#Can still find it in their archives though.

[dresshistorynerd]

#this was an incredible read#i have always enjoyed morris' designs#its so wonderful to see how his views on art capitalism and machinery align with my own views#and thankyou so much op for sourcing your quotes#id like to read more of morris' essays now#long post

I mentioned this in my previous morrisposting spree, but there's a great freely available archive, with basically all of Morris' writing. I meant to link all the texts I quoted, but forgot :D But I can do that now so if you want, you can very easily find and read them!

Art and Socialism The Art of the People The Lesser Arts How We Live and How We Might Live Art and the Beauty of the Earth

I recommended Art and Socialism before as a good starting point for Morris' writings. Morris was very prolific writer so the archive can be pretty overwhelming. Art and Socialism gives I think pretty good overview of Morris' ideology on art and politics, but it is pretty long.

I will note that Morris was still a Victorian middle class Englishman, The Worst Kind of Man, so his texts will have the occasional sexist, racist and homophobic remark. He was not ideologically bigoted, he was very much anti-colonialist and he did align himself with feminist and queer liberation movements, even though he didn't necessarily talk much about those issues himself. I like to think he was more ignorant than malicious. For example in How we live and how we might live, he discusses the evils of global capitalism, the British Empire and colonialism, but as he does so he calls colonized peoples "savage" and "barbarous". These were at the time regularly used terms to dehumanize colonized people, but he uses them as a more neutral or even positive descriptors, given he did often talk about how the so called "civilized" cultures were kinda bad actually. I think there's a bit of the "noble savage" trope there, but he did truly advocate for self-determination of colonized people so for him it didn't seem to take the paternalistic tone (since noble savage trope was often used as excuse for the "civilized white man" to "help" the colonized people to "grow" out of the "childhood" into civilized men). I've come across more ignorant takes by him than this too. This is just to say it's good to keep in mind that he indeed was a Victorian middle class Englishman and his perspective was therefore limited.

Also thank you very much, I appreciate a lot that you enjoyed reading this!!

The Morrisian case against fast fashion

Today I discovered that H&M made a William Morris collection some years ago. The heath death of the universe can't come quickly enough. We can stop now. Satire is dead and we killed her.

It's not just the whole concept of H&M using William Morris' designs for their fast fashion which is insanity inducing, but also the critical response it garnered. Like sure, people did realize this is insane and there was a lot of think pieces about it at the time, but I read several of them and they all seem to still miss the point in spectacular way.

The basic premise of these think pieces go along the lines of: "Would William Morris spin in his grave with a speed of light because of the H&M collection of his designs? A difficult question indeed. William Morris was a complicated man. He wanted art to be affordable to everyone. Isn't H&M affordable? That kinda fits. Though probably he would have some concerns about H&M's practices."

On the surface - yes - but like in reality - fuck no. There's no nuance in this particular issue. He talked about many times what he though of the H&Ms of his time, the retailers selling poor quality industrially produced "fashionable" bullshit. We know exactly what he would have thought of H&M. Here's couple of quotes from his 1884 lecture "Art and Socialism", which makes it very clear.

"It would be an instructive day's work for any one of us who is strong enough to walk through two or three of the principal streets of London on a week-day, and take accurate note of everything in the shop windows which is embarrassing or superfluous to the daily life of a serious man. Nay, the most of these things no one, serious or unserious, wants at all; only a foolish habit makes even the lightest-minded of us suppose that he wants them, and to many people even of those who buy them they are obvious encumbrances to real work, thought and pleasure. But I beg you to think of the enormous mass of men who are occupied with this miserable trumpery, from the engineers who have had to make the machines for making them, down to the hapless clerks who sit day-long year after year in the horrible dens wherein the wholesale exchange of them is transacted, and the shopmen, who not daring to call their souls their own, retail them amidst numberless insults which they must not resent, to the idle public which doesn't want them but buys them to be bored by them and sick to death of them."

He is describing the birth of consumerism, which was taking form during his lifetime in the late Victorian Era, which fast fashion is the extreme logical conclusion of, and he fucking hated it. He specifically railed against endless consumerist products, which H&M is the perfect representation of. It was definitely not the art and beauty he believed everyone required and deserved. He makes the distinction often.

"Now if we are to have popular Art, or indeed Art of any kind, we must at once and for all be done with this luxury; it is the supplanter, the changeling of Art; so much so that by those who know of nothing better it has even been taken for Art, the divine solace of human labour, the romance of each day's hard practice of the difficult art of living."

"And here furthermore is at least a little sign whereby to distinguish between a rag of fashion and a work of Art: whereas the toys of fashion when the first gloss is worn off them do become obviously worthless even to the frivolous—a work of Art, be it ever so humble, is long lived; we never tire of it; as long as a scrap hangs together it is valuable and instructive to each new generation. All works of Art in short have the property of becoming venerable amidst decay: and reason good, for from the first there was a soul in them, the thought of man, which will be visible in them so long as the body exists in which they were implanted."

When he thought of popular Art he thought of the craftsmanship of the common people. The art people have made from useful everyday objects with skillful handicrafts. This is what he means by "divine solace of human labour". It's not reverence of Puritanical work ethic, on the contrary, it's the reverence of creation, of the earnest joy people feel when they get to express themselves through their creative pursuits. He certainly didn't believe in work for work's sake, work needed to be worthwhile and enjoyable. He summarized his own position on what labour should be thusly:

"It is right and necessary that all men should have work to do which shall be worth doing, and be of itself pleasant to do; and which should he done under such conditions as would make it neither over-wearisome nor over-anxious."

He urged his middle class audience to reject consumerism (the lecture was for a very much middle class atheist society):

"For I say again that in buying these things: 'Tis the lives of men you buy! Will you from mere folly and thoughtlessness make yourselves partakers of the guilt of those who compel their fellow men to labour uselessly?"

I think it's glaringly obvious H&M and fast fashion in general is what he would consider luxury. Rags of fashion that are just churned out and discarded without thought and produced by compelling people to labour uselessly. It's not popular art that's made by workers and craftsmen, who are able to express themselves through it. There's no agency for the abused workers in H&M's sweatshops, they are not expressing their joy of creation, they are simply labouring uselessly.

Morris didn't shame workers for buying affortable things even if they weren't Art with big A, because that's the problem he despised the whole economic system for, for taking away the popular Art from people, making it inaccessible, and selling back mass produced products with very little practical or aesthetic value. So I don't think he would have problem with people who can only afford fast fashion today. They are the victims of capitalism too, because Art has been taken away from them. But the idea that some of these think pieces had that perhaps the H&M's Morris collection can be good actually if you squint, that H&M has the capacity to bring the art and beauty Morris advocated for for the people, is level of stupidity that's hard to express in words.

Morris didn't believe anything made with exploited labour could be truly beautiful, truly art. In his 1879 lecture "The Art of the People" he put it like this:

"That thing which I understand by real art is the expression by man of his pleasure in labour."

The way I understand this, is that art is communication. Through it we communicate feelings, ideas and thoughts, that is it's purpose. So for that communication to work, for it to be imbued with message, the person making it needs to feel passion and love for it's creation. How can there be love and passion if the hands making the garment belong to a tired exploited worker who has no egency what so ever in their work and can only think about survival to the next day?

Beyond the fundamental exploitativeness of H&M and fast fashion, this collection would still get zero points on aesthetic values from Morris even with his own designs. Because the work itself was such an important part of art for Morris, good design was nothing without good craftsmanship. Good design in his mind was always relative and dependent on it's purpose.

"For everything made by man’s hands has a form, which must be either beautiful or ugly; beautiful if it is in accord with Nature, and helps her; ugly if it is discordant with Nature, and thwarts her; it cannot be indifferent." (The Lesser Arts, 1877)

Here when he says nature, he means the nature of the thing that is made - basically it's purpose and function - and the nature of the materials it's made from. Basically, the design must always be made to bring out the function of the art and the qualities of the material it's made from, not fight against them. This is because he believed handicrafts were uniquely suitable for expressing the love of creation, therefore superior labour, and to really bring out the qualities of the craftsmanship and enjoy the creative process, the design should be suitable for that craft. The other side, which was the joy of using and experiencing art, required the craft to be selected for the suitable purpose. Using poorly functioning furniture for example is not very enjoyable, nor is using clothing that's made from materials that are not suitable for the climactic conditions it's supposed to be used in.

H&M of course utterly fails in this. They use Morris' designs in fully unsuitable ways. They print patterns made for example for wall papers on poor quality fabrics with synthetics dyes they weren't made for. This line from one blog post I came across really got me: "Therefore, without cheapening the artistic value of Morris’ designs, H&M’s collection offers an unparalleled potential for accessibility to them." No. Fuck no. They do in fact cheapen Morris' designs in every single way possible. Literally this is atrocious.

Despite the popular depiction, Morris wasn't in fact against industrial machinery or industrial art even, or at least he wasn't once his views on art and politics matured. He did think technology was useful, but he thought the people should use industrial methods for the benefit of all, not be enslaved by the industrial machine.

"I have spoken of machinery being used freely for releasing people from the more mechanical and repulsive part of necessary labour; and I know that to some cultivated people, people of the artistic turn of mind, machinery is particularly distasteful, and they will be apt to say you will never get your surroundings pleasant so long as you are surrounded by machinery. I don't quite admit that; it is the allowing machines to be our masters and not our servants that so injures the beauty of life nowadays. In other words, it is the token of the terrible crime we have fallen into of using our control of the powers of Nature for the purpose of enslaving people, we care less meantime of how much happiness we rob their lives of." ("How we live and how we might live", 1887)

However, he thought that the designer should approach it the way they approached any craft, by designing for the strengths of the machine work.

"But if you have to design for machine-work, at least let your design show clearly what it is. Make it mechanical with a vengeance, at the same time as simple at possible. Don't try, for instance, to make a printed plate look like a hand-painted one: make it something which no one would try to do if he were painting by hand..." ("Art and the Beauty of the Earth", 1881)

He did use some machinery for fabric and wall paper printing, but he was very intentional about their use. Still his designs weren't made for the type of methods these modern H&M machinery uses and he did for example use natural dyes. Particularly insulting is that some of the H&M clothes are made from viscose, rayon made with viscose method. Viscose method is extremely toxic and is known to cause long term health consequences for the workers and the people in surrounding areas. This has been well proven knowledge for ages. William Morris' wall paper factory in the beginning used the typical method used at the time which involved arsenic, but once he learned this could pose risks for the workers, he changed the method. Many of the new synthetic dyes were toxic at the time, which is the major reason he so favoured natural dyes, known to not cause health issues for workers or pollute the environment.

The question many of these think pieces about the H&M Morris collection posed was, would Morris disapprove and should we care? The first part of that is very easy to answer. Yes. Of course Morris would disapprove. He is currently powering the whole of British isles with purely the kinetic energy his grave-spinning produces. Should we care though? If you care about Morris' art, if you want to see more of that kind of art in this world, you should care. Morris' art is not about the superficial qualities. Copying his designs and aesthetics and styles, will only lead to hollow imitations, that are exactly what he described the rags of fashion to be; as the shininess of novelty wears off they will reveal themselves to be soulless, useless and utterly empty. This collection is just that. To see more of the kind of art that makes you feel like his art makes you feel, not just something that reminds you of that feeling, you should focus more on the way the art is made and less on the specific aesthetics. If his vision of labour and art was realised, all art produced of course wouldn't be loved by every person, but all of it would be loved by someone, even if that someone was just the maker. And that would be more worthwhile than every single rag of fast fashion.

I will stop William-Morris-posting now and return to my thesis.

[blackkatmagic]

I love every time you bring in the nomadic masters, they’re all so funny and yet slightly or majorly terrifying to other characters because they’re so unhinged yet competent. I’m so interested by Fay be dealing with a whole battalion rather than just the couple of clones you’ve had her interacting with before (which I also love to be clear). Also, love the little nuggets of world building with the Jedi temple, Fay is a very fun narrator because she just has so much history and experience.

“Master Fay!” Tae calls, hurrying across the hall to greet her.

Fay pauses in the doorway of the Archives, turns. She can't help but smile at the sight of Tae's grin, and when he skids to a half and ducks into a quick bow, she snorts.

“You're never going to fool anyone into thinking you're a stuffy old diplomat if you rush everywhere like that, padawan,” she says mildly, and Tae chuckles, straightening. He’s gotten taller since she saw him last, and significantly so, as tall as Nico now. His hair has finished going grey, too, the way all Diaths tend to early on, and it makes all the beads he’s added to his padawan braid stand out more. There's a krayt tooth that’s new, as well, as far as Fay can remember, which means he must have completed a Kumumgah adulthood ritual, the way all Diaths do.

He must be nearly ready for his Trials, Fay thinks with a faint pang. It’s hardly felt like any time at all, and already he’s grown. Soon, she’ll turn around and find him with a padawan of his own. That’s how it happened with Nico, too.

“People think all Jedi are stuffy anyway,” Tae says, unbothered, and his smile is bright. “I have a head start.”

“A secret no one will ever tell you: most Jedi are.” Nico inclines his head to Fay, still straight and stern, with his hands folded in the wide sleeves of his robe. “Master Fay.”

“Master Diath,” Fay returns politely. “I felt you arrive. Everything went smoothly?”

“I didn’t fistfight Master Mundi, if that’s what you're asking.” The twitch of Nico's mustache is the only sign that he’s fighting down a smirk. “Or Tholme.”

“I think you’d be more in danger of kissing Tholme,” Tae says, and when Nico levels a narrow look at him, he raises his hands in surrender. “I'm a telepath, Uncle.”

“A telepath who pokes his metal nose everywhere it shouldn’t be,” Nico says, though it’s more sigh than complaint.

[jettboat]

Magnus Archives AU - The Laughter

--------------------------------------------------------

Ren: Statement of Martyn Littlewood, Grian Solidarity, Jimmy Solidarity, Mumbo Jumbo, and Impulse SV. Regarding a case of constant laughing over a phrase. Recorded by Ren Dog, head archivist of the Life Institute. Statement begins.

*Snickering can be heard in the background*

Ren: Alright, I have some water here for you guys... You look like you all need it... who wants to start?

Martyn: *Out of breath* I'm pretty sure if we drink anything we'll spit it out... We were at my house, just messing around, when I cracked a joke by pointing at Jimmy when he came out of the hallway and yelling "AHA"

*The four dissolve into a fit of laughter*

Ren: And now you all can't stop laughing?

Grian: Worse, if we don't say- the word, then it just-

*Grian made a muffled noise, like he was trying to trap the word in his mouth*

Grian: AHAlways finds a way in the sentence!

*The group made an attempt to hold in the laughter and have a chance to breathe, unfortunately, it didn't last long*

Mumbo: AHAnd we can't stop! Did we mention that? I don't even find it funny anymore!

*There was a soft thump*

Jimmy: *Muffled against the table* It's mAHAking my chest hurt.

*Soft giggles can be heard*

Ren: Do any of you know how this could happen? Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Hear maybe?

Impulse: I bought this recently AHAt a store. Looked neat. Martyn used it to look at Jimmy that first time.

*Through the giggles there was a sound of the chairs creaking as the group turned in their seats*

Martyn: Don't look at me! How was I supposed to know it was an AHArtifact of chaos- or whatever it is?

*More giggles*

Ren: Impulse? Can I see that spyglass? Thanks.

*A pause*

Ren: Martyn, you looked at Jimmy through this, right? Did you all start laughing then?

Martyn: It stAHArted with just Jimmy and I, then the others joined in after a few beats.

*Grian's laugh could be heard the loudest, though he made a loud sigh afterwards, like he was deflating*

Ren: Let me just...

*Shuffling can be heard*

Mumbo: WhAHAt are you-

*There was a shattering sound, louder than the laughter... then the laughter died down*

Ren: Shattering the lense seemed to do the trick! Definitely keeping this though, if you don't mind, Impulse.

Impulse: No no, keep it. Never wanna see it again... Hey, I didn't say the word!

Jimmy: Yay! We're free!

Martyn: Ohhh I'm gonna be ill...

Mumbo: I need a nap. A long nap.

Grian: Thanks, Ren.

Ren: No problem, dudes. But just to make sure you're all okay, I'm going to have you all stay the next few hours here.

Martyn: Is that water still up for grabs?

--------------------------------------------------------

Ren: Follow up to the last statement regarding the laughter.

They all seem to be doing fine, they all drank some water and relaxed until I was sure they got their giggles out of their system.

The spyglass has been locked away with a warning label. Hopefully, no one will pick it up for a while.

It is odd though... How can a spyglass suddenly make everyone laugh so hard they get sick?

--------------------------------------------------------

Random little spin off au cause it sounded really fun!

Everyone should go listen to Magnus Archives if they like a little horror, very fun listen!

[sabine-smitten-obviously]

And YOU will feel healed of the last 15

... when you read this fic. That is, as long as you suffered from an abandonement wound like i did.

Ello lovelies, i have another wonderful fanfic-rec for you! 🤓

But you are an ocean by @ineffably-good

Coverart by @ineffableclassics

What it is about:

After Aziraphale's defection, Crowley tries to figure out how to live life for himself.

Notes:

Ok so, the end of season two broke me. Figured I was maybe done writing stories about these two after that. And yet, several hours later, a sentence appeared in my head, and then this happened. Guessing at chapter totals… I'm finding I like the idea of Crowley going off in a different direction than what I'd initially expect. Not just raging, not sleeping for a century, but actually trying to move on. And why the hell shouldn't he just move to the South Downs by himself? So here we are.

What i like about it:

🩷This fic doesn´t jump in on pushing the story - their story - forward. Instead it goes a totally different path. A quite big part of it is dedicated to Crowley mending the pieces of his broken heart. It´s endearing, it´s breathtaking and it will have you cry. Not only for Crowley but for every single person who ever had to endure heartbreak.

🩷Fun fact no.1: in real life I am a relationship-coach specialised in toxic relationships and heartbreak. And the way Crowley´s heartbreak is described couldn´t be any more accurate. Every thought, every pain, every action he takes, the strength it costs him, the weight of it all - its written absolutely to the point. I could have copied several pages for the "most beloved quote".

🩷So Crowley tries to build a life for himself. Not just living without the angel and rotting in a pit, but really trying to carve out a nice little existence for himself. He is doing his work, he is healing and you can follow along with him, as he learns to build at least new "friendships" - though he would never call it that himself, thanks a lot.

🩷This healing-journey takes quite some time and somewhere in the middle of it i started to think - he could do it. He COULD heal his hurt, mourn the loss and still somehow at least live a life on his own. Maybe feeling the missing part of himself for the rest of his existence, but not being miserable about it the whole time. And that is a thought - a wish - i would have for my dark angel.

I could see him living that life and at one point i almost thought - i would love to see how that would´ve played out for him. A life without Aziraphale. What connections would Crowley have made? How would he have coped with the loss of those humanly connections lifespan after lifespan? Would he have relocated each century? Would he have moved to Australia and learned surfing at one time? Would he have become a timelord and travelled - i mean seriously, Crowley could do that probably?

But you, my dear, are an ocean.

And oceans are ancient

And can survive everything,

Even the wrath of weather and planets.

-- Nikita Gill

SPOILERS AHEAD - if you don´t want to know the plot, stop reading here.

Stop reading if you dont want spoilers!

Ok - you´ve been warned! Here we go: 🤗

🩷Fun fact no.2: I actually downloaded this fic some time ago but had another fic in mind i wanted to start next. So after i finished the last one (also really brilliant, i wrote a rec on it too), i started my e-reader the next day, THIS fic was already open instead on page 1. Huh?

I have absolutely no idea how this is possible, but i DO believe in hints-of-the-universe. Or little demonic miracles on their own. Because i needed this fic.

🩷Because of course - this is a Good Omens fanfic and eventually the other angel arrives. And without giving away to much: Aziraphale has to fight for Crowley. A long long time. He has to be steadfast and consistent and earn the trust of his has-been-companion-for-millenia. Nothing is a given any more.

And i am NOT saying that this is what Aziraphale needs to do or that he was wrong in any way. (The fic doesnt say that either by the way.) But what cracked ME personally about the last 15 was my own abandonement-wound which got triggered massively. I felt retraumatised even.

So reading and feeling that Crowley does not jump on the next best possibility to be back with the angel was a big thing. Having the Angel slowly earning his trust and simply showing up again and again - I needed that. I needed Crowley to take his time, not be the sick lovefool he is often proclaimed to be. For him to have doubts, to feel conflicted, to feel love and the need to self-preserve at the same time.

All these ambiguities we all have. And to take the steps with him. Watch the turning point, when the fear of losing Aziraphale again becomes less and less and the fear of wasting time gets stronger. Taking one step at a time, sometimes even backwards. All those things, typical for a healing process, which is never straight forward but most of the time a rollercoaster instead. I loved this. I needed this. I could sit back, breathe and watch my own heart grow. Just. Wow.

Most beloved quote:

So if you feel like maybe you need a fic in which Aziraphale really shows up and cares while Crowley really takes his time to learn to trust again... And not because one of them has been an idiot, but to experience them both learning and growing together ... and that might be something for your own healing journey, this might be just THE fic for you. I absolutely loved it and so will you.

Reading is therapy! 🤗

[arcanistsanctum]

To mark the first anniversary of @arcanistsanctum, I created a new Discord server for everyone to join in. Server is still a work in progress, so please bear with me and help me notice any channel permissions that need working on.

Based on the reblog contents I see from the blog's archive posts, I can tell there's several of you who will get along remarkably well. I also want to chat with you guys in a more interactive way, so feel free to drop by and introduce yourselves. The vibe will be chill, but let's keep it fun and supportive! There will be channels for casual chats, deep discussions, and creative sharing, not exclusive only to Reverse:1999 though this definitely is the main topic.

If you want a sneak peek of the channels, here they are:

See you guys over there as well.

There's actually more!

Open Call for Cutout Submissions

Would anyone be interested in submitting their own cutouts from official R99 illustrations? I am considering opening a /submit link if there are people who are willing to contribute. While I can clean backgrounds myself, I honestly don't think it's feasible for me to handle this alone. Reverse 1999 pngs are goated for their own cutouts. But I gather two is always better than one, right?

Hit me up on tumblr or discord if you're interested!

Note: I am not accepting specific cutout requests just yet, but I will post any that I find from other sources if I can. For now. Until I see what comes out of this post.

If there are individuals willing to help, I will also create a channel in Discord server where people can request cutouts. This way, anyone willing to clean backgrounds can see the requests, not just me. :) This is voluntary btw, but you will be considered a blog contributor, officially.

No worries if nobody volunteers! It's just that I won't be able to post some cutout requests timely. Or I may have to decline some.

[peace-hunter]

in the baby prime orion au orion still sneaks into the archives very often. perhaps even more often than he does in canon. and while he is looking for clues on what happened to the matrix, there's a second reason for it that he can never quite bring himself to tell anyone about, not even dee.

because he doesn't know how to explain how the ache in his chest that never goes away, that black hole of sadness and longing for something he can't put a finger on, almost goes away when he listens to alpha trion's voice in those old recordings. how it almost manages to soothe the raw gaping wound in his spark that he doesn't remember getting.

but only almost. it is never quite enough and more often than not, the moment the recording ends the grief he carries with him at all times will come rushing back to him just as strong and with a renewed sense of loss.

he doesn't really care though. even a glimpse of peace is better than none at all.

(even if he has to be extra careful to not fall into recharge while listening to the recordings. he finds alpha trion's voice strangely soothing for some reason.)

[pineapplefulfillseveryneed]

Sparks tour 2023

[viyojo]

<= 2023 // 2020 => Quick Redraw (^^)

[hoxooster]

Yeah, it was purdy hype back in the day. Most of us practically had bees in our blood--also the large influx of reinvigorated Wolfhox content was nice to witness and be a part of at the time. The trailer really rocked us all to our carbon-enriched cores and lit a fire under our asses.

Annnnnd, yeah. The surprises of more contemporary Payday aren’t really... good, aye. Most of the time it’s something cool that’s followed by frustration or even outrage. This is because--and I will always maintain this--that Almir has never been trained in PR work and he puts his foot in his mouth a lot. He’s not the only one on the dev team that does this, but he’s pushed to the forefront a lot and he actively puts himself out there all the time--which, if you’re trained in PR, you know that you shouldn’t do that. But, anyway, enough complaining, otherwise we’ll be here for hours.

I, personally, don’t think Houston’s coming back. Unless! they change his voice actor. Derek Ray was always one of the VAs that came in the least to update his lines (If you think that current Wolf is bad, Houston was actually WORSE for a long while). So, if Hous is in the new game, they’ll most likely change his VA as well. Only time will tell.

Thank you for your kind words, but I also know that my blog doesn’t contain all of the content that was uploaded over the years. There were things that I just refused to reblog ‘cause I didn’t agree with them for certain reasons. Also because of bad actors at the time who were doing or saying horrible shit--as an example, I even went back and removed some things because of a specific person’s outwardly transphobic behavior on another site (and because they were also trying to do that shit here and began targeting other users). A handful of posts were lost in the Tumblr Porn Purge when the algorithm got nasty and targeted the weirdest shit--I was only able to appeal about 3 or 4 of them to get them back. Others still were lost thanks to the Tumblr Exodus. Read mores suddenly led to dead links and entire posts were left as the top, ripped off pieces of something that used to be great (a lot of fics and art were essentially burned to ash overnight by this). But! I’m not the only source for old Payday posts. Some of the Old Guard from a couple of the different eras of this fandom are still kicking around on here--I’ve actually been following a few of them after all these years--and they still have the posts on their blogs. *Taps the side of my nose.* You just need to know where to look~

And, yeah, I’m sticking around. I still deeply love these games, even with my hang ups. Plus, somebody’s gotta be the grandpa around here, and it’s been me for years now.

Anyone from the payday the heist days, I'm very curious how it was like with hoxton being revealed to come back. And how was it like with the reveal being a fricking Christmas album?

[shoechoe]

i was worried my mom would find it weird that i wanted to buy DVDs in 2023 but not only did she help me out but she also bought me a new portable DVD player. neat

[didntaskforfrozenyoghurt]

did you know audacity can view midi piano rolls. well now i do

[anotheraccountonthisapp]

CW: vent in tags (I'm sorry idk Tumblr etiquette yet-)

unfortunately a lot of the corny self help advice turns out to be true but the thing is you have to come to those conclusions yourself otherwise it just sounds dismissive and dumb

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

.

[cchickki]

If you haven’t started already, start archiving/downloading everything. Save it to an external hard drive if you’re able. Collecting physical media is also a good idea, if you’re able.

Download your own/your favorite fanfics. Save as much as you can from online sources/digital libraries. Recipes, tutorials, history, LGBTQ media, etc. It has been claimed, though I can’t find the exact source if true, that some materials about the Revolutionary War were deleted from the Library of Congress.

It’s always better to be safe than sorry and save and preserve what you can. Remember that cloud storage also is not always reliable!

Library of Congress - millions of books, films and video, audio recordings, photographs, newspapers, maps, manuscripts.

Internet Archive - millions of free texts, movies, software, music, websites, and more. Has been taken offline multiple times because of cyber attacks last month, it has recently started archiving again.

Anna's Archive - 'largest truly open library in human history.’

Queer Liberation Library - queer literature and resources. Does require applying for a library membership to browse and borrow from their collection.

List of art resources - list of art resources complied on tumblr back in 2019. Not sure if all links are still operational now, but the few I clicked on seemed to work.

Alexis Amber - TikToker who is an archivist who's whole page is about archiving. She has a database extensively recording the events of Hurricane Katrina.

I'll be adding more to this list, if anyone else wants to add anything feel free!

[azuremist]

Google is going to start scraping all of their platforms to use for AI training. So, here are some alternatives for common Google tools!

Google Chrome -> Firefox

If you’re on tumblr, you’ve probably already been told this a thousand times. But FireFox is an open-source browser which is safe, fast and secure. Basically all other browsers are Chrome reskins. Try Firefox Profilemaker, Arkenfox and Librewolf! Alternatively, vanilla Firefox is alright, but get Ublock Origin, turn off pocket, and get Tabliss.

Google Search -> DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo very rarely tracks or stores your browsing data (though they have only been known to sell this info to Microsoft). Don’t use their browser; only their search engine. Domain visits in their browser get shared. Alternatively, you can also use Ecosia, which is a safe search engine that uses its income to plant trees! 🌲

Google Reverse Image Search -> Tineye

Tineye uses image identification tech rather than keywords, metadata or watermarks to find you the source of your image!

Gmail -> ProtonMail

All data stored on ProtonMail is encrypted, and it boasts self-destructing emails, text search, and a commitment to user privacy. Tutanota is also a good alternative!

Google Docs -> LibreOffice

LibreOffice is free and open-source software, which includes functions like writing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, formula editing and more.

Google Translate -> DeepL

DeepL is notable for its accuracy of translation, and is much better that Google Translate in this regard. It does cost money for unlimited usage, but it will let you translate 500,000 characters per month for free. If this is a dealbreaker, consider checking out the iTranslate app.

Google Forms -> ClickUp

ClickUp comes with a built-in form view, and also has a documents feature, which could make it a good option to take out two birds with one stone.

Google Drive -> Mega

Mega offers a better encryption method than Google Drive, which means it’s more secure.

YouTube -> PeerTube

YouTube is the most difficult to account for, because it has a functional monopoly on long-form video-sharing. That being said, PeerTube is open-source and decentralized. The Internet Archive also has a video section!

However, if you still want access to YouTube’s library, check out NewPipe and LibreTube! NewPipe scrapes YouTube’s API so you can watch YouTube videos without Google collecting your info. LibreTube does the same thing, but instead of using YouTube servers, it uses piped servers, so Google doesn’t even get your IP address. Both of these are free, don’t require sign-ins, and are open source!

Please feel free to drop your favorite alternatives to Google-owned products, too! And, if this topic interests you, consider checking out Glaze as well! It alters your artwork and photos so that it’s more difficult to use to train AI with! ⭐️

[thetreetopinn]

Sources for Somerton's Plagiarism from Hbomberguy's Video (as much as I could get)

I went back through Harry's video, focused entirely on the sources James Somerton pulled from in the hopes of creating as much of a comprehensive list as I could--though my Google-Fu is not very strong. I did however find something I thought was forever lost and that made me very happy--specifically the magazine Midlands Zone containing the column by Steven Spinks that Harry poignantly used as an illustration of gay erasure... while Somerton uses it to sound like HE is waxing remorseful about the very subject.

This is not a complete list, I'm sure. For one thing, I was only able to attempt to pull sources that Harry himself mentioned in the video. Surely there's so very much more out there. I expect there to be a great deal more internet archeology to unearth just how much writing and culture Somerton has stolen like he's the British Museum of Natural History but for gay people.

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Harry's list of mentioned youtubers:

Alexander Avila - https://www.youtube.com/@alexander_avila Matt Baume - https://www.youtube.com/@MattBaume Khadija Mbowe - https://www.youtube.com/@KhadijaMbowe Lady Emily - https://www.youtube.com/@LadyEmilyPresents Shanspeare - https://www.youtube.com/@Shanspeare RickiHirsch - https://www.youtube.com/@RickiHirsch VerilyBitchie - https://www.youtube.com/@verilybitchie

Harry created a convenient playlist of videos by these and other people he wants to bring to everyone's attention.

Please give them your support.

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Midlands Zone Magazine - Column by Steven Spinks

After a great deal of searching, I found an archive of the "Midlands Zone" magazine, where you can read through past issues dating all the way back to February 2014. I have also found the issue from which Somerton took Spinks' poignant discussion of gay erasure: Overall archive Specific Issue - Pages 16-17

It will not allow you to download it, but you can read it exactly as it appeared in print form.

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My best effort to find the exact book or article Somerton lifted from to be able to get attention to the original writers

Tinker Bells and Evil Queens By Sean Griffin

The Celluloid Closet By Vito Russo Wikipedia article about the book Wikipedia article about the documentary My weak google-fu could not find where you can access the book or documentary. Check your local municipal or university library for book or documentary, or if you know a good source for one or both, please reblog with it added

Camp and the Gay Sensibility By Jack Babuscio

The Groundbreaking Queerness of Disney's Mulan By Jes Tom Personal site with links to social media accounts

Why Rebel Without a Cause was a milestone for gay rights By Peter Howell

Why "The Craft" is still the best Halloween coming out movie By Andrew Park

Opinion: From facehuggers to phallic tails, is 'Alien' one of the queerest films ever? By Dani Leever

Women and Queerness in Horror: Jennifer's Body By Zoe Fortier

[Pride 2019] We Have Such Sights to Show You: Hellraiser and the Spectrum of Queerness By Alejandra Gonzalez

Revealing the Hellbound Heart of Clive Barker's 'Hellraiser' By Colin Arason

Queering James Cameron's Aliens (1986) By Bart Bishop

Demeter and Persephone in space: transformation, femininity, and myth in the 'Alien' films By David Greven

Fears of a millennial masculinity: Scream's queer killers By David Greven (Scholarly site, unable to access original work, offers a way to request a full copy of the text in PDF)

Queer Subtext in Stephen King's It - Part 1: 'Reddie' Character Analysis By Rachel Brands Rachel is the very unfortunate lady who found out she was being stolen from because she supported Somerton through Patreon and saw one of his videos early with her writing--lacking any form of citation or credit

How 'It: Chapter Two' Leaves Richie Tozier Behind By Joelle Monique

When Horror Becomes Strength: Queer Armor in Stephen King's 'IT' By Alex London

Why Queer People Love Witchcraft By Amanda Kohr

'The Favourite' Queers The Past And The Present By Giorgi Plys-Garzotto

(Wuko) Crush (Mako x Wu) By MoonFlower on YouTube

5 Terrible Movies With Awesome Hidden Meanings By J.F. Sargent

The Radicalization of Sexuality: The Queer Casae of Jeffrey Dahmer By Ian Barnard

Netflix's 'Dahmer' backlash highlights ethical issues in the platform's obsession with true crime By Shivani Dubey

The Possible Disturbing Dissonance Between Hajime Isayama's Beliefs and Attack on Titan's Themes Original Article by "Seldom Musings" (Author has made all posts not related to Attack On Titan private and has retired from the blog)

Everyone Loves Attack on Titan. So Why Does Everyone Hate Attack on Titan? By Gita Jackson

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The following people are otherwise named in the video. There are no direct citations of articles or books by them in said video. I am unable to guarantee that I have identified the correct individual.

Darren Elliott-Smith Michaela Barton David Church Claire Sisco King Amanda Howell Jessica Roy

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Telos announced and cancelled a film likely based on this book: The Final Girl Support Group - By Grady Hendrix

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I refrained from including certain sources.

First off only focusing on Somerton's work.

Secondly not including anything that might be visible enough to not require amplifying their voice (I cannot speak for all of those I have found links to, but journalism is frequently a thankless job).

Thirdly any source that is of a nature that is antithetical to the very existence of the queer community, such as the right-leaning source that didn't make it into Somerton's video, but Harry was able to identify as a source he had considered using.

If you feel I have missed a mentioned source--or you know of a source from material that was not covered in Harry's video--please do not hesitate to reblog with added details.

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Please share this information far and wide, and please add to it if you find more material that can be positively identified and linked to the creator/writer.