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Who wants a heart, anyway?

Episode 6 of Arrhythmia ("A Rehearsal") is now available to listen to via the link in our bio. It features Juniper Francis, Lucy Purnine, Rosalynde Trammell, and Harmony Andrus Lindstrom. We hope you enjoy🫀

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I didn't know it would be like this.

Episode 5 of Arrhythmia ("Anatomy of the Heart") is now available to listen to via the link in our bio. It features Harmony Andrus Lindstrom, Rosalynde Trammell, Juniper Francis, and Lucy Purnine. We hope you enjoy 🫀

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What is the exact nature of your situation?

Episode 4 of Arrhythmia ("As It Should Be") is now available to listen to on Spotify, YouTube, and our RSS feed, among other locations. It features Lucy Purnine, Emma Skinner, Harmony Andrus Lindstrom, Rosalynde Trammell, Juniper Francis, and Presley A. Wheeler. We hope you enjoy 🫀

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Looking at some of your work, it is stunning but it is very similar in style to AI artwork, do you have any recommendations for how to tell apart photography like yours from AI.

I've been thinking about this. And this may sound controversial at first, but I'm hoping people will hear me out.

We should stop trying so hard to detect AI art.

I think we should all lift that burden from our brains.

I have often talked about "woke goggles." Where conservatives have lost the ability to enjoy anything because they are hypervigilant about detecting anything woke. They've cursed themselves into just hating everything. All they have left is the "God's Not Dead" Cinematic Universe.

And I worry people are getting AI goggles now. They are so concerned about accidentally enjoying robot art and hurting artists that they have overcorrected to the point where they are hurting artists.

One cannot say "AI is all soulless slop that always looks bad" and then accuse a real artist of making something that looks like AI and not hurt them. By doing so, it includes the baggage of all of the "slop" comments along with it. This crusade is having collateral damage to the very artists we are trying to protect.

Yes, we need to be cautious about malicious AI images. Misinformation and deepfakes are going to be a big problem. People using AI imagery for profit is already a mess. But if you are cruising your feed and like a cool sci-fi robot gal or a photo of a waterfall and it turns out to be AI... that's fine.

It was trained by real artists and AI is going to create some cool shit because of that.

Honestly, I think a lot of the worst slop is because the dipshits creating the prompts have no artistic taste. People keep blaming the AI for how bad it looks and often don't consider it is a product of the loser who published it.

There is plenty of non-slop out there that has fooled me. And, like it or not, it is going to get harder and harder to tell what is AI. Until there are better tools or better regulations, I don't think there is much we can do to avoid enjoying AI art every once in a while. If only by accident.

Current "AI detectors" are mostly a scam. Even the best forensic-level AI image detectors struggle to stay above 70–80% accuracy across a wide range of models and image types. And that's in controlled lab conditions.

Free online tools often drop to near coin-flip accuracy (50–60%), especially with newer image generators and post-processing applied.

The best way to avoid AI imagery is to look at an artist's body of work. It's much harder to create consistent, non-obvious fake images in a large sample size. That is usually enough to have confidence in authenticity. Plus, if they have posted similar art before 2022, you can pretty much rule out any shenanigans.

Otis literally died before genAI was available.

But images you see in the wild, just let yourself enjoy them if that is what your brain wants to do. It'll be okay.

I just think we are attacking this backwards. If we want to protect artists, we need to support them.

Calling out random AI art does not support them.

It does not put money in their pockets.

It does not grow their audience.

Over a decade ago I tried to lead a fight to create better systems of attribution on websites like Reddit and Imgur. I even spoke to the Imgur team after an article was written about me.

I asked them to allow sources on their posts and to develop tech that would help people find where an image came from. They said they were "working on it" and it never manifested.

IMAGE SHARING SITES STEAL MORE FROM ARTISTS THAN AI.

But we just kind of accepted it. No one really joined me in my fight. The prevailing defeatist attitude was, "That's just the way it is."

I think now is the time to demand better attribution systems. We need to be vigilant about making sure as many posts as possible have good sourcing. If an image on Reddit goes viral, the top comment should be the source. And if it isn't, you should try to find it and add it.

Just to be clear, "credit to the original artist" is NOT proper attribution.

And perhaps we can lobby these image sharing sites to create better sourcing systems and tools. They could even use fucking AI to find the earliest posted version of an image.

And it would be nice if it didn't require people to go into the comments to find the source. It could just be in the headline. They could even create little badges "made by a human" for verified artists.

Good attribution helps artists grow their audience. It is one of the single most effective things you can do to help them.

I literally just got this message...

There are maybe 10 popular artists who I helped grow their audience early on. Just because I reblogged their work and added links to all of their social media. I even hired my best friend to add sourcing information to every post because I believed so much in good attribution.

Calling out AI art may feel good in the moment. You caught someone trying to trick people and it feels like justice. But, in most cases, the tangible benefits to real artists seem small. It impedes your ability to enjoy art without always being suspicious. And the risk of telling someone you think they make soulless slop doesn't seem worth it.

But putting that time and effort into attribution *would* be worth it. I have proven it time and time again.

I also think people should consider having a monthly art budget. I don't care if it is $5. But if we all commit to seeking out cool artists and being their collective patrons, we could really make a difference and keep real art alive. Just commit to finding a cool new artist every month and financially contributing to them in some way.

On a bigger scale I think advocating for universal basic income, art grants for education and creation, and government regulation of AI would all be helpful long term goals. Though I think our friends in Europe may have to take the lead on regulation at the moment.

So...

Stop worrying about enjoying or calling out AI art.

Demand better attribution from image sharing sites.

Make sure all art has a source listed.

Start an art budget.

Advocate for better regulations.

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Kindness is exceptionally painful to experience.

Episode 3 of Arrhythmia ("Interlude") is now available to listen to on Spotify, YouTube, and our RSS feed, among other locations. It features Emma Skinner, Casey Valentyne, and Harmony Andrus Lindstrom. We hope you enjoy 🫀

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i have weirdly complex feelings about k-pop demon hunters but i think they boil down to "i feel too old for this and man, that feels weird"

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We're safe down here. Powerful, and warm.

Episode 2 of Arrhythmia ("Hecate") is now available to listen to on Spotify, YouTube, and our RSS feed. It features Lucy Purnine, Casey Valentyne, Harmony Andrus Lindstrom, Juniper Francis, Rosalynde Trammell, and Emma Skinner. We hope you enjoy 🫀

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[initial reactions] Old Guard 2

I liked this!

However!

The major con to the movie is that this felt more like a first part of a two-parter set-up and this movie NEEDS an Old Guard 3 ASAP.

I really like Quynh and her actress really brought her A-game. And, honestly, her crash out anger is not as bad as it could've been. I've been witness to worse! Like, her anger and resentment were valid, she had to endure centuries of drowning again and again.

The vampires in fiction this drowning happened to, only endured doing so for months only and that drove them a little mad.

It also make sense the shock of turning mortal has shifted her perspective and priorities.

And as soon as Quynh and Andy stopped fighting they fall back into old patterns and their humor.

Booker getting an expiration date is a bittersweet moment. It's what he's wanted for so long because as the Doctor in Doctor Who mentioned, sometimes being immortal is just watching everyone you love, die. At least he got to choose how he went out, and atoning for the wrong he did.

Also, Joe is such a soft touch and it's obvious that Joe is the more forgiving of the two and Nicky holds a big grudge.

Tuah was an unexpected surprise in the form of Henry Golding, he might give up his immortality soon too but who knows? Different people react to having an 'expiration date'.

Nile's importance too is interesting. I want to delve in more into how this immortal mechanics work. How and why did other immortals loose their immortality before Nile was born? And why is Nile the last immortal? Does this First and last immortal thing work via Highlander rules?

(As an aside, I like what we saw of Nile but I wanted more from she was a co-lead in the last movie so I want more from her POV, and I will be happy to wait for a third movie, AS LONG AS NETFLIX GREENLIGHTS THE DAMNED MOVIE.)

Also, why was Uma Thurman (sorry I can't call her Discord because that's so... edgy teen nickname) so angry at Andy? It feels more than what she's been saying.

The other very glaring thing in the movie is that I can feel the hand of Netflix pulling away from queer shows and movies and giving a note to the production to cut any scenes of the couples in the show. It's such a heavy hand, and unfortunate.

TLDR. I liked this but also GREENLIGHT A THIRD MOVIE NETFLIX. WHY ARE STREAMING SERVICES SO DAMNED SLOW GREENLIGHTING NEW SEASONS AND SEQUELS?!

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When I was first learning how to tag, summarize, and generally just get a good grade in AO3 (which is, as we all know, a thing that's normal to want and possible to achieve), this fanfic metatext guide was something I turned to a lot: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30986561/chapters/76535018

I know "I'm bad at summaries" and "I'm bad at tags" are not sentiments to voice in the summary/tags of a fic. But, genuinely, I don't consider myself good at either. (This is background.)

The actual question is, how do I learn these? Especially tagging. My fandom background is sparse, at least far as participation in broader fandom culture is concerned, so I wasn't part of fandom when current tagging practices on AO3 evolved. It's difficult for me to grasp, and I suspect I end up treating the tags more like CWs than search terms as a result.

Great for people who want to filter out particular unpleasant elements. Not so great for people who can't find my fic because I didn't think to tag something someone else might see as obvious. I have severe social anxiety so joining e.g. a Discord to ask for help isn't really a viable option. Tagging fic isn't worth panic attacks.

Tagging fic isn't worth panic attacks.

100% agreed!

When it comes to being "good at tagging" that definition is going to vary from person to person. It will also vary depending on what your goal is.

I'm a fairly minimal tagger myself. I'll tag the fandom and the major characters, the general vibe (e.g. humour, smut etc) and then anything else I might think of. I don't personally like to tag smut fics with all of the various sex acts in them, but I've done it before because I thought I was supposed to. Since it doesn't really feel like "me" though I've since stopped doing that. If folks want to avoid my fic as a result, that's totally fair. If folks who would like it can't find it 🤷‍♀️ maybe it'll be a rec someday.

All that is to say that tagging is not a thing it's possible to be perfect at, so just aim for accomplishing whatever your goal is.

I get what you're saying, though. I wrote a fake dating fic once without tagging it as fake dating because I didn't realize that fake dating was a trope. It was only when a couple of friends started referring to it that I realized and added that tag to my fic.

One way to learn about those kinds of tropes is to pay attention when you see them tagged on other people's fics. You can browse through tags that are similar to ones you already use and see what else people add to their fics and whether those would work for yours or not.

You can also visit Fanlore! It's another project by the OTW (the people who run AO3) and it's a great resource for learning about fandom. You can look up a common tag like Alternate Universe, and it will give you examples of different types of AU and link out to pages that will link out to pages that will... you get the idea. It's wikipedia but for fandom stuff.

As for summaries, there are a lot of ways to go about that too. I'll let folks add ideas in the notes. The way I do it is that I include the name(s) of the major character(s), and outline the inciting incident for the fic. Since I post as I write, I might or might not tease something that happens later on (because I might or might not know yet).

The way to get good at doing it is just to keep practicing. When I was in university, I took a Russian Lit course where we had to write a summary of each novel in 200 words or less, 10 sentences or less - and semicolons were cheating. I did that 13 times in 8 months, and by the end of that I was really good at writing summaries. Add in the fact that I started posting fic back on FF.net where there was a character limit on summaries and you can see why I keep them pretty short.

That's another thing that you can analyze in others' fics, though. Find a summary that you think is well-written for whatever type of summary you like and then look at that author's other fics to see if you can spot a pattern to how they do it. Once you find the pattern, it's a lot easier to replicate it and then it's just a matter of repeating it until it feels natural.

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alaska when i catch you...

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I don't like letting go of things. I really don't.

Episode 1 of Arrhythmia ("Change Upon Change") is now available to listen to on Spotify, YouTube, and RSS. It features Ella Larson, Harmony Andrus Lindstrom, Juniper Francis, Rosalynde Trammell, Lucy Purnine, Emma Skinner, and Casey Valentyne. We hope you enjoy 🫀

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The more things change, the more they stay the same. Episode 1 of Arrhythmia releases this Monday, June 30th. We'll see you soon...

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Are you ready, residents? Welcome to Ribbon Ridge.

Arrhythmia is a ten-episode limited-series queer horror audio drama, releasing in the summer of 2025. Follow us on Instagram, Tumblr, and Bluesky @arrhythmiapod for updates. We'll see you soon🫀

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i know what this situation needs…explicit fanfiction

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worried this comes off as salty (not directed at you, lovely tagger!) so i put it under a cut

#why not both?#we can have both (via @badgerthegnome)

I understand and support on a fan level! but on the buzzkill narrative level, if gelphie does kiss, it would subtly but fundamentally alter the nature of the tragedy at hand. it is delicious to me that they never kiss. it is especially delicious to me that in both cases, glinda's last interaction with her partners (i don't mean to say the text explicitly makes them poly, just that fiyero and elphaba do canonically occupy similar spaces of importance to glinda and i don't have a better word for it) is them saving her life by forcing her to listen to them die. glinda and fiyero and glinda and elphaba's last moments together are both profound and cut short. they say everything they need to and leave everything unsaid. the tragedy is that they get to part knowing they love each other, but maybe they never quite get to how they could have loved each other, if they had more time, if they lived in a different world.

i do not think gelphie will actually, like, make out in wicked: for good. i do not think most people who know the musical actually think this either, and we're all just having a fun gay time. which is cool and fun! but again, on the buzzkill narrative level, i am much more worried about wicked: for good softening these important character edges than whether or not gelphie kisses, which in and of itself would be a narrative change with ramifications beyond what tumblr conceives of as "making a queer ship canon finally"

Everyone else: I hope Glinda and Elphaba kiss in Wicked: For Good!

Me: I hope Fiyero still threatens to shoot Glinda and she has to listen to him get dragged away by the guards, all the soft power she thinks she’s amassed useless in the face of that. I mean, what’s the point of upping the wedding drama if you get rid of that?