#makes more sense it trends where the gays are anyways

[bottombaron]

lol omg this shit has officially reached trending levels

#wwdits #what we do in the shadows #nandermo #i love it #that's his boss #i wanna know if it's trending on twitter but i dont want to actually go there to check u feel? #makes more sense it trends where the gays are anyways

[iris-black13]

In honour of Merlin trending for literally no reason today, I would like to share my theories that I came up with during my recent rewatch. (I'm only up to season 3 right now so there really aren't that many theories yet.)

1. Merlin and Arthur 100% fell in love with each other in season 1, but they aren't aware of it at all.

2. Merlin is so gay. I'm not sure if he knows it or not, but Merlin is not attracted to women. Every time he's seemed interested in a woman, it's because she's been a powerful sorceress or a magical creature. Speaking of Freya; his only real female love interest, what he loves about her is that he sees himself in her. He feels a sense of kinship towards her as someone who is trapped and hunted for something out of her control. I don't think he feels any actual romantic love for her. He loves her, sure. But I think he's confusing romantic love for something else. (But idk I could be wrong.)

3. I don't think the Morgana we got back after her disappearance is the same Morgana we had pre S2E12. I think she probably died and came back wrong. Because otherwise the personality difference is too drastic. Her relationship with Gwen for instance. It makes sense if she didn't forgive Merlin for what he did, but why is she so mean to Gwen?? Gwen was her best friend and maybe even her first love? Morgana was never classist before season 3, but afterwards she acts like Gwen is lesser than and it just doesn't make sense. Anyway that's my in-universe explanation for her terrible shift in character.

4. This is the most important one. Merlin doesn't realize he's in love with Arthur until some time shortly before the season 2 finale. Before the finale, Merlin is happy to cheer on the romance between Arthur and Gwen. Two of his best friends fell in love! Why wouldn't he be happy? Even if they think there's no future for their relationship, he's more than happy to help them get together because Merlin believes in loving who you want to love.

Now, I could go on about how falling in love with Gwen is basically Arthur's way of expressing his repressed feelings for Merlin since Gwen and Merlin are of the same social standing and since Gwen is a woman he can experience the love he could have had with Merlin if it was allowed, but I won't do that. This ain't about him. What's important is that Merlin, in the season 2 finale- knows he's in love with Arthur, and that Arthur can't love him back. After the finale, he's still happy to help his friends in their affections for each other, but his bright goofy smile is gone. It's replaced with this melancholy smile and a hesitant voice.

I'm so serious right now. If you don't believe me, just go rewatch seasons 2 and 3 and see the shift in his demeanor yourself. He actively avoids them when they're interacting in season 3. In- I think it was the changeling episode, at the end, Arthur and Merlin walk into a hallway at the bottom of the staircase. They both see Gwen on the staircase, and when Arthur starts up the stairs, Merlin immediately leaves. It's not a "I'll give them their space" moment. It's a "I can't be here right now" kind of moment. He doesn't even try to stick around to protect Arthur on their date in the episode where Morgana frames Gwen for witchcraft. (and don't even get me started on that episode of my god.) Normally, he would stick around in the shadows to make sure nothing goes wrong and they aren't attacked or anything. It's weird that he doesn't try to stick around!

And oh my God. There are so many moments where Colin Morgan's acting just makes my heart ache. In the crystal caves, Merlin trying to banter with an unconscious Arthur while trying desperately to heal him makes me want to cry. And any time he's encouraging Gwen to follow her heart and be with Arthur just makes me ache. In the "...you still have feelings for him." And the "you like him. He likes you. Isn't that all that really matters?" I just can't.

Honestly, I could go on, but this post is already wordy enough. Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.

#merlin bbc #bbc merlin #merthur #merlin #arthur pendragon #merlin analysis #merlin spoilers #merlin 2008

[beesmygod]

one webcomics trend I've noticed for a bit is comics where the creator casts a wide net and publishes to as many sites as possible, so like there's a tumblr mirror, a webtoons mirror, a tapas mirror, a twitter mirror, I've even seen one that has a tiktok mirror (god). Some of these even have the decency to actually have their own website

the idea was to cast the widest possible net in order to get the maximum audience possible, as this was the excuse for people using webtoons despite it sucking raw hot dogs but i dont understand how on earth this strategy could ever work lol

full lol i love to hear myself talk damn. fucking. subnormality webcomic behavior

anyway to highlight the uselessness of google analytics, these are my analytics arranged on "looker studio", a google product i guess they forgot about, in order to make sense of the useless shit they're showing me. you can see this enormous traffic spike from a traffic bot farm advertising their services by ruining your metrics. you can no longer filter these urls from your data.

full image

here's my google adsense conspiracy theory from me shedding light on why i think (STRONG EMPHASIS ON "THINK". IM HYPOTHESIZING) with commentary from someone who knows way more about the subject than my armchair observations.

my marketing strategy is to talk bullshit with people with similar interests while letting people know when my comic updates twice a week. if they want to read it, they can. they're not stupid, they don't need to be forced into reading it if they want to. i assume most of my readers are as broke as i am so i don't hound them to give me money they don't have. i'll never run ads again unless its like. for a friend's thing. hand-cultivated by me. im not looking for a wide audience, i'm looking for an audience of people who "get it" and can see an inherent value in what i create. if they have some spare cash, i make my barrier to entry on my patreon extremely low; 1 dollar a month and you can see things early and go through a backlog of author commentary and design stuff and rewards im sooo behind on im so sorry. im so sick i promise, im coming back!!! anyway i just want real human people to have a chance to see things and enjoy things without making it a fucking hassle, you know.

the most organic, actual traffic i got from my site is from a friend's webcomic that links to mine. 11 people read a lot of pages! that's genuinely making my head spin! that's great! i hope they liked it and will check in again. i love the comic they came from so they are clearly ppl of taste lol.

oh uh. and heres my comic lol. for any cantankerous gay old losers out there.

#doodles #bearart #a ghost story #web comics #webcomics #webcomic

[rongzhi]

How would you describe the attitude towards trans people in China? ((I ask this as a trans person who would like to work there as an expat))

I don’t live in China so I couldn’t tell you with any certainty what to expect in real life anyway. But, you asked, so I want to at least take a stab at it, even if I just end up rambling about other things.

I expect you know it’s already hard enough to be trans in the west, even in the supposed liberal utopia of major cities. Now think about moving to another country and having to start out with no real support network. Now on top of that, while recognition and acceptance of queer identities, particularly gays and lesbians, in China has taken strides forward in recent years, it’s still not on the same level with the same sort of sensitive treatment as what you could say many have come to expect in the West (depending on where you live). The official government stance on LGBT issues is a tepid “uhhhhhhmmmm 🙈🙉🙊” (“Laws protect all individuals from discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, etc, but until something happens don’t look at us for nothing 🤐. Please clap.”), so most LGBT education/awareness largely comes through local grassroots efforts (slow and frequently hampered) and online/global media exposure (tho this also requires a level of voluntary engagement).

So, I’m not trying to spook you, but I wanted to make that clear first, that merely moving to another country as a trans person is no enviable task. If you do immigrate to China or live there for a period of time, you will of course at least have some level of privilege as an English speaking (white?) foreigner, so that might help, especially if you plan on hanging out with other expats anyway. Living in a major city would also help, which is really just to say, city folk anywhere are always going to be more open-minded and so I guess this finally brings us close to more of an answer to your question:

Based on my limited observations, I feel like the attitude toward the every day trans person trends negative compared to the west, perhaps largely due to lack of understanding (why would “choose” to be trans, how could you do such a thing, etc). It is not illegal or anything, and HRT/gender reassignment surgery is available in China, medically speaking, but again, I sense that the knowledge/understanding disparity when it comes to transgender identity is pretty high and therefore acceptance is inversely proportional to that. Discussion of the topic that I have seen has never really been that nuanced. Young people are more likely to accept and support LGBT+ individuals in general, but that’s “in general (like, I supsect that it might be more for LGB support versus trans support, as typically LGB issues receive greater attention than trans issues).

On the more neutral/positive end, there will be people who say “as long as they’re not hurting anyone”/ “a person has to live for themself/respect each person’s right to make their own choices in life” and that sort of thing, but I’ve never seen anything pro trans or pro gender revelations per se (this is true by and large in the West as well I think, so no big diff there), and anecdotally, I’ve seen a lot of those comments toward trans people of like “oh but you used to be so pretty/handsome, why would blah blah blah”, and more emphasis seems to be placed on passing, like I guess the more successfully you transition to the opposite gender (ftm or mtf) the more respect you deserve (as if transition should be the goal) (like if you botch it, visually speaking, you might as well have not even bothered) (but I guess this is also true in mainstream thought in the west), and even if you pass you might still get hit with the “can you believe they’re actually a _?”/ "wow I have to be more careful" treatment.

I guess it’s worth noting Jin Xing, a popular trans celebrity/TV presenter in China, is also highly respected, even amongst older generations (which is cool). To many, she “already counts as a real woman” (to quote a comment I saw once) because she’s seen as dedicated to being herself (a woman), and is a wonderful mother to 3 adopted children. People respect her because she worked hard and she has an attractive personality, but at the same time, she’s also high profile enough that the disrespect can get drowned out by the admirers, so she's not a typical case of the trans experience in China obviously.

TLDR

Soooo. I don't live in China so my perspective is limited (I can't emphasise that enough) and only my own opinion based on discourse/exchanges, commentary, depictions, etc, I've witnessed on the Chinese web (douyin, bilibili, zhihu, and douban forums for the most part).

I don’t know how rude anyone would be to your face. Being a foreigner/expat (I said “(white?)” earlier because I feel like “expat” usually refers to white people) might afford you some extra privilege or at least a wider berth from dealing with assholes. As of right now, my impression of the general attitude toward trans people is: improving but still behind and still with the focus on successful transition. Lots of awareness is still needed but efforts to increase it are slow and hampered.

---

Aaaaah this turned out way longer than I'd hoped 😬 and I always feel like I'm typing up paragraph upon paragraph of unintelligible nonsense but I hope this give you some food for thought, since you asked for my take. I expect you're already quite sober to the realities of We Live In a Society™ as a trans person, so apologies if I sound too pompous or lecture-y at any point.

#text #answered ask #long post

[cafephan]

I have been a fan of D&P for a long time... I'm so happy the gaming channel is back. I felt it was the most "real" version of themselves of all their channels...

That being said though, I love their banter but can't help but feel like they force some stuff...like I grew up, I wish they did a bit too if that makes sense. Some of the jokes seem like they are trying too hard to be edgy and young. But still watching all the vids!

i agree with you in part! but let me tell you my thoughts which i know you didn’t ask for :)

they’re smart guys who have been in this game for a long long time, they always keep an ear to the ground in terms of what is trendy in both content and humour (see all of the old days of collabs, tags, diss track, draw my life, and modern day taking on trending and upcoming games on dapg and having somewhat of a presence on tiktok) so they are well aware that some of their jokes tailor to a more modern audience - such as the quick editing style, some jokes about pop culture, referencing popular tiktok sounds etc, and generally referencing more modern day and current topics, so that new viewers that might stumble across the channel won’t see two thirty something gay guys making constant outdated jokes and will want to watch more of the content alongside the long time phannies that dnp won’t let out of the basement - but i personally think they intertwine that so well with references to both their past (see the roblox video was a love letter to the older fans but also let new fans know where they came from) and older topics that we will remember from the time they occurred (example being the reference to the piss incident - many new fans would just know the name and be like omg fnaf movie these guys know what’s up, and older phannies cackle in remembering how awkward the video was)

anyway this answer was a lot longer than what you were probably expecting, but my conclusion is to continue expecting more ‘young and edgy’ jokes - they need to keep things fresh in terms of keeping new viewer engagement, for example if a new fan tuned in to any modern day dapg video and it was just filled with more mature references and references to their past, the shorter content phenomenon means that sadly new viewers probably won’t stick around if there’s not something to keep their attention

BUT i do strongly believe the comfort content will keep coming - they are so grateful that so many of us are both still here and returning after the hiatus, they wouldn’t purposefully upset us by trying to soft reboot themselves to appeal just to the modern, new audiences!

#i love doing these long answers ahhh #also hey can we discuss dnp please blow up my askbox! #dan and phil

[rationalisms]

had a conversation with a friend the other day where she was genuinely shocked that i feel safer and more at home with gay men than i do with straight women for the most part. it's a conversation i've had with other women in the past (some who agreed with me and some who didn't). where usually my friends/social circle agree that they inherently feel safer with women than they do with straight men, but that cohesion breaks down once you bring sexuality into it.

and i've been trying for a bit to tease out where the disconnect lies between the two camps i guess lol. because there are definitely trends for who agrees with me and who doesn't.

usually other butch lesbians or otherwise gender non-conforming women feel the same, as well as gay/bi women who came out/were outed very early in life. especially gay/bi women who grew up in small or very conservative towns. which makes sense to me as someone who ticks all three boxes lol. because, like... when i was outed at thirteen against my will, i was subject to absolutely vicious bullying from my peers.

and the bullying obviously came from boys as well, especially the more physical kind, but the experiences i remember most clearly are still stuff like, idk, being made to change in the bathroom instead of the lockers during p.e. throughout the entirety of high school because being into women obviously means i was a predatory sex pest.

and some of the only allies i had at the time were the couple of boys who were bullied for being effeminate lol. we had absolutely zero things in common otherwise for the most part, but there was still an implicit understanding that we were on the same side.

there was one other girl in our little circle of freaks, who was the only out trans person at our school. and i think a lot about a convo i had with her at the time, about being out as ~elgeebeetee~ in high school, which essentially boiled down to: even if she hadn't come out, people would still have known something was "wrong" with her anyway, because she was incapable of masking or fitting in with boys her age, so how much difference does it really make. (and then you get into the minutiae of: is it more painful to be rejected for your "true" self or the front you put up, and how does that balance against being able to openly be yourself rather than repressing it, yada yada, but i digress).

personally i completely understand and relate to her thoughts, too. because i was always a "tomboy" as a kid as well, so the rejection by other girls my age started early. and when i was outed it took on a very particular flavour, but the message that i'm not one of them and straight and/or gender conforming women/girls don't claim me or want me around was made clear to me from kindergarten on.

anyway, there isn't really a point to this, i'm just waffling, sorry. basically: i love u fellow gays. kisses and hugs

#wish more gay men loved butch lesbians the way butch lesbians love gay men but that's a whole other can of worms #txt

[literaticat]

it's advised not to chase trends, but it seems like when something hits--like goldfish let's say--some months later I see goldfish books every where. I know titles need two years to make it to publication-- so does that mean that somewhere out there a bunch of authors were really out there writing goldfish books at the same time? 

Pretty much, yeah.

First, there's the concept of zeitgeist, in the aesthetic or cultural sense. Then, there's the fact that WE are seeing the trends well before the books on those trends actually come out. Often, we don't even *realize* they are trends while they are happening.

Let's say you live in a former democracy that has been taken over by a fascistic right wing agenda. It's possible -- PROBABLE! -- that a lot of writers, artists, etc, will be tackling themes of dictatorship, incarceration, etc, in their work. Now they aren't talking to one another about it per se, there's no PLAN about this, but disparate people have brought up the idea of the 'panopticon' in their work, it's a word that suddenly is everywhere in the news, opinion pages, etc. For children's book writers, maybe a metaphor they go for is a goldfish.

So this whole cultural conversation is happening. Agents are in the mood for this kind of book, talking about the things happening in the world in a sideways kind of way, and publishers are, too. They are seeing some goldfish books, but they have no way of knowing how many people are writing goldfish themed manuscripts, or what OTHER agents have them. Anyway, several sell. Then it's like, ok maybe there are kinda too many goldfish, but then again, THIS one is horror fish, and THIS one is a gay goldfish, and THIS one is not exactly a goldfish, more like an amusing Koi, etc... so there's still some room for goldfish at the table. At this point, it's been awhile, and the goldfish frenzy in the inboxes has petered out, and some months later, the first goldfish book comes out, and it's a massive hit - - so cogent and timely - - and then suddenly there are a ton of goldfish books coming out and everyone is like WHOA, SO MANY GOLDFISH!!! Goldfish mania is sweeping the nation! But if you started YOUR goldfish book when you saw several of them in the store, I promise, it's too late -- the goldfish left the barn 18 months ago.

[trans-axolotl]

is it okay for perisex people to question if they may be intersex and do research even if they think they’re perisex and don’t think they have signs of it? is it good to do similar to the way questioning your gender (for cis people) is good too? or is it inappropriate to look into

Hey anon,

I think it's important to recognize the distinctions between intersex identity and experiences and other LGBTQ experiences. we are part of the LGBTQIA community but like, I don't think that it's always the most helpful to try to directly compare what our journey can look like with other dyadic LGBTQ journies because they aren't entirely going to look the same.

Sometimes I'm not even sure if questioning intersex is the right word to describe the process of intersex discovery-I think when you are questioning if you're intersex or not, it can be a lot more helpful to draw insight to disability community experiences around self-diagnosis rather than trying to compare it to like, questioning being trans. Because with being intersex there is this whole other physical aspect and possibly medical intervention and tests and I don't think people need to pursue medical intervention, but that can be a different experience than questioning being gay or trans where you usually aren't going to be engaging as much with the medical world or your physical body in that way.

So yeah, it's okay for perisex people to do whatever research you want- I'm not stopping you. If you don't have any intersex signs it's up to you if you want to spend your time doing in depth medical research and i don't know how beneficial some of the in depth info will be to you. I think if you don't think you have any signs of intersex variations, I'm not sure if considering this an intersex discovery process is helpful, and it might be more helpful to frame it as more just doing research, finding information, increasing your knowledge on intersex topics. Obviously if you're doing research and do find information that you think might pertain to you then that of course makes sense you would want to explore that. I also just don't know if I personally think that cis ppl need to question their gender or that it's inherently a good thing--I don't think it's a bad thing, I just think I personally more think of it as a morally neutral experience that people will have all different feelings about.

also i don't want you to take this as an attack on u, bc it's okay not to like, know all the nuances of intersex community topics. but i do want to say that something we get pretty frustrated with a lot in intersex community is the way perisex people often only engage with intersex topics if it's convenient to them, or on their terms. and when you frame learning more about intersex people as something you would only do because there's a chance you might be intersex even though you think you're perisex, that brings up some complicated feelings in me. i'm very used to perisex people only engaging with intersex topics when it benefits them, so it is a little uncomfortable for me to see learning more about intersex people framed as something you could only do if you were questioning being intersex. i don't think you intended it to come off that way and im not mad, but i do think it's worth considering the fact that this information is still valuable and a helpful way to be an ally regardless of whether or not you turn out to be intersex, and that i think perisex people need to reflect more on how they center themselves in intersex conversations.

anyway, long story short, it's always fine to do research on intersex variations, but i think it's important to realize that intersex questioning doesn't always look the same as other LGBTQ questioning processes. and also important to be aware of the trend of perisex people centering themselves in intersex conversations and consider ways to uplift the inherent value of intersex community + knowledge even when it's not beneficial or convenient for perisex people.

this answer's kind of a mess cause im tired but other intersex people feel free to add on or disagree, we have lots of different opinions and this is just my perspective.

#intersex #actuallyintersex #intersexism tw

[jonniechill]

i was someone who voted negatively on your genderbend poll. i just got curious and stopped to see if you'd said anything about the results, and i wanted to say i find your thoughts interesting and appreciate you writing them. it's not something i truly see very often, but approached from an actual standpoint of exploration i can see where there would be appeal. i also found it interesting that you mentioned both the difference in people who relate heavily to characters and the lack of people genderbending couples to be gay specifically, because it made me stop and examine the fact that me and my partner actually do that constantly. we frequently take popular straight couples and read them as being like us, since my boyfriend's presentation is much more like "girl who is a gay man" than anything more clear cut. i guess the real point here is that i've always trusted gender itself to be something very nuanced and something the person experiencing it knows better than i do, but i hadn't put a lot of thought into the myriad reasons why and how someone could experience a more theoretical, fictional exploration that i and people i know had previously experienced as mostly negative. a lot of the time it probably still will not be for me, but i think i can recognize more of what i consume as being fundamentally a similar thing. anyway, i hope you have a great day

OMG thank you for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

i'm elated to know someone read what i had to write, lol. i appreciate hearing your perspective-- especially the note about making straight couples gay! it seems that's often the most widely accepted form of fictional gender exploration in fandom circles, when it happens at all; it reminded me of the more general trend of taking straight couples and saying the man in them is a he/him lesbian, which people do with a varying degree of seriousness. i also think on the trans people i know in my life who, for a variety of reasons both chosen and not, are perceived differently than their internal sense of gender (in a manner almost exactly how you described your boyfriend, even). hell, this even applies to me! which is probably another why i'm a fan of the trope, frankly.

at any rate, though, i'm really glad that we (collective we here) are in a place where discussion about it can be tabled as opposed to shut down entirely. thanks again for your message!

#ask

[9w1ft]

thanks 9wing! i fully respect your interpretations of those songs as kaylor anthems - in fact, i'm reconsidering my stance on mastermind now 😅 it always felt like blank space 2.0 to me, but your analysis has helped me to see it in a different way. i am someone who is always open to multiple interpretations of the same song, so i hope our thoughts can co-exist if they're different or even contrary! instead of blown out analyses, let me share what parts of each song made me interpret it as bearding songs.

blank space -

"i can make the bad guys good for the weekend" — image control. taylor can make swifties hate or love anyone with the snap of a finger. her beards are benefitted from being with her by gaining popularity to support their works and/or to hide their own gay rumors too. once they're 'exes,' however, they're back to being the bad guys in swifties' eyes. (exceptions excluded)

the entire "cherry lips, crystal skies" verse, to me, feels as if she's trying to impress the general public with their theatrical relationship, and not quite her beau himself.

the main line "i've got a blank space baby and i'll write your name" itself, coupled with the typewriter beat, provokes imagery of bearding contracts. fun song!

cowboy like me -

her beardin' beau is hustling for the good life with stars in his eyes. "perched in the dark" makes me think that he's pretty much a very underground celebrity if we compare fame to light (another name goes up in lights - i can still make the whole lights shimmer - flashing lights). he doesn't want love, he wants a fancy car - a materialistic perk of being a well known entertainer or celebrity. taylor herself is also ambitious and she's at a point of her life where she wants to be taken seriously, so she really needs to display herself as someone with a stable love life. that's how they show 'forever' as their sweetest con.

"now you hang from my lips like the gardens of babylon" — i can't remember who, but another gaylor pointed out that this lyric provokes the imagery of a literal facial beard.

invisible string -

now this one's a bit sad, i always had a soft spot for this song and i hate to taint its innocence! anyway.

she pretty much shows how different their lives and motivations are in the industry - she wants love, he wants money. she thinks how pretty things could be if the universe aligned them, but really, she knows all too well that's very much not the case. all of this was arranged.

however, i like to interpret the "bad was the blood" verse could be a hint at karlie and their relationship, since karlie was the first person who heard 1989. although i do not know if it would make sense, but hey! that verse actually shows similarities, whereas the first verse did not.

lavender haze -

"staring at the ceiling with you" — business meeting, sitting in those formal black spinny chairs. they're both just kind of bored and staring at the ceiling, since they could technically have that employer-employee relationship.

"you don't ever say too much" — the interviews. they're sooooooo private. he's sooooo magnificently charismatic.

"you don't really read into my melancholia" / "you weren't even listening" — i could get how this could be interpreted positively, but i'm a negative nancy so i predominantly interpreted this as him not giving a shit 😅

"talk your talk and go viral, i just need this love spiral, get it off your chest, get it off my desk" — 'for the love of god, my dude, please say something a little bit more and be more convincing, i need us to be trending and to be seen as the industry titans. got it? cool, now go practise that smiling for photos exercise tree gave you and leave my office, i now need to combat the foot fetish allegations and wipe my desk clean before tree gets here.' i have a very wide imagination as you can see.

"no deal" sounds like her rejecting a (business) proposal. i also get the vibe that her team is shutting down the marriage rumors while his team is trying to boost them? not sure, just a hunch

thanks for this! i appreciate that songs can be interpreted in different ways. i vibe with a lot of what you wrote.

i did a little thinking and in my mind here are the lines i find kaylory about these songs, along with a few additional comments

invisible string

- i just want to add to what you’ve written by saying that to me the song sings like she’s listing up all this trivia that points to joe, some of which (the yogurt shop job) was cleverly planted in an interview of joe not long before folklore was released, and she sings in the chorus “isn’t it pretty to think” that there’s some connection between us that’s actually not there.

- by contrast when the music goes quiet, and she sings in a different pace and cadence, the part that begins with all the run ins, she mentions the dive bar from delicate, past mistakes and chains, changing weather, all of which is imagery that comes up in what we consider kaylor songs. plus, she closes off the line with one single thread of gold tied me to you which i believe is both in contrast to an invisible string, and illustrative of a color very often associated with karlie. this one section of the song feels like the truth hidden within the story.

cowboy like me

- eyes full of stars (this carries over from starry eyes sparking my darkest night, from the song call it what you want, where “call it” sounds like “karlie” a lot)

- the skeletons in both our closets plotted hard to fuck this up (this really feels applicable to taylor and karlie’s situation as we all have a sense of the skeletons in their closets, whereas i don’t really have a read on what skeletons joe could possibly have in his)

- that was all before i locked it down (there is a recurring theme of taylor and karlie putting their public relationship on lockdown starting in fall 2016, the thing with the gold heart locket, the love lock bridge in paris etc)

-idk man, the gardens of babylon line conjures up a… different kind of garden 🙈 in a sort of wear-you-like-a-necklace sorta way, if you catch my drift

lavender haze

- talk your talk and go viral (karlie has had more than a few viral moments in recent years, whereas i cant recall a single time joe has ever said anything memeable)

- i get the bearding interpretation of this song for sure because of lyrics like all they keep asking me is if i’m gonna be your bride which point to the you being who the public assumes taylor will marry. and the points you bring up work with this interpretation well, i think it’s a solid way to listen to the song and i’m not opposed to it,

-what makes it kaylory for me is taylor’s explanation of the song as a part of album promo. how she talks about how it’s been hard for her and her lover dodging weird rumors since 2016, and how lavender haze is about wanting to do anything to protect a love. she also references a mad men episode where john hamm’s character talks about wanting to have a relationship with ‘betty’ — a name kaylors have associated with karlie for some time now (karlie’s middle name is elizabeth). there are other things about the song that fit into a particularly kaylor interpretation i have but i get the feeling it’s my own little silly interpretation so i think i’ll keep to myself.

[heretherebedork]

Two points! First, I can’t fully blame a shoulder to cry on for not having a kiss considering it stars two members of the same band. Given how intense kpop member shipping can get and just the general culture of the industry I wasn’t expecting one. I also am still unclear how much say the boys had in taking the role given the abusive situation the group was in, but they seem to be happily promoting it now so that is good! I’ll give them more slack for not having a kiss than other shows, but I think it shows why casting two members of the same group may not be the best idea.

Second, the eighth sense!!!! I’m SOOO intrigued by this one and it has so much potential. I’m super excited about the longer run time and I’m hoping it’ll mean a lot more fleshing out of characters and motivations than the typical KBL. I have some predictions on what’s to come in the next couple episodes based on synopses I’ve seen and I’m interested to see exactly what’s going to go down. I’m also really intrigued by the ex girlfriend. You’re right Korea doesn’t tend to do the evil ex (but they did do the jealous classmate with a crush in light on me!), but we’ll see how far they go with it here. I’m really curious to see what she knows. Jae Won’s friends only mentioned girls when talking about him dating, but she seemed immediately jealous of Ji Hyun. It makes me wonder if Jae Won might’ve told her he likes guys while breaking up with her or something. KBL and BL in general does seem to be trending more towards having more characters who 1) are actually queer (a lot less “it’s just you”) and 2) have figured out their sexuality before the start of the story. I also think Ji Hyun’s little rainbow light in his dorm room is there for a reason as well. Anyway, I’m super excited to see where it all goes! I’m sensing a lot of angst coming our way lol.

Yeah, I understand why there isn't a kiss but I still find that it felt like a romance that needed a kiss and the story didn't work as completely as I'd like without the final kiss. I get it but I also find it a bit frustrating and I do think it speaks to the choice they made in casting and the way fans act and that... that I am not gonna talk about because it's just terrifying.

I am definitely intrigued by The Eighth Sense. It's doing a lot for me in terms of the characters and the story and the progress we're making already in terms of what we might be dealing with and what the story might be about.

I do strongly suspect that JaeWon is bi or gay and that his ex knows but she's the only one who knows... but it honestly might also be about the kind of attention he's paying to JiHyun and her own recognition of that kind of attention when it's turn to someone else so... it could go a lot of ways.

The synopsis definitely promises angst and I don't know what to expect. It feels like they're trying to walk a line between queer media and BL (which is a specific subgenre of queer romance) and that is a line that I... tread carefully with. Because I definitely like BL for what it is and the more the romance turns into a Realistic Queer Story the more I tend to struggle with the media as I consume it.

@absolutebl mentioned the idea of this ending sadly and the more realistic it gets... the more likely that is, honestly. And that scares me. Even bittersweet endings only work for me very occasionally. I like my sap and joy and unrealistic endings filled with fluff.

Yes, social commentary but also mostly fluff and tropes and sweetness.

So... I am definitely enjoying The Eighth Sense and Unintentional Love Story (just to add it here) but they are both walking lines that can change. I actually think ULS is a lot more on the BL side than Eighth Sense, tbh, but I love them both. This is a line that I like treading but then the line snaps and suddenly I am Not So Pleased.

Anyway!

I like the way KBL is going with the honest queerness in the show but I also know that my preference is for BL over more realistic queer media so... we shall see how the story goes!

#asked and answered #korean bl #yeah i have thoughts #but also don't cast people together if fans are gonna be scary #fans are scary enough without that #certain fans

[thewhumperinwhite]

Stillness for Thorne, Informal for Asher, and Roots for Andry?

And if you have one you wanna answer for Crane pls do :)

Thanks for the ask!!!!!

stillness: How does your OC act while still? Are they fidgety? Do they have any common gestures or tics? Does their clothing affect how they hold themselves while at rest?

Thorne is capable of being very still indeed, but it's a skill he's cultivated with a lot of effort under some duress—he was probably quite a fidgety, getting-into-everything child anyway, not to mention the years he spent half-feral after his parents died, where he was always quiet but very rarely still. When he first arrived at the Falcon's Nest, he was capable of moving almost soundlessly, but had a lot of trouble keeping still.

However, Morden finds it distracting if Thorne is squirrelling around while he's in the midst of research or scheming or whatever, and of the handful of times he has ever really lost his temper with Thorne, almost all have resulted from Thorne's inability to keep still.

So. As with a lot of Thorne's personality, he's a bit split on this one. When Morden is elsewhere, Thorne is really quite fidgety; he plays with his hair, he bites his nails, he paces.

In Morden's presence all his motions are deliberate, and at rest he is still as a statue.

informal: What's your OC's lazy-day look? How do they like to dress when they're winding down?

If he's not going to be seen by anyone except servants and his family, Asher hangs out in a shift and stockings, which is what he would wear under most court-approptiate attire. (He also always wears slippers, because while there are rugs or mats in most rooms of Colomur Castle, that still leaves an awful lot of cold stone floor.) Asher cares a lot less about what he looks like in general than Andry does, and most of what he's required to wear out and about is more restrictive than he'd like, so pre-conquest he wore lazy clothes most days, since he didn't have to make all that many public appearances.

Honestly, one of the (surface-level, easy-to-think-about) things he hates most about his prolonged captivity is that he is almost constantly under the supervision of Leisevan soldiers, which... like, no one is going to tell him he has to dress up properly for them; his mother isn't here and Andry has other things on his mind and they're the only ones who would care. But. Even when he's in his borrowed quarters with the door closed, foreign soldiers or the Wolf or the White Crane himself might burst in to order him about at any time, and only the Crane really knocks. So. He's been dressing up properly in a doublet and breeches and even boots for weeks to just sit in his room alone and he really hates it.

roots: Is your OC's look inspired by any specific style of clothing or fashion trend? What are the roots and/or inspiration for their look?

.......okay so I can't like. A lot of what I picture for Andry is inspired by what they wear in the captive prince series. Lots of high collars and long sleeves that lace up. You know how it is.

I picture Craetalia as like...... very very vaguely Scandinavian? I have very clear pictures of everyone's outfits, and they are entirely based on my own aesthetic preferences and NOT historical accuracy of any kind, obviously. (In particular i always picture Cinth in like... Victorian-ass riding habits which is like a good 2-300 years off everyone else's outfits.) But Andry's style is very loosely inspired by like. 14-1500s-ish Vaguely Germanic Upper Class Attire. (I may make a post later with a bunch of outfit inspo bc I am a gay bitch who loves an Outfit)

The main departure from all this btw is the hair thing, which I just put in cause it's cool and I like it, but it also makes pretty good sense to me: Royalty and well-off Nobles in Craetalia keep very long hair, which they usually wear loose (men usually keep it entirely loose; women often wear braids, sometimes very elaborate ones, but still keep some part of their hair loose). The length and how well-kept the hair is is a status symbol: it's supposed to show a certain amount of poise and self-control, and it also implies that you can afford a whole team of servants to take care of it for you and you don't have to do a lot of strenuous work.

Lots of nobles only cut their hair 3 or 4 times their entire lives. Andry is royalty; his hair had never been cut before Morden got to it.

Speaking of Crane,

favorite: Does your OC have a favorite article of clothing or accessory? What is it? What's the meaning behind it? Do they wear it all the time or do they wear it sparingly to keep it safe?

I dont know if it's his favorite accessory (that's probably his Falconer Cloak; it has a feathered collar and he expends a lot of other people's magic repelling water from it whenever it rains) but he does currently wear a long braid of gold hair hanging artfully from his belt.

Audoine never wore it braided, obviously, because braids are feminine and the Lion of Colomur never questioned a gender role his whole miserable life. Morden braided it himself after he cut it from Audoine's head. (This was pre-beheading, obviously; he didn't want blood on it.) (Morden had Raptor do the actual beheading, but he cut the hair off himself.) (It felt good to give the old man what he deserved.) (The look on the Summer Prince's face afterward felt even better.)

#asked and answered #wkw extras #oc: thorne #oc: andry #oc: asher #oc: morden #also bonus fun hair fact bc i love Fashion: high class sex workers in Colomur wear extensions #but theyre legally required to be dyed fun colors. so that people know theyre not Real Nobility #there's a lot of skill and artistry that goes into arranging them and blending them with their natural hair so it looks nice #(there are almost certainly lots of nobles who wear extensions also but they would never ever ever admit it under any circumstances ofc #traumatic haircuts #minor character death #beheading mention

[elmaxlys]

For real the death of the author trend is the worst thing to ever happen to me because I always interrupted it as " if you think the character is gay go ahead " not I'm going to ignore most of canon to write a fanfiction so disconnted , like girl just make some ocs at that point

Death of the Author relies on actual literary analysis and half of fandom has never set foot there (not a blame. i never set foot in physics so we're even). DotA is analyzing the text for what it is without relying on what the author's intentions and intended meanings were. Analyzing a character's behavior as very queer despite the author saying they're definitely straight and saying "despite character having shown attraction to [gender] i'm gonna pretend that it didn't happen because i don't like it" are very different things. One is Death of the Author, the other is Headcanon.

I think the problem sometimes is more that they read/watch the thing once without necessarily paying attention (not a blame) then never again and then Ship of Theseus the characters and events, stripping parts of the characters from them then another and another to make them more palatable for them or something until, yeah. there's nothing left from the original character. Until what point does it stay the same character? From what point should it be called an OC? (to me it's the same problem with movie adaptations that just change everything but the name btw.)

I'm very fond of AUs myself, and a certain part of "Out Of Character-ness" is necessary in some cases (like canon divergence or, like, real life or fantasy AU) where the events that made them the characters they are never happened - and thinking about how they were before said events and how they would have grown without said events or if something different happened is part of the fun (and for me it's also a part of character analysis)

Also my problem is when people become so disconnected from canon for staying outside of it for too long that they? somehow?? start "headcanoning" stuff that. is canon. but they don't know. so they say "headcanon that" and make it follow with something that is definitely canon. like good for them they found the light but also no they didn't?? somehow?? anyway. hope my ramblings make sense

#fandom #thank you <3 #that's why i so so need a global tg reread #i reread bits depending on what i need since i know what happens were so i know where to look for details i need #but i need a better view on the Whole Thing #anyway! #death of the author is a type of analysis not a free pass to say whatever!!!!

[team-frightfur]

Revelations from Zexal blind watch.

Ep 7 and 8: How did Fuya not get submitted to Gayest Yugioh character poll? This kid is a textbook small gay.

I like when Astral reveals he's just a little stupid. I love how he cannot tell apart fiction and reality. I love how Yuma is too stupid to explain the difference. "It's just TV!" Astral: I see, so TV records the history of a different dimension! We must investigate further!

I hope this trend continues. Seeing him find his legs/compassion and empathy is delightful. Maybe he can find his toes, too.

Omg! Yuma set a card on his first turn without being asked! He's learning! Sadly, it seems to have come at the cost of his jumping ability. Episode 1 Yuma could easily chase Fuya.

Edit: spoke too soon. For someone who refuses to think of the future or the past, Yuma sure runs a lot of traps.

So like, in episode 7, Yuma says 'Haction' and the subs translate that a to 'Live Action'. Honestly shocked and appalled that he was actually just mispronouncing 'Fiction'. I love this stupid dog.

Shark wins the prize for Worst Duel Runner.

Ep 9: This is the kind of episode where you watch as a kid and like, its funny, but as an adult its just terrifying. Like has this catgirl been stripping Yuma naked at night? 5 times a week? I'm scared. Please lock your windows.

I love how Astral is completely oblivious. "I thought stalkers coming into your room was normal." Today on 'Astral Learns Common Sense': the right to privacy!

Omg I'm so proud of Yuma, if he tries he can do it. He can strategise! He can win! he doesn't even need Astral... sometimes! Go go go!

The implication that Astral understands romance more than Yuma. The implication he's been watching romance shows on TV.

Ep 10

Cursed

Shark: So like, I'll duel you, but I gotta head home and grab my deck first. Don't move ok. I gotta walk to the gang hole, grab my duel runner, drive home, grab my deck, drive back. Won't take a moment.

Omg my boy has been improving for real! Yuma set a card all on his own! Too bad Shark runs fucking MST! Actual pro. Whats next? Book of Moon? Crackdown? Compulsory Evacuation Device?

Me: Astral is salting Yuma for not reading graveyards as if anyone reads graveyards.

My Irl Friend: I read graveyards.

Me: Don't talk to me.

Shark deserved that win. He deserved that win so much I'm so proud of him! He spent the last three weeks imagining their next duel, how he'd win, all Yuma's weaknesses. Excellent.

Ep 11 and 12: What genre does shark think he's in. Gangster flick?

Tetsuo is so mad at Yuma for using Numbers but like, what else is he supposed to use? Gagaga beatdown?

Also, everyone keeps saying Yuma's playing this tag duel suboptimally, but without seeing his hand how are we supposed to know? Did he specifically summon Utopia before using S/T removal? Did he have S/T removal? No? then it's not a 'Reckless' summon, Astral! It's 'getting two future Xyz mats off my field and replacing them with a substantial protective body!'

Glad to see Yuma's genuine improvement, though. Admittedly, the end of the duel involving 6 different backrow made me want to just. Drop in. Summon Sat Cannon. Watch the chaos.

Ep 13 and 14: Kaito walking in here freezing time and unleashing a magical girl tranformation. Walked out of a different show. Good for him. Powerful. I like how deranged he is here. Already better.

For a guy who supposedly doesnt like eating souls, you sure did make "Imma eat your soul" a catchphrase, Kaito. You sure smile alot while killing people, Kaito. Holy shit tho, he runs 3 of his monsters. C o n s i s t e n c y.

Kaito truly is a magical girl, specifically, he's a dark magical girl in the vein of Fate Testarossa. Your days are numbered, Kaito. Friendship is coming.

Yuma you were doing so well. Why did you not set that card befoooooore.

Episode 15 and 16: Does this imply that Zexal is the timeline of Gx and Dm but 5ds was deleted from the universe along with synchro summoning? Anyway I literally lined my comm while my friend watched because I lost interest instantly.

#zexal is revealing that Im yumacore and irl friend is astralcore #take that as you will #team frightfur watches zexal

[beautifulpersonpeach]

Repost: Ask on What I Think About Jimin

Anonymous: What do you actually think about Jimin? You know the things his fans say and his antis say but is there truth to that for you? IMO his fans worship him too much and every single anti I've seen of him is just plain stupid. I mean actually unintelligent even that SP and Y-S account on Tumblr.

*

Hi anon, I promised I’d get to your Jimin question so here we go.

For a long time I actually didn’t like Jimin. I mean, I didn’t hate him, but there was a period where people would talk about him all. the. time. I’m Hobi-biased and J-Hope was known as the dancer before BTS, but whenever they performed, everybody would be talking about Jimin. I know how this sounds and I get it, I think Jimin’s a really strong dancer and I truly prefer the way he interprets music, but it just got so much, you know? Jimin would be interviewed separate from the group during the Blood, Sweat & Tears mania because he was so good, when he mentioned during one Festa (I think 2015, ‘16, or ‘17) that he wanted to work more with the rapline cause he’s eager to try out something solo, I didn’t really react but I noted some people didn’t like that. Now he never really talks about solo work but I’m not sure if he’s not considering it at all. There were times he gave off this ‘proud gay’ energy that was too conspicuous to not be deliberate and I couldn’t tell if it was genuine, and something about that ticked me off at first. Basically I didn’t hate him, but just in terms of trending he was breaking records almost every month on Twitter at one point. I kinda saw what the hype was about but didn’t see the need to add to it, especially as I felt the rapline are the bedrock for BTS’s music anyways. Also this was the time taekookers were getting more and more unhinged with their theories, and because they are the biggest shippers in the fandom, a lot of their theories for the boys’ personalities and motivations sort of bled into the fandom and people started repeating it almost blindly. When Jungkook published GCF in Tokyo, one of the biggest anti accounts on Youtube for Jimin, Taekook Lives, started her channel literally 2 days later and every single video from that channel for about six months was about trying to debunk the video, about Jimin’s “weird” personality, about Jungkook’s dependency and mistreatment of Taehyung, about Big Hit using jikook to both hurt and protect Taehyung. I noticed these ideas in one form or the other flow into even non-shippers opinions of the boys and while I didn’t really ‘believe’ any of it, I didn’t really question it or call it out either.

To be very honest, that was me.

Now, I think Jimin is the most interesting person in BTS. I don’t always feel inclined to figure out why or how (I’ve got my hands full with three rappers), but I do think he’s far more calculating than people give him credit for, but I don’t get the sense it’s in a malicious or nefarious way. Just like he knows how to read people, makes mental notes and then acts a certain way that gets the point across to people who need to get it. I’m nearly certain Yoongi respects him and that was one of the first things that made me do a double take. For RM to straight up say Jimin is the person who most understands him, was another one, especially because I think Jimin had to sort of win him over (they all had very big egos at the beginning). In that group, J-HOPE is a classic Type A and he actually has very strong opinions and can be pretty severe. But Hobi would keep bringing up Jimin’s name unprompted, more than a few times it was clear Hobi would rely often on Yoongi and Jimin - I think this was due to their positions (the other two rappers and main dancers but I think there was a personal element to this too). While Taehyung has basically had a man-crush on Hobi since debut, with Jimin their friendship just seemed like a given.

Basically, 

when you consider how Jimin was the last to join the group, after the other six had already spent at least a year together bonding and engaging in the sort of skinship that typically helps lower barriers and create some sense of intimacy, and Jimin joined only some months before they had to debut and somehow gained their confidence such that at least half of the members advocated for him to debut; 

that he had to assert himself many times because at first they were very young, they had egos swinging around in a notoriously hierarchal system, what people then called attention-seeking, I now see it as him asserting himself and actively participating where he wanted to

that he situated himself so intimately in the group that all his ships are some of the most dominant, 

and that his artistic contributions can stand on their own. 

I have a more positive view of him now and know he’s deliberate about how and what he communicates. There are things he says about himself that I dismissed before as insecurity or self-destructive tendencies, I see in a very different way now, partly because I started paying more attention to him (not because I’m looking for something to criticize) and because I grew up and became more educated on how some things are expressed in different people. I recognize a lot of what he says especially when you hear how he says it in Korean. There’s another artist I really like and I’ve mentioned here before: Tyler Joseph, who makes a lot of music about it. Most people are put off by it, but the fact Jimin is able to communicate it so well, is something I unequivocally respect. What his antis perceive to be weakness, I see as something else entirely.

Many things he does or says when I go back to them and consider what else is happening at that time, it seems more interesting. I do have some opinions on what he’s like right now i.e. his social media habits, etc, but I’ll hold off on that for now. 

This is all I’d like to say about Jimin now.

Originally posted: January 22nd, 2022 3:01am

#jimin only #jimin #the ask that started it all lmaoo #repost

[besidesitstoowarm]

"The Shakespeare Code" thoughts

right when the harry potter references hit i googled gareth roberts to see if he was the person i thought he was and there's a section of his wikipedia page titled "transphobia controversy" so i guess i'd like to applaud doctor who in linking harry potter with terf bullshit as early as possible

that said, i like the episode despite the fact that gareth roberts should die in a ditch. it's stupid, but the guy playing shakespeare is deeply charming and i'm a sucker for a good historical

i was actually comparing it in my mind to "the unquiet dead" in the sense of the doctor meeting a famous historical figure and i think dickens is one of the better choices for that role; famous enough to be immediately recognizable by the audience, but the average viewer is probably only vaguely familiar with their work and so the doctor can fangirl a little over them and the episode can make weird meta references to their work. madame de pompadour was too obscure and shakespeare is too familiar, but dickens struck the nail right on the head. i think agatha christie next season also nails it. also this trend of "one big history guy per season" kind of dies after van gogh which is a bummer, i like it. you get a personal connection to the historical period, your own little vergil as guide

anyway the guy who plays shakespeare here is so sexy. one earring, chest hair under the pirate shirt. ep 2 obi wan hair and beard. bisexuality. we must stan

we learn that the doctor failed his license test. martha's introduction to history will be repeated almost beat-for-beat in "thin ice" 7 years later with bill, and honestly i like the bill version better. the "just like every other day of your life" hits different. that said this episode does give me the "there was only one bed" trope which made me SICK even if ten ruined it w his rose reminiscing

(just want to say that when they first see shakespeare martha clarifies "and those are men dressed as women?" and ten says "london never changes" and again i think gareth roberts should explode)

i love a good witchcraft story. i love that the main witch has two mothers and they're named "bloodtide" and "doomfinger" really just giving me everything right there. shakespeare is extremely into martha but says some very questionable things about her race, and i would be more inclined to chalk that up to good-natured jabs at the time period if the writer wasn't a creep already. i just learned from googling that he's gay, which is disappointing. he also wrote some episodes i really love ("the lodger") and others i despise ("the planet of the dead") so truly a mixed bag. whatever

anyway this is one of the episodes that i put in my "i don't know that i could defend this as 'good' but i really like it anyway" pile, which is also where "the lazarus experiment" will end up later this season. next episode thankfully we can have kittytime with the macra

#The Shakespeare Code #DW s3 #Doctor Who #besides its too rewatch