#mainly refering to youtubers in this instant

[normalbirb]

i wanna start off by saying i have other more important things to care about in life than the switch 2 situation, but i need to admit it is kinda funny seeing the same people who begged for a totk dlc, now complain about the 80$ game prices

[namosaga]

Thesterninator (Youtube and Bluesky) is a fakemon creator whose server I joined recently. He started a challenge called #Multiversal Drift, where you create alternate people, plots, or scenarios to the pokemon universe!

My brother and I created Nayayou, the 4th legendary beast!

If you rather not read here, you can click to visit her Google Drive file.

Nayayou The Selfless Pokemon.

A Fairy/Normal type and the fourth Legendary Beast of Johto. 

Standing 4’5”, she is mainly a speedy special attacker. Not much to go on in the defense or the physical attack department.

Her information is under the read more.

Ability: Beast Bond

If this Pokemon is in a Double Battle with a Legendary Beast, it changes its secondary typing and alters the field condition depending on the Partner Pokemon.

Entei: Changes Nayayou to a Fairy/Fire type and summons harsh sunlight.

Raikou: Changes Nayayou to a Fairy/Electric type and summons electric terrain.

Suicine: Changes Nayayou to a Fairy/Water type and summons heavy rain.

So why the name Nayayou?

The first part is the human name Naya

In Sanskrit, the name Naya means "renewal" or "rebirth". This is in reference to her becoming revived by Ho-Oh after the tower is destroyed.

In Japanese, the name Naya means “to be close” or “to be near”.

The second part of the name is the English word “You”.

If you combine the Japanese name meaning with the English word, Nayayou literally means “To be close to you”. 

The Story

The winds howled with a mournful cry as it whipped through the charred ruins of the Brass Tower. Dust and cobwebs littered the untouched crumbling structure, casting a shadow of grief upon Ecruteak City. Once a place of grandeur, it is now nothing more than a scar upon the earth. The legends of the tower had been etched into the annals of time, its history defined by tragedy and rebirth. But in this alternate timeline, the events surrounding that fateful day when the tower burned down would unfold differently. An event that signaled a fractured trust between Pokemon and People would instead become a legend which told of the unbreakable bond that they shared.

The sky was alive with chaos. A violent storm raged over the ancient Ecruteak city, its dark clouds churning with fury and the winds howled. Savage gales tore through the streets. The earth shook beneath the sound of thundering crashes. Lightning danced from cloud to cloud, lighting up the dark sky. The ancient Brass Tower, a proud symbol of history and a sacred place for many, stood tall and defiant against the storm.

It was then, during the midst of the precursor of the torrential storm, that lightning came down and struck the Brass Tower. At first, it was but a single flash, a bolt from the heavens that illuminated the dark sky in blinding white light. The people of the city huddled in their homes, fearful of the storm outside. But as the thunder rumbled, a second, far more powerful strike came crashing down. The ground trembled, the air crackled with energy, and the Brass Tower – the great symbol of Ecruteak’s History – was struck by a force unlike any in the world had ever seen.

It was no ordinary lightning. The bolt that struck the Brass Tower was a result of a rare and terrifying convergence of elemental energy. Fueled by the fury of an ongoing war and the turbulent storm that had been brewing for days. All of the karma from that war, all of the negative energies, were all channeled into that one cataclysmic strike, and it ignited the tower in an instant.

The fire spread with reckless abandon, consuming the wooden beams and stone, turning the once-proud structure into an inferno. The building groaned and cracked as the flames engulfed the tower. Humans ran to abandon the sacred place, leaving their Pokemon behind in a rush to preserve their own safety. The trust that these Pokemon had for their once trainers obliterated in the flames.

Yet through it all, there was but one single girl, who would find herself trapped within the burning blaze of the tower. Despite the danger that she was in, she could not bring herself to abandon the Pokemon trapped within the building. She was adamant to save them. A mere mortal caught between the flames of destruction and the hearts of creatures far greater than herself. Her fate, intertwined with the Pokemon, would change the course of history forever.

Naya, a young Kimono Girl, rushed towards the burning tower with a desperation that filled her heart. She was still in training, but the call of her duty that connected her to the tower, and the Pokemon inside, pushed her forward. She could hear the cries of Pokemon within, their distress echoing above the roar of the flame. Her heart ached at the sound, she could not—would not—let them perish away.

“Stay Back, Naya!” She heard her instructor call out to her from behind, but Naya was already too far ahead. Her resolve unshaken by the cries of her senior to return.

The flames grew hotter, consuming the tower’s ancient structure, yet she pushed onward. Her steps sure despite the heat, her heart pounding heavily in her chest. Not from fear, but of knowing that she had to save the lives of the Pokemon trapped inside. With each room, she collected the Pokemon inside and ushered them to safety before going deeper into the tower. The Pokemon were trapped inside and had no way of escaping, she just had to help them.

With the robe of her traditional garb fluttering behind her, Naya pushed deeper into the flames. She had saved the majority of the Pokemon trapped inside the building already, but she could still hear the cries of more yet unsaved. Naya found an opening in the tower's stone wall, barely wide enough to fit. She forced her way through, her breath coming in ragged gasps as she stumbled into the smoke-filled interior. The heat was suffocating, but she pressed on, her hand outstretched to feel for any sign of life, following the sounds of the desperate cries for help. 

Within moments, she found them – three Pokemon, each of them trapped by the smoke and fire that threatened to consume them. One, a vibrant blue; another a sparkling yellow; and the last crimson red. Each trapped by fallen beams and rubble. The sight of them filled Naya with a terrible sadness, but there was no time for grief. 

She moved quickly, pulling beams and debris away, her hands burning with each touch of the searing wood. "Hold on, please!" she cried, her voice hoarse from the smoke. "I'll get you out. Just hold on!" The beasts knew that she was there to help, and instead of accepting their fate, they struggled to assist the young girl in freeing them.

The blue beast’s graceful form lifted her head at the sound of Naya's voice, her watery mane shimmering despite the smoke. The yellow thunderous beast, growled softly in recognition, while the crimson beast let out a low rumble of gratitude. Together, they struggled against the weight of the rubble, but the fire was spreading quickly, its tendrils of flame creeping closer with each passing second.

Just as the rubble was cleared and the beasts were freed, fate took a wicked and cruel turn. The tower support crumbled down onto them. The beasts were able to leap to safety, but Naya was not so fortunate. She screamed out in pain and terror, her legs trapped beneath the smoldering remains that fell down upon her. 

“Please, you must leave!” Naya screamed at the beasts, knowing that there was no time for them to save her. The tower was collapsing, and she was trapped, but at least these Pokemon were now safe. But instead of leaving, the beasts turned back to try and save her. Tears welted in Naya’s eyes, knowing that there was no way they could succeed.

The flames were growing, and Naya knew they had no time to waste. The smoke was suffocating, and the walls around them groaned in protest. “Please, you must go!” she cried, her voice breaking, “Save yourselves!”

The beasts continued to defy her pleas. They would not abandon the one who turned back to save them, they would not become like the humans who abandoned their Pokemon for their own safety. Naya knew this, and her heart swelled with emotion as she looked into their eyes.

As the fire roared louder, the walls began to shake, and the ground beneath them trembled. Naya could feel the warmth of the flames inching closer, the heat unbearable. "Please... don't," she whispered, her voice a mere breath. "You must live." But there was no turning back now. The tower was falling, and the end was near.

The flames surged and licked the air with hunger, as Naya remained trapped beneath the burning rubble. Her body pressed against the crumbling stone with no way to escape her fate. The three Pokemon huddled around her, their presence a comforting warmth in the face of the inferno. Naya closed her eyes, her mind filled with memories of the brief time she was alive. Of her family and friends, of her hopes and dreams. Tears stung her cheeks as she began to cry.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I couldn't save you."

The three of them remained by her side, nuzzling closer to comfort her. The blue beast pressed herself against Naya’s body to try and soothe her with its cool touch. The yellow beast continued to push against the rubble in a futile attempt to defy fate. The red beast roared defiantly at the flames as it encroached upon them. All of them tried to help her in their own way during their final moments together. Naya lifted her eyes to stare at the beasts one final time, knowing that they cared for her just as much as she cared for them. 

As the tower continued to crumble around them, Naya felt the intense heat of the fire encroaching upon her. She could no longer ignore the pain. It was suffocating, blinding. Her body began to grow weak, and her vision blurred.

The Pokémon gathered around her, their forms flickering in the flames like ethereal shadows. They pressed closer, their presence a final comfort in her last moments. The fire consumed them all, and in the silence that followed, only the sound of the flames remained.

It wasn’t long after that a torrent of rain was released from the sky, washing over the flames and destruction. The world seemed to darken as the flames died out. The light of the fire had been replaced by a vast, all-encompassing darkness. The flames of the Brass Tower had long since died, leaving behind nothing but ash and ruin. The winds carried the remnants of smoke into the sky.

As the rain stopped and the skies cleared, there was nothing left alive in the burned tower. The smoldering remains of the only four unable to escape the flames were still buried in the rubble. At that moment, a vibrant rainbow appeared in the sky, and the legendary Pokemon descended upon them. The legendary bird, Ho-oh.

Ho-oh cried out and mourned for the Pokemon lost in the tower. Its sparkling dust fell onto the tower. Amidst the devastation, three figures emerged, their forms shimmering as they stepped into existence once more. The three beasts had been revived by Ho-oh's divine light. Their fur glistened with elemental energy, their bodies restored, and transformed into something new. 

Yet, despite their rebirth, they did not celebrate. Instead, they stood silently in the ash, their gazes fixed on the broken, lifeless form of the girl who had died to save them. Naya lay motionless, her charred kimono draped over her fragile frame, her face pale against the ashen ground. The beasts approached her slowly, their massive forms circling her as if to shield her from the world that had forsaken her. Each of them exuded an air of sorrow, their eyes filled with unspoken grief.

High above, Ho-oh hovered, its radiant wings painting the sky with a kaleidoscope of colors. The great phoenix observed the scene below, its expression unreadable. Its role as the harbinger of rebirth was complete—or so it believed. It had revived those that it deemed worthy. The human, however, was a different matter.

Suicune lowered its head, eyes reflecting the purity of water, pleading with every ounce of their being. Raikou growled softly, its rumbling energy subdued as it nudged Naya’s lifeless hand. Entei sat back on his haunches, his fiery mane dimmed, his sorrow palpable as he bowed his head toward the girl who had perished for them. The beasts turned their faces upward, gazing at Ho-oh with silent desperation. They cried out and roared at the legendary creature that revived them, their emotions poured out like a torrent. Their mournful cries filled the air as if begging the great beast to revive the human that had tried to save them.

Ho-oh remained unmoved, its fiery gaze cold. Humans were the reason that the tower had burned down, they had rushed to save themselves instead of the monument that stood as a tribute to the bond between Humans and Pokemon. It could not trust humanity on the whims of beasts it had brought back to life. And yet this one seemed different.

The beasts did not waver. They remained by Naya’s side, their forms rigid yet reverent, their eyes filled with loyalty and an unshakable bond. They had felt her courage, her selflessness, and her heart. She had stood against the fire and faced death willingly, not for her own sake, but for theirs. That truth resonated within them, unspoken but undeniable.

Ho-oh’s wings flared as it descended, the flames surrounding its body casting a radiant glow upon the ruins. It perched in front of the human’s remains.

The beasts exchanged no glances, no signals, but their movements were as one. They stepped closer to Naya, forming a protective triangle around her still form. Their heads bowed in unison, their elemental energies pulsing faintly as if to offer themselves to Ho-oh’s judgment.

Ho-oh hesitated, its brilliant light dimming slightly. It was as if the beasts were offering themselves to save that human. To bind her fate to theirs.  The beasts did not move, they stood waiting for their judgment. 

The legendary bird regarded the scene for a long moment. Its mistrust of humans had been forged in fire, but even Ho-oh could not deny the purity of the bond it witnessed now. The beasts’ loyalty to Naya transcended reason; it was born of something deeper, something undeniable.

Finally, Ho-oh unfurled its wings, and it released a soft, mournful cry. The sound echoed across the ruins, a song of reluctant acceptance. The beasts lifted their heads, their energies flaring in unison. The phoenix’s flames burned brightly, but they did not harm. Instead, they wrapped around Naya’s body, fusing with the elemental energies of the beasts. The air shimmered as their souls entwined, becoming one.

Naya drifted within the void of the world, a vast emptiness of nothingness. Her body weightless, her mind clouded. She could hear nothing, see nothing, but the pain was gone, and so was the fire. Yet she was alone and cold. There was no comfort in this darkness.

Suddenly, a brilliant light pierced through the darkness, blinding and warm. Naya blinked against the light, her eyes struggling to adjust. In the distance, she saw figures approaching, three familiar shapes that showed like beacons in the void. 

It was the beasts she had sacrificed herself for. But they were not alone. Hovering above them was a great, majestic being, its wings spread wide, its feathers shining with every color of the rainbow. She had heard stories of it before but never dreamed of seeing its brilliance, the legendary bird Ho-oh.

The Legendary Bird, the ancient deity of rebirth, descended toward her, its eyes filled with a deep, ancient wisdom. Alongside it, the three beasts she had saved had been transformed into something new. Naya could feel the weight of their presence within her, a powerful, ancient force. She could feel the bond that tied them together, a bond stronger than any chain.

Ho-oh’s wings unfurled fully, enveloping Naya in a radiant light. A new life bonded to the Pokemon she had tried to save, now a guardian and protector for the bonds between Pokemon and Humans. Naya felt the warmth of the fire, the crackling energy of electricity, and the serene flow of water within her. The world faded to black once more.

Naya awoke in the ashes of the Brass Tower, her body now a fusion of fire, water, and lightning. She stood tall, her new form shimmering as an embodiment of the three Legendary Beasts. Her kimono transformed into a flowing robe of rainbow.

She was no longer a mere human.

Naya had become the fourth Legendary Beast, Nayayou.

In this alternate timeline, the events surrounding the Brass Tower's destruction would not fracture the bonds between Pokemon and Humanity, but it would instead strengthen them. Nayayou serves as a bridge between humans and Pokémon, a living symbol of the bond they share.

The bond between the Legendary Beasts and humans becomes stronger, as the story of Nayayou's sacrifice spreads throughout the land. The events of the Brass Tower are no longer merely a tragic tale of destruction; they become a story of rebirth, of a new dawn for the relationship between humans and Pokémon.

Instead of the Brass Tower remaining in ruins and becoming the Burned Tower as a symbol of humanity's failures, it would be rebuilt as a symbol of the strength of bonds shared between Humans and Pokemon. The Tin Tower would not have been created as an attempt to bring back Ho-oh.

Ho-oh would still remain distrustful of humans, but would still reveal itself to pure-hearted trainers who had strong bonds with their Pokemon like Naya had with the Legendary beasts. The Kimono Girls would continue their role in the village and pass down the story of Nayayou, who was once a Kimono Girl Apprentice herself, to each new young apprentice. 

In time, the story of the Fourth Legendary Beast spreads across the regions, changing the way humans view Pokémon. Legends are rewritten, and the world is forever altered by the girl who gave everything to save the creatures of the Brass Tower. The war faded as bonds grew stronger.

Game Mechanics

Post-Game

Encounter: 

To capture Nayayou, you would need to enter the Brass Tower’s basement with all three Legendary Beasts in your party (Suicune, Raikou, and Entei). In the basement is a statue resembling Nayayou. When interacting with Nayayou’s statue, it glows the same way the beasts did during your first visit to the basement. 

The Battle:

Raikou, Entei, and Suicune leave your party temporarily and you are pulled into a double battle. You will fight against Nayayou and the three Legendary Beasts, starting with Entei. Once Entei faints, the next is Raikou, and last is Suicune. Because this is a Double Battle, you cannot target a Pokemon to catch unless there is only one Pokemon on the field - meaning you will have to defeat Entei, Raikou, and Suicune before you have a chance to try and catch Nayayou. 

On the first turn, she uses a new move called Sacred Bond. It is a 5 PP move that has the opposite effect of Follow Me- It forces the opponent’s pokemon to target the other ally instead of the user for 5 turns. The legendary beast will also use Protect on their first turn. This will occur again once Sacred Bond ends. This way you literally cannot target Nayayou until all three beasts are defeated (or until Sacred Bond runs out of PP - Nayayou carries a Leppa Berry).

If you lose, the Legendary Beasts return to your party after the blackout and return to the Pokemon Center. You get the option to try again.

Capture:

When all three Legendary Beasts are defeated, a text box appears.

“Nayayou accepts you as worthy of the bonds she shares with the Legendary Beasts.”

You may now target her and throw pokeballs at her. Be careful: she still has the legendary catch rate!

If you make her faint instead of capturing her, you lose the ability to capture her. This is a one-time encounter, so save beforehand! Upon losing the battle, a text box appears.

“Nayayou looks disappointed.”

And she disappears.

[elitegymnastics]

Q: What is this?

A: It’s a flyer for a virtual fundraiser on June 4th that Elite Gymnastics is playing. You can access the show at quietyear.com

Q: Hasn’t Elite Gymnastics been inactive for like, ten years?

A: Yes. This is the first Elite Gymnastics performance of any kind since November 30th 2012, at the Horn Gallery at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio. 

Q: Why did Elite Gymnastics stop playing shows?

A: Elite Gymnastics started out as me (Jaime) and a bunch of my friends agreeing to help me play my songs live back in 2009. I made a lot of weird demos in GarageBand and my friend Dominique Davis from the band Dearling Physique got tired of watching me sit on them. So, he booked me to play at a show he was curating as part of a small local music and arts festival called Clapperclaw. For several months that’s mainly what EG was. At some point the focus shifted to making recordings rather than playing shows, to participate in the emergent culture of new music distributed via MP3 file-sharing. The lineup winnowed to just me and Josh Clancy, who began creating digital EPs that we posted on this Tumblr page as ZIP files full of MP3s accompanied by a PDF of artwork. This is the incarnation of the group that most people are familiar with.

This was before Patreon existed. If Bandcamp was around, we’d never heard of it. Though MP3 file-sharing culture and file transfer sites like MediaFire and MegaUpload allowed anyone to distribute music freely across the world via the internet, it was still pretty difficult to get people to pay you for it. I think it was for this reason that a lot of internet music back then featured a lot of sampling. A lot of artists’ first forays into the world of DAWs and production took the form of mash-ups, bootleg remixes, and DJ mixes. Artists like Animal Collective, MIA, Kanye West, and Daft Punk for whom sampling was a pillar of their creative process were extremely influential. Elite Gymnastics was no exception - the first song of ours to gain traction online was “Is This On Me?” which made no attempt to hide the fact that it heavily sampled Faye Wong’s “Eyes On Me.” The fact that it was so difficult to make money off MP3s pushed people to make different creative decisions than they would have otherwise. It was sort of a free-for-all.

Eventually, all of this started to change. The major labels started getting a lot more aggressive about trying to destroy MP3 file-sharing culture. Platforms like MegaUpload were raided and taken offline. The replacements that sprung up to replace them were increasingly infested with ads and malware. Corporate platforms like YouTube and SoundCloud adopted Content ID filters to prevent the proliferation of copyrighted music there. Blogs and private torrent trackers being taken down meant thousands of hours of labor were wiped out in an instant. Some of the best archives of the history of recorded music ever created were destroyed without hesitation. Even the most devoted participants lost the will to keep repairing and re-making the stuff that cops and record companies kept obliterating.

Josh and I both dreamed of being able to make a living as musicians. We still do. Back then, we were willing to accept a lot of changes in order to make that possible, which seemed necessary. A lot of the stuff that we were great at just didn’t make any money. Once, we were asked to do a remix of a song called “Sa Sa Samoa” by the band Korallreven. I did the remix by myself, which was normal for us, and Josh was so inspired by it that he spent a week working non-stop to create a video for it. People loved it - the day the video dropped, Pitchfork designated the song as a “Best New Track” and New York Magazine wrote about it in their “Approval Matrix.” The video led to a ton of exposure, but from a financial perspective, it just did not make sense to put that much effort into promoting a remix of someone else’s song. The stuff we were personally excited by just seemed to have less and less to do with what actually makes money.

A lot of internet bands during this era began to palpably shapeshift in an effort to succeed in music as a career. Artists who’d first attracted notice for sample-based bangers they made on a laptop started posing with vintage hardware in their press photos and trading in their laptops for live bands and recording studios. It became harder to distribute DJ mixes or mash-ups that contained copyrighted music in them. Influential bloggers either closed up shop or were absorbed into the traditional music industry in some way. Feeds that once touted bizarre songs by laptop-toting weirdos with no industry connections started to become populated mostly by artists with labels and publicists. The bottom rungs of festival lineups started to consist mostly of new major label signings who have lots of money to spend on stage production but not much in the way of grassroots fan enthusiasm or media buzz. 

Internet music and what people tend to refer to as “indie music” split off into two separate streams. Today, there’s a pretty intense firewall between internet culture and whatever you want to call the culture of vinyl records, mid-sized indie labels with publicists, and positive reviews from the few remaining websites that still pay people to write about music. I call it “publicist indie,” “lifestyle techno,” or “prestige electronica” depending on whether or not the music features guitars and/or vocals. The recent online kerfuffle about NFTs really emphasized this split. The worlds of digital illustration and game development campaigned aggressively against mass adoption of cryptocurrency - if you saw any Medium posts explaining crypto’s environmental issues, chances are they were written by someone from those fields. Every new announcement by an artist that they had minted an NFT was met with a swift and vocal backlash from fans. Though I’ve never really been much of an Aphex Twin fan, it was still pretty startling to look at the replies under his NFT announcement tweet and see hundreds of furious people announcing that he was now dead to them. That’s an artist who has seemed more or less unimpeachable for most of my life up until this point! All of that seemed to change in an instant.

There is a massive disconnect between the insular world of the industry establishment and the cutting edge of online counterculture. We saw this again a couple of weeks ago with the online response to the crisis in Gaza. We saw passionate advocacy for Palestinians from games journalists and developers much more often than we saw it from musicians. This is a very serious problem for music! I do not believe it is possible to please both sides - that is to say, I do not believe it is possible to be part of internet counterculture and the industry establishment simultaneously. The music industry is too conservative, too compromised, too corrupt. If it weren’t for the ocean of valuable copyrights that labels are sitting on, most of them would be bankrupt within a year. If the industry was forced to live or die based on how they handle what’s happening right now in the present, it would most assuredly die. The only people who don’t realize this are those who are being paid to stay ignorant. 

Josh and I did not know this back then. From where we were standing, it looked like internet culture and established media industries were on track to converge. A career in the arts seemed genuinely, tantalizingly possible, right up until the moment that it no longer did. 

In my case, I had really been struggling up until that point. My life had been this ongoing sequence of evictions and hospitalizations, and it seemed to be getting worse, not better. I donated plasma twice a week to pay for groceries and while I was sitting there with a giant needle stuck in my left arm for an hour I would see my picture in The Fader or my songs being recommended by one of the Kings of Leon on Twitter or whatever. Music seemed like the only thing the world thought I was any good at. It felt like my only chance at a peaceful, happy life was somewhere out there in a world I could only perceive through a laptop screen. 

Gender, for me, was a big factor in all of this. The more invested in the craft of songwriting I became, the harder it was to repress or ignore my gender stuff. At that time I’m not sure I even knew what the word “transgender” meant - I just knew that when I showed up at a venue wearing a skirt, no one would talk to me or look me in the eye, and that reading about people like Anohni or Terre Thaemlitz or on the internet made me feel like if I could get out of Minneapolis maybe I could find a place where people would accept me. The internet was like, a pretty toxic place for someone in my position. When I tried to find people to talk to about what I was feeling, nobody tried to tell me to read Judith Butler or ask me what pronouns I preferred. The internet was just like, overrun with predators who just wanted to fetishize me and exploit me. Music seemed like the only way I’d ever have an actual life as myself. I was desperate for that. I was well and truly desperate.

Between all the big changes that were happening to us individually and the music industry moving farther and farther away of the anarchic free-for-all of MP3 file-sharing culture, the strain on us just got to be too much. We stopped trusting each other. We became the unstoppable force and the immovable object, crashing haphazardly against one another’s resolve in a dazzling display of youthful futility. Our partnership ended, and after finishing out the remaining live shows on the calendar by myself, I retired the name “Elite Gymnastics” and started making music on my own under other names. That was that.

Q: Why is Elite Gymnastics coming back now, then?

A: Over the years, Josh and I eventually started talking again. Though there was a lot we did agree on, and potential future projects were discussed, nothing truly felt right. We haven’t been in the same room since Summer 2012, and we’ve both changed a lot since then. We both have other projects and we’ve both developed other ways of working since we stopped working together. It’s a pretty big commitment to put all of that aside in order to join your fortunes together with someone you haven’t seen in a decade.

Recently, Josh decided to leave Elite Gymnastics. His reasons are his own, and I was very surprised by his decision, but after having had time to adjust, I’m really grateful to him. I had kept these songs at a distance for many years, because it seemed foolish to allow myself to get too attached to songs I didn’t feel like I was allowed to think of as mine, if that makes any sense. The songs felt like casualties of a conflict that I had to bury in the ground and try to forget about. Being able to embrace them again felt like re-growing a severed limb or having a loved one come back to life, almost. Feeling like it was safe to love these songs again made me feel whole in a way I didn’t expect to. I became really excited by the prospect of revisiting them, so that’s what I decided to do.

Q: Does this mean you’re going to put RUIN back on Spotify?

A: No. Taking the record off Spotify was the right thing to do. That record was only ever intended to exist during the era of MP3 piracy. I never envisioned a world where the music industry would be so aggressive about policing the way that copyrighted music is allowed to exist online. If we hadn’t opted to take the record down when we did, someone would inevitably have forced us to. If you want to hear those specific recordings again, you’re going to have to do it the way we originally intended: by downloading MP3 files from the internet. Try SoulSeek.

Q: What’s next for Elite Gymnastics, then?

A: Here’s the situation currently. There is no Elite Gymnastics music available to stream or purchase in an official capacity anywhere on the internet. It wouldn’t really be possible for me to put the old stuff on Spotify or Bandcamp now because of all the samples. Like I said before, it was a different time. Those records were created to thrive on a past version of the internet that no longer exists. They weren’t designed to be compatible with the 2021 internet.

Technically, Elite Gymnastics didn’t ever release a debut album. We had EPs, a compilation, and a remix collection. We didn’t make an album, a record that existed as the distillation of all that experimentation that contained all of the songs that fans of the EPs would want to hear, all in one place. It’s like we did Good Fridays but stopped before we made My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

So, I am currently working on the first Elite Gymnastics album. If you were following my stuff as Default Genders, you may have noticed me posting demos on my SoundCloud page from 2015-2018 that were all eventually reworked into the album Main Pop Girl 2019. The album I am making is taking that approach to all the old EG songs, including some unreleased stuff. I’m collaborating with others on some songs and I honestly feel like it has resulted in some of the best and most exciting music I have ever been involved with. It is a drastic reinvention, but iteration and reinvention have always been a big part of what I do. I want to make something that feels like the culmination of everything that came before, and so far, I think I’m succeeding.

Q: When will I be able to hear this new music?

At a virtual fundraiser on June 4th, 2021, where there is a suggested donation of $10. You can access it at quietyear.com

[huffleniffle]

Week 11 Social Media In China

Most of the Western social media platforms like Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and so on are banned in China. People spend a good portion of their daily lives on social media in China, however just in different platforms. China is home to the world's largest social media market, drawing in an estimated 927 million users in 2020. (Foreign Policy, 2020)

Social Media Platforms

The platforms that they used are WeChat which is an all-in-one messaging app developed by Tencent, where they have games, online shopping and financial services. Users used this app for almost everything from buying groceries to messaging their loved ones. WeChat offers far more than any of the Western messaging apps. You don't see Facebook Messaging allowing e-wallet transfers now do you? In comparison, WeChat is a combination of Facebook, Whatsapp, Tinder and TouchnGo combined.

WeChat

Now, WeChat is one of the largest social media platforms in China with over 1 billion monthly active users. As it is sometimes called the Chinese Facebook. WeChat can be used for restaurant bookings, flights, making investments, shopping to paying bills.

Weibo

Another popular app used in China is Weibo. Is a micro-blogging platform in China released in 2009. It is considered to be a combination of Chinese Facebook & Twitter. Where users can upload videos, images and gifs. Where they follow each other and read posts by one another from discussing breaking news to cultural events in China.

Weibo is mainly used for information sharing and the opportunity to engage with other users.

QQ

Lastly, a final example of another app that China love to use is QQ. It is an instant messaging app developed by Tencent. Just like WeChat, it offers multiple uses from games to music to online shopping. However, QQ is mainly used for corporate communication among white-collar workers instead of the younger generation.

Conclusion

China has banned all Western social media platforms however that does not mean they live in trees and do not communicate. In fact, they are one of the largest social media markets in the world with their own unique and well-developed ecosystem. I do find it odd that they shunned themselves from the world but in a way, it makes sense as because of this method, China's revenue will continue flowing back to China itself instead of flowing to other countries.

References

DeGennaro, T. & DeGennaro, T., 2020. The 10 most popular social media sites in China (2019). Dragon Social. Available at: https://www.dragonsocial.net/blog/social-media-in-china/ [Accessed November 27, 2021].

Lu, C., 2021. China's social media explosion. Foreign Policy. Available at: https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/11/11/china-social-media-tech-linkedin-wechat-censorship-privacy-regulation/ [Accessed November 27, 2021].

StudyCli, 2021. Guide to social media in China: Chinese Language Institute. CLI. Available at: https://studycli.org/chinese-culture/social-media-in-china/ [Accessed November 27, 2021].

[novanned]

1. Make either a vlog or blog about the definition ICT, its types and the role of ICT in Mathematics teaching and learning process.

We live in this generation full of different types or kinds of technology. As time passes by the more it will become advanced. The existing of technology changes us it changed our daily routine, business, livelihood, and especially education. Since we’ve been experiencing COVID 19 technology play an important role mostly in education. Just one tap of our laptops, computers and mobile phone we can now directly open it and explore what we want to learn. If we want to entertain ourselves we had Facebook, YouTube, Tiktok, Instagram and any platform that can entertain to us. Technology really changes us. We can send our messages directly through using email or text messages. Everything around us what we see and what we heard is because of technology. Technology made us become updated of what happen in our community, country and all over the world.

Mainly, ICT stand for “Information and Technology Communication” refers to technologies that provide access to information through telecommunication. This includes internet, wireless network, cell phones, and other communication mediums. Since, ICT existed it also have types. According to Lou and Lei (2012), ICT maybe mobile-used for educational purposes that support different aspect of instruction or make new educational activities available, educational network online platform that connect learners using social networking technologies, web-based or classroom equipment. According to Erben at al. (2009), some types of ICT are E-creation tools, E-communication tools, reading or writing facilitative e-tools, and virtual learning environments. ICT play a big role specifically in mathematics. Math curriculum has two main objective the critical thinking and problem solving skill to develop this kind of skill it needs to be integrated with the ICT. In that, there are many more apps and software existed. In which helps student to understand and solve their difficulty in any math related. For example, SPSS software in which users will encode their data and the software will analyze the given data. That’s how fascinating the idea of of that software. Another is photo math, which you can picture the given problem and the app solve the problem and the good thing is that the app will show the process or the solution on how the answer arrived. In which you can learn and understand the arrive answer.

The role of ICT Integration process of teaching and learning it helps students to become more capable to do and boost their motivation. Not only to motivate students but to understand the process and skill being develop in using ICT. It also provides instant feedback on performance in various task and exercises. ICT can promote learning with fresh authentic and motivating materials directly usable from the internet.

[hannahhill-photography]

Reflective overview

Student Name: Hannah hill

 Group Tutor: Sue Fox

MMU ID-19067629

 Date: 30/10/20

What variety of sources have you used to gather the information to support your practice? (Library / key publications / key exhibitions / talks, Online etc)

I have used the library books to aid my research into transgressive literature and Joan Didion. I spent allot of time researching transgression and the uncanny and used a variety of online resources (online newspaper articles, YouTube). When researching the uncanny I also looked at previous exhibitions of the Tate and we were also encouraged to look at the V and A shadow catchers exhibition. I have also been to the Manchester art gallery.

From the research developed, outline the key areas of Photography that have you engaged with most this term?

Definitely the camera obscura project I really enjoyed the physicality of making something which photographers have been using for centuries. Making my own was such an easy process it something I would definitely like to do again in the future. I have found I have preferred the more physical elements of the course thus far I really enjoyed the collaging project to and I think it’s because I didn’t necessarily have to think I could just do. This doesn’t mean that I haven’t enjoyed researching new terminology but I like how instant both these were.

Select and discuss ways in which the work of one particular photographer/artist has affected and inspired you in your approach to your work?

Georges Bataille inspired my abscesses and traces project the shoots were inspired by the first two pages of his work. His writing has encouraged me to not think so literal what he says and what he actually means are sometimes two completely different things. For example his writing can be considered self indulgent but after reading up on him further he was quite repulsed by the idea of errotica but felt it was a necessary part of life.

How has this research helped you understand and develop your own practice?

Other than Bataille I wouldn’t necessarily say that a particular photographer or artist has made me reconsider my practice. Allot have influenced my work but they haven’t changed the way I think. This is partly because I’ve been spending allot of time focusing on my own personal narrative looking inwards rather than looking out. This isn’t a bad thing in my opinion it has allowed me to figure out what I like and what suits my style. Due to Batille being such a complex writer I still don’t think I understand his work to the extent to what I want to. As said previously his work encourages you not to think so literal about things the eye is not actually an eye it’s a symbol for sexuality and it’s symbolic of all the other objects they have encountered during the novel.

What have you learnt that is new to you (skills, knowledge, methods, approaches, etc)?

Approaching work in such an abstract way as the sound project made us do. The thought of using sound to influence an image would never have previously occurred to me. When I think of the marrying of sound and image film springs to mind but not a still or a photograph. I have definitely been able to improve my skills using long exposure during the camera obscura project. This is shown in the blog you can tell my confidence grows as shoots go on. The outcomes from my final obscura shoot feature heavily in my portfolio.

What are the key ideas and themes in your Reflective Journal, that you think will form the foundation for next term’s study?

Collaging is a huge theme that I really loved and kept referring back to. As said previously the more physical elements of photography seem to be the most gradtifying for me. The themes of the uncanny as well as a sense of nostalgia definetly are woven in my practice and are something that I like to refer to whenever possible.

What 3 things do you feel you need to do to develop over the next unit?

1. Increase the amount of photos I’m taking

2. Time management

3. Want to look around more rather than mainly looking inwards.

[bormst]

kid krow - conan gray

album review

youtuber content creators going (insert airplane emoji) musician has always been a fascinating phenomena to me. there’s nothing wrong with it by any means, if anything, it makes sense. youtube is a platform for sharing one’s self and talents. people wouldn’t share if they didn’t want to be listened or payed attention too, or thought that they had/have something worth our time as viewers to /give/ our attention too. I guess i am referring to a more specific instance where those of the ‘vlog’ style or more-traditional challenge or lifestyle type video-creators dabble in their musical interest (the best example that comes to mind is that of troye sivan or gabbie hanna).  this phenomena has been especially popular in the last 5-10 years of youtube’s come up into the mainstream, giving us the likes of (previously stated) pop stars such as troye sivan or justin bieber. i also believe it has also created a sense of ‘if they can do it, i can do it too’ that we see with every bad soundcloud rapper or situations like rebecca black’s friday (no shade), where anybody on the internet thinks that uploading singing videos in their bedroom will one day lead to instant fame and success. in saying this, i don’t mean to shit on anybody’s dreams. do what you want to do, and hey, it might just work out, i am encouraging it! i am just a realist. i just mean that -when was the last time you asked a kid ages 6-10 what they wanted to be when they grow up? the amount of times at this point that i have heard ‘youtuber’ has becomes almost weirdly alarming, only in the sense that they don’t understand how tragically unrealistic the idea of every single one of them becoming a successful content-creator is (once again, i’m not saying it isn’t possible, i am just fascinated by the social aspects of this age of media and global communication that we live in, and how it affects those whose minds are still developing). my strange social commentary aside -kid krow, the debut album from conan gray is a perfect example of a youtube personality using the platform to jump start a professional music career. i do not know much about gray, besides seeing a couple of his videos here and there, other than the fact that he is very talented in a lot of what he does. the performing arts, visual arts, academically (UCLA student), conan is a creative force to be reckoned with, and another situation similar to that of mr. troye sivans. a vlog style youtuber who would occasionally release music until one day, boom, that was their main bit (a fascinating phenomena to me as i’ve said 5000000 times already). 

kid krow is a 12 track ~mainly pop~ (with 2 interludes) record exploring themes of young love, growing up, young love, and growing up. oh, also young (mostly unrequited) love. usually, i cannot stand a record with such shallow thematic material, and while this body of work is no exception, i do not mind it as much here. it is not a bad album by any means, at times it just feels........surface. and i understand that these songs and lyrics are personal. there are some really good cuts here, i really enjoy wish you were sober, checkmate (fun production), the infectious maniac, and the very well-done the story. i just think there is a lot of ‘the same’ in this album. the tracks the cut that always bleeds and fight or flight might as well be the same 8 minute emotional, conglomerate.  The album is very cohesive, maybe even too cohesive. Things just sound very similar at times, whether this be a personal thing and i am just being sensitive, it just feels a lot more affective when a body of work can feel like all of the tracks exist in the same world, but have enough differences in thematic material, vocal content, and production styles that it best showcases the artist and their vision, creating a track for everybody to gravitate towards, and to just over all make an album that is well rounded and unique. idk maybe this is just me, but i like a diverse pool of ear porn, and the utter abuse of the acoustic guitar in some cuts drives me up the walls in this project. 

overall, it makes sense. i may not know much about conan gray, but this feels right for him. he is creating music that he obviously enjoys, is able to emote through, and that his fans will enjoy. listening to some of his older material, this feels like a healthy evolution. i think he is on to something, and in another album or two, conan will have really refined his aesthetic and specific take on music, which is exciting to look forward too. something about this record just feels dated in a way. all i know is this album would have ATE in 2012-2014. 

kid krow - conan gray 3 - MAYBE 3 and a half stars

[swedeandsour]

Jonna Lee on Demystifying the Aura of Her Viral Fame; Finding Her Voice and Her Die-Hard Fanbase

In her videos Jonna Lee (ionnalee/iamamiwhoami), carries an imposing presence. Her talons drawn over the bloodied shriek of her piercing falsettos, Lee certainly echoes the sentiment of a mythical being where cryptic words of love and hope beckon wondrous melodies through striking iconoclasm. In reality, what we see with Jonna Lee the performer is quite different. Though her intensity apparent in the palpitations of her rave-driven melodies; analogous to what someone might see in the industrial nightlife of Central and Eastern Europe, ionnalee's stage presence carries a certain tenderness to it. A tireless worker for her often die-hard audiences, Lee's performances are vibrant and energetic. There in her live show, vigorous dance routines sandwich between the illuminating wings of "Chasing Lights" and we even see a Russian floating-step that sees her levitate off the ground on during her performance of "y". With her vocals honeyed and mellow despite their resonant carry, the smoke and mirrors of Lee's live element showcase Jonna in a different light. It’s a real joy of performance that we see with Jonna, one that shines a light on her oh-so-human vulnerability that we often forget when she’s draped in faux-fur and suited-up in character.

Speaking to Jonna before her show in Toronto in her co-headlining show with TR/ST, we tried to demystify the mythology behind Lee’s eccentric presence. Kind and soft-spoken, the fearless performer seemed somewhat reserved and humbled by the whole concept of even stepping out on a world tour. There speaking about influences and finding her artistic voice and without dredging into drawn-out cliché, Jonna made sure to highlight one very important aspect. Throughout the viral madness of her initial few videos and now a world tour, none of it would have been possible without the undying support of her fans.  

Words + Photo: Peter Quincy Ng

Part of the interview has been edited for clarity

We’ve been slowly demystifying Jonna Lee. What��s it like being on tour so far and meeting your fans through your newly found infamy?

First of all, it’s amazing to fathom all of that; very surreal. It is kind of like you are in a little bubble working alone a lot, or with me and (producer) Claes (Björklund). We don’t have much connection with the music industry or just networks, so coming out seeing this many people and listening; seeing their response, it’s quite new to me. At this (crowd) size especially, it’s overwhelming but positive stuff obviously. It just takes a while just to process everything.

Tell me about your beginnings form Jonna Lee to iamamiwhoami to ionnalee again, and on how you found your artistic voice. You transitioned from largely acoustic singer-songwriter prose with sweet and mellow melodies to a more aggressively electronic and experimental style - striking and shrill.

I didn’t know I had in me, but in the beginning Claes believed in me a lot. In the beginning I tried to find my voice and sound more like this person or that person. I’ve been trying to sound British at first, because I had spent so much time in London in my earlier teens. At first I had also been afraid to do things out of the box as we recorded; because me and Claes, it’s the same team you know? We both kind of made our transition.

I remember at first, I was like, “No we need to strip back, no compressors”. I just wanted everything to be super natural and organic, and then when everything came out I was really dissatisfied and felt like I was invisible. We started playing around started to scrap everything. I mean we couldn’t because it was already out, but you know mentally start over. Then we did you know? No rules, let’s just do this.

Now I find we’re back again at it and I needed to connected to my personal point of view, because I’ve grown a lot musically as well. I’m also a better producer than I was ten years ago, so I wanted to see where I was ten years after this project. I don’t know if I am going continue as iam(amiwhoami) right now, but we’ll see. It’s a scary thing as well.

When you first started iamamiwhoami, there was a lot of mystery behind your origins and the mythologies of your persona. Were you worried about how you would be perceived or did you think you have convinced people you were Lady Gaga?

Uh no (laughs), I was not but I was hoping to maintain my anonymity because we were a group. I figured if they figured out our identity, then they’d judge the book and my previous work and everything. At the point of exposure (of my identity) though, we were all really disappointed but then again we never really tried to hide anything. We just took advantage that no one in Sweden really cared about iam(amiwhoami), so we were able to continue for quite a long time. When the whole thing happened though, it was just kind of surreal, you know (being mistaken for) Christina Aguilera, you can really plan that stuff ahead (laughs). I don’t think that sort of viral is happening anymore because everything has changed so much.

iamamiwhoami acquired viral fame, and one of the jokes on YouTube is that 90% of your views amounted from someone typing in one of the letters from b-o-u-n-t-y and the other 10% of fans are of the “COME TO BRAZIL!” trope. Was the concept of viral fame difficult to digest at first? Was there any pressure to keep the viral craze running?

Oh, it can’t be like that, I don’t think you can really do that, that whole thing with typing “y”, that’s just the internet doing its thing. Obviously, the other views are because it’s a great song and video. When that happens, you can’t (do anything to) affect it. You can try to force-feed it by doing the same thing repeatedly but if you look at the fifty-two something videos and continue to do quality things, then they those views will continue to be there. You see that in the shows, with a lot of those fans that have been there for ten years and that is so precious. The media coverage, that’s not connected to the actual work though. That’s connected to something else. It’s about what’s popular at the moment and I can’t compete with that and it has nothing to do with me.

In the age of instant celebrity, you managed to secure infamy without anyone really knowing who you were. For you is that an optimistic feeling?

That’s something that I’m proud of, but perhaps too proud of maybe. It’s rare that something is as pure as something like that, so I’m really happy that happened. Obviously I pointed a lot of people in a direction where if they weren’t interested they wouldn’t follow it, like with the whole identity when it wasn’t this supposed person or whatever, but it’s something that allowed me to tour all over the world.

You’ve recently assumed the persona ionnalee, a stylized spelling of your name. In a way, it has been hard to detach your previous effort iamamiwhoami from your current persona. How are the two similar yet different, and is that something you strive to change?

Mainly iam(amiwhoami) was about us (referring to Claes) internally, but it didn’t appear like it from the outside because I’m the frontperson and I created the project. It was always me and Claes. Claes is the main producer, I am the co-producer, we write all the music together and I write the lyrics and the melodies as well.

But for ionnalee, in iam(amiwhoami), I’ve never written from the point of “I”, from my perspective, my life and what concerns me. Also I produce everything myself but with some collaborations with Claes. He’s always like, “let’s do this!” playing some instruments. We love working together, we share a studio together. We have also had some of the same people working like (videographer) John Strandh and a few other ones were involved with iam(amiwhoami). So (the difference) it feels more like a project, not a person.

Both your projects have a very substantial audiovisual component to them and actually all you’re your singles follow up with a video. That’s quite a daunting task to say the least as music videos are huge commitments in time and in financial resources. How do you keep things fresh without blowing the budget?

Like financially, it’s always a bit of a struggle with how much time we can put in and with what gear we can produce with. We don’t have the funds to rent a lot of expensive stuff, so we relied a lot on what we could afford with our friends and stuff who want to help us create. For example, my brother Viktor (Kumlin) has always been John’s gaffer and cinematographer, even though he’s now a cinematographer himself. That’s one thing, but keeping the quality we will always make something because we feel like we have something to say and that’s easy then. You have the vision, you have the script, you have the song and everything’s together. If I would have continued making a video for every song like with iamamiwhoami that would be something that in the end would be something that wears out. I’m doing things differently now, to be more concentrated because I don’t want to being doing something just for the sake of format, like where I have to make a video.

Going back to the visual aspect, there is definitely the mythology; the mystique of “bounty” and “kin” but what really seems to be the underlying motif is the connection between the human connection to nature and the cosmos. Can you tell us how that inspires you, your imagery and music?

There are two sides to that; there’s creation in what we have done and the normative and traditional ways of doing things, then there’s creation, nature and how we connect to folklore. It’s what I grew up with and what my collaborators also did, so I guess it goes back to a question of visual aspect and it’s aesthetic. It’s a really hard question to answer.

Music is always a collaborative effor especially in the world of Jonna Lee, but what is most surprising is your connection to your fanbase. From the audiovisual aspect of in concert to your live shows, tell us how that has been? I suppose it has to be humbling but at the same time intimidating knowing that you have to deliver essentially for what they have paid for.

They are 50% of everything; they shaped the way the world tour acted. I didn’t think I would have toured (otherwise) because it would have been a hopeless thing. They’re communicating, live-chatting everything, I mean it’s sort of cliché but for ten years that’s really been the core of it all, otherwise it wouldn’t have been as interesting to create. They want to want to be part of it, that’s how I see it.

I know there have been many so-to-speak deeper questions being asked, but being the riddle and enigma you are, there is also an element to absurdity to all of this. Do you ever laugh at the all the toilet paper, cardboard boxes, glasses of milk, aluminum foil, morphsuits and fake fur you’ve used?

I mean that’s part of it; doing it in a different way. I mean I am laughing it all the time, like (the video) for “Some Body” that just came out today, editing it with all the common themes. It’s important to have that self-distance with yourself so that you don’t go in and become too self-absorbed. So humor is a good tool, because it also speaks to people and it’s nice and it makes you feel good and it’s not just (speaking mockingly) fashion! You know, it needs to have its human side.

You can check out ionnalee’s latest video for “Some Body” below:

[idontknowhowtowritesosorry]

Did You Just Yell at Me?

Shawn Mendes x Reader

Description: Shawn get’s jealous when you get a little too flirty with Charlie. Therefore, angst follows.

Authors Note: I know my last one was similar and next time I’ll right something different, but inspiration struck so I wrote. I only looked over it once so sorry for any errors, and sent requests if you would like. If you like this, why don’t you click that follow button (wow I sound like youtubers begging for subs, next ill be plugging some merch). So anyways, enjoy!

Word Count- 3,350

   When Shawn had left on his Illuminate tour, you were destroyed to say the least. I mean anyone would be when there boyfriend left them to go travel the country without them, but instead with thousands of girls that dreamed of meeting him. However, you still had school which had to be your main priority, as much as you didn’t want it to be. Throughout the time he was gone you never questioned his loyalty. But at night when you seemed as lost and alone as ever, you wondered if he fell asleep feeling the same sense of loneliness. While he always assured you he would never leave and his love would never fade, it was always a constant fear that one day you wouldn’t be good enough. That he would just have enough.

   So, when you finally got out of school for the summer, you decided to join him on tour. As you could not stand anxiety of your separation any longer. This had of course meant that you were also joining Charlie as well. The two of you hit it off, becoming instant friends. His laid back personality being a nice change from the uptight people that had filled your school year. Yet, even with your new friend Charlie and being in a new town almost every night, the best part of tour was Shawn. The boy who could now hold you tight at night and assure you that he loved you any second you needed it.

   Now it was years later and the three of you are still friends, hanging out more than ever. Tonight was game night, which was never good when it came to how competitive you and Charlie were, along with the fact that you guys were basically children. Meaning you’re stack of games comprised of Heads Up, Cards, and even Connect 4.

   Heads Up had been first, the three of you sitting in a circle on the floor in Charlie’s apartment. You sat with Shawn to your right, as hand tapped something rhythmically on your thigh, and Charlie across from you. The three of you made small talk as you got your headbands situated on your heads, with maybe just a tad of trash talk. Mainly between you and Charlie. Prime example:“Bring it on y/l/n, I could beat you in my sleep.”

   “Whatever, you say Charlie. Last time I checked I destroyed you the other day,” you smirk at the boy. He simply smiles at you in response, before reaching for the timer. “Okay who’s first?”

   Shawn volunteers, his card featuring an elephant. He quickly gets it, causing Charlie to roll his eyes, not liking the competition, and you rub his hair going,” oh Shawnie look at that, you finally got one.” This of course being a reference to him being an utter failure last game night. He couldn’t even manage to guess one card.

   Next up was Charlie, who’s card featured a table. While it took him a little longer than it did your boyfriend, he gets it with some time left. Now it was your turn to tie up the game.

   The card placed on your head was fire, and as the timer starts you start to ask questions. “Am I big? Colorful? Hot?”

   Shawn beings to answer the rapid questions, but Charlie interrupts with a,” Yeah you’re hot.”

   You giggle at the hint,” Of course I am Charles. But you are supposed to talk about the card, not me.”

   His lips close as he lets out a long mmhmm before snapping back with,” Oh I know you are beautiful, but I think I was talking about the card.” You laugh this, and feel Shawn’s grip on your leg tighten. You knew he could get protective, but your relationship with Charlie had always seemed a bit flirtatious to anyone on the outside, as it was just how your joking personalities interacted. However, the two of you were best friends, and nothing more as no one could replace the curly haired boy you know sat beside. So you turn and give Shawn a peck on the cheek, hoping he understands that you aren’t going anywhere.

   The game continues without a problem, Charlie eventually wins this one, but only by a little which you audibly note. By now it was game on between you two, Shawn was just along for the ride. Cards went by rather quickly too, nothing to note, and no real winner as you all got bored after half a round of war. Now it was onto Connect Four. Shawn had practically checked out by the first hand of war, tired from a long day at the studio. So he let the two of you battle for the crown tonight.

   Charlie now sat across from you, where you lay between Shawn’s legs. He was lazily leaning against a chair, playing with your hair. You had to admit, that made it really hard to focus on the game, which you just had to win. Otherwise you would never hear the end of it.

   The game started and he pretty easily beat you. You let out a high-pitched fake squeal, claiming that Shawn had distracted you and that it was best ⅔. As you set up for the next game, Shawn muttered something about going to the bathroom so he wouldn’t distract you, leaving the both of you alone to finish your feud. As the game started, you jokingly stared him down. He reciprocated, starting an all out staring contest. You both fumble to put your pieces in the right place by looking out of the corner of your eye, neither of you wanting to break eye contact.

   Yet, he still won the game, jumping up in victory. Then letting out a little song comprised of “I beat you.” As he danced around the living room you got up to fight back, saying he had not seen the last of you. But, the singer picked up up bridal style, swinging you around the room.

   “Omg Charlie Puth, you put me down right this instant,” you shrill. You try to wriggle out of his grasp, but he’s just a tad stronger and won’t seem to let you go.

   As you yell he stops moving, before glaring down at you,”Oh yeah y/n, I think you need to stop ruining the fun.” Again he swings you around, but a little faster this time. Coming a little closer to dropping you than you would have liked.

   “Oh yeah, make me,” you jokingly say, and again he stops swinging you, now setting you down right in front of him. He stares at you, raising his eyebrow in a cockingly way.

   “Oh I don’t think you would want that-.” Someone loudly clears their throat, and you both turn around to see Shawn practically staring daggers at Charlie. Just like that, your heart drops realizing what it might have looked like to the boy. Anyone could have assumed the worst seeing their girlfriend just inches away from someone else, especially having the conversation you two had just been having.

   “All right Charlie it’s been fun, and I’m totally getting a rematch, but I think Shawn and I are gonna head out.” With that the boy nods, waving to your boyfriend and giving you a small hug. As he does you stare over his shoulder, seeing Shawn’s jaw clench and fists turn ghost white. Shawn mutters a goodbye to his friend, before leading you outside towards his car.

   Not a word is said the entire ride home, and you can almost hear the anxiety coursing through Shawn’s head. God you hoped he didn’t think anything happened. The two of you finally arrive home, allowing you to let out a sigh of a relief hoping to get away from the tension of that car. But, as you step out into the driveway, he looks over at you and says,” I can’t do this anymore.” With that, your stops allowing you to hear a pin drop.

   “E-excuse me,” you quietly say, wondering what he meant from that statement. Couldn’t do what, this relationship, you? Had he finally gotten tired of your voice, your face, the way you had always silently feared. You couldn’t seem to feel the air in your lungs anymore, as dread began to fill them instead.

   “You and Charlie, I just can’t handle it.” His statement allows you to feel your breath going in and out again, but you knew you weren't out of the water yet. He wasn’t breaking up with you, wasn’t admitting that he couldn’t stand you. Yet, you still felt just as sick not knowing how you would handle it if he forced Charlie out of your life. He had been such a big part of your life, right behind Shawn and he had no right to take that from you, right?

   “Can’t handle what exactly? My friendship with someone that you trust so much. Hell, not even that, but don’t you trust me?,” you say snappily, trying your best not to yell.

   He groans, and you can see a vein begin to pop out in his forehead. He takes a second to take a deep breath, trying his best not to yell. Over the course of the five years you have known him, he had never once raised his voice at you and you hoped tonight would not be that night. “That’s what you call a friendship? He would have probably kissed you right there had I not been there. He flirted with you this entire night, and you even flirted back!”

   “Are you kidding me right now,” you say almost sarcastically, but your stomach begins to churn with apprehension to this situation. “Charlie understand our relationship, he understand that there is boundaries. Sure, it may have seemed like we were flirting, but ever notice we have acted that way together since the Illuminate tour! It. Means. Nothing. Just friendly banter,” you  deadpan, giving him a harsh glare. That’s when you realize you were on the verge of yelling at the famous man outside his house, where the neighbors could most definitely hear. As calmly as possible, you say that the two of you should head inside, before you turn and head towards the door.

   He lets out a deep breath, before then stomping after you. Yet, you don’t even have time to take off your coat inside before he’s started the argument up again. “You can’t just tell me it means nothing, and then show me something else. It doesn’t work like that. That’s about the furthest from friends I’ve ever seen. And tell me why exactly you respect your boundaries with Charlie more than ours. Explain to me how you can go ahead and flirt with someone else, which is pretty obviously against our boundaries. Since when is that okay? Yet because you trust Charlie to not act on your flirting it’s fine.”

   “Did you not listen to a thing I said? Are you seriously that dense. We weren’t flirting. He is one of my best friends, we have acted that way towards each other since the beginning. We egg each other on, so what? That’s our humor! Our relationship!”

   He then starts to pace the room with his hands running through his hair, dragging the sweat from his forehead up into it. You wanted nothing more than to march over there and take that hair in your hands instead, calm him down with just the touch of your fingers. Instead, you stand straight, choosing to not let your emotions show. You knew that if you marched over there and admitted you were wrong, decided to just take him in your arms, it wouldn’t fix this situation. He could just as easily get mad next time you hang out with Charlie, and you would be no better off than you are now. He tries to start his sentence, multiple times. Saying I- You-, before abruptly stopping and groaning to himself. You could tell he was trying his best to calm down, not lash out which you of course appreciated.

   Trying to help the conversation reach its end, you say,” Shawn, Charlie could never replace you. I don’t even know how you could thin-”

   He finally snaps, yelling out,” R U KIDDING. Y/n, shut up! Just shut up. I don’t wanna hear it.” You nearly burst into tears at his harsh tone, and you take a step back not wanting anything to do with his anger. Fear flashes across your face for just a second before you realize you need to get out of the room fast.

   Taking a hold of your emotions again, you turn your face stone cold and calmly say,“You know what Shawn? I’ve been trying my best to explain this to you, for you to understand what is really going on. But now I just can’t seem to understand how you could think so little of me. Maybe you should explain that to me. Go ahead and sleep on the couch, I’ll be in our room waiting for it to finally hit you what you will lose if you continue this.” With that you march out of the room, sparing once glance back to see him sink to the floor, regret in his eyes. He doesn’t even look up as you leave, simply let’s his head fall into his hands.

   You stomp towards the shared bedroom, slamming the door as you enter. Then, as you fall into bed you finally let the sobs you were holding back rack your body. For a second you just cry, not feeling anything other than the tears running down your cheeks. Or the way your heart seemed to beat a little faster than it should. You then move to grab the nearest pillow, and grasp it tight in your hands wanting nothing more than to hold something close. 

   The next thing that hits you is the fact that Shawn had yelled, and you can hear it echo through your mind. You flinch at the sound and your mind then spirals to a new thought. It goes over all the way that could have happened differently. From admitting you were wrong to full on redoing that whole night over again. Yet you still are almost glad that this happened, hoping that the two of you would come out stronger in the end. As you drift off you think back to happier times. To the tour where you had just met Charlie and when you were basking in the happiness of getting to join your boyfriend on tour all summer.

   You wake up to a knocking at your door, but don’t say a word to let him know you were awake. As your eyes slowly open, you take a minute to compose yourself. Allowing your limbs to stretch and uncurl around the pillow you fell asleep with. Taking a quick glance in the mirror, you note the red blotches on your cheeks from crying and the ways your eyes seemed glassed over. Again you notice the steady knocking on the door, yet couldn’t get yourself to open it. If you opened the door, there was a high possibility that you would just break down and admit you were wrong just to be able to hold him in your arms. But, you wouldn’t let yourself fall apart like that, so you wait for him to speak.

   “Y/n, y/n darling,” he basically whispers through the door. You can hear the way his normally angelic voice cracks as it fills your ears, and it hurts to hear the pain he must be feeling. Yet, you still don’t answer, hoping he would continue. “Baby, I need you. Please...please just open up this door so I can see your beautiful face and we can talk it out.” That was enough to send you crawling back, but as the door opens you restrain yourself to just doing that.

   As he stature fills the doorway you look him up and down, trying to see what state he was in. He was still in last night’s clothes which was no surprise, you had taken control of the bedroom that housed anything he could change into. But what you didn’t expect was the rest of him. His face too was blotchy and red. His lip were torn from chewing on them, a nervous habit you had always adored, but now it just seemed despairing. His hair was messier than you had ever seen it, including any time the two of you had gotten a little too heated. He stood there holding the ring you had given him for his past birthday, a promise ring you had never seen him take off.

   “S-Shawn.” Your voice is brittle, as if scared you would hurt him. However, you let only that compassion show, knowing that you would need to stay as cold as possible if you wanted to get your point across. “Is there something you want to say?”

   “Is there something I want to say? There’s not enough words to describe everything I want to tell you. I would have written a whole ballad had the guitar I use for writing not been in the bedroom.” That little fact makes your face crack into a smile, giving Shawn hope not all was lost. “Y/n I trust you, more than anything in the world. I know I shouldn’t have been jealous and I’m sorry. It just hurts to even think about you, my love, being in the arms of someone else. Just the idea of you seeing someone else the way I see you is enough to drive a man crazy. It’ll never happen again. I love you too much to ever risk losing.”

   As he finishes his little rant, he raises his eyebrows as if asking so? In response, you simply take him in your arms and he just sinks into your grasp. He moves to give you a kiss, but you push his face away. “Now I accept your apology, and Shawn I love you too. But that doesn’t change the fact that Shawn, you yelled at me. I can’t even explain to you how much that hurt. Even after I could hear your voice echoing through my head. And while I want to hear your voice for the rest of my life, I never wanna hear that again.”

   With that little statement, Shawn’s face just breaks. His eyes water and body begins to shake as he chokes out,” Baby I’m so sorry, I never want you to feel scared of me. I would never hurt you. You could break my heart to pieces and I’d just come crawling back. Please, don’t let this ruin what we have.” He starts to give you the puppy dog eyes which doesn’t work as well as if you did it, seeing as though he was ginormous compared to you. Hard to see a puppy in someone so tall, yet his soft curly hair and pout just makes it impossible for you to stay mad any longer.

   “Fiiiine Mendes, you have won me back,” you giggle as he picks you up, swinging you around as Charlie had the day before. As he sets you down, you lean in and capture his lips on yours . All of that sadness and anger fades away, and you no longer feel anything but Shawn. As your hands reach into his hair, his hands move from your shoulders down to your lower back, pulling you what seems like impossibly close.

   He then breaks abruptly breaks this kiss, causing you to come back to Earth. “Wait, don’t go anywhere, come back,” you whine while trying to pull him in again, which he chuckles at. He then takes a second to admire you. The way your messy hair fell against your face or the way your gorgeous eyes seemed to long for him. He had never seen someone so beautiful. You were a goddess in his eyes, and as he leans back in he mutters “Darling I’m not going anywhere.”

[vcfrialqa-blog]

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[astrotranslations]

Moonbin for Men's Health (2018 December issue)

What are you up to lately? I’ve been busy preparing for our concert and album. The concert will be held on 22nd and 23rd December at KBS Arena Hall. It’ll be different from our existing groundwork and we’ve prepared stages where you can witness new sides to each member. Of course, we matched the season and will give off a year end vibe.

What kind of new side are you referring to? True to our 'refreshing-dol' nicknames, our image has been bright and fresh but we’ll be showing a more mature and sexy manliness this time round. It’s also an image our fans want.

You were on XtvN’s <The Ultimate Watchlist of Latest Trends>, right? It’s been a while since I acted so I felt nervous but I’m gaining good experiences and learning a lot. There’s learning through the script but there’re also many things I’m familiarising myself with on set as we exchange opinions. It feels nice to produce something together. The director’s good natured and Kwon Hyuksoo sunbae-nim, Kim Mingyo sunbae-nim and the others treat me well so the adlibs naturally flow.

How did it feel when you received the offer to be on Men Health’s cover? I was very surprised. I even asked the people around me if it was alright that I did it. It’s because I thought that only people with really big and nice bodies like bodybuilders shot for the covers. I was afraid but I also felt greedy. I’ve always liked exercising and I often hear that I’ve got a good physical. Whenever I’m at home, I’ll do push ups, chin ups and regular full body workouts but I developed the desire to work hard on building my body and do the shoot. I thought I could show my reverse charms.

That was about a month ago. What’s your current body condition? I’m exercising regularly. I had more fat then as compared to now and my muscles were less visible. Now I’ve lost weight and my muscle mass has increased so my lines have become more defined.

What are your thoughts on the end of filming? It was a different experience. It’s rare that I film showing off my body so it was fascinating and felt different from what I’ve experienced before. I’m looking forward to the end product.

How did you exercise? I planned my exercise time with my trainer to be in the mornings where possible. To be honest, I’m a night owl. If I wanted to meet up with friends after wrapping up my schedules, night time was comfortable and I liked the night air different from the crisp morning’s. But I wanted to be a morning person. I’ll plan for my PT to be around 10 in morning and started my day early. I could make full use of the mornings I wasted on sleep so it felt good. I’ll do PT and lose the sweat though aerobic exercise then do abs exercise and even push ups… Rolls in the next day and my muscles will feel like they were being crushed.

What about your meals? I kept to what was arranged by my trainer. I mainly ate chicken breast, egg white, sweet potato, salad, etc.. Breakfast was brown rice and chicken breast, lunch was sweet potato and egg white, dinner was 150g of rump meat and brown rice… my meals were like that. I lasted yesterday with only 4 egg whites. Controlling water intake was also difficult. In one word, I nearly died.

Building your body in such a short period musn’t have been easy, what about it was the hardest? My meals. I’m usually a glutton so I’m often tempted. When I ate meat, I could easily polish off alone a portion for 3 and had 2 bowls of rice. I’m at an age to be eating a lot. Having to turn away from all that was the hardest. I like instant noodles so I would stock some up in our dorm by brand and would at least eat them once every 2-3 days but I didn’t even have a single bite as I made my body. Finally today!! When my itinerary ends, I’ll be eating to my heart’s content spicy squid soup, spicy fried cream cheese noodles, etc..

What kind of body did you want to make? I built broader shoulders and focused on making my lines distinct all around. It felt like my body was divided into sections. It’s still ongoing. It’ll be possible if I build a little more muscle and bring down my body fat. Practicing choreographies is a high intensity form of aerobic exercise and I’ll be stronger if I gain muscle so I think that’ll help me with my dancing. My wannabe body is Rain sunbae-nim’s.

How much do you practice your choreographies? I’d usually be practicing more on my vocals than my dance if we don’t have any schedules. If we do have them then it’s a basic minimum of 3-4 hours per day. There were of course instances where I went about it for the whole day.

What are the words you often hear the most from your trainer? He said that I’ve a good physical and that my muscles show easily because I’ve a thin layer of fat. He mentioned that I’ll be able to make a nice body if I exercise more regularly.

You’re known to like exercising. Are you good at it? I think I’m pretty good when it comes to using my whole body. Ever since the last album, I’ve thought about wanting to build my body a little. So I watched full body workout videos on YouTube and copied them. I did it routinely without skipping a single day and my body got bigger and I also grew stronger. I’m the type to get really hooked once I’m into something so that helped me. I gained muscles quick and my body got better in that short period. But I’m not good with ball sports. My accuracy is really low.

What else are you really into? A lot. I’m that kind of style in general. I enjoy webtoons so I’ve read nearly all of them and once I get addicted to a certain food, I’ll mainly only eat that. It was the same with pig intestines and if I’ve found a brand of instant noodles that I like then I’ll only have that for all my three meals. If I find a piece of clothing comfortable and nice then I’ll wear only that day in and day out. I think my slightly rash yet sometimes simple personality bears some of the blame.

Is there another form of exercise that you enjoy besides weight training? I’m close with Seventeen’s Seunggwan so we play badminton together and ride our bicycles. I like walking too. It’s because I’ve always liked moving around.

What do you mostly do when you have no schedules? I’ll game at home or exercise… I enjoy lazing around on my bed and reading webtoons or watching YouTube videos. I’m off opposite extremes.

What is your role in ASTRO? Musically, I’m in charge of vocals and dance. In terms of atmosphere, I’m kind of like a vortex. One that won’t let you escape from ASTRO? (laughs) Our team itself is always bright and energetic, to the point that people tell us we’re chaotic. From the mood maker MJ hyung to JinJin hyung… The older members are outgoing and positive so the younger ones tend to follow along.

How is it like living together in a dorm? It’s always boisterous and you’ve no time to feel bored. I like that we’re together and it’s a bright atmosphere rather than a competitive one so it’s fun. The disadvantages are that I can’t take a break alone and that it’s noisy? There used to be the ones who were messy and the ones who cleaned up after themselves, but now we’re all messy together. There’re 6 men so it can’t be helped (laughs).

What kind of year has 2018 been to you? I’ve challenged myself to several things and had many concerns. I also realised how I’ve grown through those processes. I imagine my future self whenever I’m free and decided that I should work harder.

What kind of challenges? I’ll use the classic example of acting. I worried a lot before I started but I realised that I’ll only know if I gave it a shot so I went straight into it. You can’t always only do what you like or what you’re familiar with. I think rather than sitting still and being afraid, it’s better that you dive into it.

Is there anything different when you compare to last year? I think my perspective has changed. I’ve become more positive. There are slightly more things I’ve tried out despite being afraid and I think I’ve developed some skill in responding to unimaginable situations with a broad mind.

When do you feel that you’re still young? When after saying something I think, "Ah, I spoke without taking in mind this certain factor," or when I already have something thought out yet can’t properly relay it.

On the other hand, when do you reckon that you’ve matured? When I give my best an am immersed in something? It can be in regards to work or exercise but it’s when I’m devoted to what I do. Also, I’m satisfied with myself whenever I put across a good idea without sounding disorganised.

What do you think are the qualifications that a "real guy" should have? They’re 'skills and a conscientious mindset'. In my case, I’m a singer so it’s a given that I should be skilled in dancing and singing and that I should strive to improve. A conscientious mindset is knowing to reflect upon myself when I’m in the wrong and being able to come up with solutions, not doubting anything when I become certain and pushing forward. You need a conscientious mindset for self-reflection and in gaining confidence.

What are your future plans? For now I want to safely conclude our concert. I’ve to do well preparing for our next album and I won’t stop in the current condition I’m in, my goal is to create a more amazing body. The body is not simply for showing off and is necessary in lasting the span of 3 minutes on stage. It demands a strong stamina. Also, if I have personal schedules then I’d like to show new sides of myself in not only variety, but also acting and other various fields.

Have you thought about the future in 10 years? Not up to 10 years but when I turn around 28-29 years old, I’ve thought about wanting to become a good example to my idol juniors who would’ve debuted then. Like DBSK sunbae-nims who helped me nurture my dreams of becoming a singer!

Translations by @99pmh Take out with full credits

[theblogs2024]

Exactly What is the Holy Spirit - Teachings from This Minute Is Your Miracle

What's the Holy Spirit And exactly how Can I Hear His Voice?

The Holy Spirit might be referred to as the even now, compact voice within the thoughts or perhaps the instinct that guides us. It’s similar to a existence that we can sense Every time we get however more than enough to tune in and hear inwardly.

You will need the Holy Spirit’s support to discover matters as they are, to determine Obviously without projection, judgment, and interpretation. As soon as the ego judges somebody else as missing, it normally compares and informs you, “Very well, You're not like that; you happen to be over and above that.” This promotes inequality, division, and separation. You should request the Holy Spirit to begin cleaning the filter you are looking at by mainly because that is the only hope you've got of genuinely not judging. When you faucet into that enable, it can be delightful. Each instant and not using a filter is delightful. But when there is a concept or perhaps a judgment associated, then it is best to just pause, introspect, and come to be mindful of what that filter is. You'll be able to cultivate a willingness to question each individual worth and each notion you keep. Once you capture by yourself judging or believing that you recognize some thing, I suggest you to definitely workout what I call, “end, fall, and roll.” You very first pause your functioning ideas and also your reactions; you stop! And 2nd, you training your willingness to drop it. And third, you roll Along with the Spirit’s advice. Whenever your filter starts off clearing.

Once your filter begins clearing and the greater intuitive and fewer judging you become, the more you experience the psychological Gains. You are able to explain to by how you really feel: you’re much more stable, you’re calmer, and this is how you recognize you’re headed in the ideal direction. This develops into acceptance as well as a receptive brain, an open up head, a intellect that doesn’t “already know.” Then the wonder within can take place.

The globe encourages views; that’s standard, but views block the practical experience of peace. Viewpoints would not have just about anything to do with truth or truth. The “I-don’t-know” point out is humble.

During the Zen custom, it is termed novice’s brain. It is an excellent knowledge to wake up each day and really feel such as you don’t know nearly anything. It’s a good looking experience to not have an opinion but to generally be open up to currently being proven.

This Moment Is Your Wonder brings you tools to reverse all fearful feelings and beliefs. Employing these resources can make it doable to discover the complete feeling of freedom and peace you’ve normally been yearning for.

To know more details visit here: david hoffmeister youtube channel

[imaginetonyandbucky]

Gamers AU with long distance get together?

Please comment and subscribe! (1 of 4)

AN: It turned out to be a youtube Gamer AU, I hope the prompter doesn’t mind.

Bucky scrolled through the comments on his newest video. Most of them were positive or neutral and he replied to a few of them.  He was always anxious to find a negative one, he worked with a webcam when recording himself playing games and there was always the risk of someone commenting on his appearance, which wasn't what Bucky was worried about. He could deal with people making fun of his hair or his disheveled clothes, unshaven face. No big deal. And the few asshats that find his videos and see it necessary to comment bigoted shit on it when he talks about his LGBTAIQ+ related topics weren't anything new to him either. Block and move on. What he was more worried about was someone noticing.  

He hadn't been using the webcam for long and he was always careful not to show anything, always keeping his shoulder covered, always keeping to the left of the screen. It had helped his channel grow a lot but he didn't want people to know about his missing arm. It was hard enough dealing with it in real life he didn't need to be exposed to hundreds of abelist comments on the internet too.

There were no comments that indicated someone noticed. A few general comments about how people loved his videos even though watching him try to do redstone was cringeworthy. It was nice seeing that people still enjoyed his content even though he made mistakes. He had tried to take everything with humor when his contraption hadn't worked after the third time building it. But that was Minecraft for you, he had made up for it by starting a new creative project for the end of the episode. The blanket he used to cover his shoulders had once again drawn some attention, it had become somewhat of a meme at this point because it had pictures of cats on it. Other than that there was nothing out of the usual in his comment section.

Bucky refreshed the page again and was surprised to see a new comment had already been upvoted several times.  People were commenting on it as well and when Bucky looked at the username he also knew why.

Ironman42 had commented on his video.

Bucky panicked and threw his phone across the couch.

"Fuck."

(More after the break!)

If that was a negative comment his youtube career could be over. The guy had 7 million subscribers which were about 6.99 million more than Bucky had. He didn't have any business commenting on one of Bucky's videos, how did he even know about him?

Not to mention that ever since Bucky saw the man in a PAX East panel live stream he had a tiny crush on him. The way he had swaggered across the stage, blowing kisses to the camera... it should have been obnoxious and arrogant, but it had stirred something in Bucky and maybe he had been a little bit jealous because that was something he could never have.

Bucky had to calm his racing heart for several minutes before he dared to pick up his phone again and actually read the comment.

Hey WinterSoldier,

I see you've got some problems with the falling edge monostable circuit, maybe I can help you with that. Do you mind if I contact you?

-IronMan

PS: You're cute! ;)

Bucky threw his phone away again, got up, walked around his room running his hand through his hair, then picked up his phone and read the message again. It still said the same thing.

PS: You're cute! ;)

Hesitantly Bucky pressed the answer button and typed out his reply.

I have no idea what you're talking about but I'm always willing to learn. Just message me. :)

The video was an episode of his Minecraft Let's play series, it was one of his lesser watched series, Bucky was mostly known for his strategy games Let's plays like Rimworld, Stellaris and now Surviving Mars. He had also tried his hand at more technical games like Factorio but he wasn't good enough to draw an audience with those. Ironman42, or Tony how most people referred to him, however, became big with his Minecraft series, hosting several multiplayer servers and it was every Minecrafters dream to be invited to play with him. An invitation to the server basically meant instant fame in certain circles of the youtube community. Now he mostly played Battle Royale games with his best friend Rhodey also known as Warmachine and more or less dominated the Fortnite and PUBG scene. Unfortunately, those games were too far paced for Bucky to keep up with and so he had never gotten into the hype.

Bucky had little time to think about what that meant for his channel because only seconds after he had pressed sent his phone vibrated again and he had an email on his business address. Something that rarely happened unless some indie game developer found him by accident and gave him a free code to try out their game.

This time Bucky held onto his phone only barely when he saw who the mail was from. Ironman had already messaged him. This was at the same time exciting and extremely terrifying and Bucky needed a moment to calm down again. He went to the kitchen and got himself a glass of water then sat down at this desk and pulled up his emails there. It made him feel a little bit more professional.

The email was long and the nerdiest thing Bucky had read since that one time he had ventured too deep into a comment section under an Oxygen not Included video that discussed the behavior of pressurized gases on a meteorite.

Bucky wasn't a Minecraft crack, he mainly played it casually to build nice things and chat with his viewers. He had no idea about redstone or circuitry when he wanted to automate something he followed tutorials from others. He read the email a couple of times but he had no idea what Ironman was getting at, only after the third time he got through to the end and noticed the sentence at the end.

If this is too much how about we chat in (Discord? Skype?) and I'll show you on a server. Hope this is not too forward.

-Tony

Bucky sat in front of the email for a long time, not sure what to do with it. Was this an invitation to one of Tony's servers? Bucky had no idea what he had done to deserve that, how he had gotten Tony's attention. It was freaking him out and causing his anxiety to sky-rocket so much he thought about taking some of his meds to calm down. He certainly wouldn't be able to record anything in this state so he pushed the foot control further back under his desk and wrapped himself in his blanket to watch calming kitten videos until Steve came back from work and would make him some food. One thing just didn't want to leave his head.

PS: You're cute! ;)

[aliciaheins12-blog]

Week 9 - Visual Communities and Social Imaging

Changes in media technology have shaped and changed how people capture, remember, store and communicate their personal images and those of others (Burgess & Vivienne 2013). In the past, photographs were planned, took time to develop, were shared with a network of close family and friends and stored physically in albums. Today technology provides everyone with a digital camera or mobile phone to capture moments anywhere at any time and then share those moments with friends and social groups instantly (Burgess & Vivienne 2013). Immediacy is now more important than keeping images. Mobile phones, social networking sites, and UCC (User Created Content) sites such as YouTube, emphasise the use of images and videos as an integral part of the communication process and the formation of social groups and visual communities online (Swinburne Online 2018).

Ubiquitous photography and Networked Visuality are integral to visual communities. With the development of cameras, mobile phones and digitisation, personal photography has become ubiquitous (Swinburne Online 2018). Ubiquitous photography together with social media and the internet allows people to communicate with others by sharing images rather than just words. Now families and friends do not physically get together very often as anyone with a mobile phone camera can capture everyday life without the social gathering traditionally held. These images are now shared through social media and are increasingly shared as just the image without the verbal or written communication. With images replacing words and by ‘tagging’ an image, images can be easily categorised and easily searched by anyone using social media, placing the images in public domain and allowing communities with like interests to form.

Networked Visuality describes the use of imaging to form an integral part of the development and maintaining of social networks where communication is often about images, this has contributed to the development of visual communities (Swinburne Online 2018). Mobile camera technology has enabled video recording to be as easy and accessible as taking an image. In the past home videos and photographs were taken mainly to keep memories whereas the new role of digital video and images is as a communication tool. Social media platforms like Instagram and Snapchat are specifically designed to use images as the main communication tool and YouTube has expanded the reach and communication power of video. These developments in technology have changed the way individuals and groups communicate creating online visual communities through social networking.

The influence of social media platforms on visual communities can be seen through the popularity of YouTube influencers and Snapchat. You Tube influencers such as the Kardashians have built an on-line following of millions of people that has resulted in a visual community of individuals that share a common interest. YouTube Influencers can set trends and influence followers to act certain ways and even by certain products, making influencers a marketing tool. Kim Kardashian even won the Influencer of the year award at the 2018 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards (YouTube 2019).

Snapchat differentiated itself from other social media platforms by providing a platform where the content and messaging is not permanent. The auto delete aspect of Snapchat encourages certain conversations to be intensely personal where users tend to engage in more intimate and self-disclosing interactions. Snapchat helps overcome people’s self-consciousness and discomfort of taking personal images and having those images stored, copied and shared without control (Bishop 2018).

Lange (2009) suggests that users of social media such as YouTube and Snapchat create videos of affinity to create and sustain social networks. These videos give individuals a feeling of being a member of a group or having an attraction, an affinity, to other people, things and ideas (Lange 2009).

As the need for instant communication increases with the availability and development of mobile camera technology the so-called ‘selfie culture’ has flourished. Recent generations have become increasingly self-image conscious and narcistic, this desire to be seen and to share their image with others is at the heart of the selfie culture. The downside of this culture is the increasing pressure to create images that receive ‘likes’ and to marginalise those who are not comfortable with their own image or are bullied and criticised within the social network.

A growing and real concern with the ability to express ourselves and share our images and communications is that images are being placed in the public domain for all to see. This is where legal and ethical issues may develop concerning control over our own image and the sharing of images and videos without permission.

Changes in technology and social media has reshaped the way we communicate and created digital communities. The ability to instantaneously share images and videos has fundamentally altered an individual’s social identity and changed social communities to visual communities.

References 

Bishop, R 2018, ‘9.3 Networked visuality’, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Learning materials on Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, week 9, viewed 8 January 2019

Burgess, J & Vivienne, S 2013 The remediation of the personal photograph and the politics of self-representation in digital storytelling Journal of Material Culture vol.18 pp. 279-298

Lange, P 2009, ‘Videos of affinity’, in Snickars, P, The YouTube Reader, National Library of Sweden, Stockholm, pp. 70-88

Swinburne Online 2018, Lecture ‘9.2 Ubiquitous photography, MDA20009 Digital Communities, Modules on Canvas, Swinburne University of Technology, 17 January 2019, <https://swinburneonline.instructure.com/courses/704/pages/9-dot-2-ubiquitous-photography?module_item_id=60107>

YouTube, 2019, Kim Kardashian's Influencer Award Speech At 2018 CFDA Awards, viewed 17 January 2019 <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvvc4p5o7-0>

[mondofunnybooks]

MONDO FunnyBooks: Bunker Down.

Were you a recent visitor to the wonderful world of comics fandom and discussions between professionals in the business, you might have the idea that comic customers were essentially a superstitious and cowardly lot.

Current sources of outrage, retweets and outbreaks of delusional authority run riot have been ranged from the fairly embarrassing to the downright worrying. Arguments in this writers memory have been about: 'Is The Joker doing something not very nice to a human being?', 'How dare a movie studio choose to cast who they like in the film they're paying to make without consulting US first?', 'This man who draws and has been drawing people in a particular fashion has drawn this person in his particular fashion. How dare he?' We reached peak David Icke/Alex Jones levels of hilarious Othering this week when an X-Men artist referred to SJWs as 'Nazis'.

Irony and Satire have apparently given up on humanity and gone for a pint.

The usual conservative, tribal viewpoints of people who've confused an artistic medium with a constant stream of politically free distraction designed only to anatheize rather than engage and stimulate thought, then. It's more important to harass Ruby Rose for being cast as 'Batwoman' until she feels compelled to leave Twitter or be upset at the news of Michael B. Jordan playing Johnny Storm for reasons that were absoultly nothing to do with racism but rather the...uh...misportrayal of the modern American family which defintly traditionally couldn't contain a black man. Also something something tradition or something.

When we've brought this up before, we're usually countered with something like 'Oh, you should see Harry Potter/Overwatch/Hunger Games/Fortnite fandoms, they're JUST as bad.' Which we are willing to assume is true, having seen YouTube comments, but it does seem that the entertainment industry has a bad habit of emulating the worst excesses of the comics industry.

Whether it's Empire or TV Guide running variant covers, Toy producers doing convention exclusive figures and then selling them at a premium afterwards or even, HighFather Keep Us From Laughing, the application of the words 'Limited' or 'Collectiable' to a product to imply both a scarity that requires instant purchase and a possibilty of high resale value when in fact those are words that could be applied to any physical product ever.

We can almost guarantee that there are only a limited amount of copies of 'Night Rocker' by David Hasslehoff in the world and should you decide to purchase one or more copies, you have collected them, but neither fact is hard evidence that anyone will offer you more than you paid for them ten years in the future.

This is a rather..odd state of affairs to have come about. With the exception of poetry or graffiti, Before the medium was hijacked into becoming one more vehicle to sell corporate superhero products, work like George Herriman's 'Krazy Kat' explored the nature of language via abusive animals against the unrelenting tedium of the desert. Little Nemo In Slumberland by Windsor McCay was a continous attempt to map the subconscious in a strip adaptable to any format thrown at him by publishers. Sigel and Shuster commericalised the Jewish notion of a charismatic Golem who would maintain balance against an American society that had been taught to hate them. Fly By Night publishing types would use the form to glamourise the world of true crime and vaguely condemning tales of drug abuse to create an entire sub-culture by showing a willingness to adapt to the times.

These were the early days of comics and sequential story-telling and by now there ought to be work making these masterpieces look like the plinkings of Woody Gutherie against the all out assault on the cortex that is an Atari Teenage Riot. Instead the front end of the medium seems more concerned with dotting the I's and lining the t's of it's previous output (our favourite example being Marvel's 'Secret Wars Too: A comic that explained to readers why the comic it was parodying would be late. They charged money for this, as well.)

Comics were long considered the Outlaw Artform, so capable of shaping the public psyche that the content and distribution were brought up in Congress to see if it was necessarily to regulate the avalibilty of them to children. It's a longer story than will run here but the essence of the events is that while the 1954 hearings saw Congress conclude that comics were NOT a harmful product that would negatively influence children's minds, the comics industry decided that it would be best to settle public hysteria by establishing 'The Comics Code Authority', which would impose a series of standards and regulations upon comics seeking to be distributed on the newsstands.

Ironically, one of the people on the earlier incarnations of the board that would make up The CCA would be John Goldwater, one of many who takes credit for the creation of Archie Andrews'.. This writer likes to think Mr Goldwater was probably a little resentful of EC Comics's Archie parody 'STARCHIE!' (MAD Magazine Issue 12. Remains funny but now also looks like any episode of 'Riverdale'.) and was more than happy to choose the phrasing of a code that also happened to regulate the key words in EC Comic's top selling comics out of publication. All the resentful little men in comics complaining about being mocked are 'Happy Days''s Howard Cunningham wearing his Grand Poobah hat in our head.

We say 'ironically', because the current Ickeian theory is that comic sales in the direct market are so low due to Marvel and DC 'giving in' to the demands of the 'SJWs'. What with their unreasonable demands for more realistic representation in mainstream comics, we can see how 'Could you produce more comics we'd be willing to buy?' would definetly be an agenda designed to bring down the entire comics industry.

Because we are given to facts, we can't dispute a lot of the problems the new comics industry faces. Sales on New Comics to The Direct Market ARE down.

It would take the same sort of mind that blames Barack Obama for his Presidential inaction during Hurricane Katrina to think that the problems of new comics are the work of those damned SJWs, though. Not unless Heidi MacDonald has a time machine.

Unless Laurie Penny staged a hostile takeover of The Marvel Editorial Summit and said 'Right. Here's what we want: Please keep raising the prices of your comics by roughly about a dollar every few years, do more $150 crossovers that will have no significance in about 4 years or so. Please spin off as many comics as possible from one of your prime brands. Make sure your top staff behave like Obnoxious King Nerds on social media whenever possible.Instead of focusing your sales team on promoting the comic as a good read, keep pitching your comics as must buy investment issues aimed at speculators who won't be back for the next issue. As soon as your readership have begun to settle into a book, it's direction and it's creative team, that's probably the best time to relaunch your titles.

Be sure to confuse readers and retailers by pretending each relaunch is a 'Season' without ever referring to which season is currently published in advertising or trade dress. Come up with any justification whatsover to publish an anniversary issue that's triple the price of a regular comic as frequently as possible. Try to devalue the contribution and sales cache of your creative team over the amount of variant covers offered to retailers. Have your top writers actively and vocally hostile to the notion of second printings and finally publish no comics that even vaguely resemble the TV and Movie versions of your characters so new readers can come into a shop after seeing "Avengers Assemble" and be offered 7 books called "Avengers" but they'll mainly be about some men chatting at a table.'....then the reasons why new comics are failing aren't at the hands of SJWs.

They're at the hands of the publishers. The above list is the main reason for the decline in sales of new comics in specialist shops that we saw in our days behind the till. All things we were saying over a decade ago at retailer meetings with Marvel and DC. We were brushed off in order to try and wave shiny new 3D variants back then.

A few years later, when it was apparent that the law of diminishing returns was in full effect, was when finally The Big Two turned to the 'gimmick' of appealling to a wider audience. When oddly, that half-hearted effort to win over a new readership by publishing the books in the same venues as usual didn't work,with little support from their publicity and advertising departments both Marvel and DC quickly threw these efforts under the bus as proof that trying to expand your salesbase beyond a Wednesday crowd was a waste of time.

Except that''s nonsense of course. Any analysis of pre-order charts will tell you that the sales have been in heavy decline since 2007's 'Civil War' from Marvel. The constant attempts to repeat that success in that format are the problem. Marvel and DC trying the 'Social Justice' route and it's subsequent failure is a shameless attempt to rewrite history for the benefit of an agenda of tired Poobahs scared of time and their limited views of the comic medium making them irrelevant.

In fact, Marvel's recent attempt to appeal to Muslims,AND teenagers (imagine.) at once was quite late in the game with 2013's 'Ms Marvel' while the 'Feminazi Bible' Mockingbird wouldn't begin threatening Poobah Egos until around late 2016. Meanwhile, Archie Comics had smelled which way the wind was blowing several years earlier....

Archie Comics were always smarter than the ongoing superhero titles because they never set themselves up to tell an ongoing story, but rather worked like an extended cartoon strip. If you read three random issues of any Archie comics, you were probably as clued up on the cast of Riverdale as you were going to need to be to understand the dynamics of what was going on. Archie was perptually out of sync with the world around him, Betty was goal driven and meant well, Moose wasn't quite sure what day it was but loved Midge more than anything, etc. etc. All you had to do was set up a situation, add two or more of the characters and let the rest play out.

Even better, since the characters weren't obliged to be a certain age given the backstory (Peter Parker can't be worrying about teenage problems since he's been around long enough to get married, be a lecturer, etc.) the backgrounds and fashions could simply be updated to reflect the times of publication.

So no awkward retcons such as Reed Richards and Ben Grimm starting off as veterans of World War 2 and suddenly having gone through The Gulf War instead, prompting questions like 'Which comics have and haven't happened, then, because The Avengers definitely went to Saigon in the 70's but the existence of The FF precedes The Original Avengers finding Captain America in the block of ice and Cap turned out to be fighting Richard Nixon during The Secret Empire Saga so...argh!'

Archie managed to stay on the newsstands long after the self absorbed and inside baseball nature of superhero comics rendered them unsaleable in your average W.H.Smith's or Wal-Mart, since any issue of Betty & Veronica could be read by anyone with no need to check out previous issues. It was very rare that any one tale would run more than one comic and the few times it did, it was with fantastic results. We'll get to that.

In 2010, Marvel was wasting everyone's time and money on 'Siege; or 'What If Asgard wasn't in space but in Oklahoma instead?' while DC insisted on spreading the myth that people who grew up in Liverpool talk like they're from Shoreditch by adding John Constantine to the line up of 'Brightest Day'.

During the same year, Archie dragged mainstream comics kicking and screaming into the future with 'Kevin Keller', a comic featuring an openly gay male lead out in the real world and everything. This annoyed some American Mary Whitehouse wannabes called 'One Million Moms!'. They campaigned against the title being sold in children friendly areas such as Toys R Us but only really proved their basic inability to count to 1 million.

In the same year they published covers featuring Archie kissing Valerie, the black bassist from Josie & The Pussycats. If this doesn't strike you as a big deal for a comic being published in the mid-west of America, well, you might be one of those guys suggesting that there's always been adequate representation in comics.

They didn't sell as many comics in specialist shops, but while The Big Two continued to tread water, Archie kept moving forward, kept looking to crossover with big name brands, parodied the biggest comic crossovers, featured the likes of Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, paid homage to EC Comics and got Adam Hughes to draw covers. They even explored exactly what WOULD happen if Archie finally chose Betty. And Veronica. And heartbreakingly, how deep Archie's love for his fellow man ran in the conclusion to the marriage stories in 'The Death Of Archie.' Oh, and he also met the Predator.

Then they stepped everything into higher gear with our second favourite horror comic of the 21st Century with Afterlife With Archie. It was a book we'd recommend to new readers as a good alternative to the horrendously overpriced, badly drawn horror or just too boring to be scary books glutting the market with 'Torture Porn Variants'. AWA would feature at least one chilling moment per issue likely to stay with you long after you finished reading. One issue of tie-in book 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch; is worth 3 or 4 'Walking Dead' trade paperbacks in terms of actual horror instead of people talking around a trailer park.

If you had been a fan of the Archie world before and hadn't read it for a while, though, our glee would be magnified. While the horror/jump scare bits of AWA are genuinely well done and actually quite intense, the bits between undead assault are where the real horror lies as relationships between all the characters are twisted forever, new angles and revealations would stop you ever being able to see Midge, Cheryl, Reggie and more in quite the same light.

This moving with the times meant that the Archie readership were quite capable of seeing the characters they loved for so many decades in different modes of storytelling and art styles laid the groundwork for two things: The relaunch of the line in 2015 with high profile creators such as Mark Waid, Fiona Staples, Chip Zdarsky and Adam Hughes doing new and interesting takes on a universe we all knew so well (A bit like The Ultimate Universe but with a point and a plan.) and also the hit show 'Riverdale'.

It will not surprise many of you to learn that the Grand Poobahs Of Comics (TM MONDO FunnyBooks 2018) hated 'Riverdale' and frequently grumbled 'Not MY Archie.' but then, by folding their arms and threatening to hold their breath until the artform of comics goes back to being what THEY want, they've proven time and again that they're constantly wanting to find a straw man to blame for the world moving on without them. These were the same people who moaned about 'Archie Vs Punisher' for not taking Frank Castle seriously enough and thought the parody crossover 'Love Showdown' (Which promised that Archie would finally choose a permanent girlfriend) would break the Archieverse once and for all.

There are lots of ways to improve the state of comics. Indulging the whinging of grumpy old men and refusing to believe the rest of the world might be interested in comics are not on that list of ways.

And as a wise man once said 'The people want BeBop. And who I am to tell them that BeBop is wrong?'

[blvckshadeonyx256]

Mon Aug 29 , 2022

Know I have spent my time discussing my take on the black is beautiful movement in a recording. My computer keeps being stubborn with with me and refuses to let me upload to my phone so that I may post my completed vid to the internet via YouTube. So I am going to write it into my post.

The term black is beautiful referred to a broad black cultural revolution. And the I'm black and I'm proud movement let to a broad embrace of black culture. Abbreviated BBL, the Black is Beautiful movement is the advantageous period of the upside and downside of black, multiracial, and interracial love relationships ❤. The focus mainly being the skewed perceptions they have and carry about their connections to those whom they are involved with. Black is Beautiful is angst ridden for the persons involved in it together at first... but then becomes the embracing recognition of visible acceptance of a person's racial being as beautiful. When one learns how to overcome their negative perception of someone's essential existence. This usually happens when racist mentally taught stereotypes causes someone to have a prejudiced awareness towards a person's character that causes them to grow reserved towards that person whos merely trying to get to know them. Then prejudiced someone becomes reserved towards them because of noted bias and behaves towards them standoffishly. Because of realized mental biasedness, the emotional reservedness ofprejudiced person retains them from being able to express the encompassing customary nature of intimacy and companionship. Society holds very popular images of livened companionship as well as poor ones concerning popular culture and BLM, black-lives-matter and Black is Beautiful Love, BBL. A movement that focuses on the very moment of 'instant' as a love expression. Besides all of the overcomplicated words of love expression, the movement is all about the moment 'now' once impulsivity takes place. The very phrase 'at once' expresses that very moment of when an emotional hero, proverbial knight, or what we can title a courageously 'wonderful' man and or woman finds the rightly appropriate instant of needing to express an emotional will. The movement of BBL expresses the act of two persons coming together to a solution and that very act of love can be healthy and is genuine. Black is Beautiful love is real and when healthy, is not usually motivated by selfish-gain. Trust is healthy in a relationship and brings the two beings in the emotional affair closer (google.com/amp/s/ the conversation/ the reality of black men's love lives/amp)

But as for the responsibilities and customary consequences that comes with the territory of relationships, Black is beautiful love can be a self journey of self discovery and learning experience of self trust. (Blacklove.com/related articles) For the most part what BBL is celebrated for is when two people come together and partner and was popular for that -- a number of years ago. It was not until the millennial countdown after 1999 to 2000 that the Black is Beautiful love movement learned to embrace this for its self-loving journey of discovery and wisdom until regressing back to its unpredictably on and off periods of social segregatedness. It's one thing to experience the therapeutic benefits of self discovery and the BBL movement for yourself but to see other couples share it and be vulnerable together with their aware families makes you realize how much as people of color we can benefit from talking of these things about the movement that our parents and previous generations missed vital details of.... (to be cont'd]