#event: best in the world 2017

[allelitewrestlings]

[soracities]

"Well, it’s that time again. I mark mid-summer by the sharing of this photo on its anniversary. This photo has spent six years circulating in the internet’s many corners and in the stories of people who have both found new relationships and/or ended friendships. 2017, New York, I was invited to a track-by-track celebration of Carly Rae Jepsen's EMOTION, where each writer was assigned one song to give a presentation on. I wanted "Warm Blood" but picked too late and got "Your Type," and made a presentation on my phone on the plane, but this was the only slide, and I read a long thing about desire, and about that thin veil between realizing you like someone and realizing you LIKE someone, about falling in love with friends, about being platonically in love with friends, about treating platonic love with the same generosity and rigor as romantic love. But mostly about the bravery of Big Declarations Of Emotion. Because of the nature of the party, and the fact that this photo has circulated for years without context, I think it has led to more Big Declarations Of Emotion than anything, and I don't mind that, I suppose. I still get people, to this day, telling me they were at this event or they've seen this photo and that they were inspired to tell someone they were in love with them. It feels especially exciting to share this year, in a year where I’ve gotten to be the most excited witness to my friends and their fluorescent joys. Marriages, new houses, new kids, their bravery and openness with the world. Being an audience to that makes me bold in my capacity for love, for care. We ascend to better versions of ourselves through our love for each other, and that is romance. The best kind. The results are sometimes mixed, I’ve heard. They always are. If you told a friend you love them and things got weird, I apologize. but to be fair, I wanted Warm Blood. As I say every year, there are so many ways to fall for someone. If you are at the edge of the cliff anyway, consider taking the leap. The ground might be soft enough to hold you and whatever comes next, and if it isn't there will always be more cliffs, more edges."

Hanif Adburraqib on ig

[thatsonemorbidcorvid]

A prominent women’s chess player has accused a fellow player of rape and sexual harassment as she warned a “toxic culture“ of misogyny and sexually predatory behaviour plagues the chess community.

Sabrina Chevannes, a women's international chess master, said she was raped at a chess tournament by another contestant.

The 36-year-old, who quit professional chess in January 2017, told The Independent the incident happened when she was black-out drunk as a teenager.

She added: “I woke up in the linen room of the hotel on a table. I was in so much pain. I didn’t quite understand what had happened.

“While playing chess I was in so much pain I could barely sit down. Him and his friends were high-fiving about it.”

Ms Chevannes, who won ten British chess titles, said sexual harassment, sexual assault or discrimination against women has taken place at every chess tournament she has ever attended.

She has endured racism from fellow chess players, with people often assuming she had cheated when she did well in tournaments, she added.

She told of an incident at a chess tournament when a man who was a chess master groped her.

“I was 11 years old,” she recalled. “I wanted to have a picture with him because he was famous in this world. He posed for the picture but did this thing where he put his hand down my back touching my butt. Then he turned around and winked at me.”

She encountered him again at another chess event when she was a teenager where he told her he had seen her on the front of a chess magazine, she added.

“He said ‘You are developing so well’. I said ‘I was at my best rating’, and he said ‘No, I don’t mean developing like that’,” Ms Chevannes recalled.

“He said he may need another copy of the magazine as he said he had worn his down with all the night time reading. He looked at me in a creepy, lecherous manner. When he met me when I was 18, he said ‘now you are legal in all countries’.”

The former player said she would actively avoid tournaments where he was playing. She noted he sexually propositioned her a few years ago - asking her to go back to his hotel room.

Ms Chevannes said: “He used very racist misogynistic language to my face.”

She told of another incident where a different chess player offered to let her sleep in his hotel room as she was tired from her flight but couldn’t check into her room until mid-afternoon.

“He wasn’t in the room when I was sleeping but I woke up to find one hand down my pants and one hand in my bra,” she added. “He did the same thing again when I was in the same house as him and lots of others in the chess community.”

Ms Chevannes, who now coaches chess, said she did not report any of the aforementioned incidents to the police at the time as others warned her she would not be believed.

But she explained social media posts she recently shared about her alleged experiences had been seen by the police who are now looking into her claims.

Female chess players have come forward in recent weeks to make allegations of sexual assault, violence and harassment from male players.

Earlier in the month, 14 of France's top female players wrote an open letter, “denouncing the sexist or sexual violence they have suffered” in the chess community, with over 100 women in chess signing the letter in the space of only five days.

Ms Chevannes described the chess community as an “insular world” with a rigid hierarchy where people are judged by their chess abilities and women are perpetually belittled.

“Women are seen as inferior, they genuinely believe men are superior to women in every way - including intellectually,” she added. “If you beat someone, it's described as you raped them.”

[avaf00rdxx]

Leah Williamson relationship HC

A better fic will be out soon hang tight.

This is a scrap I made.

I would barely classify these as head cannons as they are very long. They are just about your relationship in general☺️

————————————————————————-

-you and Leah were best friends and crazy close when you first joined Arsenal in 2017. When you left to go to Barcelona in 2019 you both felt like a huge part of your lives were missing. When you came back to Arsenal in 2021 you both realised you were in love and started dating

-you always praise Leah for being the most fashionable person you know. You weren’t terrible yourself but you were always getting her to help you with what to wear daily

-whenever you two go to events together Leah will always make sure you get to the after party. Your pretty good at calling it a night often, which means Leah is dragging you for more drinks more often that not

-you, Leah and Alex Scott were sort of a trio. Sure Leah and Alex were a tad closer. But you had all been on multiple trips together

-your the cook of the house. She can’t go much further than toast. She tried to make frozen chicken one time for you both, but it ended up breaking the oven due to a weird setting she turned the oven on to.

-when she did her ACL you were in tears for her. When she walked off, She told you to get a goal for her. You didn’t in the end which made you sick to your stomach. You felt terrible and was just as devastated as Leah.

-your Australian. So bringing Leah over to your home was your favourite thing.

-Christmas in your house was amazing. You both decked out the house completely and danced and sung to Christmas songs all December.

-when buying your first house together. You had the biggest say. You had great taste is properties to buy so you kind of found a flat online and showed Leah. She said yes so you immediately booked an inspection. You got that flat two days later.

-You also bought all the furniture one night when you were both on international break and got it delivered to where Leah was. She was a bit shocked when she FaceTimed you after coming home to 45 delivery boxes.

-your taste in movies was so divergent. She liked the more fantasy movies like lord of the rings and Harry Potter. She also loved horror. Which was terrible for you. You loved romance movies, you’re either making Leah watch that or some stupid documentary you heard of.

-you were a huge dog person. And Leah already owned a dog when you first moved in together, but you had 2. So now it’s a crazy house 24/7.

-you love being together in the kitchen, listening to music and goofing around with a good bottle of wine. You both turn on old love songs and slow dance around the kitchen.

-she made you late to most trainings. Due to her stuffing around in the mornings. It got even worse when she cut her bangs

-one afternoon you were both chatting on how she used to have a fringe as a child. You said she would suit one (but you think she suits anything). So of course 2 weeks later she texts you to let you know she’s going to the hairdresser…

-Leah can be kinky asf. Come on we all know this

-sometimes after dinner you will beg her to play on the piano for you. She’s actually outstanding at it and you’re so proud of her. You will take your wine glass over and sit on the seat next to her while she plays.

-you tried to convince her to get Santa photos with the dogs. Which she very quickly declined.

-you were very good at makeup. You became obsessed with it as a teenage girl. So you find yourself doing Leah’s a lot for nights out and events. Even just doing a big look for fun.

-the girl couldn’t ride a bike to save her life. So you always tried to help teach her . She would somehow always say yes, Even if it was just an excuse to get a good laugh out of you.

-you and your Matilda’s team played in the World Cup and came fourth after being knocked out by her country in the semis. Your heart ached that you couldn’t finish it for your country, but it ached just the same at the fact that your girlfriend couldn’t lead her country to the grand finals like she had always dreamt of.

-every night you slept with your head tucked into the crook of her neck, arms cuddling onto her torso. It was just the best way both of your bodies melted together.

-sometimes she tried to take you on golfing dates. The first time she did, she told you she was good. Like the powerful Leah Williamson would. You were humble and said you would need her help. But when you swung your shot you actually made a great one and it had Leah’s jaw on the floor.

-you both had your first photo shoot together in 2020 just before covid. And you lived very minute of it. Now you have done heaps for brands like Calvin Klein, bikini brands, and more together, you both now being known for your hot couple photo shoots.

-you were both completely clumsy. The worst thing was when Leah and you had to screw a window nail tighter. Don’t ask why. But you apparently weren’t holding it properly. Causing it to fall out the other side of the frame. Completely shattering into the pool.

-though you were always chasing after her for outfit inspiration. You both looked phenomenal wherever you went. You would both be shot on camera court-side of a basketball game, on vacation or at dinner in the best outfits and hair.

-you though she was the hottest girl you had ever seen in your life. You had only had boyfriends who play football in your life before Leah. So you always blamed Leah for being gay.

-her love for country music was one of the things that made you fall in love with her. Along with her charming personality

-you were a striker for arsenal. When you scored in a game, you would do your celebration jump with your fists in the air and always try to look for Leah, to see if it was her arms you could jump into first. And she was always there, screaming at you for your goal with her arms wide open.

-your a bottom most of the time. But sometimes you switch it up and she lives for your dominant side.

-you suffered a severe back injury in 2022 while in Australia. You were scared you would never play again. Leah was on the next plane out to Australia, even though she was told not to. Just so she could sit next to your bed and hold your hand for hours.

-seeing Leah back in training after doing her ACL. With the brightest smile on her face, made your heart melt every time.

[gillanfryingpan]

For The Forgotten Ones is completed, I haven’t read the final chapter yet because I wanted to finish this first

Buddy thank you so much for this wonderful story, I know I keep saying it but it genuinely changed my life. I hadn’t been in the Undertale fandom since about 2017, it was my first fandom experience so it was very special to me, but I left it far behind. at the start of this year I stumbled upon Calcium-cat’s comic based on the first chapter, and I found my way to this fic and read I think seven chapters in one night LOL. I had to stop because it was so late, but afterwards I sat in the dark of my room and just, felt. this fic felt like the peak of the old Undertale fandom, it was almost overwhelming (in the best way). all these emotions and this energy that I hadn’t felt in years all came rushing back it was like magic. like rediscovering the meaning of life. I know that sounds ridiculous and cheesy but Undertale genuinely made me who I am, it was my first fandom, drew my first fanart and wrote my first fan fiction and went to my first con and made friends and discovered this whole community that made me feel like me. and this story is interwoven with all of that. it feels like Home.

because of this fic I gained the motivation to create SO MUCH art, my skills have developed so much and I genuinely love my art now when I didn’t really before. I’ve found my style bc of you :) I’ve also gained an actual following now that continues to grow which is a dream come true since I first joined the internet. and I’ve made so many wonderful friends, I’ve got a group that came together bc of this fic and they’re all such wonderful people that I may never have met otherwise.

I’ve still got so many screenshots and ideas to draw for this fic so I’ll be appreciating it for a long time still, but this is a thank you, a gift and an appreciation for all that you’ve done. you consistently uploaded a sizeable chapter EVERY WEEK which is INSANE, your dedication is so inspiring. you created a beautiful world and characterized all these popular characters so well, especially when mischaracterizations have become the fandom canon atp (looks at Swap Sans,,,) you did so much. you created a family we all adored, we laughed and cried and prayed and joked and created this wonderful community within a wonderful community just to appreciate your words. truly effing masterful. I love For The Forgotten Ones, I will print it out into a book someday soon, to put it on my shelf where I can see it always. Thank you thank you thank you I’ve said so many words and still I feel I have not expressed the depths of my feelings

oh well

I gotta post this sometime lol

ok bye :) 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖

(and to anyone else who reads this, this art is also going to be my dtiys event but I’ll make a separate post for that !!!! it’ll be going on until the end of November)

For The Forgotten Ones by Im_Sorry_Buddy

Ink!Sans and Aster by @comyet

Nightmare!Sans and Dream!Sans by @jokublog

Geno!Sans and Error!Sans by @loverofpiggies

Killer!Sans by @rahafwabas

Cross!Sans by @jakei95

Blue/Swap!Sans by p0pcornpr1nce

Dust/Murder!Sans and Phantom!Papyrus by @ask-dusttale

Horror!Sans by @horrortalecomic (Sour-Apple-Studios)

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Fossil Novembirb 2: The Survivors

The End-Cretaceous Extinction was one of the most devastating - and tragic - events on our planet.

In the blink of an eye, the world changed from a thriving biosphere to a decimated one. The asteroid caused worldwide wildfires, tsunamis, and the dramatic release of particles into the air that blocked out the sun.

Nothing over 25 kg could survive, because they had nowhere to hide from the devastation. Anything under that limit had to have somewhere to hide - water or burrowing worked best - and something to eat, which was easier said than done. When the plants can't eat, nothing can.

And yet, life survived - not just life, but dinosaurs themselves!

Conflicto, by @otussketching

In fact, one of the first fossils we have from the Cenozoic is Conflicto, a Presbyornithid - like "Styginetta" and Teviornis yesterday! - from Antarctica

Why these dinosaurs, and no others?

They had beaks, which would have helped them to access available food sources such as seeds and spores (plant material in a protective casing)

They did not live in trees, but usually near or with water - perfect places to hide

They were powerful fliers, allowing them to escape the flames and whatever else they needed to

Other than that? Random chance.

Much of the evolution of life on this planet is down to Sheer Dumb Luck

Tsidiiyazhi by Sean Murtha

What happened next was truly remarkable: an adaptive radiation of dinosaurs the likes of which is rarely seen

With all of those newly opened niches, Neornithines adapted quickly, so quickly we can't actually figure out how different major groups of Neoavians - aka, most birds - actually relate to one another.

After all, there was just *so much* free real estate!

Qianshanornis by @alphynix

In fact, many of these dinosaurs evolved right back into niches that their ancestors had famously lived in - penguins show up so quickly that we're giving marine birds their own day, replacing the now-lost Hesperornithines; Tsidiiyazhi and others quickly replaced the empty tree-bird niches left behind by the lost Enantiornithines; and raptors show up quickly too, already reminiscent of the lost Dromaeosaurs.

Qianshanornis, a mysterious raptor from China, had sickle claws just like its lost bretheren! In fact, it looks like it might be a Cariamiform, a group of dinosaurs including living Seriemas and the extinct Terror Birds, which often have sickle claws like Dromaeosaurs did!

Don't fix what isn't broken, I guess!

Australornis by @thewoodparable

Non-Neoavians diversified too, with fowl doing just fine across the boundary - Presbyornithids like Conflicto, as well as mysterious forms like Australornis.

Palaeognaths remain weirdly absent, but don't worry - the earilest ones will show up before the Paleocene epoch is done!

The Cenozoic begins with the Paleogene Period, which has the first epoch of the Paleocene - this was a climatic quagmire, with frequent fluctuations at the beginning before a dramatic rise in temperatures at the end. This climate confusion would affect bird evolution greatly - and lead to the diversification of many kinds, some of which we still have today!

Sources:

Ksepka, D. T., T. A. Stidham, T. E. Williamson. 2017. Early Paleocene landbird supports rapid phylogenetic and morphological diversification of crown birds after the K-PG mass extinction. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 114 (30): 8047 - 8052.

Mayr, 2022. Paleogene Fossil Birds, 2nd Edition. Springer Cham.

Mayr, 2017. Avian Evolution: The Fossil Record of Birds and its Paleobiological Significance (TOPA Topics in Paleobiology). Wiley Blackwell.

[squishycheekanon]

Jujutsu Incorporated.

Jujutsu Incorporated was founded in 2017 by Nanami Kento. Jujutsu Inc. is the leading training company for Alphas. Each man is in charge of a separate part of the multi-million dollar business. 

Kento founded Jujutsu Inc after the the world went into chaos in 2013. That was the year werewolfs came into existence and four years of out of control Alphas and abused Omegas later, Jujutsu Incorporated was born. Its main purpose was to train Alphas to hone their werewolf instincts and abilities.

When Alphas began presenting, their instincts were out of control. Being confused and unable to understand what was happening to them. However they continued to live their lives as usual, then omegas began presenting and it had the Alphas going crazy.

As found later on, if an Alpha is being pursued by an omega who isn’t their mate, their wolves will lash out and usually take over resulting in some omegas being beaten half to death, some of them being killed.

The world was so grateful for the company that they were practically giving their money to the Ôgami brothers. Now every year when more Alphas present they are instantly signed up to be trained by Jujutsu Incorporated.

大神 /ôgami/ will be the last name I’ve chosen for all 6 brothers.

Kento (Nanami) ôgami | 28 | The founder of Jujutsu Incorporated. Kento is not only the founder but he also oversees the psychological tests of the Alphas.

Kenjaku ôgami | 27 | The man behind the scenes. Kenjaku takes care of the troubled Alphas. He also takes care of any problems, crimes or accusations against the company.

Satoru (gojo) ôgami | 28 | The face of the company. Satoru is present for all public events and represents the company, meeting with important people and other businesses.

Yuji (Itadori) ôgami | 27 | In charge of the hiring and firing of all employees. Every company needs employees, Yuji sifts through the files of the best and brightest Alphas they have previously trained and they are offered jobs. He oversees transportation and housing of those Alphas.

Suguru (Geto) ôgami | 27 | Suguru is the head of the International Affairs department. He oversees Alphas from all over the world who have just presented being transported to be trained. Suguru makes sure all the files, documents and identification are in order.

Sukuna ôgami | 1000+ but for the sake of the fic he’s 27 | Sukuna is the head of the physical training department, working with the Alphas, pushing them to their limits until they break. Getting them to be at peace with their wolves and control them, he as well as Kento, help the Alphas create a bond with their wolves.

Limerence | Coming Soon

[kopw]

g1 season is upon us! i'm too lazy to gif every match myself! the world needs gifmakers like you! yes you!

this guide includes: basic gifmaking, actions, how to blur on-screen graphics, coloring tips catered specifically to wrestling footage (mainly aew and njpw), how to add subtitles, what tags to use

what you will need:

photoshop (i currently use cc 2017 for windows which you can grab from this post by birdysources)

kmplayer (for extracting frames)

what you might need depending on what you're looking to gif:

4k video downloader (for downloading videos off youtube)

vkopt (browser extension that lets you download videos off vk)

step 1: getting the footage

if you're directly downloading from a site this step is super easy. just make sure to always go for the highest quality of footage available (for njpw this is nowhere near 1080p, and even aew's 1080p footage is pixelated in places—but don't let this deter you!)

if you plan on giffing something off a ppv, chances are you might need to torrent the event. if you can, look for versions off fite with either web or webrip in the title for the best quality. this applies to weekly television too (fite doesn't have picture-in-picture). always seed your torrents. yes, even that one match from 2012. especially that one

you can also get recent shows off watchprowrestling dot co (previously org) which includes njpw tour shows and indie events as well. check out indy★wrestling★group on vk for smaller promotions and japanese promotions outside of njpw (tjpw, stardom, noah...)

step 2: choosing a clip

wrestling footage quality is not consistent. entrances with too many flashing lights or small particles will have huge quality drops, so unless it's something really special, don't put yourself through that. close-ups are generally your best friend but don't shy away from clips with lots of movement (you do sometimes want to gif the wrestling parts of wrestling too)

step 3: extracting frames

open your video in kmplayer. go to the part that you want to gif (though, i suggest leaving a bit of fodder before and after the actual clip. you can always trim the frames down later and it's better to start off with more). then, press ctrl + g

this should bring up this window:

your settings might be different if it's your first time downloading the app so just copy what you see here

kmplayer automatically captures into its own folder, which you can change if you want, but i just left it as is. i recommend pinning the folder you regularly use to the quick access menu in your file explorer

hit start, start the video, let it capture frames for however long, and then hit stop on both the extractor and the video itself. and now you have a bunch of frames in a folder. cool!

step four: converting frames to layers

open photoshop. this will take ages but open it. go to file -> scripts -> load files into stack...

this will bring up this window:

click browse... and select all the frames you just extracted. depending on the number of frames, this might take you a bit. then hit ok and let your layers load into photoshop. this will take a long time (saying this as someone whose laptop tends to heat up to the temperature of an egg pan at this point in the process)

step five: actions

i use actions (user-built series of recorded commands, meaning you don't have to click everything manually) for everything except coloring. i use a mishmash of like three different actions that i never bothered to organize. these are the two most important ones:

actionpack #1 by giulia (i use the setup and save portions from this one)

squishmoon actions by lildohnut (i use the hd sharpening from here, first layer on 0.3 for close-ups and 0.2 otherwise, and the second layer at the suggested 50%)*

*most sharpening settings you'll find are made for current films and tv shows so you do have to make some adjustment to fit your crunchy wrestling footage

step six: sizing

pick a size for your gif! here is a handy chart:

as for height, it can range anywhere from 300px-540px and beyond. most people go for 350px-450px. 400px is the sweet spot

personal preference: adjust canvas size not image size and fit your footage accordingly. some footage (looking at you aew) can have an odd black bar at the bottom, and manual resizing can help getting rid of it. if you just resize the whole image that will stay there and bother you

additional tip: guidelines

9/10 times you will leave your footage centered. however, there are times when this can look a bit awkward, depending on the framing, in which case i like bringing in a few guidelines. go to view -> new guide layout...

rule of thirds is generally good for drawing the eye to certain places. these settings will divide your canvas into nine squares that help you reposition your main gif layer

optional step: blurring pop-up graphics and banners

so, you have your sharpened, resized gif... but the sharpening made the small text and other unwanted elements on your screen shrivel up like raisins. you can leave it as is, people won't mind, it's a wrestling gif, who cares. but, if you want, you can just blur it out

i'm at least a little bit certain that i'm personally the guy who brought this over from k-pop tumblr (not saying i invented the concept, i just love being a trendsetter) and so i can give you a few reasons as to why people do this. such as:

adding subtitles over pre-existing, burnt subtitles (example: njpw post-match comments off njpwworld and not youtube)

getting rid of elements that might distract people from the focal point of the gif (the hotties... and the moves. mostly the hotties)

it makes your otherwise milquetoast sharpening look a little better in contrast

it's gonna be ugly either way so it's a pick your poison type of situation. if you do want to try the blurring method, you will need a basic knowledge of filters and layer masks

step-by-step blurring process:

duplicate your gif layer

blur the layer on top (i typically go for a 4.0 gaussian blur; for this, go to filter -> blur -> gaussian blur...)

apply a layer mask to the blurred layer and make the layer mask black (this will remove the blur effect, don't be scared). to access the layer mask just click on it. you can press alt before clicking to "enter" the layer mask (though you won't see your gif this way)

go in with a soft round brush (or any brush) with white and draw over the bits you want blurred. this is the tedious part

profit?

here's a comparison:

it's really down to personal preference ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و

i convert my base gif layer and the blurred layer into a smart object before moving on with my process because sometimes photoshop likes to do this thing where it only applies the blur to the frame you're on. you can avoid this by combining the layers manually

if you're working with njpw footage and your clip plus coloring combination allows you to, you can also just go over the banner with black and blend it into the background. it's by far the best option but there's so rarely an opportunity to utilize it (i did it in the little header i made... go back and look at how beautiful she is)

step six: coloring

the big one. oh boy. prefacing this with: you can just skip coloring if you want. the sharpening settings i recommended earlier give a nice contrast to the gifs as is, so if it looks fine like that, you don't need any fancy colors. that being said...

my thought process going into coloring is to focus on skin tones and adjust everything around them. i don't tend to use psds, i always just manually color correct based on the actual footage i'm working with (venues differ, lighting differs, hues differ... incredibly hard to plan for all of it in advance). if i plan on making multiple gifsets of the same event/match, i do re-use settings, but sometimes minor adjustments are still needed

to begin coloring, you will need to use adjustment layers. you will pretty much need a basic knowledge of all of them (to the extent of knowing what the sliders and values do)

[1] i always begin with an exposure layer. this will remain above all of your layers (unless you plan on adding subtitles). here are my settings:

again, every layer you add after this will go below your exposure layer

[2] i add a selective color layer to further adjust the blacks. this will vary gif to gif but keep your adjustments small

[3] i add a vibrance layer. wrestling footage has major saturation problems that you can manage early on to make your life easier. take back a tiny bit (usually from -3 to -5) of vibrance before you begin your other color adjustments

[4] this is the big skin tone adjustment step using a curves layer. it does most of the heavy-lifting in my process. here is a video tutorial that explains the technique i use. it works the same with gifs as it does with images. the key differences are:

the image you are color picking off of shouldn't be a limited skin tone chart but rather an image of the wrestler(s) in natural (or as close to natural as you can find) lighting. i just go for renders used on the roster page. fan photography is way too edited to use here

try picking from a darker area of skin (shadows, midtones). it fits better with match lighting

this step will most likely correct color tints, but keep in mind that different promotions/shows/venues have different lighting. here are my personal observations:

aew dynamite and rampage have strong magenta tints

aew collision and roh honor club have strong red tints

njpw has a washed out blue tint

impact has a strong green tint

you can either lean into these (play around with making them really vibrant) or cancel them out using opposites on the color wheel (for example: to get rid of the magenta tint on dynamite, either decrease the magenta slider in your neutrals using selective color or add more green using color balance)

you will almost always have to add more cyan as well (either using color balance or channel mixer; channel mixer can also help you fine-tune skin tones with its blue tab—don't get rid of yellow undertones!)

[5] here is where i start fiddling around with manual adjustments that i seriously can't help you with... just add layers and change colors until you think it feels right. don't be afraid to start over if needed

[6] finishing touches! if you're like me you will have overcolored in the previous step. don't be afraid to add a saturation layer and decrease specifically the saturation of the reds (this will affect the skin tone; if you feel like you're on the right track but it's just too orange-looking, it's a saturation issue)

i also tend to add a black & white layer below the exposure layer up top set to soft light and lowered to 10% opacity. this gives you a bit of additional contrast that pulls the final gif together in my opinion

optional step: adding subtitles and watermarks

always add text layers above your coloring!

[1] subtitles

the font i use for subtitles is arial rounded mt bold, which you can download for free here. the point of subtitles is for them to be readable, so feel free to use any other font as long as it can be read with ease (nothing too thin or too blocky). if you plan on using the font i use, make sure to set it on faux bold and faux italics

font size differs based on the size of your gif, but it should normally be between 17pt and 23pt. i like to keep my tracking (letter-spacing) the same as my font size (so for 21pt subtitles i would have the tracking also at 21). i keep leading (the space between multiple lines of text) 3pt or 4pt

if there are two people speaking, i like setting the second speaker's text color to #ffd300. this is a generic yellow caption color that is still easy to read

after you have your basic text done, right click on your layer to add blending options. adding a stroke and a drop shadow can further help bring your text to the foreground. I keep my stroke (hah) at a simple 1px black. here are my drop shadow settings:

here is a more detailed guide about subtitles by clubgif

as for placement i add a horizontal guide at 95% and put my text on top of the line (while also keeping it centered vertically)

[2] watermarks

i personally don't use watermarks because i just don't care to, but if you want to add one, the same general ideas apply. just lower the opacity of your text layer at the end (if you want... again, a watermark is personalized)

step seven: timing

this is where you'll have to convert your video timeline back to a frame animation!

delete the frames that you don't need and then set a consistent timing (click on your first frame and shift + click on your last one to select all of your frames before adjusting). i like my gifs at 0.04, but depending on the footage you can go for 0.03 (newer bte episodes) or 0.05 (this also works if you don't have enough frames and want your gif a bit slower)

step eight: exporting

go to file -> export -> save for web (legacy)...

here are my export settings:

make sure to keep your gif under 10mb! if your file exceeds 10mb, you can't upload it to tumblr. you either have to cut some more frames or add compression to your gif (something i would never do, i always just cut frames)

additional tip: tagging

you have your gif! but how do you get people to actually look at it?

i always tag wrestlers* (full name, for both searchability and tag filtering purposes), promotions (initialisms like #aew over #all elite wrestling; if it's a more generic promotion name i.e. impact, go for #impact wrestling), tracked edit tags (#aewedit, #njpwedit; this not only helps source blogs find your posts and give them a bigger reach but it lets you browse other people's works). if you want to go the extra mile you can also include which event/video the gifset is from somewhere in your tags (if it's not already in the caption)

*even if you feel like it personally hurts you to tag that one wrestler you can't stand who happens to be in a match with your fave: do try tagging all wrestlers involved for ease of filtering, especially if you don't add image descriptions to your gifsets (tumblr's post content filtering system picks up on those)

general tumblr etiquette but don't cross-tag (i.e. tag a wwe gifset as #aew). no one likes cross-taggers. crossover events are exempt from this rule of course (forbidden door, multiverse united...)

additional tip: accessibility

don't use gradient text in your captions. screen readers can't read them!

if you can, include an image description. no matter how basic. this not only helps people with screen readers but the alt text of your gif is what's going to be displayed in case the gif isn't loading properly. here's a guide on how to caption gifsets by shangs

and you're done! all that's left to do is get silly with it. once you have the basics down you can virtually do anything. you can make those pretty graphics with blending. you can gif every single match of your fave in chronological order. sky's the limit

don't be discouraged if your gifs are not "perfect" from the get-go. this is a hobby just like any other hobby, and with time you'll get better at it. don't compare yourself to others and don't put your efforts down. only you can make the exact gifs you want to see

[svtcrus]

December || gojo satoru x gn!reader

ANGST | Hurt with no comfort

a/n : I legit wrote this after going through an eventful moment of sadness from watching the recent episodes of the new jjk season.

NOTE : HEAVY jjk spoilers -> includes the events of volume zero. mentions of death. big old gojo angst (he's written pretty miserable). reader is implied as a sorcerer

synopsis : what happened after december 24th, 2017 ? what happened to you and your lover, gojo satoru?

"let's end this relationship."

it was december 27th when he told you.

it was december 27th when your heart broke.

[spoilers begin after the cut, read at ur own risk]

you knew how much his best friends death altered him, how much pain he was hiding inside. ever since geto fled jujutsu high. ever since he left this cruel world. everyone changed around you. it's not like you had also changed. you've become more wary for your students, even more attentive to satoru's mental wellbeing. but you didn't change as much as satoru did.

when satoru came home that night, he ignored you. heading straight into your shared room. he hasn't come home ever since the 24th.

the night of the 27th, you remember hearing the quiet sniffles in the bedroom as you packed the cold food he never ate. you could sense how broken he was inside, despite putting a happy demeanour every school morning. despite him acting all cheery and idiotic during a time when it was okay to grieve.

but for gojo satoru, he doesn't have the time to grieve.

he's the strongest sorcerer after all. he's always needed, the higher ups don't care if a former sorcerer has passed. even if that very sorcerer was such a prominent one of their time. even if it was satoru's best friend. that's nothing to them when gojo satoru can easily accomplish their deeds for them.

you wondered just how much he was hiding inside that brain of his.

you wondered just how much of that happiness he was displaying for your students was actually true?

so you followed him into the bedroom after putting away his cold platter.

the moment you had set foot into room was when he had dropped the bomb on you.

"w..what?"

but you had never wondered. envisioned. or even spared the thought that his misery would lead to the end of another "we."

"after all, we're the strongest!"

"after all, we're together! of course I love y/n!"

these two sentences rung not only in your head, but also his. what had taken him 3 days of long thought, a thought which scoured ever inch of his brain was you.

what he never told you that day was why.

why? he could never explain the indescribable feeling he was going through. every reason on why he was letting go. but he knew at least this one thing.

gojo satoru never stopped loving you. but love has become the most scariest thing to him in the world. as love is the most twisted curse of all. so, he took a step back. for he can't come face to face with the fears of losing another person he loves so dearly. for love has ruined everything around him. and love is something he believes gojo satoru does not deserve.

gojo satoru cannot come to terms with the potentiality of losing another best friend. his lover. you.

gojo satoru didn't wanna break you like how he's breaking himself from inside. like how he broke his best friend. for you are too good to be true. you are too good to him. and though he is seen as the greatest amongst all. for him? you were his angel while he was the devil.

"it's for the sake of you y/n. I love you. please never forget that. "

every ounce of love he had left was poured onto you. he hopes you will cherish it greatly like how he cherishes yours.

if only infinity could also stop the sadness that drowning him from within. only then could he grieve.

"how could I ever forget you 'toru?" your pleads were left unanswered. the love of your life leaving you there in the room where your love once blossomed. the same day he had came back, he left you all alone once again.

ever since the day he had ended your relationship, gojo satoru slowly begun distancing himself from the world. specifically a world full of truth and love. building up a facade of fun to cover this darkness that was slowly engulfing him. for he will continue to show a face of happiness for the sake of others.

because youth cannot be taken away from young people like how 3 years of his own youth was slowly taken away.

just like how nearly 10 years of youthful teenage love was quickly taken away from you.

@svtcrus || 07.30.2023

©️ all rights reserved. do not copy / plagiarize or use my work.

[cypherverze]

i want to be with you everywhere

a tom holland imagine

PAIRINGS: tom holland x female!reader , tom holland x singer!reader , tom holland x famous!singer

SUMMARY: After being on hiatus for five years, you had managed to complete a whole new album for your comeback and announcing your upcoming tour in the process, as well as having Tom supporting you all the way.

AUTHOR’S NOTE: i offer you this tom imagine for the meantime. this imagine had been inspired by hayley william’s cover of ‘everywhere’ during the parahoy event back in 2018! also, i’ve been listening religiously to fleetwood mac. enjoy! (NOT PROOF READ!)

REMINDER: this is purely fiction, this is a product of the author’s (me) imagination. this work is originally written by me, do not in any way repost or copy my work. i write for self indulgence, if you don’t like my works, then don’t read it.

WORD COUNT: 1,757

WARNINGS: nothing, just some fluff. casually reiterating—poor attempt on fluff :D

Your comeback album had taken the world by storm, since you decided to drop it when the world wasn’t anticipating it. Everyone didn’t know that throughout your hiatus, you’re working on your new album because you have been so quiet, especially on your social media platforms. So when you decided to drop it out of nowhere, everyone—especially your fans are in shambles. To add fuel to the fire, right after dropping your comeback album, you had also announced your tour for the new album. Despite the shock that you gave your fans, they were really excited for your comeback and had managed to sold out your concerts in record speed.

Fast forward to your first night of concert, which is being held in Atlanta, Georgia. The air inside the stadium was palpable, it was packed with cheering and screaming fans, everyone had been buzzing with anticipation. You had been performing for almost an hour now, and there’s only one song left in your set list before you conclude your first night of tour.

“Okay,” Your fans cheered very loudly and you smiled at them, “This is the last song for the night. This is actually my first time singing this song.” The fans are pumping in excitement.

“While I was on my hiatus, I was staying in Nevada, working on my album, and I’ve been listening to a lot of songs from my favorite artist of all time, so you can say that I’m binge listening to them. This one song, I religiously listen to it wherever and whenever—in the car, when I cook in the kitchen. You know.” You giggled, “This is the song that had really inspired me in writing the album, especially the sound and vibe of it was inspired by this song. Also, this is the song that I wish I had written.” Everyone laughed and cheered.

“Alright! This will be the last song tonight, it is a song that is a perfect ending to a perfect night. If you know the lyrics to this song, feel free to singalong with me.” You smiled widely as your fans kept on cheering loudly, “This is ‘Everywhere’ by Fleetwood Mac.” The cheering had intensified, that’s when you knew that you have a lot of fans that loves Fleetwood Mac.

“Again, thank you so much for your never ending support. I hope that you had a blast joining me on my first concert after five years, thank you and good night!”

There was a surge of energy when the first few notes of the song had began playing, you looked around the stadium, making eye contact with each and everyone of your fans and smiling directly at them, noticing them. Suddenly, you felt your heart race as you scan the crowd further, hoping to see the one person that you wanted to see the most. Then, there you saw your boyfriend, Tom, seated amongst the crowd with his best friend Harrison, and brothers Harry and Sam. Both of you locked eyes and you smiled at each other softly and you began singing the song.

Can you hear me calling, out your name?

You know that I’m falling and I don’t lnow what to say.

I’ll speak a little louder, I’ll even shout.

You know that I’m proud and I can’t get the words out.

You and Tom been dating for almost a year now, and things between the two of you were going incredibly great, and you couldn’t ask for more. Tom was constantly on the go with his acting career, you don’t mind about it, he always make sure to make time for you despite his busy schedule—so that’s why you had decided to hold your first concert in Atlanta, Georgia. Tom is currently in Atlanta shooting a movie for marvel, so you decided to hold your first concert there because ever since he found out that you’ll start touring, Tom had expressed that he won’t be able to attend because it was also the same time as his movie shooting, and you know how badly he wanted to attent your concert since he’s a very big fan before you got together.

When you told Tom that your first concert will be held in Atlanta, he was over the moon. You told him that his concert tickets are ready, but he declined it, Tom told you that he wants to secure the tickets himself, he also reasoned that he missed fighting with other fans for concert tickets. The moment that Tom was able to secure his desired tickets, he called you immediately, telling you that he’s very excited to see you perform again on the stage in front of everyone and proceed on telling you how much he’s proud of you.

The song may only be a cover, but it holds a special meaning for you. You had secretly dedicated the song to Tom in your heart, hoping that he would understand the message behind the lyrics because the song exactly represents what you had felt when you when met Tom for the first time. The song is also the very perfect song to express your feelings for him.

Oh, I, I want to be with you everywhere.

Oh, I, I want to be with you everywhere.

(Wanna be with you everywhere)

You pointed at Tom, causing him to smile lovingly at you. As the beat played, you did your little dance, which Tom loves the most. It’s one of your little quirks that he finds really endearing.

Something’s happening, happening to me.

My friends say I’m acting peculiarly.

Come on baby, we better make a start.

You better make it soon before you break my heart.

Tom’s expression softened, looking at you softly as he listened to the familiar tune, and you felt a rush of emotion in you as you poured your heart into the song.

Oh, I, I want to be with you everywhere.

Oh, I, I want to be with you everywhere.

(Wanna be with you everywhere)

Can you hear me calling, out your name?

You know that I’m falling and I don’t know what to say.

Come along, baby, we better make a start.

You better make it soon before you break my heart.

The words of the lyrics echoed throughout the whole stadium, and you closed your eyes as you dance to the beat of the song, feeling it. You can’t help but imagine as well that you’re back in your home with Tom, dancing slowly to the song in the kitchen, with dim lights—which you do very often. You poured all your love and passion into the song, anf you felt it resonated with the audience.

When the song ended, the crowd erupted in cheers, screaming, and applause. But your attention remained on Tom—he was standing up, together with his brothers and best friend, cheering loudly for you. You couldn’t help but feel all the love for him, knowing that he’s proud of you. You thanked the crowd again and exited the main stage, heading straight at the backstage.

You were already at your dressing room, resting. You had just cleaned and changed yourself so you’re already fresh and no longer sweaty from the concert. You’re feeling euphoric, so never knew how much you missed performing in front of thousands of people. Now, you can’t help but look forward to your future concerts. You were lounging on your couch, keeping yourself busy as you scroll on your phone, checking for posts from different fans during your concert, liking and retweeting some of the posts.

There was a knock on your dressing room and the door opened, revealing Tom. Your heart skipping a beat as he walked towards you slowly, his eyes beaming with pride and love for you. He put his arms around your waist, his hands rubbing softly on your back, immediately sending a jolt of electricity throughout your body.

“Wow.” He said, his voice soft and sincere, “That was really really incredible. You never cease to amaze me, my love.” You blushed, cheeks beet red.

“Also, Haz, Harry, and Sam extend their congratulations to you for your successful first day of concert.” He added.

The feeling of happiness that you’re feeling right now is immeasurable as you look into Tom’s eyes lovingly. To be honest, you’ve been very nervous about performing the song, because he has no idea at all that you dedicated the cover to him. But seeing his reaction when you performed it, made it all very worth it,

“You know, I dedicated that song cover for you.” You admitted, feeling your cheeks flush with embarrassment, “It’s my way to let you know how much I love you.” You added, as you gently brush your fingers at his nape.

Tom’s eyes widened in surprise and grinned widely at you. He, then suddenly pulled you into a tight embrace. You felt him leaving trails of soft kisses on your exposed shoulder.

“I love you too, so much.” He whispered softly as his lips brushed against your ear, sending slight shiver over your body, “More than anything in this world.”

He stared lovingly at you, smiling widely, and finally pulling you in for a kiss. You had kissed back with the same intensity, both of you smiling through the kiss. Pulling back softly, looking at you again, Tom pulled you again for a kiss.

“I want to be everywhere with you as well, darling.” He smiled brightly.

You knew from the beginning you met Tom that you had found someone very special. Someone who loved and supported you no matter what. Both of you left your dressing room and the concert venue, with fingers intertwined with one another, you couldn’t help but feel grateful for the love that you share.

Tom is one of the biggest plot twist that had happened during your hiatus, and you have never been happier in life.

[allelitewrestlings]

[agendabymooner]

thick and thin ! lewis h. x ofc (hearth sister!ofc)

“i could see my whole life with you, baby, now you got me thinking that i’m crazy.”

summary: glimpses of the relationship between a certain mercedes driver and stevie hearth. OR stevie marlene ford found herself nearly giving up on the love that she had for lewis, and lewis wasn’t going to easily let go of her.

content warning: yearning/childhood crush, age-gap (eight years), written AND social media parts, use of explicit language, kind of an asshole!Lewis but not really, mentions of ofc x zayn malik (based on face claim’s relationship but nothing personal), mentions of father figure issues.

notes: i am trying thy best. sorry guys :))

masterlist

2017

“Here,” Stevie reached for the water bottle that Lewis had given her, offering him a thanks as he nodded and sat next to her. 

August was quite a long month for everyone, to say the least. They have two weeks off before the next race and to say that Stevie was quite happy would be an understatement; she was more than fucking delighted. 

At least no one would bother her with the recently published report about the end of her relationship with a certain boy band member. She really hadn’t wanted that kind of attention right now— especially since her driver’s fighting to become a World Champion. The last thing that she wanted in case she’s put into a spotlight was to be questioned about her ex-boyfriend rather than the status of her team at the driver’s championship and constructor’s championship. 

So hiding away right now seemed easier. Between the races and her photoshoots, this was the kind of peace she wanted. No one’s asking anything, allowing her to do her work behind and in front of the cameras. 

Lewis had other plans though. Stevie hated that he could simply ask a question and she’d come screaming the answer. 

“How are you feeling now?” He asked genuinely. She hated him for being so… considerate and oblivious. 

“What I had with Zayn was good,” she murmured as she continued to type in her feedback to send to Sebastian’s PR manager. “It was nice while it lasted.”

“Two years,” Lewis reminded her. “You’ve been with him for two years and all you’re saying is that it was nice while it lasted?” 

“Yeah well,” she pursed her lips, “not everything could last longer than that, you know?” 

Lewis hummed, not knowing how to continue this conversation. Still, he was persistent— wanting to talk to his best friend’s sister as he said, “You two made a good pair.” 

She rolled her eyes, masking it as something playful as she quipped, “I’ll consider that thought when I ask for it.” 

She always wondered how a long term relationship could be considered a rebound. She had always lasted a year or two with her exes, but she remained guilty for stringing them along despite showing the affections and admiration that they deserved. 

She only felt guilty because while she had given them everything they wanted, she couldn’t afford to get what she wanted. Lewis. After all, he was the reason why relationships started and ended for her. Not that he would ever know that— that’s what Stevie told herself. 

2018

“Holy shit, girl,” Lewis’ mouth gaped open and wolf-whistled at the sight of her. She only giggled quietly as he stood straight, his eyes scanning her facial features before glancing down on her outfit. Clearly he liked her… but maybe that was nothing but a lie. Still, Stevie ate his attention like a starving dog. 

He still couldn’t believe that this was the same girl who practically followed him around the Mercedes area back when she didn’t work for her own team. It felt so wrong to look at her like this, but it’s something that he couldn’t help. He had known about her little crush and all he wanted was to pursue whatever this was. It was so wrong.

It’s not as if he’s planning to pursue her. His affection for her, however, was mistaken for love. Stevie hated it. 

The drive to the Tommy Hilfiger campaign afterparty was not as eventful as the confrontation between Stevie and Lewis. If they were as young as they were back then, one would assume that it was just a petty feud between two young people. This argument felt more… personal and hurtful.

“Steve, come on! Talk to me!” Lewis felt her yank her wrist away from his grip, turning her back to him as she attempted to walk away. “How are you even going back?! It’s not safe out there!” 

“I’m not a fucking child, Lew! I’ll be fine,” Stevie spewed out venomously, “just like I was whenever I had to pick you up after ringing me with another woman’s scent all over you. Just like I am whenever I pick up your calls after your girlfriends broke up with you. I’ll be alright— I broke up with men without having to reach out to you— I don’t need you to worry about me.” 

“You’re just being petty,” Lewis told her firmly, “I’m driving you home.”

“Give up, already! Jesus Christ!” Stevie cursed out, stomping her foot down. “Just because your guilt is washing over your whole soul right now it doesn’t mean that dropping me off would simply make things right. You never should’ve taken me here as your date Lewis. You should’ve just considered me a coworker— not someone who you’ll let go of the moment you make it inside the club. This isn’t fair for me!” 

“Why can’t you be upfront about it then?” Lewis challenged her. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner about how you feel, hm? We could have been together but instead you’re parading your boyfriends around me like I should’ve done something more.” 

“Because you kept telling me that I’m a child, Lew,” she sniffled. “I’m not. I’m old enough. I’m old enough to know that I deserve better than to have my opinions and feelings be overseen as something childish. I don’t care if it’s anyone or you— I’m a fully grown woman, Lewis. I’m not going to let your mindset dictate who I’ll be for you or for anyone. If you’re not going to see me as someone who loves you, then you ought to let go.

“Because I’m ready to go, Lewis,” she hid away the tears that threatened to fall. She refused to lose the little dignity she had left, too. “You only see me as an adult when you find it convenient. I can’t be bothered with your shitty objections anymore. Aren’t you the childish one for not looking at me in a different way?” 

2018

tagged steviemarlz, aimeeyh, lewishamilton, sylvieeford, max33verstappen

liked by pierregasly, charles_leclerc, landonorris

comments have been limited

steviemarlz anything for my mini toto 😍

aimeeyh toto jr. is so biiiig now 😭

sylvieeford the trip to the hundred acre wood was wild last friday huh

lewishamilton happy to spoil my ren-man 😘😍

tillywolff next thing you know he’d be as grumpy as toto when he doesn’t get what he wants 😂

lewishamilton ren had been a saint so far 😂😂

“Can I?” Soren Wolff’s second birthday party was anything but simple, and as the godmother Stevie Marlene made sure that it could be as extravagant as it was intimate. She made everyone aware that the day was special for the boy who loved his Winnie the Pooh characters. 

As if she hadn’t hired a coordinator for the occasion, she helped them set up the Hundred Acre Wood at her childhood home in Brackley by setting up the Heffalump Trap (which is really just a bouncy house with inflated obstacles) and placing the mini Heffalumps by the area.

Lewis Hamilton had a different plan as the godfather, though. Now he was offering some support just in case Stevie needed it. Well… that and he did not exactly want to go through his godson’s birthday party ignored by his partner in crime. They were both Soren’s godparents— the least that they could do was cooperate and get their shit together. 

And so, Stevie sighed exasperatedly and passed him the garland of mini heffalumps. She merely offered him a grateful smile before turning away to see if her box of decorations was empty. 

“You can’t keep avoiding me, you know?” He spoke up, making her glance back at him before he continued, “I can’t hold off our relationship if I want to talk to you.” 

“I can,” Stevie huffed out quietly. “And I will.”

“Steve,” Lewis sighed, leaning his head against the soft surface of the bouncy castle before looking back at her. His dark eyes found her brighter ones staring back. “I should have admitted that it was wrong of me to string you along.”

“You should have,” she nodded in agreement, not wanting to appease him or his ego. 

“I was scared because they’ll think I’m controlling you,” Lewis admitted. “Truthfully, I still am. I know that you’ve grown and I want to be the right decision you would make.” 

“Would you like me to say it aloud?” She glowered, annoyed at his irrational fear. “I, Stevie Marlene Ford, at the age of 25, believe that Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton is the best decision I could have made. I believe that he needs to stop using my age as a weapon to justify his decision to see me as a child and not someone that he could love—“ 

“Can I take you out for dinner?”

“What?” Stevie paused at her rambling. 

“You said that you don’t want me to see you as a child,” Lewis said confidently, “would it be such a shame if I stopped seeing you as such the moment you became Ferrari’s acting Liaison?” 

“No,” she shook her head, “but you could have done so much about it. I became the Liaison last year.” 

“Well then, let me make it up to you,” he proposed. “One dinner. Should you decide that I’m still worth your time, then I’ll make sure to take you to more places.” 

FEBRUARY 14, 2023

“Psst, Stevie.” 

“Lewis?!” 

“Yes. It’s me.” 

“What the hell are you doing out there? Do you want Toto to kill you? Right before our wedding, even?” 

“No but I want to talk.” 

“You can’t see me right now, Lew!” 

“I know, but no one’s here but us. Do you think you can just listen from there?” 

“Fine. But you’ll be back to your own suite after, yes?” 

“Yes I will. Anyway, I want to tell you that I love you. Not once did I regret asking you to go out for dinner with me after Soren’s second birthday.” 

“You’ve told me. Once or five times. Some of which were when you were piss drunk.” 

“I wish I had seen your love sooner,” Lewis sighed, his braided hair leaning against the mahogany door as he continued, “We would’ve been married a year ago.” 

“Well you’re here now, aren’t you?” Stevie chuckled.

“Lucky me,” he murmured. “I can’t wait to marry you… in about two hours. This is the longest time I’ve ever experienced.” 

“You’ve got two hours, Hamilton,” she teased. “Still enough time to think things through.”

“With you? Never,” he scoffed out. “I don’t think I’d appreciate it if you and Sylvie would kill me. Besides, if anything, you’ve got two hours to decide if you’d marry my dumb ass.” 

“And miss out on changing my surname to yours? No thanks,” Stevie snorted.

“I’ve always known you’re only after my surname,” Lewis joked. 

“Yeah, my daddy issues won in the end,” they both shared a laugh despite it being quiet, not being able to hear much due to the closed door that separated them. 

The laughter turned into silence. 

“Can’t wait to see you, Sir Hamilton,” Stevie voiced out her thoughts. 

“And I can’t wait to cry after seeing you in your dress,” Lewis told her. “I honestly think you’d one-up Tia.” 

“No way,” Stevie laughed. “Tia’s our best girl. She’ll always be prettier than us.”

“Well… I should leave you for now,” Stevie could hear him standing before hearing a thud against the door. His forehead rested against the mahogany wood. “I’ll see you soon, Mrs. Hamilton.” 

“Through thick and thin?” 

“Through thick and thin.”

“Good.”

tagged steviemarlz

comments have been disabled

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The long bezzle

Going to Defcon this weekend? I’m giving a keynote, “An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet’s Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse,” on Saturday at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

When it comes to the modern world of enshittified, terrible businesses, no addition to your vocabulary is more essential than "bezzle," JK Galbraith's term for "the magic interval when a confidence trickster knows he has the money he has appropriated but the victim does not yet understand that he has lost it"

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/09/accounting-gimmicks/#unter

The bezzle is contained by two forces.

First, Stein's Law: "Anything that can't go on forever will eventually stop."

Second, Keynes's: "Markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent."

On the one hand, extremely badly run businesses that strip all the value out of the firm, making things progressively worse for its suppliers, workers and customers will eventually fail (Stein's Law).

On the other hand, as the private equity sector has repeatedly demonstrated, there are all kinds of accounting tricks, subsidies and frauds that can animate a decaying, zombie firm long after its best-before date (Keynes's irrational markets):

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben

One company that has done an admirable job of balancing on a knife edge between Stein and Keynes is Verizon, a monopoly telecoms firm that has proven that a business can remain large, its products relied upon by millions, its stock actively traded and its market cap buoyant, despite manifest, repeated incompetence and waste on an unimaginable scale.

This week, Verizon shut down Bluejeans, an also-ran videoconferencing service the company bought for $400 million in 2020 as a panic-buy to keep up with Zoom. As they lit that $400 mil on fire, Verizon praised its own vision, calling Bluejeans "an award-winning product that connects our customers around the world, but we have made this decision due to the changing market landscape":

https://9to5google.com/2023/08/08/verizon-bluejeans-shutting-down/

Writing for Techdirt, Karl Bode runs down a partial list of all the unbelievably terrible business decisions Verizon has made without losing investor confidence or going under, in a kind of tribute to Keynes's maxim:

https://www.techdirt.com/2023/08/10/verizon-fails-again-shutters-attempted-zoom-alternative-bluejeans-after-paying-400-million-for-it/

Remember Go90, the "dud" streaming service launched in 2015 and shuttered in 2018? You probably don't, and neither (apparently) do Verizon's shareholders, who lost $1.2 billion on this folly:

https://www.techdirt.com/2018/07/02/verizons-sad-attempt-to-woo-millennials-falls-flat-face/

Then there was Verizon's bid to rescue Redbox with a new joint-venture streaming service, Redbox Instant, launched 2012, killed in 2014, $450,000,000 later:

https://variety.com/2014/digital/news/verizon-redbox-to-pull-plug-on-video-streaming-service-1201321484/

Then there was Sugarstring, a tech "news" website where journalists were prohibited from saying nice things about Net Neutrality or surveillance – born 2014, died 2014:

https://www.theverge.com/2014/12/2/7324063/verizon-kills-off-sugarstring

An app store, started in 2010, killed in 2012:

https://www.theverge.com/2012/11/5/3605618/verizon-apps-store-closing-january-2013

Vcast, 2005-2012, yet another failed streaming service (pray that someday you find someone who loves you as much as Verizon's C-suite loves doomed streaming services):

https://venturebeat.com/media/verizon-vcast-shutting-down/

And the granddaddy of them all, Oath, Verizon's 2017, $4.8 billion acquisition of Yahoo/AOL, whose name refers to the fact that the company's mismanagement provoked involuntary, protracted swearing from all who witnessed the $4.6 billion write-down the company took a year later:

https://www.techdirt.com/2018/12/12/if-youre-surprised-verizons-aol-yahoo-face-plant-you-dont-know-verizon/

Verizon isn't just bad at being a phone company that does non-phone-company things – it's incredibly bad at being a phone company, too. As Bode points out, Verizon's only real competency is in capturing its regulators at the FCC:

https://www.techdirt.com/2017/05/02/new-verizon-video-blatantly-lies-about-whats-happening-to-net-neutrality/

And sucking up massive public subsidies from rubes in the state houses of New York:

https://www.techdirt.com/2017/03/14/new-york-city-sues-verizon-fiber-optic-bait-switch/

New Jersey:

https://www.techdirt.com/2014/04/25/verizon-knows-youre-sucker-takes-taxpayer-subsidies-broadband-doesnt-deliver-lobbies-to-drop-requirements/

and Pennsylvania:

https://www.techdirt.com/2017/06/15/verizon-gets-wrist-slap-years-neglecting-broadband-networks-new-jersey-pennsylvania/

Despite all this, and vast unfunded liabilities – like remediating the population-destroying lead in their cables – they remain solvent:

https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/verizon-sued-by-investors-over-lead-cables-environmental-statements-2023-08-02/

Verizon has remained irrational longer than any short seller could remain solvent.

Short-sellers – who bet against companies and get paid when their stock prices go down – get a bad rap: billionaire shorts were the villains of the Gamestop squeeze, accused of running negative PR campaigns against beloved businesses to drive them under and pay their bets off:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/30/meme-stocks/#stockstonks

But shorts can do the lord's work. Writing for Bloomberg, Kathy Burton tells the story of Nate Anderson, whose Hindenburg Research has cost some of the world's wealthiest people over $99 billion by publishing investigative reports on their balance-sheet shell-games just this year:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2023-08-06/how-much-did-hindenburg-make-from-shorting-adani-dorsey-icahn

Anderson started off trying to earn a living as a SEC whistleblower, identifying financial shenanigans and collecting the bounties on offer, but that didn't pan out. So he turned his forensic research skills to preparing mediagenic, viral reports on the scams underpinning the financial boasts of giant companies…after taking a short position in them.

This year, Anderson's targets have included Carl Icahn, whose company lost $17b in market cap after Anderson accused it of overvaluing its assets. He went after the world's fourth-richest man, Gautam Adani, accusing him of "accounting fraud and stock manipulation," wiping out 34% of his net worth. He took on Jack Dorsey, whose payment processor Square renamed itself Block and went all in on the cryptocurrency bezzle, lopping 16% off its share price.

Burton points out that Anderson's upside for these massive bloodletting was comparatively modest. A perfectly timed exit from the $17b Icahn report would have netted $56m. What's more, Anderson faces legal threats and worse – one short seller was attacked by a man wearing brass-knuckles, an attack attributed to her short activism.

Shorts are lauded as one of capitalism's self-correcting mechanisms, and Hindenberg certainly has taken some big, successful swings at some of the great bezzles of our time. But as Verizon shows, shorts alone can't discipline a market where profits and investor confidence are totally decoupled from competence or providing a decent product or service.

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/10/smartest-guys-in-the-room/#can-you-hear-me-now

[hexhomos]

HI! hope your day is treating you well, i’ve been interested in doomreed for some time but cape comics are sort of daunting to me just because there’s so much content and i really don’t know where to begin. what do you suggest? thank you!

STRAIGHT OUT THE GATE ill say, read [ "My Dinner With Doom" ] (this is a rly high-qual upload, open it up on desktop!)

It's a key issue oneshot with a lil bit of backstory retelling, featuring a private dinner that happens in the 00's - a good entrance point if you're curious about doomreed in summarization + generally speaking a Real Good Comic overall.

LONG POST INCOMING THIS IS A LONG POST / click readmore

the fantastic four are one of marvel's darling old founding teams so there is pretty much... endless archival, ongoing, multimedia and games content popping up all the time.

They are also kinda one of the rare teams where the growth of the characters is consistent? The kids are allowed to grow older and events from every major run are carried/referenced by the next author so if you want to do chronological there's a lot of incentive and fun stuff.

If you wanna dip your toes into the F4 as a concept, check out:

*the #1 issue of Fantastic Four By Waid & Wieringo (1997) *Mythos: Fantastic Four (2007) [ *The FF (1994) movie that is up for free on youtube!! ] *Fantastic Four (2022) by Ryan North as the current ongoing!

(Some) Singles centered on Doom/Doomreed:

*Fantastic Four (1961) Annual 2 is Doom's original backstory issue *Marvel Two-in-One (2017) by Zdarsky issue #11 & Annual #1 are both crazy good but they spoil big events/conclusions from previous runs if u care abt that!!! (My current fav fic came from these issues.) *Doomgate (novel) by Jeffrey Lang is a good option if you want something that is mostly prose, instead of a comic or movie

NOW BEFORE YOU JUMP AHEAD WITH ANYTHING I *am* following [ this reading guide ] which breaks down specific issues relevant to their relationship as a line through all the different authors over the years.

[ There's also this 2021 guide w/ a few other story/AU highlights! The author said u can send the blog questions and theyll answer too ]

The 'Modern era' (late 90s/00s/10s/Now) Starts with Waid and McDuffie's stuff. The latter wrote My Dinner with Doom!

If you're scared by all the names, don't be - when searching for the issues, just pay attention to the year, # number & author/artist creds.

What I'm reading/liveblogging rn is Hickman's Secret wars era, generally regarded as yaoi ketamine; It's a good epic narrative entrance point if you want to jump into it, and it eventually led into this huge marvel event that changed the multiverse and even brought miles morales into the main timeline, so its BIG and it happened in multiple books - the best way to go about it is;

Pre-hickman:

Fantastic Four (1961) #551 #552 #553 ➡️ (these introduce main ideas we will touch again in secret wars)

Fantastic Four (1961) #558 to #562 ➡️

Doom appears in these too, first/last issues more heavily. Stuff here will be ref'd during the next era.

If you're having fun and want to keep reading you can! Just know that the next storyarc has gathered a largely mixed response bc..... its Millar going hammywammy....... not that necessary.......

anyway when you see hickmans name in the cover STOP and

Jump to actual Hickman secret wars era:

Fantastic Four by Jonathan Hickman: The complete collection➡️

(optional, side plot) If you like Val + Doom, read specifically; *Fantastic Four (2014) #3 & #5 + Fantastic Four Annual (2014) #1 *Agent of Asgard #6 & #7 *Avengers World (2014) #15 & #16

New Avengers (2013) ➡️ check issues on picture, or, if you're a completionist, look for 'Avengers by Jonathan Hickman; complete collection' and skim for the doom/reed relevant bits. There's a lot of characters here but this is a buildup to the big secret wars. Secret Wars (2015) ➡️ (All issues!) Infamous Iron Man (2016) ➡️bendis' doom writing is not very good but hang in there because right after him: Marvel 2-In-One (2017) ➡️ (All issues!) is a banger. Yaoi btw.

You can basically read all the future/past ones as listed, or starting from the beginning of that author's period without worrying, bc they aren't as indebted to each other storywise.

You can also start somewhere else if you want or check out other single issues on the reading guides; It's not a crime! There's a lot of stuff with different takes and genres, I'm slowly chipping away at the secret wars era bc its just very thick and like a serious television drama attempt, except its also insanely funny sometimes.

(I'm still making my way through it so that's what I have at the moment!)

[rhymeswithchronic]

Art by my sister-in-law and one of my best friends, plebianplant! I realized that, while I post a lot of art and chapter updates for this story, I never actually explained what What This World Has to Offer was! So, here's an introduction post for it! I'd like to do it for some of my other fanfics, too, but we'll have to see :3

“The Reign of Giants will come and go Shipwrecked will he, we'll never know When finally, the end of lives Begins with the fall of five”

A world fraying apart from the seams would do anything to save itself. If that means damning innocent souls to a neverending Hell, then so be it. The Host, The Young Heir, The Martyr, The Sister, and The One True Heir. The Host of Their Master The Young Heir to a Throne of Shadows The Martyr Who Gave Up Everything The Sister of the Monster in the Dark The One True Heir to a Kingdom of Bones Don't be afraid. This is what is meant to happen. This is what you're meant to be. After all, it's all happened before, and it will all happen again.

Part 1 - Reign of Giants: Chapter 1-50 Part 2 - The One True Heir: Chapter 51-67 Part 3 - The King’s Gambit: Chapter 68-? Part 4 - ?

What This World Has to Offer is posted by Pokemaniac5000, Moonweaver50, or Pokemaniac7000 depending on which site you read it on. It is a Don't Starve longfic with an estimated 109 chapters in all. At this point in time, 90 of these chapters have been written and posted, totaling roughly 294k words. Each part in this story has a different set of plotlines, but all follow the same characters, the same timeline, and the same story. Part 1 - Reign of Giants is largely episodic, focusing on events that only span a few chapters at a time instead of anything that requires longer sections of writing to cover. In this part, you can expect a lot more of the game elements to be explored such as sanity, seasonal changes, and of course, as the name implies, the Giants! This section also features the least content warnings, although the later chapters lean much closer to the darker subjects of the later chapters. Expect to see a whole lot of Webber, Wilson, and WX-78, and just a little bit of Winona at the tail end. Part 2 - The One True Heir features Webber and Wilbur almost exclusively and explores a bit of Shipwrecked and the Archipelago. This is when many of the content warnings lean towards mental health issues. This is the shortest part in the entire fic. Part 3 - The King's Gambit introduces and explores Adventure Mode, with a twist to the formula to make it unique from your own playthrough of it. While this is the darkest part of the story, this section also focuses a lot on concepts like love, friendship, and found family. Expect to see the worst angst but the lightest fluff. Part 4 - Dust, The Void, and Them is the current arc. Details I can reveal are sparce as I have just begun posting it :3 The original story was written back in 2015 and finished in 2016 by a plucky 13-year-old with no concept of story or character growth, so many may recognize it from its original version. The rewriting process started in 2017, and as such, earlier chapters tend to be shorter with less descriptive writing. I expect to finish the rewrite by the end of 2024, although it might be earlier than that if my intense excitement for the story continues the way it has. If you are new to WTWHTO, welcome and I hope you enjoy! It is certainly a bit of a commitment, but I hope you find it worth your time nonetheless. Expect lots of random art, a writer who is so scared of drawing humans that she avoids drawing them like the plague half the time, and a story filled with angst, hurt/comfort, and found family. If you are one of the poor souls who read the original version back in 2015, welcome back! I assure you, much of this story has changed in the past several years and there is so much more for you to explore as you reread. Also, uh, yeah, Winona's in this now! Enjoy! My inbox is always open for any questions or comments you may have! Read on Archive of Our Own, Fanfiction.net, or the Don't Starve Forums! Archive of Our Own Fanfiction.net Don't Starve Forums

[laurolive]

Paul and Linda, a collection of PDAs: Part 1 - Kisses

In our walk down the memory lane of Paul and Linda’s love story, which still captivates the romantics and the expressive artists out there, we start with an excerpt of an interview.

Rolling Stone cover June 17, 1976: “Yesterday, Today, and Paul.” In this interview, Paul says something interesting:

I mean, I kissed Linda onstage the other night, and for me, that’s kind of, ‘Wow, I must be getting real relaxed,’ ’cause I can’t do that in public, normally. I’m a bit kinda shy.

Paul McCartney shy about showing affection? Well, artists are certainly a different breed. He can sing a heartfelt love song in a venue full of people, but has to work up the courage to give his wife a little kiss? As photos will tell, he soon got over that quirk.

And even before this RS interview, he could certainly be demonstrative when a photographer or videographer was around, whereas the average person would be more guarded knowing that their tender moment would soon be out there as a picture in a magazine or a video clip on TV (we’re talking pre-internet days here).

RS Interview from The Paul McCartney Project

The 1970s: Not Exactly in Public, but There Must Be Someone Holding The Camera

1970 or 1971. Aww, so sweet.

June 1971 The video for the song “Heart of The Country” was made in Scotland. Is that a kiss? We might have to examine the still pic below. 

June 1971 A still image from the “Heart of The Country” video. I’ll count this as a kiss.

1974 In the garden of their house with baby Stella between them. It’s a published pic, so I’m counting it as a public kiss. (An “almost-kiss” but close enough.)

1974 Photoshoot for the Apr. 7, 1974, issue of New York News magazine. The cover story was "Just an Old Fashioned Beatle: An Exclusive Visit with Linda and Paul McCartney." Aww, lips softly touching the cheek is something I’m going to classify as a kiss.

Magazine article: @johnflyons.beatles on instagram

Post-1970s: Now We’re Really in Public

Sept. 21, 1982, at Linda's first photography exhibition in London. Photo © Robert Rosen. Rosen talks about the snap in this excerpt from an interview with I-D magazine:

What's one photo you're really proud of? Robert Rosen: I love the shot of Paul and Linda McCartney kissing. As soon as I had it developed I just thought, wow, I did that. I sent them a print but didn't hear anything more until a few months later, when, Paul and Linda turned up to a gallery event I happened to be at. At one point, Linda tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Are you ignoring us?' She gave me a big hug and told me they loved the photo. That obviously meant a great deal to me.

From The Guardian archive, 21 September 1982: First London exhibition for Linda McCartney

I-D Interview with Robert Rosen Sept. 20, 2017

November 26, 1982, in Paris, France during photography month. An exhibition of Linda’s photographs was part of the event. Okay, his lips are just grazing her hair, so I’m going to call this a “hair kiss.”

Feb. 8, 1983 The 1983 British Record Industry Awards. Paul gets a congratulatory kiss from Linda after winning the 1982 British Male Solo Artist award and the Sony Trophy Award For Technical Excellence. The Beatles won the Outstanding Contribution to Music award.

More pics: The Paul McCartney Project

The same 1983 British Record Industry Awards. Two kisses in one night! Paul can’t hide his surprise.

Nov. 28, 1984 Another congratulatory kiss from Linda as Paul is presented with the Roll of Honorary Freedom of the City of Liverpool.

October 16, 1986 British Video Awards at Grosvenor House Hotel, London.

Rupert and The Frog Song awarded the Best Selling Video of 1985

April 4, 1989 Ivor Novello Awards at The Grosvenor House Hotel. Paul wins, Linda gets a kiss (so they both win 😊).

July 29, 1990 Backstage during the Paul McCartney World Tour 89/90 at Soldier Field Chicago. Linda is bidding farewell to Paul as she heads for the dressing room and he to the press tent.

From I Saw Him Standing There, Jorie B. Gracen, 2000. @thebeatlesofoz2 on Instagram

April 27, 1994 Press Conference for Linda's Home Style Cooking at Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Paul comes out to endorse Linda’s book, and greets her with a kiss.

Video clip of Paul’s entrance from CelebrityFootage.com

1997 from the video for the song “The World Tonight”

1997 A kiss in the studio, from the documentary In The World Tonight.

Let’s see the whole sequence of that kiss, right from the beginning:

Bonus: Wedding Kisses March 12, 1969

You go Linda! Give your groom a kiss like the cameras aren’t around.

Everyone’s relationship dream: Get someone to look at you the way Linda looks at Paul here.