#man is a huge fan of double standards

[lycoris-basement]

Mandroid is lovable prick of a man in a way that he's hilarious to hate make fun of. He's a genius, no doubt, but he's also a pathetic loser, that's fact. And it makes such a blazing combo. Like good man, you're trying to get rid of any Cybertronians on Earth, but for the love of Primus beard, why are you slowly merging in your body the very thing you hate? Did you even see yourself in a mirror? Was that all even necessary? You're literally dying. And beefing with your friend's kids? What are you trying to accomplish with that? Self satisfaction? Feeling of superiority? Ah you trying to destroy them cuz they're basically absorbed Cybertronian technology? Did you forget what you did to your body tho? Literally who are to judge? You have no better things to do than build some tech miracles, chuckle on your own messiah complex and fight bunch of childrens. Get some reality check cuz you painfully obviously got drunk on energon on your way to save the humanity you miserable hoe

[abyssalzones]

rant of the day under the cut

side note what's with the amount of people in gf fandom being weird about sex work since the beginning of time in the context of stan hypothetically doing sex work during her homeless era. it seems like this huge percentage of fandom has the most weirdly mythologized view of what sex work Is and they end up falling right into a "save the prostitute" mentality i.e sw automatically being conflated with sexual violence or insecurity or like. ahem. Being a Whore. ford was homeless for twice as long and you don't see that headcanon being passed around for him. why? because it's "out of character"? how do you characterize sex workers? is it the same mentality behind why stan is most often hc'd as bisexual and ford is most likely to be interpreted as someone on the asexual spectrum? because bisexuality is conflated in your brain with being promiscuous whereas asexuality makes sense for a Logical(tm) character? why would stan, an arguably intensely emotionally closed off character who frequently makes an effort to perform masculinity Correctly (even if it's a farce or capitulation out of fear- hence my transfem headcanon), jump to doing sex work when her goals are so clearly motivated by a desire to succeed as a Breadwinner and Self-Made Business Man? I'm not trying to say I think it's impossible or even 100% unlikely based on what we know but I think the double standard irt ford is odd and the way it's approached in fic (that I catch in the corner of my eye while looking for literally anything good) and other fan material is so weird. to me. "stripping for edible flour in tijuana" was immediately clocked as a potentially traumatizing memory but the 5463535 in-depth accounts from ford detailing his loss of bodily autonomy, public/private humiliation, and physical torture at the hands of someone he trusted in a dynamic equivalent to an intimate relationship (who is canonically sadistic and predatory) couldn't possibly have any undertone of sexual trauma and if you interpret it that way you're Reaching or mentally damaged. like What is up. what goes on.

[slaaverin]

The way I laughed when I saw this post:

https://x.com/btsdeblueprint/status/1904540673518505984?s=46

And the comments/citations 😅😂. But when we tell them that for Jimin they said we exaggerate, that it is not that deep to change the color in the GCF.

It always baffles me how people are okay to say that Jungkook have a HUGE crush on Namjoon that he wants to marry him bla-bla-bla BUT the moment there is something about Jimin and Jungkook it’s “brother love”.

For me it’s because they don’t have the fear when they see Namjoon and JK together, they don’t feel like they could be a real couple, they laughed about it because they don’t really believe it (or do they?). But the fear of something being real like the possibility of being a couple, is something that they feel when they see Jimin and Jungkook together. They see it too! But it doesn’t match with the Ideal image they have of Jungkook which case in point is Fuckboy; heterosexual man; that could maybe fall in love with a fan girl (their dream).

But still, it baffles me 🤦‍♀️

What do you think of it?

Oh and Hi sorry I just rambled a lot, by the way love your blog and sorry for my English.

Have a nice day💜

Thanks for your lovely ask and your kind words 🥰💜

Omg this post..I mean it is indeed cute but the double standard is astonishing.

GCF Saipan was the same. The way it was structured and the lyrics choice clearly highlighted Jimin but then tkkers were still saying "the camera focused on Tae! He's in love with him" like please 😂 same for Namjoon.

The fandom is allergic to jikook.

I mean they must see the same thing as we do? But then probably find a way that makes sense to them to entirely dismiss it as fanservice/forced/bro behaviour.

Because I guess the alternative would rattle so many core beliefs, it's too uncomfortable to even look at.

"No I'm not seeing anything! I can't hear you lalalalala 🙉🙈" lmao

It's really childish but well.

Yes I agree with you they must see other ships less threatening because not real, just for fun, unlike jikook who hit a little too close to home. But there are also unfortunately still some who think these other ships are real - not only tkkers - look at yoonminers for example you have people who are in DEEP and not for fun. They actually believe it. It baffles me to this day.

You know fans having this fantasy of Jungkook being this heterosexual man coming to ravish them, I just had that thought but maybe we should give people a break. After all that's the whole concept of being an idol, they make people think they are single and that they are their fan's boyfriends, they push for it in many ways and have done so for years. I guess for many people and especially young fans, it's very hard to question things that are presented to them in such light. I'm not entirely sure I blame them for not questioning the status quo. Idk maybe that's too much mental gymnastics for some.

For many it's pretty obvious that it is not the case, that it's only a fantasy sold for a long time for money, it's just them playing the game, and now that they get older things might be different in many ways, but still. Jungkook has never said anything "clear" about his sexuality. To understand a little bit you need to closely pay attention to him and his action/words for years.

When you have the whole picture it is indeed pretty clear that he is not heterosexual.

But really what I learned is that people really do not pay attention at all, or pay attention only to what interests them.

Many don't know half the things jikook have done over the years.

Jikookers have the whole relationship and hundreds of moments in mind that depict a whole love story and a lot of lore.

But most people aren't aware of that.

Most of the time they barely see it and immediately dismiss it.

Since many have come accross different narratives and brainwashing when it comes to jikook they already begin with a bias.

I love when people say "I saw this jikook moment and thought there was something that wasn't right, something off, I need to look further into it" and then they binge jikook stuff and discover that indeed they was more to it than they thought and most likely become a jikooker afterwards.

But it comes purely from the individual and his own intuition/sensations. It's often when people make very deep dives to make their own opinions that they begin to see it.

But before this it remains very surface level.

And you know what? I'm not even mad. Everything moves fast in this fandom. You have news almost every day. You have music to stream, votes to make, the last yoongi cat meme to like, so much content you can spend months and months watching everything.

So am I mad that people dimiss jikook like this? Yes. Many of them do not bear good will and are full of hate for them. I can't forgive it. But I also want to nuance it by thinking there are also people who are simply not as deep into it than us, people who take things at face value, people who need things spelled out for them, young fans, casual fans, desperate girls who would love a star they will never meet to be their boyfriends and can't afford to think even for a second that their idol is gay because they would be sad and feel lied to.

Honestly, it pains me, but I get it.

I'm trying to let go of my frustration because the difference of treatement of jikook in this fandom is hard to accept. But I guess things are not entirely black & white and I'm trying to understand why people have a different perspectives (not the haters of course, fuck them). Like these people in the post you shared.

My first instinct would be to rant too and be angry, but then I think it's better for me to let it go. I'll say to myself "Let them have their fun 🤷🏻‍♀️". If they want to think Joon & Jungkookie are romantic and totally ignore the elephant in the room who am I to ruin it for them.

Anyway, yeah, that's hard.

Maybe I'm trying to make sense of things that just don't make sense lol

Don't mind me

These kind of posts become funny and ironic for real.

"Remember when JK made a FULL GCF about Jimin and being completely in love with him over a gay song? Yeah, THAT was romance folks." 📢

Anyway, it's hopeless 😶‍🌫️

I'd leave them in their bubble, I'm good in my own with the lovely jikookers, at least we have interesting stuff to talk about

Thank you for your ask and take care 💜🫂🥰 (your english was perfect btw!)

[shiftintochange]

The Impact of Women in Motorsports: Breaking Barriers and Inspiring Generations

Women have always been around in the world of motorsports. From Maria Teresa de Filippis, the first woman to race in Formula 1, to Sara Christian, the first woman to race in NASCAR, these women have undoubtedly left a mark on the world of motorsports. As a female who is deeply enticed by motorsports, seeing these powerful women of the past has inspired me beyond belief to follow my dreams in this world.

Although filled with powerful women, I fear the impact of women in motorsports is bigger than any man will ever admit. Maria Teresa de Filippis would have been the first woman to score points in a Formula 1 race if she didn't have reliability issues with her car for her last two races. Maria Teresa was unable to race in that season's French Grand Prix. When confronted about this in an interview, she stated she was told that “The only helmet a woman should wear is one at the hairdressers” by the race director.

And though we might think, ‘Okay, well that was years ago, people thought differently,’ right? WRONG! Unfortunately, we have men in the Formula 1 industry right now who still believe women should not be in motorsports and wouldn’t like the sport if not for the good-looking drivers. This is a quote from Christian Horner, the current team principal for Red Bull: “It's bringing in a lot of young girls because all these great looking drivers.”

Why can we not like F1 and still admire the drivers? It is obviously not a secret that the drivers are good-looking; male fans say it all the time. Yet when a woman declares her love for a driver, the assumption that she only enjoys the sport because the driver is good-looking and not because of its thrilling nature is automatic. There is absolutely no excuse for not wanting women in motorsports other than internalized misogyny and a huge double standard. When men watch women's football, it is just because they enjoy the sport, not because they enjoy seeing attractive women run around in shorts. But when a woman watches men's football, it is solely because they find all the players attractive.

Young women have proved themselves so worthy of being in Formula 1, with Susie Wolff as the director of F1 Academy pushing for more female representation in Formula 1. Women like Maria Teresa de Filippis and Sara Christian paved the way for future generations, demonstrating that talent and passion know no gender. It's time for the motorsports community to fully acknowledge and celebrate the vital role women play, both on and off the track.

(writing one about the men that do support women in f1 soon!! WOO also ignore tags again hahaha)

[olderthannetfic]

So the ‘straight with one exception’ shit that was so prevalent with straight women in fandom a few years ago. Do they find it a romantic notion? I’m bisexual so growing up in the 90s and 2000s most the queer content I could find was fan made. And don’t get me wrong I am grateful for the fandom moms of old for making queer content as a young guy in the 90s figuring myself out there was a lot of fear and self loathing but I always had fandom to make myself feel more normal. But yeah that straight with an exception thing, always really ruined my fic experiences a bit. But I’ve actually started reading older fic because it avoids a lot of the shit I find annoying about modern fics. Can’t escape this trope though it’s like negative nostalgia lol. I know you’re queer but I want to get why straight women love this trope so much. Is a bisexual man so unattractive?

--

Anon...

I hate to break it to you, but when I started interviewing slash writers from the 70s, I heard more than one story that was like "And then I had all these weird feelings for my best friend I was writing with..."

Decades on, these women may have picked some other word than 'straight', but plenty of them did experience You're My One Exception.

Even the horny and self-aware people often find One Exception stories hot, whether it's a villain only being nice to one person or someone who has only experienced attraction one time or someone who is attracted despite their usual orientation. Like 90% of het romance novels include some barf-worthy "It's never been like this before!!!!" observation when they finally get together as though love is more special when you can put down every past partner. People just really, really, really like this trope in all its forms.

The fact that you would think this is a sign of a straight or female writer shows that you are amazingly clueless.

--

That said, yeah, I too found the ubiquity of this in 90s fic annoying. Not a huge fan of the internalized homophobia that everyone was kinking on back then either.

I don't think it's specifically about bi men being attractive or not within fandom, though there is a massive real world double standard against bi men on, for example, OK Cupid.

I think it's more about One Exception as a general trope plus a lot of people being profoundly clueless about bisexuality in the 90s even if they were allies and activists for gay causes.

That was the era of Anything That Moves precisely because the queer community wasn't very hip about bi stuff yet. (And arguably, in recent years, we've backslid, but that's another story.)

--

~Fandom moms~. Yeesh. A lot of those big authors were probably in their 20s in the 90s.

[tickotaku]

Reasons the Ikemen Prince suitors and I wouldn't realistically work in a relationship:

Part 2.

(spoilers)

Note: just fyi, I haven't finished all of their routes yet. ((I've been busy (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)) So it's possible that these reasonings won't be the best.

Also warning to Silvio lovers, I diss on your man a lot. Sorry (⁠*⁠﹏⁠*⁠;⁠)

Silvio:

He makes me mad (literally could barely make it through the first couple of chapters)

I would probably smack him despite my better judgement. And then get executed or something

He's just... Kinda ugly? (No offense to Silvio fans)

He'd probably overstimulate me with all the clinking noises when he walks.

If would drive me CRAZY when he treats me as less than.

I have too much of a mouth and a death wish to deal with his nonsense.

I'd probably get in trouble for swearing at/with him too much.

He can't be going after my homeboy Rio like that. Leave the poor man alone.

Also leave me alone, don't sexualize and threaten me as a woman and then get all spazzy and weird if a women touches you even by accident.

I've had to much trauma experience with men like him to deal with his bullshit

Like he's so full of himself bro wrote a book about his life story and how he tRaVeLeD ThE wOrLd, like please you're in your twenties calm down.

I did not finish his route at all, so I really don't know much about him. But from the interactions with him in other routes and the beginning of his route? No thanks.

TLDR: I just don't like him very much. He'd be fun to mess with once or twice but nah.

Gilbert:

Would still make me a pretty mad, but also like, I'd just find him alluring and get sucked in too easily. I have a habit of wanting to befriend people who everyone says to avoid.

Ok, so do I have a double standards, a little bit yeah.

Also big one, I'm pretty easy to manipulate apparently (Like I just recently got out of a really bad friendship where I was used and bullied and still stayed)

I'd see the signs of him isolating me too late. And would probably assume it was my own fault.

I'd probably fall for his gaslighting and become emotionally dependent on him oops.

I am a big-time yapper. I don't know if that would be a problem, but I assume he'd be a little peeved if I never shut up.

Continuing that, I like talking to other people. So this whole, "oh only focus on me, you can't have other friends" that's not gonna work out very well.

I'm like a cat with separation anxiety. Oh, you wanna lock me in my room? Ok, constant knocking and loud yapping till you open the door. He'd kill me

I'm clingy. But also not? I just don't like being shut out but I do need space sometimes.

On that note, back off my business and give me some space, damn.

I'm way to nosey. And even when I know not to be, I can't help but notice things and over analyze them.

"Wait are you sick?" Dead.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I CAN'T BE FRIENDS WITH THE ANIMALS, WHY'D YOU BRING THEM HERE THEN? LOOK AT THEM, I ALREADY LOVE THEM.

WHY ARE YOU RELYING ON ME TO MAKE THIS HUGE JUDGEMENT I'M JUST A GIRL

WHY ARE YOU MAD? I TRIED TO SAVE YOU? BACK THE FUCK UP.

Yeah that thing he does where he gets all bloodlust-y and starts walking towards belle like he's gonna do something? Nah, I'd have a breakdown. That hits too close to home.

Anyway.

He'd say something really twisted and I'd be like "ooh promise?"

So how you gonna tell me it's betraying you if I die but then you gonna be dying? Hypocrite.

"Gil, no. Don't be mean... Ok, I'll shut up."

-a daily interaction.

gotta stop threatening to behead every person I befriend.

Stop threatening me I just want to love you.

I wouldn't want to be in another relationship where I have to walk on eggshells constantly.

"Why yes my love, I do have that gift from you on me. I painted it purple and added little hearts. Please stop threatening to start massive warfare everytime you see it. I will use it but I won't kill you. I'll just shoot you in the ass cheek."

"Gil, love of my life. I'm dense, remember? Use your words, not your teeth! ITS BEEN THREE HOURS I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU'RE UPSET."

Keith:

Hehe, low self esteem buddies.

Omg, your dad tells you you're a failure? What a coincidence! Mine too!

Anyway, we can't both be constantly apologizing.

I don't think I'd get along with Liam.

I feel like I'd notice the change to the other Keith, but I would think he just secretly disliked me and it was slipping thorough. At first anyway.

I'd probably get upset the first couple of times he would "forget" things (after switching back) but wouldn't make a big deal out of it and would just chalk it up to him having gaps in his memory because that's normal.

I'd want to tell him I love both sides, but I'd probably end up just saying something stupid.

Would get way too angry on his behalf.

Alter-Keith would probably make me uncertain about myself once or twice.

I would want him to have more confidence in himself.

I honestly can't think of too many reasons. I'd really like Keith.

[lucifertheanalyzer]

I just find it odd you go on about Star while Chai has done the same and worse. Double standards. Chai was the one sending anon asks hating on imperfectcritiques and fetishising r*pe and blah blah blah. Gotta get better priorities. And yeah you shouldn’t be surprised you’re losing followers. Regardless of what you think of the playlist, viv clearly isn’t good at portraying SA and her writing is misogynistic (whether she herself is a misogynist is not something I can say). Even if it’s not a kink, you cannot be blind to how she represents SA. Everyone ganged up on Limus for calling out the blatant fetishisation. And it’s ALWAYS against a woman, or against an extremely feminine gay man. Come the fuck on.

I talked about Chai; I just move all of those posts to my archive account. Star is an obsessive hater who has been an issue in the community for a long time and is someone I interacted with personally.

Chai was the one sending anon asks hating on imperfectcritiques and fetishising r*pe and blah blah blah. Chai made a post about IMP once; I would hope that Chai would no better than harass or send a harassment campaign against someone giving the fandom likes to harass him. I have a feeling of who was the one who went those ask last month but that drama is dead and buried.

Gotta get better priorities.

Oh! I am HUGE fan of priority mail. 😋 /j

Regardless of what you think of the playlist, viv clearly isn’t good at portraying SA and her writing is misogynistic (whether she herself is a misogynist is not something I can say). Even if it’s not a kink, you cannot be blind to how she represents SA. Everyone ganged up on Limus for calling out the blatant fetishisation. And it’s ALWAYS against a woman, or against an extremely feminine gay man. Come the fuck on.

If you ever wonder "Hm, I wonder why lucifertheanalyzer did not talk about Keith's bluesky convo with Viv" this is why: I am not a sexual assault or abuse survivor. This is why I never talk about how sexual abuse is portray in the Hellaverse because is not my place. I have always been:

If a survivor feels seen: Their view is valid. 👍🏾

If a survivor does not feel seen: Their view is valid. 👍🏾

How sexual assault, abuse, or/and rape is portrayed in media is a topic I have not done research on and do not want to. I have my limits on consuming dark media and topics, and I do not want to spend days researching a topic like. Consuming dark stuff tends to be addicting for me, I had times where the only videos I would watch was real life dark events that happened to people all day, which is not healthy.

My only frame of reference is Law and Order: SUV a show I have not watched in a while and comparing a life-action show to a cartoon sounds dumb to me at least.

I also have narrow interests. This is why blog is yapping about the same topics over and over: the standom, the character designs, the writing flaws, the unfortunate racist implications, the favoritism for male characters, and the merch. Go to a survivor's blog or page for their opinions about to sexual assault in the Hellaverse, their opinions matter more.

[theradicalscrivener]

D ☆ Rising

Taking a jump back to a time before Mateo was a racer. An avid racing fan (and an even more avid fan of huge things) Mateo dreamt of being a racer on the orbital circuit. His hard work is about to pay off in big ways.

[First Chapter] || [Previous Chapter]

                It took every ounce of Mateo’s self-control to sit still. This was it! It was finally happening! He had dreamed of this day for… well… as long as there had been orbital races. As a kid, he had a bed in the shape of a racecar. He dreamed of being a racer, but back then, races tended to be held on a closed roadway out in the countryside, and the pilots – drivers they were called back then – drove around in gas-guzzling four-wheeled deathtraps. By the time he got into high school, nanites were just becoming common, and by the time he graduated, orbital races were in full swing. His college dorm was adorned with images of the colossal cocks of the new breed of racers. The collage of cocks on his wall made it hard for his roommates to tell if he was an avid racer or just really fucking gay, but the truth was… both!

                Mateo had suffered through four years of college more for his parents’ sake than his own. He had no need for a degree. All he needed to do was qualify for the races! His daily routine had him spending more time at the gym than the library. He skated by with the bare minimum of effort in his schoolwork. Most of his mental capacity was directed towards studying all the facts and figures of the races that he could! After all, Cs get degrees, and he was far more interested in Ds.

                “Ok. We will begin the process shortly. If you have any questions or concerns, now is the time. Once we start, there will be no going back,” The man said. He was clad in surgical scrubs and a facemask that obscured most of his features. He didn’t even have a nametag on. It was only from the tone of his voice that Mateo could recognize him as the head of R&D for the orbital races. The nanites had been this guy’s brainchild, but whether or not he had intended for them to create an entire sport around supersized schlongs was still anyone’s guess. That was a question for his biographer. All Mateo cared about was getting outfitted with his own “hotrod”.

                “I’ve never been more ready!” Mateo said excitedly, and it was true. He felt like if he had to delay even another minute he’d explode!

                The researcher shrugged and turned back to face the control console once more. He quickly looked over the readouts, made a few comments to his assistants, and pulled the lever.

                Mateo could feel it instantly. There was a warmth coursing through his body. It was like that soothing warmth that hot cocoa made when going down your throat but instead it coursed through his very veins. Soon, the warmth mellowed out and was replaced with a new sensation – a gentle tingle in his cock and balls. This was it!

                Mateo stared down at his package in rapt fascination. He didn’t want to miss a moment of this. This was it! His ascension to orbital racer!

                As the nanites began their work, Mateo’s cock steadily swelled and grew. His once average member quickly doubled in size. Soon his softy dangled halfway down his thigh, and his hefty nuts hung even lower, but it didn’t stop there. His cock and balls continued to grow and grow and grow.

                Mateo ran the numbers in his head as he watched on with manic glee. He had no idea how big he would get, and he didn’t really care. He just wanted to compete! Some of the racers ended up with cocks the size of a motorcycle or a small sedan. Those racers had to be quick and agile to compete in the big leagues, but if that was as large as he got, then Mateo would just have to make it work.

                Mateo had actually met one of these racers back in the early days of the sport. The guy was considered “small” by racer standards, but his dick was so huge that he had to be wheeled to the meet and greet on the flatbed of semi. The dude was completely immobilized atop his truck-sized schlong, but he didn’t seem to mind. If anything, he was excited to regale the fans about the thrill of zooming through space mixed with the rush of blasting gallons upon gallons upon hundreds of gallons of hot jizz through the stratosphere while he was soaring through the races.

Mateo had been on the fence when he heard about the procedure to grow cocks to the size that they could serve as an engine for space travel, but upon meeting these racers (and seeing their phenomenal cocks) in person, he was hooked. The image of a cock that was bigger than he was was mesmerizing! He went to bed that night and images of sedan sized schlongs filled his brain! The morning after, he had had to discreetly wash his own bedding, but it had all been worth it.

                As Mateo lay strapped to the table, he continued to stare on as his cock eclipsed the size of a car. If nothing else, he was big enough to compete! Still… a bit more wouldn’t hurt. After all, his cock already looked so hot…

                Mateo’s cock continued to swell. He was quickly moving up to the next weight bracket! These racers had most of the mobility of the little guys but still had enough heft to them to make them a threat in direct collisions. He had once seen a pilot with a cock the size of a freight train completely launch one of the smaller racers spiraling off course. With his trajectory destabilized, the massive, mobile cock was sent spiraling off into the stars. The spray of jizz firing from his enormous cock forming a milky white helix against the black backdrop of space. Mateo remembered watching that the first time it had happened. The audience gasped in shock. Was this allowed? Was the other racer OK? But while the spectators gasped and gawked, Mateo had been fully boned. Imagine having a dick so huge that it could swat a shuttle from the sky like a gnat! Mateo didn’t necessarily relish the idea of being such an aggressive pilot, but at the same time, it must feel so good to be so huge!

                But even as he fantasized about his racing career in the next weight class, he was rapidly outgrowing it. His cock and balls now filled the hangar that served as his hospital room. His cock had to be larger than a freight train! It was now reaching a size closer to that of a commercial airliner! Cocks this size were rare indeed!

                Mateo could hardly believe it. How lucky could he be! Sizes like this were almost unheard of! Maybe a one in a thousand chance! He couldn’t wait to get out there. Those mid-tier brawlers that he was just fantasizing about now paled in comparison to his own cock. They would be like gnats bouncing off of his cock!

                There was some chatter from the researchers, but Mateo couldn’t make out any of it. He was so lost in the excitement of his future and the orgasmic bliss of the growth that he was barely even aware that the large, circular observation platform that the researchers were working on had detached from the lab and was now hovering above him like an olde-timey sci-fi flying saucer!

                The walls of the hangar folded open and dropped down into compartments in the ground. While it was rare for anyone to reach this size, it was not impossible. It had happened before, and since then, the league had taken steps to save the structure in case a test subject outgrew the walls. The brilliant sunlight was so jarring after being under intense observation in a dimly lit lab, that Mateo had to wince and cover his eyes until his eyes had time to adjust, but when his eyes did finally adjust, he glanced around and noticed that he was seated atop a cock that loomed over the campus like a mountain!

                How huge was he!? He looked around and tried to get a good idea of his size, but he was suspended so high up and was surrounded on all sides by balls and cock. He just couldn’t see his surroundings, but he was easily in the largest weight class. He had outgrown the entire hangar! His cock was now larger than a jumbo jet! In fact, he may now be the largest racer in the league!

                I mix of pride and excitement welled up inside him. Had he ever seen a cock so huge? Maybe once, but never up close. He had seen as many races as he could get to, and he had seen the largest cocks the league had to offer. He had seen dicks the size of massive ocean liners, but his might even be larger!

                What did that mean for his career as a racer? Was there such a thing as too big? The larger a racer got, the more thrust they generated, but the harder it became to turn. At some point, he’d turn into nothing more than an interplanetary battering ram! He’d be invincible on the straightaways, but he’d never manage the sharp turns of the track!

                He worried that his racing career may be over before it started, but even as the worry welled up inside of him, his excitement continued to grow. He was so huge! He was so hot! He wanted more! He wanted to be bigger! Bigger and bigger! There was no limit to his desire! If he couldn’t be a racer, maybe he could be the track itself! Let his own gravity guide the smaller racers to victory! Mateo chuckled softly in spite of himself as an image of massive, cruiser-sized cocks flitting around his dick like gnats filled his mind. How huge would he be at that point, and would it be huge enough?

                As Mateo’s mind raced, his cock continued to swell. Suddenly, red flashing warning lights shone forth from the hovering platform that the researchers occupied. Something was strange. Mateo could feel pressure on all sides. His cock was being shoved inwards somehow.

                Mateo glanced out around him, and even through the haze of arousal and the flashing red lights, he could make out the shimmering hexagonal panels of the hastily erected forcefield.

                He had outgrown the entire campus! His cock now eclipsed a city block! He had seen dicks the size of an ocean liner, but his cock had to be even larger than that! How huge was he? A thousand feet? Two thousand? It was tough to tell since his cock was still swelling, but he was pinned into the perimeter like a sardine in a can!

                The hovering platform touched down atop Mateo’s massive nuts. One of the researchers, the same one from before, quickly hurried over to him and quickly muttered something. It sounded urgent, but Mateo was too far gone to listen. He was so huge. It felt so good. He wanted more…

                The researcher muttered something to himself and pulled out a small injector. He held the gun-like object to Mateo’s neck and quickly pumped the contents into Mateo’s bloodstream. If the first injection had been pleasantly warm, this one was painfully electric. His entire body seized. His veins sizzled with electricity. The nanites in his body shuddered and sparked. For a second, Mateo worried that this may be it for him, but at least he had died trying to fulfill his dream.  However, no sooner had the pain started than it quickly subsided. His muscles ached from exertion and his lungs burned for air, but he felt no worse than he would after an intense session at the gym. The worst sensation was this feeling of emptiness that overtook him.

                He had stopped growing. Sure, he was quite possibly the largest pilot in the league now, but he had wanted more. The orgasmic high of his growth still haunted the back of his mind, but… it was alright, wasn’t it? He could still race at this size. He didn’t really want to get bigger, did he? That would be silly, right? What would he even do if he got too large to move even amidst the near zero gravity of space?

                These are the arguments that he repeated to himself during the weeks of his recovery. It took the league almost a month to get the equipment ready to launch him into space, and during that time, Mateo became a bit of a landmark around town. His mountainous cock and balls were visible for miles around. Getting him orbital was such a monumental undertaking that the league had had to partner with the government and the space program to get the equipment to send him skyward.

                While he waited for his ride to space to be completed, Mateo did the meet and greet with the press and fans. His cock and balls were so massive that he couldn’t even be loaded onto a freight train to do visit other cities. He couldn’t go on the road like some of the smaller competitors, but plenty of fans were more than happy to come to him. As he shook hands and signed autographs as the most talked about new rookie, his excitement to be a racer grew within him once more. As the day of his first race came closer and closer, the joy of finally achieving his childhood dream almost drowned out that dark desire to grow even larger… almost.

                In the quiet moments when the press had died down and even the most ardent fans or curious spectators had gone home, Mateo would lay back atop his own mountain-sized sack and stare up at the stars above. Soon, he would take his place up among the stars as another orbital racer… or another heavenly body.

[First Chapter] || [Previous Chapter]

[ursafootprints]

fanfic trope game!

a/b/o dynamics: i feel there's a lot to unpack (gender, heat/rut, consent, pregnancy, scent, etc.). feel free to address whichever part you want to talk about!

Omegaverse is one of those ones that I can't put a specific grade on because my feelings towards it vary WILDLY depending on the particular worldbuilding and execution! Like, I consider omegaverse one of my very favorite A-tier tropes, but at the same time a bunch of not-uncommon worldbuilding elements are straight-up "do not read"s for me haha.

So: I'm not a fan of when the worldbuilding is done in a way where all omegas are genuinely submissive little tradwives who have no desires outside of pleasing their alphas, and alphas are all domineering assholes who accept omega's obedience as their right. I'm fine with it when those are society's expectations and the characters are struggling within that system because they don't fit into those boxes, but I don't like when it is an objective fact of biology within the world! (With no hate to anyone that does like that version of the trope, I get it, it's a kink, but it's not my thing.)

I'm also not sssuper a fan of when omegas are like, inherently aesthetically feminized within the worldbuilding (skirts/dresses/make-up/etc.), and as someone with a pregnancy squick I don't love the prevalence of breeding kink, but those aren't huge dealbreakers for me.

But as for the stuff I do like!

I love the inherent genderfuckery, both from turning around IRL gender roles and the way that so much omegaverse casually presents a world where "of COURSE men can get pregnant" etc. I love the potential to put characters in systems of oppression outside of what they would experience canonically or IRL and to see how they would impact them, and what levels of complexity it can add to their other relationships. I love how all of the little details one has to decide when making their version of omegaverse requires thinking about how systems of oppression do work, and how people do navigate gender roles and double-standards and conflicting expectations IRL.

And then just on a kink level, I loooove the biological sex pollen inherent to heats/ruts and the stickiness that can add to the questions of consent depending on the worldbuilding, I love the animalistic framing with scenting, growling, mating bites, and some little instinctive things (protectiveness, sharing food as a romantic instinct, nesting and so on) vs the Personality-Defining Instincts that I'm not a fan of, and I find knotting super hot.

(The prolonged nature of it is just so good-- from a consensual angle it's incredibly intimate, but then from a dubcon or noncon angle, the prolonged forced proximity?!? I die. So good. Please imagine with me an omegaverse version of double-blind where Tony and Peter were knotted when Tony realized Spider-man's identity. It's PEAK.)

So yeah, omegaverse is a BIG FAVE and beloved trope, but I am also just very picky about it lsdkjfls. Someday I will actually finish one of my like, 3+ omegaverse WIPs to share!

Thanks for playing! 💖💖💖

[psyga315]

A breakdown of an analysis of female portrayal in media

Originally the entire post was going to be a takedown of the post, but to iamafanofcartoon's credit, a lot of the points they make are valid. However, given their bias towards RWBY, some double standards come up ironically as they bring up double standards.

"A lot of people are incapable of viewing female characters as anything other than an innocent saint or a portrait of pure evil. Arguably the best characters are morally ambiguous ones who live in the gray area between good and evil, but women are much less often afforded that distinction than their male counterparts."

This is the biggest piece of irony ever when you remember how they treat Ironwood, someone who has moral ambiguity (at least in Volume 7) or even how they regard Ruby lying to Ironwood as something that isn't something morally ambiguous, but rather 100% guaranteed the right thing to do.

"I’m been having a huge problem connecting to media. The only women around are very young or very old and their main defining feature is usually motherhood."

They say as the protagonists of RWBY are women who are very young.

"A lot of the time if there is a military high ranking female character or just female leader that is masculine or butch she will be the villain to be defeated by the traditionally feminine or at least more feminine heroine/love interest of the hero."

Oh, military being evil is just a trope in of itself. You should be familiar with it because you like to bring up a certain someone who fits that trope to a T over and over:

Wonder why he gets shit.

I'm going to pause and heavily commend I Am A Fan for bringing up the overuse of the term Mary Sue and how it's now used as a phrase to shut down any female protagonist who just happens to be just a little too much in the screen time, especially given its ironic origin being that it was to parody the "I get into Starfleet, befriend literally everyone, and then tragically die" trope that cropped up in several Star Trek zines.

There's a lot of debate with Rey and the sequels, but we'll leave that for another day. All I will say though is that holy shit, the defense for Rey here is top notch, especially that part where they compare Rey's handling of weapons to Luke's handling of weapons.

A lot of the post starting from when they criticize the overuse of Mary Sue is actually a really solid read and I recommend you giving it a look, even if you don't agree with what they say.

That said, it comes crashing down over to here:

"You heard of The Bechdel test: Two women have to talk about something other than a man. There is no time window."

Ignoring the fact that the Bachdel test isn't meant to be taken seriously (something that the linked page literally points out), RWBY failed this test numerous times.

Ruby: (putting the pamphlet away) Yeah! Great idea, sis! (holding out her hand as she clears her throat) Hello, Weiss! I'm Ruby! Wanna hang out? We can go shopping for school supplies! Weiss: (seemingly enthusiastic) Yeah! And we can paint our nails and try on clothes and talk about cute boys, like tall, blond, and scraggly over there!

That's just the straight up example. "But Psyga, she was being sarcastic!". Okay. Well, the condition is that they have to be talking about a man and not specifically someone they're dating, so pick your poison with these two Bumblebee exchanges. One has them talking about two men!!!

Blake: I had someone very dear to me change. [...] you're not him. And you've never done anything like this before. So... I want to trust you. I will trust you. But first, I need you to look me in the eyes and tell me that he attacked you. I need you to promise me that you regret having to do what you did. Yang: (wipes her eyes of tears, then says as calmly as possible) I saw him attack me, so I attacked back.

Yang: Do you… (loud exhale) Do you think we should've told Ironwood about Salem, before he put so much on the line for Amity? Blake: Sounds like you do. Yang: (sighs) I trust Ruby, but I think he deserves to know what he's stepping into. We all did.

But you wanna know the most batshit insane part? Stretch the definition, and you can have RWBY fail this test first try.

Glynda: I hope that you realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly, young lady. You put yourself and others in great danger. Ruby: [Roman and his gang] started it! Glynda: If it were up to me, you'd be sent home... With a pat on the back... (she notices Ruby's smile) ...And a slap on the wrist. (she demonstrates with her riding crop, which Ruby barely avoids as she gives out an "Eeek!) But... [Ozpin] would like to meet you.

Like, I would bring up that Rick and Morty pointed out how it's not meant to be taken seriously, but then I remembered it's called Rick and Morty and not Rikki and Morticia, so it might not even be in I Am A Fan's radar.

"Go watch RWBY or Legend of Korra. Both involve a deconstruction of tropes. Both involve women standing up against an authority that demands respect based on being authority, not based on respect. Both shut down the white male savior trope so hard, that men and women who love the patriarchy despise both shows."

What they don't tell you is that the "standing up against authority" bit in RWBY only lasts for two Volumes and it ends up making the main character's deep-rooted depression outright suicidal because their actions in doing so had lasting consequences to their psyche. Not to mention that up until Volume 6, they had been following the instructions of authority.

A straight white male one at that who in Volume 4 went into the body of a person of color and has to possess him in order to continue giving instructions. And that's when the girls start to question his authority and even yell at him. If that's not fucking yikes, I don't know what is.

Korra's standing against authority is more "let the bad guys depose the authority and then we'll clean up the mess" but that's neither here nor there.

Also, I don't think adding a fe in front of male counts as shutting down the white male savior trope.

But of course, anything that Team RWBY or Korra does is immediately held to a double standard and ripped into for anything that they do NOT because they’re flawed or because of writing decisions. Its because they’re LGBT women that they’re held under a microscope.

No, it's because people explored the long-standing consequences of their actions and what it means for upending society as a whole. I haven't been in the Legend of Korra discourse but I definitely know the discourse of RWBY to know that them being LGBT has nothing to do with them getting criticized.

In fact, two of the four girls aren't even LGBT in the first place and the other two are B but you keep denying that and call them L.

Or have you noticed that every fixit fanfic for both series involves defending the Patriarchy while supporting toxic masculinity and trying to revive the White Male Savior trope that both shows have tried so hard to bury six feet under?

Have you noticed that RWBY involves four girls defending the patriarchy while supporting toxic masculinity and trying to revive the White Male Savior trope that it ironically tried to bury six feet under?

Because after Volume 3, the plot is about them going from Kingdom to Kingdom and protecting the Academies, which the last King of Vale had essentially turned into castles to house powerful relics.

When all four of these relics are gathered, they summon two brothers who will pass judgement onto mankind and are seen as, so far, one of the only ways to truly deal with the true threat of Salem, i.e. they are the white male saviors.

Despite being even more trigger happy and axe crazy than Volume 8!Ironwood.

And just to show just how much of a tangent I Am A Fan's post is... That's the very last paragraph. Do you see why I call them FNDM-GPT?

EDIT: This motherfucker reposted this from March! https://iamafanofcartoons.tumblr.com/post/711784852348878848/we-need-to-address-how-media-and-media-critics

[discopolice]

saw a take on twitter about "I love that there's no fanfiction commissions, I like that this hobby is untainted by money and exists only on love," and it pissed me off a little bit that this standard is only applied to fanwriters.

disclaimer: I'm a copyright abolitionist. I'm also not a fan of AO3 for various reasons, including their firing of a volunteer for using the phrase "from the river to the sea," their tolerance of sexually explicit RPF of real-life children, and their general lack of accountability to the public. I still use them for discoverability, acknowledging that this is a moral trade-off for me; I'd like to move my work off AO3 eventually.

but man, when you look at how visual fanartists monetize their work... fanwriters really get the raw end of the deal. and when you look at how fandom treats visual fanartists, and then how fandom treats fanwriters, it's not hard to see a double standard.

I get why. Anne Rice and her lawyers, and GRRM, and a bunch of other writers have created this brainrot - in all honesty, it's copyright itself that has created this brainrot, and if you're a fanartist of any stripe you should consider being a copyright abolitionist. the same sword you feel "protects your rights" from generative AI or whatever is the sword that was used to try and kill fandom for many years. if you are creating fanwork, copyright is not your friend.

fanart falls into the same legal pitfalls as fanfiction. if you don't believe me, chat with anyone who has tried to make and sell anything related to a disney, marvel, or ghibli property on etsy. they will find and ban you with prejudice. it is tolerated by smaller companies, in particular those without merch operations of their own, because it is seen now as a sign of love; that is not universal. you are still opening yourself up to liability, and if a company has merch of their own, you're a competitor.

and yet... there's this myth that persists, that fanart is more legally permissible than fanfiction. it's grounded in history, in particular the notoriously litigious Anne Rice (rest in piss) and other authors who openly disapprove of fanfiction. but everything I can see indicates it is a myth. fanart and fanfiction are both derivative works.

visual fanartists are allowed and encouraged to make money off their work. I can walk into any con, right into the artist alley and see seas of it - hell, even my local art school's yearly market has booths selling fanart. they're encouraged to seek validation, to express feelings about whether their work is seen or appreciated. they can gate their fanwork behind a patreon; this is an accepted and encouraged practice, because you know, visual artists deserve to get paid (and I am not saying they don't, much of my "fun money" goes to visual artists). sure, it's not legal, same way that fanfiction is not legal. but they deserve to make money off their craft. spaces are actively made for them to do so.

so why this myth? part of it is history, sure. it's the disclaimers at the beginning of fics that say "wah please don't sue me I'm not infringing." it's the specific way published authors have gone after fanfic writers. (we see the same sort of crackdown by disney on fan-merch, maybe even worse, but because artist alleys aren't full of the accursed mouse, it's not in the eyesight of the sorts of fandom I'm talking about.) we haven't, in this sphere of fandom, seen this huge backlash against visual art.

but maybe it's also that when it's visual art, people recognize the value in it instantly. you don't have to put time and effort into understanding the way you do fanfiction; you can, but you don't have to. there's a lot of talk about "pay artists what they deserve," and I don't disagree with that! visual artists should be appreciated and compensated for their labor, and for providing joy to all of us.

yet, when fanwriters ask for anything... for comments, for kudos, for tips, for f/f works to be appreciated. we are called "entitled" and yelled at, told we are destroying fandom when we have held fandom on our shoulders for decades. fandom wants to defend us insomuch as we churn out their enemies to lovers only one bed coffeeshop AUs in perpetuity, for free, fueled only by our love for the fandom, which is expected to be boundless and without end.

but fanwriters? oh, no. the demand is that we stay chaste and pure, unmoved by mere mortal things like money or praise. bummed that your f/f work isn't getting seen like your m/m is? "you're so entitled, this is why I hate yuri fans." (sometimes they'll even say 'this is why I hate lesbians' and drop the pretense!) want to make money off your work? somehow everyone suddenly cares about legality; "you're threatening the future of fanfiction as a whole." the whimsical, fans-funding-fans model only works for visual fanart; for fiction, you must file the serial numbers off and submit yourself to the racist, homophobic, transphobic hell that is publishing (and booktok, lmao).

you don't deserve to get paid the way visual artists do, after all. you don't deserve to have your work appreciated, and asking for appreciation from your readers is entitlement. want to be treated like a human? write more, shove more tropes into it, make your work more digestible and palatable. go get published and give someone else a cut. but keep writing, write more, lest you be accused of "demanding too much" and be told to pick up a pencil. and how dare you abandon that WIP nobody was commenting on, someone might have been hanging off their seat waiting for an update.

anyway, speaking of money. I'm going to be self-publishing a chapbook / zine / Thing full of original poetry about grief and love. it'll be on itch.io for $5 when it is ready, both digital and physical copies included. every booklet will be hand-bound by me and packaged with care. look forward to it

[cleverhottubmiracle]

When Taylor Swift sang, “I’ve got a blank space, baby, and I’ll write your name!” pregnant moms everywhere felt that. The only problem? What baby name will you actually write down? It’s so hard to choose! The “Karma” singer — whose The Tortured Poets Department double album dropped today! — can help. Anyone whose been to her Eras tour, filled with over three hours of hits, tons of glitzy costume changes, and more to make our “Wildest Dreams” come true, knows that Swift has tons of material to draw from for inspiration. Reflecting on her 11 fabulous albums, we can’t help but think: her poetic lyrics and cottagecore vibe lend themselves to some beautiful baby names! Related story Who Was Taylor Swift Sitting With at Super Bowl LIX? Everyone in Her VIP Box Just ask Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, whose daughters’ names, James, 8, Inez, 6, and Betty, 3, are all mentioned in Swift’s “Betty” from Folklore. The song isn’t about the little girls, but Swift did use their names to enrich the story, which is pretty cool. Taylor Swift. Photo by Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management. Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management From an autumn aesthetic on her Evermore album to the bubblegum pastel vibe of Lover, the edgy style of Reputation to the timeless style of 1989, there is so much material from which to score baby names for both boys and girls. Even on her new dark, poetic, and haunting latest album! Both longtime Swifties and casual Taylor Swift fans can find something unique and beautiful for their little one. Baby names are special, and what’s more special than your love of Taylor Swift? You listened to her through heartbreaks, first love, and anger at sexist double standards (looking at you, “The Man.”) You’ve scream-sung her songs in the car and danced at her concerts and watched her beautiful, award-winning All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version) on repeat. So, it’s the logical next step to bestow a Swift-inspired name to your newborn baby. The Grammy winner is a clever storyteller and beautiful lyricist, so it’s no surprise that her songs would inspire the perfect baby names. If you’re a huge Swiftie, this list is for you! Pop Culture Taylor Swift Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images Taylor Alison Swift Travis Joe Harry Jake Calvin Tom Selena Sophie Blake Brittany The Tortured Poets Department Frazer Harrison/Getty Images Clara Lucy Dylan Patti Jack Chelsea Ken Heath Sarah Hannah Sunday Halo Saint Stevie Chloe Sam Sophia Marcus Aimee Eve Cassandra Peter Robin London 1989 (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Dean Cherry Alice Rose Heaven Dream Skye Faith Midnights Taylor Swift Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Lavender Scarlet Janet Daisy May Rain Sapphire Diamond Karma April Paris Evermore Taylor Swift Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Willow Marjorie Dorothea Este Ivy Ever Folklore Taylor Swift Hector Vivas/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management James Inez Betty Rebekah August Carolina Lover Taylor Swift Kevin Winter/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Cornelia Archer Summer London Drake January Leo America Stella Reputation Taylor Swift Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Bonnie Clyde Goldie Day King Hart Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Honey John Clark Emma Cleopatra Red (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Grace Ronan Autumn Wednesday Fearless (Taylor’s Version) Taylor Swift Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Abigail Stephen Romeo Juliet June Debut Taylor Swift Jeff Kravitz/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Cory Mary Drew Tim See the meaning of our favorite royal baby names from around the world. Source link

[jinzlers]

dreamed I woke up and went “haha, obviously the dream I just had about an anime with a trans man romantic lead and an american adaptation set in the town I went to high school in was my brain giving me melatonin and going ‘is this serotonin’?” because the anime actually existed as a standard girl-meets-boy romcom

only now that I’ve *actually* woken up, no the anime doesn’t actually exist so now I’m sad I don’t get to watch/rewatch either of them because it sounded really cute

character one: short pink-haired trans dude (MY CITY NOW) who gives comically off-the-wall gifts (I will expand on this later), kinda shy/sweet/silly standard shoujo protagonist.

character two: taller dark-haired guy who keeps doing nice things for the other one since they’re both on their own. need a ride home? I was gonna pick up some fast food on the way, I’ll treat you too if you want. hey when you were pulling up directions to your place there was a notification, did you see it? oh it was from your mom and you don’t get along, I get it that’s too bad. your place has shared bathrooms so you’re uncomfortable taking showers there? homie my place has a huge tub, take those bubble baths you miss here anytime. and so on.

obviously they eventually fall in love, BUT ALSO

character three: a middle-aged (private?) detective/investigator (possibly a descendant of Ranpo lol) who is secretly keeping tabs on character two because his dad is a big-time criminal who left the country to evade capture. why is his son back and living on his own? what’s he up to???

anyway in the end pink-haired guy gets kidnapped (probably by someone who also knows about dark-haired guy’s dad), so the detective teams up with the boyfriend (having determined he has nothing to do with his dad’s criminal empire) to find him. he’d moved in upstairs (walk-up type place), and while he’d avoided the one he was monitoring up until now, naturally pink-haired guy had the right type of protagonist powers to run into him his very first time visiting.

to prove he’s a friend, the detective admits the pink-haired guy kept asking him for advice on thank you gifts. he kept suggesting funky old-fashioned stuff because he’s *that* kind of dude, so: suggests a (paper) umbrella, kid gives friend a bright yellow travel umbrella. suggests a (folding) fan, kid gives friend an electronic hand fan. so the gifts have been double weird the whole time even as they gradually turned into “gifts for a guy I like”. (and obviously boyfriend was always sincerely like “thanks I love it”.)

anyway they save the guy and happily ever after etc., I gotta shower and not plan this as a webcomic now lol

[1001albumsrated]

#23: Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (1959)

Genre(s): West Coast Jazz

"Hey there kid, wanna buy some ~odd time signatures~?"

That's the question Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond asked America in 1959, and against all odds the answer was a resounding yes. This may not sound like a recipe for commercial and critical success, but the numbers say otherwise: the lead single Take Five was the first jazz single ever to crest 1 million sales, and the album is certified double platinum today (making it one of the best-selling jazz albums of all time). In fact, and I have zero data to back this up beyond a strong gut feeling based on years of music retail experience, I suspect this is the best-selling album focused on odd time signatures of all time.

A brief, over-simplified explanation of time signatures for the non-theory inclined: time signatures are how you count the beats of the music. The bottom number is the type of beat you're counting as the underlying pulse of the music (ie quarter notes, eighth notes, etc), the top number is how many of those make a measure (typically one line of a verse, etc). So your standard dance beat (think Stayin' Alive, or Another One Bites The Dust) is 4/4, or four quarter note beats to a measure. Your standard waltz is 3/4, or three quarter notes to a beat (think Piano Man, or Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah). Most popular music is written in standard "simple" times, where the top number is equal to or less than the bottom, with the majority being a variant of 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4. "Odd time signatures" is a catch-all term for just about everything that doesn't fall into those traditional forms. For example, increasing the number of beats per measure beyond the count (like 5/4 or 9/8, both created by "tacking" an extra beat onto the measure) creates an unnaturally lopsided or rushed feel. These times take a fair amount of technical skill to play well, particularly for the rhythm section, often feeling like a foreign language to most players.

And I think that's what, to me, is most impressive about Time Out: everything here feels natural. A lot of bands tend to hit you over the head with odd time signatures, emphasizing the lilting sonic strangeness of them. On Time Out, a casual listener not versed in music theory and/or dance is unlikely to notice something is up, aside from the songs having a certain uniqueness to them. The odd time signatures aren't really the point in the way they are with a lot of "progressive" music (I say this as a HUGE prog rock dork, just to be clear), they're a natural extension of the melodic ideas of the song. Take Five doesn't feel like 4/4 with a beat tacked to the end, it feels like 5/4 and, more importantly, it feels like Take Five rather than a textbook exercise. Time Out doesn't feel like an album where they forced themselves to play outside the rhythmic norm, it feels like a great jazz album full of creative melodic and harmonic concepts that happened to also have some odd rhythms. What's particularly interesting to me is that that feeling is the opposite of the truth of how the album was composed: Dave Brubeck heard the traditional 9/8 aksak rhythm while on tour in Turkey and thought it would be a cool idea to make a whole album of odd time signatures. So while the time signatures did, in fact, come first, they still managed to write a set of truly organic sounding tunes within that constraint. That, to me, truly is testament to the quality of Brubeck and Desmond as songwriters, and the quality of the whole band as musicians.

There's also a lot here that echoes styles of the future. The approach to odd times obviously will become a big influence on prog rock down the road, but there's also an element of classical music in the compositions here that really coalesces in some of the prog bands of the 70s. Keith Emerson (of ELP fame, watch this space as we'll listen to some ELP later down the road in this series) in particular was a vocal fan of Brubeck, but I think the whole genre owes him a great debt.

All that being said, MUST you hear Time Out before you die? Absolutely. There's something universally captivating and iconic about these tunes, and the compositional and improvisational skills on display far exceed the time-based trappings of the album. Time Out is also highly accessible, and alongside Kind of Blue is essential beginning listening for anyone interested in plumbing the depths of jazz.

Also, for the nerds who care: my copy of this album is the first edition CD from 1984, which I prefer to the remaster (although the remaster is a perfectly fine listen in its own right). Don't pay goofy collector's prices for that thing though, it's easy enough to find at more normal used prices if you browse your local record store's bins often. Also of interest (and an easy tell for those looking to find one) is that the title is misprinted as Take Five on the spine rather than Time Out. Pretty neat!

Next up: the eponymous debut album from folk legend Joan Baez!

[castlebyersafterdark]

waaait Noah has said he sees Mike when he looks at finn? 😳🤭 oh no hello blurred lines!! one can only hope something like that doesn’t end up hurting him in the end… for many reasons…. him coming to accept his sexuality via the show, then seeing finn as mike, then getting to act out a big romance when he hasn’t even had a real life bf yet all at the literal end of the road for a show he’s grown up with … it all could fuck with someone’s head big time so I hope he can be ok with all of that and not be thrown for an emotional loop.

but anyways like I think rpf ships that are m/m are always judged harsher than straight ones for obvious reasons and it’s always pretty blatant too. And like considering a ton of actors hook up, date or even get married by meeting on set (aka no diff than dating your coworker at your office job or grocery store or whatever you work or go to school etc it’s proximity!) it always confused me why some are soooo against even talking about the possibility of all of that in fan spaces. I can see how they wouldn’t want it to leech out of those fan spaces and be shoved in the actors faces and make them uncomfy, that’s valid, but like… shipping is something so normal to humans. Be it celebs or real ppl in our lives we have ALL done the oh they’d be so cute together! stuff…. it’s a shame fandoms now are so heavily policed about it though

COSIGNED. To the second part, not to get too downer of a topic, and it's not that everyone needs to care about the 'shipping aspect' of actors and celebrity, but just for the topic of gossip and relationship intrigue... there is such a double standard, we all know this. Because the worst thing a straight man can be accused of is gay, right? I get the topic of outing and pressure - but I always advocate to keep fan spaces and discussion contained to communities that are centered around that sort of thing.

Don't harass actors, don't spam their social media. What's the big deal about speculating about a relationship? It's really like you said, we're observing people and how they interact. We do it to our friends, our coworkers, etc. Film sets are where their jobs take place. Relationships form. Not uncommon. We're just, as fans, privy to insights of these people's work life and we're just making observations. It didn't used to be this big of a deal, for sure. And people who weren't into it were a lot chiller about just ignoring those parts of the fandom. At least, in the fandoms I was in that had a focus on both fictional characters and actors. I know SPN was a big fandom with both aspects but I never watched that show faithfully or dealt with the fandom myself. Was the contention huge about the existence or did people tend to turn a blind eye I wonder, because I know at least the actor shipping seemed as big as the show shipping, just from an outsider perspective...

[notafunkiller]

I love your page, really what I have seen on other blogs...especially shippers, scares me. Wanting to give Sebastian a folder full of accounts that "hate" his "girlfriend" seems extreme to me, the man this week says SM is a waste of time...but this has nothing to do with Sebastian because people just broadcast their opinion, celebrities are exposed to this and it is not going to change...there is a lot of hate on the internet and that is not going to change.

(I think what "angers" me the most is that the blog that is doing this witch hunt is the same one that talked and still talks bad about Ale. It's hypocrisy)

They will only make Sebastian further distance himself from the fandom and that's sad for people who don't even care about his personal life outside of being an actor.

They really need to get out into the real world, Sebastian won't give them a congratulations...I think the opposite will happen.

And they are doing it for Annabelle NOT Sebastian, they will give real names, with pictures and comments that were given...they are being stalkers for people that DO affect them (not celebrities which even though it is wrong, they are used to it).

Bullying someone for a celebrity is not going to make you get everyone to believe your narrative.

Sorry for the long post but I'm venting here because it's the only place that really listens to everything, I think you have are a very reasonable person in this fandom 🌸🌸.

Heyy, thank you so much! I am so glsd you feel free to talk here. And please, do not apologize!

Please, that envelope thing is so ??? Like it's not just ridiculous and shows this person/group of people did not touch grass ever, bur it's also direspectful to him and other fans who paid to meet and talk to him because they genuinely care about him... his roles and projects. This Annabelle shipping/relationship a§s kissing thing does not make people better fans.

(I mean they talk mostly about her on his big days so...)

If he even opens it (assuming he does not throws it away the next moment), what reaction is he supposed to have? Pat them on the shoulder and thank them? Invite them to dinner? They'd just make him uncomfortable and really creeped out bc... who has the time and urge to collect a bunch of info and photos (which btw is stalking and it's illegal) about strangers (just because they do not like Annabelle or they don't believe their relationship is real)?

It's so creepy and weird... I wonder if they'll film too so we can see his ??? face (I hope they don't, but still).

They act as if they actually are friends with Annabelle and Sebastian. As if they are doing them a favor.

They act as if they deserve a medal because they sexualize both: him and Annabelle, connect everything they do; she can't have a hobby without it being connected to him and he can't be in LA even for work meetings without being connected to her etc.

Please, Don ahd to tell them to stop leaking the live link, and Sebastian had to use a photographer blackdrop because they tried to leak/leaked his address multiple times in his live with Don, and instead of realizing how mich they creep him out and that he actually sees what people tlak on social media (because HE IS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, as much as he denies), they continue to talk about how that backdrop is from Annabelle's friend.

It's on another level... how do you miss the point?

I saw two people were being stalked + their families too. This is not just creepy, it's unhealthy and scary.

Why are you so deeply affected by people sharing their opinions on random things and people that you want to threaten them and use their families etc? Like you are definitely not okay if you do that.

Also, the double standard too! If Ale did what Annabelle does, they'd make cancel parties and send mor ethreats as they always did. And they did not stop hating on her, anyway. They still talk about how bad and awful she is.

Bullying is a HUGE NO - no matter who the person is.

Thank you for sharing and don't apologize or be shy 🌸