#interestingly some of them DO have shit to say about larries

[jlf23tumble]

"but go on and send me some links to 'big' and real pubs that are somehow trashing louis" FITF review by Alim Kheraj, the Guardian. A Harry fan. Walls review by Ashley Bardhan, Pitchfork. A Harry fan. Walls review by Alexandra Pollard, Independent. A Harry fan. All these reviews counted towards the metacritic score.

[ialwaysknewyouwerepunk]

Omg Ella would you be interested in doing a rant on Louis' mv trilogy the director's cut?? Bc tbh it speaks volumes imo

okay okay oKAY

sorry, kind anon, for the wait!! i really needed to finish the fine line analyses before getting into anything else and now i'm ready to do a deep deep dive into everything louis <3

i'm going to give this as much love and attention as i can bc this masterpiece of a mv trilogy deserves nothing less. i decided to make some sort of transcription of the whole thing since close readings are my comfort zone

heads-up bc there’ll be more blatant larrying than i’ve done until now in my own lil posts, so you’ve been warned :*

director's cut: we made it

start: heartbeat, someone falls into some deep ass water

(young man voiceover: joe, flashes of the storyline) "i always said i'd stop eventually. the longer you go, the bigger the chance of messing it all up. the more you forget yourself. it's time(?). the walls are closing in fast."

(interestingly, in the short cut we made it mv, it's the female lead doing the voiceover here, saying: "it's in these moments. when you're there, everything falls away" - focus on love story + as long as i have you, everything will be alright)

(we made it starts playing. i will do a close reading of this very very soon)

couple by the fire: joe and female lead (we'll call her miki since that's the actor's name, and the male lead actor's name is joe so it's easier that way)

louis in an arcade, in front of a rainbow spinning wheel (nothing is random with louis)

miki by the bar, joe with her. (how they met, i assume). masked joe jumps into car, yelling "go go go go!", panting, car speeds off. joe and miki in bed, happy. louis on the beach <3 joe putting cash money in bag, places the bag in a closet. joe is wearing a thick silver ring on his left ring finger - so miki and joe are married? spinning pier. miki on balcony, white tshirt and sunnies (remind you of something?) joe hands over the bag with money to other man. joe and miki in same arcade as louis - at 2:49 pass a game called 'x-quacker'

joe on the phone. joe and miki discussing shit in the arcade, miki is upset. both of them in a different setting, in front of a window:

m: "joe? don't do this. it won't stop. he'll keep using and using you"

j: "he's always looked after me. you're just worried something will happen"

"something will happen. if it's not this time then it's the next. you're replaceable.”

"i've gotta do it."

"i know him better than you ever will, he's my dad. you need to get as far away from him as you can"

"look, it's happening. i ain't got a choice."

joe in water again, couple on beach. joe leaves her

joe with mask propped up on his head, voiceover of older man: "i've known you since you was a little kid. i loved your family and how far we went back. all i ask is for loyalty."

(don't let it break your heart starts)

louis and joe with group of men on football field, in the pub

older man enters the pub, gives joe a glare. then all of the men from the table in the pub, incl louis, are in a dark space, around a table, the older man is at the head. joe enters and the man addresses him: "nice of you to join us, son. sit down. so like i was saying (gives instructions for where to drive. louis will be driving, it's a plan for some kind of robbery). we're in, we are out. no mistakes. understood? are we clear?" (...) "this is why i'm the brains of the outfit, son. alright? so you got nothing to worry about. all you gotta remember is put your fucking mask on."

older man is in a pub, hands an envelope to other man. back in the dark meeting place, others are leaving, older man calls out: "joe? can i have a word?" (joe walks up to him) "what's up?"

"what do you mean, what's up?"

"you've not been the same, son. something's on your mind. why don't you tell me."

"i'm fine."

"don't lie to me, joe."

"i was thinking, after all this is done i'd have a little breather."

"so you asking me this or are you telling me?"

"i'm telling you."

"i decide what you do and when you do it, understand? (pats his cheek condescendingly) good boy. go on, on your way."

louis in car, others get in and he takes off. masks on. block van with cash, man inside who was bribed hands it all over. load the cash out of the trunk, louis and joe slap hands, it was a success. joe drives the car back but takes the bag with money with him: old man notices the trunk is empty: they’ve left with the money

"listen to me (other man's name, cyril? idk), i want you to go and find him. and i want you to hurt him. do whatever you gotta do to make him talk, and get my money back. and once you've done that, you take him for a nice little walk." (smiles like a creep and orders another man to make him a cup of tea with a snap of his fingers)

silence, black screen, motorcycle on empty road

kill my mind starts

louis is on stage, everything is red and black. smiles <3 miki is in the venue, watching the performance. joe pulls up, was driving the bike, doesn't notice someone in a car watching him. joe enters the venue, finds her. she's surprised and happy to see him ("what the fuck, joe"(?)", they kiss, leave the venue, get on the bike together and drive off. they're by the coast, the person in the car followed them. they dance, they kiss. two men approach them, they notice, and joe jumps from the cliff. miki stares after him. the two men leave her. call the old man: "talk to me."

"he's gone."

"shut up. what, with my money?"

"he jumped. there's no way he could've survived that."

"fff......."

opening shot of joe in the water: opens his eyes and swims to the surface, walks out of the ocean with bare chest like neptune himself, into the arms of miki, who was waiting for him on the shore. louis getting money out of a locker and taking it - he was in on joe's plan

only the brave plays, credits roll

kmm alternate ending in short cut mv: louis on the beach with another interesting background 🏳️‍🌈 i repeat: nothing is random, everything is deliberate 

in which lil nas x’s infamous tweet haunts my every waking hour:

OKAY

so first of all, how gorgeous is louis. he always is but wOW

the visuals of the we made it mv is so stunning. that sunset, that beach, the pier... breathtaking.

first of all, the storyline: we have a situation where a bunch of young men, including louis and the protagonist, are in some sort of gang, manipulated by some condescending Big Boss who has a way with words that is a mixture between father, teacher and businessman. joe is being manipulated into working for him, since he clearly wants to stop and even makes that clear. joe wants out after the robbery, and miki wants him out before, but joe is determined. he has a plan, because he can’t walk away anyway: he’ll steal the money from the boss. he (and louis) come out on top. oh and love wins, btw.

louis is the mastermind behind everything, always, so i will be drawing direct parallels to him and his life. nothing is deliberate, ever ever ever, so i feel confident in reading into every little word. this is louis’s way of telling us his story.

“how involved were you? how much of this was your idea, how much input do you have?”

the opening lines are already very telling. we have the title of the album in there, but as a threatening feeling: “the walls are closing in fast”. he has to do something soon or it’ll be too late, there’ll be no way out

before that, however, joe says something even more telling: “the longer you go, the bigger the chance of messing it all up. the more you forget yourself”. he’s caught up in a web of lies, plans, connections, and one wrong move feels like he could make everything collapse. things others have built on him will come down and it will be all his fault. and all of this moving for others, this working according to other people’s plans, has taken a toll on him: he doesn’t know who he is anymore (remind you of something?)

the power dynamic and struggle scream louis fighting people in the industry. he’s never made it a secret of experiencing shit, although he’s never been as obvious as he was in this video. a Boss abusing his power, manipulating him, pulling the strings. “i decide what you do and when you do it.” the abusive “he's always looked after me” narrative. many have laid the parallel, and i think it’s safe to assume this boss persona represents simon cowell (the actor honestly kinda looks like him idk), who always pulled the strings with 1d and later, undoubtedly, in louis’s solo career too. the tiny but not insignificant detail of louis and both the main characters walking pas an arcade game called ‘x-quackers’, which is a play on x-factor, ridiculing it, definitely points us in that direction. 

louis didn’t have a choice but to follow instructions, or tons and tons of consequences would come down on him (or at least that’s what he was told) and he would be blamed for everything going wrong. there’s always a lot of money in the mix, too. and the only way for everything to go flawlessly, is to “put your fucking mask on”, for louis hide who he truly is. louis doesn’t matter to The Man, simon/..., because he’s replaceable, the only thing that matters is the money that he can bring in.

that this story represents joe (and louis) coming out on top, getting away with the one they love and fucking over the boss on the way, screams of hope, of faith in the future. it’s louis proving to us that he’s in on it, he’s got a plan and he’ll make sure he plays the game (like joe did one last robbery) until he can get out without getting fucked over anymore.

and to finish us off with only the brave, undoubtedly the most blatantly gay song on his album, is, you know.... just random. not a message at all

VISUAL EASTER EGGS

the rainbow spinning wheel

others have made this comparison already, and i find it way too good not to mention: the exact same visuals are used in a music video for a song by alfie arcuri, ‘if they only knew’, which is all gay pining (ft lovely lyrics such as “our love is just another shade of blue”)

this yt comment summarises just perfectly why there’s a not-so-subtle link:

but yeah, NOTHING is there without a reason. louis places himself in that gay storyline, in front of his colors, loud and proud

girlie on the balcony

who looks an awful lot like our bestie (i beg you to look at the shape of the glasses)

parallels with papillon

a movie linked before to louis and harry, thank you @dulcetghost for the amazing overview. all credits to them, and go read their entire post on the matter bc it’s amazing and ties in harry’s butterfly (papillon in french) tattoo and louis’s skull and card suit tats as well as lights up’s parallels with the movie and the kmm mv as well. this is how they explain the movie (i shortened it a bit to spare my post a little):

“Now, quick rundown on Papillon in case you don’t know what it is (...), it is a 1973 film (...) about these two prisoners named Henri and Louis and at the end of the movie (spoiler) Henri decides to escape the island that they’re on my jumping off a cliff into the ocean on a makeshift raft. The two characters had a very close bond after being in prison together for most of their lives, (...). You can pretty much see why Harry & Louis might feel connected to this film in some way. (Imprisoned, desiring to break free) Also @ KMM lyrics: “Kept me living, From the last time, From a prison of a past life.”

other larry parallels bc i needed to

yes i obviously needed to make a gif of lights up and the red light and motorcycle love they also have going on there <3 no relation obvs

so yeah, that’s definitely extremely interesting ! !! (and then we haven’t even mentioned the walls mv)

general inspiration: oasis, the gallaghers and shane meadows

charlie lightening, who has worked with the gallaghers, who is obviously a huge inspiration for louis, named shane meadows as the main inspiration for this trilogy. meadows is especially known for his movie this is england (working-class people on the foreground) and has worked with liam gallagher.

sooooooo yeah.

i probably forgot to mention tons and tons of shit but i think this is the essence. and we didn’t even look at the lyrics yet 

thanks for coming on the ride!! 

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

World War Z was published in 2006, but takes place in 2009 at the earliest.  Late in the book, astronaut Terry Knox states that the International Space Station took over 10 years to complete; it started construction in November 1998, and Chief of Staff Karl Rove Grover Carlson says that the Republican party barely eked back into power after a disastrous 2-termer who started a “brush fire war” in the Middle East (George W. Bush).  He mentions an election year, but he doesn’t specify if it was the new president’s first or second term, so it’s either set right after 2008 or 2012.  This was written before the Nintendo Wii was announced, but one chapter mentions that people brought their GameCubes with them as they fled their homes in search of safety in the frozen Canadian wilderness.  This same chapter also mentions that they didn’t know how to pick survival gear; a park ranger finds a SpongeBob SquarePants sleeping bag frozen in the mud because its owner didn’t know the difference between a child’s indoor sleeping bag for slumber parties and a real insulated survival bag for camping.

The new president is never named, he’s just told be be pro-big business and anti-regulation, pushing a placebo zombie vaccine through the FDA to jumpstart the economy.  When shit hits the fan, he is “sedated” and his vice president takes power; we’re never told what happened to the president, whether he was bitten or had a stroke, just that he was “sedated.”  His Vice President is directly implied to be Colin Powell; he’s former military with family in Jamaica and black.  He appoints Howard Dean to be his vice president to form a bipartisan coalition; he is never referred to by name, but it is clearly supposed to be Howard Dean.  He was a rising star in the Democratic party from Vermont whose wife is a doctor and whose career imploded after he had a passionate outburst.  In 2004, Howard Dean gave a speech where he started passinately screaming about how he was gonna start sweeping state primaries and ride a wave into the White House, punctuating his point by going “HHEEUEAHHGH!!”  This was political suicide in 2004, and he was laughed out of the race.  In the book, he is referred to only as “the Whacko” because of this.  It is implied that he was Powell’s second choice for VP, his first being Barack Obama; the Whacko says that the Democrats wanted somebody else, somebody of the same skin color as the president, but that the country wasn’t ready for that.  In 2004, Obama was a candidate for senate in Illinois, so popular and so well spoken that he gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention before he even won his seat; then and there, pundits already had him pegged as the first black president, they could see the writing on the walls.  The Whacko becomes president when Powell dies of stress, but he is consistently referred to only as the wartime Vice President, out of respect for his boss.

Also, the Attorney General is implied to be Rudy Giuliani; all that is said about him was that he was the mayor of New York and once tried to give himself emergency powers to stay in office after his term.  Giuliani did exactly that after 9/11.

Other real life figures mentioned in the book

Fidel Castro; a ton of Cuban Americans flee the continent and return to the island during the zombie war, and he jumpstarts the economy by putting them to work as cheap laborers and slowly integrating them back into Cuban society.  He rehabilitates his image by stepping down as dictator and democratizing the country, voting himself out of office before the “nortecubanos” could hang him for decades of war crimes.

Nelson Mendela, referred to by his birth name Rolihlahla, the father of modern South Africa, he personally invites Paul Redekker, a former apartheid era political analyst, to solve the zombie problem; in the 80s, Redekker created a plan for the white minority government in case the black majority ever rose up against them.  In real life, Mandela lowered the temperature when he was elected president, saying that revenge against the apartheid government would do more harm than good.  In the story, Mandela uses this as justification to reuse the apartheid era plan to handle the zombie outbreak instead.  Redekker is so overcome by his compassion and forgiveness that he has a mental episode and dissociates, believing himself to be a black South African.

Kim Jong-il, the dictator of North Korea, he withdraws all troops from the DMZ and shuts the entire country down.  After months of radio silence, it is revealed that the entire country’s population has vanished; all satellite imagery shows a desolate wasteland, no zombies, but no humans either. He presumably moved everyone into subterranean bunker systems where he not only control their lives as on the surface, but now their access to food, water, and air.  He presumably became the god emperor he always wanted to be; either that, or the entire tunnel complex has been overrun, turning every man woman and child in North Korea into zombies.  The South Korean government refuses to send a expedition into the North to figure out what happened, lest they open up one of the tunnels and unleash millions of zombies onto the surface.

Martin Scorsese, mentioned in passing only as “Marty,” a friend of world famous film director Roy Elliot, who himself is a thinly veiled pastiche of Steven Spielberg.  Interestingly enough, the audio book features Martin Scorsese doing the voice of the conartist who created the placebo vaccine

One chapter has a ton of vapid celebrities hole together in a fortified mansion on Long Island, and takes great care to show each of them getting torn apart not by zombies but by regular people who storm the facility because they were stupid enough to broadcast their location on reality television.  A redneck with a “Get’er Done” hat (Larry the Cable Guy) and some bald guy with diamond earrings (Howie Mandel) blow themselves up with a grenade.  Rival political commentators, an annoying guy who talks about feminization of western society and a leathery blonde (Bill Maher and Ann Coulter) have end-of-the-world viking sex as the facility burns to the ground.  A dumb starlet (Paris Hilton) is killed by one of her handlers and her little rat dog escapes on foot.  A radio shock jock (Howard Stern) actually survives the war and restarts his show.

Michael Stipe of REM joins the army to fight the zombies

Another war veteran mentions how his brother used to have a bunch of Mel Brooks’ old comedy skits on vinyl record, and how he and his squad acted out the “Boy meets Girl” puppet skit with some human skulls.  Mel Brooks is author and narrator Max Brooks’ father.

Queen Elizabeth II, refuses to evacuate England when the island is overrun by zombies.  She intends to remain in Buckingham Palace “for the duration,” mirroring the fact that her parents refused to evacuate to Canada during World War II.

Vladimir Putin declares himself Tsar of the Holy Russian Empire, an ultra-orthodox religious state that has armed priests execute political dissidents under the guise of mercy killing people who have been bitten by zombies.

Yang Liwei, the first “taikonaut” (Chinese astronaut) has a space station named after him

While the main conflict is about government responses to the zombie pandemic, we see glimpses of a greater war torn planet.

A major plot line involves a Chinese Civil War which sees the entire communist politburo nuked out of existence by a rebel sub commander, as well as an attempted “scorched space policy” where the government planned to blow up their space station with scuttling charges to cause a cascade of space debris to encircle the Earth and prevent any other countries from launching missions in the future (this is known as Kessler Syndrome in real life, and was featured as the inciting incident of the 2013 movie Gravity).  The People’s Republic becomes the United Federation.

Iran and Pakistan destroy each other in nuclear war; everyone thought it would be India and Pakistan, but they had very close diplomatic infrastructure in place to prevent such a catastrophe; Pakistan helped Iran build a nuclear arsenal, but as millions of refugees fled from India through Pakistan to the east, Iran had to blow up some Pakistani bridges to stem the flow of zombies, which led to a border war and eventually total nuclear retaliation.

Floridians flee to Cuba, Wisconsinites flee to Canada, the federal government flees to Hawaii.  Everything east of the Rockies is abandoned and ruled by warlords until the government sorts itself out and mounts an expedition to clear the continent of zombies by literally marching an unbroken line of soldiers stretching from Canada to Mexico across the wasteland to the Atlantic.

Israel withdraws from Gaza and the West Bank to become super isolationist, building a wall around the entire country to stop the zombies getting in (they were the first country to respond to the pandemic, and the most successful), but the religious right rebels against the secular left in a civil war that sees Jerusalem ceded to a unified Palestine.

It is an amazing, multifaceted story with so much going on that nobody recognizes.  It was written as a response to the end of the Cold War and the start of the War on Terror.  It’s about a geopolitical shift, a change in the status quo, a disaster from which the world never recovers; America before 9/11 was a very different place than American after 9/11.  Iraq and Afghanistan changed everything, and we’re still feeling their effects to this day; the story uses the zombie apocalypse as the next big international disaster the world must adapt to.  World War Z is World War III with zombies, and I think it would do a lot better if it were published today, now that we’ve had several decades to respond to the fall of the Soviet Union and the endless wars in the Middle East and a global pandemic.

[thisiskatsblog]

You know what, if larry isn’t real, I Wanna ask louis why he got the dagger tattoo that is perfectly complementary with Harry’s rose. its so ?? and its not like were making things up that its a matching one. He deadass got one and hets are like ok but L got an E tattoo which points to elk and i’m like uhm u serious it can also stand for edward so 👀

I dig the Edward theory, anon! 

The dagger tattoo is perhaps the most significant of them all. Not because he got it, after a year, but because of the timing that he got it. November 2014 was one hell of a fucking ride. Looking at all the facts, it was one loud scream for freedom and a big fuck you to everyone keeping them in the closet. It was as loud as he could get. And it was necessary. 

A quick recap of the preceding events:

2012: Louis and Harry start getting complimentary tattoos - mostly nautical - here a (non exhaustive i think) overview

Source: 78.media.tumblr.com

September 2013: Harry gets the rose, fans start speculating that Louis might get a dagger, but they get the anatomical heart and arrow. No dagger for a year.

….

30 October 2014: Apple CEO Tim Cook comes out as gay at which occasion the rainbow apple logo is revived by the papers. Interestingly the “not that important” and “don’t knock it til you try it” interviews are taped that same day. The fandom is still blissfully unaware though. 

3 November: The  “not that important” interview comes out - in short, asked which traits they find important in a girl, Liam says “female”, and Harry replies “not that important”. 

4 November: Harry’s statement is all over the papers and speculations become loud, everyone is asking: did he just come out as bisexual? Harry instagrams an armchair captioning “seated”. Might as well have said “where is the popcorn?”

5 November: Rainbow Direction launches the rainbow heart badges to show support to Harry’s “coming out” of sorts and create safe spaces for fans to discuss LGBTQ+issues - 22.000 people download them to their profiles that week - rainbow hearts are everywhere.

Later that same day, the live FOUR hangout is announced for Sunday Nov 9th and fans can send in their questions.

7 November: Louis shows up at the X factor rehearsal wearing a rainbow apple shirt. Considering context of the past week’s events, a LOT of people see that as support to Harry, and Tim Cook

9 November: The Independent’s Jenn Selby ’s article is published saying “Louis Tomlinson supports gay Apple CEO Tim Cook - days after Harry Styles’ comments on gender and sexuality” also referring to the fandom’s support for Harry with the rainbow hearts. This is how it’s featured on the front page:

That evening the FOUR hangout is broadcast and it’s the most akward interview ever. Rather than coming from fans, several of the questions seem to be set up to give Louis and Harry the opportunity to deny their rumoured sexuality/relationship . Except they don’t. (if you’re brave, watch 12 cringy long minutes from 8 to 20). Also, it’s November and it’s cold, but they are in their T shirts, matching tattoos out, and Louis keeps adjusting his boatneck “It is what it is”.  Also Liam asks “Have you read the article in the Independent?” Louis “No, is it good?” Liam “Yeah" 

10 November: We get papshots of Louis at the lawyer’s near Harry’s public house and he’s looking cheerful and therefore so are we, but that doesn’t last long. Late that afternoon shady agenda anons start imbuing the fandom with “it’s just the vintage apple logo” but we’re not having it. That evening, @Louis_Tomlinson tweets Jen Selby the same shit, but worse,it gets personal, it’s homophobic, it’s vicious and I’m not in a mood to recap or link it, may it disappear from the face of the earth. Interestingly a few minutes later followed by the more vague “Ridiculous I even have to tweet that shit” - some people think this is real Louis shading 1DHQ - we’ll never know - but I like to think so. 

11 November: Louis’ tweets to Selby get noticed and suddenly the story about that Independent article and @LT’s homophobic reaction is all over the place. Harry captions the following pic on his IG with “funny money”

???: Lottie :( on Twitter

14 November: Harry instagrams twice, one picture of a cracked wall saying “lovely view”, and another “no such green” which we think links to the funny money. 

15 November: The interview in which Harry says to Niall - “Don’t knock it til you try it” about sex with a man (also filmed 30 Oct) is aired. TMHFN/Rainbow Direction ask for an apology.

17 November: on Elounor’s anniversary, this appears on Jay’s Instagram

It’s is deleted minutes later and her twitter says it was a hack. 

Also, interestingly, Lottie tweets “no point in sorry when the damage is already done. some things can’t be forgiven”  

It’s a hectic few days, as while they are in Orlando, Zayn doesn’t show up for a gig, Harry serenades Louis, oh and news comes out that our beloved security guy/tour manager Paul quits. Supposedly something to do with Zayn. November 2014 was so wild on all levels. 

23 November: At the AMA’s Harry serenades Louis *again* and he also sits next to Louis’ parents. 

26 November: we see that Louis got the long anticipated dagger tattoo, a quote (given a chance), and a  second smiley xx) this time on his wrist

And in case we missed it, next shoot, he’s pointing right at it: 

I call that LOUD, LOUD, and LOUD. 

They were trying to break out of the closet in November 2014. Their family were trying to help them break them out of the closet in November 2014. Everyone wanted to help them break out of the closet in November 2014. 1DHQ pushed back. And Louis responded in the only way he could. I don’t see how you could interpret all of this any differently. 

[phdmama]

Ao3 filter

Thank you so much for the tag, @gingertodgers !! Let’s see what we got!!

rules: Go to your works page, expand all the filters, and answer the following questions!

1. What’s your first and second most common work ratings?

Explicit (30) Teen And Up Audiences (16) General Audiences (6) Mature (6)

Not surprising at all to me - I don’t tend to write gen.

2. What’s your most common archive warning? Least common? Do you consider yourself an adventurous writer?

No Archive Warnings Apply (53) Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings (5) Rape/Non-Con (1) Okay I am actually shocked I had any “Chose Not to Use” as that’s not how I roll, generally, so I had to go see what those were!  Huh, the thing I co-wrote with @a-writerwrites and some older stuff. Probably I didn’t understand!

I am not sure what it would mean to be an adventurous writer, as I think all writers are adventurous! I mean, I do write explicit and varied smut? I’ve also been accused of writing angst (*cough* @freetheankles *cough*). But I’ve also written things that make me laugh? So I don’t know. I do tend towards realism and concreteness because of who I am, so I haven’t done a lot of experimenting with form, unless you count the poetry.

3. How many fics have you written in each relationship category? Is this more accidental, or do you have preferences?

M/M (55) Gen (1) Other (1) Multi (1)

Uhhhh yeah, I have a preference. :-D And interestingly, when you click on Other/Multi, even though it says 1, nothing comes up so I don’t know what that’s about. The Gen fic is a timestamp for Feels Like Coming Home that is so brutal I can’t even read it.

4. What are your top 4 fandoms by numbers? Are you still active in any of them, and do you tend to migrate a lot?

One Direction (Band) (48) Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling (10)

I am actually still writing Larry but not sure what I’m going to do with the fic once they’re done because I’m not generally active in the fandom anymore (though I have so many mutuals who are, so I am up-to-date on all the drama). I read all over the place - I just said to @helloamhere that I realized that I am much more interested in writing and narrative and characters than I am in ship. That being said, if I don’t know the canon AT ALL, it’s harder for me to read. I don’t tend to migrate, I don’t think, other than the Stucky Incident this summer that seems to have, ha ha, stuck (and obviously I blame @vmohlere for that).

5. What are your top 4 character tags? Does this match how you feel about the characters, or are you puzzled?

Louis Tomlinson (43) Harry Styles (40) Niall Horan (18) Liam Payne (15) Zayn Malik (13)

Not surprising given how much more Larry I’ve written than Drarry. That may change over time, we’ll have to see!!

6. What are your top 2 most used additional tags, and your bottom 2? What would happen if you combined all 4 of these into a fic?

Top 2: Blow Jobs (12) Alternate Universe (10) Bottom 2: Hand Jobs (5)  Minor Zayn Malik/Liam Payne (5)

I mean, these are tags that could really encompass a variety of scenarios, dont’ you think??

7. How many WIPs do you have currently running on AO3? Any you don’t plan on finishing?

Interestingly, it’s not tagged as such but I have one from 2.5 years ago when I didn’t know myself well as a writer. I am not someone who can ever publish WIPs unless I publish something that’s already done but just... spread it out but honestly, I don’t have the impulse control for that. The way I write, there’s a lot of rewriting that needs to happen, a LOT of editing and making sure the later details fit with earlier stuff, not to mention the times where I write [uggh something has to happen here idk what SHIT] as a note to myself. So yeah, only the one and no, it’ll never get done.

8. Tag people!

I have no idea who’s done this or not so I’m gonna tag: @helloamhere @allwaswell16 @lululawrence @flamboyantommo @juliusschmidt @londonfoginacup @jaerie @icanhazzalou @fullonlarrie @rearviewdreamer @becomeawendybird @louandhazaf @suddenclarityharry @hazzabooween

[yaz-the-spaz]

Let’s play a game called looking at things objectively (and not with 1D/Ziam/Larry goggles on)

I get that a lot of people are angry at/resentful of the beards and a lot of the time I am too but it's important to remember that Perrie's story is very different from most of the other beards, who came into things most likely of their own accord and on their own terms, and not as young and naive teenagers forced into signing a contract by the same shitty manipulative people from the same shitty manipulative tv show preying on desperate kids that 1D was

Just for fun let’s go through all the big things that people in this fandom criticize Perrie for (putting the rest under the jump cause this got hella long):

#1) She’s “extra” and an attention whore

Reminder: Perrie was under the same contract with Modest/Syco the entire time she and Zayn were together and therefore obligated (just like Zayn was) to participate in stunts

Said stunts were NOT her idea; she was  repeatedly photoshopped and also directed and told where to stand and how to look, etc. for photo-ops just like Zayn was (This Is Us premiere video anyone?)

There’s this persistent idea within the fandom that she was complicit in stunts just because she appeared to be more willing/like she was putting in more of an effort than Zayn. I want to stress that appearing more believable doesn’t mean that she was more willing - just because someone seems to be playing along well doesn't mean they're a willing participant. I think a lot of this type of thinking stems from people directing their misguided anger over the situation at her (as opposed to at Syco/mgmt where it should be) - again I wanna stress this was a situation that she had no more control over than Zayn did. Just because she was better at selling it than Zayn sometimes doesn’t mean she necessarily liked it anymore than he did

I also want to point out that she had her share of times where it was clear she was putting on a fake smile and/or wasn’t interested/happy which people often miss because they’re not as familiar with Perrie or her expressions as they are with Zayn’s, or they just don’t bother to look into it at all

For example let’s compare these smiles here with these smiles here which to me look pretty forced (interestingly enough these are some of the few that Zayn actually looks quite convincing in lol)

There’s also this idea that she started out less than enthused/willing about the the situation but became more complicit in it with time, which again I think stems from the same thinking as above with the misguiding anger/blame. But based on what I’ve seen I would argue that she was no more willing at the end of it than she was in the beginning either

If you look at videos of her talking about the engagement she honestly seemed just as apathetic and 100% done as Zayn did most of the time when she answered and even more recently both she and the other girls consistently tried to swerve on the Zerrie break-up questions whenever they were brought up (also wanna point out how she looks pretty much the exact opposite of broken up over the end of her relationship in that second vid lmao). That's not the behavior of someone who's all of a sudden willing to participate. The only difference is it just doesn't get highlighted because a lot of the fandom doesn't pay attention to her since they see her as the villain (and feel the need to demonize her just for being involved even though it wasn’t her choice)

For example in this video she seems extremely sarcastic and apathetic almost the entire time she’s talking about the "wedding” - not at all the attitude you’d expect from a supposedly excited bride-to-be

And then there’s this gem where again she seems super apathetic while immediately shutting down any questions about it and interestingly the interviewer seems to imply the topic might have even gotten blacklisted (I wonder why? Could it be because mgmt knew she wasn’t “selling it” very well either???)

#2) She uses Zayn’s fame to her advantage

Reminder: Perrie was subject to the same manipulative bullshit the boys of 1D were, she was coached on what to say and how to say it to push a certain image and angle (and also just as likely as the boys to have had her words twisted and taken out of context)

Bringing up Zayn in an interview is not reflective of Perrie using his fame to her advantage (as a lot of people on here like to argue), that is her team/mgmt forcing her to say certain things (sometimes even in a certain way) that they can then use to their advantage while simultaneously creating a certain image of her in people's minds (for example, as the innocent victim [previous years] or the bitter ex who can't let go [more recently])

Sound familiar? That’s because it’s a tried and true PR tactic and an especially tried and true Modest/Syco tactic. We’ve seen it happen with the boys over and over again yet with Perrie it gets dismissed as her “looking for attention” or “using his fame for her own advantage” as opposed to her being told/made to say these things to push the official narrative, which is what it actually is

#3) She’s racist (and dumb)

This is probably the main/biggest reason a lot of people have for hating her and on the surface it’s understandable but let’s break down the evidence shall we?

Most people cite the time she called Zayn and his family Indian in this totally verifiable and trustworthy magazine (can you hear me rolling my eyes?)

First off one of the biggest things we always reiterate in this fandom is DO NOT TRUST PRINT VERSIONS OF THE BOYS. So why then would we accept something that “print” Perrie has said in one random print interview as 100% Bonafide Certifiable Truth™??? Four words: Confirmation Bias and Double Standards. Perrie, as far as I know, has never referred to Zayn or his family as Indian in any other video interviews, performances, or on social media (or even in any other print interview for that matter). It was literally just the one time and on some shady ass news site no less - which leads me to believe that either the “interviewer” fucked up or someone in mgmt fucked up as far as coming up with a decent quote - and people jumped all over it because it confirmed what they wanted to believe, that Perrie is somehow the Devil Incarnate™ for being involved in something she again had no choice over and most likely didn’t even say out of her own mouth

As for the cultural appropriation allegations, I wanna make it clear I don’t condone that shit and as far as this whole post goes I do want to point out that I am a POC and the absolute last person to defend white people when it comes to their racist shit (check my #racism, #black lives matter, and #black excellence tags if you don’t believe me) so don’t even try to come at me with any “stop defending the racist little white girl” bs 

However, I do want to point how fishy it is that even after being called out for cultural appropriation multiple times her team continues to style her (clothes, hair, make-up) in traditional non-white styles (dread locks, indian and native american-like make-up and clothes, etc.) for promo and music videos knowing full-well, I’m sure, the reaction it’s going to provoke, which is why I think it’s important to bring up something we saw with 1D

Remember how they planned out down to the exact colors how each boy would be dressed to push a certain image? There’s no doubt in my mind that there’s a similar theme at play here 

Her team knows it will rile people up and get their attention on Perrie and LM and as the saying goes “no press is bad press” which by extension makes me suspect of the culturally appropriating things she’s done outside of music-related events, on social media for example. Were they really her idea/something she did on her own and decided to post or were they stunts used to push a larger narrative of Perrie as the “dumb racist blonde?” We’ll probably never know but given how we’ve seen seen clothing styles and especially social media posts being used to push official narratives (like Liam and Louis being homophobic) in the past, I have to admit I’m skeptical of it being all on her, especially considering the fact that I’ve never seen/heard her say anything racist out of her own mouth (although feel free to correct me if there’s proof otherwise) and that if she did I have a feeling Leigh or Jade would likely immediately call her out on it. And as we’ve learned with the boys when projected images of a person don’t match up with the things they actually do and say in real life that’s when thing start to get sketchy

In conclusion I think it’s time we stop acting like Perrie and LM haven’t had to deal with some of the same shit as 1D over the years

 All ll I’m doing is taking the same exact logic we’ve used in analyzing the boys and the shit we’ve seen happen to them and applying it to Perrie and LM who, having been under the same mgmt and label, were and still are subject to much of the same bs

[beverlymunoz]

Profile of a Possible Savior: King Rice

Can King David slay the blueblood giants?

Several intrepid BTP message board posters have put forth the argument that to be like the bluebloods, you need a blueblood at the helm. Roy Williams' coaching tree is surprisingly thin, and Coach K's protégés have had uneven success. But what about the Great Schnozz, Dean Smith? Dean's coaching tree includes the likes of Ol' Roy, Larry Brown, and George Karl, among many others. There's a lot of gross in that last sentence, but you can't argue that they've won a lot of basketball games.

Smith's former floor general, King David Rice, is taking an anything but storied Monmouth program to new heights, and, unlike the names above, Rice is not 106 years old. The former Tar Heel point guard is an up and comer, and it's just a matter of time before he's hired for a higher profile position.

Important Questions, In Rough Order Of Importance:

1. Has he coached teams that have won a national title, made multiple deep NCAA tournament runs, and/or consistently been highly ranked?

Well, no. Rice is in his sixth season at Monmouth, which is coming off a program record 28-win season but has not yet reached the NCAAs or been ranked under his leadership. The program has NEVER been ranked, in fact, but currently sits in vaunted "others receiving votes" territory in the AP poll. The Hawks are 23-5 and have a four-game lead in the MAAC standings this year but will probably need to avoid another slip up in the conference tournament to ensure a bid. That 51st ranking in RPI is impressive for a team from a lower tier conference, but it probably won't make for an at-large bid.

Of course as a player Rice went to the NCAA tournament in each of his seasons running Smith's offense, including a Final Four trip in his senior season, 1991, and never failed to make the Sweet 16.

2. Has he built a program from the ground up?

Absolutely, though it took some time. Rice took over a program that had posted a losing record for five consecutive seasons. It took him until his fourth season to post a winning record, but in the past two years the team is 51-13.

3. Has he substantially improved the program from when he took over?

In Monmouth's 34-year history, only once did it lose fewer than 10 games in a season before Rice took over. The Hawks should do so for a second consecutive season this year. Monmouth has made the Dance four times but never won a game save for one of those play-in deals against Hampton; if Rice can get in this year and pull off an upset, they'll probably erect a statue in picturesque West Long Branch, NJ. And winning a tourney game isn't such a stretch when you consider that Rice knocked off a ranked Notre Dame squad last year (not to mention UCLA, USC-West, Georgetown, and Rutgers). Princeton is the team's lone RPI top 100 win this season, but they did take Frank Martin's USC-East squad to overtime. Monmouth beating genuinely solid basketball programs simply did not happen pre-Rice.

4. Has he succeeded at more than one head coaching job?

Monmouth is Rice's lone head-coaching gig thus far unless you count a three-year stint as head man of the Bahamian National Team. (I didn't make that up.)

5. Does he have significant high-major experience as either a head coach or an assistant?

Rice had a brief stint as an assistant at Oregon and Providence but most of his assisting has come under the tutelage of Kevin Stallings at both Illinois State and Vanderbilt. Vandy made the dance in four of his six seasons as Stallings' assistant, but Stallings is perhaps the lone coach in the ACC I'd take Mark Gottfried over, so I'm not sure this is a big positive.

6. Is his team one of the best in its conference right now?

The Hawks are by far the class of the MAAC, ranking 86th (which is 22 spots ahead of NC State) in KenPom Land. Iona is second in the league at 115th. They were a top 100 team last year as well, finishing 95th. They'll win the MAAC regular season title for a second straight season this year.

7. Do his teams actually play, what is this thing called, "defense"?

The MAAC is such a far cry from the ACC that it's hard to say what kind of team he might put on the floor at NC State, but the metrics aren't overly kind in this regard from a national standpoint. The Hawks were a pretty solid (considering the adjustment for competition) 68th in this regard overall last year, which was first in the MAAC by a good margin. They've slipped to 98th this year, but that's still second only to St. Peter's in their league. Could we then project that a Rice-coached Pack would be a top two defense in the ACC? Ha. Nope. But his dominating results against like competition at least suggest that he has a philosophy that goes beyond "They got to guard us too, pal."

Monmouth used a matchup zone defense pre-Rice, who prefers an attacking man-to-man. His current squad ranks 60th in the NCAA in block percentage and 100th in steal rate, so they create a good bit more havoc than NC State which ranks 102nd and 301st in those measures. Monmouth is impressive in field goal defense, where they hold opponents to a 47.1 eFG%, good for 47th in the country, but that's coming against some truly anemic offenses. The Hawks are tied for 114th in total rebounding percentage (51.1), so Rice hasn't exactly been able to replicate UNC's kill everyone on the boards philosophy. There's nowhere to go but up here for NC State, but nothing in Rice's brief tenure so far confidently suggests that he would bring a top 25 defense to Raleigh.

8. So how about offense?

The offense mirrors the defense for Monmouth this year; the Hawks are 99th in KenPom. Hey howabout that for consistency: 99th in offense and 98th in defense. Breaking in to the top 100 is a first for Rice, as his team was just 131st in their breakout, 28-win season a year ago.

Though his defenses have been a little ahead of his offenses—and that is somewhat encouraging as an undermanned team in the ACC, which State will likely be after a coaching transition, will likely need to hang its hat on defense to compete until the roster improves—Rice's offenses probably hold the most long-term promise. He wants to run like his Heels did and do, and encourages his players to get a shot up within the first five seconds of the shot clock if a good shot is available. Stallings (kind of the balding, non-philandering version of Gott as a one-dimensional, offense-first coach) typically has efficient, fast-paced offenses, and Rice of course learned from both Stallings and Smith's high-octane teams. With the right players, a Rice-coached Pack could put on a show.

9. Any indication that he can recruit McDonald's All-American-type players?

Rice was a Burger Boy himself and, as a native New Yorker and New Jersey coach, has ties to the NYC pipeline that's been very good to NC State in the past, though, interestingly, the team's most highly-touted recruits all hail from Texas. He's only pulled in one guy, Je'Lon Hornbeak, who garnered four stars from any recruiting site (Rivals), and he was a transfer from Oklahoma. Pierre Sarr and Micah Seaborn were consensus three-star recruits. All three are from the Lone Star State.

We're talking Monmouth here. It's impressive if he has anyone that even garnered a ranking. With that UNC pedigree and relative youthfulness—Rice is just 48—I think he would be a successful recruiter. Really, recruiting hasn't been NC State's problem. It's what the coaches have done (or failed to do) with said recruits that's at issue.

10. Does he have any connection to NC State, North Carolina, or the ACC?

He played for UNC.

11. Any other random red flags or positives?

Rice was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend while at UNC and readily admits that his preference for partying over basketball as a Tar Heel cost him any chance for a professional career as a player. He very well could've lost his coaching career when he was arrested for DUI while serving as Stallings' assistant at SIU. But, to his credit, Rice got his shit together. He entered a rehab facility after the DUI and is now 17 years sober. (As a raging alcoholic myself, that is pretty impressive. Good on ya, King.)

Rice regularly welcomes "at-risk" youth to Monmouth and volunteers for speaking engagements to share his personal experience of coming from nothing—his father never learned to read and his large family was supported solely from his mom's income as a secretary—and rising out of that situation only to nearly throw it away due to substance abuse. Rice, who I must say I loathed as much as any Tar Heel ever when he was in the powder blue, genuinely seems to have matured into a decent human who wants to make a difference in the lives of his players and in his community. Rice and former teammate Rick Fox even started a foundation to mentor kids and provide them with scholarships (though it appears said non-profit is now out of existence).

Of course we would be remiss not to mention that, as a UNC player, Rice was (allegedly) part of a system of academic fraud designed to keep athletes eligible to play sports ball. I suppose his time predates the scope of the allegations, but do we really for one second think that he and his teammates weren't "schooling" on an uneven playing, uh, chalkboard? And do we care if we win and don't get caught (or punished too harshly)?

Summary:

Would he be better than Gottfried?

This questions makes it hard, so hard, not to be cruel. Fuckin' A, man. Day-old leftover lo mein would be better than Gott at this point. But if we harken back to feel-good Gott of the original Sweet 16 run, then who knows. Rice is a lottery ticket and most of those don't scratch the way you want them too, but a middle school coach in Russia (or Bahamian National Team coach) is a step up from Gott at this moment in time. I'd wager that he might not make the Dance four times in six years but that the program would be on an upward swing in year six if he was given the time and patience from the fan base and administration to build something.

OK, so what is his ceiling?

I'm given pause by how long it took him to turn Monmouth around. Can WPN wait until year five to be really good? Can WPN wait until year four simply not to suck? But if Rice could speed that mess up a little this time, he might find himself being uniquely positioned as the hot thing in the ACC as oldass rivals like Ol' Roy, K, Yankee Nose Picker, and Slick Rick Pitino die of heart attacks on the sidelines. If things break right, forget the ceiling; the sky's the limit. (But you could say the same about just about everyone not named Weber thus far profiled in the POAPS).

Would he take the job if offered?

From my 12-second effort on Google, it would appear that Rice is making a base salary in the six-figure range. We're talking way closer to five figures than seven. My guess is that he doesn't feel confident UNC is going to call on him when Roy mercifully dies, and that it would be impossible to turn down increasing your salary by, oh, about 10 times its current rate. I'd go to Afghanistan for a couple million a year, especially if it means getting the hell out of Jersey. The ACC is > Afghanistan. Seems like a no-brainer for a guy that I think wouldn't be scared away by the media perception of NC State as a terrible career move.

How would I feel if he were hired?

Conflicted. I could most likely swallow enough June-Aid to convince myself that the "if you want to be a blueblood, you need a blueblood" argument is legit, despite the evidence that stands to the contrary. (Matt Doherty, anyone?) There's also the pesky fact that Rice played at UNC for Chrissakes. But you cannot deny that the man has done more at Monmouth than anyone else, including beating teams Gottfried couldn't beat these days, and Rice has done so without the advantage of actual ACC talent. I have an open mind.

How would the fan base as a whole feel if he were hired?

I don't think there would be rioting in the streets, but if it's not Archie Miller, then it probably better be someone who has more of a track record of success, like Mick Cronin. Of course winning cures all, but I don't know that NC State is set up to compete in the immediate aftermath of the Gottfried capsizing due to potential roster turmoil and a class of 2017 that holds a grand total of one pledge. Send a UNC alum to a gun fight with a knife? Hmm.

And of course there's always that whole Monmouth bench thing.

http://ift.tt/2lU3yYf from Blogger http://ift.tt/2lthGH8

[thisiskatsblog]

Hey! I found your blog and that ask about how you've been like a veteran Larrie was beautiful. Even this: 'I just get sad when I see people's faith shaken so easily, not AT them for having doubts but because this is the environment bred by years of being told that the thing you see in front of your face isn't there. The gas-lighting is real.' That made me feel like sobbing. I try so hard to have faith and be strong for them, for the two boys I love more than anything in the world, because their

part 2: love truly completes mylife, and while I try so hard not to let some disgusting antis comments get tome, they inevitably do. I’m a new writer, and I just found a blog xxxxxxxxxxand I saw this: ‘I’m not one for violence, but I do believe that you should beencouraged to punch a) Nazis and b) Larries’, as well as this whole nasty,repulsive rant she went on about why she hates Larries. The world is so fuckedup and I hate that such horrible people exist. I hate how low I feelafter 

part 3: reading such vilecomments. Even though Larry is my whole world and I literally don’t care aboutany other couple, it’s so fucking hard to be strong in such a toxicenvironment. Sometimes I just feel like breaking down and sobbing because it’sso fucking draining and painful and it all just hurts so much. Sorry forflooding your inbox, I just feel so depressed about all this. I know we’re inthe majority, I know we’ve held our heads fucking high through it all, but it’sagonising. 

—————–

Dear sweet anon, 

First thingsfirst: imagine me giving you a big, warm and long hug (unless you’re uncomfortablewith hugs, in which case imagine me bringing you a cup of tea or something elseyou like). I know how draining it can be – didn’t leave the fandom for a yearfor no reason – but there are ways to make all this more enjoyable.

Withoutwanting to tell you what to do, I do want to share a few things that have mademy experience 10x more enjoyable this time round.

1stthing that worked for me: curating my social media experience carefully. Firsttime round, for the longest time, I wouldn’t block or unfollow any blogs anddeliberately followed some antis to stay up to date – all out of a misguidedsense of “I shouldn’t ignore any information”. But anti opinions are notinformation, and not all perspectives are equal. All evidence needs to be evaluated,in context of the last ten years. If this consistently points to a relationship– it’s okay for you to stop looking at blogs that discount the evidence for Louis’and Harry’s relationship. Keeping an open mind, okay, but publicityrelationships are a thing, and it’s perfectly okay to filter them out. It’s even more important to protect yourselfagainst hate speech

Which bringsme to the 2nd thing that worked for me: never to hesitate to block someonewho compares you to a nazi and says you deserve to be punched. That’s bullyingand online violence and it deserves no more than one second of your attention.The time it needs to report and block them. End of story. I was stupid enoughnot to do that in this case, I actually went and looked, curious to find out what thejustification of this comparison was, which led me to some seriously logicallyflawed theories of Larries being antisemitic conspiracy theorists which… lostme another hour of my day and brought me no useful insights whatsoever. If youneed whole pages to connect Larries to antisemitism based on the bad logic, on denial of evidence, and on denial that closeting of celebrities just HAPPENS,like ALL the fucking time - that’s really just not WANTING to see it.

A 3rdthing that has worked for me is not letting “Larry (be) mywhole world”. I hope you were exaggerating it a littlebit  - but I can related somewhat. Theirdynamics certainly became a source of positive energy in my life back in 2013when I was in dire need of one, but as I had few other sources and this RainbowDirection thing gradually started taking up more space in my life and became adirect target of the gaslighting and bullying tactics, it almost destroyed me.When your only source of positive is this, and you cannot/or refuse to avoidthe negativity, it becomes a toxic relationship for you. I always took socialmedia detox weeks over the summer holidays, but last year, I extracted myselffrom all of this for over a year because the negatives started outweighing thepositives. This allowed me to build more other sources of positivity into mylife and that has made all the difference in coming back. Taking a step back can really helpyou see perspective. Interestinglywhen I came back, I realized I had remembered most of the bad stuff, and I hadforgotten so much of the good stuff.  I amhaving loads more fun now. And I am also much more careful about what I allow to affect me. You can choose to see the glass half full or half empty. I chose to be an optimist, and allow myself not to have to doubt everything all the time. 

Fourththings that has worked for me: self care. I am who I am, so every once in a while,I do still get shitty anons, or I get caught up in an argument with someone whodraws the blood from under my nails, or I find out that someone I like that hasme blocked for some reason that likely has very little to do with what Iactually think or said. That’s shitty. But there’s good antidotes for it. I’vecreated a few resources for my own self care. When, this past year, shittystuff happened, I devoted myself to creating lists of things that make me happyin this fandom. For me that will be updating the Rainbow Direction press articleslist, or history page, or going through this list of tribute videos. I am justnow thinking of a post that I have been planning to make collecting allcomments from people reminiscing about the early RD days after Harry’s tour endedlast year. Go back over the Harry-Louis treatise, immerse yourself in FreddieIsMyQueen’schannel, scroll through the pride and rainbow tags, there is so much that youcan do to remind you of the good stuff in this fandom. There is really loads ofit.

Thatdoesn’t mean I don’t sometimes feel like breaking down and sobbing. When Iimagine going to Louis’ concert and watching him sing Too Young, or Walls, Ibreak down and sob and desperately want to be hugged. And that’s frustratingabout being in an online, virtual community, there is no one to give you thathug. That’s when I know I need to call one of my friends in real life andinvite them for a cosy evening on the couch. Actual real human contact, gettingmy daily hugs in, has been so so important for me. But self care also workshere: in the past when there wasn’t anyone, a long walk outside, a warm bath, ora visit to the sauna or the gym have also worked for me. Being physical,instead of all this virtual mindblowing and mindnumbing shit.

Wow,this wasn’t supposed to get so long. But I can relate. And I’m hugging you fromfar away, if that’s your thing.

All thelove, anon!