#and we get him

[thisiskatsblog]

Best to you, Kat. Always had respect for you. Harry is a businessman; so is Louis. Your love for the fandom shouldn’t be confused with misplaced love for either artist.

Thank you for the well wishes, anon. I do appreciate that you thought of me, wanted to share that with me, and your respect for the love I have given fandom. It means a lot to me that this is recognized. Really. Thank you.

I am afraid the ask doesn't come across to me as respectful as you believe it is, though. There is judgment in using the term "misplaced love" , making it come off as though you think I am naïve about things and you know better.

I am a lot of things - among others passionate, open, and I tend to place trust in others - but that definitely does not equal naïve.

I know all too well that, if you want to make a living as a musician, you also need to understand, and get involved in, the business side of things.

Having grown up in the nineties, I have seen first hand my fair share of artists who detested the "business", and who - to various degrees - fought it or refused to reconcile with it, in view of maintaining their "integrity" as artists. I have zero illusions about how sustainable such objections are. You cannot keep it out if you want to build a long term career in music and the size of your success will usually have something to do with the compromises you are willing to make. And once the success comes in, even if you have not compromised before, the compromises become inevitable anyway. I have also seen that this doesn't necessarily mean you have to let go of all integrity. Several artists of my youth continue to draw big crowds, and manage to connect with their audience, move me to the core when I go see them, even for the umpteenth time.

What I am saying is that I'm not the type of person who believes an artist should refuse to become a businessman to remain credible and preserve their "integrity" as an artist. I believe that every artist has to decide for themselves where they draw the line between business interests and artistic integrity, between how much they want to earn off the back of their fans, and how much it's "all about the music". It can all be done while still making a real connection with the fans. Without making them feel alienated.

I'm also not an idiot and I know that all the boys in 1D were businessmen before they became somewhat credible as artists. They have all fought to overcome the prejudice that they are businessmen before artists, “pop stars fabricated to make money, with little to say as artists,” even. I also know their fights have had varying, and sometimes limited success.

However, I do believe that several of them DO have something to say. I believe what they have to say could be valuable, and I hope and wish they get to say it. While I wouldn't call that "love" for the artist, I do believe in several of them as artists. Maybe they're not the best artists I know, maybe they are not my favourite artists ever, but I believe they have things to bring to the table, I am interested to hear them.

And yes I have a great love for this fandom, and the people, particularly the LGBTQ+ people, in it. This comes first to me and I'm glad you recognized this.

But, insofar this includes any of the artists who might be LGBTQ+, my love goes out to them as well, not as artists, but as young people who deserve my energy to fight for our rights and wellbeing as a community. And it's also in this respect that I feel that Harry and Louis have earned some of my love and trust. Harry's relentless support to the community, from the start; the many songs / videos in which he is or might be referencing some of what this fandom has created (Sign of the Times, Adore You, Treat People with Kindness, Lights Up, Matilda). The pride flag on Louis' stage during my show in Antwerp; and a beautiful song like Only the Brave that has inspired the community.

That hasn't changed with anything that's happened.

What has changed, is my trust in Harry's integrity as a businessman.

You don't need to keep out business to keep your integrity as an artist. You can, for my part, even be a very successful businessman and keep integrity as an artist. But that does presume you maintain integrity as a businessman as well. And THAT is where the past days' events have disappointed me incredibly.

While I myself, would probably have made decisions about my career more like Louis' than like Harry's (the ticketing prices for Louis are much more democratic, and he has definitely chosen the harder road, trying to go more indie rock with his sound), I am not angry at Harry for "selling out" because he has stuck to pop and clearly wants to be “big”. What I am angry about is the lack of integrity on the business side.

I bought a ticket for a seat which the sales information in 2020 told me was at the B stage. For more than two years I did not know what was going to happen for this concert but I did not ask for my money back. I bought what I bought and I trusted that I would receive what I was promised to get in return. I didn't ask for a refund when the US tour was given priority over the EU one, I held on to my ticket. I didn't ask for a refund when a new record was announced and the setlist was not going to be what I expected it to be with this very different album coming out, I held on to my ticket. At the very least, I would have expected the layout of the room, on which the price of the seats in 2020 was based, to remain the same.

What Harry and his team did to the people with 2020 VIP seat tickets for the EU tour, completely lacks business integrity. We were sold a cat in a bag. So yes I have lost faith in Harry’s integrity as a businessman, and that compromises, in my view, his integrity as an artist.

I continue to support everyone who is bringing rainbows to his tour, in support of LGBTQ+ fans.

I continue support everyone who is bringing rainbows to Louis' tour.

I also continue to support Louis as an artist. It really surprised me anon that you wished to extend my loss of faith in Harry to him. There is no reason for it that I can see at this time. And if and when I can muster the energy I do hope to return from hiatus to follow (some of) his tour. We'll see.

I'm also not a fan of cancel culture. Which is to say Harry could probably win back my support and trust by doing better and surrounding himself with a better team, that cares more about integrity in business, and about the way he connects with his fans, a team that is not up for alienating long term fans over money. A team that doesn’t see his fans a short term cash making machine, but as real people with hopes, expectations and feelings. 

You cannot cater to everyone - OK - those are choices you make - but you are also not above everyone and you need to honor the expectations you raise. It's not a small deal to disregard "a few fans who bought VIP tickets 2 years ago" to "bring in more new fans" (who will incidentally bring in shitloads more of money). I hope he is able to understand how that makes a significant number of very faithful fans, who have stood by him all this time, whom he raised expectations with, whom he promised something, I hope he is able to understand how that makes them feel. Because it feels as if faith and trust in him is not valued.  It feels as even our money isn’t valued. Good businessmen know that this is not doing good business. Integrity does matter, also in business. And it matters for you as an artist, or it should, because it alienates part of your fanbase. This Harry and this team makes us feel alienated on a constant basis.

For me, the alienation didn't start with the layout changes, it has long been going on and it manifests in many different things. It's about catering to the American market and disregarding everyone else (and Europe has the least to complain I know this well). It's about everything that comes with catering to this homophobic American market, so that even rainbow projects are organized by homophobes who give your bi flag a nasty smirk while they are handing you their colored piece of paper, ignoring you with disgust on their faces while you try to thank them for organizing this because "its not about LGBTQ people we just want to make Harry happy" (this is the London rainbowhproject I'm talking about). It's about talking about American political issues but not recognizing the very serious and real political issues in the UK (only encouraging people to vote when it's already too late), it's about making fun of fans who want to hear fine line or medicine (in what upside down world does an artist not appreciate that people want to hear the more obscure songs like Medicine, rather than the hits like Watermelon Sugar). Its's about not really connecting, just giving a semblance. And, now that we are at it, on a personal level, it’s also about mansplaining abuse, and instead of saying something really useful about tit, telling people fairy tales ("I know they won't hurt you anymore if you can let them go") but not giving any real support. 

Back to the ticket scam, maybe Harry can content himself with fans who don't understand what was done to them or who don't give a fuck whether they are treated like cash machines or humans, or with only American fans if he so wishes. In which case: fine. But honestly I don't believe that's what he wants. So I hold out a wee bit of hope that things might change. We'll see. Maybe. Maybe not. I've decided I won't be buying tickets to Harry's shows until that time and I'm also taking a break from here to protect myself from feeling awful every time something like this happens. It breaks my heart - Harry has meant so much to me as a person, and some of his music has meant a lot to me too - but coming to these shows hopeful, positive, and coming home feeling completely alienated for the second time after what happened at the London show, I simply don't have the energy for that anymore. 

Back then I tried to keep going but eventually it led me to staying away for a year and a half. I'm too interested in what Louis does next to stay away that long I think, so I'm taking a break now, and I'll see when I feel zen enough to come back and show some interest in other things.

Thanks again for wishing me well in the meantime, anon.

[sidras-tak]

Accessibility takes too goddamn fucking long.

My brother was paralyzed in October 2023. We got him home from the hospital (in Texas, when we live in Iowa) in a clunky old hospital chair. He hated it. He was scared and angry and in pain and his life had just changed forever and he couldn’t do anything for himself in that wheelchair. His first goal (aside from learning how to transfer) was to get a wheelchair. My family was lucky enough to afford one so we thought it would be easy enough. Nope.

We couldn’t buy him a wheelchair. He needed a prescription. For a wheelchair. A doctor had to examine him and declare him in need of a wheelchair. It wasn’t good enough that he had scans and tests showing tumors cutting off his spinal cord. He needed his primary care doctor to examine him during a physical and write a prescription. He was making 2-4 transfers a day, tops. He had no energy to get to a doctor. Home health was in and out every day. He had no time to get to a doctor. He didn’t get a prescription for almost a month. Then it had to go through insurance.

We asked if we could skip insurance and just buy a wheelchair for him. Nope. They wouldn’t sell us one, not even at full sticker price. It needed to be approved by Medicare. We ordered a wheelchair, a nice one, a good shade of green, sporty, small. It would let him move around the house. He would be able to cook, to reach drawers and get stuff from the fridge and brush his teeth and put his contacts in at a sink. We were told it would take awhile, maybe two months. Silently we all hoped he would be around to see two more months.

He went on hospice care on a Saturday in March. On Monday, I was calling his friends to come see him before he died. I got a call on his phone. It was the wheelchair company. They were about to order his wheelchair, she said, but there was an issue with insurance— had he stopped being covered by Medicare? Well, yes. When he started hospice care, he got kicked off Medicare. The very nice woman I talked to told me to call her if he resumed Medicare coverage so she could order his wheelchair. He died less than 12 hours later.

We ordered that chair for him in early December. Medicare didn’t approve the order until March. He was dead before they got around to it. He wanted that fucking wheelchair so badly. The only reason he had any semblance of independence and any quality of life for the last five months of his life was because the wheelchair company lent him an old beater chair, a very used model of the chair he ordered. If I could go back and change one thing about his end-of-life, I would get him his dream wheelchair. He told me again and again he couldn’t wait to get it, so that he could feel like a person again. He made the best of what he had with that old beater chair, but it still makes me mad to this day. He was paralyzed. He needed a chair that afforded him dignity. We had the money for it. And yet, we were left waiting for five months, for a chair that wouldn’t even get ordered until the day he died.

[idontbelievethehype]

Absolutely, irrefutably out of pocket behavior from Prime Video.

[1alchemistart]

dont got much to offer for The Holiday but have these sillies!

happy valentines day :D

[bixels]

Learning that fans hated Applejack and called her "boring" is crazyyy to me because I genuinely, unironically believe AJ's the most complex character in the main six.

Backstory-wise, she was born into a family of famers/blue collar workers who helped found the town she lives in. She grew up a habitual liar until she had the bad habit traumatized outta her. She lost both her parents and was orphaned at a young age, having to step up as her baby sister's mother figure. She's the only person in the main gang who's experienced this level of loss and grief (A Royal Problem reveals that AJ dreams about memories of being held by her parents as a baby). She moved to Manhattan to live with her wealthy family members, only to realize she'll never fit in or be accepted, even amongst her own family. The earlier seasons imply she and her family had money problems too (In The Ticket Master, AJ wants to go to the gala to earn money to buy new farm equipment and afford hip surgery for her grandma).

Personality-wise, she's a total people-pleaser/steamroller (with an occasional savior complex) who places her self worth on her independence and usefulness for other people, causing her to become a complete workaholic. In Applebuck Season, AJ stops taking care of herself because of her obsessive responsibilities for others and becomes completely dysfunctional. In Apple Family Reunion, AJ has a tearful breakdown because in she thinks she dishonored her family and tarnished her reputation as a potential leader –– an expectation and anxiety that's directly tied to her deceased parents, as shown in the episode's ending scene. In The Last Roundup, AJ abandons her family and friends out of shame because believes she failed them by not earning 1st place in a rodeo competition. She completely spirals emotionally when she isn't able to fulfill her duties toward others. Her need to be the best manifests in intense pride and competitiveness when others challenge her. And when her pride's broken, she cowers and physically hides herself.

Moreover, it's strongly implied that AJ has a deep-seated anger. The comics explore her ranting outbursts more. EQG also obviously has AJ yelling at and insulting Rarity in a jealous fit just to hurt her feelings (with a line that I could write a whole dissection on). And I'm certain I read in a post somewhere that in a Gameloft event, AJ's negative traits are listed as anger.

Subtextually, a lot of these flaws and anxieties can be (retroactively) linked to her parents' death, forcing her to grow up too quickly to become the adult/caregiver of the family (especially after her big brother becomes semiverbal). Notice how throughout the series, she's constantly acting as the "mom friend" of the group (despite everything, she manages to be the most emotionally mature of the bunch). Notice how AJ'll switch to a quieter, calmer tone when her friends are panicking and use soothing prompts and questions to talk them through their emotions/problems; something she'd definitely pick up while raising a child. Same with her stoicism and reluctance at crying or releasing emotions (something Pinkie explicitly points out). She also had a childhood relationship with Rara (which, if you were to give a queer reading, could easy be interpreted as her first 'aha' crush), who eventually left her life. (Interestingly enough, AJ also has an angry outburst with Rara for the same exact reasons as with EQG Rarity; jealous, upset that someone else is using and changing her). It's not hard to imagine an AJ with separation anxiety stemming from her mother and childhood friend/crush leaving. I'm also not above reading into AJ's relationship with her little sister (Y'all ever think about how AB never got to know her parents, even though she shares her father's colors and her mother's curly hair?).

AJ's stubbornness is a symptom of growing up too quickly as well. Who else to play with your baby sister when your brother goes nonverbal (not to discount Big Mac's role in raising AB)? Who else to wake up in the middle of the night to care for your crying baby sister when your grandma needs her rest? When you need to be 100% all the time for your family, you tend to become hard-stuck with a sense of moral superiority. You know what's best because you have to be your best because if you're aren't your best, then everything'll inevitably fall apart and it'll be your fault. And if you don't know what's best –– if you've been wrong the whole time –– that means you haven't been your best, which means you've failed the people who rely on you, which means you can't fulfill your role in the family/society, which makes you worthless . We've seen time and time again how this compulsive need to be right for the sake of others becomes self-destructive (Apple Family Reunion, Sound of Silence, all competitions against RD). We've seen in The Last Roundup how, when no longer at her best, AJ would rather remove herself from her community than confront them because she no longer feels of use to them.

But I guess it is kinda weird that AJ has "masculine" traits and isn't interested in men at all. It's totally justified that an aggressively straight, misogynistic male fandom would characterize her as a "boring background character." /s

At the time of writing this, it's 4:46AM.

[luriuan]

Love how Sokka spent an entire 2 episodes hating on Aang, then immediately became his older brother in the third.

[minzart]

People who experience romantic and/or sexual attraction are so funny sometimes

They will ask "who's your crush?" And you will answer "i don't have one" and then it starts

"Why are you liying?", "you can trust me", "don't hide", "i don't belive you", "what?! Everyone has one come on", "hmhu it's [name] isn't it?".

in the extreme cases (mine once) they won't let you even leave the conversation and place it started

And so you lie

And when if "confession" comes from "name" and you reject it every single persson who made you lie will be angry.

Honey. Why the fuck are you angry? You decided a lie is more realistic than reality

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF Movie William judges Vanessa's friends..

[bishy437]

he won

bonus:

[egophiliac]

IT WAS ERIC AFTER ALL!!!! I'm so glad we got to meet him (before Vil snaps him away with those Infinity Gauntlets) (can't wait to see what happens when we get the matching Infinity Tiara to go with them, there will be no survivors)

(sorry to be so slow/rough lately, just got a lot of stuff on the ol' brain at the moment! alas, if only I could spend all my time drawing incredibly stupid characters I mean I do but)

[fumifooms]

Omg guys he just genuinely likes bugs and mollusks and critters 😭💘💔 Forced to noble when he just wanna crouch and watch things skitter in the dirt…

[myrkulitescourge]

the way that one line from the new epilogue in an astarion romance is going to HAUNT me

just. what a profoundly intense thing to confess to someone.

like, just these six months of newfound happiness with you exerts a force on his heart equal and in direct opposition to two centuries of endless torment, the gnawing hunger and exploitation. this flashbulb-bright fraction of his long life holds the same gravity to him as years upon years of darkness and suffering.

in all likelihood, he hasn’t even known his lover for as long as his worst memory lasted, that year sealed away to go mad from starvation and sensory deprivation, yet he still tells them this brief time has been so fundamentally and powerfully important that the weight of even that unimaginable hell is vanishingly small compared to this present he has now and the future ahead of them both.

how am i supposed to act normal about this.

[aroaceleovaldez]

Nico referring to his mom as "Mama" implies he most likely at least used to refer to Hades as "Papa" and i 100% headcanon he still does but mostly in the manner of him having the entire Underworld wrapped around his finger for being the baby of the family

[upon-the-snow]

early mornings after nightmares

[hitwiththetmnt]

Master Leonardo has some tricks to show Casey for his first Christmas

[daftmooncretin]

last three seasons spn are crazy. its just dean being borderline suicidal while sam tries to fix it by basically dangling his keys at him and going : “dean look! cowboys!” “dean look! strip club!” “dean look! haunted action figure.”

Meanwhile castiel is like i see that dean is suicidal, this is clearly my fault so i will remedy this by dying.