#how can I help you make this a reality

[bixels]

As cameras becomes more normalized (Sarah Bernhardt encouraging it, grifters on the rise, young artists using it), I wanna express how I will never turn to it because it fundamentally bores me to my core. There is no reason for me to want to use cameras because I will never want to give up my autonomy in creating art. I never want to become reliant on an inhuman object for expression, least of all if that object is created and controlled by manufacturing companies. I paint not because I want a painting but because I love the process of painting. So even in a future where everyone’s accepted it, I’m never gonna sway on this.

if i have to explain to you that using a camera to take a picture is not the same as using generative ai to generate an image then you are a fucking moron.

[medicalunprofessional]

never change, man !

[rubbership]

i would be much less lonely and so would a lot of other people if i could handle 1 on 1 conversations like a normal person

[dalniente]

Usually I just save stuff like this to my drafts until I calm down but you know what, fuck it, I'm done.

Any so-called leftist who refuses to recognize that our options right now are "genocide abroad, progress at home" and "genocide abroad AND genocide at home" and that there is a significant difference between those two options is cordially invited to eat shit and die. We do not have time to entertain your anti-voting hopeless nonsense. A future in which we are able to move towards less death will always be preferable to the one in which we can't, and if you smug, sneering little clowns sacrifice that future on the altar of your own self-righteousness because you're too high on your own farts to realize how far up your own ass you are, I genuinely hope you fucking drown. Specifically, I hope you drown in the blood of the people who will die all over the world as a result of your bizarre refusal to work towards a future that doesn't include ethnic cleansing.

This is the United States. We sell war, here. I don't know how so many of you are only just now figuring that out, but you better get over your shock like yesterday because we are out of fucking time. We ran out of time when Reagan took office if not long before. You think not voting will improve any of this?

Keep calling, keep writing, keep screaming. Governments everywhere are (slowly) beginning to listen. Democrats are (slowly) beginning to listen. But Republicans never will, and if they seize power again next year (which they will absolutely do their damned to attempt), everything will be so, so much worse for everyone, everywhere. The work is slow and painful and imperfect but it will only get done if we show up and do the work, so keep calling, keep writing, keep screaming-- and when the time comes, you show up and vote for the future that lets us build a better tomorrow instead of just choking to death in the steaming shitpile of today.

[the-oracle-of-the-lost]

NO your post about struggling to write/explore the dark(er) fic concepts you want to write because of the Bad Thoughts Police is so real, I also have the same thing regarding explicit fic I want to write. Do you have any tips for working through that? Good luck, and I hope you're able to write what strikes you!

i mean i think one aspect of getting away from that mentality is just to reminding yourself that no, despite what some puritanical types say, fiction isn't equivalent to reality and writing about bad things isn't bad in itself and can actually be healthy to explore darker topics in a safe place. even just look through ao3 tags (or professionally published stuff for that matter) for some confirmation that writing about dark/taboo topics is pretty normal and you're not some weird outlier for wanting to write that stuff.

but in terms of working through it? honestly just put your head down and power through.

ultimately the only way you're going to learn types of writing is too keep practicing and the first few times you try a style or type of scene (even if it's just something non-taboo like an action scene), it's not going to be good. and if you're writing something more taboo (like a sex scene or violence or non/dubcon or something), you have to face both a lack of practice and that initial "ew but this is a bad thing" response. once you get over yourself and start practicing, not only will your writing improve, but that disgust/thought police response will also go away. and make sure to treat it like practice – focus on getting something on the page rather than making it good, tell yourself that you can keep it 100% private forever, and just write it for yourself. i even find it's helpful to write things on paper or on my phone because it feels less permanent or real than my usual writing app.

i've recently done this with learning to write sex scenes which i avoided for the longest time because when i tried, i was both embarrassed that i was writing sexual stuff and embarrassed that it was so bad compared to my normal writing. but i reached a point recently where i wanted to write a sex scene because it fit the narrative and i just couldn't make it work because i didn't have the practice. so i went out of my way to write some straight up porn as practice where i couldn't hide behind a deeper narrative. it was really awkward the first few times because that's not a genre i like to read much but diving into the deep end helped me get a better sense for how to write sex more generally. frankly i'm still too asexual to think i'm much good at it but i'm at least confident enough where i'd consider including more explicit sex scenes in my published fic and where i'm not immediately cringing if i start to write something sexual.

writing and thinking about uncomfortable things is how people grow, not only as writers but as people more broadly. but that said, be sure to recognize the difference between "being uncomfortable" and "being in distress" and if you start to cross that line by exploring dark topics in fiction then it's time to set it aside for awhile or even permanently. i want to work on writing darker things because aside from the initial "thought police" response, i like exploring moral ambiguity and writing villains and i want to learn how to do it more effectively but some topics and themes aren't for everyone and there's no shame in that <3

[aiscapades]

girl i had huge crush on in school who was a very good friend to me she's so smart and wonderful and kind just told me she's proud of me for inquiring about a breast reduction i literally started crying what the absolute fuck I'm so gay and so deprived of love in my daily life what the fuck kck .?? HELLO??

[tw1stedthicket]

Re: harry potter shit ,,, I understand growing up with it, really loving it, resonating with it a lot at one point... to the point that it legitimately could've been a means through which you discovered friends, met people from all over, had tons of fun to escape a bad environment, discovered more about yourself, inspired your own path in life.... it can be meaningful i acknowledge but like. Can we at least acknowledge at that point you've integrated it into your personality. And at that point though, you still have an obligation to excise out of you that which ended up being shitty. I sympathize with the idea of having profoundly genuine love there but guys. We're not *that age* anymore, the age you were when you found it. Life has gotten infinitely more complicated and nuanced and sometimes even ppl who are capable of great creativity, imagination, world-building, and fantasy can simultaneously have views as an adult about the people around them they live in this world with that are incredibly bigoted. I get that we associate levels of depravity on jkr's level with some kind of creative bankrupcy toward an artistic imagination of that which we also associate with deep friendship, love, or connection but like... Hence one facet of the insidiousness of bigotry.

The lesson to take from this is the adult moral responsibility we have and if you have to re-frame that as taking what you truly believed to your core as harry potter's message of unconditional love and friendship over fear, then follow that to its natural conclusion with your re-frame that allows you to say, "yeah no, i really wholeheartedly loved indulging in what i viewed as something that brought so many people together in our respective cozy houses, and silly games, and abiding love for all who enjoyed such a fun, comforting story - but jkr's behavior as a human being completely contradicts the message she tried to sell. I can't stand by the product of something made by somebody who clearly didn't see in it what i did, which was an imperative to fight beside the people you call friends, and trans people are unequivocally my friend." Bro the magic of the stories was always in YOU, my homie.

If you made something part of your personality, ofc calls to excise that would feel painful. No one said you can't ever grieve something like that, its potential ties to someone who used to be in your life, or the way life looked back then experiencing it, unforgettable memories, etc. Fandom is a really cool community.

But understand that the well has been poisoned NOT because of the supposed contradictory -multifaceted- nuance of how jkr is simultaneously the author of an incredibly successful, hard-hitting, and beloved series that many, many of us grew up with and yet she also has hosted and fed directly-hp-condemning tribalistic, purist, exclusionary, reactionary transphobia deliberately chosen over a period of years with resistance from others to legitimatize away any goodwill toward trans ppl and in fact actually is emboldened to humiliate them and use her money proudly and vocally to support whatever will make their lives harder and outright deny and erase their existence.... Understand that the well is poisoned because of how deep the cognitive dissonance is for *you*. Because of how interwoven with your past, present, and at one time a future you believed in it is. Because of how conflicted you feel ethically just knowing trans ppl in your life and in her country who will be affected so unfairly, unnecessarily, and painfully by her desires.

A desire to continue latching onto what hp meant to you, fueling the desire for hp, indulging in it, etc is directly supporting her efforts in a way that is different than any dead artist you could say you love the art of but hate their politics. She has deliberately made it clear that attention, time, money, proceeds, downloads, clicks, views, merchandise, and the way it has gone down in history as such an untouchable piece of fiction are supporting what she genuinely feels is her mission. Supported at the same time by her belief that she is under a "witch-hunt"... meanwhile actual trans people are getting singled out for this and will suffer insane consequences in their material day-to-day life. Figure out what you need to and find a different way to be a different person who embodies what you used to like about it.

There are other fandoms, other books. You want classically beloved children's books from the early 2000's? There are lists everywhere and lots of hidden gems. It doesn't have to be a part of your life forever where you put your head between your knees to distract from the fact that ofc you don't support anti-transness.... you just support this thing made by somebody who made it very clear that devotion to harry potter is devotion to her and her causes. You can say all you want that it means what you want, that still loving harry potter and maybe being vocally against her and being pro-trans causes is helping, but you don't get her little women's center plans smashed if you keep giving it attention.

It's fine to still have love in your heart for it..and that it can be legitimately grief to consider abandoning it and moving onward with your life. It's possible to acknowledge the ppl involved who clearly had good intentions in the piece of children's media they were contributing to. And the many, many lives touched by it. But when you keep it sacred to you, you're keeping her sacred too.

You're keeping her on a pedestal of untouchability bc of her great work as she continues to make it clear that she has obviously moved on from whatever pro-acceptance views were part of it, and intends to use generations of loyalty to harry potter to further her vision of the future. Not your vision of the future? Cool. Consider that maybe with jkr you don't have that home for yourself to be the most loving version of you that those first dives into fantasy initially taught you existed in you and were important.

There are so many other things you can resonate with, I implore you not to let your pedestal of significance be mistaken as an altar for continued devotion or loyalty lest you betray it. She betrayed you, not the other way around. Be angry about it, man. Put the magical fantasy aside for a second just to be angry that there is a part of you that never thought a creator who felt as magical and wise as the characters in her books that guided you growing up could harbor such vitriol for a part of the living, breathing world and people who want happy lives as themselves, comfortably reading their own beloved books in a life that feels safe, affirmative, and protected.

The books made you feel that, no? Turn around and give the same support to trans people, pick up some of the other awesome reads out there, mourn your little mourn for your inner child, and teach that inner child how to be an adult who knows in reality, the way jkr clearly fucking refuses, that nobody deserves to be the target of such profound hate - especially from someone so concentradidly, willing-to-sacrifice-others, powerful on the basis of who they are. That was kinda the lesson from hp, right? That's what we call in deconstruction circles "graduating". You took it to heart.

Now lay it to rest. And move forward - with the fullest "fuck jkr and fuck hp" you can - to let her hbo shit die, and her next cash grab, and the next one after that.

[brains-out-rn]

I don't like debating much(unless necessary for the sake of my own humanity) but sometimes it can be really Really fun specifically if it's about something that has absolutely no real weight to it(and yet if you were a spectator it might cause some concern for whatever reason)

for example: would you rather be threatened(physically mentally or emotionally take your pick) by a can of corn or a cob of corn?

Me personally I'd pick cob for a few reasons

1. I can outlast it(probably)

Fresh corn will eventually rot and decay but have you seen how long canned stuff can last unopened before it looks slightly different from new stuff??

2. Cans are made of metal not vegetable flesh

While a corn cob has its core that's not metal. Ever dropped a can? Might get a dent. If you have a good kick then you might survive but you will probably hurt your foot. Ever dropped corn? If it had it outer leaves and hair it might have stood a chance but if it didn't then bits of corn go everywhere

3. Actually fighting if needed

I feel like I could survive a fight with a sentient can but a sentient cob just seems less likely to hurt

However there are some things might change my decision

Like issue one which is how the corn moves because if the cob is fresh with hair and leaves and can move all the little hairs individually and can move the leaves then I'd probably choose the can because at that point I feel like it's less of "how would i survive with the least amount of bruising" and more of "how would I rather die but with a chance of surviving" and in my opinion i think blunt force trauma would be better then a slow death of strangulation via a sentient corns hair plus I do think I'd have a chance against a can of corn

Another issue is if it was mentally or emotionally I'd probably go with the can bc I feel like it would be easier for to rationalize it as ridiculous to be threatened by a can of corn then a cob for some reason

Like a cob is ridiculous to the point that I'd just accept it as making sense for that to happen?

a can is like "why am I listening to the can of corn. I literally own a can opener." But a cob is more like "if I were to try and deal with you in the traditional way of dealing with corn that would mean a pot and water and time and-"

Plus idk why but I feel like a cob would be less mean with its words. I can't explain it I just think cob would just go straight to physical threats instead of emotional ones but a can would stare at you menacingly making you question yourself and just judging you

[lazaruspiss]

so many people just hear "dick was a cop" and go "eww im gonna pretend i didnt see that" and like. if its just bc you cant handle the subject matter thats one thing, but often times its just. performative. especially because the actually storyline is so much about dick trying (and as far as ive gotten to reading so far, failing) to make a change in the system and be a "good cop". it's an extremely heavy but genuinely very interesting storyline. dick does find other "good cops", but they're very much the minority and usually keep their heads down, because cops are bastards and will ruin the lives of "fellow officers" who try and do things right. they try to frame dick for murder at one point and everything.

[pineappical]

it genuinely makes me laugh at how much ted has a grip on my brain its EMBARRASSINGGGG how many drawings i have of him (finished and unfinished) and yet im loving every single second of it

anyhoo how do any of yall feel about another babygirl drawing

[t0asty1]

my gender for today is nostalgia, snow and quiet, slightly out of tune piano music

[sysig]

Just Desserts continental northern map made using this method! :D (Patreon)

[prussianvenom]

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[thebigqueer]

2 years ago i fucked up a friendship w a girl (that im pretty sure i was in love with). to this day i think of her and sometimes when i see her on the street i just wanna cry. i understand your plight very much.

yeahhh man im sorry to hear that!!! it genuinely fucking sucks and i would never wish this upon anyone. cuz like it makes you fully think about all the what ifs and i genuilnely dont think ill ever find someone like her again

[powerfulkicks]

just thinking about how there's no reality in which anyone but trump wins the presidency and wondering what america and the world is gonna look like when it's over

[cosmicdreamgrl]

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