#I just mourn for the days of a different type of social media site

[icthyarch]

was recently introduced to SpaceHey, and have gotten a pretty rough profile set up on there, come add me if you're on it -> X

[thisweekinfandomhistory]

omg i just found your podcast and it’s incredibly cathartic to listen to as i have felt the loss of fandom spaces over the past few years (tumblr dying and twitter being hard to use for that). livejournal sounds so nice. I wish there was another social media site that would allow that sort of community again for art and fandom and connection.

Thank you so much for listening and writing in! The loss of fandom spaces is always so hard and sad -- I (V) still mourn the landscape of individually run HTML fansites that ran all the way to the horizon back in Web 1.0. I miss fun layouts! I miss image galleries! I miss fandom mailing lists! (And I highly recommend The Rec Center if you don't already subscribe to them).

I actually think that Tumblr isn't dying so much as accepting its size and scope -- it ISN'T a social media site, and it's never been something that was going to be able to compete with social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for mainstream, everyday-Joe users. People who don't have a hyperfixation or a fandom want to see a variety of content and are easy for The Algorithm to feed. Tumblr users... are not.

Tumblr may have started out with the goal of being a hub for Srs Bsns Photographers & Poets/Writers, but everything about its format makes it the perfect site for fandom to flourish.

I'm really happy that Tumblr itself is embracing that now! AFAIK their actual slogan on the Apple App Store is "Tumblr: The Home of Fandom." Fandom is a niche subculture. We're just not gonna have the numbers of a Twitter or a TikTok. (And honestly, thank fucking god. Can you even imagine the chaos. I shudder to think.)

Tumblr is a microblogging site. It's for people who write too much for Twitter and whose images aren't the vibe of Instagram. It's for gifsets, which are an art medium unto themselves that social media sites wouldn't have any use for, really. And it's definitely not for Norbert in Accounting to connect with his grandma on like Facebook.

The anonymity of Tumblr is antithetical to modern social media sites -- even though IT IS INSANE TO ME THAT PEOPLE PUT THEIR REAL NAMES AND PHOTOS ONLINE, DID WE NOT LEARN ABOUT STRANGER DANGER??? -- and the fact that Tumblr is inherently ABOUT transformational, shared, "yes and" content, rather than mostly original pithy content like Twitter and IG and TikTok, makes it attractive to people with the hyperfocus of fans more than people who want to scroll and scroll and just see Stuff. I mean, obviously on Tumblr we're all looking at Stuff, but you can CURATE your feed on Tumblr in a way that you can't on social media. Curation is the enemy of The Algorithm. And Tumblr users fucking hate The Algorithm.

And honestly? The Algorithm hates fandom, because it's really hard to market things to someone with a hyperfixation. I don't CARE about your product, and seeing it instead of the thing I want to be looking at makes me HATE your product. The Algorithm really needs to be able to feed you a lot of different types of content to see what you're interested in. If you go into a site already knowing what you're interested in, then... ::shruggie:: Sucks to suck, Algorithm.

All of that said, yes -- community is definitely an aspect of Web 1.0 that feels like it's missing, or very hard to find, on Tumblr. I know a lot of people are finding great fannish communities on Discord these days, but I am elderly and don't know how to find Discord communities in the first place and also I'm painfully shy, so. I just Tumbl.

But I think that the loss of a sense of community is also part and parcel of Web 2.0, from the formats of websites to their function. It was easier, in Ye Olde Days, to feel connected to other people who found your fandom online because... not everyone WAS online. There was a sense that if you loved a thing enough to find your way to a fansite, or to LJ, or whatever, that was already taking the first step towards opening yourself up to friendship. Now, with social media and with smartphones and whatever else, literally everyone is online all day long. It isn't already a little club of nerds, yk?

I don't know. The internet as a whole has changed its shape and scope so much in the last ten years, let alone the last 20, that it's a whole different arena than it used to be. I don't really have any solutions or suggestions. Maybe once we get our Patreon up and running or something we'll start a TWIFH discord that people can join and make friends on.

But all of that is to say --

tl;dr, Fandom itself is antithetical to "social media" sites, and it needs blogging sites like Tumblr or LiveJournal or hand-coded HTML fansites to BE ABLE to exist. /opinion

[earthstellar]

Transformers Analysis: Folklore and Folk Magic in the Mines of Kaon

thinking about Miner Megatron again, as always. here we goooo 

So I've been doing some folk magic, as I usually do, and it got me thinking:

Surely, the lower class/caste bots wouldn’t feel welcomed into the more organised Cybertronian temples etc., or might even be outright banned from joining in shared spiritual spaces or rituals. 

So it’s time to teach y’all some working class magic history and how we can apply that to Cybertronian spirituality: 

Working Class History: Casting Spells on the Job (Just Call it Prayer so the Boss Doesn't Find Out)

Here's a quick history of rural Appalachian folk magic, for some context:

1) The Christian Bible has been used for spellcasting all up and down the rural East Coast in the USA from day one of colonisation.

In Pennsylvania you have Hexenmeisters and the Pennsylvania Dutch practices, for a well-documented example.

2) The working class has done spellcasting with the Bible from the very first day shitty bosses started

This is for several reasons, but primarily because Bibles were common and cheap, you didn't have to know how to read in order to follow along with or change the lyrics of popular hymns and prayers to fit your own needs, and it was very easy to sneak what is essentially localised witchcraft under the radar when it just looks like you're reading the Bible to everyone else.

Catholic materials were used a lot for this, because they were often provided for free by any local churches, and a lot of working class people in Appalachia were Italian (Roman Catholic) or Eastern European (Eastern Orthodox Catholic), which meant there was no shortage of all sorts of votive candles and the like to utilise for what we would now identify as spellcasting.

It's important to note that it wasn't called spellcasting outright by anybody; Sometimes it was called "hexing" or "sweet talking", among other terms, but if you called it spellcasting it was heavily frowned upon.

A lot of people were uncomfortable (and are still uncomfortable) with verbalising it or identifying it as such due to stigma from the more mainstream religious communities or their own religious backgrounds, and of course, historically if the boss found out that all the workers hated their jobs so much they were doing fucking witchcraft about it, it would not have ended well for the workers.

So, stealth it is. And that's why there are so many specific folk practices in a lot of historically working class rural regions/communities-- Not just in Appalachia, but similar things happen in similar communities around the world.

What does this have to do with Megatron?

Everything we know about the lower classes on Cybertron, the lower caste members, and the mines/industrial regions in Tarn and Kaon suggest that a similar folklore likely existed within these working communities.

And any local folk practices likely developed for the exact same reasons that this type of folk practice developed in the real world:

Workers are fucking miserable, "mainstream" religion isn't satisfying their spiritual/emotional/social/material needs or concerns, and close-knit people in small communities spending most of their time together naturally start to sort of do their own thing based on their collective situation.

People get desperate, there's nowhere to turn and nothing to do, so spirituality becomes a lifeline in that it builds solidarity and creates a more appropriate sort of support system.

For example: If we aren't allowed time off work to mourn our friend who was killed by heavy machinery, and we aren't allowed any time to process that or deal with it or take care of each other, then we will invent a ritual that allows us to grieve on the job.

This was, and still is, a common thing.

Which brings us to...

St. Barbara and the Mines + Solus Prime

St. Barbara's backstory can be summarised, roughly, as such (based on the version of this story that I know; keep in mind the details can vary):

She was kept isolated from others by her father, who became furious that she refused an arranged marriage. When she fled, he chased her; She ran into two people working in a field, the first who helped her, and the second who gave her path away to her father.

She was captured, and brought to a prominent local figure (the title varies based on different versions of this story), who had her tortured for escaping and disobeying her father.

However, when imprisoned, they tried to kill her again and again, and every morning she was healed. Fire intended to be used to burn her would cool the second it got near her skin, and daggers used to cut her would go dull when brought near her.

Snakes thrown into her room intended to bite her would then die the instant they went to approach her, and ropes intended to be used to bind and choke her would spontaneously fray and snap before they could be tied.

Eventually, she was condemned to beheading, and a special sword was used to cut her head off, which finally killed her.

Her father is the one who beheaded her, and as divine punishment, he was hit by lightning-- A single bolt that lasted so long that his entire body went up into flames, and his ashes disappeared.

Her gravesite became a place of veneration, where people prayed for protection and safety.

She became known as the patron saint of all people with dangerous jobs or jobs where the bosses don't care about the worker's wellbeing or safety, for obvious reasons: Nothing but the hands of her own father could ever harm her.  

(The imagery of St. Barbara being slain only by a special sword is very reminiscent of Solus Prime being slain only by a special sword...)

Workers, especially those with particularly dangerous or shitty jobs but also just anyone working class in general, can interpret this story in several ways which can make it additionally relatable:

Her father = A controlling and aggressive boss who abuses or neglects their workers to death.

The field workers = A pro-union worker (a helper) and an anti-union worker or scab (a betrayer).

So you can see how St. Barbara became immediately adopted as a common worker's saint, and was used in a lot of regional working class folk magic practices (where such folk magic developed within local working communities).

And this is still going strong as a tradition; Crossrail tunnel borers in London consecrated the drilling site in the name of St. Barbara in 2013:

"Several hundred contractors and senior management attended the St Barbara's Day ceremony at the Thames Tunnel (pictured) which will link Plumstead and North Woolwich when completed. The site was so large, that sound engineers put in place an amplification system for the ceremony." - Article here. 

"As a long-standing tradition, one of the first tasks for each new tunnelling projects is to establish a small shrine to Santa Barbara at the tunnel portal or at the underground junction into long tunnel headings. This is often followed with a dedication and an invocation to Santa Barbara for protection of all who work on the project during the construction period." - Article here. 

And here's a related example of a worker's prayer for St. Barbara, from here: 

So this is very much a tradition that is still going strong, and it isn't just Catholic workers who engage with these types of things!

To accommodate more diverse groups and communities of workers, folk practices (including what eventually becomes folk magic) increasingly develop even further away from any one specific religious origin, in order to become more inclusive for the majority of people who can be from all kinds of different spiritual or cultural backgrounds.

Hence, more folk magic is made-- And I believe something like this could absolutely have evolved in a similar way in working communities on Cybertron.

Cybertronian Spirituality: The Primes, The Knights, The Titans

My personal theory/headcanon, and there is not much in canon to support this particularly so please keep that in mind, is that given the average type of manual labour working environment in Tarn and Kaon (dangerous, dark, and deep), it would make sense for the legendary Titans to become worked into some kind of folk practice.

We have this concept of the Titans as these giant and very particular beings, which reminds me somewhat of the Jewish Golem of Prague, in that the Titans are made from raw materials in some kind of mystical or cosmically spiritual manner, then eventually ally themselves to at least one respective Prime who then acts as a director of their actions to achieve victory over cosmic evil(s).

The Titans then go forward and act as guardians of Cybertronian life by combating the origins of these cosmic evil(s) as protectors of their respective polities and regions and eventually colony worlds, called into action by what is essentially a metaphysical and possibly outright spiritual pull of the need of their Prime(s) and later on the needs of the Cybertronian and colony world populations in times of threat or desperation.

These details are peppered throughout canon and vary based on media/franchise, but most recently Titan lore was covered again in IDW’s Optimus Prime series, issue 10, literally titled Origin Myths. 

What is interesting is that while the Golem association could be reasonably made, you could also reasonably say that the Three Original Titans (Metroplex, Chela, and Metrotitan) could be associated just as easily with the Catholic concept of the Holy Trinity. 

Lots of different interpretations could be applied to this stuff!

Class Stratification Within Cybertronian Religious Institutions

No matter how you may interpret it, we know that the Titans have a similar mystical presence in Cybertronian history and cultural lore to that of the Primes and Knights, and it would make sense for those spurned and disparaged by "mainstream" spiritual practices (which were likely just as stratified by class and caste as everything else was on Cybertron during Megatron's youth) to go ahead and create a folk practice based more around Titans.

This is because the Primes would like be associated directly with their oppressive rulers and upper classes, and the Knights, who are said to be the first Cybertronians to come from the Well, thusly represent a very high class onto their own which may have repelled working class bots who were very likely sick of essentially worshipping those venerated in their class stratified society solely due to the conditions of their creation; The Knights were "born with silver spoons", essentially, and it's hard to sell that to people who suffered due to the conditions of their own creation.

Therefore, the Titans are the other most likely Cybertronian figures of historical lore that could reasonably be adapted into a sort of folk religion for the working classes and lower social caste bots.

The imagery is strong, and relatable: In Megatron's case, the manual labourers and miners all have large frames compared to the average Cybertronian, they all toil invisibly and in relative silence, and they are kept away from the end products of their labour and yet without them, Cybertron planet wide would instantly struggle to sustain their raw material demands. 

They are critical workers, yet many of them have no names/designations; It is noted at least once in canon that some Titans are so old or so little known that their designations are not recorded. Yet without these unseen/unknown Titans, it could be the case that cosmic evil could have achieved victory.

While the Titans are critical, they are largely a mystery and unknown in any real detail. They do not normally engage with average Cybertronians, and when they do, it is usually indirectly-- Even though their actions actively impact the lives of nearly everyone.

And though the Primes and Knights are generally never physically present, at least not within living memory, there is real and physical proof of Titans. I feel like that aspect alone may well appeal more to people who are very physically oriented; We also see a stark realist mentality from many of the lower class/caste bots, who are sometimes realistic to the point of nihilism (which is part of why Megatron's writings were so revolutionary, in that they re-introduced hope to people who had previously concluded that there was no realistic possibility of ever rising up).

The Titans being a known, tangible physical reality may well have endeared them as a more interesting folkloric or spiritual focus to this particular cohort of bots.

Just like with St. Barbara in real life, you can see how the Titans may have been interpreted in certain ways by the lower class/caste working bots which may have made them more appealing or more easy to structure into a framework of sorts for their own practices within their local cultures.

A Little Meta: There's a Lot of Various Religious Imagery in Transformers

Like with all media, especially Western media, inevitably some Jesus sneaks in there.

Which usually sucks, because it can be alienating for literally anyone who isn't familiar with Christianity in some way (as some references or parallels are inevitably not going to be as obvious or even detectable at all to people who didn't grow up with all this sometimes very specific shit, resulting in missed thematic elements and so on due to no fault of the viewers but rather the tendency for Western shows to overwhelmingly be written and designed by primarily Western white middle aged cis straight men who tend to throw some Jesus in there when there should not necessarily be any Jesus in there, but I could yell about this all night).

Transformers as a franchise altogether is not immune to this; As with all media, it is made by people, and people are influenced by their social/cultural upbringing, and that includes religious influences.

We could read some of this into the TFP/Aligned Continuity, in regards to the idea of the Thirteen Primes and how that concept is interpreted in TFP.

Transformers Prime: Alpha Trion is Essentially Paul the Apostle

The TFP Primes resemble both the Apostles as well as various Saints, and especially the Fourteen Holy Helpers; These fourteen Saints in particular are elevated above the others in many cases and contexts-- Similar to how the Primes are held up as elevated over other Cybertronians and other figures in Cybertronian history and presumably within certain Cybertronian spiritual practices as well. 

For example, Alpha Trion is strongly reminiscent of the Christian figure Paul the Apostle, who was a writer/scribe known for documenting early Christian concerns of faith in his letters, which became extremely important to theological historians in regards to determining early Christian discourse and attempting to create a timeline of early Christianity.

His letters are included the New Testament in thirteen (!) sections called epistles, which are archived forever in various iterations within the Christian Bible. 

Now, let’s take a look at the symbolism, using the TFP main illustration of Alpha Trion as featured in the Covenant, and a popular Icon image of Paul the Apostle: 

Beard, cloak, book-- Even the pose they are in here is very similar, look at the feet and the way they are both standing. Even the halo of Cybertronian glyphs around Alpha Trion’s head resembles the gold filament of Paul’s halo. 

And much like Alpha Trion's questionable ability to write/re-write history and determine events through some kind of cosmically divine power of foresight, the timeline of Paul's letters will likely never be fully verifiable, and of course, there are so many translations and interpretations of these letters along with the rest of the New Testament that while key points remain fairly consistent, there is still no "true" version or exact outline of events or discussions as recorded by Paul-- Primarily because in at least a few cases, Paul's letters are the only allusion to certain events or conversations.

This is extremely similar to how Alpha Trion states outright in the Covenant that he himself doesn't know if what he writes is actually factual anymore, or if he has changed things so many times to try to construct a more favourable narrative of actions and events that reality itself may have been warped by his Quill, either forwards or backwards in time...

You could also argue that Alpha Trion is presented as a God-like figure in TFP (especially when he appears to Optimus in the form of an echoing voice and shimmering spectral figure in a vision caused by what is essentially the equivalent of a holy relic), and Orion Pax would then be comparable to Jesus pre-Crucifixion, with his reformatting into Optimus Prime post-Matrix heavily resembling Jesus in the eyes of his followers post-Resurrection.

The main cast of Autobots in this comparison would then roughly correspond to the Apostles, of whom there were twelve, with Optimus then making Thirteen... And of course, canonically, Optimus is the resurrection of the Thirteenth Prime. 

You can also see visual similarities in the depiction of Thirteen in the Covenant; It reminds me heavily of the Divine Mercy image of Jesus: 

Both have their right hands raised, their chests emitting a holy/cosmic light. 

I'm just saying, it is totally possible to make connections between fictional lore/spiritual figures and real world ones, and TF is loaded with content that can be re-contextualised in this way. 

(I also want to point out at this time that it is not my intention to offend anyone with any of this analysis; I am writing from the point of view of someone who grew up with folk spirituality, and I am also a Quaker Attender, just so you are aware of my own personal background. I would love to hear any other interpretations of any spiritual imagery in Transformers media, because there’s a ton of possible ways to read into this stuff!) 

In Conclusion: Cast a Hex on Your Boss by Calling Upon the Titans

Just for fun, as someone who has actually done folk magic for my entire life, I've adapted a hex against bad bosses to fit this headcanon. I think this is something that lower class/caste bots would absolutely engage in; It's common in real life as well.

The original I'm basing this off of was actually something I found in one of our old family Bibles before I moved out, and was written in Girard, Pennsylvania sometime between 1920-1930. I believe it was written by a relative of mine who worked either on the farm or on the railways.

Remember that folk magic like this is for and by working class people, so there are no fancy supplies needed; Don't ever buy shit to do magic, you can do it with anything laying around you. No need to spend money.

If you have a shitty boss, please let me know if you hex your boss with this. I always encourage witchcraft, fictional or otherwise.

Here's what you do, if you want to actually try this:

1) Using any old paper that you have lying around, cut it roughly into a square (doesn't need to be perfect.) It doesn't matter what type of paper it is.

2) Grab any pen you like, it can be any type of pen, any type of ink.

3) Draw a square outline on the paper, making a border on the page. This can be big or small as you like, and you can decorate it if you want; Just leave enough space to write inside the square.

4) Fold this paper into a square, any way you'd like as long as it's a square, and take this paper while it's still blank to work in your pocket.

Carry the paper with you for at least one full day at work. If you can, place it in a chest pocket or a pocket where the paper will be fairly close to your body.

It doesn't matter if the paper gets dirty or smudged or torn; In fact, that's even better.

(Some people who do variations of this spell in real life even use the paper to wipe dirt off their hands etc. throughout the day, to really get the energy of a work day settled into the paper. As long as it can still be written on, you can do this if you'd like.)

5) At the end of the work day, take the paper out, and write the following:

Where I have put [X], the word "Lord" was in the original version of this hex which was in my family Bible, but to contextualise it within the fictional headcanon lore here, you can replace this with the word "Titan". (Or you can replace it with anything else that may be appropriate as well, if you would like to actually use this hex!)

"Give us pay for our work, or the poor will plea to the [X] against you, and you will be struck down, cast down.  

If you do not give to those who give to you, you will be cursed coming in, and going out.

Just as the [X] can raise you up and lead you to prosper, so too can the [X] turn away from you, and you will be left to have your walls destroyed, your fortress ruined.

Us servants will rejoice, but you will cry out in anguish, you will be put to shame.

Without the toilers, the land is made desolate, the haunt of jackals.

[X], turn your gaze to us, we labourers of all kinds, see our tears and our sweat.

Lay curses upon those who use their hands to hold us down; Kept below water, our tears lost in the flood.

Raise the waters, and surge the shores of their ill-owned kingdom; Bring forth to their memory that the [X] stewards the land, and that all among the land are equal in spirit.

The [X] will cast fury upon the unrighteous and conniving, cast rage and stand among us mightily, each motion casting winds against the oppressor who weakens like fractured stone under the onslaught of rain.

The [X] will make a storm from our anguish, which brings us higher, raises us from desolation. Our tears, become the rain that withers the false tower looming high above us.

Our hands will raise from our tools and duties, and offer high praise to the [X], who guards the disparaged and lowly, who enacts justice against those who have done wrong against us.

Let us be brought high, and those who revel in our struggle, may they be cast down."

6) You may flip the paper over once the ink is dry, and on the back, put three Xs in the upper corners of the paper. You may also add three more XXXs to the centre of the paper, where the crease in the paper is from folding it.

7) Re-fold the paper, and put it in the bottom of your right shoe. If this is too uncomfortable, carry it in any pocket on your right side.

You can also place it in your wallet for safe keeping, as your wallet contains money and possibly a work ID or something similar, which are all tied to work and working.

And there you have it! Fuck shitty bosses, both fictional ones and real ones. Join a union, do some witchcraft. 

This post was long as always, but I hope it's interesting to someone out there! <3 Thank you to anyone who actually reads through all of this! <3

[digital-noot-blog]

Internet and Mental Health. It’s a good thing!

CW: Mental Health and Suicide

I have so much to say on the topic of mental health as mental ill health (MIH) has been a big part of my identity.

Personally, I think social media and the online space is great for mental health, despite some of the concerns raised by the media.

Last week I had the privilege to be invited to a national consultation as a youth ambassador by a mental health organisation looking for ways to improve awareness and delivery of their outreach services that include an array of online services such as web help centre, email chat, phone chat and forums. It gave be the opportunity to reflect back on my mental health journey and the role that digital communications have played in it.

When I was first diagnosed with anxiety and depression, I spent countless hours researching different mental health websites (like BeyondBlue, SANE and Headspace)

I used Google to look up the number for Lifeline (13 11 14)

After I tried to take my own life, I reached out to my networks on social media for support.

When I was alone and struggling in 2015 I turned to online mental health forums trying BeyondBlue before settling on the ReachOut forums that were specifically for 14 to 25 year old youth.

When my teenage brother suicided I created a Facebook page to share information and form a community, attracting 3000 people to it.

In my recovery, I have shared my story on social media.

Participated in Movember in 2019.

I have begun using my volunteering platforms to make a positive impact on the MH of my community.

All the above can be categorised using the three areas of digital health: public, social and shared spaces.

Public refers to public health campaigns and health promotion. This is basically what you see MH organisations do. The purpose of MH promotion is to destigmatise MIH and to encourage positive attitudes and behaviour. It’s the campaigns like RUOK? Day and Movember, and all the websites I looked at for information about MIH. Public health is incredibly integrated with communication technologies and Movember is a great modern example. 

The Movember Foundation is an organisation focused on promoting men’s health, including MH and suicide prevention. Awareness is raised by male participants growing their moustaches and generating conversation offline, requesting donations via online fundraising accounts, and by using the #movember hashtag on social media. It’s the last one that has made it so successful. It is where traditional public health communication spreads into the social.

The second type of digital health is social. This is a focus on the shared health and personal experiences of MH. This is where the formation of ad-hoc publics comes in. Twitter and other social networks afford the formation of ad-hoc publics around hashtags. Movember latches onto this function very well to spread its messages, crowdsourcing participants in the campaign to share its messages too.

Without realising it, I created a public when I established the Facebook page for my brother. Our family and our community were in mourning. It was this page that brought people together to remember and celebrate his life. Three thousand of them. Communities tend to band together as a way to cope after suicide.

The final area of online MH is managed spaces. These are the self contained communities and forums you can find on some MH organisation websites and even social media. This is what I had to say about the ReachOut forums at the workshop last week:

“The most positive service in my struggle and recovery was the ReachOut forums. I did try out BeyondBlue forums, but they felt a little bit more structured and boring? The ReachOut youth forum felt fresh and the content youth directed. I can’t exactly remember how or why I stumbled upon these forums. I think I just stumbled upon them when trawling mental health sites. I didn’t know what to expect. But it gave me what I needed. I was extremely lonely, this was probably the most difficult struggle at the time. But on these forums I found a community. The people on these forums made me feel acknowledged, and I gained a sense of identity as a person living with mental health. They celebrated my achievements with me and I chilled out in their social spaces. I’m also naturally drawn to helping others, so being able to mutually support others gave me purpose. Though most of the time I gravitated to the social aspect, and didn’t share as deeply my own experiences as you’d expect. Yet, it filled that gap in my life”

So when you’re feeling down or you’re struggling with the black dog, the internet can be a good place to turn to.

[morebabyshowerflowers-blog]

Difficult Things About Baby Shower Flowers

Send congratulations flowers right now! While there are some optimistic facets to this delivery service and the bouquet we ordered, it simply did not thrill our panel of reviewers as much as a number of the other arrangements we got. If you are in search of one thing much less traditional, floral arrangement of yellow and gold roses are perfect for brightening up child rooms and celebrating Baby Girl Balloon Bouquet the sunny optimism of new life. Sympathy or condolences - if you happen to want to console your good friend or relative when he or she is mourning the loss of a liked one, flowers can come to your assist. Some individuals are doing it just as a solution to have a starter home, and as household size increases they will take over the main house,” he adds.

Is one in all our greatest sellers for items Baby Shower Flowers going to new mother and child. If you are searching for lyon online flower delivery then simply select the bouquet of your alternative, add a private note if you wish to along with the address and pickupflowers will send flowers to lyon and also replace you with the supply status. Consider considered one of these for those who send flowers regularly. Our pleasant customer support, express flower supply in singapore and low-cost flower costs are perfect for any buyer. A manatee baby swims near his mom on the zooparc de beauval in beauval, france, on march 15, 2017, eleven days after his beginning. Do an internet search for in-season flowers after which choose a bouquet that makes use of those types. Flowers and vegetation are commonly New Baby Flower Arrangements despatched to show you're considering of somebody throughout a time of grief. I used your organization because i recently acquired flowers out of your firm they usually have been lovely.

There are ribbons which might be specifically made for baby showers and have particular messages, inspiring notes or simply the words child shower” to announce this large day. He beloved it. Particularly fantastic is the fisherman's hand cream. Same day flowers mean you can make final minute events with ease. Ode à la rose is one-of-a-variety florist that gives a singular flower delivery service. The public can stay up-do-date with the baby rhino and her household through the zoo's social media channels and web site. Flowers have been never delivered to my dad for father's day. Our amour arrangement made with all purple roses is the final word expression of affection. When celebrating the beginning of a brand new baby, flower arrangements are a preferred choice. Like a ray of solar this arrangement comes in a cobalt blue vase bursting with yellow flowers together with lilies, roses, gerbera daisies, and accented with greens and bear grass loops. Linda's baby tuber - should have produced baby pink flower, as a substitute produced minuscule purple flowers. About 200 folks gathered tuesday night time for a candlelight vigil exterior underwood's bagel shop, where they positioned dozens of balloons, flower bouquets, cards and pictures of the victims. We offer 20% off all of our valentine's day flowers and presents. We're known as 1stopflorists as a result of we do all of the leg work for you - no must Baby Shower Flower name round our extensive community of knowledgeable florists is standing at the prepared to rearrange and ship stunning bouquets, even if it is at the final minute. Of all the reward basket providers we reviewed, presents one of the intensive product alternatives, together with wine reward baskets and a wide range of items appropriate for each sort of occasion.

These items are delivered by one in all our native design facilities located throughout the united states and canada. New to this assortment are our winter flowers and presents, you'll be able to still order them for supply the day earlier than thanksgiving. We're clearly talking about flowers, muffins and small present hampers. Make somebody's day with this delicately designed low and plush arrangement featuring premium crimson roses and different premium romantic flowers accented with trendy greenery. The purple and white rose's bouquet with hugging bears is an ideal gift for anniversaries and v-day. I really like utilizing and i at all times know that if there may be ever a difficulty (that is life, they happen) that the customer service workforce will be certain any points are resolved. Many online retailers supply same-day delivery or convenient in-store pickup, making buying online practical for each specialty purchases and everyday items.

No matter what type of an event it's, whether or not you might have a special occasion, an anniversary, birthday or you want a special child bathe gift , our quick flower supply will be obtainable for you. In today's day and age, we recognize the need for a quick and reliable flower supply, particularly the significance of a similar day flower supply in singapore. Crimson or pink roses are again sizzling favourites for birthdays, though a multicoloured bunch with pink, New Baby Gifts white, and yellow can look very engaging. White flowers symbolise peace and calm, and can show your buddy that you simply care and support. A higher florist's staff is devoted to creating an genuine design of every of the arrangements, bouquets and gifts, but the complete crew is equally committed to sustaining a top quality, identical day flower delivery in singapore. Due to increased volume, a restricted choice of our hottest floral designs and gifts will likely be obtainable for supply february 9th-fifteenth. They said they have no florist in the area so the flowers must be shipped ups, and the fee could be an extra $ 40. That is nothing but a rip-off. Arranging to send flowers to your family and associates abroad may be cumbersome and if you are questioning the way to go about it, then you've come to the fitting place. We hope you take pleasure in our flowers, fruit arrangements, baked items, candies, vegetation and extra.

  TAGS: Flower Arrangements For Baby Shower,New Baby Gifts,New Baby Gift,Gifts For New Baby Girl

[scaredy-kat-life]

I am One.

It’s amazing how social media has the ability to connect people from all over the world. Old friends, former classmates, and long-distance family members coming together after years of separation and rekindling relationships that would otherwise not exist. With a simple search of a first and last name and an invitation, you have the ability to bring the past straight to your front door. In my case, my past is there for a reason and I never sought out old high school friends or former coworkers when I first joined Facebook. In fact, I didn’t even create an account right away. Maybe I didn’t understand the concept at the time or maybe I just didn’t care. Either way, when I did eventually open a Facebook account, I kept it pretty simple. If people found me and invited me into their worlds, most times I accepted. There were a few invitations I declined because I didn’t want certain individuals in my space - there was no place for them in it. Over the years, I have cleaned up my account, unfollowed several people for various reasons (even blocked a few), and now it’s a little more than a handful of friends and family that I watch grow, celebrate happy times, mourn losses, and share their special moments through pictures and captions. I’ve watched babies grow into young adults and the adults age with grace, humor, a few more wrinkles, and touches of grey. I’ve mourned with those who have lost loved ones and I’ve celebrated their happy times, holidays, and accomplishments with them, albeit from a distance. I have also shared my life on social media; my children and their milestones, birthdays, vacations, special occasions, and even the loss of a loved one or two. Along with Facebook I also jumped on the Twitter, Instagram, YouTube bandwagons, but have recently settled comfortably into the simplicity of my Instagram account. It’s essentially my online photo album and since I cannot have all of my actual photo albums at an arm’s reach like I once did, Instagram is the next best thing.

The funny thing about social media and the Internet is how easy it is to actually find someone. You don’t need more than a name and a state and soon enough you're down the Internet/social media rabbit hole. Eventually you will see at least a glimpse into the life of who you are searching for. You'd be amazed at how much you can find out about a person without even friending or following them on social media including close relatives or associates, places of employment, current and previous addresses and phone numbers, political affiliations - the list is endless. Public records, especially in Florida, are wide open for anyone to search. I’ve searched Google for myself to see what pops up and immediately I see my Facebook page, Instagram account, connections to my place of employment, and I can access a million sites that claim to be a 'white pages’ type search engine that will provide me with random but solid information. I happen to have a few different last names, but it doesn’t matter how you search: you will find my age, close relatives, the city I live in, a map to my house, previous addresses and phone numbers, and because I share the same name as my mother, her obituary is in the top five Google results (without even putting Florida in the search bar). So, when a handful of years ago (or so) I received a message through Facebook Messenger from an old high school friend, it was strange that she said she had a hard time finding me. At that time, we would have actually had a few high school friends in common. I really didn’t think much of it, but my husband was the one who said that was an odd comment given all of what we know about Facebook and the Internet. Moving on... I was pleasantly surprised to hear from her, but after nearly 30 years and remembering our very last time together, where do you even begin catching up?

You see, this wasn’t just any friend. This was my very best friend in high school, a friend I met on my first day of my freshman year of the very prestigious Sacred Heart Academy, an all-girl Catholic high school in Garden City, NY. That was the beginning of a friendship that would last through high school and beyond for a short time, until distance, a physical altercation, and maybe something more ominous separated us for good.

For the sake of this story, I will call my best friend Mary. You will understand why in a bit. Mary and I were seated behind one another in most of our classes because in those days, we were seated alphabetically. We were always in the first row and directly behind one another. It was just fate that we hit it off. It was easy to make friends with the girls sitting behind you, in front of you, and directly to your right or left because those seating arrangements followed us from class to class. Many of my closest high school friends' last names began with the letters A through F. Cheating was easy too...a little slide to the left or right and we could help one another if needed. Mary was beautiful, funny, and many times the center of attention. She had the blackest hair I had ever seen and it was fiercely wild. Mary had high cheekbones, a pointy nose, a high forehead always covered by bangs, and a pretty smile. She was engaging and we became fast friends. Looking back at those years, I remember feeling never ‘good enough’ to be her friend. I always felt she was the pretty one and I wasn’t even a diamond in the rough. I was just the pretty girl's best friend. Mary never made me feel 'less than' and I'm sure that by the time we met, my insecurities, low self-esteem, and lack of self-worth were already set in motion. This would not be the only relationship in which I felt like I was living in someone else's shadow, but this is the one where I feel that a real pattern emerged. That is, until my husband came along. He never let me feel second to anyone. To him, I've always been the brightest, shiniest, most beautiful, rare, one of a kind 'diamond' he has ever known. Back to the story - Mary knew makeup, Mary knew fashion, Mary was confident, Mary was a leader, and I cannot remember ever having a fight or disagreement with her. She was part sister, part friend. It was the 80's, we had big hair, black eyeliner, tight jeans tucked into our scrunched down socks, sweatshirts off the shoulder, leg warmers, and sometimes a little belly showing. The boys gave Mary a lot of their attention and she loved every bit of it. She was flirty and she was good at it, but Mary was a good girl and it was all in good fun. I have many fond memories of our years together. I practically lived at her house through high school, loved her family more than mine (didn’t we all have a friend like that), and the option for me to stay with her family when mine was moving to Florida was on the table. In the end, I opted not to do that because, in fact, I did love my family and the thought of being away from them for that long was too difficult to bear. Or was there more to me not wanting to stay there?

Mary and I did everything girlfriends do: studied, talked about boys, danced, experimented with hair and makeup, hung out on the street corners where I started smoking (Parliaments, for those of you who would remember the brand), listened to music, went to the movies, got fake ID's to get into the 18 and over clubs, and so much more. We were listening to Madonna, Kool and the Gang, Expose, Shannon, and Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam among many others. We spent a lot of time at her house and a lot of time in her kitchen talking with her mom. Her parents were called by their first names and were the coolest parents around. The first time I got drunk and passed out was at a party at Mary’s house. Her parents also let the kids drink, which was pretty cool when I was 17. That particular night my mother must have known something was up because she refused to let me spend the night and sent my brother to pick me up. I literally threw up out of the car window the entire way home. That's a story my brother has brought up many times over the years.

Back to Mary's house - Sundays were a day for cooking, eating, and family time. I had not really experienced that cultural tradition before and I loved being a part of it. Her grandparents lived in her house and everything was homemade, authentic, and delicious. There was always enough food to feed an army. Thinking back about those days, there were always so many people coming and going at Mary’s house and everyone was welcomed with open arms. There was one particular kid I remember being around quite often, but he was not a family member. He may have been a friend of a younger sibling, but he hung out with the older kids so I'm not sure. I mention this because he comes back up in this story a little later on. I remember I had a crush on Mary's older brother for a while, but don't remember talking to her about it and nothing ever came of it. I am positive some of my friends ended up with crushes on my brother too. Mary and I went to clubs, movies, the flea market, school dances and our high school's ring night together. She came on vacation with my family and I went on a weekend trip with hers. There was nothing we didn’t share.

When we were 16, Mary came on a family vacation with us to Florida. It was a great time! We visited with family, went to the beach, hung out on Fort Lauderdale's strip, and baked in the sun covered in baby oil by the poolside. We both got pretty sunburned and my mom thought Mary had sun poisoning, which was pretty scary. My mom took care of both of us and even called Mary's mom to let her know what was happening. Mary was in such pain I thought her mom would want her home as soon as possible, but she let her stay with us. After a couple of days, we were both feeling better. While we were in Florida I got my driving permit, not to be confused with a drivers license. That may have been because we could not literally spend another minute in the sun or just preparing me for our move to Florida later that year. Overall, it was a great time with a great friend and I have lots of pictures to prove it.

When we got back home, the fact that my Florida permit only allowed me to drive with an 18-year-old licensed driver did not stop Mary and I from taking her parent's van to the mall - without permission and without the already mentioned mandatory 18-year-old licensed driver. I will never forget how scared I was, not just how mad her dad would be if he found out, but I really did not know how to drive. Mary was much more carefree about breaking all of the rules (and driving laws) on this particular day. All I could think about was all that could go wrong and how it would be my fault. And on top of that, all of the windows of the van were covered (I think with curtains) so I couldn't see anything behind us or in any blind spot. That could be why I still have to turn in all directions multiple times before changing lanes all of these years later. Like I said, I have told that story many times over the years and had a few good laughs, but actually writing about it makes it a bit more cemented in my history; a history that Mary was a big part of. With all of the worry I remember feeling as we backed out of the driveway and all the anxiety I felt driving to Roosevelt Field, it's ironic that I can't remember how the day ended. Obviously, we survived my driving and we didn't get caught because between Mary's dad and mine, I'm not sure I would be here to tell the story.

Another memorable night with Mary was when we went food shopping for her mom. I remember feeling like that was an impossible task considering all of the people in her household, but we went and she was a champ. My mother would never have sent me or my siblings grocery shopping so this was quite an adventure for me. During this trip however, Mary stuck a few makeup items in her purse while we wandered up and down the aisles. I remember not really caring about the stealing of an eyeliner or lipstick and didn’t give it any thought because she was so calm and confident. That was until, after checking out at the register, a security guard (or police officer – I can’t recall) stopped us and asked us to walk with him to an office at the front of the store. We were caught and we were both guilty, it didn’t matter who stole what. When the officer asked us our names and ages and said he was going to call our parents, we were beyond freaking out - begging and pleading for him not to. Again, between her father and my retired-cop father, our asses were in deep trouble. The fact that I was turning 17 within a week or so (Mary was just 16) allowed me to acknowledge the complaint and basically take Mary into my custody. I think we were trespassed from the store and I think the officer really gave two near-hysterical girls a break, but going grocery shopping wasn’t a regular thing anyhow. This story has also been repeated many times through the years and my feeling of relief at not having a juvenile record has never waned. Again, our parents never found out.

In July of 1986 I went on a ‘camping’ trip with Mary’s family to Shawnee, Pennsylvania. Mary’s parents allowed each of the children to pick a friend to go with. I was 17 and this would be our last summer together because my family was moving to Florida the following month. I wouldn’t have known the exact place or date of this trip, but it is written on the back of a photo I have from the day we arrived home. Also, on the back of the photo, in my handwriting, are the names of everyone pictured in the photo. For many, that way of cataloging people, dates, and places is a trip down memory lane. For me, it is a stark reminder of a memory I had repressed a long time ago.

That repressed memory came to light after two things happened: (1) Mary messaged me on Facebook and (2) shortly thereafter I came across that photo taken on her doorstep the day we returned from the camping trip. While purging my attic, I found a lot of photos from those carefree high school days and sent them to friends who could enjoy a walk down memory lane.....

At first, the memories came in waves. Flashes of faces. A jolt of fear. My stomach turned. I was laying on a floor. I was scared and nothing was making sense. These quick flashes of a living nightmare didn’t seem real, but I knew they were. I saw his face. I saw him laughing. I saw both of them laughing. I saw me lying there, drunk, passed out and incapable of stopping it. There must have been a moment or two of clarity during my blackout because I saw me being sexually assaulted by my best friend’s brother and the younger boy I mentioned earlier. I see both of their faces, but the younger boy's relationship to the family is escaping me. He was younger than us by a couple of years, he spent a lot of time with the older kids at Mary’s house, and he was with us on that family trip to Pennsylvania. He could have been a friend of a younger sibling or he could have been a troubled youth Mary’s family took in. These small flashes eventually came to life as a full-blown memory and made me anxious and sick. My head was spinning and I was unable to stop the memories, feelings, and horrors that were engulfing me. This assault was replaying over and over again in my head and I could not turn it off. I was so ashamed and confused by what I was experiencing that I couldn’t even tell my husband to his face. I wrote it all down for him in a letter and we never spoke about it again - at my request. And I never said another word about it – not to anyone. I felt shame, I felt embarrassed, I felt angry, I felt humiliated. What else do I remember about that weekend beside being sexually assaulted? We were drinking heavily on the night of the assault, the next morning while taking a shower (hungover and having no recollection of the night before) Mary's brother came into the bathroom while I was showering and took my clothes as a prank (or so I thought), and taking that photo on the doorstep of Mary’s house when we returned from the trip. That’s it. But that was already too much for me to handle.

I put the picture away and for five or so years just tried not to think about it. That didn’t stop me from remembering and I certainly was not healing. Every single time Mary popped up on social media, she was a trigger for a flashback. I even unfollowed and muted her for a while to see if that would work, but it didn’t. The nightmare would rear its ugly head and I would wonder how I could go about facing what happened and actually heal from all the pain it brought me. I thought about writing this story many times. I would start it and not be able to continue, I wrote in great detail and then less detail, I wondered if people would believe me or not, and I struggled with naming my friend and her brother or would that be going too far. Well, that’s ironic, isn’t it? Questioning my going too far when I was the victim of sexual assault. And I was the one carrying the weight of this incident that happened so long ago. The final straw came when the subject of sexual assault came up in one of my sociology classes. I was reading about victim blaming, how 1 in 3 women (worldwide) will experience sexual violence in their lifetime, how 2 out of 3 sexual assaults go unreported, and how the majority of assaults are committed by someone the victim knows. I knew it was time to tell my story.

Back to my best friend……

I remember so clearly lying in her bed together, talking about the future, how much we were going to miss each other, and listening to You've Got a Friend. For years that song brought back those moments instantly. My family moved to Florida in August of 1986 and life as I knew it went on. Everything about that year was hard though: adjusting to a new home and a new school, and making new friends was tough at 17. I visited Mary’s family during my first Christmas break and she visited me during that first spring break. At the time, I was in what I would call my first serious relationship, one that would go on for about 4 years. While Mary was visiting, we hung out with my boyfriend and new friends a lot. I saw nothing wrong with it, but apparently, she did. One night before we were supposed to go out, she started an argument and I thought she was just insecure and jealous of my new relationship and friends. One wrong word and one instigative push led to an all-out girl fight. The next day she flew home early and we never spoke again.

Until that Facebook message 30 years later…. One message that led to a picture, a picture that led to a memory, a memory that led to a single night that changed my life forever, a single night that led to the truth, a truth that led to my journey of healing.

For many years I felt that I was a victim of 'something' but I could not put my finger on what it was, who may have been involved, or why I felt I had been violated. These feelings gnawed at me for years. My husband is the only one I talked with about any of these feelings and he has always been a source of emotional and mental strength to get me through the rough patches. Years ago, I went to rape counseling because although I didn't 'know' what happened, deep down somewhere in my subconscious, I did know. I have battled depression, I live with anxiety, and many years ago I contemplated suicide. I basically mirror the definition of a sex assault survivor with post-traumatic stress disorder type behaviors.

Lately I've wondered if my best friend was aware of what happened that fateful night so long ago, but I guess I'll never know. What I do know is that two rapists got away with a crime for over 35 years and they will never be punished for what they did. What kind of men or monsters did they become? Because they got away with it once, could there be other victims? Do they have daughters? Does what they did to me ever cross their minds, and how would they feel if their daughters were victims at the hands of cowardly monsters like them? Are they married? What would their wives think if they heard this story and know that the men they married are men who assaulted an incapacitated, drunk 17 year old girl? Thanks to the Internet and social media, I already know the answers to some of these questions.

I don't really care about any of that, but I hope they are both looked at just a little bit differently for the rest of their lives after people read about what they did. They are rapists and they altered the course of my life in many ways. This is now another story cemented in my history linked back to my high school best friend - brought straight to the forefront of my life through a simple social media message and a long-forgotten photo. I guess the past does have a way of catching up to us.

For reference:

Consent is an agreement to participate in a sexual activity. Without consent, sexual activity (including oral sex, genital touching, and vaginal or anal penetration) is sexual assault or rape.

One in five women in the United States experienced completed or attempted rape during their lifetime. I am one.

Being drunk is not a free pass. If you are drunk and you perform a sexual act on another drunk person, you are accountable for your behavior. The person initiating the sexual act is responsible for getting consent.

Victim Blaming is not okay. No rapist rapes by accident. The rapist has time to make a choice and with the wrong choice, victims suffer for a lifetime. 

#scottdiscala #sexualassault #repressedmemory #reenager #bestfriends #healing #support #Iamnotalone #victim #victimblaming #rape #repressedtrauma

[greywindys]

Gorillaz | 2017 in Review

Ayyy happy new year!!! Relative to the entire year of waiting that was 2016, 2017 was a pretty packed year for Gorillaz and consequently, for me as a fan. To sum it up in three words- They came back! (Finally, someone let them out of their cage?) And there was a surplus of content- good, quality content. But there were also some letdowns. Which release falls into which category depends on who you ask. Like, pretty much every move Gorillaz made this year was met with both applause on one side and boos on the other. If I had to pick a word of the year for them, it would be “polarizing.” However, polarizing isn’t always bad, and there were many well thought out conversations, theories and fan content that resulted. Add in some scandal and disorganization and you’ve got a pretty wild twelve months. Under the cut I list some notable and memorable momentz.mp3 of the year, mostly for my own records but anyone is welcome to read.

Hallelujah Money (1/19/17)

Gorillaz started their year off with what was probably the most polarizing move of the year. Some backstory: January 2017 we still had no idea when the album was coming out. Actually, we didn’t even know IF the album was coming out like, we basically didn’t know wtf Gorillaz was doing. Then, on the day before the US inauguration they drop the video for Hallelujah Money, a video punctuated with Orwellian imagery for a song that sounded like a funeral march. Benjamin Clementine took a prominent role while 2D took a backseat (a trend that would persist throughout the singles) and, after the initial excitement, fans began to complain. “What happened to the fast paced music Damon promised?,” “Where is 2D? This doesn’t feel like Gorillaz?,” “Why do they need to make their music so political?” This only drove other fans to passionately defend the song. There is still no consensus on this song/video other than the agreement that “it makes more sense in the context of the album.” My personal take is that whatever point this video was trying to make is obscured by their backtracking in the form of bleeping out any mention of Trump’s name on the album. Go big or go home. And at this point in the year I think we can say it- Trump fucking sucks, okay? Trump sucks.

Dylan leaks the album (Mid-March 2017)

This is like, probably my favorite story. By the time March was upon us, we knew the album was coming soon but we still didn’t know when. The album was like a cryptid, rumored but never found. And then Dylan happened. Now to clarify, he didn’t leak the entire album and he didn’t do it on purpose but he did leak more than we were ready for. After the tracklist leaked, fans began googling the songs on video sites like youtube and dailymotion. When one fan google’d “Saturnz Barz” on vimeo, they were met with a mysterious password protected video. A couple tries later (the password was “2017″), they had access to “Saturnz Barz” one month before the album came out. And they found more- “Charger,” “Busted and Blue” to name a few. All of which were uploaded by Dylan Byrne, a lighting  technician connected to Gorillaz who apparently didn’t know his private videos could still be found on search engines such as google. The fandom collectively lost its mind, some with excitement over the new music, others with indignation at fans who dare “disrespect Damon and Jamie” and that those listening to the leaks were going to be responsible for Humanz flopping. It was wild. Oh yeah, and I downloaded the leakz and Humanz didn’t flop. 

Giant content drop of 2017 (3/23/17)

I use this particular picture of 2D here because I that we, on some level, were all 2D by the end of that fourth week in March. I’m using the “Saturnz Barz” video release date because that’s when it all began. I distinctly remember waking up on that day expecting to listen to a Damon Albarn interview and some new tracks on a UK radio show but by the end of the day we not only had new music (4 tracks, specifically) and the interview but we were also blessed with the perfect “Saturnz Barz” video which featured the band in the starring roles, gave us “the bath” meme (though that’s more of a curse now) AND an upcoming announcement of a “secret show” set to take place the very next day where the live band would play the entire new album. I think this was also the period where we finally learned the album’s name and release date. It was so much. Too much, but a good too much. Everyone felt alive. Phase 4 had officially begun.

Mocaps (April 2017- present)

Gorillaz debuted many new ways to depict the band this year but by far the most hilariously amazing method was through motion capture, abbreviated “mocap.” 2017 was in many ways the year of the mocap, specifically, 2D and Murdoc mocaps. Mocap Murdoc and mocap 2D graced us with the weather, Deezer ads, app videos, multi-lingual announcements, and even walked us around the Demon Dayz tour. My personal favorite moment was 2D telling Murdoc he fed a stray cat a kinder egg. I also want to give a special shoutout to Murdoc’s wonky eye. There was a time when we were all trying to find meaning in it. Was it an artistic choice? Had Murdoc gone blind in one eye? Was he possessed? The truth is none of the above. It was just, in the true spirit of what the mocaps models came to represent, wonky. I don’t think we all truly gave the mocaps the credit they deserved. In my eyes they are on the same level as the puppets AT LEAST. And I maintain that their potential has yet to be truly realized- Mocap carpool karaoke? Mocap SNL skit? The possibilities are endless.

Murdoc and 2D answer fan questions....live (4/20/17)

This also falls under the umbrella of the previous moment but I think it deserves its own mention because this was like, peak mocap utilization. Fans were allowed to submit questions that would them be answered by Murdoc and 2D live while we all watched. Their VA’s not only improvised these answers but also finally got the change to live out their personal headcanons. This interview was the first time we ever saw wiggly Murdoc. Much essential information was learned in this half hour event- 2D knows how to make theremin noises! Murdoc said “meme” and “twerk”! 2D sold the geep! Cyborg Noodle has taken to cycling! A lot of you seem to think I’ve been critical this phase which, while totally true, it also makes me think you possibly weren’t aware of this blog at this time because I love this interview and died when it was first released. And then I continued to love each and every subsequent awkward interview they had with actual human interviewers. The first quarter of the year was great (for me).

Reddit AMAs with the entire band, Noodle, 2D (2017)

I wasn’t an active fan during previous phases but my impression is that they didn’t have as many q&a’s with the band as this phase. The characters were very accessible this phase and, as I’ve mentioned above, at first this was great! But nothing good it forever. The Reddit AMAs, while highly entertaining, soon came to contradict past events and even past answers to earlier interviews. For example, we learned during the band’s AMA that Cyborg Noodle was NOT actually cycling somewhere in England but decapitated and being used as a pot in Noodle’s room. What was the truth? Later on, 2D had his own AMA which was cute but yielded significant nit-picking and criticism from fans including myself. For me,personally, the 2D AMA was the turning point. I didn’t mourn the loss of Cass Browne with other fans until that AMA. The difference in writing was and is glaring. For that reason, I didn’t pay much attention to the Noodle AMA but from what I saw, similar debate over her characterization (or lack thereof) took place. Tbh, I can’t picture a Noodle that types out “YAASS GURL!!1″ (or w/e it was) unironically but...I’m happy it brought joy to some fans. That all being said, regardless of writing quality the AMAs did a great job of engaging the fandom and initiating some interesting conversations.

Fans miss 2D so much that he gets his own impromptu video (6/8/17)

By far the most frequent concern over Humanz was the “lack of 2D.” It was on Tumblr, Reddit, Twitter, pretty much all social media. Despite this, no one ever expected Damon and Co. do acknowledge this let alone actually respond to it. Then, out of nowhere, 2D makes an announcement on the Gorillaz app and there it is- “Sleeping Powder” an exclusively 2D music video by 2D, starring 2D and some dorky dance moves. It was 2D’s “Dare.” The song was cute and even had its place on the tour set list. And that’s the power of 2D. And everyone was happy until people started joking that “Sleeping Powder” was written in a day and was still better than all of Humanz, and others chastising everyone for “making Damon feel bad enough to write a new song.”

Strobelite (8/6/17)

I’m not going to get into “Strobelite” too much. If you were there, you know what happened and what it led to (a certain liked Youtube comment and the later, Noodle’s answer during her AMA). “Strobelite” was also hyped up as a the band’s first official mocap video (despite “Sleeping Powder’s” release a month earlier) but unfortunately, was underwhelming to a significant portion of the fandom. Reasons included but were not limited to: no Russel mocap, very little plot, very little Murdoc, rumored cut scenes that DID involve Russel, and, yes, controversial shipping fuel. I don’t think “Strobelite” charted nor do I remember it being involved in any promo. I actually don’t know what happened to “Strobelite” outside of the, um, for lack of a better word,the discussion it spawned. There were also many theories about what Murdoc was doing at the bar. To this day, we still have no answers. What’s the plot for phase four again?

Gorillaz in Media (2017)

This isn’t exactly a singular moment but I want to highlight it anyways because the length to which they went to make this phase an immersive experience deserves a lot of credit. Not one but two apps were developed, one of which gave fans access to the band’s home and hosted events such as live listening parties so that fans could potentially meet. The other provided new content, art and access to secret concert locations. BUT THEY DIDN’T STOP THERE. With one of their sponsors they were able to construct actual, real “Spirit House” models for fans to walk through. Additionally, the band is accessible through their own music mixes on Spotify, Noodle has an instagram, G Magazine etc. I’m going to fit in the amount of sponsors they had under this category as well because, as annoying as they were to some, it did give us some cool new animation and ads (”We Got the Power” comes to mind, along with the Lenz ad). They put in work, they really did (though the topic of social media  #justice4MurdocTube).

The Super Deluxe is never released...until it is (September 2017-November 2017)

I forget when the original release date was but what I do know it that it didn’t happen. Phase four slowed down in the latter half of the year, and I think this made everyone hyper-aware of what content was yet to come and that content was the Super Deluxe with *bonus tracks*. But then it never came. It was delayed until October, then October came and it STILL wasn’t there. Finally,in November, orders began arriving and songs were ripped and uploaded. Reactions ranged from elated to disappointed to simply confounded that the the entire thing cost around $400. You could say that it was very polarizing.

Honorable mentions

Humanz being released (I know, why isn’t this on the list? I decided against it because it leaked a week early  so by the time it WAS released mostly everyone had already heard it), Demon Dayz fest streamed live, “Garage Palace” surprise video drop, G Magazine, G-Foot pop up shop steal fanart, Fans strike the fear of god into the Gorillaz team for forgetting Russel’s birthday, Humanz revealed as the fourth album title, Gorillaz announce a TV show, probably more that I’m forgetting.

Anyhow, what a year. I like to stay vague about my personal life here but to keep it simple, despite everything happening the world, on a personal level, it was a good year. I did a lot of growing, got some really great feedback at my field placement, tapped into some new hobbies and recently adopted two cats, brother and sister, whose names I’m still deciding lmao (leaning towards Oberyn and Elia). So yeah...here’s to that. I hope 2018 treats us all well <3.

[emfedorchuk3p18]

Media Fandom and Audience Subcultures (Week 9)

Fans seem to have gotten a bad reputation in the past. From being cast as obsessed and crazed, as we can see in the episode entitled “Chris Cross” in Family Guy, where Stewie and Brian become so obsessed with Canadian songwriter Anne Murray that they almost kill her, to stereotypes of the “sweet but socially awkward fan” (Sullivan 192) that we see from Steve Carell’s Star Wars obsessed performance in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Fans have always been cast in an interesting, yet negative and judgemental, light. But as scholars looked deeper into the inner-workings of these fan cultures, they found that fans were far from the awkward, crazy, and delusional audiences that we had once pegged them to be. “Fandom was more than simple enthusiasm for a TV program or film: it was a form of collective interpretation of popular culture that created a powerful sense of group cohesion” (Sullivan, 194). 

With the emergence of Web 2.0, the opportunities for fan groups exploded. Getting in contact with likeminded people who enjoyed the same TV shows or movies as you, is now as simple as typing into a search bar. Online fan-fiction sites, discussion boards, and fan conventions are all more easily accessible than they were in the past, and becoming a part of a community of people who are just as passionate as you is actually a doable task. Because of this newfound sense of community, fans are now able to “offer direct challenges to existing authority” (Sullivan, 196) whenever they see fit, and this means that fan groups might actually have a standing chance when they’re up against media companies and producers. 

An example of this can be seen in the whirlwind of displeasure that came after the ending of Game of Thrones, a massive HBO fantasy series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, based off of the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin. The entirety of season eight was met with extremely harsh backlash from fans, with many people taking to Twitter to express their disappointment. One individual mourned the sudden character change in their beloved Daenerys Targaryen, with a Tweet stating “The one I saw tonight was not my Dany. That was not the character I fell in love with that had a beautiful development through the first six seasons. Dumb & Dumber you killed my favorite character without even killing her physically, hope ur happy now” (@lattainpolvere) to others being more to the point and stating, “That was not it.” (@youngsinick) Because of this immense backlash, a fan petition was circulating, pleading for the showrunners to reshoot the final season (Gardner, 2019). The change.org page dedicated to this re-do said that they wanted to “remake the Game of Thrones season 8 with competent writers”. Adding, harshly, that “David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have proven themselves to be woefully incompetent writers when they have no source of material (i.e. the books) to fall back on” (Dylan, D. 2019). If that’s not passion than I’m not sure what is. 1 789 678 people (and counting) have signed the petition so far, but so far no action has been taken, although the backlash did prompt Beinoff and Weiss to announce that they will no longer be making a Star Wars movie trilogy, most likely due in part to fans no longer trusting the duo with another massive franchise (Harrison, 2019). These fans felt “so connected to the narrative that they develop a sense of ownership over the text” (Sullivan, 198) which sparks emotional responses in fans who think that they, and the characters of the show, deserve better. Some fans even believe that they could write a better ending to the show, one that ties up loose ends but also doesn’t lose the essence of the characters in the process. This “places these audience members on a head-on collision course with the producers and copyright holders” (Sullivan, 198) who own the show in a literal sense. So what is a fan to do? Some take to various platforms to share their ideas, such as Reddit. A user by the name of u/alvarosas32 posted their ideas in a post titled, “5 Possible Different Endings for Game of Thrones”, where comments discussing the ideas followed. Other ideas occurred in more traditional sites, such as on fanfiction.net. 

Another example in which these Game of Thrones fans work to express themselves is through conventions where fans can gather, dress up, and meet other fans and creators. The latest convention is entitled, “Con of Thrones” and is advertised as a three-day celebration in Orlando that is “the largest-ever Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire convention” (https://www.facebook.com/ConOfThrones/). These types of events are becoming commonplace within our society, where events such as Comic Con, Vidcon, DragCon and more are all popular and sought after events. Although it may be argued that these events still have a certain element of judgment surrounding them, we have come a long way from the harmful characteristics that many used to associate with fan culture. But with these events comes inevitable issues of the “darker side of fan identity and group cohesion” (Sullivan, 209). Groups tend to “create exclusivity and difference in order to enhance its self-definition and to give it purpose and coherence. In this respect, fan cultures are no different from the mainstream in the sense that fan groups will often create clear boundaries between casual fans or enthusiast and ‘real’ fans” (Sullivan, 209). This causes certain fans to feel socially discriminated against if they are of a different class or social background. When we get into events such as conventions, big money normally has to be spent. When you think about the travel that it takes to get there, the money spent on costumes, the money spent on food…it tends to add up. But only the “true” fans and said to attend these events. This makes the concept of “escaping into the world of popular media” at odds with “escaping the systems of discrimination and power that define the society at large.” (Sullivan, 209). 

Fan culture is truly a fascinating concept in our new era, with audience members blurring the line between solely viewer and producer. Audience members are not afraid to express their displeasure with certain choices of media companies, and now have the tools to express themselves in a manner that is heard in meaningful ways. It will be interesting to see how audiences progress even further down the road, and the influence that they will have over decision making in the entertainment industry.

“Chris Cross.” Family Guy. Fox, 2013. Television.  

D, Dylan. “Sign the Petition”. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers.

Gardner, A. (2019, July 22). “The 'Game of Thrones' Cast Got Super Candid About the Final Season's Backlash”. Retrieved from https://www.glamour.com/story/game-of-thrones-cast-backlash.

Harrison, Mark. “Game of Thrones, Star Wars and the Showrunner Backlash”. (2019, November 1). Retrieved from https://www.denofgeek.com/us/tv/284182/game-of-thrones-star-wars-and-the-showrunner-backlash.

@latteinpolvere. May 12, 2019, 8:05pm. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/latteinpoIvere/status/1127771792368635906?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1127771792368635906&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harpersbazaar.com%2Fcelebrity%2Flatest%2Fa27447877%2Fgame-of-thrones-season-8-episode-5-reactions%2F

“Orlando Con of Thrones Facebook page”. Accessed Tues. Nov. 19, 2019. Retrieved from: https://www.facebook.com/events/orange-county-convention-center/con-of-thrones-2020/517897152358343/

Sullivan, J. L. (2019). Media audiences: effects, users, institutions, and power. Los Angeles: SAGE.

The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Apatow, Judd. Universal Pictures, 2005. Film

u/alvarosas32. “5 Possible Different Endings for Game of Thrones.” Posted 6 months ago. Retrieved from: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanTheories/comments/bh6zlk/5_possible_different_endings_for_game_of_thrones/

@youngsinick. May 12, 2019, 7:22pm. Retrieved from: https://twitter.com/youngsinick/status/1127761029415559168?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1127761029415559168&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.harpersbazaar.com%2Fcelebrity%2Flatest%2Fa27447877%2Fgame-of-thrones-season-8-episode-5-reactions%2F

[antons-yelchin]

Letters to Anton 2017

Here is a copy of my letter to Anton for this year’s Letters to Anton event. Hopefully we can make this a yearly thing. It was four pages long on regular notebook paper, so be prepared to read, a lot! If you want to participate in this this weekend, please use the tag Letters to Anton 2017 on all social media sites so all of us fans can see your letter. Yes, the word has spread to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. So feel free to post there as well. Thank you all for having such a positive reaction to this and for those of you who participated. I know Anton would be proud to see a community coming together and uniting for such a sweet cause. And heck, maybe this tag might even reach his parents and they can find some peace and a bit of closure through us. So here goes nothing:

Dearest Anton,

I know it is strange writing you now, but I wanted to wish you a Happy Birthday.  I know you are not with us anymore and I'm so truly sorry for that. You were taken from us at such a young age, at the cusp of your career-changing move to director. You were so very talented, be it acting, music or your photography, and it hurts that such a bright star was put out much too soon. As a parent myself, it rips my heart out knowing your parents are still hurting. I am sure they have healed some, but with this being the first birthday you won't be celebrating, it's just re-opening the wound. And for the accident to have happened on Father's Day, I know your dad feels some kind of guilt even though he had absolutely nothing to do with the accident.

Honestly, I have a weird fascination with death for years now. So I did go over your 'Death Certificate.' It puts me at ease somewhat knowing the whole incident was very quick and that you did not really suffer. I can not even imagine the final thoughts that ran through your mind. I do not want to think about you being in pain or scared because that makes me cry just thinking about it. I remember a month or so before Star Trek Beyond was released to theaters, a promoted Facebook post was a clip of the movie where the escape pods were setting off away from The Enterprise and it showed a quick clip of you as the adorable Chekov with an expression of such distress. I remember making the comment that "This clip is making me anxious because if anything happened to Anton, I don't know what I'd do," and then tragedy struck. To say I was devastated is a severe understatement.

The day you were taken from us, I remember thinking it was some kind of spyware program, kinda like those weird quizes that use your Facebook profile to give you results, but it would use your recent search results instead, to create some kind of fake article. Then I just thought it was a hoax because it was so early in the morning and at the time only TMZ was reporting it and I couldn't find any more information about it. But within an hour or so, more legit news outlets began reporting on your death. And of course, TMZ was the first to post pictures of the scene of the tragedy. Seeing the crinkled fencing and the villain of this whole ordeal, your Jeep....that's when I broke down. I was crying and just repeating over and over "Anton's Gone!" and "Why?" I cried so much and so hard that I ended up vomiting and my lips started swelling up to where I looked like a Kardashian. I don't know why my lips do that when I cry a lot, but they do. I had only been home from the hospital for my heart condition for a little over a month. My chest hurt SO bad and it was hard to breathe at times, even when I stopped crying for a moment or two. I knew why this was happening so I did not go to the hospital for the pain. I just let it pass. Plus, they would probably lock me up in the mental part of the hospital for getting so manic over someone I did not even know. Even my psychologist now looks at me strangely when I mention it.

But that's the thing...I felt like I did know you. Through interviews, articles, etc, you were just so genuine, humble and down to earth. I felt like we all got to know you. It felt like you were so open with us, your fans. Know that we really, really appreciate that openness. I'm sure other fans will agree with me. Some would say myself and some other fans are obsessed or strange, but someone on Twitter put it into words perfectly: Thinking about how we mourn artists we've never met. We don't cry because we knew them, we cry because they helped us know ourselves.

Now for the tougher part of this letter. (WARNING: SUICIDE TRIGGERS) A few years ago, I tried to kill myself via overdose. As you can tell, I was unsuccessful. I don't see how between all the different medications I took and the large quantities that I took. But it was you who became my anchor and helped me through my recovery. I did not go to the hospital because there's always a stigma surrounding those type of hospital visits in my family. Two of my older siblings we both admitted to the mental facility at the hospital and they still haven't gotten rid of that stigma, even a decade later. So it took my body about a week to recover and during that time, I watched the first Star Trek movie and saw you as Pavel Chekov and I was hooked (On you and Star Trek). Then I grabbed Odd Thomas from a Redbox, not realizing you were in it, it just had paranormal stuff in it and that's my kind of thing. I fell in love and started going through your filmography and also retreated into the Odd Thomas book series. The only person who knows about this ordeal in my real life is my husband. But whenever I watched you, I would instantly feel better and you would keep the 'bad thoughts,' as I call them, away.

Skip to February 2016 and I'm admitted to three different hospitals over a month's time. I was diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension and Right Side Heart Failure at the young age of 31. Pulmonary Hypertension is a terminal illness with no cure, just medicines that help improve your quality of life. I was the youngest case the doctors at all three hospitals had seen in their careers. Usually it hits around the ages of 50-60. It was so depressing being in the hospitals for so long. The first two weren't so bad because they were only 45 minutes away from my home and I knew my way around the areas they were in. But the third one was over two hours away and I did not know anything about the city and was definitely out of my 'safe zone' so my anxiety was peaking during that stay. And that hospital was the one I stay at the longest. I stayed in the NICU of Duke University Hospital in the same wing that heart and lung transplant patients are recovering and they have to stay there at least six months. I couldn't do that. The nurses told me they weren't used to a patient that was so self sufficient. But back to you. Luckily, I had several of your movies on my computer to keep me company and I found the movie Rudderless and between the awkwardly adorable Quinton and the music, it has become my favorite film of yours, followed by Star Trek, Odd Thomas, Hearts in Atlantis and Fright Night. I even purchased Cymbeline because Ethan Hawke was in it and he and Keanu Reeves are two more of my favorite actors after you, and finding out you were in it as well was a definite bonus. And it definitely made me blush with that one scene. The same thing happened with "Only Lovers Left Alive" and I had honestly rented it just to see Tilda Swinton and Tom Hiddleston and then you pop up in it and I literally squealed with excitement. Man was I lucky. The movie with you co-starring with Robin Williams I have yet to watch because I took his death very hard as well. I had just barely recovered from that to where I could finally watch his movie again without tearing up.

I hope wherever you are, you are safe and happy. It may be a bit morbid, but at least you are in good company. 2016 was not a good year for celebrities. I hope you are having a blast with David Bowie, Prince and Alan Rickman, just to name a few artists in your company. Hopefully, you've reunited with Robin Williams and he's making you smile with his comic relief.

That is what I am really going to miss is that we will never see a new smile or laugh from you. But thankfully, we have a large archive to look back on. You had such a variety of films to choose from, and I'm so grateful for that. So many things to make me smile. I even have a life-size and mini cardboard cutout of you to keep me company when things really get bad. I've been trying to find someone or something else to get engrossed in, to be my anchor, but I'm not having any luck.

Some days are better than others. Some days I smile and laugh when I talk of you and some days I can't even think of you without breaking down. I know you would want us fans to be strong and to celebrate your life instead of being sorrowful over your death and I am trying to be strong. Truly I am. I have made several friends through my Anton Yelchin blog, one who has gotten very close with me, and I think you would be proud that we have come together on your birthday to celebrate your life, from all different ethnicities and backgrounds and social media sites. This day is your day, and always will be.

I don't know what to expect from the afterlife, but I think some how, a piece of you is watching over me, kind of like a guardian angel. And when times get really bad, to where I start thinking about suicide again, I turn to you to help me get away from those thoughts, because if I did do that, I might not ever get the chance to meet you. My lifespan has already been shortened as it is. And that doesn't bother me. Everyone dies, some sooner than others. But you shouldn't have died so soon. I found a stone that was on someone's grave online and it read: If love could have saved you, you would have lived forever. And I truly believe that. Between myself and all these other fans I've met, we would have made you immortal.

Thank you so much for being there for me when no one else was, even though you did not know it. I will forever be grateful for that. Thinking back to the final lines from Odd Thomas: This life is a boot camp and we must persevere to earn our way into the next life. If I live an average lifespan, I'll have another 60 years before I see you again. That will be a long wait, but I am a patient woman.

So until next time, rest well my dear Anton.

[maylocnuocplasma]

Handicapped Mate

Children right from large tourists, because that they receive little or no parental interest, have unmet needs. Nevertheless his publication deftly applied McLuhan, and right in synch with Media Ecology. I have to laugh at some with the things I read.

Attract Potential Schedules With Seeing Disabled Personal ads

Do you know that seniors disabled individuals are shocked when they hear about handicapped people dating? We must call out Tinder among the top cost-free dating programs available on most Android equipment (not to mention iOS). This dating software is great for delivering uncountable date options in a very short length of time, so singles seeking casual dates, fresh friends, and serious romances can see what out there when they subscribe.

They obtain an opportunity to socialize in groups in a closely watched setting that renders meeting new people less stressful. Most candidates to a seeing agency just for disabled folks are required to experience a detailed personal interview as soon as they register. It will help the agency provide apparent and exact information about their users. For a services for impaired people this will be significant, as sensitive handling and understanding of the problems surrounding a disability are key worries. By gathering a lot of information regarding the individual, the agency also increases its chances of finding a suitable and appropriate match.

It is important that sites for the disabled will be accessed equally by these living with a disability or perhaps condition and also more able-bodied people. Friends and family, caregivers and professionals are interested in the actual sites have to give you. Those interested in dating handicapped people sign up for the sites hoping to satisfy a compatible partner. There may be thus sizeable interaction among able-bodied people and those with disabilities, with both benefiting from it.

My spouse and i never understood a family bigger than my In laws, nevertheless do know of smaller types, with might be 4 or 5 kids, where the parents really would have more than love to deliver, they recognized they preferred a large spouse and children, planned that, and had the means to buy them what they needed, as a long way mainly because food, clothing, education, sociable lives, and so forth

Before the online dating disabled product came into being, impaired people used to find it incredibly to meet potential partners mainly because one can certainly not easily find people with similar situation and mentality. However , with dating incapable service, the possibilities will be endless. You are able to meet many people from across the world while staking it slowly at home in addition to the comfort of your room. You can enjoy the anonymity that the net facilitates and you could also enjoy conversing with different people in a friendly, non-threatening environment.

What you can do, instead, is mourn the dropped relationship for quite a while. It is the only approach to carry on with all your life and forget about the destroyed relationship. That way you would be able to forget your past and find someone new through handicapped dating.

Neil Postman, who wisely created Media Ecology in so much of McLuhan’s impression, was the 1 most accountable for our focus on media, technology, process, and structure, instead of content. Which resulted in different structuralists, acted and precise, ranging from Whorf to Levi-Strauss to Chomsky, being generated within the curriculum. But McLuhan was the direction post. And having been a direction post that directed, Janus-like, at the past and the long term at the same time.

Different Social Networking Sites

To have noticed that your partner is definitely spending lots of time in front of the computer chatting someone or is constantly texting on their phone. The tiny family is even more beneficial for all involved, particularly the mother. The top family is detrimental and harmful for everybody involved, particularly the mom. She is desperate by the amount of children. In large loved ones, there is a more likelihood of damaging treatment and harsh coroporal punishment than it is in small groups.

Everyone who all becomes a the main Enable Internet dating community shares something in keeping, be it deafness, learning troubles, multiple sclorosis or any other these disability or perhaps health condition. Whatsoever their incapacity happens to be, all of them are unique. We all recognise this and treat people seeing that individuals. Having https://bestsinglesdatingsite.com/disabled-singles/ a disability doesn’t allow you to ‘different’ in this article – it truly is your unique personality that does indeed that.

Most of the modern cell phones have remote control wipe features, which allow users to remotely remove all info on their devices, if the will need arises with regards to legitimate purposes. However , there is a negative side to this too. The remote wipes available for Android iPOs and Palm‘s webOS allow exchange administrators or an employer to remotely reset logged in mobile phones, wiping out all personal data and resetting them to factory defaults.

Person to person conversation for a person with Aspergers may find it difficult in communicating when it comes to finding a dating partner. This is when discussion comes into play mainly because when primary meeting a dating partner, many of us are generally nervous. And by getting to know the potential time through discussion communication at a internet dating site, this will make communicating so much easier for any Aspie or one with Autism.

Put yourself to choose from, build your profile, share the interests and you should soon experience people wanting to know more about you. Take the opportunity supplied by simply online dating and ‘meet’ new people without the problems of travel and leisure. Real connections start on the net every single day, join us and become some of those lucky persons.

Over the years we now have invented various technical devices, mobile technology, television and computer technology being the most important and effective to the lifestyle. These individual technical devices are evolving into one another. Just like mobile technology now presents new options and possesses merged with television and computer technology. We have gone by just contacting people to communicate to sending text messages, messaging such as Facebook and twitter, Imessage and Blackberry Messenger and the more recently Whatsapp, which lets you Imessage and Blackberry Concept people. Creating an online business, watching television on your phone and news applications, nowadays rather than picking up a newspaper or waiting for good news on the tv or r / c, you can look at that straight away with your phone by simply entering a credit card applicatoin such as the BASSE CONSOMMATION News application on my phone. Games, mailing, photography, video-recording and they have now even evolved in 3D technology.

These new environments have us hooked to the cell phones, iPods to the magnitude that they have end up being the extensions of your selves in an interconnected internet babble and new ways of human interpersonal interconnected memes; where viruses, according to media traditions enthusiast “Bill Myself Tuesday”: malware can act like a logic analyzer. Seeing that the strain goes through the operating system, this stops at certain checkpoints, doing it is rounds in a given timeframe. This checkpoint will record back what the situation is.

Terminology makes all of us human. We use this language as a buggy in our interrogating and getting together with life and within life. We use language to talk, sing, speech our opinions, disagreement, thoughts, purpose communicate, produce, and so forth, within our day to day lives. It is a complex effect you mediated by each person’s psychological makeup, social status, age, and just how the individual uses the information.

Contemporary Public environments will be projected and carried extensively by the press, as in the case of Fergusson and New york city in the wake of the killers of Africa American males and males. This is a very toxic environment that did not only start out with these two murders talked about previously mentioned. This is also an instance of the Cop being over the law, which is a spin-off and carry-over of many years of oppression, reductions, division and Apartheid which was the software program of lifestyle in the United States. The fragmented followers, societies and several types of environs in the states came to a head the moment these two murders happened in sequence of one an alternative.

Disabled Sole Woman Expecting to Date

Going out with websites intended for the incapable have been an excellent service for those living with disability or constraining medical conditions. For the duration of his loss of life, McLuhan’s status was in all probability at its least expensive ebb. The media homework centre he founded by Toronto University had been closed down down. The period of his popular celebrity – if he had made an appearance on TV, offered numerous open public lectures, and made a cameo appearance (as himself) in Hard woody Allen’s film Annie Hall — all this was at the past. Within the academic globe there was wide-spread doubt regarding his hypotheses. Today, however , interest is definitely reviving. His 1964 publication Understanding Mass media has been reprinted by Routledge Classics each year since 2001 (three intervals in 2008). People are examining McLuhan, and it is not too difficult to know why.

Specifically! If you can afford them and love and care for these people go for it nevertheless most people with large households these days wrap up living about welfare as they aren’t afford all the children they may have bought in the world plus the children are the ones that suffer, the ones that aren’t making money off t. sixth is v. shows.

My very own doctoral dissertation—Human Replay: A Theory of the Evolution of Media (1979)—in a sense required McLuhan’s observation that electronic media call to mind oral habits of interaction and changed it to a theory that media become more natural, a reduced amount of artificial, even more human, because they evolve. Different theorists—ranging right from Darwin to Popper—played key roles within my work, although McLuhan was your key aid. His traditional connections popped up throughout the dissertation, because they continue to do it whenever I just write about landline calls.

Fractalnoia – making impression of our universe entirely in today’s tense, by drawing internet connections between elements – sometimes inappropriately. The conspiracy hypotheses of the web, the use of Big Data to predict the direction of entire masse, and the frenzied effort of presidency to function without having grand narrative. ” Nonetheless also the emerging skill of design recognition” and the campaigns of people to map the earth as a group of relationships known as TheBrain — a grandchild of McLuhan’s global village”.

Through its continual barrage and consistent repeating the modern news flash allows a virus to multiply into our greatly self-referential advertising space, and has an ability to comment on the media itself. Rushkoff says that: “The viral covering permits the memes to spread just before they have a likelihood to be marginalized. Viruses lounger themselves in irony and appeal to the objective sensibilities of the viewers. Viral shells may be understood seeing that framing gadgets that induce us to distance ourselves from the problems within these people. This objectification of the problems allows us to understand the symbols in our media because symbols and necessarily reality. As well, we are made mindful of the complexities beneath evidently simple illustrations of our universe. ” In cases like this, a contemporary society no longer simply uses technology as a support but instead is shaped by it.

It is quite difficult pertaining to disabled women to meet males unlike just for other ladies that are typical. From the period when online dating websites and companies have signed up with hand in hand to eliminate this problem, their work have been paid off since it contains turned to end up being achievable intended for disabled females to have a time. Dating a disabled woman is not different from going out with a woman who does not have any physical problem.

Bài viết Handicapped Mate đã xuất hiện đầu tiên vào ngày Máy lọc nước Plasma - Máy lọc nước RO Nano Chính Hãng.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/2UV1ezL via IFTTT

[sarahburness]

5 Things to Stop Doing When You’re Struggling and Feeling Drained

Recently I’ve been spread incredibly thin and, at times, I’ve felt stressed to the max.

In addition to being at the tail end of a high-risk pregnancy, with complications, I’ve been working toward various new projects—not just for fulfillment but also because I’ve allowed the business side of running this site to slide for years. And I have a baby coming soon. It’s crucial that I revive what I’ve allowed to deflate because I’ll have a whole new life to provide for.

There’s a lot I need to do over the next six weeks, before my scheduled C-section, and a lot I’ve failed to do over the previous weeks, largely because I’ve had many days when I’ve felt physically and emotionally incapable of rising to the challenge.

To be fair, there’s also been a lot to enjoy and appreciate, and I know I am incredibly fortunate to be pregnant at all, and to have the opportunity to do so much professionally. But life has felt somewhat pressure-filled as of late, and along with many small wins have come many hours and days when I’ve felt drained and defeated.

I recently realized that my best days all have certain things in common—little things I choose to do for my well-being, and a number of unhelpful habits I resist the urge to indulge. If you’re also struggling, personally or professionally, and feeling drained, perhaps my lessons will be helpful to you too.

5 Things to Stop Doing When You’re Struggling and Feeling Drained

1. Stop comparing your struggle to anyone else’s.

Over a year ago an old friend of mine was diagnosed with breast cancer. She’s the same age as I am, and she’s someone I’ve long admired, even though we’ve fallen out of touch beyond occasional interactions on social media.

She’s left unfulfilling jobs, despite the financial risk involved; walked away from relationships that weren’t right for her, even while engaged, when it would have been easier to stay; and jumped out of more than 100 planes, each leap representative of the courage that guides her every inspiring, bold life choice.

She’s faced cancer with the type of bravery I’ve come to expect from her, coupled with an honesty and vulnerability about her fears that, to me, displays even more strength. But still, I know it’s been grueling.

As I sit here in my own very fortunate circumstances—at the same as age as her—I often tell myself I have no reason to be struggling. My current experience couldn’t even be termed a struggle compared to what she’s been through. I should just suck it up when I’m having a hard day and push myself through any tiredness or discomfort. Because I’m lucky.

But the reality is, I still have hard days. I am still going through a high-risk pregnancy, juggling a lot, and dealing with a host of fears and physical symptoms that require my compassion.

I wouldn’t compare my hard days to her devastating year—there’s clearly no comparison—but the point is, I don’t have to.

I’m allowed to experience the feelings and struggles associated with my current life circumstances even if someone else’s are far more tragic. And so are you.

Many may have it “worse,” but why compare and judge? If it helps alleviate self-pity so you can find the perspective and strength you need to keep going, then by all means make comparisons. But if it only serves to minimize your feelings and needs, try to remember that two people can have completely different situations, and both can need and deserve compassion equally.

2. Stop focusing on things that aren’t priorities.

When we’re going through a tough time, we need to get extra-discriminating about what truly matters and what doesn’t. If we exhaust ourselves with the non-essential, we’ll have little energy for the things that can actually move the dial in the areas of our life that most need our attention.

I remember when I had surgery to remove uterine fibroids seven years back. I knew I needed to take it easy or else I’d prolong my healing, but I also felt the overwhelming urge to maintain order in my environment. I’m a control freak. It’s what I do.

I remember there was a pair of shoes next to the door, where shoes didn’t usually go, and not only that; they were askew. The horror!

I was one day out of surgery, my lower stomach stitched together after being sliced across the middle, yet I still felt the need to slowly lower myself so I could put those shoes in the closet—even though it was painful to do so. My mother, who was visiting to help me, pointed out the insanity, and I knew she was right.

I now think of those shoes whenever I am struggling physically or emotionally, and I ask myself, what else really doesn’t need to be immediately done, or do I not actually have to do myself?

Can the dishes wait till the morning? Or can I get someone else to do them? Does every email in my inbox need a response—and immediately? Can I say no to some requests? Can I simplify my daily routine? What do I really need to do for myself—physically, emotionally, and professionally? And what do I just want to do because I think I should, to feel ahead of the curve, or on top of things, or good about how much I’m checking off my to-do list?

Scaling back can feel like failure, especially if you’re Type A, like me, but sometimes we have to prioritize so we can use the limited energy we have wisely. If we don’t, we risk busting open our “stitches,” whether that means physical burnout or an emotional breakdown, and then we set ourselves back even further.

3. Stop expecting yourself to do what you could do before.

 Maybe you were far more physically active or productive before (I know I was). Or you were the person anyone could call any time, any day, whenever they needed an ear or a hand. Or you were everyone’s go-to person for a night out when they needed to blow off some steam.

It’s easy to cling to our sense of identity when we feel it slipping away. Not only do we mourn who used to be, fearing this change may be permanent, we worry other people may not like this new version of ourselves—this person who’s far less fun or far more needy.

But the thing is, we’re not who we were before. We’re in a new chapter, facing new circumstances and challenges, and our evolving needs won’t go away just because we ignore or neglect them.

I’m not going to sugar coat this: It just plain sucks when you can’t do the things you once enjoyed. My boyfriend has had multiple knee surgeries and ongoing knee problems, and my heart breaks for him knowing he may never be able to do certain things he loves again, like playing basketball.

But he’s accepted his limitations and found new things to do that check off some of the same boxes. He works out on an elliptical to stay in shape and rehab his knee. He throws himself into fantasy football to scratch his competitive itch. And he sweats it out in the sauna to help blow off some steam.

As for me, I’m not going to yoga classes at the moment because I don’t have the time or energy, and I’m also not getting as much done as I once did on a daily basis. But I count my lucky stars that I’ll someday be able to do these things again, even if not for a while after the baby comes.

It’s natural to grieve losses, temporary or permanent, big or small, but eventually we need to accept reality and then ask ourselves, “How can I work with the way things are instead of resisting them?” Otherwise, we cause ourselves a lot of unnecessary stress—and it doesn’t help or change anything.

4. Stop pushing yourself when you need to take it easy.

 We all do it, or at least I suspect we do: We minimize our physical and emotional needs because we judge ourselves for having them. We think we should be able to do more. Maybe because other people in similar situations are doing more. Or because we just plain expect a lot from ourselves.

But the thing is, telling yourself you shouldn’t be exhausted doesn’t make you better able to function through your tiredness. Demeaning yourself for needing a break doesn’t make you any more productive or effective. And belittling yourself for feeling whatever you feel doesn’t immediately transform your emotions.

If you’re tired, you need rest. If you’re drained, you need a break. If you’re hurting, you need your own compassion. And nothing will change for the better until you give yourself what you need.

I get that we can’t always instantly drop everything to take good care of ourselves, especially when other people are depending on us. But we can usually create small pockets of time for self-care by alleviating our self-imposed pressure and prioritizing our needs.

Recently I’ve been embracing the idea of mini-self-care practices. It’s not easy for me, because I have a tendency to be very all-or-nothing. But sometimes, small things can make a big difference.

I might not have time for an hour nap, but I can rest my eyes for fifteen minutes. I might not be able to clock in 10,000 steps, but I can take a walk around the block. I may not have the time to journal about my feelings for an hour, but I can jot down three worries and three potential solutions to help calm my mind.

And sometimes, I just need to find a way to do more for my own well-being, whether that means cancelling a commitment or asking someone for help.

It’s tempting to push ourselves, especially if this has been our pattern. But some days aren’t for moving forward. They’re just for honoring where we are.

5. Stop reminding yourself of how you’re “falling behind.”

I think it all boils down to this. When we minimize our struggle, try to do too much, and push ourselves despite our desperate need for self-care, it’s generally because we’re afraid we’re somehow falling behind.

We think about everything we want to accomplish, everything we believe we need to do in order to become who we think we should be, and we panic at the thought of losing momentum.

Most of us are accustomed to living life like a race to some point in the future when we imagine we’ll be good enough—and our lives will be good enough. Any threat to our sense of progress can feel like a threat to our self-esteem and hope.

We also live in this constant bubble of comparison, as if we need to keep up with everyone else in order to make the most of our lives.

But none of this is true. While we may want growth and change, we don’t need it in order to be worthy or happy, and certainly not on a pre-determined timeline. We also don’t need to keep up with anyone else because we’re never behind; we’re simply on our own path.

What’s more, wherever we are right now, this is a valid piece of our life experience, and perhaps even a valuable part. We don’t need to rush through it to catch up to everyone else or to where we thought we’d be.

Most people would agree that some of their most immense growth came from their greatest challenges, and in some cases, even their sense of purpose.

I would never have guessed, during the ten-plus years I struggled with depression and bulimia, that that period of my life would be the catalyst for this site.

I could never have imagined how profoundly my pain would shape the trajectory of my life, and how this chapter would lead to new chapters that were equally as exciting and fulfilling.

Wherever you are right now, be there fully. Accept it. Open up to it. It’s only when we accept the lows that we’re able to grow through them and rise to the highs.

—

Yesterday was a tough day for me. I was tired. I hurt. I did little, got down on myself, and cried. But today was better. Today I was kind to myself, I did what I could, and I gave myself what I needed.

Whatever you’re going through, I wish the same for you: self-compassion to help alleviate your pain, permission to do only what you reasonably can, and space to take good care of yourself.

About Lori Deschene

Lori Deschene is the founder of Tiny Buddha. She’s also the author of Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal and other books and co-founder of Recreate Your Life Story, an online course that helps you let go of the past and live a life you love. An avid film lover, she recently finished writing her first feature screenplay and is fundraising to get it made now. To get daily wisdom in your inbox, join the Tiny Buddha list here.

Web | Twitter | Facebook | More Posts

Get in the conversation! Click here to leave a comment on the site.

The post 5 Things to Stop Doing When You’re Struggling and Feeling Drained appeared first on Tiny Buddha.

from Tiny Buddha https://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-things-to-stop-doing-when-youre-struggling-and-feeling-drained/

[pauldeckerus]

Auschwitz: Railway Into Concentration Camp is NOT a Balance Beam for Pics

The Auschwitz Museum is reminding the public to be respectful when taking photos at the infamous former Nazi concentration camp. It seems that in recent days there has been an increase of people using the railway tracks leading into the camp as a balance beam for social media.

“When you come to @AuschwitzMuseum remember you are at the site where over 1 million people were killed,” the museum writes in a Tweet. “Respect their memory. There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths.”

When you come to @AuschwitzMuseum remember you are at the site where over 1 million people were killed. Respect their memory. There are better places to learn how to walk on a balance beam than the site which symbolizes deportation of hundreds of thousands to their deaths. pic.twitter.com/TxJk9FgxWl

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

The Tweet also included a few examples found on social media of what NOT to do.

But it seems that not everyone agrees with the museum’s views. The tweet has sparked a back-and-forth regarding whether or not this type of photo is appropriate:

And walking on it symbolizes that we're in a much better place right now. Let people smile. Remembrance does not mean being solemn and stern all the time.

— Ostez vostre lion ⚜️ (@OstezVostreLion) March 20, 2019

Smiling is human. There are also human stories from #Auschwitz that can make people smile. You do not have to be solemn and stern all the time. Yet, there are some things which are simply disrespectful.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

Yeah, they are: Holocaust denial. Swastika graffiti. Hate speech. Fascist marches. But walking on a rail line? I wish everyone was just that disrespectful.

— Ostez vostre lion ⚜️ (@OstezVostreLion) March 20, 2019

We wish people were not disrespectful at all.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

I have visited Auschwitz with my children. My mother was a Holocaust survivor. Many of her family perished. I think this tweet is unworthy and controlling. Sometimes you just need to de-stress a bit. Stop trying to manage everyone into 'your version' of respect.

— David Berger (@davebergie) March 20, 2019

Sometimes people need to de-stress a bit. There are however more and less appropriate way of doing this within the historical site. Walking along the rail-line of the platform where hundreds of thousands of people were sent to gas chambers is one of those not appropriate ones.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

So say you. I disagree and I think you should chill out a bit. And if you are so particular about how you want people to behave then why not publish some guidelines instead of trying to shame young people on Twitter by publishing their photos? Very controlling.

— David Berger (@davebergie) March 20, 2019

Quote from the regulations: "Visitors to the grounds of the Museum should behave with due solemnity and respect."

Those people make their photos public for everyone to see.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

While not the most reverent, notice not all are doing it. Sometimes a person needs a break from all the horrors there, just taking a couple minutes to re center them selves. All mourn in different ways. From one who walks train tracks.

— aswegrow (@aswegrow2) March 20, 2019

Among over two million visitors most of them are not doing it. We also understand that people react differently to the experience and need 'a break from the horrors'. However there are other ways of doing this. Mourning is possible in a way that is not disrespectful.

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

Other people, however, are voicing their support for the museum and its stance:

This is a very necessary post, our picture-taking habits are completely out of control. I may be visting in the summer, I will make sure I am aware of your photography policy. Thank you for all the essential work you continue to do. Without our historical memory we are nothing.

— Francesca 🇪🇺 (@Just__Fran) March 20, 2019

The museum says it has no plans to ban photography, and it points to its Instagram account as an example of how to respectfully use photos to honor victims and teach history.

Photography at @AuschwitzMuseum will not be banned. Yet, we ask visitor to behave respectfully, also when taking pictures. See our @instagram account to see how images can commemorate victims & teach difficult and emotional history of #Auschwitz: https://t.co/QB6hodnnJe https://t.co/ISHepSqf2k

— Auschwitz Memorial (@AuschwitzMuseum) March 20, 2019

View this post on Instagram

Auschwitz II-Birkenau. The ruined stairs leading to the underground undressing room of gas chamber and crematorium III. — Photo by @re_atlas — #Auschwitz #Birkenau #AuschwitzMemorial #Nazi #Germany #concentrationcamp #extermination #genocide #history #Holocaust #Shoah #Jews #Poles #Roma #people #life #death #humanity #humiliation #dehumanization #remembrance #commemoration #memory #museum #Poland #igerspoland #UNESCO #worldheritage #worldHeritagelist @unesco #photography

A post shared by Auschwitz Memorial and Museum (@auschwitzmemorial) on Mar 17, 2019 at 11:05pm PDT

“The Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe,” a Holocaust memorial in Berlin that features 2,711 concrete slabs spread over 4.7 acres, is another memorial that often sees visitors shooting disrespectful photos. Social media photos shot there became so bad that Jewish artist Shahak Shapira created a project called Yolocaust that cut-and-pasted disrespectful picture-takers into Nazi extermination camp backdrops to speak out against the practice.

(via Auschwitz Museum via Business Insider)

from Photography News https://petapixel.com/2019/03/22/auschwitz-railway-into-concentration-camp-is-not-a-balance-beam-for-pics/

[mrmichaelchadler]

Thumbnails 1/14/19

Thumbnails is a roundup of brief excerpts to introduce you to articles from other websites that we found interesting and exciting. We provide links to the original sources for you to read in their entirety.—Chaz Ebert

1. 

"OUT 100: Emma González, Newsmaker of the Year": The phenomenal young gun control activist spoke with our own Monica Castillo for Out Magazine.

“Not everyone celebrated the arrival of a bold and confident queer Latinx woman on the national stage. Almost immediately after González’s first public appearances, trolls began attacking her online. In a Facebook post, Congressman Steve King’s campaign (R-Iowa) linked her to communist Cuba for wearing a patch of the country’s flag on her jacket. González, whose father is Cuban, defended herself and cited the elected official’s racist comments. ‘If somebody’s trying to challenge my Cuban identity, they are usually — if not obviously — racist,’ she said. ‘Look at the things he said, and what he called me. What he said was bottom-of-the barrel. He was not even trying. He went out of his way lots of times to call out various people and say things about minority groups.’ To González, identity is fluid and more encompassing than basic labels. ‘Identity to me means the way that you describe yourself when someone says, ‘Describe yourself,’’ she explains. ‘If I were to describe my identity, I would say that I am half Cuban, I’m bald, I’m bisexual, I’m 5-foot-2, I like to write, I like to partake in the arts, and I like to crochet. I would hope that if I were introducing myself to somebody, through those things, they would be able to get an understanding of who I am.’”

2. 

"Does Erasing Cyber-Reality Erase Our Actual Reality?": A personal essay evocative of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," penned by Emma Olsson for Eileen Kelly's excellent site, Killer And A Sweet Thang.

“I think social media provides us with this peculiar way of storytelling, and perhaps it’s narcissistic, but the story is our own. I want to one day be able to look back at those odd little squares and read their stories of a time when I was 19 and 20 and 21 and in love for the first time. They hold deep connections to a memory, but they don’t necessarily signal a longing for a person. At least not for me. Something about the mourning of deleted pictures feels like a parody of our times. It’s impossible to imagine this scenario outside of a modern, digital context. In a time when online and offline lives are rich enough to be distinguished from each other, the act of removing little pieces of evidence from this online space feels particularly jarring. A deleted photo translates into something much deeper in meaning, to the deletion of proof of our existence together. I’d always tried to hold myself to the doctrine that one day, after the hurt had softened, I’d be able to look back on photos and relive the memories with gratitude. That I’d be able to see the soft things, the beautiful and happy things, not only the sad. Photos are potent in that way, and I hoped (and still do) to feel neither removed from this person nor bound to him. I hoped to just feel grateful, and it hurt me to think that he didn’t feel the same. That he wanted to cut me out of his memory — even if just on social media.”

3.

"'What 'Moonlight' Gave Us Was the Confidence to Execute Our Ideas Without Fear': Writer/Director Barry Jenkins on 'If Beale Street Could Talk'": A wonderful interview with the Oscar-winning director conducted by Jim Hemphill for Filmmaker Magazine.

“We treat the sound the same way we treat the cinematography, which is with the idea that it should be a reflection of the main character’s consciousness. In terms of the cinematography, when Tish is remembering the more beautiful and tender times with Fonny, those scenes are overly lush and overly saturated because they function as memory — when we remember things, we don’t remember them as a documentary. There’s more light in the flashbacks, and much more shadow in the present-day scenes, where Tish and Fonny are in a kind of purgatory. As far as the sound goes, when I’m making a film, I’m not just considering the screen — I’m considering the house, the actual environment where the audience is going to watch the movie. One of the things we decided right away was that the voice-over narration in the film needed to be experienced in a different way than the dialogue, so if you’re sitting in an auditorium it feels like you’re inside her head. Her voice is coming from all around the room, whereas the dialogue is coming from the front channel, and it’s a very different effect. In other scenes we would stoke up the reverb and things like that, just to reflect what the characters are feeling.”

4. 

"Becoming parents completely changed who we are": A beautiful letter from Mary Barnes to her husband, published at Motherly.

“These are the parenting trenches. The baby years. These years can make or break us. And can I be so bold as to say: I think they're making us. They're making us learn how to communicate better. How to find common ground when we disagree about real stuff, like the ways we want to raise our children. We're invested in not only the outcome but the short term effect. We're a team. They're making us think about the future. Not just the fun stuff, but the difficult stuff like estate planning, life insurance, and college funds for the kids. They're making us challenge ourselves to provide our children with comfort and opportunities. We've always worked hard but the stakes have never been this high. You know I'm the optimist, the dreamer, while you consider yourself the realist—but I think we can agree on this: going through some of the tough stuff with you by my side has shown me that we are stronger than the tough stuff. We can get through it. We can get through anything. As long as we hold on to each other. Motherhood transformed me. Fatherhood transformed you. And having kids completely transformed our marriage. We'll never be who we were on our wedding day again. Time marches forward—only forward. I miss the carefree version of ‘us,’ but I love this version even more. Because we know what we're made of now, and in so many ways we didn't before.”

5. 

"Independent films screened at Oakton College's annual pop-up: 'The festival is all about broadening horizons'": Our contributor Donald Liebenson reports on Michael Glover Smith's indispensable festival for the Chicago Tribune. 

“Josephine Decker’s ‘Madeline’s Madeline’ that was screened during the film festival is the type of film that Smith says he envisioned when he launched the free event. ‘I wanted to show independent and experimental films that are exciting and a little bit challenging; movies that are different from what typically would play (at the local multiplex),’ Smith said. ‘The festival is all about broadening horizons.’ Smith, himself, is the author of ‘Flickering Empire,’ which chronicled the untold story of Chicago’s silent film industry, and the film blog ‘White City Cinema.’ He has also directed two film festival award-winning productions: ‘Cool Apocalypse’ and ‘Mercury in Retrograde.’ The filmmaker and instructor said he was inspired to start the ‘Pop-Up’ festival after inviting Harold Ramis’ wife Erica to speak to his student about a documentary she had produced on The Joffrey Ballet. ‘She is the daughter of the late film producer and director Daniel Mann, and she talked about growing up in that household, her life with Harold and being on his film sets,’ Smith said. ‘But it was in a classroom of 12 people, and I thought this was a conversation that should be held in an auditorium and open to the public.’”

Image of the Day

Chris Elliott is the latest amazing guest on Sam Fragoso's essential "Talk Easy" podcast, with illustrations by our Far Flung Correspondent Krishna Shenoi. Click here for the full conversation.

Video of the Day

Not only did Glenn Close's acceptance speech for her surprise win in the Best Actress (Drama) category for her brilliant performance in "The Wife" bring the Golden Globes audience to its feet, it could also very likely help the actress win her very first Oscar. And boy is she well overdue for one.

from All Content http://bit.ly/2SQvyIQ

[webart-studio]

The Net Can't Go Dwelling Once more

It’s far too straightforward to look again and picture that all the things was higher then than it’s now. God is aware of I miss being a thin teenager, however I don’t need the zits again. The hormones can simply shove proper off, too.

Even so, there are issues I miss about being youthful, and admittedly a bit naïve.

These days, there was dialog in regards to the nature of the Web, and many individuals appear to really feel a lot as I do about my teenage years: that’s to say, they miss the relative innocence. Although as soon as reviled, dancing child .GIFs and components appear to be excessive artwork in comparison with the click-bait, the passionate-yet-incomprehensible remark wars, and the determined makes an attempt of companies to look “hip”. We’d be hard-pressed to go searching and say, “Sure, this actually is best.”

We even miss Tom, and his sort of desperate-feeling try and be all people’s pal

We miss the utopianism of the early Web pioneers. We miss the creativity of individuals simply studying HTML, from the times of the primary pages, to the times of the personalized MySpace web page. We even miss Tom, and his sort of desperate-feeling try and be all people’s pal; as a result of no less than he was making an attempt to be associates, not inform you how your each opinion was improper.

And so right here we’re, in a brand new world of our personal making, and we want we’d made it otherwise. Some individuals blame companies, and their concentrate on revenue over neighborhood. Others kind of blame the weblog format, and the press of people that all need to be a bit bit well-known. There are various who blame social media.

None of those individuals are totally improper, in fact. We may have finished higher. We will do higher. We will make a friendlier Web that promotes creativity. What we can not do is return.

“You possibly can’t go dwelling once more.” For these unfamiliar, it’s an outdated saying based mostly on the concept as soon as you permit a spot, you’ll be able to by no means actually return to what as soon as was. Even when the place you left has stayed the identical, you should have modified. The you that comes again just isn’t the you that left.

We will do higher. We will make a friendlier Web that promotes creativity.

We will’t return to the outdated Web as a result of we’ve got modified. Like Adam and Eve within the proverbial backyard, we now have information of each the nice the Web can do, and the evil. Companies have seen how a lot cash could be made. The near-monopolies of the Web don’t have any purpose to surrender their benefits.

Elsewhere, communities have seen how, when there aren’t sufficient guidelines, or when the foundations aren’t enforced, the loudest and most violent voices will oppress the remaining. We’ve got additionally seen that with too many guidelines, and rigid enforcement, the bureaucrats will turn into the oppressors.

Realizing what we all know now, we can not return to the wild west days of the Web, as a result of it’s unlikely that the majority of us may ever embrace that type of potential with out the concern born of our expertise. Regardless of the Net turns into subsequent, I hope it has the higher qualities of the Web of the previous, but it surely won’t, maybe can not, be the identical.

Okay, that’s fairly sufficient mourning of our collective innocence. There are issues we are able to moderately do to assist enhance the state of the Web, and in spite of everything that, I’d like to incorporate just a few I considered.

  Get Political

Now I don’t imply that it’s best to tweet at your ideological opponents extra, and I’m not going to inform you who to vote for. What I’m going to say is that the majority politicians in most governments are sorely ignorant what what the Web actually is, and the way it works. Watching Mark Zuckerberg getting questioned was one of many extra painful issues a nerd may ever watch. Don’t even get me began on the mess that was/is the EU’s try and redefine copyright regulation. Articles 11 and 13 are nightmarish ideas.

Watching Mark Zuckerberg getting questioned was one of many extra painful issues a nerd may ever watch

If we’re going to convey again a number of the enjoyable to the Web, we’d like to ensure our flesh pressers are higher educated about it. I’m not an professional on political activism; however maybe we may all stand to succeed in out to our native politicians extra, and never simply once they’re about to remove half of our on-line rights via ignorance.

  Make Alternate options Extra Engaging

For instance: many video creators are feeling stifled beneath YouTube’s arcane and typically arbitrary units of guidelines, and lots of a creator has misplaced their income in a single day. You see, YouTube has turn into so huge that many video creators wouldn’t even consider placing their content material elsewhere, which makes the platform even larger. That centralization provides YouTube huge energy over hundreds of thousands of creators, and their algorithms kind of outline what many would-be artists create.

So on high of controlling smaller creators’ income, one web site is having an out-sized affect on whole cultures. That’s antithetical to the spirit of the Web because it was meant to be. Some good cookies have determined to attempt to alleviate this downside, and different crises attributable to company near-monopolies, by creating decentralized variations of YouTube, decentralized social networks, and even decentralized variations of the Web itself.

Alternate options to huge websites want extra tangible, speedy advantages

These alternate options face one main downside (in addition to plain outdated logistics): attracting a person base within the first place. That is regular for any enterprise breaking right into a crowded market, however many of those tasks promote themselves by saying issues like, “We’re not company and evil like Google.” The issue is that this isn’t one thing the typical person cares about. We already give away our data freely, so privateness isn’t going to promote it both. Alternate options to huge websites want extra tangible, speedy advantages.

  Assist Efforts That Decrease the Net’s Artistic Entry Necessities

We, as individuals who love the Web, want to every make our personal efforts to enhance it. However we must also do not forget that there are many individuals on the market already doing what they will, they usually want some love.

Considered one of my favourite examples is that of NeoCities, which we’ve beforehand mentioned right here on WDD. Principally, it’s a spot the place anybody can create a fundamental HTML/CSS website about something they like, totally free, within the spirit of the outdated GeoCities websites. The thought is to encourage extra individuals to strive making websites for themselves with the bottom potential barrier to entry.

Tasks like these want ongoing help, and admittedly deserve free promoting. In order that’s why NeoCities is getting a hyperlink.

  Be Variety, and Forgive

If the Net goes to vary (once more), individuals must change (once more). And as individuals change, we’ll must be able to forgive. We’ve all made errors up to now, from merely saying impolite issues on-line, to constructing instruments that may have had a component in making the Web a much less pleasant place. What’s worse is that the Web has a greater reminiscence than we do.

as individuals change, we’ll must be able to forgive

If we’re going to make huge, sweeping adjustments to make the Web extra enjoyable, and bizarre, and pleasant, we must be enjoyable, bizarre, and pleasant. Extra importantly, we’ll must be kinder. We could discover ourselves needing to be form even to those that took half in making the Web the unfriendly place it’s now. Individuals can and do develop and alter, and if we’re going to make a greater world, we are able to’t maintain their previous errors towards them (as long as these errors are actually up to now).

Finally, the individuals on the Web are the Web, and we are able to’t go dwelling once more. We will construct a brand new dwelling, although.

  Featured picture by way of DepositPhotos.

Supply hyperlink

source https://webart-studio.com/the-net-cant-go-dwelling-once-more/

[news-mashable-yahoopartner-blog]

Elon Musk was once tech's angel. Now he's an overplayed meme.

It’s Viral Market Crash week on Mashable. Join us as we take stock of the viral economy and investigate how the internet morphed from a fun free-for-all to a bleak hellscape we just can’t quit.

In the space of a few short months, Elon Musk has gone from being the internet's tech darling to one of the most parodied personalities online.

Up until this spring, Musk was more or less well liked. Sure, his employees were reportedly working mandatory overtime, but his anti-union stances were overlooked because hey, he launched a car into space! His company's egregious record of under-reporting workplace injuries was glossed over because he started dating Grimes after shooting his shot with an adorably nerdy pun. Elon Musk was the manic pixie dream boy of tech: He was deeply problematic, but it was easy to ignore because he was just so quirky. 

SEE ALSO: People think Guy Fieri is a better philanthropist than Elon Musk

I mean, he sold flamethrowers. Flamethrowers! Who even remembers that Tesla employees were apparently forced to work around the body of an employee who passed out when there are videos of a grown man giggling about his new flamethrower? 

Don’t do this. Also, I want to be clear that a flamethrower is a super terrible idea. Definitely don’t buy one. Unless you like fun.

A post shared by Elon Musk (@elonmusk) on Jan 27, 2018 at 5:29pm PST

But then in late May, Musk's reputation took a sudden nosedive when he started using Twitter like Donald Trump. Musk criticized how the media covers Tesla crashes. He was understandably upset that a recent crash that resulted in a broken ankle was reported on extensively while thousands of fatal crashes from standard cars aren't. 

Then he ramped up his complaining and blamed "big media" for lying, and claimed that nobody believes news outlets anyway. He also said that journalists are "under constant pressure to get max clicks" or risk getting fired for not pulling in enough of that sweet advertising revenue, even insinuating that fossil fuel and oil companies were paying off reporters to write negative reviews of Tesla's cars. 

As if that wasn't enough, Musk followed up by announcing his plans to create a Yelp-type review site for journalists that would allow the public to "rate the core truth of any article," which honestly sounds like an Orwellian hell. 

Musk's anti-news rant came just weeks after Reveal published a damning report about Tesla putting manufacturing above its employees' safety. Grimes tried to defend her new boyfriend, insisting that Tesla being anti-union was "fake news." When journalist Jessica Huseman called out Musk for his tweets, pointing out that Reveal is a nonprofit that doesn't compete for clicks, he threw a temper tantrum that turned into a months-long Twitter meltdown. 

No, they’re just some rich kids in Berkeley who took their political science prof too seriously

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 23, 2018

Like an angsty preteen who just feels misunderstood by society, Musk lashed out at everyone who criticized him. 

Then in June, Alex Arbuckle changed his Twitter display name to "Italian Elon Musk" and started blessing our feeds with parodies of Musk's tweets. 

Ayy!! I make a da rockets!!

— alex (@alexqarbuckle) June 16, 2018

Arbuckle isn't the first to spoof Elon Musk. The account Bored Elon Musk has been actively shitposting on Twitter for years. 

Digital counter in conference rooms that displays running sum of TIME ELAPSED x HOURLY RATE of all people in a meeting.

— Bored Elon Musk (@BoredElonMusk) April 16, 2015

Alarm that also starts a timer for how long you're allowed to f*** around on your phone after waking up.

— Bored Elon Musk (@BoredElonMusk) April 5, 2017

Arbuckle's version of Elon Musk was unique, though. While Bored Elon Musk made fun of Musk's ideas, like tweeting randomly specific but ingenious innovations, Arbuckle's Musk made fun of Musk himself. 

I love a my employee Sal, he spinna da dough like a no one else!! I had a to fire him because a he ask for a raise!! I say Sal, donna you have enough dough already? Prego!!

— alex (@alexqarbuckle) June 17, 2018

It got a lot of attention, and he even lost his Twitter verification for the bit. 

[when I get my verified checkmark removed by Twitter for doing a bit where Elon Musk is Italian] ayyyy whoopsy daisy

— alex (@alexqarbuckle) June 17, 2018

Italian Elon Musk's run was short, though — Arbuckle changed his name and profile photo after just five glorious days. 

"I ended the Italian Elon Musk bit after realizing I'd been de-verified by Twitter, because in my estimation that was the funniest possible way for the bit to end," Arbuckle wrote Mashable in an email. 

While Twitter users mourned the loss of one of the greatest bits of 2018, the real Elon Musk's social media meltdown continued. 

When 12 boys and their soccer coach got stranded in a flooded cave in Thailand, Musk jumped to the rescue. Sort of. He had a child-size submarine constructed so divers could pop a kid in, squeeze the metal tube through the cave's narrow passages, and safely deliver each child to dry land. Except, according to a BBC report, the head of the rescue mission called the baby sub just "not practical." While Musk was live-tweeting the mini submarine's development, human divers were actually rescuing the children one by one. 

Despite being a 47-year-old adult, Musk couldn't take the criticism. In another Twitter rant he responded to the BBC's report with screenshots of emails with the co-leader of the Thai rescue team. He followed up by claiming that his sub "could do the entire journey & demonstrate at any time." He topped it off by implying that "billionaire" is a slur, and when called out on that, bragged about the number of jobs he created.

Ironically, the “billionaire” label, when used by media, is almost always meant to devalue & denigrate the subject. I wasn’t called that until my companies got to a certain size, but reality is that I still do the same science & engineering as before. Just the scale has changed.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 10, 2018

No, it means I created jobs for 50,000 people directly and, through parts suppliers & supporting professions, ~250,000 people indirectly, thus supporting half a million families. What have you done?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 10, 2018

Musk's response to lead diver Vern Unsworth calling his child submarine "just a PR stunt" that had "absolutely no chance of working" was icing on the cake. Unsworth is an avid caver who has extensive knowledge of the cave system the boys were stranded in. In a series of unhinged tweets — his magnum opus of Twitter rants — Musk called Unsworth "pedo guy" and claimed he "never saw this British expat guy who lives in Thailand (sus)." 

That's probably the Muskiest tweet Musk has ever tweeted. Arbuckle, now formerly known as Italian Elon Musk, said it best: "No conceivable parody could be funnier than calling a rescue hero a pedophile because he made fun of your waterproof space trash boy casket." 

To the people in my mentions telling me to bring back Italian Elon Musk: No. No conceivable parody could be funnier than calling a rescue hero a pedophile because he made fun of your waterproof space trash boy casket

— alex (@alexqarbuckle) July 15, 2018

He has a point — despite the multiple parody accounts that have popped up in the absence of our beloved Italian Elon Musk, none of them can sound as ridiculous as actual Elon Musk tweets. 

A week later, Twitter announced that it would start locking accounts whose display names said "Elon Musk." The company said that it was to prevent cryptocurrency scams, since lookalikes would comment under Musk's tweets promising that if Twitter users sent him Ethereum, he would send even more back. 

Twitter users joked that Elon Musk paid off the site so parody accounts would stop making fun of him. 

Elon Musk is such a petty bastard that he got an Italian spoof account of his banned from Twitter. How naive of him to think that will stop the internet from mocking him Rise French Élon Musque and take your Italian brother's place! pic.twitter.com/aNbmt5fRtG

— Culture Shots (@hjvinke) July 28, 2018

"targeting cryptocurrency scammers" is code for "elon forked out $2,000,000 to make sure Italian Elon Musk never resurfaces" https://t.co/9cOBzhXKYv

— thomas violence (@thomas_violence) July 26, 2018

Arbuckle has a different take: 

"Twitter locking accounts that change their name to Elon Musk is some extremely hilarious shit for a website that not only enables but actually verifies violent white supremacist organizations," he told Mashable, ending his email with a dig at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey. "Terrific priorities, Jack."

French Elón Musque, who has since changed their name to @locallefties, was one of the first copycats who got popular in the weeks after Arbuckle said he wouldn't resurrect Italian Elon. They got around Twitter's new locking policy by changing up Musk's name. Through Twitter DM, they said, "i thought it might piss off elon musk which would be cool." 

i send ze baguette into space... i dont pay ze taxés... honhonhon...

— YOUR LOCAL LEFTIES (@locallefties) July 27, 2018

ze homeless man on ze street ask me “please monsieur musk spare some change my family is dying” i tell him “have you heard of ze hyperloop”

— YOUR LOCAL LEFTIES (@locallefties) July 28, 2018

ze tesla cars catch fire so zat you may easily toast your croissants

— YOUR LOCAL LEFTIES (@locallefties) July 28, 2018

With French Elón Musque leading the way, Swëdish Eløn Müsk, German Elon von Müsk, and South African Elon Musk rose from the ashes of Italian Elon Musk. 

Ï sjënd dë mætbals ïnto späcë, Ï døn’t pjay de täxes, bork bork

— Swëdish Eløn Müsk (@MuskSwedish) July 28, 2018

I am very socialist ja. I seek greatest good for all. Zats vy I ground ze factory verkers of Tesla Motorwagen into dust to reach ze production numbers for ze Model tree for my bonus.

— German Elon von Müsk (@DvonMusk) July 28, 2018

I sent a car into space!! I don't pay taxes!! Hahaha!!

— South African Elon Musk (@saelonmusk) July 28, 2018

Someone even came up with whatever the hell this version of Elon Musk is. 

Ị̘ ͚͎͈ba̠̺̜̤̬n̯̪̝̩̮̼i̟̘s̬̲̣͖̞ͅh̼̤e͙͇̠̯͉͍d̘̼ ̫̺̦a̤ ͔̦̗̟̘͎c̩͖a͔͎r̲͕͙̮̗ ̩̠̝̟̝̫ͅt͖͓̖̩o̗ ͔̳et̝e̯r̟na͎̱͉͔̮̫̰l͉̖͉̥̞̬̭ ̜̻͍dam̫͓̮̭̝n̠a͈͉t̻i͚̯̤͓̱̪ͅo͉̟ͅn̳̻̫̖ ͉̟̜I ̻̤̗̻̼̘̞d͇̹̟o̭̳̣͚̦̪̻n̠͈̦t͇͇̘̳ ͙ͅp̦̘͚͖̝̣a̹̳̞͙̼̭̮y͔ ̣t̤̹̪̳̭͚a̺͔͈̪xẹ̤͇̯̳̘̭s̹͖̪̘ͅ H̺͔͇͖̳̩̭a̞̥h̘̬̺̜͓̱̣a̗̤ha̝̞̖ḥa̻͕̗͈

— Elonmorsque of the Nine Hells (@elonmorsque) July 30, 2018

While Twitter users argued over whether or not the Elon Musk parodies were actually good, everyone could agree that the fake accounts were still more bearable than seeing actual Elon Musk tweets. 

french elon musk is considerably worse than italian elon musk but they're both infinitely better than original flavour elon musk

— robocop 2 (@newmoneytrash) July 28, 2018

what made italian elon musk funny is, it combined a classic trope (italian accent) with the spontaneity of its execution. what made french elon musk briefly funny was that it was homage. what made south african elon musk funny was format deconstruction. nothing else will be funny

— victim of reply guys every day on this horrid site (@D0GGEAUX) July 28, 2018

The Musk parodies, funny or not, played off national stereotypes. People worried that the accounts would take it too far and start being actively racist for the sake of making fun of Elon Musk. 

Stop making national stereotype Elon Musk accounts. You will never recapture the lightning in a bottle that was Italian Elon Musk and it's only a matter of time before someone slips out of ironic chauvinism and ends up doing something actually racist

— The Bionic Woman (@fireh9lly) July 28, 2018

Two accounts, @ElonMuskButGay and @ElonMuskButStr8, ended up tweeting cringey, offensive Musk parodies. At that point, accounts weren't even trying to be funny — the creators were just tweeting for the sake of hopping on the bandwagon. 

when the tides of war between the unfunny goobers riding the coattails of the italian elon musk account have finally subsided, these will be the only survivors left to tell the tale pic.twitter.com/nKhknSwQ3i

— Lilly, Host of the Florida Nightm🌟re (@GunstarHeroine) July 29, 2018

@locallefties dropped the French Elón Musque bit because "the joke got old and wasn’t fun anymore." They've been using their account, which now has over 52,000 followers, to promote work by LGBTQ artists and spread awareness of progressive causes. 

"We want to actually use our popularity to foster change rather than make harmless fun of some tech billionaire lol," they tweeted on Thursday. 

Arbuckle says he was on a remote island vacation with his family when the parodies started popping up. "I turned my phone on to see what was going on in the world and quickly turned it off and went diving for mussels. I did laugh at South African Elon Musk, though," he wrote. 

While parody Elon Musk accounts have died down in the past week, the real Elon Musk is still tweeting ridiculousness. On Wednesday, he put out a call for video game developers because he wants to add "super fun games" to Tesla's center touch screen. It would be something like Pokémon Go, but "more of an adults in cars anime vibe." 

Sounds dangerous but OK. 

If you’re into video game development, consider applying to Tesla. We want to make super fun games that integrate the center touch screen, phone & car irl.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2018

Something like that, but more of an adults in cars anime vibe

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2018

At this point, it's nearly impossible to parody Elon Musk because he keeps churning out wild tweets that will probably one-up any fake Musk account. But we can remember that for one glorious week in July, Twitter was overrun by Elon Musks. 

Editor's Note: Alex Arbuckle is a verified former employee of Mashable.

WATCH: To learn to juggle, this AI-powered hand had to accumulate 100 years’ worth of experience