#so take it all with a grain of salt | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

scificrows · 8 months

Text

Okay, my brain refuses to think about anything other than Murderbot, so I looked at every use of the word "friend[s]" in TMBD and... created some pie charts. Normal human activities.

Some Thoughts™ I had while putting this together (under the cut):

In All Systems Red, Murderbot notes that the PresAux crew are all close friends (twice! and goes on to explain their internal relationships which I think is very cute). This is pretty much the only use of 'friends' in ASR, except for when Murderbot says that SecUnits can't be friends with each other.

It seems that this may be one of the first times Murderbot has ever really been around a group of friends before? Murderbot notes that this is not the norm for its contracts and admits that the fact that they are all friends and the way they interact with each other make it actually enjoy that contract (before!!!! the hostile attack, so it already enjoys this contract before they start seeing it as a person etc ghghhhh). [Inference: Friendship seems enjoyable.]

The first character that calls Murderbot its friend is ART in Artificial Condition. Murderbot immediately refutes this (and then goes on to call ART its friend to its clients for the rest of the book). [Inference: Maybe ART is Murderbot's friend. And maybe that is... agreeable]

Rogue Protocol has more than twice as many instances of the word 'friend' as any of the other novellas. Why? Miki. Friendship and its implications for non-humans are a central theme because Miki is friends with everyone. Murderbot initially scoffs at the notion that Miki and Miki's humans are friends. At the end of the book, after witnessing how desperately Don Abene tried to stop Miki from trying to save them, and her grief after its death, Murderbot has to admit that she had in fact been Miki's friend. [Inference: Humans can be friends with bots and can sincerely care about them]

In Exit Strategy, Murderbot tentatively uses the word "friends" for its humans for the first time (several times actually). It questions whether it can actually call them its friends or not and later realizes that it had been afraid what admitting that the humans are its friends would do to it. At the end of the book, Mensah tells Murderbot the PresAux crew are its friends, which is the first time a human has directly said that to it (at least on-page). [Inference: Humans can and want to be Murderbot's friends]

In Network Effect, Murderbot seems to be more habituated to the word 'friend', confidently calling ART and Ratthi its friends, like it is no longer just trying the concept on unsure if it fits. There are many instances in which other characters refer to MB as ART's friend or the other way around and Murderbot's humans refer to Murderbot as their friend several times. Generally, there seems to be less hesitancy, because yes, all of them are Murderbot's friends, why wouldn't they be. [Inference: SecUnits can have friends. This SecUnit has friends. They care about it a lot.]

Conclusion: The Murderbot Diaries tell the story of a construct that does not seem to consider the possibility of friendship for itself and is fine with that - until it accidentally starts caring a little too much and suddenly more and more people annex it as a friend (ew) to the point where it can no longer deny that this is happening and has to begrudgingly admit that yes, it has friends now and maybe that is actually not a bad thing.

#the murderbot diaries #murderbot #𓄿 #hi i'm READY to write a thesis about murderbot i am having way too much fun with this #i created a pretty excel spreadsheet and everything #i don't know why i did this but now i can look at them while i think about this more! so i figured i'd share them haha #i didn't count uses of 'friendly' but special shoutout to when MB is all alone in its cold cubicle missing 20% of its body mass #and starts putting on a show because 'the friendly noise would keep it company' 😭😭#i feel sick thinking about murderbot all alone on its own not knowing what its like to have friends watching media for 'the friendly noise'#also YES okay i wanted to make a point about miki there but i just #couldn't bring myself to talk about that more so... yeah #also uhhh this data is very subjective #i didn't count particularly ironic uses of 'friend' and generally did not count every instance of friend and sometimes it was a hard call #also i probably shouldn't have counted the times murderbot refered to drones or secsystems as its friends (often after hacking them)#but murderbot does seem to care about them and shows kindness and respect and sometimes points out that a system is friendly #so while i don't think MB means “friend” in the same way referring to them as when it refers to ART for instance #i still think its CUTE and also kinda funny how many times that happened so i decided to keep those!!!#but yeah take my data with a grain of salt lol

742 notes · View notes

canisalbus · 5 months

Note

For some reason, I was always under the impression that Machete (through various misfortunes and happenstance) just sort of... BECAME a priest - I wasn't aware that be actually WANTED to be one :0 what was his reasoning for that line of work? I mean, I guess growing up in and around the church might foster an interest, but...?

Well, priests were held in extremely high regard at the time. Apart from nobility who had the benefit of proper education, they were usually the only people who were literate, and being able to read was a massive advantage. Social classes were extremely rigid, if you were born a peasant you died a peasant and so on. But if you managed to join the clergy, had luck on your side and didn't do abysmal job, you might be able to ascend to a higher status, accumulate more wealth and live reasonably comfortably regardless of your origins (to my understanding the main reason people didn't choose this path to escape poverty and hardship was because of the literacy requirement. I've read that some village priests could only write their name and memorized everything else, but for the most part you had to be able to write, read and speak at least passable Latin). Committing crimes against men of God was a severe offence, more so than regular laypeople, and (at leasts in some eras and places) priests themselves couldn't be tried in regular courts and had their own ecclesiastical courts instead, all of this made clergy kind of a protected class.

Machete spent his early childhood in a monastery, after his parents left him there (he was sickly and his family was stretched thin and couldn't care for him anymore. Before orphanages monasteries sometimes housed orphans and foundlings until they were old enough to be apprenticed). He grew up in a strongly religious environment so a certain sense of spirituality and fear of God was ingrained in him from early age. He was a quiet, meek, punctual and polite kid, and because he didn't like to play outside and was so well behaved, he was allowed inside the scriptorium and the library. He was inquisitive and very fascinated by books so the monks taught him to read, and when they commented he'd make a good priest he was instantly entranced with the idea. He wasn't interested in preaching, but if there was a chance he could be safe and respected, even regarded as holy, he felt he had to do everything in his power to attain that. Sure he was sort of guided and trained towards that goal all along, but he also genuinely thought it was something that would give his existence meaning and significance, after being discarded by his birth family and feeling vague worthlessness and lack of belonging ever since.

#he sort of tunnel visioned to this thing he viewed as the highest form of honor #he endured the grueling apprenticeship and the long days in the university thinking it would all be rewarded once he got ordained #if he was a good little priest surely Heavenly Father would love him #answered #roxirinart #Machete #Vaschete lore #I'm not a historian so take everything I say with a grain of salt #it's entirely possible I might be misremembering stuff despite my best efforts

350 notes · View notes

thelaurenshippen · 5 months

Text

finally taking the time to read through the SAG agreement summary and oof, I hope they have an AI town hall soon because...well, there are things to discuss!

so, in case folks are curious, here are my immediate takeaways from the deal as a SAG actor, a SAG producer, and person who is not any kind of expert but spends a lot of time being skeptical of contracts I sign. this is a summation/commentary, not a holistic breakdown of every point, nor even an in-depth discussion of the points I do talk about. and it is, of course, in no way legal advice or voting advice.

this post is already maybe the longest post I've ever written on tumblr (lol) and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface. to be clear, nothing I'm saying here represents how I'm going to vote, how I think other actors should vote, or my be-all-end-all stance on a particular issue. this is me reading through, flagging what concerns me, and asking myself questions. and I'm here to take your questions too! though of course my expertise is limited.

(what?? something I wrote got annoying long?? in my tumblr? it's more likely, etc. huge write-up after the cut)

the good

self-tape stuff: this is one of the more niche/the thing that the general public will find least interesting, but they've put in a lot of provisions to make sure self-tape auditions have limits (# of pages, no stunts, no nudity, doesn't have to be professionally shot, etc.) which is amazing because these types of auditions have gotten out of control since the pandemic. this feels like a great gain

data transparency: in no world did I think the streamers were ever going to agree to any data sharing with either the wga or sag so even though the data is limited, this still feels huge to me.

folks who sing and dance will be paid for both of those things now, which is great

they've added MLK day and Juneteenth as holidays (about time)

a performer cannot be required to translate their own lines

principal performers are required to be given hair and makeup consultation or reimbursed for obtaining their own services - this seems like a small thing, but it's being put in here pretty much entirely because HMU services have generally been appalling when it comes to textured hair/a variety of skin tones. there's also stuff in here about working to hire more diverse HMU artists

it looks like it's going to be easier/provide a path for folks getting IMDb credits even if they're not credited on screen

miscellany: there's a bunch of gains in wage increases, P&H increases, relocation fees, franchise language etc. that all seem good to me, though my limited knowledge on those subjects prevents me from going in depth on them.

this is not important, but it tickled me, there's a term to replace all instances of "telegraph" in the contract with "email & text" which like...why has it taken us thirty years to do that lol.

the "...hm..."

intimacy coordinators: oof. when I watched the press conference SAG gave, I was fucking thrilled when they said that the new agreement required folks to hire intimacy coordinators for nudity and simulated sex scenes. that was almost reason enough for me to vote for it tbh - not requiring it is the exact reason I voted no on our last contract. however, reading the contract summary now, the exact language is: "Producer must use best efforts to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for scenes involving nudity or simulated sex and will consider in good faith any request by a performer to engage an Intimacy Coordinator for other scenes. Producer shall not retaliate against a performer for requesting an Intimacy Coordinator." this....sucks. "best efforts" and "good faith" are not the same as "required". IMO, an intimacy coordinator is the same thing as having a stunt coordinator or, like, any number of health and safety requirements. OSHA doesn't say you must "in good faith" put your "best effort" to providing fire exits. it's great that performers can request coordinators for any kind of scene, and this is still the strongest language we've ever had in a contract but....c'mon guys.

residuals: look, I can't speak to these new terms in any concrete way. there are increases, there are bonuses for streaming success, there's a whole thing about a fund regarding those successes that I need explained to me more in depth, but overall, it looks like we made some in-roads here. as someone who employs actors under digital distribution contracts that has no residuals (podcasts), I know how genuinely cumbersome the unholy trifecta of "views-success-profit" can be (as in views do not equal success, success does not equal profit, etc.). I also have no sympathy when the majority of companies dealing with that cumbersome trifecta are massive media conglomerates. anyway, long story short, idk if this is good enough, I'm hoping to attend the next info meeting sag has.

the bad

the new hair/makeup provisions are explicitly for principal actors. while I hope it leads to better, more inclusive HMU services all around I haaaate that this implies supporting or background actors (who oftentimes also have to sit in HMU) don't deserve the consideration. (then again, background actors are usually required to do their own HMU/bring their own costumes, but for productions where that's not the case, the same HMU provisions should apply IMO)

as with every contract, there's language that could be stronger, clarity that needs to exist, and important things missing - but this isn't the final contract and I'm not a lawyer, so I'm gonna leave that stuff to the experts.

but, "lauren", you say, "what about all the AI stuff? where does that go?" well, reader, I was planning on including that in the above but it's the hot-button issue right now and I think it's wickedly complicated, so I wanted to break it down separately, after I had a chance to point out all the good-bad-in-between stuff that's not getting talked about.

a note: in my career, I've learned there's two big things to keep in mind when reading a contract you might sign:

what is the worst case interpretation of this language (thank you to my lawyer, prince among men, for teaching me how to do this in practice (that said, anything I say here is not legal advice, he'd also want me to say that lol))

what are you willing to lose/compromise on/what are the limits of your pragmatism? contracts are not about a company giving you everything you want out of the goodness of their heart - it is always a compromise. pragmatism has to be a part of the equation.

so, with that said, I'm going to play a little devil's advocate here, and a) try to find the good/the pragmatic and b) catastrophize the worst case scenario. but first, it might be handy to look at this SAG infographic for some basic definitions. let's go.

the AI good

a ton of stuff here requires consent. that is not a small thing, and the consent continues even after your death (whether it was a yes or no; though this can be complicated by your estate/your union)

the language does establish that the consent must be a separate signing from the employment contract, even if its in the contract, which is great (but more on that below - timing matters)

actors often do get paid for use of their digital replicas, though it's different based on the use/type of replica.

the actor must be provided with a "reasonably specific description of the intended use". this language is vaguer than I would like, because it allows producers to decide what "reasonably specific" and "intended" means - there's always going to be some vagueness when it comes to this specific thing, but a good start would be for producers to require not blanket consent, but conditional consent for each significant use of digital replicas.

if the replicas are being used in other mediums, that must also be consented to, thank god.

replicas cannot be used in place of background actor counts on a given day - if I'm understanding this correctly, this means a production can't just have a bunch of fake background actors by themselves, they have to engage real people up to a certain number first (which in this new contract is 25 for TV and 85 for movies). we're already filling in background with digital people or copy-pasting of the same crowd over and over and have been doing so since at least the late 90s, so it's good we're continuing to put up boundaries around that.

the AI "...hm..."

it's unclear (to me) when an actor can be asked to consent. IMO, everything is meaningless if the consent is happening as part of regular contract negotiations. these things have to happen when - and only when - the actor has already been engaged in a role and feels empowered to say no

the use of independently created replicas (replicas pulled from existing footage, not created by the actor) being allowed without consent under first amendment reasoning - this is obviously concerning a lot of people bc first amendment arguments are so broad. that said, there's a pragmatism part of me that understands this is already happening/has been happening for a while and used in ways I think are perfectly fine - I was just watching the new episode of For All Mankind (one of the best TV shows right now!) and it's an alternate history, which meant that in the opening scenes of this season they had some bonkers good deep fakes of Al Gore saying stuff he never said. I think that's okay to do in a fiction show that imagines a different US history! "but Lauren", you might be saying, "Al Gore isn't a member of SAG!" are you sure? are you positive? because I'm pretty certain he is - he was in several episodes of 30 Rock, way more people are in SAG than you think (every NPR reporter for instance), and the two worst presidents we've had in the last 50 years (yes, those ones), are both definitely members of SAG (even if one is dead). now, the other side of this is that public figures like politicians are under a different social contract than actors, and if they wanted to sue, they could, unlike the average SAG actor who might have their image abused. this is why this is in the "hm" column - deep fakes and parody/satire/commentary use of replicas is already here and there's always going to be a 1st amendment argument to make, so we need to figure out how best to limit those and protect the most vulnerable.

alteration: with this language, a project can digitally alter without consent if the script and performance stays "substantially" the same. again, this language is too mealy-mouthed. I don't know that I have a huge problem with a line of dialogue getting replaced with a digital version of that actors voice if, for instance, a word was mispronounced, or wind garbled the sound or whatever - yes, it would eliminate the need for ADR, but if we put some limit on it like..."if there are more than 5 lines in a given episode/movie that require digital alteration in the service of clarity, the actor must be engaged for an ADR session or paid for the digital replacement" then I could see this being workable. I'm also personally okay with things like costumes being digitally altered but, again, we need limitations on that. digital altering cannot replace the art of costuming but, for instance, if a costume needs to be altered to include a hate symbol or something, I think that's fine (example: I have friends who worked at the VFX house for an alternate history TV show that involved a lot of Nazi costuming and set design - a huge part of that VFX house's job was to put swastikas in places, rather than props making nazi flags. I'm okay with that!) but again, these fringe cases do not a compelling arugment make, and this contract language can be interpreted too broadly for my comfort! like everything else in this "hm" category, I need to see the final contract language to decide.

the AI bad

there's a bunch of circumstances in which actors don't get paid for creating their replica/use of it and those circumstances are too broad for my taste.

synthetic performers - this is just awful. no. no, we should not be allowing AI to generate entire actors. just............no. there's some language about the producers having to talk to the union if the synthetic performer is "used in place of a performer who would have been engaged under this Agreement in a human role" but this doesn't apply to non-human characters so....wouldn't that be all roles?? leaving the producers room to be like "this role has to be synthetic, we never would've cast a human!" is bullshit. also, even if we're having AI create a magical talking unicorn whole cloth (which, like, also no, we have artists for this), that unicorn still needs to be voiced by a human person. this whole section is a disaster.

the exceptions to consent for digital alteration are bad-bad. I talked about the potential ADR replacement above and that has a whole host of issues with it that I didn't even get into, but I can see the argument. the rest are very troubling:

there is an exception under "any circumstance when dubbing or use of a double is permitted under the Codified Basic Agreement or Television Agreement" - okay, so does this mean we can replace dubbing artists and stunt performers entirely? this section is about digital alteration, but who's to say alteration couldn't turn an actor broadly miming a fight into an entirely digital, expertly performed fight that usually a stunt double would have done? with AI translation technology, does this mean we're replacing VO artists for dubs entirely? bad!

similarly, "Adjusting lip and/or other facial or body movement and/or the voice of the performer to a foreign language, or for purposes of changes to dialogue or photography necessary for license or sale to a particular market" - Justine Bateman has a great twitter thread on the terrible puppetry potential of this but I want to draw attention to the particular market bit - we all know that selling to china is such a huge part of studios' strategies that they'll remove entire scenes or lines around queer stuff. to me, this clause makes all of that so much easier. I know the argument here is going to be "we can replace swear words and license it for kids!" which.......sure? fine? but, uh, we already have ways to deal with that? and the potential for abuse here is terrifying to me. with all the digital alteration stuff too, there's just so much icky implication for the beauty/body standard to get so much worse.

if a background actor’s digital replica is used in the role of a principal performer, they'll be paid as if they actually performed the days for that role, which, sure, but uhhhh why are we saying it's okay for a digital replica of a background actor to suddenly be a leading role!?!?! I can't think of anything more demoralizing than going to set to act in background (a job I've done! an important job! a fun job a lot of the time! but creatively limited) and then getting a much bigger role (the dream!) and.....not being able to, you know, act that role or be in scenes with other principal actors or do the thing that you've dedicated your life to doing. nightmare stuff.

woof. there's so much more to say but I'm going to leave it there. these are the concerns I'm going to go into SAG's meetings with, and the concerns I'll be considering as I decide how to vote. I know there are things I didn't address and very possibly things I misinterpreted or misrepresented - if you're an actor, I highly recommend a) reading that Justine Bateman thread and b) attending SAG's meetings to ask questions and express your concerns. and I'd love to hear what y'all think! my ask box is open.

#sag aftra #sag #sag strike #AI #me: I'm just gonna look through the terms #me: I'm just gonna do a quick write up before starting my day #clock: it's been almost two hours #not to keep hammering at the 'this is not me saying that I am correct or that I've made up my mind' bit #but this is the piss on the poor reading comprehension website so #I'M NOT SAYING I'M RIGHT #TAKE ALL THIS WITH A GRAIN OF SALT #i mostly have questions and concerns and am pleasantly surprised at some stuff #knowing that there *is* a degree to which we will have to compromise #and I'm WILDLY concerned about other stuff #would love to hear what other SAG members think

306 notes · View notes

notacluedo · 1 year

Text

Dido Dido Dido

#The guy in the back in Hannibal 💕#I can’t tag him bc of yknow #Drawing things from the Aeneid is revision actually #I’m obsessed with Dido cursing all the Carthaginians #It’s so so good #dido #dido of carthage #the aeneid #the Aeneid art #Fanart #mythology art #my art #roman mythology #Also I do not know what Hannibal looks like and I didn’t look it up #Take him with a grain of salt #Vergil #Dido

712 notes · View notes

massivewaffle · 6 months

Text

I think a lot of people are feeling dissatisfied with the lack of PVP on Purgatory because Etoiles has (barely) been able to fight. The majority of people watching/participating actively assumed Green was a frontrunner purely because it has Etoiles in it, who 3 v 1'd the codes, so who could even compare in a PVP event?

Problem is, Purgatory Etoiles isn't treated the same as QSMP Etoiles. On the island, Etoiles had a purpose in fighting the codes. He was never a threat to his fellow islanders, and they knew him well enough to not be scared. Etoiles was playful and well-liked by everyone. But in Purgatory, where it's team v team and friends v friends, everyone is on edge and wary of Etoiles because he 3 v 1'd the codes. They cheered for him at the time, but they've also seen what he can do and what he could do to them.

In Purgatory, Etoiles is feeling a bit annoyed with everything. Suddenly, everyone on the island has forgotten that one of Etoiles' driving character traits is that he's honorable. Too honorable right now, maybe. He doesn't attack his friends in a blitz; he asks them to 1 v 1. He gives them armor and time to craft before a fight. He promises (and honors) his vow to not loot their bodies; he waits so they can get their stuff back. He is yearning for a fight, to participate in the one activity that he loves, something that he was admired for doing last week, but now no one is willing to engage with him. The day before Purgatory, he was asking to stick fight and teaching people how to improve their PVP, and now they assume he will attack them? Rather than blame his friends who don't want to fight, he sometimes blames himself for being too good with too much of a tryhard reputation to be worth the risk. He's snarky and dramatic and feels rejected by all the islanders who praised his accomplishments days ago.

Etoiles is basically a labrador who is desperate for someone to play fetch with. He needs stimulation - needs to be called upon for something. He's desperate to engage with others, but he's so lonely and dispirited and so ridiculously bored.

#qsmp #etoiles #look etoiles is my favorite cc #i think about his character a lot sorry #obviously take it all with a grain of salt but yknow #it's the vibe i get #Let the man have a really good fight please #he and roier were so despondent tonight

401 notes · View notes

anewp0tat0 · 1 year

Text

I am so passed April fools cause life hard and busy but I hope we're still in a silly mood ;;v;;

(very belated) April Black Butler Animo Black Arts Magazine- Ciel Dies.

I really needed to participate in this months mag for 2 reasons, 1) because I missed doing last months mag even though the prompt that I had pitched since day 1 of me joining (wild west) was finally selected... and I didn't even get to participate. so I'm bummed. and 2) because I actually also am mostly responsible for conceiving this prompt and I am proud of myself(as well as everyone else who participated hahaaa) for having an idea. so yes.

I also got to do the cover this time.

#yea apperantly the Victorians would accidentally poison themselves because arsenic would be confused with flour #doesn't really matter that arsenic was already accepted as a poison in this time and so wouldn't be in the house as much #or that injesting it probably wouldnt kill someone instantly. cause drawing this was fun and thats all that matters #plus Ciel small and Bard probably put.... a lot #poor bard #and ciel him too #also take all of this info with a grain of salt cause my knowledge extends as far as some google articles #that's kinda it #but it's still fun #the prompt may be morbid but trust me thinking of it was really funny #kuroshitsuji #black butler #Black Arts Magazine #Black Butler animo #kuroshitsuji fanart #fanart #sebastian michaelis #ciel phantomhive #digital art #bard black butler #o!ciel #doodle #oh the victorians #and their pretty powder

731 notes · View notes

cabinette · 2 months

Note

not to be a freak weirdo but do you think the winged lion would have put chilchuck into a cunty little outfit too if he was dungeon lord. what do you think it would look like

HI ! YES !!! SO !!!! IT WOULD LOOK LIKE THIS.

jkjkjk but no really i think he would totally keep his regular outfit- but it's in it's purely professional form. No little tidbits of his personal life that allude to his daughters nor his wife, starch white shirt that constantly gets bloodied because he keeps nosebleeding whenever the winged lion is helping him do magic. because he has everything he needs right here, right? He doesn't need more clothes when an exact copy of his family is right here. When his father is still waiting for him at the table. Don't be silly, now.

(rant below)

Also because i personally HC a lot of Marcille's outfit was based off of her mother's funeral gown and her own idea of what a calm and collected and diligent person looks like, so it would be a bit hard to apply that philosophy to chilchuck. Unless we know if he had a really pivotal moment in his life in which an important person seemed to hold a lot more understanding than him/guided him through that? like what happened with Marcille and her mother. Granted his situation with his wife- I don't think he would dress up as his wife (lol) nor do we have any understanding that there was someone else to help him get through it. In any case, he's a professional at heart, and when he's ruling over an entire ecosystem he's in a position that requires a lot of thought- So when the Lion sweeps him off his feet and tells him they'll do it all for them, he's still defaulting in adventurer mode and thinking logically about the best way to keep coinbugs n mimics and all that circulated, but it's only the default. He doesn't make the decisions himself anymore because he doesn't HAVE to. he doesn't have to work anymore because the Lion is helping him with EVERYTHING. so what's the point in putting so much more effort into his outfit, too? (He's just a puppet. He doesn't care for any of it. He doesn't have to.)

#art cabinet #dungeon meshi #cab blabs #gagagaagaagagagagagaa i looove talking #dungeon meshi spoilers #this is all relying on my own HCs so take it with a grain of salt haha

127 notes · View notes

owl-bones · 1 day

Note

What is the dust who is a assassin for Heilos like?

cynical but much mellower than you’d expect, since Helios keeps him levelled out with positivity. when his LV does become too much to handle anyway, he’s sent out on missions to get rid of dissidents. he doesn’t like being ordered around and finds Helios incredibly grating and hates all the admiration he gets… but also Dust sticks around with his head down for the free food, shelter, and the secret hope that making AUs positive by Helios’ orders will repent for all the bad he’s done. he’s only good for killing, right? so he may as well use that for the “greater good”. but if you ask he’d definitely imply it’s just for the LV.

#rayne's art #swapdream!totality #take this with a grain of salt i’m sick so i haven’t put my full 100% brain power behind his existence yet #but this is the general idea im going for i just need to ruminate more #uncover the implications and his motivations beyond surface level and all that #just when i don’t feel like my head is full of fluff

106 notes · View notes

miraculouslumination · 1 year

Text

The audacity to be like "there's a problem with racism in transandrophobia discussions" while also unironically using the term "transandrophobia truther(s)"

#Jean mumbles #Of course there will almost always be racism in discussions of oppression #But like...bro are you really going to say this and then side with the exact same people #Who have constantly erased and silenced the voices of trans men of color and other marginalized trans men #Calling them shit like white-aligned or overall gatekeeping their blackness #Are you seriously not seeing how that call is coming from inside the house #And again - truther is something that has very heavy ties to antisemitism #So again. Are you really the hero because of this?#Are you actually helping people here?#Now I'm white so obviously take what I say here with as many grains of salt as you feel is best #But all I'm saying is that racism is fucking everywhere and there is not a single group in this discussion who is guilt free #And right now you're participating in the violent act of erasing and silencing the voices of non-white and non-gentile trans men and mascs #I wish the best to anyone who has fallen for this pandering bullshit #And a huge apology to all the trans m&ms this bullshit hurts #Transandrophobia #(Gatekeeping blackness but also just non-white raced and ethnicities in general)

671 notes · View notes

locamotivednp · 3 days

Text

I think the biggest thing with the watcher stuff is how much they seem to misunderstand what people like about YouTube as a medium.

I don’t want TV-lite. High production value is nice, but that has never been the appeal of YouTubers. It has always been about the people. Like, I fell in love with YouTube in the early 2010s when it really was just some people with a camera in their houses. And those are still my favorite types of videos. This constant push for TV quality… it feels like an ego thing. It’s new media! It’s okay if it doesn’t replicate traditional media landscapes. That’s that appeal!

And I get that creative control and the algorithm are legitimate concerns with content creation and I don’t begrudge creators for wanting to escape that. But at some point you have to respect the platform you built your audience on.

#watcher #and full disclosure I’m biased because I don’t love any of the big YT production companies #try guys. smosh. gmm are all fine but 🤷🏻‍♀️#I prefer ‘YouTubers’ to ‘YouTube shows’#so take this with a grain of salt

129 notes · View notes

ge · 7 months

Text

thinking about how someone said the way pbss chung myung is depicted in flashbacks is determined by who is thinking about him.. chung myung thinking about his past self is always shown as being unserious and ordinary, he sees himself as if hes just any other average person in the world, compared to the way others think about him; as a figure of legend, placed on an idolized pedestal, respected and admired but distant and untouchable

#this might be obvious and already noticed by others but i think about this every now and then and just wanted to talk about it 4 a second..#also this mmight not be that deep or serious but note the difference in art style as well.. cm thinking abt himself hes cute and round face #but cm thought about by others is sharp and strong and everything they imagine a hero to be... so cool #take all this w a grain of salt cuz it might be untrue idk maybe im making shit up who knows #return of the mount hua sect #return of the blossoming blade

294 notes · View notes

chaoticace2005 · 25 days

Note

About Angel and spiders

Did you know that some jumping spiders eat other spiders? Not during mating ( though that one raises a question whether or not Angel's preference of bottoming can be analogous to female spiders, aka "dance and give me gifts or I'll eat you"). Portia spiders hunt other spiders, often by pretending to be caught and trashing in the webs to lure the web owner out. Oh, they also follow laser dots like cats do, and have really fast-acting venom because they don't restrain their prey with webs

I HAD A WHOLE THING TYPED OUT AND NOW ITS GONE 😭

Okay, retyping: I knew about the venom being used to paralyze prey since they don’t rely on webs to capture them, instead using more of their jumping. I did NOT know about them eating other spiders! And the way you described the portia reminds me of a damsel in distress rouse, which is something I can definitely see Angel doing 😂

Also the laser dot this is so interesting! And now I need to think of a situation with him and Husk where that could come out.

Some other jumping spider (and general spider) things I’ve found too

-Jumping spiders sleep by hanging on a single thread

-Jumping spiders can jump up to 40x their body length, and attach silk before jumping or a surface to act as a precaution and/or break

-Spiders don’t have vocal cords, but instead produce sounds by interacting/vibrating other objects

-Spiders can regenerate legs (often lost in molting), pedipalps (pincher looking things), mouthpieces, and silk spinners

-Fur holds air, allowing them to have an additional temporary air supply when underwater

-Can essentially use silk as a parachute, “ballooning”

-Grip walls using hair on feet, which have grip strength up to over a 100x body weight

-Sensitive to infrared radiation and low frequency (80-400 hz) sounds

-Mentioned in previous post but they lack noses, tongues, and ears , instead perceiving that stuff though chemoreceptors (smell/taste) and hair cells (hearing) on legs

#yay I retyped it all!#please note I am not a spider expert so take what I say with a grain of salt #this is all from midnight researching I’ve done #hazbin hotel #angel dust #angel dust hazbin hotel #spiders #jumping spiders #hazbin hotel headcanon

60 notes · View notes

carnivalcarriondiscarded · 27 days

Note

Not sure if this theory makes any sense at all but I'm starting to believe that there's no time skip between Wally's phone calls and what we see/hear in the show's Media/Merchandise. If we see the Toyland call being made before the Homewarming episode then it would make sense that Wally's expecting Barnaby to come over soon. As well as the Homewarming sketch from the prior update. (I don't know, still kind of brainstorming this perspective)

that theory Does make sense and i've been considering it! the "timeline" is such a nebulous thing right now because we still... don't really know! there are too many variables and too many Maybes for any solid answer.

maybe the reality that the neighbors live in exists outside of time like you say, and like half of me suspects. there's so much reality fuckery already present, but I'm also... unsure of how much merit this holds given what we know / can infer about how time passes in Home. i'm putting this theory on a low shelf to look at but not prioritize

maybe it really has been 50 years, and Barnaby is either still around / Wally is still in contact with him, or Barnaby... isn't there. who knows, maybe Wally was just verbalizing some Wishful Thinking. i mean, Wally is a bit of an unreliable narrator, isn't he? we can't assume that everything he says is entirely accurate or truthful. and i mean, if it's been 50 years it makes sense that Wally would be pushing for connection / to revive WH. who knows how long he's been trying.

hm... i mean. it could be a mix of that and the Outside Of Time theory. who knows, maybe W is receiving calls from different points in the timeline - Wally may have started out just calling, and has just graduated to invading the WH website / getting pushy with the envelopes and media that's been sent to the WHRP. maybe Wally got tired of waiting for W to respond before W was even born. who's to say!

#i mean. idk the emphasis wally puts on Its So Quiet makes my brain tilt its head #it feels like wally breaking composure before he pastes the Facade back on with '-during homewarming'#that and just the way he phrased 'everyones usually so busy so its just me and home for a long while'#Usually so busy. Usually. why not Always? or Is?#usually.#and then the 'its just me and home for a long while'#the phrasing here has Connotations i think!#homebogging #welcome home speculation #wh speculation #OF COURSE. I HAVE TO DEBUNK MYSELF!#what we hear / see from Wally is - ironically - more genuine than the WHRP's or W's recovered media (save the eddie excerpts)#the WH media shows us the ideal homewarming - where everyone is getting into the spirit and spending time together and the like #but then wally could be telling us what homewarming is Really like - lonely. quiet.#WHICH MAKES SENSE THEMATICALLY! and it mirrors how christmas time is. its marketed as this joyful thing that brings people together #when in reality its lonely and stressful. i know i certainly never feel more lonely than i do at that time of year!#so there's just. layers. right now im simultaneously believing in the time discrepancy And them existing outside of time #im leaning on the first one but you know!#BUT!!! IM CONFIDENT THAT THE HOMEWARMING WALLY WAS CALLING FROM WAS NOT THE ONE WE SAW IN THE UPDATE.#wally spoke with enough familiarity about the time of year to make me think 'hes lived through many of these hasnt he'#it could be that time Has passed for the neighbors and its been many homewarmings.#it could be that it Started as what the commercials/update showed us.#but as time passed maybe it became a time where everyone just... Isolates for one reason or another. so now it's just quiet and lonely #im still rolling it all around in my head! many factors and implications to consider w/ this update!#Take All Of This With A Grain Of Salt As Usual!

55 notes · View notes

linkedin-offficial · 8 months

Text

flight rising lorestuffs

#i enjoyed making these so much #dont worry fr crowd i havent forgotten to feed you #i really need to do more writing/art for my fr lore #it brings me immense joy #if you wanna hear me ramble about it i emplore you to ask . i beg even #all if these are in no specific order btw #so take a couple of these with a grain of salt if you do know my lore vaguely #anyway #flight rising #flight rising fanart #alt titles include : yuri #shield surfing gone wrong #and intense moments

180 notes · View notes

borderlinereminders · 2 years

Text

I screwed up and now have to apologize/make it right. Now what?

Okay, first of all, take a breath. When we mess up, it can be really hard on us and send us into a guilt spiral. Take a moment and remind yourself that you are human and humans make mistakes. Remind yourself that you are not a bad person. If you are having urges, please check out my post on urge surfing. If you are feeling in crisis, a skill like TIPP may help ground you.

If you are in the middle of a situation with someone, it's still okay to walk away. “I need to take some space to get control of my thoughts. I’m not trying to avoid this or walk away but I want to have a clear head.”

When you're feeling more calm, move on to the next step.

Apologizing

Apologies can be really hard. We're often told not to "ruin an apology" with excuses, but it can be so much more complicated than that. One of the first things I keep in mind about apologies is that explanations and excuses are not the same thing. Here is an example post I wrote of a personal situation where you can see an "explanation" apology instead of an "excuse" one.

It's not okay to say "I'm sorry I screamed at you and insulted you but I wouldn't have if you hadn't done -insert reason here-." This is not a real apology, and it puts the blame on the other person for being screamed at or upset they were screamed at. It's valid to talk about your feelings that led to the situation, but they shouldn't be conveyed in your apology like that.

What you could say is "I'm sorry I screamed at you and insulted you." But you could also say "I'm sorry I screamed at you and insulted you. I was feeling frustrated but it wasn't right to scream at you and insult you." While a lot of people say the first one is "right", I do think the second one is also okay because sometimes an explanation can make it easier to apologize, or sometimes open the door for a bigger conversation (if the other person is in a headspace for it) or can be crucial to not disregarding your own feelings (which are valid, even if the way you responded to them wasn't.)

A lot of this depends on the relationship itself as well. The latter one works for my partner and me, as seen in the example post I shared above. It doesn't mean it will work with everyone, in fact, it could make some people feel dismissed or invalidated. It's good to communicate when you're both calm about what some of the best ways to navigate situations like apologies are.

Some other things to remember about apologies are while a lot of people say that it's okay to express how badly you feel, there is a fine line. Sometimes, even though we do genuinely feel torn up about something we've said/done, it's not good to convey that in a way that can lead to the other person needing to comfort us or feeling they need to put their feelings aside for our well-being. Saying things like "I'm sorry I screamed at you and insulted you. I feel really bad that I did that because you didn't deserve it" are okay. But saying something like "I'm sorry I screamed at you. I feel so bad. I'm so sorry. I don't know how to handle this because I feel so guilty. I'm a terrible person and don't deserve your forgiveness" isn't really okay.

The feelings can be really overwhelming, and I get that and see how those guilt spiral apologies can happen but they end up pushing the other person to accept your apology even if they're not ready just to make sure you're okay.

After the apology

Okay, you've apologized. Now what? Well, it largely depends on what the other person is feeling. If they want some space to think, calm down or just breathe, then you should give them that. (Please note that there is a difference between someone needing space to process vs someone wanting space to avoid accountability for their part in things.)

Phrases like “It’s not fair of me to say what I said/do what I did and expect things to just be fine. I’m here when you want to discuss this further.” might be helpful

The other person is not obligated to accept your apology or offer forgiveness, but please note that this doesn't mean you should continue to beat yourself up.

When the other person is ready to talk to you, it's your turn to listen and hear them out (as long as they are talking to you in a calm manner. Regardless of what you did, they still shouldn't be attacking you.). Even if you don't agree with what they're saying, hear them out. Let them talk about their feelings. Sticking with our example, maybe they felt afraid when you screamed at them. Allow them the space to talk about that.

When they're done talking, now is the time where it might be time to communicate about things as a whole on how you can both do better in the future.

Maybe you screamed at them because they ate your food out of the fridge without asking, again. While your feelings are valid, you can still apologize for the hurtful things you said (like the insults in our example) but still communicate about the larger issue. In a case like this, using the DEAR MAN method might be helpful.

If this is a situation where you recognize you are completely at fault like say for example, you took out a bad mood/day on them, then this might be the point where you talk about working on things to do better. This might include talking about some coping skills you plan to use in the future, or even talking to them about ways they could support you if they're able to.

While you can't promise to never do it again, making an effort and plan to change and do better is important.

At the end of the day, remember it’s okay to make mistakes. You aren’t a bad person for them. Please don’t continue to beat yourself up.

#apologies #please note this is all my personal opinion #like none of this is fact #so take it with a grain of salt #i'm not a professional #this is just how i handle apologies #relationship advice #communication tips #conflict resolution

2K notes · View notes