#don't be like that y'all

[singerin]

The argument against on-set photos

I have a rant about fandom overstep. I know. “YOU FOOL (I hear you say) if you were followed by more than 15 people this would be inviting an avalanche of criticism.” But here we go:

I’ve been seeing a lot of on-set photos from shows currently in filming (obviously taken from a great distance by paparazzi) of actors going about their work. I have a real problem with this.

Actors have agreed to  be in the public eye, but under pretty clear and agreed-upon circumstances. The behind-the-scenes process isn’t something they’ve agreed to have us all see. Those actors that we love spending time between takes with their coworkers, being themselves in a private space* isn’t ours to see without permission.

We love the shows they’re making. We as fandoms love to follow them, we admire them, obsess from afar, follow every interview or photo, write them into our fan works...we get ATTACHED. It makes sense that we would be fascinated and stoked to see them working on the newest installments of the thing we’re most excited to see them in. But I really think this is a boundary we shouldn’t be crossing. It makes me really uncomfortable for them.

I’ve been a performer for decades in various contexts, and I’ve done some scenes and works that are really emotionally and physically vulnerable. For my professions, we’re working toward live performances--that means that I AM going to do all of these scenes in front of people in the end. But that doesn’t mean I want an audience invited in to the rehearsal space where I’m working things out opposite the other singers, fooling around, being awkward, being exhausted and irritable with my fellow cast members--imperfect in a way that I am allowed and ENCOURAGED to be during the process of rehearsal.

I would be livid if I knew someone had come into the back of the theater while I was finding the physicality and angles onstage of safely beating my good friend Paolo with a belt...and taken zoom-lense photos of it to share. I would be so upset If someone sidled up to the glass door of a rehearsal hall while I was staging the first meeting between my character and her long lost son and took a video through the glass to post here. Or if my fellow witches and I were hamming it up around our cauldron between scenes in our full costumes and makeup, and someone posted that on Reddit to give people a spoilery little glimpse of what we’d be wearing.

It’s not that you don’t HAVE people on set doing exactly that for all kinds of marketing and personal nostalgia reasons--but you have agreed to have those people there. You know when they’ll be filming or snapping, and for the most part you trust that they’ll be respectful.

I want to get those tantalizing little hints too, sometimes. I know: he/she/they’re hot, it’s cool to see the costumes, OMG this or that character is back, what a plot twist!.... But fuck man. Can we not?

*Filming outdoors is not the same thing as agreeing to be out for public performance. And yes, there are always a shit-ton of people on and around the stage both in theater and in filming, but they’re...part of it? Even those that you don’t really know, or barely speak to, you’re all working on the same thing together. They’re part of the creative circle, and have some trust extended to them as a result. Now, in filming at least actors may still decide to have a really limited number of people around for some scenes. The ability to set those boundaries and have them respected is an important element of that trust.

[daisywords]

One of my biggest nitpicks in fiction concerns the feeding of babies. Mothers dying during/shortly after childbirth or the baby being separated form the mother shortly after birth is pretty common in fiction. It is/was also common enough in real life, which is why I think a lot of writers/readers don't think too hard about this. however. Historically, the only reason the vast majority of babies survived being separated from their mother was because there was at least one other woman around to breastfeed them. Before modern formula, yes, people did use other substitutes, but they were rarely, if ever, nutritionally sufficient.

Newborns can't eat adult food. They can't really survive on animal milk. If your story takes place in a world before/without formula, a baby separated from its mother is going to either be nursed by someone else, or starve.

It doesn't have to be a huge plot point, but idk at least don't explicitly describe the situation as excluding the possibility of a wetnurse. "The father or the great grandmother or the neighbor man or the older sibling took and raised the baby completely alone in a cave for a year." Nope. That baby is dead I'm sorry. "The baby was kidnapped shortly after birth by a wizard and hidden away in a secret tower" um quick question was the wizard lactating? "The mother refused to see or touch her child after birth so the baby was left to the care of the ailing grandfather" the grandfather who made the necessary arrangements with women in the neighborhood, right? right? OR THAT GREAT OFFENDER "A newborn baby was left on the doorstep and they brought it in and took care of it no issues" What Are You Going to Feed That Baby. Hello?

Like. It's not impossible, but arrangements are going to have to be made. There are some logistics.

[honetii]

I'm like super normal and not unhinged in the slightest (I spent 3 days formatting, printing, and binding a niche internet story about sci fi football into a 280 page physical book)

[unforth]

Gentle reminder that very little fandom labor is automated, because I think people forget that a lot.

That blog with a tagging system you love? A person curates those tags by hand.

That rec blog with a great organization scheme and pretty graphics? Someone designed and implemented that organization scheme and made those graphics.

That network that posts a cool variety of stuff? People track down all that variety and queue it by hand, and other people made all the individual pieces.

That post with umpteen links to helpful resources, and information about them? Someone gathered those links, researched the sources, wrote up the information about them.

That graphic about fandom statistics? Someone compiled those statistics, analyzed them, organized them, figured out a useful way to convey the information to others, and made the post.

That event that you think looks neat? Someone wrote the rules, created the blogs and Discords, designed the graphics, did their best to promo the event so it'd succeed.

None of this was done automatically. None of it just appears whole out of the internet ether.

I think everyone realizes that fic writing and fanart creation are work, and at least some folks have got it through their heads that gif creation and graphics and moodboards take effort, and meta is usually respected for the effort that goes into it, at least as far as I've seen, but I feel like a lot of people don't really get how much labor goes into curation, too.

If people are creating resources, curating content, organizing the creations of others, gathering information, and doing other fandom activities that aren't necessarily the direct action of creation, they're doing a lot of fandom labor, and it's often largely unrecognized.

Celebrate fan work!

To folks doing this kind of labor: I see you, and I thank you. You are the backbones of our fandoms and I love you.

[thresholdbb]

Babies girl

[anonymouscuzwhynot001]

1/22: so, since everyone has been doing this . . .

75k notes on this, and i'll (try to) finish my tpq gang au i'm working on by the end of the school year (june 7th for me).

(the only reason i did this at all is cuz a) i don't have a ton of followers, b) no one's gonna see this, and c) i'll probably have like 1 note by june, leaving me free to work in peace 🙂)

(TAKE THAT WORLD— (my signature line) )

1/24: i did NOT think so many people would actually do this . . . but it's only almost 1k so far. y'all got like 74 more to go. hopefully that takes more than 4 months . . .

1/27: 3 days and barely 2k . . . my point has been proven (i think . . .)

1/30: ok ok ok so i did the math. there are 138 days between jan 22 and june 7. going at the first rate of 1k in two days, you'd get 69k by june. going at the second, which is 2k in 5 days, you'd get ~55k. so . . . do what you want with that info ig.

2/5: it's been 15 days, and you guys have only made it to 3k . . . that's like only ~27k by june . . .

2/24: love how everyone just collectively gave up 😍 leaves me free to work 😍

2/29: *sigh* fine. i've been forced to do this. what if i lower it to . . . say . . . 50k? (oh and happy leap day!)

[psychlocke]

i may be skeptical abt labru, but there's no denying how much laios is on kabru's mind jfc

[throesofincreasingwonder]

You know what? I want a whole post for this:

Sex Repulsion is not the same thing as, or an excuse for, Sex Negativity

non-negotiable!

I am a sex-repulsed asexual. This means that I am uncomfortable and repulsed by the idea of engaging in sexual acts. This does not mean that I have an excuse to be repulsed by other people's sexual attraction or the right to police how other people engage in or express sexual acts or attraction.

Young queer people need to learn the difference between sex repulsion and sex negativity, and actively work to unlearn sex-negative attitudes. Asexuality, even sex-repulsed asexuality, is and should be fully compatible with sex positivity.

If you are uncomfortable with the idea of other people feeling sexual attraction or engaging in sexual acts that do not involve you in any way, that is not sex repulsion it is the cultural Christianity and you need to seriously work on that.

[hilacopter]

conflating diaspora jews with the actions of the israeli government is not okay, yes, but have you considered it's not okay to conflate israeli jews with them either

[skyrim-forever]

skyrim affirmations part 8

[nekrosmos]

Okay one last batch of silly little memes for you silly little memes enjoyers out there

Part 1 / 2

[haywirecompass]

whoever the fuck i saw saying "i can't stand english bitching because they're so complacent" and whoever else thinks we're not doing enough i'd like to invite you to DO SOME FUCKING RESEARCH.

a law was recently passed that deemed any kind of protesting as disruptive and able to be punished by the police, alongside giving the police more power.

we all watched the police storm the PEACEFUL VIGIL for sarah everard - a woman raped and murdered by a police officer.

PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY BEING ARRESTED FOR OUTWARDLY EXPRESSING ANY SORT OF DISPLEASURE WITH THE MONARCHY.

A WOMAN WAS ARRESTED FOR HOLDING UP A SIGN. JUST HOLDING IT.

PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED FOR BOOING.

everything in britain has been put to a standstill. hospital appointments have been cancelled. funerals have been cancelled. we can't do anything about it.

many of us will be unable to pay our energy bills this winter. we will freeze. we will starve.

it has been demonstrated to us time and time and time again that protests simply make people talk about how we were protesting and never why. and now the police has increased power to punish us for any public opinion that they don't like.

we have been under tory rule for 12 years. 12 years of the same people - hey americans, can you imagine that?

we are tired, no, we are exhausted. we are struggling. we are scared. and it has been made clear to us that our government does not care.

so fucking forgive us if we're putting our own survival over the opinions of americans (and other non-brits but americans are the worst) online who expect us to learn everything about their politics and their country and don't put in an ounce of effort to learn about ours.

[redysetdare]

All this aroace character shipcourse has proven to me that a majority of people that interact in fandom cannot actually interact with characters and media outside of shipping and genuinely I believe you need to learn how to interact with media outside of shipping.

[retquits]

zolu sillies for the anon who asked abt them!!!

(bonus phone wallpaper version under the cut)

[riviclouds]

*pets him with a slightly damp toothbrush*

[linterteatime]

Some random sillies for the funsies

The og thingys