#2021 us tour

[junkyard-gifs]

aah, an afternoon alone with...

... uh oh

what has he done now why is he here

there is no sleep for a munkustrap

(Devon McCleskey and Zach Bravo, 2021 US tour, c. 24 September 2021.

[dylanconrique]

freddie benson definitely falls under the category of the many men who propose to their girlfriend during love story at the eras tour.

[cryptidvoidwritings]

I have undoubtedly posted this before, sry

Source: probably Zach Bravo’s Instagram story. Saved to my phone October 14, 2021.

[jelliclekay]

A Goodbye and Thank You to US Tour 6 ♡

First off, what sick joke was it to have both Vienna and the first leg of US Tour 6 to end on the same day? It's a very hard day for the fandom.

But, I wanted to make a post expressing my love and gratefulness to the current US tour. While I'm not a fan of the revival choreography changes (and probably never will be), this cast and this production has meant the world to me and it doesn't feel right to not make a goodbye and thank you. Note: this is going to be long, so if you read it in its entirety, I love you.

2021 was not a great year for me (not really for anyone honestly), but around late September, I was reminded from watching some video essays on the subject about Cats 1998. I hadn't seen it since I was a child, so I decided to rewatch it as an adult.

Something clicked rewatching it. Being autistic, my hyperfixations come and go, but I knew this was special. Immediately upon rewatching it, I looked up if Cats was going to be coming to a city near me. I didn't know anything about the cast, the revival changes or anything of the like. I just knew I needed to see it in person.

And I lucked out, Cats was scheduled for Columbus, Ohio in January of 2022. I was beyond excited, bought two tickets for me and my sister and anxiously waited to see it live. All the while watching Cats 98 at least once or twice a week. I didn't think about joining the fandom at that point, only occasionally lurking on the tumblr tags and liking art.

I was sort of hoping that seeing it live would satisfy me enough that the interest in it would fade. My friends are not really musical people and I could tell they thought the Cats interest was a bit strange, so I really wanted to just see it and forget about it.

Once the date finally came, I was so excited. Again, I wasn't aware of the cast besides Zach because of his TikToks. I also didn't realize I was seeing a performance consisting of almost every swing (below is the cast for the show):

The seats I had were not the best and were pretty far away. But even then, I was captivated by the performers and the show. I screamed, I clapped, and I cried by the time Memory came on and didn't stop until the end of the show. Any hope I had of not hyperfixating on this show was dashed and I immediately knew I had to find others in the fandom to talk too.

I joined Mistocord that night and created my Cats tumblr as well. I became familiar with the cast and like so many of you, became attached to them all. I also knew that their last date would be in June and I was devastated that I wouldn't get to see them again.

Until I took another look at the tour schedule and saw they were having one show in Roanoke, Virginia on April 14th, the day after my birthday. The drive to Roanoke is 5.5 hours, but it was also the closest date to me. Plus with it being the day after my birthday, I knew I had to go.

I asked my best friend who likes musicals but has never seen Cats if she would go and thankfully she agreed. I also took along another friend with us who is named Victoria and has loved Cats all her life but has never seen it live.

Almost everyone in my life thought I was insane to be driving so far just to see Cats of all things. Even more so when the new dates for the upcoming cast were announced and the closest city to me announced 3 whole weeks of shows. But I wanted to see this current cast one more time, especially since I was familiar with them unlike when I went in January.

The drive was stressful, but I was thrilled when we made it and I saw that besides Allison Teazer, I was going to be seeing the principal cast perform. I love the swings and they were all amazing in Columbus, but I also really wanted to see Lauren Demeter and Chris Skimble. (And yes, I was bummed I never got to see Devon Munk but was excited to see Nick Munk).

Below is the board for the Roanoke show (sans Allison who did not have a name card yet at this point):

The show was incredible, of course. The crowd was also great (Not sure if it's Southern thing or if it was because of the cheap beer the venue was selling) but everyone got the cheers and applause they deserve. Big shout out to whoever screamed "FUCK YEAH MUNKUSTRAP" when Nick first slid on stage.

It was amazing. My friend Victoria and I held hands during Memory and it was nice to have someone to cry with. My best friend who doesn't know Cats also enjoyed it more than she thought she would which was nice!

Once the show was over, we stumbled to the stage door because I was determined to at least meet Zach. I occasionally talk to Zach on insta and he knew I was at the show, but I was unprepared for when he walked up to ME and said "We get to meet finally!" He signed my playbill and let me snap a picture with him. And yes, I sobbed the second we walked away and basically did not stop the entire 5.5 trip home.

Truly one of the best nights of my life and one I will never forget.

Without this cast, I never would have fallen so much in love with this musical. I never would have joined this fandom and made friends. Over a decade of being in online fan communities but this is the first time I've ever made online buddies that I talk to on a daily basis.

I've never truly loved something as much as Cats. It helped me out of such a dark place and continues to provide me with comfort when I'm feeling down.

So thank you, first leg US Tour 6 cast, from the bottom of my heart. You're all incrediblely talented performers who brought so much heart to the characters and show. Happy trails and I hope to see you return back to the Junkyard again ♡

[chris-burden]

Vitesse X (2021)

[ghost-of-you]

I saw someone saying the next tour will be the 5th 5sos tour. It will be their 20th. 16th headlining tour. Where are you getting your info, dude? It's not even their 5th world tour. What?

[persephoneflouwers]

I was thinking… how big of a masterpiece Through The Dark is? Like you listen to it and it’s like a good song but if you listen to it it just make your bones tremble?

And of course Louis would cover that song for his first solo world tour. Of fucking course he would.

[indianasolo221]

It’s been a rough evening and I would appreciate some Jellicle stuff in my asks. Questions, headcanons, photos, gifs, videos…I’m open to anything right now.

[sayruq]

I keep posting this because it's important people see the tricks the US Empire will pull in order to ensure the occupation of Palestine doesn't end.

When Netanyahu is removed and scapegoated for the crimes Israel has committed, his more moderate replacement will go on a media tour in order to repair Israel's image in the West and a diplomatic tour in order to restore diplomatic relations with the countries that have recalled their ambassadors or cut diplomatic ties entirely. The genocide we're witnessing will be treated like a mild mistake that will never happen again (that Palestinians have brought on themselves). More money will be allocated to Zionist groups in the West to ensure that the public doesn't turn on Israel again.

Meanwhile, Palestinians will continue to get imprisoned, tortured and killed, only now without the world paying attention (just like what happened after the 2021 war). It's our duty as people who are pro Palestine to ensure that this fails. We need to make sure they don't sweep the genocide under a rug. We need to make that Western politicians and journalists don't clean the blood off their hands in the same way we've spent 45 days countering Israeli propaganda

[heritageposts]

Ask an older generation of white South Africans when they first felt the bite of anti-apartheid sanctions, and some point to the moment in 1968 when their prime minister, BJ Vorster, banned a tour by the England cricket team because it included a mixed-race player, Basil D’Oliveira. After that, South Africa was excluded from international cricket until Nelson Mandela walked free from prison 22 years later. The D’Oliveira affair, as it became known, proved a watershed in drumming up popular support for the sporting boycott that eventually saw the country excluded from most international competition including rugby, the great passion of the white Afrikaners who were the base of the ruling Nationalist party and who bitterly resented being cast out. For others, the moment of reckoning came years later, in 1985 when foreign banks called in South Africa’s loans. It was a clear sign that the country’s economy was going to pay an ever higher price for apartheid. Neither of those events was decisive in bringing down South Africa’s regime. Far more credit lies with the black schoolchildren who took to the streets of Soweto in 1976 and kicked off years of unrest and civil disobedience that made the country increasingly ungovernable until changing global politics, and the collapse of communism, played its part. But the rise of the popular anti-apartheid boycott over nearly 30 years made its mark on South Africans who were increasingly confronted by a repudiation of their system. Ordinary Europeans pressured supermarkets to stop selling South African products. British students forced Barclays Bank to pull out of the apartheid state. The refusal of a Dublin shop worker to ring up a Cape grapefruit led to a strike and then a total ban on South African imports by the Irish government. By the mid-1980s, one in four Britons said they were boycotting South African goods – a testament to the reach of the anti-apartheid campaign. . . . The musicians union blocked South African artists from playing on the BBC, and the cultural boycott saw most performers refusing to play in the apartheid state, although some, including Elton John and Queen, infamously put on concerts at Sun City in the Bophuthatswana homeland. The US didn’t have the same sporting or cultural ties, and imported far fewer South African products, but the mobilisation against apartheid in universities, churches and through local coalitions in the 1980s was instrumental in forcing the hand of American politicians and big business in favour of financial sanctions and divestment. By the time President FW de Klerk was ready to release Mandela and negotiate an end to apartheid, a big selling point for part of the white population was an end to boycotts and isolation. Twenty-seven years after the end of white rule, some see the boycott campaign against South Africa as a guide to mobilising popular support against what is increasingly condemned as Israel’s own brand of apartheid.

. . . continues at the guardian (21 May, 2021)

[ilovefandoms]

Pretty sure México had almost the same amount of screentime as F

[cryptidvoidwritings]

Mr Bravo woke up and chose violence this morning, huh?

That's fine, I didn't need my heart today.

Post is here. Chelsea Mitchell’s fiancée is a fantastic photographer.

Caption from the post under here

[bixiaoshi]

i get why i dont use twt very often nctzens there r fucking annoying

[allweknowisnow]

*gasp* *deep breath* OKAY OKAY SO I KNOW I JUST SAW FOB THIS SUMMER AND IM GONNA SEE BMTH NEXT MONTH BUT ISTG IF THEY COME TO EUROPE TOGETHER I AM ABSOLUTELY WILLING TO GOBROKE OVERITDO YOU KNOW HOW FJCKING LEGENDARY THAT IS

[mostlysignssomeportents]

General Mills and cheaply bought "dietitians" co-opted the anti-diet movement

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in NEXT THURSDAY (Apr 11) in BOSTON with Randall "XKCD" Munroehttps://cockeyed.com/lessons/viagra/viagra.html, then PROVIDENCE, RI (Apr 12), and beyond!

Steve Bannon isn't wrong: for his brand of nihilistic politics to win, all he has to do is "flood the zone with shit," demoralizing people to the point where they no longer even try to learn the truth.

This is really just a more refined, more potent version of the tactical doubt sown by Big Tobacco about whether smoking caused cancer, a playbook later adopted by the fossil fuel industry to sell climate denial. You know Darrell Huff's 1954 classic How To Lie With Statistics? Huff was a Big Tobacco shill (his next book, which wasn't ever published, was How To Lie With Cancer Statistics). His mission wasn't to help you spot statistical malpractice – an actual thing that is an actual problem that you should actually learn to spot. It was to turn you into a nihilist who didn't believe anything could be known:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/04/how-to-truth/#harford

Corporations don't need you to believe that their products are beneficial or even non-harmful. They just need you to believe nothing. If you don't know what's true, then why not just do whatever feels good, man? #YOLO!

These bannonfloods of shit are a favored tactic of strongmen and dictators. Their grip on power doesn't depend on their citizens trusting them – it's enough that they trust no one:

http://jonathanstray.com/networked-propaganda-and-counter-propaganda

Bannonflooding is especially beloved of the food industry. Food is essential, monopolized, and incredibly complicated, and many of the most profitable strategies for growing, processing and preparing food are very bad for the people who eat that food. Rather than sacrificing profits, the food industry floods the zone with shit, making it impossible to know what's true, in hopes that we will just eat whatever they're serving:

https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003460

Now, the "nothing can be known" gambit only works if it's really hard to get at the truth. So it helps that nutrition and diet are very complex subjects, but it helps even more that the nutrition and diet industry are a cesspool of quacks and junk science. This is a "scientific discipline" whose prestigious annual meetings are sponsored (and catered) by McDonald's:

https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/05/my-trip-mcdonalds-sponsored-nutritionist-convention/

It's a "science" whose most prominent pitchmen peddle quack nostrums and sue the critics who point out (correctly) that eating foods high in chlorophyll will not "oxygenate your blood" (hint, chlorophyll only makes oxygen in the presence of light, which is notably lacking in your colon):

https://www.badscience.net/2007/02/ms-gillian-mckeith-banned-from-calling-herself-a-doctor/

When the quack-heavy world of nutrition combines with the socially stigmatized world of weight-loss, you get a zone ripe for shitflooding. The majority of Americans are "overweight" (according to a definition that relies on the unscientific idea of BMI) and nearly half of Americans are "obese." These numbers have been climbing steadily since the 1970s, and every diet turns out to be basically bullshit:

https://headgum.com/factually-with-adam-conover/what-does-ozepmic-actually-do-with-dr-dhruv-khullar

Notwithstanding the new blockbuster post-Ozempic drugs, we're been through an unbroken 50-year run of more and more of us being fatter and fatter, even as fat stigma increased. Fat people are treated as weak-willed and fundamentally unhealthy, while the most prominent health-risks of being fat are roundly neglected: the mental health effects of being shamed, and the physical risks of having doctors ignore your health complaints, no matter how serious they sound, and blame them on your weight:

https://maintenancephase.buzzsprout.com/1411126/11968083-glorifying-obesity-and-other-myths-about-fat-people

Fat people and their allies have banded together to address these real, urgent harms. The "body acceptance" movement isn't merely about feeling good in your own skin: it's also about fighting discrimination, demanding medical care (beyond "lose some weight") and warning people away from getting on the diet treadmill, which can lead to dangerous eating disorders and permanent weight gain:

https://www.beacon.org/You-Just-Need-to-Lose-Weight-P1853.aspx

Fat stigma is real. The mental health risks of fat-shaming are real. Eating disorders are real. Discrimination against fat people is real. The fact that these things are real doesn't mean that the food industry can't flood the zone with shit, though. On the contrary: the urgency of these issues, combined with the poor regulation of dietitians, makes the "what should you eat" zone perfect for flooding with endless quantities of highly profitable shit.

Perhaps you've gotten some of this shit on you. Have you found yourself watching a video from a dietitian influencer like Cara Harbstreet, Colleen Christensen or Lauren Smith, promoting "health at any size" with hashtags like #DerailTheShame and #AntiDiet? These were paid campaigns sponsored by General Mills, Pepsi, and other multinational, multibillion-dollar corporations.

Writing for The Examination, Sasha Chavkin, Anjali Tsui, Caitlin Gilbert and Anahad O'Connor describe the way that some of the world's largest and most profitable corporations have hijacked a movement where fat people and their allies fight stigma and shame and used it to peddle the lie that their heavily processed, high-calorie food is good for you:

https://www.theexamination.org/articles/as-obesity-rises-big-food-and-dietitians-push-anti-diet-advice

It's a surreal tale. They describe a speech by Amy Cohn, General Mills’ senior manager for nutrition, to an audience at a dietitian's conference, where Cohn "denounced the media for 'pointing the finger at processed foods' and making consumers feel ashamed of their choices." This is some next-level nihilism: rather than railing against the harmful stigma against fat people, Cohn wants us to fight the stigma against Cocoa Puffs.

This message isn't confined to industry conferences. Dietitians with large Tiktok followings like Cara Harbstreet then carry the message out to the public. In Harbstreet's video promoting Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Cocoa Puffs and Trix, she says, "I will always advocate for fearlessly nourishing meals, including cereal…Because everyone deserves to enjoy food without judgment, especially kids":

https://www.tiktok.com/@streetsmart.rd/video/7298403730989436206

Dietitians, nutritionists and the food industry have always had an uncomfortably close relationship, but the industry's shitflooding kicked into high gear when the FDA proposed rules limiting which foods the industry can promote as "healthy." General Mills, Kelloggs and Post have threatened a First Amendment suit against such a regulation, arguing that they have a free speech right to describe manifestly unhealthy food as "healthy."

The anti-diet movement – again, a legitimate movement aimed at fighting the dangerous junk science behind dieting – has been co-opted by the food industry, who are paying dietitian influencers to say things like "all foods have value" while brandishing packages of Twix and Reese's. In their Examination article, the authors profile people who struggled with their weight, then, after encountering the food industry's paid disinformation, believed that "healthy at any size" meant that it would be unhealthy to avoid highly processed, high calorie food. These people gained large amounts of weight, and found their lives constrained and their health severely compromised.

I've been overweight all my life. I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting when I was 12. I come from a family of overweight people with the chronic illnesses often associated with being fat. This is a subject that's always on my mind. I even wrote a whole novel about the promise and peril of a weight-loss miracle:

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781429969284/makers

I think the anti-diet movement, and its associated ideas like body acceptance and healthy at every size, are enormously positive developments and hugely important. It's because I value these ideas that I'm so disgusted with Big Food and its cynical decision to flood the zone with shit. It's also why I'm so furious with dietitians and nutritionists for failing to self-regulate and become a real profession, the kind that censures and denounces quacks and shills.

I have complicated feelings about Ozempic and its successors, but even if these prove to be effective and safe in the long term, and even if we rein in the rapacious pharma companies so that they no longer sell a $5 product for $1000, I would still want dietary science to clean up its act:

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2816824

I'm not a nihilist. I think we can use science to discover truths – about ourselves and our world. I want to know those truths, and I think they can be known. The only people who benefit from convincing you that the truth is unknowable are the people who want to lie to you.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/05/corrupt-for-cocoa-puffs/#flood-the-zone-with-shit

[doyoulikethissong-poll]

Spiritbox - Rotoscope 2022

Spiritbox is a Canadian heavy metal band. Their style incorporates electronic elements and draws from a variety of influences, crossing multiple metal subgenres with its roots in metalcore and progressive metal. They released a debut extended play, Spiritbox (2017), followed by a second EP, Singles Collection (2019), with an expanded lineup. Spiritbox initially built their fanbase by focusing on promotion through the Internet and introduced their music through a series of popular music videos, before debuting as a touring band in 2020. They continued to gain popularity with several singles that reached the Billboard charts before releasing their debut album Eternal Blue (2021), which entered the US Billboard 200 at number 13. They released their third EP, Rotoscope, in 2022 and their fourth EP, The Fear of Fear, in 2023. "Rotoscope" received a total of 46,8% yes votes.