#there are so many posts on this site that have fundamentally changed my life

[neuroticboyfriend]

i am so glad i have fostered a following where i can make these posts that would get me metaphorically shot on sight anywhere else. we're all about radical disability advocacy over here. boot up bitch. we're making a better world one person at a time.

[sigmaleph]

getting increasingly concerned about tumblr's reliance on A/B testing.

the justification for any number of recent changes from staff has been "We ran the tests! Sure, people are complaining, but that happens all the time; we can clearly see the boost in engagement from [whatever bullshit they tested]"

and like yeah it's basically true that if you change anything about a website you will get people complaining that they hate it, even for changes that will more or less be universally agreed to be positive two months later, so the mere existence of those complaints is not evidence of anything.

and yet. i don't know exactly what tumblr measures when it runs its A/B tests, but I expect whatever it is it gets you a fundamentally incomplete picture of user experience. how much time i spend a day on tumblr (and how many posts i make and reblog and like and so on) is, let's be honest, a lot more driven by what's going on in my life, and by content other people post, than by the interface. I don't know how they measure my engagement, but i really don't think it depends much on UX.

and one answer to that is, well, I'm a captive audience. i've been here for nearly a decade, I met a lot of friends through it, I use the website every day; they don't have to do anything to retain me as a user. they need to get other people using the website more, not make the experience better for me; if i'm here all day and love it or here all day and hate it, they don't care. it's not a pleasant thought, of course, but it makes a sort of business sense

except of course i am not going to be here forever if i hate it! there is some amount of making the experience worse that will eventually convince me to give up and rebuild my social network elsewhere, and every time they pull this sort of shit they invisibly burn some amount of goodwill with long term users in return for slightly better engagement numbers with new ones, and at some point you burn more than you have and the site collapses

I don't expect this to sway tumblr; frankly, the subtext of every change tumblr does is that the site is unprofitable, they're running out of patience for it to become profitable, and the default outcome is it collapses. 'keep things going as usual so you don't alienate your existing userbase' is not an option when 'things as usual' means the website dies.

but it sure looks like on the way to dying the website will also steadily get worse and worse.

[ottiliere]

what are your go-to resources for phantom blood fashion historical accuracy...... ...

ok I'm glad you asked this because I've been writing up a whole other post on dio's fashion sense and i wasn't sure how much of the period's fashion trends to explain since I didn't want to make an assumption that nobody knows anything about late victorian fashion. this will be a good reference post for me...and you... and anyone else who wants to use it.

regardless; I hate to say it but the best way to start drawing period clothing is to do a little reading on the fundamentals of [late] victorian dress because it will seriously assist you in the long run, e.g., you won't have to scratch your head and spend time wondering why you keep coming across two different lapel types on tailcoat fashion plates if you're aware that both peak tips and shawl collars were in vogue in the late 1880s and the '90s.

I'll put some basic information that I've collected for myself here so you don't have to go looking for it; I'm going to write this assuming you're a newborn baby deer poking your nose into the victorian era for the first time in your life fully unaware of the customs.

reference links for the wayfarer so you don't have to scroll all the way to the bottom:

Etiquette books. Look for anything written in the 80s/90s; again, period trends change. There's usually always a section on how men should be dressing on different occasions (weddings, funerals, daily casual travel, etc.) in these. In an ideal world one would only have to reference books written/published in London, however I've found that there are many more from US. This is fine though IMO, there was a lot of cross-talk between countries due to the implementation of the telegraph and hence a lot of etiquette standards are "universal" (it's why fashion between EU/US/AU can look pretty similar at the same time--they were all talking to each other). If there's a difference between the "New York" way of doing things and the "London" way of doing things, the authors usually point this out. kind of funny. I love reading these, they're also very good for understanding the general quirks of late Victorian society and how the standards at the time characterize their behavior.

The National Portrait Gallery (link is an advanced search; you can change the dates. I set the results to be located in "london")

Victoria & Albert museum online gallery

The Met museum online gallery (in general for clothes on mannequins, but they also list an archive of fashion plates here, separated by year. A lot of them are misfiled though so be wary of that)

Alamy website. genuinely one of the most all-encompassing resources I've used, I use it for everything and especially when I'm into period pieces. "boy 188*" "man 1880s portrait" "man 188* suit" etc. you find a lot of illustrations from the time period this way too. it fucking rules. my computer is on the brink of crashing 24/7 because I keep too many alamy tabs open at all times. A lot of really good Vanity Fair illustrations are on here too, just plug it in with a year and see what pops up.

Sites like this (Gentleman's Gazette) with little articles giving a run-down of period clothing can be helpful...... to an extent. idk. I don't really trust them. GG is solid for the most part and so is The Black Tie Blog and Victorian Web, but I've spotted too many errors on other sites to trust anything they say wholesale. Fashion Institute of Technology is worth mentioning as well, though, despite their coverage on men's fashion being pretty brief. Goes by decade, though, with a lot of information on women/children's fashion, too (it's very interesting! I linked their 1880s fashion rundown, highly recommend going through it, especially the Aestheticism segment). TL;DR: My advice when it comes to website hopping is "stick with primary sources".

How to Read a Suit (A Guide to Changing Men’s Fashion from the 17th to the 20th Century) by Lydia Edwards. Look this up on libgen. It's broken down into chunks of decades; REAAALLLYY recommend reading the introduction to "Chapter 4: 1860-1899". Probably the most historically informative consolidation of relevant fashion information in one place. Very interesting writing, pretty short too. If you're gonna read one thing out of this whole list, make it this.

The Dictionary of Fashion History by Valerie Cumming. look this up on libgen. for when you don't understand what some article or book is talking about and google will not give you answers. as it is it wont to do. (could not wrap my head around top frocks until this point; the wikipedia article for it is quite frankly embarrassing.)

here's my google drive of fashion for this time period, I had just been keeping these on local folders but I think drive would be better so I started transferring them here... compiled myself. this is a "work in progress" and will be updated.

I am going to write a bit about men's fashion at the time period under the cut because I think it's important to understand, if you don't know much about the victorian period, that the dress decorum was heavily emphasized and if you wore the wrong ensemble in the wrong setting everyone WOULD think you were ill-bred and would not invite you back into their home again. because just seeing you exist like that was impolite and quite frankly very embarrassing to witness. these resources are great but not if you don't know where and when these guys would be wearing these things... for instance i know the fashion plate archive there are some drawings of men in livery and you may be tempted to put dio in something like this because WOW! they do look kind of cool. with the big brass buttons... but I think he would more readily batter another human being physically than dress up like a butler at a dinner party and get mistaken for a butler. it's the little things.

first thing: you were expected to dress differently for different times of day. This consists of: morning dress, afternoon dress (semi-formal; not really "mandatory" except at special events, like weddings, at least for men), and evening dress (anything past 6 o'clock or "by candle light" is the general rule).

here are overview excerpts from Modern Etiquette in Public and Private published by Frederick Warne and Co. in 1887:

and excerpts from The Complete Bachelor: Manners for Men by Walter Germain, written in 1896:

Cecil B. Hartley states in his Book of Etiquette and Manual of Politeness (1860) that "by dress we show our respect for society at large, or the persons with whom we are to mingle".

He advised men that there were “shades of being ‘dressed;’ and a man is called ‘little dressed,’ ‘well dressed,’ and ‘much dressed,’ not according to the quantity but the quality of his coverings.”

Black was "the" color. As Lydia Edwards writes in How to Read a Suit (2020), "while it is unrealistic to imagine that all men everywhere only wore black, the acceptable color palette was certainly more limited at this point than it had been for the first half of the century. The rising professional middle classes seemed to embrace a centuries-old association with black for certain professions, which perhaps made this an inevitable choice for the evolving and expanding world of work in the nineteenth century."

I'm going to add illustrations now; humbly request you ignore how terrible the paint canvases i threw things in. Things to note moving forward:

there were three different types of shirt collars in vogue at the time: stiff, high stand collars that hugged your neck, wing-tip collars, and one that's closer to the "regular" collars you typically see nowadays (banker collar). don't really see the last one in any of the fashion plates but you do see it in portraits.

Do note that walking sticks were commonplace and in fact expected to be touted around, hence why they (in addition to umbrellas) keep reappearing in the illustrations;

(1890)

Frock coats were the most "formal" of the daywear. When going through the National Portrait Gallery website you'll notice that most men are wearing either a morning coat or frock coat; the lounge coat was still too informal to be considered for how much money you'd spend to get a photograph taken. Don't you want to look nice?

Lounge suits, again, were the ultimate "informal"; they were viewed with distain by the frock-coat. (here's a good thread on this, actually; i love this fucking guy lol). really, really don't think Dio would be wearing one that often. maybe a double-breasted one? i really think he's too much of a snob to wear what he sees as filthy poor people rags. appearance is everything, etc.

~~~

waistcoats you have a lot of freedom/liberty with, at least in regard to design (except for evening waistcoats). different lapel shapes, no lapels... unfortunately shifting into the later decades of the 19th century it was pretty much expected that the fabric of your waistcoat match the fabric of your suit (along with your trousers; called a "ditto suit"). jonathan would conform to this mode IMO, i don't think it stops dio. he has a vision & his waistcoats are likely very extensively detailed. actually I just remembered that we do see one as depicted by araki's tenuous grasp of historical fashion and it is. awesome. i, too, love to wear cravats directly underneath my shirt

(1891 / 1892)

~~~

Evening dress is (comparatively) much more simple & men had much less artistic freedom in their choice of dress: black tailcoat, white gloves, white tie, waistcoat in either black or white, black button boots. Regardless, it was its own beast in the fact that this was something that you really weren't supposed to dick around with. (Dio would've found a way, but that's a discussion for a post that isn't crashing every 3 minutes.) From A Gentleman by Maurice Francis Egan (1893):

If a young man is invited to a dinner or to a great assembly in any large city, he must wear a black coat. A gray or colored coat worn after six o’clock in the evening, at any assembly where there are ladies, would imply either disrespect or ignorance on the part of the wearer. In most cities he is expected to wear the regulation evening dress, the “swallow-tail” coat of our grandfathers, and, of course, black trousers and a white tie. In London or New York or Chicago a man must follow this last custom or stay at home. He has his choice. The “swallow-tail” coat is worn after six o’clock in the evening, never earlier, in all English-speaking countries.

(1885 (misfiled) / 1888 / 1888 / 1890)

MET evening suit ca. 1888; different aspects of the ensemble displayed solo at this link.

In the 80s the "dinner jacket" ("tuxedo" in US) was introduced. It was used for more informal occasions.

final evening dress "tips":

~~~

Outerwear was pretty varied… you can get a pretty wide dynamic of form depending on choice of coat, so keep that in mind. chesterfields tended to be pretty formless, top frocks a bit more fitted. Length/density would change depending on season, too.

~~~

Children's fashion:

end notes:

everyone would be wearing suspenders, not belts; belts were pretty much only worn with military uniform at this time (except in america)

sweater vests were really only considered sportswear until the first few decades of the 1900s. they would not be wearing these casually under jackets, they'd be wearing waistcoats

button boots were buttoned using a special button hook. video demonstration

NOTE: trousers being "creased" began to be more in vogue in the 90s; this is because they finally invented the trouser press. read article for more information--you sometimes see creases in the 80s, really not before then though. look at how they bunch at the knee (c.1880s)!

When it comes to gloves, different colors denoted different occasions to wear them. In the text screenshots provided in previous sections, it usually states which colors are appropriate for whichever situation. The paragraph I am about to end this on is relatively useless, but I thought I'd include it anyway:

[wenamedthedogkylo]

Apparently my big gripe today is how many people on the internet, and especially on this site, just kind of... refuse to actually read news articles and just assume that headlines are supposed to tell you the whole story.

It's the same assumption, I think, that leads to so many people getting angry when someone's name isn't listed in a headline. Headlines are fundamentally not supposed to tell you the whole story. They are there to give you the most bite-sized summary that inevitably will leave out key information, because the headline is supposed to intrigue you enough to make you want to read the article in full.

Case in point, I'm still seeing a ton of posts where people are assuming that Netflix has completely backtracked on its plans to stop password sharing. And that is fundamentally not what happened at all. The only reason anyone would think that is if they only read headlines like this

If you only read the headline, yeah that sounds like a win on the level of how WotC backtracked its new OGL plans pretty quickly. Here's another one:

You wanna know how I know for a fact that so many of you didn't bother reading more than just the headline of this? Because look at the tagline that is literally right underneath it:

Yeah! That "mistake" was not even close to the same thing as WotC's "draft" that happened to roll out with a legally binding contract. The password sharing policies were literally posted by mistake to regions they were not yet intended to affect.

In fact, Netflix is STILL fully planning to implement anti-password sharing policies! And is doing so slowly, to other countries outside the US.

And they still plan to eventually roll all these policy changes out to the US, as well! They always have!

And this is why it's fundamentally important that people actually take the time to sit down and read the damn articles, so you can get all the facts.

"But I don't always have the time or energy to read something right when I see it." Neither do I! That's what bookmarks are for. Or even just sending yourself the link in a message or something, so that you can save it and come back to it when you do have time and energy.

But to be perfectly honest, sometimes you really should just read the damn thing as soon as possible, even if you're not in the most perfect, relaxed, open-minded place at the time. Because when it's a topic that the search engine rating industry calls a "Your Money or Your Life" topic—any topic that could impact your health, finances, or well-being—you need to be aware of what's going on so you can make decisions accordingly. So that you don't get caught off guard in two months when Netflix finally starts charging you $4 extra or whatever for your sibling in Ohio using your account.

"Why can't someone just summarize the article for me?" Multiple reasons, friend. Just like you don't always feel like you have the time and energy for reading a whole article, not everyone has the time and energy to read it and post a coherent but brief summary for you. Also, no one owes you that! No one else is responsible for you informing yourself about the world you live in! It is not the duty of random strangers online to make sure you personally are informed of things that might affect your life. You and only you are responsible for learning and staying informed.

"But it's so boring and I don't wanna!" Hey buddy, it's your life, you do whatever you want. I can't force you to sit and read, or even just skim through, an article on what Netflix's plans for wringing your bank account dry are. But if that's how you're gonna approach it, then you don't get to be righteously indignant when you get blindsided by stuff that you could have very easily known about beforehand.

"But I'm disabled and accessing this news is difficult for me!" I'm disabled, too! And I fully get it, there's still A LOT of stuff online that is straight up not accessible for people with different disabilities. My disabilities don't require a screen reader or anything like that, so I'm lucky in that sense. But at the same time, it's still not the responsibility of strangers online to process your information for you. Direct your frustration at the news sites and corporations who are making this information inaccessible to anyone but neurotypical, able-bodied people. If random strangers online have the time and energy to help make something more accessible for you, that's amazing and they should be thanked profusely! But it is not their job to do so—it is the job of news outlets, and that's who needs to be taken to task for this shit.

Idk if this will even go far on this site but the point is, please stop expecting your news to come pre-summarized in a perfect little bite of info that you can consume in less than 6 seconds. It's genuinely concerning how much misinformation is being spread not by malicious people looking to hoodwink you, but by sheer laziness. This is actually one of those instances where "adults sometimes have to do stuff they don't want to do" is perfectly applicable and true. It's YMYL, Your Money or Your Life, and if you don't want either to get completely screwed over, you have to—horror of horrors!—actually read the news sometimes.

[coffee---bean]

big summarising of my thoughts and development, the past week... (pt. 2)

the other thing i looked up was the wikipedia page for prayer, which led me to this article:

Sacred Movement: Dance as Prayer in the Pueblo Cultures of the American Southwest by Sarracina Littlebird

https://web.archive.org/web/20120126212840/http://dance.barnard.edu/sites/default/files/inline/sarracina_littlebird.pdf

"dance is the chosen mechanism of religious expression because of its potent expressive capabilities" (this is in many tribes of Native people sharing a common ancestor living in the southwestern US).

"ritual drama, in dealing with life itself, is a process which serves to unite humans with other humans, as well as humans with other-than-humans, the revealed with the unrevealed worlds, the visible with the invisible" (a quote from Charlotte J. Frisbie).

this made me think of Charli XCX, whose most recent album brat is a dance record which fleshes out and humanizes the club without taking away any of the fun and dancing and amazing music.

this song, 365, is the closer. the message is simple - even after all the uncertainty and pain and chaotic energy of the album, charli XCX is still in the club, and now it feels a lot more intense and certain. the music is more aggressive and wild, it feels a lot more free and weird than it's poppier counterpart, the intro track 360.

the lyrics are in a kind of litany form, ending every single line with "bumpin' that" - basically a reference to dancing, enjoying music, or doing cocaine, or whatever else. the repetition feels religious, like the lifestyle of a monk, a kind of devotion to a lifestyle.

that's interesting, but there's also this song:

this song is similar to prayer by brockhampton - very buzzy, simple synth chords - the feeling of someone having a weird existential crisis or awakening. a short little interlude, a moment where something happens.

when i think about the amount of time someone spends with a work of art, especially in a gallery, it usually isn't that long. what if my work could feel like that little moment of calm, of breathing. what if it was bright enough to draw you in and make you stop, but it didn't try and challenge you, except to ask you to come closer?

this song is about considering having a baby, and there's this lyric:

So, we had a conversation on the way home Should I stop my birth control? 'Cause my career feels so small In the existential scheme of it all

in a weird way, that feels like not wrestling with God, to me. just letting something happen. i'm not trying to say that i don't fuck with birth control, but that's the feeling i get when i think about this song in relation to my work. i think about the idea of a star like charli xcx writing the lyric: "we had a conversation on the way home", something so mundane. like you're getting out of your own way.

i watched a video by caleb gamman about brat, and in his video he talked about this song and charli's stated uncertainty about motherhood. he said this:

"i think 'baby fever' is the funniest thing in the world... like, it's not a crazy thing to mention, but it's probably the most undignified and desperate that you can come across, like 'haha, i want a baby. fundamentally change the course of my life forever!'"

that idea of being undignified and desperate really appeals to me, because that's how i felt when i prayed, and how i feel when i post on instagram that i am feeling suicidal.

i thought about that moment of isolation and fear, and i thought of the scene in raging bull by martin scorsese, where jake lamotta is stuck in a prison cell.

some of the comments underneath the video

@frankwilliamson4576 -- "prison and jail will break even the strongest man. I spent a year in a state pen for possession of cocaine when I was 22... it shows just how easy it is to fuck everything up..."

@amanred9337 -- "the reality that there is no one left to blame but yourself

someone quoting Martin Sheen -- "it shows that if you're not able to forgive, then that's where you end up - inside a small cell."

i began to switch the idea of wrestling to the idea of performing music, inside the cage, and everyone watching.

the next day, in class, i drew this:

me, inside this facility-looking fence thing, inside a kind of box thing, performing for the audience. i was thinking about the idea of being trapped in trauma, of art being a re-enactment of trauma, and if i did perform a prayer in front of an audience, i would be continuing that narrative.

so i decided to include a hole in the fence, made with bolt cutters, in a reference to fiona apple's album fetch the bolt cutters, which is about trying to leave a bad situation or feeling (and also an album which ends with her in prison!).

as the artist and performer, i do still need to be back in that place to draw things out of it, but if there's a hole in the fence, then this guarded facility with an opening becomes an option, not a prison. a place i can enter and leave when i need it, and something that is distinct, but not seperate. the boundaries between my trauma and my non-trauma are loose.

another thought i had was that the idea of praying for myself, for my own 'sins', for my own worries and fears to be calmed, feels really selfish. and i think a lot of my past work has been kind of self-expressiony in a i'm suffering way. and that's ok, but i want to start making things to help other people. i want this to help people.

i kept drawing it...

finally, i think i've landed on the idea. the platform, raised and clearly theatrical, like lars von trier's dogville, with blue lighting like club silencio from david lynch's mulholland dr., and a dead stick in dirt in the centre, like a marcel duchamp readymade. a microphone and CD player coming out of the dirt. the CD player loaded with a karaoke tracklist, and you can sing, if you want. the cage is open for the audience to come in.

i think when i present the work, i'll do a little performance, cutting open the fence, folding it back, and then singing something for them.

that's where i'm at....

[studious-musings]

The Value of Reading

Hello, Internet Void;

I saw a quote on a certain social media site that asked a question that you can now see in my description: 

Why would they burn the books people do not read? 

The quote is rather simple to understand - people in power have no need to use force when the people act so dumb and unaware. Yet this question also speaks to the deeper power that reading has. And so, as my first blog post, I want to muse on the value of reading - is it actually as important as I feel it is? 

My first reaction is obviously, yes! Reading has given me immense value over my life - it has transported me to other worlds, it has stretched the boundaries of the world I live in, it has added flavour and texture to the meal that is life. I accredit a large amount of my empathy to the vast range of life experience I have lived through second-hand as my favourite childhood character embarked on journeys and experiences that could never. My reading allows me to have an immense range of skills both directly and indirectly related - I can normally have a decent definition for a new word based on its context, I have brilliant comprehension, I have well developed critical thinking skills and I have a vivid imagination - all of these skills can be, and have previously been, accredited to my reading as a child. 

Yet what happens now that I am definitely not a child, and imagination is not as important anymore because I live in the ‘real world’? Many people slow down in their reading as they finish highschool - university and adult life come into the fray. Suddenly you have a million and one things to do and the last thing you want to do is sit down with a book and have to read it for the self-care guru’s recommended thirty minutes. Reading becomes a hobby, something to do when you eventually get the time, and it is no longer an essential part of daily life. 

I think that it is times like these when you really need to dedicate more time to your reading. Reading does far more as an adult than it did when we were children. It still does the basics of working on your imagination and critical thinking skills, yet it also does so much more. You can be inspired by people doing amazing things in an autobiography, or have your ideas challenged and expanded in a piece of social commentary. You can have your worldview change entirely by a piece of political or social theory, and be radicalised [see radical: (especially of change or action) relating to or affecting the fundamental nature of something;] by the history of your fellow man. You can live many different lives, all in an afternoon, through exploration of fiction; travel the world in even less than 80 days. 

Reading has immense value in many different ways, yet the value I want to focus on is its political and social value. This sounds basic, yet bare with me: words are how humans communicate. And the written word is one of the most common ways we are communicated with. And in this sense, I speak not of blog posts like this, or articles or books. I speak of advertisements. As human beings we are constantly bombarded by advertising, most of which we ignore. Yet we are also bombarded by advertising by governments. We are told constantly what the people who control our world want us to think. We are told to agree with this or agree with that, all in order so they can have the legitimacy to do as they please to enrich themselves and their friends. 

Reading teaches you the skills needed to resist their attempts to control your consent. 

Reading teaches you from a young age to think critically - it begins as ‘do I like what I am reading?’, yet that quickly develops into ‘do I agree with what I am reading?’. Reading teaches you how to read between the lines of what has been said because every word has many meanings, even more so when combined with a second, third, fourth word. Reading teaches you to formulate your own opinions and more importantly, it keeps these skills sharp. Reading regularly ensures your skills remain at a high enough level to be able to effectively resist - and that is not a high level at all. All that is needed is an ability to ask why, and follow that up with a second, or even third question. Questioning is such a crucial skill and yet it is so sorely lacking when I look around myself at people who blindly accept what is told to them. When we do not read we are easy to control. 

So again, I ask the question,

Why would they burn the books people do not read?

Happy musing Friend.

[bridge-supplies]

#4.1: Build God, Then We'll Talk

Attention is the most basic form of love. Using social media to amplify and focus our attention can simultaneously be a blessing, curse, superpower and virus.

What are the social media platforms I've used, and how have they helped me love?

Part 1 of 2: Blogger, Facebook, Tumblr & Instagram.

1. Blogger (~2007?)

My first presence on the internet is best summed up by its title: "My Thoughts and a Place to Dump Them". From what I can recall of that time in public school, my posts were mostly places for me to express my perspective on what interested me most at the time: "philosophy", atheism and religion, and my self-righteous insistence that I would never touch mind-altering substances (hah).

Lovability: 8/10. I never shared this blog with friends, so it was more of a public/personal journal of sorts. If anything, I think it helped me get a better sense of who I myself was at the time. You can't properly face yourself, or love yourself, until you acknowledge, accept, and reflect on your own thoughts.

2. Facebook (2007-2016)

A little too young of a millennial to join MySpace at its peak of popularity, Facebook became my first real experience with a true "social network", where you could add almost anyone you've met. Before the site became the news and media focused behemoth it is today, before you'd be following so many parasocial public figures, before the term "social media influencer" was a thing... it was actually sort of nice. Everyone was still figuring out how this technology would change how we interact with each other. "Joshua is..." (before the ability to customize statuses) always made sure your friends knew what you were doing, if you chose to share it. That 2009 movie "The Social Network" had a tagline only boasting 500,000,000 users, an indication of how fundamentally our methods of sharing information with each other were changing.

This network encapsulated my high school and college years entirely, with me ultimately quitting the service after a negative event with someone I met through college. Deactivating my account made it naively easier to avoid the social problems entirely, leading to my estrangement from most of the friends I made in college.

Lovability: 7/10. For the first time, online social technology had begun to give me more of a peek into my friend's lives, their thoughts, their memories, family, and other circles. Not only was I figuring out my own sense of personal identity through digital expression, my friends were figuring out theirs as well. We didn't know how these systems would evolve in the future, but at this point in history they certainly helped us reflect on each other in new ways.

3. Tumblr (2010-)

My first more serious girlfriend in high school introduced me to two things: weed, and Tumblr. Out of every social network I've used in my life, I truly believe the communities I encountered through Tumblr to have been the most personally transformative for me. It's where all the "artsy weirdos" would hang out, which happened to include a decent number of my friends at the time. "Reblogging" to create a mix of your own posts plus those authored by others cemented the sense that we all are truly aspects of one another. We are all connected, yet unique, and silly all at the same time.

But most of all, I believe it to have been the most "human" social network I've experienced. There's something about the vibes it brings that makes you feel simultaneously tucked away in your own cozy corner of the internet, while adjacent to a variety of forms of media (text, commentary, audio/video, music, or external links) being presented with a general lack of toxicity. Surely, no network is perfect, but I think when you put a collection of weirdos in a room with each other, they don't tend to try to hurt others for being just as weird.

Lovability: 9/10. I credit Tumblr with helping me love humanity the most: from understanding complex topics like LGBTQ issues, politics, structural and economic inequality, all the way to the somewhat tasteful NSFW communities that made their home here (before the company sale and associated ban). Humans are complex and unique, but underneath it all we are shockingly similar in our hopes, dreams, and ways.

4. Instagram (2011-2021, 2023-)

In the early days of these networks, it felt like each network was for its own purpose. Facebook for statuses and events, Twitter for text, and Instagram for photos. As a more visual person, I've found Instagram to be my longest running "mainstream" social network that I'd use to connect with friends and catch up on the latest about public figures. I haven't used it consistently, with months or sometimes a year between posts, but I never felt a need to abandon it.

That is, until a major break-up and move in 2021 sent me back to Rhode Island and wanting a fresh start. Once again, I pulled a Josh 2016 and abandoned another social platform, rather than deal with the potential social fallout of unfollowing the connections made over those several years. It took me until the summer of 2023 and the arrival of Threads to pull me back to the platform to do some housekeeping.

Lovability: 8/10. When you curate your network appropriately, mostly following real people that you actually know & want to get updates from, and steering clear of the toxic perspectives and assumptions of perfection, it can be a nice place. Intentionality is the key to success here, as with most things.

Continue to Part 2...

[alatismeni-theitsa]

(1/2) I know this is some controversial topic and that you sometimes cover US politics, but what do you think the american left needs to improve to reach to more people and be taken more seriously?; It's unbelievable that in the very 2021, apolitical folk are still fallin into the whole "the leftist are a bunch of crazies" narrative, we may do some pushback the last three years against conservative politics.

(2/2)  But it's still not enough; on your personal opinion, what fundamental core value needs to be changed to engage to these apolitical people and that leftist want politics to improve the quality of life of the population without being labeled as a "petulant, whiney children" There's some greek-flavored advice that we can apply to our discourse? Thanks in advance :)

========================== END OF ASK ======================

Ooooo… Great question! And by “great” I mean “Do you want me to go down in flames and get cut a thousand times with pitchforks??” xD But it’s very interesting so I will answer it! And you will be subjected to an essay of 3.200 words 😘💅 (I want to be meticulous, don’t come at me)

Please assume the tone is light and conversational. I am not in a very serious or dramatic mood, and I don’t want to estrange any group by assuming the role of an all knowing tutor or someone who always has the high moral ground. This is just 1am blabbering.

I am not against leftists. On the contrary, I know their side so well that I think I have a solid opinion on its flaws. (I have friends who are left- okay I’ll stop xD) Needless to say, the right side also has flaws and the two sides often share flaws. But right now, we are only talking about the leftists. And of course, #notallleftists xD I recognize that leftists are ordinary and diverse people with empathy and capability of critical thinking and problem-solving (Did I mention I have friends who ar--) Jokes aside, I think my following is quite left leaning and I am not bashing them here. I am criticizing the movement as a whole and trying to see where it can be improved.

***** Anyways, I will generalize the bad traits for the sake of everyone’s time, it’s what I am saying! So, when I say “they” I will probably mean “some” or “the bad apples” etc.  *****

To begin, US leftists don’t want to, but they are accidentally imperialist xD Unfortunately, they don't know much about other countries, and they don’t usually have knowledge of countries they are talking about if they don’t have an immediate connection to them. Not knowing things is fine, but when people on this site are like “ugh Americans” this points to an ignorance and a sort of entitlement that doesn’t occur this often in other countries. My internet cycle is overwhelmingly leftist and yet I continue seeing willingness for ignorance all around - and when I check it’s not by conservatives.

Leftists think their (social and not) politics apply to every country and culture, that people in different countries classify themselves as they do in the US. And when people from those countries talk about their problems, there is always an American that wants to give input based on American politics, and without knowing the situation in this other country they want to talk about. Ironically, the last one is a behavior of conservative politicians. Conservative politicians and citizens sometimes think it’s fine to intervene in other countries for “the greater good”. Well, leftists do the same but on the internet. It stalls conversation and makes it messy and force foreigners to apply to American standards.

Because leftists don't understand social differences between countries, they project their own politics, and that can make them seem obsessed with skin color and blind to cultural diversity. They act like only Americans or certain countries have every lived through colonialism and suffered slaughter and slavery. (Because they don’t feel the need to study and learn further.) To an American that might not be the case, but when Americans converse with foreigners about foreign issues, they seem to have a blind spot.

They act as if only white, cis, straight people can be perpetrators of imperialism. Booyyy I have news xD Yes, of course white, cis, straight people can be perpetrators of imperialism, but the attitude that they are the first to blame, always, it’s faulted. I have many experiences, but let’s start with a very simple one, of an Indian American young woman who thought only a lota can clean you with water in the toilet, and that Europeans haven’t heard of bidets or any other means of cleanliness (or that they have the bathtub RIGHT THERE xD) One of the highlights was a Black woman insisting “Medusa was Black because my grandma told me” despite what Greeks were telling her.

Another thing that stuck with me was the case of a Greek who wanted to write about the people who happen to be a minority in the US (you would call them poc I guess). Many people from those countries were enthusiastic about the project and aided the writer as much as they could, sharing culture and realizing how many things in common they had. But it was from same populations in the US that the writer found people who blamed them for daring to write something outside of their culture. (To explain, most US Americans were fine, but only in the US were some who were hostile). Or, I have seen Chinese Americans being offended by a certain thing (I think it was something about fashion) saying “this is an offense to Chinese culture” meanwhile Chinese people from everywhere else in the world (99% of Chinese, I’d say) said “I don’t understand… this is fine!”

Many US American poc categorize all light skinned Caucasians of the world as White Americans and the rest are the “cultured” Black or Brown people. US Americans are now learning that Slavic cultures exist and it’s… something else to watch leftists realizing light skinned people can have great embroidery and they are not actually stealing Mexican traditional clothing xD (reference to an obscure “calling out” comment on tik tok).

I don’t specifically target US poc here, I am just mentioning that everyone conveniently forgets them as if they are untouchable and never said anything ignorant, while they are as active on social media causes as other Americans. In fact, if most poc are aligned to a side, that would be the Left. They are a very big part of the progressive movement – and that’s why I am giving so much space here for them – but then it seems they can’t have a share of the “bad” things of the leftist movement, only the good. Which is humanly impossible, to be always correct.

That’s one of the problems of leftism, that in a way pardons certain minorities and by doing that it not only lets the problematic bubbles grow but also infantilizes those minorities because it passes the message that “they can never do anything wrong”. While background matters when having an opinion, I see that skin-color goes ridiculously above opinion on these matters, which is not very egalitarian. When I argue with a person, the last thing I see is the person’s skin color. When someone says “ancient Greeks were actually a Black nation ad then they became White” I don’t care how this person looks like. No matter your skin color, you must take responsibility for the misinformation you are spreading. I won’t assume that because someone is a poc that they can’t study and learn more about the matter of discussion.

So… the “issue” doesn’t come from being white, cis, straight etc but from being raised as a US American. I don’t imply by any means that being a US American is bad. The last thing I want to do here is enforce guilt. (If you are feeling guilty already I must be mistaken in my wording so I am sorry for that). I am talking about certain beliefs that come with raised as a US American. Similarly, many beliefs a Greek can have are because of their environment. Everyone is affected by their background in one way or another. 

American leftists believe that even the piss poor British farmers benefited from colonialism – and still benefit perhaps on a systemic scale. So, with the same logic, even the lowest layers of the US American society benefit from imperialism and war crimes overseas. (Truth is the quality of living in the US is great and extremely progressive compared to most of the world, because of the US’ politics. I had analyzed this in a previous post). But American leftists never mention that when it comes to THEIR case, because it doesn’t give them an advantage.

To tie it up with how American leftists see the world, there is youtuber I like, who is a US American woc and one time she said “My country is bombing Brown people” in an annoyed tone and it just sounded so offensive I closed the video. It’s obvious the youtuber doesn’t support the bombing, but it was just the phrasing which left a bitter taste in my mouth the whole day. It was the fact that 1) she could make a statement in an annoyed/joking tone 2) people in those countries don’t identify as “Brown” outside the US (and you are talking about them now) 3) your country is indeed bombing them so maybe at least categorize them as they wish?? They have a certain ethnicity, so mention that and stop categorizing them like dog breeds! They already have the bombs, do you want them to hear Americans categorize them like that?

Moreover, many US leftists think they care about other countries while, in actuality, they don’t. They just want to make other countries have the exact progressive US politics - because that’s the only “correct” political system they know. That shows even in kind of superficial matters. In a movie about Greek mythology, they will make sure there is an American Arab, an American Black person, an American East Asian person etc (which would be a cast that would reflect American diversity, not Mediterranean) and are hesitant to cast Greeks or ask Greeks how the portrayal of the story and figures could be better and respecting.

Another thing, they take everything too personally. They think success and failure of a movement is highly dependent on them as an individual. It’s difficult for them to approach a harsh past or present situation in a levelheaded manner because they don’t realize this situation has been universal. So, they feel a special kind of guilt and that makes them over apologetic but also overzealous (like a righteous self-flogging zealot) and that is what drives people away. They combine that behavior with ignorance about the rest of the world, and you can see why a non-US American might want to keep their distance.

I had some Americans apologizing to me because their ancestors did something to Greeks and just… don’t. I know you have the best intentions, but it makes everyone – even me – feel bad. There is no need for apologizing because 1) you and your family did nothing wrong 2) it was centuries ago 3) this bad shit happens/happened literally everywhere. You might as well apologize for your people knowing how to cook. It’s FINE, really, it’s FINE. For instance, do you think I have a grudge on YOUR people running a slave trade six centuries ago while there was dozen active slavetrades in the area, and while Greeks of the Byzantine empire probably bought slaves some decades before they were sold to slavery themselves? Do you see what a mess this is? Not only it doesn’t fix anything, but you also put unnecessary weight on yourself, as an individual. It’s fine to be aware and trying to fix past mistakes - if it’s possible - but there is a certain delicate process that must be followed. Not… whatever this is.

To continue on the extreme individualism, leftists think it's the end of the world if they have done or said something controversial (and that's also because they have cultivated a culture where any small transgression is a potential danger to the whole society :p aka "the left eats itself"). Around them people feel they must tread on eggshells just in case they phrase a thing wrong or post something that could be linked to a person the Left doesn't like.

The left is also on the extremes, so I have to put 1000 disclaimers every time I say something. (I guarantee that the example with the Chinese people will be translated by some Americans like “Theitsa promotes Asian hate!!”) Do you know who doesn't annoy me if I don't put 1000 disclaimers? Certainly not Conservatives. I had more harassment from leftists than I had from actual nazis, even though my blog is not conservative or (god forbid!!) supportive of nazism or any type of supremacy. Even nazis completely understand my beliefs before they send hate. (It might be odd but I never had one not understanding my point xD) But the leftists who sent hate misinterpret stuff, or they don’t bother reading actual posts. The funny thing is that I usually agree with these progressives in 99% of issues but they don’t care asking or learning, they just decide our morals are opposite. I mean they don’t have to like me, but many leftists don’t even read the basics.

On top of that, leftists rarely want to have a conversation with a conservative. I don't say go and AGREE with a conservative, I say just talk. (see? I feel the need to clarify here because many leftists might say “Theitsa wants us to go and AGREE with conservatives! Does Theitsa want us to become nazis and homophobes???”) How does one feel they have to be sooo righteous and then cauterize every member of society who disagrees with them? Why do leftists rarely want to have a conversation? Some people were ready to attack me for referencing a meme which referenced Steven Crowder, as if that shows I am his supporter 😩 (Guilty by association is strong on the leftist side and it’s very reminiscent of authoritarian tactics, another thing that needs to be improved, to my opinion.)

I don’t support Crowder (I know Crowder has done awful stuff) but I shouldn’t be scared to admit I like the “change my mind” episodes. (Flash news, leftists, you might like a part from a person’s work and not 100% support that person!) I like the episodes because both sides are heard, the conversation is civil (for the most part xD) and I can see the thought process of the two speakers as they explain their worries and what solutions are out there.

Most of all, in those episodes I see how BOTH sides CARE about the SAME problems, it’s just the perspectives that differ. And those conversations highlight the issues the left hasn’t studied very well, so it helps the leftists understand what they need to learn in order to better society. But where the “immaturity“ of the leftist side can show is in the unwillingness to approach the “opponent“ as a human just like them.

(They might instead prefer to call Mexicans white supremacists and claim that “whiteness” has no color because quite a few poc voted Republican, as some leftist news sources have stated)

What is more, is it just my idea or conservatives understand leftists better than leftists understand conservatives? Of course both sides jokes about the other one but I am talking about the serious talks. Leftists just describe conservatives as horrible people who want all minorities to perish and we must not talk to them while, surprisingly, the conservatives are the ones who stereotype less the opposite side. (I am talking about the normal, moderate people). From what I have seen, most simple people who are conservatives DON’T want the US’ ethnic and sexual minorities to perish. They are worried about problems they don’t have a good understanding about. And the only way to make them understand it’s to… talk to them, show them what good the left to offer.

Some leftists think conversation is “emotional labor” but 1) that applies to actual labor as in… jobs, so stop invalidating doctors, nurses, teachers etc, 2) yeah, sorry, sometimes things get difficult and you have to explain your side. (As non US-Americans endlessly have to do for US-Americans). That was, is and will be life until the sun swallows us all. You can’t be THAT militant on social media with 100 posts per day and remembering 50 different campaigns about social issues but the moment someone genuinely asks you for directions on your side you shut them off with “why do you demand labor from me? Do your own research” (hint: most likely they have done their research, but they are stuck, and you don’t help them like this).

If you are very tired and don’t want to explain (as it is your right) you can be polite about it and not blame the individual about their circumstances when they are trying to learn. If you DO want to explain but you get tired, be more organized. Have posts and F.A.Q.s ready, or send them to someone else (a friend, a blog, a youtube channel, an article, whatever). Instead of leftists arguing their positions, sometimes they are like “Do more research and realize I am right.” Yyyeah the other person is not gonna do that – especially because you haven’t pointed them anywhere or supported your position with arguments. Moreover, leftists can have the attitude of “I stand for PROGRESS, how can I ever be wrong??” Weeell things are not black and white and me, you, everyone has the potential to not have a not that beneficial to society position at some issues no matter where we stand on the political compass.

For the “petty whiny children” thing, I believe a lot of people might think that because the youth is usually making noise about progressive issues on social media. It’s true that oftentimes in social media discussions their emotions get the best of them (it’s happened to everyone) but combined with the lack of life experience they may have about the world, the argument sounds silly. (I heard one leftist university student say that the US shouldn’t have borders because borders are bad but then they realized they don’t want people to come and go as they please in the US, so she said there should be SNIPERS in the borders to shot everyone who tries to get in…….)

And, as I mentioned, the leftists are very quick to cancel and attack for the slightest transgression so people prefer to deal with the conservatives who can, at least, take a slight misstep, than meddling with people who are going to cancel them for doing or not doing a small, insignificant, but not ‘woke enough’ thing. Leftists are constantly checking each other to see if they are doing better and better (even in silly issues) and that can be intimidating to someone who is new to politics.

Some leftists get REALLY turned on by righteousness (Frollo villain style) and instead of trying to unite the society, they aim to divide it further. They don’t want to create bridges but burn them and find themselves on the “right side“ of morals.

And, last but not least, they don’t realize leftist propaganda is a thing. Malicious people are EVERYWHERE and they don’t just magically avoid the left. Leftists are not automatically super virtuous people. There are some manipulators and bullies around, so one has to be cautious even with leftist sources. (Cross-examine stuff, always. You might have the best intentions but accidentally share something nonfactual because you trusted a source).

Ok that was all, I think. To anyone who comments, PLEASE keep the tones down, have a conversation, take it slow, remember it doesn’t help us being hateful towards each other. (And causing serious friction wasn’t the purpose of this post). Oh, and if you need a clarification on something I said, before gossiping with your friends about how awful I am, do me the courtesy of first asking me what I meant xD

[sheryl-lee]

changes*tumblr*com/post/692141171135447040/ -- so apparently, even after all of the negative feedback, tumblr will still be going through with the mp4 change. they really don't care about gifmakers or our feedback, i'm pretty sure they've never even bothered to acknowledge our complaints in the first place.

yup i'm honestly not surprised, just pissed off. it's very typical of st*ff to ignore any valid concerns that its userbase has and go forward with implementing changes that are unnecessary and wildly harmful to a large percentage of said userbase. like... the quality of the conversions don't matter to us - the fact that our gifs are being converted at all is what we're upset about. the decision on st*ff's part to be so obtuse about that is just frustrating. we've repeatedly outlined the specifics of why this whole idea is bullshit and they still don't seem to be willing to listen.

st*ff basically saying "look see the mp4 quality is minimally better now so stfu" is so condescending and emphasizes to me that they truly don't give a shit about their users, and that they are deliberately ignoring the fact that this change will fundamentally alter the gifmaking process.

the fucking quality doesn't matter if the gifs aren't gifs anymore. there's no point in using ps to make a gif and export it as such when the entire gif is rendered into a 2 second video that alters the medium of the image, and i'm sure that there will be plenty of bugs and glitches and other additional issues that content creators will have to deal with once the change is fully implemented, because it's tumblr dot com. we can barely put up with the various issues we have to deal with as is - no one is going to stay on this site if we have to navigate this on top of everything else. and i'm sure that any workarounds that exist to avoid the mp4 conversion will have their own glitches, or tumblr will crack down on them over time until it can't be avoided. it's truly so fucking dumb and quite honestly i don't have the capacity to deal with it.

i love gifmaking and creating but i've never felt as discouraged and honestly disinterested in gifmaking as i do right now. i've been giffing on here for about 4-5 years and i've put up with a lot of bullshit, but this may be enough to make me quit, if not for a little bit than possibly for good. and i hate that, but i have enough going on in my personal life as is and i don't think i have the energy or mental capacity to create with so many obstacles. gifmaking should be fun and a way to communicate with others, but when all i see is a lack of interaction, people stealing/reposting my content, persistent negativity, and additional problems forced on me by the website i create for, there's little to no enjoyment remaining for me.

[welllpthisishappening]

First-Line Defensive Pairing

Of all the things they’d done in the last few months, spending the afternoon at the Museum of Ice Cream was one of the more ridiculous. Mostly because of the wooden spoons they gave out on the tour. Partially because it seemed Will Scarlet could not stop casting furtive glances at Belle French. Or the heels that always matched her dresses. Maybe because she kept answering his hypothetical questions. And maybe even because he was willing to drift far closer to genuine these days. At least when it came to his feelings for her.

————

Word Count: 3.7K AN: Take two! Ok, so apparently yesterday when I posted this Tumblr thought it’d be a really cool idea to just...reformat the entire story. With whole graphs in totally wrong spots. Anyway, here it is again. Just as ridiculous as yesterday. With just as many Will and Belle emotions. Because that’s a thing I’m doing now, apparently. Writing Blue Line-era Will and Belle. If you’d like more of these flirt-prone idiots, here is their first date and Belle getting annoyed that Will fought someone on the ice. Technically, this was part of the kiss prompts and was “height difference kisses.” I hope the five of you who are interested in this enjoy it. That includes @shireness-says​ and @eleveneitherway​ who are mostly to blame for this.

————

“I’m going to ask you a hypothetical question.”

Belle lifted her eyebrows. Let some of that light creep back in her gaze, a flash of amusement that regularly made Will’s stomach leap dangerously close to the base of his ribs. That’s why he did it. Maybe not the rib thing, partially because he wasn’t even sure that was the correct technical term. The rest of it, though. The eye thing. Sure. Definitely. One-hundred percent. Why he’d also made sure the little wooden spoon they’d been given at the start of this tour was still in the corner of his mouth; to guarantee absolute absurdity, and he figured that started when they decided to spend their afternoon at the Museum of Ice Cream, but he was willing to take it all a step further. 

In the absurdity factor, at least. 

Other things were—

Well, it wasn’t as if they explicitly decided to keep the relationship a secret. Not on purpose. Not really. Or come to any sort of legitimate agreement regarding the use of the word relationship. It never seemed...important, honestly. And that was a potentially problematic and lackadaisical approach to someone who made Will smile with an almost alarming consistency in the last few months, but she’d also sort of snuck up on him, and Ariel was going to be so annoying. 

About the whole goddamn thing. 

She’d never shut up about it, he knew. 

So he didn’t push. Belle didn’t, either. An unspoken agreement, that’s what it was. He had other things to do, anyway. Like get ready for a playoff run and ignore the lingering ache in his calves after the echo of Arthur’s whistle stopped ringing in his ears, and, ok, his apartment was starting to feel a little bit larger than it had in a long time, maybe since Killian had moved out, but that was fine. Cup runs did not come because someone was in a relationship. Will had seen that first hand. With Cap, of all people. 

Watched the way his whole life had fallen apart around his ankles, little shards of hope and possibility that, Will knew, still threatened the structural integrity of Kilian’s internal organs and all four ventricles of his heart, and he did not understand enough basic biology to be making those sorts of sweeping observations, but Robin had lost someone too and that had been horrible and tragic and—

If Will simply did not want to jinx things, then that was neither here nor there.

Relationship’y speaking. 

It was good. They were good. He hated the wooden spoon they gave them to taste test half a dozen ice cream flavors. 

He was legitimately worried about getting splinters in his tongue. 

No excuses could possibly reason away that problem pre-game. 

Belle’s eyebrows were still in the same spot. “You going to follow up on that, or…” “Would you burn a Gutenberg Bible? To stave off the apocalypse and or potential frostbite?” “Those two things go together, do they?” He shrugged. “In this instance, yeah, because—” “—Well, it wouldn’t matter,” Belle said, eyes flitting towards the overly enthusiastic tour guide and the seemingly never-ending history of ice cream, “because I wouldn’t allow myself to be in that position. And I don’t live anywhere near the Public Library. What would I be doing there when the freeze-wave came?” His stomach. Did that thing. Jumped and twisted, got a ten from the Russian judge on its floor routine. He was cautiously optimistic he’d be able to pull off a flawless beam performance too. It was an exceedingly convoluted metaphor. Wrong Olympics, too. 

“Does salt air give you mind-reading powers?” “You’re not nearly as subtle as you think you are,” Belle grinned. Moving her hand faster than he was entirely prepared for ensured that he nearly dropped his small plastic cup of churro churro ice cream. He made noise. Without trying. A hiss and a grunt in the back of his throat that then led to a sound escaping between Belle’s half-hearted scowl, and that sound was closer to a giggle than either of them would ever admit and just enough to mess with his mental faculties a little and the tour guide stopped talking. To stare straight at them. 

Color lifted on Belle’s cheeks, ice cream-covered spoon held awkwardly between them. 

“As you were, ma’am,” Will said, all false bravado, and that was something of a trend. In several different capacities. It was far too depressing a thought to have while eating cinnamon-flavored ice cream. 

Belle elbowed him. 

And the tour guide got back to her to spiel. Without a reprimand. 

“Say freeze-wave again without laughing.”

Her eyelashes were more of a problem, honestly. Than the eyebrows. Or the specific jut of her chin Will had rather quickly learned meant she was ready to challenge him on some ridiculous topic, fully prepared to argue a position she might not have otherwise agreed with. Only because it wasn’t what he was arguing, and it was easy to understand why she won that Model UN award. 

Plus, her eyelashes were just stupid long, and he thought she was really pretty. 

Like in a fundamental sort of way. 

“Freeze-wave,” Belle enunciated, pausing between syllables for maximum effect, “are you asking me Day After Tomorrow questions because of the ice cream, because I’m a librarian or because you’re the strangest man alive?” She finally ate the rest of the ice cream. It was starting to melt, that was why. This was very melt-prone ice cream. “Oh, shit,” she mumbled, “this is really good. Better than mine.” Something popped in his shoulder when he reached towards her plastic cup. He wouldn’t tell Ariel about that, either. 

“Which kind is—” Fighting off the objections of a small librarian who resolutely refused to wear anything except heels, no matter what the weather was like, was not usually as difficult as it was in that moment. Will assumed it had something to do with sugar. Or the force of his smile. Robbing the rest of him of energy and the ability to fend off either one of Belle’s fists. “Why are you like this?” “You didn’t want to try peanut and pretzel. With peanut butter swirl.” “Swallowed the flyer for this place while I wasn’t looking, huh?” Sticking her tongue out was distracting. Almost enough that he didn’t notice the absolutely atrocious attempt at impersonating his voice. ���Oh, no, no, babe, I don’t want that; you can get peanut butter anywhere. That’s not special.” “Well, it’s not.” “I’m a big fancy hockey player, and I know everything there is to know about ice cream flavors and the potential life-changing palette moment that comes from the sublime combination of salty and sweet.” “Oh, now you’re just taunting me.” Her eyes narrowed, that time. His smile was going to permanently stretch out his cheeks. “You have a disgusting mind.” “You can’t get churro ice cream everywhere, babe.” “I’m going back to get honey later.” Will hummed. Stuck his lower lip out. Noticed that flash return. And hoarded it. Like a relationship—

Ah, fuck. 

“Would you burn the Gutenberg Bible?” Her laugh was quickly becoming his favorite sound. Which wasn’t bad, per se. Was just kind of passably concerning. God damn. It was the heels. All of them kept matching the dresses she wore. She kept wearing dresses. 

Of course, that was going to mess with Will’s head. 

Belle shook her head. “No.” “Historical significance?” “Well, once again, I would not be in that position, would have listened to science and fled to warmer climates, so as not to make myself prey for escaped...what were they? Tigers?” “I honestly can’t remember,” Will admitted. 

“This was your hypothetical!”

Heads snapped their direction. Frustration creased the tour guide’s forehead, and they’d paid extra to learn about the history of ice cream. Will had already known about the origins of the ice cream cone, though. So, the whole thing felt almost like a raw deal, and he was far more interested in preserving the color in Belle’s cheeks. He saluted. Who he was saluting was anyone’s guess, but it very likely was the otherwise unengaged teenage kid trudging behind his family who absolutely recognized Will. 

“That’s going to end up on sixteen different social media sites,” Belle warned, not quite able to get her voice to an appropriate whispering level. 

“So long as he got my good side, you won’t hear me complaining.” “Do you have a good side?”

“Sweetheart, the self-confidence. God.” She squeezed her eyes shut. While practically beaming at him, and Will had to bend his knees to reach, something else creaking in the process, but that was fine, and good, and pretty goddamn fantastic because her lips tasted a bit like chocolate. 

“‘S’not your best work,” Belle mumbled, almost entirely into his mouth. 

“Brain freeze.” “I would burn no books. That’s my final hypothetical answer.” Her eyelashes must have existed purely to torment him. Leaning back made it clear when they fluttered back open, and he swore there were flecks of gold in her eyes. Maybe he was melting, too. With the ice cream. That was almost poetic. “None at all? What if you were going to die?” “Maudlin.” “I don’t know what that means.” “Liar,” she challenged, another smile tugging at her mouth, and Will was clearly staring at her mouth. Stained slightly with chocolate, as it was. “I stand by it, though. The book stuff, not the commentary on your burgeoning intelligence.” “You want to find a corner to go and make out in?” Different laugh. The kind that came with her head thrown back, hair tickling Will’s forearm because at some point his arm had found its way around her, and touching Belle was becoming something almost close to second nature. “I could keep complimenting you if you want,” Belle said, “or I could give you my reason for not burning books.” “You’re a giant nerd, that’s why.” She clicked her tongue. “Very, very cute nerd, though.” “Betcha say that to all the girls.”

His stomach stilled. Dropped a few inches, for good measure. Below where it was supposed to be, and inching dangerously close to his feet, and what Will could not imagine was a very sanitary floor. The Museum of Ice Cream had a giant sprinkle pit. Nothing about that seemed very sanitary. 

“I think stories have a purpose,” Belle said, still not quite whispering but definitely getting there, and he knew. Knew she knew. What he was thinking and feeling and unspoken understanding was quickly becoming the name of this particular game. With them. 

Where it wasn’t a game at all. 

Damn. 

Ariel was going to be so annoying. 

“No matter what they are. Shitty as they can be, all those ups and downs, and ridiculous, often unnecessary melodrama. It’s going to matter to somebody. Someone, somewhere, will be living their life and read those words or see those letters, and they’ll think, wow, whoever wrote this, gets me, and it will change everything for them. They’ll go back to it. Find solace and safety in it. Themselves, maybe. They’ll believe everything will be ok. Even if they only think that while they’re reading.” “Don’t forget audiobooks,” Will muttered, voice strangled and tinged with emotion. In the ice cream museum. Figured, honestly. 

Belle pinched the side of his wrist. 

“Ow. Avoid the bruise further up, please.” “Did you get hit?” Nodding took more energy than it should have, too. She hadn’t been to a game. He hadn’t asked her. What an idiot. “Not bad though, that’s just—” “—Par for the course.” “Mixing idioms, mon trésor.” “Oh, I got that one, actually.” “Slow pitch softball, that’s why,” Will reasoned, some of the tension he wasn’t especially pleased by loosening. 

“I think we’re on a roll now.” He hummed. Nodded, again. Curled his fingers into the back of Belle’s dress. Blue, that afternoon. With matching heels. “It all matters,” she added, soft and earnest, and his eyes snapped. To her and with her and that second one didn’t make sense, not really, but he was and wanted to be and that absolutely terrified him. 

Of it all falling apart again. Of it not being enough. 

He wasn’t enough. 

A story no one was ever all that interested in finishing. 

“You think?” Belle nodded. “Why’d you start playing hockey?” “Quite a transition.” “Tit for tat, or—no, no, c’mon don’t look at me like that.” Red stained her cheeks, now. Making it difficult to concentrate on anything else, although the desire to kiss her again was a fairly strong second, and that kid was taking more pictures. “That’s not fair.” “You’ve brought this on yourself, babe,” Will argued, and he hoped Lucas didn’t yell. At him. He’d never really listened to the social media rules. “It’s a very long, occasionally depressing story about a kid and his single mom, the second of whom often worked her ass off and her fingers to the bone, and all those other delightfully visual clichés. But then! Who would guess, she got a job picking up extra shifts cleaning at the rink in town. Home to the world’s shittiest ice and loudest Zamboni, it instantly drew the attention of our kid-like hero. 

“He was...infatuated, let’s say. With the sounds, especially. Nothing sounds like that first scrape of skates on fresh ice. Full of possibility, you know?” Belle didn’t answer. Will kept talking. “Best noise in the world. And then he learned there were other noises. Pucks hitting the back of nets. Sticks clanging together. Grunts and groans and the game itself, how loud it was. Helped silence some of his thoughts, none of which were ever very good. Lots of worries, some about his very dead sister, then a few more about that mother and her predilection toward clichés.”

“Good word,” Belle murmured. He kissed the top of her hair. The kid was openly staring at them, now. 

“Anyway, the crux of the story is that the guy who owned the rink agreed to let the kid play on the rink. Knew the mother, understood her situation, and hockey is expensive. Like, well, we spout all that bullshit about hockey is for everyone, and I’ve got to stand up there and smile and nod and agree, and it’s fucked up because it’s not really true. Hockey’s for rich kids and families with regularly functioning alternators in their car.” 

He shook his head. Had to. To chase away the memories and the cobwebs, and Cap knew this, too. Understood it, even. Remembered a life before the Vanklads, and not every kid got the Vankalds, and sometimes Will let himself wonder what would have happened if he’d found the Vanklads. Or their upstate New York equivalent. 

Gotten better shin pads, probably. 

“Hockey’s an exclusive sorta club,” Will continued, “gotta know someone who’s related to someone else, and they know someone who played, and it’s six degrees of increasingly desperate separation. By some lucky twist of fate, though, Jimmy Newell knew some bastard who knew somebody else, who saw me play, and you don’t say no to USA Developmental. Spent two years in Minnesota, way before Cap did, so he doesn’t get to claim that state as his own.” Belle’s lips twitched. “Good to know, for argument’s sake.” His stomach was becoming a problem. 

Heart, too. 

Sputtering and slamming, uneven beats that were going to leave another bruise. Will licked his lips. 

“I went to Developmental, declared for the draft, got picked by New York, went to college, stayed in college, and the rest is history. As they say.” “They do say that, yeah.” “What’s the next question, then?” “How do you know there’s another question?” “Shot in the dark,” Will shrugged, but that was a lie, and it was getting increasingly easier to read that pinch between her eyebrows. “So, hit me.” “Literally?” “Please do not literally hit me. Locksley’s been feeling the forecheck the last couple’a practices.” “I know what that means!” Someone shushed them. Will couldn’t imagine the color will ever leave Belle’s cheeks. 

He kissed the bridge of her nose. 

“Who’d you get to teach you French?” “Who said I didn’t just learn French on my own?” “Babe,” she chided, and, well, that was the tipping point. As they say. To his heart and his stomach and—

“You wanna come to a game this series?” Belle blinked. Once, twice. Leaned back. Tilted her head. Likely waited for the camera crew that was inevitably lurking in the corner he was cautiously optimistic they’d make out in eventually. Didn’t happen, though. There was no camera crew. 

Just Will Scarlet, professional hockey player, and part-time sap. Standing in one of the more nonsensical museums they’d been to in the last two months. Although they did go to the transit museum on three separate occasions, and he could honestly say he didn’t expect that. 

So, maybe this was all just—

Par for the course. 

He’d have to make some sort of deal with Eric. To make sure Ariel didn’t proclaim her relationship-plotting victories from a variety of rooftops. Someone in front office had to know someone else with Empire State Building connections. 

Zelena probably did. 

Ariel would use that. 

“Where would I sit?”

He pulled her. Up. With an almost violent amount of force, threatening the safety of both of Belle’s shoulders in the process. But she’d asked the one question he hadn’t totally considered in his half-plotted plan, and getting his mouth back on hers was an acceptable diversion. Plus, she looped her arms around his neck pretty quickly. 

Which had to count for something, he figured. 

One hand cupped the back of his head, pulling him closer. Like he had any intention of being anywhere else, swiping his tongue against Belle’s lip and swallowing her sigh. They were still in public, technically. Her feet trailed the multi-color carpet beneath them, Will’s arms tightening and his palm flat against her back and her spine, and if she kept rocking up like that, he was going to do something drastic. 

Something in the same realm as melting, probably. 

Strands of hair tickled his skin, making him tilt his head and alter the angle, and that was entirely appropriate, but getting kicked out of the Museum of Ice Cream would probably make an absolutely fantastic story. Once they told people they were—

Doing whatever it was they were doing. 

They’d get there eventually. 

“Cap’s sister-in-law is coming,” Will said, not entirely able to catch his breath, “wants to see Kris and—” “—Should I know who that is?” “Works in equipment, and that’s not really the point.” “What is?” “That Little Vankald isn’t super interested in listening to Cap be full older brother on her and, far as I know, is fully capable of getting tickets wherever she wants. Can sweet talk the gold out of anyone’s pockets, and—” “—Wait, wait, are you equating hockey tickets to gold?” “When I’m playing, ma choupette.” “Is that cabbage?” He hummed. Nearly tripped over his own feet trying to hold onto Belle and the mostly melted cup of ice cream and paying for more churro ice cream made perfect sense. At the moment. “One of the kids at school was French Canadian,” Will explained, “used to swear all the time on the ice, and then he’d use stuff like that.” “You’re sharing endearments with a trash talker.” “More or less, yeah. Used to infuriate other guys.” “Who wants to be called a cabbage?” “I think you’re super cute.” Belle scowled. Didn’t argue, though. And Will refused to linger on the beat of his pulse. “I’d really like it if you were there,” he added, “Little Vanklad’ll be cool about it. She owes me. I fed her for a very long time.” “Did you just?” “I make incredible garlic bread; ask anyone.” “Wow,” Belle drawled, “just like people on the street, or…also, do you call her Little Vanklad all the time?” “To her face and behind her back with startling regularity. Not everyone gets my French endearments, babe. Consider yourself lucky.” 

She scrunched her nose. 

Stayed silent. All Will could hear was the soft explanations of the tour guide, and the questions from tourists who probably also thought going to the Museum of Sex made them edgy. After they bought a STRAND tote bag. God, maybe he was a dick. A judgmental dick, who still had too many thoughts and used an occasionally violent game to silence them by making sure he was the one dictating the noises and the trash talk and—

“Hey, uh, Will...Mr., uh—Mr. Scarlet? Do you think we could get a picture?”

Belle’s lips disappeared. Behind her teeth, and that didn’t do anything to temper the sound of what might have actually been joy. At the prospect of the staring teenager and his photo request. 

In the goddamn Museum of Ice Cream. 

Giving a jerky nod, Will quickly scanned the kid for any team-branded, but it didn’t look like he was wearing merch and that was a rather small miracle. Far as those things went. 

Still, he had been in the middle of a pretty intense internal dialogue and potential freakout, and there was going to be ice cream on his hand if he didn’t throw this cup away. 

Belle took the phone. 

The kid’s phone. 

“Smile,” she instructed, and Will tried. Really. He hoped he didn’t end up looking like a murderer on Twitter or Instagram or whatever kids used, and he had no idea when he got that old. When things started to freak him out, and he let the nerves claw back in, and the worry take root and—

“Hey,” he said before the kid could walk back to his parents and their matching STRAND tote bags. “You think you could take a picture of us, real quick?”

No one had ever moved faster. 

In, like, the history of photography. 

Circling an arm around Belle’s waist, Will’s smile came a bit easier and that was good because he was totally unprepared for what happened after that. Another instruction and flick of someone’s thumb, but then Belle was on her toes, even with the heels, and her lips were pressed against his cheek and it was like some sort of really exceptional sugar high. 

Without the threat of inevitable crash. 

Will didn’t think so, at least. He was also pretty positive it wasn’t tigers in The Day After Tomorrow. Wolves, maybe. 

“Tell Little Vankald to save me a seat.” “I mean, I don’t think you should call her that.”

Her teeth grazed his jaw. Both of them were laughing in the picture, the kid’s eyes going impossibly wide as Will thanked him. “How hard you think it is to set up an Instagram account?”

[sapphos-darlings]

Hey! I have a big question here. I've been struggling with my sexuality for a while, so I'm searching for sources or sites with accurate tips or information. I've read the Masterdoc, but I have seen many people say it's not reliable. Are there any other sources where I can find more signs/tips/etc to "find out" my orientations? (speficically to find out if i'm really a lesbian or not). Thanks!

Hi, Lavender here!

Ah, the questioning phase. Perhaps calling it a questioning ‘phase’ isn’t that accurate though, it makes it sound so temporary and unimportant, when we are actually constantly learning and growing throughout our lives, and no part of your life, no matter how temporary, isn’t so unimportant that you can just wave it off.

People are right though. I don’t know what masterdoc you’re referring to, but it is unreliable. Sexual orientation is not a horoscope, a personality type or an illness that you can diagnose.

The only source for the question “what is my sexual orientation?” is you. There is no personality test, online quiz, master document or any other shortcut like that. The only question that you need answering is “who am I attracted to?” and honestly, you only find that out by living your life, having experiences and pondering on your own wishes and hopes.

I can totally understand that not having all the answers and struggling with something that feels very important and urgent is frustrating, but there really isn’t a test you can take on these things.

Other people’s experiences and whether you relate to them or not are honestly pretty unimportant at this stage. Of course it’s wonderful to find things you share, but you don’t need anyone else to tell you who you are attracted to or what you want. Those are things that come from within you, and are not handed to you from anyone else. No one else is an authority on you.

That said, I could share some experiences. Again, I will mention men on this post! This is your warning. (Good heavens, a second time within a week).

For me my orientation has been very steady for 15 years since I started thinking about it, but I have friends who have struggled more and had several questioning phases down the line too.

For me, I was in middle-school when crushes started actually turning serious for me and other kids around me. There were flirty texts, hanging out together, attempts at dating, and also suddenly new sensations in the form of hormonal teenage sexual desire. During that time, I fell for my best friend, which I realized because I wanted to hold her hand, spend time alone with her, felt so special and wonderful when I got confirmation of being her best friend in return, and hugs from her caused me to feel so warm. She didn’t return my feelings, but I did come to a conclusion that it was that crush thing everyone was raving about, and I get those on girls.

I was surrounded by straight girls, and everyone was talking about boys. It felt like all the time, and I just didn’t get it. It was dawning on me that the girls around me felt something when they looked at guys: Men were handsome and made them giddy, they wanted to lean against them and kiss them and be seen and held in return. During late night biking trips we did, there were giggly conversations about sex and what we might like about it. All theoretical, all very jokey, but also very curious, and together our friend group was building an idea about what it might be and what they liked.

I never felt anything like that. I look at a man and see a human sure, but he’s just about as interesting to me as a house plant. The idea of having him touch me, or thinking about a man - no matter how cool and fun and hot - in a sexual situation with me feels unnatural and makes me recoil.

So, lesbian. Fairly simple, when I had crushes on girls and my sexual desire focused on women, and a thought of a man makes me turn completely cold.

Then again, I have many bisexual friends. Most of them are women and prefer other women, but they have still had crushes and fantasies about men and some have had actual boyfriends. A friend of mine sort of checked her bisexuality some years ago because she’s been interested in pretty much only women, but then suddenly had a very fiery even if brief thing with a man. It’s just she doesn’t meet many men, and ever fewer are actually interesting and make her interested. She is interested in men rarely, but she has that potential. So, bi.

Another friend of mine likes women and very feminine men. I call her jokingly “a very bad bisexual” because she basically wants women or men who look like women. She also has severe trust issues regarding men, so she leans heavily into her attraction to women. She is basically 98% homosexual and doesn’t act on that remaining 2%, but men are still a part of her sexual attraction and fantasies, and she’s open to the possibility of some absolutely singular and wonderful man coming into her life one day when she’s ready for it. So, still bi.

Basically we know our sexual orientations by simply meeting people and letting our sexual and romantic desire do its thing. We have had crushes, girlfriends, some boyfriends, talked about our feelings with each other, kept diaries, and so on.

Honestly, in the end sexual orientation is very simple. It’s very important, personal, exciting and affects many things, so it does feel confusing and overwhelming at times especially when you haven’t explored it much yet, but you are what you are. You have the experience that you have, you are the person you are, and just getting an accurate label doesn’t change anything fundamentally.

It is also very possible that you simply haven’t felt anything serious yet. Love and desire are things you sort of know when they happen. Again, time is what you need.

You have your whole life to figure this out, and anyway, it’s the loving and desiring part that’s fun and wonderful about your sexuality, not labelling it.

[katehuntington]

Today is a fundamental day, for the SPN family, but possibly for this blog as well.

Today we say goodbye to our favorite show. But nothing really ends, does it? Not with this fandom, this family.

Tumblr has brought me so much. Support, love, an outlet, a place to share my stories, and start never ending friendships. All because in December 2018, I signed up and gave this site a shot.

What started out as a way to read fanfiction and post some myself, grew to a blog where I now have 3 major series going. It’s a place where I try to support established and new writers with ‘Kate Huntington’s Authors and Fanfiction recommendations’. Where I, together with @winchest09, host Bunker Parties. Where people have donated to help fund my horse’s operation. Where people have supported me during rough times. Where I met friends who have changed me and will be a part of me for the rest of my life.

From 0 followers to 1493, and I couldn’t be more proud. I’m incredibly grateful for every single one of you, and I hope that the day that the final episode of Supernatural airs will also be a milestone for my blog. It would be amazing to hit 1500 followers on November 19th, 2020. A day that we say goodbye, but also won’t. Because I for one will continue to write, continue to spread love, and I know so many people of you will do the same.

So let’s celebrate and kick this blog to the magical 1500. Let’s celebrate that this family will only grow, and that saying farewell to our favorite characters on screen doesn’t mean we will say farewell to them on paper.

Who’s in to make this one count in more ways than one?

Love, Kate ♥️

[aquariusshadow]

My thoughts about the 'age thing' being announced for the Netflix Live Action ATLA: as a Zutara shipper.

First I want to discuss Katara being 16 and Sokka being 14 (without any talks of any ships. No Zutara talk, no Zukka talk, no Kataang talk) and how I feel it could potentially scuff with their character developments.

Katara being 14 in the original series and the younger sister makes the 'growing up too fast too young' part in her character more impactful. In the OG Katara was already seen as the mom friend (among other badass character traits she also showed. Yes, I recognize Katara was more than the mom-friend. She's my favorite ATLA character because of how diverse she is) and it affected her character more because she's still a kid. A kid that desperately needs to let loose and have fun and that’s what the Gaang can provide for her. Her being 14 emphasizes that part of her personality.

Her being 16, while still conveys that same purpose of her being the mom-friend...instead of it being one aspect of her character she can learn and grow from, there's a risk of her becoming just the mom-friend and we lose all the stuff in the OG that reminded the viewer that 'yes, Katara is still a kid.'

That being said. I can still see the writers not keeping Katara as "just the mom-friend" despite her being aged up. But because she is older, and I don't trust the Netflix writers (I mainly don't trust any sort of reboot writing as I personally haven't seen any successful reboots??? but I degress...) to keep Katara as complex of a character as she was/is in the OG. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt but remain skeptical.

I'll be completely honest here. I wouldn't have too much of an issue with Katara being 16...if Sokka wasn't aged down. In my opinion, that's where the decision to change the ages is scuffed the worst.

Sokka being the younger brother changes the entire dynamic he has with the Gaang as well as his own character growth. An in turn, ultimately messes with Katara's dynamic with him and the concerns I mentioned above with her being reduced to "just the mom-friend." Sokka's arc is the protective older brother figure of the group and a lot of that stems from how he wanted to step up and be the man of his village, and in turn, Katara. Sokka being younger than Katara changes that because, while he would still want to be the 'man of the group' (and the village) that same desire to step up for Katara wouldn't be there in the same way??? Yes, he would still be the older-brother figure to Aang and Toph, but ultimately, Katara would be the one taking care of him completely.

Because of that, Sokka and Katara's relationship would ultimately be different from the OG and Sokka's character is more at risk of being potentially unrecognizable or simply reduced to comic relief.

Now, onto the part I think everyone cares about the most. The shipping.

This is where I think I'm about to be really controversial.

Basically, I think aging up Katara screws up the legitimate arguments Zutarians have when criticizing Kataang. I've seen pretty much every argument against Kataang and I've agreed with most of them. But aging up Katara to "show" that Kataang doesn't work because of the age thing (and whatever else) delegitimizes the legitimate claim that Katara being 14 and Aang being 12 is still a problem by itself for their relationship.

Katara being 14 and mothering 12 year old Aang, etc etc, has so much merit for conversation and claim as to why Kataang isn't a good pairing. Especially since a 14 year old girl and a 12 year old boy are so different in maturity and you add in Katara's "having to grow up too fast" character development just further adds to the argument of the 2 year age difference being a legitimate critique. It's impactful. It has merit.

Especially since throughout the seasons...we lost the whole "Aang lets Katara be a kid" theme that the show was trying to show in early season 1. Again, this is just my observations from watching the show many many many times throughout my life since I was like 8 to now 21. That theme was lost because we see more scenes of Katara mothing Aang than Aang and Katara treating each other like equals.

Aging up Katara to 16 takes that away. It more or less says "well we want to prove that the age difference is an issue so lets age up Katara more" when, in my opinion, the show does a good job showing why the 14 and 12 year old age difference is already an issue.

I don't think aging up Katara hurts the Zutara pairing at all. It just hurts the legitimate critiques people had against the Kataang pairing...which leads me to my third and final point.

Should Zutara be canon...and Katara is aged up to 16. The fandom is going to attack anyone that does ship Zutara even more than I've seen the past year or two since being more active on social media sites. On tumblr you have your set tags that you keep to when having discussions. I personally haven't seen a lot of zutarians on tumblr go into the kataang tag and shit on kataang for the hell of it. Sure there might be strays but its not the overwhelming majority of Zutara shippers, from what I have seen.

My point is, there's going to be a lot more hate and anyone who ships Zutara is probably gonna be immediately discredited in the fandom because of the toxicity. This isn't a fandom where all opinions and thoughts are treated with respect. If it was, then I wouldn't be making this post.

Furthermore, I also don't trust the writers to write Zutara properly. Yes, I did see that the new head writer is known for well-written enemies-to-lovers which does give Zutara a chance at being canon on screen so I'm a tiny bit hopeful? That being said, because of the changes already being made, the likelihood of it being good seems 50/50. If they do Zutara the justice it deserves then I wouldn't be as concerned about the toxicity I mentioned above. But. If they scuff the Zutara pairing in the live action. Then. Re:toxicity.

When people want a reboot/live action of something, they don't want the core fundamentals of the story changed. If there is significant change then theres extra pressure to do it right. If it's not done right then all hell breaks loose.

My point, as a Zutara shipper, I'm concerned that the aging changes + Zutara being canon would divide the fandom even more and Zutara shippers getting the brunt of a lot of hate that is unjustified.

I don't speak for all Zutara shippers. For all I know they probably aren't concerned about any of the points I presented and honestly? Good on them lmao. I'm proud if that's the case. I guess, I'm trying to look out for a fandom and a community I am very fond of and plays a huge role in my life.

[whaler13bg]

The fascinating thing about Taylor is that she built her brand, music, and stardom herself. She started with a simple Myspace page, where she built a platform that fostered a one-to-one connection with fans because she intuitively understood that this would accelerate her brand reach. She responded personally to each and every comment that she received on that platform. And any time she would get a request for an autograph or a photo she would comply. Taylor once even did a thirteen-hour meet-and-greet session—which turned into seventeen hours—where she personally signed autographs for and took selfies with three thousand fans. She knew that every fan who stood and waited in line to receive an autograph or photo would be a fan—and brand advocate—for life. These brand advocates would spread and share her music and message with all their friends. Even though Taylor ended up physically meeting only three thousand people, she probably reached around a hundred thousand people that day. Each interaction she had was not limited to a single moment: fans would not only tell their friends about it but would also post images, autographs, and videos that they took at the event on their own social channels. The average Facebook user has 338 friends, so if each of her fans shared those images she could potentially reach up to 1,014,000 people. Fans would go out and spread the word for her. They’d tell all their friends and social connections, “I love Taylor Swift!” or “I just got this awesome photo or autograph.” Taylor still makes time for events like this. She attends fans’ birthday parties, weddings, and bridal showers. In 2014 she showed up at a bunch of fans’ houses with Christmas gifts and more than eighteen million people viewed the videos of the Christmas gift deliveries. In 2017 she invited select groups of fans to her homes in London, Los Angeles, Nashville, and Rhode Island for listening parties of her sixth studio album, Reputation. These kinds of events are Taylor’s ways of giving back to her fans, while generating massive attention and interest. This works for her because she’s genuine. She doesn’t just do this to manipulate the system. Not only is she smart, talented, and appreciative of her fans’ time, she has a good heart. And it’s this heart that has fostered brand loyalty, which grows like wildfire. Yet Taylor can only be in so many places at once. In the beginning of her career she was living in Nashville. Although she could have an autograph signing and connect with three thousand fans in that location, she couldn’t always make time for fans in other parts of the world. Her fans in New York, London, China, Hong Kong, India, and Japan were not able to connect with her. By focusing on her online presence, however, she could connect with people all around the world—and quickly. Before meeting with my team, Taylor had spent around $75,000 to $150,000 on an all-Flash website that required two days to make a change every time she wanted to update it. When I looked at the analytics, people were spending less than thirty seconds on the website, and 90 percent of people were bouncing off the homepage as soon as they landed on it. I wanted Taylor to maximize the potential of her website, to go back to the fundamental idea behind her brand—one-to-one interactions. With the right strategy, she could leverage her website to foster stronger connections among her fans. My pitch was that with the technology platform my team developed, we could build an entirely new site on spec for her in six hours. In a meeting, I showed her how we could dynamically change any element of the website in real time. She could change the background, move the navigation, change out the navigation, and control every element of that website, which gave her the power and creativity to constantly evolve how she wanted to express herself to fans. For example, every time she launched a new album, she could quickly redesign the entire website within minutes to match the aesthetic of the new album. This ability to rapidly change the website allowed her to foster a more powerful connection with her fans by allowing her to express herself how she wanted, when she wanted, in the same way she was able to on Myspace early in her career. Over the course of two years, using the platform my team built along with some brilliant community-building technology platforms that we partnered with, we collectively took the time that fans spent on her website from less than thirty seconds to more than twenty-two minutes. How did we create such an uptick in time spent on her site? By giving fans a reason to stay there. We facilitated communication between the fans because we realized that Taylor herself could only talk to so many fans at once. So we built a  community where fans could communicate with each other about their love for Taylor and her music. We also built a system where fans could turn their Facebook profiles into Taylor Swift fan sites in less than sixty seconds. It automatically extracted fans’ names and photos along with Taylor’s photos and album covers so they could have their very own fan sites. The fan sites were built on the same technology platform we used in creating Taylor’s website, so fans were able to customize and personalize all the elements of a fan site. Fans felt connected to Taylor, as if they were a part of her team—they could use the same platform that she was using and take any aspect of it and recreate it themselves. In a few months, more than thirty-five thousand fan sites were created using this platform. I don’t have exact figures, but I’m sure this was a record for the most fan sites ever created for a specific artist at the time. Witnessing how well fostering stronger connections with fans worked for Taylor’s brand planted a seed in my head. I learned that if fans felt connected, they were willing to share content, messages, and products with everyone they knew. Once I realized the power of this, it became a critical part of my whole approach. I realized that you don’t need to spend millions of dollars on marketing to reach the masses—you just have to get people to share your messages for you.

One Million Followers: How I Built a Massive Social Following in 30 Days by Brendan Kane

[gambitgazette]

The X-Perts: Gambit

The following is a repost of an article about Gambit that was posted to the Marvel site in 2011. We’re reposting it here at Gambit Gazette for two reasons; 1) it’s no longer on Marvel’s site (as far as we can tell), and 2) it exhibits insight and respect for Gambit’s character far deeper than what’s displayed on the comic book page the vast majority of the time (sadly). Gambit Gazette has taken the liberty of highlighting passages we find especially noteworthy.

The X-Perts: Gambit Kieron Gillen, Mike Carey, Marjorie Liu and Victor Gischler determine where this wild card will fall Posted Jul 12, 2011 1:31 pm Updated Aug 4, 2011 1:58 pm

By Ben Morse

This July, X-MEN: SCHISM kicks off a startling metamorphosis in the mutant corner of the Marvel Universe that will split the Children of the Atom and lead to ReGenesis in the fall along with two new ongoing series, each featuring it’s own distinctive team: UNCANNY X-MEN and WOLVERINE & THE X-MEN.

With change in the air, here on Marvel.com we’ll be regularly gathering the creators and editors responsible for guiding the X-Men’s destiny to dissect each of their charges to examine what makes them tick and perhaps lend some insight into where they will find themselves once the Schism ends and the ReGenesis gets underway.

This week, we take a look at Gambit, the thief-turned-X-Man who currently serves on the mission squad led by his on-again, off-again love, Rogue, while also mentoring the unpredictable X-23.

Marvel.com: How would you describe the core of who Gambit is and what is most important to him?

Victor Gischler (writer of X-MEN): Self-reliance.

Mike Carey (writer of X-MEN LEGACY): Gambit’s a guy with a core skill that he glories and excels in, and his sense of himself has formed around that, to some extent.  He’s not just a thief, in the sense of having earned his living by stealing—he’s a Thief in a self-defining sense that’s halfway between family and ethnicity. [He was] raised by thieves, in a city where thieves were a clan with clan loyalties. So I think that’s his core, and his instincts and identity and an X-Man were grafted onto that.

Kieron Gillen (writer of UNCANNY X-MEN): Gambit's just one of those classic conflicted characters, torn between a fundamental selfishness—or, at best, self-interest—and the realization that [this] isn't right. His shows of genuine compassion are all the more striking now because of where he's come from. I mean, put aside his recent interactions with Rogue. Look at his interactions with X-23. A man of experience who is man enough to realize that not all experience is worthwhile. He'd roll his eyes at anyone who takes the Sinatra-ian "Regrets? I've had a few, etc" line.

Marjorie Liu (writer of X-23): At his heart, Gambit is a good man who believes in taking care of his friends, and his friends are what's most important to him. People are his home. He will do anything for those who matter to him.

Marvel.com: What is Gambit’s view of how the mutant race should conduct itself moving forward?

Kieron Gillen: Any future of the X-Men that involves having a future and keeps him out of long, boring meetings is probably good with him.

Mike Carey: Arising out of his childhood experiences, I think Gambit is fairly tribal in his gut instincts. Protecting his own, and keeping faith with his own, are core values for him. He’s also perfectly comfortable with a sort of under-the-radar lifestyle, and he knows first-hand that it’s possible to live invisibly among others who don’t share your values or your lifestyle. I’d say Gambit would be comfortable with a strategy that saw mutantkind dropping right out of the rifle sights of the various nut jobs out there and going underground until its numbers are up again and it can confront the world on its own terms.

Victor Gischler: I think he knows that difficult things need to be done, but he wants to see the mutant race finally push through those times so things will be better for the next generation.

Marjorie Liu: The thing about Gambit is that he's a man who knows how to adapt to survive. He plays things by ear, depending on the situation, and never feels obligated to follow the rules, because the only rules that matter are his own sense of honor. Ultimately, that sense of honor includes 'doing no harm'—at least, not to the innocent.

Because of that, however, I don't think he has a firm idea of how the mutant race should move forward. There's no overarching philosophy, no set of rules. Again, he adapts, he plays by ear. I think he would be more likely to say that the mutant race is filled with individuals, and each situation needs to be taken on an individual basis, without imposing some master plan.

Again, though, he's a survivor, and if the world turned on mutants as a whole, his approach would change, as well. He'd fight. He'd protect.  

Marvel.com: Does Gambit like being a member of the X-Men? What keeps him affiliated with them?

Mike Carey: He likes the excitement. He likes the company—or some of it. He likes the sense of family. I think those would be the most important things for him. Having said that, he’s definitely someone who would be able to step into another life if the X-Men folded. He’d miss it, but he wouldn’t mourn it. He’d survive perfectly well.

Kieron Gillen: Honestly, I could spin out an enormous answer about how he sees himself in relation to mutants—though it suddenly strikes me that I see Gambit as one of the mutants who least self-identifies as "mutant"—but about 85% of it boils down to the following: One word, five letters.

Marjorie Liu: I don't know if he likes being a member of the X-Men, so much as he likes some of the people there, and feels obligated to stick by them, and guard their backs. It's a 'people' thing that has him sticking around, and not philosophical.

Victor Gischler: There is kind of a lone wolf aspect to Gambit, but I think deep down all lone wolves really want to be part of the pack. They just don't want to get burned or have their trust betrayed. Gambit has been an X-Man too long not to be a team member in his heart.

Marvel.com: What are Gambit’s most honorable qualities? His least honorable qualities?

Mike Carey: His chimerical gallantry. His insane courage. His anarchic shrewdness.

When he first joined the X-Men, Gambit served as a cynical and occasionally ruthless counterpoint to their stern virtue. They’ve met him more than halfway now—in fact, in some ways, they’ve surpassed him: the X-Men’s moral mainstream has changed so much that Gambit now seems more like a Robin Hood among them, a principled thief with a paradoxically strong code of ethics. He’s still got that ruthless streak, and he can be dishonest both in concealing information and in lying outright. And he has a weakness for going it alone when he ought to trust the people around him. That was what got him sucked into Apocalypse’s wake.

Victor Gischler: He's honest about who he is, warts and all.

Marjorie Liu: Most honorable qualities? Least honorable? Sometimes I think those are one and the same. He'll take care of his friends, no matter what. That's great. But what's not so great for everyone else is that he'll take care of his friends -- no matter what. Even if it means an act of betrayal.

Marvel.com: Do you think the rest of the X-Men really trust Gambit?

Kieron Gillen: Dark, tortured past. Propensity for playing on the other side. Will make out with your other half behind your back. A big part of me thinks they trust Gambit more than they probably should.

Or maybe they don't. The Utopia-era Cyclops-condoned Wolverine-lead X-Force—Gambit wasn't on that team.

Marjorie Liu: No, not really. I don't think they know him, that's the problem. The individuals who do—Storm, Jubilee, X-23—would trust him with their lives, without question. Everyone else? Not so much. To them, he's a wild card, so to speak. They see his reputation first, before they see the man.

Mike Carey: I think they didn’t, and then they did, and now they don’t again. He’s got a lot of lost ground to make up after the Limbo debacle. His past as a thief doesn’t count against him any more, but his past as a Horseman and his past as a Marauder during Messiah Complex do.

Victor Gischler: As long as they keep one hand on their wallets at all times.

Marvel.com: Could Gambit ever be leader of the X-Men again?

Victor Gischler: I don't see it. But that's mostly because I don't think he’d ever really want the job.

Marjorie Liu: My first instinct was to say yes, but the more I think about it, issues of trust and reliability would undermine his position. I'm not sure all the X-Men would feel secure with him in charge, or be willing to follow him to hell and back—and that's a huge component of successful leadership.  

That said, I do think he can lead, just on a smaller scale, with a team that would fit his highly adaptable nature.

Mike Carey: He’d never want that job. It’s too public and too constricting. He wouldn’t be afraid of the responsibility, although he wouldn’t exactly relish it, either—he would be afraid of having his hands tied in a fight by having to co-ordinate what everybody else was doing.

Kieron Gillen: It doesn't seem a natural fit, but I'd never say never. I wouldn't say he could lead the X-Men as they are now. But a hypothetical X-Men team of the future? Yeah, I can see him pulling that off. As long as it doesn't involve all too many of the aforementioned long, boring meetings.

Marvel.com: How does Gambit’s relationship with Rogue color his place among the X-Men?

Marjorie Liu: I wish it didn't!  If this was real life, that relationship would be one of those bad running jokes that people tell each other around dinner, or when there's nothing else to talk about and so you go to the one topic that's only less boring than dull silence. Don't get me wrong, I used to be a fan of Gambit and Rogue, but the relationship doesn't do either of them any favors.

Mike Carey: It’s the main reason why the X-Men feel like home to him. If she left, his attachment to them would be significantly weakened.

Kieron Gillen: What can I say? Heavily.

I know I've been laboring it, but more than almost anyone else, his ties with the X-men are personal. He's happy to exist in a world with the X-Men. He's happy to do the X-Men's work. But he's an outsider, and I think that's a real core of who he is. He needs shadows to step out of.

Mike Carey: Who among the X-Men does Gambit trust? Who does he feel should lead the team?

Victor Gischler: I think he'd trust Storm under almost any circumstances.

Kieron Gillen: Rogue. That's about it. And I don't think he has particularly strong feelings about who should lead the team—but he is interested in the institution of the X-Men. I wouldn't say he's a "Doesn't matter who you vote for, the government always gets in" cynic, but as long as there's an institution which exists to do the job the X-Men have been doing, he's happy. If a leader appeared who changed that role entirely, it's only then Gambit would raise an eyebrow.

Marjorie Liu: I'm biased, but I feel he trusts X-23 and Jubilee, along with Storm. I'm not sure he trusts Rogue, even though he loves her—and I'm sure he's comfortable with Wolverine leading.  

Mike Carey: I think he trusts Cyclops and is comfortable with his leadership. Certainly there’d be more tension for him if, say, Magneto had a leadership role. But the question of who leads isn’t a compelling one for Gambit, because he doesn’t see himself as being a follower. He follows his own conscience: sometimes that takes him outside the X-Men’s big tent. When he’s there, he toes the line, but his allegiance isn’t easily given or given without provisos.