#bc i really just like working in a lot of different mediums and i’m really thankful that my love for art and art making hasn’t dwindled

[pipskippy]

2023 art summary ヽ(´w｀) i ended up not posting most of my stuff for the latter half (yet) but i’m really happy with a lot of what i worked on!!!!!

[magicratfingers]

hi!!! ive been putting off sending this ask bc idk how to phrase it in the best way but … ive been trying to work on my drawing lately even tho the Voice that wants to give up bc im not immediately good at things is VERY strong !!! & i love your work so much + ive been taking a lot of inspo bc its kinda scribbly and pared-down but still really expressive + differentiated (i.e. im just saying its something i feel like i can try match the vibe of rather than like, a very detailed and refined thing?!?! absolutely not my intention to sound rude at all!!!) .

anyway very rambly but the main thing is ive been struggling a lot w figure+perspective+silhouettes and honestly everything so i was just wondering what ur process was like??? particularly bc ur style is more pared back but everything is so cohesive and all the perspective n posing is perfect. i’m curious sketching/planning is involved before a typical work you’d upload? and idk like……. how much technical skill + consideration goes into a drawing especially re: posing & perspective. just bc i feel like Such a Noob and like my eyes r literally wrong and nothing looks Right. im such a type A planner it just feels like maybe idk am i supposed to be educating myself on figure drawing and shading perspective first??!?! or do i just draw until it’s good?!?!?

idk man i create in a lot of different mediums and i feel super comfortable letting my writing be terrible before it’s good but w drawing the self-critique is SO difficult to ignore. thanku for what turned out to be a vent lol. but i would appreciate any insight! also i love your art ok bye

Hi! yeah great ask. I've been there. Live there, even. Here're two of my comfort hacks

1. Scribbles = Bonsai It can be real hard to know when you're 'done' with an illustration (or anything really) if you don't have a job for it. My doodles are 'done' to me if they have Character, Rhythm, & Balance. I stole that from a youtube doc about Bonsai.

2. Figures / Perspectives / Shading = Planning The Chunks These are kind of all the same thing - 'how am I using volume to say something.' I've found formal perspective stuff to be stifling. I work around it by making little marshmallow toothpick people and putting them in a diorama.

I like the diorama method because all I have to do is make far things lighter and close things darker. That's a lot of depth for very little effort and I'm on a budget.

If this helps y'all I'd love to hear about it 🍀

[zukkacore]

I’m not opposed to the fanfic-to-romance-writer pipeline in principle bc there is literally nothing wrong with fanfic as an avenue for creativity and expression and practice and I don’t think it’s a lesser version of writing, and literally everyone is inspired by something and that’s ok for it to carry over into your original work, but what does bother me is that they are different mediums with different strengths & do different things for their audience & it is really tiresome to act like you can transpose the conventions of one medium to another with no legwork to learn the new thing and expect it to successful. You can’t just write a screenplay and expect it to translate well to a Broadway musical without learning the new medium. I think fanfic-to-book writing is the same way. Of all the “this feels like fanfic” insights you could have about a book, from it being light on worldbuilding and heavy on character interaction, to there being some self insert or wish fulfillment aspects in the protagonist, to a juvenile or conversational tone in the writing style, to the story having some clear derivative influence, I think the worst sin the fanfic-to-romance-writer pipeline has birthed is these books that are really sparse on explaining the connection between the romantic leads or really delving into what makes them work & instead rely on a presupposed & preconceived knowledge of its fanfic inspiration in order to be enjoyable at all. This is what I mean when I say fanfiction is great for what it is, but it is a medium that does not demand a lot of legwork in terms of worldbuilding (unless it’s very explicitly an AU) & allows you to presuppose a lot & also IS FREE. Whereas w/ a book I am paying my hard earned coin, so coming w/ a recommended prerequisite source material sucks ass. I can get behind a book that is clearly derivative of the author’s long time fandom interest but using that inspiration to craft its own story, but what I’ve grown tired of is the growing number of books that are coasting off intertextuality & nothing more.

[moonlightperseus]

911 Characters + dogs you think they should own

okay im sooo sorry it's taken me so long to reply to this but i wanted to really mull it over and i've been thinking about it a lot and i've come up with a basic list for the main chars (+ a few that are Main In My Heart) i've paired off the canon couples since they would be getting the dog together.

bobby (and athena, but i'm putting bobby specifically because athena is allergic to dogs and thus this is His dog) - Chinese crested dog (i originally was debating between bichon and toy poodle but then i saw the error of my ways) bobby rescues this older, a little bit in need of some tlc chinese crested and it's perfect because they're a pretty hypoallergenic breed (the hairless ones at least, which is what bobby rescues), athena is hesitant about the dog at first,

henren - golden retriever / mix, i know they had a smaller dog in the past but personally i think they should have a medium/large dog next, a rescue who is a little older (past puppyhood/young adult bc hooo boy you don’t need a puppy and a baby at the same time), idk if it’s a full golden or a mixed breed with some golden in it but it’s a very even tempered fluffy dog who’s a total sweetheart (if sometimes a little stubborn about moving… i’m not speaking from any person experience what are you talking about)

madney - staffy mix, okay i’m giving credit to maddie (@thebuckley-hans) for getting me on the madney getting a staffy agenda and also the wonderful staffy mix at my work who is an ANGEL. again they rescue a little older of a dog (bc i am NOT subjecting my blorbos to puppy & young child i’m not doing that!!!! getting a puppy when you have a baby is a trend that needs to die out imo <3 why would you subject yourself to that On Purpose)

bonus for madney - i also think they should get a boston terrier, maybe a little later when jee is a little more grown up, bc hooo boy bostons can be fucking wild but i have a soft spot for bostons and also THE madney ep... boston... yeah

eddie - english bulldog. this is based on approx nothing except for the fact that we had our bulldog regular, George, at work recently and i thought it would be funny if eddie somehow ended up with a bulldog and i’ve been stuck on this concept ever since

buck - irish wolfhound. this is absolutely me projecting my captivation on the breed that ive had for so long (my original want for him was a newfoundland, for uh, similar reasons, but i feel soooooo bad putting on in california) i just think he should have a Real Big Dog (as @scattered-winter has put it, a dog that could just lie on him and be like a weighted blanket)

ravi - okay i have two VERY different vibes for ravi that i cannot decide between. one is a border collie, theyre... very intense but i think he would go all in on the training, it might be a little challenging with his long shifts though, they dont do well with being left alone/boredom but he could have a pettsitter situation. now on the COMPLETE OPPOSITE END OF THE SPECTRUM, i could also see ravi with a little spoiled purse dog, i'm thinking lhasa apso? (am i biased bc one of my dogs is supposedly 20% lhasa, maybe) i think he would would dote on that dog sooo hard and spoil her and she have little spa days and maybe her and bobby's dogs are friends......

lucy - shetland sheepdog. i cannot explain it but i got it in my head of her having sheltie(s) and its stuck like glue. she just has the Sheltie Person Vibe I CANT EXPLAIN IT

may - mixed breed as a bonus i think may should have a scruffy lil mixed breed, not small small but like medium small. just a scrungley guy (maybe a cairn terrier mix?)

okay yeah!! i think this is it!! apologies again for the long ass ramble and the delayed response but i thought about this a lot and im just!!! thank you for this ask!!!

[lucysweatslove]

💄 👗 🍿 ⏰ !

💄: do you wear makeup? favourite style?

I do some of the time, but not every day. If I’m going somewhere nice or around new people or around a lot of people, I’ll put some on. Errands or going for a quick meal with my husband, probably not. Sometimes I do it just for fun. I don’t exactly have a “style” that I can put words to, though I prefer light to medium coverage foundations, a little blush near the cheek bones, some highlighter (somewhere between “seen from space” and “barely there sheen” depending on event), an eye look that isn’t too extreme usually but is still noticeable (I like to play with colors, but I have my own “formula” for how I apply and with deepset eyes + glasses, everything looks pretty subdued on me), mascara, and lips often range from mauve to pink to red to deep vampy… just depends I guess.

👗: favourite era of clothing?

I am really partial to 50s sundresses but I don’t wear them very often because it’s a vibe i have to be in the mood for. And I love brogues but what era are they anyway, esp for women? And I guess I’m still living in the late 2010s bc skinny jeans 4 life. I don’t really pay that much attention to eras. I just wear what I like.

🍿: favourite movie snack?

Traditional buttered popcorn loaded with salt for me. Maybe a soda, maybe an Icee (if it’s hot out). And I love basically every single candy so if I’m offered candy I will eat it with glee.

⏰: favourite time of day?

Each time has its place so this depends on what is really meant by “favorite.” Like a mother with many kids, I love them equally for different reasons. I love the solitude of the night, how quiet the world gets, being able to see the stars. But the golden sunrise hour is when I feel most at ease and can sleep well- the world is quiet, but everybody is safe, sometimes it’s the only time I can fall asleep. Noon and early afternoon, when I’m not working, is bright and bouncy, my natural rhythms start to wake me up, and I feel most productive by the afternoon. Evening to sunset golden hour is perfect for a little nature walk with Oreo. Early nighttime means family time to watch a movie and chat about our days- which transitions to night where Oreo and Rob are softly snoring, and the solitude of night engulfs me in a quiet joy once more.

Thank you :)

[steveharrington]

But we’re not told WHY they’re vecna’d. There’s no reason why vecna targets traumatized teens EXCEPT to make it even more horror-movie-ish. Why do they get trash compacted like that specifically? It’s implied that’s how vecna a powers work but why? No idea.

The show has left so many unanswered questions already and this new element (vecna itself!) just over complicates everything

And I’m actually kind of pissed bc Patrick gets vecna’d and we know almost nothing about him. But stranger things… hates poc

I actually kind of hate Chrissy because of how differently she (pretty white girl) was treated from Patrick (black boy). And. her eating disorder existed SOLELY for exploitative purposes just to cause an emotional reaction it’s not something that adds to her as a character it’s just there to freak the audience out, meanwhile other REAL LIFE ACTORS are being forced to starve themselves for the roles. We get it eating disorders are scary good thing they’re not real! /s

Acting like this new girl will be important focusing on her ed only to kill her off in the most horrific way possible… i don’t like it it feels exploitative especially of a real world problem this show is absolutely complicit in spreading

We got a LOT less development for Fred than chrissy and didn’t fucking. Languish in such a triggering topic I think he was the happy medium.

Regardless the focus on traumatized teens with no other similarities was already so random they could have just picked literally anyone with no special backstory and it would have worked just as well? At the end of the day Chrissy ONLY matters as motivation for Jason, who only matters as motivation for Eddie ( and since Eddie’s death did nothing like. It didn’t seem like he was saving Dustin’s life or anything) who only matters to make Dustin kind of sad? She died for man pain except the ultimate man pain was for some guy she never even met

Chrissy isn’t a person or a character she’s a bafflingly written INTENTIONALLY TRIGGERING and misogynistic plot device with an outrageous amount of minute details they could have given to any of the real characters. They didn’t have to spend 10 minutes pretending she mattered only to beat her to death with a rock and then run over her a few times for good measure

well first of all i am no authority on the topic of whether or not chrissy's struggles with her ed were done correctly and therefore i will not speak on it because its really....not my place as someone who hasn't experienced that!

as for why vecna targets people with trauma specifically, i think it serves a greater narrative purpose and that's depicted best through max's arc this season. vecna's whole backstory as henry shows that he was obviously traumatized himself by brenner and when he appeals to chrissy, fred, and max he attempts to persuade them to just give up/join him/etc because it's easier than carrying on. he's using their trauma against them. and then when max is faced with this threat of losing her life to vecna, it motivates her to want to get better and want to stop isolating herself from lucas and the group, she literally says "i don't want to go, im not ready" and it kinda overall like. saves her life! vecna acts as a narrative tool to explore mental health and trauma and guilt. imo it's much much MUCH more impactful for our characters to overcome him through their bonds and their desire to live despite what they've been through than like.....killing a monster of the week

obv you dont have to agree with me and that's fine but i don't think chrissy is like...a misogynistic charicature in the slightest. like i said before i really don't think chrissy's treatment in the show was uniquely different than fred's or even max's. i don't really understand how chrissy's trauma was "languished in" any more than fred's? i feel like they got equal screentime and fred's vecna vision was just as brutal as chrissy's, even if they talked about two entirely different topics. and if im being completely honest (again not trying to be rude or demean your view of the show, but you did send this ask to me personally so im going to give my honest opinions back) i think referring to chrissy as a "plot device" and not a "real character" is intentionally reading the show in bad faith.

this season is a horror season. people die like they do in any slasher movie. i understand if the vecna plotline isn't for everyone because like yeah watching characters who are already suffering die very tragic deaths is hard! but i think the point of vecna like i said before is to personify trauma, guilt, and shame to allow our characters to overcome those feelings. chrissy's death worked both to establish what vecna does and to involve eddie. but i dont think that automatically makes her a "prop" or a "plot device" because she's given a personality, she's given a lot of thought and care from the actress, she's given people who mourn her. i think it was genuinely one of the sweetest moments in the whole show when eddie dedicated his little guitar solo to her because it showed that her death affected him and in motivating him to want to kill vecna and save his friends from her same fate, it had meaning

[halfelven]

Genuine question, what movies are you talking about in that post? Bc I can't think of any that fit that description but I'm also not a big movie person so I may just have been lucky with the ones I've seen dkjsfa

disclaimer! don’t @ me saying to watch better movies! i do! i just watch a LOT of movies! i like to see what’s going out there since i study media*

also i know this is badly written. i have not pulled myself together after a very long year and a half

this got rambly so i’m putting my tl;dr here: comedy feels stagnant to me, and that makes me feel weird when it comes to things (some of which are aimed at kids/teens)

okay so if you don’t watch a lot of movies you probably missed them! the kind of movies i was thinking about are mostly comedies that are aimed at teens but really just don’t feel right. just stupid forgettable movies that will have a random adult (maybe a teacher) make some comment about back in their day. and they just feel off in a very specific way where it’s like idk who is writing this but i don’t think they have a grasp of what is going on

probably due to being rich

i am terrible with titles and names and i’m currently in the wilderness so i’m not too confident matching scenes to titles

(also that post was slamming together a few themes i’ve seen repeated in different movies and shows and they are not all american. some are canadian/uk/australia but i use the ‘too movies’ or ‘too much (blank) on tv’ thing as a joke)

also some of the movies/shows are marketed to adults not teens. they also carry with some of those themes. um. working moms (show) is canadian and i’m not sure if they’re millennial or gen x but they have a lot of weird recurring issues with ‘ooh scary generation gap with my kids.’

and i think um. i’m trying to remember the name. idk it stars the australian woman who was in pitch perfect and she’s in a coma and wakes up 20 years later and goes back to school and they make the slur jokes. that is the one i watched most recently. i was having a hard time with trying to figure out who the target audience was… can’t remember the name and i watched it last week

another movie i can’t remember the name of that i think was marketed at teens also had the weird ‘oh the climate change protest kids just want attention’ gimmick that the movie with the pitch perfect woman had

is sarah jessica parker gen x? her new sec and the city show is Wild. one of the groups presentations in my media discourse class was about the representation of sexual minorities between the old sex and the city and the new sex and the city. i can try to find one of the articles they referenced in that because how the new one is almost more isolating is really interesting

which is kind of a trend? a ohh boo hoo don’t yell at me mean minorities!! i’m trying!! kind of vibe that runs through a lot of new movies/shows

like there is this distinct weirdness that is coming in with media created by white female comedians (i say female bc i tend to watch movies with female leads) amy palmer or pohler or whatever her name is. she has a movie out like 5 years ago? it had this teenage girl finding her mom’s old punk albums or something

but basically i had been watching a bunch of comedy things with female leads and so many are just weird. like it was leaving me wondering like what are the shows/movies teens are getting that feel somewhat authentic?

obviously movies are weird and there aren’t a lot of good ones that really stand out. and there have been constant jokes about how young people are portrayed in media for forever probably

but i think that movies are a good medium for comfort and hope, maybe especially for children and teens. you don’t have to have the energy to read to yourself. you can watch it when you’re doing something else with your hands. or are sick.

it’s the visuals. and the music. the way you can do something else while getting a story. they are very human.

and comedies are much harder to do than dramas. but they have a different sort of catharsis. i don’t know. people tend to downplay them as just stupid when there is a deep connection humans try to have through humour. i’m rambling but i just really love comedies and i love stories for children and stories for teens and i think they’re all downplayed as. being stupid. or easy. like you don’t have to try.

i’m sorry this just turned into rambling. maybe writers just went too far with the ‘set things in high school bc a.) kids will make emotional decisions that you wouldn’t see an adult character make b.) your characters are trapped in that environment c.) unlike college, they are trapped with other characters on mostly the same schedule and d.) they still see breakups etc as life and death situations’ advice that they give writers (this is paraphrased from several screenwriting guides i’ve read)

but idk i’m just bothered by the comedies i’ve been watching. and comedies do tend to show a lot about the current state of the world. comedies and horror are both downplayed genres that show a lot.

again sorry this is rambly. i don’t have energy to find my sources. there are interesting theories on comedy out there that just make me feel weird about what i’m seeing. like it’s so stagnant. that’s my tl;dr

most comedies i’ve seen lately seem stagnant

*i have a degree in this so i feel bad that i’m not pulling sources bc it feels like plagiarism at points

[cuethediscoandthedrinks]

Hi!! Can I get a smutty ship with the men of Star Wars, Stranger Things, and Marvel, please?

I’m 21 years old. Scorpio + INFJ. I’m a bigger girl (5’9/175cm, 200+ lbs) and I’ve got a dramatic hourglass shape (busty, wide hips, THICK thighs lol you get the idea). I have medium length auburn hair with bangs and green eyes. My style is really witchy/whimigothic.

I’m extremely shy and inexperienced (a virgin, in fact LMAO) but reading so much fan fiction has shaped my sexual interests. I tend to prefer a soft and passionate partner as opposed to someone rough and dominant. I’m pretty sure I have a mommy kink actually but I’m WAY too embarrassed to act on it so it stays a little personal fantasy of mine lol. Just the thought of making someone else feel good and taking care of them sounds so perfect. I get so flustered at any sexual advance made towards me because I’m very insecure of my body. I’d even go as far as to say that I wouldn’t want to be intimate because of my looks? I know rationally, I’m the only one who cares this much about it but I thought that might be important to include lol

Thanks so much !! <3 — N🧿

ooh, a lot to work with here! ok, so i'm def seeing a variety of people, spanning...

billy hargrove (stranger things)~

first off, billy's more outwardly dominant and charismatic personality would mix rather nicely with your shy and inexperienced predisposition tbh. despite being seemingly at completely different ends of the spectrum, i think he'd get a kick out of slowly coaxing you out of that quiet and reserved shell, and into what he's very sure is lurking just underneath.

in spite of his perceived carelessness and casual vibe, he actually observes a lot about the people around him (coming from a troubled family, the need to always be one step ahead is paramount, so he's got a lot of practice); so don't think for a second that he completely buys that innocent, shy girl attitude.

perhaps others think you're naive in all sense of the word, but being pretty sexually experienced himself, he has quite the inkling that you're a little bit more experimental and imaginative in the sheets than you let on. he's definitely noticed your more mature and maternal nature, and it's likely that he's seen to himself to the thought of that full, feminine figure he's def thought about burying his head between those luscious thighs; those beautifully mysterious green eyes and that subtle mommy attitude you've got going on. the real mission is encouraging you to open up to him, but he's rather confident in his ability to explore that with you, dw. *winks*

thor (marvel)~

if soft and passionate is your thing paired with some thicc thighs to champion yours, a winning smile and the stamina and strength of a literal supernatural being you're in luck. straight-up, one of his favorite things about you is your full, curvy hourglass figure and your almost instinctual ability to care and appreciate others. he'd love the idea of utilizing his social expertise to help you see yourself through his eyes, and in turn he'd appreciate being able to quiet down that big, strong side of his personality when he's just with you, take a rest, and let his more subby side emerge bc that def exists.

having his woman take care of him after an especially hard day would be ideal for him. want to stroke patterns in his hair? perhaps coax and edge him for hours bc let's face it, he can take it? or having him praise and plead for his mommy to give him that sugar-sweet release? yeah, he's down. after infinity war, we know he's got a v sensitive side, and he needs a soft, nurturing woman to let him know that it's alright to cry, and he'll always have your warm energy and big, soft titties to nestle right into. aww

finn (star wars)~

finn would appreciate that external shyness, and he'd find it the sweetest thing to see you get all flustered sexually. not necessarily because he wants to see you squirm, but more that he knows you're likely your biggest critic, and he'd use that upbeat, engaging chaotic energy of his to tell and show you just how alluring and attractive you are. when he isn't out fighting for the resistance, he's often found curled up with you; legs intertwined, likely squeezing or groping some part of your body, bc no way he's lying with you and letting you go untouched, like??

not only does he find your physicality and vibe pretty attractive, but he also digs that you just express yourself as you are. he's always had trouble doing that, and felt the need to keep his head down and be one with the herd. but seeing you so authentic would strike a chord with him. he'd extend this sexually too, and likely has a similar amount of experience to you; lots of fantasizing - esp now you're in the picture - but not much in practice. he'd def enjoy exploring this side of you, and would be quite receptive to being both taken care of, and showing you through various acts just how much he'll take care of you (+ don't think for a second that he's not down to have you ride his face, or overstimulate him until he's a leaky mess but u didn't hear that from me oop-).

in hindsight it became a little fluffy, but hope u still enjoyed! as always, feedback is always appreciated, lovelies. 🥂

[taylorswiftstylequestions]

Hi Sarah :) I know you said you were working on AH scale asks, but just wanted to add my two cents! As an actual fat fan who previously had a longterm eating disorder... it's a highly relatable moment and not offensive at all! She's not saying she is actually fat. She's clearly saying she had a problem, it was painful and not healthy. Just like all the other problems in the song/video.

The entire premise is that Problem Taylor is the devil on her shoulder encouraging bad decisions and hurting her. Does anybody think Taylor is encouraging people to think everyone will betray them? Does anyone want her not to express that Problem Taylor experience? No.

Also, at the end of that scene, when she looks in the mirror and Problem Taylor appears? I fully thought we were getting a graphic bulimia reference. So it could have been something to actually complain about!

---

Initial Reactions

I’m so conflicted about the anti-hero music video :( The scene where she gets on the scale and it says - “fat” like being fat is her worst nightmare, it really hurt my plus-sized friends. As a whole, I absolutely love the video, but it could have been a really easy change to just not show what the scale said, or have a sad emoji. Or have a different scene which shows a conflicted relationship with food instead. I understand you can’t please everyone, but this effects so many people and would have been a simple fix. I’m not mad, just really sad.

hey sarah! wondering how you feel about the fatphobia discourse re: anti hero mv - basically for anyone who hasn’t seen it there are people who don’t like that the scale scene shows her “fear of fatness” and how that is inherently fatphobic and the people going against them are saying that what she did with the scale is representative of fat being a “state of mind” and something that many people with EDs go through. personally i agree with the second opinion and i don’t think that it is correct for random people to be “calling” fatphobia on a recovering anorexic because the very nature of the illness is the fear of gaining weight so she is accurately representing her lived experience.

Maybe it’s too early to discuss this but I’m curious your thoughts on the fatphobia discussion around the music video. My friend (who is fat) and I were talking about it. Obviously she should be able to discuss her ED freely and it is a serious illness and a very personal thing. But I do think it was mishandled here, and that’s speaking as someone who has always loved TS. We are in a changing world and shifting culture. People need to recognize that lots of actually, undeniably fat people suffer from eating disorders. Just because they are actually fat doesn’t make the eating disorder ok or good. Being fat is not bad, it’s not good, it just is, and the video portrays it as bad (because obviously that is the messaging she has received in her life). I’m split bc she is just being honest about her experience, but I wonder if it is something we need to see from her in the medium of a music video where she can’t explain the nuances, and can only say that she doesn’t want to be fat/thinks she’s fat and hates it. Idk. Maybe I just need an outlet. I just think a lot of swifties are unwilling to see the different sides of this. It’s no hate to Taylor. It’s part of our changing social climate. Hopefully we can change this kind of messaging. 

Response to Responses

I’m feeling super down by the way people are speaking about the fat scale on Reddit. My friend reached out to me to talk about how it felt hurtful to her as a fat person, and I was trying to explain what we had talked about there in a completely rational way (yes it’s a good scene for people who have struggled w eating disorders, no it doesn’t make actually fat people feel great to see), and I’m getting downvoted and bullied. I’ve been a swiftie since I was 12 (now 26). I’m not trying to attack Taylor or anyone, why can’t people try to open their eyes for 2 seconds and understand that the scene could have hurt people and those people are allowed to feel hurt?? It puts a bitter taste in my mouth over the whole weekend :/

Hi Sarah. No worries if you don’t publish this I just needed to vent and I feel heard even if you’d rather not host this discussion publicly! I just read an article critical of the “fat” on the scale in the music video saying it’s damaging and fatphobic and I’m so annoyed that people will literally bitch about anything. Maybe that’s how they make $$? I need to just ignore them I know. The whole point of that scene is she feels unworthy no matter what that scale says. People can relate to it.

Response To Video Being Edited

Trigger Warning for Weight/ED Recovery. Hi Sarah. News of updated Anti-Hero video edit just hit! I am so happy and proud to be a lifelong Swiftie right now. These moments are amazing to witness. Taylor and her team taking feedback and being sensitive to others' recovery. Not making it a big deal. Ugh. I just love that she did this. Super awesome of her and IMO shows her heart is truly in the right place (which we have always known). 

Theyve edited the antihero video to remove the scale scene. I dont vibe w the pacing of the new one. I wish she had left it or just edited the word fat off the scale if she had to, it wouldve accomplished the same thing

---

As you can tell, you guys had a lot to say about the scale scene in the "Anti-Hero" music video. I thought it best to group them by 'topic' in a sense to illustrate the range of responses to the exact same thing.

Not only to indicate differences in opinion (the beauty of life and TSS - I'd like to think!) but how oftentimes there is no 'winning' in a situation.

For me, I think there's many conflicting truths that occur here simultaneously.

The video documents the worst and unfounded fears and vulnerabilities Taylor has about herself and her life. They are the most bitter, sad, and dark pieces about herself that she knows are wrong and is spending her life trying to unlearn and rectify.

People who have been through, survived, and will likely always experience the lingering vestiges of an eating disorder should be able to talk about their experience - even when that experience is uncomfortable. Because diseases often are.

Fat people deserve respect. If the depiction of the scale using that word made them feel sad or hurt or less-than or any myriad of things - that is valid for them to feel.

The most uncomfortable part of this - and I think what is difficult for a lot of people to reconcile with - is that none of these things is more important than the other. They're all the truth and they're all real.

I think it's important to understand why that word and that scene was created (to painfully depict the shittiest things someone going through an eating disorder and body dysmorphia thinks and fears, and even in sickness knowing ultimately how wrong that is). Just as it is to leave space for people to have knee-jerk and emotional responses to it (why is my lived everyday reality being portrayed as this awful and doomed scenario? why is my mere existence seen as something so terrible?).

[scholarhect]

ok post show thoughts:

waterparks were really good i could not believe that was their first ever arena show. they were great. also i now have a video of an unreleased song of theirs which is :-) cool

saw one girlofswords shirt (i’m not a boy but my girlfriend is), one sweatermuppet shirt (maybe if you pray to god he will forgive you for being cisgender). lots of cute outfits & cute references to various things, obviously i can’t list them all. but i did see a “pool boy at the vampire mansion” shirt, along with their friend who had a matching shirt that said “mystery shirt”. love it, love the hustle, keep up the good work. also there was a couple where one of them had a shirt with just the man from the revenge cover, & the other one had a matching shirt with the woman. which i adored

arrived, got in the very long line, was told “this is just the merch line if you want to go inside you can just go in”, thought “oh that’s ok we want to hit the merch line asap anyway”, stayed in line. turns out it was a mini merch stand with like half the stock. we found this out when we were like 3 people from the front of the line. when it was our turn we couldn’t even get the tour shirt in a large or medium. so then we went inside and went to a big merch stand and stood another 45 minutes and honestly thank god the timings of the show were wonky & it didn’t start until 8 because we were in our seats maybe 5 minutes before. but we fucking did it

also by the time we got to the front of the real merch line they were out of mystery shirts. i hope u all enjoy them. made life easier for me too bc i was really considering it but i was already spending like $110 on merch without it (boy zone shirt, tour shirt, tote bag. absolutely necessary purchases)

i could see the stage but it was dark it was kind of hard to pick everything out. i can almost see better in my videos

i took a 4 minute long video of the static before the show, which i ended up regretting when i ran out of storage during vampires lol

i wanted to sing along to foundations but nobody around me was singing and i was shy… and then they played i’m not ok & everybody in the place was singing and i wasn’t shy about it anymore (bc even if they weren’t singing to one song they probably would be if they liked it more and it’s not my fault!! i like all of them!)

i fucking shrieked, by like halfway through my vocal range was . not good. it kept cracking 😭

also tried to stand up a couple times but the people behind me were sitting and it was just uncomfortable and i didn’t want to block them. mezzanine moment

i didn’t know the drum said manhunt until i got on twitter after the show. i tried to figure it out but i couldn’t get a good look, i thought it said AHHHHH

i missed like half of whatever gerard was saying it was so hard to hear from back there 😭😭 i DID hear about his legs being slippery though. love that for him

also at first i was like “damn no fun gerard outfit today… that’s fine 😔” & then i realized they were sopping wet. love wins <3

also i think the mic kept cutting out lmao i would like see him singing and didn’t hear anything

when i was omw to the show i heard on twitter that the roof was leaking. don’t know if that’s true. i do know that lined-up crowd took some Ls today sorry gang

i don’t really get why you’d line up for a concert, if you show up 5 minutes after doors there’s no line at all. ALTHOUGH i did spend about an hour and a half total in merch lines today so maybe i’m the idiot here. but like what else are you doing before the show anyway. but then i guess it’s different if you’re pit

so many songs had their little intros and people would scream when the song finally started but i already knew it was coming because i had seen it online before. like destroya w the “i am not god. you are not god” or whatever, & flw with you are my sunshine. or helena with the AHs. kind of embarrassing (stan behavior 😔) but i’m having fun so it’s fine

ok i have nothing else to say also my head hurts also i have to get up kind of early tomorrow. gg

holy shit this is so long i’m so sorry

ps: if anybody’s got any clips of anything cool that happened on stage feel free to send them my way, i didn’t see shit. i saw gerard on his knees sometimes but that was it. love you goodnight

[tanadrin]

still in season 6, but here’s an unordered list of my favorite Voyager episodes:

Live Fast and Prosper - one of those latter-season, slightly more off-format episodes you can only do once a setting is thoroughly established, and also very funny.

Equinox - as I think I mentioned in an earlier post, a great exploration of the idea of what might have happened to a Voyager that abandoned its principles in order to survive.

Before and After - a much better take on time-travel plots, with some fun easter eggs anticipating later episodes.

Night - I mostly like this one for the opening scenes of the crew just getting really weird bc of the monotony of space.

Year of Hell & Course: Oblivion - two episodes that seem to exist just to torture the crew, but they’re great exploration of the characters involved I think.

Living Witness - a fun Alternate Character Interpretation episode combined with a good SF plot.

Distant Origin - just a really fun high-concept episode.

Counterpoint - extremely tightly constructed, excellent Janeway character study.

Bride of Chaotica! - extremely silly, but on purpose.

Muse - i’m a sucker for the Alternate Genre Interpretation episode, and this episode captures better than most the theme of yearning for home

Body and Soul - body-switching episodes are a ton of fun in general in sf&f, because they let actors show off their acting skills, and they’re akin to alternate character interpretation episodes. And Jeri Ryan’s Robert Picardo impression is fantastic.

oddly I think Equinox and Year of Hell are exceptions in that most of the two parters are rather weak episodes. “Basics,” “Future’s End,” and “Unimatrix Zero” feel especially non-consequential and slapdash, given their length. The series opener and closer, “Caretaker” and “Endgame” are both decidedly mid IMO. “Caretaker” spent too much time on the TOS-style ultra-powerful alien with mysterious motives bit, and also had to spend a lot of time just setting up the basic premise of the show. But it also set up a bunch of plotlines that I think didn’t turn out to be that interesting--the Ocampa, the Kazon, the Nacene, all of whom proved less interesting than the aliens encountered in later seasons.

Wrapping up the series with time travel shenanigans felt like a disappointment to me. I think time travel plots are often very weak anyway, and other than involving the Borg again (who tbh are kind of a snooze by this point), the end of the show didn’t feel like it really built on anything from previous seasons. You could summarize it as “a bunch of futuristic tech gets handed to the crew, and this week’s Big Crazy Plan to get home finally works.” I dunno. There’s a big part of me that thinks another few medium-distance jumps earlier in the season, and finishing it off by having Voyager actually fly itself back to the Federation, would have felt more meaningful, and less like the writers were just waiting to press the giant red button marked DEUS EX MACHINA once they ran out of ideas. I wonder if I’ll feel differently when I get to it at the end of this re-watch.

[thinkingisadangerouspastime]

2022 Writing Year in Review

thank you for the tag @northerngoshawk!! 💕

1. Number of stories posted to AO3: 18

2. Word count this year: 172,404 words! we could get really technical and subtract the word counts for the fics i technically wrote in 2021 but typed/posted in 2022, but that’s a lot of work i don’t feel like doing lol

3. Fandoms I wrote for: ATLA, Law & Order, MCU (+ Venom), Monk, and Medium. not sure i want to know what that says about me...

4. Pairings: petermj (mcu), allison/joe (medium), kincoy (claire/jack from l&o), zukaang (atla), tylara (atla), mjflash (mcu), and kataang (atla). a nice mixture!

5. Stories with the most:

Kudos: Walls (my mj&flash friendship fic) comes in first with 114 kudos

Bookmarks: Walls comes out on top again with 29 bookmarks!

Comment threads: this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine), my mjflash + venom!flash fic, has the most comment threads by far with 47, the result of a small but loyal following of readers who made my day every time they commented 💛

Word count: by a hair, The Wrong Note (my monk x medium crossover) has the highest word count at 37,630 words! this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine) has 37,011 words

6. Work I’m most proud of (and why): im proud of all my works for different reasons! today i shall spotlight my children will listen series, consisting of two waterbending-centric fics narrated by kanna and katara respectively; both stories explore cultural loss and intergenerational trauma. i’d never written companion pieces prior to that point, so im proud of how i was able to construct those parallel narratives! i also had a blast reworking one of my favorite shel silverstein poems to weave throughout the story

7. Work I’m least proud of (and why): ?? this is a silly question. fanfic is my hobby, im not writing it for journal publication. onto the next one!

8. Share or describe a favorite review you received: literally Every review i got on the children will listen series; i had no idea how impactful those fics would be or how many people would relate to it, but im so glad i ended up writing and publishing them! i also have to shoutout ocean’s review on time apart, time together (the tylara fic i wrote for her bday 💛) bc she truly Understood that story through and through, and i am equal parts delighted and relieved that she did (since it was written for her 💕)

9. A time when writing was really, really hard: i mean, im a college student. i almost never write fic during the semester, lol. i Literally haven’t written fic since,,,, august 2022. (technically i could have written some fic these past few weeks BUT it’s the holidays so i’ve been spending time with family + revising my research paper + loosely working on some original writing)

10. A scene or character you wrote that surprised you: BRUH all of my law & order fics surprised me 😭 come on, babe (why don’t we paint the town?) contains Thee sexiest scene i’ve ever written; find a flask (we’re playing fast and loose) is written SOLELY from jack’s pov (a 50-year-old white man, how low have i fallen); and it was more than worth it (my kincoy magnum opus) was my first foray into nonlinear storytelling. all in all, 2022 was quite an experimental year for me!

11. A favorite excerpt of your writing: i’ve talked to death my favorite excerpt from it was more than worth it, so instead i’ll spotlight an excerpt from if memories could fade away (my mj birthday fic):

Ned sticks his tongue out at her, and MJ responds in turn before opening the door anyway, because he’s Ned and she’s MJ and it’s always been just them, the two of them, eight years going on eighteen.

“Damn, girl, you live like this?” Ned says as he enters, watching where he steps so he doesn’t trip over one of her many piles of everything—textbooks, clothes, journals, old CDs too scratched to use that will soon become the basis of MJ’s next art project: voices we no longer hear.

She remembers getting each CD, starting with Let Go on her tenth birthday, back when she lived in New Orleans and always kept her curly brown hair in symmetrical cornrows or cropped at the base of her neck because of the suffocating humidity. She remembers taking each CD and ripping the music to her computer so her dad could move it onto her tiny red MP3 player for the long, long ride to Queens that began the next day. She remembers two CDs breaking during the drive and one CD breaking when they arrived because she threw it at the wall of her empty new room, angry, so angry she’d been ripped from her home like music from a shiny silver disc and it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair—

“You see, guests usually stay downstairs,” MJ teases, pushing aside a pile of clothes so Ned has room to sit on her bed. She takes a seat at her desk, spinning the chair around to face her dearest friend. “If I’d known you were planning to invade my personal space, I might have considered making my living arrangements more presentable.”

Ned snickers. “Considered, and then not done a damn thing about them?”

MJ winks at him. “You know me so well.”

Ned has known her so long, known her messy room, known her impenetrable walls, known her since she was thrown into a new school in a new city expected to make new friends when Michelle knew even at ten that would never happen, not that year, because 5th graders had already chosen their loyal companions five, six, seven years ago and there was no room for a Black girl to fit into a white noise machine that already hummed along without her.

Her parents sent her to school anyway. She must not have been persuasive enough.

MJ MY BELOVED!!! 🥺💛 i enjoyed playing with sentence length/rhythm and metaphors/similes in this fic, and i think this excerpt in particular captures that experimentation

12. How did you grow as a writer this year: hmmmm well i tried my hand at some action sequences in this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine), which probably counts for something. and like i already mentioned, it was more than worth it was my first foray into nonlinear storytelling (and a lot of people told me they enjoyed it!) + if memories could fade away involved stylistic experimentation. in other words, i think i grew as a writer simply by letting myself try new things, from how i told stories to what content i included within them!

13. How do you hope to grow next year: i just want to write more, honestly. the more i write, the more i can try, and hopefully the more i’ll grow! to be more specific, i want to try my hand at some sci-fi/near-future dystopian original stories (à la kazuo ishiguro’s klara and the sun)

14. Who was your greatest positive influence this year as a writer (could be another writer or beta or cheerleader or muse etc etc): probably ocean and ambi! they always put up with my fic-related ramblings, are wonderful to bounce ideas off of, and by virtue of their existence (and enthusiasm) remind me why i love writing fic in the first place 💛 in terms of non-tumblr influences, haha, reading the promise by damon galgut was a GAME CHANGER for me. third person omniscient with no quotation marks?? the entire story is an allegory for post-apartheid south africa?? a stylistic and thematic MASTERPIECE. i can only dream of writing a novel with such artistic daring

15. Anything from your real life show up in your writing this year: lol this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine) is packedTM with shakespeare references and milton jokes; if memories could fade away explicitly mentions one of avril lavigne’s albums (seen in the provided excerpt); won’t you hang a picture? references nancy drew; and Walls involves a whole project about the picture of dorian gray. when narratively appropriate, i never hesitate to sneak in my own interests 😂

16. Any new wisdom you can share with other writers: write for fun! write what you love! don’t be afraid to experiment! listen to the incredibles soundtrack while you write! read, read, read! write with a cat on your lap! never delete anything! write when you’re inspired and write when you’re not! if it brings you joy to create, then what you create is good enough!

17. Any projects you’re looking forward to starting (or finishing) in the new year: honestly, i want to focus on my original writing and my research more, so i may not have as much time for fic. that said, i hope to write:

a sequel to this thing of darkness (i acknowledge mine)

the next part of my mcu medium!au

ml fic in general

atla fic in general

time will tell!

18. Tag some writers whose answers you’d like to read: i know a lot of people have been tagged for this already, so apologies if im bombarding you or if you’ve already done this! i’ll tag @justoceanmyth, @ambivalentmarvel, @seek--rest, and @shifuaang :)

[spaceboysandfieldgirls]

tired of that post that’s like ‘people who were fic writers before they were pro authors all suck’ and using like cassandra claire as an example. sure, some authors who started writing fanfic now make shitty derivative wish fulfillment books with bad adjectives. but that’s such a misunderstanding of what fanfiction is.

fanfic is not an inherently subversive genre, and i personally hate people who’s only queer lit is fanfic. they’re missing like everything important about the queer experience. but fanfic is also not meant to be a societal medicine, a cure-all for queer issues.

fanfic is a space for passionate people to express their love for a piece of art.

just like fan artists don’t make bad artists, fanfic writers don’t make bad writers. it isn’t causative.

however, lots of people in fandom are new to their mediums, or young, or not super high effort. so fandom spaces are flooded with the content of amateurs- people who create out of love.

lots of those people are bad at it. not because liking things enough to write about them makes you bad at art, not because wanting gay people to kiss makes you bad at art. but bc the point of these works is singular: to create for a fandom a thing that is wholly yours, drawn from your love of that fandom.

i go to art school (fake gamer, i know) and all of the most talented artists, especially the illustrators, had fandoms that they drew for when they were young. the fan space allowed them a community to create for, people to encourage those early stages of artistic development.

this is what lots of (i’d bargain most) fanfic is. it’s the beginning of an artistic process. it’s fresh, it’s new, it’s missing constructive feedback and editing and perspective. just like the early works of a million different singers, songwriters, painters, writers, actors, and dancers before them, these artists are laying the groundwork for their future endeavors. and they’re doing it out of love. i think that’s beautiful.

furthermore, lots of fanfic is actually well written. those posts that say ‘x is such a raw line you’d think it’s from shakespeare but it’s actually from a stuckky incest fic’ or whatever. those posts are a perfect example of the actual writing ability of some fic authors. i’ve read fics that do innovative things with form, rhythm, plot structure, etc. i’ve read fics that discuss in more plain-clothes fashion topics that are hard to find in most fiction. sure, maybe i do really like it when a character is confrontational in a way no real person is, but that unrealistic behavior doesn’t mark a bad author— fiction doesn’t have to feel like it’s real, it has to feel congruent with its own internal logic. some fic authors understand this better that some ‘real authors’. many don’t.

finally, there are some authors that i’m pretty sure were fic authors before they got published (no evidence, just conjecture) who make incredible work. nora sakavic, lee mandelo, c.s. pacat. their work is all notably fic-y, from some writing conventions to plot points to obvious references to other works. none of this devalues their books, which each have their own merits. the all for the game trilogy by nora sakavic is an awesome fast paced action series centered around stupid mafia drama and a fictional sport (which would be way more fun to play than fucking quidditch btw) and also deeply explores consent, trauma, and what it means to be someone’s family. summer sons by lee mandelo is a beautiful languid southern gothic with some innovative ideas about ghosts and some really intense haunting scenes. c.s. pacat’s captive prince trilogy is undeniably fic-y with a lot of weird plots and sub plots and sub sub plots, alienating dialogue, and an obsession with sexual trauma. and the captive prince trilogy is also the most comprehensive look i’ve ever gotten at battle strategy. i love how the relationship between afflictors and those afflicting harm was discussed- there’s no right way to understand the atrocities discussed in the text, but the characters are people, so they keep living, and they make bad decisions and they make good ones. i’d recommend all of these books.

all this to say that fanfic has its place. there’s nothing to be achieved by acting like it’s some angelic force, but likewise bashing on it needlessly does no one any good. and to close: i got into economic theory because of my sisters ex-boyfriend who had a copy of das capital. i got into queer theory because a fic writer i like mentioned the faggots and their friends.

[kaiokentimesten]

I understand cwilbur on a personal level like his mental illness etc etc I get it Bro (<- things that should get me sent to therapy but tbf I’m not as bad as him) but I never thought about it all that much ! outside maybe his relationship with ctubbo bc u know gotta stay on brand. also to disagree with bad cwilbur takes. anyway I think sbswilbur has just given me a new appreciation for cwilbur’s character as a guy by himself rather than part of a duo with my fav guy - specifically his thought processes and stuff like that ^_^ very cool. I think u have a really good handle on his thoughts and the rpverse is an interesting medium where we get thoughts a lot bc there isn’t much else to comment on apart from convos with other characters (which can’t always happen)

so yeah it’s just like.. a focus point I guess on “this is how cwilbur thinks” even though sbswilbur has been through different things they’re still very similar

First I’m all I’m so fucking glad you think I have a good handle of his thoughts and stuff I try so so hard to make him as canon as possible while staying true to what he specifically has been through and I’m glad I could give you a deeper look into his thoughts 

Secondly YEAH!!! I think the biggest thing about sbs!Wilbur is that for a while he didn’t HAVE a duo to work off of. Quackity was off looking for Charlie, benchtrio were distant from him and away from the main server entirely for a bit, Dream was busy fucking with benchtrio, and Techno and Phil just aren’t very close to him. And of course anyone else we just didn’t have someone to rp for LOL. He was alone for a while with just himself and his thoughts. 

He’s like a fucked up little experiment where you take everything away from c!Wilbur—Quackity to have someone to keep him going and make him feel alive, Ranboo to be kind to him and be someone that Wilbur can really talk to, Tommy to...well, be Tommy. You take all of that support away, and what do you have? You have songbird, a Wilbur who’s lost his drive and feels more like a ghost than a man on most days. He tries to find something to do but everything falls flat and he grows increasingly frustrated because it’s been over a year now and he still doesn’t feel better. At least Quackity’s back now, and he’s trying to feel alive again, but everything takes time and effort and it’s all so hard even if it will be worth it 

[hellonoblesky]

1, 2, 16, and 24 for the artist asks :)

YIPPEEE

Most Recent WIP: Here he is!! (it’s concept work for an AU I have in my head for Genshin, where instead of young Kaeya being sent to the Winery all alone, his father goes with him and gets a job at the Winery dealing in international sales and deals directly with Crepus!!! I’m still figuring out a lot of design bits for him, but I like this so far :) his name is Bhasker)

Top Five Favorite pieces: Probably these!! some of which I haven’t actually posted here bc I just, didn’t feeel like it lmao

most daunting part of my process: Idk honestly? I don’t do lineart because. Idk I just don’t like it and I like keeping all the sketchy bits,, but otherwise ?? I don’t really have a part of my process I see as daunting. Backgrounds are definitely my least favorite though. Icky :(. Less daunting and more that they feel sluggish for me to draw

How do I deal with art block: Switch mediums for a bit!! For me it’s less art block and more My Brain Is Running On A Different Type Of Art, so sometimes it’s running on Words so I can’t draw but I can write, and sometimes it’s the other way around, or instead of thinking in Digital Art my brain is thinking in Traditional!! (And occasionally my brain decides I NEED to play guitar in mindless tunes or I will lose my fucking mind) I’ve made a lot of stuff because of this!! Like stickers for my guitar, or cutting out pages of my sketchbook to put on my wall, etc etc!!

[wooahaes]

(different anon from before) just to add to the other anon, I really truly appreciate your approach to intimacy bc I agree with you that it seems like a lot of content creators across all mediums seem to view sex as the only or main form of intimacy and that everything else is either leading up to or coming down from sex. It’s super important to have other options besides that! I think you’re quite good at writing sensual and emotionally charged moments and letting that be the high point/climax without feeling like there’s anything else “missing,” and I’m glad you keep putting that kind of work out there for us ☺️

anon im on one knee rn /j

like there's absolutely nothing wrong with writing content where sex is a form of intimacy, since i personally do view it as a very intimate act and i think something i would enjoy with someone i fully trusted, y'know? but i definitely don't view it as the only or main form of intimacy. it's fine if some people do, because everyone's different, but i like intimacy not always hinging on being sex or something sexual.

also thank you so much aaa!!!! i like pinning high points/the climax of things that aren't like... purely attached to sex bc of that + i hope it kinda gives any of my ace followers some content they can enjoy without feeling any kind of a disconnect, if that makes sense? i'm glad to put that kind of content out there tho <3 i just want to be cuddled and kissed and held and i don't want it to be sexual every single time lol

also im a slut for slow burns (which idk if ive ever done justice) so emotionally charged things like first kisses are fun to me hehe