#sam is a classical troll but shes punk about it

[spookberry]

Trolls AU anyone????

[janiedean]

ASOIAF characters and music: Italian!AU edition. As serious or as crack as you like ;) Does Jon ever have that phase where he avoids Italian music like the plague because he thinks all the old stuff is too sappy and all the new stuff is too shallow? Does Ned ever try to get any of his kids into PFM?

OKAAAAAY

jon: absolutely has that phase but then relents when he has to admit to himself that de andré is not sappy, also the only ones he admits to liking are modena city ramblers but he goes to every damned concert from i tre allegri ragazzi morti and you know it

ned: absolutely loves pfm and totally tried to get the kids into it but bran was the only one who caught on it 100% in the sense that he likes pfm in itself, he also loves banco del mutuo soccorso and eugenio finardi u can’t take it from me

cat: more into old time ladies ie mina, mia martini and the likes but also likes luigi tenco, de andré and lucio battisti and most likely had a girlcrush on gianni morandi

robb: actually likes de andré and pfm with de andré just not on their own, totally goes to the primo maggio concert every year even if he thinks it’s not what he once was, totally does not hide the fact that he’s 100% into alex britti’s stuff ESPECIALLY the corniest

sansa: oh god she probably likes all those new girl singers that are actually good but not my thing so PROOOBABLY elisa, malika ayane and the likes

arya: 100% caparezza stan but also likes bluvertigo, verdena and all of that scene

bran: obv. into pfm but he still prefers jazz/classical stuff, so he prob. also likes jazz musicians ie fabrizio bosso, paolo fresu and stefano di battista

rickon: def. also into caparezza and rap music, 100% was into er piotta when he was a kid without understanding supercafone now his favorite band is nanowar of steel BC YOU KNOW IT WOULD BE

bonus: all the stark kids argue about music BUT it all ceases when some cristina d’avena cartoon opening comes up same as everyone in this au under the age of twenty and IT DOESN’T MATTER WHO IT IS EVERYONE LOVES CRISTINA they totally went to one of the concerts with gem boy

theon, who also gets roped into cristina d’avena singalongs when he says he hates it but secretly doesn’t: also a not so secret elio e le storie tese fan, he’s very secretly into i balordi but he’d not tell anyone with a gun to his head, 

brienne: probably into de andré as well but would also like fiorella mannoia, everyone is surprised that she DOESN’T like gianna nannini, no one knows she knows the entire discography of elio e le storie tese by heart but SHE DOES and she loathes sanremo bc they never won and it’s a travesty, also had a crush on ligabue when she was young I don’t make the rules

jaime: being from genova as stated xD he’s def. into de andré even if tywin loathes him for it AND he actually relates personally to the man for THAT lmao, he’s not particularly into britti but when someone told him that mi piaci was his and brienne’s signature song he didn’t disagree bc he has a sense of humor, doesn’t like morandi’s music but sees him as a total role model for facebook trolling, most likely went to every ligabue concert in existence

tyrion: srs songwriters as in guccini/de andré/vecchioni FOR SURE, he also likes giorgio gaber very much and lately he’s into francesco gabbani u know he is

cersei: .. gives me loredana berté vibes but not in the fun sense

stannis: still mostly into classical but will make the de andré exception bc de andré >>>> the rest

davos: he prob. spent a lot of time when he was young around both modena city ramblers concerts, 99 posse concerts, guccini concerts and nomadi concerts and if you tell me that his favorite song isn’t la locomotiva U R WRONG

oberyn: most likely went to every renato zero concert in existence and he won’t hear anyone disrespecting il triangolo excuse me

loras and renly totally went to every tiziano ferro concert they could together

jonc: also into de andré (if he didn’t have FEELINGS listening to andrea u r wrong), definitely also goes to nanowar concerts because they’re fun, actually hates renato zero, probably also ran into brienne at the elio e le storie tese concerts

asha is 100% into punk sound against and punkreas

balon is literally the only one who genuinely likes vasco rossi and yes THIS IS BECAUSE SOMEOEN FANCASTED VASCO ROSSI AS BALON ONCE AND IT WAS GLORIOUS

sam actually likes alex britti best poor soul

... PHEW

[whenislunch]

This summer I saw my favorite artist perform live on an island off of Manhattan that used to serve as a jail/mental health institution.

When Frank Ocean came out with his screen grabbed text file posted as a “photo” on Tumblr in 2012, I knew the platform was something special - the one niche he could safely post something so revealing and vulnerable and still not open himself to the direct hate-filled or homophobic comments of any other forum. I had signed up for Tumblr the year prior. I joined with the fantasy of becoming a famous food blogger (and later as a nail artist) so I could quit my publicity job and score all of the PR perks that I so readily dished out to any 'mommy' with a touch of digital pretense.

Personal space on the vast internet was never my craving. I resisted being too present, and enjoyed the ability to control how much I “put myself out there” on facebook, twitter, and later Instagram. With my original two tumblrs, like Frank, I could focus on sharing and following the things I cared the most about: in early cases, it was fan art of Bill Murray, gifs of Daft Punk, and mostly photos of food I had eaten from the everyday life of a new New Yorker discovering the cult nature of the restaurant scene (a similar practice to my behavior as a teen taking shitty photos at punk shows in St Pete, Florida to pin on my bedroom wall). Tumblr became my collection of “curated cool," and nobody cared how hard I was trying or what I put up there, except for me, and it became my favorite place on the internet. Eventually, I realized all of the writers I was admiring on The Awl were including their Tumblrs in their bios, and I was there to follow them. I saw Rebecca Black become a meme before her one-hit would become a wedding band wonder. If sitting at the open kitchen counter at an edison bulb-lit restaurant was the closest you could get to a food industry version of “backstage”, then a Tumblr dashboard filled with all of the blogging generation of the “fake news media” was the analogy. It’s human nature to want to be seen and understood. Selfies perform better than friendies on Instagram - and GPOY’s on Tumblr… well I challenge anybody on music.ly to define the acronym without that peeking at the Childish Gambino Genius page first.

And that’s the tip of the iceberg for where I stand with Tumblr now. After three years of hanging out in the same field, they invited me to meet them at the dugout. After four months of interviewing and pitching challenges and pretending like I was at a digital optimization workshop, I was offered a job. After five years, or nearly, I’m ready for another one. I had the BEST time and the BEST TEAM working at Tumblr. Sentiment is incalculable, and being the Comms professionals that we are, we can swear to the moon that the effect of press results on a brand is unquantifiable when one piece can qualitatively alter the nature of the public’s perception versus the reality of a goal. And I had the the immeasurable luxury to be surrounded by the smartest, most creative, intensely productive, and to borrow a food world phrase - hardiest colleagues in the history of the internet.

My first day at Tumblr also belonged to six others - together we endured a questionable onboarding interaction and then were sent with laptops and branded hoodies to our respective seats at our superdesks on various floors. There were dogs everywhere. I was told that I’d be introduced to the company on Friday and to submit two truths and a lie to help them get to know me. Here they are:

I have photo credits in the New York Times and New York Magazine

I appeared as a backup dancer in a rap video in high school

I watercolor paintings of crustaceans as a hobby

Leave your guess in the comments (oh wait, it’s Tumblr, you can’t). 

Friday lunches were my lifeblood for a couple of months. Every week for at least seven thereafter unloaded a new set of amazing humans to be introduced in some absurd way by Sean from recruiting. I remember @sexpigeon vs Homer’s owner in game of pictionary, Johnny and Jake quickly competing for my heart as #1 engineer dudes, and of course, the instant classic game of Mark Coatney/ Marc Cote/ Marked Coat. Tumblr ramped up fast thanks to Lee, a fundraising series and at the tireless behest of my personal champion, Lindsey Dole.

Meanwhile, more magic was brewing in the cauldron. I heard @amandalynferri talking about some game she invented called Pretty Little Lasagna box, or I heard Maddie recalling the time she had her palm read in 14th street psychic's booth seeking refuge from a snowstorm, or @lexkap who sat on the other side of the building with a dog on her lap DM’d me on hip chat to show me her own nail art blog. Then a few of us won a chance to see a sneak preview of a new arthouse film by Harmony Korine and featuring an ensemble cast of former Disney talent that had been filmed in my hometown with a y2k airbrushed aesthetic - there was something innately emotional tied to each of us with this first viewing of Spring Breakers. When we left the midtown theater alongside the ATL Twins, I realized that this company had curated a community to match the intended behavior of its user base. We all connected on a level beyond any workplace I had experienced before.

And there was the professional side to the job - the work wins came quick because I was so lucky to sit under leaders who wanted the team to succeed. Rick Webb and Katherine encouraged me to dig in, and get deep with these shiny new toys called “evangelists” - Valentine, Nate, Liba, Annie, Max, Rachel, Jen, and briefly DCH. An enviable group of brilliant minds and creative energy who have all gone on to accomplish even more for their respective industries than a marketing budget at a start up could have enabled - and I had the pleasure to help share their Tumblr stories with the world - from a puppy bowl to annual southby's to groundbreaking art auctions to thirteen fucking fashion weeks to 35+ art and music shows (brrr)?

And then Tumblr got acquired and the Jenna Wortham turned the New York Times blue, and I got to do something I’m sure will never happen again in my entire career: I threw a party where the goody bag included a free tattoo, and multiple brave souls got them (Tyler, @bryanasortino, Megan & Johnny, among others).

And then Karen (aka #takingitallin aka @beautifulliving) joined, and me and Katherine gained a new teammate at the same time that I gained a new soul sister (and because of her self-described passion for advertising I never had to write an announcement about a new ad product ever again.) I’ve never been more challenged to succeed as I have over the three years I sat next to Karen - a generous and driven woman with endless dreams of supporting others (literally, ask her about the gap in the undergarment sector), who will always find a spot to squeeze me into a photobooth. Even at her wedding.

And lucky us, because then we invited @lilders into the #teamcomms fold and wow, wow, wow was life good. It was my honor working with Lily as she grew from FIT intern into somebody we should all aspire to work for someday.

Which leads to me to the poker faced improv master of all - Katherine. Allora @alittlespace! I am so lucky she believed that this girl who came into talk about a hypothetical strategy to get Eleven Madison Park on Tumblr and then pitched her a fantasy football launch party hosted by Nick Kroll and Mark Duplass could fit in and have the privilege to join the Tumblr Communications team. KB - I’ve already written you the dopiest thank you letter and shared my orchid growing miracle secrets - but it can’t be said enough - I am so grateful to have worked for you for all of these years. You are the best boss, and we will always be the #bestteam.

Because of Tumblr (and @david), I had the pleasure of working with so many additional incomparable people on projects outside of my designated Marketing Comms position, wearing more hats than we even produced for branded activation swag:

Designing and contenting for months with the relaunch of the precious Staff blog with David, Peter, Damien, Tag, Toph, among others

Setting the inaugural year in review with Danielle, Amanda, Christine loose (and then doing it again and again and again, with the wonderful team at DKC - especially that time we added a serving Kale to America’s breakfast.

Marathoning dozens of events with amazing producers like Julia, Suzanne and Magic - and encountering the native talent that thrives on Tumblr like Humans of New York, Chloe Wise, Sam Cannon, Johnny McLaughlin, Jillian Mercado, to a point where I can honestly say “I knew them when.”

Participating in the first ever Sales Offsite aka the greatest bar mitzvah ever thrown by Lee Brown, Dan Walsh and Sarah Won and the rest of the coolest sales team ever assembled (here’s to you @katemaxx, @jeffdtaylor, Meredith, Ari, Kira, and so many more)

Reaching back into my fashion bag of tricks and launching three different clothing lines.

Creating partnerships to show off super surprises at nerd parties at Comic Con and another breaking the internet for Art Basel

Interviewing the CEO of Shake Shack for the one-time-only live episode of “5 with a side of fries" in front of the whole company.

Urgently dealing with Legal, Ads, Trust and Safety on one of the definitive news story of a generation after nine months of back channeling and reporting.

DOING IT FOR THE CULTURE: Racing with the content and analytics teams for stats on the contentious day of #thedress, and then bling rings, witches, boneghazi, superwholockians, wholesome memes, studyblr, emojis, and of course, the toe thing! Thus redefining what it means to “go viral.”

Cleaned a ball pit for the dude from the 1975 to make a splash into them and trolled a legacy music publication

And wow - it took me this long to mention Post It Forward…I am so proud of everyone who helped make Tumblr the most empathetic community on the internet: Nicole Blumenfeld, Jeff D’Onofrio, @skiphursh “Dolphin", @dougrichard, Andy Sebela, Jess Frank, Sarah Won @swon, @pauwow, the brilliant and diligent Michelle Johnson. From building the blog, commissioning the art, recruiting and onboarding the partners, writing the endless number of give/gets, planning the sponsored posts and social content, running the day to day on the blog (and bequeathing that role to Lily), then doing it again with the Mental Health Quilt and IRL with the Post It Forward Summit - I’ve found my new track as a special projects person who can take on any issue, even suicidal teens. If this is my legacy, I’ve planted seeds in the garden I might never see. And special thanks to Victoria, who allowed me to speak at Obama’s White House about why kids need a place on the internet that can help heal - so long as they can find each other.

As it turns out, adults need that, too. From tailing Frank Ocean’s Ferrari to the most woke, mentally aware community and on to, thank god, a bonafide company to match - I will forever cherish my time at Tumblr and I’ll forever been asking #whenislunch. But from every tomorrow on, it will be somewhere else. And you can find me on the internet! 

Here’s my LinkedIn, I’m looking.