#mak post 2025

[maks-punchout-hyperfixtion]

You know

This fandom may have been shit these past few months, but that's not stopping me from "renovating" my blog and posting sparklers introduction chapter 12

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56761774/chapters/173936911

And by renovation i mean I have completely moved blogs and aint publicly giving my new one

[behind-the-mak]

Is now a bad time to announce my server?

Naaah surely it won't be taken as a joke!

The mak verse server is here for public release! Where i treat this as a sorta interactive wiki. Get sneak peaks and scrapped versions of stuff and just some general fun facts i may or may not post as well as some future a.us i plan to do.

Toodles!

(to my fandom folks: this isn't a dedicated fandom server, just a server for my own projects)

[punchyshipsgohere]

hello hello what do you think of roseclover (aradon)

Honestly a pretty fitting ship if i say so, especially with how different the two act ( if i remember right in the wii version don is one of the few more fair fighters, then we cut to aran being..well aran ryan)

I give this ship a 7 roses out of 7 clovers

🌹🍀

[dbh-bb]

2024 Highlight Team 5

Our fifth team for the 2024 Reverse Big Bang was @scribbledstarlight, working with @qrjung and @kamari2038

@scribbledstarlight wanted to create a story focusing on Kara and Luther, and the bond between them. They created two artworks for the idea

@kamari2038 and @qrjung worked together to create one story from two perspectives, set in an alternate, human universe where Kara and Luther are bound by the red string of fate, and have to deal with their pasts, and the possibilities in their future.

Striking Cords (Luther) by @kamari2038 gives Luther's side, while Striking Cords (Kara) by @qrjung gives Kara's side, and we highly recommend both.

Writer sign ups are open now for the 2025 Big Bang and Mega Bang, and you can join our discord to find out more!

[dearru]

❀ basic info

⤷ mak. she/her. twenty. asian. virgo sun. intj. loves hinata shoyo. not fun at parties. appreciates em dashes and oxford commas.

⤷ as of feb 8th 2025, i no longer reblog on this acc! find my recs for art, fics, and more on @dearru-rb

❀ byf

⤷ i don’t write nsfw/dc (don’t rq it), but im okay if you do. feel free to follow! also, please don’t copy me! if i inspire smth you write, tag me!! i don’t allow translations/reposts of my work so if you see anything pls lmk

⤷ maybe try reblogging if u fw my work enough to spam like…

⤷ minors are allowed to follow my page as i am sfw and don’t reblog nsfw! just don’t be weird pls otherwise i’ll softblock

⤷ i love love love interacting via asks/comments (this is always welcome), but as far as becoming mutuals goes, i’d rather that happen naturally! please don’t ask to be moots, if we interact often enough, me following you back is probably inevitable.

⤷ i love interacting in asks, but i would ask you to please kindly refrain from venting! im glad you see me as a safe space, but my mental health is admittedly very fragile and i cannot be an outlet for you :( thank you for understanding!

⤷ moots may ask for my discord! if ur 18+ u can also ask for my socials :)

⤷ i try to write gn!reader so everyone can enjoy, but sometimes i do have fem themes in my works. i will always tag if pronouns other than they/them are used!

⤷ im a busy college student. posting + interactions may be infrequent!!

❀ fandoms

⤷ haikyuu. jjk. mha. aot. frieren. naruto. yotd. obey me. mystic messenger. bllk. others.

❀ favs

⤷ hinata shoyo. tsukishima kei. kuroo tetsuro. akaashi keiji. miya atsumu. kakashi hatake. geto suguru. gojo satoru. fushiguro megumi. itadori yuuji. choso. iida tenya. todoroki shoto. beelzebub (om). mammon (om). zen (mysmes). saeran (mysmes). isagi yoichi. bachira meguru. kunigami rensuke. others.

❀ requests: CLOSED

⤷ i do take requests! (note: requests may take a while for me to complete since i write sporadically)

⤷ i will not take requests for: nsfw (suggestive stuff is okay), male!reader (i usually write gn!reader), pregnancy aus, parent aus, ocs, part 2s for written works, poly fics (i am not against them i just struggle to write for this type of relationship!), ship content (i write ship content at my own leisure, not by request), or eating disorders (characters or readers having them)

⤷ only accepting rqs for hq atm but feel free to send suggestions my way abt any of the fandoms i’ve listed above!

⤷ it’s within my right to delete a rq i feel uncomfortable with/unable to do

⤷ you can send in rqs about whoever you want, but i prefer to write certain characters over others. if you rq a character i prefer not to write about, it’ll prob take me a long time to do it, and it may not be to your liking. click HERE for a comprehensive list of my preferences.

⤷ try to be specificish w the content of ur requests by telling me to use a particular dialogue prompt, scenario, etc. it helps me feel more inspired! don’t be so specific that it limits my creativity tho haha. use ur best judgement.

⤷ if u rq something abt shoyo the chances that i write it increase by x7292619191617181 btw

back to pinned

[sarah-lyse]

Helmut Lang : What remains behind, Curated by Neville Wakefield, MAK Center for art and architecture at the Schindler House, Los Angeles, USA, 2025

Every house tells a story. Some tell many. The famed Schindler House tells more than most. The architectural story of the first slab-cast modernist house, the progenitor of a mid-century experiment that situated Los Angeles on the intellectual and ideological coastlines of the great European and American traditions is well known. Less well known are the lifestyle experiments, contentions, dreams, allegiances and defections born within. This, the psychic architecture of the storied house, exists in the conversations around light, space, sex, the boundaries between inside and outside, between people seeking new means of manifestation that still cling to the patinated concrete slabs and fill the silent spaces in between. Within this real and imaginary framework, the work of another Austrian emigree lends its own version of what it is to be human to the concrete forms and enclosures that now house it.

Before being bound and hardened into fist-like forms whose presence now fills the empty rooms, Helmut Lang’s materials were soft, pliable, yielding and still bearing the scars of the past and the impress of memory upon them. His predilection for found or discarded material allows him, through the act of sculpting, to reshape narrative as much as form. Handed-down mattress foam, rubber and wax became the syntax of a language based on the malleability of material and memory. The results are works that both imagine the future and materialize the past. Literalizing repression, Lang calls upon the secret life of objects to reveal themselves through the prolapses of material whose meaning cannot be fully constrained. As a result, the tensions they hold are multiple. Neither entirely figurative nor entirely abstract, they bring a fundamentally reductivist approach to material that is deeply impregnated with the burden of history. Sometimes this reads as a confrontation between the body and its past derelictions. At others the current is sexual, an accumulated tension that itself becomes a stand-in for human identity, vulnerability and desire. Always they occupy a liminal space where form is in a continual state of becoming.

Within the Kings Road space, the presence of Lang’s sculptures transforms each of the storied rooms into echo-chambers reverberating ideas of materialized humanity across concrete, wood and glass. Proximity and aspect constantly change. Like emotions, they are fugitive, restless and refuse to settle into singular meanings and forms. Shape-shifting in character as much as form, depending on where one stands, they can appear mordant, lugubrious, tragic and even comic. But beneath these surface impressions is the undertow of darker sexualized forms of desire, a less palpable but more powerful energy field that forces us to confront the inherent tension between the body, the object, the gaze and the architecture that contains them. Just as all art is manifest thought, so these works are extroversions of interior conditions. Lang addresses the tensions between the public and private self. In doing so, he investigates the ways in which the invoked but absent body is both an object of desire and a site of personal expression.

Muscular and vulnerable, the contorted material is a registration of memory, a condition of post-traumatic distress that calls inevitably to ideas about the fragility of the human form and the malleability of identity. Time is compacted into the material. Disavowing the orderly rational illusion of time as steady and periodic, it pulses between the bodies of expression and reception as if to trace the unsettling arrhythmia of recurring traumatic experience. As with the architecture, what is within is without and what is without is within.

— Neville Wakefield

[maks-punchout-hyperfixtion]

I have to drafts of this. But fuck it.

I'm quiting.(For now) Because honestly fuck this.

Im disappointed in a good amount of people, im not naming names but yes it involves the drama

Im disappointed in globo for not doing research and being hypocritical of what they said their gonna do.

"fuck" is not the reaction you give when you see someone has a similar name to your oc btw

Aspergers hasn't been used in years anywhere, there should have been no reason to even type it. Let alone not research it in case it meant something else.

Im disappointed in foureyedfellas. For giving half ass context in a call out post they had no reason to make. Your not even in the server anymore. And no one actively went and bullied them wheres that proof.

Im disappointed in that comment section; one of you is even in the fucking server! You have access to see what even happened!

So until this fandom gets off the fucking drama high all of my stuff is on pause and i quit.

[behind-the-mak]

Lets get ready to fight with art!

Lets go team crystal!

Full pictures of oc's in undercut

I tested out multiple styles with these guys, their my mascots! Enjoy them!

[zukazukazuka]

Serika Toa to Retire on April 27, 2025

Long reflective navel-gazing and emotional processing under the cut.

tl;dr: If I had a nickel for every time I inadvertently planned a trip during a Soragumi taidan, I'd have two nickels.

Second nickel hurts way worse.

Inevitably, living on the opposite side of the world means I usually wake up to messages about these things before I actually see them for myself. I remember waking up on July 7, 2017 to things like "wow...hope you like Soragumi!" when her transfer was announced. It feels oddly prophetic that that year we inadvertently planned our trip to catch Asaka Manato's taidan show as well as Kiki's last Grand Theater show with Hanagumi. I cried a lot on that trip, honestly.

Once you start to immerse yourself, it's easy to get attached to your first round of top stars. We'd gotten to see Maasama and Soragumi in Elisabeth the year before, and I was sad she was leaving. Hanagumi was our home troupe, and my favorite actress was transferring. Both shows were incredible, and to this day SANTE!! remains my favorite revue of all time. I think we saw it some ridiculous amount of eight times, back when it was possible to have the privilege of satisfying your brainrot by waiting outside the Tokyo Theater at 5 AM in hopes of getting same-day tickets. I remember the utter devastation of seeing that show from the 4th row, of getting arrowed with a Kukochihiko stare from the silver bridge during her duet with Mirio that made me squirm in my seat. I remember how loud the audience was on senshuuraku in Tokyo, it felt like we were at a rock concert rather than a Takarazuka show, and how satisfying that was, despite the tears.

It's hard to believe that was seven years ago, which feels both so close (literally to a degree, as you don't have to scroll very far down this blog to get my live reaction posts lol) and somehow yet so far away (thanks COVID).

Two months ago, we bought tickets to go back to Japan in January, our first trip since 2019.

This morning I woke up to messages again.

And now apparently I've stumbled yet again into a Soragumi taidan, "my" taidan, which of course I knew ultimately was on the nearer horizon since June 2023, but could never have guessed how fraught everything in between would become.

I can't help but feel exceptionally, heartbreakingly sad.

I fell in love with Kiki from the very first time I set foot in Quatre Reves and saw her photo as Rudolf in 2014. She has always been my favorite since that day, and by the time she goes it will have been effectively 10 and a half years. 10 years, nibante under two long-running top stars, through pandemic closures and changes, and effectively 1.5 GT shows as top. In truth, I'd always prepared myself for a short run. 3 shows would've been just enough to give her 'decent' time without really feeling like they were just shoveling her off after so long as #2, although I would've been cranky about it. 4 or 5 would have been an ideal sweet spot. At this point, I'm sure 3 was always the initial plan, and I hope that had been satisfying for her going into things.

It just extra fucking sucks now.

Today I can't help but feel regret for falling off as much as I did after her transfer. I was able to see her in both of those 2019 trips, thankfully at least once on stage, but the double whammy of Mirio leaving and COVID closures made it feel a lot hard to stay connected to Takarazuka in general - which is ironic, given that I will never, ever not find it surreal to watch a raku livestream on my fucking couch at 12 AM. But I didn't watch as many as I could have. One of my favorite things had always been seeing iride photos on twitter, and it made me feel like even if I couldn't be there, I could still "keep up" with what was happening day to day. Unfortunately (or rather fortunately, given this last year) I am famously too lazy to make a lot of effort to read things in Japanese, even if Takarazuka helped improve it for a time. I have limited space and desire to buy dozens of GRAPHs or other magazines for interviews. I moved on to other interests, but always kept one finger on the pulse of things. At one point, as things went on longer and longer, I thought so many times "hey girl, if you wanna pull a MiyaRuri and bounce without making top, I fully respect and support that, even if I won't get to see you one last time."

Well.

I don't have much I want to say here about what happened last year, except that I hope such a horrendous tragedy does ultimately lead to a lot of reform at the revue. Unlike apparently most everyone, I didn't go digging around the internet for names and 'what really' happened (see: lazy, also not my fucking business). I don't know, I don't want to know, and at this point frankly I don't really care about anyone's particular opinion about the people involved, or whatever outcome they think should have happened.

But we are where we are, now.

Last week, in my naive hope that after we got through Escalier's break with no taidan announcement, I was guessing that she might yet go later next year. I'd been reading the schedule wrong and complaining about the possibility of a late summer taidan, because Japan is fucking horrendous in summer, only to realize that it would've really been October, which would be ideal, although truthfully I'm not sure I could have swung a second trip in one year. I'd been sad about not getting to see her possible ohirome during my favorite time of year, since I couldn't swing a trip last year. In hindsight, I'm glad it turned out as "lucking" into actually seeing taidan rather than potentially have booking a trip last fall and "wasting" it, and that I no longer have to worry about whether or not I get to see it. But it still really fucking sucks.

Part of what helps offset the hurt of an actress retiring, especially your actress, especially a top star, is the celebration of all that's come before. Coming in as a fan in 2014, I saw all of the photos and videos of the last day festivities of Teru and Chie, which continued through all of the others that left in subsequent years. I felt devastated for the top stars who left during the height of pandemic closures, who couldn't have that, and for fans who couldn't get to see it. I'm not even sure what taidans look like these days, as I'm sorry to say a consequence of only trailing vaguely along on the hype train for the past several years is that I haven't seen any taidan shows or bothered with social media to know if they do even a semblance of those last day activities, even for the troupe. It makes me sad to think that maybe those sorts of things are perhaps long gone, just generally. Even if they aren't, though, I doubt we'd get any of that, anyway.

So in absence of that element or really any other joy, all I can really feel is bitterly sad.

In truth, I have a lot of complex feelings about her whole run, and have for many years, but those aren't things I care to lay out here. Suffice it to say, this whole situation feels like icing on that whole cake, I guess.

As I was writing all of this, I realized that just because of timing and that we usually prioritized seeing grand theater shows over small ones, the only time I will have seen Kiki live in a lead show will be her last one. I realize that compared to many people I'm privileged to go at all, let alone the number of times I've already done so in the past, but I'm still utterly heartbroken.

At the end of Escalier last weekend, I'd been so happy to see a semblance of her old self again. Her jokes, her smile, which has always felt like sunshine to me. I can't ever know her real feelings, but I hope that maybe there is some relief for her, knowing there's an end in sight. I hope that despite everything, she can find a satisfying life after the fact, that she'll still be able to perform, if she wishes. At the end of it all, I do feel thankful for the things we do have, the experiences I've had up to this point. My one tiny silver lining is that Sakura is (supposedly, maybe, fingers crossed) hanging around, hopefully for a while, because she's an incredible powerhouse and deserves the world. I'm grateful to her for being Kiki's partner and radiating love at her on stage, and terribly looking forward to seeing that in person.

Anyway, time to go cry some more, and eventually write a letter.

[punchyshipsgohere]

Bear Hugger X Glass Joe/Honey Jar in a nutshell:

Bear Hugger gives Glass Joe a hug, Glass Joe falls to the ground in the Peter Griffin death pose

If i could draw the family death pose i would have drawn a comic with this

Sadly i can't and have yet to actually make joe and bear in gacha

So alternative: fake tweet of the aftermath

[yourknifemyside]

My name is Brandon, and I am really bad at doing new things. Let's try to fix that!

I recently had the thought when trying and failing to compile one of those Topsters lists of my favorite albums. I thought to myself, "man, I am bored of always listening to the same things. I've listened to the same things for the past seven years. How do I tell which ones are my favorites anymore, they all sound exactly the same!" So, I decided then, that going into 2025, I would wipe the slate clean. As far as my "favorite albums of all time" list concerned, as of right now, I have never listened to a single album in my life! This year, I'm going to attempt to listen to a ton of stuff, old and new, and completely rebuild a catalogue of music from scratch. If I haven't listened to it since the ball dropped, it doesn't exist to me yet! This tumblr blog is for keeping a journal of everything I listen to this year and beyond, new finds and relistens alike. And for fun, we're throwing games, movies, and tv shows in the mix as well. We're just gonna keep track of everything old and new that I get to this year. This is the place for my unfiltered thoughts on whatever. This truly exists for nobody but me, but maybe you will find something worth sticking around for. I wouldn't count on it, but either way, you're more than welcome to tag along for this journey of discovery / rediscovery!

Here's a list of the most important tags I'll be using to group my posts, as well as a reference key for any little icons that may pop up from time to time!

Tags:

#music - music listening journal, mostly albums

#games - video game backlog catalogue

#movies - feature length films

#shows - tv shows, cartoons, anime

#brandoncore - collection of the most essential, personal favorite things I've posted about

#recap - monthly wrap-up posts, including a brief list of things I did, but didn't post about

#bonus - extra posts related to music, games, movies, and shows

#nuzhof - winning teams from throughout my years of playing

#whocanrelate! - intrusive thoughts in the form of bars

Icons:

✨ is for post subjects that are new to me, I am experiencing them for the first time!

🔁 is for post subjects that I am relistening to, rewatching, or replaying!

💖 is for subjects that are officially, professionally certified #brandoncore, and find their way into the pantheon of brandoncore things.

I really considered not giving anything number scores, because I feel like people put too much stock into the number signifying how "good" something is. Unfortunately, my brain truly just loves to rank things and give them ratings, so we're committing to that. To give you an idea of what to expect, I think I'm generally a lot more positive on the shows and movies I watch, since I'm criminally underexposed to a lot of what's on offer in those mediums. Games and music are definitely where I'm more critical and harder to please, I'd say. Some have called me a hater in the past, but really, I only hate because I love so passionately... there needs to be a balance to everything! Everybody's internal scale operates differently, so for transparency sake, I'll be outlining my exact (loose) definition for the vibes of my own score scale:

Occasionally I might add a + or - modifier to a score to further adjust and represent my exact thoughts on something. This just means that within its number rating, I lean a smidge higher or lower on it than its peers.

Like everything else with the scores though, its all just silly and for my own brain's enjoyment, and the easiest, fastest way to sum up my feelings on something. A lot of the time the most personally resonant things for my are the 7s and 8s of the world, my little imperfect masterpieces. There's more to the story than just a score :)

Well, that's me! And that's what this is! I hope you find something of value here if you went out of your way to read all of this! Special thanks to @teddydeer for the lovely visuals on this post, I spent two days trying to make it look good myself and uh, she blew mine out of the water in the space of about an hour >_<

[boonesfarmsangria]

WHAT EVERYONE SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT THIS WEEK

readdork.com

The Agenda Setter: Watch the indie throne - The Maccabees are back

Returning to headline All Points East next summer, for The Maccabees, the best endings are just new beginnings in disguise.

Words: Stephen Ackroyd.

The thing about goodbyes is that they’re terribly unreliable narrators. Back in 2017, The Maccabees bid farewell at Alexandra Palace with all the finality of the last page of a beloved novel – tears were shed, hearts were heavy, and those songs rang out like the world’s most beautiful full stop. But sometimes, life has a funny way of scribbling in the margins.

Take Hugo White’s wedding in 2020 – not just a marriage ceremony, but an accidentally perfect festival lineup (Adele! Florence! Jamie T! – the kind of bill that makes Glastonbury look like your local pub’s open mic night). Five attendees, in particular, found themselves sharing familiar air again among this casual collection of casual British music royalty. Not as The Maccabees, mind you – just as friends celebrating love in its purest form. As Orlando Weeks puts it, with characteristic gentle wisdom, “I didn’t go because it was The Maccabees playing together again, but because it was a beautiful gesture to be invited and to contribute to the spirit of the day. What I wanted, band aside, was to find a way to be in each other’s lives.” (Spoiler alert: sometimes the best way to be in each other’s lives is to accidentally reform your beloved indie band.)

Now, Victoria Park is about to host the kind of homecoming that screenwriters dream about. The Maccabees – those chroniclers of London life, those cartographers of growing up – will headline All Points East on 24th August 2025, exactly where they belong. It’s the 10th anniversary of ‘Marks to Prove It’, their love letter to Elephant and Castle (because if you’re going to make a comeback, you might as well layer your symbolism as thickly as one of their signature guitar lines).

Their story began in 2004, reading like an indie-rock bildungsroman – from the wide-eyed enthusiasm of ‘Colour It In’ (remember ‘Latchmere’? Of course you do – it had a wave machine!) through to 2009’s ‘Wall of Arms’, where tracks like ‘Love You Better’ and ‘Seventeen Hands’ proved growing up in public could sound this good. By 2012’s ‘Given to the Wild’, they’d somehow managed to make existential crisis sound like the most beautiful thing in the world, weaving cinematic soundscapes through tracks like ‘Ayla’ and ‘Forever I’ve Known’ while ‘Pelican’ emerged as the kind of anthem that could close the final show of your career (which, as it happens, it did).

Just ask SOFY, who explained in Dork’s recent cover feature with the White brothers’ post-Maccabees outfit 86TVs that they were “a truly wicked live band who remain timeless storytellers” – high praise that had her diving headfirst into the scene herself. Or take IDLES’ Joe Talbot, who got properly deep about it: ���They were the first band that I followed, loved, and believed in as more than music. They moved people forwards creatively.” (No pressure for the comeback, lads.)

‘Marks to Prove It’ arrived in 2015 like a love letter to their adopted corner of London, with ‘Spit It Out’ and ‘Kamakura’ capturing urban life with the kind of precision that only comes from really knowing your postcode. It shot straight to Number 1, which should have been cause for celebration – but behind the scenes, things weren’t quite so rosy. In an interview with the Independent back in 2020, Orlando laid it bare, explaining that he felt they’d “not moved on as far again” as they had with ‘Given To The Wild’, and they’d been doing it for “a very, very, very long time.”

The end, when it came, was almost annoyingly mature – no dramatic bust-ups, no creative differences, just the quiet recognition that sometimes the best stories know when to end their chapter. “It was everyone knowing that that was what was going to happen. We’d had a difficult time making that final record, and we’d reached the end of the line,” Orlando explained in that same Independent interview. “It just ran out of steam a bit” – making one of the most significant splits in British indie sound like a slightly deflated balloon.

In the years that followed, they scattered like seeds on fertile ground. Orlando went solo, crafting the kind of introspective gems that make rainy days feel intentional. Felix founded Yala! Records (“The idea for Yala! was to be in service of good music,” as he told us earlier this year. “Being involved in helping music reach people was really special.”) and somehow became cricket’s most unlikely podcast star via Tailenders. Hugo produced for some big names (Jamie T, Jessie Ware – the usual suspects) before forming 86TVs with his brothers Felix and Will. “It took a long time to figure out who we were outside of The Maccabees,” Felix admitted to Dork, “but 86TVs has been a revelation – a way to keep the passion alive without trying to recreate the past.”

Now they’re back – not with a bang, but with the kind of quiet confidence that comes from knowing exactly who you are. All Points East is a homecoming, after all. “In the intervening years, we’ve been to All Points East a lot, separately,” admits Felix, who’s spent years watching other headliners with what he calls “a pinch of regret… I thought that moment had passed, and it was something I was prepared to come to terms with that I was always going to miss. I think we’re all kind of shocked and excited that we get to do it together again.”

For Hugo, watching The Strokes at the festival was like looking into a mirror that reflected back possibility. “I could see that they were enjoying it,” he explains, “realising how great what they had created together was. Being a band, you are usually in a mindset of, ‘We can do better’, and you’re always chasing something else. This is an opportunity to realise that whatever we had in that moment was pretty special and get to enjoy it again. It’s a chance to appreciate everything, and especially how it impacts other people and created a community.”

There’s no promise of new music (yet), no grand plans beyond this one perfect moment (supposedly) – though the announcement does state they’re “happy to keep their minds open and see where these shows take them next” (which in band-speak is about as subtle as a brick through your favourite record shop window). For now, they’ll curate their own lineup at Victoria Park, a perfect blend of old friends and new faces, because The Maccabees were always about putting the music first.

Sometimes, it turns out, the best endings aren’t endings at all – they’re just really long interludes. And sometimes, if you’re very lucky, those interludes lead you right back home.

The Maccabees will headline All Points East on 24th August 2025.

[qnewsau]

Mum and Biscuits: My Donation Motivation

New Post has been published on https://qnews.com.au/mum-and-biscuits-my-donation-motivation/

Mum and Biscuits: My Donation Motivation

In 2021, non-binary writer Daniel Cottier was turned away from donating blood because they were on PrEP.

Today, they share what it means to them to donate plasma now that restrictions have lifted.

As a kid in the early 2000s, I would look forward to two buses pulling into the Medowie Community Hall carpark.

The mobile library and the blood mobile.

While Mum reclined and the little bag wobbled side to side, filling up with scarlet goodness, seven-year-old Daniel got to gossip with the nurses and eat all the biscuits I could.

I couldn’t wait to be old enough to donate blood with Mum … and eat more biscuits.

After fainting while donating one day, Mum was sent home.

She was devastated as she’d been told that she wouldn’t be able to donate again under new restrictions.

I got to feel that same devastation twenty-something years later on March 12, 2021.

During COVID, other nations had changed their donor policies, and I’d taken it on as a hobby to try and get Australia to change theirs.

Photo: Lifeblood.

I was quite a clumsy campaigner.

At the time, I lived opposite Alex Greenwich’s office, and one day I wrote him a letter and posted it through the door in a homemade envelope.

I went home and worried that it might look like a suspicious anthrax parcel.

So I popped in another note without an envelope to say that it wasn’t anthrax, I was just out of envelopes.

A change in restrictions was announced, and “men who have sex with men” had their deferral period changed from 12 to 3 months of abstinence.

During COVID, abstinence was no issue for me.

So I rolled up to Lifeblood’s Town Hall office in Sydney, sexually frustrated but ready to give all they wanted.

I filled out the questionnaire, answering “YES” to “Have you taken PrEP in the last 12 months”.

In Nurse Hannah’s office, I rambled about how excited I was to be able to donate, when she stopped me and told me that I wouldn’t be able to due to my having taken PrEP.

Shocked, I didn’t see that on Lifeblood’s website or anywhere in the documentation for the new guidelines.

I bawled in her office, and she was a gem – we’ve become friends since – but the shame I felt was overwhelming.

Even with a decade of therapy, I felt catapulted back to my teenage shame mindset.

Image: Canva

What to do?

Like all millennials with a gripe, I took to Instagram and made a post about my experience.

This got some traction, with Lifeblood updating their website to note guidelines around PrEP usage and deferrals.

It also got some media coverage, bringing light to the issue and pressuring Lifeblood to look at the rules.

Rodney Croome and the team from Let Us Give and Just Equal reached out and asked me to join them in campaigning for change.

Rodney and Sharon Dane, along with Thomas, Bill, Ben, Sally, Tim, Nick and Shelley, taught me how to be a better agitator.

After having spent countless hours lobbying and holding Lifeblood and other businesses and governments to account.

(I now have envelopes to spare should I need to post a letter through a door.)

The 12-month PrEP deferral was shifted to 3 months, so I stopped taking PrEP and abstained, and on October 10, 2021, I was finally able to donate plasma.

I made a few donations, then got swept up with a beau and haven’t been able to donate since.

Photo: Adobe Stock

Until Monday morning.

On July 14, 2025, the rules changed to no deferral period for plasma donors who’ve had anal sex or taken PrEP.

I was there at 8:00 AM, answering their questions and eyeing off the biscuits.

I was anxious and excited, and it took half an hour and an apple juice to get my pulse down to an acceptable 98.

Then I got to sit in the chair and fill my little bag of gold.

The nurses I gossiped with were as excited as I was about the plasma pathway.

As I was finishing up, a very cute man was sitting next to me to make his first-ever donation.

So many mates have messaged to say that they are going to donate too.

We no longer have to make shameful excuses or harden our hearts when blood drives come our way or our friends invite us to donate with them. I hope

  View this post on Instagram

  A post shared by Daniel Cottier (@_the_nanny_named_dan_)

This is a landmark, a great thing!

Lifeblood is keeping stats on new or returning queer donors and will be able to share them in the future.

Lifeblood has committed to lifting the sexual abstinence requirement for whole blood donation by gay men, bi men and trans women who have sex with men, from next year.

It plans to ask all donors gender neutral questions about whether they have been monogamous for the last six months.

Or had new or multiple partners for the last three months.

The Let Us Give campaign wants this simplified.

To the single, straightforward question about sexual risk asked in other countries like Canada and the UK.

I look forward to working with the team on that.

While we wait for these new guidelines to come into effect, I can’t help but think about the 98 missed opportunities between my 2021 donations and the one last Monday.

How many texts did Lifeblood send out to queers who wanted to, but were unable to donate based on the previous policies?

No one lives without their lives being touched by someone who needs blood or plasma.

My mum, whose selfless donations got me started in the first place, is sick at the moment.

As is her magdasty, Magda Szubanksi.

I am so proud that my community, who’ve wanted to give for so long, are finally able to roll up our sleeves and help out comic legends, mums, strangers, friends and loved ones.

So, please get booking, and while you’re there, have a biscuit for me.

You can find out more about donating blood or plasma here, including a location near you.

Image: Supplied

For the latest LGBTIQA+ Sister Girl and Brother Boy news, entertainment, and community stories in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

[emptymanuscript]

Yeesh! Laura Loomer:

I love President Trump. I would take a bullet for him. But, I have to call a spade a spade. We cannot accept a $400 million “gift” from jihadists in suits. The Qataris fund the same Iranian proxies in Hamas and Hezbollah who have murdered US Service Members. The same proxies that have worked with the Mexican cartels to get jihadists across our borderder. This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true. And I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump. I'm so disapointed. https://t.co/V4kzJpCsRk pic.twitter.com/HqVztPfZZ3

— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) May 11, 2025

When Laura fucking Loomer is calling your bullshit...

Just, yeesh.

Still a racist, awful person but even a broken clock can tell the right hour on occasion... while still telling the wrong minute.

That is a blatant violation of the Emoluments Clause

Article I, Section 9, Clause 8: No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States: And no Person holding any Office of Profit or Trust under them, shall, without the Consent of the Congress, accept of any present, Emolument, Office, or Title, of any kind whatever, from any King, Prince, or foreign State.

And yet:

From ABC:

In what may be the most valuable gift ever extended to the United States from a foreign government, the Trump administration is preparing to accept a super luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar -- a gift that is to be available for use by President Donald Trump as the new Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office, at which time ownership of the plane will be transferred to the Trump presidential library foundation, sources familiar with the proposed arrangement told ABC News.

From the AP:

“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane,” Trump posted on his social media site on Sunday night. “Anybody can do that!”

From the Hill:

He added, “Now, I could be a stupid person and say, ‘Oh no, we don’t want a free plane.’ We give free things out, we’ll take one too. And, it helps us out because … we have 40-year-old aircraft. The money we spend, the maintenance we spend on those planes to keep them tippy top is astronomical. You wouldn’t even believe it. So, I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar; I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I could be a stupid person and say, ‘No we don’t want a free, very expensive airplane,’ but I thought it was a great gesture.”

From NPR:

"Air Force One is more than just a plane — it's a symbol of the presidency and of the United States itself. Any president who accepts this kind of gift, valued at $400 million, from a foreign government creates a clear conflict of interest, raises serious national security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public trust in our government," said senators Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, Chris Coons, D-Del., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Chris Murphy, D-Conn. Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., said that the Air Force had confirmed last week that Boeing would deliver a new Air Force One in 2027. "It is important to remember that Air Force One is not just some gold-plated luxury jet. It requires extensive, advanced security and communications capabilities," Courtney said in a statement, noting that retrofitting the plane would "distract" from efforts to speed delivery of the new fleet.

Because, yeah, Trump ALREADY ordered New Air Force Ones from Boeing. They're already under construction and closer to being finished than being started.

From an article linked in the above article also from NPR:

A White House spokesman said Trump agreed to pay $3.9 billion for two customized 747s. That's somewhat below the price tag Trump complained about before taking office. "We want Boeing to make a lot of money, but not that much money," Trump told reporters in late 2016. He claimed the company was demanding more than $4 billion for the two jumbo jets and hinted he might cancel the order. Boeing said in a statement Tuesday, "President Trump negotiated a good deal on behalf of the American people."

So that $3.9 billion is already out the door. This would be in addition to that.

And because it would be from an outside government, it WILL cost money because they will essentially have to take it apart and put it back together again to hunt for surveillance devices. That's assuming they don't ALSO want to put in additional Top Secret Air Force One security measures that we certainly HOPE that Qatar doesn't know about to put them in first. So it would end up being only a partial savings on the plane. Cheaper than brand new but certainly not FREE.

Plus, that wouldn't be an expense for a permanent fixture. Air Force Ones are rarely replaced. They stay in service for multiple presidencies. The Plane Qatar wants to give Trump is 13 years old. The current two planes that serve as Air Force One are both a custom Boeing 747 VC-25A, commissioned by President Regan, that entered service in September of 1990. 35 years. Again, about to be replaced in two years.

But the Qatari gift plane is meant to go to Trump's library, so it would legally cease to be an Air Force One.

Only a plane carrying the CURRENT President, or presented as a temporary honor for a single flight at a time BY the CURRENT President for a former President, can be designated as Air Force One.

It's legal service would therefore be three years ish, barring the passage of a NEW constitutional amendment to overturn the 22nd amendment. Which would require an act of two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives (need 290 votes with only 220 Republican Representatives) and the Senate (need 67 votes with only 53 Republican Senators) or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures (34 States would have to pass it with the same essential levels of difficulty when there are only 26 States that are reliably Republican leaning at all levels). In other words, the chances of Trump legally getting a third term are slim to none at best. Stay in illegally is besides the point because that would necessarily mean he isn't upholding the constitution anyway and this whole debate only matters if we're upholding the constitution as the fundamental basis of the law of the land.

Out of curiosity, I looked up the last time a single party had enough of a majority to possibly pass a Constitutional Amendment in the Senate. It was the 89th Congress, that ran from 1965 to 1967, and it was a Democratic Majority. So people might be careful what they wish for. Last time the House had the necessary numbers was from the 95th Congress, that ran from 1977 to 1979. Also a Democratic Majority due to lingering disaffection from the Watergate Scandal. Last time the states managed a convention was 1787.

This isn't to say that there can't be an amendment anymore. It is to say that it is highly unlikely to happen legally for Trump's benefit given the polarization of the electorate. Impeachment would be significantly easier.

That's a lot of expense for a plane that will get relatively little use.

The thing to understand about giant ticket items like a jet or a yacht or anything on the level or no individual should sanely have that sort of thing, that's for companies and governments, is that the economic barriers aren't really the initial purchase price. It's actually usually counterproductive to cheap on the purchase price (though people do) because something that expensive NEEDS to last and get some decent amount of use to be worth it. The real economic barrier is upkeep. The amount you have to spend in the course of USING and MAINTAINING it. And taxes where applicable.

Those costs explode fairly quickly. If you have spent VERY wisely, you can probably get away with a homeowner's calculation of 1-2% of the purchase price per year so long as nothing major goes wrong. Planes... planes are not simple devices. That's more like 5-10%. Which means after a decade, you've probably paid the full purchase price over again. What saves your bacon is that it's ONLY that percentage and not a whole new item which would require both.

Getting this Qatar plane as a gift means spending that 5-10% for the years it is in service... while only getting it for three years before starting over again. When there are already purchases for new ones that will have the same calculation. This means we'll only pay for 2 purchases (ignoring all the work that will have to go into it) but we'll paying 15-30% in upkeep. So it's MORE expensive than the alternative. Which is how you actually judge these things... unless you're stupid like Trump.

And all the work that goes into it, walks off and just benefits Trump after he leaves office, meaning we paid those upkeep costs and ended up not benefiting from them in the long run. It is a terrible deal. It is illegal. Even FUCKING LAURA FUCKING LOOMER FUCKING KNOWS. And Trump is STUPID for taking it. And seriously, no matter the deal, it's illegal as is. Clearly so. It is an impeachable offense. One of a ton. He should be impeached. The rest is noise.

[maks-punchout-hyperfixtion]

Some neat little ref sheets i needed to post

With the amount of people asking to draw ocs nows a Good time to mention the fact that i obviously love people slapping headcanons or questions onto my characters, gives me more ideas and a reason to ramble about minor lore :)

With that in mind folks have some reference sheets of some characters (others coming soon) to fulfill your drawing desires

Some minor facts:

Theres gonna be a running joke that caff just stares into the fourth wall when she's in her title defense mood, use that to your advantage

If you wanna think of ravens title defense design use an albino turkey vulture (yes thats a literally bird) for a reference

I FORGOT THE ANTI DOUBLE HEALS ON CARMEN?!

Well thats awkward, the first anti heal is contender where she'll toss an empty perfume bottle at the water bottle in a careless fashion, the second one is essentially throwing her shoe at it in title defense.

Vicky's title defense was actually inspired by a picture another WVBA showed me (plus her special punch)

The only fact for ardin is that she is very sleep deprived in title defense, use that for any humor you can (this will be explained in the future)

MORE TO COME! :)

[behind-the-mak]

Commissions

I've been meaning to post these here but I'm giving commission! Yay!

For copy and paste reasons:

kofi: mak the human

cashapp: $makaylatriplett14

venmo: @Makmoneytime

To be frank with all this is mainly so i can get more money for higher education.

Feel free to dm for anymore information!