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One thing about the whole “I need to shock audiences and surprise them” mentality going on in media currently is that, not only does it sacrifice character arcs or having the narrative make sense for the sake of “surprising audiences”, I feel it also punishes the audience for trying to engage with the material.

Good world-building and foreshadowing should reward people for noticing small details such as names or places or even guessing what a character will do.

Since it is a general rule in Tumblr to use ATLA as an example of good writing, I want to point out to Azula’s first appearence in the show.

We first see her in a flashback only for a moment where she does not say anything and her identity is not even hinted at. But to those who pay attention, you can gather that her design is too unique to be just a background character, she must have some importance down the line.

You can also see that her reaction to Zuko being punished is similar to Zhao’s and the opposite to Iroh’s. This manages to establish plenty about her.

And then the season finale reveals she is Zuko’s sister.

One of my favorite things about people’s blind reaction to ATLA is when they notice Azula’s flashback cameo and say “hey, she seems happy Zuko is being scarred for life. Wonder if she is important in some way” then discover who she is and go “the girl enjoying Zuko’s suffering was his sister!!?”

And that is good payoff. Because it is something that actually rewards people for engaging with the material. It gives them positive feedback that tells them there is value in engaging with the material beyond just consumption. That there is value in rewatching and see what one missed.

The need to “shock” audiences is the opposite of this. To have a character or story seem important only to drop it unceremioniously because “it was unexpected” is the opposite of that.

 It tells them “you tried to guess what was going to happen? to think rewatching would help you understand the work better? you are stupid for doing so.”

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Honestly, as a human who lives in the 21st century, if Mr. Spock beamed down to earth, and I saw him. My first thought wouldn't even be "holy shit an alien" it would legitimate just be "wow nice shaved brows and cute ears, he has some really cool body modifications and make-up going on" my ass would think he's in some kind of alternative subculture it wouldn't even occur to me to think of extraterrestrials.

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I was about to post "do we think it would be fun or stupid if more zombie media had them working on minecraft rules where they die in the sun" & then remembered that's just vampires innit

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If your specific mischaracterization isn't here feel free to add in the notes.

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wheres seasons greasons

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sometimes the tragedy of distance is very simple. i want to get groceries with you

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if you are ever writing fantasy and find yourself having a character say something like "oh my gods!" or "by azulath's beard!" or "by all the saints of blood and smoking jade!," then you need to stop. hit the backspace key as many times as is appropriate. and then replace that with a good ol': "motherfucker"

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I was about to post "do we think it would be fun or stupid if more zombie media had them working on minecraft rules where they die in the sun" & then remembered that's just vampires innit

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I haven’t really seen any of the more recent U.S. election news hitting tumblr yet so here’s some updates (now edited with sources added):

There’s evidence of Trump cheating and interfering with the election.

Possible Russian interference.

Mail-in ballots are not being counted or “recognized” in multiple (notably swing) states.

30+ bomb threats were called in and shut down polling stations on Election Day.

20+ million votes are still unaccounted for, and that’s just to have the same voter turnout as 2020.

There was record voter turnout and new/first-time voter registration this year. We definitely should be well over the turnout in 2020.

U.S. citizens are using this site to demand, not only a recount, but a complete investigation into election fraud and interference for the reasons stated above:

Here is what I submitted as an example:

An investigation for election interference and fraud is required. We desperately need a recount or even a revote. The American people deserve the right to a free and fair election. There has been evidence unveiled of Trump cheating and committing election fraud which is illegal. There is some evidence of possible Russian interference. At least 30+ bomb threats were called in to polling places. Multiple, notably swing states, have ballots unaccounted for and voting machines not registering votes. Ballots and ballot boxes were tampered with and burned. Over 20 million votes that we know of are unaccounted for. With record turnout and new voter registration this year, there should be no possibility that there are less votes than even in the 2020 election.

Sources (working on finding more links but if anyone wants to add info, it’s appreciated):

FBI addressing Russian interference and bomb threats:

Emails released by Rachael Bellis (private account, can’t share original tweet) confirming Trump committing election fraud:

Pennsylvania's Centre County officials say they are working with their ballot scanner vendor to figure out why the county's mail-in ballot data is "not being recognized when uploaded to the elections software:”

Wisconsin recount:

[ID:

Multiple screenshots and images.

The first is a screenshot with a link and information for contacting the White House directly regarding election fraud. The instructions include choosing to leave a comment to President Joe Biden directly and to select election security as the reason.

The screenshot then instructs people to include any or all of the following information in a paragraph as a comment to the president:

32 fake bomb threats were called into Democratic leaning poll places, rendering polling places closed for at least an hour.

A lot of people reporting their ballots were not counted for various reasons.

This all occurred in swing states.

This is too coincidental that these things happen and swing in his favor after months of hinting at foul play.

Directly state that an investigation for tampering, interference, fraud is required, not just a recount.

The second image is from the FBI Twitter account that reads:

The FBI is aware of bomb threats to polling locations in several states, many of which appear to originate from Russian email domains. None of the threats have been determined to be credible thus far. https://t.co/j3YfajVK1m — FBI (@FBI) November 5, 2024

The next four Gmail screenshots of an email sent to Rachael Bellis from Chris T. Spackman that read together as follows:

Dear BELLIS, RACHAEL E., The Dauphin County Board of Elections received a challenge to your absentee ballot you applied for in the November 5, 2024 General Election. The challenge argues that a provision of the Pennsylvania Election Code takes precedence over the federal Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), which requires states and counties to permit U.S. citizens who move overseas to vote by absentee ballot for federal offices based on their last U.S. residential address.

The full text of the challenge that was filed appears below this email.

You may respond to the challenge in any of the following ways:

1. Call the Bureau of Registration and Election at (717) 780-6360;

2. Email a statement to the Bureau at Election election@dauphincounty.gov. Any statement you submit regarding the period during which you lived in Dauphin County, any family or connections that you still have here, and why you are now residing abroad would be read into the record.

3. Appear in person at a Board of Elections hearing scheduled for Friday, November 8 at a time to be determined in the Commissioners Public Hearing Room, 4th floor of Dauphin County Administration Building, 2 S 20d St, Harrisburg, PA 17111. The meeting is also likely to be livestreamed on Facebook on the Dauphin County channel.

Sincerely,

Christopher T Spackman

TEXT OF CHALLENGE BEGINS

Dear Dauphin County Board of Elections,

I am submitting this challenge to an absentee ballot application pursuant to 25 Pa. Stat.

3146.8(f).

25 Pa. Stat. 3146.8(f) Any person challenging an application for an absentee ballot, an absentee ballot, an application for a mail-in ballot or a mail-in ballot for any of the reasons provided in this act shall deposit the sum of ten dollars ($10.00) in cash with the county board, which sum shall only be refunded if the challenge is sustained or if the challenge is withdrawn within five (5) days after the primary or election. If the challenge is dismissed by any lawful order then the deposit shall be forfeited. The county board shall deposit all deposit money in the general fund of the…

The rest of the forwarded email is cut off.

The last image is a screenshot of the official statement from the Centre County, Pennsylvania Board of Commissioners released on November 6, 2024 that states:

Centre County Working with Ballot Scanner Vendor to Export Election Results.

(Bellefonte, PA) -Centre County Elections Office is working continuously to provide mail-in ballot data in order to post unofficial results.

To this point, all ballots have been scanned, including all mail-in ballots.

Centre County's Election team and IT team have identified that the data are successfully being exported from the mail-in ballot scanners, but that the data is not being recognized when uploaded to the elections software.

Centre County's Administrator, John Franek, Jr. stated, "We have not stopped working, and we will continue to work until unofficial results are posted and reported to the Pennsylvania Department of State."

As a next step, Centre County has begun working with the equipment vendor to adjust configurations to make the two systems-the mail-in ballot scanner and the elections software where data are uploaded -compatible with one another.

We will provide updates as we make progress.

/end ID]

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if cis men in the usa could start using period tracking apps (especially ones that love selling your data) to track nonsense things like that one guy who used one to track when he ate a burger then i think we could make the data those apps sell just a little bit shit <3

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look I know it’s supposed to be a joke but that “irradiated wasteland” is the unceded homeland of the Paiute and Shoshone peoples and consists of fragile Mojave and Great Basin desert ecosystems that are actively being exploited and destroyed by mining interests who utilize the perception of desert as wasteland to justify their destruction of indigenous lands and communities. the joke's not funny. fuck off with this.

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gigachad qui gon would never leave shmi in slavery. source: i said so

(commission info // kofi support!)