#i'm so tired of being exploited in this industry

[aihoshiino]

Chp 160 was so??????? that I am straight up unable to form an opinion on it.

Like I can see the story going one of two ways. 'Kamiki is the evil mastermind actually he faked his reaction to the dvd' or 'Kamiki is playing the villian but is actually not the culprit'

And like both directions have massive problems.

The former would mean that the movie (which we spent nearly 40 chapters on) amounted to fucking nothing. Other characters ominous talking about Aqua trying to kill his father with it? Ruby's so called revenge arc? Nah, that meant nothing, the movie didn't do a damn thing.

And while I prefer the latter interpretation as it's the tonally and thematically consistent way, it would also mean that Akasaka has been circle-jerking us with the 'Kamiki is an evil serial killer.' -> 'No wait actually he isn't.' -> 'SIKE, HE IS EVIL.' -> 'Nvm he isn't.' for some inconceivable reason.

It's a mess no matter how you slice it, honestly I am so tired of oshi no ko and I just want it to be over already.

YEAH. THAT'S BASICALLY WHERE I'M AT.

In general, I just don't know why we're having a second confrontation with Kamiki. Narratively and emotionally, it's redundant - having him come back into the story and get his final resolution would be fine but playing out Yet Another Big Dramatic Showdown between him and Aqua just falls so flat for a number of reasons. We've already had the huge release of tension that was Aqua and Kamiki facing off like nearly an entire volume ago and everything that was emotionally riding on that confrontation was emotionally resolved. I know some people are still mad that Aqua didn't hit Kamiki with an orbital laser or something, but the absolute fucking gutpunch that was 153-154 was so incredibly effective and also just more interesting than this much more generic standoff. Not only is it kind of mid on its own merits but I feel like it retroactively makes that first confrontation weaker because like... it ends up not really mattering and we get a take 2 where Kamiki is acting like an entirely different character.

@yuseirra made an excellent point in their discussion of ch159 which is that (thematically speaking) the movie has to be the method by which Aqua achieves his revenge because Ai's tragedy was the result of the public's perception of her. If it isn't able to do that then not only was that arc just kind of a waste of everyone's time, reader and character alike, but it means the movie itself as an object in the narrative loses what little shaky thematic ground it has.

An issue the Movie Arc always had that it never really engaged with to my satisfaction is the underlying discomfort of watching Ai's life being turned into a movie. I said this over and over as the arc was ongoing, but there's something almost repulsive about taking this character whose life was warped and eventually ended up the exploitation of the entertainment industry and the voyeristic gaze of the public and indulging in that voyerism by creating fiction out of her life, chopping it up and outright making shit up to invent a version of her that the public can devour. It claims to be a movie about 'Ai Hoshino' but literally and explicitly fictionalizes the most pivotal events and relationships in her life - the 'Ai' of 15 Year Lie is just as fake as 'Ai of B-Komachi', just sold with an even more insidious lie to make her go down a little sweeter.

If the manga actually engaged with this idea or was even the slightest bit aware of this underlying discomfort, the Movie Arc as a whole would've been much better off for it and so would all the resolutions in the arcs following that rely on it as foundation. But as it stands, the movie is thematically dead on arrival and the fantastic emotional resolutions we got out of it, in spite of everything, have been seemingly retconned into irrelevance.

[7central]

stars need to align for a sag aftra strike please please

[justzawe]

Zawe Ashton reveals she got into the 'best shape' of her life in The Marvels but had to reshoot the film after becoming pregnant

Zawe Ashton has revealed she got into 'the best shape' of her life while filming The Marvels but ended up having to reshoot the film after becoming pregnant.

The actress, 39, portrays the warrior Dar-Benn in the film opposite stars, Brie Larson, Teyonah Parris and Iman Vellani.

Zawe, who admitted to being 'traumatized' from working in Hollywood, felt the grueling training regime required for the blockbuster 'empowered' her.

Speaking at the Bazaar At Work Summitt 2023, she said: 'There was this opportunity for me to get in the best shape in my life [with The Marvels] which I really hadn't been in – getting fit and in shape, but strong and eating well, was a massive part of this journey for me. 

'And then the process of learning stunts and fighting is probably one of the most empowering things that I've ever done.'

Zawe welcomed her first child with her partner Tom Hiddleston last October, with the pregnancy interfering with the shoot.

She said: 'I thought the film was finished, and I got pregnant and had my baby. And then they told me to come back and reshoot basically the whole movie. 

'That, to me, has been the biggest journey with this movie: my physical wellness, my ability to endure, to mentally switch back into that place, postpartum, and come back, and try and kick some ass again. That's really what the landmark of the film is to me now.'

Zawe also spoke about working in the film industry as a young actress and how there were not many measures in place to protect performers from exploitation.

She said: 'I'm probably deeply traumatised! I was working at a point in our industry that is so different from industry that we are working on making for ourselves now. There were no safety protocols. 

'There were no conscious ways that we were thinking about protecting young women. I sort of wipe my brow sometimes, thinking: 'Wow, I actually emerged quite unscathed.' 

'There are so many different ways that we're thinking consciously about protecting the people who are working in front of and behind the camera now.' 

Zawe elaborated on sexism in the industry, saying she felt 'fatigued' from spending so much time worried about her looks.

She said: 'I realised that I'd spent nearly 30 years as an actor, but I'd also sort of spent 30 years performing as a woman, and I felt suddenly so tired.'

'That kind of patriarchal eye, that just gazes on you since birth, it suddenly felt really like that had depleted me in a very deep way.'

'I was suddenly hit with this fatigue, where I didn't want to think about my face, or about my hair and my looks. I didn't want to think about how I could keep presenting myself for a camera or a lens that basically represents this very, very problematic gaze.'

'Where do we draw the line? This is all part of the same spectrum. If you're not seeing women's humanity, if you're not seeing a full human life when you're thinking about the ways that you're putting these kinds of [character breakdown] descriptions together, then the extreme end of the spectrum is you're not valuing women, and that's a much bigger conversation than my industry.'

The actress, who was born to a Ugandan mother and an English father, also spoke about representation on screen.

She said: 'When I starred in period drama, Mr. Malcom's List, there was suddenly this healing moment. I had never ever seen any actor who looked like me invited to the table to perform these entertainment pieces. 

'I hadn't known necessarily that I was hurting so much, until I saw that representation happen, and the success of it take everyone by storm.'

'Growing up as a young biracial girl in Hackney, I was really drawn to the left-field, drawn to the alternative. And part of the bullying I encountered in my teens was because of that. 

'There weren't really any people of colour who were representing this alternative landscape. When I got the part of Vod in Fresh Meat, I thought: 'This is now my opportunity to be that for someone else who didn't maybe have it.' 

'I was willing to do whatever it took to make that character as edgy and authentic as I felt she could be, so that it would invite that person who is not seeing that kind of representation on screen, to really feel seen.'

 Zawe, who has not revealed the name or sex of her child, told how she feels like she is 'growing up' with her baby.

She said: 'The most surprising thing for me has been how quiet I feel like I've gone in motherhood.'

'Right now, it's been really about collecting women's stories. For some reason, we don't value ageing in our society. And there are women who have given me nuggets of wisdom that I literally could not live without. And they are all over the age of 60.

'Why we're not opening a platform and listening to women who have actually lived life is crazy to me. I'm a new mum. I know so little. I'm growing with my child… the child is going to teach you and lead you if you're open to it, and that's the moment to enjoy so much.'

(x)

[renthony]

Film schools should have it factored into the budget that any films they require their students to produce have the funding to ACTUALLY PAY THE ACTORS.

The local auditions group is constantly full of, "sorry, I can't pay anyone, but I really really really need some performers to help with my university project!" and it makes me so frustrated, because it means these film students are essentially being trained to undervalue and exploit their performers. Even if they genuinely want to pay their performers, their professors are incentivizing their students to prey on our local talent.

I often wonder how many of them are going to go into the industry and still carry that mindset of, "if I can't get funding, I can totally just recruit volunteers to do things for free!"

If your film program relies on the unpaid labor of the local theatre scene, your film program fucking sucks. Fund your students' projects or stop assigning them.

I don't do student films anymore. I very, very quickly got tired of my "compensation" being a couple of gas station snacks and a YouTube link to the final video. Doesn't really matter how many times the student director says, "sorry, I really wish I could pay you," it was still multiple days of unpaid labor and time I can't get back.

And while I'm thinking about it, if I go back to performing at the ren faire, I'm probably going to be raising hell about how none of the living chessboard performers get paid for the year-round labor it takes to put together a decent show. I've never made a single cent for five years of production work, stage combat training, rehearsal time, or the actual performances, and I was never allowed to solicit tips, either.

[vintageseawitch]

i'm tired of evil winning so much. it doesn't matter some good things could happen; evil will be there in no time to destroy any decent progress. i'm tired of being terrified i'll lose my rights. i'm tired of being powerless about this & not being able to help others across the globe who have already lost their rights. i'm tired of how useless the UN actually is. i'm tired of the US being a global superhero by being murderous bullies. i'm tired of fascism rising again. i'm tired of WWII being romanticized but now people think that little Austrian artist with the even smaller mustache had some good ideas actually. i'm tired of human rights violations happening & there are zero consequences for it. i'm tired that the majority of humanity as well as currently living flora & fauna will have to pay the price for the greediness of the few. i'm tired of always hearing about a countdown to when we can never reverse climate change while those who are actually the major problem - the US military, big oil, & others - are able to get away with this. i'm tired of the bloated military industrial complex. i'm tired of having less rights than literal corpses. i'm tired of useless CEOs. i'm tired of billionaires. i'm tired of people thinking billionaires are geniuses instead of actually greedy sociopaths who will happily pay you nothing if they could get away with it. i'm tired of people thinking our government wouldn't do that when they actually totally would & have already done it in some capacity. i'm tired of "voting for the lesser of two evils." i'm tired of old, out of touch people being in charge. i'm tired of people being proud of their willful ignorance. i'm tired of the white-washing of history. i'm tired of people not giving a fuck about the environment. i'm tired of people not being able to afford homes when there are more empty houses than there are homeless people. i'm tired of workers labor being exploited so they get paid a time while their bosses get a dollar. i'm tired of learning my generation & younger are the most educated but the most overworked. i'm tired of older generations who had so much handed to them want to make sure someone else doesn't get the same because lead poisoning have made them into sociopathic cowards who refuse to see the truth & will vote against their own interest just to fuck over people they fear & misunderstand. i'm tired of people claiming protesting against genocide means you're antisemitic & should be silenced. i'm tired of book banning/burning. i'm tired of xenophobia when so many of us are descended from illegal immigrants. i'm tired of men still getting upset over a hypothetical question instead of doing some self-reflection. i'm tired of the patriarchy, rampant misogyny, & toxic masculinity. i'm tired of men not thinking anger counts as an emotion. i'm tired of rapists getting away with their crimes because "what about their future" & "what was she wearing" when it's actually not about sex but power instead. i'm tired of "not all men" to silence legitimate points. i'm tired of people who make false claims of being raped not facing any consequences so it's harder for real victims to come forward. i'm tired of being so afraid of being assaulted & getting pregnant with my rapists baby that i took my state of fertility in my own hands because i'm afraid of my government even as my obgyn said not to worry. i'm tired of the christofascist movement that is gaining momentum. i'm tired of project 2025 being a real possibility & people claiming "they wouldn't do that." i'm tired of how openly fascist conservatives are now. i'm tired of people drinking that kool-aid so hard. i'm tired of the bootlicking. i'm tired of cops & their undeserved diplomatic immunity so they can literally commit murder & get away with it. i'm so. fucking. tired. this country is hell & has helped make the world hell. america has never been great. it's just super effective propaganda & brainwashing that has been wildly successful.

i just want hope that doesn't feel delusional. i don't want to give up but i'm so tired.

[sapphicteaparty]

i've NEVER seen a single good faith discussions about pleather on this website and i want ppl to think critically for one second about the way businesses talk about their products. "vegan leather" is purely a marketing term and nothing else. it was invented by the fashion industry and it has nothing to do with vegans or veganism.

"vegan leather" is basically made of polyester (a type of plastic), but crucially a lot of clothes nowadays are made of polyester either fully or partially because it's cheaper to produce. so of course clothing companies are going to be producing and marketing things that make them more money.

these products are not even targeting vegans, they're making an average customer feel better about their purchases, same way they are now putting "eco" labels on some of their organic cotton clothing. it's just greenwashing. NOTHING in fast fashion is eco friendly in any way - this whole industry is extremely wasteful an exploitative on every level. when are ppl going to realize that these companies just say anything they can to make it seem like they care about anything other than their profit margins. because they don't.

my wish is that ppl that talk about how bad pleather is and how vegans are apparently responsible for all of the microplastic pollution in the world also talked or cared even a little bit about the absolutely horrific abuse and exploitation that happens in the clothing and fast fashion industry. talk about how this industry consistently fails (or outright refuses) to pay its workers a living wage or how they don't provide them humane working conditions - and how that led to thousands of garment workers dying and getting injured when a garment factory collapsed in Bangladesh (and that's not the only tragedy this industry is directly responsible for).

also microplastics are only the tip of the iceberg if you want to talk about the pollution that the clothing industry is responsible for (toxic chemicals and pesticides used in cotton production, garment dyes, the disposal of textile waste etc) - all of which has direct human costs tied to it.

but if your only concern ever was microplastics that clothes can shed then great! avoid all polyester and plastic clothing. but did you know textiles aren't even the primary microplastic contaminants? it's plastic bags, bottles and fishing nets by far. most ppl can't always avoid these plastic items in daily life. but do you eat fish? vegans don't.

i'm just so tired of the pleather discussion focusing on the wrong thing (vegans) when there are so many more aspects about the clothing industry and plastic pollution that never get addressed when they should. and the amount of misinformation on these topics is just laughable at this point. ppl sure enjoy reblogging posts that confirm their biases and free them from having to critically engage with complicated issues because it's so easy to just blame a group of ppl for it.

anyway if you're concerned about ethical clothing (i hope you are) then basically these are your best options:

wear what you already have and don't buy new clothes unless necessary

get second hand clothes

get upcycled clothes

this may seem a bit extreme but these are the only options that don't result in new clothes and textiles being produced because there is an overproduction issue in the clothing industry which is why over 80% of clothes end up in landfills. obviously these options aren't viable for everyone all the time but if the goal is sustainability then that's just the reality of things for now.

you can also do things like mend your clothes so they last longer, learn to sew to make your own clothes etc all of that is better than buying new clothes. donating clothes to a thrift store is also not ideal since they get so many donations that a lot of it ends up in a landfill anyway and recycling clothes is also not straightforward or even possible in a lot of cases. so not buying new/more clothes is the most environmentally friendly option. and before you go no ethical consumption under capitalism blah blah yeah we know. doesn't mean you are powerless and have no choices in anything ever.

please learn more about microplastics, the clothing/textile industry and veganism before you uncritically reblog another misinformed post about "vegan leather" or microplastics. also please don't uncritically believe what i wrote here either. if you're seriously interested in these topics then your source for this information shouldn't be some tumblr post in the first place. there are lot of studies, documentaries and articles about all the things i mentioned. i'm not a researcher or a scientist, so don't ask me. i'm just tired.

[halfetirosie]

🔥🔥🔥 RAISE YOUR HAND IF YOU WANT TO COMMIT A MURDER WITH ME!!!! 🔥🔥🔥

(Elysium 04-05 React-os!)

1) Eiden making an excellent point here--

Even in our own world, there's still a lot of stigma around "red light districts" and/or the industries they involve (sex work, alcohol, recreational drug use, etc). While you should always be careful and responsible with these activities, they are not inherently bad!

(I feel like some people might have gotten the wrong idea about my thoughts on these things--specifically, on drug use--from my last post. But please don't misunderstand; I am NOT against any of these things. What I AM against is people deliberately exploiting others using these things, fueling addiction for their own profit. ♡)

2) Dude, of course Kuya put his own essence-infused bracelet into the mix!

Why don't you just properly PROPOSE to him already, you foxy bastard??? (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

It's cute, but also funny that he did this. Like, I imagine that when Kuya saw this bracelet event was happening he knew Eiden would be interested in participating too; and since he's jealous and possessive, he specially added his essence to the bracelet so Eiden would be sure to choose his---thus, not being paired with anyone else!

Kuya is certainly back on his Tsundere Bullshit™!

....And also his Yandere Bullshit™ I guess??? (ᵕ—ᴗ—)

3) Oh no.... Well, SHIT....

Look, I assumed Kuya had to have been involved in starting the Elysium club, but to be involved with the creation of that whack-ass addictive drug????? Bruh.....

Like, that alone wouldn't have bothered me that much, but since we've seen how Reverie addiction is becoming a serious problem [in the Water Territory], I ain't gonna lie, I am not very pleased with the fox right now...

4) SPEAKING OF YANDERE BULLSHIT---

*Hisses in this bitch's general direction*

CREEPY! WEIRDO! BAD VIBES! EW!!!!

What is it with Kuya attracting so many freaks? First the stalker tanuki, and now THIS creature????

5) Hm... I'm guessing Kuya got into this who agreement with Vampire Bitch for the sake of sufficient entertainment---a.k.a sufficient distraction from his long-ass life....

I'm guessing Kuya has gotten tired of the activities that take place here---which might be a good sign, showing that he's more "entertained" by the daily life with the clan? Maybe?

....WAIT......

MORE IMPORTANTLY---WHAT'S THIS THING VAMPIRE BITCH IS SAYING HE "ARRANGED"???

HE BETTER NOT BE REFERRING TO OLIVINE, I SWEAR TO GOD I'MMA THROW HANDS---

6) Oh? Could it be? A Responsible Kuya™???

I am now a bit less upset with Foxy Grandpa! I'm impressed he had the foresight to tell Vampire Bitch not to force the drug onto people.

...Although, the fact that Kuya felt the need to bring this up in conversation could have worrying implications. Like, does that mean he found out that people were being forced to take the drug? 🤔

Either way, I'm glad Kuya is going to cut ties with this shady place.

7) Huh, it seems like Vampire Bitch is REALLy REALLY officially being cut off.

(◔_◔) Dawg, that superficial answer will NOT impress the fox...

I think the answer Kuya was looking for has to do with my theory of what Kuya himself was looking for in Elysium---and also why the word "Dream" is plastered all across this event. He probably wanted to hear something along the lines of, "To escape from reality," "To live in a dream," or hell, "To be happy."

But Vampire Bitch must never have been in this business for these reasons---or maybe he forgot it over the years. Now, he's just corrupt.

8) NOOOOO!!!! I WAS FUCKING RIGHT!!!!!!

THIS

BASTARD

WAS TREATING OLIVINE LIKE AN OBJECT

AND PLANNING TO "GIFT" HIM TO KUYA??????

I AM GOING TO KILL HIM!!!!!!!

,; (ง 🔥 ﾛ 🔥 )ง ;,

Gang. Think about this for a second. He never says he's going to "introduce" Olivine to Kuya. He refers to Olivine as a form of "entertainment" and a "gift."

This BASTARD was trying to PIMP OLIVINE OUT WITHOUT HIS CONSENT.

And why might he think he can do that? What methods do you think this DRUG DEALER might have used to achieve that, hm?????

This is REALLY HELLA BAD.

HOW DARE HE?!?!?!?!?!

*ENRAGED SCREAMING ECHOES INTO THE NIGHT*

🔥 End of report! 🔥

[lesbiansandgayssupporttheminers]

whenever you have time and energy, please let us hear more of your thoughts on violence under capitalism

Oh, I have the time and the energy, I just didn't want to make the previous ask/answer excessively long!

I think another basic point about both anarchism and communism is that there is violence inherent in capitalism. Capitalism requires the exploitation of the workers by the bosses in order to make profit.

If we take this on a global scale, I think we're all aware of the concept of "sweat shops" in the general, but often we don't consider how unsafe these places are to work. These are factories with no, or very limited regulation- we hear about factory collapses in Bangladesh, where people die in their hundreds. We don't hear about the individuals who are injured or killed every day globally due to unsafe working practices.

Even in the UK, a country that has reasonably good health and safety legislation (of course, legislation is not always followed), in 2018-2019, 147 workers were killed by "accidents at work", as well as 92 members of the public. That's more than 4 people each week. In 2020-21, bearing in mind there were mass lockdowns and many industries stopped working for a period of time, 123 workers, and 80 members of the public were killed. (figures from HSE). These figures do not include deaths from covid-19.

In fact, part of the reason I started this blog during the coronavirus pandemic was because I was aware people were being put in dangerous situations, and covid was being spread more widely because capitalism and profit were being prioritised above people's lives.

The way we are forced to work is killing many people, and injuring huge numbers. In 2021-22, about 150,000 people in the UK sustained an injury at work which meant they were absent for more than 7 days (so potentially quite a serious injury).

Injuries can be caused by unsafe working practices or environments, but equally things like rushing because you are under pressure can lead to a trip or a fall, or people trying to carry things that are too heavy or awkward on their own, and sustaining an injury. The nature of capitalism is that time is money, so we are encourage to work fast, to work when tired, and this can cause people to get hurt.

So that's a little bit about the violence inherent in "work", but what about the violence inherent in the system?

Capitalism kills people- capitalism has always killed people. The nature of the system is that some of us have money and access to all the things we need (food, housing, medication and so on) and some of us don't. People die, or are injured or get ill all the time due to homelessness, even in so-called developed countries. People die due to lack of food, even when there might be food available. People die due to lack of medicine all the time, even in countries where this ought to be freely available, because they cannot afford it.

Whenever people criticise communism, they like to bring up the famine under Stalin. I'm not going to launch into a defense of Stalin, but when we criticise capitalism, we should therefore look at famines caused by it, or contributed to by it. Historically, the potato famine in Ireland, or the Bengal Famine in India (when it was under British rule) are just two examples. We can also look at the ongoing famine in Yemen, and increasing problems in Sudan and the surrounding area.

Many people consider these famines to be solely due to natural causes, "acts of god" if you will. But that's not the case.

If we look at the potato famine, sometimes called an Drochshaol in Gaelic, solely because that's the one I'm most familiar with, we can see that it was caused largely by a capitalist, colonialist system, and the impacts of it were made far more extreme due to capitalism.

People will tell you the potato famine was caused by the potato blight, but it's not as simple as that. There was potato blight across Europe, in the 1840s, leading to about 100,000 deaths across the whole of Europe. In Ireland, more than 1 million people died, and many more emigrated, causing a 20-25% fall in the total population.

Part of the reason for this was the reliance on a single crop. This wasn't a situation chosen by the Irish people. Instead, English landlordism pushed the poorest Irish people into a situation where they had very little land, and the only crop that could sustain them on their land was the potato. Meanwhile, much of the agricultural land was used to grow wheat or other grains, or farm meat, which was solely used for the profit of the landlords.

Arguably the greatest tragedy of the Irish famine was that there was plenty of food in Ireland. It was just all being exported, so that people could make money. And during the famine, people continued to do this, and continued to make money, even whilst people were literally starving in the streets.

And during all of this, the English landlords continued to charge rent. Even before the famine, many families in Ireland could not fully afford their rents, and were supported through relatives working abroad (usually seasonal work in Britain). During the famine, there were a huge number of evictions.

I recently watched a BBC TV show about evictions (because English landlords haven't changed at all) and one of the tenants facing eviction said something along the lines of "eviction is a really violent act"- which I believe is true. And it is even more violent in a situation where your family is starving and everyone around you is starving.

Anyway, my point is that the landlords were able to evict their tenants, in order to make more money, causing even more deaths. And all of this is was fuelled by a capitalist, colonialist system.

And in the last 170 or so years, we can see that on a surface level, things have improved somewhat in some countries. But equally, in England, we still live in a country where someone can evict you for no reason and make you street homeless if *you* can't find another house in time- yes, in some circumstances, "the council" will help house people, but the housing offered is often inadequate or limited for families- and it often doesn't exist for young, single people- so they end up sofa surfing or sleeping on the streets.

In the USA, people still die or end up in extremely difficult situations because they can't afford the medical treatment they need.

I'm sure anyone who lives in a capitalist country can point to some key injustice which leads to death or serious ill health, and is driven solely by profit and the property owning class. This is the violence inherent in the system, and it kills far more people than interpersonal violence ever could.

Again, this has become very long, and there's still more in it that I want to explore, so do keep sending me asks on these themes if you are interested.

[pencildragon11]

wrestling with the moral OCD lately

ok so, we generally agree that working for a defense contractor or being a cop is bad

but what about working at a bank, with all their bullshit fees and sometimes predatory loans? What about working for a payment processor that casually grinds sex workers underfoot as "too risky" and "too much hassle"?

Working entry level in the call center might be one thing, but what about getting promoted and working hard and moving up, until you're a loan underwriter? someone who's making the impactful decisions and enforcing the policies and putting the good of the company over the wellbeing of the customer base and the public?

How evil is it to be working for a company whose major customers are in the oil industry, with all we know about how environmentally catastrophic oil drilling is, not to mention the absolutely horrible ways Native water protectors are treated?

Obviously none of these things are on "killing babies with drones" level.

But.

There are so many things to care about. How do you decide what matters?

A lot of people say landlords are evil. Do they mean just corporations buying up homes as investment vehicles? What about a person who rents out a spare room? What about a small-scale landlord who owns a couple houses, is quick and responsive on repairs, doesn't nickel and dime their tenants, and is pleasant to work with?

We agree that it's impossible to become a billionaires without exploiting other humans.

But the whole goddamn stock market is built on the prioritization of profit over all. Even if I just contribute to my 401k, that's being invested in stock market funds. I'm indirectly profiting off companies using prison slave labor, or companies bottling and selling fresh water that should be a public resource.

We point out that the way white people talk and think about poorer neighborhoods is pretty racist. But is it racist for me to think maybe I'd like to live somewhere that doesn't smell so strongly of urine? that maybe I'm willing to spend more to live somewhere with fewer gunshots and less screaming?

Where do you draw the line? How do you construct a coherent system of personal ethics without going mad?

I mean, I grew up in a cult where morality was rigidly black and white. I grew up on "give all you have to the poor and follow Jesus" and "tithe a minimum of 10% of your gross income to god/the church/the poor/holy causes" and st francis of assisi and "cast your bread upon the water."

for a long time I believed that if I had enough to survive on it was my duty to give away the rest

and I spent years barely surviving because of that, because I prioritized supporting others who mostly just took me for granted instead of saving for emergencies

because I was more comfortable working shitty minimum wage jobs than ever being so crass as to pursue money

Also like, I don't believe in god or jesus anymore so I'm pretty sure I don't have to follow a bunch of rules that maybe were just hammered into me by pastors who wanted me to fund their new church buildings?

I am so over the mother teresa bullshit that suffering is inherently virtuous

Fuck that.

I'm tired of precarity.

It feels goddamn good to know I can afford emergency car repairs and regular maintenance. To buy myself little treats and clothes that actually fit. To watch my savings go up each month.

I want to stack up a big fat wad of cash and never be broke again. I want to know I can take care of myself and the people I love. I want to build a life with time for leisure and relationships and parenting and all the things that matter.

I think I could probably make a lot more money if I could swallow my crippling sense of moral injustice and just chase the almighty profits.

But I'm terrified it will make me evil

[rjmhereunderprotest]

Shocking News: Ubisoft Does What Every Developer Ever Does to get Positive Free Marketing for Upcoming Video Game! Rando CHUD Gamers In an Uproar!

This has been fucking bothering me at this point, okay? So I'm using this opportunity to vent because ignorant stupid people don't know how the gaming industry works and/or are exploiting the fact people don't for clicks. And I'm so fucking sick and tired of this shit at this point so I'm going to rage for a second.

Try not to see this as me defending UbiSoft, fuck them, I have no love for any video game company ever and feel that cheerleading corporations is fucking stupid, either for or against them. But this sudden attack on them is less about actually shitty gaming industry practices that HAVE valid problems associated with them and more about the ridiculous culture war that this Space Wizards IP is trapped in. If this was any other game by UbiSoft no one would care, but it's a Star Wars game, so some idiots do care. Here's the run down.

UbiSoft recently sent previews out to various gaming news websites and major YouTube Gamer Influencers concerning the impending release of "Star Wars: Outlaws." A bunch of them got to go down a private preview event where they got free merch, hung out, played the game for a few hours, that sort of thing. They supposedly even got a trip to Disneyland out of it and a Boat Tour.

Finding out about this, every single right-wing culture warrior on YouTube instantly pounced on this and declared that UbiSoft was bribing people to give good reviews for "Star Wars: Outlaws" to convince people to buy it! Because the game is actually terrible and no one would actually like it on its own merits, and they know its terrible despite not getting to play it because... well... uh... it's Disney-Era Star Wars and that's always bad! Kathleen Kennedy made their wives leave them and shat on their rug! It wasn't them, it was Kathy! She did it! She snuck in during the night and shat on the rug! Then she took their last can of gamer fuel and broke their waifu figurines!

If you must know, the real reason "Star Wars: Outlaws" is in the crosshairs this go around is simple enough. The lead star of the game is a woman you see, a not fair-skinned woman, and people got pissy over this. How dare they not make the most basic ass video game protagonist design for this one game! Brown hair and eyes with four o'clock shadow white dudes are the only heroes that should ever appear in any video game ever, says they. "Why can't you just let us pick our gender?" they cry. You couldn't pick your gender in "Jedi Fallen Order", where was your crying then? Oh? Was the protagonist a dude there? Gee, I wonder why you found Cal Kestis being your only option as a player character okay, but Kay is an awful choice forced onto you?

So Kay Vess being a woman means "Outlaws" must be opposed, must be bad, and therefore must fail in order to stop the horrible scourge of DEI Gaming Development before all our precious white male protagonists are gone forever! Boo hoo! We don't get to play a dude in this one game out of the several dozens that will allow us to! If we don't stop this now, gaming is ruined!

And of course, anyone who plays the game and has something nice to say about it? Well obviously they're corporate shills, who were bribed by Disney to say positive things and there can be no other possible answer. No one can legitimately like a game that has a g-g-g-g-girl as the lead character! That's insane! And to prove how not sexist they are they'll list all the female characters they actually like in games, mostly all the ones that make their peepee hard.

They even went after GManLives, a respected independent gaming critic, just because he apparently played and liked the game. And they're still going after him even after he took the video down because he didn't want to deal with that shit. Accusing him of selling out his principles for a trip to Disneyland.

It's ridiculous and not just because it's a bunch of people complaining about a video game that isn't even out yet and hasn't been properly reviews. It's because critics and influencers getting special perks and shit for previewing games is nothing new. It's been going on forever.

Publishers of video games want to maximize their chances of getting good reviews. But they don't bribe people for them. They try to butter them up a little by inviting them to big marketing events, but that's just standard. You always try to give the people looking at your product a good time. Especially if they are critics with the power to sell it for you for free.

What they generally do is promise you exclusive coverage, behind the scenes details, access to developers, hands-on demos, interviews with the cast, inside information. And they provide it to the critics and influencers first who they feel will best promote and be favorable to their product at no extra cost to them.

If you decide to not be fair or NOT provide positive feedback, well then next go around they won't invite you to the big marketing event party. They won't give you hands-on demons. They won't get you access to developers or the cast. It's a major misbalance of power, but it's been a thing in gaming since forever. Nothing "Outlaws" is doing in the lead up to its release is that different.

And no one is actually hiding this anyway. Gaming websites and the influencers in questions regularly admit they were provided these previews by the publisher or developer of the game. That they were invited to check it out directly. That this is a preview that they scored under the watchful eye and with permission by the developer. They admit to the sponsorship element of what is essentially a commercial advertising something. They can't be too harsh or they won't get invited back, but they also won't withhold criticism if they find fault in something. In fact, sometimes to convince people they're not being too positive, they will force themselves to say something negative in some way to prove they aren't biased. It's usually something extremely subjective concerning the article writer's or content creator's personal taste.

Being driven out to Disneyland or given a boat tour aren't what I'd call major bribes. They're at best, the company trying to cozy up to an interviewer or influencer in order to keep them in a good mood and retain positive feedback. It's about maintain the relationship between their halves of the industry, putting on a show, treating the guys who help you sell your games right. Is it a problem? Oh yes, it very much is, it makes a lot of gaming web sites rather unreliable given how they'll go softer on a game to retain that relationship. But it is nothing new and Outlaws hasn't been the first game to do it, nor will it be the last.

And all the same, if the positive feedback as that consistent overall, it's not because they were bribed to say it. It's because they genuinely enjoyed the slice of game they were given and allowed to play around in. Even then, in those positive looks, I noticed complaints about this or that, minor quibbles, about what I'd expect from a preview event that went well but isn't ready to call it just yet.

My opinions on UbiSoft are fairly simple, they make some pretty good games overall. But they're still a gaming company, and that comes with a lot of baggage. Especially given Ubi's recent sexual harassments scandals and poor working conditions. They're not special and deserve to get ripped open when deserved. But not for letting a bunch of influencers run around an organized event where they got to play a game, get a plushie alien salamander and then run off to Disneyland when they were done. Because that's not a UbiSoft problem, that's an industry problem and one not easily solved. If you're a major gaming company, is it wise to keep giving exclusive peeks into your stuff if the news site was unfair to you? That's money better spent on someone who doesn't have an axe to grind. And gamers can hold grudges worse than anyone. I should know, I'm a gamer. I tend to hold a grudge.

Everything I've seen so far about "Star Wars: Outlaws" suggests it is, at the very least, a solid open world action game with UbiSoft and its stable of developers is fairly good at creating. And Massive Entertainment, the developer, has made some of my favorite games in the past. I believe Outlaws will be good, nothing I've seen suggests it's a bad title, let alone a bad entry in the Star Wars brand. I just don't see the justifiable reason to cry foul play here. This isn't like "Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League" where the red flags are obvious from the word go. This isn't even head-tiltingly worrisome like Cyberpunk 2077, which kept getting delayed and delayed and problems were apparent even in preview builds that news sites raised eyebrows over. Nothing Outlaws has done suggests this impending disaster. At worst, it will be a fairly okay game, but nothing that's going to completely collapse a company under the weight of its failure.

But that's not the point. This isn't about any of that. It's about a stupid culture war and it's pissing me off how some idiots are pretending they have anything legitimate to complain about. Fuck, if they thought they could get more money out of it, they'd all be lining up to go to Disneyland for Free and take a boat tour themselves. But they're pathetic, loser, dipshit little fuckwits who can't cut it as real journalists. Because then they'd have to actually fucking do real work instead of shitting out 12 videos about how Brie Larson is evil incarnate in a day.

And at this point, I'm seriously rethinking my plans here. I was intending to get Outlaws at a reduced price through some Microsoft Rewards points. But now I'm not so sure. Maybe I should just pay for most of the game or something, if only to piss off the fucking CHUDs who want to convince me it will be a horrible failure. But I don't like the idea of playing the Capitalist Cheerleading game just to own some fucking douchebags on the internet. So I'm not sure at this point. I know I don't like playing $90 for a fucking video game. Wish they'd complain more about the increase in prices for Triple A titles than bitching about Girls existing in their Space Wizards Media.

Fuck it, I don't know what I'm gonna do at this point. I just know that stupid people are given way too many platforms these days to spew stupid shit and no one calls them out on it. It's fucking infuriating. Pre-Order or don't to your heart's content folks, stop listening to fucking idiots on the internet.

[world-smitten]

Mask Girl loose thoughts

Nana reminds me of Gianna Jun, "it-girl" actresses whose luxurious public personas make me, stupidly, forget how casually brilliant they are. Nana was nuts in Into the Ring, easily the best romcom I've watched in a while (final thoughts here). But in Mask Girl, that tension between Nana the fashion-girl and Nana the actress is exploited to underscore its exploration of sexism-lookism. Nana plays the heroine, Kim Mo-mi, post-plastic surgery, transformed into the face that every Korean girl wishes to have (a role that Nana occupies to some degree irl). But although Nana's name sells the drama, she's elusive. We see glimpses of her in other people's memories; when we finally meet her, she's in agony, falling apart both emotionally and physically. We're denied the pleasure of Nana's glamour. Kim Mo-mi is fragmented - the choice to have her played by visibly different actresses fragments her, reflecting how her identity is always being splintered and reshaped by the will of those around her. Mask Girl is tacky and lurid, and it slips into melodramatic extraviolence quickly, but its shrewd casting is probably its most resonant and consistent strength. A lot of fan discourse around the show was fangirling over Nana's beauty. Which is fair, but also incredibly ironic.

Where I divert from Mask Girl is its over-reliance on an overarching villain to facilitate conflict. Yeom Hye-ran's is the best performance in the drama, but her character (a homicidal delusional boy-mom armed with a shotgun) felt conceived around the need for an entertaining, stylised villain to drive the story on. Mask Girl's high point is its bittersweet relationship between Mo-mi and Chun-ae (played by a phenomenal Han Jae-yi), two lonely women for whom "beauty" doesn't take the edge off routine degradation, and the trauma of sexual violence. But where their story ends up, and where Mo-mi's story seemed to be headed when I dropped it, is a kind of annhilation - but not at the hands of an indifferently cruel society, but at the hands of a character, a concept, made more for the sake of the audience than the story's message. Of course all stories are entertainment, I just like it when a drama can negotiate between being for-profit entertainment and exploring serious (and triggering) societal themes.

Otherwise, the performances were wonderful across the board. And maybe I've been spending too much time on Twitter, but I'm tired of liberal feminism, every-woman's-choice-is-valid-don't-question-it-feminism so I found Mask Girl's blunt dramatics cathartic. Plastic surgery trends don't emerge in a vaccuum. But I think Kyoko Okazaki's Helter Skelter makes that point in a more absurd, more ruthless, more focused way. Mask Girl's violence also isolates its female characters - it's a surprisingly individualistic story. Helter Skelter presents the beauty industry as endlessly, repetitively predatory, and its women are all tangled in perpetuating its violence on each other and themselves. It's not as watchable (readable) as Mask Girl, but it's richer.

[skepticalarrie]

I know it's important to talk about concerts tickets prices because some are absolutely insane and the industry is full of greedy assholes, BUT, I'm so damn tired to see solos shitting on Louis for the price of HIS shows and, let's be real, just trying to get a reaction out of other people.

First of all Louis is doing many of the same arenas Harry did just this year, demonstrating that it's possible to do a tour without exploiting fans, but also, Harry literally did a ONO for £25?! There's no reason for tickets being so expensive, and just because it's Harry it doesn't mean it's alright 🤷‍♀️

And I'm talking only about Harry because his fans keep comparing the two of them, but if people stopped being dumb for a second they could easily find that EdSheeran decided to do something very similar to Louis, for example.

I swear some people are so stupid it baffles me how they survive the real world

I just don't think we need to keep comparing them to prove a point. Harry's prices are absurd and they need to wake the fuck up and do something about it, regardless of what Louis or any other artists are doing. That's it. Period. The double standards are insane around here. I don't give a fuck if Louis is your fave or if Harry is your fave... If you're shitting in one of them to make the other look better you should be very fucking embarrassed.

[fallingsunflower]

Long rant, im sorry, with the last post, I get that 100% I feel that way sometimes, but I personally can't think like that too much, not because it's not something I don't want to admit about someone I'm been watching for a while, but because based on my knowledge of how the industry works, it's fake. The only times I believe in it too much is when I'm forgoing my education that furthers my opinion on how nobody really knows anything about him because he doesn't allow it from people who dont have the ability to control his life in a direct sense, if he did so much would be different, bad or good. It's also beyond an opinion that every one of those people (except an argument can be made for James Corden) have exploited or been exploiting him for years, since before he fully stepped into adulthood, even his relationships. As much as i try to be nuanced, if this were another celebrity, id think the same, that he has all the wrong ppl around him, not because he's questionable, but because he's a victim of exploitation by people he is even legally tied to (and personally tied to as well, most of these adults took advantage of the fact that he craved some sort of family early in his adulthood and memorialized that by tying him to their children even when he was still a child himself) it was hard asl for me to see at first but as soon as I realized every little thing about him is (annoyingly I won't lie lol) calculative, I saw how much his perception and those close to him is mostly unreliable unfortunately. That's why I only focus on the uncorroborated claims of people who get nothing, but serotonin boosts from talking about him, like people who say he goes to charities and hospitals and refuses pictures and videos, 'friends' of his that don't get paid to hang out with him (even people like Brad get paid, sorry), etc. Again long rant I'm sorry lol, but you're not alone in your thoughts and there can be a brighter side to his perception if at this point you still care to follow along :-)

I agree with this to a degree. It’s just tiring to continuously talk about I guess, and think about. Being a fan should not be this exhausting lmao

[thesocialgremlin]

I've been meaning to sit and write a proper post for a while. I am so exhausted with life. I'm so tired of being alive in this era. Why should I have to earn a living when I'm alive? Why am I slaving my life, my body, my hopes, my dreams, my relationships, everything and anything that ever mattered to me. Why indeed?

My dad slaved away, but at least he could sustain his wife and three kids. Meanwhile, most people my age have to put in the same effort, just so they can afford a roof to starve under. And why? All so some rich asshole can have more money than they can even conceive?

Since Covid "ended", the cost of life skyrocketed. I've been working in the retail industry, different places since then. Retail prices used to be cost plus 30, 35%. Now, it's cost plus 40, 50, 80% on lower priced items. And why?

I can assure the wages haven't changed. What has changed is record breaking numbers every fucking quarters. Management going off on extravagant meetings outside of this forsaken country. I'm trying so hard to survive, to get by, working for these people who waste wealth when their people desperately need it.

I'm so over it, my hands are shaking as I type. They could have their fancy meeting in a fancy hotel in the city. Instead, they flaunt hundreds of thousands to get their ass down South while leaving the baseline staff to handle affairs.

Mind you, affairs seem to run hella smoother without management than it would if even one or two of the baseline stepped out for a day.

We don't need them to do our job, but they need us to make their money. They tell us it's like a family, and they treat us like it; work hard, go above and beyond, all day, every day. Do it all, we'll give you a pat on the back. A freebie you never asked for to make you feel better. Anything but pay you and treat you with human dignity and respect. The same dignity and respect we DESERVE because we are ALIVE and we are PEOPLE.

The world is broken.

I never wished for anything extravagant; If I were living on my terms, I'd happily live in a small shack, working part time in a cafe, dedicating myself to all the writing and reading and researching and adventuring my soul craves.

Instead, I'm caught grinding my soul away. My life beating to the rhythm of a business shamelessly exploiting me. My hopes and dreams to live my own life wither as my government choses to wage war on vulnerable children instead of fixing any real problems.

All I wanted was to live a peaceful life and make art. I had no agenda but to live my life. Now, I have to fight for the life stolen from me, so the next generation may yet see a better world.

[theeverdream]

btw the tag below means more like training your pet rat or cat or guinea pig because you have a bond with them and not stuff like exploiting animals for the entertainment industry or you know stuff like that so yeah hopefully that makes sense I'm tired I don't know. I just trained my guinea pig and my cat to do stuff and so I love seeing people train animals in that way and giving them a chance and not being like Oh well they're stupid animals they're not going to know anything they're not dogs so of course they're not trainable

[raynerwilde-kjrp]

Character Info

Name: Rowan William Palmer

Alias: Rayner Wilde

Affiliation: Killjoys Better Living Industries

Age: 24

Gender: male

Pronouns: He/him

Looks: 5′7″ tall, curly dark brown hair, brown eyes, often seen wearing dark clothes and goggles, sinewy frame, often slouches.

Language: Old English, Middle English, Early Modern English, Modern English, Spanish

Interests: Reading, writing, chemistry, badminton

Backstory: Coming from a family of wealth and entrepreneurship, Rowan achieved his double-major BA with First-Class honours in English and Chemistry, with two Master's in English literature and Experimental Chemistry. His English thesis, focusing on the close connection of sound and literary form, was well received by the city’s university. Now in his second year of his PhD for Romanticist and Gothic literature, Rowan continues to excel in academia in literary studies.

                  Update: Palmer has abandoned academia for the zones, see file RWP-3473 for reward for his capture and re-education negotiated by family in [ERROR]

Note: Watch for signs of burnout and fatigue as his advisor has noted these changes in previous semesters.

Mod:

Name's K but I mainly go by Crylock! She/her or they/them I'm not picky :) Please note that I am over 21 so only interact if you are 16+. My writing tends to focus on speculative fiction and posthumanist fiction since that's what I focused on in my graduate years, but I am open to writing any genre or format other than smut.

Book and history nerd extraordinare. I also do @cybershadow @phant0mspades and @bli-jason-melwas

You can literally message me anytime about just about anything.

Rules:

- I’m not comfortable doing smut. Do not ask.

- If you want to make a plot or send an ask that involves my characters, ask or let me know first. Do not rewrite my arcs or characters or copy my arcs or characters. I will block you if you do.  

- I can write starters either as a post or as an ask. Just let me know if you want me to and if you have a preference.

- I can’t believe I have to write this one. Don’t talk behind my back or backstab me or any of that. I’m here to have fun and improve my writing, not deal with drama and bullshit. That’s an automatic block if I catch you.  

- Be patient, please. I have severe anxiety and suffer from health issues that are currently being monitored with a heavy dose of medication. If I ask/say/clarify something that seems redundant, please work with me because I’m probably having an off day.

Please Note: Rowan is tired and worn-down. He faces extreme familial pressure to seek a high education and has really been forced into doing things and going higher as an academic. Does he want to? He hasn’t figured that out. He will get irritable at times and sometimes will ramble about literary theory and oddly specific topics that he studies (sound as literature, posthumanism, and Romanticism). This blog will highlight the positives and negatives of academia, and how it is both a pathway to further learning but also exploitive of new ideas and young graduate students. Everything here is inspired by my own experiences in grad school, and it should be considered only one experience among many. Do not take this blog as discouragement from pursuing academia if that is what you want to do; Rowan’s experiences, along with mine, are not the truth for everyone.