lozfan-and-knuckles

[lozfan-and-knuckles]

I know that some British people take umbrage at Americans calling the Great British Bake Off relaxing, but it's just because GBBO is such a different kind of stressful from American baking shows.

American baking shows will be called something like "Cupcake Knife Fight", there's horror movie lighting everywhere and dramatic stings every 5 seconds. All of the contestants are shit talking each other and fist fighting over the one single deep fryer provided by production. It will show the judges all whispering to each other at their super villain table overlooking the whole kitchen, and one will be like, "Oh my god. Everyone look at Brenda right now. She's straight tanking it." And it will cut to Brenda, who is running around covered in flour and crying and also bleeding for some reason. Then you get a clip from an interview with one of the contestants, and they're like, "I really need to win this. Without this award money, I'm gonna need to close my restaurant, sell my dad, and live out of my car. AGAIN." Then the giant digital doomsday clock overhead lets out a horrid klaxon, the judges tell half of them that their cupcakes taste disgusting, and one of them gets eliminated and sent to walk down the dramatically-lit shame hallway never to be seen again.

Meanwhile GBBO is in a lovely, brightly colored tent, there are delightful and friendly hosts/jesters there to keep everyone entertained, and all of the B Roll is of like... a bumblebee going into a flower, or a lamb running in a field. And yes, there will be moments where someone will mess up their timing or something, and they'll be looking at their bake through the oven door like, "oh gosh I don't think this will rise in time!" Then they stand up to find Paul Hollywood directly behind them ominously. His creepy whitewalker eyes will glow white, and he'll say something like "the 12th of June. 2035. Drowning." And his eyes will go back to normal and he'll walk away. Then the baker gives a playful grimace to the camera and says "that didnt sound great, did it?". Cut to a sweet looking older woman sipping tea on a stool and she says "oo I do hope that Prue enjoys the taste of my sugary, sticky baps!". Then, at the end, someone gets a gold star for doing good, and the loser of the episode gets in the middle of a giant group hug. You see all of them at the end of the series at a giant carnival with their families and the post credits informs you that all of the contestants have become a Partridge Family-style traveling band and stayed friends forever.

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Happy birthday Shadow!! I've been busy recently, but still wanted to doodle something for the occasion! <3

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hate when people think the only archetype possible for a male sidekick to a female protagonist is a soft boi and/or himbo. like the implication there is that the only reason a man would ever defer to a woman’s authority is if he was a bumbling idiot. love male supporting characters who are smart and strong and confident and can step up when necessary but still kind and humble enough to let someone else take the lead most of the time

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If a regional war breaks out between Iran and Israel, Gaza will be forgotten. We will continue to suffer this suffering and will not be mentioned in anything. We will be forgotten forever.

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I have to admit that the more we see from CrossWorlds, the less enthusiastic I am about it. Mostly thanks to all the crossover DLC.

Early on, following its announcement and the public playtest, CrossWorlds was pitched as this big celebration of Sonic in kart racing form. A big roster of characters, a bunch of tracks based on locations across the series, even the return of the Babylon Rogues and Extreme Gear for Riders fans. It seemed like it was doing everything right.

And then they started announcing the crossovers.

First they announced the first few Sega guest characters who'll be added for free. And that was fine. That made sense. It's all Sega stuff, and seeing Ichiban and Miku racing against Sonic characters is funny.

And then right after that, they announced... Minecraft. Minecraft Steve will be in the Sonic racing game, along with a whole Minecraft track, as part of the season pass that's being announced months before the game is even out. It seemed very arbitrary, just doing a crossover with something super popular as a marketing stunt.

And then, as had been previously leaked, we got the SpongeBob announcement. SpongeBob and Patrick will be in the new Sonic racing game, along with a Bikini Bottom track. And like, yeah, I love those first few seasons of SpongeBob as much as the next late-gen millennial, but does that mean I think SpongeBob makes sense to include here? No. And later in the season pass we'll also be getting TMNT and Avatar crossovers, because of course we are. Nick characters are literally half of the season pass. I will admit that the turtles are a good fit for Sonic, but the rest? Come on. But please be sure to pay $90 USD to get the Digital Deluxe Edition so you can play as Aang, everyone!

The current fan favorite (Sega-developed) Sonic kart racer, All-Stars Racing Transformed, also had its fair share of random third party guest characters. I didn't mind it there. The difference to me is that the selection there was so random and asinine that it was kind of charming, and easy to ignore. Including Danica Patrick, Wreck-It Ralph, and one of the guys from the YogsCast in a Sonic racing game was so stupid that it was funny. It was also easy to ignore in a game that already had such a hodgepodge crossover roster.

But here it feels cynical. It's a generic corporate synergy move in what was pitched as purely a Sonic game. Viacom will shove SpongeBob, the turtles, and Aang into every game they can as cosmetic DLC, from Fortnite to Fall Guys to Smite and beyond. We're not getting these characters because someone at Sega thought they'd be the best fit for Sonic, but rather because Viacom owns the Sonic movies and they wanted to do cross-promotion of their Most Valuable IP with Sega. This wasn't a decision made by a creative, it was made by a boardroom. And also they had to do it on the cheap, I guess, because they couldn't pay to get Tom Kenny or Bill Fagerbakke to provide voice lines, or even get the rights to use stock clips of theirs. So SpongeBob and Patrick are just going to be mute in this racing game that places a huge emphasis on having a ton of voice lines and interactions for the Sonic cast. There's a very real chance we're just gonna see lobbies full of mute crossover characters when playing online. Sonic is simply a part of the Viacom corporate machine now, whether we like it or not. And Minecraft is here because it's the most popular game in the world and its movie just made almost a billion dollars, I guess.

It just feels like it's watering down the identity of the game so much. I like Fortnite, but I don't need every other game in the world to turn into Fortnite with all these corporate crossovers. It's fucking exhausting. I won't go as far as going "slot crisis" mode here and assume that these DLC characters have taken slots from other characters I'd rather see included, but like... If the game comes out and Tangle and Whisper aren't in it, but SpongeBob is? Sorry, but you're never going to hear the end of it from me lmao

(I know fans have already datamined an Extreme Gear for Whisper that seems to point to their inclusion, but that's not exactly a confirmation. It could literally just be the Extreme Gear thrown in as a nod to the comics and nothing else. Also now that we have all these mute crossover characters part of me worries that they wouldn't even bother casting voice actresses for them, which is half the reason why I'd be excited to see them in a game in the first place. I know it's a whole different rights situation with the Nick characters, but still, the thought is in my head.)

So yeah. I dunno. It'll probably still be decent. But these last few announcements have kind of killed the excitement for me.

At least I still have Ring Racers.

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kind of following Sonic's birthday, none of these boys are normal lol

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Frankly and briefly, the situation in Gaza cannot be written about in a mere post or expressed in a mere picture or video clip. The situation in Gaza is more like an end-of-the-world movie, but this movie is titled The End of Gaza!!

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EVERYONE(!) I’m blazing this post because at this pace we might barely hit 1,000,000 signatures—or just fall short. PLEASE reblog this post, no matter where you are from, so we can reach as many EU citizens as possible and end this horrible practice!

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if you've been hearing less about gaza lately, it's because most of the journalists are dead. hassan eslayeh, who was murdered yesterday in his hospital bed by israel, had 351 videos archived on tiktokgenocide.com (an online archive of israeli atrocities i recommend you browse). this single journalist alone had contributed 351 videos. the same database lists that 252 journalists have been killed in gaza since october 7th. the cpj's archive of journalists killed is 178. they have a more conservative and less accurate estimate since they have less information on those media workers who work with local outlets.

regardless of the exact number, the number of journalists killed is so high that it is markedly affecting the footage and documentation we have coming out of gaza now. let me prove it to you: 70 people were killed today, May 14th 2025. did you know that?

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REGULAR REMINDER THAT IT IS COMMON COURTESY TO SEND AN ASK TO THE PERSON YOU REBLOGGED AN ASK GAME FROM !! THIS PART OF TUMBLR CULTURE HAS BEEN LOST OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS SO PLEASE KEEP ASKS GAMES ALIVE BY SENDING ASKS !!

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I forgot to post it here cough cough-

Here’s a collab with my recently acquired internet bestie🩷 @silentzprincess !

Her art is amazing btw :))

So here’s our beloveds together

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Is it normal for your ears to ring after having an orgasm?

It doesn't happen every time and it doesn't happen often, but sometimes after I orgasm my ears ring. I have tinnitus but it's much louder than my normal tinnitus, and it lasts maybe 30 seconds or less.

If you've ever seen a movie where something explodes next to a character and then everything is really muffled and there's a loud ringing, it's exactly like that.

Yep! It happens. There's no single reason that's been discovered to cause it (there are a lot of theories, though) but it's not uncommon.

I've also heard that sometimes tinnitus can worsen that, though I'm not sure if I'm remembering that correctly.

Let me know if you have any other questions, hope this helps! <3

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what is a pap smear and what is it intended for?

(I did ask this question without anon on on accident... Les just ignore that pls sorry hehe 🙃)

Well, a pap smear is typically used as a test for cervical cancer! They scrap some cells from your cervix and test it for any abnormalities.

They have you lie on your back with your legs up and they use a speculum [which holds the vagina open]! Then they collect the cells [gently scraping them off] from your cervix!

For some people, this is slightly uncomfortable and for others, specifically people who experience painful vaginal penetration, it can be painful! It shouldn't be but it can be, especially if you have sexual trauma or things like vulvodynia or vaginismus.

Hope this helps! Lemme know if you have any other questions. <3

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WAIT THEY SCRAPE GENTLY?? IVE BEEN AVPIDING GETTING A PAP SMEAR BECAUSE EVERYTHING IVE HEARD FROM FAMILY WAS THEM TAKING A GIANT ASS CHUNK OUT OF UR UTERUS WITH A METAL CHOMPY LOOKIN THING AND IT HURT THEM LIKE HELL WHEN DID THIS CHANGE

Well, they're supposed to.

Sometimes doctors mess up, sometimes people have very sensitive cervixes and sometimes, pain is either a sign the doctor has fucked up or there's something else going on [like a vaginal infection].

But they're not taking a chunk of your uterus or cervix, they're just trying to get a tiny collection of cells.

What they use to get those cells can vary-some use a type of spatula, some use a cytobrush [which is a special plastic tool designed for pap smears], it depends on the doctor.

I think the metal thing you're referring to is actually a speculum, which is a tool only used to hold the vagina open during pap smears. It's not used otherwise during the pap smear. They're often using plastic ones now but if they're not, you can request them.

If you're worried about pain, though, you can take pain reliever beforehand and ask them to use a small speculum to make it a little more comfortable since you've not had one before.

You can even ask them to tell you before they do anything and to narrate as they go along, so you know what they're doing and what to expect the whole time.

And if it hurts like hell, tell them to fucking stop. It doesn't matter what they're doing, it's your body and you have the right to say "stop" whenever you want.