#Will it happen? Idk we both work a lot and don't have much money

[thefatfemme]

Lying down at the end of the day is like letting your brain off leash at the dog park 

One minute you're thinking about how fun it would be to spend a weekend at the cute rental cabin on a working farm you saw online, and the next thing you know you're imagining being cross examined in a courtroom about your inability to use Photoshop 

[brehaaorgana]

ADHD money/budgeting system I'm currently using for my benefit is going well (I've been using it for like half a year now?), and I wanna recommend it.

You Need a Budget is EXCELLENT. 10/10 do recommend. Uhhh rambling about it and my generic disclaimers + gushing extensively under the cut but TL;DR I think it's great for ADHD ppl, I've used it for 6+ months now and I find it super SUPER helpful. also weirdly fun.

DISCLAIMERS:

Budgeting helps you understand/know your money, it can't make money appear where there is none.

Everyone should learn to budget even if you don't have much money (especially then)

This is NOT a magic trick solution. Just like everything else, it is an assistive tool. This is one of those adult things we can't simply opt out of without negative consequences, though.

My advice is based on something I am currently able to do. That is, I can spend an amount of money on this specific thing that works well for me. If you have no extra money to spend then previously I was tracking things in a notebook. So you can still do this.

I believe Dave Ramsey is a fundie fraud/hack and no one should listen to him about money.

DID YOU KNOW THEY CANCELLED MINT???

Okay? OKAY.

Ahem.

You Need a Budget is EXCELLENT.

It is called YNAB for short. The first 34 days are your free trial, and that is my referral link. If anyone uses it and then signs up for a subscription, we both get a month free. Also you can share a subscription with up to six people (account owner can see everything but individuals can pick and choose what they share amongst each other) so like...idk your whole polycule can be on one account. Or your kids. Whatever.

If you are a student, it's free for a year. If you aren't, a subscription is $99 for a year (paid all at once) or $14.99 monthly, which is equivalent to paying Amazon prime. Go cancel Prime and get this instead tbh.

They got a whole article just on ynab and ADHD. They also have like...a big variety of ways to access their info? They have a book, podcast episodes, YouTube videos, blog posts, q&A's, free live workshops you can join (you can request live captioning), emails they can send (if you want) a wiki, and so on. They got workshops on all kinds of topics!!

So whatever ends up working for your brain. It also has a matching app.

If you lost Mint this year they have a gajillion things for moving from Mint.

Also they have a "got five minutes?" Page which has a slider so you can decide how much attention/time you have before going on lol:

They only have 4 rules of the budget, they're simple and practical, and it doesn't get judgey or like...mean about your spending.

1. Give every dollar a job 2. Embrace your true expenses 3. Roll with the punches 4. Age your money.

THEN THEY BREAK THESE DOWN INTO SMALL STEPS FOR YOU! They even have a printable! Also these rules are great because there's built in expectations that things WILL HAPPEN and it's NOT all or nothing with a fear of total collapse into failure. Reality and The Plan don't always align, especially if you have ADHD. So it's directing our energy towards the true expenses and not clinging to The Plan!! over reality.

You can automate a lot of shit (you can sync with your bank accounts just like mint, but also automate tagging the categories of regular expenses/transactions). And if for whatever reason you accidentally do something that makes the budget look weird or wrong:

A) you can usually fix it somehow OR b) they have like, a button you can press that gives you a clean slate and archives the previous version of the budget for you.

So if you forget for a few weeks or months, or accidentally input something wildly wrong, or just don't want to look at a really terrible month anymore and feel like you need a fresh start you can usually either fix it or start fresh which is really nice.

The app also (for whatever reason) scratches my itch to have things like...have incentives or little game-like goals in a way mint never did? I don't know why. Filling up the bars or putting money into the categories to cover my expenses is satisfying lmao. You can also make a big wish expense category for all the fun shit you want, and fund it whenever you can and then you can see the little bar go up and that's fun.

Anyways I've been using it for like 6+ months now and I think it's really helped me when I use it.

[tocomplainfriend]

It feels less like you want to address a real life problem to characters, but more like you want to have another of your characters you constantly baby and want others to fangirl over.

TW: Rape, SA, Racism, Stereotyping, Homophobia, Acephobia, Arophobia.

The representations of topics in media DOES affect real people.

Fiction can affect reality.

Let's start easy, Jaws. This goes back to Hazbin I promise.

"Since the release of Jaws in 1975, the world has witnessed a staggering decline of 71% in shark and ray populations, and around 100 million sharks are killed each year." (including multiple practices of mass hunting sharks in competition)

Both Steven Spielberg and the original writer Peter Benchley regret the movie and book. It's a big reason of the shark treatment, when it started by old fishermen worrying about shark biting people in the beaches they made money of.

Even if you aren't a shark killer yourself, a lot of things you believe of sharks are untrue myths that come from making sharks "evil" human killer animals. Sharks cannot smell blood from miles away, that's not even how water works, the particles of blood need to enter their nostrils. Sharks are not man eaters, they attack other prey animals before human. Shark attacks are extremely rare, even if they happen they are not justifiable to kill all sharks.

Sharks actually have personalities they can fit in, they are smart and recognize people and boats- and form positive relationships with people. They can even like getting pet by people.

Other level to represent other thing sin media that affects reality we can address Queer, representation as a topic.

I hope it is not a surprise for you... possible non-straight, non-cis person reading this. That the constant representation of gay man as kid predator is a problem. They used old commercial (PSA) to spread negative views of gay man. Media is used to spread messages and affect its viewer. This is, there are cartoons created by Jehovah witness (or similar religions) to spread their beliefs and teach to their children in an easy, digestible way.

Same with the amount of straight woman that went off to read shitty yaoi manga and fetishy gay wattpad stories, and went to sexualize and diminish queer men. Constantly making gay man's personality into bottom or top (uke and seme shit). I witness this irl, others have too.

Same with shitty men that view Lesbians as a porn machine for men, cause "monkey brain like woman, lesbian = two women". Which happens in general and adult media. All of these are EASY examples.

Another one which turns out many people don't think about. Having your representation of an AroAce character (on purpose or not) be the psychopath with no feelings. Associating the not being romantically or sexually to means you have no heart, to be abnormal, by then a psychopath. An abuse or serial killer.

Fiction does affect reality-

A racist film, 'Birth of the nation' Revived the KKK and let to all the discrimination, and the homicide of black people of centuries ahead.

-

Coming back around, how you treat the topic of SA, and r-pe- affects the real world. You would think someone who wrote that, had in mind on how that affects people in real life. Didn't you want to represent victims of SA/R-pe that are sex workers and male?

Reducing the r-pist, pimp, trafficker character to an air head to treat as silly is crazy to do. Specially as... oh idk... the creator? Both this and the tweet of the voice actor calling Val "Bubbles Coded" is so crazy. The character is also not deep enough by itself, it's pretty much Stupid and a R-pist sex trafficker. The tweet below Viv's fucking kills me too.

The fact Val is shown to be air head stupid doesn't delete he backed Angel (and by being a sex trafficker and a pimp, and him licking charlie that means he has multiple victims) into a corner and under his control. Too then abuse of him in many different ways. Manipulations are not only done by Super mastermind people, and representing it in such way diminished, affects people who have being manipulated and actually try to question if they have being or not. Manipulators can be normal, average people, they usually are not obvious. Even if Val is openly a shitty person that's really obvious, it doesn't detract from him being manipulative to people. The scene where Val threatens him in chains that is manipulation, his text messages are manipulation (even if you think it is too obvious to be successful).

How you represent SA/R-PE, and its perpetrators, do affect real life.

Going around and having your "serious R-pe episode", to then go in other episodes or the other series you are writing to make r-pe/sa jokes is terrible. For the person that directed the whole scene of poison to NOT be r-pe/sa victim (said by themselves) with a r-pe fetish with this character's in specific, to directed in the most graphic way possible is awful. To go around babying your r-pist character is crazy.

Hope you understand that this doesn't mean not treating any topic at all. Creators should be awere on how they treat topics and the scenarios they create with them, too. People and viewers need to also put their brain to understand the media they consume. But you can't always put all blame only on the viewers of a series, if media is messy is a fault of the media. You can criticize both.

You need to acknowledge Valentino is indeed a terrible person, You don't need to delete his actions or the weight of them.

I also just know that a lot of Val fans just like him to draw him in r-pe art and get their fetishized gay ship. Cause that's what they are into. You won't even do that with a woman, because you are into your fucked up fetishized gay porn from wattpad you never left behind.

If you like him, FUCK IT, just please take his abuse seriously. Don't default your entire usage, and view of the character to be 'uwufied' fandom stuff, please.

I hate how the topic has being treated, in and out of the show. I'm a victim, and I'm hurt by how these things are treated and knowing how it affects others. Even in things I haven't watched! Don't make the argument don't like it? Just don't watch it. The movies from the video of SA of men being a joke, many I haven't watch- that still affects over all. It's still a problem and it's disheartening.

Also have this:

[strangebiology]

How Funding Affected my Journalism Jobs

The different places I’ve worked as a journalist, and in related fields, have all had different funding. Here are my experiences at different places–and it seems to me that grant-funded stuff is the best. 

Internship at Nat Geo

Grants sponsored both of the other interns, but not me. Nat Geo makes a lot of its money through things like books at TV.

Mine was low-paid, but probably normal for an internship in 2016? LOVED the experience. Freelance at Nat Geo afterward was MUCH better paid. $14/hour part-time. IDK how much the grant-funded interns made. 2016.

Fellowship at PBS Newshour

A grant from the National Science Foundation funded me, but PBS is state-sponsored media. Interestingly, that’s a huge red flag in China and Russia, but I found the US-funded Public Broadcasting Service very fair to its subjects. Good experience, but even worse pay, at $13/hour full-time. 2016-2017

Job at Newsweek 

Their funding is from clicks. This place was crazy bad and paid garbage. Everyone hated it and almost everyone quit, unless they were being fired for making a living wage. Some people even got fired for accurately reporting on the company itself on assignment from their editors–there was no obscuring it, that was cited as their reason for termitation. Newsweek is Hellfire and damnation. I suspect the nonsense demand for 5 stories/day/person and silly demand that we make them go viral stemmed from the following: the fact that the company primarily made its money from clicks and higher-ups didn’t appear to care about the long-term reputation of the company or its reporters, and perhaps an ego-fueled refusal to try to understand what actually got clicks. $39k/year. 2017-2018

Freelance at VOX 

Funded by clicks/ads and grants at the time, but halfway through they started a contribution campaign. The difference I noticed between VOX and Newsweek was that VOX practices were smarter and they actually paid attention to analytics and sane business practices. Also, it's much easier to qualify for and get grants if you're actually doing good journalism, so I don't believe that Newsweek's policy of "lots of garbage" was actually business-savvy in any way.

Vox was a good experience, even though I wasn’t working as a journalist, but doing SEO/social media for journalists. $35/hour, then $50/hour part-time. Then I was laid off due to the pandemic. 2019-2020

Freelance at Alzheimer's Association 

Remote, not really journalism, but I liked it anyway. Nonprofit, so, funded by donations and grants. $65/hour part-time. 2021

Job at Bay Nature

My job was entirely funded by a grant. Odd situation–I got the grant and I could bring it to any legit journalism employer. Bay Nature was supposed to contribute 40% of my salary but flexibility happened and they just paid health insurance and such. They got basically no money at all from clicks, like, pennies a year. Not much from subscriptions. They have fundraisers, and at the time, there were 3 writers/editors and 2 fundraisers on staff. Later they hired another writer whose entire salary was paid by a philanthropist, and then I’m told they got another salary funded by a UC Berkeley journalism grant program. So, like half of their editorial staff was grant-funded.

Great experience, but low pay for the Bay Area. $50k/year, all from Poynter-Koch, 2021-2022.

Freelance at Politifact

A nonprofit and they probably get lots of grants. My particular position was also funded by a grant entirely. Loved it. $250/article fact check. 2022. 

Book

REALLY love it. $50k is from MIT Press, which is a not-for-profit, and it gets some grants and endowments. Then I got $56k from a grant from the Sloan Foundation on top. 

Future? 

I also got $500 (plus gas and hotels) to attend a day of learning with a program called Investing in Wyoming’s Creative Economy, and that means I’m one of 100 people eligible to apply for 10 $25k grants for future projects. The idea is to support creatives to stay in Wyoming and have sustainable businesses here. Maybe do some art that will bring in tourists. 

_____________________

Note that a grant sort of does, and sort of doesn’t, mean free money. It means money to support a project that usually has to have a mission and a public good, like educating the public. You don’t pay these back, and the org giving the grants doesn’t require a percentage of the profits or anything. But, for instance, the $50k grant from Poynter-Koch was more like a gift to Bay Nature, so they could pay me, and I worked for a year to actually have the funds. 

However, I’m not yet convinced that there is any objectively good funding model to ensure the most fair and accurate journalism. In theory, the capitalistic ones would be the best, but the public desire to read inflammatory stories about how their political enemies are evil, or a different generation is full of idiots, adversely affected the accuracy of headlines at Newsweek IMO.

You might think that the worst funding source would be Poynter-Koch, which is a program run by Poynter and funded by the Charles Koch Institute. But neither Poynter nor Koch even asked me to tell them what I was writing, let alone try to stop me from writing it. (Poynter hosted mentor-led auxiliary groups to talk about our careers/lives and such, so the topics of our articles came up sometimes if we chose to share that.) 

Anyway, I’m thinking of writing an article on how funding models affect journalism, for better and worse. There are some high-profile examples of grant funding causing harm. But for now, the above is my experience–pretty much all good, except not enough funding sometimes. 

[wambsgansshoelaces]

I have a blurb request (or it can be headcanons it’s up to you and it’s totally no rush like take your time ily.) but Youngest Adopted Roy sibling, Tom, and Greg being the trio that everyone thought Kendall, Shiv, and Rome would be. Like you have three underdogs, three people that most would never place bets on just absolutely proving ppl wrong.

honestly idk if I did this the way you were envisioning it but it’s here :0 if you want me to redo it just tell me what you want to change and it’ll happen :P

the first non x reader on my profile, what have you done to me… /lh

thank you for requesting anon, I love uuuuu

word count: 999 (completion and new beginnings!!!)

CEO, COO, MPH

“Fucking move, Gregory.”

“I would if I had space, but I don’t!”

You’re crammed in between the two of them as they bicker. “It’s a small ass elevator, and that’s fine,” you hiss, the elevator finally coming to a halt on the sixtieth floor. The three of you were here on a mission: get them to sell. You were meeting with the heads of a company Logan’s been lusting after, and it was imperative that you got them to fork over their rights.

It’s not that you were so good at your job that Kendall had decided to send you with Tom and Greg, it’s that Logan wants the sellers to think that they’re not taking this seriously. So they send two randoms along with the head of some department at Waystar. You feel oh so important.

Tom smooths his tie down as you walk slowly through the hall. “I know this is all just pretend for Logan, but I’m going to actually try.” He glances back at you. “You help me do the talking. Greg gets to just sit there and look pretty.”

“But I- I have things to say, too,” Greg protests quietly, Tom shouldering open the conference room door.

“Just don’t say anything stupid,” Tom replies quickly before pasting a dazzling smile on his face, turning to the few people gathered in the room. “Gentlemen. How are you, how are you? I haven’t seen you fine folks in a while.”

You and Greg exchange a glance. You nudge him forward into a few handshakes, following suit as the sellers and their lawyers go from Tom, to Greg, to you. You take your seat in between the two, across from all of the other men.

“I don’t think I’ve seen either of you before,” the CEO says, awkwardly smiling. He gestures vaguely in the direction of you and Greg.

“They’re two of my most trusted, and between you and me, my most favorite,” Tom says smoothly.

“I handle all relations, communications, and media,” you supply, keeping your face passively sweet. “I was the one you were emailing with before all of this.”

The CEO’s eyebrows raise in recognition. “Oh, you! I don't know why I didn't recognize your face. I've read all of your work, actually been to all of your press conferences. You're so delightedly and properly educated, unlike your siblings. You were much more pleasant than the first person we spoke to.” He leans in conspiratorially, glancing at Greg when he speaks his next bit. “I know you’re technically both Roys, but Siobhan was less than pleasant to interact with. I don’t know how either of you do it. You don’t understand the relief the lot of us felt when they said we’d be meeting with you all instead. The first sit down we had?” He shakes his head.

“Yeah, uh, they can be intense,” Greg replies, eyes brightening. “Sometimes it feels like I’m in over my head, you know?”

The CEO nods, sighing. “I think we’re all friends here, and friends can be honest.” His eyes flick over the three of you. “And if I’m honest, we’re a little… apprehensive about this entire thing.”

Tom leans forward in his seat, his brow furrowing in concern. “Is it the money? Because I can assure you, the number isn’t the issue.”

The CEO shakes his head, a hand running over his chin. “No, no. The money is… it’s amazing, what can we say?” Polite laughter echoes through the room. “It’s just… the management.”

Tom nods, shifting back into an upright position. “Well, that can be sorted, can’t it? What are we thinking?”

“What was offered to us, Mr. Wambsgans, is that Roman Roy takes over the company from us for whatever number we thought appropriate. We like the money, we just need someone different at the helm.”

Tom hums. “I think for us to rearrange things, we’d have to give you a number. And it’ll probably be much lower than you want it to be, just because of… personnel issues.”

“See, I think the three of you would do a fantastic job, based on how we’ve interacted over the last month.” The CEO leans back in his chair. He points at Tom, then Greg, then you. “I see a CEO, a COO, and a Media and Press Head. At least, ones I’d be happy with handing my company to. And as long as we’re still over the seven figures, as initially agreed, then I suppose the money isn’t an issue.”

“We’ll relay the message,” Greg tells him, smile on his face.

“Ah, I know where I know you from, now!” The CEO’s face lightens. “You’re the fellow that helped out with the shareholder issues we were having back in October! You were a ray of fucking sunlight, I tell you. I thought the shareholders were going to dump us, I have no idea how you did it.”

Greg looks surprised. “Oh, I, uh, didn’t know you knew about that. I was kind of just given the order, and, um, I got involved, yeah.”

“I’m quite glad you did. Well, now I’m sure. I trust the three of you with my life, and I trust the old geezer as far as I can throw him. If he can come to terms with the three of you leading the troops into war, the company’s good as yours. Retirement’s on the horizon, for me…”

The CEO drones on for what feels like several more years, talking about his new young girlfriend and all the things he planned on doing once he’s retired. The vacations he’d take, the people he’d meet… You checked out after twenty minutes.

When you’re finally done and out in the hall, and nobody’s around, Tom pumps his fist in the air. “Fuck yes!”

“Did that just happen? Did we just do that?” Greg asks.

Tom doesn’t respond, just loops an arm around both you and Greg, and hoists you both into the air in victory.

[enhashoutout]

Plot Holes in High and Low We Need to Discuss

@tiredlittlewriter always gassing me up 🤭🫶🏼 @cheshirecatuniverse @mrskenpachizaraki @books-n-guns

Thank you so much everyone tagged for staying up and talking about the movies with me last night😂❤

Trigger warnings before you start reading, this ramble posts contains spoilers for the movies, cuss words, mentions of character d3aths, mention of SA that happens to a character, and other violence and cr!me associated with the H&L franchise. Please don't read if you do not want to see any of these.

Anywaysssas as you can tell by the title of this post and this screenshot, we are talking about plot holes in the High and Low franchise that we need to talk about because they BUG THE SHIT OUT OF ME.

I would like to start by saying that I do love this franchise, it is my everything. It's not like I have anything bad to say about it, I love it as it is, but some of the stuff within the franchise definitely could've been more thought out. It could've been worse! So I am thankful it wasn't bad but there are some things I wish the writing team did a little differently.

Also, I do attribute a lot of the plot holes to 1) the creators not being entirely sure whether or not they would get a green light on more movies, 2) trying to make sure the movies made money (it's a business unfortunately and not just art), and 3) High and Low is a multi-media franchise so some stuff is probably explained in the mangas, TV shows, games, etc. I will contradict myself and discuss this more in detail as we keep going.

These are in no particular order, just what comes to mind first

S.W.O.R.D Era

1)Noboru and Miho's story

I have beef with whoever on the H&L writing team thought that condensing the 2 seasons of Story of S.W.O.R.D into Road to High & Low was a good idea. "It's both seasons condensed into one movie" THAT'S A FUCKIN LIE. So much of what is in the shows is cut out from the movie.

Tell me why I learned here on Tumblr that Noboru actually spent a while in a coma in the hospital after getting body slammed by a Kuryu car? And then Cobra and Yamato had to do the "IF YOU DIE I'M GONNA BE SO MAD AT YOU" speech you always see in Asian dramas to get Noboru to wake up?!

And tell me why I learned from a fanfic on Wattpad that Miho isn't dead?! She literally comes to visit Noboru while he's in the hospital. Road to High & Low frames the situation to make it look like Noboru goes to beat up Miho's SA perpetrators after he finds he d3ad in her apartment. Then when I brought this up a couple weeks ago the Discord besties told me she broke up with him through a letter😭 A LETTER GIRL?! HE WENT THROUGH ALL THAT FOR YOU! IF I WAS YOU I WOULD'VE KEPT HIM. NOBORU. GIVE ME YOUR HAND IN MARRIAGE PLEASE GOOD SIR💍 (I'm completely joking I don't think anyone is entitled to another person's feelings, love, affection, etc. I'm just delusional because I love Noboru and Keita Machida)

Then I learned last night from Discord that Miho needs serious therapy because she was working for Doubt and it was addressed in season 2 of the show. Like HUUUH?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN?!

I do think the storyline between them as a couple and their stories individually definitely could've been explored and explained more. It was probably explained better in the show than RTH&L but I don't have access to the show so idk... which brings me to my first contradiction!

LDH AND EXILE TRIBE PLEASE MAKE YOUR MEDIA MORE ACCESIBLE GOSH. IF YOU DON'T WANT TO SUB IT THAT'S FINE AT LEAST MAKE IT EASIER TO FIND SO THAT WE CAN GET FAN SUBS OR I CAN JUST WATCH THE RAW FOOTAGE AND PRETEND I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. There's so many films like the 2 DTC films, the Mighty Warriors film, the shows, even the manga that a lot of us don't have access to😭 Yes this franchise is multi-media but at least make the media accessible😭

2) Mighty Warriors working with Doubt

In the first and second High & Low movie MW and Doubt work together... AND THAT LITERALLY DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE. Last I checked Mighty Warriors don't fuck with tr@ffickers in general so I don't even know why this happened.

And last I checked, MW rescued Sarah from Doubt so why would they work with Doubt when one of their members was literally a Doubt victim? That just doesn't make sense to me. Like yes the MW tend to just take up whatever whack-ass jobs for money they can get considering they fought with literal children (Oya and Rude Boys. I'm like 99.9% sure the Rude Boys members were all 16-19 and that is the age of children. Smoky might've been 20-22 which is not exactly a child but he's still young compared to the MW who were all mercenaries and in the military before they were musical bandits alluding to the fact they are older) but you would think that people who claim to have a club that is a utopia with music that is supposed to impact people positively and save their lives just like music saved the MW members' lives, they would have more moral and standards than to work with Doubt.... but I digress.

3) The alliance with a foreign mafia

This one I can kind of understand but also can't.

I understand that MW take up whatever job they can to make money. It's said directly multiple times in the movies by a MW member that there is no use doing a job for someone without getting paid so they do a lot of stuff just for the money. I also understand Doubt take whatever job pays them but also benefits their tr@fficking business. Hence why they took this job because not only were they getting paid by Lee who runs the Korean mafia but they could kidnap women in the S.W.O.R.D district which worked in their favor.

What I can't understand though is how this alliance even came to be. Hear me out. MW and Doubt will probably do whatever to get money, but where did the trust come from? Like how did they trust that a foreign mafia of all people would uphold their deal and pay them? Was it because Kohaku was made the front-man/face of the plan? Like did they believe that it would be fine because Kohaku was the one "leading" even though it seemed like Lee was pulling a lot of the strings? DOES KOHAKU EVEN HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO BE PAYING EVERYONE?! I SWEAR EVERY TIME WE SEE HIM THAT MAN IS JUST LAYING ON A SOFA IN A JUNKYARD! WDYM DOUBT AND MIGHTY WARRIORS BELIEVED THIS MAN WAS THE ONE WHO WAS GONNA GIVE THEM MONEY?!

4) Who the fuck are Bulge? And what happened to Kuryu?

In End of Sky, we learn that Bulge are interested in the fight between Doubt, Prison Gang, and White Rascals and would sponsor Prison Gang. That's why the scene where we see Jesse fighting with another prisoner, after he kicks him down the guards tell Jesse that Bulge wants to see him to. This is why Jesse and Prison Gang are released early. When Jesse goes back to Funk Jungle he's asking if Mighty want to join but Ice says that they are gonna focus on promoting Funk Jungle, but like he's a liar they show up at the fight anyways lol.

A the end of Final Mission, the movie closes off with a dramatic shot of Mighty Warriors and a typed out message stating "Hello, everyone. This is Bulge. The takeover plan has begun." We never get an explanation of who they are, what they do, etc. I did learn from Ryu's Wiki Fandom page however that "It is presumed that he and Bulge orchestrated the fall of Kuryu Group. In the music video of the MIghty Warriors' new song "Warriors Anthem", it is revealed that he took over Kuryu as the leader after the events of Final Mission, and having Mighty Warriors occupy the remaining 8 heads of Kuryu."

So who exactly are Bulge? How are they powerful enough to be able to take down all of the original Kuryu members who have been seen as indestructible the whole franchise? Why did they allow Ryu to be the new leader?

After Final Mission, the next media pieces that were released were the DTC show and DTC movie, and then we moved into The Worst era with High&Low: The Worst Episode 0 along with the two Worst movies that followed.

I had made the assumption that around the start of the Worst era the creators probably wanted to integrate more of Jr.Exile into the franchise because of their 1) popularity and 2) new stories. The popularity of Exile members like Hokuto and Kazuma would probably bring in more viewership which does good on the numbers and money side because as I said above, unfortunately this is also a business not just art. The H&L creators probably also needed new stories to follow because they can't keep adding to S.W.O.R.D

Vis said that they think the Mighty Warriors were probably dropped because we haven't seen anything from them since the third movie, but Taiga also brought up how the new Mighty Warriors music video was also dropped right around the time the most recent movie Worst X was released. This probably means they are trying to figure out the story within S.W.O.R.D behind the scenes and it's just taking a while to do the world building. Tired also brought up a good point that considering most of the actors in H&L are also Exile members, they have to also continue their jobs as artists so tours, making music, schedules, etc. are probably also clashing with filming and working on High and Low.

Hopefully that is the case and we see more because I have too many questions and no answers.

5) Wtf happened to Rude Boys, Nameless City, and Nikaido?

If you read my fics, you know that when I write about Nameless City after Smoky's passing, I write about how the Rude Boys, Lala, and Eri go and visit Smoky's grave all the time. About a month ago the besties in the Discord made it known to me that Smoky's gravesite and like 3/4 of Nameless City was completely blown up. I was like 😧when I read those messages because it wasn't even like a head-canon thing I genuinely thought that only a small section of Nameless City was blown up so we were fine BUT APPARENTLY WE AREN'T FINE. So what does this mean for the Nameless City residents?

Did they get government housing to stay in while they got tested for the disease from the pollution? Did the residents get released back into Nameless City after the whole casino project exposure? If they were released back into Nameless City, are they all just cramming into that little 1/4 of Nameless City that wasn't blown up?

What happened to Rude Boys afterwards? Are they all back in Nameless City? Or did they move to a different area? Where would they go though? Little Asia? Did Eri get adopted afterwards? Are they finding ways to make money like how they mined the crystal to get money to rebuild Nameless City? Do they even want to return to Nameless City considering the pollution from the toxic waste was causing the disease that killed their leader?

Wtf happened to Nikaido/Cain? Is he finally happy now that he purged his past? Was purging his past and killing his brother worth it? If Kuryu was overthrown and taken over by Mighty Warriors, what does that mean for Nikaido? Is he working for them? Was purging his past worth anything if he didn't even gain anything from it because MW took over Kuryu? Again, so many questions and no answers😭

6) Give us a more clear timeline

This isn't a plot hole, just something I wish the creators would do is give us a clearer timeline. We're never given any clear timeline of how much time has past between each movie or even how much time is between the S.W.O.R.D and Worst era. I'm always trying to calculate the timeline or everyone's ages based off of the only two characters we get ages for and Noboru's school timeline.

The only two characters in the whole franchise that we get ages for are Chiharu and Seki. At the start of the series we know that Chiharu is 20 because when he joins Sannoh, in the scene at the bar Cobra offers him a drink but takes it back and says "wait but aren't you underaged?" to which Chiharu replies that he is 20 (which is the legal adult age in Japan) and Tettsu makes fun of him for still being in high school as an adult (in good fun of course not in a mean way).

When we first are introduced to Oya, the narrator tells us that Seki is the oldest part-timer student there at age 25.

Noboru, Yamato, and Cobra were high schoolers while Mugen was still active. This is deduced by the scene where Yamato drops Noboru off in front of the school for the day he takes his exam, then when he opens up his college acceptance letter with them. I'm assuming Yamato and Cobra dropped out to be apart of Mugen and take care of their parents' shops. Then, we see when Noboru starts college but doesn't make it super far into his bachelors degree after getting sent to jail. We don't get to see how long he was in jail for, just that he was released early because Kuryu paid to get him out early.

I always use these ages and Noboru's vague school timeline to try and figure out the character's ages and shit but they are just estimates because we never get clear timelines from the creators. Like why couldn't they at least tell us how much time passed between the end of Final Mission and the start of The Worst?!😭anyways.... onto the next thing

The Worst Era (mainly X)

Like I said in the screenshot, The Worst isn't my favorite movie out of the franchise but I think it was the best executed in terms of plot out of all the movies. The plot was clear, very concise, and relatively had no plot holes. (I haven't seen The Worst Episode 0 so if there is something that is missing plot wise please let me know)

It was fun to see the cross with Housen and the themes and messages we got from not only the plot but also from each character were all really good too. It was a solid movie, no complaints.

The Worst X however... I have questions. It's not to say it wasn't good, I still liked it and obviously it was good considering I watched it with no context and it got me into the whole H&L universe, but I feel like it fell a bit short. There was more the writers could've done for not only plot development but character development.

1)How did that 3 school alliance actually even start?

From the movies, it seems like Kohei Amagai is well known as "the annoying son of the Amagai group". Like EVERYONE knows him and knows he throws around money to get people to work for him. And like yeah, we see when he is able to take control of the school with the beige uniforms because Senomon, Kamasaka, and Ebara are quite literally beating the shit out of them, but how did Senomon get Kamasaka and Ebara to cooperate?

I refuse to believe that Amagai was able to get Kamasaka who fight with weapons like brass knuckles and metal rods and Ebara who are all literal gym bros to join his stupid ass plan with just money. As dumb as I think boys are I don't think Reiji, Ghandi, Shoji, Raijin, or Fujin are actually dumb enough to join an alliance for money. Even if this alliance did win and take over Oya, what would they have done with each other afterwards? Those dudes have so much pride we all know that there is NO WAY they would all continue working under Amagai. Amagai is also stupid as hell if he thought he could be at the top without someone from Kamasaka or Ebara trying to overthrow him if he had taken down Oya like Kohei.... be fuckin for real bitch.

I need more of an explanation to this like someone from the H&L writing room please sit down with me and answer my questions so I can publish it in an interview for all of us we need answers.

2) What the fuck is the story behind Todoroki and the dudes from Ebara?

The whole time Fujin and Raijin are running around screaming about how they're gonna crush Todoroki and I literally sit there like

👁️👄👁️Why? No matter how many times I watch the movies because we never get an explanation! Idk was this in the show? Someone please tell me.

And like the scene after Todoroki beats up Fujin and Raijin, Shoji goes "you're different now" and I'm always like "Different? DIFFERENT HOW?! DON'T BE SHY SHARE WITH THE CLASS PLEASE"

Todoroki responds with something along the lines of "now I have friends to protect" which is so wholesome I love that, but what is the detailed history of him and the guys from Ebara? We never get that explained to us. I remember reading somewhere that Todoroki trained hard to beat his bullies and because he got so strong that's why he always tried to fight for the leader position because he believed he could beat Murayama. I also saw a clip on Youtube where when Murayama is fighting with Todoroki, he sees his old self in Todoroki who is being reckless which probably adds to Todoroki's character development.

Did the guys from Ebara bully Todoroki? Were they old friends who fell apart? Did they just have a bad run in when Todoroki was being a little shit and fought but now hold a grudge because they are teenagers with a lot of pride and anger issues and it's not that deep? Idk🤷‍♀️The thing that bugs me is the fact that their feud was added a solid amount to the plot and why Ebara joined then dropped the alliance so I don't know why we didn't get at least a vague explanation of who these characters are to each other.

3) Questions and what I want to see next movie

This obviously isn't plot holes but just some questions I have and what I want to see in the next installments of the franchise.

Why were these high schoolers doing THE FUCKIN MOST to see who was stronger?! The first time I watched I was so confused because why was this movie serious but also so unserious?! They did not need to be doing all that.

Why didn't Amagai get in any trouble for anything?! Is it because he has money?! Like how did this man commit literal crime and everyone was like okei. He literally kidnapped Tsukasa and tortured him for like half a day and 1 night...

How did Tsukasa not die?! The was literally beat over the head with a metal pipe, kidnapped, tied up, tortured, and then dropped from a balcony. I digress, he probably has plot armor as Sun calls it because how did he not die or at least end up in the hospital for a long time.

I want to see the movies circle back to the S.W.O.R.D plotline so it would be really cool if Amagai's little plan was part of a larger plan to break down the peace in S.W.O.R.D. It wouldn't be the first time the adults used kids to push their agenda. Kuryu originally wanted to use Murayama to tear down the peace in S.W.O.R.D because he used to look up to the man who was the head of Iemura but because he chose not to do it, they went after Noboru.

Maybe MW are thriving as the new heads of Kuryu so someone on the outside is trying to take over and Amagai's family is apart of that. Or maybe his family is trying to gain favor from Mighty and are working for them. Idk but it would be cool if we circle back to S.W.O.R.D and see the new Oya characters have to integrate into the S.W.O.R.D world also.

I also want to see a segment of how Rude Boys and Oya adjust to their new leaders.

I want to see what happened to the rest of S.W.O.R.D after the third movie. We saw Oya in The Worst era but what happened to everyone else? Which I also know these are probably kind of far fetched considering the Exile Tribe member who played Rocky is retired from the entertainment industry now... but a girl can dream I guess.

You made it to the end! Thank you so much for taking time out of your day to read this big rant. This wasn't proof read and is kind of everywhere but thank you for reading it anyways! ❤️

[yuri-is-online]

Sooo Tokyo debunker posted on their Twitter about ep 4

FIRST OF IM VERY EXCITED AND ALSO I DIDNT EXPECT A KAITO APPEARANCE

Maybe it’ll have something to do with either

1. Wanting to be human/normal again?

2. Maybe something about what he gave up for his wish/pact

3. His debt with Romeo? (Even though Luca paid for most of it)

Any predictions or hopes for this ep?

Kaito? My silly boy? I suppose I should have expected him to appear given that he is debt to Romeo and while I am glad to see him again... if anything happens to him we will have to blow the whole school up. agreed? agreed.

I think it probably has to do with his debt more than anything, his homescreen lines imply that he's always hard up for cash and not very good at managing his impulse buys, though a lot of it just seems to be from a want to do normal things with friends. He seems genuinely quite lonely. I won't rule out that it has something to do with wanting to be human again, but I think we'll find that a lot of general admission students have been going missing too and they're already human. So the likely answer is just money.

Predictions/Hopes:

We get involved to save Peekaboo because Taiga kidnapped him, probably as collateral for a debt Haru has. If anything happens to him we should be allowed to help Towa destroy their dorm.

Taiga doesn't remember shooting us in the prologue and probably doesn't care too much about it. I'm not too sure what to make of him but his intro line asking if we think he could have done anything different makes me think he could be a bit sweet on MC. Maybe. Sort of. Like eventually. I just hope he's a different flavor of hater than Leo and if I could be truly selfish I would want to see them fight. He gives big "kidnapped by the mafia" energy and as someone who never has touched or wrote any of those fics, I am prepared to enter my watpad era for you guys. I'll just probably start with Floyd because I have been having thoughts.

Tohma will continue being a sneaky slut. Does he have any connections in Sinostra? Does he want them? He mentions a spy in Book 2 and I feel in my spine that he might be suspicious of Haku. I certainly am, his intentions towards the school seem like they could be less than pure, even if he does seem to like MC.

Luca will be acting a fool if Kaito goes missing because protecting his people is important to him, but Jin won't let him do anything.

Leo will continue to cause problems on purpose and it will further strain his relationship with Sho. It will have something to do with Subaru and Hotarubi, possibly as a set up for the fifth book which will probably be about their dorm.

There seems to be a trend of MC's friends from the previous book having some stuff to say and this might be pure fucking crack but does anyone else get the sense that Taiga and Haru could be related? They've got different last names but are both bad with money and the same genre of ginger. Also don't think I've forgotten that Haru was a transfer to Jabberwock, I've got a slight suspicion that transfer was from Sinostra.

While I am doing lines, Obscuary, the dorm that's missing it's other characters right, I think the janitor we and Haru interact with is their dorm leader because he kind of looks like the guy facing away from the camera in the loading screen. Why he's working as a janitor and not wearing his uniform? No clue but Rui does have a line about taking out trash in on of his random campus encounters but again. This is pure speculation on my part. I do think he'll show up again in this book though. Maybe he's another one of Tohma's boy toys idk

[keets-writing-corner]

Hey hey hey so I have a question

You know how in more than anything Lucifer and Charlie sing about not wanting to be pulled apart again, what exactly pulls them apart in the first place?

Do you think it’s just Lucifer’s poor mental health that distances him or do you think there was more at play?

Just to me the phrasing makes it seem like something happened, Y’know. Along with the mental health thing.

well the "again" also implies that they USED to be close, but Charlie also says "they were never really close" so hmm

maybe when she was particularly young it was easier to connect with him cuz all kids like goofy adults and Lucifer would've been no exception, and especially if she was young, it would be something she doesn't directly remember as much (like he might) but does hold vague feelings about that time

as far as what "pulled them apart" I'm not entirely sure. Maybe it could be the mental health as you suggested driving a wedge between them (hard to be present in other people's lives when you're barely present in your own).

Maybe he got wrapped up in hell's bureaucracies all the time as was wrapped up with work (this one I'm less sure about cuz we don't really know how active a roll the general rulers of hell like the sins and the Ars Goetia have in politics, and the only thing we know for sure about Lucifer and Lilith is that they have a rather "hands off approach" when it comes to ruling, so idk if that's referring specifically to actually doing things for the sinners and setting up systems which we know for sure they haven't, or if that's referring to general politics involving hell's other rulers, either way, if it's a "hands off approach" Lucifer probably has a lot more free time than we initially think of distant dads)

I know there's another theory that it's Lilith who kept separating them for one reason or another, and we do directly see that in the flashback itself.

After thinking about all of it hmmm... I'm going to put my money onnnnn the following combination:

A) Lilith was the primary caretaker for whatever reason, most likely due to his mental health but WE DONT KNOW FOR SURE B) Lucifer likely struggled to upkeep and maintain new relationships with people due to his depression, which means being around people he already knows like Lilith is easier, but being around people he's still trying to get to know is harder C) we don't know the circumstances of the split yet, but I'd be willing to guess that it happened WHILE Charlie was growing up. Probably not early childhood, more likely mid-late teens, but if this is true, whatever relationship tensions she and her dad were already having would only grow bigger if Lilith also took Charlie with her and as we know, Lucifer has no idea how to reach out

either way, I'm sure both Lucifer and Charlie are looking forward for a new chance to get to know each other!

[doomreed]

I’m not hyped about the new fantastic four news either. though I think what I kind of hope will happen is marvel doing something like they did in the last mcu spider man movie where we see 3 peter parkers team up.

I think it would be super cool to see the cast from the 2005-2007 fantastic four movie meet with the ones from the newest movie. and have the 2005-2007 Doom (Julian McMahon) meet with the Doom from this upcoming fantastic four film too.

so we have more than one “fantastic four” team and also more than one Victor von Doom in the same movie. that would be pretty epic to see in my humble opinion. (if this really is the case, I still have hope that marvel won’t mess it up, because it sure has the potential to be great.)

I mean marvel did just very recently confirm that all the events prior to the mcu (so… sony’s spider man and fantastic four) are also canon to the mcu, and I doubt they would say that if they didn’t plan to do something with it (they said it after the event of the last spider man movie with 3 peter parkers), especially when mcu is heavily heading towards the direction of multiverse, various timelines, various variants of the same person (character) right now. I mean we basically have 3 peter parkers (from both sony and mcu) and literally a bunch of lokis. so let’s see what’ll happen next.

also not related to the topic but I should just say that I’ve been a fan of your blog for some time now. thank you for all the DoomReed goodies

The only part of the casting I agree with is Ben. It feels like Marvel is playing it extremely safe with casting Pedro, like since Multiverse of Madness they've clearly been aiming for the "soft dad" angle with Reed, probably in an attempt to get ahead of possible complaints about him based on canon? I love Reed Richards to a fault, but he's always been a little bit of an asshole. Not intentionally, and much of that perceived assholeness stems from him being on the spectrum imo but it's there, and ignoring that does him as much a disservice as playing up Tony's alcoholism purely for laughs and then never mentioning it again was to that character--another thing the MCU has done.

The poster, the casting, idk. It radiates a nuclear-family blandness, with a camp overlay used purely for aesthetics that will probably be quite popular with general audiences and leave F4 fans from the comics and old movies and other sources of media quite cold. We are not the audience Marvel Studios wishes to court, they've made that very clear.

I'd love to be wrong about how this will play out, though. Pedro is a gifted character actor when he's allowed to be, the trouble is, studios know too well how much audiences love him as a person, and are too prone to mixing the two to improve audiences' appreciation of a character he's playing, rather than just letting the man cook. 😔

I don't have a firm opinion of the other cast other than: this will be the most money anyone named Kirby has ever made on Fantastic Four, so good on her. 👍 And the Ben casting feels right. I'm outside the Johnny demographic so no real opinion there.

I had read that the baddie for the first movie will be Galactus, which is like leading your football season with the Superbowl? But no one asked me, so... 😅 maybe they have a set up that will make that work, who can say.

I've also read (on reddit, so make of that what you will) that Doom will have a "cameo" in the first movie, but no clue what that means or even of it's true.

I like your idea a lot. I think the Deadpool & Wolverine movie will have a Fantastic Four cameo of some kind, probably. The comic book we see in the trailer next to Wade's head on the desert world is Secret Wars #5, which is a recap of the story so far and how everyone got to where they are--so it's possible the desert world they're all on is Battleworld, run either by future-verse Doom or (more likely) the Beyonder. I do think the movie will include them in some way bc the studio will want to start building hype for that as their next big project, going into the MCU version of Secret Wars.

And ofc SW will have crossovers galore, since Marvel Studios has unfortunately set audience expectations for that being what it's about 😅 so, worst case, they'll turn up between those two films no doubt.

I'd love to see Julian McMahon's Doom encounter a closer-to-comic-canon version, but a thing to know about Victor is that he kills every variant of himself he meets. Like, historically, that's just his thing (it's an expression of his own self-loathing, which is really tragic in a way) ...I dunno if the MCU will carry that fun little trait over, but as a writer I can say it's an easy, low-stakes way of showing "this character is a bad guy and also there is something very wrong with him" so... yanno. I am expecting it. 😁

Sorry for the negativity on this, I'm trying to stay upbeat about it all but so far they're not inspiring confidence yet. We'll see what future developments bring, if nothing else we'll always have fanart and fics and the comics themselves. It's not like this fandom hasn't dealt with bad adaptations before, I think we'll be alright whatever happens.

[mrmallard]

So with my James Somerton post yesterday, I expressed how miserable it all made me feel. The constant plagiarism and the weaponization of his fanbase is such a fucked up thing, especially now we know that he was covering for his own wrongdoing by harassing people who came across it. HBomberGuy seemed pretty miserable by the end; he made a pertinent point about how many people were overshadowed by Somerton's actions, and the lengths he took to steal their hard work and pass it off as his own. For a man who claimed to care so much about the erasure of queer men through history, he did a lot of fucking erasure of his own, including against gay men and their contributions to culture. It's a really fucked up and depressing thing. I don't have the heart to meme about it.

That's not me going "memeing about James Somerton is bad, think of the victims!" - that's just me describing my own perspective. I already feel like I have the weight of the world on my shoulders. I don't need to steep myself in all that right now - but anyone else can meme away.

The main concern I have after seeing that video and hearing about everything that's happened is how to rebuild. There's been a great wrong committed. How do we try to fix that and make it right? I think it was good for HBomberGuy to not only split his ad revenue proportionally between the victims of everyone's plagiarism, but to highlight other queer youtubers - some of them victims of Somerton's theft, others not. Personally, I'd like to do that too, because I really like their work and it's something I can do to try and make a tangible difference.

For my money, I want to highlight Alexander Avila, Lola Sebastian and Kat Blaque. Much like what I saw of Somerton's output, I saw them mostly through third-party apps with pop-up windows on touchscreen devices (Pi Music Player, and then NewPipe).

---

I think the first Alex Avila video I saw was "Why Can't Celebrities Queerbait?". To my recollection, it was a video that began with some recent news about a young actor who was criticized for playing a gay character in a TV show, to the point of being bullied into coming out as bisexual before he was ready. Another example was the woman who wrote the novel that "Love, Simon" was based on, which has an unfortunate overlap with James Somerton's wrongdoings.

The core of the video is about the misuse of "queerbaiting" to refer to a celebrity "appropriating" queerness, when queerbaiting is a media term for when a queer ship is dangled in front of a receptive audience only to be yanked back to keep the audience hungry for more. And Alex gives examples of this, the largest example being Teen Wolf. It's an extremely well-made video, and I thought Alex made a great point about how you really don't know a person's sexuality until they spell it out themselves. It's been a while and I might be misremembering this, so take this with a grain of salt, but I also remember a point about how bullying people out of the closet isn't the diversity win that some people think it is.

He also has an incredible video about how he was a transgender child, growing up into a transgender man. idk if this is a weird thing to say, but it's an absolute must-watch video. The video he released after that is another really good one, it's the one that HBomberGuy pointed out - it's called "TikTok Gave Me Autism: the Politics of Self-Diagnosis", and it's an incredible, poignant video that taught me a lot about the continuing stigma towards neurodivergency and the backlash against both neurodivergency and self-diagnosis through a proxy backlash towards modern social media.

Apparently, becoming a New Zealand citizen is next to impossible if you have an autism diagnosis - I had no idea. My plan was always to try and move to NZ if Australia goes to shit; given my own suspicions about my neurological state, pursuing that could end up turning all my plans to shit.

Another great video essay YouTuber is Lola Sebastian. The first video I saw of hers was a video called "The Absurd Horror of Marge Simpson". I didn't really like it, it's got a lot of like avant-garde bits, but it was good background noise for playing Runescape and it led to me finding a much bigger body of work which I really enjoyed.

She had a video called Problematic Fans which is unlisted now, it's been too long since I've seen it but I remember liking it. I've seen her video about Call Me By Your Name multiple times, it's an incredible breakdown of that movie as well as the stuff about Armie Hammer. More recently, I really enjoyed her video about Bones and All, juxtaposed by the backlash to Twilight's "softening of vampires for the sake of trite romanticism" in its heyday. It does break down Twilight, including its exploitation of the Quileute people, while also discussing a recent movie called Bones and All - a movie that's been review-bombed for, allegedly, being "Twilight but with cannibals". This video is probably the only video I've seen in years that's made me actually want to seek out and watch a movie.

I haven't seen a lot of Kat Blaque's videos lately. I did recently see her breaking down that SunnyV2 video basically shaming MrBeast's transgender friend and saying that MrBeast is gonna fail unless Chris quits the YouTube channel. What I remember the most about her is that she's got a few storytime videos about her dating life, and looking at her channel she does a lot of topical videos about media, the internet and queer issues.

I remember liking Kat Blaque's storytime videos for being personal and open, and she talks about stuff like misogynoir and her experiences as a black trans woman. This isn't a perspective I see often, not as a white Australian guy in my real life or in a broader community of video essayists. Her videos seem to be about half an hour on average, at least her more recent videos - definitely check out her videos and see if you like them, they're a good length and I think she has a lot to say. I'm just sorry I can't go into more detail.

---

My mental health is pretty bad rn. I was running on fumes yesterday and watching over four hours of video content about YouTube plagiarism and James Somerton specifically really fried my brain in a way that I really didn't need. Me saying "I can't deal with the drama behind James Somerton" and all that isn't like a Moral Stance against what's happening - I'm just at my wit's end with everything in the world right now, I don't need to immerse myself in all that right now.

But I've seen what happened, and all that is a part of me now. Probably a very unhealthy way to feel, but I've dipped my toe into it all and this is the conclusion I took away from it.

I don't want to be a part of the cancelling or the tearing down. Does James Somerton deserve backlash, to the point of losing his following? Based on what we've seen, and what I personally believe about the situation, yes. But that side of things isn't my scene. I want to help repair the damage and rebuild what's been lost in the wake of everything that's happened.

And I want to express that while James Somerton, his rampant theft and the negative effects of his actions are trending right now, I think that people who are currently focusing on tearing James Somerton down for what he did should consider joining the effort of building up a base for his victims and for other queer YouTubers - if they haven't already.

Do you have to follow Alex Avila because James Somerton ripped him off, no. Is it recompense for what happened with Somerton, probably not. But I'm recommending Alex Avila because his YouTube videos are really fucking good. I'm recommending the youtubers I recommended because I really like their videos. For any tearing down that's happening right now, I want to rebuild something more positive in its place.

I want people to watch videos like Alexander Avila's video about the politics of self-diagnosis, I want them to see Lola Sebastian's video about Bones and All. I want them to enjoy Kat Blaque's storytime content and - like myself after I finish this post - watch her most recent videos and see how they like them. If you enjoy video essay content, these three channels make really good videos, as do the other YouTubers who HBomberGuy recommended at the end of the video. I want any of my own input in this ugliness, at least past the point that I've already commented, to go towards building people up.

So consider checking out Alexander Avila, Lola Sebastian and Kat Blaque. Also consider checking out Princess Weekes, apologies for the late entry but she does some great videos about media and fandom. Their videos are a great way to fill in the time, and after the dust has settled, I hope they get a bit of a boost in attention if nothing else.

[yonpote]

under cut cuz i talk too much lol

i am not blaming dan or anything (and obviously this has been a joke in lgbt spaces for forever) but i do think he unintentionally enabled the like "homophobia is a good thing actually" type jokes and like i definitely make them too, and im always seeing jokes on here like "god why are they Like This" etc. but i think some people just dont know the line or view them so much as friends that they don't think about how it could read differently from someone who is essentially a stranger. ive said smth similar before of like, dnp (ESP DAN...) used to be not great at drawing boundaries esp since youtube and social media culture were so different back then, but now even when they draw hard lines ppl either continue to step right over them, or dont understand exactly where the line goes. they dont care if u write smut or dead dove fics, they dont care if u make shippy fanart, but like maybe dont tag them in buttsecks? (or maybe do, idk theyre being so unhinged lately maybe we gotta start @'ing them in catboy porn (JOKING))

i was talking w a friend a little bit ago about the exact differences between the generally speaking philosophies between older fans and younger fans. it seems that older fans embrace creating transformative works and having their own interpretations on who dnp are, whereas younger fans want to know dnp on a personal level and want dnp to know Them and recognize them not just as fans but as people. and OFC there are older phannies who want the parasocial interaction and younger phannies who write fic and people who do neither, and people who do both! (hi :3) but then some people have a difficult time being able to marry the two ideas maybe?

heres the truth. dan and phil are real human beings who have made a career largely off their shared dynamic together, BOTH because they genuinely enjoy creating and being together AND because a lot of people really get invested in it and it makes them more money. they don't mind fic or art, you probably SHOULDNT tag them in the saucy stuff, but they know it's out there and generally have been respectful of fan spaces and knowing where OUR boundaries lie (altho maybe the line was toed w the roblox video but thats debatable.) they really do care about their audience both in order to please us and keep us coming back, AND because they see how much theyve affected us as people and have a deep *Sarapocial Relationship with us.

there are both parasocial AND tranformative ways to break boundaries, and oftentimes they can be one and the same. they aren't our friends they arent our dads and they arent objects with no feelings. they don't stalk our accounts but they are still able to see whatever we post publicly. theyve seen so many horrible things and have had many horrible things happen to them, and while no one can be certain something like that won't happen again, now that they have been able to be more honest with us about a lot of things they are able to trust us a little bit more.

anyway ramble over back to me talking abt how dan should embrace their transness

[btr-rewatch]

Big Time Rush Season 1, Episode 14: “Big Time Dance”

Highlights: Lots of weirdness happening as the guys set up the first annual Palm Woods School Dance. Also, the first appearance of our friend Fabio!

It's the end of the year, and finals week is wrapping up at the Palm Woods School. After announcing the upcoming, notoriously boring class party, BTR suggests that they have a dance. A real one, with music and dates and NOT Bitters making awful balloon animals. Mrs. Collins agrees, but there are a few small obstacles to overcome first, such as the fact that they need to find chaperones, come up with a theme and decorations, get food, and find a place to hold the dance by that night. Oh, and there's no money available to spend on it.

The boys will find a way to pull it off, though.

Btw, this classroom is absolutely ridiculous. Those desks are packed together so tightly that I'm almost certain it's against both room occupancy regulations and fire code.

Look at that tiny sliver of space between Kendall's and James's desks. If there was an emergency, none of these kids would be able to promptly and safely evacuate without stumbling over desks and backpacks. They'd probably end up trampling each other. So many violations happening in this room. There's no way this classroom setup is legal.

After school ends, the guys get to work planning the dance. Jo is happy when she spots Kendall approaching, as she naturally assumes that he's going to ask her to be his date. Though, if you recall "Big Time Party," you know that his approach to inviting Jo in that episode involved asking her to be his, "guest, friend, person-thing." Quite frankly, Jo's hopes shouldn't be so high.

Somehow, Kendall manages to do an even worse job this time around and simply tells Jo to get snacks and sodas for the dance. Jo's reaction is understandable.

She's trying so hard to remember why she has a crush on this guy.

After being told by Bitters that they can't have the dance at the Palm Woods, Logan does some quick research and finds them a great deal at a warehouse in L.A.'s "Murder District." (they decide to pass on this deal)

Surprisingly, Gustavo says they can have the dance at Rocque Records under the condition that they perform at it. They agree, then run off to find dates. Well, James, Carlos, and Logan do. Kendall tries to be responsible and wants to find chaperones. Carlos strikes out with each of the Jennifers, then heads to the park to ask any other girls he can find. James decides to help Logan ask out Camille.

He also mentions that Camille's a good choice because she isn't his (James's) type, and can I just say that I kind of disagree with that? In fact, Camille might be the most compatible girl for James in terms of the recurring female characters we see on the show. She's just as high-maintenance, emotional, and passionate as he is, and I think they could have had an interesting relationship.

Or maybe they're too much alike and would have ended up killing each other. Idk.

Logan musters up every ounce of confidence he has within him and manages to do this

Commendable attempt, Logie.

Over in 2J, Mrs. Knight agrees to chaperone the dance, then loses her cool and promptly flees the scene when Katie suggests she should find a date to bring. Kendall asks when the last time was that their mother went on a date, and Katie says when she was three.

Not gonna delve TOO deeply into the Knight family headcanons, but for Mama Knight to have been in the dating world when Katie was that young, it means Mr. Knight had been out of the picture for quite some time already. Probably just after (or even a little before) Katie was born?

Meanwhile, Carlos is at the park, looking at girls through binoculars like a weirdo.

The Jennifers approach and tell him that they want to be his date to the dance. Except they don't want him to go as himself. Instead, they've all prepared alternate personalities that he must embody and rotate through during the night. Very normal behavior.

Gonna skim over some stuff because this episode has so many different storylines going on at once, but basically: Carlos is roped into being three difference people at the dance, James keeps inadvertently inviting random girls to be his date while trying to help Logan, and Logan manages to ask Camille out with the aid of cue cards, but she turns him down because she doesn't want his invitation to be coached.

Additionally, Kendall and Katie are struggling to find their mom a date. After almost setting her up with Bitters and bombarding her with a plethora of attention from a horde of handsome doctors, she tells them she'll only go on a date with the man who is on the cover of one of her romance novels. Of course, she does this assuming it'll be an impossible task for them, but nothing is impossible for Kendall and Katie.

They're adorable and I love them so much

They head down to the lobby to use the computer to track down Fabio (Kendall doesn't have his own laptop??) and I can't get over the way Kendall just shoves the guy already seated at the computer out of the way.

This is some First Episode Kendall behavior, honestly.

They manage to get in touch with Fabio, hold him hostage in the bathroom, and convince him to go out with their mom. Kendall also fumbles another opportunity to ask Jo to the dance, and Logan faces several other failures trying to ask Camille.

We go the dance later that night, where Carlos quickly crumbles under the pressure of being three different guys and ends up with Stephanie. I always really liked her btw, and I wish she would have stayed on the show as Carlos's long-term girlfriend. They were cute together.

Logan finally finds success in asking Camille to be his date.

Kendall finds Jo and asks her to dance, but Jo is still upset at the fact that Kendall never actually invited her to be his date. Kendall replies that he didn't ask because he just assumed they were already together. It's sweet, but I think these two need to work on their communication skills.

The guys perform "Stuck" (great song), James gets chased by the angry mob of girls he accidentally asked out over the course of the day, and we close the episode with everyone having fun on the dance floor.

Cannot believe so many shenanigans unfolded over the course of just a handful of hours. I wonder if time doesn't progress in the same way in the BTR universe as it does in the Real World. I mean, as it is, their world is barely governed by the same rules and basic scientific principles as our own is. Impossible scenarios are just everyday occurances to them, and absolutely absurd happenings don't even make them blink.

Honestly, the world of BTR is a scary one. Gustavo's marketing team shock-tests people for research. Sexist coffee makers try to murder you with foam. Doctor Hollywood is out there actually giving people medical advice. Children are packed in school rooms like sardines, with no hope of escape if a fiery inferno consumes the building.

Well...anyway! Silly episode! See you next time :)

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

Okay, first sorry for presuming you didn't work with children - the way you talked about them at first was really oversimplificated, easy to misunderstand.

About "using Third Wolrd countries as props", sometimes they pop in the middle of an argument out of the blue and with no nuance at all. Like "don't eat quinoa, eat meat!" - we export meat and the contidions of workers in slaughterhouses are AWFUL too. We plant too much things to export (both for animal feeding and people), and for the exchange farmers don't plant local crops anymore, prices rise, and stuff. Not to mention mineration. Almost everything produced here, specially most brute products, come from exploitaition. I don't think individual buyers interfere much, maybe organized though.

Or the parrot thing. Shelters here are full too, to the point of workers saying "please find a new home for this lost bird yourself." (Happened to a co-worker that found a lost, absolutely healthy, and clearly imprinted parrot).

And to be honesty the discourse of "undomable parrots" "the WILD!" sounds also fetishing to me. You see? It is still a open question. You say what you want about husbandry, but how *we* feel is still open. What Europeans did to parrots is fact, what we make from it? It's *our* turn to discuss and decide.

These are just random ideas. Idk how you will receive them.

Also, I'm amused by the idea that some comments threw "imagine until they know about unicorns or dragons" or "they are adad". I'm totally for imagination, and if I made understand I'm against it I'm sorry. I'm not *against* whatever dino toys, I just *wish* we had more variety than JP bootlegs, including pleasant and accurate critters.

What I will say to you is that my response to parrots is very US-centric because that is where I live and have experience and knowledge about the exotic pet trade on a first hand level and because that is what OP specified they were speaking on in the first place.

I am not speaking for your country because I have not lived there and you haven’t disclosed which country you reside in meaning I can’t give any assumption to what the situation is there.

The state of parrots in the pet trade in the US is that anyone can buy as many parrots of whatever species they want as long as they pay a lot of money to the seller. The seller very rarely does any kind of background check to ensure the buyer even knows what they’re doing or what the bird eats, they take money and they give bird. There is often no way to verify that the parrots were bred for health and good temperament, or even that they weren’t bred to parents or siblings. There is often very little transparency about what methods they were imprinted with, there are several types of imprinting and some result in a nightmare bird and others result in a very calm bird.

Because you can profit off of selling large quantities of parrots with unique patterns or colors, there are a lot of people breeding them in unethical ways to do so cheaply while selling at the highest possible price. This, much like the human labor and land exploitations you’re referring to, are just the end result of capitalism. Rich white countries like things cheap and convenient so they imperialize and leech off of countries they intentionally sabotage financially so they have to stay in line.

Because of the mindset Americans have towards convenience and instant gratification, they go to a store, see a parrot, buy a tiny cage, and bring the parrot home with a bell toy, dowel perch, and just whatever bag of generic “parrot food” they happened to grab on the way out. Then the parrot is loud or bites or never talks so they cover it with a sheet, release it into their backyard, or force it onto an already overcrowded rescue.

Every type of parrot has unique needs, but they at the very least should be able to fly, have others of their species to interact with, and bonding activities that don’t frustrate or upset the bird. So many parrots in the pet trade here have never actually felt the sunlight aside from through a window. So many parrot cages are designed in ways that lead to damaged feathers. So many parrot cages have no room for the bird to stretch their wings or even have a private place to hide.

My stance on parrots is at the bare minimum people should have to go through a similar process falconers have to go through before getting their first raptor. Falconers here must build an enclosure that meets guidelines approved by the state department of wildlife, they must pass an exam regarding the natural history, husbandry, equipment, and training of the animal. They must study under a master falconer for two years before becoming fully independent in the sport. If we held people to this standard and required it before they could buy a parrot, I would have far less complaints I’m sure. But that isn’t the case. Every parrot I’ve worked with was a rescue, and every one of their stories was heartbreaking. Yes, true, people will neglect any given animal because people can be cruel, but the vast majority of parrot owners are still keeping them in terrible caging, still keeping them all by themselves, and it’s still greatly encouraged to breed more and more which just gets parrots killed or dumped at a rescue.

[moonahstone]

(ignore the fact I straight up forgot I had tumblr and pretend I don't disapear regularly)

You've seen the season 5 trailer, I've seen the season 5 trailer, you know my brain is instinctively rotting with no regard to my own health so lets cut to the chase on a run down of said trailer and what the hell I think is going on in it!! Plz excuse the low quality images and if you don't want to see anything from the trailer do not open this next part <3

Something big is coming. Initially my mind went to potential kid at button house but the rest of the trailer kind of had me leaning elsewhere to the idea of them having to move? I'll go into more detail but either or of them feel like they could fit for "life changing" as both having a kid and moving houses are massive steps in life. I'm kind of hoping for the former because there could be a really cute story line there but also the latter is where I'm placing most my bets.

BARCLEY! MY LEAST FAVOURITE AND FAVOURITE GUY AT THE EXACT SAME TIME! I HATE EVERYTHING HE DOES IN A GOOD WAY! No but seriously, Maybe something happens to him and he sees ghosts? Or maybe he just goes snooping a little too much and gets trapped. If so I'd love it if the ghosts tried to mess with him to get him out and we could get a little Jemima back! Though I'm not sure how old her actress is now so it might now work :|

U good Thomas?

I'm feeling like if Cap's backstory is explored here this could be Pat picking fun at him a little on something related to said backstory? Not necessarily but something along those lines. There isn't a lot of context attached to this but I'm kind of hoping it's something like that. It could be nothing though, this line could have been in any season and I would believe you, it is a very them moment. Maybe though its a little exploration of the Cap's sexuality though? I don't personally think he needs one, I think it's better as it is, making it clear that a LGBT character doesn't need to have a whole coming out scene or anything like that to make them valid, more characters who are gay rather than gay characters. I think I've ranted about that before though and how Cap is the kind of rep I want. If it is something like that though, I don't mind, I still love a good bit of rep!

I mean it is what it says on the tin. They are being investigated for the claims regarding the fire. Thus triggers various theories for me, mostly surrounding the fact that that will not go in their favour and will cause financial difficulty but whatever, these claims will control and be the main plot of this series, like how running the guest house was a focus of series 4.

Not entirely sure? Maybe something associated with the previous thing of the fire but whatever it is if it is to do with the fire then maybe some sort of lawsuit is placed against them? MAybe it's assumed that they started the fire on purpose to claim off of it and they're forced to gather money to pay back some kind of fine? I'm not sure of those legalities but it could work and could lead to an ending of them being forced to leave for financial difficulties. On that maybe it's to do with the loans from season 1 that Mike took out and they simply ran short of cash for paying it back. Regardless, it wouldn't be so significant in the trailer if it wasn't important for the series (probably)

... I'm not happy about this but also I am. The clothes, the room dress, this just is a Kitty flashback. Hey maybe it could be Thomas but it couldn't be anyone later. I don't know when the pineapple became more popularised but everyone's shocked, Kitty was shocked at the concept of a pineapple in earlier seasons and just look at what she is wearing. Whatever episode this is in, this has to be the episode where we find out how Kitty dies.

IDK BUT LOOK AT THIS INCREADIBLE SCREENSHOT I TOOK HE LOOKS DEMONIC

Same to the Kitty point. This has got to be Cap dying. Even if it isn't it's a little bit of backstory because he has his lil hat on! I can't read the signs so I am likely missing a huge context lump but the sumary of it's his backstory stuff I think covers the most part. This too will likely shatter my entire soul

Oh boy that's gonna be a stinger. It looks like older decor in a way so could be a flashback to when older ghosts and Robins friends got sucked off (chance for a little Mary appearance??? PLeaSE) but also the floor (maybe because of the low quality) looks kind of dusty and leafy which likely means nothing but to me it associates with the current disrepair Button house is supposed to be in? That is likely (and hopefully) me reading too much into things but if so, I'm going to bawl either way. Regardless, we will see someone else move on, mostly clear due to what Robin was saying over the top (Something like "There is battle to when one of us go whoomf")

Maybe about Alison and Mike leaving? He's trying to lighten the mood? Or talking about peoples deaths? I know lots of people have said Caps death is probably going to be something very silly and if so this would be a likely appropriate response. Or its him talking about his own death and is one of those things trailers do to make them more editable for adverts as it is the last season, going out with a bang is an appropriate little phrase for them to snip in.

I'm absolutely stuck on this theory that Alison and Mike will be forced to leave Button house at this point, hence Kitty's reaction which would be pretty appropriate, 'nough said.

This feels significant. Like REALLLLLY significant and I can't figure out why. Maybe the framing? I have no clue but currently thinking if it is forced to leave, they had until midnight on a specific day to pay money or if not, maybe the time that the captain died? Maybe he died after being attacked or something while wandering around Button house at midnight and Alison finds out after finding him sleepwalking around the house which he has always done but she's never noticed before. Like how Fanny always throws herself out the window. It would work as well because of the time difference as that clock I believe is about 4 hours behind so if he died at midnight then he'd be walking around at about 4 which would be a bit late for people to be up (ordinarily)

Nothing really to add, just reiterating that they all look pretty crushed and defeated in this screenshot - throwing hands at one theory AGAIN

Sorry for how long this was but in summary: I think the gate house burning will cause massive financial problems for Alison and Mike and they will spend the entire season trying to fix these problem but be unsuccessful. We know how heart-breaking this show can be after all. It would lead to a very tragic but very round ending where Alison and Mike are forced to leave via financial difficulties and they are forced to say goodbye to the ghosts and there could be a heart-breaking scene as they pull away and the ghosts run after the car like children following their parents down the road. The though crushes me a little but I feel like the most logical ending is that they have to leave. If that is how it ends though I think the last line should go to Julian awkwardly standing there as everyone's sobbing and he just kind of goes "... Now what?" I don't know why, I just think it would be funny :D

[thesherrinfordfacility]

i can't wait until more time has passed and our emotions have settled and we are able to properly analize this season because i am THE MOST CURIOUS what your idea of a satisfying ending is to this story, taking into account that Neil has answered that he has plotted season 3 in a way for it to be satisfying, and i mean that from both the second coming storyline and, most important for my emotional health, the husbands' romantic storyline

*cracks knuckles* let's do this @swansdreaming✨

tbh, and y'all might come for me on this, the satisfying ending to me won't be a full on Everything Is Okay Now and We're Loving Happily Ever After. aside from the fact that im not sure that's GO-style in the first place, i think that there would need to be a LOT of ground to make up in six episodes to reach that point.

neil has said that they get a cottage in the south downs iirc (can't remember exactly how he worded it), and that i could see happening. i could see literally the end scene being that they have a slightly awkward but genuine, all-cards-have-already-been-laid-bare but i-do-love-you-please-never-doubt-that dinner at the Ritz (bc of course), and aziraphale - harking back to the Nothing Lasts Forever moment - decides to sell the shop, to begin again together rather than separately, on equal footing, and put the money into the cottage. gives crowley the listing, with something along the lines of, "we could start building forever here."

and i think leaving it somewhat there, and open to the interpretation of the audience, would be the most genuine thing that could happen. that's thousands of years of hurt compounded into a season, and it'll take some time to get over... so it'll need to be left slightly open ended, maybe with crowley just saying, "yeah... that could work.", and maybe another fond look over the champagne or something.

i toyed with the idea that if they somehow come face to face with Her, that they might be given the choice to become human... and they both actively choose to a) decide together, for their side, and b) ultimately refuse, because they both want that forever to literally be for eternity. they're earth's guardians, after all.

heaven and hell will still exist but be in equal balance, possibly not even really having changed much at all... just that post-war, they are under new management with the promise that things will Change... but it won't ultimately matter to either of the boys because they have something more important to them than whatever heaven/hell get up to... not everything can have a happy ending.

so that's the emotional side done - tbh i have no idea re: the second coming, because other than the pretty obvious (to me anyway) indication that it's greasy johnson, we don't have a lot to go on... metatron will have died or st idk, plans to thwart the Ineffable Plan in turn thwarted, and everything calmly exists in balance once again.

so no idea on the second coming, but maybe the bits on our boys will tide you over?✨💓💓

[redhead1180]

Idk if you have noticed this or it’s just me but season one Rudy ( bts and interviews) he seems so carefree and goofy and idk if it’s because now he’s older or because he’s with Elaine or both but he doesn’t seem so carefree anymore . The footage of him and Madison like it’s so cold how he walks away or won’t look at her. Then he usher to allow fans to hug him or whatever and now I saw a thing where a fan tried to hug him or did hug him and he seemed to allow it before quickly telling them no and Elaine is seen behind him . Yes I understand some fans don’t understand personal space and they shouldn’t be appeased but it just seems to me at least he used to be different and he’s changed . I don’t happen to care for Elaine so I think she’s controlling and he for whatever reason is allowing it . Anyway your thoughts ?

O boy, y'all are trying to get me in trouble. But here is my opinion. Again this is my opinion only, we will never know the truth probably. I am not here for bullying Elaine or anything. That's not cool and, honestly, above all I hope Rudy is happy.

We only see a little bit and not their whole life, but I can't help but see some red flags. He never is seen with the cast anymore, like she is isolating him. Again that may be his choice, but it is odd, considering how much time they all used to spend together. He is only ever with her, like they have no interest or friends separately.

He doesn't seem to be as goofy bts as used to be, but that could be maturity and he has done other works and maybe is more serious. But yea we don't see the fun loving, goofy Rudy and I do miss it. Now the way he acts with Madison, well I will die on this hill, something happened around the time Madison unfollowed Elaine. Couldn't tell you what happened and I am not going to speculate, but something did. So honestly I think that is why. We will never know, but I would bet money on it.

Now I do see him usually letting fans take pics with him, he did a lot in Morocco. But in his defense, a bunch of fans running up on me would put my defenses up, maybe even scare me. So I can't fault him for that. He is still is a person at the end of the day. But it is WELL documented she is not happy most of the time. She does pull him away from fans, she does get huffy, and I have heard her say no pics on videos people have got of them. I see people talk about him being shy, he is a bit in interviews, but as a whole in s1 bts, I saw NO shyness.

There is no doubt that Elaine has been problematic and I don't like her. Rudy's personality seemed to change once he got with her and like it is questionable on some of those changes. She does appear controlling and has him on a tight lease, which I don't consider healthy. But we are on the outside looking in. Because from all appearances Rudy seems to be a really sweet boyfriend. Yea it makes me want to vomit, but he always stands up for her, shows he loves her, and definitely spoils her. Maybe she just has really bad jealousy issues. I mean if I had him as my man it would be hard to not get jealous, but I would never come between his fans and his work. She definitely has done that.

Anyway this got really long and I am probably going to get some hate for it, but thats my honest opinion. Please remember its an opinion, we have them just like we have assholes.