#Based on my last two posts who wants to guess what the article I'm reading is about?

[hillerska-official]

Sometimes I think about the actual implications of the fact that both my parents were born in the 60's and were almost certainly affected by some form of lead poisoning through their entire childhoods. Like ACTUALLY what the fuck.

[atmosphericradar]

Found another odd tag — keyed off the word "hiding" — and this time it's a long one!

So, the full tag is:

#blac chyna is hiding true feelings about her ‘rebirth’ makeover – her ‘lip clamps & droops’ are the proof

This sounds like a celebrity gossip headline! And sure enough, this tag is full-to-bursting with this article exclusively.

I got this from the desktop site, because it's wild to see. It's just a wall of the same article, all the way down, for multiple pages.

They're all from early November 2023, and all from blogs with names that end in *-polycom, *-mag, or *news. It seems fairly self-evident that this is the work of some kind of tabloid, but I'm a curious cat. I want to dig deeper.

Digging Deeper

Most of these posts tell you (they don't provide links!) to go read the full article on POLYCOM. Ok, what is a POLYCOM? I don't think it's Poly Inc., maker of video- and teleconferencing appliances, but a few cursory Google and DuckDuckGo searches yield no evidence of anything else.

The most recent post tells us to go track down the article ourselves on "IN TREND", but provides no URL or link. Searching around for "IN TREND" on the web is fairly difficult, returning results for well-known fashion publications, trend analytics, and a brand of clothing called "Intrend". Searching for "In Trend Today" returned more interesting results, including an InTrendToday YouTube Channel and Facebook page. The Facebook page seems to have stopped posting in late 2018, but the YouTube Channel last posted a video on Dec 18, 2023. I'll talk more about the YouTube Channel under the cut at the end of this post.

Some of these posts do have "read more" links pointing to posts on Wordpress, all of which claim to be "on MAG NEWS". Each *-mag blog links out to a separate Wordpress account which seems to be re-uploading the same story. All of these Wordpress Accounts are deleted (for violating Wordpress ToS), and all of these linked posts are gone (here are two examples):

Somehow, I doubt this is some covert arm of the Maricopa Association of Governments newsroom.

Digging down into the results on Tumblr, I found a copy of this post made by the blog vouxsportsnews. They link a Wordpress article from another dead Wordpress account:

BUT, their most recent post on their blog (a gossip article about Zendaya posted on Jan 5, 2024) does have a working Wordpress link, to vouxsportsnews.wordpress.com (clever 🙄):

This is an archetypal internet-based gossip rag. I didn't know these still existed! I guess Wordpress is hunting them down for sport?

The "Read More ..." link in the article goes to a website called top.neotrends.today, which is a sketchy link I will not be clicking on. The "full article" is apparently hosted on www.primesky.media, which I also will not be directly navigating to. I did manage to get a screenshot of the front page of primesky today (Jan 8, 2024) using a webtool:

I blurred the article shown on this page to preserve the privacy of the person it featured.

Primesky is hosted on a Cloudflare virtual private server, and no public info is available on who owns the primesky URL. A search for "redroads amag" on DuckDuckGo leads back to primesky. A search of the same on Google leads to a website at www.clickhere.world, which is immensely sketchy and looks identical to primesky. At this point, I'm going to end my search for a culprit.

Conclusion

I thought I could find the tabloid hydra's body, but I just found more heads. I'm not surprised the operators of a gossip rag bot network on Tumblr are also playing dirty on Wordpress, and covering their digital tracks well. Sometimes it's best to just report spam and go on with your day.

It should go without saying, but DO NOT NAVIGATE to these websites! At worst, they will give you every virus. At best, they will mine crypto in the background of your browser (and rot your brain).

The YouTube Channel Digression

The YouTube channel intrendtoday was created on Oct 4, 2017, and it has more than 53,000 subscribers as of my posting this post (Jan 8, 2024). However, the earliest video on the channel was posted on Nov 7, 2023. That is suspiciously close to when all of these Blac Chyna spam articles went up.

Given that the videos posted get less than 50 views on average, I think the grossly-out-of-proportion subscriber count is evidence of bot subscribers. Maybe the channel re-branded and deleted a prior back-catalog? Archive.org has no snapshots of this YouTube channel, but SocialBlade claims they lost nearly 3.5 million video views in early September of 2023 (indicating they deleted a lot of videos).

SocialBlade also indexes this channel under the name "demattradinginfo", not "intrendtoday". Archive.org doesn't have records of a YouTube URL for the channel demattradinginfo, but a Google search of that name shows results for Demat Accounts, which are a type of financial account commonly used in India to hold securities and trade stocks.

It's possible that whomever is behind the gossip news spam is also in control of this YouTube channel. I wouldn't be surprised, given how frequently people offering financial advice on social media are either scammers or spammers (and sometimes both!). However, I have no proof that the people behind this YouTube channel are the same people behind this social media gossip spamming.

[voxofthevoid]

JJK 216: Well, that's a lot less incest (zero incest, in fact) than what the post-leaks internet reaction led me to believe

I don't really avoid leaks or spoilers before I read the chapter over the weekend, so since Wednesday, I've been seeing everything from Reddit posts to wholeass articles on incest-related developments. I assume it's worse over on Twitter because I always assume everything is worse on Twitter.

Then I read the actual chapter and...what incest? There's not even a hint of it. Yorozu and Sukuna seem headed for a bloodbath, and though the two fighting while possessing siblings is extremely interesting in terms of what it'll do to the remnants of Megumi (and Tsumiki, maybe), I don't understand the "lovers in the bodies of siblings" reaction (I saw that caption with my own two eyes). Seriously, this is disappointing for anyone who'd be into the incest angle, and anyone who's outraged is making one hell of a stretch. The genre could take a hard left into hentai and Sukuna and Yorozu could start full-on fucking next chapter, and it still wouldn't be incest. I lost brain cells to this take.

Onto the actual content:

The bath and the protagonists

I'm very curious how long the bath took, plus all the travel time (Kenjaku's Flying Fishmobile seems... efficient at least). The ten months and ten days bit is for the original process, right? How long has Sukuna been in there? Days or just hours? I'm also dying to see the state of Megumi's soul now. I don't think it's the last we've seen of him as himself, but the longer Sukuna is in him, the more it seems to seal Megumi's ultimate fate. That said, jumping right into fighting/killing Tsumiki for good seems like it will backfire on Sukuna. I hope it will. It's been established that Megumi fights back the hardest when his loved ones are in danger, and while killing Tsumiki might destroy his soul (though it would be interesting if his reaction is unhinged rage rather than immediate grief), it also seems like the kind of thing that would make him fight back the hardest. Sukuna versus Yorozu is shaping up to be pivotal to Megumi's character arc, and I am buying popcorn as we speak.

I also wonder if the bath has taken a long enough time that Yuuji and Maki (and Takaba and...maybe the Angel, if she and Hana survived) have regrouped with Yuuta and Hakari + Kashimo. Yuuta's absence in Sendai hints at that, I hope. I don't know whether I want the next chapter to jump right into Sukuna versus Yorozu or pan back to Yuuji and co. dealing with this clusterfuck.

Sukuna's appearance

Sukuna being shown to retain Megumi's appearance on purpose also resolves my confusion about how Yorozu retained Tsumiki's looks. Guess there's more control involved in that whole process than I'd previously assumed. But Megumi's soul is clearly still kicking inside, so does complete eradication of the soul by the incarnated sorcerer forcibly reset the body? In the same vein, is preserving the original soul to some extent needed for the incarnated sorcerer to retain the vessel's appearance? The fight between Sukuna and Yorozu will be more interesting if there's some of Tsumiki left in there, rather than it just being about Megumi and his pain. It's a doomed end for her either way, I think, but at least give her a somewhat active role in this whole mess.

On a related note, I am cackling at how Yorozu apparently found the time to stop and find some makeup. Way to go, buddy. Fight and fall in style. In all seriousness, I do love how that hair and face make Yorozu look quite distinct from Tsumiki while retaining the same base design:

Hello <3

Also, Sukuna's line about preferring Megumi's face strikes me as particularly hilarious. One, damn, dude, you just won't let up on Yuuji, will you? Kenjaku doesn't seem happy. Hurt parental feelings, hurt mad scientist pride, or both? Who knows.

Two, fandom has been theorizing forever that Sukuna's original appearance kind of resembles Yuuji's (and what that may imply with regard to Kaori-Kenjaku's experimentation with fetus!Yuuji and Yuuji's body/bloodline overall), and from that lens, it's like Sukuna's giving himself a little impromptu makeover.

It's also interesting how his answer to Yorozu is so different from the one he gave Kenjaku. The latter is probably the more honest one, while the response to Yorozu is just Sukuna's usual battle persona, but that brings me to:

Sukuna and Kenjaku

I would read a whole arc of just these characters interacting. I low-key want a full-on flashback segment just to see more of OG Kenjaku's interactions with Sukuna (and OG Kenjaku in general).

I love them, your honor. Guess Yuuji inherited his mum's irreverence for Sukuna.

Seriously though, I think this is the most casual/disrespectful anyone other than Yuuji or Gojou has acted toward Sukuna without any consequences. With Gojou, Sukuna was outclassed, and with Yuuji, he seemed to have been biding his time while getting his kicks where he could. I'm dying to see how it will end with these two. Allies or not, I don't see their agendas, whatever the fuck they are, matching up in the long run.

Overall, I'm still not a fan of Megukuna, the plot continues to be extremely compelling, Yorozu is smoking hot, and I'd sell my soul to Kenjaku with the full awareness that it'll backfire on me.

[veryflirtytransportalate]

"You know, for someone who just woke up from a 200-year nap, you're pretty easy on the eyes." - Sizzel, on the topic of... Sizzel

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Taking another off day, since I'm busy as hell, so here's some additional shots from my bunny shoot.

My attempt to steal power from the Mayor of Diamond City isn't going well. No one responded to my attempts to generate an impromptu emergency election that would allow me to oust the mayor through semi-legitimate means, so I followed up with an op-ed calling gently for rebellion. I published both of these things in the paper, and came to an awful realization.

Mayor McDonough is the only one who reads Piper's paper.

I walked around and the only article anyone talks about is the one the Mayor got up on stage and explained. I don't even think anyone read it, I think they just know what it's about from hearsay. Can they read? I mean funk, seriously no one gives a damn that I'm calling for insurrection against Diamond City authority?! I'm pretty open about how they'd be getting on the ground floor of an incredible business opportunity! No wonder everyone ignores Piper, all she talks about is reading and writing to a community of... of... what... what do any of these citizens do? Anyone but the merchants got a hobby?

New theory: literally everyone in Diamond City is a synth.

(Thoughts on the new Fallout show below the cut. I haven't seen it and also hate the plot of modern Fallouts so, uh... let's just call it high in sodium, you get me?)

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Hello! I am actually very busy.

Happy show day. I guess they moved it from a day early to two days early? I thought it was coming out in December?

I'm... trying to get excited about the show. I want to be excited about the show.

I'm...

I'm not excited about the show.

I want to care... the show is going to be well made. Amazon money? Westworld guy? Sure. Whatever. I can picture it. Great lighting. The post-processing, well blended. Sound will do that thing where it gets loud and then suddenly cuts off. Dramatic. Vault-Tec. Ghouls. Vertibirds. Power armor. Hair. Make up. Last looks. Camera. Rolling. Action. Cut.

My favorite part of what Fallout used to be was that it was a strange blend of isometric RPG with the Star-Trek approach to episodic speculative fiction, approaching real world problems through the lens of a very non-real world, and trying out approaches to complex issues of governance through that frame in a collaborative form of fiction where your actions defined your character and the world around them.

It was not to see a beautiful actor in heavy make-up with perfect hair pretend to be in a gun fight. If I wanted to see a beautiful actor in heavy make-up with perfect hair pretend to be in a gun fight, I'd just watch John Wick. Or a Star War. Or a Marvel.

I hate marketability. I hate the way in which everything has to appeal to a consumer base that has had their options for entertainment sliced away until only the Disney remains. Amazon is just nerd Disney, these days, too. I hate money. Can't wait to see Fallout cross-promoted Capital One Credit Card commercials.

But more than anything else... the writing in Fallout 4 was so bad, so without understanding of using dialogue to represent character to facilitate plot, that the entire world lost a layer of joy. We're never going to have an intelligent Deathclaw ever again: I believe, based on the general writing quality that was permitted in Fallout 4, that if they made a sentient Deathclaw it would be some big twist that it's leading a raider gang, being answered to by between one and five henchmen. Never will we have communities that look like raiders but are actually engaging with the world around them with long term objectives and goals - the way the word "raider" is used is fucked, it applies a moral justification to seeing someone and blamoing them because they had the wrong name tag on. If you met some people that you had a moral justification to un-do, it was because they began a fight with you. Misdoings were just as dire, and writing hinted at additional atrocities than we saw in the explorable maps, but you discover these things by interacting with the sprites, both in a conversation mini-game and in the primary simulational RPG layer. Sorry, but hey, get a cool raider-y FO76 skin, it's only $15. A part of me doesn't wanna see a show celebrating that.

On the other hand... it's gonna be Amazon money well constructed, and, what else am I doing with my time, I guess?

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[alkalinefrog]

FASHION ANON HERE hahah I’m so sorry I didn’t see the question until now! Mainly Mello, Near, and Matt but honestly characters like Sayu and Matsuda or even Naomi or Mikami and Takada would also be okay haha! Sorry if the list is too long, you could just narrow it down to the first 3 if you want!

A NOTE FROM PRESENT ME: Omg I found this in my drafts and I'm so sorry, fashion anon. I was planning on finding reference photos and linking them in the more in depth descriptions but I never got around to it. I guess you'll have to use your imagination for this! I'm so sorry it took so long!

Hi fashion anon!! Welcome back and thanks for continuing such a fun prompt!

K this post is MASSIVE so I’m putting all the in-depth descriptions under the cut. Here’s the summaries of my ideas for the main three characters I’ll be doing:

First and foremost, my girl Misa!! Dude, I had such a hard time figuring out what to do with her. Unlike L and Light, who’s styles aged like milk left outside on the sun, Misa’s design is timeless. I legit sat here for a good half hour stressing about how I was gonna do this until I remembered--- she's a MODEL. She can wear ANYTHING. With that, I decided to base her style off of Harajuku Street fashion! I had to go big or go home so as not to disgrace her character lol 

I'm doing two different looks for Mello! I always got the impression that his design was supposed to lean edgier and more modern, but his canon outfit is... So weird. (Not nearly as egregious as Matt's vest thing though lol.) He also works with the mob, so I wanted to give him one high-fashion look and then one crime-boss look.

Near was by far the easiest in this group, I didn't feel like I was way out of my depth with him LMAO. Boy enjoys comfort. I’m giving him a cottage-core look in pastels to stick with his canon colour palette (or lack thereof lol), plus some chunky sneakers. Did he even wear shoes to the warehouse? Like bruh, you’re gonna get tetanus.

Here we go!

For Misa:  (small disclaimer though, I’m not super familiar with the subculture, so I’m basing all the looks off of individual pieces rather than sweeping statements about the movement as a whole)

The one commonality I’ve observed in Harajuku--- and the only comment I’ll make of the movement as a whole--- is that “more is more!” The more layers of outrageous clothes/accessories, the better! Here’s a couple articles I read about it in case you want to fact check outside of this!

First I'd give her two-toned hair (platinum blonde/black) split right down the middle. The styling options are endless, you can go from high-fashion to punk/goth in a heartbeat. She wouldn't be Misa without her pigtails, so if she was modeling for more editorial looks they can tie them into tighter buns.

More intense eyeliner looks are very in nowadays--- ALSO the graphic eyeliner trend would give her endless possibilities

For more casual wear, she's already THE og E-girl, so I'll just list a bunch of accessories that I think would look good on her instead of being redundant with styling

Give her those kitty-ear headphones too (and a gamer chair, ring light, and LED strip lights bc might as well oh god Misa stay away from tiktok PLS)

I saw these fingernail rings that would def suit her goth aesthetic (note from present me, they were literally silver nail covers that had a ring you'd wear above the last knuckle)

She's definitely the type to get long acrylic nails (I'm jealous of anyone who can wear them comfortably, I'd just gnaw them off out of annoyance) with intricate designs. It'd be cool if she got some stained glass window/church imagery inspired ones to fit the themes of the show

Other than that, I scrolled through images of all her canon outfits and they all hold up (except maybe ditch the horizontal striped shirts if you want to leave y2k territory)

For Mello:

Might be controversial, but I'm changing up his haircut from the bob to an undercut/bowl cut like this photo. I think it still captures the energy of his original design.

Then I'd give him these Balenciagas with studded heels (no reference I'm so sorry.)

Bringing back his leather pants in a deep purple

For the crime-boss look:

 I wanted to include his weird affinity for fur-lined hoods on his jackets. We could change the fur lining to a straight up feather boa.

With that look the bowl cut I gave him earlier might be too out of place, so I'd give him just an undercut like this here.

There ya go. A young mafia leader with STYLE. Both routes are pretty ostentatious, but man's so dramatic already he can pull it off lol

For Near:

I think his hairstyle's pretty timeless so I'd leave it as is and resist the urge to give everyone a mullet

Alternatively, Braided-Ponytail!Older-Near

I'd give him a pastel-filled wardrobe to stick closer to his canon colour palette (or lack thereof lol)

Lots of baggy sweaters and several cute pairs of overalls!

Then lastly I’d give him a small collection of chunky sneakers so he’s not in agony from stepping on legos all day

Tadaaa! 

Sidenote, he’d def be the type to wear ankle high socks with Nike slides and I would allow him and only him to do so

(note from present me: sorry Near's section is so short! I had planned to expand on it later :''D)

If I had time I'd give Matt a sports luxe look and you bet the first thing I'd do is throw out that weird fuzzy vest thing lol

[sokkas1mp]

I gonna break in this acocunt with me being angry about something that doesn't really matter (very fitting for tumblr if you ask me), this article.

First: "And I’m sorry to open with this, but part of that is due to the age difference between them. Two years is hardly worlds apart (I’m personally working with four), but a 12-year-old boy and a 14-year-old girl are. Especially the way these two are drawn. Not to be too voyeuristic about Y7 cartoons, but Katara has clearly gone through puberty, while Aang hasn’t. There is something just…off, about a sixth grade boy having a full on make-out sesh with a high school girl."

This argument is one of the most stupid ones if you ask me, because it blatantly ignores the culture we have been presented by the show. I can understand why people find this weird, but we have to try not to look at it as if its our society, because its not. In A:tla, specifically the water tribes, 16 is marrying age. Right there, our "age norms" (idk what else to call it) are very different. And there are no divisions between ages in their world like we have with middle and high school. To me, two people are fit to be together based on their maturity, not their age. That's why 45 & 40 is not the same as 15 & 10, or 20 & 15. This is the same for Kataang. They have very similar life experiences and matured together, literally side by side, so a two year ago gap is irrelevant.

Second: "...Katara took on a very maternal role with Aang. Sure, she’s a caretaker and sort of a “mom friend,” but it’s a bit more than that. She served as his literal guardian during the show’s run—there’s just no other way to look at it. By the third episode, she called herself his “family,” and later even went on to role play as his mother to get him out of trouble at school. Aang, meanwhile, was… Well, I wouldn’t say “immature” for his age, […] However, Katara is 14 going on 25, while Aang is just, Aang."

There's a compilation of Katara doing thing with Aang that if someone saw a mother doing with her son they would call it incest:

Katara definitely acts motherly towards Aang, but that is just her nature. She is more than just motherly with him. And some people like to call the check kisses familial (which is kinda weird imo), but we know Katara herself doesnt think that:

"Easy there, big brother" She pushes Sokka away. Not to mention, this was about a scene or two before she kisses Aang on the check.

Calling someone close to you your family does not mean you see them in the same way you see your parents/siblings. And Sokka played Aang's father in that scene, but we aren't sitting here using that as evidence to call him Aang's paternal figure.

Something Aang haters forget (or chose to ignore) is that being lighthearted and goofy does not equal immature. Yes, Aang does some juvenile things, but that shouldn't take away from his growth and maturity.

Third: "In fact, in the last season, Katara was shown to be uncomfortable each time Aang kisses her, and even went as far as to tell him to back off with the romantic stuff in the episode before the finale, because she was confused about how she felt. [*new paragraph*] Yet, in the end, she just trots up and blushes at Aang, than happily makes out with him when he goes for it,"

Katara initiated 2/4 of the kataang kisses (not including the check kisses). The kiss in The Cave of Two Lovers and the kiss in the finale. Yes, she's the one that "goes for it" in the finale (she also initiates the hug). She only pulls away once out of the 3 times we see a kiss end (this would be excluding the kiss in The Cave of Two Lovers). She wasn't confused about her feelings, she didn't want to have to worry about a relationship when they were nearing the end of the war.

Fourth: "The post-canon comics only furthered the lack of exploration of her feelings in this relationship"

Fifth: "[referencing a scene in The Promise in which Katara is jealous of a fanclub being around Aang] "I'm sorry, this amazing, adult communication is blowing me away"

The are both still teenagers, who have zero previous relationship experience. Also, Aang had no ill intentions and Katara recognized it.

Sixth: [refencing Katara's role in The Legend of Korra] "Did Katara want to do anything other than sit in a healing hut and be known for having Aang's kids?"

This is another argument that just pisses me off. You can not use Katara's lifestyle in her 80s (she is 85 in s1) as judgement for her adulthood. It's purely assumption based. Constantly this author assumes that because she is in a relationship with Aang, Katara would drop her whole personality. What? Katara would not and could not be forced to do something or conform to some label and Aang wouldn't let it get to that point either. He would squash any idea that she is just "The Avatar's wife" or "The mother of the Avatar's children" the minute he heard it.

Seven: [comparing Katara's reaction to Aang The Desert to Aang's reaction to Katara in The Southern Raiders] "You'll spend a long time looking for her condescending tones. "Anger won't help, Aang," Katara never said, because she got that he was processing something painful and needed to sort it out himself. This difference in behavior is something that would be really fitting for a twelve year old boy to learn and understand. There's just no indication that he ever did."

Maybe I'm remembering wrong, but I don't remember Aang being condescending towards Katara. He was offering his advice because he knew her and knew that she would regret doing what she thought was right when her judgement was clouded by anger. And guess what. He was right. He never forced anything on her, either. Sure, he was a bit more pushy than he could've been, but in the end he let her go on the trip with no complaints. He even agreed that this was something she had to do.

Eighth: [referencing The Ember Island Players] "When the actor says 'Wait! I thought you were the Avatar's girl', Aang agrees. Katara is his."

You know damn well Aang doesn't see Katara as just his. And she's give him PLENTY of reason to believe that his feelings are reciprocated (which they are).

Ninth: "It's the story of a woman who swallows everything lest the man she's interested in has to learn anything about his behavior that violates her boundaries."

Ha! You said she was interested in him.

But in all seriousness, you mentioned how Katara stood her ground and told Aang that she was confused, but apparently now she's swallowing her feeings.

Tenth: [talks about the cloud babies daddy issues]

I don't disagree with what is said here, for the most part, but I don't think it is a reflection on Aang and Katara's relationship.

Eleventh: "... given what what we got with Kataang, it's completely unsurprising that Aang and Katara's parenthood/adult life was defined by a lack of communication and availability, at least from what we can tell. This also puts Katara's choice to immediately moved to the South Pole once Aang died in perspective; perhaps the city he poured all his energy into, at the cost of his family, held some bitter memories."

Once again with the lack communication. We can't use the early years of their relationship to determine their whole relationship. Also, there wasn't consistently a lack of communication, you just pointed out one time and ran with it.

We don't know at what point Katara moved back to the South Pole, but there are plenty of reasons for Katara to leave Air Temple Island:

a) Her son moving in/or planning to move in with his family.

b) She was no longer needed in the city and thus had no need to stay.

c) She wanted to go back to her native home for comfort after the love of her life died at a relatively early age.

d) The next Avatar was discovered and she came home to train them.

That's all. Thank you for reading my unnecessary rant if you made it this far, and I just want to close out with a few things:

- There were some things in the article that I did not include for the fear of this becoming a novel of me repeating myself.

- I agree with most thing said in the final segment of the the article. Most, not all.

- I appreciate the author for not trying to shove Zutara in just because Kataang wasn't there. That is becoming increasingly uncommon, so it was nice to see.

[bookofmirth]

I haven't read ACOSF yet, and tbh I'm rather rusty with the characters but it was really interesting to read your opinion on Elain! I feel there's a lot of complexity to her. And how she presents herself as well because as you said we literally have no chapters from hers or Lucien's POV and I think that's the important point to note because right now we're all just guessing and assuming her to be like Feyre, but she's not. People deal/show their traumas in different way and l think people expect Elain to deal with it as Feyre did. But, Feyres trauma and Elains are very different!

I don't really know what I'm saying. But I read your answer and it made me go 'oh... Huh!' in a good way, it sparked my curiosity! So thank you! But I think Elain perhaps is the most complex person with their trauma. I know people say 'oh Nesta is so different' but (I specialised in drama therapy so I love psycho analysis) and what Nesta did is self destructive to prevent relationships to avoid hurt or more emotions that she doesn't want to acknowledge (in my opinion!)

Elain just shuts down. She doesn't drink, she doesn't screw, she just remains in her garden which in itself says a lot! That's a very grounding way to handle trauma and not a lot of people are aware of that side!

So yeah I don't know what I'm saying but I think it's a really interesting discussion!

I have so many thoughts about Elain! This took me a few days to get to because i knew I had a crapton of thoughts. So this is basically me using this ask to explain the way I see Elain post-acosf!

There are three important scenes in acosf off the top of my head: when Elain talks with Nesta and they fight, and then with Nesta and Feyre and she gets mad and leaves, and then Feyre and Rhys talk about her in their chapter. We’re getting a lot more information about her, and for me, it wasn’t so much about who she is, but why we don’t know who she is.

So far, what we’ve had is Feyre’s and Nesta’s POV. Even when Feyre and Lucien tried to help her in acowar, they were unable. So we’ve never had anything about Elain from someone who didn’t grow up with her and experience the same trauma (such as becoming destitute, their mother’s death, their father being beaten, the Cauldron, etc.)

The sisters do handle it very, very differently. And I think that at this point the fandom consensus is that Elain runs away from her problems, but I actually disagree, and partly because of what you mentioned - that she isn’t using those self-harming, destructive coping mechanisms. Nesta was avoiding her problems, hardcore. It’s absolutely possible that Elain avoids things, but I don’t think that she just runs from all of her problems because:

Elain grieves her father. Openly. She tries to accept the fact that it wasn’t her fault and that she couldn’t do anything about it. (See: her going to his grave in acofas, her first talk with Nesta in acosf.) Elain does not run from her grief, she doesn’t pretend it doesn’t exist, and she doesn’t hide it from others. As one of the most defining events we’ve seen her go through in the series, that’s a pretty big deal.

Elain does not cling to unhealthy coping mechanisms. There could be ways that she does this that we are unaware of. She does seem like the type who would be really, really good at making people think she’s okay, all while she’s silently imploding. But we don’t know that yet?

Elain does not isolate herself. 

However, Elain definitely needs to deal with some stuff! She definitely needs to deal with Lucien, and she needs to have an actual talk with Nesta because I don’t remember a single satisfying resolution between those two in acosf. Not like Nesta had with Feyre. 

I have this idea that is purely based on Elain’s line in acosf:

“I went into the Cauldron, too, you know. And it captured me. And yet somehow, all you think of is what my trauma did to you.” (pg. 233)

And then Feyre tells Nesta that yes, Elain was right. 

This is so so so sossosososos important. I cannot emphasize it enough. Elain is used to putting on a fake, smiling face because she doesn’t want the weight of her sisters’ concern. She has been pretending to cope for so long - and tbf, she seems to have been doing better than Nesta - that people not only forget that she has suffered, but she doesn’t feel like she can even express that suffering.

Emotional labor often means negating one’s own feelings in order to acknowledge or tend to someone else’s. And that is Elain’s major role, in the series. Feyre has been caring for everyone’s physical wellbeing (hunting), while Elain’s role has been to care for everyone’s emotional wellbeing. But, like with most emotional labor, it has gone unnoticed.

I’ve made posts about emotional labor in the past (four years ago!!!!) but I’m gonna spare you the link because a lot of it was about a ship that’s no longer a ship, so here is the relevant content:

What I am talking about is the regulation of emotion - any time that you give comfort, are especially attentive to someone’s needs, stop thinking about how you feel in order to focus on how someone else feels, try to cheer someone up, make sure that they are taking care of themselves, try to allay their insecurities, etc. Basically, helping them with any sort of emotional distress.

You know those posts you’ve seen, about women protecting men’s egos constantly? Or about making time for self-care? Or about recognizing toxic relationships? That tell you “if X is being demanded of you in a relationship, get out”? Those are ALL about emotional labor, broadly speaking. They are warning you not to do more than you can handle, more than you need to do, because it can be harmful to you.

If you have ever been expected to make a person or people feel better any time you are around each other (including when they are angry, upset, anxious, ill, frustrated, insecure, etc.), you have performed emotional labor. Pretty much everyone has done this at some point, unless you are a completely insensitive jerk.

Notice, though, that I said expected to and any time you are around them – this is where the problem comes in for YOU. This is not about just being there for a friend.

Making loved ones feel better is fantastic. Seeing people be polite and kind to one another makes my heart shine. That is not a problem in and of itself. That can be seen as emotional labor, but there are no requirements on you in those circumstances. This is something you are doing of your own free will.

The problem, again, is when this is expected, constantly, over time. Now, in my experience, the expectation is not necessarily coming from the other person. One of the problems with this type of labor is that not only do others expect women to perform these tasks, but women expect it of themselves.

It’s super easy to see this – who is expected to take care of a child when they fall? Who is expected to baby-sit? Who did you want when you were sick as a child, mom or dad? Who is expected to be sensitive and pay attention to others’ emotions?

For more info on this idea specifically, read Of Woman Born by Adrienne Rich. As a woman, I realized how much work I had been performing and how much it was harming me and I just… got real upset. She comes at this mostly from what a woman’s role is expected to be within the family, and might actually be a bit outdated in that respect because I feel like family structures and dynamics are shifting (that is a totally un-academic evaluation of the situation, don’t quote me on that), but still, it’s really informative.

While I was doing some research for this post I came across a peer-reviewed article about nursing and basically, high amounts of emotional labor led to anxiety and burn-out in those performing it. It literally will cost your mental health – not to mention your time, energy, attention, and it often requires you to ignore your own needs (this last part came from me, not the article). On the other hand, high levels of emotional intelligence (being able to recognize your own and others’ emotional states) meant less emotional labor (and therefore less anxiety & burn-out). One of the most important things to realize is that while you are taking care of someone else’s emotional needs, your own are frequently unmet. That is why it’s important to recognize this in yourself, not just in these characters.

So where does Elain fit in? Elain is the #1 emotional labor provider of the family, and she is about to freaking SNAP. I know, because once I realized how my trauma was hidden in order to spare someone else its consequences, I fucking SNAPPEd. I’ll also spare you the personal details, but Elain hasn’t been “okay”. She hasn’t been “boring”, or “nice”, or “chosen” Feyre over Nesta. She has literally been unable to express herself because (and I am NOT blaming Nesta or Feyre or her father one bit) her family’s emotional state has been so fragile, there hasn’t been room for Elain to feel or express her emotions in years. 

In the feysand short, Rhys says:

I wonder if everyone has spent so long assuming Elain is sweet and innocent that she felt she had to be that way or else she’d disappoint you all.

And that completely tracks. Everyone has gotten used to Elain being not just “nice”, but being the emotionally predictable one. The one they know they can go to for a smile. The one they can count on for never, ever making them realize that she has been through Some Shit Too. And being that person is exhausting.

When Feyre thinks about Elain not using Lucien’s gloves, 1) she still has them, otherwise she couldn’t think about Elain not using them, and 2) I like to see the gloves as something that she will come to use, once she realizes that she can feel and express those emotions without it causing a breakdown in the family. Right now, she just wants to feel. And she can’t do that emotionally, so she’s doing it physically. Once she heals and finds a better balance, she won’t need to resort to physical pain. (Which, lowkey has me thinking some other thoughts, but.... maybe later.) But anyway, once Elain does go through her very own special journey, I fully expect her to welcome those gloves. She won’t need physical pain to feel anymore.

Not to mention my completely unacademic and non-professional opinion that people will judge a nice women harshly for being rude once, but accept a woman with a history of rudeness for just “being that way”. It’s another way that Elain may feel trapped in her “nice girl” persona. I think she started out that way - kindness and light and generosity is 100% in Elain’s character in the first place. It’s not as if she went into the Court of Nightmares and suddenly Cassian thought, “wait, she fits right in to this shithole of depravity”. No, he still thought the literal opposite. It’s just that once people get used to you doing all their emotional labor, they will continue to take advantage of it, even if they don’t realize its cost.

[loulougoingsolo]

Why so sour?

I got a little sidetracked after today's GMM, trying to find out what the internet says about Iliza Shlesinger, who joined Rhett and Link today for a game of eating sour things. I've heard of her before, but I haven't watched any of her comedy special on Netflix, so I wanted to know more about her before writing this post. After reading a few articles, I decided to ignore them for the duration of my commentary, and stick to her GMM visit, which was objectively speaking quite enjoyable. And later, I may watch her Netflix show, and figure out how I feel about her comedy all on my own.

(A side note: I finished the Tiger King today after Rhett recommended it on Ear Biscuits. I recommended it to my brother earlier this week, and he binge watched the whole thing last night. It took me several days, there was something about how absolutely odd everyone was in the series that exhausted me. What a bizarre group of characters. But I suggested my parents they should watch it, too.)

But now, let's try not to pucker, even if things get a little sour! Rhett, Link and Iliza take turns trying to guess which of the other two has eaten something sour, based on their expressions, so in order to win at this game, instead of a pucker face, you need to have a good poker face (pun definately intended).

I love sour things, especially when combined with sweet, in my daily life. I haven't gone as far as to eat a lemon straight up, but the thought of doing just that makes my mouth water, in a good way. Of course, you don't normally make something like sour cookie dough (yet there is sour dough bread...). Rhett had no difficulties guessing, who got ended up in the sour patch in the first round:

Watching this episode should not be making me hungry, but I really want eggrolls right now. Or very sour candy. Rhett doesn't show any signs of eating a sour eggroll - either, it wasn't sour enough, or he is a no-pucker genius. He definately didn't need to hear he has a beautiful mind or that he's like a hotter version of Rainman.

I couldn't tell anything about what Chase said, but does he own a lime scooter? Back in the day when I lived in a more urban environment, I used to want a scooter...and that has nothing to do with this episode.

The final round is a lightning round where all three eat five sour things, and whoever puckers the least gets the point. I'm not entirely sure if Link understood the game. Somehow he managed to mess up all five rounds, and lose the whole game in the process. He looked like he was going to cry, poor thing.

So, Rhett IS a no-pucker genius. This time, however, there was no prize for winning. Instead, Link gets this lovely sour face from Iliza:

In More, Rhett, Link and Iliza try out every Sour Patch Kid product available. Iliza knows quite a bit about her favourite candy!

In More things are always more relaxed than in the main episode, and today is no exception. The platonic conversation starter candies were very inspirational. I love how when Iliza started to come up with her own texts, and said: "Is that an eggplant", Link started laughing by himself and tried to hide behind his hand.

Speaking of hands, why do I feel eating icecream by hand from the same tub with two other people was something from Link's nightmares? While Rhett instantly followed Iliza, because he's the kind of guy who doesn't flinch, and who'd never let a girl win a game of dare, Link was probably weighing his options very thoroughly. If he uses a spoon, will he hear about it for the rest of his life? And yes, this way, they kept the spoons clean, but also, Link didn't get to do the dishes.

Who would have guessed there was a very picky and judgemental dog called Tofu under the desk all this time? She scared the living crap out of Link, but that's what you get for disturbing a sleeping pup. Tofu refusing the icecream looks a lot like my doggy sister when she is offered medicine in a piece of sausage: very suspicious and unenthusiastic. Why is my human trying to poison me?

Omg, "Good Sensual Morning". That's what she said.

I admit, after Tofu came on screen, I mostly had eyes for her. I don't really think she was quite as judgemental as she first seemed, but I think she just doesn't like alcohol breath (who does, really?). Is that drink something you can buy in a store, or is it something you mix yourself? We have a horrible drink here in Finland, which has salty liquorice in it (salmiakki), and it can also be made by dissolving salty liquorice in vodka. I've tasted the store bought version once in my life, and it almost ruined salty liquorice (which I love) for me. Almost, but not quite. But somehow I feel, doing the same with sour fruit candy would be a better idea.

I feel Link really needed that shot after the traumatic icecream moment. Now, who else wants to see Rhett and Link do shots? It could be a game, or a vlog, or whatever they want, responsibly of course.

[charteredlibertine]

i'm not against your Q+ idea but with regards to the last bit of that post, nonbinary people are in fact covered by the T in LGBT

I agree…and also, respectfully, disagree.

While it’s true that “trans” is often used as an umbrella term to describe anyone whose self-identified gender is different than the sex they were assigned at birth (especially when it’s written as “trans*” with an asterisk) “nonbinary” is itself an umbrella term that includes a vast range of identities.

Just to name a few – nonbinary, genderqueer, agender, demigender, genderfluid, bigender, neutrois, androgyne, and third-gender are all examples of identities commonly included under the “nonbinary umbrella.”

Some nonbinary folks do consider themselves to fall under the even larger “trans umbrella,” and that’s totally valid. But other nonbinary folks do not. Some associate being transgender with a desire to transition (either socially or medically, through hormone therapy and/or surgery) and therefore don’t consider themselves to be trans. That, of course, is a misconception – not all trans people want to transition or define their identity that way. But each nonbinary person is entitled to define their identity however they choose.

Additionally, some people who identify as nonbinary don’t relate to or agree with the “gender-binarist” attitudes held by some trans people, and deliberately embrace the term “queer” or “genderqueer” as an alternative to the word “trans.”

The reverse is also true – some transgender individuals adhere strongly to the idea of a gender binary in which “male” and “female” are the only two options. These are the folks I was referring to, who sometimes use the acronym “LGBT” instead of “LGBTQ” as a way of stating their belief that the only “true” trans people are those who identify as “trans men” or “trans women” and want to transition from one sex or gender to the other.

There’s also another group – separate from gender-binarists, but often overlapping – commonly referred to as “truscum” or “trans-medicalists.” These folks believe the only “true” trans people are those who experience the medical definition of gender dysphoria and want to undergo medical transition. Some trans-medicalists view nonbinary identities as a “fake” concept invented by “trans-trenders” who make things worse for “real” trans people by muddling the definition of “trans-ness.”

I have stated here the facts as I understand them. I don’t want to get into an actual discussion about what I think about all this because…well, to be honest, because I just don’t want to. But you can probably guess at my feelings based on my liberal use of virtual airquotes.

TL;DR – Nonbinary people are only covered by the “T” in “LGBT” if they want to be, and there are some people who believe they are not and will never be covered by the “T” in “LGBT” and use that acronym with the specific intention of excluding them from the community.

I’ve answered this based on my assumption that you have the best of intentions, and I hope that’s reflected in my reply. If you’re interested in this stuff, you can plug any of the terms I’ve mentioned here into google, or even tumblr, and find plenty of articles and discourse about it all. I warn you, though, it doesn’t make for very pleasant reading.

Here are some I found from a quick googling, to get you started, but please note that I didn’t read all the way through these and I’m not vouching for their accuracy or objectivity:

TeenVogue: 9 things people get wrong about being nonbinary

Reddit: Does anyone else feel they are nonbinary but not trans*?

Everyday Feminist: 10 myths about non-binary people it’s time to unlearn

Quora: What is the difference between a transgender person and a non-binary person?

Let’s Queer Things Up!: Why aren’t more trans people denouncing truscum?

Let’s Queer Things Up!: This is what I wish people who identify as ‘truscum’ would try to understand

[thedispatched]

Ok so I finally read the soompi post defending Lucas and I wanted to share my thoughts:

They presented some strong points, but their bias is also pretty obvious and they always land with such bold assumptions that just don't make sense. It makes me a bit skeptical.

Anyway, I'll start with the information they got from the ooooshiiim account and the twitter prediction account:

The user ids they represented are def real, that can be easily confirmed by going to websites that translate user handles to ids.

But them comparing one manga character to lucas and assuming that somehow that disproves OP 1's claims is hilarious LMAO. The description of the fictional character would literally fit most male idols, idk how they went like "oh this guy severely resembles lucas, another evidence yay!"

As with the Instagram account, I can't seem to find it?? If, say, it's really OP, did they happen to find the soompi post and decided to delete the Instagram account/change the username? This is also poses the possibility that the Instagram account isn't actually real, but I guess we'll never know.

I also wish the soompi lumi provided a link to the account and some more elaboration on how their cyber investigator found it through the twitter acc's digital footprints. The manga part is very elaborate but most else is just pretty vague which I find a bit questionable?

The said fabrication of the chat records: doesn't the gaps depend on what version of WeChat it is? I searched for "wechat screenshots" and some gaps can indeed be as big as the ones in the chat records.

It would also have been better if they highlighted the gap inconsistencies/misalignments they are pointing out because personally I don't see it(but maybe it's just my eyes bluffing).

I don't have much to say about the schedule parts since I don't follow their schedules closely and I'm too lazy to search for it, but I guess what those fans said do make sense.

The voice messages: I don't have much to say either since I don't speak korean. But last time I heard the alleged voice message and the bubble one lumis are using as proof, they didn't sound alike. But then again, I don't know korean.

The sasaeng photos: I guess it also kinda makes sense. But I feel like the fan who said they got the same photo OP 1 had provided should have just showed a screenshot of her conversation with the sasaeng she claims to be selling them, I mean, the photo is already out, so what difference of not specifying which photo it is/not showing the screenshots of her conversation with the sasaeng would make?

The ring part: the soompi lumi's argument also seems pretty valid. It really does not look like his finger.

The OP 2 part: I don't know mandarin or cantonese so I can't really comment on the nuances the fans are trying to point out. I don't understand the red boxes though, were those part of the original photos OP 2 provided or are they highlights of the misalignments lumis are trying to point out?

The OP 3 part: Oh they can definitely be a guy, but it's also possible that they didn't use their actual gender in the account(I myself do that all the time, for privacy reasons). But once again, we will never know which is true.

The photo is indeed very questionable. Why is the background blurred? Why are there plushies everywhere? Why is there a reflection of what seems like a man in the glass when they're supposedly alone? But there seems to be a door and a small hallway reflected on the glass too? It looks clean and hotel-like. And the one who took the photo seemed to be sitting right besides him based on the photo's angle. If it's taken by a sasaeng staff as fans have claimed, how did the sasaeng staff secretly took a photo like that while literally sitting besides lucas and with other people around them(like the "man in the glass") without the other people in the dorm questioning what the fuck is that staff doing? But another explanation I can think of(if the photo really came from a sasaeng staff) is that a member took the photo(with Lucas being aware of it) and somehow the sasaeng staff managed to get it?

With OP 3's chat records, again I don't see the gap mistakes or misalignment they are pointing out, I again tried to look at WeChat examples on the internet and the difference between the size of the messages and the dates is a normal thing, so is the gap between 2 messages vs the gap at bottom of the chat. And the "difference" between the two s's in lucas's username they are pointing out is honestly ridiculous. The photo is taken from an asymmetrical angle, of course the sizes would look unequal.

The sleeping photos: the plushies' textures don't look the same, dorm plushie looks more rough while the plushie Lucas is sleeping with looks softer and fuzzier. And if it was taken by a sasaeng in the wayv dorm as fans have claimed, how the hell is the sasaeng within such a close proximity? There's so many people in the dorm and I doubt they'd be all asleep at that time to not notice that a sasaeng is right besides their sleeping member literally photographing him.

The jacket and photo receipts: Oh I've seen this on another article. I'm convinced with the debunking of the jacket part, and receipts are everywhere in the internet. I guess it isn't impossible that OP 3 might have just took the receipts somewhere online.

OP 4's surfing video: Yes, same pose, but different angles? That does not look exactly the same as the one he showed in his socials. But that black spot is definitely questionable.

OP 4's WeChat records: Oh another questionable one. Especially the imbalance in the color value. But once I again I think it would have been better if they provided the links to the other debunk posts they included because man I can't see the cutting traces in the chats that they are pointing out.

OP 1's second post: again I think the difference in wechat date layouts depend on the version? And why did most koreans themselves didn't question the difference in OP 1's wechat? Like if korean wechat really don't look like that, wouldn't they point it out?

"their account creation dates and account activity all falls within the same time period." Um no?? 2015, 2019, 2018 are same time periods??

In conclusion, as I said before, I think the soompi lumi presented strong points that really make you question the credibility of the allegations, but their intense bias towards lucas makes them quite questionable, too. And the way they treat every debunk post like the absolute divine truth is pretty off-putting.

I'm convinced not everything in the allegations are true. I'm just curious about the severity of his actions. Maybe he dated them, but maybe he wasn't an asshole? But if that's the case why would they try to ruin his image if he treated them right? Or maybe he really was an asshole but some of the story isn't true? Ah I'm still so confused of what to think but I believe there has to be some truth in the story, but just how bad is the truth???

thank you for sending me your thoughts! it's always interesting to see what other people think. (and sorry for the late reply!)

i'm not gonna say much as i've talk about my thoughts on the post already.

i agree about the manga, it's absolutely ridiculous how comparing one manga character to lucas debunks their claims. that's just one example of one of the far fetched assumptions that made me lean more towards not believing the article.

part of me also wondered if they created the ig account for their article but like you said, we’ll never know.

even if it doesn’t look like his finger in the messages, I’m pretty sure he mentioned winwin in the texts ??

I know some people blur the background of photos for either aesthetic, or mostly for privacy reasons.

I honestly don’t know how people are seeing a man in the reflection. It’s a literally blob. You can’t make out any (person) shape.

The jacket and receipts is the only thing I took away from that article that I actually kind of believed. I talked about this with another anon. That is super easy to fake, but the photos were also originally blurry so a “blur” around the words would be hard to solidify as evidence unless the photo is in ultra hd or something lol. But to me this is the most believable to be fake.

I once saw a twitter thread pointing out how the messages weren’t photoshopped and explained why they looked “misaligned” or whatever but I can’t remember what it said exactly besides auto translations. I won’t be able to find it again because it was so long ago :/

Someone can correct me if I’m wrong but wechat is more of a China thing? Like not a lot of people outside of China/non-Chinese use it. You’re right about why Koreans didn’t point it out, but I don’t think they’d know if they don’t use it ??

You asked a lot of questions and pointed out a lot of things that are something to think about, but I don’t think anyone has a clear answer unless you have an extreme bias.

I also wondered the severity of his actions. I think this whole thing is a mix of truth and lies. We all want to know the truth and the worst part is we never will. Like you said, how bad is the truth?

(I might edit this later and add some stuff 😅)