#FET online

[hehkshew]

[Take Five] (H/azbin H/otel) A/ngel D/ust and A/lastor [800 Words]

Alastor and Angel were in the living room of the Hotel’s lobby, setting up what was planned to be a smooth and professional recording session. The Radio Demon adjusting his attire. A red coat what was immaculate, long and draped down to his ankles. Every button polished in a way that would shine as it hit the light just right.

A proud grin displayed across his face, filled with motive as he smiled wide and unwavering. He looked perfect for film.

And Angel… Didn’t, where he on the other hand was lounging on one of the lobby chairs. Both legs lankily hung over the side, far too long for where he was currently alay. His outfit wasn’t one that could exactly match Alastor’s.

Whilst Alastor was proper and looking charming for video, Angel Dust was wearing a long fur-lined robe, fluffy and draping over his shoulders. He had a mischievous glint in his eye as he scrolled across his phone. Biting his lip as he glanced up and down.

“Damn, ya’ lookin fine smiles.”

“Come on, Angel, focus!” His voice crackled, a slight distortional sound echoing from it as he sighed. Adjusting the camera, adjusting it so he could capture the perfect shot. “I can’t believe Charlie’s making us film a silly picture telegram.”

Angel rolled his eyes dramatically, pushing himself up as he untied his dressing gown. Underneath was an actual outfit, not one that Alastor would particularly prefer for a shooting like this, but it was passable. “Al, babe, ya’ gotta relax, yeah? We can’t all be ass stiff as your tight radio ass.”

Alastors eye twitching in annoyance, stating blankly, “I prefer to think of myself as being professional here, darling.” Sarcasm in his tone at the pet name. “I don’t even know if the blasted thing is set up right.”

“Alright, sure. I’ll look over it for you.” He purred, pink robe now fully discarded on the floor as Alastor bit back an eyeroll of his own at the discarded gown.

“Yeah, yeah. I think ya’ got it set up pretty damn well here. I’m not seeing any issues with it.” Eyes focused on the screen as he checked the camera settings. Alastor feeling a pang of pride from figuring out the troubling task.

“Okay, so just gotta say some stupid shit about the Hotel?” He frowned, Alastor nodding. “That’s boring, usually viewers love tuning in for stuff more exciting… More revealing.” He grinned, moving his hand to the strap of his shirt.

Alastor sighing with a crackle of static as he slapped at Angel’s hand, Angel giving a short bark of a laugh. “Yes, yes. You’re very charming. But let’s try to keep this one somewhat professional this time?” Snapping his fingers with a manifestation of stage lights. “Alright, I’m turning the lights on now.”

Angels eyes widening as he suddenly tensed, “Wait, hold on, Al—”

But it was too late, Alastor flipping the switch as the studio lights blazed to light, flooding the room immediately with an intense bright glow.

Angel blinking rapidly, expression shifting from surprise to something more dazed. Nose scrunching with a sharp tingling feel as he murmured,

“Wait- Hh.. Al– I- Hhih’!” Angel managed to barely squeak as he gasped.

“Hh…Eh…ih’Tshhiew!”

Sudden and echoing throughout the room as angel gasped, tilting his head back with eyes watering. Stumbling a little as he inhaled sharply with a hitch

“Hh’ihTSSHhiew!”

Alastor’s eyes widening in surprise as he watched Angel stumble breathlessly, “Oh dear.”

“Hh..Eh… HeHhkshiew!”

“Bless you–”

“Hhehkshew!” He sneezed harshly, a wince as he rubbed a gloved hand over the back of his nose harshly, attempting to relieve the itchy sensation. Breath shuddering a little with a sigh as it seemed to cease for the moment, still sniffling anyway.

Alastor blinking in surprise as he raised an eyebrow, tone mused. “Well that was certainly unexpected, are you alright?” Having some sense to turn down the lights, now a low glow. Nowhere near as harsh as a second ago.

As Angel recovered from the loss of breath he shakily sniffled as he wiped his nose a little. Eyes watery as he breathed, a sharp sniff as he huffed in annoyance despite the slight smile evident on his face.

“Y-You could have warned me,” He sniffed, nose scrunching as he rubbed at his nose again with his palm. “Sweet Lucifer that came on fast.”

“Now where would the fun be in that?” Alastor with a teasing grin gracing his expression. Humming in thought. “Though that certainly wasn’t intentional, I promise you.”

“You’re a jerk.” Angel huffed, even though he seemed amused from the embarrassing incident, Alastor pulling out a red handkerchief and hanging it to him who took it with a nod.

“Ugh, you’re impossible. I’m taking five, and keeping this.” Holding up the cloth with a small wave in the air to show him as he brought it to his nose once more, inhaling sharply.

“Hh.. Hh–HehKshh!”

Glint of amusement in his eyes as the other left. Even if they’d got no filming done, maybe a break was deserved. 

[piplupod]

good god I cannot do this fjdksl this is so much pressure. just received a text from this girl at the centre expressing how she's so glad I'm her friend bc she's never rly had any true friends before, and thats very very nice of her to say but also i cannot fucking do this fjdksl this is so much pressure and every time I'm around her I feel like I'm babysitting which isn't her fault! she is simply not a good match for me in terms of social skills and personality! but i feel like im going to fucking kms bc this is so much pressure and I cannot continue to try to support her mental health and be like. her only source of friendship. while barely being able to keep myself afloat 🧍

[nykloss]

Living in a small Midwestern town growing up can really expand your horizons of REAL queer people. The very first trans person I knew irl was the most offline person I ever met and was part of a "crew" of hicks, some of whom were very conservative leaning but still had his back. The first relationship I knew of that I would think to describe as queerplatonic (or somewhat adjacent) was between a girl who is now a hardcore rural southern belle rancher lady (who has never had a boyfriend that I can recall and is not seeking) and her car-lovin' redneck dude bff (who recently came out as gay) and they are all but "in a relationship," going on dates together and spending Christmas, valentine's, etc with each other's families for the past 8-9 years.

[ikilledamanforthisurl]

i walk out of a room with vida & loca imprinted onto my cheeks looking rather lightheaded

[trying2cope]

It took me a year to find him.

I searched different internet BDSM sites. After my horrible failed vanilla marriage I'd sought therapy and realized that the inner sub I'd repressed had never gone away. I had put up with my now ex husband's crappy behavior because I was unconsciously submitting to him, but it got worse and worse and more toxic and abusive. So I felt if I was going to have a healthy marriage in the future I would have to be the sub I know I am.

Hunting online for my future Master husband kept me sane as I tried to live my new life as a single mom with two traumatized culture shocked kids. The divorce had involved an international move.

I found him in January. He was one of many Doms who answered my personal on a "Let's Get Married and Breed" sub forum. I know, romantic. But I liked that it specified the marriage first part, so it wasn't just for the kinksters who like anonymous breeding. That's not me at all. I'm deeply monogamous.

I only had two sexual partners prior. Sexual partners meaning their male member had entered one of my holes. The first was my Master when I was 18-19. He had my mouth and ass. But I told him I was saving my v for marriage and he respected that. Truthfully I only went that far with him because I intended to marry him. When we broke up I was devastated-- even though I was the one who had done it. I had started having feelings for someone else, too, and it confused the hell out of me. I spiraled, mental health wise, into reckless and destructive behavior. Thankfully my "temporary insanity" only lasted a few months, but it was enough.

I was growing in my faith and when I got my sanity back decided that all sex was sex and no loopholes. I'd save it all for marriage again. And I did. I found my now ex husband on a Christian dating site instead of a bdsm one. I'd hoped he'd be a little kinky but he wasn't. Our sex life was never very satisfying. I want sex multiple times a day. He was content with once or twice a month. I have never really been sexually satisfied.

So when my marriage ended in his cheating and dishonesty and mental abuse, I decided a few things. My next man would be a Dom. I needed a man with high libido. He needed to be safe around my kids of course. I wanted a man who wanted more children. And I wasn't going to wait for marriage this time.

I felt a little bad about that. I love God and I don't want to sin. But I also knew the kind of man I want, with the libido I want, wouldn't be celibate.

When my eldest kid realized I was thinking about dating she made me promise her whoever I dated would "love Jesus, kids, and cats".

And when I met him, he checked all the boxes.

We talked online for 6 weeks and then he suggested we meet in person. We did and it was amazing. I could not resist him. I melted in his presence. It was magical, like he held the key to me and every other man, even my ex husband, had only ever picked the lock.

I asked him to be my Master and my boyfriend and he agreed fervently as we made out. I let him into my body that night and quickly we fell madly in love with each other. "You're so sweet to me," he kept saying when I'd just be myself. It made me happy but also sad he'd ever been treated shitty.

He was a single parent too, he has a toddler daughter. He came to me, when she was with her mom, so while he met my kids I hadn't yet gotten to meet her.

And that's where I'll end this post for now.

[radioconstructed]

⌖ As I was falling asleep last night, my BRAIN posed the most INCOMPREHENSIBLE question: WHAT IF HELLKEA IS JUST FETISH BAIT?

⌖ I don't know what this MEANS! Was I contemplating the MAZE-LIKE STRUCTURE of the store? The peaceful atmosphere? The cheap self-assembled melamine? The FAKE SWEDISH MEATBALLS? WHO KNOWS! SOMETHING here was designed to appeal to SOMEONE'S FETISH! I KNOW IT!

[whereisthedamndaddymanual]

I love you daughters.

But sometimes, C Lee brat.

[spicymotte]

Also, I find the habit of sending strangers anon asks on Tumblr along the lines of 'hi oh my god, I'm so sorry to bother you but this thing you posted in a very personal post that relates to a very specific situation that made you uncomfortable is actually not entirely correct :/' just..... unnecessary. and very chronically online, I gotta say.

I'm not sending this to be nitpicky or annoying, so I am so sorry if it seems this way. (This is in regards to the Transformers reblogs of your posts with 'g/t' tags and whatnot)

Long story short, 'g/t' or 'giant/tiny' isn't necessarily something just for kinks or something sexual. (macro/micro is). G/t is essentially the sfw version of that. Most people into g/t just simply enjoy the interaction of much larger life forms with smaller ones. So it's not something sexual or romantic for many. I don't believe the reblogger necessarily meant that you find such things sexual or romantic. Just that you enjoy the size difference aspect in a non-sexual way.

Once again I'm so sorry if I came out rude in any way shape or form, I suck at tone. I'm sorry if other have been filling your ask box with similar messages too, so then please ignore this. Have a wonderful day/night/evening/afternoon!

Hi! Though I understand that you and many others don’t use G/t and something sexual... many do. Some use the macro/micro tag and some use G/t. Been there, seen that. That aside, I didn’t even complain mainly about that I don’t want any sexual tags under my art - my art often gets tagged with not sfw tags - I don’t like that people make assumptions about me.

It’s very rude to just put someone into a niche. I’m not tagging other people’s art with the “accusation” (using the words very loosely here) of the artist not knowing they’re into that stuff yet - for example teratophilia, nesting, age regression or pet play, which can be also both not sexual and very sexual, depending on who you are and what your preferences are.

I set boundaries on my blog and for my art and then you coming into my inbox saying you don’t want to be nitpicky or rude is… well, it’s a choice.

the point of my post was: don’t make assumptions about me. even worse if it’s sexual, but even if not, just don’t do it. It’s extremely rude and if you think that I'm overly sensitive or 'get things wrong' then please just block me. This is my blog and if I'm uncomfortable with something and want to set boundaries, I will do so.

[lilliaace]

I have zero idea how old you are, so I'm going to try to make this as easy to understand as possible.

Keep in mind, I'm 30, been involved heavily in the BDSM community since 2012, and am a health educator, kink educator, and fetish educator. WITH THAT OUT OF THE WAY (and having worked in healthcare for damn near 10 years), let's get into it.

There are SAFE ways to explore potentially rough or 'dangerous' quirks, kinks, fetishes, and/or BDSM related curiosities that DO NOT involve fantasizing and/or romantcizing serious harm to people.

Case in point, the porn community has RUINED and destroyed the fact that there's an actual difference between "CNC" (consensual non consent"), "free use", and "rough sex". Let's educate EVERYONE here so there's no "but what about"-isms.

Free use: Consensually telling your partner "you can have sex with me any time outside of barrier/parameters pre-established (like can only occur inside the home), but the scene can stop at any time if I drop a safe word (like "pineapple" for lack of better phrasing, thanks Tiktok).

Rough sex: Roughly engaging in sexual acts with partner, often involving teeth, scratches, some kind of impact play device (like a paddle or whip), possible electrical play (like a tens unit or violet wand), possible fire play (with proper safety involved to not leave serious burns), possible ice play (again, proper safety to not leave permanent damage), etc. THERE IS A STRONG EMPHASIS ON SAFETY AND CONSENT to keep everyone as safe as possible. Some communities refer to this as "edge play" as in "you're walking the knife's edge with safety". But some people interpret "edge play" as "orgasm denial and control", so read the context when you come across this type of play. Safe words can still be dropped to end a scene.

CNC (consensual non consent): Formally known as biastophilia, it is the fetish or kink (strong orgasm desire) to sexually harm a cause serious injury to a partner. It can be as 'light' as SEVERE verbal degradation (not going to put explicit examples here, think of a verbal abuser from a partner that involves dehumanizing) or as severe as rape/sexual assault (forcing your organ in them), broken bones, etc. When it come to the porn scene, a lot of CNC scenes are DIFFICULT to shoot (attempt rape, gang rape, rough shoving between sexual partners, severe sensory overload OR deprivation, attempt kidnapping, blow jobs to the point of vomiting, potential no lube anal sex, organs prolaping on the penis due to trauma, etc.). There is a reason why even PROFESSIONAL ACTORS in the adult industry (XXX) have serious trouble shooting a lot of these scenes and require SIGNIFICANT aftercare. MANY tap out, again due to the psychological natural consequences that happen during these scenes.

Once you are legally of age (again, I'm making this post for a safety perspective for ALL blog viewers here), you can SAFELY and LEGALLY navigate BDSM circles to learn HOW to manage all three above (Fet...e, local workshops, local munches, reading books about how to do these things safely, watching interviews online with real performers and sex workers of all kinds, safely navigate XXX spaces online, etc.).

If you are legally a minor (17 and younger for most areas, it's when a court no longer deems you a dependent on your parent/guardian figure, NOT age of consent), STAY THE FUCK OUT OF THESE SPACES UNTIL YOU ARE OF LEGAL AGE! It is fine to have curiosities, fantasies, kinks, fetishes, etc. develop during your pre-teen and teen years because your hormones are going crazy. IT IS NOT OKAY to force yourself into these adult spaces.

Child predators(creeps) exist, point blank. Adults who want to do horrible things to pre-teens and teens exist, point blank. We want to keep minors out of these spaces TO KEEP Y'ALL SAFE. Stop pretending that "you're the exception" to grooming or anything like this. YOU ARE NOT. Child predation is an EPIDEMIC online for a reason.

DO NOT FORCE YOURSELF into BDSM spaces, kink spaces, and/or fetish spaces online. IT IS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY!

For the love of fuck, drop the radqueer bullshit that's just straight up albeist nonsense and a slap in the face to those who suffer from these real life horrific things that often lead to severe cptsd, ptsd, potential victims of child trafficking, victims of child creeps/predators, etc.

People have sadism thoughts. People have masochistic thoughts. It's about HOW YOU LEARN to SAFELY navigate these waters with a CONSENTING partner when BOTH of you are legal adults. This is why BDSM safety workshops and spaces online exist.

[theangryman]

kink as religion/spirituality

it’s a little gauche to say something is “like a cult” - it’s overused as an expression

but a large problem i have with kink/bdsm subculture is the commonalities with religion, the spiritual aspects

when you think of precedents for “consensual” ritualized harm and self harm, they are religious (several groups have traditions of undergoing full on crucifixions for Easter, there’s similar rites for some Shia Muslims for Ashura - which is today I believe)

the desire for progression as some sort of internal challenge - there’s always a desire and encouragement to expand one’s limits

it’s driven by the same desire for a transcendent experience

the communities’ members have strange persecution complexes, gaslighting victims of abuse, especially when by higher ranking members

the focus on hierarchy (leather culture had formalized rules - serve in a house, train as submissive - tortured gay men wanting to punish themselves - maybe can read a form a Catholicism into this; modern kink culture is like modern Protestantism in that any sufficiently well groomed upper middle class man can claim to have the unique skills to be a good pastor/“dom” and open up a church/dungeon)

the repulsion towards former members/critiques of systemic issues present (expression anti kink opinions has gotten me the same kind of hateful response from other trans men that being a trans man did in the 2010s online - to the point where gendering people correctly appears to be optional for folks who are anti kink? the double whammy of being accused of being a TERF and than insulted with “girl” is always a fucking whiplash - can you not use the term “TERF” to mean “anyone i don’t like,” y’all look like fucking morons)

maybe many of these things can be applied to things like multi level marketing or any other extremely large organizational idea that people subsume their identity into, but the aspect of seeking “ecstasy” adds a hellish intensity to the mix

and like losing one’s religion, it’s difficult to leave. it’s difficult to part with the thought parties the beliefs. it’s difficult to justify to outsiders. (i agreed to let him do X but he did Y - the specifics don’t matter but it’s going to happen to you)

it creates mind bending cognitive dissonance - only puritanical criticisms of kink can be addressed. no matter what critique of kink you make, the response is

men are submissive too! (go actually look at femdom porn/hentai lol and see what they want or make a troll fet dom-F account if you don’t believe me + most submissive men are trans men with self esteem issues - the type who have boyfriends that refer to them as their girlfriend to their family; the religious analog would be something about complementary gender roles perhaps)

it’s all about consent! (what do we say about consent in power dynamics? now this is a subtle point, which is made impossible to address because it is such a fundamental threat to heterosexuality itself, that Dworkin tried to make and was glossed into “all sex is rape” because it is such a threat - what do we say to the idea of consent when we are fundamentally unequal human beings by nature of assigned sex of birth? who makes more money? who can overpower? i think most have gotten the picture that what Thomas Jefferson did to Sally Hemings was unambiguously rape, but what about all of the women throughout history when marital rape was considered the norm? it requires acknowledging that your great grandpa probably raped your great grandma, or up and down that line for thousands of generations - maybe if you acknowledge up front that gooners are going to want you to agree to humiliating and disgusting sex acts up front - that agreeing to have mutual fun with a stranger means rolling the dice on physical assault - maybe if you agree up front and pretend you can set some kinds of rules it’ll work out; similarly, religion is the comfort that life isn’t pointless suffering and maybe we’ll get to see our dog and grandma again if you follow these rules)

you can’t project your trauma onto the community/bad people aren’t doing really kink (i have a fairly large sampling size of kink partners and experiences personally. i genuinely don’t believe my arguments can be dialed down to “i had personal trauma in kink thus all kink is bad” unless one is taking my words at bad faith. this very much reeks of accusing atheists of hating god because of trauma or not getting what they want.)

you don’t actually believe that/you’re lying/you want it (these are obvious comparisons to religion)

these feel like the same kinds of responses i see to ex Mormons/Jehovah’s Witnesses/etc online

modern kink is similar to modern Protestantism in that it facilitates the creation of micro cults. institutionalization of kink is structured such that critique can be deflected onto individual actors. i’d argue Reddit is a major source of kink “education” - and no one can deny that subreddits can have concerning moderators. You have Fetlife, which is primarily heterosexual, male dom/female sub pornography. You have a couple of Booktok tier pop psych books which encourage Bronze Age marriage models. This maps to the diffuse ways in which American Protestantism propagates its ideas - it’s a nebulous mess of ideas that can evaporate when asked to take responsibility. We can’t hold all Christians accountable for Mark Driscoll’s ideas; we can’t hold all kinksters responsible for the actions of [insert the creeps who message you if you take up my suggestion of a troll fetlife account]. But can we not ask what it says about American Protestantism that Mark Driscoll exists and says what he says? And can we not look askew when what he said could be happily echoed by a kinkster as long as it was prefixed with “it’s kinky and consensual btw <3” and had been posted on fetlife anonymously - instead of his own church forum?

Kink is reactionary ideology which has parasitized societal acceptance of queer folks to justify the abusive dynamics of heterosexual relationships and sex, which has replaced religion as the justification for that dynamic.

[luciusspriggss]

ALSO ALSO

the way he was so gentle??? the way he washed my arm so delicately as if i might break otherwise????

god fucking damnit

i am a romantic at heart, i love love in all its forms

and i am trying really hard to focus on myself and not let romance cloud my mind

but that is very hard when you get a tattoo at a studio you have never been to with an artist you have never met

who turns out to be one of the most gentle, tender, earnest person you have seen in a long time

and he likes to hike, but prefers to take it slow so he can admire the flowers and geology

he likes to consume media the same way you do and is also cursed with having nobody want to watch with you

has the same morals and is a good listener and truly has beautiful outlooks of life that he has discovered because of the horrors experienced and witnessed

has made it so he looks for any potential partner to be in therapy and actively working on themself.

admits his own faults

and is one of the cutest fucking people you have ever seen. he was so proud of the bee he tattooed on me and how cute it looked.

he was happy that i wanted an orchid done and that i knew about common means of orchid pollination and we shared our knowledge for the different orchid's we are fans of and their respective evolved growth patterns and specific pollinators

he is an anxious guy who is scared if his clients don't talk to him he thinks they don't like him

like the universe is really throwing me a curve ball here

i want to get to know him more, but it is inappropriate to ask your tattoo artist out for a walk in the community forest

i don't even know what his whole face looks like, because we were both wearing masks

i chalked up the experience as a lovely moment between two souls who understood one another and left it at that

i dont want to enter a relationship, i dont want to date, but in another lifetime, had we met elsewhere, i would have been enamored.

and it makes me kind of sad

ive been having a lot of moments with strangers as i have been going out into the world

but none have stuck like he has :/

[amplesalty]

Halloween 2024 - Day 6 - Hellraiser: Hellworld (2005)

If you die in the game, you die in real life...

If this wasn't at all obvious with movies 6 and 7, we're definitely into the 'sunk cost' stage of this franchise. The first four all had their charms despite tapering off and I'm on record as a fan of Inferno but Hellseeker and Deader felt like a bit of a chore. But, as much as my lack of keeping to a schedule might dispute this, I am a creature of habit and the end is in sight. And, if anything, we're really due to go off a cliff next year so all the more reason to stick it out and see what depths we can plumb with this series. Hellworld was filmed back to back with Deader all the way back in 2002 but sat largely unused, saved for a few showings over the years, until the pair were released direct to DVD in 2005. It's always stood out on the horizon for me as I've worked my way through the franchise given the plot ties into the world of online gaming. A strange turn for the franchise, sure, but given we're 8 movies in now I think any subject matter is fair game in order to freshen things up. Plus, this would have been right around the time of a boom in online gaming and, given the film pitches Hellraiser as an MMO, you would have had things like Ultima Online, Everquest, Runescape and even Final Fantasy XI (World of Warcraft wouldn't have existed at the time of filming but would have been out by the time the films actually released) so I can sort of see the potential in touching upon the dangers of addiction, both as an analogue to the pleasure seeking that is so prevalent in Hellraiser but also to tie in to the hot topic parent scaremongering of the day.

Nevermind all those other games though, who remembers Graal?!

The video game stuff though is largely glossed over. A friend of our main characters is said to have killed himself following his addiction to the game but it's all very vague and skimmed over during an exposition dump during his funeral.

Even the game itself is shown only briefly and I was going to compare it to a Flash game from the time but I'm pretty sure I was playing Flash games on the school computers at the time that had more gameplay than this. The Lament Configuration doesn't exactly feel like the kind of thing you would adapt into a video game either, it strips away that tactile feeling of handiling the cube, twisting and prodding to try and open it up.

What little we do see of the game is little more than a means to shuttle our main characters off to the meat and potatoes of the movie, an exclusive Hellraiser themed party taking place at Leviathan house. This is something that irked me early on with the movie, it's often said that these later movies are just a case of slapping the Cenobites onto someone else's screenplay and that they barely even show up but these fet a bit tryhard in trying to shoehorn a bunch of references in early as if to say 'See, we're a REAL Hellraiser movie'. Very quickly you get mentions of Hellraiser, Hellworld, Pinhead, Leviathan, LeMarchand, the Engineer…it's like the other extreme of not showing them at all but just trying to cram mentions in within the first few minutes.

Among our crew of party goers is none other than Superman himself (well, one of them at least) Henry Cavill.

Plus Lance Henriksen as the party host, a man with a storied past in the horror genre and notable for me at least for his role in Pumpkinhead, though I think that may have gone undocumented on this here blog.

Our friends are shown around the house but all start to experience strange visions, usually very brief and sometimes involving Pinhead making thinly veiled threats.

Spoiler alert, the twist of the movie is that Lance Henriksen's Host character is actually the father of the friend that commited suicide and he's out for revenge for what he percieves as their actions in enabling his addiction that resulted in his death. It's revealed that upon their arrival to the party, the Host drugged them with a very strong psychodelic drug and buried them in shallow graves outside with an airtube to keep them alive and prolong their suffering. The events of the movie have been playing out in their heads with cell phones left in their coffins through which the Host has been using suggestion to influence their visions. Now, this actually does bring some degree of interest to the film which had been largely boring up to this point and I did appreciate the idea of how this could play into the overarching story of addiction. If these kids are so immersed in this game then these monsters from within it could be making their way into their visions in a very violent way. The problem is that because they made pretty much zero attempt to re-contextualize this film's world and to potray the Cenobites as characters within this game, plus the fact that this movie does the exact same drive by Pinhead scenes (to borrow my own phrase from last year), these interactions just feel like more shoehorned references to justify the film bearing the Hellraiser name. If they had actually taken the time to show these kids playing the game and some digital versions of the Cenobites from which they would have formed these assocations, the whole idea might have worked better.

It would have been all moot anyway though as it's revealed at the end that the Cenobites are in fact actually real when they show up and tear the Host to shreds. Thanks for ruining my shades of grey for me, lads. Whilst I can appreciate the efforts to make the series a little more contemporary by taking this video game angle, it does also strip away a small aspect I've always liked in that all of these movies felt like they took place in the same universe. It's always come across as an anthology piece to me, the Lament Configuration managing to find it's way into someone elses hands who have these delusions of how this is going to lead them to pleasure undivisible whilst we get to sit back and watch as several hooks and chains promptly tear those delusions asunder. Ultimately, it's one of those films where I can see the genesis of a decent idea that goes unfufilled. And whilst I'm all for taking wild departures this deep into a franchise, it does feel like too big of a disconnect from the series to have ever been successful.

And so, given that this is the last appreance of Doug Bradley in this famous role, it's a run that ends in a whimper rather than a bang. Somehow I doubt his successors have much chance of living up to his mantle, especially when our next stop, Revelations, is the film that drew Clive Barker's ire and led to that very infamous tweet I have been mentioning all these years…

[alexagirlie]

Writer Interview Tag Game

thank you @ladyaldhelm for the tag! I'm sorry this took me like 4 months to finish.

This was fun :D under a cut because it is loooong

About me

When did you start writing?

I start writing seriously in December of 2021. I had dabbled when I was younger but never published anything online.

None that come to mind immediately, ive dabbled in most genres or themes that I also like to read.

Are there different genres or themes you enjoy reading other than the ones you write?

Is there an author you want to emulate, or are compared to often?

Nope!

Can you tell me a bit about your writing space?

I write on my phone using googledocs ao that I can write wherever I can. Most commonly that is curled up on the couch listening to music.

What’s your most effective way to muster up a muse?

Looking at pictures of the blorbos or brainstorming with peoppe on discord.

Did the place(s) you grew up in influence the people and/or places you write about?

Not in the slightest lol

Are there any reoccurring themes in your writing? If so, do they surprise you?

Does PWP count as a theme? I write fic to smush my blorbos together so end up with smut with minimal plot the most and it does not surprise me at this point lol

Characters

Would you please tell me about your current favorite character?

To the surprise of no one who follows me my current favourite character is Sihtric from The Last Kingdom. He is kind and loyal and has a praise kink a kilometer long, no one can convince me otherwise. He is also played by the most beautiful man I have ever seen in my life

For original characters that would be my bb Xander. He is a very queer wizard who loves to paint and read and has very questionable mental health.

Which of your characters would you be friends with in real life?

I have a couple of original characters I have developed over my life which I think would be amazing friends IRL.

Xander is probably top of the list, he already fits the description of several of my irl besties lol

Tell me about the process of coming up with your characters?

Which characters would you dislike the most if you met them?

I tend to like all the characters I have created myself, characters from ny shows though... probably Aethelred or Aethelwold from The Last Kingdom.

Its something Ive done a lot over the years and just used to happen without me thining about it too hard. These days if I plan anything involving original characters then I tend to adapt either Xander, or my other bb Ellixia, to fit whichever fandom im hyperfixating on.

Do you notice any reoccurring themes/traits in your characters?

I like to create characters with tattoos, have some sort of fight training and are usually some flavour of queer.

My writing

How do you picture your characters?

.. in my head? Or I draw them

What’s your reason for writing?

It's the only way to make the voices inside my head shut up. I kept them contained for so long but now I cant put them back.

Is there any specific comment or type of comment from readers that you find particularly motivating?

Honestly any comment lol I get so few that I love any time of comment! How motivating they are does vary though.

How do you want to be thought about by your readers?

Well I know I have converted many to the m/m game and honestly that is a legacy i shall always cherish

What do you feel is your greatest strength as a writer?

I'm honestly not sure lol

Have you been told is your greatest strength as a writer is by others?

I get a lot of compliments on my characterization.

How do you feel about your own writing?

Most of the time pretty good. I know I am not the best writer out there but thats okay, I still have fun which is the most important part.

When you write, are you influenced by what others might enjoy reading, do you write purely for yourself, or is it a mix of both?

If you were the last person on earth, would you still write?

Probably not lol.

I would say its a mix of both. I write because I am compelled too fet the pictures out of my brain but I am also very susceptible to peer pressure lol that would be why i started writing readers fics lol then turns out i like writing them anyways.

Its been so long since this circulated so not sure who did it but tagging my OC loving girlies on the off chance you havent done it.

@gemini-mama @zaldritzosrose @legitalicat @foxyanon @thenameswinter99

[mayazihni]

I'd like to write a little yet again about the process of finding a Dom. This has been so much more difficult than I ever anticipated. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but the level of difficulty is off the charts. When I moved to a new city I got active with fet again and have been out with several people thus far, trying to find a Dom. I've had some not great dates, but have always found that the kink community is filled with wonderful people, so even the not great dates were still decent enough ~ the men were nice enough. But what I just really don't understand is a Dom working hard to pursue me, only to drop me as soon as I feel comfortable with them. This has happened twice ~ similar situations. Met online, they gave me their phone numbers unsolicited. They told me everything I wanted/needed to hear, treated me wonderfully, etc... until they ghosted me. Why would you work so hard to make someone feel so at ease only to pull the rug out from underneath them? I really don't understand it. This last one has really messed with me. I thought we had a wonderful first date ~ he worked so hard to knock down my defenses. He knocked them down just in time to drop me, leaving me confused and a little shattered. I did none of the pursuing here. Yet he gave me a glimpse into a life that I want and apparently can't have, which was the cruelest part of all of it. I've known for about ten years I guess that I'm destined to be alone for the rest of my life, but I suffered momentary bouts of amnesia and re-entered the dating world. That is not a mistake I can make again. My soul can't take it anymore. This last one really messed me up. I mean, when I was talking about how my niece and I bond over Sephora, he took my hand and told me I was beautiful and didn't need make up. We didn't even have sex ~ made out a bit and he played with my breasts, so it couldn't have been my performance. So I'm stuck scratching my head and wondering what insecurity it was that made him ghost me. Or maybe it's something that's not a current insecurity that should be a new one?

[clovesnz]

Little ramble navel-gazing about the kink heh ~

cw for describing past feelings of shame and the internet being a shithole

Do y’all ever wonder like, how many people are out there who have a snz kink/fet but have never found the online communities? Like statistically how many people do we think are adults and have it but just have never looked for anything about it online? I mean if u are somewhere without internet access or somewhere where those communities are inaccessible that would be an obvious reason not to, but I’m super curious if there are people who could but have just suppressed it or never thought to look.

Cause like, I’ve noticed I was kind of a late bloomer in terms of when I found some of these spaces. I was too scared to type the words “sneeze fetish” into google until I was 17 or 18. Before then my only exposure to people who liked snz was the comments on snz content creators’ YouTube videos, which…didn’t give me the best overall impression about others with the kink. I think it added a lot to my shame, honestly, having that be my only conception of people “like me.” Like it was pretty much just that, and that awful p/ewdiepie video (blah 😵‍💫). Those were my only two frames of reference for how others responded to this interest. Not fun.

It was actually that T/ry G/uys podcast episode I’ve mentioned before that made me finally do it. They had a viewer write in talking about their sneezing kink in a very “so here’s something funny” sort of way, and they were all super cool and normal and sweet about it. And so only then did I search something like “I’m ashamed of my sneezing fetish” into an incognito tab, and that ended up leading me to the forum, and then a year or so later the forum led me to snzblr. But I sometimes wonder, like, if I hadn’t seen that podcast episode, how much longer would it have taken me? Would I still be mostly in the dark about it?

Anyhow, even though I sometimes go through slumps of not posting or interacting much, I’m still incredibly grateful to have found this place and all its debauchery, it’s been so integral in my learning self acceptance and understanding my sexuality and honestly when I was younger I don’t think I ever dreamed to find this level of community around something that I, at the time, felt so alone in.

[audio-luddite]

I was talking with a guy.

Hey if I am mentioning it here it was about audio.

The question was how to get started in serious audio (lets not call it audiophile yet). It is a remarkably simple and yet complex question. Spend lots of money?

So to start, the front end is the tricky bit. That is source and control. Source is what you are listening too. Control is selection of source, if you have more than one, and basic volume control. In most systems control is the preamplifier.

The back end is the speakers and power amplifier. Actually really simple. What fits in your home and how much can you afford. Easy to change if you want.

The first big issue is source. By that I mean hard copied media or virtual. The first is category is CDs and their ilk such as SACD etc, and of course Vinyl LPs. The second is streaming online.

The second one first. (interesting sentence that but perfectly correct)

Streaming is far from simple. It has the least initial cost for the media as it is just a subscription fee (forever). It has an enormous even overwhelming variety and quantity of content. It also is only permission to use the content, but you do not own it. You can have a huge "collection" but it is virtual. Also there is a controversy about payments to artists.

Often not said is that almost all the streaming services are at or below CD quality. CD quality is not considered truly great by the tribes. That is all I am going to say about that right now.

The hardware is not simple for high end streaming. In very general terms you need a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter), a box to buffer or hold the downloaded files, and a computer to do the downloads and host the streaming service software. That is three boxes. In high end they are all expensive of course.

There are devices that do all three things, but they are not cheap. They also do not have the quality of the "best" systems.

Audiophiles like dedicated computers and streaming servers and DACs of eye watering expense.

In summary the streaming front end is very expensive. In my looking about for adding that to my system it is thousands of dollars. Conservatively about $5000 for my quality goal. Emphasis on that is only the front end.

Now to my thesis.

I say the least cost path to high end sound is with vinyl. WTF?! A high end capable Turntable starts at hundreds of dollars. Much more can be spent, but in today's local classified ads there are dozens under $500 and a few very good ones up to $1000. An older model refurbished unit is perfectly fine for the job. And I mean high end sound extraction. Brands such as Technics, Rega, Thorens, Micro Seki, Kenwood, Pioneer are good candidates.

A high end phonograph pickup or cartridge can be had for under $500 bucks. I have three all around $400 ish or less. I like Grado, and Audio Technica. There are more, but I don't have any of those. Moving coils need not apply. Those are euphonic, which is they add seductive sounds that are not in the source material.

That is the whole vinyl source hardware list. Under $1400 bucks or less and you are up and running. The only caveat is your control preamp needs to have a phono input which most old ones do.

In my case have a high end hybrid tube FET preamp that can be had for $2000 or less depending on the phase of the moon. You need that anyway. My opinion is the preamp is the major contributor to the overall performance of your system.

So that brings the full front end to less than $3400 for a high end system. If you take into account all my extra phono cartridges I still spent less than that. Just.

There is an intriguing option in a high end integrated amplifier from Technics (SU-G700) that is a preamp and DAC and very good class D amplifier with a phono input for about $2400 USD. Just add speakers and turntable and you are over the threshold to high end. It is rather spooky. If I had to start from scratch I would be tempted. Far less than an ARC suite. I could no longer claim I was a Luddite though.

Yes with vinyl you still have to buy LPs, unless you are an old fart like me and have hundreds, but it is actually rather fun. Compared to the initial cost of a high end streaming system the cost of an extensive LP library looks reasonable. I search for high quality boutique stuff usually, but I also find stuff in the racks. Garage sales anyone?

I have high end sound in my home. I dare say it is the best sounding system I have every heard. Vinyl is not a compromise. There is a lot to be said for getting up to flip a record every 20 minutes. Hell I have a watch that nags me to get up and move if I stay seated for more than an hour. (yes I am a geek) It's good for you Mr couch potato.

Obviously to play at this game money will be spent. You can start off modestly and build over time (decades in my case) or jump in. In the end you will have a sonic place to spend time appreciating art at the highest level.

Interesting that I really cannot afford to add high end streaming to my system. I don't need to.