#I just Needed to rant somewhere

[silvialightning]

There should be more of a discussion about how the Democratic Party leaned right in their campaign, and thus failed to convince people to vote for them. Rather than blaming 3rd Party voters, or people who stayed home instead, or people who refused to vote because they were anti-war or just felt unmotivated to. Saying people were racist and misogynistic, while that certainly has a part to play, is not fully to blame for Kamala Harris losing.

It is very easy to point at your neighbors and blame the way they voted for the Democratic loss. It is a much bigger challenge to acknowledge how the Democratic Party itself failed. And to list out everything would make this post massive, but it was a collective failure of everyone involved behind the scenes. Wanting one person to change their vote is easy. Wanting an entire political institution to change their messaging in massive, progressive ways against the wishes of their corporate donors is a more intimidating task.

It’s super important to be vocal about telling the Democratic Party why they failed the presidential campaign. Because some news shows are coming up with their own fun things to blame. Like claiming that Kamala Harris ran too far to the left.

“We’ll have the strongest most lethal military.” “Giving loans to start up businesses.” And talking about the free market. “Not all companies are bad, but some select few rare exceptions are Price Gouging.” Being pro-war. And all the things the Democratic Party chose to focus on in DNC night. Claiming all of that was too far to the left, when it is clearly to the right. And I have no doubt that the current Democratic Party will gladly lean to the right next time, because they are so disconnected from the working class.

So instead of all this in-fighting about how people should have voted harder, let’s focus on the Democratic Party itself so we don’t have the same two right leaning dogshit campaigns to pick from in 2028.

[multimuseticles]

You know... I've been drawing ever since I was like 5 years old. It's something I've spent pretty much my entire life doing. The longest I'd ever really go without drawing is like a couple of months maybe, and lately I've been drawing on an almost near daily basis. But if I'm being honest, I'm fairly close to actually quitting.

I still love to draw and I don't really want to stop, but it's getting to a point where AI slop is just entirely taking over the internet. Finding even reference images these days is so difficult because google is filled with AI crap and a lot of actual art sites allow AI art(looking at you Pixiv and DeviantArt).

I used to get a couple of commissions a month just a few years ago. Then covid hit and I got a little less work because people didn't exactly have the same amount of money to spend, which makes perfect sense. But getting closer to the end of covid when people could actually go back to work etc, AI decided to creep its head up and now I'm lucky to get one commission every few months. Originally, AI art was laughable and it was only able to make really stupid shit that was basically illegible. Like that Dall-e thing.

Putting the rest under a read more because it's somewhat long.

But nowadays, a lot of people prefer to use AI than give actual artists attention. Especially now that a lot of big companies are pushing their own AI crap(looking at you Adobe and Meta). Instagram used to be a great place for artists, now its filled with AI crap that Instagram seems to fucking love and is basically training their AI on your own posts. They say you can opt out, but if you live in the USA? You seemingly can't. In the EU you can because of laws, so I was able to opt out. However. I don't trust Meta not to train off my shit anyway.

Then you've got Adobe, which y'know, was a thing for artists to create stuff, be that through Photoshop, Illustrator or even their video editors. But now they're just pushing their lame AI crap to do everything for you, and still charge a ridiculous amount for their service.

Now I'm not just complaining because I'm getting less work. It's just depressing that creativity is dying. Generative AI is being used in video games, movies, tv shows, music, youtube videos, voiceovers and pretty much EVERYTHING else. It's impossible to avoid these days. Sites that allow AI but ask you to tag it so people can hide it doesn't work either, because people just don't tag that shit.

Due to all this AI crap, artists are being accused of using AI to create their art, regardless of if they show proof or not. It hasn't happened to me yet, but I feel it's inevitable simply because I absolutely suck at drawing hands and I can just barely get the hang of them most of the time. A ton of actual artists have been essentially bullied to the point where they don't post their art online anymore, or are forced to change their art style.

It's so much harder for artists to get their work out there anymore because AI is taking over all of these sites so the majority of the stuff you see is generated bullshit. It has led to people being like "Why would I pay someone to do this when I can just write a prompt and get what I want in seconds?" and no matter what you say to people with this line of thought, they just do not give a single shit.

I'm fine with AI to an extent. I think it's fine to just use it for dumb shit between friends, or helping to get a design idea for an OC or something. But the moment you start making money from AI or posting it online and claiming it as your own(and saying that people should credit you if you used it???) is the moment I think it's not okay. Have you seen Facebook or Twitter lately? Filled with really messed up AI images and AI responses. Facebook is rampant with weird and disturbing looking AI generated images and Twitter is 90% bots these days.

This whole post was spurred on by a conversation I saw between two of my friends. One of my friends wanted to get into graphic design, and being the artist of the group and having experience in graphic design, he came to me for advice. He got some very basic stuff done and he was really proud of it. He was showing some of the stuff he made to our other friend who simply responded with an AI generation of the same thing saying "Just use AI man, it's quicker and looks better." It was super depressing to see, especially since I've had conversations about how much I hate generative AI with these same friends.

So at this point I'm on the edge of just stopping. I probably won't, but I'm starting to lose motivation because I feel like there is no safe place to upload my art anymore. Will I stop? Probably not, but the temptation is there. I dunno, fuck generative AI man.

Sorry for the long ass rant, but I'm just getting so fed up with this crap.

[everoutoftouch]

I’m in local groups on fb (idk why. Fb is awful lol) and I just saw someone I went to school with is wanted by the police for a felony probation violation. Someone who knows her says it’s drugs. And I just want to say I fucking hate the people sharing it and making fun of her and if you turn her in you’re a fucking narc. God I’m so mad at the comments I saw and the people sharing it. Fuck off. Drug addicts are people too. Jesus

[enixamyram]

My cat Felix died two days ago and I just need to ramble and cry about him. When my older cat passed, he was almost 20 and he'd been gradually getting worse over months so by the time we said goodbye, we were pretty ready for it. But with Felix, he was barely 15 and he went so quickly. Like within a week he went from a happy lively cat to one that could barely drag himself up to his litter tray and meowed really helplessly all the time. I miss him so much and I hate feeling sick all the time but Felix was truly MY cat. He always wanted to curl up on my lap, he meowed at me until I picked him up and he always purred the second he was in my arms, he'd ditch everyone else the minute I walked through the door and I can't stand that he's not there to do any of this anymore. We're waiting to get his ashes back and all I can think is that I don't want his ashes, I want him. I want him meowing at me and following me and curling up next to me or on top of me. I want to feed him again and stroke him and pay stupid amounts of money at the vets to make him better. I wish I had done so much more. I held him as he passed away but I wish I had held him differently, I wish I had given him more treats, I wish I had played with him more. Everyone keeps telling me I gave him the best life but all I can think about is what I didn't give him and I hate it and I'm so fucking sad all the time and I just want my cat back!

I miss him so much.

[najeongmosajimidachaetzu15]

Sometimes, I think I shouldn't be allowed my phone or access to music after midnight, cause then I just start thinking about my life and all the ways it could be better, but also I don't want to put in effort to change anything, also I feel like I was robbed of some pivotal young adult moments, cause the world decided to suck for a few years

[makimaspuppy]

i'm honestly having such a rough time mentally rn aaaaa

[rainbowroadonsteroids]

I absolutely hate how some college professors make flexibility so fucking difficult or just barely touch on semi-big projects; then if you email them telling them you need an extension/won't get it done on time your only response is "you should have read the syllabus" and they give you shit for it.

I'm tired. I'm stressed. I'm still in HS but I'm in a type of HS where I'm doing college work as well as regular schoolwork. I'm in my final fucking year and I'm trying to push as hard as possible but God is it difficult. I'm already taking one course where I have to do three concert reviews to fulfil a secondary requirement, plus I don't want to go all the way out to Cleveland for a single concert.

I found out last fucking night I have a diversity immersion assignment where I have to call and schedule an appointment with a nonprofit/some sort of cultural place and just go talk to them, and I'm glad I checked so maybe I have at least a small chance of getting an appointment tomorrow or Saturday because the assignment is due Saturday. It really is not much but boy is it fucking inconvenient.

I know I could have checked the course calendar or looked at the assignment ahead of time but I'm too fucking exhausted to. I don't want to. I already have a research essay and final for this class so why bother. Part of me is fried to the point I just don't want to do the assignment but I have to if I want to maintain a good grade and not fucking tank the class as a whole.

Just this slight inconvenience ruined my night, I fucking had a breakdown before I went to sleep because of this shit. I wish I would have gotten maybe a small heads-up earlier like, "Just so you all know, there is an assignment coming up which requires you to get in touch with a place and get involved with talking to a representative, so plan adequately and make your appointments soon."

And the fucking window for this assignment opened Monday. So literally unless you looked at the course calendar. But oh wait, all it says is it's due. Not how to do it just that it's due. So I literally just have a slight window telling me that I have to do this.

I know, it's my fault. I should be less of a fucking lazy dumbass and actually pay attention to shit. I only have like a few fucking weeks left before Winter Break and yet here I am holding on my threads. I wait until the last minute to do everything because it stressed me out. I don't study when I get home because it stresses me out. I just play video games in hopes of relaxing, I draw in hopes of relaxing, I message my friends in hopes of relaxing.

In the end am I really allowed to relax? Or do I have to walk on eggshells knowing I probably have a major assignment due next week? I can't enjoy my weekends because of some lurking dealing. I want to shave my head so badly because I keep feeling like I want to pull my own hair out but I also don't because I have a fucking double chin and I'd look like an egg. I went to rip my own nails put sometimes so I don't constantly bite them, I want to do something but it feels like every thought now isn't good. I'm not thinking of certain thoughts, just those slight internal thoughts you have to go against.

[thevirgodoll]

to all of my dolls finding themselves:

originality is the "aesthetic" you are looking for. individuality is the "it factor" you are looking for. from your personality, pieces, hair, cadence of voice...even down to your favorite foods or special interests. you aren't supposed to change every aspect about yourself to be more palatable for everyone you meet. that actually makes you BORING!!!

"but so and so is doing this" "but what if people don't like it" ... so??? don't take people disliking your aesthetic as a sign that you need to do something different. like, of course they don't like it or have second thoughts - it's because THEY wouldn't do it themselves because it wouldn't go with THEIR given aesthetic. HELLOO??????

unless they are like minded, stop asking other people to weigh in on the things you CLEARLY like about yourself. especially if it's a core personality trait or interest. your LIFE isn't a group project. your LIFE is not a co-op game.

and yes... people will try to force you to assimilate and follow the crowd by speaking misfortune on your rebrand, your expression, your hobbies, your chosen path out of jealousy. however, that jealousy is lowkey unspoken respect for the fact you have the candor to go against homogeneity.

your authentic dedication to everything that makes you YOU is what will bring you the illustrious life you so fervently seek in the end...not some book a celebrity wrote or a youtube video. it's in YOUR DNA to be a star already in anything you want to do.

there isn't one tutorial on this world wide web that will help you if you don't realize you have the components within you first. there is NOTHING wrong with you!!! you are EVERYTHING that is right already!!!

NEVER conform to the way they think you should shine.

[triglycercule]

nightmare's gang but they're one of those youtube family channels that extorts the kids. HEAR ME OUT HEAR ME OUT

i mean cmon man managing his multiversal takeover scheme must take a lot of money. nightmare needs a source of income. so what better than to torture and extort his gang even more. he makes them behave and act entertaining for the camera because if not they get beat and punished. he has cameras everywhere in the castle for content and to monitor everyone. people online are worried about the "kids" on the channel because they are CLEARLY being abused and exploited. nightmare gets a feast of negativity from these peoples' worries. now do i think that he would be cruel enough to force his gang to act like children for this channel?? i dunno,,,,,,,, perchance (YOU CAN'T JUST SAY PERCHANCE)

idk there's definitely a lot more than could be done with this stupid idea. but i just think,,,,,, i just think it would be funny,,,,, think about it,,,,,,,,,,

[siryyeet]

Oh you have complicated feelings towards Germany? Let me make 91836373 assumptions about it with my piss poor understanding of history, not listen to germans at all and then come to a horrendously bad and false conclusion on why that is! Also I think you germans should stop feeling guilty and be proud of your country again!

[arthursfuckinghat]

I know the gang cares about Arthur and they knew his sickness was serious and it's part of the narrative and whatnot, but really would it have killed them to just offer the occasional "is there anything you need Arthur?" or "anything we can do to help?" or even "how are you feeling today?" - I'm sure Arthur would rather be pestered slightly than have his rapid illness get straight up ignored yknow?

[sirlancenotalot]

the fact that people still use the "no one would talk to a friend that way" "no one would grieve for someone like that if it was just platonic" etc arguments to prove a ship is canon is so annoying to me. yes i get it, we got queerbaited hard but where does it say that romance has to be higher than a friendship or no one said friends couldn't also be lovers or vice versa....? i normally say "popular media tropes that usually are for romance" when i talk about fiction but pulling a blanket statement like "NO ONE talks to a friend that way" is so invalidating to so much of our queer experiences. the beauty of queer friendship literally lies in the emotional fulfilment we get from our friends in a way that i don't normally see in cishet friendships for whatever reasons. so idk it's just been bothering me to see these kinds of posts every now and then. "you wouldn't do [x] for your friends" i would actually. i would sell my soul for them. i would kill for them and kill myself for them. i would do anything for my friends that i would do for a partner. the "proof" for a ship doesn't have to be by invalidating their friendship. also like aren't most of the ships so powerful when they're also each other's closest friends? do y'all not think of your partners as your best friends?

[ganondoodle]

(idk if anyone wants to keep hearing my opinions on totk book stuff but-)

apparently it says that rauru DID have kids, multiple even, which yeah... is kinda necessary for zelda to even be connected to them so much so that sonia can SENSE a blood connection (which, even with all the excuses with magic, is just a little too far for me to suspend my disbelief bc its over, OVER, ten thousand years worth of generations that seperate her from them that one lil touch of the hand can sense that (feels more like an attempt to make you care about them or .. see them as zeldas "better" parents just bc they exchange a few nice words, i never got the feeling they were 'better' parents and its also kinda disrespectful to her actual parents, like sure rhoam wasnt the best but i wouldnt call rauru better just bc he was polite)- i could see maybe the light power of hylia or sth but since its the coolest dude that ever lived rauru now that had it which still doesnt make sense and makes me unreasonably annoyed and she can sense BOTH of their powers in her? nah) the fact theres NOTHING about them in the game itself is just so ... no way they planned any of this

i dont think theres anything they can do or say that wont make be believe they either

are making it up alla 'fix it in post' mentality trying to hastily explain stuff the game never bothers to do to try and appease fans or let it appear as if they thought about it at all

something went really REALLY wrong during development, which kinda seems likely given how the game turned out (im sorry i cannot let go, its not just the writing, the game design too and how little was changed in the map while being so damn expensive, i dont know how people dont feel scammed q_q)

given that they (allegedly) spent the last entire year of development on polish (where??? where????? huh??? like it would make it more understandable (EXCEPT for the price) if there was alot of trouble, which was also bc it got delayed and ... turned out like this, but they dont want to say it, especially given their reputation, with that quote i have heard way too many times 'a delayed game blah blah') i just??

are they just gonna go and do it like they did with kashiwa (kass)? "they uuuh where flying around the whole time ony cool sonau tech maschines, you just dont see or hear from them ooooorrr they were uuuuh out of the country at the time" (sending invitations to other continents to join their glorious kingdom ;) )

(bet they are also gonna say they did all the stuff like ... moving the shrines around (lol?) and lifting the islands up into the sky- which is still weird bc ... didnt they also say they were living in the sky before coming to the surface?? so where?? did they park all their islands on the surface and the mystery kids had the keys so they had to repark them back into the sky after they returned off camera?? xD also why are the islands so different as an environment if they where from the surface? like even the STONE up there is different- and if they were first in the sky then on the surface and the nback in the sky .. why is there not a single yellow tree or grass in the past- you cant really argue that it changed bc they were up there so long bc .. nothing else changed, the suddendly and totally always there sonau buildings are largely in prime condition, only some slightly moldy, and what we see of the glorious past looks barely any different from the present, aside from like ... some standard trees shuffled, no castle yet and that glowy uwu filter DESPITE that stupidly long time frame between it)

[imnotcommitedtothis]

stupid pointless reddit rant

but basically there was this one post about which td character is the most "spoiled" and Heather was there (which she's literally NOT, bratty? entitled? yes sure, but not spoiled)

and someone said something along the lines of "Heather now has Al to keep her in check"

first of all, that's an icky and borderline misogynistic thing to say about a female character? that she needs a man to "keep her in check"..? like I can't even explain how much that wording personally icks me....? but I hope you guys understand my point

besides. of all the characters you pick. YOU PICK ALEJANDRO??? that's her number #1 defender,supporter and enabler!

like you think he would try and keep her contained? change her? hell no,she could yell at someone over some stupid stuff and he'd be like with heart eyes thinking about how he's gonna marry her

I get it, all stars sucks and we don't want to watch but he's literally freaked out but she tries to act nice and unlike herself, he would let her rule the world if he could?? he'd be the one spoiling her pls be serious??

[lollytea]

Unfortunately due to TOH being cut short by Disney a lot of character arcs and more storyline could not be fully fleshed out and finished as Dana had to wrap up everybody’s story in just a few episodes

I'm fully aware that Disney's intervention is responsible for a lot of the plotlines getting suffocated. Which is why I don't think it's fair to go harassing crew members with "why didn't THIS happen??" and all that, because nobody really knows what they endured working on those final episodes and how much they had to cut and rewrite. But from things Dana has said, it was likely a very stressful and exhausting experience. So I don't like to make assumptions about the crew being incompetent. Nobody knows how the season WOULD have turned out if they had been granted full creative freedom and breathing room to develop it to their hearts content.

However, me not directing personal ire towards the crew doesn't mean that I think that the show is immune to criticism. Its flawed. It might not be entirely the crew's fault but that doesn't mean we can't talk about how it's flawed. If anything, I think acknowledging and dissecting its weaknesses is a good learning opportunity for what we should consider when creating our own stories.

Season 3 is a bit of a mess. There's good stuff. There's some less than good stuff. I think ultimately, as a story about Luz, King and Eda, it knocks it out of the park. When they were left with no other option, they decided to prioritize the writing of their three protagonists and I think that was the correct choice.

But I've been thinking about the three specials and how they stand on their own, quality wise, and honestly, there's valid criticism to be said that is completely unrelated to the shortening.

Bear in mind that the crew has known since Follies that the show was getting cut short and they needed to start wrapping up loose ends. So it's not like they started writing Thanks to Them believing it was the first of 20+ more episodes. They knew that they were going to be writing a 40 minute special. So the execution had to be tight, concise and satisfying, right?

Well...it was....weird. Definitely fun. Good for fan service. The main hook was the witch kids navigating the human world in their dorky witchy way. And initially, that was enough. But once the novelty of that wears off and we focus on the plot of the special, what do we have left?

Thanks to Them is very guilty of lore baiting. Dropping in stuff that they know damn well that they're never going to elaborate on, leaving the audience with a feeling of intrigue that is never going to be satiated.

I personally think that is just bad writing. They knew they didn't have a full season 3 and rather than rewrite the means of which the hexsquads finds answers, they still made the choice to drop in what are most likely vague ideas from the initial draft.

I think, if they had no intention of developing it in future specials, there was no point to that scene of Masha telling the Wittebane story. It was just...filler. To stretch out the running time. Which is....kind of precious. Only 40 minutes. If you're obsessive enough about lore, you already knew the story from the Hollow Mind paintings. That scene was for casual viewers. Which is useless, because there's no point in casual viewers learning about Evelyn and Caleb because it never went anywhere.

Also. I personally think that if there was any value to learning the Wittebane lore without making it plot relevant, it would be for the sake of character development. We wanted to know how the kids would react to this knowledge.

Well how did they react?

*Shrug* They seemed a little unnerved but they kinda forgot about it the second they got off the hayride.

So what was the point of all that? What was the point?

Is it because we wanted "Goodbye, Evelyn," to be more of gut punch?

Was it worth it? Was "Goodbye, Evelyn" worth it? We know fucking nothing about Evelyn.

I think the rebus was a stupid and lazy means for the kids to discover Titan's blood. You introduce this mysterious object that was hidden under the floorboards and then you just use it as a plot device.

When the kids uncover the rebus and find the secret code inside, the viewer is not thinking about how it can be used as a means to an end (finding blood) The viewer is thinking "what the fuck is that thing and how did it get there and how did Flapjack know it was there?"

Questions that will not be answered <333

ALL IM SAYING is that I'm sure the crew could have come up with another way for the kids to have a Titan's blood treasure hunt. Maybe they could have dug a little more into the history of Gravesfield and follow leads on weird things happening on this one spot in the graveyard (which turns out to be because there's magical energy there, revealed when Luz realizes she can use glyphs)

I just think that if you're gonna leave the mystery box a mystery, you shouldn't have included it.

And I know. Its subtle storytelling. There's elements of what could have been a far more complex story and they're leaving hints of it here and there.

Well the thing about that is I think the hints are very unsatisfying and weaken the episode's plot significantly.

Also I don't think they should get to just pick and choose what parts of the lore are subtle and what parts are ham-fisted.

YES we are going to be reminded like three times that Flapjack is being secretive and hiding things from Hunter.

NO we are never going to get a payoff for that because he gets shanked and dies first.

BUT!! BUT!! If you squint, its IMPLIED that Flapjack belonged to Evelyn and blah blah blah

You don't get to rub things in the audience face and then choose to be all subtle about it at the last minute. Pick one or the other.

Anyway....I think they could have written Thanks to Them as more of an intriguing and suspenseful horror mystery where they spend forty minutes gathering clues and everything finally clicks together at the very end. That's not what we got.

We got a very weak attempt on the Hexsquad's part to be little detectives, but like a minute of screen time was devoted to them dicking around in a library, a costume shop, and a zoo.

I don't think we can blame the shortening for this.

[harpuiaa]

i've been dead and gone bc of school and jobsearching and everything happening all at once but ive been playing the boktai series games lately and i'm enjoying it a lot. I just got past the third boss in boktai 2. I don't know why but i'm enthralled with these games, i highly recommend them