#and all your media will be owned by Disney

[bulbabutt]

no offence to people who genuinely enjoyed james somerton and feel cheated but you could kind of tell he didnt give a shit about anything he ever said. there was no passion or personable anecdotes in anything he ever made, and the fact he was constantly posting videos was crazy. like if you watch your more popular video essayists theyre always coming from a point of 1) education in a field 2) passion in a subject and 3) being open about themselves

like , this man hopped on the video essay train because of the popularity of his peers and just tokened himself into "the gay video essayist" as if so many other people werent already doing that? and the lack of care for intersectionality was obvious. i stopped ever watching him after he took it personally that some marvel show was about black exploitation in america and not about two men kissing each other, cuz it became abundantly clear that was the only experience he gave a shit about (his own)

[weaponsdrawn]

do you think theres anything to actually look forward to anymore /genq

[pebblezone]

Living life yay huzzah yay

[vulcanhello]

anyone trying to argue fanfic is inherently better than the films, books, and other stories they originate from i just KNOW doesn’t actually watch movies or read or engage with anything outside their favorite ao3 tags

[snekdood]

ppl on here act like they want new media all the time but then when someone on here tries to do that for them they feel the need to completely eviscerate the show/book/whatever but then dont bother to do that with shit thats already popular, probably bc they know no ones gonna listen since its already so popular, but goddamn when yall have the chance to sabotage ppls shit yall will fuckin do anything. truly crabs in a bucket on here.

[artist-issues]

I Hate How She Talks About Snow White

"People are making these jokes about ours being the PC Snow White, where it's like, yeah, it is − because it needed that. It's an 85-year-old cartoon, and our version is a refreshing story about a young woman who has a function beyond 'Someday My Prince Will Come. "

Let me tell you a little something's about that "85-year-old cartoon," miss Zegler.

It was the first-ever cel-animated feature-length full-color film. Ever. Ever. EVER. I'm worried that you're not hearing me. This movie was Disney inventing the modern animated film. Spirited Away, Into the Spider-Verse, Tangled, you don't get to have any of these without Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937.)

Speaking of what you wouldn't get without this movie, it includes anime as a genre. Not just in technique (because again, nobody animated more than shorts before this movie) but in style and story. Anime, as it is now, wouldn't exist without Osamu Tezuka, "The God of Manga," who wouldn't have pioneered anime storytelling in the 1940s without having watched and learned from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the 1930s. No "weeb" culture, no Princess Mononoke, no DragonBall Z, no My Hero Academia, no Demonslayer, and no Naruto without this "85-year-old cartoon."

It was praised, not just for its technical marvels, not just for its synchronized craft of sound and action, but primarily and enduringly because people felt like the characters were real. They felt more like they were watching something true to life than they did watching silent, live-action films with real actors and actresses. They couldn't believe that an animated character could make kids wet their pants as she flees, frightened, through the forest, or grown adults cry with grieving Dwarves. Consistently.

Walt Disney Studios was built on this movie. No no; you're not understanding me. Literally, the studio in Burbank, out of which has come legends of this craft of animated filmmaking, was literally built on the incredible, odds-defying, record-breaking profits of just Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, specifically.

Speaking of record-breaking profits, this movie is the highest-grossing animated film in history. Still. TO THIS DAY. And it was made during the Great Depression.

In fact, it made four times as much money than any other film, in any other genre, released during that time period. It was actually THE highest-grossing film of all time, in any genre, until nothing less than Gone With the Wind, herself, came along to take the throne.

It was the first-ever animated movie to be selected for the National Film Registry. Actually, it was one of the first movies, period, to ever go into the registry at all. You know what else is in the NFR? The original West Side Story, the remake of which is responsible for Rachel Ziegler's widespread fame.

Walt Disney sacrificed for this movie to be invented. Literally, he took out a mortgage on his house and screened the movie to banks for loans to finish paying for it, because everyone from the media to his own wife and brother told him he was crazy to make this movie. And you want to tell me it's just an 85-year-old cartoon that needs the most meaningless of updates, with your tender 8 years in the business?

Speaking of sacrifice, this movie employed over 750 people, and they worked immeasurable hours of overtime, and invented--literally invented--so many new techniques that are still used in filmmaking today, that Walt Disney, in a move that NO OTHER STUDIO IN HOLLYWOOD was doing in the 30's, put this in the opening credits: "My sincere appreciation to the members of my staff whose loyalty and creative endeavor made possible this production." Not the end credits, like movies love to do today as a virtue-signal. The opening credits.

It's legacy endures. Your little "85-year-old cartoon" sold more than 1 million DVD copies upon re-release. Just on its first day. The Beatles quoted Snow White in one of their songs. Legacy directors call it "the greatest film ever made." Everything from Rolling Stones to the American Film Institute call this move one of the most influential masterpieces of our culture. This movie doesn't need anything from anybody. This movie is a cultural juggernaut for America. It's a staple in the art of filmmaking--and art, in general. It is the foundation of the Walt Disney Company, of modern children's media in the West, and of modern adaptations of classical fairy tales in the West. When you think only in the base, low, mean terms of "race" and "progressivism" you start taking things that are actually worlds-away from being in your league to judge, and you relegate them to silly ignorant phrases like "85-year-old cartoon" to explain why what you're doing is somehow better.

Sit down and be humble. Who the heck are you?

[reachartwork]

How exactly do you advance AI ethically? Considering how much of the data sets that these tools use was sourced, wouldnt you have to start from scratch?

a: i don't agree with the assertion that "using someone else's images to train an ai" is inherently unethical - ai art is demonstrably "less copy-paste-y" for lack of a better word than collage, and nobody would argue that collage is illegal or ethically shady. i mean some people might but i don't think they're correct.

b: several people have done this alraedy - see, mitsua diffusion, et al.

c: this whole argument is a red herring. it is not long-term relevant adobe firefly is already built exclusively off images they have legal rights to. the dataset question is irrelevant to ethical ai use, because companies already have huge vaults full of media they can train on and do so effectively.

you can cheer all you want that the artist-job-eating-machine made by adobe or disney is ethically sourced, thank god! but it'll still eat everyone's jobs. that's what you need to be caring about.

the solution here obviously is unionization, fighting for increased labor rights for people who stand to be affected by ai (as the writer's guild demonstrated! they did it exactly right!), and fighting for UBI so that we can eventually decouple the act of creation from the act of survival at a fundamental level (so i can stop getting these sorts of dms).

if you're interested in actually advancing ai as a field and not devils advocating me you can also participate in the FOSS (free-and-open-source) ecosystem so that adobe and disney and openai can't develop a monopoly on black-box proprietary technology, and we can have a future where anyone can create any images they want, on their computer, for free, anywhere, instead of behind a paywall they can't control.

fun fact related to that last bit: remember when getty images sued stable diffusion and everybody cheered? yeah anyway they're releasing their own ai generator now. crazy how literally no large company has your interests in mind.

cheers

[specialagentartemis]

Genuinely: For people who are angry and frustrated at the limited number of movies and shows available for streaming, at the way streaming services pull or cancel movies and shows at will, at the way every media corporation under the sun is pulling their stuff onto their own streaming service and balkanizing access to things behind a dozen different monthly subscriptions? For people who miss Blockbuster and want to be able to just rent a DVD again?

See if your local library has a DVD collection.

If I want to watch The Mummy (1999) with Brendan Fraser? I can't stream it on Netflix, but I can borrow it from my local library.

If I want to watch The Mummy (1932) with Boris Karloff? I can't stream that pretty much anywhere, but I can borrow it from my local library.

I want to watch Star Wars or Iron Man or my favorite Disney movie but I refuse to sell my soul to pay for Disney+? I can borrow these from my local library.

Do I want to finish watching Star Trek: Deep Space 9 or check out Star Trek: Picard but resent that it's all on yet another streaming service I don't want? I can borrow season box sets of DVDs from my local library!

Obviously, available circulating collections vary a lot between library systems. (My hometown's library has all of Star Trek DS9 on DVD, for example, but my college town's library only has TOS, Picard, and Discovery.) And of course it depends on whether things are released in physical media form at all, and you won't be able to keep up with new episodes of new series - it takes a while for many things to come out on DVD.

But there can be a lot of good stuff there too. For example, I missed Nope in theaters, but I still really want to see it. So I have it on hold from my local library. I'm 73rd in line on 50 copies, so it'll be a while.

So check to see what DVD collections your library does have - it might surprise you what you can get access to, for free, in a manner that no greedy corporation can yank away.

And by checking out DVDs, you are telling the library that you use and want them to maintain and grow their AV media collection. Which is an encouragement we could really use these days.

[gayhenrycreel]

something i would like people to note is the difference between piracy and plagiarism.

plagiarism is taking someone elses work and claiming it as your own, often to make money off it.

piracy is illegally stealing something, without making or spending money. every single pirated copy of anything that ive ever had still credits the creators correctly. books still say who the author is and shows and movies still include the end credits.

people plagiarize because they are assholes.

people pirate because they are too poor to afford all these expensive streaming services, because such services can take media away at any time (piracy is a great way to make sure media does not become lost, google The Mysterious Benedict Society), or because the company that made it is awful and dont deserve money (disney, bbc, netflix, amazon).

both are legally stealing, but law and morality are not the same thing. piracy and plagiarism are very different, and should be treated as such.

[cheriladycl01]

Could you do one for Checo with wife reader? He's not getting enough love. Just something fluff and romantic. You decide how it goes. Thanks!!

No es suficiente! Sergio Perez x ActressWife! Reader

Plot: Sergio having just married you wanted to show you of in the Red Bull Garage, but you feel so happy to be back after being so busy in your own career that everyone is dying to talk to you and someone gets a little jealous.

It was your first time back in the paddock for around a year. You'd been away for a large period of time, between filming for an up and coming blockbuster and being in an ongoing TV show you had a tight schedule and only was able to see your husband when he had breaks.

He helped you scan your paddock pass and then placed a gentle hand on the small of your back.

"Are you excited?" he asks you as he looked over to you, the media noticed the pair of you walk through and were quick to snap pictures of your return to the paddock.

"Yes, I cannot wait to see everyone! I haven't seen Lance or Max in ages!" You admit, knowing you hadn’t really seen his friends in a while.

“Good!”

Before you know it you’ve been thrusted back into the world of F1, all the cameras and the people wanting to talk, the smells coming from the hospitalities and the cars. It was an introverts nightmare.

However, Sergio always knew you were a people person despite your social battery draining quicker than most people’s. You loved the hustle and bustle life that came with being on track and with Sergio.

Whether you were off chatting to Will Buxton about his latest Drive to Survive meme, or hunting down Crofty timo interrupt his grid walk, or chatting to the mechanics in the garage about the car, to finalise it all up speaking with Christian about Max and Sergio.

Today was a little different, you were feeling anxious where it was your first day back in a while. However the minute you and your husband walked into the garage he’d been whisked away along with Max by their race engineers towards the big bosses office.

You and Kelly not having seen each other in so long decided it would be nice considering it was media day and there was no actual racing if you guys rounded up some of the other wags and did a little shopping.

You guys ventured from Red Bull to some of the other paddocks on the hunt for the other girlies. You stumbled upon Lily, Alexandra, Rebecca and Kika who all decided they were down for some shopping to save the boredom that was media day.

You guys hit Milan central getting a train down from Monza. There were some fans around who excitedly asked for pictures. You guys all obliged before getting on with the day and going into the different high end stores.

By the end, you guys had taken the phrase ‘shop till you drop’ far to literally. You all travelled back to the hotel that you were staying in courtesy of the team in which their partner drove for. The bags were placed on the coffee table and sofa in the living area of the room.

Kelly had a separate room for her and P because she was doing a fashion show in Milan on the Monday and Tuesday after the races, so she had a lot of cases with her because of the clothes and shoes and just general space she would need. So when she invited you back for a girlie sleepover with her and P you couldn’t decline.

Sending a quick text to your husband who was still at the racetrack you left the room straight to Kelly’s which was only a few doors down. P answered the door which to Kelly’s dismay who was currently in the bathroom taking her makeup off before she could even get to the door.

“We don’t answer the door, it could have been a stranger Penelope!” She lightly scolds, the younger girl not caring to much and pulling you into a hug.

“Awwww hello P” you sigh hugging her back beofre picking her up and placing her on your hip.

“Are you going to let me do your hair tonight while we watch a Disney movie!” You ask and Ps eyes light up with excitement.

“Let me guess, the little mermaid?” You ask her and she nods furiously going towards the controller in the room to pull up what you assumed would be Disney +.

You spent the rest of the night with the daughter mother duo, doing facials, watching films and ordering an obscene amount of desserts from room service.

The next day you woke up and went to your room to see if Sergio would join you for breakfast but the room was empty, bed all screwed up and unmade showing you your husband had in fact come home last night.

You sit alone for breakfast which was nice, just to be able to think on your own thoughts for some time. Most of them being about your new movie, or the TV show and how to develop your character.

You took and Uber to the race track not wanting to be rudely late for FP1, wanting to support your husband. As you got there, running through the paddocks gates and mumbling profanities at the electronic gate which wouldn’t let you in after 4 attempts on your pass, you spotted Sergio.

“Hola, good night with Kelly?” He smiles at you, kissing your cheek lightly. You nod and open your mouth about to say something but his race engineer calls out for him pointing towards the garage entrance.

“Go, don’t want to be late on the job now!” You home and he just laughs lightly shaking his head before turning away and running out the the garage where his car was.

You stood with Kelly watching your boys drive. It felt like forever that Sergio was in the car, but again the minute he got out he was whisked away to a debrief with what went wrong with the car.

That was how the rest of the weekend went, whenever you had free time it felt like he was being taken away for important meeting, interviews and various media commitments and when he was free you were either on the phone with work or had organised to do something with the girls because you thought he was busy at that time but due to scheduling mixups he was actually free and refused to let you cancel on the girls.

It got to Sunday night after the race. Sergio had come in P2 behind Max and with Carlos just behind him. He’d had a great drive and you couldn’t have been prouder to celebrate his podium with him.

You were in the hotel room together, you’d just gotten out the shower and into night wear, he was laying on the bed, in his pijama pants and shirtless like normal.

You jumped onto the bed curling up into his side pulling him so as much as your skin was touching his.

“I feel like I haven’t seen you for ages mi amor” you voice before tilting your head that was laying in his chest to look up up him.

“Mmmmm No es suficiente!” He mumbles looking down at you. (It’s not sufficient!)

“What isn’t?” You ask perplexed.

“The time I had with you this weekend, not enough of it. I brought you here to spend more time with you and everyone didn’t want to see us together” he sighs pulling you closer with a pout on his face. On camera your husband didn’t seem like the clingy type but boy of boy was he.

“Argh you big baby, I’m not filming for another 5 weeks so your stuck with me all this time. This week was just unfortunate” you smile pulling him into a soft kiss which he quickly returns.

“God I missed this, just you” he smiles softly before pulling you into another kiss.

“Is this making up for it?” You offer smirking slightly knowing now that you were giving him the attention he was craving he was happy.

“Mmm im considering kidnapping you, so you have to spend all your time with me!” He groans pulling you over so your straddling him and laying in his chest on top of him.

“But who will be the lead in your current favourite TV show?” You gasp playfully.

“No way! Ellen Pompeo is leaving Greys?” He teases, knowing it would tule you up. You slap his shoulder lightly looking down at him.

“Mmmm im sure they could find someone to replace you if I kept you all for myself!” He teases again and you laugh this time.

“Mmmm and I’m sure if I kidnapped you Red Bull would too!” You tease back and he gasps in mock shock hand to his chest.

“Well seeing as we both seem to be staying respectively in our professions… I suggest we order room service!” You smile again, pulling him in for a kiss. He nods, rolling you off and getting up towards where the phone is on the desk. You watch as he used his hands to motion around as he talks to the receptionist on the phone.

You were so completely and utterly in love.

A/N: short and sweet! Hope you enjoy!

Taglist:

@littlesatanicassholebitch @hockey-racing-fubol @laura-naruto-fan1998 @22yuki @simxican @sinofwriting @lewisroscoelove @cmleitora @stupidandunnecessary @clayra-g @daemyratwst @honey-belden @moonypixel @lauralarsen @vader-is-hot @ironcowboycopnickel @itsjustkhaos @the-untamed-soul @beebo86 @happylittlereader @ziejustme @lou-larcher5 @thewulf @purplephantomwolf @chasing-liberosis @chillyleclerc @chanthereader @annoyingmoonballoon @summissss @evieepepi08 @havaneseoger08 @celesteblack08 @gulphulp @fandom1ruined2me @celebstories @starfusionsworld @jspitwall @sierruhh @georgeparisole @dakotatankbig @youcannotcancelquidditch @zzonsbeek @tallbrownhairsarcastic @mellowarcadefun @ourteenagetragedy @otako5811 @countingstacksandpanicattacks @peachiicherries @formulas-bitch @cherry-piee @hopexcroc @mirrorball-6 @spilled-coffee-cup @mehrmonga @bigsimperika @blueberry64857959 @eiraethh @lilypadlover @curseofhecate @alliwantisadonut @the-fem1n1ne-urge @21stcenturytaegi @dark-night-sky-99 @spideybv28 @i-wish-this-was-me @tallrock35 @butterfly-lover @barnestatic @landossainz @darleneslane @barcelonaloverf1life @r0nnsblog @ilove-tswizzle @kapsylia @laneyspaulding19 @lazybot @malynn @cassielikereading @viennakarma @teamnovalak @landosgirlxoxo @marie0v @jlb20416 @yourbane

[wileys-russo]

hidden in plain sight II i.engen x rolfö!reader

prequel of the number switch requested here - all non english is translated from DeepL so i apologise if anything is incorrect! hidden in plain sight II i.engen x rolfö!reader

the first time you'd properly met ingrid was when she was still playing for wolfsburg with your sister and frido had brought her home for easter because ingrids family were away on a trip.

you'd of course seen ingrid around in passing and all over your sisters social media but easter was the first chance you had to really talk to her, not that frido gave you much chance swooping her away most days to show her around your home town.

"you play for linköping yes?" ingrid asked despite already knowing the answer, your whole family sat around for dinner one night you'd ended up sat next to her with frido elsewhere occupied in catching up with some of your cousins at the other end of the table.

up until that night the two of you had been a little awkward around one another, exchanging pleasantries but you strayed away and spent time with your parents. which was odd to them considering you and ingrid were only a six or so months apart in age.

it didn't help that not having seen you for months herself your sister was taking every and any opportunity to tease or embarrass you, her own special way of showing how much she loved you, yet another reason to avoid ingrid.

ingrid, though you'd never admit aloud for fear of your sister, you found quite enamoring with her sharp jawline, rosy cheeks, striking green eyes and raven hair. your mother joked to her the day she'd arrived that she reminded her of a disney princess and you couldn't help but agree.

but the one question about football a topic you could both finally find some common ground on, seemed to break the ice and by the end of dinner both of you felt much more comfortable around one another.

"lillasyster, dishes!" you winced as frido smacked the back of your head in passing, shooting her a glare as ingrid hid a smile behind her hand finding your relationship quite endearing not having any sisters herself.

"i can help you." the defender decided, not really an offer but more of a statement as she dismissed your sisters attempts to call her over into the living room by the fire and instead the norwegian followed you into the kitchen.

you smiled seeing how well she got along with your family despite having only known them a few days as she chatted away with your mother and aunt, and with the extra set of hands everything was washed and dried in record time.

you shouldn't have been surprised when not long after dinner the real festivities began and you rather enjoyed watching everyone else get drunk and silly as you only nursed a singular glass of red wine with a coy smile.

"bah you have had this for hours, drink!" you tensed up as your sister dropped down beside you and forcefully held your head back, quite literally pouring the rest of the wine down your throat, the older girl already a bottle and a half deep herself as you coughed and spluttered.

"rövhål!" you swore as a few drops splashed onto your jumper, lunging at her as the two of you fell to the ground and rolled around, your cousins cheering you on as if it was a live wrestling match.

broken apart by your mothers strict warning she would make you both sleep outside you collapsed back onto the couch beside ingrid, kicking away your sister who kissed your cheek leaving a bright lipstick red mark with a grin as you wiped it away and swore at her again.

though ten minutes later you were leaning into frido's side with her arm draped over your shoulder and catching her up on all the latest drama within your team as if you'd not just been trying to rip one anothers hair out moments earlier.

a sight which again had ingrid grinning in amusement seated on your other side, knowing that despite the ongoing bickering and teasing frido was constantly checking up on you and forever telling her teammates all about you very proudly.

it was around two in the morning by the time everyone had slowly headed off to their own homes or filtered off to bed. having taken off your makeup and changed you were settled in your room when there was a soft knock at your door.

calling out to come in you were surprised when it was ingrid who poked her head in with an apologetic smile. "your sister snores very badly when she is drunk." the norwegian frowned as you laughed quietly and waved for her to come in.

"i would sleep on the sofa but your father is there." the girl gave you a somewhat awkward smile as you chuckled, having seen just how much he drank it wasn't the biggest surprise he wasn't able to make it upstairs and into bed.

"did you want to..." you trailed off gesturing to your bed, ignoring the blush which you felt creeping up your neck which you just attributed to the alcohol pulsing through your bloodstream.

"only if it is okay? i don't want to make you uncomfortable." ingrids normally rosy pink cheeks flushed a deeper shade of red as you shook your head. "no! no not at all, please." you assured, moving over and pulling back the covers.

you tried to ignore the way your body tensed up as she slipped into bed beside you, the two of you shuffling about for a moment before settling as you reached over to flick the lamp off.

"so, what is your favorite color?"

~

you weren't sure what time it was when you and ingrid had finally fallen asleep but it felt like you'd talked for hours asking all sorts of questions big and small. swapping stories and hastily covering one anothers mouths to stifle laughter when someone was a little too loud.

when you eventually awoke much much later you were surprised to find an arm draped protectively across your midsection, raven hair sprawled across the pillow next to you as ingrid lay still sleeping peacefully.

your mouth dry and head pounding you very gently slipped out from her hold, breathing a small sigh of relief when the norweigan remained sleeping as you closed your door behind you with a soft click.

your parents already up and awake you greeted them both tiredly, graciously accepting the coffee handed your way by your mother and kissing her cheek in appreciation before settling at the bench.

a short while later you heard another door open and your sister slumped into the seat beside you, burying her head in her arms as you chuckled. "have you seen ingrid?" frido turned her head to the side to look up at you as you nodded behind you to your own room.

"she slept with you? why?" she was immediately sat up straight and frowning down at you accusingly. ever since you were much younger frido had done her very best to drive away or intimidate any partner you had claiming none of them were ever good enough for you.

there had only been one she approved of and that itself had taken months, though when inevitable heartbreak struck and it shattered, the whole ordeal caused her to become even more overprotective and overbearing than before.

the five and a half year age gap between you meant you often complained she acted more like your second mother than a sister, the taller girl constantly babying you.

"yes she did, because you snore like an åsna when you drink and the poor girl could not stand it!" you rolled your eyes, whining as she hummed and stole your coffee, downing the last couple of mouthfuls and pushing you away as you reached for it.

"good morning." everyones heads turned as ingrid appeared from your room with a tired smile, frido quite literally shoving you from your seat and patting for ingrid to take it as you sighed and moved over to another.

"morning." you greeted the defender softly who echoed the same word back, both of you shyly avoiding one anothers gaze as your parents engaged ingrid in conversation and you slipped off to your room to shower.

when you returned the girls bags had already been packed as frido busied herself saying goodbye to your parents. "it was very lovely to meet you." ingrid smiled as you wrapped one another in a hug that maybe lasted a second or two too long, a slight blush on both of your cheeks as you pulled away.

ingrid desperately wanted to ask for your number to stay in touch but as your sister trapped you in a bear hug and she gave her thanks to your parents for so graciously hosting her it felt as though she blinked and suddenly she was in the car on the way to the airport, glancing at your retreating figure as she sped away.

~

you'd messaged back and forth on instagram for awhile before exchanging numbers finally. but with football and life commitments nothing much really came of it and you didn't see ingrid again until the champions league final months later.

you watched on with your parents and some of your sisters friends from home with a sullen stare as the final whistle blew and frido dropped to her knees, runner up in the final as the lyon players raced around celebrating.

you'd clapped and cheered in support as she accepted the second place medal, putting on a fake smile and a brave face but you knew the blonde far too well to believe it was sincere.

once the formalities were over and the crowd began to clear you all made your way down to greet her, waiting patiently as she passed from friend to family giving hugs and a small smile.

finally reaching you, you made no move to speak only pulling her into a tight hug as her taller form slumped into you. mumbling in her ear that you were very proud of her the older girl kissed the crown of your head and broke away to speak with your parents.

it was over her shoulder as she let go of you that you spotted ingrid, catching her eye and sending a small smile. you hesitated to make your way over to her, unsure if she would want yet another person reminding her of how well she played despite how terrible she would be feeling after the loss.

ingrid really wanted to go over to you, she did. but with the embarrassment of the loss hanging over her she retreated within herself hardly saying more than a few words to her friends and family still needing time to process everything.

so as your own family started to make plans for dinner you caught the norwegians eye again, sending her a warm smile and a small wave which she returned and just like that you were gone again.

~

months passed once more before the two of you saw one another again, the new year ticking over and ingrid would be lying if she said you hadn't crossed her mind more than a few times, finger hovering over your contact to send you a message.

but then she'd heard wind from frido that you were seeing someone, your sister seething that you were clearly keeping this from her as she showed ingrid story after story on your social media trying to pick apart who this mystery person could be.

you of course had denied things profusely anytime frido called to try and confront you or trick you into confessing. you were in fact seeing someone but it was early stages and still recovering from the broken heart your last relationship left you with you were taking things slow.

thankfully frido's interest in your personal life simmered down as her transfer to barcelona took her main focus, ingrid also signing with the club and moving from wolfsburg as the two grew even closer.

~

your own break nearly to an end you finally gave into your sisters begging and made plans to come and visit her in barcelona.

touching down you passed through security with a great amount of difficulty not speaking more than a few words of spanish, but when you finally pushed through to the arrival gates you grinned as you spotted your sister immediately, the blonde swede towering above most of the locals around her.

"you look so pale lillasyster! but we can fix that." frido grinned, pulling you into a tight hug as you laughed, shoving her shoulder as she let you go and grabbed your bags for you.

you were a little taken aback as suddenly another familiar face appeared, having ducked off to the bathroom. "hello?" you greeted ingrid with surprise, pulling the slightly taller girl into a hug as she rubbed your back.

"i hope its okay i came too, i thought we could all go for breakfast." ingrid offered as you let her go, trying to dismiss the way your hairs seemed to stand on end at her touch.

you shouldn't have really been so surprised to see the norweigan considering you'd known her and frido were currently renting a place together while they hunted around for their own respective spaces to settle into long term.

"ingrid is a big coffee nerd, we have not even been here a month yet and she already claims she knows all the best places!" frido teased her best friend who rolled her eyes and pushed her as you all headed out to the car.

~

"see that thing? it is called sunshine! and feel the air? how it is nice and warm?" frido teased with her arm slung over your shoulder guiding you through the streets of barcelona, having already dropped your bags off to their apartment and gone for breakfast.

ingrid had headed back home after breakfast wanting to give you and your sister some time together, frido more than happy to help you fuel your shopping addiction as you wandered through the city from store to store.

"so. how is your secret little girlfriend?" the blonde asked with a raised eyebrow, cornering you as you flicked through a rack of clothes with a roll of your eyes.

"don't have one." you shrugged, your sister sighing at the answer. "do you think i'm stupid?" she asked, clearly rhetorical as you gave her an amused smile. "do you want me to be honest?" you teased, nodding for your sister to follow as you headed back outside not finding anything you really liked.

but despite your consistent denial your sister refused to believe you, asking over and over as your patience wore down thinner and thinner. you tried to engage her in other conversations but the very moment the topic died down she would bring it right back to your love life.

"lillasyster why are you lying? i have a built in lie detector you know this." frido claimed with a scoff as you sighed, the two of you arriving to her building.

"because i am not lying, stop ruining my trip with this frido!" you warned as she let the two of you in, your sister seeming to finally drop it.

~

"do not burn my apartment down while i am gone! ingrid should be back soon." frido warned as you rolled your eyes playfully, your sister needing to go to a meeting with a potential new brand deal as you cooked yourself some food.

"make sure to use the personality where you're polite and smart and easy to work with. not your actual personality where you're grumpy, bad mannered and impatient!" you patted her shoulder, ducking with a grin as she swung at you and swore in swedish.

"behave!" your sister warned with a stern finger pointed in your direction as you held your hands up in defence. "and save me some!" she added on nodding to your food on the stove before the front door closed after her.

you were dishing up when you heard keys in the door, a thud heard as ingrid burst inside with a curse, frido having warned you the lock could be sticky sometimes and need a heavy hand.

"are you okay?" you gave her a smile of amusement, grabbing out another bowl and the norweigans cheeks flushed pink as she hung up her keys with a nod.

"hungry?" you offered holding up the empty bowl as she nodded eagerly. "please! that smells wonderful." ingrid sighed as you dished her up some, the two of you moving to the table to eat.

taking the time to properly catch up with her not really having talked properly for months now the time flew by, empty bowls pushed aside and laughter filling the apartment as you threw your head back, knees tucked up to your chest.

"really? she just walked in?" ingrid gasped in disbelief as you nodded with a groan. "yeah! i told you she has no regard for privacy unless its her own, and then she chased the poor girl out of the house half naked in the middle of a swedish winter!" you sighed shaking your head at the memory.

"so she is protective." ingrid chuckled as you gave her a look. "over protective. sometimes i swear frido thinks she gave birth to me the way she treats me!" you rolled your eyes, ingrid propping her head up on her chin.

"she loves you, very much. i think i know more about your life and your career than you with how much she speaks about it." ingrid teased gently as you sent her a smile.

"sorry about that, i'm not very good at the whole texting thing. its why fridolina calls me anytime she has even the smallest question!" you huffed at the annoying habit.

"i like talking to you though. it feels...easy." you admitted, slight blush on your cheeks as you cleared your throat and grabbed the bowls, excusing yourself to the kitchen as ingrid followed.

"well i like talking to you too."

~

your week in barcelona flew by and before you knew it was your last night and you were cramped into a bar in the middle of the city surrounded by a few of your sisters new teammates as you struggled to try and keep up with the conversation.

you appreciated most of the girls did their best to speak to you in english but as the alcohol flowed the spanish became quicker and you stepped out for a new drink and a breather, your head spinning a little.

you hadn't noticed a certain pair of green eyes on you all evening but ingrid had been carefully watching, checking in every now and then subtly reminding her friends that you didn't speak spanish and to slow it down when your attention was elsewhere.

so as you stepped away from the group she was quick to follow you toward the bar, your sister far too drunk to notice as she was engaged in a heated conversation about god knows what with caro and marta.

"are you okay?" you jumped slightly as her hand landed on yours not having heard anyone follow you but you settled the moment your eyes met her concerned gaze. "think i might need a spanish tutor for next time i visit." you joked with a smile.

"just a water, thank you." ingrid answered the bartender at his questioning, sliding you your own drink as the norweigan took her water. "you're not drinking?" you asked in surprise, the two of you hovering at the end of the bar where it was a little quieter.

"i had a couple but i am not really in the mood." ingrid shrugged sipping on her water. "if you wanted to leave soon i can come with? i know you fly back home tomorrow." ingrid offered as you shook your head.

"no please! you should stay out and enjoy the time with your team before the season starts up, they all seem very friendly." you dismissed, quickly finishing the last mouthful of your drink and leaving the empty glass on the bar.

"no really it is okay, i am a little tired and i thought maybe we could go for breakfast tomorrow before you leave?" ingrid offered somewhat hopefully, spinning around the straw in her glass.

"with frido! of course." the defender clarified, neck slightly flushed as you nodded.

"yeah i'd really like that." you agreed with a soft smile, a strange feeling settling in your stomach as the brunette sent you a toothy grin back, pushing her raven hair to one side and leaving her glass as you both agreed to go and say your goodbyes.

"lillasyster nooo you are not leaving!" frido whined with a slur as you smiled in amusement at her disheveled state. "i am. i have to fly home tomorrow and i don't want to have my head in a toilet throwing up on the plane!" you teased, wrenching her hands away where they grabbed at you.

"i will make sure we both get home safe." ingrid promised as frido seemed to relax a little at that. "good good! go be boring together then both of you. boo!" your sister jeered as you kissed her cheek with a smile, waving goodbye to the rest of the girls.

your uber already outside you both slipped in, a comfortable silence falling as you were dropped home and ingrid got you both inside the building.

"every time!" the brunette huffed as she struggled to open the front door. "stop laughing at me." the girl frowned, ramming her shoulder into the wood as it popped open.

"i wasn't laughing at you, i was laughing with you." you clarified with a grin, closing the door after the two of you as she hummed and hung her keys up.

"whatever you say vakker." ingrid smiled with a playful roll of her eyes. "what does that mean? vakker?" you questioned with a confused frown, hovering in the doorway of their spare room.

"guess you'll have to learn spanish and norweigan before your next visit." ingrid smiled slyly, ducking off to shower and change in her own room. "ingrid! thats not fair." you groaned, but when you didn't receive a reply you gave up and retreated.

"is this you trying to help me work on my texting or just being lazy?" you teased as you joined ingrid in the living room a short while later, holding up your phone where the older girl had texted asking if you wanted to watch a movie as it wasn't too late.

"du er veldig morsom." the girl replied in norweigan as you collapsed onto the lounge beside her. "let me guess, you won't tell me what that means?" you looked across at her as she simply smirked, answering your question for you as you kicked her gently.

"du är mycket irriterande." you quipped back in swedish with a proud smile, but it was wiped away as she replied back in your mother tongue that you were just as annoying. "you speak swedish!" you scoffed in shock.

"i have been friends with your sister for years, you think we have not taught each other our languages?" she laughed as you groaned and crossed your arms over your chest with a frustrated huff, tensing a little in surprise as ingrid pulled your legs to rest in her lap and turned on the tv.

the two of you eventually agreeing on a movie you settled in with hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. the temperature oddly cool tonight a gust of wind bellowed through the open balcony doors and you shivered lightly, goosebumps appearing up your legs which wasn't missed by the girl whose lap they were sat in.

"are you cold? i can close the doors?" she offered kindly as you waved her off. "no its okay! the fresh air is nice i just didn't pack a sweater or anything. frido told me i wasn't allowed to because my skin needs all the sun it can get." you rolled your eyes making her laugh before she tapped your legs so she could stand up as you moved them.

you assumed she was using the bathroom as she darted away but within seconds she was sitting back down beside you, a bundle of material in hand which she offered your way as you sat up.

"thank you." you smiled sincerely, accepting the sweater and pulling it over your head. something stirred within ingrid seeing you wearing her clothing but she dismissed it with a slight clear of her throat turning her focus back to the movie.

however despite the warmth and comfort of the norweigans sweater covering you the goosebumps on your legs did not go away as ingrids eyes drifted downward having pulled them back into her lap.

before she could think about it much more she'd tapped at your knee as you turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "did you want to...?" she asked with a somewhat shy smile, raising one arm and gesturing for you to move a little closer.

"thank you." you repeated again, cheeks warm as you sat up and shuffled a little more into her, her arm draping over your shoulder as you tucked yourself into her side, both of you doing your best to focus on the movie despite how hard both your hearts were racing.

absentmindedly your hand settled on ingrids knee, fingers tracing shapes against her skin as you both laughed at the movie and shared a grin.

your gazes hovered upon one anothers features a few seconds too long, breaking apart as you both blushed and tried your best not to dwell over how you were each feeling.

growing a little more tired your head came to rest on ingrids shoulder and the older girl hesitated for a moment before her arm shifted, hand tangling in your hair and scratching gently at your scalp.

once more you both laughed, making comments to one another and once again your gazes locked as you pulled your head up, your eyes staring deep into the rich green of her own.

subconsciously you found yourself craning your head upward a little, ingrids hand slipping down to settle on the back of your neck and you didn't miss the way her eyes darted ever so briefly down to your lips.

hit with a surge of confidence you leaned up even further, giving her time to pull away if she wished but she stayed where she was and with the slightest of nods suddenly your lips were connected.

if you thought you'd ever kissed someone who knew how women liked to be kiss, all of that flew out the window as ingrids mouth pressed perfectly into yours.

her other hand moved to rest on your cheek, palm soft and welcoming and her touch tender as you lent into it tilting your head slightly as ingrids breath caught at the new angle.

her tongue traced along your bottom lip, dipping in the small cracks and grooves before you parted them and it slipped inside causing you to hold back a quiet moan at the sensation. her own lips slightly chapped but still so plump and inviting as they moved in rhythm against your own.

but right as both of her hands dropped to grip your hips and she pressed her body into you starting to have you lay down on the lounge there was a loud thump and a bang as you sprang apart from one another.

"oh fuck!" your sister groaned, sat on the floor holding her head where she'd gone crashing down as both you and ingrid hurried over to help her.

ingrid slung an arm around her and helped her up, stumbling a little as frido swayed left to right and you closed the front door before hurrying to balance her from the other side.

both of you struggled as your sister was hardly able to hold herself up and you carried her into her room, dropping her down on the bed with a shared grunt.

"i can look after her, you should head to bed." you assured ingrid, both your cheeks flushed crimson and it was clear neither of you were going to talk about the kiss tonight as she nodded and darted out of the room as your sister moaned.

"oh i think i am going to throw up!"

~

that next morning you weren't sure quite how to go about things, having laid awake tossing and turning as the memory of the kiss haunted you.

you were the first awake and you still had a few more hours before you needed to be at the airport, having already packed yesterday.

"good morning." you looked up from your phone at the new voice, meeting ingrids somewhat bashful gaze as you sent her a soft smile and repeated the greeting.

a silence fell between you two as she busied herself making a coffee, and you weren't sure if it was one you found comfortable or uncomfortable as you pretended to be occupied with your phone.

"did you still want to get breakfast?" ingrid asked as she placed down a coffee in front of you somewhat hesitantly. "do you want to get breakfast?" you countered, murmuring a quiet thanks as you sipped on the warm drink.

"i asked you first." she gave you a small smile which you returned. "yeah, i'd like that." you nodded in confirmation, another silence falling as you both appeared caught up in your own worlds momentarily.

"about last night-" "we should talk about-"

it would seem you both snapped out of your daydreams in sync as you spoke at the same time, smiling awkwardly at the shared thought.

"frido said you are seeing someone." ingrid blurted out first, cheeks warming with a slight embarassment at the abruptness of her statement.

"no, she just thinks that. i was for a little while but it didn't amount to anything, we had different intentions with what we were looking for." you answered honestly which seemed to relax her slightly as her shoulders dropped a little of the tension they held.

"but i go back to sweden today, and you live in spain." you quietly pointed out the obvious, lips turned downward at your words as ingrid nodded in understanding, expression mirroring your own.

"but. i would-i would like if maybe we spoke more when i leave? i promise to get better at the texting." you blushed properly now which ingrid found adorable as she nodded.

"i would like that too. and i could even call you, save you with the texting!" she teased gently, a mutual agreement of sorts seeming to have fallen between you as the tension eased off and once again you both jolted as with a bang your sister appeared, leaning in her doorway with her eyes shielded by a comically large pair of sunglasses.

"i think i have been hit by a truck."

~

as the months once again flew past what started off as speaking weekly, ingrid calling you most thursdays when she knew you both had your rest days, soon turned into every few days.

and then before you could even blink you found it a part of your daily routine to call her, somehow the two of you never running out of things to speak about as the calls turned to facetimes and the pair of you grew even closer.

you weren't really sure what to make of everything though.

you found if days passed where you spoke less or one of you was unable to call that they seemed to drag on even longer, your mood souring at not being able to see and speak with the norweigan.

you were still yet to see her in person again since your last visit to barcelona, but the way you spoke to one another it was obvious that with the pair of you there was something there.

something just simmering below the surface as you'd both accepted it for whatever it was and maybe even pushing the real feelings down a little considering you lived in separate countries.

the first time you were able to see her again was on international duty, a friendly set between sweden and norway in preparation for the upcoming euros tournament in late summer.

you'd loved being back on camp not having seen many of the girls you'd grown up around for months and months, seeing some of them more like sisters than friends.

and of course your actual sister was thrilled to see you again, though on national duty she respected a little more that you weren't her little baby and to her credit made an effort not to tease you too much.

plus, she hardly got her chance among your other teammates taking it in turns anyway.

"off!" you ordered shoving away magda who'd made it her mission to make up for lost time, pestering you relentlessly as you tried to lace up your boots and ready yourself for the game, shoving her away and snatching your shin guards out of her hand.

your phone buzzing with a message a small smile graced your lips seeing who it was from, slipping out of the change room almost unnoticed as everyone else was busy preparing.

following the instructions texted to you it was no surprise when you were suddenly tugged around a corner and pulled into a hug, a flash of bright red spinning across your vision.

"hi." you breathed out with a grin as your face pressed into her shoulder, the two of you embracing tightly before gradually pulling away. "hello vakker." ingrid grinned right back as the tips of your ears heated up now knowing what the word meant.

"i should not be fraternizing with the enemy." you clicked your tongue with a playful shake of your head, finger tapping at the norway crest on her chest. "you are not...yet." ingrid smiled suggestively and once again you caught her eyes drop down to your lips.

though right as you leaned up to kiss her there was a noise from beside you and you sprang apart, magda standing with her arms crossed a few feet away and a steely look on her face.

reminding you that the game was about to start in swedish you nodded, letting go of ingrids hands as your face paled. one more hard look from the older swede ingrid's own rosy features faded, and with a quick kiss to your cheek she was gone.

you and madga engaged in a firm staring contest as you searched her eyes for any sign of what her next move would be, both of you awaiting the other to speak first and break the showdown.

"please don't tell frido! you need me alive for the match, no?" you tried with a guilty smile, withering under the older girls hard gaze. though right as you were ready to drop to your knees and beg did that facade crack, a large grin replacing the stern frown.

"snälla! i would not tell frido i am the cool one!" magda scoffed, rounding on you and pulling you into a headlock of sorts as she started to march you both back toward the tunnel.

"you know i am actually quite proud of you liten. we did not think you had any game!" magda shrugged as you gave her a look. "we?" you questioned with narrowed eyes.

"me and z, we had a bet going! but i did not factor in that the first serious girlfriend you keep from your sister would be her best friend. i think z might owe me even more money now." magda whistled as you smacked her shoulder.

"she's not my girlfriend." you mumbled with a huff, walking alongside her as the rest of your teammates came into view and magda gave you a look of surprise, stopping the two of you for a second.

"no? well i see the way she looked at you liten. i do not think it will stay that way for very long, in fact i would even bet on it!" and with a wink she was off and you hurried to catch up with her.

~

you also had the chance to make a transfer of your own by the end of that year, your performances with your national team peaking the interest of multiple clubs both in and out of europe as your contract with linköping was coming to an end.

the three offers your agent had recommended you take most interest in were from barcelona, wolsfburg and from chelsea. with time running out to make a decision and your mind an absolute mess you called the one person you knew would be upfront with you.

"lillasyster what is holding you back from making a decision?" frido asked softly as you sighed and laid down in bed, spending the weekend at your family home seeking out any sort of comfort you could to try and help sway your mind.

"i don't know. england would be a fantastic step for my career and exposure, and i would be with z and magda. but barcelona is a huge club and proven winners, and i would be with you. but so are wolfsburg and i know a lot of the girls there already. england is exciting but it is far from home, germany and spain is a little closer but-" you hesitated, unsure if to say your next words or not.

"hey, its just me. vara ärlig!" your sister encouraged gently, knowing the choice she was hoping you'd make but not wanting to hold any influence over your career and your choices.

"but i don't want people to think i am just following whatever you do and wherever you go." you mumbled quietly, frido smiling to herself as her guess had been correct.

"älska nobody would think that! nobody who is important anyway. this needs to be your decision but you know i would love nothing more than to play alongside you for club and country and to be able to see you every day. but i will always be so proud of you no matter what you do or where you go, and i will support you in whatever choice you make. show no fear, nobody can ever take advantage of a weakness if you do not show it!" your sister spoke firmly but kindly, and you appreciated her more than you could.

and so after a few days of grueling thinking and balancing up all the odds, you called your agent and made your decision.

~

having forgotten to draw the curtains last night the moment the sun began to properly rise high in the sky you rose along with it, the golden morning sun bathing your face.

quite enjoying the subtle wake up you exhaled deeply and stretched, your girlfriend dead asleep on her stomach beside you as your eyes fluttered open and you rubbed them sleepily.

a slow adjustment into reality you continued to blink tiredly, reaching over for your phone in which a quick tap of the screen showed it was nearing nine in the morning.

you knew you both had the day off from training which is why she'd ended up staying over, the two of you still in the early stages of building a proper relationship together since the transfer it felt too fast to move in together.

there was of course the other glaringly large barrier in the way, which was your sister.

from the get go both you and ingrid had been in agreement that frido was not to know for the sake of both your newly blossomed relationship with one another and your existing relationship with her.

as you shifted around a little you heard a quiet sigh from beside you, and glancing over your shoulder you saw bright green eyes blinking sleepily back at you.

"good morning älskling." you smiled, head thumping down on the pillow as she sighed again, reaching out for you and pulling you close, burying her face in your neck. your nose scrunched as her hair tickled your nose and you smiled, hands slipping up the back of her top as your nails scratched up and down.

"that feels nice." she hummed quietly, warm lips kissing lazily at your skin. "oh we have the whole day off." ingrid remembered with a content groan, squeezing you a little tighter as you laughed softly.

"mm we do, we could even stay in bed all day." you sung out as her head pulled back to lay on the pillow again staring back at you. "all day in bed with you? what could we possibly do in bed all day kjære." ingrid grinned toothily, thumbs rubbing circles into your hips.

"no idea. we may have to put our heads together to think of something." there was a rustling of sheets as you climbed on top of her, hair falling around the two of you like a curtain as the defender grabbed the back of your neck and tugged you down toward her with a smirk.

"well together i'm sure we can work out a solution kjærlighet."

[astercontrol]

If KOSA passes

Or if any other form of censorship (there are many in the works!) ever succeeds at stepping in to impede our ability to communicate online:

We have to make plans.

Now, I dunno who'll even see this post. The few followers I have are TRON fans (who despite the fantasy we live in, tend to have realistically dismal views IRL about Disney and the various corporate uses of software).

And this fandom, on average, is pretty tech-savvy. It's where I've encountered the most people under 20 years old who actually know how to use a desktop or laptop computer.

So, if there's any hope for what I'm thinking about, this is prolly a good place to start with it.

(As with all my posts, I encourage reblogging and containment-breaching.)

(Gifs are clips from TRON 1982, mainly the "deleted love scene," from the DVD extras.)

Anyway.

Current society has moved online communication much too far onto major social media sites for my comfort. Whoever you communicate with over the internet, chances are you do it through a service owned by a big company: Tumblr, Twitter, Discord, Telegram, Facebook, whatever. Even TikTok (shudder).

These sites, despite their many flaws, can provide experiences that are valuable and hard to get otherwise. And once all your friends are on one site, you can't just leave and stay in touch with them all, not unless they all go the same place. It's easy to see why it's hard to abandon any social media platform.

But a backup plan is important. Because, as we've seen over and over, social media sites can't be relied on. They change their policies suddenly, without good reason-- and are inconsistent, even discriminatory, about enforcing those policies.

If they're funded by ads, the advertisers are their main customers, and your posts are the product. Their goal is that the posts most valuable to the advertisers get seen by people the advertisers consider desirable customers.

Helping you communicate-- making your posts get seen by the people you want to communicate with-- is optional to them.

Not to mention that the whole business model of an ad-funded website is generally unsustainable. Many of these sites are operating at a loss, relying on shareholders in a fragile bubble, doomed to fail soon just from lack of real profit.

And the more restrictions --like KOSA-- that the law puts on freedom of online speech, the likelier they are to go down or just become unusable. Every rule a site is required to follow is another strain on its resources, and most of them are already failing badly at even enforcing their own self-imposed rules.

If we want any control over our continued ability to stay in touch with our online friends-- we need to have a backup plan. Maybe it'll be simple at first, a bare-bones system we cobble together-- but it's gotta be something that will work. For a while at least.

There are lots of really good posts about ways to build your own website, using a service like Neocities. I VERY MUCH recommend learning this skill-- learning to make websites of the very simplest, most stable, glitch-resistant type, made of html pages-- which you can upload to a host while you store backups on your home computer. If you value the writing and art that you put online, this is probably the safest you can keep it.

But that's for making your own creative work public.

As for communicating with others-- for example, receiving and answering other people's comments on your work-- that gets more complex. I personally haven't found it worthwhile to troubleshoot the problems that come with having a system that allows visitors to comment publicly on my website.

But what we do still have-- and likely will for a long time-- is email.

Those of us who came of age before social media's current hold... well, we might take this for granted. Email was the first form of online contact we ever encountered… and thus it can seem to us like the most ordinary, the most boring.

But in the current world, it is a rare and precious thing to find a method of communicating that doesn't require everyone in the chat to be signed on with the same corporation.

Email is, as of now, still perfectly legal-- as much as social media companies have been trying to herd the populace away from it. I'm sure there are other ways to share thoughts online that are not bound by laws. But I am not going to go into that here.

Email service is provided by law-abiding companies, which will comply with subpoenas if law enforcement thinks you are emailing about doing illegal things. So, email is not a surefire way to be safe, if laws become dystopian enough to threaten your freedom to talk about your own life and identity.

But it's safer than posting on a public social media page.

For now.

Email is beautifully decentralized. You can get an email address many different ways-- some reliant on a company like Gmail, others hosted on your own domain. And different people, with all different types of email addresses, hosted in all different ways-- can all communicate together by the same method.

Of course any of these people, individually, can lose their email address for some reason or other, and have to get a new one. But as long as they still know the email addresses of their contacts, they can reconnect and recover from that loss. The structure of a group linked by email is reliant not on a single company-- but on the group itself, the friends you can actually count on.

This is why I am trying to promote the idea of forming email lists, as a backup plan to give people a way to stay in touch as mainstream social media sites prove to be unsustainable.

I'm envisioning a simple system of sending emails to several addresses at once, and making each reply visible to everyone in the chat by using "reply all" (or, if desired, editing the To field to reply to only some).

If enough people get used to using email in this way, it could fill most of the needs met by any other group chat or forum …without depending on a centralized social media company that's taking dystopian measures to try and make the business profitable.

So here are some thoughts about how I personally imagine it could work.

(Feel free to comment and bring up any thoughts I haven't addressed, or suggestions to customize how specific groups could set it up. This is meant as more of a starting point for brainstorming than a catch-all solution.)

As I see it, here are the basics of what you and your friends would each need to start out:

An email address. Any kind, hosted anywhere. You should use a dedicated email account just for this group, one that you do NOT use for other communication. Being in this group will result in things you don't want happening to your main email address-- like getting a TON of email, one for every post and reply. Or someone could get your email address that you really don't want any contact with. Use a burner email account (one that you can easily replace) and change it if needed.

The knowledge of how to "REPLY ALL" in your email. This will be necessary in order to add a comment that everyone in the group can see.

The knowledge of how to EDIT THE "TO" FIELD in your email, and remove addresses from the list of all recipients. This will be necessary if you want to CHANGE WHICH PEOPLE in the group can see your comment.

The knowledge of how to FILTER WORDS in your email. This will be necessary if a topic comes up that you don't want to see any mentions of.

The knowledge of how to BLOCK PEOPLE in your email. This will be very important. If someone joins this email group who you do not want to interact with, it will be up to you to BLOCK them so that you do NOT see their messages. (If they are bad enough to evade the block with multiple burner accounts, that's what you have a burner account for. Change it, and share the new one only with those you trust not to give it to them.)

Every person in the group will be effectively a "moderator" of the group, able to remove people from it by cutting their email addresses out of the "To" field. Members will all have equal "moderator" privileges, each able to tailor the group to their own needs.

This means the group may naturally split, over time, into other groups, each one removing some people and adding others. Some will overlap, some won't. This is good! This is, in my opinion, what online interaction SHOULD be like! There should be MANY groups like this!

In this way, we can keep online discussion alive, no matter WHAT happens to any of the social media websites.

If the dystopia got bad enough to shut down email, we could even continue with postal mail and photocopies, like they did in the days of print-zine fanfiction.

If it looks like the dystopia is gonna come for postal mail too, we'll use the connection we have to preserve whatever contacts we can with people who live near us.

Not saying it's GONNA get that bad. But these steps of preparation are good no matter exactly what kind of bad stuff happens.

As long as some organized form of communication still exists, we'll have a place where it's at least a little safer to be your true self…

to plan events and meetups…

and maybe even activities a little too risque to make the final cut of a 1982 Disney movie.

They're trying to censor us. We want a Free System. So we're gonna fight back.

For the Users. Not the corporations.

Peace out, programs. <3

[spenglernot]

STORIES TELLING: NED LOWE AND THE DEATH OF POOR REPRESENTATION IN OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH

In history, Ned Lowe was one of the most sadistic and violent pirates in the early 18th century, so he’s an obvious choice for a villain for season 2, episode 6 – Calypso’s Birthday.  What is interesting is what the OFMD writers chose to do with him.

Lowe announces himself to the crew of the Revenge with great fanfare (cannon ball attack) and gets right to the point.

Ed is thoroughly unimpressed.

Cut to Ed and Stede tied up while Ned attempts to set the mood so he can monologue about why he wants to kill Ed.

Ed knows what’s coming. He is going to suffer but he still can’t be arsed to meet Ned with anything but vaguely bored dismissiveness (and Stede is happy to play along).

Up on the deck, Ned prepares the crew for his big, dramatic moment of symphonic torture.

Note that the Revenge crew is tied down, braced by vices and generally unable to protect themselves from imminent torture and possible death, but their spirits are up. They don’t seem terribly fussed.

Then Stede uses his people positive management style to happily orchestrate a worker uprising in Ned’s crew.

Ned’s crew responds instantly; severing their allegiance to Lowe and telling him off.

The crew sails away and talks profit sharing while Ned dully threatens to hunt them down.

Ned is now a prisoner of the Revenge crew and seems entirely disinterested in his own survival.

And Ned sinks to the depths, without struggling at all.

There is a lot going on in this episode: pay and labor equity direct action, gay love engagement bliss, kink humor, Stede being a hero and saving his crew by playing to his strengths, then having to decide whether to kill in cold blood and feel the consequences of that choice. Ed having one more reason to be done with piracy (while being so impressed with and fond of Stede), and then watching his man make a fraught choice and having to deal with the fallout from that. (And, damn, I haven’t even mentioned the passionate sex bit.) Anyway, back to the point.

Now for the the meta part

The Ned Lowe sequences are perfectly in keeping with OFMD’s signature blend of madcap violence, humor, and big emotional gut punches. But something about Ned Lowe just strikes me as off for this show.

Ned is seriously threatening the crews’ lives, so why don’t they take him seriously?

Why does Ned have such a boring, throwaway backstory?

Why is Ned so nonchalant about his own death; like it’s a foregone conclusion?

Why does Ned have a silver violin and silver spurs on his slip-on dress shoes?

Why is Ned sartorially monochromatic?

And then I realized who Ned reminds me of.

This guy,

Earnst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film Diamonds are Forever (1971)

And this guy,

Scar in Disney's The Lion King (1994).

And this guy,

Xerxes, 300 (2006).

And it sure seems like Ned Lowe isn’t just an episodic villain. He is an archetype of the one-dimensional, stereotypical queer-coded villain that has been endemic in film and television throughout history. The OFMD writers have a lot to say about what to do with this kind of character:

Don’t respect him.

Feel free to openly mock him.

Don’t let him take your joy, even though he will hurt you.

He won’t disappear on his own. You have to throw something at him (take action) to make him go away.

Once he’s in the water, he’s content to drown. He’s not into what he’s doing any more than you are.

Oh and, just to be clear,

The LGBTQIA+ community has a very long history of turning shit media into better stories. So, hey, big media, prepare to have your crap characters wrecked (improved).

Now, back to our transformative pirate show with rich, complex queer characters and a multi-layered plot that surprises me every week and makes me feel big feelings - most of all, joy.

Final thought: I do wonder if Ned Lowe is monochromatically silver as a tribute to/poke at, Hollywood and the silver screen.

This meta was written before OFMD season 2 has fully aired. No idea what’s going to happen in the finale (and I’ve generally fled social media to avoid spoilers). I’ll be back, looking at everyone’s fascinating posts after episode 8 airs.

[santanasaintmendes]

la mano arriba, cintura sola, da media vuelta, danza kuduro 

part5! to the ¡cosmic girl records!

!cosmic girl records!

summary: carnival, beaches, feijoada, the brazil grand prix, your best friend and boyfriend team up to . . . bully you? 

olliebearman x reader & platonic!grid x reader 

fc!: random pics and girls from pinterest, all credits go to their rightful owners in the images used below

warnings: swearing, aussie slander (i’m sorry, turning on my own kind fr), lando insults y/n’s singing 😔, girlfriend stealing

a/n: thank you for how quickly ‘make tacos not war’ got to 100 likes! Here’s part 5 to the cosmic girl records!

wordcount: 1.2k

liked by olliebearman, landonorris, lilymhe, lewishamilton, oscarpiastri, georgerussell64, alex_albon, charles_leclerc, alexandrasaintmleux and 8,429,229 others 

unfortunatelyy/n: her name was lola, she was a showgirl 🇧🇷

tagged olliebearman, landonorris, georgerussell64, alex_albon, lilymhe and 3 others

view 3,292,949 comments 

user2: WITH YELLOW FEATHERS IN HER HAIR

|

 user4: AND A DRESS CUT DOWN TO THERE 

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 user5: SHE WOULD MERENGUE 

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 user6: AND DO THE CHA CHA 

|

 user7: 💃💃💃

 user10: who’s lola i don’t get it 😓

|

 user15: the entire nation just took a sigh 

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 user11: suffer in silence you uncultured swine 

|

 user12: damn 😭

|

 user13: it’s a song lol, yk Copacabana by barry manilow 

user14: always count on y/n to give you best f1 content 

liked by unfortunatelyy/n 

 landonorris: not to brag but we absolutely smashed you guys 

|

 lilymhe: no need to rub it in lando onewin 

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 user1: LANDO ONEWIN HELP 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: yeah pal, you guys literally won by 1 point 

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 landonorris: we still won 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: I DEMAND A REMATCH

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 lilymhe: y/n nO

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 landonorris: so you can lose again?

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 unfortunatelyy/n: SO WE CAN BEAT YOUR SORRY ASSES 

|

 olliebearman: you’re so scary when your mad, i can see your fuming while you stare at your phone 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: why do you like exposing me so much 😞

|

 olliebearman: it’s out of love 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: sure whatever 😒

|

 olliebearman: she’s literally hugging me right now

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: I’M BREAKING UP WITH YOU 

user8: ugh to have friends like the f1 grid 

user9: COPACABANA, MUSIC AND PASSION WERE ALWAYS THE FASHION

 georgerussell64: thank you for capturing my good side in that photo

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: you just want to talk about your abs don’t you?

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 georgerussell64: yes 😌

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 unfortunatelyy/n: GET OUT OF MY COMMENT SECTION 

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 georgerussell64: OKAY OKAY GEEZ SO AGGRESSIVE 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: OUT OUT OUT OUT OUT 

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 georgerussell64: OKAY I’M GOING 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: GO AWAYYYY📢

liked by olliebearman, landonorris, georgerussell64, oscarpiastri, charles_leclerc, maxverstappen1, schecoperez and 11,483,292 others 

unfortunatelyy/n: i love my friends 🥲

tagged landonorris, olliebearman and oscarpiastri 

view 47,439 comments 

user1: LET MY GIRL SING HER DISNEY SONGS 🗣️

user2: “do i look like national geographic” OSCAR PLS 😭

 user3: HELP “friends” how does it feel ollie 😭😭

|

 olliebearman: 🥲

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 unfortunatelyy/n: whoops 🫣

 oscarpiastri: i’m sorry but it was a dumb question

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: IT WAS VALID THOUGH DO THEY

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 oscarpiastri: why would u ask me tho 😭

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 unfortunatelyy/n: isn’t it obvious, you’re one of those vegemite eating people who ride kangaroos to school and go “crikey mate” 

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 oscarpiastri: I-

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 user6: she’s not wrong 

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 olliebearman: it’s okay you get used to it 

user4: it’s okay guys, ollie and y/n are sophisticated adults who purchase vegetables responsibly 

liked by unfortunatelyy/n

 landonorris: okay but u were loud asf and it was 2am 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: u a grown ass man who goes to sleep before 2am?! 

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 landonorris: YES??? I HAVE A JOB??

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 unfortunatelyy/n: damn ok 😒 that’s still unfortunate

|

 landonorris: okay miss insomniac, no one wants to hear a live production of Frozen on a budget at 2 in the morning 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: ouch that hurt 

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 landonorris: i’m sorry it's just the truth, i’m pretty sure the entire hotel doesn’t want to be hearing it too 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: was i really that loud??

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 landonorris: we share a wall. and yes. 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: damn ok 😔

user5: i can confirm as an australian, koalas do get angry 

liked by unfortunatelyy/n

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: I KNEW IT 

liked by olliebearman, oscarpiastri, landonorris, georgerussell64, lewishamilton, lilymhe, francisca.cgomes and 4,292,573 others 

unfortunatelyy/n: um, dois, três . . . carnival!

view 11,392 comments 

 user1: she’s STUNNING how did ollie bag her

|

 user2: pasta.

|

 user1: what?

|

 user2: long story.

|

 user7: only the real OG’s know 

user2: Olá do Brasil! 🇧🇷

liked by unfortunatelyy/n

user3: oh to be y/n 😔

 user4: does she have a job or does she just travel and cling off ollie

|  user5: damn so aggressive and for what 

|

 user6: she just graduated and is going to be an engineer for mercedes next year 

|

 user4: damn my bad ya’ll, respect 🫡

 lilymhe: MARRY ME 😍

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 unfortunatelyy/n: 💍

|

 alex_albon: nO StOp 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: @lilymhe u know this loser?

|

 lilymhe: nope he doesn’t ring a bell 

|

 alex_albon: I’M LITERALLY COOKING LUNCH FOR YOU 

|

 lilymhe: hm you seem to be on your phone rather than cooking 

|  alex_albon: BECAUSE THIS LOSER IS SHAMELESSLY FLIRTING WITH YOU 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: are you feeling okay honey? i’ve got the psychiatric ward on the phone 

|

 lilymhe: cancel that mf 

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 alex_albon: do i mean nothing to you

|

 lilymhe: who are you again?

|

 alex_albon: I’M GOING TO EAT YOUR LUNCH 

|

 lilymhe: no wait 

 olliebearman: hey there gorgeous 😍

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: i’m going to light you on fire

|

 olliebearman: WHAT 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: yep say goodbye to that mfing ice cream hair

|

 olliebearman: i didn’t realise you hated the hair that much 😔

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: well now u do 🤗

|

 olliebearman: ☹️

user5: i’m sorry ollie she’s right, the hair is just not hitting 

liked by unfortunatelyy/n

liked by olliebearman, landonorris, charles_leclerc, alex_albon, lilymhe, alexandrasaintmleux, carmenmmundt and 11,492,293 others 

unfortunately/n: dig, set, spike . . . right?

tagged olliebearman, landonorris, lilymhe, georgerussell64 and 6 others 

view 83,492 comments 

 landonorris: yes duh if that wasn’t obvious 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: that block button is looking really nice right now 

|

 landonorris: mhm we all know how that went down last time 

|

 user2: GUYS THEY’RE TALKING IN FULL SENTENCES WHAT DO WE DO 

|

 user3: who knew they had that many words in their vocabulary 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: @landonorris that was a moment of weakness 

|

 user4: what are they yapping on about 😭

|

 landonorris: what if i told everyone 

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 unfortunatelyy/n: you wouldn’t live to see another day 

|

 user5: HELP WE STAN A PSYCHO

|

 olliebearman: oh hey guys are we talking about the time y/n was threatening to block lando and she accidentally called emergency services at 3am and they heard her shouting so they dispatched police to her house and kicked her door down 😃

|

 user6: WHAT 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: WHY DO YOU HATE ME 

|

 user7: when did it become lando AND ollie bullying y/n 😭😭

|

 landonorris: and may i add, that occasion wasn’t the only time y/n called someone when threatening to block me 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: 🖕🖕

|

 user8: not the double middle finger 

|

 user9: oh she mad 

liked by georgerussell64, alex_albon, pierregasly, oscarpiastri, kimi.antonelli, arthur_leclerc and 44,329,928 others 

unfortunatelyy/n: lovely photos, boys 

tagged olliebearman, landonorris and charles_leclerc 

view 44,829 comments 

 user1: sorry but i speak for everyone when i say WE LOVE Y/N

|

 user2: SAY IT LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE IN THE BACK 

 user3: the ollie pic 😭

|

 user4: y/n was not joking when she said she had mad photoshop skills 

 charles_leclerc: WHAT DID I DO 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: live.

|

 user5: charles must be having deja vu 

|

 charles_leclerc: WHEN DID U EVEN TAKE THAT PHOTO

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: your girlfriend took the photo for me 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: i mean, my wife 

|

 charles_leclerc: WOW. @alexandrasaintmleux 

|

 alexandrasaintmleux: 😊

 olliebearman: sorry 😔 it’ll never happen again i was getting blackmailed 

|

 user6: ollie’s such an easy target in everything im afraid 

|

 landonorris: YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO TELL HER U DUMBASS 

|

 olliebearman: whoops 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: @landonorris 🤨

|

 landonorris: i have no idea what hes talking about 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: sounds suspicious but ok 

|

 olliebearman: WHY ARE YOU BELIEVING HIM 

|

 unfortunatelyy/n: WHY DO YOU ASK SO MANY QUESTIONS 

|

 olliebearman: just say you hate me already 😔

taglisttime!: @ilivbullyingjeongin

a/n: thank you for reading! i hope it made you laugh, have a happy + safe day xoxo santanasaintmendes <3

[ganondoodle]

since i have seen this argument pop up again and again and now its used to defend the minecraft movie

i really hate the argument that something, be it a movie or a game, can be as shitty as it wants when its primarily aimed at kids (or people THINK it is aimed mostly at kids) bc its 'just for kids'

like children are lesser an stupid? like they arent incredibly impressionable and deserve good movies? im not saying they should only watch critical acclaimed drama movies, but you can make a movie 'for kids' AND make it good, its been done before, sure there will always be shit movies, and thats fine, but dismissing any kind of criticism towards them bc "its just for kids" feels so unecessarily mean spirited towards children, like they are little people in wildly different stages of development!! they can think too!!

'kids' itself is such a wide range that i feel its not very useful as a category anyway, a 5 year old isnt the same as an 11 year old, both of them should get good things, and both can watch or play things they may not completely understand yet! i grew up with shrek, and while a big parody and haha fart humor movie, they (1+2) have an incredibly strong core, i didnt udnerstand them fully when i was little, so what? i still enjoyed them, i felt more connected to them than any disney movie (bc hey .. the monster is the main guy and no they dont all turn into conventionally pretty humans as the ultimate reward- i felt othered throughout my life too) and i still do, theres jokes and themes and meaning i understood fully only when i was rewatching them as an adult, i still enjoy them even at 27

and like, shouldnt it ESPECIALLY matter what children watch? (not in the puritan brain worm way) bc they are ... people in development?? do you think if they just sit down and watch shitty movies and play games that dont challenge them at all, be it thinking critically or emotionally, all day it wont have an affect on them??

(im sorry to bring up totk again, but that 'its for kids' argument has been used to defend it so much too, and its so incredibly annoying to me, ah yes, its puzzles are all skippable or easy as shit bc its main target are kids and children are stupid and shouldnt be challenged ever, the story is a simple fairytale type deal maybe to you, but contains alot of harmful stereotypes that have led to real world harm and its repeated unquestionably while offering nothing intersting to think or engage with, theres a reason alot of childrens media contains alot of stereotypes to propaganda even but its just for kids of course its not propaganda bc kids are stupid and cant understand that lol BECAUSE they are so impressionable, if a series 'for kids' only lets the girls be in frilly pink dresses and do 'girly' stuff do you not think that wil affect how they think about themselves??

if they keep seeing the light skinned blonde heroe stab the unquestioned evil arab stereotype bc he wants to take over your holy land bc hes just 'evil' and is never ever humanized in any way and only presented as a monster, while the good little maiden princess does everything she can to support her hero in shiny armor with big sad doe eyes and pretty little white dress- do you not think it will affect them? if it were an isolated incidence perhaps not much, but its a stereotype perpetuated to such a degree that you think its just 'how fairytales go'? yeah, you have been influenced by these portrayals, they are working as intented- and if they are used as such in media without the writer intending to influence you that way? thats even worse bc it means it has been so normalized to think that way people dont even realize it- while alot of real people in the world are ganondorf, they are demonized and dehumanized, others think of them as inherently evil.. but its just a "simple fairytale"

yes i know children can also question things on their own, but you shouldnt assume that comes naturally and then also in just the correct way, i questioned why i was just doing whatever the talking boat told me to do when i first played windwaker as a kid, but more bc i liked how ganondorf looked and hated being told things to do without a good reason being given (autism much?), 'evil' didnt do it for me, but that doesnt mean i knew he was an evil arab stereotype, i didnt like tetra turning white as zelda, bc i thought she looked cooler before and i didnt like 'girly' things myself, not bc i knew it was whitewashing

-not saying media should be free of anything 'problematic', the problem is how its presented and never questioned or engaged with critically and then that stupid argument being used to dismiss it like children are both unable to think and not influencable somehow-)

[astrobiscuits]

Astro observations part 6

🪻Individuals with Sun in Taurus degrees (2,14,26) are always thinking about money - how they can earn more money, what to spend it on. If it's in Scorpio or conjuncts Pluto, they'll often lie about how much money they actually have just to profit off of you. You'll often hear them say "I don't have any money" but secretly have stash of money hidden in their house

🪻Not only do Aquarius Suns have a lot of friends, they also befriend the shy/awkward/forgotten kid (me). I haven't noticed this with other Sun signs

🪻People with Venus in Leo/Leo degrees (5,17,29) often get complimented on their thick hair

🪻Asteroid Fraga (1105) conjuncting any of your planets/angles/nodes indicates your love for strawberries lol

🪻 Check your Moon in Webb (3041) Persona chart. It gives you more insight on the type of content you like to consume on the internet. You can also take into consideration the degree of your Moon

Aries 🌙 - *watches sports matches live*; *laughs at stupid, childish memes *

Taurus 🌙 - the one who always searches for tutorials; "how to bake lava cake", "how to remove a stripped screw"; hmm, maybe i should move *searches houses for sale*;

Gemini 🌙 - *watches memes*, doesn't care what kind of meme it is as long as it's a meme; *scrolls endlessly on r/todayilearned*

Cancer 🌙 - *watches baby videos*; the type that reads family drama posted on reddit, but also regularly checks what their own relatives post on social media

Leo 🌙 - the newest tea on their fav celebrities; they're the first to know what Zendaya ate this morning, where Tom Hanks went on vacation yesterday and if Kylie Jenner is pregnant again; awww a kitty *ends up in an endless loophole of cat videos*

Virgo 🌙 - "declutter with me" videos, "clean with me" videos; *checks their fav blog every day*; *watches workout videos while working out*; *checks e-mails 20 times a day*; ugh, i need to take a break *watches pet videos*

Libra 🌙 - "get ready with me for..." videos, "OOTD" videos, make-up tutorials; their pinterest is full of outfit inspo and aesthetic house decor; "red/green flags in a guy/girl" videos, "first date do's and don'ts" videos

Scorpio 🌙 - *watches every true crime documentary out there*; "Michael Jackson spirit box session"; time to do the deed *watches p8rn*

Sagittarius 🌙 - *saves bible verses all the time*; searches "how to manifest everything you want", obsessed with Neville Goddard content (i'm so sorry, i'm guilty of this); *decides to go on a spontaneous trip, so they end up watching travel videos*

Capricorn 🌙 - the type that doesn't use the internet for entertainment much; actually, you'd be surprised by how little they use their phone compared to the average person; probably has a daily time limit set on their phones, *reads memoirs and biographies*,

Aquarius 🌙 - twitch is their life basically; if they're not watching someone play a video game, then they're playing a video game; *follows LGBTQ+ content during pride month*

Pisces 🌙 - they're listening to music 24/7, has a playlist for every mood they're going through, *watches tangled for the 7th time in a row*; actually, they're always watching a tv series if not for a disney movie

🪻I noticed that most film directors (Hitchcock, Kubrick, Tarantino) have got Neptune in Gemini or Neptune in Gemini degrees (3,15,27). Besides Hitchcock, they also don’t have any aspect between Neptune and Mercury