#23/05/2021

[thelamb12-2-22]

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[mostlysignssomeportents]

Leveraged buyouts are not like mortgages

I'm coming to DEFCON! On FRIDAY (Aug 9), I'm emceeing the EFF POKER TOURNAMENT (noon at the Horseshoe Poker Room), and appearing on the BRICKED AND ABANDONED panel (5PM, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01). On SATURDAY (Aug 10), I'm giving a keynote called "DISENSHITTIFY OR DIE! How hackers can seize the means of computation and build a new, good internet that is hardened against our asshole bosses' insatiable horniness for enshittification" (noon, LVCC - L1 - HW1–11–01).

Here's an open secret: the confusing jargon of finance is not the product of some inherent complexity that requires a whole new vocabulary. Rather, finance-talk is all obfuscation, because if we called finance tactics by their plain-language names, it would be obvious that the sector exists to defraud the public and loot the real economy.

Take "leveraged buyout," a polite name for stealing a whole goddamned company:

Identify a company that owns valuable assets that are required for its continued operation, such as the real-estate occupied by its outlets, or even its lines of credit with suppliers;

Approach lenders (usually banks) and ask for money to buy the company, offering the company itself (which you don't own!) as collateral on the loan;

Offer some of those loaned funds to shareholders of the company and convince a key block of those shareholders (for example, executives with large stock grants, or speculators who've acquired large positions in the company, or people who've inherited shares from early investors but are disengaged from the operation of the firm) to demand that the company be sold to the looters;

Call a vote on selling the company at the promised price, counting on the fact that many investors will not participate in that vote (for example, the big index funds like Vanguard almost never vote on motions like this), which means that a minority of shareholders can force the sale;

Once you own the company, start to strip-mine its assets: sell its real-estate, start stiffing suppliers, fire masses of workers, all in the name of "repaying the debts" that you took on to buy the company.

This process has its own euphemistic jargon, for example, "rightsizing" for layoffs, or "introducing efficiencies" for stiffing suppliers or selling key assets and leasing them back. The looters – usually organized as private equity funds or hedge funds – will extract all the liquid capital – and give it to themselves as a "special dividend." Increasingly, there's also a "divi recap," which is a euphemism for borrowing even more money backed by the company's assets and then handing it to the private equity fund:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/17/divi-recaps/#graebers-ghost

If you're a Sopranos fan, this will all sound familiar, because when the (comparatively honest) mafia does this to a business, it's called a "bust-out":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bust_Out

The mafia destroys businesses on a onesy-twosey, retail scale; but private equity and hedge funds do their plunder wholesale.

It's how they killed Red Lobster:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/23/spineless/#invertebrates

And it's what they did to hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/28/5000-bats/#charnel-house

It's what happened to nursing homes, Armark, private prisons, funeral homes, pet groomers, nursing homes, Toys R Us, The Olive Garden and Pet Smart:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben

It's what happened to the housing co-ops of Cooper Village, Texas energy giant TXU, Old Country Buffet, Harrah's and Caesar's:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/14/billionaire-class-solidarity/#club-deals

And it's what's slated to happen to 2.9m Boomer-owned US businesses employing 32m people, whose owners are nearing retirement:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/16/schumpeterian-terrorism/#deliberately-broken

Now, you can't demolish that much of the US productive economy without attracting some negative attention, so the looter spin-machine has perfected some talking points to hand-wave away the criticism that borrowing money using something you don't own as collateral in order to buy it and wreck it is obviously a dishonest (and potentially criminal) destructive practice.

The most common one is that borrowing money against an asset you don't own is just like getting a mortgage. This is such a badly flawed analogy that it is really a testament to the efficacy of the baffle-em-with-bullshit gambit to convince us all that we're too stupid to understand how finance works.

Sure: if I put an offer on your house, I will go to my credit union and ask the for a mortgage that uses your house as collateral. But the difference here is that you own your house, and the only way I can buy it – the only way I can actually get that mortgage – is if you agree to sell it to me.

Owner-occupied homes typically have uncomplicated ownership structures. Typically, they're owned by an individual or a couple. Sometimes they're the property of an estate that's divided up among multiple heirs, whose relationship is mediated by a will and a probate court. Title can be contested through a divorce, where disputes are settled by a divorce court. At the outer edge of complexity, you get things like polycules or lifelong roommates who've formed an LLC s they can own a house among several parties, but the LLC will have bylaws, and typically all those co-owners will be fully engaged in any sale process.

Leveraged buyouts don't target companies with simple ownership structures. They depend on firms whose equity is split among many parties, some of whom will be utterly disengaged from the firm's daily operations – say, the kids of an early employee who got a big stock grant but left before the company grew up. The looter needs to convince a few of these "owners" to force a vote on the acquisition, and then rely on the idea that many of the other shareholders will simply abstain from a vote. Asset managers are ubiquitous absentee owners who own large stakes in literally every major firm in the economy. The big funds – Vanguard, Blackrock, State Street – "buy the whole market" (a big share in every top-capitalized firm on a given stock exchange) and then seek to deliver returns equal to the overall performance of the market. If the market goes up by 5%, the index funds need to grow by 5%. If the market goes down by 5%, then so do those funds. The managers of those funds are trying to match the performance of the market, not improve on it (by voting on corporate governance decisions, say), or to beat it (by only buying stocks of companies they judge to be good bets):

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/17/shareholder-socialism/#asset-manager-capitalism

Your family home is nothing like one of these companies. It doesn't have a bunch of minority shareholders who can force a vote, or a large block of disengaged "owners" who won't show up when that vote is called. There isn't a class of senior managers – Chief Kitchen Officer! – who have been granted large blocks of options that let them have a say in whether you will become homeless.

Now, there are homes that fit this description, and they're a fucking disaster. These are the "heirs property" homes, generally owned by the Black descendants of enslaved people who were given the proverbial 40 acres and a mule. Many prosperous majority Black settlements in the American South are composed of these kinds of lots.

Given the historical context – illiterate ex-slaves getting property as reparations or as reward for fighting with the Union Army – the titles for these lands are often muddy, with informal transfers from parents to kids sorted out with handshakes and not memorialized by hiring lawyers to update the deeds. This has created an irresistible opportunity for a certain kind of scammer, who will pull the deeds, hire genealogists to map the family trees of the original owners, and locate distant descendants with homeopathically small claims on the property. These descendants don't even know they own these claims, don't even know about these ancestors, and when they're offered a few thousand bucks for their claim, they naturally take it.

Now, armed with a claim on the property, the heirs property scammers force an auction of it, keeping the process under wraps until the last instant. If they're really lucky, they're the only bidder and they can buy the entire property for pennies on the dollar and then evict the family that has lived on it since Reconstruction. Sometimes, the family will get wind of the scam and show up to bid against the scammer, but the scammer has deep capital reserves and can easily win the auction, with the same result:

https://www.propublica.org/series/dispossessed

A similar outrage has been playing out for years in Hawai'i, where indigenous familial claims on ancestral lands have been diffused through descendants who don't even know they're co-owner of a place where their distant cousins have lived since pre-colonial times. These descendants are offered small sums to part with their stakes, which allows the speculator to force a sale and kick the indigenous Hawai'ians off their family lands so they can be turned into condos or hotels. Mark Zuckerberg used this "quiet title and partition" scam to dispossess hundreds of Hawai'ian families:

https://archive.is/g1YZ4

Heirs property and quiet title and partition are a much better analogy to a leveraged buyout than a mortgage is, because they're ways of stealing something valuable from people who depend on it and maintain it, and smashing it and selling it off.

Strip away all the jargon, and private equity is just another scam, albeit one with pretensions to respectability. Its practitioners are ripoff artists. You know the notorious "carried interest loophole" that politicians periodically discover and decry? "Carried interest" has nothing to do with the interest on a loan. The "carried interest" rule dates back to 16th century sea-captains, and it refers to the "interest" they had in the cargo they "carried":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/29/writers-must-be-paid/#carried-interest

Private equity managers are like sea captains in exactly the same way that leveraged buyouts are like mortgages: not at all.

And it's not like private equity is good to its investors: scams like "continuation funds" allow PE looters to steal all the money they made from strip mining valuable companies, so they show no profits on paper when it comes time to pay their investors:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/20/continuation-fraud/#buyout-groups

Those investors are just as bamboozled as we are, which is why they keep giving more money to PE funds. Today, the "dry powder" (uninvested money) that PE holds has reached an all-time record high of $2.62 trillion – money from pension funds and rich people and sovereign wealth funds, stockpiled in anticipation of buying and destroying even more profitable, productive, useful businesses:

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/article/2di1vzgjcmzovkcea8f0g/portfolio/private-equitys-dry-powder-mountain-reaches-record-height

The practices of PE are crooked as hell, and it's only the fact that they use euphemisms and deceptive analogies to home mortgages that keeps them from being shut down. The more we strip away the bullshit, the faster we'll be able to kill this cancer, and the more of the real economy we'll be able to preserve.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/08/05/rugged-individuals/#misleading-by-analogy

[jetix]

2021-05-23

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[jokeroutsubs]

Joker Out Masterpost for new fans

New fan of Joker Out? Say no more! 

Getting to know a new artist you’ve found can be intimidating if it’s all in another language, so we’ve compiled some of our favourite interviews, articles and lore here! You’ve arrived in a wonderful fanbase, welcome from all of us here at JokerOutSubs! 

If you’d just like a short overview of the band and their history, you can watch this excellent Finnish summary of them that we’ve translated (14m 53s).

But if you want to dive into the details, then check out our timeline, full of videos and articles translated by JokerOutSubs! 

Timeline graphic:

Timeline in details below the cut 👇

Timeline in details: 

How did the band form? 

Joker Out was formed from two bands, Apokalipsa and Buržuazija. 

Apokalipsa included Bojan Cvjetićanin (vocals), Martin Jurkovič (bass) and Matic Kovačič (drums) 

They gained some traction with young people around Slovenia, particularly with their song 'Mogoče' ('Maybe'), which you can watch on YouTube here.

They came to the attention of Kris Guštin, who was inspired to start learning guitar! He discusses the details in this video (at 9:40). 

Kris then met Jan Peteh, another student of his guitar teacher, and at their teachers advice, they formed the band Buržuazija. 

Bojan attended their second ever gig in 2016, and decided these two excellent guitarists were exactly what had been missing from Apokalipsa, as he wasn’t happy with their current guitarists. He asked them to join, and they accepted

The new lineup (Bojan, Jan, Kris, Martin and Matic) decided to rename themselves Joker Out. The name means nothing, but they thought it sounded good and was the ‘least horrible’ of all the ideas they could think of. 

So, in 2016, Joker Out was officially formed! 

November 2016, Kot srce ki kri poganja: 

Joker Out’s first music video was for their song ‘Kot srce ki kri poganja’ ('Like a heart that pumps blood'), filmed in Jan’s hometown of Vrhnika! We eventually got this song on Spotify on their 2023 album Live from Arena Stožice!

Music video: Kot srce ki kri poganja

English Interview (from 3:37 to 6:05): Joker Out discusses filming the music video

June 2017, Špil Liga:

One of the earliest performances for Joker Out was at Špil Liga, a competition for young bands in Slovenia. They won, and recorded their winning song, Omamljeno telo (intoxicated body) in November as part of the prize. 

Live (33m): Joker Out at Špil liga

Interview (5m): Reflections on Špil Liga in 2023 

c.2017/18, Bojan’s attempt at going solo:

The band took a hiatus c.2017/18, and Bojan considered going solo at that time, even working with a few producers. He eventually realised that he belonged with the band! Hear him tell the story:

Reel (1m 23s): A1 Vajb - Bojan’s fail

2019, A change up for the band:

The band began working with their current producer, Žare Pak, and their videographer Mark Pirc, in 2019 - both of whom have been referred to as the sixth member of the band. This led to a change in their sound and production quality, which culminated in ‘Gola’ ('Naked'), the first of their songs to be a big hit!

Music video: Gola

Zlata piščal ('Golden Flute') - Best New Artist 2019:

Joker Out won their first Zlata piščal award in 2019, for best new artist (one of many they’d go on to win!) This is a kind of Slovenian Grammy! Covid interrupted the proceedings, but you can see their interview for it here (3m 59s)- 

Interview: Joker Out wins a Zlata piščal ('Golden Flute') for Best New Artist 2019

Umazane misli, and a new member: 

During the Covid times, the band began recording their first studio album, 'Umazane misli' ('Dirty thoughts'), which was originally going to be released in March 2020 but was repeatedly delayed until October 2021. The first half was recorded with drummer Matic Kovačič, but the band felt they needed something extra and brought in Jure Maček to help write the arrangements. They loved him so much, he never left! 

Interview (from 10:40 to 11:36): Bojan talks briefly about Jure joining the band

COVID times, and Cvetličarna: 

The band had arranged to do two concerts at Cvetličarna, a very important venue in Slovenia and a big break for them. This was delayed several times due to Covid, but eventually managed to go ahead in October 2021 for the release of their first album. 

Video (1m 14s): Cvetličarna promotional video

Live (1h 28m): Joker Out at Cvetličarna

Interview (34m 55s): Bojan discusses Cvetličarna, its importance, and Covid

Umazane misli album launch: 

'Umazane misli' was extremely well received! The band would go on to win two more Zlata piščal awards, Newcomers of the Year in 2020 and Artist of the Year in 2021.

Interview (37m 08s): Umazane misli album presentation

An acting career for Bojan? 

Around the same time as 'Umazane misli' was released, Bojan began considering an acting career. He acted in two episodes of the series ‘Gospod Professor’ and in another series, which was eventually reworked as a film called ‘Kaj pa Ester’ and released in December 2023. He decided music was his passion though, and he wanted to fully focus on that. 

Interview (from 10:04 to 11:30): Bojan discusses his acting career

Interview (2m 11s): Kaj pa Ester interview

Interview (2m 30s): Kaj pa Ester première

Article: Bojan on Kaj pa Ester

September 2022, Križanke:

The band got straight to work writing their second album, 'Demoni' ('Demons'), and decided to present it in September 2022 at Križanke, another hugely important venue in Slovenia. This whole concert wasn’t recorded, but we have an interesting advertisement they did for it, an interview and a clip of one song live from Križanke! 

Video (5m 4s): Full Joker Out Hotline trailers

Interview (2m 16s): Joker Out with parachutes to Križanke?

Live (4m 7s): 'Novi val' ('New wave') live at Križanke

Interview (44m 35s): Demoni album presentation

Another new member! 

After Križanke at the end of 2022, Martin Jurkovič, one of the founding members of the band, made the decision to leave to focus on his studies.

Video (2m 20s): Martin's departure

Thankfully, he was replaced by the wonderful Nace Jordan, who remains the bassist in the current lineup.

Article: Nace Jordan discusses joining the band

2023, Eurovision:

Joker Out were then internally selected to go to Eurovision 2023, and began recording their Eurovision song, 'Carpe Diem', in Hamburg in December 2022. To learn more, you can watch the Carpe Diem series, a documentary series which followed their entire journey. 

The first episode, recording Carpe Diem, can be found with subtitles in multiple languages by JokerOutSubs!

Video (16m 41s): Carpe Diem Ep. 1 - Hamburg

The band performed their song for the first time live on Misija Liverpool, a televised debut, on the 4th February 2023.

Video (27m): Joker Out performing at Misija Liverpool

There are quite literally hundreds of interviews with Joker Out during the Eurovision era. Here's one from just before the final, that we have translated.

Interview: Joker Out before the final on the 13th May

And a few English interviews that became famous in the fanbase! 

Interview (24m 29s): Eurovanja

Interview (8m 10s): Seize the Day situations

Interview (17m 18s): Tiktok Live

Interview (6m 30s): ‘Never have I ever’

Interview (14m 12s): Madrid Eurovision

Result

Joker Out came 21st at Eurovision, which they were satisfied with.

Interview (1m 36s): Bojan talks about their results

European tour and Sunny Side of London (22nd September)

Luckily, the best was still to come for Joker Out! The rest of 2023 was spent on an extremely successful European tour, and they also released their first English single, 'Sunny Side of London', in September. 

We at JokerOutSubs were also thrilled to interview the band twice on their tour!

Original Interview (15m 25s): JokerOutSubs interview in Tampere

Original Interview (14m 37s): JokerOutSubs interview in Poznań

6th of October 2023, Stožice:

All of this, however, was building up to Stožice. This is the biggest closed venue in Slovenia and Joker Out managed to sell out their October show there - an extremely important milestone for Slovenian artists. 

Interview (15m 4s): Stožice and their whirlwind post Eurovision career

Live: Full concert live-streamed part 1 and part 2

A lovely moment at Stožice was when former members Martin Jurkovič and Matic Kovačič joined the band onstage to perform 'Kot srce ki kri poganja'!

Interview (2m 4s): Martin and Matic discuss the experience

Interview (5m 9s): Joker Out post Stožice impressions

London era and Everybody’s Waiting: 

Joker Out spent the beginning of 2024 in London, where they wrote new music, did live cooking shows on Instagram and met the incredibly talented photographer, Damon Baker, who did a beautiful series of photoshoots with them. They also released their next English single, 'Everybody’s Waiting', in February. 

They sat down with us at JokerOutSubs to discuss all this on the 20th February!

Original Interview (59m 13s): JokerOutSubs interview in London

March and April 2024, ‘See you soon’ tour:

The boys then embarked on the ‘See you Soon’ tour, another very successful European tour. They played three new songs live during the tour, two of which we translated from the concert videos of our members!

Live:  First performance of 'Bluza' ('Blouse')

Live: First performance of the hugely popular 'Šta bih ja' ('What would I')

We at JokerOutSubs also interviewed the band a fourth time in Padova!

Original Interview (22m 7s): JokerOutSubs interview in Padova

Now you know a little bit about Joker Out’s history, let’s look a little bit at the members of the band as individuals! 

Who are the members?

Bojan Cvjetićanin - singer

Charming, charismatic and an all round green flag, deep down we’re all Bojan girlies! See him here on Cosmopolitan's Blind date, Portrait with Coffee and a lovely interview he did for Delo! 

Interview (8m 49s): Cosmopolitan's Blind date

Interview (18m 3s): Portrait with Coffee

Article: “If we believed that we were “kings”, that wouldn’t be us”

Jan Peteh - guitarist

The mysterious mathematician of the band, Jan and his cat Igor have stolen the hearts of the fanbase. Here he is on Undercover Mathematician and on Metropolitan podcast with ex bassist Martin! 

Interview (3m 26s): Undercover mathematician

Interview (43m 57s): Jan and Martin on Metropolitan podcast

Kris Guštin - guitarist

Known for his organisational expertise, 'slay pose' and 'cake baking skills,' Kris stays fabulous on and off stage!

Video (1m 5s): NGVOT backstory (Kris’ breakup) at Cvetličarna

Article: Interview with the entire Guštin family

Jure Maček - drummer

Described consistently by his band mates as ‘čaga’ (party), Jure brings a chaotic energy to Joker Out that we love to see!

Video (41s): Jure’s cheating (in school!) story

Interview (18m 3s): Sunday Chat on Radio 94

Nace Jordan - bassist

The oldest member of Joker Out, Nace is a genuine sweetheart who fit like a glove into Joker Out despite joining much later! 

Article: "Enriched by a special [Eurovision] experience"

Interview (18m 24s): Interview with JokerOutSubs in Umag

Get to know the whole band! 

They mostly do interviews together, so here are some of our favourites!

Interview (16m 52s): Vičstock Unplugged

Video (7m 3s): Joker Out pre-Križanke Instagram Q&A compilation

Interview (54m 42s): Multisciplinary panel at Bežigrad High School

Article: Joker Out for DELO

Article: Joker Out for Mladina magazine

Interview (6m 42s): Joker Out for RTV SLO

Interview (1h 1m): Joker Out for N1 podkast

We hope you’ve enjoyed learning a bit more about our favourite band! 

If you’d like even MORE translated interviews, articles and Instagram stories, you can find us on Tumblr, X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Spotify under the name JokerOutSubs!

P.S: If you wish to share this post with new fans, we also provided QR codes!

[thealieninhiding]

The Katie McGrath Archives (WIP)

A repository of my ongoing digital archeology & archival work please contact me if you have anything to contribute and buy me a coffee if you value my content

message me if you want a link to her complete filmography 🤫

Updates

(last updated 2024-07-03)

2024-07-03

Scans:

2014-02-07 London Times - Dracula sets

Audio:

(Un)likeminded 2x02 How to Survive The Apocalypse

2024-05-24

Video:

2017 Katie McGrath interview [CW|KMcGsource]

2017 Supergirl Season 3 Sweet dreams (are made of this) Music Video

2017 CW SDCC Promo Supergirl and Arrow

2019-01-01 The CW Promo Open To All

2021-04-25 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Lena Luthor

2021-09-15 Supergirl Season 6 Katie McGrath Reflecting on Supergirl

2024-05-22

Audio:

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Video:

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2024-05-17

Archived interviews

2008-12-07 Tribune Magazine - What Katie Did

2011-10-14 What's on TV - Merlin's Katie McGrath- 'Bad girls have more fun!'

2012-12-03 Fanhattan Blog - Colin Morgan, Katie McGrath and Bradley James on Season 5 and The Series Finale

2018-08-01 The TV Junkies - Supergirl SDCC 2018 Interviews- Lena’s Impractical Lab Outfits, the Return of Reporter Kara and a More Grounded Season 4

Audio

HHush samples

Interview - 2009-2011 Sci-fi Talk rewind merlin the series specials episode 1

Interview - 2011? Merlin S4 Sci-fi talk byte katie mcgrath on morgana

Interview - 2013 BBC Radio 1xtra part 1 & part 2

(Un)likeminded 1x02 While You Were Dreaming

Trees a crowd- Irish folklore segment

Magazine scans

2008-09-20 Radio Times

2009-06-08 TV Week (Aus)

2010-09-05 Sunday Express

2010-09-30 Totally Merlin Magazine

2011-12 Total Film

2012-03-14 Sci-Fi Now

2012-10-06 Radio Times

2013-04-06 Irish independent

2013-09-02 Marie-Claire (UK)

2013-12 Instyle

2013-12 Total Film

Video:

Fans - 2012-04-16 Merlin4 [carlospyrrhus]

Fans - 2017-08-30 Supergirl cast together on set [Joyce Law]

Interview - 2009-09-?? Merlin S2 audio interview with Katie McGrath [BJsRealm] part 1

Interview - 2010-09-06 Merlin Series 3 - BBC Radio 1xtra Interview with Angel Coulby & Katie McGrath [BJsrealm]

Interview - 2011-10-14 Merlin S4 Colin Morgan, Eoin Macken Katie McGrath on The Late Late Show

Interview - 2012-07-15 Colin Morgan and Katie McGrath at SDCC 2012 - innerSPACE [merlinnetwork2]

Interview - 2012-07-18 Katie McGrath Talks Merlin At Comic Con 2012 [ThinkHeroTV]

Interview - 2012-10-25 BBC Radio 1 Breakfast - Colin & Katie part 1 & part 2 [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Merlin S5 Katie McGrath interview international press day [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2012-12-03 Colin, Bradley, Katie phone interview [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2013-11-09 Katie McGrath on BBC One Saturday Kitchen [BJsRealm]

Interview - 2019-07-22 ENTREVISTA SUPERGIRL Elenco fala sobre a nova temporada [Warner Channel Brasil]

Interview - 2019-07-23 Melissa Benoist Teases Directing An Episode Of 'Supergirl' [ET Canada]

Interview - 2020-02-21 ‘Supergirl’ Celebrates 100th Episode [ET Canada]

Panels - 2011-07-28 Merlin Comic Con 2011 Panel [ThinkHeroTV]

[unclewarwick]

i am making this an art blog now, so i thought i should actually start posting my art here. i finished this drawing today and the rest of the art in this post is from newest to oldest. this post is most of my batman-related art since the last time i posted a big amount of batman art (which was december 2022).

i have a heavy preference for drawing batjokes but am trying to draw more and more of the rogues gallery. i have my own vague storyline ideas that include both batman and the joker being trans men, but in my story he is called bruceman/bat wayne.

2024-07-10 -- i do an annual redraw of this meme. this was the fifth version. the first time i drew it (in 2021) was the first time i had tried to properly draw either of them, despite having a deep batman interest for a long long time, and drawing for even longer.

2024-06-28 -- i spent 41 and a half hours on this one. my first big attempt at pixel art. it was from a bad chronic illness week so it was meant as a purposely ugly and simple drawing but it spiralled out of control.

2024-07-05 and 2024-05-11 -- my concept art for the scarecrow.

2024-04-22 and 2024-03-21 and 2024-02-11 -- the joker taunting bat wayne, an argument with alfred, a community meme redraw that i didn't like the end result of but was unwell while drawing so i give myself a break.

2024-02-08 and 2024-02-06 -- the riddler being desperate for attention on social media, my two-face concept art

2024-01-27 -- my take on the oft-parodied the amazing spider-man #601 cover art.

2024-01-18 -- joker thinks he's being sneaky but doesn't know he's with the same person twice.

2024-01-11 and 2024-01-10 -- catwoman being fun and sillie (from before i redesigned her weird mask and goggles that i originally tried to give her)

art from 1 and 8 december of 2023 that i posted on here

both from 2023-09-10 -- a couple of quick low effort drawings from when i was feeling funky

2023-08-06 and 2023-08-13 and 2023-08-18 -- mini comic where you can see the comic formatting skill developing in each part.. just a small story idea i had revolving around a double joke about bat wayne's Identity. and still figuring out how to draw the riddler.

2023-08-02 -- my first depiction of riddler & first drawing of har-lee (my name for harley quinn) out of costume.

2023-06-18 and 2023-06-15 -- my first drawings ever of har-lee; i did not stick with this costume design for her because i fixed it and made it actually look good and make sense at all a whole year later (character design is my weakness), and also just a simple meme.

2023-06-15 -- i don't have an animation program, so making this was a real struggle.

2023-04-28 and 2023-04-23 -- bruceman picking up tampons in the middle of a fight, bruceman and joker "fighting".

2023-04-04 and 2023-03-21 -- Earring Magic J, joker being the autistic, gay, trans dad of autistic, gay, trans pee-wee herman (including muffin the cat from batman: legends of the dark knight #50)

all from 2022-11-14 -- a comic Not about being trans, no, not at all...

2022-11-27 -- a fully rendered version of the last panel.

there's more that's not included here because of the 30 image limitation, but those are mostly further concept drawings of har-lee that i didn't like, and lower quality joke drawings. one bigger thing i've left out are stills from an animatic/animation project i started quite a while back (it's not even my only WIP of that kind) and haven't continued progress on for a while. i would prefer to share that all at once whenever it's finished.

[usedpidemo]

Update - 3rd year anniversary! (and some future plans, a reflection, etc.)

Hi everyone! π here.

By the time this post is up, it'll be the 13th of May. Three years since I began my writing journey and this Tumblr blog. Three years. Time flies by so fast. I was close to graduating senior high after it was delayed because pandemic, had my graduation in an empty room basically, now I'm hitting my third year of college. Crazy stuff.

With that said, here are the stats + timetable of the blog so far:

First work: Sandwich (Wendy) (published 05/13/21, 4:03 a.m)

Highest note count: Tell your friends (Yujin x Wonyoung) (published 01/14/23, 1274 notes)

Number of works published: 91 fics (1 fic every 12.03 days)

500 followers: June 18, 2021 (36 days)

1000 followers: October 12, 2021 (152 days)

2000 followers: June 18, 2022 (401 days)

3000 followers: November 12, 2022 (548 days)

4000 followers: May 22, 2023 (740 days)

5000 followers: December 18, 2023 (950 days)

Current follower count: 5615 (1 new follower every 5.12 days)

It's been a hectic final month of college, so I apologize for the lack of activity in recent times :< But summer is coming up very soon, so hopefully I'll have all the time in the world to write more till then! I will say, a new fic is on the near horizon, so please be on the lookout!

I would like to take the opportunity to thank every single of you, whether reader, lurker, or a fellow writer for your support! Especially during these lull times, your unwavering support has kept me afloat and has been a motivation in continuing to write. Love you guys as always. Here's to another fruitful year <3

From this point, this part will be an overall reflection and life summary of the previous year, my thoughts on some personal matters, and some ideas I've been contemplating. If you don't wanna read this, you can stop here.

I miss 2023 quite a bit, not gonna lie. I know nostalgia can quickly grow warm and fuzzy, seeing the past through rose tinted lens, but I'll admit that 2024 hasn't been off to the start I envisioned it to be. That year was mostly peak for me, and I could even argue it's my favorite year to live out based on all my experiences. Traveling to new places, finally attending live events, interacting with my K-pop biases, and so on—it really felt like the best was yet to come with how 2023 flowed and transitioned into the new year.

Five months in, and I am struggling. Horribly. Most plans, dreams, and ideas have gone up in smoke, and it's just one devastating gut punch after another. I have a shitty professor in one major that basically made me check out of that class, and I don't know my family will react when I tell them I have to repeat said class because that professor was a dick. My family's been infighting on a daily basis, and I'm mostly collateral damage to them. Not one week can go by without some serious confrontation between them. There was a brief health scare with my mother, but that seems to be a nothing matter; thank God she'll be okay.

All this just makes life so deflating, in all honesty. I get that no life is without struggle, but I genuinely don't know when we'll be in the clear. Not anytime soon, I reckon. In these tough times, there's very little comfort except the past, when everything was pretty all right for the most part. It's been demotivating to write when mom comes forward with another grievance with my sister. It's hard to write when you have a professor who likes to power trip their students into submission. It's hard when you don't know how to admit to your mother that he failed his one class because of said power tripping professor.

But that doesn't mean I will let it eat me alive. I know we've been through some utter lows in the past. And we always get back up. If no one has us, then God does.

Summer break is fast approaching and I want to fix things. Even in my own little way. I know none of what I'm saying has anything to do with writing degenerate stories about hot K-pop idols, but real life circumstances have definitely affected me more than I can brush off. I should be calm, unfazed, undeterred.

After all, some stories are meant to be finished. They just take a more unconventional route. Ask Cody.

With all that being said, I will finish these commissions over the next two months. I'm really sorry to everyone who requested and paid for their stories months and months ago; I genuinely feel bad for not getting these out on time, but I am very mindful of quality control, and I have no one to blame but myself for being a slacker and lazy worker. Despite my feelings, I should remain professional—that's what being a worker means.

A lifestyle overhaul is definitely in my list of things to improve over the summer too. Figuring out how to get writing done, finding ways to alleviate my PokeRogue addiction (GOTY), whilst having a healthy work/life balance and not losing my sanity over it. Or worse, burning out.

And I want to take this opportunity to thank all my friends—peach, caps, majorblinks, chunk, frisky, raf, c.o, levi, sins, iz, ken, v1n, ddeun, notions, kevin, eros, brandon, kaede, svn, frisky, cray, rpg, prael—for putting up with my shit for another year. This life is tough, but you guys make it tolerable. Thank you for letting me air out my grievances even when it wasn't the best time to. I pray that when everything passes, I'm able to repay you all in some shape or form generously.

And to you, dear reader, for making it this far, thank you. Whether you've been with me since day one, or day 1094, as a commenter, reposter, liking, or just passing by/lurking, thank you for giving me a chance. Without you, all of this would have been for nothing. I don't know where I would be now if I didn't take that chance, that leap of faith back in 2021, and it's because of you I am able to keep doing this for the love of the game.

With grace,

Peter / π

[fullcoffeemoon-nem]

Timeline Theory

First update: 09-21-23

Second update: 11-14-23

Third update: 05-01-24 (+ S2 Theory link)

Last update: 06-03-24 (+ S2 Theory upload)

——————————————

Hi there!

After another re-watch and the head to pay attention to the small details, perhaps I have reconstructed a possible

Timeline of Helluva Boss

It would be better to define them as hypotheses. First of all, here is an outline of the episodes and their release dates.

I know, I also included the one whose title we know, just for the sake of general overview. The theory for the moment covers 2 seasons out of 4 announced.

Here the synthetic timeline. From the estimate version I have removed the year here, we'll get to the reason.

Here I also report some of my thoughts:

Already from the first episodes there's a strong focus on clocks and time, it is much more striking in Oops, where Asmodeus' clock marks the whole day.

I'm not sure about the year, but also from the analyzes carried out later, 2021 could be the year of the narrative arc that goes from Murder Family to Ozzie's.

(*) The Verosika's tour t-shirt was official and linked to the episode, at the moment I'm undecided on its validity at the year level, althought the date could be very possible.

However, my research started with Seeing Stars because it's the first episode to feature an almost specific date: the 20th of a 30-day month.

In my opinion it could be April chronologically and it's agreed with the information in the subsequent episodes.

The only problem is that the full moon would't coincide with what was marked by Blitz.

Noteworthy:

Blitz's calendar suggests that the full moon that month is the 14th.

Stolas wrote in the Western Energy chat that Blitz was supposed to come that evening and that therefore the full moon was the 20th.

We are certainly either in 2021 or beyond given Moxxie's coin in Seeing Stars.

From the chat we can understand that:

About a month passes between the trio Ozzie's - Queen Bee - The Circus (1 moon)

About 3 months (3 moons) pass between Seeing Stars and Western Energy

Western Energy is placed a week before Oops and among these the week told in Unhappy Campers

From Millie's flyer we know that her and Moxxie's mission ends on Friday July 17th. We know from Blitz that this lasted a week, so it started on Monday 13th July.

According to what Striker says to Crisom, Western Energy should be set around July 11th and Oops around July 18th.

We should be in 2022 though, but in that case July 17th was a Sunday.

In Mammon's magnificent concert Blitz says on the call with Ozzie that it's a weekend.

There are two options:

It could be set on the week parallel (July 21-22th or 28-29th) to the events of Western-Unhappy-Oops.

It could be set on the following month (August).

Here we come to the gap:

(*) The Mammon's official t-shirt is clearly linked to the episode, but the date (2023) and month (October) cause the information to conflict.

So, at this point we have this options:

The official t-shirts are tied exclusively to the release date of the episode.

They are official or at the date level, or at the year level.

They're official and we're actually 2 years removed from Murder Family.

I think it is more canonical to consider a connection with the month of July shown in the episode and maintain the hypothesis.

Seeing Stars -> April

Wester Energy to Oops -> July

Full Moon → September 29th

I'm pretty sure about the Apology Tour

A month of crisis for Blitz seems like the minimum to me and it's also enough for Stolas to enter a phase of rejection.

——————————————

With the LVL UP on April 29th we got a new trailer for the second part of the second season. In addition, we also have a preview of the Stolas and Blitz duet from the next episode.

I dedicated a post for analysis, opinions and spoilers here.

I'm going to integrate the episodes and data into the theory as they come out.

——————————————

In the end, I report here some of the most interesting posts from Blitz and Stolas' Sinstagrams, due to that they're the only two accounts that hide canonical information.

(Thanks @timkontheunsure for the source)

I underlined my opinion, they certainly respect real events but I don't think that in terms of dating they are canonical.

What a mess...

What do you think about it?

Have you noticed any other details that could clarify the mystery? Make me know it and let's solve the mystery together :}

Bye~

[barrencelenny]

I feel like fic recs tend to be things that are complete, so I thought I'd rec some things that haven't been updated in a while (>a year) or abandoned, but I still like to go back and reread

with links and comments under the cut <3

Poured Over Ice in an Old-Fashioned Glass by prepandemicwriting (bealeciphers) [2016-02-04, 28k]

-classic bartender!barry fic. they're both kinda disasters all around? hilarious

Run Away With Me by asexual-fandom-queen (2016-05-23, 14k]

-the only time asking someone to run away with you has ever worked lmao.

Painting the Roses Red by Solarcat [2016-07-01, 20k]

-Family of Rogues but there's a third snart sibling that Len's got to protect. Lucy Snart that only exists in this fic and my brain ily <3

I bet these memories follow you around by MissSugarPlum [2017-06-07,5k]

-Lisa and Barry in high school at the same time, Barry being tiny and full of rage, Lisa being reluctantly charmed, mwah. chef's kiss.

Bolt from the Blue by town_without_heart [2017-06-16, 170k]

-pre-canon meeting is always delicious to me. eobard being aware of it is the cherry on top (what a creeper)

The Good in You (the Bad in Me) by blue_wonderer [2017-08-02, 26k]

-I have a soft spot for fics where Barry and Lisa are friends what can I say. set pre-canon, and barry is a goddamn delight

Get Me Through The Night by Mentalrebel [2017-08-07, 11k]

-super interesting formatting. it's a lifeline au? I have no idea what that it, but it's fun

Ties and Barricades by yersifanel [2017-09-01, 10k]

-pre-canon meet-ugly where len kidnaps his soulmate as part of his getaway.

Realignment (time & company) by writerdragonfly [2018-02-13, 12k]

-me? rec a time travel fic? of course. time traveller's wife au. gives some really interesting backstory to Len's mother/family

Unexpected Development by nirejseki [2018-04-05, 20k]

-it's so funny it's practically a crack fic. calling the reverse flash Mr. Banana is an inspired choice

since I can remember I've been runnin' from you by youmakemesoangry [2019-01-26, 14k]

-barry getting haunted by post oculus len yes oh yes

Sticky Fingers by MoriartyMastermind [2019-03-05, 18k]

-barry stealing wallets as the flash is like objectively funny okay

Resonance by Moriavis [2019-06-16, 40k]

-looove a soulmate fic and this one is so unique. Barry and Len meet when Barry's still a child, and it ends before they meet as adults, so really it's mainly a Leonard snart character study

Ice and Lightning by vomitingwords [2020-03-26, 2k]

-potentially the only figure skating au for this ship?

Zero to Sixty by scrubmarine [2020-06-26, 25k]

-barry meeting len out of costume because he's running away from Iris is a hilarious set up, and he kind of deserves it

Just Friends by Thundersnow [2021-08-11, 168k]

-a classic fake dating au, trying to figure out how a blueberry coffee could taste good has been a question that has followed me for years.

Shiva by crestfaller [2021-11-07, 17k]

-I always need more fics dealing with the loss of Henry tbh, and this is a really good exploration of grief.

What It Might Cost by Kateera [2022-05-17, 20k]

-a classic deaging fic, len is heartbreakingly cute

Stand Still by Taste_of_Bitterness [2022-09-15, 25k]

-len doesn't go on the waverider after running to stand still. Barry's kind of a mess here, tbh?

I Think I Love You by youmakemesoangry [2023-05-03, 67k]

-it's post Len and mick's legends trip, and they're helping out team flash. there's a truth spell involved. It's a classic trope. (also there's this bit where mick's reading Frankenstein and he calls creature victor's kid, and that's such a mood, my gothic fiction class spent like an hour talking about his daddy issues once)

[accio-victuuri]

CPN Round Up : Sugar Rush 2023 Part One 🍭🍬

It’s that time of the year again where i attempt to recap all the sweetness we got from the past 6 months. I may not be able to add every single incident/speculation but i did include the ones that were most talked about, and added some cpn “archaeology” here and there too. most of the links contain multiple cpn, especially since i made a couple of mini round ups for certain time frames or events.

this is also the best time to look back on all the fun we’ve had as a fandom and how the boys give us happiness. i hope this remains the same in the next half of the year and that we continue to support them both. 🫶🏼

past sugar rush posts for reference: 2021 ( one two ) & 2022 ( one two ) ; anything before that is mostly likely archived on my masterlist.

JANUARY 2023

• XZS Vlog Number 3 clues

• NYE CPN things ✨

• Paper Planes again

• A CPN Timeline of how LTS stage was made

• KXZ’s sus greeting and rainbow light show for ZZ’s anniversary with them

• 1/5/2022 tarot card reading of XZ & WYB that made the turtles lose it

• Rainbow Thrasher shirt 🌈

• BLACK PAIRING. 🖤 and the fact that Yibo was doing the same pose as LWJ, keeping his hand behind. the actual performance of yibo also gave way to lots of fanarts of this pairing! they look so good together!

• fake bits & pieces ( additional 45 fake rumors )

• their studios posting on the same day, 1/12 and the similarity of teasing that content will be released in parts

we also see more similarities in the drawings:

The appearance of 🦴 necklace at all the studio rehearsals and even the final one makes me somft. He had to remove it for the stage cause he is meant to be bare. I don’t advertise people to treat this necklace as the indicator of their relationship, but i will be lying if i say i’m not happy seeing it. especially if it’s out there, that he can show it off and not have to hide it.

• XZ & WYB mentioned together three times in one day - 1/14/2023

• YBO’s comment on snow

• 1/17 random cpns = the same trousers again ; 330,000 tickets, bg color of studio posts and YBO’s continuing comments about the weather in the city they are in.

• Bouboo replies to a fan with “DAYTOY” on their username

• CPN @ Xiao Zhan’s lunar new year photos and douyin posts

• XZ’s lunar new year post looks like a movie ticket stub. What a coincidence cause Hidden Blade is also premiering that day ☺️ there was also a cinema that showed XZ’s GUCCI Ad before the show started. Lol. and at the Shanghai Roadshow for Hidden Blade, lots of BXG dolls on in the group photo were captured.

• Hidden Blade Guangzhou roadshow : mention kneepads and looking at dandan doll / yibo asking someone with a suo-er doll and him holding a bjd of himself.

• LRLG contribution 1/23/2023

• XZ’s colleague in ADLAD + Zack ( photographer ) talking about watching Hidden Blade

• 7th day of the Lunar New Year CPN + another xzs and ybo similarity

I don’t usually go for kadians but yibo-official using 13 = yizhan makes me ☺️ ; also the similarity in how they caption posts again. on the same day. yes it’s not an obscure thing to include on a post that is made on the 7th day of the Lunar New Year. Wishing people good luck on a new beginning and all that. but it’s the countless similarities in how their studios do things. they have the same taste? their employees are dating? who knows.

• GG at Sunshine With Me shooting, looking so much like Yibo:

FEBRUARY 2023

• Huang Ziteng posted about watching Hidden Blade and the schedule of the film is coincidentally 10:05

• Yibo shares a post about the snowboards given to him by Su Yiming + sweater paws shadow

• Top comment on Yibo’s 2/2 weibo post is a cpf and similarity with GG using a doge emoji when trying to be humble

• YBO posts about a 🍉 video being fake and it looks the same as xz clarification account. !!!!

• Fandom stories that have been on my mind recently. ( includes cpn on wyb kissing xz backstage of SDC and the 232323 kadian which is “new” for this month. ) old ones mentioned : wyb’s side accounts, a bxg story, changsha home and same day tests.

• 2/4/23 Fake Rumor House contribution

• People in the industry supporting (?) them : GQ photographer is a turtles, Yixuan replies to a fan with daytoy on their username, sungjoo using xz’s cover song as bgm for his douyin post back in 2019 + Yubin doing an unboxing of DVD and praising a spread with zz/wyb on it.

• YBO asks to show off glutinous rice balls and XZ responds ☺️

• Night Light fake rumor & same sun emoji

• Candy compilation from Sunshine By My Side filming wrap up

• Fake Story : riding a bike at night / AI art

• LOYIBOARD 🛹

• On 2/12, Yibo posted a douyin, a stock video where you can clearly see what jacket he is wearing. BXGs noticed that it said “milano” and thought it may be a clue that GG will go to Milan Fashion Week. more explanation here.

• Both boys have been quiet and not “seen” for the better part of Feb, even 2/14 was especially quiet for them online. Yibo-official did post their candid compilation of Hidden Blade behind the scenes but it’s connected to promotions and not exactly for valentines day. It’s a common CPN speculation that when they are together, they get very quiet online and no paparazzi can take their photos. tho I have to say, 2/14 is not that important to them like 520 is. and then come 2/17, it’s interesting how you get to see them. let me rephrase that, they allowed us to see them. xz going to eat a meal with his assistant and wyb filming his drama. i’ve always been a believer that somehow, they can control when people will see them in public. they can be on ninja mode when they want to, especially xz.

the next day which happens to be 2/18/23 Ai Bo Ai Zhan Day, yibo shows up @ Shanghai airport at 6:30 in the morning. knowing that he finished filming past 10:00 PM, dressed in skinny jeans and looking so stylish. which is not his usual airport fashion these days. he will be in beijing for a couple of hours ( no one really knows for what ) and returned to SH the same day @ 5PM. turtles hope they saw each other atleast. Bobo really chooses the early flight so he can be with ZZ longer. ☺️☺️☺️

• Lost General Jewelry

• Chengyi comic about ZZ cutting his hair before going off to see WYB

• Them looking so similar with these photos, GG’s is from his 2/22 Milan flight. The same hair. looking like twins. Also, one of ZZ’s photos had that BOarding design & photo. Yes I know it fits the whole theme of the pictures but still, turtles’ DNA was moved. Lol.

• Using the same security personnel @ PEK?

• ZZ was spotted buying LEGO

• The similarity in their photo composition

• ZZ created an instagram account and his username has similarities to Yibo’s. Again. Same brain cell.

• 2/24 Fashion Show appearance minor candies

• Zhan-ge saw the balloons coded with all the colors! BXGs! ❤️💛💚 @ Tod’s Milan fashion show venue entrance

• This one is hilarious, Bobi in Milan? @ Tod’s store visit 😂

• cpn on yibo-official being quiet during MFW

• a possible connection to yibo’s CCTV performance to ZZ’s suzhou embroidery gift

MARCH 2023

• GUCCI infinite possibilities meaning, ZZ’s veteran cadres style and same emoji

• XZS Chapter 5 vlog candies

• giving thoughtful gifts

• Weibo night account posts a recommendation photoset for person of the year and they put their photos right next to each other. 🤍

• we hear “ i love you” in XZS vlog chapter 5

• Bottled joy campaign/s cpn

• Web’s 3/8/23 instagram post

• A really CPN-y instagram data. HAHAHAHAHA!

• wooyoungmi brand revisited

• Liu Daichu says WYB & XZ are hard to shoot - not so much cpn cause this is really unfortunate that they have to deal with bs like this. however it goes to show how they deal with their fame is becoming more and more similar and they apply the same security for themselves.

• 3/11 zsww rumor house

• more cpn from 2017

• yibo-official related candies

• xiao zhan as a distraction

• similar looking shirt. lol. Yibo, did you borrow this from zhan ge???

• yibo knitting sort of confirmed

• gg’s infinity ring ♾️

• LRLG 3/24/2023 contribution

• Same hotel in Shanghai rumor

• the weibo night 22’ seating arrangement. so near yet so far.

• Weibo Night 22’ candy round up

• XZS posting 8 photos, XZ re posting ads at 10:18 and his missing post-show selfie

• Tencent Video weibo account unintentionally matching XZ/WYB

• Weibo night 22’ exclusive interview sweet bits 💕

• WYB looking at ZZ’s direction 👀

• New Wuji recording easter egg : play with the cat

• 3/29 XZS vlog candies

APRIL 2023

• Esquire Magazine Parallels / CPN

• A new CQL bts photo 😘😘😘

• Colosseum parallels

• Peninsula iron box BGM

• Another example of XZ missing the 10:10 posting time to give way for WYB’s repost of BTF trailer.

• THEM in white shirt and soft cardigan. I love it when they put on the same/similar style!

• not really cpn but an example of a brand using art made by a cpf

• one & only’s release is 7/28 which aligns to double airport 1.0 / bazaar shoot & yizhan ttxs episode

• same city ( shanghai ) 4/11

• red string bracelet of lei yu appears again

• “matching” post for china television arts committee

• boys in esspensive cardigans! 💕

• 2019 kangol bucket hat coincidence

• chengyi comic - kumquat lemon tea 🍋

• zenith pilot series ✈️

• yibo-ge x xiao-ge 👀

• matching shiatzy chen black and white outfit

• LRLG connection to BTF accidental rollover, Anessa livestream sweets, JD mascot heart with a mole and Fake story ( magic wand and minions )

• them going on HS together @ 4/23 & wyb shut up hs + minor candies ( esquire coincidence, #5 seat, bone necklace, kids lovin them )

• 4/25 candy post

• 4/26 yibo official post with 13 photos and heart with a (.)

• same way of tying their shoelace means they are in the same city or together

• ZZ’s GUCCI Cosmos event CPN

• Fake rumor of what happened in Shanghai when they met ( 4/26 )

• the word “wyb” heard in xzs vlog

• same ip address of shanghai even if XZ was in Xi’An. Fans are saying, WYB might have logged on using a different phone number ( GG’s account ) and that’s how it changed. Because if this was a staff, most of them are in Xi’An or in their Beijing office.

MAY 2023

• May Day Candies - ( ZZ’s off white pants, rumor 1 : learning how to cook and zz giving wyb a rabbit charm rumor 2: couple jackets, in the same magazine, heart with a mole again on ybo

• pickle side dish, bruce lee and btf people supporting adlad ♥️

• number 5 seat on zz’s post, yibo and his pots & pans + the story of plane models

• XZ cues Wei Ruolai and WYB “dreams” hoodie

• THEM LOOKING SO MUCH LIKE EACH OTHER 😂😂😂😂

• Friday clowning - ( includes : ADLAD castmate posts cpf photos, same line in GG’s note & LRLG post script, Ryukakusen & XZS/YBO same symbols )

• Sunday candies 🫶🏼 WYB’s departure to LA & Xiao Zhan’s Molsion photos + use of captions

• Clean Eyes song and XX symbol ( XZS molsion live event behind the scenes )

• Bag/Phonecase WYB bought @ LA

• Chanel Cruise CPN photo parallels

• Yibo’s instagram photo reel & story

• The CPN about matching phone case went on HS

• XZS & YBO split photo similarity 📷

• Ace Troops cake CPN, Molsion offline event launch clues & sunset

• The fact that when they started being in the same city again, Yibo couldn’t stay away from Beijing. He had work with EVISU, so he left Beijing in the evening of 5/15, went to Shenzhen / Zhuhai. Then 5/16, did his business and went back to Beijing in the evening. He really organizes his schedule so he doesn’t have to be away from BJ that much. They will be in the same city till XZ leaves for Condor Heroes workshop & Shooting in Hengdian 🥹

Also his EVISU car has 1991 on it. Yes 91 was when the brand was established but please let me clown on this. lol.

• 85 is also Z28 design

• XZS posts a photo that shows his phonecase even after the HS and then on 520, HZT, the actor who plays Lan Qiren posts a very suspicious douyin video related to it.  

• 520/521 ZSWW fake stories

• Yibo using the photo for weibo night 22-23

• The story of the 85 logo

• HUABIAO AWARDS CANDIES : their movies featured as key works in 2023 + Bunny drawing in the background ; Chanel Brooch 🎀

• WYB’s btf co star said he has a delicious beef dish that he eats and people are wondering if it’s the “sauced beef” that cpfs think is from GG’s mom.

• Same phone case timeline

• Candies from WYB’s Chunzhen event + XZ’s team denying a melon about a collab with his former co-star

• 5/28 ( A day that two topics about XZ & WYB together went on hot search ) ONE TWO

• NEW chengyi comic about accidentally listening to a horror podcast & sleeping together

• random old candies

• Cherries 🍒

• WYB’s Fly streetwear shirt going to Japan

JUNE 2023

• Maison Kitsune Couple Shirt. WYB’s is for his Chunzhen Fanmeet & GG’s is for Roborock Ad. Yeah, it’s a pretty good brand that they have both worn before but does it have to be from the same line? and look so much like each other? and for us to see it in a span of a few days on them 5/27 and 6/1? I’m sorry if we’re clowning so much here but we can’t help it.

• 6/1, their studio accounts posting so close to each other. XZS shared WDB video & YBO re posted a one and only movie promo. What a nice coincidence. This would have been something to ignore if we didn’t have so many XZS 🤝 YBO candies. Then just minutes later, YBO posts the photoshoot for WYB’s Chanel show and one of the layouts look like XZS. 😂 also using the sunglasses emoji

• WYB’s Chanel Japan show clowning + WDB drawings resembles Web

• An unusual increase of hot searches that associate XZ and WYB ✨

• Bottled Joy saga Part 3

• both of their works featured in National Cinema Movie Promotion Conference. movie stars! 🎞️

• XZ found to be wearing Uggs

• Minor candies from Douyin Movie Wonder Night

• THIS RIGHT HERE ⬇️⬇️⬇️

• WDB cast and their connection to web: one / two

• Yibo is an introvert and Chunsheng is an extrovert

• Mosquito jokes 🦟🦟🦟

• CPN WRAP UP ( includes : yuli interview clues, bottled joy using their colors for panther and guangdian drawing, numbers on evisu ad, posting almost one hour apart, cute dogs and missing lyrics )

• weekend cpn : same expression, not holding hands, shuke x beita and other sweets

• 6/20, BJYX went on hot search

• BJYX IS BE was gone in the hot search

• Moncler Event CPN

• Heurueh brand

• LRLG leaves yibo-official

• some “new” photos from SINA visit

• Infinity sign on WYB’s clothes

• “how they sleep” CPN

• there are conversations that when WYB went back to Beijing after the Moncler event, he was spending time with GG. it’s also because the shoot for Condor Heroes was delayed so they both suddenly had time to be in the same city 😊

• same-style clothes for recent released ads - NANS

• 6/26 rumors that GG/Web will be participating in the same event and their sus airpot schedules!!!!

• Yubin shares a video and we get a 1 second clip of the boys eating hotpot

• 6.29 Hongkong Event : Timeline & CPNs

That’s all for now! 

See you by the end of the year <3 

[mostlysignssomeportents]

When Facebook came for your battery, feudal security failed

When George Hayward was working as a Facebook data-scientist, his bosses ordered him to run a “negative test,” updating Facebook Messenger to deliberately drain users’ batteries, in order to determine how power-hungry various parts of the apps were. Hayward refused, and Facebook fired him, and he sued:

https://nypost.com/2023/01/28/facebook-fires-worker-who-refused-to-do-negative-testing-awsuit/

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/05/battery-vampire/#drained

Hayward balked because he knew that among the 1.3 billion people who use Messenger, some would be placed in harm’s way if Facebook deliberately drained their batteries — physically stranded, unable to communicate with loved ones experiencing emergencies, or locked out of their identification, payment method, and all the other functions filled by mobile phones.

As Hayward told Kathianne Boniello at the New York Post, “Any data scientist worth his or her salt will know, ‘Don’t hurt people…’ I refused to do this test. It turns out if you tell your boss, ‘No, that’s illegal,’ it doesn’t go over very well.”

Negative testing is standard practice at Facebook, and Hayward was given a document called “How to run thoughtful negative tests” regarding which he said, “I have never seen a more horrible document in my career.”

We don’t know much else, because Hayward’s employment contract included a non-negotiable binding arbitration waiver, which means that he surrendered his right to seek legal redress from his former employer. Instead, his claim will be heard by an arbitrator — that is, a fake corporate judge who is paid by Facebook to decide if Facebook was wrong. Even if he finds in Hayward’s favor — something that arbitrators do far less frequently than real judges do — the judgment, and all the information that led up to it, will be confidential, meaning we won’t get to find out more:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/12/hot-coffee/#mcgeico

One significant element of this story is that the malicious code was inserted into Facebook’s app. Apps, we’re told, are more secure than real software. Under the “curated computing” model, you forfeit your right to decide what programs run on your devices, and the manufacturer keeps you safe. But in practice, apps are just software, only worse:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/23/peek-a-boo/#attack-helicopter-parenting

Apps are part what Bruce Schneier calls “feudal security.” In this model, we defend ourselves against the bandits who roam the internet by moving into a warlord’s fortress. So long as we do what the warlord tells us to do, his hired mercenaries will keep us safe from the bandits:

https://locusmag.com/2021/01/cory-doctorow-neofeudalism-and-the-digital-manor/

But in practice, the mercenaries aren’t all that good at their jobs. They let all kinds of badware into the fortress, like the “pig butchering” apps that snuck into the two major mobile app stores:

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/02/pig-butchering-scam-apps-sneak-into-apples-app-store-and-google-play/

It’s not merely that the app stores’ masters make mistakes — it’s that when they screw up, we have no recourse. You can’t switch to an app store that pays closer attention, or that lets you install low-level software that monitors and overrides the apps you download.

Indeed, Apple’s Developer Agreement bans apps that violate other services’ terms of service, and they’ve blocked apps like OG App that block Facebook’s surveillance and other enshittification measures, siding with Facebook against Apple device owners who assert the right to control how they interact with the company:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/10/e2e/#the-censors-pen

When a company insists that you must be rendered helpless as a condition of protecting you, it sets itself up for ghastly failures. Apple’s decision to prevent every one of its Chinese users from overriding its decisions led inevitably and foreseeably to the Chinese government ordering Apple to spy on those users:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/11/foreseeable-consequences/#airdropped

Apple isn’t shy about thwarting Facebook’s business plans, but Apple uses that power selectively — they blocked Facebook from spying on Iphone users (yay!) and Apple covertly spied on its customers in exactly the same way as Facebook, for exactly the same purpose, and lied about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

The ultimately, irresolvable problem of Feudal Security is that the warlord’s mercenaries will protect you against anyone — except the warlord who pays them. When Apple or Google or Facebook decides to attack its users, the company’s security experts will bend their efforts to preventing those users from defending themselves, turning the fortress into a prison:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/20/benevolent-dictators/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

Feudal security leaves us at the mercy of giant corporations — fallible and just as vulnerable to temptation as any of us. Both binding arbitration and feudal security assume that the benevolent dictator will always be benevolent, and never make a mistake. Time and again, these assumptions are proven to be nonsense.

Image: Anthony Quintano (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mark_Zuckerberg_F8_2018_Keynote_%2841118890174%29.jpg

CC BY 2.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

[Image ID: A painting depicting the Roman sacking of Jerusalem. The Roman leader's head has been replaced with Mark Zuckerberg's head. The wall has Apple's 'Think Different' wordmark and an Ios 'low battery' icon.]

Next week (Feb 8-17), I'll be in Australia, touring my book *Chokepoint Capitalism* with my co-author, Rebecca Giblin. We'll be in Brisbane on Feb 8, and then we're doing a remote event for NZ on Feb 9. Next is Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. I hope to see you!

https://chokepointcapitalism.com/

[bad268]

Writing Inktober 2024

Official prompts this year were ass, so this one's gonna be fun (sarcasm). I'm only doing like 3 from the actual prompts, so a lot ended up being song prompts.

01/10 Backpack

Jax Teller X Reader (W.C. 547)

02/10 Chains

Arvid Lindblad X Reader (W.C. 448)

03/10 Perfect

Callum Ilott X Reader (W.C. 446)

04/10 Ledge

Spot Conlon X Reader (W.C. 498)

05/10 Enchanted

Clement Novalak X Journalist! Reader (W.C. 463)

06/10 Passport

Max Fewtrell X Reader (W.C. 465)

07/10 Daisies

Ollie Bearman X Verstappen! Reader (W.C. 496)

08/10 Ride

Pezzy X Biker! Reader (W.C. 473)

09/10 Home

Michael Gray X Reader (W.C. 485)

10/10 Laugh

Harry Lewis X Reader (W.C. 476)

11/10 Rain

Corpse Husband X Reader (W.C. 465)

12/10 Drive

Chris Sturniolo X F1 Driver! Reader (W.C. 472)

13/10 Lesbian

Logan Sargeant X Reader (W.C. 483)

14/10 Here

Sodapop Curtis X Reader (W.C. 464)

15/10 Convince

Noah Sebastian X Reader (W.C. 476)

16/10 Strangers

Colby Brock X Reader (W.C. 486)

17/10 Bracelets

Luke Browning X Reader (W.C. 506)

18/10 Leave

TMR Newt X Reader (W.C. 479)

19/10 Peachy

Simon Minter X Reader (W.C. 454)

20/10 Tackle

Justin Herbert X Reader (W.C. 467)

21/10 Original

Elastic Droid X Reader (W.C. 501)

22/10 Always

Hector Fort X Reader (W.C. 512)

23/10 Picture

Jak Crawford X Dams! Reader (W.C. 553)

24/10 Alone

Marcus Armstrong X Reader (W.C. 554)

25/10 Betrothed

Finn Shelby X Reader (W.C. 466)

26/10 Goal

Fermin Lopez X Reader (W.C. 530)

27/10 Explorer

Big Puffer X Reader (W.C. 455)

28/10 Blindfold

Tadashi Hamada X Fiance! Reader (W.C. 586)

29/10 Pretend

Brad Simpson X Reader (W.C. 591)

30/10 Pumpkin

Paul Aron X Reader (W.C. 493)

31/10 Freak

Franco Colapinto X Reader (W.C. 574)

Bonus: Ending

Lando Norris X Reader (W.C. 509)

Average W.C. 479

Want to read other years’ Inktober stories, check these out:

2021 // 2022 // 2023 

MASTERLIST // HITLIST

[twinleaves]

262: 名無しさん 2021/03/06(土) 07:05:01.29 ID:ZxRe0Fj1 とりあえず72時間生きればいいんだから百均とかで便利と思うものを揃えとけ 適当にザックに詰め込んで鉈でもあれば十分だ 263: 名無しさん 2021/03/06(土) 22:50:07.97 ID:srn1Mxkf >>262 首都直下型地震なり大災害で広範囲にやられたら、72時間でも物資なんて行き渡る訳がない。東京だけで日中人口は1500万人。   全員が被災する訳じゃないが、単純にこんだけの過密人口で人数分1日2食、何日も陸路が寸断なり車がなだれ込んで全く動かない状況、空路もこれだけの食料を絶え間なく空から運び続けるなんてのは不可能。 過密人口の23区内なんて避難所すらまともに無かろう。   例え東京ドーム解放した所で客としての収容人数55000人、避難所としての活用ならせいぜい2万人が関の山。商業施設解放した所でこんなんじゃ雀の涙よ。 避難所すらパンクしまくるだろう。 結論から言えば行政支援や被災者支援なんて相手の出方や相手あっての事なので、はなっからアテにして死ぬ思いする位ならサバイバルグッズ揃えておくのが正しい選択。

被災した場合、拠点確保できれば避難所行かずに(安否確認や配給品の為に顔は出す)自主避難の方がいい？ : 登山ちゃんねる

[jockpoetry]

golden lovers (2018-2023)

to the dead - frank bidart // njpw road to tokyo dome (photo credit) - 12/15/18 // langston hughes // starrcast 2 // njpw wrestle kingdom 15 01/05/2021 // i have some friends - robert w. service // aew dynamite - 10/31/19 // wrestling with angels - robert stock // njpw g1 climax 28 & aew full gear 2020 // song of myself - walt whitman // 01/30/2021 // wild geese - mary oliver // aew full gear 2021 // wrestling - louisa s. bevington // 09/15/22 // 01/04/23 // aew dynamite - 07/12/23 // to you - frank o'hara // aew dynamite - 07/19/2023 // to the dead - frank bidart

[jiinjiinjarra]

⭒ Jin & Jungkook Naver Links ⭒

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 2020-2023 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

2020 year:

2020-09-17 Welcome, is this your first Big Hit post? ★

2020-09-17 Why? do we look like BB HOT100 #1 artist? ★

2020-09-29 Bangtan's wishes for Chuseok! ★

2020-10-09 Dynamite Promotion BTS: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

2020-10-31 Halloween 2020 with BTS! ★

2020-11-11 Season's Greetings 2021 ★

2020-11-16 Season's Greetings 2021 ★

2020-11-30 [BE] Rooms + Life Goes On MV Behind ★

2020-12-02 A special message from BTS has arrived for everyone taking exams! ★

2020-12-24 ARMY! Happy Holidays! ★

2020-12-31 2019-2020 Selcas: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

2021 year:

2021-01-11 Yoongi's Mini Banners + Selcas ★

2021-01-18 Selcas 2019-2021: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

2021-02-04 Winter Package ★

2021-02-11 Happy New Year! ★

2021-03-12 Life Goes On stage review time! ★

2021-04-18 U-Quiz for ARMY! Behind the scenes! ★

2021-04-25 MOTS ONE CONCEPT PHOTOBOOK ★

2021-06-05 2021 BTS FESTA Banglim. Welcome to the photo studio! ★

2021-07-26 The screen of BTS It's so pretty and nice to have so many fans ★

2021-08-02 ARMY's Monday blues therapist, Bangrim! ★

2021-08-18 Anything before ARMYs click on this post is unacceptable! ★

2021-09-19 BTS, it's sweeter than the Chuseok holiday! ★

2021-10-01 Beh1nd-7he-scenes of mak1ng 7he ARMY! ★

2021-10-01 Film Camera with BTS ★

2021-11-02 2022 with BTS is already a hit! ★

2021-11-08 BTS + ARMY ⭐ No problem star ⭐︎ ★

2021-11-10 UNGA SDG Moment ★

2021-12-24 ARMY! Happy Holidays~❤︎: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

2022 year:

2022-01-27 GQ&VOGUE behind-the-scenes ★

2022-03-05 PTD On Stage LA Concert Behind The Scenes ★

2022-03-23 Behind the Deco Kit ★

2022-06-22 Behind the scenes of 'Proof' music show ★

2022-09-02 Me, Myself, and Jungkook Behind the Scenes ★

2022-11-08 Us, Ourselves, and BTS 'We' behind-the-scenes ★

2022-11-10 진 (Jin) ‘The Astronaut’ Film Camera Photo ★

2022-11-15 Jin ‘The Astronaut’ Promotion Period Gift!: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

2022-12-03 Me, Myself, and Jin Behind the Scenes ★

2023 year:

2023-02-10 Jungkook FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Behind the Scenes: Pt.1 ★ & Pt.2 ★

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jinkook 'Traffic Lights' Photo Indicator:

green star '★' - there is 'ultimate' jinkook photo in the post (only 🐹🐰 on the picture - no other members)

orange star '★' - 'if you crop - you see jinkook'

red star '★' - only solo or 'far far away' group photos

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~