#Hollywood nebulas

[e-m-p-error]

[ @nebula-gaster || Continued From Here ]

[ Velvette ]

If nothing else, the selfies were always good for getting someone to touch her. With her own peace sign, she smiled wide as she snapped the photograph, leaning her head on the other's shoulder after. Gazing at it, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"We look good, damn. You should give me your number so I can send it to you."

Oh, she hoped she was as smooth as she thought she was.

[theabigailthorn]

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOO

DRACULA'S EX-GIRLFRIEND is coming 13th of September to Nebula!

Two former rivals reconnect over drinks and a quick bite.

One is compulsively running through men and can’t kick the habit of drinking their blood; the other is working through her trauma and lives with werewolves in LA.

Things get uncomfortable when the conversation turns to the same toxic lover that connected them — Count Dracula!

Full trailer drops next week!

AND

WE'RE HAVING A PREMIERE IN FUCKING HOLLYWOOD

THAT YOU CAN WIN FREE TICKETS TO

stay tuned to find out how!

[certified-bi]

Okay all my thoughts because some people have been saying that not supporting this change is not supporting artist and creators and as an artist fuck that.

1. Audiences owe you nothing. You have to convince them to engage with your creation not the other way around. This is something both the nonprofit theatre I work with recognizes and huge companies realize. It's just part of life. There are so many talented people in the world making amazing art, videos, music, writings, and on and on, and there's only so much time in the day. I'm not saying you shouldn't know your worth, just that being flippant about how little you care about those who can't pay isn't a good move. On that note...

2. PR is everything. If you haven't made a visible effort to push patreon, channel memberships or other avenues of making money, don't be suprised that your creation that was previously accessible to those without extra cash and to those who can't support foreign subscriptions due either to conversions or because it simply doesn't work, being made private isn't popular. There's a big leap from "We want to have more artistic control" to "We can't afford to make our content accessible to most of our audience," and people are smart enough to see this. You either have to make budget cuts or give into sponsors. This isn't unique to Watcher, it's part of literally every production from broadway, to Hollywood, to YouTube. Unless you can fund it yourself or get viewers to pay(which given how many are already strapped for cash...) that's life.

Not to mention they simply do not have enough followers to make the switch to a paid only site(dropping the first epsiode only on YouTube isn't going to draw people in, they're just going to say "oh why start if I'm not going to see the rest" and not watch) especially not one that is buggy and a security risk. Even if the switch had been supported its not going to end well. The only reason services like nebula and dropout work is because of the large amount of series and creators and the fact those creators still are partly on YouTube so new people are drawn in.

3. As for the price, 6 dollars a month is a not a good starting price for only their content and that's as someone who pays for nebula. I'd be paying the same amount for a fraction of the access to others work. Actually it'd be twice as much. And before someone says "it's only a coffee-" that's for you. Not everyone has your lifestyle. And with every other patreon and subscription service that says the same thing, it all adds up and I simply don't think 60 dollars for 48 videos a year on a subscription basis where you don't get to keep the videos if your situation changes, some of which don't appeal to every viewer is a good move. If you were able to buy physical copies of your favorite series they've made that'd be different, but that's not what this is.

4. I do believe that the employees deserve a livable wage. I also did not hire them. It is not on the viewers that they hired more people than they could afford to. They can charge that much if they want to to try and balance this out. They also shouldn't be suprised if not many can or will sign up. They also don't have to be based in L.A. L.A has ridiculous costs associated with it, and quite honestly it doesn't really add much to the content. I'm not saying they need to move to the middle of nowhere Kansas. Simply that living and basing your studio in a super expensive city and then being suprised money is tight is just weird.

5. Something that occurs to me is that they might get more views if their playlists were better set up. Only some series are given playlists. It'd be easier to find all of the series and binge them if they didn't just show off their more popular shows. Honestly the only draw the streaming site has to me is that the series are actually labeled well.

Do I think the weird ass energy towards Steven is necessary? No. He's not the only one at the company and they're all adults. I actually liked grocery run and homemade, and like to see them back. The parascoial attachment to Ryan and Shane is annoying in people's criticisms, but that doesn't make them completely wrong. If you're going to brand yourself as the anti capalist underdogs you can't get away with being dismissive of your poorer fans. The dissonance is what is causing this backlash and makes you look like hypocrites. I definitely think Steven is turning into the fall guy which is fucked up, his statement and the fact dish granted is one of those shows that make people uncomfortable about wealth flexs doesn't help matters.

[polkadotmotmot]

Umar Rashid (Frohawk Two Feathers) - Lenape Laura Mars and the Mankillers come to the Hollywood Nebula., 2024 - Acrylic, ink, and spray paint on canvas

[impulsivesuperrobin]

just watched the watcher announcement, here’s my take:

- putting content behind a paywall does suck, and not everyone can afford $6 a month

- $6 is the price that they found would a) be accessible to people b) cover the cost of their shows and c) be able to PAY THE PEOPLE THAT WORK FOR THEM

- this will let them do things that they aren’t able to on youtube

- do i wish they were joining up with an existing creator based subscription service (eg nebula)? yes. do i wish they were doing a dropout model where they still released content for free eventually? yes.

- the thing about dropout is, the cast is majority freelance, union actors. they have other sources of income, which is most likely why the price point is so low

- no matter how upset “all” the fans seem to be about it, more than likely, people who can afford it will still subscribe

- with all the backlash, there is a chance they change the model slightly

- there’s a difference between giant corporate netflix hiking subscription prices to their hollywood content farm with no regard for the content their audience enjoys and creator company starting a subscription service to fund the content they and their audience enjoys. does it have the potential to snowball into the former? absolutely, especially if they continue to ignore the criticisms they’re receiving right now, but as of now they are not equivalent

- i will not be subscribing to the service and probably won’t unless something (with the way it is being handled or with my financial situation) changes, but i do not fault anyone who does. they have made great content in the past, if they are using the money the way they claim to they most likely will continue to make great content.

[hssprimefan]

What I've Done

Pixelberry

If you don't play High School Story Prime, you probably know me from this post. If you're also disappointed in choices, go sign up for the Candlelight Games newsletter. I looked a little more into Series Entertainment (AI company that bought Pixelberry) under this tag but didn't really dig that much tbh.

High School Story Gender Neutral Mod

The mod just changes dialogue to give the MC they/them pronouns.

It's here as HSS_TheyMod2.apk

My tutorial on reading the Lua (script) files

My tutorial on how I modded HSS

Fanquest Encoder

You can write high school story prime quests without learning the coding

It’s an alternative to this flash one by @fanquests

Art/analysis By Character

Characters are sorted by how often they appear. Things will repeat because it's usually about more than one character, but I won't necessarily sort every minor appearance

Mia

Warren Truce

The Table

Horses + Circles

PaytonDatin'

Butterflies (serious adaptation of a joke)

My MCs (Galaxy and Nebula)

Why do I have 2 main characters?

MC Style (and relationship to gender) timelines

Stalemate (Galaxy)

Ace friendship (Nebula)

Your Family (Nebula) (inspired by I Have Nothing by @ih8harley)

Listening (Nebula)

Ace

Unstoppable (song)

Stairs! Hear me out (more analysis than art but I'm weirdly proud of it)

Listening

Ace friendship (Nebula)

Katherine

The Table

Horses + Circles

This isn’t the competition I wanted for us

Brigette

Brigette (analysis)

Brigette's happy ending

No boys allowed (joke)

Kara/Lacey

The Comeback

This isn’t the competition I wanted for us

Max

Warren Truce

Max Photo Booth essay

Nishan

Nishan Teaches Chess

PaytonDatin'

Long Distance Halloween

Payton

PaytonDatin'

Long Distance Halloween

Sakura

This isn’t the competition I wanted for us

Shane

PaytonDatin’

Ellie/Kallie/Koh

Clothing Swap

Autumn

Autumn is Strange

Custom HSS styles

ERROR

Blair Stewart (@hsslilly-blog’s MC)

Rosalyn Brinkwater (@oakwolves MC)

Nebula

Other mods

Rebel MC (proof of concept video, but not released as a full mod cause I haven’t actually gone and added dialogue throughout the game to accommodate it)

HSS Main Character Clique Mods

(so far just writer)

Other Stuff

I made a Karaoke track for First Day! with sheet music I made on flat

I posted a compilation of all the classmates special animations

Data-ing tracks all dating dialogue in hssp by character

I've transcribed a lot of quests from the Lua files and added them to the wiki

The transcripts for Hollywood U's main quest and the Final 4 levels of High School Story's main quest are on the google drive from earlier, but I haven't added them to the wikis yet

I'm sort of working on pipberry (rad school story and hollywood uv) with @hsslilly-blog. here's the tag

Talkin about copyright

[nilnether]

I just saw Karen Gillan talking about her roles to Cinema Therapy guys and she mentions meeting James Cameron at Zoe Saldana's Hollywood Star ceremony. And how she didn't recognize him.

He told her how much he liked her in that "I just wanted a sister" scene and how it moved him to tears.

It made me think - Guardians of the Galaxy 2 was released in May 2017 so Cameron was just about to start filming Avatar 2 and 3 with similar family themes. Behind all the spectacle both series are really about family relationships and how messy they can be. Especially the parts with Spider and Quartich with hate and resentment covering a need to connect (I could so see Spider yelling "I just wanted a father" and not just at Quaritch). Jake telling Lo'ak he sees him sure hit the same cords as Nebula and Gamora's reconciliation hug for me. I wonder if this is why this movie resonated so hard with Cameron too.

This is the interview and it should start playing at that moment

[djvpensayosehistorias]

Should James Somerton be exonerated? - A 3500-word essay on plagiarism and ownership

Should James Somerton be exonerated?

Who even is this guy?

I had not heard of James Somerton before Hbomberguy’s video on Plagiarism and You(Tube). He is the main target of the video, as he has demonstrably plagiarized the content of his videos from other content creators, allegedly being hostile to them when they called him out for it. These accusations don’t interest me much; they are gossip from old Hollywood, and we should not turn the private conflicts of individuals into content. What I find deeply compelling and attractive about this case is that James Somerton became fairly successful by pretending to be a YouTuber. 

Content mills

As more people acquire a grasp on the basics of video making and start professional-looking channels more easily, and as more content is called “video essays” regardless of how the label fits, the bar for quality increases. Everyone is a YouTuber now, sure, but not everyone is a good YouTuber. Before, only people with camera-presence could run YouTube channels. Now, and for some time already, newcomers bet on running faceless YouTube channels and producing videos out of stock-footage, only providing a voiceover as the evidence of their presence. This is probably because so many people have been “exposed”, had their turmoil turned into microcelebrity gossip, become a liability for their companies, that being a corporate brand instead appears to be the preferable, smartest option. Lord knows what would be the current fate of James Somerton if he didn’t prominently show his face in his videos: Internet Historian, someone else who was demonstrated to have plagiarized an article for his channel, hasn’t had hordes of people go after him, perhaps because he uses the likeness of András Arató as his own channel mascot and because he’s never pretended to be a particularly moral individual. I personally have a preference for those who show their face in their YouTube content, even if it’s of poor quality, because they defend it with their life.

The danger of faceless channels is that they emulate, impersonate, corporate media that passes through quality control and is therefore professional and trustworthy, at least in the case of didactic entertainment. The amateurs immediately blow their cover when they say something out of place, something that would not fly in the worst, most biased fake news outlet, or they omit any references to their sources, as is common on YouTube. James Somerton is a rare case because, while he showed his face, he often presented conjectures as fact, and most importantly he rarely cited anything. That is precisely why he fascinates me. 

Embodiment of the simulation 

James Somerton, pre-cancellation, was a simulacrum of a video-essayist. He played the part to a tee. He spoke confidently, dressed up, and discussed the same things that the consumer demographic of video-essays enjoys. Perhaps it was the quality of his videos what impeded him from partnering with the independent platform Nebula; they looked the same as the videos of more prominent YouTubers who engage in queer cultural analysis, but their content was often either plagiarized or factually incorrect. They couldn’t get past a relatively simple threshold. Cultural analysis of popular media and the queer experience doesn’t necessitate much research; it’s precisely the type of discipline that can thrive on conjecture and subjectivity. The only thing his videos needed was proper citation and, perhaps, more rigorous investigation. I’ve seen the videos that are currently on James’ channel - the ones that do not feature plagiarism or flagrant misinformation according to him. I must say, these actually meet the threshold of quality for YouTube essays; they are authentic YouTube videos. No plagiarism, no misinformation. When he puts his mind to it, the man can craft a good video. (Note: James produced many videos in collaboration with writer Nick Hergott, who is quoted in a video by Todd in the Shadows from a post on James’ Discord server, “But that said…a lot of the claims [at least that I make]...are kinda based on just raw observation. I’m kinda fucking lazy and don’t WANT to look things up so I just kinda take something and ruminate on it.” Other, more succinct confessions of his are “Of course not because I don’t read,” and “I don’t do research.” It is clear that he is culpable for much of the incorrect information on the James Somerton channel.) 

To pardon James

I’m willing to put James Somerton’s plagiarism behind him. Since the beginning, I thought that all that was needed to avoid every single instance of plagiarism in his videos was to cite his sources. Had he done that, nobody would have cared, even if he didn’t ask permission to any of the writers and content creators referenced. It is courtesy on YouTube to ask for permission or let others know when you’re referencing their material, but in the doctrine of fair use that is irrelevant. If all of his plagiarism showed me anything, it’s that James is a good reader. It is crucial to be a good reader to be a good writer. A bad plagiarist (and keep in mind that James was a bad plagiarist) cannot demonstrate that he understands what he stole or that he learned anything. I listened to James’ podcast, where he spoke off-the-cuff, without any script, and he is knowledgeable. He has learned from all that he’s read. Under the definition I just gave, he’s more of a “bad copier” as Roberto Bolaño once defined them, “...those who simply plagiarize”, than a truly bad plagiarist. He has the potential of doing good, non-plagiarized content. 

Good Plagiarists vs. Bad Plagiarists

Let’s continue on what I said about bad plagiarists, or truly bad plagiarists. James was a bad copier because he didn’t hide what he stole. However, there are good plagiarists, and widely celebrated by our culture, at that. We claim to abhor plagiarism while celebrating it at its most shameless. Here is the difference between a good copier and a bad copier: a good copier will transform and even surpass the original, whereas the bad copier will never go beyond simple appropriation and therefore never seriously challenge the existence of the original. To give a contemporary example, Greta Van Fleet became very successful off their first two EPs and debut album in which they emulated a specific period of Led Zeppelin’s career, while Led Zeppelin creatively spun everything they stole into products that are distinct from their influences, whoever they are. The funny thing is that bad copiers will deny that they borrowed from their influences. The members of Greta Van Fleet said that their inspirations for those early records were not Led Zeppelin, but rather AC/DC and Aerosmith. While the complexity of Greta Van Fleet compositions resembles AC/DC’s more than Led Zeppelin’s, the excuse is ludicrous. Everyone knew what they were doing, and the band just played it off. To be clear, a copier is not necessarily a plagiarist, which is a legal category, but plagiarists of course react similarly when they’re caught - No! It wasn’t me! It was the one-armed man! 

Artistic plagiarism 

The YouTuber TomSka posted a video titled TomSka’s Guide to Plagiarism (The Somerton Scale) in which he posits that “plagiarism exists across a spectrum of severity”, which he structures in a scale baptized after James Somerton - the Somerton scale. It consists of ten steps: no correlation, parallel thinking, subconscious appropriation, inspiration, influence, reference, allusion, derivative, imitative, cloning, and freebooting. The only categories that might plausibly qualify as plagiarism are the last three: imitation, cloning and freebooting - TomSka himself says so in the video, calling them “the danger zone” of the scale. His conclusion is that we all build off from the work of others and that originality doesn’t exist and therefore we shouldn’t fall into despair if we find out that our work resembles someone else’s by accident or coincidence and that if we are inspired by someone it doesn’t hurt to differentiate our stuff from the source. All of these are sensible conclusions, but they’re almost not at all related to the James Somerton situation. What TomSka is referring to with his video is artistic plagiarism, which does not exist. How come it doesn’t exist? It is the acceptable form of plagiarism. 

Academic plagiarism

The unacceptable form of plagiarism is academic plagiarism. Plagiarism in academia is extremely easy to detect, especially now that there are multiple plagiarism-checkers that schools utilize; schools also have access to the databases of scientific repositories which feature publications protected by copyright law. Because it is easily traceable, academic plagiarism doesn’t serve its purpose as plagiarism. Plagiarism only works if it replaces the original; it succeeds as long as it goes unnoticed. If you are found to have plagiarized portions of your grade thesis, for example, you get reprimanded; it doesn’t matter if it was a little bit or a big bit. Only if you become a politician you might be immune to any sanction. Returning to the purpose of plagiarism, if the goal is to make money off stolen work, academic plagiarism is the least optimal option, because academic writing does not make money, or at least not enough to be stolen and republished or resold. And just from a philosophical perspective, it is also futile to plagiarize an academic publication, especially if it is research on a hard science, such as medicine, physics, math, chemistry, and so on. Social sciences, such as history, economy, and philosophy, are more up in the air. The point is that there is not much merit in being the owner of a work on the discovery or inquiry on a fact. Facts are facts. Your subjectivity is of little importance to the objective world. The earlier you are on a scientific discovery, the more incorrect you are about it. The fight for originality is not fought in the realm of science. The fight for recognition is worthwhile (looking at you, Rosalind Franklin), but what matters about science is that it is done, not who does it. People will be wrong, but facts will only be right. So that is academic plagiarism: easily spotted, functionally unnecessary, unprofitable, and ultimately useless. But no one defends academic plagiarism. Besides, when it is proven, it is most often punished, which is why nobody considers it a pressing issue. Academic plagiarism is not a problem, because it is unacceptable. 

Artistic plagiarism, continued 

But artistic plagiarism is of importance to the public. The public doesn’t read scientific publications for leisure. They consume art: film and television, music, literature and poetry, theater, and a long etcetera. What the youth nowadays consumes, for it is an immediate form of entertainment, is content - creative content. That is what James Somerton did, creative content. I mentioned before that social sciences don’t have the same inherent protections against academic plagiarism because, although they employ the scientific method, their analysis is highly dependent on subjectivity. Art criticism is arguably the easiest form of critical analysis possible, because the literary world is a dimension separate from the scientific world. One doesn’t need to rely on fact to perform an engaging critical analysis of art. Of course, literary critique, art criticism, social commentary, however one prefers to call it, is enriched by maintaining a contact with the scientific world, and it borders on being scientific if it is compatible with scientific consensus and historical record. Still, what matters about art criticism is that it be truthful rather than factual. That’s why sometimes writers say wild things without justifying them, and we give them a pass. That’s why Nick Hergott felt completely comfortable admitting that he never researched for the James Somerton channel and still felt righteous in distancing himself from James despite contributing to bad information in their videos. Unfortunately, on YouTube and every other social media platform, it is not only in art criticism and social commentary content that we see this flagrant nonchalance about uncited information. It is still interesting that despite both being featured in Hbomberguy’s video, people resent James Somerton and fellow YouTuber Blair Zón or “iilluminaughtii” for different reasons. Zón actually engaged in academic plagiarism, ripping off (much more in volume than James ever did) documentaries and news articles, yet the criticism directed at her is all about personal drama with co-workers and former colleagues that I cannot be assed to care about. Nobody cares about her plagiarism. Perhaps because they don’t actually dislike plagiarism unless they are told. People dislike James Somerton because he plagiarized art criticism from other queer content creators, many of them freelancers and independent workers (and two passed away). Had he plagiarized the right type of content, maybe he would be written off as lazy, but he would still have a platform. 

On copyright law 

Andy of AtunShei Films once joked that the collection of content creators affectionately nicknamed Breadtube were “liberals who make YouTube videos.” It is incredible that one of the most prominent YouTubers making anti-capitalism content is such an ardent defender of copyright law. Copyright law serves to give creatives control over the value generated by their labor; however, it also exists to screw people over in abusive, petty ways. The lawsuits that have happened over music are the most outrageous example.

The Marvin Gaye estate successfully sued Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams over the song Blurred Lines being too similar to Got to Give It Up, so they tried their luck again with a lawsuit against Ed Sheeran for supposedly copying Let’s Get it On to make Thinking Out Loud. Fortunately, they lost the second case. Similarly, a no name Christian rapper won a lawsuit against Katy Perry, whose song Dark Horse allegedly used the same riff from his song, whatever it was. Recently, that decision was overturned after Katy Perry appealed. One last case, that of Neil Innes, illustrates how one can be frivolously sued over a creative work and come out an authoritarian, an enforcer of and believer in the system. After he was sued by ATV Music for his Beatles parodies and forced to split the revenue with the company, Innes sued Oasis for eight notes of their song Whatever. He believed he was owed credit and compensation for a bar in a six-minute song. He had no empathy to spare for fellow artists. That is the ideology promoted by copyright law.   

It is ludicrous to uphold a mechanism that exists so that malicious agents can squeeze large amounts of easy money out of more successful people (and sometimes less successful people) while setting precedents to stifle creativity under the excuse of ownership.

Plagiarism vs. Copyright infringement

To clarify, plagiarism and copyright infringement are different things. You can plagiarize something that is not copyrighted, to define the distinction through an example. Plagiarism is a claim of authorship: the seller of pirated movies doesn’t claim to have produced the films himself. Legally, it is easier to find someone guilty of copyright infringement than of plagiarism. The easiest way to determine an occurrence of copyright infringement is when copyrighted material is unlawfully distributed in its entirety, representing losses in the earnings of the copyright holder. Pirated movies, music, books; bootleg recordings of concerts or live theater. Episodes of television uploaded to YouTube. The material is reproduced, and the copy may not generate money, or it might generate money to the incorrect person. That form of copyright infringement is the easiest to find and litigate. However, if a copy is not a reproduction, a clone, but a new entity that somewhat resembles the original, claims of copyright infringement become shaky. If as much of a single atom of a copy is different, the accusation of copyright infringement is no longer completely solid, so it is safer to decry plagiarism, and at that point there is nothing that can (or should) be done about it.    

a brief manifesto on combating artistic plagiarism

As I see it, the problem of artistic plagiarism should be treated the same way as with copyright infringement: whether the copy threatens the original market. The threat should be quantified in practice: if a creative sees a dip in revenue that can be proven as caused by imitators, the imitators shall split the revenue with the original creative. Otherwise, imitators should be allowed to exist, for their right to earn money under the capitalist mode of production and for their right to free speech.  

The absurdity of ownership

Private property is a highly contested concept in ideologies such as communism and anarchism, and intellectual property, or intellectual private property, should be perceived with the same skepticism. Intellectual property is as preposterous as immaterial labor. We cannot own an idea. An idea is immaterial. We cannot prevent others from using an idea. That is the crux of the problem of ownership. Anything that is good should not be deprived from others. An idea is an inexhaustible resource, an infinite commodity. What is the use of limiting its distribution? You don’t have the right to have my idea. Who is any of us to dictate to others what they can or cannot do, with an idea or in general? While the discussion hitherto has focused on artistic and academic literature, intellectual property extends to inventions. How much progress for the benefit of humanity has been hindered by patent protections? To give an example, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the world to develop new vaccine technology to provide vaccinations to the population and lessen the debilitating and potentially fatal emergency. The distribution and rollout of vaccines was slowed down by Bill Gates’ refusal to waive patents on vaccines produced by his company. Patents on inventions are obviously a device to make rich people more money, but trademarks and copyright law help artists keep the money they make, right? No. Most of the money generated by the labor of artists is kept by the real copyright holders: publishers. Publishers, record labels, movie studios. In our current day, publishers are trying to devise methods to pay less and less royalties, with music and entertainment streaming and refundable digital books. The artist earns a wage as any other worker.

If intellectual property does not provide complete ownership of their labor to creatives, it probably does not merit the ardent defense of any creative. If intellectual property prevents access to knowledge, it probably does not merit the appreciation of anyone who values the utility of knowledge. That is why anarchists pay hosting fees on websites to distribute anarchist literature for free: they are committed to the spread of ideas, the education of the masses, rather than to privatizing their knowledge for profit and the prestige of ownership. Intellectual property is antithetical to the democratization of knowledge.  

Harry Brewis, the Hbomberguy, says on his Plagiarism and You(Tube) video, “On YouTube, if you have an original idea, if it’s good, it won’t be yours for long.” Good.

Conclusion & Call to action to the reader

After the fallout of the James Somerton spectacle, YouTubers are becoming bold and publicly calling out smaller YouTubers who copy - but not infringe on their copyright - their work. This is bad. People are not upset at content theft. People don’t care about quality content, or originality, or any of that bullshit. Nobody believes in that. What they are upset about is that some have found the solution. Nobody is angry at the copiers for doing things “the easy way.” Everybody wants to do things “the easy way.” Nobody likes to work. Everyone wishes to earn as much money as possible with the least labor. Those upset at James Somerton and other copiers are upset at the fact that some people found a way approved by the administrators of capital to make money. They, like every liberal, are angry at capitalism while believing in it and supporting it. Is there a solution for them? There are plenty. To ignore the copiers is a good first step; after all, the free market regulates itself and consuming quality content will create a demand for quality content. If you are more interested in the enrichment of the intellectual landscape, of common discourse, than in petty drama, my advice is that we all become active consumers. Passive consumers don’t question what they consume - they read something and believe it. Even if you think that the present essay is total horseshit, at least engage with its arguments, even if you disagree anyway. That is my advice to you: read. Read more. Learn to evaluate and critique sources. A list of references is not just a display of intellectual honesty: it’s the evidence of the quality of your research. Become an active viewer, an active reader, an active consumer, a participant in the discourse. If you are a good reader, you might recognize from where I borrowed the structure of this essay, and I’m sure he would not mind. And if you’re really desperate about the low bar for quality for video-essay content on YouTube, I suggest you graduate and start reading books. 

[a-hazbin-spider]

𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐌𝐘 𝐌𝐔𝐒𝐄!

whether it be melodies that give you inspiration for your muse or songs that get you into the writing mood — pick 10 songs you find to give you the urge, the drive, or the creativity to write for your muse!

Hollywood Whore - Papa Roach X

Pretty Cvnt- sewerslvt

The Suffering Game- Griffin McElroy

Violent Pornography- System Of A Down

Belly Up- Return To Dust

A Dangerous Thing- AURORA

Toxic Valentine - All Time Low

King For A Day- Pierce The Veil

Parla Pìu Piano - The Speakeasies Swing Band

Judas - Lady Gaga

Tagged By @arachn0philia (thenk you! Ily and your cool ass blog ^^)

Tagging: @fizzapop (either blog is great!) @because-i-simp @infernal-feminae (dealer’s choice!) @radicheart @radi0activesmile / @ahelluvahigh @deepspacevivarium @hellsmayflower @nebula-gaster (buzz or sage?) @ anyone who would like to, honestly! Is fun!

A Few Bonuses ^^ (because I have no control and way too many songs)

Faster n’ Harder- 6arelyhuman X

Pretty Vicious - The Struts X

Ich will dich nie mehr sehen - Oomph!

Hate F-ck - The Bravery

Porn Star Dancing - MyDarkestDays X

Bruises and Bitemarks- Good With Grenades

Love Game- Lady Gaga (:

[propainfuture]

Marvel Characters Theme Songs: Part 1 - Songs

ALMOST ENTIRELY MCU CHARACTERS

(Again, I get most of my information from fanfictions, wikis, and videos, not straight from the comics)

--------

Tony Stark: "Bleeding Out" - Imagine Dragons

Steve Rogers: "Mr. Brightside" - The Killers

Peter Parker: "Stronger Than Ever" - Raleigh Ritchie

Thor Odinson: "Home" - X Ambassadors, Bebe Rexha, and Machine Gun Kelly

Clint Barton: "SING" - My Chemical Romance

Natasha Romanoff: "Try" - P!NK

Bruce Banner: "Animal I Have Become" - Three Days Grace

Wanda Maximoff: "Barbies" - P!NK

Carol Danvers: "Starman" - David Bowie

Bucky Barnes: "My Demons" - Starset

James Rhodes: "Ain't Gonna Die Tonight" - Macklemore (Ft. Eric Nally)

Stephen Strange: "Wake Me Up" - Avicii

Pepper Potts: "Me, Myself, and I" - G*Eazy (Ft. Bebe Rexha)

Peter Quill: "Dancing In The Dark" - Bruce Springsteen

Scott Lang: "Let You Down" - Peking Duk

Vision: "To Be Human" - Sia (Ft. Labrinth)

Sam Wilson: "Human" - Rag 'n' Bone Man

Pietro Maximoff: "Pompeii" - Bastille

Wade Wilson: "C'Mon" - Ke$ha

Mantis: "Shooting Star" - Owl City

Nebula: "Gasoline" - Halsey

Gamora: "Rise" - Katy Perry

Drax: "Believer" - Imagine Dragons

Groot: "I Can See Clearly Now" - Jimmy Cliff

Rocket: "Courtesy Call" - Thousand Foot Krutch

T'Challa: "Lion" - Hollywood Undead

Shuri: "Paper Planes" - M.I.A.

Loki Laufeyson: "Monster" - Imagine Dragons

Yelena Belova: "Here We Go" - Chris Classic

Phil Coulson: "Tragic Endings" - Eminem (Ft. Skylar Hill)

Maria Hill: "I Won't Back Down" - Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Nick Fury: "The Phoenix" - Fall Out Boy

Gwen Stacy: "100 Bad Days" - AJR

MJ Watson: "Heart Full of Scars" - Rebecca Black

Harry Osborn: "Fences" - Paramore

Miles Morales: "Sunflower" - Post Malone & Swae Lee

Betty Brant: "Wish" - Trippie Redd

Glory Grant: "All of My Favorite Songs" - Weezer

Felicia Hardy: "GRRRLS" - AViVA

Ganke Lee: "Luv(sic)" - Nujabes (Ft. Shing02)

Michelle Jones: "Red Roses" - Lil Skies (Ft. Landon Cube)

Ned Leeds: "Good Day" - Jax Anderson (Ft. Curtis Roach & Mister Wives)

[e-m-p-error]

[ @nebula-gaster || Continued From Here || Flora ]

[ Velvette ]

"Huh...?"

Glancing behind her as she fiddled with one of the big, thick plastic safety pins that were her earrings today, she tipped her head before kicking up one foot. She let herself fall back as she turned around, but never quite off her feet. Grinning, she waved excitedly beside her head, lifting the bat and placing it and her hand behind her back. She could feel the bloody blades lightly pressed into the back of her head.

"Heeeeeeey, Puddin' Pop~ What up?" She chirped in her regular voice, giggling behind her free hand, "Oh, these lamers? Nah, not really." With one foot lifted, she kicked it behind her and extended her foot to point with it, "That one knocked my Voxstar out of my hand when he walked past me," She then brought her foot forward to the last one to die, kicking his shoulder, "And this one laughed about it."

Sha glanced to the side at the other one, second to die, last to be mentioned.

"That one's just like. Riiiiiiiiiiight on the gnarly side of too ugly to live, you know? I did him a favor." They were imps, too, Hellborn. They wouldn't be coming back from this.

"But it's like, totes done. Dead and buried, sort of. Well. Dead. The burial isn't gonna be a casket thing. If I don't eat it, my plants will."

[theabigailthorn]

I walked the red carpet in Hollywood last night for the premiere of Identiteze, the new scifi film from Jessie Earl - and you can see it exclusively on Nebula, blah blah blah okay but this is tumblr and this is where you get the real shit so lemme tell ya

I lost my red carpet shoes. I realised literally 3 hours before the actual premiere that I had misplaced them somewhere in LA, probably when I wore them for the DEX wrap party, so the only options I had were my vans or these

so I decided "Fuck it, nobody's gonna see my feet anyway - let's just be huge!" And that's why in all the group shots I am approximately nineteen stories tall!

[distopea]

Diego Lecomte, the Flamboyant. 

A French man who has dreamt of success and fame since he was little. A pretty face, but not good enough to seduce Hollywood with his acting skills and even less his arrogance, unless it was for porn movies. He survived through small ad contracts, bartending and croupier work in casinos. 

What saved him was his audacity, his shameless devotion to being the greatest pretender, and his ambition to become someone. The perfect fraud the Cleaners needed to catch the light and get attention right where they wanted. He's the visage for the Nebula, the shining star who "owns" many businesses across the country; bars, clubs, casinos...

[birthdayimagewish]

Introduction:

In the vast and glittering world of Hollywood certain stars shine brightly leaving an indelible mark on the entertainment industry. One such luminary is the talented and charismatic Karen Gillan. Hailing from the picturesque landscapes of Inverness Scotland Gillan journey from a small town to the global stage is nothing short of remarkable. This blog post delves into the life and career of the Scottish sensation tracing her path from aspiring actress to international acclaim.

Early Life and Education:

Karen Sheila Gillan entered the world on November 28 1987 in Inverness Scotland. Her parents Marie and Raymond Gillan welcomed her into their family at that time. Raised alongside a younger brother she displayed an early passion for performance arts participating in local theater productions and cultivating her love for storytelling. Gillan artistic inclinations led her to study at Telford College and later at the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London where she honed her acting skills and laid the foundation for her future stardom.

Breakthrough with Doctor Who

Karen Gillan first captured the attention of audiences in 2010 when she stepped into the iconic role of Amy Pond in the long running British science fiction series Doctor Who. Her portrayal of the feisty and adventurous companion to the Eleventh Doctor played by Matt Smith earned her widespread acclaim. Gillan chemistry with Smith and her compelling performance solidified her place in the hearts of Whovians worldwide and she became an integral part of the show success during her tenure from 2010 to 2013.

Venturing into Film:

Following her success on Doctor Who Karen Gillan set her sights on conquering the silver screen. Her transition to Hollywood was marked by roles in films such as Not another Happy Ending (2013) and Oculus (2013) where her talent for portraying complex characters began to shine. However it was her portrayal of Nebula in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that catapulted her to international stardom. Debuting in Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Gillan performance as the blue-skinned conflicted assassin garnered attention for its depth and intensity.

Continued Success:

Karen Gillan career continued to ascend with notable roles in blockbuster films like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) and its sequel Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Her ability to seamlessly navigate between genres from science fiction to comedy and drama showcased her versatility as an actress. Gillan compelling performances combined with her distinctive red hair and infectious energy have solidified her status as a sought-after talent in the entertainment industry.

Beyond Acting:

Beyond her on-screen endeavors Karen Gillan has ventured into writing and directing. Her directorial debut The Party Just Beginning (2018) not only showcased her skills behind the camera but also demonstrated her commitment to telling unique and meaningful stories.

Conclusion:

As Karen Gillan continues to captivate audiences with her talent and charm her journey from a small Scottish town to Hollywood stardom serves as an inspiration to aspiring actors worldwide. With a string of successes and an ever-expanding repertoire Gillan star continues to rise promising a future filled with exciting and diverse roles. As we eagerly await her next cinematic venture one thing remains certain Karen Gillan indomitable spirit and talent will continue to leave an indelible mark on the world of entertainment.

[quillsmora]

First I want to say I'm so sorry people have sent you hateful messages or said mean things to you over issues you've had with IW. That's so unnecessary. I'm sending you internet hugs.

Secondly, thank you for sharing a balanced view of Gunn. His work is often excellent but that doesn't mean he lacks room for improvement. It's been difficult since vol 3 came out to have many constructive conversations about the movie and regarding Gamora. It's been frustrating to see people who criticized EG and the Russo's for not focusing on certain things and not developing parts of the story more or who swore up and down Gunn would absolutely focus on them and do it so much better, and now that vol 3 is out missing some of the same story beats, people are totally fine with it or acting as if they were never needed in the first place. It's okay to love some stuff while admitting other stuff wasn't great. It's not better or more mature to pretend something is flawless. It's also eye opening seeing people do this and then turn around and predominantly praise or gush over every other character but Gamora. If they think everything was flawless why not gush over her too. Then there's the people scrutinizing Gamora as if she were the villain. I saw Thanos get more love from some fans. It's like I'm in the worst timeline. I'm just happy for Gamora friendly blogs like yours. It makes my fandom experience much better.

ty for the hug anon <3

and yeah, i like gunn and his work, but at the end of the day he's still a straight white man™️ with the experiences of a straight white man™️ and it can sometimes come across in his writing. again, my only issue with vol 3 is that i wish it delved more into this new gamora and her relationships with the other guardians/what lead her to becoming a ravager. sometimes it felt like she was only there because they needed to wrap up peter's arc on moving on from grief. i was personally disappointed in that as someone who's been a gamora fan since i first saw her in that cut scene of her topless in the vol 1 trailers that definitely had a major part in my gay awakening on the big screen when i was 11 years old. i think it's important to acknowledge the people you respect, especially in an industry like Hollywood, aren't perfect and you can disagree with their choices while still liking what they did end up making. a lot of that has been lost, especially when it comes to talking about comic book movies (you know exactly what group of fans i'm referring to).

gamora is definitely the least talked about guardian out of everyone and i've seen a lot of misinterpretation about what gamora was in vol 3/people seeming to forget that she died and saying she and peter just "grew apart". there are others who are quick to say who peter should move on with (it's not just that ship, for some reason the five peter x kitty fans in existence seem to think they now have a shot of mcu starkat/prydequill lmao), and who have diminished what gamora meant to all the other guardians, not just peter and nebula. like, she was groot's mother!! and james had to clarify that in an instagram comment because people couldn't pick up on that dynamic in vol 2!!!

gamora deserved so much better than what she was given in the mcu, and i'm always going to believe that. hell, she also deserves better than what she's currently being given in the comics too.

i'm glad my blog is being seen as a bright spot by other gamora fans! i've loved gamora for nearly a decade now and i'll always love her. she's been such a core part of my fandom identity, it's kinda like how i'll always love ariel from the little mermaid or katniss from the hunger games or even santana from glee, her character helped me identify with and discover myself growing up :,).

[astromechs]

Along with women are not interchangeable, I hope more people come to understand one woman's success and happiness is not dependent upon some other women losing out. You also don't have to put down or dismiss one woman's value to uplift other women. I think people are gradually doing better about this in real and fandom life but it still creeps back up.

Keeping all of this in mind I wanted to ask if you feel that Gamora's arc between IW and Vol 3 would have benefited from more diverse voices and opinions behind the scenes? Of course no group is monolithic but I look at Black Panther for example and I think there are nuances to how the film and it's sequel were approached that wouldn't have been there without more diversity behind the camera. I'm not saying people wouldn't have gone through with IW but maybe there would have been more exploration of the aftermath and more nuances to vol 3.

Also, the 5 years that passed for Nebula and Rocket didn't pass for Peter, Drax, Mantis and Groot. That means there should have been some major adjustment issues for the team with them missing so much and Rocket and Nebula having a whole host of new experiences. The movie was so big on pointing out Gamora missing experiences and that causing differences and the need to readjust, but it ignored that this would be true for the other characters. This is another area where I feel like they could have used a voice saying this isn't consistent and can actually be tied into Gamora's story to round everything out.

this is a problem with a LOT of hollywood productions, and not just the mcu, but the lack of diverse voices and opinions behind the scenes really shows here. all of the people with any creative input on gamora's story in the mcu since the initial drafts of the first gotg film (and tbh, most of who's written her in the comics) have been cis straight white men. they don't understand the experiences of a woman who's been a victim of abuse; they don't see the implications of what they've created with an abuser throwing his victim off a cliff and some cosmic entity validating that as love. they don't see the undertones in the story with thanos played by a white man and gamora played by a woc.

we need more diverse voices behind the camera everywhere. not just here. everywhere.