of the girl in the same room back in this metallic hellhole they called a headquarters.

..........fuck.

"I hate you," he said. "I hate you so much. I hate you most out of everything on my long list of things I hate."

Komadori just laughed. "Sure you do," she said fondly. "Now come on, let's go, she's waiting for us at the Command Room."

"If I could set you on fire with the sheer force of my hate," Oberon hissed, undeterred. "God, why did I pick now to attempt to be a decent person? Of all the times, it had to be now."

His horrendous natural disaster of a Master grinned at him again. "Because you like me, despite your protests, and you like her, and you would do anything for us with only slightly less complaining than usual. Now hush. Let's go to the beach! I'll buy you something fruity at the snack stand."

"...make it the biggest bowl of sorbet you can find or something stupidly alcoholic and you have a deal. No, wait. A whole ass watermelon. Those are summery, right?"

He really did hate her. He hated them both. He did.

But...he's a liar, after all. His patchwork existence is a lie, even now, impossible to distinguish from the truth. So if he says he hates them...well. He doesn't know. Even he's never been able to tell whether or not he's lying.

...he's not lying about wanting a whole ass watermelon, though. That's worth the trip to whatever this summery hellscape's going to be. That's the only reason he's going. Definitely. Absolutely.

Ugh.

#fateseriesblogging #chara: white dragon of the abyss #okay idk if this is ic yet but honestly i love it very much #all i know abt him is from the wiki so i hope the dialogue clips helped w his voice

[loving-villanelle]

Eve and Villanelle didn’t have any meaningful dialogue or conversation in s3 (except the bridge!) AND s4 (just some singular lines). So that’s TWO seasons without them actually talking!!! I’m never getting over it. Thank god we have Jodie and Sandra who can just act every god damn feeling without saying a word and thank god for that magical chemistry, but still. They never really talked about the stabbing, about Rome, Villanelle never told about what happened in Russia, they never talked about how they feel towards each other or their feelings in general….gaaahhh. It was a surprise they mentioned Bill.

s3 had it's issues I am WELL aware of this. BUT, those conversations on the dance floor and the bridge were SOOOOO incredibly important. They were so important that I can honestly forgive some of the other crap from s3 because those two conversations between them gave us so much. Also, the difference between s3 and s4 is that in s3, even when Villaneve weren't together (which was a lot unfortunately), they were still focused on each other. That's always been the underlying thread of this show. Villanelle and Eve always being focused on one another (at least partially), until that eventually leads to a face to face interaction. s4 was TRASH in every sense of the word, because they not only failed to give Villaneve adequate screen time for a final season, but then even when they were apart it was really hard to find that underlying thread that we always used to feel. Eve was solely focused on this revenge mission (that she ended up sitting out on, riddle me that) and Villanelle was totally focused on Eve up until the arrest, but then she just kind of wandered aimlessly for a few eps (with her future murderer, don't even get me started on the number of problems I have with Laura fucking Neal claiming that Villanelle couldn't change when the only reason that Carolyn was able to murder her is because V had spared her life AND helped her get information that led her to Lars. It is disgusting how much of a role they had Villanelle end up playing in her own demise, all when she was just trying to do the right thing). So s4 not only stole us of that thread that kept them together even when they were apart, but then we never got another meaningful conversation between them. Every season has contained at least 2 meaningful conversations between Villaneve. At least. In s1, it was the kitchen scene and the scene in Villanelle's apartment. In s2, it was another kitchen scene, the exchange they shared in Villanelle's London apartment, and the Rome exchange. In s3, it was the dance floor scene and the bridge scene. In s4 it was?????? THERE WERE NO MEANINGFUL EXCHANGES IN s4. HOW?! How do you wrap up the FINAL season of a TV show and fail to incorporate a SINGLE conversation between your main characters WHO WILL NEVER INTERACT AGAIN. God, please someone give me enough money to buy the rights to Killing Eve so I can fix this because I cannot for the life of me understand how this happened and how this is the absolute trash heap from hell that we were left with, from what was once the most wonderfully developed and interesting show

#villaneve #killing eve

[eyeless-cunt]

scenario where yandere masky/Tim s/o accidentally broke some plates while putting them away (s/o was already kidnapped and is naturally apologetic) (yes I'm that one person asking for more submissive stuff maybe I have a Problem maybe I don't)

you do have a problem but that’s alright because i’m an enabler, darling. we really do just mix.

TW: kidnapping although that’s not mentioned, blood mention, pulling glass out of skin, crying, there’s not much ‘yandere’ stuff in here

You were just so bored. I mean, there’s literally nothing to do in this old shack, so doing what could be considered chores was really your only option—unless you counted staring at the ceiling as one. Of course, something so simple just had to turn out terribly wrong, thanks to your idiocracy. You and Masky only owned like four plates altogether, so it should have been easy and quick. Although because you are, an idiot, as you started to dry off the last one (this whole ordeal had only taken you a good five minutes so far—so it wasn’t much of a time waster like you had hoped it be) it slipped through your hands and hit the ground with a loud splintering crash.

The plate hit the ground so fast that it took a minute to process the few tiny glass pieces that were now embedded in your skin. The pain hit you so suddenly, making you suck in a large gulp of air, tears bubbling behind your eyelids. You felt like an idiot, a now crying idiot. It really did hurt, blood starting to slightly leak out of the shallow cuts. It was like an amplified paper cut. You thought about how you had broken one of the only plates you and Masky owned, and how much these stupid fucking cuts hurt. Then you thought about how absolutely stupid you were for not holding an obviously slippery plate well enough.

You stood there, no coherent thoughts or plans of action attempting to make a name for themselves. You were dumbfounded for a few more seconds, wondering what the hell you were supposed to do. ‘Should I clean this up first? Or fix these cuts? Fuck, this hurts...’

Of course, your partner(?) just had to come home at that moment, walking right in on you staring at your now excessively bleeding legs like a dumbass. Not your finest moment. He paused. You paused. He stared down at your red Leonardo da Vinci painted legs and you stared at his blank mask. Both of you went through the seven stages of buffering in about five seconds. Immediately though, as soon as the situation got through his thick mask and even thicker skull he was heading towards you, his movements a lot quicker than they’d usually be.

This, obviously, made you shift into gear as well, the sight of him steamrolling towards you after you’d broken a perfectly good plate coaxing an apology out of you hastily. Not because you were sure he was mad at you (although you figured that was on the table) but because you were genuinely sorry. I mean, what was he supposed to do? Break into someone’s house and steal a singular plate because his idiot s/o breaks everything they touch? Walk into a dollar store buying a single plate and just end up staring down the chashier? They’d probably call the cops on him as soon as they saw that sketchy mask walk into the store. And there’s no fucking way he’s letting you walk into some place.

You opened your mouth to apologize, but instead let out a sqeak as he lifted you just a few inches off the ground, practically dragging you into your bathroom. He lifted you up onto the sink, where you sat dumbfounded. You turned to look at him as he shuffled through a cupboard, looking for something with apparent difficulty. He pulled out a pair of tweezers, and you knew this was about to hurt. “...I didn’t even know we owned tweezers.” No response. He took off his mask—something he rarely did—and kneeled down, grabbing the back of your right leg and bringing it in close.

“Wa-wait,” you gasped out, the sight of the glass imbedded in your legs making you uneasy, “it’ll hurt. When you pull it out it’ll hurt.”

“...should I knock you out?” Figures that that’s how he would solve your fear.

“You’ll just end up giving me a concussion...I’m sorry for breaking the plate...it was an accident. I’m sorry.” He didn’t seem like he cared about that, and didn’t even attempt to respond to your apology. It didn’t deter you from continuing though, still feeling the guilt press down on you like a thick fog. “I know we only have a few—and I made such a mess too. I promise I’ll clean it up. I’m sorry.”

“...’s jus’ a plate. ‘m cleanin’ it.” He slowly pulled out a smaller piece from your skin, making you gasp in pain as a response.

“It hurts. It real-really hurts.” He spared you a single glance, getting up to wet a washcloth. He pressed the wet and slightly steaming washcloth to your leg, wiping off already dried and new (some had spurted out when he pulled out some glass) blood. You flinched when he made contact, his hands were warm on your cold skin.

“Close your eyes.” He grabbed the tweezers again, repositioning his hands so that he could grip you firmly. You figured it was so that you didn’t move around or struggle, purposely or not. You obeyed, closing your eyes.

“It’s gonna hurt. Masky it’s gonna hURT!—

He pulled a slightly larger piece out of you leg, making you lean forward to grasp onto his shoulders, gripping them tightly in response to the pain. Your breathing got heavier and you felt your eyes water. You opened your eyes to him looking up at you, his lips turned slightly downwards—usually the look on his face when his mask was off showed no expression, so this was a surprise. He moved to pull out another one, but you stopped him, tugging on his jacket. He paused and looked back up at you.

“I don’t want you to. It really fucking hurts.” You knew that you were being a baby and logically these few more pieces needed to come out of your leg as soon as possible. Your body shook, maybe it was shock. Maybe because you were so cold. Maybe because it hurt so much and you were scared. Probably all of the above. You closed your eyes again, preparing yourself for him to ignore you and pull another out. You wanted this to be done with.

Instead, you felt him wrap his arms under your legs and back, picking you up and walking out of the bathroom. Your eyes watered more, for whatever reason you weren’t sure. You curled into his chest, gripping him tight. It felt secure here. He sat you down on your shared bed, although you found yourself alone in it most nights. He kneeled down to the floor again, taking your leg and picking up the tweezers again to continue.

His actions clicked in your mind instantly, making tears slip even though you tried your hardest to make them stay put hidden away. This was more comfortable, it felt safer in here. He brought your head down to quickly kiss your forehead upon seeing your tears—which only made you cry more. His actions were confirmation that he genuinely cared, which was something you didn’t get often from him.

“I’ll be quick.” He pushed on your shoulder, signaling that he was continuing and that he wanted you to lay down. You did as he asked, laying down and staring up at the ceiling (how ironic that this is what you were trying to avoid doing only so many minutes before) with your legs dangling over the edge of the bed. He pulled another out, your hands clenching the blankets around you as the pain clenched you—your body tensing so as to not spasm out of his grip and mess something up.

“One more.” You let out a breath of relief, bracing yourself for one more. He slowly dug it out, this one apparently deeper than the others. That’s probably why he left it for last. You hit the bed beside you, clenching your teeth as it moved under your skin. He tugged it out, finally.

The tension left your body as soon as it was out, you wanting to curl into bed and never touch any glass objects ever again. “Stay.” You huffed at his word choice. “‘m not a dog.” He paused in the doorway. “...bunny.” You laughed, a bunny? Do you tell bunnies to stay? Can bunnies follow commands? You heard the bathroom sink running, figuring that he was probably washing out the washcloth, surprisingly. Usually he left bloody clothes out and you ended up dealing with them. You knew his intention wasn’t for you to do them, but it somehow ended up that way anyways.

You stopped focusing on listening to what he was doing, instead opting to drag a pillow over to you and snuggle into it as best you could without changing your current position with you laying on your back. Masky came in a minute later, equipped with bandages and a glass of water. You heard one of his many pill bottles scatter as he walked in his pocket. He made you take at least three of those a day, often more if he was with you. The reason you didn’t know, but it didn’t change anything about you, so you didn’t mind.

You waited patiently as he wrapped the bandages around your leg, flinching every so often when he came into contact with an injured area. “Done.” You immediately got up, grabbing his shoulders to steady yourself. “Thank you. I’m sorry I was complaining like a baby the entire time.”

He didn’t say anything, as usual. Although he placed his hand on the back of your head, patting awkwardly —it was actually sorta comfy though. You went to leave the room to clean up your mess, only for him to stop you by grabbing your wrist and pulling you back.

“What?” You stared up at him, his face giving away no tell as to what he may be feeling, much less thinking.

“...I need to clean up.” He pushed you back again, seemingly annoyed.

“Didn’t’ch hear me? ‘m cleanin’ it.” You protested as soon as the words left his mouth, but he only pushed you down again, leaving to go clean up your mess. You felt even worse now. You broke a plate, made him clean you up, and now he’s cleaning up the mess you started. You felt absolutely pathetic as more tears slipped out. Your arms moved to cover your face, not wanting anyone to see you genuinely cry.

He was back five minutes later, but paused once again when he heard you sniffling. You wiped your tears, ashamed of your out of control emotions. His mask was on when you looked up to find that he was back. He closed the door beside him and sat on the opposite side of the bed, slipping off his shoes and coat. He laid himself down in bed, looking at you as if he was expecting something. So you got up from your uncomfortable position and crawled in beside him under the covers, wrapping an arm around his waist in an attempt to pull him closer. He was always warm, and a bit sweaty. His arms found themselves around you in return and you smiled for the first time that day.

#i genuinely dont like this #THIS IS SO BADLY WRITTEJ LMFAOFJFJ PLEASE #masky #masky marble hornets #marble hornets headcanons #masky x reader #yandere masky #marble hornets x reader #marble hornets yandere #tim marble hornets #marble hornets #creepypasta headcannons #creepypasta imagines #creepypasta #creepypasta x reader #yandere

[sparklycardigan]

Hellooo! Me again! As per your tags again, I DO think that Jess rambles a lot to Rory particularly when he's enthusiastic about something. And we did see this at least once on the show! Well, sort of... They were in the diner holding hands over the counter and playing with each other's fingers, and Jess was chattering on about something while Rory smiled adoringly... But we only catch a GLIMPSE of it, because the camera is following Lorelai, and Lorelai is only approaching with the express intent of interrupting them so that she can get Rory to distract Taylor for her! That glimpse was SO cute though! And most of Jess's speech was indistinct except for "...thought he sounded like a madman." But from that snippet, I suspect he was telling her something Nerdy. You know they did things like that all the time, and I just wish we'd gotten to see more of it!

EXACTLY!!!!!! Okay, I'm overly enthusiastic about this for more reasons than one but that scene lives in my mind rent free, I literally have it playing in the drive-in movie theater that is my mind 24/7.

I again have 💫thoughts💫 (shocker, I know + when exactly do I intend to stop using these emojis sarcastically??????), but I promise to try to keep it brief.

I always felt like Jess enjoys straight to the point writing the best because in his mind he's everything but concise (which is why, in my head, he keeps reading and buying poetry books even though he can't get into poetry and yes, this is projecting at its brightest). It's about the contradictions!!!!!!! And I love love love the humanity of it all.

(which is one of the main reasons why I feel so connected to GG as a show, these people and their actions just don't make logical sense sometimes and that's okay, the show rarely tries to shove us the reasoning behind something in bright shining letters, there's no "THIS,  THIS is why they do what they do, THIS is why there are the way they are!!!!!!", it's usually about the combination of many different details and experiences and even with all that, there's plenty of room for interpretation and that's so human to me and that kind of approach definitely helped me in improving my own perspective on some things. these people are SO messy with no need for a clear, singular reason behind it and I live for that. enough with the off topic stuff now.)

Anyways, the point is: Jess feeling safe enough to ramble around Rory is everything to me and I would sell my soul (or even worse, give up my own rambling abilities) just to see more of that (like... none of them can do small talk, they just jump into an intellectual debate straight away and that's so cool of them). They are both extremely passionate people, the rambling sessions are inevitable (the 🎇heart eyes🎇 that surely come hand in hand with those kind of interactions make my head spin). I'm actually really into the way that scene at the diner was shot, I love that it's a glimpse (I'm the "look at my favourites in the background of the main event looking all pretty standing next to each other holding hands" kind of gal). Basically, I just love to see fictional characters doing nothing except being themselves and GG is all about the little things like that🤧. And now I have the image of Jess and Rory sitting crossed-legged at Luke's place, cutting out cool newspapers articles (Rory totally has a journal where she keeps stuff like that) and rambling about nothing and everything... I also remember a chess board being in front of them in one of the very few scenes they share at Luke's apartment (we were so robbed, so so so robbed, it's canon that they spent the majority of their free time up there and we barely got to see it), IMAGINE THEM PLAYING CHESS IN THE BACKGROUND OF A SCENE!!!!!!!

I. am. soft.

#i am djwwhdkwhfiieifuekf #literati #gilmore girls #otp: you wrote a book #otp: it's just you #rory gilmore #jess mariano #jo rambles #i am in a great mood today and this ask made me even happier so THANK YOU #literally melting here #gonna go find the chess board i hope i spotted that correctly #sparkly answers

[mocacheezy]

I was able to get an old portable dvd player (thank you parents of the past, it is much appreciated in the year of '21, and thank you sister for keeping it somewhere we could find it) and after buying the cable and charging it, I started watching that Transformers dvd I got some time ago.

Turns out its TF Generations, so we're watching "through the cube" which alright, nice to get the nostalgia going for the parents, while also getting the attention of the kids with the constant rotating scene from scene. Kind of annoying for me but hey, that's just my attention problems.

It has two episodes: More Than Meets the Eye, Part 3 and Auto Berserk and here's my thoughts on the dubbing:

I actually missed dubbing from my childhood, and the fact Soundwave, Spike, Red Alert and Mirage have female VAs brings me intense amounts of joy. I didn't even know I will be so happy to hear this old, somewhat crappy dubbing. I missed it and didn't even know it.

The crowd cheers are pathetic just as I remember them XD

"Ti ne bi mogel voditi androidov na piknik." alright, alright, nice change of a joke that doesn't translate, but that means Megatron (and other Cons probably) discriminate against androids.

The "Transform and roll out! " sounds... strange. Then again it is a dub and I didn't watch this as a kid XD

The way slovene is spoken has me smile and cringe because it sounds so formal but it actually isn't. It might also be the way language evolved. It could also be my lack of watching dubs for a long long time.

Za slovenski folk: "Spremenite se, pa pojdimo!". Ta "Pa pojdimo" me ubije. Uporabili so ga samo enkrat, "Spremenite se" pa je prisoten pri skoraj vsakem transformiranju, ampak tisti resni glas s takim stavkom XD

In total I think there are 3 guys and 1 girl dubbing this. I guess this is similar to what we have today, with the difference the old folks DON'T try to change their pitch... I think. Multiple characters have the same VA amd you can clearly tell it's the same one. (I also think there might be two girls in the new dub group, but I'm not sure).

I wonder why, aside from musicians and comedians, we don't have more voice actors??? Or trained voice actors?

I have no place to really talk, because giving voice to characters is an art, and not everyone can be Frank Welker. So unless I myself go into the dub buisness, I am keeping my mouth shut and congratulating the dubbers.

10 for the effort and execution

(even if the older gen knew how to make falling on the ground sound more realistic. Yes I am still not over Cyberverse Windblade being yeeted across the desert and her screaming and grunting so softlya when she bounces off the floor. But as I said, being a VA is tough work and my nostalgia might also be affecting my viewing of the newer stuff)

So to wrap up the dub experience:

and down here are some of my thought process while watching the two episodes:

who was going to tell me that G1 Prime has a blue underside of his crotch plate? How come I never saw that anywhere?? This has so much potential and jokes about interface difficulties, if I don't find at least one joke in a crackfic about it I will be disapointed.

I love Optimus' head shape and finials, he looks adorable.

I'll watch G1 eventually, but if Spike really does write in his diary about how Optimus would make a good president I am high fiving the lil bastard.

You know you are in too deep when you see a 2D warlord and can't stop smiling. Bitch, I don't even fully know you but BY FUCK do I love the design and mannerisms!!! OG Megatron, 10/10, and I may be biased because childhood dubbing, but they picked a good VA for him.

Great VA choice for Starscream too! And he is very pretty as well, damn, I can see why people love G1 even without nostalgia!

Ravage, what can I say. Good casette. (Also love how he doesn't speak to the Autobots, but comms Megatron)

SPEAKING OF TALKING: Skywarp requesting permission to teleport and his interaction with Megs made me smile so much LOOK AT HIM, LOOK AT OUR TELEPORTING BOY!!! He shoots for shit, is awful at it, but look at him go!

Unicron singularity might be the answer to why Ironhide and Bluestreak can fly, but I'm not sure.

In any case I love how Optimus speaks to Ironhide, it's great. Heck, the Autobots dynamic and interactions are great. I can see why people say Optimus is a dad, or why they talk about how the Autobots are like a family.

Also we see slow motion of how OP transforms and I adore it!

And how he acts too! He is stubborn and it takes multiple attempts to persuade him from sacrificing himself/trying to do his duty as a leader when it's too dangerous. He listens to his friends and soldiers, but isn't hapoy about it. He acknowledges the risk.

Back to blue underside crotch however: IT'S JUST A BLUE LIL SQUARE UNDER ALL THAT WHITE! WHAT PURPOSE DOES IT SERVE ASIDE FROM BEING PRIME'S LIL GARAGE??? COME ON! COME ON!! A blue trussy, I mean tfp had a bikini situation going on, but G1 Prime has just a tiny rectangle/square! I don't even know the shape but it's BLUE ON WHITE CAN IT STAND OUT EVEN MORE??? (And here I thought the Megatron toy and the trigger crotch were bad XD)

Seeing Starscream manipulate Red Alert had me smiling. Look at this tri colori squeak toy jet. Being his eviiil self.

Seeing how Megatron interacts with his other Cons is just hilarious. He is a TERRIBLE boss if you make a misstep. So mean! ...Then again, he is bent on destroying the autobots if he can't get to Cybertron first, so *shrugs* the guy can be a lil frustrated I suppose. He does pick on Screamer alot however, and the dynamic of these two has me understand MegaStar much better.

They are a bickering old couple that joke about how they'll kill eachother, but never go fully through with it. Must be true love~

All in all, glad I got that dvd. Megatron has screen time in it, the animation is ridiculously pretty in that old show way and even if the episodes were probably selected at random for the dvd it was interesting to watch.

I love it. Can't wait to watch G1 when my brain allows it, and I will forever wonder if actual G1 was also dubbed fully.

#moca watches #transformers dub #moca screeches #slovene dubbing

[theculturedmarxist]

The Dialogues of Suckrates

Me, an intellectual: The bankers, congresspeople, and executives responsible for beginning the economic crisis we're currently languishing in should be cut open in the street and left to bleed out in the gutter.

Them, a useful idiot: But the people that irresponsibly took out loans bear some of the blame, because—

Me, a genius: Shut up. The responsibility for lending lies solely with the banks that lent in the first place.

Them, bourgeois stooge: Well that's—

Me, philosopher king: Furthermore, this tired talking point exists only to try and deflect blame from the people responsible for wrecking the economy in the first place, creating the circumstances that would prevent those people from being able to pay the mortgages that the banks dishonestly loaned to them.

Them, counter-revolutionary cur: Sure maybe—

Me, enlightened economic Bodhisattva: Their culpability is only compounded by the fact that they knew these loans were risky or worthless outright, knew that there was an ever increasing likelihood that they were and would go defunct, and that they actively obscured this fact through the use of all sorts of backhanded schemes, the financial soundness of which they then lied about, while simultaneously lobbying their government to remove all oversight and regulation which might have impeded their profit making.

Them, guillotine fodder: I don't think—

Me, marxist mentat, a living communist computer: What's more, these same people that wrecked the economy, lied about doing it, and then got the government to buy all the junk debt that they'd created and proceeded to hide, paying themselves off with trillions-upon-trillions of dollars, paid for at the expense of the people whose lives they ruined by selling them crooked loans, making it so that they couldn't pay them, and then repossessed their homes. The most vulnerable people lost everything and then had to finance the luxury of the people responsible, who paid no penalty and experienced no repercussions for their actions whatever.

Them, gulag bait: That's really—

Me, mental singularity of all philosophers past and present: And now we're gearing up to go through that whole song and dance again as all the meager safeguards put in place to prevent these people from doing exactly what they're doing now have been systematically stripped away, not the least of which by these "too big to fail" banks lobbying for legislation that would remove them from any sort of oversight or regulation. None of the systemic factors which produced the origin of our ongoing crisis have been addressed, and have even festered untreated, ensuring that when the next failure comes that it will be an economic catastrophe on a scale not witnessed since the fall of the Roman Empire.

Them, target practice for commissars: What do you—

Me, intellectual titan supporting the cosmos on my brain: But what else can really be expected? This is how the economy is designed to work, and this is the outcome it is designed to produce. Countless billions will languish in poverty while the obscenely wealthy congratulate one another on this quarter's earning reports, knowing full well that prosperity can't possibly last, and that they're all just trying to grab what they can before the bottom drops out. The only way for this to not happen is for the working class to rise up and abolish this parasitic ownership class and create a rational economic system devoid of the roulette-wheel economy that is capitalism.

Them, mental mote trying to conceive of the vastness of the universe: I can't agree with—

Me, the supreme thoughtform: It doesn't matter what you agree with. The dialectic is in motion and the days of bourgeois class society are numbered. You can either join the working class in their liberation, or join the bourgeois aristocracy in their long, long line for a trim from the People's Razor.

Them, slinking away like a beaten dog: I have to go.

Me, the dialectical demiurge at the heart of all being and becoming: So does Capitalism.

#shitpost #dialogue #economics #class warfare #economic crash #2008 #2018 #maybe

[umazes]

In the interest of having a civil discussion, I wanted to clear up the concerns I have about The Arcana. I think many of the people who have been raising concerns probably feel the same way and I don't want to be misunderstood as trying to attack the devs or kill the game, because this is emphatically not about that.

My concerns with how this is proceeding can be broken into 3 points

1. The pricing of the game.

I've said it before, but I don't mind paying for things. I've spent hundreds on merch and games. I've paid at least $50 to play mystic messenger, for optional content, and I haven't regretted it.

What bothers me about the pricing of this game is how absurdly different it is compared to other games, and how I have no idea why it's this expensive.

Most mobile dating sims (voltage and solmare, notably) tend to ask no more than $5 for a route. And that's not what I'm asking for, but it's a comparison worth noting, because I think of it every time I'm asked to pay the equivalent of $3 for a single choice in this game. Beyond that, it's costing $10 to buy a book, which ends up working out (as others have calculated) to somewhere in the vicinity of $500 if you want to play the full game.

I've never been asked for that much money for any game, ever, unless they also offer me an art book and something like a 3 foot tall statue. Even other dating sims priced in the hundreds offer posters or voicing or badges. Asking $500 per customer for just the game itself is ridiculous.

Here's where the "It's optional" argument comes in. It's optional, in the same sense that I can eat raw potatoes and cooking them with seasoning is optional. I can play the free game, but it's just not as good or coherent without the coin choices, and lacks all of the scenes that make the game what I want it to be.

The problem associated with just not buying premium content if you don't like the pricing is that from a statistical point of view, unless we explain WHY we don't want to pay so much for it, it can be misinterpreted. What if the executives think we don't want the content because it's bad? They can interpret it as mobile visual novels just not being profitable. "Don't like, don't buy" with no additional complaints can ensure the content just stops being available rather than altered to be affordable.

I want to pay for this game! God, I want to. If I could even buy a route for $50. If there was a discount the more coins you buy.

(There isn't. You save something like 81 cents if you buy the highest bulk tier as opposed to the same amount in small increments.)

I just can't afford to pay half a months rent to play one game that I have no guarantee of receiving the full content for, and I imagine that's true for many of us. And if it has to be this price, I'd just like to know why. It's been extremely unclear to me why it's priced so high.

2. The treatment of kickstarter backers.

I'll be brief here, because I'm not a backer myself.

It's very upsetting to me first and foremost that all backers were promised a free version of the game that is no longer available and can receive, at most, a $10 compensation or just suck it up.

"But they're refunding most of the kickstarter money and killing their game!" is an argument I have heard. And, well, yes. But the backers who bought tiers specifically for the promise of a full pc version have all lost out, unless the pledged $10 or less and did not buy anything in the mobile game.

I understand that a free mobile version was never a reward, and that makes sense. But for the people who pledged maybe $50 for the pc game, they've lost $40 and in addition will have to pay the $10 per book in order to still receive the content they were promised. It's absurd. At the very least, higher tier backers should be offered coin compensation. And the gall of allowing people to select neither refund nor waiting for the PC version indefinitely, of offering for people to just give their money away after this, is shocking.

The draw of kickstarters that I fund is that I pay for a product that isn't complete in order to receive it for a reduced price when it is complete, because that compensates what was essentially an uncertain loss to me at the time of pledging. This is a loss with no equivalent gain in sight and no overt plans for them to do anything much about it.

3. The response and treatment of feedback.

This one really gets me. Let me start off by saying that I am very, very much aware that they have no dedicated PR staff.

I had a recent interaction with the arcana Twitter after they found another user's untagged complaint. As has been standard to this point, they kindly advised us that paid content is optional, to which I have the response I gave above. Upon being asked again why they think the price is justified, this response was offered.

Ha ha! Funny joke! Apparently whoever was manning this Twitter account thought so. Except it wasn't a funny joke at all. Making a very callous and inappropriate joke of a real concern that has already negatively impacted users, after barging into an untagged complaint on a personal account, is about one of the worst responses I can think of. And nobody even asked for one at all, at the time.

But upon receiving that response, boy did I want a response. I've been seeing that response from them everywhere. "Send us an email". So I passed this along to some friends who do similar work and who have feedback concerns as well.

Firstly, I was told by pretty much everyone who had sent them an email that no response had been received. I brought this up in the Twitter thread, to which I received the answer that the team is small and can't respond to every email.

Well, okay, that's reasonable. Except that you DO have time to respond to every tweet, apparently.

Then send them! Throwing my feedback into some kind of void with no indication of how, if, and when they are being received is not an encouraging way to deal with customers.

Apparently, tweets are harder to pass along. Except that when I pointed out tweets can be linked and indexed in a variety of ways (it is a thought sharing platform, after all), I received the response that tweets are screenshotted and passed along as well.

Then why are we supposed to email??????

I was complaining about this confused response privately when another friend who works in customer service pointed out to me that companies tend to prefer social media over email communication anyway, because email can be treated as a legal document. This entire inability to respond to my questions promptly and honestly is making me really irritated in trying to resolve what amounts to a singular complaint that I would like to freely offer money to this game, and want to know why it's so hard.

And to be clear, I don't expect it to be resolved in a day. I don't expect the devs to work day and night to change their game. But if you are using official accounts to interact with your audience, I expect a prompt and professional reponse. I handle CSR duties daily in my job too. A simple "We will get back to you in a few days" or "This problem can't currently be resolved but we'll provide an update on how the discussion is going in a week" would suffice. Do a public update instead of responding to every email if it's too much. Walk away and respond to my tweet in twenty minutes after coming up with a better response.

If you're interacting with customers in a professional capacity, then be professional. I expect to be treated with respect and I expect to know where my feedback is going and what's being done with it, because as 85 stands the interactions I've had have been extremely underwhelming.

I'm not contacting these devs on their personal accounts and I don't want to be accused of bullying. I just don't think it's unreasonable that if I'm having a bad time trying to support this good game that I enjoy playing, I should know why.

#the arcana #i just wanted to get this off my chest

[fyjjong]

so kpopme said there isn't going to be any lightsticks sold at the concert and shawols should bring their own and i saw key fansite saying they will give the fans lightsticks that have key face on it and most shawols are buying them don't get me wrong i'm grateful but isn't there any other way or a group order for regular lightsticks for canadian shawols cause the whole crowd just carrying key lightsticks and just key merch is't a good look

sadly i don’t think there is any other way - at least for group orders. even a singular order would be a bit risky now considering that most authentic (unless you get lucky) lightsticks are shipped from japan or korea which normally takes two to three weeks in shipping if you’re living in north america. both the dallas and chicago fanmeets used glowsticks last year and it went well, but the issue there is: that it’s difficult to find a good match in glowstock to shinee’s official color, and it’s expensive to buy them in bulk. the lightsticks used for both of the fanmeets were prepared well ahead of time because everyone knew early on that there likely wouldn’t be official lightsticks for merchandise. this is, of course, last minute though.

so, the only thing i can really suggest is to gather people and try to buy in bulk right now (which would likely require trying to get last minute donations from fans attending either of the concerts) or to chance buying a lightstick off of ebay no later than the end of the this weekend.

#answered #anonymous