#Physical Media Supremacy

[aeolianblues]

Se e vida é, the second single taken from Pet Shop Boys’ 1996 album Bilingual.

This was a promotional copy sent to our radio station in November 1996. It contained two single discs printed on bright yellow and neon green vinyl, with an instrumental version and a few dubs and remixes of the song.

It spent 8 weeks in the singles chart in the UK, one reviewer gushed that it was life-affirming and the best Pets single in years.

This release contains the original, the Deep Dish Dub, Deep Dish Liquid Remix, Pink Noise Mix, and a few remixes by Mark!

That's all I know about particular release, I was just surprised that they would send out a no doubt rarer (and costlier to make and ship??) coloured vinyl to campus (and other) radio stations, but I'm glad that 25 years later, we still have our copy and it's in pretty good and listenable condition!

[speed-metal-punk]

As a great sage I know once said, I don't have a spotify wrapped this year cause I don't use spotify. Real ones get it.

[ladycatashtrophe]

Finished Sorcery of Thorns for the second time yesterday (the first time I'd read it being late 2022) and not only do I feel like I was able to absorb more of the material, but it reminded me of how much I've truly grown and matured since age 18 (currently approaching 21 in December).

Novels that one has access to at almost any time in physical format are important. In case anybody was still struggling with that concept.

[ohno-pleasure]

Trying to get The Mills Brothers back into my music collection, but finding the specific recordings I like feels like searching for needles in a haystack lmao

[gammafish]

after all this fear mongering that it won't, All of Us Strangers is officially going to have a physical format release and I couldn't be happier, god is real

[lyssitalennon]

CANT WAIT TO RECORD LES MIS AND OKLAHOMA BABEYYYYY

[kirasometimess]

absolutely hate that when I’m searching for a movie or tv show on the capitalism store, it gives me streaming first PHYSICAL MEDIA OR DIE

[mintconditiondean]

delighted with myself because I've managed to convince my friend that they should start investing in physical media 😌 I will not relent until everyone I know owns at least a Blu-ray player and their favorite TV show on DVD

[kalopsic-lagomorph]

DVDs and Blu-rays : u spend like 15 bucks once and have the thing for the rest of your life basically

Streaming and like digital junk : 10ish bucks a month and that thing you like may be taken off of the platform whenever

Piracy : get whatever you want for free and there are even beautiful woman to look at , illegal or something idk

[bluescluesposting]

*me, at Barnes & Noble, wearing a t-shirt with Gaz Membrane on it, a black miniskirt covered in skulls, black lipstick and eyeshadow, and spikey wristbands and a choker* "Anyway I'd like to buy this DVD of Blue's Big City Adventure.

[soberfructosecornsyrup]

Gonna fall asleep watching Mothra. Pay no attention to the mess that is my life

[speed-metal-punk]

Vinyl haul from Adam's collection. Acquired some top tier stuff

[mylittleredgirl]

You have SO many (of my objective favorite) good eps coming up in S3 oh my goodness. OR!! Springtime!! Rainbow Bridge!! Alcoholics Unanimous!! Aid Station!! Adam’s Ribs!! Oh wow wow enjoy ♥️

this is exciting!!!! i will come back and report in!

[punk-pins]

this google deleting inactive accounts thing has such crazy implications for information preservation man

[insanelyadd]

*KICKS IN DOOR*

PHYSICAL MEDIA SUPREMACY

Hee hee hoo hoo another thing for my collection of hyperfixation related items. *grabs Disney by the throat* Now start selling owl house merch at hot topic or boxlunch or something.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Analyzation of Hobie Brown's sexualization on Tumblr (Also a little bit of ranting cuz it pisses me off like crazy)

Summary:

I'll be going over different stereotypes but I'll focus on the sexualization of black characters in the media specifically. Then I'm gonna relate it back to Hobie Brown and give a little lecture/stern-talking to at the end.

TW: Mentions of sex and sexuality, stereotypes, some mentions of pedophilia

Hobie Brown is not the only hyper-sexualized black man in the media. Almost every attractive black man from a TV show has been turned into a toy for fan fiction writers, including Prowler Miles/Earth-42 Miles (That's a whole other post). The same thing happens with POC characters like Miguel O'hara.

The hyper-sexualization of black characters has been around since the beginning of the integration of POC characters into the media. However, racist perceptions/stereotypes of African-Americans and other POC people in general have been around for even longer, results of white supremacy and "white man's burden"-based imperialism.

African-Americans specifically have been subject to stereotypes such as "being unable to control themselves" since the 1500s, during which black men in particular were being characterized as almost "animalistic." This translated into stereotypes which are still common today, like the stereotype that black men have more sexual prowess than other races.

Bell & Harris (linked below) find that many of these modern hyper-stereotypical images of Black folks have historically depicted them as violent, involved in criminal activity, deadbeat drunks or drug-addicts, or unable to control themselves sexually, financially, or physically. These images render the Black middle class invisible and reduce Blackness merely to pejorative categories. Such descriptions of Black masculinity are problematic for media consumers and emasculating for Black folks. For media viewers, such images relegate Blacks and/or Blackness to the role of being “the problem” and Whiteness as what is normal, typical, and ideal in comparison. Further, portrayals of Blackness juxtaposed against the backdrop of “Whiteness as the ideal” are problematic. They enable the media to influence how audience members construct and/or “view” members of various cultural communities and impact how traditionally marginalized community members may view themselves.

So in summary:

Black characters are sexualized because of stereotypes that have been around for centuries, results of extreme prejudice and blatant racism, which people continue to spew today. By sexualizing black characters in the media so freely, writers are emasculating their black readers and being casually offensive without even realizing it.

By writing about black characters like they're objects, especially black men, you are disrespecting the image of African-Americans in the media, and harming the media's interpretation of them, which eventually leads to worse stereotypes and worse situations for them to have to deal with.

Now let's specifically talk about Hobie Brown.

Why exactly is he so sexualized on Tumblr? The same reasons listed above. He's an attractive black man, so many fan fiction writers find him fair game to create their stereotypical smut-ridden stories, and completely disregard his entire character.

Despite him having zero romantic interests and not even being displayed as a sexual character, people are automatically assuming that he would have a high sexual prowess and would be very sex-motivated.

Do you see the similarities? Blatant racism.

The stereotype that black men have a higher sexual prowess is translating into Hobie Brown's character, which is why there's so much smut written about him. This is also the reason why there's not as much fluff written about him. Because according to these stereotypes, African-American men don't have emotions. They're so masculine that they would never talk about their feelings. They're sexual toys and nothing else.

Do you see the problem with this?

Now this is all without even addressing the fact that his age isn't confirmed. He could be anywhere from 16-25 years old. I personally think he's a teenager, because of the fact that he hangs out with Gwen and Pav who are canonically 13 and 16, and because he looks like a teenager and acts like a teenager.

Overall, the message of this post is-

The hyper-sexualization of black men in the media has to be addressed. Hobie Brown is only the latest victim of sexual stereotypes and this isn't okay. No character should have their entire storyline, plot and characterization stripped down to their sexuality. It's disgusting.

The writers spent a lot of time and put a lot of effort into Hobie's character. By stripping him down to his looks and his sexuality, you are disrespecting the writers and you are feeding into stereotypes. Don't be a supporter of casual racism. Don't be a supporter of stereotypes. Don't be a supporter of sensualizing characters. Don't be a supporter of casual pedophilia.

Thank you for coming to my Ted Talk. Here's a pretty picture of Hobie.

He looks so done 💀. Me after seeing people continue to write smut about him.

Note: I'm not African-American, so if anything I said needs editing or if any of the stereotypes I mentioned are inaccurate in any way, please reach out to me! I'm trying to be a better writer and any type of feedback would be very helpful <3

Sources:

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=10057104

Bell & Harris:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/17513057.2016.1142598

https://fabulizemag.com/adults-thirsting-over-underage-characters-is-weird/

@ignocubo