#that would just put in a position to need to crowdfunded again but with a biggest goal yk

[g0thsim]

187.24 / 390 (08/12/22)

[full original post]

im a trans person trying to get all her pieces of identification updated so applying to / working jobs + going to school is easier. pls send accommodating workplace energy to me <3🏳️‍⚧️♿️ tysm for rbing

ⓘ this is turning into an urgent situation so if this gets to $250 i’ll take the hit for the rest because i am out of options at this point.

ko/fi other options [carrd]

[queerly-autistic]

Right, I think it's time for some positivity, and also a reality check (and I mean that in the most loving way possible) regarding the campaign to save OFMD. I've seen a lot of people saying 'it's been nearly a month, we should have been picked up by now', and whilst, yes, some cancelled shows have received very quick movement to other streamers, it's absolutely not the story for all of them. We've seen numerous shows follow different journeys from cancellation to pick-up, and there's no way of knowing what journey we might be going on.

Are we in the fast lane where we get picked up the next month (lookin' at you, Lucifer and The Expanse)? The middling lane where it takes months for a pick-up deal to be hashed out (lookin' at you, One Day At A Time, The Tourist, and Warrior)? The slow lane where we keep pushing for years and then eventually crowdfund a film (lookin' at you Veronica Mars)?

I think we have to consider the fact that OFMD being cancelled was a last minute thing that blindsided the cast and crew (and shocked people across the industry). So we're going into it in a different position to other shows that had maybe had a hint/suggestion that cancellation was coming before it happened. This is because if there are rumours of cancellation circling, it gives a chance for feelers to be put out to other networks/by other networks before the actual cancellation is confirmed. That didn't happen here. Which is important.

It's not just wham bam thank you ma'am and now you've been picked up by Netflix (or insert streamer of your choice). It's a negotiation. It's a process. It takes time. There is a very good reason that people heavily suspect that Brooklyn 99 had already been picked up before the cancellation was officially announced, and that the cancelled-to-new-home-in-24-hours thing was pretty much just a marketing stunt. No way was that all negotiated to the point of announcement within a day,

There are many reasons why any potential pick-up elsewhere might take a bit more time. For example, if David is (hopefully) juggling interest from multiple different networks, then that has to be hashed out and negotiated to make sure the best deal is reached for everyone. Also, OFMD is potentially a more complicated show to negotiate than we imagine: at a very basic level, it has a large ensemble (a large international ensemble), which would need to be discussed and negotiated, and it's filmed in New Zealand, which would need to be discussed and negotiated. That doesn't work against it in terms of 'it's more complicated, so it won't be picked up' but it could very well mean that the time needed to negotiate a pick-up is longer.

Remember: One Day At A Time had a much smaller cast (which wasn't an international cast) and it basically had one single studio set (being a sitcom), and that took three months to be saved.

I chatted with my friend, also a fan, who has worked in television production previously and is currently working as a screenwriter, and she confirmed just how much time, discussion and negotiation this stuff takes. She basically said: yep, this all takes time and this is very normal. And this is coming from someone who is very firmly in the 'I am refusing to get my hopes up because I can't bear to get hurt again' camp of trying to save the show.

On that note, I think it's important to address David's silence, because I've seen a few people panicking about that. There's a very good chance that if he is in negotiations right now (and I do not know if he is, he might not be!) then there would be a lot he wouldn't be able to talk about. And he knows that we dissect every single syllable of his posts, so posting anything would be risky. Negotiations are tricky things that involve juggling multiple balls (and torches and knives and chainsaws), and a lot of push-and-pull, back-and-forth, variables-upon-variables, and so going silent on social media would be absolutely what I would expect from him if that was happening.

It's eerie for us because we had a burst of activity from David, a lot of noise and a lot of confidence, and then...nothing. That's jarring, and anxiety-inducing. But I want us to think of it this way: David did a big post about being back in New York, about things looking up, and then he went uncharacteristically silent, which is what would happen if things were going on that he couldn't talk about. I have no idea what, if anything, might be going on, but it's important not to see this as a bad thing.

As someone on Twitter, who also works in the industry (they work as an actor) said the other day: in this business, no news is good news.

(also important to note: if he suddenly reappears on social media, that also doesn't mean that any negotiations have fallen through, and we should all panic; anything could be happening, and I know we're little anxiety gremlins - me included, bigly - but until we are definitively told that this is over and there's no hope, then it's not over and there is hope)

There's no way of knowing what is going on, or how long whatever is (or isn't) going on might take. This might be a sprint, but it could just as easily be a marathon. The show not being picked up immediately does not mean there is no hope, as we have seen with numerous other shows. Look at fandoms like Shadow and Bone, who are still fighting tooth and nail for their show because they refuse to give up on it. They haven't given up, and neither should we.

We need to decide if we love OFMD enough to fight for it long-term, to settle in for a long battle, and keep pushing for as long as it takes. And I think, as difficult as it might be, we all know that this show, and its cast and crew, is worth it.

[sgiandubh]

Imma need an in-depth breakdown of Puff please! And I’m not being sarcastic either. Puff pre-dates my time in the outlander fandom.

Regards,

Your curious anon.

Dear Puffy Curious Anon,

If my cantankerous boss would have summoned me at 03:03 pm EEST (when your request landed in my inbox), just to tell me "Imma need an in-depth breakdown of the Greek trade unions' position on the current critical understaffing of the HoReCa sector", I would have politely answered "yes, ma'am, when is the deadline". I would have then turned on my heels, rolled my eyes, sworn like a drunk sailor under my breath (fuck my life comes to mind, pardon my French) and quickly be done with it.

You, bless your Anon heart, wrote: "Imma need an in-depth breakdown of Puff, please". Wee difference, Curious Anon: you are not my cantankerous boss. That being said, since the question has been asked by several people in the comment threads of the day's posts, I am gonna give you my two cents on Queen Pufflander, even if you've been around before I even knew this weird place existed. And hopefully put to rest this nonsense forever (wishful thinking, doubt it will happen).

Once upon a time, when S&C's bantering was the plat du jour on Twitter and this fandom a considerably less toxic place, Puff the Magic Dragon of the US East Coast was one of the Queen Bees of Shipperville. Her blog was witty and no-nonsense (if a tad verbose) and, as *urv, she quickly earned her fair share of side performers: Stella and Deep Throat (SOURCES) or the tarot reader(s) immediately come to mind. People loved Puff and that is only fair, to be honest: I bet the farm she was great fun. Little by little, information traded in DMs started to pile up in her famed Vault, from which she was generously sharing, from time to time, sibylline rants ("maybe they did or maybe they didn't, but don't worry, something happened and all shall soon be revealed"). I can critique that forever and a day and tell you that all this sent people's expectations up the roof and beyond, of course. But, again: I was not here. It is unfairly easy to judge all these things with a historian's eye, and people who lived to tell the tale are far more entitled than me to comment their fandom experience, circa 2015.

When the whole Shatner/Watchtower baliverne started (early 2016, if memory serves) things ugly escalated and rather quickly so. People started jumping ship. With McSideburns already in the house (EIFF comes to mind and a certain poignant S&C penguin picture, too), enter Flukenzie Floozy. Thus, after IFH, Puffy decided to pack her crystal ball & tent and move to greener pastures on Wordpress. There, she held court with a keen eye for the Byzantine politicking of this fandom, not unlike what Perfidious Albion did with regard to the Thirteen Rebelling Colonies, after that Boston Tea Party. Her main moments of intersection with the rest of the shipper community are Covfefe Pics (of course) and Remarkable Week-end (of course). With regard to Covfefe, she quickly cried wolf, but by the time Remarkable Week-end happened, she pulled off a mighty witty breakdown of The Nuptial Charade of the Century. Blaze of glory was Quarantein Ha-wa-wee (of course), when she blamed S for all the world's evils and then some more. After that, she concentrated on her Neverending Feud with *urv (a Private Investigator was, at some point, hired and paid for via crowdfunding), which somehow managed to end (nevertheless) with a Report she might or might not have sent to S, "for further consideration".

As all good prophets, Puffy finally went into Occultation circa 2021, not without warning us that she was torn between Gay Sam & SamCait intellectual traditions, with a wee penchant for the first (reason why I completely ditched her peddling, because IYKYK).

I can understand why people might think I could be Puffy. I am, however, very sure about my own identity, whereabouts and creed: to state the opposite would really, really be mental. I fully assumed my responsibility and went ahead to actually prove you, this morning, I wasn't. Reading her rants was useful, but also taxing. I doubt Stella and Deep Throat were anything else but narrative helpers in a sophisticated Greimas actantial model. Something I would never do, for example: I am confident enough not to need any crutches. And I am very, very sorry for this word vomit: it should come, perhaps, as solace its length could never compete with Puff's storytelling marathons.

To wash my sins (not really: because I really love that picture), here's S,C, a penguin and a cakebox (?), at EIFF 2015. This is, you can be certain, the purest thing on this page, Anon:

[killjoybycandlelight]

Have you ever considered creating a visual novel with your yanderes? Just curious as you create great art and writing.

I have, honestly.

I will be honest, it is very much an option for me. I have friends that are deeply rooted in indie animation and voice-acting scenes. I even got into it once myself (the indie art scene not the voice acting scene) when I worked on one HORRIBLE indie project. luckily, though, it made me a few interesting connections and very good friends that would help that possibly become reality.

However, there are a few problems.

The First would be coding. I had always wanted to teach myself coding/renpy, but I had been lacking, and coding flew over my head when I first tried. when I have the time, though, I do want to give it another shot.

The next would be budget. I originally had the plan to make a few small animations for a row of bi-shonen OC I had made similar to the killjoys. I had money and time set aside both for the work and the voice work needed. However, due to a series of misfortunate events, I caught covid, and all my money from the budget went into purchasing food since I was not in a position to make it myself.

Afterwards, I changed up the script entirely, and now I am just saving up money to once again pay the proper voice actors, but will be a while cause this is a personal passion project, and I could never ask for crowdfunding since this is not going to a widespread thing or a franchise, just me putting my own skills together.

here's some stuff I put together since it had been under wraps for so long. It was what I worked on before I got a full-time job as a designer

A full sprite rig that was not animated (but I still would like to come back to it) with different expressions.

an old character lineup (that will be changed) with voice actors in mind (a few friends or acquaintances of mine). I held auditions and everything before I caught covid.

and a nine-page rough storyboard with a script to follow (but I didn't post the script for obvious reasons)

It is a project I am still working towards and am very excited about. I just wish I had more time, motivation, and money to work on it.

Visual novels, animations, and whatnot are usually worked on by a time and crowdfunded, but I can't justify any of that at the moment, so it's just me... doodling my little guys.

Someday, I truly hope to share the final product with you all. And don't worry....... these guys are yanderes too~

;)

[handsofdarkness]

Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel: “Everything is f**ked, but there are good things”

The gospel according to Within Temptation’s Sharon den Adel

We are music lovers first and foremost

“We love all kinds of music in Within Temptation! Our heart and soul started with metal and rock, so the core of our band will always be that, but we will always have an open mind. And that has helped us also to develop throughout the years. What influences us? It’s dependent on what was most inspirational from other scenes that we picked up at that moment and tried to combine with our music.

The internet can be savage

“I’m always thinking about what I put online. There’s a thin line of what you wanna show and what is too much. A lot of people are listening to you and following you on social media, so it’s worth thinking about what you put out there. Of course, I have my political views and stuff like that, but there’s also the question of what is your purpose in that; if you really want to express that much, or if you wanna just open up a discussion. It depends who’s on the other side and how they react to everything. I like to talk to people and see how they think. I wanna learn from them, and I learn the most from people who think differently than I do.”

Everyone from Linkin Park to Iron Maiden has inspired us

“With Linkin Park, it was not the music, but more production-wise. When we did [2004 album] The Silent Force, we were very much inspired by them because of the way they were using loops, and the production was totally awesome, totally new, no one was doing that. It was so inspirational. But with [2011 album] The Unforgiving, we were inspired by the 80s – bands we grew up with, Metallica, Iron Maiden… you can really hear the influences on certain songs. In In The Middle Of The Night the rhythm is very ‘galloping’, that’s a big wink to our favourite bands.”

I love watching our crowds

“One night, I was singing Mercy Mirror, and one person was really going into his head, closed eyes, moving. Another one was screaming it out, singing every word with me, and another was just listening. There were kids, older people, such a mixture. It’s so nice how you can see that people can interpret one song in a different way. I like to look at people in the face when I’m singing. I’m onstage to get that connection.”

It was hard processing my father’s death onstage

“Sometimes it got too much, during certain songs I had to sing, ones that are very close to me. Sometimes it breaks you up on stage. I had that thing of, ‘I don’t wanna play that song because every time I sing it, I start crying,’ you know? It’s not something I want to show people. But, of course, it’s pure, the audience embrace it, and there’s a lot of respect coming from them at that time. It takes off the sharp edge, and that’s the beauty of it.”

Climate change scares me

“Not enough people are scared by it, and nobody really knows what to do about it. The thing I realise more and more is that we are all into this together, so if not everybody joins to change, eventually we won’t get to the goal that we all really need to get to. We need to get those degrees down, otherwise it’s gonna be really hard for certain countries, and in some parts of the globe there are gonna be islands that will be gone because the sea levels are rising! The world changes, and things are natural, but the rapid way that it’s going is scaring me. I’ve always been very sensitive to those kinds of things. I never thought it would become a problem so soon that my kids might experience it.”

The future can be positive

“We have this Dutch scientist, Boyan Slat, who invented a way to clean out the plastic in the ocean. He started crowdfunding it. And it’s like, ‘Why didn’t anyone else think of this? It’s a very easy solution!’ Because of all the media worldwide, he’s being hired by other countries to do the same thing. It doesn’t go fast enough yet, but it’s a step, and it’s something that I think is very positive. I think there should be more positive news, and then people will get more positive about the future and start thinking of solutions, instead of, ‘Oh, everything is doomed.’ Everything is fucked, but on the other hand, there are a lot of good things! In the Netherlands, they have the Good News feeds, and that’s really positive. I think there can be a butterfly effect. It could be beautiful.”

I don't follow advice

“I didn’t really get that much, and I always followed my own instincts, more or less. I think the lack of advice did get us into trouble, though, because nobody knew anything about the music industry! We just thought it was a hobby and we were being paid.”

Push yourself out of your comfort zone

“For me, I think it’s the most important thing. Otherwise you’ll always be in your own little world and come up with the same kind of things you’ve already done. Even on this album, I have actually worked with a British guy for the lyrics, because I’m not a native speaker. I learned so much from that, so that was really nice.”

Family keeps you grounded

“It’s also why I wanna go home after a certain degree of time. I love being on the road, but when I’m home… it’s like the world is upside down, totally different. I need it to ground myself again, and I have to get back into the rhythm of another kind of life. The kids need to go to school, the garbage has to be taken out, somebody has to cook the dinner!”

People worry too much

“Worrying about what other people think. Most people aren’t concerned about you. Most people live in their own little bubble, but people always think they have to keep up appearances because a lot of other people might think [something negative]. Of course, they have their opinions, but most of the time you can’t influence them.”

Nirvana got me into heavy music

“Although not directly into metal. It was such an important time in my youth, and they were the first band I really fell in love with. They were my favourite band, and still are. I never saw them live – I was supposed to go and see them at the Melkweg in Amsterdam, but my parents didn’t allow me to go! They have this live album, From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah, and it doesn’t sound that ‘good’, but I love it for that. It has a rawness.  They just translated the emotion of a certain part of the youth at that time. How misunderstood they felt. They could do nothing wrong in my eyes.”

I have got a really sadistic sense of humour

“Well, if you give me a chance. I have this spray I put in my mouth, just to keep my throat working onstage. I sprayed [one of our crew] with it, and he thought it was pepper spray! He didn’t know what I’d done, he was like, ‘Oh my god!’ Oh my god!’”

Published in Metal Hammer #321

[mostlysignssomeportents]

How the Attack Surface audiobook can reform Audible

There's an EXCELLENT piece up on Fast Company by Steven Melendez about my Kickstarter campaign to pre-sell audibooks of my next novel, as a way to demonstrate the viability of publishing audio without caving to Audible/Amazon's mandatory DRM policy. https://www.fastcompany.com/90549199/why-this-author-is-taking-a-stand-against-amazons-audiobook-monopoly Melendez does great work laying out the case for refusing DRM, and the risks to publishers and writers in allowing Amazon to lock their works to its platform (it's a felony to remove DRM or provide the tools to do so, even if you own the copyright to the DRM-locked work!). Reading his piece, it strikes me that I could do a better job for laying out my theory of change here - how preordering the audiobook could actually lead to a fairer world where power shifts away from Amazon (owners of Audible) to the creators of audiobooks. Obviously most authors couldn't do what I'm doing. I've been publishing books since 2000, more than 20 of 'em, with several NYT bestsellers. This particular book is the sequel to two MASSIVE bestsellers with huge, dedicated followings. Publishing lives and dies on this kind of book. One of the major reason that publishers publish "midlist" books and first novels is in the hopes that they'll "break out" and become perennial bestsellers that subsidize the next round of risky bets on midlist and first books. So while this isn't a typical kind of book, it's an important one. So let's say this does really well in audio, selling, say, 10,000 copies. That works out really well for me, as I'm the publisher for this one, because I keep 95% of that (Kickstarter gets 5%).

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/attack-surface-audiobook-for-the-third-little-brother-book

By contrast, if my publisher sold this with Audible, they'd get 70% (Amazon takes 30%), and then I'd get 25% of that (17.5% of the gross). That means I earn 542% of what my take would be with a publisher/Audible on these sales. So my profit on 10,000 self-published, Kickstarted audiobooks is roughly equivalent to 54,200 commercial books sold through Audible. I had to pay to produce the audiobook and put in a hard month's work on promoting the KS, but that still a great upside. So that's one way things could change. Frontlist writers could demand to retain their audio rights in publisher negotiations and do what I did. It's hard work, and only a minority of writers are situated to do it, but it would make sense for some of 'em. And that would definitely make a dent in Amazon's business: they're a hit-driven biz, too. If a big chunk of major books were "Audible exclusive" (that is, sold everywhere EXCEPT Audible), they'd feel the pinch, first in lost revenues and then in lost subscribers. After all, once the presale campaign is over, this book will be for sale everywhere EXCEPT Audible: libro.fm, downpour.com, even Google Play. All of those stores have stock and plans that are basically identical to Audible. And if they amass sizeable collections of exclusive-of-Audible bestsellers, there will be good reasons for customers to defect to them from Audible. But what about the publishers? Well, maybe they won't release their frontlist authors' audiobook rights - but if they can make MUCH more money by working WITH authors to presell their audiobooks, AND weaken Amazon's stranglehold over their business...why wouldn't they? In this scenario, authors and publishers do (better-than-retail) revenue shares for a crowdfunded, DRM-free presale campaign, again diverting the bestselling titles from Amazon/Audible, once again driving support for retail alternatives to Amazon. One advantage I haven't mentioned yet: shifting away from Audible is GREAT news for libraries, since neither Audible originals, nor Kindle originals, are available AT ALL for library purchase. Imagine a publisher BOYCOTTING LIBRARIES! And here's the theory-of-change part: realistically, not selling through Amazon means that a lot of readers and listeners won't encounter your work - even if you make more money overall, this is not ideal. My end-game is for Amazon to make good on the promise it made in 2008 when it bought Audible: to drop its DRM (or at least make it optional!). That way, readers who buy their audiobooks from Amazon can change retailers without abandoning their expensive audiobooks. That alone won't end Amazon's dominance (we'll need meaningful antitrust enforcement for that), but without that step, competition doesn't have a hope in hell. We MUST end the situation where every dollar spent on our books at Audible is a dollar our readers will have to throw away to switch to a rival. We can do that, and we don't need every writer to be in a position to refuse Audible to make it happen. We just need to starve them of the books from their most popular authors - and happily, those authors stand the best chance of making MORE money by doing crowdfunders for pre-sales. If bestsellers like me do this, we'll make more money AND we'll make the world better for ALL authors. And one more bonus: I'm using the crowdfunder to presell ebooks (and sell ebooks for the previous two volumes - 4,000 ebooks in five days (and counting). I'm the retailer for these ebooks, so I get 30% off the top, send the remaining 70% to my publisher, and they send me 25% of that back as a royalty: that means I get 47.5% of the gross on these. And they're ebooks that are sold without enriching Amazon. That's my fiendish plan - my plan to be the pebble that starts the avalanche that moves the mountain. You can help! A $15 pre-order for the audiobook (list price $25!) will help to change the world: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/doctorow/attack-surface-audiobook-for-the-third-little-brother-book I look forward to selling the first-ever DRM-free Audible book. (thank you for attending my TED Talk!)

[mymelodyheart]

Forget Me Not Chapter 13 ~Girls Gone Bad~

Claire's footsteps echoed off the hallway that led to the hotel's kitchen, high heels clicking along the tiled floor. Running late for the staff meeting she had scheduled for the service and kitchen personnel, she didn't bother hurrying as she couldn't care less. With her hands full with catering contracts for special events and the preparation for the grand re-opening, she had been in a foul mood for the last few days. Her temper was amplified even more that morning when she dropped her contact lenses on the floor, sending her into fits of frustration when she couldn't find them, leaving her with no choice but to wear her glasses instead. Seeing her reflection earlier in the bathroom mirror, made her wince. Her black-rimmed specs reminded her of high school. Definitely not good memories to bring up considering the state of her frayed nerves.

Over the last few days, she went through varying degrees of annoyance initially stemming from two police officers paying her a visit.

"Miss Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp?"

"Umm, hello. Yes, that's me. What can I do for you, officer?"

"We would like to question you on behalf of the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau about the crowdfunding site you set up for a French national by the name of Annalise de Marillac. There has been..."

"I beg your pardon? Fraud Bureau? Did I do something illegal?"

"Miss Beauchamp, there's been a complaint against your person by an anonymous tip-off at the Cyber Crime Reporting Centre. You are being accused of false representation to commit fraud. Can we please come in?"

As it turned out, her good intention to raise money for Annalise via a crowdsourcing website had garnered a lot of attention and raised a lot of money. Unfortunately, it had also led to some prankster calling the police and reporting her scheme as fraudulent. The matter was momentarily resolved when Jamie and Willie intervened and brought down Annalise for questioning. The French girl was in tears explaining to the officers of her condition and the kindness shown by the Fraser family and Claire, and eventually, presenting them proof with her diagnosis papers.

When Annalise had been excused after she complained of tiredness and headache, the police officers, obviously still not satisfied, remained to delve further as to why someone would accuse Claire of fraud. That's when everything imploded when Willie, hesitant and nervous at first, told the officers of the death threats that were in her Facebook inbox and how he came to know about it. Oh, how mad she was and madder, even more, when she found out Jamie knew about it, the means and ways Willie had log into her Facebook to play detective as if it wasn't bad enough he had screenshot her private messages.

After the police officers left, satisfied that no fraudulent act was committed, more revelations came forth from Jamie and Willie, only because she had been seething with anger and looking at them like they were a couple of red flags to a bull. As if they were two wee lads caught with their hands in the cookie jar, they compunctiously admitted to everything. They told her of their suspicions and suspects, their plan to get the family's lawyer, Ned Gowan involved, and their initial intention to keep her in the dark for her protection. Willie even explained his plan to take Annalise to the doctor himself the following morning, and discreetly stop by Ned Gowan's office to have her medical papers and story investigated for their validity.

Not that their concern was lost on her and that she felt a bit hypocritical for not telling Jamie about the messages she had been receiving for the last few months. She had her reasons. Bloody good ones too!

She'd always loved Jamie's compassionate side, but deep down, she had a sneaking suspicion that his infatuation with her was based on his need to rescue an underdog. Wasn't that was she had been throughout her childhood? Wasn't that why he had been in a relationship with Annalise? She was totally convinced the French girl reminded him of her, a victim of the injustices of life and its unfairness. By resolving to prove she wasn't anyone's rescue mission, Claire was courting the eventuality Jamie will realise she didn't need saving anymore. The fear of him loving her under false judgement was greater than Jamie losing interest when he realised she didn't need rescuing.

In her travels, during the past six years, Claire had come into her own, pushing herself to face her fears and insecurities by tempting fate with her adrenaline laced adventures. Bungee jumping, white-water rafting, rock climbing, ziplining and  hopefully , soon sky diving. The taunts and bullying she had endured in school had given her nightmares and self-doubts. But as she grew older, she wanted to rise above all the negativity and prove to herself she was more than her vulnerabilities and flaws, hoping, if her real parents could see her, they would be proud. Her travels had liberated her in a lot of ways, and she wasn't about to fall back into the victim status or be made to feel like one, now that she was back in Lallybroch, surrounded by memories of incessant bullying from her schooldays.

Feeling humiliated and for the sake of self-preservation, she had left Lallybroch with Geillis in Brian's spare car, needing space and time to gather her thoughts. She needed to if she didn't want her self-esteem knocked down a peg or more again. Maybe Annalise's coming into their lives would be an eye-opener, and despite the jealousy that seared her guts, her anger refused to blame the whole situation on the French girl, whether she was genuinely sick or not. There's a truth in the saying, the truth will set you free, but first, it will piss you off.

On the night she left Lallybroch without Jamie, he had nevertheless followed them to her and Geillis' rented house and stayed the night and the nights after that in the spare bedroom, when she wouldn't let him into hers. Secretly she had been pleased he didn't stay in Lallybroch knowing that his bedroom would have been next to Annalise.

Unfortunately, on days like today, when a storm of cloud was riding low above her head and following her everywhere she went, missing Jamie in or out of her bed didn't improve her disposition. Ever since her first sexual encounter with him, she felt she had become needier, constantly having this ache within her that only their lovemaking can ease. Now she was walking around feeling horny, which made her even more cranky as her pride wouldn't allow her to reconcile with Jamie just yet. She needed to be in the right frame of mind, and the mounting work at the hotel wasn't helping at all. Maybe when Ned Gowan had presented them his secret investigation report, could the matter be put to rest. 

Think about it later. When you're done with work.  Claire took a deep, fortifying breath, the same one she took before a bungee jump. Clutching a stack of papers, on the one hand, she wrapped her other hand around the doorknob and let herself into the staffs' canteen where the service and kitchen personnel were waiting.

"Beauchamp! Ye're late!" Chef Murtagh roared. A dour-looking middle-aged man with dark facial hair and in a crisp kitchen uniform glowered at her as she entered the room.

She heard two metal chairs scrape against the floor, and in her periphery, saw Jamie and Willie stand, about to pounce to her defence. Giving them the laser death glance, they both sat back down. She was quite sure Murtagh gave them the same treatment but she thought hers were probably more effective. What the hell did they think? I was going to howl and cry?   

Her position as an F&B manager was not a given, and she knew Brian gave her that post because he had every confidence in her to fulfil her role. Despite the family's financial health, there had been no freebies in the Fraser household. Laziness or entitled attitudes had not been tolerated.

"Haud yer wheesht! " Claire snapped, shushing Murtagh in her best mimick of Scot's dialect, making the rest of the meeting's attendee giggle, if not quietly, a tad nervously, as she walked in purposely.  Seriously? God, that felt good, though.  "So what are you going to do about it, Murtagh? Scream me into disappearing? Thanks to you, all the paperwork in F and B office are in shambles. You probably scared the bejesus out of my predecessors with your screaming and your lousy temper." She slammed the stacks of paper on the table beside her.

It was true, Murtagh's demeanour can be quite intimidating, but she knew him well enough after having spent her teenage years helping around the hotel. And the fact that he was the Frasers' siblings' godfather helped. But Brian and Ellen couldn't entirely begrudge him for scaring a lot of their young managerial recruits, as he was the best of the best when it came to culinary art. He had brought prestige and name to Fraser Manor Inn's kitchen, including three Michelin stars, placing their wee village on the map.

Murtagh was still glowering at her, but she saw a spark of amusement flash in his eyes. Maybe she'd imagine it. "Just stating the obvious," he barked.  Definitely, his bark is worse than his bite.

"Well, state less of it," she retorted, resulting in some of the service staff to gasp. "This is my meeting in case you needed reminding." Glancing at the back of the room, she noticed Brian's and Ellen's presence, observing the whole scene with a smirk on their faces. They were obviously glad she didn't back down on Murtagh. Probably relieved too as they've had three F&B managers quit on them during the last two years. "Moving along..." 

She handed photocopied sheets of papers to the staff in the front row to pass along as she briefed them with the menu for the re-opening as well as new dishes for the a la carte. Knowing Murtagh would protest with her latest additions, Claire cut to the chase. "I've made a few changes to the a la carte menu. It's part of keeping up the with the times."

Murtagh ripped off his chef's hat from his head. "Hang on a minute. Ye cannot make changes without consulting me. People come from far and wide to taste my food."

Claire sighed but didn't retreat. "With all due respect, I am not challenging your ability to produce a culinary masterpiece, but we cannot serve the same dishes as we did for the last ten years. There are a lot of new and upcoming talented chefs in Scotland who have bolder and brighter ideas." Not wanting to disregard Murtagh's talent, she continued. "You are a great cook, Murtagh and you can bring out the best in your young team. They have ideas too, and I want to see them. Food enthusiasts have more discerning taste these days and are on the lookout for something different and exciting. I intend to maintain the vision of what you have created here, but we need to modernise if we want to be ahead of the game. We've modernised the kitchen and the restaurant, now it's time we do the same for our dishes."

Almost everyone in the room nodded in agreement except for the Head Chef, but she knew Murtagh will come around once his temper had subsided. Hopefully, soon as Claire didn't want to have to fight him on a daily basis. He may be stubborn, but she knew already he would take the changes she made as a challenge and recreate the dishes she had suggested with his own twist and magic. Without any more interruptions, the meeting concluded an hour and a half later, much to her relief. And to her surprise, her earlier annoyance seemed to have dissipated, feeling the weight lifting off her shoulders.

"Ye did well, Sassenach." She didn't notice Jamie had come up from behind as she gathered her things. "I'm so proud of ye."

She turned around to see him standing so close, the hair at her neck moved with his warm breath. "Jamie, I'm ..."

"Ssshh, I'm so sorry for everything, Claire. I missed us so much. Can we start again?" Her eyes closed involuntarily when he stroked her cheeks. "I'd like to spend some time with ye later after work. I ken we're living under the same roof, but we might as well be living apart every time ye disappear into yer bedroom every night."

Seeing the longing overwhelming his beautiful face, she felt her bones melt, and she swayed closer.  Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ, I love him so much.  She was tired of pushing him away. "I'd love that, Jamie."

Relief showing in his eyes, his thumb came up to trace the bottom of her lip. "Good," he whispered, his gaze dipping to her mouth. "I dinna ken what time I'll be finished. I'm making a few trial desserts for ye to taste tomorrow. Maybe, I'll bring it home tonight instead and feed ye. Ye can give me yer verdict then."

"I can't wait." She wanted to say so much, but his closeness was distracting her a lot, making the words she was formulating in her head become jumbled. Mouth inches apart, they were breathing into each other's space. "I-I'll, see you later then."

"Aye." He moved quickly, sucking her bottom lip into his mouth and letting it go with a pop. "Go now before I carry ye out of here." He pushed her gently away and slapped her bottom, chuckling softly.

Her face blushing profusely, she quickly left the room, before she too got carried away.  We have time tonight.

..........

Later on the evening, Jamie texted Claire he would be home later than expected. Without it being mentioned, Claire knew he would be stopping by Lallybroch after work to check on Annalise. 

Sighing, she joined Geillis who was perched on the kitchen bar stool. She had Latin jazz playing in the background, as she opened a bottle of Tequila she had brought back from a holiday in Mexico a year ago. 

Claire nodded when Geillis offered her a shot. They had been both busy that day helping the service staff at the hotel prepare the banquet hall for the grand re-opening gala dinner. Knowing Jamie won't be home for another two hours or more, she needed to get out of the house. The last few nights, when she was not at work, had been spent cooped up in her room.

Ever since she found out about the death threats, Jamie and Willie had asked her, more like prohibited, not to go to the pub or anywhere at night on her own. Even if she was to be accompanied by Geillis and it was only down the road from their residence, they insisted it wasn't wise. They begged until she agreed to do as she was told, at least until Ned Gowan came up with something concrete from his investigation or one of the brothers was there to accompany her.

Geillis had been an angel,  bless her,  and had stayed with her most nights, either watching TV or playing board games. But with the Grand Re-Opening, two nights away, Claire badly wanted to unwind and let her hair loose, but not within the confines of her four walls.

A few shots later, tipsy and giggling, they decided to get dressed and walk down the pub, after scribbling a note for Jamie. To hell with it if Jamie got mad.  She needed this, and the pub was just down the road. We live in a small village, what could possibly happen?

Feeling slightly tiddly, the low voices and the music in the pub relaxed her as soon as they walked in, making her worries and problems seem a little less serious. The alcohol thrummed in her blood, loosening muscles she didn't even realise were taut and strained. And not a moment too soon, they were joined by a new staff from the hotel working alongside Geillis in the Front Office, a French girl called Louise de la Tour.  Nice lass,  Geillis had said earlier.

" Oh mon Dieu , I want so badly to get laid. It's been a long while," the French girl muttered as she sipped her cocktail from a straw.

Claire's eyes widened. "How long?"

"Let's just say I buy batteries in bulk. I was hoping some strapping Highlander will sweep me off my feet. Romantic, non?"

Geillis patted Louise's hand. "Och, dinna fash lass, before ye know it, them lads be after ye. Ye're new around here so there will be quite a few interests."

"Sometimes, self-pleasure requires imagination." Claire sampled her whisky, Jamie's naked upper torso flashing through her mind. She frowned. "Creativity is key."

"Are ye serious? Ye have a gorgeous man at yer disposal if ye wanted some action. Christ, Claire, don't make Jamie wait too long." Geillis waved hello at the two lads from the hotel's kitchen that just walked in, Rupert and Angus.

"I don't intend to." Claire winked at her friend.

"Ah self-pleasure, now we're talking. What creative ideas do you have in mind, Claire?" Louise asked curiosity etched on her beautiful face.

Claire shrugged, attempting casual. "I call it the Facetime boogie. You know, I orgasmed while we watched each other...mmm."

Louise spat her drink across the table. " Merde!  Masturbate you m-mean on Facetime? I would rather go to my grave with my hymen intact, merci beaucoup.  For me, it's my dildo or real sex."

Geillis picked up a napkin and dried herself off. "Weel, I'd only do it on Facetime with someone I know, not with some random stranger in the internet.."

"Can we talk about something else? Two of the girls that used to pick on me from school just walked in." Claire puffed out a breath, blowing a stray curl out of her face. It was Laoghaire MacKenzie and Geneva Dunsany from her class in high school, her worst nightmare while growing up. They were standing by the bar, their gazes sweeping through the pub while at the same time hugging and kissing people they knew in greeting.  Oh God, they haven't changed.

Louise quirked an eyebrow waiting for an explanation, confusion spreading on her face.

"What Claire is trying to say is ...bitches alert." Geillis nodded her head towards the bar. From the way, the two girls were looking at Claire, gave her a fairly good idea who they were.

Louise pursed her lips. "Aaah, I understand," She gave Claire a sympathetic squeeze on a hand, before giving her a warning look." Bordel de merde, they're coming!" she announced as she saw the subjects of their conversation making their way to their table.

Geillis simply smiled while Claire mentally braced herself.

"Ooh lookie, lookie, who do we have here? Claire Elizabeth Beauchamp. The Sassenach is back. I'm surprised the Frasers took you back into their folds," the blonde hair lass called Laoghaire mocked, her perfectly over made-up face breaking into a sneer. "And here I thought, ye were gone for good."

"Hello, Laoghaire," Claire smiled before taking a swig from her whisky. "Please do me a favour and pick on someone with the same level of IQ as you. It's a shame really, you're such a pretty girl. It's bloody too bad, your personality and intelligence can't be photoshopped."

Covering their mouths, Louise and Geillis hiccupped and giggled, as they watched the verbal battle unfold.

"Ye hoor !" Laoghaire hissed, bringing her face down to the table, so none of the other customers in the bar could hear. "Ye think ye're clever, aye? So brave now that ye have yer hoor  pals with ye."

Claire was unfazed despite her tipsy state as she stared back at Laoghaire, unwilling to back down.

Her friend Geneva pulled her back. "That's enough, Laoghaire." And then she turned to her. "Hi, Claire. Congratulations. I heard you're the new F&B manager at the Manor." There was a hint of snide in her remark. "Oh, and you bagged one of the Fraser lads. I'm surprised really as you never had luck with the boys back in high school. What happened? The Frasers took pity on you?"

"Va te faire enculer!"  Louise cursed in French under her breath, bracing herself to attack Geneva, but Geillis pulled her back.

Claire inwardly winced as Geneva's words stung at her side. "No, I never had luck with the boys in high school, Geneva. I suppose it's rather a good thing that I didn't run about draping myself over them. So I guess no one can really accuse me of being promiscuous and sluttish as opposed to those who had better luck than me."

Geneva's eyes turned to daggers. 

"Listen, girls," Geillis intervened in an unusually calm voice. Turning to Laoghaire and Geneva, she resumed. "I dinna ken who ye are but if ye have a problem here, write the problem on a piece of paper, fold it, and shove it up yer shite holes, aye? I know that everyone is allowed to act stupid once in a while, but ye're really abusing that privilege."

Geneva laughed. "Hey, Ginger, this has nothing to do with you. So stay out of it." She faced Claire before walking away. "See you around, Claire and mind to give my regards to Jamie."

"See you both around," Claire replied, trying her hardest to keep a straight face. "Wishing your evening to be as pleasant as you are."

Instead of replying, Laoghaire and Geneva rewarded them with a one-finger salute as they walked away and headed to the bar.

"Christ what a couple of imbeciles. I can't believe there are still people like them. Ye would think bullies would outgrow their meanness," Geillis fumed, her eyes almost bulging out with disdain.

"Never mind girls. We're here to have fun,  oui?  Let's forget about them." Louise waved the waitress for another round of drinks. "This round is on me." She looked over Claire's shoulder toward the bar area, nearer to the front end. "And tonight might be my lucky night. There is a table full of beautiful men over there you would not believe."

Geillis waved her hand. "Christ, no men, please. Girls' night tonight!"

Mischief rolled out across Claire's face, forgetting Jamie might be looking for her. "You're both right. We're here to have fun and just us girls. Once the hotel is officially open, God knows when we'll have another evening like this."

"We need to do something crazy,  oui?"

Claire hiccupped. "Karaoke?" Behind Louise, she watched as two bar staff hooking up microphones and unrolling the projection screen. Some customers were already writing down their song choices.

"Oh no! I can't sing!" Louise complained.

"Christ, Claire! Is that the best idea ye can come up with?"

"Jesus, why is nobody enthralled with my karaoke idea? Where's the fun girls?"

Geillis gulped down her drink when Claire gave her a pleading look. "Oh, fuck! Fine! One song! I dinna think ye would include me."

Claire didn't waste time dragging Geillis at the rear end of the bar. "C'mon, let's sing that song from the Pussycat Dolls ...you know the one. "

Relieved she wasn't being hauled to the stage, Louise sat back and whistled through her fingers.  "Allez, allez, Claire et Geillis!!"  she cheered from her seat.

Teetering towards the makeshift stage, Claire and Geillis handed their request to the staff handling the sound equipment.

They were surprised when they were ushered first. "Ye're up ladies," the DJ announced with a wink, handing them both a microphone each.

Geillis face went white. "Oh, fuck!" she said out the side of her mouth. "Here goes nothing. I thought we'd have time for one more drink before we did this."

"Just shut up and sing. Oh, God, I'm so drunk."

Their song selection popped up on the screen, accompanied by whistles from the audience. With strong lights glaring in front of them, Claire couldn't make out the faces in the pub, but she could hear Laoghaire and Geneva somewhere chanting the rap song,  Who Let the Dogs Out.  Ignoring the taunts, Claire and Geillis launched into the song that started with the lines,  Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?

..........

After work and seeing to Annalise in Lallybroch, Jamie headed to the pub. He had wanted to go to Claire immediately, but the boys from the kitchen, including Willie and Murtagh, badgered him to come for at least one drink. Since his sister's fiance, Ian Murray would be there too, he reluctantly agreed.  Alright, one drink!

Of all days to be coerced to go to for a drink, it had to be on the day he could finally spend time with Claire. The pub was quite busy for the middle of the week, teeming mostly with staffs from the hotel.

"Hey, Jamie lad, why ye so quiet?" Rupert, one of the kitchen cooks asked.

Angus, also a kitchen staff, raised his pint to his lips. "Claire's not talking to him, that's why."

Everyone on their table laughed, accompanied by a few back slaps.

Murtagh raised an eyebrow. "I thought I saw ye both snogging after the meeting?"

Jamie just nodded with a half-smile. He didn't want to talk about Claire in front of the lads, especially because she had been the topic of most conversation ever since she came back from Switzerland. Her return had piqued a lot of interest in the village, mostly from single men, and Jamie didn't like it one bit.

Looking inquisitive, Ian tipped his beer bottle in Jamie's direction. "In all the years I've known ye, these last few days is the first time I've seen ye mope so much over a girl. If she's back to talking to ye again, what are ye doing here?"

Jamie could barely hear Ian over the singing that had started at the back of the pub.  Christ, Karaoke night!  He just remembered. "Aye, I'll be off soon. Claire is waiting for me."

"I'm heading home too," Willie joined in, downing the last of his pint. "Need to get up early for the meat delivery tomorrow."

As if on cue, Jamie shot to his feet. "Right lads, sorry to make this short. Another night perhaps once the hotel is running." He dug into his pocket to retrieve some pound notes, frowning as he realised almost every man in the bar had started cheering and whistling. He had been thinking so much about Claire, it had escaped his notice that most male customers were stood on their feet, facing the rear end of the bar. "What the fuck is going on?"

Following his brother, Jamie went to see what the commotion was all about. 

Sassenach!

Claire, along with Geillis, stood on the makeshift stage under the bright spotlights singing into the microphones. She was wearing a white body-hugging turtleneck dress that went down just above her knees paired with knee-high black boots. Thanks to the spotlight, her black bra and panties were visible through the material even though it was a winter dress. And beside her, Geillis was gyrating to the song, as she sang the refrain  Don't cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?  with a sultry look in her eyes.

Fists clenching, Jamie pushed aside the standing customers that blocked his path and approached the stage, with Willie in tow behind him.

"Sassenach!"

[bisexual-medal-alex]

HOMESTUCK 2: WHAT IS THE POINT

So Homestuck 2 has been out for around a quarter of a year now and despite my reluctance I have been keeping up with it and reading the main updates as they’re coming out. I’ll admit that there’s things that I like such as the new kids, Davekat and Roxy. But it’s not clicking with me the original Homestuck did and there’s a lot of in story reasons (and some meta reasons too) but there’s a big fundamental flaw of this project that everything wrong about this story revolves around, at least in my eyes. I’m having a hard time understanding what the point of Homestuck 2 is.

That is to say I’m having a hard time just grasping what’s at stake and why I should feel invested in it. On the surface I have a basic comprehension of the plot; Dirk gets so high on his own ego that he basically kidnaps and brainwashes Rose so that he can give the story a villain. And also Terezi joins him for whatever reason, a bunch of good guys and a ghost from another timeline are traveling to stop them and in an alternate timeline Jane is making a fascist takeover of their home while all of this is happening. That’s the basic summary of the story without trying to untangle all of the alternate timeline bullshit that is quite honestly harder to follow than anything in the original comic.

Don’t get me wrong Homestuck Classic is dense and hard to follow if you’re not paying attention. But I do feel like it had a point or at least a narrative structure that enhanced the story. Homestuck was ultimately a story about kids playing a game and it used adventure game tropes and conventions to not only make the world more cohesive but also to comment on said tropes and conventions. All of the kids struggled to meet the expectations thrown on them by the game, they all handled it in different ways from passively accepting their lack of agency to trying to wildly rebel against their fate and even then in some weird twist it always turned out that even their rebellion was predetermined by some higher power. I feel like the point of the original Homestuck beyond just being a silly story making fun of video games was a commentary on growing up and feeling like you have no control over anything in your life. Whether or not the ending was a satisfying way to end such a ambitious narrative like that is another debate entirely but for all of its faults the original Homestuck has a purpose.

Hell I’ll even go so far as to say I understood the point of the Epilogues and what they were trying to do. It was trying to be a commentary on the metafictional implications of continuing a story past “happily ever after” using the framework of a dark fan fiction. It makes sense to do it like this, trying to build on the themes of agency and choice that the original Homestuck started and having the characters feel lost and without purpose now that the “story” is over so while they’re still trying to settle into adulthood there’s also the existential threat of ceasing to exist without a plotline. And again like the original Homestuck they’re dealing with this existential stress in different ways either trying to live peacefully and explore their own identity or trying to be as disruptive as possible in an attempt to stay relevant. It’s supposed to be a story about how happy endings don’t exist and life still continues even after you close the book.

Putting aside for a moment whether or not the Epilogues succeeded in conveying those themes well, I think Homestuck 2, being a direct continuation of the Epilogues, is trying to build on those themes. The trouble is, again just speaking personally, I don’t understand how it’s trying to do it and it just seems pointless at best and like overly indulgent naval-gazing at worst. It comes down to A. Dirk’s role as the “bad guy” and B. How disconnected the story feels.

So in the Epilogues one version of Dirk becomes so self-absorbed after tapping into his highest potential that his god-tier powers grant him that he’s able to assume control of the narrative and as a result he decides that the best way to take advantage of this new power is to give the story a point by becoming a villain himself. I can accept all of that especially knowing that of all the human kids in the original Homestuck he was the most emotionally unstable and he always seemed to be stuck in his own ego. He always had that kind of narcissistic self-loathing where he hated himself but he also saw himself as the only person who could save the day and y’know despite fans not wanting Dirk to become a self proclaimed “bad guy” I can see why he was in a position where he would look at the possibility of ceasing to exist, see it as a problem to fix himself and think that the best way to do it would be to just embrace his most toxic personality traits and step into a new villainous role to drive the “plot” forward.

With aaaaaaaaallllllllll of that being said I do not understand his plan or why he’s doing any of the things he’s doing. I don’t understand why he needed to kidnap Rose and turn her into a hollow metal husk of her former self, I don’t understand why he roped Terezi along for the ride, I don’t understand why he’s taking a spaceship out into the middle of space, I don’t understand why he wants to play Spore and create two competing races of aliens on an uninhabited planet. I can guess and hypothesize why he’s doing these things, like maybe he took Rose and manipulated her into going along with his plans just so he’d have an intellectual equal and Terezi is in the best position to stop him so convincing her to come along is a good way to ensure she can’t help the heroes and frankly the whole alien thing coupled with the brief re-opening of the suggestion box feels like he’s trying to relive the glory days of Sburb like a middle aged dad trying to live vicariously through his son making him join the sports club even though he might not have any interest in doing so.

But I don’t understand the core drive behind any of these things and it feels like a hollow attempt to keep the story going even though it feels like everyone involved has already moved on. Maybe that is the point and I’m drastically overthinking Dirk’s role as a villain, he’s just doing all of this because he’s bored and doesn’t know how to continue the story in any meaningful way. It still makes the story feel hollow and it’s Hussie trying to be tongue-in-cheek about the fact that he wants to keep writing Homestuck but he doesn’t have any ideas on what to do with it.

Which is pretty obvious when you look at the B plot involving Jane becoming a fascist and having to deal with an uprising against her rule over Earth C. Hussie really wrote himself into a corner with the Epilogues focusing on two timelines; it might seem like an arbitrary choice to have a story where literary infinite possibilities coexist but then only focus on two of said possibilities but it did work in context of the Epilogues because it showed how profoundly your life can change just from making one choice over the other and it worked with the meta-narrative about stories and the theme of whether or not the characters have control over their lives now that they’re free from the “story”. But now the writers have to deal with the fallout of that decision and manage not only the plot with Dirk dicking around in space and a bunch of the characters coming to stop him, now they have to deal with the story of Jane holding onto her empire in TWO different timelines (well only if you’re paying for it but we’ll get to that).

I know Homestuck is famous for juggling multiple plot lines at once but the thing about that is that all of those plot lines were important for the overall story and that’s not the vibe I get here. It’s honestly not that interesting and feels like a distraction from what the story should be about. Nobody in this side of the story except maybe original flavor Vriska is aware of what’s going on in the other side of the story and the stakes are much less personal. I care more about Dave, Karkat, Roxy, Kanaya and Calliope/Jade trying to rescuer Rose and stop Dirk than I do Vriska dragging Gamzee’s corpse with a bunch of teenagers while Jane gets turned into a Donald Trump analogue.

And like honestly the fact that there’s updates hidden behind a paywall really bugs me. I understand that with the nature of crowdfunding you need some substantial incentives to get people to donate, I’m not shitting on crowdfunding as a way to fund your story and truthfully I don’t see anything wrong with having some bonus content exclusive to those who are willing to pay a little extra (trying my best not to sound like an EA or Activision executive here). But with a story like Homestuck, where the reader has been conditioned into seeing every update with every innocuous detail as something important that will later advance the story, having some updates be exclusive to backers feels wrong because you’re either saying that said updates aren’t going to impact the story so they’re just pointless fluff or you’re keeping critical story details hidden from people that can’t afford it so they’re missing out and really neither of those possibilities are a good look for your story.

And really the fact that Homestuck 2 used the Epilogues as it’s foundation is not a good idea because that’s a really rocky foundation. I know I spent a good chunk of this essay actually defending the Epilogues and their themes in a way but just because I think a story has some hidden depth like that doesn’t mean I think it’s good. It’s still needlessly grim with a lot of poorly handled character development the excuse from the creators of this being just a possible canon outcome for the series feels like a cop-out since this may as well be the main canon since nothing else for the series featuring these characters is advancing their story (unless you count Pesterquest which to be blunt feels like an extended apology for the Epilogues). Truthfully I don’t know if the Epilogues or HS2 have anything more profound to say about continuing a story past the happy ending than Into The Woods or a straight-to-DVD Disney sequel (not that I’m comparing an award-winning Broadway play to a Disney sequel in terms of quality I’m just saying I get more enjoyment and intellectual stimulation from the meta-narrative of Lion King 1 1/2 than Homestuck at this point).

Maybe I’m being too harsh to judge Homestuck 2 when it seems to have only barely just gotten started. It’s going to continue whether or not I enjoy it or not and maybe over time it will validate itself. But right now to me personally it just feels like a hollow imitation of what we used to enjoy about Homestuck.

[thebookpessoaneverwrote]

Crowdfunding

The first time I ever heard about crowdfunding was when I got into film school and eeeeverybody wanted to do it for their shorts. Having come from leadership roles at high school, I was used to asking money for our little projects and events, but it was usually in a much more commercial way – we sold stuff, people bought it and we kept the profit. There were rifles sometimes, too, but they were so extremely cheap that it was easy, and kind of natural, that people would be comfortable contributing.

Now crowdfunding was different. It was an investment. It was a blind bet on something you might or might not like, and even might or might not see the results of. I never really liked the concept. All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed with Facebook posts of friends and colleagues asking for 20 bucks to make their films. Try being a public university student without any money coming from home, under a scholarship of 300 bucks a month and friends asking for almost 10% of that for different projects every couple of weeks. I felt really weirded out about the whole thing, most likely because of my personal social and economic background.

What my team and I used to do when we needed money for our films was throw parties. That seemed fair enough. We would get in touch with public venues – the university, the left-wing political party we all supported, a friendly bar that liked to support the arts – and we would either sell booze for profit, or sell tickets and let the bar profit with the drinks in the latter case. It wasn’t much, but then again we used to get (basic) equipment for free at the university and other government facilities, and there was a drama department in our building, so we knew a lot of actors. The money went mostly for costumes, props and catering.

I have since become less prejudiced against crowdfunding, but I still don’t think it’s ideal for every project. The way I see it, you need to either have a substantial topic that will appeal to a specific community or cause that needs a voice, or you have to really suck up to the fact that you will be basically asking friends and relatives to sponsor your endeavours, in which case you need to both be sure this is something you feel truly passionate about and be ready to put up some marketing work on social media.

I’m no stranger to campaigning online, though in my case it was about getting votes, not money. What I consider the actual kickstarter (pun always intended) of my writing career was a national competition I won during my senior year at Film school. I was putting together a TV show bible and pilot episode to deliver as my final graduation project at the end of the year when I came across this contest that asked for exactly that. So I finished a first draft of everything 4 months ahead of the submission date at university and sent it to this competition. I was later shortlisted to the final stage, which consisted of 8 projects and 4 slots, 1 of which would be chosen by the public. And so the games… begun!

I posted photos, videos, memes and whatnot day after day for two weeks in every single social media I was in. People needed to provide their national insurance number and email to vote and I was even doing that for them if they didn’t have the time (is that cheating? I don’t think so, no document numbers were stolen in the process, people just voluntarily gave them to me to cut time). I had absolutely no shame and kept sharing the link everywhere I could, including private messages on Facebook to local pages and celebrities, since I was the only representative of my home state – and in the end the only winner of the entire Northeast, something that has sadly been repeatedly happening throughout my academic and professional life.

The final boost came when, at the last minute, the three main newspapers in my home state decided to run a piece on what was going on, both online and in print. I never really got the official numbers, but I did get enough votes to win the public choice slot. Would I still be selected by the panel had I not won the online election? Maybe, but that was a very rewarding experience, and it made me see the power and importance of representativity. My TV show project was set in the countryside of my home state. It was our culture, our history, our given names, our accent. Our people talking about our people for a change. In addition to that, there was all the love I received from friends, family and strangers, all the positive messages, all the genuine emotional support.

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That to me is the core of any suitable crowdfunding campaign: you have to be emotionally invested. You can’t ask people for support for every single thing that you do. That’s inefficient and morally questionable. You need to choose the things that really speak to your heart, and that you really believe have the power to carry a relevant message to the world. People are always willing to help if you are humble, honest and dedicated.

[girlieinterns]

This week’s Professional Confessional interview is with Hayley Rosenblum!  We discuss her extensive work with Amanda Palmer and the importance of learning experiences.  Check out the interview below: 

Maxine Musto: If you had your own Wikipedia page, what would the synopsis be?

Hayley Rosenblum: It’s kind of funny because I once did have my own Wikipedia page and it plagued me because all of these robots would copy everything that was on it.  Generally, I tend to think that the summary of what I am is a professional art and music enabler and community builder

MM: Why did you hate having your own page?

HR: When you looked up my name, it would have all these spam websites and it felt awkward because I didn’t think I was worthy of a page.

MM: Tell me about what you’re currently doing.

HR: I currently work with Amanda Palmer, who I’ve been working with for about a decade in different capacities.  My primary role is on her management independent team, where I maintain, control, and help coordinate everything pertaining to her Patreon page, her Patreon manager, community liaison, and community manager.  I am also a creative project producer, where I help Amanda with her independent releases and help organize the team stay for everything we have to do each time she puts something out into the world.  Then, I help take care of the fans who are expecting elevated or different perks based on the Patreon page.  So it’s community management, assistant artist management, and project management.

MM: Tell me about how you got to where you are now.

HR: I think the biggest thing is to always be open-minded to doing different tasks.  There is no task too big or too small that you can contribute with.  Being really good at problem-solving and thinking on your feet makes you not only a useful team member but also helps you creatively solve the challenges and problems you face in the different projects you are working on and in an evolving music community with new technology platforms.  My career path is a little strange because I started working with Amanda out of college and then took a back-seat working with her to work full time at Kickstarter, a crowdfunding site.  Kickstarter gave me knowledge of marketing, digital strategy, and other artists, all of which I brought back to Amanda when I began working for her full time again, but in a whole different capacity.  Working with Amanda changed and educated me in the world of audience building and crowdfunding, but then I went off and got my masters, so to speak, doing my own thing and becoming a public figure in that community.

MM: How did you start working with Amanda right out of college?

HR: I was active in her fan community for a few years and I became friendly with people who worked with her, like her assistant and internet manager.  Then, I interviewed Amanda on my college radio station, so Amanda kind of had me on her radar as a person very involved in the community helping to get information out there.  When I graduated college, her assistant asked me if I had gotten a job and I said no not yet I’m on interviews, and she asked me if I would want to intern for Amanda and her manager.  And that was exactly my dream job, to get into music management.  So I interned for Amanda and her manager for three months and then they both hired me.  When Amanda left her record manager and her manager, she took me with her as a part of her small independent team.

MM: What was the most memorable moment from working with Amanda?

HR: It’s hard to pick, there are so many.  I remember very distinctly when Theatre is Evil came out and we found out that it was in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart.  That was really disorienting and amazing because it felt like we hit a milestone that the industry would pay attention to and realize that this album is something special.

MM: Tell me about a band or artist you think everyone should know.

HR: Julien Baker.  I think she’s an artist most people really need to hear if they haven’t already.

MM: If you could have dinner with one person living or dead, who would it be?

HR: That’s hard.  I feel like there’s so much knowledge you can gain so you have to pick carefully.

MM: You can have a small party if you would prefer.

HR: First of all, Michelle Obama because, holy smokes, of course. Also, probably Jeff Buckley.

MM: What advice do you have for someone interested in working in your position?

HR: It’s important when you’re just getting started to absorb as much information and knowledge as you can.  See if you can shadow someone to see what they’re doing and to get a sense of how things are done, and meet everyone you possibly can.  When you go to concerts and you go to the merch table to buy something, be super friendly to the merch seller.  You never know you might see them at the bar next week because they’re a local seller.  You want to build relationships but you also want to learn how things are done.  I don’t think there is a traditional way of doing things anymore.  There are some very traditional jobs, like a music lawyer, which will always be a rigid position.  But someone who is doing digital marketing or promotional work, for example, their jobs are probably going to be different depending on what artist they are working for.  So I think meeting people, saying hello to people at events, networking opportunities, and learning from fellow interns and fellow classmates are all very important.  Learn from everyone in your periphery because there is always something new to gain from people around you.

[sutherlandmouritzen1]

Student's Information To Volunteering

Below are just a few of the reasons to get involved in volunteering as a student. Recruitment drives are marketed via the media so as to encourage any prospective volunteers to attend orientation, info and preparation conferences. Prospective volunteers are required to bring alongside their id paperwork, Driver’s License and particulars of two contactable referees; a police clearance and form 30 verify. You can even take a look at CareerHub, which lists volunteer opportunities each on campus and locally. All volunteer roles listed on CareerHub are already Wellington Plus-accredited. Many University providers have voluntary positions for students—you might turn into a Disability Services volunteer, a class consultant, a UNI 101 Student Ambassador, a PASS leader, and much more. Nonprofits companion with other businesses, organizations, and change-makers in their communities. Working with charity organizations is a great way for students to discover profession paths, and nonprofit workers are often more than pleased to put their volunteers in touch with the proper folks. Furthermore, nonprofit professionals can provide useful profession advice to help information students of their research. There are loads of ways to become involved as a student volunteer to make a difference. If you’re a student excited about volunteering at residence, then analysis the types of organizations in your space that you simply may have the ability to help. Among every little thing else that volunteering can supply, it’s an amazing way to put together for work opportunities in the future. By giving again to the group, you show them firsthand how volunteering makes a distinction and how good it feels to assist different individuals and animals and enact change. It’s also a priceless means for you to get to know organizations in the neighborhood and find assets and actions in your youngsters and household. Volunteering is an effective way to organize on your career and to make your self extra employable. Taking on a volunteer function also demonstrates your initiative, motivation and leadership potential to future employers. Often students select to study a level without really knowing what the career entails. Perhaps it’s what their dad and mom do, or they think it sounds attention-grabbing, or it was merely a topic they had been good at throughout school. But with out gaining real-world experience in the career, it would end up being a big waste of money and time. While at university, students shall be used to socialising with different students just like them. But hospitals are often overcrowded, so all the time understand that you want a while. Before you start working as a volunteer in Cape Town, make sure that your medical insurance coverage is legitimate in foreign international locations. Most insurances provide a particular contract for the time you spend volunteering overseas. moholoholo lodge You can crowdfund as a lot as the complete steadiness of your student loan debt, plus curiosity, processing, and transaction fees. Do take into consideration the way to continuously enhance in your position to better your skillset and further the group. Do select an organization to volunteer with that appeals to your personal pursuits. Biomedical engineer interns in Cape Townfocus on advances in know-how and drugs to develop new units and equipment for improving human health. Check the group's web site or attain out to them directly to see if they have distant volunteer alternatives. Remote/online volunteering permits individuals to help a company by way of duties completed virtually through computers, telephones, and mail. For occasion, you can assist manage a wish listing of donation needs online, knit scarves, or send letters. The support you present to organizations remotely can have an immense impression. Choose a voluntary position primarily based on your skills – To be blunt, if you haven't received the skills to build a home in the UK, you shouldn't be constructing one overseas. Think about volunteer placements where you'd actually be succesful of use your expertise to make a distinction. Research –The most necessary a half of discovering any abroad voluntary project is doing all your analysis on every aspect of the trip.