#western mutuals dont ignore this

[alphadogmp3]

it is incredibly frustrating to see the non-response from westerners to what is arguably the worst natural disaster in recent memory. when the ukraine-russia war broke out, it was on everyone's blogs. everyone--at least on my dash--was trying to spread awareness of the humanitarian crisis. but now?

fucking crickets.

absolutely nothing.

this earthquake has already claimed 20k confirmed lives. it has only been 5 days. most wrecks have not been excavated yet.

we need all the help we can get, but not a single fucking person is doing anything to help spread the message. people who proudly put the ukrainian flag in their display names or in their bios are nowhere to be seen now. the influencers youtubers and tiktok micro-celebrities who shared donation posts and ukrainian refugee testimonials daily are dead silent now. why? why do you only care when the people dying are somewhat like you? do we need to be whiter to deserve your attention? or more christian? do we not deserve your energy as is? are we, turks and syrians, not humans?

im so fucking sorry if donation posts don't fit your blog's aesthetic or if the news are just so fucking draining for you. every single one of you motherfuckers living in the west should be ashamed of yourselves for how differently you are treating us versus how you treated ukrainians when the war broke out.

if this happened in any western country you'd all be making infographics on how to donate or help.

right now the only reason why people on my dash are devastated is because the rhythm guitarist from my chemical romance had a haircut.

all of you need to be doing better.

do better.

[fruchtzwerg]

I find it so weird how pro Israel my parents are, it's so scuffed

[menalez]

Imma be honest with you, I consider myself a radfem, have been raised in a muslim family, my father is Lebanese (pro hezbollah type), I'm a febfem and have been repeatedly outcast for my gender non conformity (I'm highly masc) and my sexuality by my Arabic family. So we are somewhat similar.

I dont post anything about palestine on tumblr. I post on Instagram, Facebook (lost many Jewish friends doing that btw) but on tumblr because it's terribly limited for things that are not informative. I guess I'm sending this message to tell you you're not alone, there are radfems that are not pro genocide, there are women that care. Don't lose hope ❤️

thank u for the msg kind anon ❤️ i’ve been following more women who are speaking on the issue and unfollowing the ones that have only talked about israel while ignoring what is going on to palestinians. i had had enough of it. i even saw a mutual talking about how criticising jkr for only speaking on israel means ur antisemitic and support terrorism.. i’m tired of it and i just need to curate this space to fit what i prefer to see. ultimately the way i’ve seen western white women treat this issue has made me question why i should waste my time advocating for their issues when they will never spend any time doing the same for MENA women. they didn’t do it with iranian women, or afghan women, or anything else. their solidarity for us seems only to extend as far as calling muslim men horrible animals and muslim women brainwashed class traitors. my posts criticising islam get lots of notes, yet i’m an islam shill bc i draw the line at discriminatory and racist rhetoric from them. my posts about what MENA women face that reject the notion that our issues were invented (rather than reinforced) by religion are often overlooked or lead me to face harassment, my posts about racism woc face from white women gets me harassment and ppl falsely claiming i would support white women getting raped, etc like. why should i waste my time with posts about how karen is misogynistic or how the hate of pumpkin spice products is misogynistic or whatever else that is specifically used to mock white women, when more serious issues woc face are overlooked by white women? they can go focus on being called karens like it’s the most pressing problem in the world and ignore our plights and actively even be racist against us, they’re hopeless, i’ll focus on our issues the way they focus on their own. that’s been what i’ve been telling myself to cope at least lol

sorry i ended up rambling!! it’s a bad habit of mine. but point is, thank u i appreciate it

[yugocar]

tag directory 

decided to do a little tag directory, for anyone whose ever been curious what my silly little long tags are for! i treat these like personal little archives, so i’m constantly cleaning them up 

art

‘on the question of art’ - art history, fine arts

‘on the topic of art’  - contemporary illustration / animation / digital art

‘till the devil whispered behind the leaves’ - texts about art, art theory, discussions about art (primarily visual art)

‘a story is true a story is untrue’ - discussions about narrative particularly in the context of various media

‘personal art vault’ - my favourite artist and works of art, usually means i’ve reflected on these works/artist in a more serious capacity

“we do not judge the object but what it tells us” - eastern european art. made by, made in or made about.

‘lgbtq art / balkan art / comics zines and artbooks / history of propaganda // gen art tag

specific / themed

‘who suffered death because she chose to turn’ - on nostalgia and memory. this is a topic i work with and research a lot

‘the stories we want to believe are the ones that survive’ - things that resonate with me personally, usually in the context of my artistic practice

‘parallel lines meet at infinity’ - web-weavings and things adjacent to web weavings

‘gastarbajter tag’ - a tag for my experiences with moving/living abroad. a mix of personal posts, transitioning from eastern european culture to western european culture and bits about nostalgia/immigration/exile/etc

‘yugocars impromptu art club’ - my ongoing attempts at having conversations about art (film/music/literature/etc) with followers/mutuals, cause its neat!

‘the robot cycle’ - robot things which are also a personal metaphor for me trying to live with autism which is also just some overall collection on what being human means ? hope that helps

“you will tell me stories of the sea and the ones you left behind” - everything about leaving

healing tag - a collection of art and words that focus on gentle thing and the fact that life goes on

personal nostalgia collection - what it says on the tin. this contains primarily things from ‘90/early 2000′s.

on the problem of flesh - reflection on the difficulty of having a body and what to do with it

the infant’s wail - the base desire and desperation to be seen and loved

the poison seeps through - all things regarding the strange reality of family

with these clumsy hands - collection of how humanity stumbles through life

how the world ends - what it says on the tin

metamorphosis of monstrosity -

on betrayal / on love / on friendship / on violence / on homecoming / on sisterhood / on grief /  on longing / on being understood / on the visual / roads left behind / swan song / on solitude / on gentleness / on salvation / on divinity / on haunting / past the final hour (on resiliance) / on tragedy /

general

‘soon nostalgia will be another name for europe’ - pretty much everything connected to europe, i dont tag most purely balkan things with it because i have a separate tag for that

‘balkan youth have always outlived evil times’ - tag for all things balkan. primarily ex-yu countries, but sometimes also other places

‘you must have soul crushing hope to be this afraid of missing it’ - a very long title for what is essentially a ‘me’ tag

‘the world’ - as it says on the tin, pictures from all over the world, from different cultures. it isnt a tag with critical texts, just a tag to appreciate the diversity of this world

samenleving en politiek - a broad tag that contains politics, social commentary, etc

‘reading logs’ - whatever i read and feel like sharing, usually small bits from the texts.

logs - me talking. blacklist if you wanna ignore the silly stuff i say

love visualized - all kind of moments of love and intimacy

‘ee tag’ - eastern europe tag. if it doesnt have an elaborate name yet, i’m still workshopping it!

lgbtq history / lgbtq tag / ee lgbtq tag (eastern europe)

on living / a bit of humanity / a bit of laughter / media corner / general gaming tag / arthuriana / superhero stories and such / future past of the internet / music corner

autism tag / mental health tag / dutch tag / mental health refs /

my own stuff

endless list of world war one artist / endless list of female artists

my edits / my art

[terriblygrimm]

just some ramblings but man what a letdown korra was in terms of aang’s family.

i dont even have anything actively AGAINST what they did (i’m not anti enough to care one way or another. it’s always been a net zero in my head - just there), but the more i re-think on aang’s family i just cringe. like why did they go that route. WHY does tenzin exist and his weird little kids. like why didnt they think of something more creative for growing the air bending culture than aang and katara having a bunch of generic kids lol???? like i literally don’t even have anything against kataang (i have my opinions on it, and i don’t ship it, but like it’s fine), but i swear they took the lazy way out. & it’s also implied in my perception if canon that aang and katara weren’t even that close later in life, and that aang was a somewhat absent father (avatar duties!) so like they tried to add some interest? but it just ended up being weird. it’s all very nuclear western family. could’ve done way more.

i just personally ignore that side of canon and make my own headcanons (like that they fell out of puppy love, but out of deep mutual respect for one another had an agreement to have kids to further the air nation). but anyway i wish they did better. hopefully the 2025 film will elaborate on their situation and make it have more depth.

[roryintheir90s]

when i only came to this fandom my friend was like ew, ranchers? no, i don't want to see it, i only like scarians and fh

and he was pretending like scott is holy as.. ahem. and when i created a cult for ranchers (that's quickly became cult for scaridarity, tho i was the only one who talking about them) all the guys was like "well, i like fh more" all of this made me so upset :(

i just got to the fandom and wanted to talk about how scar and jimmy are cute together 😭

but still, i'm ship almost everything, and have a playlist for fh

but no one will shut me up from telling about westerns (bc i stopped talking about them and now there's no content)

but i still hate how about 80% from ships with scar are ignored bc we have grian, why would we want something different?

- 🔥 im a little bit angry bc its cold in my room

I mean, im pretty sure most of the shipping started bc of Fh, so thats why it has such a big fandom! Since, if you look at any otehr series, they might be just few fanarts

But I get what cha mean. Gen speaking, I dont mind if someone is all about fh, i like them too and Im willing to hear them out about their hc, but i also expect people to listen to me ramble and participate in convo in return as well LMAO

After all conversations and friendships are based on mutual exchange!

Grian x Scar is a little special for me tho. I like them, I do. But the fanodm takes it sometimes a little too far for me.

Ive talked about it before, but I really dont like how scar and grian becomes just their ship in the fandom. They have their individual content too, and putting shadow over it Bc OMG DESERT DUO, annoys me.

Like dude, i have my fair share of fanart, headcannons. Im more then happy to talk about them, but if you reducte the both of them to just that, im just like eeehhh???

Plus i like other ships with them too. Sometimes being in the shipping side of things is tiredsome for me because of those reasons. not only desert duo, but others too. And ye, that includes Jimmy x martyn ship too (Which is my main ship).

I love ships for the life of me, but I could never live just by the ship alone

[endcant]

aimless musings on subgenre, citypop, and internet subcultures

theres something very interesting about watching citypop become very mainstream in korea and watching that feed back into both western listeners’ opinions and also into the sometimes-cynical efforts of a variety of kpop producers

a lot of people in the youtube/kpop sphere talk about the growth of citypop as if it were a spontaneous wave that appeared out of nowhere with mariya takeuchi’s plastic love getting picked up by the youtube algorithm in like 2018 or whatever, but thats a very like online-ignorant view of the interaction between vintage japanese music and worldwide online EDM production. citypop has been used in future funk and vaporwave for almost a decade by now, and, as a result, a number of citypop songs took off on social media here and there before plastic love’s acceleration— dress down by kaworu akimoto is one of the big examples off the top of my head, but there’s likely many many more.

“Plastic Love” by Mariya Takeuchi (1984). if you haven’t heard this yet, you’d better listen to it now. The video that first went viral was uploaded in 2017

“Selfish High Heels” by Yung Bae, Macross 82-99, and Harrison (2014) is a popular Future Funk remixes of Dress Down by Kaoru Akimoto (1986)

people who haven’t been very aesthetically literate online over the years— musically or visually, since those things are tied in subcultures— treat things like they come from nowhere. there are ongoing subcultural conversations that lead to certain aesthetic choices, and when someone tries to cash in on a trend without understanding what the trend is, that leads people to call bullshit. calling bullshit is not meanspirited, in my opinion, because it very much is like somebody who can’t speak a language getting up in front of everybody and saying “hey, i’m fluent!” and then speaking some vaguely that-language-sounding nonsense. of course people who genuinely speak that language will be outraged instinctively. it feels like being mocked.

that’s why the difference between music producers picking up on a trend cynically and music producers picking up on a trend with earnest interest in that trend’s origins feels different, even if the producers are similarly distant from the original subculture that produced that trend.

“Lady” by Yubin (2018) committed hard to the 80s JP citypop aesthetic, musically and visually, down to the sets, all fairly early in the major resurgence.

i’m sure that anyone with a passing familiarity with citypop and kpop can ascertain that not all kpop producers know what citypop is and what makes it citypop. all they know is that it is on-trend and they have to make it. not all kpop listeners know what citypop is and what makes it citypop. all they know is their idol said citypop as a buzzword in their little prepared statement. all this results in some interesting moments for me as a Music Fan, Online.

here is where i get to the thing that spurred this post: loona “did a citypop” for their japanese comeback. it doesnt sound like citypop.

“Hula Hoop (Citypop Version)” by Loona (2021). It has very odd percussion rhythms and mixing for citypop, no real attempt at a citypop verse, and strangely sparse gestures towards citypop in the form of a few seconds of bass and some synthesized orchestral embellishments that were taken from the original mix …all in spite of a very disco-inspired melody that should have worked perfectly for citypop

this is not a very big deal, and im not mad about it or anything. when a kpop act i like gets saddled with an unfortunate B-Side track i dont tend to take it very hard. however, it did raise a little bit of musical discourse in the loona fandom— in the form of remixes.

“hula hoop if it was actually a citypop song” by loonahatetwinks and Olivia Soul on youtube. this one has an original instrumental that is spot-on for contemporary k-citypop

My most favorite one of these remixes is a futurefunk remix by ZSunder, one of the very best LOONA fan producers. The fact that ZSunder thought to make a future funk remix at all speaks more to an understanding of the mutually supportive relationship between citypop and EDM genres than most kpop citypop producers or fanmixers seem to care to know about.

“Hula Hoop (Future Funk Mix)” by ZSunder is futurefunk made and mixed with such love that it has the infectious summery energy of a polished, big-name future funk hit

in the comments of this video, some people seemed to get the citypop-future funk connection and some didnt. many did get it, don’t get me wrong! but also, its not all that surprising for some kpop-focused listeners to not know much about EDM subcultures and the reasons behind various trends among producers, since kpop as an institution tends to take influences from any genre and culture it likes and then decontextualize those influences by just having their names used as buzzwords in the blurbs the idols have to recite when variety show hosts ask them about their latest single. this isn’t a criticism of the genre or the fans really, it’s just a part of the kpop industry that is used to add shine to an endless firehose-like stream of polished pop tracks. there are some issues with using whole genres and subcultures with complex histories as buzzwords, but god help us if we ever want a pop industry to give its influences their dues.

anyway, the intention behind ZSunder’s future funk Hula Hoop remix happened to remind me me of why i love Yukika’s discography so much, especially the Soul Lady album. I’ve seen some reviews online baffled by parts of Soul Lady, because the album in general is an exploration of that relationship between citypop and modern/internet EDM. i’ve seen plenty of Soul Lady reviews especially baffled by pit-a-pet, saying something along the lines of “what’s with the modern-sounding dance track in the middle of a retro album?”, but i think that pit-a-pet is a futurefunk-inspired track, at least in the chorus. considering both that and the Chill Lo-Fi Interludes, it seems like estimate’s team put together Soul Lady for Yukika in a way that shows that they love citypop and understand the online-specific electronic music subcultures that led to citypop’s resurgence.

“pit-a-pet” by Yukika (2020). the stacatto, bass heavy chorus is futurefunk enough, but the soaring orchestral part in the final chorus seals the deal for my interpretation.

“All Flights Are Delayed (1 hour version)” by Yukika (2020). Estimate literally released an hour-long youtube mix of one of the Lo-Fi interludes on Soul Lady as part of their promotion, clearly inspired by “Lo-Fi anime beats to chill out to,” which is another example of online producers from around the world using Japanese samples as a focal point of their music

Estimate, in the end, is still a Kpop production company, just the same as BBC, so they have no inherent claim over citypop, but the way that their exploration of subgenres clearly comes from passion and interest on the part of their production staff makes it so that their work with Yukika rings true. on the other hand, i really appreciate Ryan S. Jhun’s work on LOONA’s JP comeback, as well as on Not Friends, but the citypop mix thing was so clearly an afterthought to the point where fans of Loona who like citypop seem mostly just irritated by the cynical-seeming attempt.

heres one last good modern kpop citypop MV that has nods to the internet culture that led to its revival in the form of the videography— vaporwave, future funk, lofi, and other internet genres along those lines tend to have videos consisting of looping anime and vhs clips. future funk in particular is known for this, especially since a lot of future funk music, esp early future funk, is just loops of very short, catchy segments of citypop and disco songs. it’s all about the loops

“My Type” by Yoon JongShin ft. Miyu Takeuchi (2019). This song is so dedicated to the retro JP citypop sound that it’s almost beyond my personal taste. The singer, Miyu, was a headlining act at a seoul citypop festival and sang this song as part of her act (:

this video of “Only One” by Conscious Thoughts (2015) has a looped clip as an example for comparison with My Type. it also has a pulsing sidechain compressor working in time with its drum beat in a way that is common for future funk and that i think is a good example for my pit-a-pet yukika comparison to future funk

i guess the takeaway here is that media is more and more online, and the creation and propagation of digital audio and video content has been in the hands of literally almost anybody who wants to do it for the past two decades thanks to garage band and fruityloops and audacity and tiktok and youtube and bandcamp and soundcloud and myspace and newgrounds and p2p file sharing and so on and so forth. and therefore like… as with all things, the consumer class more and more is also the creator class, and therefore every member of an audio-visual subculture will have the ability to discern what is and isnt made with knowledge of the audio-visual language of that subculture

[thesmallworldofsamizayn]

Some uncomfortable personal reflections under the cut more at 2 am

I need to work on myself. The gay subtext thing is getting out of hand and I dont want to blame tumblr people for having fun in my orbit but its DEFINITELY because I spend too much time here..... there are other reasons to like a film. There are other reasons to get excited about a film. And it doesn't look good after a while to fixate so so exclusively on male-male relationships in old films that are mostly irrelevant to the experiences and struggles of lgbt people now. ESPECIALLY when the same focus isn't extended to lesbian content like wow the transparency..... not to mention the near total absence of non-western films and films focusing on people of colour in general... like when not just one person but three in my close orbit are noticing this and like, not attacking me or anything for it but flagging up the idea that this may be too single an interest for me, thats not something I'm going to ignore until its too late and i actually end up falling into genuinely harmful thinking habits.

I didnt always use to be this hyperfocused on one minor aspect of film enjoyment either. its really quite recent, like starting with mikey and nicky/getting into iasip and swept up in the tumblr following for those things, and putting on these gay subtext goggles I just have not taken off. After a while its, dare I say it, cringe....

And no this isn't an attack on my mutuals or people I follow who blog about this stuff, because the people I follow have other interests within film as well, the gay subtext is just one admittedly prominent part of the overall film passion. Which it is for me too really, like I did not get into films for (male) gay subtext but its getting to a point where (male) gay subtext will be a strong deciding factor in my level of personal engagement with a film. Which again that would be fine its a personal preference you can't help, but again and again to the detriment of other meaningful art, and. As a straight fucking woman. Its not ideal and I should switch it up or tone it down or something. I need to watch something that has no men or something that's not made by white people is the point

[gunnerpalace]

Hi! Same anon as the previous one. Tbh, I agree wholeheartedly with you. Y'see I do ask rhetorically,too but i could really accept and understand how and why ppl can be oblivious to IchiRuki, and somehow felt that the 'canon' should suffice, even the most excruciating of all is the fact a number found the ending even acceptable (ships aside, too). Again, I could respect that. But it's my greatest bane when ppl ask 'why' and not be clear they are asking rhetorically because I literally will

provide you an actual answer. And I get it, it’s the reason why ppl find shipping wars toxic and silly. But then again, as human, conflicts are always part of us (partly because as social psych explains so, we are gravitated to the negative for that allows us to change and survive), and the reason why “logical fallacies” are coined in the first place. Human will always debate, and argue about something; the only thing we could change is how we approach the opposing views.

Again, I dont condone any way, shape or form of abuse and harm. In some certain extent, I could perhaps understand it’s much harder for some IH to approach the actual argument being there’s either too much noise, and trapped in their own island between sea of salt. Thus becoming too acquianted w/ few IH who shared the same thought until it became their views as the only truth (see, that’s why its important to have debates! it is what keep us grounded and fair! Just like you said)

Who am I to speak though? I never ever challenged anyone anyways. And as you said, you just have to understand things in every way you could possibly think of–endless ‘whys’. Which is where I agree in your reply the most–this silly fandom wars is just the black mirror to every truth that lies beneath human psyche–the dark and the grimy. Heck, being a psych major is like staring at dark hole–at times, good, but most just plain confusing, revolting even or just heartbreaking.

Sorry it’s been long, but for the final of this ask: let me tell how glad I was with IchiRuki fandom I found in tumblr. It was the saltiest I’ve ever been (im not generally a fandom person anyways) but it’s the himalayan salt–expensive and actually nutritive it really deepened my desire to become wiser in general. And you for your wonderful essays, critiques and whatnot. I definitively would love to talk with you more not only about IchiRuki but the wonders and nightmare that us humans! Kudos!

I have sitting in my drafts a post spelling out my thoughts on “canon” (and thus, the people who cling to it) in that as a concept it privileges:

officiality over quality when it comes to validity (thus violating Sturgeon’s law)

corporations (intellectual property rights holders) over fans, and thus capitalists over proletarians

hierarchical dominance over mutualist networking within fandom

curative fandom over transformative fandom

genre over literary content

plot over characters

events over emotions

It is notable that (1) generally degrades art as a whole, (2) generally advances the capitalist agenda, and (3–7) generally advances the dominance of men over women (as the genders tend to be instructed by society to view these as A. dichotomies rather than spectrums, and B. to ascribe gender to them and make them polarities). These form the sides of a mutually reinforcing power structure (in the typical “Iron Triangle” fashion) designed to preserve and maintain the status quo.

Who really benefits from say, the policing of what is or is not “canon” in Star Wars? Disney, first and foremost. And then whomever (almost certainly male) decides to dedicate their time to memorizing the minutiae of whatever that corporation has decided is “legitimate.”

One can imagine a universe in which fan fic is recognized by companies for what it is: free advertising. (Much like fan art already is.) Instead, it is specifically targeted by demonetization efforts in a way that fan art isn’t. Why? Because it demonstrates that corporate control and “official” sanction has no bearing on quality, and it is thus viewed as undermining the official products.

In the same way, by demonstrating that most “canonical” works are frankly shit, it undermines the investiture of fans in focusing on details that are ultimately errata (the events, the plot, the genre), which is the core function of curative fandom and the reason for its hierarchical structure. The people who “know the most” are at the top, but what they “know” is basically useless garbage. And those people so-engaged are, of course, usually male.

To “destroy” the basis of their credibility, and indeed the very purpose of their community, is naturally viewed by them as an attack.

(This is not to say that efforts to tear down internal consistency within established cultural properties are good unto themselves, or even desirable. For example, efforts to redefine properties such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Doctor Who, and Ghostbusters, for the sake of a identity-politics agenda have largely A. failed as art, B. failed as entertainment, C. failed to attract the supposedly intended audience, and D. failed to advance the agenda in question. Trying to repurpose extant media in the name of culture wars is essentially always doomed to failure unless it is done deftly and gradually.)

(At the same time, this also shows what I was talking about last time, with regard to people seeing whatever they want to see. You will see people complain that Star Trek and Doctor Who didn’t “used to be so political,” which is obviously nonsense. These shows were always political. What changed was how their politics were presented. For example, Star Trek has, since TNG, always shown a nominally socialist or outright communist future, but was beloved by plenty of conservatives because they could [somehow] ignore that aspect of it.)

Of course, almost no one is seriously suggesting that one side of the spectrums outlined above be destroyed, rather merely that a new balance be struck upon the spectrum. But, as we have seen time and again in society, any threat to the status quo, whether that be 20% of Hugo Awards going to non-white male authors or the top income tax rate in America being increased by a measly 5.3% (from 28.7% to 34%… when the all-time high was 94% and for over 50 years it was above 50%) is a threat. This is why, for example, Republicans are out there branding AOC as a “socialist” when her policies are really no different at all from a 1960 Democrat who believed in FDR’s New Deal. (Which they, of course, have also demonized as “socialism.”)

(As an aside, all this ignores the fact that most of the “literary canon” of Western civilization, or at least English literature… is Biblical or historical fan fic.)

And this is when I finally get to my point.

Those people out there who denigrate and mock shippers and shipping, the people who hurl “it reads like fan fiction” as an insult, and so on, are the people who benefit from and enjoy the extant power structure. You will see the same thing with self-identified “gamers” complaining about “fake girl gamers.” Admitting that the hobby has a lot of women in it, and a lot of “casuals,” and is indeed increasingly dominated by “non-traditional demographics” is an affront to the constructed identity of being a “gamer.” They are “losing control.” And they don’t like it.

This exact same sort of population is what the “fanbase” of Bleach has been largely reduced down to through a slow boiling off of any actual quality. Of course they’re dismissive of people who are looking for anything of substance: their identity, their “personal relationship” with the franchise, is founded on a superficial appreciation of it: things happening, flashy attacks, eye-catching character designs, fights, etc.

(What this really boils down to, at heart, is that society at large has generally told men that emotions are bad, romance and relationships of all kinds are gross, and that thinking and reflecting on things is stupid. So of course they not only don’t care about such things, but actively sneer at them as “girly” or “feminine,” which is again defined by society at large as strictly inferior. And this gender divide and misogyny is of course promulgated and reinforced by the powers that be, the capitalists, to facilitate class divisions just like say racism generally is.)

(The latest trick of these corporate overlords has been the weaponization of “woke” culture to continue to play the people off one another all the time. “If you don’t like this [poorly written, dimensionless Mary Sue] Strong Female Character, then you are a racist misogynist!” They are always only ever playing both sides for profit, not advancing an actual ideological position. It is worth noting that there was a push by IH some years ago to define IR as “anti-feminist” for critiquing Orihime for essentially the exact same reasons [admittedly, not for profit, but still as critical cover].)

Which makes it very curious, therefore, that the most ardent IH supporters tend to be women. (Though there are more than a few men, they seem to tend to support it because it is “canon” and to attack it is to attack “canon” and thus trigger all of the above, rather than out of any real investment.) I think there are a number of reasons for this (which I have detailed before) and at any rate it is not particularly surprising; 53% of white women voted for Trump, after all.

What we are really seeing in fandom, are again the exact same dynamics that we see at larger and larger scales, for the exact same reasons. The stakes are smaller, but the perception of the power struggle is exactly the same.

Of course, the people who are involved in these things rarely think to interrogate themselves as to the true dimensions and root causes of their motivations. People rarely do that in general.

Putting all that aside, I’m glad that you have found a place you enjoy and feel comfortable, and thank you for the kind words, although I am not of the opinion that there is anything poignant about the non-fiction I write. It is, as I keep trying to emphasize, all there to be seen. One just has to open their eyes. So, it’s hard for me to accept appreciation of it.

Anyway, don’t feel shy about coming off of anon rather than continuing to send asks. We don’t really bite.

[misnomera]

I think it unfair to open a can of worms through an anonymous ask(if I do it’ll be in my own acc) so I’ve put the slash between names but am I the only Chinese person really frustrated with the popularity of T/GCF bc of all the whitewashing that takes place in so many fandoms for East Asian media? They say if a fandom gets too uncomfortable to leave but I honestly find it unfair that I feel like I’m always the one that has to leave. Or is there something wrong with me?

yo anon i’m just vibing here on tumblr dot com and like you already said this ask is pretty unfair. pls dont do this on anon? but hey I do actually have some thoughts on this, so what the fuck, i’ll entertain it. If anyone clowns on this ask I will block <3

As chinese diaspora I think it’s great that tgcf is getting attention overseas! not to invalidate your frustrations or anything because i think your worry is justified, especially since the world of tgcf is so entrenched in taoist cultural traditions and beliefs, which a lot of foreigners might not have a good understanding of (though i wouldn’t call that whitewashing? just cultural ignorance). people are gonna misinterpret parts of the story esp because its hard for translations to convey the right tone sometimes. people are gonna mispronounce or misspell characters’ names and you’ll cringe a little about it. that’s inevitable. the burden often ends up falling upon chinese fans to correct misconceptions too, which can be frustrating, but from what i’ve seen so far on tumblr and twitter and the like it’s been relatively okay and pretty respectful, and people are genuinely interested in learning more about the cultural context to the stories? And having thoughtful conversations about said representations of culture? I’ve also seen lots of people on social media who are like, actually seriously learning chinese now as well because they want to consume more chinese media. i think that’s great! i welcome that, also validates the hell outta my cultural identity so its like, hell yeah, y’know? And ultimately, chinese or not, these people love the story of tgcf, so i don’t see the harm in it. 

There will always be people who write stupid internet takes and yeah with the donghua getting a bigger western audience from airing on youtube and funimation and whatnot those instances will probably increase. Again, inevitable, thats just the state of social media today. but my experience of the english-speaking side of the fandom has been pretty alright so far (keep in mind im still very new to tgcf, i started reading the book on november 1st). And y’know, you can always ~curate your social media experience~ to avoid seeing annoying shit. unfollow ppl who like to get involved in fandom drama! remain blissfully unaware! dont go actively looking for posts written by haters! get your own lil fandom corner with some mutuals and just vibe! and if you really, really don’t like that non-chinese speakers are getting into tgcf, then, idk, go on weibo and lofter or smth, the fanbase is certainly much bigger there ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[flockofdoves]

i just. have such a personal distaste for sh!nara like nothing is morally bad with it or w/e i just think it sucks

which sucks for me bc no one even posts ywpd anymore and its a popular ship (for some reason lol) so i might alienate my few ywpd mutuals whenever i say that and have to avoid reblogging otherwise good art fkdjghd

its just boring. it barely has a canon basis unless you’re going to point out interactions they have as a byproduct of them both having a more prominent dynamic with fukutomi. i only care about them together in the context of fukushinara

but theres barely any fukutomi content which i take personally i love fuku so much!!!

but like. literally its a ship where people just ignore their characterization and project whatever stereotypical shonen BL ship dynamic they feel like using onto them. theres no real love for exploring their characters in it. it literally started as a crack ship in western fandom how did it become the second most popular ship on ao3!!!!

like on its own i think exploring ship dynamics that dont have much canon basis can be fun! i think writing cliche stuff for ships isn’t necessarily bad! but that together is just??? wheres the flavor?? do you even care about these characters?? and adds insult to injury literally its more popular than every other ship nowadays that involves them (not even just fukuara and fukushin and fukuarashin but Also shinizu and tadoshin and arakin and fukukinara etc etc etc)

[infochores]

Leftism, the DPRK and the Nuclear crisis

I thought id write a thing on this because most of the current far left talking points on this issue are terribly poorly informed. There’s a tendency amongst leftists online, particularly notable on twitter, but also here to conflate two kinds of commentary on contentious geopolitical issues into being one form of sin. Obviously the most current example is regarding the Singapore summit. The way its currently playing out in a lot of cases is basically as follows (I’m being a little snarky here but this is a fairly accurate play by play for a lot of the stupider stuff):

Prominent analyst, journalist, politician or Liberal pundit makes a statement criticizing the deal for a given reason. It might either be ordinary partisanship, or a genuine technical criticism of the content of the circumstances. 

It gets retweeted

People comment on  it in the retweets, claiming that the given person is in favour of  Koreans getting exterminated, because all objections to the circumstances must be borne of a desire for war or something.

The difference between multiple forms of criticism gets totally ignored by the left, we dont learn anything and we continue patting ourselves on the back.

Obviously this is fairly normal for online stuff but even so i think we need to start paying much closer attention to these issues and at the same time, stop being so parochial in our thinking about issues such as these. Therefore I’m minded to make a few points here about why its  short sighted to interpret this via the lens of western domestic political leftist rhetoric, the problem being that there’s severe limitations on that lens. 

Firstly its primarily based on established rhetorical forms that are largely out of date or constrained by a lack of room for outside information. This prevents us from usefully adopting lines of analyses from schools of thought not traditionally connected to existing normal stances within leftism. On the occasions where this does occur, we co-opt it for our own benefit. Essentially, If there’s a form of analysis, or an area of academic or technical expertise where the information and commentary is not directly subordinate to a conservative, US-centric interpretation of anti-imperialism then it tends to get completely discounted. The main example of this type of thing i wish to talk about is an area of interest of mine, namely arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation, as well as the place of nuclear weapons within a fairly basic Marxist influenced viewpoint on nuclear politics. 

Secondly, this stance is limited by the dynamics of online sectarian politics and the desire to produce content. Everyones familiar with this and knows how it works so im not going to bother going into this in any great detail. Essentially its providing a great addition to our respective mutual firing squads.

A third issue is the presumption of knowledge, and of moral or intellectual high ground on a combination of ideological bases. This latter point ties into an ongoing dynamic of orientalist thinking and presumptions that tend to seep into leftist rhetoric on subjects surrounding the Korean Peninsula. This is notable particularly within Marxist-Leninist  self styled “anti-imperialist” discourses, which are the main area of failure on all three of the issues ive listed, though there has been cross-pollination with other leftist sects. This behavior is reliant on making the nuclear crisis All About Us, unconsciously sliding over the human and political realities in order to establish credentials, ignoring regional factors beyond what is read about in a few articles and a surface level adherence to popular conceptions of anti imperialist praxis. Its essentially a highly banal form of watered down orientalism mixed with a vague presumption of superior politics. The reality is that we havent really learned anything from the crisis, because we’ve refused to. Arms Control, Non-proliferation and a lack of far-left institutional knowledge: I’m mainly going to address the first issue, that of a general lack of understanding of evolving dynamics in nuclear proliferation issues and arms control within the far left because its where i have the strongest base of knowledge relating to this matter. Functionally, nearly no-one in the circles of the online left I’m in actually knows how arms control is meant to work either in its form as a policy enacted between countries on a mutual basis, or in its form as a system in the world of geopolitics within which countries formulate policies. Im not trying to grandstand here as this circumstance is totally understandable: its a very niche topic and its not as if I’m particularly special for having made it something I’m interested in, but regardless there is a knowledge gap in leftist discussions on this issue and it seems important to highlight it. If there are any leftist arms control nerds that happen to see this assuming it gets more than a handful of notes by all means let me know. Anyway, I think its wise at this point to make the following statement and to explain it:

In the particular example at hand, namely this weeks Singapore summit and the deal made there, what has just happened is very likely a disaster in the long term, and should be absolutely regarded as such by the left. This is due to a combination of technical and political factors relating to the context and structure of the agreement. I am saying this as a Marxist and as someone in favour of internationalism and popular movements directed towards nuclear disarmament. Leftist institutional knowledge and the general knowledge in the community of how arms control works isn't really that great. During the cold war it was ok, due to the size and importance of the disarmament movement, but in the modern era its essentially non-existent. Anyway, the summit was a disaster for arms control and very few of us seem to get why. This is for a few reasons, but the main one is that it has established a precedent for successful, aggressive  strategies of proliferation under extreme duress. Arms control as a concept has taken a serious beating since 2003 and the Iraq war, with other major points of inflection since. The most significant of these have been the collapse of the JCPOA agreement with Iran  and the various chemical warfare atrocities in the Syrian civil war. The collapse of the Libyan state stands as its own special case as well for its own reasons. In the case of the recent summit the precedent set has been one of the solidification of certain dynamics, of the transition undertaken by nuclear weapons from being articles characterized by their technical use into being primarily characterized by a capacity for abstract political use in a way that had not yet been achieved, and of the deliberate manipulation and degradation of existing institutions in order to facilitate proliferation. I am not merely talking about Nuclear weapons being used for political purposes. I am talking about a very specific type of political use. This dynamic is extremely bad and provides a model for action to accompany the diminishing difficulty in producing nuclear weapons, which will provide a great incentive to states seeking to proliferate nuclear weapons. The only outcome possible here is the furthering of the development of weaponry to be used against populations and in so doing, the armory of empire. This is not a victory for Anti-Imperialism, despite its surface appearance having had great propaganda value.

The deal has essentially entrenched both the (many) negative and the (few) positive aspects of the present crisis, essentially providing cover for the ROK to continue a gradualist approach toward achieving a sustainable end result at the same time as providing a model of success for proliferation as a state policy. In fact i would argue that one of the main contributions that this will all make to geopolitical history will be the establishment, testing, and success of a new model of proliferation, one with profoundly negative though interesting consequences from a leftist perspective. Essentially, by forcing the nuclear issue, by making all of the political capital centered upon repeated escalating crises, comprising a protracted greater crisis, the DPRK strategy meant that all political questions were to be decided according to a single signifier of value: the technical usability and validity of its nuclear weapons, demonstrable to all onlookers from the outside. A value which the DPRK leadership were able to be the controlling agents of, determining its magnitude, qualities and effects. In doing so it has essentially managed to manipulate the existing notions of arms control agreements and non-proliferation principles in order to turn those structures to its advantage: to turn them from being systems which constrained nuclear proliferation, to using them as a basis for updating the nuclear weapon into taking on a modern form of its already infamous role as the ultimate political commodity. It was essentially a strategy of folding up all issues into one and forcing everyone's decisions to rest upon that single focused issue. It is now far easier to proliferate nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles in terms of technical restrictions than it was 30, 40, 50 years ago. The designs are no-longer unknown and the required production technology is no longer as challenging as it once was. Provided with this, directed efforts towards various kinds of proliferation now have new potentials: the end state no longer has to be one option from a three way fork between a failed program, a successful program and being attacked/sanctioned. Obviously nuclear weapons have always been used as chips to bet on and trade between states, but for the most part those items, in the historical contexts of the cold war, the India/Pakistan standoff, and in the cases of Israel, Iran and the DPRK prior to recent developments, were developed for strict military terms, as items of deterrence, as physical items for physical use as instruments of policy in the most literal sense. In other words, they have been pursued by states for their use either as weapons, articles of deterrence or as a combination of being usable weapons and articles of abstract political power realized. This has now changed, likely irreversibly, and the summit has been a notable moment in the change.

The realization of abstract powers, and the risks of a new Nuclear credit:

What the new development has done is to introduce the potential for the transformation from nuclear weapons as weapons into a sort of proto-commodity form, whereby proliferation, as a behavior that states may engage in and as a form of production existing in a political sphere, has been brought to a such point of technical and political development that it may now be used not merely as an action engaged in to achieve a physical end, a productive approach to achieving a state policy, but takes on a new meaning, as a form of bargaining chip in itself. Elements of this have been present with nuclear weapons since the cold war in  relatively isolated minor forms but never reached the stage of proliferating for the sake of trading against that proliferation.

I believe that the summit has laid the groundwork for the establishment of such a dynamic  and I suspect that the fallout from the summit and the ongoing crisis ( which is not at all over) will now exacerbate this tendency in future cases. It is as if they have succeeded in laying the groundwork for making nuclear weapons not merely commodity items between a state and its industrial complex, but have extended their existence as commodities right into the geopolitical sphere. The truly perverse thing about this is that this change has been achieved without the DPRK even having to actually physically trade any of them: it has merely made a vapor-deal based on vague promises to limit the most obvious cases of its potential power.  In this manner another well established dynamic has been reinforced: The confrontational relationship between the instability of deterrence and the long term tendency evolving from it for states to engage in proliferation. The repeated historical cases of the seeming success of deterrence, (a false semblance) have created a climate of encouragement for proliferation: existing nuclear weapons states are encouraged to expand and proliferate new powers to counter their antagonists advances, whilst non-nuclear weapons states begin to seek the weapons to achieve parity on various fronts. Against this backdrop, both the repeated crises in deterrence, the breakdowns of its various forms, political crises between states etc, and the longer periods of time between them, the long moments of false security, serve to enhance the fetishized value of deterrence. The illusory success of deterrent strategies encourage the proliferation dynamic. Deterrence will therefore, if i am correct, become a contributing factor in commodity-led proliferation. But now a new aspect of this dynamic has appeared: the change in nature of arms control into also becoming a contributing feature. Prior to this arms control was a diplomatic, technical activity, with strict technical aims. It may still take on that characteristic but is at severe risk of being held, in measure of value, against the new measuring standard that i fear is being established.  This situation is profoundly negative for leftist political positions: the brief lull in tensions may be whisked away by a new return to sabre rattling at any point if political capital is to be made, ushering in more risks of accident miscalculation or catalytic war and further it is a massive blow to the disarmament movement. It will certainly serve to entrench national military industrial complexes in nuclear states, as well as further contributing to regional problems in areas where proliferating states are players. Holding all this to be down to the blunderings of one leader and the energy of another is a useless way to think about this issue. This is to the detriment of internationalism. 

[asmakahf]

Second Wife, Prostitute or Porn Star!

Why Islam Allows second wife?

The reasons are many but one is a man marrying a lonely woman, who has nobody to take care of her.

This is done out of free will of both, yet people are against this, these are the very "people" who support every immoral act because its an individual's choice and freedom.

Shockingly no media informs you when 100 of 1000s of Rich ,independent, educated and beautiful women from western/European nations marry arabs and are happy to be thier 2nd or 3rd or even 4th wife!

This media that bashes 2nd marriage glamourises concepts like sugar daddy with taglines like -- these young women are independent, doing it out of free will and its a mutually decided agreement between the two,

Who are we to judge!

And women involved in dirty jobs that ONLY use her body Say -- if we had enough money to support ourselves we would never choose this "job".

Classically there was a saying if you want to judge a ruler/govt, see if women of his kingdom have to sell themselves for livelihood.

To call it job is injustice to people who do it because they dont have choice .

Pole dancing, adult movies, modelling, prostitution -these things are NOTHING BUT MAKING A HUMAN BODY INTO A LIFELESS OBJECT MEANT TO BE USED and THROWN WHEN OUT OF SHAPE/FORM.

It needs you to do such and such things...

Situation is so disgusting that highly educated women were lining up when theres an audition for porn online streaming service!

More shockingly people who are hiring have reject a lot women because they already have too many at thier dispense!

In islam when,The Moment a man marries a woman(second wife) Her status becomes Equal to his First wife, she is not a mistress (mistress who is hidden from public life of the man who she is in relationship with) Second wife in Islam is as much a responsibility and honour of a man as his first wife.

So a woman who was lonely probably not respected, left on her own to do small jobs or be sulking for love and attention, ignored by male members of her society and women looking down on her insecure that she can sleep with any man because she has no husband in her life. We have all seen this ,heard this and know it happens.

Such a woman gets instant Equal respect and position like a first wife.

Heard a young man say this is how you define status of a woman, cant she earn on her own!

This is the mindset that opposes woman being second wife, where she belongs to one man, and this mindset encourages and demands respect for prostitution/ porn industry where woman is a worst than an object, have to tolerate every dirty thing and becomes a sort of garbage bin where people throw their filth and relieve themselves.

By this logic woman can and should make their bodies into dumping ground and be available for being judged for money she can call her own but she is doing the backward thing if she chooses to stick to one man who is married and marries her to give equal rights and who provides for her with respect.

Having multiple women by a man's side is proof of his success, women who keeps changing and changing, new flavour for every week.

And if a man marrries second time, you think its a joke or easy for him to call another woman as his wife?

You think its lust that he marries women legally, gives her right over him for life?

To call a woman a second wife officially is a brave thing.

Dont assassinate character of men who have 3 or 4 wives and lots of children. They have taken up the responsibility unlike those men who love short flings and want to run away from women he spend even 1 night!

In any era a rich man has no dearth of women ready to be his mistresses.

For sure, some categories of women will never understand this.

One who is happily marrried, other who is young women who haven't seen the uglier side of life yet and fake feminists who think idea of independent woman is one who earns by any means, is ready to go nude and thrash men at the drop of a hat.

If this world really cared about WOMEN,

If this world really knew what Feminism should be about they WOULD HAVE WORKED TO ELIMINATE HER OBJECTIFICATION, PROSTITUTION AND PORN.

Instead they are busy in stripping women,

Want her to earn by hook or by crook and

Spread propaganda against religions which have solution to female problems.

Whoever started this idea of feminism was one big fool and enemy of womanhood.

Women who were victims of some men's chauvinism or different crimes needed remedy to target just that.

Women DID NOT NEED THAT BEING VICTIMS THEY WILL BE ASKED TO TAKE CARE OF THEMSELVES IRRESPECTIVE OF CIRCUMSTANCES.

They dint need that they will be transformed into wanna be males.

They dint need thier ability of giving birth is made into a burden,

They dint need that they are called out to be strong, fight and come out and run race with men.

They needed that men respect her,

They needed that no man leaves her after using her as a woman or as a wife.

They needed that men provide for her children.

They needed that husbands participate and help her in bringing up children.

They needed thier husband or after his death there is a system that helps her to take care of her and her children.

She needed strict laws to curb rape and molestation.

Not one of the above is focus of modern world.

All they want is

Women earn, be a single mother and earn,

Be unhealthy, be weak but you have to earn,

be elderly, have period issues, doesn't matter you have to earn.

They use women to target Islam and HIDE what status Islam gives to a daughter, wife, mother, sister.

That's because islam is a religion where women is Queen of the house, a husband takes care of her its Duty on him. He is supposed to be gentle with her, treat her well and be kind to her.

Dont say you dont need it,

Why is it some women envy while they look at another woman and say that's one lucky woman who doesn't need to work, her husband is soo sweet he takes care of her and doesn't force her to work!

We don't need to change victim, we need to change the system that is apathetic towards victims.

You are doing injustice when you work on or discuss what can be done to the victim and ignore the crime or criminal.

In any situation, when people start discussing, debating about victims they do not intend to give them justice. For example Palestinians.

People discuss them, thier culture, thier photographs, history and what not.

But nobody ever talks about their suffering,

How many times did u hear or read The fact that they are not fighting for freedom,they are struggling to breath.

[the-cherry-blossom-healer]

THE POSITIVE & NEGATIVE; Mun & Muse - Meme.

Fill out & repost! This meme definitely favors canons more, but I hope OC’s still can make it somehow work with their own lore, and lil’ fandom of friends & mutuals. Multi-Muses pick the muse you are the most invested in atm.

My muse is: canon / oc / au / canon-divergent / fandomless /

Is your character popular in the fandom?  YES / NO / i would say she’s popular in the jpn fandom rather than the eng since i do know people in the western side likes Elise more than her since not everyone isn't a fan of the shy little sister healer™

Is your character considered hot™ in the fandom?  YES / NO / IDK. She’s just cute doesn't make it better from what anons ive been getting making my stomach churn 

Is your character considered strong in the fandom?  YES / NO / somewhat between i believe

Are they underrated?  YES / NO. / well it’s a between tbh

Were they relevant for the main story?  YES / NO. / does some parts of the story count?

Were they relevant for the main character? YES / NO / i mean she’s their sibling so it be strange if she wasn’t

Are they widely known in their world?  YES / NO. / Maybe if you count her being the princess

How’s their reputation?  GOOD / BAD / NEUTRAL / 

How strictly do you follow canon?  

I do follow the fates canon as i can but some of their writing i just don’t even want to accept that for sakura like how no one once defended Azura during her stay in Hoshido while the siblings just ignore it?  yeah hell no thats the part i wont agree with in canon tbh

SELL YOUR MUSE! Aka try to list everything, which makes your muse interesting in your opinion to make them spicy for your mutuals.  

Well she’s kind, wants to get stronger, adorable, don’t make her upset (thanks Azama), trying to being nice to those who are rude to her, her archery/healing skills, broken(thanks feh i still don’t have halloween sakura STILL), fun to use in fe:w,  she even punches Iago to save Azura. 

Now the OPPOSITE, list everything why your muse could not be so interesting (even if you may not agree, what does the fandom perhaps think?)

This..i dont know i am aware in some popular opinions about her that she’s boring, too shy yeah i can get it but from her back story about the rumored kidnapping i feel like people tend to forget that, hated her voice(btw i like her eng VA but her jpn one..i heard about the infamous incident with her and yikes), dislikes shy little sister healers, sakura idk i know people just prefers Elise than her and yeah

What inspired you to RP your muse?  

I wanted to try rping in the fe rp community my first option was f!Robin who married Stahl or Priam but when Fates was announced i kind of saw Sakura since her design was cute and interesting so i just pick her

What keeps your inspiration going?

Daily stuff, trying to make some new verses for her, japanese events, the things i seen or just whatever comes on my mind fits for her. 

Some more personal questions for the mun.

Give your mutuals some insight about the way you are in some matters, which could lead them to get more comfortable with you or perhaps not.

Do you think you give your character justice?  YES / NO. / I hope so i am even more worried i made her ooc in some rp moments

Do you frequently write headcanons?  YES / NO./ I mostly write ship hcs or verse hcs

Do you sometimes write drabbles?  YES / NO. / it’s mostly private ones i dont post them since i worry it make people sleep lol 

Do you think a lot about your Muse during the day?  YES / NO. 

Are you confident in your portrayal?   YES / NO. 

Are you confident in your writing?  YES / NO 

Are you a sensitive person?  YES / NO. / i dont think i can take criticism well to be honest had bad ones before

Do you accept criticism well about your portrayal?

I do but i rather have ones that are too mean or too harsh that i’m not sure if it’s a hate or advices

Do you like questions, which help you explore your character?

Of course!

If someone disagrees to a headcanon of yours, do you want to know why?

Even if they like my hcs or not i’m not here to please them i dont want to know why if you dislike it thats you but it’s my hc not yours since everyone has different hcs of characters

If someone disagrees with your portrayal, how would you take it?

Tbh some rpers portrays Sakura differently i did mention if you don’t like how i portray my muse then the unfollow button is there 

If someone really hates your character, how do you take it?  

Okay If it’s a muse that hates her (along with her siblings) for reasons in their oc story or a hc then i will let this slide it’s their muse not the mun but if you sending hate to my muse just because you hate her it’s not cool  :/ i do have some friends/people i know who hates Sakura and honestly i just dont bring it up to them

Are you okay with people pointing out your grammatical errors?

A little just don’t go too mean about it okay? 

Do you think you are easy going as a mun?  

A little sometimes i be just not in the mood to talk on certain days or i’m just busy kind of suggest you don’t spam message me if i’m away or not in the mood to talk 

That’s about it, congrats for filling out!

tagged by: n/a

taken it from: @electricea​

[justsomekpopstuff]

11 Questions Tag

I was tagged by @lovelycheollie (thank you lovely!) 

I was tagged twice, so I am going to put it under the cut. Thank y’all so much!

PART I

A phrase you say whenever you’re shocked/surprised?

It depends on the surprise. It can very from “oh my goodness” to “holy shit what the fuck”

Something that you can’t sleep without?

This is going to sound really stupid, but I have a plushie elephant that I’ve had for ages that I need to have on my bed in order to sleep...

What’s the first merch you bought?

For kpop? It was the Teen,Age album from mah bois Seventeen!

Favorite thing about your bias?

Does everything count? I think my favorite thing about Shua is probably his overall personality. I love how he is very soft and gentle, but also a giant dork. Its one thing that I just am a huge sucker for, and I love it. Also, his gentle voice is incredibly calming and I can’t help but feel at peace whenever I hear it.

Name two songs you fell in love with

Water Under the Bridge by Adele. I love the beat and the sound. It really just flows and I love listening to it.

Habit by Seventeen. I don’t know what it is about this song, but every time I listen to it my heart just stops. I just have to stop what I’m doing and listen to it. Its incredibly beautiful and well put together and I love listening to it. 

What do you think about the Kpop industry?

There are definitely some shady-ass parts of the industry. I will not deny that it does have its fair share of scandals and abuse. One thing I do appreciate though is how unbelievably organized it is. Western artists don’t give a crap when things drop or when an album comes out. I appreciate knowing when new music will come out so I dont have to worry about missing it

Do you have any skin care routine? Share it to me~

I dont really have an interesting skin care routine. In the morning I wash my face before putting on a layer of sunscreen. At night I take my makeup off with some of the Burts Bees makeup wipes (those things are a godsend) before putting on some aloe and a moisturizer from Bare Minerals. That’s pretty much it. I drink a lot of water too, I guess.

Things you do when you fail at doing something?

Depends on the failure. Something small, I just apologize a lot and try and fix my mistakes as soon as I can. If its something bigger...well...thats another story for another day.

Darker hues or lighter hues?

I prefer darker hues, tbh. I think it really depends on the season and how im feeling, but i wear mostly dark hues

If you were given a minute to be with your bias, what would you do?

I would tell him how proud I am of him, first and foremost. Then I would tell him how much I appreciate him and that I hope he takes care of himself.

What’s your plan for 2018?

I plan to be better. That’s my overall goal for the year. Every day I am setting up a new thing to focus on that will help me be a better version of myself. 

PART II

Okay I am wondering but who do you ship me with?

I see you with Seungcheol, obvs. You have that independent and loving energy that I feel he would match well with. You just have that persona that I feel he would really enjoy.

Why do you think you’re compatible with your bias?

First of all, like half my mutuals have said we’d be compatible, so there’s that. But I feel like overall we have very similar values and personalities. We both have that same brand of dorky, nerdy humor. We both are very open about our beliefs, but also care for the advocacy and well being of others. But I also feel like he would be the most patient person that would balance well with my “force of nature” anxiety and stuff. That’s the basics, I guess.

What’s your horoscope sign? What does it tell bout you?

I am a Scorpio, and it says A LOT about me. I don’t trust very easily, and I heavily value loyalty and honor. I am a very passionate person and I truly care for the things that matter to me.

Are you the passive type or the agressive type?

I’m passive aggressive...I get it from my dad...

jk I am sometimes a bit of both, but there are times when I have the tendency to be aggressive (hence the “force of nature” anxiety comment earlier)

Favorite comfort food to eat?

It depends on what I have access to. I have a massive sweet tooth, so if I can get my hands on some chocolate, thats what Im gonna go for. But, if I am out and about, theres a place near where I live that makes Hungarian chimney cakes, or kurtoskalacs that are TO DIE FOR (think if a churro and a donut had a baby. thats what it is. its perfection). My mom’s family is Hungarian, and so whenever I have some, it reminds me of them and always makes me feel better.

What would you do in your first date? Or what did you did? *insert lifting of brows*

All right kiddos, STORY TIME. I’m going to tell you about the stupidest first date in the history of the world. So, my first date was a group date. It was when I was a freshman in high school, and the movie Red Dawn had just come out (for those of you who don’t know, it was a remake of an 80s movie where a small town got invaded by a foreign nation and this ragtag group of kids had to help take it back).  SO, me, my boyfriend at the time, and my two friends who were also dating went to go see it--BIG MISTAKE. There was so much death and jumpscares and overall was a HORRIBLE date movie. BONUS, my boyfriend at the time and I could hear out friends making out in the row behind us. MOST AWKWARD THING EVER.

If you accidentally meet your bias, what would you do?

I would be internally dying, but on the outside, I would do my best to keep it professional. I would be feeling incredibly flustered, but I would do my best to keep it together and let him know how much I love and appreciate him, and that I hope he takes care of himself (bc i worry about him constantly). In other words, I would fake it till i make it

Mention someone you want to be friends here 💕💕 it’s 2018 meet new friendss

All the mutuals that I don’t get the chance to talk to very often!

Give a message to your mutuals

I love you all so much. You have given me so much love and support that I do not feel worthy of. I went through so much crap in 2017 and you all stood by me and made sure that I was doing okay, and I dont think there will ever be a better way for me to express my gratitude. In this coming year, I hope to repay you all for how much you have helped me. I wish you all the love and joy you could ever imagine, and thank you.

What do you to in order to “escape” something?

It depends on what you mean by “escape”. If its a small problem or job that I dont wanna do, I just ignore it and hope it goes away. If I really need to escape something or feel like i am just in a rut, I will put on some music and dance. I specialize in contemporary/lyrical dance, and it really helps me drown out the world for a little while. Either that or im jumping around my room listening to Fall Out Boy bc they are amazing.

Do you have message for 2018?

2018, I am going to make you my b*tch. Come at me bro.

I’m not going to tag anyone specific/write more questions because I am too lazy and tired to do it. But if you’ve read this far, thank you, you’re amazing, and I’m proud of you!

If you do want some questions, just shoot me a message. My ask box and chat are always open.

[pommei]

lately i cant stop thinking about how much i would love to be friends w at least one british born asian irl. like dont get me wrong i love my irl and online friends but i just cant get so envious whenever i see asian ppl in western countries going to schools filled w asian ppl. like it blows my mind lol to see a place full of asian people not in asia ??? like wow ????? to be surrounded by ppl who look like u???

idk its just i would love to have that in highschool. being the very verry few e/se asian ppl in hs i have had such awful internalized racism and even to this day im still trying to work on it :/ im just blabbering but it would be nice to have that back then??

tho its the past so i cant do anything that. now like i do know some asian ppl @ uni but im not close w them... im so envious of ppl who like found their ‘group’ i just cant seem to find a group i completely fit in? i just hope one day i could meet my mutuals that would be a dream omg

ignore me idk im just talking shit lol