#i've just noticed a trend on both my blogs

[akajustmerry]

I’ve been getting a lot of fundraisers for Gaza and Palestine citizens. But none of them are getting reblogged at all and when I add tags for other things for it to spread, it might get called spam and be deleted.

How do I get more attention on their fundraisers without it getting called spam?

everyone I know who is sharing fundraisers, including me, shares this frustration, and everyone is trying to deal with it as best they can. to be clear, I'm not a campaign vetter, nor am I Palestinian, and I'm not an organiser in anyway. I'm just Some Guy™ with a platform trying to help. With those things in mind, here's some things I've noticed about posting and sharing Palestinians' campaigns that might help.

include a link to the gfm's vetting in the post. this is because most people don't go looking for vetting info themselves so if they see a campaign post without vetting info they'll ignore it or assume it's unvetted. include a link to where it's been vetted and if it's a campaign on a spreadsheet, include the number.

include the campaign's goal, both financially and action-wise, in the post. what do they need money for (I know it seems obvious but many people genuinely do not know and this deters them from sharing/donating), and how much do they need. this helps people understand that the goal isn't just to get money but what the money is for.

include the CURRENT amount in the campaign in the post. A lot of people on this site assume that a post with lots of notes raises lots of money so they don't reblog it or share it. This is obviously not the case and the easiest way to combat this is including the amount raised so far in the post. I always tag posts with the amount so ppl know.

keep things as short and simple as you can. one thing I can tell you about being on the internet rn is ppl do not wanna spend a lot of time reading. if they see a long post, at best they'll like it to read later or they'll scroll past. this is deeply annoying but it is the reality of the moment. keep donation posts short and simple. use clear language.

if you're posting on behalf of a family or person in Gaza, be sure to link to their own blog/their own words, if possible. Do not contribute to the further dehumanisation Palestinians are experiencing by acting as a detached saviour. Include their own words, speak with them and not for them. These people are not numbers, they are not pet projects, and they are more than just a campaign link.

keep the text of the post one size/one colour for accessibility, if possible. While Tumblr has all these options for fancy text colours and sizes in the post maker, these tend to show up quite wonky when published. On my old android phone, coloured text in Tumblr app was really hard to read. Different sizing of text in the same post also made it difficult. People won't share a post that's difficult to read. So keep text one size and one colour, if you can. Not to mention, it's very common for ppl to have learning disabilities that make reading coloured text impossible.

post campaigns regularly and consistently. My queue for the last few months is all campaigns. Some are posts I've made. Some are made by others. By having the queue, I'm posting different times of the day and therefore reaching different people. Sometimes there's lots of activity, sometimes there isn't but by having the queue, and posting consistently there's always the chance someone online will see. Figure out what is sustainable for you to share regularly and consistently and do what you can.

Be strategic in how you tag campaign posts. I do not tag posts I reblog so they're less likely to be filtered out. When I post original posts for campaigns, I try to use at least 3 trending tags and then "Gaza" "Palestine". let go of the notion that you'll totally bypass people's filters and understand that people with campaigns filtered were never going to help in the first place.

If you use a poll to draw attention to a campaign, be mindful. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with using polls to draw attention to a campaign, but do not make it too frivolous, too unrelated, or too (for lack of a better word) extreme. I've had a lot of success promoting campaigns with polls but have learned the hard way that a lot of ppl on this site have decided that begging is "guilt tripping" so unfortunately you need to try and walk a line between creating a poll ppl will want to answer that's relevant to the campaign but not one that "guilt trips". this isn't easy and, again, it's frustrating but it's unfortunately the reality of how ppl see fundraisers on here.

focus on what you can do, not what you can't. you cannot convince racists that Palestinians asking for help across social media aren't scammers and you cannot singlehandedly save anyone. Let that go. What you can do is focus on what you are capable of, and how you can help. That looks different for everyone. Focus on what you can do. Maybe that's sharing fundraisers. Maybe it's adding verification information to posts. Maybe it's reporting and blocking blogs you see calling Palestinians scammers. Every bit helps.

Most importantly, remember you're not the only one sharing and donating. Remember it's not all on you, you're just helping and doing your part. It's called crowd funding because it's a collective effort. If one or more of your posts flop in some way, make another one and know you're not the only person doing this. Accept that you'll be accused of spamming or being annoying or whatever else because there are things that are more important and there are people who will help and those are the people you should focus on. Anyway, hope that helps

[yandere-sins]

Hey guys!

I've been curious since I've been noticing a change in fanfiction lately and I was wondering if you did, too.

Lately, I've been seeing much more original stories gaining more traction than fandom stuff, which is totally okay and valid! But looking back a few years, it was almost impossible to post original stories/art and have people read it and like it.

Of course, since I don't always post about new fandoms or what is trending at the moment (and popular), it could be that I am just seeing a change because people are falling out of love with the characters/fandoms I post and that's why the engagement is not as good as for other things! But then again, I also see certain stories going better than others, even if they are one-shots or less extensive and details. It could all just be because of my writing, too, but it makes me wonder if you guys have perhaps been feeling burned out with certain types of stories or if you prefer certain topics over the others! It doesn't mean that I will change everything on my blog from today onwards, but if there is something I can do which all of us would enjoy, then I'd like to give it a try!

So, I wanted to ask what you guys think and have noticed, maybe about yourself or if you write/create then with that!

Do you find yourself leaning more to original creations that aren't bound to specific characters/fandoms or do you still hesitate when seeing something unspecific? Do you like what you have given a chance and read or have you been disappointed? Is there anything you'd like to see more of but maybe haven't found the right way to ask for/find it, or do you harbor any other feelings towards fancreations and how they are at the moment?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in my asks/comments/messages, but I'll also leave a brief poll here in case you feel too shy to talk to me directly (but you shouldn't, I'm super nice, I promise ♥). Reblogs are also appreciated, maybe we can spread it around a bit and get many insights on the matter!

As I said, you can leave thoughts in the comments or asks, I'm really curious on what you guys think!

[the-cookie-of-doom]

dipping my toe in to add, re: my last reblog. The characters in KinnPorsche are so fascinating to me because they're all so flawed. Chay is a grubby little gremlin teenage boy. Khun is overdramatic, self-absorbed, and crazy. Kinn has a temper but he's also just a fucking dork that doesn't always understand social cues. Kim is the same. Vegas is being pulled in so many directions he doesn't even know how to be a genuine human. Porsche is just generally a mess.

But a sad trend I've noticed in this fandom, is that these beautifully flawed characters get stripped down to plain caricatures that lose so much of what gives them depth.

Fuck it, I'm going to make this a KimChay rant bc we all know that's what I really care about on this blog.

Chay becomes the perfect voice of morality and responsibility that can do no wrong, he's the one teaching Kim how to be a person and whipping the mafia into shape and can do everything perfectly always. Ignoring the fact that no, he's a literal high school student. He's messy and grubby and immature, and a little self-centered, and that's fine.

Meanwhile Kim gets demonized to high hell, he's the worst person ever, he betrayed Chay and ruined his life and and and. When in reality, Kim was looking out for his brother, he didn't ever encourage Chay or """seduce him""" for the sake of spying, and got so caught up in his own complicated feelings that he ran from them. He's also a college student. Man is like. 22 at the oldest.

I tend to meet media where it's at, and accept what it's trying to tell me. And KinnPorsche is fulfilling some very obvious tropes. KinnPorsche themselves are the protagonist action couple, with some bodyguard flavored boss/employee spice. VegasPete is for the dark romance girlies that like BDSM and dubcon. But KimChay? For the love of god, they are the wholesome high school/college romance. With a side of first heartbreak, yes, but I see no indication from canon that either of them really see this has some huge life-ending betrayal. Chay is literally just a heartbroken teenager getting over his first situationship.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with exploring other dynamics between other characters, that's the whole point of fic! But it's so disheartening to see the amount of meta where people have convinced themselves that Kim is literally worse than Vegas, that Chay is a perfect saint that can do no wrong, and that Kim deserves to be used and abused as repentance, always groveling for Chay's forgiveness.

They really are both just. Guys. Just two little guys. Yes they both made mistakes, yes they both got heartbroken, and yes it might feel like the end of the world. But it's just a breakup. And I think given a little time and distance, Chay would have no problem gaining some perspective and just. Having a civil conversation with Kim, and moving on, whether they get back together or not.

[eowynstwin]

I've come to the last thing I'd like to talk about, and unlike the rest it's something I've already made progress working through. I want to try keep this subject brief, because 1) it's taken a LOT out of me to get through all this and 2) even so, it's helped, and I'm ready to move on. I just don't want to leave anything important to me unaddressed.

So, I mentioned that when I returned to this blog, it felt like everyone had moved on from the Myka issue. I didn't see the same kind of support when I came back as I did when I left—and maybe it seems presumptive of me, but I had been expecting it. There was precedent, after all.

And I'll be honest—it took pretty much all the wind out of my sails. It kind of felt like it didn't matter if I was here or not—like, outside of the Myka issue, I hadn't actually made enough of an impression on anyone, with my own work or my support for others', for them to really care if I came back. Which, considering how many people were there for me when I left, I believed I had. That belief felt pretty misplaced after that. And to put it mildly, that did not feel good.

At the same time—and I've already talked about this in the past, so I don't want to retread old ground too much—I noticed a drop in engagement with the new work I posted. I understand now that that involved a lot of factors—my long absence, the change in my url, general fandom trends—but because it happened around the same time as my return, it compounded that feeling of my irrelevance.

So as I’ve been writing this whole time, and posting, I’ve lived with this undercurrent of god I hope this is good enough for them to care about me again. I felt like I had never actually been good enough for anyone to think of me outside of the Myka incident. I couldn't enjoy my own work without thinking none of this was ever good enough. I got to the point where I couldn't enjoy other people's work without thinking everyone likes them, but they don't like me.

Now, obviously this is unhealthy. It's also patently untrue, as demonstrated by the support I and my work have been given in the months following my return.

A part of me kind of cringes to discuss this at all, because it feels unfair to the people who've offered that support—I don't want anyone to feel like I haven't appreciated it, because I have. But I lay all this out to lead to the conclusion I've come to, which I want to share, because it feels like the gateway into finally leaving Myka, and all of these things I've been feeling, behind for good.

I've talked to friends since then, gotten context, and I've evaluated my tenure as a whole in this community in effort to understand.

The thing at the core of this issue is that my confidence was shaken. Both by the incident itself, and everything that followed it.

While it was happening, I was under a microscope, and found inadequate. I couldn't talk about it, because that would only make things worse for me. When I came back, I felt like I was still under the microscope, and I still couldn't talk about it—and in addition, it seemed like I had earn my place here again.

Feeling like that has made it really, really hard to enjoy being here. But I know that feeling isn't entirely rational. And if I don't want to feel that way anymore, I have to let myself say the things I need to say and make the things I want to make, and I have to let myself enjoy doing it.

I want to be here. Despite everything, I still belong here, even if I don't feel like I do. I've been so afraid to talk about Myka all this time, really, because I didn't think any of you wanted to hear about it. I thought it would drive you away.

But I've talked about it now. And you've all listened. So that means I'm allowed feel confident about everything else.

Thank you.

[wolveswithhats]

So semi-creeping in a new fandom after several years of being a largely silent reblog-heavy content factory. Lovely art, a lot of good fic, really passionate, thoughtful meta. But after like six months of lurking I've noticed a continuing trend that's really throwing me for a loop. Say someone posts An Opinion--maybe it's bold or controversial, maybe it's making light of something that was serious in its original context, or maybe it's just their personal reading of the text that veers off-road from the norm--instead of reblogging and starting a discussion, people will just… make their own post to passive aggressively bag on it and tag it for everyone to see.

What??

Having not been actively involved in fandom for a handful of years, I don't know if this is specific to this fandom or if this is just how tumblr operates now on the whole, but it's incredibly off-putting, petulant, and honestly kind of cliquish. Is this legit a thing now or did I just get my claws hooked into a fandom that unfortunately happens to be kind of catty? What happened to the #long post reblog chains that would drive your followers into a state of insanity because they have to scroll through miles of an impassioned back-and-forth debate for a fandom they don't even know?

I'm not saying that anyone has to get into an endless thread of nasty, drama-laced discourse (war flashbacks to the occasional blemishes on my otherwise wonderful time engaging in the Science Testing With Bitchy Robots community, you know her, 2012 fandom you were a real one ✌). But plenty of these posts that are apparently (sometimes bafflingly) ruffling feathers are not from anyone even trying to start shit, they're just viewpoints from other equally invested fans who just happen to headcanon differently. What a prime opportunity to start an engaging discussion about The Thing You Both Like, instead of publicly shaming and alienating another fan, like holy shit what are we doing.

Like if it's to a point where you absolutely can't bear the idea of engaging civilly? Sure, fine, I get it, my tolerance has a limit too. Block button is there, homies, use it and don't spend any more time letting shit that makes you this mad fester and poison your thoughts. Curate your tumblr experience and Free Yourself™

Featured: Me living life to the fullest after blocking someone for having an innocuous but stupid headcanon I didn't care for and never thinking about them again.

I realize the hypocrisy of me talking about how uncool it is to vague blog by vague blogging about the vague blogging, but I'm just so dumbfounded by how much the fandom is normalizing this (also giving myself a pass on this post since I'm not actually tagging it with Fandom In Question for all there to perceive, because I'm not an absolute clown swinging at the hornet's nest with a bat).

It just seems so joyless when your fandom experience is apparently a vacuum sealed echo chamber where if someone deviates from the Fandom Approved Viewpoint, you publicly put them on blast. And let's be real--it's hostile and unwelcoming. I've dipped toes with very light engagement but not dived in full on because it's an environment I'm hesitant to fully subject myself to, even after six months of spectating. As much as I'm well into the hyperfixation hole, mindlessly doodling Art I Hate for A Thing I Love and daydreaming about the blorbos, I have enough stress in my day-to-day that I don't need that bleeding into my escapism hobby. This shit is supposed to be fun, y'all. 😐

[gryhmz]

The Coffin of Elfen and Leyley: Incest and Questionable Consent in 2000s Media.

WARNING: This blog post mentions numerous sensitive subjects such as incest, questionable consent, murder, cannibalism, sexually explicit material, and real-life criminal cases. If any of the following is bothersome, I would highly suggest scrolling past this post. Thank you.

ANOTHER WARNING: This post contains spoilers for Elfen Lied and The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. If you wish to avoid spoilers, I would highly suggest clicking off this post and come back once you have finished both. Thank you.

Hello (again), it's grim.

I wanted to discuss an interesting phenomenon that I've taken note of over the past couple of years that seems to always cause internet controversy: The rise of taboo subjects found in modern media.

Now, I want to clarify that I hold very libertarian beliefs when it comes to media. If you can think it, it can be written, regardless of how inappropriate the content is. However, I also believe that there should be consequences to such writings depending on the substance.

The two topics I'll be talking about today are The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied. These are both pieces of media that I have consumed in the past 2 years, and have noticed a trend between taboo subjects and how their respective authors and/or fanbases have used their taboo nature to repurpose characters and relationships for inappropriate media.

While I believe these pieces of media can be criticized in any manner due to their taboo nature, I would argue in defense of their conception since there is no exact promotion of the taboo nature represented throughout the mentioned medias. I believe this is important to state, for I solely disagree with the creation of media that promotes a taboo and/or illegal act rather than just the representation of such acts.

Images of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley (left) and Elfen Lied (right)

To make this analysis and opinionated piece easier to read, I will be going through my opinions and personal experiences with both of these medias separately. To do this, I will be separating taboo into two subsections:

Illegal Taboo

Questionable Taboo

While I would argue that there is probably some grey area between the two of these, I am simply dividing the taboos into two separate categories because my stance on illegal and questionable taboo slightly changes. Furthermore, the taboos in TCOAAL and Elfen Lied are very different. I believe it would be unfair to compare incest and questionable consent content. Both are taboo, both have been countlessly debated for and against, but incest has stable, concrete laws set against it (at least in the United States) while the other doesn't.

Let's get into the analysis.

Illegal Taboo (The Coffin of Andy and Leyley)

Screenshot from the love/incest route of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley

Oh boy, where do I start. I wasn't entirely sure what I was getting myself into when I first stumbled upon this game. I saw the art style of the game in a YouTube video where the uploader had referred to the siblings as "lovers," which gave me the impression that the main characters of the game were not blood relatives. By the time I had seen the controversy plastered all over Twitter and Reddit about the TCOAAL's "questionable" content, I had already bought the game, which put me in a tough dilemma: Do I immediately refund the game or do I give it a chance?

I bet you can guess which one I picked.

Me being the curious individual that I am, I decided to keep the game. I had a million thoughts rush through my mind about the decision I had just made. What if the game actually has illegal content? People must be exaggerating the situation. I'm sure that the incest claims are probably just false. If it does have a plot that revolves around such content, maybe its just a small tidbit of the game. No biggie. These thoughts did not stop, and I wasn't sure what to do next.

One of the only screenshots from Episode 2 of TCOAAL that isn't horrendous

For a month or so, I avoided the game like the plague. I held off on installing it, I avoided it on Twitter, Reddit, and Instagram as best as I could (for both spoilers and online biases), and I refused to talk about the game with anyone that I knew. I planned to play the game, but I wanted all the controversy to die off first so I could play it without too much backlash. Unfortunately in this world, outrage has become the people's first emotion to anything, so even if your reasoning for such an action is rational and fair, you might still be attacked for simply touching new media without an initial bias.

When I finally got around to playing the game, I was genuinely pleased. Episode 1 has nothing over-the-top, and the incest that people were talking about was yet to be seen. So I didn't think anything of it. I scrolled through my social media and just continued assuming that people were hating on TCOAAL simply for being a new trend.

Then Episode 2 came around.

I'm going to keep this short and sweet: There is incestuous acts and behaviors littered throughout the game, and people online were certainly right.

Below, I have a handful of screenshots that I took showcasing the romantic and sexual tension and acts between the two siblings. There's a bit of it.

(I'm not kidding, all of these are in the game)

Now, I will give TCOAAL fans this, the vast majority (9 of the 10 images) of the incestuous content above is NOT easy to come across. There are very specific routes that you must past through in Episode 2 to come across these screenshots. So it's not as "obvious" as people online made it out to be. In fact, it took me roughly 3 hours of additional gameplay to reach all the different endings for Episode 2, so it certainly is time consuming.

For the sake of time and my sanity, I will NOT be showing how to reach these scenarios. I will only say that you will know if you stumble across the lover/incest route because the NARRATOR THEMSELF warns you NOT to continue down the route.

While I don't think that the incestuous undertones of the story should be the entire definition of the series, I can understand why people dislike it. What is so genius about giving Leyley a romantic and sexual interest in Andrew is that it does one simple thing that the creator wanted to hit home: It makes people uncomfortable. It simply does what every other piece of horror/thriller media tries to do, and it does it well. I don't see it as any more or less uncomfortable as the barbwire scene from Saw I, and the fact that the creator could pull that off just by making Leyley an incestuous, manipulative creep is stunning.

Furthermore, TCOAAL acts as an interesting question for psychology: Does social deprivation, abandonment, isolation, hopelessness, and manipulation play a role in one's moral compass? We see that Andrew's behavior towards Leyley dramatically changes throughout Episode 2 depending on whether you choose to trust and sympathize with Leyley. In addition to a change in behavior, we also see that (most notably the incest route) Andrew accepts his nickname "Andy" again, which he hates due to its connection with a murder that he committed with his sister in Episode 1 (not going into too much detail). It is also noted that Andrew's ex-girlfriend Julia had trouble with Leyley's dominating presence in Andrew's life, which would lead her to stop communicating with him. His degree of whether he cares or not changes based on his sympathy towards Leyley, highlighting how relationships in Andrew's life highly changes based on how much he lets Leyley abuse his existence.

Backstory that showcases Andrew's love interest that abandons him in Episode 1

In short, TCOAAL has many more layers than the internet made it out to be, but the incestuous routes and behaviors between Andrew and Leyley can be seen as concerning. I'll come back to this shortly.

Questionable Taboo (Elfen Lied)

Famous cover art for Elfen Lied showcasing Lucy in the nude.

Now, I watched Elfen Lied in 2022, so I'm just putting it out here that it has been a while since I have watched the anime. Furthermore, I have not read the manga, so my observations are SOLELY off the anime adaptation of Elfen Lied.

Just like TCOAAL, I do NOT think that the story of Elfen Lied is overly terrible. While I do think that TCOAAL has a more sound story line, I do think that Elfen Lied did an okay job at showcasing the selfishness and cruelty of humanity. However, there has always been a part of the show that doesn't sit right with me and many other viewers, and that is Kouta's (the main male protagonist) relationships with Yuka and Lucy.

Throughout the entirety of the show, Kouta partakes in relationships that are considered extremely taboo, especially in the western world. For one, he marries and supposedly procreates with his cousin Yuka at the end of the anime and manga, which is gross and highly disturbing to me, and I am certainly not the only one who feels that way. Almost any search through r/elfenlied would show the outrage and confusion that many people hold towards such a decision. Below are just a couple of what can be found about Kouta and Yuka's relationship (which is also ironically incestuous):

However, one thing that I do not see talked about a ton is Kouta's HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE relationship with Lucy. While Lucy is not human and is considered to be a Diclonius (some sort of humanoid), some of the scenes and plot points feel as if the author wanted to bank off of questionable consent. Many scenes throughout the anime highlight that Lucy is "sexually curious," which makes perfect sense in theory, but is implemented horribly into the anime. Scenes like Kouta observing Lucy's private parts and random butt shots of Lucy just make the entire show uncomfortable, and I would even argue it normalizes taking advantage of the mentally immature for sexual purposes, which could be considered sexual abuse and/or rape (especially since Elfen Lied is a fan service ecchi).

I understand that mangakas and Japanese culture call for the normalization of nudity, but Elfen Lied fails horribly at making a good case. Elfen Lied could have looked over to other medias such as Ghost in the Shell and Imouto Sae Ireba Ii do a much better job at implementing casual and artistic nudity in their shows while still offering tidbits of fan service to the horny. But, I digress.

Nudity is showcased in both Imouto Sae Ireba Ii and Ghost in the Shell and don't face the same criticism as Elfen Lied

Regardless of how I feel about the previously mentioned, I will give the mangaka of Elfen Lied this: They did a great job making the viewers uncomfortable. I would even argue that Lynn Okamoto did a better job making me feel so unbelievably uncomfortable compared to The Coffin of Andy and Leyley, and it's been two years since I last saw Elfen Lied, so props to Okamoto!

My Personal Take on Taboos in Media

(Now that I scroll through images of The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied, there really are a ton of similarities...)

In short, I do not think that these taboos make The Coffin of Andy and Leyley and Elfen Lied "bad." Distasteful? Sure. Gross? Most definitely. But, my concern for these medias stems from the fact that modern media has failed to hit home the ideas that these might be inappropriate taboos to normalize in modern internet culture. Simply going through tags such as "gravecest" and "coffincest" on Tumblr showcases the questionably deranged behaviors hardcore TCOAAL fans have towards the story's incest plot.

I was fairly surprised to find out the Elfen Lied has not been overly sexualized over the years. While I am thankful for that, I do believe that Okamoto was wrong for writing up a manga and anime that focused on a humanoid character solely for the purpose of being sexually taken advantage of. She could've done a much better job at handling the fan service without making Elfen Lied look like a promotion for sexual and mental abuse.

I believe all that really matters and what can be taken away from this analysis is that taboo subjects can be used in media as long as the intent and the targeted audience work together. For instance, I believe that The Coffin of Andy and Leyley's questionable use of incest as a story principle is okay since the author does not call for the promotion of incest in the story nor does the entire story revolve around the incestuous behaviors of the two main characters. BUT, rule 34 content of the game that showcases such explicit, incestuous acts between the siblings should be criticized since R34 content is solely made for pornographic purposes with no substance to the story's canon. I am also okay with Okamoto's usage of incest and questionable consent in Elfen Lied since it plays into the storyline and theme of the anime, but the fan service showcased in the show should be criticized since it was easily used as a lazy way to throw borderline pornography into the anime, therefore ruining the point of "artistic" and "normalized" nudity.

In short: I don't think using taboos in media should be illegal unless the media in question is a direct reflection of a real-life scenario (like the 2019 Shadman incident), but public criticism is certainly understandable on a case-by-case basis.

Thanks for reading, I am extremely tired.

grim.

[gayarograce]

so, those of you who follow the aroallo tag may have noticed a certain individual who, over the past week or so, has made posts which range from pretty tame to one or two posts which are just flagrantly acephobic. plenty of other aro- and aroallo-focused blogs have already talked about him, basically acknowledging that while a lot of the frustrations they voice are are common within the aroallo community, acephobia isn't really the way to go about solving them. other people have already said this, and so this isn't what i want this post to be about.

instead, i want to address another theme that keeps reoccurring among some of his posts. there's not a whole lot wrong with it--it's on the tamer end of the spectrum in terms of posts they've made--except for one thing, which is just that i think it's just factually wrong, but in a way which i think is interesting and which others might learn something, and so that's what i wanted to talk about here. here is part of a post he's made:

"sex is something clearly defined that you can actually observe." this is the statement i'm going to argue is wrong. in fact, sex is socially constructed, just the same as romance. (i will clarify here, sex in this post refers to the act of having sex.)

sex is not clearly defined. it just isn't. well, to be fair, for any one individual person, sex likely has a clear-cut definition. you're probably able to categorize different acts into "sex" and "not sex." get two people together, and they may or may not agree on which specific acts are sex or not. get 100 people together? they aren't agreeing on jack shit regarding sex.

here's a link to a research paper i had to read earlier this semester, in which university students were asked to classify different acts as sex, abstinence, both, or neither. as you can see by scrolling down to the results, they wildly don't agree with each other. there are general trends, sure, but never unanimous agreement.

going back to the post shown above, you can see that their reasoning for saying that romance is a social construct is that it "means different things to different people." i'm inclined to agree with him there. however, hopefully i've successfully shown that sex also has different meanings to different people, and thus by the same logic, should also be called a social construct.

this isn't to say that sex isn't real. something can be socially constructed and still have elements of reality to it, after all. at any given time, there are always people somewhere having sex, by whatever their own personal definitions may be.

hopefully i've done a good enough job at proving my point. maybe you disagree with the point i've made here. that's fine. you're more than welcome to post your disagreement in the notes, if you're so inclined. i'll most likely read it, at the very least. after all, healthy disagreement is, well, healthy.

i never know how to properly end longer posts like this. but this is the end now. go do something else. or go read the next post further down your dashboard.

[myloudintrerestsandthought]

How do politics affect fashion? Blog #1

HI! You can call me AverageOverlord! lol I'm deeply sorry. This is my first post! Each week I'm going to try to do one post about pop culture and one about my interest. And if you have ideas lmk (if anyone actually reads this XD)!

Lots of people are thinking about the election, so I started thinking how does politics impact fashion? After thinking for a while I started to notice a pattern. When the country (America) was more conservative, people dressed more modestly and used trends from other conservative decades. When we were more democratic, our fashion would be looser, shorter and more freeing. For example during the 1920s, woman's clothing took a drastic turn compared to the previous decades. The 1910s had a more natural silhouette, woman had long sleeves and the dresses were below the ankles. The 1920s were dresses were shorter and boxier. Woman even started to cut their hair into bob which was extremely rare. It was a time were the woman's suffrage movement flourished and a good number of woman started to not dress according to men's standards. Credit had become immensely popular during the 20's. This was heavily directed in the fashion. Flappers were covered head to toe with glitz and glam. I've also noticed that when consumerism is bigger the fashion is more bold and extravagant. In the 20s, people had more free time so they started to buy more things. In the 1950s, after the war American's turned to a more conservative lifestyle. The Nuclear family was heavily marketed and the suburbs grew. The 50s fashion was heavily inspired by the late 1940s. Which was a was a very patriotic decade because of WW2. The fashion was modest and extremely feminine. It was a comfort for people who just wanted the normal life before the war back. The president for most of the 50s, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was a Republican. All these things influenced the reclamation of conservative fashion and values. 1960s and 70s fashion was very free and bold. Big hair, bright makeup and bold clothing. Disco-esque and Hippy/Bohemian clothing were extremely popular. Hippy and bohemian clothing were made up of elements taken from other cultures (that were often viewed as inferior). The Romani people is where this 'trend' originally started from. (so please if you want to dress Bohemian and you can afford it, don't buy from fast fashion brands, buy from local and small businesses, that are run by and supported by Romani people. They deserve the credit for THEIR clothing. THAT is cultural appreciation vs appropriation.) Also the civil rights movement was growing during this time. So people of color started to straighten and perm their natural hair less, It was a protest and a statement. This was called the Afro Hair Movement, It challenged Eurocentric beauty standards and celebrated Black people's natural hair and ethnicity. So as we can see the 60s and 70s were leaning towards liberalism. The 1980s was HEAVILY inspired by the 50s. It was after the Vietnam war and consumerism was booming. During the 70s bold colors were popular, But in the 80s that only increased! Neons, loud makeup, hair and bold layered fashion. Ronald Regan was the president for a majority of the 80s and he was VERY republican. Poodles skirts from the 50s came back and Polka dots were popular in both decades. They also had bright colors and cinched waists in common. I also noticed how in the 60s and 70s wedding dresses were getting shorter and less traditional. But in the 50s and 80s, the wedding dresses were huge ball gowns with long sleeves, The 80s was definitely a consumerist decade, it was full of game consoles, new technology, shopping malls and movies. I would say the 80s was one of if not the most consumerist decade in the 20th century. The 2000s was full of metallics and iridescence makeup and fashion. We had LOW cut jeans (yes lower than your mid rise lol). And red carpet fashion that was mostly street wear. (lol idk if you can feel by tone but I'm very salty about that XD). The 2000s were inspired by a revival of the 70s and 80s. The late 2000s had to stock market crash of 2008. After this fashion was never the same. We started to lean heavily on fast fashion because people couldn't afford anything else. I hope you liked this! ;)

[reginalusus]

AHHHHH. Ok.

So I was just checking some reblogs through my blog - because sometimes Tumblr notifs are weird and I don't see everything (and, yes, I do read everything and appreciate all of it <3) - and I came across the fanfiction poll and noticed that, after the results were finished, some people still continued the discussion and made some good points for both sides.

But I've been swayed a little. So now I'm like.

Huh.

Maybe I SHOULD just continue my trend of posting chapter by chapter like I do with everything else. I mean, there's not much harm in it either way.

Originally, I was just gonna dump my entire Jason/Harvey on AO3 all as one. But it's becoming a tad longer than expected. So THEN I was considering, ok, perhaps I should just upload half of it? Kind of like a Part I?

But, again, I've been swayed.

So TBH I might just quietly throw the second chapter up today at some point, IDK. The first chapter has been private/unrevealed for 90% of its time on AO3, so. Then the third a little later down the line and properly advertise it here or whatever.

Anyway, yeah.

[the-californicationist]

Oh and also about The Old Way

I really love how you wrote the other omegas. And other women in ur fics, in general!! This is a feral breeding fic, yes, BUT also- just such a women support women fic the entire time. And I love that. And I've noticed as a trend in your work how smart and kind and capable you write women (not just reader) to be.

Also, whatever "type" Alpha Garrick has, I'm trying to be it😮‍💨. And I just know his omegas would be soo pretty and fun and supportive. I'd blush just being around any of the four of them.

omg thank you so much <3 <3 i cant even tell you how your kind words go straight to my heart. you're the absolute best <3 this is very much a women supporting women blog always so im really glad that comes across in my stories. the women in my life (both cis and trans) have truly pulled me out of some dark times, and so i love writing women as the heroes for each other.

also omg i just imagine gaz like showering them in gifts and toys and art and whatever they want all the time and theyre always just glowing and happy and supporting him and their little pack. ugh im just hopeless about the whole thing

[moonpool-system]

i want to vent a little. If it's ok. Im a person with tulpa. Who was in tulpamancy-community for almost ten years, passively looking and reading many blogs. And it's bizzare for me how people see headmates/alters in DID/OSDD same as their source??? Like...

I just were in a community and did read, spoke with so many people with tulpas who are always so different from source! There was hosts with same character as a tulpa, and oh gosh how they were different and how much they did change (esp when you read blog pists like. Ten years old)! The only similarity always was name and looks (tho even these both changed for many).

And it's just so bizzare for me how many systems experience weird attention to certain fictives, because... Some people really do think they're same and related to source that much?..

Idk. In russian speaking community i don't really see trend of people expecting tulpas to be like sources, the opposite is the norm. Tulpas! The "i want to spoil and hug this character so i will create them from scratch".

Even there it's wide known fact that they're aren't their source. Heck, they sometimes even change identity to be completely sepatate from source, and even don't want to use tulpa labels. (the "i was there long before you forced and knew about tulpamancy" happens often.) And how wide-spread this experience is among OSDD and DID systems makes me kinda... Uh, feel weird? Like, im a crazy? Im i treating them as source and don't notice? Is there people who can't comprehend it, so many, and i never saw them? Uh... It's so confusing. Thank you for reading.

Hey, so this is Akira, Persona 5. I'm a source LOVING fictive, for me whenever people ask me about source things it's ridiculously affirming to my identity and who I am. I'm a traumagenic alter in a (P-)DID system, but I'm also a representation of our spiritual past life, so I'm also alterhuman in that way. I'm here to say, basically, every fictive is different. The tulpamancy community is very specifically focused on giving your tulpa agency and making sure they're not conforming to your expectations of them, and since they're being created over time with a base instead of appearing here (almost) all at once in one way or another, it only makes sense you'll find source separated tulpas all over the place. Our tulpa Badeline is the same, she's still herself but she's very different from source now. But if you look into the soulbonding community, you'll find it to be much more focused on fictives' sources and oftentimes how to handle living as a soulbond and grapple with your memories.

I've only been using spiritual sources as an example, but regardless of your origin, how connected you feel to your sourceself or source memories you are is your choice. I mean, otherkin and other alterhumans aren't hurting anyone by being connected to their source, so why should there be an assumption that it hurts us? It depends on the fictive. Our three golden rules are this: treat them like a person, don't ask questions that'd be invasive if it happened to the body, and go by their individual judgement for what's ok.

[the-quotable-alberta-hansard]

feel free to not answer this since i am partially asking about location (not specifics, only whether you're in a conservative or ndp/liberal area), but i'm wondering if you've seen any sort of change in votership amongst conservatives in your area or in your circle, like family members. some of my most die-hard conservative family members (in the 65+ age range) have considered voting orange or red based on the actions of trump, poilievre, and smith. in my area (lethbridge), during the last fed election i saw mostly blue signs and polls, but there was always more orange than red. now, with our previous mla having endorsed the liberal candidate who was a previous mayor of lethbridge, i've only seen red and blue signs, and liberals have overtaken the ndp in polling. have you noticed any interesting shifts like this in your area or around it? what are your thoughts on some of the ndp vote going to liberal candidates in alberta? again, please feel free to ignore this or parts of this if you'd rather not answer for one reason or another--i'm only curious and am not trying to bait any specific answer or start any sort of debate. have a great day and keep doing what you do :] i'm trying to spread the word about your blog to my politically minded peers so more people can know what really goes down in our legislature.

Hmm, my specific area is probably not a great gauge for a trend as I think it's kind of an outlier. My riding has been very capably represented by an NDP MP for four years. He won by a very slim lead last time, and this time around I've seen way more campaign signs in my neighbourhood for him, only a couple for the Conservative candidate, and none so far for the Liberal. So that's a good sign for my electoral hopes personally, but like I said, it's kind of a unique case in Alberta. I have seen some people advocate for strategic voting on behalf of the Liberal candidate here, which is wild to me since (a) I haven't even heard a peep from whoever it is and (b) our incumbent MP is both a great representative for the community and a strong progressive voice. That kind of strategic voting, that doesn't take into account individual candidates at all, drives me crazy and tbh I think it's just as bad as people who always vote Conservative no matter what.

Any followers have anything to add? Any new or surprising voting trends y'all might have observed in your communities?

[faebrainz]

Project Pan 2025 Intro & Inventory

I know project pan has been trending on TikTok since the new year, but I learned about it early last year. I watched so many videos, and got super motivated to go through what I owned. It also really opened my eyes on how easily influenced I was and how I wanted to copy the people I saw online without a thought about it. ShowerTok was my kryptonite. This is going to be my intro and inventory post! I have tons of pictures to show and I'm going to try to post updates and empties at the end of every month! I also would love to find some more blogs that are posting their project pan! Let's get started!

Body Care

This category is pretty bad! And I'm not even showing what I have in my shower. I have about 11 sets of scents. About 4 body sprays, 2 body lotions, and 3 hand lotions. All this is my slowest moving products because of multiple factors, most of the time I only have the mental capacity (or the hot water) to take a bare minimum shower. I don't really have a plan for all of it. It's a little overwhelming. I did really well last year of not buying anything new, but my mom got me a new set for Christmas, and then I just bought some stuff from that new Daise brand from Ulta haha. I don't think there's some fun way to get through these like there is for makeup, I just need to lock in.

Makeup Overview

I really worked on my makeup collection last year and now it all fits into my caboodle! It also helps that I don't really use foundation or concealer, but I do plan on investing in some high end kind this year.

Eye Products

I have two mascaras, three eyeliners, one stick shadow, one brow gel, one lash glue, one eye primer and a random little heart stamp I got in a monster high doll haha. I have been trying to use both mascaras when doing my makeup. (Too Faced for top lashes, Isehan for my lower lashes.) But hopefully since I bought a mini, I can get through it in a decent amount of time. I don't even wear eyeliner, but when I do, it's my little gel pot, so I could honestly get rid of the other two. I don't even know why I bought that stick shadow. I saw a funky color and grabbed it. I do want to at least try it out though. I don't wear fake lashes either? Everything else I use every time I do makeup! Heart stamp is just there.

Lip Products

I feel like this is everyone's biggest problem. I have seven lip balms, one stain, six glosses, two lipsticks, and two liners. I have a lip balm in almost every room of my apartment and in my bag, so they do get used up in a timely manner. Look at my Peely one, he's almost gone! I use the stain a good amount. I do not wear gloss on the daily, especially glitter gloss, and I have three of those! I thought the cuddle team leader one would be cute, but it's the same shade as my lips already so there's almost no difference. I don't use lipsticks that much, I would rather use the stain I have, but I like the colors. I could probably get rid of the lighter one. I went on a lip combo journey and absolutely hated it so now I just have two random lip liners.

Eye Shadows and Pallets

I have five pallets, one super shock shadow that I think is dried out and then in the magnetic pallet is a depotted Lorac pallet (small pans) and a giant Morphe pallet and then one little random pan from Sally's. The Lorac pallet had sixteen pans and I kept six. The Morphe pallet had thirty pans and I kept twelve. I've actually hit pan on one of those shades! I got rid of a lot of colorful shades, but I wanted to keep my ProFusion pallets when I did want to use fun colors. I know they're not everyday pallets, but I'm ok with keeping them. My little nine pan Cuddle Team Leader pallet is really good for everyday. My eyes don't really like drugstore makeup, but this pallet works for me! I kept my ColourPop Blowin' Smoke pallet for darker looks. I dropped this pallet a while back and I'm just now noticing I put some of the pans in the wrong place haha. I just bought the Appley In Love pallet from Too Faced. It was 50% off and I wanted as least one high end pallet I can use for everyday. I want it to be my main pallet at the end of all this.

Face Powders

I don't have that many! My pressed powder is almost out! I do have two highlighters, but I use both of them every time I put on makeup. I use the Covergirl all over where needed and then I use the WnW for just my nose. But recently I have been using a shade from the depotted Lorac pallet for my nose highlight to try to use it up. It is a lot smaller than the giant WnW highlighter.

And that is it! I already do one in, one out for skincare and haircare, so I don't feel like I have to add all that. I am hoping since I'm posting this online that I'll be held accountable to actually do all this. Last year I did really good about not buying a bunch of products I didn't need, but I didn't put them to use like I wanted.

[hekateinhell]

my friends...

i've been noticing a ✨trend✨ in my ask box and i'm not sure why but i just wanted to address it real quick because i don't want anyone to feel bad for whatever reason (forgive me if i sound obnoxious, i just had to conduct an interview and this is my professional voice, i don't love it either):

please don't send me amc asks.

i don't watch the show, i don't know the meta or anything that's going on really unless amc twt bleeds over to my twitter fyp and that's only when there's drama happening or some cool new promo dropped.

if you love it, i'm happy for you, i support you, i hope you're having lots of fun, it looks like you are!!! i just don't have anything to worthwhile to contribute here but if you need help finding your people, i know a couple really great blogs that discuss both the books and the show! and i'm sure those people could point you in an even better direction from there. 

as for old maniel gangbang anon... you know what, i support this purely for the kink factor, i would be a hypocrite not to. you go and fucking degrade that old man — pack in as many nasty ao3 tags in there as you can!!

[popculturebuffet]

Since we've tackled one big adult animation network, let's try the other and more prominent one with the FOX adult animation shows. For the first (and arguably most iconic) batch, favorite character from the 1989-2005 era with: The Simpsons, The Critic, King of the Hill, Family Guy, Futurama (which was on several networks between Fox, direct to video, Comedy Central, and Hulu), The PJs, and American Dad (which also got spread between two networks between Fox and TBS)? I know especially in the cases of The Simpsons and Family Guy, the favorite character will vary considering both shows have gone through various rough patches and declines in their long runs so if you wanna have more than one favorite depending on the era of the shows, that's fine.

Fair enough and this is something i'm happy about especialy because, as tends to be the trend, most of these are shows i've watched at least a little and it seems to be consitant for most of fox's shockingly small program pool. The good news is i've tried most of it at one point or another, so there's no gaps this time up to and including the most recent show universal basic guys. So with that let's rip.

The Simpsons: Faviorite character is hard not due to the series sheer length, but to it's sheer cast size. So while it was a hard choice my faviorite is probably grandpa. Which is weird: he has two spotlight episodes I geninely love off the top of my head, yet he earns this spot by just having so many damn good jokes, which is common for any simpsons character but abe just cranks em out from his pants dropping, to "a little of collumn a a little of collumn b" , "I used to be with it", the onion monologue, and so much more. The guy may be on the edge of the show and an awkward fit for spotlight eps at times, but my god does he deliver. And of course he's responsible for my favorite simpsons joke

It's funny enough in it's first scene but that sudden call back. Runner up is easily hans moleman, who is just inherently funny and like Grandpa is funny just by showing up, up to the most recent episode at the time of this ask where he just randomly shows up for homer to make a pun mid song, or the premire of this season where he sees himself on the listings of funerals for the series faux finale and sighs. Third is Chief Wiggum and i'll stop it there but he gets here for a lot of reasons, from sky police to... well everything he does in I Love Lisa. not an exageration. "Have they set a date", "I keep my pants on in this version", the boot on ms hoover's car.

Anyways I could list why simpsons characters are great all day but tha'ts not what this is. Anyone whose seen at least one post on this blog knows how much I love the simpsons

While Frinkiac, an image making website that has a database of the first 17 seasons makes this easy, there's a lot of jokes I just couldn't do if not for them, I'd still be making every refrence i could: The show at it's peak is a non stop barrage of clever jokes, well done character work, and more clever jokes.

The show does have a reputation for decline.. and it's not unwarranted. While I still think at least season 9 is pretty good, the Scully era slowly took the show into mean spirited attempts to match the other shows at the time. There's a reason the term Jerkass Homer came from here.

That said I will combat the narrative that "simpsons just got bad and stayed bad". That it became oops all mike scully. It didn't and that era of edgelord nonsense was fairly short even if it leaked a bit into the Al Jean Era.

The real issue i've noticed visiting the ocasional episode that sounded intresting over the years, and especially after watching youtuber the real jims is that al jeans LONG tenure (As in it only ended with season 34 and he's still apparently in charge of the half assed disney + specials) is kinda bland. There's some good stuff like ned and ednas sadly brief due to real life tragedy marriage, the weird as hell episode where Selma Marries grandpa while Lisa and Bart engage in a lord of the rings style war with UPS over boxes that even includes a dragon and nelson. But a lot just feels bland. It dosen't have to be as good as the golden age, no show can stay that good forever and youtuber and simpsons expert the real jims is what got me out of the "only classic era and season 9 good" mindset I was in. There is good.. it's just a coasting era and I could entirely agree with the arguments simpsons could end.

Emphasis on "Could" as what i've seen of the most recent seasons is fun. Now granted like many I came into what I watched of season 34, the first show ran primarily by longtime writer matt selman but using a unique format where a diffrent writer shoruns each episode and where this new age began, expecting a new golden age. The thing is while it's not that.. it is still solid and the writers are putting in more effort. I still bob and weave out of watching it weekly as some episodes just don't interest me. But the series is far more willing to shake things up or experiment while still keeping the status quo: Bart gets a new teacher woh matches him while being far more resonable and compasionate than any other teacher at the school like Edna was, but without her clear case of burnout, longtime background extra larry died and Moe got engaged.. then the show forgot about it.

More importantly as RealJims pointed out recently in a video, the show is experimenting a lot more each season: you'll get an episode where tow hackers modled after prominent simpssons youtube Lydia from Simpsons Theory and her husband air clips of episodes that never existed poking fun at fans, an episode spoofing primal, a schoolhouse rock parody, and just in this current season alone a faux finale exploring what a simpsons finale shoudlnt' look like, another shorts episode focused entirely on the women of springfield and a second anthology ep focused entirely on ray bradbury. The show may not break status quo, and I wish it would just a tad, but it does break format often and is geninely trying to play with things among more standard episodes. I mean we got the masterpiece that is "A Mid Childhood's Dream' about marge dealing with Bart growing up out of this. Selman and Co really have brought life into the show enough for me to check it out and even the mid episodes are at least intresting. The show may of been in a decades long slump, but it's more than justifying it's existance and likely will keep going till one of the main cast sadly passes on and I for one welcome our new simpsons overlords.

The Critic: Budududdudududud, do do do doot doo ... god that theme song is catchy. Anyways Franklin. I said it in my election special and i'll say it again: Gerrit Grahm owns every scene franlkin sherman is in. Franklin is a living meme in the best way possible and thank god we got him. Duke's a close second for largely the same reasons.

The show itself is excellent. I did keep distance for a bit as it's star, John Lovitz, turned out to be an asshat now sulking around fox news with other comics who wnat the kids to get off their damn lawn. But even if Lovitz Sucks, like Rosanne, a show isn't automatically bad because it's star is a jerk and the critic is a great sister show to the simpsons having the same rapid fire energy. Parts of it haven't aged well as Al Jean and Mike Reiss leaned HEAVILY into refrence humor and while some stands on it's own, others have aged terribly if you weren't there or refrence films I hadn't heard of. Their movie parodies are a coin flip.

Despite this the show powers through the dated bits by nto only being a sharp satire at times, but simply having a stacked cast of characters and voice cast: Every character is memorable in some way, and the bulk have great gags to their name. Lovitz for as much as I resent him now, was at the top of his game as jay and gave the punching bag a sense of energy, with just enough smugness to understand why people might not like him.

The show only got better in season 2: Season 1 still has classics, paticuarlly it's finale (MAKE HIM SQUEAL!), and the debutante ball episode, but season 2 eases up on jay a bit, still dumping on him but giving him a great foil in his girlfriend alice, who he has great chemistry with an der.. also wedging her daughter in there. It keeps what worked but ups the pacing resulting in a lot of the series best. The Critic is free on tubi and it's a stone cold classic of comedy well worth watching.

King of the HIll: Doot doot doo doo doo. It's Dale. Easily. God bless Johnny Hardwick for his monumental performance, the show would not have been the same and i'm greatful he'll be present for some of the revivial.... just.. please don't be into Qanon dale. But Dale is just funny while also having a lot of depth: He loves his wife, is a good father (he still once tries to help his son kill a panda to seem cool, but given dale's many terrible life choices, it's remarkable THAT'S the worst it gets), and while a coward, a good friend when it counts most.. to Hank and Boomhauer. Bill can go stand in the corner. Dale is hilarious fun to watch and memorable every time he does a thing. I mean who else could make chlroforming himself this funny. Or of course this which really sums up the character

The show itself is excellent. Like most fox shows it slid a bit as it went, with the later seasons being meh most of the time, but at it's peak it's a solid down to earth show with great characters, comedic timing and growth. I like some eps more than others even at it's best, but I can't help but adore this show: I watched season 3 a LOT in high school via some dvds I got cheap at walmart, and the show is part of me as a result and even fi it wasn't.. it'd still be dang good, a nice nuanced portrait of a man despreatly struggling with the time he' sin and his own trauma. It also has washington hitler

It's all in the delivery. It's not without faults: I'm not a huge fan of not giving bobby a romantic arc after Connie, Peggy got more insufferable with each season, and as I said the show got blander as it went. But at it's peak this show was great and I can't wait for the sequel.

Family Guy: You know the words. Faviorite character is hard as the bulk have just.. degraded with time, but i'll go with peter as he's the one whose degraded the least.. I mean he's become a bigger asshole but he's not that diffrent.

The show itself was good in it's prime, around the first 5 seasons. There is some edgelord bullshit in there: Transphobic jokes, about half of quagmires joke, and more i'm probably not thinking of but we've got a lot of shows to cover in this ask and the bulk are fairly intensive to talk about as they've been on since the dawn of time.

But my god the show had so many good jokes. I admit I have nosalgia bias: I watched the show a ton on adult swim, was giddy when ti came back and watched it weekly up to road to the north pole when my patience ran out. And seeing Brian vomit for a minute and a half realizing he slept with a trans woman wasn't exactly af ond invitation to go back. When the show was at it's peak, it was hilarious nonsense, having some good character stuff (ToonrifiqTariq in paticular has pointed out the series suprisingly well threaded theme of Peter learning way too much of how he acts from tv and movies), while also just being hilarious. The cutaway gags get shit.. but in thei roriginal form as quick bursts of nonsense and not filler to kill time, they were fucking great. Their a way to pepper up boring expositoin. I mean Meg could just make a quip about Peter being left to his own devices when lois gets a job.. or we could see just what she means by "turned the house into a giant puppet"

It just had a fun nonsense vibe where weird shit like Donny Most rising from some haze happened. It was a solid weird show and I still remember many a cutaway and gag for just being that good. I do wish the show would stop at this point, and I know, given my defense ofr the simpsons to continue that's weird, but it needs to either find something new to do with itself or gracefully end. I tried it again with the halloween specail but it seems.. really not that much diffrent than it was post it's darkest and most stupid period, which unlike simspons seems to have lasted a lot longer and been even more vile. I mean it's where we got "Quagmire's Father", the worst piece of television i've ever seen or reviewed. But the show like simpsons could stand from a bolt of fresh creativity.

Futurama: DUN DUN, DO DO, DUN DUN DO DO DO DO. IT's the show that CANNOT die. It has come back THREE times now, over direct to video movies, a cable revivial and now streaming. And I love it

Faviorite character first: Bender is great, bender bender bender is great. John DiMaggio broke out with this role for good reasons, a hilarious jack of all trades that thanks to Tariuq and his good friend Johnny2Cellos i've also embraced just how easily upset and thin skinned he can be. I hope john gets to play him as long as the role exists and Bender's suprising depth combined with his endless factory for jokes is great. Nixon, as you could probably guess from the electoin specail, is a close second.

The show itself is excellent, a nice blend of simpsons rapid fire pacing at it's peak with some high concept sci fi stuff. It's also aged shockingly well with only Amazon Women in the Mood and Bend Her sticking out as having premises that didn't age well (And in the case of Bend Her it was bad even before it's tranphobia aged like bad milk left in a parking lot). The original run is funny, incredibely well paced and often deeper than it has any reason to be.

Like simpsons Futurama has distinctive eras though rather than be chunked up by showrunners it's chunked up by what network they were on. The films were solid though the premise of beast with a billion backs has aged horribly and was already a tad creepy to start with, while benders game is just.. meh.

The Comedy Central run started and ended strong.. but isn't a lot to write home about. There are fantastic episodes that make me more than happy we got the first revival: Lethal Inspection, The Late Phillip J Fry, The Prisoner of Benda, Law and Oracle, The Bots and the Bee's, Zapp Dingbat, The Six Million Dollar Mon, Stench and Stenchabhility and Meanwhile.. but the bulk are mediocre. You have episodes with outdated and grossly sexist premises (Nutopia and the Butterjunk effect), just plain stupid ones (Fun on a Bun) or episods that are instantly dated (Attack of the Killer App and Decision 3012). The revivial has just enough good and decent to justify existing, but isn't anywhere near where they were and given the gap between there isn't as much excuse for this decline as say the simpsons middle years where 20 some years under the same guy is naturally going to cause some malaise to set in. You had PLENTY of time between seasons, even with everything else going on to come back with something fresher.

Thankfully what i've seen of the Hulu Revivial (The first eason of it and an episode) more than makes up for it. There's still a few clunkers, sure, but the team really found their grove, helped by , unlike a lot of these shows NOT sticking rigidly to the status quo. There are changes that while not changing the series formula, do help create fresh stories; Kif and Amy's kids emerge from the bog (albeit widdled down a bit thanks to the curetly of nature and the bottomless appittie of john zoidberg) and are now active characters, Leela moves into fry and benders place (And Bender takes it exactly as maturely as you'd expect). Their small changes, sure, the show's mostly same as it ever was, but it's a sign of a show willing to try new stuff. There's still some cruft left over from the comedy central era, we REALLY don't need these anthology episodes, but on the whole it feels like what the first revivail shoudl've been: A mixture of fresh talent and the old guard coming in or coming back energized. It honestly reminds me of the current run of simpsons: We didn't NEED more, but it's good there's more good episodes there.

The PJ's: No faviorites here as i'm not really a fan of this one for it's thin characters and mean spirits, though I do respect it a bit more nowadays. If only a little. And I DO like it's stop motion art, something vastly different from most other fox animated shows. I also appricate having less to say as i've had to answer this one over a few sitdowns as most of the shows here had a decades long run, with the PJ's and the Critic being the only two to be short runners. While Fox has a reputation for one or two seasons shows, it's far more spread out than you'd think. So yeah this one isn't for me but I respect people liking it as it was one of the first adult animated cartoons created by black creators and with a nearly all black cast.

American Dad: OH BOY IT'S SWELL TO SAY, GOOD MORNING USA! It's a hard choice between two great side characters, so i'll let them BOTH have the honors. Avery Bullock entirely for being voiced by sir patrick stewart saying the most insane shit the writers can come up with and Principal Avery, who as the show went became the breakout we all deserved

American Dad is a solid show but not one i'm really all that invested in like the last three. I watched it every week for the first season or so then on and off on adult swim, I liked it and I think it's far more solid than it has a right to be. I haven't really touched the TBS era and here it's a pretty sharp decline with few bright spots, which tracks. It did give us Rogu, Roger's Homonculus though so good on it for that blessing to our world. But the show was pretty good I just don't have a ton to say about it either: it has some really good eps, it has patrick stewart singing oingo boingo and it has this joke

Sometimes tha'ts really all you need. Not my faviorite, but not a bad show.

[josephlikesmusic]

BRAT - Charli xcx (2024)

(Wowie first album review on the blog!)

BRAT is easily one of my favorite albums that's been released since the start of the decade. I adore the combination of hyperpop and club music that this album experiments and hope that this album starts a new trend of pop albums experimenting with the futuristic sounds of hyperpop. Songs that stood out to me on the album were 360 and Apple. Both songs have become massively popular on TikTok, with Apple starting its own dance trend. Other major highlights of the album include Club Classics, Talk Talk, and Mean Girls.

I've noticed that the songs I enjoyed most on BRAT tend to be the more upbeat songs that I find myself longing to dance to, which makes sense seeing that Charli has mentioned that a lot of the album's inspiration was drawn from the London rave scene. A major theme that BRAT returns to throughout it's tracklist is girlhood. I Think About It All The Time is an extremely personal song about her uncertainty about whether or not it's the right time for her to have a child and delve into the journey of motherhood. The song also explores how women and mothers are perceived in our world, with Charli asking questions such as if motherhood makes you anymore of a woman. Sympathy is a Knife and Girl, So Confusing also touch on the perception of women, especially in the music industry. The general public is always comparing music stars to each other and even though many would be ashamed to admit their jealousy, Charli admits to overthinking and comparing herself to others, a bad trait many girls can relate to. While BRAT is mainly filled with these fast paced songs, songs like I Think About it all the Time and I Might Say Something Stupid while might not literally be slower, take a short break from the back to back "party songs" while I Think About it all the Time still keeps the upbeat tempo and fits well with the genre mixing of BRAT, I don't think that I Might Say Something Stupid fits 100%. I think that IMSSS is a great song standalone, although I don't love the autotune on the vocals, the song just feels out of place between Sympathy is a Knife and Talk Talk.

Besides this small annoyance, I adore BRAT. I've said it before and I'll say it again but this album is truly one of the best pop albums of this decade, and I hope that pop music as a whole starts becoming a little more experimental instead of falling into a formula. BRAT is quickly earning it's status as a modern classic, from it's iconic cover to Kalama Harris using the album to promote her presidential campaign. I have so much fun listening to this album and I am so glad to see so many people enjoying such an experimental album. I am also glad to see pop stars being able to come clean to their fans and admit their flaws, making themselves more relatable to the real fans that they have. Charli explores many themes that managers would typically advise their stars to stay far away from and tells her own stories that people can confide in. I hope that the success of this album will prove to the music industry that you can be a sincere person with the same flaws as everyone else, make music about your authentic feelings and experiences, and still be successful, and most of all I hope that those who have faced the same struggles as Charli can find comfort in her music and further prove the above statement.