#if I start posting a ton of Raf content

[mwphisto]

Rafayel suffers from night terrors.

He doesn't talk about them, doesn't dare acknowledge them out loud. Saying he has them makes them real, and that's not something he's ready to come to terms with yet.

They are not visions his mind conjured up. No, they are something far worse. They are memories. Memories of his past, of his lives with you. Each one etching their own unique scar in his mind. Taunting, tormenting, breaking his heart over and over.

Still, Rafayel refuses to dwell on them longer than a few minutes. After he's jolted upright in bed, sweat covering his body, his pupils drawn tight despite the darkness enveloping his room.

His body is shaken by fight or flight, arms trembling with tension as he holds onto the dying version of you that has long since passed.

They don't stop, not until he has you. Not until you are throughly bound to him in this life too. Tangled in the infamous red string of fate, one that ties you to him as helplessly as he his tied to you. Your presence in his bed has warded off the cursed dreams.

Now, Rafayel's night terrors are few and far between.

He can go a few weeks, even a month, without his past tormenting him in his dreams. His resolution is much healthier than his previous coping attempts. Each time his skin is soaked with sweat, each time his heart seizes and he is left grappling for reality, he reaches for you.

You, who is sleeping soundly beside him. You, who sleeps like the damn dead. You, who sleepily mumbles his name and reaches for him just as he clings to you, sweat, panic, and all.

You may not remember. It may kill him a little bit. But he has you again, you are his and he is yours. He can cope with the nightmares of his past so long as you are sleeping - breathing - beside him.

Are we fucking joking with that trailer. Raf looks un-fucking-real and (SPOILERS) I genuinely gasped when we died in his arms. My poor fishy, the visual sucked (it was gorgeous but painful is what I mean lmfao)

[openheartfanfics]

Weekly Trope Challenge

I may be crazy for announcing another event, or just super excited? you tell me 😂

Someone suggested the fantastic idea that we do a weekly writing challenge for creators. We have a ton of tailored tropes for each LI based on popular themes in fics. So here it is! 🎉

Each week (starting on a Friday) will be devoted to creating new fics for the trope, or tagging us in a past one. 

My hope is that it inspires others to write for lesser-known pairings. There are no rules*! Write that Bryce x Aurora fic! Gimme some Sienna x Raf! Tobias x ME! Some Jackie x F!MC please! 

We’ll be starting Friday, September 3rd with And there’s some Good Ol’ Pining 🏁

Here are the first few weeks if you’d like to prep: 

And there’s some good ol’ Pining

Wedding & Proposals

And then they Meet Again

And they were in a Supply Closet/On-call Room

Text Fics 📱

And there was a Gala/Fundraiser

And an Ex Came Back in the Picture

I’ll make a formal post closer to the time. 

it’s late. i’m babbling. askbox is open if you have questions ❤ love you!

*there are rules for what content is accepted. we follow the same guidelines as cfwc

[islamicrays]

On YouTube, there are tons of "beauty gurus" who post videos about makeup application, hair styling, beauty accessories, and fashion.

I personally know a lot of young girls who watch these makeup tutorials and follow specific "favorite" beauty gurus. After years of being avid subscribers to their channels, these young teens and pre-teens get attached to these big personalities who are YouTube celebrities. Not only do the kids learn how to apply foundation and eye shadow from these beauty gurus, but they also learn about and admire the lifestyle of the "influencer."

Yesterday, I looked up the top 10 beauty channels on YouTube, out of curiosity. Which content creators are the most popular and what kind of subscriber counts do they have?

My heart sank when I found the answers to my questions.

Out of the top ten beauty Youtubers, five are gay men!

1. Louie's Life: 24.6 million subscribers

2. James Charles: 22.1 million subscribers

3. Jeffree Star: 17.2 million subscribers

4. Manny Mua: 4.85 million subscribers

5. Wayne Goss: 3.8 million subscribers

Jeffree Star has a net worth of $200 million. In addition to being one of the highest-paid YouTube stars on the planet, he oversees a cosmetic empire called Jeffree Star Cosmetics that is the source of the majority of his fortune today. When he was 6 years old, his father committed suicide and he was raised by his single mother, who was a model.

Louie, the creator of the YouTube channel Louie's Life, has an estimated net worth of $500,000. His number-one most popular video, with over 5 million views, is about how he lost his virginity.

James Charles is the number-one highest paid beauty Youtuber today, male or female. This 21-year-old flamboyant gay man makes more money showing young kids how to do makeup than any woman. He has a net worth of $22 million, and his videos have gotten a total of 2.6 billion views (yes, billion with a b). He refers in his videos and posts to his audience as his "sisters."

In 2018, James Charles released an eyeshadow palette in collaboration with Morphe Cosmetics. At its initial drop on November 14, 2018, the palette sold out fully in Europe in less than 6 minutes.

He was also accused of predatory behavior and of grooming young boys for homosexual behavior.

These people are called social influencers for a reason. They don't just teach makeup. They teach and glamorize and sanitize their haram life styles. They give kids life advice and disclose stories about personal experiences and encounters. They normalize degenerate behavior and desensitize kids to major sins.

How do we protect our kids from these dangers?

By talking to them. Regularly.

By connecting with them. Genuinely.

By being fully aware of *exactly* what kind of stuff our kids are watching, reading, and generally limiting the online content they consume.

How do we talk to our kids about this issue of LGBTQ?

We have to set the record straight for our kids. Now that we know what we are up against, how the mainstream narrative glamorizes homosexuality and how cultural trends prop up these gay influencers, we have to show our kids the reality.

What does Allah say about this "lifestyle"?

Tell your kids the story of Lut, عليه السلام. He was a beautiful prophet sent by Allah to his people who had fallen into a bizarre and repugnant sin: the men were attracted to other men and engaged in inappropriate acts with them.

إِنَّكُمْ لَتَأْتُونَ الرِّجَالَ شَهْوَةً مِّن دُونِ النِّسَاءِ ۚ بَلْ أَنتُمْ قَوْمٌ مُّسْرِفُونَ.

"Indeed, you approach men with desire, instead of women. Rather, you are a transgressing people." (Surat Al-A`raf, 81)

(If your kids are younger and don't understand the concept of "desire" or "attraction," use the concept of marriage. Kids instinctively know that in a marriage, there is a man and a woman. They see that in a family, there is a Mama and a Baba.)

When Lut عليه السلام told them to stop this terrible sin, these people ignored him, then mocked him, then started threatening to kick him out of their town. They even tried to harm and physically assault the angels who came to visit prophet Lut عليه السلام! Crime after crime after crime.

So Allah destroyed their entire town, turning the whole thing upside down.

Nothing was left except rubble.

Before the destruction of the town, Allah commanded prophet Lut to leave with his family so they would be saved.

The family all left and were safe. Except for Prophet Lut's wife! She was destroyed too.

Why?

Because she liked these gay men and agreed with their sin and saw nothing wrong with it. She went along with their crimes and so she was punished along with them.

So we learn from the Quran that there are TWO sins:

1. Practicing homosexual acts

And

2. Approving of, liking, or being "okay" with homosexual acts

Both are sins. BOTH.

Unfortunately, the modern world live in has deceived even Muslims about this sin. What these famous Muslims fail to understand is that there isn't just *one* sin (engaging in homosexual acts). There's a second sin: normalizing, accepting, confirming, or in staying silent about this sin.

Some famous Muslim politicians and activists, like Ilhan Omar and Linda Sarsour, dance with trannies and attend gay-pride rallies and teach Muslims to support gays.

Some big-name, well-funded "Islamic institutes" publish long essays trying to convince Muslims to "affirm and advocate many LGBTQ rights."

Some Muslim celeb speakers and duat encourage Muslims to attend social justice events and protests alongside LGBTQ activists and to work hand-in-hand with them.

Teach your kids not to do any of this.

Protect your kids.

-Umm Khalid

[the-real-xmonster]

(Probably) Last Mass Post on Olympic Technicals

I saw a GIF of Nathan's 3A from his Oly FS. Has he gone back to the toe-pick release, from the skid that Raf was teaching him? (Can't seem to link GIF, sorry! But the Olympic Channel has his FS.)

This is the moment I realized, with mild horror, that I’ve forgotten to DVR any of Nathan’s performances at the OG. And my current Internet connection is so crappy I can’t even get the Olympic channel video to play in full HD. But, yes, I also remember noticing that he went back to the toe pick takeoff for his 3A in the FS. Probably because the skid takeoff sure didn’t work out that well for him in that competition. Let’s wait and see what he chooses to do at Worlds this week.

Hi, I really appreciate your posts! You've made figure skating so much easier to understand with your gifs and explanations. I was wondering something, if you don't mind answering, and it was in concerns to step sequences. I remember hearing somewhere that Nathan Chen got a level 4 during his Long Program at the Olympics while Yuzuru got a level 3? If true, why is that? It doesn't seem like Nathan's is more complex at all. Thank you in advance for reading this inquiry --- @mystictrillium

Hi, it’s true that Nathan got a level 4 for his FS StSq at the OG and Yuzu got a level 3, but it doesn’t necessarily mean that Nathan’s StSq was more complex than Yuzu’s. Yuzu’s planned technical content for the Seimei StSq is highly difficult (more details here) and should be more than enough to earn him the maximum level if everything is executed correctly. The reason why Yuzu lost a level at the OG was because of one mistake that happened to occur during a turn, which, under ISU rules, was crucial for level evaluation purpose. I’ve discussed this here, in case you are interested in the technical details. 

Hi Alice! I was wondering, if Yuzuru got a Lv4 on the last spin of his SP from the Olympics (same GOE) would he have broken the WR?

No, a level 4 spin wouldn’t have been enough. He was 1.05 points away from a new WR. The difference between Base Value of a level 3 and a level 4 combination spin is only 0.50 points, and there is no difference in their Scale of Value, so Yuzu wouldn’t have got any extra GOE if he had received a level 4 for that last spin either. He, in fact, received higher GOE for that spin at the OG compared to at Autumn Classic. Well deserved, I’d say, not least because I love that variation he did for the A-spin when he placed his hand flat on his back instead of on his knee as usual:

(Aside from being pretty, this variation also affected his balance and actually made the spin harder to execute. But of course when you are Yuzuru Hanyu, judges hold you to an apparently much higher standard so, despite added difficulty and whatnot, if you miss your rotation by a hair’s breadth, you lose a level, no negotiation allowed).

Hi Alice! This ask is regarding spin. I understand Hanyu got only Lv3 on his last spin for SP for lacking rotation. But then Shoma Uno in his FS' FCCoSp, if I am not mistaken, lacked rotations on both his camel and upright position. So,,, why was that still counted as a lv4 spin? That's 2 basic position lacking rotations. I know counting spin is not my forte, but did I really make that big of a mistake there? Thanks! (also, if it's going to unleash the you-know-what, feel free to not answer)

No I don’t think you are mistaken about Shoma’s spin. At least if you count spin revolutions the same way I do. For a basic camel position, I count from the moment both the skater’s spinning knee and free leg are fully straightened, I stop counting when they start bending their knee to move to the subsequent position:

For a basic upright position, I’d count from when their body is fully upright (duh) and the spinning knee also fully straightened, same principle as camel spin for when to stop:

So, from how I see it, neither of those positions Shoma had was held for 2 full revolutions. As to why the tech panel didn’t invalidate his spin or give him a V sign at least, your guess is as good as mine.

In case anyone is curious, this is how I count the revolutions for Yuzu’s inside to outside edge feature: start when his blade is completely outside, stop when his blade is completely flat:

I remember Shoma said that if he had landed the 4Lo, he could have higher chance of winning, and Yuzuru replied that even if Shoma did land the 4Lo, Yuzu would still have won. Could you calculate/ explain this please?

Wait, when/where did this conversation happen? Just asking because it sounds very out of character for both of them.

But, well, the calculation is not hard to do. The final margin between Yuzu and Shoma was 10.95 points. Shoma got a total of 8.00 points for his 4Lo (fall), if he had landed the jump, and landed it perfectly so that he received the maximum GOE for it (which has never happened, mind you), his total point for that element would have been 12 in BV + 3 GOE = 15 points. So that’s 7 points added to his TES. Now you can also tell me that the fall on the 4Lo affected his PCS, so if it hadn’t happened his PCS would also have gone up, but it order to even the gap with Yuzu, Shoma would need an extra 3.95 points in PCS, which would mean a total PCS of 96.67. Considering that his personal best PCS in international competition is (I think) 94.42 at WC17, 96.67 is extremely unlikely.

So, the summary is, even if Shoma had landed his 4Lo, Yuzu would still have won.  

Hi Alice, I have a question about commentators, do you know who were the commentators for the official Olympic broadcast (the ones with the phrase 'liquid gold'😍)? They seemed so lovely and I could hear them clapping after Yuzu's fs, which was just heart warming.     

The female commentator (she of the “liquid gold” comment) is Belinda Noonan, former Australian national champion. Thanks to @chibura for the info :) I’m not sure who her partner was. Does anybody have a clue?

Hi Alice! Hope you're doing fine. I've heard people saying a lot that Javi should have got silver instead of Shoma. I haven't watched yet Javi's performance but I've seen a fancam of Shoma's and I've checked their protocols. Shoma's technique is flawed, that much we know, but there were a couple of jumps that were pretty nice. Javi has like 5 points advantage over Shoma in PCS but he popped that 4S and lost a level in one of the spins (besides less one quad). What do you think? Thanks :) --- @puniyo    

I also think the Silver should have gone to Javi, mostly because in the FS, Shoma’s 4Lo was clearly under-rotated and he shouldn’t have got the full BV for it. His 4T was borderline UR as well (more details on his 4Lo and 4T here), and as you see above, his flying combination spin was also dubious. Considering the very thin margin between him and Javi, any of those mistakes, if called by the tech panel, could have resulted in a different final standing.  

Please excuse me if this question seems silly, but I have not understood fs enough to withstand a debate, that's why I really need your help. I saw on an ask page someone raising questions about Yuzu's 4T in Chopin, so aside from the argument that 4T has an inherent degree of prerotations, how else can I prove that his 4T was not UR? And while Kurt said that it was not quite the 'perfect' landing, how would you describe that landing on average? Thanks a ton            

I think you’ve got PR and UR mixed up there :) PR is about whether or not the skater rotates on ice before the takeoff, where as UR is about whether they do that after they land.

So it’s true that a toe loop always has some degrees of PR inherent in it, more than most of the other jump types, because of the way the skater's hip is completely open to the rotational direction. Here’s Yuzu’s 4T takeoff in his SP:

You see there, with the way this jump works (left leg swinging behind for the pick), a skater can’t help but point their toe at an angle for the takeoff, and that’s what causing the inherent pre-rotation. However in Yuzu’s case, he picked and then left the ice with minimal timing delay, so his blade was fully off ice at no more than 90 degrees of PR, which made his takeoff completely valid in scoring terms (in order for a takeoff to be called “cheated”, it has to be done with 180 degrees of PR or more).

As for the landing of that jump, no, it wasn’t perfect. It was slightly under-rotated:

See how he clearly did have to finish his last rotation on ice? It was not called by the technical panel, likely because they deemed the lack of rotation not enough for a call (less than a quarter), but it was reflected somewhat in his GOE. 4 judges out of 9 gave him +2 only for that combo. With him hitting almost, if not all, of the 8 positive GOE bullets for that combo, a +2 can only be justified by the judges taking into consideration the mandatory deduction of -1 for the UR (yes, judges are allowed to, and are supposed to, deduct GOE for jumps lacking rotation even if there is no call from the tech panel).

Here’s how a perfect 4T landing looks, from Yuzu’s FS :)

(Straight up +3 for this one)

Hi Alice! I was wondering on yuzu’s SP (and really the FS as well tbh) when he was jumping his 4T-3T the foot picking the ice as he was jumping wasn’t his usual ‘quick hitting motion’ as I think you put it. Do you think it’s just bc he hadn’t been training his quads until 2 weeks before and he was just getting used to it or it could be something else?        

He did put a bit more pressure on the ball of his picking foot for the takeoff of that 4T (as you can see in that gif above), and same goes for his (planned) solo 4T in the FS.

I think it had to do with his right ankle not in its best shape: for a toe loop takeoff, while the majority of the push comes from your picking left foot, you do need to use your right foot’s ankle and knee to stabilize the takeoff. If you have some nagging unease in your mind about your right foot, it can lead to you taking a split second more to fully stabilize the takeoff, and therefore, a split second more of your toe pick being kept on the ice.

Or, he was actually altering his takeoff in that manner as a way to put a certain limit on the size of his toe loop so that it is easier to control, also because he was worrying about his right foot, which plays a crucial role in the landing. This alternative theory of mine came up because I noticed that in the second 4T he did in the FS, he used the usual fast takeoff and ended up with that step out:

For what it’s worth, his subsequent triple toe loop takeoffs in combos were all picture perfect though, as usual :)

[josephqunnies]

The dynamic between the a couple sides of the fandom sure are interesting for sure.

Us: “We share are undying love and support for these boys no matter what. We make fan art, mercy worn by the boys, videos and passionate fanfics. Support the boys on every social and political issue they talk about. We support all of their projects. Including ones where they aren’t talking about the the show they are on. We attend all of their lives even if they arent hosted with each other. These boys make us happy and we love the show they are on so much. We love all the characters and want them to get as much story as possible. We also understand that each episode is only 45 minutes in total. We also understand that the show is in a sometimes conservative network and we know our stuff gets cut out because of that. But we still love this show and the actors and the writers involved. We also sometimes notice small details involving the two boys in love on screen and how they sometimes show that chemistry for each other off screen. Sometimes we think they might be involved in secret. But we don’t know for sure, and we just vibe with our little stupid theories, not hurting or attacking anyone. Just loving our boys and each other.

Bird cult: Attacks anyone who doesn’t agree with them. Attacks and bullies the son of the main actor on the show because they don’t like his writing. To the point where he has to block them all. Attacked Rob Lowe because he simply exists. Attacked Lisa because they didn’t like her storyline. To the point she felt uncomfortable on social media. Didn’t bat an eye when one of their own turned out to be a b*ue lives matter supporter. Started a petition to get Rob kicked off his own shoe because they don’t like his character. Actively tries to get accounts banned when they don’t like the content. Gets extremely obsessive over a relationship that is kept pretty quiet and posted tons of photos of them even when those photos had been deleted from their respective social media accounts. “Shipping real people is bad” yet they constantly talk about stealing R’s gf on a daily basis. And I guarantee they still use the phrase “aww they’d be cute together” in regards to people not yet in a relationship…which is shipping in real life. Make disgusting seggsual remarks about R when he posts any photo. You’re a minor. That’s gross. And illegal. Quote tweet anything just to get some likes and attention. Don’t watch Raf’s lives when they aren’t about R and LS. But say “Raf deserves better”. Did I mention they are bullies? Going out of their way to attack accounts? I think I did. But needed to reiterate that.

The issue is…one side is based on genuine love for the boys and show. The other is only there for self validation, likes, comments, and notices. And it shows.

Honestly yea: sometimes we do take these too far and get a lil mouthy and mean about J but Wednesday was the only time I think any of us had actively send "hate" to her and it was genuinely because of her poor ass excuse of a post; other than that we literally aren't that bothered