#I need to draw like 10 million more things based around this idea actually. it's so fucking funny to me

[quinngefail]

I feel like Adam is the type to bluntly say the absolute filthiest things at completely inappropriate times just because he loves seeing Lawrence sputter and go bright red

Oh 101%

‼️ Nsfw text in the second image. Lmao

HIS GAME IS JUST TRULY UNMATCHED. WHAT MORE IS THERE TO SAY

[semi-sketchy]

Okay I 100% legally watched Sonic 3.

6/10, overhyped.

I think I enjoyed the second movie more actually, but let me walk through this.

As a brief summary, basically Gerald was imprisoned for 50 years and designed the Eclipse Cannon (it's just a flying saucer laser) in return for his freedom. GUN built it, but it needs two keys to activate. So it's kinda a race to see who can get both keys and either destroy the world or save it. Gerald was also the one who hacked into the system and disabled Shadow's stasis as well as stole Eggman's tech to lure him to the research facility for a team-up. That's the basis of the plot.

Firstly, the beginning is...a million miles a minute. I thought the trailers were hypercut, but no the scenes really are just that fast. (At least until we get to Carrey. Animating hedgehogs is too expensive.) Sonic's having a party, GUN shows up like "we need Team Sonic" and Sonic is literally just like "I like the name, let's go!" that's it. No briefing, no convincing from the organization that tased and captured him, just go.

I did find the little "What did you do, Sonic?" "I don't know, I do a lot of things" line to be funny, though.

Also before they jump out of the chopper, Sonic does the "talk about low budget flights" but it is...so forced. Like the entire idea behind that line in SA2 is Sonic is being a cheeky bastard because they captured him, here he just randomly says it for no reason.

NOW THE ACTUAL BEST PART OF THE MOVIE, Shadow and Maria. God they were SO CUTE. Like this is the stuff I wanted out of Dark Beginnings. Maria on roller skates while Shadow pulls her around the base, just getting into kid mischief, watching movies, slipping keycards to go sit out and watch the stars... Oh my god AND THE BUNNY FACE SHE DRAWS ON HIS TUBE. These scenes? 10/10.

Actually, when Commander Walters finally briefs Sonic, the way it was edited really made me think "oh shit did...did Shadow accidentally kill Maria in this movie?" that's obviously not what happened, but I was interested to see what angle they took.

Oh yeah and Maria didn't get shot. She died from an explosion CAUSED by a gunshot. The solider was trying to shoot her though, just Walters knocked the gun because "that's a child!" So there's that. (Not allowed to hate the GUN commander here, after all, he's on Sonic's side! He can't be for child murder!)

It was also...not as dramatic as I thought it would be. It's like 30 seconds. Gerald runs up, says "We have to go, they wanna take Shadow from us!" Then 10 seconds later, boom. I'm not paraphrasing, by the way.

Oh yeah, I guess I should mention Gerald. He's 110 and still alive. I was not opposed to this, I like to think I'm receptive to changes in AUs and I was curious what they could do with Gerald actively manipulating Shadow. Here's what they do: Jim Carrey. It's just double the Jim Carrey shenanigans and yes, it is tiring. Shadow has a moment like "I don't know if this is what Maria would have wanted..." and Gerald just goes "it's not about what she wanted, it's about what they deserve" and that's...basically it. YOU COULD'VE DONE MORE WITH THIS, BRO.

On top of that, Shadow was not created: he was found inside a meteor that looks A LOT like the Black Comet. Considering this is meant to be modern day Earth and not a huge fictional universe like the games where there's advanced space stations and such in the 50s (oh yeah the ARK ain't real here) I'm fine with this. Keeps his alien origins while aligning to the movie universe.

And I was kinda surprised but I THINK there's a reference to the fandub?? Sonic calls Shadow "Hot Topic" nooo my secret!!! so that was interesting. Could also just be some of their famous product placement, but this movie is also less...commercial than the others. No Olive Garden mentioned. Guess they used all the ad space on Knuckles.

Anyways, while getting the second key, Shadow punches Tom because he has the key and is currently disguised as Commander Walters, the one who sealed Shadow away. This is important, this is like the basis for the entire end of the movie because apparently one punch to the chest is enough to knock Tom out and put him in the hospital.

Now Sonic ALSO wants revenge, so he gets the Master Emerald to go super and...I just gotta point out, Knuckles left it with Wade. The way EVERYONE IN THE THEATER GROANED WHEN WADE POPPED UP ON SCREEN it was beautiful. Nice to know we all hate the Knuckles show.

This all leads to Shadow's reform which was...ech? After Sonic is like "no I won't kill you, that's not who I am, revenge doesn't make things better" Shadow is like "I didn't have a choice in who I became" and Sonic says "you always have a choice", Live and Learn plays and they go to stop the cannon firing on Earth. It felt so...shallow for a character like Shadow. Nothing about how Maria loved the world, so he should protect the world to honor her memory, it's just "revenge is bad". I guess it's to be more relatable to Sonic because they lean more into them being two sides of the same coin, but it's just so rushed and hollow.

Meanwhile Eggman kills his grandfather in a really drawn out unfunny sequence because he wants to rule the world, not destroy it, but the canon is already set to fire so they instead turn it away from the Earth while Super Sonic and Shadow block the ray. (The moon getting hit is an accident.)

Also you have no idea how much I wanted them to show Sonic trying to save Shadow, but only getting his inhibitor ring, THOUGH SONIC IS THE ONE WHOSE SUPER FORM FAILS. In this universe, I guess it makes sense because Sonic isn't the absolute powerhouse his game version is. But does Shadow show his growth and try to save him? No, it takes Tails and Knuckles awhile to address that.

Anyways, the reactor is unstable so Eggman tries to buy time while Shadow pushes the weapon away from Earth and then it blows up, killing both of them. ...Well Shadow shows up in the post-credits alive so I guess just Eggman is dead...maybe. Because the other scene shows a shit ton of Metal Sonics a la Shadow Android and Amy shows up to save him as the 4th teaser.

Overall, my issue isn't that it changed SA2's story, I wanted something different because I literally have SA2 at home. It's just these changes have all their potential completely squandered in favor of a lot and I mean a LOT of Jim Carrey nonsense. He's like half this movie.

With the writing quality of these films, I shouldn't be surprised, but I really thought after the second movie, they were on a good track. After seeing everyone else love it, it's kinda disappointing to find it rather mid.

Oh yeah and nothing from the bowling tournament teaser line in the Knuckles series, either. After making us sit through that hell, I WANTED to see Shadow bowl. We truly were robbed.

[servicetopkaradanvers]

Do you have any tips for coloring/shading? I always love how your colors look cause they're really nicely saturated but still well balanced

oh boy do I have some very strong opinions about color lmao

First, I’m morally obligated to mention that there are 8 million ways to approach digital color, so these are really just the Thots going through my head when I’m working on a given thing. For the sake of this rant, I’m gonna use this scribble of Kara and Lena from last fall, because it’s simple enough that I can easily illustrate some key points.

Most of the ideas I’ve outlined are about shorthand techniques that can easily and quickly use color to your advantage when you’re trying to sell the environment your characters are in. I’m not a painter, and painting is absurdly difficult, but we can use digital software to our advantage and consider how a painter would approach when lighting a figure/object/environment. Too many shortcuts are >:( but a few quick and simple habits can go a long way in finishing and posting a quick drawing you don’t want to spend hours rendering.

1. Pure black almost never exists in nature, and similarly, you will almost never need it.

Most illustration aims to “sell” a perceivable, believable space. While this is not everyone’s goal, most of what I draw is finished with an at least semiconscious goal of appearing touchable. Pure black is a guaranteed way to take away from that, because we almost never see it in nature. The darkest point in this particular drawing is Lena’s (terrified, dead) eyes, and it is only about 80% black and has some red/orange in it to help unify with the rest of the darks in the piece.

Here, locking my drawing layer and scribbling in some browns, blues, and even whites goes a long way to mesh the figures with their environment, especially because the background is lineless.

Here’s what this same drawing looks like with pure black lines. I would argue that this version does a disservice to the steps I’ve taken to light the figures, and it’s flattening the brightly lit outdoor space I’m trying to imply. There’s a whole additional essay about how lines play into this as well, so that’s a pretentious argument for another day.

2. Local color will rarely reach above 50% saturation.

Here’s the drawing with all the lighting work I’ve done removed (barring a few highlights I’m too lazy to turn off). In illustration, “local color” is referring to the color of a given object at the most neutral lighting possible.

The most heavily saturated element here is the artificial red on Kara’s cup, which makes sense! Printed logos, light up colored signs, things that are generally hard-sided and man-made will be more saturated. The next most saturated object here, and the only other local color exceeding 50% is Lena’s coat.

The rest of the clothing, skin, and hair falls between 10% and 35%. A neutral base gives you a lot of room to work with when you start lighting. It’s easier to go richer in digital than it is to accurately reel your colors in. Like any other kind of contrast, saturation can be used to pop points of interest, and if your entire canvas is TURBO SATURATED, none of it actually is. Also you’re hurting my eyes.

3. Natural light is cool, artificial is warm.

As humans, we spend 99% of our time either seeing the world lit by the sun, or by a lightbulb. Light from the sun is cool and generally diffused because it has passed through our atmosphere. Interior lighting tends to be warm and direct, casting clear shadows that come from a very specific light source.

Even if we remove the background, you would probably assume that Kara and Lena are outside based on the light temperature. Blue and orange are opposites on the color wheel, so an orange-tinted shadow (warm) will by effect make all the lighter colors look blue-ish (cool)! Pretty much all the shadows on these figures are just a faint orange Multiply layer. You’ll also notice a faint blue gradient over Kara’s shoulder to emphasize the approximate point where the sun is in the sky.

In short, cooler light and warmer shadow will imply that the setting is outdoors. Warmer light and cooler shadow will imply that the setting is indoors. It’s a fast and easy way to communicate character location.

4. Skin is weird.

If I’m just slapping some flat colors down and don’t plan to do much painting, facial features and skin have a lot of complex undertones, so if I don’t want to get into too much detail, a splash of red on the nose and around the eyes, a bit of color on the lips, translucent ears, can all go a long way to making flesh look more like flesh and less like barbie plastic.

5. Atmospheric perspective is much more important than grid (1/2/3 point) perspective.

This is relevant to color because color is the best way to easily portray atmosphere and the passage of space. Especially when your setting is outdoors, objects’ colors should become cooler and less saturated as they recede in space. The closer an object is to the camera, the more contrast you’re going to see in hue (position on the rainbow), saturation (richness of the color), and value (light vs dark).

[wolfstar-in-color]

July Colorful Column: Remus is a Crip, and We Can Write Him Better.

There is one thing that can get me to close a fic so voraciously I don’t even make sure I’m not closing other essential tabs in the process. It doesn’t matter how much I’m loving the fic, how well written I think it is, or how desperately I want to know how it ends. Once I read this sentence, I am done.

It’s written in a variety of different ways, but it always goes something like this: “You don’t want me,” Remus said, “I am too sick/broken/poor/old/[insert chosen self-demeaning adjective here].”

You’re familiar with the trope. The trope is canonical. And if you’ve been around the wolfstar fandom for longer than a few minutes, you’ve read the trope. Maybe you love the trope! Maybe you’ve written the trope! Maybe you’re about to stop reading this column, because the trope rings true to you and you feel a little attacked!

Now, let’s get one thing out of the way right now: I am not saying the trope is wrong. I am not saying it’s bad. I am not saying we should stop writing it. We all have things we don’t like to see in our chosen fics. Maybe you can’t stand Leather Jacket Motorbike Sirius? Maybe you think Elbow Patch Remus is overdone? Or maybe your pet peeves are based in something a little deeper - maybe you think Poor Latino Remus is an irresponsible depiction, or that PWPs are too reductive? Whatever it is, we all have our things.

Let me tell you about my thing. When I first became very ill several years ago, there were various low points in which I felt I had become inherently unlovable. This is, more or less, a normal reaction. When your body stops doing things it used to be able to do - or starts doing things you were quite alright without, thank you very much - it changes the way you relate to your body. You don’t want to hear my whole disability history, so yada yada yada, most people eventually come to accept their limitations. It’s a very painful existence, one in which you constantly tell yourself your disability has transformed you into a burdensome, unworthy member of society, and if nothing else, it’s not terribly sustainable. Being disabled takes grit! It takes power! It takes a truly absurd amount of medical self-advocacy! Hating yourself? Thinking yourself unworthy of love? No one has time for that. 

Of course, I’m being hyperbolic. Plenty of disabled people struggle with these feelings many years into their disabilities, and never really get over them. But here’s the thing. We experience those stories ALL THE TIME. Remember Rain Man? Or Million Dollar Baby? Or that one with the actress from Game of Thrones and that British actor who seemed like he was going to have a promising career but then didn't? Those are all stories about sad, bitter disabled people and their sad, bitter lives, two out of three of which end in the character completing suicide because they simply couldn’t imagine having to live as a disabled person. (I mean, come on media, I get that we're less likely to enjoy a leisurely Saturday hike, but our parking is SUBLIME.) When was the last time you engaged with media that depicted a happy disabled person? A complex disabled person? A disabled person who has sex? No really, these aren’t hypothetical questions, can you please drop a rec in the notes?? Because I am desperate.

There are lots of problems with this trope, and they’ve been discussed ad nauseam by people with PhDs. I’m not actually interested in talking about how this trope leads to a more prevalent societal idea that disabled people are unworthy of love, or contributes to the kind of political thought processes that keep disabled people purposefully disenfranchised. I’m just a bitch on Tumblr, and I have a bone to pick: the thing I really hate about the trope? It’s boring. I’m bored. You know how, like, halfway through Grey’s Anatomy you realized they were just recycling the same plot points over and over again and there was just no WAY anyone working at a hospital prone to THAT MANY disasters would stay on staff? It's like that. I love a recycled trope as much as the next person (There Was Only One Bed, anyone?). But I need. Something. Else.

Remus is disabled. BOLD claim. WILD speculation. Except, not really. You simply - no matter how you flip it, slice it, puree it, or deconstruct it - cannot tell me Remus Lupin is not disabled. Most of us, by this point, are probably familiar with the way that One Canonical Author intended One Dashing Werewolf to be “a metaphor for those illnesses that carry stigma, like HIV and AIDS” [I’m sorry to link you to an outside source quoting She Who Must Not Be Named, but we’re professionals here]. Which is... a thing. It’s been discussed. And, listen, there’s no denying that this parallel is a problematic interpretation of people who have HIV/AIDS and all such similar “those illnesses” (though I’ll admit that I, too, am perennially apt to turn into a raging beast liable to harm anything that crosses my path, but that’s more linked to the at-least-once-monthly recollection that One Day At A Time got cancelled). Critiques aside, Remus Lupin is a character who - due to a condition that affects him physically, mentally, emotionally, and intellectually - is repeatedly marginalized, oppressed, denied political and social power, and ostracized due to unfounded fear that he is infectious to others. Does that sound familiar?

We’re not going to argue about whether or not “Remus is canonically disabled as fuck” is a fair reading. And the reason we’re not going to argue about whether or not it’s a fair reading is because I haven’t read canon in 10-plus years and you will win the argument. Canon is only marginally relevant here. The icon of this blog is brown, curly haired Remus Lupin kissing his trans boyfriend, Sirius Black. We are obviously not too terribly invested in canon. The wolfstar fandom is now a community with over 25,000 AO3 fics, entire careers launched from drawing or writing or cosplaying this non-canonical pairing. We love to play around here with storylines and universes and races and genders and sexualities and all kinds of things, but most of the time? Remus is still disabled. He’s disabled as a werewolf in canon-compliant works, he’s disabled in the AUs where he was injured or abused or kidnapped or harmed as a child, he’s disabled in the stories that read him as chronically ill or bipolar or traumatized or blind or Deaf. I’d go so far as to say that he is one of very few characters in the Wide Wonderful World of media who is, in as close to his essence as one can be, always disabled. And that means? Don’t shoot the messenger... but we could stand to be a tiny bit more responsible with how we portray him. 

Disabled people are complicated. As much as I’d like to pretend we are always level-headed, confident, and ready to assert our inherent worth, we are still just humans. We have bad days. We doubt our worth. We sometimes go out with guys who complain about our steroid-induced weight gain (it was a long time ago, Tumblr, okay??). But, we also have joy and fun and good days and sex and happiness and families and so many other things. 

Remus is a disabled character, and as such, it’s only fair that he’d have those unworthy moments. But - I propose - Remus is also a crip. What is a crip? A crip - like a queer - is someone who eschews the limited boundaries placed on their bodies, who rejects a hierarchy of oppression in favor of an intersectional analysis of lived experience, who isn’t interested in being the tragic figure responsible for helping people with dominant identities realize how good they have it. Crips interpret their disabilities however they want, rethinking bodies and medicine and pleasure and pain and even time itself. Crips are political, community-minded, and in search of liberation. 

Remus is a character who struggles with his disability, sure. But he’s also a character who leverages his physical condition to attempt to shift communities towards his political leanings, advocates for the rights of those who share his physical condition, and has super hot sex with his wrongfully convicted boyfriend ultimately goes on to build community and family. Having a condition that quite literally cripples you, over which you have no control, and through which you are often read as a social pariah? That’s disability. But using said condition as a means through which to build advocacy and community? Now that’s some crip shit. 

Personally, I love disabled!Remus Lupin. But I love crip!Remus Lupin even more. I’d love to see more of a Remus who owns his disability, who covets what makes him unique, and who never ever again tells a potential romantic partner they are too good for him because of his disability. This trope - unlike There Was Only One Bed! - sometimes actually hurts to read. Where’s Remus who thinks a potential romantic partner isn’t good enough for him? Where’s Remus who insists his partners learn more about his condition in order to treat him properly? Where’s sexy wheelchair user Remus? Where’s Remus who uses his werewolf transformations as an excuse to travel the world? Where’s crip Remus??

We don’t have to put “you don’t want me” Remus entirely to bed. It is but one of many repeated tropes that are - in the words of The Hot Priest from Fleabag - morally a bit dubious. And let’s face it - we don’t always come to fandom for its moral superiority (as much as we sometimes like to think we do). 

This is not a condemnation - it is an invitation. Able-bodied folks are all but an injury, illness, or couple decades away from being disabled. And when you get here, I sincerely hope you don’t waste your time on “you don’t want me”ing back and forth with the people you love. I’m inviting you to come to the crip side now. We have snacks, and without all the “you don’t want me” talk, we get to the juicy parts much faster. 

Colorfully,

Mod Theo

[deceitfuldevil]

Do I Wanna Know?

Pietro Maximoff X Reader

Summary: You and Pietro’s friendship could best be described as a relationship that never was, it was constant flirting that you both brushed off as just a very close friendship. A friendship so close that sometimes you flirt with others, so when feelings get hurt; dynamics are crushed. But those who are meant for each other will always come crawling back. Vaguely based off the song “Do I Wanna Know?” by the Arctic Monkeys.

Warnings: Slight angst, kissing, fluff, all that :)

Word Count: 2.3K

It all started when you first joined the avengers, a few months after the battle of Sokovia. Tony had a last minute thing with Pepper and assigned Pietro Maximoff to show you around the compound, which he initially whined over. Not wanting to do anything more than stay in bed on his day off, he begged Wanda to take over for him. She agreed under the circumstance that he’d make dinner for a week.

Sitting on the couch watching whatever was on TV at the moment, Pietro munched on some chips, enjoying his day off to its fullest extent. He heard some chattering behind him and turned his head to see his sister Wanda and another woman with her head turned the other way, who he could only assume was the newest member to the team. Waving a small hello to his sister he turned back around and continued his program, but of course Wanda wouldn’t let him off that easy.

“Ahem,” Wanda said, clearing her throat as she now stood next to the couch Pietro sat on with the newest recruit, you.

“Y/n, this is my brother Pietro. Pietro, this is the newest addition to the Avengers, Y/n.” she said with a smile, mentally slapping her brother for being so lazy. Pietro gave you and Wanda a half-assed glance ready to wave you off, but he did a double take when he saw you. Choking slightly on his chips he stood up abruptly and brushed himself off, extending his hand out to yours.

You started to feel hot under his gaze as you gladly accepted his hand and shook it; he had a firm grasp that made you want to melt into the ground.

“So, what’s your thing printcessa?” He asked smoothly, slipping his hand out of yours, making you frown slightly as the loss of contact. But then you quirked your head to the side, not understanding his question.

“He means, what powers do you have?” Wanda interjected, clarifying his question.

“Oh you know, telekinesis, super strength, some healing abilities, the usual.” you joked

“Hey we could’ve really used you a few months ago during the battle of Sokovia. This asshole nearly got himself killed!” Wanda said, raising her eyebrows at her brother.

“Ahh sister you worry too much, I was fine!” Pietro insisted, waving her off.

“Sure you were. . . we’re going to finish this tour now okay?” Wanda said, turning around and getting ready to show you the rest of the compound. But of course Pietro had something to say about that.

“And take this gorgeous new Avenger away from me? You know Tony assigned me to show her around, right? So rude of you to just steal her away like that. . .” Pietro said, rushing to your side and taking your hand, pulling you along.

“I thought you wanted to-”

“Sorry! TV is too loud, I can’t hear you!” Pietro said running off with you, making you giggle.

The rest of the tour Pietro slipped in little compliments and flirty touches; in fact, the rest of your time there was practically the same. You had an innate attraction to Pietro, and he was drawn to you from the moment he laid eyes on you. But yet, nothing ever actually happened between the two of you, which quite frankly annoyed the hell out of the team. Having to constantly watch you two flirt and cuddle as if it was nothing was borderline ridiculous.

It’s been four months since you’ve joined the avengers and your tension with Pietro was higher than ever, and with another successful mission down Tony decided to host another one of his famous parties. You saw this as the perfect opportunity to look irresistible for Pietro, but when you walked out onto the dance floor in your sexiest dress and saw Pietro at the bar with some blonde bimbo caressing his muscles, and you damn near lost it.

Rationally, you had no right to be angry at all. You and Pietro weren’t an item, you never were. But seeing him in such close proximity to some girl who's name he probably didn’t even know practically made steam come out of your ears. You disregarded your fellow teammates saying hello to you as you entered the party and the compliments thrown your way as you made your way towards Pietro, ready to give him a piece of your mind.

But you were too late, no more than 10 feet away from Pietro the nasty blonde he was with pulled him in for a sloppy kiss. You watched in horror and pain as you felt your heart break into a million and one pieces. You rushed off to your room before any tears could spill from your eyes, staying there for the rest of the night as the party raged on, only imagining the worst in your head about Pietro and that bitch he was with.

What you didn’t see was Pietro promptly pushing the blonde away from him, and Wanda finding her brother soon after slapping him across the face.

“What the hell, Pietro?!” Wanda shouted at her brother, drawing attention from the others at the party.

“Suka! What was that for?!” He exclaimed, holding the left side of his face in pain.

“That was for kissing that girl when you know Y/n’s been pinning after you for months!” She yelled, not caring about the excess attention from the others.

“She doesn’t feel that way about me. We've been over this a thousand times Wanda!” He fired back, anger and hurt lacing his voice.

“Yes she does! Did you forget I can read minds?” She said rolling her eyes, a little red glowing in them. Pietro got quiet and turned away from his sister.

“You better go and apologize to her and tell her how you really feel before she changes her mind after what she just saw!” Wanda pointed out, causing her brother to rush off, leaving streaks of blue in his place.

You sat with your back pressed to your door as you sobbed quietly, jumping when you heard a knock behind you.

“Y/n?” You heard Pietro call out. You sighed and rolled your eyes.

“I don’t have any condoms Pietro, go ask Sam.” You said bitterly.

Standing on the other side of the door your words were like knives in Pietro’s chest; he wanted to respond and tell you how he really felt, but after your harsh comment he turned away and went back to his room. Wanda visited him when the party was over and he gave her the same bitter attitude you had given him hours ago.

“I don’t know what part of her head you looked into but she definitely doesn’t feel the same way, so thanks a lot.” Pietro said harshly, making Wanda leave without another word.

Things were a lot different in the compound after that night. You and Pietro were no longer lovey-dovey, now holding nothing but contempt towards one another. It changed the whole dynamic of the team, none of them knowing how to act around you two now, or even what happened.

It had been about three weeks since you and Pietro last spoke to each other, and here you were at 3am sitting on the couch crying while you ate ice straight out of the carton. You sat silently as the tears streamed down your face, jumping when you felt a hand on your shoulder. Turning around you saw a very tired looking Wanda.

“I’m sorry, did I wake you?” You asked quietly.

“No, but your thoughts did. I never knew someone’s thoughts could be so loud when they’re heartbroken.” Wanda said, sitting down next to you.

“Pfshh, I’m not heartbroken! What in God's name are you talking about?” You said casually, pushing your emotions back down as you set the container of ice cream down on the table in front of you.

“You know, he’s torn up too.” Wanda said, turning to face you.

“And you expect me to believe that why?” You asked, neither of you noticing the new presence that stood in the kitchen.

“Did both of you magically forget I can read minds?” She asked with a laugh, making you feel small.

“Okay well even if he did have feelings for me at one point there’s no way he still feels that way. If he did he wouldn’t have let that girl kiss him at the party,” you said bitterly.

“You have no idea how much he regrets that, and for the record that blonde kissed him. He pushed her off after you ran away.” Wanda explained, putting more hope than you’d cared to admit in your heart.

“He’ll come crawling back to you soon enough, I promise.” she said with a small laugh, patting your back as she got up and left you alone on the couch. Wondering if your feelings for Pietro flowed both ways.

A little more than a week had passed since that night as you were constantly tormented by the question, “Do I wanna know?” because if Pietro did feel the same way towards you at one point, how would the recent events change how he feels for you now?

However now was not the time to dwell on the question racking your head; now you were on a mission with the rest of the team getting some much needed intel from what you thought was an abandoned HYDRA base. But when gunfire erupted you immediately took cover and soon followed Steve’s orders to fall back and head to the quinjet. Running back you tripped and fell face first into the dirt. Getting up you winced as you looked around and saw the last person you’d want hurt.

“Pietro’s shot!” You scream into your comms as you crawled next to him as he laid up against a tree, falling in and out of consciousness. You started to cry worrying your powers wouldn’t be enough as you placed your hands over his wounds, mustering all of the power you could. You thought all hope was lost until you heard a loud gasp as Pietro grabbed onto you and held you close to his chest.

“It’s okay Pietro, I’m here, you’re alright,” you whispered as you started to feel very tired. He ran his fingers through your hair as he stared down at you, in awe of your abilities. You looked back at him with tired eyes.

“I’ll always come crawling back to you,” you said as sleep took over your body. Pietro took it upon himself to speed your sleeping figure back to the quinjet, setting you down as you snored softly. He admired you, but only for a minute as Wanda embraced him in a big hug from behind.

“You have got to stop making the sacrifice play, brother.” she said, more than relieved that he was okay.

“Now I just might. I wouldn’t want to put this beauty under so much stress again right?” He joked, motioning to your sleeping figure. Wanda smiled brightly at him.

“You better not mess this up again, otherwise I’m finding her a more suitable partner.” Wanda joked, punching her brother in the arm playfully.

“No one is more perfect for her than I.” Pietro said with a cocky tone. Wanda only sighed in response, not wanting to admit that he was right.

-

You woke up slowly in a dimly lit room; looking around you saw a familiar man with silver hair asleep in the corner of what you now recognized as the compound’s recovery room. You smiled contently as you used your telekinesis to bring the chair he slept in next to your bed. You reached out for his hand and gently ran your fingers over his knuckles, sighing tranquilly

Pietro slowly awoke as you just stared shamelessly at him.

“Dragosté!” Pietro exclaimed, now fully awake, jumping up and embracing you in a tight hug. He pulled away but kept his close distance, his hot breath fanning over your face as your eyes flickered from his eyes to his lips. A few more stolen moments passed by before Pietro closed the space in-between you two and pressed his soft lips to yours. Moving lazily against each other he slowly pulled away and rested his forehead on yours.

“I’m so sorry for everything, I should’ve seen it sooner.” he said sweetly, pressing another kiss to your cheek as you smiled.

“It’s okay, you’re here now and that’s all that matters.” you said, bringing your hand up to the side of his face, admiring his cobalt blue eyes. His eyes filled with the most love-struck look you’d ever seen as he pressed his lips back on yours, grinning from ear to ear.

You’d have some explaining to do to your other teammates in the morning when they’d inevitably find you both sleeping together in the cramped hospital bed though.

-

Hi all!! I hope this short imagine was fun for you all to read! Some of my more recent one-shots have been getting a lot of attention lately and it makes me so happy! I am over the moon that I’m not only writing again but gaining some traction. Thank you all so much! Don’t forget that my requests are open and feedback is encouraged! Also I just hit 100 followers and I know it’s not much but I’ll be starting a sleepover tomorrow!

Much Love,

-Skyler

[tornrose24]

Thoughts on Cinema Sins ‘Everything wrong with Phantom of the Opera’ video.

Well at least ONE of the movies I was hoping Cinema Sins would cover happened. Some sins were expected, but I wasn’t expecting that the CS guy apparently saw the musical and has some knowledge about the history of PotO in general.

-”Several people died.” No not really unless not everyone got out of the burning opera house.

-Knew he’d make a Minions joke the second ‘illumination’ was mentioned.

-Aww, no sins off for the use of the Overture music? And its from the 80’s so of course it would sound the way it does.

-Ok, I admit showing the seats losing their dust and becoming brand new again as a ‘what if’ for movie theaters when quarantine was over was amusing.

-There’s a difference between good opera singing and annoying opera singing, which is why the ladies didn’t care for Carlotta’s singing.

-I wonder what a Silence of the Lambs opera would be like, speaking of CS getting his Hannibals mixed up.

-Raoul and Christine are supposed to be around the same age, so the fact that Patrick Wilson was like 13 years older than Emmy does make the ‘childhood sweethearts’ thing strange.

-Oh great, now CS made 2004!Raoul and Christine’s age gap as problematic as with her and Erik’s by pointing that out.

-Minnie Driver is a great Carlotta AND was a memorable part of this film.

-Oh Christ, 200,000 francs equals almost a million bucks in today’s world? Isn’t that a little too much to demand, Erik?

-Yeah Emmy doesn’t exactly HAVE the right voice for Christine when you compare her to other stage Christines (but at least she doesn’t have a weird vibrato like a certain someone).

-Christine doesn’t strike me as a super social person, and her father was a supporter of her musical talents so it makes sense that she wouldn’t be amongst her new fans and pay a visit to the chapel.

-I wonder if Ramin (aka one of the best Phantoms) found out that he was compared to Harry Styles in this video.

-Christine was supposed to keep her lessons a secret, so it makes sense that she’d confide in Meg after that.

-CS points out the unfortunate implications of Christine being a child when she was approached by Erik in this adaptation and I’m pretty sure CS is going to utterly destroy Webber for this someday.

-Actually yeah-where the hell did everyone go when there was so many people outside Christine’s dressing room a few moments ago?

-I do appreciate CS calling out Giry for just letting the Phantom stalk Christine and not stopping it sooner. (And it does feel strange that she’d let the girl she considers a surrogate daughter go through this).

-”Psychedelically laced smoke.” Every fan thinks that too.

-Also, the mirror is a trick mirror. Kind of obvious later.

-Also he needed her to think he was a divine tutor and didn’t show up until Raoul came into the picture (and because he wanted to move on to actually facing her like a real person).

-Well the horse WAS in the book, but him being part of Christine’s ‘possible hallucination’ makes sense too. Also the idea of her ridding the Phantom is amusing.

-No that WASN’T the sewers they were going through–the opera house literally had an underground lake and there’s a history behind it since the opera house this story is based on is real. 

-Erik building the statues makes more sense to me since the guy is meant to be hyper talented.Also note that this is where you can especially tell CS had experience with die hard fans of the book since he refers to the Phantom by his actual name for this sin in addition to saying WHAT they told him specifically.

-Actually CS has a good point about how the final note of the title song is shown off. They should draw more attention to Christine singing that note since its not only a display of her talent but a show of just how much influence/power Erik has over that. Instead we don’t see Emmy singing (and as anyone will tell you, she sang it as an E flat and not an actual E note).

-Yeah that scarf mask is weird.

-The smoke eye has been a mystery for AGES CS and no one can answer why.

-Love the description of singing “Music of the night” as to treat it like going to a glorious destination.

-Thanks for reminding me why the casting choices and changed up backstory makes 2004!Erik worse than he needs to be (God... what the hell were you thinking ALW and JS?!)

-If CS is familiar with the musical, I wonder if he’s aware that 2004!Erik was many a teenage girls’ crush with that in mind.

-Ah the return of the original ‘creepy doll that looks like a character’ that I almost forgot about. Except CS makes it more creepier by pointing out something about it that makes 2004!Erik more creepier than he needs to.

-CS keeps referring to actors by whatever they were in/a character they also played. And I’m just reminded how strange it was to see Emmy in Shameless (and she’s not enough to make me want to watch that show).

-CS forgot that the managers were supposed to be ass-kissing when he wondered why they were in the dressing room.

-If I remember correctly, a company performs one opera production at night and then practices/rehearses for the next one during the day. The one they perform happens for a certain amount of time before its time to switch out. But yeah, the film makes it look like this is all happening in 24 hours which shouldn’t be possible.

-Nothing for that guy mooning Carlotta? Ok then, moving on I suppose.

-I’ve seen this movie hundreds of times and I NEVER saw the boat in the woman’s wig until it was pointed out.

-Was he not paying attention? Erik kills Bouquet because the guy was trying to go after him. The original reason why he died in the book was for the same reason.

-I’m glad that CS has sympathy for Christine for all she went though in a supposed 24 hours. I’d crack under all that too.

-Surprised he didn’t sin the snot shot on the roof. (You know what I’m talking about).

-Yeah, so much for a secret engagement if you got the ring exposed.

-Not sure why CS finds the gold guys funny other than they are ‘just there.’

-I would love to see the party-goers go after Erik since they DO outnumber him as an alternate scene during that moment after ‘Masquerade.’

-No ‘This is Sparta’ jokes? Ok then, moving on I suppose.

-Christine’s dad is implied to be famous in this movie (explaining the mausoleum, but in the book he was poor so he shouldn’t have one). But that does raise questions as to why Christine seemingly has little money to her name in this version.

-Dude, seeing the gave fight scene as Nite Owl vs. Leonidas was something I couldn’t unsee for more than 10 years. But I bet the Snyder fans loved that joke. (Speaking of CS and superhero films WHEN WILL YOU STOP TEASING ME WITH ‘ANIMATED SUPERHERO FILMS’ THAT ARE JUST ANIMATED DC FILMS AND SHOW ME THE ONE I ACTUALLY WANT TO SEE?!)

-I would love to see a Home Alone version of PotO since CS pointed it out.

-Actually I would love to see the au where CS is a critic in the PotO world and just not give a shit if Erik threatened him.

-Yeah, Raoul making Christine the bait and endangering her IS messed up. As much of a dolt he is, novel!Raoul would NEVER have done that to her.

-Erik’s hair looks nice because its a wig, CS.

-Oh boy, the reveal of the bad make up. No surprise it got a sin. I loved that CS showed Lon Chaney’s version (and hopefully will get people to watch the original silent PotO) and was more impressed by it over what this movie had. I also love how blunt CS is in summing up the deformity.

-There wasn’t a fire when the mob went after the Phantom in the musical. But as history can prove, some mobs care more about their goals than their own safety.

-I think they wanted to squeeze in one more trap before the final confrontation and Raoul WAS trapped in a room that became filled with water in the book and silent film. Though I’m amazed CS didn’t notice the reverse direction the bubbles were going during that scene.

-I don’t know how to answer why Christine was just standing around and doing jack shit to help Raoul during the final confrontation.

-A recreation of one of the most famous kiss scenes in musical history and CS just sums it up as ‘yeah your first kiss always sucks.’

-I love the contrast of Super Mario music with shots of PotO for the bonus round.

-Holy crap, that WAS a lot of candles.

-Some of the alternate audios for the last bit were unfamiliar but that Bug’s Life scene for when Christine is heading towards the mirror is perfection.

-And of COURSE CS would use that one Mission Impossible scene.

Final verdict: Predictable at times, but pretty amusing for a PotO fan like myself. I do hope the next movie musical CS covers is ‘Little Shop of Horrors.’

[argumentl]

The Freedom of Expression Ep 20 - 'Corona Cafe' facing internet slander.

K: This is Dir en grey's Kaoru, starting this week's installment of The Freedom of Expression. Joe san, Tasai san, welcome to this week's episode. Soo, hows it going? Well, I say that, but who ever is watching this will know that we are recording three at once.

J: Yeah, they will.

T: Oh, but aren't Hanshin doing great, Kaoru?!

K:......Oh! Yeh yeh yeh!

T: They won 10 times unopposed! (*sarcastic prediction*)

K: Yeah, yeah.

J: There's a possibility this will become fake news!

K, T: Hahahaha

J: If it does we're in trouble!

T: Can you believe they turned around a ten point difference?!

K: Ahh, thats just like them. It looks like there's a chance of this event happening.

J: The possibility is rising, right? (*This exchange is dripping with sarcasm*)

*On screen note - 'As of July 2nd, Hanshin have won 2 games, and lost 10'.*

K: Is it really? Will they really be ok?

T: Yeah, I wonder.

J: Well, its important to fantasize sometimes.

T: Yeah

J: 10 consecutive wins...

T: 10 consecutive wins.

J: Its like, 'Could it be?'..In a Tokyo Sports kind of way.

T: Yeah, like with a question mark, 'Could it be?!'.

K: Well, I think I'll be buying it every day. Tokyo Sports.

J: Oh, Tokyo Sports right? But doesn't Tokyo Sports support the Giants the most? In Tokyo area?

T: Well, we support the Giants and Hanshin.

J: Ah, the Giants and Hanshin?

T: Well, what with these ten consecutive wins, Kaoru will be pretty pleased with himself.

J: Yeh, he'll be beaming. And then an event for everyone.

K: Haha

T: Yep. And if we sang Rokkou oroshi (Hanshin Tigers theme song) at the end..

K: It would be great if we sing that, right?

J: Hahaha. We can do it!

T: We can!

J: Everyone, lets support Hanshin this year.

K: Ok, well..for the topic this week, Joe san, if you will..

J: Ah, may I? This is the news of 'Corona Cafe' suffering online abuse. This cafe, located in Nagano prefecture, Saku city, is lovingly nicknamed 'Corona san' by local residents. Since the increase of covid 19 infections in March, this cafe has been suffering from harassment, such as prank calls, and an increase in heartless comments posted online. Third generation owner Sudo Hitoshi san (age 42) said, 'Covid 19 has no relation at all to the name of this cafe. All we can do is endure it'.

Well, the name sounds similar, but also the beer, Corona, has been unable to sell. I wonder if they have stopped production, I'm not sure what they'll do. But in this case, there are comments online...why would you comment online??

T: Right.

J: What are these people thinking? This cafe obviously has nothing to do with covid 19. Moreover, the people writing this have certainly never been to this cafe, right?

K: Well, yeah. It seems like that.

J: Im certain of it. But still, this problem of so-called online slandering is..

T: Its getting big, right?

J: Yes, its getting big, unfortunately. There is now the idea of changing the law in regards to this..

K: Yeh, but I have a feeling its not gonna go away. In the end, you don't know...well, actually you do know, right?....but even if there were cases of people being caught, I have a feeling that wouldn't change anything, honesty.

T: Hm, yeah.

J: If you look..you see people slandering in all sorts of places, but the ones who are writing this are people who are either really  malicious, or people who just think its ok to repeat what the malicious people write, but who are not really that malicious themselves. Its very difficult. Real bad guys, who are intent on crushing, and people who are not intending that at all. But people are just typing away, it gains momentum, and some people are influenced by it. I mean, we mustn't forgive online slandering, but its very.....Well, like you said Kaoru, people aren't really thinking of any consequences when they write this stuff, so making up rules and expecting people to change is...

K: Yeh, in this sense too...like, there are people who are just writing their opinions, aren't there?

J: Yeh, yeh, yeh.....so its like, that could even end up having consequences in the future. Its a very complex thing.

K: Yeh, I feel like this is hard.

J: There is the idea of banning anonymity on SNS and only allowing real names, but its only due to anonymity that people suffering from bullying or discrimination are able to speak out, if they were forced to use their real name, they might be too afraid to say anything, and there is also the possibility of accusations..so, its like, where do you draw the line? What do you count as a slander? For example, if you see 'That guy is meddling' as slander, you won't be able to make a good judgement based just on the text.

T: Hm, yeh.

J: Its really difficult, isn't it. Especially on SNS, like Twitter, the number of characters is limited, so you never really know whats going on.

T: You can't convey all the details, or the right nuance.

J: Yeh. Nuance is also very difficult to get across. If there are people suffering from this kind of thing, despite doing nothing wrong, well, I'm not talking about Corona cafe here...there is a need to think about some countermeasures. But at the same time, SNS are super useful, really handy...its so hard.

T: Do you remember those morality lessons in elementary school?

K: Mm

T: Online behavior or rules could be provided in those lessons.

K: Yeh.

T: About not writing things that you would never say to soneone's face.

J: Well, its very difficult to define 'slander', but you could say its being critical of someone else, moreover to do them harm. So in that respect, by definition, saying something like 'Stop it' is not slander. I think how you say it will also play a big part, but yeh, we want to stop this thing of trying to hurt people who have done nothing wrong, not broken the law, not disturbed anyone. But the difficulty arises when considering whether to implement rules, because it would depend on each situation as to whether on not slander is being used, it would be difficult to judge. However, well, i may be talking too much, but if you look at Japanese lawmakers at the moment, they are doing a lot of things, right? Like, trying to change the prosecutor general to one of thier own guys and such. This isn't classed as illegal to do, so thats why they do it. If the state is doing this type of thing, it creates an atmosphere on the whole that its ok to do something, as long as its not technically illegal.

T: Thats right.

J: Its like you said, Tasai, its not exactly morality lessons, but if you think about it rationally, even though its not written in law, if you think about the spirit in which the law exists, to allow people to live, you will realize this isn't something we should do. There are things that are not written in law that we really need to be applying the same level of scrutiny to. If people don't do that, simply because its not actually written in law, we will become unable to properly develop future laws .

T: Yeah

J: I feel like it just becomes a vicious circle.

T: If people can get away with it, they will do it, right?

Kami: Um, I want people to quit bragging about themselves.

K: In that case, what would they write about? Hahaha.

Kami: Its really hard to listen to it.

J: Ahh

T: Hm, yeah.

J: There must be people bragging around Kami? *laughs*

T: Right?

Kami: Its really tough. Like if they do it without realising, it damages the people around them. I want it to be made illegal. A ban on bragging.

J: A ban on bragging?!

K: Hahaha

T: Thats interesting.

J: Thats a new kind of rule..

Kami: I really want people to stop it.

K: *laughing* Well, you don't have to look at it.

Kami: But it inflicts damage, right? Bragging about delicious french food, or wine..its like, we can't have that. Even small stuff like that, don't you think, 'what is this guy doing??'

T: Hahaha

K: He's quite wound up about this, isn't he? Haha

J: He really is. I mean, conversely you could say that if they are doing nothing but brag to that extent, you should feel sorry for them?

T: Do you wanna get rid of Instagram from the world?

Kami: Yes, yes. I really do. If you brag, I mean...really, its really..

J: Hahaha.

K: He's saying really, really.

J: Ah, Kami, you are really taking off.

T: Havn't you ever bragged about anything in your whole life, Kami?

Kami: Not much, no. I havn't got anything to brag about.

J: But I don't want a god to say they don't have a lot to brag about! What kind of god is it who doesn't have anything to brag about? Thats the first question.

T: But bragging could also be less like some low-life saying 'I've got a million yen', but more something like, 'I love basketball and I shook Michael Jordan's hand', or that type of thing. Isn't that a bit different?

K: Ahh, if someone said they'd shaken hands with Michael Jordan, you'd think 'Wow, thats amazing!'

J: Yeah, right?

Kami: Yeah, you would.

K: He's saying 'yeah, you would'. Hahaha.

J: I bet you do brag then, Kami!

Kami: Low life bragging should be made illegal.

T: Ahh, low life bragging.

J: Defining low life is difficult!

T: Well, talking about money, and stuff?

J: Money is out...Money and food, right? Relying on the power of money is no good?

Kami: Yes, thats it.

T: So for example, if Kaoru bought a really famous, great guitar, how about that?

Kami: An expensive one?

K: Yes

T: Very expensive.

Kami: A really expensive one?

K: If I made a post bragging about it...

J: You'd make a post, yeah.

K: Im not sure if I've done that..

Kami: I would want to hear the sound of it.

J: *laughing*You'd want to hear the sound?!

Kami: If it had a good sound, I'd want you to let me hear it.

T: Ahh

Kami: I'd want to touch it.

K: Well, if its something that has more to it, it might be ok.

J: Oh right

Kami: Yeah

K: Like, if you just say 'I bought a nice car', it just ends there.

T: Ahh, but if you bought a guitar..

K: Like, if you say what does it sound like, will he let us hear it...there is more of a future to it.

Kami: Yes, yes, yes. If it made a good sound, that would be ok.

K: But the same goes for that french food. If you thought it looked nice, you might think about going to that restaurant yourself, so there is a future to that.

J: How about that?

Kami: No, it depends how its written.

J: How its written? *laughs*

K: Ah, he's back to feeling like that again.

J: He's lost that vigour he had at the end.

K: Hahaha. You know, people who are suffering from this ought to talk to Kami.

J: One time, right?

K: He would get straight to it.

T: He would.

J: Kami, don't you have an info@ address or something? For people to send in stuff.

Kami: No, I don't have anything like that.

T: I want to discuss everything with Kami.

K: I've a feeling he would be encouraged.

J: He'd get straight to the point, right? But if people are feeling gloomy, before they comment online, they could talk to Kami..

K: Should we make an appeal? People could share thier troubles or..

J: Discuss thier worries?

K: Yeh, and then get a straight answer from Kami.

J: A word from a god.

K: Shall we appeal for questions?

J: Yeh.

T: Ah, its a good idea.

J: We've come up with a new plan.

K: And, so people could send questions to my twitter...Oh, did we have any local chinese restaurants contacting us yet?...We didn't?

T: I wanna go to a chinese restaurant, soon.

J: Yeah, so do I. I wann go to Hosojimaya too.  We might get questions for Kami though, people sharing thier worries. And one answer from him.

T: What do you think of this plan, Kami?

K: Lets do it.

Kami: Well, i might end up being to well behaved.

J: Oh really *laughs*

Kami: I'll *laughs*...I'll end up making myself seem like a good person. Like I might just stop being able to talk.

J: I'm getting this really strong image that you are smiling while saying that.

K: Hahaha.

J: Kami, you are nasty.

Kami: Quite..

T: Well, lets keep this tone for it.

J: Yeah. We could also do a live  broadcast once. A live chat with Kami..

K, T: Ahh.

T: Yeah, with a live feeling.

K: He kinda got carried away on the last live broadcast, didn't he?

J: Definitely, haha. This time he'd have a specific role, discussing worries.

T: That sounds good.

J: Like ten quickfire questions.

T: Yeah.

J: And he would answer in quick succession.

T: Ahh, thats a good idea. Like, 'Next!'.

J: What do you think, Kami?

Kami: Oh, its not a big deal for me. Its no big deal for me so..

J: He said it twice, haha.

K: Hahaha. Well, its an interesting plan.

J: Well, you can be the judge Kaoru, of whether we'll do it or not.

J: Well, we'll appeal for questions. Ok, well let's finish here this time. Please subscribe. Thank you very much.

J, T, Kami: Thank you.

[terminally-karkalicious]

allow me to rant about the only thing that has been in my brain for the past two months and that is doll customizing babeyyyyy

i know there’s a 90% chance that you wont give a Shit about any of this but here we go anyways

SO first you gotta choose a doll. preferably one with a high range of motion to avoid creating new joints or having annoying limitations like not having elbow joints for some fucking reason. what the fuck mattel. give monster high dolls back their ball jointed shoulders and elbow joints. smh

the most common dolls ive seen used as bases are monster high and ever after high. most customs ive seen are highly stylized so the stylized face molds work well for those types of dolls but dolls like barbies are good for when you want a more realistic face-ups.

once you’ve got your base picked out you gotta wipe that bitch’s face off with like. acetone or nail polish remover or something strong like that. you can also use acetone to shrink doll heads which is cool as hell imo. n e way once the face is wiped you gotta chop off the hair and remove the hair plugs from the inside. ive seen this done several ways but the easiest and most common way ive seen is to dunk the head into boiling water for ~30 seconds until it gets squishy and malleable. once you’ve got the head back, you can use pliers (i think tweezers would work in a pinch) to pull out the hair plugs which are kinda icky because theyre covered in glue and other gross shit. ew

now you must decapitate the doll. dunk em back in the boiling water to soften them back up then just tug the head off. the neck pegs look funky and are usually a different color than the body so thats cool ig

once the head’s off, you can start the face-up which is basically just giving the doll a new face using stuff like watercolor pencils, acrylic paint, gouache, and a whole lot of other stuff. hell ive seen people use person makeup on these dolls.

next,,,,, hair. there’s about twenty million ways to do hair from gluing yarn wefts to sewing to rerooting with purchased nylon doll hair or yarn wefts but i’m gonna talk about the most common one ive seen which is rerooting and gluing.

before you can reroot, you need doll hair. which, as i mentioned, can be bought at stores like the doll planet or made at home with yarn in literally any color. have fun with it! make rainbow hair or something idk

to make homemade wefts, you take some acrylic yarn, cut it twice as long as you want the hair to be (keep in mind you can cut and style the hair once it’s been rerooted), fold them in half, and tie it to something sturdy like a wire coat hanger for the next step.

once you’ve got your yarn tied to your hanger, use a pet brush and brush the yarn until it’s wispy and looks like hair. then take a straightening iron and iron the weft flat. then remove from the hanger and boom. hair wefts. ta-da

to reroot the wefts onto the head, use a rerooting tool (which can be as simple as a needle with the eye cut at angle) (just google it please i’m shit at descriptions)) to poke small sections of the hair into the head. you can use the pre-existing rooting holes for your own reroot as they’re usually pretty reliable. to reroot, take a small length of you doll hair (about 10-15 strands), loop it in half, and put the middle of the loop into the reroot tool. poke the end of the tool with the hair on it into the pre-existing hole and remove the tool. the hair *should* stay in and fill up that plug!! also remember to plug thickly at the hairline and part of the hair where it's most noticeable. it doesnt matter as much in the center of the head as that’s not usually visible on the doll. once you’ve rerooted, squeeze in strong glue through the neck hole and squish around the head to make sure it covers all the plugs and secures them in place. then pour hot water onto the head to make the hair lay flat for styling later.

also, you can reroot yarn directly into the head to make thicker, more textured hairstyles. and since the yarn is thicker, you dont need to glue the inside of the head for the hair to stay in place!!

if youre not doing body modifications (which are also cool as hell) then it’s time for clothes but clothes are boring and i like body mods more so i’m gonna rant about them instead

the material ive seen most doll artists use is apoxie sculpt, which is like play doh on steroids. it comes in two parts which you gotta mix together for some reason. why dont they sell it pre-mixed. what was the reason. also once it’s dry it’s super super strong and you can sand it, drill into it, paint it, and all kinds of stuff. very nice and i want some for myself.

you can use hand saws and drills and shit to whack off doll limbs to make stuff like digitigrade legs or new joints. also dont be afraid to use other mismatching doll parts when customizing like heads and bodies and forearms and hands and shit. it literally does not matter if youre gonna recolor the doll anyways so have fun with it. make frankenstein’s doll if youre feeling spicy

accessories my beloved. stuff like tiny beads and clay baubles and shit will literally transform the entire doll plus they’re adorable and multi-purpose

i suppose i must talk about clothes now. ah well. you can find great clothing patterns if youre new to customizing on other customizer’s etsy shops and probably google although those will probably be lower quality than paid pattern pieces. and keep in mind that if it exists as clothing irl, you can likely make it doll-sized. there are literally no limits to your clothing options as long as you can execute your idea.

the once all your components have been made, you can assemble the doll again!! and finally see what all the parts look like together!! very cool 10/10 stars.

ight that wraps up my doll rant. i could really go into more detail on certain parts but thats a whole other rant for a whole other day smh. sorry for fucking flooding your inbox ender ahaha……………. you asked for this

little did you know that dolls have been one of my favorite things since like ever. if i can read a 25 chapter long fanfic i can read this B)

mattel definitely fucked up by completely ruining MH doll designs and just stopping EAH, alot of their profits most likely came from people who collect and customize dolls and by changing MH doll designs/Stopping EAH dolls they 1. most likely lost a small (or big if we're not jus talking people who customize dolls) part of their profit and 2. made it harder for doll customizers to make dolls/get commissions out rather quickly because they probably have to waste more time making joints or learning how to make joints.

EAH/MH dolls (specifically MH dolls) had AMAZING MODELS because there was so much variety with height, face shapes, etc (my favorite molds had to be the short/tall dolls and the cat molds because of the tails) and doll customizers really went all out with enhancing a molds unique features. The only "downside" abt MH dolls is that they (or atleast most)(from what i remember)) had slimmer faces but wider eyes while EAH dolls have wider faces with slimmer smaller which left a canvas for the face and not the eyes (and vice versa for MH dolls)

I've never seen any videos where a barbie is customized (maybe because i absolutely despised barbies at the time) so I'll definitely have to check those out but they seem to be good for realistic makeovers. I've seen like like semi realistic makeovers for EAH/MH dolls that were pretty good too tho (pretty sure mostly EAH dolls since yk MH dolls were used for creature makeovers while most EAH dolls weren't)

yeah i was always amazed by the head shrinking with acetone. honestly i still am?? idunno i have no idea how that chemical bullshit works. Ive seen a few of uh makeovers that just pain over the face (in multiple layers ofcourse) but that's usually when they're painting the entire body a different colour (again usually when they're turning a doll into a funky little baby man). I've also seen a few that just chop the hair off and take out the hair plugs yk without uuh like softening the head or just go straight for the hair plugs after taking off the head (i used to do that it was funny to me??). i always really liked when they used watercolour pencils or just colour pencils in general to draw/sketch on the face cause like wow ur drawing on ur doll without ruining it?? kinda epic maybe even poggers and pogchamp?? oh god my brain is failing wjshsmsj.

Watching them putting the hair back on the doll was, other than the face stuff, was the BEST part for me. Favorite type of hair was iuuuuuh was either thick yarn or brushed out yarn. Literally worship the people that would reroot the hair, theyre the most patience people on this earth!! it's literally insane but i guess that's what happens when you've been doing that for years? you guess kinda get used to it. when they put glue into the head does it just become stiff?? like it's just a clump of dried glue or does it like..hollow out again??

dude you literally cannot convince me most of the supplies used for doll makeovers. APOXIE CLAY LOOKS SO FECKING GOOD. its edible and i will die on that hill. The body mods are literally so amazing!!!!! it's so impressive how theyre able to imagine certain features THEN LIKE ACTUALLY MAKE IT LOOK ACCURATE TO WHAT THEY WANTED TO LOOK LIKE AFTER LIKE ON TRY (or many yk trial and error is very necessary for..everything). Absolutely loved when doll customizers would saw off a dolls legs and use different ones or just completely get rid of the torso to use a different one. it's like uuh that one big guy that's mismatched and sewn together. very cool. The accessories are so fun!! just small little details you seen really need but can add because it's your feckin doll!! I used to be absolutely obsessed over the doll clothes i would find on etsy, so much so that i started sewing shitty shirts and dresses for my uh "customized" dolls (they were absolute HORRORS idk WHY my mom let me feck up my dolls like that).

Thank you for this!! i haven't been able to talk about any of my interests for a while and this just really made me happy!!

Question fer u my fellow MH/EAH enthusiast: what was your favorite MH/EAH movie/episode and doll series. Mine was The fusion dolls (MH obvi) and that MH movie "Haunted" cause we got to know more about Spectra :D

[mildredisabella]

Assignment 3: Information Design

In this last assignment, I was tasked with creating an infographic based on a certain set of data. If I am being honest, I chose to do an infographic on Netflix because it was a mature company and because I was watching Stranger Things prior to this assignment which really gave me the inspiration.  Conceptualisation

Before planning out what I wanted to include in my infographic, I went to Pinterest to do some quick searches for design inspiration and what I could potentially include in this infographic. Something that caught my eye was this infographic that I found had a mixture of words and pictures with Netflix’s signature colour, emblem and stats which gave me things to work with and potentially expand on that (Fig.1):

Fig.1: Netflix old stats: http://www.tommiemedia.com/diversions/netflix-by-the-numbers/

As the stats were a little outdated, I decided to make something similar and update it with the current stats. 

Sketch 

After getting the rough information down, I made a quick sketch on what I wanted to include in the infographic as shown below (Fig.2)  

Fig.2: Sketch of Netflix Infographic 

Firstly, I knew that I wanted to arrange my infographic in a top down, left to right manner which is why I had the big label of Netflix heading the infographic to give audiences an idea of what they’re looking at. 

Next, I knew that I wanted to incorporate the Netflix logo and give some background information on the company. To show this list, I mainly did it in a diagram form so it is easier to absorb. To the right of it, I wanted to present the stats of the number of people (in millions) who are making use of the service in the different regions. To best represent this information, I decided to do it in a bar chart form. 

Finally, from the 2/3 of the page down, I wanted to include some statistics on Netflix’s revenue, most streamed acquired series, most viewed original film, Popular Netflix Original series Viewership, most viewed Netflix movies in the US in 2020 and it’s competitors. These stats as a whole aim to tell the readers how well the company is doing financially, how they are doing against their competitors and what kind of content do people want to watch as well as how much they are averaging for the most popular original content that they have put out. This is so as to continue knowing their audiences and making content for them to enjoy which ultimately results in revenue for the company as well.  Inspiration and Tracing 

In my infographic, I was initially thinking about what I can use to symbolise the different aspects that I wanted and therefore, I decided to use a dollar sign for revenue, clapperboards for films, TV sets for television shows and for the competitors I decided to use versus (V/S) in the same colour as Netflix’s branding colours. After having the rough idea of what I wanted to portray in my infographic, I decided to use the trusty search engine google to look for images that I could trace and edit. Below are some of the inspiration pictures and samples that I have from google (Fig.3). 

Fig.3: Images from Google 

After acquiring these images, I traced them out on Adobe Illustrator and these are some of the drawings that I obtained (Fig.4).  

Fig.4: Final traced images exported in PNG from AI 

From Tracing to Colouring

After getting the drawings out, I wanted to colour them in to make it look more realistic and stand out from the background. 

Fig.5: TV in AI 

After tracing the TV using the pen and curvature tools, I selected the layer I wanted to colour in by tampering around with the fill and stroke icons. Afterwards I just repeated that for all the different layers and before I knew it, I had a TV straight out WandaVision in the first 2 episodes (Disney did it better though but I’m pretty content with the fact that I could actually draw). This similar process was repeated for all the visual elements that I had (Fig.6,7,8 and 9). 

Fig.6: Dollar sign to symbolise revenue on AI. 

For this sign, the original image was in greyscale and as I wanted my image to represent wealth. Hence, I went with the colour green as it is universally associated with money and coupled with the dollar sign, it instantly signals to the viewers that I will be dealing with numbers in the section below as well. 

Fig.7 Clapperboard on AI 

For this clapperboard, I purposely chose to leave the space there blank as I knew I was going to be dealing with 2 movie titles, The Secret Life of Pets and Extraction and therefore, I wanted to keep the space there so I can use typography (for the movie titles) to fill in the blanks. This was the same for the TV graphic that I had drawn as I was going to fill it in with the popular TV shows when I have laid it all out in the graphic. 

Fig.8: Netflix logo on AI

Fig.9: Netflix full logo on AI 

In the colouring for the Netflix logos, I decided to use the eyedropper tool to select the shade of red on the original Netflix logo as shown in Fig.3 and that was the colour I used to fill in the letters to complete the drawing. 

From AI to InDesign

After getting all the visual elements that I needed for the infographic, I decided to open up InDesign to lay them out better for me to see and this was the final product that I came up with (Fig.10) 

 Fig.10: Infographic layout on InDesign 

Fig.11: Infographic in PNG form. 

In this layout, I have used a white background but adjusted the shade I have made some changes to the placement of the graphics (i.e. Competitors and Popular Netflix Original Series Viewership) and text as I lacked space if I stuck to my original plan and I felt that this layout worked the best. I kept the header the same and added a white rectangle with black text titled the Key Stats at the side and angled it up. The purpose for doing that was to allow the readers to know what they can expect from the infographic. I used a san-serif font (Helvetica Neue) and (condensed) bolded the letters in 24pt. This was to allow the readers to easily read the header and move on as I don’t want them to dwell too long on it. On the top left, I made use of the Netflix logo that I traced previously and added a white background and using the same san-serif font (Helvetica Neue) in 12pt so that I have more space at the bottom in the later sections. On the top right, I created a bar chart using the lines and shapes function on InDesign and purposefully chose the colour red and white to show a clearer distinction between the graphics. As red is the main colour of the Netflix logo and a colour that demands for attention, I decided to incorporate it into the graph so that viewers would give it equal attention like they do for the traced Netflix logo.

In the bottom 2/3 of the graphic, a 16pt serif (Garamond) font was used for the headers and for the other information (body text), I kept the san-serif Helvetica Neue text in 11pt. This is mainly because I wanted the body text to be easily read and it has thicker strokes which is easier on the eyes. The second reason was so as to save space as I had a lot of information to try to fit in as well as wanting to give the text more “breathing space”. I chose to use a white (#FFFFF) rectangle border around my texts so that they would stand out from the shaded white background. I kept the text in black because I thought it was elegant and classy as well as overall easy to read. Even though centre-aligned, as taught in the lecture, was a weak way to get readers to read the text, I still went ahead to centralise my header texts in the boxes as well as the columns of content in the centre using the align tool in InDesign as the left-aligned text made it look aesthetically unpleasing. When I had a solo text in the last line, I was also careful to not leave it hanging at the bottom as it was not supposed to be orphaned according to a rule in design. 

Moreover, I also made the careful decision to put the icons in the middle of the texts (i.e. header, icon, description) so as to break them up so it didn’t look too chunky so that it was easier for the reader to absorb. For the V/S icon, I did it a little differently compared to the rest of the icons as the rest were traced on AI but this was solely using the Garamond font in Semibold Italic at 57pt. Initially the kerning looked a little too close to one another and a little uneven. Hence, I made the decision to give the V and S more breathing space by going to the VA settings on the right and adjusted that to 50. 

Furthermore, to represent the part on Netflix users VS other streaming services (global), I decided to represent that in a table form as it was easier to understand and people could instantly see the figures which is the important part of that section.

Lastly, in the bottom left part of the infographic, I included the link to my sources in San Serif Helvetica Neue 4pt as it was not as much of importance but it was more for the reason that I did not want to be thrown out for plagiarism. 

Challenges

Throughout this entire infographic process from conceptualisation to design to the final product, I realised my biggest mistake was not organising my layers as I was dealign with so many especially when it came to text because everything will go out of alignment if I accidentally selected something else by mistake which I will take on board with me for my future design assignment. 

Apart from that, I also realised that the part addressing the key people in the company actually needed a lot of space which might have played in to the factor where I had limited space for the bottom 2/3 of the infographic and it may not be as neatly aligned. Therefore, I had to go through several adjustments and scaling options by expanding the width of the white text box and make the text fit before finally settling on the best option. 

Critique 

During the critique session, I received really helpful feedback such as: 

Bolding the stats (i.e. 74 million) so that it stands out more from the background because these are important figures.

Improving on my visual hierarchy as the white background that helps the text stand out was pretty unevenly drawn. (alignment issue) 

 By putting all my texts in white boxes, it gives all the information that I have provided similar intensity and symbolises the fact that they have similar importance. 

Post-Critique 

Fig.12: Updated Infographic in InDesign 

Fig.13: Infographic in PNG format. 

To rectify the issues that were being brought up during the critique, I decided to bold the numbers at the side of my graph so that it stands out as I wanted to highlight the important statistics. 

With regards to the alignment issues, I have tried to align or draw my white text box so that they will be the same width. This also includes the table as I have attempted to do the same by scaling it up so that it aligns with the width of the white text box. Afterwards, I centre-aligned it again so that it flows better. 

Moreover, to address the critique on my information having a similar intensity, I decided to go ahead and play around with the colour by changing it to the Netflix red, E3051A. I have also increased the font size to 13pt and bolded the stats. Hence, all these elements work together to aid the important statistic stand out in the body text. 

Other amendments 

I realised that for the bar chart I was missing an axis titled region so I decided to add that in and shifted the graph down. At the same time, I decided to change the rectangle graph color from white to black as white was already used a header background option and i didn’t want to confuse the audience even more which was why I made the switch. 

[theunderdogwrites]

If you have a problem with Cookie Monster, then I have a problem with you.

Someone recently asked me how I come up with things to write about and post. Well, these posts are bona fide dumps of random thoughts that sneak in when I’m not engaging any part of my brain. I love them because they’re unpolished and exactly how my mind endlessly prattles on in conversation with itself. Truth be told, it’s usually in the shower. And the dumping of these words here is comparable to spring cleaning. It helps to declutter the mind too from time to time.

Last week my Mom and I were talking about the recent decision by Dr. Seuss Enterprises to stop publishing six of their books because of racist and insensitive imagery. For all the people screaming out there – THE COMPANY MADE THIS CHOICE. They were not forced by cancel culture, but rather listened and took feedback from audiences including teachers, academics and specialists in the field as part of a review process. This is called being responsible and allowing for growth through intelligent conversations. The company recognizes that certain depictions of Asians and Black people are hurtful and wrong and have taken steps to acknowledge these facts. They are NOT banning these books and have said they’re committed to listening and learning going forward.

Here is the list of the six book titles and the year they were first published:

- And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street (1937)

- McElligot’s Pool (1947)​

- If I Ran the Zoo (1950)

- Scrambled Eggs Super! (1953)

- On Beyond Zebra (1955)

- The Cat’s Quizzer (1976)

Have you ever stumbled upon a journal or something you wrote 10 years ago and it made you cringe? Anyone who says NO to this is probably in possession of some of the worst poetry by their hand, in the world. I know that if I was to release some of the stuff I wrote down from a number of years ago (and in reality, some stuff as recent as 3-4 years ago) I’d be embarrassed by their level of absolute lameness. I write with emotion and unless you’re Tucker Carlson or stunted inside from your head to your toes, you know what it means to evolve. It is what we’re supposed to do, otherwise we are simply stuck in one place forever and I for one can’t think of anything more grotesque than remaining the same.

“You are being presented with a choice: evolve or remain. If you choose to remain unchanged, you will be presented with the same challenges, the same routine, the same storms, the same situations, until you learn from them, until you love yourself enough to say “no more”, until you choose change.

If you choose to evolve, you will connect with the strength within you, you will explore what lies outside the comfort zone, you will awaken to love, you will become, you will be. You have everything you need.

Choose to evolve. Choose love.”

Creig Crippen

It is OK to make mistakes, especially when you don’t know any better. Applying how we have grown as a society to the way we behaved 80 years ago is absurd. We are allowed the opportunity to become better before an angry mob comes along and without discussion wants to rip our character to shreds. There are so many chances for real conversations to promote development that are not happening because people are being so quick to condemn and cancel. Fucking stop it! You’re not a crusader. You’re not the moral authority. You are not the Universe’s gift to man/womankind placed here to draw red circles and X’s on every little thing you deem ‘incorrect’. What you are, I suspect, is empty. And I do not know what it is you’re missing, but you won’t find it in a state of ‘over-wokeness’ and tumbling around looking to smite Cookie Monster for passionately enjoying baked goods.

There have been calls to tear down statues and eradicate movies and people for basically what is THE PAST. If you have an actual working time machine, I suppose you can go back to the set of ‘Dirty Harry’ because apparently:

“The film mocks liberal judges and do-gooders, and the villain claims police brutality, planting the seed that other such charges are fake moves to get sympathy.”

I can’t even with that one.

The removal of statues… ok, I understand this one. But I am not of the mind where these statues should be destroyed and essentially erased from history. I am fully onboard with placing the offending bronzed individuals into a museum with a plaque stating something along the lines of: ‘Once upon a time many of us had some crazy fear-based ideas and poor ethics that marginalized large groups of our fellow human beings and created negative stereotypes resulting in a great deal of hurt. We are trying to be better than those placed before you behind the velvet ropes.’

The past cannot be expunged. But it can be a teaching tool. And in some cases, the past can be used to say – “We still suck, but we’re at least trying to evolve into improved people!”

Sadly, instead, we’re taking down Pepé Le Pew. Let’s not believe women when they come forward with claims of sexual abuse, but let’s ban together and get this cartoon skunk with perceived rapist qualities, cancelled. Bravo. Has Pepé Le Pew been a naughty guy? Well, if you break down his actions through the lens of adults – he is incredibly aggressive and borders on being a pervert. I also suspect he’s a chronic masturbater. I grew up watching Looney Tunes (which should surprise NO ONE) and I never liked that skunk. But not because he was overly persistent in his search for love, rather because he was so obnoxious. Worst character on the show. If anything, the French should be offended because I grew up believing all French people were smelly, forceful jerks.

I am flabbergasted at what we are finding urgent and of significance these days. We allow ourselves to become distracted with the stupidest things; revealing exactly where our priorities are placed. Now do not come at me and accuse me of saying racism is not important. Sit your little crusading ass back down because that is not a thought I’d ever possess. This post is not about racism.

I do not give a flying fuck if you hate Megan Markle, love Megan Markle or think Oprah practices her reactionary facial expressions daily in the mirror, but the fact a pregnant woman went on TV in front of MILLIONS of people and admitted to being suicidal while pregnant with her first child and was met with indifference, ridicule and hate… is fucking disgusting.

The mental health status of a pregnant mother is less important than going after Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street because he is misrepresenting homelessness. Oscar is NOT homeless. He lives in a garbage can and if you knew anything, you’d know that garbage can is spacious and in terms of square footage, it is probably the most expensive home in the neighborhood. See? I can distract with silly things too.

I am going to end all this randomness with a warning…

Victor Frankenstein created his monster from old body parts and strange chemicals and it was brought to life by a mysterious spark. The monster is large and strong but with the intelligence of a newborn. Victor abandons the monster, leaving him confused and when he tries to integrate himself into society, he is shunned. Seeking revenge on his creator, he kills Victor’s younger brother. Then after Victor destroys his work on the female monster meant to ease the monster’s pain and solitude, the monster murders Victor’s best friend and then his new wife.

Ok, I think it is wonderful that our society is taking inventory of certain items and doing our best to right some wrongs… even though I believe many people are being persnickety assholes. But what has been created recently… let’s call it ‘cancel culture’, where “THEY” (please someone tell me who all the THEY people are because I’d like to know who is this organized) seemingly go in search of people, places and things to ostracise… is starting to create a monster of a backlash. (Again, this is not about race/racism so don’t start chirping about white privilege etc.)

If you listen carefully, you can hear the groaning. And the frustration. This isn’t about going after history or childhood memories and bleaching them clean of inappropriateness by today’s standards, it’s about trying to control what people are allowed to think, feel and speak. And the people are getting annoyed. Just like Frankenstein’s Monster when his grotesque appearance wasn’t accepted by society. And we all know what happened next.

[hellfirenacht]

The Convention Fic Chapter 1

YouTube Gamer Beetlejuice x Reader (gender neutral)

Summary: You were a mod for one of the biggest YouTube gamer, Beetlejuice. Now you're finally going to meet him in person.

Note: This fic takes place at Momo Con in Atlanta, Georgia because it’s my favorite con :)

Thursday (Night)

You didn't remember much between the plane landing and checking into the hotel other than the nervous and excited feelings in your gut. After dropping your bag next to the bed and plugging in your phone to charge you looked out the window, taking in the gorgeous view of the city as the sun set. From here you could see a rectangular park, along with a huge ferris wheel lighting up against the lavender sky.

You heard your phone ding, and you glanced over at it, seeing his name pop up. Your heart skipped a beat as you opened the message. "ARE U HERE YET?? COM FIND ME!!" he was always a bit sloppy with typing, even in private but something about the excitement and constant caps lock was endearing.

Still, the message made your heart pound in your chest. This would be your first time meeting him in person. He had practically begged you to come, claiming it was his first con and he needed his hype squad there.

You glances at the digital clock next to the bed. It was nearing 8 pm, and you knew that he was holding a small unofficial meet up in the park around 10. That at least gave you two hours to hype yourself up and get your badge and get ready.

"Just got in. Gonna take a shower and get my badge"

The reply was almost instant. "WAT ROOM? IM COMIN UP"

NOPE, you were NOT ready for this. You set the phone down, heart pounding. You were not ready to meet your celebrity crush/friend/boss (?) yet.

You took your time getting ready, wanting to make sure you looked perfect. It was warm out, so you pulled out the special t-shirt that you had bought from his merch store that just happened to make you look and feel kinda hot.

During all this, Beej kept spamming the mod group chat with pictures of everything he was seeing and people he was meeting. For a gremlin he sure did act like a puppy sometimes.

Finally happy with your appearance, you stepped out of your hotel, making sure you had your key card, wallet, and phone on you and made your way to registration. Being Thursday night there wasn't a lot people in line (especially since the YouTuber Concert had just started), but it didn't matter as you found your way to the Guest line, where Beej had promised a badge would be waiting for you.

He did not disappoint as you were handed a lanyard and a special badge that said "guest" on the bottom. It made you feel a little special that you were considered to be part of his group, officially.

But that's part of the reason you were here. You were a Mod for his streams and Discord, yes but you also helped him with responding to e-mails and picking out sponsorships. The only thing Beetlejuice seemed to care about when it came to his channel was entertaining people. He said that if it wasn't for you, Adam, Lydia, and Barb, he wouldn't have been able to do this much.

And so here you were now, at a convention where you would be his "handler" of sorts. Keeping an eye on him, making sure he was on time, helping with videos, and making sure that he didn't push himself too hard this weekend.

Glancing at your phone with your goodies on hand you were surprised it wasn't even nine yet. You glanced a picture Beej had dropped in the group chat, a selfie with a random cosplayer.

"I'm on the con floor" you typed and then deleted, your nerves getting the best of you. Oh wow you were suddenly a shaking nervous wreck. You knew that he wanted to see you, and you wanted to see him but something was holding you back.

It was decided that you'd just wander around a bit and wait until the meet up. Besides, it was probably a better idea to get used to the layout of the convention center now. You tucked your phone away and started walking where most of the con goers were headed after receiving their badge.

The convention had three official floors of the hotel, the top floor (ground level) held registration, some panel rooms and the outside courtyard where a lot of people were blasting music and dancing. The second level (down the escalator), held more panel rooms and a small food court which was mostly a hand full of food stalls and tabled. The final floor (down yet another escalator) was a huge basement area, an open floor divided into three sections; the dealers room, the artist ally, and the arcade.

Since the dealers room and the artist ally were closed for the night, you took a quick sweep of the arcade. The con had imported so many different machines from Japan, from DDR to some weird VR games, all free to play. There were also small booths where you could rent board games and other table top games. You couldn't believe that this was going to be open the whole weekend without closing. You wondered if Beetlejuice would make a video about the arcade.

It was a little past 9:15 now, so you decided to head back up the escalators towards the court yard where you'd seen people a partying. Maybe you could turn the nervous energy into party energy.

It was a nice warm night, and people were gathered around a de-masked Deadpool who had set up a portable rolling stereo, playing songs off his phone. The courtyard was a large concrete area with a raised platform about knee-high that was covered with grass. There was plenty of room in the grass for groups to hang out, talk, or dance. The area around the concrete was also filled with people, but also with amazingly beautiful, elaborate, or simple chalk drawings based on anime, games, or memes.

You considered what you wanted to do for a moment before you heard it. That sound.. that beautiful sound that made your heart explode inside your chest, your head spin, and caused a small part of you to go absolutely feral.

Deadpool had just put on Caramelldansen; a siren call that no mortal weeb could resist.

The rest of the nerds around you felt the same reaction as everyone stated hopping up and down to the endlessly catchy bop. For a moment you forgot who you were and what you were doing, all that mattered was hopping up in the grass with all these strangers and dancing to this song.

Within those next 3 minutes, everything felt perfect. You danced with these people you didn't even know who were just happy to be there. Together with another stranger, you brought someone else onto the grass to dance. One person yelled that they liked your shirt, you told another that you adored their cosplay.

Three minutes was all it took to make you forget about being nervous and facing your fears. As the song ended and another started, you felt ready to finally go find him.

Just as you were pulling out your phone, another pic appeared in the group chat and your heart leaped in your chest. He was outside in a place that looked eerily like where you were standing.

You ran to the center of the yard, looking around like mad. It was dark out now, but there were some lights that flooded the courtyard. There! You spotted the familiar messy green hair and found yourself trembling again. This time though, from excitement. The energy and positivity you felt from dancing with everyone had given you the highest high, and biggest confidence boost you could have.

"Beetlejuice?" You called out once, the noise from the dancing and the distance between the two of you causing you not to be heard.

You started walking forward towards him, your feet faster than you anticipated, your face smiling hard.

"Beetlejuice!" You yelled out again, this time his head jerked slightly looking around but still not seeing you. You decided to give him just one more.

"BEETLEJUUUUUICE!" You yelled, running full tilt at him. He turned around, and his face going from confusion to pure joy within 2 seconds. He yelled your name and started running at you as well, his arms outstretched as if to catch you.

You nearly jumped into his arms and he picked you up, spinning you around. You both laughed when he set you down, and he looked at you with excited bright eyes and your heart caught in your throat.

"I almost thought you drowned!" He exclaimed looking you up and down. The way his green eyes scanned your body it was as if he was in awe of you being real. "Wait that's my shirt!!" He was practically bouncing with excitement.

"Y-yeah!" You stuttered, remembering that you needed to actually talk to him. You took him in- the hoodie and striped black and white shirt, the faded jeans, the slight dad bod, and the green ombre hair that seemed to almost glow under the streetlights.

"We gotta take a picture for the group chat!" He pulled you close to his side, his arm around your shoulder as he angled his phone at your faces. You barely had time to smile as he took the picture. It was slightly blurry and grainy from the crappy lighting but you both looked genuinely happy. You made a note to download it later.

Once it was in the chat with an "I FOUND THEM!!!!" attached, he launched into a million questions. He asked how your flight was, what you thought of the con so far, was your room okay?

The two of you played catch up for the next few minutes before he took your hand and started leading you away from the courtyard.

"Where are we going?" You asked, glad that it was dark enough that he couldn't see how red your cheeks were.

"It's almost 10!" He said. "Gotta be at the meet up." Oh right, of course.

He led you through the park, still holding your hand tightly as he brought you to a spot in the park that was covered in brick. You recognized it as one of those fountains that kids could play in where the water would shoot up, though the dry bricks hinted that it was off for the evening. From here you also had a view of the ferris wheel that looked so much bigger from the ground.

As you approached, a handful of people gasped and cheered as Beetlejuice drew close. He waved and greeted the dozen or so people who had been able to show up and meet him. Two of them even recognized you from Twitter and said hi.

The next few hours were filled with selfies, pictures, videos, autographs and games. It almost felt like being a kid again, being able to so easily make friends. You chatted with the group and Beej, so impressed at how he was able to so easily talk to everyone- not once letting anyone feel left out.

But he still stayed close to to you, using any excuse to throw his arm around you or grab your hand, each touch making your heart pound. If you didn't have a crush on him before, you sure did now!

After a few rounds of duck duck beetlegoose, red rover, and hide and seek (which BJ was impossibly good at for some reason), the group split up around midnight. Beetlejuice took your hand again and started leading you back to the convention center and hotel. Though you were starting to hit a wall, you weren't ready to say goodbye yet.

"So Babes, what are we gonna do for the rest of the night?" He asked, looking at you excitedly.

Your answer was cut off by a loud growl coming from your stomach. In all the excitement and nervousness of the day, you hadn't eaten more than some crackers and ginger ale from the plane.

"...Food." you said as he laughed.

"Food it is!" He said. "What do you want to eat?" You thought for a second and looked down the length of the park to the side opposite the convention center. There was the bright yellow sign of a 24/7 diner advertising waffles.

"That!" You said pointing at the building, suddenly taking charge and dragging him behind you.

"Alright, alright, Babes!" He laughed as he caught up with you. "You that hungry?"

"You have no idea." You replied as you started to get your appetite back. He followed you through the park and across the street to the small diner. The inside was a bit crowded but nothing unmanageable for the quickly moving waitstaff. At a glance you could tell that almost every person came from the convention center, either by the lanyards around their necks, the abundance of graphic t-shirts, or the half discarded cosplays while people ate.

You two were seated in the corner at a smaller booth, menus already on the table, but you already knew what you wanted. The green haired man in front of you looked over the menu, for a few moments until a waitress came by for your drink orders.

You ordered a water and some coffee, knowing that this might be the only time you'll be able to have some one-on-one time with Beej this weekend. You were sure that he'd be busy with meeting people and doing panels and autographs and you wanted to make the most of the night.

"I got something on my face, Babes?" Beetlejuice suddenly asked, smirking at you. You hadn't realized how intensity you had been staring at him.

"Ack, sorry." You shook your head slightly. "I'm just starting to hit a wall. It's been a long day."

He gave a small frown. "Do we need to get you back to your room after this?" He asked. There was something about the way he said it that sounded like he was both a little sad and worried. You just shook your head.

"I'll be okay once I have some food and coffee in me." You reassured. "I was kinda hoping that maybe we could check out the arcade together."

His eyes lit up at that. "Really? I was hoping the same thing! I wanna do a vlog of the con and spend time with you and we could give reviews on all the weird games and ask people why they're up so late!"

How was it possible for a grown man to be this cute? How was he making you feel like you were the only person on the planet?

He continued to tell you everything that's happened to him since he arrived at the con. The people he met, the costumes he saw- the way he talked it was almost like he never knew what it was like to be around so many people at once.

Your food arrived, and you were quick to start shoving waffles into your face as you listened to him talk with his mouth full.

"Geeze, you really were hungry huh?" He teased as you finished off your plate in record time. "I'm normally the fast eater."

You laughed sheepishly. "I hadn't eaten all day." You admitted. "I was, uh... too nervous and distracted."

He frowned and placed on of his waffles on your plate. "Breathers need to eat!" He insisted. "Don't do that! Also what were you even nervous for?"

Normally you would have said no to taking someone else's food, but that was a face you couldn't say no to. Plus you were still kind of hungry.

"I guess I was a little nervous about finally meeting you face to face." You admitted, drowning the waffle in syrup.

"You know that's fair. Most people I meet don't usually go out of their way to meet me." He let out a laugh. "At least they didn't before I started the whole playing games thing. Actually the last time someone went out of their way to call me I kinda kicked their parents out of the house, scared off a bunch of people and killed some cult leader named Kevin."

You snorted between bites. You wondered where he even came up with this stuff. He'd make a great writer, probably.

“Are you still nervous?” he asked, his voice lower and calmer than what you were used to with the man. You shook your head.

“No. I’m really happy right now.” you replied and you could see him visibly relax. It wasn’t often that he acted calm, especially when there were other people around.

The rest of the meal was eaten with quiet chit chat as he continued to ask you questions about yourself and you reigning him in to talk about the convention schedule and to finalize the plan.

"Okay, so looks like the panel you're running is Saturday around 3, and your autograph session in early Sunday." You said, scrolling through your phone, typing out the schedule. "That leaves all of Friday open-"

"Not quite." He said. "I uh, do have a plan for us on Friday night." For a second he seemed to hesitate. You looked up, a little surprised.

"...Us?" You asked. "As in, just us us, or us as in a group?"

"I have a surprise for you on Friday and I want it to be just us and I wanted it to be a surprise but I'm so bad at secrets and I want to tell you-" he started, but you cut him off, your cheeks turning slightly warm.

"I don't have any plans." You said. "I'd love to do whatever surprise you have planned. Maybe. Wait, is this gonna be another 'ball pit" incident?" You asked suspiciously.

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "No, not this time! This is a real surprise!"

"I'm sure that was a relationship surprise too, according to your room mates."

"This is different, cross my heart and hope to live!"

"I'm can't wait." You said, heart pounding in your chest. Though the two of you had been talking to each other for a few months now, you always assumed that you were just a Mod in his chat to him. The fact the he seemed to have gone out of his way to make plans for the two of you lit a small spark of hope in your heart.

The meal ended with you paying the tab and him picking up the tip.

"It's almost 1:30." You noted. "If you have plans for Friday night, then the best time to get footage of the arcade without fighting with the lines would probably be now or Saturday at 3 in the morning. "

"This is why I needed you here, Babes." He said, looking at you with pride. "You understand things I wouldn't even think of! Now let's go absolutely ape shit on these nerds." His smile as he said that last line looked feral and slightly dangerous. You would probably need a cold shower after you retired for the night.

And so Thursday night came to a close, with you walking into the start of Friday holding hands with a demon gamer. You noted to yourself that this was only the beginning, and you couldn't wait to see where the rest of the weekend went.

Next Chapter

[kanralovesu]

The Narrative Devices of “Minecraft Speedrunner VS 4 Hunters” (One of the greatest Shonen anime OVAs of all time?)

With over 17 million views and counting, this video of one man attempting to beat Minecraft while 4 other players chase him has become a huge success and its not hard to see why. The video is exciting and tense to a completely new viewer while still carrying with it the 32 million fans of the previous video in the series and the 29 million fans of the video before that. While those videos are also amazing, as a newcomer when I watched the vs4 addition I couldn’t help but dive deeper than I had any right to into WHY this video was not just exciting and tense but also a master of storytelling. So today lets run down a couple of extremely common narrative devices and structures that this video uses and possibly how Minecraft as a game contributes to this.

The High Concept

What if a bunch of teenagers were forced to fight each other by a tyrannical government? What if humans revived the dinosaurs but were unable to contain their power? What if 1 player is pitted against 4 others in a race to beat Minecraft?

High Concepts are quick, catchy premises that the story is centered around. They’re designed to get butts in seats by targeting people before the piece of media has actually begun. Once you’re watching, the High Concept needs to be played with an drawn to its natural conclusion in order to satisfy readers who were likely drawn in specifically because of that premise.

The Minecraft Hunters video does this multiple times when the person being hunted suddenly becomes the Hunter. While not inherit to the premise, this is a logical leap the audience can make that in order to be safe the hunted must get rid of the hunters.

The Hook

Its become part of the James Bond formula now to start every movie with a big, bombastic fight scene and that’s for good reason. Once someone has decided to view your media they’re still not necessarily invested yet. In an age of Netflix where you can flip to a new movie at the click of a button, a proper hook keeps the audience watching, provides a promise of things to come and leads into the first lull in action where more exposition can be given. 

In the Minecraft Hunters video we get a brief bit of exposition explaining the high concept and then its off to the races. One extremely fun thing the video does is bait you into thinking they’re going to stand around and explain things more when out of no where Dream punches and runs. The following chase is a classic James Bond opening scene. It also sets up mechanics that are used multiple times in the run such as towering. Like any good action scene it ends on a twist and then immediately the pace slows and we see Dream doing his first real resource gathering. The stage is set!

The Underdog Hero

A main character is an action movie or shonen anime narrative is often a paradox: they are an unkillable, hero, one man army and yet constantly the underdog. This is because the character cannot die (or the franchise is over), but at the same time a constant tension must be maintained that losing is possible. People also naturally want to root for underdogs its important to include this aspect of your character to make them relatable. The most common ways you can pull this off is to take a heroic person and either give them an impossible task or to pit them against multiple opponents or both (think a heist movie where there are several guards defending the vault). Naturally, the High Concept of this video leads itself to doing both of these things, turning Dream into the ultimate Underdog Hero. 

As a side note, the antagonists of the series, the Hunters, are character more similar to a shonen anime rival as opposed to a more western style of villain. Its all in good fun and you’re less rooting against them as you are rooting for Dream.

Chekhov's Gun

Named after the principle that if a gun is shown in a room someone is bound to grab it and use it, this refers to the general idea of setup and payoff. There are 2 major uses of Chekhov’s Gun in the video and they each have different delays between the setup and payoff.

The first is the Strider Saddle play and its perfect to illustrate the concept. First we see Dreams find his first Nether Fortress, killing a Wither Skeleton and opening a chest. We see him pick up the Saddle but we cut away and don’t belabor the point. This is because only 2 minutes later we see him use the Saddle to escape on a Strider.

The second is the Frost Walker boots. Dreams find a Nether Portal structure in the overworld and finds these in a chest at the 9 minute mark, well before the Strider play. At about the 10:30 mark we get this extremely exaggerated scene where Dream uses the Frost Walker boots in front of us and highlights the item. Then its not until 16 minutes later than he uses the boots to kill the hunters via fall damage.

So whats essentially going on here is different levels of setup based on how soon the payoff is coming. For a quick payoff we don’t need to draw attention to the setup because the audience will naturally have a short term memory of the recent events. However for the long term payoff we need to be primed to pay attention to a certain thing. When we see Dreams showing off the Frost Walker boots we internalize “this will be important later”. You’ll also notice that Minecraft’s game design helps prime you to remember these Chekhov’s Guns: both items being found in very noticeable and memorable structures not just dug up from a generic piece of dirt. (This also applies to the 3rd Chekhov’s Gun I didn’t touch on for time concerns, the TNT from the Pyramid) 

You’ll also notice that the video uses a Chekhov’s Gun in arguably the most effective way, as a twist. We need only think back to early Naruto to know how effective a twist Chekhov’s Gun can be in a shonen fight. You never forget the first time you saw Shikamaru win Chuuin exam fight by using the hole Naruto created during his duel. 

The Three Act Structure

I’m sure we all have heard of the 3 act structure before. While they go by many names lets go with Setup, Confrontation, Resolution for now. The key is having a cycle of tension and release while still slowly escalating tension over the course of the show. The video neatly divides into Overworld, Nether and End sections which translate very well into the 3 act structure. 

Tension is slowly escalating because each new dimensions has more and more hazards. This is of course Minecraft’s game design doing the heavy lifting, however the End in the hunter’s realm is a lot more dangerous considering its a closed off arena where Dreams can’t just escape, he has to fight.

There are also cycles of tension and release. Naturally tension builds up while a chase is happening and then we get some time to relax after Dreams escapes. However, what I want to focus on is how each increasing dimension gives an opportunity for the players to find each other again. Each step in the Nether counts for 8 in the Otherworld, so even if Dreams built a far away Nether portal on the surface he would still be closer to the hunters than ever before. This stage also requires finding a Nether Fortress so the players are forced to reconvene. In the End the forced grouping is more obvious as there is only one End platform so the action is forced upon the players.

This is mainly why I say the 3 act structure lines up with the Overworld, Nether and End dimensions so neatly. Its not just me observing that there are 3 dimensions in Minecraft but that each new dimension forces a new confrontation to happen even after Dreams has successful escaped and the tension is lessened. 

However, this observation does only go so far. I think the biggest flaw of the video is that End lasted too long. This makes sense when you lay the 3 act structure over top of it: you rarely want your conclusion to be drawn out. Usually the final confrontation is more elaborate than the previous ones, but not 2 times as long. 

Ambiguous Ending

So you’ve dragged your audience to hell and back and they loved every second of it, how do you ensure you piece of media becomes a discussion point after that’s all done? Well one way is to have an Ambiguous Ending. We see this a lot in fiction, but most famously at the end of Inception where we are unsure whether we are still in the dream world or not. This Minecraft Hunters video sparks similar online debate by posing the question “does it count if I killed the dragon posthumously?” Personally, these types of ending are my favorites! I think it takes a lot of balls for a piece of media to ask a question of the audience at the end instead of wrapping everything up neatly but of course not every story should have one. 

Conclusion 

All pieces of media are telling stories regardless of whether they’re Hollywood blockbusters, indie novels or Minecraft Lets Play videos. Sometimes even in unscripted content, a story can emerge especially if a content creator is looking to tell a good story. And lets not forget the role video editing has in putting together a story. Entire narrative devices such as Chekhov's Gun owe their entire existence to the editor. The decisions of what to linger on and for how long drove the pacing of the story from beginning to end. Finally, if you want to hear more on how editing can create a story from unscripted content, I highly recommend checking out the video below. Remember, stories are everywhere!

[lavendergrace13]

riptide - a TS8 album concept

So... I saw a lot of album concepts going around online and I got inspired to create my own. Here’s ‘’riptide’’, an album that is like Lover and reputation’s love child with RED lyrics and Speak Now vibes. It’s pop country with a lot of other influences.

The idea behind this album would obviously be the riptide and how it can confront you with good and bad stuff as well as wash away both the good and the bad. It’s a representation of how Taylor has grown and how much she has learned over the course of her life and her career, and there’s a lot of different styles on it. It’s very reflective, maybe a little darker, but with a lot of love and light as well. Promo for it would start in early summer, with a September release. - because in September everything is brand new and as a nod to ‘’you’ll have new Septembers.’’ She’d announce it with a special video of her standing at the beach, what we will later learn is the location for the album photoshoot, telling us that this is a continuation of Lover’s vulnerability and reputation’s power. The era will have a lot of photoshoots, interviews for magazines and a lot of performances and singles, and she will bring back the polaroids. However, tis will also be a closer look into what her life is like now and it will help us understand more of why she has gotten so private. It really is all about where Taylor has come from and where she is now.

1. golden linings

the lead single and basically a continuation of Daylight with the use of the word ‘’golden.’’ It’s about how she’s happy now, how she has found a way to grow and evolve from everything that happens and how she has found that this is the best way to defeat the negative. Key lyric is something along the lines of ‘’baby, why settle for a silver lining when you can make it golden’’ and there’s a spoken word piece in it about turning her lessons into legacy (because this album is the very definition of that). It’s uptempo and the music video offers Easter eggs that are clear references to her earlier eras, with a lot of colors, pretty dresses and her doing a really pretty dance in the daylight.

2. welcome to court

a killer track in the same style as Cruel Summer, I Did Something Bad etc. It’s a call-out to the music industry and how that is like a corut full of intrigues and dirty games. It’s the fourth single - the first post-release - and Taylor goes all out with it by shooting the music video at a lavish castle and wearing the most awesome dresses, and it has scenes of her swordfighting, horseriding, dancing at a masquerade and being a queen. There’s also a small storyline in the lyrics about how she found ‘’a prince nor a king’’ who helped her flee. There’s Love Story references and this is heavily promoted as a diss to Scooter/Scott. It also resembles Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince. 

3. riptide

the title track that is like a mix of This Love and Clean and uses metaphors of the riptide. The song wins two Grammys because of the gorgeous poetic lyrics and is completely self-written and played by her on acoustic guitar (first part) and piano (second part). It’s very personal as Taylor describes the things that have been her ebb and flow. It doesn’t have a music video, but Taylor promotes it in the same kind of way as she did with her journals, but this time by releasing a poetry collection to go along with the album called riptide, which also features drawings and bonus polaroids. 

4. heavenly

a mix between Holy Ground and Long Live and dedicated to her fans and how she feels when she’s performing, also dedicated to the newfound happiness she experienced during the reputation tour. 

5. caged butterfly

the ‘’track 5 syndrome’’ and the track we’ve all secretly been waiting for: it’s about how she sometimes felt held captive by her record label and about what Big Machine did to her, about how she was never artistically free, but also about the things about her career that damaged her, such as body image, the fact that she couldn’t go to college or have a normal life, the mockign and all that. It’s very emotional, like a continuation of The Archer as one of her most personal songs. It’s also the longest. 

6. heartstrings & headlines

a very sweet acoustic song and the second single. it’s intimate along the lines of Call It What You Want and Cornelia Street. It’s about her private relationship with Joe, and in the lyrics - it’s self-written - she uses a lot of picture details about what their life is like. It’s also about their decision to keep things private and have their own little bubble hidden away from the public eye. Key lyric: ‘’our heartstrings don’t make headlines, because they’re only yours and mine.’’ a fan favorite. the music video shows Taylor and an actor in a very cozy home, with cameos for the cats. 

7. catching fireflies (ft. Kelsea Ballerini)

a classic country song and the third and final single before the release. It’s super catchy and the music video has butterfly wings, glitter, birds, sidewalk chalk, pink champagne and all those things. It’s basically It’s Nice To Have A Friend meets 22 and is about how even when things are rough and dark, there’s always fireflies, AKA bright spots AKA good things. 

8. crumbled fairytale

a song that turns out to be entirely different than people initially think based on the track list: they suspect it’s sad and vulnerable, but it’s actually a feminist anthem about how girls aren’t princesses and they should shatter their glass ceilings and glass slippers and toss away their fairytales. It references the Women’s March and The Man and in the bridge she also talks about Time’s Up and #MeToo and her sexual assault trial and women in the music industry. It’s the fifth single and the music video has a variety of female-identifying fans in stunning power outfits breaking stereotypes: they each start in a princess dress and then tear it off with a sword to reveal butterfly wings. 

9. one million midnights

a self-written, vulnerable song about the darker times of her life. It references a lot of ‘’2am’’-parts from previous songs when she lay awake with a broken heart or a mind wandering about insecurities or scars from what people did to her, and it’s a lot like The Archer. a song she never performs live because it’s too painful for her to think back of those times. 

10. reins of fate

another song that is a deep cut and hits hard, about ow her image controlled what she did for a long time, like invisible reins in her spine from the life she chose, but not the choices se chose. It’s about how for a long time she wasn’t free to curse or drink or dress in a certain way and it’s also about her system of doing what people wanted from her or said she couldn’t do. the bridge is about cutting those reins and is very powerful. 

11. rewrite the stars

a continuation of track 10, but in a more empowering way with a very alluring beat and an encouragement to take control over your story, to adjust and rewrite the stars and determine your own direction. Kind of like New Romantics.

12. picture book (ft. Selena Gomez)

 the sixth single and the long awaited collab! It’s about nostalgia and growing up, referencing The Best Day and Never Grow Up, with a lot of memories and a really cute music video that resembles the Everything Has Changed one, but this time with two girls becoming best friends. There’s also some emotional parts about monsters under your bed that turn out to be nothing like the real life monsters, a nod to Out of the Woods and Soon You’ll Get Better. 

13. thirteen years

a hugely emotional, acoustic, very long, self-written song about the thirteen years of her career, the significance of the number 13 and the reflection on who she was and has become. the most anticipated track. she performs it with a 13 on her hand.

14. when push comes to shore

an acoustic ballad about letting go parts of yourself, parts of your life and realizing that you also sometimes need to let people go. it’s the continuation of riptide and it’s about how when push comes to shore, you will know who you really are and what you hold close to your heart and what you can let go of. the most underrated song off of the album. it’s the seventh and final single and the music video is very serene, switching between Taylor sitting at a campfire on the beach with her guitar singing the song and her standing in the riptide. 

15. slumber

a very sexy song much like Dress and False God, but on the next level, about temptation and experimenting and discovering your sex life and those slumbering moments right before or right after sex, moments when you can really feel close to someone and the whole world and everything fades.

16. olive branch (ft. Katy Perry)

the biggest surprise of the album: a song that is both upbeat and slow. it’s about forgiving people when the time is right and when you’re both better people, but also about how you sometimes don’t have to forgive, and also about how you should sometimes forgive yourself. Taylor’s quote ‘’you don’t have to forgive and you don’t have to forget, you can just move on’’ is a big part of the song’s philosophy. 

17. tightrope dancer

a slow, subtle, but powerful song about a relationship when you’re so trusting of each other that you know you’ll fall together, but that you’ll also be able to do the most complicated dances and catch each other. it’s about how you can sometimes tumble off the tightrope, but how that will be okay because the other person will catch you and you’ll climb back up together, through it all, and that the tightrope will never brack. it’s a lot like Delicate and people make expressive dance videos for it.

18. love letters only

a self-written, acoustic song that is basically a letter from Taylor to herself, about everything she has learned and how she has grown. it’s about the things she’d like to say to her past self and her future self and to her current self, and there’s a lot of gorgeous self-empowerment lyrics. it becomes an instagram trend to post love letters only to yourself.

In December, Taylor surprises us with a deluxe version of the album that features five bonus tracks, all acoustic collaborations. There’s no singles or music videos, but she does release an intimate video for each song of her and the other artist in the studio performing it, much like Ed Sheeran’s Abbey Road videos. She brings those other artists out on tour frequently.

1. night dreamer (ft. Ellie Goulding)

a song about sometimes wanting to escape, run away, and laying awake at night imagining that you’d leave and build another life for yourself somewhere else, to just drop off the face of the earth to start over.

2. kaleidoscope (ft. Ed Sheeran)

much like Everything Has Changed and a fan-favorite, it’s about how each person is a kaleidoscope of so many colors and shades and that it’s always hard to figure out what someone’s true colors are, referencing the backlash Ed got for not publicly supporting Taylor while they never got any less close.

3. you never had the right (ft. Halsey)

a smash song that is very powerful, addressing everything people think they’re entitled to when you’re famous. it strongly references Taylor’s sexual assault case and her stalkers and the ‘’I want the old Taylor back’’ people.

4. heartstrong (ft. Ariana Grande)

a power ballad about being confident and strong when people give you a hard time, about standing your ground and fighting back instead of shaking it off. very strong lyrics and a lot of power notes from Ariana.

5. karma (ft. Lorde)

a ‘’welcome to court/Cruel Summer’’-esque song about fighting fire with fire and being a snake or a dragon when you are wronged, but also abotu throwing off your armor because you know fate will pull at the strings to get them what they deserve. a song, in short, about knowing when to enter and exit the battlefield. 

So... what do you guys think? 

[keelymewett]

Zombie Movie: I Am Legend (2007)

“Here’s Karen at the health desk.”

Karen from the health desk. (Picture: A female news anchor, Karen from the health desk.)

Language warning (sorry kids, but this is an MA15+ movie). 

I shit you not, that’s one of the opening quotes of the movies. So, friends and enemies, welcome to the longest review I’ve done of a zombie movie yet. It’s 1:35am here in Australia and I’ve just finished rewatching I Am Legend, everything’s fresh in my mind and I’m hyped up on chocolate. 

This movie has incredible tension, a fresh take on the zombie apocalypse, and it’s based on the 1954 novel by Richard Matherson, which inspired the modern day vampire and zombie movies. Why you may ask? Because it popularised the concept of a worldwide apocalypse due to a disease... now I’m beginning to realise that watching zombie movies during a global pandemic maybe wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. Any who. 

YouTube rewind made me forget how bloody good of an actor Will Smith is, and boy does he deliver in this movie. Robert’s (that his character, btw, though I will probably end up just referring to the character as Will Smith) interactions with Sam the goodest girl in the world (she’s a dog) and the mannequins is incredible.

The goodest girl in the world. (Picture: A dog (I’m sorry - I don’t know dog breeds! I’m 99% sure she’s a German Shepard) being given a bath and head scratches by Will Smith.)

Now: three things to look forward to in this “review” (assuming you read the spoilery section below). One: how realistic is this apocalypse? Two: there’s a dog. Three: zombie vampires. Vampire zombies? 

Backgrounds details! (Picture: Will Smith opened the fridge. On the fridge door are photos of his wife and daughter, a calendar dated for December, a drawing with “Marley” written in kids handwriting, post-it notes, a pamphlet with the heading “Quarantine”, and a Time Magazine cover of Robert Neville (Will Smith). The title reads (heading) “Saviour?” (sub-heading) “Soldier, Scientist” (body of text) “In a Battle that Could Save Thousands of Lives, Lt. Col. Robert Neville Takes on the XV Virus.”

Also, there’s banging in my house at the moment and when I say I’m peaking. I’m going to need to listen to some music while I write this.

Read on for a fun time! Spoilers ahoy!

Realism (the really relevant part. Yikes)

Okay, so what’s this fresh take on the apocalypse? Basically, this doctor cures cancer and it all goes to shit from there. I’m not 100% on the logistical jump from “destroying cancer cells” to “humans (and animals) becoming bloodthirsty mutants that burn in the sun” - for instance, this is just my sci-fi high-school biology and physics brain working here, cancer is basically a rogue cell that mutates other cells and destroys them in the process, yeah? So if the doctor, like she said, uses these cancer cells to work for the body and in the process “cures” cancer, wouldn’t the humans just... infect each other and the virus would kill the host if it went south? Given, that did happen in like 90% of cases as Will Smith explains, but where does the sunlight allergy come in? Is cancer afraid of UV? Confused, but I digress. 

... Is that my queen, Missy, from Umbrella Academy? (Picture: A woman with blood leaking from her eyes, holding a child and shouting for help.)

The scene where they’re listening to the radio and the guy is like we’re “issuing a military quarantine of New York City” I’m like bitch you wish. Unrealistic. The USA currently (9/10/2020) has the highest cases of COVID-19 in the world (for future historians and poor school children, it’s at 7.68 MILLION cases, no statistic for recovered cases for some weird ass reason, and sadly, 212,000 deaths. For reference, here in Australia we’ve had as of today 27,206 cases, 24,807 recovered and 897 deaths. New Zealand, who went into hard lockdown, had as of today, 1,864 cases, 1,800 recovered, and 25 deaths, with a period where there were 0 new cases for several days.)

Though, with that in mind, everyone going outside and gathering in large crowds? Realistic. 

The actual movie part

Praises time! Will Smith has a stockpile of food. Also, him getting Sam (the dog) to eat her vegetables like she’s a little kid? Cutest thing ever. 

Stockpilesss. (Picture: Will Smith wearing an apron and preparing a meal in a kitchen chock full of food items, including things like Pringles and spaghetti sauce.)

Setting alarms on his watch for sunset? Brilliant, smart idea, fantastic. Re-enforced windows and door, AND booby-trapped house? Incredible, genius. Setting traps to catch the zomvamps? (like the dumb name I just came up with? Don’t worry, I’ll reveal the stupid arbitrary name they ACTUALLY came up with later) Talent, intelligence. 

Dude, why wouldn’t you restrain the head/chest? You know, the part that can bite you? (Picture: Will Smith in a lab coat standing over a female zombie-vampire who’s been secured to a metal bench by the wrists and ankles. Medical monitors are connected to her.)

Now, Will Smith is out here looking for a cure. And by looking, I mean actively creating. In a lab. He washes his hands before going in - *chef’s kiss* follow his example - and unlike other zombie movies where it’s super dramatic in the hunt for a cure, this is a lot more chill considering it’s a) been 3 years and b) is more like how science actually works. Trials, tests, animal test-subjects (there is a debate about the ethics of this which I won’t go into here) (I mean a debate in real life not in the zombie movie haha) and human test-subjects. 

“Did you kidnap my girlfriend, bro?” (Picture: bald, pale muscular dude-bro-looking zombie-vampire roaring in rage.)

The mother-fracking zombies

I have to say it: these are the most dumbass looking vampire-zombies. I say vampire-zombies (zomvamps) because they avoid sunlight but also eat people? 

Now, unlike most zombie movies, these are really bloody intelligent zomvamps. At one point, after setting a booby trap and catching a zomvamp after stumbling into a nest of them, Robert says “They’re not showing any human social behaviour.” Hahahaha. Okay bitch first of all dude bro screamed when you kidnapped his mate, secondly dude bro has pet dogs, thirdly dude bro fucking caught you in a trap. He took revenge on you there, love. He followed you home!

The zomvamps are apex predators, can climb, run, hunt in packs, communicate with each other, set booby traps, make coordinated attacks, follow you home, learn where you live and remember it, and holy fuck humans had no chance. 

Thank you for clarifying, because I actually found this quite funny. Like, look at him! (Picture: dude-bro zombie-vampire from earlier growling in front of a flaming car. The zombie-vampires are very CGI, pale, fish-person looking things with pale skin and completely bald of hair. This guy is wearing ripped clothes. The caption reads “Growls menacingly”.)

Random things I have in my notes but haven’t mentioned yet (yes I took notes) 

What’s with the apocalypse and mannequins? Looking at you, Five (Umbrella Academy). 

(Picture: Will Smith looking at a “female” mannequin, who is dressed in a coat and black bob wig. They’re in a movie store. Funnily enough, behind the mannequin is the “Adult” section of the films.)

I agree with the fuck-that-shit sentiment when you see a mannequin suddenly appear in a different part of the city - like how in the hell?? 

(Picture: Will Smith aiming a rifle at a mannequin in an orange jumper. Mannequin is usually located outside of the movie store, yet here it is randomly in the middle of the street at the end of a T-section. There are tall glass windows behind the mannequin, and the window to the right has a giant, gaping pitch black hole in it. It’s presumed that there is a nest of zombie-vampires in there.)

... so is this a booby trap for humans or for zomvamps? Because the former makes sense if that dude bro zomvamp analysed Will Smith’s trap from earlier and remade it (hence dropped the car off a bridge to string him up), and the latter doesn’t really make sense because a) you’ll only catch (and probably kill) one zomvamp and why would you want only one unless you’re Robert and two why tf aren’t you meeting up with Robert he’s been broadcasting and racing around town hunting deer (elk?) in a sports car. 

I’d like to know how hard it actually is to do like a weird sit-up and get yourself free of one of these kinds of traps. Am I dumb for thinking it’s not that hard? (Picture: Will Smith is suspended in the air by a rope tied around his ankle, the result of a booby-trap. He’s struggling to free himself.)

Come on, you’re literally a doctor and a soldier. Don’t tell me you’re actually considering pulling that out? (Picture: Will Smith has been impaled in the leg by something. It looks like he’s about to attempt to pull it out. He’s in the middle of the street as the sun sets, and Sam is right next to him.)

Sam is a queen. Here are some photos of her.

(Picture: Robert Neville’s wife carrying a baby Sam - Sam is a puppy, by the way, and very adorable. Neville’s young daughter is walking out of the gate to their house behind her mother.)

(Picture: Will Smith in a flashback saying goodbye to his wife and daughter and crying. Sam is licking away his tears.)

Sometimes I hate foreshadowing. (Picture: Will Smith searching a house. He opens a cupboard and there’s a newspaper article with a picture of a zombie-vampire dog. The article reads “Infected dogs can come out at dusk. Stay in the light.” There’s a number to call for questions.)

Worst birthday ever. Now I’m sad and there’s still half the movie left. 

(Picture: Will Smith sitting on the floor of his lab, hugging Sam, who’s just been bitten by infected dogs.) 

Get Shrek’d.

(Picture: The ‘Shrek’ movie playing on the TV in Neville’s house.)

Ma’am, do you not know how to ration? That is such a waste of food. (Picture: the woman and kid who rescued Will Smith have cooked breakfast. She’s cooked way too many scrambled eggs for two adults and a kid, and all the of the bacon for literally no reason.)

Oh yeah, wanna know what they call the zombies in this movie? 

Dark Seekers. They dropped that one on us well into the final half of the movie. Dark Seekers? Really? I won’t get into how dumb that sounds when you had two options to choose from - vampires and zombies. Hell, go with my suggestion of zomvamps, even vampzoms. Dark Seekers? Sorry, I get hung up on dumb zombie-alternative names. Sure, I get the atmosphere might be ruined by calling them vampires or zombies, but not even lying I didn’t realise she said “Dark Seekers” until I turned the CC on to grab a quote. I thought she said “Dog Keepers” hahahaha. “The dog keepers got them.” My defence is that the dude bro did keep dogs. 

Finally, wrapping this up at 2:15 before I add in pictures, you’re telling me approximately 100 zomvamps made a coordinated attack on Will Smith’s house to eat... 3 people? That’s like me and a hundred mates descending on the pentagon for a fucking snickers bar. We’d get like an atom each. 

Oh, what’s that? They’re here to rescue one person? Really? Really? How in the fuck are they even zombies if their primary purpose isn’t to eat humans. I’m disappointed. But points for a fresh take, at least. 

Now one of the things I remember about this movie is that is has an alternate ending. The actual ending (huge spoilers but then again, you’re in the spoiler section) has Will Smith sacrifice himself (read: blow himself and the zomvamps up with a grenade) to defend the cure and save his new friends. The alternate ending, which was scrapped due to negative audience reaction, has Will Smith communicate with the zomvamps who like actually calm down and listen to him. He gives the dude bro back his friend, and... no one dies. 

I’m sorry, how is an ending where, sure, a cure isn’t found YET, but, the “villains” of the movie are humanised and a new side of them is seen that shows, hey, maybe there’s another way through this apocalypse, better than an ending where Will Smith dies? Make it make sense test audience. Because, remember, there’s still a whole bunch of immune people living out here, and three of them are currently in the same room. Robert’s only been working on the cure for 3 years. How many years do you reckon it takes to cure cancer? Hint: it’s ongoing in real life. Just because the cure isn’t found in the movie doesn’t mean it won’t be found. Ughhhh. I digress again. 

I have more random photos but I am very tired. If anyone’s interested in hearing me roast butterflies, the world not actually ending in 2012, and a missed pun about Until Dawn (even though it was made like ten years after this), and a quick analysis on Robert Neville and God, let me know :) 

Have a great day everyone, wash your hands, social distance if possible, and quarantine. Just because the COVID-19 virus isn’t turning us into zombies doesn’t mean it isn’t hurting us. 

Worldwide statistics, 9/10/2020: 36.2M total cases, 25.3M recovered, 1.06M deaths. 

(Picture: Will Smith saying “I like ‘Shrek’ after just quoting an entire scene of it to win a kid’s trust.)

[arquiteto21-blog]

How To Select A Contractor For Your Architectural Project And What NOT To Do

I'm sure you've heard the age-old conflict of the architect and contractor not getting along. Today's society is moving towards interdisciplinary occupations, and people are getting increasingly better at working together, gradually alleviating this conflict. More design/build companies (where the contractors and architects are both working for the same company) have begun to emerge, but not all of the perceived benefits are actually beneficial. One common claim made by design build companies is that architects don't know how to build, and having in-house contractors alleviates the many issues that arise as a result. First, we have the very obvious rebuttal that you can't paint the entire profession with a broad brush stroke. Do I need to remind you to select an architect with actual experience? No? Good. Second, if you were to momentarily entertain that all architects don't know how things go together, the claim that contractors are coming to the rescue would be the case, regardless of whether the two occupations are part of one company or separate companies. I've known both architects and contractors who've owned design/build companies that went back to their respective corners. WHY? They couldn't do both the architecture and construction well, AND be profitable at the same time. Key point here: paying attention? The fact is, in our rapidly changing world, it is difficult enough to be good at one type of business, let alone two. When you have the added burden of concerning yourself with both occupations AND being profitable, the client will always lose. It is an inherent conflict of interest. Part of our duty as your architect is to protect your interests. We are your advocate and produce a contract set of documents (your construction drawings are actually appropriately called "contract documents") to depict your wishes, with which you agree on a price with a contractor. If the person writing your contract and the person executing it are under one roof, it would be like allowing your insurance company to determine which medicine you take... Oh wait... they do. I love that. Don't you?

A good contractor is worth his or her weight in gold. It takes years of experience and a creative, yet pragmatic thinker, to foresee challenges coming down the pipeline, and act accordingly amongst the many trades and details involved. I have the utmost respect for good contractors and enjoy working with them. When selecting a contractor, you should call around and chat briefly with as many as you can to get a feel for their personality and the world in which you are about to embark. I'm sure you've found some random articles online like, "The 5 questions you need to ask contractors", or "The 3 things you need to look out for when selecting a contractor". If not, you should go find some, as there are millions of them, and most of them are helpful. I want to focus on something else here. his explanation Projetos de Arquitetura

There are a wide range of contractors who will provide you with a lovely array of estimates for the same amount of work, and you need to know how to make sense of it all. Take a step back and look at the big picture. You have your low, medium and high contractors to choose from. You need to begin by asking yourself what level of service you are expecting. If you want super creative, unique, custom details, built with the highest level of craftsmanship, don't expect the low to medium priced contractors to do it. I'm guessing many of them could, if given unlimited time and budget, but their low or medium priced estimate indicates that isn't what they are planning for your project. If you are just looking for a straightforward and comfortable home requiring less specialized talents, then maybe you do want to work with a contractor who costs less, but consider the following. Most contractors purchase their materials from the same places and use similar sub-contractors that, in order to be competitive, need to charge competitive (i.e. similar) rates. As a result, many times the reason Contractor A's estimate is so much lower than Contractor B's and C's isn't because they have the inside track on super cheap labor and materials, right? And even if they did, my guess is they would still charge you the going rate and keep the profit for themselves. Granted, I'm sure some people are better at working at a more rapid pace than others, but most likely it will take the same amount of time to frame your kitchen regardless of who does it. Taking all of that into consideration, it becomes clear that your project is going to cost a certain price regardless of who does it. The differences is whether you will know about the additional costs ahead of time (in a detailed estimate) or after the fact (via change orders). I am not implying that low-cost contractors are being dishonest. They are human. Everyone likes to tell people what they want to hear, and everyone likes to make a profit.

However, if you are a numbers kind of person, one of the only black and white figures you can easily compare is how much each contractor marks up his or her products and services. I've seen percentages ranging from 10-20%, and you can typically find this in a lump sum clearly spelled out at the end of the estimate. Outside of that, the demo still needs to be hauled away, the finishes still need to be added, and the building still needs to be enclosed. If one bid includes demo but doesn't include the hauling and dump fees, creating a visibly cheaper estimate, do you think that the contractor is just going to flip the bill for that out of his or her own good will? No, you will. Surprise! Don't select your contractor based on who has the lowest bid, as many times all it means is that it is lacking things the other contractors have included.

Contemplate these ideas instead.

• Ask him or her the "5 questions" that you found online and make sure your personalities match.

• Ask yourself if you felt like your concerns were being heard during your meeting.

• How responsive are they?

• CHECK REFERENCES! I hope I don't have to beat this key point to death for you to understand how incredibly important it is.

• Was the estimate provided in a timely manner? 2 weeks is average, 3 is the max unless it is a really complicated project.

• Is the estimate easy to read? Why is this important? This is what your invoices are going to look like. Is it organized? Can you understand it?

• You must, without exception, sign off in writing on all changes to the contract documents PRIOR to the work being done. Ask if this is standard practice for them, and if it isn't, let them know this is a deal breaker for you.

• Although I recommend initially chatting with many contractors, I would only ask 2 or 3 for estimates. Any good contractor will take a lot of time to put together a detailed estimate, and any more than 3, in my opinion, isn't necessary to get an accurate feel for the cost of your project. Respect their time, and give them a fair shot at being awarded the contract.

[schraubd]

Rate That Apology, Part 9: AIPAC!

A few days ago, it emerged that AIPAC had ran some rather ... aggressive ads targeting Democrats. "The radicals in the Democratic Party," the ad text read, "are pushing their anti-Semitic and anti-Israel policies down the throats of the American people." Whoof. The ads also linked to a petition which said that "It’s critical that we protect our Israeli allies especially as they face threats from Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah ISIS and — maybe more sinister — right here in the U.S. Congress." Double whoof. When I first saw these ads, they were so out-of-character for AIPAC (which -- reputation notwithstanding -- generally tries to avoid wading into partisan frays) that I assumed they were fake. But they were not, and AIPAC has apologized for running them. So let's rate that apology, shall we? The apology is four paragraphs long, and it is interesting while it starts off pretty good, each paragraph is worse than the one which comes before it. Let's take them one at a time:

We offer our unequivocal apology to the overwhelming majority of Democrats in Congress who are rightfully offended by the inaccurate assertion that the poorly worded, inflammatory advertisement implied.

That's not bad! What I like most about this is the phrase "rightfully offended". Not "those who were offended", not "if you were offended", not "read it as offensive". The apology owns up that the ad was, objectively, offensive. It also agrees that the ad was inaccurate and inflammatory. "Poorly worded" is a bit of a hedge, but in the context of the rest of the paragraph I don't think it detracts from the message.

We appreciate the broad and reliable support that Democrats in Congress have consistently demonstrated for Israel. The bipartisan consensus that Democrats and Republicans have established on this issue forms the foundation of the U.S.-Israel relationship.

This is also generally fine. It's less "apologetic" than the first paragraph, to be sure. But had these been the only two paragraphs, I think this would have been an overall pretty decent, unequivocal apology. Alas....

The ad, which is no longer running, alluded to a genuine concern of many pro-Israel Democrats about a small but growing group, in and out of Congress, that is deliberately working to erode the bipartisan consensus on this issue and undermine the U.S.-Israel relationship.

I understand the temptation to try to explain, in one's apology, why you said the thing you're apologizing for. I'm not going to say one should never do that, but it's a high-risk proposition and it rarely pays off. Mostly, that's because it comes off as an effort to dodge responsibility and to rehabilitate what actually matters, which is the underlying cause. But here we see pitfall of a different and more ironic sort. The purpose of the ad was to express concern about the erosion of a bipartisan consensus around Israel? Well gosh golly, what do they think this ad did if not contribute to that erosion? It'd be like writing an apology for cursing out prominent entertainer and then saying you did it only to draw attention about diminishing civility in public life.

We regret that the ad's imprecise wording distorted our message and offended many who are deeply committed to this cause. We look forward to continuing our work with friends in Congress to strengthen the U.S.-Israel relationship and oppose any efforts to undermine its deep, bipartisan support.

Oh how far we've fallen from the first paragraph. At the start, "poor wording" was contextualized in language that straightforwardly accepted responsibility. Here, it stands alone, suggesting that the only problem with the advertisement was in its choice in rhetoric and that it was expressing an important point poorly. Nooope. The advertisement called Democrats antisemites who were ramming anti-Israel politics down the throats of the American people in a fashion potentially more sinister than ISIS. We're a well ways past the point of poor wording here. AIPAC needs to actually reckon with what it did here, and why it was wrong. If the beginning of the apology seemed to gesture in that direction, it's gone by the end. I'll add one more note. For the most part in this series we've rated the apology of individuals, not organizations. And there are certain additional elements of an institutional apology that don't make a lot of sense for an individual. An individual can't "discipline" or "fire" the person responsible, nor can they really implement processes to "guard against this happening again". But an institution can, and maybe should be expected to. I don't think AIPAC has said anything on either of these fronts -- who was responsible, what actions (if any) were taken to discipline them, and what guardrails have been put up to ensure we don't see a repeat. That's worrisome, and knocks them down a grade. In general, my view of AIPAC differs substantially from the conventional wisdom. The latter sees AIPAC as this titan of Washington politics that brutally crushes even the slightest deviation from Likudnik policy. I see AIPAC as a paper tiger that generally seeks to cultivate relationships more than enforce dogma and has largely struggled to flex any concrete muscle in circumstances where there is significant political energy pushing against it. This truth is masked because for many years there rarely was any political energy pushing against -- but you see it in the case of, e.g., the Iran Deal, where AIPAC really did go all out to sink it and made pretty much zero headway. The problem AIPAC is running into is twofold. First, it wants to be bipartisan in an era of increased polarization. And second, it has a staff which I suspect actually is mostly left-of-center paired with a donor base that is increasingly right-wing. As much as folks like me see AIPAC as engaging in partisan attacks against Democrats (for all its talk about how it "supports a two-state solution", one never sees it drop $40 million to attack Republicans for abandoning it), it's also under a lot of pressure from its right flank which wants to see it really take the gloves off and explicitly come out as an anti-Democratic actor. They are tired of what they see as AIPAC coddling Democrats and want it to announce what they already know: Democrats are the anti-Israel party. These ads almost certainly came either from actors within AIPAC who agree with that sentiment, or as a result of pressure from external donors who are pushing that narrative. Hyperpolarization cuts both ways: Republicans, too, have little use for even a politically-friendly organization if it continues to gesture at straddling the middle. They don't want earnest efforts at cultivating bipartisanship; they want an attack dog. AIPAC isn't paying me for advice, but I'll offer some anyway: this would be a very short-sighted strategy. It's not just because explicitly aligning with the right would be perhaps a boon for the Republican Party but a disaster for pro-Israel politics. It's also that the right-wing actors AIPAC would embolden are ones whom AIPAC has surprisingly little influence over. Even as its reputation has drifted right-ward over the past few years, AIPAC has progressively lost influence among Republican elected officials who prefer to take their cues from more explicitly partisan outlets like ZOA or CUFI. AIPAC might rule the roost of "bipartisan" Israel talk, but it's hard to see what their niche is as just one explicitly right-wing group among many. For better or for worse, though, I doubt AIPAC is going to be able to right ship. It's just too big, and archaic, and creaky, and doesn't have the institutional adroitness to adjust to the new era its finding itself in. Unfortunately for people like me, these sorts of transitions are difficult, and there will be adjustment pains. Is it fun watching AIPAC get used as a punching bag, accused of forming an "unholy alliance" with Islamophobes and White Nationalists while prominent Democratic candidates nod along? Not for me -- but then again, perhaps AIPAC should have thought of that before handing out money to Frank Gaffney or putting Adam Milstein on its national board. More broadly, to the extent the pro-Israel movement aligns itself with Trump, that ipso facto represents allying with an Islamophobe and White Nationalist of the highest order. The sad truth is that AIPAC is mostly reaping what it has sown here. We can wince at intemperate rhetoric all we want, but the fact is the claim that AIPAC has aligned itself with -- has supported and is supported by -- at least some Islamophobes and White Nationalists is just as strong as the case that Bernie Sanders has aligned himself with antisemites, and the folks getting themselves up in high dudgeon over Elizabeth Warren not rushing to AIPAC's defense hardly would blink at similar accusations being leveled at Sanders (the idea that, if a rally-goer prefaced a question by saying Sanders is "forming an alliance with antisemites and Communists", Donald Trump would do anything but cheer him on is almost as fanciful as the idea that the national media would view it as an unspeakable slander if Trump did nothing more than ignore it). Anyway, I've digressed a bit from rating that apology. So: A good start is undermined, albeit not wholly erased, by a mediocre ending. 5.5/10 via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/2Sbr3us