#playing into their marketing getting other people invested etc

[bogunicorn]

Y'all know Bioware picked N7 Day to drop that new teaser because they want the fanbase to forget that almost all the people who made ME and DA special have either left or been fired and the company is being sued in a class action suit because they refuse to pay proper severance to the employees they very suddenly laid off, right? Yes?

Like you get that it's bait? And they're going to do the same shit with the Dreadwolf marketing when that starts ramping up.

[blu-oo]

Buggy was Roger’s good luck charm

So I’ve had a headcanon for a while now concerning Buggy and his place on Roger’s crew. It’s no secret that both fans and characters within the One Piece world will look at Buggy and go “How/Why the fuck were you on Roger’s crew?” Hard to say definitively whether or not Buggy actually has good luck considering the absolute hell he has to go through in order to face plant into his power/status, but you still can’t argue that he gains things he is 100% undeserving of lol. Oda’s trolling aside, let’s say that his failing upwards IS purely a result of him having his luck stats set to fucking max with a few buffs tacked on. We can even make this more fun and say the reason Buggy’s luck is so paradoxical is BECAUSE his luck goes to others instead of being reserved for himself (either that or the only reason “failure” is tacked onto this is because Buggy is a jackass and karma doesn’t sleep on her prettiest degenerates). I can see this going down a few different ways:

Maybe they were on an island along the grand line and came across a vendor selling good luck tokens. An ornate looking box catches Roger’s eye, and the vendor starts gushing about how it’s their most “luckiest item” and that it’s very VERY much worth the hefty price tag. It’s also most definitely “a worthwhile investment, trust me! It’ll all pay off in the end!” Whatever that means. Roger’s gut feeling doesn’t need to be told twice, so he buys it. This could be a moment similar to Shanks where they take the box back to the ship only for “SURPRISE! CHEST BABY!” :D to happen again. Roger is no longer allowed to go shopping/haul treasure back to the ship without Rayleigh’s stink eye supervision.

Maybe there’s something similar to the Sabaody slave market where he’s being explicitly advertised as a good luck charm. The person selling him shows off his luck by playing simple tricks (like using cards and gambling with onlookers. Look, if you’re gonna try to sell someone's luck, ya might as well make an extra buck while doing so. And hey, this just proves his good luck charm is working). While the seller is distracted, Roger easily sidels up and eyes Buggy’s mean mug. He asks if Buggy is actually lucky and gets a rudely gestured affirmative. “Great!” He says before yanking the kid up and running off laughing. Rayleigh: what the fuck is that. Roger, tankard in one hand, clown child in the other: a beer.

Maybe Roger just happens upon Buggy and and witnesses his luck in action. Sees how instant karma comes to collect after some pompous jerk spits and belittles little Buggy and immediately he’s shamed and humiliated in front of a bunch of people (in addition to Buggy pit pocketing him in retaliation). He witnesses a merchant make snide and haughty remarks and refuses to sell to Buggy because he’s a visible street rat and then immediately afterwards a flock of rabid seagulls dive bomb his stall and peck at his toupee (a piece of bread is flung and lands right before Buggy’s nose). A group of older teens beating the snot out of buggy and stealing whatever he gained that day only to then immediately run into Roger? Well. Etc. etc. etc. Roger sees all this and more and at this point he decides to take Buggy along just because of how hilarious this all is (Buggy’s eventual love for Roger and therefore his luck beginning to include Roger was just an added bonus).

And since this is such a loose concept (and ignoring that Roger was a D so the following woulda happened anyways lol) we can even say that his luck to Roger is the reason for all the success at the end of his career lol. Edd war? Buggy. Living past his initial expiration date? Buggy. Making it to laugh tale? Buggy, except wait- things didn’t go 100% to plan with that one, huh 🤔🤔🤔🤔 and guess who wasn’t there 🤨🤨🤨🤨 im playing or am i

GASP. OR MAYBE HE HAS ABSOLUTE SHIT LUCK AND HE SAPS THAT SHIT OUTTA EVERYONE AROUND HIM EXPLAINING WHY THEY ALWAYS SOMEHOW LOSE OUT IN SOME WAY INSTEAD OF HIM—

[that-left-turn]

But the studio isn’t pushing romantic caryl. They’ve played them as soulmate friends. And I believe them now. After the bad promo and zabel’s comments idk why some of us are trying to retcon what’s in front of us. I won’t watch and be disrespected.

I’d describe what the studio’s peddling as ‘ambiguous Caryl.’ The romance is there if you choose to interpret the tea leaves one way, or Caryl are just the bestest of buddies if you’d rather see it the other way. AMC has always tried to cast as wide a net as possible, often to the detriment of both the quality of the show and the viewership they could’ve had if they’d made some definitive choices.

I think a lot of fans try to retcon the show's marketing because they’ve made a large emotional investment in Caryl—understandable since they’re two of the best developed characters on television, and there’s very limited understanding of how a TV production is run. After the last two years, people want things to be hopeful, so they curate a narrative that puts a positive spin on the promotion. There are probably also fans who didn’t watch S1 and haven’t seen anything else that Zabel has showrun, so they don’t know his style or how he writes women.

AMC wants Carylers to watch the show. They’ve spent the last few weeks promoting specifically to that demographic. I’m not saying they’re pro romantic Caryl, but they’re anti something which’ll nuke their Caryl audience out of existence. Zabel’s quote doesn’t serve AMC. They want you to watch, even if they give you nothing and telling you upfront that they’ll give you nothing will result in less viewers and less money. That’s why they’ve spent 14 years playing coy with all factions of fandom.

I wish fans would look at the bigger picture. Some other EP wants reunions (and is probably pitching shows to AMC) only to have Norman shoot down any questions about Rick with a joke. He’s not interested. Norman’s also been pretty vocal lately in hyping Melissa and Carol. He’s buffering her with the fans at the shoot, etc. That’s all part of the job and yes, it serves him too, but who doesn’t benefit from a successful S2 and/or Caryl and McReedus chemistry being well-received?

AMC has paid quite a bit of money to have Melissa return and they want to see that investment pay off. They won’t pick up an actor’s option—her deal is for two seasons—if that actor doesn’t bring viewers, engagement and acclaim because they have to offer her more money. Who stands to gain and what is to be gained, if ratings don’t increase from S1? It’s a low-key way to sabotage an actor you don’t want on your show and there are three EPs who resent Melissa being foisted upon them. All three have their own reasons for it.

I think that’s where things currently stand. Choosing not to watch helps a misogynist agenda and choosing to watch sends a message to AMC that they don’t have to respect their viewers. It’s important that Melissa gets the praise she deserves and doesn’t get scapegoated, so I would suggest that fans are vocal about the reasons for their choice. No matter what your choice is.

Just, please, don’t pretend that Zabel’s anyone’s ally or that Melissa’s EP title overrules whatever he says. Unless she specifically goes on the record to say that she wants Caryl to be platonic soulmates and nothing else, don't assume that her silence or deference to someone who’s her boss means she agrees with his decisions. She's not free to speak her mind at work events and even behind closed doors, it's hard to openly oppose men with fragile egos who hold the power.

I'm not trying to dictate what anyone should do. I just want there to be less misinformation, so Caryl fans can make informed decisions for themselves.

[centrally-unplanned]

The implied "theory of history" of the latest Fantasy RPGMaker "Kingdom Ruling" games I have been playing is always pretty consistent, even if its something of an emergent phenomenon. These games are a narrative, a narrative where the player "inserts" into the story, which means its gonna be a narrative of progress in some form (even if it has ups and downs). The player will "win", and you need a reason why they win and others lose - but in real life people rarely "win" at rulership to the extent these characters do. So how do they pull it off, and what is the implied model?

Good vs Bad People: Very commonly, the duke of this or that duchy is either a good person or a bad person - loyal & virtuous, or corrupt & venial. The problem the kingdom has is that too many unvirtuous folk have risen to the ranks of power.

Note while the above is often explicitly stated, it is also used as a sort of narrative shorthand - have a subplot about illicit slave markets in the capitol city? Replace the implicated mayor with someone you narratively know is good, and so the problem is gone, and you can now ignore it. You can walk away without feeling like you walked away, since Good Person is there to handle it.

Power of Friendship: So where do all of these good people come from? Sometimes its just things like visual coding, we all know what a "good" and "bad" character looks like in a JRPG. But the bread-and-butter is that as the main character you build up a group of friends. Classmates from the Magic Academy, childhood friends, a random barbaric wildchild you seduce with sweets, w/e. You play as them sometimes, they have cute scenes together, become friends, and so on. You get exposed to their personalities and humanity and generally the narrative constructs them as being emotionally invested in the protagonist & plot. And then they & their own families and friends (who get trust by association) can populate out the "bureaucracy" of your country when these problems come up. Obviously they won't take that opportunity to simply pursue their own interest, friends don't do that.

And in particular these aren't regular friends: they are nakama, a band of brothers, forged in the fire of battle and bound by the steel of the sword.

Also sometimes you are boning all of them.

Crisis = Opportunity: And the final piece of the puzzle is the hammer that makes any piece fit: copious amounts of violence! These stories are almost always war stories; primarily of course because in fiction "war is awesome" and it provides a big narrative throughline and all that, but also because that is the justification for the scale & pace of change. You could just take a peaceful-but-corrupt country and start beheading civil servants & nobles, but its a tough sell morally and realism-wise. But have those same people engaging in rebellion, raiding, or other forms of violence, and now they can die on the battlefield - and be undone by clever schemes and the abilities of the heroes as opposed to idk IRS investigations of tax irregularities. It also justifies that nakama as mentioned above, you need a reason to fight and therefore bond. And it confirms one's morality; war is a mirror that shows you the true self; coward, hero, villain, martyr, etc.

On top of that it provides an excuse in reverse, as to why the country had so many "bad" figures in the first place. It was peacetime, they played their game "inside the system" and you can't purge them without breaking the peace.

---

Okay, so what all that sums to is that this genre's median "theory of history" is that societies decay over time as Bad People populate the ranks of power, and things like crime, poverty, etc come from that decay. Good people could purge that, but too many lost the Game of Politics to the Bads. Eventually of course some crises comes along that breaks the weakened system. This allows for people of talent and good moral virtue to rise to the top again, purge the bad elements, and the arc of combat forges a class of moral leaders who will rule justly into the future.

Now obviously I do criticize the realism of this model - most societal problems are structural, emerging independently of the moral stance of the leaders in question and not amendable to HR reshuffles. It is stridently anti-materialist in a way I must object to. However, its a game, its not trying to be history, I'm not here to bash on that. It is a coherent model - it works! It explains history and its cycles and ebbs in a narratively satisfying way. (and ofc I am simplifying strongly here, it has more elements).

What I do find funny is how intensely Romance of the Three Kingdoms it is. Its an extremely specific outlook on what makes the mettle of a kingdom, how virtue flows from the top, how nations rise and fall in cycles based on that. Which isn't surprising - they are universal-enough themes of course, but the genre is "Japan"-RPGs for a reason. They may all be mainly styled after western fantasy aesthetics but their storytelling conventions come from Japan's own historical fiction literary tradition, which is intensely derived from China's.

But of course this is now a global tradition, most of these games don't come from that ecology of 1980's-1990's JRPG makers clustered around Tokyo & Osaka anymore. The legacy of that influence endures though, due to both a deep cultural history of how these things evolved ("genre staples") and also because the ludology of these games implies certain narrative directions. At this point its what audiences for these games all over "want".

Which, as always, is neat!

[xxlordalexanderxx]

10. What does your everyday, average day look like?

16. Do you find communication easy or difficult? Why?

MUNDAY RP MEMES

10. What does your everyday, average day look like?

Usually my day starts with waking up and browsing my phone, then getting up and making my bed and taking care of my self-care like skin care, teeth, shower etc. I get my cat taken care of then I have my coffee some small breakfast and my meds. I check messages on discord and my email, do a little marketing.

Then I just do something like a play a game, write or personal art, until it's time to start commission work. Once I've done my quota for the day I just do whatever I want until it's time to sleep, and I do it all over again unless I have other things to do, like laundry, my turn to cook dinner, shopping ,doc appointment etc.

16. Do you find communication easy or difficult? Why

It's 50/50 for me now. Most of ya'll still around maybe know why.

On one hand, I have no problem reaching out to someone to set boundaries or to possibly plot, or in return answer questions sent to me. Esp if I know what person enough and know they're decent. On another, depending on the person and based on how I've seen said person treat other folks I get nervous wanting to say no these days.

Seeing people on here have absolute baby rage meltdowns for being blocked, not getting engagments, having friends invested with other folks, or hostility with ships ect, has left me wary.

[suaine]

I really want to talk about queerbaiting and how the definition of it shifts in usage and what it means at the core. The currents wikipedia article describes it as a "marketing technique in which creators hint at but do not depict" a queer romance or other queer rep.

The marketing technique part is two-fold: selling to queer audiences, and using queer audiences to drum up buzz.

The first is obvious and straightforward - a piece of content is marketed to a queer audience specifically promising content and then not following through or having the follow through be something that is either ambiguous or easily dismissable. Examples for this would be dozens of articles proclaiming "The First Gay Character!" in the MCU, or Disney, only for that to be an absolute non-event. (I'm sure you've seen the articles)

The second is more interesting and more insidious - a piece of content is made to appeal to a queer audience by hinting at or promising queer rep to tap into the audience's desire to make that thing succeed, using their considerable passion to basically get free advertising in wider fandom circles. We know that this works: look at how popular Our Flag Means Death became, or Yuri On Ice - they were sky-rocketing BECAUSE of their potential (and then actualized) queerness. But you don't actually have to follow through to get this effect, and many don't. It takes a very long time for queer audiences to get tired and give up. Some of us never do.

How many times did you start watching something because Those Two Guys were on your dash enough?

Now, queerbaiting is not an easily definable concept because it doesn't necessarily require all of those parts of the definition to be real and it doesn't necessarily have to be on purpose.

Sometimes the people doing the queerbaiting think they're doing the queer audience a favor by giving us hints and nudges, by feeding us a fun pairing that we can play with. And in some ways, that's true. We get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But it's no longer the 90s, where queer pairings HAD to live in subtext. Xena, Due South, etc. They gave us as much as they could at the time, or at least it felt that way.

Today, there is a growing perception that creators have more freedom to establish and play with queer characters, that there isn't institutionalized homophobia above their heads stopping them from executing these stories the way we yearn for them. That's not usually true, the more and more queerfriendly production teams are still running up against prejudice and conservatism, and it manifests in weird ways. It's okay to have this much rep and no more, you can have a gay side character, but not a bi male main etc. The gays can get together, but they have to suffer in some way. Bury your gays is alive and well for a reason.

And then there's the showrunners who really truly created those initial stories by accident and resent the hell out of the queer audience for being more invested in that than the rest of their story. That happens and it sucks but it is what it is. You can never know which way it goes until someone tells you.

But queerbaiting is more about audience than it is about content - using a queer audience to promote your show is still queerbaiting if the romance happens but then one of the couple is brutally murdered. It's still queerbaiting even if the promises being made are all subtext. It can be queerbaiting even if there's other queer rep on your show. Because it's about using the queer audience to create buzz.

When David Jenkins was interviewed after the success of Our Flag Means Death, he talked about queerbaiting, and the many things he as a straight man had never considered. And it's honestly an eye-opening moment in this conversation:

What is it about Our Flag Means Death that made it so easy for people to really sort of miss the early queer subtext that’s barely subtext?

I’m the wrong person to ask because I, well, I know a lot more now than I did a month ago, and I know a lot more now than I did two weeks ago based on how this show was going to roll out. I thought it was pretty clear to me that you get halfway through, and you’re like, “Oh, OK. These people have feelings for each other. And they’re attracted to each other.”

Little bit, yeah. 

And it’s clear. I think I didn’t realize — because I see myself represented on camera, and I see myself falling in love in stories — I didn’t realize how deep the queer baiting thing goes. Being made to feel stupid by stories, I guess.

How do you mean?

As we were breaking the season and looking at how it would go, part of me knew that, yes, Stede and Ed’s romance was going to be real. But one part of me felt like, “We’re going to do this story, and they’re going to kiss, and maybe that’s not even going to be that big a deal. Maybe it’ll just be a blip.” But then, looking at how people were kind of afraid to let themselves believe that we were doing that was a surprise to me, and it’s heartbreaking.

I understand it much better now, and it’s like, oh, you were made to feel stupid by a bunch of shows — unintentionally, by and large, I think — but made to feel like “maybe I’m going to be up there. Maybe that’ll be me in this story.” And then at the end of it feeling like, “Aw. No, it’s not me. I’m not in this one.” That fucks with you at any age, I think, but especially when you’re young and impressionable. I know it would make me feel that I didn’t belong, and I think that’s part of where the response to the show comes from.

And I think that's where a lot of the anger and pain comes from: it's a form of narrative gaslighting where you start to doubt not just your ability to read story cues but maybe a little bit the legitimacy of your own experiences. It cuts to the bone in ways that regular het ship bait wouldn't.

As I said above, it's not always about the amount of rep in a story, but about the way a story indicates to queer audiences that a long-form story MIGHT be for them and then doesn't deliver - Sterek was still queerbait even with gay characters on the show, Clexa was still queerbait even though the relationship was consummated. Because the queer audience was used but never truly taken into consideration.

So would you call Buddie, specifically, queerbait? The ship was teased/jokingly referred to in season 2 in a deliberate way - this is a matter of fact straight from Tim Minear's mouth and the literal text of the show (see the worm in face influencer call). Then from season 3 onward their relationship was developed in ways that use a lot of narrative romance tropes, from camera angles to acting choices to dialogue, there's enough there to make you think, "hey, maybe?"

Now, in interviews and other official outlets, Kristen Reidel has always been careful to manage people's expectations, she's never promised anything. But inadvertently the social media presence, the media buzz and the way people have responded to the fandom have certainly not done anything to dissuade people's belief that it would/could happen and happen soon.

I got into the show based on the queer grapevine buzz. I made two other people watch the show, one because she loves procedurals, one because she's A Gay Like Me.

There's grounds to call the handling of Buddie specifically queerbaiting, I suppose, other impressive rep notwithstanding. Hen and Karen, Michael, and Josh, and so many of the calls - 911 is unflinchingly queer-friendly without question. Whether or not Buddie can still be queerbaiting is honestly a matter of interpretation. I personally don't think arguing about the semantics here is doing us any favors.

Because ultimately, an accusation of queerbaiting does nothing or only hurts - we don't have the power to change the minds of executives or creators who just don't want to go there. If for some reason they don't want to do this and the development so far has been entirely unintentional, then accusing them of queerbaiting will almost certainly result in reflexive no-homo additions, up to completely narratively separating the characters.

And if the development has been intentional but just never came to fruition for other reasons (executive meddling, time crunches, etc.) then yelling at people who are on our side probably won't help either.

It's certainly not done until it's done and I promise you, as someone who has lived through fandom since the X-Files, it could be so very much worse than this.

But. My friend has stopped watching the show and I don't begrudge them the choice. Because my god, we're old and tired, and hope can hurt a little too much sometimes and it's hard to cling to when you just lost a lot of ground. Again.

So when kids yell queerbaiting over the finale I know it comes from that deep well of anger and pain. It's not about rep, per se, it's about stories that feel like they might be ours and then aren't, and that hurts, especially if we have invested more than just passive consumption (writing meta, creating art and fic and gifs, so many gifs, telling people, so many people, to watch the show with us, because it feels like this time, you know, this time it's happening. That story, the one you've been waiting for.)

I get it and I'm sorry you're suffering. If it helps a little, I do believe that 911 is not made by people who resent us.

[mdhwrites]

I Will Never Be a Hoyocreator Because I Am a Writer

This somewhat a lamentation more than it is even criticism of Hoyo or even myself. It's not even saying that I couldn't potentially care enough about any of their games to do more stories for them. I'd love for people to submit story ideas for Fuqing, Bronseele, Zhuyabi, Guishang, etc. because I have lots and lots of pairings I like and there are just fun elements of their worlds that I could play with if I got pulled just a little harder.

No, it's more that Hoyo has no interest in its writing community from what I can tell. As an example, the GIANT creator competition that had animations, art, comics, etc... Didn't include writing. They did a 3D modeling focused one for Penacony. Still no writing. Hoyofair has no writing component. As far as I know, writers are simply not a part of the official Hoyocreator tag, to the point where one artist I've followed has reminded his fans that they need to show more respect to the fanfic writers of the community.

Unfortunately, it's not surprising. At all. On a lot of levels. It's pretty much all business but different angles. The first is bang for your buck. Currently, very few, if any, social media platforms really incentivize long form writing. They're almost all much more geared towards more visual, immediate forms of creation, to the point that the one that spooked all the others was the one who has like a cap of two minutes? What the fuck is a writer supposed to do with that besides like two paragraphs narrated? For a company like Hoyo who works with these creators, artists, video creators and even singers are simply a better investment for getting people into your games.

Second is just how good is writing as a marketing tool? How many of you read fanfiction of things you don't already know about? Even with official books, how many people's first introduction to Star Wars were its books? Or Halo or Magic, etc.? Written works within a universe are commonly pretty fucking insular and more for those dedicated to the work. You're not going to really use it effectively as an add, unlike this. (And yes, this is a real ad that plays on Youtube for Zenless. That's not me throwing shade, just that I first found it because of it being an ad.)

And if you're going "It doesn't matter if it's a good story," well... Are you calling all of my works bad stories? Because getting someone into a work for an established property they aren't already into is just like trying to get them into an original story and despite a LOT of people loving my fanfiction, it has never translated to mass migration to my original works. That's because without that immediate connection and incentive of it being a world and characters you already know and love, the barrier to say yes is DRASTICALLY higher.

The third big reason is legal. While fancomics can run into this a bit too, most companies just straight up aren't supposed to acknowledge the existence of fanfiction. This is because if one of your writers acknowledges having read something that then happens to line up similarly to something that you actually have happen in your story, you open yourself up to being sued for having stolen the person's idea. It's why game companies don't want you to send them your ideas on a fighting game character or a new Pokemon because suddenly, they can't make something even similar to that without opening themselves up to liability. Writing is the one where this can most easily happen on accident but also have some of the strongest case for those accidents. As such, most companies just stay far away from it.

But... That doesn't really make it sting any less, does it? To know that within your community, you will always be seen as lesser by the very creators of the work you enjoy. That you will never be given the same respect as the creatives who have mediums that are simply better for those companies to work with. I am not trying to even make a war or the like. I LOVE the artist communities for these games. The bops the songwriters put out are fanfuckingtastic. I ADORE that there are some content creators who are helped to make this more of a proper job for themselves because Hoyo is willing to work with their fans like this. I would like it if more companies did stuff like this and they are doing more stuff like this, like how Wizards of the Coast commissioned a good few Youtube singers to make an album of music for them.

I just wish us writers could expect to be able to join in that outside of the exceptionally rare franchise that does bother with books. Paper books though that are probably gotten through the same literary agents that anyone looking for a book to be made goes through. It's not through their communities. If you know of stories otherwise, I'd love to hear it, but until then, see you next tale.

======+++++======

I think the one franchise that I might expect to be surprised about this with would be MtG. I know they'll release books from time to time and it's not impossible those might come from their community. Then again, if it did, The War of the Spark book wouldn't have had so much no homo in it since the writer would have been able to go "People are going to get pissed about this."

I have a public Discord for any and all who want to join!

I also have an Amazon page for all of my original works in various forms of character focused romances from cute, teenage romance to erotica series of my past. I have an Ao3 for my fanfiction projects as well if that catches your fancy instead. If you want to hang out with me, I stream from time to time and love to chat with chat.

A Twitter you can follow too

And a Kofi if you like what I do and want to help out with the fact that disability doesn’t pay much.

[thisisyourprincipalspeaking]

Vent session. Principal mod, I’ll gladly go to timeout after this, but certain things need to be stated. The following doesn’t apply to those who’ve shared on this blog, but more so overall observations of other blogs within this fandom, not naming any of course, but if the shoe fits. 🤷🏻‍♀️ also….i hope timeout has snacks. 😂

TLDR: Stop allowing people on this website to play with your emotions.

It never ceases to amaze me how people in fandoms don’t understand how they’ve been brainwashed by media, marketing agencies, Hollywood, etc. These corporations feed off of the obsessed individuals. Even people claiming to hate Chris and this fandom have preyed off fans who are so concerned about Chris that they are blindly believing the same blogs who have called them morons and idiots for questioning anything they’ve said over the course of almost three years. People even word their questions to those blogs in a way to not piss off said blogs in fear of getting blocked. 🙄🤦🏻‍♀️ The multiple breakup articles they promised still haven’t happened. Didn’t stop them from convincing many that two fake ones they made were a “sign” one is coming. Chris is publicly married, like it or not. Is it legit or fake, who knows. One thing I do know is that there are various individuals in this fandom who do not realize how deeply obsessed and invested they are regarding this man and this ‘shitshow’ to the point they are believing anything that aligns to their theories. I believe this is bs, but I understand I could be wrong. I understand I don’t know this man to be claiming or implying he’s signed a contract, has no control over his own team, he’s a pawn, etc. Some people in this fandom are the EXACT reason Hollywood and these marketing agencies prey upon people. They know people get emotionally invested in said celebrity and it’s to the point people don’t realize how bizarre their own behavior has become. Fandoms and the general population work for FREE to keep various celebrities relevant by talking about their messes everyday.

I see people posting things like they hope he’ll come across it and read it. I see people believing lies from multiple blogs and I’m just like……how are they not aware they are being lied to and people have been playing with their emotions for YEARS. Many people have personal issues and use fandoms to escape reality and others don’t realize how they project their own insecurities, fantasies, opinions and speculation into this situation but that doesn’t make whatever they believe, true.

Having discussions about things is completely fine, but Some people have done the absolute most and haven’t even taken more than a day or week off from logging in and checking on this mess. Obsessed fans are scary to witness and they don’t even realize how deep they are and how their actions, posts, etc are NOT normal. It’s sad to see many call out Chris Evans for PR while falling for other celeb pr stunts.

Hollywood is playing people left to right. Anons pop up with info and “sources” and if they say what someone wants to hear then people automatically believe them. Time for harsh truth, if Chris Evans came across many blogs here, he’d be passing out restraining orders left and right.

Chris Evans is a human from Boston. He’s not someone who owes anything to online strangers. People feel like he lied and took advantage of his fandom, well that’s precisely what he did. People supported someone they thought was *insert whatever* then he proved he’s not whatever made up fantasy people have of him in their minds. Fans could meet, hang out with him and realize he doesn’t live up to their “expectations”, well duh, none of us know him. It’s easy to project and watch interviews and think we know, but we must remember, he’s just doing a job. That’s how they get ya, you feel connected to said person and in due time you become a “fan”.

My hope is that certain people finally open their eyes to reality and see how foolish and gullible they’ve been to believe anyone on here claiming to know anything. If this ended next week the same ones who claimed pr marriages don’t exist, will claim they “knew” it was coming. Let me clue you in to what “those” blogs are doing…..when they feel there’s a possibility of this ending they get bold and begin IMPLYING something is about to happen, then time goes by nothing ends and rinse and repeat. If something occurs they twist and feed it into their own agenda. Didn’t they claim something would happen around his birthday even called him names for signing or agreeing to something pertaining to this shitshow for his birthday and what happened……nothing. They once again claim it’ll be over this month……….if it does end they’ll gloat claiming to have known the entire time while hoping you forgot all the past bullshit 💩 they’ve done, wake up, people, PLEASE! 😮‍💨 When people lie so much, it’s easy for them to forget the original 748299383 lies they’ve told.

*grabs a plate of food and gladly walks to timeout*

😎

please get out of my brain, nonnie!

yes, i agree with what you shared. while you make many points i agree with, i feel like a few are very key.

first, celebrities are absolutely packaged and marketed for sale. and yes, they can fool us for years. sorry not sorry to the pr crew who think his image is all thanks to him. no. a good publicist will find an angle and play it up. single wholesome bachelor? ladies he is single! married dad of two? look how involved a father he is! a divorcee, well look how great he's doing! the pr 'team' and agent are there to package and market the celebrity for consumption (making more money). Please feel free to share this with the lollipop guild. they'll freak out, and spin in circles, but again, i don't think they have any knowledge or experience at all outside their intro class or one friend who writes just like them... they often speak from one point of view. if you truly knew pr, like they claim, you would know that we all engage in pr to portray an image we want.

anyways. if you feel this is pr. cool. if you think it's real. cool. no matter what happens, please keep your head on a swivel. many of these accounts who have 'sources' have been wrong time and time again. others have flip flopped so hard they should go see a chiropractor. they should all see a psychiatrist and consider medical intervention based on their aggressive behavior to defend a celeb they don't know. and gals. as much as you like to tell others, he's not going to fuck you. no matter how hard you simp for his wife. if he knows you exist, it's because you are an obsessed fan.

please be informed consumers of information. no actual professional is going to jeopardize their job to get clout on the internet. read carefully. discern the information you consume. and please, ask questions!

[lunarsilkscreen]

Leveraged ETFs (except, how are ETFs used anyway?)

The algorithm delivered me this interesting link

A quick Google search gave me several (as in SEVEN) sponsored results (advertisements based on your search criteria) for different variations of this concept, including *tactical ETFs*.

Since investopedia wasn't the first result, and because this was in my gender neutral algorithm feed, and because there were a lot of sponsored results; I assume that *they* would really like you to know about these.

They promise 2x and 3x times your returns. They do so with the assurance of options. A leveraged ETF is a bunch of calls options, with an underlying stock holding, and a reverse leveraged ETF uses a bunch of put options with an underlying short holding.

These things are garbage. But their existence is important because of how investors use ETFs and the stock market, and how most investors try to min/max their 401ks. (And this usage is what validates their existence.)

In your standard Retirement or investment account, you have several funds, you can allocate your money into. A general, which basically follows the S&P or a similar holding, an aggressive fund, which raises risk for a higher reward, and several other funds that include sectors. Like Fuel/Gas, Technology, Energy, Health Care, Finance, etc...

And people regularly reallocate their funds between sectors in order to try to maximize their return. (If one sector is going down, you may as well put your money into another Sector, especially if another is going up.)

Investors use ETFs in a similar manner. (They can get away with this without getting hit with tax burdens because certain investment accounts allow for it.)

This encourages investors to pool money into sectors that everybody else is already in. Because the demand increases value, and theoretically*everybody wins* but that's not the case because when you play games like these, *somebody* must be left holding the bag at the end of the day.

It turns the entire market into a pump & dump scheme. And creates a legal loophole of "insider trading" because everyone is doing it, but nobody is on the "inside". Like, an "outsider trading" except they're only financial insiders that benefit.

It's dangerous to the economy as a whole, because then investors are incentivized to chase numbers, inside of merit and performance. Funny how Congress is mad about "gamification" on apps, when it's built-in to the stock market itself.

[florasletter]

i am gonna rant, tomorrow is the oscars, i need to say something ive been wanting to say for a while

any fucking filmmaker that makes drama/comedy (taika, gunn, greta, etc) movies would make barbie, its easy marketing, hoards of money, its a low risk investiment since its a popular, PG 13 movie, colorfull, appealing for everyone, has all the IP to make money, WB is thirsty for good press and is swimming on money, they will give its full support, its a story everyone knows for 60 years of a ficctional character or a doll the whole world knows. i like barbie it was a good movie. greta did a wonderful job for what was giver her. period.

now tell me

a book about a historical controversial figure, boring ass talks abt nuclear war, ww2, communism and cold war, phsysics stuff, relased in 2006 and won a pulitzer prize.

no director dared to make a movie abt it. very high risk, why?

the pandemic and its inflation and new habits of consumption post super hero (very saturated) cinema era in an era quick shitty streaming movies bc they dont need theatrical release, little effort, just pump movies out, no control wheater is good or not no one (as many would think) would want a 3 hour movie, with heavy dialogue (bc it needs it to tell the story properly) with many black and white scenes, Rated R, nudity and s3xual representation scenes about this historical controversial figure. tiktok and reels era, most people are obssessed with a 30 seconds videos in their hands, keeping a very bad habit of zero attention span and quick serotonin, unable to enjoy the development of a full story that is longer than 30 without a pop music playing on the background can't go around marketing the movie like its super fun and colorfull for the entire family ahah cool, lets make it a competition like ahaha BARBIEMHEIMER ahah so fun lol why dont they get into it too? it would help their marketing bc lol who wanna watcha 3 hour R rated movie abt a physicist lmao get real!!! No buddy, you wanna scrutinize what happened the people of japan? this guy was scrutinized by its own country after everything he was asked to do? no, you cant market it like that, its harder, but thankfully the ppl making the movie ARE THE MARKETING. also the ppl saying "who cares abt nuclear war lmao, it wont happen" guess who just did a speech abt it the other day abt using them?? i am not gonna say his name yall know who it is. now invest 100mi on a movie like this. didnt see all the others directors around rushing to make a movie abt oppenheimer like chris did, he thought it was very interesting and passionate abt it, he had a vision for it, to contextualize yall: he has been wanting to make something biographical for years (will we ever see his howard hugues movie? thanks martin for doing it first??? will chris ever recover from this? poor bby). and ffs this movie didnt even use that much computer VFX, so much amazing pratical effects it didnt even an oscar nom for it, any other director could have done with the computer technology from 10 years ago. buddy literally asked for black and white imax films, no one did this before. buddy dark knight came out 16 years ago, the first movie shot in imax, back then there was 4 or 3 cameras in the world and this idiot i love even managed to break one of them during the shooting (see the behind the scenes of dark knight its amazing and hilarious). what other filmmaker is going this far for a biography? they could have made this movie but

they didnt make it. period.

i am not here to say that this is better than every other movie, oppenheimer should be forever praised (it is not in my sincere opinion chris' best movie, neither my fav of his) but this is for the ppl whining abt barbie and putting oppenheimer against it.

the reels i saw the other day "greta could make oppeneimer, but nolan couldnt make barbie" HONEY... WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS INFO? IS THIS SUPPOSED TO ME HER LOOK GOOD ? you are not helping her at all... if she can make oppenheimer why didnt she make it before? is it bc it would be hard to pitch? it wouldnt be easy to make money from it or get funded? it would just be another oscar winning box office flop? bc lets be real, many amazing oscar movies i love, they were commercial flops, and its ok, BUT YOU SEE IT RIGHT?

marvels endgame was a huge commercial movie and a great box office, no one here is screaming the russos to get noms

"ah its a groundbreaking movie bc of feminism"

honey please there's more groundbreaking movies better than barbie, are you fucking kidding me. this is the stuff that makes me ashamed of saying i am a feminist.

also who cares abt margot, isnt it abt to be feminism or is it white feminism ? i wanna see support for lilly gladstone who did and insane work in KOTFM than emma stone in PT.

i am biased, i am his fan afterall, i have no hate for the others, but i am a realist. chris has been making movies for 20 years, groundbreaking breathtaking beautiful stuff, i am not here to throw the party like "visionary director" but i wanna put things on the table, he has been way past what the academy considers cinema, he has been snubbed for so long it became ridiculous. he has been doing an imppecable work of supporting filmmaking and the theater industry, supporting the craftsmanship of filmmaking the studios' inverstors and companies look down on just for profits. to end my rant now, the last thing i wanna say is: i don't care if yall say "ah just another cis het white man winning/being nominated" yes honey, it is.

if anything, this is the "cis het white man" who you just can't believe has not won yet. insane right? he has been snubbed by other cis het white males who would believe it right? lmao

now i am done.

we take in the sheets tomorrow evening. have a great saturday yall

[puckgoss]

not tea but tbh i don’t want the yotes to go to SLC. i don’t follow them but i think they just need help in az and moving them to another stadium not ready for hockey won’t help. also i wonder about the cultural impacts of that….marketing hockey to mormons? no hate to mormons but i don’t think that would make hockey more welcoming 🫠

yeaaahhh i mean i think hockey belongs in the desert and i'd love the yotes to stay there but... the NHLPA has been kicking up a huge fuss about the state of the arena, the locker rooms, the lack of professionalism the players have to deal with... if they get another arena built it's not going to be for 5+ years, and that was just too long for the NHL & NHLPA to wait. i can't say i disagree with that.

however, alex meruelo is an idiot and a con artist and is one of a long line of incompetent coyotes owners... like he wasn't even paying their hotel bills this szn until all the hotels banded together and forced him to pay w a check up front... he's been spending as little money on this franchise as possible, lying to his staff and players and the fans, and is now getting a huge pay day out if it... it's sick (derogatory)

it's rly sad bc hockey has clearly been successful there at a grassroots level - one of the best active players is from there (matthews), and the fans are clearly passionate as they've stuck with the team through decades of incompetence and bullshit. the nhl and the owners they trusted to take care of this franchise really fucked up and it's really sad to watch this go down.

in terms of SLC - i'm skeptical but i think it can work. yes there's a lot of mormons there ofc but it is genuinely a growing tech hub. i know of more than a few people in my circles who have moved there recently bc they can work for a local tech company/work remote/have access to big city amenities/have access to nature - skiing, mountain biking, hiking, etc.

this ryan smith dude seems like a bit of a weirdo. in general i don't trust wealthy culty tech bros (elon musk, anyone?) but he has a track record of purchasing and investing in a pro sports franchise (although purportedly the team hasn't been good underneath him - their STH base is strong). they are going to start off playing in an arena built for basketball, but they have a proper NHL-worthy arena on the way - with full local & state backing from both public and private sectors. they are already 10 steps ahead of arizona with regards to that, and that was one of the most important pieces to the NHLPA.

i do wonder how this is gonna work considering the strict alcohol and gambling laws in utah. sports betting is literally illegal there lol. i think one of the reasons vegas has done so well (besides the team just winning right off the bat, etc) is bc vegas has a party/entertainment culture... and when done right, the NHL is perfect for that. genuinely one of my fave things to do is go watch my local team, drink some beers, and soak in the atmosphere in the crowd. it's so fun. will require some major buy in from the growing corporate/tech crowd in SLC but as i said lots of younger people are moving there from other places so. we'll see how it goes.

they are getting a team with a ton of great young players and prospects (i do think some of the older players will request trades) and the owner seems willing to spend money and make a splash in free agency. if they get it right i think it can go really well.

i feel so, so bad for yotes fans who have lived through this long rebuild and are now having to watch their young players & prospects they were so excited for, grow and develop for a different city. it really sucks.

[naradivision]

With the COVID numbers slowly rising again (unfortunately), that's got me thinking of a question I wanted to ask...

If COVID took place in the HypMic universe, how would your OC's handle it? Would they slowly go insane from being trapped indoors? Would they develop an unhealthy drinking/smoking habit? Or would they be perfectly fine?

It’s sad to say Yuuya would be the most affected in the group. Although he has loads of hobbies that can enjoy at home, he is still an outdoor person who craves human interactions at heart (That’s why he loves part-time jobs and tends to have many different ones every week). He doesn’t have any problem with online schooling, but to be alone for a great amount of time will distress him greatly even if he does understand the circumstance and make sure to properly follow the safety regulations. Besides, he is the type to be worried about the well-being of other people in general, so this pandemic would definitely give him a lot of internal struggles. Therefore, he is likely to cope with this by being more active on online platforms such as Zoom, PROFILE, or etc. But as soon as he manages to adjust himself (with some help from his friends, his teammates, and his furry roommate) …he too, would be able to find peace at home from some small projects like working on his music tracks and trying out new DIY ideas. 

And for Asahi; despite his childlike personality, he is surprisingly handling things well during the pandemic. Even so, it isn’t to say that he won’t be bothered by too many regulations and the lower influx of customers at his family store. Since he has a family business to run and has two elderly people at high risk of developing serious symptoms at home, he has to get busier and be more cautious about many things. Aside from that, the difficulties are going to make him discover his own forte —Other people may not be aware about this, but Asahi is crazily good at marketing… You can see that he has already done a lot of promoting stuff via the birthday events of other divisions. Along with his own creativity to boot, he will soon take this opportunity to try many more methods to help promoting his store. Maybe he will try online marketing, maybe he’ll learn to use social media for his own benefits, maybe he’ll just get more invested in his hobbies (making handicrafts, embroideries), Asahi in his productive mode with lots of free time is something unstoppable. By the way, he is concerned about his friends too! He is probably the first one to reach out and find a way to brighten them up without knowing.

Lastly, Saigo-san… He is the least affected from quarantine and all sorts of regulations. And to be utmost honest, the idea of social-distancing rather sounds like a blessing to him. He used to work at home from the very beginning so he has no problem with it. Getting less paid because of the reduction of clients? Nah, that won’t be a problem since he already has a lot saved up from the past and he also has another way of income (he plays stocks). He just gets a job as the property appraiser because he is bored and that’s all. Moreover, he dislikes getting outside of his mansion unless it’s neccessary. The most appealing things for him to do during the pandemic are reading something from his mansion’s library, keeping up to date with the worldwide circumstances, and maybe doing some research on something that piques his interest. He may even use this chance to find out more about other rival divisions in order to plan things ahead for his team. 

Thanks for the ask :)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

What do you think it will take for the gendie/trans movement to die?

Lawsuits.

And losses.

Some organizations are not really on board with this ideology, but are playing along either because there's a loud minority of moralizing activist ideologues - mostly woke, straight white churchladies who style themselves as "queer" or "nonbinary", or at least, "allies" - within them who are sucking up all the oxygen, or because they feel they're obliged to by the market. And particularly, they don't want to be conspicuously non-compliant. They just want the beast to eat someone else. For reference, see the Twitter accounts which post Pride banners and icons in western countries, but not in Middle East/North Africa (MENA) countries. They just need sufficient reason - legal or financial - to start ignoring the ideologues and get back on-mission.

Others are fully on board, from the top down. And unfortunately, this category tends to include medical institutions. These organizations need a good legal or financial bat taken to them. Which will hopefully then trigger a spill of their management layer. And with more and more whistleblowers, and more and more lawsuits, such as those by Chloe Cole, Layla Jane and others coming down the pipeline, and increased scrutiny due to the widening gap between European and North American approaches, something will eventually give. Insurers, risk assessors, shareholders, regulators and others with a vested interest in the longevity and viability of the organization will be forced to intercede. Especially as it becomes undeniable that the Europeans are deferring to evidence, while the North Americans have succumbed to ideology. At some point, the US in particular, will need to undergo the same process as the UK, Finland and other countries in conducting an inquiry and review into what's going on and the scientific evidence that supports it... or not.

The really big problem is that these ideologues are notorious liars. Consider what happened when the Tavistock was announced to close, with the interim Cass report describing the GIDS service as "not safe or viable as a long-term option for the care of young people with gender related distress." The ideologues spun this into "they're closing it down so they can open many more! Nothing wrong with it except capacity!" Countries like Finland and Sweden have stopped prescription of puberty blockers and hormones, which was spun into "they didn't ban affirmation" (i.e. blockers and hormones). They conveniently leave out the part where they can only be used in strictly controlled clinical trials, because the current evidence is astonishingly weak. It's like saying "ebola is safe" because certain high-security labs have access to it for research and testing. It's the same kind of pathological dishonesty you get from Xians trying to make their demon god into the "good" guy because free will, salvation, you send yourself to hell, etc, etc.

There are also people so over-invested that actually acknowledging the boiling pot they found themselves in would be too psychologically damaging. Imagine being a Jack Turban, who has made his name lying for virtue, being confronted with the people whose lives were directly impacted by the misrepresentations he'd spun. Or being Michelle Forcier and figuring out you'd spent your life sterilizing children for no reason. How do you ever come back from something like that? The psychological architecture of religiosity tends to have mechanisms to protect the believer from the psychological damage of this kind of atrocity: denial, rationalization, etc. We see that in the traditionally religious. It's not even possible to get a Xian to acknowledge the logical and moral problems with religious concepts such as hell, sin or salvation. They're psychologically incapable. Even if Ray Comfort realized he'd made a mistake about evolution, he'd never be able to publicly admit it, and would still go on with his schtick. Because backing out of such a major commitment would be inconceivable.

I wish I could say that people will have a "come to Jesus" moment (so to speak), an epiphany and come to their senses. But that won't happen. It won't be a moral or scientific revelation, it will ultimately be the pragmatism of the bottom line.

People can believe that they have a mismatched gender thetan living in their body, or that they are "cakegender" or whatever. But they don't get to force the entirety of society to play along, any more than a Xian gets to force everyone else to pray, or a Muslim gets to force everyone to observe Ramadan. We need to start reassembling the secular walls the genderists have been breaching.

[ashen-crest]

Hi! Long time follower, first time asker. Hope you don't mind me bargining in here, but I was just wondering how you went about finding people interested in your books on tumblr? Nothing I do seems to really help with that, so I was just wondering if maybe you had some tips in this regard?

Thanks!

Hi! That is a great question. I have a couple thoughts:

First off, don’t beat yourself up about it. It’s great that Tumblr doesn’t have a snappy algorithm, but in this particular case, it’s not helping you. It’s difficult to get seen, particularly on writeblr.

I should also note that I’ve been on writeblr for…two years now, i think? So I think that helps.

But some things you can do- make sure to actively seek out other writers who enjoy similar genres and engage with their work. That’s how I got to know some folks on here! I consistently saw their work, commented on it, played tag games with them, asked them questions about their characters, etc.

But here’s the tricky bit- the key word overall is consistency. I’ve found that when other writers consistently post about their work, I’m far more likely to pause when scrolling and go “oh yeah I remember that character/that wip!” Rather than going “…who was that blorbo again?” It makes it so much easier to get invested in their work as a reader/fan.

If you don’t have a lot of writing to share, or would prefer not to always share writing snippets, people on here have made some pretty awesome mood boards, picrews, character sheets, etc to demonstrate their wips in other ways. (And honestly those are just fun to make!)

I feel like a lot of this advice echoes what I hear about marketing on other social media sites: posting consistently, following your ideal readers, engaging and forming a community, making eye-catching graphics. However, I really want to emphasize that Hustling on Tumblr (TM) doesn’t really go anywhere, and it’s best just to have fun posting silly things and enjoying other writers’ talents. 😊

I have no idea if any of this helps whatsoever, but I hope you have a good day!

[blueiight]

Im not arguing that award shows don't have biases but also smart networks know how to tailor specific episodes for awards consideration. Given that Porter is an industry veteran with a Tony, they knew how to give him the proper Emmy tape to win.

The main reason iwtv won't get anything is cause AMC isn't campaigning like at al. Like even if your chances are slim, mounting a campaign is still valuable... look at the recent THR roundtable that included damson idris for snowfall, a show which is not on many emmy radars but FX just getting him in the same promo with pedro pascal, kieran culkin, etc massively boosts the profile of the show.

well biases do inform the decision making n i still think ur underestimating that. like networks will invest in things they see as marketable to the general public & a lot of the gen pub especially in america where all this stuff is situated in is middle aged or young (white) people. and these nomination rooms award voters r also middle aged / older white people. whats more marketable in the eyes of these guys: a black man whos also a veteran in the industry or black trans women who may or may not be vets? or even a snowfall where damson idris plays a heterosexual black male drug lord & whos show is also on hulu. very typical content! but i agree w/ u we have the same gripes with amc’s lackluster campaign& that has to do with their shitty budget n other implicit biases.

[villainessbian]

The economy is not as complicated as they want you to believe: people make stuff that we use either for making food or for making things valuable enough that they're worth exchanging for food. if they can't get the food, they steal it or they die. and sometimes the processes are several steps behind, like distributing the resources or making tools that will then be used to make worthy things

then people with a lot of money (food vouchers or food points) invent games (restricted markets, renting a flat to others, having shares in companies etc) and those can have very complicated rules which they're happy to impose on others but that's not the economy, that's just games they added to it, they're not fun and they never end naturally and the only goal is to hoard more money to play bigger games.

and then the bad games they play cause the steal-or-die situations because they start playing for food points and forget that the points mean food that people need to eat because every single rich person is a complete moron. they don't know how their games work, they just give a few food points a month to more clever people to manage their games for them and make sure they win. then they pretend they know how it works because wikipedia said that meme stocks are on the rise and there's deep value in squeezing short mobilities on transparent investments to brick ports. for instance half the words I used there I made up and the other half they made up and they would be none the wiser