#fame and success aren’t the be all end all of fandom experiences

[sunshowersanddandelionwine]

Talk Shop Tuesday: If you could give one piece of advice to a brand new writer, what would it be?

Please and thanks <3 -@fieldsofview

Ooooo this is a very good question!

Something I would tell a lot of brand new writers - especially brand new fanfiction writers in particular - is don’t get bogged down by numbers. Wordcount, number of finished works, subscribers, followers, kudos, comments - it’s ultimately worthless. Validation is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but the real joy of fanfic writing is, in my opinion, the act of creating. Of seeing something come together. Something you did, that no one can take from you. That work, those hours spent behind a keyboard, it’s not really quantifiable. Just because you aren’t “popular” or a Big Name Fan doesn’t mean your work is not valuable. Every piece of writing is worthwhile.

I’ve seen so many people burn themselves out trying to achieve success through getting the number one kudos fic in a tag or breaking a certain follower count. It’s not worth it to break your back trying to find some nebulous “success” that may not even be worth it in the end.

Write for you. Write whatever wild, unhinged, self indulgent tropes or cliched plot YOU want to read. If other people happen to like it, that’s just a happy little bonus in my eyes. But as long as you yourself are satisfied with what you’ve made, you’ll be so much happier in the end.

[apparentlybychance]

About babygate…

I haven’t been in this fandom very long. Certainly not since 2015, though I have always been a big fan of 1D music. I have read so many good, balanced, takes on this situation from @sadaveniren @skepticalarrie and @twopoppies, as well as others. If you haven’t read their thoughts, you should jump over to their blogs to check them out. But, here I wanted to offer my thoughts on babygate for whatever it’s worth.

We know that along with the global fame, money and adulation, all 5 of the boys of 1D went through an extremely abusive situation that they’ve mentioned or eluded to many times over the years since the hiatus. It wasn’t just the soul-crushing closeting that Harry and Louis experienced. If you’ve ever read about any of Rebecca Ferguson’s experiences, you know there was a pressure to perform no matter the physical strain or exhaustion, drugs provided and pushed to find the energy and enthusiasm and horrible mental abuse of all kinds. I honestly feel there was more abuse that none of them have ever discussed. Let’s face it, they were 5 beautiful boys in the entertainment industry with no one truly looking out for them except themselves. There are predators of all kinds out there.

The entertainment industry as a whole is incredibly abusive, especially to the young and naive. There is big money to be made. I’m honestly surprised all 5 of them are as well-adjusted today as they are. That is a huge accomplishment for them.

If you’ve ever known anyone who was in a long term abusive situation, you know that making decisions is very hard for them. They don’t trust themselves. Most of them blame themselves to some degree for the abuse. They tell themselves that they should have removed themselves from the situation, they should have said no, they should have been stronger. People that have been in abusive situations are notoriously harder on themselves than anyone else. That’s why correct decisions that are so obvious to someone else aren’t so obvious to them. They are terrified of making another mistake and of trusting themselves to know the right response.

I think this is what we’re seeing with babygate. Louis is a good person who is characterized by protecting others even to the detriment of his own goals, success, and livelihood. That’s not opinion, it’s a fact. I think he’s struggling with the right response to this situation because in addition to himself, others (like Harry and maybe others he cares about that we don’t know about) will be exposed and attacked for a situation he had no choice about in the beginning.

I don’t think his lack of action has anything to do with money. He has plenty of money already and I think if he’s learned anything, he’s learned there is more to life. Common People anyone?

I think it may have something to do with the fact that with Faith in the Future, he finally has a chance to have success on his own terms. Finally has a chance to redeem what has been stolen from him. He’s terrified to lose that. He’s gripping that with both hands and doesn’t want to let go for anything. That may be selfish on his part, but it makes sense he’d feel that way with everything he’s gone through.

So where does that leave us as his fans? First, I do think it will end. I think he knows it needs to end and desperately wants to be out from under it. But he’s feeling conflicted on timing because of the unknown response to the announcement. I also know, based on who he’s shown himself to be over 12 years, he knows this is wrong. Of course he does. He’s still the same guy. Just one who hasn’t made the right choice yet.

Every fan has to decide how much they are willing to support him. It’s a personal choice. I, personally, have decided to give him grace through this because I don’t know what he’s dealing with and because I know his indecision is motivated by fear and by past abuse instead of greed and cruelty.

This is how I feel today. If this is still going on even next year I may grow tired of giving him grace and bow out of the fandom like so many others I’ve watched do it just in my short time here. So no judgement on my part for anyone who makes that choice now.

But, I have HOPE for a happy, healthy, prosperous and stunt-free new year for all of us in this Larryverse we’ve found ourselves in together!

Lots of love to you all! ❤️

[lovee-infected]

hi hi!!! i love your vil analysis post!! just wondering though...why does vil force epel to do traditionally “cute, feminine” things. i get that it’s, like, to counter neige for the vdc, but it kind of goes against vil’s ideology? like, how i see it, vil advocates for people to express themselves how they want without being bound by gender roles. i feel like if epel tried forcing his manliness ideology onto other people, he’d be justified in his “forcing epel to do cute things” plan, but i don’t think epel has ever shamed feminine guys? he just wants to be manly himself. could this be an allusion to how the evil queen turned ugly just to fulfill her goals? vil going against his core ideals and becoming “ugly” just to win?

Glad you enjoyed it dear! As for your question, I believe that'll be better if I go into details because I've seen many asking similar questions regarding chapter 5, and I guess that's causing some misunderstandings towards both Vil and Epel. Well, we're soon getting the rest of the Pomefiore Chapter, so I guess it's the best time for an analysis on Epel and Vil's relationship and how Chapter 5 has been going so far

First off, let me state something really really important about the Pomefiore chapter, this arc has got pretty wild spirits that are quite new compared to the previous chapters. We've got Neige, the first RSA character to appear as a real rival of a NRC student, Vil and Epel's rough relationship, Ace and Deuce joining MC on the new adventure once again and finally, the VDC: an event with is potentially important to not only the whole NRC but also Twisted Wonderland!

While all fans are surely excited to see what we'll be going through next, there are quite a few of misunderstandings and wrong interpretations that are considerably important regarding the Pomefiore chapter. In order to avoid possible dramas and more misinterpretions between the fans, let's try to take a better look at this Chapter and important Pomefiore hints that we've got so far:

(1)Epel's feelings; the most important element of chapter 5

One of the quite brilliant facts about Chapter 5, is the unique presence of characters and their roles in the story. This might seem quite unrecognizable, but right now Epel's appearance is effecting the audience way more than Vil's! This arc is mainly focusing on making the audience feel his pain and hard time, and I can say that they're doing it pretty well! We'll talk about how his feelings are being presented in part (6). Now, you may wonder why his feelings are so important in the Pomefiore arc? Isn't it supposed to be mostly about Vil? Well of course, the story is most likely leading us to Vil's overblot so he's the heart of this chapter, but the important thing is too see how crucial Epel's role is here. Watching how Epel is in pain, silenty crying and forced into doing something that he doesn't want to by Vil is savagely effecting this fandom's interpretation of Vil, some are commenting on how he's the worst or how horrible he is or hundreds of not really friendly critiques which is awfully frustrating... We'd continue to talk about this point in part (5)!

(2) Epel's relationship with Vil

Let's review what we've got through the side stories. To begin with, Epel obviously doesn't really like Vil, (I'm trying to cooperate and not say that he hates him) he didn't appreciate having him as the dorm leader from the very beginning. But he's got some strong reasons to dislike Vil so we can't really blame him:

1)Vil slapped him all of a sudden just because of his poor posture at the dinner table 2)Vil almost crashed Epels head between his hands while teaching him some manners 3)Vil's idealistic are just the opposite of Epel's 4)Vil is trying to change Epel, especially during chaptet 5. It sometimes feels like Vil is treating Epel like his puppet and Epel doesn't appreciate this all.

At the end of his SR lab story Epel stated how he's going to study his hardest in magic and potions, so maybe at some point he'd beat Vil, which goes to prove that he considers Vil a rival.

"Why is it so though? Isn't this pretty risky for Epel to challenge Vil, especially as Vil is a dorm leader and Epel's just a first year who's still an amateur at magic?"

Farewell, let me mention something about Epel, he's got a really strong will to the point of not giving up until proving everyone wrong. He's often looked down on, is called to be useless and dumb, and is sometimes insulted for being innocent and naïve. True, he still has a lot he needs to learn and he's aware, but he won't take being underestimated easily.

Just look at him! He's been raised in a farm and he still found his way to this school filled with stunning students coming from noble families while Epel is a simple country boy! He proved the point to us once again in his lab coat story where Crewel gave him an impossible task just to push him into giving up and coming to apologize afterwards. When Epel realized that he was just tricked by Crewel, he felt quite frustrated and started to cry, yet he didn't give up and used his personal experiments and what he'd learned back in his farm life and paved his road to success and impressing everyone including Crewel!

This is why he isn't backing up now, he doesn't want and isn't going to lose to Vil. Another important reason might be how Vil seems to have control over Epel, his manners, his attitude, the way he looks and basically, the person Epel is. Epel has indirectly said that Vil may be currently bounding his actions and life, but someday this will change. He mentioned similar lines several times and you can see he really has a strong will to prove everyone, especially Vil, that he's not a cute apple boy to sit still and look pretty. And if he's been waiting for the right time to stand against Vil, chapter 5 has got it. In part (7) you'll see why.

(3)What is happening in chapter 5?

Okay before we continue, let's just focus on what we've got in Pomefiore chapter: This year's vocal and dance championship has an unbelievable amount of media focused on it , because two of the world-famous influencers,Vil Schoenheit & Neige Leblanche, are joining. Both are great influencers and talented designers, but recently Neige has been getting really popular through the social media and TV, thus Vil realizes that the time to face his well-known rival, Neige, has come.

The VDC is no joke to him because hundreds of people are coming to watch this competition between two Celebrities, and his career is surely at risk. If the VDC doesn't go as well as he's planned, that'll be an end to his fame and clout, possibly his whole career! Therefore he has to make sure that nothing is going to ruin his plans for the big day, and that's why he is going to use his ultimate weapon, the red poisoned apple. Note that this isn't just about Vil, it's about protecting NRC's clout against RSA as well, so losing the VDC would seriously effect NRC's picture throughout the whole twisted wonderland. So a really important part of NRC's future is relying on Vil's hands right now.

Look, unlike the previous chapters, Vil's story is about nothing fictional or exaggerated; it's something that's pretty normal to see in real life! Two famous fashion designers joining a competition, both are giving in their best, aren't planning to lose, are going to be awfully strict towards training their models and making sure that nothing would be messed up, and are SERIOUS about winning because losing it to the other side would end in losing their clout and having the reports of their unfortunate fall-down spread worldwide.

Unlike the previous overblots, Vil's strictness and seriousness has NOTHING to do with being evil or crazy, he's just doing what he's supposed to be doing, working his hardest to defend his career. Anyone else who were in Vil's shoes would've done the same, and nothing about it chaotic, heartless or mad. His being pretty strict towards Epel because he's his main hope, Epel is the perfect beauty material and is definitely capable of achieving all the best through the VDC, that's why Vil's counting on him. Just as a fashion designer is strict with training their model, Vil is all serious with his way of couching Epel. And it's just about being professional, not being evil!

(4) It's not about Vil, it's about Epel

This is more of a continuation to part (3), but let's talk seriously about how wrong chapter 5 is being interpreted. "Vil is the worst! Can't he see that Epel doesn't want this?" or "Ew gross! People like Vil who use others for their very own benefits are just horrible" are some of the aggressive comments I've recently heard about how Vil is doing in Chapter 5, which is mainly because of Epel. I mentioned that Epel's feelings are most important element of chapter 5 and this is why!! Vil isn't doing anything that savage or mean but his actions seem to be a lot more appealing to fans due to how Epel's frustration and pain is being focused on. It's not because of Vil, it's because of Epel. Vil had been just the same with Leona back in the fairy gala event and most of the fans considered the story to be much of a comedy, but when Vil's treating Epel just the same way it sounds mean, cruel, harsh and heartless. See what I meant? Epel's presence was crucial to give Vil an evil perspective and make him seem just as bad as Azul or Leona.

I'm not defending his action since Epel as well is surely under a serious pressure. He doesn't even want to be joining the VDC, let alone having to follow all these strict rules that Vil's been teaching him so far. But since Epel forcedly made the deal with Vil and promised to help him for the VDC, there's no turning back now. Vil is counting on him as his very last hope and is putting his hardest of work and effort into training Epel, just like any professional fashion designer would've done.

(5)Vil is NOT the Evil Queen!

As for Vil's biggest difference with the Evil Queen, I must say that Vil does really work his hardest for what he desires. Evil Queen simply wanted Snow White dead while we've got Vil, working his ass off preparing everything for the VDC. He isn't just going to get mad and envies of Neige because his becoming popular, he doesn't want Neige dead either. All Vil has been doing so far was working and working and working and getting to be called cruel and heartless in return, I mean can't you just feel the amount of effort and nerve he's giving into work?

See, a considerable majority of the fandom is exaggerating the story of chapter 5 while Vil hasn't even shown a simple sign of having any ill intentions or evil plans in mind! We don't know what is going to happen i the next episodes but let's say that he hasn't done a single evil thing so far.

Just take a look at previous chapters! Leona was openly planning to unfairly harm and injure other students and Azul fooled nearly 200 students, took away their magic and forced them to work for him in Mostrolounge until they graduate from the very beginning. Heartslabyul and Scarabia weren't as severe as these two but they still did have some sort of a visibly unhealthy aura. Vil's current impression as the villain of chapter 5 is high-kay normal and chill compared to the previous chapters as he literally has done nothing evil so far, NOTHING. Most of the fandom is currently giving him the malicious aura that he doesn't have, or at least he doesn't yet have. Look, Vil's just doing his job. This doesn't even have anything to do with the Evil Queen! Also, Vil's rival ship with Neige has nothing to do with beauty, it's about fame, net-worth and popularity.

We don't know if he'd come up with any ill plans or serious intentions to harm Neige or anyone else in the new episodes, but his current impression in nothing more than going hard on Epel as his coach which is just being overly exaggerated by the fandom. A real life fashion designer would've done JUST the same thing! I know that this story is most likely going to end in Vil's overblot and him revealing his inner villain but come on, he hasn't done anything horrible so far!

(6)How Epel is being presented through Chapter 5

This point is the cause of many misunderstandings and confusions regarding Chapter 5, many find the context of Epel being forced to do what he doesn't like so cruel, some on the other hand are confused becaused Vil has clearly stated that his terms of beauty are gender neutral, so why would he force Epel to do these in the first place? As I said before, it's because of Epel, not Vil.

When it comes to perspectives on beauty, Epel's idealistics are just the opposite of Vil's. Look, Epel hates being mistaken with a girl or being considered soft and cute, this is something that has been bothering him for quite a long time. Being misgendered because of his appearance all over his life has had some negative effects on his perspective toward anything cute or feminine, as it just reminds him as how he often gets misunderstood because of his unwanted appearance and cuteness. Epel is awfully similar to Deuce and wants nothing more than getting to reveal the manliness he's holding within, through not only tastes but also abilities.

This is why he's been feeling quite uncomfortable in chapter 5 because Vil's basically pushing him into doing what he hates the most, looking cute and, well, something that Epel would consider feminine. The thing is, Vil does not consider stuff like 'Being able to sing beautifully, performing eye-catching movements voice, wearing stunning clothes and applying makeup' feminine at all, to Vil these are gender neutral terms of beauty and he doesn't get why Epel might consider them girlish or feminine either. Epel's comment on not wanting to do girlish things sounded naïve and low key rude to Vil because beauty isn't bound to being male or female, and he doesn't appreciate the idea of these works being called girlish at all.

This is neither Epel nor Vil's fault, it's just the difference in idealistics.

(7) Vil's on thin ice right now

Let me tell you a secret, 'choosing Epel to become the red poisoned apple wasn't an accidental act AT ALL'. Vil has been watching over Epel ever since he entered NRC and this is why he was so strict about changing this "Mudded potato" into a well-behaved Pomefiore student. Vil knew Epel's name and had discussed his case with Rook right at Epel's first day, and this is why he treated Epel so harshly at the dinner table because his plan to turn Epel into his red poisoned apple had already begun. He was preparing Epel from the very beginning and was just expecting the big day to arrive, the day he'd need Epel to defeat his rival, Neige.

Remember that I said how Epel's been waiting for a chance to stand against Vil and how Chapter 5 would be his BEST opportunity to do this? Before we explain this point, let's have a review on how Vil has been effecting and changing him so far. During his first days in NRC, Epel was more comfortable with shouting, fighting and opposing to other students including Vil. He used to disagree until Vil slapped him but now in Chapter 5, he doesn't even say a word when Vil tells him to do something, he just silently obeys as tears fall from his eyes. He no longer fights back as much as he used to.

But right now, Vil's career, status and future is bound to Epel. Vil has been working harder than ever trying to turn him into the Red poisoned Apple he's been expecting him to become, and if Epel backs up or decides to ruin the show and stop letting Vil have control over him, that'll seriously make Vil explode. And if you think that Vil deserves to be hurt like this, I gotta say that he doesn't, he seriously doesn't deserve this after all he's been going through. Just imagine being on Gil's shoes, how would you feel about having the result of all that hard work and effort you've given into work for YEARS ruined like this? Look, we need to judge this situation nonetheless, even is you don't really like Vil it's important to realize the unfairness of this possible future to the story.

Epel now has the opportunity to BREAK Vil like no one has ever done, after all Vil has been going through to coach Epel, teach him manners, change his nature and prepare him for the VDC this would certainly be the worst thing that may happen to him and it'll make him mad, like really really mad. The Vil we've seen through the story so far was nothing more than Vil's normal calm self so we can't even imagine how it might be to see him mad. At this point he won't be bound to any manners or consderations, and keep this in mind: "We won't like it when Vil is evil, and we can't imagine how evil he can be,"

I'm honestly so excited and terrified at the same time to see what we'll get to see in the rest of the Pomefiore chapter, the atmosphere is so nerve-wrecking right now and I can't help but to pray that the rest of this story doesn't traumatize us as much as it can- “Yana please, have mercy on us”

[spnasylum]

My notes while listening to Misha’s comments on the podcast: (grab a snack!)

In light of the most recent fandom drama I decided to listen to *that* podcast and take notes as I went along about what was actually said and then give my take on it as objectively as possible. This is basically an essay so strap in!

He complains about not getting a trailer on set that’s the same as Jared and Jensen’s. Even though he has one that can accommodate 3 people. This was the first point of discussion inspired by opening up the interview with a brief chat about Misha currently being in his camper van and how he’s sleeping in it even though he’s still home in Bellingham. The whole hour and 26 minutes has an undertone of complaining and ego stroking by all involved. 

 Says he’s sad he didn’t get to be there for the final days of filming.  

 Seems a little nervous about if friendships made during the shows run will last now it’s over. 

 Admits he has no plan in place or anything coming up career wise and he’s unsure of his future. This is where he brings up Walker and The Boys and says if he had shows like that to go to he wouldn’t feel SPN ending was so monumental. It is said with a slight tone of bitterness. 

 Side note: the hosts Alaina and Malik seem to be fine with running with the narrative that Misha was part of the show it’s entire 15 year run. Misha clears this up eventually by saying he joined in season 4. 

 Misha says that he realized about six years ago that SPN could run as “we”  wanted it to, implying he has any say in keeping the show going or not. He asserts that he would have been on the show up until the very end in any case. But he didn’t feel that way the first few years he was on the show. So that makes me think something or someone involved gave him the feeling he could be confident in being in the cast for however long SPN aired. Maybe this was after Sera left? Maybe this was when he agreed to a significant pay cut and demotion? Either way it seems he felt SPN = job security. 

 Misha doubts he’ll have the feeling of job security again. 

 Says from around age 11 he wanted to be a politician. 

 Says he saw “successful, untalented” actors and decided “I can do that”. He realized that was naive and it’s actually not easy to be that successful and by the time he got his career going he was basically just in it for the fame it’s not anything he took seriously. 

 We find out his wife did a doctorate in gender history... for some reason. 

 That Marilyn Monroe was some sort of baseline for him about creating a public persona (🤷🏽‍♀️) except for getting cosmetic surgery he points out. 

 Talk about how he got started. Acting classes, improve groups. Moving between Chicago, DC and LA. 

 Discussion about the differences and similarities between Hollywood and Washington. 

 States he got a consultant to help him cultivate a fan base and image to connect with an audience after getting on SPN. Admits that was a double edged sword because an anonymous public start thinking that they really know you and things start getting weird. 

 Mentions trying to find a balancing act of being authentic and having a private life but still keeping your fans. 

 He admits that the fan base he grew for himself by seeming accessible has caused him to attract people who don’t have any boundaries. This is when he claims the “dialing it back” in regard to how much he shares and mentions his kids specifically as something he doesn’t feel comfortable with putting out there. Uses the word “unhinged” to describe them. 

 Malik mentions “crazy fans” who seem to know too much about you and finding out where you are etc. Using the example of fans turning up at an airport wanting autographs and you wondering how they even knew you’d be there and what flight you taking. He asks Misha to share experiences about his own crazy fans. 

 This is when Misha uses the example about having fans who think that when he tweets something out he’s communicating with them personally. 

 Alaina then says that in the Supernatural fandom people fight each other to protect Jared, Jensen and Misha and it’s “very bizarre”. She volunteered that people think Misha secretly hates Jared and that it’s not true. Not sure why she decided to direct the conversation to a place that would cause drama and give Misha a chance to play victim. 

 And then...

 That’s when he claims that he was public enemy number one with super fans of the show because he’s taking attention away from Jared and Jensen. 

 That’s when he brings up the alleged organized attack to take down his Facebook account. He says they reported him for... *pauses... claims to not know what. But that whatever it was “Facebook bought it and took it down”. Facebook deleted/deactivated his account but he eventually got it back. 

 Side note: Facebook (like all social media) have always been bias when it comes to people with leftist views and let them have free reign on the platform. So he must have done something that they would decide to suspend him. I don’t think J2 fans can be blamed for the content he posts and if it violated any ToS. As we know he can post some inappropriate things on social media. 

 He then brings up the allegations of him taking money out of his organization. Stating it’s “categorically untrue” is all he brings forward as evidence to the contrary. 

 Side note: I don’t know why then that there’s no receipts or transparency. Why is his mother a beneficiary, why do people who mention he owns Stands get blocked, why set everything up in Delaware and have your for profit and so called non profit interests so entangled etc etc) I guess fans are just supposed to have faith and take his word for it. 

 He says that ALL of them (Jared, Jensen and himself) have people who hate them in the fandom. But overall the fandom is lovely and supportive of the cast and each other. Makes an attempt at stating there’s no kind of competition or animosity between he and Jared. I think this is like the 3rd or 4th time in the interview either he or Alaina bring up Jared but keep the focus on how Misha is the one facing “character assassination.”

 Finally says that all of them have nasty things done to them and they all have had to consult security because of threats to their families etc, doesn’t specify which faction of the fandom that’s coming from. Mentions people filing police reports in the fandom but doesn’t say regarding who or what. Alaina reacts like it’s the first time hearing of this happening. Misha just goes “yeah!” Then they move on to talking about living situations. 

 Apparently Alaina and Misha were neighbors in LA but didn’t take advantage of that. She doesn’t live in LA anyone, wants a new adventure. 

 Misha mentions Bellingham is another thing about his future he’s unsure about and how his kids flourished there. 

 Brings up not being present with his kids even when he’s home because of work and side projects and that the one thing he’s enjoying right now it spending time with them. That he used to operate from a place of guilt because his kids felt like they only have one parent. He and Malik briefly spoke on how their careers have negatively affected their love lives. 

 Misha says he’s not really involved with Random Acts or running it anymore. (Ummm... what) 

 He and Alaina discuss Haiti and Nicaragua for a while. 

 Says he may try to get into directing. Says he likes having creative control. Mentions he likes doing his art installations. 

 Admits that getting a bit of success made him very entitled and wanting of special treatment. But claims he’s trying to keep that in check (where?) and he’s just like everyone else (well duh!). But he “trades on his celebrity” to get stuff and it makes him feel dirty (I think everyone with any kind of following does that though so nbd)

 Talk of how TV/film is more diverse in telling minority stories these days. 

 Was asked by Malik if he has any kind of chip on his shoulder career wise and Misha says the chip on his shoulder is being bored. But says he needs to work on being more engaged. 

 He then abruptly wants to end the interview. Saying he has to pick up his kids. Malik wants another question. He asks how Misha has been hurt or healed by his career. 

 Misha then brings up the movie Karla. Again admitting to becoming more like Paul psychologically irl. But says knowing he has that type of evil in him somewhere (and says that we all have that in us) made him more empathetic to the human condition. 

 They then say their goodbyes. End of interview. 

 ——

 My takeaway. The worst thing he can think to say the people who don’t like him in the fandom did was trolling to get his Facebook deactivated? Also that people can see the suspicious nature of his businesses? It would be really easy to settle that with actually being transparent about the finances, which they aren’t and not having close family as benefactors though. Also, I can only speak for myself. But I never hated him. I actually loved Castiel (before his character was there just to be there in recent seasons and Cass wasn’t Cass anymore. I think Misha’s need to pander to shippers/stay on the show was a great disservice to Castiel and his arc) I was a huge Misha fan, and participated in RA and Gish a lot. I absolutely adored Misha, I led myself to believe he was the most amazing person in the world, obviously that’s the reaction he wanted to cultivate from us. Unfortunately I learned too much, experienced first hand and heard too much to be able to keep cheerleading for him. I feel bad for the people still under the spell of feeling like it’s their job to keep being defensive and unreasonably loyal to someone who you can’t and don’t really know and only have a superficial “relationship” with. Seeing the ever more unhealthy and toxic lengths people feel they need to go to to prop up his ego etc. The constant investment emotionally and financially that goes into it and the “sunk cost” if you let reality in makes it hard to let go I guess. Even he knows that what he’s done to gain and maintain relevance has attracted what he called multiple times an unhinged fan base he has to try and balance without losing his influence. I think he maybe had or has good intentions but his fame hungry drive and narcissistic personality traits win out in the end. The Heller’s seem to have, as always, taken what was said and blown it out of proportion, twisted things and created their own narrative. I do see them using key words from the interview a lot suddenly though to bully for him. So, I guess the dog whistle to the sycophants worked out. I hope that a time comes where they can have a more healthy relationship with the media and public figures they choose to gravitate towards. We can all get over zealous with things but there’s lines that shouldn’t be crossed. For some that seems sadly unlikely. I hope that Misha does indeed one day get himself in check as he calls it and I can feel comfortable to support him again. But so long as he’s being enabled and not held accountable again that seems sadly unlikely. Even though I do occasionally find myself being drawn in by the facade again a little and quickly retreating because the issues remain the same. There is a problematic dynamic in the Supernatural fandom for sure. That’s why for a long time I opted out and just watched the show separately from fandom. It’s why when I found out it was ending I had this odd sense of relief I wasn’t expecting to feel and it made me sad. I hope that now the show has aired its finale we can all reflect on things, hopefully be more self aware and objective and most importantly honest about what really has gone down and why. When things started turning sour there have been plenty of times it could have been nipped in the bud yet wasn’t. People who used this silly yet special show in selfish ways, times when walking away would have been better than sticking around trying to make things and people into something never intended to be, giving into tribalism while claiming we’re a family... for that I think we all hold a little piece of responsibility. 

  You can listen to it yourself on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0m07her5JUf0JGGtDVohtJ?si=c-RdyZzFQmSzffgNzZhkQg

[liam-93-productions]

If you were to ask a random person about who Liam Payne is, then there is a 50% chance that the person will tell you he used to be in the largest boy band in the world. If you were to ask a One Direction fan who Payne is, then they would most certainly refer to the ruggedly handsome pop star as ‘Daddy Directioner.’

But if you asked Payne who he believes himself to be, then he would tell you he is still exploring the possibilities of the man he could become.

A few years ago, the answer would have been completely different. Payne recently admitted to suffering from alcohol and substance abuse during the prime years of One Direction’s success. In a candid interview with “The Sun,” he expressed how difficult the transition into the music industry and fame was for him. Payne led a life of recording songs, touring, promoting albums and repeating until it became too much.

“There are times when that level of loneliness and people getting into you every day, it’s like, ‘When will this end?’ That’s almost nearly killed me a couple of times,” he said.

Payne came clean about wanting to take his own life more than once as a result, yet the issue is seemingly buried amongst the media. Even some fans within the One Direction community have kept quiet about the singer’s struggles or chalked up his words to attention seeking.

The “Strip That Down” star initially talked about his declining mental health in 2017; however, the truth fell on deaf ears. What would have been a shock for the boy famously known as the “responsible” one of the group did not translate to his audience — or any audience for that matter. In fact, Payne received backlash regarding the timeliness of his candid interview. While there are many factors that could explain why so few people have spoken out in response, something that remains true is there seems to be a lack of support in comparison to other pop stars who have come forward to tell the public of their stories and advocate for mental health awareness.

A fan on Twitter posted, “After he opened up about his mental health, y’all keep looking for excuses to hate on him… If you don’t like Liam, just stop talking about him.”

Another fan tweeted about the hypocrisy surrounding the lack of support for Payne. They mentioned how people will congratulate someone for talking about their problems with mental health, yet dismiss Payne’s experiences based on the sole belief he is doing so for attention. This is not a new narrative, especially within the One Direction fandom. Payne has long since been the target of online trolling and hate even at the start of the band’s journey. Because of his explicit role as the more mature member of One Direction, Payne was cast out by some fans. This commentary intensified once the band went on hiatus in 2016 and the members went on to pursue solo careers.

“It’s great that people can see what we’re really like away from each other,” he said. “It got to a point in the band where we were just playing characters, and I was tired of my character. Apart from the daddy thing, I was really loud and bubbly. There were a lot of personalities in the band to keep up with, so I had to be all, ‘Ey!’ the rowdy lad, and I don’t have to now.”

The overall structure of One Direction was lost on no one. From the beginning, each member of the group had a part to play in the larger scheme of marketing and promoting the music to fans. Harry Styles was the flirtatious lady’s man of the bunch. Niall Horan stood out among the others as the fun Irishman. Zayn Malik was the brooding and mysterious one. Louis Tomlinson, most times, was seen as the funny troublemaker. These roles were apparent and taken at face value by the fans. Regardless of what each member represented, they were collectively the boys next door. Payne along with the others were placed into these boxes, and it became too overwhelming.

Payne relied heavily on alcohol as a coping mechanism as well as mood stabilizers. The singer previously had a kidney condition that prevented him from drinking up until 19-years-old, and then he fell into a downward spiral once he was given the green light from his physician.

In an interview with the Guardian, Payne said, “Doing a show to however many thousands of people, then being stuck by yourself in a country where you can’t go out anywhere — what else are you going to do? The minibar is always there.”

Fame can be a double-edged sword and for him, the transition was nearly fatal. Payne and the others were restricted from going out and taking unscheduled breaks from their grueling tour. He even admitted to sneaking out with Tomlinson several times, but it was only a recipe for disaster.

Payne has been nothing but open in this process of discovering who he is, rebranding and making a name for himself other than his known place as a former member of One Direction.

But his narrative is about more than just him.

It takes courage to admit such intense moments in one’s life. Payne not only told his story as a cautionary tale, but he spoke out against how normalized alcoholism is in the music industry. The 26-year-old hopes to provide another layer to mental health. It affects him just as much as the next person, and he wants everyone to be aware of that.

“There have been a lot of people in trouble with mental health that aren’t really getting the help that they need and I think that’s a bit of a problem in our industry,” he said. “It’s the same s–t that happens to everyone, that’s been happening since the 70’s. You know what the traps are and if you are lucky enough, like me, to be able to get out of that scenario and back into a sense of normality, then you know it’s a bit different.”

[kookieholic]

BC I NEED TO RANT (warning: long post ahead)

You wanna know why ARMYs are so annoying???? Let me tell your salty asses something. BTS' success is a monumental feat other artists can only dream of achieving. Many of the most popular Kpop acts right now come from relatively large companies who have other well-known artists to help catch the eye of the public -- BTS didn't have that luxury. They came from a management so small and unknown that they had to use staff as extras in music videos because they couldn't afford to hire real actors to play miniscule roles. They debuted at a time where no one gave a single flying fuck about their existence and pretty much everyone thought they would be lucky if they lasted a year or two. Also, the boys were so poor that the 7 of them lived together in a tiny ass apartment where one member constantly had to borrow his mom's kitchen supplies for cooking because they struggled to afford going out to eat or even simple shit like ramen.

Other Kpop groups get famous simply because of the company they come from, but since BTS' management didn't house other famous artists, they really had to rely on their talent to propel themselves to fame. Kpop is no doubt a highly manufactured industry and I get why there are so many criticisms towards it because so many groups are literally robots who just do whatever their company tells them to do. It's very uncommon for artists to write/produce their own music, but BTS is one of the very few musicians in the business who are heavily involved in the creation process of each track of every album. Not only that, but the songs they write and produce aren't just restricted to love; from the faults in the education system and consumer culture, to female empowerment, to mental health, breaking gender stereotypes, the struggles of youth and loss, BTS has written several socially conscious lyrics and are never afraid to tackle important topics that aren't discussed enough within the public.

Along with their hard work in the creation process (including the immense time and effort they put into perfecting their intricate choreography), they are just genuinely kind and humble boys who are incredibly passionate and have a bond that can only be described as brotherly. BTS have and continue to be involved in various charitable organizations, most recently they partnered with UNICEF and created the #LoveMyself campaign to help put an end to violence. However, BTS is known for always, literally A L W A Y S, staying connected to their fans even though it would be in their best interest to keep their personal lives private. Yes, some people in this fandom are genuinely crazy and unfortunately BTS has encountered "fans" who have no self-control and respect for other people's personal space. Despite that, though, the boys still regularly interact with fans through social media and they always find a way to tell ARMYs that they love us and are forever grateful for our support -- a claim in which they never fail to prove. Almost every interviewer in America has asked the boys to discuss the most insane things their fans have done to them, but each and every time they continue to reinforce the fact that unlike what many people may think, we aren't all your average teenage girls whose only dream is to marry them someday; they always make sure to put reporters in their place and they continuously defend us even when they've had various unfavorable experiences in the past. Even in person BTS are all extremely kind and respectful: from fans who've had the chance to meet them outside of their schedules to people who have actually worked with/for them, literally no one has anything bad to say about the group other than antis or people who are too ignorant to look into them.

And finally BTS is just a group of stupid idiots who have a bond closer than family. Each of them is a meme in their own right (some more than others lmao), but on a more serious note, they each have a distinct bond with one another that it's hard not to get emotional because their friendship is truly genuine. They constantly praise one another, celebrate each other's flaws rather than degrading them, and even when they're on their separate vacations they always talk about how much they miss each other and how much they feel lonely when the other boys aren't around. Let's also not ignore the fact that the older 6 members!!!!literally!!!!raised!!!!!Jungkook (the youngest) from a shy, insecure 15 year old into the playful and confident adult he is today. On numerous occasions, each of the boys have said that BTS saved them and they can't imagine spending every single day with any other group of people. They've been with each other through loss, depression, the brink of disbandment, through everyfuckingthing you can think of and while there have obviously been hardships, their bond has only grown stronger as a result.

Each of them have grown immensely and overcome various obstacles both as a group and individually. They're set apart through the fact that they each possess different personalities and different concerns, but fundamentally they're all the same in the sense that their passion for music and love for their fans enables them to put 150% into every performance and makes all the injuries, long hours of nonstop practice, and exhaustion from constant traveling worth it. After all this massive success, they are still the same silly boys from 2013 who have never forgotten their humble beginnings and still feel overwhelmed over every award they receive. Every milestone is seen as an opportunity to improve and release better content; they have never settled for "good enough" and they never intend to, and personally I think their fame is an inspiring message to everyone in the world that no matter how much the odds are against you, success will always be attainable as long as you remain humble and put in the hard work and effort to get there. A few years ago these boys could barely fill small venues in their own country and they would get excited over having 200 retweets... fast forward to 2017 and they are exceeding the boundaries of Kpop, reaching global success, performing amongst world-renowned celebrities, and are making massive achievements in an industry in which English is the dominant language and Asians are highly unrepresented.

After everything they've been through, everything they've sacrificed, they deserve this recognition more than anyone else and enthusiastically voicing our excitement for them is the least we can do to express our gratitude. So yeah, sorry that we freak out over every little mention of BTS in American media. Sorry that we never seem to shut up about them. Sorry that our fandom is so "annoying", but we aren't going to apologize for loving, supporting, and taking pride in a group that has truly changed lives through their music and passion.

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

If you feel like discussing it I would love to hear your thoughts on an idea I’ve seen a LOT - that if louis and harry are still a couple, Harry’s connections should result in some benefit or clout for louis to help him get away from Syco etc. Irving Azoff is super powerful, therefore he should be able to help louis too, is the general idea. To me it’s complicated because louis is and was already a separate commodity from harry with a PR plan etc. from the start of 1D (1)

So there are distinct restrictions/contracts that were long underway before the Azoffs came into the picture, a lot of which already involved keeping him publicly separated from harry. That being said, I get it. If your partner has all this clout, it stands to reason they would want to help you in any way possible. It’s what I would do for my partner. It’s a different situation - because fame, money, contracts, closets, and a million other reasons, but I still get why people feel that way (2)

********

I have seen the argument, and part of the problem for me is that fandom discussions of these issues are based on a lot of assumptions about what’s going on behind the scenes and what people want that we just don’t have evidence for and can’t know.

For me, this ask is an example of that as it situates the difficulties Louis is facing in terms or restrictions and contracts.  I don’t think we can rule that out, but there are really big questions when you start talking about contracts, because the issue immediately becomes - why is Louis alone in facing those difficulties?  And in the face of those questions it’s very easy to create answers that link Harry’s success and Louis’ current situation in some way.  But I think that that whole line of thinking is based on assumptions that we don’t know to be true.  

And to illustrate this point, I want to talk about different ways of looking at three different things - the first is Louis’ career, the second is Azoff’s power and the third is relationships and careers more broadly.  

First, I’ve said it before, but I think fandom ignores the extent to which events that have happened since the end of 2015 have affected Louis’ career. We have every reason to believe that at the beginning of 2016, Louis had a plan. He never got to execute that plan.  Then, when he could start thinking about what next, he’d already lost a year.  I think there’s every sign that the strategy in 2017 was to try and get material out of soon as possible.  That might have worked, but Louis and his labels do not seem to have been on the same page about the sort of music he would make.  I think the combination of time pressure and conflict over sound exacerbated each other.

I want to be absolutely clear, no other member of 1D would be where they were in their careers if they’d had the experiences that Louis had had in 2016.  (Except maybe Liam, but I think Louis would probably have been where Liam is if he hadn’t had conflict with the label about what sort of music he wanted to make). 

I don’t think you need to assume that there’s nasty contractual obligations, or that Louis being sabotaged to explain what’s been happening with his solo career.  I don’t rule those things out - the music business is terrible and sucks and there may be a whole lot of additional things going on.  But it seems very strange to me to sure that things like contracts and sabotage must be coming into play, when we can see that 

Second, Irving Azoff is a powerful man - but powerful men in the music industry have specific relationships and positions that bring them powers - they don’t have super powers that can be used in any situation.  I’m by no means an expert in this, but Azoff is a powerful manager and is involved in some sort of high stakes venue war that I haven’t been follow in detail.  That doesn’t mean that Azoff has the power to get Epic to spend money they don’t have on Louis’ American promo (to pick an example of something that I think might have been something that Louis might want, but might not have got). Power in the music industry isn’t a wand.

And I think this is an example where one set of assumptions follows another set of assumptions.  If you think that the issues Louis faces are primarily  linked to 1D’s contracts, then I can see how it seems like a zero sum game must have been played and that Louis lost out.  But even if there are contractual obligations that are part of Louis’ difficulties, then it’s entirely possible that Azoff is advising him (I’m completely neutral on whether he is or whether it’s a good idea).  Power struggles in the music industry aren’t  won straight away, and waiting can be part of the negotiations (I understand this is part of what 30 Seconds to Mars went through - but I won’t investigate them anymore because I hate Jared Leto). 

Third, the experience of people I know has been that career success is not necessarily transferable within a relationship to any great degree. People who I know with careers in the same industry support each other in a personal sense, but whether they can do more than that very much depends on their industry and position.  You say that you think that it’s a different situation from ordinary people, but actually I think in general what people with power think about you is central to your career - and that’s not something you can just share with your partner.  In general, I find it useful to think how people I know have navigated situations of power - and it helps me seperate what might be going on for H&L and the fantasies I have for them (and knowing a very powerful person in an industry can be very useful, but it has never solved the career problems of anyone I know).

You demonstrate how many assumptions there are in this fandom when you say that Louis’ goal is getting away from Syco, and we don’t know that.  Anyone who is offering an explanation of what is going on for Louis (including me) is making a lot of assumptions.  There’s nothing wrong with discussing that, but the problem comes when you start deducing things based on unproven assumptions.  The idea that H&L must have broken up, because if they were Azoff would be helping Louis on Azoff’s behalf, and therefore Louis’ career would look different, is one that is built on many assumptions without evidence.  In this fandom, there’s an assumption to make a lot of assumptions and then to act like your explanation is the only possible explanation and everyone else has to be wrong. 

What I would advocate for, more than anything else in this fandom, is holding onto the idea that many things are possible.  We don’t know most behind the scenes stuff, we don’t what members of 1D want and 2016 showed that really big life changing things can be kept from us.  Whenever anyone argues: ‘Don’t you think this must be what happened?’ My answer is no - I can always tell a story that gives an alternate explanation - ad we’ve no way of knowing what’s true. There’s so much we don’t know and therefore there are multiple possibilities.

[thesevillereport]

In Focus End of An Era

In 2003 a patriarch is laid to rest. He leaves behind a wife he had married weeks before his death and four kids from a previous marriage. The kids ranging from 16 to as old at 24 at the time would have to make their way through life without the guidance from the man whose last name they share.

Fast-Forward four years and the second to oldest child of the dead patriarch is in middle of a mild scandal. A video tape of her and her superstar musician boyfriend is released showing some of their very intimate moments from a Mexican getaway.

At the time the video is a bigger deal for the musician who is known internationally than it was for the girl who most people outside of southern California didn't know. That year, 2007, would be the last year that the girl from the video, her two sisters and younger brother would be anonymous.

Several months after the sex tape was released the girl in the sex tape and her family would debut their reality show on the E Network, and they would change the economy forever.

The show, Keeping up with the Kardashians would become an instant hit for the E Network and make super stars of the entire family.

As the show's production moved along from season to the season, its fandom grew along with its critics. However, rarely did anyone take a moment to tip a cap for all that the show, and the family had done to usher in the New Economy.

The New Economy

The new economy is what we're in now. It's getting paid for having a large amount of Instagram or Twitter Followers. It's getting paid ad-sense from a YouTube Channel, it's making money for yourself, off yourself and your experiences, it's making serious money without the need of being validated by anyone other than a fanbase.

Prior to the Kardashians, there was a narrow path to fame, you could either act, sing, do stand-up comedy, model, or be in pro-sports. And to officially be put on the path of fame people needed to be validated by someone else famous or very talented. The Kardashians changed that.

Before the Kardashians, brands went to famous names, like actors and musicians to push their products, the Kardashians changed that too.

The fan base and the fame of the Kardashians grew in unison, and this gave the family an audience to push products to, which they took full advantage of. Kim Kardashian alone has been an ambassador for jewelry, skin care products, a shoe brand, a shoe retailer, liquor, nail polish, and an app just to name a few. Prior to the Kardashians those opportunities went to actors and musicians, reality TV people rarely got any national work away from their shows.

The Kardashian had an influence on the face and bodies that companies wanted attached to their products. Prior to the Kardashians, models were to be tall and thin, the curvy model wasn't a thing. The Kardashians changed that, curves were now accepted everywhere.

And the infamous sex tape would change how people viewed sex tapes. Pre Kardashians a sex tape was enough to derail or even ruin a career, but even that changed with the Kardashian's success. In the years following the Kim K sex-tape, the public would witness semi-celebrities create their own scandals around releasing their own "leaked" sex tapes, in hopes of gaining fame or infamy, a fanbase, and an audience to sell products to.

Hollywood had long used fictional drama to sell products, but the Kardashians gave a class on how to profit off your own drama, no matter how embarrassing that drama would appear to some.

Building an audience using the adventures and misadventures of your life, then pushing products to that audience was a part of the new economy that the Kardashians mastered while many business people didn't even know it existed.

The naysayers will say that Robert Kardashian, the father of Kourtney, Kim, Klohe, and Rob Jr. left his kids a multi-million dollar trust, so they were or already rich. Others will say that momma Kardashian AKA Kris Jenner leaked the sex tape herself in an attempt to make Kim famous.

The easy rebuttal to naysayers is that many kids have been left vast amounts of wealth and didn't accomplish what the Kardashians did; and there have been celebrities with sex-tapes prior to the Kardashians that never obtained the level of fame or success the Kardashians did.

And it's true that people were vlogging before the Kardashians and doing public appearances for money before the Kardashians and taking pictures before the Kardashians, and modeling before the Kardashians. Similarly, computers were around before Microsoft and the internet existed long before Amazon, but we celebrate how Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos were able to leverage the available infrastructure to create wealth for themselves, their families. The Kardashians, in the same vein as Gates and Bezos were able to leverage what was already there to create a family fortune.

Unfortunately one thing prevents the Kardashian clan from being recognized as titans of business, and it's their vaginas. If this were a group of men or women being led by a man or a group of men, those men would be celebrated as much as we celebrate Gates, Bezos, Jobs, and Zuckerberg.

The Roses

Recently Kim Kardashian announced that the upcoming season in 2021 will be the family's last season doing the show. But it's nothing to be sad about, after 14 years it's probably time, and I doubt they will disappear like someone who has been aged out of Hollywood. I'm sure they will stay productive and active in business.

I've always thought the Kardashians did not and don't get enough credit for what fame or celebrity looks like now, and how people are able to capitalize off of their fame now. What would the word "influencer" mean in 2020 without the Kardashians? Would there be Tik Tok stars without the Kardashians? Would we know how to break the internet without the Kardashians?

Over a decade plus we've witnessed an unknown girl in a sex-tape become a household name and her family name become internationally known.

Because of the Kardashians you no longer need to be famous to get started, you just have to believe you have something interesting to share and put it out there.

The new economy was masterfully dominated by the Kardashian and Jenner clan before a large part of the world even knew that there was a new economy being formed. Their lessons on brand building, content creation, and digital marketing have been copied by millions, and many of those millions have been able to create small fortunes of their own.

The lesson we can all take from the Kardashians is to survey the infrastructure and think outside the box. Many people are going about Tik Tok or YouTube a specific way or going about Instagram a specific way. There likely is another way to leverage all of the tools available to us now to reach the level of success we are all after, and we just need to figure out the combination to achieve that success.

Before the Kardashians, people wanted large friend counts on MySpace, and then Facebook, and a large follower count on Twitter, but they weren't thinking about monetizing those friends and followers, the thrill was in just having a high number of friends and followers, the Kardashians changed that.

For investors the lesson is to embrace the new and get comfortable with what's different. For the early part of the Kardashian run, critics felt that the family was famous for no reason and that they didn't have any talent. In America and in business everywhere, people aren't paid for "nothing" they're paid for the value they can create. The brands and companies that understood that benefited from the success of the Kardashians. Bottom line, as an investor, if money flows towards it, so should your attention.

So to the Kardashians and Jenners, I tip my hat, congrats on what you've created.

[cutegirlmayra]

On one hand I get it but on the other hand it's so bizarre to me that to understand exactly how the sonic franchise works you need knowledge of the way the company functions?? case and point: how it kinda seemed Shad/Amy could've been a thing in earlier games (Knux/Rouge as well) but then never came up again being explained by a replacement in the higher-ups at sega??like that's absolutely bizarre. if you leave a fan to just figure it out from the games-good luck bc the writing doesnt address it

(Our friends at IGN have some research done for you: x Take it with a grain of salt.)

“As SEGA’s star has faded, some are quick to whitewash their history; to act as if their success was the fluke and their failure inevitable. It’s natural – the victors always write the history books – but that isn’t the way it happened. This is the story of SEGA; the good, the bad, and the possibilities of what could have been.” -IGN

Ah, I see you’ve done your research, my friend! indubitably so, our friends at SEGA have been making ideas and scrapping them mid-way for some time now. If you study any companies ‘fundamental personality’ with running a certain franchise you will see how that affects production.

Always remember!

 History is affected by how the Pre-Production is handled.

This can be for any number of medias, but I think it mostly affects the film industry. Games are different, mind you, but they also have a cinematic field/feel to them that shouldn’t be overlooked. Scripts, animators, directors, etc. Just to name the familiar ones.

Marketing, managing, and running the ‘behind the scenes’ for a lack of a better word- productions is incredibly complex and extremely psychological but crucial for the creation of practically anything marketable.

SEGA’s learned a lot through the years and has kept afloat by more than loyal fans. They don’t shut things down, they keep going and count their losses with a sense of “We’ll excel to the future” instead of just falling down and sprawling out because they feel they’ve run out of their luck.

For this, I admire some of their staff and officials. But for other reasons, I wish I could just say- “Hey, this is a good idea. Develop this further.” Or “Don’t do that. I promise you, that’s a waste of time.” There’s a lot of things that they haven’t considered or haven’t recognized ‘silent successes’ that I believe is the key to moving them forward.

Sonic characters are highly influenced by choices. Inexperienced writers or fans that haven’t worked in the particular genre of Sonic will find it difficult though fun to try and mess with it. However, this isn’t meant to be a fun project to fiddle with. They’re being PAID to write a SUCCESS GAME. Most writer’s today write to hit deadlines and sip their drinks. They have passion, but it’s for particular things, and when those things aren’t there they run wild for the jokes to keep themselves and possibly their friends entertained.

I know this sounds harsh, lol. But reality never was sugar-coated in the grand scheme of things.

If SEGA allowed fans to view their history. A documentary or even an insightful look at how characters were created, plots for stories were formed, games were designed, and problems they faced… I think the fandom would be more emphatic to their circumstances today. (They’re not in extreme peril or anything- or the abyss of debt like they used to be, but do have their struggles. Much like the Japanese, they keep this on the downlow, as most companies do.)

If you look into the history of many companies, not just games, you can see how their franchises shift with the ‘Company Personality’ changes that occur too. Either to new staff changes, tragedy, loss, paranoia, lack of experience, etc.

SEGA overall has been a survivor with gritted teeth, yanking his competition down and climbing to where he’s made it today. At first brutal, he is now a silent admirer, hands in his pockets, only pulling them out to make and show new things he’s quietly content with. Recently, he’s been extremely excited about Sonic Mania, and confident in showing that off to people.

I could literally personify SEGA for you. A hard worker with a loud mouth that has slowly grown quieter over the years, more refined with age. He’s never stopped learning nor given up, and the once restless teen has become a contender to grab at long-lasting fame and this time- hang onto it like a football.

SEGA is trying to re-identify many things about himself, and this process is long and tiresome for most of those working for him, wanting the benefits fast and him delivering it as soon as he can. But he’s slowed a bit and tried to refine himself in his old age. I have high hopes that with good people patting his back and whispering, kindly, great ideas that he’ll excel with a running start up that cliff to success and fame again- where he silently now longs to return. (The fall was rough, lol he hurt his shoulder. He rotates it ever now and then to remind him that he was once tall, and he’ll be okay as long as he keeps pushing through.)

This is just the trends I’ve seen. So when I see things like- “Sonic Boom” I think, “SEGA is having an identity crisis in America again.” Or when “Sonic Mania” came back- “He’s not only reminiscing, but inventing again. He’s got his spark of passion/enthusiasm again. Looking at things in a new light and in new times.” When I see the news about “Sonic Forces” I see SEGA taking a stride in the new time, trying. Always desperately trying without showing too much of his struggle in doing so.

A once punkish kid who picked his nose and flicked it to other companies is now wearing a more casual business attire and making a Rocky Movie change. This has been happening for years now.

I’m excited for this little guy’s progress but hope his speedy intents slow down further to think things through and really put everything he has into finding pride at the end of his creations again. and with that-!

DO YOUR RESEARCH MY FANS!

“Not all stories have a happy ending. SEGA is not dead, but they may be in shackles. Since the Sammy takeover, the flow of internally-developed SEGA games has slowed to a small fraction of what it once was. Arcade operations have been pared down sharply, and Western developers have been handed the keys to SEGA's franchises, even when the original creators are still on staff. Many industry legends still work there, but too few are being allowed to do what they do so well. Occasionally we are allowed glimpses of SEGA's potential greatness in games like Yakuza, but more often we simply wonder what they could possibly be working on for so long.

Either way, we know it will never be the same. Whatever we have to look forward to, it will be different than what it was. The important thing is that we don't let the present color the past. It's a tendency of writers, and perhaps just human nature, to focus on the victors and their glorious paths to conquest, but it often doesn't reflect the complexities of history. SEGA was one of the most active, creative, and productive developers the industry has ever known, and nothing that can happen to their name since will change that.“ -IGN

that is all~

[periakman]

On The Privilege of Leadership

(and other rambles that branch from it) If I had the power to change the english language, I’d change many things, but something I’d change right this second is the definition of “suffering.” Right now, suffering covers many concepts. But it also covers two things which I feel are very different.

To be as simplistic as possible, it contains both: The cultural implication to call you worthless and The cultural implication to call other people worthless.

Both of these situations are messed up. But one affects the target as a clear victim, and the other becomes a victim in how they hurt other people.

The issue with men not showcasing emotion, is an example where it clearly harms them, but it ultimately harms others as well, creating a far different situation than some other commonly talked about sexist issues.

And this, is where leadership falls. Being a leader, a creator, someone in charge of anything, is immensely stressful. Maybe you’re a parent, maybe you employ people, maybe you’re just very popular.

And it can be mind numbingly stressful.

Which is rivalled only by how much harm you can cause.

These two facts are things we aren’t always able to talk about due to how the former is used to downplay the latter.

For example “Being the President is an incredibly hard and stressful job that few of us would be able to do” is a true statement. In fact, looking at this current situation, thank god it IS stressful and hard,  otherwise we’d probably be a lot more screwed over. But it’s so easy to say that sentence and then carry the implication “therefore you can’t criticize and should be #greatful”  The fact is, you can’t be the same You if you are a leader, versus if you are a follower. As a follower, you can be biased and only care about your specific issue. As a leader, doing that is an incredible folly.

As a follower, you can casually bash those in charge. As a leader, bashing other people in charge, or bashing those who follow you is an abuse of power.

You can express frustration as a follower, you can decide to check out of drama if you are a follower. You cannot do this as a leader, unless you want to cause more problems down the line.

Many bad leaders in mundane situations are great people. They just aren’t good at turning them into a standard to be followed. People who create their own clubs, people who create their own communities, people who try and run a group project, etc. This is also where the concept of “nerds get bullied, and later become the bullies they hated” come from. The uncritical assumption that bullying is a part of the food chain, and all that’s desirable is to reach the top.

This does indeed happen quite a lot in more minor situations, because bullying often only becomes bullying when you are the one with some modicum of power. Hating someone in power is to hate someone untouchable. Gain power, keep that same focus, and suddenly you’re hating on people who can’t fight back.

This in a way, can also be how cults are formed. Sure, they don’t have systematic power, but who needs systematic power when you can have localized power? This is why the discussion of power gets so wonky. We see it as a systematic concept, and all the weight that comes with it, but then we also see it in people who don’t have systematic power, but clearly have power in the given situation.

So we assume that since they have power, it must be systematic power of some kind. Some people gain power from being stubborn jackasses. They are influential in small communities merely because of what they say, and nothing of what they hold. This puts them in a paradox of having leader-esque signs, without being one in name.

This is where you get the concepts such as “tumblr popular” people. This is why drama clusters around them so easily. Either they don’t believe they can harm people because they’re “just someone on the internet” or the crowd believes they have systematic power, due to some form of unofficially gained leadership coding. Sometimes these assertions are correct, and other times they are not. It often doesn’t help that we tend to be really bad at judging our own power in any given situation. Non-systematic power dynamics can shift incredibly easy. It’s the vicious cycle of “My emotions exist as my emotions, your emotions exist as wild cards that affect others.”  This is also where creators come in. They often are seen and venerated as the leader of their story. This makes them, by default, the leader of the fandom, the leader of the merchandising, the leader of their team, and the leader of the content that is created by fans. And to be fair, there often are reasons to think that. Even if they actively disavow competency, they are the Name. No one remembers the writers of the show, they just remember the Head Writer. They get the fame and the credit, and they also get the assumed responsibility.  But at what level is it expected? What are the obligations of a creator? Are they obligated to disavow bullying because they are a creator, or should they do it because in general people should do so?

I see this a lot with people who are just famous enough to have a presence on the internet, but not so famous they are unapproachable. If you criticize James Cameron’s movies, even if you personally stick it in his mailbox, chances are he’ll never ever see it.If you criticize someone with a patreon, chances are all you’ll need to do is send a few tweets and they’ll see you.

That’s not a bad thing, per se, but I think we often tend to conflate anyone with a steady job as someone who is the epitome of successful. We are really bad at differentiating levels of success. Which means we also give an assumed level of Leadership that might not be accurate. In summary, are those in leadership privileged? Unequivocably, yes. Does that make it devoid of suffering inherent to its position? No. There are some things that a leader will only experience BECAUSE they are a leader. And with the internet, it also means that many new creators are not used to having voices, not used to the concept of fame. Not used to the idea that everything they say and do matter. Does that justify the bad things they do? Of course not! There are plenty of famous youtubers I’d gladly punt into the sun, leadership politics be damned. But for those gray areas. Those places of emotions and words we’d accept or gloss over from a joe schmo, I do think there is something to consider. Maybe not the concept of “this is acceptable, even if they are highly influential”, but something else. More conversations on how to be a good leader without just acting like a PR person. More frank explanations on how to deal with positive experiences so they don’t mess you up.  And finally, maybe some awareness on both sides. Awareness for the eager followers, and awareness for the self propelling leaders. Instead of merely assuming corruption in leadership and hair trigger problems for followers, let’s perhaps try and map out this messy co-dependent relationship instead. Because, yes, an audience does hold power. Not systematic power, oh no. But there can’t be a leader without followers. And the more precarious the leadership is, the more likely backlash can cause changes. And those changes might not be a bad thing, they might be a great thing! But they will ultimately have an effect, especially in smaller scale communities. And the fact that words can change how things work is something I wish we accepted more. I know why we don’t, because so often it’s just a game of tone policing while you move the goal posts, and even if the leader is willing to accept it, you might still be horded by other followers who get self defensive. My answer to this simple. Groups need to learn that it’s not just criticisms that matter. It’s the defenses too. How you react to criticism matters. It is not On the criticizer to make the perfect conversation. It is on the both of you.  Because that’s the endless cycle. Either you take issue, and the rudeness is from other people who refuse to listen to you otherwise, or you take issue for the opposite reason, and the rudeness is from people who never tried to be polite. And of course, no matter what side, the other side is the one that has the power. Either it’s the leader, who should reacts to any tone with bile and uncaring. The followers who are screeching demands at the leader to bend to their whims. The group who sees any flaw as reasons to burn the show to the ground, and can whip everyone up into a mob because it’s cool. The group who sees any criticism as a declaration of war, and force the fandom into a state of compliance. In short. Leadership is complicated, as is the act of holding “power” over someone else. It is in itself, an unfortunate problem to experience, and an unfortunate problem to be on the receiving end of. But it’s something that will happen no matter what. Even if we removed every systematic power structure and somehow all became happy commune hippies with no strife or poverty, the issues that come with leadership and organization would still exist, because at some point someone’s going to want to put on a stage play and have very Specific Opinions on what the stage should look like.

[famedubaitravl]

Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor

Lee Carseldine, an explosive left-handed batsman, featured in four Sheffield Shield finals ©Getty

It doesn’t hit you right away. Maybe it shouldn’t either. The term “play the game”, after all, is one that you expect to hear from an ex-cricketer. It’s only after Lee Carseldine has used it on numerous occasions that you realise why it sounds a tad discordant. To start with, the “game” he refers to has nothing to do with the one he played as a professional sportsman for over a decade.

Instead he’s referring to the game he was involved in on a remote island as part of a “tribe” with a bunch of people ranging from an “18-year-old skinny boy to a 65-year-old grandmother”. He’s talking about the time he had committed to “bringing mateship and loyalty” to a game that was based around “lying, cheating and stealing”. This is Carseldine, the former Queensland all-rounder and one-time Rajasthan Royals player, recalling the time he ended up as the runner-up on the first-ever edition of AustralianSurvivor, despite being tagged as “Mr Nice Guy”.

The irony of being a former elite-level sportsperson talking about playing games on a Reality TV show isn’t lost on the 44-year-old. If anything, it’s a running theme of our hour-long conversation where Carseldine keeps alternating between Lee the cricketer and Lee the Reality TV star. Despite the fact that he feels like the two are “different people” and is aware that his success has come in two “very different worlds”, Carseldine is clear on not wanting to be pigeon-holed as either. Where he does see a difference is in the reality of his current identity around Australia. Not that he shies away from it in any way.

“Basically now 8 out of 10 people will know me for Survivor and 2 out of 10 will be cricket fans and know me for cricket. What the show gave me is probably 10 times the amount of exposure I ever had playing cricket. It’s weird that the attention that I get now is purely because I’m on a TV show, which sometimes I scratch my head about,” Carseldine, who was back on the show for Australian Survivor: All Stars last year, tells Fame Dubai.

The essence of his current stardom, and where it has emanated from since he was on Survivor for the first time in 2016, certainly is evident when you arrive on the home page of his website. The clips that greet you aren’t those you’d automatically associate with someone who was better known as a cricketer at one point. Whether it’s Carseldine cinematically jumping into the ocean, showing off his rather envious physique, him dragging a truck with a rope tied around his waist or especially him posing for an underwear shoot. There is of course enough mention about his cricket career once you scroll down to the ‘biography’ sections. And he insists that while it might not come through on the face of it, there are still deep links between his days as an attacking left-handed batsman, who played in four Sheffield Shield finals, and a useful medium-pacer, who once dismissed Rahul Dravid in an IPL game.

“There are elements of my cricket profession that I’ve used in the Reality TV space. If the world ate me up and spat me back out, I would always go back to cricket,” says Carseldine, who in spite of his busy celebrity schedule is a member of the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), a Queensland Past Player Welfare manager in addition to managing two women cricketers, including World Cup star Beth Mooney.

“Something I am really passionate about is how players handle retirement because I had to go through it twice. It helped me deal with the influx of attention that comes from being on Reality TV. When few people who aren’t used to being in that profile bubble get all this attention, they don’t know how to handle it and then when it goes – and it goes quickly – it’s a bit like when you retire or stop playing cricket, they’re on to the next player. In Reality TV, they’re on to the next show.”

***

The first of those “two retirements” that Carseldine talks about came when he was all of 29. A back surgery that involved replacing a degenerated disc with a titanium one that had gone rogue when he developed septicaemia due to one of the needles being infected. There were even fears that it had entered his blood stream and that his life was in danger. He remained bed-ridden for some time, being unable to walk, and was forced to bring his cricket career to a premature end.

Carseldine though managed to come out of it not just healthy but fitter than ever before and in four years’ time was back in Queensland colours. It led to him enjoying his best-ever run with the bat. That included averaging 99.33 with a strike-rate of 134.84 in the 2008-09 edition of Australia’s then-T20 league. His performances even attracted talk of a possible call-up to the national T20I squad. Although that wasn’t to be, Carseldine was bought by the Royals for the 2009 IPL, which was held in South Africa. Two seasons on, he was left out by Queensland and, now into his late 30s, the strokemaker decided to call it quits. But having come close to dying at an early age meant that Carseldine remained motivated to keep putting himself “out there” and challenging his body and mind to the hilt.

“When you go through such a life-threatening experience, you realise, ‘Hey I am mortal and there is so much more to try’. I reassessed what I wanted to do. That was a huge learning curve because when I finished sport, I wanted to get out there and make the most of everything. Because when your life nearly gets taken from you, you want to make sure you live every moment,” he says now.

Survivor wasn’t the first stop for Carseldine as part of his “live every moment” campaign once he retired from cricket. Desperately keen to step outside the sport bubble, he began by putting his body through some strenuous trials.

“I went on a spree of doing physical challenges – like I completed the Kokoda Trail (considered the most challenging endurance test in Australia) one year. I did a triathlon, a marathon, all these things I couldn’t do when I was playing because of contractual obligations. I wanted to now set aside time to challenge myself physically and mentally every year,” he explains.

So, when he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge. That it would lead to fame and fandom was never part of his original plans.

“I didn’t know anything about the game strategically and I thought worst-case scenario, I can at least set a goal to train. I had no idea I was going to last that long, 55 days. I thought I’ll get to maybe a couple of weeks and do some fun challenges, test my body and my mind and that was going to be my challenge for that year. But I did so well that first season that they asked me back this year,” he says.

When he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge ©Fame Dubai

***

While his fitness levels and life-long ability to be a team player made him a perfect fit in the early stages of the competition, Carseldine was to learn that he wasn’t a natural when it came to playing the political side of the game. He in fact reveals to have informed the producers of his wariness around the “lying and back-stabbing” aspects of being on the show.

“It was a show in which even though it’s not a scripted show, yes they can build characters up. They always ask about the way you’re going to play the game. Some people get casted because they want to play a sort of an evil type of character. I said: ‘I’m too old to change. I am going to play myself, very similar to how I played my sport, and if that gets me voted off in the first week so be it.’ I got nothing but support from my people and no one tried to talk me out of it, and I don’t know why,” he says with a chuckle.

“That first season I really struggled with the time I had to lie to people but that’s the nature of the game. Survivor fans and players don’t necessarily like my style of play. I wanted to show that you can play it in a different way and still win it and I came really close in the end.”

Not surprisingly, the best part about being on Survivor for Carseldine was competing in the physical challenges. It helped him bring out the competitiveness he’d lost since retiring from cricket. And at times he admits that the unbridled excitement in his celebrations after winning a team challenge, while being “dehydrated and completely spent”, were as genuine as what he’d experienced on the cricket field.

That winning ensured he and his teammates would spend at least two extra days on the island was an added bonus. It wasn’t always easy though, especially during the All Stars edition last year, where Carseldine was up against some “25-year-old physical beasts”. Yet again, it was the game-show part of these challenges that he struggled to comprehend, and not just when he was still on the island.

“There are people out there purely for exposure. There are people out there who also sabotage a challenge. It’s almost like having a team member who’s throwing a game. You find that out maybe some five months later when the show goes to air and you go: ‘I’d no idea you were throwing that game’. Because I played sport and there were a few more athletes in my tribe, and we just couldn’t go into a game strategically performing only at 50 per cent,” he says.

Carseldine manages to draw comparisons between some elements of doing Reality TV and being a cricketer. They include the need to perform your skills while shutting out all background noise – “six cameras in your face from the moment you land on the island” – and dealing with the “narration” side of the show, which he insists reminded him of facing up to the media in press conferences after the day’s play.

Getting used to having your personal life being laid out bare was a completely different experience, he reveals. “In the first season, I dated a girl (El Rowland) from the show. I think I felt this need to keep that public image up, share everything with my private life and that relationship is finished and now I’ve gone full circle and my next relationship is a lot quieter, without going so public about it,” he says.

It paled in comparison though to hearing about his mother, who’d been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, suffering a stroke while he was in Fiji shooting for All Stars last year. Carseldine decided to leave the show prematurely and bravely chose to let the producers play out his exit on camera.

“I lost my mom when I wasn’t home. I really fought with it whether I wanted me to be exposed looking so vulnerable, crying on national TV. I thought about what good can come from this tragedy. It was through the work that I wanted to do when I finished, raise some awareness about a really bad illness. We then did a towel challenge and what we achieved through the foundation was more than anything that I could have asked for. I knew the Survivor crew and that they weren’t going to chase ratings from it. They did it in a very respectable fashion,” says Carseldine.

***

Being locked out twice on faraway islands and left to live off nothing also prepared Carseldine to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions in his hometown of Brisbane. The “self-imposed” self-isolation, he believes, has allowed him to be in a good mental space while dealing with the uncertainty around most aspects of life over the last few months.

“The isolation over there was probably way more than what we had to experience here now. You get told where you can and cannot go – which is basically what’s happening now with the government telling us what we can and cannot do – and you’re stripped away from all the things that you like doing, going to movies, going to a pub, catching up with friends,” he says.

In some ways though, he admits that along with it being his tryst with some cricketing royalty, the IPL also helped him subconsciously prepare for the world of glitz and glamour. To blend with a mix of diverse people from around the world is a “perfect sort of microcosm” that he found the Survivor environment to be too.

“They’re all coming together in a short period of time to win a competition. The IPL was great to share a dressing-room with legends like Graeme Smith and Shane Warne along with some great Indian players like Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. Except for Russell Crowe owning South Sydney (in the NRL) we don’t have celebrities involved with sport in Australia. In the IPL I remember these stunning women walking in and out of the room and I remember thinking I need to find out who this person is. Oh right, she owns the team and oh right she’s mega famous. That’s the beauty of Indian cricket,” he says.

Carseldine reveals to have received a lot of support from his former Queensland teammates once he decided to take the plunge into the Reality TV world even if they had one common lament about his appearance.

“Guys like Kasper (Michael Kasprowicz) and (Andy) Bichel, Stuey Law and especially (Andrew Symonds) always put a bit of shit on me because I never had a shirt on and I said I’m living on an island mate. I find that I’m not getting any younger and it’s not getting easier to stay fit. I also tell them I don’t keep my t-shirt off just to show off but it’s always for a cause. I am fitter now than I ever was during my playing days.”

Carseldine does believe a show like Survivor would do good for many sportspersons who are looking to learn more about themselves after retiring. And though surprised to learn that Symonds did have a two-week walk-on role on Big Boss (the Indian version of Big Brother) he is confident that the former Australian all-rounder would do well if he were to become the second cricketer to step onto a Survivor island – but with a rider.

“He loves his fishing, but he probably wouldn’t put up with a lot of shit in terms of people trying to vote him off. He won’t take to that too kindly.”

© Fame Dubai

CBQueue.push(function(){ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.async = true; js.defer = true; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v6.0&appId=30119633160"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); });

The post Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor appeared first on FameDubai Magazine | Your daily dose of Lifestyle, Shopping & Trends in UAE.

from WordPress https://famedubai.com/lee-carseldine-the-ultimate-survivor/

[mrkolbyme-blog]

Fandom Research

The Authority That NBA Players Have Today

The NBA is a system of ongoing and outgoing professionals who offer a wide variety of talent and athleticism. Are they a part of another system that involves getting involved beyond basketball talk? The controversy known in the sports world relates to sports vs politics and whether or not there should be a line drawn between them. This brings about certain other questions such as who has authority to speak on what issues and why? What are the limitations that an athlete has on what he can or can’t say? And where does the idea that only “experts” can speak on topics come from? While these questions are quite important, they lead to further controversies with more questions and more disagreement. A resolution has become especially important now with the growing debate whether players have a responsibility to do more than just dribble and shoot or if they should simply stick to the rules of basketball. There are two sides to the equation that come to play here. Basketball players who want to vocalize their opinions on social and political topics opposing the media and fans who don’t want players corrupting the opinions of the world.

The goal for basketball players going to the media is to shed a positive light on a given subject and promote positivity overall. Given the specific motive for someone, the purpose behind using their voice publicly is to raise awareness and promote attention to the subject to make things turn in a positive direction. Promoting kindness and stopping hatred is generally the themes players tend to address. In recent years many players have expressed the same vision by addressing there desire to end racism and bring everyone together. Specific players have been key to proving they are worth of being allowed to have a vocal public image beyond the basketball court. Through social media,  press conferences and through various foundations they form they are headed in the right direction.

In early 2018,  Laura Ingraham told Lebron James to “Shut up and dribble” after James made a few comments about President Trump. Ingraham was opposed to Lebron giving his hot takes on Trump, so she wrote a report on why she believed Lebron had no right to talk on politics. Lebron fired back in a mature, professional way by making his intentions very clear that he would not “Shut up and dribble.” ‘Bron started a program shortly after titled “Shut up and dribble”. A clever way to get an edge over his opposition. Lebron stated “The best thing she did was help me raise more awareness.” And awareness for his program was indeed what he got. His program’s intentions are to help kids who struggle with various issues. Issues that include racism, sexism and oppression. He also wants to be an example to the world on how we should treat others as friends. The positive effects since the program commenced have been tremendous. A tv show has been produced from it, and awareness has been raised as applause for the show has led to decrease in prejudice on the streets.

In 2014, former Clippers owner Donald Sterling got caught in an audio recording saying nasty racists things to his ex-girlfriend about black attendance at Clippers games. Sterling claimed he did not want African-American persons invited to the games in the future. His girlfriend (at the time) recorded him and posted it online and it soon went viral. When the NBA responded to this scandal, they came together as players, coaches and staff. They desired to eliminate the racist action as quickly as possible. Lebron James publicly stated his beliefs and he was heavily opposed to the scenario at hand. Lebron suggested the NBA needed to get rid of Sterling and believed there was no place for people like him in the league. The players, led by Lebron reported they would not suit up for the beginning of the season if Sterling remained in the NBA. The players came together and the National Basketball Association demanded Sterling to sell his team shortly after. The NBA is an evolving organization and it is the players who have a voice making the difference on and off the court.

Some people who oppose the players having the right to speak for themselves say these athletes are professionals in the basketball field with little professional experience in the political field. They support the idea that because they are not “experts” in philosophy or politics the athletes should be limited in speech. What they fail to realize is, while these basketball players may not be professional speakers, they are still human like everybody else so they are entitled to an opinion in the United States of America. The things they say can make a difference for kids and fans who watch and adore them. The players are real humans with real problems that can relate to people around the world and they can be a positive impact in the life of those who adore them. Other opposers state that NBA players gain their fame from playing basketball so they should stick to entertaining through basketball. They think that humans who are successful to one thing in life should stick to that one thing that they are good at instead of branching out into different areas. And while it true the players are famous for there basketball attributes, they have now achieved a new platform where they can truly make a difference. Athletes are already strictly watched by the teams they are on, by the associations they are in and by fans around the world, so they tend to be careful with what they say. And they tend to make sure what they share sheds a positive image on themselves and their families. When someone is doing something for a good reason no matter what it could be or how it’s being done, it is still a good thing in the end and it should be shared with the world no matter how big or small it may seem.

NBA players get a lot of unnecessary hate for trying to be positive influence which is counter productive. The opposers of the outspoken players in the NBA are not helping to change the world, but changing the world into a place that needs even more help. The purpose of humanity is to progress as a society and bring about change. We generally have always needed more help than what we receive so every attempt to be helpful is a good thing. The NBA is indeed a progressing league and it is no surprise it is becoming the most popular league in the US. The world is a better place to live in when you have friends who support you. Instead of attacking someone for being unique, we should all try to become friends with everybody because we all need it now. The NBA players are taking the initiative by stepping up out of the shadows in a very public setting. We have the responsibility to do the same while we are in a more private setting. The world needs more people like Lebron James who aren’t afraid to say what's on their mind. When we support each other by letting each other speak, we are the difference.

Sullivan, Emily. “Laura Ingraham Told LeBron James To Shut Up And Dribble; He Went To The Hoop.” NPR, NPR, 19 Feb. 2018,

Barnewall, Chris. “LeBron Responds to News Pundit: 'I Will Not Shut up and Dribble ... I Owe It to the Youth'.” CBSSports.com, CBS Sports, 19 Feb. 2018,

“LeBron James Turns 'Shut up and Dribble' Insult into Title of Showtime Series.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 7 Aug. 2018,

Colliver, Ben. “NBA Investigating Clippers Owner Donald Sterling for Alleged Racist Comments.” SI.com, 26 Apr. 2014,

“LeBron Says NBA Must Reject Sterling.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 27 Apr. 2014,

Golliver, Ben. “LeBron James to Lead Boycott in 2014-15 If Donald Sterling Still Owns Clippers.” SI.com, 13 May 2014,

[chuckclayton]

Hi, I’m new to the Riverdale fandom but Camila is already my fav (I’m Brazilian, so I’m 100% biased lol). I read one of your asks where you said people usually refer to her when she’s asked about her relationship with Lili, just like the other woc of the show where the white girl gets more attention and, thinking about the future, do you think this will affect her career? (To be continued)

I’m mean, she’s already “behind” by being a Latina, but I think she has so much potential and I’m afraid it will be gossip girl all over again and Lili will be the Blake Lively with the famous guy (no disrespect to her and Cole tho) and Cami will be the Leighton-where-are-you-now.

Oh, happy birthday!! That was so rude to send a long ass 2 part ask with no happy birthday wishes!!

first, thank you for the birthday wish :)

second, godspeed... this fandom is messy as all hell like all the other fandom out there but still. make sure you follow good people that make your experience as stress free as possible and block people who make the experience bad.

third, the ask you’re referring to was a fandom critique about colorism/racism within fandom culture. i was saying, in terms of the fandom, a large portion of people only really talk about cami in terms of her friendship with lili. not everyone does it but a lot of people do it. further down in the ask, what i was saying was that people tend to make lili’s voice louder and more heard when she chooses to publicly speak about important issues like body shaming/ body positivity and mental health, while other woman on the cast have also spoken about the same issues or different issues of equal weight and have gone largely ignored by this fandom when we should be elevating all their voice because what they are saying is important and could potentially help someone. i was pointing out how unfair it is that we make her the most visible when others are doing the same thing as her and we aren’t giving them that same love. i also talked about how the lighter woc on the show benefit from colorism in terms of fandom (they do in media too but that not what that ask was about). i just wanted to clarify that for anyone who stumbled upon this ask without context.

now that being said, i think her being a latina women in this industry will certainly hinder her and keep her from certain opportunities but it won’t keep her being successful, depending on how you define success in the movie and tv industry. to you that could mean success in the mainstream with lots of blockbusters in her filmography or it could mean doing lots of award winning independent films. she’s been keeping busy during this hiatus so i can see her career having a good momentum, but no one can really tell what’s going to happen with her career in this fickle industry. the best we can do is hope that she finds success, i mean riverdale is her first project ever and lili had a couple things already under belt (both tv and film) when she started. they both skyrocketed to fame at the same time both with different backgrounds (lili having done a few things already and cami having gone to college) so this could go any way for both of them. we’ll just have to wait and see.

also, with the blake/leighton thing, blake’s staying power in the industry is a testament to her red carpet style and overall fashion sense in general, not so much her ability to pick amazing films to be apart of. though of the two she has gone for more projects that lean towards mainstream and less tv projects. leighton has been doing a mix of tv and smaller films since gossip girl ended, not that she hasn’t been in anything mainstream but it’s less of a trend in her filmography post gossip girl.

[famedubaitravl]

Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor

Lee Carseldine, an explosive left-handed batsman, featured in four Sheffield Shield finals ©Getty

It doesn’t hit you right away. Maybe it shouldn’t either. The term “play the game”, after all, is one that you expect to hear from an ex-cricketer. It’s only after Lee Carseldine has used it on numerous occasions that you realise why it sounds a tad discordant. To start with, the “game” he refers to has nothing to do with the one he played as a professional sportsman for over a decade.

Instead he’s referring to the game he was involved in on a remote island as part of a “tribe” with a bunch of people ranging from an “18-year-old skinny boy to a 65-year-old grandmother”. He’s talking about the time he had committed to “bringing mateship and loyalty” to a game that was based around “lying, cheating and stealing”. This is Carseldine, the former Queensland all-rounder and one-time Rajasthan Royals player, recalling the time he ended up as the runner-up on the first-ever edition of AustralianSurvivor, despite being tagged as “Mr Nice Guy”.

The irony of being a former elite-level sportsperson talking about playing games on a Reality TV show isn’t lost on the 44-year-old. If anything, it’s a running theme of our hour-long conversation where Carseldine keeps alternating between Lee the cricketer and Lee the Reality TV star. Despite the fact that he feels like the two are “different people” and is aware that his success has come in two “very different worlds”, Carseldine is clear on not wanting to be pigeon-holed as either. Where he does see a difference is in the reality of his current identity around Australia. Not that he shies away from it in any way.

“Basically now 8 out of 10 people will know me for Survivor and 2 out of 10 will be cricket fans and know me for cricket. What the show gave me is probably 10 times the amount of exposure I ever had playing cricket. It’s weird that the attention that I get now is purely because I’m on a TV show, which sometimes I scratch my head about,” Carseldine, who was back on the show for Australian Survivor: All Stars last year, tells Fame Dubai.

The essence of his current stardom, and where it has emanated from since he was on Survivor for the first time in 2016, certainly is evident when you arrive on the home page of his website. The clips that greet you aren’t those you’d automatically associate with someone who was better known as a cricketer at one point. Whether it’s Carseldine cinematically jumping into the ocean, showing off his rather envious physique, him dragging a truck with a rope tied around his waist or especially him posing for an underwear shoot. There is of course enough mention about his cricket career once you scroll down to the ‘biography’ sections. And he insists that while it might not come through on the face of it, there are still deep links between his days as an attacking left-handed batsman, who played in four Sheffield Shield finals, and a useful medium-pacer, who once dismissed Rahul Dravid in an IPL game.

“There are elements of my cricket profession that I’ve used in the Reality TV space. If the world ate me up and spat me back out, I would always go back to cricket,” says Carseldine, who in spite of his busy celebrity schedule is a member of the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), a Queensland Past Player Welfare manager in addition to managing two women cricketers, including World Cup star Beth Mooney.

“Something I am really passionate about is how players handle retirement because I had to go through it twice. It helped me deal with the influx of attention that comes from being on Reality TV. When few people who aren’t used to being in that profile bubble get all this attention, they don’t know how to handle it and then when it goes – and it goes quickly – it’s a bit like when you retire or stop playing cricket, they’re on to the next player. In Reality TV, they’re on to the next show.”

***

The first of those “two retirements” that Carseldine talks about came when he was all of 29. A back surgery that involved replacing a degenerated disc with a titanium one that had gone rogue when he developed septicaemia due to one of the needles being infected. There were even fears that it had entered his blood stream and that his life was in danger. He remained bed-ridden for some time, being unable to walk, and was forced to bring his cricket career to a premature end.

Carseldine though managed to come out of it not just healthy but fitter than ever before and in four years’ time was back in Queensland colours. It led to him enjoying his best-ever run with the bat. That included averaging 99.33 with a strike-rate of 134.84 in the 2008-09 edition of Australia’s then-T20 league. His performances even attracted talk of a possible call-up to the national T20I squad. Although that wasn’t to be, Carseldine was bought by the Royals for the 2009 IPL, which was held in South Africa. Two seasons on, he was left out by Queensland and, now into his late 30s, the strokemaker decided to call it quits. But having come close to dying at an early age meant that Carseldine remained motivated to keep putting himself “out there” and challenging his body and mind to the hilt.

“When you go through such a life-threatening experience, you realise, ‘Hey I am mortal and there is so much more to try’. I reassessed what I wanted to do. That was a huge learning curve because when I finished sport, I wanted to get out there and make the most of everything. Because when your life nearly gets taken from you, you want to make sure you live every moment,” he says now.

Survivor wasn’t the first stop for Carseldine as part of his “live every moment” campaign once he retired from cricket. Desperately keen to step outside the sport bubble, he began by putting his body through some strenuous trials.

“I went on a spree of doing physical challenges – like I completed the Kokoda Trail (considered the most challenging endurance test in Australia) one year. I did a triathlon, a marathon, all these things I couldn’t do when I was playing because of contractual obligations. I wanted to now set aside time to challenge myself physically and mentally every year,” he explains.

So, when he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge. That it would lead to fame and fandom was never part of his original plans.

“I didn’t know anything about the game strategically and I thought worst-case scenario, I can at least set a goal to train. I had no idea I was going to last that long, 55 days. I thought I’ll get to maybe a couple of weeks and do some fun challenges, test my body and my mind and that was going to be my challenge for that year. But I did so well that first season that they asked me back this year,” he says.

When he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge ©Fame Dubai

***

While his fitness levels and life-long ability to be a team player made him a perfect fit in the early stages of the competition, Carseldine was to learn that he wasn’t a natural when it came to playing the political side of the game. He in fact reveals to have informed the producers of his wariness around the “lying and back-stabbing” aspects of being on the show.

“It was a show in which even though it’s not a scripted show, yes they can build characters up. They always ask about the way you’re going to play the game. Some people get casted because they want to play a sort of an evil type of character. I said: ‘I’m too old to change. I am going to play myself, very similar to how I played my sport, and if that gets me voted off in the first week so be it.’ I got nothing but support from my people and no one tried to talk me out of it, and I don’t know why,” he says with a chuckle.

“That first season I really struggled with the time I had to lie to people but that’s the nature of the game. Survivor fans and players don’t necessarily like my style of play. I wanted to show that you can play it in a different way and still win it and I came really close in the end.”

Not surprisingly, the best part about being on Survivor for Carseldine was competing in the physical challenges. It helped him bring out the competitiveness he’d lost since retiring from cricket. And at times he admits that the unbridled excitement in his celebrations after winning a team challenge, while being “dehydrated and completely spent”, were as genuine as what he’d experienced on the cricket field.

That winning ensured he and his teammates would spend at least two extra days on the island was an added bonus. It wasn’t always easy though, especially during the All Stars edition last year, where Carseldine was up against some “25-year-old physical beasts”. Yet again, it was the game-show part of these challenges that he struggled to comprehend, and not just when he was still on the island.

“There are people out there purely for exposure. There are people out there who also sabotage a challenge. It’s almost like having a team member who’s throwing a game. You find that out maybe some five months later when the show goes to air and you go: ‘I’d no idea you were throwing that game’. Because I played sport and there were a few more athletes in my tribe, and we just couldn’t go into a game strategically performing only at 50 per cent,” he says.

Carseldine manages to draw comparisons between some elements of doing Reality TV and being a cricketer. They include the need to perform your skills while shutting out all background noise – “six cameras in your face from the moment you land on the island” – and dealing with the “narration” side of the show, which he insists reminded him of facing up to the media in press conferences after the day’s play.

Getting used to having your personal life being laid out bare was a completely different experience, he reveals. “In the first season, I dated a girl (El Rowland) from the show. I think I felt this need to keep that public image up, share everything with my private life and that relationship is finished and now I’ve gone full circle and my next relationship is a lot quieter, without going so public about it,” he says.

It paled in comparison though to hearing about his mother, who’d been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, suffering a stroke while he was in Fiji shooting for All Stars last year. Carseldine decided to leave the show prematurely and bravely chose to let the producers play out his exit on camera.

“I lost my mom when I wasn’t home. I really fought with it whether I wanted me to be exposed looking so vulnerable, crying on national TV. I thought about what good can come from this tragedy. It was through the work that I wanted to do when I finished, raise some awareness about a really bad illness. We then did a towel challenge and what we achieved through the foundation was more than anything that I could have asked for. I knew the Survivor crew and that they weren’t going to chase ratings from it. They did it in a very respectable fashion,” says Carseldine.

***

Being locked out twice on faraway islands and left to live off nothing also prepared Carseldine to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions in his hometown of Brisbane. The “self-imposed” self-isolation, he believes, has allowed him to be in a good mental space while dealing with the uncertainty around most aspects of life over the last few months.

“The isolation over there was probably way more than what we had to experience here now. You get told where you can and cannot go – which is basically what’s happening now with the government telling us what we can and cannot do – and you’re stripped away from all the things that you like doing, going to movies, going to a pub, catching up with friends,” he says.

In some ways though, he admits that along with it being his tryst with some cricketing royalty, the IPL also helped him subconsciously prepare for the world of glitz and glamour. To blend with a mix of diverse people from around the world is a “perfect sort of microcosm” that he found the Survivor environment to be too.

“They’re all coming together in a short period of time to win a competition. The IPL was great to share a dressing-room with legends like Graeme Smith and Shane Warne along with some great Indian players like Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. Except for Russell Crowe owning South Sydney (in the NRL) we don’t have celebrities involved with sport in Australia. In the IPL I remember these stunning women walking in and out of the room and I remember thinking I need to find out who this person is. Oh right, she owns the team and oh right she’s mega famous. That’s the beauty of Indian cricket,” he says.

Carseldine reveals to have received a lot of support from his former Queensland teammates once he decided to take the plunge into the Reality TV world even if they had one common lament about his appearance.

“Guys like Kasper (Michael Kasprowicz) and (Andy) Bichel, Stuey Law and especially (Andrew Symonds) always put a bit of shit on me because I never had a shirt on and I said I’m living on an island mate. I find that I’m not getting any younger and it’s not getting easier to stay fit. I also tell them I don’t keep my t-shirt off just to show off but it’s always for a cause. I am fitter now than I ever was during my playing days.”

Carseldine does believe a show like Survivor would do good for many sportspersons who are looking to learn more about themselves after retiring. And though surprised to learn that Symonds did have a two-week walk-on role on Big Boss (the Indian version of Big Brother) he is confident that the former Australian all-rounder would do well if he were to become the second cricketer to step onto a Survivor island – but with a rider.

“He loves his fishing, but he probably wouldn’t put up with a lot of shit in terms of people trying to vote him off. He won’t take to that too kindly.”

© Fame Dubai

CBQueue.push(function(){ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.async = true; js.defer = true; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v6.0&appId=30119633160"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); });

The post Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor appeared first on FameDubai Magazine | Your daily dose of Lifestyle, Shopping & Trends in UAE.

from WordPress https://famedubai.com/lee-carseldine-the-ultimate-survivor/

[famedubaitravl]

Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor

Lee Carseldine, an explosive left-handed batsman, featured in four Sheffield Shield finals ©Getty

It doesn’t hit you right away. Maybe it shouldn’t either. The term “play the game”, after all, is one that you expect to hear from an ex-cricketer. It’s only after Lee Carseldine has used it on numerous occasions that you realise why it sounds a tad discordant. To start with, the “game” he refers to has nothing to do with the one he played as a professional sportsman for over a decade.

Instead he’s referring to the game he was involved in on a remote island as part of a “tribe” with a bunch of people ranging from an “18-year-old skinny boy to a 65-year-old grandmother”. He’s talking about the time he had committed to “bringing mateship and loyalty” to a game that was based around “lying, cheating and stealing”. This is Carseldine, the former Queensland all-rounder and one-time Rajasthan Royals player, recalling the time he ended up as the runner-up on the first-ever edition of AustralianSurvivor, despite being tagged as “Mr Nice Guy”.

The irony of being a former elite-level sportsperson talking about playing games on a Reality TV show isn’t lost on the 44-year-old. If anything, it’s a running theme of our hour-long conversation where Carseldine keeps alternating between Lee the cricketer and Lee the Reality TV star. Despite the fact that he feels like the two are “different people” and is aware that his success has come in two “very different worlds”, Carseldine is clear on not wanting to be pigeon-holed as either. Where he does see a difference is in the reality of his current identity around Australia. Not that he shies away from it in any way.

“Basically now 8 out of 10 people will know me for Survivor and 2 out of 10 will be cricket fans and know me for cricket. What the show gave me is probably 10 times the amount of exposure I ever had playing cricket. It’s weird that the attention that I get now is purely because I’m on a TV show, which sometimes I scratch my head about,” Carseldine, who was back on the show for Australian Survivor: All Stars last year, tells Fame Dubai.

The essence of his current stardom, and where it has emanated from since he was on Survivor for the first time in 2016, certainly is evident when you arrive on the home page of his website. The clips that greet you aren’t those you’d automatically associate with someone who was better known as a cricketer at one point. Whether it’s Carseldine cinematically jumping into the ocean, showing off his rather envious physique, him dragging a truck with a rope tied around his waist or especially him posing for an underwear shoot. There is of course enough mention about his cricket career once you scroll down to the ‘biography’ sections. And he insists that while it might not come through on the face of it, there are still deep links between his days as an attacking left-handed batsman, who played in four Sheffield Shield finals, and a useful medium-pacer, who once dismissed Rahul Dravid in an IPL game.

“There are elements of my cricket profession that I’ve used in the Reality TV space. If the world ate me up and spat me back out, I would always go back to cricket,” says Carseldine, who in spite of his busy celebrity schedule is a member of the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA), a Queensland Past Player Welfare manager in addition to managing two women cricketers, including World Cup star Beth Mooney.

“Something I am really passionate about is how players handle retirement because I had to go through it twice. It helped me deal with the influx of attention that comes from being on Reality TV. When few people who aren’t used to being in that profile bubble get all this attention, they don’t know how to handle it and then when it goes – and it goes quickly – it’s a bit like when you retire or stop playing cricket, they’re on to the next player. In Reality TV, they’re on to the next show.”

***

The first of those “two retirements” that Carseldine talks about came when he was all of 29. A back surgery that involved replacing a degenerated disc with a titanium one that had gone rogue when he developed septicaemia due to one of the needles being infected. There were even fears that it had entered his blood stream and that his life was in danger. He remained bed-ridden for some time, being unable to walk, and was forced to bring his cricket career to a premature end.

Carseldine though managed to come out of it not just healthy but fitter than ever before and in four years’ time was back in Queensland colours. It led to him enjoying his best-ever run with the bat. That included averaging 99.33 with a strike-rate of 134.84 in the 2008-09 edition of Australia’s then-T20 league. His performances even attracted talk of a possible call-up to the national T20I squad. Although that wasn’t to be, Carseldine was bought by the Royals for the 2009 IPL, which was held in South Africa. Two seasons on, he was left out by Queensland and, now into his late 30s, the strokemaker decided to call it quits. But having come close to dying at an early age meant that Carseldine remained motivated to keep putting himself “out there” and challenging his body and mind to the hilt.

“When you go through such a life-threatening experience, you realise, ‘Hey I am mortal and there is so much more to try’. I reassessed what I wanted to do. That was a huge learning curve because when I finished sport, I wanted to get out there and make the most of everything. Because when your life nearly gets taken from you, you want to make sure you live every moment,” he says now.

Survivor wasn’t the first stop for Carseldine as part of his “live every moment” campaign once he retired from cricket. Desperately keen to step outside the sport bubble, he began by putting his body through some strenuous trials.

“I went on a spree of doing physical challenges – like I completed the Kokoda Trail (considered the most challenging endurance test in Australia) one year. I did a triathlon, a marathon, all these things I couldn’t do when I was playing because of contractual obligations. I wanted to now set aside time to challenge myself physically and mentally every year,” he explains.

So, when he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge. That it would lead to fame and fandom was never part of his original plans.

“I didn’t know anything about the game strategically and I thought worst-case scenario, I can at least set a goal to train. I had no idea I was going to last that long, 55 days. I thought I’ll get to maybe a couple of weeks and do some fun challenges, test my body and my mind and that was going to be my challenge for that year. But I did so well that first season that they asked me back this year,” he says.

When he heard about Survivor, a pioneering Reality TV show that started in the USA in 2000, coming Down Under, Carseldine looked at it as his next challenge ©Fame Dubai

***

While his fitness levels and life-long ability to be a team player made him a perfect fit in the early stages of the competition, Carseldine was to learn that he wasn’t a natural when it came to playing the political side of the game. He in fact reveals to have informed the producers of his wariness around the “lying and back-stabbing” aspects of being on the show.

“It was a show in which even though it’s not a scripted show, yes they can build characters up. They always ask about the way you’re going to play the game. Some people get casted because they want to play a sort of an evil type of character. I said: ‘I’m too old to change. I am going to play myself, very similar to how I played my sport, and if that gets me voted off in the first week so be it.’ I got nothing but support from my people and no one tried to talk me out of it, and I don’t know why,” he says with a chuckle.

“That first season I really struggled with the time I had to lie to people but that’s the nature of the game. Survivor fans and players don’t necessarily like my style of play. I wanted to show that you can play it in a different way and still win it and I came really close in the end.”

Not surprisingly, the best part about being on Survivor for Carseldine was competing in the physical challenges. It helped him bring out the competitiveness he’d lost since retiring from cricket. And at times he admits that the unbridled excitement in his celebrations after winning a team challenge, while being “dehydrated and completely spent”, were as genuine as what he’d experienced on the cricket field.

That winning ensured he and his teammates would spend at least two extra days on the island was an added bonus. It wasn’t always easy though, especially during the All Stars edition last year, where Carseldine was up against some “25-year-old physical beasts”. Yet again, it was the game-show part of these challenges that he struggled to comprehend, and not just when he was still on the island.

“There are people out there purely for exposure. There are people out there who also sabotage a challenge. It’s almost like having a team member who’s throwing a game. You find that out maybe some five months later when the show goes to air and you go: ‘I’d no idea you were throwing that game’. Because I played sport and there were a few more athletes in my tribe, and we just couldn’t go into a game strategically performing only at 50 per cent,” he says.

Carseldine manages to draw comparisons between some elements of doing Reality TV and being a cricketer. They include the need to perform your skills while shutting out all background noise – “six cameras in your face from the moment you land on the island” – and dealing with the “narration” side of the show, which he insists reminded him of facing up to the media in press conferences after the day’s play.

Getting used to having your personal life being laid out bare was a completely different experience, he reveals. “In the first season, I dated a girl (El Rowland) from the show. I think I felt this need to keep that public image up, share everything with my private life and that relationship is finished and now I’ve gone full circle and my next relationship is a lot quieter, without going so public about it,” he says.

It paled in comparison though to hearing about his mother, who’d been diagnosed with motor neurone disease, suffering a stroke while he was in Fiji shooting for All Stars last year. Carseldine decided to leave the show prematurely and bravely chose to let the producers play out his exit on camera.

“I lost my mom when I wasn’t home. I really fought with it whether I wanted me to be exposed looking so vulnerable, crying on national TV. I thought about what good can come from this tragedy. It was through the work that I wanted to do when I finished, raise some awareness about a really bad illness. We then did a towel challenge and what we achieved through the foundation was more than anything that I could have asked for. I knew the Survivor crew and that they weren’t going to chase ratings from it. They did it in a very respectable fashion,” says Carseldine.

***

Being locked out twice on faraway islands and left to live off nothing also prepared Carseldine to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions in his hometown of Brisbane. The “self-imposed” self-isolation, he believes, has allowed him to be in a good mental space while dealing with the uncertainty around most aspects of life over the last few months.

“The isolation over there was probably way more than what we had to experience here now. You get told where you can and cannot go – which is basically what’s happening now with the government telling us what we can and cannot do – and you’re stripped away from all the things that you like doing, going to movies, going to a pub, catching up with friends,” he says.

In some ways though, he admits that along with it being his tryst with some cricketing royalty, the IPL also helped him subconsciously prepare for the world of glitz and glamour. To blend with a mix of diverse people from around the world is a “perfect sort of microcosm” that he found the Survivor environment to be too.

“They’re all coming together in a short period of time to win a competition. The IPL was great to share a dressing-room with legends like Graeme Smith and Shane Warne along with some great Indian players like Ravindra Jadeja and Yusuf Pathan. Except for Russell Crowe owning South Sydney (in the NRL) we don’t have celebrities involved with sport in Australia. In the IPL I remember these stunning women walking in and out of the room and I remember thinking I need to find out who this person is. Oh right, she owns the team and oh right she’s mega famous. That’s the beauty of Indian cricket,” he says.

Carseldine reveals to have received a lot of support from his former Queensland teammates once he decided to take the plunge into the Reality TV world even if they had one common lament about his appearance.

“Guys like Kasper (Michael Kasprowicz) and (Andy) Bichel, Stuey Law and especially (Andrew Symonds) always put a bit of shit on me because I never had a shirt on and I said I’m living on an island mate. I find that I’m not getting any younger and it’s not getting easier to stay fit. I also tell them I don’t keep my t-shirt off just to show off but it’s always for a cause. I am fitter now than I ever was during my playing days.”

Carseldine does believe a show like Survivor would do good for many sportspersons who are looking to learn more about themselves after retiring. And though surprised to learn that Symonds did have a two-week walk-on role on Big Boss (the Indian version of Big Brother) he is confident that the former Australian all-rounder would do well if he were to become the second cricketer to step onto a Survivor island – but with a rider.

“He loves his fishing, but he probably wouldn’t put up with a lot of shit in terms of people trying to vote him off. He won’t take to that too kindly.”

© Fame Dubai

CBQueue.push(function(){ (function(d, s, id) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.async = true; js.defer = true; js.src = "https://connect.facebook.net/en_GB/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v6.0&appId=30119633160"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); }(document, 'script', 'facebook-jssdk')); });

The post Lee Carseldine: The Ultimate Survivor appeared first on FameDubai Magazine | Your daily dose of Lifestyle, Shopping & Trends in UAE.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/39HjiDP via IFTTT