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i've never understood how you can just make an oc with no story attached. this seems to be a visual artist thing, where maybe it's fun to draw a cool design in the void over and over. but i am permanently stuck in writer mode, so to me a character is inseparable from a character arc. with no story, no internal tension that gets set up and resolved, no character moments, there is no character. they have to be doing something

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bartkon request b4 classes for @lookdownyonderjibril yippee

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Blows off dust

Hey, uh

It's been a while since I did a music post.

And this isn't a music post (sorry!)

But!

I do plan on making more in the future. I haven't given up on this blog. I even have a list of songs to talk about, maybe even make another playlist, since the redux has a lot of songs already.

This is mostly a post saying I'm alive and Happy Birthday to me, I made it another year.

I posted about it here, if you want to know more.

And while I don't have an official music post, here's a song I've listened to so many times.

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Vetted fundraiser masterpost-masterpost.

This is a collection of links to various posts concerning fundraisers I've vetted and instructions on how to submit fundraisers to me. These are primarily ones for Ghazzan families although some fundraisers for Sudanese families are also listed (I'm more familiar with my own country's politics and dialect and am more capable of vetting fundraisers for Palestinians as a result). Each post will have a time stamp indicating the latest date of update. And fundraisers will have colour-coded disclaimers according to the particularities of their case.

I know that people do not like clicking on links or navigating between posts, but please actually look through these posts and choose a fundraiser to donate to. Please.

Instructions on how to submit a fundraiser. (for those not Ghazzan) تعليمات لتقديم طلب توثيق و نشر حملات التبرعات الخاصة بالغزاويين و عائلاتهم (للغزاويين فقط) سأنشر البوست قريبا

List of fundraisers for direct contacts from Ghazzah & Sudan. - PRIORITY.

Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 1. - Particularities Listed.

Vetted family evacuation fundraisers list 2. - Particularities Listed.

Unvetted but highly likely legitimate fundraisers.

Additional fundraisers for various purposes.

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Okay, first of all: it is not at all surprising that tumblr is into this beef. at least half of being in fandom is beefing constantly, and the levels of haterdom that Kendrick Lamar has achieved are...... truly impressive and a little bit scary.

this is gonna be messy and not comprehensive but i've been thinking about this for like a week and there's just so much....... context. there's layers to this shit.

so let's start at the beginning.

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

DRAKE AKA THE BOY AKA THE 6 GOD AKA THE TEFLON DON AKA CHAMPAGNE PAPI AKA WHEELCHAIR JIMMY

Aubrey Drake Graham is a rapper and actor from Toronto, Canada who I first became acquainted with from the television show Degrassi, where he played Jimmy Brooks, a hot headed jock who was later targeted in a school shooting and was paralyzed from the waist down. Everyone was skeptical when he started rapping in the 2010s, but he was a talented enough musician and business man--especially in his ability to chase and hop on trends--that he has become a very powerful figure in the music industry. One of his earliest massive hits is YOLO, a song that was inescapable when I was in college.

Drake has long had a reputation for being soft, firstly because he used to make music that women really fucked with (Hold On, We're Going Home is a great example, as is the video for Nice For What), and also because, well, he is a rapper from Canada who got his start on fucking Degrassi. This has very obviously bothered him throughout his career.

KENDRICK LAMAR DUCKWORTH AKA KENNY AKA KDOT AKA THE SECOND MOST PETTY PULITZER PRIZE WINNER

Kendrick is so different from Drake in almost every capacity. Kendrick is a rapper from Compton and from the start he was showered with critical acclaim for his technical skill but not necessarily the same kind of fame and success as Drake did. KDot has rapped a lot about his experiences as a gang member, and in many track reminds the listener that he has killed someone. His albums Good Kid M.A.A.D. City and To Pimp A Butterfly are considered modern day hip hop classics. They're really both incredible albums tbh but very very dense and emotionally effecting. Kendrick also won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for music for his album DAMN. in 2018.

On top of that, Kendrick really holds it down for the culture--his song I and Alright became spontaneous protest chants during the George Floyd protests in 2020. I actually sort of can't listen to those songs anymore because I associate them with that movement so strongly!

PROLOGUE

It wasn't always beef between Drake and Kendrick. In fact, Drake had Kendrick open for him on tour in 2012 and Drake featured on the Kendrick single Poetic Justice. The only evidence of animosity between the two occurred after Kendrick's infamous verse on Big Sean's song Control, where Kendrick essentially named a bunch of rappers and said he was coming for them to be the greatest rapper of all time. Drake was one of the people he named.

Many people interpreted this as a diss, but Kendrick didn't respond to anyone iirc. At the 2013 BET Awards, Kendrick's verse in the cypher referenced Drake's album Nothing Was The Same, and talked about tucking a "sensitive rapper" back in his pajamas. Drake insisted there was no real issue. HM!!!!!!

SIDEBAR: THE STORY OF ADIDON

Kendrick is not the only person that fucking hates Drake. In 2018, the rapper feuded with one of his idols, Pusha T. If you don't know Pusha T, actually, yes you do: he is one half of Clipse, which had the smash hit Grindin'. If you have been in a public school where kids are slamming that beat out on the lunch tables you and I come from a shared heritage.

I don't want to get into the weeds here, but Drake and Pusha went back and forth until Pusha dropped The Story of Adidon, where Pusha revealed that Drake had secretly fathered a child with an a sex worker in France. At first Drake denied it but then like a year later he claimed his son as his own. He was shamed into caring for his son through rap beef. For years, I have maintained that the hardest bar in rap music is "You are hiding a child!"

This is important to note because this is the first time beef with Drake like, stuck. He has beefed with other people before, but usually he just pumped out a pop radio hit and dominated the airwaves, basically neutralizing whatever response he was gonna get. Drake would blame Kanye for this and then start beefing with Ye but that's a whole other thing.

LIKE THAT

This is where the current beef starts. In March, rapper Future, a former Drake collaborator, released an album produced by Metro Boomin called We Don't Trust You. Kendrick has a surprise feature on Like That where he says "motherfuck the big three, nigga it's just big me." This is a reference to the J. Cole and Drake song First Person Shooter, where the two refer to themselves and Kendrick as the big three of rap. Kendrick doesn't want Drake to speak his name even as a compliment.

J Cole dropped a response and then literally three days later apologized and removed it from streaming. What Did He Know??????

DRAKE RESPONDS

On April 13th, a leak of a song goes around Twitter and people think it might be Drake's Kendrick diss. IIRC a few days later it shows up on Spotify as a song called Push-Ups. He also releases a song called Taylor Made Freestyle, where he makes fun of Kendrick by using AI voices of two iconic California rappers, Tupac and Snoop Dogg. He also mentions Taylor Swift, saying that Kendrick is a bitch for moving his release dates around not to conflict with hers, and that his feature on Bad Blood was stupid.

Tupac's estate threatened Drake with a cease and desist and Drake took down the song.

EUPHORIA, 6:16 IN LA

On April 30th, Kendrick releases Euphoria, an extremely fucking mean song. He calls out Drake for being a culture vulture for black American culture, referencing the way that Drake will identify a music trend, go to that scene, and then package it and sell it under his own name. He really does go as far as to change his accent on some of his songs, it's super weird! At the end of the track, Kendrick disses Drake using the regional accent and slang from Toronto, Drake's hometown.

Three days later, Kendrick drops 6:16 In LA, which is much shorter and rougher than Euphoria, though just as nasty. Hilariously, the beat was produced by Jack Antonoff, Taylor Swift's major collaborator and main producer. The song also samples an Al Green song where Drake's uncle played guitar. Check Jack's faves on Twitter--I would love to know what Drake did to piss Taylor off!

FAMILY MATTERS AND A QUICK NOTE

On May 3rd, Drake drops Family Matter. On this track mostly he calls Kendrick short a lot. He also implies, but does not outright say, that Kendrick beats his wife Whitney, who is shown on the cover of Kendrick's album Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers.

Now, I want to mention this because it's a serious allegation but 1) rap beef is not journalism, sometimes these dudes just lie and 2) many of the things that Kendrick will go on to mention can be corroborated by outside sources, but this I haven't been able to. Also the way that Drake says it on the song does not really make me feel like Drake even means it, but is just searching around for something that will provoke and insult Kendrick. You may feel differently.

Not to say that Kendrick is perfect about women and abuse: Mr. Morale has some weird... stuff on it about women; Kendrick is just kind of a hotep; he threatened to take his music off Spotify if they took down R. Kelly's catalogue. No one in this conflict is perfect. I would argue Drake suffers from a much deeper level of sickness.

MEET THE GRAHAMS, NOT LIKE US

So, all this time, people had been wondering where the fuck Kendrick's response was. I thought he might not respond--it's not really his style. About an hour after Family Matters drops, Kendrick releases a song called Meet The Grahams. In previous songs, Kendrick alleged that Drake had a leak in his camp, and that the people around him dislike him so much they're feeding Kendrick dirt. Based on how quick this response came out, I would say that's probably true.

This song.... is fucking nasty. It's addressed to everyone in Drake's family, starting with his son Adonis. In the first verse, he apologizes to Adonis for having such a horrible father, and also says that he wishes Adonis's grandfather had worn a condom. By the time he's addressing Sandra, Drake's mother, he tells Sandra that he wishes men like Drake would die. He then insinuates that Drake is a pedophile.

Now, there have been many, many instances of Drake getting caught talking to underage Instagram models etc etc. The most famous example of this is when Millie Bobby Brown, then 14, said that she was friends with Drake and they text often. Drake at that time was 36. That's not fucking normal behavior.

Kendrick also says that Drake has a secret eleven year old daughter. Turns out the only bar harder than "you are hiding a child" is "you are hiding a second child."

That night--literally, I was brushing my fucking teeth and my husband was already asleep--Kendrick releases Not Like Us. On this track, he repeatedly calls Drake a pedophile over a fucking DJ Mustard beat.

It is a completely bonkers song. It made me feel like I was hallucinating. People have already started playing it in the club. Kendrick successfully used Drake's main tactic of releasing a club banger when there's beef against him. Like no shit, the Dodgers social media referenced the song in a recent tweet, this is a club banger about how Drake is a pedophile.

On this song Kendrick also has a bar that insinuates that there at least six more diss tracks in the chamber. I have no idea what's going to happen and I'm kind of fucking terrified. Anyway thanks for reading, sorry if I left anything out.

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Happy -420th birthday, Booster and Michelle! My gift to you is the same thing it has been since like 2008: this crappy, ancient photoshop, crafted with love.

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don't leave me!

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some people think that e-rated fanfiction is written with the author in a constant state of arousal, but those people are vastly overestimating the erotic appeal of consulting a thesaurus every few sentences to find another synonym for "thrust"

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Small Table in Evening Dusk, Henri Le Sidaner, 1921

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A full explanation of #reviewbombgate, a major scandal that broke on Booktwt this week.

Please support the books and authors impacted the most:

Kamilah Cole - So Let Them Burn

Bethany Baptiste - The Poisons We Drink

Molly X Chang - To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods

Frances White - Voyage of the Damned

KM Enright - Mistress of Lies

RM Virtues - the Gods of Hunger series

(PS. I know people love to jump to "YA authors are always acting up" and assume any author with a femme-sounding name writes YA so lemme say right now that this author writes adult sci-fi.)

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Had my co worker help with a return and Lynn (frequent customer, talks a LOT and is nice enough but sometimes we just don't have time) misgendered her and then argued with her over her gender and made her cry and then after j left i was like hey Lynn thats not a very nice thing to say. And she's like omg I didn't mean anything by it!! Tell her sorry! And I'm like yeah I could tell you didn't mean it maliciously at all, but its still not nice.

Then I told her I was trans cuz fuck it. And gave her resources. She asked whats in my pants and I said that's also not okay to ask and she's like ohh I see why.

Like genuinely didn't know trans etiquette, had no ill intentions. I gave her resources to learn, and it ended up okay. I could tell she really just didn't know.

And I bought j chocolate. Just cuz I usually pass now doesn't mean I've forgotten how much it hurts. I still have those nightmares. Have to feel my beard is still there to go back to sleep.

Next morning, I wake up to a text in the manager group chat saying she is banned. For this and many reasons, but this transphobia was the last straw.

She's also just generally annoying, talks to everyone, buys 3 things but spends 3 hours here, argues over returns, everything that's just annoying. We are all relieved.

In the year of our tormenter 2023, you should know basic etiquette enough to not argue with someone's gender or ask what's in their pants. Get with the program.

Posted by admin Rodney.

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🐟

Drawn for me by desertangelic on FR! Thank you 💙

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Randomtober #25: JLI's most famous quartet~ 💚🩵💛💙Another redesign (but without ever having posted the original XD)

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Reminder that it's less than a month before pharmacies will be closed for end-of-year holidays. Make sure that you will have enough medications to see you into the new year.