#to bad its a tik tok meme

[bigothteddies]

oh my god re: your recent post... the 'girl dinner' shit. omfg. idc if it's 'not that deep' you're still reinforcing terrible shit!!! and also the like 'boys when they see a stick/cool rock' and 'girls when they time travel vs boys when they time travel' wojaks. the gender-fication of barbie vs. oppenheimer. why the fuck is the recent internet zeitgeist hyper stereotypical cisnormativity. like. i thought we had collectively outgrown this.

exactly. And that’s all just some parts of it too. People pretend they’re so on top of things but it’s just because they don’t want to seem out of touch and offensive. It’s wild watching people barf out gender binaries with new terms and new ways to categorize trans people as not their gender and new ways to reinforce the same gender roles on ourselves but in “good” ways now. It’s just….really frustrating and pretty terrifying at the same time

[lllsaslll]

Instagram took my art account away and this is how I know it went down:

New art acct • screencaps from this tiktok

[lowkeyrobin]

hello! can i please request hcs with quackity about being in a long distance relationship with him?

yes omg!! thanks for the request! ; I tried, I tried not that great

QUACKITY ; long distance relationship

summary ; you and quackity are online daters /j

warnings ; language

genre ; fluff

word count ; 686

y/s/n = your ship name

masterlist

you met at Twitch Rivals

you're both content creators which is obviously how you met

you guys bonded over shared interactions and the games you'd both lost

you got along so great that you exchanged information and decided you should stream together sometime

a couple weeks later you were invited to a jackbox stream with him, fundy, tommy, tubbo, bbh, and niki

shit went crazy

"Y/u/n, is there anything you'd like me to call you before we start? Like nickname or just y/u/n?" Niki asks

You graciously answer her, letting her know your name and proffered pronouns. Tommy makes a little, very lighthearted joke before pointing out someone in chat already making you and Niki and you and Alex ship names.

"Oh God, they've got us" You chuckle. "They're both mine, chat"

"AYO? SINCE WHEN?" Alex shouts

Niki giggles, covering her mouth.

"Since now" You shrug

you decided to try dating during the second north carolina meetup

you both had some fuzzy feelings about each other and mutually agreed on 'well hey, we like each other, why not try it out?'

being near the beach and with all your friends made it like a dream

but after two weeks, you had to go home

but you left your relationship untitled for now

Streaming together continued as per usual. So did long talks and phone calls, and hours spent playing video games (mostly Minecraft) together.

the next trip was to LA to visit Alex this time

you guys had your first kiss on his balcony overlooking the city

the way he giggled after omg

during that trip, you established your relationship and started to go on every day dates and stuff

but then you had to go home again

Honestly, both of you didn't really think about what to do with your relationship once you went home. You were taking it all in while you had it and weren't thinking about the very true reality of it all.

you thought talking was constant? it is now

sometimes both of you will just stay up late and rant about what you like about each other and corny shit

youre the one to softlaunch the relationship to fans

you probably guessed the password to his twitter/instagram and changed his bio to "y/u/n's bf 💯💯"

he didnt even know until people were flooding his dms and people on tik tok were talking about it

hed already said he was okay with telling people as long as you were tho

sends you pictures of flower bouquets once a week with some thought out, very loving paragraph or poem

he constantly complains about not being able to kiss or cuddle you

"y/n/n why are you so far away!?"

"i told you id be able to pay for you to live with me"

"UGHHHHHHHHH"

sends you good morning/goodnight texts and talks about what you'd be doing that day if you were together

cheesy little man

always spamming you w pics of Tiger

will religiously send you memes and blow up your phone if you're busy or ignoring him

yk the relationship is srs when even your qsmp characters are in love

the lore.

half of its heartbreaking angst and the other half is literally your bucket lists/daydreams of the future of your relationship

hes so down bad for you

will do anything to make you smile or make you flustered

will make the most suggestive jokes in front of friends, stay silent for a second or two and yell "im joking, im joking!"

orders you doordash/uber eats when you're doing subathons or generally long streams

will always join through vc/greenscreen when youre doing cooking streams

you'll do greenscreen dates (like the fiances stream) once a month and gossip over takeout LMAO

genuinely asks his fanartists to make ship art of you two because he loves seeing all the ideas and cute shit

they always draw you with one of his beanies or hats on, the occasional necklace

you reblog tumblr y/s/n fanart 24/7/365

karaoke streams are a must

you guys rank those "songs that all white people love" videos and rate the songs

dare or hot wing streams when youre literally anywhere but near each other>>

also playing just dance using vc and stream green screen>>>

[withered-owll]

I love SVSSS fandom because of a lot of things, but mainly, I love how EVERY. SINGLE. FAN. Just calls haters 'Shen Yuan' like the other day I was scrolling through tik tok, and looking for some new edits and memes under the hashtag and the first video that showed was of a guy who's goal is to be the most hated man on the internet or something like that.

With a deadly serious face, he started saying how svsss is bad and trash, etc. and then I got to the comments.

EVERY SINGLE ONE. ALL OF THEM WERE CALLING HIM SHEN YUAN OR TELLING HIM TO SAY HI TO LUO BINGHE FOR THEM.

The harmonious agreement at its finest and I live for it

[heyheyitsjae]

So the trailer for The Minecraft Movie (sorry, “A Minecraft Movie”) came out a couple days ago. I had a lot of thoughts upon seeing it, I haven’t been able to get it out of my head, and have been combing through other people’s takes the last few days, so I’ve been itching to talk about it. The trailer is currently sitting at 500,000 likes vs 900,000 dislikes, so obviously it hasn’t been received well. Even the official Minecraft channel hasn’t uploaded it, only linking to WB’s upload. I thought I’d go back to the beginning and give my thoughts on progress as stuff from the film came out. 

So the first major red flag for me was when they announced the film was going to be in live action. I could not for the life of me fathom that decision. Minecraft has such a goofy and stylized world that it would only really work in animation, and we’ve had plenty of excellent Minecraft animations over the years to prove that. The Fallen Kingdom Pentology, Villager News, Cas van de Pol’s shorts, Kelpilox’s memes, Hapico’s stunning 3D shorts, and of course the official update trailers. Time and time again Minecraft has proven that both hilariously funny and epicly badass content can be made in its world, often by the fanbase. 

And yet, they chose to make the film in live action. The only way I could possibly think of this working would be if they entirely ditched the blocky aesthetic, and made it a high fantasy like Lord of the Rings, The DnD Movie, or even The Princess Bride. There’s plenty of fantasy elements like Creepers, Endermen, and Piglins that could keep something like that grounded in Minecraft’s world, even if it would be an odd choice. 

Then the birthday short came out. For those of you that don’t know, as a part of the 15th anniversary of Minecraft they put out a short on YouTube and Tik Tok of Jack Black and Jason Momoa cutting a cake and wishing Minecraft “happy birthday.” The actors weren’t even wearing any sort of outfit or costume for the film, and their acting felt very strained and terrible. I had my fingers crossed that they just cheaped out because it’s a promotional short, but it was still a bad sign. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2f0fPzZNPWw 

Then concept art started to leak for the film. While there were a couple of designs I did find cool like the Spider and Elytra, others like the Pig and Villagers concerned me and looked pretty doofy. These were obviously created by a variety of artists, so there was no telling who’s vision they would go forward with, and I saw it as a bit of a coin flip. 

Then the actual trailer came out, and… oh boy… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PE2YZhcC4NY&t=1s 

For a start the opening shot didn’t seem all that bad to me. Yeah real life Minecraft is still a weird concept, and that archway looked unnatural, but at least some level of effort seemed to have gone into it. 

And then the actors showed up and all hope dropped. Their implementation into the film felt really awkward and lazy. Every shot they’ve got an awkward glow around them, either a result of being poorly green screened or needlessly backlit. They often feel out of scale with the environment and there’s a decent amount of shots where they don’t even cast a shadow. They feel so unnatural in this world. It makes you wonder, if all the backgrounds and mobs are gonna be done in CGI anyway, why not make the humans CGI and the whole thing an animation from the get go? 

The wardrobe of these actors is also a strange one. One that stands out as odd to me is Momoa has blonde hair, a brown beard, AND a pink jacket? At least make his hair and beard the same color it just looks awkward. 

And of course the king of awkward stand-outs is Jack Black as Steve. They didn’t even try, they just threw a blue shirt on him and called it a day. They could have at least trimmed up his beard. It’s especially odd they went with Black given Jason Momoa is right there!? Momoa has the perfect skin tone, right beard shape, and roughly the right amount of muscle mass to be Steve. The only thing that doesn’t really line up is his hair is a tad long, but if they were gonna put him in a wig anyway that’s not a hard fix. 

Most of the delivery in the teaser also feels pretty stiff and none of the jokes land. So far it’s got a strong “gulp, he’s right behind me” vibe that I’m not digging. 

Before we get to the moment you’re all waiting for, a couple of little side complaints on minor things. 

Something I noticed in the trailer that super bugged me, but I’ve only seen one other person mention so maybe I’m overreacting, is the logs on the scene where they meet Steve. For some reason the bottom railing has the logs rings facing up toward the crenelations or sideways into each other, but the crenelations have the logs facing sideways toward the camera!? Not only does it look really bad, but that’s the kind of thing that would take a lot of extra effort to do in-game, placing and breaking two extra blocks for each bump, only for it to ruin the build. 

And then there’s the crafting table. This scene was a bit quick, blink and you’ll miss it, so I didn’t give it much thought on first viewing. I just assumed Mamoa put two buckets and a chain on the table… but he didn’t. He threw like, six iron ingots and five cobblestone, onto the table and it somehow worked. The items on the table weren’t even lined up with the crafting grid. It’s the literal fucking name of the game and they couldn’t get it right!? HOW, HOW DO YOU FUCK UP THAT BADLY!!!

Okay now we’re on to the REAL bad bit! The mobs in this film are a train wreck. They are a shining example of what I mentioned before, either you make this film entirely animation or entirely live action. This awkward halfway point just creates an uncanny valley feeling that’s disturbing to look at. Most of them feel A.I. generated. 

The Sheep and the Llama are obviously the worst contenders. They look like something a parody YouTuber would throw together for a grossout short in 2013. I’ve heard some people try to defend this movie by saying “it’s just for kids, don’t be so hard on it.” I can’t think of a single five year old that would piss their pants crying in fear if they saw this thing pop up on screen. They are horrendous. 

Then there’s the Wolf. The Wolf doesn’t look as bad in comparison. There’s something off about its lips and hind legs, but I think obscuring it in shadows is saving us from the brunt of whatever the hell could be going on. 

And then there’s the Creeper, which is an… interesting choice. A lot of people have complained that it’s fuzzy, but looking at the poster it seems a bit odder than that. It looks like its skin is made of a dirt like substance and its fir is grass, which is… a choice. For those that don’t know, the original description we were given of Creeper skin was that it was “crunchy like dry leaves.” This has led to basically everyone assuming Creepers are plant-like creatures, with most people giving them scaly skin. I suppose grass fir fits with being plant-like, but it’s not scaly or dry at all. To be fair, a lot of fan theories have suggested Creepers could be made of peat moss, and it looks a little like that, but it’s still off. 

That then brings us to the Piglins who… honestly don’t look that bad. I think a combination of smaller eyes, less fur, and not being based on a real life animal makes them a lot more digestible than the other mobs in the film. I also like the use of Ghasts as airships. That was a concept we saw in one of the Fallen Kingdom songs that Minecraft almost implemented into canon with Minecraft Legends. While these Ghast airships are nowhere near as cool looking as either of those examples, at least it’s something. But there’s a lot of stuff to talk about with the Piglins aside from their appearance, so let's get into it. 

The first is a common complaint I’ve seen people make: how they’re able to breathe in the Overworld, when normally this causes Zombification. We *might* have an answer to this. In Minecraft Legends the Piglins tried to invade the Overworld. They brought with them huge Nether Spreader devices that spread Netherrack and heated the air, while the Horde of the Spore bred and spread mushroom fungal spores into the air. The spores made the air breathable for Piglins, and the heat presumably killed off the virus. 

Now that made sense for Legends, but doesn’t really make sense here. After the Piglin Invasion, the Horde of the Spore was hit hardest by the war. While survivors of the Horde of the Hunt remain in the Crimson Forests and the Horde of the Bastion remain in the Bastion Remnants, Piglins have since abandoned the Warped Forests, with Hoglins even developing a fear of the Warped Fungi, leaving the Horde of the Spore extinct. 

During Legends the Piglins had giant machines and an entire third of the army dedicated to making the Overworld breathable, while this trailer seems to show the much smaller modern Piglin army, so I have no idea how they are keeping alive. 

The other big issue that rises with the Piglins being here is… why? In Legends the Piglin Invasion at least sort of made sense. In the base game we had the Ruined Portals revealing travel between the two Dimensions was once more common, and the Bastion Remnants hinting that Piglins were once more populous and militaristic. Legends answered both of these by implying that the Piglins once tried to invade the Overworld, but after their four abusive kings were killed the few survivors split up and determined the Overworld not worth their efforts. 

The Piglins went from a militaristic and imperial force determined to conquer, to a small band of tribes that, while territorial, are ultimately friendly. They’ve become far less united and greedy (assuming they even were that greedy, Legends is a story written by the victors after all.) Based on the outfits, and Steve being alive, it seems the Piglins in this film are the *modern* Piglins. The chill dudes that give you enchanted boots for gold and compose fire mixtapes. The whole turning an entire race in your story into mindless evil monsters for Legends was already something that didn’t sit well with the Minecraft fanbase, especially with how adorable Piglins are, so using the friendly version of them as the bad guys in the film is an odd choice. We already have a group that raids villages, the Illagers, and a group that's yet to get the story spotlight, the Undead, both of whom would’ve been more logical and interesting villains for the movie. 

That brings me to another minor point that I think is worth bringing up here. I’ve heard some people complain about the portal at the start and while I agree it shouldn’t be blue, it's not for the same reason they do. A lot of people claim the portal should be purple, which is actually not true. Purple is the color of the Nether Portal yes, but we know from Minecraft Story Mode and the Infinite Dimensions April Fools Snapshot that that portals in this world can be basically any color, with each Dimension getting its own color, so the idea of the human world not being purple makes sense. 

But I think this shade of light blue is a bad choice, for one simple reason. The plot of Minecraft Legends was: Piglins decided to invade the overworld, so heroes from a far off land were brought in through a light blue portal to fix it. So far, the plot of this film seems to be: Piglins decided to invade the overworld, so heroes from a far off land were brought in through a light blue portal to fix it.

We’re just doing Legends again, which I cannot fucking fathom. Why the hell would you make a “Minecraft” movie and then base its plot on something exclusive to one of the sequels. Where’s the logic in that!? It’s especially baffling that Legends of all things was the one they decided to go with. Filming for this film didn’t start till earlier this year, sometime after February, meaning that things like actor schedules, lot rentals, and creating props probably weren’t set in stone until like, last August. 

That was well after Legends was the biggest critical and financial flop of any Minecraft spin-off (sans maybe Earth, but that never really came out.) This film had already been delayed time and time again, presumably because the script wasn’t up to snuff, so one more delay after it had been proven that people didn’t want to see that story wouldn’t have been that big a deal. Then again, Legends wasn’t officially canned until a couple months before filming and Black and Momoa probably have busier schedules and had to be booked further in advance. But it still feels like a poor choice that they had time to course correct on. 

Although there is ONE thing that sets this story apart from Legends. It appears to be going down the Jumanji route. Now while you could argue Legends already was an Isekai story, at least in that case it was someone traveling from a Minecraft world to another Minecraft world. Here we’ve got another fucking instance of a bunch of people being sucked into the videogame world. 

As people have mentioned before, having Jack Black in here is automatically giving Jumanji vibes, but even ignoring that I’m so damn sick of every single videogame movie being an Isekai. It is so annoying that game worlds aren’t allowed to exist as their own thing. The protagonist always has to be some outsider from the real world sent to this strange and kooky realm, and it’s just annoying. Videogames are fun when they have rich, fleshed out, and lived in universes, and reducing that to either “I’ve been trapped in the game” or “I’m unfamiliar with this world at tall” robs them of a lot of their wonder. The Mario Movie did it, the Monster Hunter Movie did it, the Sonic Movie did the reverse of it. We need more Detective Pickachu type films, where we explore people from a far out place in that far out place. 

Now let’s shift gears into less of aesthetic annoyances and more into potential spoiler territory. 

Something that I didn’t notice while watching the trailer, and I’ve only seen one person point out, is that The Seer from Minecraft Legends shows up at one point, surrounded by a crowd of Piglins. Now I would assume this movie is non-canon (it’s not made by Mojang and previous stuff not made by Mojang, like Story Mode, have been non-canon.) But if it IS canon, The Seer being there has interesting implications for the series lore/timeline. 

First and foremost is the idea that the Seer and Steve are alive at the same time. Steve is in both the base game and Dungeons, both of which were agreed to happen in a similar time-frame anyway. (Dungeons has both statues of the Ender Dragon being alive during the Arch-Illager’s reign and statues of her getting slain.) But Legends is agreed upon taking place hundreds if not thousands of years prior to the events of the main game. None of the ruined and abandoned structures of modern Minecraft are in it and it depicts the origin of most of the series main races/factions. 

In order for The Seer and Steve to be alive at the same time it either means The Seer is immortal and has been hiding in the background for a while, or Steve is both immortal and MUCH older than we thought. Of the two the first seems more likely, and creates interesting potential for The Seer. They’re the only major antagonist from any of the three main games to not either be befriended or killed (I’m sure someone in Story Mode survived I’m forgetting about) and so their story is unfinished. They also serve as a great explanation for the Piglin army.

The Piglins only attacked during Legends because they were ruled by tyrannical kings who borderline enslaved their people and had a might-makes-right mentality. With all these kings dead, and no army left to maintain their rule/order, of course the survivors would become more independent and less militaristic. It was a logical way to transition from how they’re depicted in both games. If anyone was going to revert the Piglins to their old ways, it would be the ancient hag who advised that cruel council, the only one their violent king showed an ounce of respect or fear to. Seer’s reinstating the old ways, the only question is why now? What took them so long to strike? 

But there’s another potential wrinkle in this plot that could make it more complicated, in an honestly annoying way. Throughout the trailer we see the main kid in the red hoodie is holding a strange glowing blue cube (that totally isn’t just the Tesseract from Marvel.) What this device is hasn’t been explained, but I’ve seen two popular theories going around. 

The first is that it’s a Beacon. In which case, sure, whatever. The other is that it could be the Orb of Dominance and this is the Orb’s origin story, of how it became an all powerful evil artifact. That would make this film a prequel to Legends, establishing how The Seer got their hands on the Orb and got their good standing with the Great Hog’s council 

I… don’t like that. For two main reasons. The first is that this would just exacerbate the Steve is immortal problem, you’re really gonna tell me he was there for EVERYTHING!? The second is that it really drags down the Orb of Dominance’s cool factor. The way it's depicted and talked about in Dungeons implies it's some sort of manifestation of an eldritch entity hellbent on destroying or conquering everything it comes into contact with, who has been vying for power since the dawn of time. Now it’s… something(?) that the humans brought with them. While still mysterious, I suppose, it sounds a lot less cool now (although let’s be honest, it was always a little dumb.) 

Also slightly off topic but I just want to mention, PhoenixSC made a video reviewing the teaser, and WB copyright struck him and forced him to mute a portion of the audio. Now you might think “oh well they own the trailer they’re allowed to do that” but no, it wasn’t anything from the teaser they took down. You know what it was? A couple minutes of a fanmade Minecraft short-film Phoenix was praising for being better than the official thing. Not only is that footage they don’t own any right too, but reviewing things is well and truly covered under fair-use. 

That’s an absolute scumbag movie. Combine that with the recent controversy Jack Black is getting into and I say please, just don’t watch this film in theaters. It’s clear not an ounce of care or love went into making this. It already looks like such a by the numbers and cheaply put together thing. They can 100% do better and we 100% deserve better.

[sansaorgana]

modern au has me on a choke hold

i was thinking about their social media, take your time answering, just rumbling

aegon is a tiktoker, and kinda of famous and loves pranking everyone and they are all done with his bs💀also he definitely has a yt channel and its always in everyone's personal space with his camera doing vlogs and wtv. he also has a instagram for thirsty traps all day everyday (yes he posts them on ttk too)

i feel like helaena has a tumblr where she posts a lot of pictures of flowers and all her bugs and she is like, really famous there, also i agree with you, she loves cats and post a lot of pictures of dreamfyre, really cute shit and she posts the same thing on her insta along with pictures of her and reader bc i love their friendship and i want be friends with her so bad </3

aemond is just like ewan lets be honest 💀 boy has a instagram with no picture and like 3 followers who are consisted of: helaena, reader and alicent (its private and he blocked aegon for obvious reasons) and i feel like when he started dating reader he changed his profile pic to a pic of him and reader, just really cute shit

(also, sorry for the long ask)

oooooh social media 👀

Aegon is a fuckboy from Tik Tok and most of his followers are thirsty teenage girls. No, despite him being an asshole, he doesn't take advantage of that because he knows they're still kids. He rather seeks one-night stands on Instagram while flirting with women in the DMs. I also have a feeling he'd be into women older than him. He loves a good milf. Yes, he would be a prankster but he'd also make gaming videos. Everything teenage boys like, too. So, he's one of those content creators who are kinda trapped with a teenage audience lol However, I don't think he'd be massively popular because it requires time and patience, meanwhile Aegon is lazy as fuck. He would also lose a bunch of heartbroken teenage followers after posting his videos with you.

Helaena is a Tumblr girlie 100% but, once again, I don't think she'd be popular at all. Plenty of blogs posting cottagecore aesthetics + bugs are rarely anyone's cup of tea. She wouldn't care, though, because she's not doing it for the notes. And she would have some online friends from Tumblr who were her only friends for a long time (I can relate lol)

Aemond blocking Aegon on social media is so true, omg! And yeah, he totally wouldn't post anything or he'd have like three posts on a private Instagram account (of his dog Vhagar). All would have sweet comments from Alicent. On Facebook he would have a screenshot from some cartoon as a profile picture. He's secretive but he also doesn't want to gather even more attention than usual. But, yes, for his girl he would change a bit. He'd let you post a picture with him once in a while and maybe, eventually, he'd change his Facebook picture to the one of you and him. He's also the type to have his sweetheart's picture as a Facebook header. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if Aemond had a Tumblr blog, too.

Alicent would have an Instagram only to follow her kids (and their girlfriends) and she always leaves cringe but sweet comments and she's posting things like her kids' pets, flowers in the garden etc. and the pics aren't edited and they're often out of focus. On Facebook she would share memes all the time because she's bored at home and she doesn't have much else to do. She would also spam her kids' messengers with links to some memes and scam articles from Facebook ("You're only wearing black? Find out what it means" @ Aemond for example). Oh, and she would think Aemond is super mean for blocking Aegon and keeps telling him to unblock his brother because she thinks this silly thing is a symptom of them hating each other for real or something like that (she's read somewhere that young people treat social media too seriously).

[wolf-grimoire]

THE KIDS DON'T BUY IT... (the US propaganda machine is really actually dead)

The Great Nation of America the Make Her Great Again has lost the propaganda war against herself. This is both good and very bad news. Because, for as long as I can remember—and likely as long as you can too—Western media was virtually the only dog around. It kept us on the same page. From the same nightly briefing around the tube with Dan Rather to the series finale of the Sopranos, we were all in it together. Not anymore. Now, we’re tribal viewers, tribal in our propaganda tastes. And this means, of course, we’re ripe to be balkanized by savvy media overlords.

            In many ways, our media unity was a strength. We knew ourselves as American citizens, not as members of the global tribe. The ubiquity of net technologies changed this a little, introducing some to foreign news sites or blogs or even social media. But the arrival of the global identity is ultimately brand new. Here in the states especially, Tik Tok has allowed for the proliferation of global opinion like never before, but even as recently as the last pandemic, something like public shaming and outright censorship kept American hearts firmly rooted in we’re the good guys territory. And this was despite the whole rabid Trump vs. Decency sentiment shared by half the country. Throughout it all, Americans huffed their own propaganda, content on the same old supply. Fastforward to the end of Biden’s first term, and everything has changed.

            Somehow, Americans themselves have turned on their own propaganda machine.

            Not merely the straightforward uncut propaganda coming out of the Pentagon. Surely, we’ve bucked that stuff before. Suddenly it’s the whole goddamn thing we’ve had enough of—Disney, Nickelodian, Fox and other media giants have all been demoted. Rather than trusting their worldview and accepting their products in good faith, Americans have waged a bipartisan information war against the giants. Viral exposes, memes, and good taste leave the Disney and their ilk struggling in a new geography of total suspicion, digilence, high accountability, and a newfound self respect.

            Devastatingly for the machine, all this change has raised America’s collective expectations when it comes to our own entertaining propaganda. America’s total denial of the half assed bunk being pushed for propaganda these days really is a problem, however.

The truth is that US foreign policy in the Middle East and our military spending in Ukraine, coupled with the massive systemic failures at home—from immigration and border issues to inflation and economic pressure—average Americans are disgusted. We cannot watch our tax dollars being poured into the genocidal military campaigns being waged by Israeli PM Netanyahu’s regime and simply nod along.

            Incredibly, the Biden administration acts oblivious to the bipartisan disgust. It’s no wonder. Since Bush the Younger, every president has embraced largely the same psychopathic cadre of arms dealers, bankers, and warmongers. Examples like Bush-era lawyer Philip Zelikow, who led the 9/11 Commission while being instrumental in designing the invasion and strategy of the Iraq war, and he’s likely to be picked to lead the upcoming Covid-19 Commission.

            Only this time, we remember the lies about Iraq’s non-existent nukes, and we all see what’s really playing out in Gaza. Many see the same horrifying disregard for human life in our military support for Ukraine despite hundreds of thousands of losses and the total leveling of a culture with almost no real chance of victory. We all see the callousness of the gunrunners that control our foreign policy, and we’re tired.

            The danger now is real, and it’s clear.

            By breaking away from our own establishment’s narratives, we both win and lose the propaganda war. Two things are bound to happen:

            Our own rogue system and its panicking agents will do anything necessary to stay in power, and the slipping grip on our minds and souls will be supplemented by a new grip on our wallets, freedoms, and bodies.

            The second part is this: when our elite lose the propaganda war, it’s a global loss. As ordinary people, we can’t broadcast ourselves effectively to the whole of the globe like our sinking mess of an establishment can. Foreign adversaries and any others looking to fill the vacuum will absolutely profit and benefit enormously from America’s losses.

            Attempts at fomenting chaos inside the country will come both from our own establishment and intelligence agencies and known and unknown foreign actors. We can be sure of that. Much of the time, the most effective propaganda is simply the truth—half cocked, emulcified and cut with baby powder, but a version of real events none the less.

            A real break with the machine’s narratives at the critical mass we seem to have reached is, in my lifetime, unprecedented. It doesn’t make me giddy, though. I’m wary of it all. There’s an paranoia, a tension in the climate. More and more, a growing dread.

            Now is the time to keep your head. Apply pressure. Regimes do not die peacefully in the Land of Make Wall Street Great Again Land. Act accordingly.

[yonemurishiroku]

I think another thing to note is that a lot of the TSATS negativity stems mainly from users on tumblr. I’ve been on twitter & Tik tok and the reaction seems to be overwhelmingly positive. Like the first few days the book came out, seeing tumblr reactions versus other platforms was literally like night and day. I’ve even seen some ppl say they cried a lot or that it’s their fav PJO book! (Which is a surprising but whatever 😭) I have seen some criticisms on the other platforms, sometimes about the writing quality or OOC-ness or being underwhelming, but it still wasn’t all terribly negative. The only place I’ve seen VERY VERY harsh vitriol is on here, and I’m not sure why. personally I thought TSATS was okay and I have my own criticisms, but honestly I have that with every PJO-verse book. Imo some of the takes I’ve seen here are valid, but some are also really really mean and honestly a tad overdramatic, but idk why or what it is about tumblr. I think I’ll stay away from here for a while when chalice comes out.

This ask is from May 18th, I'm so sorry for the delayed replies. 😭😭😭 It got caught in a mess for quite a while aksdkdakj---

Ok. So.

You're saying that most of the negative reviews come from Tumblr whereas TikTok and Twitter give mostly good feedback. I think I can offer a few explanations about this.

Tl,dr:

Tumblr allows long posts, whereas Twitter and TikTok have a length-wise limit to their content.

Tumblr is more fandom-centered, a much more suitable place to rant in a book of a franchise.

Tumblr has a different approach, which enables different types of posts to come across you, unlike Twitter.

(Please keep in mind that I don't use TikTok, so most of this would be assumptions based on my limited knowledge about the platform. I have a Twitter account though)

Now. The first point is quite clear. Tumblr doesn't have any limitations to whatever you post on the site (or at least that limit exceeds normal people's capacity of writing/reading per post ajsdhakjdhak), which enables you to give long, complicated, detailed essays on a certain topic.

Which is the best fit if you want to criticize something.

Because unlike complimenting something, when you criticize it, you'd need to give a reason for how and why it is bad (in your opinion). To compliment something, you might just need to say simple things like "OMG I LOVE IT" "This is so adorable I might cry" etc...

Adding to that: sometimes it's just easier to list what you dislike, you know? 🤣🤣🤣 I mean. When you hate something, you'd find it very easy to focus on its flaws to dissect, which results in many rants. Whereas when you love something, you just... love it. Not mentioning sometimes you can find it hard to articulate said love.

In Twitter's case: Twitter has a character limit, which hinders people's need to rant. This appears unsuitable when you want to rant about st in dissatisfaction. Although, it'd be pretty good if you're overwhelmed with love and want to flood the complimenting post with memes.

Yes, there're people writing a whole long ass thread on Twitter. But again, with Tumblr alr providing a function, it's understandable which one would prefer.

TikTok, in addition to having a length cap on their videos - which acts roughly the same as Twitter's character limit, allows only video format. This is just a hypothesis, but I suspect people might be discouraged by the idea of making, filming, and editing a video about something they don't like - rather than just... writing it down. I find the second choice much easier.

Similar to the above, Tumblr is more fandom-centered. The app is literally advertised as for Fandoms and Creators.

When you want to share an opinion on a certain topic, you'd go for those who at least have a semblance of whatever you're talking about, right?

Tumblr is created for fandoms and has its own tag system. This makes it easier when you're targeting a certain group of enjoyers. I doubt that Twitter and TikTok, while having their own tagging systems, would be more effective than Tumblr. (Ppl on Twt rarely use tags when it comes to fandoms......)

Different approaches.

Tumblr, as far as I know, filters content by tag. Which means that if you look into the The sun and the star tag, you'd see everything related to it. If you like something from it, chances are you'd get recommended another post in said tag, regardless of what it is about. Including conflicting opinions.

On Twitter, on the other hand, if you want to see a certain topic, chances are you'd need to:

1/ Follow someone who's active on said topic. Generally, you would go for someone you like/ share some of your sentiments/ you vibe with to follow right? Hence, chances are they would share the same view as you.

2/ Search for the tag. But I doubt people would use tag for this book.

3/ Search for any other keywords. This runs the risk of missing content, which might or might not include the criticizing post.

Of course: This^^ relies heavily on my predictions and assumptions of your engagement. It might not apply that well.

All in all, it all comes down to whether and where people choose to express themselves. I have a Twitter and a Tumblr, and I choose to deliver most of my PJO content on Tumblr. 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️ You don't see me criticizing on Twt, but I'm def there.

About Chalice though, I don't think you need to worry lol. TSATS has its problems because it focuses on already controversial topics and is put on a pedestal before release, so people tend to be more extreme. Chalice, on the other hand, afaik, is about another average quest by Percy? It's not that... extreme, I mean, and there's hardly and complicated plot. I think of it more as a side story, really. So maybe you don't have to worry that much? lol i do hope so. 😂😂

[junkbbykow]

The Individual Doesn’t Exist

Individuality is literally a scam. Like authenticity and originality as we see it does not exist. You know the phrase ‘x was ahead of their time.’ Well, If you think about it. Noting is ahead of its time because everything happens in divine timing. Literally everything.

So what’s happening when people are ahead of their time? Essentially, their forecasting a shift in the collective consciousness and perspective. They were ahead of the curve by being extremely intuitive and aligned with the collective consciousness. This happens across the world and in all sorts of ways. But the masses(/gen: I hate the negative connotations associated with mass information. We’re all intuitive and have spiritual gifts. Everyone’s on their own journey so being a practitioner or student of esoteric knowledge isn’t in their cards this lifetime) only have the opportunity to confront this through pop icons, award winners, and those of the 1% because we didn’t actually share and connect outside of countries until recently (US perspective). Tik tok tbh transformed this but that’s off topic!!! This is imo part of why every family has a black sheep. Some of us are just naturally in-tune spiritual or not. The rich and famous find ease gaining notoriety for it because they have a platform and resources on hand where others may be trying to create that same platform with said idea.

The reason why this makes ‘originality’ false is that every single idea is apart of the collective consciousness. No idea or thought is yours. Lmao you know that meme, ‘Cool intellectual property bro, too bad I’m thinking about it.’ that, that right there is it. Nobody can prove an idea is original and because of that we created a way to solidify our ideas by submitting them to the government lol. No hate but every way we think we are unique and different, there is someone who thinks the exact same thing. We’re all reflections of another’s reflections reflecting back on one another. We are basically carbon copies. WHICH ISNT BAD. There is nothing wrong with being similar. Uniformity is the opposite of individuality and just like everything else in the universe, we need to have balance.

My personal example is that one of the first posts I made on here was about days of the weeks. I did it to take notes but I’m a person who likes aesthetics and gifs so I wanted to make it nice. I was searching for planet gifs and then Sailor girls came up then I thought it’d be so cute because their powers match the days. I didn’t take this idea, or see it somewhere else and I posted it. A few days later I came across a similar post but they had different info about each day and overall aesthetic. I was authentic. I didn’t copy and paste someone else’s work and it was original it happened by chance and someone someone else was also doing the same thing in the same community.

I think if we separate originality from first to do it we will all be much happier and creative,

JUNKBBY KOW

[creepypastalover97]

Ok time for another creepypasta au headcannon

Today’s headcannon is going to be about everyone’s favorite link rip-off

Enjoy

. The correct way of spelling his name is BEN_drowned. But his Real name is Benjamin Lawman

. BEN was born on April 23rd 1990, and he died on September 7th 2002

. He’s pale and in the body of a boy around 12. But Mentally he’s much older, and would have been 32 years old if he hadn't died.

. In a weird way he’s happy he died. he didn’t have to be apart of the cruel world today. Ben’s disgusted with modern people

“Why does someone’s sexuality matter when the earth’s fucking melting?

Why is racism a thing it was all hundreds of years ago calm the fuck down people!”- Ben

. The only thing he appreciates is modern technology. Games, consoles and chatrooms keep him busy and happy. He’ll often make staged accounts on sites and just talk to people, be there for him

. ben’s addicted too bitcoin he thinks its the future of the world. doesn’t care if he’s fuckin dead

he’s considered communism

.Was deathly afraid of water like Finn in Adventure Time. Strictly takes showers and doesn’t go swimming

. BEN doesn’t give a single fuck about his gender. This was discovered by Jeff a day after BEN arrived at the mansion. Jeff, being the rude ass motherfucker he is, decided to try and make fun of BEN by calling him “a pretty girl”. he was so fucking shook when BEN just answered with

“Thanks I appreciate it”- BEN

EJ, who was sitting in the kitchen like he always is, fucking lost it

. BEN was once dared to dress up as a female, like a dress and hair up

He did it without hesitation

Everyone who was attracted to girls regretted it immediately after seeing him

. Bisexual asf but leans more towards girls

. He can do voice acting and like, really good impersonations. He once hid in the vents and started laughing in a perfect Freddy Fazbear imitation and later he started speaking in Baby’s voice and gave half the mansion a heart attack

. he secretly has a Tik Tok account where he pretends to be a ”””gamergirl”””

He’s famous

. He smokes weed when he starts glitching out really bad to calm down his nerves. He relies on weed to calm him down if he finds himself getting anxiety or feeling depressed to keep himself from glitching out horribly.

. Hardcore Gamer. will demolish anyone in any game ever. Jeff thought he could beat him at dance party because he’s so lazy but oh was he wrong

. Referencing the C-D-I Zelda games in his prescence will cause BEN to go into a homicidal rage.

. Often goes to arcades to fuck with people and occasionally cheat.

. Is so fucking good at Laser Tag - he’ll no scope everyone without breaking a sweat

. Very glitchy pervy boy. Has gone to sex shops only to “accidentally” make all the display vibrators lose their shit just for kicks, and has smacked almost every Pasta in the mansion with an oversized rubber dildo

. Doesn’t cut his hair. (The girl pastas like styling his hair)

. Sees Sally as a little sister

. Ben cannot physically cook. He’s the Meliodas of cooking. It looks great but tastes really bad. He’s more worried about presentation over taste. He knows that Chef Ramsey would kill him too for how bad he cooks.

. His ears twitch when ever he’s focused or nervous. (Especially when he’s lying)

. ben’s gotta sleep with pads on his face so he doesn’t fuck up his sheets

. Although Ben is pretty colorful as a person, when he’s upset and/or angry, everything on him goes monochrome

. When he gets sick, he glitches horribly when he sneezes

. Glitches really bad when he’s physically upset

. If BEN laughs hard enough he will cough up a ton of water that's in this lungs from when he drowned

. Prefer’s to levitate everywhere, he walks only when he’s super energetic (which is never)

. actually has no fucking idea what he is, it’s like

“Hey BEN what exactly are you?”- Circe

“a ghost???? Wait,,, a hylian. A…. human?? Idfk”- BEN

the ultimate meme lord. Actually funny which in itself is kinda scary

“So here’s the tea”- BEN

“ for the last time, it’s called a mission report “-slenderman

“ do you want to hear the tea or not?”- BEN

“Hmpff”-Circe

. Ben is fluent in Chinese.

. His diet consist of energy drinks and instant noodles

. He hates a lot of fruits for some reason. He's not unhealthy, he just never eats fruit

. Has a habit of chewing on electric cords.

. Jokingly simps for Jeff as a joke, because he likes Jeff’s reactions.

. He adores the Fnaf series and knows the lore.

. he actually goes outside sometimes???

“Oooh!! Look at the sun, it’s so circular! So warm! And bright.” - BEN, leaving his room for the first time in three weeks

“…………”- BEN

[Takes a 180 and goes back inside to hibernate]

. BEN can only climb into devices that are plugged in, sure if you charge your phone he can get in but if you unplug it his only way to get out is to either wait or climb through the screen.

. He also thinks Basil is pathetic.

He hates Basil.

. Ben doesn't like musicals, Hamilton is the ONLY exception

. he’s so laid back that everyone forgets his manipulative and sadistic nature

“BEN that’s inappropriate clothing go change”- slenderman

“I’m inappropriately dressed to live anyway bitch why would I”- BEN

. he has so much stuffed animals, pillows and blankets god couldn’t. he’s too emotionally unstable to actually cuddle anyone so he replaces human contact with fluffy pillows and blankets

. Won’t stop quoting vines to the point where it’s annoying

. Makes “cringe” prank videos when bored

. is actually really good at hiding his emotions, no one really knows what he’s truly like. Or so he thinks

“BEN, are you alright?”- Circe

“Yeah, why?”- BEN

“Because you asked the lady in the store if the damage repair shampoo works on emotions too.”- Circe

. He likes to hack into the SCP Foundation’s private computers and spam them with outdated memes and 24 hour long loops of the “song of unhealing”.

. Often hacks everyone’s phones and switching Siri with himself. Then the pastas freak the fuck out when they find out it’s him. Jeff hates this the most.

“ Siri, connect redtube to start bar”- jeff

“ oh?, does jeffy boy have a nasty watch history? Wow, buddy you have more kinks than Masky, damn”-BEN

“ how would you know?”- jeff

“…….”-BEN

“……”-jeff

“Get out of my phone”- jeff

. inhumanly flexible. Anyone who enters his room debates on wether or not to call an exorcist.

. Actually is really fucking smart but likes having people underestimate him so he can purposely destroy their ego

. Short boy that will chop down legs if anyone makes fun of his height

“What are you, three?”- BEN

“Yeah, three heads taller than you.”- jeff

“………………”- BEN

Ten minutes later

“OPEN THE DOOR YOU FUCKING COWARD!”- BEN, banging on Jeff’s door

“I WAS JUST JOKING!”- jeff

Overall BEN_drowned is no doubt actually a very nice and understanding guy (apart from, well, killing)

I hope you enjoyed

P.s. not everything is canon. So don’t take seriously if you don’t want to. If you don’t like, take it somewhere else. Thank you

Bye 👋🏻

P.s.s. Go check out Circe’s origin story on archive of our own. It’s called rabbits are not what they seen.

[mole-rants]

i fucking hate the word "yap"

i hate the way it sounds, i lowkey hate the way it looks, i hate that its gotten so popular

during the past month i spent way too much time scrolling through memes on instagram. and yes, memes on instagram are just screenshots of tweets and tumblr posts. so, im assuming yApPiNg first got popular on twitter (tik tok?). either way, now that word is fucking everywhere

of course its fucking everywhere, thats how a meme works, right? i just do not get the appeal. every post is something like:

"when he agrees to go on a date with me but doesnt know im a certified yapper"

motherfucker you talk, maybe you overshare, maybe you dont make sense sometimes, there are so many other terms to use, can we please stop using this one?

im not really sure why i dislike that word so much. i think it just feels like its being used by the most boring ass basic people who decided to make talking their personality trait. i would say the word gives me the ick, but im also sick of seeing that phrase all the time

its just such a bad word to use

makes me feel like someone is slowly peeling a bandaid of my skin

[slobodenkirk]

Oh my god my stupid ex was so boring and annoying. I don't know what colour these flags are...

- Doesn't chew pasta, he would eat it straight and then threw up whole pasta when he got too drunk in front of my friends he had never met after being rude to them

-Was mean and rude to and about my brother

- Total incel

-wore a shirt that said racist in it in big letters

- Has a receding hairline

-Would never sit next to me and would actively sit next to my roommate

-He sucks

- He only wore t-shirts and shorts, refused to wear pants ever

- Only drank gin, so at parties he would get too drunk and pass out

- Never wanted to hang out with my friends

- Has a youtube channel about breaking bad and better call saul

- His glasses prescription was so high it changed the shape of his face

- He went home for a week to go through all his Lego to find pieces to build a new millennium Falcon when he already had one

- Was totally autistic but he didn't think he was

- Only ate sandwiches

- Would be kinda rude about my family

- Was painfully quiet when meeting people

- Would hover-hand in every photo so bad

- Every time his roommates would come through the living room he would pull away from me so quickly

- Never pronounced "th"s

- Would watch one episode of some thing then go do something else, when I could just watch a whole season in one day

- Didn't hold his knife and fork correctly

- Would only order eggs Benedict

- Never wore fun costumes to parties

- He did have an Indiana Jones costume that he wore all the time, the only time he would wear pants and button up

- Bought a suit for a formal coz it looked like one Saul Goodman wore

- Would listen to Cruel Summer all the time til I was sick of it

- Never wanted to listen to my music

- Would never keep his facial hair even though he looked way better with it

- Never laughed at anything and if he did it was gross

- Said the r word all the time

- Runs a discord server for his YouTube channel

- Put inaccurate pronouns on my contact in his phone

- Called me lazy

- Called my car a piece of shit

- Never listened to me talk

- Was always on his phone on discord or Twitter

- Aways made comments about me cleaning my room or trying to get a job

- Wouldn't go anywhere with me

- Said that he would cum quickly for Natalie Portman

- Grinded his teeth so loud in his sleep

- Everyone said they've never spoken to him before

- I don't think I know anything about him

- He never asked me any questions and his answers to my questions were one word

- Would always shit on my favourite movies, shows, youtubers, bands

- Said 'I love you' quite early in the relationship and then stopped saying it at the end when I knew we were gonna break up

I should've never dated him, we were good friends, now its fucked up, I just wanna talk to him and send him funny meme and tik toks about Taylor Swift

[jamiewrandall]

(2021) Entertainment after isolation: a sudden shift or acceleration of the inevitable?

I wrote this article in 2021 as a piece of A-Level English Language coursework, it reflects on and evaluates the state of entertainment media after and during the pandemic.

Everybody was affected by COVID 19 and the subsequent lockdowns. The restrictions put in place resulted in many things we took for granted changing, amongst these being the way we consume media.

Audiences fulfil many needs by interacting with entertainment mediums however the pandemic changed our priorities. The social impact of a hit show has been amplified far beyond the water cooler, expanding across the internet, but in a world without social events and workplace chat Tweets counted more. An example of this social importance during lockdown can be seen with Marvel Studios first TV escapade, Wandavision, which for all its viewers spawned an inescapable current of rumours and debate which a lot of people seemingly felt the need to be a part of hence Wandavision being 2021’s most pirated show.

It’s been easy to spot trends in a society deprived of anything non covid related to talk about, we’ve seen some surprise viral hit; you must remember watching Tiger King or at least seeing Tik Tok’s take on the Netflix show. It’s not a shock to see outlandish content entertaining people especially with the phenomenon of ‘News Blues’ hitting hard as people tune into weekly broadcasts and controversy.

Through all of this what happens to cinema? The new Spiderman proved that audiences are still willing to venture into the frightening wild as long as you have enough fanfare around a product however if you’re not pushing an action epic it will be a struggle, with the reopening of cinemas in August 2021 only seeing 50% of pre pandemic profits. The return of the entertainment industry as we remember it won't happen, rather an evolved form will take its place.

Television can continue to prosper

COVID restrictions were in force and headlines reported news of disease and social unrest but shows like It’s a Sin and Line of Duty still garnered high viewership even with stories focussing on health and corruption, topics you’d assume had been saturated by current affairs. However, with the suspense carried by episodic dramas and social discourse generated it begins to make sense why people would be interested, and having relatable topics isn’t a bad thing. It’s not only hard-hitting dramas delivering quality entertainment. As identified by the Thinkbox the ‘doing shows’ show of the past have gone through a renaissance with hits like The Repair Shop and Clarkson's Farm taking the instructional, informative style but infusing drama and emotion whilst maintaining some reality. Even with the heralded demise of broadcast television it’s clear people will continue to tune in given that your show has the social impact, relevance, and gravitas to interest viewers. Niche products do still have a place when they can connect more with viewers.

2. Viral Viewing and Cultural Relevance

Not everyone will consume your product based on supposed quality alone, especially when a trip to the cinema could be risky, or its exclusive to a new SVOD service, this requires any release to have some ‘hype’ and with all the spare time people have had to tweet about and meme things we’ve seen even more devoted fandoms and viral successes. This is why unique iconography and memorable musical motifs are even more important when trying to create mainstream content and the mockery of your product not necessarily being a bad thing. Social media trends allowed some releases to transcend their target audiences notably with Squid Game’s popularity on Tik Tok leading it to reach primary school playgrounds despite its 15 rating.

3. Social Connections in the digital world

 As everyone’s day-to-day lives adapted, so that they could be conducted from home, the take up and development of various online platforms was greatly accelerated and it’s no surprise to see companies desperately leveraging this market with new communications features and the elusive but vague promise of “The Metaverse”. These changes are easier to observe in the videogame industry where convergence of social events, general discourse, and entertainment has already taken place inside huge online experiences like Fortnite and Roblox where concerts and even businesses are taking place within them. It's no longer just enough to offer entertainment, audiences will be expecting more of an expansive social experience that fulfils all their needs. As this way of socialising becomes more common, we can hope for enhanced awareness as to the effects and dangers that could come from this future. Though all the events proceeding the news of lockdown in March 2020 have been controversial we all can agree that the restrictions on our lives have irreversibly accelerated some inevitable changes in the media industry and primed us for a future where we become an active audience in all forms of entertainment we interact with. As we move towards this, we can continue to look back on how TV, film and videogames changed and attempted new things as they tried to figure out entertainment after isolation.

[nonchalantghost]

24/7 all access pass to your life.

I saw a meme going around a little while ago that said “letting everyone have access to you 24/7 is a relatively new concept.” Well, yeah. I suppose it is. It went on to say that because of this some of us might not answer texts or calls immediately or just seem “really bad” at posting happenings of our lives on the internet. The all-wise-and-mighty-meme then said that it’s important to take time in our lives to be unavailable. It sort of resonated with me.

       I am absolutely terrible at answering texts in a “timely manner”. I will hardly ever answer my phone when it rings. Staring right at it, watching it. Watching you call me and thinking “no, thank you.” My unread text number is barely ever under 10.  I don’t post anything about my life anywhere, hardly ever. (Unless, its going really, really well.) My parents recently came down to the city to see me. This was only the second time they’ve made the 4-hour car ride to see me in the 3 years I’ve lived here. I didn’t take a single picture. I didn’t post a single moment. I’m just not an all-access kind of gal, I suppose. According to viber.com 95% of text messages are read and answered within 3 minutes of being sent. Although those of us who also operate this way are in the minority. I think the trend is going to catch on. I think people are already getting sick of being up each other’s ass constantly. After all, I always thought the best part about a text was that I could answer it at my leisure. If they really needed my attention that minute, wouldn’t they call? Not that I would answer.  

       There are a few people in my ear trying to tell me that having an old school typed out blog is dead. Like, disco. They suggested that I do tik-tok and Instagram reels instead. I think that goes hand in hand with this 24/7 access stuff. I don’t want people to hear me or see me. I want them to read me. I don’t want to post a video passionately over-explaining my current hyper fixation just for some brain-dead idiot to comment on the cleanliness of the room I’m sitting in or the state of the lawn I’m on. You know the idiots I’m talking about. I don’t like being on camera. I like to write. So, that’s what I’m going to do. People be damned.

[gracekalinowskii]

Social media's impact on Reality TV

Reality TV is like the junk food of TV. Fake, trashy and something so bad but you can’t get enough of. Reality TV is one of those genres everyone secretly watches but often feels embarrassed to admit to it. Its been the most dominant form of TV for the last 20 years and features all different sub-genres including dating shows to talent contests.

The availability of social media has changed the way reality TV connects to its audience and has had a huge impact, taking the key aspects of reality tv beyond the tv screen. Since the growth of social media platforms, discussions of reality tv series’ race across multiple platforms which increases engagement with audiences.

Reality TV has begun to be less reliant on tv itself, and instead the way fans engage with the show throughout multiple different platforms separate from the television. This paradox is only the beginning of how much social media has impacted reality tv.

Humour is a large feature when it comes to the social media side of reality TV. You can find fans constantly posting memes and sarcastic commentary relating to recently released episodes (Deller 2019, pg 158) especially on Tik Tok. The idea of ‘viral sounds’ is a key component of the reality TV paradox. Certain ‘sounds’ can go viral on Tik Tok meaning someone has taken a short clip from an episode of Love Island for example and have gone and remade it and posted it on tik tok. These sounds then get spread around and next thing you know it’s been used 120,000 times. This gives the tv show a lot of spotlight even after it has finished airing on TV. It increases it’s afterlife and keeps it relevant, which wasn’t possible before social media came into the equation.

Reality show producers have even admitted that generating audience engagement on social media is a key factor to their strategy of marketing (L’Hoiry, X, 2019). Love island specifically make social media a key focus and they like to create a cycle between social media and television. You’ll find they often post ‘first looks’ on their Instagram page to show and exclusive scene from the upcoming episode, as well as posting memes and polls for audiences to engage with and discuss.

Deller, R, A 2019, ‘Reality television : The tv phenomenon that changed the world’, Emerald Publishing, pg. 153-175

L’Hoiry, X 2019, ‘Love Island, Social Media, and Sousveillance: New Pathways of Challenging Realism in Reality TV’, Frontiers in Socieology, vol 4

[nedflix-n-chill]

M3GAN I not only regained my freedom but also turned 1 year closer to congenital heart failure so fuck it, called outta work, got drunk, and went to go see M3GAN where I happened to be the ONLY person in the theater so when something insane happened I could run up and down the aisles and jump on the chairs. Now here's the part where I remind you that I am not a professional, I don't get paid for this and never will so I am immune from your accusations of unprofessionalism. So what if I like to occasionally have a beer and maybe some parts of the film remain hazy in my memory and I had to leave to pee at least 4 times (Hey, once you break the seal..) but does that really matter since M3GAN is more of a vibe you catch? We've memed this film into a success. Anything outside of tik tok dances is superfluous, we're "yassifying" our horror icons now. But like is this actually enjoyable beyond the intangible algorithms that are social media engagement? Well, when that "vibe" is "willing to make a murderous robot so you don't have to parent your children" then I'm in. Fuck them kids, especially ones that are dealing with trauma, yuck, get that shit away from me. As a former day camp counselor for 2 years, kids are weird and gross and I get it, they're the future or whatever Whitney said but they're little flesh bags of responsibility and I don't want no part of it. I'm fully enjoying this trend of killer doll movies playing with the the idea of AI run amok, I know it's sacrilege but I enjoyed the Child's Play remake (I'm capable of liking 2 things). And luckily for us M3GAN (never not writing it like that) knows exactly the kind of movie it is and leans into some of the more ridiculous aspects without ever disassociating through obnoxious meta humor. It's sincere in its unabashed bonkersness anchored by a satirical skewering of those that mask bad parenting behind technology which is all thanks to writer Akela Cooper who is quickly emerging as a torch bearer of bat-shit mainstream cinema surrounded by the darkness that is monotonous superheroes and sequels. Most importantly it's fun. This was the best birthday since I saw Raekwon at a ski lodge. https://www.instagram.com/p/CnXqOVNPOJZ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=